Chapter 9: The Unthinkable
In the lab of the Pyramid Base, Eggman is overlooking the final stages of his plan before he starts to light it. He is analyzing the Phantom Ruby prototypes and the final one he gave to Infinite himself, also researching his DNA. Orbot is running scans on his four 'followers' while Cubot is cleaning Infinite's tube. That was until Eggman shoves him out of the way.
"Sonic. How I hate him. All of that loathing I have spent has been focused on my new instrument of destruction. Every single defeat I have suffered at his hands will be returned with a thousandhold by my unstoppable creation. With this invention, I can spread the Eggman Empire across the planet and finally, my dream will come true at last! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Eggman gloats.
Orbot and Cubot listen to Eggman's speech. Both of them are frightened about his change of tone and how serious he is. Normally Orbot can show secret distaste towards the doctor despite his loyalty, but that doesn't stop him from being afraid.
"All four of my followers are all set. Awaiting your command, doctor. Is it time to unleash your plan?" Infinite asked.
"Yes. The time has come. The Deadly Six have done their part to district the hedgehog by luring him to Green Hill. To see what I am about to do to the world. Time to lure the mouse into a trap."
Eggman smirks evilly as Infinite bows his head before his master as Cubot claps for him as Orbot hides behind a capsule, fearing what Eggman has planned.
Sonic dashes to the top of his house in Green Hill to see what has happened. Rouge was not kidding on what she said earlier of what happened. There is sand everywhere that's covering the water and there are sandfalls replacing waterfalls.
"What in the world? One of my favorite spots is all ruined now. Thanks a lot, Eggman. Gotta get this place back to normal quick!" Sonic said with a very annoyed tone.
Sonic immediately gets a call from Tails and Amy and he answers it.
"Sonic?! Where are you?!" Amy shouted for him. "The city is under attack by Eggman robots! We're trying to hold them off until you get here! And we've sent the Chaotix to help some citizens get to safety."
"Eggman has a trick up his sleeve. Please hurry!" Tails pleaded.
"Alright! I'm on my way!" Sonic replied.
Sonic jumps off the roof of his house and starts making his way back to his Tornado 1. He runs in a slight downhill before he hits a boost ramp and makes it to another platform. There, more Eggman robots start appearing in front of him.
"I don't have time to lose! I better kick things up a notch!"
Sonic uses his Sonic Boost and zooms past the robots, destroying them one by one within a second. There, he skips past a small ledge and homing attacks a couple of springs, homing attacks another robot before he runs and jumps off a ledge, homing attacks three buzzbombers before grabbing a zipline, zipping Sonic forward before he hits three springs one after another and he is flying to another platform, he sees a giant yellow and purple sandworm far in the distance. Something that he recognizes.
"Those sandworms again? Aren't those things from the Lost Hex? They were not that big the last time I saw them. Green Hill is more like Sand Hill right now."
Sonic continues to boost from one high platform to another that leads uphill and jumps off two floating platforms before running uphill again and destroying two more buzzbombers. He sees a platforming swinging back and forth and jumps on it before he jumps onto a bridge high up in the sky connecting two platforms together. He runs off one bridge and lands on another and runs more before he grabs another zipline that brings him closer to the ground and runs around a loop and sees a fork in the road. He quickly takes a right, jumps past a couple fallen pillars and runs around a circular bridge. Sonic then sees some rocks and pillars suddenly in the way and slides under a gap he sees at the last second and finally reaches his tornado.
Sonic starts his plane off once more and he uses the remaining path as a runaway and he starts flying. As he flies to Emerald Town, he looks down and sees two more sandworms appear.
"What a wreck. Guess all kinds of things show up when your home is in a desert. Clean up is gonna be such a chore, and Eggman's gonna clean this up when I'm through with him.
Sonic continues to pilot his way to the town, ready to confront Eggman and put a stop to his evil plan, whatever his plan is.
In Emerald Town, the place is being wrecked and buildings are collapsing. Citizens, humans and mobians are running and hiding for their lives. Amy is using her Piko Piko Hammer to fight off many robots, but the more she and Tails fight off, the more that appear. The two of them are trapped in a corner with some other civilians with plenty of robots closing in on them with Eggman watching.
Sonic shows up, jumps off a building, homing attacks three robots in a row before landing on the ground, boosts three more of them away and jumps up and stomps on the last one, saving his friends and civilians, who are cheering for him.
"My hero." Amy clasped her hands and awed before her great hero.
"Is everyone okay?" Sonic asked.
"We are now. You're kinda cutting it close, though, pal." Tails replied with relief.
"Well duh. That's usually how I roll." Sonic joked before turning to his archenemy. "Okay, Eggman. I don't know what you're planning. I know you wanted to attack Silver, and steal tech from G.U.N and break down my little bro's house. It's time to finish this."
"Oh, it will be YOUR finish, Sonic. Go ahead and hit me. I'm right here with no weapons in front of me. Do your worst!" Eggman goaded.
Sonic clashes his fist into a hand and runs up to do a spin attack on Eggman. Before he could land the hit however, he is suddenly knocked back by what felt like a kick. Sonic flies backwards but lands on his feet. Sonic looks up and he couldn't believe his own eyes. Shadow stands before him. Tails and Amy see this as well as they evacuate the citizens.
"Shadow! What are you doing?!" Sonic asked.
Shadow does not answer. He looks up and he stares at Sonic. However, he is wearing a Phantom Ruby prototype on his chest and his eyes look more cat-like for some reason.
"He is not alone, Sonic." Zavok's voice is heard.
Sonic looks up and he sees Zavok landing on the ground as he too stares at Sonic.
"Zavok?! With Eggman again? Thought you hated his guts." Sonic expressed confusion.
"Isn't he that red jerk who tried to drain the planet of its energy?" Amy asked Tails.
"Yeah. Me and Sonic teamed up with Eggman to stop him and his Deadly Six." Tails nodded.
Metal Sonic was the next to land beside Shadow and he too stares at Sonic.
"Metal! I knew you'd be here. I'm gonna give you twice more than what you did to Knuckles."
Before Sonic could react, he sees none other than Chaos land beside Metal Sonic. Now Sonic is confused, as he knew Chaos is a good guy now after he defeated him as Super Sonic.
"Chaos?! You too?!" Tails asked. Now it was his and Amy's turn to be confused.
Sonic then hears something coming down. It sounds familiar and he looks up and he sees Infinite. He descends down to the ground and he too stares at Sonic. Sonic smirks, twigs his nose and boosts into Infinite…. Only for him to quickly step aside. Sonic notices this and turns around, confused as the other four continue to stare at him.
"What the?" Sonic looks back
"Whoa! This guy is faster than Sonic!" Tails couldn't believe what he just saw.
"But that's impossible! Sonic's supposed to be the fastest!" Amy said.
Sonic dodges a laser fired at him and tries to do a spin attack on the new villain, but Infinite kicks him into the air and then kicks him again into a building.
"It has to be some explanation! I gotta scan him and figure this out!" Tails gets out his Miles Electric and tries to run scans on Infinite. But he is trying to figure out why the readings are acting weird.
Sonic on the other hand recovers and manages to dodge two more attacks. Zavok comes in and tries to punch Sonic, but Sonic parries the punch away and delivers a haymaker to his chest, sending Zavok down. Sonic runs up and tries to boost into Infinite again, but he dodges and Sonic immediately turns left and sees Metal Sonic trying to scratch him, but he stomps down to dodge, lands and tries to hit Infinite, but he dodges a third time and lands on a building. Chaos comes out of nowhere and tries to grab him, but Sonic blocks the hand and tries to force it away.
"Chaos! What are you? How are you guys doi-" Sonic tries to reach him to no avail.
Infinite does another roundhouse kick and Sonic is sent away and lands on his stomach.
Eggman looks on, very impressed by their fighting skills.
"Nice!" Eggman smiles.
"We gotta help him! He can't take much more of this!" Amy tries to walk in.
"No! Get outta here! Don't want you getting hurt!" Sonic told Amy. "Tails! What's going on with this guy?"
"I don't know, Sonic. These readings are all messed up. They don't make any sense!" Tails tries to work on the Miles Electric, but numbers on his screen is flying everywhere in random directions. Seemingly like it was infected by a virus.
Sonic recovers and bends backwards to dodge a kick from Infinite and does a one-two punch and a kick to the face, which barely even hurts Infinite. He fires another laser from his hand, causing Sonic to jump backwards.
"Tails, forget it! Get out of here!" Sonic shouted.
Infinite kicks Sonic into a wall and before the hedgehog could even fall, Infinite kicks him upwards. This time, each of the four followers take their turn in the fight.
Shadow jumps in the air and kicks Sonic up even further, with Zavok slamming both fists down on him, nearly sending Sonic to the ground, only to be uppercutted by Chaos, hit by Metal Sonic's corkscrew attack, and finally kicked by Infinite in the back and sent to the ground, chest first.
Amy covers her mouth in horror as Tails looks on in worry. Sonic uses whatever strength he has left and briefly turns to his friends.
"R-run. Save… yourselves. Get….. others."
Sonic loses his strength and collapses to the ground and he briefly sees his new enemy stand right in front of him before darkness takes over him, and Sonic passes out.
"SONIC!" Tails and Amy shouted in unison.
Amy and Tails immediately try to get out of the rubble to help him, but Metal Sonic shoots a laser near their feet and Zavok and Chaos stand between them and Sonic. Tails sees this new villain picking up Sonic and starts to carry him away. He attempts to fly after him.
"NO!" Tails yelled.
Tails is stopped by Shadow, who kicks him back down to where Amy is. Amy barely catches her fox friend as they both look up and see that the new villain is gone along with Sonic.
"Yes! YES! At last! After decades of pain and embarrassment, Sonic has lost! Soon! Welcome to a world where I reign supreme! A world where Sonic has finally failed! With my new power, I will finally conquer the world!" Eggman gloats and raises his arms in the air.
"You won't get away with this, Eggman. You hear me?!" Amy threatened him with her hammer.
"Oh, but I will. I could have my buddies destroy you two…. But not yet. This time I'll let you go. Warn them. Warn all of your friends. Tell them I am coming! Tell them that Sonic has lost and he's gone!" Eggman tells them.
Tails and Amy didn't want to run. They want to stay and fight. But given that's two against four and that they're too strong.
"Tails! Come on! We have to warn G.U.N! Tails, please!" Amy pulls his arm.
Tails feels frightened. He remembered Silver's warnings about his future and that Eggman has won. Tails can't help but feel ashamed of himself. Ashamed that he was too late to help Sonic out. He sees Amy pulling on his arm and Eggman laughing at his victory. Tails reluctantly coincides and starts flying, with Amy holding on tight. The villains follow Eggman back to parts unknown.
The G.U.N HQ is not looking good. They are picking up traces of robots everywhere near the entrance and the soldiers are destroying as many as possible. Silver helps out as well. He uses his psychic powers to toss, throw and crush as many as possible while using combat skills. Gemerl has made it with Vanilla, Cream and the chao. Knuckles, who is recovering, watches as Rouge desperately tries to reach Shadow and Omega.
"Shadow? Shadow?! Can you hear me?! Anybody there?! Come on, get it together!" Rouge yelled, but gets no answer.
"I don't get it. Why aren't they picking up?" Knuckles walks in.
"I don't know. Shadow usually never goes radio silent. Eggman must've caught him. Whatever he is planning, it isn't good." Towers said, looking on.
"Guys. They're backing away. They're running away. Where are they going?" Silver notices the monitors.
"Running? Since does Eggman do something like this?" Towers asked, staring.
"I'm picking up five life signs. They're coming this way fast." Rouge said.
"I see them. It's Tails and Amy. And the Chaotix too." Silver sees Vector running with Espio and Charmy. Tails and Amy were the next to arrive. But to everyone's confusion, Tails and Amy look devastated.
"Tails? Amy? What happened? What's wrong?" Espio noticed.
Tails and Amy remain silent. They don't want to tell them what happened, but they have no choice, otherwise, they'd find out eventually.
"Everyone needs to hear this. This is bad. Really bad." Amy said. She sounds like she's trying not to hyperventilate.
Vector and the Chaotix stop and see their faces. The three look at each other before they look at Silver.
"C'mon. We gotta get to the center." Silver said.
Silver leads everyone to the center where Knuckles, Rouge and Towers are. As soon as they enter, Knuckles and Rouge turn around and see unwanted looks on the faces of Amy and Tails. Tails feels like he's losing the feeling in his legs.
"Amy? Tails? What happened?" Knuckles asked.
Tails looks down, looking sad while Amy is trying to hold back her own tears in her eyes.
"Guys? Wait. Where's Sonic?"
"Yeah. And what about Shadow and Omega?" Rouge asked.
Tails takes a deep breath and steps forward while Amy doesn't move a single inch. Tails looks up to face his friends.
"S-Sonic. He….. he lost. Eggman got him." Tails stuttered.
Knuckles: What? You mean he lost? To Eggman? You gotta be joking me. Sonic never loses.
"Please don't tell me. Don't tell me. He has to be alive. We need him to fix the future. Where's Sonic at?" Silver said. Now it was his turn to not hyperventilate.
"Eggman. He had help. From Metal Sonic. From Chaos. From Zavok….. And from Shadow." Tails reluctantly continued.
Knuckles and Rouge look at each other swiftly when they heard him say Shadow's name. Knuckles is also confused on why he mentioned Chaos and why he's with Eggman.
"That water monster? He shouldn't even be here!" Vector pointed out.
"Chaos normally comes out whenever there is a grave crisis and does whatever he could to prevent a catastrophe from coming. But him working with Eggman doesn't make sense." Knuckles corrected the crocodile.
"Shadow? Why? Why would he side with Eggman? Last thing I heard, he was fighting someone before I lost contact with him." Rouge couldn't believe her bat ears on what she just heard.
"There was this new guy. He looked like some sort of jackal wearing a mask. He had some sort of crystal or something on his chest." Tails described.
"Him!" Knuckles realized. "He was with Eggman and Metal Sonic when I got attacked on Angel Island! They must have captured Chaos after they kicked me off my own island!
"But where is Sonic? What happened to him?" Silver asked.
"That monster. Whoever that was. It caught him. It caught Sonic and beat him and took him away." Tails said.
"I'm picking up a transmission signal." Rouge said.
"Who is it from?" The commander asked.
"It's from Eggman himself. I'm putting it on screen right now."
Rouge pushes a button and on the big main screen, Eggman appears before them with a big, evil smile on his face. And behind him are Shadow, Chaos, Metal and Zavok.
"Eggman!" Knuckles yelled.
"Hohohohoho! Welcome, Knuckles and Tails. And everyone else present. Surprised to see this handsome face again?" Eggman mockingly asked.
"I've seen worse things than you, you mad scientist. You have a lot of guts calling us. Tell us what you want." Towers demanded.
"I have the most powerful allies on my side now. And a new power than I myself discovered. With this power, I will finally conquer the world. I am calling to offer you something."
"We don't negotiate with freaks like you. If Gerald and Maria were here, they would disagree with everything you've done or will do."
"How hurtful, commander. But hear me out. With this new power, no one can stop me. So you have two choices. You may surrender any forces you have to me. Your G.U.N. United Federation. Everything to me. As I conquer the world, I may spare you all, as long as you remain loyal to me."
"And what if we say no?"
"Then you may be welcome to try to fight me in a war over the world. I promise you that I won't hold back on anything. Neither will my new allies."
"Where is Sonic, you monster?!" Silver asked, getting Eggman's attention.
"Why, he's right here, Silver. See for yourself." Eggman answered.
The monitor switches to Sonic still unconscious from his recent fight against the five villains. His hands and feet are restrained by energy light binders. It appears he is placed in some sort of shuttle.
"Sonic!" Amy reached out.
"He can't hear you, Amy. In fact, he will never hear your voice ever again! Considering the fact that you're never really his girlfriend to begin with."
Eggman steps aside and turns to Infinite and nods to him. The heroes get a good look at who this mysterious foe is. None of them recognize him however. Infinite chuckles and pushes a button before he and the others get out of the way. The engines start powering up and light up while Eggman watches from a distance as he chuckles more. Zavok looks on with a smile on his face as he felt like he got some payback on the blue hedgehog. The shuttle slowly starts taking off as the top of the Pyramid Base opens up and the shuttle takes off from the ground, carrying Sonic in it.
"NO!" Everyone yelled in shock and sadness.
Eggman, Infinite and Zavok laugh and gloat in their victory over Sonic, now gone from this world. Tails loses the feelings in his legs as Amy could no longer hold the tears back and starts crying. Cream starts crying into her mother's arms as Gemerl helps comfort her. Charmy looks on in shock as well as Rouge as Espio turns away, closing his eyes in dismay and sadness. Silver's hands light up in anger as Vector cracks his fists. But before he could react, Knuckles slams his fist into the ground and runs over to the screen.
"If it's a war you want, it's a war you'll get, Eggman! The loss of Sonic will not stop us from stopping you! All of us here stopped you at least once! You think we should be scared of that guy? Well guess what? You're sadly mistaken!" Knuckles defied.
Eggman laughs at this. While he does find him to be very gullible and short tempered, he has underestimated the echidna from time to time. Besides, the scientist with an IQ of 300 loves a challenge from anyone besides Sonic. Particularly Tails and Knuckles.
"Well, well. Someone stepping up as some commander? What are you gonna do? Form some sort of Resistance and have assistance from G.U.N? Ha! I'd like to see you try, Knucklehead. Hahahahahahahaha!"
Eggman signs off. The heroes look lost and trying to figure out what to do. They were hoping to stop Eggman sooner in order to save Silver's future and ensure Sonic's survival and Shadow staying on their side. But with Sonic gone, they wonder what to do.
"Knuckles. It's not too late. We can still fight. I came to you for a reason. You are to be the one to help fight Eggman and his empire. Please. We need you." Silver said to Knuckles.
Knuckles thinks for a moment. He looks around him and everyone present support Silver's idea of making him the leader of a resistance movement. Knuckles would do anything to help his friends, including Sonic. He would do anything to avenge him. Knuckles sighs and turns to everyone, including the commander of G.U.N, who nods in approval.
"All right. I know this won't be easy for me. But I'll try. Eggman wants a war? He'll get one. This will be for the world. This will be for our lost friend Sonic. If we are to take back the planet, we need to rally all of our allies. Find new recruits if we have to. We even have friends beyond the earth. We have G.U.N on our side. Are we gonna let Eggman walk over us?" Knuckles asked.
"No!"
"Are we just gonna step aside and let him conquer the world without a fight?"
"No!
"Are we gonna let them make us be a bunch of scaredy cats?"
"No!"
"And we're gonna fight. We're gonna defend this world at all costs. No matter what happens. And who are we doing this for?"
"For Sonic!"
"That's what I'd like to hear!" Knuckles finished before turning to Towers. "Towers. How many men and robots do you have?"
"More than enough. Hundreds of thousands. They're trained to be tough. We are also accepting new recruits." Towers answered.
"Good. I think I should start doing the same thing. Find as many mobians as we can. Anyone that is willing to help us fight." Knuckles turns to the genius fox. "Tails. Do you think you can get into contact with those Wisp alien guys? The ones you and Sonic saved?"
"Y-yeah. My Miles Electric has a translator and can contact them via satellites I've placed on their worlds. Yacker can try to respond." Tails stammers.
"Good. Since G.U.N has their own spy being Rouge. I think I know another that's good enough for the job."
Knuckles turns to look at his chameleon friend Espio.
"You can count on me, Knuckles." Espio nodded.
"Amy. You can be my second in charge and in charge of communications." Knuckles said.
"You got it, Knuckles." Amy accepts.
"Silver, Vector and Charmy, you guys can be on the field with me whenever. Charmy can be there for support and Silver on the defensive line. Vector and Gemerl can help be on the offensive line." Knuckles said.
"You can count on us, Knuckles. Commander Knuckles that is. Now what else do we do?" Silver said.
Knuckles: We prepare. Prepare for war against the Eggman Empire. For the world. And for Sonic.
The heroes cheer. Despite them losing Sonic, they are not going to back down that easily. The commander nods, thinking that the idea is off to a good start. He can tell that Knuckles will help fight back against Eggman and his army and find new recruits and bring the wisps along. None of them are afraid of Eggman. They never have been. They never will. And whoever this new ally of Eggman is, they will try their best to not fear him too.
Note: So that is what originally happened. Sonic is defeated by Infinite. The last time we see him before the game jumps into a 6 month time jump. The Resistance, minus Tails, believed him to be dead but immediately after the Avatar is introduced, Sonic is found alive. I showed what exactly happened to him in this redux to actually show that the heroes are convinced he's dead. Amy was with Tails when Sonic lost, unlike in the game and this is how the Resistance forms and G.U.N is in it since they're not in the game for some reason.