Day Eight, Prompt: Outnumbered/All or Nothing
Sonic's world has been turned upside down in a matter of hours. The people hate him, his friends are trying to support him. All eyes are on him and he feels himself crumbling under the pressure.
I usually post my comments at the end of the chapter but I wanted to make sure y'all know this chapter is a continuation of the last chapter. Just so you don't get confused about where this starts.
Sonic wakes up to the smell of coffee.
His eyes open and he finds himself staring at the ceiling. He thinks he's slept well but he's still tired regardless. Sitting up on the cot he finds Knuckles in the corner, sipping his cup of coffee and he stares at Sonic with a face filled with amusement. "Good morning. Slept well?"
He nods, "I suppose. Did you?"
Knuckles shrugs, "The best that I could get in light of our circumstances. I'll be alright though. Lack of sleep doesn't bother me much."
Their conversation ends briefly. Knuckles walks to the stand where the lamp was and takes hold of another cup of coffee set aside and hands it to Sonic. He takes it thankfully.
They sip away at their cups. Knuckles' coffee is simply decaf with no additives besides sugar. Sonic's coffee is a mix of vanilla cream and sugar as well as a hint of caramel syrup, just the way he liked it. He's surprised Knuckles remembered.
Knuckles hums to himself while consuming his beverage, "By the way, Tails and Amy are here. They just flew in on the tornado. We should meet them as soon as possible to create a next plan of action. I think Shadow and Rouge should be here soon too but I haven't a clue when. Just try to be ready within the next ten minutes alright? I'll be waiting out here."
With that Sonic finds himself alone once again. There's not much for him to get ready with exactly. The only thing he can realistically do is try to tame his quills with some water from the bathroom.
His cup sits at his lap and emerald eyes fall to it. The swirls of light brown intermixing with the vanilla cream was satisfying to watch. They mixed into each other with harmony.
He stops wasting time and finishes off his caffeine. Setting it aside he pulls the covers off of him and walks to the bathroom. It wasn't anything fancy besides a shower and a sink.
Sonic doesn't feel like showering despite the amount of dust and grime in his pelt he knows is embedded. He simply splashes his face a few times with the freshly cold water from the sink. Sonic realizes his headache has finally faded when he looks at himself in the mirror. Aside from that, Knuckles was right. He looked genuinely awful.
Dark circles lined beneath his eyes, bruising all over his head and face. He hadn't realized the butterfly bandages that lined the side of it. He hadn't felt them nor did Knuckles tell him.
Sonic sighed to himself, his appearance was the least of worries. Just trying to figure out what to do next was enough on his troubled mind. He splashed his face again, bandages whose grip had been hindered by the water falling off his face. He cupped his hands to wet his quills in order to keep their order, petting down away from him to appear as they had been combed through.
When he deems it enough, he tries to dry himself with the shower curtain since that is the only thing he could logistically dry himself with and walks out.
His hand rests atop the door handle but he doesn't turn it. He doesn't know what he's about to face. Either a face full of people angry at him for his mistakes or friends that might turn his back on him. He's not sure. He feels simply guilty for everything.
Sonic sets his feelings aside and walks out the door. Knuckles is waiting for him outside the door frame just like he said he was. "Ready to go?"
He nods.
Knuckles' mouth forms a scowl, "Hey, everything's going to be okay. None of this was your fault. No one saw this coming. Now come on."
They walk down several halls until they end up at a door that leads to the back of the building. It was too risky bringing Sonic through the front. Who knows what kind of people would try to do to him there? They run and Knuckles leads the way. Where they're going he's not entirely positive but he doesn't ask. He trusts Knuckles they'll be going somewhere safe.
They must be out of the city seeing that this part of it wasn't destroyed and intact. The two walked over a hill and the other side of it gave a glimpse of an entire panoramic view at the damage that was caused.
Dust still swarmed the air but has since slightly cleared. Little to no buildings remain, all have toppled over and many have only their foundations still standing. The streets were lined with debris and long black and gray fumes rose above that could be seen from afar. G.U.N. helicopters flew overhead and sirens could be heard at a distance.
The duo stood still, no words exchanged between them. It was a sorry sight. The dust prevented the viewing of the full extent of the damage when they were down there but up here, it just made things ten times worse.
A sense of dread and anxiety bubbled in Sonic's stomach. He couldn't bear to look another second and turned away.
"Come on, they're waiting for us." Knuckles motioned.
Sonic just followed, turning his back against the destruction that was found down below.
They arrive at a small concrete structure. They walk similarly through the back door. When they do Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Shadow stand in a circle around a table that was in the center of the small room.
Tails isn't hesitant to run up to his brother and crush him with a hug, "Thank Gaia you're okay. We heard about what happened. Are you sure you two are alright?"
'We're fine, now we need to discuss what's next," Knuckles answered.
Tails pulled away enough to face Sonic. His face fell when he did, Sonic looked tired and not well but that didn't stop his brother from smiling at him pleased to see him alright.
"What the doctor's goal here is what I don't understand. What was the point of destroying an entire populated city for?" Rouge questioned.
"We've been studying the doctor's movements for months. I have no idea how we missed this. Maybe this was a last-minute plan?" Shadow intervened.
Sonic shook his head, "No, no it wouldn't make sense if that is the case. If this was last minute how could he have all his robots and badnicks at full power and ready to attack? To build all that and form a plan from scratch just doesn't seem plausible."
"Well, I'm not sure about that. The robots used in the attack seem to be older models from a few years ago in contrast to the ones we fought a few months ago. They weren't even at full power either so if it was a last-minute task I wouldn't be surprised. The question is why." The kit informed.
"Well, we can't underestimate him that's for damn sure. This isn't the first time he's done this and this most certainly won't be the last," Knuckles concluded.
Amy shrugged, "Maybe there was something in the city he wanted? Something to prove or get revenge for? Do we know if Eggman was in operation in the city in the last few years?"
Tails denied such with his Miles Electric in hand, "Negative, I can't find any data that may suggest the doctor had any connections or any reason to be downtown within the last five years. Which still begs the same question."
"It doesn't matter why he was there or how he managed to raze the place. What's our next move? That's the real question we need to come up with an answer for," a frustrated Sonic voiced.
"I say we need to find the doctor. Or any indication he might do this again at some other place like Metropolis or Central City. Any ideas?" The bat gave her two cents.
"Knuckles and Sonic, where were you when this all happened?" Shadow interrogated.
"We were in the lower southside, near the edge of the urban area. We weren't even at the center of downtown when it happened. Then it got cloudy and who knows where we ended up. We didn't see Eggman at all actually. Just his machines swarming the place. Sonic and I were separated briefly but we ended up fine."
'None of this was fine', Sonic thought. 'None of it was.'
"Let's just say hypothetically we do find him, then what? We're outnumbered. Six of us against Chaos knows what? One of us is bound to get killed. We don't even know what his plan is. Not even G.U.N. can spare the resources for taking Eggman and his army out since we still have YET to recover those same resources from the war."
"So no leads to the doctor's whereabouts and no plan. Great. We're screwed." Shadow negatively implied.
"Hey don't say that. We'll find something that'll lead us to him. We'll figure something out," Amy shot down.
Almost as if on cue, the floor shook beneath them and a loud rumble was heard close by. They looked at one another before running out the door and eyes widened in stupor.
The Death Egg robot, 10 times as large as its original. The doctor has to be inside controlling the thing. One step destroyed four blocks of residency beneath it.
Another crash, the group turns, and another robot just as large crushes the rural area in a matter of seconds.
"I'll call for backup." Rouge communicated.
"What are we going to do?!" Amy panicked.
Sonic took a step forward, "What we do best."
Sonic was their beacon of hope and if he says they can do it, they can. They have to. They have no other choice.
Knuckles seems ready to punch anything that he needs to. Rouge and Tails are ready to fly and Amy has her hammer out. Shadow prepares to take off his inhibitor rings for the final battle and Sonic takes his final stance.
It was six against two massive-sized Death Egg robots. They could do the impossible.
They needed to. It was all or nothing to save the city from going into oblivion.
They needed to at least try.
I hope that all of you have been having an amazing start to your month. If not then go to a pumpkin patch or eat some candy corn. Don't be sad! Find things outside of what is normal in your life to find some sense of joy, you don't know what will happen if you don't at least try!
