Cory awoke in the bus, had it all been a dream? He got up and looked into a mirror, seeing the scar on his face. It hadn't.
"Where have you been?" Newt came in and asked, "we have news…"
Cory walked outside, seeing the remains of a battle.
"Hitler sent troops here to kill us," Newt said sadly, "They managed to completely remove silver from me and… and… murdered Blaze…"
Cory looked in horror at the freshly dug grave. They were in the middle of a wooded area, dead soldiers littered the ground. Cory looked up, the sun shone down upon them brightly. How could this happen on such a nice day?
Espio stared at them, no emotion on his face, "We need to go, D.C. isn't that far away."
As he said that, a black figure fell from the sky, landing on Blaze's grave. It was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog.
"Where's that damn fourth chaos emerald?" he asked, grabbing Cory by the throat.
"H-hitler h-has i-i-i-i-i-i-it!"
He released Cory and turned to the group, "The president needs that emerald in order to destroy Hitler, if you're not with me, then you're my enemy," he pulled out a gun.
"We're going to Berlin to defeat Hitler anyway, come with us!" Michael said innocently.
Shadow grunted and moved straight to Jackson, "and you are?"
"I'm the completely out of character Michael Jackson, or Micheal as I'm sometimes called. I'm quiet but I help as much as I can."
Shadow grunted and walked toward the bus, "get in, idiots."
"You have no authority over us, you're just some loser who works for the president." Espio said, crossing his arms.
"Shut up, you're just a robot disguised as a chameleon!"
Everyone turned to Espio, he looked down.
"I must confess now and give to you my backstory. I was created by a robot named X in the future in another dimension, the same dimension that Zero comes from. My name was Shadow, I was a ninja robot meant to serve X to protect the humans. All went well until master X was infected by a virus which turned him evil. Bound to protect X, we were forced to lash out against the humans according to his will. There was a rebellion, led by Zero, to take back the world from X. In the midst of a battle with Zero, I faked my own death and disappeared into your dimension. Upon arrival, I realised how wrong I was and took on a new identity, Espio the chameleon," Espio closed his eyes, turning back to his original form, a black humanoid robot with a red scarf.
Everyone just accepted that and they went on their way to Washington D.C. The words "washington D.C. will never be the same" haunted Cory as they entered the city, pulling up in front of the white house. As Cory got out of the bus, he realised that this was the same bus that had been used by the bus driver, the same one which he had been kidnapped in and taken to Iowa. Since the bus driver now rode in an airship, he must have abandoned his old bus. Ironic that it was now their method of transportation.
Cory walked toward the president's office, signalling that everyone should stop following. He entered the oval office, the president sat in his chair looking out the window.
"The balance of power has shifted." He simply said as he turned toward Cory.
"I have 6 of the emeralds. The last one is in Berlin with Hitler."
"Shadow commed me, I know. We must get that emerald, my master plan to defeat Hitler requires all of the chaos emeralds."
"What is your plan, sensei?"
"I cannot speak of it yet, but I can tell you something else. Our scientists have refurbished your bus to fly, now you can fly straight to Hitler from across the Atlantic ocean. You'll need to be stealthy though, one wrong move and you'll be prisoners of war. Do it in the name of America, in the name of Japan, and in my name, John Henry Eden."
Cory nodded, walking out of the room. The gang was waiting outside, Cory walked right past them and continued toward the white house entrance. He stopped and turned toward a door. Xerath's words echoed through Cory's head, he may never see any of this again. He entered his old room, or closet and sat down on the bed. He picked up his old sonic comic, recalling his time in the abandoned building fighting slenderman. He looked at the other items, seeing the amulet Chris had given him. It was his transformation amulet, carved in the face of a character named Sonichu, Chris's OC. Cory now knew that the amulet actually ran on the power of the second chaos emerald, and Chris had given it to Michael Jackson because he was a pop star and stuff. Chris gave the useless amulet to Cory. Cory wept.
He got up with confidence. He was now ready to die for his country. He walked out of the room and straight to the bus. Cory was a changed man. As he entered the bus, he wasn't that sad little boy anymore, he was a true man and nobody could tell him what to do because he was strong and independent. The bus flew off toward Berlin, Cory stood in front of his comrades.
"When we get to Berlin, there will be soldiers everywhere. Danger will be everywhere. I want you to know that I appreciate you all and admire your service to this nation. This isn't for me, this isn't for the Xerath, this is for America, and by extension the entire Earth. Death will not welcome us because we will not let it, now who's with me?" Cory yelled.
"What is a Xerath?" Newt asked innocently.
Micheal began to hum to himself. This had been a long journey, he had learned more here than his entire music career. He looked out his window at the Atlantic ocean below them. Ever since he faked his own death to escape the paparazzi, he had been lonely. Skeletons had chased him, he still couldn't explain them though. But when he met these people, he knew he could rely on them. Sure, some were edgy and some were depressing, but together they formed an unstoppable team.
Newt looked at the waves below them, thinking to himself over the past few months. So much had changed, yet he still felt exactly the same as when he was working at the grocery store. He had learned of his past, fought his demons, and met the love of his life once more, only to have all that progress ripped away from him in mere seconds. Hitler would pay for this.
In the distance, they began to see the destruction. They flew over France, one of the biggest war zones. United States troops and Nazi troops battled each other to the death, betraying each other's rights to live. This wasn't real life anymore, this was war.
The bus entered German territory. This was it. The final battle had begun.