7.
Tails was having that gruesome dream again…
His psychotic reflex, holding an axe, apparently ready to slice him in half.
Although, now that that frightened vulpine thought about it… There were some peculiar differences…
Instead of it's usual evil, maniacal face, his murderous twin had a suspiciously joyful and idiotic expression… And it was also wearing a strange woodcutter outfit!
"What the…" Before Tails could even finish the phrase…
It's reflex started… To sing!?
"Oh, I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day!"
Suddenly, a whole bunch of other Tails's clones, dressed like Mounties this time, came out of nowhere and sang in chorus:
"He's a Lumberjack and he's okay,
He sleeps all night and he works all day!"
Then the woodcutter Tails continued while randomly swinging his axe around.
"I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go the lava-try.
On Wednesday I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea!"
And then again, the Mounties chorus:
"He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch,
He goes to the lava-try.
On Wednesday he goes shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea!"
They went on and on for a while… Until they all got tread on by a giant human feet.
"Weird… The song was hearable, though." Commented the baffled Kitsune.
"Gee… You're mind is a total mess!"
Tails slowly turned to fix his blue eyed gaze over the intruder. He smiled when he recognized his unwilling "son".
"Hi Void… What can I do for you?" Asked the suddenly paternal kit.
The Seedrian didn't like his tone… It made him feel like a baby boy.
"Don't talk to me like that…" He sorely replied.
The two-tailed would be daddy, smirked… He owned the plant boy.
"So… Have you asked Naugus yet?" He changed the topic.
The black eyed boy crossed his arms in an "I'm all business" kind of pose. The fox could see himself in him…
"I did ask Naugus about my mother…" The Seedrian said.
"Aaaaannnnnd…"
"He showed her to me."
The fox's eyes widen. He wasn't expecting that answer…
"WHAT!?" The surprised kit yelled in amazement.
He couldn't believed that the sorcerer did just show Cosmo to her son without even trying to avoid the question…
Void noticed the Mobian's reaction and grinned mischievously… He could finally get it back to his "daddy".
"Yes… And I tell you what, she's alive thanks to the master!" He proudly added.
Another shot into Tails's lower parts. He was wide-eyed and speechless.
Void laughed internally, then he went serious again… Just in the way his two-tailed interlocutor used to do.
"But when she Chaos Controlled herself and that rocket away… She broke the time and space rift… And in doing so, she sacrificed her own life force." Sadness was visible in his empty eyes. "… If Naugus wouldn't have frozen her body, she would have died because of the accelerate aging process!" He concluded.
The foxy kid took a minute for letting those informations to sink inside of his enhanced brain.
He could clearly remembered that day. He would have never forgotten it.
When his beloved one, Cosmo, put herself between the deadly weapon known as "Project: Doomsday", and himself… Her body started to change…To grow.
As the boy genius he used to be, he'd heard everything about the possible existence of other dimensions and the theory that each and everyone of them had their own physical laws… Including time and space.
When Cosmo teleported herself and the nuke into another plan… Her contact with a different reality had a tragic effect on her own natural timeline allowing the aforementioned accelerate aging process.
That has been the price she paid for saving this undeserving planet from certain annihilation.
Tails recomposed himself into a decent form, before asking a very important question to Cosmo's prodigy.
"How… How is she?" He had to ask it, he would have died with grief, otherwise.
Void tried to think at the proper words to describe her.
"She's beautiful… She's perfect…" Then he frowned. "… She looks as young as you are." He said, hinting his obvious frustration. He was the only teen who's parents were younger than him, after all.
Tails, on the other hand, was the portrait of solar happiness.
So, Cosmo was back at her usual youthful aspect, just like he used to see her in his dreams… He then abruptly turned thoughtful again.
"That Naugus is more powerful than I've imagined." He muttered under his breath.
"What you say?" Asked Void.
"You have no chance to survive… Make your time. HA HA HA!!" Answered a sudden robotic voiced Tails.
"What the fichus was that!?"
"Ehm… Sorry, my hyperactive mind tricked me again…" The vulpine scratched the back of his head in the classical embarrassed manner. "You still didn't tell me the real reason behind your intrusion into my head!" He added, adopting a smartass expression.
"All the Chaos Emeralds have been collected. We already own four emeralds and I'm well aware that you have three!"
Tails looked a little baffled at this.
"No… Me and Sonic only have two!" He corrected.
"Don't play games with me… I know your echidna companion have one of his own!"
Tails smiled a satisfied smile.
"So… Knuckles collected one, uh? I didn't know about it… Thanks for the information, sonny!"
Void realized his mistake.
"D'HO!!!" He yelled while smashing one of his clawed hands on his forehead.
Tails crossed his arms. His grinning facial features had the line "father knows best" written on it.
The distressed teenage plant resumed his composure.
"Look, I want to challenge you and your two quill-headed friends in a fight for the emeralds! Winner takes all!" He bluntly stated, finally getting to the point.
Tails seemed to frown a little. He didn't really want to fight his son… And he was quite sure of the fact that neither him wanted…
But he couldn't allow Ixis Naugus to be freed, therefore he had no choice.
"I… Accept!" He confidently replied.
"Very well… Let us meet on Angel Island at dawn. You'll have to figure how to come! Farewell…" And the void eyed one just disappeared.
"Angel Island, eh? Mmmh…" Before the kit could even finish his mumbling… His woodcutter clone came back and resume his song!
"Oh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day!"
The chorus of Mounties followed suit.
"He's a lumberjack and he's okay
He sleeps all night and he works all day!"
Tails had an idea and he decided to join the song as well.
"I have a question for all of you,
To reach this Angel island
Tell me how to do!"
Again, the chorus.
"He has a question for all of us,
To reach this Angel island
We will tell you how to do!"
The woodcutter's turn.
"You need two gems, you need a friend,
Then all you have to do is to wish to go there!"
The chorus.
"He needs two gems, he needs a friend,
Then all he has to do is to wish to go there!"
Tails went in.
"I thank you guys, you're really cool,
Your suggestion I will follow suit!"
Again, the chorus.
"He thanks us guys, we're really cool
Our suggestion he will follow suit!"
And then… Everybody sang together for the grand finale.
"Oh, I'm a foxy fox and I'm so smart,
I fight the evil and I kick butt!"
"He's a foxy fox and he's so smart,
He fights the evil and he kicks butt!"
"I build some planes, I fly away
I go to save the world.
The 7 Chaos Emeralds I will retrieve
And then, I shall see my Love!"
"He builds some planes, He flies away
He goes to save the world.
The 7 Chaos Emeralds he will retrieve
And then…
He shall see…
HIS LOOOOOOOVE!!!"
The song was over… And so was the dream.
"Wow… That was the weirdest dream yet… And I wasn't even into it!"
Her reptile companion motioned her to wake up, they still had a long road ahead… And they left the base only 10 minutes ago!
"Ok, ok, I'm coming…" Reluctantly muttered the pink hedgehog known as Amy.
Westopolis ruins.
05:30 pm
It has been hard.
It has been very hard for her to deal with her sin… Not just because of the physical act itself but also because of the emotion she felt, the feeling she endured… She loved him.
She loved him with every fiber of her being. She didn't know the exact moment of when it happened… She didn't know if it was before, during or even after the sinful yet, indispensable act.
All she knew was that, in her mind, Knuckles was a brother no more… He was the father of her unborn child… And now, he would hate her for the rest of his life.
Incest… The extreme solution for saving the species… For avoiding extinction. She did what she did, because she thought it was necessary. Now she knew, it's been a mistake.
She felt so bad not because of the thing itself… But because, when she did so, she negated herself and, more importantly, she negated her sibling, the fundamental emotion that such activity should summon…
Consensual Love.
She had forced him to do it, he didn't want to… She poisoned him, ignoring his protests, ignoring his pleads.
She practically raped him.
She humiliated him… She played with his pride and emotions… She betrayed her only family… And from that, there was no come back.
The orange echidna girl was caressing her belly, already trying to imagine what a mother could feel. This unborn child was her only consolation over this whole gruesome situation. She would have loved it, protected it, fought for it…
A single tear came out from one of her beautiful blue eyes. She still wished for it's unwilling father to be there… With his family… With her.
Naturally, that wouldn't be possible, not only for the previous reasons but also because of his unexpected journey on a certain magically hidden island…
Not so long ago, she had this dream… An old looking echidna told her to "open the way for the red one, to the mystic land of Chaos", that's precisely what he said. At first, she was left baffled and confused by such riddle… But then, she finally understood who the "Red One" really was…
That's why she used her innate magic on that Chaos Emerald she casually found when she was very young… That's why she sent her brother on that legendary place she, somehow, knew it existed.
She hoped that, once above in the clouds, Knuckles would have found the proper knowledge he needed… And peace as well.
"Mistress Tikal?" A rather tall ram said after entering her tent.
The chosen conducer of "The Wrath of Mobius", dried her tear and then turned to face her loyal subject.
"What it is, Ari?" Said Tikal the Echidna while masking her deepest emotions with the solid charisma and the determination that every good leader should have.
"The messenger has arrived." Ari's simple reply.
His mistress's face lighted up.
"Show me…"
The Mobian ram gave to the young echidna a very peculiar device… It resembled a chao, if seen from the proper distance, but in reality, the little flying being was anything but it.
It was a mechanical puppet, a flying robot built from the best scientists in Mobius, it's similarity with those famous and innocuous imp like creatures was purposely studied for tricking the enemy.
This implanted ability, along with it's flying, had made it the perfect war messenger. The communications between Tikal's army and Maximillian Acorn have been possible thanks to the little toy she was now holding tightly in her hand.
She pressed a button on it's head and it started speaking.
"While running, press the circle button to slide!" It said with it's amazingly obnoxious voice.
"Stupid little hunk of junk… WORK!!!" The Mayan dressed echidna was always short-tempered with technologic devices… A thing that she had in common with a certain someone she was related with.
As if sensing the danger, the metallic imp decided to cooperate. The authoritarian voice of Sir Acorn himself came out of it.
"Tikal… We attack at dawn!" Simple, effective and right to the point.
The now focused glare of the echidna fixed itself over her subject, who almost shivered.
"Ari…"
"Yes mistress?"
"The time has come… Gather the troops, we're moving now!!"
She would fight for her child… And now, she could prove it.
Somewhere.
10:30 pm.
"So… Let me get this straight… We have to go to this Angel Island place, battle that plant guy who beat the hell out you and, if we win, we can have all the emeralds, right?"
"Yep…"
"… And a bunch of foxy like Mounties told you how to reach this flying land…"
"Yep…"
"… While singing about a lumberjack…"
"Uh-uhu…"
"… In your dreams."
"Precisely."
"… Dude, that's mondo weirdo even for me!"
"I know… But we have to do it anyway… Even without Knuckles."
"Ehe! Good old Knuckle-head is gonna miss the party!"
"Sonic… I'm going to fight the son of the only person I've ever loved… I'm like his father! It's definitely not going to be a party for me!"
Sonic looked his two-tailed younger buddy with a puzzled gaze.
"Tails… What you just said sounded wrong in so many ways I can't count… You're a two-tailed fox kid who's not even 10 and you're a father of a teenage plant?"
"Well…"
"And by the way… I really would like ta know who his mama was!"
Tails lowered his head in shame.
In the short period he and Sonic have been together, they used to share almost everything… However, the vulpine has always been reluctant about a certain argument… About talking of her… But he understood that, in order for his hedgehog friend to trust him, he had to tell him everything he knew about this whole awkward situation.
The kit looked up at Sonic, again. His light blue eyes were showing extreme discomfort as he realized that he had never, not even one time, openly talked about Cosmo before.
He took a very hard breath, dismissing his doubts, before opening his mouth…
He spitted out everything… About Cosmo, her life, death, the fact that she was not dead… The ominous Project: Doomsday and her sacrifice… Void and his relation with him… Everything.
45 long minutes later, the tale was finally over.
Despite being the carefree creature he was… The telling of such events almost didn't let him to breath or to blink… Which were things that he obviously didn't need to do since he was a robot. None the less, the story did have an effect on him.
His beeping brain was experiencing a very disturbing gamma of feelings.
All the blue wonder could do… Was whistle.
"Wow… Lil' buddy, I had no idea…" He tried to mutter.
"It's okay… Really." But of course it wasn't.
Seeing his friend's condition, Sonic did the only thing he would do when it came to cheer up people… He became over enthusiastic.
"Come on, big guy! Let's go there, kick some mondo nasty butt, get the treasure, save the princess and live sonically ever after!" He declared while raising his fist into the sky in the classical "Hell yeah" pose.
Amazingly enough, that seemed to work on the kit who, by now, had adopted his trademark determined look.
"Yeah, you're right… Let's do it, Sonic!"
"No, no, no, my main fox…" He corrected. "Let's do it… TO IT!!!"
Outskirts of the Mystic Ruins.
06:00 pm
"Do you realize that, at this rate, we will never reach Knothole before the end of this solar year?" A very scornful Amy Rose complained.
His fellow Freedom Fighter and trip companion was desperately trying to resist the urge of stabbing her neck with a poisoned dagger… But she was right, getting to Knothole by bare feet hasn't been his greatest idea yet. It definitely hasn't.
Luckily for them, someone decided to come in their aid.
His enhanced ninja hearing let Espio to sense the un-mistakable noise of a vehicle in the immediate vicinities.
As if on cue, the aforementioned vehicle arrived and stopped itself on the left side of the two Mobians.
It was an hovercraft, and by the looks of it, a very fast model too!
"Ehi, you're Freedom Fighters, right? Where are you going?" Asked the walrus on the driving seat.
"Knothole!" responded Amy… Obviously it didn't come out from Espio's mouth.
"Ehi, me too. I'll give you a passage, then!"
"Thank you, Mr…"
"Rotor!"
"Thanks a lot, Mr Rotor!"
She and her utter thankful chameleon companion put their tired selves on the hovercraft's comfortable seats.
"You two are going to join the army, right? Me too!" Suddenly said Rotor while driving away.
"Excuse me?" Went the puzzled pink hedgehog.
"Yeah… You know? The final assault over Robotropolis thing? All the G.U.N. and Mobian forces united against the Eggman Empire? The attack at dawn? It's on every TV news… Don't cha have a TV?" He casually asked.
If undeniable bewilderment was a living being, it would have had the features of an horrible half-hedgehog, half-chameleon like creature… Because, in the exact same moment in which the two of them heard the astonishing news from their driver's mouth… They both yelled a mastodon like scream in utter surprise like if they have been a unique individual.
A very loud "WHAT!!?" could have been heard in all of Mobius while a certain unfortunate walrus almost had an accident due to his suddenly damaged ears.
Somewhere.
11:00 pm
"Ya know, I trust you and all… But are you sure it's going ta be that easy? Coming to this place, I mean?"
"Would you doubt the word of a bunch of singing Mounties and a woodcutter?"
"Mmmh, good point. Those people never gets wrong!"
"Indeed."
"…. Tails?"
"Yeah, Sonic?"
"I'm not usually the responsible guy around here…"
"Oh really? I didn't notice…" Sarcasm was evident in the kit's tone.
"… But are you sure that living Knothole without telling anybody (especially your very hot mommy) was a good idea?" Sonic almost scolded.
Tails put on a face.
"Ok, first of all, stay veeeeeeeeery away from Sally, I'm warning you! Secondly, in Knothole, they're all too busy preparing for the assault for noticing our sudden disappearing… Or for stopping us, for that matter." He paused for a second and looked Sonic dead in the eyes. "Plus, this is too important… Not only for me, but for the course of the conflict itself. With the full power of the Chaos Emeralds in our hands, we'll be able to destroy Eggman once anf for all!" Tails declared with a hint of glee in his gaze.
Sonic weakly smiled at him.
"Ehe… Now that I think about it… I have personal issues in this thing, too!"
"What do you… Ooooh, yeah! Shadow, isn't it?"
"Yep… And his brother, Mephiles… My sons." Muttered the now frowned hedgehog.
Tails emitted a sigh as well.
"I still find it hard to believe… This whole 'cloning' thing…"
"I met them, you know?"
The vulpine's features showed genuine surprise toward his friend's sentence.
"What? When?"
"Right before coming to South Island… In the forest. Shadow approached me and attacked me for no apparent reason and I had to retaliate… We fought for a while and found out that we were evenly matched. Then he told me that he and his bro. were sons of mine…" Sonic smirked his trademark smirk. "… Can ya imagine my mondo stupore at those news?"
Tails scratched his head in the typical confused manner.
"And then what happened?"
"Nothing… He swore to kill me for proving to be the 'True Ultimate Life Form'! Those were his exact words. Then he just left." Concluded Sonic.
"Ehe… It's Shadow alright!" Giggled the fox.
"So… It's family business for the both of us, uh?"
"You could say that."
They paused for a second, looking down at their own shoes, seemingly depressed.
"Tails?"
"What?"
"Do you think… Shadow and I… look alike?"
"Absolutely NOT! You two have nothing in common… Not only your personalities but even your appearances are completely opposite! I mean, you're cobalt blue and he's black with red stripes… You have downward quills, he's got pointed quills… Even your eyes are different, not to mention the attire! Now, I haven't seen this Mephiles guy yet but if he looks like his twin, then he too got nothing to share with your aspect… Seriously, Sonic, even a blind person could notice the difference!"
"Yeah, you're right! There's no way people are gonna mistake Shadow for me!"
"Strange… My ears are whistling."
"Somebody's thinking of you, brother… By the way, is it my impression or you and our father look alike?"
"Shut up, Mephiles!"
Knothole Village. The gate.
08:30 pm
"You. Can. Not. Pass!" Ordered a certain bald and furless hedgehog who happened to be the unlucky guardian of the Knothole gate.
Espio looked at him.
Manic looked at Espio…
Then he screamed in pain… Big surprise!
"Espio, that wasn't nice of you!" Amy stated.
"Aw, it's not that bad… A little brain commotion never killed anybody… I'm more worried about his tongue, though… Gee, I didn't think it could be pulled out in that way! Amazing!" Added the enthusiastic Rotor.
Espio just hmpfed. After the last few weeks he had developed a certain disdain over hedgehogs… One could easily imagine why.
Once the three of them entered the city, confusion and utter mess greeted them… Soldiers, guards and militant Freedom Fighters alike were running all around the place, desperately trying to organize themselves into a decent army.
This spectacle was the confirmation the female hedgehog and the purple reptile needed… They were preparing themselves for a war.
"Mmmh… I wonder where is the subscription point?" The walrus that has been their driver and unexpected companion, asked to no one in particular.
The answer came from the less than comprehensible voice of a very unfortunate guard.
"Fou fust foofing fov fe fenfval fut… Ofer fere!" Said the tongue twisted Manic while slipping quite miserably on the ground.
Rotor's puzzled expression turned over Amy's.
"What did he say?"
"I think he's trying to say that the subscription point is in the central hut… Over there!" She said while pointing her arm beyond the mass of people. "Am I right?" She sweetly asked to the bald, furless and now tongue twisted, hedgehog.
He nodded… Right before fainting because of the excruciating pain.
"Ehi, thanks bud!" Rotor cheered out.
He started to walk over the questioned point… He then stopped on his track and turned his head over the other two.
"You're coming or what?" He said.
Both Espio and Amy looked each other in the eyes for a few seconds… Then nodded in unison.
Amy returned her gaze over the walrus and solemnly uttered:
"We've been waiting for this moment our entire life… The moment in which we could finally put an end on this conflict…" Pure determination and will was present in her body language. "Of course we're coming!" She ultimately added.
Espio closed his eyes and smiled… His obnoxious friend had matured so much over the past years. He still remembered the day he found her… Nearby that burnt orphanage.
She was a little scared kid with nobody in the whole world… She was dirty and over all shocked. She stared at him with her big, pleading eyes, silently begging for help… For someone to save her from her sad excuse of a life.
On that night, Eggman's SWATBots came… She was the sole survivor… She had luck.
At the time, Espio was already a solitarian wolf… A silent one, for that matter. He'd already suffered the demise of his comradeship, his family, by the hands of all those Badniks…
Those robotizied children.
It didn't took long for the chameleon to imagine what has been the tragic fate of all those kids in the orphanage… The only thought made his own spine to shiver.
The little kid in front of him had no idea just how lucky she's been.
She was still staring at him… Still pleading… Still crying for help.
Espio's cold heart softened…
Despite his fears… Despite the fact that he feared bonding with someone else after what he'd endured… He took her under his protective wing.
From that day on, they've always been together… He would also trained her… He would even understand her troubled feelings…
What he, however, would never understand, was where the heck she would hide that gigantic hammer of hers!
Later on, they both joined the Militia. The rest was history…
"Espio? Are you coming or what?" Asked the impatient Amy.
Espio exited from his deep thoughts and looked back at the pink hedgehog. He was so proud of her… If he could, he would have certainly said:
"Let's do it, together… Sister."
Somewhere.
00:00 pm
"Shall we?" Sonic asked.
"Let's!" Tails confirmed.
They both raised their respective Chaos Emeralds and yelled in unison:
"CHAOS CONTROL!!!"
Knothole Village. Guest's hut.
09:30 pm
"Tails? Tails, it's me, Sally… Please, open up!" She was practically pleading at her son's door… Only to find it open.
Sally entered the hut and, to her distasteful fear, she found it empty.
There was a note on Tails's supposed bed. She picked it up and red it.
Dear Sally.
First of all, I would like to say that I'm not angry with you… I couldn't understand why you did that to me… But now I can… You were just worried about me.
We've been through a lot together, hadn't we? At first, we've been friends… Then we became like brothers… And, in the end, we officially became a family… When you adopted me.
You've always loved me like a son, didn't you? You wanted me to be yours, right? I don't blame you for that… As a matter of fact, I'm honored that a beautiful and caring person like you wished to be the mother of someone like me… I've been quite a difficult kid, uh? I'm sorry for making your life so hard… And I'm also sorry that you had to drop your career for me! To be perfectly honest, I'm sorry for a lot of things… Too much for a single letter… But most of all, I'm sorry for never calling you mum. Deep down I knew that you wanted it and I also considered you to be my mother… Especially after the death of my parents.
Oh, wait… That's a terrible thing to write. Once again, I'm sorry…
Sally… There's something me and Sonic must do… It is dangerous and I cannot guarantee my survival… But we have to do it. I wish I could explain it to you… I wish I could tell you everything that happened during this twisted weeks… Instead, I'm going to tell you that, if we will succeed… All the wars, the conflicts, the deaths… Are gonna end, once and for all. We almost have gathered all the Chaos Emeralds together and we can't stop now…
I wish you luck with the impending assault and I also wish to see you alive when I come back…
If… I come back.
I love you, Sally…
I love you… Mother.
Tails.
P.S. Isn't Sonic a total jerk, sometimes?
And the broken hearted, loving mother fell to the floor, crying like if there wasn't a tomorrow…
By the looks of it, it could very well be the case.
"You're right, hun… Your blue friend can be a real pain." She managed to say through the tears… She even smiled.
A fake smile. A suffering smile. A tearful smile. A smile, none the less.
"Be okay, Tails… My son… Be okay and return to me. I swear I will survive this battle just for you…" She then stood up and dried her tears. "… Just for you!" She repeated, more determined this time.
With that said, she exited the hut… She had a war to be prepared for!
Angel Island.
05:00 am.
"It's almost dawn…" Void muttered. He turned to her loyal companion and added: "Naugus informed me that Knuckles is already on this island… How he managed to come here before us, it slips from my understandings!"
Blaze looked him back. Her gaze was depicted with feline seriousness.
"I'll take him…" She said.
The Seedrian stared at her gorgeous eyes, almost melting in them… From his expression, the cat could guess he was deadly worried about her wellbeing.
"Be careful…" He managed to reply.
"I will."
She kissed him on the cheek, making his light grey cheek turn blood red by the sudden blush.
She giggled.
And then, she darted away.
Outskirts of Robotropolis.
05:30 am.
It was quite the sight… The army.
There were several thousands between Freedom Fighters armed with white weaponry… Knothole elite soldiers equipped with their usual electrified spears… The infamous group known as "The Wrath of Mobius", with their human arsenal and ammunitions… And some random last minute warrior… Like a certain young hedgehog girl, a reptile ninja and a goof looking walrus.
All the soldiers were wearing a special outfit purposely made for protecting their vital organs during close quarters combats, an armor made of some resilient yet, light weighted metal.
The same material Eggman utilized to build his SWATBots. During it's past victories over the empire, the resistance has been able to collect plenty of it from the various robotic corpses… And now, such technology would have backstabbed the good old doctor.
Amy felt rather uncomfortable inside that vest… Most of all, she looked less confident than before. Espio, who was on her left, noticed it and he managed to reassure her with his granite like stare… After all those years they've been together, she knew that that was the closest thing to a gentle word that could come out from her reptile brother…
She just rolled her eyes in fake annoyance.
Rotor, on the other hand, was over enthusiastic… Just like a kamikaze before exploding…
It was creepy.
On "The Wrath of Mobius" side, all it's warriors looked absolutely fanatic and ready to die for their ideal, if necessary.
Bean, the green unstable duck, was holding his beloved cartoon like bombs, ready to calmly explain to his enemies, the reason of why he's been dubbed "Bean the Dynamite".
Bark the Polar Bear had his shot-gun… And that made him happy.
Scourge, the badass looking, scarred hedgehog, had a not so secret passion for Ingram machine guns… He was grinning like a vampire before a feast of young virgins… Let's leave it at that..
Ari the Ram, the most balanced of the entire army, had a Bazooka.
The Nasty Hyenas had their own set of weapons as well… Along with the animalistic urge to ululate at the moon.
In front of them all, stood their leader… Tikal the Echidna. She was wearing a different version of her average outfit, she was dressed like a warrior princess from ancient Greek mythology and she had a sword bigger than herself was!
Along side the mighty God of War lady was her best soldier and friend, current honorary member of the Mobian Council, Bunny Rabbot. She didn't relied on weapons… After all, with her robotizied limbs, she was a weapon per se.
The two friends looked each other in the eyes and put on a friendly smile of approval. A very anti-climatic scene considering their un-friendly attire.
Ultimately, on the Freedom Fighters and Knothole elite's side…
Former king, Maximillian Acorn, and his daughter, Sally Acorn, stood tall on the short cliff from which the ominous city of Robotropolis could be seen…
A dark, dead mass of black and thunders… That's how the once flourishing reign of Mobotropolis looked at the moment.
Max's heart skipped a beat. It was hard for him to look at what his beautiful kingdom had became… But it also gave him the strength and will to correct this mistake for good!
He and Sally were wearing the classical military vest of the Acorns. A golden armor with a feathered helmet.
Suddenly… The sun timidly rose from behind Robotropolis, creating a contrasting effect… An immense marvel, partially covered by a greater horror.
The old chipmunk looked his daughter in the eyes, she nodded in response, then he raised the arm that was holding his loyal sword, preparing to order the attack.
The strategy was simple yet, effective. All they had to do, was to keep Eggman's robots occupied while G.U.N.'s army, on the south-west part of the city would have to attack and destroy the shields and security systems that kept the city virtually impregnable.
Thanks to Bunny's microchip… And ultimately, thanks to Snively… That was finally possible.
The un-mistakable silhouettes of thousands of STEALTHBots and SWATBots were already heading in their direction.
Maximillian Acorn ordered the attack.
His army cried it to all the others.
Tikal, Bunny and the rest of their group, braced themselves.
Amy hold her hammer tightly, Espio had his shurikens ready and Rotor had… A mighty wrench.
And so…
The war began.