(This first Saga is in memory of Deem Bristow: the voice of Dr. Eggman in the greatest Sonic games to date. This man managed the voice of Sonic's nemesis for years and will be missed by fans around the world.) Thanks to Dark Qiviut for the suggestion.)

Flip card 2

Name;Amy Rose

Age;17

Sex;Female

Species: Hedgehog

United Kingdom:

"Don't think you've ever been to England?" Bean the Dynamite Duck; now Freelance Divisions top explosives expert, asked Bark. The polar bear was also a vital member of the Division and a techno-wizard to boot, even if he didn't look like it. The two of them were sitting in a hired out military chopper presently flying towards a large helicopter landing pad just on a hillside in the distance, the English countryside rolling out below them. The city of Bristol was a few further miles south; they were on their way to a manor just on the edge of some village nestled deep in the countryside.

The United Kingdom had been resisting Eggman's attempts to raid it's cities for months now. Out of all the nations involved England seemed to be the most patriotic fighters with their military force second only to G.U.N itself. Charles 'Chuck' Thorndyke sat in the chair behind them with his arms crossed looking out of the window towards the ground below. Chuck had been born here but had agreed to move with his family to America when his son was offered a once in a lifetime job opportunity. He liked America, but it was true what they said; there was no place like home.

"Nah not really." The polar bear replied to Bean's question, putting his arms behind his head leaning back in his chair. "I know a few mobians who wound up in this area after the world's merged but I've never been here myself." He shot a brief glance out the window. "Nice enough place though." Bean and Bark had been assigned to bodyguard the Professor on the trip abroad and since Chuck was the brightest engineer on the Government's pay roll they had obliged to keep him safe. With most more modern means of communication down Chuck had had little option but to come to England personally to speak with an old friend of his who, according to the E-mail he'd managed to send; said he has something of great scientific interest that Chuck should see for himself.

It had been one long jet flight to Heathrow airport and then another long flight in a G.U.N chopper and Bean was desperate to stretch his legs. Bark just sat quietly in his chair with his arms crossed, occasionally glancing out the window as they descended.

Landing on the H-pad, Chuck finally looked up from his daydreaming and returned to the real world; unfastening his seat belt as one of the pilots got out to open the door for their passengers.

Standing there on the road leading down from the pad waiting for them was a mobian Hare with chocolate brown fur; apart from over his muzzle and stomach which were a starched cream. One of his ears had suffered a nasty injury, a large bite mark imprinted on the left hand side. Two large tufts of hair stood out on the tip of each one. A red bandana was tied around his head, two holes cut out of the fabric for his ears. His hands were overly large, even for a mobian and seemed to be permanently in a fist. A large, army type jeep lay a few feet away with a set of laughable furry dice handing on the view mirror.

"About' Bloody time." He stated in a very strong Northern English accent, that didn't sound like anything either Bean or Bark would have expected. The hare waited impatiently, tapping a large foot on the ground and narrowing his large black eyes. "Looks fella's I don't have time for staring contests." He snapped irritably, before finally giving up on getting a decent reply out of the two of them. "Are you Chuck Thorndyke?" He asked the human scientist as they approached, the blades on the choppers behind them slowly winding down.

"You must be Alfred." Chuck stated and the Hare winced upon the hearing of his real name.

"Never…ever… mention that name in my presence." He said sternly, giving the human a glare so piercing it could have cut through a rock. "If anyone asks, my name is Hare." He added, before turning away and making his way over towards the jeep.

"Imaginative nickname." Bean remarked sarcastically under his breath as they got in the vehicle and the mobian hare drove them off down the hill.

Surprisingly, they didn't head towards the city. Instead, Hare drove them around a few country roads heading further up the hills towards the manor they'd seen from the air,

"Your friend owns this palace?" Bark asked as Hare stopped at a large set of iron gates leading onto a fabulous estate, a mansion like building with many barn like buildings around it standing at the far end of a stone driveway.

"I bet he wishes he did." Chuck replied with a laugh. "He just rents out one of the rooms."

"An apartment at the back, near the rear end of the estate." Hare added as the large gates swung apart granting them entrance. "The Professor was in financial trouble a few years ago and the owner of the land owed him a favour, so they set him up with the place on a fraction of the rent they'd usually demand." The jeep seemed to take the scenic route through the estate, passing my rolling lawns and rows of beautifully pruned trees.

"Do you work by this guy?" Bean asked. Hare shook his head as he pulled up in front of large building behind the mansion itself. It was house shaped with a thatched roof but had no door, only a wooden ladder leading up into a floor above.

"Nah, I just drive him from place to place now and then. Old Arti' and Me been palls for over a year now." Hare replied as Chuck climbed out of the jeep. "He put me up for a few days after a…misunderstanding…I had with the local bobby." Bean and Bark exchanged nervous glances.

"Why don't you too head off into town?" Chuck asked. "I'll be fine here."

"Well I don't know." Bark began.

"We have the biggest brewery this side of the Atlantic." Hare added dryly, giving the two of them in the back a sly look.

"We'll see you in three hours!" Bean stated, jumping into the now free front seat. In moments they were gone. Chuck laughed to himself before turning back as the trap door opened itself.

"Charles!" A voice stated as a human climbed down from the second floor. He was as old as Chuck and balding, yet despite his wrinkles the had on his eyes his brown eyes sparkled with youthful energy. He was dressed in simple jeans and top, a small blue scruff around his neck. "How have you been? Does America suit you?" Artimus had been one of Chuck's oldest friends. The two of them had gone to college together, learning under the same tutor. Chuck however had progressed into engineering while Artimus began the study of palaeontology.

"I've missed the currency and calling the bathroom a toilet but apart from that, I can't complain." Chuck replied with a wide grin as the two of them shook hands. "It's good to see you again Arti'."

Eventually, after much inane chatter, Artimus finally got around to showing Chuck what he had dragged him across the Atlantic to show him. Inside his rooms, which was a complete mess of papers, bear cans and other garbage strewn across the floor, Artimus rummaged through a pile of notes looking for what he was looking for.

"This is a rubbing sent to me by my college, Pr. Toriyama, doing archaeological work in Italy." He handed over the sheet of paper which had a printed fax image on it. It clearly showed two symbols repeating themselves over and over again, all in symmetrical lines. They were obvious a ancient form of writing, but not one Chuck was familiar with.

"Just what…" He began.

"Some form of an attempt at merging old Italian with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Probably undertaken when Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire were great powers in the Mediterranean, carbon dating selects the date for the tablet which the rubbing came from at around 130 BC." Artimus replied, looking sceptical all the same. "Toriyama has the more precise details, but from what he's been able to decipher these symbols…" He stopped to point at the rune like drawings on the paper. "Are numbers and when translated into English, this line anyway, reads directly as 011000011101010101000110." Chuck sat there blinking in surprise before it finally dawned on him.

"That's binary code." He stated with wide eyes. "Machine language." Artimus nodded enthusiastically. "But that doesn't make any sense. Binary code wasn't invented under the creation of the mordern computer." His old friend shrugged his shoulders.

"Toriyama has checked all other possibilities. It's binary code alright, and since you're the robotics expert, can you tell us what is means?" Chuck hesitated, before crunching the numbers in his head, that last line to the best of his ability.

"The codes incomplete." He announced after a moment of silence. "Unless I have access to the whole thing I won't be able to make heads or tails out of it."

"I thought as much." Artimus began sadly folding his arms. "Chuck, what I'm about to tell you, you have to keep to yourself." Chuck nodded slowly in response. "I believe Toriyama may have stumbled onto something beyond his understanding, something extremely dangerous."

"What makes you think that?" Artimus went over to a large collection of boxes on the far side of the room.

"Even before he unearthed his find I had suspicions about the people who funded his expedition. Powerful, influential people who donated generously; a little too generously." He reached into one of the boxes and withdrew something wrapped in a towel. "At the start of his excavation, he sent this piece to me for study." He unwrapped it, revealing the inside to be a small stone plate. Perfectly round, with a series of engraved runes on the side. But what caught Chuck's immediate attention was the symbol engraved directly in the middle.

It was a curved Chinese style Dragon. This was a symbol he had seen before. It was the symbol of an group that masqueraded behind the illusion of a Multi-million dollar corporation called the Foundation. According to Shadow, these people had been worshippers of the dark god Krish Kra Pal, a god idolized by the ancient Echidian civilisation of Mobius.

"I see…" It wasn't common knowledge that after their building collapsed, the Foundation was revealed to the Government as a secret cult. Artimus however, had contacts within G.U.N itself and was certainly in a position to learn of it.

"I tried to leave England to go to Italy myself, but my work here in United Kingdom takes priority. So, and this is ultimately why I asked you here, will you go to Italy and see for yourself what's going on?" Chuck hesitated, looking slightly stunned. "I know it's asking a lot, but I'm starting to get worried about Toriyama."

"Well I…."

"Please Charles?"

"Oh…well I suppose while I'm here in Europe I could make a slight detour." A wide smile spread over Artimus' features.

"I won't forget this Chuck, you're a good friend." Before Chuck could reply, the light coming in from the window began to die away as if some giant cloud had passed in front of the sun. It didn't pass, in fact it seemed to greater darker with each passing moment and through the air a loud humming sound began to resonate.

Bristol wasn't anything like the cities back in the States. Everything was far more urban; and green Bark was quick to notice as Bean downed his third pint.

"That's enough." The polar bear stated roughly, slapping a large gloved hand on the Dynamite Duck's shoulder to stop him from ordering another drink. "We're supposed to be on duty." The Duck hiccupped loudly. Hare, the rabbit like mobian who had been leading them on the tour around the city and the famous landmarks was busy paying the bill Bean had inadvertently run up.

"The next time, it's coming out of your wallet." He replied angrily, having paid well over twenty pounds for one round.

"Fine, Alfred." Bean chuckled to himself. Hare looked like he was about to burst into a rage when a dark shadow began falling over the streets, clouding the entire city in darkness.

Bean and Bark looked up as the shadow passed overhead, seeing dozens of large planes passing overhead. Huge constructs, shaped like a jumbo jet yet over twice as large. Everyone on the ground stopped in the daily course of their lives to look up at this unexpected thing. They were larger enough to be considered walker carriers belonging to G.U.N, if on their underside hadn't had the Eggman Empire's symbol laden across it, the face glaring down at the terrified citizenry as the doors at the back end of the planes opened up and uncountable numbers of Dreadnaughts began parachuting out.

As the robots set foot on the ground it shook under their weight, cars leapt into the air and windows shattered. Any police in the area was neutralised by those still in the air, missiles detonating squad cars, sending them crashing into the side of buildings. It only took several minutes, but after that time had elapsed the entire city of Bristol had been completely overrun with Dreadnaughts, forcing anyone who didn't resist into public buildings and terminating anyone who did. Resident G.U.N garrison forces tried to counter attack, but with the element of surprise in their favour; the Dreadnaughts tore through them with ease.

Watching from behind a dumpster, Bark saw several Flying Dogs attempt to attack the planes that soured overhead. Their attempt at retribution was easily squashed by several new robots that neither the polar bear nor Bark had ever seen before. They were smaller than Dreadnaughts and far more humanoid. A single red visor highlighting the centre of their heads, each hand armed with cloven talons. Armed with unyielding firepower, they blasted the drones out of the air.

With any resistance lying burning at their feet and while the larger Dreadnaughts took to the city limits to form a near impenetrable defensive ring, these smaller robots began patrolling the streets rounding up anyone who escaped the initial invasion.

"Attention civilians." A booming voice that echoed from the overhead planes stated, projected by a com system. It sounded more human than a computer synthesised voice. "You're city is now under our control. Resistance will be met with deadly force." Bean and Bark could not have known but similar scenes were happening in every major city in the British Isles. This was an extensively planned Imperial campaign to render England completely defenceless in one day.

Dr. Eggman had seen the strategic position Britain possessed and had chosen it to be the land upon which he constructed the foundation of his Empire. Already his forces were marching into London, the Prime Minster and the Royal Family his hostages. Eggman had just pulled of the largest and quickest change of Government in Earth's history. And best of all, Sonic had done absolutely nothing to stop them. Bean looked out from his hiding place as a large Dreadnaught Mech lumbered up the street, a searchlight from its shoulder vigorously scanning the ground for anything that moved.

"Bollocks!" Hare cursed angrily, quickly diving or the safety of the shadows before he could be detected.

Eggman himself stared out across his newly conquered territory with a wide smile on his face. This was the beginning of a glorious new era for the world. The Eggman Empire was finally a reality and soon, it's wars of expansion would begin. The Doctor held no respect for those power hunger fools who'd joined his empire, but he'd need them. Their brainwashing techniques would prove invaluable when the time came to convince the masses that the Eggman Empire would be the best thing that ever happened to them; the general public was amazingly weak willed. While Eggman preferred to intimidate his enemies into submission, he had to think about what was best for his Empire in the long term."The city is contained, and reports from the divisions show that the operation was a complete success." Becoe stated, looking up from a computer print out in his hands as he and his taller counterpart joined their master on a balcony overlooking the captured city. "May I be the first to congratulate you Doctor on a successful campaign…England is all ours." Eggman cast him a glare over his shoulder. "Er…all yours." The scientist grumbled something under his breath and turned back to marvel at his first conquest. The majority of London was still intact but a few of them would have to go. This country was no longer England, so it couldn't definitely do without Buckingham Palace.

"Did any of G.U.N's garrison troops get away?" He asked."We caught them by surprise sir and most have either been killed or captured." Decoe, the larger taller robot replied. "However, we have reports that a few managed to evacuate across the channel." Eggman didn't reply, he simply put his left hand to his chin and began contemplating. If some of them got away then within hours G.U.N would know that England had fallen. It was a far small time scale than he had originally predicted, but it didn't really matter. It had just pushed his schedule ahead by twenty four hours.

"Begin construction of the factories in every major city and the assembly of defences. I want full productive capability within the week." It felt strangely satisfying issuing his first order as ruler of a country. "Meanwhile, I have a television appearance to attend."

(In Chris voice)

Eggman's off to a good start and Sonic's still out cold. Will Tails, Okida and the others be able to fend the robots of long enough for him to wake up? Find out next time on Sonic X, The Challenge. Don't miss it!