The group of jackals trudged along the worn-down path, their heads lowered and dejected. Only one watched where they were going, but her golden eyes were tired and dull. Her male comrades followed behind, occasionally tripping on their own feet from how carelessly they walked along, but none spoke a word. The jackal girl surveyed the landscape around them, until something caught her eye in the sky. Something large and red.
"What's that?" She asked, and the others each looked around until they saw what she was looking at.
"Let's get a better view! There's a clearing up ahead!" The jackal sporting a sash of daggers beneath a red scarf pointed forward. Newly filled with anxious energy, they jogged out of the forest and into a large field that overlooked a grassy meadow.
With trees no longer obstructing their view, the jackal team could see an army of red blimps slowly making their way across the radiant blue sky. Imprinted on each Zeppelin in bright white fabric was a familiar logo.
"Eggman!" The jackal with a green headband gasped in astonishment. His eyes picked across each of them hungrily. "I wonder how much money the contraptions inside those would make."
The she-jackal smacked him upside the head. "Boss is still working for him, remember?!"
"Yeah, but, didn't they like, lose the war?" He whined back, rubbing his scarred face in pain.
"Boss is a traitor, and we aren't regrouping unless he comes looking for us, begging for forgiveness." The last jackal of the group, one with a red beret and bandages wrapped all over his arms and legs, frowned at him.
"We don't know he betrayed us." The youngest of the jackals tried. "He probably didn't know what happened to us when that black hedgehog-!"
"Shush, we do not speak of what happened that night." The jackal with daggers hushed him. "Look, the balloons have stopped."
The group of four stared silently as the balloons paused above a certain patch of ground. Opaque metal tubes slowly slid out of each blimp, until every Zeppelin was connected to the ground. Nothing seemed to happen afterwards for a while.
"What's Eggman doing?" The headbanded jackal wondered out loud.
All was silent afterwards, until suddenly a loud warping sound echoed away from the land and towards the jackals.
"No way..." The jackal with a beret muttered. "That sounds like-!"
The land suddenly exploded. Dirt and grass were flung everywhere as red waves of light radiated out of the massive crater the explosion had made. The group of jackals all threw themselves to the ground, covering their heads. The chaos did not stop at the meadow, as battle Zeppelins overhead either sunk to the ground or started slowly rotating on an axis, gaining speed until they either exploded or imploded. Metal tubes went flying as the red light beams pulsed with powerful Phantom energy.
Despite the roaring warping sounds and the blinding red lights, the jackals held their ground, clinging to grass or each other. Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the noise and light stopped, or at least slowed down, and only a bare hum was heard. The jackals each got up, checking themselves or checking out the scene before them. The entire area around them had suddenly turned into smooth sand, and only the forest behind them remained untouched. Deep in the ground was a hole the size of a volcano. Red mist floated up from it, and the jackals could make out several figures pulling themselves out of the crater.
"Was that..." The jackal with daggers had binoculars out. "The Resistance's base?"
"What? Give me those!" The she-jackal snatched them from her team member. "It... was! That's that blue hedgehog, the two-tailed fox... a white hedgehog, and... oh, no..." She thrust the binoculars back at him and sprinted towards the forest. "We need to hide! It's him!"
"Who?!" Her group chased after her.
She spun around and faced them, her eyes wide and frightened. "Shadow!"
That got the jackal group moving. As they hid among the trees and bushes, they could hear the members of the Resistance approaching.
"...don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon." It was the voice that haunted all of their dreams.
"No kidding!" A more friendly voice accompanied his, and by the odd mix of sarcasm and honesty, they could tell it was Sonic.
Tails' higher-pitched voice penetrated their delicate ears. "How am I going to rebuild the diffuser? There's no way we can go back and recover it now!"
"Don't worry Tails, I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out." A strange voice, unfamiliar to their ears, reassured the fox.
"Gadget's right, buddy." From where each jackal hid, they could see the group stop only a few feet away from their individual hiding places. There was one more member than what the she-jackal had counted, and he wore dark green black-toed boots with black soles. Everyone held their breath as they listened to the members of the Resistance reassure one another.
"Infinite's only going to be even more upset when-!" Tails abruptly stopped talking. Apparently, Shadow had held up his hand for silence.
"The forest has ears, people. Let's get to the town." The group resumed walking, but in silence.
Once they could no longer hear the others' footsteps, the group of jackals reconnected.
"Did you hear that? Shadow knew we were here!" The headbanded jackal exclaimed fervently.
"They know something about Boss!" The one with a beret added just as feverishly.
"We need to follow them." The daggered jackal stated blatantly.
"Do you even hear yourselves?!" The she-jackal's angry outcry made them all fall silent.
"We aren't regrouping unless Boss comes to us, not to him." Despite saying this, the daggered jackal looked both annoyed at himself and disappointed by their loss.
The she-jackal sighed as she saw the sad look the headbanded jackal gave her. Then she fidgeted uncomfortably as she saw all of the guys giving her puppy-dog eyes.
"Well... we do need a place to stay tonight..." She looked after the members of the Resistance wistfully. "Maybe the town has an inn or something."
The guys all pushed past her and started down the path excitedly.
"Hey, remember to be quiet!" She whispered after them. "We don't want Shadow finding us!"
At her reminder, they all moved slower, slightly more hesitant than before.
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Spirit of the Phantom Ruby
قصص الهواةMonths after the Sonic Forces war, Team Sonic comes to realize that their enemy has not yet been fully neutralized. Knowing Infinite the jackal still has the Phantom Ruby, our adventures battle to separate the masked clown from his weapon in a plan...
