Inside of the great flying fortress, high above the tower that eclipsed the
land below, an evil madman sits in a control room. His massive body seated
in a rather large armchair, or what someone half his size would deem large.
The room was quiet save for the gentle beeping of the lit computer screens
surrounding him. Each of the screens was glowing with the images of the
surrounding areas; showing soldiers on patrols in the surrounding waste of
a land. The silence was abruptly ended when a door hissed open and two
figures stepped into the room and stood in the darkness.
"Sir the two prisoners have escaped as you said they would."
"Good, I was almost beginning to wonder what was taking them so long."
"If I may ask sir, why did you have them captured and attacked if you wanted them to escape in the first place?"
"You may not question me or my methods Shadow, unless you've grown tired with living." Dr. Robotonick said leaning back in his chair
"I only wish to not be kept in the dark about what goes on." Shadow said stepping into the light
"Well if you must know it's all part of an elaborate plan of mine."
"You never want to tell anyone what's going on in that head of yours lately."
He said nothing and just swiveled his chair around and faced the other figure, still standing in the dark.
"Is the tracking device working properly?"
"Yes sir, it is functioning perfectly." Said a metallic voice
"Good work Metal." He said turning back around toward the screens
Shadow just starred at them both narrowing his eyes in annoyance; he seemed to favor that machine more than him, probably because he is just that. He must have enjoyed the fact that he was a loyal soldier that does his bidding without question. The other figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a robotic hedgehog, it was a silver color and its gleaming red eyes pierced the darkness that filled most of the room. Robotonick looked over his shoulder and saw that Shadow was still staring at him.
"Something on your mind? Or do you just like staring at the back of my head?" he said irately
"As interesting as your head is, that's not why I was looking at you."
"What then?"
"You still haven't told me about this great plan of yours." Shadow said with a bit irritation in voice
"I don't care for your tone of voice; I think you should address me with a little more respect than that."
"Maybe you should give me that same."
"You talk more than I care for, just like that defective unit that is part of my plan."
"Maybe you'd like it better if I was a brainless machine like him; with no free will and thoughts of my own like him over there." He said pointing to Metal, who had still been standing in the same spot in his usual attentive stance
"Yes actually; why do you think that you're the only organic thing in my entire army of soldiers?"
"I can probably rule out that you liked my magnetic personality." Shadow said laughing
"I should say not; the only thing that keeps you here is the simple fact that you are a key balance of power, for the moment anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means what it means; you have the same power of the chaos emeralds residing inside of you."
"That's not what I meant; I was referring to the last bit, 'for the moment anyway' what did you mean by that?"
"You're expendable, just like everything else."
"So I'm just some tool to you? To be used and thrown away at the earliest sign of uselessness in your opinion?"
"Even more so since you're not a machine."
"More so?"
"Machines are capable of being upgraded, becoming more powerful. Why do you think I've kept Metal around so long?"
Shadow wanted to say that he was an idiot, but knew that the circumstances didn't favor such a comment.not now.
"You already know I'm stronger than any other machine you've ever made." He said clenching his fists
"Perhaps; except for one."
"You don't mean that defect do you?"
"Of course I do; he was built to be better than any other, to be perfection." He sighed heavily and began to squeeze the hand rest on his chair with his robotosized hand, "But he had to have the one thing that I despise most of all, the one thing that sickens me most of all just thinking about it."
"A conscience?"
"Precisely."
"Where did that come from if you didn't want it to be there?"
"It's from a conflict that arose in the fusion of flesh and technology.a mistake I will never make again."
"That sounds like a personal problem."
Robotonick said nothing and just 'harrumphed' and turned his chair back toward the screens.
"Since you have nothing better to do, I want you to follow them."
"Why?"
"Remember what I said about questioning me? Or do I need to have you robotosized to refresh you memory? Now take the tracking device and go after them." He said holding out a small device
Shadow just stood for a moment; then snatched the device and walked out the door as it hissed open and closed. He continued down the hallway and got inside of an elevator.
"One day the king shall fall from his throne at my hand, and I'll take his place." Shadow muttered to himself under the sound of the gears turning
Back inside of the control room the doctor sat quietly staring at a screen, it seemed to be from a camera on the inside of the elevator.
"Sir." Metal said
"Yes?"
"It has become apparent that he can't be trusted."
"Indeed it has."
"So what is your decision on how to handle this?"
"Once he has gotten on his way, I want you to follow him, make sure he doesn't see you."
"Anything else sir?"
"Yes; if he does anything outside of what I told him, I want you to kill him."
"As you command sir." Metal said before turning to leave the room
Robotonick turned his attention to the internal cameras that were all focused on Shadow as he made this way through the fortress
"All according to plan." He said laughing to himself
Somewhere in on the outskirts of a forest, a familiar old tower still stands a lonely vigil, and a truck slowly approaches from the underbrush covering a barely visible path and comes to a stop on the side of the tower.
"This is the place." I said getting out of the truck, engine still running, and walking around to its front
"What is this old place?" Tik'al said following close behind
"I came here and used the computer inside to find out about myself."
"I'm surprised this place is still working; from the way it looks it might collapse any second."
"It was pretty sturdy when I came here last time." I said lifting the hood and removing the metal shielding from the engine block
"What are you doing?"
"Well when I was here I used up all the power, so now I'm going to use this engine to power the computer and try to get a radio signal out somehow."
I walked over to the outside wall of the tower and scanned its surface for an opening of some sort. My eyes stopped on a moss-covered panel; I slid it open and found it to be a mess of old, outdated wires and circuits. I took a hold of two black wires and pulled them from the connectors and ran them to the engine, which I had taken care to park close by.
"Now I just connect these and go inside."
The wires sparked as they made contact with the ports on the engine, and a barely audible hum came from inside the thick concrete walls of the tower. We entered and I took my place at the computer and began working on getting a line of communication open, following the usual instruction from the computer in my head.
'Suggested method is to utilize a low frequency signal on all wavelengths'
I continued working and managed to get the speaker online, which was made apparent by a squeal of feedback and static that came from the microphone.
"Alright, now the rest is up to you." I said turning the microphone towards Tik'al
"What?"
"Say something."
"Why don't you do it?"
"They don't know me, remember? You've met them and they've heard your voice before."
"It's not like I command any real authority in their group or anything."
"Well we need a familiar voice for this sort of thing, it's the most tactical thing to do right now." I said with a tactful tone
"You sound like a robot."
"I already told you I'm not."
"Well you talk like one, at least when you get all serious like that."
"I was engineered to think that way; not proud of where it came from, but at least it's helpful."
"Alright already." She said turning toward the microphone, "Umm, hello is anyone there? Can someone hear me?"
"Oh come now, can't you make it sound a little more urgent than that? We're calling for help, not making pleasant conversation." I said shaking my head
"Oh shut up," she said jabbing me in the ribs. "I'm new at this; and you're the one who said I should be the one to do it."
"True."
There was no reply except for the static that buzzed on in a slightly higher pitch.
"Let me think a minute, hmm." I thought as I ran some ideas through my head, and then thought that maybe I could use the towers computer to solve out problem. I began typing away on the keys, the air filling with the sounds of my claws clicking against the small metal squares.
"What are you doing now?"
"Another one of those tactical thoughts of mine. I'm searching the database for any intercepted radio transmissions made by any faction groups; really just a distress call."
"What good would that do?"
"Well if I run the message on a repeating loop and."
"You're doing that robot thing again."
"Anyway, someone should answer if we're lucky."
I pressed a few more keys and a message scrolled down the screen and began playing
This is advanced scouting party number 3512-alpha, we need an evac from sector 31 as soon as possible, repeat, this is advanced scouting party number 3512-alpha, we need an evac from sector 31 as soon as possible.
"I hope someone heard that." I said as the message continued repeating
"And if they didn't?"
"Well." I was cut off by the sound of a voice on the other side of our call
This is communications outpost 67453; there are no advanced scouting parties in that sector, who the hell is this?
"Well this is working well." I said under my breath, "Well go on, and tell them who you are."
"This is princess Tik'al, Emissary of Angel Island, calling for Knothole."
"I'm sorry what, what did you say?" I said astounded
Princess Tik'al?! What are you doing making false calls on secure lines?
"I needed some way to get someone's attention."
"Am I invisible or something?" I said tapping her on the shoulder, "All this time and you didn't tell me that?"
"Not now I'm busy talking." She said shrugging me off
Where are you located? We'll send our best to come and get you as soon as possible
"Umm, hold on a second."
"Oh now you want to listen to me?"
"Do you know where we are exactly?"
I sighed, and thought for a minute; she hasn't heard a thing I said.
"Latitude 47 degrees longitude 115 degrees."
"Did you get that?"
Roger; by the way, who is that with you?
"It's my umm, body guard."
"Since when have I been your."
"Shhh."
Well just stay where you are and a transport will be there shortly
"Alright, thank you very much." She said as the line cut off
"Umm, still wondering about this 'princess' thing, what's that all about?"
"I thought you said you knew all about what goes on from the information in that head of yours?"
"I said I knew about a lot of things, not everything; there's very little information on Angel Island."
"Well now there's a bit more isn't there?" she said smugly
"Well anyway I've got some work to do on the truck."
"Like what? They just said to stay where we were."
"I'm not driving anywhere, just making a bomb."
"A bomb? What for?"
"To cover out trail of course."
"What's that going to do? Besides making us a much slower, unprotected target."
"It's just a decoy; I'm going to run this thing off a cliff the bomb will blow it to pieces and make it looked like we died in the blast."
"So they'll think we died?"
"Probably, probably not."
"We'll I guess that's a plan."
"When did I become a bodyguard anyway?"
"I don't know, maybe since you've been watching over me for the last few hours."
"Hmm, yeah I suppose that makes sense."
I walked outside and opened up the back of the truck. I stepped into the back and began to take the large cannon inside apart.
"So while we wait, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Like what?" I said tinkering with the machine, following detailed instructions on making the explosive
"Why don't you have that urge to kill anyone anyway? What made you decide not to do such a thing?"
"Hmm, You know what?"
"What?"
"I have no idea."
"You can't be serious, there had to have been something."
"Well Robotonick did say I was defective, maybe that's all it is."
"That can't be it; you said you decided not to kill. Meaning that something made you not want to."
"Really, I don't know why. Maybe just because it feels so wrong to me."
"So you've done it before?"
"I don't know."
"Well there's another surprise."
"It's not my fault that I can't remember something like that."
"Can't or won't?
"Again, I don't know."
As I continued working I heard a noise coming from the forest, it sounded like some sort of vehicle wheeling its way towards our location.
"I wonder who that could be?" I said, making the finishing touches on the makeshift bomb
"Enemies perhaps?" Tik'al said looking around the side of the truck as a vehicle slowed and entered the clearing
"Or maybe those friends of yours."
"Looks like it."
I stepped out of the truck carrying my new device and looked toward the new presence that had arrived. It was a large red truck with several discolored spots all over it. From the looks of it, the thing had been made of spare parts and salvaged materials. The door on the side flipped up and the brakes hissed and released the air pressure that had built up inside. A figure stepped out and into the grass; it was a blue hedgehog and a yellow fox.
"So these are Sonic and Tails?"
"Yes; they are."
"This should be interesting."
"Sir the two prisoners have escaped as you said they would."
"Good, I was almost beginning to wonder what was taking them so long."
"If I may ask sir, why did you have them captured and attacked if you wanted them to escape in the first place?"
"You may not question me or my methods Shadow, unless you've grown tired with living." Dr. Robotonick said leaning back in his chair
"I only wish to not be kept in the dark about what goes on." Shadow said stepping into the light
"Well if you must know it's all part of an elaborate plan of mine."
"You never want to tell anyone what's going on in that head of yours lately."
He said nothing and just swiveled his chair around and faced the other figure, still standing in the dark.
"Is the tracking device working properly?"
"Yes sir, it is functioning perfectly." Said a metallic voice
"Good work Metal." He said turning back around toward the screens
Shadow just starred at them both narrowing his eyes in annoyance; he seemed to favor that machine more than him, probably because he is just that. He must have enjoyed the fact that he was a loyal soldier that does his bidding without question. The other figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a robotic hedgehog, it was a silver color and its gleaming red eyes pierced the darkness that filled most of the room. Robotonick looked over his shoulder and saw that Shadow was still staring at him.
"Something on your mind? Or do you just like staring at the back of my head?" he said irately
"As interesting as your head is, that's not why I was looking at you."
"What then?"
"You still haven't told me about this great plan of yours." Shadow said with a bit irritation in voice
"I don't care for your tone of voice; I think you should address me with a little more respect than that."
"Maybe you should give me that same."
"You talk more than I care for, just like that defective unit that is part of my plan."
"Maybe you'd like it better if I was a brainless machine like him; with no free will and thoughts of my own like him over there." He said pointing to Metal, who had still been standing in the same spot in his usual attentive stance
"Yes actually; why do you think that you're the only organic thing in my entire army of soldiers?"
"I can probably rule out that you liked my magnetic personality." Shadow said laughing
"I should say not; the only thing that keeps you here is the simple fact that you are a key balance of power, for the moment anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means what it means; you have the same power of the chaos emeralds residing inside of you."
"That's not what I meant; I was referring to the last bit, 'for the moment anyway' what did you mean by that?"
"You're expendable, just like everything else."
"So I'm just some tool to you? To be used and thrown away at the earliest sign of uselessness in your opinion?"
"Even more so since you're not a machine."
"More so?"
"Machines are capable of being upgraded, becoming more powerful. Why do you think I've kept Metal around so long?"
Shadow wanted to say that he was an idiot, but knew that the circumstances didn't favor such a comment.not now.
"You already know I'm stronger than any other machine you've ever made." He said clenching his fists
"Perhaps; except for one."
"You don't mean that defect do you?"
"Of course I do; he was built to be better than any other, to be perfection." He sighed heavily and began to squeeze the hand rest on his chair with his robotosized hand, "But he had to have the one thing that I despise most of all, the one thing that sickens me most of all just thinking about it."
"A conscience?"
"Precisely."
"Where did that come from if you didn't want it to be there?"
"It's from a conflict that arose in the fusion of flesh and technology.a mistake I will never make again."
"That sounds like a personal problem."
Robotonick said nothing and just 'harrumphed' and turned his chair back toward the screens.
"Since you have nothing better to do, I want you to follow them."
"Why?"
"Remember what I said about questioning me? Or do I need to have you robotosized to refresh you memory? Now take the tracking device and go after them." He said holding out a small device
Shadow just stood for a moment; then snatched the device and walked out the door as it hissed open and closed. He continued down the hallway and got inside of an elevator.
"One day the king shall fall from his throne at my hand, and I'll take his place." Shadow muttered to himself under the sound of the gears turning
Back inside of the control room the doctor sat quietly staring at a screen, it seemed to be from a camera on the inside of the elevator.
"Sir." Metal said
"Yes?"
"It has become apparent that he can't be trusted."
"Indeed it has."
"So what is your decision on how to handle this?"
"Once he has gotten on his way, I want you to follow him, make sure he doesn't see you."
"Anything else sir?"
"Yes; if he does anything outside of what I told him, I want you to kill him."
"As you command sir." Metal said before turning to leave the room
Robotonick turned his attention to the internal cameras that were all focused on Shadow as he made this way through the fortress
"All according to plan." He said laughing to himself
Somewhere in on the outskirts of a forest, a familiar old tower still stands a lonely vigil, and a truck slowly approaches from the underbrush covering a barely visible path and comes to a stop on the side of the tower.
"This is the place." I said getting out of the truck, engine still running, and walking around to its front
"What is this old place?" Tik'al said following close behind
"I came here and used the computer inside to find out about myself."
"I'm surprised this place is still working; from the way it looks it might collapse any second."
"It was pretty sturdy when I came here last time." I said lifting the hood and removing the metal shielding from the engine block
"What are you doing?"
"Well when I was here I used up all the power, so now I'm going to use this engine to power the computer and try to get a radio signal out somehow."
I walked over to the outside wall of the tower and scanned its surface for an opening of some sort. My eyes stopped on a moss-covered panel; I slid it open and found it to be a mess of old, outdated wires and circuits. I took a hold of two black wires and pulled them from the connectors and ran them to the engine, which I had taken care to park close by.
"Now I just connect these and go inside."
The wires sparked as they made contact with the ports on the engine, and a barely audible hum came from inside the thick concrete walls of the tower. We entered and I took my place at the computer and began working on getting a line of communication open, following the usual instruction from the computer in my head.
'Suggested method is to utilize a low frequency signal on all wavelengths'
I continued working and managed to get the speaker online, which was made apparent by a squeal of feedback and static that came from the microphone.
"Alright, now the rest is up to you." I said turning the microphone towards Tik'al
"What?"
"Say something."
"Why don't you do it?"
"They don't know me, remember? You've met them and they've heard your voice before."
"It's not like I command any real authority in their group or anything."
"Well we need a familiar voice for this sort of thing, it's the most tactical thing to do right now." I said with a tactful tone
"You sound like a robot."
"I already told you I'm not."
"Well you talk like one, at least when you get all serious like that."
"I was engineered to think that way; not proud of where it came from, but at least it's helpful."
"Alright already." She said turning toward the microphone, "Umm, hello is anyone there? Can someone hear me?"
"Oh come now, can't you make it sound a little more urgent than that? We're calling for help, not making pleasant conversation." I said shaking my head
"Oh shut up," she said jabbing me in the ribs. "I'm new at this; and you're the one who said I should be the one to do it."
"True."
There was no reply except for the static that buzzed on in a slightly higher pitch.
"Let me think a minute, hmm." I thought as I ran some ideas through my head, and then thought that maybe I could use the towers computer to solve out problem. I began typing away on the keys, the air filling with the sounds of my claws clicking against the small metal squares.
"What are you doing now?"
"Another one of those tactical thoughts of mine. I'm searching the database for any intercepted radio transmissions made by any faction groups; really just a distress call."
"What good would that do?"
"Well if I run the message on a repeating loop and."
"You're doing that robot thing again."
"Anyway, someone should answer if we're lucky."
I pressed a few more keys and a message scrolled down the screen and began playing
This is advanced scouting party number 3512-alpha, we need an evac from sector 31 as soon as possible, repeat, this is advanced scouting party number 3512-alpha, we need an evac from sector 31 as soon as possible.
"I hope someone heard that." I said as the message continued repeating
"And if they didn't?"
"Well." I was cut off by the sound of a voice on the other side of our call
This is communications outpost 67453; there are no advanced scouting parties in that sector, who the hell is this?
"Well this is working well." I said under my breath, "Well go on, and tell them who you are."
"This is princess Tik'al, Emissary of Angel Island, calling for Knothole."
"I'm sorry what, what did you say?" I said astounded
Princess Tik'al?! What are you doing making false calls on secure lines?
"I needed some way to get someone's attention."
"Am I invisible or something?" I said tapping her on the shoulder, "All this time and you didn't tell me that?"
"Not now I'm busy talking." She said shrugging me off
Where are you located? We'll send our best to come and get you as soon as possible
"Umm, hold on a second."
"Oh now you want to listen to me?"
"Do you know where we are exactly?"
I sighed, and thought for a minute; she hasn't heard a thing I said.
"Latitude 47 degrees longitude 115 degrees."
"Did you get that?"
Roger; by the way, who is that with you?
"It's my umm, body guard."
"Since when have I been your."
"Shhh."
Well just stay where you are and a transport will be there shortly
"Alright, thank you very much." She said as the line cut off
"Umm, still wondering about this 'princess' thing, what's that all about?"
"I thought you said you knew all about what goes on from the information in that head of yours?"
"I said I knew about a lot of things, not everything; there's very little information on Angel Island."
"Well now there's a bit more isn't there?" she said smugly
"Well anyway I've got some work to do on the truck."
"Like what? They just said to stay where we were."
"I'm not driving anywhere, just making a bomb."
"A bomb? What for?"
"To cover out trail of course."
"What's that going to do? Besides making us a much slower, unprotected target."
"It's just a decoy; I'm going to run this thing off a cliff the bomb will blow it to pieces and make it looked like we died in the blast."
"So they'll think we died?"
"Probably, probably not."
"We'll I guess that's a plan."
"When did I become a bodyguard anyway?"
"I don't know, maybe since you've been watching over me for the last few hours."
"Hmm, yeah I suppose that makes sense."
I walked outside and opened up the back of the truck. I stepped into the back and began to take the large cannon inside apart.
"So while we wait, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Like what?" I said tinkering with the machine, following detailed instructions on making the explosive
"Why don't you have that urge to kill anyone anyway? What made you decide not to do such a thing?"
"Hmm, You know what?"
"What?"
"I have no idea."
"You can't be serious, there had to have been something."
"Well Robotonick did say I was defective, maybe that's all it is."
"That can't be it; you said you decided not to kill. Meaning that something made you not want to."
"Really, I don't know why. Maybe just because it feels so wrong to me."
"So you've done it before?"
"I don't know."
"Well there's another surprise."
"It's not my fault that I can't remember something like that."
"Can't or won't?
"Again, I don't know."
As I continued working I heard a noise coming from the forest, it sounded like some sort of vehicle wheeling its way towards our location.
"I wonder who that could be?" I said, making the finishing touches on the makeshift bomb
"Enemies perhaps?" Tik'al said looking around the side of the truck as a vehicle slowed and entered the clearing
"Or maybe those friends of yours."
"Looks like it."
I stepped out of the truck carrying my new device and looked toward the new presence that had arrived. It was a large red truck with several discolored spots all over it. From the looks of it, the thing had been made of spare parts and salvaged materials. The door on the side flipped up and the brakes hissed and released the air pressure that had built up inside. A figure stepped out and into the grass; it was a blue hedgehog and a yellow fox.
"So these are Sonic and Tails?"
"Yes; they are."
"This should be interesting."