XXV.

~Endgame~

Tails felt a boot to his shoulder as he was kicked off the back of the carriage. He couldn't even break his fall with his hands or his tails because both pairs of limbs were bound together.

He remembered vividly how he was stolen from Knothole under the mask of darkness with his crimson guardian nowhere to be found. Though he detected multiple people, his captor was only one. They had snuck up behind Tails as he was returning home the night before and abducted him before anyone was the wiser. All Tails hoped was that he wouldn't be missed too dearly despite what he knew he meant to Knuckles.

He couldn't sit up from where he landed, so Tails remained on the ground where he landed. Tails tried to peer through the bag over his head. All he could discern was the light of the sun and the cold of the air.

"Grab him," Tails heard a feminine voice say directly behind him.

Moments later two men grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him along the ground. He heard the squeak of a door open before slamming closed once he was inside.

Next, Tails was thrown in a wooden chair and tied down. Despite his kicking, flailing, and grunting, he was easily overpowered and restrained.

Finally, the bag over his head was removed and he found himself surrounded by three people in some shack with only one measly window to provide some light.

Two soldiers took a few steps back to guard the entrance while the last one, in the center, remained.

Their ivory armor was polished almost to a mirror finish. When Tails looked in close, he could even see tiny shimmering particles with every movement of this white knight.

They removed their helm that shared the same glittering effect and slammed it down onto a nearby table. Tails couldn't help but flinch. Jarringly opposite from what they had just displayed, Tails' captor slyly approached him.

He couldn't quite make out a face with the light of the window behind them, but by the way the person sauntered over, it had to be a woman. The sway of their hips was a dead give away, not to mention the hand they placed just above their waist. They knelt in front of Tails and drew their face closer until their noses almost touched.

Tails was both freighted and star-struck at his captor. She was a beautiful fox with red fur that deeply contrasted her pure looking attire.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said with a half-lidded smirk, "Do you know where you are?"

"N-No…" he said struggling to keep his composure, especially with her blue eyes impaling him like two icicles.

Her smirk stretched into a pleasant smile.

"Good we wouldn't want you escaping now," she said gripping Tails' chin, much like an adoring family member would.

Her touch, even covered in exotic metal was light, soft even. Somehow, though, Tails found himself frozen as if he were in her clutches; beneath a mile of chains.

"By the way," she began, "My name is Fiona. There's no need to introduce yourself, Mister Prower, I know all about you."

Her name rang like a bell in his ears: loudly and sweetly. He hated that he liked the sound of it.

Tails snapped out of the trans he seemed to be in and spoke up, "What are you planning on doing with me anyway?"

"That really depends on you and what you think of King Manik's proposal," Fiona responded calmly, not matching Tails' intensity.

Tails eyes widened in surprise at the name used, "Manik? Don't you mean King Sullivan?"

"Oh, that's simply an alias the king uses to hide his identity from a very particular group of individuals."

What this knightess had just told Tails had practically confirmed the child king's relationship to Sonic and Sally. In a strange way, he was happy for them, but could never know the heartbreak of attempting to dethrone a member of your own family.

Tails saw one of the soldiers near the entrance look out of the window onto the road. They said nothing before promptly exiting. In another fifteen seconds, they returned.

"Sir Knightess Fiona," they said reentering the shack, "Sir Knight Mephiles awaits you outside, ma'am."

"Excellent," she replied simply, as she recovered her helm and exited the shack leaving her subordinates to watch over Tails.

The more Tails began to decipher his predicament, he simultaneously realized how dire it was. It now made sense how Fiona knew so much about the king—she was a Royal Knight. So, surely it was a direct order by the king to see him captured. However, the question remained as to why the King would extend an invitation to Tails again. He had already denied King Manik once when asked to join him the last time, so what good would asking a second time do, especially when provoked in a manner such as this?

Tails didn't bother saying anything to the remaining soldiers that held him hostage. He used the downtime to wriggle his arms and his tails attempting to loosen the knots there a bit. His intention wasn't to escape, but to simply make himself more comfortable. He managed to move the ropes to less tender parts of his arms and tails which succeeded in making this situation, at least, slightly more bearable.

With the silence of the soldiers that watched him like mantises, Tails was able to catch a bit of the conversation that went on outside. He heard Fiona's voice as well as a far more bass one that replied in turn. The conversation seemed to be wrapping up as he had missed most of it toying with his bindings, but what he had caught on to may have been all he needed.

From their wording, this Mephiles character would get to speak to Tails directly and offer him a proposal from the King. He'd have to worm his way through this encounter to ensure his own safety and possibly the safety of his friends.

Considering that Fiona was able to infiltrate Knothole, likely using the murder as a distraction, means that they would need to know where Knothole was in the first place. In other words, the King and his men must know exactly where Knothole was which was dangerous for an uncountable number of reasons.

Just as Tails finally got a grasp of the kind of risk he and his people were exposed to, a tall, black and gray hedgehog slinked quietly into the room holding a roll of paper in his left hand.

He turned around and said to the men at the entrance, "You two may leave."

"At once, Sir Knight Mephiles!" one of them cried before they scurried outside.

"Greetings, Miles," Mephiles said approaching the boy once the door behind him shut.

Tails winced at the use of his first name, but replied unostentatiously nonetheless, "Greetings. Sir Knight Mephiles, was it?"

"Correct," he said dryly, "I'm a bit short on time for a number of reasons, so to keep this endeavor brief and painless, I'd like to read to you this message I received directly from the King himself. I'd prefer not to read the entire thing as it is quite lengthy, so I'll sum it up for you. You have two options, Miles, and of them, I suggest you choose the path of least resistance."

"What are my options?" Tails asked leaning forward anxiously.

"By the generosity of the king, Fiona and I can escort you back to Knothole to fight alongside your companions when we siege the place…"

Tails' breathing accelerated, his concerns were proving to be true as he seemed to be backed into a corner already. Whatever the next option was, it was sure to be this more desirable 'path of least resistance.'

"...Or you could agree to become a subordinate of the king and work to extinguish this conflict peacefully."

Dammit! Tails thought.

He was almost disappointed in himself how he had actually expected a real decision-making opportunity. Tails knew that the second he returned to Knothole there would be flaming arrows lodged in his back before he could even find Knuckles. On the other hand, he didn't know what Manik had in store for him in Novella. There's no way it would be something as simple as signing a peace treaty. Even if it was, that would swiftly and totally invalidate everything Knuckles and himself had been through at this point, not to mention all the people fighting for the Old Republic in Knothole.

His choice required almost no thought, "I'll join the King, then."

"So, you choose to keep your people alive? A wise choice. In that case, you will be coming with me."

Mephiles didn't bother untying Tails. Instead, he pulled a red gem from his satchel and placed a hand on Tails' shoulder.

"Chaos Control," he muttered before the two disappeared in a flash.

He had done it, Tails had done it. He had stopped the immediate threat to his friends. He isn't able to warn them himself, but hopefully, his disappearance will keep his allies on their toes. Tails was unhappy that his friend's dream of him becoming a ruler would not become a reality, but he also felt relieved that the bloodshed could come to an end. He only hoped that his companions could be absolved for their supposed crimes. Unfortunately, though, this was an incredibly naïve hope.

In actuality, the King intended to storm Knothole regardless of Tails' response. While Tails spoke to Mephiles, the king's troops were already beginning to line up just outside the entrance to the hidden city. No less than ten thousand men sat at its gates, quietly waiting to finally snuff out what was left of the Old Republic. The people of Knothole were not oblivious, however. With the help of scouts like Rouge, the soldiers' presence was not missed.

The major figures in Knothole convened in Room of Convergence to quickly plan out their defense. A weary Knuckles sat with an empty seat beside him. He wasn't sure of how exactly it happened, but Tails' disappearance surely had to do with the massive army just outside the entrance to Knothole.

It was no secret that Knothole was hopelessly outnumbered, but they had managed to amass a decent number of men, compared to the initial thirty or so they started off with. Though their numbers have still barely breached five hundred, they held the advantage of being on the defense.

Knothole had one exit and one entrance unless someone wanted to trek the height of a mountain top to come in from above. This meant that once soldiers began to flood the entrance of Knothole, they could be picked off one by one until there were none left—at least that was the theory.

"But, how will we be able to slay them all? I don't even think we have ten thousand arrows to fire at that massive of an army!" Klio the blacksmith said in response to Sally who had suggested the choke point method moments earlier.

"Then you'd better get fletching!" Sally commanded, "Plus, you will have Knuckles to assist you."

"No disrespect, Princess, but fletching is hardly the same thing as smithing. It could take any number of hours to craft that many arrows and there's no telling how much time we really have. Not to mention any other weapons and repairs we must make for our soldiers," Klio retorted as forcefully as courtesy would permit.

Before Sally could respond, Knuckles intervened. He sounded quite a bit more resolute than someone who had just experienced the stressful process of losing their dearest companion. Perhaps the fear drove him to ensure that someday soon his friend, Tails, would again be safely under his watch.

Knuckles spoke to the lion first: "I will assist you, Klio. Together you and I, along with a few apprentice craftsmen will make as many arrows as our wood supplies will output."

Then, he addressed the entire room: "Even if our supply of arrows is proven to be insufficient, and the archers' quivers run dry, we must not forget that a blade never runs out of strikes. Steel is infinite. So long as our willpower can match its durability. Push comes to shove, we'll drive them out of Knothole with brute force."

Klio looked at Knuckles unsure if he should believe in his hearty claim. He sighed and admitted defeat while he stood up. He'd much rather find a different solution than simply waiting to be attacked, but the rest of the council seemed to be convinced, so there was little point in continuing the discussion. Klio was no politician armed with the power of persuasion, but a simple man who just wanted to survive this upcoming battle.

"Well, if there is nothing else to deliberate in terms of archery, I should get a head start on some fletching. Time is short, after all," he said to the Princess.

"Very well," she agreed, "I do think that was all we needed to discuss. If any more concerns arise, see to it that they are brought to my attention immediately."

After the meeting was adjourned, Knuckles was off to assist Klio for however many hours it required, but he was stopped by none other than Rouge the Bat. She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Before he could complain about her impeding crucial progress, she pulled him in for a tight embrace. While she was close, she spoke softly in his ear.

"You do a good job hiding it, but I know you're hurting, Knux. We'll get him back, I promise."

Knuckles didn't speak back right away as he was finding the right words. He hadn't expected this from Rouge of all people. After a few moments' pause, he decided the most appropriate response was a simple thanks.

"Thank you, Rouge."

By the time Knuckles had reached Klio's forge he had already begun fletching as he was ordered, as did several apprentice craftsmen. Knuckles joined the workforce of men and women who prepared for this decisive battle.

Every able body, from the soldiers to children, early risen from their beds, were assisting in any way they could. Whether their job was knitting cloth for the soldiers to wrap themselves in or fashioning barricades from the sharpened legs of wooden chairs, no hand was unoccupied, and no mind was at rest.

As the inhabitants of Knothole toiled away at their tasks, a group of men, caught in between and unaware of the battle that would ensue, walked a road that would lead them directly to the conflict.

Shadow, Scorp-Ion, and Jet walked in casual silence. Their silence wasn't the result of any verbal altercation but from the fatigue of the day. They had been walking for over eight hours at this point, only stopping when someone needed to relieve themselves. The reason for their extreme bout with the trail they walked was mostly due to the fact that they still had not found much success in finding the fugitives. It was like they all dropped off the face of the planet. Every lead they took fell through and every supposed sighting turned out to be a sham.

In fear of an irrational reaction from the king, they decided to avoid returning to Novella and continue their search of the fugitives, perhaps, in an area far, far away.

Little did they know, however, that they have been being tailed. It was just barely within earshot that Shadow was able to hear his name being called.

"Sir Knight Shadow!" he heard directly behind him. He stopped and turned his head. Scorp-Ion and Jet had done the same.

When Shadow looked, he saw a courier approaching from well over one hundred meters away.

Shadow stopped and waited for them to get a little closer. Before they could come within ten meters, Shadow ordered them to halt.

In Stryle, he foolishly accepted a message from a courier which ended up being a trap that almost cost his life. Shadow refused to be the fool twice in a row.

"Is there something wrong, Sir Knight?" the courier asked concerned.

"Is there? What message do you have for me? Does it come from the King?" Shadow interrogated.

"It does, it's a missive meant for your eyes only," they replied simply.

Still unsure, Shadow instructed them to approach slowly and hand Shadow the letter. The courier followed his instruction to the letter and took a step backward after delivering his message.

"I guess I'll be on my way now…?" the courier said trying to escape the tense atmosphere as quickly as possible.

"No, you will stay there until you are dismissed," Shadow said, still scanning the missive for errors.

There was nothing that seemed off at all this time. Compared to the other message where there was one questionable instance of the King's alias being used over his true name, this message seemed to be picture perfect. Shadow now reread the missive so that he may absorb the information on the page.

Now that he had finished reading, Shadow was unsure what to think. Supposedly there was a battle that was meant to take place somewhere in a nearby woodland. This woodland was home to the rebellious figures that had been a thorn in the King's side for almost two months now. The King had sent an army of soldiers to this woodland after they had been tracked down many nights ago. The soldiers were dispatched only hours before this message was sent and their estimated time of arrival was four days.

"How long have you been following us?" Shadow asked.

"About four days. Today being day number four."

"Is that a fact?" Shadow asked rhetorically.

"Yes," the courier responded.

"Then you are free to return, thank you for this," Shadow said tossing a coin at the little courier.

Gratefully he ran off into the distance. After filling in Jet and Scorp-Ion, the group had a brief discussion:

"You're really considering this?" Scorp-Ion questioned, absolutely baffled, "After what happened last time we read one of those courier's messages?"

"I promise you, this one is legitimate. If their last message worked successfully, they would have no reason to change the formula and this one was different," Shadow pleaded.

"If Shadow can recognize the difference this time, I think his word will be trustworthy," Jet added.

"Boot-licker…!" Scorp-Ion said through a cough before releasing a sigh of defeat, "You know what? There's probably no way I'm convincing you two, but if I break anything else, it'll be your hide, hedgehog."

Shadow smirked at the threat, "Quit you blabbering. Besides, if these directions are correct, we should only be a few miles from the battle. Let's get moving."

Elsewhere, there were individuals that were completely unaware of the battle near Knothole. Individuals like Charmy Bee who were in the middle of capitalizing on the little information they had gleaned of Espio. The entire time Charmy and the Swordsman were traveling, they, generally, were headed north from the spot they initially met, less than a mile away from Epsilon Major. So, Charmy's strategy was to head down a southern road and ask every person he encountered if they had seen either Bean, Bark, or Espio himself.

This strategy was far from optimal. When Charmy was on his fifth hour of attempting to track down Espio he had only encountered two people. In both cases, the person asked recognized the faces from other wanted posters but assure they had never encountered them in real life.

After a lengthy flight, Charmy bumbled his way to a tree beside the path and leaned up against it to rest. Before he knew it, the Swordsman had sat down next to him. Charmy smiled once he realized who it was. He was concerned that the Swordsman was still cross with him.

"I was almost convinced you had ditched me for good, but I'm glad you didn't leave," Charmy said both jubilantly and tiredly.

"I had only made sure that you lost sight of me for a while. That was your lesson for the day. I had no plans to leave," he replied truthfully.

"You probably could have a while ago," Charmy realized. He was going to ask why he stayed but froze.

"Most definitely," the Swordsman said, standing up, "I would be lying if I said I knew where you were headed and what you were doing, though."

"Well, I'm headed to where I last saw Espio. It was when we had escaped the Epsilon Theta."

"You escaped the Epsilon Theta? No offense, but how could someone like you make it out of there?"

"None taken. I wouldn't have if it weren't for the people I was with, including Espio."

The Swordsman scoffed, "You would have to be nothing short of a madman or a genius to escape that place. Just who did you get yourself wrapped up with?"

"It was a tough guy named Knuckles and some kinda spell wielding squirrel."

"Knuckles, eh? That name sounds incredibly familiar. Was he an echidna? One that walked around with a bright yellow fox?"

Charmy looked at the Swordsman with wide eyes.

"How could you possibly know that? Are you sure you didn't get it confused with the wanted posters in one of the towns?"

"Since I met you, I haven't been through any towns. Besides, there's no mistaking it. I've definitely met that echidna before. They were hiding in the bushes when I spotted them thinking they were marauders of some sort when really, they were just on the run. Better yet, I gave them directions."

Charmy was speechless at the odds of them both encountering Knuckles' group. He sank back into a solemn sadness though, "That's interesting that we met the same group of people separately, but that doesn't really help our case with Espio."

"Well, where did you go once you separated from Knuckles' group?"

"We went directly North from the Epsilon Theta, I think."

"That's practically where I sent them. See that tall, thin mountain?" the Swordsman said pointing.

Charmy nodded.

"That's where I told them to go for shelter. So, with any luck, Espio may have wandered into the hidden city there."

Charmy gasped, "You think?!"

"It's your best bet at this point. If nothing else, you could at least join some allies who could help you search for him, no?"

Charmy nodded excitedly before darting through the trees, straight for the mountain. When he saw the slower pace of the Swordsman, Charmy turned around and yelled, "Hey, what're you waiting for!"

With determination and hope driving him he kept up the high-speed pace for about a mile or so before his wing began to get tired. The Swordsman took notice of his diminishing pace.

He warned the bee to reel in his excitement, so that he may be able to travel for longer, but Charmy insisted that he need to get there as quickly as possible before anyone could disappear and make finding Espio even harder. As he had done before, the Swordsman simply allowed Charmy to follow his heart, although he knew it would bite him in the future.

Charmy held on for quite a bit longer than the Swordsman had expected, perhaps his training had done more good than he realized. However, Charmy was currently struggling to even hover at this point. He didn't consider that he had been traveling for miles earlier before he had finally sat down to rest for a few minutes.

Before Charmy could fall out of the air, the Swordsman caught him.

"You overdid it. Now you need to take a breather," he berated.

"No, no. I can keep going. Espio could be right there," Charmy said.

"He could, so you don't want to kill yourself getting to him. I imagine you'd like to spend some time with him once you get there correct?"

"Y-yeah," Charmy said covering his eyes with his arm.

"Then you need to take it easy…"

The tears were about to flow. Charmy felt so defeated. He had possibly found his friend, but couldn't even get to him using the strength that he had supposedly acquired from his training. He couldn't even fly a few miles without being completely tuckered out. How could he possibly last in a battle, and defend the people dearest to him? The thing that Charmy was forgetting, however, is that allies are not helpless. When someone's strength fails them, they have a decision to make. They can choose to lie in the dirt and wallow in defeat, or they can let an ally pick them up.

"…so I can carry you there," the swordsman said as he slung Charmy over his back, piggy-back style.

"Wha…But won't you get tired of carrying me all that way?" Charmy began to say with tears falling in heavy heaps down his cheeks.

"I don't tire, child, you should know this."

"But—"

"But what? Pipe down, so I can concentrate. Try to get some rest too."

If he could, the Swordsman would be smiling at the reaction he got. He simply shook his head at the persistent loud crying and continued jogging through the forest towards Knothole.

If the Swordsman counted his steps correctly, he'd say by the end of his journey that he had jogged roughly thirty miles. The entire endeavor took three hours with the chicaning path he had taken through the trees. At this point, the day was still young, but already, the sun threatened to set within the hour.

When he found himself relatively close to the mountain, he noticed some unusual happenings within the forest. Usually, the place was dark and quiet, but it was now lit with campfires and loud with the voices of Mobians. He peered as deeply through the men as he could and saw two men standing off at the entrance of Knothole. It was a red echidna, likely Knuckles, and a green hedgehog.

The green hedgehog tossed Knuckles a scroll. The echidna opened and reviewed it for a moment before tossing it to the ground. From that little display, the Swordsman figured that those may be the terms necessary for a surrender. Whatever they were, they must not have been desirable enough to avoid battle.

The Swordsman ducked down and awkwardly removed Charmy from his back and proceeded to wake him. Surprisingly, it didn't take much to wake him, only a few shakes and light taps to the face.

"Are we here?" Charmy said a bit loudly.

The Swordsman was quick to place a hand over his mouth in response.

"There are soldiers nearby, Charmy. We'd best be quiet, so we don't blow our cover," he said whispering.

Charmy nodded in agreement.

The Swordsman took a moment to try and fill Charmy in on what he had just seen of Knuckles and the other soldier. He mentioned specifically how Knuckles had no plans to surrender which only meant that a fight was inevitable. Charmy then donned a look of concern. What could he possibly do to help?

In the distance, the pitter-patter of the rain could be heard approaching with the footsteps of a black and red hedgehog and his small team approaching. Scourge was at the other end of the thick cloud of men, so Shadow had to make the awkward walk through men that were previously under his orders. He couldn't count the number of surprised looks and whispers as he stiffly walked past.

"Is that Shadow the Hedgehog? Alive and well after so much time? I wonder where you could have been" Scourge said the second he spotted him approaching through the trees.

Shadow insisted he skip the formalities and instead brief him on the situation.

Scourge chuckled at Shadow's obvious distaste in him.

"Well, the meat of it is this: some spies tracked down this hidden city and we plan to burn it to the ground to finally get rid of the Old Republic's leftover goons," Scourge said simply.

"So, what is there no battle plan? You can't possibly expect these many men to file their way into Knothole."

"The battle plan is to flood them with our soldiers until their defenses are worn thin."

"You think they wouldn't guess that to be the clear choice when up against an opponent with far fewer men? I would bet that as soon as one of our men steps into Knothole he is getting riddled with arrows."

"Then the next man will take his place," Scourge said shrugging.

Shadow scoffed, "And where will you be during this endeavor?"

"Right here for chaos' sake. What do I look like to you? A foot soldier? Even if they magically are able to kill half of our guys, we still have those bad boys over there," Scourge said pointing to his left.

Shadow looked over to see crates of explosives and catapults aimed directly at the entrance of Knothole.

"I won't need to set foot into that wretched place before the battle is concluded," Scourge continued.

Jet took a step forward, "Pardon me, Sir Knight Scourge, if I may—"

"Speak already," Scourge interjected, not being one for formalities.

"What will be our objective?" Jet asked, finally getting to the point.

"Pick one. I couldn't care less. You could even hang here with me if you wanted."

Shadow scoffed and began to walk away but was halted by Scourge's words.

"And don't think I've forgotten our little vendetta hedgehog. Watch what roads you take."

Shadow simply continued walking he'd not let his dignity be damaged by the likes of Scourge again.

When's Shadow's group had strode some distance away from the camp, Scorp-Ion spoke up.

"Where the hell are we going?" he asked looking at the back of Shadow's head as he followed.

"Is there any point in us taking part in this battle?" Shadow questioned.

"Me, no. You gents, yes. It was an order from the King that you are blatantly disobeying at this point."

Shadow chuckled darkly, "Since when were you a law-abiding citizen?"

"Since I realized that if you're executed then I'll be down a client. Besides, what about Sonic. You finally have the opportunity to finish what you started with him."

"Yes, but I'd be doing it beneath the jurisdiction of a king who I no longer believe in."

"What you speak of is treason."

"And I've spoken of treason before, haven't I Jet?"

Jet nodded to Scorp-Ion.

"I still think we should stick close by," Scorp-Ion pleaded.

Shadow considered it for a moment, "To what end?"

"To see the outcome of the battle. If this little village can really survive an all-out siege, then you should probably join them," Scorp-Ion reasoned.

"Ha! Are you ser—"

"Yes, I am because you may need help taking down this 'jurisdiction' you hate so much."

Shadow considered it for the moment. Perhaps, Scorp-Ion was right. Perhaps, if Shadow helped the dwellers of Knothole, he may seek help in removing the king from the throne.

Shadow turned and glowered at Scorp-Ion for causing his hesitation. Ultimately though, he was grateful to him.

Shadow sighed an annoyed sigh.

"You're right," he admitted.

"There's just one little thing you're forgetting about," Scorp-Ion said jumping on Jet's back, "We don't know if this guy will rat us out!"

Scorp-Ion placed one arm around Jet's neck and used the other arm to secure the first one. Jet struggled but managed to jump and lift Scorp-Ion from his back, discarding him on the ground.

"I've been waiting for this," Jet said kicking Scorp-Ion in the abdomen then jumping on top of him.

He unleashed a flurry of punches to his face and body, most of which were blocked.

All they while the two wrestled one another, Shadow stood amused wondering which one of them would best the other as he wasn't concerned about Jet's loyalty. He became distracted as he felt a tingling all over his body. His fur stood nearly on its end and before he could react, the heavens sent down a bolt of lightning and a heavy shower of rain along with it. A split second after the blinding light had struck a tree not two meters away from Jet and Scorp-Ion, they heard the ear-splitting crackle of the thunder.

Protectively, Scorp-Ion dragged Jet away from the tree that it had now set ablaze. Jet smacked Scorp-Ion's hand that held onto his armor. Shadow fell backward in surprise and averted his eyes from the incredibly bright light.

The three Mobians sat speechless, gawking at their horrible luck. Shadow stood and looked up at the sky as if to anticipate more bolts being hurled from the heavens. He only saw the millions of freezing raindrops that fell to the earth in soaking heaps, their soft pitter-patter doing little to stop the now raging flame.

Before being given ample time to process what had just happened, the roar of soldiers could be heard in the direction of Knothole. The battle would soon begin.

To be continued…

xXxXx

Alrighty folks, this is it. That was the final chapter of Fearless that I'll be making for a while…

Nah, just kidding. I wouldn't end at such an annoying cliffhanger. In actuality, this will be the second to last chapter of Fearless and as such I'd like to say a few things regarding it. I'm a bit sad to let this story go, but I feel that I've seriously outgrown this story in terms of my writing skills.

I planned to do way more with this, but it ended up being a sloppy mess as I had no initial direction for the story and no clear end in sight. This would lead to HUGE plot issues, half-baked sub-plots, dry characters, and no development for these characters. Not to mention the very unclear motivations of all the characters. I'll cut myself a bit of slack considering that I had started this story in like 10th grade or something when I uploaded chapters on my I-pad.

Now I'm a fresshie in college and am ready to start something new as well as finish my other stories. So, if you've read this far, I would like to thank you from the bottom of the pit where my heart is supposed to be. Reading fanfiction as a kid, I thought I was J.K. Rowling level of author, but this project has taught me a lot about myself as a writer and the direction I need to go in to improve.

So, if you're ready to end this all, expect the last chapter in 2-3 months depending on my schedule. Again, thank you so much. Love you all.

P.S. I'll probably redo this story at some point…Hehe.