Sonic Apocalypse

Chapter 8 - The Beginning of the End

Knuckles seamlessly floated throughout the ocean for what had felt like days to him. And without any bandages to help conceal his wounds or food to cure his morbid hunger, Knuckles felt like he was on death's doorstep. But by some miracle, the rock he used as a raft slid into the beachside of Emerald Coast, and with the help of two local surfers who happened to have passed by, Knuckles was brought to the hospital, where his critical injuries were treated.

His life was miraculously saved.

By the time Knuckles was brought to the hospital, the doctors weren't even sure if he was going to make it after the near fatal beating he took over at Angel Island the prior night. Even being as cocky and boastful as he was, Knuckles knew that he was more than lucky to survive the vicious battle. Fortunately, he didn't need to have any surgery, but he needed several stitches as well as being told to stay at home for about six weeks in order for his broken ribs to heal.

Knuckles was brought to the hospital at around 9:30 in the morning, and by 10 o clock, Sonic, Amy and Tails had rushed over to the hospital to check on their beloved comrade. They were in total shock when they looked upon Knuckles' battered and bruised body. They had never seen him in such agony before.

Tails looked away and sobbed hysterically, while Amy and Sonic were damn near speechless. The two sat in the waiting room for about half an hour before the doctors allowed them to see Knuckles. The three quickly went in to see if their friend was in ok shape.

Amy got down on her knees and held Knuckles' hand tight while softly sobbing, "Are you feeling alright, Knuckles?"

Knuckles looked over at her and gave a proud smile, "I've had worse days, not gonna lie."

"Well, that's certainly great to hear!" Amy replied. "Now, I don't mean to be pushy or anything, but...how did this happen? Who could've done this to you?"

"I know who did this," Sonic brashly interrupted, "it was Eggman wasn't it?"

Knuckles slid upwards in his bed and looked at Sonic, "Well, no. It was Metal Sonic, Emerl and these two skunk guys who were...really stupid, but strong, almost as strong as me. But, I'm not exactly sure if Eggman orchestrated this attack. I've had that thought in my head this entire morning. Maybe it wasn't Eggman, maybe it was someone else, another scientist who sought to destroy the world. I don't know for sure, but I do know this, something very catastrophic is approaching, and we may not be ready for it."

"This is what Silver warned me about," Sonic whispered, thinking only he was the only one who heard what he said. "I...I need to go."

"No, wait, Sonic, don't go," exclaimed Amy, "we need to reform the Alliance and prepare for what's coming, before Mobius comes under serious threat."

"Reform it without me." replied Sonic.

Before Sonic ran out of the hospital, Amy grabbed a hold of his arm, "Then...then who's gonna lead us? Knuckles sure as hell can't. No offense Knux."

"None taken," replied Knuckles.

Sonic sighs heavily, "You will."

Amy's eyes widened in both surprise and worry, "Me?! Are you sure?"

"Definitely. I feel like you have enough strength, determination and leadership skills to lead an army far greater than I can. I have seen you grow and improve into one of the fiercest, and bravest soldiers I've ever seen. I am more than confident in making you new leader of the Alliance. As for me, I need to go find out if Eggman really is behind this, and this time, I won't be so merciful."

"Sonic...I--I'm not ready for this responsibility. What if I fail?"

Sonic waked up to Amy and began caressing her cheek, "Don't worry, you won't. I believe in you, we all do."

Knuckles and Tails both smiled confidently. Sonic leaned in and gave Amy a sensual kiss on the lips. When the two unlocked lips, Sonic looked towards Knuckles and Tails, "Good luck everybody, I will see you all later."

Sonic then ran out and began his search for Doctor Eggman, wherever he was. The other three weren't sure if Eggman was behind the attack against Knuckles, but Sonic, being the absolute nemesis of Eggman and the bane of his very existence, knew he had escaped Prison Island. And almost immediately after Sonic had left, the warden of Prison Island contacted Amy, alerting her of Eggman's escape. A new threat was imminent, but nobody knew what was coming. But nevertheless, Amy had to reform the Alliance and prepare for yet another war.

Sonic had felt nothing but guilt after the way he treated Eggman. And after what had happened to Knuckles, he felt even worse. Sonic knew he had no choice but to right his wrongs and finally kill Eggman and put his empire to rest forever. Sonic had known that what he did was a mistake, so now it was time for him to fix that mistake. Problem is, he has no clue where he is and he could be running, searching for the evil doctor's whereabouts for days.

Eggman had been readying his army throughout the entire morning, and by the afternoon, several G.U.N. robots, and Sonic, were on the hunt for the evil genius. Eggman's base was located in a small, remote island in the middle of the ocean. The base was very well hidden in the island too, located in a chasm within the sides of a mountain located deep inside of a jungle. From the naked eye, you could never tell it was a base since it blends in so we'll with its mountainous surroundings. It was a huge factory located deep underground with heavy security. The island is so unknown, that only Eggman knows about its existence.

Roughly the same time as Sonic had began his search for Eggman, him and Starline were ready to unleash their powerful new army onto Mobius.

"How many units have been produced?" asked Eggman as he walked up to Starline, who was preparing his Warp Topaz to open multiple portals at once.

"Hundreds of thousands." replied Starline, "And hundreds of thousands more on the way. At this rate, our numbers will multiply by the minute. Hell, we'll have so many androids that we'll be forced to just dump them all across Mobius. These Emeralds really did speed up production quite a bit. Even more than what I was anticipating. It's as if androids were appearing out if thin air."

"Now that's what I like to call overkill." said Eggman with glee. "So we're ready then?"

"More than ready," replied Starline. "I shall combine the Chaos Emeralds with the Warp Topaz, and several portals should open simultaneously. And then...armageddon will begin."

Starline removed the Topaz from his wrist and gave it to Eggman, who was holding the Emeralds. Eggman then placed the eight stones into the multi-portal generator. The moment he did this, the machine began to shake violently, gradually increasing in intensity until eight lazers fired in eight different directions, which all formed portals as soon as they hit the ground, each to various locations across Mobius.

"Whelp, looks like your machine worked." said Eggman.

"Yeah, for once." replied Starline.

"Alright, enough wasting time!" shouted Eggman. He then gathered eight groups of androids, each consisting of about 150,000 to 300,000 units, each group jumped through the portals and 8 cities in Mobius were now facing their ultimate doom.

The 8 eight portals led to the following cities: Central City, Sunset City, Spiral Hill Village, the outskirts of Westopolis, Station Square, Graffiti City, Pumpkin Hill Village and Green Hill. And there was to be more cities and villages under attack by the hour.

The war has officially begun.