Chaos Born

20 Years Later

It was a wonder that Eggman didn't just give up building robots and venture into the industry of fireworks, considering so many of his metallic creations seemed to explode like the flaming things.

Then again, fireworks weren't tradtionally caused by the impact of a high speed hedgehog. Not usually.

Most of the robots were scrapped entirely, littering the valley in metal shards and cogs and wheels - an ugly sight, in Sonic's opinion, as he tore open a decapitated bee-bomber and releashed the terrified bird inside.

Nearby, Tails was nimbly dodging a few shots from a very optimistic robot, though considering it only consisted of a torso, half a head and only one arm, the term 'robot' could only be used half-heartedly and it hardly concerned the young two-tailed fox, brandishing his EMP gun.

Another robot went off with a bang on the other side of the gorge where Knuckles was pummelling holes into Eggman's drones, a somewhat disturbing grin on his face.

"What do you say, Knuckles?" Sonic called across the chasm, "Three badniks left. One for each of us?"

The echidna kicked the head of his last victim over the edge and watched it roll for a second before looking up and visibly running his tongue over his front teeth. 

"Can't promise anything," he called back, brandishing his lethal knuckled fist.

Tails aimed his EMP and fired, sending the remains of the robot in front of him into spasms. 

"Keep up, old men," he cheekily called over his shoulder, wagging his namesakes proudly.

"Any more of that lip," Sonic warned, having spinballed a distracted badnik, "And you can consider your backside grounded."

"Grounded?" Tails laughed, watching the Blue Blur, "Please! You haven't had the canines to ground me in seven years!"

"Nah, 'cause here I was thinking you were a good boy."

The levity was short-lived when the robot that Knuckles had been close to destroying suddenly tried to retreat, coined onto the fact that its allies were all in bits down in the valley. On it's way, however, it had chanced to gain one final victory.

The ground around the edge of the gorge where Tails was stood was weak and dry and unable to withstand the deluge of missiles and laser fire that then rained down upon it. As a result, the rocks gave way and Tails went with it, trapped underneath the debris with no room to use his tails to save himself.

"TAILS!" Sonic cried, leaping off the edge without a second thought, diving headlong into the mass of falling rock and using the boulders to spring from one obstacle to another.

Catching sight of his best friend in amongst the rubble, the hedgehog kicked out a foot and used the valley wall as leverage to propell himself forward, snatching the fox in mid-air and protectively curling around him to shield him from injury. Bracing himself for a lot of pain, Sonic's body tightened. But instead of experiencing the impact from the ground, both Sonic and Tails went careening off as Knuckles leapt through and caught them, pinning them to the wall of the canyon as he dug in a fist to stop them from sliding down too far. They huddled together tightly as the rocks cascaded down, a few smaller ones striking the hedgehog and the echidna, both of whom were cuddling Tails beneath them.

After a few moments, the rockfall stopped. Coughing and shaking the dust from his dreadlocks, Knuckles was the first to lift a weary head, his right forearm trembling from the effort of keeping them against the wall. He slowly loosened his hold so that the three of them started to descend gently down into the graveyard of robot remains.