Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega

All variations of Egglings © Blank the Nobody

Chapter Twenty Three

Apocalypse: Intro

30 minutes before Black Egg Armageddon

We were just half an hour away from the end. We never saw it coming either. It was an insane tactic to just launch an attack out of the blue. But then again, we're talking about Eggman here.

The sky was gray again, giving the city a somewhat melancholy tinge to it. Civilians rested peacefully at the sound of the wind blowing and even though their town looked gloomy, they enjoyed the peace. For some odd reason the sound of gunfire and explosions weren't in the air and instead it was calm and quiet. An irritated sigh sounded off as a cobalt blue hedgehog sat on a building's edge, anxiety eating away at him. A soft gust of wind blew by, it had touched his fur like a hand trying to soothe him, but it failed at putting him at ease. Ever since Knuckles' little mishap with the Juggernauts, Eggling attacks seemed to decrease incredibly. Eggdomes became harder to find and the Egglings went into hiding. Some found it weird, while others found it calming. They wondered if it was a plan, or maybe the Egglings running out of food, either way, there was no usable proof to make any of these theories true and it flustered the scientists, even Tails.

Sonic didn't feel good. There was something in the air that just bothered him and he didn't like it at all. As Sonic sat on the building's edge he thought about his friends who he hasn't seen in days. It was an odd feeling for him to actually worry about his friends. Usually he knew they were okay, but at that time he thought about them every single day hoping that they were getting by.

Amy decided to help G.U.N. in their endeavors by working on the field and sometimes helping the nurses and medics with their patients. Amy wasn't the best doctor, but over time she started to learn the basics around medical equipment and during some missions she would act as the substitute medic. The thought of Amy working alongside soldiers carrying large, dangerous weapons scared Sonic half to death, but he knew that she would have to learn the rules of battle sooner or later.

Tails and Cream continued to work as a pair, if they weren't in the lab helping each other, then they were in the skies taking out Egglings. Sonic found it cute how they were forming a bond with each other, but what he found weird was the fact that they were flirting while a war was going on. From what Sonic had heard, Tails worked as the military's engineer, scientist, chemist and pilot. Even though he worked a wide range of jobs, Cream followed him and the young rabbit, now filled with a renewed determination was always willing to help.

Then there was Knuckles, if that echidna wasn't killing something then he was probably thinking about killing something. Knuckles' mental stability was slowly decreasing and Sonic hoped that they still had enough time before Knuckles turned on them. Everything that the echidna did had to be overdone, every explosion had to be bigger and every enemy he fought had to be killed with style. Sometimes during some of his missions soldiers would have to sedate Knuckles in order to stop him from beating on something that was already dead.

Shadow on the other hand seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth. No one had seen the ebony hedgehog in days, and even though it was normal for Shadow to just vanish, everyone was worried about him. Sonic had met Shadow after the ebony hedgehog had reported seeing the Noct Egglings and Sonic could remember seeing the sadness hiding within the black hedgehog's crimson eyes. Something had happened to him, something that had hurt him emotionally. Sonic would've loved to ask him what was wrong, but even the azure hero knew that he wouldn't get an answer from Shadow.

The blue hedgehog continued to think about his friends, the people who he used to gravitate around him. They were gone now, distant as the clouds in the horizon. For a split second Sonic felt like crying because of his sense of abandonment. He was used to playing and smiling with his friends every day. Now he was forced to do the government's bidding without his allies. At times he would see them, but that was just coincidence or a brief 'hi' or 'hello.'

"Long time no see, Sonic." said a happy, yet familiar voice from behind the hedgehog.

Sonic looked over his shoulder, knowing who the voice belonged to. Knuckles was walking towards him, a smile on the echidna's face and Sonic couldn't decide whether the echidna was happy to see him, or he had just killed something. Knuckles climbed over the edge and sat next to the blue hedgehog and none of them said a word to each other. It had been so long since they had seen each other and Sonic felt bad since they weren't talking to each other. It was awkward being with the red echidna again because of the rumors that Sonic had heard about him. The mutilations, the uncontrollable amounts of pent up rage, Sonic was actually kind of scared of Knuckles now. The hedgehog looked at his friend and he seemed as normal as ever. A cocky smirk was on the echidna's face as he stared off into the horizon as if searching for trouble. There was a new nickname for Knuckles now, Sonic didn't like it though.

"How's it going?" asked the hedgehog curiously. He wanted to know. Everyone wanted to know how the 'Crimson Insanity' was doing.

Knuckles chuckled a bit, as if finding the question a bit strange, but he knew that everyone was informed about his mental breakdowns. He put his hands behind his bed and smiled as he looked at the horizon. It was an odd feeling for Knuckles as he recounted the days with his so called 'mental examiner.' The man he was supposed to consult after every mission was a bit odd and Knuckles somehow felt uncomfortable around him. Every time he walked into the psychiatrist's office, Knuckles could swear that he could smell blood. A lot of it.

"The guy I'm supposed to talk to at the end of every mission is a quack, dude. He's just too calm and collected for my taste," chuckled the echidna as he recounted the strange psychiatrist. "But other than that, I'm fine." he finished reassuringly.

Sonic stifled a laugh at the echidna's statement, knowing that he would probably get better in due time. "Of course he's calm, Knux, all psychiatrists are calm. They're supposed to." said Knuckles.

The echidna scoffed and nudged Sonic playfully. "Shut up!" he chuckled.

After sharing a couple of laughs and stories, the two began to calm down. They were finally having a normal conversation like old times. Sonic then looked at the city in front of him a smile on his face, hoping that today would be peaceful like the past couple of days. Both of them began to relax and enjoy the peace, while they continued to swap stories, knowing that it wouldn't last any longer. It was some trait they had acquired after dealing with Eggman for so long. Peace would never last for too long and they had a hunch that it would probably end today.

As they continued to chat, something foul smelling then entered the atmosphere. Sonic looked around trying to find the source of the horrible smell and so did Knuckles. They weren't too surprised though, because both of them knew exactly what the smell was. It was all too familiar to them. It smelled like . . .

Blood

Smoke

And gunpowder

A large explosion sounded off before shaking the ground violently and almost making Sonic fall off of his perch on the incredibly high building. Knuckles jumped to his feet once the shaking had stopped and the echidna looked at the direction where the explosion had come from. Sonic slowly stood up, slightly saddened at the thought of his peace ruined. He looked at the same direction where Knuckles was staring and he found a tall pillar of black smoke rise from one of the G.U.N. safety zones. At first it didn't seem bad, and Sonic thought he could end whatever was happening in a couple of minutes. But another explosion sounded a couple miles away from the first and the two of them knew that it was a G.U.N. medical station. Two large towers of smoke snaked up into the gray sky as the Egglings roared and as the soldiers fought back. Whatever was happening, Sonic had the feeling that it was coordinated and planned.

From the corner of his eye, Sonic could see the gleam coming off of Knuckles' evil grin and the hedgehog's spine tingled at the sight of the mad echidna. He had the urge to say something to Knuckles, something along the lines of 'Don't overdo it' or 'Try not to go overboard' but Sonic just couldn't get the words out of his mouth. So he decided not to. He pushed the thoughts into the back of his head as he looked down trying to tell whether the drop from the building's rooftop would be painful or not. Before he could even finish his rough calculations, a maniacal laugh entered the air and Sonic looked to his side to find that Knuckles wasn't there anymore. The crimson echidna had already jumped off the edge of the building without thinking and was no barreling down towards the ground. Sonic released an irritated sigh at the sight of his friend recklessly risking his life and he began to run down the deserted building's glass windows.

Knuckles fell through the air like an anvil, but he didn't really care. He could see the concrete floor getting closer and he smiled. Knuckles raised his fists in front of his head and he slammed into the ground, with his fist instead of his head. Not shaken by the impact at all, Knuckles got to his feet and stretched his arms, ready for a fight. Sonic then made it down to the ground and he stopped next to the grinning Knuckles. The hedgehog could tell that Knuckles' insanity was affecting how he acted and he knew that Knuckles was just begging for a fight.

"Let's go." said Knuckles evilly, before speeding off into the direction of the nearest explosion.

Sonic followed after Knuckles at a luxury speed, knowing that the echidna couldn't catch up to him at full. As they got closer to ground zero, the sounds of gunfire got louder and so did the smell of blood. Both of them were too familiar with warfare now, there perception of life changed because of it. Sonic didn't like the change though, he liked it when he was himself, when he wasn't afraid.

They rounded around a corner and a couple feet ahead of them they could see a squad of soldiers firing into the same direction at an enemy that Sonic and Knuckles couldn't see. A small sports car flew over the group of soldiers as they continued to shoot bravely at whatever beast was attacking them. Another roar filled the air and Knuckles recognized it instantly as a Juggernaut's angry howl and the evil smile on Knuckles' face grew wider as they closed in. Sonic on the other hand was a bit nervous. His heart was beating rapidly so he took deep breaths in order to slow it down as much as he could.

Both of them entered the battle at the same time and they looked around taking in the sights of yet another battle. Egglings were scattered everywhere, ranging from the normal Grunts to Juggernauts. They all seemed to be destroying or killing something and in Knuckles eyes it was as beautiful as an orchestra. Sonic looked around, trying to figure out who to help first. Before he could even speak, Knuckles just dashed off towards the Juggernauts, an evil cackle erupting from the mad echidna. Sonic watched his friend run into battle fearlessly and he couldn't tell whether it was the best idea or the stupidest. Instead of running after him, Sonic curled into a spin dash position and started to roll around, running into Grunt Egglings and tearing them to pieces.

Somewhere else near Sonic, a pink hedgehog ran into the battlefield, her large hammer in hand and a determined scowl on her face. Amy looked at the mess in front of her and she cringed the the gore around her. Before her encounter with the Avian Egglings, she would've thrown up at the sight of blood, but now it was a common sight for her. She was used to battling these horrible creatures and her fighting skills were so great that no one called her the Damsel in Distress anymore. Amy actually felt proud of herself. To go from a defenseless girl to a feared woman on the battlefield made her feel like she had won some award of some sort. All she wanted to do now was go see Sonic again and show him how strong she had become.

Seconds before she could run into the battle, a familiar blue streak passed her and for a second she thought she was hallucinating. She turned to look for the blue blur she found it instantly. She smiled at the sight and just like old times, she began to chase after her hero.

The blue streak continued to pin ball off of enemies and objects while Amy followed swiftly. After so long she hadn't lost her touch when it came to chasing after her love and she was proud of herself for not losing that one of a kind technique. Sonic started to zoom toward a large Juggernaut who hadn't seen him and the cobalt hedgehog rammed into its abdomen furiously. The large Eggling staggered backwards as Sonic bounced back and uncurled so he could land on his feet. The Juggernaut regained its balance and let out an angered roar before charging at him. Sonic was ready to fight it but before it could even get close, Sonic saw a pink blur pass by him and attack the Juggernaut. Amy smashed her hammer into the creature's face with a loud crack and the creature fell onto its back, dead.

Amy then landed on her feet and looked over her shoulder to find a surprised Sonic.

"Amy?" asked Sonic, his mouth gaping open in surprise.

The pink hedgehog smiled back at him. "We can talk later, we have people to save." she said simply.

Sonic nodded and the two teamed up and began to take down more Egglings.

Meanwhile, Knuckles leapt onto one of the Avians and he bashed its head maercilessly as the flying creature tried to shake him off. Knuckles continued to cackle madly at the struggling Eggling he controlled and the echidna drove the Avian into a wall before jumping off and landing in the middle of the mob of Egglings. He was killing everything that moved and he didn't care at all. His movements were precise, his attacks were dangerous and the only thing driving him forward were his instincts and his will to kill everyone related to Eggman.

All of the Egglings surrounding Knuckles turned to face the echidna and as if on cue, they all pounced on him at the same time. In a matter of seconds there was a large pile of Grunt Egglings covering Knuckles. The pile shook a little, while Knuckles tried to get free. His rage spiked, and the pile of Egglings seemed to explode as Knuckles finally got free. Grunt Egglins crashed onto the ground around the echidna was he walked forward, the same smile on his face.

"Come on you bunch of pussies! Bring on your best fighters! I'll fucking crush 'em!" yelled Knuckles as he looked around psychotically.

Two Grunt Egglings charged him at the same time and Knuckles launched a swift right hook into the face of one Eggling, fracturing its skull instantly and he grabbed the other Eggling by the throat. The echidna raised the weak monster off of the ground and he punched it in the face sadistically. Even though it was already dead, Knuckles continued to punch, releasing his anger onto the body like a man with a stress ball.

Knuckles then threw the dead Eggling aside before he looked around, trying to find some Juggernauts that would hold his attention. The large Egglings were the only ones that he seemed to be intrigued in. They were big strong and ugly, just how Knuckles liked them. A couple feet away from him a Juggernaut was pounding a G.U.N. tank that sputtered and whizzed with electricity as the operators within it tried to make it functional. Knuckles smiled at the sight before dashing off to fight the Juggernaut.

At the G.U.N. Medical Station, Avians flew over the destruction in a huge flock, all of them screeching loudly, trying to disorient the soldiers who were fighting. Large ground to air turrets thumped repeatedly as they discharged large automatic rounds into flying Egglings above, while soldiers fired at the fast moving Grunts on the ground that seemed to climb over walls of sandbags with ease. Unusable bullet casings clinked onto the ground as the soldiers fired fearlessly into the swarm of creatures charging them. Somewhere within the squad of human soldiers stood a single Mobian, the Captain. The tiger held a P90 machine gun and there was an angry smirk on his face.

"Men! You protect this medical station!" he yelled over the gunfire. "Or you die trying!" he finished before raising his P90 and firing into the swarm.

His brave soldiers all replied with a booming 'Sir yes sir!' and the captain felt pleased that he had trained his men well. As time went by the body count increased and the Egglings started to get closer to the military lines. Despite the soldiers' best efforts, they weren't thinning the Eggling's numbers. Almost every shot that was taken was a head shot and the soldiers made every shot count. The line of soldiers was bright with the gunfire and it looked like some sort of climactic scene from a movie. All of the soldiers fought fearlessly and all of them wanted the Eggling's dead.

Only a couple minutes went by before the bulk of the Eggling attack came forward and a large Juggernaut Eggling seemed to appear from within the group. The soldier's bullets just seemed to bounce off of the hulking abomination's body and it plowed through their defenses with ease. The sight of the creature slowly approaching their lines made some soldiers nervous, but even though they knew that there was a huge chance that they would die, they didn't run. They would follow their Captain's orders to the very end. They would protect the Medical Station, or die trying.

"Captain! It's getting closer!" yelled a somewhat panicked soldier from his post.

The captain scoffed at the soldier and he continued to fire. He was waiting from someone to come, someone important. The captain didn't reply and the soldiers got the message that they were to keep on firing. Even though they could see the Egglings coming closer, the soldiers kept their fingers firmly grasped on their triggers. All of the soldiers knew that they could rely on their captain and that his orders were to be strictly followed. If there were no new orders given then they would stick to the orders they have. This level obedience was something any captain would want, but sometimes it would be a curse if an order were to be given at the wrong time.

Eggling began to jump over the last barricade and they started to get closer to the soldiers.

"Orders stay the same men! Shoot or die!" yelled the captain angrily.

"Sir yes sir!" came the booming reply from his men.

More gunfire sounded, but the bullets wouldn't stop the single Juggernaut from charging at them. The large Eggling burst through the last concrete piece cover they had and now it began to tear apart the soldiers, which allowed the Grunt Egglings to swarm the medical station behind them. Nurses, doctors and injured soldiers screamed in agony as they were torn apart and the soldiers fighting outside tried their hardest to take out as many Egglings as they could. The Captain cursed silently as he watched his men get slaughtered and he prayed that his 'guest of honor' would show up earlier as he continued to fire repeatedly..

With a loud roar, the Juggernaut swung its arms in front it, smashing its fist into Grunt Egglings and soldiers alike. It was only a couple more feet away from the medical station and the captain had to at least stop it from destroying the building. The Juggernaut, now only a couple steps away from the entrance of the medical station seemed to smile in delight, knowing that it would have a chance to kill more people. But before he could take another step forward, a cold, cynical voice entered the atmosphere.

"Chaos . . . ."

A light started to build up in front of the Juggernaut and the large creature looked at it curiously. Behind the growing light, was a very familiar black hedgehog, his hand facing the Juggernaut. There was an angry expression on the ebony hedgehog's face as the Chaos Energy grew in the palm of his hand. Shadow wanted all of the Egglings dead, each and every one of them. Usually he would rather watch the world burn and die, but this time he had a reason. He wanted to go to his home away from home, the Underground. His emotions seemed to fuel his attack as well and the light in his hand got a red tinge as he focused his hatred into it. Shadow then realized something. He was accessing an attack that he had learned long ago with Anubis, during his time in the Underground.

"Voulge!"

A large beam of red and black energy spewed out of Shadow's hand and it slammed right into the Juggernaut. The immense power within the beam vaporizing the beast almost instantly. The beam continued to shoot forward for another five blocks, vaporizing everything from concrete, metal, Egglings and soldiers. Seconds later the beam died down and the only thing left in its wake was black smoke and the smell of dead, burning bodies. The attack had the power of a two Chaos Blasts, except focused into a strong beam.

A smile creased onto the Captain's face at the sight of the hedgehog finally contributing for the right side of the war. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and look in awe at the power that Shadow had presented. Egglings stood frozen in place, eyes glaring at the sight of their missing comrades and the soldiers had the same surprised and scared expression.

Seconds later all of the Grunt Egglings seemed to run away. The Egglings ran away in a large herd like sheep. The remaining soldiers, still frozen in place, looked at Shadow with shocked and disbelieved expression. Not before long they all started to cheer happily at the battle that Shadow had won for them and Shadow responded with a cold glare, but it didn't stop the cheering and laughing. The Captain walked towards the hedgehog a smirk on the tiger's face.

"Guess those damn scientists were right with their prediction," said the captain slyly. The tiger then looked at the hedgehog, the smirk still on his face. "Thanks for helping, but you're not done yet, we have some things we need you to do." he said slyly, as Shadow raised in an intrigued eyebrow.

Amy raised her hammer above her head, ready to smash it into an Eggling's face. But before she could, a large blast was heard and everyone around her seemed to stop and look around, trying to find the source. Seconds later all of the Egglings retreated from the battlefield like a pack of scared sheep. Amy watched as the Egglings ran and she had no idea whether she should celebrate or not. The people around her answered the question for her and everyone seemed to celebrate and cheer, thinking that it was over. Across from her, Sonic had the same questionable expression. Both of them then looked at each, exchanging the same confused glances.

Knuckles then walked towards them, a serious look on his face. The echidna could tell that there was something wrong. The blast wasn't the cause for the Egglings running away, it was something else. He knew that the Egglings were playing with them, pretending to run away scared. Egglings never ran away, they fell back and regrouped for another attack.

"Something's off." said Knuckles normally.

The echidna's right fist was coated in blood and there was a small metal piece of shrapnel in his right thigh. Knuckles took hold of the sharp piece of metal and yanked it out with a pained grunt before throwing to the ground as if it were nothing. Sonic and Amy were amazed to see how dedicated Knuckles was to fighting and killing, but they knew Knuckles' insanity was probably the reason for his outstanding behavior. They knew that Knuckles used to know his own limit, know the echidna acted like he was the strongest person there was.

"Guys!" called a familiar voice in the distance.

The trio turned to see Tails running towards them, Cream following close behind the fox. Cheese was nowhere in sight, but I guess Cream wouldn't allow the chao on the battlefield with her. Once Tails made it over to the group, they could tell that whatever news Tails had was probably urgent.

"What's up little buddy?" asked Sonic, a somewhat worried look on his face.

"This is coming straight from the General," said Tails seriously. "Amy, Cream and I are to take you to the medical station and help out there," said the fox, Amy nodded. "Sonic and Knuckles, we've found Eggman, head to Twinkle Park." said the fox sternly.

Knuckles and Sonic had two separate reactions to the news. A happy smile appeared onto Knuckles' face, knowing that he would finally be able to fight the person who had killed his girlfriend. Sonic on the other hand took the news a bit more seriously. Sonic wanted to finally defeat Eggman. He wanted to make him pay for everything he has done. And for once Sonic had this urge he never had before.

He wanted to really, kill, Eggman.

This was a long on, but hey, constantly improving.

You're probably wondering what Chaos Voulge is. It is a new move that Shadow learned during his stay at in the Underground. To put it simply, it's a Chaos Lance amplified by his emotions, more specifically the emotion, hate. Oh, a voulge is a different variation of a spear for your information. Sticking to the names (Chaos Spear, Chaos Lance) I thought, might as well name it after another spear-like weapon.

Working on another story as well. Go on my profile to find the link to the story about my OC Blank Payj. It's right under his stats. I'm also thinking about posting said story on fanfiction. In your review/in my poll, please tell me whether I should post that story here or not.

Please Review.