A Second War

A Second War, by Gilbert Martinez, is a fictional war novella completed in 2011. It is the second installment of the Unending Warfare trilogy, preceded by Eggman's Last Stand. Again, the narrator of the story is Gil.
==Basic Plot==
When an impromptu attack is made, Gil and his friends must fight for their lives and the lives of the innocent.
==Current Status==
* Completed? - Yes
* Published? - No
==Chronology==
Title 	Time Frame
Eggman's Last Stand	August 24, 2011 – September 8, 2011
A Second War 	November 20, 2011 – December 5, 2011
The Final Battle 	January 1, 2012 – ?
July 31, 2034 – August 7, 2034*
*Each story's events are actually told from the day of August 8, 2034, as noted in Chapter 10 of The Final Battle. "The preceding seven days were a joyously depressing time for me. It was on the day of July 31, 2034, that I received a surprise visit from my old friends. They stayed until yesterday, which was August 7, 2034" (Martinez).
==Plot Summary==
! WARNING: THIS PART CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ PAST HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK. !
===Chapter 1: November 20, 2011===
When Gil receives news that Mobius, the Earth of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, is under attack by an unknown force, Sonic takes him to Mobius, where everyone looks at Gil like a freak. Sonic takes him to his house, where his other friends are waiting. He tells Gil about everything, and Gil is motivated to put a stop to whoever is attacking them. After they put on their uniforms from the previous novel, each with a Purple Heart badge on them, the protagonists head outside, ready to face whatever danger lies ahead. After a series of nearby explosions, the protagonists encounter a small army of humanoids who only speak Russian, a language Gil fully understands. After one of the humanoids fires a shot at Tails, Gil and his friends kill off the whole group. Miraculously, Tails is superficially wounded. However, a mongoose named Mikhailov "Michael" Alexey Khilov rushes to them and treats Tails's wound. He then takes them to their campsite, which the narrator describes as looking like the tents in the TV show M*A*S*H. That night, Michael gives them a vacant tent to sleep in, and the chapter ends as the protagonists close their eyes and sleep.
===Chapter 2: November 21, 2011===
Ren insults Gil for waking up too late as he wakes up the next afternoon. After Gil calls him "Höek" in response, Ren threatens him with a pistol and manages to get him to shut up. The protagonists then head outside their tent, only to be greeted by Michael, who is making a peculiar and unsettling smile at them. To get out of a long silence, Gil suggests that his friends eat lunch, which Tails lauds. After they eat, they decide to head into the forest to hunt down and kill more enemies. By surprise, a projectile called a "light blade," since it cleanly cuts anything it touches, comes flying at Gil, and he manages to evade it. Then, an army of 25,000 humanoids appear after Gil kills enemy snipers in the forest, and both parties open fire on each other, in spite of the odds (5,000 per protagonist). Michael's forces reinforce Gil's, and the protagonists win the battle with fifteen casualties on their side. They then return to the camp to treat their injuries. That night, Gil catches Michael off-guard and forces him to divulge his true identity. It is revealed that Michael and his army are the same race of humanoids that they had just fought, but that he led a faction that rebelled against them. His goal was to put a stop to the antagonist, Ivan Popovitch. Then, Gil reassures him that all will turn out victorious for them in the end, and the chapter ends after he and Michael shake hands and head off to their tents to sleep.
===Chapter 3: November 22 - 28, 2011===
The next morning, it is revealed that Michael was shot and killed overnight by an unknown person. After mourning over Michael's loss, Molokov Tchaikovsky, Michael's successor, becomes the new leader of the rebels. Molokov orders all the sectors to scout the surrounding areas and wipe out any other enemies they confront. After three days of searching, there appears to be no sign of the enemies, so the sectors start to return to the campsite and return on the eve of November 28, 2011, only to find it completely in ruins. Gil and his friends investigate the captain's tent, discovering Molokov's decapitated body. The rebels are forced to set up a new campsite, with no food to thrive on.
===Chapter 4: November 29, 2011===
The following morning, the protagonists eat whatever they find (with the exception of animal feces). Gil finds Ren huddled against a tree, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. After he gets infuriated with Gil for telling him to calm down, Ren threatens to kill Gil, and his "stomach growl[ing] vociferously" suggests that he plots to eat Gil's carcass for food. However, Gil saves himself by shoving a bug in Ren's mouth and having him eat all the nonpoisonous plants he could eat. Ironically, after he warns Gil to be on the lookout for enemy snipers, Knuckles is shot and killed via a bullet to his back, which drives Gil on the verge of suicide. Ren talks him out of it, and soon enough they are on the move killing off enemy snipers. That night, before they all go to sleep, Tails comforts Gil and tells him to move on, otherwise he'd never focus correctly.
===Chapter 5: November 30, 2011===
The remaining four protagonists venture out of the forest the next morning, only to discover they ended up right back where they started: Sonic's house. Sonic grows enraged, though they are all relieved that at least they have a shelter again. Then, a very small group of enemies launches a surprise attack, only to be defeated at the hands of the protagonists. Gil notices the strategy at hand [note 1] and informs his friends, who realize it as well. A group of four enemies then drop down and fire bullets at Ren, who sustains an injury to his stomach. For an unexplained reason, Gil manages to heal him via a Latin chant, and Ren's life is saved. Just then, an ally from the original camp runs to Gil and his friends and takes them to the new camp. He then reveals himself to be Zakhari "Zach" Khilov, Michael's older brother. Zach takes the four to their weapons storage facility to stock up on weapons and ammunition. Each of them is limited to only five weapons. Just when they are all equipped and ready for battle, an attack is made by the enemies, and all the troops of the camp assemble for battle. In the onslaught, 295 of the 400 assembled camp troops are killed off, and 5 of the 400 enemy troops lived and became prisoners of war, though Zach kills them anyway. No further attacks are made that day, so the whole of the camp recuperates. That evening, Ren has Gil show him the food tent, since he can't read Russian at all. Once he finds it, Ren eats everything he could eat, and then goes into a food coma. Gil is forced to carry Ren all the way back to his friends' tent, and the long day ends.
===Chapter 6: December 1, 2011===
Winter arrives on Mobius, which is something Gil admits he never thought he'd live to see. When he wakes Ren up, however, Ren threatens to kill him, this time just to kill him. Out of nowhere, thankfully for Gil, Stimpy appears and gets Ren to stop. He then asks about the uniforms and wonders why and where they have them. Gil answers all these questions by telling him that Zach could be persuaded to give him one. After the whole thing, Gil feels something isn't right. The enemy never makes any attacks when they should. In fact, they don't even attack at all that day. The five then venture to a run-down cafe that desperately needs some maintenance. Zach ends up following them. It is revealed that the owner of the cafe, Ivana Khilov, is Zach's sister. Within the cafe is Matthew "Matt" Elliott Lyman, much to the shock of Gil, who joins the side of the protagonists. Gil introduces his friends to Matt. Behind Gil's back, Ivana and Zach share their doubts that Gil would live to see the end of the war, which an eavesdropping Ren divulges to Gil. Gil lets them concede their doubts, on the grounds that "they might not have them later." Then, Ren, Gil, and Tails order their breakfasts. When Ivana goes into the kitchen, Ren has a large swill of Matt's beer, which arises great concern among his friends. After they have eaten, Matt and the protagonists leave the cafe wordlessly. Sonic volunteers to raise their faction's flag, which is described as looking exactly like the flag of Russia, and Zach wakes the other troops. All turns serious when Gil sees trinitrotoluene [note 2] fly down at the camp. Gil warns everyone of the attack and manages to put up a protective force field. It works, but the sheer force of it causes Gil to pass out.
===Chapter 7: December 2, 2011===
Gil comes to in the First Aid tent. Zach tells him that his actions promoted him to PV2 rank. He also tells him that Stimpy managed to obtain a uniform and join the side of their faction. When he climbs out of bed, Gil notices that the army has been reduced to thirty, including him and his friends. He decides to search for reinforcements from all the other spread-out camps, an idea agreed to commence within three days. However, an impromptu attack of twenty humanoids leads them into battle. The last enemy is killed by Knuckles, who has inexplicably come back to life [note 3]. When Knuckles finds Zach untrustworthy, Gil remembers a time when he was beaten up by Knuckles because of a false suspicion. After the flashback, the protagonists decide to have lunch. Then, another bombing takes place, and Gil puts up a force field again, much to the dismay of his friends. This time, however, the force field remains intact, and Gil is only somewhat disoriented from the explosive impacts. One explosive bounces off and destroys the attacking airship. The camp decides to celebrate at Ivana's cafe, which has been polished up and redecorated.
===Chapter 8: December 3, 2011===
The following morning, nearly all of the soldiers are experiencing a hangover when Girioteni Katieku and his girlfriend, Lu Sang, request Yuri Myatezhnik, the camp's trainer, to have them join their army. Yuri acquiesces. Then, Gil gets a bugle and gets all the other soldiers awake. Ren tries to kill him again, this time via a pistol from a point-blank range. It isn't until he pulls the trigger that he realizes the gun is depleted of ammunition. He vehemently demands the guilty soldier to make himself known, which he does shamelessly. Ren kills that soldier with a rifle, which scares the others stiff. Just then, an enemy jail ship piloted by Ivan himself flies over the camp and takes Gil, Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, Ren, Zach, Yuri, Girioteni, Sang, and Matt aboard to be imprisoned in the ship. After the captives are thrown into their jail cells, a humanoid security guard supposedly kills Zach, which enrages Gil. However, Zach, in his true humanoid form, reassures that he is still alive. That evening, the two decide to construct an escape plan for the next night.
===Chapter 9: December 4, 2011===
The slam of jail cell bars awaken the protagonists. The new prisoner, Big the Cat, was imprisoned for no discernible reason. A guard taunts a hungry Ren with a piece of meat, which infuriates Big to the point where he busts through his bars and kills the guard. He climbs back into the jail cell, taking the time to place the bars back, and another guard discards the body via tossing it out of a window, which almost makes Gil laugh. That night, Big sneaks out of his cell, obtains the keys from a security guard after striking a critical blow to the head, and looks for a switch to release his friends. Instead, he finds the food storage, which the key can be used to unlock. All the protagonists, except for Gil, eat the rest of it. Just before they can make their escape, they are confronted with armed enemy guards. Gil persuades them to have him write an apology letter, only to use a .22-caliber "pen gun" [note 4] on one of the guards and having his friends kill off the others. They then find the exit and kick it open. One by one, starting with Gil, they jump out of the jail ship. When Gil lands, however, it is enough to knock him unconscious again.
===Chapter 10: December 5, 2011===
Gil wakes up to find his friends mourning over something. He looks behind him and finds his dead body lying there. He screams and awakes from his hellish nightmare. He wakes up, for real this time, and Matt informs him that the whole rest of the humanoid army (all one thousand of them) is attacking. The protagonists suit up and prepare for the final battle. Before it begins, however, Ivan, piloting a mobile gun ship, shoots and kills Ren. This causes Gil to charge at the enemies alongside his friends and kill them all off, one by one, with several different weapons. Once all the enemy troops are dead, and Ivan is knocked unconscious, Gil enters Ivan's gun ship and snaps his neck in half, then plants a timed bomb inside. He leaps from the ship and gets his friends away from it. When the ship finally blows up, the war is over. The whole of Mobius celebrates, though Gil goes to Ren's body and mourns over it. He sees Ren's ghost appear before him, and the ghost tells him to take and save his name tag just before it slips into the afterlife. Matt and Gil then get sent home. Gil reunites with his family, who had been searching for him the whole time, and tells them the story of how he helped win a war against a mighty, conquering army. Just before the book ends, the narrator tells us that he is recalling these moments from the year 2034, and that he plans to pass down his war stories down to his children to have them pass down to their own children before he dies an old man.
==Trivia==
* This book was originally intended to be the final book in the series, but the author decided to finish off the series with The Final Battle, which he plans to complete by 2014.
* Zach Khilov returns in The Final Battle.
* Dmitry Mikhailov is referenced in Chapter 2 of this book.
* Matthew Elliott Lyman appears in this book and the next one per request.
* The author did not directly plan this story out before writing. He planned it as he wrote it.
* "Molokov" is Russian for "milk."
==Notes==
# The strategy, as quoted from A Second War, is that "Ivan [is] sending small squadrons at a time to make [them] expect less from him, then he'll send out a ridiculously large squadron to kill [them] off one by one."
# Trinitrotoluene is TNT.
# The reason for his return is that the bullet was a very strong tranquilizer dart.
# The "pen gun" was inspired by a segment of the hit TV show 1000 Ways to Die.
==See Also==
* Unending Warfare trilogy