Sonic the Hedgehog

Be Better

Not even the most extensive and grueling training sessions with the Commander have gotten the ultimate lifeform to the point of exhaustion he's in now. It's taken more chaos attacks in the past few minutes than he's conjured in the last year to keep the unrelenting horde of ZomBots from touching distance.

Deep within the weary hedgehog's mind, he knows he is truly not in any real danger. At any moment he can just turn around and speed right up the building behind him, reaching a safe place to rest in no time. Yet, he doesn't move. Not a single ounce of him feels compelled to flee.

"I don't run..." he assures himself calmly, revving up another chaos spear in his right palm before he throws it into the crowd.

The beam of sizzling chaos energy burns a hole through four of the ZomBots' torsos. It does little to slow them down. None of them even acknowledge the blow. His attacks are getting weaker.

Sweat runs down Shadow's brow, damping his fur as he charges yet another attack. He would opt for a more effective chaos blast, but he simply lacks the strength to produce one. He can barely stand as it is.

From the horde, something launches at him. Trained instinct alone is what saves the black hedgehog as he speeds back, out of the way of a ZomBot who lunges from the left side of the surrounding foes, smashing against its fellow infectees. The ZomBot was a small, Mobian coyote. A child no older than five. The sight of him is enough to refuel Shadow's anger. He clenches his teeth with enough pressure to shatter them as yellow energy materializes in his right hand.

"CHAOS SPE- ARGH!"

Shadow drops to his knees- the yellow energy disappearing completely. His head looks up at a towering silver, Mobian Cow whose hand is mere centimeters from making fatal contact with his forehead.

An explosion interrupts the ZomBot's death grab, leaving the infected Mobian no more than a severed hand on the street which immediately begins reforming. The pressure of the blast caused Shadow to fly back into the wall of a comic shop, leaving a painful hedgehog-shaped indention in the wall. Once the smoke of the explosion fades, it doesn't take long for Shadow to locate its obvious source. Who else?

E-123 Omega descends from the sky, landing in between Shadow and the wall of ZomBots who all pay the robot no mind. At best, they seem to recognize him as a barrier- similar to that of a wall or fence. Their small mental capacity likely lacks the means to differentiate a sentient robot from any other form of non-organic matter. Such indifference does little to detour them from attempting to reach their victim.

"APOLOGIES THAT MY LACK OF WARNING CAUSED YOU TO HAVE TO ENDURE MY MIGHTY ATTACK," E-123 Omega comments as his two arms transform into parallel, red and black Gatling guns. "THEN AGAIN, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOUR FOOLISH, FLESHING INTUITION, YOU WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS."

The amount of bullets that leave the robot's barrels goes from the tens to the hundreds in a matter of seconds. The newly formed holes in the surrounding ZomBots start making them more closely resemble Swiss cheese, however, the ones who aren't currently being doused with gunfire resume their march.

"What are you doing here?" asks Shadow coldly, getting to his feet.

"Saving you of course," Rouge's voice answers from above.

Shadow eyes her as the smiling bat lands on the ground softly, in the center of both of her companions. Her dark violet wings recede to her back as she turns to Shadow, holding up a dazzling yellow chaos emerald.

"Now that we've got what we came here for, I think it's time to leave, don't you?" Rouge asks.

"Leave me be," Shadow dismisses, struggling to continue standing. "I didn't ask for your help."