"Come on Mina, get yourself together."
Mina was sitting at a mirror in front of a dressing room table, patting her yellow furry cheeks in a futile effort to psyche herself up. Not that it would help any.
"Hey, Mina baby, what's the holdup?" A green hedgehog with a large overly spikey hairdo called out in front of the door to the dressing room, with a smile as manic as a monkey. "We can't wait all day you know!"
A dark pink hedgehog then strutted across the hall to the door, her expressions as at ease as the sea; calm and collected, yet still willing to storm up at a moment's notice. "Oh come off it Manic," she said. "A girl's gotta make sure she's got herself together. After all, I remember one time when I forgot to use any eyeliner or makeup and it was the most embarrassing thing and everyone was looking at me funny and I wasn't sure if I could live with myself and then Daddy bought the walking headless chicken who could see the future—
"OKAY!" Manic held up his hand like a stop sign, trying his best to stop another Sonia patented tangent before it even started. "Uh, look Mina. I know you're nervous. We all are. Truth is, this the first gig we've had ever like this up till now. Everything else, it's all been a warmup. So you're probably thinking, 'I'm not prepared for this, I can't possibly do this, it's gonna be impossible. And you know something? That's what they told me when I pulled off my first gig, and since then, it's been smooth sailing."
"It better not be," said Sonia, crossing her shoulders like an older woman sorely disappointed that her son was going down the wrong path.
Manic smiled like a guilty sheep, tugging on his collar as sweat slowly started to roll down his furry green brow. "Uh, I mean, it WAS smooth sailing. Years ago. When I first did it. Yessiree. These days, I'm clean as can be!"
"So you say." Sonia's arms were still crossed as she briefly continued to examine him before returning to more pressing matters. "Look Mina. I know this is a first for you. I know it's scary as hell, but sometimes, you just need to step out and face the sunlight. You've gotta move forward, take that first step into a pool of molten lava, get yourself together!"
"Look girl, don't you want to sing? Isn't that what you always wanted to do more than anything?"
After a moment, Mina's voice squeaked out of the room like a scared little mouse, though seeing as mongooses' were traditionally one of rats' worst enemies, it wasn't exactly fitting. "Yeah."
"And haven't you been singing just fine in all of our other shindigs up till now?"," said Manic
"Yeah."
"So what's stopping you now? I mean, I might mind if I broke a drum stick or something, but I'm not you, am I?"
Mina pounded her fists on the dresser, not really sure what else to do. "It's, it's all of those people! This is the biggest crowd we've ever seen, and it just feels so huge, so overwhelming. To even think we were good enough to be called to the capital to perform even one song! Even just opening up another band! It's just, I don't really know what to think."
"Then don't. Sometimes, you can't think. Sometimes, you gotta feel."
Sonia eyed Manic down with a glare that would give anyone a mild case of the willies. "Yeah, you would say that, wouldn't you?"
But that didn't matter to Mina. What mattered was that as far as she was concerned, she had a point. Either stay in her little comfort zone and just live a normal, everyday life without any fun or excitement, or do what she loved and, providing things didn't go horribly wrong, gain a crowd of adoring fans while she was at it. How could she refuse?
Manic was starting to get impatient. "Hey, Mina? Mina? Knock knock! Oh Mina!"
"Oh knock it off," said Sonia. "You're as bad as your cousin."
Manic grinning with a sense of sheer satisfaction. "I aim to please." But just at that moment, against all odds, the door to the dressing room opened, and sticking head out at long last was none other than Mina Mongoose.
"Sorry about that gang. I was in one of my moods again. I swear, it won't happen again."
"Hey," said Manic, "don't worry about it. I'm sure there's something poignant I could say, but I don't think I'm there just yet. In the meantime, you ready to play?"
"Yeah." Mina smoothed down her long purple hair and breathed one heavy breath to last her for the next minute or so. "Yeah, I am."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Manic strolled off down the corridor like a giddy schoolboy, ready to show off what he could do at one of the hottest parties in town. Whereas all Mina could even hope to do was follow in his footsteps.
"Follow the leader," said Sonia. And in short order, off they were to play — one song anyway — for the biggest party of their lives.
As Sonic raced towards the castle with a bewildered Tails and a wide-eyed Johnny in tow, all he could think about was hearing his cousins play some sick beats. Right here and now, that was all that mattered; nothing else. Not even the eagle with a microphone he was about to run over as he finally reached the front of Castle Acorn.
Wait. An eagle?
Like a complete and total nincompoop who only managed to realize they made a blunder at the last minute, Sonic came to a screeching stop just in time to avoid bowling the eagle over into the crowd.
"Hey now!", bellowed the eagle, like a mighty storm of pure manliness and machismo. "Care to watch where you're going, wouldn't you?"
"Hey," said Sonic, "there's no need to be snippy!"
"Well, big bro," said Tails, managing to somehow still get a comprehensive sentence out while he was getting his bearings, "you did nearly run him over. The least you could do is apologize."
Sonic began to gripe like a four-year-old baby who couldn't possibly realize it had done anything wrong. "Hey, I stopped, didn't I? He should be grateful I didn't send him flying altogether. Which I guess he wouldn't mind so much seeing as, well, he probably CAN fly, but still."
Johnny slowly slid a palm over his gray furry face, unsure if he could truly take much more of this. "Sonic, just apologize to the man, OK?"
The eagle began tapping his talons on the ground as if expecting a certain answer from a certain someone. "Well?"
Sonic meanwhile began tapping his feet and folding his arms as if to show that he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do! Which only lasted about five seconds before he finally began to realize that maybe there are some instances where you should do something you don't want to do. Almost if having to pry open an old rusty door, Sonic slowly but surely managed to mold his hand into into a handshake. "Ugh. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't you see there, I should have been watching where I was going, I apologize, I'll never do it again. You all happy now?"
"It's a start," said Tails, glad they were finally getting somewhere.
"Same here," said Johnny. "Though I'm still wondering if you were dropped on the head as a child. It'd explain a lot."
Sonic grumbled like someone out of a cartoon, but other than that, that seemed to be the end of it.
"Well," said the eagle, "thanks I suppose. Now if you don't mind, I need to be getting back to my job."
"Which is?", said Tails.
The eagle puffed out his chest almost like a swelling balloon. "Why, reporting the news of course!" He raised a microphone in his right hand and then looked towards a cameraman who by this point was standing straight in front of them. "Good afternoon Starlight City! This is Soar the Eagle, reporting to you LIVE straight from Mobotropolis, and I'm here to give you the full lowdown on the Acorn Kingdom's grand annual festival! As we start things off, the King is about to give a rousing speech on, well, on something, shortly because the Oracles of Delphi come out to give us all a performance we certainly won't forget! I don't know if it will be for the right reasons, but we certainly won't forget it! But let's not get ahead of ourselves, as we still have the King to hear first and, well, what do you know! Speak of the devil! Here he comes now!"
Just as Soar had said, out came King Max from the doors of Castle Acorn, walking with such regality and poise and vigor in his step that if it weren't for that white mustache, one would swear he wasn't a day over 30. He stepped down onto the patio to face the crowd before him as it waited with abated breath on his very words. Johnny kept a keen eye on the proceedings while Tails was fascinated, and as for Sonic? Sonic couldn't care less.
As they approached the podium just in front of the crowds, he turned to his old servant Sebastian, occasionally craning his neck as if something or another was out of place. "Where are they? Both my daughter and should have already been here. I suppose Robotnik could have been caught up in some experiment or another, but that doesn't explain why my own daughter, the Princess of an entire nation, is unavailable to address the awaiting public."
"Who knows sire?", said the servant, almost as if he were in on a joke that the King couldn't begin to guess. "I suppose they must have simply been detained." The King him for a moment like a man with a solid hunch who nonetheless could not possibly prove what he believed to be true. Still, no matter.
"In any case," said the King, "I cannot afford to delay the festival any longer than necessary. I'll start things off, and then with any luck, the others will soon follow. And if my daughter of all people doesn't show, well, I suppose that's why Gaea created groundings." He then hopped onto a specially prepared red and golden podium, cleared his throat like a horse with a bad cough, and was in short order ready to lay it all out.
"Good afternoon friends!" Thanks to Robotnik's nifty new microphone, the King didn't even have to raise his voice. Would wonders never cease? "A fine day, is it not? Perfect weather for celebrating a tradition nearly as old as the Kingdom itself! But over the last year, I've had to learn a hard truth about traditions. That being that while there certainly is value in keeping to the spirit of the old, it is sometimes necessary to stray from the ways of old so as to keep that spirit intact. Anyone who has ever visited the outside world knows the Acorn Kingdom is after a fashion especially outdated in a number of ways, a fact I am not afraid to admit. But this merely means that there is a great deal of room for us to improve and better ourselves; that there is a most wonderful challenge to be had in promoting us to the top of the world stage once again."
He took a moment to quickly adjust the buttons of his blue coat, doing so in the manner of one who knew exactly what to do and exactly how to do it; the kind of clarity of purpose that only kings and fools could possess. Max sincerely hoped he was purely the former and not at all the latter. In any case, he quickly used this opportunity to glance over his shoulder, noting that both his daughter and the good Doctor had yet to show up. He'd supposed he'd have to skip his daughter's portion of this little ceremony for the time being and send out some guards to search for her later. He did hope his attempt to appease her by sending her off to find 'proof' wasn't responsible for this somehow. Still, on with the show.
"However, this does not mean it is not a difficult task. A welcome challenge is a challenge nonetheless. But there are times when even the best of rules and the best of rulers needs help. Now, both my lovely daughter and my Chief Scientist were set to address all of you today, but they can't seem to be found, and so…"
During all of this, Sonic was doing his best not to keep his eyelids from shutting altogether. He was starting to wonder why he even bothered coming in the first place. He couldn't see how anyone could be troubled with some old man going on and on about loyalty and tradition and things that really didn't matter. Soar was eating it up as he pandered to his viewers back home, and both Tails and Johnny were rapt with attention, but all Sonic knew was that if something didn't happen right this second, he was out of here.
As if the universe existed to serve his every whim, something did indeed happen then and there. As if someone had set a video to pause, everything and everyone around him for no inexplicable reason simply stopped. Tails' tails had stopped twirling in place, Soar had stopped puffing up his chest like a gorilla, and the King simply stood there on his podium with his mouth open so wide that a large dragonfly could zip in and out and he'd hardly notice. What Sonic himself noticed was that in that snapshot frozen in time, with everything now still and clear as day, there was something about the king that was rather, shall one say, odd. Or rather, not the king himself, but the old servant next to him. He was frozen like the rest, but for some inexplicable reason, there was a rather nasty snarl on his face, and eyes that seemed to scream bloody murder. His whole face almost seemed to be contorting, as if something wasn't quite right. He must have been having a conniption, thought Sonic. Moving on.
He took a quick look around, determined to see anything out of the ordinary that might help explain his situation when all of a sudden, smackdab in an open clearing in the middle of the crowd, there she was. She was orange and petite, with large blue eyes that seemed to stare straight into your soul and yet seemed to only do so out of a need to help it somehow, not out of malice. There was sorrow and sadness like a deep blue sea, and yet just as much kindness and compassion in equal measure, and her orange dreadlocks danced in place as if gentle breezes were pushing them to and fro like children on a playground. Sonic was just about to rush over to her to get a better look and hopefully get some answers, but just then, in a voice as enchanting as it was forboding, she spoke.
"The story begins, but who shall win? The truth of the danger lies within."
And as soon as she was finished, the spell was over. In the time it took Sonic to blink, this mysterious being that was unlike any Sonic had ever seen before had vanished from his very eyes, and as she did so, the world resumed its' natural course. Or so he thought. For at that moment, just as everyone seemed to be moving again, he could feel a slight tremor under his feet. At first, he thought it might be nothing. Just a figment of his imagination. But besides the fact Sonic never did have too much imagination, any thoughts entertaining this were put to rest when another tremor, louder than before, could be felt, and this time, a good fair chunk of the citizenry seemed to notice. "Hey," said Tails, "did you feel that big bro?"
"Yeah lil bro," said Sonic. "But who knows? Might be nothing."
"I'm not so sure," said Johnny. "I felt another one just half a minute ago. You live in the Hilltop zone, you get used to quakes as much as you get used to the lava pits. They kind of go hand in hand. But I'll tell you somethin'. This this doesn't feel like any quake I've ever felt."
"How so?", said Tails.
"I don't know. It just doesn't feel natural somehow. Call it a hunch, but I think there's something going on here. And I'm never wrong about my hunches."
In just seconds, Johnny was proven right. A third tremor could be heard, followed by another and another and another; an endless succession of tremors that all seemed to result in people getting practically thrown and tossed to the floor while others tried their best to flee to safety. Sonic tried to bolt out of there with Tails and Johnny, but it was no good; the trembling was just too strong. He couldn't get too much of a headstart let alone break out into a full sprint, and in the end, he was just as helpless as everyone.
"EVERYONE," cried the King, "PLEASE STAY CALM! KEEP YOURSELVES AS SAFE AND PROTECTED AS YOU CAN!"
Not that the King could stay safe and protected himself. For just at that moment, as Sonic was too preoccupied with his own difficulties to notice, the old servant suddenly lunged forward and seized Acorn from the back, holding him together in a fierce bear hug that one scarcely imagine from someone in his size and age.
"SEBASTIAN!", he cried out. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
As 'Sebastian' spoke, his voice suddenly lost the kindly posh inflection that had come to be expected of him, instead replaced with a thick Down Undah accent that one could scarcely imagine was coming out of that frame. "The meaning mate," he said, "is that you're about to be deposed."
At last, the tremors reached their apex, and just when they couldn't go any higher, something arose from the center of the plaza. Like a giant mole, it tore its' way through stone and mortar and cement and rose up through the Earth itself, completely destroying anything that stood in its' way. Now fully unearthed, it was some sort of gigantic vehicle or tank with a giant drilled attached to the front, which explained just about everything that happened up until this point. The citizens began fleeing in terror, but as they did so, the deathly Swatbots and Troopers suddenly stood in place and began reciting a most strange but nonetheless frightening phrase: "CODE E-G-G ACTIVATED. THE DOCTOR FORMERLY KNOWN AS ROBOTNIK IS TO BE OBEYED ABOVE ALL OTHERS. HIS FIRST ORDER: CORRAL ALL CITIZENS AND STOP ANY WHO ATTEMPT TO FLEE." The Swatbots readied their wrist-mounted lasers while the troopers cocked and readied their own laser rifles. "WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE." They immediately began forming a blockade around the square and firing at anyone still attempting to escape or who had already gotten out as, as if they were wild animals to be hunted and caged.
"Big bro!", cried Tails, his two tails spinning in place like a whirlwind as he struggled to make sense of it all. "What's going on?! I mean, I know what's going on, but WHAT'S GOING ON!?"
"That's what I'd like to know!", said Sonic, who in spite of himself was grinning like a maniac. As horrible as this was, things might have at last finally been getting fun.
"Come on!", said Johnny. "We've got to do something!" But just as he was about to do just that, a large circular platform rose out of the platform, revealing none other than Princess Sally and Antione in chains, the former struggling to break free as she nearly broke down in tears, while the latter was nearly curled up in a fetal position.
"DADDY!", cried Sally. "I'M SO SORRY!"
"SALLY?!", shouted Max. "WHO DID THIS TO YOU?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"
"I believe I can answer your questions, your former highness." Standing right behind Sally and Antione and now stepping forward to make his presence known was none other than himself, grinning as though a months long scheme was finally coming to fruition.
"JULIAN!", the King yelled, still struggling in vain to escape from his captors. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Oh, isn't it simple? Your oh so precious daughter and her pathetic excuse for a friend were caught snooping around my laboratory, and I simply couldn't have that. Got to keep trade secrets secret you know. As for the rest, well, I don't think I need to explain, but what the heck, I will anyway. It's just too much fun!" He began to bow almost graciously as if to mock those who dared to think they were anyone truly important in the grand scheme. "Your Majesty, members of the royal court, welcome to MY kingdom!"
"YOUR kingdom?!", the King shouted in pure and utter outrage. "Robotnik, you've gone too far!"
Robotnik simply held out one large fatty finger and told him, in no uncertain terms, "Oh, and you'd do better not to call me by such an old and worthless name if you so please. It's Eggman now!"
THE ACORN KINGDOM, EARLY FALL, NOW
