-Episode 2: The World In Which We Now Live In-
Upon returning from their mission, Sonic, Sally and the rest of the accompanying squad escort the recovered prisoners to the Knothole, which has already become quite populated with refugees displaced by Breezie's regime. Sonic was seen escorting Mina, who was still visibly shaken, to one of the living quarters in the village, while Sally looked on at the the devastation unfolding in the distance. She began to think to herself...
"It was just a year ago when all of us rebuilt the city from the destruction caused by Chaos. Now this lady comes along, takes control of the military and stages a coup. She abolished the Acorn Kingdom's standing, meaning I'm officially no longer princess or regent. What makes things even harder is that she's classified The Knothole Freedom Fighters as a terrorist group...and all of it happened in just the space of a week. It's been a year and she has done nothing but take away people's rights, suppress opposition and cripple any relief efforts. What makes this even more ironic is that she, from the moment she seized power, claimed she was freeing the people..."
As she monologues, scenes of Knothole residents are seen helping the refugees who are either struggling with grief and trauma from being imprisoned by the government. The happy days that they lived for a time was exchanged for misery, death and violence. The place they once called home was now a wasteland with a system that benefits only the wealthy elites surrounding Breezie. Dissidents or influential members of society who oppose her are taken from their homes and are never seen again. After escorting Mina to one of the living quarters, Sonic is seen walking around the village. He is then called out to by a female's voice.
"Sonic!" she called out, which Sonic responded to by jogging over to her. It was Hazel The Rabbit, a local baker in the village.
"Sonic, it's good that you're here! I have a favor I need to ask of you."
"What is it?" Sonic asked.
"See, it's really cold and I can't send my workers out into the fields in these conditions. I was wondering if you can help me gather some wheat. With all these mouths to feed and the weather being as it is, I need some capable hands..." Hazel said, describing her desperate situation.
"Sure, no problem. I'll get it for ya!" Sonic responded with a smile across his face.
"Oh thank you! It'd help so much! We're running short on manpower, so someone with your ability will be a huge help!" Hazel said happily, her motherly mannerisms showing.
"It's people like you the fight the real battle back here, so I wanna do what I can to help out!" Sonic said, before flashing a thumbs up. What follows is a montage of Sonic doing various errands around the Knothole, such as gathering ingredients for Hazel, cleaning gutters on the villagers' houses, rescuing pets from trees and even helping to clear up the snow in the area. After finishing his various errands, he is then called up by Sally on his earpiece.
"I see you've become the village's errand boy." she said, smirking.
"I gotta say, it feels kinda good to just help out around here." Sonic said, smiling.
"That's why I'm happy with you, blue. By the way, how are Bunnie and Antoine?"
"Ah, they're fine. They've been enjoyin' the retired life! They've really been helpin' around the village too, though."
"Yeah, it's a good thing Tails and Rotor managed to complete the de-roboticizer."
"I'll say! Those two were real ready to settle down after the Chaos stuff happened. Tails completed that...machine and then Bunnie didn't have robotic limbs anymore. She and Antoine could finally live their lives together...until Breezie came along and dragged everyone into camps." Sonic said, as what he describes plays out."
"Evil didn't end with Robotnik. It's always gonna exist in some form or another. All we can do is fight against it, no matter how many times we're beaten down. Even if one of us is still alive, it's a survivor's duty to do no less than oppose tyranny." Sally said, words that echoed as the screen cut to black.
Meanwhile, Breezie was seen sitting at her desk and drinking a glass of brandy as she reads over a series of documents related to prisoners being broken out by The Freedom Fighters. She smiles to herself, to the point that her confidence is unnerving. She stands up and answers a call from her ringing phone. It was the Secretary of State, Blitz The Armadillo.
"President Breezie, may I borrow a moment of your time?" he requested, with a twinge of nervousness in his voice due to the knowledge of who he's speaking to.
"Go ahead, Blitzy-darling." she said, swaying her hip to the left side before placing her hand on it, her sinister smile showing all the while.
"We have a formation and strategy in place to respond to these prisoners being broken out by The Knothole Freedom Fighters. Will you make the final call to approve this course of action?" Blitz asked.
"What does this strategy entail?" she asked.
"We found the location of The Knothole village. It has taken some time given how well they're hidden, but we've found it. We are going to launch an attack and bring these terrorists to justice." Blitz explained.
"Oooh...interesting. Fine with me, carry it out." Breezie said, swaying her hip again as she showed her chilling smile once again.
"Make sure they know that our nation doesn't negotiate with terrorists." Breezie said, with Blitz complying before hanging up. She is then seen walking over to her living room window, looking out at the snow outside with a smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Sonic knocks on the door of Mina's living quarters. At first, not a single response came from her, barely a sound or a movement was heard. Seeing this, Sonic tried again and then spoke.
"Hey, you in there? It's me, the guy who got you out of that prison." he said, before a series of harsh footsteps were heard.
"Do you wanna ta-"
Mina was then seen opening the door, the expression on her face was not one of gratitude or thankfulness, but one of fury and sadness.
"Why did you pull me out of there!? My parents were trapped in that prison!" she yelled angrily, taking Sonic aback at her outburst. At that moment, he saw tears forming in her eyes.
"My family were prisoners...they were dragged from my home for no reason at all...you saved me, but you left them in there! Why do I have more right to live than they do?! WHY?!" Mina screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks before she then buried her hands in her face. Sonic was shocked, but he didn't say a word. He listened to her speak as he knew what losing family was like.
"...Just go away.." Mina whispered before slamming the door. Sonic then walked away and thought about everything Mina said...she went through a lot at the hands of Breezie's regime. She had her family thrown in prison and she only evaded capture, because she was hidden. He believed that Mina felt tremendous guilt at being the only one who wasn't sent to prison and broke in to attempt to free them.
"That was harsh.." a familiar voice said. Sonic looked up and saw Sally in front of him. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't beat yourself up, okay? You did the right thing in getting her out. She would have died otherwise...and I don't think either of us could have lived with that." Sally reassured him, though to him what she's saying is hardly reassuring. Suddenly, an alarm was heard throughout the village and a familiar voice belonging to Nicole The Holo-Lynx issued the following warning:
"Alert! An attack is being launched on the village by Breezie's forces. Be prepared to fight!"
"What?!" Sally looked around as she and Sonic saw the people running around the place and getting in formation for the coming attack. Then, the hedgehog looked to her.
"I'll hold off the attack, you guys hold the fort!" Sonic said before running off.
"Sonic, wai-!...Ugh, why do I even bother?" Sally exasperated as she then guided the villagers on how to defend the village.
Meanwhile, Mina was seen standing up, walking to her door and opening it before looking out at the people getting ready to fend off the attack. She then catches a glimpse of Sonic heading out to fend off the oncoming attack. She then decided to run out of her living quarters and run in the direction he's heading in.
"Hey, wait!" Sally said, seeing her and reaching her hand out to the Mongoose. Seeing that she's too fast for Sally to keep up with her, she lets out another sigh and goes back to organizing the defense for the village. The last shot of the episode is Mina looking on as she attempts to keep up with Sonic in the hopes of playing a part in holding off the attack on the village...what could be going the girl's mind?
-To Be Continued-