Chapter 20: Sunrise
March 24th, 2314 – 2:00 PM – Location Unknown
Tails' mind was in a haze, as he lay unconscious. Everything that went through his mind felt vague and blurry. He remembered getting struck by that bolt of lightning, and then everything had gone black after that. He wondered if he was dead, and if this dark blurry place he was in right now was the afterlife. If it was, he really didn't want to spend eternity here.
He continued to run through the battle he'd been in right before he'd been struck by that lightning bolt, and wondered what the outcome was.
Did Sonic win? I don't think so, because he'd need me to fly him up to Robotnik. What about the prisoners? Did they escape? Oh, and what happened to Robotnik? Is he still on his quest to overthrow the world? I just wish I could have someone tell me what happened... Please let someone tell me soon. I hate this place.
All of a sudden though, Tails realized a bright light was appearing in his eyes. What was that light? He wanted to know. It was then that he noticed he was laying on something soft, when he'd distinctly remembered nothing but rocks and dirt underneath him before he'd gone unconscious. What was going on? His eyes drifted open. As his surroundings came into focus, he realized he was on a bed, in a room with white walls. What made the room even brighter was the fact that sunlight was streaming in through the open window nearby. A lazy breeze drifted in, causing the curtains to flap slowly in the wind.
Slowly, Tails sat up. There was a twinge of pain in his body, but it wasn't all that noticeable anyway. As the fox examined the room more, he discovered it was a hospital room. The place had the usual furnishings of one. Diagrams of human and Freedomian bodies hung on the walls, a TV set sat on a stand in the corner of the room, and so on.
I thought I was going to wake up dead, or stuck in a roboticizer. Does this mean that Sonic won the fight?
The fox slowly slid out of the bed, and then noticed he heard snoozing behind a nearby curtain that divided the room in half. Tails walked around it, and saw Sonic sleeping on another bed back there.
He's not dead. Thank goodness. I was afraid I'd lose the only family I had left. Does that mean we won? I gotta wake him up and find out!
Tails walked over to Sonic and shook him a little.
"Sonic...wake up please," the fox said.
Sonic stirred in his sleep.
"Uhh, not now Tails. Just a bit longer," he mumbled.
"Come on Sonic, I wanna know what's going on. What happened to Robotnik? And where in the world are we?"
"Ruhh-Robotnik..." Sonic spluttered.
Sonic's eyes started to open, and then they showed surprise as his vision came into focus. The hedgehog suddenly jumped up with a big smile on his face, and hugged Tails. The fox was surprised by the sudden move, but he hugged back anyway with his own smile.
"Oh good Tails! You're awake!" Sonic said. "I'm so glad you're okay now!"
"Thanks, but what happened? What are we doing here?"
Sonic leaned back and sat on the bed. He told Tails about everything that had happened since he'd gone unconscious: the remainder of the battle with Robotnik, Tex joining in to help, and the escape from the base.
"After that," Sonic said. "We started trying to help out the hurt people as best as we could. It wasn't easy though, because we didn't have any medicines. But then the Freedomian Army showed up a couple hours after that. They said that they'd been watching the whole base raid via a spy satellite, but they didn't have enough time to get their army ready to help us out. Anyway, they got the wounded people out, and started helping to get people out from underneath the rocks. Right now, they said it looks like seventy percent of the prisoners are alive."
"Huh?" Tails said. "But I thought you said a lot of people were still on the way out when there was that self-destruct sequence."
"No," Sonic said. "Those were just the stragglers. Most of the people had already gone out. The cops said it was because they were having a hard time trying to convince some of the prisoners to sneak out, with how they'd have to go through the base. Well, most of the people survived, but it's sad that some died just because they were too scared of Robotnik's army..."
Sonic paused for a moment after that, but then he continued again.
"They brought the wounded people up here to South Island in the Land of the Sky, including us. We're in a hospital in New Earth City right now."
"You mean the capital of the planet?"
"Yeah, that's right. Also, I've got some great news," Sonic said with a smile.
"What's that?" Tails asked, his ears perking with interest.
"The government saw how we fought Robotnik on the top of the base, and they want to reward us for what we did. They also want to help after Robotnik killed your parents."
"Really? That's great!"
"Yeah! They said we're getting a new house and even a place in the army if we want it!"
"Whoa! Are you serious?"
"Yeah, finally! We have a new place to live now! Anyway, we have to go to the Presidential Mansion now. They told me that we should go there as soon as you woke up."
"The Presidential Mansion? Wow! This is really cool!"
"Yeah! Let's get going!"
Sonic and Tails walked out into the hallway. A human in a green military uniform leaned on the wall next to the door. His assault rifle lazily clanked against the wall, but he straightened up to attention as soon as he spotted the two of them. Tails was momentarily surprised to see a human here, but then he remembered something. South Island was basically the human capital of the planet, since it was the seat of the human government on Planet Freedom.
"Good, you two are awake now," he said with a smile. "Well, come on. We've got a car waiting for you."
They briskly walked out of the hospital; Tails meanwhile marveled at how for once the humans outnumbered the Freedomian furries. Most humans on the planet typically didn't venture beyond South Island, preferring to remain among their own kind. Because of that, it was rare for Tails to see homo sapiens at all. Seeing entire rooms of them though practically overwhelmed him.
Before long, they left the hospital, and the human habitation inside that building was nothing compared to what he was looking at now. Outside, there were hundreds of them walking around. There were human children skipping playfully alongside their parents, humans sitting on the rim of the decorative fountain nearby reading books, and still more driving past in cars in the road going alongside the plaza.
Tails wanted to stop and look around, but they were quickly hurried over to a black limousine waiting on a street adjoining the courtyard. Another human in military clothing stood watch near the car, but he ran over and opened the back door for them as they got close. Sonic, Tails, and the first human all jumped inside the back, with the first human giving a quick nod to the second as he got in. The second guard ran up front to the driver's seat, and within seconds they were zooming off down the road. Tails gazed about, taking how much the location had changed after he'd woken up.
Before, Tails was flying around in the dank Land of Darkness, where it always felt like it was nighttime, no matter the time of day. Not to mention, Robotnik's base was made of nothing but cold metal, drilled inside a craggy, unforgiving mountain covered with jagged rocks. An ominous dark forest stretched out in every direction from the base, seemingly endless in how big it was.
Here though, Tails was in the middle of a bustling city in the Land of the Sky, full of people going about their daily lives. The tall skyscrapers gleamed like mirrors in the bright sunlight, and there wasn't a cloud in the pure blue sky overhead. It looked positively beautiful, and Tails couldn't have thought of a better place to wake up in after being in the Land of Darkness for so long. It did feel strange being around so many humans, although Tails got used to it rather quickly. It wasn't like he didn't think they were untrustworthy or anything...
However, he quickly changed his attention to something else as the car left the city.
Even after extensive studies of the planet's geology, nobody had ever discovered why the Land of the Sky was able to float above the clouds like it did. That didn't bother Tails though, because the views from up here never got old. The car had just reached a bridge that left New Earth City's island, and connected it to the next floating island. It was such an impressive view from on this bridge, with the clouds far below, the tall vertical cliffs to the front and back, and the endless blue sky above.
The bridge eventually ended, giving way to a dirt road passing across a well-trimmed lawn on the other side. Trees stood at regular intervals along the path, and at the far end was a grand building made entirely out of beautiful white marble. It somewhat resembled an ancient Greek temple, with broad steps coming out from every side of the building and large columns holding up the roof. A tall tower with a domed top stood high above the rest of the structure. This was the Presidential Mansion, and it was a most impressive sight to behold in person. Tails' only prior experience in seeing it came from what he saw in textbooks at school.
The car rounded around a fountain in front of the building. It featured sculptures of humans and Freedomians working together with one another, to represent both races coming together as one to build a grand and prosperous civilization. Tails smiled a bit at seeing the monument, but before he could look at it any longer the car came to a halt.
He turned around and looked up through the limo's window. The Presidential Mansion looked even larger up close. The second guard opened the door, beckoning them out with one hand. Tails stepped out behind Sonic, as they started up a broad set of marble stairs. The steps eventually led them to two massive wooden doors at the base of the mansion's tower.
The doors opened automatically as Sonic and Tails approached, allowing them into a beautifully decorated entrance hall. A large marble staircase ran up along the circular wall of the tower, which gave access to the higher floors of the building. Grand chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and more marble sculptures of Freedomians and humans stood around the large floor space.
That wasn't what Tails paid attention to though. A large, fat human (probably even fatter than Robotnik) stood in the middle of the room. He wore a white suit decorated with various sorts of sashes and medals, and a broad smile was on his bearded face. Next to him there was a skinny teenaged human dressed much more casually, with a large magenta bow in her brown hair in addition to a magenta shirt and skirt. The large human boomed out a welcome that echoed all across the tall chamber, making his voice sound quite impressive.
"Sonic Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower... Welcome! Welcome to the Presidential Mansion! I'm sure you know who I am, right?"
Sonic smiled, and said "Yes, you're President Henry Rudot."
"Very good Sonic," the President responded. He put an arm around the girl next to him. "And this is my sixteen-year-old daughter Sarah Rudot."
The girl let out a giggle, which echoed all over the chamber.
"Oh daddy! I can introduce myself!"
Sarah quickly dashed over to Sonic, frantically shaking his hand. She was doing it so hard and for so long, that Tails was scared Sonic's arm might pop out if she kept that up. Thankfully, she stopped soon enough.
"Sonic, I'm so glad to finally meet you!" Sarah shrieked.
"Huh?" Sonic said with raised eyes, as he nursed his shaken arm. "Why's that?"
"'Cause you were big and brave enough to go out there and fight Robotnik's entire army all by yourself! I watched the satellite tapes!"
"Well actually I had some—"
"You destroyed all of them just like they were nothing, and sent Robotnik home crying to his momma!"
"But I didn't beat—"
"Oh Sonic, I would love it so much if you would marry me!"
Now Sonic's eyes had widened open even more.
"Hold on Sarah," The President said, dragging her daughter back. "Let's not be too hasty. After all, Sonic is only twelve, and you're just sixteen. That's hardly the age for a proper marriage."
"But I want it really bad!" Sarah said, elbowing her father as he dragged her away. "I wanna be with that hedgehog for the rest of my life!"
The President rolled his eyes, and signaled for some nearby guards to come over. "Could you please escort her back to her room?"
"Right away sir," one of them said.
Two guards grabbed her by her arms and dragged her out of the room. She kicked and yelled the whole way.
"Oh Sonic! Come beat these men up like you did Robotnik and rescue me! Then we can run off and live happily ever after!"
"Err, heh heh," Sonic nervously laughed. "No thanks."
Finally, her yells were cut off as the guards dragged her through a big wooden door and slammed it shut behind them. The President let out a sigh, and walked over to Sonic.
"I'm terribly sorry about that Sonic. My daughter is a little...well...crazy. I knew it would be a mistake to have her out here."
Sonic chuckled a bit.
"Oh it's all right. How about those rewards you were talking about?"
"Ah yes, your new home and your position in the Freedomian Army. Well, how about I take you to see the house first, and then we talk about the job, hmm?"
Sonic turned to Tails.
"What do you think Tails?"
Tails gave off a smile.
"Sure, I wanna see our new house."
"Very well then," the President said, walking towards the entrance doors.
Outside, Sonic and Tails saw a large black rocket ship preparing to land in the driveway near the front stairs. Despite how expensive this ship looked, the pilot appeared to be rather low class. He took out a few trees and nearly destroyed a chunk of the fountain as he was coming in to park. The fun didn't end there though. He was headed straight for the west wing of the building, before he put it in reverse at the last second and came to a shaky stop near the fountain.
"I must apologize for the rather low skill of my new pilot," the President said. "But I just adore his personality and wouldn't trade him for anyone else in a million years."
"Who is he?" Sonic asked as they walked down the steps towards the ship.
"He's a former JARA racer, and his name is Oliver Owl. Most racing fans out there more commonly know him as "Old Man" though. I'm sure you know about him, with how famous he is."
Sonic and Tails exchanged fearful glances. They knew him all too well, with Sonic learning about him from his late father Swift and in turn Tails learning about him from Sonic. According to what they knew about Old Man, he used to be a very talented racer, but his old age caught up with him several years ago. The guy's brain was slowly turning to mush, and his formerly great eyesight was degenerating at a frightening rate. Both of these things had led to him causing frequent wrecks during JARA races. This ended up costing millions of demens in repair work to his team's jet, the other jets out on the field, and repairs to the tracks themselves.
"While him getting kicked out of the JARA tournament at the start of this season was quite regrettable," President Rudot said wotj a s,ao;e. "Their loss is my gain. I've always wanted to meet this owl, and now I have him working under me. It's such a great honor to have him in my service."
With a hiss, a door on the side of the rocket ship opened up, revealing a short but plump owl standing in the entryway. Over his brown and white feathers, he wore a blue cloak. Glasses framed his eyes, and he had a big smile on his face as he started to walk down the exit stairs.
He tripped over the first step and landed on his back on the ground below.
"Whoops!" he said, before he burst into laughter.
He quickly got up, but instead of walking over to Sonic, Tails, and the President, he walked over to the fountain instead. Old Man stopped in front of a sculpture of a human that was about as fat as President Rudot himself.
"All right Prez!" the owl shouted. "Your ship is ready for takeoff! We can depart any time!"
"Ahem!" the President said loudly.
The bird turned around, and frantically ran over to where Rudot was standing.
"Sorry about that Prez!" he said with a bow. "Anyway, your ship is ready and we can leave now!"
"Heh, very good Old Man."
The President then turned to Sonic and Tails.
"Well come on, let's go!"
Tails and Sonic both looked like they wanted to refuse, but this was the President. It wouldn't be that easy to just say no. Finally, Sonic reluctantly walked over to the rocket ship, and began to climb inside. Tails followed after him. Once they were seated and buckled up in the backseat, Old Man and the President got up front, with Old Man taking the pilot's seat. Sonic got a firm grip on Tails' arm.
"You better hold on," Sonic said.
Tails nodded. With a fearful rumble, the rocket ship started up and began to lift off of the ground. Everything seemed to be going smoothly...so far. Who knew what could happen with Old Man in the driver's seat? Finally, once the ship was above the top of the mansion's tower, it came to a halt to hover in midair.
"Haha!" the Old Man laughed crazily. "Off we go!"
Tails was pressed backwards in his seat as the after burners kicked in at full thrust.