"Where are you hiding out, Knuckles…?"

Sonic crouched on a ledge over the sewers, breathing through his gas mask. He scanned the sewage, green eyes narrowed, looking for anything that might lead him to the Echidna.

The sewers of Robotropolis were no picnic. Toxic chemicals ran in trickles through the cement tunnels so that they would trail out into the forest and seep into their water. Besides the chemicals, there was garbage from the pre-robot days, sometimes dung if they were close to a factory run by live Mobian slaves, and sometimes—

Sonic pushed forward on the balls of his red sneakers. A gray-white lump lay half buried in the waste.

And every now and then, there was a body.

He whipped out his protective shoe-and-leg covers. He couldn't run as fast in them, but he had to have them if he was going to wade through that poison. He slid down the side of the wall, landing feet first in a pool of some blue, oily substance that steamed and boiled. He scrambled across the sewage towards the gray lump.

"Psst!" he hissed, gritting his teeth.

Who was he kidding, nine out of ten times they were already dead.

Sonic leaned over the lump, snatched it with his gloves and turned it over.

It had once been a Mobian sea lion. He could tell that easily enough by the thick neck and its big bones. Its fur was stained dark blue and black from the chemicals, its face almost entirely eaten away. His ribs showed through his fur, starved. From the size, at least a young adult, maybe even around his age…

The hedgehog waited for a second, his gaze darting over the unstained white-gray fur. Its Mobium energy had been extracted from him. Probably just earlier that day.

Sonic scowled hard, his green eyes burning. He eased the body back down and stood up, fists clenched.

He stood in the darkness of the sewers, listening to the trickle of the chemicals and watching a thin beam of light play over the water. Shadows darkened his green eyes, masking the anger coursing through them.

If Robotnik was going to kill people, couldn't he at least bury the bodies instead of dumping them in a place like this?

Sonic bent his head and marched forward a couple paces.

But then the body wheezed.

Sonic whipped around and dove to his knees. He scooped the sea lion back up and charged up the side of the wall to the safety of the ledge. He set down the sea lion and stared harder at the body, looking for any signs of life he could have missed. The sea lion's rib cage seemed to shudder, and then came the wheeze.

Sonic smiled.

He snapped his fingers, scooting closer to the sea lion. "Well, didn't you pick the right day to die? Good for you, kiddo, I just happen to have one of these left-" Sonic tugged out his last ring from his tunic pocket, barely the size of a radish, and glared at it.

Last one. A healing ring.

Sonic wrapped the sea lion's raw hand around it. The ring hummed, glowing between the sea lion's fingers. A few hairs on his fingers began to grow back, but the color was still white-gray.

"C'mon…" Sonic waited, drumming his hand on the floor from his crouched position.

This was a big job. The ring was working, but it'd need time, and lots of it.

Sonic tapped his foot against the floor in thought, twenty taps in a second. He couldn't leave a living Mobian down here. But he couldn't just quit on looking for Knuckles either.

The sea lion's swollen eyelids cracked open a slit, revealing grey, filmy eyes.

Sonic stopped tapping, and leaned over the sea lion.

The ring must be working faster than he thought.

The sea lion's next wheeze came out as a word. "Who—wh-?"

"Woah, don't try to say anything," Sonic warned, hands outstretched. "You're gonna kill yourself-"

"Who are you?" the sea lion wheezed.

"Name's Sonic, now shut it already," Sonic hissed, twisting the corner of his mouth into a grimace. "We're gonna try fixing you up, but I've gotta warn you, it doesn't look good." Sonic began taking off his leg and shoe covers.

"S-Sonic…" the sea lion' eyes went blank for a moment. Then they snapped back into focus. "I…know…remember…he said you…thought—you…you were…," he choked. "Slave."

Sonic jolted upright and he turned his head to face the sea lion, glaring hard. His eyes sparked with mock inquiry, "Huh, did you? Well, I wonder who spread around that little juicy piece of rot," his voice turned hard. "I'm not."

He didn't care what he was. Let Robotnik snatch at him and own as much of his life as the truce allowed him to, but he would never be a real slave again. He would never stop fighting.

"The echidna." The sea lion closed his eyes again. "The Echidna…he knew you…"

Sonic's ears perked up and froze.

"Red…echidna…v-very-strong…?" the sea lion coughed and his body shuddered.

Knuckles.

Sonic snatched the sea lion's raw shoulders, steadying him. "Say what?"

The sea lion wheezed, regaining his breath. He was trying hard to keep talking. "The Doctor has… taken… the relic… the echidna…" he cut off.

"I am going to find him and I will get him out," Sonic said, his voice firm. "Where is the echidna?"

The sea lion opened his eyes again, wider, as if in shock. "Wha—where…you will get him? Yes—out of the lab—get him…out of the…the lab…" He stopped, wheezing harder again, his eyes rolling in their sockets.

Sonic whipped out his walkie talkie from his tunic belt, his bright eyes fixed on the sewer drains above. "Bunnie. Tails."

Static, then Bunnie came in. "Sa'nic?"

"You okay, Sonic?" Tails burst out over the walkie talkie.

Sonic let himself ease back against the cement wall. He crossed his ankles. "I have a lead on Knuckles. I've got a live one here, and he said something about Knuckles and a lab."

"Well, that's providence for ya," Bunnie said. "Of all things-"

Sonic gripped the back of his neck. "Bad news is the source of the news is mostly dead. Before I found him, he wasn't going to stick around much longer. Half his face is gone, probably some internal mess, and then who know how long he's been drinking sewer poison. I've got a ring on him, but I can't just leave him here."

"I'll stay with him, suga', sounds like I'm in the wrong tunnels anyway," Bunnie said. "You take him back to the red oven tunnel, an' I'll see what I can do for the fella'. I brought ma first aid kit."

"Ah…" Sonic glanced down at the sea lion. "You're gonna need a first aid trunk."

"Sonic, where are you?" Tails hissed.

"I'd say a couple miles in, west tunnels," Sonic smirked. "Tails and I will keep looking for Knuckles. Over n' out," Sonic clicked off the walkie talkie and crouched back over the body. "Hang in there, man, you've got back-up now."

Sonic's scooped up the sea lion, keeping a grasp on the ring, and stood up. He huffed with exertion, adjusting his hold and paused on the edge of the ledge.

Then he let himself fall over the side, blasting into a run. The momentum of his speed carried him across the sewer walls. He speed up as he ran across the ceiling, upside down, a blue blur streaking through the darkness.


"You know-" Robotnik said. "With all these new developments, I'm really growing short on Mobium energy."

The blood of every Mobian in the assembly ran cold.

Robotnik shook his head to himself, the metal hinges in his neck clicking softly. "The rings the hedgehog brings me every month as your people's tribute-well, they cover the energy requirements for my Roboticizer, but as for the rest of the city…I've had to go to other means to collect energy lately."

The princess bent her head, staring at her salad plate, several locks of her auburn hair falling into her face. She closed her eyes, suppressing the shiver that ran through her. She clutched the edge of her seat to steady herself.

He'd been going to other means for a long time. Robotnik needed the highest energy source he could find to fuel his city…and his roboticizer. That energy source happened to be Mobium, and Mobium was found in two places—in their legendary Mobium rings, and in their own bodies. Mobium was their lifeblood.

Who knew just how many of her people Robotnik had threatened and cheated and captured into his factories. How many of them had died on the Mobium extractor, their Mobium energy sucked from their bodies to run his city?

"Are you saying…the Ignitium spring beneath Robotropolis, has dried up?" the Queen ventured to ask.

"Yes, long ago, dearie. I was thinking…" Robotnik sighed. "I value efficiency, and having the Ringwielder go out every month and find the rings over and over again, just to bring them to me—it's an awful waste of energy and time. But I'm a scientist, and I've often thought…if I could just have a little time with your Ringwielder. Run a few tests, you understand…I'm sure I could discover how the rings work, how to activate them, and use them myself. Then I could find the rings myself and take what I needed…"

The princess's head shot up, her blue eyes wide.

He would kill him.

She spun to face the Queen, trying to meet her mother's gaze. The queen frowned, the lines in her forehead creased in thought.

She looked to the council, studying their blank, downturned faces. Her breathing accelerated.

"Of course, as the People's Council, you would have to give your approval…" Robotnik said. He circled the point of his metal finger over the rim of his glass cup, chipping it.

A murmur ran through the assembly and the princess stared at him in horror.

"That…would be a diversion from our current truce terms," Lady Melwain, a Mobian cheetah with dark eye-liner said.

"Yes…" the Queen lifted her head, her voice soft.

The princess gripped the edge of the table, watching her mother.

The queen continued. "When we made our truce with you, you agreed to pardon the Ringwielder of all the previous crimes he had committed against you and Robotropolis. You could not remove him from Capitol Aero by force, and you could not harm him. In return, we ordered him to obey you in the matter of the rings and put him into your service."

Robotnik waited, clenching his hinged fist.

"The Ringwielder is a valuable asset," the Queen said, "Not only to the royal family, but also to the planet. His talents are unique only to him and will be until his death."

Robotnik hmm-ed under his breath. "One never knows how far one must go in the name of science…especially for a cause like mine—the improvement of all world orders. The nature of the rings and their energy is a key in my quest…I do not know just how far I would have to dig if I undertook such an experiment. So. Say…perhaps he dies. A new Ringwielder would arise at once in his place. For your people. I hear that's how it usually works."

No one said a word.

"Everyone is pleased." Robotnik finished. "And I won't have to resort to other measures to remedy my energy crisis."

Lady Melwain spoke again. "It would be a shame for any so young… but, honestly, if he is half a Ringwielder, he would gladly serve our people in any way he could."

Even in death.

The princess sat, her eyes blank with shock and her jaw clenched.

She had never believed it would come to this. Never.

She did not care just how much Sonic drove her nuts. She downright hated him sometimes. But still—they were friends—and he was brave, and stupid.

And she-

He was her subject.

She was his princess.

And she needed his gifts. They all did. Everything they had worked for would collapse otherwise. For the sake of the entire planet, he could not die.

But even disregarding practicality! Did her council have any heart left at all? It was bad enough Robotnik controlled Sonic's life. That he should be further sacrificed on the platter of peace—a false peace—it was shameful.

After all, no one could just "figure out" the rings and every Mobian knew that. The same Great Creator that had created the Mobian race had created the rings and their power, and that same Person still worked through them. Even Sonic could only use the rings as long as he'd been given the gift, and he could only use the rings in certain ways. Had this human monster honestly threatened the members of the council enough that they would "pretend" he could somehow accomplish this thing?

Again angry tears threatened to blur her vision and the princess glared at the table, blinking hard.

"You know, the People's Council is all here, come to think of it," Robotnik finally said. "Why not save the time for the meeting tomorrow to discuss more pressing issues—take a simple vote tonight. I can pick up the hedgehog tomorrow when he brings me his rings." Robotnik's red laser pupils seemed to brighten. "After all, I seem to sense a general consensus…"

The assembly remained silent.

"Yes, well..." Lord Further said, hesitating.

The princess's eyes went round with rage.

Her father never would have watched this. And she was his daughter, so neither should she.

She jerked up straight in her seat and began to open her mouth.

The Queen's gaze met hers. She shook her head.

The princess stared at her mother, choking. She pinched her mouth shut, twisting her lilps into a scowl.

"-Someone else would be a better Ringwielder anyway," muttered Lady Melwain. "One who was older, and not a New Mobian." She caught herself, then glanced at Robotnik. "No offense, Doctor, of course. I understand that New Mobius is now Robotropolis…a New Mobian and a Robian are different classes entirely…" she cleared her throat. "I would not object to calling a vote now."

The princess raised her eyebrows.

It did not matter.

She did not mean to stand up. One second she was seated, stiff as a rail, the next her hands were braced against the edge of the table as she rose to her feet.


Updated, 1/12/2019

4/16/17

Hello, Fanfiction readers! Well, it took me forever, but I've actually finished this whole first episode and I'm just in the editing and uploading process right now. Stay tuned for updates!

As for this chapter... Kudos to the first person who can guess who the walrus is! ;-D Lady Melwain and Lord Further are original characters-I just didn't have enough canon characters to fill in the whole People's Council...besides I needed people I could easily...well...*coughcough* You'll see.

So, we're getting more into the backstory here and there's ALOT of it. So, again, if you have any questions you need to ask, feel free to ask! I don't want anyone to get confused. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Keep fighting,

~Connie