It was quite early... around 7 o'clock in the morning... The majority of New Mobotropolis was still sleeping in their soft, warm beds, dreaming about unicorns and Belgian chocolate or whatever a Mobian desired. Some people had already awakened and were going to their work, if they weren't behind a desk already. We zoom in on one person in particular... Not like most Mobians at this hour, this Mobian, a fox to be precisely, was running. When passing, other Mobians sleepily wondered how the heck it was possible that someone could run at this hour. But the fox didn't care one bit about the thoughts of the few Mobians he passed. All he cared about at the moment was bringing his message to the right recipient. And that recipient happened to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Then, of course, guessing who the fox was, was rather simple... this was Sonic's lifelong sidekick Miles Prower, better known by his nickname Tails. Tails sighed in relief as Sonic's house got in sight. A few meters before the door, he slowed down. He bent forward while leaning with his hands on his knees, loudly gasping.
"I gotta work on my condition," Tails said to himself, between two gasps, "I fly to much."
After ten seconds, he got right up again and walked at the wooden door before him. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to open the door. After a minute, he heard some noise coming from inside the house. Not much later, the door swung open and a female hedgehog appeared in the door opening.
"Ah, Tails... what brings you here?"
"I have an urgent message for Sonic, Mrs. Hedgehog."
"Come in," Sonic's mother, Bernadette, said, stepping aside to let Tails in, "I'll wake him up."
Tails stepped through the door and sat down, while Bernadette closed the door and sleepily walked to a door, that obviously lead to the bedrooms. He heard Bernadette knocking on Sonic's door and then some talking. Bernadette came walking back.
"He'll be ready in a minute," she ensured Tails.
"Make that a second," Sonic said, walking into the living room. He turned to Tails.
"What's up, bud."
Sonic walked at a chair and sat down. Meanwhile, Bernadette was preparing breakfast for the two... if one of Sonic's friends appeared this early at the door, it meant he had another unexpected mission.
"We just got an urgent message from Monius."
"Y'mean... that planet from those... Mobian-like aliens, right?"
"Exactly... seems a certain fat Overlander is attacking Moniopolis, the capital city of Squilinor... three guesses who's responsible."
"Robotnik," Sonic said, looking up at the ceiling with an expression of disgust, as if he couldn't help but express his feelings when calling the name "Robotnik".
Tails nodded.
"Throughout whole Monius, SWATbots and Dark Legionairs have been spotted roboticizing people. The army of Squilinor is busy taking back Moniopolis. They operate from a base not far from Moniopolis lying in a desert... It's constant war in Moniopolis."
"And they have asked us for help, I assume."
"Yes, and since we have an official alliance, we don't have the possibility to say 'no'. And we're not the only ones... The United Federation is also part of the alliance and are due to helping too. I came here, to get you to Freedom HQ. We'll get further instructions there... the Council is now attending a meeting and..." Tails looked at the clock. "In fact, they might even be ready now."
"Sweet... let's go," Sonic said, standing up from his chair.
"Ho, ho... not so fast... First, breakfast," Bernadette said, while putting down two dishes in front of the two friends. On both dishes were a few pancakes."
"Have a nice meal!" she said smiling, while looking at the two hungry friends.
"Mmm, thanks mom," Sonic said, beginning at his first.
After having consumed the few pancakes, with much delight, they left Sonic's home, with satisfied tummies. Sonic's parents stared at them as they walked away, talking.
Bernadette sighed.
"All those heroics, discussions and missions."
Jules laid his metal hand on her shoulder. She looked at Jules at the corner of her eye, while smiling.
"They're growing up," Jules said, answering Bernadette.
Bernadette turned to Jules.
"I know," she said smiling," let's have breakfast too... I'm hungry."
"You say it, hun."
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails had arrived at Freedom HQ. Opening the door, he immediately got the first negative comment of the day.
"You're late, Sonic," Sally said, turning her head to Tails and Sonic.
Sonic shrugged and walked to a bench and sat down next to Antoine. Tails walked at a wooden chair and also sat down, which caused the chair to make squeaking sounds...
"So... has the Council finished yet?" Tails asked, bending forward, leaning with his hands on his knees.
Sally nodded.
"Yes... they have. We are going to Monius, as will a big part of the Mes Braves Batallion. The United Federations have also confirmed they will be sending troops to Monius. We're also going there. Hamlin has proposed to ask other nations for help... and we have been assigned to bring word and convince them to help us," Sally explained. Sonic looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked:
"And what nations are we talking about then?"
"Well... since this is big, we have quite some. First and foremost, we will ask the Chaotix, Downunda Freedom Fighters and Arctic Freedom Fighters to help us. They also wanna give it a go with the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters. The Kingdom of Mercia, the Dragon Kingdom and the Dingo Regime are also on the list, although we're not sure if the last will cooperate... Further on, the Mysterious Cat Country and the Wolf Pack Nation will also be asked for help..."
"Whoa... that's quite a lot," Sonic said. "When're we starting?"
"As soon as everyone knew the plan..."
"Okay then... let's do it to it."
"I still think we shouldn't have invited those guys to come along, y'know," Bunnie d'Coolette said, when they stood on a plateau in the Great Desert. From there, you had a clear view on Sand-Blaster City. The shield over the city reflected the bright sun. A slight breeze blew some sand in their faces.
"The Council made their decision, Bunnie. We have to," Sally said in response. They walked on.
"I wonder why they still have the dome-shield over the city... The Dark Egg Legion has retreated everywhere on the planet... Also here... Why would they still need a shield?" Sonic said, noticing the useless presence of the dome shield.
"Dunno... their choice," Sally said, not interested in the question.
"But if the dome shield's on, we can't get in."
"I know... we'll see when we're there," Sally responded, putting an end to the conversation.
They reached the city ten minutes later.
"Finally... I thought we'd nevair get 'ere," Antoine said.
"Tired, 'Twan?" Sonic said, glancing at Antoine... you could clearly see he was starting to get tired... not that that's weird... walking through sand in temperatures around 35 degrees and higher is not a nice experience. Antoine straightened up at Sonic's words and put on a face that almost exploded of innocence.
"Who? Moi? Non, not at all... it's just a little 'ot 'ere," Antoine said in his typical French accent. He wiped the sweat of his forehead, while Sonic turned a way from Antoine, smiling and slightly shaking his head over Antoine.
"Look, I see someone coming there," said Amy, drawing the attention to what was happening behind the dome-shield. A brown wolf slowly walked at them. When he was about 30 meters away from the group of Freedom Fighters, he stopped and his face changed to a shocked expression. Two seconds later, he continued walking at them, but with a suspicious glance on his face.
"What are you doing here?" the wolf, Shift, said, distrusting the group. Sally stepped forward, implying she was the one to be spoken at, and said:
"We have come here to talk to Jack."
"Sorry, lady... the boss doesn't like you and so do we. Turn around and go back," Shift said gruffly. Shift turned around.
"We're here for pure business and urgent matters. There's no "going back", cause we ain't going back before we talked to Jack."
Shift turned his head.
"I said you are not wanted... You can stand here till you melt away, but we will not open the dome-shield for you."
Without Shift noticing, Sonic curled up in a Sonic Spin, pierced through the sandy ground and went underground. Not a second later, Sonic came up again just in front of Shift, who was startled and flinched. Sonic grabbed and seized him at his collar and lifted him until he was face to face with the wolf.
"Now, listen carefully, dummy. You open that shield and let us in, or I go to Jack personally and beat you guys up. First choice seems better to me, but if you insist I wouldn't mind doing the second one," Sonic said threatening, frightening Shift.
"I-I... I'll go and get the boss for you!"
Sonic lifted him a little more and then threw him backwards, against the dome shield.
"You'd better," Sonic said angrily. Shift stood up hastily and ran away, not looking back once. After disappearing around a corner, Sonic got a smile on his face, which got bigger and bigger until he started laughing out loud, followed by the others. Jack sure didn't take much time to come to Sonic. He appeared around the corner, Shift had disappeared. He was now followed by the rest of the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters, each of them holding a gun. Sonic despised this... you should only use guns as a last resort and maybe even then, you shouldn't use them... it ruins the fight and it can be used as a weapon to kill innocent people too... But Sonic didn't have the authorities to forbid them to use guns... Anyways, Jack Rabbit walked at Sonic with a withering look on his face...
"I can't remember I sent you an invitation," he said, when he stood two meters before Sonic. You could clearly hear he wasn't glad to see Sonic and his friends.
"We kindly ask to turn off the dome shield so we can enter this city," Sally said from behind the dome shield. "We are only here to discuss business... no fighting, just talking."
"And why should I trust you. Your blue friend here," Jack pointed with his thumb at Sonic," has bothered us more then once."
"Let's not discuss history," Sally said. "If we would have been here to fight, Sonic would've attacked you long by now."
"Hmph... Tex, get some chairs here. And turn off he dome shield for a few seconds too."
Tex nodded and walked away...
"Boss? Why the chairs?" Jolt asked.
"I don't trust those guys one bit... we'll discuss business here... it's not that the weather is that bad. I wouldn't care if they dropped dead from the heat."
The last sentence was said purposely louder, so the Freedom Fighters could clearly hear him saying that.
"Well... the compliments are fly around here," Sonic said sarcastically, death-glaring at Jack from the corner of his eye. Jack chuckled at Sonic's words.
"You noticed... how smart."
Just then, the dome shield got turned off... As fast as they could, they stepped in the city. Two seconds later, the dome shield got activated again. The Freedom Fighters were now practically trapped inside the city. And it was not surprising that this didn't give Sally a good feeling. A few minutes later, which were spent with staring to the ground, the city and the air, Tex arrived with a set of chairs. It was impressive to see how Tex carried all those chairs without the slightest signs of effort or fatigue. He put them on the sandy ground and sat down on one of them. The rest followed him and one by one, they sat down. When Tails set down, the chair heavily creaked and a second later, the legs of the chair broke and Tails fell uncomfortably on the ground. He yelped when he hit the ground. Jack slightly laughed when seeing this.
"It seems Tex has picked a wrong chair by accident," Jack said smiling, glancing at Tex, who had enjoyed it as much as the rest of the Sand-Blast Freedom Fighters had. Tails stood up death-glaring at both Tex and Jack.
"By accident, huh? How coincidentally."
Jack chuckled.
"There is a rock."
He pointed at a rock, the size of a camera.
"Very funny," Tails said, sitting on the ground.
"Now, can we begin?"
"Of course, your Highness," Jack said, making elegant gestures towards towards Sally as a sign to proceed. Of course, these gestures, were, just like his words, meant to scoff with her authority. Sally ignored this and started speaking.
"As said earlier, we are here for very urgent matters. It seems that Dr. Eggman has attacked Monius, a planet in space. A year ago, their people first made contact with ours and since then, we have made an alliance. We are obliged to help them in times of need. This is such a time of need."
"A pity we are not under your authority and thus, we have nothing to care about. It's your problem, not ours," Jack stated.
"Not if Dr. Robotnik manages to take the planet and attacks Mobius... he'll have a whole planet for himself, instead of a mere base... he'd be unstoppable!"
Jack stayed silent.
"And think 'bout it," Bunnie said," You'll be one o' da heroes that'll be praised after we win that war... you'll be noted in da history books."
"She has a point there, boss," Jolt said.
"Shut up," Jack said to the roadrunner. He pondered the offer. On the one hand, he'd be forced to work together with Sonic and his friends. On the other hand, he'd be a hero and praised... and there wasn't anything that surpasses praise from other people for Jack. After a minute, he looked at Sally and said:
"We accept the offer. But under one condition... you'll have to drop all the charges you have against us."
The Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters had kidnapped Bunnie once and taken Sonic's freedom when he visited their city. Further on, they weren't easy on the population of their city. They were mistreated. Nonetheless, Sally decided to drop all charges against the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters.
"Offer accepted. Hereby, all the charges against you and your mates are dropped. I have one question, though. Will you be the only ones to fight, or will you rally a little "army" of citizens?"
"We could try the latter," Jack replied. He was silent for three seconds and then opened his mouth again.
"When will we depart?"
"Over an estimated two weeks, maybe longer. Is that enough time?"
"More then... You'll hear from us, Princess."
Jack grabbed in his pocket and brought out a little device, with a few buttons on it. He pressed one of them and the dome shield deactivated.
"Have a good day," Jack said. If he meant it, Sally didn't know... he sounded like he did.