19 - Stranger - 19

Angel Island, Angel Island Zone

Afternoon, 4:30 PM

Visits to Angel Island were ruefully small within the last few years, as the hero had distanced himself from his friends after what he had done to Eggman. However, he would never forget it's vastly differing ecosystems, various chao gardens, multiple world wonders, magical waterfalls and inscrutable ancient ruins and temples hidden all throughout the island. To this day, he remembered his way around every single zone, knowing exactly where Knuckles laid his head to sleep at night. It's main zone being it's namesake, Angel Island Zone, was the large jungle system on the island and where he had first met the echidna. In the middle of that area was a place called Angel Zone, which was a lush forest biome positioned at the center of a body of water called the Eternal River. It stood just outside the ruins of some weathered place where ancient echidnas used to frequent, according to Knuckles. Apparently, Tikal herself used to live there with her father and other members of the clan. It was empty now, but the current guardian liked to live there to be close to them.

There was a bunker underneath the grounds, hidden in plain sight in the case of intruders. Despite the aging damage of the site, the bunker itself was practically in peak condition. Over the years Tails helped Knuckles reinforce it's tunnels, pathways and sections. Instead of looking like sandy catacombs of a pharaoh's tomb, it looked more like a legitimate small home. The echidna liked it mostly because of it's solitude and very concealed appearance. Even friends found the place hard to find despite visiting many times. However, as of right now, the pulchritudinous and tropical sights of the area would have to be ignored. After chaos controlling to the main zone, Sonic and Shadow raced their way through the tall winding jungle trees. They jumped, flipped and glided over the many rocky formations and vegetation that obscured their path. The blue hero led the way, as Shadow had never visited Knuckles' home before. His home was only a short walk away from the Alter of The Master Emerald, meaning the bunker was the location of where their 'marauder' would be causing trouble.

Meanwhile, a crimson red echidna stood with grounded feet and clenched fists. His stance was sturdy, his posture ready for battle. His entire body was still, waiting for the perfect time to strike. His dreadlocks flowed in the wind, their length increased from age. His biceps were itching to retract for a punch, his beefy arms internally pulsing with hot pressured blood. His amethyst colored irises never strayed from their target, his pupils steady. Behind him were two others who, while he was indeed protecting, didn't actually need him to do so. A pink female hedgehog with a red suspender dress, puffed sleeves and knee-high red wedged boots, had her knees properly bent down to ready her body for an attack. Her arms held tightly to a large red war hammer, affectionately named the Piko Piko hammer. It was larger than her entire body, yet she wielded it with ease. Her emerald green eyes looked past the echidna towards their offender, ready to charge the moment they would. Beside her was a yellow-orange fox who wore an old blue hoodie tied around his waist. He didn't have any obvious melee weapons, simply because he didn't need one. On his fingers and wrists were thin strips of metal lining on both of his hands, lining the skeletal structure of the limbs like veins. In the center, metal circles on the palms glowing with faux chaos energy. It was a mystery as to what these things could do. His namesakes were pointed upwards in alarm, but ready to tick in order to fly for a fast getaway or a propelled attack.

These three Mobians were more than powerful on their own, they never needed Sonic or Shadow for support in a fight. Perhaps that was why none of them called for help, simply because they felt they wouldn't need it. These were no longer children running through loopty loops and giant rings, these were growing adults who were in no mood for villainous games. This wasn't for fun, this wasn't some joyful little adventure against cute little badnicks. This was them defending themselves against a troublesome mystery foe, who proved to be a threat that they would be forced to take down themselves. Did they enjoy strife? Not in the ways one would initially think, judging from their previous endeavors. They liked fighting things that didn't have hearts, like robots. They never enjoyed fighting living, breathing, sentient beings.

But they would if they had to.

The echidna could feel the light breeze from the skies blow against his tan muzzle, his voice broadcasting as loud as he needed it to be to relay his message onto their unknown enemy from afar. "...I'll ask you one last time," He said with careful pronunciation of his words. "What. Do. You. Want?"

Before them, just several yards away, was a lone figure standing in the midst of the greenery and exotic flowers. They were of average Mobian height, size and weight. The first thing anyone noticed when they first arrived, was their strangely militant attire. While it looked intense, one could tell it was mostly used for service and not so much for warfare. They wore a deep forest green coat with a belted waist, matching trousers worn with a khaki blouse and a navy blue tie underneath, with the trousers tucked neatly into leg high military boots. The tips were sharp pointed toes that had steel metal plating, the material of the rest of the boots fine black leather. The fabric of the entire attire looked expensive but breathable, and apt for combat despite not being intended for battle. They wore white gloves that were blue on the underside, seemingly of leather material as well. On the chest of this attire sat several golden, silver, bronze and even platinum medals. A name tag however, was not present. On the helmet of this person was the most confusing aspect of what they wore, because they didn't wear a military hat or even a marine's helmet. No, they wore this strange, sleek, all-black helmet that seemed to be much more futuristic. The headgear had a longer backing to it than normal, which was odd. Many Mobians have typical long appendages on their heads or bodies depending on their species, but when they wore helmets, they usually had these parts—such as quills or dreadlocks—hanging out from the back of one. After all, they needed to protect their heads, not anything else. Yet they were covering their entire head, so nothing was visible at all. The three tried to see if there were other appendages such as spines or a tail from behind them, but they couldn't see from this angle. And to top it all off, the stranger had this abnormally long nightstick in their hand at their side.

"..." A breath was heard within the stagnant silence, making their ears perk up all at once. The stranger finally spoke, their voice heavily filtered with a strange digital audio effect. Most likely to hide the identity of their voice as well. "My apologies," They bowed their head lowly. "I do not wish to engage in combat with you, and I did not mean to alarm any of you." They lifted their head and placed their hands behind their back professionally. "I understand my appearance is not normal amongst the rest of you, and I also understand that me concealing my identity is not very trustworthy. For these inconveniences, I humbly ask for your forgiveness." The three briefly glanced at each other in a confused manner. A bad guy who was polite? That was new. "Please, allow me this one request so that I may not cause any further grievances." They asked nicely. "Would you be willing to tell me the locations of Sonic the Hedgehog prime, and Shadow the Hedgehog prime?"

Immediately, Knuckles scoffed. "'Should have known this had something to do with one of 'em." He grumbled. "Ever since those jackal assholes appeared, weirdos like you have been makin' a mess of things. First the bombs in Empire City, now Eggman's makin' some big comeback. It's all too coincidental, so-" He pointed his spiked glove at the stranger. "-I'm gonna guess that you're involved. Could be right, could be wrong. I don't really care. I ain't tellin' you anything about my bro, or Shadow." He pumped his fists against each other. "Now, either take that refusal as a peaceful conclusion, or get wrecked. I don't care which."

For a moment, the stranger said nothing, thinking about their next reply. "May I ask why you deny me this information?"

"Simple: 'Cause I don't know you and that's good enough for me. Plus, you just entered the most restrictive area on Mobius," He jammed a thumb into his own white-crescent marked chest. "My home. I know what you're after, and I know why you wanna find Sonic and Shadow. You wanna take out the heavy hitters. Smart move. But you forgot that there's already three heavy hitters here, one of whom you just trespassed the residence of." He took a few threatening steps forward to assert himself. "So do me a favor, and get off of what I'm going to claim is my front lawn. Take your little police stick, and get the hell outta here before I get mad."

The stranger made an audible sigh before holding two fingers up to their helmet. "Dullahan, Mad Dog reporting. Codenames are a go, this may get violent. Yes...Immediate refusal, as expected." They tilted their head. "Clarify? Hmm, yes I suppose I could try. Roger that, sir." They then turned their attention back to Knuckles. "Please understand that I do not desire your Master Emerald, nor any of the emeralds of your world. I do not wish to damage, steal or destroy any of your culture here on this island. I am not in affiliation with Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik prime, or the Jackal Squad. I only wish to know the locations of Sonic and-"

Amy shoved her way in front of Knuckles and immediately cut them off. "We said 'no', take a hint. Unless you tell us who you are, we're not telling you anything about them."

"I...Am afraid I cannot do that." The stranger replied disapprovingly. "My identity must remain hidden, I am sorry."

"Okay," Knuckles began walking towards their mysterious masked marauder. "I gave you too many warnings, so now I'm gonna have to forcefully escort you off of my property-"

Suddenly, an air of great danger washed over them all.

The stranger instantly whipped out their black baton, pointing it at Knuckles. "Please," They asked once more, their voice much more ominous than mild-mannered. "Do not make me engage in combat. I am warning you."

The echidna laughed. "Warning us? Warning us? Buddy, do you realize who you just pissed off?"

The vulpine spoke up with a dubious expression. "It's obvious they're not worth reasoning with. They're too adamant on finding Sonic and Shadow, and I don't like that. If they won't go," Yellowish electricity surged through the fox's palms. "We'll just have to make them."

The guardian prepared to charge forward. "That's all you had to say."

"Been a while since I played whack-a-mole." The pink hedgehog mused as she began to move her feet.

The grip on the stranger's baton tightened, but then it loosened almost just as fast. They then placed the blunt tool down at their side again. "There is no need for conflict, because what I need-" They simply stepped to the side as Knuckles and Amy both stopped approaching. "-Has already arrived."

Whirs of blue and black caused strong winds to blow against them all, and in less than a single second, two male hedgehogs skidded to a stop in front of the group of friends on opposite sides. With undaunting expressions, they glared at their new enemy with great interest. The fox blinked in surprise, walking up closer to them. "Sonic? Shadow—How'd you guys know to come here?"

"Because I told them." A female voice replied. More wind blew against them as bat wings flapped towards the ground, descending carefully but quickly. Rouge, with her hands on her curvy hips, walked near Shadow while explaining their new situation. "This creep broke into my apartment to ask me the same question: 'Where is Sonic and Shadow prime?' I told them to screw off, and here we are. I don't know what 'prime' means, though. I overheard them talking about going to Angel Island, they've got some kind of earpiece in that helmet." She narrowed her teal eyes. "They've got a higher up pulling the strings, no doubt."

Shadow didn't take his eyes away from their potential target. "Anybody we know?"

Rouge shook her head. "Nope. Nobody we know is in cahoots with this guy, I've already looked into it before I got here. GUN's been alerted to their presence."

Sonic smirked indifferently. "You're a real mystery, huh?" He mocked as he eyed the stranger up and down. "Nice threads. You hit up a local air force base before you got here, Napoleon?"

Knuckles snorted. "That was so weak."

"Oh shut up, Red." The hero glared at the echidna. "I see you're doing good after that crushing blow in our last match. How's your bum arm?"

"Better than your weak ass chicken legs, Blue." Knuckles easily retorted.

Suddenly, the marauder spoke. "...Let me see," They announced as they paced in front of the group. Both Sonic and Knuckles ended their banter instantly, their attention returning to what was more important. The stranger had their hands behind their back, lightly tapping the back of their calf with the baton. They then abruptly stopped. "You," They pointed the baton at the pink hedgehog first, who flinched at the sudden spotlight. "Amelia Rose the Hedgehog. Age twenty, recently purchased a venue to operate a botany slash tarot reading business downtown of Station Square." Understandably disturbed at this person knowing such information, the girl cringed with a scowl. The stranger then pointed their stick at Tails, blinking at the attention. "Miles 'Tails' Prower the Fox. Age sixteen, child prodigy with an IQ of over three hundred. Operates a workshop and is currently attempting to purchase the property rights of the ruined Chemical Plant of West Side Island to operate a robotic industry." Everyone, even Sonic, slowly turned their head to Tails in shock at that information, as nobody had any idea the young vulpine was planning such a big move. The marauder then pointed to the echidna, who only grunted in response. "Knuckles the Echidna and the last living remnant of the Echidna Tribe, more specifically the Knuckles Clan. The one-thousandth and fiftieth member of the clan, to be exact." The guardian made a face of bewilderment at such precise information of his own identity. "Age twenty four. Current guardian of this reality's Master Emerald and it's seven Chaos Emeralds, along with the forgotten Super Emeralds."

They all glanced at each other in puzzlement at that. Super Emeralds? Some of them didn't even know they existed, while others didn't know that someone else would know that they existed. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles could barely remember the Angel Island incident's conclusion, and even Eggman himself couldn't quite remember how he was defeated. They only knew of the term Super Emeralds, but never understood why or how they did. Why did this person know about it more than they did?

"Formerly a part-time treasure hunter, and now a practitioner of Echidna Tribe based Chaotic Meditation, striving to be an Echidnian Monk." The interloper finished with the echidna, and pointed to Rouge. "Rouge the Bat, age twenty six. Former world-renowned treasure hunter and cat burglar, now a high ranking agent and top class spy of GUN. Constantly goes on vacation approximately the same time and the same varying locations every year: From June to July in Apotos, Shamar and of course, Angel Island." The bat harshly frowned at this, hating that she of all people had her information leaked in front of everyone. The stranger then slowly turned their attention to Shadow, their voice growing much more demeaning. "You, the Ultimate Life Form: Project Shadow." Hearing his entire title thrown out there, the black and red striped hedgehog did nothing but glower even harsher in silence. "A commission from GUN and the President of the United Federation themselves, requesting for the greatest mind of his time, Professor Gerald Robotnik, to create a medical and military research program conducted around fifty to sixty years ago with the aims of achieving immortality." The masked marauder chuckled darkly. "A foolish dream as elusive as a literal shadow, but a dream nonetheless. The project produced two artificial lifeforms: a prototype, named the Biolizard, and the final product, Shadow the Hedgehog." They tapped their baton against the back of their boot heel. "With such a great scientific achievement, the professor also attempted to use you to find a cure for his fragile granddaughter's illness. Yet," They noticed how angry Shadow was getting, not appreciating his history being tossed right in his face. "He took horrible, reckless, drastic measures to accomplish this. He used the blood of a demonic alien race with the promise of the seven chaos emeralds as a gift in fifty years time. And then, he achieved what he wanted. He created 'perfection': You."

A snarl growing in his throat, Shadow wanted so badly to attack, but he felt his arm get grabbed and pulled back by Rouge.

The intruder continued without mercy. "He got what he wanted, and in return, he lost everything. GUN realized this project was far too dangerous for their liking and cowardly ordered a death mark on your creator, his staff and your beloved Overlander sister Maria Robotnik-"

"Bastard..." He felt Rouge's grip tighten.

But the stranger wouldn't stop talking. "-Shooting her dead with a single bullet to her heart." The masked person looked away for a moment. "A shame, really. A tragic mystery that would have been swept under the rug, had it not been for Gerald falling into a permanent, painful madness." Their baton dragged across the grass as they spoke with a lot more vitriol. "With wrath boiling in his heart, he changed you. He reprogrammed your mind into believing that both he and Maria wanted nothing more than devastating, calamitous revenge. When you awoke, it's all you remembered. You joined forces with Rouge and Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Gerald's grandson, in a plot to destroy the entire planet. You relished in the chaos, until you were made privy to the truth thanks to Amy Rose." They stuck the tool into the ground in front of themselves, before leaning their arms onto the other end. "Realizing your mistake, you attempted to save everyone at the cost of your own life for penance. Of course, this didn't happen. You lived, thanks to Robotnik who nursed you to health before sealing you away yet again with amnesia. You made yet another world-threatening mistake with the notorious Black Arms after your second chance of freedom, led by your biological father Black Doom." They tapped finger fingers against the baton, almost irritated. "Perhaps it was the amnesia, maybe it was the paranoia, maybe it was the discovery of Omega, maybe it was the self destruction of Emerl, or maybe it was even the PTSD that caused you to create so much havoc and damage to the very world that girl wanted to flourish. Hmph." They seemed disgusted with the biohog. "Either way, you murdered your own father in cold blood and ended his tyranny over Mobius. I suppose after that, you finally became mentally sound and decided to not be a planet-destroyer for once in your long, miserable, ageless life."

The blue hedgehog suddenly chuckled, causing the strange visitor to glance in his direction.

"Heheh, okay..." Sonic laughed bitterly before taking a few steps towards the stranger. "Y'know, Knuckles was right." He said as he got closer, the marauder barely giving him any attention. "What I called you earlier was indeed, waaaaay too weak. So let me give you a more accurate description of yourself, since you like to act like you know everyone else's story. Now, stop me if I get anything wrong." He teased malevolently as he paced around the masked person, and they allowed him to do so without vocally interrupting. "Let's see...You're...An only child." Sonic pointed out with amusement. "Never knew your parents, never got that pat on the back from good ol' daddy or mommy dearest. Never good at sports, probably excelled in school but everyone else did too. So you never stood out, much to your chagrin. Got bullied and teased for being a try-hard, so you decided to let out all that contempt in the military as some weak-ass cadet. You got bullied there too, constantly yelled at by all your superiors and sergeants because apparently, you just can't do anything right..." The hero tilted his head. "But you kissed so much ass that they just had to give you a spot to the top. Now to keep that position, you go on dummy-missions and fool's errands to make yourself at least somewhat useful, despite your obvious underqualification. I mean, you can't be cleaning the urinals all the time, right private?" Sonic leaned as close to the helmet as he could, so close that he could place a kiss on the surface. All that was reflected was his cruel grin. "And that's all you, my friend. A creepy, robotic, mundane loser, who has no idea who they're screwing with."

Oh.

Hmm.

Shadow blinked a couple times as he realized that Sonic was definitely in a very bad mood. He remembered Sonic saying how he'd never commit to 'mean-girl behavior', but he was more than positive that he was witnessing that exact thing happening right now. Knuckles just smirked, as both he and Shadow knew as former enemies just how terrible Sonic's mouth was when it came to insults. He was a good guy, a sweetheart who loved bringing people up. Of course, when he's not mad. Once you made him angry, however, he could hit below the belt too. Sometimes, Sonic never had to throw a punch because his words were stinging enough.

Sonic made a mocking, panicked gasp. "Oh no! I didn't hurt your feelings, did I? I'm soooo sorry about that. Well, I heard ya been lookin' for yours truly." He raised his arms up arrogantly, showing he was fully vulnerable. "I'm right here, bud! What'd ya need, huh?" He roughly nudged their shoulder, causing them to get knocked back a bit. "Party planner?" Another shove. "Disk jockey?" Yet another. "I do great raves! I get five stars with every rating, look it up." Seeing as how the stranger wasn't daring to make a move back, Sonic just pouted with a fake sympathetic expression. "Aww, I hope I didn't scare you off."

"...I could never fear someone as weak, and immature as you." The stranger retorted. "Your friends however, should. They have no idea just how dangerous you are."

The blue hedgehog raised his brows at this. "Oh? Tell me more. Actually," He held up a finger. "I got you."

The biohog's eyes widened at what he was going to do. "Sonic, don't-"

The hero ignored his lover and placed a hand on his hip apathetically. "Why don't you tell everybody how the only reason why Eggman wants to kill me, is because I'm some weird ass thing called a 'Chaos Born,' destined to destroy the entire planet." Slowly, everyone's breaths were suddenly irregular with silent shocked gasps. They looked more baffled and confused than concerned. But Sonic just shrugged, he didn't care anymore. He was very irritated today, and that talk with Eggman clearly put him in a terrible headspace. "Let me guess, that's what you were gonna say, right? How I'm some harbinger of evil, and how I'm nothing but a parasite tricking my friends into some false state of trust? 'Cause that's the same bullshit Eggman fed to me, and I'm guessing you're on board with that nonsense too."

The stranger suddenly lifted their head curiously. "...So you know of your destiny already?"

Sonic busted out laughing. "Hahahaha! Ahh...That's hilarious—No." His laughter was immediately cut off. "You can keep that destiny crap to yourself, by the way. I don't believe in it, regardless of where I allegedly 'come from'. I've got friends, family, and a world that I love. Why would I ever mess that up? Especially when I've done nothing but do the exact opposite my entire life."

"Because they wanted it that way."

"..." Sonic squinted his eyes with a frown. "...What? Who wanted it that way?"

The masked stranger shook their head. "This is why you need to come with me, both you and Shadow prime. You both need to understand your roles-"

"There are no roles!" The blue blur shouted, his voice echoing all throughout Angel Island. Flickies flew away in fear, leaves rustled and dropped from the trees. Sonic made a long sigh while dipping his head back, absolutely tired with all this drama that he had no interest in. "God, I dunno why this month has been such a pain in my ass..." He muttered out loud. "Look," Sonic finally said. "I ain't goin' nowhere with you, and neither is Shadow. I dunno who you are, and you're not giving me any reason to trust you anyway. Let me be the good guy, okay?" He asked genuinely. "Just go home, go do whatever it is you...do, and leave us be. Don't make me be the bad guy. Don't make me be the asshole you and Eggman like to paint me to be. Please, I don't wanna fight anyone right now. I really don't. Just go, man."

A pregnant pause.

Silence.

They wanted to weigh their options.

The masked marauder lowered their head in concession. "...Your final word, you refuse?"

"Yup."

"I see." They simply replied with a quiet tone. "Understood, Sonic prime."

The hero's expression began to soften. "See? Now that wasn't so hard, was it-"

A different air suddenly dampened the tension, and the intruder bent down into a much more defensive position. They tightened their grip on their baton, pulling it back to prepare to swing. "I see that I must take you and Shadow prime by force, as I initially intended."

With a bored roll of his eyes, Sonic just shrugged. "I hate it when y'all make me do this the hard way." Was all he said, rather disappointingly, before that neon green glow began to spark in his eyes. A loud sound of a thunderous impact along with a loud metallic clang was heard, because Sonic had thrown a powerful kick into the unknown assailant. They blocked the kick with their nightstick that was definitely made of a strong metal, the hero's foot still shoving against the weapon. The blue blur found this interesting, as while they were both subtly pushing against each other for dominance in the deadlock, he could sense they had no issue in protecting themselves from this attack. Almost as if they expected it already. "Your build's masculine, and I can tell you've got a natural deep voice under that stupid filter you got in that helmet. You're totes a dude. But not only that, you've got spines on your back." He noted loudly with a growing smirk, now able to see slightly behind the stranger from this attacking position. He just couldn't tell the color. "You're a male hedgehog, aren't you?" Sonic quickly took a single back step and dodged backwards as that baton was swung at his head. "Woah!" He chuckled as he dodged left to right from the swings. "'Guess I got that right, didn't I? Question is," The hero dipped low to dodge another blow before turning to the side and swinging a round house kick into the stranger's helmet as an abrupt counter attack. "There's only three badass hedgehogs that I know of, and they're all already here. You're the odd one out, so just who the hell are you?"

Despite the kick's great force, it did no damage to the helmet and Sonic could feel it was made of something much harder than metal or hard plastic. The intruding interloper swung their baton at his leg, causing the hero to backflip away and land on his feet by a couple yards. "That information," The stranger replied promptly. "Is only of yours, and Shadow prime's concern. If you wish to know who I am, then you will come with me. Quietly."

"And I already told you, that you could screw off with that nonsense." Sonic snapped back. "Tails!" He called as he began to rush forward, the fox's ears perking up. "Do me a solid and analyze him for me-" He swung a right hook, to which the stranger blocked easily with the stick. "-'Cause this guy's movin' real weird." From afar, the fox nodded and reached from behind himself. His namesakes held onto something and handed it to his palm. He lifted the item up to his face, revealing a pair of thin holographic lenses connected to a headpiece. Numbers, schematics and various forms of data ran through the lenses, giving him information on the target just ahead of him.

"Analyze me as much as you'd like," The enemy refuted as he blocked more of Sonic's blows. "None of you will ever figure out who I am, where I come from, or how I operate."

With a particularly riled up grunt, Sonic swung his left leg into the baton, causing it to break out of the stranger's tight hold and shoot up into the air. It flung hundreds of meters away, before landing and sticking in the ground. They wouldn't be getting it back unless they made a run for it. The blue hedgehog menacingly lowered his leg and glowered at his opponent with venom. "Don't you dare underestimate my lil' bro, 'cause he's the smartest genius this world will ever see. He'll figure you out in no time flat!" Suddenly, the enemy held up their hand, and with a magnetic buzz emanating through the air, the nightstick began to dig itself out of the ground. It shook, trembled and tremored underneath the earth before shooting back up in the sky on it's own, and swinging itself back towards the stranger. It landed perfectly in their hand, and they readjusted their stance. Instead of wielding it like an officer of the law, they wielded it like a full-on weapon. They twirled it in their hands, before bending down their knees a little, carefully readying the tool for not just defense, but now offense. With an excited grin, Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Now we're talkin'." With a loud and literal sonic boom of blue energy, Sonic bolted forward with a charged up fist, swinging a strong left. The stranger threw up a leg to block this, kicking Sonic's fist back with full force. They were no longer going to just protect themselves, they were going to fight back. The mystery militant swung and whacked at the hero's limbs, but the blue blur was too fast and dodged every attack. However, they anticipated this and as a surprise attack, swung with a side-swiping kick. Sonic had just barely saw this in time and jumped backwards.

Tails only needed his scouter-device to judge the person's vitals, he didn't need it to properly analyze their fighting abilities. "That guy's a lower-body type of a fighter, just like Sonic. The baton's just a back up for upper body attacks and defensive measures." He declared aloud so everyone knew what they were dealing with, should Sonic need to tap out for assistance. "Their body is incredibly healthy, abnormally so. They have great durability and stamina, so this fight won't be quick."

Shadow took note of this. "Their metabolism, is it hyper active like ours?"

The fox shook his head with a confused expression. "No, actually. For some reason, their brain functions, blood cells and metabolism is much slower than yours. In fact, it's even a little slower than ours. We all can only keep up with you guys, but we can't move or react as fast as you. This guy can't do either, and yet he's fighting back against Sonic with ease." He frowned at this, something wasn't right. "I know how quick you and Sonic's brains work. You both can't hold back from moving too quickly in a fight, it's why normal enemies fall down before they even realize they've been hit. So why..." He trailed off, very perplexed by this. "...Is this guy able to react to his movements? He's even predicting some of them. Even if this person had extensive combative and reactive training, nobody can move on the same level as you guys without sharing such a hyper active body."

"Did you sense any chaos energy?"

Tails shook his head again, which also stumped him. "Not at all. Again, that's weird. All Mobians have some tiny level of chaos energy inside of them. Unless they've got a super small microscopic amount of it in his body, I don't see a trace on this guy. It's almost like..." His baby blue eyes widened. "...They don't exist."

Shadow turned his attention back to the fight, his eyes carefully following the marauder's attacks. "Bōjutsu...?" He mumbled aloud. That was a particularly disciplined martial art. Why would a soldier learn something like that and not standard hand-to-hand militant combat?

Sonic's kicks were like stabbing knives, as each whip of a strike was strong enough to tear clothing. And it did, because just as he landed a right axe kick just passed their helmet, he missed, but a scratch tore through the fabric of their military coat. In less than a nanosecond, right as that forest green thread of their attire flew into the air, the stranger smacked his baton upwards into Sonic's landing kick. This knocked him backwards, but before he could recover, the interloper sharply poked the end of the baton into Sonic's shoulders, upper torso and lower abdomen—All pressure points. Coughing out a small amount of spit, the hero still grinned at this. That was a small amount of damage, sure, but nothing that could take him down. Forcing his body to recover, Sonic used the nightstick as a step stool and jumped high into the air, before making a lethal spiral kick downwards. The stranger easily blocked it, but this wasn't the end to Sonic's attack.

Sonic reached behind to grab onto one of his own quills and threw down several loose spines around the interloper, maybe a dozen. Blue electricity surged powerfully within them, creating a glowing cobalt perimeter of electric chaos energy. This seemingly alarmed the stranger, giving Sonic just enough time to announce an ability he's been dying to finally utilize. Unbelievably, a blue bolt of lightning struck down against the earth where they fought, causing the stranger's stance to falter. The blue blur balled himself up to create an aerial spindash and announced: "Chaos Wind!" Suddenly, the grass, trees and wild animals that were unfortunate to be in the area, were flung into the air with a mighty power of huge winds. The Sonic Team yelped in surprise, nearly losing their footing against the attack and watching with great anticipation to see if the stranger would be able to handle this one. Dust and debris rose into the air, masking their visions of what was happening. Sonic landed gracefully onto the ground, his body still in combat mode, ready for a potential comeback despite such a strong move.

When the winds and dust finally settled after about a minute, they all could see a figure in the sky, pummeling down. However, they used the strong winds to their advantage and twisted their body around along with their baton. They flew down like a spiraling top, landing on their feet as cracks grew into the ground underneath them. They made an annoyed sigh before slowly facing Sonic's direction once more.

The hero just leered at their recovery. "Why so pissy? Don't tell me you're done already-" In an instant, the stranger was directly in Sonic's face, gripping their hand onto his fawn arm. "...!"

"Chaos Override."

The blue electricity surging through Sonic that once empowered him, was now negatively shocking him with terrible pain. It fried him so badly, that by the time it was over and the stranger took their hand away, steam arose from the hero's body. That blue energy was now in the palms of the marauder's hands, until they made a fist, causing blue embers to fly into the air and vanish. It was as if they crushed the very foundation of Sonic's power. The blue blur fell down to his knees, grunting in agony as he coughed and hacked. His energy was yanked right from out of his body.

"Sonic...!" Tails shouted.

The stranger tapped their baton on their shoulder with boredom and looked down at the blue hedgehog with superiority. "You made a terrible mistake, matching yourself up with me. Chaos energy is useless against me, as I can easily destabilize it or worse, temporarily eradicate it from your entire body." They patronizingly bent down to his eye level and tilted their masked head. "Would you please act rationally for once in your feeble life and cooperate? I am in no mood for any more of your pointless games-" A white gloved hand suddenly gripped the stranger's tie out of their coat to yank them down even closer. "...! You're still able to move?"

"Dumb ass," Sonic hissed with a sneer.

It appears that his strange opponent didn't predict this.

"You really think I need chaos energy to beat your ass?"

19 - END - 19