Alright everybody. Welcome to what should be the penultimate chapter of 2019 if all goes according to plan and I can somehow figure out how to balance my responsibilities and pump out the next one before 2019 is over. But with that said, we are officially on the finale of the Classic Arc as well. It's been a fun time, but I think it's time to give these guys a proper sendoff and get to the main event, ey? I miss Modern Sonic, Celeste and the rest of the resistance. But first, we got a little jailbreak to settle so let's move forward with that. Chaos will ensue as we move forward with Liberty of Death! …Egg.

Trials of War: A Sonic Forces Rewrite
Chapter 21-
Liberty or Death! …Egg

Doctor Starline was sitting comfortably in his chair, still dreaming of a life and grandeur at the doctor's side. All was well in the world and absolutely nothing could go wrong.

That was an angry alarm started blaring across the room, terrifying the platypus and making him fall out of his chair in shock.

"Wha-what is the meaning of this?!" He roared to which the panicked general sprung to his feet and brought his attention to the screens.

And what he saw immediately made his blood run cold. He got a direct feed of the prison and looked on in stunned silence as every single one of the force fields in the prison unit disappeared into nothingness.

Starline watched in abject horror as the robots began to pour in and the massive battle within had begun.

Starline took a hard gulp as he looked on at everything.

"I am so fired."

~Trials of War~

[M1] When the alarms started blaring, there was confusion and panic as to what exactly was going on. Some reached out to test and see if this wasn't some sort of trick, had their force fields actually disappeared? Others scurried away from the open space, afraid to even look at the wall as if it were some sort of test and those that heading towards the exit would only receive some sort of punishment for daring to rebel in any capacity. Others just gave dumbfounded stares just unsure of what to think.

And then there were the others who sprang outside only to come face to face with Eggman's forces.

The battle for freedom had begun.

Tails, being at the front of the room was the first to meet the robot army that had come swarming in and was quick to pull out his arm cannon, firing multiple beams of energy out at any robots within his range of sight. They were hit by the energy and quickly dissolved into nothing. Unfortunately for him, there were far too many for him to deal with on his own so he quickly took to the skies, flying around the room to avoid some of the troops on the ground only for Buzzbombers to chase after him.

For Sonic and Omega, they both took to fighting positions while Tails was unlocking the cells and as soon as they opened they were about to spring into action… only to be thrown off their game when Blaze flipped out, fire streaking behind her feet as she landed in front of them.

Sonic gasped in shock, to which the cat winked at him and boosted off in a literal ball of flame that tore apart ridiculous amounts of robots in her path.

Sonic then crossed his arms and shook his head. "Hmph, showoff."

Omega looked down at the hoglet and narrowed his visual receptors.

"I know… I know… Don't give me that look, tin can."

Omega shrugged and looked away, opting to turn his arm into its machine gun attachment and fire at approaching silver Eggpongs.

Sonic on the other hand, jumped into the air and dove into a dropdash, taking out a significantly less number of Badniks than Blaze did much to his chagrin.

For Tails, he was flying through the air, firing every which way and that as the buzzbombers tried to get him. The air space in the prison was just as much chaos as it was on the ground as multiple buzzbombers as well as Nebulas and Galaga Bees.

Tails however, was under heavy fire as some Galaga Bees came right at him from behind.

Tails whipped and weaved his way through each and every one of the blasts before one got a lucky shot and struck him in his side. Tails cried out as he fell through the air only for someone to swoop down and catch him. He looked to see none other than an orange gazelle with surprisingly strong calves leap through the air and catch him.

The gazelle landed on the other side of the hall where a gorilla with yellow lightning designs all over his body let out a screech as electricity leapt from him and into the same battalion of Galaga Bees that had chased Tails.

With that, Tails thanked both the gazelle and the ape to which he got both a friendly smile and finger guns respectively.

Sonic the hedgehog had run into some of the inmates fighting it out too. A polar bear was running around using a pink and purple giraffe as a battering ram, taking out some of the Egg Pongs around them.

Sonic saw this and waved at them before hopping atop the Polar Bear's head. The polar bear gave the hedgehog an odd look before he used his new height to spring up into the air and perform a chain of homing attacks across the room to arrive on one of the other sides of the prison.

Meanwhile, Omega was guns ablazing with his machine gun form. He hadn't moved from the spot that Sonic had left him in and the professor was standing beside him.

"Oh, I must say, that is quite the excellent work, Omega!" Professor Pickle grinned. "Be a good fellow and take the trio of Roaders speeding towards us at about your four o'clock position."

Omega didn't bat an eye and turned his body towards where the professor had told him, firing a rocket from his chest that obliterated them.

"Haha, jolly good show!" He grinned to which the robot gave him a thumbs up with his free hand.

Elsewhere, Blaze had finished her initial burnout and had jumped into the fighting ring in the center where all sorts of GUN agents, former resistance fighters and the like had found themselves surrounded by Eggpongs and Buzzbomers from all sides.

With Blaze the Cat in the center of them, all of the robots turned their immediate attention to her and attempted to fire.

Unfortunately, she was too fast for each and every one of them as she broke out into her boost and decimated the ones on the ground in a matter of seconds before propelling herself into the air again in a twirl and becoming a literal raging ball of fire that shot out streams of flame that decimated the lot of them.

She then landed on the ground and dusted herself off, giving off a small smirk.

A lot of the Mobians standing there looked dumbfoundedly at her before breaking out into applause to which the cat took a bit of a bow.

But at that moment, yet another laser fired just next to her feet, forcing her and the others to look up as more attackers moved in to fight.

Tails was running around firing more shots at the Badniks all around him, huffing and panting as they continued to fight.

At that, Sonic had zipped up to him, spindashing into some of the robots all around, before giving the fox a friendly wave which he returned.

More of the silver Eggpongs surrounded them to which the two stood back to back ready to fight.

"Where'd you get the doohickey?" Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head. "Don't you remember? I picked it up in the lab before heading off here."

Sonic shook his head. "That feels like it was months ago, you honestly expect me to remember a minor detail like that?"

"Trust me, I grabbed it."

"Well, it's coming in handy now." Sonic grinned as the two fought off the oncoming waves of attackers.

Elsewhere, Lieutenant Topaz was out of her cell surrounded both by her comrades and prisoners that were either too scared, too weak or too injured to fight off the approaching army. With one of the discarded Eggpong blasters in hand, she was able to fire at all sorts of robots all over the room.

But even then, that was not her main concern as she approached more and more cells and reached out her hand to those inside.

With the best smile she could muster under these circumstances, she would look them in the eyes and tell them. "It's alright, you're getting out of here. We'll protect you."

And together they would make their way out of the cells, continuing the process one by one as they did their best to round everyone up.

Along the way, she eventually ran into Omega to which she and the other GUN soldiers looked confused.

"E123 Omega? Well, you're a sight for sore eyes." She exclaimed.

"Lieutenant Topaz, you have caught me by surprise. I had assumed you were able to escape Eggman's assault on GUN Headquarters."

"Saved Commander Tower and a few other operatives but couldn't save myself." Topaz shook her head. "Got myself caught by that Infinite creep when I tried to duck out with another group."

Omega nodded. "The initial attack was devastating. Had Eggman not eliminated our forces, the world could be in a much better position."

"Agreed." Topaz nodded. "I hate that they've forced a lot of us to hide, but now that we're making this break out maybe things can change."

She then waved him forward. "Come on, you're with me. We've got most of the prisoners out of the cells and now we've gotta work on a way to get out of the prison."

"Understood." Omega cocked his gun arm.

Professor Pickle agreed as he climbed onto the robot's back. "Ah yes, let us get cracking."

Omega looked at the Professor confusedly to which he pointed ahead and shouted, "Onward!"

Omega shrugged and continued forward, following after both the prisoners and GUN soldiers.

Blaze on the other hand had made it out of the arena in the center and was now boosting along the walkways of the outer prison. It was then, that Sonic ran alongside her, covered in his own boost aura.

Blaze was pleasantly surprised by this. "Oh my. It seems that you've perfected your boosting technique. Very well done!"

"Heh, nothin' to it." Sonic gave her a thumbs up only for him to lose his concentration a little and cause the aura to fade. But he was quick to step it up and bring it back.

"Well, perhaps you need a little improvement." Blaze noted.

But Sonic shook his head. "Nah, I can do this all day. Besides, I couldn't let you hog all the glory."

"Is that so? Well, let us see if you can keep up?" Blaze smirked at him, as she poured on her speed, to which Sonic quickly followed after.

Streaks of blue and red zipped around each of the levels of the prison, destroying nearly everything in their path. Other robots in the room tried to converge on them, but to no avail as they just tore through everything in their wake.

Meanwhile, Omega, Topaz and several other prisoners were at the exit to the prison. The only problem being that the exit had now been overlayed with the same forcefields that used to line the prison walls.

They took to attacking with their weapons and powers.

Professor Pickle, who was still being carried by Omega, shouted words of encouragement towards the group. Insisting that they put their backs into it.

But no matter how much they attacked the wall, it was to no avail.

At that, Tails came flying down to where they were all standing and saw the force field.

Frowning, he pulled out his Miles Electric and called out to them. "Gimme just a few seconds, I'm gonna hack back into the system and see if I can lower this force field!"

Topaz saw this and nodded. "Understood. Soldiers, provide cover fire for Tails!"

And they did just so, making sure that none of the robots would be able to get to him. They suffered damage here and there from shots fired but overall managed to keep things in check.

Tails on the other hand had waved his Miles Electric over the interface and reconnected to their systems. This time, throwing any care of being spotted out the window and frantically worked to deactivate the force field that was covering the wall.

His hands were working their way along the machine like lightning, cracking codes, bursting through firewalls and making a mess of Eggman's systems until he finally got in.

In moments the force field faded, allowing them passage to the rest of the Death Egg.

"Let's move, people!" Topaz shouted.

Everybody poured out of the Death Egg except for Tails and Omega who looked back into the room and saw sonic and Blaze still racing around.

"Sonic! Blaze!" Tails called out. "Let's go!"

From up above the two speedsters heard this and nodded, jumping out into the pit and using several of the airborn robots to chain their homing attacks and land in front of them.

With that, Sonic, Tails, Blaze and Omega exited the room to join the others out in the greater Death Egg.

Unfortunately, a swarm of Badniks both ground and air based followed right after them. [M1 End]

~Trials of War~

[1] [M2] Doctor Starline watched as they actively left the prison with the robots chasing after them with the great fear from the onscreen monitors.

He wasn't sure when, but Sonic, Tails and Omega had managed to infiltrate the Death Egg. What's more, Sonic was… different, he looked as if he had gotten a few years younger but that didn't really make sense to him.

The problem was that prisoners were out and about on the Death Egg with three world renowned heroes, a princess from another dimension and several members of both GUN and the resistance. He didn't like his odds.

Starline quickly worked at the computer, calling out more troops and making extra defenses outside of the hangar.

He had to prevail by any and all means necessary. [M2 End]

~Trials of War~

[M1] "Alright, so we got all kinds of crazy defenses in front of us and a whole mess of robots behind us in this jailbreak. Yep, sounds like your average Tuesday." Sonic shrugged as he was at the head of the group along with Blaze taking on any threats that would come from in front of them.

Those who could fight stood all around the group so that those that were either too weak or too injured to join into the fray were protected.

Being the fastest of them all, Sonic and Blaze had headed the group, homing in on and sending streaks of flame towards any and all robots that would come from the front.

Tails and Omega were with a lot of the soldiers at the rear end of the group, trying to keep the robots that were with them in the prison from tailing them.

"Sonic, do you really think that now is the time to be cracking jokes?" Blaze asked.

Sonic shrugged. "Sure. Better to keep everybody's spirits up with some light humor than well, all of this…"

Sonic gestured to the onslaught of robots all around them before homing in on a chain of Galaga Bees that approached them. One got through but was quickly blasted with a burst of flame by Blaze.

"Fair enough." She noted.

At the tail end of the group, Tails and Omega, firing at approaching Roaders from the prison.

Professor Pickle, who was still on Omega's back, didn't seem all that bothered despite the severity of the situation.

"Omega, be a lad and fire at that Roader approaching along the wall." Professor Pickle pointed at one of the silver plated bugs racing along the wall towards them, two others flanking it from behind.

Omega didn't even waste another second and turned his gun arm into that of a rocket, firing at the Roaders, blowing them all to smithereens.

"Smashing." Pickle grinned as he patted the robot on the head.

"Success!" Omega announced before turning back to his pistol arms once more. He fired at a few more robots.

After a few moments of firing, he turned to Tails and asked him. "Tails, how much further do we have before we reach the hangar?"

Tails looked down at his Miles Electric and frowned. "Got a decent ways to go, Omega. With everybody here, we're not at our fastest and I don't even wanna think of what sort of traps that Eggman has up his sleeves in here."

Tails shook his head and frowned. "Coming here was a terrible mistake, we'll never make it."

"Failure is not within this unit's vocabulary."

"Agreed." Professor Pickle added. "We'll make it there in no time flat."

Tails looked down at the ground, unsure but decided to switch back to his blaster, firing at any oncoming Eggpongs in his line of sight.

In the middle of the group was Topaz along with several other folks who couldn't do much in terms of fighting. She currently had one of the blaster arms of the Eggpong's in her hands and on her back was a young ladybug mobian who had gotten one of their wings clipped by a blast in the conflict and couldn't fly anymore.

"Eyes on the prize, soldiers. We're getting out of here." She insisted as she continued to fire out at whatever robots would come at them.

Back at the front, Sonic and Blaze ran ahead of the group, doing their best to use their boosts to make their way down the path and destroy any and all things in their paths.

But unfortunately, as they ran, they managed to step into the line of a laser along the ground. This activated a mechanism that caused a steal barrier to shoot out and block the path in front of them.

Blaze saw this in time and pumped on the breaks, just in time.

Without missing a beat, she held a hand out and grabbed the younger Sonic by the arm, just in the nick of time.

"Hey, what's the big ide- Oh…"

Blaze nodded at him. "Yes, it appears that we have an obstacle blocking our path."

"Yo, Tails! Get over here!" Sonic called out.

The fox poked his head above the group and looked to see what had happened.

Quickly, he made his way up to the wall.

Tails whipped out the Miles Electric and scanned the room for anything to access before he spotted a terminal on the ceiling. He flew up to it and called back to the group. "Just gimme a second!"

Sonic nodded and went to the back with the rest where more of the robots that had been chasing them arrived.

"Alright, let's party!"

Sonic jumped into the air and performed a dropdash all while shots were fired all over the room from both sides. He tore through a decent bit of their defenses, but certainly wasn't enough to do significant damage.

Things got worse when one of the Eggpongs managed to pluck him off the ground, and bowled him back into the group, knocking some of them out like bowling pins.

Luckily, a Mobian frog lashed its tongue out at the Badik, so that it stuck to its shell before swinging it around, sending it crashing into several others before it hit the wall.

At the same time, a multicolored lizard mobian wearing a GUN uniform sneered at the robots before her, sharpening her teeth and allowing poisonous venom to drip onto the floor before her. She let out a battle cry as she lunged towards the Eggpongs before her, sinking her razor sharp teeth into the head of one and allowing the venom to not only sink into the robot but also fly all around her. The robot that she had been biting onto had quickly dissolved into nothing and any of the ones around her that were unfortunate enough to get splashed with toxin short circuited and fell to the floor.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time!" She snickered. "Come on, who's next! You'll see what happens when you mess with GUN!"

At that another Mobian, a muscular pink lion who was standing protectively over three smaller cubs of the same color unleashed sonic roars on robots that would come into his path. He rolled his eyes.

"Speak for yourself." He huffed. "I am nothing but a simple baker looking after his young in Central City. Never joined the resistance or defied the Eggman Empire, yet when the city was overrun, my family and I are hauled off to this place? I do not think so!"

He roared once more, blasting apart a motobug coming into his path. "When we get out of here, he will pay for what he's done to me and my family!"

Just then, high up in the air the Miles Electric displayed screens showing rows upon rows of red locks. But as the fox's fingers flew across the screen, turning them green and unlocking each and every one of them.

In a few moments, a little chibi icon of himself giving a thumbsup appeared on the screen and just like that, the wall opened up allowing them to progress to which he cheered.

He landed down on the ground and Sonic gave him a fist bump.

"Let's move out, people!" Topaz announced as they raced along. [M1 End]

~Trials of War~

[M2] Starline threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

The wall he'd thrown up in their path should've been enough to stop them! Eventually, the approaching Badniks would have overwhelmed them. Then the weak and injured would've been put in their cells and those that were far worse off? Thrown into space like the rabble they were.

But no, things were unravelling far faster than he could've imagined. Not only were they continuing to make their way through the Death Egg but they were also making a mockery of the Eggman Empire! Making them all look like fools!

That foolish fox had gained the upper hand on him! A mere child!

Oh… Starline was fuming at that point, stomping around the room, wracking his brain to see what exactly to do.

If they had successfully gotten to the Death Egg then he would fail his beloved Emperor and that couldn't happen under absolutely no circumstances!

He went to the computer tracking their path and looking for any possible traps he could throw into their way.

A smile came to his face as he realized just what he could do. [M2 End]

~Trials of War~

[M1] The group was doing pretty well at this point despite everything. While it was true that a lot of them suffered injuries from the ordeal, most were able to be carried along the way.

Tails had estimated that they would be approaching the hangar in just a few short moments and they'd be able to get the heck out of there.

Unfortunately for them, more trouble came in the form of another trap as the floor just in front of them, split open to reveal a bottomless pit.

Blaze actually had to grab Sonic by the arm again to keep him from running off the edge.

"Ugh. You've gotta be kidding me. One of these things?" Sonic groaned. "Can he be more original?"

At that, pillars of fire began to rise from the pit, making it near impossible to pass.

"Oh, perfect."

Sonic looked around at the group, before his eyes fell on Tails. "Alright, bro. What do we do here?"

Tails shrugged. "I could try and hack the system again."

Blaze shook her head. "But why? Surely we can figure out this problem on our own?"

"What do you have in mind?" Omega asked.

She put her hand to her chin in thought and then snapped her fingers. "Does anyone in our party possess hydro or cyrokinetic abilities?"

"Huh?" A lot of them looked confused.

Blaze pinched her nose in frustration and let out a loud sigh.

At that, Topaz cut in. "Does anyone have water or ice powers."

The crowd looked around at one another and began murmuring to each other asking if anyone possessed the abilities they needed.

"Ayo! Move over! Make some room!" Came a thick Empiran[2] accent from the crowd.

Everybody quickly parted to reveal a blue firefly Mobian limping over to them. He wore a parka and a hard glare aimed at anyone who dared to stand in his way.

When he finally arrived at the front of the room, he smirked at them. "Frosty the Firefly at yo service. I make and sell ice for a living, how you doin?"

Blaze sighed even more. "Sir, I don't think you understa-"

At that, he chucked a ball of ice in the air. "You were sayin?"

"Very well." Blaze shrugged.

"Hold on." Sonic stated. "You're a firefly with ice powers?'

"Yeah, and what about it, runt?"

"Nothing. I just- don't you think that's a little odd?"

The firefly glared at him to which the hedgehog sheepishly shrugged.

Blaze rolled her eyes at this but continued. "Would you mind firing at the nozzles on the ground. Clog them up with as much ice as you can and then get ready to run."

"Sure thing, doll face." He winked at her to which she cringed.

Regardless the firefly began to fire streams of ice at the nozzles below. One by one each of them were clogged with ice.

"Okay, now quickly. Anyone who can fly or have some method to get across use it now. Take as many as you can with you!"

At that, most of the fliers took to the sky. But one Mobian in particular, a golden spotted mouse closed their eyes and held out their hand towards the pit.

To everybody's shock a golden bridge appeared for them to make their way across.

The mouse fell to the floor to which they were quickly scooped up by a large bull.

They began to run across, only for the nozzles of fire to begin to come back on and break apart the bridge behind them.

Luckily, they were able to make their way across and made a mad dash towards their destination.

"Come on, guys! We're almost there!" Sonic shouted back to them.

But just then, a rush of wind was heard along with the sound of a jet turbine.

Everyone looked back and their eyes widened in shock at what they saw.

"Crap, Chasers!" Topaz shouted.

And true to her word, a trio of Egg Chasers appeared behind them, ready to take them out by any and all means necessary.

"Everybody run, now!" Tails shouted. "Sonic, Blaze and Omega, you guys are with me in the back to make sure nobody gets hit by these things!"

They all nodded and agreed and headed to the back of the crowd while everybody made a mad dash down the hall in attempt at fleeing the oncoming robots.

Sonic and co. took to fighting off the Egg Chasers, making sure that they wouldn't be able to pass by and take on the rest of the prisoners.

They made sure to break down any of the Chasers that dared try to get the group as they also made their way to the hangar as well. For every Chaser they took down, another would take its place and try to breech their defenses but to no avail.

They were lucky though, managing to stop each of the chasers and they had finally arrived at their destination where the others were waiting. But there was one problem…

When they arrived at the hangar, things were in absolute chaos.

Badniks of all sorts of shapes and sizes were scattered across the hangar, doing their best to keep the prisoners from getting to any of the ships. Prisoners stood their ground all across the fray, doing their best to push through their defenses. Some were hiding behind crates, ships and pretty much anything that could provide decent cover to keep their heads away from the conflict. And then there were the others, who lay on the ground injured or far worse from the ensuing battle.

The four stared in shock at the battle that ensued but it was Tails who reacted first.

"Alright. This is way too much and these guys are on their own. Sonic, let's get to the Tornado and get out of here."

He made to reach for Sonic's arm, but the hedgehog was quick to shake him off. "Are you kidding me? I am not backing down now, not when we're so close to saving them!"

"But-"

"Nope!"

With that, Sonic dashed off, springing into the air as shots whizzed past him before homing in on several Eggpongs along the way.

Omega was next, letting loose his full artillery and letting out a battle cry. "Destroy all Eggman Robots!"

Blaze rushed in too, pouring power into the boost and becoming a literal raging ball of fire that made its way across the battlefield.

Tails grit his teeth and clenched his fists, looking away from his friends and instead headed towards the Tornado. If they wanted to ignore him, then that was their problem. But as soon as he could, he and Sonic were going to get out of there.

Out on the Hangar, Topaz along with a few GUN Soldiers and Resistance fighters had been able to commandeer a vessel for them to use.

She stood outside the open door and noticed Sonic, Blaze and co running around.

"Everybody listen up!" Topaz called out. "We've been able to secure a vessel and can use it to evacuate the premises. Any active fighters, get those who can't aboard now!"

Roars of approval were heard around the room, some even dropping what they were doing to make a mad dash for the ship almost immediately.

Omega was in the middle of the battlefield and took this in. "Objective changed: Escort pedestrians to the escape vehicle."

"Ah yes, onward!" Professor Pickle shouted as Omega scooped up a group of children hiding behind a crate.

He easily made his way across as lasers bounced off of his hull.

He dumped them outside of the transport. The little ones quickly scampered inside the ship without another word, with Professor Pickle following after them. The robot then went to grab more people but Topaz stopped him.

"Hold on, Omega."

The robot turned to face her. "Yes, Luitenant Topaz?"

"Where are you headed after all of this is over on the Death Egg? Are you coming with us?"

Omega shook his head. "Negative. I will continue to accompany Sonic and Tails on their journey to locate his present day counterpart."

Topaz nodded. "Very well. Help us out while you can though and I hope to see you soon."

"With pleasure."

Sonic and Blaze on the other hand had changed objectives as well, deciding to ditch the fighting and get as many people aboard as possible. Streaks of red and blue made their way all over the hangar nabbing people out of thin air while also bopping a few badniks along the way.

With Sonic and Blaze doing this, it wasn't long until the last of the remaining prisoners were aboard the shuttle and they began to prepare for takeoff.

At that, the trio of Sonic, Blaze and Omega gathered at the entrance to the shuttle while, Topaz hung outside of the door, addressing each of them.

"Thank you all for your help, we'd have never made it this far without you guys." Topaz smiled at them.

Sonic grinned. "All in a day's work. We're just happy that you're all going home safe and sound."

"Seconded."

"Here, here!"

Topaz returned their smiles as the ship began to make its ascent. "I'll be sure to return the favor when we meet again on the battlefield. But until then…"

She gave them a two finger salute, which the trio returned before she closed the hatch. They watched with pride as the ship took off and ran off into the air and out to great Mobius below.

"Mission accomplished." Sonic smirked as the trio struck victory poses. [M1 End]

The three celebrated for a moment, before slow clapping interrupted them.

Everybody turned to the sound of the voice to see Tails leaning against The Tornado, clapping for them. "Great, great… You did it." He droned. "Now, can we please get out of here?"

At that, Sonic glared at him. "Seriously? After all of that, that's what you care about?"

"I mean, yeah! We're still on the Death Egg and we're still in so much danger every moment we spend here. I'm sure you guys are feeling pretty great after that and I'm happy that we got as many people as we could out of here, but we need to go now. Finding you takes priority."

"What do you mean finding me, takes priority?! We just saved so many lives and all you still care about is me?"

"Yeah! Because when we find you, then even more lives can be saved!"

"Are you really sure that that's the reason?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Omega stared at Blaze at this, but Blaze looked as if she wasn't all there. Like, she was in some sort of trance.

Blaze had been paying attention to their argument at first, but had quickly been drawn away from it. It was as if something was calling to her soul, begging her to come and retrieve it and yet it felt familiar and different all at the same time.

She clutched her chest and thought to herself, it was almost as if… one of the Sol Emeralds were calling out to her, but this energy… it felt different. It wasn't like her's no. It had to be a Chaos Emerald.

Blaze opened her eyes and cut into Sonic and Tails arguing. "Can you two stop for just one second?!"

The two turned their attention to Blaze.

"We are not done here, there's one thing left that we have to do."

"You've got to be kidding me." Tails rolled his eyes. "We need to leave immediately!"

Blaze shook her head. "No, we don't. This is far more important."

"What is it Blaze?" Sonic asked her.

She raised an eyeridge at this. "You mean you can't sense it?"

"Uh… sense what?"

"There is a Chaos Emerald aboard this station, and we have to get it at any and all means necessary!"

Sonic was slightly taken aback by that before he smirked and got into running position. "Say no more! Let's go bag us an emerald!"

"Absolutely not!" Tails shouted. "We'd have a better chance if we came back and got it after we find the other Sonic!"

Sonic just shook his head. "If you wanna stay behind or even leave, then fine! But we're going to get the Emerald. Blaze? Omega? You coming?"

"Of course."

"Affirmative."

With Blaze taking the lead, the three ran off in search of the Chaos Emerald.

Tails, who hadn't moved an inch called after them. "Sonic! Sonic! Soooooooooooniiiiiiiiiiiiic!"

He then got to his feet and ran after them. "I cannot believe I'm going to die on the Death Egg!"

~Trials of War~

[M2] Starline was in absolute shock. After everything he had put in their path, somehow they had still managed to allow the prisoners to escape! What would the Doctor think when he discovered this? His reputation was going to be ruined and all because of Sonic and that stupid fox! Oh how it frustrated him, he wanted nothing more than to take his revenge and prove that has what it takes stand by the Doctor's side!

But now… There was nothing he could do. No one he could stop and nothing that could possibly fix his inability to fix this problem. He was absolutely hopeless.

What would the Doctor say when he broke the news to him? Oh, he could only imagine the utter pain and disappointment his idol would have. He couldn't imagine it.

But he had to face the music sometime…

Doctor Starline, looked up at the screens again and was shocked to see the map of the Death Egg showing four life forms still traveling through it.

Confusion rang through him. Assuming that everyone had escaped and he quickly pulled up the camera monitors to see that it was none other than Sonic, Tails, Blaze and Omega travelling at extraordinary speeds through the halls. Sonic, Blaze and Omega especially looked as if they had purpose.

Starline went back to the map, trying to follow their trail. "But they already freed the prisoners, where could they be…"

He paled as it dawned upon him. They were headed straight for the very heart of the Death Egg, where there was not only a Chaos Emerald for them to steal, but a self-destruction switch for the entire station.

Just when he thought the situation was at its very worst, these troublesome Sonic Heroes had proven him wrong.

What was he to do now? No matter how many robots he threw out, they would just tear through them. They were going to snag the emerald and get the Death Egg. It was all over!

Unless…

But that was crazy, he could never do that.

But what was there to do? If he didn't even try then there were sure to be consequences.

Starline breathed in and out, he had never had experience in combat, but he supposed he had no choice but to try in this case.

Eggman was counting on him and he couldn't possibly disappoint him. Not when the entire empire depended on him.

Quickly, Starline looked to see if there were any available mechs in the station. And he found the perfect one. [M2 End]

~Trials of War~

The quartet had finally arrived at their destination, running straight into the heart of the Death Egg to find a circular room where a gigantic metal sphere stood in the center, shaped in such a way that it appeared to be a face with eyes and a mouth while several pieces of metal hovered around it. Lights surrounded it, to give it a more ominous feeling and at the foot of the giant sphere was a console and true to Blaze's word, in the center of it was the Chaos Emerald.

"There it is!" Sonic announced. "Let's nab it while the getting's good!"

The four of them quickly ran up to retrieve it only to stop dead in their tracks when a field appeared around the console, keeping them away from it.

"What?!" Blaze shouted.

At that, the metal sphere in the center of the room, began to shift and change, opening itself up revealing it to be none other than Doctor Starline sitting amongst a cockpit.

[M3] "Greetings, war criminals!" The doctor drawled.

Blaze gasped. While Sonic and Tails looked at one another and then back at the doctor. "Who the heck are you?"

They noticed this and turned away from one another, not wanting to speak to the other.

He laughed. "Ah yes, I haven't formally introduced myself. I am Doctor Starline, the newest General of the glorious Eggman Empire! I serve only the best and the brightest and of course, who could fill that void in my life but the benevolent doctor?"

"So… you're like some sort of Eggman fan boy that who finally got noticed, right?" Sonic asked.

Starline steamed. "I would hardly call myself something as simple as that. No, no. My admiration for the doctor goes far deeper than some sort of hero worship. I believe in him to be the ultimate power? And how could one not?"

"So… he's like a religion for you?" Tails asked.

"Well, he is quite mighty. Far more powerful than that of the gods themselves."

"You are obsessed."

"Wouldn't you be, after all he is-"

Blaze's fists became alight with fire. "I have had enough of this nonsense! You are to relinquish the Chaos Emerald now, Starline!"

"Never! You all are going to surrender to me, be escorted to the cells and be the best prisoners you can be for when Doctor Eggman comes to inspect you. And when he does… it might just make up for all you've done today and then things will be back on track for the Doctor and I!"

Sonic rolled his eyes at this and struck a battle pose along with Omega and Tails. "Not a chance!"

"Very well, then face the very Death Egg itself!" [M3 End]

[M4] At that, the cockpit for the sphere closed and the eyes began to glow a harsh purple light. The floating pieces of metal around the sphere began circling it at incredible speeds, so fast that it nearly created an impenetrable field of metal around him.

Course, that didn't stop Sonic from trying.

He immediately tried to home in on the sphere but to absolutely no avail as he bounced harmlessly off, without making so much of a dent in his defenses.

"Dang it!"

Blaze, Omega and Tails activated their powers and weapons. Hoping that smaller, more concentrated shots would be able to get through and land hits on them.

Starline laughed. "Face it, your efforts are futile! You won't be able to land a single hit on me!"

That didn't stop Sonic though as he hopped up into the air and tried to home in again only to get the same results.

"Surrender to the Eggman Empire now or suffer the consequences."

"Surrender is also not within this vessel's vocabulary!" Omega bellowed as he attempted to fire lasers that simply bounced off and into the walls.

"Very well then!"

With that, panels on the walls opened up revealing miniature laser blasters that fired out at the group, forcing them to dodge in random directions, in hopes of not recovering.

For the likes of Sonic, Tails and Blaze they were easily able to dodge. For Omega… It wasn't so easy, having been slower than the trio. While most of the lasers were pretty ineffective and were able to bounce off of his armor, some left behind nasty scorch marks.

But quickly, the lasers powered down and the gyroscope around the sphere came to a hault as a blue force field gathered around the sphere and began to syphon energy.

They could only watch before the field finally dropped and the metal began to spin again.

Tails saw this and quickly did his best to take a shot only for the metal to pick up more speed again.

"Shoot!"

Blaze saw this and called out to him. "Tails, did you figure something out?"

Tails nodded, carefully weaving his way around more of the laser blasts. "Yeah! After about 30 seconds of rotating, the gyro scope gives itself a few seconds to recharge."

"Yeah, but the force field is up at that time!" Sonic replied.

"True, but right after it's done, the field goes down and the metal pieces start generating speed again. But before they hit top speed, a well-placed hit could give us the damage we need!"

"Excellent!" Omega declared. "With this newfound knowledge, I will be able to make the next move and defeat our enemy!"

"Oh. What a keen eye you have, Miles." Starline complimented as the machine began charging again. "The doctor did say that you would pose a problem. But no matter, even if you've discovered a weakness to this machine, you won't you be able to defeat me!"

Just as he finished speaking, the charging stopped and Sonic took the opportunity to home in on him.

He landed next to Blaze and gave her a fist bump. "You talk too much!"

Starline yelped as the interior of the machine shook and sparks began to fly around him for a few brief moments. Thankfully, it stabilized and allowed him to work at the controls again.

He couldn't imagine how the emperor dealt with that sort of thing all the time, it nearly gave him a heart attack!

No matter, he had work to do. His fingers ran across the control panel and to his delight, silver Eggpongs began to fall from the ceiling to aid him.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Tails groaned as he took flight to dodge the rapid fire blasts from all around.

He quickly found Omega, where they stood back to back returning fire and watching each other's six.

"Must you rely on the cannon fodder to fight your battles?" Blaze asked as she blasted around the arena.

Sonic laughed as he performed another homing attack on some of the robots. "Probably knows we'll beat him no problem. Come on, what are you afraid of?"

"Silence! I will not be made a mockery of!"

But at that point, the charging had been completed, most of the Egg Pongs had been cleared and Tails, Blaze and Omega had grouped together to release a volley of lasers, fire and bullets at Starline. Some of them were able to be caught by the spinning metal plates, but those that weren't soared towards him and met their mark.

Each hit from these blasts sent the interior in all sorts of directions, eliciting shrill screams from the platypus.

It wasn't long until the bombardment stopped and he was able to find his bearings again. "That is it! You are all getting detained whether you like it or not! Activate heat seeking missiles!"

Sonic and Tails' eyes widened at that while Omega looked curiously at the laser pointers along the walls shifting and changing to reveal missile launchers. Each of them were primed and ready to destroy them.

But Blaze simply shook her head. "For a doctor, you are not all that bright."

"What? What could you possibly mean by that?!"

Blaze simply tutted and gave a sly smirk at the doctor to which he gave a look of concern.

At that, the missiles launched and as soon as they did, Blaze fired angry red balls of fire at the metal encircling he machine. As soon as the fire crashed against the pieces of metal, they too began to glow the same glow while their temperatures began to skyrocket.

Blaze didn't even bat an eye as the rockets zoomed right on past her and the others and right at the pieces of metal around the machine, blowing them to pieces.

It wasn't long until all the missiles had fired and all of the metal that had blocked them had been completely destroyed.

During the destruction, the self-proclaimed right hand of the Eggman Empire could only watch in slack jawed disbelief.

But when it ended, that disbelief turned to fury as he went back to the controls. "You all will pay for this, right now!" He hovered his hands over what was sure to be the ultimate showstopper, the perfect attack that would end all his struggles. This was it! Eggman would be so proud! [M4 End]

And then Sonic came and performed a homing attack that ruined everything.

When Sonic homed in on him, the entire cockpit shook, causing him to miss his mark and instead press an entirely different large red button.

SELF DESTURCTION SEQUENCE ACTIVATED

T MINUS FIVE MINUTES UNTIL TOTAL AHNILATION

"What?! No!"

He was quick to start working at the controls doing anything he could to stop the countdown. But it was no use when he was sent every which way by the blizzard of attacks from the ranged trio.

"Wait! No! Stop!" He shouted, but to no avail. And to his chagrin, he pressed yet another button he shouldn't have.

A friendly green banner with the word eject scrawled across it with a classic Eggman logo underneath appeared on the screen in front of him. Before he could even react, he was sent up into the air, letting out even more shrill screams as he landed right in front of the quartet.

Immediately he sprung to his feet and made to throw a flurry of punches at the hedgehog's chest. "You fools! What have you done?!"

Sonic, who hadn't even budged at the doctor's incredibly weak attacks, smirked. "Stopped you and snagged the emerald!"

"Speaking of…" Blaze noted before zipping over to the console and wrenched the gem out of the machine, tossing it over to Sonic.

Tails let out a sigh of relief. "Great, we got it. Now can please get out of here before we blow up?"

"Let's bounce, dawgs!"

And like that, they ran out of the room. Leaving Starline all alone.

"Come back here and finish this!" Starline wailed at them. "Come back! Coooooooooooome back!"

But it was too late. They were already gone.

Starline fell to his hands and knees looking down at the floor in shame. There was no way he could face the doctor now. Not only had the prisoners escaped, but he had failed so spectacularly that Sonic and friends were about to destroy the Death Egg and leave with a Chaos Emerald. How could he show his face to his idol ever again after this?

Was there a point in moving on? He only had just a few minutes left before the Death Egg would explode with him and hopefully the others with it. He wouldn't be able to face the Doctor's disappointment.

He fell flat on his face and looked down at the floor before him. No, he had failed him and he needed to suffer the consequences for it.

Let whatever happens, happen.

T MINUS ONE MINUTE TO TOTAL ANIHALATION

T MINUS THIRTY SECONDS

And at that, the sound of distortion rang out around him and he could see black pointed boots before him. He knew who it was.

"Pathetic." Infinite tsked as he looked down at him. "While I do not tolerate failure, the doctor seems to want you alive for some god forsaken reason. So consider yourself lucky."

With that, he crouched down, reaching onto his shoulder and together they vanished in a flash of pixelated light.

~Trials of War~

T MINUS TEN SECONDS TO TOTAL ANIHALATION

The quartet burst into the hangar, running at full throttle to get out of the Death Egg at any and all costs.

"Hurry we need to move now!" Tails barked.

NINE

"I'm running, I'm running!"

EIGHT

They arrived at the Tornado and quickly hopped inside. Tails and Blaze took the two seats, while Sonic took the nose of the plane and Omega, the tail.

SEVEN

Tails jumped to the controls, doing everything he could to start up the plane in record timing.

SIX

The Tornado's propeller began to spin.

FIVE

To them, it seemed like almost an eternity as it began to wheel it's way down the runway.

FOUR

They began to take off.

THREE

Blaze gave a small prayer to the Sol Emeralds, hoping beyond all belief that they could get away from this place.

TWO

Sonic and friends braced for impact as they began to make their way out of the runway. It was cutting it close.

ONE

The Tornado flew out of the Death Egg's hangar and just in the nick of time to because-

BOOM!

The Death Egg exploded in a fiery ball of fire, sending debris out into the outer reaches of space all around them.

The quartet couldn't help but cheer at this. They'd done it! Not only had they freed the prisoners, but in an unbelievable stroke of luck, they had managed to destroy one of Eggman's greatest strongholds.

Even Tails, who had been a bit of a stick in the mud lately, couldn't help but enjoy this moment.

Unfortunately the moment did not last.

One of the massive chunks of the Death Egg struck the Tornado, knocking them out of the sky and down to Mobius below.

Alarms blared and the quartet panicked, begging Tails to try and fix the problem. But it was to absolutely no avail.

They were sent hurtling to the planet below, without anything to stop their descent.

[M1] Sonic Forces: A Hero Will Rise – Death Prison
[M2] Sonic Forces: A Hero Will Rise – Quickening of Evil
[M3] Sonic Forces: A Hero Will Rise – Phantom Ruby=Evil Deed
[M4] Sonic Before the Sequel – M.O.A.B. – For Star Shores Boss Act

[1] A bit of a retcon here if I've used it before, but I've decided to make Quickening of Evil Starline's new theme. I just think it suits him well so yeah.
[2] Empiran being a term I coined for people from Empire City.

And I'm a monster to end it here, but that's the end of the Classic Arc. Next time, we'll be finally getting back to the resistance.
TGN, right off the bat I'm gonna say I am so sorry for Tails.
There's a reason I wanna get the next chapter out before the year is up. So here's hoping I can blast through it with Sonic speed.
Other things to note is I took advantage of recent Steam sales and actually bought Sonic Forces. I actually had some decent fun with the game and you know that of course, I had to play as my girl Celeste. Along with this chapter, I've made a Tumblr post with her for you guys to see. Since FFN is bad with links you can find it at waystobuild-blog tumblr .com. Scroll down a bit or search "Trials of War" on my page's search bar and you should find her. Might make a separate blog for ToW stuff in the future? Idk. I've been debating it.
And I'm also really happy about what has been done with the Sonic Movie redesign. He looks great, thank god. Thank you Tyson Hesse.
And yeah, let's get on to the review replies.

Animation Adventures:
Glad you liked Marine. I decided to not have her be her constant adventure buddy both to show sorta how things change and that sorta deal. They're still as close as can be though, so not to worry.
Had to get Riders references in. Glad you liked them.
Tails absolutely would be different if he didn't suffer the loss of Sonic, but that's a factor that played into things and I'm rolling with it. As I've mentioned, I feel like the game offered an opportunity for something compelling with both Tails depression and adventuring with Classic Sonic and I'm hoping to see that through.
Haha. The world isn't ready for Episode Big! It's just too good.
Thanks again for the kind words, friend!

Alexandria Prime:
Tails is going through a hard time and imma bouta go deep on that real soon.

Canine Warrior:
I think he noticed. Haha.

Guest 1:
Sonic did not have a birthday while captured.

tekina fiction:
Haha. Thank you. I hope you liked it.

TheLostEternity:
It's gonna be a long ride. But I'll be happy when we do hit number 52. Glad to know you'll stick around.
Shadow's an interesting one. I can't wait to reveal the why for him, but still got a ways to go there.
No worries and you're welcome!
Thanks again for the support!

Infinite's Ruby:
Hey, no worries! Life happens and I'm glad you're still here to support the story.
Episode Blaze has quickly become one of my favorites too and I'm glad I was able to pull it off even better than I had initially planned. Glad people love it so much.

KelWelPower:
No worries. People get busy. Glad to see you're still here.
Chapter 21:
Haha. You did it! But no, Tails is going through a really rough time but more on that in 2020.
Chapter 22:
Remember folks, we can raid the Death Egg cuz they can't stop all of us! Blaze is here to stay and the Classic Trio is now the Classic Quartet. The plan was always to have her join them at this point in the story. A weird gang they are a younger Sonic the Hedgehog, a traumatized Tails, a robot and a princess from another dimension. Doesn't get more wild than that. Haha.
Oh don't worry, Tails and how he's doing is gonna get talked about soon.
Thhanks again!

TGN:
Glad you enjoyed Blaze's story.
I addressed this in the after author's note already, but again. I am so sorry. Gonna keep you waiting on that redemption a while longer. Tails having his conflicting personality atm is a wild, risky ride for me, but it has a purpose.
And nah, I get what you mean. Dealing with depression, writing it and going about it with certain characters is no easy task, especially when everybody has not only different experiences but handles things differently. I'm about to go in deep on Tails and I just hope that what's gonna happen is gonna pay off as well as I hope it does. So close and yet so far away. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you and will be getting to you sometime soon. I have such a long list of stories to read like you wouldn't believe.
Despite everything, I do hope you enjoyed this one and I'll see you soon too.

Guest 4:
Honestly, Celeste's parents don't really matter.

Guest 5:
Thank you and there will be plenty more references to come!

Guest 6:
Starline, as mentioned was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, but one that'll have quite an impact moving forward.
I can feel you in regards to how he showed up, seeing he just appeared. But I'm sure that at some point, we'll get more backstory on the guy. I do like that he's actually a fan of Eggman's though and am very much enjoying his character arc in the comics. I have a bit of a different character arc and plans for him and I'm excited to how they'll turn out.
But I'm glad you liked the way I introduced him.

Guest 7:
Starline does not have the Warp Topaz.
I debated on it for a bit but just decided against it since I thought it would complicate things. Especially since this story is more about the Ruby than anything else. So I just decided to leave it out.

Guests 2 & 3:
Thanks so much!