Author Note: Hey all! I actually updated! After much soul-searching and procrastination I've realized that I failed at planning this story and let it get too far from the original concept. I'm not certain anymore whether I want to write all the many sequels I planned, even after how many years I spent planning them and how much trimming I've done, but I will finish this one. I've made mistakes along the way, introducing character that didn't add to the story and not using them, but I am certain of what needs to happen. And so, here is the next chapter, and a final battle against Chaos is prepared.

Chapter 27

The wheels of the transport roared beneath Edward Gareth Goering as he road towards Deppen. Usually the transport ran under its own intelligence, but Edward had overrode it from his position on the back. The speed at which he forced the transport to move would eventually cause it to start breaking down, but he would not need a quick transport when he returned in triumph.

Edward was shaken out of his thoughts by an explosion in front of the truck, forcing him to slow the truck to a stop so he could investigate what was happening. Before he could do anything though, a ring of squirrels with aged assault rifles emerged from the surrounding forest and encircled the truck, each one making sure their rifle was pointed straight at him. To his right he saw their leader, a girl in a blue vest, step forward.

"Why hello, Princess Sally." Edward said, his voice drenched with sarcastic geniality. "It's so good to have you once again interrupt my affairs."

"Get out of the truck, Eggman." Sally replied, readjusting the gun in her arms for emphasis. Edward flinched at the demeaning nickname derived from both his initials and his girth.

"Please," He sneered. "We both know you won't kill me. Besides which, I clearly have the advantage." Edward pushed a button on his data pad and the truck released his mount from its securings. From the squirrels' view the box-like platform Edward had been sitting on top of unfolded to reveal a metallic, bipedal pod with Edward in the cockpit, Edward readjusted the machine to face Sally, pushing another button to slide a reinforced glass dome over his head.

"Everyone, move back!" Sally barked, furiously backpedalling away from the pod while trying to keep her aim on it. Edward laughed as he watched the squirrels antics.

"You knew I was coming and where to ambush me but didn't check to see if I was armed. Your technical skills never cease to amaze me." Edward added the last line with his usual brand of sarcasm.

"Don't underestimate me." Sally warned, trying to inject as much confidence as she could into the threat.

"Trust me I don't." Edward said. "I know you only had three hand grenades left since your last operation, one of which you must have used to stop the truck, and with that few munitions you couldn't really hope to destroy whatever I brought, meaning you were planning on something else to do it for you. And, knowing you, you failed to realize that I came out here so that I could destroy Chaos!"

As if on cue, the monstrous being made of water rose up behind Edward, oversized arms hanging to its side. Chaos lifted an arm into the air, but as it brought the arm down Edward's machine twisted to face it and jumped back,leaving the back of the truck to be demolished. Sally took cover behind a tree as metal shrapnel was thrown through the air, knowing her comrades had retreated as soon as the monster made its appearance. They all knew she would be the only one to stay behind and see it through to the end.

A long box hanging from the back of Edward's machine rotated to the top, covering the entire right side. "FIRE!" Edward roared, needlessly pointing an arm forward as the box launched a missile straight into Chaos's head, shattering it and making the monster collapse into a puddle.

"Hah." Edward chuckled, exaggerating so that Sally would hear him. "Nothing can compare to the power of my intellect."

"What about your uncle?" Sally called back as she put more trees between her and the war machine, afraid of anything that could so effortlessly take down the monster called Chaos. She stopped as she heard an unnatural scream, and turned to see a reformed Chaos facing down Edward once again. Edward calmly launched another missile at it, only to watch in shock as Chaos blocked it with a wall of shimmering colors. Edward tried to put the machine into retreat only for it to become caught in between the trees. It was simple work for Chaos to walk forward and punch a hole into the back of Edward's machine, pulling out what Sally thought was a red gem before being forced to cover her eyes from the bright light it emitted.

OOOOO

Fear. Anger. HATRED.

OOOOO

Manic looked up in interest as he saw the rabbit come running into Deppen. He wasn't suppose to be so close to the outskirts, but he felt certain that the ninja wasn't a threat anymore. Both of the kids assigned to guard him raised their weapons, mistaking "chameleon" for "shape-shifter".

"Hey, put your guns down, if she wanted to kill me she would have shot already." Manic said. Though they were a bit bothered by his reasoning, the kids listened, and lowered their tracers. The rabbit stopped a bit more than meter away, breathing through her nose, and standing straight to hide her exhaustion.

"Are you the Mobian rebels?" She asked. No matter how serious she was, the lighter accent of her English clearly marked her Armetrian origin.

"Nah, we're the Tsarminian-" Manic began sarcastically, but the rabbit cut him off.

"I don't have time for games, smart-ass, lives are at stake." she barked out, glaring at him. Manic shrunk back a little at her reaction, before turning around and calling out.

"Someone get Knuckles."

"We can't wait for someone else, the monster could be-" The rabbit tried to pressure Manic, and as soon as she said 'monster' his eyes widened and he grabbed her arm. Before she knew what was happening she was dragged along as the green hedgehog sped along the grasslands in the direction she had come from, his guards turning back to warn the other freedom fighters.

OOOOO

Sonic swore as he looked around in vain. "Knucklehead sure picked a good time to disappear." Everyone had begun looking as soon as Manic had called out, and had missed Manic's hasty departure in the growing worry over Knuckles's sudden disappearance.

"Then we do this without him." Sonia said. "He can grumble later."

"Can't believe you're saying that." Sonic said as they turned and started to leave the village.

"Manic's my brother too." she said.

"Still can't believe it. How many come with us?" He asked. The question made Sonia glance back at the crowd of kids that was following them, and realized how disastrous it could be if they all came.

"Twenty, no more." she said as the passed the last building of Deppen. Many of the kids stopped following immediately, some kept coming, and while Sonia didn't count she at least felt confident that they had left enough behind to guard the village. As they began to pick up their pace with Sonic trying his hardest not to run, and still outpacing them, Sonia hoped they reached Manic in time.

OOOOO

The squirrels ran as they never had before. They were no strangers to real danger, and had spent years fighting the machines of the Robotnik and the megalomania of the one they called 'Eggman' for the sake of their morale. All of that, though, paled before the horror of the demon. None of them were willing to face the monstrosity, and when they saw a hedgehog running towards them they tried to warn him, but he did not slow.

It was in that moment that Chaos appeared bursting through the ground with an animalistic roar. The liquid creature had lost its unbalanced appearance, and a scythed tail with a red emerald at the base of its skeletal inside, whipped about behind it. Lightning danced across Chaos's arms, dazzling Manic as he pulled out a ring case and grabbed its contents.

Manic had talked to his siblings, trying to glean what the affect of the rings had been like and, tried to prepare himself for the rush. Instead, he was caught unaware as his logic dissolved in a rush of emotion and senses, and Manic felt himself pulled to a single position of the present. Chaos was before him and he had come to defeat it.

"Get behind me!" He roared to the squirrels, his voice filled with the power inside of him. Chaos pulled back an arm, ready to charge and punch, and the green hedgehog responded by slamming his palm down into the ground. The energy in him flowed down and split the earth in front of him, traveling straight towards Chaos, ending with a shard of stone rising from the ground and spearing Chaos through the chest. "Its time to finish this." Manic said, readying his power for a second attack. And then, to his shock, Chaos let loose a sound like gurgling, and he could hear words in the flow of water.

You can't. He thought it said. Chaos's chest constricted and shattered the stone shard, and Chaos straightened itself and sank into the ground. Manic twisted around expecting the demon to try and catch him unaware, but all he saw were awestruck squirrels and a stone faced rabbit. Everyone stood there for minutes, waiting for the fight to resume, but Chaos never returned. They were still like that when Manic's siblings and the freedom fighters they had brought found them.

OOOOO

Sleet looked over at Dingo. The two of them stood before the town of Deppen, wearing their weapons and sick of waiting.

"Are you ready?" Sleet asked. Dingo looked at him oddly.

"Didn't you ask that before we left?" Dingo wondered. Sleet shook his head at Dingo's lack of dramatic sense.

"Dingo, you are such a retard."

"You should see my son." Dingo replied. Sleet had heard Dingo say some surprisingly dumb things before, but not that he had a kid.

"You had a kid?" Sleet asked, hoping no poor child had to suffer Dingo as a father.

"Yeah, back when we split up after those special forces guys rejected us." Dingo explained.

"What happened?" Sleet asked.

"Wife wouldn't shut up." Dingo replied absently, scratching his nose. Sleet grimaced and chose to return his concentration to the mission.

"C'mon Dingo, let's show these kids what we're made of."