Runaways File 1: Sky (pt 3)
Sky jumped from rooftop to rooftop, venturing himself through the now reduced-to-rubble Sunset Heights, which had been occupied by Eggman’s forces almost as soon as Sonic was defeated. Sky couldn’t help but frown, seeing a place he had lived in all his life turned into ruins. He passed by the bakery, where the sweet old lady running it always offered him freshly-baked croissants, passed by his favorite tech shop, where he used to spend hours as a kid just searching for scraps to turn into computers, and past his old school, now turned into a shelter where people went to hide from the threat of the Neo Egg Pawns. He saw a blue bear helping a small kid go inside before locking the door, and that small gesture of protection made Sky smile.
The young hawk sprung by, having gotten enough confidence in his powers to help him traverse. He ground on the power lines, blue sparks flowing from his soles as he sped by. Through his training, he figured out that he could move at super speed by overstimulating his muscles and surrounding himself with an electrical aura to protect his body and clothes from friction.
As he reached the end of the power line, he jumped off and landed safely in the city plaza, where he quickly was surrounded by the Egg Pawns. Sky took a deep breath and took the Wispon he was given upon joining the Resistance, a Yellow Lightning Wispon. Of all the ones he tried out, this turned out to be his favorite and the one he could merge seamlessly into his peculiar fighting style, which he had come up with and improved with Knuckles. He turned on the weapon and began to swirl on himself, almost like a pirouette.
The robots looked at each other, slightly confused, then attacked. However, as they got close, Sky spun faster and the lightning whip came out, in a quick elegant motion. Soon, all it could be seen was a blue and yellow small tornado which tore to shreds any robot that came into contact with him. Sky only stopped once every single robot had been destroyed and carefully fried their circuits, as he was instructed to do by Knuckles.
“Remember, don’t spare any of them. Eggman can recycle them faster than you can think of and immediately produce more Badniks. We need them as charred as marshmallows when you leave them on the fire for too long.” Sky remembered Knuckles’ advice loud and clear, not wanting anyone else to go through the dramatic experience as he did.
Suddenly the earth shook and, from the rooftops, emerged one of the bigger Egg bots, looming down at Sky with its big red eye. Sky gasped, seeing the metal giant, and looked for the easiest way out. But he didn’t seem to find any, and the giant loomed closer. Frozen in terror, all Sky could do was watch and tremble… Until a big flame hit the robot in its eye, distracting it.
“Move it!!” said someone from the rooftops, which had Sky shake his head and regain enough control to zip away. As soon as he had gotten enough distance from that threat, Sky slid down, leaning against a wall as he catched his breath. That’s when his savior flew down, hovering thanks to the Red Wispon’s Burst ability.
“You good?” asked the figure, a blue hedgehog that many others would’ve mistook for Sonic.
“Y-yes, mister Iohn.” said Sky, huffing in relief. It was indeed another rookie soldier much like Sky, only this one happened to bear a striking resemblance to Sonic. He was Sky’s superior in a sense, meaning he was bordering B-Rank thanks to some other mission he had gone through before.
“Please, don’t call me that. It makes me feel old.” Iohn chuckled nervously as he helped Sky up. Suddenly their com-links blinked. Someone was calling.
They received word on the comms that there was an emergency over at Sunset Heights again.
“This is outpost Theta. We’re trapped at the Southeast bound sewers with water flooding our base. We are trying to evacuate but we have Shadow blocking our escape and we can’t get out. We need back up! Any available units please make your way here!”
Iohn took to action grabbing Sky, “We have to help that outpost. C’mon! Do you think you can control those storm powers well enough that you think you can do this?”
“I…I think so.”
“We’ll take Shadow together, between the both of us we can do this.”, Iohn replied.
It was not a false sense of confidence that made those words come out of Iohn’s mouth. But rather an attempt at reassuring them both that things would probably be fine. With too many people stretched thin, they were all that outpost had for backup.
This was Sky and Iohn’s first battle with the group that collectively took down Sonic that day. And why did Shadow betray and turn against humanity to work for Eggman? Questions plagued their minds, but the biggest one that lingered was one rooted in survival, Will they make it out alive?
As they ran and trekked through the zones headed back for Sunset Heights, Sky pondered more over if they could reach them all in time. If he was supposed to have powers that could turn the tide of the war, surely he will find a way in the moment to make sure that they’ll succeed?
Meanwhile Iohn was more focused on whether or not they were ready to face Shadow. His priorities of surviving did not fully overshadow the need to rescue the others. More so having the question of “can they” looming over his thoughts.
Sky saw a flashing azure light coming from the flooded area and decided to investigate, separating from Iohn. He dashed past rooftops until he reached the area, almost completely being submerged. Sky shivered: ever since he got his powers, he always felt nervous around water and other liquids, and this place also happened to have hostages in it. As he wondered what to do, he yelped as he saw a water tentacle almost swipe him off his feet. Jumping back, he landed safely away as the tentacle splashed down the roof tiles, turning into a puddle. From said puddle, a humanoid figure began to form.
“...Chaos…” Sky muttered, recognizing the figure of the ancient god of water and destruction staring him down with those big, empty green eyes. Chaos stood there, sizing up his foe while hunched over a bit, his arms laying limply and his fingers almost brushing the floor. He had studied the fight between Sonic and Chaos, mainly to see how much damage they had done and how to minimize it, and he knew that his weak spot was the brain. It was indeed very visible, pulsing inside its watery shell. Chaos tilted his head to the side, studying the newcomer, and began to move ominously slowly.
“B-Back off!” Sky shouted, pointing the Wispon at Chaos. He tried to raise his voice and sound as threatening as possible, but his stuttery tone and the shivers coursing through his entire body were very visible. Chaos tilted his head to the other side as he kept moving.
“B-Back off, I said! Or I’ll, uuuh… I-I’ll fry ya!” Sky shouted again, charging up his Wispon. Chaos stopped for a second, almost looking like he felt threatened by Sky’s tone, even hunching down much more, Then, Sky heard it. A low, bubbling and rhythmic sound. As it grew in intensity and as Chaos raised his upper half again, spreading his arms, Sky knew what it was. Chaos… was laughing. A literal god, laughing at the mere mortal who dared to raise his voice at him. It was as hurtful as the laughter of all the bullies Sky had to face in his life as a nerdy person.
Sky gritted his teeth and lowered the Wispon, to which Chaos continued to move forward, each step splashing as the creature came closer. Only when he was mere inches away, already extending his arm to grab him while still chuckling in that weird watery way, did Sky raise back the Wispon and attack the monster with it.
A surge of electricity ran by his entire body, electrochuting his brain and causing him to scream in pain, as he was flung back into the water. Sky still shivered, his eyes closed as he didn’t even dare to look at him, then he slowly opened his eyes and, still shivering, walked towards the edge to see where he was. Nowhere. He was nowhere to be seen. Nothing but still water occupying the plaza. But as Sky turned his back and huffed in relief, a massive water pillar rose from the flooded plaza, atop of which was Chaos, staring down at Sky. His stare was full of rage but also surprise that a mortal could beat him like that. His expression then shifted to a much colder one, which practically screamed: “Never again.” as more water tentacles rose from the water, ready to attack.
Iohn saw Shadow staring down over the only entrance not covered by debris, like a hunting dog waiting for the fox to be smoked out of its hiding burrow. Iohn recalled from memory all the recorded depictions of how Sonic fought Shadow before. How, thanks to his speed, he could match Shadow blow for blow. In them, it was said, Sonic would use his Homing Attack whenever Shadow was uncurling out of his own; there was a window of vulnerability in between his attacks where he could be blindsided. Iohn had been practicing this move with the grappler on robots for months now. He couldn’t do the Homing Attack without it, trying as he might. But he has been focused on minimizing the recoil delay between strikes so he could manage to strike faster with more intensity.
Iohn held the wispon up and without any words to appeal to have Shadow stop where he was, Iohn took immediate action. He turned the flamethrower on the wispon as a stream of flames exited the nozzle of it. Without warning, Shadow vanished within a Chaos Snap, a minor teleportation move that got him away from the fire’s path. Iohn anticipated he’d do so. The young hedgehog circled around having the flames surrounding him to prevent Shadow from taking him by surprise. However, it was no match for Shadow as he moved too fast for Iohn to the point he grabbed the wispon out of his hand and with a single punch to the chest sent Iohn colliding with some rubble that laid bare on the streets.
Iohn grabbed his chest breathing heavy with labored coughing as he could feel his chest ridden with a weighted soreness lingering over him. Iohn knew that his bones around there were either broken or bruised. But he didn’t give up. He got up and set the grappler settings he needed for hyper targeting mode. It would launch Iohn much faster to the target but at the cost of the collision hurting him in part as well. But it was the only way Iohn could stand a chance.
Iohn took out a secondary blaster to fire a few distraction shots over at Shadow when he snapped out of sight again, the grappler system locked on Shadow’s signature. Just as Shadow appeared again, the autolock fired the grapple onto Shadow’s chest and Iohn shoulder rammed against him. The blow seemed to have hurt Shadow as he recoiled and moved in a way that’d be indicative of pain. But barely a word or sound from Shadow was being made. His eyes were blank in a reddish pink hue with his pupils almost nonexistent.
“What had happened to him?”, he thought.
Iohn couldn’t stop to linger as time was not on their side. He went at Shadow again rushing in and using the same move that had won him a blow against him.
As Sky was on the defensive he heard Iohn calling him over the comms, “Sky where are you? I need back up. This is taking too long; those soldiers down there might not have much time left. Whatever you need to do we need to wrap it up quickly!”
“UGH! B-Being a little busy right now!!” Sky shouted as he dodged several flurries of attacks from the tentacles, including spheres of solid water that broke through the roof tiles like cannonballs. More tentacles emerged from the rooftops, trying to grab him, but he either dodged them or severed them by imbuing his hands and feet with electricity. Chaos still continued to attack him, even vanishing inside the water, only to reappear and try to ambush him from below. Sky managed to avoid him… but for how long? Even in his Zero Form, Chaos was still a formidable foe for someone who wasn’t used to an enemy like him, and Sky didn’t feel safe using his powers in an area where other people might be trapped in.
Distracted, he didn’t see the tentacle "punching" him in the stomach. It knocked the wind out of Sky and caused a rib or two to crack, before it swiftly wound around his belly, pinning his wrists to his side. Sky gasped as the tentacle looped tightly around him and sent shocks of Chaos energy at him, causing him actual pain. This wasn’t electricity so Sky wasn’t immune to it. Warbling, Chaos began to pull Sky towards the flooded area, fully intent to drown him. Sky gritted his teeth and tried to free himself, only being earned more painful shocks. Chaos dragged him towards the edge of the rooftop rather slowly, like he was intent to prolong Sky’s agony as much as possible.
“N-No!! NO!! L-LET ME GO!! LET ME GO!!” Sly cried out. Literally, tears of fear streamed down his face as he was slowly but steadily dragged towards what could only be described as a watery grave. The more he struggled, the tighter the tentacle clung to him and the harder the shocks were. But also, his lucky charm, the rocky feather, glowed more brightly and intensely and, as it did, sparks began to flow out of Sky’s body, attracting Chaos’ attention. He could feel an energy flowing out of him. Something as arcane as him.
“I… SAID…” Sky breathed out, his voice being more fueled with frustration and anger than fear and sadness and, as he opened his eyes, they sparked with blue lightning.
“LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Sky shouted and released a massive electrical wave that enveloped the entire flooded arena, gravely electrochuting Chaos who lost consistency and dissolved into the water. The tentacle dissolved too, turning into a harmless puddle of water. Sky flopped down on the rooftop, his arm laying over the edge and dangling above the water. He got up a few seconds later, shaking his head.
“Rgh… What… What the heck was that?” he asked. Then he shook his hand: now it wasn’t the time for questions. Iohn needed his help. He dashed away, leaving aside his scientific curiosity for later, while a few ripples in the water could be seen and Chaos’ head peeking out, bubbling angrily before he vanished.
Iohn could barely stand as he was visibly bruised up from trading blows with Shadow and feeling like he is hardly making a dent. As much as he did catch the black hedgehog as described before things weren’t adding up and also getting nowhere. Shadow used barely any Chaos moves the whole fight. If he was serious, why wouldn’t he finish Iohn off swifter? Iohn was just focused on deterring Shadow out so he could save those trapped down below. But he couldn’t manage it alone.
“Hey bully!!” Sky shouted as he dashed down and landed between Iohn and Shadow, his landing caused a few lightning bolts to come out, making Shadow dash back.
“H-Hope you’re ready… f-for a shock on your system!” he said, dramatically pointing at Shadow while trying to sound cool.
“...You call that a pun?” asked Iohn, raising a brow but being happy to have received help.
“S-Sorry, but it was the best thing I could come up with…” Sky whimpered as he helped Iohn up. At that, Shadow simply decided to leave, skating away and leaving the two heroes perplexed, but not for long as they focused on the trapped hostages.
Sky and Iohn rushed over to the entrance that Shadow was blocking off. They tried opening it but the latch was jammed. Iohn took a pack of explosives and set them up to detonate the door. Clearing from the explosion, the door blasted open, but as it did gallons of water came flowing out as tons of objects and, worst of all, people came flowing out.
Horror fell before them as the bodies of the soldiers were pale. So many of them lay down limply over the water. There was so much that it was knee high as Sky and Iohn were rushing looking for anyone alive.
“IS THERE ANYBODY ALIVE OUT HERE?! HELLO!”, Iohn called out.
As Sky and Iohn called out, they found 4 people from the sewers limply walking up to them. Coughing and weak, they guided them outside to recover.
“Is… there… anyone else left? Anyone?”, Sky asked, shivering in dread.
“I don’t know. We held out thanks to some scuba equipment keeping us alive until you showed up. But I don’t know anyone else who could have survived in the water for that long.”, one of the soldiers explained.
Sky felt like the water soaking his feet was pulling him under along with them. The weight of failure dragged him down more and more with every second passing.
“How many people were trapped down here?”
“27. Right now, us four, are the only ones left.”, the soldier answered.
23 people died. So many lives lost because Sky couldn’t handle Chaos 0. A monster that Sonic beat in less than a minute, nay 30 seconds. Took Iohn and him several minutes to fend off.
Iohn leaned against the wall while Sky sat down in the water. The loss of so many made this rescue mission felt like a failure. For them both it might as well have been. How could they hope to stop Eggman without Sonic?
Iohn noticed Sky slinking deeper in the water, pulling the bird by his head feathers and shaking him. “We’re not giving up! Keep looking. There has to be one more left alive. At least one!”, Iohn yelled.
Sky felt like the hedgehog was being delusional. How could there be anyone left? The water had topped and flooded the whole place for almost 10 minutes. Who could be left?
Iohn scrambled, checking every body he saw. He didn’t give up.
“Iohn… stop… we failed.” he said mournfully.
“NO! No, I don’t believe it! If we can save at least one more! Just one! I won’t stand by and watch this be all we have left! HELP ME, DAMMIT!” Iohn shouted, his voice echoed in the rocky cave.
Sky was in too deep of a shock to do anything right now. He just zoned out. Despair crippling him as all this death was laid out for him to see.
Sky froze.
What was the point?
It was hopeless.
They couldn’t win.
…
…
…
…
“I GOT A FAINT PULSE!”, Iohn yelled.
Iohn turned one of them over, “Help me carry her out! I need that electricity thing you can do! I got an idea, hurry!”
Sky took a moment to come back. Iohn kept yelling to him to help and it was enough to have the young hawk operate on just listening to whatever his superior told him to. First, Iohn began chest compressions to get the water out of her lungs. Iohn timed them as he practiced before in training.
“Ok, after I give her two breaths, I might need you to be a defibrillator. Can you send a current of electricity like that?”
“I… I don’t…”
“CAN YOU DO IT, SKY?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, I’ve never tried this before!!”
Sky wailed
“TRY! Just try, for god's sake. If you can do this then it’ll be literally life-saving. Focus!”
Iohn was about to finish compressions and move on to the breathing. Plugging the nostrils and breathing into her mouth, Iohn could almost see some faint rising in the survivor’s chest.
Sky gulped and looked at his hands, beginning to rub them together and already starting to form sparkles. But doubts flooded his mind faster than the cave: would this voltage be enough? Would it be too little and not be of any use? Or worse, would it be too much? Self doubt and panic quickly occupied all of his thoughts and his legs quivered under the pressure of being in charge to save a life.
Sky rubbed both hands one more time and touched down by their heart and side. The jolt ran through, shocking the woman awake. She began coughing up water and spat it out.
Tears flowing through the young rookies’ eyes and the hedgehogs’s eyes were elated to see just one more life saved.
“Take it easy, you’re gonna be ok.”, Iohn reassured the woman.
The woman just coughed lightly and laid back down with a soft groan.
Sky covered his beak: it was the first time his powers were used to save people instead of endangering them and it was too much for him, as he burst into tears.
They stood there and waited until they were brought back to the HQ. There, the injured could receive adequate treatment. But most dreadfully, the survivors had to confirm the deaths. Specifically, Sky and Iohn, who still felt responsible for who they didn’t save.
Later on that day, while they waited to take the ship to the Death Egg, Iohn was sitting down with his body feeling heavier with regret. He may have saved some lives, but he knew in his heart he could do so much better.
Sky’s mindset wasn’t much different. True, his powers didn’t blow up in his face this time, but he still wasn't sure of how much he could trust them.
“Still down, eh?” asked a familiar voice, sitting next to the young hawk. He looked to the side and saw Silver, a green apple in his hand as he nibbled at it.
“...How could I be cheerful, knowing all the lives I didn’t save?” Sky asked his mentor and idol.
“...You can’t. In this line of work, sometimes… you can’t save them all… But you shouldn’t feel down for the lives you lost, but grateful for the ones you did save. Because, if you keep bringing yourself down, then next time… you might not save anyone at all.” Silver said, sighing, tossing the apple in the air and catching it.
“...I don’t… think I’m cut out for this… The whole hero shindig…” Sky whimpered as he hid his face in his hands.
“You don’t? Didn’t you destroy a platoon of robots, fend off Chaos 0 and Shadow AND help save five lives? All in one day, mind you? When I first started, I was only able to save just one person with my powers. Sometimes, I get flashes of timelines I was in. My most vivid was a city engulfed in flames not too dissimilar from now. And I couldn’t do much within months of learning my powers. Until I stopped letting my fear of failing dictate me. And then I began to gain control over my power. And I began to do and save more as a result. So don’t let how many you lost be what you take away from today. Those 5 lives you saved, will be the ones you know you had a hand in making a world of difference for them.” Silver explained.
Sky looked at him. In the three months he spent training with him, he had massively underestimated how deep Silver’s optimism and faith in him, a guy he might’ve never even heard of until now, went. He felt uplifted, even if only a little bit, and smiled weakly.
“Th-Thanks…” Sky sighed.
“You’re welcome. But, now comes the most important mission. Now that our other rookie has stolen a ship from the Chemical Plant, we need a team to ride it all the way up to the Death Egg, so we can save Sonic. Do you feel up for it?” Silver asked, smiling and nudging Sky.
“...No. But… If I don’t go up there, who will?” Sky asked, giggling nervously.
“That’s the spirit, sorta! Unfortunately, neither me nor Knuckles will be able to go with you, but Iohn will be there, along with a small team to back you up. So, remember: you are never alone. And you’re not expected to do everything by yourself. Be strong, be confident and have faith in your teammates, and everything will be alright.” said the hedgehog from the future, showing his thumbs up to Sky.
Sky smiled a little more and got up, joining Iohn and the rest of the team inside the ship.
“Welcome aboard!” said a cheerful leopard.
“My name is Andre and I will be your pilot for today! Fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight, cuz we’re launching this baby up in t-minus 20!”.
Sky went to sit down, doing as the pilot said, and Iohn sat next to him.
“Everything okay, rookie?” he asked.
“...Yes, rookie.” Sky said, chuckling a little and swallowing his insecurities.
Iohn giggled back and got comfy on the seat as the countdown proceeded.
“10… 9… 8…”
“I saw you and Silver had a nice long chat. I bet he prepped you up for good.” said Iohn.
“...That he did. That he did.” Sky sighed as he breathed deeply and slowly.
“7… 6… 5…”
“First time in space?” asked Iohn.
“Yup.” Sky replied.
“Mine too. But listen: whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask.” said Iohn, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“4… 3… 2…”
“...Thanks. But… I don’t wanna be a deadweight. I wanna be… someone that you guys can rely on as well.” said Sky, holding his hand.
“Hey. After seeing you in action today… I couldn’t ask for a better partner.” replied Iohn confidently.
“Me neither.” added Sky nodding.
“1… AAAAAND, LIFT OFF!!” said Andre as he started the rocket. The rest of the team held on to the chairs as the rocket shook and took off, towards the sky.
“Next stop… The Death Egg…” Sky muttered as he closed his fists.
To Be Continued…
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