Flicky Island

January 5, 3235

1303 Hours

Flicky Island. A strange landmass in the Great Mobocean, peppered with strange ruins, a checkered terrain, and flowers which grow from gemstones. The island's namesake birds had no natural predators, nor any outside danger. But that was before today, when Mobius' self-appointed dictator Dr. Ivo Robotnik landed on the atoll.

Robotnik emerged from a curtain of leafy foliage, grinning at a pleasing sight: a large ring hovering over a hatch. A hatch which a flock of Flickies were fluttering out of one by one. "Just as I suspected!" he laughed. "A gigantic magic ring serving as a dimensional portal! I knew these Flickies and their bizarre world had to come from outside the normal Mobian reality! Such an alternate dimension can only be powered by a Chaos Emerald! A Chaos Emerald that will soon come into the possession of Ivo Robotnik!" A short drop from the ledge he was on and he was just a small sprint away from conquest. "The ultimate power is just a hop, skip, and a jump away!"

Before he could make a cannonball to victory, something rammed him right in the backside. "You can skip that jump, hophead!" His long-time enemy had found him!

"Sonic, you've interfered with my plans for the last time!" he yelled. "Now our final confrontation begins!"

"Why don't we just cut to the chase, Tubbo?" Sonic asked. "Turn yourself in and avoid any unnecessary oilshed!"

"Shed this, Hedgehog!" Robotnik shot back. "My gauntlet-mounted particle beam!" The shrill shriek of the weapon's discharge hit Sonic, who disappeared in a smoky cloud shaped like him. "Great balls of cholesterol—it vaporized him!"

"Wrong again!" a familiar voice announced. "That was the image of me moving away at double light speed! And now for a supersonic wedgie!" The still-kicking Sonic had grabbed the bloated tyrant by the back of his suit and gave him a big Melvin.

Embarrassed, Robotnik tried to fix his underwear from outside his clothes, mumbling like a grumpy old man.

"C'mon, Ivo," Sonic said, playfully but still meaning it "Let me hear you say 'uncle'!"

"Never! Flickie Island will be mine!"

Sonic approached, ready to pound the portly villain flat against the ground. "Okay, you asked for it, Flabbio—!" Quite accidentally, Sonic's nose rubbed against Robotnik's as he charged forward… which suddenly filled the Hedgehog with a surge of electricity.

"No," said Robotnik, satisfied, "you did when you allowed our noses to meet! Observe the neural disruption field—tuned to my physiology, but a shocking jolt to yours!"

Sonic stumbled around, dizzy from the shock.

At this opening, Robotnik jumped through the ring, announcing "To the victor goes the Chaos Emerald!"

Once he got his senses back, Sonic pursued him with a Figure-8 Peel-Out.

A psychedelic swirl enveloped the Hedgehog and the cries of Flickies echoed his descent. But as soon as he hit light, Sonic was face-to-fist with a fist as big as he was. Robotnik had brought a battlesuit with him.

Fortunately for Sonic, this battle of speed and technology wouldn't last that long. Sonic quickly found some sort of speed booster that amped-up his spin dash just enough to total the machine, leaving the flabby villain dizzy on the ground.

"Oh no," Robotnik coughed, "is this the end of Rico—err, I mean Robo?" Soon, he was feeling a tug on his cape. Sonic wasn't done trying to humiliate him… but the show was about to go on the other foot as the downed Doctor flipped open a panel on his gauntlet. "How fortuitous of you to grab me by the cape," he said, deviously. "The cape that I control by electromagnetics woven into the fabric!" The cape wrapped Sonic tightly, making him look like a burrito. "And don't bother to struggle!" he added. "My cape is made from the strongest fiber in the world: Plaidmantium!" With a poke and a cry of "Timber!", the Hedgehog fell to the ground, writhing and squirming in an attempt to get out.

The Robo-Rat's got me this time! Sonic thought. And he's spotted the location of the Chaos Emerald!

A grotto with a green glow inside was nearby. Robotnik was running straight for it. "At last! The green light at the end of the tunnel!"

SHAKINN!

Every Flicky in the area took flight and Robotnik suddenly fell down with a scream of pain.

Still trapped in the despot's cape, Sonic struggled to find the shooter. A grey Mole had entered the zone with them. Kneeling on a small ridge, he had a rifle aimed at where Robotnik was; the barrel smoldered.

As if by magic, the stranger swapped out the rifle for a pistol. It was seemingly pulled from out of thin air.

The downed Robotnik used his failing strength to roll over, with intent to zap him with his particle beam like he had tried on Sonic.

Before anything could happen, the Mole pulled the trigger on the pistol. It entered the former warlord's left shoulder. He kept walking forward, firing another shot, entering Robotnik's right eye. Soon, he was over the fallen dictator, who was struggling to hang on to life.

The constricted Sonic could only helplessly watch, terrified, as the Mole emptied the rest of his ammunition into the dying Robotnik. The killer's face was cold and expressionless, like a machine. Not even a shred of guilt as he committed the unnatural act of killing another living being.

Even though Robotnik was dead as a doorknob, the guy just kept pumping the corpse full of bullets until he ran out. The killer stared at the bloated body for a good minute, not saying a thing, before turning and heading toward the ridge he'd appeared on. He stopped only when he saw Sonic.

His mere gaze chilled Sonic's blood.

Finally, he spoke. "You had your chance and you refused it."

Sonic snapped awake. He was back in the wreckage and, thankfully, neither did the oxygen system break down nor did Bunnie and Tilly blow up. No sound of the sandstorm, either.

Was it okay to go out? Yes.

A mild avalanche of sand fell as Sonic opened the machine's hatch and that was it. It was pitch-black outside with a star-filled sky. They'd slept too long.

The Hedgehog stared into the night. Sapper had even gotten into his dreams. No matter how hard he tried to move on, the Mole's bone-chilling outlook on life would always catch up, it seemed.

"Y'all okay, sugar-hog?" Bunnie had followed him out of the wreck.

"Bunnie, am I too soft?" Sonic asked. "Shaming Robotnik and Eggman was as far as I ever went. I've never gone as far as to kill someone, unlike Sapper."

She looked at her implanted arm, the memory of the night before still vivid and painful. "Y'all'd have to be pushed really far to take a life," she replied.

"I know," the Hedgehog agreed. "I've been through no shortage of shit in my life, but somehow I haven't cracked yet. I try not to think about Sapper, but… there's always this part in the back of my head asking if he was right."

"W-What?"

"Was he right about us being too soft on guys like Eggman?" he asked. "I mean, it doesn't excuse him for what he did to your uncle, but… if we had killed Robotnik earlier, what could we have prevented? Would Eggman have even come to our universe in the first place?"

"I really can't tell," Bunnie admitted. "If it wasn't for Eggman, we wouldn't have lasted long against the Xorda." Gazing up at the stars, the cyborg was reminded of the previous night. "By the way, how'n the heck did you know about that air strike against Sand Blast?"

"I really don't know," Sonic admitted. "Best I can guess is that it might have something to do with Chaos Energy. A side effect of Emerald use, but I'm not sure." Looking away from the sky and into the blackness, a new thought crossed Sonic's mind. "Bunnie, you saw all those wrecked giants out there?"

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna look at these things and see just what exactly they are."

How did I get wrapped up in this war? Amuro zipped up the front of a normal suit he was issued. A whitish-silver pilot's suit, significantly less bulky than the ones worn by the Federation staff during the evacuation of the bunch. But that seemed to have been an eternity ago.

They were directly over Earth now and would start descending shortly. The Gundam was combat-ready again, but the Guncannons were in questionable condition. The one Kai had flown on the mission against the Papua, though, was still trashed.

If Char was going to attack, the Gundam would have to go out.

This time, Bright wasn't likely to let him sit it out again. The suit was better than 100%.

Ryu, suited up and ready for the fight, took notice of the boy. "Fits you like a glove!" he commented. "Silver for the new model? Not too bad." He proceeded to put Amuro's helmet on him, much like how a mother would dress her kid for Halloween. "There's a double seal at the neck," he said as he adjusted it. "You want this thing airtight." He then pointed out two metallic boxes on the sides of the suit. "These packs produce oxygen. They're super-compact."

Two buttons were on either side of the helmet. Pressing both would activate an aqua visor to shield the face or raise it, based on its position. "Kinda hard to breathe," Amuro said.

"You'll do fine," Ryu laughed. "Give it time."

"I guess now I'll have to fight," the boy said aloud. Wearing something like this… it can really change you.

A monitor on the locker room wall beeped and turned on. Bright was calling them. "Amuro," he said, "once your normal suit's on, standby in the Gundam."

"Y-Yes, Captain Bright!"

Captain? Even though Paolo was dead, Bright was still just a lieutenant junior grade. Was Amuro still trying to be cute or something?

Mirai, though, remained calm. "Never mind those details," she calmly told him. "That boy's fretting, too."

"No, it's not that," he said. How am I going to tell her? Ever since that "sunburst" the other day I've been having the weirdest feelings. About Earth. From a distance, the planet looked the same, but as the ship got closer to it, Bright was able to make out subtle geographical changes: two large islands in the Atlantic that weren't there before, one east of Florida and another southwest of the Iberian Peninsula; a second crater had appeared Australia, one further inland from the recently-formed Gulf of Sydney; the Isle of Man between Ireland and England seemed to have grown as well.

"Want one?" Mirai was offering Bright a squeeze-bottle of punch.

He accepted.

"Twenty-five minutes until atmospheric entry," she said, heading back to the wheel.

"Are you all set, Mirai?"

"I've only done this once," she admitted. "With my father's glider. That time, I had more backup."

"But the basics are the same, aren't they?" Bright asked, taking a sip through the bottle's long built-in straw. "We'll just follow the Salamis' directions."

"What worries me is Char. I doubt he'd just given up."

She was right. That Musai was still tailing them. Nevertheless, Bright tried to think of a best-case scenario. "But he's used up all of his resources, so…"

"He did take on some supplies," Mirai noted. "The question is how much did he get?" Even though they sunk the Papua, they were certain that a transfer of materiel had taken place before the cargo ship went down.

A crackle. The bridge had picked up a transmission. "Hey, you kids! You read me?"

"It's Lt. Reed!" said Bright. "It's coming from the Salamis!"

An officer in a normal suit appeared on the monitor above the bridge. "We're about to re-enter! Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," Bright answered.

"We'll be safe in the ship's capsule," said Reed. "It'll enter at high speed, so keep up! Good luck." The transmission ended.

"We're now leaving orbit," Bright announced. "Assume re-entry altitude."

The White Base slowly began her descent.

A smile came to the young officer's face. Maybe that Musai turned around and gave up the chase. The return trip to Jaburo was going to be a walk in the park from this point on.

Then, a sudden announcement from Oscar flipped everything upside-down. "Mr. Bright, the Musai! At nine o'clock, +30⁰!"

"I've put it up on the main panel," said Marker. "We've folded the antennas, so the visual's going to be blurry."

Indeed, it was blurry, but there was no mistake: it was the Musai.

"Damn you, Char," Bright said beneath his breath. "What are you planning?"

The bridge of the Falmel. Char stood before three pilots newly assigned to the Musai, ready for a small pep rally. On his left, a lanky man with strawberry-blond hair, Private Gunther Crown; in the middle, a dark-haired, rugged-faced Lance Corporal, Dubois Komu; on the right, a buff Sergeant with short hair named Josef Quelroz. Dren and other bridge personnel stood in attention.

"We are fortunate to have received three new Zakus and top-notch pilots as well," Char began. "We'll enter the atmosphere in twenty minutes! A battle with this kind of timing is unprecedented! As you know, neither this ship nor your Zakus can take re-entry friction. However, our enemies have to concentrate on their navigation. So right now, our best chance is to attack. Your main target is the 'Trojan Horse'! The enemy mobile suits are the secondary objective!" He saluted. "I expect you all to do your best!"

The Salamis' re-entry capsule was deployed, the mothership's crew unaware of a Musai in the area. The wings of the White Base had folded sternward, poised for descent, but her hangars buzzing with activity.

In a rec room in the living section of the ship, the Side 7 refugees were as oblivious as the Salamis crew. Children crowed around the viewport excitedly as the surface of the planet below made up the whole view. An enthusiasm cut short as a hatch slid down in front of the glass.

Fraw Bow had entered the room at this point. "Don't panic," she said, "we're about to enter the atmosphere! There will be some turbulence, though. If the rocking gets too bad, just grab the nearest table or rail. There's nothing to worry about."

Amuro was strapped into the Gundam's cockpit, with butterflies in his stomach. Being thrown into the fire was becoming common for the boy, but he was in a normal suit now and he wasn't used to them.

Last time he was here, the fighting took place on the bunch and in space. Now, there's the danger of the gravity well in addition to Zakus.

Outside the prototype, he could hear the hangar crew hastily getting prep done.

Then, it was interrupted by a call from Sayla. "Prepare to intercept," she said. "Four Zakus incoming from the left!"

"Four Zakus?" said Amuro. "That's not what I was told!"

"But it's a fact," Sayla responded. "Now we know how many supplies they got. We'll recover you via the rear deck! Return in four minutes, otherwise both you and the Gundam will burn up. So don't chase the enemy too far, just keep them away from the White Base! Watch your altitude and keep your eye on the clock!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Amuro asked, plaintively. "I'll be in combat!"

Sayla laughed. "If anyone can do it, you can."

Amuro's face turned pink when he heard this. "D-Don't flatter me." Soon, he realized something. That Zeon pilot who assaulted her (and nearly killed him) on Luna II had dislocated her shoulder and she had spent the last few days in a sling. It was gone now. "Miss Sayla, is your left shoulder alright?"

Sayla seemed a little surprised by this question, but still answered. "Yes, it's fine. Thank you, Amuro."

The hatch was open and bright earthlight filled the hangar.

"Amuro launching!"

The Zaku's camera zoomed in on the "Trojan Horse". Something had just been deployed from the port hangar. When he could make it out, a grin came to Char's face. "Just like I thought," he said. "It came out after all. That's the Federation's suit for you." He switched the channel. "Dren, launch the Komusai and then pull back!"

"Roger! Happy hunting!"

With orders given to Dren, the Comet's attention could be turned to his team. "Komu, you'll move ahead and keep that mobile suit busy."

"I copy, sir."

"Crown, J.Q., got your bazookas ready? The three of us are going to take care of the 'Trojan Horse'."

Four Zakus—three green, one red. Amuro could see them clearly through his targeting scope. One of the greens seemed to be breaking off. First catch, buddy.

Suddenly, three projectiles came rushing toward the Gundam! Missiles?

No, RPGs.

Amuro dodged, only to discover, much to his shock, that he wasn't the target. Fire bloomed from the ship's hull as the grenades made impact. Oh no, they hit us?

The cockpit rocked. The breakaway Zaku was belting the Gundam with machine gun fire, but the latter's shield mitigated what damage it could have caused. The tables turned quickly: Amuro responded to his attacker's bullets with a blast of mega particles.

"Scratch one Zaku," Marker announced. "Looks like Amuro's doing pretty good."

"Doing pretty good?" said Bright, flustered. "We just took a bad hit!" He turned to Sayla. "Sayla, tell Amuro to lead the Zakus away! If they keep hitting us, we're through! Where's the Gundam now, Oscar?"

"Coming towards us," Oscar reported. "It seems he's trying to engage the Zakus."

Well I guess that's worth something, Bright thought. Better to reach Jaburo with a black eye than it is to so in a body bag. He picked up the phone and called the battery. "Ryu, are air defenses are weak! What's wrong?"

"We're doing our best, but we're running low on guns and men!"

"Komu, come in! Komu!" Char got no answer on his radio. Just static. The reason was easy to discern when he laid eyes on the flash of a disintegrating Zaku. Now, it was coming for J.Q. and Crown.

He let loose a blast from his bazooka, but the enemy suit ducked under the shot. He seemed to have learned something over the past couple of days.

Tossing his bazooka aside, Char whipped out the heat hawk holstered to his Zaku's side: an ax-like weapon with a super-heated blade. With a blast of his thrusters, the red mobile suit charged ahead and swung its weapon; it backed off as quickly as the pilot could make it. Even though the blade didn't make contact with the enemy suit itself, it was able to hack off the barrel of its beam weapon.

With another thrust, Char got his Zaku to kick his opponent in the belly like a martial artist.

"That's one remarkable mobile suit," Char admitted, "but it's time for you to learn that sheer power doesn't decide the battle."

The White Base rocked again. By now, the refugees were aware of the Zeon attack. Shocks like this were definitely not the cause of turbulence. People squeezed anything bolted to avoid anything sending them flying.

Fraw Bow and the kids were ducking in the corner as hell broke lose outside the ship. "That was real bad," he said, very concerned about everything going on. "Is that from a Zaku or is that Musai firing on us?"

"Think we'll make it?" asked Letz, just as worried.

Katz had no answer. "I don't kn—KIKKA!"

Kikka was trying to crawl away from them all. Katz managed to nab her by the belt and Fraw dragged her back over. "Lemme go, Fraw Bow!" she growled. "Kikka's gonna fight, too!"

"This is a war, you dummy!" Letz told her.

She was adamant. "A war? I ain't scared!"

"Well, you should be!"

"Well, I ain't!"

Tension on the bridge was so thick a chainsaw would have cut through it. Three Zakus were still out there, but only two were still firing on the ship. If they could only hold on just a little longer.

"Altitude now 100," Marker announced. "Descent speed, Mach 20."

"We'll enter the dust belt in two minutes," Oscar added.

A little bit of relief had finally come to Bright. He picked up his phone and pressed the line for the rear deck. "Open the aft hatch," he told them. "Prepare to recover the Gundam."

"Mr. Bright! The capsule!" Mirai alerted the bridge's attention to the Salamis' re-entry capsule ahead. Smoke trailed from its starboard wing.

A distorted, but still coherent, transmission was received. "This is Reed, a Zaku winged us. We won't make re-entry, clear a dock for us!"

Nothing was going right, it seemed. First Side 7, then Luna II, and now this. Char was doing everything to make this return to Earth as miserable as possible. "The rear deck is open," he told him. "Enter from there."

Less room for the Gundam, in terms of seconds and space.

Author's Notes:

In working on this, I had decided early on to contrast the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the pre-Issue 46 era of Archie Sonic with the grittiness of Sapper. The only portions I needed help on with the new areas pretty much involved Sonic and Bunnie. Big thanks of SonicEvan and Hyperion GM for that little bit, the remainder was a cinch... for the most part.

The Gundam portion was a bit of a marriage between what happened in the TV and movie versions of the skirmish above Earth and the Origin version. Whereas Amuro fought with a Hyper Bazooka in Movie I (and a Gundam Hammer in the TV version), whereas he had the Beam Rifle in the manga. Here, we get introduced to Mr. Congeniality himself... Lt. Reed. You know what a load of sunshine he is if you've seen any version of the story. LOL!

Also, gotta give Kikka credit. Little Pikachu-face trying to fight a war and isn't even ready for grade school yet!