Chapter Five – Departure
Sonic may have successfully gotten everyone out of the Palace unharmed, but it had taken them some time, several days in fact. In the mean time, the temperature outside had plummeted and it had started to snow. He'd neutralised Rogue Squadron in Mobotropolis, with the help of the Sky Petrol. But now he had found a complete second city along the way. That wasn't part of the plan. That was to go in, save Sally, persuade her to let him save her people, and evacuate everyone. A hundred thousand people. Easy! The Mutant Movement had the capacity to take an emergency evacuation of that size. It had huge resources at its fingertips, mainly thanks to Uncle Chuck. Sally may have got Mobotropolis back after the war but the Mutant Movement got the technology.
But this was different. In finding the whole second city in the Catacombs, as well as Mobotropolis, the Mutant Movement now had two, three or even four hundred thousand people to evacuate. Sonic was not entirely sure if the Mutant Movement had the capacity to take that many refugees, let alone the ability to get everyone out in the first place.
But the Mutant Movement was the only hope for these Mobians. They would all stave if they stayed, either on the surface or in the Catacombs. How Mobotropolis with its Catacombs was able to maintain such a high population of people? Sonic didn't know, but he suspected, not very well. As the whole society was on the verge of collapse.
As far as he was aware the Catacombs should have been empty. They weren't ideal homes with the buildings of Mobotropolis sat directly on top of them. Sonic had very vague memories of Lower Mobius. A city underground. Extremely deep underground, beneath Mobotropolis and its Catacombs. It remained hidden for all thirteen years of both wars. Sonic was told by the Mutant Movement that Lower Mobius was abandoned when the war ended, as its people came out of hiding. Could these be the people now living the Catacombs? It would explain where they came from.
"Lower Mobius got flooded. The ground water rose and they were forced to leave." Lupe was answering Sonic's question. They had be chatting for some time on the subject and Lupe was very keen to hear Sonic's story of his miraculous survival. He wasn't keen but he told her anyway, just like the others. She was amazed but Sonic was distracted.
They were stood by one of the entrances to the catacombs, looking out onto the rolling hills and ridges that now surround Mobotropolis. A desolate wasteland. He was staring out into the wildness.
All of the resources around the city were gone. The Great Forest was decimated, all chopped down. Knothole has been dismantled and reused. Gone. The Great River had dried up to nothing more then a muddy trickle. The Great Swamp still remained but was so badly polluted that nothing lived there anymore and as for the Great Jungle, silence reigned. Everything there had been hunted and eaten.
There was nothing left. It was a sorry state.
How did things get so bad? Sonic couldn't believe it. He'd heard stories in the Mutant Movement of the devastation but he wanted to see it for himself.
Not even Robotnik and Snively between them misused Mobotropolis' resources in thirteen years as badly as Sally did under Rogue Squadron's influence did in just six. She hated herself for it. Sonic comforted her. It wasn't her fault but she still felt responsible. She was desperate to rebuild Mobotropolis again, back to it original former glory, but not before the Winter. Now she would need help to get her people through the cold period, so she accepted Sonic's help as did Lupe, representing the people of the Catacombs.
Now to get everybody out.
The Mutant Movement were able to provide a dozen flying buses, large hovering vehicles, windows down each side, able to carry about fifty people, back and forth to a larger flying ship. But with anything up to four hundred thousand people to move, that was going to take too long before Winter seriously closed in. Then Rotor had an idea.
"Where exactly are we going?" He asked Sonic but Charlie cut across answering for him.
"To a city in the sky!" He said dramatically, his arms out stretched.
A few people laughed. This was ridiculous. Cities can't fly. But, if they wanted to survive, they had to go with the Mutants. But Rotor shook him off.
"So." he said thinking. "We need to fly to get there." He asked. Sonic nodded
"Yes!" He said, curiously. "Why do you ask?" He frowned. Rotor was jumping up and down with excitement.
"Then you need flying machines, gliders, para-gliders, planes, helicopters, hover vehicles, hover pads, anything that can get people off the ground. There's loads of them in Mobotropolis leftover from the war." He giggled. Sonic frowned. Why were they leftover when everything else was being decimated? Sonic reckoned that Rogue Squadron considered them as junk and nothing more, so left them be. Then his own excitement also grew.
"That is." He added. "If you can get them working again?" He asked. Rotor was extremely excited.
"If you can get me back to my workshop, sure." He said brightly. With Rogue Squadron gone, the Palace was open again and thus Rotor's workshop.
It was settled. For the next few days, Sonic, Rotor and Charlie worked like smoke to get as many of the flying vehicles they could find working and off the ground.
Exactly a week later, on a dry, clear day, the ground hard and snow covered beneath him, Sonic was stood outside the entrance to the Catacombs again, looking up. The sky above him was filled with every type of flying machine imaginable and his heart lifted. The thermals from the cliffs at Boulder Bay, the other side of the Great Forest, are what made the area so good for flying. Gliders, and para-gliders often used to come here before the war to fly. Not so much nowadays, but those thermals were still good.
'We might actually do this!' He thought. He had been doubting it for some time that they would get everyone out in time. They had been moving people all week, and with most of them gone, they didn't have long to get the rest out, only a few more days before it go too cold to leave or made it extremely difficult.
Sonic was really proud. This is what happened when all of the factions work together, but he was really on edge. He was very eager to get going. Then his eyes fell on Rotor and his very large flying-machine-type-contraption that had just arrived from his workshop. Sonic was tired. He had just spend most of the last day hauling it here. It was a combination between an airplane and a helicopter. The bizarre machine looked like it flew with the stamina of an airplane but with the manoeuvrability of a helicopter. Impressive, if Rotor could get it off the ground. Sonic had his doubts. It was heavy. Too heavy, maybe. Carrying it took all his strength. But he was still intrigued. However, the Walrus didn't have long. The sky was full and as was the ground. People were still milling everywhere, waiting to leave. They had moved it in pieces and Rotor was currently putting it back together.
Rotor was getting laughed at, nobody believe it could fly, but Sally quickly put a stop to it. She knew how long Rotor had worked on that thing, the least she could do was to give him a chance.
She was still on the ground, despite repeated attempts to get her to leave. She refused.
"Not until everyone else had gone!" She would say. She was determined to make sure that all of her people were safe before she left. That was what a true leader does, and she had a lot to make up for. Bunnie had already left with her people. They were significantly fewer in number and with mechanical parts for limbs, they didn't take to kindly to the cold, so Sally allowed them to go first. Lupe had just lift with the last of her people.
The cold was beginning to really set in. It was now or never for Rotor. He fired up the machine's engines and got in. It banged and crashed. The machine itself looked like an airplane, with a cockpit, tail, large wings and a nose, but with oversized propellers. Propellers so large that they looked the rotas on a helicopter, but put on the wrong way. But the ingenious part, was that Rotor could rotate the wings at the body, to have the rotas at the top of the aircraft, point downwards, allowing it the take off and land vertically.
Rotor seemed to be having trouble getting one of the engines up to speed, To take off vertically, like a helicopter. He needed both engines working together if was going to do it. It was getting colder. Too cold.
Out of time.
He released to brake, and the machine lifted off the ground, only to hover at a few metres and fall again. Hit the ground, bounce and repeat the process. He was moving quickly. He travelled some distance. He was loosing control. He needed full power from that second engine to succeed. Why wasn't it working? People screamed as it sped forwards, he was heading towards the cliffs. He was going to fall!
Sally watched in horror as Rotor lost control, but Sonic watched him intently, saw that he was heading towards the cliffs at Boulder Bay. Sonic was running on pure instinct. With all eyes on Rotor, nobody saw him take off his long black cloak and run at break-neck speeds towards the Walrus.
Rotor fought with the machine, and failed. He went over the cliffs.
Sally screamed as she saw her lifelong friend fall to his doom.
Then...
Suddenly a black cloak fell on top of her. She pulled it off. She recognised it.
Sonic?
She saw something were large and very fast race past her straight after Rotor and dive headfirst off the cliff, without a moments thought.
Silence...
People were finally catching up running to Boulder Bay and to the edge of the cliff, looking over the edge, for news.
Sally was exhausted. She had be running too. She finally caught up. Looking over the edge, had she lost two friends in as many minutes?
Suddenly, there was a very loud, deep hum coming from the base of the cliff. It was heading upwards, towards them, very fast. Someone grabbed Sally and pulled her back as Rotor's flying machine raced skywards, now fully airborne.
Or was it?
People cheered, but Sally took a closer look as it flew overhead. Someone appeared to carrying the machine, on what looked like the biggest pair of wings, she had ever seen. Blue wings. Sonic?
Sally was stunned. He looked like...a dragon.
But Sonic was on a mission. Getting the Rotor's flying machine in to the air was the easy part. His wings were certainly powerful enough. But getting that second engine working properly, not so much. It still wasn't giving enough power.
When Rotor realised that he had been caught, and heading skywards, he looked up.
Sonic was carrying him.
He just couldn't believe it, but then he took a good look at his friend. Sonic was wearing black jeans, t-shirt and rock boots and possessed two sets of wings (one main pair, extremely large and powerful, and a shape similar to a bat, and one smaller pair at the top of his tail). The first pair allows him to do a vertical takeoff. Behind that is a set of smaller wings that aid in gliding. At the end of his tail, he had two tail fins that aided in steering and stability. He was incredibly manoeuvrable in the air and extremely fast. In the air, was now where Sonic's speed truly lay.
Despite the mis-mash, he looked absolutely stunning.
'So that's what you've been hiding!' Rotor thought and again, didn't blame him. Sonic had been through a lot. But there was no time for that now.
They had an engine to fix!
Rotor snapped out of his ogle at Sonic and concentrated. He tried a few in-flight tests on the engine and nothing happened. It was frustrating and Rotor didn't know how long Sonic's wings could hold his flying machine aloft. Out of sheer irritation, he told Sonic to kick the engine. Some percussive maintenance, perhaps. Sonic realised that that might work if he didn't kick it too hard. Beating his wings to keep them all steady, he swung round and gave the problem engine a swift kick.
To their surprise. It worked. The engine spat and sparked, and began to spin at full speed. Rotor, able to stabilise his flying machine, allowed Sonic let it go, avoiding the fast spinning rotas. The rota blades of the machine were above Rotor in his cockpit, allowing him to hover like a helicopter. He then rotated the wings, so that the rotas were in front of him, turning it into a plane. He moved forwards very quickly. He found himself forced to take manurers to avoid the other air users. The various gliders, para-gliders, planes, helicopters, hover vehicles, hover pads that filled sky around him. He was moving very fast through the air, so fast in fact that he was forced to ascend higher to avoid everyone. Rotor seemed alone. Everyone else below him, until he saw a glimpse of something blue to his right side.
His incredible friend was gliding next to him in the air. Occasionally flapping his enormous wings, easily keeping up with Rotor's very noisy machine. Side by side, they flew, and Rotor felt more and more privileged. But he still had no idea where he was going. He signalled to Sonic, who responded by indicating to follow one of the flying buses which was heading off into the distance.
Sonic was thrilled to be back in the air. The last month had crucified him. To keep his feet on the ground when every instinct told him to fly. Correction, every new instinct. He was still getting to grips with them. They were extremely strong, stronger then him. He can thank his new physic to that automatic syringe. The one that pumped its contents into Sonic's chest.
Dragon DNA.
What Snively was planning on doing with it, he had no idea. But it explained everything. Why he was the size he was, the wings, the scales, everything. But he had paid dearly for it.
Part Hedgehog, Part Dragon.
During his coma, for five and a half years, his body changed. On a cell by cell basis. Robotising then mutating, growing new limbs, growing in size. He felt every single change, no matter how small, with excruciatingly agony. The pain. Always the pain. Always screaming, never waking. He could have cracked. He should have cracked. One thing stopped him.
The thought of Sally. His love for her. He was desperate to see her when he finally awoke, pain-free and was horrified when he learned of that Rogue Squadron had done to her. He needed to help. He had to help.
He easily glided on his ten metre wings. Stretched out either side of him, his secondary wings adjusting for balance. He had been properly flying for only a few months but he instinctively knew what to do. The dragon within him was strong and annoying, but he had to work with it. He twitched his tail fins to steer.
He loved flying. He had never felt more free. Even running at full speed across the vast open landscape. Even breaking the sound barrier, didn't come close to this. The air rushing over him, under his wings, providing lift, the ability to move instantly, and to move at speeds far beyond anything he ever achieved on the ground.
He looked downwards. He saw Sally staring up at him. She had seen him, in all his glory. But now he was frightened, really frightened. Of rejection. That was why he had never fully opened up to Sally. Fear. He knew it had annoyed her, frustrated her, but he was just too scared. Too frightened of her. Sally gave Sonic reason to exist, without her, there was just no point. He loved her too much.
He watched her from the air, his wings adjusting automatic for the changes in wind and thermals. Should he land? His love for her, made him want to, but the fear of rejection, kept him where he was. Thankfully someone intervened as Sally was ushered into a flying bus.
Time to leave.
Sonic was hugely relieved. Time to go home.
Sally was dumbfounded. She had not believed what she had just seen. So that was what he was hiding under that cloak. Sonic was the The Sapphire Dragon of whom the rumour spoke. Why else would he wear one? Sonic said he had changed, but Sally had just brushed it off. No one can change that much. But this was different. Sonic was now a completely different...species. More Dragon then Hedgehog, right down to the DNA level. The Hedgehog she had loved had died and in his place was this...creature. Could she still love it? Sally didn't know as she watched the last of her people leave and soon, was forced to take the last of the flying buses as the snow finally closed in.
With everyone off the ground, it was time to leave. But where were they going? It was at this point that Sally realised that she had no idea. A place of safety. That was guaranteed but where? Why did the Mutants insist on flying? Might it be easier to go along the ground? She didn't know and was incredibly disheartened as she watched out of the window and saw her beloved Mobotropolis fall away beneath her. Only from the air did she truly see how much of a mess the city was in. It made her more gut determined to come back home in the Spring and repair it.
Sally watched as they rose higher and higher, through the snow storm. It was quite bumpy and she thought this might not be a good idea as she lost her footing, but then all was still. Intrigued, it got up and went to the window of her transport. There was a white fluffy blanket for as far as the eye could see, in all directions. The beautiful sun shone across the whole landscape. They were above the clouds. Sally moved from one side of the bus to the other. There were no seats, just standing room only. She didn't think she had every been so high up in her life. They were surrounded by flying vehicles of all kinds, she even spotted Rotor in his weird flying machine, looking rather cold. But it still didn't answer where they were going?
Then she saw him. Sonic had just punctured through the clouds right next to her transport and they were now level. Several people on the bus cheered. All Mutants, of course. It was obvious that Sonic had stayed behind until every single last person was gone before leaving himself. Still being the hero. Her Sonic would have done that too. But that one that died six years ago. She just was not convinced they were the same, and to be honest, she was as scared of the idea as Sonic himself.
She watched him through the window. In fact everyone on the bus did. Sally looked around. The people around her somehow still believed him despite the changes. Should she?
Sonic flew beside the bus with the greatest of ease. Sally could see that he was now perfectly designed for life on the wing. His slender powerful body curved under a pair enormous dragon wings. Outstretched at a glide, barely a movement in them. His broad shoulders and chest were ribbed with muscles which meant that Sonic was potentially packing some serious power in those wings. How fast could he fly? Sally had no idea and the thought excited her. That she would like to see. His long tail and secondary wings adjusted for balance beautifully, and he glided along side them for some time. As Sally watched him, it was obvious that Sonic didn't know she was there. It was only after several hours of flying, did Sonic finally notice Sally. He spied her, though the window and to Sally's amazement, he looked mortally embarrassed. As if he wasn't ready, and promptly dived down out of sight, followed closely by Charlie and the Sky Petrol in their amazing planes.
Sally's eyes followed him through the window and then she saw it. The reason for Sonic's sudden disappearance.
A floating city was appearing on the horizon beneath them, above the blanket of clouds. They were here.
Welcome to the Mutant Movement.