Chapter 133

Crisis of Faith

Sonic was stuck with guard duty. His protests were silenced by a firm command from Blaze. "You are sworn to my service, and you will obey." Her slanted eyes had narrowed to dangerous points. Sonic allowed his arguments to pass away unsaid. Unable to join Blaze inside the temple there was little point in accompanying her on the march across the city. However, that didn't matter to Sonic. Doing anything would be better than remaining at the estate, sitting idly while war raged back on earth. Sonic had never been patient even at the best of times, but now, with the image of the captured earthlings still fresh in his mind, inaction felt almost impossible.

All the same, he had been forced to watch as Blaze left with others. She would not return to the estate that night. Instead, Blaze and the other captains would take refuge in the Hideout, allowing Jasmine to take over the public persona of Blaze.

Rayne also chose to remain behind, and he attempted to alleviate Sonic's malaise with some sparring. However, even the heat of battle could not draw Sonic's focus away from his friends back on earth.

The Knight of Grounding took Sonic to school, easily winning a majority of their bouts. Rayne's strength was comparable to Knuckles' and any lack was more than made up for in skill. Sonic tried to remain disciplined, and limit every engagement to a sword duel. However, as the morning progressed his frustration mounted.

Rayne easily deflected a flurry of Sonic's sword slashes and countered with a vicious pommel strike that Sonic barely had time to block. The blow smacked Sonic in the head causing him to stagger backward in a daze. At the corner of his eye he could see that Jasmine and a few others had gathered to watch the spectacle. Sonic felt embarrassed and irrationally angry. Rayne stood still as stone and slightly to one side. His sword served both as a dauntless shield and a viscous weapon of attack.

I can't break through. Sonic thought despairingly. At that moment Caliburn felt more like a crutch to him than an asset. He sprang forward in another full speed assault. The two knights' blades sang as steel crashed against steel. Despite Sonic using his full speed, Rayne was still able to track his movements. I'm too slow…Overwhelmed by his frustration, Sonic tossed Caliburn aside. Unburdened by his weapon, Sonic sped into a blur of motion. Pop! Pop!

The speed barrier shattered as a cyclone whipped around Rayne. The dark furred echidna could only wrap his arms around himself to try and guard against Sonic's hyperspeed assault. After landing fifty rapid blows Sonic slipped past Rayne's desperate counter strike. The echidna's chest was left unguarded and Sonic slammed his fist directly in the center. Rayne let out a gasp as he was flung backward.

The Knight of Grounding landed in a heap and the onlookers let out a frightened gasp. Sonic froze in place, shocked by his own actions. For a moment, he wondered if he had seriously hurt his opponent, but then Rayne rolled up onto his feet. He gave Sonic a weary look as he rubbed his chest. "Nice one," He mumbled through a dry smile.

"I'm sorry!" Sonic replied. "I just…I don't know what that was…."

"You got frustrated." Rayne bent down and scooped up Caliburn. He flipped the blade in midair and offered it hilt first to Sonic. "You still question whether or not fighting with Caliburn makes you stronger."

Sonic took the sword and placed it back into its sheath. "Yeah…I just can't move as fast."

"Why not?"

Sonic paused. He did not know. Caliburn didn't weigh that much. "My instincts are all wrong. When I fight with a sword I fight differently than without it."

"Then you must retrain your instincts," Rayne insisted. "It might make you slower in the short term, but there is no reason why you cannot use your full speed and the sword."

Humbled and even more frustrated than before, Sonic resigned himself to using the rest of the morning to practice the stances Levi had taught him. Rayne sat cross legged in the grass and watched, but to Sonic's relief, did not offer him any corrections. After half an hour, the spectacle finally bored the others and they left. Jasmine waved faintly at Sonic as she returned to the estate.

Try as he might, Sonic made very little progress in his exercises. Controlling his thoughts was just too difficult. Any time he tried to clear his mind his brain brought up images of Station Square set ablaze, or of his friends caught within a hoard of metallic foes.

"You will have to learn how to separate yourself," Rayne said, breaking the long silence. "You have always fought battles for the thrill of the challenge. Do not judge yourself too harshly if you struggle to adjust to the stakes of war."

Sonic paused and lowered his sword. "I've saved the world before."

"That is not the pressure I am alluding to. You have fought battles as a hero, as the one with the power of life and death, of victory or defeat. It is a completely different thing to fight as a soldier, to fight on the whims of others, to know that you do not have the power alone to affect the outcome." Rayne fixed Sonic with a penetrating stare. "Your love of a challenge has led you to push past your limits. You welcome the pressure of victory because it was your abilities that were being tested, and your body always rose to the challenge."

"It is my body that does the fighting," Sonic pointed out.

Rayne shook his head. "The knight's battle is of the spirit. We are guardians, and our power is not derived from our skill at arms, but from the fortitude of our faith. We are not courageous because we are strong, but because our cause is just."

Sonic frowned. "I…I just don't see how that helps."

"The speed that you chase, the freedom to fight without fear, does not come from within. If you search within yourself you will only find more restraints, more reasons to doubt. You have to let go, let go of the sense of control that is holding you back. You cannot fight at your full potential because you still want everything to depend on you. Relinquish that thought."

"I'm trying," Sonic said.

"As paradoxical as it may seem, it is not a matter of effort. But do not worry yourself too much. When the time comes you will be ready."

"And how do you know that?" Sonic asked wearily.

Rayne smirked. "I have my reasons for faith, you must find your own."

Before Sonic could reply to this he saw a group of scouts ascending up the road to the estate. Ivan was at the head of the party. The scouts were taken into the estate and presented with a light meal. Sonic and Rayne took their lunch with Ivan.

"The city is quiet," He reported through bites of his lunch. "It is strange, after the other night I expected Mesto to hold victory parades or even a triumph. But the roads are cleared and the markets empty."

"Did you hear anything about earth?" Sonic asked.

"The imperial guards here have been given weapons from the planet. More prisoners were transported over and sold at a captain's auction."

"Transported?" Rayne repeated. "How is the emperor managing to send supplies back and forth?"

"Sol Gems," Ivan grunted. "They've increased production tenfold."

"The emperor promised he would stop!" Rayne protested.

"I told you Eggman was a liar," Sonic chimed in. "If they've been making more Sol Gems, why haven't we felt the effects?"

"Who says we haven't?" Ivan rebutted. "My scouts paid off a science corp officer who said their offices have been sending clean up crews all over the planet. Apparently, there is seismic activity all over."

"It will happen soon," Ryane said darkly. "The Flames of Disaster will destroy everything if we don't stop the empire."

Ivan nodded. "The empire is outfitting its airships with warp cores to instantly take them to earth. The energy needed requires a dozen Sol Gems for a one way trip. But, there is some good news," He added gruffly. "The empire has had to quickly mobilize two legions to send to earth. Apparently, there is more resistance than Mesto let on."

Sonic leaned closer. "So the earth hasn't been taken over yet?"

Ivan shook his head. "At least not completely. It won't be long though. The emperor is sending everything he has."

Sonic tried to stop his hands from shaking. He felt a nervous drip inside his stomach. If only he could know for sure. Were Tails and Amy the source of the resistance or were the human militaries putting up a strong fight? Sonic would have given anything for just a brief chance to go back to earth and check…

Sonic bolted upright. "The bracelet!" He looked wildly at Ivan. "The Sol Gems are mined here aren't they?"

Ivan frowned. "Yes, the science corp has a refinery in the west district."

Sonic moved away from the table. "I have to go, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"What?" Rayne protested. "The princess commanded that we stay here and guard the estate."

Sonic shook his head. "I won't be long, and I will return as soon as I can." Before the others could stop him, Sonic raced out of the dining hall and back to his room. He reached under his bundle of pillows and withdrew the metal bracelet Amy had given him back at the Sanctuary. The device was useless without a Sol Gem to power it, and Sonic had not given it much thought.

However, now he held it reverently like a hidden treasure. If I can steal a Sol Gem I can go check on the others. It was a risky proposition, but Sonic could not resist the compulsion. He could not in good conscience remain in Arvana while the fate of the earth was so perilous. I will just make sure they are still alive and come right back.

Sonic strapped on his sword belt and turned. To his surprise, Rayne stood in the doorway, blocking his escape. "Leave the sword. Caliburn was given to the Knight of the Wind. As a knight, you are honor bound to obey the orders of the princess."

Sonic hesitated. "I will be back. I just…I need to make sure my friends are okay."

Rayne shook his head. His hand slowly moved to the hilt of his sword. "We are not free to follow our own desires. You swore an oath."

"I owe it to my friends to check on them," Sonic said hotly. "I can't let what's happened here happen to the earth."

"Go, if you wish it. But leave Caliburn."

Sonic ripped off the belt and tossed it away in frustration. "Fine!"

Rayne stood aside. Sonic jumped up and stormed out of the room. He rushed across the estate and found Ivan as he was finishing up his breakfast. "I need to steal a Sol Gem."

Ivan dropped his fork. He looked wearily up at Sonic. His good eye narrowed. After a few seconds, his stoic expression broke into a wolfish smile. "They told me you were a bold one."

"I need to get a Sol Gem as soon as possible. Can you help me?"

Ivan scratched his chin. "The Mines will have hundreds of them, but the place is locked up tight. Hive agents swarm the entrance from dawn till dusk, not to mention the couple of thousand Sentinels that they have on guard."

"There has to be a way in."

"Forget the mines," One of Ivan's fellow scouts leaned in, breaking up the conversation. "There's no way in there. You'd be better off trying to break into one of the airships."

Ivan's eye expanded in surprise. "That's right," He said enthusiastically. "If you could get aboard one of those ships you might have a chance."

Sonic frowned. "I can't exactly fly, you know."

"But you can run."

"This is crazy." Sonic stood beneath a colossal marble arch and stared up at the two gleaming spikes towering over the skyline. This was the first time he had been near the Royal Palace. It was a somewhat more modest building than the Church of Solaris. Encircled within a square of manicured gardens, a huge set of bronze steps led up into the entrance of the palace. The building itself was made of pristine white marble and supported by thick carved beams. Its most unique feature was the fanned roof which was capped with two twin spires. The roof curved between the two towers was reminiscent of the bow of a mighty ship. This curve blended into the tower creating the perfect ramp.

It was this unique detail that Ivan wanted to exploit. "The science corp armories and the mines are behind the palace," Ivan reminded him. "The airships are docked in a bay overlooking their facilities. There is no other way to reach them undetected than by air."

Ivan urged Sonic forward, guiding him past the ironwork gates encircling the royal district distinguished itself from the rest of the city by the six richly adorned arches that towered over every road leading into it. Sonic passed beneath a red one whose intricate symbols had been crudely effaced so as to no longer resemble anything.

They were heading towards what Ivan called the Metal district. This name was not wholly inappropriate. Here the signature corruption of Eggman was at its most visible. Oppressively bland modern buildings loomed over the archaic architecture. Eggman's way of city building consumed the vibrant and stylized expression of his subjects and belched back gray,precise sludge in its place. Even the air had a metallic tinge.

Sonic's gaze swept past a line of stark black buildings, tracing the road's descent into the mountains. Unlike the path to the Sacred Lamp, these roads delved deeper, leading towards the heart of the mountain where a sprawling refinery hinted at Eggman's relentless mining operations.

Yet, Sonic's focus wasn't on the mines at present. "That's the science corp office," Ivan pointed out, indicating a solitary obsidian tower that loomed above the rest. It had no windows nor any distinguishing features except for the ominous array of airships docked in an orbital hanger around its top.

"There is no chance of fighting your way up the tower," Ivan explained. "But if you launch yourself off the palace, you can land directly onto one of the ships."

Shielding his eyes from the sun's glare, Sonic glanced back at the distant twin spires of the palace, a mile away. It would require a tremendous burst of speed to reach the ships. "Can you do it?"

"I don't really have much of a choice."

"Good luck to you then."

Reaching the top of the palace required some creative thinking on Sonic's part. He couldn't very well rush into the gated gardens and attempt to bypass the garrison of soldiers and Sentinels on guard. Instead, Sonic used the great arches to his advantage. He waited until the road was clear and the nearest imperial soldiers weren't looking. In a burst of speed, Sonic ran straight up the sheer sides of the arch and scaled to the top. From here, he was able to jump from building to building, moving in a wide circle around the palace.

Once he reached a sufficient enough height, Sonic targeted a small incline and prepared to use it like a ramp. He curled into a ball and revved up his spin dash, preparing to spring forward like a slingshot. Instinct told him when to burst forward, and there was an audible crack as exploded down the ramp.

With a tremendous surge of speed, Sonic flew into the air. He uncurled and spread his arms out wide as the wind whistled through his quills. His timing had been perfect and Sonic was easily able to land in the center of the palace roof. Adrenaline surged through him and he shook the jitters out before proceeding.

Sonic dashed to the top of the western spire and inspected the long bowl stretched out before him. While anyone else might have seen a tremendous work of architecture and design, Sonic saw an overly complex halfpipe. But I will need a ton of speed to carry myself that far. The obsidian tower and its hangar were almost a mile distant and at a higher elevation than the palace. If he took the jump at a run there was a good chance he would not make it. I need something to jump off of.

He smiled faintly as he imagined himself taking the jump on a skateboard. That actually would be perfect…but where would I get a skateboard around here? But Sonic realized he didn't necessarily need the real thing. He had made use of makeshift boards plenty of times in the past. Sonic turned around, looking for anything he could use as a board. Atop the spire there was a heavily tarnished statue of a phoenix. The icon had been torn from its pedestal so that it was no longer visible from the surface. Usurping its position was now a crimson flag with the insignia of the empire.

Sonic knelt by the statue and inspected the wings. The right one had a crack near the connecting joint but was otherwise undamaged. Sonic stomped on the broken edge and managed to separate the wing from the rest of the body. He held up the metal piece and smirked. The wing was outstretched and narrowed at the end, almost the perfect shape.

To make his jump Sonic would start on the east tower and take two jumps, using the first to build speed and height and the second to reach the hangar. Once he was in the air, he could jump off the board to make any final adjustments.

Sonic inhaled deeply as he prepared to run. The fresh air filled his lungs, and despite everything, a smile crossed his face. His mind transformed the vista in front of him, ignoring the sinister details and enhancing only those aspects of the city that made it more beautiful. This was the sort of adventure he lived for; a death defying feat of acrobatics and daring that no one would ever even attempt.

I guess it's now or never. Sonic held the board under his arm and leaned forward. He couldn't build speed with a spin dash while holding the board, so instead he opted to run in place, waiting until his feet were moving at top speed before bursting forward. These kinds of cold starts were a bit like pulling back a rubber band, knowing that there was a certain maximum point where the speed threshold was at its greatest. Instinct told him when the band was stretched to its breaking point and Sonic shot forward like a cannon.

He dashed down the slope and carried that momentum into the ramp. Pop! He blasted off into the sky like a rocket. Pop! Pop! With a jubilant shout, Sonic twisted in midair, and moved the board beneath his feet. Bending his knees and carefully maintaining his balance, Sonic came screaming back down the other end of the halfpipe. He returned to the slope at super speed and screamed up and over the ramp.

Sonic's timing had been perfect. He was launched skyward past the clouds which hung over the city. In the distance, Sonic could see the obsidian tower getting closer and closer. He was just above the airships when his board started to dip. Sonic pushed down with all his might and jumped! He carried his momentum as he flipped through the air. This last burst gave him the distance, and he was now soaring right above the circular hanger. Sonic directed himself towards one of the airships and dropped down like a comet. Just before he made contact with the hull, Sonic curled and used a drop dash to avoid making too impactful of an entrance.

Sonic put on the brakes and took in his surroundings. He was on the empty hull of an airship roughly the same size as the Egg Carrier. Nothing moved on it, except for automated machines that seemed to be making repairs. Sonic stayed low and made his way down towards the lower levels, hoping to find an engine room.

Luck was on his side. Eggman's love for his own designs was his downfall as the airship had a remarkably similar setup as the Egg Carrier. Sonic was able to locate the engine room without much difficulty. Within the interior of the ship, Sonic could feel a faint pulsing energy. A low humming sound echoed within like the heart beat of some colossal monster.

The sound grew louder as he approached the engines. His progress was blocked by two imperial guards who stood ready to protect the warp core. Relying on the element of surprise, Sonic rushed them head on. By the time they even registered his presence, Sonic grabbed them both by the heads and knocked them together. Thud. The two guards slid unconscious to the floor. Sonic took one of their badges and used it to unlock the door.

He entered a spacious purple room. The airship's warp core consisted of a set of concentric metal rings which continuously moved in and out of one another. This perpetual motion caused the loud humming sound that Sonic was hearing. In the center of the rings was a floating cocoon of white mist. Hovering eerily inside the white vapor were a dozen Sol Gems.

Sonic stood outside the rings and wondered if he could just reach inside and remove the stones. He looked around, but there didn't seem to be any consoles here that directly controlled the warp core. Only someone with Sonic's speed could reach inside fast enough to avoid the spinning metal rings. This idea made Sonic feel slightly uneasy. This entire ordeal suddenly seemed way too easy. A shiver ran down the base of his spine.

He waited silently for a moment. If it was a trap, then surely guards would come and stop him before he removed a Sol Gem. When nothing happened, Sonic exhaled slowly. He targeted one of the gems and readied to reach in and grab it. Quicker than a blink, Sonic shot forward, seized the Sol Gem and ripped it out of the white ball.

Immediately, red lights filled the room and a siren started to blare. However, Sonic had already started to run. He burst out of the engine room just as the doors locked down. Sonic faced a long hallway with dozens of mechanized checkpoints.. He boosted forward in a headlong sprint. One…two…One by one doors slammed shut just as Sonic rushed past. In the distance, he could see the final door closing. He dropped to a slide to avoid being crushed, slipping under the second to last door and….BANG. He smacked against the final door.

Panicking slightly, Sonic jumped up and started to bang on the door. The metal didn't so much as budge. Damn it! He reached back to grab Caliburn and his fingers grasped air.

At that moment, the doors behind him raised. A host of imperial soldiers reinforced with a dozen sentinels came rushing down the hallway. Sonic turned to face them. The soldiers raised their rifles and the head captain drew a heavy sword. "What the hell? How did you break in here on your own?"

Sonic didn't answer. His eyes searched for the weakest link in the group. His only chance would be to try and blitz through the soldiers. "Wait, I know who that is." One of the soldiers lowered his rifle. "He was with the rebels that came here with the princess. I saw him walking beside her into the temple."

"No!" Sonic exclaimed suddenly. "I mean…I'm just a solo act. I'm trying to sell this gem for money."

The captain was not convinced. He turned to his underling. "If he was with the princess then lord Mesto will want us to take him in alive-"

Sonic could not waste another second. He sprinted forward before dashing upward and breaking a sentinel into pieces with a flying kick. Sonic grabbed the broken husk and used it as a shield as the others opened fire. With very little room to maneuver, Sonic contorted his body to squeeze through the ranks of soldiers. Once he was on the ground, he zipped up and around the tunnel walls creating a gale of force that knocked everyone backward. This gave Sonic the chance he needed. Without looking back, he rushed out of the hallway and back outside the airship.

Now that he returned to the deck he found the entire place in an uproar. Guards and sentinels were pouring out of the obsidian tower and rushing over to the ship. Sonic ran to the edge of the airship and jumped!

He fell a few hundred feet in the air. Sonic searched the ground for something to break his fall. He was saved by a large imperial banner waving proudly from the top of one of the metal buildings. Sonic seized the fabric, tearing it as it slowed his descent. He used this brief pause to flip himself to the side where he could run along the edge of the building.

Just like that, Sonic made it to the surface safely. He did not wait for the imperials to come chasing after him. Sonic placed the Sol Gem within the bracelet Amy had given him. There was a flash of light and a satisfying hum as the machine powered on. Please work. Sonic pressed down on the center and closed his eyes. White light enveloped him and Sonic disappeared.