Chapter 123

A New Alliance

"The second day of what is now called the Chun-nan trials concluded with a staggering five hundred and thirty-nine convictions. A majority of the condemned consisted of U.F officials, but there were many international collaborators who were brought to justice by an influx of new evidence. Sworn statements and video provided by Doctor Ivo Robotnik proved that the U.F officials under the leadership of former GUN commander Argus Smith had traded unfettered access to the remains of the Space Colony Ark for experimental Ion Batteries. One of these aforementioned batteries was then sabotaged and detonated by GUN agents in an attempt to smear Robotnik's legacy. Dozens of scientists both in the U.F and from foreign universities were brought in to salvage the wreckage of the Ark and repair the internationally condemned super weapon known as the Eclipse Canon. Under Smith's leadership, GUN orchestrated a targeted terrorism campaign in hopes of forcing all nations into joining the United Federation. The sheer scope of the crimes committed by U.F's military will take years to uncover and the international outcry has been severe. As one of the first nations to be attacked, Chun-nan was selected as the meditator country to host the trials…."

The anchor continued her report with images of a packed courthouse behind her. Thousands of soldiers in red armor patrolled the area, and the shadow of a huge airship floated above the skyline of the city. Across the other dozen screens, news reports from across the world reported the same story nearly word for word. After several days of no broadcasts, it seemed that all the world news organizations had been brought firmly under Eggman's control.

Amy sat on the floor with her legs crossed. Her tired eyes watched the flickering of the screens without learning much from what it displayed. A deep fatigue that she had not been able to shake for several days pressed on her like a weighted blanket. Ever since they had returned to Babylon Garden, Amy had rarely left the relative safety of the Primrose. She had been waiting for the news to return, and had hardly been able to sleep when the screens had been turned off.

After their victory at Area 99, Amy and the Rogues had returned to the Primrose. Their celebration had been cut short as the first reports came in. Ships had teleported into the skyline of every major city. Amy had been the first to notice the insignia emblazoned on the side of the threatening ships; the face of Eggman. Battles broke out, and the last report that had come in before all the channels went dark was that GUN officers had issued a command of no surrender.

At that point, Jet had given the order to return to Babylon Garden. With GUN facing battle at every corner, it was unlikely that anyone still cared to chase after them. Amy didn't care. She sat in front of the dark screens and waited for some more news. No matter what she did she could not shake the overwhelming dread that had filled her heart the moment she had seen Eggman's symbol.

For three days, they had waited. Beyond the relative protection of the hidden Babylon Garden, the world might have been destroyed for all Amy knew. Her heart was filled with terrible premonitions, and anytime she closed her eyes she pictured one of her friends dying.

Without needing to go over it much, Amy now understood everything that had happened. It was obvious as soon as she had seen Eggman's mark. Sonic had been right after all. It did all lead back to Eggman. By giving humanity his grandfather's weapon and some ancient tech from another world, Eggman had ensured that the earth would tear itself apart. GUN had loaded the chamber, but it was Eggman who would pull the trigger.

When the news did return, Amy was not surprised by the story that the media told. GUN would receive all the blame, they would take the place of the scapegoat that they themselves had put on Metal Sonic. Meanwhile, Eggman would be presented as the hero, his former crimes abolished in the heat of present atrocities.

Amy bowed her head and pushed her fingers through her hair. She wanted to cry. Perhaps if she could just weep for a bit, she would feel better. But her ducts were all dried up. She could not summon the emotional effort of grieving. All she felt inside was a hollow emptiness. Why hadn't Sonic listened to her? He had stayed behind so he could stop Eggman. Had he failed? Was Sonic already dead?

"You're going to get sick if you continue to sit there." Wave sauntered into the room. She wore a dirty bandana over her forehead and was burdened with a bundle of gears and machinery. "You should go outside and get some fresh air."

"What if we are attacked again?" Amy asked weakly. "I want to be ready to leave."

"Don't worry about that. No one is going to sneak up on us again. I just got done planting advanced scanners all over the island. Not even one of GUN's stealth ships could approach us without me knowing about it."

Amy pushed herself up. Her legs wobbled slightly. She had not changed since the fight, her clothes were filthy and, after taking a brief whiff of herself, realized that she did also. "There is a hot spring not too far from here," Wave said, guessing Amy's thoughts. "Follow the ridgeline into the jungle and you will find a palm tree with red branches. Take a left and you will see a cliff, climb down and you'll reach the springs. O, and take this." Wave reached into her trousers and withdrew a meal bar. She tossed it at Amy before venturing further into the ship.

Once she was outside, Amy gulped down a huge breath of air. The crisp spring wind helped clear her head. It was night on Babylon Garden and the moon shone bright in the sky above. Despite all her dread, Amy could not resist marveling at the beauty of her surroundings. Now that she knew this place came from outer space, she understood why it was so mysterious.

Amy tore open the bar and took a small bite. Her stomach grumbled audibly and she had to resist the urge to consume the entire bar in one bite. Instead, she ate it slowly, allowing her fragile tummy to digest in smaller portions. Meanwhile, she followed a sandy trail towards a scattered tapestry of light brown mountains. A ridgeline emerged alongside her which led her into the jungle. Not far along she found the palm tree with red branches. The alien fern was almost exactly like an earth bound palm tree only the palms were red and the fruit was orange and colored in spikes. Amy veered left to find a sudden cliff that she would not have seen coming in time had she not been forewarned. She dipped her foot over the edge and slowly clamored down the rockwall. Amy landed in an oasis within the jungle. She pushed aside some densely packed bramble to find a pool of hot spring water.

Amy kicked off her shoes and placed them tepidly into the water. The hot water burned her toes, but the sensation was refreshing. Glancing about to ensure that she was alone, she carefully removed her dress and folded on the shore. After taking a long slow breath, she dived into the water. The heat stung her eyes, but she felt immediately refreshed. She swam in the pool for a few minutes before drying off and putting her dress back on.

Now that she was relatively clean, she sat down on the bank with her feet soaking in the warm water. Amy tilted her head back and gazed up at the stars above. It was strange to think that a sanctuary of such quiet beauty still existed amongst all the chaos. The cares of the surface world seemed so remote, but in her heart, Amy knew they were merely a breadth away. Eggman's evil could not be contained. His desire to poison all rivers, and blacken every sky was a force that rivaled nature itself. Even the stars, so seemingly remote, were not beyond the mad doctor's cruel calculations. He knew exactly how far away they were, what he would need to build in order to reach them, and how to harness their energy for his own nefarious purpose.

Her heart swelled with a sudden sense of hopelessness. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to escape. The evil that was building would come crashing down on all their heads, and there was little they could do to stop it. Amy found herself cupping her hands together and staring up at the canopy of lights. "Please…" She did not know exactly what she was praying for, or what she even hoped for. Her heart brought up images of Sonic, and at that moment she saw a spark of light shoot across the sky. Amy watched the falling star before quickly bowing her head and making her wish.

She had always been a superstitious person. Tarot cards were what had brought her to Little Planet on the fateful day she had met Sonic. That experience had led Amy to constantly try to employ superstitious arts into predicting a happy love life with her and Sonic. However, as those predictive arts continuously failed her, Amy became less and less interested in fortune telling. She had dabbled with horoscopes and astrology and palm reading, but she had never felt that the universe had sent more of a clear message than it had just done.

Amy scrambled out of the pool and went searching for some loose twigs. She gathered some into her hands and crushed them together. Kneeling in front of a large flat stone, Amy pressed her hands to her heart and then tossed the twigs. The destroyed branches made a seemingly random pattern upon the stone. Amy selected the largest remaining twig and concentrated on remembering what to do next. She compared its depth to the smallest twig before connecting the two together and seeing what sort of angle they made. Amy continued along this vein, moving the twigs subtly in a pattern predicated upon how the twigs had fallen on the stone.

At last, her work was complete. Amy stood up and squinted down on what she had made. "What are you doing?" She flipped around to see Jet emerge out of the bushes. The hawk had his extreme gear board over his shoulder and a towel tossed over it.

"O…nothing," Amy said, blushing slightly. She sidestepped to block Jet's view of her twigs.

Jet watched her curiously. "There was a shooting star earlier, did you see it?" He rested his board on the ground and removed his shoes.

"I saw it! The sky is so clear here."

Jet dipped into the pool, wincing slightly at the heat. "Are you one of those people who make stupid wishes?"

"There's nothing stupid about it," Amy rebutted, her cheeks going suddenly red.

"No amount of wishing can change our fate," Jet said seriously. "Nothing happens except by the choices that we all make."

"Well I happen to think that there is a little more to it than that," Amy huffed and turned away from Jet. Returning to her twigs, she resumed her attempt to read the signs. After a few quiet minutes, Jet left the pool and went to stand beside her.

"What is this?"

"It is a type of fortune telling." Amy had made the final adjustment and was now attempting to find the right angle in which she could view the pattern. She walked around the stone, gazing at it from every possible direction.

"Do you really believe a few discarded sticks can tell the future?"

"Not all the time," Amy clarified bitterly. "This form only works on a night of a full moon, after a shooting star."

"O, of course, I mean everyone knows that dead trees can tell the future on a night of a full moon after a shooting star."

"Can you just leave me alone?" Amy snapped. "If you don't believe in this stuff then you can just leave, you don't need to bother me."

Jet did not leave. He planted his feet obstinately in the grass. "It matters if you believe in this garbage."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Why do you care, you don't know me."

Jet scowled. "Don't I? Is this how you planned your little future with Sonic?"

Amy whipped around and was a breath away from punching Jet in the face. She restrained herself at the last moment. The hawk was glaring at her intently. "We control our fate," He said firmly.

"Great," She said sarcastically. "I hope that is enough for you, hold on to that pride, because it is all you will have left once Eggman comes here."

"Pride is all we ever have," Jet replied. "I'd rather die than give up control of my life, or put my fate into the hands of others."

"Good for you." She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she did not try to hide them. "I want someone to save us, I want Sonic to come back and save the earth. I don't give a damn how that sounds. I would rather give up my pride than give up hope."

Jet's expression softened. Amy knew that he regretted making her cry, but that only made her more angry with him. She turned away and resumed her attempt to read the twigs. Despite her defiance, Jet's words had stolen her enthusiasm. She only kept up the charade in hope that Jet would eventually leave her alone. Instead, he only took a few steps back before waiting patiently.

After a few minutes of Amy pretending to read the twigs, he spoke again. "What do they say?"

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "I can't see anything."

Jet approached her and looked down at the twigs. He frowned and his sharp eyes looked into the confused mess. "That almost looks like the island." He pointed down at some twigs. Amy screwed up her eyes, and then she saw it. A mass of broken twigs had formed together into a passing resemblance to the silhouette of Babylon Garden. Amy stepped back and suddenly the entire scene crystalized in front of her.

"I see it," She said breathlessly. The disordered mess of twigs had now become a discernible image. Her heart quickened and Amy felt an indescribable sense of joy rush through her spirit. "The island…it's moving. I see…a battle in the sky…something is emerging out of the island…some kind of…" Amy squinted to try and make the image clearer. She felt that her mind understood the image, but she could not transcribe it into words. "Something comes down from the sky…a monster…then…" Amy searched for more, but there was nothing more to read. That sense of euphoria was draining away, replaced by a cold fear.

Jet caught her by the arm. Amy had not realized that she had nearly sunken to her knees. As he stood her on her feet, Amy felt suddenly drained. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah…I..I'm just tired…I haven't slept in a while."

"Come on, let's get you back to the temple. There are beds in there."

Amy allowed Jet to help her onto his shoulder. Together, they climbed back up the cliffs and headed back into the jungle. "You said that you saw the island moving?" Jet asked doubtfully.

"Yes…I'm sure of it." Amy looked up and saw a glint of understanding in Jet's eyes. Before he could say anything else, they were assaulted by a high pitched ringing sound.

"What the hell-"

A second later, Wave came crashing through the trees. "Someone has tripped the alarm. Ships are coming!"

Jet set Amy on her feet. Her previous weariness was driven away by adrenaline. The trio went racing towards the Primrose. Once inside the ship, Wave closed the hanger doors. "What are we going to do?" Amy asked.

"Whoever it is, they won't be expecting us to have our defenses up. My scanners are detecting highly advanced stealth capabilities." Wave typed on the console and the Primrose's engines roared to life.

"Let them land," Jet told her. "When they are on foot we will pin them down the Primrose's weapon systems. Amy, you and I will drop down on them from above."

Wave deactivated the Primrose's lights and the cabin went dark. The engines became silent as the ship hovered in the dark shadows of the sky. Amy watched the viewscreen with her heart racing. Moments later, she heard a ping on Wave's rader. "There it is.." Wave pointed directly ahead. For a second, all Amy saw was empty darkness, but then she saw what appeared like a reverberation of the sky. A sleek plane with long folded wings drifted slowly down to the island surface. The plane's hull shifted in color, making it nearly impossible to see.

The ship landed silently. A collapsible jetway lowered from its hull. Flashlights streaked into the night darkness as a dozen human soldiers disembarked. The soldiers formed a tight circle with their guns raised. After a few moments, more humans left the plane. These wore official looking suits and did not appear to be soldiers. "That looks like all of them," Jet whispered. He tapped Amy on the shoulder. "Let's go."

The hanger doors opened silently. Jet leapt straight down leaving Amy no time to gather herself. She followed, not allowing herself to be tripped up by the height of the fall. Jet landed directly behind one of the unarmed humans. Before any of them could react he kicked the human's knees from under it and wrapped his arm around its neck. Amy landed just outside the ring of soldiers. She drove an elbow into one of their ribs causing the man to stagger forward. Amy followed up with a knee to the head and sent the man crashing into the grass.

Shouts and yells split the night. All the lights were flashed onto Jet and Amy. Guns were raised. "DON'T SHOOT!" Jet's captive was a woman, and at her command, all the guns were lowered.

"Drop your guns," Jet snarled. At that moment the lights of the Primrose roared to life. The ship hovered directly above the combatants. "Drop your weapons or you and your ship will be blown to bits."

"Do as he says!" The woman struggled to speak with Jet's arm wrapped around her neck. Slowly, the soldiers all dropped their guns.

Jet nodded to Amy, who went around collecting the rifles and discarding them in a pile far away from the action. Now that the humans were disarmed, Jet released his captive. The woman staggered forward, massaging her neck. "Who are you?" But just as Jet asked the question, Amy recognized the woman. She had seen her before on t.v.

"That's Sally Acorn, she's the Vice President!"

The woman brushed down her suit and adjusted her glasses. She glanced wearily at Amy before answering. "Yes, I am."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jet demanded.

"Trying to stay alive," Acorn answered politely.

"You're with GUN," Jet said, the feathers on his head rising with anger. "You killed Storm."

Acorn raised her hands in surrender. "Listen, I understand that you are angry, but please, give me a chance to explain-"

Jet rushed forward, his eyes burning with anger. "Explain what? Explain that you are your ilk have doomed the planet? That you killed my friend."

Amy raced forward and planted herself between Jet and the woman. "Wait!" She spread out her arms. "Just calm down, let's see what they have to save first."

"I don't care what they have to say." A manic gleam burned in Jet's face. "Let's just shoot them down and take their ship. It is what they would have done to us after all."

Amy shook her head. "We can't! Now isn't the time to be making more enemies. They can't hurt us without their guns, let's just hear them out."

Jet clenched his hands into fists. With a clear effort of will, he managed to calm himself down slightly. "Fine, we will take the girl and see what she has to say. The rest will have to stay chained up out here."

Amy did not expect the humans to agree to these terms, but to her surprise Acorn demanded that her troops comply. The human soldiers were bound to trees and their guns taken up into the Primrose. Amy, Jet, Wave and the vice president proceeded alone into the temple.

They sat her down in one of the few furnished rooms within the great temple. Wave turned on the lights, filling the ancient chamber in golden light which reflected pleasantly off the bronze furnished walls. The vice president sat across from Jet and folded her hands together.

"Now, tell us why you're here," Jet started.

"It was the only place I could think of. The existence of this island was heavily classified information. Only a few of the higher ups within GUN knew that we had gotten the location off of Jeffrey Goldstone's computer. It was never officially integrated into GUNs systems which meant it was one of the only places where we could hide from Robotnik."

Jet scoffed. "So it wasn't enough for you to come here to try and kill us, you had to try and steal our sanctuary also?"

Acorn met Jet's eye contact and did not blink. "I understand if you may find it impossible to believe me, the sins that GUN has committed as of late are beyond forgiveness. My hands are not clean in these matters, and I must bear that weight. However, it was never my intention to serve a global military force. I joined the government because I wanted to help may not be able to believe me, but it is the truth. The government was taken over by GUN, we were nothing more than the military's puppet. I do not absolve myself of any sins. I could have chosen to die rather than allow myself to be used in such a way. People trusted me, and GUN weaponized that trust to make the people terrified of a threat that never existed."

Though her voice was firm, Amy could see the tears in the woman's eyes. "I kept telling myself that things would work out in the end, that there would still be a greater good. It took me far too long to realize that GUN wanted power for its own sake. I thought I was stronger, but it took me ages to summon up the courage to finally do something. It may have been too little too late, but I helped that spy, Rouge the Bat escape GUN custody. I gave her the means of tracking down the Eclipse Canon, hoping against hope that it would be enough. Argus suspected me at once. I thought he would kill me right away, but he still needed me for public relations. The youth trusted me, he said, my approval of his regime was necessary to keep it going."

Acorn removed her glasses and set them on the table. "He could not hurt me in any way that would be too visible. The public needed to see me." She removed her suit jacket and turned in her chair. When she lifted up her shirt, Amy and Wave both gasped. White scars completely covered the woman's back from shoulder to hip. Acorn lowered her shirt back down and wiped away her tears. "I don't pretend to have paid for my own crimes, not by a long shot."

Jet folded his arms together. He kept his expression stern, but it was obvious he was disturbed by what he had just seen. "If you were against GUN, then why are you here? How is it possible that you escaped?"

"I didn't," Acorn admitted. "I was released when Robotnik attacked Central City. He wanted to know what had happened so he brought me to him. I told him what Argus had done, but all he cared about was the Eclipse Canon. He wanted to know how it had been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Jet repeated. "What do you mean?"

Acorn looked at him in surprise. "Just before Robotnik invaded, a team of special forces attacked GUN fortress and destroyed the Eclipse Canon. I thought…" She looked around the room. "I just assumed that you were apart of that."

"Why would you think that?" Wave asked.

To Amy's surprise, Acorn turned towards her. "Well, the attack was led by all your friends. Tails and Knuckles the Echidna."

Amy's heart skipped a beat. "Knuckles is alive?"

"Yes, he defeated Argus' mech and destroyed the weapon."

Before Amy could ask more, Jet interjected. "So what happened then?"

"Well as soon as the weapon went offline, Eggman invaded. He had been waiting for that all this time. He knew that if he gave GUN the weapon that they would use it to try and control the world. He also knew that this would spark a war that would weaken the government. It was inevitable that there would be a battle and the Eclipse Canon would be destroyed. That was the only power on the planet that could have stopped Robotnik's forces."

"Robotnik told you this?" Jet asked.

Acorn nodded. "This entire ordeal had been his plan from the beginning. Argus had been nothing more than a pawn."

"But what did Eggman want with you?"

"The same thing that Argus did. He wanted to use me to try and control the populace. I would emerge as the brave vice president who had done her best to try and defend her subjects. He said that if I agreed to present him as the hero who had saved the world, he would spare my life and allow me to serve as the new U.F president."

"But you refused?"

Acorn shook her head. "No, I agreed. I told him everything he wanted to hear. I told him that the battle at GUN fortress had been fought between two warring factions who disagreed on how the weapon was to be used. I wanted him to think that GUN had successfully killed all those who Robotnik had flagged as potential threats. He was grateful to me, and let his guard down. Me and some fellow officers managed to escape him, we took this experimental stealth plane and left the capital."

With her story finished, Acorn pressed her fingers into her temples and awaited Jet's verdict. However, the ladder remained silent. He scrutinized the vice president, his eyes narrowed with mistrust. After a while, he motioned for Wave and Amy to follow him out of the room where Acorn could not hear them.

"What do you think?" Jet asked. "Can we trust her?"

"I doubt she faked those scars," Wave answered. "I don't know about the rest of her story, I doubt she is as innocent as she claims to be."

"Either way, I think we should try to work with her," Amy added. "If she is right about Knuckles and Tails, maybe she has a way we can contact them. If anyone has a way to fight back against Eggman it will be one of those two."

The trio returned to the room. "So now that you're here," Jet started. "What is it that you hope to achieve? Have you come here just to save yourself?"

Acorn glared defiantly back at Jet. "I want to do what I swore to do when I first took my office. Argus, Eggman, they are both tyrants. I would see the earth free from both of them. Right now, my plan was to try and organize a resistance. There are people all over the world who will not submit so easily to Robotnik's rule, but if they think they are on their own, then they will be hesitant to fight. I want people to know that there is still hope."

"That's what we want also," Amy said. "The best way for us to do that would be to make contact with Knuckles or Tails. Do you have any idea where they are?" To Amy's immense disappointment, Acorn shook her head.

"Do you have any clues?" Wave pressed. "They must have had a staging ground to prepare their attack."

"From what I understand, they attacked GUN fortress seemingly out of nowhere."

"Can you think of any other details?" Amy insisted, hoping against hope.

"I know they had Chaos Emeralds. That much is certain. When things were looking desperate Argus fired the Eclipse Canon. Somehow they managed to contain the blast, and the only power on the planet that could have possibly done that are the Chaos Emeralds."

Amy, Jet and Wave all shared a look. "Do you have any idea where they might try and hide?" Jet asked Amy. "They are your friends after all."

Amy returned with a mystified expression. "We didn't exactly set up a bunch of secret hideouts."

Jet groaned and kicked the wall in frustration. "I may have a way to contact her friends," Wave interjected. "Though it absolutely depends on whether or not they have the Chaos Emeralds."

"It's the only clue we've got," Amy said. "If you think you know a way, I say we give it a shot. What's your idea?"

Wave smiled mischievously. "While we were working with Jeffrey we traded a Chaos Emerald for Sol Gems, but before we did I made sure to do my own tests, I wanted to ensure that we got more than what we paid for. While I was experimenting with the gem I mapped out its energy signature. I thought maybe I could make a radar for locating the others. That didn't quite work, but there may be a way to do it in reverse."

"What are you getting at?" Jet asked dubiously.

"I can't track the emeralds, but I could send out a signal that would lead the emeralds to us. Whoever is in contact with the emeralds would sense the energy, and it might lead them to the source."

"Might?" Jet repeated. "That sounds like a long shot. Why would they even be looking for a signal in the first place?"

"They might not need to!" Amy chimed in. "Knuckles has a natural connection with the emeralds. If you send out your signal it's possible he would recognize it naturally."

Wave smirked. "We won't know until we try."

"How long is that going to take?" Jet whined. "We have to decide what to do with these humans right now."

"I think we've decided to trust them." Amy did not wait for Jet's permission, walking right past him and offering her hand out to the vice president. "What do you say? Shall we put the past behind us and work together?"

Acorn's eyes widened in surprise. At last, a thin smile crossed her weary face. "I'd like that."

Clap! Wave smacked her hands together. A gleam shone inside her eyes. "I'd best get to work. I've never attempted anything like this before, this may be the most complex project I've ever done!" The prospect seemed to fill her with joy. She turned towards Amy. "If we are gonna get this done, I'm going to need an assistant."