Ch. 11 - He Was My Friend

                                    

                                          
"...What game are you playing now, Shadow?" Sonic side eyed the darker hedgehog. Sol saw the anger rise in his eyes and pulled on his shoulders.
"Sonic, please.. let's just go-"
"And when were you gonna tell me?" Sonic had a bitterness to his voice. Sol couldn't believe what she was hearing from both of them. She hated their rivalry. It didn't matter if they fought when it came to their skills and abilities. But when their focus was her well-being and protection, they fought anyway. 
                          
"I don't have to tell you anything! I know you're only close to me because you're too competitive to let Shadow 'win'." Sol looked over to Shadow, "And to think I actually thought you could get over yourself to care for another.."
Sonic and Shadow stood there shocked and speechless. Sol didn't mean to hurt their feelings, but something needed to be said. She sighed and opened her mouth to apologise but was interrupted with a signal that went off on both of the hedgehog's communicators. 
                          
"Eggman." Sonic and Shadow said in unison. 
"I knew it was too good to be true. Sol, you stay here where it's safe." Sonic said to her before zooming out of the house. 
"What? No! The Doctor is a friend." Sol protested. Shadow sighed and replied,
"He's no friend, Sol. Just please stay out of it." He reached for her hand but stopped himself and zoomed out after Sonic. 
                          
Sol didn't like being treated with fragility. It didn't help at all when G.U.N. deemed her 'useless', when they thought her only power was healing. Sol knew she can control chaos to manipulate her surroundings. And if it's true that Doctor Eggman had gone rogue, she needed to help too. 
                          
So Sol left the house. She saw Mobians running in fear and ran towards that general direction. People pushed and screamed as she made her way to the epicenter of destruction. 
To her horror she saw Doctor Eggman using the mech suit they built to terrorize city. The whole Sonic team was there fighting off the robot and evacuating people from harm. The Doctor's robots frantically flew by atempting to catch Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and the rest. 
One of the bots came straight toward Sol. She cautiously backed away as Mobians in her surrounding screamed and fled. The bot paid her no mind since Eggman had her registered in their system. 
                          
"Sol! Get out of here, quickly!" Amy called to Sol as she smashed the bot with her pico pico hammer. Distracted, another bot came behind Amy and stunned her, sending her to the ground. 
Sol caught her in time,
"I don't understand," Amy uttered, "Eggman's never this difficult to manage.." Sol watched at the other bots stunned Knuckles and Tails. She recalled all the times she helped Eggman improve his tech.
"...I did this.."
"What? But you couldn't have.." Amy replied. Sol rested her against a wall as she came to Tails and Knuckles aid.
                          
"Sol? What are you doing here?" said Knuckles. Tails looked over to Sol and noticed how the passing bots didn't stun her.
"Sol, the badniks don't register you as a threat. You gotta do something." Tails said.
                          
In the moment, Sonic passed by in a blue blur to spin-dash Eggman out of his mech suit. Unsuccessful, Sonic spiraled out of control as Shadow zoomed by to send chaos spears at the Doctor. Eggman cackled as he charged up his suit to attack. 
Impulsively, Sol ran toward the Doctor and placed herself between him and the two hedgehogs.
"System access!" Sol called out to the suit. The machine registered her voice and immediately stopped the charge attack.
"No, no, no!!!" Eggman shrieked.
                          
"Doctor, why are you doing this?!" Sol cried. 
"Sol! Be the first witness my beginnings of world domination, my dear." exclaimed Eggman, "After all, you were such a great help in providing me your insight in technology."
"So, you used me. How could you..?" Sol felt tears roll down her cheek as her heart sank in betrayal. 
"Now now, my dear, no need for tears. Join me! And together we will rule the new world." 
                          
Sol felt the anger swell inside her. Chaos energy sparkled in her soul. She felt a stronger power fueling her energy.
"No! You were my friend, and I trusted you!" Sol balled her fists, her quills sparked with Chaos Power. She heard Shadow say those magic words many times. And she felt the calling in her heart here and now to say them herself. 
                          
"Chaos Control!" Sol released a shockwave of energy that short circuted all of Eggman's Badniks. They crashed to the ground, lying there splintered and useless. 
                          
"No!" The Doctor was furious now. He typed a few code words into his control panel and called out,
"System override! Codename: Dr. Eggman!" 
The mech suit recalibrated and aimed it's cannons at Sol. She prepared herself to brace for attack before Shadow zoomed by, scoping Sol in his arms. He pulled her out just in time but got caught in the blast as he saved her. 
                          
With Eggman distracted, Sonic readied himself to spin-dash at the mech suit. 
"Sonic no!" Sol called out to him but it was too late. The moment Sonic made contact with the suit, the fail safe system sent an electric shot to stun him. The blue hero fell and was caught by Shadow before he hit the ground. 
                          
Angered, Sol used her power to focus on the broken debris of buildings that scattered the ground. She had moved objects with her chaos powers before, but now was her chance to truly prove herself.
With outstretched arms, Sol began pulling debris with her powers. She aimed them at the mech suit's weak points, causing the suit to malfunction. 
                          
Sonic watched with Shadow from the sidelines. He saw that Sol was more than capable of protecting herself. Shadow watched her flourish her hands, commanding anything and everything the to attack Eggman. 
It was this moment that the two hedgehogs realized how foolish they had been before. This would be the last time they underestimated this wild and powerful girl. 
                          
After the last hit, the entire mech suit had given up and began to sputter out of control. 
"No! No! No!" The Doctor cried, slamming his fists against the control panel. The mech suit went stiff and stumbled backwards before falling completely to the ground. 
                          
Now relaxed again, Sol approached the suit and climbed to the control seat. She extended her hand down to the broken and defeated Eggman.
"I forgive you." She said to him, "I know you can't help it. But I want to make you better. You're my friend." 
Touched, the Doctor reached for the white hedgehog's hand. Without realizing it, he accidentally hit one of the spring lock levers. It opened the panel that Sol was standing on with great force that it launched her into the sky, up and out of sight.
                          
The entire Sonic team that had witnessed Sol's kind gesture, were left with jaws dropped as they watched Sol being slingshot into the sky. 
                          
"Oops.." said the Doctor.