The full moon lit up the mechanincal city of Robotropolis, and the presence of the light made the shadows even darker. Hiding amongst the shadows were the Freedom Fighters. Sally Acorn the Chipmunk, the princess of Mobius, who was the rightful ruler of the land, lead the group. It was a small group, there was Sir Charles the Hedgehog, an honored knight and scientist of Sally's father, Maximilian Acorn. Charles was always nicknamed Chuck by his closest friends. There was also Bunnie Rabbot, a cybernetic rabbit who was left on the palace steps, she and Sally were inseparable. Antoine the Coyete, who was the son of the King's general. Finally, there was Rotor the Walrus, a runaway from another kingdom.
Sally lead her group of Freedom Fighters through the city, finally ending up at a truck parked in an alleyway, guarded by eight foot tall robots. "Guys, this is where Robotnik is keeping those resistors." Sally said. "I still can't believe it's been five years since he took over." Bunnie sighed. Chuck put his arm around her. "We'll get him, it'll be a while, but we will." Sally turned to look at the group. "Sally." Rotor whispered to Sally. She looked at him. "I still that we should have tested the new frequency disruption grenades." Rotor fretted. "We still don't know if they'll work." Sally put her hand on his shoulder "They were made by you and Chuck. How could they not work?" She asked. Chuck walked closer to Sally. "I agree, the grenades aren't ready." Sally looked up at him. "Everyday Robotnik robotisizes a dozen kids, kids just like the ones in that truck. He gets more robots, more factories, and more resources. We have to take risks." Sally picked up a frequency disruption grenade and threw it at the robots.
The robots became as stiff as boards, and fell over. "See, it's fine." Sally said as she beckoned her group forward. "Whatever you say, Sally girl." Bunnie said, looking from left to right. Antoine shook with fear, "Can we please be hurrying? I wish to be no where nearing this place." he said with a French accent. Bunnie used her cybernetic arm to tear off the truck's locked door. Inside of the truck was a fox, a armadillo, and a flying squirrel. "Come with us." Rotor told them. The armadillo stared at them in amazement. "Uho are you guys?" "We're the Freedom Fighters." Sally said. Suddenly, Antoine shrieked, and jumped into Rotor's arms. "Hey girl, we got an issue!" Bunnie yelled as she used her mechanical arm to backhand S.W.A.T Bot in the face.
"Run!" Sally shouted as she ran, the group followed her. Rotor tried to throw another frequency disruption grenade, but the robots had learned how to dodge it entirely. The S.W.A.T Bots began to open fire on them. Soon, Charles was shot in the arm, and the fox was shot in the leg. "Argh!" Sally heard the fox cry. Sally ran back, but the fox waved her off. "Just leave me!" she said. Sally was stunned. "But-!" she began, the the fox interrupted her. "Just go! I'll only slow you down any how!" the fox yelled. "Come on, Sally." Charles said as he held her shoulder. Sally took Chuck's hand and together they ran behind the group. One of the S.W.A.T bots took aim at the ceiling above Sally and Chuck, and fired. Chuck noticing the falling debris, pushed Sally away, letting the wreckage fall on him alone.
"Chuck!" Sally cried. Her voice not sounding like her own anymore, it sounded hoarse. She attempted to lift the debris off Chuck. She couldn't lose him too. From inside the wreckage, Sally could hear Chuck's voice. "Sally, you need to go." he said faintly. "I can't! I can't leave you too!" Sally screamed. Charles coughed, then resumed. "The Freedom Fighters need a leader, more than you need an old fart like me." His voice seemed so certain. Sally shook her head "Some leader I am, I lost one of our hostages, and you and-!" Chuck shook his head. "He chose to leave, he wanted to know about his past. You will make a fantastic leader Sally, all you need to do, is listen to the others."
Sally froze. He was right, she hadn't listened. It wasn't because she thought herself superior to everyone. No, it was because she was scared. The last time she listened to someone, she lost her best friend. She never wanted to go through that again. "I'll come back to rescue you," Sally promised the elder hedgehog. There was no reply. Sally realized what happened, she felt like she couldn't move. But she had to, she had to lead the Freedom Fighters, she needed to stop Robotnik. Sally bolted out into the city, she ran to their meeting place in the woods. Everyone was there "Where's Chuck and that fox?" Bunnie asked. Sally felt her heart drop, she shook her head slowly. "I'll explain at Knotthole." The group walked in silence, Sally opened the secret passage to Knotthole village, which had been Chuck private camping grounds before Robotnik took over. Now they remained as one of the only natural areas of all Mobius.
They all gathered at the bonfire pit, where Sally recounted what had happened in that dark alley. "Oh my stars." Bunnie said softly after Sally had finished. "I'm sorry, I was a terrible leader. I failed all of you. I wanted to take Robotnik down, and I was scared. After what to Sonic, because I listened to him, and how he died, I didn't want listen to Rotor or Chuck." Sally looked down at her feet. She couldn't look at any of them. Suddenly, she felt someone hugging her. It was Antione, he was shortly joined by Bunnie, Rotor the armadillo, and the flying squirrel. "All we can ask is that we all learn from our mistakes." Rotor said. "Thank you Rotor." Sally said gratefully, tears forming at her blood shot eyes. "We'd better get these two inside their cabin for the night." Bunnie said. "Rotor, Antoine, you two take Sally girl to bed." Bunnie instructed. The armadillo looked confused "Cabins?" Rotor looked over "Yeah, if you wanted to stay." he said. "What my companions are meaning to be saying is, where else would you be going to?" Antione explained. The armadillo nodded. "I'll show them where to go." Bunnie said as Rotor and Antione lead Sally to her cabin. "Is it alright if I ask, who was Sonic?" The flying squirrel asked. The armadillo sighed "Ray, you don't just-!" Bunnie touched the armadillo's shoulder. "It's all right." she reassured him. "Sonic was the nephew of Chuck, that hedgehog who gave his life for you. He was one of our bravest Freedom Fighters, but he didn't know about his past. He knew his mother was out there somewhere, but didn't know where."
They walked past an empty cabin. "That there was his cabin." Bunnie continued. "Sonic would always ask his uncle about his mother and father, and Chuck would always avoid the question. But one day, Chuck told Sonic about an island that had meant a lot to his mom. He told Sonic to sail there." Bunnie opened the cabin next to Sonic's, the three of them walked in. "Sally had of course asked Sonic not to go, but Sonic and Chuck convinced her. Last thing we heard was that Sonic ship had sunk, and Sonic, he couldn't swim." The rabbit lowered her head with grief. The armadillo put his arm around her. "I'm so sorry to hear about that. Fiona, the fox who, didn't make it, she was a friend of ours." There was an expression of pain on his face. "If, there's anything I can do, just come talk to me. My name is Mighty, and this is Ray." Bunnie shook both their hands, "Name is Bunnie." They wished each other good night, and Bunnie went to go check on Sally.
Meanwhile, at the dock of Robotropolis, a ship had just ported in. It was an old run down ship, and the captain was an elderly raccon. "All right laddies, unload our load!" The captain commanded his crew. "Oh, and bring our pasanger to me." The passenger walked over to the captain, holding a bag of gold rings. "You owe me 35 mobiums." the old raccoon said. The young passenger handed over 35 rings and bolted off in a blue streak. The young traveler had been none other but Sonic the Hedgehog. It had been two years since he had seen Robotropolis, and it remained the filthy technology themed city of had been since as long as he could remember. But now that he was back, he was going to fix that.