And now we arrive on Chapter 3. This is one I'm pretty excited about and can't wait to start. So… without further ado, let's check on Celeste.

Sonic Forces:

Chapter 2-

Fighting Onward

When she finally came to. She found herself in a white room.

She was lying down on a table of the same color. The room smelled of medicine, she was hooked up to a heart monitor.

She slowly sat up so that she was still on the bed and now leaning against the wall.

Celeste wasn't really sure where she was, but she figured that she was at least safe if they took the time to take care of her.

That was when the door slid open and in walked in a short cream colored rabbit that couldn't have been older ten. She wore a little orange dress and shoes of the same color. A Chao flew in behind her.

The rabbit gasped at the sight of the dog awkwardly staring at her. "Uh… hello!"

"Oh my goodness you're awake!" She then called out of the room. "Mr. Gadget! Mr. Corvin! Ms. Rhythm! Ms. Fierro! Our friend has woken up!"

"Chao! Chao! Chao!" The chao called after her.

She then rushed over to the table and held Celeste's hand. "How are you feeling? Are you sore? Anything broken?!"

"Chao?! Chao?! Chao?! Chao?!" The chao called after her.

Celeste chuckled. "Just a little sore."

"Oh thank goodness. We were so worried about you when you came in."

"Yeah… where am I?"

"Oh, you're in the resistance Headquarters. I'm Cream the Rabbit and this is Cheese. I help do a lot of things for the resistance like run the hospital with my mom."

"Chao! Chao!"

"Huh, nice. I'm Celeste. And Resistance HQ? But that was destroyed. We're still in Sunset?"

"Well…"

That was when the door slid open again and in walked Gadget as well as a few other new faces.

The first was a turquoise bird wearing a black shirt with two blue arrows on it complete with camo pants and black sneakers. [1]

The next was a pink cat which wore a simple black shirt and a skirt. [2]

Finishing off the group was another rabbit. This one was orange, had messy auburn hair and one of her ears bent down. She wore a black top, skinny jeans and black boots. [3]

All of them looked reasonably older than both her and Cream. Maybe college students if she had to guess.

"Kid! You're okay!" Gadget beamed, running over to her bedside. "You gave me quite a scare when you passed out!"

"But aren't you always scared?" The bird smirked at him.

The rabbit snickered and elbowed him. "Hush, Corvin."

"Come on, we can't deny that Gadget's a little jumpy." The rabbit shrugged.

Gadget chuckled and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Aw. Come on guys, I'm not that bad."

"Oh no! Is that Eggman walking into the medical bay?!" The bird, Corvin, gasped.

The others laughed and Celeste couldn't help but giggle herself.

"I only fell for that once!"

"It's okay, Mr. Gadget. I would've been scared too."

Gadget patted Cream on the back. "Thanks, Cream. At least someone understands me."

The rabbit smiled.

"But for real, how are you feeling uh... "

"Celeste. And I'm doing better, thanks."

"That's good to hear. Anyway, I don't think I've introduced, myself. I'm Gadget." He smiled.

The cat spoke up. "Hello. I'm Fierro."

"The name's Corvin." The bird leaned against the wall and gave a two finger salute.

"Rhythm." The rabbit nodded.

Celeste smiled. "Nice to meet you all."

"We're just really glad you're okay." Fierro smiled.

"Yeah. Taking on all those robots like that?" Rhythm asked. "Aw man, that must've been a rush."

"What were you thinking?!" Gadget shouted.

"I dunno. Eggman's robots just started chasing me and I did what I had to."

"You definitely showed them who's boss!" Corvin cheered.

"Sunset needs more heroes." Fierro nodded. "It's good what you did."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't say I was a hero…"

"A lot of people were saved because you distracted the robots, Ms. Celeste!"

"Don't be so modest, hon." Rhythm shook her head. "You did a good thing."

Celeste blushed. "Thank you…"

They all talked for a little while talking of what went down in Sunset Heights. Apparently the resistance had been on the scene trying to see if they could cut down on the Death Egg Robots on the other side of town. Apparently Silver and Espio managed to deal a bit of damage to a few of them, but none were destroyed. Celeste had learned that she had apparently distracted quite a few of the other units from getting to the resistance with her run down Park Avenue.

It was all fun and games until the door opened again. This time, standing in the door frame was a red echidna and a pink hedgehog poking her head inside.

Celeste knew exactly who they were. People she'd only seen on TV but there they were standing right in front of her. Celeste didn't know how to react. It was such an honor to be in the room with them and she just fell silent. What could she say to some of the world's greatest heroes.

Everyone else in the room straightened at the sight of them. "Commander Knuckles! Captain Rose!" They saluted.

Knuckles dismissed them with the wave of a hand.

Amy on the other hand shushed them. "Please, none of this captain stuff. I told you all that just Amy is fine."

"Speak for yourself." The Echidna chuckled. "I happen to like being Commander."

Amy shot him a glare.

"I mean, yes. Just Knuckles is fine."

"Mr. Knuckles, Ms. Amy, what are you doing here?"

Amy shrugged. "We came to check on our patient."

She then turned to Celeste. "How are you feeling, honey?"

She stuttered.Amy Rose just spoke to her. But she had to play it cool. "I-I'm okay. Thank you, Amy."

"Good to hear." Knuckles nodded. "Now, there's the matter of what went down in Sunset Heights and honestly? I'm not sure if I should thank you or slap you."

"I-I'm sorry…"

"Knuckles!" Amy shouted.

"What? I'm being honest! What this kid did was reckless and stupid. You're not one of ours so how did you even get a Wispon in the first place?"

"I found it…"

"Wispons go missing all the time, Knuckles; and she lives in Sunset Heights. She probably took it to defend herself."

She shakily nodded her head.

"Still, alerting all of those robots? She could've gotten herself killed. What was she thinking?"

"I was scared, I didn't know what to do. I just ran and ended up fighting the robots."

"Well… that was stupid."

Amy shot him a glare.

"Still… you did a lot of good and made a situation better for us. Because of your help, our forces were able to have a better time with the Death Egg Robots. So thank you for that, uh... "

"Celeste." She smiled only for it to fall. She had helped in Sunset Heights, but now what? "What happens to me now?"

"Well, one of two things." Knuckles said. "We can't send you back to Sunset."

"What, but Sunset is-"

"Home. We know." Amy answered. "We're sorry, honey. But it's just not safe for you there."

"Sunset Heights is far too dangerous a place to live. Especially for you now that all the robots have a beat on you."

"So what then?"

"We can send you to a refugee camp out in Adabat. Nice and calm and out on the sea. It'll be like you're on a vacation and you'll have the protection of the resistance."

Celeste couldn't deny that that sounded nice. The islands of Adabat were such a nice place. She'd be safe.

"Or… you could join the resistance." Knuckles smiled. "Even if you looked like an idiot in Sunset…"

She chuckled and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"You show some potential. If you join the resistance, you could be a hero. Save people, save Sunset, save the world."

They all looked at her expectantly, awaiting her answer.

She had a huge decision to make. The choice between fighting or fleeing.

On the one hand, she'd be safe and be able to live it up in Adabat. Surf, sea and sand. Rest and recuperation. What more could she ask for really?

But at the same time, fighting with the resistance didn't sound like that bad of an idea. Sure… what happened at Park Avenue, was the stupidest, most stressful situation she had ever gone through. But at the same time… there was a kind of rush of it all. She liked watching the robots be blown to smithereens. But mindless destruction wasn't enough to be a hero. What was enough was the thought of her home. Sunset Heights had been in danger for so long. If she really did join the resistance, she could help save the world, help save her home.

But she wasn't a hero like any of the people standing around her. Her run through Park Avenue was a fluke.

Then again, maybe she could fix that. Maybe she could really save her home, save Sunset.

And so that's how she found herself saying… "Yes."

"Yes?"

"I'll join the resistance."

The others smiled at her.

Now she was a part of the resistance and well… it would be interesting.

~Sonic Forces~

Celeste could tell you that she wasn't starstruck. But honestly that was a lie.

She still stood with her new friends. But she was standing amongst world renowned heroes. Team Chaotix! And Silver the Hedgehog! It took everything in her being not to scream at the sight of them. But instead, give Silver a tentative handshake. The Chaotix greeted with waves.

Her near fangirlish death aside, she directed our attention back at the Commander who standing before them.

"Welcome. Glad you could all make it to this meeting." Knuckles smiled.

"But you told us if we didn't get here in the next few minutes, you'd send us out on a mission in Metropolis by ourselves!" Charmy chirped to which he got a slap to the back of the head by Vector.

"Of course, Knuckles was kidding." Amy said, before shooting a glare at the commander. "Right, Knuckles?"

Knuckles chuckled awkwardly. "Of course."

"Anyway… What we have here is extremely important. First, I'm sure you've all been introduced to the rookie here. Her name is Celeste, we'll be using this mission to test out her skills."

"And that mission is?" Corvin asked.

Knuckles nodded to Amy and in a short moment, a holographic image of the globe appeared. Amy did a bit of fiddling with it before it zoomed towards the top of the globe and displayed images of large mechanical buildings rising out of the ocean.

Amy was the one to speak this time. "What you're looking at is Eggman's Chemical Plant off the coast of Holoska. Our intel tells us that he carries out experiments here and ships out the results to Green Hill." [4]

"But that's not all." Knuckles added. "Eggman also has an entire fleet of ships in a spaceport just a little off of the Chemical Plant. If we can borrow one of the ships, we can take one up to the Death Egg!"

"The Death Egg! That's perfect!" Silver cheered.

Celeste shuddered at the thought. "Um… the Death Egg? Why is that perfect. It's well… the Death Egg."

"The Death Egg is where Eggman has kept our fallen brethren." Espio explained. "When the resistance base in Sunset had fallen, he gathered a collection of our forces and sent them off to prison in the Death Egg."

"Any of our boys that old Eggman decides to leave alive gets a one-way ticket." Vector added.

Celeste gulped at that. "And you want that to be my first mission?"

"Nothing shows character like a dangerous mission." Knuckles grinned.

Celeste gulped.

"Now the plan is simple. We're dividing into three teams. First up, the Chaotix will go into the Space Port first from the mainland, Silver and I will take a team and make our way in from the western side of the sea and Betas, you and the rookie will be on the east. We'll rendezvous in the center of the island where we'll be able to hijack a shuttle and make our way into the Death Egg."

"I'll be monitoring everything from here, of course." Amy added.

"Everybody okay on the plan?"

Everybody agreed.

But Celeste had a question. "Uh… Betas?"

"That would be us." Fierro said.

Standing behind her were Gadget, Rhythm and Corvin .

"We're Beta Squad! We're the best of the best of the resistance aside from the heroes like well, the people here."

"You guys have proven yourselves time and time again. We'd have lost some battles without you guys." Silver patted Gadget on the back to which the wolf gave him an awkward smile.

"Fierro, you're one of the best squad leaders in the resistance. There's no one I'd trust more with the rookie than well… me." Knuckles nodded to which she saluted.

She nodded.

"So now that we've all got our orders. Let's go!"

~Sonic Forces~

Vector the Crocodile hated the cold.

But this was the mission they were given so he knew he had to go through. The other teams were in their positions and they were in there's now it was a matter of going through and getting a shuttle.

"Grrrrr It's freezing." Vector grumbled.

Espio nodded. "I don't like it either. But we have our orders."

"Couldn't Eggman have picked somewhere warmer to have his big rocket ships in like Seaside Hill or somethin'?"

"But Seaside Hill is for boats, not rockets, silly." Charmy smiled.

"And sleds are for Holoska, yet the rockets are still here."

"We must be quiet. Stealth is of the utmost importance on this mission." Espio chided.

"Yeah, yeah… I got it." Vector rolled his eyes.

He continued to walk only to step onto the metal of the facility.

Immediately when he did so alarms started blaring and Egg Pongs appeared before them.

Amy's voice crackled to life on the radio. "Several hostiles have appeared in you area."

"We can see that, Amy. Thanks." Vector remarked.

The three stood together, ready for battle.

"Alright, Chaotix. Let's show these creeps what happens when you mess with Chaotix."

"Right!"

"Yeah!"

~Sonic Forces~

Snow drifted calmly onto the chemical plant from the Holoskan skies. Ships flew above the the giant metal constructs, large buildings rose from the waters and the usual twisting paths of Eggman's chemical plants were present. All of it was covered in a thin blanket of icy snow.

"Alright, Betas! Rookie! Full speed ahead! We're hightailing it to the center of the island." Fierro announced.

They were running along the frozen paths of the chemical plant.

The rest of the squad cheered at that.

Celeste liked their enthusiasm as they continued along.

But the path ended. Luckily for them, the resistance had provided them with grappling hooks that they used to swing their way onto the next platform.

Of course, not Corvin. Corvin had an extreme gear which he used to fly there.

That's when their coms crackled to life.

"Espio here. We're engaging the enemy in enemy in the orbital tunnel! I think we can hold them off for now."

Suddenly a noise rang out. The very familiar sound of distortion. "No, wait!"

Celeste and the squad looked at each other, eyes widened in fear. They knew that noise, everybody in the world knew that noise.

Amy's voice was the one that came out on the other end. "Espio! Espio! Espio! Team Chaotix, come in!"

"Espio?!" Knuckles cried.

A second passed and finally, it crackled back to life. "Watch out! The masked one is here!" Espio stated that both calmed and disturbed them at what he had said. "The monster that took down Sonic!"

Celeste gasped. That thing was there. The one with seemingly impossible powers that had thrown the world into chaos. And the Chaotix were fighting it, alone. "We have to go back for them!"

Fierro shook her head. "No. We have our orders."

"But they're fighting that monster alone! We can't just leave them!"

Fierro just shook her head and turned away. "Stay focused, Celeste. We're off to find a shuttle."

The others nodded and headed off.

Celeste sighed and Gadget put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright. Vector and the others are tough and can handle themselves."

"Right."

"And we've got bigger problems."

Robots stood in their path, but it seemed the rest of the squad was up ahead. And they were busy.

Fierro took the lead. Using her void wispon, she let out a ball of light that just carried a group of robots away. Before imploding and wiping them away.

Rhythm was next, she took out her Cube Wispon. It was a hammer shaped into the likeness of the wisp, which she lunged into the air and swung down hard into the ground. It produced a shockwave that encased the robots in front of her into cubes.

Corvin came next, still on his gear he brandished a drill wispon which he charged up and used to propel him and his board into the robots that Rhythm froze.

Then there was Gadget, he had a burst wispon that he used to torch a few of them as well.

Celeste couldn't let the betas have all the fun though. She had a Lightning wispon now which she got insisting not to steal Gadget's thunder… By taking the lightning. And so she brought it to life and out came a wisp completely composed of electricity. She swung and took out a few of the robots in her path before following the squad.

They swung up to the top of one of the buildings and continued on another pathway.

More robots came in their path and they continued to fight.

Amongst the vortexes, flames, lightning and all the robot parts and all, Rhythm spoke up. "Y'know, I think I've figured out that song I'm working on."

"Oh?" Corvin asked.

"Let's hear it!" Gadget added.

She swung her hammer and started. "Who is it we're fighting for? Inside this crazy fire storm, there's no one left to save the world!"

She hummed.

Parts flew and more stuff went in as she hummed.

"In the distance I can see the light of hope, shining… Can't give in or we'll lose it all. No surrenderin' we will carry on, fighting. Battlin' to win back our world!"

They continued to fight as she sang. Celeste was getting a hang of the whip, letting the thing fly and slice into the badniks all around them. Ironically enough, it was over when she finished humming the tune of her song.

"Rocked it Rhythm!" Corvin said as he gave her a fist bump.

She laughed. "The song or the robots."

"The song. Although, if you ask me, you're getting a little slow on your swing."

"I thought you were the one that was slow on that board of yours."

Corvin gasped and clutched his stomach as if he had been stabbed to which the rabbit laughed.

That was when Celeste spoke up. "That was great! Where'd she learn to do that?"

Fierro answered. "She's our resident songbird."

"Because our actual bird can't carry a tune." Gadget laughed.

"Hey!"

Rhythm then answered her earlier question. "I'm a DJ on the Empire City Night Club scene. But I write some of my own songs. Someday, I'm gonna become bigger than Shadi and Li'l Kate!" [5]

"Rhythm's gonna be huge!" Corvin added.

"After the war though." She said. "We've gotta stop Eggman first. No surrendering, we will carry on… fighting. Battlin' for a better world! "

They applauded her and with that the group continued on. They swung onto a new platform that was surrounded by barbed wire only to find themselves face to face with a grind rail.

"Uh… I've never used a grind rail before."

Beta Squad looked at one another before Gadget spoke up.

Gadget was the one who spoke up. "It's easy. You just get into position and just let the momentum carry you."

She looked at the thing and still looked scared.

"You guys go ahead. I've got this." Gadget said. The rest of the squad nodded and continued, riding the rail until they were out of view.

"I was scared of these things too." Gadget said. "But sometimes if you go with a buddy, it can help. So do you wanna go with me, Celeste?"

She nodded.

So together they went on the grind rail. It was nothing. Celeste wasn't really sure why she was scared in the first place but she was glad Gadget was there for her.

But when they got off, they found the others atop a large platform fighting a bunch of robots.

They both took out their wispons and charged into battle.

Celeste let her whip go flying. She swung her whip and it sliced through a few of the Eggpongs. She dodged, she wrapped them up and continue to slice. But what she didn't notice was how dangerously close they were to the ledge.

When a robot fired at her, she went flying off with a scream.

"CELESTE!" The Beta's cried out.

She reached out and found some sort of platform but it was moving and moving fast. She climbed aboard only to find it was one of the freight trains.

In that time, Beta Squad finished off the robots and looked to see that Celeste was fine and had landed on a freight train. The only problem was that it was approaching a tunnel that the youngest member of their party would not be able to fit under.

They all screamed her name.

She looked up only to scream at the sight of the approaching wall. She didn't know what to do, she was going to die here. Her mind was racing, what was she going to do? She had no means of escape.

Escape!

Her grappling hook!

She could get out of this and she needed to do it now.

She thrust her hand up into the air and fired, not bothering to look for where it went, she needed to get off now and was carried off into the air.

The wind whipped past her, her ears flopping with it, but soon she was atop the building. But unfortunately atop that building was another railway and with it an approaching train.

She didn't think again and just fired the grapple and swung.

She landed in an entirely different section of the plant. She had no idea where she was but she knew that the best thing to do would be to call the Betas.

~Sonic Forces~

"Breathe, Gadget! Breathe!" Fierro yelled. "Calm down!"

They all looked at the hyperventilating wolf.

Corvin casually handed him a paper bag that he breathed into. In… out… in... out… Relax.

He finally reached a point where he was at the point of breathing.

"That kid is nuts!"

Corvin smirked. "I like her."

Fierro sighed. "At least she's alive… I think. Not very becoming of Beta Squad to lose a rookie on a high priority mission like this."

That's when their radio flickered to life.

"Uh… hi?" Celeste's voice came from the other side.

"You're alive!" Gadget cried out.

"Where are you?" Fierro asked.

"Uh… i don't know… I'm in another section of the plant?"

"Can you see anything?"

A moment passed and she answered. "I think I can see the launch pad up ahead!"

"Then go on ahead and we'll meet at the shuttle."

"Okay."

~Sonic Forces~

That's when the radio sparked to life for everyone. It was Silver. "Let's head in while Espio keeps them busy."

"We need to get to the shuttle now." Knuckles said.

"You're getting close." Amy said. "All of you should be meeting up shortly. Celeste, looks like you're the closest."

She was off, whipping her way through all the robots in her path before she finally arrived on a grind rail leading to the launch pad.

This time she was able to handle it on her own without problem.

When she finally arrived, there was an open ship waiting for her.

That seemed suspicious.

She held her wispon cautiously at her side, only for someone to come out. And well, she did not expect her.

"Rouge the Bat?!"

"Well now, you seem an awful long way from home. Are you lost sweetie? Should I find your mommy?"

"What? No. I-I'm part of the resistance."

"Must be a new recruit then, cause I've never seen your face before. Knuckie otta tell me about these things these days."

"Knuckie?"

The bat only laughed and that's when Knuckles, Silver and the rest of the betas arrived.

"Huh, you made it here first, rookie. Good for you." Knuckles said.

He then addressed the rest of the team. "Alright, we're all here now. The Chaotix are busy dealing with Eggman's pet monster so we're gonna have to head out without them. They'll be okay though. As long as they're able to keep him busy it's less trouble for us on the Death Egg. Now let's fly out."

And with that, the rocket shot off into space, their destination? The Death Egg.

~Sonic Forces~

The Chaotix stood in the cold, snow fell and they were surrounded by busted robot parts as well as damage to the general area itself; metal was torn to pieces, throwing knives were left stuck to different things or just discarded on the ground, ice had even formed on the ground in patches. It was a mess. They were tired, but had to keep fighting him if the plan was to work.

"The world's greatest detectives. The master told me that you three would be worthy adversaries, but I never expected you to put up this much of a fight."

"What can we say, The Chaotix never give up." Vector smirked.

"If you can't handle us, then you should go and cry to your daddy." Charmy added.

"Can't handle you?" The being asked only to let out a short laugh. "I've only just begun to show off my power and yet you all begin to tire? Not worth my time."

That's when they all saw the ship taking off to the Death Egg. Espio couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at that.

But the thing on the other hand just shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk… And it seems you rabble never learn. Hijacking one of our ships. I'll deal with you lot now."

The being was prepared to fly off towards it.

"NO!" They all shouted.

"Your fight is with us!" Espio stated. "If you really are an honorable foe then you'll finish what you started!"

The being looked between the three fighters and the fleeting spacecraft.

A beat of silence passed before the creature finally adjusted his mask and turned back to them.

"Very well. Let's finish this."

[1] Corvin the bird. He's been featured in a lot of art for Sonic Forces, usually the one with the Drill Wispon and most specifically in the official Space Port gameplay reveal.

[2] Fierro the Cat. This cool cat is everywhere too. She's usually the one holding the drill wispon in most of the promotional art.

[3] Rhythm the Rabbit. Okay… so I dunno if Rhythm is actually in promotional art. But I know you can spot her in brief moments in different gameplay and trailers.

[4] I've overanalyzed Forces environments to unhealthy levels. So… yeah. I'm pretty sure the crates in Chemical Plant are the ones in Green Hill.

[5] They're the two singer NPCs you help in Sonic Unleashed. I like to think that they became famous. But yeah.

And that'll do for Chapter 2. Wow. That was a long one. Closer to 5,000 words? Definitely something I haven't done in a while, but man. I had fun doing it. So yeah, we've done it. A little bit of character development. A little bit of action. It was fun. I had fun with this.

I've been waiting for a while to fit Beta Squad into something and I thought, hey! I can fit them in this fanfiction! I was looking at those four characters one day and started making up character info about them and put 'em in a squad. They'll develop a little bit in this too since I already know what I wanna do with them and love 'em too much. No promises, but maybe if I feel up for it, later I could make a Sonic Forces: Episode Beta sorta deal about them. But like I said, no promises.

But yeah, that'll do for this chapter. Next time? I dunno. But hey, I wonder how Tails is doing? Until next time.

R&R