Chapter 12: Raging War Part 3

Month 5

Five months into the war, 75% of the world has been taken over by Doctor Eggman. The Resistance is putting up a fight as much as possible. Despite raising their armies with G.U.N and gaining more support and weapons, they still struggle to turn the tides towards Eggman, his new minion and his followers.

Today, Commander Knuckles is leading a mission to bring some food and supplies to the civilians. He hopes to keep them running with strength and faith as commander. Despite the loss of Sonic, Knuckles was not gonna give up. He will fight his way through anything or any enemy to show his own bravery and put his foot down as commander of the Resistance.

"How's the supply run going, Knuckles?" Amy asked Knuckles.

"So far so good. Some minor delays, but we're getting there. How's the HQ holding up?" Knuckles replied via comms.

"Going okay I guess. These poor people. They don't deserve this life because of Eggman. At least we're keeping an eye on them with food and water."

"Yeah. And faith and strength. Don't forget that. We gotta keep standing strong no matter what."

"You're right, Knuckles. I….. wait. Uh oh. Knuckles, heads up! We got trouble!"

"Trouble?! Where? Who?"

"Shadow is near your location. He's probably gonna try to stop your supply run mission."

"Not if I can help it. Where is he heading?"

"The Speed Highway town session near Station Square. These people need the supplies and water. We can't afford to lose them, not even one."

"Have Silver and the Chaotix back up the soldiers with those supplies. I'll keep Shadow distracted. And maybe find out why he's doing this."

"I'm on it. Be careful out there, commander."

Knuckles and Amy sign off as the commander starts making his way to the Speed Highway. He runs and glides to get to the town secession. It's on fire and some buildings have fallen apart from the war. He glides into an empty apartment building that has been partially destroyed and runs his way through it as he reaches the town. It appears to be nearly empty. Knuckles contacts the G.U.N commander.

"Hey, Towers. I noticed many robots and soldiers that belong to you are here. Coincidence to back me up?" Knuckles jokingly asked.

"Amy informed me that Shadow is nearby. I have ordered them to help you find Shadow and bring him in alive. We need answers." Abraham replied.

"Yeah, I hear that. I'll search higher ground to find him."

Knuckles goes to a nearby spring and bounces up on top of a market building. He then uses the spikes on his fists to climb even further up and gets to the top of a hotel building, hoping to spot Shadow. He doesn't seem to see him anywhere. The soldiers on the ground and the G.U.N flying beetles search the ground and skies for Shadow. They too don't see any movement. But then G.U.N robots start blowing up by a zoomed homing attack and plus a couple of chaos spears.

Soldiers start getting readings of Shadow's movements and start aiming their weapons everywhere for the black hedgehog. Three soldiers line up and Shadow instantly teleports in front of them. He is sporting a vest that has one of the Phantom Ruby prototypes. Before they could even fire, Shadow jumps and punches one across the face, slams two fists on top of the second soldier's head and spin kicks the third one in the face, sending all of them down. He sees three more soldiers running towards him, but Shadow backhands one of them in the chest, sending her backwards and kicks the other in the face. A sixth soldier tries to shoot him, but Shadow jumps on him, forcing him to the ground and punches him across the face three times, knocking him out. Then he sees dozens of soldiers surrounding him, all ready to fire. But then Shadow glows red and unleashes a Chaos Blast, and the radius of the attack sends all of the soldiers very far back, defeating them all. Before Shadow could finish them off, he senses debris of a building being thrown at him and he teleports out of the way. He looks up and sees Knuckles and goes up to face him.

"That's gone far enough, Shadow. I don't know what Eggman offered you, but if you wanna make things easier for yourself, you'd best better surrender now." Knuckles gets ready to fight.

Shadow dashes towards Knuckles for a backhand strike and a kick, which Knuckles blocks both and kicks Shadow back.

"Alright. You asked for it. Been wanting to fight you. This is for Sonic."

Knuckles cracked his fists and was ready to fight. He charges at Shadow and throws a punch and a haymaker, but Shadow avoids both and jumps backwards and fires multiple chaos spears. Knuckles, despite being slower, avoids as many as possible. Knuckles jumps to throw a straight punch, but Shadow teleports behind him and does an elbow strike and a kick to the back. Knuckles quickly recovers and growls in anger. Knuckles jumps and glides towards him, but Shadow jumps over him and does an eagle kick to the head, sending Knuckles down on the roof. Before he could do a homing attack, Knuckles dodges it and jumps backwards. He then dashes forward and does an uppercut to the chest and a punch across the face, sending Shadow backwards into a wall.

Knuckles then charges forward and rams Shadow through the wall, breaking it apart, grabs him and punches him down to the ground. Shadow dance kicks his way back up and recovers. He swiftly homing attacks into Knuckles and sends him back outside the building. He recovers and sees Shadow jumping for a kick, but Knuckles grabs his leg and throws him upward. He jumps and slams both fists down onto Shadow sending him to a roof close to the ground made of glass. Knuckles jumps down and is about to jump down to punch him, but Shadow teleports, causing Knuckles to break through the glass instead. He lands harmlessly and jumps in the middle of the street to face Shadow. Shadow turns into a ball and starts charging up for a light speed dash while Knuckles powers up and starts using his Maximum Heat Knuckles attack and he glows purple, ready to finish this. Shadow finishes charging up as the two stare at each other. Shadow swiftly charges at Knuckles and does a spin attack… but Knuckles grabs him in ball form and is holding back with all of his strength. He holds back with all of his might and has to end this. Knuckles charges up a fist and uses a Maximum Heat Attack and punches Shadow backwards so far, he crashes through a building.

Knuckles bends to his knees, feeling exhausted from his fight against Shadow, since they never fought each other 1 on 1 before.

"Heh. Hehehehe. How's that? How does it feel losing, you traitor?"

Knuckles smirks and has a small laugh, seemingly having defeated Shadow. But then he hears footsteps. He looks up and he sees Shadow. Shadow is hurt really bad but is still silent and willing to fight more. Knuckles uses his strength to get back up, ready for another round.

"Knuckles!" Amy contacts him. "We got the food and supplies to safety! You gotta get out of there!"

"I can do this all day! We can take him!" Knuckles refuses to back down.

"As much as I like your courage, you can be kinda thick. You're our commander. We need you. We can live to fight another day. Please. Don't throw away what you helped build."

Knuckles tightens his fists. He was ready to fight Shadow a second time, but the safety of the people is a bigger priority.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here while we can."

Knuckles and the soldiers escape as fast as they can before Shadow could go after them. Shadow on the other hand gets a call from Eggman.

"Shadow, return to base. Let them thrive all they want. We're still on a winning streak. We'll get Knuckles yet. But first we must proceed with our own plans." Eggman ordered him.

Shadow silently nods and retreats back to the Eggman Fortress. Infinite watches through the screen.

"Look at you, Shadow. Once a fierce fighter. Now a mindless, silent slave. Now you know how I feel. I could finish you, but the doctor has other uses for you." Infinite said.

Five months since the war started. Each of Infinite's followers have gotten stronger over the course of the war. Things are going to get worse from here. Whether the heroes like it or not as much as they try to keep up with their sense of hope.

Note: I am so sorry for the lack of uploads last week. Things gotten so busy over the second half of last week regarding work and personal life and I was just so tired after that. But now I am back.The reason why I didn't immediatly jump to six months later was again, the whole thing was rushed so I'd thought I'd show an impact of the world being conquered and give some action to Infinite's followed being Shadow, Chaos, Zavok and Metal Sonic and give some heroes action as well. Next chapter will continue with the main story and Sonic revealed to be alive. Which is obvious, haha. Until next time! And do stay safe!