First thing's first, please read the final Author's Note for an announcement. It's something important that I need to share with you all.
Second, this story officially turned a year old back on the 19th of December. Can't believe we've made it this far and I'm so happy to have gotten here. And in addition, this story just got 100 reviews! That's the first time a story of mine has ever hit this many reviews and honestly, I can't thank you guys enough. You're really the best readers a guy could ask for.
And we're back with another chapter of Trials of War and this time, we're going to be taking things to Station Square with our Classic Trio. This is gonna be fun. But first review replies:
tekina fiction:
One of the things I wanted to make absolutely sure of with this story is that every villain has a reason to be here. And everyone has their thing.
The dysfunctionality of the Eggman Empire is another thing I really wanted to drive home and I'm glad that I was successful with that.
We talked on Discord, but the way I see it, Big is an easy going guy and warms up to people quick. Funny thing is, he was originally gonna be comic relief when I first planned out this chapter back in 2017 but then I realized hmmmmmmm maybe I can do something with this. Celeste and Big were a part of the chapter that I was incredibly happy with.
Thanks so much! Hope you like this chapter as much as the last!
KelWelPower:
Yep, I was so shocked when you asked the question about Big when you did haha. But here we are.
Thanks so much and I love that you're replaying Forces with Celeste, that's awesome!
Infinite's Ruby:
Glad you loved Big here too!
Ohohoho, I am so excited for the Deadly Six. They're characters that I think haven't been used to their fullest potential and I want to make sure that they get justice.
Thanks, man. I really appreciate that. Thank you and everybody else for all the support, you're some of the best readers a guy could ask for.
SpiderDom321:
Smoky Bear was a fun addition that I did for kicks and giggles, I'm glad you enjoyed that. And we definitely need Mario and Zelda!
Brenda was a nice addition, I'll say that she'll be showing up a little more in this story. I love Unleashed and you'll see some of its characters either get in some way or another.
Bless that pun.
Think I might keep musical cues the same, but if I think of a way around, I'll be sure to change it.
Don't worry about it, man. Thanks for the support.
TheGameNguyener:
Thank you.
I think you'll like what I do with Tails here. Heck, I think as a Tails fan you'll ike this chapter.
Thank you. Chapters just end up as long as they end up for the most part.
Guest 2:
So, this is the guest that reviewed every chapter. I'm assuming you're the same person so I'll be replying to all those reviews.
Classic Sonic and Tails are one of the most important parts in this story and I can't wait for you all to see how their arc ends. But we've got a long way to go before that.
Sonamy likely won't be in this fic. This ship isn't really gonna have many if at a, any sips outside of Rouge's light flirting with Knuckles. However, there will definitely be moments between Sonic and Amy and other characters that will expand upon their friendships. I will say, this review actually made me reevaluate and add an Amy scene to a later chapter that I think you guys will like.
I'm glad you liked Shadow and Rouge there. That scene is still one of my favorites in this story.
As for Zavok, allow me to talk a little bit about my portrayal of him since you seem to have a few issues with it. For starters, in chapter 6, he's not really being an idiot or at least, that's not the sole purpose of him freeing Sonic from a narrative perspective. I mean, yeah. It is his fault that Sonic is free. However, the idea behind this as introduced in the first chapter is to show that things aren't quite well in the Eggman Empire and that these guys aren't totally loyal to Eggman having their own agendas and all. Eggman refused to get rid of Sonic and Zavok disagreed with that so he went to take care of the problem himself to prove that which ultimately lead to Sonic's escape. And as for the last chapter, I am well aware of Zavok's character. However, there's something that a lot of people don't notice about him which I decided to exploit here. When in the presence of Master Zik, his entire demeanor changes from the "evil, dangerous, ruthless, pitiless, and remorseless monster" as you put it. He becomes a more caring and compassionate character implying more of a relationship within these characters that I really wanted to explore a bit which I did. Zavok might not care for much, but as little as Lost World gave us it shows that he cares a great deal for Zik. That's where I'm coming from with that. Zavok is a character that I believe has a lot of potential to be a better character and in this story, I've done my best to explore that potential with things like this.
SharpDragonKlaw, Alexadria Prime, Guest 1, LunaRWBY,
Thank you!
Trials of War: A Sonic Forces Rewrite
Chapter 13-
Believe in Yourself
Four Years Ago:
"Oh no, it's Doctor Robotnik!" Someone cried, pointing up at the Eggmobile floating dangerously in the sky. [1]
The people of Station Square were in a state of panic at the sight of the mad doctor. People cowered in fear, others tried to hide their children, everyone was just in awe at the sight of the doctor.
But he cared for none of them at this point. But instead slammed his fist against the side of the Eggmobile, fuming at what had just happened. "So… you defeated the missile, you little pest?"
Tails glared down Eggman, his entire being shaky as he continued to look defiantly at the doctor.
"I'll make you pay for this!"
Tails continued to look on with steely determination as Eggman flew into the sky, and disappeared from sight.
There was a beat of silence and for a moment, it really did look like things were okay. Tails had won and the city was safe.
And then, it happened.
A large machine fell from above, causing all the people to go into panic again.
Gravel cracked from the sheer force of impact.
Tails gasped at the sight of a massive machine that stood on the ground before them. Eggman let out his menacing cackle from atop the center which was a semispherical stand which his Eggpod stood atop. Sprouting from the stand were four large mechanical legs that towered high above the heads of everyone. Two large cannons were mounted dangerously at Eggman's sides, primed and ready to unleash destruction.
"You fool!" Eggman sneered. "Away, before I make mincemeat out of you."
Fists clenched, the nine year old returned the mad man's glare. "I'm not scared… I'm not scared! I can do this!"
And like that, Tails began his fight against him.
"GET A LOAD OF THIS!"
Eggman began to fire bombs into the air, pelting the young foxkit with them as he quickly dodged every which way and that from the deadly onslaught.
While small, the sound and sight of the explosions wasn't doing wonders for him. He so desperately wanted to shield his eyes and ears but knew he had a job to do as he continued dodging the shots.
What would Sonic do here? He wondered.
That's when he saw where Eggman was firing and took note that he wasn't really aiming for him. No, the doctor had been firing wildly and without any disdain for where the bombs landed in hopes of trying to be random enough to fool the fox into running straight into the line of fire. But Tails knew that this strategy put the hiding civilians in danger and he couldn't allow that to happen.
Sonic would try and draw attention to himself so that no one would get hurt. And the only way to do that… wisecracks.
Tails flew up into the air and wildly waved his hands at the doctor. "Hey, Eggman! You call those shots?! I thought you were a scientist, don't you know that in our field, we're supposed to be pre-pre-preceest."
"That's precise, you insufferable buffoon!"
"Yeah, well I'm nine! What's your excuse for your bad aim, Eggman?"
The doctor growled. "I'll show you an aim, you pint sized nincompoop."
With that, Eggman pressed some buttons on his console and soon, the bombs stopped and in their place, flames began to surge out of the cannons to which the fox yelped and quickly dove out of the way of the fire.
Eggman laughed as he watched the poor boy run around the street trying to dodge the downpour of flame.
Tails eyes quickly searched the area, looking for some sort of freedom, but found nothing along the street that could both protect him and keep the people out of harm's way.
Nowhere except… it was a risk, but he didn't have another choice.
Quickly, he made his way underneath the massive machine where nothing could hurt him unless Eggman wanted to risk getting himself hurt in the process.
"If you think hiding running and hiding is going to save you then you've got another thing coming, boy."
The Egg Walker then began stamping its feet along the ground in an attempt to get the fox to out from where he was hiding, but he wouldn't budge.
Frustrated, Robotnik pressed another button on his console and with that, the Egg Walker began to stomp on the ground again, this time one of the feet began to cause miniature shockwaves along the ground forcing the fox to get airborne again. But of course, not without making note of the pulsating blue orb on the side of its feet that glowed an electric blue whenever a shockwave rang out.
It was obviously storing power that would no doubt short circuit if he struck it while active; or as Sonic would've said, if it glows that's probably the spot to hit.
And he did just that, he swooped down and swung his namesakes at the orb. Immediately, the machine went down to where he quickly rushed outside and swung again at the Eggpod causing it to malfunction for a moment before rising again.
The doctor growled and resorted to going back to the cannons firing randomly again to which people hiding inside buildings and around the streets covered their heads.
Tails saw this and couldn't help but gulp at the sight, quickly taking to the skies again.
The gears within his mind began to mash together at an erratic rate, quickly trying to find the best quip that would get his attention.
"H-hey Eggman!"
The Doctor turned his attention to him, seething at the fox.
"Yo-you're sure you don't need another pair of glasses, cuz that aim is still bad!"
Robotnik glared at him and the machine charged towards him, to which he swooped out of the way again. Every couple of steps, he would notice the feet on the machine would light up and cause another tremor.
He needed to wait for the perfect moment as he weaved in between the erratic shifting of robotic limbs.
Quickly he found his mark and dove for the shining light below, hitting the leg before jumping for the Eggmobile.
Robotnik growled once again and went back to the flames, attempting to scorch him again.
But using the same strategy as before, he was able to make his way under the machine and when the stomping started again, he was able to hit the switch and hit the Eggmobile again.
The broiling fury within the doctor rose as The Eggwalker began to hit critical levels. Somehow the annoying sidekick was destroying his glorious machines and foiling his plans to destroy the city. At least Sonic was a young teen, but no… this… this child who hadn't even existed for a decade was putting an end to his schemes. And that was unacceptable.
"I'm not giving up yet! Now you'll witness my true power!" The doctor declared.
With that, he went to slamming various buttons on his machine and soon, the orbs on the joints of the machine turned to a fiery red and in response, with each stomp, large spires of fire erupted from wherever he stepped. And again he began to wildly fire all around, causing mass destruction of all sorts.
Tails was terrified at the sight, but he did not waver. Sonic wouldn't crumble at the sight and neither would he, he stood proud and tall, fists clenched and brow furrowed. He knew what he had to do and he would do it without fail.
And he did, the young boy dodged plumes of flame before he finally hit the switch and homed in on the Eggmobile once more, causing the machine to fall apart and leave only the singular pod in its place.
"You may have won this time, Tails. But next time, you won't be so lucky!" Eggman declared before his busted Eggmobile flew up into the air and out of sight.
For a moment, Tails simply huffed and puffed, waiting for another attack to come.
But it didn't.
Instead he was met with cheers from the people coming out of their hiding spots.
Tails couldn't believe it. He-he'd done it. All by himself. He defeated Eggman!
"H-hey, I- I did it!"
To which the applause got even louder and louder.
"I did it all by myself!"
On that day, Tails had proved his worth, had made it on his own and most importantly… for the first time he believed in himself.
~Trials of War~
"Is it just me or is it that whenever I'm here, this place is a dump?" Sonic mused. "Somebody seriously wrecked this place."
Tails let out a sigh and Omega simply stared at it all. And what a sight it was to behold.
Station Square was a shadow of its former self. The place was even worse than Sunset Heights with its barren streets and seemingly empty buildings. The buildings themselves were all worse for wear with holes being torn into walls, windows long since broken and graffiti of all kinds sprayed in random places, many of them bearing resistance stars and Eggman Empire logos. It was as if the mood of the entire city had changed the very weather of the town, as the grey clouds set an overcast on the entire city. Like the eyes of the citizens, the clouds looked as if they were ready to let out their contents at any moment.
"Seriously, and I thought Twilight Town was a ghost town, but this…" Sonic gestured around at everything. "This is somethin' else."
"That's Sunset Heights, Sonic." Tails corrected him.
"Whatever."
"Still, this- this is bad." Tails frowned. "This place isn't always like this. Station Square was always a big and bustling city, with people just living their lives. It's a happy place and I've had some good memories here. Sure, things were bad when Chaos attacked, but they got better a while after that."
"Then I'm guessing Eggman tore it up again, right?"
Tails sighed. "Yeah, it looks like the resistance couldn't save this city."
"I really wish that we could've been there. Maybe, just maybe we could've saved it, y'know?"
Tails shook his head. "Maybe, but we can't change the past."
Sonic narrowed his eyes at the hopeless foxkit. "Yeah, but we can change the future. And I don't know about you, but I'm gonna make sure that this place has a better tomorrow."
Tails' frown deepened at that and he was about to respond only for Omega to speak up. "Incoming hostiles!"
Both hedgehog and fox jumped at the sound, having not heard the robot's voice in a while. They both turned to stare at him as his arms changed to their machine gun setting and fired round out at the approaching Badniks.
Sonic and Tails' eyes followed the bullets to see them break a few Buzzbomber's into pieces.
The two looked at each other and nodded at that, getting into position as more robots came down the streets. They counted five Eggpongs two roaders and three Buzzbombers.
Tails flew up into the air, letting his hands down for the younger hog to quickly latch onto. Together, they flew up into the sky weaving in between shots from different Badniks while Omega disposed of an Eggpong and a Roader.
Tails then swung Sonic around, so fast that the two of them were a blur of blue and yellow in the pale grey skies before he let go and Sonic came zooming out in his ball form.
He smashed through not only one, but two of the Buzz Bombers before landing on the ground and finishing off the last roader.
The hedgehog couldn't help but smirk at that as he revved up into a spindash and took off down the road, weaving between shots from one of the remaining Eggpongs.
Meanwhile, Tails let out a yell as he twirled into the air and swung his namesakes into one of the remaining BuzzBombers and stomped onto the Eggpong underneath
Omega then fired again, this time from both arms, ripping two of the pawns to shreds.
Sonic then mowed down the last of the pongs with a spindash.
And with that, they were all cleared and the trio continued down the barren streets. For a moment, the three were in silence with Tails falling into his own sadness as he looked around at the world around him.
He had so many times here in Station Square and not just during the whole ordeal with Chaos. Station Square had been a common place for Tails to hang around with it being one of the closest town to his workshop where he would often get groceries and other supplies and visit Amy every now and again. While he did mostly hang around the Mystic Ruins, Station Square was like another home to Tails and to see it in this kind of ruin again, really put the fox in a bad mood.
Despite everything, he walked; with Sonic and Omega by his side. They heard nothing but the sounds of their feet against the cracked pavement, tiny taps paling in comparison to the heavy stomps that the massive robot made behind them.
Of course, the younger Sonic took note of his brother as he walked by. His shoulders were slumped, his eyes sullen and sunken at everything around him, his feet dragging along the ground much like his namesakes behind him. Sonic couldn't help but frown at the sight and all that talk about how they couldn't change things was well… it didn't make Sonic happy at all.
So, Sonic attempted to cheer Tails up a bit.
"Y'know, when we were runnin' around in Sunset I noticed that Chao in Space came back with some new movies."
Tails looked at him. "Yeah. What about it?"
"Tell me about them. Are they as good as the originals or are they like those awful prequels?"
Tails let out a little laugh. "Worse. After the Oswald Rabbit corporation bought the franchise a few years ago, they went and they did a lot of things wrong."
"Wait, what?!" Sonic recoiled. "Those guys own Chao in Space now? What kind of dark future is this?"
Tails let out a light chuckle at that. "The funny thing is, I hated the two movies that are out, but you really liked them. It's funny because you thought they were gonna be bad but liked them when I was the opposite."
"Well, I can't imagine liking Oswald Chao in Space."
"Neither can I, but somehow you like them."
Sonic scrunched up his face in disgust at that, to which the fox couldn't help but laugh.
But then Tails gasped. "Look out!"
Without another word, Sonic dove to the side and just in time too as a laser blast from a BuzzBomber shot down at him.
In his dive, he decided to drop into a spindash, swerving into the direction of ten Eggpongs and five Buzzbombers.
He went down the middle of the pongs, knocking out three of them in a single blow.
Omega got to work as well, this time switching to his set of flamethrowers to which he immediately raised his arms up into the air and torched four of the Egg Pongs before them.
Tails furrowed his brow in determination at the battle before him, running towards a few of the Eggpongs. Spinning on the tips of his toes, he's able to slice through the remaining three Eggpongs before taking off in the air.
Omega once again, changed the attachments on his arm, changing his arm so that the little bits of yellow plated steel jutted out to reveal little launchers on each side. He fired off quick, short shorts at two of the Buzzbombers.
Sonic then homed onto two of the remaining ones and Tails did the same on the last.
The trio were left surrounded by a pile of busted robot parts, each of them still with their fists up, spines sharpened and weapons at the ready.
But no other threats came to them and soon, they dropped they dropped their guard.
"Freeze!" A voice shouted off in the distance.
All three of them stiffened at the voice but were prepared to fight. The two turned towards the source of the voice, prepared to take down the intruder only to come face to face with someone that neither of them were too familiar with. He was a human man, wearing a suit that was tattered at the ends along with a bullet proof vest that contrasted with his stark white hair, slightly tanned skin and dulled eyes, one green and one brown. Despite his old age though, the man stood before them, rigid and ready with his black pistol pointed straight at the three of them, ready to put an end to their lives.
But when the man saw who was there, both his firearm and his steely glare instantly fell into one of absolute shock.
"O-Omega? Is that really you?"
The robot blinked in response. "I am E-123 Omega! You are unknown. Designation required."
The man blinked in surprise. "Unknown? Come now, Omega? You must recognize me."
"Negative. Designation required."
"Woah, who is this guy and how does he know the bucket of bolts?"
At that, the man immediately turned his attention towards the other two. "Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles P'rower. I don't believe this. The rumors are true!"
At that, Tails finally spoke up. "C-C-Commander Tower? I don't understand. You disappeared when GUN… well… you know."
"I could say the same about you two. But when rumors spread that Sonic made his return, we didn't entirely believe it. But now you both stand before me in the flesh. Amazing."
"Okay, freeze. Who is this guy?" Sonic asked.
Tails smiled at him. "Sonic, you're looking at Commander Abraham Tower: The highest ranking and most outfitted officer in all of GUN."
At that, the Commander smiled and stood proud and tall.
But Sonic narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What's GUN?"
~Trials of War~
The trio turned quartet was now heading down a back alley in Station Square, Commander Tower leading the way.
"So lemme get this straight? GUN is like some sort of organization that protects the world from all kinds of threats but mostly the United Federation."
"That's right." Tails nodded.
"Wow! They must be incredibly helpful in all of my adventures then, right?!"
At that, there was a stiff silence in the air, to which one could hear a pin drop if they listened closely. Tails awkwardly chuckled while the commander simply coughed unsure what to say to the child.
"Well, GUN does their best. And they were definitely very helpful with the Black Arms invasion three years ago." Tails confirmed.
"Oh…" Sonic frowned.
"Perhaps if you are a little more willing when you go back in time, you could receive our help more." Commander Tower added. "We would not mind having you among our ranks, learn from your older self and join us when we give the offer."
Sonic rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "I'll think about that."
Commander Tower then addressed them. "I would hope so. Now Miles, walk me through all of this again, the Sonic before us is the one from the past that Shadow and Rouge had informed of during the scenario on his sixteenth birthday and that Omega is currently in a level of disrepair."
Tails nodded. "Yeah, I don't know what happened, but this Sonic appeared to me when I was trying to fix Omega back in Sunset Heights. Helped us fight Chaos."
"Well, among all of the strange things to happen during Eggman's reign, this definitely takes the cake. A time travelling Sonic the Hedgehog, here to help save the world?"
Tails shrugged. "Well, we've dealt with stranger before."
"You have dealt with stranger." He retorted.
Tails nervously chuckled again at that.
Finally though, they reached the end of the alleyway where they reached a dead end of sorts.
Tails and Sonic looked around confusedly at this.
"Nice going, captain. You lead us straight to a dead end."
"That's Commander!" He snapped back. "And as usual, you are mistaken."
With that, the Captain tapped on a few seemingly random bricks before they started to let out a strange glow. Suddenly, a collection of bricks moved revealing a dark pathway.
Sonic and Tails gasped. "Woah, what?!"
"I didn't know we had anything like this in Station Square?"
The Commander smiled. "There's a lot you don't know, Miles."
And together, the four of them stepped into the darkness of the tunnel.
Minutes passed as they continued to walk through before they emerged and were shocked at the sight before them.
They were in some sort of box spanning across the length of a football lined with what appeared to be some sort of heavy metal, Tails assumed that it had to be some sort of steel or an alloy of the sort. But what was within the box was a sort of encampment that they walked through complete with all kinds of tents in neat rows throughout the complex where all kinds of people, mostly humans walked around, chatted amongst themselves along with all sorts of supplies including suitcases and the like around them neatly in piles near the tents. But that wasn't all, as they continued walking, they spotted a sort of mess hall of sorts where chefs smiled at people who came up to get their food and sit at the tables nearby, shacks filled with blankets and other necessities, a sort of closed off shower area and everything one could need for survival.
As they walked through, more and more people began to take notice of the group and sullen faces turned to smiles at the sight of them. Excited whispers ran throughout the group of Sonic the Hedgehog, rumors being true, him being alive and The Hero of Station Square.
Sonic couldn't help but smile and wave at some of them, giving them reassuring smiles and things like that. He didn't really know what else to do, but it seemed like the people here had been through a lot and since apparently he was a hero in the future or whatever, he figured it would be important to try and comfort them.
Tails on the other hand, saw this and took to attempt to hide himself behind Omega. Trying desperately to avoid the stares and the chatter of him and his brother. To him, the excitement only reminded him of better days and the failure all those months ago.
As they walked, Commander Tower gave them the rundown on where they were. "Welcome to Station Square Underground. It is one of many hidden bases around the world that GUN has made in order to attempt to keep up surveillance and in the cases of our bases in the United Federation, to keep our citizens safe."
"Wait, so there are more of these places all over the world?" Tails asked.
The Commander nodded.
Sonic put a hand to his chin in thought. "Wait, but all over the world? I thought you GUN guys only had control over the UF."
"We do what we must to keep the people safe."
"That's pretty lame." Sonic responded. "I'm starting to see why big me doesn't like you stiffs very much."
The commander frowned at this but continued on. "When The Eggman Empire attacked the city, we opened up the place in order to save the people and we have dubbed the Station Sanctuary since. Every single day, we make efforts to go outside not only in an attempt to find more survivors but to gather more supplies as well."
Tails frowned. "But I thought GUN was destroyed?"
"It was. But… a lot of us still survived. And we've been scattered. In Station Square, we have limited communication with the outside world. I do not know what might have become of the others if they stuck together or have fallen. But here in Station Square, we have remained strong and have gained a lot of honorary members in the people here that have wanted to help."
Finally, they reached their destination and were surprised to find a sort of set up where not only was where a table was set up in the middle along with computers of all sorts of different shapes and sizes along the walls. People in both in normal clothes and decked out in full uniforms milled about that area, with GUN armbands strapped onto them.
But at the center table, was a tall man with dark brown hair and eyes, dressed in a nice blue suit but was also tattered and wrinkled at the ends much like Commander Tower's. But to Tails, seeing the man before them was a blast from the past that brought in fresh memories of not only their adventure with Chaos but of the first time Shadow had appeared into their lives as well. Flashes of celebrity parties that he had insisted Sonic and Tails attend after they had saved the world from the crisis of the week, commanding an entire nation, and to Tails most importantly his first sign of independence years and years ago when he accepted the award for saving Station Square.
"President Marcus?!" Tails gasped. [2]
The man looked up from the table and instantly smiled at the sight of the two. "Sonic and Tails!"
"I- I thought you were dead!" Tails gasped. "No one's heard of you since the beginning of the war!"
He chuckled. "I've gotten that quite a lot over the past few months. But no, I'm fine. Shortly after the fall of Sunset Heights, I was on my way to Station Square to address the people and that's when Eggman attacked the city. If it weren't for the brave men and women who helped me that day, I probably would not be standing here today."
"We're so glad you're safe, Mr. President. We were worried."
He smiled. "It's going to take more than Eggman to take me down. And it looks like the same can be said for the two of you. I never doubted you both for a second."
Sonic crossed his arms and smirked. "Thanks, Mr. Prez."
"You're welcome." He smiled only to take a look at the hedgehog. "Uh… Sonic, have you gotten shorter?"
Sonic chuckled. "Well, hehe funny story about that…"
And so they told him.
"Well… that's wow. Time travel. Abraham, do we have anything on that?" He asked him.
"Nothing except for Team Dark's report on Sonic's birthday situation a few years ago."
"Eh, not the first time I've travelled through time but hopefully the last. I like living things in my time thanks."
"Well, regardless. Thank Gaia that you're here." He smiled. "Eat, sleep, take a shower, do what you need. The base is yours to use before you continue down to the Mystic Ruins. Unfortunately the Subway hasn't been operational for some time, you'd have to go on foot if you want to make it down there."
"Eh, no problem. We've been hoffin' it for days all the way from Sunset Heights. We'll be able to make it a little more."
"Very well."
~Trials of War~
"I don't suppose you got any chilidogs, do ya' miss?" Sonic slyly asked as he leant over the counter and eyed what was literally a textbook example of an ugly lunch lady with her overall large build, body hair all over that made the young hog question if she really was human or some sort of ape Mobian, a hairnet and the like.
She grumbled at him before slapping a pile of unidentifiable meat onto his waiting bun, before gesturing for him to move along with her ladle.
Sonic gave her a wide grin as he moved along to get more food.
Tails came by with his own tray and chuckled. "Hehe, I'm sorry about him he's… very young."
The woman groaned in response as she slapped food onto Tails' tray.
And with that, the two made their way to their table where Omega was waiting on standby mode.
The two sat down and quickly dug into their food that surprisingly wasn't that bad. As it had turned out it was just average ground beef that didn't really have much special to it. How exactly they were able to find beef like this in these times, they weren't sure. But they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Sonic and Tails hadn't really eaten anything this good in a long time, having mostly taken to stale granola bars and trail mix the course of their journey. But for Tails, it had been six months since he had a decent meal, so to say that his inner canine came out when he got into his sloppy joe would've been an understatement.
It was about halfway into their meal that a group of human teenagers approached their table.
One was a young boy with light tan skin, messy brown hair and eyes of the same color. He wore a plain white shirt underneath a green unzipped jacket and jeans.
The next was a girl looking to be a little older than him, with short black hair, pale grey eyes and wearing a simple red hoodie.
Rounding out the group was a tall blonde haired guy who looked to be the oldest of the group. He had on a black hoodie with a little bunny symbol on it. [3]
"Excuse me?" The girl asked. "Can we sit here?"
Tails was ready to decline, but with a face full of sloppy joe, he didn't get fast enough for Sonic. "Yeah. No problem, dudes."
The three kids smiled and took a seat at the table.
Tails simply tried to put all of his attention into his sloppy joe.
Sonic, being the ever talkative one decided to get the ball rolling. "So what are all your names?"
"Oh, well my name is Ruby. The tall guy's Jaune and the other's Oscar."
"Hello." Jaune let out a light smile with a wave.
Oscar simply gave them a nervous glance and a nod.
"Nice. I'm Sonic and this is Tails." Sonic waved at them.
Ruby laughed. "Well of course we know who you guys are, you're like superheroes."
Sonic chuckled. "Eh, y'never know. You guys haven't had TV in months so maybe there's a newborn that hasn't heard of me."
"Do any of us look that young?" The blonde, Jaune, chuckled.
"Well, maybe not you, stretch." Sonic snarked. "But Ruby and Oscar here don't look a day over 10."
"Excuse me, I'm 16!" Ruby huffed warranting laughter from both Sonic and Jaune while Oscar lightly chuckled as well. "Oh, laugh it up Oscar, but you're only fourteen."
Sonic and Jaune continued to laugh at the two of them, the latter ignoring his true age, while Ruby pouted and Oscar still continued to awkwardly chuckle.
When the laughter receded the three finally fell back into conversation.
"So, what exactly brings you guys over here?" Sonic decided to ask them. "Wanted to talk to Sonic the Hedgehog himself?"
"Yeah, kinda." Ruby admitted. "But we also came here because Oscar over here wanted to get an autograph from the hero of Station Square."
Sonic shrugged. "Sure, I can give the kid an autograph, anybody got a pen?"
Ruby laughed. "That's cute, but we're not actually talking about you. Although I would like an autograph now that you mentioned it."
"I mean, sure." Sonic shrugged. "But really? Not me? Who would be The Hero of Station Square then?"
Jaune looked at him shocked. "Wait, you seriously don't know?"
"Nope."
For the first time, Oscar spoke up. "It's Tails. I wanted an autograph from Tails."
Sonic looked on in surprise. "What? Tails?!"
The hedgehog looked over at the fox, who put even more attention into his sloppy joe.
The hedgehog looked between the fox and the young boy. "Okay, hold on, what? Tails is the hero of Station Square, how did that happen?"
And so they told him.
Sonic watched with wide eyes and ears perked at the tale of the hero of Station Square, how he took out Eggman in one fell swoop, saved the entire city and stood proud and tall at the end of it. They talked about how everyone in Station Square remembered that day and how he was even awarded with a Chaos Emerald for it, but most importantly they told him about how much Tails believed in himself. Throughout the story, Tails stayed focused on his meal, trying to desperately ignore them.
"That day, Tails inspired me to be a better person, to stand up for what I believe in and honestly I wouldn't be alive today without him." Oscar stated.
Tails looked up from his food and looked over at the boy curiously. "Ever since I was a little boy, I always taught myself to put on a brave face and it was the day that Eggman attacked that I remembered that. Robots invaded our school and lined us all up, telling us that we were all under arrest and going to be shipped off to the prison in the Death Egg and nothing we could do could stop them. Everybody was scared and well… nobody knew what to do. But I remembered that you put on a brave face and stood up to Eggman when you were just a kid and I knew if you could, I could too. And… I fought back."
Sonic looked on with wide eyes.
"You should've seen this guy!" Ruby exclaimed. "Guy scoops up a tree branch from the school yard and drives it into one of the head robot's like it was nothing!"
Oscar chuckled at this and blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "I-it was nothing."
"Had a pretty girly scream though." Ruby remarked to which he deflated and she let out a light chuckle at his expense.
Jaune stepped in. "Everything was kinda a chain reaction after that. When everybody saw one of the others fight against the robots, and a freshman too, we all kinda knew what we had to do. People were picking up sticks from the schoolyard, pushing lockers down on these things, I think one weirdo ran around shirtless and chased one of those fly bot things with a pencil sharpener."
"Yeah… Jimmy's uh… Jimmy…" Ruby let out an awkward chuckle before getting back on topic. "But we were able to hold them off before the GUN guys came, evacuated the school and lead us all down here."
"None of that wouldn't have happened if I didn't see you all those years ago when I was a little kid. I-it really would mean the world to me if I could have your autograph."
Tails looked at them with an unreadable expression as he soaked it all in. Oscar's story, it was… touching. Tails had known that the people of Station Square were grateful for what he had done all those years ago. But never would he have thought his actions that day inspired anyone to move forward outside of himself and his own steps towards independence. After all, Sonic was the inspiring one and he was just the sidekick that was always happy to help but didn't really mean much to anyone. But standing here before him, looking at him with big brown eyes was a young man whose actions had saved so many from whatever lie in wait on the Death Egg. And now, he didn't know what to say.
"I-"
Suddenly, loud sirens let out throughout the entire base and they were bathed in red. Loud thuds rang out against the wall.
Everyone looked around in fear at this except for Sonic, who immediately nudged Tails.
"Hate to grab a bite and run, but we gotta juice and see just what the heck is going on out there!"
With that, the hog peeled out and ran out of the facility, calling Tails and Omega along after him.
The three rushed outside through the way they came and they were shocked at the sight before them.
"Chaos?!" Sonic gasped.
Pounding on the wall of the base was said water deity, but something was different about him. Chaos looked to be a little bigger than he was before, having slightly broader shoulders and his right arm having a sort of metallic skeletal structure within it which lead to a massive metal hand with a small red glow emanating from the palm.
"No, no. It's Chaos 1. How did he get his hands on a Chaos Emerald?!"
GUN soldiers fired at him from all directions, but their shots were useless when stacked up against the water god.
Chaos looked around at the gunfire and narrowed his eyes into a glare.
Chaos retracted his hands from the wall and proceeded to lash them out again in a sort of spin attack, knocking all the GUN soldiers and Omega off their feet while Sonic spindashed underneath and Tails flew over.
Sonic came out of his spindash and began to run towards Chaos while the others watched on.
"Hey 'ya big drip didn't I give you enough of a beat down last time?" He snarked.
Chaos glared at the hedgehog as he raced towards him, extending his arms in an attempt to catch him, but each attempt was met with him dodging left or right each and every time.
If Tails didn't know any better, he'd have thought the hog was performing Sonic's own quickstep technique. But he didn't really learn to do that until he was around fifteen. Then again, the kid did perform a small air boost at the birthday party.
But he put his attention back on the hog as he finally closed the gap, jumped into the air and homing in on the deity.
Chaos was easily splattered into little droplets of water as he landed on the other side and quickly dashed away.
"See nothin' to it. You can't keep this hog down 'ya melted popsicle."
But just as quickly as the drops of water dispersed they pooled together back into his form. And with that, he quickly lashed out at the hog with his mechanical arm, scooping him out of the air as if it was nothing before pulling him back to him.
Sonic struggled desperately to wriggle his way out of the ancient one's grasp but to no avail.
Electricity then surged from the glowing red gem on his hand causing the child to let out a piercing shriek as thousands of volts of electricity poured into his body for a single instant. And just as quickly as he was brought in he was chucked to a wall, where he lie unmoving.
"SONIC!"
"Open fire!" One of the gun officers barked and immediately they went back to shooting at Chaos again, Omega doing the same.
Tails was on his feet again, rushing to his friend's aid. Hoping and praying that he hadn't just lost his friend again.
Not gain… not again…
Chaos. Please, not again!
And he was at his side, immediately putting his head to his chest in hopes that he would hear something, anything.
And luckily, his response came in a steady, albeit slow heartbeat.
Tails let out a sigh of relief. Sonic was safe. He was okay. Just unconscious.
But he wouldn't be for long if Chaos was still able to rampage here in Station Square.
Tails looked up from where his brother lay and glared at the water deity as the weapons of the GUN agents did nothing to stop him.
At the mere sight of the being that dared to bring harm to his brother, his eyes narrowed down in a hard glare. If looks could kill, Chaos would've evaporated as soon as Tails laid eyes on the monster.
But oh no, he was angry.
Sonic may have been down but that didn't mean that he couldn't do something. He had to believe in himself and he had to fight not just for Sonic, not even for the city but for himself.
Quickly, he found a bent piece of metal from the ground around him, the perfect weapon of choice.
"Hey Chaos!" Tails shouted at the beast.
Chaos looked away from all the military men and the robot firing on him and looked at the two tailed kit standing before him.
With a battle cry, Tails got to his feet and began to run towards him.
"Cease fire!" One of the men shouted and they did exactly so.
With his full attention on Tails, he watched and waited as the fox spun around before chucking the piece of Metal at him.
The Metal went flying straight for his brain and he knew that if that thing impacted him, it would be all over. Not when he still had so much to do to punish the people of the world.
So quickly, he threw up his metal arm in front of his face to block the shot. And with luck, Chaos had succeeded.
But unfortunately, it seemed his luck had turned for the worse as the shrapnel lodged itself within the metal of his arm causing it to short out and move around erratically as electricity surged around it.
And that was just the vantage point Tails needed as he met him jumped into the air and swung his Tails at the brain with such force that it flew out of the water and into a nearby drainage pipe. And in its place the water dissipated only to leave the glowing yellow Chaos Emerald is left in its place.
Tails landed on the ground in a crouch as he huffing and puffing with his eyes screwed shut, the Chaos Emerald before him.
For a moment, there was nothing but the fox's heavy breathing as he just was there in the center of the street waiting for anything to happen.
But there was nothing.
And quickly, Tails scooped up the Emerald as people began to cheer for him. But he cared nothing for them. Rather than stay and celebrate he ran to the one person in the world that meant the most to him.
When he arrived, Sonic, with an eye half open couldn't help but smile at him despite being on the ground.
"S-S-Sonic!" Tails cried. "Y-you're okay."
The hog let out a cough but continued to smile. "Course I'm okay. You really thought a few little sparks could keep me down?"
Tails couldn't help but smile at this and quickly wrapped the hedgehog in a hug, who let out a yelp at the squeeze.
Immediately Tails retracted. "Oh no, I'm so sorry."
But Sonic shook his head. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Nice work, Hero of Station Square."
At that, GUN soldiers immediately came over insisting that Sonic get some medical attention. Sonic refused, but Tails was quick to intervene.
"Of course. Please take good care of him." Tails said.
He then looked to Sonic. "Just a quick patch up, and after that it's off to the Mystic Ruins."
Sonic smiled. "Yeah, off to Mystic Ruins."
"But in the meantime, I've got an autograph to give."
[1] The only time you'll probably see the name Robotnik in this fic. I prefer Eggman because that is his original name, but I decided to respect the flashback and keep it correct.
[2] He doesn't have a name outside of "The President" so I made one up.
[3] I'm trash and decided to throw in a reference to RWBY with these three characters simply because I had no idea what to do about the humans here. It will likely be a reference I will come to regret years later when I look back on this fic. But meh.
AND IT'S FINALLY DONE.
This chapter took a lot longer than I would've ever expected it too. I figured it'd be short, maybe 3K words or so. I'm so sorry that it took so long, I really wanted it out in December but I guess the trouble of the holidays and just other stuff got in the way and well, I guess it's been tough but now we can finally rest easy now that this chapter is here. Honestly, this chapter turned out a whole lot different than when I started it. Originally, it was just gonna be "Oh, we're in Station Square, Tails talks about the time he saved the town and then dundundun Chaos appears" and then I got the thought to move some of the stuff I had on GUN here and that it would be better if someone else told the story. The flashback moved so many times at the beginning of this chapter as well… it went from the beginning to Oscar telling it and then back to the beginning again. It was wild.
But yeah, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed what I had here and the developments we got for both the world and the characters.
But uh… before we go, I have something I need to bring up here because I feel it's important that you guys that have been reading my story know since it did kind of effect this story. This whole thing happened like last month but due to my slow writing, I guess I didn't quite have the time to say it here. So… with that said let's get into it.
In Reviving Hope Part 2, I had mentioned that a large part of the reason that that chapter was late was because I had decided to put a lot of effort into a personal project that I was working on.
Well… that personal project wasn't quite a personal project.
During 2017, I was asked by someone that used to be my friend to create ideas for a Sonic game and I did that. This idea would eventually become something called Sonic Islands which was meant to be a pitch to Sega to basically be a 3D Mania. Of course, I didn't believe him immediately, but as he provided more and more evidence to me over the course of months and months with video calls, pictures, constant meetings etc. Me and about 20 other people eventually found ourselves believing him as it seemed to get more and more real.
And then it wasn't. Honestly, it seems silly now that this actually happened. It was discovered by some people with actual connections that it was a load of bull and all of us got out of there.
But for a while, I spent writing that script and that took away from a lot of time that could be spent working not only on this fic but my own stuff as well.
So with all of that said, I want to issue an apology to all of you who were eagerly waiting for a new chapter at that time since I pretty much up and abandoned you guys for a good couple of months. It wasn't fair to you and I'm honestly and truly sorry about that.
But I also want to show you all what I worked on as well. Since all of this went to crap and I wrote a full length script for this game, I think that all that work should be shared so… I will. Linked below is that script as well as a little more on the situation that went down as well as all the work that I put into it. I hope those of you who choose to read it enjoy it and hey, you can tell me what you think in a DM. While I'm down to talk about what happened, I am not going to sharing anything on the situation other than what's on the document.
Link:
docs
.
google
.com (slash) document / d / 187SBeYC41JIKOJUYfRAcMbKDA23SSuo-4sptORPjkvQ / edit ? usp = sharing
(Make sure to remove spaces and replace ((slash)) with the actual symbol since FFN is tricky about links so difficult I had to split this in lines and try several times)
Thanks for your time everyone, sorry about the delay for this chapter, thank you so much for 100 reviews again, happy anniversary, sorry about the drama bomb, I hope those of you who read the script enjoy it and tell me your thoughts in DMs and as always,
R&R
