It was night. The winds whistled down on the blue hedgehog and fox crouching low to the ground. They had smeared dirt through their fur and over their faces to disguise their Mobian colors, and their eyes shone bright and sharp. They stared out through the trees at the line of carts beyond.

"…It never ends." Tails looked sick.

Sonic leaned forward, hissing. "This is nuthin', Tails, you shoulda seen it from the lookout."

The two stared. Tails' eyes flickered.

"That's…that's…a lot," Tails repeated.

Sonic gave a short nod.

The fear crashed through Tails' eyes. He shuddered, clenching his jaw hard. "There's no way—"

"Hey," Sonic snapped. "When I need an evaluation from the peanut gallery, I'll ask for it, okay? Robotnik's had the Capitol for—what—a day?—and you're already talking like we're done for-?"

Tails glanced at Sonic knowingly. "Aren't we?" he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?' Sonic hissed.

Tails frowned. "Do you have any rings left?' he asked.

"Down, Tails!" Sonic pushed Tails' head down against the ground. A squad of combots marched within sight.

The two remained frozen in place. Tails closed his eyes and fisted his hands as the combots passed, their hinges clicking in rhythm.

Sonic and Tails waited until the sound had faded. They dared to raise their heads.

"Their heat sensors must not reach this far," Tails whispered.

Sonic stared at the carts.

"C'mon…" Sonic smirked. He began to climb to his feet. "You get a look at those carts. I'll knock a couple combots around." Something flickered in his eyes. Something like the look of a caged animal that had just been set loose.

"O-Okay." Tails nodded hard, trying to look ready. He pulled himself up, extending his fist to Sonic.

Sonic shot his hand out in response.

Bop, top, swack, side, clasp, down, thumbs-up

"Go get 'em!" Tails hissed, scowling at the combots and carts. "You don't have any rings do you?"

"You didn't see any on the way over, didja?" The look in Sonic's eyes had flared back. This time no one could have mistaken it. There was no stopping him now.

The hedgehog smiled as he stood up to his feet, popping his knuckles. "Besides…I'm not gonna need them." He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders. "Oh boy, have I earned this…"


In the dead of night, a spikey blue teenage hedgehog cannonballed out of the forest into the line combots—

He rammed the first robot he hit back into a tree.

The blue ball unrolled, catapulting onto his feet. Sonic perched on the combot's chest, stuck two gloved fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, sharp whistle.

"Yo, Robotnik, look who's still up and kickin'?" Sonic shouted at the top of his lungs and kicked into the downed combot's sensory panel, where the camera would be. His red sneakers flashed as he whipped around and shot into the face of the next combot.

"And you know what?" Sonic belted out, swinging over the combot's chest. "You better watch your back because I'm out of the box, and I'm gonna run!"

He hit the ground and skidded into a third combot. He jumped onto its panel, throwing his arms out. "What, you think you can just walk in and tear down cities like you own the place, huh? Well maybe you could once, but you've got something to think about now, big guy-I'm gonna run and find you and you'll see just what sorta freak you had tied up in front of you every month! You're out of cards this time, Robo, I'm loose, and you took my planet, and you're done!"

Sonic ran. Though the combots, around them, off of them, dodging the bullets. He laughed, his eyes flashing in the midst of his Speed.

"My planet's gonna be free, Robotnik!" he shouted. "You hear me? My planet and every Mobian on it 'sgonna be free!"

The combot blasters hummed and their unison signals chirped. Every combot within a three mile radius knew Sonic was there and he had just become their one and only target.

Tails shot out from the forest, a little orange streak. He hit the ground, rolling beneath the nearest cart and scrambling free of the wheels. He grunted and pulled himself onto the side of the cart, looking for something that would show how to open it. At the head of the cart, there was a panel—some sort of padlock.

Tails took one look at it and huffed.

It required a combot's authentication code to unlock it and the only way he could get that was through a combot's hand. All their palms were embedded with code.

Tails whipped out his walkie talkie—he and Sonic had taken them from the backpack before heading out.

"Sonic, I need a combot to open this thing," Tails hissed.

Tails' voice cracked through on the walkie talkie strapped into Sonic's tunic. Sonic held the button down as he whirled about, then slid into a combot's leg. "Pfft, no sweat! Time me!"

Sonic laughed as the combot fell to its face. He leapt onto its back. "Aw, sorry, big guy, did you slip on a hedgehog?"