Chapter 17: Tough Mission, More Experience
Sonic finds himself standing in a crumbling city, reduced to burned wood and broken bricks. Over half of the city is on fire and giant Death Egg Robots surround it, firing lasers everywhere.
Sonic tightens his fist and gets ready to run. He dashes forward, only for the brick floor to collapse below him and he falls into a dark, seemingly bottomless pit. He shouts as he falls helplessly before landing on the ground. He wakes up and shook his head. Then the blue blur realizes he's in a completely different place. He sees the Eggman Fortress Tower, the same place he briefly saw earlier. A voice echoed behind him.
"Hello, Sonic." The voice said. Sonic recognized that voice immediately. It was Eggman. He turns around and sees Infinite hovering in the air beside his master from a far away distance. In his left hand, Infinite is holding his best friend Tails by his head.
"Tails!" Sonic shouted. He tries to run with his super speed, but as he ran, he finds himself not running faster than the speed of sound. He was running like everyone would. A normal human or mobian running and screaming in terror. For the first time, he was tired from running and breathes heavily as he tries to desperately run to save his brother.
"Y-you won't get away with this... Eggman. You hear me?" Sonic said as he ran closer. As he jumps for to punch Eggman, he was kicked in the face by Metal Sonic, his metallic dopplegenger.
"Oh, but I have gotten away with it, hedgehog. All of your friends have been enslaved. Look around." Eggman shows Sonic.
Sonic turns around and sees all of his friends. Roboticized and enslaved. Knuckles looks almost exactly like Metal Knuckles from so many years ago. Everyone else have been turned into robots, forced to do Eggman's bidding forever.
Tails is thrown down to the ground as Infinite fires a sphere at the young fox.
"TAILS!" Sonic yelled as Metal Sonic held him in place. He watched helplessly as the sphere and dust clear. A shadowy figure stands up, blue eyes light up... Tails is now also a robot. Worse than before he was previously by Zavok.
"As for you, my dear rodent friend. I have a special gift for you. A very special place that will lead to nowhere but eternal darkness. Care to do the honors, Infinite?" Eggman said.
"As you command, master." Infinite obeyed. He puts his hands together and a black ball appears high in the sky close to the top of the fortress. It opens wider and wider as it was slowly pulling Sonic in despite his attempts to escape.
"Farewell, Sonic... forever." Eggman playfully gestured as the wind grew strong enough and Sonic is scooped off his feet and he screams helplessly as he is sucked into the black hole. The last thing he sees is the now robotic Tails glaring at him with mere silence.
Sonic wakes up gasping for air. He finds himself in his bedroom where he stayed after his fight against Infinite. He looks around and realizes that much to his relief, it was only a nightmare. His heavy breathing wasn't loud enough to wake anyone up, including Silver, the other person who's still resting. His feet hangs from the right side of the bed as he regained his senses.
He finds himself shaking. Both his hands, and his left foot. Never before has the blue hedgehog felt like this. He never had bad dreams, nor did he feel so... scared.
"Tails." Sonic whispered to himself. "Where ever you are... I'm sorry."
Meanwhile, The Resistance continues to counter the Eggman Empire. They now know who Eggman's new lackey is. Infinite, the monster who defeated Sonic and helped Eggman take over the world. They try to figure out what kind of power Infinite is using and where it comes from. But as they do so, they also focus on missions.
"Eggman's army has brought reinforcements to Seaside Hill! They've broken through our defenses and are keeping more and more people hostage. We need to get them out!" Amy reported.
"The problem is Sonic and Silver are still recovering from their battle against that Infinite jerkbag. I'm already at Seaside Hill with the Chaotix." Knuckles replied.
"Vector here! We're trying to fight off these guys as much as possible!" Vector said.
"We're too busy trying to keep things under control in Central City. We can't spare anyone." Abraham Towers said.
"8th unit here! We're pinned down under enemy fire!" A soldier said.
"I am currently occupied with the Snake and Eagle squads. I am afraid I cannot help at this moment." Gemerl said.
Knuckles sighs, seeing his friends spread across. He closes his eyes, feeling rather reluctant.
"Looks like I have no choice. Hey, Sam! Front and center!" Knuckles comms Sam to speak to him via voice chat.
"Yes, sir? What do you need?" Sam asked.
"Listen. I got a tough one for you. I need you to head to Seaside Hill and save those civilians trapped on the beach and shore. You think you can handle it?"
"S-sure. I think I can do it. Rescue people. This should be a piece of cake."
"Now you're talking. Let's see what you're made of, rookie. Don't forget the wisps will follow in case you need wispons. Time for your first solo mission."
Sam nods and was making his way out. But then, he stops real quick and goes to the infirmary to check on Sonic and Silver.
"Oh, hey, bud! What's up?" Sonic asked.
"You okay, Sonic?" Sam said.
"Never been better." Sonic half lied. While he's nearly healed, he hides about his nightmare he just had. "I've been worse. Can't wait to get back up and out there and ready to kick butt. That jerk will get his just desserts."
"Knuckles is sending me on my first solo mission to a place called Seaside Hill. I'm gonna rescue some civilians."
"Wow! First solo mission and you're still a rookie! That's great! Listen, Sam. You can do it. You just have to believe in yourself. Do that, and you'll do better than you would expect."
"Man. I never thought of it that way. Thanks, Sonic. Hope you get better fast."
Sam smiles more, and starts to open up more. Sonic gives him a thumbs up and a friendly smile.
"You can do this, buddy. You got this. Good luck out there!"
Sam nods and leaves the room and heads out. He is ready for his first solo mission. He didn't think his time would come so quickly. But he feels more destined to prove himself to Sonic and the Resistance.
Alone, Sonic has a sad look on his face. From his point of view, Sam reminds him of Tails when they were younger. When Sonic saved him from bullies making fun of his twin tails. And how Tails is able to stand up for himself and be on his own. He shivers.
"Tails. I really hope you're okay out there, bro." Sonic whispered to himself.
The rookie arrives in Seaside Hill. Parts of it are destroyed and other sections of it are on fire. Sam swings from a ceiling and lands on a platform.
"I need a status update on the people who couldn't evacuate in time!" Amy said.
"We're engaging enemy forces and we can't search for civilians right now." Espio replied.
"You're our best hope, rookie. The rescue mission is in your hands. Get to it!" Knuckles ordered.
"You got it!" Sam said.
Sam dashes forward and jumps on some platforms floating above the water while some chompers, who look like piranha-like robots, come to attack. Sam attacks them with his Lightning Whip Wispon and destroys some of them as he gets to a target sphere. He uses his wire attack and swings towards a hole from within a small palace building and lands in the water. He swims up to safety and wire attacks an Egg Pawn with a sword and takes another dive underwater. He swims and avoids more Egg Pawns shooting at him as he makes it to the surface and he wall jumps upwards and sees another target sphere, grapples it with his wire and launches to the outside.
"Vector here! Scouts indicate that civilians are being held prisoner at Whale Island prison cells! We're trying to make our way through." Vector said.
"Don't worry. I'm on my way!" Sam assured.
Sam uses his super speed and runs forward and bounces off a spring. He looks left and wire attacks three spinner enemies and lands safely. A lightning ivory Wisp comes down and inserts itself into the wispon. Sam follows a trail of rings and activates its power and he quickly zooms past all of the rings like actual lightning. Sam runs on the other side and lands on a loop de loop and runs around it. He makes a left turn and swings his lightning whip at more Egg Pawns and Crabmeat robots. Sam wall jumps to a few more platforms and runs down a huge hill and around a huge loop de loop before hitting a spring and aiming at several target spheres, swinging him across from rock, to pillar, to building. Then Sam proceeds to destroy more robots with his whip until he finds himself trapped in a tower. He sees several target spheres brought to him by the wisps and he grapples his way out of the tower and onto a slope.
As Sam starts running down, giant circular boulders start rolling down the hill and started chasing after Sam, who is immediately alarmed. He runs as fast as possible as he makes left and right turns, trying to shake them off. He wall jumps off the walls in front of him and sees a target sphere above his head. He grapples it and swings forward and sees another trail of rings. Sam uses the wispon power and follows the trail to the Whale Island. Sam sees the prisoners trapped in several cages that are manually controlled. Propellers are on top of the cages and are spinning and fixing to take off. The rookie had to think fast. He jumps and swings his whip horizontally and the long stretch destroys each of them and the controls. They all open and the civilians are set free.
The freed hostages cheer for their young savior. Sam couldn't help but blush at their praise of him. But they're not the only ones. The Chaotix arrive just on time via Charmy carrying Espio and Vector. Knuckles glides to the island.
"Nice work, rookie. A fine display of skill out there." Espio complimented.
"Wow. You really showed them who's boss! That must have been fun for you." Charmy said.
"Man! How am I gonna top that? At this rate, you're gonna hog all the glory out there on these missions, kid!" Vector shows some envy before smirking. "Ha! I'm only kidding! Not bad, kiddo!"
Vector gives a pat on Sam's back and gives him a smile. Espio bows like a ninja out of respect and Charmy spins and gives him a thumbs up. The hostages agree, all of them saying Sam did good.
"Update from HQ! The enemy is on the run! Thanks to Sam, things are turning around. Let's keep that momentum going!" Knuckles said.
The crowd cheers, believing that they may yet stand a chance against Eggman. But as they were about to leave, the big wall behind where the hostages were being kept started cracking and a little smoke starts coming out. The cracks are getting wider and them they explode and debris comes flying towards the heroes. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. Then when the smoke clears, Knuckles couldn't believe his eyes. It's Omega! And he's back online! And he has…. Purple eyes?!
"Omega?! But how?! I thought you were out of commission and scrapped by Eggman and Infinite!" Knuckles remembered what Rouge told him.
"Target sighted! Echidna Commander known as Knuckles targeted for extermination! Must prevent hostages from leaving!" Omega shouted.
Knuckles and the Chaotix couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Even though Omega doesn't care a whole lot for Sonic and his friends, he wouldn't kill them since they are acquaintances and allies of Shadow and Rouge.
"Vector. Take these hostages and get out of here. I'll handle Omega. Knock some sense into him." Knuckles ordered.
"I can help you. W-we can take him out together." Sam stepped up, but Knuckles glares at him.
"No. Omega is an ally. Eggman must have reprogrammed him. And the last thing I would want is to lose my rookie on his first solo mission he just completed. You'll get your chance to fight someone another time. Go! That's an order!"
Sam reluctantly nods and he leaves with the Chaotix and the hostages to the Resistance ships to bring them home to safety. Knuckles stays behind to fight Omega. The robot shoots flames at the echidna. Knuckles punches the ground and brings up a boulder to shield himself from the flames. Omega stops and shoots missiles at the boulders. The red echidna jumps and punches Omega across the head, stumbling the robot before Knuckles uppercuts his metal chest, sending him back. Knuckles jumps to attack, only for Omega to step aside and backhand Knuckles across the head, sending him into a pillar. Knuckles gets back up and brings out his shovel claws and burrows underground. Omega runs towards the hole and fires miniguns, hoping that it'll end him. Knuckles pops out behind him and gives him another uppercut to the back.
Omega gets back up and charges for a punch towards Knuckles, knocking him nearly off the edge. Then Omega was about to thrust his sharp claws into Knuckles' chest, but Knuckles grabs him and throws him into a pillar, severely damaging it and throws him into a wall before throwing him to the ground. They both stare at each other as they run. Knuckles and Omega throw a punch and their fists collide. A shockwave is sent out and Omega is launched backwards, just about defeated.
"Must….. Not…. Lose. Activate emergency stasis mode. Self-repairs initiated." Omega's purple eyes shut off and Knuckles pants from a strong fight as he walks over to Omega's shut off body.
"Sorry to do this to ya, pal. But it's for your own good." Knuckles apologizes.
Behind them, one of the pillars that Knuckles damaged during the fight breaks apart and the Ocean Palace quickly begins to collapse around the duo. Knuckles lifts Omega with all of his strength and he runs towards the exit and outside the palace before it falls onto their heads. The front of the Ocean Palace breaks down to the ground as Knuckles pants as he settles the robot down.
"Knuckles! You okay? What's going on?" Amy contacted him.
"Omega." Knuckles answered. "He needs help. And we need some heavy restraints so he doesn't get loose. Send someone to come pick us up."
"On it."
Knuckles waits with the unconscious and defeated Omega. He never saw this coming as he didn't think Omega would be revived to this day. But regardless, he is pleased that they managed to pull off a win towards the Eggman Empire. And he is proud of Sam and how far he has become as a rookie.
At the Resistance HQ, the heroes are happy to celebrate their victory over the empire as they rescued more hostages and drove them on the run. Ever since Sonic returned and Sam joining the team, the Resistance and G.U.N are starting to make good progress in restoring the world.
"We got some good heavy restraints and electrical fields that'll keep Omega from ever escaping. We need to find a way to get him back to his old self again." Amy said.
"How dare they touch my big red friend. Omega will be mad once he finds out what Eggman did to him. I want him to put on a show for us." Rouge said.
"We will. We might know some people that could help. If only Tails is around. Hopefully we'll find him again." Knuckles said.
"I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later. He won't be in hiding forever." Sonic said.
"I hope you're right, Sonic. Tails is the smartest guy we know. If anyone else could outsmart Eggman, it'd be him." Silver hoped.
"And speaking of which. That was a nice mission you pulled off, Sam. Keep it up. We still have a lot of work to do." Knuckles said to Sam.
"Yeah. Great job, buddy. See? What did I tell you? I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself. You're only gonna get better at it." Sonic praised.
Sam continues to show a smile at their kind comments.
"I didn't think I'd had it in me. But I did my best. I'm starting to think that breaking robots apart is starting to become more fun."
"Ha! That's how I feel everytime! It's what I do best!"
"Heads up, everyone. I'm detecting one reading. " Rouge said.
"Is it Eggman or Infinite?" Knuckles asked.
"No." Rouge answered. "Scannings would have easily picked them up. It's someone else. They're making their way to the Mystic Jungle lab. The one where Sonic and Silver fought Infinite."
"If they're not them, then I can check it out." Sam offered.
Everyone looks at Sam, all sounding surprised by his tone of confidence, albeit not complete confidence.
"Is that right? Well then, rookie. Go to the lab and check it out." Knuckles said.
Sam nods and heads back out. As soon as he leaves, Knuckles turns to Sonic.
"I have a big hunch you may have had something to do with that. The kid was never like that before. But he's been acting differently since he first journeyed with you."
"I can't help myself. I tend to spread confidence upon others I come across and make sure they put on a smile. I see something in Sam. I bet he's gonna surprise us all." Sonic shows his faith in the rookie.
Sam is dashing his way to the lab in the Mystic Jungle. He runs along the dirt road miles away from the lab and the casino Eggman built. Sam runs up and down a small hill as he bounces off a set of springs and heads upwards. He wire attacks two Egg Pawns in front of him and uses his Green Hover Wispon to push back a group of seven robots into a wall and destroys them. Sam grapples a titled yellow pillar and swings in place before launching himself forward as he continues running down a dirt road before he comes across three robots in front of him which he beats with his wispon before running up a spiral road, up a vertical slope and falls down a couple of waterslides, but thankfully lands safely.
Sam continues onward and wall jumps up some big walls and grabs a zipline and it zooms him forward and upward. He wire attacks some buzzbombers and spinners coming his way and hits three target spheres, swinging across each of them. He descends downwards and avoids buzzbombers trying to shoot him, yellow spinners trying to electrocute him and swinging maces. He lands safety and runs and sees a fork in the road. Sam goes to the right, sees three armadillo robots coming towards them and attacks and destroys them with his wispon. He jumps and lands on a huge water slide.
"Well, look at you, kid. Having fun in the water?" Knuckles said.
"What? Jealous you can't play on the slide, Knuckles?" Amy teased.
"Uh, no time to lose focus, that's all. Uhh, give it all you got, Sam."
Sam sees spinning motobugs trying to ram him off the slide and into the water. Sam uses his wispon and pushes them away, but sees three separate paths. He had to think fast. He takes the middle path and goes down in a spiral-like path while avoiding the enemies' blows. A ramp is up ahead and the rookie flies far from it. He doesn't see anything to lock on to. Sam activates his Green Wispon and he hovers in the air. He flies upwards and manages to reach the cliff with enough power and grabs onto the ledge, much to his relief. Sam has made it to the lab.
"Okay. I'm at the lab. But I don't see anyone here. You sure there are lifeforms?" Sam asked.
"That's what Rouge told me. Check everywhere. Maybe go deeper in that jungle." Knuckles suggested. Sam sees something red in the bushes.
"Hang on, I see something over there. I'm gonna go check it out."
Sam slowly walks over while shaking a little while getting his wispon ready. He goes and digs into the bushes and much to his relief, he finds a gem. Not just any gem. But a Phantom Ruby Prototype. One that Infinite carried with his own powers from before which he accidentally dropped during his fight against Silver. Sam slowly grabs it and picks it up. The prototype glows in his hand and it nearly blinds him. It has recorded his DNA because of his inner will.
"Hey, Knuckles. I found something. You may wanna have a look once I get back."
"Huh. He or she have got to be around here somewhere. Where are they?"
Sam starts hearing something coming from the sky. He sees a plane.
"Hey! Up there! Wait! Wait!"
The person piloting the plane doesn't seem to hear him. Sam thinks fast and uses his Hover Wispon to fly again as high into the air as possible. Once he was in close range, he uses his grapple wire to attack himself to the blue plane. When the rookie grips his hold, he sees someone he wasn't expecting.
Sam is looking at the plane he is on. He is on the Tornado 2. He then sees who the pilot is and his eyes widened as he sees Tails.
"Tails?! Is that you?"
"Have we met before? You seem new." Tails asked.
"Oh. I'm Sam. I'm a rookie of the Resistance. I know who you are. I thought you were also a cool hero."
"Oh, wow. Thanks. I don't do as many heroic moments like Sonic. But I do have my moments. We're heading to the Resistance HQ to see if he's truly alive."
"Oh. He is. He was there with me before I left and came out here looking for a life form, who I think is you."
"He's alive. I knew it! He is alive! I can't believe it! After six whole months, he's been alive all this time!"
"Yeah! We rescued him from the Death Egg and me and him had our first mission together afterward. Sonic said that he misses you and said you're like a brother to him."
This only makes Tails even happier. Sonic is alive and that he spoke highly of Tails during his own absence. The two are on their way back to the base, and Tails is very excited.
Note: I thought I'd add a fight with a reporgrammed Omega. Because in the original story, he was abandoned by Tails and goes on an adventure with Classic Sonic, then doesn't appear again until the endgame. He is repaired... but contributed nothing. And it was about time someone else got some action and I thought Knuckles was the best choice. I hope you guys are enjoying as I have things going on in real life. I hope you understand.