This this is a Re-write and Re-Telling of the Sonic Forces video game in a darker and dramatic way. Putting the story exactly where it needed to be. This is a Tale of the Resistance and their turmoil of a ruined world after the events of the attack in Metropolis City when their only hero gets taken away.
A MAJOR thanks to the Beta-Reader here on that helped me put this into words and to fix it as much as possible till I felt confident with it. Thanks to...
Cyberpolaris
Ivyshade24
Omesta
RevenantTP
Thank you so much.
WARNING/DISCLAIMER! This is written with TEENS to ADULTS IN MIND. Bad Language is UNCENSORED.
In Context: Tails in this story is 16 yrs old. With that in mind. Sonic and everyone else are in their mid-twenties close to thirties. Reason for that is due to the tone of the story is Suspenseful Drama, Violence and Language. But don't worry they don't swear. Worst thing to come out of them is Damn. But... the OC's? Get ready to see that F-word quite a bit.
The Story is Drama first, Suspense and Action. In that order.
Another thing is that there aren't any Wisps elemental weapons of power. The weaponry is typical weapons used in military. Knives, Pistols, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and Shotguns.
Same goes for Super Powers. Sonic and Friends are still intact. Sonic super-fast, Tails can fly... etc, etc, but the OC's don't. They are just average nobodies trying to make a difference.
Chapter 9 Contains: 9,654 words
The Sonic Cast is: Main: Sonic and Tails.
Side Characters are: Knuckles, Amy, Silver, Vector, Espio and Charmie.
The OC Cast is: Main: Chris(Hedgehog) Zeke(Wolf) Trish(Dalmatian) Barnett(Rabbit)
Side Characters: Zander(Dalmatian) POS(Labrador) Eddie&Edward(Cat) and Lance(Kodiak Bear)
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces
Chapter 9: The Battle to Save the World
9-1: A Call for Help
Upon exiting out from the H.Q Building, Knuckles leads the way as Sonic, Silver and Trish follow from behind.
"We need to rally up as many people as we can possibly get," Silver informs Knuckles.
Knuckles stops and points to Silver ordering, "Silver, I need you-"
"To protect the base from the inside, I know," Silver interrupts.
"No," Knuckles corrects him, "Get yourself ready to head out."
Silver, surprised from what he just heard, eagerly says, "Really? You're actually letting me head out?"
"Yeah, protect the entire right and back side of the base. Go!" Knuckles orders.
Silver quickly flies off.
Knuckles then points to Sonic and Trish. "Sonic and Trish, come with me to the announcement stage." Knuckles heads towards the stage and steps onto it. He grabs the mic and prepares to give his speech. Giving Sonic one last look, he closes his eyes.
He takes a deep breath to get rid of his nervousness and begins his speech. "Testing, testing? Can everyone hear me? Anyone that can hear me and answer this call of need, this is Knuckles speaking, Lead Commanding Officer of the Resistance. I have important news and… a request that I have to make. We're being attacked. We're not safe here anymore. I don't have enough time to say everything so I'll get to the point. We need your help. I don't care if you don't have any fighting experience or not. If you have the fighting spirit or will power to fight, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please help us. Please help save what we have left and reclaim our world."
Once Knuckles finishes his speech, he opens his eyes and not only does he see Sonic standing right in front of him but also every recruit and civilian rescued from the prison as well. He looks around… watching as they all cheer with acceptance to the call and readiness to lay down their life to save the world.
"We're ready. So what's the plan?" Sonic says with a smirk on his face.
Knuckles approaches Trish. "We need to get as many squads on the ground and people up into the air ASAP. We have to send out everything we got and make a wall to protect the base. How many squads do we have so far?"
"Fifteen so far and still rising," Trish answers.
"Good, send everyone out now," Knuckles orders. He points over to Sonic. "Sonic, I still need you to come with me. So let's go." They both walk off towards the side of the H.Q. Building, with Knuckles again leading the way.
9-2: A Wolf gets his Wings
Zeke stands by the fighter planes waiting for his instructions. One of the captains approaches him. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in a squad right now?"
"I'm waiting to be deployed to fly sir," Zeke eagerly says.
"You're not flying," the captain says.
Zeke snarls and lashes out, "Why not? Let me guess, no fucking co-pilot?"
"THAT'S RIGHT!" the captain argues back.
"Then assign me one," Zeke takes a step towards him in anger as his fur flares. "You know DAMN well that there's not enough people flying providing air support for the squads."
The captain takes a step back seeing the large wolf approach. He quickly tries to reason with Zeke to calm him down. "All the co-pilots are taken. You expect me to send you up there alone? I can't have you flying without-" A jacket gets thrown to Zeke, catching them both off guard.
A voice is heard. "I'll be his damn co-pilot!" The captain and Zeke look over to where the voice came from.
"Now you don't have any more excuses. Let him fly," Zander demands as he walks right by the captain and stands next to Zeke.
Zeke looks at the jacket in his hands being his flight uniform. He smiles, looking at Zander and starts to put it on.
The captain eyes them both and caves in. "Fine, take any plane and be careful up there," he warns.
Zeke looks at Zander worried, "You know exactly what your sister is going to do when she finds out… right?"
Zander shakes his head in concern as he thinks about it. "I know, I know. That's why we have to get out of here fast before she does."
On the ground near the training fields, Barnett and his recruits watch as the planes take off and everyone leaves in squads out of the Resistance Base. One of the instructors approaches and gives him his orders. Barnett looks over to his recruits and says, "Everyone ready? We're leaving to section 4-G. We need to stop all robots from getting to the base. GO! MOVE IT!" Barnett orders, but without a hint of fear or concern.
9-3: The Generators Are the Answer
Outside of the Resistance Base, on top of one of the Radio towers, Chris hides near the very top getting a good view to what's going on while sniping down robots. Looking down the scope seeing one of the robots, and before he pulls the trigger, he notices squads being deployed and stopping near one of the Power Generators. He then realizes something. 'Does the Resistance even know? …No, how could they?'
Tampering with his earpiece in hope that he gets the right signal for the H.Q, but every attempt returns back static instead. "Nothing." Refusing to quit, he tries again. "Hello?" Nothing but static, until…
"Who is this? Hello?" one of the responders answered.
"I need to talk to whoever is in charge," Chris says.
"Everyone is busy at the-"
"Shut up and patch me through to SOMEONE!" Chris yells back.
The transmission goes silent, until… "Knuckles here, who is it?"
Chris's eyes widened, startled by the voice, still a bit traumatized from the gut punch. 'Shit, why him? Okay, okay… I can do this.' Once calming down he says, "This is Chris - you need to direct your squads to take down those generators."
"WHAT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOU'RE DAMN MIND?" Knuckles yells so loud that it almost makes Chris pull his ear piece out. "THOSE GENERATORS ARE WHAT'S POWERING THE RESISTANCE BASE. WHY WOULD WE DO THAT?"
"Gah… geez!" Chris winces from all his yelling. He tries to recite the same information that Miles told him. "Those generators are keeping Infinite Particles scattered. As long as they're up and running, it's always going to keep them apart. Take them out one by one so they can be directed to one single spot to end Infinite."
Knuckles then shouts back, "I'M NOT GOING TO-"
"AND I'M NOT GOING TO ARGUE WITH YOU, SO TAKE DOWN THOSE DAMN GENERATORS!" Chris shouts right back and turns off his earpiece, cutting the connection. "Wow… did I just do that? Geez… he's gotta be so pissed off right now."
He goes to the ledge and watches. See if anything changes and waits.
"IT WORKED!" Chris shouts as the squads change direction and begin to head towards the generators. Chris hops off and starts running towards the fight. 'I have to be careful not to run into Miles. Can't let him get his hands on this device.'
9-4: Fancy Flying
Soaring through the sky at intense speed, Zeke heads towards the fight providing air support… but for Zander sitting right behind, he holds onto whatever he can for dear life and tries not to panic as he feels every sudden turn and sway that the fighter plane does. 'Just c-calm d-down ev-everything will be f-fine,' Zander thinks to himself.
Zeke flies around, shooting and dodging laser fire coming in his direction. Whatever he flies over becomes destroyed by a barrage of gunfire and somehow, everything turns out okay with every turn and sway that he does.
Slowly, Zander opens his eyes and watches the dancing display of flying that unfolds in front of his eyes. He begins to calm down watching Zeke perform insane maneuvers as he dodges the barrage of laser fire that comes in from all different directions. 'Zeke. You're dodging laser fire. Laser fire that looks like… rain? Yeah… rain. Zeke, you're dodging rain. How the heck are you doing this?' At that moment Zander wasn't afraid anymore. He felt… safe.
"Pilot on plane twenty-two respond, over?" Responder from H.Q. asks.
He answers while still flying, "Zeke… here, what are your… orders?"
"We need you to head on over to generator six and seven to provide air support for the squads to take down the generators," H.Q. informs.
"Generators? Did I just hear that right?" Zander asks.
"Yes, every single one. Commander's orders."
"Got it… on my way," Zeke answers back then asks to Zander, "Which way are those generators?"
Zander stares at his terminal trying to figure it out. "You're heading towards… uh… generator seven right now."
"Alright, are the missiles ready? I'm going to launch it towards one of the generators."
"It uh… it shows that it's loaded and primed for launch," he responds back.
They blast off towards that direction and see squads firing everything they have at thousands of robots coming from every direction.
Reaching the massive generator, Zeke asks, "Missile ready?"
"Ready," Zander answers back.
Zeke counts down, "Three… two… one… FIRE!"
Zander pushes the button, firing nothing but instead opening a hatch from the bottom of the plane.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Zeke asks confused.
"I pressed the button for the missile… right?" Zander asked, looking confused as he pointed at the screen.
Zeke looks at it. "No… that's not for the missile. That's for-"
"Pilot on plane twenty-two are you there, over?" the H.Q. Responder asks.
"Umm... I'm here. Over?" he answers nervously.
"You've just carpet bombed close to forty robots about to overtake two squads. You saved them. Good job out there."
"Don't thank us yet 'cause we're not done." He tries to look over his seat to point at the button. "That one… right there."
Confused about the odd icon, he asks unsure, "That's a missile?" he then presses it, firing the missile.
"NOT FUCKING NOW!"
They both watch the missile fire off and head into a group of robots, destroying them all.
"Pilot on twenty-two? I don't know how you do it but you really know how to get people out of a bad situation. Good job again."
"No problem," Zeke responds, then looks over to Zander and politely asks, "Ready now?"
Zander gives him a smug look with a thumbs up.
Zeke swerves around back to the generator and locks onto it again. "READY!?"
"Ready."
"THREE… TWO… ONE… FIRE!"
A missile fires out and goes into generator seven completely destroying it.
"WOO-HOO! HECK YEAH!" they both shout.
The responder contacts them again, "Pilot on plane umm… Zeke? Zeke Tailor?" She steps away from the mic, still able to be heard, "There's a ground support soldier flying a plane. Who allowed that to happen?"
Zeke sighs slightly shaking his head, but feels his shoulder patted on by Zander preventing him from getting disappointed.
From the mic, a female familiar voice can be heard answering back to the responder, "Zeke? Really? He's flying?"
Zeke's eyes widen from the voice. 'No… it can't be her.'
The familiar voice is heard picking up the mic asking, "Zeke? Is that really you?"
Startled by the voice, he couldn't believe it. 'Oh shit… is that really her?' He cautiously asks, "Uhh… err… y-yeah. Trish, is that you?"
"Yes it's me. We need you to head on over to generator five and six to provide air support."
"A-alright copy that," Zeke responds back hoping that…
Zander taps his shoulder. "Was that really her? Can she hear me?" Zander cautiously asks quietly.
Zeke's eyes widen as he prepares his ears for what's about to happen.
"Huh? No… NO! OH MY GAWD! ZANDER? IS THAT REALLY YOU?" Trish yells out.
"YES DUMBASS, SHE CAN HEAR YOU!" Zeke shouts at him.
"I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU 'TIL YOUR DOTS TURN BLUE WHEN YOU GET-" Her connection suddenly gets cut by Zander.
Zeke starts panicking. "WHAT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND? YOU JUST CUT HER OFF!"
"Zeke… Zeke… we are never, EVER going to land. OK? We're going to stay up here for-e-ver. Got it?" Zander says, panicking, putting hands over his face. "I can't believe that just happened."
Zeke couldn't believe it either, until he notices something flying right alongside him. He looks to his right and then begins to smile. "Hey, Zander… look to the right. That'll calm you down."
Zander puts his hands down and then looks to the right. "What the… Is that…? It's… He's flying."
Rewind: Back at the Resistance Base…
9-5: A Show of Respect
Knuckles and Sonic run past the H.Q. building and into a hidden bunker. After a pretty lengthy hallway, Knuckles gets interrupted by a transmission call from H.Q. "Commander? Someone with an unconfirmed frequency needs to talk to you," H.Q. responder says.
They both stop as he answers, "Alright, patch'em through to me. Knuckles here, who is it?"
"This is Chris - you need to direct…" (Fast Forward) "…SO TAKE DOWN THOSE DAMN GENERATORS!" Chris shouts at him.
Infuriated, Knuckles shouts right back, "LISTEN HERE… (Several minutes later of insults) …AND WHEN I FIND YOU-"
Sonic sighs, having the need to inform him, "Hey knuckle head, I don't think he's there listening to you anymore."
Knuckles glares right back to Sonic infuriated, not saying anything.
"You think… nah. He has to be right. He hasn't let me down yet. I trust him and you should too," Sonic says, trying to convince him.
Knuckles looks at his communicator and sighs, knowing that Chris might be right. He puts his hand on it and issues the order. "This is Knuckles, Lead Commanding Officer. I'm issuing this order to every squad that's out there - Take down every single generator. No questions asked. Just do it." He looks back to Sonic. "C'mon, we better go fast 'cause we're about to lose power."
They reach a massive heavily fortified locked door. Knuckles then goes through the dozens of different locks, each having its own complicated process to unlock. Once the final lock clicks, the massive door opens.
"That was a bit excessive," Sonic mocks.
"They don't call me The Guardian for nothing," Knuckles mentions as he lets Sonic enter first.
Entering, Sonic eyes go wide in disbelief, surprised to see what's inside. "No way. They're all here? All of them? Even the Master Emerald is here." He turns back to Knuckles. "Why didn't you tell me?"
With his arms crossed, Knuckles answers, "After what happened to you, and especially to what happened to Amy. Who knows what you would've done."
Sonic looks away ashamed and says, "Good point." He grabs all the Chaos Emeralds and heads outside.
Outside, squads were ready to be deployed, with Trish trying figure to out where to send them.
Noticing her, Knuckles walks directly to her. "I'll take it from here. What I need you to do is go to H.Q. and help direct people what to do. Amy is still hurting so I'm picking you to take her spot."
She nods and says, "Yes Commander," and heads off to H.Q.
Sonic watches her walk away after hearing what she said. He then turns and looks at Knuckles.
Knuckles then points to Sonic and orders, "Sonic, I need you to keep Infinite distracted and buy everyone enough time to take down those generators. Do whatever you can to keep him in the air and away from everyone."
Sonic smiles and begins to power up as the Chaos Emeralds appear and circle around him. In a flash of golden light he becomes Super Sonic. He floats up into the air and looks down to him. "You got it commander," Sonic says as he flies off.
Knuckles just stands there watching, until Sonic disappears within the clouds. "That never gets old seeing him do that." He turns around and walks towards the squads set up in front of the base, ready to protect it. But after a mere couple of steps… "Wait." He stops. "What?" He looks back and realizes. "Did he just call me commander?"
9-6: Super Sonic Time
Sonic flies sky high to get a clear view of the battle, hoping that he will spot Infinite. Seeing that there's no sign of him, he dive bombs into a crowd of robots, destroying as many as he can before shooting right back into the air. Again, he searches… nothing. He looks back down and repeats the process over and over, hoping Infinite would show up sooner or later to stop him, but nothing.
He flies back up into the air, becoming more and more impatient, eager for a fight. "Where is he? Can't wait to…" He notices a plane pull up by his left side. "…Hmm?" He starts chuckling. 'Wow, Zeke. Long time no see, and he's finally flying too,' Sonic thinks to himself as he waves at him to get his attention. He sees Zeke turn his head and smiles back. Still waving, Sonic suddenly gets tackled and forced back down close to the ground and thrown into a nearby building, smashing into it.
As the building crumbles on top of him, Sonic lays there for a bit scolding himself. "Ok… I got his attention. Lost focus… and now I'm in rubble on the ground. Good one Sonic." He sighs, disappointed.
Busting out of the rubble and back into the air, he stares right at Infinite. "It's about time you showed up. How about a second round? It's a bit overdue."
"Pathetic Hedgehog. You have no idea who you're dealing with. I'll smash you into jelly. You are completely outclassed, paling in comparison to me."
"I'm in a class all of my own. Time to put up or shut-up," Sonic responds back.
"I will show you-" He clenches his fists as they begin to pulsate with bright purple energy. "-just how insignificant you truly are." Once opening them, he creates purple orbs and looks them over. He turns his gaze back to Sonic and throws them directly at him.
"UH-OH, WHOA!" Sonic propels himself forward, dodging each one, getting closer and closer to close the gap until he throws a punch at insane speed.
Infinite catches his fist. Sonic throws another punch but he easily grabs it too with his other hand. "You are indeed more powerful. This should be interesting, but it doesn't matter - the outcome will still be the same."
"NO! Not this time. This time I'm not alone. My friends are doing everything they can to stop you."
"HAHAHA! Those ants down there? What makes you think that?" Sonic tries to break his grasp. "Sadly the doctor isn't here to hold me back anymore. So who is going to save you now from me? NO ONE! I could finish you off if I wanted to… and then, finally, the whole world. I grow tired of it," Infinite drawls, getting closer to his face.
In anger, Sonic then headbutts him to let him go, cracking his mask. Infinite barely flinches from it but it was enough for Sonic to slip out of his grasp. He then throws another punch, but Infinite ducks and punches him right back in the gut and kicks him away.
"Nice try… but you're not fast enough. How would you like your epitaph to read? "Here lies the blue buffoon?"" Infinite mocks him.
"How about: "Here lies the masked clown?" Gotta make one for the one that needs it, right?" Sonic mocks back.
"Grrr! YOU WILL REGRET THAT!" Infinite lunges at Sonic as a plane flies right by him.
Sonic gets ready and goes into a defensive boxing stance. Punches and kicks are thrown incessantly as Sonic desperately tries to avoid them all. Finally, he sees an opening and he throws a punch hitting Infinite in the face, cracking his mask even further and follows up with a jab to his ribs.
Infinite rubs his face and throws another punch, but Sonic blocks and jabs him in the ribs again. With another attempt to land a punch, Sonic sways away from it and punches him once more in the ribs and ends it with a thrust kick to push him away.
Infinite backs off holding his side. "Good to know that you can fight."
"It's a little something I learned from someone," Sonic says as he keeps his arms up in defense.
"HAHAHA! WHEN THIS IS OVER, I'M GOING TO ENJOY DESTROYING-" Infinite gets hit by an oncoming plane roaring by, taking him out and sending him back towards earth.
Sonic looks all around, "Umm… that was random," Sonic mutters confused as he watches Infinite's body fall towards the clouds and down to Earth.
Rewind…
9-7: It Was a Good Idea Until…
"Damn showoff. Let's see you fly a plane," Zeke says laughing. He waves at Sonic and sees him waving back, suddenly Sonic gets tackled by Infinite.
"NO… Shit! It's Infinite and they're fighting. What are we go…ing…" Zander says at first concerned, till he feels the G-force of the plane turning. "Ohhh, hehehe. I know exactly what you're thinking. LET'S GO!" Zander shouts, patting his shoulder.
Zeke turns the plane and heads right back to them.
"What do you want to get ready to shoot him with? We only have one missile and a couple-"
"Nothing," Zeke interrupts.
Zander looks away from the monitor. "Nothing?"
"Nothing," he answers again, staying focused.
"Oh… Heck yeah. Let's do it."
As Zeke remained focused on hitting Infinite with the plane, the whole time Zander was telling him angles on how to hit Infinite. "UP, UP, LEFT, …yeah, …down, …PERFECT. NOW GUN IT!"
Zeke snarls as he yells out, "AHHHHH!" but then Infinite lunges forward missing him entirely.
"DAMMIT!" Zeke yells out in anger and slams on the panels.
"We'll get him for sure on the next turn," Zander quickly says to calm him down and again he gives him instructions. "HIGHER, HIGHER… left… a little more… YEAH HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! GUN IT!"
Both of them yell out, "AAAAHHHHHHhhhhhh!" They hear a muffled sound of a body hitting right off the left wing. "WOOO Hooo YEAH! Bet the fucker felt that," Zeke cheers after hitting him.
"Uuhhhh, Zeke... What are these red flashes popping up on the screen?" Zander looks at a monitor. "Never mind, wing damaged… wait… and now it's saying electrical damage… never mind, everything is going red now," Zander says worriedly.
Zeke sighs, "It means we're going to crash." He starts pressing the same button over and over. "SHIT!" He starts to panic, still pressing it. "Prepare for a rough landing. I CAN'T BRING THE LANDING GEAR OUT! PREPARE FOR A ROUGH LANDING!" Zeke shouts as he tries to upright the plane for a smooth landing. But, they slam onto the ground with no landing gear, sliding, finally coming to a halt.
"Ouch…!" He looks at the plane. "Dammit! My first flight and it ends up in a crash. Are you alright back there?" He says turning to Zander.
Zander picks up his hand and shows blood on it. "I'm alright. It's just my leg."
Zeke pulls him out and then they both limp to a hill getting away from the plane to relax.
"Now what do we do?" Zander asks, looking towards the field as the fight goes on.
"We wait… and come up with an excuse why we crashed the plane. My vote is to blame you," Zeke answers, also looking out to the field.
Zander turns to him. "Oh, Really? Was it my idea to ram Infinite with the plane?"
"…Touché," Zeke answers back.
Rewind…
9-8: We Move As One
Dozens of squads get deployed and form a line to protect the base. Barnett and his recruits are also there. Barnett orders, "Stay together, keep your heads down and wait for orders." Everyone aims their weapons down the fields as every communicator sends an urgent order to destroy every electrical power generator.
"What, every generator?" One of the commanders asks.
"Yes, all of them. We have to destroy them all," another commander answers.
"There's like fucking nine of them," another one of them mentions.
Soon aircrafts arrive and land. Other commanders shout out orders and begin to merge their squads together. Most of them get aboard and get sent to the other generators that are located hundreds of miles away. Barnett gets left behind.
With half the squads gone, they start splitting up the squads even more to head to the remaining generators.
Squad commander seven approaches Barnett. "Sargent Barnett?"
Barnett salutes. "What's the order, Commander Micha?"
Commander Micha looks past Barnett. "Is that your squad back there?"
Barnett looks over to his four recruits and two civilians that are with him, he then turns back answering, "That's correct. That's my squad."
"You're teaming up with me. We're heading to generator four to take it out. We're leaving as soon as possible, so go get them ready," he orders.
Barnett approaches and informs all of them, "We're leaving to take out one of the generators. Along the way we're probably going against O-series robots again."
"Aim for the waist?" Eddie asks.
Edward then quickly asks, "And don't forget about the big ones. Top right chest plate?"
"Correct. Fire if you really have to and keep your head down."
"GET READY!" the Squad Commander announces, "Move out."
"Now move out," Barnett orders, then looks at the two civilians that are also with him. He instructs them while pointing to POS, "Stay close to him and never lose sight of him. Got it?"
They nod in agreement as one says, "Yes sir."
The closer and closer they get to Generator four, the more robots there are waiting for them. They open fire. "PULL BACK!" the Commander yells out.
"FIRE!" Barnett shouts. Pinned down and nowhere to go they had no choice but to stay put and hold their ground.
They hide behind anything to protect themselves against a never ending swarm of robots that hailed a never ending barrage of laser fire. As everything was about to get grim, a robot appeared over Barnett and aimed at him. As the tip of the robot laser arm charges up to fire…
A figure comes out of nowhere and jumps onto the robot, performs a backflip and kicks, blasting the robot away. As he lands prone, he then rolls towards Barnett to hide.
"You!" Barnett says angrily, staring at Chris while breathing heavily.
"Yeahyeahyeah. I know. You can't stay here," Chris warns him.
"We can't move or we'll get picked off one by one," Barnett informs him, looking at all the robots.
"We can't keep this up, sir! We're going to run out of ammo if we keep doing this!" Edward shouts.
Chris looks up to the sky thinking that he saw something flying. He detaches the glowing device from his side. "I have a plan - It seems that with this McGuffin, it attracts them."
"What?" Barnett asks, looking at it.
"Basically I'm on the robots shoot-to-kill list. I'll get their attention and lead them away, while you guys head to wherever you're going."
Barnett knowing he has no choice, he accepts. "Fine." He shouts ordering, "EVERYONE! GET READY TO MOVE!"
"Alright, give the word!" someone shouts back.
Barnett looks at Chris and advises, "Don't do anything stupid."
Chris shakes his head. "You have no idea what I have planned by the end of all this. Three… two… one…" Chris turns on his shoes and runs off with the device in hand, blasting robots. "OVER HERE!"
Barnett watches him. Chris looks back as he blurs out and vanishes. One by one the robots start getting destroyed, and soon all the robots get distracted and head to different directions.
"EVERYONE MOVE! HEAD TO THE GENERATOR!"
Everyone makes a run for it and makes it to the generator one piece.
"How do we take this thing out?" POS asks.
The Commander explains as he points, "Its weak points are located right underneath the vents."
"It's a lot bigger being this close." Eddie looks up at the Generator, estimating it to be over 100 feet tall.
"Just be careful when it blows. You don't want to get taken by the blast," the Commander warns.
"Generators one, two, seven, and nine are down," an announcement declares over the communicators.
The Commander raises his rifle and warns, "READY! AIM… FIRE!" Everyone fires at the Generator vents. Soon the Generator overheats. A metallic grinding can be heard as a massive explosion of heat and broken metal fly in every direction.
Mission accomplished. Everyone cheers with excitement then sits tight and waits for instructions. Then a distress message comes from their communicator, "ALL GENERATORS BUT ONE REMAINS! GENERATOR THREE IS STILL UP!"
Eddie informs, "Three? We're at four so…"
Everyone searches around as Edward spots it. "That's it. It's right there," Everyone keeps listening to their communicators.
"No one can reach it… but we can," Eddie suggested.
"That's nuts. There's a good chance we'll get picked off if we go," the Commander says.
More shouting and cries for help come out of the communicators.
POS listens to the voices as it becomes too much for him. "Everyone is trying to get to it. Either they can't or they're dying trying to get to it. We have to do something."
Barnett stands there looking right at it. He turns and says, "Who wants to go take it out? Raise their hand. If not, then stay here." One by one everyone begins to raise their hand until everyone does… including the two civilians that are with him. He eyes them as he orders. "READY EVERYONE? WE MOVE AS ONE! CHARGE!"
As everyone begins to march, Barnett pulls the two civilians away. They both look at him wondering why. "You two are staying right here."
"But-"
"I don't want to hear it." He removes his communicator and hands it over to them. "Hide under that debris and don't come out until it's all over."
They look at each other than right back and plea, "But we-"
"That's an order! Now go!" He watches them both walk away as he does the same.
Everyone charges in a group making their way towards the generator. Even with a clear way in front of them, some robots take notice and fire on them. One of the resistance soldiers gets hit. POS stops and helps him up and continues running. Lance and Eddie lay down cover fire to at least make things a little safer.
"KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN! ROBOTS TO THE RIGHT! …FIRE!" Barnett shouts. Everyone fires to take them out… but one of the robots fires off a couple of rounds before they are taken out. "Is everyone okay?"
"Is it safe?" someone asks.
"It looks okay," another answers.
"Move? Go, everyone go," another says.
As everyone gets up… one of the surviving robots fires.
Making their way, Edward realizes that Eddie isn't next to him anymore. He looks back and sees him face down on the ground. He rushes back in panic shouting, "NOO! NOnono. NO!" Edward rushes over to him, trying to get him up… "Get up, please get up. GET UP!" But nothing. He was limp and lifeless in his hands. He drags him along the way muttering sadly, "Together… always together…" Suddenly he is forced to let him go by Lance, as he then picks up Eddie's body and runs while Edward panics to keep up.
Once they reach the generator, Barnett collapses onto his knees, exhausted, and looks up at it. He then looks back down to his rifle in his hands. He hears a pistol get thrown to the ground. Turning to his right, he sees Commander Micha sitting on the ground with a wound on his side bleeding.
The Commander just stares into his clip counting the bullets and then shoves it back onto his rifle as he warns, "Yeah… I don't have much left." He looks over to Barnett finishing with, "I bet you're not doing any better."
Barnett looks right back at the Generator, knowing if they shoot at it, they will use up the rest of their ammo to make it back safely. He looks around to everyone as everyone looks right back at him. He then looks over to Edward mourning over Eddie as POS and Lance stand over him. He had to say it. The consequence of what they're about to do.
"We have to tell them," Commander says.
Barnett nods as he takes a step towards all of them. "Either…" He sighs. "Either we use the ammo to take out the Generator or make it back safely," Barnett informs everyone.
Everyone looks at the generator.
"We have to take it out," POS says.
Barnett looks up at it also, then turns his gaze down Eddie's body on the ground. Thinking about their safety, he then says, "I have no choice but to say-"
"Fire!"
Barnett looks to see who said that and sees Edward holding his and his brother's rifle, standing next to his body.
"Fire!" POS says also, standing next to Edward.
"Fire!" Lance says as well standing next to POS.
POS and Edward both look at Lance and smile at hearing Lance for the first time and then turn back to look at Barnett.
The Commander slowly gets to his feet. "Fire… General Barnett."
One by one, everyone then joins in saying it as well.
Barnett smiles back and nods in agreement. Barnett shouts as he aims, "Alright, ON MY MARK!"
Robots take notice and slowly head in their direction.
"You've… been the best squad… I've ever taught and fought with. I'm proud of all of you. Lance… Eddie… Edward… and you too, Phillip."
Robots get closer and closer, about to surround them.
Barnett shouts, "READY!"
Everyone then shouts, "AIM…!"
Back at the H.Q., everyone is trying to figure out how to get to the third generator. No squad can get to it. "Who's the closest one to-"
"MA'AM! Generator three is malfunctioning," someone informs.
"It is?" Trish asks back, looking at the display monitor.
"Yes, there's a squad-" A massive explosion of fire and smoke can be seen from the H.Q. windows. Everyone cheers in the office.
Trish smiles happily. "Who was it, what squad?"
"It was… Squad Seven and Eighteen… Commander Micha and Barnett."
Trish was completely overjoyed with the news, she quickly orders, "Tell them great job and to retreat ASAP."
… "I… I can't," he says back slumped on his chair with a hand on his head.
"Why?" Trish asks, looking over to him.
He turns to her and sadly says, "They're gone. They've been wiped out. Everyone… gone."
Trish just stands there, looking forwards, not saying anything as the building slowly starts losing power.
"Ma'am, what do we do next?" one of the responders asks.
Trish doesn't answer. She just stands there quietly not saying anything. She slowly sits down as she covers her face with her clipboard. Her grief can be heard, as the building slips into darkness.
9-9: It's Not Going To Be You
Chris sprints across the battlefield needing to stop to catch his breath. Looking forward across the field he can see where all the particles are gathering. Right when he's about to run again he gets tackled to the ground. Tumbling around Chris manages to get onto his back and position his legs to flip whoever is on him right off. "GGrrr RAhh!" He quickly gets up to see who it is. It's Miles.
Chris looks directly at him making sure not to take his eyes off of him. "I know what you're planning and I'm not going to let you do it."
Miles looks back at him sadly shaking his head. "I'm not going to fail another friend ever again," he says as he reveals the device in his hand.
Chris checks his side vest and sees that Miles really does have it. "Hand it over. I'm not letting you do it."
"I am… I am going to do it," Miles says back.
"And how? How are you going to do it? LOOK AT IT! It's not even lit up in your hands."
Miles looks at it, seeing that it's true. He looks at Chris. "I'll get it to work… I'll figure-"
"AND WHAT IF YOU DON'T!" Chris shouts back.
He rejects the idea of failing as he shouts back in desperation, "I WILL! I'LL FIGURE IT OUT! I ALWAYS DO… and if I don't… at least… I'll know that Infinite is no more. That's all that matters."
Hearing those last words Chris now knew that talking sense into him wasn't going to work. Miles already made his mind up. Chris extends his arm out with his hand open making one last chance to reason with him. "Miles… hand it over. I'm not letting you do it."
Miles shakes his head, saddened. "No… I won't."
"Last time… Hand it over." He quickly turns his shoes on, but…
Miles pulls out a remote to deactivate them. "Sorry Chris. This is goodbye." He puts the remote away in his pouch and gets ready to fly.
Out of desperation, Chris grabs his rifle and points it at Miles. "YOU FUCKING FLY AND I'LL SHOOT YOU OUT OF THE DAMN AIR AND YOU KNOW I CAN!" he threatens and starts walking towards him. "I'm taking that device one way or another." With sorrow in his voice trying to hide it, he ends with, "You are NOT GOING TO DO THIS!"
Miles gets frightened from what he just said and stops. He stands and readies himself to fight, clipping the device on his waist. "And I'm not going to let you do it. So try to get it off of me." Miles quickly runs at him taking flight and comes at him with a kick.
Chris, startled with how fast Miles is, lunges forward, dropping his rifle, and dodging under the kick as it flies over his head. Once getting back to his feet, another kick already comes his way kicking him in the face. Staggering back and before he can react, he gets punched in the face. Chris then ducks the second punch and lunges forward tackling Miles with his shoulder, picking him up and slamming him onto the ground.
With Chris on top trying to get the device off of him, Miles grabs ahold of Chris' vest, pulling himself upward to head-butt Chris in the nose.
Chris rolls to his side as he grabs his nose in pain. "Gahdamn. I don't want to hurt you Miles. HAND IT OVER!"
"NO! Either you come and get it, or-" Chris pulls out the remote that controls his shoes as he stands back up. Miles is in disbelief. "No…" He looks at his pouch that's now open. "No." He looks right back to Chris and pleads, "Please."
"Sorry Miles. It's not going to be you," he says as he fades away.
Miles quickly tries to put a firm grip on the device as it quickly gets pulled away. "No… NOOOOO! NOOOO!" he shouts over and over. He sits down and starts to cry, punching the ground. "No… No." *sniff* "No."
Arriving where all the particles are merging together located in the center of City Hall of Metropolis City, Chris stands there looking as it creates a perfect sphere. He rubs his still aching nose. Staring directly at the sphere, with no intense pain or pressure within his head, he sees civilization after civilization completely turn to ruin and blink out of existence. Again… the voice speaks out, 'Do it… Do it. Sever the connection. Save your world… Save it. Do what we couldn't do… to save ours.'
Slowly, more particles come floating to finish creating it. Chris looks down to his side at the gadget. "Alright…" He reaches down to grab it. "Let's do th-" Suddenly something comes falling from the sky, crashing to the ground.
Chris looks upward. "What the fuck, was that a body?" He cautiously walks up to whatever it is to check. Once the dust settles, it reveals Infinite. "Oh, shit," Chris whispers, backing off quickly. But he is too late. Infinite's eyes open and spot him.
Infinite rises up, holding his side. "I… I felt that. That actually hurt…" He looks up and sees the sphere and begins to laugh. He looks at Chris. "Are you the one gathering them all for me? Am I going to have to reward you?" He gets up and hovers close to the sphere and puts his hand on it making it pulsate. "I hope you aren't too close to this planet… because it's about to get destroyed," Infinite says as he causes it to pulsate even worse, sending shockwaves across the area.
"NO, STOP!" Chris shouts as he pulls out his pistol and fires at Infinite. Bullets evaporate before hitting him.
Infinite turns and looks at him. "Now I am disappointed." He holds up his hand and as a shockwave comes out of the sphere knocking Chris down to one knee, Infinite fires a ball of energy at him. Chris' body pulsates purple as the ball of energy enters his body and exits right back out.
"What, how?" Infinite was startled as he realized the device flashing on him. "ANOTHER ONE? I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL DESTROYED!" In anger, Infinite flies right at him.
Chris picks up a metal bar and swings it only to be blocked. 'Oh, Crap. Even with my shoes powered on, Infinite is still insanely fast.'
Once blocked, Infinite then kicks Chris in the side, nearly bending him in half, as it launches him closer to the sphere.
From the ground, he looks right at Infinite, hoping his arm isn't broken from the kick.
Infinite walks towards Chris and begins to mock him, "Pathetic, not even worth the effort."
Chris looks at him while slowly getting up. "Yeah? Well you ain't shit. I've been getting my ass kicked all week long. So you're nothing special, asshole," Chris mocks right back. He stands there and watches as Infinite flies right at him again for another strike.
Chris quickly brings his arms up to protect himself, as the first incoming punch comes his way. Swaying backwards, the punch flies centimeters from his face. Once it goes by, Chris then comes back in with a jab to the ribs.
Infinite then throws a right hook. Chris brings his arm up to block it, causing intense pain to run up along his arm from it. "Gah!" 'Fuck, cant… can't fucking block him. Can't.'
Chris fights through the pain as he sees another punch come his way. He sways to the side allowing him to jab him back in the ribs.
Infinite goes for another right hook, but then Chris ducks under it, jabbing Infinite in the ribs once again, and then he quickly rises up to punch…
Infinite grabs Chris's punch by the wrist that was heading to his face and laughs menacingly looking right at it. "So… he learned it…" he then turns his gaze to Chris, "from you."
Chris is shocked from what he heard.
In an instant, Infinite snaps Chris' wrist and does not let go of it. One solid punch, directly to Chris' nose, completely shatters it as blood goes flying into the air. Infinite then pulls him back towards him and knees him in the stomach causing him to rise up a couple feet off the ground, and proceeds to drill him square in the back, with a final elbow sending him back to the ground with a slam, causing his body to bounce off of it.
Infinite remained there looking down at Chris' motionless body. He places his foot onto his head and…
Sonic quickly flies in and kicks Infinite away, making him smash into a nearby building. "HA! FOUND YOU! Check out the lingerie while you're in there. It's in aisle… three?" He looks over to Chris, surprised to see his body lying there. "No… Chris. Why… Why are you…" A shockwave blast from the sphere sends Sonic flying away. "WHHHOAAA!" Sonic shouts in pain.
9-10: To The One That Never Quits
Sonic holds his head in pain, trying not to black out. "Gah.. Ahh!" He breathes heavily. "So- so loud… SO many voices… screaming. Gah!" Once getting his senses back, he looks and sees Infinite hovering.
"What you heard were the many voices of people screaming out in pain in perfect unison. The sound of worlds dying." He looks at the sphere. "That right there is a ticking time bomb ready to pull this whole world out of existence and everyone that screams in pain will join what you… just… heard." He begins to laugh. "Better end me quickly before that happens."
"NOOO!" Sonic shouts in desperation, flying towards Infinite as he does the same.
Knuckles, unable to get close because of the deadly sphere, watches as Sonic and Infinite clash and send shockwaves of their own.
"Commander, what do we do?" a soldier asks.
"What do we do? There's nothing we can do. Just get out of the way when they get close… and… and hope that the right side wins."
Every time Sonic rushes at Infinite, it becomes harder and harder for him to maintain his super form, making him slower. Infinite comes in with a right hook only for Sonic to duck it and punches him in the gut, then follow up with a somersault kick sending him downward slamming into the ground. Sonic quickly follows, ready to punch Infinite again, only to get stopped by another shockwave from the sphere.
Infinite staggers up to his feet and sees Sonic holding his head in pain. With a glorious opportunity, he quickly flies right at him and delivers a devastating punch dead in the face, knocking him out of his golden super form, and back into blue.
Sonic's head whips back from the blow, then snaps right back into position. His eyes begin to glaze over and right when he is about to collapse, Infinite grabs him by the throat and slams him into a nearby wall. Once done, he punches him two more times in the face, snapping him out of it.
Trying to remain conscious, he struggles to look at Infinite.
"You know why they call me Infinite? I'm never ending. You never had a chance. Now you're going to watch as everything dies."
Sonic struggles and strikes Infinite's arms to let him go.
"Persistent, aren't you?" Infinite strikes him in the ribs.
Sonic gasps for air.
"Oh! Does it hurt when I hit you there?"
Sonic looks at him only to then deliver a kick to the groin making Infinite eyes widen as he flinches from it. "Oh, heh! Does it hurt when I kick you there?" Sonic quips back, looking right at him with a smirk.
In frustration, Infinite pulls his right arm back and gets ready to do his final punch. "Your painful scream will not be heard coming out from the sphere. I will be the one and ONLY ONE to ever hear it." He proceeds to rear his arm back for his final punch.
As Sonic gazes at what he can't stop, with everything flowing in slow motion, he begins to apologize for the many things that he didn't get to say. 'Sorry if I didn't buy enough time for everyone to escape. Sorry Chris, for hurting you. Sorry Knuckles, for not making fun of you as much. Sorry Tails… for not seeing you one last time. Sorry Amy, for never telling you that I-'
In a flash of blinding light, the sphere disappears.
Sonic, seeing the sphere vanish, notices Infinite in disbelief. "NNOOOOOOooooo!" Infinite shouts.
"It's over… Infinite," Sonic utters in pain.
"NOOO IT ISN'T!" Infinite yells as he swings at Sonic, only for his fist to phase through his skull.
Sonic flinches, but feels nothing from it. He looks at Infinite. "It's over. Stop," Sonic says again.
Infinite's other hand phases through Sonic's neck, now grabbing onto nothing. He looks at both his hands. "NO! IT'S… NOT… OVER!" he yells out again, throwing even more punches at Sonic as they continue to go through him.
Sonic gets furious and shouts, "IT'S OVER!" He then throws a punch at Infinite's face, causing his head to burst into particles from it. His whole body remains whole and headless, before it finally fades away.
After the punch, Sonic then grabs his side in pain. "Gah… oof… that hurt. Yeah… So… yeah… Inf… it does hurt when you hit me there."
He slowly staggers down the rubble, only to slip and fall down landing on his back still holding onto his side. "Oww!" He looks up to the sky and presses the send button on his communicator.
"Sonic? Sonic? Is that you? This is H.Q. to Sonic. Are you okay, over?" the responder quickly asks, worried.
"I'm here, and by okay, do you mean lying on the ground in pain? Then yeah… I'm okay," he answers back.
"It is him and he's okay. Sonic, just stay right there. We'll find you and pick you up," the responder says happily.
He chuckles holding his side. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I know you'll find me." He closes his eyes to rest.
9-11: Honesty Between 2 BFF's
Watching everything that just happened from a far distance, Zeke and Zander celebrate that it was over.
"It's over, they did it," Zander says.
Zeke looks at Zander's leg and asks, "How are you doing?"
"It hurts a lot but I'm fine," Zander answered, looking at it.
"Don't worry. Like someone told me, in this line of work you'll get used to it," Zeke says, smiling.
"No Zeke, getting hurt was something I didn't put on my résumé," he says back.
They stay silent until Zeke speaks up, "Why do you put up with me? You always wind up getting into trouble and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt… and now you are."
Zander droops his shoulders ashamed. "I live a boring life Zeke. Nothing ever happens to me, so watching you do things and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals… It makes me happy. I'm too much of a chicken shit to ever do what you do. So when I see you have a hard time, get screwed over, or even get mad… it feels like it's my duty to cheer you up and for you to keep trying."
"Is that why you became my co-pilot?" Zeke asks as he looks at him.
"Yeah," Zander answers, still looking out to the fields.
"Why? What have I ever done for you... except make you worry and yell at me?"
Zander, still facing forward, started talking. "At that moment when they weren't going to let you fly… I realized… in that brief moment I had to stop being a chicken shit and help you out. I don't regret it. Being up in the sky was scary… but it was the best decision I've ever made. You don't EVER have to do anything for me Zeke. Getting involved in so many stupid things with you especially behind my sister's back is all I need from you. You make my boring life fun and interesting."
"Thanks. Thanks for being there for me," Zeke says looking at him.
"Anytime," Zander says right back.
Suddenly an aircraft shows up as it hovers over them announcing, "We found them. I repeat. We have found Pilot Tailor and Zander."
In complete loss for words, Zeke's mouth was slightly open with a smile from how happy he was hearing what he just heard…
"Did you just hear that? Pilot Tailor?" Zander says looking at Zeke's smile.
"Yeah, I like the sound of that." Zeke looks at Zander. "That was some great navigating you did Zander," Zeke says, patting him on the shoulder.
"Well, that was some fantastic flying you did, Pilot Tailor," Zander says right back with a smile.
Zeke laughs as he grabs Zander's side.
"OOOWowow!"
"Oh you'll get used to it," Zeke says.
"Shut up," Zander laughs back.
9-12: One Last Fist Bump
With a little bit of particles floating around, in a flash of light, Chris is thrown out of it as it disappears. As he lands, quickly gets up and checks on himself. His wrist, his nose… everything was okay now… but he was realizing that slowly he was fading away.
Miles flies and lands near him with supplies. He gets close to Chris, seeing what is happening to him, making sure not to touch him. "OK- ok, JUST- just calm down… I- I just… I- I can do something. I can. We can…-"
Chris watches as Miles panics trying to come up with any solutions as he goes through his supplies, but Chris knows that there isn't one. He just looks at Miles and says…"It's okay… Tails."
Tails completely freezes from what he just heard; he looks up and briefly sees Sonic instead. He shakes his head knowing it's not Sonic. "No… NO… I can do something. I can… I just… something… I- I… just… I… why? Wh-wh-WHY? WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME DO IT? WHY?" Tails shouts.
Chris needed to be stern with Miles. He had to make Miles come to terms with what happened. "Why? Why? Because we both knew there was no coming back from this and also I knew "why" you wanted to do it. You wanted to do it to get away from what happened to Sonic. Miles… what happened to Sonic on that day… it wasn't your fault."
Surprised that Chris knew, he snaps and yells back, "YES IT WAS! It was my fault. I could've... could've done something. I… I something to stop it… I… I… could have done ANYTHING!" Tails shouts as he collapses crying, "But I didn't. I just stayed there and watched as they took him away."
Seeing how terrible Miles was, Chris didn't back down and kept the pressure going. "No, Miles. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing, and even if you did you would've been taken away just like him.
"And the worst thing about it? Sonic? They were playing for keeps. You, Miles? They wouldn't have cared. You would have been dead on that very spot. If you had done something you wouldn't be standing here right now in front of me," Chris tries to reason with him as Tails still cries.
Chris looks up at the sky and smiles as it goes from red to blue.
"It's not your fault. It never was. You have to tell yourself that. Stop blaming yourself and believe in yourself. And also… you have to go back to your friends. They all miss you… even Sonic misses you, a lot. Go back to them," Chris says as a request.
Tails slowly gets up and looks at him, wiping his tears. "O…kay. Okay," he says as he nods.
Chris extends his arm out and balls his hand into a fist. "Here kid… last one for the road?"
Tails raises his hand and clenches his fist and looks at him. "I'm not a kid."
"I know. You're the greatest friend anyone can have. Sonic is very lucky to have you as one," Chris said.
Tails looks right at him and says, "Thanks for giving me back my hope…" *sniff* "…and for everything." He finally connects his fist with Chris.
Chris then slowly fades away as he gives him one last smile.
Tails just stands there watching the particles fly off out of view. Once fully gone, he turns around and walks away, leaving everything he brought with him behind.
Hours later, back at the Resistance Base, everyone gathers around paying respects to a decorative wall with pictures and names on it.
Trish stands there mourning looking at Barnett, Phillip, Eddie, Edward, and Lance's names. Zander hugs her with Zeke next to them, as well as other Resistance soldiers who pay their respects.
Amy and Sonic stand there, looking at the wall with Knuckles. Amy looks over past Sonic and sees Tails standing there. "Oh look. Sonic, look," she says happily.
Sonic turns and smiles as he sees Tails standing there. Tails walks up to him and they hug each other.
"I missed you buddy… we all did. I knew you were still out there somewhere," Sonic says, relieved.
"I had a lot going on keeping me from coming back," Tails said.
"What made you decide to come back?"
Tails looks at the wall and walks up to it placing Chris's Identification Card on it.
"Oh no, not him too," Amy says sadly.
Tails takes a step back looking at the picture. "He gave me a long hard talk to convince me to come back."
Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles as well as others gather around Tails looking at Chris's I.D.
The I.D. had the name Rookie scratched off and replaced with the name Chris Beckers.
Sonic looks at it being unsure. "He was hurt. He was right there near the sphere with me when I last saw him."
"Yeah… he jumped into it. He's the one that made Infinite vanish," Tails says.
Sonic looks at Tails. "You met him too?"
He nods as a tear runs down his face and says, "Yeah…" He turns and looks at everyone around them. "…In some way we all did."
From here on out everything will turn out for the better thanks to everyone. Everyone gives a final farewell and cheers for the victory for a better future, knowing that the world has been taken back.
The End…? To Be Continued.
End of the first Set of Chapters. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Forces: Chasing Memories, Chapter 1: Couldn't Let Go
