21 - Strange Fight - 21

5:00 PM

The mysterious blue hedgehog clenched his teeth, irritated that any of this was happening. This was supposed to be an easy extraction mission, slightly challenging at most if Sonic and Shadow prime tried to fight back. They were predictable weaklings, that was no trouble for him. But his friends, his God damn friends...He didn't expect them to be a thorn in his side. As he drifted through the air of the ancient jungle, he pulled the trigger on the baton-gun again to continue shooting himself forward. As he did though, a flash of multicolor lingered in the corner of his eyes. He made a tired sigh and figured that his time of running and taking a breather was over. Fine, he'd end this quickly. He didn't want to hurt anyone to such an extreme regard, but he'd do so if forced. He had a mission to complete, and he'd do anything to complete it. He then aimed the gun upwards, shooting and causing the pressured blast to shoot him back down to the ground. He landed nimbly, before holding up the gun and aiming in front of himself. The several Mobians headed his way immediately skidded their sprints to a stop at the sight of the weapon.

Reloading it, a bullet shell falling below his feet, he took a single step back carefully. "I am warning you for the last, final time." He announced loudly. "Do not make me upset Sonic and Shadow prime by hurting all of you more than I already have."

"What do you even want with them!?" Tails shouted.

The strange hedgehog shook his head. "You are never to know. By the time I'm done with all of you, none of you will even remember this. Just as usual."

Rouge narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that? What have you been doing?" She questioned roughly. Then, she slowly placed her hand on Knuckles' shoulder, her face stuck in shock. "This isn't your first time here on Angel Island, is it? You've been here before." To this, everyone turned to her in surprise, then back at their enemy. "My apartment, Station Square, Apotos...You've been everywhere we've been, haven't you?

With an unshakable expression, the hedgehog never took his eyes off of them as he aimed. "...That's none of your concern, Rouge prime." He replied quietly. "Please," He asked, his tone more pleading than before. His bravado and arrogance had momentarily disappeared for this single moment. "Stand down. Convince Sonic and Shadow prime to give themselves up to me. I do not wish to harm anyone any further." He licked his lips before continuing. "I am a soldier and an officer of the law. My job is to protect people, not hurt them. You're forcing my hand-"

Knuckles snarled. "You broke into my girlfriend's apartment, trespassed on the most important piece of land on this planet, and you expect us to let you kidnap our friends?" He took another step forward, causing the hedgehog to straighten his aim even more. "Tails was right, you are fuckin' high!"

"Moron, none of you understand!" He shouted back. "You will never understand." He lowered his voice. "You'll never understand why they're the way they are, why it's too hazardous to allow them to operate on their own without being checked. You can believe whatever you like, but those two are dangerous. That's why they need to come with me to fill their roles properly, so they do not destroy this reality with all of you in it. I'm trying to help you."

Amy made a scary smile as she tapped the front end of her hammer on her hand. "Can I hit this guy, yet? He's making a lot of noise and it's really starting to annoy me."

Suddenly, wind brushed past them all as streaks of black and blue rushed beside them. Standing in front of them, Sonic made an apologetic smile at them all. "Sorry about that guys, needed a quick recharge. We should have wrapped this up ages ago." He walked over to Amy, and placed his hand on hers to rest her hammer. He then stepped over to Knuckles and Rouge, and gently pounded a fist to the echidna's chest. He then stood in front of Tails and ruffled his fingers through his hair, giving him a reassuring thumbs up before turning around and returning to Shadow's side. "It's okay now," He told them with a calm voice. "It'll be fine, we'll get this guy outta here in no time." He then stretched his arms above his head before crouching down to stretch his legs. "He'll probably get a few hard hits on us, but we can handle it. Promise." Reluctantly, they all glanced at each other, then nodded their heads.

They took a step back, their bodies resting without any intentions of fighting anymore. Their faces were very concerned because they didn't want anything to happen to them, but they had to trust Sonic's word. They took a couple more steps back, getting a safe distance from what would be the last area for battle. The trees were much denser here, but the area they were currently all standing in still had a nice amount of room. However, if someone was knocked back or thrown, they'd hit their back on some sturdy tree trunks. Sonic even admitted that they would more than likely get hurt from this final act, but they knew this. They already knew this before they showed up, they just didn't want to see it happen. They all knew what they would do in the event that they were defeated, as they were aptly standing in a place where the Master Emerald resided. They both held emeralds on their person, Knuckles could sense it. So if push came to shove, they would use it against this mysterious person as a last resort.

Sonic relaxed his body before turning to his red striped partner. "...Mind lettin' me tag in first, bestie?"

Shadow made a small laugh at this and moved to stand aside. "Be my guest."

"Cool-" A gun shot was blasted directly at the true blue hedgehog. "Hey," His voice cut through the dying echoes of the shot, and he reached out from the gun's smoke to seize the mysterious hedgehog's collar. "It ain't nice to cut someone off, bud." He suddenly tackled the militant marauder down onto the ground, most definitely catching him off guard. Falling onto the ground together, they both pushed each other off and landed on opposite sides of the grass. They both charged forward to strike at each other, the hero's fist struck against the hilt of the stranger's gun. Every time Sonic moved to collide his punches with the look-alike's face, he would swiftly dodge out of the way. And vice versa—as every time the look-alike swung his baton-gun at the blue blur, he dodged just as swiftly. Seemingly evenly matched in speed, the interloper noticed Sonic was moving slightly faster than he was before any of this even started, which meant that he got his energy back and then some. Sonic could tell he was having very slight trouble reading him since his speed had increased, but he knew this wouldn't last for long. The lookalike threw a kick that was equally matched with the hero's who attacked at the same time, putting them in the same position he was just in with Rouge earlier. Except unlike that time, the two blue twins threw punches while in a leg-deadlock. Abruptly, Sonic ended their little back and forth with a strong chaos infused headbutt. The lookalike was knocked back, and blood began to pool a little towards his left temple. The blue sparks of Sonic's chaos energy further ruffled his feathers while also shocking him painfully. Annoyed, he ignored the shocks and shoved the gun onto his hip, pushing it into a holster. Sonic grinned. "I think it's time I really let loose, don't ya think?" He then rushed forward and literally let loose with a barrage of attacks.

The hero used his nimble body to create brutal breakdancing moves as attacks. With misguiding rhythmic footwork, spiraling kicks and fist swings, along with actions of bodily movements that made absolutely no sense, this was more than confusing for the hedgehog soldier. Each hit Sonic landed was of course blocked, but only barely. Slowly but surely, he was pushing the enemy back further and further, cornering him. But of course, even dancing had patterns after a while. So, while it took a minute to figure out, the lookalike decided to finally counterattack. As Sonic moved to close in, the stranger threw a punch, but the blue blur simply ducked down to the ground and began floor rocking and hand gliding. The lookalike tried to swing a low kick, but Sonic, holding himself up on the floor with one hand, caught it right between his legs. He then lifted and swung the militant hedgehog backwards into the ground before flipping onto his feet. As soon as his twin got back up, Sonic gave him no chance to recover by dive kicking him directly at his chin. At the very last second, the lookalike held up his arms to block, but was still knocked back once again. The more he was knocked back, the less time he had to recover, analyze, think or counterattack. Sonic took advantage of this and swung his left foot into his body, shooting him up into the air. He then jumped up to his level and stomped both legs into his abdomen to force him right back down. With sheer speed, Sonic left a trail of after images as they all struck at the lookalike in the air with dozens of kicks and punches that spanned within lightspeed. Finally, he caught him in the air and swung him around until he threw him down into the ground once again. When they both landed, the hero still wasn't done. He then did a small kickflip, but when he did, wind glowing with blue chaos energy appeared to rush forward and wrap itself around the lookalike. With another round of taps of his shoes, the winds became a growing, towering blue tornado. Trapped within it's winds, the militant hedgehog couldn't find any footing or control of the situation.

"Chaos Control." In a blue flash, Sonic suddenly appeared above his twin within the tornado with a smarmy smirk, and crossed his arms over his chest before stomping himself down directly into his body. The soldier cried out in great pain, this one sounding much more genuine than before. This time, Sonic actually did some major damage to him. In a mighty crash, trees were torn off from their roots into the air and off of the entire island. Small forms of rocks, minerals, and even water from nearby rivers of the area were tossed in the skies and forgotten if not completely destroyed. When the wind finally dissipated, Sonic smugly walked off of his twin's tattered body and bent down to wipe off his sneakers with his hands. His lookalike was unmoving, laid face down on the ground with his uniform nearly ruined. Bruises, blood and torn fabric covered his entire figure, revealing more blue fur and fawn colored limbs. "Damn," Sonic murmured as he eyed the body. "You really do look exactly like me. That's...Creepy." He whispered, frowning at this fact. He took a couple steps back before returning his signature charming smile. "Aw c'mon, I know you got a lil' more in ya!" His smile then turned into a leer. "You're a tough bastard, I know that ain't do shit to you."

With a groan, his twin slowly stood up, causing the other Mobians to gasp in shock. A strong series of attacs like that would have at least knocked someone out if not killed them. The fact that none of that could get this person to stay down, was extremely troubling to say the least. However, Sonic wasn't daunted nor was he surprised. If anything, he was ready. The soldier shook his quills and patted himself off. With a quick swipe of his hands, any dirt and bruise that was on his body, suddenly went away within that single motion. Although he looked much cleaner now, Sonic could tell he was still hurt. The bruises didn't completely disappear, they only faded. The tears and rips in his uniform were still present, and though he was no longer bleeding, the smears of blood were still there. Not only that, but his posture wasn't as rigid as before. Those stomps to the stomach really did a number on him. However, the hero knew this was only the beginning of the end. He may have looked relaxed, he wasn't. His face grew even more irritated, but not as much as Sonic wanted it to be. "You're cheeky, I'll give you that much." The lookalike then tore off the sleeves of his military coat, letting fly into the wind. He then held up a fist to reveal a black-metallic looking armband that covered the twin's entire forearm. It was slightly cracked in a few places due to all the fighting, but had no plans on breaking like his helmet did before anytime soon. Sonic could see that his forearms were very strong looking as well. Those armbands were why he was able to block every single hit he was given today. "I don't need a gun to neutralize you. Grit your teeth."

"Woah," Sonic smirked. "That's a snazzy looking pair of armbands ya got there. You use 'em to work out?"

"More or less, sure." The twin sarcastically concurred before cracking his knuckles. "But I suppose it's time that I let loose too, just don't say I didn't warn you." Suddenly, his battle stance became completely still. He continued to hold up his arms, his armbands facing outwards. Sonic's expression fell into befuddlement. That was odd, most fighting stances required a little movement for a quick dodge or deflection of an oncoming attack. But he didn't move a muscle, and he almost seemed like a statue if it wasn't for his steady breathing. While the stance seemed to suggest the fighting style he would use would be focused on the upper body, it wasn't. Sonic could tell because he could see his legs were way more tense than before. His legs were ready to kick, not just stand. The hero could only conclude that whatever he was going to pull was a mix of sorts—similar to what Sonic did—as there was no grounded martial art to be found here. He'd no longer use bōjutsu as Shadow assumed before, he was going to go all out. While that was exactly what Sonic wanted, he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. "What's the matter, hero?" His twin taunted. "What, never seen a stance like this before?" The hero forced himself to ready his body, before charging forward with a punch. It landed, successfully this time, right into the lookalike's cheek. However, he didn't react or budge in the slightest. He just shook it off and kept up his stance. Even more daunted by this, Sonic swung a kick this time. Again, it landed, and even knocked the twin back, but he didn't even wince. The bruises began to appear, yet he wasn't even affected. He didn't even blink. "If you're quite done, I'd like to take my turn now."

Blinking with a bewildered smile, Sonic really wanted to know what he meant by that. "Err-" The second he blinked once, a knee was shoved into his stomach. "Ghh...!" He could feel his breakfast rise up in his stomach. He then felt a pair of legs tighten around his throat, before being tossed backwards onto his back. He was knocked directly into a tree, feeling the very oxygen get pushed out of his body. He struggled to get up quickly, but he just managed to do so—only to see a sprinting kick get thrown directly at him. He threw himself back down to the ground and flipped away. When he thought he found some distance, his twin was only mere inches away to prove him wrong. He drove a savage rising kick into the hero, his body now in the air. But the lookalike just made another, and another and another rising kick over and over until blood fell onto the ground. He then caught Sonic's head between his legs and swung them both down into a spiraling fall. Someone could easily have their spine broken from an attack like that, but luckily for the hero, he only had a horrible crick in his neck now. The militant hedgehog took a few steps back with that same stance as before, glaring down at him and expecting him to make another move.

Sonic slowly smirked through the blood, he still didn't plan on conceding.

This smirk caused the twin to scowl and close in to bring down a ferocious axe kick down onto his back. Without warning or to the lookalike's expectations, in a blue blur, the hero was right beside him. He elbowed him directly in his side, causing the soldier to grunt in pain. A crack was heard, indicating that a rib was broken. With an angry huff, he kicked Sonic away before jumping and making a spinning round house kick. Like a skipping rock, Sonic landed harshly onto the ground several feet away before eventually rolling to a stop. He struggled to sit up, his body screaming at him to stop moving. Those moves were way different than earlier, because the impacts were beyond excruciating. His punches and kicks were never that bad before, why were they now after he revealed those armbands? On the flip side, Sonic knew good and well that despite what just happened, he did crucial damage to the soldier's insides. First his stomach, and now one of many ribs were broken from that elbow. Yet he was moving as if nothing hurt him at all. Panting and coughing up blood, he still smiled, because things were still going according to plan. "...!" He felt one of his back quills get pulled and yanked. He was suddenly lifted off the ground by the back of his head, and he groaned in pain from the harsh grip.

The lookalike looked down with pure loathing as he glared at the fallen hero pitifully. "You're such a disappointment," He hissed. "How could someone as pathetic as you be a member of the Divine Pyramid? It baffles me."

Chuckling with blood dripping down his lip, Sonic looked up at his twin with great defiance. "I got's no idea what the hell you're talkin' about, but I'm not gonna lie," He then sneered at him, uncaring of whether or not this would be the last time he'd open his eyes today. "It feels super weird bein' beat up by yet another Sonic-wannabe. But then again, I suppose a walking-talking Napoleon like you needs something to compensate for his one-note personality. Must be a pretty sad life," His lime green eyes twinkled mischievously. "Huh, private?"

...

...

...

...The lookalike instantly tossed Sonic to the ground like a ragdoll, causing him to cry out in pain once more.

The twin's fists tightened as they laid at his sides, his arms now shaking with angry veins pulsing underneath his ruined clothes.

"A Sonic-wannabe...?" He quietly asked aloud. "ILLITERATE!" He bellowed as he stomped his boots into the ground. "You're nothing but a pathetic little boy who still hasn't grown out of your malcontent ideals!" He bent down above Sonic's body to yell directly down at him. "You strive for nothing but lazing about in sheer self indulgence until the next villain arises from your negligent, blood soaked pacifism! You dare compare yourself to me? Zonic, the Grand Overseer and First Lieutenant General of No Zone Corps!? My ambitions have far surpassed your feeble excuse of a life, as I'm the only one who's been protecting you and your ignorant friends this entire time!" He yanked Sonic up and began to violently shake him back and forth, the soldier's dark green eyes crazed over with pure wrath. "You think you're strong enough on your own to defeat the greatest foes you've ever encountered? I'm the one who made it so that you could defeat them, you fucking idiot!" He threw him back down before reaching down to his belt. "You're just a puny sparrow fluttering in the shadow of a soaring eagle—As I am hundreds of leagues above you and your pitiful lover in every way you could possibly imagine and more!" The baton-gun instantly lifted from it's holster. "So before you open that witless, simple-minded hole of a mouth of yours," He held it up and aimed directly down at the hero. "Let it never be said that you could ever compete with me!"

His words were passionately irate. The emotions in them were so strong, Sonic knew this wasn't just because of a personality trait. This guy really took that to heart, making what he said much more genuine than he initially thought. Glaring back at him with a scowl, Sonic said nothing as he prepared to bite the bullet.

"You are nothing but a damn embarrassment," He reloaded the gun. "Now stand down, Sonic prime!" He pulled the trigger, a loud bang going off with smoke drifting above. However, in a blue streak, Sonic was now standing in front of him with his forearm blocking his face. The blast of the blank bullet greatly bruised his arm, bleeding, but he took the hit like a stone wall. Surprised by this sudden act of movement, as he thought he had Sonic nearly unconscious, the hedgehog known as Zonic was too stunned to move. "...!?"

Sonic slammed his hand down on the muzzle of the gun, the two blue hedgehogs struggling for control as he laughed directly in Zonic's face. "You fell for it, Shadow was right..." He trailed off with an excited gleam in his eyes. "You are way too sensitive. All I had to do was push the right-" And then, Sonic simply let go and stepped aside as Shadow appeared behind him. A growing orb of chaos energy sparkling in his palm. "-Buttons."

"Chaos Blast!"

"...!" Feeling the attack full force, Zonic was violently knocked back into a nearby tree, just as Sonic had before. That blast singed his body, and he was now entirely sore. However, he wasn't knocked out. Instead of trying to counterattack, he aimed his gun down at the ground and pulled the trigger, blasting himself up in the air for some distance. His uniform was even more damaged, more wounds appearing on his body.

With a cruel grin, Sonic snapped his blue electrified fingers. "Ooohh? And just where do you think you're going, ol' twin of mine?" Several tiny blue spines stuck within his trousers, ones that Zonic never realized was in him this entire time, surged blue chaotic energy throughout his entire body, frying him instantly. "'Guess you couldn't predict that, could ya?" The soldier plummeted like a shooting star from the air, falling down to the ground.

Panting heavily, Zonic shuddered to stand back up. Using his baton-gun to get a balance, his ears perked up at the sound of dirt rustling on the ground. Anticipating an attack, he swiftly turned around and used his forearm to block the hit. Shadow's fist landed directly on it, an amber red aura smoking from his knuckles. He then threw another punch straight into his jaw, but Zonic could no longer keep up. The punch connected perfectly, making him fall to his knees once again. "You call him an embarrassment, when you, a supposed soldier gets easily played by a couple of playground insults? Don't make me laugh." The ultimate life form made an uppercut, and Zonic just barely blocked it with the gun, but the force of Shadow's punch shoved the gun into the soldier's cheek developing yet another visible wound on his muzzle.

A large vein throbbed onto his forehead. "Illiterate, you know nothing and that's the problem!" He shoved his foot into Shadow's stomach, knocking him back. "Quit interfering and just give up already!"

As he was knocked back, amber red eyes quickly glanced to the side. "Now!" He shouted.

A blue streak sped right up to them both, the hero winking at his twin before both he and the biohog curled into balls and spindashed directly towards him. In a scissor-motion maneuver, glowing blue and glowing amber red black orbs headed straight for him. Panic flashing in his dark green eyes, Zonic showed physical and internal discord before clenching his teeth tightly. If he didn't dodge this, he would be seriously injured and instantly fail his mission. He took a single step back, before diving his upper body backwards as low as he physically could. The spindashers nearly sliced through his neck, their quills just barely grazing his skin as they passed by. They both landed and uncurled their bodies, seeing their enemy in an impossibly flexible position. Even with broken ribs and a torn up stomach, Zonic was still able to make such a move and almost cleanly dodged that attack. A dark, low rumble grew from within the soldier's slashed throat. He slowly stood up while chuckling, his long quills falling against his back. "Hahaha..." He then made a sudden about face, his gun gripped in his hands. He then reloaded, blank bullet shells scattering all over the ground. Locked and loaded, Zonic pointed it directly at the two lovers with a dark smirk. "You're finally starting to impress me."

This guy still wasn't going down.

Sonic and Shadow glanced at each other before nodding and curling back into a ball. Black and blue orbs charged towards the soldier once more. Zonic just sneered at this. "That move again?" As they approached closer and closer, the soldier decided he wouldn't be dodging this time and was prepared to strike back. Suddenly, the pair twisted around each other like falling marbles before creating a double-helix maneuver. "Changing your formation at the last second? Impressive! However," He suddenly dropped his baton-gun on the ground and reached his arms up. He roughly caught the spindashers in his palms, their quills and spines shredding his gloves and hands with blood flying all across the grass. He then jumped up, spinning his body into a concussion worthy twisting corkscrew. They grew so dizzy from the opposing coiling counteracting their own spindash, that their bodies uncurled, allowing Zonic to toss them down onto the ground below. "You're still nothing compared to me!" He held up his hand, his baton-gun swinging back to his palm. "Marksman series, model seven-" He announced as he slowly descended. The body of the weapon expanded itself with more metallic plating and parts, before mimicking the devastating appearance of a military grade rocket launcher. He lifted it onto his shoulder and pressed his finger on the trigger. "-Rocket launcher...!"

Sonic and Shadow looked up with wide eyes. The ultimate life form yanked the hero close to get in front of him, shielding him with his body. The blue one embraced him from behind and a blue chaotic forcefield formed around them.

"Fire!"

A miniature mushroom cloud formed over the Angel Zone of Angel Island.

5:30 PM

Out of breath, Zonic walked through the destruction of this part of the jungle, stepping over dead grass and cratered ground.

He then paced towards the unconsicous bodies of Shadow and Sonic.

They were close together, and Zonic caught that they protected each other moments before the blast. Their furs were charred and burnt, and there was dried and caked blood pooled around them. Seeing this, the soldier only sighed with some remorse. He never wanted this to happen. He took the rocket launcher off of his shoulder and tapped it with his fingers. It transformed back into a baton, and he used it to poke at them. They flinched and attempted to move and sit up. When Shadow reached for Sonic's hand, he winced as green chaotic energy shocked his arm. Making a confused expression through pain filled half-lidded eyes, he reached from behind his quills to pull out the green chaos emerald he had with him. He stared at it and focused harshly, but it zapped him instead, causing him to drop the gemstone. It rolled to Zonic's boot, to which he kicked back at the biohog. He then placed a hand on his hip. "Can't use chaos energy, can you? That's because I've been draining you of your powers this entire time." He held up his arm band once more, revealing that the energy Shadow was attempting to use was now there, it's metal sparking with amber red, blue and green sparks. "When your friends took over the fight, that little rest you guys got from earlier did wonders for you. It took a while, a long while much to my dismay, but it got the job done eventually. Like I said before, I don't need to touch you with my hands to drain you. However, I told a half-truth." He gripped his hand into a fist, crushing the stolen chaos energy. "In actuality, I never had to touch you at all with anything to drain you. As long as you're around me, your energy's as good as gone in due time."

Sonic, with an exhausted and agonized scowl, glared at his twin in silence as he attempted to lift his head up. "..."

'Guess this was it, he was going to take them against their will.

"As I said," The soldier continued with a calmer, much less aggressive tone. "You cannot compete where you cannot compare. There is a reason why you two have been alive this long, with or without my help. You have some talent, even I'll concede to that." He then lifted the baton upwards. "But you're still both the weakest Chaos Born of the entire Divine Pyramid." He closed his eyes with another sigh as he moved to swing the stick down for the final time this day. "Now, it's time to come with me. I'll make it quick-"

A beep.

However, it wasn't from Shadow's limiter ring.

Blinking in surprise, Zonic lowered his baton and raised his fingers to the collar of his ruined military coat.

He pressed his thumb and index finger into the fabric, a click being heard as he did so. There was a hidden mechanism in there. Suddenly, static caused the two fallen hedgehogs to stare in confusion. Did he have some kind of transmitter in there? So it wasn't just in the helmet. "...Sir?" Zonic spoke aloud. "Dullahan, yes—Mad Dog reporting." He confirmed firmly. "No. They're alive, unfortunately. I had a bit of a hiccup, both primes and their friends attacked me. Of course, they were nothing of concern and I dealt with them accordingly." He reported arrogantly. "I'll be sure to wipe their memories in a moment and take the primes-What?" Zonic suddenly paused with an alarmed expression. "What!?" He repeated loudly. "No, sir, that has to be a mistake. I cannot allow them to know my identity! I-" His expression went from being worried to sheepish. He looked away in shame. "Well I...Accidentally revealed myself during a spat. But that only happened after the helmets you patented failed! You told me they were indestructible, that's your damn fault!" He yelled angrily. Then he suddenly looked rather intimidated and...Flustered? Was he blushing? "N-No sir, I didn't mean to...Yes," He nodded submissively. Who the hell was able to make a guy like him look like that? "That's what I figured." He then growled with reddened cheeks. "I did not lose, I literally hit them with a rocket! I can drag them back to HQ now if I really want to! Yes I received some damage, but it's nothing I can't handle." His scowl seethed into a grumble. "I know. Of course, which is why I should remedy this mistake by-What?" He scrunched up his face. "But...isn't that a bad thing?"

As the lookalike began to seemingly talk to himself through that collar transmitter, Sonic took this time to force himself up on his feet while holding Shadow's hands. He helped him up to stand as well, and they stared at the soldier cautiously.

"The spirits requested this themselves? Really? In our home? Our reality?" Zonic huffed and shoved his baton down into the ground. "But why, sir? We can easily handle this problem on our own." A pause. "A tragedy...? It's going to affect the others? But sir, that can't be possible, they're too weak!" He exclaimed with a frustrated tone, pacing back and forth as if he was arguing with someone on the phone. "Ugh...But sir-" He paused before growling under his breath. "Tch. Yes, I understand. No, I am not questioning their authority or yours." He sighed in defeat and scratched behind his quills. "Yes sir, if that's how it has to be...Fine. I'll leave them alone. I think this is a horrible idea, but we can't do anything about it." He nodded a few times. "Very well, yes. What the hell-No, I don't want any donuts. Yes, I promise I'll eat today and I don't need you to parent me like I'm your child. No, I will not go to the infirmary ward until I check the monitors. Yes, I'll write a full report before tomorrow morning. Goodbye, general." The soldier turned back to the two lovers with an annoyed expression. Not so much annoyed from the fight, but obviously irritated by that weird collar-call. "You're both lucky. If it were up to me, I'd escort you to No Zone Prison...But my superior says that I must leave you two be, for now. Have your momentary peace, it will not last long. Something big is going to happen to your reality, and I hope you're both much stronger than you were today to take it on." He lifted the baton over his shoulder, and dismissively flagged them off as he turned his back towards them. He began to walk away, his hand digging in his coat pocket. Then, he paused moving for a brief moment. "You, Shadow prime. You're the smarter and more rational one, so take this." He took his hand from his pocket to reveal a small golden ring and a small piece of cardstock. How'd that stay in his pocket with all the fighting?

He tossed the card from behind himself, and Shadow caught it with ease. When the biohog looked down at the card, his eyes immediately scanned its contents. Sonic peered over to look as well, to see a strange symbol marked on it. It was a symbol neither of them could understand, until their eyes slightly began to sting. Was this one of the same symbols they saw in the cave on Christmas Island?

"All you have to do is concentrate chaos energy into that card." Zonic instructed. "Once you do, it will alert me to your presence and I will traverse here to your reality immediately. Only use this for an emergency, and nothing else. Otherwise," He briefly turned to the side to glare at them. "I'll happily beat you within an inch of your life again." He then tossed the small ring in front of himself, a full body-sized portal suddenly appearing before them. With a small limp, the mysterious Sonic-lookalike only known as Zonic, stepped through. "Hmph. Good luck, fools."

And like that he was gone, the portal instantly disappeared behind him.

Clearly at a loss for words, the two hedgehogs just stood there in silence as they glanced at each other.

"For real," Sonic said. "I was not ready for today."

Shadow stared back at where the portal once was. "Frankly, I don't think any of us were."

21 - END - 21