War for Mobius

Chapter 24

Bunnie ducks as the laser bolts soar overhead.

Swearing, Rotor moves for cover behind a large rock, "Great, Badniks!"

His teammate quickly joins him, "Probably should've picked up one of those Overlander Guns."

"No thanks," the walrus shakes his head, "they're big, heavy, and hard to aim."

"Still would have been better than nothing," the cyborg counters.

"Fair enough," Rotor admits.

The robots cease their bombardment. The two mobians look at other in confusion before carefully peaking out from behind their pitiful defense.

Before the massive army of bots, Robotnik hovers, seated comfortably in his mobile hover pod.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" his voice dripping with false compassion, "A couple of lost rodents…"

Bunnie responds by giving him the one finger salute.

"Not very well mannered are we," the tyrant sighs, "And here I was going to offer you a deal."

"Unless it's your unconditional surrender," Rotor calls out, "We're not interested."

Robotnik feigns offense, "You wound me. You don't even know what an opportunity I'm offering you, considering your current situation."

"Fine, what's the deal?" the walrus asks. However, as soon as Robotnik starts to respond, he interrupts with, "Not interested."

"You're trying my patience!" the overlander's voice turns serious.

"Good," Bunnie shouts back.

"Enough!" Robotnik bellows, slamming his fist on his control board. His pod lurches forwards slightly before he quickly regains control. "Give me your emerald now before a pry it from your dead, smoldering corpses!"

Rotor replies with rather rude yet detailed description of where Robotnik can, ahem, store his deal.

Fuming, the tyrant doesn't even reply. Instead he simply points towards the freedom fighters and his machines continue their merciless assault. Small chunks of rock break off into the air as the blasts hammer the boulder away into dust.

With nowhere else to go, Bunnie and Rotor have no choice but to remain ducked behind it. Bunnie reaches out and grips Rotor's hand.

He looks up at her, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she replies, "If we die today, at least we die resisting to the end."

"For a free mobius," they both cheer rather weakly and wait for the inevitable.

"Target locked," the computer announces to Captain Kalzier.

The G.U.N. Officer jams his thumb down on the trigger, probably much harder than necessary to release his walker's payload.

Missiles fly from the F-6t and into Eggman's robots. Torn shrapnel and parts fly into the air.

On que, Spider Troop fires down into the debris. Their bullets puncture through the machines armour and tear up their soft mechanics inside.

Kalzier flips the switch for the loudspeaker, "Yo Eggman! How about you pick on somebody your own size?"

While the barrage decimates the robots around him, Robotnik's personal shield deflects projectiles targeted at him. Unfortunately, the shield isn't capable of sustained usage, and if the assault continues, it will not last long. With many foes on the island, Eggman can't risk being defenseless. He has little choice but to pull back his remaining robots and regroup.

"Don't think you've won," he barks at the advancing G.U.N. Soldiers, "I'll be back for that Emerald!"

Kalzier fires the walker's large chain gun at the retreating machines. Only when they're out of range does he ponder Eggman's retreating response.

What Emerald?

As the last machines disappear from view, the G.U.N. Captain turns his attention back over to the two mobians.

Rotor can't help but admit, the large robot walker was downright awesome. And having seen first hand that it just sent Ro-butt-nik packing, he is in no mood to fight the thing. He and Bunnie will have to make a quick getaway.

The canopy on the walker pops open, revealing the overlander pilot, "You two okay?"

Neither Bunnie or the walrus expect that, specifically after they were ambushed by G.U.N. soldier before.

"Any injuries?" the man continues asking.

"No," Rotor manages to reply, "No injuries."

"Hold up," the cybernetic mobian interjects, "Your forces have been firing on us all day. Why now do you suddenly come to our aid?"

The overlander sighs, "Our allies are scattered all over the island. Chain of Command is breaking down. Eggman's forces are tearing through our troops left and right, and we have orders to treat any opposition as hostile forces and take them down. We also have unconfirmed reports that mobian commandos have taken down one of our landing teams.

"Commandos?" Rotor scratches the top of his head, "There should only be nine of us."

"Like I said," Kalzier continues, "Unconfirmed."

"Robotnik has mercs on the island," Bunnie suggests, "A set up maybe?"

"Perhaps," the overlander continues, "But my forces were rescued by a blue hedgehog earlier. I figured that if he'd go out of the way to protect us, the mobian weren't our enemies."

"Blue hedgehog? Super Speedy?" the rabbit asks.

"You know him?"

"That's Sonic," Rotor sighs with relief, "At least the blue blur is still okay."

"Where'd you see him last?" Bunnie queries.

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure mind you," the captain replies, "but there is a large structure not too far from this location. When I last saw your friend, he was headed towards it."

The walrus grins, "That's probably where the others are as well."

"It's dangerous to go alone," Kalzier smiles, "We can provide you with some protection."

Bunnie is about to object, but Rotor pauses her, "It's our best chance to make it there alive. If nothing else, it'll persuade the other overlanders to leave us alone."

"Fine," the cyborg reluctantly agrees, "Better get your boys in gear, before ol'Butt-nik comes back."

Sonic and Knuckles nearly bowl Sally over with the large cargo container they wheel into the room.

"Check it out," Sonic smiles boastfully, "Six Chaos Emeralds. One in each designer color."

Tails flies over to get a better look, "Whoa!"

In the excitement, Sal decides not to hound Sonic for that close shave she just had, "Where were they?"

"Long story," Knuckles sighs, "The main thing now is that we have six of them, leaving Robotnik with one."

The young fox picks one up out of the cart, hoisting it over his head, "Ben check out what Sonic found!"

Across the room Fiona helps Ben sit up so he can get a better look, "Sweet!"

"How you feeling buddy?" the hedgehog asks.

"Like I can take the whole Eggman Empire on myself," the wolf grins.

"You do," Fiona shakes her head, "and I'm amputating your arm. Why do you always get hurt in the same arm?"

Ben rolls his eyes, "Yeesh. Aren't I supposed to be rewarded for my daring heroics?" Fiona responds by punching him in the arm. A large yelp escapes his mouth.

"Let's keep the daring heroics to a minimum," Sonic sighs, "We've had enough for today."

"Sonic," Ben turns his attention back to the hedgehog, " What happened to Johnny…"

"Excuse the interuption," NICOLE pipes in, "There appears to be a large and well armed squad of Overlanders approaching our position."

"That's just great," the hedgehog mopes, "More trouble/."

"There's a strong energy reading radiating from them," the AI continues ignoring Sonic, "How should we proceed?"

The Guardian closes his eyes, "She's right, they appear to have the missing emerald with them."

"Thanks for the confirmation," NICOLE all but snorts.

"Weren't Rote, Twan, and Bunnie looking for that one?" Fiona aks.

Sally nods, "Sonic, can you check it out?"

"Yeah," the speedster replies, "I'm on it."

As he turns for the entrance Tails hollers after him, "Wait up, I'm coming with you!"

While Sonic isn't keen on letting the young fox help, after what happened to Johnny, he is well aware that Tails isn't helpless. The kid has a gift with machines, and if there are anymore of the large walking ones he had bumped into earlier, Tails might be able to figure out how to take it down.

Sonic also remembers that he was nearly robotized the last time he turned down help. If Sal and the Freedom Fighter hadn't been there….

The memory is quickly cleared from Sonic's mind as he stops near the main entrance to the temple, "Okay Tails. Wait here."

"How come?"

"Overlanders are dangerous," the blue blur explain, "So we need every advantage we can get. If they don't know how many of us there are here…"

"But I wanna help," Tails protests.

I know little buddy, but we don't know what to expect," the hedgehog persuades, "I'll keep them distracted, and you look for an opportunity to sneak up on them. I'll holler if I need you sooner, okay?"

The twin-tailed fox rubs a finger under his nose, "I can do that."

"Great," Sonic gives him a high five, "Now let's go meet the neighbors."

Sonic the Hedgehog steps out of the temple and walks slowly towards the squad of Overlander Troopers. There's only one of the large robo-walkers tromping its way towards him.

His eyes lock onto the crack on the machine's canopy. It's the same one he had faced down before.

"I knew I was going to regret saving him," the blue mobian mutters to himself. Deep down though he can't really feel bad for doing so.

The overlanders stop a few feet away. Sonic takes a deep breath and takes a more aggressive stance, ready for anything.

"Sonic, up here!"

Or so he thought.

Sonic looks up at the walker. Bunnie and Rotor wave at him from the machines shoulder joints.

"Bun! Rote!" he calls up to them, dropping his fighting pose.

Bunnie hops down from the machine, locking Sonic into a hug, "You're alright!"

Rotor lands a bit more roughly on his rump, before hopping to his feet and rushing over, "We were worried about you guys."

"We could say the same about you," the blue mobian looks around. Something was missing, "Where's Ant?"

Bunnie releases Sonic and looks at Rotor.

"He...he didn't make it," Rotor manages to answer.

The joy escapes Sonic's expression, "No…"

"He died fending off the Badniks so we could grab this," Rotor fishes the Chaos Emerald from his utility belt.

"We lost Johnny," the hedgehog looks to his feet, "He saved my life, but I wasn't fast enough to return the favor."

The revelation hits Bunnie hard, "Excuse me, I need a moment…"

Sonic is about to apologize but she cuts him off with a wave of her hand, "Don't you dare blame yourself Sonic. Robotnik is the only one that gets to carry the blame."

With that she distances herself from the group.

"It never really grows easier," Rotor sighs, "Losing friends like that…"

Images of a life long gone flickers through Sonic's mind, "No. It never does."

"And it never will," Kalzier adds hopping down from his mech, "But that's why we fight. So no one else will suffer the pain we have."

Sonic glares at the overlander, "And what would you know about it?"

"Eggman may have left the greatest scars on your people, but don't think you're the only ones who suffered his wrath. He attacked you just so he could have the resources to attack us."

Sonic scratches the back of his head, "Sorry. It's kinda been a rough day."

"It has for all of," Kalzier gives a knowing smile, "But everyone of us here would lay down their lives so the rest of Mobius wouldn't have any more rough days."

"What are you getting at?" Sonic taps his foot impatiently.

"Mobians and Overlanders are fighting all over the island. The chain of command is shattered. But your team seems to have a plan. One that Eggman has acknowledged as a threat. You have the best shot of taking him down," he looks at Rotor and Sonic's faces, "I want in."