Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Legends
Chapter 1: Empire
Bernard Maurice Hedgehog found himself in the middle of a ruined city. There was pounding in his head as he woke up and slowly picked himself up from his prone position. He tried to remember what had happened, but his head hurt too much to think about it. Finding no other choice, he picked a direction and started to walk. After a few minutes of this, he entered a dilapidated building to see if he could find out where he was. Though, the attempt was fruitless. It seemed anything that could have held information about his situation had been destroyed. Kicking a chair in frustration, the hedgehog noticed something off. He searched the building for a mirror. When he found one, he found something a little disturbing. His normally brown fur had turned blue.
Bernie finally managed to get out of the city, his mind still racing about what had happened. The last thing he knew was that he was fighting a fat bald man in a robot. He'd managed to disable the robot, but it managed to fire off a missile and then... nothing. He woke up in a wrecked city and his fur had turned blue.
The environment outside of the city didn't look any better than the city itself. The little grass there was was yellow and dried up. There was what seemed to be a road leading away from the city. Seeing no other real option, Bernie took off at blinding speeds toward the end of the road.
After a couple minutes, the hedgehog eventually came to a small town. Really, it seemed more like a slum. Perhaps he would finally get some answers. He found a newspaper vendor and tried to get one, just to realize he didn't have any money. All he saw was the front page: Robotropolis Dispatch...
"Robotropolis?" he muttered to himself.
"Yeah, Robotropolis," a said a voice from behind him. It was a male skunk, and he seemed to have a bit of an ego.
"And, what exactly is that?"
"Blimey, you been livin' under a rock? Mobotropolis was renamed Robotropolis after the coup."
"Wait, what coup?"
"Honestly, don't you know anything? Twelve years ago, Dr. Ivo Robotnik staged a coup against King Acorn, and basically took over the bloody planet. Apparently he started off by blowin' up some hedgehog or som'ing There ain't a place in the world that wasn't affected by the coup."
Bernie could hardly believe what he was hearing. Robotnik... the man he was fighting. How could he have taken over the planet? And another nagging question soon popped into his mind.
"What year is it?" he asked.
"Are you serious? It's 3237! Where the bloody hell have you been?"
"... I honestly don't know."
"Who are you, anyway?"
Bernie had to think about that. It wasn't that he had forgotten, but rather that it would be suspicious if a hedgehog that's been "dead" for twelve years suddenly reappeared. It only took a couple of seconds to come up with a name form himself.
"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Sonic? Sounds made up."
"Well that's my name. Got a problem with it?"
"Whatever."
Without warning, a large robot with black armor and red cycloptic visor came up to them. It seemed to be some kind of police robot.
"ATTENTION CITIZENS, YOU HAVE BEEN IDOLING FOR APPROXIMATELY 4 MINUTES, 36 SECONDS. FAILURE TO REMOVE YOURSELVES FROM THIS LOCATION WILL RESULT IN VIOLATION OF LOITERING LAWS.
Bernie, or rather Sonic, spoke up. "Is this guy serious? We were just having a conversation."
"Shut up and move, hedgehog. You wanna get the SWATbots on us?" the skunk chided.
"FALIURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE ARREST."
The robot shot a wide scanning laser him and the skunk. After a few seconds, the robot continued to speak.
"SUBJECT 1: GEOFFRY ST. JOHN. REPEAT OFFENDER, CURRENTLY ON PROBATION FOR POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL WEAPONS. SUBJECT 2: IDENTITY UNKNOWN. CITIZEN CHIP NOT PRESENT. ENGAGING ARREST PROTOCALS."
"Oh no, I didn't come all this way just to get arrested!" With that, Sonic leaped at the SWATbot, curling into tight ball, and tore right through the robot, sending it crashing to the ground.
"What in bloody hell did you just do?!" Geoffry yelled.
"I just saved our butts from gettin' arrested. Your welcome," replied sonic.
"There's gonna be more of 'em soon, you idiot! We need to get out of here now!"
"Right. How fast can you run?"
"I can clear a hundred meters in..."
"Not fast enough." Sonic suddenly grabs Geoffry around the waist and starts running. The SWATbots didn't even have a chance to give chase, as they were out of the town within seconds.
Sonic continued to run for several minutes to ensure that they were a good distance away. After stopping, Geoffry was left flabbergasted at what had just happened.
"How in bloody hell did you do that?! You pulled ninety, a hundred miles an hour easy, and you don't even look winded!" he raved.
"That was nothing. I can break the sound barrier easy at top speed," replied Sonic.
"Alright, just who and what are you?"
"That's really not important right now. I've been, out of the loop for the past twelve years. I need some answers. First off, what happened to the royal family?"
"Well, the queen is missing, and the king was banished into some alternate dimension."
"What about the princess?"
"Well, rumor has it that she's leading some kind of resistance group. No-one knows where they're based, not even Robotnik. They've been throwing a wrench in blighter's operations, but they haven't been able to do any lasting damage."
A resistance, led by the princess no less. It was a long shot, but he had to take it. Finding the resistance wasn't going to be easy. If the guy in charge of the planet couldn't find them, how could he?
"Alright, do you have any idea where they could be?" Sonic asked.
"Well, there are rumors that they're stationed somewhere in the Great Forest. Just rumors though. You could just be walkin' in to disappointment, mate."
"I'll worry about that." Sonic starts to head off, but stops to ask one more question. "I can tell you have no love for Robotnik's regime. You wanna come with me?"
There was a brief silence as Geoffry thought about his answer. "Sorry, mate. I've got an obligation to that town. I'm needed more there than with the resistance."
"I understand. You need a ride back?"
"Naw, I'll manage. They'll be lookin' for me for a while anyway."
"Alright. Good luck."
"Yeah, you too, mate."
The plains bordering the Great Forest were a short run away (for Sonic anyway). When he finally got there, he could see what had become of the once proud city of Mobotropolis. The bright, thriving metropolis, had become a dark, polluted blight. Plums of smoke rose from the city's factories, enough to totally block out the sun. Where the royal castle had been, there was now a large fortress like building rising above the rest of Robotropolis. The sight of it made Sonic sick to his stomach. He had to look away.
Sonic was about to enter the forest. He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he did. The forest was huge, and even with his speed, he could be searching for days and not find anything. Add to the fact that it was only a rumor that the resistance was in based somewhere in the forest. However, he really didn't see any other option at that point.
As he was about to start his search, Sonic spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his full attention on it, he saw at least ten SWATbots surrounding someone. There were two Mobians. One was a purple walrus with a cap and shoulder belt. The second was a little more out of the ordinary. It was a fox, that had two tails.
The bots were closing in on them, their weapons drawn and charged. He had to do something. Sonic charged at the SWATbots. Before they could even register that he had even come on to the scene, on the of the robots was torn to pieces. The rest of them turned their attention to the hedgehog, failing to even spot him until it was too late. The blue blur brought them down with ease. The two Mobians just stared in awe of what had just happened. After a few moments of silence, Sonic asked if they were alright.
"You guys alright?"
"Uh... yeah," replied the walrus.
"Who are you?" asked the fox.
"Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog."
"Hmm... Sounds made up." the walrus pointed out.
"Yeah, I get that."
"I'm Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails."
"Heh, I can see why."
"And I'm Rotor Walrus. That was amazing! You were moving so fast, you were almost invisible!"
"Those bots would have wasted us for sure if you hadn't shown up." Tails piped in.
"Hey, it was no biggie. Robotnik needs to be taken down. I have to find the resistance and see if I can give 'em a hand."
Tails and Rotor perked up at the hedgehog's words. He wanted to bring down Robotnik.
"You're looking for the Freedom Fighters!" exclaimed Tails.
"You guys know about 'em?" Sonic asked.
Rotor give a grin and said, "As a matter of fact, you're talking to some."
Sonic couldn't believe his luck. Without even really trying, he had found the resistance. He found the Freedom Fighters.
A/N: Just to clarify a few things, the SWATbots in this story are based on the ones seen in Sonic Chronicles, and Robotnik/Eggman is based on the 2006 version.
