//------------------------------//
// Justice Calling 
// Story: Sonic Forces: Into the Mania 
// by GreenS21 
//------------------------------//


EGGMAN'S MADNESS


Orbot and Cubot peered around the corner at Eggman, looking at him intently. He was at his computer with his back turned to them, standing stiffly with his arms at his sides and the slightest hint of a tremor running through his frame. He remained like this and they continued to stare at him for about a minute before Cubot shifted his head to look at Orbot and whispered, “Is he…?”

Orbot continued to watch Eggman as he started, “I’m not certain yet. I… Oh?” He stopped and stared even more intently when he noticed it. It was subtle, but the tremor running through Eggman had shifted, a sign that it was getting stronger. And sure enough, seconds later, he saw the spike beginning to spread, the shaking in Eggman’s body becoming noticeable. “No, the Boss is definitely losing now. Brace yourself, pal,” Orbot whispered, both him and Cubot placing their hands over where their ears would be as they knew what was coming next.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The shrill, rage-filled scream seemed to echo through the room well after Eggman had actually stopped screaming, the madman’s arms and legs out to the sides as his mouth hung open. When it finally seemed like their auditory processors were functioning as normal, Orbot and Cubot shifted to their closed state and slowly floated over towards him, Eggman going back to standing up perfectly straight as they got closer, though his face was still contorted in rage. The two robots dared not get too close to him, opening up at what they thought was a safe distance and Orbot allowing Cubot to be the one to ask for them, “Boss?”

Eggman whirled around and yelled, "WHAT?!" It hit the two like a roar, both of them getting pushed back slightly and closing their bodies submissively. Eggman glared down at them for several tense moments before turning back to his screen, looking it over and reading it once again to make sure he hadn't misread it thousands upon thousands of times. "The Resistance not only located my Death Egg, they released Sonic and made a mess of the fleet's communication systems in order to escape. That hedgehog helped the Resistance take out one of my weapons plants, helped them gain ground in the forest, getting them closer to my old lab, and now they have Gemerl," he said, sounding remarkably calm. That veil was torn asunder a moment later when he screamed, "Why am I just learning all this now?!"

Orbot popped open, Cubot doing the same as he placed his hands together and suggested, "Maybe because of that first problem, Boss? I imagine it would be a little hard to report all the trouble Sonic is causing if they can't report that he's escaped."

Eggman whirled around again, "Be quiet! You're not here to play tech support!"

Cubot asked, “Why are we here right now, anyway? It’s still morning; we could’ve slept in if you didn’t need us for anything.”

Eggman turned back to his computer as he uttered, “I wouldn’t mind having you two be out of my hair right now if you’re not going to be any help whatsoever.” Cubot’s mouth piece moved like he was about to say something and Orbot slapped his left hand over it to stop him, almost positive that he was about to say something about Eggman not having any hair on his head. Eggman turned to the side and began to pace as he growled, “Grr, what a lousy way to start the day off. First, I find out I’ve had a security alert for almost an entire day, and now I know that Sonic’s on the loose!”

Orbot said, "So I guess it's back to how things were before. Sonic running around, destroying your things, while you plot to destroy him."

Cubot added, "Just like the good old days!"

Eggman paused for a moment before he continued pacing. "That's the one thing I've never wanted. I would so like to just destroy him in one attack and be done with it… but knowing him, even if I knew he was in the middle of a valley and I ordered a carpet bombing on it, he'd still find a way to get through it," he growled. He paced for several moments more before he came to a stop facing sideways with his head tilted down. He looked up, "Perhaps it's time to hit him with something neither he nor anyone else can outrun or survive."

Cubot asked, "What's that, Boss?"

Eggman ignored him, a familiar grin starting to spread across his face. "Yes, that should work quite nicely. Nowhere to go, and how ironic it should be for Twilight and her friends. How inspiring their crazy world can be," he said. He turned to his computer and began typing.

Orbot and Cubot looked at each other, confused. What was Eggman thinking of doing? They looked back at him and Orbot ventured, "Boss?" He continued to ignore the two, focusing on his typing.

After a couple of seconds, a map appeared on the screen with a moving red dot over part of it. Eggman looked up at the screen. "Ah, so he's moving towards Green Hill," he said.

"Sonic?" Orbot asked.

"No, Infinite, you fool!" Eggman yelled. He observed the way the dot was moving for several seconds before dismissing the map and typing again, multiple windows opening and closing on the screen too fast for the two robots to catch. After a minute, he stopped and looked up as he closed the last window. "That should keep the Resistance busy for now. Meanwhile, I’m going to go talk to Infinite directly. I’ll contact him from the Eggmobile to tell him to finish what he’s doing in Green Hill and then hold position until I arrive." He looked up, "And you're coming with me for this… Posey Twinkle or whatever, so get down here! We have work to do."

As he turned to leave, a black smokey cloud came down from the ceiling, both Orbot and Cubot turning and floating away at the sight of it. As they peered out from behind one of the large tubes in the room at it, they saw, in the cloud, Cozy Glow in her normal filly form, the cloud obscuring her slightly but not enough to hide her green and red eyes and malicious smile.









SNACK RUN


Applejack lightly shifted the basket saddlebags on her back as she walked down the hall, making light conversation as she passed members of the Resistance and let them pick apples out of her baskets. She still had her Stetson on, but she also had a hairnet on as well as a gray tiger stripe top. With her help, the Resistance's food production had gone up, thus making it easier to keep everyone fed. Not everyone was happy with the surplus of apples and apple delicacies, but it was the best she could do after only a few days, and she'd yet to hear anyone say anything bad about her cooking, which she thought was pretty good considering she didn't have her usual cooking utensils.

She stopped in front of the door leading to a workshop-type area and waited for it to open. Inside, she saw the Rookie and Techni working on a Wispon shaped like a lightning bolt. They didn't immediately look up when the door opened, so she guessed it was okay to enter. She stepped inside and spoke, "Hey, y'all. Care for a little snack break?"

The Rookie looked up when she spoke, but Techni remained focused on her work, so the wolf had to give her a gentle nudge to get her to look up. “Huh? What is it?” she asked, looking at him. He pointed and she looked to see Applejack standing patiently. “Oh, snack break run already? Okay.” She set her tools down and walked with the Rookie over to the mare, both selecting an apple. One bite later, Techni remarked, “Mmm. I don’t know how you do it in such a short period of time, Applejack. It’s like you just make these great apples out of nothing.”

Applejack figured she could hang and talk, seeing as she was near the end of her rounds. "Well, Ah can tell ya fer a fact that it don’t take nothin’ fer me. That’s why Ah’m an apple farmer," she said proudly.

Techni took another bite before saying, "Mm-hmm. You sure there's no secret to it? There's no secret earth pony magic involved? Eh, doesn't matter to me; it's good all the same." She took a moment to swallow the bits of the apple before she looked back at the earth pony and asked, “Hey, uh, is there any news? You know, on, uh, Princess Twilight?”

Applejack’s slightly indignant expression softened at that. “No. I went ta talk to Fluttershy and Windra about her a couple o’ minutes ago. They’re still not sure when she’s gonna wake up. It’s gotta be soon, though, and when she does…” She was cut off by a violent tremor suddenly rocking the room, throwing them all off balance and causing apples to spill from Applejack’s saddlebags. They were lucky not to hit anything on the way down and the shaking only lasted a few seconds, but it soon started again, happening at frequent intervals.


ASSAULT


“What’s goin’ on?! This can’t be an earthquake, can it?” Applejack uttered as she, Techni, and the Rookie tried to get up off the floor. Fortunately, the metal tables were stable so the Rookie and Techni were able to grab onto the legs of one of them to help them get up while Applejack couldn’t really do the same and she couldn’t reach the top of the table, so she had to make sure her hooves were stable as she attempted to get up. Amidst the shaking, they could hear anxious chatter from outside the room.

“No… We must be under attack! A bombardment?” Techni guessed as she and the Rookie stood up. They noticed the Wispon on the table being pushed closer to the edge by the shaking, so the wolf grabbed it and held it close. Techni turned to look at the apples on the floor and then at the workshop door. “Come on, we need to find out what’s going on!” she said as she ran for the door, the Rookie quickly following after her. Applejack wasn’t as quick to get up and do the same as she was trying to pick up the apples on the floor, giving up after a couple of seconds and leaving behind her saddlebags since the constant shaking just caused them to fall out again anyway.

The mare waited for the door to open and then observed the pandemonium going on outside. Resistance members were running this way and that, some panicking while others were trying to keep a level head in spite of the shaking. Applejack saw an opening after a few moments and leapt out into the hall, joining all the running. Techni hadn't said where she was going, but she thought she had a pretty good idea where she would go.

Sure enough, after a minute or two of running and weaving, she arrived at the meeting room and found the Rookie, Techni, Matka, Tina, Amy, and Knuckles standing around the table. Amy was rapidly typing something on the laptop when Applejack walked in, everyone's attention on her. "Anything yet?" she asked as she approached the table.

"Hang on. We should be getting a view of the city any second now," Amy said. She stopped typing and looked up at the console screen a couple moments later, everyone else looking as well. Satellite and footage from still operational security cameras around the city populated the screen, revealing the attackers to be giant, mostly gray Eggman-like robots with large spikes on their hands for fingers and a single glowing red eye that shot lasers.

"Those are Death Egg Robots! How did Eggman get so many?!" Matka exclaimed.

"He must be mass-producing them. They're all probably actual robots as well; he may have sub-bosses, but I doubt he'd trust any of his living subordinates with a Death Egg Robot," Techni said.

"What are they doin'? They look like they're attackin' the ground," Applejack noted.

"That's exactly what they're doing. They're trying to draw us out of hiding, and if that doesn't work, they'll try to destroy our base and us with it," Knuckles said. Applejack cursed under her breath at that.

Tina asked, "What should we do, Commander? There are too many injured here; we can’t just abandon the base."

Knuckles replied, “You’re right. So, I say we fight. Amy?"

The pink hedgehog said, "Already on it." Her fingers were going across the laptop keyboard, an alert being sent out and a communication channel opening on the console screen a couple seconds later. Once the connection was established, she spoke, "This is a red alert! Eggman's robots have launched an attack on the city! I need everyone available to return to the city and repel the attackers! Eggman's forces include a number of Death Egg Robots!"

A window opened on the screen a few moments later, revealing Silver. "This is Silver! We're on our way back to the city, but it's going to take us a little while to get there!" he said.

Another window opened, Espio appearing in it. "Espio here. We've had to take a detour to Seaside Hill to supply aid to our forces in the region. We just got picked up; we won't be back for a while," he reported.

A third window opened, showing a Resistance soldier. “This is the Eighth Unit! Egg Pawns have broken through the barricades near the Green Hill entrance! We’re trying to protect civilians, but we’re under heavy fire!” The window shook a moment later, followed by static filling it. A message appeared over it saying ‘-CONNECTION LOST-’.

There was silence for several seconds as they waited to see if the soldier could reestablish contact, but nothing happened. Amy returned her attention to the laptop and began typing again as she said, "I'm going to see if I can figure out where he was calling from. We'll send our team there first."

Applejack asked, "Team?"

Knuckles crossed his arms, "Yeah, I don't think we have a lot of other options to go with." He turned to look across the table, "Until more help arrives, we need to do all we can in the meantime. Everyone who's able needs to get out there, help civilians and our troops, and stop this attack." He looked at the Rookie, "That includes you, Rookie. Time to show off what you learned from working with Sonic the other day."

Applejack asked, “Well, what are you two gonna do?”

Amy stopped typing when she looked up and said, “We’ll be helping out as well, Applejack, just as soon as we’re done seeing who else we can raise. There are a few signals close by that might be able to spare some help.”

Knuckles nodded as she returned to typing and said, “So gear up, spread the word and see if anyone else would like to join in, and get out there and drive them out of the city!” He received several salutes at that and the Rookie left with Techni and Matka to get ready.

The three of them went straight to the armory to arm themselves. Techni grabbed an Asteroid Wispon and began checking it while Matka went for a Cube Wispon. The Rookie, meanwhile, hovered near the door, trying to decide what to do. His eyes were drawn to one of the Burst Wispons, but then he looked down at the Lightning Wispon he was still carrying. He and Techni had finished it, but it hadn't been tested yet. They hadn't gotten a chance to do a safety check before the attack started, so using it carried some risk, but he kind of wanted to.

"Hey, you do good work, buddy. You just gotta believe in yourself!"

The words Sonic had said when they were leaving Eggman's weapons factory echoed in his head. The mission there and on the Death Egg had raised his confidence, but he still felt unsure of himself. Still, even though the Wispon was untested, he was certain his and Techno's work was sound. He had to decide.

“Hey!” He was suddenly jarred out of his thoughts by Techni’s voice and he turned to see her standing in front of him, Matka standing behind her. “We need to get a move on, Rookie! Put that down, grab a Wispon, and let’s go!” the cat said. The Rookie looked back down at the Lightning Wispon for a few moments, thinking about it for a few moments before moving it down next to his side and standing up straight, looking at Techni. The cat was surprised by this. “Whoa. Are you sure you want to do that? We haven’t properly tested that Wispon, you know,” she warned him. He simply gave her a nod in reply. “…Okay. If you’re sure about this,” she relented.

Matka placed a hand on her shoulder, “Show a little faith, Techni. Remember, sometimes you have to be willing to take certain risks in order to progress.” She looked at the wolf, “I’m glad you’re starting to have a little more confidence. Now come on; let’s find Aventura, Salten, and Sona and get out there.” She took the lead, the Rookie and Techni following her out of the armory.


CITY BATTLEFIELD


Soon…

The Rookie, Techni, and Matka stayed with Applejack, Aventura, Salten, and Sona briefly while they were in the exit tunnels before the two groups split up to take separate exits. Applejack's group emerged from the remains of a destroyed home not far from the spot where the soldier's last transmission had been pinpointed while the Rookie's group came out further away, where part of the invading force had taken part of the city. The plan was for them to break their hold and hopefully draw the attention of the rest of Eggman's robots so Applejack's group could start rescuing stranded troops and civilians.

Matka was putting her strength to bound across the top of the buildings near where they came out while the Rookie was using his grappling hook to follow closely, Techni holding onto him very tightly. While they were moving, they heard Amy's voice over the communication channels, "Applejack, what's your team's status?"

Applejack responded, "We're ready ta move, but these robots ain't budgin'. We can't rescue anyone until they thin out a little."

A soldier's voice sounded over the line, "The fighting's too fierce for us to get through! We need help as well!"

Knuckles spoke, "Sounds like it's up to you, Techni, and Matka, Rookie. Make some noise out there!" As he was saying this, they were going through a heavily damaged building, most of its outer walls collapsed, finding a squad of Egg Pawns on the street below when they came out of the other side.

The Rookie snagged a piece of the building that was sticking out with his grappling hook, allowing him to lower himself and Techni down carefully. As they were going down, Techni brought out her Wispon and said, "I've got these! Keep going!" She took aim and fired at the Egg Pawns, indigo projectiles shaped like asteroids coming out of it. She fired several times, each shot either badly damaging or destroying its target before returning and orbiting around the Wispon. The ones that weren't destroyed were finished off by Matka. With the way clear, they began making their way up the road.

The path was littered with destruction as they went, parts of the road cracked, broken, or pushed out with the ground underneath. The bits of the ground that stuck out offered a little cover, giving them a chance to get a drop on the Egg Pawns and Egg Walkers they came across. The road sloped up as they went, and at the top of the slope, they found a steep drop between them and another part of the city in front of them and one of the Death Egg Robots to their left. The robot soon noticed them, its glowing red eye locking on them and beginning to glow brighter after a few moments. The Rookie turned to look back across the gap and fired his grappling hook at the closest building, the hook embedding in the side of it. He then let out a grunt and Matka and Techni grabbed onto him, all of them shooting across the gap and getting about halfway across before the robot fired its laser at where they’d been.

They made it to the other side and had to run as soon as their feet touched the ground due to the sharp downward slant the road had. The road cut off at the bottom, requiring them to either jump down a somewhat lengthy distance or find another way down, so the Rookie fired his grappling hook at a nearby building and stopped the line from retracting so they could swing down safely. They landed near the middle of a town square-like area, a circle around the perimeter separating it from the buildings around it. It didn't take them long to notice a squad of Egg Pawns lying in wait for them at the sides of the square, ready to spring their ambush.

As they stood looking around at them, the robots raised their arms, pointing their blasters at them. "Duck!" Matka yelled, all three of them diving to the ground as the firing commenced. They avoided the shots, but so did the Egg Pawns, all of them stepping out of the way of the incoming shots. They then took aim again, targeting the Resistance members while they were still on the ground.

Seeing this, the Rookie looked at the nearest Egg Pawn and brought up his left hand, firing his grappling hook at it. It struck it in the left eye and held as the Rookie retracted the line, pulling him from the ground towards it. He brought his legs around as he soared and planted his feet against its midsection when he reached it, managing to knock it on its back. While standing on top of it, he brought out his Lightning Wispon and activated it, an electric whip coming out of the end of it that he swung at the surrounding Egg Pawns while they were recalculating.

The display of courage psyched up Matka and she turned to look at the Egg Pawns on the other side, which were hesitating due to trying to them trying to identify which party was the more immediate threat. She pushed herself up off the ground with her left hand and raised her Cube Wispon in her right hand, throwing it at the closest Egg Pawn as hard as she could. It hit it right in the chest area and knocked it on its back, the robot exploding when it hit the ground. The Wispon, meanwhile, bounced up for a moment before falling and emitting a shockwave that threw off the remaining Egg Pawns when it hit the ground. Seeing this, Matka dashed on all fours into the group, putting her ursine strength to good use as she stood up and swung at them, knocking them away and retrieving her Wispon in the process. Techni didn’t even have a chance to get up and help either one due to them both easily wiping out the two groups.

The two ran back over to Techni once the square was clear and helped her up. Once she was up on her feet, Matka looked over at the Rookie and said, "Hey, that was some real quick thinking just now, kid. Nice job." The wolf rubbed the back of his head with his right hand in response.

"Yeah. Amazing fight or flight response," Techni admitted. Seeing no more danger, the three of them started moving through the city again.

While they were moving, they suddenly heard Applejack's voice over the radio, "Hey, what's goin' on? Some of 'em are turnin' around and leavin'!"

Amy responded, "I know. We're monitoring their communications. It looks like they weren't expecting Matka, Techni, and the Rookie to not only get out of the trap they set, but also destroy all the Egg Pawns. They're diverting some of their numbers to stop them!"

Knuckles spoke, "That means the plan's working so far. This should make it easier to get to the stranded soldiers and civilians. We're going to join the action soon as well, so let's keep this momentum going!"

Sure enough, more Egg Pawns showed up as the three of them moved to meet up with Applejack's group, leaping down or standing guard along the path they were taking. Initially, there were a lot of them, but their numbers began to dwindle as they pushed through. The different squads attacking the city were running out of Egg Pawns to spare as they were trying to stick to their objectives.

They weren't the only thing they had to worry about. They still had to keep an eye on the Death Egg Robots, even with other troops trying to draw their attention, and there were still Egg Walkers running around as well. Buzz Bombers also became a problem when they got close, the mechanical bugs flying in and firing from above. Matka, Techni, and the Rookie managed to evade a swarm of them, Techni taking a few out with her Wispon, and reached the edge of a hole in the road, which they found out was a lot deeper than it seemed when they accidentally slid down the slope made of broken concrete at the edge of it while trying to avoid Buzz Bomber fire.

There was a raised section of road on the other side of the road, which the Rookie was able to snag the edge of with his grappling hook. Techni and Matka managed to grab onto him, so they were able to hold on while he lowered down into the hole. At the bottom, they found Applejack's group in a small passageway with several civilians and Resistance troops. They were all alarmed when the trio dropped in, but relaxed and lowered their weapons when they got a good look at them.

"Oh, it's you guys. That's a relief," Sona said.

"What are you all doing down here?" Techni asked.

Salten stepped forward, “When those Buzz Bombers attacked, we took cover down here since we saw too many to take them all out. We’ve been down here for a couple of minutes, so they must not have seen us.”

Aventura added, “Aside from it being risky to climb back out that way, we think there might be another way out of here, but…” She trailed off as she turned her head and glanced back over her left shoulder. The Rookie, Matka, and Techni followed her gaze and saw Applejack bucking a wall of scrap at the end of the passage. It shook a little every time her hooves hit it, but it didn’t seem to be budging otherwise.

After several more attempts, she lowered her hind legs and let out an annoyed sigh. “Ah ain’t makin’ any progress. Mah applebuckin’ is just makin’ a dent, and mah front legs ain’t quite as strong so Ah can’t pull it apart,” she said.

Matka stepped forward, “Let me help with the pulling, Applejack. If it can be taken apart, the two of us should be able to do it.”

As the bear stopped next to the earth pony, Sona turned back around and looked up towards the opening of the hole, pulling out her White Wispon as she said, “We’d better stay alert. They might still come down here.” Everyone else heeded her words and knelt down, readying themselves for a possible fight while Matka and Applejack started trying to tear the wall down.

Suddenly, they all felt the ground shake. It was brief, but it caught everyone's attention. A second shake soon after confirmed everyone's fear: a Death Egg Robot was coming closer, likely the one that Techni, Matka, and the Rookie had passed before joining up with the other group. Matka and Applejack retuned to the wall; they were making progress, but not enough that someone could squeeze through, if need be, and the steps were getting closer still.

The Rookie stepped out into the hole and used his grappling hook to pull himself up to the opening, grabbing onto the rim. While hanging onto the concrete, he looked back over his shoulder and saw the Death Egg Robot approaching, almost looking as if it was towering right over him. And its eye was looking directly at him. The wolf's eyes widened and he lost his grip, falling partway down before using his grappling hook to grab the edge again.

Aventura, Sona, and Techni had been waiting there for him to return. They had gotten worried when he fell, but relaxed when he caught himself, only to worry again when they saw his face. "It's really close, isn't it?" Aventura asked, the other wolf nodding in reply. She looked back towards the passage and called, "Applejack, Matka, how's that wall coming?!"

Applejack grunted as she tossed aside a slightly tangled piece of lead pipe before calling back, “Not quite down yet! Just give us another minute!”

Techni groaned and said, “We really don’t have another minute! We already have a Death Egg Robot bearing down on us! Right now, they’ve got us!”

They suddenly heard Rainbow's voice over the radio a second later, "Not for long! Keep working, AJ! We got this!" At this, the Rookie went back up to the top of the hole to look. Turning to look at the Death Egg Robot, he saw that it seemed to have stopped and it had a faint green aura surrounding it. It was turning its head to look over its right shoulder at something. As it finished turning, a rainbow streak with a blue outline shot down from, pulling up when it was almost level with the robot's head and shooting straight into its eye at full speed. It took a moment, but it came shooting out the back of its head, the streak coming to a stop afterwards as the robot went limp. It looked like it was going to fall forward, but then it fell backwards, raising a wave of water when it landed at least partially in the water.

The Rookie watched as the rainbow streak started moving again, a glowing green flame following it. They both came closer for a moment and he could make out that the former was Rainbow Dash carrying Sonic and the latter was Silver. He heard a roaring sound shortly after and looked up to see a Resistance transport flying overhead, heading for the fighting in the city. It seemed their backup had arrived.

The Rookie rappelled back down into the hole and saw that everyone had moved back into the passage. Looking into it, he saw that Matka and Applejack had almost finished tearing down the wall. They had finished clearing the way after a few more swings at it and, after seeing it continued on the other side, Applejack called to everyone, "C'mon y'all, let's get outta here!" Everyone followed her past the barricade and found a way up out of the hole. They just had to climb up where the infrastructure had given way.


TURNAROUND


It didn't take long for the Resistance members to climb out and help the civilians do the same, but they didn't get far before the ground shook suddenly due to another Death Egg Robot landing near them. It wasn't facing them, fortunately, but Sona had had enough. She turned to look up at the robot for a moment before turning to the Rookie. “Hey,” she said, the wolf turning to look at her. “You think you could get me up to that thing’s face?” she asked.

The others turned to look at her at that. “Sona…” Aventura started, sounding like she knew what was going to happen.

Applejack quickly interjected, “Why would you ask him that, Sona?! That’s crazy!”

The rabbit’s eyes narrowed a bit before she replied, “The only crazy one is Dr. Eggman, especially if he thinks he can just send all these robots here to make a bigger mess of things and try to cut us off at every turn. We ran before, but now it’s time for a change.” She looked back at the Rookie, “Can you help me, kid?” The wolf looked a bit hesitant at first, but he steeled himself and took on more of a neutral expression before nodding. Sona looked back at the others, “Go. We’ll catch up.”

Despite the different misgivings about the idea that everyone else had, they did as she said and continued following the road while the Rookie took her and fired his grappling hook at a nearby building so that they could get closer to the robot. It was likely the defending forces were going to focus their efforts on trying to bring down the Death Egg Robots, at least from what they could tell from the radio chatter. Rainbow, Sonic, Silver, Amy, and Knuckles were responding to calls for help in dealing with them, and it sounded like the transport had brought the Chaotix back since their voices joined the cacophony on the radio. That meant it fell to them and anyone else in the city who wasn’t focusing on fighting to help anyone in the city get to safety.

Their efforts to do so were hindered when another squad of Egg Pawns were dropped off by Buzz Bombers onto the road in front of them. Applejack and the rest of the Resistance members moved in front of the civilians to protect them, but they suddenly heard something behind them and turned to look. It was Tempest on her Extreme Gear with Gemerl still tied to the seat. She veered onto a raised patch on the road and made the jump over the group, turning her Gear to the side as she made the landing and crashed through most of the Egg Pawns. The few that remained were easily dispatched with her magic.

Applejack ran over to her once the road was clear, "Tempest! How did ya find us?"

The unicorn replied, "Simple. I followed the communication trail." She looked around and took stock of the other members of the Resistance. “I thought there were more of you here, based on what I was hearing. Did we lose anyone?” she asked. Before Applejack could answer, they all heard a loud explosion and turned to look. The nearby Death Egg Robot had smoke coming out of the top of its head and it was falling over. They soon saw the Rookie and Sona swinging towards them, the latter trying to adjust her mask while hanging onto the former. When they landed, the Rookie looked at Sona worriedly while she used both hands to properly fix her mask. Her eyes glowed briefly when she opened them before they returned to normal.

"What the hay did you two do ta that thing?" Applejack asked, clearly shocked.

"They worked together to give it a piece of their minds, clearly. Now let's get moving before more reinforcements show up," Aventura said.

Tempest nodded, "I agree." She motioned to Gemerl, "I'm heading back to the base. Anyone going that way, follow me; I'll clear the way. Everyone else, get to the bridge." She revved up her Gear and drove off, taking a makeshift side path back into the city. Techni, Salten, Sona, and the Resistance members followed her while Applejack, Matka, Aventura, and the Rookie continued to lead the civilians out.

As they neared the bridge, Espio’s voice was heard over the radio, “We’ve nearly secured this sector of the city. We’ve found another escape route and we’re using it to get the wounded out.”

Vector’s voice came on after, “It’s weird, though. Seems like someone’s been through here recently. There are a lot of destroyed robots here, and not just the ones we’ve taken out…”

Charmy piped up, “Who cares, Vector! We’re winning this fight! They’re gonna be running away soon!”

Knuckles spoke, “Might’ve spoken too soon, Charmy. We’re getting an update from HQ!”

Amy reported, “Metal Sonic’s been spotted in the city! He’s not attacking yet, but it looks like he’s heading for the bridge!”

Sonic said, “Gotcha. I’m heading there now to help!”


ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE


While the radio chatter continued, Applejack's group continued making their way to the bridge, the Rookie bringing up the rear. It didn't take them long to reach it, but as they were starting to cross it, they began to hear the sound of a rocket booster in the distance, getting closer. The Rookie paused and looked back, his glasses trying to pinpoint the source. He was interrupted when he managed to hear Applejack calling to him to hurry up and turned to see she had stopped almost halfway across the bridge while Aventura and Matka were further across with the civilians. She resumed running when he did, but before he could get halfway across, the roaring became almost deafening and a few seconds later, Metal Sonic shot up through the middle of the bridge, making a fairly sizable gap and causing the Rookie to come to a stop. He took a few nervous steps back as Metal Sonic looked down at him, his engine quieting down as he hovered in the air.

Although she had just about finished crossing the bridge, Applejack was going to try to go back and help him, but she paused when she saw Sonic appear at the other end of the bridge and slide to a stop next to the Rookie. The blue hedgehog looked up at his robotic doppelganger and said, “Hey, Metal! You know, there are better ways to get my attention!” Metal Sonic didn’t respond, but a second later, his booster revved up and he shot straight up. Sonic and the Rookie stared up at him as he seemingly left, the former wondering, “What’s he up to? Is he going to attack from above? Or…”

Suddenly, they heard the sound of water splashing coming from below, sounding like whatever was coming up was doing so rather heavily. Sonic grabbed onto the Rookie and started to move, only for another Death Egg Robot to shoot up under the bridge, making it go from a bit broken in the middle to almost completely destroyed, only a small part of each end remaining attached while the rest went flying or fell into the water. Fortunately, thanks to Sonic’s moving and the Rookie’s grappling hook, they were able to make it over to a small plate of metal sticking out of the rock to the right of where the bridge had been. “Phew! That was a close one,” Sonic remarked as he and the Rookie stood up. They looked towards the other side of the bridge and could make out Applejack laying on her back next to the bridge. “AJ! You okay?!” Sonic yelled to her as loud as he could.

It was unlikely the earth pony actually heard him from where she was, but she raised a hoof and waved as she called, “We’re fine! Watch yerselves!”

The two looked back at the Death Egg Robot and saw that it had landed and was pulling its right arm back. Thinking quickly, the Rookie fired his grappling hook at it and Sonic grabbed his free hand, both of them shooting towards it as it swung its right arm forward. Its spikey fist slammed into the rock face behind where they had been, causing it to collapse around the impact site and revealing a hidden chamber behind it. “Good work, partner! Keep it up!” Sonic said as the Rookie continued to use his grappling hook to swing around the Death Egg Robot several more times to avoid its laser beam eye. They soon ended up just above its face, energy already gathering in its eye for another beam. “It’s lights out for you,” Sonic stated as he began to spin and the Rookie fired his grappling hook at the eye while holding up his Lightning Wispon. The wolf shot towards it first, but Sonic was right behind him with a Boost and they struck together, going through its eye and out the back of its head. The robot’s head exploded and it slumped down into the water while Sonic and the Rookie’s momentum carried them into through the broken rock face and into the revealed chamber, the Rookie grabbing Sonic’s hand before firing his grappling up at the chamber’s ceiling. It managed to catch and stopped them from falling down into what was a shaft that connected to a tunnel.

The Rookie adjusted his grappling hook to give them a way to go down the shaft at their own pace. As they went down, Sonic said, "We can't let these things keep tearing things up. Maybe the next factory we go after should be the one making these things." The Rookie didn't respond, instead focusing on the rope as he tried to calm his still racing heart. It took them about a minute to lower themselves back down to where the hole was, where they also found ladders and grid work along the sides of the shaft. The Rookie swung them over and they proceeded to use the ladders and girders to make their way down to the tunnel.

While they were climbing down, they could make out bits of chatter over the radio. Even with the shaft open to the outside, the radio signal was still somewhat garbled. “Is everyone all right? I’m getting a report that part of the Red Gate Bridge was destroyed,” Amy said.

“‘Fraid so, Amy. One o’ them robots came up from right under it after Metal Sonic took off. Sonic and that kid took it out; think Ah saw them go into that hole in the wall the robot made,” Applejack replied.

“Well, I’m sure they’re okay, then. What happened to Metal Sonic?” Knuckles asked.

“The recon teams are searching. They haven’t found him yet,” Amy answered.


IT'S METAL!


They had reached the bottom when Salten suddenly called, "Heads up! I think he's coming back!" Both Sonic and the Rookie turned their heads to look up at that. They soon heard the sound of the rocket booster getting closer again, and shortly after, they saw a light outside the hole that was getting brighter. Sonic grabbed the Rookie's arm and dashed into the tunnel across from them. Almost as soon as they passed through the entrance, Metal Sonic slammed into the ground, an electric field emanating from him that barely missed catching the Rookie's feet.

Sonic slid to a stop a short distance into the tunnel and he and the Rookie turned to look. As the dust and electricity dissipated, they could see Metal Sonic standing in the middle of the cracked floor, his knees bent. His eyes soon turned to look at Sonic's and he leapt up a moment later, activating his booster to hover in the air. The Rookie worked up his courage and stepped forward brandishing his Lightning Wispon, but when he clicked it on, a few sparks were all that came out of the end. He nervously tried to turn it on a few more times, but the same thing happened. All he could guess was it got damaged while attacking the Death Egg Robot. Metal Sonic's booster began revving up again and Sonic grabbed the Rookie's arm again, turning and taking off down the tunnel to try to get out before his metal counterpart took off.

They managed to get out of the tunnel before that happened, Metal Sonic's launch being followed by a wave of flames and electricity that would've caught Sonic and the Rookie had they been much slower. The tunnel's exit put them out on the water, but luckily there were pieces of the bridge and its metalwork drifting above the water's surface that they were able to jump to. Sonic held on tightly to the Rookie while Metal Sonic swooped around them, trying to interrupt his jumps and make him come up short.

With help from the Rookie's grappling hook, Sonic was able to avoid Metal Sonic's charges and get to a bigger, more stable piece of road floating in the water, which would give them more of a fighting chance against him. While they were stopped and taking a moment, Metal Sonic came down, hovering a short distance in front of them. They looked at him and he held his right fist up in front of him for a moment, a tremor running through his arm before he turned and shot off down the road.


VS. METAL SONIC


"Looks like he's been looking forward to this. What do you say we give him a good performance, partner?" Sonic asked the Rookie, who nodded in reply. They hurried after him, following the road across more broken chunks of land and bridge pieces. They soon caught up to him and he slowed down in order to fly around them. He attacked them by getting ahead of or behind them in order to Spin Dash into them, attacking sections of the road to break them, and charging at them with his Maximum Overdrive Attack. They jumped and moved to avoid him as best they could, going high or low when the road raised or dipped and riding on rails while trying to attack when he needed a moment.

Metal Sonic's body was shooting off sparks by the time they one of the other, larger bridges in the city, where they had to stop due to half of it being mostly submerged. Metal began flying around the bridge, staying out of their reach and only moving into attack when he was safe from their attacks. The Rookie's grappling hook couldn't reach him from where they were, and now that they weren't constantly moving, they were easier to hit as well. It wasn't quite a stalemate, but they weren't in a good place to turn things in their favor.

The Rookie got sideswiped by one of Metal's Spin Dashes, feeling several cuts along his right leg before he hit the ground. He heard Metal preparing a Maximum Overdrive Attack behind him, but he couldn't pick himself up quickly. Sonic was able to run over and grab him, along with his dropped glasses, and get out of the way, though he felt Metal Sonic come dangerously close to him from behind. Metal pulled up at the end of the bridge and returned to circling, giving the two a chance to recoup while he recharged.

Sonic set the Rookie down at the side of the bridge, the wolf's hand almost immediately going to press down on the cuts on his leg and feeling a bit of warmth through his glove. Sonic held out the glasses to examine them, seeing some small cracks in the lenses though they still seemed to work as he could see them displaying information. “Huh, these are pretty neat glasses he made. Tails would probably like to know how they work if he were here,” he thought. He turned back to the Rookie and put them on his nose. When the wolf looked up at him, he said, “Just nurse that for a minute, buddy. I’ll keep Metal busy, and maybe come up with a way to bring him down to us.”

The Rookie watched Sonic dodge around Metal's attacks while he kept applying pressure, feeling the pain in his leg beginning to lessen as he tried to think. His eyes fell on the bridge supports after a couple of seconds and they moved to look up at the top of the gate. Pushing through the pain that was creeping back in as he did so, he stood up while keeping his hand on his leg and turned to look up at the cable and supports beside him. He took his hand off of his leg and pointed it up at the cable, firing his grappling hook up at it. It caught and he began to make his up as high as he could go.

Sonic didn’t notice what the Rookie was doing until he was almost at the top of the gate due to Metal Sonic coming at him with a flurry of quick attacks that kept him on his toes. When the metal doppelganger finally backed off, Sonic looked over where he’d last seen the wolf and started looking around quickly when he didn’t see him. He soon spotted him as he climbing onto the top of the gate and called up to him, “Buddy! What are you doing?!” The Rookie couldn’t really answer him from where he was, especially since as he finished climbing up, he saw Metal Sonic getting into position for another attack run and knew he had to act fast.

As he was revving up to attack, Metal Sonic was suddenly disoriented when something struck him in the chest. He looked down to see the Rookie's grappling hook lodged in it and looked up to see the wolf coming at him feet first. The attack didn't really do anything to him, but it allowed the Rookie to grab onto him. He looked back at the bridge gate and fired his grappling hook at it, but Metal reached forward and slashed it with his left hand before it could reach its target, the sharp ends of his fingers cutting through the rope. He then seized the wolf's arms above the elbows and turned him back around, restraining him. The Rookie struggled and kicked his legs, but he couldn't break Metal Sonic's grip, there wasn't much for him to hit, and what he did hit didn't seem to affect Metal much.

Sonic stared for a moment before turning and running to the end of the nearby cable. He leapt on it and rocketed up it with a Boost, reaching the top of the gate in seconds. He then moved to the middle of the gate and, after taking a moment to gauge himself, leapt towards the two. Metal Sonic looked up and saw him coming before he reached him, but he was unable to react fast enough as Sonic struck him in the head with a Homing Attack and rebounded straight up. The hit shook up Metal enough for him to release the Rookie’s right arm, which was all he needed. He reached for the Lightning Wispon on his belt and pushed it into the robot’s chest before flicking a switch to release the Wispon’s power. The Wispon being shoved into his chest caused Metal Sonic to release the Rookie’s left arm and the wolf grabbed Sonic’s hand before firing his grappling hook towards the bridge, the hook catching and allowing them to swing down to safety.

After they landed, they looked up in time to see the Wispon explode, causing a large discharge of lightning to be unleashed that was quickly drawn back to Metal Sonic. He likely would have been able to endure normal use of the Wispon due to it using only a small amount of a Lightning Wisp’s power, but the full force of lightning-infused Hyper-go-on energy very quickly overloaded his systems and left him hanging in the air shaking heavily as the lightning ran through him. It lasted about a minute before it dissipated, a few bolts still running across Metal’s body as he began to fall. He’d managed to hold together just barely, but his main system required a reboot before he could disengage and return to base, his eyes flickering on and off as he ran through the process.

Sonic figured he’d had enough and wasn’t about to give the robot a chance to flee. He turned to the Rookie and gestured at Metal with his head, the wolf giving a nod a moment later. He took Sonic’s hand and fired his grappling up at the gate, both of them swinging up towards Metal, who had nearly completed his reboot. He looked up and was able to make out Sonic and the Rookie coming up towards him right before the former swung his right leg up and delivered a strong kick to the side of his neck. It delivered enough force not only cause his head to start to separate, wires poking out from where it had been attached, but also sent him flying end over end for several seconds before he exploded, both of them able to enjoy the fireworks as they swung back down.


VICTORIOUS


After landing, the Rookie took a few steps before placing his hands on his knees and leaning over to catch his breath, the sudden rush taking him by surprise. After checking to make sure he was okay, Sonic radioed in on his Miles Mobile and said, “Hey guys! Metal’s out of commission. How’s everyone doing?”

Knuckles responded, “We just got an update from HQ! The enemy’s on the run!”

Rainbow added, “Yeah, Tempest came back and helped out big time! We just got a few Death Egg Robots left to take care of, and I’m getting ready to Rainboom one right now!”

Vector reported, “We helped with that too. Now we’re looking for anyone who still needs help. Mind helping out a little if you’re not too worn out from dealing with that one robot?”

Sonic replied, “Sure, Vector. We’ll head back now.”

Espio said, “I heard the Rookie was helping you deal with Metal Sonic. I look forward to hearing about that.”

Sonic put his Mobile away and turned to look at the Rookie, who was still panting. He walked around to his front and said, “Hey!” When the wolf looked up at him, he went on, “Great job, partner! I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself. We probably could’ve been a little more in sync than we were, but that’s fine. We’re only gonna get better, right?” He held out his left fist and the Rookie looked at it for a moment before smiling and bumping it with his right fist.









The Rookie was standing outside of Resistance HQ with Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Silver, the Chaotix, Tempest, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Aventura, Sona, Matka, Techni, and Salten. Sonic had just finished recounting to everyone how the wolf had brought Metal Sonic down and helped deal the finishing blow. “Impressive! But we still have a lot to do,” Knuckles said.

“Nice job, but if you start hogging all the glory, how am I going to look good?” Vector asked.

“Eh, we’ll give him this one, Vector. It should be no problem to be on top next time. It’s not like he did everything right this time, anyway,” Rainbow said.

Techni nodded, “I’ll say. That was a perfect good Lightning Wispon he blew up before it was ready. Not only did we lose it, that could’ve been a lot more disastrous.”

Matka looked at her sympathetically, “At least it went to a good cause, Techni. It helped defeat one of the most dangerous normal-sized robots Eggman has, and I’m sure the next one you make will work even better due to the impromptu field testing.”

Sona nodded, “Yep. The kid’s a good observer; I’m sure he can relay plenty of information back to you.” She finished putting in the code for the door and it slid open as she closed the keypad, the bunny leading the way inside.

As the door inside the base was sliding open, Fluttershy suddenly appeared in front of everyone, moving incredibly fast. They were all surprised, especially since she had a wide smile on her muzzle and she almost seemed to be glowing. “Fluttershy?” Rarity ventured after some of the shock had worn off.

“Girls, come quick! Hurry!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

Rainbow started, “Why, what’s going…” They weren’t moving fast enough for the other pegasus since she suddenly shot around everyone, gathered up Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie in her forelegs, and then shot back into the base.

There was a moment of silence before Charmy asked, “What’s gotten into her?”

Espio held a hand to his chin, “She seems unusually excited. What has she been doing?”

Amy answered, “She’s been helping out in the infirmary ever since she got back.”

Silver looked at her, “So that’s probably where she was during the attack as well?” Amy shrugged in reply. Silver looked down and thought for a moment. “If she’s that excited, and she wanted the rest of her close friends…” He looked up at the others, “Do you think maybe Twilight…?” Everyone quickly realized what he stopped short of saying. Sonic ran ahead of everyone, heading straight for the infirmary. He stopped in front of the door and impatiently tapped his foot as it slid open. He poked his head through the doorway when it had opened all the way and smiled a moment later at what he saw, everyone else doing the same when they joined him seconds later.


SHE'S BACK


The girls were all standing around Twilight’s bed, all of them hugging her and voicing their relief along with Spike. It was difficult to see due to all the ponies, but Twilight had regained consciousness, her eyes closed and her movements, though a bit hindered at the moment, indicated she was moving on her own. The girls let go of her a minute later and backed off, though Spike remained attached to the side of her neck. As they were stepping back, Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, Amy, the Chaotix, and Tempest made their way over, some of them waving to her when they were sure she saw them. Twilight didn’t say anything, but it was clear from her expression and the way her eyes twinkled that she was surprised to see them.

The moment was ruined when Terv stepped up and announced, “All right, everyone, break it up. I need to do my job and you’re all in my way.”

Everyone except for Twilight turned to glare at him, Tempest remarking to the hawk, “And I’ve been told I’m not very subtle.”

Terv responded, “Look, I get that you’re all happy that Princess Twilight has come out of her coma, but I have to perform a check-up on her. She’s been unconscious for days and I need to see how she’s doing and make sure there’s nothing wrong that I missed.”

Tempest walked over to him as she said, “And you will. It’s just that there’s one patient ahead of her you need to tend to.”

Terv raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about? Windra told me she’s already seen everyone else. I trust her; she would’ve told me if there were any problems. Who is there to see?”

In one swift motion, Tempest raised her right hoof and slammed it into Terv’s belly, causing him to let out a strangled cough as the wind was knocked out of him. She then quickly picked him up in her forelegs and threw him onto his back on a nearby empty bed. “There’s your answer,” she said after her hooves were back on the ground.

A laugh came from the back of the infirmary and everyone turned to look at Gen, sitting in his tub. “Ah, that was so good,” he remarked.

Rarity raised an eyebrow and asked, “I assume Tempest punching him was the only enjoyable part of all this for you, Gen?”

She was a little surprised when he leaned back and said, “Nah, that was the cherry on top.”

Everyone turned back to Twilight when she spoke up. She’d been given a glass of water shortly after she woke up and was a little better now, but her words were still a little slurred. “Okay… It’s pretty clear I’ve missed a lot…”