Chapter 1: Resistance
"Commander Hedgehog" I here a voice. Sounds familiar, but I can't place it. "Commander Hedgehog." Why won't it shut up I want to sleep "SONIC!" I jerk awake. I'm sitting at a table. There's maps and lists and stuff all over. I look around. I seem to be in some kind of tunnel, like the kind you see in war movies, with tables and, plans, and radios, and soldiers running around. Heck I can even hear distant gunfire. I look in front of me. Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, are standing right in front of me, looking at me with a worried expressions, except for Shadow of course, he just looks annoyed. What's weird is that they're all dressed in military gear. Tail's even has the classic "Kid wearing a large helmet" look to him. He looks so cute I just want to put him in a head-lock and give him a noogie. But he has this look in his eye that says "Touch me and die." So in stead I say: "What... what's going on? Where are we?" Everyone sighs in irritation. Then Tails looks at Knuckles, and says: "Your turn." Knuckles nods and says: "Come on Sonic I need to get you up to speed." then starts walking toward a tunnel that's behind me. I follow him confused as hell.
He leads me to a room full of beds, the kind that are just canvas over a metal frame with a pillow, and thin blanket. He motions to one, I sit on it, he sits on the one across from me. "Okay first things first." he says. "What's the last thing you remember?" "I... I was hit by a truck." Knuckles nods like he was expecting this. "That was two years ago." my eyes widen in shock. "Two years!" Knuckles nods solemnly "When you were hit you were put into a coma, while you were out Eggman took the opportunity to invade." he shook his head "The machines he used... they were like nothing we ever saw before. He had a machine specifically built to counteract every one of us, there was nothing we could throw at him that he didn't expect. He must have been planning for the day you got hurt or killed. He knew exactly what to do, and how. Before the month was out he had stolen the Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald, my Master Emerald. After that, there was nothing we could do." I shake my head in disbelief. "But what about Tails? HE should have been able to find the Chaos Emeralds way before him. And Shadow? He's a tough guy he should have been able to stop Eggman, not as fast as I would have of course, but still!" Knuckles shook his head again. "First thing Eggman did was launch E.M.P.'s over every continent. It disabled everything electronic that didn't belong to Eggman. By the time Tails was able to get anything running again, it was too late, and as for Shadow, Eggman had apparently come across some of Gerald's research on Shadow. With it he was able make an 'anti-Shadow' force-field. Now Shadow can't even go anywhere near him without getting killed first." I stay silent for a minute. "This seems unreal." Knuckles nodded. "Why don't I remember any of this?" "You woke up about six months ago, since then we've been kicking serious robutt, but unfortunately the accident gave you brain damage. Every now and then you'll black out then lose some memory. Sometimes it'll just be a couple hours, other times..." He gestures toward me. I get the picture.
"So what now?" Knuckles sighs "This couldn't happen at a worst time, we're just about to launch a final attack on Egghead's main base, and we're going to need you to lead the main assault team." Just then I realize something. "Hey wait a second, if I'm constantly blacking out and losing my memory, how come I'm a Commander?" "You have the most experience defeating Eggman, and because your so fast and unpredictable he hasn't been able to come up with a good counter measure for you yet." I guess that kinda makes sense. "Alright what do you need me to do?" I ask as I stand up. "You, Tails, and a squad are going to sneak in through a damaged secondary exhaust pipe we found. After that you'll need to find the generator for the 'anti-Shadow' field, after that find Eggman and bring him down." "Do we know what the inside of the base is like?" "No, but you've managed to do a decent job so far, plus Tails will be with you so you should be fine." That brings another question to my mind. "Yeah about Tails, he seemed... different when I saw him." Knuckles sighed. "He's probably been through the worst of it, I won't go into details, but he's seen some pretty messed up shit in this war. It's a lot for a ten-year-old to take in. I think your going to need to spend a lot of time with him when this is over." I nod and stay silent. I need to process all this. Knuckles starts to walk away, but stops before saying. "One thing to keep in mind. He's killed thousands of Mobians, and Humans alike. So, no need for mercy. You find him, you know what to do." I look at him, a bit surprised by this statement. He nods to confirm what he meant then walks away. I look down at my feet. No Knuckles, I think That's exactly why we should have mercy.
The time has come. Everyone's at the makeshift armory. I'm a little surprised. Tails, Knuckles, even Amy are arming themselves with some kind of gun. I guess this war has gotten to them pretty badly. Tails grabs a pistol tries to hand it to me. "Come on buddy you know I don't use those things." Tails snickers as he puts it back. "Not this time around." I'm shocked by his statement. Have I used a gun before? Have I killed someone? I decide to think on that later, and just watch as Tails equips himself with some kind of assault rifle.
After everyone's done equipping themselves, we head to an exit tunnel. Shadow stops at the front then, turns around and looks at us with a grim expression, well grimer "Alright everyone, as you all know, this is the final assault. After this there's no going back, we win, or we die. There is no other option." In an odd way I think this war has been good for Shadow, it's one of the few things he knows how to do, after all it's what he was made for. "Alright let's move out!" he yells then turns around and kicks the hatch open. We all run out, and for the first time I get to see what the outside looks like. Everything's dark, I can't even tell if it's day or night because there's so much pollution coming from Eggman's base which is just a couple miles ahead. The thing's a huge half sphere with a metal Eggman face at the front. Just by looking at it I can tell it would probably take up over ten city blocks.
We flank the building then, start running toward where the exhaust pipe is supposed to be, all the while lasers and, bullets are flying through the air. Normally Tails and, I would be able to run past all this no problem, but we need to slow down for the rest of the squad, not to mention the ground's so full of craters and trenches that we'd probably be tripping over ourselves on the way there. Suddenly a squad mate next to me gets shot down. I turn to look and see if I can help, but Tails yells: "Do not stop! Keep running!" so I obey. It's odd really, I'm not used to taking orders from anyone, especially Tails of all people, but it's not like I really have much of a choice now.
Finally we make to the point of entry. We peek inside, the pipe looks clear, but if I know Egghead it's probably got all kinds of traps inside. I look to Tails, "I could run inside and, and set off any surprises Eggy has waiting for us." Tails nods. "We could do that, or we could do this." He reaches into a pouch I didn't notice before, and grabs five metal balls about three inches wide, then rolls them into the pipe, they roll about five feet in then start sprouting legs, and walking along the bottom of the pipe. "Alright so far so good everyone get in. Bane you're on point. Everyone stay at least two meters behind the drones." As everyone heads in I ask. "Two meters... how far is that in feet?" Tails rolls his eyes. "Just stay close to me." he says.
We walk in silence for about five minutes. Then we hear a voice over the radio. "Lieutenant Prower report. Over" Tails brings his hand to his ear, it's only then that I notice that his claws have grown in length since I last saw him, their about half an inch long now. Not only that,but he's also wearing fingerless gloves to accommodate them. "We are Oscar Mike inside the entry point. Have not located entrance into the base proper. Proceeding with caution. Over." "Copy. Proceed. Over." "Understood. Over and out." Tails brings his hand down indicating he's done talking, so I ask: "How does a ten-year-old make Lieutenant?" He smiles and replies "Simple, have a war that requires technological expertise, and be friends with the worlds most renown hero. Also having a 320 I.Q. doesn't hurt either." "I thought you only had 300." "That was two years ago." "You gained 20 points in two years?" "Yup."
We continue walking for another three minutes before we finally reach some kind of heavy gate probably meant for maintenance. "You think you can open that?" "Does Knucklehead like grapes?" "I don't know does he?" "Yeah, a lot." "Okay then." With that Tails sets right to work doing something that involves a screwdriver, some wires, and some small computery looking device. In a few minutes the gate slides open. "I'll go first" I volunteer. "There could still be traps." Tails warns. "Exactly, and if I know Egghead he'll want me alive so he can gloat about 'imminent success.' Besides it'd be no fun if we just keep popping spider-bots at every doorway." He thinks for a second then nods. I walk through the door carefully, watching for turrets, or spikes, or whatever Eggman might've come up with. I enter a long corridor with all sorts of pipes on the walls and ceiling. No sign of trouble though. "All clear." Everyone starts to walk through with Tails in the lead. As soon as Tails clears the doorway the gate slams shut leaving the rest of the squad on the other side. Next thing I know I hear laser fire, and screams. "No. No! NO!" I yell as I rush back to the gate. More screams. I look to Tails "Open the door!" "I can't there's no access point!" More screams, "I don't care find a way!" "There isn't one!" Silence. "Dammit!" I yell as I slam my fist against the gate. Tails grabs me by the shoulders, and holds me so that where face to face. "Look." He says "Now's not the time to go Shadow on me. We'll mourn them later, but now we have a mission to complete." I calm down, nod, then take a minute to collect myself. When I'm done I look to him, and ask: "When did you become such a tough guy." He smirks. "I went to war." He lets me go. "Alright, which way?" I ask. He looks at the device he used to open the door and points. "That way, but you do realize the he has to know we're coming right?" "Yeah, I know."
After a short report to HQ we walk in the indicated direction. After about five minutes we reach a small room. In it has a bunch of computers so naturally Tails takes a look. "There's no way to access the field generator from here, but I think I might be able to shut down the defense turrets." "Do it we need all the help we can get." Tails gives me a sly look. "What's this? The great Sonic the Hedgehog needs help?" "Well of course when I said 'we' I meant 'you.'" "Of course." "Just do your typing thing!" He gets to work. It only takes about a minute. "Got it." He says. All of a sudden two large metal claws come out of the ceiling, and grab us. Before I even get a chance to react I'm pulled through a dark chute. Next thing I know I feel what seems like two fingers against my neck, then black out.
I wake up to find myself held to a wall by metal clamps. "Good to see you're finally awake Sonic." I look up to see then man himself, Dr. Eggman, standing in the center of the room. The room is circular. On one side there is a large computer with at least twenty computer screens. On the other side is a large door. Other then that the room is pretty bare. "Eggman, long time no... You know what, I'm sick of saying that. Let me try again. Well if it isn't my favorite walking heart attack, and stroke combo." the wielder of a most likely fake P.H.D. chuckles and shakes his head. "Ah, Sonic even with half a brain you're still as defiant as ever." "Half a brain is all I need to take you down." I retort. "Maybe this will silence you." He says as he snaps his fingers. It's only then that I notice that he's keeping his right hand behind his back. A claw holding an unconscious Tails comes out of the ceiling, and drops him before the doctor. Crap. "What have done to him!" "Nothing, I wanted to leave this part for when you woke up." He brings his right hand around revealing a small blaster, which he points at Tails. I start to panic. "Whoa, whoa, wait let's not do anything crazy. We can work something out." The doctor chuckles again. "There is nothing you can offer me. I already have the world, all I want now is you, dead." He looks at his blaster. "You know what? Why wait?" He points the blaster at me. Before he has a chance to fire Tails suddenly leaps from where he's laying, grabs the gun, and tries to pull it from Eggman's grip. They both exchange curses as they struggle over the weapon. I don't hear the shot there's just a flash, and Tails falls to the ground with a hole in his stomach. I only get a second to be horrified befor Eggman turns the blaster to me, and says: "Your turn." The last thing I see is a laser bolt rushing toward me.