Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

Morning, and a lone figure rushed around the meager room she slept in, packing as many things as she could into a case. She was a Mobian weasel, with purple fur and blue eyes, clad in a white crop top, black leggings, and white boots with black toecaps. She paused momentarily, as her eyes passed over a framed photo of her, with her arm around the shoulders of an auburn-furred vixen, both of them smiling. She picked the photo up, and put it in the case, before zipping it up.

'You know, Fi? You were right. It's time I made something of myself. I'm gonna fight the good fight, just like you.' She thought. She pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves, as well as a stetson, and slung a rifle over her shoulder, before turning to look at herself in the mirror. 'Nic Weasel, Agent of G.U.N. has a nice ring to it.'

She picked up the case, and headed outside, locking the door behind her as she went. She lugged it around to a fairly large hoverbike, and fixed it in place behind, before climbing on, and starting the engine, and riding off into the morning sun, heading north.

As she said, she was intending to join the Guardian Unit of Nations, having been inspired by her friend, Fiona Fox, and her actions as a Freedom Fighter, to take up the fight against the remains of Eggman's Empire. Really, it seemed to be coming apart at the seams now. Eggman had poured all of his resources into a new Death Egg, along with two weapons, the World Roboticizer, and the Genesis Wave Generator. The latter had been successful, but ultimately meaningless, since every use was reversed by Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds. The former had, despite its name, had a stunning total of one victim, Princess Sally Acorn, who had ultimately been freed from his control in short order, and was now in an ongoing effort to deroboticize her mechanical body.

Since then, his Empire had all but collapsed. His legions had all either been defeated, or turned against him once Mecha Sally's vengeful rampage had knocked out the doctor's link to the cherry bombs in their cybernetics. All he had left was the Death Egg, and the people onboard it. Not much of a threat, in Nic's mind, but still, he wasn't the only enemy Mobius faced.

She soon found herself on the outskirts of a city, and made her way towards the G.U.N recruitment office. She had applied before, and had already been accepted. Now she was returning to the office to be assigned a station. She stepped inside, and was brought through to the sergeant's office.

"Miss Weasel."
"Sir."
"We processed your data, and we were particularly impressed with your skill with firearms, as well as operating vehicles. It's been decided that you're going to be sent to the Guardian Unit of Nations' main headquarters for your training. We will escort you to the helicopter for the journey."
"Thank you, sir."

Meanwhile, in the Acornian capital, New Mobotropolis, the Freedom Fighters were assembling on the top floor of the city's research lab. The three scientists of the team, Miles "Tails" Prower, Nicole the Lynx, and Rotor Walrus, were making the final adjustments to what looked like a huge, glass cylinder. Off to the side was the form of Sally Acorn herself, still trapped in a mechanical body after Eggman had performed extensive modifications on her. Memories of the event still haunted her, both the look on the mad scientist's face, and the feeling of the blowtorch carving through her armour.

"What makes you so sure that it will work this time?" She asked, staring at her steel-plated hand.
"Because I'm cheating." Nicole replied. "I'm using plans for a Roboticizer that shouldn't come into existence for another five years, and thus, we'll have to destroy it after use."
"Uh, couldn't that have really bad side effects?" Sonic asked. "Time paradoxes and all that?"
"Well, Eggman wasn't supposed to be able to reboot reality on this generation's technology. I'm bending the rules as much as he did."
"Point taken."
"And this one was built to work on weaponized Robians, I'm guessing?" Sally asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from Nicole.

A few minutes later, all three of them backed away from the machine, and the glass cylinder rose into the ceiling. Sally stepped towards it, and felt a hand clasp hers. She turned around, and saw Sonic smiling at her. She returned the sentiment, and pulled him into a gentle hug, careful to not injure him with her increased strength and hard outer shell.

"Good luck, Sal."
"Thank you, Sonic."

The young couple released each other, and Sally stepped into the tube, watching it lower down over her head.

"So how exactly does this work?" She asked, as a blue light began glowing at the top of the machine.
"Well, rather than triggering the usual explosion, non-organic metals in this roboticizer simply disintegrate. Then it uses Chaos Energy to heal the injuries left behind. This thing is running on Tails' entire supply of synthetic Emeralds. Nothing less was powerful enough." Rotor explained.
"Now, when you're ready..." Tails prompted.
"Go for it."

Nicole pulled the lever on the control panel, and the beam fired down into the tube. Sally's silhouette began to change shape, many of the sharp angles breaking up and giving way to softer curves. Eventually, the visible changes stopped, but the beam kept going.

"Deroboticization complete, healing in-progress." Tails read from the system.

Eventually, the beam faded, revealing the organic, but bare form of Sally, inspecting herself from as many angles as she could, which was aided by the reflective surface of the cylinder. A wide grin broke out on her face, as Nicole lifted the cylinder, and Sally found herself being immediately embraced by Sonic. The two kissed each other deeply, Sally pressing herself closer to Sonic's now-bulkier frame.

"That didn't take long." Amy sighed.
"Ah think they've been waitin' for that since Sally-Girl got turned into a bot in the first place." Bunnie laughed.

Nicole snapped her fingers, and a cloud of nanites formed around Sally's feet and torso, shaping themselves into her standard boots and jacket. Eventually, they parted, and Sally hugged Nicole, Tails, and Rotor.

"Thank you." She said.
"Hey, we can't take the credit." Rotor replied. "Nicole was the one with the plans, and the materials. We just followed her lead."
"Still." Sally pressed. She released them, walked back over to Sonic, and hugged him again.

"Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten in four months, and honestly, I'm famished."
"Oui, we must get you somezing to eat." Antoine nodded. "And I do believe zat celebrations are in order, no?"
"You said it, Ant." Sonic grinned. "Let's party!"

Several hours later, at the G.U.N base, Nic had met with her direct superior, in this case a middle-aged woman of Yurashian descent, to be assigned to her squad and quarters.

"Nicolette Weasel, reporting for duty, ma'am." She said, standing at attention.
"At ease." The woman replied. "For agents like yourself, we prefer to assign you a mentor, with whom you will bunk, and work with on most of your initial missions. After looking through your background, as well as your prowess in training, we decided that you will be assigned to one of our top-ranking agents."
"Yes ma'am. When will I meet him or her?"
"She will be arriving shortly." The officer said. "Ah, here she is now."

Nic turned around, and was immediately greeted by a sight that was both unexpected and not entirely welcome: An ivory-furred bat with turquoise eyes and a form-fitting, figure-emphasizing outfit.

"Rouge?"
"Well well well, if it isn't my old rival Nic."