Chapter 1: It's Legal, Sonic

Christopher Thorndyke stared at the clock, watching it slowly tick by through the hours of the day, the day of March 21st, to the hour of 7:00 p.m.

He wasn't ready for this.

He wasn't ready to tell his new Mobian friends that something terrible was about to happen tonight, and they were unauthorized to do anything about it. Interfering would mean immediate death for his friends, if they were unlucky enough to get away, but that was besides the point.

"Ugh, what am I gonna tell them?" Chris groaned, gently thumping his head against the clock, which read 5:45 on it.

"You know, watching the clock isn't going to make it go any faster." Ella told the young boy, mixing some kind of batter in a bowl. She was in the middle of cooking dinner for the household.

"That's kinda the point, Ella." Chris sighed.

"Ah." The housekeeper suddenly understood. "Worried about tonight?"

"As always, but this year feels worse than the others."

"Is it because of Sonic and the others?"

"Of course. I just know they're gonna want to do something about it, especially Sonic, but interfering will get them killed. I'm not ready to tell them about it yet."

"They're gonna have to know, sweetie." Ella sighed. "After all, tonight is the only night where it's legal."

"I suggest we tell them over dinner." Chuck suddenly walked in. "They have to know, Chris."

"I know." Chris sighed, then turned to look at the two adults. "Do you think we should let Eggman, Shadow, and Rouge know too?"

"That would be the right thing to do, Chris." Chuck agreed. "I bet Sonic would suggest it anyway."

"You're probably right." Chris nodded. "Alright, we'll tell them over dinner."

…

That night, at exactly 6:13, the entire Thorndyke household was sitting at the table, enjoying a silent meal. Even Chris's parents, Lindsey and Nelson, made an appearance tonight, but there was an obvious reason to that. A reason that none of the humans were ready to explain to Sonic and his friends.

Speaking of the Mobian Heroes, they were silent too. They had noticed all day that there was a type of tension today, and not just in the house, but the city itself. It seemed as if the entire city were in their houses today. Literally almost nobody was out, and those who were out, rushed quickly to get what they needed and head back home.

Something wasn't right today, and Sonic was determined to find out what.

"So… what's going on today?" The blue hedgehog cautiously asked.

"What do you mean?" Lindsey answered just as cautiously.

"I mean, today just seems so tense, and not just in the household, but in the entire city." Sonic explained. "It seemed as if everybody was trying to get away from something. I even saw all the emergency facilities, like fire, police, and hospitals, closing their doors."

The tinkling of silverware on plates suddenly stopped, sending the room in an eerie silence. The Mobians felt tense and uncomfortable. There was something their human hosts weren't telling them.

"What's going on?" Amy asked.

Chuck sighed and looked at Tails.

"Tails, can you use your laptop to call Eggman and his team?" He asked the fox.

"Uh, yeah, I think so." Tails stammered unsurely. "But, what for?"

"Does Eggman have something to do with this?" Sonic growled.

Chris looked over at the clock. It was already 6:20. The emergency broadcast will be announcing on the news in ten minutes.

"How long will it take you to get a hold of Eggman, Tails?" He asked.

"Just give me about five minutes to hack into his security cameras and I'll have him."

"Good, because in the next ten minutes, an emergency broadcast will be announcing on the news that you all should hear."

If the Mobians weren't nervous before, they certainly were now.

…

Five minutes later, Tails had contacted Eggman as promised.

The human genius, as well as Shadow and Rouge, were all visible on the screen. At the moment, the man wasn't too happy that his cameras had been hacked by his enemies.

"How dare you hack into my security system, you no good rodents!" Eggman yelled. "I haven't even done anything today! All I've been doing is trying to locate the last Chaos Emeralds!"

"Believe it or not, Eggman, but this wasn't our idea." Sonic spoke truthfully. "It was Chris and Chuck. They say that there's something important that you need to know about… that we all need to know about."

"And what exactly is that?" Eggman sneered.

"I suggest you turn on your station to the news channel." Chris started. "In the next four minutes, a very important emergency broadcast will be playing that you have to hear. It's for your own safety."

"An emergency broadcast about what though, Chris?" Knuckles asked him. "You haven't given us any actual details on what this is about."

"It's about a very serious annual event that happens every year on March 21st, from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m." Nelson explained. "An event called 'The Purge'."

"The Purge?" Sonic frowned. "What is that?"

"... It was the Government of the World's answer as an attempt to decrease crime rate." Nelson sighed.

"... How?"

The humans hesitated, unsure if they should really tell him. Meanwhile, Eggman was shaking his head on screen.

"I heard about The Purge long before I left Earth to attempt takeover on Mobias." He sighed. "But I never thought they'd actually go through with it."

"But what is it, Doctor?" Shadow demanded.

Chuck looked at the clock. 6:29. One minute left.

"Turn on the news, and all will be explained." He answered.

Eggman nodded and turned on the news. Tanaka quickly did the same and for a few moments, everybody was just staring at a blank blue screen, before suddenly, it began fuzzing out and a high pitched buzzing noise resonated on the speakers. Suddenly, the buzzing stopped and words began scrolling across the screen, being read aloud by a female voice.

"This is not a test. This is your Emergency Broadcast System, announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government.

Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use during the purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity and shall not be harmed.

Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours.

Police, fire, Emergency Medical services, and even Mobian heroes, will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. when the purge concludes.

Blessed be our new founding fathers and America... A nation reborn.

May God be with you all."

The Mobians were in shock. Were their ears playing tricks on them, or did that message just say that all crime was all of a sudden legal?!

"Huh," Chuck frowned. "That bit about the Mobians is new. Guess they changed the message so that the people knew that Sonic and his friends wouldn't be any help either."

"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!" Sonic suddenly screeched, making everybody in the room jump. "This is insane! Making all crime legal?! Who's idea was this?! Obviously, they're a criminal themselves if they think any of this is ok!"

"I told you, Sonic, it was the Government that came up with this." Nelson tried to reason with the hedgehog. "It's only for 12 hours."

"12 hours where hundreds, probably THOUSANDS of people will be KILLED, now that MURDER is legal too!" Sonic hissed. "This is an outrage!"

"Personally, I think it's a great idea." Shadow suddenly spoke up from the laptop. "With crime being legal, there's nothing stopping me from getting the Chaos Emeralds that are possibly locked away."

"Oh sure, you're ok with it, you bioengineered BASTARD!"

"Sonic!" Amy gasped, quickly covering Cream's ears, the bunny doing the same to her Chao. "Language!"

Sonic looked down to the ground in shame, his cheeks turning hot red in embarrassment. He's never cursed before, but this was just too much.

"I'm sorry Amy." He sighed. "It's just… how could this possibly be a good idea? I mean, I could probably understand shoplifting and vandalism… but murder? What good is there in killing?"

"People kill people, Faker." Shadow frowned in disappointment, memory of Maria being shot right in front of him playing once more in his head. "That's the way it's always been… you can't change it."

"Right, and with it now being legal tonight, Shadow, there is no way I am letting you go out there after the Emeralds." Eggman firmly told the black and red hedgehog.

"What?!" Shadow hissed in disagreement. "Why not? This is a PERFECT opportunity."

"In case you haven't noticed, you, Rouge, and Eggman aren't exactly the most liked people in the city." Chuck explained. "Nobody but Sonic and his friends know where the Egg Fortress is, so you're much safer staying there until the whole thing is over."

"Pfft, I ain't afraid of The Purge." Shadow rolled his eyes.

"You will stay in the fortress until The Purge is over, or you can say hello to the cryogenic tank again for another 50 years." Eggman threatened.

Shadow humphed and crossed his arms, turning away from the doctor, but didn't say another word.

"So, there's really nothing we can do?" Cream sniffed, fear very prominent on her face.

"I'm sorry dear, but afraid not." Ella gently hugged the rabbit. "But don't worry, we're perfectly safe."

"How?" Knuckles frowned.

"We have steel security doors that lower over all doors and windows that lead to the outside." Lindsey explained. "As soon as that siren goes off, Chuck will run to the lab and push the button that lowers them."

"How durable are they?" Tails asked.

"Very durable, unless one Purger decides to try and rip then off with a chain attached to a monster truck." Chuck answered. "Tested the doors myself a few days before the first Purge. Haven't had any problems since then. Nobody really targets us anyway."

"Let's hope it stays that way." Chris sighed, turning back to the laptop. "We'll keep you guys posted on what goes on here, in case we hear anything about you guys."

"You know, I would actually appreciate that." Eggman nodded. "In return, I as well will keep you posted."

"Stay safe, Eggman." Sonic said to him.

"You too, Sonic." The genius chuckled. "Wow, never thought I'd be saying that to my greatest enemy."

Suddenly, a siren started going off outside. It was loud and ominous, it sent chills down every spine of every person that heard it. They all turned to the clock on the wall.

7:00 p.m.

Sonic turned to Lindsey.

"Are you sure there's no place we can go where it'll be safer?" He pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but it's like this all over the world. The Purge is for everybody. You'd be surprised by how much the crime rate has gone down around the world since we started having The Purge. I'm sorry, but as of right now until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, all crime… it's legal, Sonic." Lindsey sighed and turned to Chuck. "Lower the doors. The Annual Purge has begun."