An Author's Nightmare 2: Going Underground 5AE

by Bat138

An Author's Nightmare 2: Going Underground 5th Anniversary Edition... Five years ago, I wrote this fanfic about me going into the SU world... it was hailed as the worst... now, five years later, I rewrote it, hoping it will revieve better reviews. Enjoy!

15. Escape and SERE III

CHAPTER 15

Escape and S.E.R.E. III

1

FOUR YEARS AGO

A week and a half of grueling torturous pain passed. Ryan was lying on a stack of hay trying to keep comfortable and keep warm. He and the rest of the recruits were still within the large bamboo cage, each one feeling weak, sick, and in physical and mental pain. Then they heard the sound of a truck revving up its engines in the distance. The recruits woke up and immediately noticed there were only ten strong; two were missing. Questions ran through their heads. Then their questions were answered when they looked over and saw the two Weapons Sergeants, Grimes and Nathanson, walking to an awaiting truck wearing their ACU Digital combat BDU's and carrying their duffle bags.

"They left you guys behind," a voice said to them from the side of the cage. The ten remaining recruits looked over and saw one of the instructors staring at them with a victorious grin on his face. "They chose their dignity over your safety and loyalty. Who wants to quit next?"

The ten remaining recruits just stared at the instructor from their haystack beds. Ryan then recalled back to Selection when he was only one of nine to pass the course; the other eight being Davis, Grimes, Nathanson, Roselyn, Rush, Tanor, Thompson, and Willard. Thompson and Willard failed the MOS phase, Roselyn failed the Collective phase, and now Rush, Grimes, and Nathanson have quit S.E.R.E. Ryan, along with his buddy Davis and Tanor are the only three remaining from the original Selection course.

"Oh, you're next, Perreault," the instructor said. Ryan wondered what he meant by him being next. Soon, other instructors opened the bamboo gate and entered in. Ryan was too weak to resist when they threw the paper bag over his head again. They gripped his arms like police officers and carried him off to the large main building.

Along the way, Ryan was counting his steps and feeling different atmospheres such as close-in drafts which mean he is in a hallway. Ryan felt he was being taken to a room he has never been to before in this run-down building. The instructors stopped Ryan and they whipped the bag off of his head. Ryan caught an unexpected sight of the room he was in.

In the room looked nothing run-down. The place looked like a high school principle's office, with awards, framed diplomas, and plaques covering the walls. In the middle of the room is a rug with a black, green, and red symbol on it. The symbol was of a black dagger surrounded by a green boarder. Within the boarder were Chinese symbols. On top of the whole logo, in yellow letters, said 'SERE' flashing. In the middle of the office was a bright and shiny desk with the Native American sitting behind it. There was a computer and photographs of the Native American man that was in charge of SERE. On the desk was a name tab that said 'COL. JACK M. MORGAN' in bright white letters. Ryan looked at the photographs on the wall and saw Colonel Morgan wearing his greens uniform and Special Forces tabs, one of the photographs was of him shaking hands with then-President Clinton. In the photograph, however, Morgan had a silver oak-leaf cluster on his shoulders, meaning he was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time.

"Hello, take a seat," Morgan told Ryan in a calm tone. After hesitating a bit, Ryan slowly approached the comfortable chair stationed directly in front of the desk, which has dirt and hay on it meaning someone else, such as the recruits, recently sat in it. Once Ryan sat down, Morgan looked up at the instructors that brought him in. "Guards, leave us."

The two instructors turned and left the room, closing the door behind them. Morgan then placed his elbows on his desk with his fingers interlaced. He sighed and looked at Ryan like a school principal trying to decide what to do with a troubled student in a peaceful manor.

"Look, I understand this course is getting pretty hard on you and I'm going to be humane enough to let the pain stop," Morgan said to Ryan calmly. "It's hard to see these students suffer through a training course for a situation that would most likely never happen. So, I'm willing to offer you a chance to put it all to a stop. All you got to do is sign this sheet saying that you quit, and then you'll be returned back to your home unit."

Morgan grabbed a clipboard with a few sheet clipped to it and a pen chained to the hole of the clip. He held it out to Ryan to grab on to.

"Just sign your name on the line, last name, comma, first name and middle initial period," Morgan explained to Ryan.

Ryan glared at the sheet and read most of the paragraphs on it. It was everything Morgan said it was. He can leave S.E.R.E. and go back home. This course was extremely harsh on Ryan. They have physically tortured him with batons and tasers, scared him shitless by holding his head underwater for several seconds only to get beaten up later on, and they have even burned the American flag in front of him. The worst part was the condition he was living in; sleeping outside on hay and dirt in a bamboo cage and even left outside in the rain and cold.

Sudden, Ryan realized something. The chair he was sitting in had dirt on it and he remembered that Grimes and Nathanson just quit out of the blue. This was probably why they left; they were tricked into signing this. They were tricked into signing their goals away, their goal being a Special Forces Operator, a Green Beret. Being a Green Beret is Ryan's ultimate goal and he knew that if he signed this sheet he is signing away his goal. Instead, Ryan tossed the clipboard angrily back on the desk, throwing Morgan off guard.

"Fuck you, sir, I'm never going to sign that," Ryan sneered at Morgan. That was when Morgan snapped from calm mode to anger mode.

"What are you? Stupid?" Morgan snapped. Ryan, however, showed no signs of being effected by the snap. "Grimes and Nathanson were smart because they signed this!"

"No they weren't, they lost their will," Ryan told him. "If I had to choose between my dignity and my team, I choose my team."

"What kind of a moron are you?"

"A loyal fucking moron!"

"Get out! Guards!" Morgan shouted, Ryan showing no effects of getting yelled at. The two instructors snapped the door open and entered in the office. "Get this uncooperative shit out of my office!"

Without responding, the S.E.R.E. instructor threw the bag over Ryan's head and forced him out of the room. Ryan was being carried back to the bamboo cage where his awaiting recruits were. The bag was snapped off of his head and he was forcefully kicked back in the cage.

"What happened?" Davis asked as the instructors closed and locked the cage hatch and left.

"I know why Grimes and Nathanson quit," Ryan told them. The other recruits gathered around him like kids listening to a story. "The commander asked them to quit and they were gullible enough to accept it." They gasped.

"But we still got each other," Falcon addressed to them. All eyes fell on Lieutenant Falcon. "We're the only ones remaining and we just got to work hard together and we can get through this. We were able to spend over a week in this torture camp, and that was where I saw strength amongst us. Let's see more of that strength the rest of the way. We're the only ones left, so let's show them that we can handle this. Hoo-ah?"

"Hoo-ah!" the recruits replied. Ryan felt better now, knowing he has got a great group of buddies on his side. They can get through this. They will get through this; they just got to know it.

2

PRESENT DAY

Sleet ran down into the basement with the SWAT Bot on the way to manually lockdown the building, unaware of Ryan approaching the same objective.

"Listen up, metal-head, I want you to use your ignitions to start the building for lockdown," Sleet told the SWAT Bot.

"Affirmative," the bot said.

Sleet and the bot opened the basement door, leading to a basement with a staircase leading down to a cement-floor room with several light bulb lights dangling off the ceiling and several storage shelves. The two walked further in until they can see the fuse panel in the wall.

"With that, the boy will be trapped in here like a pea in a tin can. We only have a few more minutes until the DMD is charged and he'll be stuck here forever!" Sleet said to himself evilly.

All of a sudden, a gunshot rang out throughout the large basement. It was not a laser pulse fire, it was a bullet. Sleet spun on his heel and saw the SWAT bot behind him dropped to the ground with a large hole in its chest and oil dripping out of it.

"Hey, dickhead!" a familiar voice called.

Sleet slowly turned his head around and there he was, Ryan Michael Perreault, walking out of the shadows. In Ryan's arms is his XM8, but Sleet noticed the bolt right above the chamber is pulled all the way back, meaning that the bullet he fired on the SWAT bot was the last in the magazine. Ryan was aware of that, too.

Quickly, Sleet reached for his sidearm, which was the same gun he used to stun Ryan back on Earth. Before Sleet was able to aim it at Ryan, Ryan heaved his empty XM8 at Sleet's arm, and he never touched it again. The heavy rifles' hit cause Sleet to drop his stun gun. Immediately, Ryan dove forward to Sleet with his hands stretched out to his neck. The two engaged in a close-quarters fight with throwing punches only for them to be blocked.

"You stunned me in the street on Earth. Unfair," Ryan sneered in Sleet's face.

"Then let's make it fair," Sleet said as he threw Ryan off of him. With Ryan a few feet away, Sleet grabbed for his secondary weapon, which was a six-inch dagger. As soon as Ryan saw it, he whipped out his H&K 50 knife and the two stared at each other with look of hatred and death in their eyes.

The two lunged at each other and engaged in a knife fight. Ryan kept on blocking Sleet's blows with his knife and vice versa. They two kept moving through the basement in karate positions with their daggers, knocking over shelves and making a mess of the place.

"You're good," Ryan said.

"I know. I'm a bounty hunter after all," Sleet said.

The two continued to fight. Ryan kicked Sleet's legs causing Sleet to fall on his back. He quickly moved away as Ryan was so close to stabbing him. The two continued to knife fight when the two of them lost both of their knives at the same time. Quickly, Sleet kicked Ryan away from him and ran to the stairs.

Sleet then ran for the door. Ryan got up and followed him after picked up his knife. He was too late, Sleet closed the door and he could hear Sleet locking it.

"We planned on robotosizing you, but you were such a trouble maker! Now we plan on killing you. We're going to get someone else instead. Happy gassy," Sleet said as he turned a knob in the wall right next to the door.

Ryan sniffed the air and noticed that gas was pouring into the room.

"Oh man!" Ryan said, knowing he was about to be suffocated by the gas.

Ryan had to get out of the room and quick. He tried to open the door, but the knob would not budge. Instead of the front door, he had to find some other way of escape like a window. To his surprise, he saw a dumbwaiter, but he was more surprised to see a phone next to it, which looked like a payphone. Ryan ran to the phone and pried open the sides with his knife.

The room filled with gas quickly.

Ryan took off his black vest, reached in its pockets, and pulled out a few small C4 explosives. He attached them to the wires of the phone. Last, he took out a pen from his bag and looked at the phone number sticker on the phone box. He wrote the number on his palm:

'485-2546'

Ryan left his vest with the explosives. All he has left is just his black T-shirt, camouflage pants, tan boots, pistol holster, knife holster, and his olive-drab bag over his shoulder; the exact same attire he wore when being taken to Mobius. Quickly, Ryan checked his gun which was down to his last magazine. He ejected the magazine out to see how many bullets he has left since he came to Mobius.

"Two bullets left?" he yelled to himself.

Ryan loaded it back in his gun and strapped the gun back in its holder. He ran to the elevator and tried to pry the doors open with his fingers after he already holstered his knife back.

The gas is slowly weakening him and filling up extremely fast. Finally, with all his muscles, he opened the doors and noticed no dumbwaiter. He looked up and saw the shaft. He grabbed onto the ropes and dangled there inside the shaft. The Green Beret began climbing up the ropes.

The gas filled the entire huge basement. Just when it reached lethal level, Ryan made it out. He was completely unaware that he left his radio back on his vest, but by mental geography and the height of the shaft, this would put him right into the hallway where Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are waiting.

3

As Ryan was climbing up the ropes, Sleet entered back in the large control room, again not seeing the hidden triplet hedgehogs. Robotnik turned in his chair and saw Sleet entering.

"Why are you smiling? You said that you wanted the place locked down, but it's not," Robotnik asked.

"It's not locked down, sir. But you see, the guy is locked in the basement and I'm filling it up with gas. He'll suffocate anytime, soon," Sleet said smirking. Robotnik also smirked. He always wanted the Green Beret robotosized, but changed his mind when he knew that the human shield would prevent him from leaving. Robotnik kept it up anyway so that the next human they catch won't be able to get back home in case he or she does resist like Ryan did.

"That is good news. Good riddance to the Green Beret. Oh well, we'll try to robotsize another one," Robotnik said.

Dingo just stood there looking confused.

"Anyway, no matter what's going to happen," Sleet began to say as he tapped one of the small compartments with his palm, "we'll keep the original DMD safe."

4

Ryan made it to the top floor. He swung himself toward the closed dumbwaiter doors and busted them open. He swung himself in on the floor and pointed his gun around the place. It was the hallway leading right to Robotnik's control room and it was empty.

"Ryan?" Manic whispered.

Ryan looked around the hallway again. Soon, out of various perfectly-hidden spots, the triplet hedgehogs emerged.

"Hi, guys," Ryan whispered back as he holstered his sidearm.

"I just heard Sleet say he locked you in the basement," Sonic said.

"I found this dumbwaiter," Ryan told them. "Enough chat, I lost my rifle and I only got two rounds left. How many are in the control room?"

"Twelve SWAT bots, Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo," Sonia told him. "Sleet mentioned that the DMD disk is in the main console compartment three compartments over from the right."

"Outstanding, get ready to burst in, flash bang and clear," Ryan ordered.

The four bladed the door ready to strike. A blade is when operators stand by the walls of a door ready to make entry. It is dangerous to stand directly in front of a doorway when an entry is being ordered. Then the command will be called, the operators will charge in, down their walls, and clear the room the second the flash bang goes off. It must be done quickly.

"Ready when you are, Ry-guy," Manic said in his surfer-lingo with the flash bang grenade in his hand.

"Before we go, I need to borrow your radio," Ryan told him. Manic handed Ryan his handheld radio and spoke in it. "Aleena, Cyrus, Trevor, you guys ready?"

"Ready when you are, we're about to swing in the windows," Aleena's voice crackled over the radio. Immediately, the hedgehog snapped their heads to the radio.

"Aleena, your children will be coming in as well from the southwest door, I suggest you stay outside and fire from the window, then repel away," Ryan told her.

"Good idea," Aleena spoke over the radio.

"Okay, guys, get ready to go in on my signal," Ryan told them all.

"What's your signal?" Cyrus said over the radio.

"You'll know it when it happens," Ryan replied. He handed the radio back to Manic. "Do you guys have a phone on you like a cell phone or something?"

Sonia replied by taking her medallion off of her neck and held it out to Ryan. Ryan, however, refused to accept it. He then looked at his left palm with the written number on it.

"Sonia, I want you to dial in 485-2546," Ryan told her. Sonia swung the medallion around her neck and started tapping her thumb on the small numbers on it. Ryan remembered in one episode of the show where Sonic and Sonia talked to each other over their medallions.

5

In the basement, the phone rang. The wires from the phone sparked through the wires to the C4 charges. Unlike in the movies, C4 can only blow up by an electrical charge, not by bullets. If a block of C4 were to be shot by a gun, nothing would happen.

KABOOM!!!

The whole basement blew up tilting the building. Since the basement was full of gas, the fire built up through the gas pipes, causing most of the building to explode but stay stable.

6

Aleena, Cyrus, and Trevor nearly lost their balances as the whole building shook.

"Oh my god! This place almost blew up!" she yelled. She then realized that the explosion was the signal Ryan was talking about. Cyrus and Trevor immediately understood the signal as well.

7

Alarms rang as fire was being sent through the gas pipes.

"This whole building almost blew up!" Robotnik yelled as he got up out of his chair and glared at Sleet. "I thought you said you killed the boy!"

"I did! I must've been a spark in the basement or something," Sleet replied.

"That was no spark, it must be that Green Beret," Robotnik scolded.

Before the three of them or the SWAT bots inside knew what was going on, they heard the only door in the room open up from behind them. They snapped their heads and saw the door a crack open. Immediately, a peach arm with a white gloved hand with a spiked bracelet tossed in the flash bang grenade. Almost on that second, the flash bang blew up, impairing Robotnik's, Sleet's, and Dingo's visions to just a white flash and decreased their hearing to a low high-pitched hum.

The three bad guys and the SWAT bots were blinded by the flash bang grenade. Even though their hearing was blocked by the humming, they heard a muffled echo of automatic gunfire and metal clanking. Fear grew between the three bounty hunters as they felt high wind of crossfire, knowing they are unable to do anything to stop it.

Soon, their visions came back to them. The white flash slowly faded away to a still-frame image of what they last saw before the flash bang went off. Soon afterward, their hearing started coming back and the still-image slowly faded to their true vision.

The sight they saw ahead of them was a scary image. All twelve SWAT bots within the room have been destroyed, spilling oil everywhere. The three looked behind them and saw Cyrus and Trevor standing at the broken windows with their guns pointed at them. Aleena herself remained outside with both feet planted on the two sides of the broken window, dangling from the repel rope. In her hands is the laser gun she has always been using.

"Doctor Ivo Julian Robotnik!" a voice yelled out, which was no doubt Ryan's.

Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo caught a scarier sight when they looked at the door ahead of them. Standing before them are the three hedgehogs and Ryan Perreault himself. Ryan held his H&K USP sidearm at the three. There was a pause until Ryan approached them with his gun raised.

"All three of you, hands up! Turn around and slowly get on your knees," Ryan sneered at them. The three did as they were told. "Hand behind your back, interlace your fingers, and cross you ankles." Again, they did as they were told, kneeling side-by-side with their backs to Ryan.

Ryan arched around them keeping his gun pointed at them. Ryan stopped so he could see their faces in order to detect lies.

"Why do you want to robotosize me?" Ryan asked angrily.

"I wanted to try something new. I wanted my first human to be robotosized," Robotnik said.

"Out of a billion people on Earth, you chose me? Why? You saw my profile and you knew I was army," Ryan asked.

"Yeah," Robotnik said.

"As we can see, we chose the wrong one," Dingo said.

There was a pause. Ryan smiled.

"Robotnik, your computers are the most advanced in hacking, most of which I've never seen before," Ryan explained. "My Special Forces profile was hidden deep, but not too far buried. Plus, you were going to torture me, but you never tortured anyone before, not even Sonic. You had it all planned, and I saw how nervous you were when you were called away when I was in the interrogation room."

"What's your point?" Robotnik asked.

"Robotnik, don't lie to me. I was able to read your face in the interrogation room," Ryan told him. He then said something that socked everyone in the room. "You knew all along I was a Green Beret, didn't you?"

There was a pause amongst the room. The Sonic Underground did not know until Ryan told them. Sleet and Dingo was sure Robotnik had no idea what Ryan was either due to his reactions when they told him. Robotnik was in shock when Sleet told him that he was a Green Beret, at leased that was what Sleet and Dingo saw. The two bounty hunters looked over and saw a shocking sight.

Right after Ryan asked if Robotnik knew Ryan was a Special Forces Operator, Robotnik replied by slowly nodding. No wonder Robotnik sent Sleet and Dingo with fifteen SWAT bots to Earth to capture him after explaining that the two of them alone could catch him, but Robotnik persisted.

"So, why did you choose me?" Ryan asked.

"Because I didn't think a Green Beret would have been strong enough to escape," Robotnik told him. "I altered the robotosizer so that it would remove your free will but keep your skills. Imagine a Green Beret standing by my side as I crush the resistance."

"Did you have other options?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, sure, but we wanted someone who knew about this world," Robotnik told him. "Somehow, I recently found out myself that this is a television show broadcasting on the planet Earth, so we went to Earth and grab one of you guys. It turns out there was only one operator on my list who was a hard-core fan of this show. That way, you would be scared knowing what is going to happen to you."

"But when I escaped, your confidence dropped?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, not entirely," Robotnik sneered back. "I was going to let you go, and then I was going to get someone else on my list. This next guy was in the Polish Land Forces, a GROM operative, he would have been a good second choice, so I figured I could kill you and get the GROM operative."

"Nice digs, Robotnik. You should have done better than a gassed up room to kill me. Give up. You're bots are gone. You three are the only ones left, and I have only two bullets in this gun, question is, who will get it?" Ryan asked.

"Any one of these two! But you're still not getting what you need," Robotnik said pointing at Sleet and Dingo.

Ryan breathed heavily. Then he shifted his eyes to the computer that has a 98 copy of the Dimensional Matter Displacer being charged and the human shield activating.

"Whoa, man, that's good thinking. Even if I get the original disk, you guys will still have a human shield to keep me out, so I'll still lose, eh?" Ryan asked. Robotnik tried not to act like he knew anything about this.

"Whatever could you be talking about? How would you know that's the human shield?" Robotnik asked, trying to trick Ryan. However, Ryan saw a wrinkle form on Robotnik's nose quickly, indicating that he was lying, but Ryan thought of something else so Robotnik would not know that Ryan knew he was lying.

"Easy," Ryan began to say. He pointed his gun at Dingo. "I made Dingo over there squeal to me like a little piggy."

"Dingo, you moron!" Sleet yelled.

Dingo blushed and said, "Sorry."

"But it doesn't matter. The human shield wont work and the original backup disk is in that compartment, correct?" Ryan asked pointing his gun at the third compartment from the right where Sleet placed it.

"Correction, how do you know I didn't put it someplace else?" Sleet asked, but Ryan saw the wrinkles form and his pupils snapping.

In response, Ryan angrily ran over to the compartment and opened it up. He reached in and snagged out the disk with the label 'DMD' on it. The disk looked like a small zip-drive disk but more complicated for the computers on Earth. Ryan grinned as he placed the disk back in his pocket. Slowly, he walked behind the three enemies so that their backs are to Ryan. Ryan slowly touched the tip of his USP sidearm on the backs of their heads individually.

"Eenie," Ryan said as he pointed the gun at Dingo. Dingo cringed. "Meenie," Ryan said as he pointed the gun at Robotnik. Robotnik shook in fear. "Miney..." Ryan said as he pointed the gun at Sleet. Sleet cringed thinking he was going to die.

Ryan stood there, statue-still, pointing the gun with two bullets directly behind the dictator's heads. The six furries in the room stared with fear wondering what Ryan is going to do.

Ryan eyes shifted to the computer. The computer shown 99 of the Dimensional Matter Displacer's human-shield files almost completed. All three wait to see who gets the bullet. Then another computer blinked saying that the portal is officially opened in sector F-G.

"Moe!" Ryan yelled as he swung the gun and shot the computer that was in the middle of making the human shield. That same computer stored all of the Dimensional Matter Displacer files on it and all the information is lost and destroyed! The other computer, however, shown that the portal was still open but the human shield program has an error and was shut down.

"No!" Robotnik yelled. Ryan, however, chuckled his head off.

"That's a show-stopper for you," Ryan told them laughing. He holstered his gun and unslung his olive drab bag, placing it on the ground. He then pulled out three sets of metallic cartoon handcuffs from his bag. "I'm going to place the three of you under arrest."

Ryan walked behind Dingo who was kneeling at the far right of the bunch. He grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back and clicked the handcuffs in place. Ryan then did the same Robotnik, forcing his hands behind and cuffed him from behind. Sleet, however, felt like he had to get brave again. He was at the risk of getting shot at by the hedgehogs, but it was a risk worth taking.

Just as Ryan was about to handcuff Sleet, Sleet quickly spun around and slapped Ryan across the face. He then quickly pounced on Ryan, trying to fight him, and also trying not to give anyone a clear shot of himself.

Sleet laid on top of Ryan, but Ryan quickly kicked him off. Sleet got up on a standing position. Ryan kicked his legs up in an arch to stand back up and pulled out his H&K 50 knife. Ryan lunged the knife upward to Sleet, but Sleet used his arms to cross block the knife. He then twisted Ryan's arm and forced him to the ground. Sleet ripped the knife out of Ryan's hand. Just as Sleet was about to use it on Ryan, Ryan used his legs to grip around Sleet's neck and forced him to the ground.

Once sleet was on the ground, Ryan kicked him away and quickly stood back up. Sleet rolled himself back to a standing position with Ryan's knife in hand. Sleet flipped the knife in his hand with his fingers so that it points from his pinky down. The bounty hunter then charged the knife downward on the Green Beret. Ryan cross blocked the knife, hooked his elbow around Sleet's arm, and used his body to force Sleet to the ground. Ryan took the knife out of Sleet's hand. Quickly, Sleet was able to butt his head back in Ryan's face, knocking him off.

Sleet quickly stood back up and faced Ryan after he rubbed his nose. This time, Ryan held the knife upward and charged at Sleet from the side. Sleet quickly grabbed Ryan's arm kneed him in the crotch. Ryan kept his grip on the knife as Sleet tried to take it out of his hand. Ryan then quickly head butted Sleet and the two of them dropped the knife. Once Ryan saw the knife was dropped, he kicked it away knowing he could not risk Sleet grabbing it again.

Ryan and Sleet held onto each other for a while. Ryan quickly spun around and flipped Sleet over his shoulder. Sleet laid hard on the ground on his back, but he whipped his boot back and kicked Ryan in the chest, throwing him back a bit. Sleet then kicked his legs up in an arch and stood upright again.

Ryan and Sleet stared at each other again. Sleet whipped out his laser pistol and brought it up to Ryan with one hand. Just as Sleet pointed the gun directly at Ryan's chest, Ryan acted first. Ryan grabbed Sleet's wrist and gun with his hands and forced the gun to point upward. He twisted Sleet's arm so that he fell over on his back. Just before Ryan got the chance to snag the gun out of Sleet's hand, Sleet threw an unexpected punch to Ryan's jaw. Ryan fell on the ground with his arms still locked around Sleet's arm.

Sleet rolled on top of Ryan, but Ryan quickly yanked the gun out of Sleet's hand. Unfortunately, Ryan did not have a grip on the gun and it flung out of his hand and across the floor. Sleet sat on Ryan's abdomen and tried to punch him. Ryan never got punched; he grabbed both of Sleet's wrists and used his left leg to hook Sleet's right leg. He then used the balance to throw Sleet off of him to the right.

Ryan then sat on top of Sleet and started to assault him with Sleet's legs on the outside of Ryan. Quickly, Sleet used his left knee to push Ryan off of him. Sleet gripped Ryan's thumb to cause pain through his body and he kicked Ryan over to the left. Sleet laid on top of Ryan, but Ryan was able to twist his wrist and slip out of Sleet's grip.

Ryan then used his last attack on Sleet. Sleet gripped both of his hands on Ryan's neck. Ryan grabbed Sleet's right wrist with his right hand and used his left arm to push Sleet over to the right. Ryan kept a grip on Sleet's wrist and twisted it, causing excruciating pain. He transferred his right hand with his left hand to grip Sleet's right wrist. Sleet's left arm was punned underneath him once Ryan used a leg-lock to secure it in place. Sleet now laid helpless on the ground and Ryan had his right hand still free. Ryan was about to finally kill Sleet.

Ryan reached behind him and whipped out his Heckler and Koch USP gun and pointed it directly at Sleet's face, but suddenly had a sense of conscience. There was only one bullet left and he was going to use it to kill the first cartoon character he ever met. All of a sudden, Ryan looked at Sleet's eyes and saw that they were yellow, just like the wolves back on Earth. Suddenly, he looked in the wolf bounty-hunter's eyes and saw the wolf he met back in the beginning of his S.E.R.E. training. Before Ryan joined the army, he was a strong believer in stopping wolf-hunting all over the world. He was sick of the aerial gunning in Alaska, the elimination of protection in the Northern Rockies, and the hunting in the southwest of America. He has donated a lot of money and wrote a ton of letters trying to stop the hunting of wolves in the world. That was one of the reasons he signed up for the Defenders of Wildlife unit called Save Wolves. Before the army, his true enemies were the hunters and the political figures trying to support getting rid of wolves. It still remains the same, his most hated enemy are wolf hunters and Ryan was just about to perform a task that was against everything he has worked so hard for. Ryan was just about to become his worst enemy.

Sleet laid there with the gun pointed to his face and saw Ryan's face fade. The look on his face shown sadness, not that he was about to cry but about to approach that stage. Sleet was confused, especially when he saw Ryan slowly lower his gun away from Sleet's face. After a pause and everyone staring at the two, Ryan spoke up but in a whisper that he himself could here.

"I can't do it," Ryan whispered to himself. Not only was Sleet a wolf, but he was also the very first 'Sonic Underground' character he met. If it was not for Sleet, Ryan would have not been in this world in the first place.

"What?" Sleet asked in confusion.

"I can't do it," Ryan said a little louder. "I can't kill a wolf. Not now, not ever." Everyone was confused as Ryan slowly slid his gun back in its holster. He then forced Sleet on his front and pinned his arms together. "Can someone hand me the handcuffs I dropped?"

Manic responded first. He grabbed the cuffs off the floor where Ryan dropped them and ran to Ryan. Ryan slid the handcuffs on Sleet's wrists, securing him in place. Ryan then gently forced Sleet to his feet.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Sleet asked in confusion with a tint of relief.

"I can kill humans with no remorse, but I can't kill an animal," Ryan replied back. It was true; Ryan could never bring himself to kill an animal. Bugs and spiders he has killed hundreds of times, and killing humans was something Ryan was used to, but never in his life has he killed an animal.

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic looked over and saw Queen Aleena dangling outside of the window. This time, Aleena shown no signs of trying to escape from her children. Instead, she holstered her laser gun and waved at them.

"Mom?" Sonic asked as he approached her. He was soon followed by Sonia and Manic. Aleena then whipped back her shawl showing her whole head with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm so proud of the three of you," Aleena said to them. This was the first time she spoke to them without using a hologram like she always did. "Not only were you able to become more than you thought, you helped a non-Mobian in the face of danger. It's your heart and courageous efforts that will one day soon bring the end of Robotnik's total tyranny. We'll be reunited soon. I love you."

Aleena then reached forward and rubbed her hand on each of her children's faces. Tears soaked in the triplet's eyes. Soon, Aleena leaned back and jumped off the window. Her jump caused her to slide all the way down the building and soon out of sight. The hedgehogs looked over and saw Aleena as she disappeared in the darkness below.

Ryan led the rest out as they took Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo prisoner. The three hedgehogs, Cyrus, and Trevor forced a protective circle around Ryan as they forced the cuffed Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo out the building. Ryan held the Dimensional Matter Displacer disk in his pocket. As the triplets were talking to Aleena, he grabbed his bag and knife and placed his USP with one bullet in his holster.

Robotnik knew that there was no chance of victory anymore. All of the files that it took to make the Dimensional Matter Displacer is destroyed and the human shield program is destroyed as well. The only way to revive it is to use the disk which is secured in Ryan's pocket, and even that is inevitable to get to. It was over.

8

FOUR YEARS AGO

Ryan munched on the bread given to him by the S.E.R.E. instructors. The rest of the ten recruits around him sat around cold within the bamboo make-shift prison they were in. Each of them felt like they had enough of what it feels like to be a prisoner of war. For the past couple weeks, they have been hosed, tortured both physically and mentally, beaten on, scared out of their daylights, and were forced to eat nothing but bread and water. During that time, they were sleeping outside in the bitter cold nights, the wet stormy rains, and the scorching high sun heat. It was no surprise why Wire, Grimes, Nathanson, and Rush quit this program.

Suddenly, the ten worn-out recruits looked up and saw ten S.E.R.E. instructors approaching the makeshift cage, each with a paper bag. They opened it and stared coldly at the recruits laying in the dirt.

"All of you, get up!" one of the instructors shouted.

Some of the recruits did so without help, but most of them struggled to get back up. The ones struggling were forced up aggressively by the instructors. Again, paper bags were slipped on each of the recruits' heads. This was not the first time multiple recruits would be taken away at the same time, but this was the first time where all of them were taken away together.

Ryan was confused and scared. It was bad when he was being taken away alone and it was worse when they forced other recruits together. He remembered a few days ago where he and Davis were taken away and forced to ask to quit. The instructors asked Davis to quit but refused, so they tortured Ryan and made Davis look at it. After a while, the roles were switched, where they asked Ryan to quit and they made him watch David get tortured. Eventually, neither of them broke and were forced back to the cage. Bringing all ten recruits together must be ten times as scary.

"Keep them in line over there," a voice called out. It was obviously Morgan's voice. Ryan felt the instructors force them to stand side by side next to each other in front of something. "Okay, remove the bags."

Ryan felt the bag being removed from his head. Fear and adrenalin took over his body wondering what is it the recruits were forced to see. In seconds, the moment of truth would be revealed.

The bags were off, and they were all shocked as to what they saw, it was the last thing any one of them were expecting. Standing in front of them were familiar faces. They were Sergeant Jackson, the Communications Sergeant Instructor, Sergeant Storm, the Medical Sergeant Instructor, Sergeant Mace, the Engineering Sergeant Instructor, and, familiar to Ryan, Sergeant Maxwell, the Weapons Sergeant Instructor. With these instructors is none other than Colonel Samuel Moss.

"Gentlemen, congratulations," Moss said to them with a smile on his face. "You ten have passed S.E.R.E. Colonel Morgan, raise the flag."

Immediately, the ten recruits looked at the flagpole and noticed a flag was being pulled up. It was not the foreign flag from earlier; it was the true Old Glory itself, the American flag. Immediately, all the recruits stood at attention and saluted it.

Ryan felt sadness overcome him. He could tell the other nine felt it too. He has finished week 60 of his training. He recalled getting off the bus to Fort Benning and remembered the address the Commander gave to introduce Airborne training. A few weeks later, he met Staff Sergeant Robert Davis on the bus to Fort Bragg. Ryan himself could not believe that it was all over. The time went by and has, not only graduated S.E.R.E., but he has graduated the whole Special Forces training.

9

A couple days later, Ryan was resting in a five-star hotel room back in the heart of the beautiful North Carolina landscapes. He rested himself on the bed wearing a pair of Army shorts and a wife beater which said 'U.S. ARMY' printed on the front. Most of the scars he obtained during his training were healed. He sat alone on the bed reading a hardcover novel titled Clear and Present Danger written by one of his favorite authors, Tom Clancy.

As soon as he got to the part where Jack Ryan was about to break into John Ritter's safe, Ryan heard a knock at the door. He placed the book down on the bed downward with the pages opened. Ryan approached the door and looked through the peephole. Behind the door was a man wearing a military dry cleaners uniform and in his hand was a series of black plastic-covered coat hangers. Ryan opened the door slightly.

"Hello," Ryan said all smiles, knowing what it was.

"What's the name you went under?" the man with the coat hangers said.

"Perreault." The man with the coat hangers looked at each tag quickly. He soon found the one with Ryan's name on it and handed it to him.

"We got your uniform altered just like you said."

"Thank you," Ryan said to him. The man handed Ryan the coat hanger with the clothes underneath covered in black plastic. Ryan then reached on the table beside the door and grabbed a small wad of cash. He handed the cash to the man and waved.

"Have a nice day," the man said just before Ryan closed the door.

Ryan walked over to the closet in full awe of his brand new uniform. He placed the hook on the large television stand and carefully slid the plastic off of it. Underneath was what he expected, it was his United States Army's class alpha greens uniform. There were a few new alterations added to it since he last saw it. Just above his small stack of ribbons right over the left breast were jump wings he got from Fort Benning. Then Ryan turned his attention to the sleeves and immediately saw the patch he worked so hard to get. The patch was a large blue arrowhead with a yellow sword down the middle and three lightning bolts across it. Directly above that patch were two tabs. The bottom tab was black with yellow letters, clearly printed 'AIRBORNE' on the tab. Just above that tab was a blue tab with yellow letters that said 'SPECIAL FORCES' which is what Ryan worked hard to get to.

"Oh, man, I just can't believe this," Ryan said to himself, nearly crying.

All along his uniform on its collars and epilates are the Special Forces crests, which was the banner with the motto, two crossing arrows, and a dagger up the center. He ran his fingers along the Special Forces patches, knowing that very few men have earned themselves to wear such a patch. People in the movies wear them all the time, but Ryan actually earned it truly.

Ryan stood there staring at his altered uniform, clearly displaying 'Special Forces' all over it. He did not know if he wanted to laugh or cry.

10

PRESENT DAY

The Sonic Underground van drove through the forest toward sector F-G where the computer said the portal was. Soon, they were led to bright lights in the middle of an empty field in the forest. The van stopped and stepping came Sonic, Sonia, and Manic, neither of them wearing their vests or carrying their guns.

"Okay, guys, it's clear," Sonia called back waving her arm.

Soon enough, the Scorpion vehicle drove through the forest as well. At the controls is Cyrus. Inside is Trevor and Ryan. Handcuffed inside are Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo. Sleet and Dingo sat cuffed in separate chairs and Robotnik had one wrist bound to one of the pipes and the other hand was free.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Queen Aleena sat in a tree branch overlooking everyone. This time, she did not wear her black dress nor had any weapons on her. She just sat there watching everyone act.

Cyrus stopped the vehicle and opened the doors. Trevor stepped out first, not wearing his vest or guns. Cyrus followed and soon he was followed by Ryan. Ryan, however, stood at the edge of the Scorpion craft and glared at the three bad guys. Then, out of the blue, Ryan reached on one of his pockets and pulled out a handcuff key, which was the same one he stole from Dingo since the beginning. He tossed the key to Robotnik who, instinctively, caught it with his free right hand.

"What?" Robotnik asked in confusion with the handcuff key in his hand.

"Go away. Get out, and don't come back," Ryan snarled as he slammed the door shut.

Ryan stood back and, within time, heard the Scorpion craft activate and start speeding away, kicking up dust in the air. Everyone, except Aleena, stared at Ryan in confusion. Ryan never saw the three of them again.

"Dude, we caught Robotnik, why did you let him go?" Manic asked.

"Because I would have violated the prophecy that way," Ryan said without taking his eyes off of where the Scorpion left to. "It's not time yet. Things could go wrong if the prophecy came true too early. Even Aleena would agree with me if she were here."

Ryan then shifted his eyes over to Aleena's position in the branches. Aleena figured a Green Beret would find her with great ease. She responded to Ryan by smiling and nodding. It was true; it was too early for the prophecy to come true yet.

The five furries in the area and Ryan are at the open portal to take Ryan back to Earth. It looked exactly like the kind Ryan saw on Earth; blue and white spirals circling around a point giving off bright lights. Ryan stared at it for a while.

"Well, go on. Before your dinner gets cold," Sonic said.

"As much as I would like to head home, I have always been a fan of you guys. I loved your TV show Sonic Underground and all. I never realized this is the kind of thing a freedom fighter does on Mobius," Ryan said turning his attention to the furries.

"I got to admit, dude. Your style of fighting is totally different than ours," Manic said.

"Not really, I made you guys the way I am as well," Ryan said.

"Yeah," Sonia said.

"But, hey, life in the forces is tough," Ryan said.

"True," Sonic said.

"Speaking of which," Trevor said. He held out Ryan's 'Endurance Techniques' handbook, the same ones he read back in Cyrus' laboratory. "You forgot these."

Ryan waved them off.

"Keep them. I have others of those books at home. You may want to use them for future things. In case Robotnik tries to attack or something," Ryan said smirking. The triplets got what Ryan was thinking.

"Thanks again for making us Green Berets, Ryan," Sonic said.

"I'm really going to miss you guys," Ryan sighed as a tear grew in his eye.

"Hey, we'll miss ya too," Manic said.

"Stay cool," Sonic said.

"So, for the last time, Sonic, I've always loved your speed and fast reflexes, Sonia, I've always loved your strategies, and Manic I've always loved your lingo and thieving skills," he shed another tear again, "I'll miss all three of you."

"We'll miss you too," Sonia said sadly.

Ryan got down on one knee and hugged Sonic, who hugged back. He then moved to Sonia and hugged her sadly too. Sonia hugs back sadly, too. He released and sadly hugged Cyrus.

"I met your father, Cyrus," Ryan whispered.

"You did? How is he?" Cyrus asked in the hug.

"He's okay. I didn't hurt him, don't worry," Ryan replied.

Ryan released Cyrus and hugged Trevor. After a brief few seconds, Ryan turn to Manic.

"Now Manic, don't swipe anything from me, especially this disk," Ryan told him.

"I promise," Manic said. His eyes did not flinch and wrinkles did not form on his nose, so he was telling the truth. Ryan hugged Manic and Manic hugged back. All of them are tearing slowly, even Aleena up in the tree. Ryan stood up.

"Bye, guys," Ryan said.

Just before Ryan turned, he noticed the five furries stand at the position of attention. Then, one by one, they brought their arms up and stopped their flat palms just short of their eyebrows. They were saluting Ryan, even though Ryan was not an officer. Ryan grinned, stood at attention, and saluted back. After a few seconds, he dropped his salute and so did the furries.

Ryan slowly turned his attention away from the furries, making it his last time he ever saw them. He faced the portal and stepped through the portal slowly. He placed his right boot through the portal and stepped on a hard unseen surface on the other side. Then he went face first in the blue Dimensional Matter Displacer with his left leg training behind him. The furries saw his left boot disappear behind him and, soon, the portal disappeared from behind him leaving Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Cyrus, and Trevor alone.

"Say, we'll hop you a ride back home, guys," Cyrus offered pointing his thumb at the van.

"No, that's alright, we'll walk home," Sonic said still staring at the spot where the portal disappeared. Sonia and Manic seemed to be staring off as well.

Cyrus and Trevor shrugged, but understood how Ryan met to the hedgehogs. The lion and mouse turned and entered in the Sonic Underground van. Soon, they dove away, leaving the triplet hedgehogs all alone.

"I sure am going to miss that guy," Sonic said finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, he sure was a cool dude," Manic said.

"I wonder if we'll ever see him again," Sonia wondered. "I mean, Cyrus can make absolutely anything."

"Yeah, I mean, if Robotnik could find a way to teleport to other worlds, then maybe we can find a way, too," Manic said all excited.

"Well, bro, we'll never know until we get started, man," Sonic said turning to his twin brother. "I'd race you, but I know you'll never keep up."

"Sonic," Sonia shouted placing her hand on her hips. "Despite the harsh training Ryan taught us to be, you're still the same old Sonic we always knew."

"So?" Sonic shrugged. "We may be Green Berets, but we're still the same. Come on, sibs."

Sonic then grabbed Sonia's wrist and Manic's wrist. He revved up his feet, collecting momentum, and zipped down the forest, taking his siblings with him. As soon as they were gone, Aleena sat alone on the tree and giggled at the conversation they had. She then looked up at the sky.

"I guess this is not good bye after all, Ryan," Aleena said to the sky. "Thank you so much. Even with the help of an unexpected ally, my children are one step closer to their battle against Robotnik. With their new-found knowledge, they will one day win." With that, Aleena jumped down from the tree and started walking down the forest.

11

FOUR YEARS AGO

Ryan Michael Perreault stood in the position of attention wearing his Army greens uniform. Standing on both sides of him are his fellow ten recruits. He remembered starting out with 80, which was reduced down to nine by the end of Selection, and by the end only three (Davis, Perreault, and Tanor) of the original nine passed, along with all five roll-ins and the two officers.

The ten men stood on a large platform wearing their greens but were asked not to wear their covers. A cover is a military term for a hat. Standing next to them is Colonel Samuel Moss as he stood on a podium overlooking an auditorium full of family members. Ryan looked in the audience and saw his mother, father, and sister near the front row. They waved at him, but could not move in the position of attention, so he smiled and winked at them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention," Moss announced over the speakers. The auditorium quieted down. Then a projector shown slide shows of Special Forces soldiers in training and combat, most of which were of the ten that passed. "My name is Colonel Samuel Moss. I have been a Special Forces member for over 20 years. I've seen combat in Beirut, Desert Storm, and Kosovo. These ten men that you see before you worked so hard to get to this point. They worked so hard to become a member of the United States Army Special Forces."

The audience cheered, praising their children.

"Some of you are wondering what is United States Army Special Forces," Moss spoke in the podium's microphone, "Well, we were organized as a training unit in 1952 to help train foreign forces to those who cannot help themselves. During Vietnam, we moved on as a Special Operations Force and used our men into combat. Today, we are still instructors to help indigenous forces, but, as we have evolved since 1952, we have grown tougher, stronger, better. That is what I've seen in these men. Let's begin with what these ten men went through to get to this point."

The slideshows present to the family members shown of photographs of Selection. Some of them have Ryan on it. Everyone cringed seeing the hard work everyone went through.

"This is called Assessment and Selection," Moss announced. "It's a 24-day course that tested their abilities in everything. There were 80 recruits in this course and only nine of them passed." Then there was a photograph of the nine recruits right after Selection. "These nine attended the Qualification Course which was 49 weeks. The went through the Individual Phase, the MOS Phase, the Collective Phase, the Language Phase, and finished off with S.E.R.E., Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape. In the end, only three of the original nine have passed this course. We also have five roll-ins and two officers. Let's give them a round of applause."

The audience applauded them.

"Good," Moss said. "Now, for the final part. Civilians call these men Green Berets. However, that is what they are missing. Sergeant Majors, bring them forward."

Then, ten Sergeant Majors walked on the auditorium stage with ten boxed in their hands. As the Sergeants moved, the speakers played Barry Sadler's Ballad of the Green Berets. One by one, the Sergeants opened up their boxes and pulled out a green beret from them. They placed the boxes on the ground and walked around behind the ten recruits. As the song played, the Sergeants slid the green berets on the recruits' heads. It was at that exact moment when the recruits turned into Special Forces Operators, or Green Berets.

Ryan's parents stared up and saw the green beret placed on Ryan's head, flashing a black U-shaped flash patch, with the Special Forces crest pinned on it, meaning that he was part of the 5th Special Forces Group. In fact, all of them are in the 5th SFG. Lieutenant Falcon's beret flash patch has a silver bar on it, which is his rank, a First Lieutenant. Warrant Officer Loren's patch had a white bar with a black square in it, which is the Warrant Officer rank. The rest of the berets had the Special Forces crest on them. The song finishes as the Sergeants turned and walked off the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present these young Green Berets. First Lieutenant Jonathan Falcon, Warrant Officer Dick Loren, Sergeant Andrew Adams, Sergeant Greg Beta, Staff Sergeant Robert Davis, Sergeant Peter Matthews, Corporal William Nichols, Corporal Ryan Perreault, Staff Sergeant Max Samsung, and Corporal Stephen Tanor," Colonel Moss announced to everyone. Everyone clapped. "As the Colonel, I will only give one last order. Fall out and enjoy the rest of the day outside. Hoo-ah!"

"Hoo-ah!" the Green Berets shouted.

12

That afternoon, there was a large barbecue dinner just outside of Fort Bragg. The Sergeants cooked up various meaty barbecue dinners of various types to the ten Green Berets still in uniform and wearing their green berets on their heads, untouched since the Sergeants placed them on their heads.

Ryan's mother and father sat at a table with some other parents. In middle of their conversation, Ryan approached them still in his uniform.

"Hi mom, hi dad," Ryan said to them. His mother turned and faced Ryan. Ryan's father, who looks like a clone of Ryan except with black hair and tanner skinned, turned and faced Ryan as well. "I'm honored you guys came. I'm even surprised Jacqui came along, too." Jacqui was Ryan's little sister.

"Well, it was the leased we could do," Ryan's father said. "You were gone for 60 weeks."

"What was it like when I was gone?" Ryan asked.

"Lonely, everyone back home missed you," his mother said.

"Are you at leased proud of my accomplishments?" Ryan asked. With that, his mother stood up and hugged him. "I'll take that as a yes." Ryan chuckled. His mom released.

"What happens next?" his mom asked.

"Well, all of us will be assigned to an Oh-Dee-Aae, that's an Operational Detachment Alpha. Or you can call us an A-Team," Ryan explained. "As you can see on my beret patch, I'm part of the Fifth Special Forces Group, which have an area of responsibility in the Middle East, Persian Gulf, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa. We'll be stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when not in conflict. But I will still have Live Environment Training which will last for 18 months before I actually see my first combat."

"More training?" Ryan's dad asked.

"Well, training never stops," Ryan explained. "Training to get the official Green Beret stopped for me, but continuous combat training never stops. In fact, that is all my team is going to do for a long while. For as long as I am in Special Forces, I will keep training and training and training. By the time we actually get to see combat, team tactics and movement become second nature to us."

"So, you'll be leaving again?" Ryan's mom asked. With that, Ryan chuckled.

"No, I'm coming home, mom," Ryan told her. "I'll be home for the next 30 days and then I'll be shipped to Fort Campbell where I will then go off to Live Environment Training with my ODA. And we will be overseas for as long as I need to."

All of a sudden, Davis came running up to Ryan.

"Hey, Ryan, the team is missing you at the table," Davis said chuckling.

"Okay, Robert," Ryan replied. "These are my parents."

"Nice to meet you, Mister and Misses Perreault," Davis said to them. "Your son refused to quit, no matter they did to us. He was a team player and he will make an outstanding operator someday."

"Oh, that's good to hear," his mom said sounding not so sure.

"Well, the team is missing me," Ryan chuckled. "See you guys in a few, mom and dad." With that, Ryan and Davis ran back to the table with the rest of the Green Berets. Joining them in the table are Master Sergeants Fox and Stevens, whom have been assigned to their future A-Team, known as ODA 377.

Ryan's mom and dad sat back down at their table and could not help but wonder that their son has grown up and become a man.

TO BE CONTINUED...