The Aftermath

When one adventure ends, another one begins. The Dark Brotherhood may have been defeated, but now Sonic and this friends face a new threat: the rise of the Eggman Empire! Sonic must now band with his friends, both old and new, and together they must use teamwork and combat savvy to restore the world to normal.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Sonic the Hedgehog" or "Sonic Chronicles", I am merely exploring a possible story.

After his previous victory over Dr. Eggman, Sonic the Hedgehog spent a few days enjoying a carefree run around the world. That is until he received a distress call from his good friend, Tails the Fox. Apparently, mysterious invaders known as the Marauders had stolen the Chaos Emeralds. On top of that, their commander, Shade, a mysterious woman skilled in combat, had captured Knuckles the Echidna: the Guardian of the Master Emerald on Angel Island.

During his search to find Knuckles, Sonic gained some more friends to aid him: Tails the Fox, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, Cream the Rabbit, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and E-123 Omega.

Eventually, they team found Knuckles, who was fortunate enough to be relatively unharmed. However, their problems were just beginning. After they found their echidna friend, they discovered that Angel Island, along with the Master Emerald, had been taken away from Mystic Ruin!

While trying to find the floating island, Sonic and company where shocked to discover that Dr. Eggman had survived their last encounter. At first, the team suspected that the evil doctor had something to do with the Marauders. However, Eggman swore that he was not with the Marauders and even offered his services to help stop them. Though tension and distrust was high, the team agreed to let Eggman join them, but only until the Marauders were stopped.

After a series of events, Sonic and his friends discovered the shocking that the Marauders were actually another race of echidnas: the Nocturnus Clan. As it turns out, the clan's leader, Ix, planned to steal the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald in order return the rest of the tribe from the Twilight Cage and conquer the world.

However, the Nocturnus Warrior, Shade, refused to go through with the plan, saying that she only wanted to return her clan to this world, not to take it over. When she voiced this defiance, she was declared a traitor of the Nocturnus Clan and was cast out. Wanting to make amends to Sonic and his friends for the trouble she and her clan had caused, Shade joined our heroes to aid them in their quest to stop Ix.

While the team decided to go to the Twilight Cage, Eggman said he would stay behind. He convinced the team that they had nothing to worry about. Though hesitant and still wary, the team had no choice but to leave since time was racing against them. They knew it was only a matter of time before Ix launched a full assault on their world. So they left for the Twilight Cage, leaving Eggman behind.

While in the Twilight Cage, the team met many other races that dwelled within that realm. Many were warring tribes and there was no peace among them.

However, after proving themselves to each of the struggling inhabitants, Sonic and his friends managed to unite them all in an alliance to defeat Ix: an enemy that they all had a common grudge against.

After an epic battle against Ix within the castle's cathedral, Sonic and his friends attained victory at last.

Unfortunately, Ix wasn't about to give up. With the last of his power, he began to close the wormhole that would allow our heroes to return home. Luckily, Sonic and his companions beat the clock and made it through just in time.

However, when they returned to their world, things went from bad to worse.

Eggman took advantage of Sonic's absence and took over the world!

Our story begins now, where we join our heroes as they now struggle to avoid the bombardment of lasers.

The Cyclone shook violently as the nonstop assault of lasers hit it in every direction. The passengers it was carrying all stumbled and did the best they could to prevent themselves from falling to the ground.

"Everyone, hang on to something!" Sonic shouted as he gripped a nearby chair anchored into the floor.

Tails struggled to the main computer and checked the red alert on the screen. To his horror, he saw that the main engines were severely damaged. They were now at the risk of falling out of the sky. However, that wasn't he worst of it.

If a laser somehow managed to hit the power generator, the whole ship would blow up!

Even now, the damage was so severe that if they didn't evacuate in time, they would go down with the ship!

"Guys!" the fox cried. "We have bail out NOW!"

Rouge, being the closest to the emergency exit, reached to press the button open when another attack hit the wing of the Cyclone. Everyone onboard fell to the floor as the ship rocked back and forth. With the help of her wings, Rouge managed to find her balance again. She made a desperate reach for the button and slammed her hand down on it. In an instant, the emergency exit door opened up.

"C'mon!" the bat ordered.

Just as everyone was about to make a mad-dash for their only chance of escape, one lucky laser shot up and hit the Cyclone dead in the center.

In a split second after that, the airship exploded, sending all passengers aboard in different directions!

The next thing Sonic knew, he was tumbling down through the air with the blurred colors of New Metropolis rushing to meet him. While the blue hedgehog wasn't the type to scream out of distress, his voice simply acted out of survival instincts, rather loudly, too.

"AUGH!"

Suddenly, he felt something grab his hand. He jerked to a stop and quickly realized that he was now stable and slowly hovering down to the city below. Sonic looked up to see Tails clutching him with both hands and straining to stay airborne.

Sonic couldn't help but exclaim in relief. "Whoa! Thanks, buddy!"

"Don't thank me yet!" Tails strained. "We still have to find a safe place to land!"

With his twin-tails acting like a helicopter's propeller, the little fox quickly and carefully made his way down an alleyway of New Metropolis. After a shaky landing, Sonic and Tails both leaned against the wall near a dumpster to catch their breath. Right now, they were just glad they were still alive. If Tails didn't have the talent to fly, they would've been goners.

"You alright, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"I'm fine." Tails answered. "Are you okay, Sonic?"

"Heh, never better." Sonic gave a weak grin, trying to look as if the explosion didn't faze him.

However, the moment Sonic looked around the corner of the alleyway, he saw something that instantly made him feel nauseous. New Metropolis had been completely rebuilt and swatbots were patrolling everywhere. The laser guns that shot the Cyclone down were posted on nearly every metal skyscraper as far as the eye could see. On the far side was a tower taller than the others with Eggman's ugly trademark style; his own face abstracted in a talentless sort of way.

The very thing Sonic and his friends fought so hard to prevent had happened: Eggman had established his empire!

Sonic immediately turned away and leaned against the wall again, still trying to process the situation. He breathed heavily and clenched his fists. His eyebrows narrowed into a painful scowl and he gritted his teeth.

Tails saw Sonic's reaction and became worried. In all the time the two friends had been together over the years, the little fox had never known the blue hedgehog to act this way.

But what concerned Tails the most was that Sonic looked…defeated. Like all of his fighting spirit had been sucked right out of him.

Tails took a deep breath before hesitantly asking, "Sonic, are you okay?"

Sonic glared at Tails for a moment. The twin-tailed fox stepped back when he saw that look. Sonic never gave Tails a look like that before. Although Tails had a feeling that he glare itself wasn't really directed at him.

The blue hedgehog then turned away and clenched his fists even tighter.

"I'm fine," he answered through his teeth. "It's just…how did this happen?"

Tails shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, we were only in the Twilight Cage for a few days at most, but here…it looks like years have gone by."

Sonic scowled harder and he tightened his fists so hard they began to shake with the fury that was building up inside of him.

"Well," Tails continued, "I'm actually not too surprised. Remember that Shade was banished with the Nocturnus Clan a long time ago, but she's still pretty young. For her, only a few years went by while four thousand years have passed in our world."

"Heh, four thousand years old and she's still going strong." Sonic miserably grinned, trying to cheer himself up.

Tails just shook his head at the bad joke. He then suddenly jolted up.

"Speaking of Shade," he said, "we should look for the others. I hope they're okay."

"They can take care of themselves." Sonic responded gruffly. "Right now we need to focus on stopping Eggman."

"Sonic," Tails said sternly, "we have to make sure the others are okay. Besides, with Eggman at full power like this, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Sonic looked at his friend. He became surprised when he saw the look on Tails' face. He didn't look threatening, but he certainly looked firmly commanding. It wasn't until then that the blue hedgehog never thought he would ever see something like that on the fox's innocent looking face.

How could Sonic say "no" to a face like that?

"Okay fine," he mumbled, "you win. Let's get searching."

With that, the two friends immediately set out. They cautiously sneaked around the city, ducking in and out of alleys and avoiding the radar of the swatbots. The whole time they were sneaking around, Sonic felt a burning rage inside of him becoming more intense. This feeling was so rare for him that when it did come, he didn't know how to handle it. He was so used to being carefree and confident, that this feeling was starting to make him feel sick to his stomach.

All he could think about was the fact he had lost, and Eggman had won.

He should be more focused on stopping Eggman! This was the very thing he had fought so hard to prevent, and now it's happened! The thought of Eggman triumphing and having the world under his thumb made Sonic burn with anger! The others can take care of themselves; he had to stop Eggman NOW!

When the two friends were about to move onto the next alley, Sonic turned to Tails and said:

"Tails, you go look for the others, I'm going to stop Eggman."

"Sonic," Tails protested, "you can't take him on now. You don't even have the Chaos Emeralds."

"I don't care!" Sonic rebuked harshly. "It was my responsibility to stop Eggman and now this has gone to far! I'm going and you can't stop me!"

"Sonic, what is wrong with you?!" Tails shouted, rather hurt to see his friend like this. "You've never acted this way before!"

"Nothing's wrong with me!" Sonic shouted back, "I…!"

Sonic never finished his sentence because at that moment, a laser shout just a few feet away from him and Tails, making them jump in surprise. The two friends turned and saw a battalion of swatbots appear in the entrance of the alley and surround them.

"INTRUDERS!" one of them said in a monotone, robotic voice. "ORDERS ARE ATTACK ON SIGHT."

Sonic cracked his knuckles, "We'll talk about this later! C'mon!"

In a split second, Sonic spin-dashed into one of the swatbots, sending it straight into the wall. Following the blue hedgehog's lead, Tails flew toward another swatbot and kicked it in the face, knocking it into another set of robots.

As Sonic rebounded off of his attack and landed on his feet, he was shocked to find that he barely made a dent in the swatbot he attacked. It just climbed out of the wall like nothing had happened. The robots Tails knocked over just fell, no scratches or dents whatsoever. They didn't stay down for long either; they just got back up and responded by firing lasers at the young fox. Sonic quickly responded by tackling Tails out of the way of the projectiles.

The two of them tumbled across the ground for a moment before looking back up and getting to their feet.

"Looks like these swatbots aren't going down easily!" Sonic said warily. "Time to tag-team!"

"Right!" Tails nodded.

Sonic and Tails then grabbed each other's hand quickly spun around together, creating a chain-and-ball imitation maneuver. The blue and yellow blur plowed through the robots like two bowling balls knocking down a set of pins. When the two of them stopped spinning and let each other go, they landed on the ground and turned around to see the outcome of their combination attack. They were pleased to see they at least managed to do some damage to the robots, such as seeing some of them surge with electric energy and having noticeable dents in their armor.

However, their grins soon turned to frowns as the robots got up like they weren't hit at all.

"Eggman must've upgraded these swatbots!" Tails fearfully concluded. "They can take any attack we throw at them!"

Sonic's eyes flashed with anger and he spin-dashed forward again.

"Sonic, wait!" the twin-tailed fox cried.

But it was too late; Sonic was caught by one of the swatbots and was slammed into the wall. As Tails rushed in to help, he was seized by two other swatbots. Both Sonic and Tails struggled to get free, but the robots' grips were so strong that they could barely even move.

They were trapped!

The robot that was holding Sonic raised its other fist and its hand morphed into a laser gun. Tails gasped in horror and turned away, not wanting to see his friend get shot in front of him. However, Sonic nervously glared at the gun as it began to charge up. If this was the end, he was at least going to go down with some dignity.

However, before the robot could fire, it became frozen in a cyan light. The next thing Sonic knew, the robot's gun was ripped off its arm. The thing then sizzled and lost its power, releasing Sonic in the process. Sonic fell to the ground, landing on his rump, and looked around in bewilderment as he saw that the other swatbots were caught in the exact same cyan light.

"Need some assistance?" a voice said from above.

At the same time, all the robots sizzled as the cyan energy disabled their circuits. With their main power disrupted, they all collapsed on the ground, sizzling and twitching. The moment the two swatbots that held Tails captive released him, Sonic immediately rushed over to him, helping his buddy get to his feet.

"Tails, you okay?" He asked concerned.

"I-I'm fine," Tails stuttered, "but what was that?"

"I think HE can answer that question."

Sonic pointed as a very familiar hedgehog with ivory-colored fur, and glowing a brilliant cyan light, landed right in front of them. His arms were folded across his chest and he had a serious expression on his face.

He had a brown backpack on his back that was bulging just a bit, showing that there was something inside it.

Sonic and Tails immediately recognized their rescuer and exclaimed:

"Silver the Hedgehog!"