Second time I am apologizing this year. Wew, that's fun. So the usual sorry for using two months instead of one and all. I'll try better again next time since it should hopefully be a shorter chapter but then again, I said that about this chapter as well. Oops. I'm still working in these times so I don't really have 24/7 to write this like I'd want to.
I also debated as to what to do with this chapter. I misjudged how long this would be and because of that, it goes above the cutoff point by like 2000 words. But… I decided to leave it whole and not split it. I don't wanna do a three parter. So I do apologize to readers who prefer shorter chapters.
However, on a much lighter note. This story has a cover now, designed by the ever wonderful tekina fiction. Thank you friend. It looks great. Please check out more of their work on their Tumblr and Twitter both with the same name.
And yeah, with all that out of the way, let's jump into the first part of this chapter.
Trials of War- A Sonic Forces Rewrite
Chapter 24:
Standing Together
"Ten seconds left…" Infinite noted. "Such a shame, it looks like the beloved hero of Mobius values his own life more than those of this town. No matter, I get to watch a city burn."
Infinite floated up into the air, the snake like beings hovered around him, ready to unleash more deadly beams of light on Viemigos.
"Five seconds left… Oh well… Adios Viemigos…" He chuckled.
And just as he was about to fire, the sound of a sonic boom could be heard over the horizon.
Infintie turned his head into the direction of the sound only to be met with a spikey ball of spines to the face.
It happened so quickly that even he didn't have time to react as he crashed through multiple buildings before landing on the ground before him.
"The only on saying adios is you, Infinite! I'm ending this fight right here, right now!"
Amongst all the rubble and destruction around him, Infinite couldn't help but laugh as he rose to face his opponent. "Well, well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog? And just on time to. I must commend you for your punctuality not too early, not too late, right on schedule."
Sonic growled at him. "This isn't a game!"
"No… No… You're right. But still, you must admit that it is quite humorous. Here I was ready to destroy this city with little to no regard, and there you are stopping me just in time. The hero always coming just in time to vanquish the villain as in all the great stories."
Sonic narrowed his eyes as he dusted himself off.
"Of course, a hero is all in the matter of perspective. You see a world that needs to be saved and I see one that is being liberated by the glorious emperor. You are only standing in the way of greatness."
At that, the ruby flashed a few times on his chest.
"Yes, yes… I'll be getting to destroying him in just a moment. But I do want to toy with my food."
Sonic flicked his nose and got into a battle stance, fists clenched tightly at his sides, quills sharpened into razor sharp blades and a look of determination on his face. "How about you put your money where your mouth is and come show me."
Infinite chuckled, rising up into the air as he was covered in his pixelated glow. "Very well, then…"
With that the sound of distortion rang out signaling the beginning of the battle.
~Trials of War~
Of the many countries in Eurish[1], The Kingdom of Soleanna truly was a sight to behold. While smaller than those like Spagonia and Apotos, it was a testament to the rich beauty of Eurishan culture with its sprawling castles both ruined and preserved could be seen across the country's valleys that would go on for miles and miles. Several small towns and farms could also be found across the valleys. But the real gem of the country had to be New Town where most of the residents of the country lived. New Town was a passion project by the late Duke of Soleanna who had wanted to create the shining city on the water to both combine the classic architecture of old Eurishan and especially Solish architecture with that of newer generations. It is also viewed as an offering to their great god, Solaris who embowed its people with the potential for magical powers many millennia ago. [2]
It was because of this gift that the entire country was surrounded by a golden barrier of pure light which was kept in position by several mages that had been dispatched from New Town across the country. The impenetrable force kept them safe from the Eggman Empire and allowed them to live in peace.
However, at this very moment a hole was put in the barrier allowing for the resistance to make their way inside along with the refugees from Adabat.
Silver and Chaotix were at the head of the group. With both Silver and Espio as renowned heroes during Sonic's absence, they'd assumed the role of greeting the queen and making sure that all was going according to plan.
Scattered throughout the group were both the assigned resistance members and the citizens of Adabat who were in a mix of awe at everything before them and slight fear at being outside of the resistance headquarters for the first time since the destruction of their home.
"So… we will be staying here in Soleanna?" Rudi asked.
Tangle nodded. "That's right. Here, you'll be completely safe from the Eggman Empire and nothing bad will happen to you."
"Well that's a relief." The yak mobian sighed.
Teanchai huffed. "At least here, I will be able to go outside without being threatened at spearpoint."
The others agreed with this and continued on their way through the tunnel.
It wasn't long before they arrived and were met with the stunning sights of the kingdom. Even in the thick of the night, both the golden barrier and the moon above shone off the glistening water, the rich architecture all around them. They were in awe by the sight of it all.
Unfortunately, that awe was short lived as they were immediately approached by the queen of Soleanna and an entire entourage of men in long green military uniforms, brandishing bayonets at their sides.
Silver and Espio were the first to approach them and bowed before the queen.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Queen Elise of Soleanna." Espio announced.
Silver added. "The two of us are here to represent the Resistance as we transfer the care of these refugees to your kingdom."
"You both may rise." She nodded. "Thank you all for coming here today. The Kingdom of Soleanna welcomes the resistance and the people of Adabat into our borders. Please, if the Resistance Members that have been sent here would join the Soleanna Guard in assisting these refugees then that would be lovely."
At that everybody began to scramble to get to where they needed to be, most of the Soleanna Guard taking the lead while the resistance and the refugees simply followed.
Silver and Espio were left alone with Elise.
"I greatly appreciate the two of you representing the Resistance to see me. You two have taken up the role of the world's protectors quite well in Sonic's absence."
Silver, not quite picking up on where she was headed smiled. "Of course, we're always happy to lend a hand."
"And that's good. Though I will admit, I was expecting Sonic himself or the leaders of the resistance."
At that the two paled a little.
Espio was the first to respond. "The leaders of the resistance are on radio with us in case of any trouble. If needed you can speak to them now."
"No, no. That's fine." She shook her head. "There's just the matter of Sonic the Hedgehog. Where is he?"
"Preoccupied." Espio responded.
"With?"
"Classified."
Elise shook her head. "You know, worldwide broadcasts reach us as well, Espio. I know that Sonic is currently fighting Infinite. The fact that the empire is active even now is all the more reason for this to go as quickly as possible. I'm trusting that you two can help to see to that?"
"Yes, Queen Elise." Both nodded.
"Good." She then turned and walked away. "I will be returning to my castle. You have fifty minutes left."
Silver and Espio looked at one another with unease but got to work.
~Trials of War~
Starline had packed his bags and was making his way down the halls of the main base in Metropolis absolutely mortified but what had just happened.
After coming so far and joining the Eggman Empire as a general only to fall out of his graces was absolutely devastating. And all thanks to that meddlesome time traveling hedgehog. He just couldn't believe it.
Cubot and Orbot hovered alongside him as he made his walk of shame through the halls of the main building.
"Cheer up, Doctor." Orbot patted him on the back. "The Emperor can be harsh, but he has his reasons."
Starline sighed. "I know… But I really thought that I could make a difference on his empire. I just… I just thought I could make him proud."
"It's not the worst thing in the world when Eggman fires you, it just means that you can be rebuilt as a new body!" Cubot chirped.
Orbot shook his head. "That's when we're thrown in the incinerator, dear friend. Not the same thing."
"Oh…" Cubot hung his head down in sadness. "Well, hey. There's other jobs out there right?"
"Yes, but this was my dream."
"That's just life though." Orbot shrugged. "Sometimes you don't always get to live out your dreams, sometimes you just gotta live with the consequences."
"I live the consequences every time Eggman throws me into the fire for a new model."
Orbot facepalmed at this.
"It's just I've worked so hard… I was just two years out of university when the doctor made his announcement-"
"That he was going to pi-"
"No!" Starline shouted. "That he was going to destroy the world if the President of the United Federation didn't comply to his demands. I- I had never seen someone take such force, such action before. It was inspiring! I had to know everything there was to know about him and it wasn't long before I decided I wanted to be his right hand. So I continued to work my way up until finally, I got my chance and I- I actually did it… I became a member of the Eggman Empire. And now… Now I have nothing. He hates me now!"
Starline hung his head in shame at this and Cubot and Orbot could only give each other nervous glances at this.
But at that moment, the doctor's glove began blinking and letting out a light beep. He quickly looked at it and gasped at what he saw.
"Wait, what's wrong? What is it!?"
"N-nothing!"
He was already racing back into the facility at this.
"Where are you going, Doctor?!"
"I just forgot something in my room. I will return in no time! I promise!"
This was his chance. If he could get this right then he could have his spot on the Eggman Empire again. He needed to act as quickly as possible if he was going to be successful.
~Trials of War~
As soon as the sound of distortion had rang out, Sonic had launched himself off of the ground and into the air, delivering a fist aimed directly at the masked one's face.
But from the ground sprung one of the same snakelike beings from before with its maw open and ready to fire. It met Sonic's fist and disappeared into nothingness.
"Too slow." Infinite tutted as he placed a hand on his mask and disappeared into a flash of light.
Sonic was already on the move though, breaking out into a mad dash throughout Viemigos.
Infinite appeared shortly after he began his trot, hovering above him and giving off an imposing, condescending aura upon the blue blur. He knew full and well how this fight was going to end and intended to make it as such.
Infinite began to make pillars of red cubes erupt from the city streets which the blue blur swiftly quickstepped out of the way of no matter how many he would bring about in his path.
Infinite clenched his fists at this, knowing that Sonic was going to keep dodging each and every one of them.
And with each step, he drew closer before launching himself into the air and homing in on him. The jackal let out a surprised gasp at this, when this happened and the ruby angrily flashed on his chest.
Sonic didn't waste a moment, when the two landed on the ground, he went into a spindash to grind him into dust but the ruby was the one to react before he could, teleporting Infinite out of the way and onto a nearby building.
The jackal shook himself off, rising into the sky again.
Sonic looked up at him before the ruby once again let out the telltale sound of distortion, once again rising more of the snakelike beings out of the ground again as they fired lasers upon him.
He was quick to turn tail and run, dodging all of their shots as Infinite gave chase, erecting even more of the beings from the ground to fire upon him.
"Hold still!" Infinite growled.
"Not on your life!" Sonic retorted. The hedgehog then proceeded to jump onto the wall of one of the buildings lining the street, before immediately jumping off of that one and finding another on the other side of the road. He continued this process bouncing around like a ping pong ball, to which Infinite did his best to try and fire upon him, but he was just too fast.
The jackal growled at this and the ruby on his chest responded with a flash and its usual sound of activation.
In front of Sonic, the street ended and in its place was a wall of stone that the blue blur couldn't stop himself from flying into, having already started his motion.
He curled himself into his ball form, in an attempt to cushion the blow and while it was somewhat successful, he still crashed into the wall, breaking it apart and causing him to fall face first into the ground below.
Infinite flew over to him, hand raised in the air with what appeared to be a drill like energy construct formed and ready to skewer the hedgehog. He lunged at him to which the hedgehog quickly rolled to the side, allowing the drill to pierce into the ground causing dirt and rubble to get into his eyes.
Infinite used the opportunity to send a punch to the hedgehog's face that sent him stumbling backwards.
"Ow!" He shouted as he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the dirt.
When he opened them again he saw Infinite covered in his own boost aura and headed right towards him.
Sonic gulped at this and quickly poured on the boost, heading in just about any direction that would take him away from his pursuer.
It was then that Sonic had noted that they had ended up in some sort of marketplace and with him running as fast as his legs could carry him at the moment, all sorts of stalls and stands were being blown away by his speed. People cowered in fear and watched as the hedgehog ran along past.
Sonic frowned at this. He had been so focused on Infinite that he hadn't once thought of the potential damage to the city or civilians that he could do. He had to fix that immediately by getting Infinite out of the city.
Of course, he was broken out of his thoughts when Infinite rammed into him, causing a piercing noise to ring ou. Sonic nearly tripped over his own too feet at this, but was able to quickly find his place among everything. He really didn't want to fall over while boosting.
Of course, Infinite took the liberty to steer into him again. Sonic took the opportunity to pour more speed into his boost and dash ahead of him, causing the jackal to fly straight into a wall.
The hedgehog floored it though, knowing that the jackal would be sure to catch up to him yet again.
And right on cue, the jackal appeared right beside him once again and continued to try and bash at his own boost aura but he was quick to steel himself holding out as he continued to try and nudge him off course.
It wasn't long until he found himself out of the city of Viemigos and into the Soumerican desert where their fight would continue.
~Trials of War~
Shadow the Hedgehog led quite the life in the Eggman Empire. He hated it, but at this point he didn't have a ton of options what with his own interests and everything that had happened. What a mess he had found himself in.
Still, it was times he had to himself that he really appreciated. He was all alone, allowed to be left to his own devices and just think about everything that had happened and would happen.
It helped that he had a can of coffee grinds next to him to munch on as well.
The Hedgehog was currently lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, just allowing life to pass him by as he pleased. It was perfect.
Unfortunately for him, that perfection had to be interrupted when the door to his room slid open and in came a frantic Doctor Starline.
"Shadow!"
Shadow groaned as he rolled over on his bed to see the doctor as he was panting and trying to catch his breath.
"What do you want?"
Starline held up a hand, telling him to give him a moment as he tried to regain his composure.
Shadow passed him a glass of water that he gladly took.
"Th-thank you." He gasped.
"Don't mention it." He eyed him. "You good?"
"Yes, I am."
"Good. Now get out."
Starline was slightly taken aback by this. "I- wha- what? Is that any way to treat your colleague!?"
"Former colleague." Shadow noted. "The Doctor has informed everyone of your recent dismissal. Such a shame, but that's not really my problem."
"Okay, true…" Starline sighed. "I am no longer a general of the Eggman Empire. However, I have just the way to get myself back in our beloved Emperor's favor and you're going to help me?"
Shadow scoffed. "Please. Why would I help you?"
Starline smirked at him. "Because I know exactly why you're here."
Shadow rolled his eyes. "You don't know me."
"Oh, that is where you are wrong." Starline chuckled. "It took a bit of deduction, I'm not going to lie. I always wondered why one of GUN's star agents would side with the Eggman Empire. At first I thought he had something on you and then I thought well maybe you're a double agent. But no… neither of those seemed to check out. And it wasn't until I had multiple riveting conversations with the doctor about his triumph that I began to understand. You may come off as cold and ruthless like the rest of us, but deep down you're just as soft as the rest of your little friends."
Shadow's blood ran cold at that as Starline crossed over to him and whispered in his ear, exactly his reasons for fighting.
Starline couldn't help but smile when he saw the black hedgehog's pupils dilate a bit at his words. "Of course, I could just go and tell the Emperor and make things incredibly difficult for you. I am sure that either my own plan or telling him about you will suffice when it comes to reinstating my position."
"What is it that you want?" Shadow growled.
Starline smiled at this. "Now, as I'm sure you're well aware Infinite has gone off to Soumerica to fight Sonic the Hedgehog. You know as I will, that will attract a lot of attention. And yet, for some reason, our sensors pick up aerial activity in the Soleanna region. I ask you, why would the resistance be attracting their attention towards an independent state like that when there are clearly far more pressing matters to attend to?"
Shadow shrugged.
"Come now, as an agent of the world's leading international police force, you must have a few ideas."
"A prior engagement with Soleanna was planned. They don't have time and Infinite just happened to rain on their parade at the worst moment."
"Precisely."
Shadow huffed and crossed his arms at this.
"My plan is very simple. You and I are going to use your Chaos Control to go to Soleanna along with a battalion of Egg troops. From there, we make it our absolute goal to take Soleanna."
"Why come to me this? Why not tell Eggman?"
Starline shook his head. "This is something that I need to do on my own to prove myself to him."
"And using me is working by yourself?"
"The Emperor will see my resourcefulness by using those available to me."
"And if you fail… You know there will be horrible consequences."
"For the both of us."
Shadow shook his head and eyed the doctor. "There's just one problem with your plan. It relies heavily upon my cooperation."
"And as I've said, I'm more than willing to go down the hall and have a chat with the emperor."
Shadow glared at him. "And I'm willing to inform him that you're withholding crucial information for your own interests. That's treasonous, Doctor."
"I've already been released from the Eggman Empire." Starline retorted with a glare of his own. "Nothing else matters to me at this point. But even then, would you be willing to take the chance?"
The two didn't dare look away from one another as they were caught in a match of sheer willpower, waiting to see which one would break first.
But in mere seconds, Shadow let out a sigh and began to walk down the hall towards the armory.
"Come on."
Starline couldn't help but beam. Part of him wasn't sure he could pull this off, but now he was heading towards Soleanna. If they could take it for the Eggman Empire, then he would be sure to be right back at the Doctor's side again.
~Trials of War~
Silver let out a sigh of relief as the last of the refugees were settled into Soleanna. It was a tough act getting them all to their new homes and the Soleanna guard weren't exactly the easiest to work with, wanting to run the show all on their own but they did it.
"Mission accomplished." Espio nodded.
Silver returned the gesture. "Agreed. And all of that done with only forty-five minutes to spare. We better call Knuckles and let him know the good news."
"Yes."
With that, the two got to their coms and began to call the resistance leader.
Boom!
Their attention was immediately dragged away from their coms as a large explosion was heard near the front end of the city.
"Why is it always something?" Silver groaned as he activated his telekinetic powers and raced to the front end of the city, with Espio quickly following along hopping along the roofs.
~Trials of War~
Starline smiled as the robots blew up a nearby cabbage cart as a man who was selling said cabbages began to shriek. He figured that this would get the Resistance's attention and oh did it as several guards and members of the resistance turned all their attention away from what they were doing over to him.
Weapons and powers alike were pointed at him but all he could simply do was give a smug smirk.
Shadow facepalmed behind him at this.
"Greetings and felicitations." Starline gave an overelaborate bow. "I am Doctor Cornelius Starline, the newest General of the Eggman Empire."
"I've never heard of 'ya!" Tangle laughed at him.
Vector rolled his eyes. "This chump sounds like he's let a little too much power go to his head."
Corvin nudged Rhythm and laughed. "When I heard an explosion I thought we were gonna deal with one of the heavy hitters, not some dork with a comb over."
Shadow covered his mouth as he couldn't help but chuckle at the Resistance not at all taking Starline seriously.
"Silence! I will have you know that I am someone not to be trifled with!"
Starline took a deep breath and took on his calm composure once again. "Your mockery will do little to sway the likes of me. No, I have come bearing the good news. The Kingdom of Soleanna is hereby under the control of the Eggman Empire."
One of the guards growled as he raised his bayonet, with the others following. "The Kingdom of Soleanna will not be taken."
"Oh, but it will." Starline chuckled. "And those of you in the Resistance, you are in luck! You are hereby under arrest. If you would just kindly follow the robot positioned at the entrance to the force field, then that would be wonderful."
A classic Eggpawn was standing at the force field enterance waving at them with a police outfit on and handcuffs.
At that, Mighty spindashed into the robot and bounced back, landing on his feet where he crossed his arms, fist bumped Ray and gave the General a smirk.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Starline asked.
Everyone got into battle stances.
"Very well… Shadow?"
"Egg Forces, attack!" He barked and like that they marched out in front of them.
Silver and Espio though were quick to try and go for the two generals.
But Shadow had already grabbed Starline by the shoulder and shouted, "Chaos Control!" leaving them gone in a flash of light.
"No!" Espio roared as his kunai hit nothing but cobblestone ground.
Silver soared into the air and looked around the city from up high, but couldn't find them. "Where'd they go?!"
One of the Soleanna guards below stabbed the bladed end of his bayonet into one of the Eggpongs before firing a shot at one of the others across from him.
"Even chaos abilities are nullified by our magical barrier, so they must be within the country, but I don't know where they would've gone!"
The commander who was issue orders to other troops frowned. "It would give reason to believe that they stayed within the city limits, meaning they must be after… NO! The queen must be protected at any and all costs!"
At that, everyone looked up in shock.
Silver was quick to react though. "You keep everybody on guard here. We'll take care of Queen Elise. Are you with me, Espio?"
"Let us make haste!"
With that, they both flew into the air and made their move to go and get the princess.
On the ground however, Tangle smiled. "Alright, it's clean up time!"
Other members of the resistance cheered at this as they were met with an entire swarm of Badniks. The battle for Soleanna had begun.
~Trials of War~
Shadow and Doctor Starline appeared outside the castle in a flash of light. Starline couldn't help but smile. "Well, this is going swimmingly."
"How so? None of them took you seriously."
"They were merely using humor to hide their fear!"
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Are you sure about that?"
"Y-yes!" He shouted back, a distinct crack in his voice.
Shadow couldn't help but chuckle.
Starline adjusted his jacket and huffed. "No matter, now that we are here, I can work on securing the Queen of Soleanna. I need you to stay out here and deal with any of those ruffians who may try to stop me."
"Ah, so I'm here as your guard dog…" Shadow mused.
Starline shrugged. "Call it what you will, but in the meantime, I have a date with the queen that will hopefully result in my placement right back into the Eggman Empire!"
He waved him off and Shadow rolled his eyes.
As soon as the doors to the massive castle closed, a voice called out to him. "Shadow!"
He looked up and to his surprise, Silver was coming at him at full throttle, wrapped entirely in his cyan aura.
Shadow sighed. "Crap."
In a flash of light, Shadow disappeared from view and reappeared a few feet away.
Silver crashed into the wall, creating a hole in it. But he was quick to rise out of the rubble and face him.
Shadow didn't move though and instead simply stated, "I don't want to fight you, Silver."
Silver shook his head. "Then you and your lackey shouldn't have come here! We're taking care of refugees and this is what you decide to do?!"
Shadow looked away. "Not my decision."
"Like Gaia, it isn't! You and I both know that you can change sides any minute now, but don't for Chaos knows what reason!"
"It's far more complicated than simply-"
"No!" His fists alit with psychic power as he struck a battle pose. "You're on the wrong side of history and as Chaos' Chosen Guardian of Time, it's my job to wipe you from it if need be!"
Shadow let out another sigh and tightened his gloves. "Very well then… Come and face the ultimate power!"
With that, the two charged at one another letting out their own battle cries.
~Trials of War~
Doctor Starline was on a very important mission. If he found the queen and took her hostage, he would have the Kingdom of Soleanna and be able to claim it for the Eggman Empire.
And it wasn't long for him to make his way across the winding halls of the castle to find the throne room. There the queen sat, giving orders to a few of the guards to take care of the fighting outside. They were quick to rush out the door, leaving her alone.
He couldn't help but smirk as he stepped into the throne room, everything was falling exactly into place.
"Greetings, Mighty Queen of Soleanna, I am Doctor Cornelius Starline and might I say that it is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The queen frowned. "You are the new General of the Eggman Empire."
"Correct. So I take it that you are not an imbecile and realize the purpose of my visit?"
She rolled her eyes. "You wish to kidnap me or threaten my life so that the Kingdom of Soleanna will surrender to you and your empire."
Starline couldn't help but chuckle. "Beauty and brains, two traits of leadership that I'm finding to be common these days. But I suppose that is why they put you in charge in the end."
"Your flattery will get you nowhere, platypus!" Elise barked. "I'm not surrendering to the likes of you or the Empire."
Starline shook his head at that as he pressed a few buttons on his holographic interface and from it, appeared a red and gold pistol stylized after his own outfit which he pointed dangerously at the Queen of Soleanna.
"I apologize, my dear. But I was not asking."
Starline fired a laser at her.
"No!" A voice shouted and from nowhere, appeared Espio the Chameleon who jumped in front of the shot and blocked it with his kunai. Starline was quick to dive out of the way of the ricocheted blast.
He dusted himself off as he rose to his feet and let out a dark chuckle. "I was wondering when you would decide to make an appearance, Espio."
The Chameleon looked surprised at this. "You knew I was coming?"
The scientist simply held up his hand with his interface and tapped it. "Radars are a handy tool for one of the world's finest minds. You may be able to blend into the environment, but that doesn't stop me from detecting your heart rate, no matter how much you calm yourself. Now I do not wish to fight you, so please… stand down and allow me to apprehend the queen."
"You will do no such thing!" Espio shouted.
"I am not going anywhere with you!" She added.
"So be it then."
With that, the fight between Starline and Espio began as the ninja charged straight towards him, kunai at his side. Starline simply chuckled as he threw a smokebomb down onto the ground, obscuring Espio's vision.
That didn't stop the Ninja from diving in the direction that he had last seen the doctor with his knife drawn. But unfortunately, it looked like he had been able to narrowly avoid him.
From there, they began to hear a sort of slapping sound from different point in the room. Espio was trying to pinpoint his location but despite everything it seemed that the doctor had managed to be moving faster than he could've thought.
"VENTUS!" The strong, confident voice of the queen echoed through the room, giving off an almost otherworldly presence.
Espio turned towards the direction of the voice only to slightly stumble back as a harsh blast of wind nearly knocked him off his feet.
Fortunately, the gust of wind also blew away the smoke revealing Doctor Starline in the center of the room who had been unable to brace himself and fell flat on his back.
Espio would've pounced on him had it not been for the several drones that provided a protective barrier around him. The tiny robots were about the size of softballs in size and shape and red in gold in color just like his laser pistol. [3]
Two drones within the protective barrier produced long golden arms to help him up while another with a feather duster cleaned him up.
"And here I thought, I would be the one to have surprises." Starline noted as he recomposed himself. "I never took you as the type to learn magic, your majesty."
"One of my position must be able to defend herself." Queen Elise smirked. "You won't be taking my kingdom today. Leave now or Espio and I will have to dispose of you."
Espio nodded, taking a stance besides the Queen's throne.
"Very well, Starbots… Shine for me!" Starline announced.
And with that, the party began.
~Trials of War~
"Now this is what I call a party!" Tangle laughed as she punched some Eggpongs into a wall with her tail.
"This is fun for you?!" Gadget yelled as he shot fire down from a balcony above.
"Oh yeah, sure!" She grinned, doing a bit of a breakdance on the ground that took out even more as it went in every which way. "Bashing robots like this is a great way to stay in shape."
She then bounced up into the air and as she flew across the battlefield, she put her hands behind her and crossed her legs as if she was reclining on a chair and landed just below Gadget's balcony. She used her tail to hang upside down from it, still without a care in the world. "And you could use the exercise, bro. How have you been in this war for all this time and are still as scrawny as you are?"
Gadget sighed. "Listen, I'm just a college student that got roped into all of this on accident, not a body builder."
"Fair enough!" Tangle chirped. "But y'know, I'm open to work out with you if you want, man."
"Thanks… uh… I think?"
Tangle swung herself back up to the balcony to which the wolf yelped in surprise. Crouched on the ledge she gave him a cheeky smile and a peace sign. "No problemo compadre!"
With that, she bounced off the ledge and into the battlefield again.
Gadget panted and got back up into position. "That girl is gonna give me high blood pressure."
When Tangle landed back into battle she found herself next to Mighty and Vector who had decided to team up with one another, the former curled into a ball while the latter bounced him around like a basketball, bopping him into Badniks of all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Tangle saw this and waved to Vector. "Yo, mind if I give it a try?"
"Knock yourself out, kid!" Vector replied to which he tossed Mighty over to her.
She tried a few dribbles with the armadillo before proceeding to do some cool moves with her tail, sliding him up and down it and all.
"Hey, I'm not a yoyo!" Mighty called out to her.
She chuckled and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Right, the whole bashing robots thing. Lemme go from slamming and jamming to a little bit of fast ball."
"Wait, what do you mean fast ba-aaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll?" Mighty yelped as Tangle began to spin her tail around in circles for a wind up shot before letting him loose into a carton of Eggpongs coming straight towards her.
Mighty was able to send them all flying only to uncurl and dizzily hold his head.
"Which way is up?" He asked as Vector ran over to help him up.
Vector shot her a bit of a glare at this to which she let out a sheepish chuckle and rubbed the back of her hed. "Hehe, sorry… Might've overdid it. But at least I didn't strike out?"
"Seriously?"
She gave him a toothy grin before dashing off to find someone else to mess around with.
As she ran through the fray she found Rouge the Bat standing amongst the Soleanna Guard actually giving out orders of her own.
"Keep a widespread formation on the front of the forcefield, boys. If we continue to cut off their entrance then we should have things cleaned up in no time!"
The soldiers all agreed and continued to fire at the entrance to the kingdom as Eggpongs continue to come pouring in. With the use of their bayonets, they were able to cut off some of the robots but that still didn't stop some of the fliers from getting inside.
Rouge saw this and frowned.
"Alright, I'm going to take care of some of the fliers. I trust that you boys can handle the rest."
Rouge was about to take off only to spot Tangle and smile. "Perfect. Tangle, be a dear and help an old bat fight off some killer robots."
Throwing a thumbs up and a wink, she said "Sure thing!"
Rouge smiled at this and scooped her up into her arms, taking off into the air.
Once airborn, Tangle balled her tail into a fist and used that to smash the buzzbombers and galaga bees.
But amongst their flight, a wave of energy washed over them, slightly veering Rouge off her flight path.
"What was that?!" Tangle shouted.
Rouge frowned and looked down at the ground. There they spotted Shadow engaging Silver on the ground, he had just performed a Chaos Blast that Silver had responded with his own wave of telekinetic energy to repel.
"Shadow…" Rouge frowned.
~Trials of War~
Silver grunted as he sent out his own telekinetic burst to stop the Chaos Blast from striking him. It unfortunately did some damage to some of the area around him, breaking a few windows and knocking things over but it seemed that the effects were dulled thanks to his counter attack.
Shadow looked up at him and panted. "You just don't quit, do you?"
"If it means saving a world from the likes of you, not a chance!" Silver snarked.
He bounced to his feet and sent himself flying towards Shadow. But the ultimate life form was ready, firing chaos spears at the white hedgehog as he made his way towards him.
Silver weaved his way through the air, spinning around them as if it were nothing, before ramming into Shadow.
He was sent flying into a wall only to fire two Chaos Spears in the opposite direction, to send him back to the ground.
He landed in a huff, but Silver was already upon him striking with a palm to his stomach which let forth a burst of telekentic energy that both knocked the wind out of him and sent him right into that wall that he was trying to avoid.
Shadow groaned as he lifted his head out of the rubble only to see that Silver flinging psychic knives in his direction. He muttered a swear under his breath at this before using Chaos Control to teleport away from him.
Silver waited with baited breath, fists clenched and eyes peering around the castle courtyard. Shadow was smart and could appear just about anywhere.
"Chaos Spear!"
Shadow's voice came from above, Silver quickly whipped his head up to see it only to get knocked back by one of the deadly beams of light. He struggled to get to his feet as more rained down upon him, but he was able to throw up a telekinetic barrier they bounced off of.
Shakily, he was able to kick off the ground and fly towards Shadow who was standing atop one of the castle spires before he met him up above.
Shadow continued his onslaught of Chaos Spears on the white hedgehog but they did very little to deter him as he continued to ascend towards him. Any of the ones that he didn't dodge met his psychic shield and although it did cause it to flicker and fade, he persisted.
"Shadow!" He roared as he reached the top, eyes glowing with telekinetic fury that even unsettled the ultimate lifeform. He produced a psychic knife which he sent hurtling at Shadow only for him to hop away from his perch and towards another one of the castle spires.
He tried to fire a Chaos Spear at Silver, but the white hedgehog had already turned his direction and flung another Psychic Knife in his direction.
Shadow's eyes widened at this and quickly made his way to one of the other spires only for yet another one of the deadly projectiles to come his way.
He hoped from spire to spire, as Silver pivoted his way in every direction that his opponent had gone to fire more deadly waves of energy at him.
This persisted for a few moments until Shadow had finally had enough. "Chaos Control!" He shouted.
Suddenly the entire world around him turned grey and everything was frozen into place. Shadow let out a sigh at this and looked up to see the enraged white hedgehog firing another one of his teal colored energy waves at him.
He sighed at this, taking a moment to catch his breath, before he leapt at Silver, using his rocket shoes to weave around the energy blast and delivered a classic roundhouse kick to his head.
Or at least he would've, when suddenly Silver was able to grab his leg right before it made contact with him. Shadow let out a yelp in surprise at this before Silver spun him around in the air and threw him straight down into the ground below.
Shadow let out a pained gasp as he made impact with the pavement and caused the gravel t crack all around him.
Silver floated down to him, with a smirk. "I have fought both alongside and against many Shadow the Hedgehogs in my time and throughout the infinite multiverse, nearly every single one of them has tried that trick on me! But when you become Chaos' Guardian of Time, you learn a few tricks of your own, buddy!"
With that, he approached Shadow as he lie in the ground, groaning. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs from behind him.
"Now as a fully seasoned member of the resistance, I am placing you under arrest, Shadow the Hedgehog!"
"CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow roared.
And from him came a ripple of energy that Silver was unable to block that sent him flying into the wall of the castle.
Shadow slowly rose to his feet, panting and shuddering. He was surprised that he was even able to pull that off but he managed. If he were to live to fight another day, then he was going to have to make his escape right here, right now. He had to grab Starline and-
Suddenly a bright blue laser whizzed past him from behind.
Shadow turned around to see what more could possibly come for him and his eyes widened in shock.
"Who are you?"
~Trials of War~
Sonic raced out into the desert, to which Infinite quickly followed after him.
Once they were far out enough from the city, Sonic looked at the sand around him and quickly started to run in circles around the jackal.
Infinite looked confusedly at this but proceeded to try and fire more lasers at the blue blur, but he was just too fast to be hit.
In the process of all of Sonic's running sand began to be kicked up all around Infinite as the wind would only get stronger and stronger. Quickly his mask would be covered by the sand, obscuring his vision.
Soon, a massive tornado of sand and dust has been formed around him. Sonic stopped on a dime and watched as Infinite was tossed around by his attack.
This lasted for a few moments before Infinite shouted, "Enough!" and immediately let out an explosive burst of power that caused the tornado to disperse.
Infinite then took the time to look around for Sonic but found that the Hedghog couldn't be seen at all. He scanned the area, watching and waiting but the Hedgehog did not appear.
Infinite landed on the ground and scoffed. "Running away like the coward you are? To think that I expected more from the likes of yo-"
Suddenly, Sonic sprung from the sand beneath him and homed right in on the ethereal being. Infinite was sent knocking back into the sand.
"I'm not running!" Sonic declared before curling up in his ballform once more and performing a spindash that sent him right into him.
Flopping through the sand. Infinite growled before hovering back into the air and disappearing once again.
Sonic stood his ground, fists clenched and prepared for anything that might be thrown at him.
In a moment, Infinite reappeared and Sonic responded by boosting over and trying to punch him. But when he met him, infinite faded into nothing. Sonic was surprised at this, tripping over his feet. The real Infinite appeared behind him, shooting a laser at him that sent him rolling into the ground as well.
Fists clenched, the jackal pursued him with his red aura covering his body. When he was upon him, Sonic was quick to do a sweeping kick as he flipped his way to his feet again. Luckily infinite was able to slightly jump backwards to dodge.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he boosted straight towards Sonic as he did just the same.
They rammed into one another, causing even more piercing shrieks to be let out as blue and red continuously surged into one another. Had someone been viewing it from the sky, they'd have spotted streaks of blue and red zipping around the vast deserts of Soumerica.
It wasn't long until they collided once more, each pouring their full power into their attacks. This caused a massive shockwave of power to course out through the desert, sending both the hog and the jackal flying in separate directions as a crater was formed in the ground.
They landed on either side of the crater, Sonic roughly tumbling onto the ground, while Infinite was able to use his flight to catch himself and harmlessly above the ground.
Sonic flipped up to his feet only for his eyes to widen as a wave of cubes rushed out towards him like a tidal wave.
He was quick to dive to the side, rolling into a spindash to avoid it and just narrowly did so.
Infinite didn't stop though, continuing to send wave after wave of cubes at him, as the hedgehog rolled around the desert to avoid it, kicking up sand in his wake as he did so.
It wasn't long before he closed the gap and just before Infinite was able to send another wave at him, he was able to home in and send the masked one flying backwards yet again.
When Sonic landed on the ground, he followed this up with a lunge as he tried to once again punch him in the face.
The hit connected with such force that the black glass that made up the eye cover of his mask crumbled before him revealing just a little bit of his face.
Sonic wasn't even sure exactly what he saw. All he could make out for sure was his golden eye and the color black surrounding it.
Infinite was quick to cover his face, his hand glowed along with the ruby and the mask was fixed in an instant.
"How dare you?!" He roared.
The Ruby was now pulsating on his chest, glowing with harsh red energy.
Sonic glared at him. "What? Afraid I got a peek of that ugly mug of yours?"
Harsh red energy came off the jackal in waves. "You saw nothing! And I am going to make sure that this will be one of the last things you ever see!"
"Not on my life, Infinite!" Sonic snapped back as he began running towards him.
Infinite let out another roar as the ruby let out a harsh flash and the world distorted around them.
~Trials of War~
Espio the Chameleon had dealt with a lot in his lifetime as a detective, a Sonic Hero and a member of the resistance. But dealing with a psychopathic platypus ranting about world domination with the queen of a small Eurishian Country was definitely not one he had ever expected.
Starline grinned at them and ran a hand through his comb over as the robots began to fly around the room. "Remarkable are they not? Designed by the glorious emperor himself should I have encounters with you retched rebels. Please, I will allow you this moment to surrender or suffer the same fate as all those who try to threaten the empire."
Espio glared at him, dodging a laser from one of the robots as they flew towards him. "A few of the doctors trinkets do not strike fear in the likes of me."
"Oh, yes. You little miscreants don't believe in surrender when it's quite clear that you are outmatched. Very well, come and face me if you dare!"
With that, he took a bow and a trio of robots appeared beneath him, before forming a platform made of light beneath him which he used to rise up into the sky, completely out of their reach.
Espio shot out a grappling hook towards him only for one of the robots to shoot it down. He swore at this but took his position in front of the queen ready and waiting for anything that may come their way.
Starline looked down at this and simply shook his head. "A noble attempt, but it will never be enough when it comes to the likes of a superior mind."
With that, the fight began and lasers fired out at Espio from all over but the chameleon was quick to dodge them with his quick reflexes.
"Pyrous!" Elise shouted from her perch, to which a blast of fire flew from her hand and out towards the robots.
But a few of them flew together, and fired a collection of lasers that caused a bit of an explosion, that knocked her back into her chair.
"Your highness!" Espio shouted.
And this gave one of the Starbots the chance to fire upon Espio. A few shots grazed him, but one struck his left arm, causing him to grit his teeth in pain. He looked around as more came to circle him and he decided to use his cloaking abilities to avoid sight.
The robots used the opportunity to where he was last seen and fired upon him, but he was already gone.
Knives flew from nowhere and began to strike some of the robots, causing them to spark and sputter and fall to the ground.
But Starline didn't look impressed by this.
"Quite the show, but you seem to have forgotten that my sensors can detect life energy. I will send the command to my starbots right now and- ah! There you are!"
The robots converged towards the massive windows, where it could be seen that something was tugging on the drapes, about halfway up.
A swear could be heard as Espio appeared once again. He dove away from the curtain as they fired, narrowly avoiding getting shot before using his grappling hook to try to get towards Starline once again.
But of course, a robot was there to strike the cord once more to which the doctor smirked at him.
Espio swore at this once more, only for a laser to strike him in the back, giving him a bit of a rough landing.
"Espio!" Elise cried out. She slowly rose to her feet and began to call upon another spell. "Py-"
"Ah-ah-ah, I wouldn't do that, your highness." Starline shook his head as a trio of the robots hovered directly in front of her face, glowing dangerously with the red hot light as they were ready to fire. She could feel them beating down on her face. "As an uninvolved party, I feel you should worry about your own first before worrying about the silly resistance."
The queen began to sweat at this, both from the heat and the tenseness of the situation.
"Now as for you…" He turned back to Espio who was struggling to get up from the wound to his back. "While this has been fun, you are clearly outclassed by the emperor's superior technology."
What he tried to make a defiant growl came out as a choked whimper, he was in far too much pain from the fighting beforehand. "I-I will never surrender to the empire…"
"But I think you have." Starline grinned. "And to make sure that you don't make any other surprise bursts of strength or heroism…"
He snapped his fingers and more of the robots floated down around him to which he steeled his nerves, ready for whatever may happen.
And yet, they did not fire on him, instead opting to form an electrified barrier around him to which the chameleon looked confusedly.
"What is this!?" He slammed a fist against the barrier only for it to bite back, giving him a nasty shock to which he let out a cry of pain, before passing out.
"No!" The queen cried out, only for the robots to come down around her and bring about a similar bubble of energy to appear around her, but this one without the electricity.
Starline smiled. "Consider yourself a prisoner of the Eggman Empire and for Soleanna to be occupied by our forces within due time."
The queen growled. "You'll never get away with this! I have faith that my guards and the other members of the resistance will be able to stop you and your armies."
Starline laughed. "Perhaps you should keep your faith towards your fire god and not towards the hands that have failed this world time and time again, your highness."
~Trials of War~
"Who are you?"
Standing atop one of the balconies was none other than Celeste as she looked through the barrel of her brand new wispon and grinned down at him. The weapon she held in her hands was cyan colored rifle with a curved handle shaped like that of the laser Wisp's tail, along with that both the barrel and the pump of the weapon was concealed by a zigzag design of the same color along with a retractable scoped shaped like an orange colored eye that she squinted through.
Shadow looked in shock at this as she dropped down from the balcony and faced him, her laser wispon pointed dangerously at him.
Shadow sneered at this. "You've got to be kidding me? They sent the cannon fodder out to face me? Do you know who I am little girl?"
"Sure do. You're the ultimate life form, one of the most dangerous of Eggman's generals and not to mention traitor to both GUN and the Resistance."
Shadow clenched his fists and glared at her. "Then you must understand how far out of your depth you are."
She shrugged, still keeping her wispon trained on him.
Shadow sighed. "Listen, I've been through a lot today and I have no wish to fight you. Step aside and things won't have to get messy."
"Who said anything about fighting you?"
"Then what are you here for?"
"Just giving somebody enough time to get up and take you down himself, speaking of…"
From behind him, the rubble that Silver had been blown into began to shake and out of it popped the beaten and bruised form of the white hedgehog. But he was still standing and cyan colored energy went out from his form in eratic waves of power.
"Shadow!" Silver roared as he came racing towards the black hedgehog as his eyes widened in fear.
Celeste waved at him as he almost instantaneously disappeared into a flash of light, narrowly avoiding Silver's final attack.
Silver panted as he fell to the ground unable to dispel anymore of his psychic energy. Celeste was quick to help him onto his feet to which he thanked her.
At that very moment, Doctor Starline was whistling a happy tune as he walked out of the front doors of the castle with a very annoyed Queen Elise trapped within an energy bubble.
Celeste immediately pulled out her wispon again and fired at him but Shadow was quick to appear at his side, his hand alight with Chaos Energy to block the laser shots.
"We're going now!" Shadow barked at him.
"But I haven't declared Soleanna as our state, if we leave now we-"
"I don't care! Your little robots aren't going to work in this sort of area, the battle in the city is nearly won on their side and I for one am far too depleted to continue fighting. You have the queen, you have your leverage. Let's go!"
"But-"
"Chaos control!"
Shadow, Starline and Queen Elise disappeared in a flash of light.
Celeste and Silver gulped at this, knowing that the Queen of Soleanna was officially within the clutches of the Eggman Empire.
And then Silver's eyes widened. "Espio! We have to go find him too!"
Celeste nodded. "Come on, we'll go get him…"
~Trials of War~
When the light cleared, Sonic was absolutely shocked at what he saw.
The desert had been changed, the sky had turned from a brilliant blue to a blood red, sand worms modeled after Infinite jumped in and out of the sand, firing lasers into the sky at a rapid level, cubes floated through the air and among it all was Infinite floating dangerously in the center. The ruby on his chest was flashing wildly, expelling energy at an alarming rate.
Sonic's heart pounded in his chest at the sight of all of this, really wishing he hadn't gotten Infinite as angry as he had.
"You will pay for such insolence!" Infinite roared as the sound of distortion rang out yet again.
Sonic was shocked as the ground began to sputter and shake beneath him. Sonic tried to run but one of the snake like beings appeared underneath his feet. He ran along its back, trying to get back to solid ground as quickly as possible only for the snake to jerk it's body upwards causing him to fly up into the air. Sonic did his best to find his place in the air, but couldn't and it only got worse when the same being reared its ugly head up to charge its laser, ready to fire.
Sonic was quick to curl himself up into a ball, hoping to Chaos that he was falling at a fast enough speed to hit it before it was able to fire.
He was lucky though and manage to hit it, but not without a price as the laser that the creature was charging caused a massive explosion to ring out, propelling him further into the air at an uncontrollable rate.
Infinite flew up to him in the sky and waved a hand over him, freezing him in midair with the same aura covering him. He rose his own hand up, and Sonic moved in response to that. With a grunt, Infinite was able to throw him down into the ground.
Sonic landed harshly, letting out a pained gasp from his maw. He raised himself to a crouch only for his eyes to widen when Infinite appeared at his side again, readying what appeared to be another one of those drills he had had earlier to skewer him.
With the help of a little adrenaline, he was able to push his body to move away from the jackal as he fired, just barely missing him.
Sonic ran as fast as his legs could carry him and very unfortunately for him with the beating he had already taken, it wasn't nearly as fast as he would've wanted. But he still ran.
Sonic had to hop over multiple obstacles that would come his way, from spikes, to waves of cubes to all sorts of things that Infinite would throw into his path.
Infinite appeared above him yet again and this time, he summoned a massive ball of fire, ready and waiting for the hedgehog. The gem on his chest was dispersing glitched energy in a wild display. He himself looked like he was trembling at this but paid no mind to it as he raised the ball of energy at his foe, ready to dispose of him.
Sonic looked at this and despite his battered and beaten body knew he had to do something. So with the last of his strength he homed into the jackal one last time.
When Sonic met Infinite, it caught him by surprise as the ball of fire he was holding above his head to fly off into the air. The two plummeted to the ground because of this, landing roughly and letting out sharp grunts of pain.
The ball of fire exploded along the sand causing the patch to turn to glass.
Infinite rose to his feet, the ruby energy flickering around him, but he was able to form a weak miasma around him to allow him to hover above the hedgehog, albeit shakily.
Sonic on the other hand, trembled, his body quaked as he so desparately tried to get up. He absolutely had to, the whole world was watching him and if he didn't stand to fight Infinite then what would they do? He couldn't possibly let people down now. But even then, he couldn't let himself down. He owed it to himself to defeat Infinite once and for all.
But his body screamed at him not to move forward even if he was giving it his all. But it seemed biology won out over his own will this time, he was too beaten. He was… He was defeated.
His body collapsed onto the ground and his vision began to swim, his consciousness wavering as he did so.
Infinite saw this and laughed. Though due to his own pain, it came out as a stifled cough. "What? Is there no fight left in the mighty Sonic the Hedgehog?"
Sonic groaned, hoping to let out some sort of snappy comeback. But all that came from his mouth was a hoarse rasp.
"Yes, I believe it is. This is what happens when you deal with infinite power. Now watch, as I snuff out the world's light of hope once and for all."
Infinite wavered in the air as he summoned yet another ball of fire that flickered and sputtered above them.
Sonic steeled himself, waiting for the inevitable to come. His body was completely spent and there was nothing that he could possibly do at this moment. Infinite was going to destroy him and there was nothing he could do at the moment.
He wished his goodbyes to all of his friends in the world, hoping that they would be able to continue the fight and stop Eggman.
Just as the ball of fire was ready to leave Infinite's hand, a whooshing sound let out throughout the sky.
Infinite looked up only to see a resistance fighter jet race above him and for a lone figure to drop from said plane.
Infinite was in shock at the sight of Amy Rose, with a more furious look than anyone had ever seen on her face, slam her hammer into him, knocking him away from Sonic and into the ground, harshly.
"Lay even a single claw on him and I will end you, you masked freak!" She declared as she stood protectively in front of Sonic.
Sonic looked up with wide eyes, absolutely floored with what was in front of him. He knew how Amy felt about him all these years, sure. While he didn't share those feelings, they still managed to be great friends. Even with her entering her teens and even now becoming the leader of the resistance, he still couldn't help but see Amy as the same young girl who had fallen head over heels for him after he had rescued her from Metal Sonic all those years ago.
But Amy Rose was no longer a child. She was a strong independent leader who had stood up not just for her friends time and time again but for the world. She had fought through her own heartbreak at his defeat and stood to make the world a better place. She had grown out of her crush on Sonic into someone more. Someone better.
And Sonic couldn't help but be amazed at the person he saw today.
She didn't so much as flinch as Infinite rose to his feet, dusting himself off.
"So the commander of the resistance finally comes out to play and to defend the life of her beloved? How sweet."
"Yeah, I love him." Amy replied. "But I'd do this if you had any one of my friends down like this. I care for each and every one of them, for those you've fought and those you lost. You may have dragged Sonic out here to fight and you might have won. But here in the resistance, we leave no one behind. All ships, converge on my location and fire on Infinite!"
"What?!"
From above the red clouds above, Resistance ships of all sorts of different shapes and sizes appeared and all of them had their guns trained on the masked figure below. They fired a barrage of lasers, missiles and other varieties of fire onto the jackal. The attacks had gotten so intense that he couldn't even be seen amongst all of it.
Amy took this time and ran over to Sonic, quickly hefting the hedgehog up and over her shoulder as a ship arrived for them to climb into.
"Go now!" She shouted to the pilot who gave her a curt nod and quickly flew away from the site.
Once they were gone, most of the other ships began to quickly evacuate the battlefield.
When the last of the ships stopped firing, Infinite stepped out from the smoke and fire absolutely seething in anger at what had been done to him. The Ruby on his chest, however was a dull pink color and no longer shining like it usually was.
"I will not allow them to escape!" Infinite shouted at the gem on his chest.
He tried to rise into the air, but the energy around him faded into nothing.
He flopped onto the ground and punched his fist into the dirt, from which a burst of fire turned it to glass.
The Resistance had escaped.
~Trials of War~
Silver and Celeste arrived in the throne room, shocked to find Espio passed out on the floor with multiple bruises from his battle against Starline.
"Espio!" Silver raced over to him and was relieved to see that the chameleon was still breathing, but he was clearly out like a light. "We have to get him medical attention right away!"
Celeste nodded and quickly raced to his side and helped him carry the chameleon out of the room, each of them with an arm slung over their shoulders.
When they arrived outside the castle, it seemed that the Soleanna Guard was in a bit of an argument with the resistance, the head of the Guard especially wasn't happy.
"Our capital city was infiltrated by Eggman's robots, our queen has been captured and we're left nearly defenseless and you want us to calm down?!" The man shouted. "If we had never accepted this offer, none of this would've happened to us!"
"Look buddy, we didn't know that the Eggman Empire would come here!" Rouge shouted. "We abided by all your rules and here we are dealing with this mess, you think we're also not upset that your queen has been kidnapped?!"
"You guys certainly don't show it! What are we supposed to do now without her!?"
Rouge simply sighed and rubbed the back of her head, unsure of what to do.
At that moment, some of the others noticed Silver, Espio and Celeste.
"Espio!" Mighty and the two remaining members of the Chaotix cried out as they rushed over to their friend's side.
"What happened?!" Charmy shouted.
"Is he okay?!" Mighty asked.
Vector especially looked pissed. "Did Shadow do this to him?! I swear when I get my hands on that no good two timer, I'm gonna-"
"Calm down!" Silver cried. "Espio's fine, but he's unconscious. But Shadow didn't do this, it was that Starline creep that got a hold of him and… well, I don't even know how?"
"You're kiddin' that four eyed creep roughed up one of my boys?!" Vector growled. "Oh, boy… Just wait till I get my hands on him, then he's gonna be sorry!"
Mighty and the Charmy agreed to that.
Charmy continued looking worriedly at his friend only for his eyes to Celeste. "Hey, Celeste? Aren't you not supposed to be here?"
At that, the young girl chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Heh, yeah… Funny story… Cream kinda snuck me aboard one of the ships and now here I am…"
"Knuckles and Amy aren't gonna be happy about that." Vector shook his head. "You defied a direct order from them."
Silver patted her on the back and smiled. "Then it's a good thing I'll have her back."
"What? Why?" Mighty asked.
"She gave me a hand with Shadow. He got away, but we just might've had him that time with her help."
Charmy looked at her with wide eyes. "Woah! You fought Shadow?!"
"And you lived?" Vector added.
"Well… I didn't exactly fight him…" She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "More, I just kinda kept him distracted until Silver could get the jump on him."
"Ah…"They all nodded in understanding.
Silver sighed. "Things were tough, but we all made it through. We're gonna have to get serious if we wanna make it through the next battle and save this world."
Everybody agreed to that.
~Trials of War~
Doctor Ivo Robotnik looked at a TV screen with a frown. Infinite's fight with Sonic had been broadcast and it had been going swimmingly at first, with the jackal looking to be the clear victor. But then, he lost control of himself and the power granted to him, overclocking the ruby on his chest and forcing it into a temporary shutdown. And if that wasn't bad enough then the appearance of one of the coleaders of the resistance definitely didn't make it better.
He knew that Amy had inspired hope where it should've been a dark day for the world. This was bad.
It was bad enough that Starline had disappointment to him, but now his star player was losing his cool as well. What was he to do if he wanted to keep his hold on the world?
Suddenly, a zapping noise was heard behind him and the doctor swiveled his chair around to see none other than Shadow the Hedgehog and Doctor Starline along with what appeared to be a red bubble of energy with them.
"What in blazes are you two doing here?!" Eggman shouted. "Didn't I fire you?! Shadow, what is the meaning of this?!"
Shadow looked at Eggman and smiled. "You see there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this."
"And what is that?!"
"Well, you see-"
But he didn't even get a chance to finish as the fatigue finally caught up to him and he passed out on the floor.
Eggman facepalmed. "Oh for crying out loud!" He pressed a button on his desk. "Can I get a medic in my office, it appears that an Ultimate Lifeform has had one too many for one day. Fights that is, or maybe he and Starline decided to hit the town and throw a pity party due to someone's dismissal, who knows?!"
The emperor pinched the ridge of his nose and sighed. "Are all of my generals going to embarrass me today?"
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I won't!" Starline chirped.
Eggman looked up at him and groaned. "Didn't I fire you just a few hours ago?"
"Ah, yes… It is true that you had let me go from my position, but I feel what I have to show you will make you reconsider your decision."
Eggman rolled his eyes. "This outta be good."
At that, two medical bots came in and grabbed Shadow. They hefted him onto a stretcher and took him out of the room.
Starline stood before the orb and smiled. "Presenting to you a hostage only suitable of the glory of the Empire…" He lowered the field and Doctor Eggman's jaw dropped at the sight of the person before him.
"The Queen of Soleanna!" He announced.
Queen Elise, who now was gagged and had her arms cuffed behind her back glared at the platypus as he roughly shoved her in front of the doctor. She fell to the floor and could only look up as the Doctor looked between her and Starline still awestruck by what he had seen.
"I- y-you're joking!" Eggman stammered. "How did you manage to get to her?"
Starline couldn't help but smirk as he proudly dusted off his hands. "Speechless, Emperor? Come now, I am the one who is to be speechless of your marvelous feats. This is nothing but a small gesture of my will towards your will."
Elise tried to shout something, but it was simply drowned out.
Eggman gave one last look at her before shifting his gaze back to the platypus before him. "Perhaps I misjudged you, General Starline…"
Starline instantly perked up at that. "G-general?!"
"But of course!" Eggman smiled. He got up from his desk and made his way over to the platypus. "If you're willing to go through this much trouble to please me then you're definitely someone I want at my side!"
"I- th-thank you, Emperor."
Eggman patted him on the back and smiled. "No, thank you."
He ushered him out of the room with his arm around the platypus' shoulders. "Guards, someone put the Queen in one of the cells here in Metropolis! As royalty, she will be a great bargaining factor for the Eggman Empire. And Starline, you must tell me of how you pulled off such a great act. I'm sure Brenda would absolutely love to get an interview from you about your triumph."
"But of course, my benevolent ruler!" Starline beamed. As he and Eggman walked out the door, he began to recount his tale. "I was standing without fear against that so called hero, Espio when he of course began to blather on about the power of friendship and such as those Sonic Heroes do. So of course, I send out those lovely Starbots you made for me and…"
The door slid closed behind them as they continued their chat.
~Trials of War~
Being friends with Sonic the Hedgehog meant many things. It usually meant that you were either a hero who had saved the world or someone who he had just happened to meet on his many adventures. Sometimes it meant falling into some sort of crazy life changing journey that would change your life. Being friends with Sonic was supposed to be great, right?
Usually it was, but no one ever talked about the bad parts. Watching someone who would brighten your world get hurt so often. Sonic's ability to consistently drag himself away from death's clutches with a smile on his face was both relieving but stressful as well. What if someday he didn't make it? What if he didn't want your help and insisted that he could do something himself? When one wanted to help him in a downed state, he'd insist that he could handle it.
Imagine all of that and loving him like you'd never loved anyone else before?
That was the struggle that Amy Rose had to deal with and the only other person in the world that could understand this feeling to the degree that she did was Sonic's brother, but he was… Well, that was among one of the other things she would rather not think about.
From the time they'd left the battlefield, she hadn't taken her eyes off of him as he lay on the bench beside her. He was beaten and bruised all over and at first had been ragged, labored breathing but had quickly laxed into something more calm and subdued. It at least eased her a bit, but of course, she was still fearful for her true blue hero.
As a child, it really was that for her. Sonic was the hero and she was the damsel that had been rescued by her chiseled knight in shining armor.
Her time with Metal and Eggman was terrifying to her and honestly, how could it not have been? She was only 9 years old at the time. While not nearly as frequent as back then, she still had nightmares of those days she spent with them on Little Planet.
And there was Sonic, fast and free as the wind, putting her out of harm's way and getting rid of those that not only wished to harm her but the world itself. As a child, that was pretty much it for her, it was just like the stories. She was saved by him so of course that meant that they were fated lovers meant to be together forever.
Sonic of course, didn't get the picture but it was okay. She would make him understand one way or the other.
What a fool she was back then.
Over the years, Amy had begun to mature like any person would. She learned a lot about Sonic, about herself and about love.
She learned that Sonic really wasn't her property or that she had some sort of claim over him because he had saved her from Metal all those years ago. He could make his own decisions as a person and she had to respect that.
Sonic himself was incredibly kind. He had still decided to be nice to her and give her a friendship that she didn't really deserve. As she had mellowed out over the years, they had seemed to grow closer and it only made her fall for him more and more. He still didn't reciprocate her feelings
Amy Rose loved Sonic the Hedgehog. At first, it was the hero thing. But after spending so many years with him as a fellow Sonic Hero and as his friend she learned so much about him past the superficial hero stuff. She learned that Sonic was kind, he cared about the people around him and wanted to do anything he could to help them. He had a bit of an attitude to him, a zesty bite that allowed him to make snarky remarks on a dime, mostly at Eggman, and she liked that about him. He made her laugh like no one ever could. Sonic had this air about him that just made anyone that came near him feel comfortable and safe, because he wanted you to. It was nice to be around.
Amy Rose's feelings had changed, but for the better. She wasn't the same child who would constantly chase after her hero anymore. She was someone who had a crush on her friend who unfortunately, didn't share the same feelings but still managed to have a friendship with him. While she would love to have him, she would always be glad that he allowed him in his life especially after how things were when they were younger.
She continued to watch Sonic with worry. Her eyes scanned his body, looking at the bruises. She knew that the hedgehog could heal rather quickly due to his Chaos powers or whatever it was that Knuckles told her about, but she just couldn't help it. Seeing him so battered and broken like this, was just nothing that she had ever seen before.
Like anyone in their little group, she had seen Sonic injured and was worried sick whenever he was. Despite what he believed most everyone in the Sonic Heroes knew that he'd often drop by Vanilla's to get patched up after getting into trouble.
Amy adored Sonic's selflessness, his innate desire to want to help anyone in need at his own expense. But sometimes, that also meant not accepting help if it meant those around him could also get hurt. She wished that he would stop and worry about himself sometimes. She wished that she would let her and her friends be at his side.
This fight against Infinite, it was senseless, it was stupid, it was-
"Amy…?"
Amy was instantly snapped out of her thoughts and brought back to reality. Sonic was now awake, looking up at her with tired eyes.
"Sonic!" She cried, instantly leaning down to hug him.
He winced at this to which she instantly recoiled at this.
"S-sorry…" He groaned.
She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I should've been more sensitive about your injuries."
Sonic shook his head. "Hug's a hug though. I'm not saying no to one."
"Not today, mister. You have to rest up."
Sonic let out a weak chuckle. "Never thought I'd see the day that Amy Rose wouldn't wanna hug me."
"Well, there's a first time for everything."
The two lightly laughed at this.
"Still, nice work, Ames. If it were just a little longer, I don't know what would've happened…"
Amy's smile fell at that. She looked at the hedgehog in front of her and he recoiled once again, knowing he struck a nerve.
"Amy, I-"
"Why would you do that?"
"I didn't mean-"
"No you, didn't…" Amy sighed and stood up from her crouching position. "But it wasn't just what you said, it was what you did."
Sonic looked up at her, a bit of confusion on his face.
"Sonic, you left us to face Infinite without so much as a second thought. You knew that there was a chance that you wouldn't come back from that fight but you did it anyway and without any of us to help you."
Sonic was slightly taken aback at this. "Amy, I had to… Infinite was going to seriously hurt the people of Viemigos if I didn't. I couldn't just leave them to die."
"We could've come up with a plan!"
"There was no time." Sonic insisted. "Amy, sometimes I'm gonna run off and get into fights like this. You know that I'm like this. You know that it's all part of the job for me."
"Part of the job is needlessly getting yourself hurt when you have your friends- no, your family by your side to back you up?"
"This time, I couldn't bring you guys along. Even if I wanted to, Infinite gave me no options in our battle."
Amy shook her head at this. "Sure, this time. But what about all the other times when you've left us when we could've helped you, Sonic?"
"I got out all those times."
Amy couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Sure, you did. But a lot of those times, you'd hurt yourself and leave all of us worried sick."
"You guys know I can handle myself."
"You're super powerful, Sonic. But you're not invincible. And I know for a fact that six months ago, the whole world saw that."
At that, Sonic's blood ran cold. "I-"
"I mourned for you, Sonic! We all did! But we had to pick ourselves up and take back the world in your honor! And you know how we did that, we did that together! Our resistance is filled with incredibly powerful people that you know full and well are just like you. Knuckles, Silver, Espio, Rouge! All of us had each other's backs so that we could face everything that Eggman, Infinite, Shadow and the rest of those creeps threw at us! Sometimes we got hurt… but you know what, we did that together too!"
Sonic looked down at the floor, silent.
"But you know what Sonic, you came back! And the world had its shining light of hope again. How do you think people felt today nearly seeing it snuffed out again?"
"I don't know..." He whispered.
"You probably don't even want to imagine." Amy shook her head. "Sonic, you're always gonna be the frontrunner and the first one to jump into the action. That's fine, I wouldn't want it any other way. I love that about you! But for someone who's always talking about friendship and teamwork, you sure do love to not let us help when it could hurt you most."
Sonic looked at her once again, still entirely speechless.
She went over to him and knelt back down next to him again. Pleading eyes looking into his worn ones.
"Sonic, I don't want you to stop fighting. But I just want you to understand that you're not alone. So please, will you let us help you?"
She reached out a hand to him and gave him a pained smile.
Sonic looked wide eyed at her, unsure of what to say. He really didn't know that Amy or really any of his friends had felt that way about him though he guessed he should've known with Vanilla's warnings about his lifestyle.
And here was Amy Rose, who had grown so much over the years, not professing his love for him but giving him a heart to heart in a way that he didn't really expect from her. Sometimes, he had forgotten how much she had grown over the years, but even then this was different than the person he'd known. War had clearly taken its toll on her and having to be a leader of the resistance must have been even harder.
There were times where Sonic had seen the same little girl he had saved back on Little Planet all those years ago. But not anymore, Amy was a young woman. Stronger, compassionate, a leader who not only cared for her loved ones but everyone around her.
He smiled at her and reached out his hand. "Okay, Ames. We'll work together to take down Eggman no matter what."
A tear rolled down her face and she returned the gesture. "That's all I want, Sonic."
Still holding his hand, Amy leaned back against her chair as Sonic drifted back to sleep allowing them to have a silent flight back to the resistance base.
[1] Eurish is the name of the Archie equivalent of Europe. I actually hate this name, but I'm rolling with it. I figure that Soleanna, like Spagonia would be located there.
[2] Solaris clearly exists in some form despite the ending of Sonic 06 as the Soleanna festival still takes place and Sonic still goes to it in the ending. To respond to this in my canon, Solaris exists within the people of Soleanna now as their own flames. The children of Soleanna each have the potential for magic if they choose to explore it. And they celebrate the flame that burns within them at the Soleanna Festival each year.
[3] The Starbots are inspired by the little drones in the Sonic Movie.
And we are done with another chapter of Trials of War. This one was a tough one especially the battle scenes. As I said last time, the fight against Sonic and Infinite was probably one of the hardest things I've had to write in this story to date. Like, oh man. The same fight between them was pretty much the last thing written in this chapter save for the last two scenes between Starline and Eggman and Amy and Sonic.
Speaking of Amy and Sonic, I am sorry to Sonamy shippers. You won't really see it within this fic, however I hope you enjoyed this section about a deeper look into their friendship.
Hopefully I'll get the next chapter done before June. It's a Classic one and a very important one at that.
Now for Review Replies:
Nexs0me:
Great question! I'd say to keep reading and find out.
TheLostEternity:
Thank you!
Celeste is adorable.
That was in fact a reference to His World.
Queen Elise did what she had to. Too bad that didn't really work out for her.
Thanks for the continued support!
Animation Adventures:
OK KO is great and since Let's Meet Sonic was a thing, I thought it'd be fun.
Haha, you really want Chris in there. At this point, I gotta give him some form of a moment now. I'll keep that in mind for the future.
Sonic being brash nearly cost him. Luckily, I'm sure he'll remember that in the future.
Heh, looks like you were wrong there. Although your comment did make me reconsider. But I decided that needed to be an Amy moment and Soleanna needed to be a Celeste moment.
Belle just sounded like it fit the character.
Thank you!
tekina fiction:
Pachacamac is the Worst. Thanks again, friend.
Guest 4:
Heh, wrong there.
Guest 5, 6, 8:
Looks like you've got your answer!
The Sensational SpiderDom321:
Don't worry about it, man. Life happens. And if you ever need to talk about what's going on, I'm here for you.
KO probably isn't gonna come back, it was just a fun reference.
Cream and Fierro were so important and I'm glad you liked them.
I hope you enjoyed your walk! Thanks for the continued support!
Infinite's Ruby:
No worries, I've been pretty busy myself.
Thanks so much for the support, I'm glad you've been enjoying it.
Guest 10:
Good question.
Nexs0me:
Ah, The Deadly Six. Definitely wait, they'll be showing up again in the future.
Guest 1, 2, 3, 9:
Thank you!
And yeah, I will see you all next time, stan Tek's art. So long!
