Morning came. What a nightmare. The dream felt almost real. Tangible, it could be touched and felt. Tell the others; maybe they'll be as fascinated by the dream as you were.
"That was no dream."
That was no dream.
The world is gone.
Morning came. Knothole lived again. Sonic still lay in his refuge. Suddenly the shelter was ablaze, and Sonic was evicted. He sat up startled, started from his blazing sleep. He realized quickly that the assembly had already started, and rushed toward the hall.
As expected, the assembly was already in session. As Sonic entered the room, the collective gaze turned to meet him. They spoke not, but it was implied that an answer to their stares was expected. So, it came. "Sorry I'm late." With the response fulfilled, the collective eyes turned back to meet the speaker. Sonic was seated.
The speaker was Rotor. As such, Rotor spoke, shifting his eyes back from the entrance to the collective.
"We are prepared to embark. Suspicious activity on the Floating Island beckons for our presence. Sonic, Tails, Sally, Antoine, and any civilian who wishes to volunteer will depart on the Tornado XL in three hours."
There was a voice. "Ah volunteer!" It was Bunnie.
"I said civilian volunteers, Bunnie. You are needed to maintain correspondence with Uncle Chuck regarding the operation. I have work I must attend to."
"Aw, fine."
From the back of the room, there was another voice.
"Well, I'll volunteer."
Again the collective gaze turned to meet the speaker.
The speaker was Caero.
Sonic didn't turn his gaze with the collective immediately. A few beats. And then his gaze turned as well, to meet the object of the collective gaze.
Sonic was justifiably surprised.
"Hey—"
Caero cut him off. "This doesn't mean I've decided to stay here, but if you want my help I'll join you on your mission."
Rotor nodded. "You have my permission unless anyone objects." No one did.
"All right, then. Any civilians who decide between now and an hour before noon that they'd like to volunteer are welcome to show up at the airstrip for departure. Sonic, Tails, Sally, and Antoine – and Caero, don't forget. Three hours, airstrip. Assembly is now open."
Rotor stepped down.
It was an hour until noon.
Antoine arrived at the airstrip, completing the enlisted group. Tails, from the foot of the Tornado XL, a much larger airplane than the Tornado designed to seat many more, spoke. "That's everyone, right? Then hop on in and we'll be off!"
The crew started filing in. Sally had just stepped on board when an indistinct sound drew everyone's attention, and turned their gaze clean around. The sound repeated, and drew nearer, and now you could see a figure become distinguishable and it was running closer. Now the words came closer and you could start to wrap your mind around them; now they could be made out. "Wait! Wait!" Pause, and then the words came again. The figure was slowly unfogged, and became clearer as it came closer; its details slowly emerged from the fog, and then it was near. The figure, a wolf, now reached the crew and stopped, bending down to catch his breath, for it had run the other way from him. He was of medium build, probably in his late twenties, his fur a light grey with streaks of darker fur.
After heaving for some moments, the wolf straightened his posture again, looked up, and extended his hand. "I'm Laine; decided to volunteer."
Sonic brushed past the crew to answer Laine's gesture, shaking his hand, and forgiving Laine's apology for being late.
They boarded.
The XL Tornado lifted off, into the cerulean welkin and the expansive azure.
The radio buzzed. Sally reached over to turn up the volume, and the casual conversation among the group subsided to listen.
"Y'all, it's Bunnie! Are y'all there?"
Sally depressed a button on the side of the radio. "We're here, Bunnie. Hearing you loud and clear."
"Ah'm just reportin' news from Uncle Chuck."
A pause.
"He says he's noticed the bots actin' strange. Says it looks like they's lookin' foh somethin'. Scouting 'round; splittin' intah patrols. He doesn't know what tah make of it, though."
A pause.
"Oh, an' he noticed an alert was posted. A patrol ship on the Floatin' Island was stolen. Maybe they's lookin' for that."
Another pause.
Sally depressed the button. "I don't know what to make of it either, for certain, but thanks for keeping us posted, Bunnie."
"The pleasure is mine, Sally-girl."
Static.
Tails turned around in the pilot's seat, looking over its shoulder.
"We should be arriving on the Floating Island within a few minutes. Prepare for landing."
The sky was clear, perfect, serene. A bird pierced the perfect blue. A flock of five followed, then scattered, darting in all directions. The Tornado cut into the perfect blue, its propellers creating the effects of its namesake, the foliage on the trees below the sky's violated perfect blue now convulsing, cowering away from the newcomer. It landed, the propellers abruptly turned in reverse and then stopped, and the trees relaxed their apprehension, leaning back in toward the plane.
The hatch opened; the crew disembarked.
Sonic was first out, and, looking around, he remarked, "I don't see anyone."
Next out was Sally. She pointed. "That looks like it could be an encampment over there."
Next out was Laine. He peered. "I see movement over there. Pretty distant, though."
Sally pulled out Nicole[1] and flipped her open. "Nicole, can you tell us what's located in that encampment?"
"Processing, Sally."
"There appear to be about three SWATbots patrolling the area."
"Think they can see us?"
"If they could, it'd probably be too late now to do anything about it. And if they did see us, they'd probably already be coming this way."
Laine peered again. "Still movement, but it doesn't look to be coming any closer."
Tails looked up, and quickly uttered, "sssssshhhhhh…"
A Robotnik-made patrol ship flied overhead. Everyone was silent.
"This was being much close, non?" Antoine said shakily.
"I don't think it saw us."
Sonic turned back to the group. "Should we follow it?"
"Nicole, can you gather its destination?"
"Negative.
"Using its current trajectory, however, I can predict a line of travel across the island."
A holograph display of the Floating Island appeared, and a line of trajectory was slowly drawn across it.
Sonic cut in. "Yo, Nicole, where are the Emeralds kept?"
A beacon lit up in the holograph. "The Chaos chamber is here, Sonic."
The beacon was not on the line of trajectory.
Sally commented. "Well, it looks like it's not heading there; at least not now."
"Well, I'm gonna try an' follow it, then, before it gets too far away," Sonic said, donning a wristband. "Nicole, track me. You dudes catch up with me later."
"Affirmative, Sonic. Tracking wristband signal now."
"It's Sonic time!"
And he was off.
"He's always like that, isn't he?" Caero spoke.
Tails chuckled.
"Un jour, his recklishness is to be catching up to him."
"Hey, you guys up to kicking some robot ass? The computer – Nicole – said there were only three, right? We can take 'em," Caero suggested with a grin.
"Sacre bleu; you are just like him. Insouciant," snapped Antoine.
"Well…" Sally said apprehensively.
"I could use some practice," said Laine.
"I'm up for it!" chirped Tails.
Antoine sighed.
Sally closed Nicole and the crew headed out into the wide open space ahead of them. The clouds came from nowhere and invaded the once-perfect blue.
The airborne shell for the empty head moved forward. Behind it, Sonic followed, trying to keep in the foliage so as not to be seen. He had been following the patrol ship for a while now, and finally he could see something in the distance.
This whole time following the airship, the horizon had yielded only nature.
Now there was not just a change. There was a usurping. There was an army of robots, a huge encampment. Crude structures dotted the horizon. It didn't matter where the ship was going now. Sonic now knew his destination.
The band approached the small encampment, now just outside, hidden under the canopies. There was a tent, and two SWATbots guarded the entrance.
"I'm ready."
"Ready for what, mon ami?"
"We don't need a plan. Just draw your sword, buddy. Now."
Laine charged.
Caero followed him.
Next Tails, then Sally, and finally Antoine, sword drawn, jumped from cover. The SWATbots were immediately alerted and tried to acquire a target.
Laine forced himself into one of the guards, pushing his full weight onto it. The SWATbot fell to the ground. Caero leaped at it, falling onto the fallen guard, crushing it. He tore its arm from its socket and lobbed it off into the air.
Antoine raised his blade and thrust it into the second guard. It went clean through. For a second, the guard was paralyzed, and then it advanced again. Tails was above it, lifting it into the air, though not very high; it was a struggle for Tails, but the guard was disoriented and was felled by Caero. Antoine plunged his blade into the metal again, and Caero's foot severed its head from its body, and in the same instant, Caero felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.
He turned to face his attacker, and saw another SWATbot exiting the tent, weapon raised. It fired again, and in the same moment Sally was behind it, felling it, jarring its attack from its course.
Now Sally was felled, as a fourth SWATbot came out of the tent, and Sally was between it and the robot she had felled. Antoine rushed to defend her, impaling the fourth robot. The third, from the ground, knocked Antoine to the ground; his blade slipped from his hand, and he was on the ground, his blade still in the robot's chest. Tails now had Laine in tow; he didn't have to go very far, as Laine fell from the sky and crushed the third robot beneath him. Caero, one shoulder still stinging, swung his other arm at the fourth robot, sending it to the ground. He pulled Antoine's sword from it and plunged it back in again, at a different spot. He pulled it out and plunged it in. Again. And then it stopped convulsing; Caero pulled it out and tossed it to the ground. Antoine pulled himself to his feet, helped Sally to hers, and picked up his sword.
Laine smirked. "See? Piece of cake."
Antoine rolled his eyes.
Sally pulled back the curtain that covered the entrance to the tent, and peered inside. Then, she parted the curtain and entered, the curtain falling back into place behind her. After a few moments, Tails also scampered inside the tent.
Inside, Sally was standing, her head pivoting around and her eyes searching, but her feet clutching the ground. Gradually, the rest of the crew began to join Sally and Tails in the tent. Sally spotted a computer panel, and her feet let go. Spotting an interface, she pulled out Nicole. Interfacing Nicole with the equipment, she made her direction. "Download all data regarding Robotnik's operations on the Floating Island."
"Downloading, Sally."
They waited.
Sonic ducked behind a makeshift structure with a low roof, clinging to the outside wall, as a patrol marched past him. He was impatient. He had succeeded; he had found what appeared to be the makeshift base of operations, but now he had to wait for everyone else to catch up. He didn't think Sally would be so forgiving if he were to go and start a fight before she arrived. So he waited. If he had a plan, he'd probably grow tired of waiting and just get started, but as it were, he'd have to wait for someone else to give him an idea. He didn't even know what he was looking for. Damn. He hadn't thought to bring a radio. He'd just have to wait for them to follow the proverbial bread crumbs his wristband had left for Nicole. He peered discreetly around the corner, and, seeing the coast was clear, ducked into the shadows to wait to be found. To be found hopefully by Sally before a SWATbot.
"Download complete."
Sally disconnected Nicole from the terminal.
They had accomplished something, apparently, but Laine couldn't visualize the big picture in his head. "Now what?"
"Well, with that out of the way, Nicole, can you lead us to Sonic?"
The holographic image of the island again appeared. A few moments later, a flashing beacon appeared.
"The beacon is Sonic's location."
"And—" Sally was cut off.
"And you are located at this point." Another beacon appeared. "The quickest route by foot, by my calculations, according my knowledge of the island's topology, is here." A vector illuminated, and was then cropped to form a segment, the two flashing beacons its endpoints.
"You've got all the answers, Nicole."
They followed the prescription.
"Nicole, have you been able to interpret any of the data you downloaded?"
She pushed a branch aside and continued walking. The crew was following her lead, and she following the path glowing in Nicole's projection.
"Much of the data I downloaded was beyond the terminal's security clearance, and is heavily encrypted. However, from the data that the terminal was cleared to access and decrypt, I have been able to make a few inferences.
"Sonic is at the center, or what the reports call the 'Gathering.' Most units report there for assignments or communal with Robotnik. In addition, the Gathering houses the majority of Robotnik's equipment set up on the island, and is as such heavily guarded. While not disclosed in the data I have analyzed, I infer that it is possible we may be able to find a terminal there that has clearance to decrypt the classified data I was unable to read.
"In addition, I have determined that the airship that was stolen was taken by an echidna, male, known only as Knuckles. He is a descendent of the House of Edmund, whose role for generations has been to guard the island and its sacred emeralds, which keep it afloat in the air. The echidna is accompanied by a number of others, but their names and histories are not disclosed in the document.
"Patrols are indeed, as suggested, searching for the echidna and his companions."
"Do you know what the patrols' orders are?" She stepped over a high root, and continued forward.
"Their orders are only to search the island and report their findings, taking hostage any enemies of the reign they encounter. They are to take the echidna alive.
"It also says to expect retaliation."
"What vague orders," commented Caero.
"Indeed," agreed Laine, ducking under a branch.
"Maybe the echidna can help us," said Tails cheerfully.
"If Robotnik is not finding him, zee etchidna, mon ami, what is making you think we can be finding him?" was Antoine's tentative reply.
"It's worth a try," said Tails dejectedly with hesitation.
"I do wonder if Sonique is being to do anything stoo-pid."
"Sonic's location hasn't changed in the last ten minutes," Nicole said.
"We're almost there," said Sally.
And they were. They could see the infestation now on the horizon.
"There is being so many of them. Zut allors, so very very many of them. It is being suisid`e!"
Sonic heard a noise, and was startled; he had almost fallen asleep. Now he turned around to confront the source of the sound. He saw nothing. He turned back around, hesitantly. Must have been nothing.
And then a hand clasped Sonic's mouth, silencing him. "Sssshhhhhhhhh; don't speak."
That was Sally's voice.
"Don't speak too loudly; they'll hear us."
"Nicole."
"Yes, Sally?"
"Do you have a map of this encampment?"
"Negative. The Gathering was only recently deployed. The map has not yet been compiled."
"What's the plan?" Sonic asked, impatient.
"We are to be going back and are to be telling zee Auncle Char`ells zat which we are seeing."
Sonic was quick to retort. "Shut up, Ant."
The gray, metallic walls were barren, devoid of all. Opposite them were the many eyes, the omniverant eye of a king of dust. The door rattled open, and the short Snively stepped into the room.
"Sire," came his nasal voice.
Lord Robotnik swiveled his chair to face his nephew.
"I've finished tracking down the location of the stolen airship, your lordship."
"Excellent, excellent. Dispatch a patrol at once."
And then he turned back to his sight.
"It looks like they're assembling or something," Caero said, pointing to a group of SWATbots that were arranging themselves into two lines.
There were about twelve of them, now fourteen, now sixteen.
All at once they turned to face their perpendicular left.
And then they marched.
"Hey, Sal, I think we should follow them."
"Well, I guess we don't really have a better plan."
"Alright, let's go; follow me, everybody!"
"Zut alors."
The patrol had seemingly reached their destination, as they came to a halt. Barely audible was their announcements that signified they were scanning the area. Sonic and the crew's silent pursuit of the machines had led them deep into the forest. The canopies were high here, and filtered the light, creating blotches of sunlight on the forest floor. Light, dark, light, dark; the shadows cast by the canopies were not perfect, but porous, and thus the light met the ground as if it were playing a game.
Sonic and the crew slowly crept closer, making sure to keep hidden, but now being within earshot of the droning.
"Scanning, scanning. Scan conclusive. Heat signatures located in the range of 50 meters to 150 meters, elevated from the ground in excess of 20 meters."
"Commence apprehension routine."
"Affirmative."
The SWATbot patrol turned as one and marched forward, and then stopped. Five SWATbots now looked upward, at what appeared to be a section of plank, drew their weapons, and then fired, as one body.
The resulting concussion was loud and unified. Sounds of confusion and surprise were heard, scattered, from the trees above. The five skyward-looking SWATbots fired again. The plank above gave way and split apart, two sections formed and both falling in opposite directions, now vertical, and perpendicular to their original form. The figure of a crocodile gave way simultaneously as the plank too gave way. More commotion, now much more alarmed, came in response. The crocodile managed to grab onto the edge of the gap and prevent the inevitable fall to the ground. Before the SWATbots could react, the figure pulled itself back up onto the platform above, and it was gone.
It took the patrol a few moments to grasp the preceding, but one of the frontmost SWATbots proclaimed, almost as if in defiance to the bodies above them, "Pursue and apprehend." They started moving forward, in the direction the crocodile had gone, and half of them now raised their weapons and began firing at the platforms above; the resulting commotion told them that they had not yet lost their prey.
The commotion above was indistinguishable, but it was still evident when more unique voices were added to it. The commotion, already panicked, became yet more so. Sonic and the crew, amidst the confusion, advanced unnoticed; everyone else's attention was already held with an iron grip of urgency. As the patrol continued forward, now more rapidly, firing at the planks above, every so often their fire once again breached the platform and Sonic could sometimes see a flash of hurried feet just having cleared the gap. And then, in an instant, the light, filtering through the lofty leaves, faced yet another obstacle, as a gliding figure left the walkways in the trees and was airborne; the figure would have passed well over Sonic's head had he been a few yards ahead. A few of the SWATbots saw the gliding shadow and turned to fire, but they could only get a few shots off before they just fell to the ground.
"Lock-on failed. Failure tracing attacker. Failure to compute. Register fault."
And then another pair of the machines fell to the ground. Now an armadillo was leaping down from the platform above and touching down. "There's too many!"
"Run!" This advice came from the trees. The crocodile touched the soil several meters behind the armadillo, and he was running, looking over his shoulder, and again shouting backward, "Run!"
The armadillo heeded his advice, but could not lengthen the distance between him and his pursuers. The SWATbots fired on him, and many shots swept past him, until one brought him down. He was apprehended, but his apprehender was violently knocked backward to the ground by an invisible force. The three most closely neighboring SWATbots responded and swung their arms as if to retaliate against this phantom attacker. A thud was heard, as one of the SWATbot's arms appeared to connect with something, as it seemed to have met friction in the air. Another thud was heard coming from a tree just a meter from the SWATbot, and then a chameleon faded into view at the base of the tree; he appeared to have suffered a blow to the head and lay subdued.
Sonic said to the rest of the crew in a low voice, "Stay hidden here." He stood and stepped out from cover. He was behind the SWATbots and they could not yet see him, but before he could get but a yard from his friends' shadowy hiding place, Sonic felt a blunt pain in his back, and he was tackled to the ground, knocked into the brush on the opposite side of the clearing. A gloved hand clenched his throat.
"Are you behind this?" came the enraged voice of his assailant. "What do you want with our homeland?"
"Behind what? Who the hell are you?"
"I'm the one asking the questions here. Who are you and why are you invading our land?"
"Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec. You mean these robots? They're Robuttnik's, not mine! I wanna kick his ass too!"
"I'm not buying into your crock of shit. You appeared the same day they did. Do you actually expect me to believe your lies?"
The grip on Sonic's throat tightened. Infuriated by the increased pressure, Sonic was able to free his arm, trapped under his body, and knock his assailant backward. Sonic stood. He could now recognize his assailant as the same figure he had seen gliding from the platforms in the trees. He was an echidna, dreadlocked, red, and his gloves covered menacing knuckles. He was obviously very distressed and panic-stricken, acting very jumpy and pumped with adrenaline.
"Look, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I'm Sonic, and I think we both want to kick the same ass: Robotnik's. I'm on your side; you're all mixed up."
The echidna was not satisfied in the least, and pulled himself to his feet to charge at Sonic again. Sonic ducked to the side and avoided the charge. The echidna ran past Sonic and then turned around. The echidna's attention was now diverted, as he now, out of the corner of his eye, saw a SWATbot walking toward the chameleon, and the armadillo in the grip of another.
"I don't have time to fight with you," said the echidna quickly, already rushing toward the new object of his attention. "I've more important things. I'm sure we'll meet again."
The echidna was now to the chameleon ahead of the SWATbot; a blow from his fist sent the robot to the ground, and the echidna quickly helped the chameleon to its feet. He was now rushing to the armadillo's captor. A quick blow loosened its grip on the armadillo and the armadillo slipped out of its grasp before it could react. The echidna was now climbing a tree, with the two liberated in tow, and now leaping from its peak with the armadillo hanging from one arm and the chameleon from the other. And he was gone as quickly as he had come.
[1] Sally's pocket computer. Nicole basically has a mind of her own and is regarded as family and friend.