Surprise! You thought I was only going to come in with the short chapter this month, but you were wrong!

And we're back for another chapter of Trials of War. First, I wanna celebrate since Trials of War is now officially my most reviewed story! We did it guys! And I owe it all to you. When I started this story, I had no idea it would get so popular and I'm glad you all have stuck around for so long. As a reward for us reaching this milestone, I present to you all an extra-long chapter weeks earlier than usual and this one is a personal favorite of mine. Are you guys ready, because only you can prevent Luminous Forest Fires. But before we do that how about some review replies:

KelWelPower:

Heh, looks like you might be onto something with Luminous Forest

tekina fiction:

Heh, thank you.

SharpDragonKlaw:

Haha, I'm glad you liked it.

Infinite's Ruby:

For now, I'm gonna say hold off on the alternate dimension thing. I do have a plan and explanation unlike Forces and will be getting into it later on in the story. Admittedly, I probably should've focused more on that. So my bad.

Modern Tails and Classic Sonic are good boys and a lot of fun to write. I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Station Square will be next time. For now, we enjoy another spot.

Alexandria Prime:

Haha, seems like everybody loves that scene. Omega is here, he's just quiet. And the Heavies were a nod to Encore Mode, something I don't plan to write but will still be canon to my story. Gonna be a while till we get to that reunion but it's gonna be so worth it.

bajy:

Thank you for the support!

Spiderdom321:

Haha, yep. That seems to be the big reveal with this chapter. I actually probably would've made Classic Sonic mute in this story, but there's a reason I made him speak. A particular scene that is planned for much later in the story. But their banter is a lot of fun to write and I'm so glad you enjoy it.

Everyone wants the reunion so bad. Haha. Honestly, you all are not the only ones. I want it to and gosh, it's such a big moment that I'm looking forward to but so, so far away.

Thank you and no problem. It was a pleasure. And all I can say is hold onto your hat with Shadow, we're gonna have quite the ride.

KelWelPower:

Funny you should mention Sonic Adventure. But I guess that's next chapter. As for the characters, I hope I do them justice. And Big? I'm sure he's fine. Thanks so much for the support.

Also, just a note. I strongly recommend you listen to Aqua Road during the Celeste portion of the chapter because oh my gosh, it fits so well.

Trials of War: A Sonic Forces Rewrite

Chapter 12-

Only You Can Prevent Luminous Forest Fires

"Good evening everyone. I'm Ace Reporter, Brenda [1] Robinson here to bring you the latest news!" A young woman announced as she stood proud and tall before the camera. She looked to be in her early twenties and had on simple form fitting pants, high heels and probably the most prominent thing being her large red news blazer emblazoned with the Eggman Empire logo on the back and the pin sporting the classic Eggman logo. The young woman was standing amongst a crowd of humans and mobians with a stage set up in the background complete with a red curtain and the like.

"I'm coming to you live today from sunny Metropolis, the shining capital of the Eggman Empire to bring you the latest on what's crackin' with our benevolent emperor, Doctor Eggman."

She waited a beat, then continued. "And of course, the kindness of our great leader today as it has been declared that today is a national holiday! Aside from today's required viewing that is about to take place, we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our day today. We have no one but the good 'ol doc for making the day sunny side up."

At that, she put her finger to her ear, to where someone told her that they were about to begin. She nodded at this and smiled back at the camera.

"And it looks like things are about to begin soon, so let's see what he has for us."

With that, she smiled at the camera, waiting for them to change footage. Her cameraman, a green koala bear named Carl held up the camera in one hand and had his fist held up in another. He kept his fist there for a few moments, before he opened his palm, signaling that they were done.

Brenda let out a sigh of relief at this and walked over to her friend. "You're doing great, Carl. Thank you."

"Of course, Ms. Brenda."

"Please, honey. Just Brenda is fine." She smiled at the mobian to which he nodded.

Together, the two looked up at the stage as things began to start.

For 24 year old Brenda Robinson things had gone super well for her since the shattered world crisis two years ago. With her smash hit articles on things going down around the world, she finally got her big break and was able to move away from her crummy freelance writing jobs and into the Limelight when Empire City News called her up and asked her if she wanted to be an investigative reporter. Brenda couldn't have said yes faster and for about a year, she had been happily doing her dream job as a top notch investigative journalist. But then, Eggman had taken over and things had gotten far more dangerous for her. It all started when she was simply reporting on the resistance and the great things that they were doing to save the day, she had even run into Sonic again and had even scored some interviews with Knuckles the Echidna. But things changed and changed a lot when Eggman had officially taken over the world and taken control of the world's broadcasting. Brenda's job had turned from investigative journalist hitting the hard facts on the world's problems to personal news anchor for the Eggman Empire and needless to say, that wasn't so great. She hated what the world had become under the Eggman Empire's influence. She was forced to give all this prewritten garbage about how great of an Emperor Eggman was and how grateful they were to be under his protection, but she knew the truth and hated every bit of it. Eggman kept a close eye on her, making sure she wouldn't do or say anything that would make the world question her loyalty to him and as such, her dream job became a living nightmare.

If she had her way, she would've made a hard hitting article on Sonic's Return, thanking Chaos that he was alive, safe and sound and ready to take back the world. She would've loved to have been the one to interview Sonic right after he kicked Metal Sonic to the curb and freed Sunset Heights. She would've loved to do a lot of things.

But instead she was stuck here, dutifully reporting for the Eggman Empire and needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience.

The only bright side was that she was able to save her poor cameraman Carl from being put into that floating prison on the Death Egg when Eggman had taken out world media, insisting that the koala had the expertise that a machine couldn't give.

Carl had been by her side ever since she had first been brought onto Empire City News. With all the trouble she had gotten into all over the world, she was thankful to have the bear by her side as they took on the world's news together. Carl had quickly become one of her best friends and she was glad that she still had him in this terrible situation she had been brought into.

The two stood together as they watched the curtain open and the Eggman Empire Anthem blare. [2]

Immediately people began to clap and cheer at the very sight of the world's dictator as he stood proud and tall behind a podium while Shadow, Zavok and Infinite sat in chairs at the far end of the stage and a screen was shown behind him dawning the Eggman Empire Logo.

"Citizens of the Eggman Empire, never fear! Your benevolent Emperor is here!" He boomed to which the cheers got even louder.

No one was really sure if it was artificial or if things were that messed up in Metropolis, but needless to say the cheers got even greater at his very presence.

"Thank you, thank you, I am grateful for the warm welcome!" He grinned. "You're all far too kind."

With that, he waited a moment for the cheers to go down a bit before he continued. "While I'm sure you're all happy to see me and I of course am very happy to see all of you lovely people, I unfortunately come bearing bad news…"

He then gestured to the screen which changed to images of the resistance taking back Sunset Heights, but slightly edited to make it seem like they were causing more destruction. When Silver brought down the Death Egg Robot, they angled it so that it looked like it took out an entire city block, the footage of Sonic saving those people from the collapsing building was shown so that it appeared he put them under there to get crushed and it only got worse and worse as he showed more and more doctored footage.

"Now, I know the footage you see before you is very, very disturbing but it is necessary to show the true evil that these terrorists known as the resistance have plagued upon our fine empire." Eggman explained. "These horrible people seem to be under the understanding that somehow, through their violent acts of oppression and upsetting the natural order that they are helping the world? But me, all I see are a bunch of no good criminals trying to topple the safety that the Eggman Empire has worked so hard to build over this past year."

People started booing at that, shouting horrible things about the resistance and all as Eggman continued.

"I know, I know… It's absolutely horrible!" Eggman agreed. "But unfortunately, things only get worse from there. As the world knows, Sonic the Hedgehog: a previously eliminated threat, has somehow resurfaced and has made his way back into the spot of Public Enemy Number 1. His horrid acts of instilling so called "hope" and "justice" within the people are not at all condoned by the Eggman Empire and will be swiftly dealt with, I can assure you."

At that, the screen began to show the fight between Metal Sonic and his eventual destruction.

"Even one of our beloved generals was destroyed by this menace. Metal Sonic suffered a heavy blow, a tragic blow that will be sending ripples within the world and the empire for generations. But we will not forget him and we will show Sonic and his little band of rebels that we do not stand for their mockery of what we've all worked so hard for! We'll show the resistance that they will not be allowed to tarnish the good name of the empire! We'll show the resistance that they will not hurt our homes or our families any longer!"

The crowd erupted into a thunderous applause at that as Eggman took a bow and the curtain closed.

With everything said and done, Eggman turned to face his remaining generals who all immediately rose from their seats.

As he advanced, Cubot and Orbot appeared with both a water bottle and face cloth respectively. Cubot handing him the bottle of water while Orbot dabbed the beating sweat off of the Doctor's forehead.

When he was done he let out a sigh of relief. "Phew… Addressing the empire can be a lot of work, I'll tell you."

"Indeed." Infinite nodded. "Are you alright, doctor?"

"Me? I'm fine. I'm more worried about our next course of action now that Sonic has returned and it's clear that while our ground control certainly did some good it didn't quite get us to where we needed to be."

The others nodded.

"But right now, the most important thing is that someone has to redeem themselves after their blunder in the Death Egg earlier this week."

He glared intensely at Zavok to which the Zeti put a hand to his chest and bowed his head. "My liege, please forgive me. I had no idea that Sonic would-"

"Save it. We already talked about that."

He rose his head. "Of course."

"But no, I have an assignment for you that even you can't mess up, Zavok. You see, as you know we have the operation in the Mystic Jungle going down, getting rid of the silly ancient temple and building the custom Eggman Empire Casino for the rich fools here in Metropolis."

"Yes?"

"Progress has slowed down lately and I need someone to burn down the forest to ensure that construction gets back to optimal levels. I'm entrusting you to oversee the destruction of the Mystic Jungle."

Zavok nodded. "Consider it done, Doctor."

"Good. Because if you mess even this up, there will be consequences…"

Zavok knew full and well of the consequences of failing Eggman. He had seen it firsthand that year ago when he was first shoved into Eggman's ranks.

~Trials of War~

After everything had happened with Sonic and Eggman on the Lost Hex, The Deadly Six could finally rest and not worry about idiots going around and controlling them or kicking their butts.

Life was good and they couldn't be happier. Well, everyone except for Zavok that was.

At that time, the Zeti was in Lava Mountain Zone underneath a waterfall of lava lifting thousands of tons worth of boulders over his head as if he were lifting weights at the gym.

"Four thousand five hundred forty four… Five thousand four hundred forty five… four thousand five hundred forty six…"

He grunted, letting out a low growl as it began to take it's toll but he refused to give up. Pressing on and doing more reps.

"Four thousand five hundred forty seven… four thousand five hundred forty eight…"

"Zavok…" A voice called out to him.

"Four thousand five hundred forty nine…"

"Zavok."

"Five thousand five hundred and fifty…" He wheezed, letting out a gasp, but still continued. "Five thousand five hundred and fifty one…"

"Zavok!"

Immediately, the Zeti's concentration was broken, making him drop the rock into the pool of lava and for a massive splash to let out.

"Who dares?!" Zavok snapped.

"Just an old man who would like to talk to his young friend for a moment."

Immediately, Zavok's entire demeanor changed going from hostile to one of the upmost respect. "Master! Of course!"

He swam over to the edge of the rock, looking up at him. "Please, Master. Relax. Join me in the lava, it's just sizzling this morning."

Zik just shook his head. "I am fine, thank you."

"Very well. What brings you here on this fine morning, Master?"

"I… am concerned."

"Ah yes. I share your worry as well. Ever since that troublesome hedgehog and that annoying doctor located our land, we as a species have been exposed to-"

But the older one rolled his eyes and brushed him off. "Yes, yes. That. That is a concern. But that is not my problem right now."

"Then what is?"

"My concern is for you, my pupil."

"Me? But what for?"

"Since those two left our land, you have been throwing yourself into your training. More than you should."

"But of course." Zavok insisted. "The first time we are visited by someone from the outside world and not only are we conquered but later made fools of by another? That is unacceptable. If I am to be a good leader, then I am to be sure that I can protect the others from any form of threat, whether it be Sonic, Eggman or any other adversary we may face."

"And while admirable, pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion is not going to help our people." Zik shakes his head. "Many a time have myself or one of the others come to find you passed out on the floor of Lava Mountain. Why, young Zor even thought you had passed on once and said he wished it were him!"

"Yes, I may push myself to far, but it is for our own good…" Zavok insisted.

"And that is not how I taught you!" Zik snapped. "We may believe in strength above all, but there is nothing but foolishness and defeat to be found in what you're doing here!"

Zavok furrowed his brow. "I am only doing what is best for us! We were conquered in mere seconds last time due to my lack of strength, not yours, not anyone else's, mine! And I refuse to allow that to happen again, by making myself stronger I will be able to lead us into a brighter future."

Zik was slightly taken aback by this. Zavok had never snapped at him. "You need to watch your mouth and understand who it is your talking to!"

"With all due respect, Master but I have long since reached maturity and am the leader of the Deadly Six. I can speak to anyone I want in any way I choose."

"And who put you in this place?"

Zavok growled. "I-"

Boom!

The sound of cannon fire let off.

Immediately, both Zeti broke out of their argument and looked to the sound to see smoke off in the distance.

"That came from Windy Hill!" Zik said, narrowing his eyes at the sight of rising smoke in the distance.

Zavok immediately hopped out of the pool, shaking the lava off of his body. "We need to get there right away."

Together, the Zeti raced towards Windy Hill Zone, forgetting any and all transgressions they had with each other for the time being.

When they had arrived, the sight well… the sight was something to behold.

Zazz, Zomom, Zeena and Zor were lying in a pile badly bruised and beaten.

"What happened here?!" Both Zavok and Zik roared.

At that, the two turned at the sound of a familiar droning, a sound that Zavok knew all too well.

Doctor Eggman appeared, flying down on his Eggmobile with Cubot and Orbot close behind.

"Finally, the man of the hour has arrived!" Eggman grinned.

At that, both Zeti took battle ready stances, glaring intently at him. "What do you want, Eggman?"

"Funny you should ask, because the thing I want is you, Zavok."

"Me? What?"

"Oh yes. You see, I am getting a little group and-"

"Not interested."

"But you haven't even heard-"

"No."

"But I-"

"I will not say it again, leave now or I will not hesitate to destroy you, Doctor!"

"I don't like his tone, Doctor. Are you sure this is the one you want?" A new voice said.

This took both Zavok and Master Zik aback before both got into even tenser battle positions, Zavok with his fists held high and Master Zik with his cane dangerously poised and ready to be used.

At that, Infinite hovered down on the ground before them, glaring both Zeti down.

"No, no this is exactly the one I want, Infinite."

Both Zavok and Zik narrowed their eyes at the new foe. "What is this, Eggman? You bring one of your lackeys here to do your dirty work?"

Infinite shook his head. "I am far more than a simple lackey. I am what you would call… the ultimate key to world domination."

"You?" Zavok scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. You look as if I could crush you without breaking a sweat."

But Zik said nothing, glaring at Infinite. Something was off about him, but he couldn't tell what.

That's when Eggman reentered the conversation. "Now, now… there's no need for fighting. At least not yet."

But no one dared ease up.

"Zavok, I am giving you the once in a life time chance to become a member of the Eggman Empire! If you join us now, your home and your family will be spared."

"And if I refuse?"

Eggman raised an eyebrow at this, but couldn't help but grin at him. And then, he snapped his fingers.

Before Zavok could even react Infinite appeared in front of him, sending a punch out towards the mountain of a Zeti that would've even knocked him off his feet.

Would have.

Just as quickly as Infinite appeared, Master Zik had also stepped before him, his staff meeting Infinite's fist and forcing him back.

Zavok was shocked beyond belief. "Master!"

The older Zeti grunted. "Zavok, stand back!"

But Infinite, he couldn't help but grin underneath his mask. "Well now, you are an interesting one, aren't you Master Zik? I was told of the great power of the former leader of the Deadly Six, but to experience it first hand? I must say, it's astonishing."

"My people thrive on strength and nothing more. I may be old and out of my prime, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Then show me!"

And with that, the battle began.

Immediately, Infinite went on the attack sending a volley of punches and kicks at the Zeti leader to which the Master easily was able to block and parry with his staff.

Eggman looked interested as the two battled on to which Zavok looked on in shock.

It wasn't until the two clashed again, foot to staff and impacting so hard that it caused wind to be kicked up by the blow that had even Zavok have to brace himself for the impact.

With that, the two jumped away from each other and quickly Infinite fired a blast of energy from his hand that was easily met by another from the end of the elder Zeti's staff.

The two collided and caused a small explosion that obscured their vision for a bit.

When the smoke finally cleared, Infinite emerged, racing towards Zik with the red streak trailing behind him.

But he was stopped in his tracks by a fireball that struck him in his side and threw him face down on the ground.

Zik was surprised at this and looked to see his successor let out a triumphant smirk at that before he jumped into the air and landed atop Infinite and grabbed him by the mask.

Viciously, the Zeti slammed his head on the ground, doing so with such force that cracks were left in the ground.

He did this a few more times to which the jackal grunted with each blow.

But what Zavok didn't notice was when one of the jackal's clawed hands reached up to grab his own wrist.

It was only when he shakily rose to his feet, both hand's around Zavok's wrist that he took notice of his foe gaining the upper hand, but by then it was too late. Infinite took Zavok by the wrist and flung him across the field where he landed roughly against the rock. [3]

At that, Infinite fired a laser at the approaching Master Zik, causing him to crumple to the floor.

"Master!" Zavok cried.

The old Zeti tried to rise to his feet but Infinite was upon him, sending a roundhouse directly into his face, knocking him away from the cane and into a wall of his own.

At that, Infinite calmly walked over to the old one as he tried to rise to his feet, but found his body to weak.

But Zavok wasn't having any of that, with great effort, he was able to pull himself from the wall and charge at Infinite like a raging bull.

But without even looking at him, Infinite was able to grab him by one of his horns and slam him into the ground again. Infinite then fired another beam of energy into him as well, putting him in his place.

He could only watch as Infinite finally reached Master Zik and lifted him up into the air.

"Leave him alone!" Zavok roared at them, desperately trying to find his strength to get to jackal who would dare handle his master in that way.

At that, Eggman laughed. "Really now, Zavok? And here I thought you didn't have a care in the world for anyone? But this master of yours seems to have made you abandon everything I've known you for."

"I care for no one!" Zavok shouted.

"Then you should have no problem with Infinite destroying him." Eggman shrugged. "Infinite… if you would?"

At that, Infinite raised his hand towards the old master's head readying a beam of light that would end his life once and for all. The old man desperately tried to free himself from his grasp but to no avail.

Zavok's eyes shot between his master, Infinite and Eggman as he tried so hard to find the strength to rise, but he just could not. He didn't have the power to save his master, he wasn't strong enough. After all this time, he still wasn't strong enough!

"Stop!" Zavok shouted, to which the jackal looked at him curiously. "I will do what you want, just leave him alone."

"Zavok, no!"

"Do you hear me doctor?!" Zavok shouted. "Call off your dog and I will do as you ask, just leave my master, my people and my home be."

At that, Infinite looked to Eggman, who nodded. Without a word, Infinite chucked him into the pile of Zeti. He lay there, groaning.

At that, Eggman grinned at him. "Now was that so hard, Zavok? I knew that with some coaxing you would come to see reason."

Zavok looked only at his Master that still looked at him with disapproval.

"Welcome to the Eggman Empire. We have a lot of work to do."

~Trials of War~

Zavok couldn't help but sigh when he thought back to that day. When everything had changed and he found himself siding with Eggman. All of it, all of it was to make sure that Infinite would not bring harm to his master or his home and he knew that he had to do well in Mystic Jungle or else there would be consequences.

~Trials of War~

When Sonic and Celeste had come back from Viemigos a few days prior, they were immediately put into the infirmary by Cream and Vanilla insisting that they needed to get a proper checkup after facing Infinite.

Even when they were sure that things were okay, they kept them under strict observation to make sure that things were okay.

Luckily for them, they had guests in the form of Mighty and Ray for Sonic and Beta Squad for Celeste.

Sonic, Mighty and Ray were still eagerly catching up with one another over everything they had missed over the past five years.

For Celeste, Beta Squad was talking animatedly about how they had faced Zavok back in Westopolis a few days prior.

"You should've been there, Cel!" Corvin grinned. "The big 'ol Zeti tried to grab Gadget by his belt when I socked him right in the mouth with my drill Wispon. It was awesome."

Fierro laughed. "I thought you said you pulled off a high speed aerial maneuver on your gear right into a roundhouse kick when you were telling Silver and the Chaotix the story yesterday."

"Yeah, I did. And after that, I flipped out of the roundhouse and socked him right in the mouth with my drill Wispon."

"Right…" Fierro laughed to which Celeste and the others did too.

"I'm telling you guys, it happened." Corvin insisted.

Rhythm ruffled up the feathers on top of his head and laughed. "Keep telling yourself that, bud."

Gadget rolled his eyes. "But after we took down Zavok and ran off, we were able to get a few new members of the resistance! Some former GUN members down there were more than willing to help join the fight and we were able to get them down here. It was great."

"That's great!" Celeste smiled. "Sounds like you guys did a lot better than me and Sonic did."

"Maybe in terms of getting members but you and Sonic fought Infinite and won!" Rhythm shouted.

"Yeah…" Celeste breathed.

"Is something the matter?" Gadget asked. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Wha-what? No!" Celeste stammered. She then forced a smile. "See, I'm perfectly fine!"

The young adults that made up Beta Squad looked between each other with concerned looks. This kid was definitely not fine.

Just as they were about to say something to her, the door slid open and in walked Vanilla. "Sonic, Celeste!"

"Yes?" They both asked.

"You two are free to go, it looks like everyone's being called down for a mission to be done and Knuckles has asked me to release you both."

They agreed and got out of their beds.

But before they left, Vanilla called out to them. "You two kids better not fight any serious threats like Infinite again, okay? You may have gotten out with just a few cuts and bruises but next time you could be seriously hurt!"

"Of course not. Never again." Celeste said.

"No promises!" The hog grinned as he stepped out.

Vanilla smiled. "Thank you so much for tha- wait, what?"

Sonic zoomed on down the hall at that to which the doctor shook her head. "Oh… Sonic."

Soon, everyone was in the mission room where they could see the map of the world focused on the Mystic Jungle. Large red classic Eggman logos were flashing over the Mystic Jungle as pictures of large fires flooded the screen.

Knuckles, who was at the head of the room, finally addressed everyone as the Mighty, Ray, Celeste and the Betas closed out the group.

"Happy that you all could join us cause we've got trouble."

Amy nodded. "That's right. As many of you know, the Mystic Jungle down on the border between Soumerica and the United Federation has been a target of the Eggman Empire since before the war had even started."

"Eggman has been so insistent on cutting down the forest and putting some sort of casino in its place. Pretty messed up stuff."

"But now, he seems to have wanted to speed up the process as massive fires have been spreading over the majority of the Mystic Jungle. We're not sure of the cause but these aren't natural, it must be some sort of massive robot doing the work."

"Which is why we'll be sending a chunk of our forces down in the Mystic Jungle today. Making sure that we protect the place."

Quickly their assignments were given out and to Celeste's surprise, she was assigned to…

"Sonic, you and Celeste will be heading down together through the outer edge of the casino to see if you can find the cause of the fires. Can you do that?" Amy asked.

"Sure thing, you up for a little romp through the forest, partner?" Sonic asked.

Celeste smiled. "Sure!"

"After last time's bout with Infinite I think it's important that you show the rookie here a thing or two about what to do in this sort of situation." Knuckles added. "So Sonic, you take the lead! Rookie… eh… just make sure you take good notes."

~Trials of War~

On the tip of Soumerica, just south of the United Federation stood the Mystic Jungle a place shrouded in mystery. People didn't know whether it was the lush greenery that blanketed the luminous forest in shadows or if it was the rushing waters that made up aqua road or even the temple inside that connected the place to the Mystic Ruins down a little southward, there was something just so beautiful about the Mystic Jungle. This beauty could especially be found at night, when the place was bathed in the moonlight above that gave both the dimly lit temple a little more to it and the reflection of the moon in the waters below. The Mystic Jungle could be viewed as arguably one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Or at least it was…

Since Eggman's rule had begun, this natural beauty had begun being torn down and in its place was a massive casino that Eggman had built to change the planet into his sick, twisted image. The natural light of the moon was pretty much overshadowed by the gigantic radiant buildings that glowed so brightly in the calm jungle, that when close, one would think it was daylight.

While a lot of these casino buildings were up and ready to go, disrupting the natural beauty of the forest, there was still a lot of forest left to cover and a large chunk of the Mystic Jungle stood proud and tall.

The only problem was, Eggman wasn't going to let that stay for long and as such, massive fires spread along the jungle bringing about destruction on the Mystic Jungle that the resistance did not stand for. Ships, similar to the ones on the Death Egg dropped bombs onto the ground to continue the blaze.

One such member of the resistance, a young bear wearing a forest ranger's uniform stood and looked out at the fiery inferno below. He took off his forest ranger hat and closed his eyes. "Only I can prevent this…" he swore as a single tear spilled out of his eye.

[4] And at that moment, two blue blurs rushed past him at that, throwing him off his feet and onto the ground below.

"Whoops, sorry about that, Smokey!" Sonic called into his com as he and Celeste rushed down the road and into the jungle.

Amy's voice came to life on the coms. "Agent Smokey, will you please report to your station! Nobody likes the wildfires and we'll be taking care of this but everyone needs to be in their spot."

"R-right, sorry 'bout that."

The bear then looked to the edge of the road and swore that he would prevent wildfires before heading into the blaze below.

Returning to Sonic and Celeste they were out and about through the luminous forest.

At that the coms lit up and Knuckles voice came to life. "Eggman's forces are scattering bombs like confetti!"

"We can't go on like this!" Amy cried.

"The whole place is going up in flames." Sonic announced. "Not the kind of fireworks I like."

He then turned to Celeste and grinned. "Come on partner, let's put out the-"

But the young girl was nowhere to be found.

"Uh… I just lost Celeste. Should I go after her?"

"Focus on the mission, Sonic." Knuckles commanded.

Begrudgingly, the hedgehog nodded and continued on his path through the forest.

Before him, several of the strange ostrich Badniks, which he had recently learned were called Egg Evaders, were running along the forest floor doing their best to get away from him.

Sonic grinned at this and stepped it up, calling upon the power of the boost and ramming into several of them causing a flurry of explosions to be left behind.

"Heh, these things are joke." Sonic smirked. "It's as if Eggman made them just for me to destroy."

Soon, the forest began to get denser, forcing Sonic to make a turn into one of the temples. There, he found the way lighted up by several torches along the walls and the natural glow that came from the strange almost glasslike markings along the walls. But the thing that he disliked about the place was the amount of robots scattered around.

Right at the entrance, Sonic had to come out of his boost to slide underneath laser fire from two Eggpawns and right into them, breaking them to pieces.

Once done, he quickly continued through the temple where a slope led deeper inside but a platform was just out of his reach, leading above.

Choosing to take the upper path, Sonic backed away from the platform. He then jumped through the air, landing atop it and continuing his way up through the temple.

He ran up a slope a few more feet before a few Eggpongs came into view, their blasters trained on him.

Sonic leapt into the air, just before they could hit him and homed into the one at the head of the group and uncurled, opting to send a roundhouse into one of them, knocking it into the one at the right side before he landed in a stomp and boosted into the last one.

Keeping up his speed, he proceeded where he found some swinging platforms inside. But he shrugged them off, opting to use his speed to lead through the air and land on the other side.

When he did land, he didn't expect to smash into the three roaders that had been waiting for him and hadn't even had the chance to attack him.

Continuing down the halls another Eggpong had appeared, this one actually caught him by surprise, and fired. Sonic was quick, but this shot had grazed his arm, leaving him to let out a hiss of pain at the blow before he quickly covered it. But before it could fire again, he raced towards it in a boost. Destroying it instantly.

Sonic couldn't help but grin at that only for his face to fall as he quickly dove out of the way of a trio of Roaders.

The three veered back around, trying their best to catch Sonic only for the hero to jump into the air and home in on each of them.

He dashed off again, ramming his way through a quartet of Eggpongs before he found himself out of the jungle and into a brand new scene.

He was out in the forest again, although this time, he was surprised to find himself on a halfpipe of wood made out of one of the trees that he zoomed along through. He couldn't help but be reminded of his time on the Lost Hex as he did this.

Thorny brambles were also in his path but he easily quickstepped out of the way of each of them and rammed into any of the Eggpongs or Egg Evaders that came into his way.

Once the halfpipe was done, he hopped off and was met with strange new robots that resembled actual eggs and had propellers on their heads. Each of them were scattered throughout the air and dropped bombs on the ground below without issue.

Sonic homed into each and every one of them, leaving nothing but bits of scrap in his wake as he continued on the other side.

There, he raced on through a little bit more of the temple before he arrived on another halfpipe and did the same as before.

Soon, Sonic the Hedgehog arrived at a good spot in the forest where he could get a good view of what they assumed was the giant robot destroying the forest. And he found exactly what they were looking for except it wasn't a giant robot.

"Ames, Knux, I found the source of the fires." Sonic said into his com.

The ground then shook around him as it caused more damage.

"And lemme just say, it thinks it's deadly…"

At that, it revealed itself to be none other than Zavok riding atop one of the mechanical dragons that Sonic knew all too well from he and Zavok's Dragon Dance on the Lost Hex that year ago. But if that wasn't bad enough, then flanking him were two more of the massive mechanical dragons, each of them shooting deadly elliptical beams of death that tore into the forest and set more of the trees ablaze.

Zavok let out an evil laugh as he beat his fists against his chest and let out a deathly roar as they continued on through the forest to which Sonic jumped from his perch and raced on after it.

~Trials of War~

[5] One moment the girl was running alongside Sonic on a mission to save the forest from being set on fire, the next she was plucked out of the air and being dragged off somewhere by a massive figure through the moonlit battlefield. She thrashed about, desperately trying to get away from her captor, fearing that somehow she had been caught by the Eggman Empire and was about to be hauled off to the Death Egg or worse.

"Help!" Celeste cried out to which the figure stopped.

In a slow, deep voice, the figure nodded. "Yes, help."

"What?" Celeste asked confusedly.

She was surprised by what she saw when the figure turned back to her and revealed himself to be a gigantic purple cat with beady yellow eyes and white fur gracing its belly. At this, Celeste was rather confused and got even more confused when the cat said, "Please help me find my frog." revealing him to be none other than Big the Cat.

"What?" Celeste said confused.

"My frog!" Big announced. "He got lost in the woods a little bit before the fires started. I'm so worried for my poor Froggy."

Incredulously, Celeste just shook her head. "I- I don't know what's going on."

"Then maybe I can help you figure that out while you help me find my frog."

"I guess!" Celeste just shrugged as the cat dragged her off.

And so that was the case as they continued on through the forest for a bit, just Big and Celeste walking through the Mystic Jungle in silence for a bit.

That is until trouble found them.

"Uh oh." Big said.

Celeste who was still just kinda letting life take her wherever it wanted to looked up from where she was sitting.

"What's wrong?"

"It looks like some of Eggman's robots have come to fight."

"What?!"

At that, Big let her go and she scrambled up to her feet where she could see that he was correct. A few of the robots had in fact come to join them. She spotted four Eggpongs and four Buzzbombers, each with their blasters trained on them, ready to fight.

Immediately, Celeste pulled out her electric Wispon. "Stay back! I can handle these guys."

But Big just brushed her off. "Oh don't worry. I can help you with these."

"Uh… I don't think you understand. These robots are deadly killing machines."

But Big still refused. "I've fought these things for years, don't worry."

"Years?"

At that, the fight started and Big lumbered ahead of her, jumping up into the air and slamming into not one, not two, but three of the Buzz Bombers in one swoop while the other quickly escaped and raced towards Celeste.

Celeste just stared in awe at the sight of the gigantic cat fighting off the robot's only to be brought back into reality when the remaining Buzz Bomber knocked her off her feet, her Wispon clattering to the floor next to her.

Quickly, she rolled out of the way of a shot from the robot before she looked up at it and fired out her grappling hook right into the head of the robot, breaking it apart into pieces.

Celeste smiled at this only to run out of the way of the attacks from the Eggpongs.

Luckily for her, Big had gotten up from where he stood and sent a massive punch that broke one of the robots apart in an instant completely shocking her. He was so strong.

Luckily for her, in her attempt to run away from the shots, she had also gotten to her discarded weapon and quickly picked it up. Pushing on the trigger so that the electric whip came to life and and with the flick of the wrist sent a wave of electricity out towards the remaining Eggpongs destroying them instantly.

"We did it!" Big grinned. "You did a good job, uh… I'm sorry, what is your name, friend?"

Celeste smiled. "My name is Celeste. What is yours?"

"I'm Big the Cat."

"Nice to meet you, Big."

"You too, Celeste. I always like meeting new friends."

Celeste couldn't help but laugh. "Me too. So… where do you think your frog ran off to?"

"I'm not sure, when the fires broke out we got separated. I hope poor Froggy is okay."

"Well, I'm sure we'll find him. As a member of the resistance, I guess it's my job to help people out with whatever problems they might have. So I guess I'll help you find your frog."

"Thank you Celeste."

"Sure thing."

With that, the duo continued down the road, this time walking side by side.

It wasn't long before they reached the entrance to one of the temples but unfortunately for them, a pack of Roaders stood before them. Five of them, each revving up their engines and looking dangerously at the duo.

"Let's take them, Big!" Celeste grinned

The cat nodded and smiled.

With that, Celeste ran towards them much faster than Big did and lashed her whip out at the one at the head of the group, before quickly diving out of the way of another one.

This one had ended up running into Big who surprisingly had an umbrella out that he effortlessly swung at one of the roaders which actually knocked it off course and knocked it into one of the other two.

With that, Celeste quickly got up and did the same as before sending her whip into one of the two and soon, they had finished off the fight.

As they continued on, Celeste couldn't help but get even happier with all the battles going on. She didn't have to worry about her fighting, she was safe and she could handle missions with the resistance, even this odd one with helping this guy find his missing frog. There was nothing for her to worry about.

Nothing… unless Infinite showed up.

In Veimigos, Infinite had been so unbelievably powerful that he had even put Sonic off balance. The two of them had barely saved the town and wouldn't have gotten out of the ordeal alive had it not been for that strange power they had pulled off and the appearance of Mighty and Ray.

She knew taking out a few robots was child's play but when it came to some of the bigger threats out there did she really stand a chance. Did she stand a chance against the leader of the Deadly Six? Did she stand a chance against the Ultimate Life Form? Did she stand a chance against the literal God of Destruction? Did she stand a chance against whatever the heck Infinite was? She didn't think so and she was scared to face them.

She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair wondering what exactly she was going to do if she ever came face to face with one of Eggman's generals. She was scared. She was so unbelievably scared and didn't know what to do. Would she ever make it out of this war?

At that, Big cleared his throat. "Uh… Celeste?"

Celeste opened her eyes and was surprised to see that they had reached the end of the temple and now faced a small waterfall that lead outside in the greater jungle below.

She squinted and could see what looked like a wooden waterslide that lead down below.

"What is this?"

"It looks like fun!" Big beamed and with that he grabbed her by the arm and ran out to the slide.

"Wait!" Celeste cried out.

But it was too late, she and Big had already burst through the water and were now on the slides going down to the ground below.

Luckily for her, Big had placed her on his belly so that she was able to use him as a sort of floatation device on the water. With that, they began to lazily go down the waterfall.

"Well, I guess that works." Celeste shrugged. "Thank you, Big. You didn't have to do this."

"Ah, no worries. I don't mind being a little wet."

She let out a smile and nodded. But her eyes betrayed her looking sullen and scared for what would come in the future and this didn't go unnoticed by her companion.

"Is something troubling you, friend?"

Celeste was quick to deny it. "What… no? Everything is fine."

Big pursed his lips together. "Well, you don't look fine."

"I am."

Big nodded. "Well… I may not know what's wrong. But I always know that it isn't good to keep things inside. Sometimes, we just need to talk. Can you please tell me what's wrong, Celeste?"

Celeste sighed. "You're not going to stop asking if I don't."

"No, I would." Big admitted. "I know I shouldn't make someone talk when they don't want to. But… I can tell that you're someone that needs it. And I like to help my friends, so I want to listen."

Celeste sighed. Big was right, she did need to talk. But it was hard. "I just… I don't know, Big. I-I'm just scared."

"Scared of what friend?"

"Of everything, this war, Eggman, the crazy people leading his armies, everything going on!"

Big looked up at her.

"Every time I step out on the battlefield, I just can't help but think that there's no way I'm going to make it out of this alive. Yet somehow, through dumb luck I'm able to not get crushed by a train, save Sonic the freaking Hedgehog of all people, go toe to toe with the most dangerous thing in the world. And what's gonna happen when I run out of luck? I'm here now and away from all the action, but will I really be able to see the end of this war? Will there ever even be an end?! Where will I be when all of this is over?!"

"I just- I don't know if I'm good enough for any of this." Celeste shook her head. "When I started all of this, I wanted to make a difference. But now I think I'm in over my head and there's no way out. I'm scared and I don't know what to do."

"I'm scared, Big."

Together, the two floated down the river waterslide after Celeste's outburst. With nothing but the sounds of the roaring waters and fires to sound all around them. The moonlight was all around and the shadows were on the ground in this moonlit battlefield.

A few moments and finally Big spoke up. "It's okay to be scared, Celeste."

"No, it's not. Not when everyone is counting on you to be there for the world."

"It's not about not being scared. I get scared sometimes too. Sometimes when I'm alone or with Froggy or even with Sonic and the others. There are a lot of scary things out this world especially with Eggman is out there."

Celeste looked down at the rushing water, hugging herself tighter.

"It's about helping your friends even though you're scared. It helped me when I was with Sonic and friends fighting Metal Sonic."

Celeste looked down at him in surprise. "You fought Metal Sonic?"

Big smiled and nodded. "Yeah! It was with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and all the others. We had so much fun and were even looking for Froggy then too. Even though I was scared, I knew that as long as I was helping my friends and that they were helping me, we could beat all the big scary guys."

"I know it's hard to fight. I don't like it too… But fighting means we get to help our friends and make sure they're safe."

Celeste looked up at the sky, basking in the stark moonlight above.

"But the most important thing is that you know that when the fight is done, you can come back to the smiling faces of your friends."

Celeste sat there for a bit, looking up at the moon and taking a moment to ponder the cat's words as they lazily floated down the river. Celeste could tell that Big wasn't the brightest of the bunch, but could also see that he meant well and honestly? Despite his simplicity, he was right. Her friends meant the world to her and she'd do anything to help both them and the world.

Celeste couldn't help but let out a small smile at that. "You're right, Big. I shouldn't give up. Not when there's still so much to do and when our friends need so much help. We're gonna win this war and somehow, someway I just gotta keep fighting."

"That's right!"

"And I'm gonna start by doing everything I can to find your frog."

"Thank you, friend!"

Celeste just shook her head, giving the cat a warm smile. "No. Thank you, Big."

Soon, the two continued on their way, fighting through more robots and going down more of the water slides.

It wasn't until they got to a lake where they saw a little green frog hopping along the shoreline to which Big was immediately ecstatic.

"Froggy!" He cried out as he barreled towards the frog.

Quickly, he was able to scoop the frog up in his arms and tightly hug him.

Celeste couldn't help but watch with a smile as she watched the cat throw his friend in the air, elated in the fact that they were finally reunited.

It wasn't quite what she expected from the Mystic Jungle, but regardless…

Mission accomplished.

~Trials of War~

"Only we can prevent these wildfires!" Smokey announced for the umpteenth time since they had started.

Almost unanimously, everyone that had their com on shouted three words. "Shut up, Smokey!"

Smokey the Bear was slightly taken aback by this but zipped it, opting to get back to work with the fires below.

The resistance was in a bit of a jam at the moment what with the entire forest on fire around them. With Sonic and Celeste having gone after the main source, everybody else was playing fireman in the woods and it was not pleasant.

It was absolute chaos. Some were running around with pails of water, others with high pressurized water guns and a few had hoses. It was not a fun time for the resistance at all.

For Silver the Hedgehog, you could imagine the immense concentration it took him to not take a single psychic wind to take out the flames in fear that it would only make it worse. So instead he took to directing people the best he could.

"Vector, I need you on that wall of fire over there, make sure it doesn't get too high or we're gonna have a massive problem on our hands."

"On it!" The Crocodile nodded, getting up and hefting a large barrel of water over his head before he chucked it at the same wall of fire that Silver was referring to.

"Betas, circle that tree, it's looking like it's about to catch on fire."

The Betas did just that and doused the smoking wood making sure that the smoking tree didn't get any further than it had already gotten.

"Smokey, I swear if you say another word you're going to be headed on the first shuttle back to base. Make yourself useful and actually put out some fires!"

The bear nodded and nearly tripped over himself attempting to pick up a pail of water and go to a tiny burning bush.

But things were going well and it looked like the resistance was somehow managing the problem, at least in Silver's sector anyway.

Things were still bad though and they could really use some good news.

And that's when Amy's voice came into his com. "Sonic has just found the source of the fires. It's Zavok."

"What, that monster can breathe fire now?" Silver asked.

"What?! No! Well, yes. But that's not what he's doing."

Knuckles voice chimed in. "According to Sonic, he's got three dragon badniks that fire elliptical beams on the forest floor. Normally this would just leave anything fried but in a forest with trees like this, well you've got what you're looking at."

Rouge chuckled on her end. "Should've known the big boy would be behind this. But if it's just him, Sonic should be able to handle it."

"He's already chasing him down now." Amy said. "Shouldn't be long until-"

An alarm started blaring on her end. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Looks like you guys got trouble, some of the Egg fleet are coming back around with more bombs."

"Any and all fliers to the skies right now, take out those ships!"

Silver nodded. "Hey, anybody that can fly with me. We've got company! Espio, you're in charge of this place till I get back."

He nodded. "Right."

With that, Silver took to the skies and was shortly followed by a mess of flying mobians like Rouge, Ray and Charmy, but joining them were a few on extreme gears like Corvin.

They all flew to the skies and spotted ten ships in total soaring towards them.

At the sight of the Mobians they all fired on them, causing them to scatter.

"Everybody take on the closest ship!" Silver said. "Make sure none of them drop their cargo and if they go down try to get them into the water!"

With that, Silver shot himself forward, taking on one of the ships.

He started things off by producing a psychic knife that the ship easily veered out of the way of before diving down and firing short rounds of energy at him.

He tucked and rolled through the air, avoiding the blasts and then covered himself in his energy. Spinning with incredible speeds before drilling straight into the ship and slicing it clean in half.

"Yes!" Silver cheered as he pumped his fist and dashed off.

Rouge landed on her hands and knees atop the glass hull of one of the ships. The ship tried to shake the bat off but she kept good hold of it, albeit shakily.

Slowly she was able to rise to her feet carefully keeping her balance. With that, she smiled, raised her leg as high in the air as she could, before bringing her foot down on it in a sharp kick. The thing immediately lost control at this and began to lose altitude. Rouge flew off as it crashed into the nearby lake.

She dusted her hands off with a smirk before flying off.

Ray used a similar tactic as her, having landed on the glass hull of his ship before revving up a spindash on the cockpit, sending parts flying and soon breaking the ship apart, causing it to go falling into the ocean.

Corvin was on his gear, doing all kinds of tricks as the ships fired on him. He weaved in between blows, did kick flips and the like before finally he flew high up into the air over the ship. He then came down on it and actually jumped off his gear, revving up his drill wispon and drove right through it like a knife through melted butter.

Charmy took down to the ground, where one of the ships was chasing after the bee, weaving in between trees, to which the ship quickly followed after. But soon, it wasn't able to keep up with the young bee who had far more maneuverability in the trees than he did, causing it to crash into the trees and explode into a fiery ball of flame.

Very quickly, more and more of the ships went down before there were none left.

"All clear for now. Be on standby if anymore ships come by. Good work, guys."

~Trials of War~

"I've got Zavok in my sights, about to make contact!"

"Be careful Sonic!"

Sonic grinned. "He's the one who's gonna need to be careful when I'm up there, it'll be over before you know it, Ames." [6]

Sonic dashed off, doing his best to tail the three mechanical dragons as they broke down the forest. Fires spread, trees went flying and an angry Zeti happily stood atop the head of the ships watching it all.

The three dragons shot down large blue beams from their underbellies that tore into the forest floor and made anything instantly set ablaze from where it was.

Sonic dodged each and every one of these beams, quickstepping out of the way no problem.

Left, right, center, left, right again. Sonic was used to this song and dance.

Soon, he made it to the tail end of the dragons where he got a look to see how he could get up there. At the ends of them, there were these large blue mechanical balls that seemed to pulsate with blue electricity whenever the dragons fired they would be electrified with blue electricity which the hog knew not to touch in fear of being electrified.

He waited and waited and soon, he found the perfect moment before he homed in on the ball on the left dragon which propelled him into the air enough to find his way aboard.

Immediately, when he homed in the dragon shook, to which the Zeti controlling it let out a gasp as he carefully tried to regain his balance.

"What was that?!"

"Yo, Zavok! Ya' miss me?!" Sonic shouted.

Zavok turned around and was shocked to see Sonic the hedgehog at the end of the ship. "You!" He roared. "I am not letting you make a fool of me again!"

"Siding with Eggman already does that for you, buddy. Me kicking your butt only makes it worse." Sonic snarked.

With that, Sonic began to race off atop of the dragons. Every time they fired more of the beams of the elliptical beams down on the forest floor, they would electrify. Sonic had to keep watch of each of them, to make sure he wouldn't get hit, quickstepping away from them to avoid it all.

When he finally reached the end, Zavok faced him, starting off with a punch aimed for the hedgehog's chest that he easily slid under.

Using his momentum, he hoped up and gave him an uppercut to the jaw that mad the Zeti grunt and grit his teeth in pain.

"See, I'm more than enough to take you on, buddy." Sonic grinned. "Kicked your butt on the death egg and I can do it now."

"Not if I can help it!" With that, Zavok scooped Sonic up in one quick swoop of the arm. Before Sonic could even figure out what was going on, Sonic chucked him off of the dragon to which he roughly landed against one of the casino buildings.

The hedgehog groaned at this, but knew he had to go and catch the Zeti. So like that, he continued off again.

He worked his way through the same process dodging the lasers coming out of the bottom of the dragon badniks before he homed in on the tail, this time on the right one and was off again.

Zavok wasn't letting him get close this time though. When he saw the Hedgehog aboard, he beat his fists against his chest twice and let out a low, monsterish growl.

"If you think I will let you get the best me again, then you are surely mistaken. Burn Sonic!"

With that, he fired off rounds of fire, forcing the hog to dodge not only the electrified scales of the dragons, but also the deadly fireballs from the Zeti's maw.

As he dodged he grinned. "The old fire trick again? Come on, Zavok? You know I'm way too fast for that!"

And he was right, he didn't let a single one of the balls of fire hit him. When he finally reached the Zeti, rather than using fireballs he took to actual flame, using a more dragon like breath of fire to ward off the intruding hedgehog. Sonic stayed back not really sure what to do.

He wondered, could his boost aura protect him? It should technically be fast enough to ward off the flame, right?

He smirked. Only one way to find out.

And with that, he kicked up his speed and boosted into the firebreathing Zeti.

Zavok's eyes widened at this as the hog came into him, full force. The flame did not hit him, actually being blown back into the face of the Zeti. While the flames itself were ineffective, the force of the hog knocked the wind out of him, making him gasp out in shock.

Sonic took the opportunity, choosing to send a couple right and left hooks at the Zeti's chest that did a bit of a number on him. But in the middle of his flurry of punches, Zavok was able to come too, grabbing his left and his right.

Sonic grinned sheepishly at this to which Zavok furrowed his brow.

Faster than he could've accounted for, Zavok knocked his head into him and hit him hard. Sonic was left a little dazed by the thickskulled Zeti before he grabbed him once again and chucked him overboard.

This time, Sonic landed on the forest floor, seeing stars.

"Come on, Sonic! You're really gonna take that?" Knuckles remarked.

Sonic shook it off, getting to his feet. "Yeah, yeah… I'm going. I'd like to see you try this."

"Heh. If it were me it'd be over already!"

With that, Sonic ran off again, dodging each and every one of the lasers and homing into the center dragon.

This time, Zavok decided to forget about piloting the dragons focusing only on Sonic.

When he shot fire from his maw, he didn't look to see that the dragons began to fly into one of the casinos, completely breaking it apart and adding falling debris to the list of things that Sonic needed to dodge. As if the electrified floor and the fire breathing Zeti weren't enough.

But soon, he reached the end and faced Zavok one more time.

~Trials of War~

Celeste walked through the forest with Big with Froggy in hand.

"You know, Big." She smiled. "You're alright. Thank you for helping me."

"Of course, friend. Thank you for helping me find Froggy!"

"Always happy to help."

At that, Celeste brought her hand to her chin in thought. "You know, I wonder how Sonic's doing? I hope he's had an easier time than I have."

At that, the two began to hear some rumbling in the forest next to them. "Do you hear something, Big?"

~Trials of War~

Zavok sent a right hook at the hedgehog to which he easily dodged, doing the wave with his arms as he did so.

"Ey!" He laughed at that.

"Enough of this foolishness!" Zavok steamed, scooping him up again and chucking him so far and high off the ship that Sonic should have never came back.

Unfortunately he was wrong as this time, the hedgehog was prepared. He got into ball form and hit a tree, to which he easily bounced off of and soon, hit another and another and another. He was like a pinball bouncing between bumpers with how many trees he bounced off of and the Zeti could only watch in confusion.

But soon, the hedgehog ended up behind him and was homing in onto him fast to which the Zeti's eyes widened.

Quickly, he rose his hands up in defense in an attempt to block Sonic's blow.

Sonic came crashing into his arms like a speeding bullet, bouncing off while the Zeti quickly drew his hands back in pain.

And that's all he needed he came back down on him, summoning the power of the boost within his right leg, he sent a roundhouse directly into Zavok's face, that knocked him straight off the ship and be knocked out cold on the forest floor.

Sonic had won.

Without them, the mechanical dragons crashed down on the ground, skidding to a halt on the ground.

Big and Celeste happened be just where the dragons landed and Celeste let out a yelp at the sight, jumping into Big's arms.

Sonic hopped off the dragon he was on and dusted off his hands. "And that settles that!"

Celeste's jaw dropped, looking dumbfoundedly at the hedgehog before her while Big just looked confused as he always did.

Sonic grinned at the sight of Celeste. "Oh, there you are, partner! Looks like you had some fun without me!"

Celeste's look of surprise turned to a small smile. "Yeah, you could say that."

She paused for a moment and laughed. "And I'm not a platypus."

Sonic joined in on the laughter to which Big looked in confusion. The guy didn't watch a lot of TV.

It was then that Sonic acknowledged him. "And looks like you ran into one of my pals on the way. How 'ya doin' Big?"

"Oh, I'm fine, Sonic." The cat smiled. "Celeste helped me find Froggy and I'm so happy I'm back with my buddy!"

Celeste nodded. "Yep, we had quite the adventure."

Sonic shook his head and chuckled. "I'm sure you guys did. That was really nice of Celeste to help you like that."

"It was, she's so nice! We have such nice friends, Sonic!"

"You got that right."

"Me and Froggy wanna help our friends, so we wanna join the resistance!"

"Yeah, sure thing. The more the merrier."

At that, Sonic's com chimed in. "Good news everyone, Zavok has been taken down and the fires have been put out. We did it, the Mystic Jungle is saved! Everyone return to base."

Everyone cheered and did just that.

~Trials of War~

Zavok groaned as he rose from the hole that Sonic had thrown him into. He clutched his head in pain, knowing that he was going to be feeling the imprint of Sonic's shoe in his face for a while

"Ugh… my head."

At that, the sound of distortion rang out and with it, the Eggman, Cubot, Orbot and the other generals appeared.

"You've disappointed me yet again, Zavok." Eggman shook his head. "I gave you one simple task to redeem yourself and you can't even do that right."

"Doctor, please!" Zavok shouted. "Sonic had arrived and-"

"No. I don't want to hear the same excuse from you again. On the Death Egg it was Sonic and here it was Sonic. The troublesome hedgehog has been in a thorn in my side for years and I know full and well what he's like."

"Then you must understand that it was because of him that the mission failed!"

Eggman put his hand to his chin in thought, but shook his head. "No, that was you."

"Doctor, please!"

"Do you know why it was your fault?" Eggman asked him.

Zavok gulped. He knew whatever answer he gave would be the wrong one. "No…?"

"It was because you're the one that was reckless and caused all of this property damage! I mean, look at this place! I asked you to burn the forest, not the casinos!"

Zavok looked around and it was true. During the fight with Sonic he had lead the dragon badniks in the casinos and that had caused a mess of rubble to be scattered around the jungle. But he tried to deny this.

"But that was Son-"

"No, it wasn't!" Eggman snapped. "I saw the footage live and know exactly what I saw, I saw you not paying attention where you were going and destroying priceless Eggman Empire Property because of that."

Zavok bit his upper lip, choosing to say nothing.

"That is why I have come to a decision."

"Yes…?"

"Between what I've seen today and those days ago at the Death Egg, you've shown me that you are an insubordinate, arrogant fool and have outlived your usefulness in my empire."

"Wha-what?"

"I hereby revoke your status as a General of the Eggman Empire and am officially removing you from my ranks. You are done and I want nothing to do you!"

"But Emperor, I have done so much for you! I have been with you since your reign began, I have brought about destruction on the world, I have taken countless prisoners and even lives that have stood before you!"

"And I don't care. You've always wanted to leave and now you've finally been granted your wish. But just know, your home is no longer under my protection and should I see fit, I will attack it without second thought. And if you or any of your kind choose to stand in my way then I won't hesitate to make the Zeti extinct."

Teeth grinding, fists clenched, muscles tensing, the Zeti was left seething in blinding rage at what the doctor had said. He had enlisted on this army for the sole reason of protecting his home and family, but now… Eggman had broken that off. And he was Infuriated.

With that, the Zeti let out his deathly monster roar with far more volume and emotion than he ever had before and began charging at the doctor.

He closed the gap, leaping up into the air with his fist extended down towards the Eggmobile.

But Eggman, Eggman showed no fear. He snapped his fingers.

And with the sound of distortion and a flash of red light, Zavok was gone.

Eggman then turned to both Shadow and Chaos. "Let that be a lesson to you. If either of you, ever, ever cross my paths, then you will be met with the same fate."

With that, he turned and hovered away, to which the two chaos beings looked at each other without saying a word.

Chaos was confused, like an animal and was fighting for the empire simply because it aligned with his own current goals.

But Shadow… he had never, ever been afraid of Doctor Eggman before. But that, that reasonably shook the Ultimate Life Form. But he had his reasons for fighting on their side and as much as he wanted to leave, he still had a job to do.

~Trials of War~

Zavok appeared in Desert Ruins Zone, in the same area that Sonic had punted away the Cacophonic Conch.

The Zeti, still in the same form he was when he was teleported away, drove his fist into the ground. He created a crater in the ruined dirt so large, it was as if a small bomb had been dropped there. And in a way, one was off with the rage filled tank of creature that had appeared back in his home.

Zavok was still roaring though, letting out a roar so loud, so terrifying that it could be heard throughout The Lost Hex and the land that surrounded it.

It was only after he had finally stopped that someone spoke up.

"Throwing a tantrum like a child?" An older voice said. "Is that truly the way of the one that I chose to lead our people."

Zavok's eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets at that. He turned around and there he saw his Master Zik who was sitting on one of the rocks begin walking towards him.

"Master!" Immediately, he got on one knee and kneeled before him. "Please forgive me for showing such intolerable behavior in your presence."

But the older Zeti simply shook his head. "There will be none of that, Zavok. You are leader of our species and I am nothing but an old man that has long since passed the torch."

Zavok rose but even so he still didn't accept this. "Even so, you will always be my master and deserve nothing but the utmost respect."

At that the Zeti simply hummed at that, not saying anything.

At that, he began to walk over to the rock he was seated on and ushered for Zavok to join him.

He eagerly nodded and sat down next to his master.

"What has happened, Zavok?" Master Zik asked.

Zavok simply shook his head. "I ruined everything…"

And with that, he told him everything that had happened over the past few months since the fall of the Zeti and the Lost Hex. He told him how he had become general of Eggman's army and the people he terrorized, how Infinite and his mysterious Ruby were ever stronger than they had originally anticipated, how they had taken down Sonic, how he had escaped and how he had finally been kicked out of the army.

Master Zik listened to all of this intently, letting his former student go on and on about all of this. Despite the gravity of the situation and all the terrible things that had happened that went against his people, he couldn't help but recount times when he and Zavok had both been much younger where the leader of the Deadly Six would talk animatedly about how his lessons were going and how sure he was that he would be his successor. Back then, he was a child, still young and inexperienced and actually happier. So much smaller than the towering mountain of a Zeti that the master had come to be proud of today. Despite the horrors that the former master was hearing from his former pupil, he couldn't help but have the smallest hint of a smile on his face as he relished in the memory of a much younger Zavok and a much younger Zik.

The bright day had soon turned to sunset by the time he had finally finished recounting the tale of his time on the Eggman Empire.

"That is quite the story." Master Zik admitted as he stroked his beard.

"It is all my fault, Master." Zavok closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Had I heeded your words, we would not have been put in danger."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Zavok." Master Zik shook his head. "I have spent a long time thinking about what had happened a year ago and in that time, I realized that there truly wasn't any other way. Our people may believe in strength above all, but your willingness to submit in the end saved not only my life, but saved the last of our race from going extinct. If this Infinite fellow is as strong as you say, then there really was no fight to be had."

"Yes, but-"

"I have already forgiven you, Zavok."

"Thank you, Master." Zavok bowed to him, holding a hand to his chest.

They stayed silent like that for a few moments.

Zavok finally spoke up. "What do we do now, Master?"

At that, his mind flashed and he saw the much shorter, younger version of Zavok, looking to him with wide but determined eyes.

But he shook his head and smiled. "I should be asking you that, you are leader of our people, Zavok. You may have been conquered by Eggman but that doesn't mean you are no longer the Leader of the Deadly Six. You take command, and I humbly follow."

Zavok sighed. He had long since settled into his position as leader, but ever since the whole debacle of the fall of his people, he didn't know what to do. Zavok… Zavok wasn't used to making his own decisions after following Eggman for so long.

But the Master, he looked to him with brow furrowed and expecting eyes.

He had to regain his role and he had to please him.

He thought for a moment, to which his master waited patiently.

Finally, he spoke. "We need to strengthen our defenses. Eggman may decide to attack us at any moment and we need to be prepared. We need to make sure that The Lost Hex will not fall again and we need to make sure that The Deadly Six truly lives up to his name. We will not be made fools of again, not by the resistance, not by the Empire, not by anyone ever again."

"Yes!"

"And it all starts with this!" Zavok confirmed as he pulled out the red Chaos Emerald which firmly glowed in his hand.

"Gather the other four." Zik smiled. "It's time we get all get back to training."

[1] Yes, that Brenda from Sonic Unleashed.
{2] "This is Our World Part 3- Sonic Forces Soundtrack" I personally always considered this the theme of the Eggman Empire since it has such a commanding vibe to it and all and it only plays when you get into the Metropolis and Eggman Empire Fortress levels meaning you're diving into enemy territory so… yeah.
[3] Okay, I was watching RWBY the other night, saw Nora do this to Hazel and thought this was super cool.
[4] Music listeners, break out those guitars, it's time for Luminous Forest!
[5] Music listeners, Aqua Road.
[6] Vs. Zavok Forces OST.

And we're done! It's done, we finally did the Mystic Jungle chapter, woo! We covered a lot of ground here and I for one am just so relieved that it's done. But before we finally send off, let's talk about the major parts of this chapter.
First, let's talk about Big. And might I say KelWelPower, are you psychic for asking about Big right before the chapter that revealed him. I was so shocked by that. But no, Big was always planned for this moment here in the Mystic Jungle and originally, he was just gonna be comedic relief for this section, but then I thought… what if he actually helped Celeste with her issue with everything in his simplistic, Big the Cat way. And so… that's what I did. I'm hoping it came off well.
As for Zavok? Well, Zavok was something I also had planned from the beginning. But I'm sure you guys might be wondering about some of the decisions I made for him and the tone shift that I took for the character here. Well, here's the deal. While most people have written off The Lost Hex as simply bad characters, I have not. Well, not entirely. I believe that Zavok, Zazz and Zik are all characters with potential. Zazz, makes for a good chaotic wildcard if you use him properly, it was actually this reason among other things that I believed Zazz would be in Forces alongside Zavok at one point but was wrong. But no, Zavok is strong and commanding and yeah he really just showed to be evil, but I believe you can use him well if given the right writer. But even then, Zavok still has his moment where he wasn't just evil dude and actually had a moment of actual care, and that was of course towards his Master Zik. That's why you see a lot of this in this chapter, I wanted to flesh out their relationship a bit and did that. I figured if anybody was gonna make Zavok side with Eggman, it was gonna be Zik and so… here we are. But as for Zik, as the former leader of the Deadly Six, he is the key to Zeti lore as the former leader of the Deadly Six which is why I think he's worth exploring. The rest are trash, especially Zomom. But I love Zor because I'm trash too. But no, that's where a lot of this chapter came from. But let's talk a bit about Zavok's position on the Eggman Empire. Zavok was always meant to cause discourse in the Eggman Empire and I think he did a fantastic job at it, from being the one to release Sonic to destroying a good chunk of Casino Forest, Zavok played his part and played his part well and it was only going to be a matter of time before he finally got himself kicked off and he did. So sad, but definitely not the last we've seen of The Deadly Six because I have some fun planned for them later.
But that'll do for this chapter. Thanks again for making this my most reviewed story and I can't wait to see you all next time in Station Square with the Classic Trio.
R&R