Chapter Six – Starship Troopers

Sonic swore. Now he'd done it. There was no hiding his true abilities anymore. With Starship Troopers coming, he would have use every trick and skill he had to defeat them. They were heading his way and fast. Mach Four fast. Sonic instinctively ran towards them, eager to find out which direction they were coming from. The roar of their arrival had signalled to everyone, that they were on their way. All four of them.

"What the hell are those?" A voice shouted. It was Jet, asking the question that everybody wanted to know.

"Starship Troopers!" Sonic panted as he ran past. It didn't really answer the question.

"What?" He spat. But with Sonic speeding into the distance, it was Manic who replied.

"Starship Troopers!" He said, but before he could say, one of the them went straight for him. They had arrived. Manic, with one large swift gesture of his arms crossing and then swiping down, he created an Earth tent to protect everybody. The Earth suddenly and extremely fast, rose up out of the ground and cocooned them in a wall of rock. The Starship Trooper ricocheted off it and sped of in a different direction. Manic too was panting. They all looked at him. All of the competitors were there, gathered inside the relative safety of the tent. Jet was shocked at Manic's ability to manipulate the Earth. He held his arms and hand up to keep the tent steady as more Starship Troopers ricocheted off it. It was taking a hammering, it wouldn't last for long. He sighed.

"Starship Troopers!" He said again. "Twenty year old robots left over from the Great Feud." He paused, silence replied. He rolled his eyes. These people literally knew nothing. "Flying circular-saws, with a spinning cutting edge so fast it can slice anything. About two metres across and can move extremely fast." He sighed. "Released on the signal of a Hyper-Blast, they were designed for one thing and one thing alone..." He let the sentence hang. He was struggling to maintain the Earth 'tent' with the bombardment.

"To what?" Asked Tails, eager to find out more. The fox, like everyone else, had had one heck of a day, desperately trying to process one revelation after another about Sonic and his brother. His best friend, had hidden everything from him, and although being extremely upset about it, realised that now was not the time. Sonic must have had his reasons. He was just glad that both brothers were on their side.

He was sat on the ground, frightened, his two tails twitching. Born Miles Prower, the fox cub was born with two distinct twin-tails, hence his nickname. A gentle and sweet-natured soul, he is able to use his twin-tails to fly by rotating them like helicopter rotors and is a mechanic genius and aerial pilot. He had mostly yellow-orange fur with white fur around his muzzle, front torso, and the tips of his tails. He also had blue eyes. He also had white gloves with black rings around the wrist and red shoes with white toes.

Manic knew of Tails as Sonic had constantly talked about him, and the fox deserved an explanation. He looked around Sonic's friends, they all did. He sighed.

"To search and destroy." He finally added, hanging his head.

"Who? Sonic?" Tails squealed, disbelieving.

"No!" Manic gasped. It was at that point that Sonic slid at speed through the small gap in the tent from the outside world. He was heaving. Manic stared at his brother lying on the floor.

"Dad!" Manic said simply. "Thats not Eggman's symbol of the side of those dam things." He spat, through gritted teeth. Sonic cut across him.

"No, it's Julian Robotnik." He panted. There was still major confusion. It looked like no one apart from himself and Manic knew the story. He'd figured they were talking about the Feud but now was not the time. He hurried on.

"Looks like they've travelled in from the north-west. It took about twenty minutes to get here at Mach Four." He said, trying to calculate the answer. He was keen to figure out where they were coming from so that he could destroy their base.

"Six hundred and thirteen point eight miles. Thats the distance they've travelled." Someone answered almost immediately. It was Tails. He looked sheepish. Manic was seriously impressed.

"Wow!" He said, stunned. Sonic was proud.

"I told you, he was good." He said, grinning. Tails went red.

But more bombardment from the Starship Troopers meant they couldn't stay where they were for much longer. They had to do something as soon. It was at that point Sonic realised that someone was missing. He panicked. He heard a voice.

"PLEASE, HELP!" The screaming came from outside. It was Silver. He was the only one left out there. Sonic instinctively took the lead.

"Everyone!" He bellowed. "Get to safety!" He announced, "And Manic...?"

"Already on it!" Manic responded, cutting across him.

He immediately lowered the Earth tent and they scattered in all directions amongst the general panic. The crowds were dispersing and the officials were trying to bring order to the chaos. Sonic, Manic and a few others ran towards to where Silver was screaming. The sight that met them, caused them to stop and stare. Silver, with his psychokinetic powers had, somehow, managed to catch one of the Starship Troopers in mid-air. It was surrounded with large quantities of pale green hue and was trying to violently shake itself free from Silver's grip. He was struggling to keep hold. The other Starship Troopers were coming round to take him out from behind. He didn't have long. Manic didn't stop and ran past them.

"Hey!" He said, extremely impressed. "Nice catch." He added and immediately went to Silver's rescue. He ran beside Silver and took a strong stance. He raised one hand and pointed it towards the sky while clenching his fist with the other. Then, suddenly, he through the other arm towards the Earth and a two metre tall, thin spike of sheer rock, sprung up out of the ground, right through the centre of the Starship Trooper. Damaged beyond repair, it violently shook and wriggled, and to everyone surprised, screamed.

Sonic put his hand over his ears, he hated that sound. He despised it. He reminded him of just how bad the Great Feud had gotten, and was glad that he wasn't involved. Still screaming, Starship Trooper tried desperately to break free but failed and eventually fell silent, it super fast spinning cutting edge finally stopping. Out of breath, Silver gasped.

"It screamed!" He said, disbelieving and shaking. Sonic sighed.

"Yeah, they do that!" He said, but Silver frowned.

"How could a robot scream?" He panted.

Sonic had no choice but to answer the horrible truth.

"Starship Troopers are not just robots, their cyborgs. They have a living element to them. Me and Manic captured one once, many years ago, to try and rescue the poor creature inside, but when we finally got in..." Sonic let the sentence hang. The memories of what he saw was most unpleasant. He closed his eyes. "The poor creature had been so heavily integrated, directly hot-wire, into the machine, that there was nothing we could do for it. It was suffering so badly that the kindest thing we could do was..." Sonic drifted off, he couldn't make himself say it.

"To end it!" Shadow coldly finished for him. He'd joined them in the race the help Silver. Sonic nodded.

"I didn't do it, Manic did." He squealed, but he wasn't happy. "Trust me, destroying them is for the best" He sighed.

Silver was stunned. He had heard of the Robotisation process, of putting small animals inside robots, but normally, you destroy the robot and you'd set them free. He'd never heard of this level of integration before. Who would do such a thing?

Then all of sudden, Shadow spotted a Starship Trooper heading straight for them. He had a Chaos Emerald and trying throwing Chaos Spears at the machine, but with no avail. They just seemed to bounce straight off. Sonic saw but so did Manic, and with another strong gesture, created a defensive wall of shear rock between Shadow and the Starship Trooper, before Sonic could even react. It ricocheted off in a different direction. Shadow collapsed onto the floor, behind the wall, feeling helpless, and he wasn't the only one.

Sonic ran to his side.

"Nice try." He panted, thanking him. "But those things of made of Chaos re-enforced solid Titanium, only Manic had the power to destroy them." The black Hedgehog looked at him. Shadow had never felt out his depth before, and wasn't liking it and neither was Silver. Sonic could see this.

"If you and Silver want to help. Get everybody to safety and away from the Grand Prix." He suggested.

"But what about you?" Silver asked, voicing for Shadow as well, who looked concerned.

"I'll help Manic. I know these things. I've fought them before." He said, and then a sudden. "Whoa!" As the ground began to violet shake beneath them. Moving from behind the rock wall, the three Hedgehogs saw Manic firing boulders at the Starship Troopers, forcing them to swerve. Twenty tonne boulders. He was stomping the ground hard, causing these massive boulders to spring up, of which he was karate kicking them high into the sky. One after another, after another, he throw them, causing the three remaining Starship Troopers to duck and dive in avoidance.

Silver and Shadow stared. They had never seen such power, but Sonic giggled. He'd grown up with it and was well used to it. Even so, Sonic was impressed about how much they'd grown. He shouldn't have been that surprised, the same has been true for him, recently. But as he looked skywards, he too also felt somewhat helpless, here on the ground.

"Manic!" He screamed to make himself heard over the rumbling Earth. Manic stopped and stared. Sonic ran to him urgently.

"I gotta get in the air!" He stammered. He had more power to help from up there.

"What!" Manic replied. "Are you sure thats wise? When was the last time you even slept? You must be running on fumes!" He looked concerned. Sonic smirked.

"And adrenaline" He grinned. "Never underestimate the power of adrenaline!" He added. But Sonic was desperate.

"Manic please, I can do this, I just need a boost!" He pleaded. Manic looked at his brother. He had a point. If they were going to defeat the Starship Troopers, he needed him, Manic couldn't do it alone. But he wasn't a hundred percent happy.

"Fine!" He spat. "But don't..." He said but Sonic cut across him.

"Hyper-Blast!" He grinned. "I won't!" They had enough to deal with. Another Hyper-Blast would call a further four Starship Troopers to the party, and neither of them wanted that.

Finally Manic nodded, and so did Sonic.

Silver and Shadow looked at each other. What did he mean?

Sonic nelt down on the ground, pushing Chaos to his feet, spring loading them. He was ready. He looked at Manic and nodded.

"Pull!" He said, and repeating the same gesture as Manic did to destroy the Starship Trooper, but this time, faster and harder, he made the two metre tall, thin spike of sheer rock spring up out of the ground right beneath Sonic's feet, catapulting him skywards, extremely fast.

Sonic ascended so fast that that he broke the sound barrier. Automatically and instinctively, he twisted out of the resulted backlash. This was where Sonic truly loved to be, in the air. He'd smash through Mach One with Manic's help and now at Mach Two, he'd reach the limit of his propulsion and began to plummet downwards. Sonic's internal Chaos had reached it limit. Manic was right, he was indeed running on empty. He needed more.

Manic was watching him, worried on the ground.

"C'mon Bro, C'mon!" He said to himself, waiting for something to happen. Silver and Shadow also watched him go, disbelieving. They too looked worried.

Falling fast, Sonic was out of options. All he had left was his core strength. If he used that, it could be the end of him. He looked around him, the Starship Troopers were causing absolute chaos. He had no choice.

He looked down at his hands. The rocket boosters inside them were never designed for braking. He also had larger ones in his feet. They were designed for something else.

Sonic closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He painfully used his core strength to push his internal Chaos beyond its limit and towards his hands and feet. The resulting ka-ching that sounded from his hands and the huge power build up in his feet told him he was ready. His eyes silvery.

Fire!

The resulting silvery blast from his hands and feet rocketed Sonic at incredible speed. He struggled to control it at first until he calmed down. The boosters from his feet propelling him forwards and the boosters from his hands were used for stability and steering. Sonic easily pulled up from his unstable fall and curved round towards Manic, who he could hear cheering from the ground. Sonic felt emotions from Manic, relief and joy that he would be alright. Sonic smiled.

He could fly!

He'd done it before, loads of time and absolutely loved it. Running, you were lucky to made it much past Mach Two, but flying, Mach Three or Mach Four, were easily possible. But you had to maintain those speeds just to stay airborne. It was how got to the Grand Prix on time, but it was exhausting as it used up a lot of internal Chaos. But right there and then, he had no idea how long he could maintain it. He curved again towards the Starship Troopers, who still attacking the ground. He needed to get their attention. He needed more speed.

He pushed more power to his feet.

Mach Three.

Still no reaction. More.

Mach Four.

The roar of wind as Sonic turned at that incredible speed finally got their attention. The three Starship Troopers went straight for him and gained on him fast.

He pushed himself further, he mustn't be caught.

Mach Four point two.

He felt the huge resistance build up for the impending Hyper-Blast, but forced himself to go against every instinct he had, not to smash through it. He was that competitive. The Starship Troopers top speed was Mach Four, all Sonic had to do was be slightly faster, but it was a narrow margin between that and Hyper-Blasting. Now that he gotten the Starship Troopers attention, the people left on the ground were safe, for now. He whirled around the sky, keeping them occupied.

{Manic!} He shouted over the ether. The rest was now down to his brother.

Manic had been watching Sonic carefully. They all had, including Knuckles, who had just joined them.

"I didn't know he could do that!" He said, stunned. The green Hedgehog shrugged.

"He's been doing it for years, in secret, of course. How do you think we made it to the Grand Prix on time!" He grinned. But Knuckles was annoyed.

"Why didn't he tell me!" He spat. Manic sighed.

"Because by telling, it would have meant telling Eggman, and you don't share with the enemy, the extra powers you have, unless you want a tougher fight on your hands. If he found out that Sonic was more powerful then he actually was, he would thrown more stuff at him." He said, smiling.

Knuckles understood, but he wasn't happy it. It was pure strategy. It kept the fights with Eggman relative easy. But it left Knuckles confused. Why didn't Eggman increase the power of his attacks anyway, regardless of what he knew about Sonic? As he looked to the sky and saw Sonic whirling round towards them with Starship Troopers on his tail, he realised that now was not the time to discuss this.

Manic was heading down towards the race course of the ruins, through them and out towards the open plains on the other side. Eager not be left out again, Knuckles followed.

"What are we doing here?" He asked Manic as they stood in the middle of the vast open plain. Manic whirled around on him.

"Look." He said, sighing. "I know you want to help, but we've got this." He smiled. He noticed, over Knuckles' shoulder, the panic behind him.

"Can you get those people to safety?" He asked, pointing. Knuckles turns around.

"Sure!" He said. "But that you? What are you going to do?" He asked.

Manic grinned inanely.

"This!" He giggles, and proceed to put both fingers in his mouth and blew. The world's loudest and highest whistle Knuckles had ever heard, emanated from Manic and out towards the sky.

There it was. The signal. What Sonic had been waiting for. He immediately turned and spied Manic on the ground. Diving down, extremely fast and still being following, he flew as low to the ground as possible, a few feet, straight for his brother. Knuckles was shocked.

"Wait!" He gasped. "Your not going to..." He said but got cut across.

"Hitch a lift!" Manic grinned. "Hell, yeah." He giggled.

Manic could see Sonic coming extremely fast. His grinned broadened. Growing up with someone like Sonic, he'd done this before. He knew his brother's speed almost as well as he did. Just as Sonic approached him, he turns upside-down, allowing Manic, in a split second, grab his shoulders. As Sonic turns back round again, to flip onto his back and immediately ascend into the sky.

Knuckles was absolutely stunned, but as he heard screaming and realised he had his own job to do. He ran to help.

Manic rode Sonic's back as experting as someone who'd been doing it for years. He perfectly leaned as Sonic turned, so his brother didn't loose speed. One Starship Trooper down, three to go. Time to finish the job.

Sonic felt Manic stand up on his back, using the planet's magnetic field to support himself, and began steering him with his feet. Sonic didn't argue, he allowed him to take the lead. It seemed he had plan. He didn't need to ask what, he completely trusted Manic.

He steered Sonic to head downwards and fly very close to the ground, just like he did when he picked him up. Flying very close to the ground, on the open plains, only a few feet, he felt Manic use his immense strength towards the ground. He forced the ground the rocket two enormous boulders straight upwards, either side of him. Easily twenty tonnes in weight, Manic easily hovered there. The Starship Troopers were still on their tail. They were coming up behind them fast. Manic saw them, and forced Sonic to brake, so that they would catch up. The Starship Troopers would be practically on top of them. It was an incredibly risky move but Manic knew exactly what he was doing. He threw the boulders up slightly and turned around and caught them again with the opposite hand's. Now facing backwards on Sonic's back, rather then forwards. He grinned, as the nearest Starship Trooper was now in range and clapping his hands, proceeded to slam the boulders into the circular-saw, from either side, trapping it between them. Crushing it beyond repair, causing it to give an almighty scream. It and the boulders crashed to the ground, never to fly again. Manic indicated with his feet for Sonic to accelerate and the Blue Blur obliged. Two down.

The other two Starship Troopers raced after them with a vengeance. These wouldn't be quite so straight forwards to defeat. But Manic had an idea.

"We need them to split up." He shouted over the rushing of air to Sonic. The Blue Blur only just heard him over the din. He smirked. He knew exactly how to do that, but his time was limited. He was running on fumes, he couldn't maintain being in the air for much longer.

{Hang on!} Sonic called back, over the ether, and Manic lay down on his back. Sonic rocketed upwards, and the Starship Troopers followed. Levelling out and flew straight allowing his perusers to catch before twisting and pulling an incredibly tight turn. So tight, that the acceleration forces pushed Sonic to his absolute limit and caused Manic to scream in agony. The pain was horrendous, but it was worth it. As the Starship Troopers couldn't manoeuvre so tightly, he forced them split and flying in opposite directions. Success.

Manic, regaining his composure, sat up and drew a cross on Sonic's back. Sonic knew exactly what that meant and dived, straight downwards, virtually. He was accelerating forwards and the Hyper-blast was creeping on his him. He can't do it, not again. Otherwise they would be back to square one, and he was now down to a matter of minutes left on the air.

The Starship Troopers spotted him and immediately changed direction and dived straight towards Sonic. They were both diving at him at a forty-five degree angle, like a cross. They narrowly missed Sonic, and then proceeded to crash into each other, one circular-saw screaming as the other drove itself straight through it. Killing it. Three down. They both began to fall straight to the ground, like a stone.

As were Sonic and Manic. The Blue Blur was loosing consciousness.

Time's up.

Manic kicked his brother to try and keep him awake. Sonic had to land them safely. If they crashed, travelling this this speed, it would kill them both. But Sonic was really struggling.

"Come on, Bro! Land!" He shouted, but it barely registered with Sonic, he was so sleepy. They were falling very fast. They were not going to pull up out of this dive. Manic was panicking, really panicking.

"SONIC!" He screamed with all his might, and he finally came to. He looked down and instinctively fired his blasters downwards to brake their fall. But was it enough?

Manic suddenly saw that it wasn't and immediately grabbed his brother and span them both around so that Manic would hit the ground first. Manic had more muscle and strength then Sonic, and therefore had higher chance of surviving such an impact. Sonic had just about had enough energy to severely brake their fall, pull up, and level them off, but that was it, he was completely done. With nothing else left to give, he passed out.

Manic's back hit that ground at significant speed, of which he temporarily let go of Sonic with one hand and immediately used it slammed the ground. He turned the solid rock beneath them into extremely soft sand, almost quicksand like, and in which they skidded to a halt incredibly quickly. They made it, they were on the ground.

Manic got up out of the sand, battered and bruised, but alright and proceeded to pull Sonic out. The Blue Blur was out cold. Manic checked him. Again battered and bruised, but he was still breathing. He'd be fine.

But Manic couldn't stay with him, he still had one Starship Trooper left to kill. He picked up his brother, carried him to somewhere safe and left him there, going after it.

He didn't have much time. The final Starship Trooper was on the ground, trying to desperately shake itself loose of its dead comrade. If it succeeded and took to the air again, Manic was have no chance of defeating it. Not on his own, not without Sonic. But his brother was down, thankfully, not permanently, but he couldn't help him right now.

He had to destroy it while it was still grounded. It was making a hell of a lot of noise, so Manic knew exactly where it was. He ran over the nearby hill and found it struggling on the other side. It had driven itself halfway through his dead companion and was not desperately trying to wriggle itself loose. These were still a few people about, some of the stragglers, or those, like Knuckles, who felt duty-bound to always be the last to leave. About to leave, the Echidna saw the struggling circular-saws and with his job done, wondered over to investigate. He saw Manic concentrating on the Starship Trooper, he wanted it dead. But it was nearly flying.

Within a matter of seconds, it would be free. Three, two, one...

Got it!

Manic caught it. But he wasn't using his mind or physical strength to hold the Starship Trooper in place. He was using his Chi, the metaphysical energy that flows throughout the body. Knuckles stared. He had heard of this power before, but one, he believe it to be myth and two, Manic was an Earth Bender and according to said myths, they couldn't manipulate metal. Knuckles was currently looking at both. From what he'd read, bending is merely the ability to manipulate one's Chi to the point where the energy can extend beyond the body and interact with the environment.

He watched in disbelieve as Manic, concentrating hard, hold the Starship Trooper perfectly in place. It was being held in place by what looked like to Knuckles, an invisible forcefield, of which Manic had complete control over. He knew that wasn't how Chi worked but he couldn't explain it any other way. The Starship Trooper couldn't struggle or break free, unlike with Silver. Its outside edge spinning rapidly. Suddenly, Manic twisted his wrist, and the metal of the robot began to twist, causing it to scream.

Manic had had enough. He was beyond annoyed with the Starship Trooper. He hated them with a vengeance and wanted this one gone. With Sonic not around, he didn't have morally do the right thing either. He could feel the metal of the robot. He could feel it twist and buckle under his might. Manic began curving his fingers round into a fist, and felt the metal crumple even further.

Extremely angry, Manic closed his fist and slammed it down into the ground, causing every single piece of metal on the surviving Starship Trooper, suddenly exploded into dust, leaving the spider-like creature with to fall to the floor, dying. Manic had no idea what the creature had started off as, but this was no life for it, and with a strong gesture of his hand throwing at the floor, he sent a sharp spike of rock up through it from beneath the creature, killing it outright, finally satisfied.

Job done!

He was pleased with himself. The cloud of metal dust expanded out from where he stood for some time. When it eventually settled, he realised he was completely alone. Surprised, he looked around and found Sonic, still asleep exactly where he'd left him.

Knuckles had fled in fear of Manic's abilities.

He'd completely abandoned them.