Prequel to The Last Stand
All characters belong to SEGA/DiC
The dark remains of Mobotropolis slowly came into view. It, like many of its inhabitants, were now cold steel, mindlessly working to build up an empire from scratch. Those who miraculously survived Robotnik's violent takeover were now fighting an it to save Family and Friends lost to the maniacal fiend.
They were called the Freedom Fighters, the last hope to those still alive in the world. There mission, save those who were lost, avenge those who have died, and take back what was rightfully there's. Freedom.
"Okay, you all know the plan?"
Outside the metallic city was a small group of the Freedom Fighters. The top Freedom Fighters to be precise. Bunnie Rabbot, Sonic Hedgehog, Antoine D. Coolette, and Princess Sally Acorn.
They had a very simple mission; destroy the newest SWATbot factories in the outskirts of Robotropolis.
"Of course, Sal. We've done this, what? A million times? And we're all still kicking Robotnik's butt. " Sonic commented with a small smile.
"Still, we have to be just as careful. There is always a first for everything. " Sally replied with a small sigh.
" Don't worry, Sally girl. We'll all be fine. " Bunnie said with her usual smile.
"Okay…." Sally gave a slight nod. " Bunnie, you're with me. Sonic, you're with Antoine."
"What! Why do I got to be stuck with Ant?" Sonic asked in a very disappointed, and disgusted, tone.
" What? Are you worried zhat I might actzually beat you? " Antoine replied to the hedgehog with a satisfied smirk.
" You could never beat me in a million years! " Sonic retorted.
Antoine gave a small snort, folded his arms, and turned his back to the hedgehog, who rolled his eyes in response.
"Alright you two, that's enough. And no Sonic, you can't switch who you go with. I've already figured out how this whole thing is going to work. " The squirrel nodded with a small smile.
Sonic groaned but said nothing, when Sally makes up her mind, you can't change it.
The two groups split up, each taking a backpack full of remote explosives. Each of the two groups were to each take out one factory. Sonic and Antoine would get the one near the outskirts of Robotropolis, while Sally and Bunnie would get the one that was located deeper within the city.
Through the work of combined Freedom Fighter groups, they had been successful in making Robotnik's domain shrink. Now, outside the main city, was an outer layer of broken, run down buildings that Robotnik could no longer use. Although it made getting into the city itself longer, it was worth it.
Sonic and Antoine were already close to the first SWATbot factory. Sally and Bunnie on the other hand were trying there best to get around the massive security that covered there factory from top to bottom.
"My gosh. Have ya' ever seen so many SWATbots in one place befor'?" Bunnie asked as she slowly poked her head out of the garbage pile she and Sally were hiding in.
The low clang of metallic footsteps alerted the rabbit of approaching SWATbots. She ducked her head back down into the trash pile, out of view from anybody, or anything, from seeing her. A few pieces of rusted metal loosened from the pile, and they clattered down onto the floor, almost echoing in the silent city.
"Sally girl, you've been real quiet. Everything okay?" Bunnie looked over at her friend, who was holding NICOLE in her hands, pressing buttons so fast Bunnie could hardly see her hands moving.
"Sally?"
"What? Oh, sorry Bunnie. NICOLE is trying to hack Robotnik's system to try and figure out why this factory is so well guarded. "Sally replied without even casting a glance in the rabbit's direction.
"Okay Sally. But you two should hurry it up, those SWATbots are every where. "
Sally gave a small nod and continued to try and bypass the city's security. Even though Sally and NICOLE had bypassed the security multiple times, this one seemed much harder than the others.
"NICOLE, try bypass sequence 12a. " Sally whispered to her handheld computer.
A few number sequences popped up onto the small handhelds screen, but they quickly changed. While that was going on, Sally finally looked over to her comrade, who was once again looking over the trash pile to see if there were any SWATbots headed there way.
Suddenly red lights flashed from Sally's hand. She quickly looked down at her handheld, and her jaw dropped.
" B…But, how can that even happen?" Sally mumbled as she stared at NICOLE's screen.
In big red letters on the screen were the words: Bypass failed.
"What's wrong Sally?" Bunnie asked as she ducked her head back down again.
"….NICOLE couldn't bypass the security system.." Sally replied in a tone of disbelief. "….That's never happened before…"
"I'm sorry ta' say Sally, but we have ta' do this mission. Whatever they are makin' in there, it sure is important. "
"..Okay…" Sally reluctantly nodded and placed NICOLE back into her vest pocked "…I hope Sonic and Antoine are having better luck than we are…"
"Hurry up, Ant! " Sonic sighed and tapped his left foot on the ground as he waited for the coyote.
The two had easily gotten past the low security of the outer rim of Robotropolis. They had only encountered two SWATbots patrols before they made it to the factory.
Since the outer rim was mostly mountains of trash, and scrap heaps, the two Freedom Fighters had to climb over them. For Sonic it was a piece of cake, for Antoine, it was a different story.
"Zes is torture! How can you climb zes so fast! "The coyote complained as he slowly began to reach the top of yet another scrap heap.
"I'm a hedgehog than can run over one hundred miles per hour. This is nothing to me! "
With one final heave, Antoine pulled himself up onto the top of the pile, right in front of Sonic's feet.
"H….How much farzher?"
"About….one…two more large piles." Sonic replied with a smirk. "See ya' there!"
The factory was like nothing they had ever seen.
Instead of the normal assembly line with parts flying here and there, there was almost nothing inside the whole building. The only objects in the room were a half-disassembled SWATbot maker, and, what looked like; a roboticizer, only it was damaged and mangled beyond repair.
Both Sally and Bunnie ran towards the nearest cover they could find, and that was the SWATbot maker in the middle of the building.
"Something's not right….With that much security outside there should be something more in here.." Sally commented as she looked around.
No robots, no guards, no cameras. Nothing.
"I dunno Sally… These spare parts coulda been used for somethin'." Bunnie replied.
"..Or will be.." Said Sally with a slight nod of her head.
Without another word, Sally took the backpack off her shoulder and placed it on the ground. With one quick movement she opened the top part of it and took out a small silver box that was slightly larger than her fist.
She handed one to her robotically limbed friend, who took it and placed the box on one of the torn roboticizer pieces. Once done, Sally handed her another one.
"I'm going ta' place this one in the middle of all this. " Bunnie nodded to her friend, who nodded back.
Carefully holding the explosive in her normal hand, Bunnie began to make her way through the metallic jungle. After about thirty seconds, she turned around and looked behind her. There were multiple pieces of metal covering where she had been, blocking her view from seeing Sally.
Bunnie sighed and continued forward. Counting from zero to thirty, she continued forward, planning to stop walking when she hit the number thirty.
She only made it to twenty.
Sonic half stood half crouched behind an empty blue cylinder. He peaked his head out, and whistled.
"Dang! Look at this place…."
"Be quiet….you might alert ze SWATbots.."
Sonic gave an exasperated sigh and looked over at his comrade, who was also hiding behind a blue cylinder.
"Antoine…Argh, never mind..."
The blue hedgehog shook his head and looked forward again, inspecting the factory in front of him.
He'd been at multiple factories before, usually they all exploded soon afterward, but besides that, he had never seen one like this before.
Like most factories, this one had an assembly line, liquid metal containers, and a small weapons area. The only difference was, this one had twice of everything except an assembly line, and the weapons area was working overtime. The SWATbots produced from the factory looked almost completely the same as every other, the only visible differences were instead of dark navy blue, it was a dark gray, it was taller than normal SWATbots, and it had an extra weapon. A long, dark gray steel rod that had cylinder caps on the end of it.
"Alright, Ant. Hand me those explosives…."
Sally jumped at the sudden noise behind her. She turned around and stood up, only to give off a sigh of relief when Bunnie came bursting through the jungle of metal.
"Sally, we have ta' leave. Now!" The frantic rabbit grabbed her friends hand and continued to run away from the trash pile.
" B..Bunnie! W-What is it?" Sally looked behind her at the pile of metal, then back at her friend.
"There's a bomb!"
"A-A bomb!"
Too focused on getting out of the area, Bunnie didn't answer her friend, who was trying her best to run along with the rabbit.
It only took them half a minute to make it outside the building. Once out, they continued to run, anywhere away from the factory.
A sudden, red beam of light shot out from somewhere behind the two, missing Sally's head by inches, and then hitting the ground in front of the two Freedom Fighters. Both Bunnie and Sally turned around to face there attacker.
Attackers would have been the correct word.
Ten or so SWATbots, arms raised and blasters at the ready, slowly began to approach the two. The 'leader' of the group, evident because that bot was in the front of the rest, was the first to speak.
"Surrender Freedom Fighters'. You are outnumbered and outgunned." Its metallic voice rang out.
"That's where they're wrong.." Bunnie muttered under her breath before tuning to Sally, a look of concern of her face. "Sally, you're gonna have ta' listen to me. I want you to leave; I'll hold 'em off."
" Bunnie, you know th-"
"Sally, this ain't the time to go over tha' rules. I can hold em off. " Bunnie glanced over at the group of SWATbots. The group still hadn't moved since the leader of the group spoke, they were waiting for the Freedom Fighters to make the first move.
"Sally…look. Either one of us gets away, or neither of us does. If we are lucky, I can hold em all of till you find Sonic.."
" Bunnie…I….I"
"Sally, don't-"
"..I'll find Sonic as soon as I can…"
With a heavy sigh, Sally turned her back to the SWATbots.
"..Good luck.."
And with that, the squirrel took off running.
Bunnie turned around to face the group of SWATbots, who were now rapidly advancing. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her metallic hand into a fist.
"Who's first?"
Back at the seemingly empty factory, the bomb Bunnie had seen was still counting down. It, quite similar to the Freedom Fighters remote explosives design, had a LCD screen on the side of it. Bright red numbers lit the screen up.
With a loud beep the numbers suddenly changed. From minutes, it changed to seconds and nano-seconds. With each change in second, the timer beeped.
5…
4…
3….
2…
1….
"Hyhaaahhh!"
A half decapitated, one armed SWATbot hit the ground with a thud. Sparkles flying off the torn arm socket, the red helmet visor flickered, and then dimmed. Another one gone.
Bunnie, despite being outnumbered ten-to-one, was doing a really good job.
Three SWATbots had already been taken down, and one more was about to be added to that list.
The robotic limbed rabbit jumped back as one of the SWATbots swung its large hand at her. She quickly swung her own metallic hand at the bots face, denting bot stumbled backwards, crashing into another SWATbot.
Bunnie then turned around, almost coming face-to-face with another bot.
Good luck might not have been the right term for what happened next, but bad luck wouldn't have been either. The bomb placed inside the factory detonated, sending a massive shockwave in a two mile radius. Bunnie wasn't even a mile away from the factory.
Her, along with the SWATbots, were violently knocked down to the ground. The rabbit had no idea what had caused it, but the loud explosion that followed reminded her of the factory.
Following the explosion and shockwave was a cloud of dust and debris that covered the area like a violent sandstorm.
Bunnie quickly scrambled to her feet. Since the dust was so thick, she couldn't see anything two feet in front of her face. So, she tried to see if she could hear anything around her. But that didn't help either, since her ears were still ringing from the blast.
A sudden icy chill ran down her spine. She quickly turned around, and looked up.
Glaring down at her was a bright red line, the size of a SWATbots visor. Next to the line was, what looked like, a ball of electricity. Almost like a contained thunderstorm, but without the sound, and smaller
The 'ball of electricity' suddenly waved past the visor light and to the other side, partially illuminating a gray SWATbot helmet. The ball then came swinging forward, hitting Bunnie directly in the chest.
The rabbit cried out in pain as electricity began to course through her. The 'lightening' was then pulled away from her, and she fell to the ground.
Not from unconsciousness, but from the fact that her legs just gave out.
She took a couple deep breaths to help her fight off the pain that still covered her body. That was when she noticed the odd gray SWATbots hovering over her. She pulled up her robotic arm to protect herself. Only it didn't come up, it stayed on the ground. She tried again, but came up with the same result. Slightly panicked, she tried to move her normal arm, which responded. While trying to put together what was happening it hit her, did her legs work? The answer to that is no, and she found that out trying to get them to move.
Now panicking, she looked up at the SWATbots over her. She knew pleading to them wouldn't work, so she didn't even try, even as two of them bent down and picked her up by her arms.
"Next time, I'm leaving you behind!"
Sonic sighed and shook his head.
Thanks to Antoine, they lost the detonator used to blow up the bombs. So now they had to use the extra one Sally had taken with her before they left.
"It waz not my fault! If you had not ru-"
"/My/ fault! It's all your fault! I was just getting out of the way of a SWATbot and you just happened to be right there! "
" Well, if you had not alerted thoze SWATbots, they would not have fired at you."
" And if /you/ hadn't been shaking so much we could have finished this a long time ago!"
Sonic threw his hands up in the air as he argued with Antoine. The coyote wasn't even angry at what happened, and was oblivious to Sonic's view of the situation.
With a slight growl Sonic kicked an empty can. It flew down the alley they were walking down and landed at the end, rolling into the street next to it. A black figure walked from the street, looked down at the can, and then into the alley.
Both Sonic and Antoine dove to the right, into a trash pile, hoping to conceal themselves.
The figure continued down the alley, only to pause when it came to where Sonic and Antoine had just been.
Antoine, as usual, was fidgeting and whimpering as they hid.
"Shut up, Ant!" Sonic whispered to his fellow Freedom Fighter.
Antoine just glanced at him.
"..Now, on three, you and I are going to jump on whoever is out there. Got it?"
"..One,…two,…three!"
Both Sonic and Antoine jumped out of there hiding place and landed on the figure. The three were knocked to the ground.
"Guys! What are you doing!"
Sonic stopped trying to 'defeat' whoever they had tackled.
"Sally?"
Sonic looked down at the squirrel, who was giving him one of those 'annoyed' looks. He blushed slightly and stood up, Antoine following him.
"I am so sorry me princess. I did not know you wer-"
"Not now, Antoine." Sally cut in as she too stood up. "Bunnie stayed behind to hold of a group of SWATbots while I got away. Sonic, please, go find her. I don't know if sh-"
Before Sally could finish her sentence, Sonic took off running at full speed toward the factory Sally and Bunnie had to destroy. He just hoped he could get there in time.
Helpless?
No, hopeless would be the better word for the situation Bunnie was in.
Two tall gray SWATbots held each of her arms. One of them had some sort of long baton-like weapon in its free hand. They stood near the edge of a room, right in front of a steel door.
Inside the room were multiple sets of computers and screens, along with a glass cylinder in the middle pf the room.
Standing in front of the two SWATbots was none other than the ruler of Robotropolis himself, Robotnik.
"Well….look who we have here…."
The maniacal leader of Robotropolis took a couple steps towards Bunnie, an evil smile on his face.
"Bunnie Rabbot….one of the few who escaped half way through the Robotization process…..Well, after today, that number will become smaller.."
Robotnik chuckled and reached out and held Bunnie's chin in his normal hand.
"I can make the robotization process one of two ways. Painful, or not so painful. I'll determine that if you answer one question. Where is Knothole?"
Bunnie glared at him and uttered the three letter phrase Robotnik had heard millions of times.
"Go to hell."
Robotnik chuckled and shook his head. "Wrong answer….Throw her in the roboticizor!"
Sonic had never run so fast in his life. Sure, there were times where he shocked himself at how fast he went. But this time it was really fast. He would have commented on it, but he was worried about Bunnie.
The blue hedgehog stopped in the middle of one of Robotropolis's many streets. He surveyed the area before him, and unhappy frown on his face. It was obvious Bunnie had been there, there were SWATbots parts everywhere.
"Bunnie!"
Sonic called out her name and continued to walk forward, looking left and right, hoping to find any sign of her. There was nothing showing where she went; only that she had been there.
He ran down to the next street, nothing there either. Not even a SWATbot.
Sonic raced down to the next street, and the next, and the next. Each time he came up empty handed, except for the last one. On one side of the street, buildings had blasted out windows and other parts missing, while the other side didn't. At the end of the street was a hollow shell of a factory, with the whole thing looking like it was going to fall any second.
"Bunnie! Bunnie, where are you!"
Sonic growled in frustration. He knew nobody was going to reply back, but it still frustrated him that he couldn't find her. The only other possible place she /could/ be was the Roboticizing Holding Room.
He turned around and looked up at the massive building that was the center of Robotropolis.
"..I just hope I'm not too late…" He muttered before racing off towards the massive building.
The glass came down with one quick movement, hardly making a sound as it did.
Bunnie was beginning to regain control over her robotic limbs again, but only enough for her to stand with her normal hand on the glass. She, like anybody else who would be in the roboticzer, was terrified, but she tried not to show it. The small thought that Sally had gotten to Sonic and Antoine hung in her mind, giving her a bit of hope.
Robotnik was standing in front of the captured Mobian, and smug grin on his face. Snivley, who had entered earlier, was standing at the roboticizing control panel, also looking at Bunnie with a grin.
"You're quite lucky. You get to become the first Combat Robian, thanks to the new roboticizer.. " Robotnik said coldly to the frightened rabbit.
"You're probably wondering what that means. Well…heheh…you'll find that out soon enough."
Snivley suddenly turned around and faced one of the many screens in the room. He began to press a few buttons on the keyboard, but instead of the roboticizer starting, the metal door in the room opened. Two dark navy blue SWATbots walked in with four Mobians, ones Bunnie had never seen before. They were brought to the side of the room, away from Robotnik and Bunnie, but close enough for her to see the details of each of them.
Two of the Mobian's were rabbits; one of them was older, while the other was very young, not even six years old. There was also a wolf and a fox. All of them looked tired and defeated, and all of them had scratches and bruises on there body.
"Welcome esteemed Mobians to what might be a truly historical event. Today, our friend Bunnie here will be the first of many new Combat Robians. This new Robian will be much different from the normal worker bot, that you will find out soon. But the main purpose for these new Robians is to help me expand my empire."
"Snivley…activate the Roboticizer…"
"Yes sir..." Snivley nodded and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, then threw a switch right next to the screen.
The roboticizer hummed to life, as did the screen Snivley was standing in front of. On the screen, a few numbers and letters flickered onto it, then off, and then back on again. A large green check mark lit up the screen, as soon as that happened; a light came down from the top of the roboticizer, hitting Bunnie.
She let out a cry of pain, but instead of it starting at her waist, it started at her feet. The roboticizer was de-roboticizing her. Only a few seconds later, the roboticizer shut off and Bunnie fell to her hands and knees. She shakily looked down at her hands. They were both normal.
"Now that that is over…" Robotnik began with a clap of his hands. "…began the Combat program.."
The roboticizer began to hum to life once more. Bunnie shut her eyes, tears streaming down her face and onto the metal floor. She was done for, now way she was getting out of this.
Only mere seconds later, the beam fired down onto her once again. The pain this time wasn't as bad as being de-roboticized, but it still hurt far worse than anything else she'd ever felt before. She kept herself from screaming out in pain until the mechanizing process reached her mid torso.
A few seconds later the roboticizer suddenly shut off, as did all the lights in the room. With an angry growl, Robotnik turned around. "Get the lights back on!" He barked to his nephew, who was already fiddling around with the keyboard.
One of the SWATbots holding the four Mobians prisoner turned on the light built-into its finger. It first checked the Mobians, they were all there, then it checked Robotnik and Snivley, they were fine as well. The dark navy blue bot then moved the light over to the roboticizer.
Standing inside the glass chamber was a gray-ish purple robot. The SWATbot moved the light up and down to check the full body of the Robian. The newly roboticized Bunnie looked like any other Robian, except for a few things. On both arms, from the elbows down, looked like SWAtbots, laser and all. On her back was some sort of backpack, it closely resembled the one she had used earlier, only she had left it in the factory that had exploded.
The lights flickered back on, re-illuminating the room. The SWATbot shut off the finger-light and stood at attention.
"S..Sir, the system overloaded. It wasn't the h-hedgehog." Snivley said in a shaky voice as he looked at his uncle.
"Hmmm….I'll have to fix that before we start upgraded the other Robians. But she will be enough to start my plan…" Robotnik replied with a soft laugh. "..Open the chamber and let our new general out."
Snivley quickly nodded, turned around, and pressed three buttons. The glass cylinder lifted up into the ceiling, freeing Bunnie. She took a few steps towards Robotnik and saluted him.
Robotnik slowly nodded and grinned, he then turned toward the four Mobians who recoiled slightly as he faced them.
"As I said earlier, you'll see what a new Combat Robian can do….General…..dispose of these pests for me…"