-Episode 3: The Bandit-
Inside the Knothole Briefing hut, the Freedom Fighters gathered around a table to discuss their next mission, which is said to take place in an abandoned Robotnik plant, one of the very few remnants remaining from Robotnik's reign. Everyone sits down and Sally proceeds to start speaking.
"Now, from the documents I found in the hands of the Mobian defectors, and with the help of Nicole, we've managed to track down the whereabouts of an abandoned Space Port, where Robotnik got supplies from. Because of an increase of activity in this Port, we need to investigate whether or not this place is being used as a hideout for our mysterious enemy." said Sally, who pointed to various things on a hologram, one of which being a frost-covered and abandoned Space Port. Sonic raised his hand and began to speak.
"That guy I saw in the helicopter...I think Robotnik has something to do with this. We've been seeing his symbols everywhere in the forest and parts of Mobotropolis over these past few months, Sal." said Sonic.
"Sonic, I think you're jumping to conclusions. Robotnik took over the world at one point, so of course traces of him will remain." Tails replied to him.
"And besides, we haven't seen anything of that dirty ol' Robotnik in three years. Why would he show himself just now?" Bunnie pointed out.
"Who knows?" Rotor remarked.
"Well regardless, it looks like we have a situation on our hands. Nicole, what's the best way to get inside?" asked Sally, hoping to find a way inside the abandoned plant.
"The best way we can get in is through a pipe that leads to the sewer network." said Nicole, as information on the hologram showed up about a route inside.
"S-s-s-seweur netvurk?" said Antoine, as he quivered in fear slightly.
"Antoine? You're not scared, are you?" Rotor asked teasingly.
"V-vut are you talking about?! It is just a little chilly in here! Zat is all!" Antoine said, in obvious denial of his fear.
"Yeah, suuuuuuuuure.." said Rotor, before he gave a smirk.
"We're heading out to the plant very soon. So get ready, everyone. Meeting closed" said Sally, before Nicole shut off the hologram of the mission plans.
While everyone prepared to head out for the mission in order to find out about the sudden spike in Badnik activity. Rotor and Tails headed to the workshop in order to prepare the Tornado for take-off, Nicole and Sally talked about mission preparations and Sonic was left to think about his uncle.
"I wanna believe that he'll be okay...Unc's a fighter, he really is...but I guess I'm just-" he thinks to himself, before his thought was interrupted by someone; none other than Tails.
"Alright, everyone! The Tornado is ready to go!" Tails called out to everyone.
"Sonic, you ready?" Sally asked as she approached him.
"Yeah, I'm ready." he replied, before walking over to the Tornado and jumping onto the nose. Tails gets into the cockpit of the jet, before Bunnie, Antoine and Sally take up the remaining three seats. The fox presses various buttons on the Tornado's dashboard in order to start up the machine. Rotor assisted by helping to clear the newly-assembled runway for the Tornado to take off from.
"Rotor, we're ready to take off!" Tails called out to Rotor via radio.
"Gotcha, Tails!" he replied, before running back to the workshop to watch the Jet take off from a safe distance. As soon as Rotor ran to the window of the workshop, Tails took off in the tornado and headed towards the abandoned plant mentioned in the briefing.
The scene cuts to a snowy, stormy sky, in which the Tornado is flying in towards the Space Port. As the jet flies, a group of enemy fighters comes in behind the Tornado. One of them fires a missile from behind, to which Sonic acts immediately by jumping back.
"Sonic?! What are you doing?!" Sally called out to him.
The Blue hedgehog uses his homing attack on the missile, which then flies into the other oncoming missile, before he lands on the wing of the tornado.
"Thought I could use a warm-up!" Sonic shouted out before smirking. Sally reacted by sighing with relief and sat back in her seat.
"I'm gonna kill him one of these days.." she said to herself.
Sonic them continued to be on the defensive by using his homing attack on the missiles, in turn deflecting them back and destroying the jets, one at a time. Every time a jet is destroyed, the pilots can be seen with parachutes.
"Mobians?.." Sonic thought to himself in shock.
"Sonic, are you alright?!" Tails called out via radio.
"Yeah, I am little bro!" Sonic shouted out due to the loud winds.
"We should be close to the Space Port! I'll be setting the Tornado into landing mo-" said Tails before being cut off by a missile hitting the jet's engine. Tails tries to maintain control of the jet as it is scorching down at a very high speed.
"AGH!" Sonic screams as he's blown off the Tornado.
"SONIC!" everyone onboard called out to him.
Sonic is seen plummeting towards a long ravine down below. The blue hedgehog thought quickly and rolled up into a spine ball. As he approached the ravine, he landed on the frozen water, causing a huge crack and shattered the ice around him. He then looks around before starting to walk.
"The Space Port shouldn't be far from here.." he said to himself as he walked in the blizzard.
The scene then cuts to the rest of the crew screaming, as well as Tornado crash landing near the Space Port. The craft then scrapes along a surface of snow mixed in with stones, which shred the underbelly of the jet. As soon as the craft stops scraping along the snow-covered ground, Tails, Sally, Bunnie and Antoine all get out of the Tornado after their hatches open.
"Is everyone alright?!" Tails called out to the rest of the crew.
"Ngh..." Sally groaned as she climbed out of the craft, with Bunnie and Antoine following.
"Princess, are you alright?!" Antoine called out, running over.
"Yeah, I'm fine Antoine...thanks." Sally replied, as she dusted herself off. Before she can properly gather herself, the team were surrounded by Robotnik's robots.
"Sally, I think we got company.." Bunnie said.
"You don't need to tell me twice, Bunnie...Everyone, prepare for combat!" Sally ordered, before drawing her Ring Blades, preparing to fight the robots. Antoine drew his sword, before Bunnie got into her fighting stance.
The scene then shifts back to Sonic, who is seen running through a large set of trees. The severe blizzard has caused him to lose his sense of direction. He tries running in all directions, but he can't seem to find a way towards the Space Port.
In just a short moment, a shot fired at Sonic, one he reacted to quickly by dodging.
"What?!" he said, his head darting around to find where the shot came from. However, due to the harsh conditions, he was unable to pinpoint a direction, so he just kept going in order to find the plant.
Another shot was fired at a frozen waterfall, which unfortunately for him, he happens to be close by, but couldn't properly see it due to the blizzard.
"Hey! You coulda killed me with that!" Sonic called out in the direction of the bullet was fired. He turned around as he started to notice that the waterfall was unfreezing. He realizes that the shot was a thermal round.
"Oh grea-" Sonic was about to say, before he was cut off by being washed way by the water from the waterfall.
"...That was the idea." said the mysterious gunman, whose only feature were revealed was his helmet that he seems to use to target his shots. He watches Sonic tumble downstream as he seems to be heading towards the plant's sewage network.
"..Killing you won't take long." said the Gunman, who uses a Sniper Rifle, as well as the targeting computer inside his helmet to keep track of Sonic's movements. He fires a shot at Sonic as he goes down stream, a shot the Hedgehog manages to avoid.
"Woah! Blublu-" he exclaimed as he got water in his mouth as he slid down stream. The blue hedgehog reaches a large drop that leads into another short stream.
"Oh great!" said Sonic before he reached the drop and started falling. After doing so, he landed on shallow water on his back. He groaned as he got onto his hands and knees before standing up slowly.
"Man...is there anyone who isn't tryina off me?!" he said to himself, before he notices a pipe entrance in front of him.
"This must be the entrance into the Space Port's sewage network. Gross.." said Sonic before he started to run inside.
To close off this episode, the last scene cuts to Sally, Antoine, Tails and Bunny running through, unknown to them, the same forest Sonic was going through and are trying to fight off a large horde of Robotnik's robots.
"Ah great...Where's Sonic?!" asked Bunnie.
"I don't know...but he better not be doing anything stupid!" Sally said, just as she slashed down another robot. However, another robot comes up to her from behind and hits her in the back of the head and onto the ground.
"Ungh!" Sally exclaimed as she got hit.
"Sally!" Tails called out, just before the screen fades to black.
Sally tries to stand up, but the severity of the hit caused her to pass out on the cold snow.
-To Be Continued-