Chapter 4: New Blood

With Warlord Kodos out of the picture, we could now truly coordinate our efforts to dethroning Robotnik. Harvey Who, Director of the Secret Service, reorganized the internal forces of New Mobotropolis into a 24/7 Civil Protection Unit.

Meanwhile, I began scouring the lands for especially skilled individuals. Since Tig Stripe's Freedom Fighters setup worked well in the time it had, I sought to form a new Freedom Fighters group. I called this, "Project Knothole".

King Max requested that I appoint his daughter, Princess Sally Acorn, as leader of this new group of Freedom Fighters. I accepted his royal request, on the condition that my name should never be mentioned to her, to which he agreed.

As the First Robotnik War continued to rage, I was able to assemble a group of capable individuals.

Sally Acorn: The princess, and leader of this new squad.

Antoine D'Coolette: A coyote, skilled at the art of fencing.

Rotor the Walrus: A walrus with considerable mechanic skills.

NICOLE: An AI, created by Doctor Ellidy, given to Sally to aid her.

Cat: Limited data available on this elderly cat...

Miles Prower: A young, two-tailed fox with an incredible IQ, and the ability to fly.

Sonic the Hedgehog: A blue hedgehog with the power to move at incredible speeds.

Only one among them learned of me. I never learned his name, so he shall be referred to herewith as "Cat". He, like me, lost his family to Robotnik's forces, and wanted him stopped. If only he knew. If he only knew what kind of monster Robotnik really was. What lack of respect for life itself he harbored in his black heart. But day after day, I continued to speak with Cat, and even told him my real name.

Becoming friends with him was a mistake on my part. If I knew then what I know now, I would have known better than to get too attached.

It was one of the earliest missions undertaken by the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Sonic, Sally, NICOLE, and Cat were sneaking through an air vent, but it opened up underneath Cat, and he fell out. Their cover was blown. Cat told the others to flee as he used himself as bait to lure away the SWATbots.

He was captured. And Sonic reported that he was already roboticized by the time he found him.

I learned all of this through my access via NICOLE. Whatever happened on their missions, whatever NICOLE saw and heard, so did I.

That was the day I gave up on friends. I simply couldn't take the pain of loss anymore. From that point forward, I would become strictly business-only. No one would learn my true name again, and I would deal with whatever loneliness I'd ever face. Better that than loss.

And to that end, I received tatoos of skulls on the palms of my hands, and likewise had skulls engraved on the palms of my gloves. I believed that I was cursed. Anyone I touched died. Anyone I grew attached to was taken away. Surely, I have the touch of death.

In hindsight, I realize now that I wasn't steeling myself against incoming hardships. I wasn't keeping myself from being broken. I WAS broken. This prison of my mind was exactly the despair that Robotnik wanted. He truly got the last laugh, didn't he?

But at that point, I couldn't bring myself to care. If that monster could consider THAT a victory, then I would make it his ONLY victory. I, and the Knothole Freedom Fighters would see to that.

Since the loss of Cat, the Knothole Freedom Fighters did not fail in any future missions. They even managed to recruit two new members to their ranks. Bunnie Rabbot, the partially roboticized rabbit, and Dulcy the Dragon. But that still didn't ease the sting of losing Cat.

Our battles eventually came to a head when Robotnik initiated "Operation: Endgame". A satellite superweapon known as the Ultimate Annihilator was employed by him in a bid to destroy New Mobotropolis, as well as all other Freedom Fighter groups worldwide. Many Freedom Fighter groups were dispatched in addition to the Knothole group to stop him.

I learned later that Snively had betrayed Robotnik and sabotaged the Ultimate Annihilator. When Robotnik tried to fire the weapon, it malfunctioned and exploded, destroying the city.

But that was not all. A wave of energy, which some called the "Omega Wave", ripped through the Acorn Archipelago, causing the islands to rise rapidly into the sky. Most of the Freedom Fighters managed to escape the cataclysm, but Sonic and Tails were nowhere to be found.

In addition, the Omega Wave deactivated the mind control devices on all roboticized Mobians. Good for them. If only my parents were still active...

Glaciers began to form, holding the skybound islands in the air. The world was changing rapidly, and I was just left pondering my next move.

Eventually, after those glaciers began melting, placing the islands back into the sea safely, I discovered Sonic's location. He was going on an adventure with his two siblings, Sonia and Manic, fighting Robotnik all over again.

Everyone was delighted to see that Sonic was alright. But while things were changing rapidly outside, inside, almost nothing was different.