"From what I can tell, it seems that the echidna is no longer in custody," Uncle Chuck was saying.
"Yeah, we saw him get taken away; we know that," Sonic replied.
"But I can't find out where he was taken. There's no more record."
"But I saw him go into the airship. The beast guy said something about a meeting that was too cool for me or something."
"Well, from what I can tell, the echidna was transferred to the primary Detention center yesterday, but today he was discharged and I have no record of him after that."
"Alright, alright," said Sally. "Let's piece together what we know."
"Okay," said Sonic. "Well, I saw him on the Floating Island and he was all psycho."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why was he 'psycho'?"
"Ask him!"
Rotor cracked a smile. "Well, Robotnik had invaded the island with SWATbots, right?"
"Ah, that's right," said Bunnie. "He was pro'lly scared and mad."
"Well, why did Robotnik invade the Floating Island?"
"Ah," said Uncle Chuck. "That reminds me. Robotnik pulled about 65% of his forces from the Floating Island last night."
"Why would he be doing a ting like that?" asked Antoine, who, after a pause, tried to answer his own question fearfully. "To be sending them to get us!!!" Antoine was completely serious, and the anxiety in his eyes was visible; he truly considered this viable.
"Chill, Ant," said Sonic. "I don't think he pulled all those SWATbots just to get you." Sonic laughed. "What would he want you for, anyway?"
"If he pulled so many SWATbots all at once, he must have got what he wanted," said Rotor.
"The echidna," said Sally. "He got the echidna yesterday."
"We already knew the 'kidna was important, Sally-girl," said Bunnie.
"Holy shit!" cried Uncle Chuck. Cursing was not something Sonic's uncle was known for, so his utterance of such a vulgarity was doubly-surprising. Everyone else turned to face him.
"What is it, Uncle Chuck?" asked Sally, truly concerned and alarmed.
"The… the island… is falling."
"What?!"
Uncle Chuck tapped a button on his console. On the screen, an image of the Floating Island from a distance appeared. It was indeed plummeting. "Mah stars!" cried Bunnie. Uncle Chuck tapped at the console again, and the image changed. Now the camera showed, from an aerial view, the echidna being held by two SWATbots.
"There he is!"
They watched the screen. Asudden, Robotnik appeared in the camera's view. He brushed past the echidna, and then abruptly turned to face him. Several seconds later, he turned again and fleetingly moved out of the camera's view. The SWATbots holding the echidna marched, and from offscreen two more pairs of SWATbots marched through the screen and then out the other side. One pair had held an armadillo, and the other a crocodile.
"Sacre bleu!"
Sally hit the bottom of her palm to her forehead, and then, shaking her head, said: "I just realized."
"What, my princess?"
"Remember what Nicole said? About the two echidna brothers and how one of them was appointed to guard the emerald?"
"Yeah."
"And how the guardianship was passed from generation to generation?"
Silence.
"He's the guardian, then?" said Rotor, breaking the silence.
"He must be."
"Then Robotnik must have needed him to get at the emerald," said Uncle Chuck.
"Damnit, I should have known! I knew it was the emerald he wanted, but it just didn't fall into place!" cried Sonic.
"But if his job was to protect the emerald at all costs, then why did he do it?"
"I don't know. Probably to save his friends."
"He should have known better than to trust Robotnik."
"So now Robotnik has the emerald?"
"We've got to find the echidna. There are so many things we need answered."
"Like what? 'How to stop Robotnik?' 'How to get the emerald back?' I don't think he knows any better than we do."
"And what if he's dead?"
"We should look for him anyway."
"Let's stage an assault tonight on Robotropolis."
"That, I can agree with."
"But we should go check out the Floating Island. It should still be floating: in the water, that is."
"Actually," said Sally. "I think we should wait until Uncle Chuck can get some more intelligence on the events before we go into Robotropolis. Perhaps we should go to the Floating Island first."
"What are we gonna find there?" retorted Sonic. "The emerald's already gone. What's the point? I'm itching to kick some Robuttnik butt!"
Sally rolled her eyes. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."
Sonic crossed his arms. "Fine, fine, I'll come."
"Hopefully I'll get some intel by tomorrow," said Uncle Chuck. "All this insanity just happened so the info about it probably won't show up for a bit. Robotnik's not even back in Robotropolis yet."
"We'll touch base again soon."
"Good luck," said Uncle Chuck.
Back at Knothole, uncertainty of the reality or its weight was suffused. This brought impatience, even to Antoine, who normally feared and resented going on missions that were potentially dangerous; even he was impatient waiting for it to begin, for now was not the time to play, and in idleness the mind wanders, questioning everything, and the lack of answers was disconcerting, the possibilities harrowing.
As Sally stepped into his hut, Antoine was pacing, trepid. He quickly stopped his back-and-forth traipsing. "Are we to be going now?" he asked hopefully.
"We're meeting at the Tornado now."
Antoine nodded, and scurried out behind her as she turned and left his room.
Sally looked up as Bunnie arrived. "Alright, everyone is here," she said, "so let's get going."
Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine stepped into the plane; Rotor stayed behind again; Tails was already in the pilot's seat.
As everyone took their seats, Sally said: "Set a course for the Floating Island. Land half a mile ahead of it."
The plane touched down gently. The passengers filed out and started walking. "So, what are we looking for, anyway?" "I don't know!" Silence, except for the sound of the dirt crushed beneath their feet after each step.
Suddenly, there was a yelp behind Sonic; it was the unmistakable sound of Antoine. Antoine had been lagging behind the rest of the crew, so they all turned to see him, and, to their surprise, the echidna on top of him. "He… he just was flying from ovar zare and was to be tackiling moi!" Antoine was rapidly explaining to the others. The echidna turned to see who Antoine was talking to, and his eyes flashed when he saw Sonic. Immediately the echidna released Antoine and got to his feet. "Hedgehog," said the echidna, almost apologetically.
"What was zat, etchidna?!" cried Antoine, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. The echidna ignored him.
"You were right," continued the echidna. "It was Robotnik."
Antoine ran around the echidna to stop between the echidna and Sonic. He waved his hand in front of the echidna's face and said, "Hullo? Etchidna? Are you just to be attacking me from nonwhere and not au moins be making amends?" The echidna pushed Antoine's arm aside. "Harumph!" said Antoine exaggeratedly, crossing his arms.
"So you're on our side now, eh?" said Sonic.
"I think so. I shouldn't have give Robotnik the emerald. I should have listened to that voice."
"That voice?" said Sonic inquisitively. Sonic then turned to Sally and said, "I told you he was off his rocker."
"I guess I should introduce myself. All my friends call me Knuckles."
Sonic turned back to the echidna, Knuckles. "And I'm Sonic the Hedgehog; the fastest and most way past cool dude on the planet."
"I'm Sally Acorn."
"Ah'm Bunnie Rabbot. Pleased to make your acquaintance, sugah."
"And I am being Antoine D'coolette," said Antoine, his voice heavily laced with irritation, his glare chastising.
"I'm Tails!"
"You're the guardian, right?"
"Indeed. Not a very good one, I guess."
"I guess you haven't any better idea that we do as far as getting the emerald back from Robotnik," said Sally.
"I guess so."
"Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Sal? We know how to get the emerald back. We just kick Robuttnik's butt and take it!"
Bunnie laughed. "That's our sugah-hog."
"Shit!" cried Knuckles suddenly. "I almost forgot about my friends. Have you seen them? An armadillo and a crocodile?" Knuckles paused for a second before adding, "…and a chameleon? Or a bee—lil' guy?"
"Just you," Tails chipped.
"Damnit, damnit, damnit!" cried Knuckles. "Robotnik threw Mighty and Vec and me off the island. I glided to safety but wasn't thinking straight and they plummeted past me. I don't have a clue where they are, or if they're even alive! I don't even know what happened to Espy and Charmy."
"Cool it, bro."
"Why don't we take him back to Knothole?" asked Bunnie, turning to Sally.
"We aren't supposed to—" retorted Sally, casting an accusatory glance at Sonic.
"We probably do need his help, him coming from the island and all," said Sonic.
"Zee etchidna? Help us? He is as clueless as we are being!"
"Well, I think he's genuine, if a bit loony. So I don't see why a little extra help would hurt? I mean, Robotnik sunk his island. Don'tcha think he wants revenge?" said Sonic.
A pause. A single bird fluttered overhead, and it caught the glances of one or two members of the group below for a moment before it disappeared from sight.
Knuckles gritted his teeth and punched his palm. "Damn Robotnik!" Knuckles looked up. "I understand now, that we have a common enemy."
"Fine," conceded Sally. "You're welcome to come with us. We're planning to attack Robotnik."
Knuckles nodded, but then remembered: "What about my friends?"
"We'll look for them," said Sonic. "But not now. Let's head back to Knothole, m'kay?"
"Knothole?"
"That's the name of our little village, our hideaway," explained Sonic.
"You can't tell anyone where Knothole is," added Sally. "You have to keep it a secret. We're rebels against Robotnik so we have to keep our location a secret."
"Yeah, yeah, okay. As long as I get the chance to pay back Robotnik, I'll help you guys out, and keep your secret."
Sally nodded, and the group turned back, and headed back toward the Tornado.
As Tails piloted the Tornado back toward Knothole, Knuckles was recounting the events of the past days.
"Well, one day, me an' Mighty – that's the armadillo – were just chillin', when a big ship landed and a shitload of robots poured out. I rushed to get Mighty but he was gone, so then I went to Espio, the chameleon's house. We stole a ship and found Mighty, and Vector the crocodile, and Charmy the bee. Then we were all in the ship, and other ships attacked us. We fended them off for a bit but the ship couldn't take it much longer so we escaped to some weird old place built in the trees and stayed the night there.
"The next day, robots came and attacked us. That was then I saw Sonic; sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I escaped with Mighty and Espio, but Vector and Charmy were separated. Espy realized that Vector was probably going to be ambushed at the ship we had stolen, so we went there but the robots were already there and they got him.
"Then me and Espio and Mighty attacked a little camp and Espio read some papers but I don't even remember what they said. We started walking and we saw Vector but Espio kept telling me it was a trap and eventually he convinced me not to go save Vector.
"We slept and the next morning we were waked up by the sounds of robots. They found us and we ran. Mighty tripped, or maybe a robot shot him and he fell, and then I ran to save him but a robot got there first. Some beast guy – said he was a general of Robotnik – said if I didn't agree to talk to Robotnik and cooperate with him, he'd kill Mighty. So I went.
"When Robotnik talked to me, he told me he needed me – 'cause I was the guardian – to open the Chaos chamber for him, or else he'd turn my friends into machines and make them kill me. He put a gun to my head and I said if he killed me, I couldn't open the Chaos chamber for him. And he said he didn't care, 'cause he could get someone else to open it for him. I thought this was bullshit but he seemed pretty convinced. I told him I didn't trust him but he said he really would keep his word since he wouldn't need me or my friends once he had the emerald. So I said I'd do it if my friends would be freed.
"So he took me and Vector and Mighty to the Chaos chamber and I opened it. He took the emerald and the island started falling. I told him to free my friends now, and he said he'd keep his word. So he freed us, but off the island. He threw us off the island, off the edge. I guess he kept his word, but I guess he couldn't just leave it like that; he had to throw a pinch of evil into it, y'know? I glided to safety using my dreadlocks but they… fell…
"Oh, and some voice told me, when I was in Robotnik's jail, to not give Robotnik the emerald. I told him I had to, 'cause my friends were the only family I knew. Maybe it was a dream… no, no, it wasn't a dream, 'cause I remember my dreams. My dreams were scary. The voice had to be real."
"Maybe it was some Robotnik trick," said Sonic.
"Why would Robotnik tell me not to help Robotnik?" replied Knuckles.
"True."
"We're almost at Knothole!" called Tails from the cockpit.
The plane began to descend.
The polluted skies were a fog, now pierced by a huge metal bird. The sun was set, but here you couldn't tell, for the manmade fog was ever-present. The airship landed, leaving an auditory footprint to make its presence know, and the ramp lowered hesitantly. Dr. Robotnik stepped down from the ramp, and his nephew was there to meet him. "Welcome back, Dr. Robotnik," greeted Snively. "I presume all went as planned?"
"Indeed, Snively. I even got the opportunity to exercise my benevolence by keeping my word to the echidna." Robotnik laughed. "I 'freed' him and his friends, off the side of the island!"
"How benign of you, my lord."
"Indeed. And I got the emerald, of course," said Robotnik. "Is stage two underway?"
"We're waiting for your order, sire."
"Construction hasn't even begun?!"
"No, sire, you said to wait for—"
"Silence!" boomed Robotnik. "I give it now; I give the word now! Now go make it begin!"
"Y-y-yessir; right away, sir."
Snively scampered away.
The ramp rose back into the side of the airship and Robotnik sauntered toward his command center.
The next day…
Uncle Chuck turned around to face his nephew.
"Project UA has branched out. There are now three confirmed divisions, UA-1, UA-2, and UA-3, and two more tentative ones." He pointed to the screen to illustrate what he was saying. "UA-1 has been archived and grayed. UA-2 and UA-3 are now open." Sonic's uncle paused for a second, and then said: "UA-1 must encompass the task of getting the emerald, then, since it just today was archived. UA split last night after you left."
"Then the emerald must be just one part of this huge scheme if it's just 'part 1!' Not cool."
"Indeed."
"Do ya know anything about the other parts?"
"No, Sonic; I don't even know for sure that UA-1 is the emerald; I'm just guessing." Uncle Chuck tapped at the console. "Robotnik seems to be building something big. He just started since the last time I saw you." On the screen, a large number of SWATbots could be seen constructing something; the framework of the base had been finished, but nothing more than that.
"We'll go strike that construction rig tonight, Unc."
Chuck scribbled something on a small leaf of paper, and handed it to Sonic. "These are the rough coordinates." Sonic took the leaf, and Chuck said: "Just be careful. Robotnik seems extra edgy lately."
"I will, Unc. Catch ya later."
"Here's the plan, guys: Tails will take the Tornado with Rotor and me behind the construction site. Sonic, Bunnie, and Antoine will attack from the front," Sally was explaining.
"Where are Laine and Caero, anyway?" asked Sonic.
"Laine wanted to come, but I told him his wife was probably missing him; he's married, you know? I'm sure he'll be back – he seems eager –, but I don't want to burden him too much," said Sally. "I haven't seen Caero since the last mission in Robotropolis. He probably went back to his clan, again."
"Fair enough about Laine," said Sonic. "And I guess Caero leaving without saying a word isn't so strange; he left before without saying goodbye."
"Where's Knuckles?"
"He's sleeping, last I checked. Don't want to underrate how much he needs it."
"I'm sure it's long overdue."
"Anybody have any questions?"
"Yeah, what exactly is this thing we're tryin' to destroy?" asked Bunnie.
"Dunno," said Sonic, "but it's Robuttnik's and it sure is ugly."
"I've got some explosives," said Rotor. "Hopefully they'll be enough to bring down whatever it is."
"If not," said Sally, "we'll think of something. Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, create a distraction but also try to do whatever damage you can, especially to the SWATbots that are working at the site."
Antoine nodded, with a bit of hesitancy that was so fundamental to his character.
Sally pulled out Nicole. "Nicole, show the location of the site's coordinates within Robotropolis."
"Affirmative, Sally," said Nicole, who projected an image of Robotropolis with the construction site illuminated.
"That's where you're headed," said Sally to Sonic.
"Gotcha," acknowledged Sonic.
"Y'all ready?" said Bunnie.
"Yeah," said Tails.
Sonic turned to Sally. "I'll let you know when we're in position."
"Alright, then," said Sally. "Let's get moving."
Sonic could see, a ways off, the scaffolds raised against the metal skeleton of the thing that was being constructed. The base of the structure had been completed, and, unlike the towering bare skeleton above it, was not naked, and was solidified with steel. SWATbots were hard at work in bringing more steel to the site and passing it up the tower to more robots on the scaffolds, who welded it together. Other SWATbots were working on covering the bare framework with larger pieces of steel to clothe the hollow frame.
"We're almost there, guys," said Sonic to Bunnie and Antoine behind him, as he crept toward their destination.
They came to the place, and Sonic spoke into his radio. "We're in position, Sal."
"Good. Wait about thirty seconds, and then rush."
"Gotcha."
On the other side of the site, which was humming and clanking with the sounds of SWATbots at work, Tails had parked the Tornado and accompanied Rotor and Sally, who had just pocketed her radio after getting word from Sonic. They were stationed off to one side of the construction job, so as to not yet be seen through the hollowness of the metal girders not yet coated. The Tornado was not far off of the other end of the tower-in-making's backside.
"Are the explosives ready to go?" asked Sally to Rotor.
"They should all be armed now. As soon as we get our distraction, I'm ready to plant them on the structure's supports."
Sally pulled out Nicole. "Nicole, can you assess this structure's weaknesses and structural dependencies?"
"Yes, Sally. Processing…"
Just then, a large commotion was heard. From the commotion came a voice that spoke above the rest: "Hey, bucketheads!" Sonic was in action.
Nicole projected a wireframe image of the structure being constructed. Rotor looked over Sally's shoulder. "The primary dependencies are here, here, and here," said Nicole, illuminating a beam in the image with each reference. "The main weaknesses, thanks in large part to a non-uniform distribution of the workforce, are all of these beams on the back side…" Nicole illuminated what appeared to be the entire back side of the structure. "…and these beams." Nicole illuminated a few scattered beams throughout the rest of the structure.
"Got it," said Rotor. Rotor peered around the corner and through the gaps in the frame, to see that Sonic and Bunnie were keeping the SWATbots rather busy. Antoine was even helping a bit.
"What should I do?" asked Tails.
"Actually," said Rotor, "you might be of great use." Rotor fished two explosives out of his backpack. "Since you can fly, go plant these explosives on the middle beams on the back side."
"Do I need to press anything?" asked Tails.
"No, no, no," said Rotor quickly. "Don't press anything! They're already armed!"
"Oh, sorry."
"No, don't worry; I'm glad you asked. Something bad could have happened if you didn't know."
"Alright, Sally," said Rotor. "I'm going before our luck runs out."
He heaved his backpack onto his shoulder and set out. Tails lifted into the air. Rotor ducked behind steel pillars as he made his way to the other side of the structure. He was at once inside a metallic jungle. Steel bars were all around him, like a cylindrical prison. Like an irate jailbird, he would have to break free of his cell. He swung his backpack around to in front of him, and procured two explosives from it. He planted them on opposite sides of the base of the support and then, looking around, darted to his next target. His hands worked quickly and carefully while his eyes took care of getting the hands where they needed to be. The next bar that held him in the prison cell, the next waiting bombs; the next steely adversary, the next things to destroy it. His eyes navigated and his hands worked until his backpack was empty, and then he could do no more. He had fulfilled his plan and now he would have to wait for its wheels to start turning so the prison could fall. He then discredited his own motives, as he walked between the bars and stepped right out of the cell. It seemed his plan had been overkill. Yet it would be a shame to have it go to waste. He wouldn't let it go to waste.
"Alright, Sally, the bombs are planted. Get Sonic's team out of there and we can detonate."
Sally spoke into her radio: "Sonic, mission accomplished. Get out of there so we can blow it up."
"Gotcha, Sal. We'll meet you back at Knothole."
Sally put the radio ahead, and, with a motion of the hand, said: "Let's go!"
She, Rotor, and Tails headed hastily back toward the Tornado, which was not far away. When they saw it, however, there was – for Sally and Tails, at least – a horrible sense of déjà vu: as before, SWATbots had discovered the plane.
"Damn!" exclaimed Sally.
They stood for several moments in silence and motionlessness.
"Wait a second," said Rotor, breaking the silence. He indicated toward the Tornado. Sally and Tails looked up to see what he saw.
They were leaving. The SWATbots were leaving. In silence, the three waited several more moments, for the robots to move further and further away, and then, after looking at each other for a moment, they ran toward the Tornado in relief. How lucky they had been, they thought. As Tails fired up the plane's engine and its propellers cast an illusion of going one way and then the other, the plane took off. Behind them, the SWATbots did not turn. Rotor pulled the detonator out of his backpack.
His finger found the button, and then depressed it, slowly.
It was a marvelously cacophonous sound. The huge structure was shot in the knee, and it fell, grabbing hold of a crutch made of itself. It tried, disabled, to limp away with its good leg, but it was shot again in its back side and its one leg disintegrated in a radiating inferno that reached outward from its dying heart. Now without its back leg, it fell, bringing itself down upon itself, and it lay in a heap as its last embers of life flickered and died.
Later, back at Knothole…
"That was an awesome explosion, Aunt Sally[1]!"
"Indeed it was, Tails," said Sally with a chuckle.
"Aye, zat escapade was making my heart be thounding!" Antoine's voice came from a distance, and Sally looked up to see that he had arrived back at Knothole with Bunnie and Sonic.
"It's 'pounding,' Ant. Or 'thumping,' if you butchered it really bad," said Sonic.
"Well, sugars, it looks like we sure got Robotnik good!" said Bunnie cheerfully.
"Indeed, this mission was nothing less than a resounding success," said Sally.
"Ka-boom!" shouted Tails, trying to demonstrate the explosion with the gestures of his hands.
Just then Rotor came running. "B-bad news, guys…"
Everyone looked up simultaneously.
"Bad news… guys, I have some bad news… bad news, guys…"
"What is it, Rotor?" said Sally, somewhat alarmed.
"I just found… on the Tornado… a… tracking device…"
Everyone's faces were flushed away, paled instantly.
Snively walked down the empty hallway, his thumbs fidgeting excitedly as he walked. He came to the door, and paused for a second before opening it.
"Sire."
Robotnik's chair swiveled. "Yes, Snively?"
"The construction is going as planned, sir."
"Yes, I see. Excellent work, Snively."
"In addition, I have some especially good news to report, sir."
"Ah, I am pleasantly surprised. Please do tell."
"The third stage has been triggered, m'lord. Your hole managed as desired."
"This is good news indeed. I didn't expect it so soon."
"Yes, my lord; I too was amiably surprised."
"Thank you, Snively. I am… pleased with you."
Robotnik's chair swiveled again.
"Laugh, hedgehog, laugh! The war begins now, hedgehog. The war begins now!"
[1] Sally is not actually Tails' Aunt; he just calls her that.