Chapter 04: The Hunt for Emerald #1

It had been over a week since Sonic and his posse arrived in 2019, and Sonic was sitting on the roof of Resistance HQ, staring at the sky. "Hmmmm….Even after a nuclear apocalypse, the sky still looks the same to me." he said to himself. Then, he leaped down and ran into the distance. A few seconds later, much to the surprise of the guards, he came back and leaped over the fence. He then screeched to a halt inside the room, much to the surprise of Kyle and Barnes.

"You sure are comfortable with going out there without being afraid of Skynet." said Kyle.

"Skynet doesn't scare me." said Sonic. "I've seen worse things than Skynet or its Terminators."

"Like what?" asked Barnes.

"Well, I encountered a water-based creature known as 'Chaos', and he pretty much demolished the city of Station Square." said Sonic.

"Sounds like you've seen greater horrors than Skynet." said Barnes.

"You think that was bad, when I first met Shadow, he and I worked together to stop a space station from crashing into the planet. But we had to defeat a massive monster to do that."

"Whoa…" said Kyle.

"And who could forget the time Aliens known as the Black Arms came to try and take over the planet. If it wasn't for Shadow, we'd be under a different rule."

"Double Whoa…" said Kyle.

"And then there was the time the planet shattered into pieces and…"

"Hey, Sonic!" said Kate as she peeked through the door. "John needs to see you."

Sonic walked into John's room where Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were waiting. "Ah, Sonic, I have news for you!" said John as Sonic closed the door. "I got a report from one of our field operatives that has reported unusual Skynet activity. The operative claimed that he saw Terminators go into a Chinese Restaurant in the city and never come back out. And before you ask, they didn't come out another way. I was hoping you'd help provide some insight."

"Must be a Chaos Emerald." said Shadow. "Their energy is great. One alone can disable any sort of machine with the amount of energy they have, even a T-600."

"That would explain some things. But we had better find it before Skynet can figure out how to get it." said John.

"That's right." said Sonic. "Leave it to me John. I'm not afraid of those Terminators!"

"Well then, since you're so confident, let's get moving!" said John. Within minutes, Sonic, John, Tails, Knuckles, Barnes, Shadow, and Kyle were all together, strapped and ready for battle.

"Remember, John is number one on Skynet's kill list. Make sure he survives, Sonic." said Kate.

"No sweat! Protecting is one of my specialties." said Sonic.

"Then it's time to move out!" said John.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, John, Kyle, Sean, and Barnes loaded up their weapons and prepared to do battle against any Skynet forces that awaited them. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails each grabbed an M4A1 rifle, Shadow and Tails' rifles fitted with M320 Grenade Launchers. Sonic's had an M26 MASS attachment, and Sonic also grabbed a P90 submachine gun. Shadow also grabbed a Barrett M82 rifle for use, after his experience with the T-600, he wanted some real firepower. Tails grabbed an M1014 shotgun, since John said that could come in handy against Aerostats. Knuckles grabbed a handheld M134 Minigun, since he liked the big artillery. He also would carry an M32 Grenade Launcher and a UMP-45 submachine gun for close range fighting.

"Okay, follow my lead, stay close." said John. "Don't do anything stupid out there. Skynet will show no mercy."

"Relax, John. These guys aren't too different from Eggman's works." said Sonic.

"Don't get cocky. You think that, but they're far more sophisticated than what Eggman has." said John. "Now let's move out!" and John then led the group towards the city.

It was a long trek across the wastelands, but they encountered few, if no problems. Skynet wasn't so active that day. But as they came to the edge of town, John raised his hand in the air and told everyone to take cover. A group of T-7Ts and Aerostats were prowling the area, searching for any Tech-Com members foolish enough to come around. Though despite the efforts to hide, one Aerostat spotted them and signaled the others to open fire on them. "So much for using stealth. Shoot!" shouted John as he aimed his HK416 rifle at the machines and opened fire. Sonic and the others fired as well, taking out several Aerostats and damaging several T-7Ts.

But then, Sonic said: "Watch this!" And then he performed a homing attack which took out many Aerostats and T-7Ts, much to the shock of John, Kyle, Barnes, and Sean. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Whoa…even I couldn't down those many machines in that amount of time." said Sean.

"Glad he's on our side." said Barnes.

"There'll be more of 'em. Be ready." said John.

"I'll be ready, John." said Sonic.

They continued deeper into the city towards the restaurant, where they continued taking out many Aerostats and T-7Ts. But Knuckles was enjoying his use of the Minigun, blasting everything in sight. But as they got closer to the Resistance Outpost where the operative was located, Tails heard something. "Hey, that sounds like something big…"

"Could be a Hunter-Killer." said Shadow.

"Or…." said Sonic peeking around. "It could be some Eggbots!" And he was right, for there was a squad of Egg Gunners marching along and Sonic opened fire on them with his rifle, while using his homing attack to take out several more. Shadow did the same as well, after using his Barrett to down some of them. Of course, everyone else joined in and blasted wave after wave of Egg Gunners.

"Those aren't Skynet machines, were they?" asked Sean.

"Of course not! Those are robots of Dr. Eggman!" said Tails.

"Then we'll have to watch out for him, then." said John. "Remember, these machines aren't as tough as Skynet ones, but don't take 'em lightly."

"Good idea, John." said Kyle.

They continued towards the restaurant, which wasn't far, but then they saw a large number of humans and saw many more Egg Gunners and of course…: "Eggman!" whispered Sonic.

Eggman was in his Eggmobile and said: "You're going to give me that Emerald, now!"

"Why should we?" said one of the humans.

"It belongs to me, and that's that! Now spare yourselves a painful reception and fork it over! Now!" demanded Eggman.

"No way!" said a younger human. "That Emerald belongs to the Resistance!" then he grabbed a small stone and tossed it at Eggman, which hit him right in the face.

Then SA-55 appeared and said: "Ha, Ha, Ha!" and repeated until Eggman put him back in his socket.

"So, you choose to defy me, do you?!" snarled Eggman. "Then I'm gonna kill you all for this! Fire!!"

But before the Egg Gunners could fire, they were all destroyed by Sonic and Shadow and along with weapons fire from Knuckles, Tails, John, Kyle, Barnes, and Sean.

"No surprise, Eggman, you're not even half as tough as Skynet!" said Sonic,

"I should have known you were still alive in this time, you miserable rodent!" said Eggman. "And at least you're not half as annoying as Skynet, since they don't even know what they're dealing with!"

"In the name of the Tech-Com Resistance group, I order you to stop what you're doing at once!" shouted John.

"You must be John Connor." said Eggman. "So you're in league with that rodent, are you?"

"I said, surrender!" shouted John training his rifle on Eggman.

"I think not!" said Eggman. "My creation will make sure I get that Emerald! Let's see how you handle it!" And then Eggman revealed his Egg Beetle, which crashed through a nearby wall across the street.

"Aw no! Not this guy again!" said Sonic. "Take cover!" And everyone most certainly did, for the Egg Beetle fired off many missiles at the Resistance fighters and everyone scattered to avoid the blasts and the claws of the Egg Beetle.

"Sonic! What should we do to destroy this thing?" asked Sean.

"Aim for the center of its head when its jaws open! If you hit it hard enough, that should damage it." replied Sonic.

"Right! Anyone got explosives? Use 'em on that machine!" shouted John to everyone else.

Sonic positioned himself in front of the Beetle and as soon as it opened its jaws, he then charged it with all the speed he could muster, and struck the center of the Beetle and damaged it, but then, he was forced back and he was sent flying towards a nearby building, which he leapt off and landed safely on the ground. But then, the Egg Beetle noticed John, Kyle, and Barnes firing off rounds at it, and then got ready to attack. But John and the others ducked to avoid getting squashed, and then Sean, emerging from one of the restaurant windows, holding an RPG-7V, fired at the weak spot and further damaged the beetle to the point that all it needed was another hit to take it down. But this time, the beetle unleashed another deadly barrage of missiles, and everyone scattered for cover to avoid the barrage. The beetle then turned to Sonic and then proceeded to chomp him once more, but once again, it left itself open to attack, allowing for Sonic to deliver one last punishing blow to the machine, which made it lose power and explode right then and now. But not before a barrage of grenades and Rockets delivered the final blow which assured it was destroyed.

"One Egg Beetle, down for the count!" shouted Sean from his window.

Eggman snarled angrily. "You'll regret this, Sonic! You and your puny resistance members!!!" and then he flew away as fast as he could.

"Victory is ours!" said Kyle.

"But we gotta move. Skynet will have heard the noise, and it won't be long to figure out what's going on!" said John.

"Right!" said Tails as he flew up to the room where the Emerald was.

"Thanks for the assistance, Connor!" said one of the Resistance Fighters. "We were guarding the Emerald when Eggman came 'round."

"Good work." said John. "We'll take it from here. Get outta here fast!"

"Yes sir!" said the Resistance Fighter.

"I have the Emerald!" said Tails flying out and holding a Green Chaos Emerald.

"And you should have seen how many Terminators I counted down in there!" said Sean coming out of the door.

"What do you mean?" asked Barnes.

"Later. Let's discuss it when we get back to base. Quick!" said John as he led the group back towards the hideout before many HKs and other Terminators arrived to investigate the area.