Chapter Text
It had been a little while since Eclipse and his entourage had left Angel Island. None of them had wanted to incur the wrath of Knuckles even though they had only been there to prevent Snively from heisting the Master Emerald. The echidna seemed the “punch first, ask questions later” type and Shadow had urged them to leave anyway.
While Eclipse didn't plan on just outright obeying any command from his brother, he had considered this to be simply good advice. That and he hadn't wished to linger at the location of his lowest point any longer than he had to. He had denied Snively of the Master Emerald, and had it denied from nourishing his little ones; that was the end of the matter as far as he was concerned.
As they traveled, the trees became sparser and buildings began to crop up. "Ah, it looks like we've found a town," Eclipse remarked to the attention of the others. "Perhaps we can rest here and find something to eat."
Crim and the Dark Arms cheered in agreement.
Beyond the reasoning Eclipse gave, if they were to assimilate to this planet, they would need to interact with its people. While living away from them in the wilderness was possible, he'd rather be around others. It would never be like home but every time he was on his own, he was run ragged by survival. With others, food and shelter were easier to come by, even if he had to perform tasks for them.
As they traveled the dirt path through the village, they noticed the damage from the war. The houses had holes in them, and some were burned down. The ground had craters from artillery fire and bombs. It had been a proper warzone.
"🪶..." Cregal sighed.
"We did help some people, but we usually got attacked for it," Eclipse reminded Cregal. "Besides, it was more important that we kept the Master Emerald from Snively."
While he couldn't say he particularly cared what happened to the Master Emerald, he certainly didn't want Snively to have it. Though, anyone who got their hands on it would probably cause problems for them eventually. Whatever threatened this planet would be a threat to them simply because they were on it. The war with the Eggman Empire had proven that.
Eclipse's thoughts were interrupted by a scream. He looked over to see someone run by frantically. The darkling rolled his eyes and sighed, "We're not even doing anything and someone's already fleeing in terror!"
There was a time when he would've delighted in that but now it was simply a hindrance. Before they could continue, a few Egg Pawns ran past.
"Oh..." Eclipse looked to his Dark Arms and Crim. "Well, I suppose it has been boring. You up to massacre some machines?"
The Dark Arms and Crim chirped and cawed in agreement.
"Alright! Cyzer!" Eclipse shouted and the named Dark Arm bonded with him. The darkling fired lasers at the Egg Pawns, getting their attention. Determining that Eclipse was a greater threat, they turned their attention on him and fired back with their own lasers. Crim swooped in and spat blue energy waves at them.
Eclipse dodged with quick movements until he closed the gap. As soon as he was upon them, he swapped out to Blurk. Now coated in impenetrable armor, he penetrated the Egg Pawns with his fists and ripped components out. The robots ceased functioning and fell with a thud in the dirt.
"Well, that takes care of that," he dismissed. "I'm a little disappointed it was so easy though."
The ground shook. Villagers with Wispons—the local militia—ran by. An Egg Breaker stepped around a building into view. The militia opened fire, but it barely phased the behemoth.
"Not one of those again," Eclipse grumbled.
"🎶!"
"No, I don't want any of you to accidentally get hit in the crossfire," Eclipse said. "Just stay back and look out for any of the small fry. I'll take care of this one."
Eclipse sped forward and shifted into monster form just in time to block the Egg Breaker's hammer from coming down on the militia. The hulking darkling grinned, exhilarated at the prospect of a fight.
"What is that thing?" someone shouted.
"I'm the Black Arms biology perfected!" the darkling boasted in response. Eclipse yanked the hammer out of the Egg Breaker's hands and gripped the handle himself. He brought it down on the robot's head, shattering it. The giant robot fell to the ground as another arrived. Both hammers clashed but Eclipse was more agile than the bulky robot and it too fell to him. More Egg Pawns and Buzz Bombers arrived but they were no match for the hulking darkling and his appropriated hammer.
Eclipse paused to survey the area. Broken robots littered the landscape. No more appeared. The militia stood frozen in place, eyeing the alien before them with confusion and suspicion.
Crim swooped down and cawed to Eclipse.
"No more?" Eclipse repeated, then sat down the hammer. "Alright!" He dropped his monster form, shedding his forehead crest. He stayed down to rest, his legs folded underneath him.
The Dark Arms flew in and surrounded Eclipse, chirping triumphantly.
"Hey, you weren't worried, were you?" Eclipse teased. "You should know it'd take more than that to overcome me!"
Amongst the nervous shuffling of the militia, someone was chosen to approach the aliens. She stepped forward cautiously, gripping her Wispon but not pointing it at any of them. She cleared her throat and said, "Thank you for your help. Is there any way we could possibly repay you?"
"Ah, well-" Eclipse stood up, not wanting to show his weakness. "-we are hungry."
"Well, you can eat Glen here," one of the militia offered, gesturing to one next to him.
"Hey!" the one called Glen protested and slapped the other.
Eclipse couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Nah, that's not necessary. We can eat most of the same things as you. Just... nothing real spicy."
"In that case, we'll prepare something for you," she said, still clearly nervous. "Feel free to hang around in the meantime."
"Alright," Eclipse agreed and watched as the militia hurried away. He looked to his Dark Arms and Crim. "It's about time we got some recognition instead of being attacked for our efforts! I wonder if we could make this a regular thing; protecting people in exchange for food?"
He was met with a chorus of chirps.
"Hmmm." Eclipse looked around. "I guess we could check out the rest of the place while we wait. Hold on-" He looked around again. "Where's Crim?"
"🟦..." Blurk said as he looked around in surprise.
Eclipse sighed fondly. "He never lost that Black Wing curiosity. C'mon, let's just hope he hasn't gotten into any trouble."
They wandered off to find the little runt Black Hawk. When they heard a child cry out, they took a turn in that direction and sped up. They halted to find a young rabbit having his ear nibbled on by Crim.
"Crim!" Eclipse shouted sternly and grabbed him. Staring in the Black Hawk's four eyes, Eclipse scolded, "We don't eat people anymore, remember?" Then, looking down at the young rabbit, the darkling said, "Sorry, he's... learning."
"Y-you've eaten p-people?!" the young rabbit stammered, trembling.
"Not since I was a larva," Eclipse admitted. "I was born after the last harvest, which wasn't very bountiful, so-"
Before Eclipse could explain any further, the young rabbit took off screaming. A few townsfolk, who were watching from their homes wide-eyed, slammed their windows shut. A lone Chao formed an exclamation point above its head and flew off.
Eclipse sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I miss Adabat."