Sonic the Hedgehog

Raw Power

It takes a while to touch the ground, much to the red echidna's annoyance. But finally, he lands softly on the grassy field, right next to Tails and Amy who are there to greet him.

"That was a close one!" Tails says, glancing at the burning plane a short distance away. "Oh man, I just built that thing."

"Hey, do you guys see Sonic anywhere?" Amy asks, scanning each direction of the field.

"I'm sure he's fine, Amy," Tails assures. "It'll take a lot more than that to take Sonic down."

"It better," Knuckles mutters. "Because I have a plan. One that might put us on equal footing with that flying Jackal."

"Wait, do you actually?" Amy asks in disbelief.

"Yes," Knuckles answers confidently, watching as the entirety of Team Dark emerges from a layer of trees and races towards him. "And they can help too. But first, we need Sonic."

***

Patience has never been a thing Sonic bothered to work on. If it were so, he might've been able to sit still a few more seconds and wait for the others to back him up. But the mere sight of the current state of Station Square alone carries his legs forward.

He rockets through the field in five seconds and jumps over the wall bordering the city. A wall heavily reminiscent of the one they built around Scrapyard to contain a mess they didn't bother to clean. He lands on the sidewalk just left of what he soon realizes is a very busy street. And not the kind of busyness that's normal within Station Square.

Filling the messy street is a crowd of armed Jackals. Most are occupied with vandalizing and destroying all nearby property. One nearby is in the process of slashing an empty brown convertible beyond repair. Another to Sonic's left is dousing a warehouse store with gasoline.

More worrying, about four are huddled together three meters to the right, attempting to barge into a locked apartment complex. Sonic dashes in their direction, curling into a ball right before impact. Instead of rebounding off the first opponent's body like he's done so many times before, he shoots through the Jackal completely who disappears into two dozen small cubes.

With nothing to stop his mid-air travel, the hedgehog clears through the remaining three, rendering them into small cubes as well. To avoid doing their work for them, he uncurls in time to faceplant into the apartment door.

Better than smashing it in, I guess. He thinks, stumbling back. Well, that proves it. Zero's army is a bunch of fakes. I need to get a proper vantage point to see who needs the most help.

Putting both the plan and his legs in motion, Sonic speeds up the front wall of the large apartment building. Through the multiple windows he passes, he can see lights and even civilians inside their homes.

Didn't I tell them to evacuate? Did my message somehow fall on deaf ears?

Sonic reaches the top, taking a quick moment to catch a breather. His body still has only begun to recover from his past battle. But time is something he doesn't have. And the people of Station Square have even less of it.

He makes his way to the opposite end of the roof, overlooking the plethora of businesses and skyscrapers that all come together to form a labyrinth of a city. On every street, the war for the city wages on. GUN Hunters, Drones, and brave ground soldiers hold off the neverending Jackal army. Thankfully, most civilians seem to have gotten off the street. But if GUN can't hold up, their refuge won't matter.

"Like what I've done with the place?"

Sonic whirls around, ready for anything the Jackal might throw at him. On the opposite end of the apartment roof, standing right on the edge is Infinite.