First and foremost, this story is getting a bit too much to keep up with on top of everything else I've got going on in my life, so for the time being, I'm changing monthly updates to bi-monthly. I'm sorry everyone but I just keep trying and it just doesn't work. Now, I'm still gonna try and shoot to get a chapter down every month, but my worst case is going to be two. It certainly does lengthen how long this fic will be running for, but with how my life is going at the moment, I don't have another option.

So you may be wondering why this chapter is not Super Casino Bros or even a Classic chapter for that matter. Well, you see it was all part of my elaborate plan to trick all of you and- okay, nah. I made some changes and I'll explain why in the end of chapter A/N. For now, let's just have some fun with the Modern side of things with this new chapter.

Oh and one more thing before we start but it's almost Sonic's birthday. Consider this my early 28th birthday present to him. Happy birthday big blue, keep goin' fast, collecting rings and all of that jazz.

Trials of War:
Chapter 15-
Pressing On

For Celeste, the last thing she saw was Infinite's face and then… there was nothing but the pitch black abyss.

At least, that was it for a few minutes.

But soon, she found bright lights piercing through the black, drawing her from her slumber and back into reality.

Granted, it took a few moments but soon white lights filled out, becoming a white expanse. Her vision blinking into and out of existence as her eyes fluttered open and close before finally, she was awake.

Although she wished that she was still asleep since her body ached all over and her head pounded like a hurricane against an unsuspecting populace.

Celeste couldn't help but let out a loud groan as she drew in her surroundings. White ceilings with bright lights raining down on her, medical supplies all over and a certain nurse gave her the indication that she was back in the infirmary. And feeling the hospital bed underneath her pretty much confirmed her suspicions making her groan even more.

She lost to Infinite and of course, that wound her right back where she was the last time she fought him. Granted, it was a fight she didn't expect to win but she didn't want to be hospitalized again because of it.

All that groaning got the attention of the aforementioned nurse and she looked to see Celeste with her eyes open and groaning both in pain and annoyance.

Cream smiled and was immediately at her side. "Oh thank goodness you're awake. We were all so worried about you, Ms. Celeste."

Cheese perked up his head and agreed. "Chao, chao!"

Celeste groaned again, turning her head towards the rabbit girl and her Chao. Both of them gave her warm smiles as Cream began preparing a wet washcloth for her.

While she waited, Celeste attempted to get into a sitting position, only for more of that throbbing pain to ring out throughout her body, causing her to let out a hiss of pain.

At that, Cream had finished and quickly had her sit down. "No, don't get up. Mama told me that you need all your rest if you want to regain your full strength."

Celeste weakly nodded. "Wh-wh-where is she?" Her voice came out hoarse, a shadow of its former self. Celeste furrowed her brow at this, annoyed that through everything that even talking hurt her. Infinite had really done that much of a number on her? This was ridiculous.

"She's sleeping. It's very late right now and with how busy things have been here for the past week since the fight at Adabat, I told Mama that I could watch over you tonight and that she should get some rest."

"Chao Chao!" Cheese added.

Celeste hummed and slowly nodded at that, her eyes beginning to flutter shut as she drifted back off into sleep.

Or at least she would've if her eyes didn't shoot open. She tried to get up only to for a wall of pain to rush over her body, forcing her back into her bed.

"D-did you s-say a week?" She stuttered.

Cream nodded. "Yes, Ms. Celeste. When they brought you in after everything had happened, we were very worried about you. No one was sure whether you were going to make it or not, but Mama made sure you pulled through. I don't know how, but she saved you."

"I-I'll have to thank her in the morning."

"I know she will love that, but for now… you need to get your rest, Ms. Celeste."

She nodded. "R-right…"

"Sleep tight and, Ms… thank you for looking after my friends that night. They didn't tell me everything that happened, but I know that you stood up to Infinite when no one else would. Thank you."

Celeste smiled at that and shortly drifted off to sleep.

~Trials of War~

Knuckles the Echidna sat in the central command room with a cup of coffee in his hands, Amy with some tea.

The co-leaders of the resistance sat in silence as they enjoyed their drinks, Knuckles hammering in on the coffee in an attempt to wake himself up after a late night of working on resistance stuff while Amy calmly stirred her tea.

Having quickly downed another cup before reaching over for yet another cup of coffee.

Amy raised an eyeridge at this. "You know, that's your sixth cup, Knuckles?"

"And?"

"Too much of that can be bad for you, y'know?"

"Well, after spending most of the night forming our next battle plan, I kinda need to wake myself up. Planning an attack on Metropolis isn't something you do easily."

"I know," Amy tutted. "I was there. Who else spent most of the night arguing with you about how to get past their defenses?"

"Heh, then you should know how tired I am. How are you so awake this morning, we both only got like two hours of sleep."

Amy chuckled and shook her head. "Silly Knuckles, when you keep up with a man who is able to go to a different country at a moment's notice just because he feels like it, you tend to be up at odd hours."

"Still, you haven't really chased Sonic around like that since you were like thirteen." Knuckles added.

She hummed. "Hm, true. But the powers of sleep deprivation never leave you."

Knuckles grumbled at this and took another swig of coffee to which the hedgehog happily smiled at him.

"Oh quit your bellyaching, Knuckles. Don't forget, we have a very important call to make."

"Yeah, yeah… I know, just give me two more cups and we can get right to it."

And with that, Amy began typing on her computer while Knuckles downed another two cups of coffee.

He arrived at her side just in time as the call connected and staring before them was the face of a young human woman whose sky blue eyes and soft features were surrounded by long, flowing reddish brown hair. She wore a brown dress, with white accents, giving off the appearance of an eagle along with a single red jewel on her collar. Putting the look together was a rather extravagant tiara complete with gems of all sorts of different colors. She gave off a warm smile as she looked at the two.

Both Amy and Knuckles bowed when they saw her. "Queen of Soleanna, thank you for agreeing to meet with us during such trying times."

"Please, no need for any of that." The queen shook her head. "Just Elise will be fine."

Both Amy and Knuckles rose at that to look at the queen of Soleanna once again. "Now, it's not every day that both leaders of the resistance and the guardian of the Master Emerald reach out to you. So what is it that you want with me or my kingdom?"

Knuckles and Amy looked at one another and sighed.

"We know you're not really going to like what we have to say…" Amy started.

Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder and looked towards the webcam with eyes set in determination. "But we wouldn't be coming to you for help, if we didn't need it."

Amy felt the strength and comfort of her long time friend and stood a little taller as well, looking on with her own determination.

Elise looked at the two of them, surprised to see their determination. But couldn't help but smile in respect for that.

"Very well, state your purpose."

"As I am sure, you are very well aware of the devastation to Adabat just last week?" Knuckles asked.

Elise nodded. "Yes, Emperor Eggman made very sure to make sure that it was your fault that it happened."

"As he always does." Amy sighed.

"He certainly doesn't make fighting for the freedom of the world any easier." Knuckles added.

"I can imagine. We all know that the Eggman Empire only produces what puts them in a good light. Very unbefitting of a ruler, but what should we expect from those who take power for themselves?"

The two nodded in agreement.

"Eggman ruined these people's lives with what he did that day. They were just trying to live away from the empire, the war and all the fighting but when he found them… well, that village has been practically wiped off the map now." Knuckles frowned.

"And that's why we've come to you for help."

Elise pursed her lips at this. "I see…"

"People lost their homes that day, some their lives but none of them asked for the war to come to them. And now several refugees are left to fend for themselves in our secret base that puts them in further danger than they deserve." Amy explained.

"It's not a fight that they asked for, and that's why we've come to you. Adabat used to be our personal safe haven against the Eggman Empire, but now we have nothing and people suffer for it."

"You want to bring your refugees to Soleanna."

Amy and Knuckles slowly nodded. "Yes, your majesty."

Elise let out a sigh. "I do understand your plight and I have the utmost sympathy for the victims of the attack on Adabat. But Soleanna's borders have been closed for months now. I made it clear when we severed our alliance and pulled out of the conflict after the loss of Holoska."

Knuckles clenched his fist and grit his teeth in frustration. She really didn't have to remind them of their previous failures.

But Amy didn't miss a beat and continued where Knuckles didn't. "And we are very well aware and still respect your decision, your majesty. But we are not asking you to rejoin the fight, we are simply asking you to open your borders just for a brief moment to allow a few poor souls a home until things can be set right."

Queen Elise shook her head. "Doing that would not only put my country in danger to be swarmed by Eggman Empire forces, but it would present a major political factor of Soleanna potentially realigning itself with the resistance. Something I worked very hard to make clear."

Knuckles furrowed his brow in anger at her. "Yeah, well while you guys keep to yourselves and continue hidi-"

Amy slammed her foot onto Knuckles foot, stopping him from going any further.

But it was clear that some damage had been done with the scowl left on the monarch's face, leaving Amy to try and diffuse the situation.

"Please, ignore him, your highness. We're running on very little sleep and coming off of a defeat, The Guardian of the Master Emerald, normally knows better than this."

Elise glared at them to which Amy gave knuckles a harsh elbow to the chest. Begrudgingly, he grumbled. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Elise still had her lips pressed together and her gaze hardened, while Amy gave as cheeky of a smile as possible in hopes to impress the queen.

While still pensive, she relented and let the comment from Knuckles go. "Apology accepted."

Amy's shoulders sagged in relief at that.

"Still, the Kingdom of Soleanna will not be taking in your refugees." She shook her head. "I am sorry, while I do feel a great sorrow for the people of Adabat, I will not be opening my borders as I have my own people to tend to. This war is incredibly dangerous and as reigning monarch of Soleanna I cannot put my people in danger even if it means the safety of others."

Amy tensed again, and unfortunately that didn't give her time to shut up the sharp tongued echidna. "Listen, we wouldn't have come to you if we didn't have any other options, Elise! People lost their homes for Chaos' sake, but you'd much rather stay in your little protective force field and worry about your own rather than everybody else? I bet you don't even care about what happens to the world as long as your kingdom is safe!"

The reigning monarch of Soleanna didn't take kindly to that. As a young princess just a few years prior, she wouldn't have known what to say in response to such harsh words. But years of reigning over a kingdom after her father's demise had taught her strength that she never would've thought she'd have as a child. And she would not dare let anyone, even the Guardian of the Master Emerald question that strength.

"And what about you? You claim to have so much strength, but it was you and your friends that put the world in the dire state it is now. Legends of the Sonic Heroes, the defenders of this world lost and have been continuing to lose for what has been seven months now! People relied upon you to save the world from Eggman! And what happened? Cities, even entire countries have fallen and Eggman is Emperor of the world! Our greatest hero had fallen on international television! And you have the gall to accuse me of being a coward when I'm only doing what is right for my kingdom? Please!"

"And we made some mistakes, but you know what? We've been taking the world back! Maybe if you actually paid attention, then you'd know that Sonic is alive and we've been doing our best to take this world back to the way it's supposed to be. Some of us don't run and hide when things get tough, we dust ourselves off and keep fighting the fight because that's what anyone would do. It's the responsibility we have not only to our planet, but to Chaos himself to try our hardest to make this planet a better place and I intend to keep doing so!"

Elise snorted. "You speak of responsibilities to Chaos, but you ignore what he has been doing? You absolutely have my utmost respect as The Guardian of the Master Emerald, but that's just it. You protect a lifeless rock."

Knuckles was taken aback by this and even Amy who had been trying to keep her composure frowned as well.

"I protect a people. A people who I strive to do the very best for no matter what and if that means watching the world go down in flames to keep them safe, then I will do just that. But the barriers that protect Soleanna are strong and will not fall to the likes of the Empire and certainly won't go down for the likes of a resistance that continues to fail every day. You're confident in your efforts? Put these people in Sunset Heights, but Soleanna will not ally itself with the resistance."

This time, it was Amy who bit back. "I don't appreciate the tone you're taking with my friend here, Lizzy!"

Both Knuckles and the queen were taken aback at this.

"You think that Knuckles job is easy? The amount of strength it takes when it comes to guarding the Master Emerald takes far more than that of running a country! You think that sitting around in a cushy castle all day having servants wait on you hand and foot is the same as being the lone guardian of the most powerful object in the world? Don't make me laugh, Knuckles has more strength in a single one of his spines than you do in that castle of yours!"

Elise bit her lip at this, she hadn't expected that. "I didn't mean-"

"Oh yes you did." Amy retorted. "And I really don't appreciate the tone that you've taken in regards to my friends. We are making a difference in this world regardless of what you or anyone else may think and not for your approval, we do this because it's the right thing to do. So if you decide that you want the world to burn while your people are safe, then fine. But we will continue to fight and do what's right."

Elise tried to say something but the words fell flat.

"While I may not be happy with you, our request still stands and maybe you might want to think about what the right thing really means to you. Now please, have a good day your majesty. The co-leaders of the resistance are signing off."

Elise tried to get another word in only for Amy to disconnect the call.

Knuckles looked at her surprised. "Wow, Amy. I didn't know you had it in you."

"Don't mention it. I may have made things worse for us than you did."

Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe, but I takes guts to stand up for me and the resistance like that to someone like her."

Amy smiled at that. "Thank you Knuckles."

Knuckles gave her a pat on the back and smiled. "Now come on, we've got an attack on Metropolis to plan." [1]

~Trials of War~

"Master is this really necessary?" Infinite asked.

"Well, yes. Metal Sonic has been destroyed, Zavok has been exiled and Chaos still hasn't reported back to us since sending him off a few weeks ago. The only thing we can do at this point is look for someone who might be able to fill the void."

"Yes… I understand that, but you couldn't have thought of something a little less… flashy?" Infinite gestured to the gigantic signs around the room each decorated with their own Eggman mustaches announcing Eggman Empire General Auditions! and the like.

Eggman simply laughed. "Nonsense. This truly is a momentous occasion for all to see. I want everyone to know what they're here for."

"Shadow, do you have any complaints?" Infinite asked.

The hedgehog simply rolled his eyes. "I've dealt with the doctor's foolishness for years, this is nothing."

"That's the spirit, Shadow!" Eggman cheered as Infinite just sighed. "Now, is everyone ready?"

Both of the Mobians nodded to which the doctor smiled.

"Alright, Brenda, we're live in five, four, three, two-"

At four, the reporter looked up from where she was looking at both her and Carl's own shock collars and told Eggman exactly what she felt. "I hate you so much."

"O-one?!" He gasped.

Brenda then immediately smiled at the camera. "Good morning Eggman Empire, we are coming to you live from Sunny Metropolis, right here in the Good 'ol Emperor's office here for a very special event. That's right, everyone we are holding auditions to see who will be the next general of the Eggman Empire. It's been a long time, what with those terrible, terrible things that Sonic and that treacherous resistance has done to Metal and Zavok and who knows where poor Chaos could be. But not to worry, because we have auditions for who could be the next General!"

At that, audience applause could be heard from all over.

Brenda waited for it to stop and continued. "But how can we have a show without our judges? Let's go to the panel and see who we've got."

She made her way over to a table where the three were sitting. "First up, we've got the man himself, the fearless conqueror of the world who's gonna save us all, it's Emperor Eggman!"

Eggman grinned at the camera as more fake cheers played out. "Thank you, thank you. You're too kind."

Brenda then walked over to the next of them. "Now how about everybody's favorite hero, he's dark and dangerous and don't get on his bad side or you'll get a Chaos Spear to the face. Ladies and gentleman, give it up for Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Shadow simply crossed his arms and huffed as the crowd cheered for him.

"Oh come on, Shadow? No smile. You've gotta say something for your fans back home!"

She was met with a turn away to which the crowd showed their disapproval.

"Aw, don't worry guys. I'm sure one of the contenders will get him to smile." And that of course was met with cheers.

"And finally, we've got the man of mystery, the key to victory and the unstoppable force that is Infinite!"

Infinite was awkward as the cheers went by. "Uh- y-yes. Hello there uh… Brenda…"

Brenda laughed. "No need to be shy. We're all friends here, isn't that right audience?"

From there, the sound of more cheering came, which warmed up Infinite a little.

"Heh, thank you. I-I've just never done anything like this before."

"Who would've thought that the big bad Infinite has a little stage fright? Well, not to worry this'll be easy. In fact, lemme go into the rules of this little shindig. We'll be having our contestants come in and show their stuff to the judges. If they're good, they'll get their approval, but if they stink well each of the judges is equipped with a buzzer that'll give them a red x. Two or three red xs and they're out of here!"

Shadow brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Wait, that sounds familiar. Isn't that just like The-"

But Eggman was quick to cut in. "What?! No! Of course not, completely original idea straight from the Eggman Empire! Why thank you for asking!"

Shadow glared at him at that, but decided to drop it.

"Now that that's done. Why don't we get our first contestant in here."

In slithered a gigantic, anthropomorphic snake wearing some sort of strange mechanical suit with arms.

He opened his mouth to speak only for a loud buzz to go off.

The snake frowned and looked up to see that Shadow had already pushed his x.

"Wh-why?!" The snake asked.

"I'm sorry but just the mere sight of you disgusted me. You have no place in this world or this empire. How dare you disturb us with your presence?"

The laugh track played.

"I don't even know you!"

"And I don't care."

Eggman chuckled. "Alright, well it looks like Shadow's made up his mind. Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

The snake still glared at the hedgehog but nodded. "My name is Lyric and I am a man of many talentsssss."

"Really, now?" Infinite asked. "Like what?"

"Well, I can control masssshinesss… With the pressss of this button I can-"

Two more buzzes let out and the room went dark.

"What?!"

"Yeah, that's useless." Eggman stated. "I have control over an entire army of machines. Why in the world would I need you?"

"Exactly. We don't tolerate uselessness in the Eggman Empire. Out of our sight."

With the wave of his hand, Lyric disappeared in a glitchy haze of cubes.

"Looks like our first contender wasn't up to the task, but not to worry folks, we've got more to come in a bit right after a message from our sponsors!"

~Trials of War~

"Is this her?"

"Yeah, I think it is."

"She doesn't look as tough as mom said."

"Yeah, I can't believe that this is the one that fought Infinite?"

Slowly, Celeste's eyes fluttered open and she was met face to face with two pairs of yellow eyes staring at her.

"Ah!" She yelped at that to which the owners of the two eyes jumped back with shouts of their own.

Celeste looked at the two and saw that they were two admittedly adorable cats, one a light fuchsia color and the other a darker red. Both of them looked to be no older than six years old.

"I- wha-" Celeste sputtered.

"Nice job, Sphinx you woke her up!" The fuchsia cat shouted, elbowing the fuchsia cat in his rib.

"Did not, Pharaoh! You were the one who was being loud!" The red cat, Sphinx, retorted.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Hey!" Celeste shouted, cutting in. The two kittens stopped and immediately shot their eyes towards her. "Uh… who are you kids?"

The two cats straightened up. The fuchsia one giving her a grin that radiated confidence. "I'm Pharaoh the Cat! Soon to be world famous adventurer and the world's next Sonic the Hedgehog! The dork over there is Sphinx!"

"Hey, I'm not a dork! And who says that you're gonna be the next Sonic, what if I wanna be the next Sonic!"

"Well, I'm the more athletic and good looking one. You're the smart one. You can be my Tails and build me stuff when I'm beating up bad guys."

"What if I wanna beat up guys?"

"Well how can you beat up bad guys when you can't even keep your nose?" With that, Pharaoh reached at Sphinx's face and acted as if he snatched something away from him. Making it appear as if he got his nose.

"Give back my nose, Pharaoh!" Sphinx shouted to which the cat laughed and began to chase after the cat only for him to disappear in a flash of light and reappear at different spots of the room.

This irritated Sphinx as he tried to catch him but to no avail. To her surprise, this eventually lead the child to passing out and in its place a sort of hazy version of him appeared out of his body and began to fly around, chasing the teleporting Pharaoh around the room.

Celeste could only watch with wide eyes as this went on. She knew of gifted Mobians blessed by Chaos with powers. Heck, if you lived anywhere with a decent population of Mobians you were bound to know at least a couple. But usually, most did not do much with their powers other than get them easily out of the most mundane tasks rather than become one of the Sonic heroes. Before the war, she had a classmate who could turn invisible and mostly used it to play practical jokes on her friends. But even with the powers, that did not account for whether or not they were Chaos Sensitive.

And with these two children blipping around the room like maniacs she didn't know what to do. She wasn't exactly the best with kids, but did what any other adult would do in the situation.

"Hey!" She shouted and once again the two stopped and looked at her.

"How about we stop doing uh… whatever this is and just sit and talk."

The boys nodded and quickly, Pharaoh teleported to the foot of Celeste's bed and Sphinx floated back into his body and joined him. Both sat cross legged and looked at her expectantly.

"Alright so…" Celeste started. "Where are your parents?"

Speak of the devil, the cries of a very familiar voice came from outside the room. "Boys! Boys! Sphinx! Pharaoh! Where are you?!"

At that the face of the leader of Beta Squad popped into the room and sighed in relief at the sight of the two young boys in the room.

"Oh, thank Chaos. There you two are!"

"Mom!" The two boys cheered as they hopped off the bed and scampered over to Fierro and gave her a great big hug.

Celeste had never seen her so happy, but the face she gave when she gave those two boys a smile proved that she definitely was their mother. And once they stopped, the cat immediately frowned. "What did I tell you two about running around the base? We're guests here and you can't go around making a mess out of everything."

"We just wanted to go exploring!" Pharaoh shouted.

Sphinx nodded. "Yeah, we never really leave our rooms!"

"Yeah, and Uncle Gadget is the worst at playing tag."

Fierro sighed. "What am I going to do with you two? Celeste, did they bother you? They didn't wake you did they? I'm so sorry."

Celeste was rather confused. "Uh… it's okay. No worries."

Fierro nodded. "Good. I'm glad to see that you're at least conscious now."

"Mom! Mom! This is Celeste?!" The two boys shouted.

Fierro nodded and chuckled. "That's right. She's the one I've been telling you both so much about."

The two boys were ecstatic at that to which Pharaoh instantly teleported to her bedside while Sphinx ran on over.

"Wow!"

"You're really her!"

"You're so cool!"

"I can't believe you fought Infinite!"

"And ran around with Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Is he as cool as he is on TV?!"

"Are his quills as spikey as a pin?!"

"What about his speed?!"

"Is he too fast for the naked eye?!"

The boys rambled off questions at a mile a minute to which Celeste tried to keep up with, but they eventually just gave her a headache. She clutched her head in pain, to which she brought a hand to her temple.

"Hey. That's enough, boys. Why don't we give Ms. Celeste some rest? She's not feeling too well and needs to build her strength."

Both boys pouted and at that, Gadget ran into the room.

"Fierro, I've been looking everywhere and I still haven't found the boys and-"

"Uncle Gadget!" The two cheered as they tackled the wolf, knocking him right off of his feet.

The two wrapped him in a warm embrace to which he laughed. "H-hey, I found them!"

The two kids laughed while Fierro smiled and shook her head. "Good job, Gadget. Now I need you to take them back to our quarters, I want to stay and talk to Celeste for a moment."

Gadget was surprised at that. "Celeste?"

He looked up at the bed to see the young girl wave at her. "You're awake! I'm so glad you're okay."

Celeste smiled at him. "Thanks, Gadget. It's good to see you too."

"You had us worried sick, I was afraid that Infinite might've done you in or worse. I-I'm just so glad that you're okay."

"I'm alright. Thanks for looking out for me."

"Of course."

"You two can talk later." Fierro said. "For now can you take them back?"

"Yeah. No problem, Fi." Gadget nodded. He then scooped up both boys in his arms. "Come on kiddos, let's go."

"Bye, mom! Bye, Ms. Celeste!" The two children called out.

The two waved at them and with that, the two were out of the room.

At that, the two fell into silence not really sure what to say to each other.

Celeste decided to break the ice first. "So… you have kids?"

Fierro nodded. "Yep. My two little bundles of joy. A bit of a handful but they're the most precious thing in the world to me."

"How old are they?"

"Both are six. Twins actually."

Celeste hummed at that, not really sure what to say.

Fierro caught wind of this and decided to explain herself. "Had them when I was around 19, was with someone who I thought was great but turned out to be a dirt bag who couldn't look after them. So, it's been me and my boys versus the world for a long time."

Celeste slowly nodded.

"You'll understand a bit more when you're older." Fierro explained. "You're still young and got a lot of life ahead of you."

Celeste nodded again. "Right. Well, they're really cute, they have your eyes."

"Thank you." Fierro smiled.

And at that, the two fell into silence again before Fierro broke the silence this time. "Celeste, what you did that night was incredibly stupid. Not only was it a direct violation of orders from one of your superiors but you also put yourself in an extraordinary amount of danger."

"I know."

"No, you don't. Celeste, you got yourself seriously hurt going up against him all by yourself. You've been out of commission for a week. And for what? To prove yourself? To try and defeat him? You're lucky that Sonic came in when he did, it could've been a lot worse for you."

Celeste looked down at her hands, saying nothing. She was absolutely right, she had gone into a battle that she could not have possibly won and suffered the consequences for it. But her brow furrowed at one thing, she was wrong at the reason why. She turned her gaze back to the cat that was looking at her condescendingly.

"I didn't do it for glory or to prove anything. Our friends were in trouble and someone needed to help."

"And how good did that do you?"

"Pretty well, I mean, I'm still here aren't I? And with Infinite focused on me, he couldn't do anything worse to Knuckles and everybody else. I may be hurt but if everyone's safe, then I call that a win."

Fierro frowned. "You shouldn't be hurt in the first place, Celeste. You should be out and about, getting ready for the next big mission but instead you're here. I gave you a direct order and you blatantly ignored it. Your actions may have stopped things in time, but I'm not gonna sit here and watch a kid get hurt on my watch."

"Then you should've come back with me instead of running off. If I had had Beta Squad behind me, then maybe things would've been different."

"We already finished our mission, Celeste."

"But there were still people who needed help. You didn't want to because you were scared of Infinite."

"I didn't want to fight him because it was an unwinnable battle. I'm sorry if you have some sort of death wish that you want to fulfill, but I have kids that need me and while I may be fighting to give them a better tomorrow, I also try my hardest to make sure that those two boys still have a mother and I will absolutely continue to do so without a second thought, Celeste. And that is something you couldn't ever begin to understand."

Celeste looked down again.

"Everything I do in this war, I do for them and don't for a second try and call me a coward for wanting to get home to them. You made the decision to get hurt and that's ended you up here. I'm very happy to hear that you're well again, but please… know where you stand, don't get into battles you can't win."

With that, Fierro got up from her chair and began to leave the room.

Celeste sat there, looking down at her hands with tears at the brim of her eyes. "I- I'm sorry…"

"Show me that next time you're on the field." Fierro stated and with that she left.

~Trials of War~

A meeting had been called for the resistance and all fighters reported to the map room for debriefing.

Knuckles stood at the head of the room and smiled at them. "Thank you all for coming today, I know that things have been pretty difficult since the defeat in Adabat, but I'm very happy to see so many of you are still alive and kicking after such a devastating defeat."

"Adabat was hard on everyone, especially for those that were lost in the fight, but we're happy to see that you're all still standing here today, ready to continue that fight with us." Amy continued.

Knuckles nodded. "Which is why today, we're gonna try to hit Eggman like he hit us. We're gonna try and take Metropolis."

Immediately the crowd erupted into a chorus of concerns as people talked amongst one another about trying to reach the impenetrable fortress that was the city of Metropolis. Getting in there was something nigh impossible despite the resistance's many attempts early on in the war and all times were met with varying degrees of failure.

And everyone was making their concern very evident.

Knuckles called for the room to quiet down and slowly but surely agreed. "Look, I know that this is a pretty tall order especially with what just happened, but we need to show the Eggman Empire that we're not afraid of them anymore, so we're going to show them a thing or two by fighting them on their own terf."

People were still unsure but allowed the resistance leaders to continue.

Amy did some typing on her computer and soon the map of the world transitioned Metropolis where we could see pictures of the bustling city appear around it. But with the swipe of her hand, the map transitioned to the Metropolitan Outskirts where they could see pictures of a canyon and some sort of strange technological labyrinth complete with all kinds of white and purple technology along with a massive force field.

"As you're all well aware, the city of Metropolis is a technological marvel of the world located within the United Federation one of few gateways into the future of our world. At least, it was until Eggman declared it the Capital of his Empire. Since then, Eggman has gotten to work, making the capital of his empire more and more impenetrable by the day. Surrounding the city itself is a force field, outside of it is a massive mechanical fortress that Eggman has specifically made to protect it, surrounding it on all sides for miles. But if that wasn't bad enough? Then somehow, Eggman has been able to manipulate the land around it so that the only way to even get into the Eggman Empire Fortress is through this lone canyon by land? And by air? Well, they've got too many defenses. Any of our ships getting within their sights and it's over."

Espio frowned. "One narrow entryway and a fortress to fight through when we get there. I don't like those odds."

"It's suicide!" Vector declared. "What makes you think we can get through like that? If we make even a little bit of a mistake, we're toast!"

Knuckles shook his head. "Everything's going to be fine. All we need to do is push our advantage. Eggman's not going to be expecting an attack on the frontlines, especially not so soon after Adabat. We hit him where it hurts with a surprise."

"I-is that really your plan?" Silver asked. "I don't wanna judge, boss. But this just doesn't sound right."

"Of course it isn't." Amy replied. "You really think we're just going to run in and get shot at like a bunch of idiots?"

"Well, considering Knuckles was looking like the one who came up with this…" Sonic snarked to which the Echidna sent him a cold glare.

"What exactly are we going for?" Tangle asked.

"You're all painfully aware of the geographical advantage that the Eggman Empire has. But what you don't know is that there's a secret to his defenses." Amy announced.

The scene then shifted to a massive tower that stood smack dab in the middle of the fortress, just outside of Metropolis.

"This is the Imperial Tower and the operating tower of Metropolis' defenses. Thanks to Rouge, we know that all power to everything in Eggman Empire Fortress is powered there. If we can get in and find the generator that runs the place, then we'll have a way right into Metropolis."

"Okay, that's a little more reassuring." Mighty smirked.

Espio still frowned. "That still doesn't answer the question of how exactly we get in."

"Same as always." Knuckles announced. "We fight."

~Trials of War~

"And we're back!" Brenda grinned at the screen. "We have a bunch of exciting new competitors now so let's see who will be joining us next?"

Suddenly, the room went dark and the three judges looked around confusedly at this. And then, from nowhere a bright spotlight shone down from the ceiling and out appeared two skunks. The first of which was black with white stripes, yellow eyes with red pupils, orange gloves and shoes. The other was much taller than the first and had cream colored fur and white stripes along their body, red eyes and leather cuffs around their arms with metal spikes coming out of them. Both wore proud grins and had microphones in their hands.

The black skunk started. "The time is up…"

"And there's no way we'll blunder." The white one continued.

"Because it's winnin' time-"

Together they stated. "With rough and tumble."

The three judges clapped.

Eggman smiled. "Well, that was ni-"

But he was cut off as from nowhere, a beat dropped and Rough and Tumble began breakdancing.

"Uh… what?"

Rough opened things up. "We here and now, the time has come you'll never believe eyes-"

"Cuz Rough and Tumble here with a big surprise."

"We'll win the game,"

"It won't be so lame."

"The world is ours it won't be the same."

"Now-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Eggman shouted. Immediately the music cut and Rough and Tumble tripped over each other, falling to the ground. "What in the world do you two think you're doing?"

Rough looked up at him. "Uh… we were trying to win the contest."

"Yeah, bro. We were just doing our routine."

"Routine?" Eggman asked.

"Yeah, bro. For the talent contest!"

Shadow snorted while Infinite facepalmed.

"I- wha- you think this is a talent contest?"

"Yeah, duh."

Eggman facepalmed now too and let out a low sigh. "Infinite…"

"Right."

With a wave of his hand, the two disappeared in a flash of light.

The lights turned back on and Brenda looked confusedly at the camera. "Well… that was uh… interesting. But who's next?"

~Trials of War~

Celeste awoke again and this time to Vanilla working on changing her drip. She groaned at this, startling the rabbit.

"Oh goodness, you're awake again?" Vanilla asked.

Celeste slowly nodded.

"Oh good, Cream honey could you please go and get Celeste something to eat? Light though, she's still recovering."

Cream, who had been carrying over a pile of papers, put them down on a desk and nodded, running off to go get some food, Cheese following after.

Vanilla then went to a fridge in the corner of the room and got a bottle of water for Celeste to drink.

The young girl gladly took it and eagerly drank from the bottle, downing half its contents in absolutely no time flat.

"Th-thank you."

"Of course. I am going to do anything I can to make sure that you get better. So anything you may need, I'll have for you." Vanilla smiled.

Celeste smiled back at her.

"Now tell me, how are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm very tired... and still feel weak. Uh… now that you've mentioned food, I'm also hungry and uh… I don't know what else."

Vanilla nodded. "Yes, you should be feeling that way for the next few days. You should be getting lots of rest. No running around, no going on missions and no fighting. Especially not one of the most powerful beings in the world."

Celeste slowly nodded and sadly looked down at her hands, Fierro's harsh words coming back to her.

"R-right… I-I'm sorry…" She said again.

Vanilla shook her head. "Don't apologize. You did what you thought was right, even though it put yourself in harm's way. That takes a certain type of courage that not a lot of people in this world have."

Celeste slowly nodded but still looked down sadly at her hands. She wasn't exactly sure about that when she just recently had her ear talked off by her superior about what she had done.

Vanilla continued though. "Sonic has it, Tails, Silver, Espio, Rouge, Shadow… my own daughter… All of you willing to put yourselves in the line of fire if that meant saving the ones that you care about. It's something I've seen way too many times."

Celeste looked up at her at that.

"It's why Cream isn't allowed to fight in the war." Vanilla sighed. "She was very disappointed when I first forbade her from doing so but I didn't back down. She has that same fighting spirit in her that would put her in harm's way when fighting the empire."

"Really? But how could she do anything though? She's only eight."

Vanilla smiled. "Not many people know this, but like Big she is also one of the Sonic Heroes. She's been on a few adventures with Sonic and the others and is very close with them."

"I- I didn't know that."

Vanilla nodded. "I am very well acquainted with them as well. Sonic, unfortunately a little too much."

This time, Celeste was confused.

"Cream doesn't know this, at least, Sonic and I hope she doesn't but that sort of behavior doesn't exactly bode for the healthiest life style. Sonic doesn't show how many times he gets hurt when running around out there and helping everyone he can. He always makes sure that when he has an injury, he comes right over to our home down in Leaf Storm. Sometimes it's minor, sometimes it's much worse. Either way, it's always the same."

Celeste was surprised by this. Even after Sonic's defeat on TV all those months ago, she still viewed him as some sort of invincible, unstoppable force that could never be stopped. Like anyone, she looked up to him and trusted him to be her strength when she was feeling down and on the battlefield. In many ways, he was the world's shining light of hope and his fearlessness and determination to keep everyone safe no matter what brought comfort to a lot of people.

But to hear that it was that selflessness that also put her in danger was hard to swallow as well. She couldn't imagine the world's greatest hero limping into a cozy little home and getting patched up by the woman before her on a regular basis, but it seemed to be the case according to Vanilla. But despite her disbelief, it made sense. Everyone in the world knew that to him, it didn't matter what happened to him if it meant that others could be safe.

She wasn't really sure whether or not to feel flattered or worried that apparently she was so much like Sonic in that regard. But whether or not that was a good thing was yet to be seen. She never expected her actions of diving into a battle she knew she couldn't win with Infinite to be compared to Sonic, she just did what she thought was right. She was lucky to have even be alive because of that. Cream said she was grateful for her actions. Fierro had deemed it foolish. Vanilla… she- didn't really know what to think about her words.

But Vanilla kept talking. "I just want to tell you what I always tell, Sonic. It's wonderful that you're willing to put your life on the line to help people, in your case the lives of a lot of people my daughter and I have welcomed into our own family were spared because of your intervention. That's something I cannot begin to thank you enough for. But that doesn't mean I condone what you're doing. These situations don't always have to mean giving your life away for the lives of others, sometimes there's a way for you to find a way to save people while still coming out of it yourself. Sometimes you need to find that way. But in the event that there truly is no other way, make sure that you give the bad people what's coming to them. But please, choose your battles wisely."

Celeste didn't know what to say to that and unfortunately didn't get the chance to say anything when Cream came in carry a bowl of oatmeal, a packet of chocolate pudding and two spoons on a tray.

"Here's your food, Ms. Celeste!" Cream chirped as she handed her the tray with a warm smile.

Celeste took the food and smiled at her. "Thank you, Cream."

With that, Vanilla began to exit the room. "I need to make preparations for when the others return from their mission, you can watch Celeste, can't you darling?"

"Of course!"

"Alright, then, I'll be off."

"Wait, Ms. Vanilla!" Celeste called out.

Vanilla turned to look at her.

Celeste smiled at her and said, "Thank you."

Vanilla gave her a smile and a nod and left the room.

~Trials of War~

The resistance faced it, the gigantic canyon that would lead them into Mortar Canyon and if all went well, straight into Metropolis.

Leading the fleet were the Sonic heroes themselves, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, The Chaotix, Rouge, Silver, Big, Mighty and Ray and behind them were both the other fighters and a fleet of ships ready and waiting in case of the need for an escape.

"This is gonna be one of our toughest missions yet." Amy frowned. "Is it too late to turn back?"

Knuckles smirked. "No way. We're not backing down yet. Eggman's not going to expect an assault on Metropolis of all places. We just need to push our way through and make sure that force field goes down."

Sonic smirked. "Besides, we've been through way worse. Getting through this place is gonna be a breeze."

"Maybe we have, but not everyone is quite as equipped to handle such a feat." Espio pointed out. "We have to remember that we're not the only ones here."

"Which is why we'll have to be extra careful to watch each other's backs no matter what." Silver stated, fist clenched and thrumming with telekinetic power.

Knuckles turned back to everyone. "Resistance, are you ready!?"

Cheers rang out throughout the group.

"Alright then, let's go!'

Battle cries of all kinds were let out as the resistance poured into the canyon.

But already, their gargantuan task was met with opposition as lasers mounted on the walls took aim and fired down on the resistance.

Sonic, being the fastest and at the head of the group was quick to catch on to this. "Silver!"

The white hedgehog immediately got to work, calling upon his telekinetic abilities to throw up a wall of energy that blocked the shots from coming down on them.

"Sonic, Espio. You two are up." Knuckles shouted.

The two nodded and in a moment, Espio hopped onto Sonic's back and the two vanished.

For a brief moment, Silver opened up a small hole in the portal and that was all that was needed for them.

Everyone could only watch as Sonic and Espio appeared into and out of existence around the battlefield taking out turrets left and right in absolutely no time flat. Sometimes Espio would appear and throw various weaponry at them, other times Sonic would home in. No matter what, with the invisibility and speed on their side, it didn't give the turrets enough time to lock in on either of them, causing them to be destroyed in no time flat.

When it was all said and done, Sonic and Espio landed on the ground in front of them. Espio, crossing his arms and smirking and Sonic taking an over the top theatrical bow.

Many rolled their eyes while some clapped and cheered.

But they continued to press on.

Quickly, they ran into another one of the doctor's traps.

Tremors began to ring out all throughout the canyon. A lot of them lost their footing at this, but not all of them. The Sonic Heroes were pretty stable when it came to keeping their footing, even the likes of Big, Charmy and Ray. They had been in situations like this more times than they could count.

But if only that were the end of the trap. Large rocks rained down from the sides of the canyon, down onto them.

Knuckles was quick to react though. "Incoming rocks. Fliers, get airborne you wanna keep off the ground for this one, but whatever you do don't fly above the canyon or else those anti-air defenses will give you a one way ticket. Tough guys, on both sides, you wanna stop those things from coming down. If you don't think you're strong enough, stay out of the way. Anybody who can't do either of those, to the center and if you have a shot at some rocks, shoot them!"

Everybody did as they were told, with the likes of Rouge, Ray, Charmy, Corvin and many others that had some form of flight were quick to kick themselves off the ground and fly into the air, narrowly avoiding the rocks.

Meanwhile, Knuckles, Amy, Vector, Mighty, Big and others took to the sides of the canyon, acting as a wall for their resistance brethren. They grunted against the weight of the rocks, some unfortunately getting crushed under the pressure, but most prevailed.

And for those in the center, they fired at any of the rocks that came their way, using all of their weaponry and other skills to keep themselves safe.

They pushed on through and soon, they made it clear of the rockslide. A few were lost in it all, but for the most part, they made it through.

Continuing on, they were surprised when the walls of the canyon began opening up and from them appeared massive hammers that went down on the resistance.

Knuckles again was quick to react, just barely holding up the hammer that would've crushed his group, as they quickly scampered out from underneath them.

Again, most made it out but some weren't so lucky, promptly being crushed by the weapons.

But if that weren't bad then things got even worse when little nozzles planted sporadicly on the ground began to spew fire up at random directions.

Mighty yelped as he just barely avoided one of them.

"Seriously?! I mean, seriously?!"

Sonic grinned. "Huh, Eggman's going all out with this place."

"Yeah, he really doesn't want us getting into Metropolis." Vector stated.

"Well, we're gonna keep on pushing through." Knuckles stated.

"Come on, let's get out of here and fast." Amy said.

They all nodded and were quick to dodge each and every one of the hammers and flames, some having a few close saves and others not being so lucky.

If only that didn't lead them into yet another one of the doctor's death traps.

Now they only had a short incline to make it up, before they would finally reach their destination. The only problem was that at the top of the hill, several rocket launchers were put in their place, ready and waiting to fire on them.

Sonic simply grinned at this. "I got this one, guys!"

Before anyone could object, the blue blur was already off, zipping around, sliding under and hoping over the rockets in a matter of seconds before reaching the top of the hill and homing into each and every one of the launchers, leaving the hill safe for everyone to pass.

When they reached the top, they finally saw it, The Eggman Empire Fortress stood proud and tall before them. Above them was a gigantic tower and the bright blue force field that kept Metropolis locked off from the outside world.

They were almost there, just had to get it through the impenetrable fortress of death. The only problem…

A massive army of robots stood before them, armed and ready and prepared to attack.

Sonic grinned. "Aw yeah, now it's a party."

~Trials of War~

In the time since Vanilla had left, Celeste had taken the time to get to know Cream the Rabbit and she found that she had come to like the eight year old rabbit a lot. She was sweEt and lovable, but just as her mother said, she had a big heart and cared a lot about her friends and the world around her. She was still very much a child, but it seemed that the world and her own adventures with the Sonic Heroes gave her such an air of maturity that she couldn't help but enjoy.

Right now, Cream was enveloped in the story of what went down with the Metal Overlord and to say that Celeste wasn't captivated by it would've been a complete lie. She loved it.

"Metal Sonic was big and scary, but we weren't scared. Cheese and I were right by our friends' sides and wouldn't stop till he was done. But when Mr. Sonic went Super, we knew that it was all going to be okay."

"Chao chao chao chao!" Cheese added.

"Wow, that's amazing, Cream." Celeste smiled. She then brought a hand to her chin in thought. "What is it like when Sonic goes super anyway? I've seen it on TV, but what's it like to witness it in person?"

Cream smiled. "When Mr. Sonic becomes Super Mr. Sonic, everything changes." Cream explained. "No matter how dangerous it is, you feel like he's right there with you, giving you a hug and telling you that everything is going to be okay. He just has this sort of power that you feel in your heart and it's both too much for you but at the same time, it feels right. You just know that when he's gone super that no matter what happens, he will be able to save us all."

Celeste smiled. "Now that is incredible. I- I hope that I can feel that someday."

"Maybe when Mr. Sonic is going to finally fight Eggman, he'll go super and save the world." Cream's smile then fell. "I- I just wish I could be there to help."

Celeste frowned. "I know what you mean, your mom told me that she wouldn't let you fight. It must be tough."

Cream nodded. "Yes, I really wish Mama would let me go out there. I know that the war is big and dangerous, but I know that I can help my friends take this world back. I know that I can save people and stop Doctor Eggman from being so mean to people! But I'm not even allowed to try."

"Your mom is just worried about you, she doesn't want you to get hurt."

Cream just shook her head. "I know that there's a chance I could get hurt out there. But there was a chance I could get out there when I went with Amy and Big to find Chocola or when I had to say goodbye to Emerl! I know that this war is very different, that Eggman has done something that he's never done before, but when I'm here taking care of the people that are hurt and I know how bad things can get. But I don't care because I want to help the world that I care so much about!"

Celeste once again was dumbfounded, unsure of what to say in the presence of the passionate little girl before her. She just wanted to fight a battle so much bigger than her no matter what it took as long as she was able to help the world and her friends in some way. It was honestly, inspiring. She needed to do what she could to get back out there. Even if she wasn't this mission, she needed to get back out there no matter the cost.

But how…? her Wispon was broken and she could barely move. There was no way she could fight yet.

But maybe that was the first step.

Cream sighed. "I just want to be like you, be able to go out in the world and fight for everyone because I want to make a difference like I have before."

"Cream, maybe you can make a difference."

Cream looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Really?"

Celeste nodded. "I'm sorry but I can't help you with the thing with your mom. That mostly sounds like a thing between you two."

Cream frowned at this.

"But if you would be willing to help me, then maybe I can continue helping to change things out there."

Cream's frown turned to a look of determination.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Help me get to the weapons room. I need to pick out a new Wispon."

Cream gave her a nod of determination.

She rolled out a wheelchair for her to use and set her down in.

And like that, they were quick to make it down the halls to pick out her new weapon.

~Trials of War~

The party had definitely been started as the Resistance roared and faced down the armies the Eggman Empire had before them.

Sonic couldn't help but grin as he turned up the boost and mowed down a pack of Eggpongs, sending them flying in all kinds of directions as if they were nothing.

"Now we're talkin' Eggman! No dumb traps or silly explosions, just a good old fashioned army for us to mow through!" Sonic grinned.

At that, he passed by Amy who was spinning around with her hammer out to get some of the robots. "Speak for yourself. I liked it better when we were at least able to make sense of where we were."

The Chaotix were standing back to back, stabbing, stinging and chomping their way through any and all robots that came their way. "Yeah, there are so many of these guys I don't even know which way is up anymore."

Silver flew above them, covered in his own aura as he was chasing after Buzzbombers. "If you see me or the Buzzbombers, then that's up Vector."

Rouge passed by Silver as well, leading several flying Badniks into the wall of the canyon behind them. "Poor Vector is lost in all this mess. Maybe if he kept his eye on the ball instead of his wallet, he'd have a better handle of things."

Ray was flying through the air with Mighty tucked into a ball by his side, which he chucked into the fray, allowing him to do an even more powerful ground pound. A massive shockwave was formed on the ground.

He got up and dusted himself off. "Come on, guys. Let's cut Vector a break."

At that, a robot charged their laser and pointed it at Mighty, prepared to fire only for Knuckles to come in and punch it to pieces. He fist bumbped Mighty at that and added. "Besides, you're one to talk, Rouge!"

Rouge couldn't help but give a cheeky smile as she kicked another badnik to pieces. "Hey, a girl's gotta have her jewels."

"What were we doing again?" Big asked as he swung his umbrella at some Eggpongs.

Fierro's voice came to life on the coms. "While this is a riveting conversation and I'm happy for all of you, there's way too many robots here!"

And she was right, more and more of the robots kept pouring in from Mortar Canyon. And for Beta Squad things weren't exactly going well.

Corvin was zipping around on his extreme gear, taking down whatever he could with Gadget onboard behind him, clutching tightly to the bird and his wispon as he added extra firepower to the fray.

Fierro refused to use her void wispon, standing to fight claw to claw with any of the monsters that came her way. And as for Rhythm, she stood back to back with her leader, slamming her hammer into any that would come for her.

Other fighters were mixing it up as well, whether it be with their fists or varying Wispons. Tangle for one was having a jolly good time as she practically break danced through the fight, using both her feet and her tail to do a sort of cha-cha while dancing to some song that she was humming to herself. Smokey Bear ironically, had his own Burst Wisp which he was using to torch the opposing armies because luckily for him, they weren't in the forest. One of the humans in the resistance, a young man named Ben who had a mostly green outfit on had elected to use a hover wispon to trash robots.

Eventually, Corvin found himself flying alongside Rouge and Ray.

"Eyo!" He grinned.

"Hi!" Ray smiled.

"Howdy." Rouge gave a two finger salute.

"H-h-hi…" Gadget stammered.

Rouge looked behind them and saw that a trio of Egg Chasers zoomed after them. "Looks like we've got company, boys. But I know just what to do. Follow my lead."

Rouge pulled ahead of them.

Gadget was confused by this. "Wait, what are you-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

But it was too late as both Corvin dove after Rouge as she made all kinds of aerial maneuvers that both he and Ray mirrored.

Through all kinds of twists and turns, they were able to outmaneuver the Chasers to the point they were able to crash into each other.

Rouge, Corvin and Ray fist bumped while Gadget simply tried to keep from losing his lunch.

"No wait, go ahead and throw up. Aim it at the enemy!" Corvin grinned to which Gadget just groaned.

Meanwhile on the ground Tangle was still doing her weird tail break dancing and was pretty much flinging herself across the battlefield using her tail like it was nothing.

From there, Charmy appeared alongside her and grinned. "I like your song, Tangle!"

The lemur smiled. "Thanks! Care to join me in a dance."

"Sure!"

Together the bee and the lemur began to do erratic dance moves that ended up tearing apart a lot of the robots around them as they bumped into them.

Big the Cat barreled towards them, declaring that he wanted to join in more dancing too which ended up mowing down robots in the process.

Somewhere else, Knuckles was smashing through some robots, only for Sonic to zip up next to him and crush one just barely out of his grasp.

Sonic couldn't help but smirk at him.

The emerald guardian huffed. "Show off."

"You know you love it." He snarked to which Knuckles rolled his eyes. He then added. "You up for a little Sonic & Knuckles action?"

"Heh, only if you don't mess it up."

"Just watch."

With that, Knuckles got into a crouching position while Sonic began to run around in circles around him at incredibly high speeds. Quickly, a miniature tornado was formed while Knuckles was lifted off the ground and shifted into gliding position. With ease, the two of them were able to plow through robots as they would be picked up by the Tornado and tanked by Knuckles from the inside.

Espio and Amy were now standing back to back with one another, fighting off any robots that would come their way with their quick reflexes and weapons of choice, making sure that they wouldn't get hurt.

"Espio think you can get a little camoflauge going?" She asked.

"With pleasure."

In a moment, he grabbed onto Amy's wrist and they both vanished.

The Eggpongs that were attacking them look confusedly at one another only to be smashed into oblivion from seemingly nowhere. One by one, they all fell.

When they decided to end their attack, they reappeared and gave each other a high five.

"Alright, Big it's you and me." Vector patted the fat cat on the back. "Are you ready?"

"Okay, Vector."

"Alright, let's do our combo move!"

"Right, a combo move…"

Vector got into position, waiting for Big who just stared at him.

"Uh… what is that again?"

"Big, my man. You're messin' up the flow of the battle. We gotta do this right here, right now or you're gonna make us look bad in front of everyone."

"Right. What is it I'm supposed to do?"

Vector facepalmed. "Look, just punch some robots so that we can move on."

"Okay!"

Together, Big and Vector began to wail on more of the robots.

Somewhere else, Sonic ended up converging with Mighty and Ray.

"Mighty, Ray. It's been a while, but how about the three of us do some triple trouble. What do you say?"

"I say let's roll, Sonic." Mighty grinned.

All three of them jumped up in the air. Ray flew, while Sonic jumped a little higher than Mighty did and Mighty immediately slammed down on the ground, knocking robots away.

As soon as Mighty landed, he immediately untucked and cupped his hands out and ready for Sonic to land, who he threw up into the air.

In midair, Sonic curled back into his ball form, where he was caught by Ray who spun around and chucked him down at a group of robots knocking them all out.

Elsewhere, Espio had run into Rouge. Who smiled at the lizard.

"Hey there, Espio. How about the two of us team up for a bit?"

Espio nodded. "What did you have in mind."

"Take my hands and follow my lead."

The lizard nodded and without another word, Espio grabbed onto her. They flew through the skies where Rouge decided to offload several bombs to which Espio caught on and did the same with his own array of weaponry, raining down explosives and sharp knives on suspecting foes.

Somewhere else, Big and Silver were together and using his powers, Silver grunted as he hefted Big up in the air and chucked him at several opponents.

But even through all of their attacks, more and more robots continued to keep pouring through to them.

Knuckles growled and spoke into his com. "This is getting us nowhere!"

"We can't keep fighting these robots forever, eventually they'll overwhelm us." Amy added.

"So what do we do? We can't just make this all for nothing." Silver added.

"The best course of action would be to fall back. We've come a long way but our efforts will be in vain if we can't get through this army." Espio added.

"Are you kidding?" Sonic asked. "We're so close. We can handle a few more robots if it means taking on Metropolis!"

"Sorry Big Blue, but Espio's right. There's no way we can get everyone through and take on all these robots."

"Then let's not take them all on." Knuckles stated.

"What?!" Everyone asked.

Knuckles continued. "Everyone, as leader of the resistance, I'm ordering you all to stay standing just a little longer before you fallback. The Sonic Heroes and I will be making our way forward into Mortar Canyon while you all fight for just a little longer. When you see an opening, fallback to the ships, we'll be meeting you as soon as the fields are down. Is everybody with me?"

Everyone gave their affirmatives.

"Alright, let's go!"

And together, the main heroes pushed their way into Mortar Canyon while the rest fought for just a little longer.

~Trials of War~

"We've had a long day today, everybody." Brenda stated as she looked at the screen. "There have been several contestants who have come today and none of them have taken the coveted spot that is a new general of the Eggman Empire. But maybe our next applicant will blow us away."

At that, a new face stepped into the office, peaking everyone's interest. This one was a grey platypus Mobian with the feathers on top of his head slicked to the side sort of like a comb over. He wore a magenta jacket that both had much darker purple sleeves and was outfitted with golden buttons and the like along with tiny yellow spectacles not too dissimilar to the Eggman's, black, heeled boots and gloves of the same color. But what was most peculiar about him was a the glove on his left hand had golden tips, fit and a glass-like orb on the back of his hand.

"Oh well, aren't you a handsome, fellow?" Eggman asked. "Dressed to impress, I like that."

"Trying a little too hard if you ask me." Shadow huffed.

"If the Doctor likes it, then so do I." Infinite declared.

Shadow rolled his eyes at this while Eggman continued. "So, why don't you tell us about yourself, good sir."

"Of course, my name is Doctor Starline and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my benevolent ruler and might I say you look ravishing today?"

"Why thank you. I do say, you look quite ravishing yourself."

At that, Starline beamed. "You are far too kind your lordship."

"Why thank you, I-"

"Enough!" Shadow shouted. "I have been sitting here all day listening to enough talk from too many weirdos. If you two are going to continue to stroke each other's moustaches then you can do it on your own time, but please get on with it."

Starline sent a hard glare at The Ultimate Lifeform to which he rolled his eyes. He had absolutely no time for a wannabe Eggman.

But Eggman cleared his throat. "Ahem. Shadow's right. Why don't you tell us about yourself, Doctor Starline?"

At that, the glare immediately fell and he was back to smiling again. "But of course, your majesty. I already cordially introduced myself as Doctor Starline and I have been a big admirer of your work for quite some time. I was pursuing my own scientific endeavors when one day, you not only stole the Master Emerald from the legendary island of myth but shot the Death Egg into the sky. I couldn't believe my eyes at such a raw display of power. And then you continued to show your strength over the years, unleashing the God of Destruction, shattering Mobius and now taking control of the entire world? I have to say, Doctor. You are one of a kind!"

"Why thank you, it's nice to get some appreciation around here." Eggman smirked.

Shadow simply rolled his eyes.

"But of course. There has never been anyone greater on our fine planet than the benevolent ruler, Emperor Eggman!" He bowed.

Eggman was especially smiling now while Infinite was unreadable. Shadow's eyes had practically rolled into the back of his head at this point.

Infinite was the one that spoke now. "While I myself can admire someone whose loyalty lies in that of the master, why don't you tell us what qualities you wish to bring to the table."

At that, the Platypus got a particular glint in his eye that was all too familiar to anyone that knew Eggman. Shadow saw this and didn't like it one bit.

"But of course. I house an intellect that far succeeds any of the backwater ingrates that litter our planet, I have master's degrees in just about any field that you can imagine. But even then, I could never be as intelligent as the Emperor."

"Get on with it…" Shadow rolled his eyes.

Shadow could easily detect the concealed anger on the Platypus' face and simply smirked at him.

But still, Starline continued. "While I am very advanced in almost every field imaginable, my true passion lies in the sciences, and the Emperor actually inspired me to look more into robotics. I have designs that if I do say so myself, are quite extraordinary?"

"Really now?" Eggman asked.

"Oh yes." Starline smiled. He then began to press some buttons on the little orb on the side of his arm and in a moment, there was a flash of light. "They have been uploaded to your front desk now."

"Wait, how did you-"

"Get into your system?" He smirked. "I'll have you know that I am an expert hacker and am more than happy to apply my skills to the glorious Eggman Empire."

Eggman clicked a button on his desk and a holographic image of the schematics of some sort of gigantic mech came to life on his computer. His jaw dropped. "Doctor Starline, this is incredible."

"You like it? I call it the Egg Collider. And I think it will be the key to wiping out the resistance."

"I am incredibly impressed. But still, there are some adjustments I'd like to make." Eggman stated. "While you've certainly made groundbreaking steps here, if you're not careful you could cause damage to the pilot. But there's a lot of potential here."

"Well, I'm not nearly as perfect as you when it comes to massive machinery but with our combined intellects, I'm sure that we can figure this out."

"You're darn right we will." Eggman grinned. "I think we have ourselves a winner!"

At that, Eggman slammed a golden buzzer and confetti began to rain down from the ceiling and upbeat music started to play.

Starline was absolutely ecstatic at this. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

But if that were a surprise, then they were absolutely shocked to find a pool of water slide in from under the door before forming itself into the God of Destruction himself, Chaos.

"Wow! Looks like fate really is on your side, Doctor Starline. Chaos has come to join us!" Eggman announced.

The water god looked around confusedly while Eggman, Starline, Infinite and Brenda began dancing, the latter more because she didn't know what else to do.

But Shadow glared at Starline. The Platypus was clearly someone who believed in Eggman more than anyone else and would serve him regardless of anything that happened. In his experience as a GUN agent he had learned that, such undying loyalty was dangerous. In addition, with his advanced technology and knack for creating weapons of mass destruction he couldn't be trusted. He still had things to finish with Infinite but this Starline character he would need to have a close eye on.

But unfortunately, their party came to an end when a button on Eggman's console began flashing red.

Eggman dropped everything he was doing and raced over to his desk where a holographic image of Metropolis and the surrounding fortress appeared before him. It was in the fortress map, that blips appeared near the bottom of the screen and were quickly approaching the main tower fast.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Eggman shouted.

Everybody went silent unsure of what to do about it.

But it was Infinite who spoke up. "Doctor, please allow me. I will flush them out and make sure that they ne-"

"No." Eggman growled. "If they want to come onto m territory, then I'll handle them myself!"

All of them looked wide eyed at this as Eggman promptly left the premises.

~Trials of War~

The Sonic heroes were currently making their way down an incline as they stormed their way into the Eggman Empire Fortress. The place went as far as the eyes could see, filled to the brim with all kinds of machinery that the resistance had to make their way through. Unlike most of the doctor's bases and fortresses, this one wasn't found with most of his usual red color scheme but rather a white almost cream colored metal complete with yellow and purple lights and accents to give the place the slightest splash of color. But if only the machines were all they had to go through. No. There were death traps of all kinds all over the place. Massive saws, lasers big and small, road spikes, bottomless pits, cannons and badniks of all sorts of different shapes and sizes were all over the place. It was ridiculous.

But the Sonic Heroes had been through it all and they were going to make it through no matter what.

"We just have to press on everyone!" Knuckles shouted. "Keep moving forward and we'll crack Metropolis open in no time."

Vector groaned. "If it were that easy, we would've broken in months ago. I still don't like our odds."

"Well there's no turning back now." Silver said.

"We've got this guys," Sonic smirked. "Full speed ahead!"

And together, they made their way down the path, dodging lasers and the like before making their way over a short gap and arriving at a spot where a row of the silver Egg Pawns faced them down.

But they didn't even waste the time showing off fancy tricks or moves that would prolong the fight. Instead, Silver sent a massive psychic wave that threw them every in odd directions that ultimately lead to their destruction.

From there, the group continued on where they were surprised to find the path end.

Pillars of land stood out in front of them at varying heights. Massive blue beams of death would occasionally fire on some of them at random moments. A hit from any of those would've fried them in a single shot.

Carefully, the resistance took to hopping across the platforms while those who could flew across without much of a problem.

Luckily, they were able to make their way across fine and soon found themselves on an arched stretch of road where they encountered a pack of Egg Evaders that Sonic didn't even waste time with. He raced ahead of the group and boosted into them, smashing them without much trouble.

Unfortunately, when they reached the end of the bridge, they reached a new area where a swarm of robots stood before them.

Sonic came to a halt only for the others to bump into him while they had their lasers trained and ready for them.

Silver was quick to put up a field blocking off the lasers from hitting them, allowing them to get to work.

Sonic started things off, diving into the fray and homing into a few robots before ending things off with a roundhouse to the face of a silver Eggpawn.

Amy on the other hand, was working like a spinning top, plowing through robots with ease.

Knuckles went to work next, he jumped into the air, spinning like a torpedo and managed to knock out a lot of the competition with ease.

Mighty ran at a bunch of the robots as they fired at him only for the lasers to bounce harmlessly off of his shell as if they were nothing. With a smirk, he rolled into a spindash and knocked them down like it was nothing.

Ray on the other hand, whizzed through the air, trying his hardest to get away from the lasers coming at him. But he had to gain his courage and take on some of the robots, so he swooped down and sent a punch to the face of one of the silver Eggpawns, taking it out.

He smiled at this before a laser shot at him and with a yelp he leapt back into the air again.

Charmy Bee was at it with his stingers, making sure to strike the robots with as much force as his little wings could carry him.

Espio used a wide array of his skills in martial arts and his weaponry to take out the robots with little to no effort.

Vector chomped down on any robots that would come his way, spitting out any of the remains at the survivors to deal even more damage.

Big the Cat was whistling a merry tune as he swung his umbrella around, taking out robots with little effort and little care in the world.

Rouge was at it with the roundhouses and swooping down to take out her enemies, making everything look easy.

And Silver had a ball with his telekinetic abilities, making quick work of literally anything that came his way.

Before long, the robots were cleared and they continued to make their way forward.

From there, they were introduced to a large chasm where a deadly laser grid awaited them at the bottom if they were to fall.

There were a few oddly placed platforms leading away from them but each of them with deadly traps awaiting them.

Silver, Rouge and Ray didn't waste time and began to fly to the other side while everyone took the platforms.

Unfortunately, missiles were fired from the walls, forcing them to doge every which way and that in an attempt to get across. But they managed and were able to get to the other side.

From there, they made it around a bend and had their destination in sight, the main tower. But they had a plethora of obstacles to get past first.

Rows upon rows of paths stood before them, a lot of them disjointed in odd places with the massive lasers firing at them in odd places. But that didn't stop the Sonic heroes as they continued their way down the paths.

They made it through and just at the final bend, Egg Evaders were in their path, that Sonic quickly dashed into.

With that, they looked up at the tower determined to get to the generator and allow them to get into Metropolis.

~Trials of War~

"Alright everyone… we've gotta be quick." Knuckles said.

Amy nodded. "This is a simple in and out, destroy the generator so that Metropolis will be accessible to our forces and get the heck out of here before we attract anymore attention."

Ray shivered. "I hope we don't run into Infinite again… After last time he- he-"

But Mighty put a hand on his shouler. "Hey don't worry about it. If he ever dares lay a claw on you again, I've got your back."

Ray smiled at this.

"Still, if Infinite is here then we'll have to be cautious." Espio stated.

"I'm ready for round 2 with the guy after he ran off last time." Sonic smirked. "If he thinks that he can take out all my friends and then leave without so much of a fight, he's got another thing coming. I hope he's here so I can smack that mask right off of that ugly mug he's hiding."

"Well, you might get your chance now. We're here." Rouge said.

Together, the Sonic heroes stepped through a sliding door and entered the room.

They were met with a wide open space with the same whites and greys along with purple and yellow accents. In the middle of the room was a large steel platform and at the tail end of the room was a gigantic bulbous looking machine glowing a light purple color with all kinds of wires protruding from it at odd edges.

But the heroes didn't race for it. No they stopped cold because leaning against the machine was not Shadow or Chaos or even Infinite. No, it was the emperor of the world himself, Doctor Eggman.

"Going somewhere?" He asked.

Everyone immediately got into battle ready stances, but didn't dare move. He could have some sort of trick or trap ready for them at any moment, especially since he appeared unarmed.

"Eggman!" Knuckles shouted.

"The one and only." The Doctor took a bow. He then rose to his feet and made his way across the room.

"So it seems that the resistance thinks that they can step onto my territory and attack my land do they?"

Amy steamed. "Your land? You've stolen homes from people and turned the world into your own personal playground, and for what? To plaster your face on everything? To make yourself finally feel like you've accomplished something in your miserable life because you're so tired of losing?"

"Yes, my land." Eggman retorted. "And you're wrong on both fronts. The world has become a better place, maybe not for you and your lot but you and your band of vermin have always had ridiculous ideas in those heads of yours. There's only one man who can lead this world to a better tomorrow and you're looking right at him. Everything I do, I do to create a better world."

Silver frowned. "Well I've seen what that world's like and I can say that you're no friend to the planet but a tyrant who has to be stopped. I came back in time to put an end to your reign and your lapdog to rest."

Eggman laughed. "If you come from a future that you claim is doomed, then that means you've already lost, my friend. One way or another, the Eggman Empire will rise and I will reign supreme."

"Never, Eggman. We're getting into Metropolis no matter what." Knuckles stated.

"That's where you're wrong, Knuckles. Regardless of what happens here today, the resistance is not getting into Metropolis, not by a long shot."

Mighty growled. "We'll see about that."

Eggman waved the armadillo off, not bothering to look at him. Instead, he focused his attention on his nemesis. "But even then, I don't care much for the lackeys, you're the one I'm focused on Sonic. And I must say you've been awfully silent. What's the matter?"

Sonic said absolutely nothing. But if looks could kill, then Eggman would've been absolutely destroyed by the intense glare that he was giving the doctor. His teeth were grit, his fists fidgeting at his sides and his quills razor sharp and prepared to attack at a mere moment's notice. For those who had even the slightest chaos sensitivity, they had to take a step back from the raw negativity that was emanating off of the hedgehog.

Amy especially looked worried. "Sooooonic?"

But he said nothing, still glaring intently at the doctor.

He simply laughed. "Is something the matter, Sonic? I take the time to come down here myself and you have no words for me, no wisecracks, no snarky remarks? What was it that you liked calling me so much for the past two years now, Baldy Nosehair? How about one of those for old time's sakes?"

Sonic continued to say nothing, his glare only growing more intense.

"Or perhaps it's because of the time we spent together on the Death Egg?" Eggman smirked. "You held up quite a resolve and I was impressed that you made such a declaration to me so publicly and so soon afterwards and now nothing?"

None of his friends knew what to do as he was unmoving. And yet, Eggman continued to stroll towards the center of the room, almost on the metal platform.

"But no, you don't care much about your imprisonment, do you?" Eggman said. "You care about what I've done to the world and what I plan to do to all your friends."

At that, Sonic was off like a shot racing towards Eggman, but the Doctor was prepared, having punched one of the buttons on his chest.

A red force field appeared around the metal platform, which the blue blur was sent bouncing off of at such incredible speeds that the wall broke.

"Sonic!" Everyone shouted.

Amy, Mighty and Ray raced after him only to lose their footing as a rumbling started and the room began to shake around them. Everyone turned their attention back to the doctor.

Doctor Eggman laughed as the platform opened and from it he stood on the tip of a large robot that began to rise from the ground with him on top of it. This was a robot that was familiar to the group save for Silver, Mighty and Ray.

This mech had a spherical body which right now, had a glass hull that was open to reveal a cockpit for the pilot to control everything from the inside along with four slots for rockets around the lower half of its body, up top was a menacing face of doctor Eggman drawn with exaggerated sharp teeth and a fin on the top of its head. Along with all of that, one arm had a lancer on it while the other had a shield. Its back had two wings on the side to allow for flight.

"You may remember this one from a few years back." Eggman grinned as he hopped into the cockpit and glass closed. "You know it, you love it, it's the Egg Emperor!"

With that, the Egg Emperor struck a pose.

He then twirled his moustaches and smirked. "And it's befitting for a king wouldn't you agree?"

With that, the shield around the Egg Emperor fell and Eggman got to work, firing off rockets at the band of heroes.

Luckily for them, Silver threw up a field that the rockets exploded on, leaving the area covered in smoke.

Eggman saw this and was surprised to see different members of the team jump out at different directions.

The likes of Rouge, Charmy and Silver went up into the sky, keeping an aerial view of the place.

But Knuckles and Vector shot out from the front, each with their fists extended and a war cry.

They struck the Egg Emperor and caused a couple of dents in the hull before they fell out. "The only thing befitting of you is a punch in the face." Knuckles declared.

Vector nodded at that and gave him a fist bump.

But this was only met with him swinging his lancer down at them which they quickly dodged.

From the skies, Rouge and Silver were working on getting him with aerial attacks. Psychic knives and bombs were chucked at the robot to which he simply threw up his shield arm to block each and everyone of them.

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to crack this shield." Eggman remarked. "But if you're wanting to fly away then two can play at that game."

The thrusters on the back of the Egg Emperor ignited and he began to race towards them.

Both Silver and Rouge gasped and tried to get away from the Egg Emperor, splitting up and zipping around the air.

But Eggman's focus was on the hedgehog and not the bat and unfortunately for Silver he found himself cornered with nowhere else left to fly.

The Egg Emperor came rocketing towards him with his its shield out and ready to ram him.

He desperately tried to throw up a telekinetic field to block, but the machine was much too big for him to handle, breaking the shield and giving him time for him to smash into him.

The hedgehog let out a cry as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Silver!" Rouge, Charmy and Vector cried out.

"No!" Knuckles cried as he jumped into the air and tried to send another fist at the Egg Emperor but this time he was ready for him.

His shield was brought up in front of the Emerald guardian, and this time it had electricity surging through it.

The Echidna could only gasp before he went hurtling into it, bouncing off an incredibly high rate as enough electricity went surging through his body to render him unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Amy, Mighty and Ray had finally got to Sonic.

The hedgehog groaned as they both helped him up. "Sonic, are you okay?!" Amy asked.

He groaned. "I'm fine, I'm fine… Wha-what's going on? Where's Eggman."

Mighty put his hand on his hip and pointed at the robot in the sky who knocked down Charmy without so much of a second thought before sending a rocket that sent Vector flying. He was still standing, albeit barely. "Trouble."

Sonic growled. "Let me at him, I can take it."

"Sonic, no." Amy said. "You're in no condition to fight that thing."

Sonic grumbled. "I don't care, I'm not letting Eggman get his way."

Ray shook his head. "Come on, Sonic. You just took a pretty big hit and we're dropping like flies. It'd be crazy to try this again."

But Sonic ignored them, shakily rising to his feet only to fall flat on his face.

Mighty and Ray were quick to help him up. Amy put a hand on his shoulder.

Eggman saw this within the cockpit and laughed. "The mighty Sonic the Hedgehog down for the count because he looked before he leaped. How sad?"

He then piloted towards them, the Emperor right up in their faces.

Sonic growled at this, Ray shook in fear, Mighty furrowed his brow and Amy glared.

"I must say, it's pretty nice to be on this end of the battle, standing in triumph while you grovel on the ground. How does it feel to face defeat?"

Sonic panted, trying to get up but it was no use. "I haven't lost."

Eggman laughed. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Sonic. A good portion of your friends are already down. You're all tired, weak and if you continue this battle, one by one you all will fall."

From behind, Espio had climbed onto the back of the machine, trying to get up to the power source for the Emperor's wings.

However, what he couldn't see was a glowing red light on Eggman's console making him very aware of the ninja's presence.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd make a reappearance." He chuckled as he pressed a button on the console causing the Egg Emperor to have electricity run through its body and into Espio, causing the ninja to fall to the ground behind him.

The Egg Emperor then rose to its feet and flew over to where the generator was sitting. "Of course, you did come all this way so allow me to return the favor."

In one swift move, the Egg Emperor skewered the generator with its lancer arm. "Wha- what?!" Everyone gaped at the site.

But it was true, the generator was nothing more than a pile of mangled scrap at this point.

Confused, Amy, Vector and Rouge ran to the window while Mighty and Ray helped Sonic get there too.

They looked in shock as the force field that surrounded Metropolis began to flicker into nothingness. The turrets mounted on large pillars went from pointing determinedly at the sky suddenly went into resting position.

And with that, the first of the resistance fleet's ships began to move in.

"I- I don't believe it." Amy said. "Did you seriously just- did you actually- did you-"

But Eggman simply wore a cool, calm and collected smile.

And then it happened. In a single instance, the field snapped back on and with it, the turrets as well.

The first few ships that had moved into view of the Eggman Empire Fortress didn't stand a chance as they were assaulted with heavy fire, and soon some of them began to go down.

"No!" Rouge, Vector and Mighty shouted while some of them could only watch with halted breaths and pounding hearts.

But Amy knew what to do, she immediately got to her coms and barked, "All ships return to base immediately, mission failed! We need to abort now!"

"Smart girl." Eggman smiled.

"Now that we're done you can all leave. I have no interest in destroying you now. While it would be nice to quietly dispose of the star players in the resistance, it serves no purpose to me. If I'm taking you all down, it's going to be a spectacle, something that the world will see and will be talked about for generations. But a defeat here and now will serve me no purpose other than giving your painful band of rebels more of a reason to want me dead."

He then looked at them. "Or you can stay and fight and well… that won't end well for you."

The Egg Emperor brandished its lance ready for them to fight.

Amy gritted her teeth, unsure of what to do while everyone looked to her for guidance. She didn't want to leave, she wanted to stop Eggman at all costs. But at the same time, there wasn't really anything left for them here. Most of the resistance had already retreated, they had lost several forces, the defenses were still up and half of their party was down. She had to face facts, there was no way they were winning this battle and if Eggman was giving them the chance to leave then it was a chance they had to take because right now… the alternative…

Amy sighed. "We're making a retreat."

"Amy!" Sonic shouted.

"Sonic, no. We're leaving now and that's a direct order!" Amy shouted.

Sonic's eyes went wide at this. If Amy was yelling at him of all people, then… he sighed. "Fine…"

"Vector, Mighty, you're helping me drag the others out. We're getting out of here."

They did as they were told and slowly, the resistance left the base.

"So long, friends. It has been a pleasure playing with you all."

Amy, who had her arm slung over Sonic's shoulder helping him walk, turned back to him. Both hedgehogs glared at the smiling doctor.

"We'll be back." Amy swore to him.

~Trials of War~

The Resistance Weapon's room had all sorts of Wispons hanging up on the walls, Burst, Rocket, Lightning, Void, Hover, you name it. Each and every one of them was there.

And Celeste had gone through each and every one of them, but found the one in awe.

She stared longingly at the weapon before her, it would be the thing that would carry her forward in the war, the thing that would help her make a difference in the world, the thing that would help her protect her friends…

And maybe…

Just maybe if she was lucky…

The thing that would help her in a rematch with Infinite.

[1] I should start calling this Sonic Forces: Ultimate because EVERYONE IS HERE! But no, Elise was a late addition to this story and wasn't in my initial plan when starting out the fic. But when thinking about what to do about the residents of Adabat, I thought about Soleanna and that's where we decided to go.
She is also very different than her counterpart in the mainline games and the reason for this is for a few reasons. First off, Sonic 06 both did and didn't happen because it was wiped away and all of that. But Soleanna still exists as a location on Sonic's world and as such, so would its residents including Princess Elise. Sonic went to the Soleanna festival but nothing huge happened. He didn't really meet Elise and stuff like that. But yeah, it's been a three years in my canon since Sonic 06 would have happened making her now 20 years old instead of 17. She's grown and changed a lot and has even had her coronation, hence why she's a queen instead of a princess. She's had it tough and the war has been tougher, having had to make tough decisions. For a short time Soleanna was allied with the resistance, but she had to make the decision to pull out after a rather devastating loss.

And we're done with another chapter of Trials of War and boy was it a long one. I did not expect this chapter to get as long as it did nor did I really think it would turn out the way it did.
So… stuff to talk about is for one, the Eggman Empire Fortress. Originally, I had no plans for it to be in this story, but leading into this I thought "What if it surrounded Metropolis" and that lead to a Mortar Canyon section far earlier than I think anyone would've expected. I knew I wanted Metropolis to be surrounded by some sort of force field for sure but I wasn't sure what else. But I'm happy that I figured it out and I hope you're all cool with it being done this way too. A late addition to this story and not part of my initial plan, but I think it worked. Send in a review or a message if you have questions about how it works. But we'll definitely come back to it.
I already had a note dedicated to Elise so nothing there.
Uh… what's next? Oh, Starline! Another late addition, but I'm like "Y'know what, I got Tangle and Whisper, what about Starline?" And well… I have some fun ideas for him moving forward. Just you wait.
And uh… as for Celeste? She's got a new weapon so that'll be fun. Poll's closed for picking since she's got what she needs.

And now, before I move into the Review Replies, I have a little announcement for this story moving forward. It's all fun and games, but I think it's safe to say that we're cancelled-
Wait, what are you doing, put that pitchfork down, I'm kidding. Sorry. Lmao.
But for real, we have officially ended the first sort of unofficial arc for this story and are now moving into the next one.
Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for the Classic Sonic arc which is very important to this story and I promise will be super important moving forward.
We are going to have six chapters dedicated to the Classic trio and how they're moving forward in the war. Originally, it was going to be five chapters but because "Super Casino Bros" got moved to the next chapter it's now six. But guys, it's not gonna be all about Classic Sonic, that'd be pretty boring and I'd be worse than Sega if I did that. No, we're getting major developments for Tails and Omega too along with some interesting developments coming as well. I have waited a very long time to get to this point in the story and I am so excited for what's going to happen and well… I know Classic Sonic sounds eugh, but just trust me on this guys. Some very
interesting things are going to be happening moving forward. Trust me, I know my Ways.
Bad puns and announcements aside, let's get to review replies.

tekina fiction:
Oops. What was Shadow going to say? Hmmmmmmm… Oh well.
The Gaia Temples got ripped out of the ground when Ship made a giant temple transformer in Unleashed. They're still underground in slumber with him, so they're just giant holes in the ground now.
EVERYONE IS HERE! Hahaha, thanks friend.

KelWellPower:
Tangle was a fun addition and definitely expect more Whisper to come.
Thanks for the kind words!

Animation Adventures:
You're probably right about Endless Possibilities and the Knuckles scene was such a good time to write.
Thank you and I agree about Chip. Sonic's definitely gonna keep wearing that thing no matter what since their adventure together meant a lot to him. I was glad to slide in reference to it here in this chapter.
Infinite's a tough nut to crack and he's definitely not going down easily Not by a long shot. As for Shadow? He fights for his own reasons.
Celeste did what she did for and it will have ripples.
As for Cream, she's going to have a great moment that has been planned for this story since before its inception. I am so excited for her because it's something that I think everybody's gonna love. Who's Blaze?
Thank you so much!

Alexandria Prime:
Thanks! And that's an interesting thought, who knows? Nobody's hit it yet.

Infinite's Ruby:
Thanks! And yep, you are the 150
th review on this story. Congrats.
Glad you loved the Sonic v. Shadow fight. Infinite's got a secret that I'm just dying to reveal. But it's not time yet.
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Guest 1: Thank you!

Black Twilight Wolf:
Remember to be constructive in your criticisms, thanks.
Personally, I don't appreciate you putting down my writing to lift yourself up.

Guest2:
Thanks. Worried about the tone and am glad things are still good for you guys.
I used crap because it was in the comics, but yeah, I may have gone overboard with the "pissed off"s. Noted. Thank you.

Guest3:
Honestly, I wanna give Rouge a hug too. She's pretty much lost her family with the war. Shadow's on the wrong side, Omega's missing and she's on the resistance. These guys need a reunion scene too.
Characters are important to this story and I wanna make sure everybody feels just right. More characters to come!
Tikal and Chaos are important. She doesn't like what's going on with him.
Everybody talks about the reunion. Haha. Not yet, but we're getting closer and closer with every chapter.

Guest4:
Emerald isn't sentient in normal canon, at least I don't think? But I'm a fanfic and I'm playing by my own rules. It felt right.

Guest5:
Thank you and flashbacks will come when seen fit. Currently, no other planned ones.

Guest6:
Thank you for your notes and I don't think I'll be making any blatant references to death for the most part.

Guest7:
I talked about Sonamy before in an earlier chapter but don't expect anything huge for really any ships aside from Knuxouge? But even then, it's only playful flirting on Rouge's end.

Guest8:
Whisper is not connected to Infinite. But she will have a little bit to her. Mostly her IDW backstory.

Guest9:
Probably nothing too big on Tangle and Whisper backstory since they're minor characters in the story.

Guest10:
See Guest7.

And that'll do for reviews. But one more time guys, happy [early] birthday Sonic! See you all next time in Super Casino Bros but like for real this time.