Chapter 16 - Morality

Both Link and Samus exited the elder's tent, dead silent. The elder had just finished explaining all the details of the strange vision he'd just shown Link, and this new knowledge was not at all comforting to Link. Samus couldn't possibly fathom all that was going on in Link's head at the moment, but she knew well enough that this was a lot to take in all at once.[br]
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"I don't believe it," Link finally said, "I can't believe it."[br]
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"Believe or don't believe, it's the truth as we know it," Samus replied frankly.[br]
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"You can't honestly be serious!" Link said to her as his temper began to rise, "Did you not hear what he said?!"[br]
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"I heard it before you did," Samus said resolutely, "and even now, I still believe in what his vision has foretold."[br]
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"But it's insanity!" Link burste out.[br]
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"Link, you have to think about the bigger picture here!" Samus said in a more stronger tone, "This is the only way we can save the universe! It has to happen, and it will happen!"[br]
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"At the expense of every living being here!?!" Link yelled incredulously.[br]
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Despite the outburst, many of the Chozo present seemed to pay him no attention. Samus, now becoming more and more agitated by Link's attitude, grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him to the side.[br]
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"Listen, you ignorant fart!" Samus whispered harshly, "This isn't just about saving lives, this is about an entire universe! If you can't grasp the concept that there have to be sacrifices to ensure the safety of billions, then you're a bigger shoot-head than I took you for!"[br]
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"Would you rather I not care about the fact we went through all the trouble of saving these people for nothing?!" Link replied in equal harshness.[br]
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"Do you have any clue as to who we're up against?!" Samus asked, her anger at its peak, "Mario's dabbled into a power far beyond anything any mortal world could combat! This is out of our hands now! It's time for fate to step in!"[br]
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Link was about to retort when Samus cut him off and said, "Listen! Mario will find us! It's not a question of if, but when! At the rate Mario's going, he'll be able to traverse the interdimensional bounderies and warp to any dimension he'd want, including this one! With this thought in mind, would you rather he left this dimension dead or alive?!"[br]
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Link wasn't able to come up with a retort for that, and so Samus continued, "If there is but one chance to end Mario's reign of evil, we have to take that chance! We can't allow Mario to escape, no matter what!"[br]
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"You're talking about genocide!" Link replied stubbornly.[br]
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"A few hundred thousands, compared to an infinite billions," Samus replied coldly.[br]
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"I cannot accept that!" Link yelled at the top of his lungs.[br]
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Samus responded with a mean right hook that knocked Link flat onto his back. And just as Link tried to pull himself onto his feet, Samus's knee came down and pinned his shoulder to the ground. Link was unable to force her off of him, as Samus continued scolding him, "Stop being so damn selfish! You can't have things go the way want them to this time!"[br]
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Link stopped struggling, and glared at Samus as she went on, "You may not like it, but Mario's gone and made a mess of the entire universe, and it will be up to you to fix it! After the fall of the Mushroom Empire, the entire universe will fall into chaos and disarray, and you will need be the one to set everything right!"[br]
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Link was silent at first, but then asked, "How can I be a leader if I'm no better than Mario?"[br]
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Samus stared at him for a little while, then said, "You do what is needed. That doesn't always mean doing things the right way."[br]
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Link then averted his gaze. His problems now had become even more complicated. If this was the destiny Roselia was referring to, then he wanted no part of it.[br]
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Why me?[br]
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***[br]
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Sonic walked briskly through the steel corridors of the space station on the Capital Planet. The armada had just returned to the Mushroom Kingdom, and plans to rebuild were already underway. In the meantime, all key officers, including Sonic, were given time off.[br]
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Sonic, however, had one last assignment; he was to visit one of Mario's most respected scientists: Proffessor E. Gadd. E. Gadd was the lead scientist who helped lead the research team in developing the new transdimensional technology, along with a host of other new, and rather disturbing, inventions. And it was because of one of these frightening creations that Sonic was coming to visit him.[br]
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E. Gadd's current project was cybernetic revitalization. In lamens terms, reviving dead bodies using cybernetic implants. As incredulous as it sounded at first, E. Gadd had used an unusual comibination of his own mechanations and several components borrowed from the alternate dimensions, resulting in fully functioning limb and organ replacements, along with a resurrection process that involved an incredible amount of electricity, that revitalized any dead corpse, so long as the central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord, remained intact. So far, E. Gadd had five successful tests, and now Sonic was to check on his latest test subjects.[br]
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Sonic reached E. Gadd's lab soon enough. The doors gave off a cold hiss as they slowly opened up. Upon entering the lab, Sonic gave a light shiver at the sudden drop in temperature. E. Gadd's lab was always kept cold, on his insistance that it was necessary to ensure that everything in the lab remained sterile. In Sonic's opinion, it was probably more because he liked watching people freeze to death.[br]
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Sonic saw E. Gadd busily toiling away at a workstation straight ahead on a far side of the room. The table he was working on was simply littered with different components and spare parts. They looked, for the most part, completely untouched, as E. Gadd sat busily scribbling away on some different pieces of paper. Sonic pricked his ears, and was able to catch inaudible mumblings underneath the scientist's breath. Sonic thought he met his fair share of crackpot scientists in his day, but this guy took the cake.[br]
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Sonic cleared his throat to announce his arrival. Immediately, the tiny scientist whirled in his seat in surprise and nearly fell off. He calmed down just as quickly when he saw who it was.[br]
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"Oh, Sonic! My apologies. Didn't hear you come in," E. Gadd said, in his unusually high pitched voice. He was a short, bent, old man, with a few strands of white hair on the top of his head and thick rimmed, coke bottle, glasses.[br]
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Sonic really didn't enjoy dealing with this fellow, but in his case, it was unavoidable, "I needed to see your latest test subjects."[br]
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"Oh, yes. Of course," E. Gadd nodded excitedly, "This way."[br]
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E. Gadd gestured to another door on the right side of the room. It opened up to a long hallway, that was equally chilled, and Sonic followed E. Gadd as he trotted toward the end of the hallway.[br]
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"Oh, you can't possibly imagine how exciting it's been for me these past three years," E. Gadd said halfway through their walk.[br]
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"Really?" Sonic asked, trying his best to feign interest.[br]
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"Why, yes! All the new opportunities, all the scientific advances we've made; it's all so incredible!" E. Gadd could barely contain his excitement. Sonic nodded silently.[br]
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"I mean, we've obtained technology and scientific understanding that would've taken decades to discover in a span of three years!" E. Gadd threw his hands into the air as he spoke, "Never in all my years could I imagine such an achievement under our old leader!"[br]
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"You mean Peach?" Sonic asked, now genuinely intrigued.[br]
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"Yes," E. Gadd continued on, "You see, she was an absolutey kind and benevolent ruler. Truly pure as pure can be. Unfortunately, her kind nature often got in the way of the pursuit of knowledge, mostly because of certain...morals. But, thanks to our great King Mario, such worries were pushed to the wayside, and the pursuit of scientific knowledge finally took off! Oh, when I think of all the amazing weapons and designs I thought I had to scrap because of Peach's objections now being brought to realization!"[br]
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"And you're not bothered by the whole...morality issue?" asked Sonic, his fur prickling.[br]
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"Of course not!" E. Gadd replied jovially, "I am a man of science! I realized a while back that the pursuit of science is much more important than worrying about silly nonsense like morality. What is morality other than a society's attempt to disuade people from killing each other off? Sometimes, in the pursuit of knowledge, sacrifices are only natural. That is what science is, my boy."[br]
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Sonic nodded, but deep inside, he felt his insides turn deathly cold. This was the same form of thinking that drove his former enemy, Dr. Robotnik. The mere thought of his old adversary chilled Sonic to the bone, and was almost grateful for the fact Mario was able to catch on to Robotnik's hidden agenda. Who knew what horrors he would have visited on the universe. Sonic then tried to push those thoughts out of his head, but the cold feeling still remained. He blamed the freezing air around him.[br]
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They finally reached the doors to the "Resurrection Chamber," as E. Gadd had dubbed it. The room was fairly spacious, with an operating table at the center, some machines lined against one of the walls, and another wall decorated with various tools and parts. Across from the entrance, there was a holding cell, with a force field keeping five occupants trapped inside.[br]
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The five individuals were E. Gadd's test subjects, who were successfully resurrected by his process. Two were from Sonic's world, the other three from the Lylat dimension. There was a bat woman leaning against the left wall, a black furred hedgehog in the left corner, a cat woman sitting in the opposite corner, a dog man sitting next to her, and the most recent test subject, Fox McCloud, sitting against the back wall.[br]
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The bat woman and cat woman both looked perfectly normal, but the others had to have different limbs replaced in order to function properly. The black hedgehog got a new leg, the dog got new arms, and the left side of Fox's face and upper torso were now all metal.[br]
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E. Gadd promptly lead Sonic to the holding chamber. Sonic took his time surveying the five individuals, while E. Gadd explained Fox's condition, "As you can see, Fox McCloud is now as lively and functional as he was before. Granted, I had my doubts when his body was brought in, given the severe tissue damage, but I'm happy to report that he now has a clean bill of-."[br]
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At that moment, the cat leapt towards and slammed both her fists into the force field. It wasn't enough for her to break free, but it did startle E. Gadd quite a bit. Sonic remained stony quiet.[br]
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"Save your strength, Katt," the dog said wearily.[br]
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Katt didn't seem to hear, and continued pounding on the force field, angrily shouting at both Sonic and E. Gadd, "Murderers! I'll get you for this! I'll get you!!"[br]
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"Katt! Stop!" at this point, both Fox and the dog leapt to their feet to restrain her. This was more to keep her from hurting herself than anything. They all too well understood her anger, and probably wouldn't have stopped her under different circumstances.[br]
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After the two finally wrestled her back onto the ground, with no help from their cell mates, Katt finally broke down crying, burying her face into the dog's sweater. Fox didn't say anything to her after that. He knew how much Falco had been mourning her supposed death. Now it was Katt's turn to mourn.[br]
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Fox slumped back into his spot, and gave a thankful nod to the dog. The dog, Bill Grey, nodded back in acknowledgement. Then Fox stared back at the ground, as he fell back into his own thoughts. He still couldn't believe he found both Bill Grey and Katt Monroe alive in this prison, let alone the fact he'd been brought back from the grave himself. He could only imagine the look on the General and the other's faces when they saw Fox up and around.[br]
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Then his thoughts went back to Krystal, as they often did. He'd put her through so much pain with his little trick. Dead or alive, he was sure she wouldn't forgive that stunt so easily. He just hoped she managed to survive, where ever it was she wound up.[br]
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Then, he forced those thoughts out of his head as he looked back through the force field at their captors. So far, they'd backed a small ways away from the force field and began whispering to themselves. Fox could only assume it was about them, and he wasn't looking forward to finding out what other experiments they had in mind.[br]
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It was that moment when Fox noticed the black hedgehog, named Shadow, staring hatedly at Sonic. Bill happened to mention the names of the other two cell mates, and what little information he managed to get out of them. Shadow, and his bat friend, Rouge, were two of the warriors who fought along side Sonic in a failed attempt to fight off the Mushroom Empire. Both Rouge and Shadow suffered death at the hands of Mario himself, but were apparently not so entirely damaged that they couldn't be resurrected. They appeared to know Sonic very well, but would rarely speak of him. Fox figured it was because of Sonic's betrayal, and was wise not to press the matter. Of course, these particular individuals did look a bit shady themselves, making him wonder why they didn't defect.[br]
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It wasn't long before Sonic and E. Gadd finally broke from their talk and walked back to the cell. Sonic pulled a blaster from his side and pointed it at them. Bad news, just as Fox thought.[br]
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"Another experiment?" Rouge asked in a soft and hateful tone.[br]
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"Your last one," Sonic said frankly, "if your lucky."[br]
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"I'm not sure about this, Master Sonic," E. Gadd said worriedly, "The obedience chips should work, but only in theory. If something should happen, the test subject would die. I'd rather not risk losing a test subject just yet."[br]
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"Heaven forbid you should run out of toys to play with," Shadow muttered under his breath, his voice dripping with resentment.[br]
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"We're in the middle of a war," Sonic replied, "so long as we have death toles, we'll have other test subjects. Besides, the empire needs more warriors, and King Mario wants results now."[br]
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Sonic's reasoning was apparently enough for E. Gadd, as he prepared to lower the force field. Fox probably would've gotten ready to jump them both, since there were only two of them, but he had to remind himself of the last time he tried that, and the severe beating he and Shadow had gotten because of it. Sonic may not have looked it, but he had become much more powerful after joining the Mushroom Empire.[br]
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So, E. Gadd hobbled over to the control panel on the side and, with a shaky finger, punched in the code to deactivate the force field. The electronic whir from the force field died out instantly. As E. Gadd slowly backed towards Sonic, Fox slowly climbed to his feet, doing his best not to seem threatning...at least not yet.[br]
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"All right, then," E. Gadd said with a renewed sense of excitement, "I'll just need one of-."[br]
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What followed was a flash of blue fur as E. Gadd was swept off his feet and strapped onto his own operating table. The action was so fast, it took everyone else, even E. Gadd himself, at least 30 seconds to register what had just happened. Everyone looked around at each other, sharing the same confused look.[br]
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"M-Master Sonic!" E. Gadd managed to blurt out fearfully.[br]
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Fox was also trying to formulate his own question when Sonic hastily drew a cube from his pocket and said, "Quick! You don't have much time!"[br]
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He threw the cube to Fox, and then explained, "It's a wormhole generator. Just give it a squeeze, and the wormhole will appear. I've already set the coordinates for another dimension. You need to find a way to hook up with the Knights of Hope."[br]
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"So this won't lead us to the Dimensional Gap," Fox said.[br]
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"Sorry, but it's safer this way. Also, you'll be able to warn the dimension you arrive at. This dimension's already on Mario's hit list."[br]
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"Why are you helping us?" Shadow stepped forward and asked suspiciously.[br]
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Sonic was silent at first, then replied, "I know I can't erase what I did, but now I think it's time to make up for that mistake."[br]
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The group looked at him with suspicious eyes. As far as they were concerned, he was still far from being worthy of their trust. Of course, Shadow never really trusted Sonic anyway.[br]
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Fox, however, understood well that there wasn't time to think about whose side was on. They seemed to have an opportunity to escape, and they had to take now or not at all. The latter wasn't at all appeasing.[br]
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"Okay," Fox finally said, "we'll take you on your word, but if you're as true as you say, you'll come with us."[br]
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"Sorry, pal," Sonic replied frankly, "but I've gotta create a diversion for you guys. It'll be a while before they realize you're gone," he gave a thoughtful glance over at E. Gadd on the table.[br]
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Fox, seeing Sonic's point, nodded in response and gave the cube a squeeze. Immediately, a bolt of lightning shot out of the cube, and struck an invisible point in mid air. Then, a whirling vortex opened up, and their escape was assured.[br]
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"Alright," Fox said, "let's move out!"[br]
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Kat and Bill were the first to go through; they may not of trusted Sonic, but they did trust Fox's judgement, and were willing to follow his lead. Rouge went next; although not fully trusting of Sonic, she figured there could've been worse by staying behind. That just left Fox and Shadow left, and Shadow seemed to stare piercingly at Sonic.[br]
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"Don't think this has earned my forgiveness, Sonic," Shadow said harshly.[br]
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Sonic stared back and said, "Just say 'thanks' and beat it, already."[br]
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Shadow didn't give Sonic his thanks, but he did go through the portal, secretly vowing to take his vengence on Sonic should it all turn out to be a trap. Fox was the last to go through, giving one last glance at Sonic, just to make sure there was no sign of deciet in him.[br]
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After Fox went through, the portal closed, leaving Sonic and E. Gadd alone in the operating room.[br]
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"Traitor!" E. Gadd finally blurted out, "Traitor!"[br]
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"Sorry you feel that way," Sonic said emotionlessly, "but I do have a problem with your methods."[br]
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With that, Sonic took his blaster and began shooting indiscriminately around the room, blowing up every exposed part and tool. No sooner had he started firing than alarms began blaring about the room, signaling the internal sensors were now aware of weapons fire in the room. Sonic was unfortunately caught off guard, not considering they would take such a precaution. At this, Sonic looked one last time at E. Gadd and said, "Hope you're not too attached to that lab of yours."[br]
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Thus, Sonic sped off through the door. A one-track determination drove him forward as he sped though the corridor, into E. Gadd's main lab, and started blasting everything in sight. If nothing else, he could at least slow the demented scientist's progress on his projects for another year or so.[br]
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Then, as alarms continued to blare throughout the station, Sonic burst out of the lab and bolted through more corridors as he searched for a communication station; The Knights of Hope had to be informed about this. All the while, Sonic was sure to cause as much destruction as possible.[br]
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Tails, Amy, Knuckles...I'm sorry.[br]
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***[br]
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Fox landed hard on his backside as he flew out of the portal. Fox always heard interdimensional travel was rough, but he never really expected anything like that. Bill came over to his side and helped him to his feet.[br]
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"Well, that was fun," Fox said sarcastically as he felt his sore behind.[br]
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"If we ever see Sonic again, you can slug him one for it," Bill replied.[br]
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Fox chuckled slightly, then looked up to see where they landed. The scenery that met him wasn't very encouraging. They found themselves in the middle of a ruined city, completely devoid of all life. The buildings looked like they'd been abandoned for quite some time, and seemed to have suffered a large amount of damage.[br]
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"What the heck?" Fox couldn't believe what he was seeing.[br]
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"I know," Bill replied in agreement, "I'm not entirely sure what might've happened here."[br]
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"A war?" Fox suggested, to which Bill answered, "I can't imagine any form of weapon strong enough to cause damage of this scale. I'm more willing to bet on natural disaster, myself."[br]
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"You're probably right," Fox said. He looked around at the others. Kat and Rouge had chosen a flat piece of rubble to rest on, and Shadow was out in the middle of an abandoned road, staring out at the ruined cityscape.[br]
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Fox then lowered his head and said to Bill, "Okay, you can say it."[br]
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"Say what?" Bill asked.[br]
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"We got screwed," Fox said.[br]

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