AN: You know, I don't think I ever clarified the ages of the characters ONCE in this whole story! Let me set that straight right quick:
Wyatt: 17
Blaze: 17
Sonic: 16
Amy: 15
Tails: 15
Marine: 15
Knuckles: 19
Rouge: 20
Shadow: 18
Soriah: 16
Now that we have that out of the way, on with the story…
"SONIC, BEHIND YOU!" I shout from above. Sonic nods and takes out the robot in a flash. All around men are fighting. The sound of steel on steel rings through the air.
"One more down!" Gardon yells as he runs another robot through the head with his sword.
"Chaos spear!" Shadow says, ending the lives of three of these machines. I myself kick a robot in the chest, sending it flying back into the tall grass where it came from. I perk my ears and hear a guitar riff playing. Is that Wyatt? No, wait, it's me!
(It's all the same…)
"KYAH!" Amy yells while swinging her hammer. Five bots fly off into the distance, their heads following right behind.
(Only the names have changed…)
A tiger dodges a swipe from a robot's sword and stabs it in the back with his own.
(Every day, it seems we're wasting away.)
"HYAH!" Knuckles grunts and punches through another.
(Another place, where the faces are so cold.)
"Scratch two more!" Rouge calls after sweeping the legs out from one and punching one straight in the chest.
(I'd drive all night, just to get back home.)
('Cause I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride. I'm wanted, dead or alive.)
(WPOV)
"Ready for this?"
"Let's go." I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. Any second now the shield will drop and the gas will disperse, but we have a little plan. To my great surprise, it's not Silver! It's two robot things that look like animals. They each carry a tray of food for us. Judging by the contents of the meal, it's about lunch time. As soon as the shield goes down, we leap into action. Blaze and I immediately start a large firestorm around us just as the gas disperses. As predicted, the heat from the flames kills the tranquilizers in the gas, making it useless. While we're doing this, Soriah throws the two bots down the hall where they smash into the wall.
"We have to hurry." Blaze says and we immediately dart out of the cell JUST as the barrier comes back up. Now where?
"This way." Soriah commands. Well okay! She leads us down the hall and up a long, steep ramp where we're faced with a large steel door. Soriah punches in a code and the door hisses open.
"How did you know that code?" I ask. Aw damn it, a stupid question.
"Um, I live here?" Well geez woman, I'm a slow man! We follow Soriah down another hall. Our senses are at their peaks, scanning the surrounding are intently for signs of life.
"I hear footsteps." Blaze whispers. And she's right. There are footsteps, a lot of them! I spot a closet to our right.
"In here!" we all cram into the closet just as a group of fifty or so of those weird robots come storming down the hall to the prison cell that we just escaped from.
We can't stay in those hallways. Blaze says urgently to me.
Well, what can we do?
I don't know- hey, wait, I think I found the answer to our problem! I look to where she's pointing and see a narrow air duct down towards the floor. I nudge Soriah, but when she sees it, she freaks.
"Oh hell no! I like this dress! I don't want it to get all dirty and shit when we crawl through that thing!" She whines.
"We don't have a choice." I say. "It's either this or we go back in the prison cell." She debates it mentally before finally coming to a decision.
"Fine, but you're paying for a new dress!" she says before crawling in on her stomach. Blaze goes second, followed by me. Now see, we would've made it out of there free and clear if one thing hadn't gone wrong:
You see, um, hehehe, Blaze's tights kinda fit her TOO well, and um, I was looking straight ahead the whole time and umm, I just couldn't help but let a little thought slip out. Okay, let's be honest with ourselves here. I'm a seventeen year old boy, what the hell do you expect?
WYATT, YOU'RE GOING IN THE FRONT IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE THINKING OF WHILE WE ESCAPE WITH OUR LIVES! She yells angrily. The girls move to the side and allow me to crawl past. Now here's the tricky part, which way do we go? We crawl straight for about twenty feet when we come upon a T section. We have two choices, right or left?
Enie meanie miny moe-
What are you doing?
Trying to decide which way to go.
Argh, we don't have time to fuck around, just go left!
Fine. I say and turn to the left. We continue to crawl for about thirty feet when I hear voices, familiar voices. I see a small square of light up ahead and crawl up to it. I'm now looking down into what looks like a repurposed dining room. If there were tables, they must've been moved out. In the center of the space sits a massive gun looking thingy. All around it, plugged into various ports, are the Sol emeralds. And standing at a control panel, are Eggman, Nega, and Silver. This is their conversation:
"We should go ahead and kill those guardians now that we have what we came for." Nega says, but Silver interjects.
"No, only the red one."
"Silver, we have no interest in your little love affair. That is your problem, not ours. As long as one of them survives, they will try every conceivable way to get them back." Eggman says. One of the robots sprints into the room.
"Sir, the guardians and the princess have escaped from their holding cell." It says in a monotone voice. A quick look of fear flashes over everyone in the room.
"Very well, put all bots on high alert throughout the kingdom."
"Yes sir." Then the bot leaves.
"Damn, this is most unexpected. What are we going to do now that those two are out?" Nega asks. Eggman just waves his hand.
"Do not worry, they will surely be found. It's damn near impossible to escape the castle, let alone the city."
"Very well, let us get back to the diagnostics." And the three butt buddies- I mean- villains, return to work.
*CREAK* the shaft creaks all around us. I see little chips from the ceiling fall to the floor some twenty feet below.
Oh… I begin to say.
FUCK! Blaze finishes for me. There's a loud crumbling sound and suddenly the section of shaft that we're in begins to drop. Finally, it falls straight to the floor all together with all three of us inside. The impact leaves me dazed. I feel someone grab my legs and drag me out. I see two gay looking wristbands and grey fur. MOTHERFUCKER!
"We have rats in the walls, it seems. We've been looking for you everywhere." Eggman cackles. Before I can move, a gun barrel is shoved into my face by a robot. I glance sideways and see Blaze and Soriah in similar positions.
"Fuck off." I say, resulting in my face being bashed in for a second time today.
"Well, now that we're here, we can begin the execution." Nega says.
"NO!" silver shouts. The two doctors glare at him. "Now that they're here, wouldn't it be nice to gloat a little?" I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks Silver.
"I don't see what the harm would be." Eggman says. Nega nods.
"Very well. This little device here is a special little contraption made by us to harness the power of the Sol emeralds and focus it into a devastating beam." Nega explains. "The first step of our plan was to have Eggman steal just one Sol emerald and take it back to his dimension."
"Naturally, Blaze would follow. So while she was gone, I convinced the forces of this kingdom to turn against their king. When they did, I made robot copies of them and threw them into 'the void', a special dimension with no inhabitants."
"So that explains the robots."
"Exactly, now here's where you come in. We knew all along that there was a second guardian, so we managed to find out what time period you lived in and stole you."
"What? First off, I came to this universe because I completed a video game 100%, not because you guys kidnapped me. Second, I'm from a whole other universe, so I really didn't do any time travel."
"That's where you're wrong, my naïve boy. When we kidnapped you, it just so happened to coincide with the completion of the game. And when you landed in Sonic's universe, you were still in your own. Don't you see? You didn't go to another universe of the same time period…" He says.
"… You stayed in the same universe, but came far into the future. 1989 years into the future to be precise." I stare off into space, lost in thought on this new revelation. I was in my own universe all along? But how? How did SEGA create the Sonic games then?
"Then how did I change into an animal?" I ask.
"When the Xorda dropped the gene bombs in the year 2012, and humans transformed into Overlanders while animals transformed into Mobians, you were to be one of the very few humans to transform into a Mobian yourself. It's just your genetic code readjusting to match the one of this time."
"Hold up fat man, your saying that Wyatt is a teenager from the Pre-Xordian era?" Blaze asks. Nega growls and nods his head.
"What about the background music?"
"That ability has always been around, but people had yet to discover how to use it until after the Xorda." He replies.
"Then how did SEGA create the Sonic games?"
"Back in 1944 or 'World War 2' to you, the Japanese attempted to create a time machine in order to go back and tell their earlier selves back in 1939 to not attack Pearl Harbor. When they tested it, however, it accidently sent the test subject to the future. The man came back and told his story, but no one believed him. Years later, the founder of SEGA came across the reports and decided to make a videogame out of it."
"Wow, you sure do know a lot about my time." I say.
"I'm a doctor, boy, I have studied Pre-Xordian history since I was a child."
"I see."
"Good, now where were we?"
"WAIT!" I shout desperately
"What is it now?"
"You never told us why you built the machine!"
"Oh yes, you see, Eggman called me with a most great offer. I help him take over his planet, he helps me take over mine." Nega says.
"Continue." I say.
"We plan to fire this machine through a wormhole leading to the main power severs for New Mobotropilis. Since most of the city's defenses are operated by the AI Nicole, the surge would destroy any electronic devices tapped into the city power grid, effectively getting rid of her."
"But why only destroy the power grid?"
"Because we only want to take over the city, not destroy it." He replies.
"Okay, so that's that. But how're you going to take it over?"
"We have a massive army of robots in wait outside the city limits. As soon as we give the order, they'll attack full strength until that accursed Sally's head is on a plaque over the fireplace!"
"You're sick!" Blaze, Soriah, and I shout at the same time. All three villains laugh.
"In fact, the gun's ready right now! How about we kill them AFTER our plan is set in motion?" Eggman calls from his control console.
"Sounds like a good idea." Nega and Silver reply. The all walk over to the console and begin to type commands. The machine begins to hum very loudly and the emeralds glow in their respective sockets. While that's happening, a large portal opens up in front of the gun. A ball of energy grows steadily large on the tip of the barrel.
"Feast your eyes, ladies and gentlemen…" Eggman says. He presses a button and a large beam shoots out of the gun and into the portal with a loud zapping sound. "… on the beginning of the end."
We all sit in stunned silence as the portal closes back up and the gun powers down. One question flows through our minds: Did Eggman just win?
"Oh m-my G-God." Blaze stutters.
We failed. She whispers. We failed both the people of New Mobotropilis and our duty as guardians.
No, there has to be a way. I say just as three robots come and put us in handcuffs. They lead us out of the door.
"Take them back to their cell. We'll begin the execution after we complete a few tasks." Nega calls from behind as we leave. We're thrown roughly back in our cell. The food trays from earlier have been long since cleared away and for the first time I feel hungry. I slump against the wall, and Blaze sits next to me. I gently put an arm around her shoulder and hug her close.
I hope you're right. She says.
I do too.
AN: So what did you guys think about that little plot twist? If you don't know who the Xorda are, then go read the STH archie comics. See you guys next chapter!