New Mobotropolis

September 24, UC 0079

1622 Hours, EST

Bunnie snapped awake with a scream. Her dream of the mass-murder of every villain the Freedom Fighters every encountered melted away like a snowman in a lumber kiln. She found herself in the city prison, but inside one of the cells, trapped behind a nanite-powered barrier.

"Good, the anesthetic has worn off." It was NICOLE, warping in on the other side of the barrier.

"I guess I'm here for runnin' off to the Legion, huh?" Bunnie asked, knowing that was exactly why.

"I'm sorry, Bunnie," said the AI. "The radiation put a lot of strain on me and I let it slip."

"Don't blame yourself," she said. "Can't really hide this forever."

"The bomb disposal was successful," said NICOLE. "None of them armed during the surgery, Tilly's fine, too. She's in the cell closest to the door on your right."

"How's Antoine?" the cyborg asked, remembering Sapper in her dream. "He ain't dead, is he?"

"He's still alive," the holo-Lynx confirmed, "but he hasn't come out of the coma yet."

Bunnie took a sigh of relief. He was still down, but him living was all that counted now. They'd been handed another miracle, too: none of the bombs went off, but why? If Eggman knew of this, he'd jump to set them off. "What about Sonic and Sally-girl?"

"Up at the castle with Lieutenant Bright. The Council's being summoned because of the human ship."

Bunnie wasn't particularly surprised. Especially after that morning's fireworks.

"Mother's going to be the substitute?"

Rosie nodded, confirming it for Sally. "The king collapsed and was rushed to the hospital," she explained, "Geoffrey was also discovered to be unconscious and had to be treated. The spot's been given to Queen Alicia for the time being."

"Can't say they had a lot of options," said Sally, "they definitely can't use Father. Not in his condition." She looked at the floor. NICOLE had generated three chairs for Bright, Reed, and Mirai, scaled to accommodate humans. From what little time they'd spent together, the princess wasn't worried about the "captain" and the helm. Reed, however, had proven so volatile that his outbursts alone could wreck whatever goodwill the Council would allot to them.

The six Councilmen entered the chamber and sat down, but it wasn't time yet. General Prower was there too.

"A bit of a shame we have to go through all this formal stuff, Sal," Sonic whispered. "I really wanted to give these guys a little slice of New Mobe."

"There's also all those refugees onboard," she replied. "This morning, Bunnie told me some of them were getting restless and wanted to get off."

"Seriously? With Zeon out there?"

Finally, the bailiff cleared his throat and made the awaited announcement. "All rise for Lady Alicia Acorn."

Everyone stood on their feet as the aged former queen entered the chamber, gracefully and demurely, clad in an ornate dress. Upon reaching the throne, she gave clearance for all to be seated. "Councilmen," she said, "copies of the minutes have been presented to you. If there any changes are required, raise your hands now."

Not so much as a finger went up.

"Very well," said the old Chipmunk, "let us begin. This morning, as you all know, the city faced an attack from a belligerent power. Through the intervention of our guests here, the assault was successfully repulsed. The purpose of this meeting is regard to the identity, goals, and might of the attackers. Would Lieutenant Junior Grade Bright Noa please stand up?"

Bright towered over every Mobian in the chamber. Even though it all seemed goofy, he kept a straight face.

"Lieutenant," said Alicia, "please introduce yourself to Council and tell us everything."

Bright cleared his throat. "I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Bright Noa, Earth Federation Space Forces."

"Earth?" said Rosemary. "That's the old name of Mobius, isn't it?"

"Yes, according to Sonic and the princess," he said. "He claims that the Earth of his time has merged with my era. I'm not sure exactly how."

Sonic's arm went up as soon as Bright had said that. "Yes?" asked Alicia, acknowledging the Hedgehog.

"I can explain," he said. "Team Fighters' operation to find and restore Sally led us to a Death Egg refueling station in the Northern Tundra. After we boarded, Eggman attempted to overwrite reality with a Genesis Wave. It partially backfired. Even though everyone was saved, the Chaos Energy merged the Mobius we know with ancient Earth, and we've landed smack in the middle of a war that makes the Great War look like an argument between an old married couple."

"Is this true, Lieutenant?"

"I'm afraid it is," said Bright. "Though I'm not aware of the scope and toll of your Great War, I am with this one. On January 3, the Principality of Zeon, the outermost collection of space colonies in orbit around the planet, declared a war in the name of separating completely from the rule of the Earth Federation and to become its own country. The first month alone saw the death of half the human species and a treaty banning the usage of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons was signed. Zeon's taken over half the Earth's surface at this point, including this continent. When the merge ended, you found yourselves in the middle of Zeon-controlled land."

"But where did you come from?" asked Penelope Platypus. "You're with the Earth Federation, not the United Federation, which is based on Mobius."

"Our ship, the White Base, departed from our home base in South America about two weeks ago," he said. "We were on a classified mission to Side 7, when we were attacked by Zeon. Much of the original crew was killed and we were forced to recruit mostly underage civilians in order to replace them."

"You're talking space travel?" asked Chuck. "Pretty uncommon outside the UF."

"But what brought you here?" Rosemary asked.

"Well, during re-entry, we got caught up in a fight with a Zeon warship. We had unwittingly deviated from our planned course during the fighting and came down over the West Coast." Bright turned his head to look at Sonic and Sally. "By pure coincidence we ran into the princess and her friends out in the desert. She offered temporary harbor for minor repairs."

"Will all due respect, princess," said Hamlin Pig, "do you believe it to be a particularly wise decision? Robotnik posed as a friend toward the end of the Great War, after all."

"I'm afraid our options are severely limited," said Prower. "Zeon is a military power potentially as powerful as Dark Egg Legion."

"I'd say more, General," Sonic remarked. "During my excursion into the Great Desert, I've seen Zeon's handiwork first hand. Two separate blitzkriegs like the one this morning completely destroyed Sand Blast City and finished off the Legion's Desert Chapter. We've rarely every encountered an enemy with something in its arsenal as big and numerous as Zeon's mobile suits."

"Mobile suits?" asked Dylan Porcupine.

"You know those tall green machines shaped like a person?" asked Mirai. "Those are Zeon's Zakus. They're mass-produced weapons and they've given Zeon the advantage early on in the war."

"I know Zeon and Eggman's guys exchanged shots after the merger," said Sonic, "but things could change. I don't want to imagine what would happen if they joined forces, and we definitely don't have anything that can meet the threat those Zakus of theirs pose to us. We need all the help we can get."

"Our mobile suit program's in its infancy as well," said Bright, "it was never taken seriously until the war went cold."

"I have to admit," said Prower, "even if you're behind Zeon in terms of production, your suits are impressive. Especially that white one."

Bright wasn't going to debate it. If it weren't for the Gundam, things would have been exponentially tougher. "As far as we know," he told him, "Jaburo is as oblivious to the state of the world after the merger you were. As our presence and that of our ship and mobile suits were evidence of these changes, perhaps if we were provided volunteers from your city we would have evidence for them?"

The Councilmen murmured and glanced about each other.

"Where is Jaburo, Lieutenant?" asked Alicia.

"The Amazon, in South America."

"Hold on," said Dylan, "South America… Amazon…"

"Sounds a little like Soumerca and the Shazamazon," said Penelope.

"Seems a number of geographical terms partially survived the eons," said Chuck.

"I would suggest that an envoy to their headquarters could be a worthy venture," said Prower. "I suggest a vote on the issue."

"Very well," said the ex-Queen. "All in favor of the formation of a volunteer corps to Jaburo?"

A "nay" from Hamlin. A "yea" from Penelope. Dylan, "nay". Chuck, "yea". Finally, two "yea" votes from Rosemary and Isabella.

"Then it is settled," said Prower. "The White Base is hereby allotted until 0800 Thursday to assemble the volunteers and make all necessary repairs."

Sonic glanced at the human visitors, especially Reed, now that the vote had passed. He didn't say anything (thankfully), but the look on his face! It was as if someone had served him a platter of roadkill!

A handful of photos of the white thorn-in-the-side lined Garma's table at the restaurant-turned-command-center and 3D wireframe profiles and digital reconstructions filled the screens of several computers. The most recent image to work from was the final frame from Ulmer's doomed battery.

After two battles on Earth, they were beginning to get a grip on the mobile suit's capabilities. Its output was estimated to be three times that of a Zaku. All other systems were improvements on a Zaku as well. The Federation, in its attempts to retake the ground lost in the arms race, seemed to be focusing on making mobile units that could outperform theirs. The MS-06Js seemed to be the benchmark Jaburo was using for its mobile weaponry program.

Garma stroked his hair, in a coolly manner, as he studied all the data. "Char," he said, "why did you have to lead this monster down on top of me?"

"I'm sorry to make you work harder than you expected," said Char.

"Darota," the commissar said, facing the underling to his left, "I'll be calling a strategy meeting for 1900 hours. Make sure the entire staff is there." The lieutenant saluted and left. He turned to Char next. "Char, I'd like you to be there, too."

"Of course," the Comet obliged, "I'd be happy to."

Getting in and out of buildings made for Mobians was proving to be a bit of a hassle for the human visitors. After the emergency meeting, the White Base crew was cleared to enter the city and Sonic, NICOLE, and Sally were quick to be their guides. Unfortunately, Antoine made Tommy Turtle their first stop. The kids had no trouble getting in, but Amuro and Fraw Bow had issues getting under doorframes.

Not a single change had occurred since the Coyote got caught in Metal Sonic's self-destruction. The hardware still showed he was very much alive, though. A somber start.

"So he's Bunnie's husband?" asked Fraw.

Sonic nodded. "The way you see him now? It's why Bunnie ran off in the first place."

"That's awful," said Fraw.

"What about Miss Bunnie?" Katz asked. "What happened to her?"

"She wasn't supposed to run off like that," said Sally. "She's in jail right now. The decision of what to do with her is going to be made tomorrow."

An earsplitting moan shattered the bleak calm of the visit. Sonic poked his head out the room to see a couple of orderlies walking briskly down the corridor. Dr. Quack was heading the same way. "Doc," said Sonic, "what the hell was that?"

"The king," said Quack. "We can't explain it, but he's in some sort of trauma after he collapsed this morning."

The Duck and the Hedgehog went straight to Naugus' private room. The wizard-king writhed and convulsed in his bed, clearly in pain. It was as if as woman was trying to give birth, but had no way of getting the baby out. Not everything coming out of his mouth was a groan or a scream. He would growl things like "Shut up" and "Useless wretches" under his breath. A sedative was swiftly administered to the ill monarch and he fell silent.

"Holy crap! What is that thing?" Amuro and the others had followed Sonic to the room and he didn't know what to make of the ailing warlock.

"King Naugus," said Sonic, "and before you ask, no, I don't know what's got him like that."

"Sayla, how are the patients?" asked Ryu.

"They seem to be doing well, Ryu."

Despite the clearance for the crew to enter the city when off duty, it wasn't really applied to the refugees. Some were still trying to come to grips with the idea of humans not being the only intelligent lifeform on the planet anymore, but others were just too old and weak to do anything.

Sayla didn't have the luxury to go sightseeing, nor did she feel like doing any. Currently, she was placing a damp cloth on the forehead of an old lady, bedridden with fever. With all the old and sick about, she felt she had no right.

Fortunately, Ryu and Hayato were there, giving a hand. They didn't have her training, but they still volunteered.

"It's going to be okay, everybody," she told the room. "This is almost over, so just relax."

Ryu pushed a button on the intercom, patching an audio line straight to the Bridge. "Mirai, this is Ryu in Room 107. Everything's okay."

"Roger. Yamada and Hunter will relieve you. Go get some rest."

"Well, Hayato, you want to go see the new city?"

"I'll do anything once, I suppose," his partner in crime replied. "Coming with, Sayla?"

"No thanks."

They left her behind to her duties, not noticing the glare of one old man in the room who heard every word.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

At this point, SonicEvan has left his role as a consultant due to the growing scope of it all. If you are reading this, your input has been most appreciated and I wish you the best.

The Council meetings have always been a tough bit for me, here, I hope it works. What happens next with Bunnie is something I'm still debating... alongside Grant, the Zeon POW the SFF captured.