Chapter 3: Speak of the Devil
March 12th, 2314 – 12:30 PM – Mor, Zeraw
Milton returned to manning the cash register after he had sent the little fox kid away. The kid had two tails for some reason, which had totally wierded him out. Milton decided to be polite and not ask about why he had two of them though. His manager had told him that asking personal questions to customers tended to make them feel like their privacy was being invaded, and so they might not come back to the store again because of that.
Just seeing a strange mutant fox was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to him all day though. The rest of it had been pretty much routine. The only other customers to come in that day were an overworked mother cat and her two brat kittens. The boys touched everything they could lay their hands on, which Milton really didn't like. That tended to cause stuff to break, which he'd probably get blamed for since he was the only employee working here right now. Thankfully though, they had finally left after the mother had bought the cheapest RC car she could find for them, which cost ten demens. Thinking about RC cars got him thinking about that fancy new Teleno Neuro Car the fox boy had been playing with before.
I wish more people would buy that thing... The problem is that they cost two hundred demens each, and they're classified as toys for kids. I don't know any kids who are even holding onto more than twenty demens at most, let alone two hundred. And plus, no parent is willing to pay that much to buy a toy for their kid, even for Christmas. So...sales for it were a flop this past holiday season.
Milton sighed as he looked at the tall stack of boxes holding Neuro Cars in the back of the store. Even though the pile had been there since last October, it had hardly shrunk at all. They'd only sold three of the things, even though the cars had been there through the holiday season of 2313. His boss Roger was considering marking them down since sales were so poor. Sure they'd lose the profits, but it was better than just having them stay stacked up back there.
Milton turned his attention back to one of those fancy thin plasma TVs that they had on display; they were the kind that hung on the wall. He was busy watching a JARA race that was taking place at the Mor International Speedway on the outskirts of town. The JARA (Jet-engine Aircraft Racing Association) tournament was more commonly known by its simpler moniker of the Speed Races. Why that was the nickname for it, Milton didn't know.
Anyway, I really wish I had time to go over to the Speedway and watch the race, but this job is too important, even if it is dreadfully boring. At least they finally removed Oliver "Old Man" Owl from the tournament. That guy causes a wreck in nearly every race, and he was costing his own team and JARA millions. He's nearly taken out my favorite racer Brad Steeler a few times too, not to mention just about every other pilot out there at one point or another. How the hell was he able to stay a racer for so long, with all the mistakes he's made? Man, I wish my boss cut as much slack as his.
Milton watched as Brad's black and red jet came around the final turn. He blazed down the home stretch towards the finish line, in front of the grandstand. The racer in second place was more than thirty seconds behind, so Brad would easily win this one. Brad's vehicle flashed past the control tower at the finish line, as a race official standing at the top waved a checkered flag.
"Brad Steeler has done it again!" the announcer said over the TV. "This is the third race in a row he's won this season! He's well on his way to winning to yet another championship in his illustrious racing career! Is there anything that can stop this juggernaut?"
"Nope," Milton said, replying to the announcer's query. "Nothing can take him down. Even a hole in his ship couldn't do it."
"What is that?" the announcer said. The voice was barely audible, as if he had taken his headset off and laid it down on the counter. Milton could also hear murmuring voices in the background, like everyone in the room had just dropped what they were doing to talk about something.
The camera view on the TV suddenly moved to show a missile streaking towards the speedway. Milton was so surprised by this picture that he didn't know what to think. The armadillo watched on the TV as the missile suddenly made a sharp turn, streaking towards Brad Steeler's jet. Two seconds later, the missile punctured through the stabilizing fin sticking out of the back of the jet. While the missile didn't detonate, the fin was ripped clean off of the plane. Without anything to keep the jet stabilized, it went into a sickening barrel roll, and careened directly towards the outside of the first turn on the track. By some miracle, Brad managed to pull his jet up enough to avoid the outer wall of the arena. However, right after that the plane descended out of sight behind the barrier. A half second later a giant explosion erupted from where Brad had disappeared, and oily black smoke drifted up into the sky.
"Brad!" Milton screamed as he ran around from behind the counter. He stepped towards the TV, as if he thought he could do something to help by getting closer to the image on the screen.
"What caused that?" the armadillo said. "Who fired that missile?"
As if to answer his question, the camera rotated around to reveal a horde of flying battleships storming towards the raceway, firing laser blasts and missiles at everything in sight. Explosions in the stands sent people flying. A few more racing jets were shot down, and others crashed while trying to dodge the lasers and rockets. The raceway had erupted into total chaos. The racers who were still alive tried to fly away from the danger, while people ran and tripped over each other to get to the exits out of the speedway. He could also hear screaming inside the control tower, where the announcer had left his microphone running.
"Shit! Run! Run or you're gonna get fried!" someone yelled over the chaos.
The camera once again rotated, to show a missile streaking straight towards the announcer's box, which was the roof of the building that the camera was on. The missile hit the side of the building, sending up a massive fireball that engulfed the camera. Then there was static on the TV screen and Milton saw nothing more. He finally managed to find his voice after the shock.
"Wh-what the hell just happened?"
Milton just stood there for a few seconds, staring at the buzzing static on the TV set, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, he remembered that Mor International Speedway was on the south side of the city. Milton wanted to see if he could spot the ships approaching the city from here. He sprinted towards the double doors at the front of the shop and stepped out onto the street. The armadillo then noticed that people were pointing to the sky, and talking in nervous tones. A few cars had even stopped in the middle of the road, and the drivers were getting out looking up as well. Milton tilted his head up too to see what they were watching.
The battleships that the racetrack camera had shown before were already hovering over the city. Milton was paralyzed to the spot in terror, unable to move as the battleships silently passed overhead. Then, the ships rapidly descended towards the tops of the buildings. When one of them stopped descending directly overhead, doors opened in the side of the massive vehicle and robotic soldiers leaped out. With heavy clanks, they landed on the street and rose to their feet. After standing up, each one of them reached for a blaster rifle strapped across its back, and brought it into a firing position.
Screams erupted all around Milton as soldiers opened fire with red laser beams, and he saw people trying to run for their lives. An old turtle got shot and fell to the ground, his cane clattering across the ground near his feet. A dog mailman was hit and his mailbag spilled open, the letters flying out of the bag like confetti. Milton couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing those people just get gunned down so brutally had finally spurred him to action. He turned and ran back towards the glass doors of the electronics shop, where he had just been watching a race on TV only moments before his world had been turned to hell.
The armadillo didn't make it ten steps. He was gunned down just as swiftly as the old man and the mailman had been. Milton's knees gave way as the sidewalk in front of the doors rushed up to meet his head. The glasses on his face were smashed to pieces as they made contact with the cement, and the shards left many cuts on his face. He yelled out in pain, but his cries rapidly faded. It was like his whole body was going rigid. Milton wanted to rub his face with his hands to soothe the pain, but his arms wouldn't move. However, while the pain was exquisite, he didn't feel like he was dying.
Stun guns...? Milton thought.
He then heard the clunk of metal feet approaching him, and slowly turned his head to face the robot soldier.
"Sector clear," the robot said in a monotone voice, apparently talking into a radio. "Take all captives to the Robotnik mother ship to be brought back to headquarters for roboticization."
Roboticizers? Oh hell no!
Milton had heard about the terrible devices via news programs during the Robotnik War six years ago. Some stations had run detailed spots, telling the public about how the awful devices worked. They transformed a living, breathing flesh and blood creature into a mindless robot drone, which could do nothing except follow orders from Robotnik without question. Milton believed that being a mindless robotic zombie would be a fate worse than death. This thought spurred him to get up and run away. Unfortunately, his arms and legs still weren't willing to cooperate with him. It was a massively painful effort to just move his limbs, let alone use them to stand up again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the robot soldier had noticed him struggling. The soldier strode right over to him, and stopped next to his prone body. Without even a pause as it reached him, the soldier whacked Milton on the side of the head with the butt of its laser rifle. There was a bright flash of light in the armadillo's eyes, and then darkness, nothing else after that. The last thing he noticed before going fully unconscious was that someone had grabbed his feet and was dragging him across the ground.
---
"Argh...this is taking forever," Sonic muttered.
"Do you need to say it again?" Tails asked.
He and Tails were standing in line at a Burger Stop restaurant. The place was crummy looking, what with the overflowing garbage cans, dirty floors, and filthy tables. At least the menu showed cheap prices for everything. The two of them didn't really have much of a choice on where to eat, since they were nearly broke. Unfortunately, there were a lot of other people around who wanted to save money too, and so they had to get in a long line.
With nothing better to do, Sonic looked to the left, towards the windows that looked out over the busy street bordering the restaurant. There wasn't much to see over there though. Sonic wished there was something more interesting to watch than just cars whooshing past and people walking on the sidewalks. He'd already seen plenty of that all morning. The streets were certainly more exciting than their old home in Forest Town, but it got dull to watch after seeing it for a while.
The blue hedgehog turned back to face the line, and saw that there were still at least twenty people in front of them in line. He groaned aloud. If there was one thing that really pissed Sonic off, it was being stuck in one place with nothing to do. He had to be free, he had to run, walk, anything besides sit still. Once again, Sonic turned to face the windows.
Gigantic robots with red eyes and laser guns were standing in the middle of the street. They were so unexpected that it actually took Sonic's brain a moment to register the fact that they were actually standing there. It was then that Sonic realized that the cars in the street had stopped, and people were screaming and running for their lives. People inside the restaurant started to run too. The robots opened fire on the fleeing people in the street, knocking them down with their shots. Once the street was clear, a few of them turned to face the Burger Stop's windows.
"Get down!" Sonic screamed, jumping on top of Tails.
The robots opened fire, their shots causing the windows to break and send shards of glass flying all over the tables, floors, and people. Several patrons were immediately hit and knocked down by the laser blasts. The rest panicked and tried to run, but with the tightly packed lines in front of the order counter, it wasn't easy to get out. Sonic and Tails stayed glued to the floor, as feet flashed past their bodies. One or two people even accidentally stepped on top of them.
While Sonic just groaned and sucked up the pain, he could hear Tails whimpering and crying. The tears pattered across the cheap white-tiled floor. The initial attack over, Sonic slowly raised his head to get a better look at the chaos. A lot of people were now lying down on the floor, due to getting hit by the lasers. Others were trying to find places to hide behind tables and the order counter, and more were trying to flee through the exit opposite of the one facing the street.
There was another sound of shattering glass, and Sonic turned around to see the source of the noise. The robots were entering the restaurant through the glass doors at the front. Instead of bothering to open the doors properly, they simply broke them down. Their footsteps were deafeningly loud and clunky, and even left small cracks in the tiles from the sheer weight of their bodies.
"All surrender to the Robotnik Empire..." one of the robots droned, pulling his laser rifle back up into a firing position.
Robotnik? So he's the one who sent these robots? Sonic actually smiled a little. Now is my chance to take revenge for what he did to Tails' parents.
"Hey!" Sonic called out to the robots, as he stood up and moved away from Tails. He pointed at himself. "Take your best shot, right here!"
The robots fired at Sonic, but he easily sidestepped the shots as they destroyed the tile floor where he had been standing a second before. He then teleported behind the two soldiers, and sliced through them like a hot knife through butter using his spin attack. The disconnected torsos and chests clattered to the floor. Everyone who hadn't left the restaurant yet clapped and cheered for Sonic.
"Good job kid!" a fry cook behind the counter said. The cook, who was a rabbit, gave him a thumbs-up.
Sonic looked at the man, surprised. He had mostly cut down that robot just out of rage against Robotnik, and hadn't really thought about the fact that he was also helping out everyone in the restaurant. The feeling felt great though...
"Thanks!" Sonic said, flashing him a thumbs-up sign back.
Tails was still lying on the floor, but he looked up at Sonic and gave him a weak smile, and wiped the tears from his eyes. Sonic lowered his hand to Tails and helped him up.
"Are you all right?" Sonic said, as he pulled Tails up.
"I guess so..." Tails murmured. "That was scary. I hope there aren't more robots out there."
"Look!" someone in the restaurant shouted. He pointed to what was happening outside.
A unit of robot soldiers was marching in orderly rows down the street passing next to the restaurant. With how organized they were, they looked prepared to destroy the entire city. Sonic heard the sound of a jet engine, and it sounded oddly familiar for some reason. One moment later, he realized what he was listening to. As if on cue, Robotnik's personal egg ship appeared hovering above the lines of soldiers, and he looked out over all the chaos before him with glee.
It was almost just like what Tails had said his nightmare was like. Despite the severe damage that the battle with Kyle had caused back in Elona nine days ago, and the state of Kyle's corpse, Robotnik appeared to be completely uninjured, and his craft didn't even have a scratch in its paint. It was like Robotnik had never been a part of that fight. Sure he could have probably had a replacement ship handy, but how did he recover from his injuries so fast?
What few people were left in the restaurant turned to the exits on the other side of the building and fled for their lives. Sonic paid them no mind though. He also paid no attention to Tails tugging at his arm, as the fox screamed at him to run. All that mattered now was focusing on the mad doctor.
Sonic clenched his fist at the sight of Robotnik. He was so disgusted with how this madman had just killed his father, Tails' parents, and this city, and yet everything was still going his way. He deserved to be rotting in hell, not sitting in his ship all giddy with that stupid smile on his face. Sonic had had enough. If he wasn't in hell yet, Sonic felt that he had to send him there. He strode right over towards the glass doors that the soldiers had destroyed earlier, and began to step outside.
However, a small arm grabbed him from behind before he could fully get out of the restaurant. He turned around, and saw that Tails was there with his eyes wide open with fear.
"Let me go Tails," Sonic said, easily shaking out of Tails' weak grasp. "I'm going out there!"
"No Sonic! You'll die!" Tails said, grabbing on and trying to pull him back. "Robotnik has too many robots with him!"
"I took down the first two ones easy enough."
"But there's a lot more than two out there!"
"Enough!" Sonic shouted, shaking off Tails again. "I'm going to go kill Robotnik and you're not gonna stop me!"
Then one of the robots in the crowd turned towards them and started shooting...