Chapter 2: The Resistance.
"Call me Rekka... Rekka Kurenai!"
He didn't know why he called himself that. He knew he had another name, but his memories seemed to... blur together. It just felt right, to refer to himself as such. He didn't have much to go off, anyhow. Taking note of the oncoming horde, he pointed off into the distance where the evacuation was being held, frowning. "Now go!"
Darius didn't need to be told twice. He nodded rapidly and scurried off to get the rest of his team. As they left, Rekka watched the soldiers evacuate the area, he turned towards the oncoming swarm of Egg-Pawns, and several other Empire-issued robots. His brows furrowed and sweat rolled down his cheek. He felt a sense of trepidation as he stared down what felt and looked like an army.
All he had to do was stall, right?
Easier said than done. A part of his mind snarked at him, and the dragon sighed harshly. As the mass of badniks inched closer and closer, a wave of familiarity washed over him and he clenched his fists. Square your shoulders. Part your feet. Steady.
He followed the motion, adjusting his body into a combat stance. His arms raised above him, the right outstretched into the motion of a claw, while the left stayed chambered back, clenched into a fist. Emerald irises narrowed in focus and he sucked in a breath. Everything around him soon faded out as he took in another breath.
Focus...
As soon as an Egg-Pawn had raised it's cannon in his direction, Rekka blasted off like a blur. His fist blurred and tore straight through the head of the Egg-Pawn. He swiftly followed up with a kick, sending the decapitated body into the crowd of metal and gears. An explosion followed soon after, destroying a good junk of the horde. He began moving when a hail of bullets and lasers came down upon him.
Flipping through the air, Rekka used a nearby Buzz Bomber as a platform to boost himself further into the air. He twirled and curled on himself, spinning through the air like a buzzsaw as he let gravity and momentum come into effect. As he came crashing down into the center of swarm, he lashed out with an axe-kick, crushing another robot underneath his strength.
His instincts flared and he swerved to the right just as the stinger of a Buzz Bomber sailed past where his head once was. He reacted fast and lashed out with a fist. The metal crumpled under his strength as he caught the fist of another Egg-Pawn with his other hand. A fanged smirk crossed Rekka's lips as he grabbed ahold of the arm with his other hand and began using the robot as a weapon, slamming it into several of it's own breath.
His heart pounded in his chest. He could feel the adrenaline pumping. The thrill of battle excited him. Everything about this felt right. He felt as those he shouldn't be capable of any of this--and yet, there was that inkling of familiarity. It was almost nostalgic. It was feeling he couldn't describe... but he felt as though he was used to this. To fight.
Pivoting over a Moto Bug before grabbing it's shell and launching it into the horizon with a heave, Rekka began making quick work of the surrounding badniks. Each attack flowed into the next, punch after punch, kick after kick. Experience was poured into every attack. He grunted and bent backwards to avoid the swing of another Egg-Pawn, idly noting on how flexible he was as he bent towards the ground.
Kick-flipping into the air, and launching a spin-kick towards the orange badnik, the impact sent it sailing through the air and slammed straight into a lamppost with a loud CLANG! as he landed on the ground with a grin, slamming his fist into his palm.
"That all you got?!" Rekka goaded, looking around to see piles of scrap metal and wires surrounded him. He blinked in surprise. "Oh. It's over? I didn't realize..."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The ground shook as if an earthquake had taken place, powerful enough to see Rekka a couple of feet off the ground. Eyes wide, the dragon slowly peered over his shoulder to come face to face with a massive Death Egg Robo. The titanic badnik's red LED eyes glared down upon him with a smoldering intensity. Rekka began to sweat, stepping back.
"Hooh, boy..." Rekka gulped. "That's a big bot."
The Death Egg Robo swung one of it's clawed arms down upon the dragon with deceptive swiftness. Rekka gasped and leaped out the way, grunting as the gargantuan fist tore through the earth and generated a powerful shockwave from the impact, sending him. flying through the air. Rekka flipped through the air and dug his claws into the ground to stop himself from sliding back any further. His green irises narrowed in trepidation as he eyed the massive threat.
"How am I gonna stop that thing?"
"Maybe I can be of assistance!"
Perking up at the sudden voice, Rekka blinked in confusion as he saw several lamppost be torn out of the pavement by some kind of psychic force and hurled towards the Death Egg Robo like a javelin. The titanic badnik raised an arm in defense as the metal poles bounced off it's metal exterior. Soon, he found himself turning towards the source.
Floating in the energy, covered in a thin aura of psychic energy was a grinning hedgehog Islander with silver quills and white chest fur, with a peach colored muzzle and bright golden eyes, wearing a pair of white gloves with golden wrist-guards and black boots with blue and red accents. He looked down at Rekka with a grin.
《Silver the Hedgehog.》
"You mind if I lend a hand?" The hero from the future inquired with a smirk.
Rekka blinked owlishly, staring at the hedgehog dumbly. "Uh..."
《A few minutes prior...》
This was bad. This was really bad.
Not say things weren't already bad. Silver had an experience with these sorts of things. But this took the cake. Nothing on this scale had ever happened before. And that's what shook him to the very core.
Eggman won.
After years of defeating the mad doctor and saving the day, Eggman had actually managed to win and nearly take over the entire world. It had something to do with that jackal and the strange gem on his chest... Infinite. He wouldn't forget that name for a while. The guy that'd beaten Sonic. He, along eith Eggman, had nearly laid waste to the entire world after defeating Sonic. With the blue blur captured and his fate undetermind, morale and hope had hit an all time low. Which was what Eggman exploited and used to his advantage.
Silver had come back to the past for that exact reason. The psychic hedgehog's future was always in disarray, it was aggravating. Everytime he felt as though he made a step forward in fixing everything, there was always something that forced him two steps back!
Silver let out a harsh sigh and shook his head as he flew across the sky at his top speed. Regardless, that didn't matter. The Resistance had gotten a notification from one of their members and their team posted in Sunset Heights that the city was being under attack by the Empire's forces. Probably another jot of land for the doctor to industrialized and indoctornate more innocent people... or worse.
He'd just so happen to be the closest to Sunset Heights during the call for backup, so he volunteered to go on ahead and help. With Amy's permission granted, the hedgehog had flown off as fast he could go to make in time. They couldn't lost anymore ground to Eggman and his Empire. He wouldn't allow it!
Sunset Heights came into view and a knot formed in his stomach. Parts of the city were destroyed and set ablaze, likely from the attack. And even from a distance he could see the massive form of the Empire's mass produced Death Egg Robos wrecking havoc across town. Silver clenched his fists and looked down to see the citizens being evacuated into a Resistance shuttle. He flew down and touched the ground, jogging over to the soldiers leading the people inside.
"I'm the backup on behalf of the Resistance! What's the situation?" Silver informed in his best authoriative voice. He couldn't stop the concern from flashing in his eyes and lacing his tone.
One of the soldiers, a dog Islander, the one that made the distress call in the first place... Darius, if he could remember, sighed in relief, nodding. "Right. We held an evacuation as soon as we spotted Empire forces coming in on the city. We managed to get a majority of everyone out without any serious casualities. Some were injured, though."
"Me and my squad were holding off the threat for as long as we could, but we were being overwhelmed. I didn't think we were going to survive, but..."
Silver's brows furrowed at the dog's hesitance. "But?"
Darius sighed, shaking his head with a tense frown. He pointed to the city. "There was this kid, a reptillian Islander, from the looks of it. I couldn't quite discern what species he was... but he called himself Rekka. He was holding off the enemy long enough for us to complete the evac." He grimaced, glancing in the direction he pointed. "I don't know how long he's gonna last. He was strong, I could gather that much. Sent multiple Egg-Pawns flying with a punch. But there's a lot of 'em. And that Death Egg Robo is gonna take notice sooner or later."
Silver's eyes widened slightly in shock before taking on a determined visage. Nodding his head, he pointed to the shuttle. "Alright. Get everyone out of here and had back to Resistance HQ. I'll head out and search the city, find him, and help him out."
Nodding at that, Darius ushered the rest of his team and the remaining civilians inside the ship without a second thought. He was the last to board, but paused, giving Silver a glance. "... If he's still alive, make sure it stays that way. I wanna thank him properly the next time I see him."
Silver nodded silently at Darius' words as the doors slid shut. Watching the shuttle ascend into the air and fly off, the time traveler soon turned his attention towards the city and clenched his fist. Psionic energy flowed out of his body like water, and he blasted off into the sky and flew straight into the danger.
He surveyed the scene with a keen eye, scrutinizing every nook and cranney of Sunset Heights for any sign of a reptile Islander in sight. He couldn't find one anywhere. His ears twitched and perked up at the sound of various explosions going off and he flew towards the source.
Silver came face to face with a battle, if it could even be called one. A reptile Islander, which he had to assume was the 'Rekka' that Darius had mentioned, was making quick work of the horde of badniks with surprising ease. Each punch and kick didn't seem to waste any energy or movement, they all flowed into one another. It was almost as though he were dancing through the battlefield. The strength and speed was nothing to scoff at, either. Though he'd seen faster and stronger. Knuckles and Blaze came to mind. But that didn't mean he wasn't strong in his own right.
Next thing he knew, the badniks were nothing but scrap. Silver blinked in surprise and let out a quiet 'huh' of thought. Maybe he didn't to come help after all--
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Silver winced and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the intense gales created from the shockwave caused by the attack the Death Egg Robo through at Rekka. Luckily the dragon had leapt out of the way in time. Silver's eyes narrowed as he eyed the gargantuan badnik. Normally, it would take a group to take a single one of them out. Silver believed he could take one out himself, but it'd take all his power to do so and he'd end up with no energy.
But if they worked together...
"How am I gonna stop that thing?!"
"Maybe I can be of assistance!"
As soon as Rekka had whirled around to look for the source, Silver used his psychokinesis to tear various lampposts from out of the ground and launched them at the Death Egg Robo at full throttle. The large mech blocked the attack, but it bought him some time. He smiled down at Rekka.
"You mind if I help out?" Silver quipped with a grin.
Rekka stared at Silver, dumbfounded. The expression caused the hedgehog to snicker, before he took on a determined look. "I'm part of the Resistance. I came here because there was a distress call saying backup was needed here." Touching down on the floor as he explained, Silver walked up to Rekka and eyed the destruction he caused. "Looks like I wasn't the one to make it here first."
"Uh--yeah." Rekka nodded sheepishly, grinning in embarrassment. "I just wanted to help, s' all."
At that, Silver smiled and nodded. "Thanks for that. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here or if I didn't make it in time..."
Pausing, Silver fought back the scenarios that were beginning to conjure up in his head, instead, he focused on the task at hand and pointed at the Death Egg Robo.
"But we have to take that down. If we let it go, it'll just destroy Sunset Heights, and that's another settlement lost to the Empire." Silver grimaced. "If we can take it down, we can send Eggman and the Empire a message. It'll take a while for them to regain the forces lost, the materials to make those kinds of things aren't cheap."
"If we destroy it, that'll buy us enough time to recuperate, retake Sunset Heights, and build up another base of operations."
Rekka tried to comprehend all the information unpacked unto him. Nodding slowly with furrowed brows, he glanced at Silver, and then at the Death Egg Robo. "... Right. But how are we going to take that down by ourselves."
"You're pretty strong, I've seen it! And I've fought these things a bunch, so I know how they work." Silver grinned confidently and pumped his fist, pointing at the large LED optic that functioned as the super badnik's eye. "The main power core is located in there. If we destroy it, it's easy pickings from there. The problem is breaking the casing. They can withstand hits from people like Knuckles. So we have to hit it with everything we've got!"
"So punch it 'till it dies?" Rekka simplified and nodded, clashing his fists together. "I think I can do that!"
"Not exactly how I'd word it but... yeah!" Gathering upon his psychic energy, Silver levitated into the air. "Let's take it down!"
As the Death Egg Robo went in for another swing, Silver and Rekka took off. Silver grabbed several large debris with his psychokinesis and began firing them with enough speed that one would mistake them as bullets. They impacted the super badnik's armor roughly and left scratches and scuff marks. As it's clawed fist struck the ground, Rekka flipped through the air and began rushing up the limb at high-speeds.
With a grunt, Rekka launched himself at the face of the Death Egg Robo, his fist already sailing through the air to smash through it's optic lens. It raised it's other arm, blocking the hit. A loud clanging sound echoed from the impact before it swiped it's arm back, sending the dragon flying back with an alarmed scream.
Silver reacted in time and caught Rekka in time using his psychokinesis, and set him down on the floor. Sending the dragon a thumbs up, the psychic's ear twitched as a shadow passed over head and he whirled around to see a spiked fist coming his way. Swiftly, Silver raised his hands and formed a barrier of psychic energy, grimacing at the weight bearing down on him.
Rekka bent his knees and rocketed off the ground, roaring with effort as he drop-kicked the arm away from Silver. Blinking, the hedgehog grinned before surrounding himself in a powerful aura of psychokinesis, and flew straight towards the Death Egg Robo at high speeds. He focused harder, and the aura began to solidify itself into a dome of energy just as he struck the massive badnik right in the dome.
The ground shook as the Death Egg Robo staggered back. Rekka was quick to follow up, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop as he got a running start. As soon as he reached the ledge, he poured all of his strength into his legs and launched off like a speeding missile, raising a fist and striking the badnik right in the chest. The impact vibrating throughout the metal, it swung a haphazard haymaker Rekka's way, but Silver was quick to lift the dragon up in a telekinetic hold to avoid the attack.
Releasing his hold, Rekka dropped down to the ground and glared as the Death Egg Robo regained it's footing. Silver floated down to his side. He glanced at the psychic. "We aren't doing much damage."
"Then we're gonna have to amp it up a notch." Silver growled, his eyes giving off a faint cyan hue. The marks on his hands shined brightly as an aura of psychic energy erupted from his body and he blasted off towards the badnik again, dodging swings and slamming into it with all his might.
Rekka watched on in silence, frowning to himself. He looked down at his hand, and. paused. Amp it up... He clenched his hand into a fist and took in a deep breath, shutting his eyes and digging deep.
Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, only for steam to begin wafting off his body and billowing into the air. As Rekka delved deeper within himself, he saw a spark, a flickering ember, and he reached out to it. Stoking it. It grew large as he began to fan the flame, before it erupted into a raging inferno. Sucking in a breath, the dragon squared his shoulders as smoldering red flames exploded around his body.
Eyes snapping open with a newfound ferocity, a fanged grin stretched across Rekka's face as he bent his knees and blasted off with explosive force. A crater formed from his ascent as he shot through the air, resembling a flying streak of flame as he let his velocity and momentum carry him forward. An echoing roar left his lips as he threw a punch straight towards the head of the Death Egg Robo. Embers sparked around the shockwave and erupted into an explosion, knocking it back some.
Silver blinked in surprise. Pyrokinesis? He shook his head and turned his attention towards the Death Egg Robo. Clasping his hands together and shutting his eyes in focus, his psionic powers began to glow brighter. Orbs of psionic energy began to surround his body, orbiting him. Rotating at rapid speeds. At his behest, the orbs shot forth like bullets and slammed into chest and head of the Death Egg Robo, living dents in it's armored shell.
It's red optic lens began to glow an angry red. Heat began bubbling within it's core as it's stance was squared. Silver's eyes widened and he swerved out of the way, Rekka's instincts screaming at him to do the same. As the two dodged, a massive beam of red energy barreled past them, digging into the street and leaving deep trenches in the pavement. The sheer heat from the beam melted the earth, only for it to cool rapidly soon after. The destruction went on for miles before finally dissipating.
Rekka gaped openly, before whirling around to face Silver. "It has LASER EYES?!"
Silver winced. "Oh... I forgot to mention that, didn't I?"
"How do you forget that it has fucking LASER EYES!"
Both boys screamed in shock and quickly moved out of the way out of another blast. Several homes were annihilated in an instant. Panic began to build in Silver's stomach and he clenched his fists tightly.
"We have to end this. Now."
Rekka grimaced at the destruction, biting the inside of his cheek. He looked around, before slamming his fist against his palm with a grin. "I got it!"
Silver turned to the dragon in confusion. "Huh?"
"It's super huge. It's moderately fast, but it's still pretty slow. It's got terrible mobility." Rekka surmised, brows creasing as he watched the Death Egg Robo charge up another blast. "If we can knock and down, we can destroy the core without it trying to stop us with one big final attack."
Silver blinked and nodded. The plan was well thought out enough. But he still had one issue with it. "But how are we gonna knock it down?"
At that, Rekka grinned. "We use it's weight against it!"
Silver blinked in confusion before a dawn of realization washed over him and he grinned himself. A red glow illuminated the area and he nodded, boosting off into the air. "Time to put that plan into action, then!"
As the dodged another laser beam, they took off. Rekka focused his pyrokinesis into his legs and blasted off into air, streams of fire propelling him forward. As a clawed arm sailed in his direction, Rekka cut off the flames and landed on the arm, breaking out into a heat, flickering embers sparked around his hands. Bounding off the limb and cupping his hands together and charging fire in between his palms.
Hurling a large ball of flame straight at the dome of the Death Egg Robo. Exploding on impact, Silver dove in with a battle cry, crashing straight into the chest of the badnik with a hardened dome of psionic energy. It stumbled, he immediately flew down. "AIM FOR THE LEGS!"
Nodding, Rekka released a burst of flame from his legs to accelerate his descent. Twisting his body mid-air, the dragon took in a large intake of air. A fire built up within his belly, rising up to his chest, and to his lips. Embers flaked out of his maw, and he let it build up before releasing a mighty roar, a massive stream of fire erupting from his mouth and clashing against the right leg of the Death Egg Robo.
Silver expanded his psychokinesis on the left leg, sweat dripping down his brow. He began grunting as he began to push against the weight. The staggering from the Death Egg Robo helped in his task. It was still a struggle, but he trudged on, roaring with effort, his powers glowed brighter, and shoved harder. The Death Egg Robo tipped, and it's massive frame began to fall backwards!
Creeeeeeeeeee...!
Dismissing his flamethrower, Rekka landed on the ground and watched as the Death Egg Robo began to follow. His eyes lit up in anticipation as he turned to Silver. "This is our chance!"
Silver nodded, and the two rocketed off into the air until the Death Egg Robo's optic, and by extension, the core, was in sight. Auras of fire and psychokinesis illuminated the area in a blinding light, as Rekka and Silver dove down, Rekka lashing his foot out in the form of a fiery kick, while Silver surrounded himself in a dense dome of psionic energy.
"The bigger they are...!" Rekka's flames grew hotter as they neared their target.
"The harder...!!" Silver's eyes shined with blinding cyan light, his velocity reached it's peak.
"THEY FALL!"
In unison, their attacks landed. The action was delayed, but the combined force and impact of their strikes, coupled with the momentum and velocity made it easy for them to break through the hardened metal and reinforced glass. The core crumbled beneath their strength and sparked, before exploding in a massive display of fire and shrapnel, as the rest of it's body soon began to follow. The resulting shockwave sent Silver and Rekka sailing through the air. While Silver landed on the ground in a crouch, Rekka's landing was far less graceful as he roughly impacted the pavement facefirst.
The dragon let out a muffled groaned of mild pain.
Silver winced and couldn't fight back a chuckle, helping Rekka up. "You alright?" He asked kindly. Though blinked in surprise. He's a lot taller than I realized.
"Ugh... my nose." Rekka nursed his nose with a wince, but sent Silver a small grin. "Yeah. I'm fine. That was... awesome though!"
Silver's brows rose and he blinked in surprise. He smiled slightly. "I guess it was pretty cool. Dangerous, though."
"That's the exciting part about it though! It gets a fire in your belly!" Rekka pumped his fists and struck the air a few times. "It's got me fired up!"
Silver let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Heh! Can't say I don't like the enthusiasm. I think that's enough excitement for one day, though."
A buffet of wind picked up around the two, and they looked up to see a Resistance rescue shuttle pull up. Rekka gaped openly at the sight while Silver let out a small sigh of relief. "So they sent a pick up crew ahead of time. Good... I don't think I have enough energy to fly all the way back."
As the hull to the shuttle opened up and a ramp was dispatched, with two Islanders in soldier gear urging them over, Silver began making his way inside. He paused, realizing Rekka wasn't following, and smiled, tilting his head towards the ship. "You coming?"
Blinking out of his stupor, Rekka quickly nodded and jogged into the ship. "Y-Yeah!"
《FRONTIERS》
"We're about to pull up on HQ now!"
"That was fast." Silver mused with hum, and blinked when Rekka hopped out of his seat and ran up to the window, smushing his face against it to get a quick look of the HQ.
Set within an urban environment, east of Central City and west of Echo Mine, the Resistance HQ was anything heavily extravagant, from what Rekka was actually expecting. From what he garnered from the information Silver gave him during the flight, the Resistance were a group of freedom fighters that were at war against some guy named Dr. Eggman and the Eggman Empire after he dominated nearly the entire planet. He'd expected some sort of high tech facility of some kind, nothing a run-down building.
Admittedly, it wasn't so bad. It was large and spacious from the outside alone. A massive three-story building with brick red paint that was work out. Parts of the building were chipped off and broken, but it was still in tact, and Rekka supposed that's all that mattered. Considering they were currently at war with half the planet taken over, it was safe to assume resources were finite. And they were making due with what they had available to them.
Rekka clenched a fist at the thought. How one man could cause such destruction frankly scared him. But it also made him angry and sad at the suffering these people had to go through. And that only made his respect for the Resistance grow, as they fought for their freedom.
As the shuttle touched down in the launch bay, Silver got up from his seat and began making his way out the shuttle as the doors slid open, with Rekka hastily following after him. "I'll show you around. C'mon!"
As they made their way inside, Rekka marveled at the interior of the HQ. It was far larger on the inside than the outside gave it credit for. Massive inter-connecting corridors with a sheen silver finish was what he was met with. There were a few traces of dirt and dust, as well as a couple of broken windows, but it was still operational and looked fine. The corridors led to smaller rooms, all of which had different labels.
"On the right are the dorms, where members of the Resistance, both old and new sleep, If you go deeper down the hall and take a left, that's where the workshop is. Our mechanics fine tune our gear and wispons. The medical ward is nearby... and up ahead is the main room!" Silver explained as the walked through the building, holding a sense of enthusiasm in his tone that made Rekka smile.
As the entered the main room, Rekka took a gander at it with a look of awe. It was a rectangular room, littered with various crates and supplies. A massive monitor were positioned in the center of the room, currently offline. Cracks could be seen in the floor with cables strewn about, and near the the monitor, typing away at a keyboard, was a pink hedgehog with vibrant green eyes, with three bangs framing her face, were a bright red dress with white accents, gold ring cuffs with white gloves, and red and white boots, the hedgehog seemed keenly focused on communicating with someone through the comms.
She looked tired, something that made Rekka's brows furrow. Silver smiled softly snd called out. "Hey, Amy! I'm back! And I brought someone!"
Perking up, the pink hedgehog turned towards Silver. Her tired look brightened at the sight of the hedgehog, her smile filled with relief. "Silver! It's good to see. I'm glad you made it back in one piece."
《Amy Rose, Commander of the Resistance.》
"It's gonna take more than a simple Death Egg Robo to take me down, you should know that by now!" Silver said confidently with a grin, but his expression soon became serious. "How are the civilians holding up?"
Amy's smile softened, but looked a tad bit drained. "Save for a few injured, they're all fine, holed up in the medical ward. They're all still shocked from the experience, though."
Silver let out a sigh of relief. "Whew... that's a relief!"
Nodding in agreement, Amy's attention soon shifted over to Rekka. "Who's this?"
"Oh, right! This is Rekka!" Silver beamed, gesturing to the dragon. "Without him, fighting that Death Egg Robo and eliminating the raid squad from the Empire would have been far harder than before. So I can't take all the credit."
Smiling, Rekka gently placed his fist against his palm and bowed slightly. "I'm Rekka Kurenai. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Rose."
Rekka Kurenai... he must be from Chun-Nan. Amy smiled and waved her hand in a lax manner. "No need to call me Ms, I get enough formalities as it is. You can call me Amy! Thanks for helping Silver out."
At that, Rekka shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I just wanted to help. No need to thank me for that."
Amy's smiled widened a fraction and she huffed out a chuckle. "Humble, aren't you?"
Rekka grinned sheepishly. "Guess so?"
Smiling, Silver's ears perked up as a thought came to mind. "Oh! Are the others not back, yet?"
Amy shook her head. "No. They're all on their own respective missions. Knuckles and the Chaotix are still looking for new recruits to join the cause."
"And how's that going?"
Amy grimaced, her ears drooping. She sighed, running a hand through her bangs. "... Not... good. People are still scared of the Empire. Either because they lost their homes, their families, maybe even both. Eggman's been getting bolder in his movements, which have also been spreading our numbers and resources thin. And with Sonic..." She paused and bit her bottom lip as a swell of emotion surged up within her. She fought it back down and took in a deep breath. "... morale is low. We haven't gotten any new members yet. And I can't blame them, but it's just..."
"We won't be able to push back if our numbers don't grow." Silver winced, clenching a fist in frustration.
Rekka's eyes flicked between the two, and his brows creased in concern. He bit the inside of his cheek, as a thought came to mind. Yet he was hesitant. He didn't know much, hell, he was still figuring out where he was, or what he was going to do. But he knew that he couldn't do any of that with the world in jeopardy. He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.
"... Can I join?"
Amy and Silver peered over to Rekka with a look of surprise. Amy was the first to speak up. "Join the... Resistance? You don't have to, believe me." Amy's smile was strained, mixed with melancholy. "I know how dire this situation is. You don't have to join the fight--we've been managing well enough as of right now. No need to risk your life."
"I may not know what's going on, but from the fight I had alongside Silver against that... Death Egg Robo, I know that things are a lot worse than they appear." Rekka frowned and looked down at his clenched fists. "If no one's going to help, then who will? I'm still figuring things out, but I've got powers that can help people. I should use them to do that."
Rekka's lit up with determination and he grinned, thumping his fist against his chest. "So I want to help join the cause. Whether it's fighting on the front lines or even just move around supplies and boxes. I want to set things straight. The world isn't gonna fix itself. And who better to send that Eggman guy packing than the people vying to make a change?"
As Amy stared into Rekka's determined green irises, she couldn't help but be reminded of another hero. Her mind was taken back to the start of the war, and soon enough, for the briefest of moments, Rekka's form was overlapped with that of a blue hedgehog's. A knot formed in Amy's throat as the image vanished as soon as it came, and she closed her eyes and took in another deep breath as to reign in her emotions.
She peered over at Silver, who gave her a bright grin and enthusiastic nod, and she felt herself letting out a short laugh, looking back at Rekka with a determined smile of her own. "Alright. You made your case."
"Welcome to the Resistance."
And that's a wrap! Well, wasn't this an action-packed chapter. Silver and Amy make appearances, Rekka's abilities are showcased in the heat of battle, and most of all, our dragon boy is now part of the Resistance!
What adventures and trials await our heroes? Guess we'll find out next time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
