11am, Sleepy Peak Hospital, 19 days after the anomaly.
Neil looked exhausted, having been shuffled from doctor to doctor as they x-rayed him and treated every cut and scrape that he had sustained. To avoid any suspicion, Neil had told them he'd fallen from a tree, which made much more sense to the doctors than what the truth really was.
As it turned out, he didn't have any fractures on any of the bones, but the surrounding muscle had been scraped heavily, and Neil wouldn't be able to leave for at least a day or two.
By now, the Hospital had begun allowing visitors, although the doctors and nurses had strictly forbidden anyone to touch him, which Neil felt was understandable. Nikki, Max, Ered and Gwen were the first to visit him (David and the other kids would visit later). Taking a seat around him, they waited for a moment before Ered broke the silence.
"So, are you feeling any better, you know, since this morning?" Ered asked.
"A bit. They gave me some painkillers, mostly for the back pain, but also for this." Neil pointed to his arms, which were mostly covered in bandages over whatever areas had been dragged along the ground. "I can't move much until my back heals up a bit more, hopefully within a couple of days they'll let me leave, but you never know with these things." Neil explained.
"So uh, what actually happened to you?" Gwen asked. "We heard from Space Kid about what you did."
"Did you?" Neil looked disheartened. "Well, after I chucked Space Kid back through the portal, these huge robots caught up to me and blocked my exit. They were after whatever it was that powered the portal, so I tried to push my way past them, but they grabbed me by the stomach, and told me not to interfere. I then challenged them with an 'or what?' which was a mistake, cos after that, they threw me into the concrete. Nikki and Max then came in and fought them until Tangle and her friends bailed us all out."
"Jeez, Tangle wasn't kidding." Ered was taken aback. "If that's how Eggman acts against a child, I dread to think what else he's capable of."
"Trust me, you don't wanna know." Gwen replied.
"Let me guess, dictatorship, warmongering, torture, WMDs? Genocide?" Max rattled off the possibilities in increasing absurdity. Gwen refused to answer.
"Shouldn't we help?" Nikki asked.
"No. As it is you three already got dusted by just five of Eggman's robots. From what Tangle has said to me, he has a whole army of them. You are a lot safer here." Gwen reiterated. "We should turn the portal off as well, for good measure."
"It'll take some time to switch off." Neil pointed out. "The off switch only turns off the power collection, so it'll keep running as long as there's power inside. Stops it from doing anything volatile."
"Of course." Gwen sighed defeatedly. "I'll let David know."
8:35 am, Wheelbarrow Weir, Mobius, the same day.
Amy, Tangle and Co wasted no time in catching up to Eggman, running through place after place in pursuit of him, waved on by onlookers who, still reeling from his brief invasion, were happy to put their minds to anything else. By the time they made it to Wheelbarrow Weir, Amy and co were getting more and more surprised by the lack of robots to fight.
"Hey look, it's Amy!" one of the onlookers called out. Amy noticed him and began to chat back.
"Didn't Eggman come through here?" Amy asked.
"Well, yeah, but Sonic and Tails already freed us, so we've been doing cleanup since then. Have you spoken to Jewel yet? Tails made sure to do that before they went on ahead." the onlooker responded.
"We haven't, but it's a good idea. Thanks for that." Amy replied, returning to the rest of the group. "Stay put for a minute, guys. I'm going to ring Jewel and see what the situation is."
"Got it. We'll wait for ya." Tangle replied, as Amy headed to the nearest phone and began to dial.
"Hello?" Jewel picked up from the other end.
"Hey Jewel, Amy here. What did we miss?"
"A lot." Jewel answered. "Who's with you at the moment?"
"Tangle, Belle and Whisper." Amy confirmed.
"Okay, good, that leaves only Shadow unaccounted for." Jewel replied.
"He's fine. He'll make his way back when he's ready. What's the situation?"
"Eggman is advancing towards Restoration HQ and we expect him to be outside the city by about 2pm. Sonic and Tails are already enroute, where are you right now?"
"Wheelbarrow Weir." Amy replied.
"Hmm, you probably won't get here in time to join in the battle. Alright, I need you guys to ascertain where Eggman is building his units and shut off the production. Our intel suggests it's somewhere between where you are and the next village over. We also received reports that Eggman had an accomplice, described as a tall, human woman, with long grey hair and a lab coat. Her location is not known as present. I need you to find her, find out what she's up to, and make sure she doesn't pose a threat to us." Jewel instructed.
"I copy. Anything else?" Amy asked.
"Did you have to fight anyone on the way there? I get the feeling Eggman will try to steal the Chaos Emeralds while our guard is down."
"We took down some robots, yeah." Amy replied. "But we haven't seen any since."
"Okay, that's good to know. I'll ask the locals to keep me informed if he tries again." Jewel replied. "Good luck to the four of you." And she hung up.
While Amy was finishing up her phone conversation to Jewel, Belle had something she urgently wanted to share with Tangle and Whisper.
"What's up?" Tangle asked, while Belle looked down, deep in thought.
"Nothing big. I'm just trying to work out why the portal we made sent us to that other place yesterday, and back here today."
"I don't think it matters that much. We're here, and that's what's important." Tangle replied as Whisper smiled warmly in agreement.
"I know, but there's definitely something to it, and it's bugging me." Belle replied.
"Maybe it changes every day or every hour or something; we did get up early this morning, that might have something to do with it." Amy joined in, having finished her call.
"Hmm." Belle began to think a little harder.
"I'm sure you'll work it out eventually." Tangle assured her. "For now we just have to get to wherever Jewel needs us to, which would be..." She hesitated, gesturing to Amy to answer.
"Eggman has a base somewhere near here where his current army of robots is being produced. We need to break in and well, ransack the place, basically."
"Sounds easy enough." Tangle smirked.
"Finally." Whisper drew a smile as she relished the opportunity to give Eggman something to grieve about.
Come on, Girls, let's go!" Amy encouraged, taking off in the direction of the base.
Meanwhile, Victoria Van Gale, having been granted permission to do further studies had headed northwest for some further information. She figured that if she went to a settlement peacefully without any ill intent, she might be able to learn a bit more about the nature of Flickies and how the residents normally live.
Eggman had described the residents as belligerent savages before, as the good Dr had promised, they had been met with resistance at every turn, but like a true scientist, she needed unbiased evidence to prove any such claim, and Eggman's testimony was anything but, that much she knew.
Parking her Eggmobile a short distance from the entrance of a small town named Paradise Prairie, she hopped off and began to walk, taking notes on any trees and animals she would find along the way.
Van Gale was quietly impressed at the rich shrubs and ferns that dotted the sides of the road, but that was nothing compared to the town itself. The town truly was deserving of its lofty description. A mixture of pink bricked walkways lined with verges of trees and flowers, continuously ambled by people all of the day. Cars were almost non-existent, with public transport, cycle paths, and wide promenades being the main mode of transportation. Clearly built with people in mind, each house had plenty of green space to enjoy, and the white walls and slate roofs were designed very ecologically, harvesting rainwater and solar energy from up above; a model of civilisation that Van Gale could only have dreamed about.
It came as no surprise, however, that dressed in a lab coat as she was, most people looked upon her with suspicion as she walked into the town. Walking through the main promenade, Van Gale noticed the variety of small shops, cafés and bars and other businesses that glued the community together in a way that few human cities ever did. Amongst all of the hubbub, however, Van Gale could pick out a voice calling out to her.
"Er, excuse me, miss?" A small voice perked up.
"Yes? Van Gale looked down to see a small squirrel boy with red fur and a black baseball cap looking up at her.
"Are you lost?" The boy spoke. "You look like you're wandering aimlessly.
"I wouldn't really say I'm lost as such. Not physically anyway." Van Gale replied. "This is my first time here. Would you mind telling me a few things about this place?"
"Hmm, I dunno. My mom tells me not to talk to strangers." He responded, looking away in slight embarrassment.
"Then how about we get to know each other? I'm Victoria." She reached out to shake his hand. "And you are?"
"Timothy." the squirrel answered as they shook hands. "Why don't we find somewhere to sit? It can get quite busy on the path at this time of day." Timothy led Van Gale over to a park bench overlooking the street, and they sat down.
"So, what was it that you wanted to know?" Timothy asked, as a Flicky flew down on Van Gale's hand.
"Well," Van Gale began. "What's it like to live here? Not in your town specifically, but just in general. I'm not from here so I don't really know."
"It's peaceful, mostly." Timothy replied. "Everyone here always likes to help each other out. You get some disagreements sometimes, but everyone sorts out their differences in the end. My dad likes to tell me this story about a guy who straggled his way here with an empty stomach and no money. He and his friends promised to build him a house, and the homeless guy helped build it too once he'd regained his strength. He still lives in that house today."
"Sounds peaceful, almost heavenly. Have you lived like this all your life?"
"Pretty much." Timothy replied. "We're lucky though. If you've lived in this world for any length of time, you will know about Dr Eggman. He's been responsible for the suffering of so many people he fills up an entire history textbook. Luckily, he's never attacked this town, though, not even during the war."
"What war?" Van Gale asked, suddenly a lot more concerned.
"Wow, you really haven't been here long, have you? Where are you from really?"
"Another world." Van Gale answered. "But enough about me, you were saying?"
"Well, about 9 months ago, Eggman launched a full-scale invasion, and Sonic was nowhere to be found. Eggman quickly took over 99% of the land within about 5 months. We were part of the 1%, mainly because we don't have any resources to be mined, nor are we near any of the major cities. Anyway, at some point, Sonic returned and then Eggman lost all the land that he gained. A lot of people died in the fighting, but we're all grateful that Sonic managed to defeat him." Timothy explained.
"That bad, was it?" Van Gale asked.
"Yeah. Obviously, I didn't go through it myself, but my second cousin, Ray, told me Eggman controlled basically everything, from the TV, to the factories, and he had robots patrolling the streets to ensure no one rose up. It was kind of scary to hear about." Timothy replied.
"I bet." Victoria replied, sobered by his story.
"There was also the metal virus thing, but no one ever wants to talk about that, least of all me."
"I'll look it up." Van Gale promised.
"Probably for the best, really. That event was traumatic for everyone." Timothy replied.
"I think it's time I should go." Van Gale excused herself. "See you again sometime, okay?"
"Okay." Timothy replied, as Van Gale got up and left. Timothy listened in as Van Gale began muttering to herself as she went. "I should take a look at those notebooks and folders of his. I need some proof before I do anything else."
"Hmph." Timothy huffed as he left as well.
"I can't in good conscience work with him if any of this turns out to be true." she continued to say, as she hopped back onto her eggmobile.
Meanwhile, Amy, Tangle and co were fast approaching Land Factory Theta. As they made it to the factory grounds, they looked around to find it unguarded, save for the large metal door at its front.
"This seems a little primitive for someone of his reputation, don't you think?" Tangle mused.
"I think this one was supposed to be secret." Belle suggested.
"It would explain why we never found it." Amy responded. "Come on, let's see if we can find a way to bust this door down." She walked up to the door and took aim with her hammer, swinging it with all her might. The shockwave it generated reverberated back through her as the door failed to budge, not even leaving a dent.
"Well, we aren't getting in that way." Amy huffed.
"At least not by force." Belle replied. "Maybe, with my knowledge of Eggman's code and Whispers tech skills, we can hack our way in?"
"Good idea." Tangle and Whisper replied in unison. Whisper and Belle then headed over to the console and began to fiddle with it. After a bit of tinkering and code editing, the door opened, bypassing all security measures and allowing the 4 of them inside.
Although the door was now bypassed, that didn't mean any of the badniks would miss any of them entering. The smattering of Egg Pawns and Egg Robos that had been produced since Van Gale had left immediately turned around and attacked them.
Fortunately, they were ready for this, as Amy whacked several bots away with her hammer whilst Whisper put her wispon to good use, and Tangle gave Belle some cover as she ran to the controls and shut off the production line, the mass of robots beginning to thin out as a heap of their alloyed brethren piled up on the floor.
"And that's the production line shut off. What next?" Belle asked Tangle.
"We render it inoperable." Tangle replied gleefully, as she began to rip up the machinery, yanking out cables and bashing crane arms with unfinished robot parts until they were limply hanging by threads., while Amy and Whisper finished smashing the last of the robots.
"What say we take down the rest of this base, make sure Eggman can't use it again." Tangle suggested.
"No, that's a bad idea. This hollowed out mountainside would collapse on top of us if we destroyed the support beams, and the animals living on the outside wouldn't appreciate it either." Amy pointed out. "I know Eggman was more thinking about secrecy rather than the environment when he built this, but it is a good location. Maybe we could repurpose it, somewhere down the line." She mused.
"Anyway, If this base is as critical to Eggman's success as it claims to be, then there should be some kind of office or rest area around here. Tangle, you and Whisper should search around and see what we can salvage from the base. Belle, you and I are going to find whoever he left in charge of this place and confront her. I suspect she is currently elsewhere."