Hopefully everyone enjoyed chapter 1! Here's chapter 2!
Act 2: Sonic Goes Underground
As the doors opened up, all the trio of heroes could see was the silhouette of a rotund figure, standing at about their height, and the distinctive glint of a small pair of glasses. Crouching down, preparing for a fight, Sonic was the first one to catch the mysterious stranger as he seemingly lunged forward.
"Oof!" grunted the stranger, finally brought out into the light. He was as they were, an anthromorphic animal, though he was a walrus, and a purple one at that. Aside from the spectacles, he was wearing a brown leather bomber jacket and a yellow baseball cap. He wore the cap backwards, so that the word "Boomer", printed on the back of the cap, was clearly visible to those in front of him. "Aheh...Thanks for catching me, Sonic...Ngh!" he grunted as Sonic tried to push him upright.
"I was wondering two things," Tails said, eying their potential new friend quizzically, "First, how do you know his name?"
"I overheard your names several times over your radio transmissions. Just because I didn't say anything doesn't necessarily mean i wasn't there."
"Alright...Second, what happened to you?"
"I'm a little more interested in what his nameis," Knuckles said plainly, nudging Tails in the arm. "Just because we're in a strange place and don't know what's going on doesn't mean we can just skip over learning the names of those we meet."
"Wow, Knucklehead," taunted Sonic, "I would've never guessed you were so into manners!"
"It's not about manners, Sonic," Knuckles growled exasperatedly, "It's about respect. As in the kind you refuse me by insisting on using that nickname...!"
"It's alright," replied the walrus, "My name is Rotor. As for what happened...Let's just say that I used to be an adventurer like you guys, until I took a pulse blast to the knee."
"So, now you just sit here, controlling security drones?" Knuckles asked bluntly.
"No, I...," replied Rotor, trailing off as he looked around. "Wait...Where's the princess?"
"We...We were actually gonna ask you that," Sonic replied sheepishly.
Looking blankly at Sonic and company for a few seconds, Rotor could do nothing to hide his shock. "Y-You mean she's not here?"
"Yup," Sonic confirmed. "We figured someone might be in trouble here, so we decided to check here first. Maybe you can help us help her?"
"Yeah," continued Tails, "We're not from around here, so it'll take us awhile to find the origin point of her transmission on our own."
"Alright...It looks like the quickest way to help Sally is if we all work together," replied Rotor as he nodded. "Works for me; I was actually gonna ask you to help out some more, anyway."
"Help with what?" Knuckles asked credulously.
"That can wait. For now, I'm gonna head back into my bunker to watch for incoming enemies and radio transmissions," Rotor said as he jabbed a thumb behind him. "Can you guys see the tower over there?" he asked, now pointing in a direction Sonic assumed was slightly northeast of their position. "Within a few kilometers, there should be a stone tower- the ruins of one of our kingdom's old military forts. I want you running towards it as fast as you can."
"As fast as we can?" Sonic asked, "Do you mean that literally or metaphorically?"
Lost, the walrus simply blinked. "Come again?"
"You might wanna stand back," Tails warned.
BOOM!
With a devious smirk, Sonic took off, leaving a small sonic boom in his wake, which completely threw Tails and Rotor off their feet. Having dove quickly underground, Knuckles suffered no worse than a slight ringing in his ears.
"I...I wish he'd stop doing that so close to us..." the echidna growled.
Helping their new friend up, Tails replied, "Heheh, I'm used to it by now. He does it so often around me when we hang out that I've become pretty much immune...Except for the whole being-knocked-off-my-feet thing."
Rotor could not help but gape at the sight. "H-He just broke the sound barrier...? He was just standing here a second ago...!"
"Hoo boy," Tails sighed. "Don't worry, Rotor, it's not just you. He had that effect on me, too. Don't bother running calculations about how long it'd take him to normally build up to that speed. Sonic's speed is anything but normal."
Blazing a trail towards the stone tower as Rotor had directed, Sonic had nearly entered the structure when the radio Tails had given him startled him.
"Sonic!" shouted Knuckles over the radio, "Hide! Now!"
Complying just to be safe, Sonic questioned his friend. "What's the matter, Knuckles? Everything okay?"
"Yeah," came the gruff reply. "I'm not so great with all this computer stuff, but on the map here in Rotor's bunker, there are a buncha red dot thingies closing in on you from behind. I'm pretty sure that's bad, since on the map, you're shown as a blue dot thingy."
Trying his best not to chuckle at the odd euphemisms Knuckles chose to employ, Sonic replied, "Well, thanks, but how come Rotor's not telling me this? Or Tails?"
"He's still tryin' to figure out how ya pulled off that sonic boom from a sprint."
"But I thought Tails said-"
"That the physics don't add up. Yep. But the tubby-"
"Knuckles!"
"Er, but the guyis tryin' anyway. I guess he's even more of a nerd than Tails is."
"Alright, well, thanks for the heads-up, Knuckles. I'm gonna try to head in."
"Be careful. Amy would never let us live it down if something happened to ya."
"Dude, it's not like she's my girlfriend or anything."
"Not according to her...Anyway, get goin' already!"
"Right! Let's do this!" Sonic said as he stood from his hiding place.
Speeding into the structure, Sonic found the place crawling with Eggman's mechs. These didn't look very much like the sinister-yet-happy drones he was used to. Gone were the brightly-colored animal-themed models of his youth, as well as the rather buffoonish-looking Egg Pawn models of more recent years. It seems Eggman was more enamored with the SWATbot concept than Sonic had originally assumed. A platoon of said mechanical monstrosities greeted him as he entered what must've been the main dining hall of the place before its ruination, doubtlessly the ones Knuckles had warned him about earlier. Bedeviling his new foes as much as he dared with his speed in the confined space, Sonic decided not to take too many chances in the rickety old structure. Plowing through the squadron of machines, Sonic came to a staircase, one that spiralled upward into a black oblivion, doubtlessly the heights of the tower. Blasting up the stairs, the Blue Blur skidded to a halt at the sound of laser fire. Attempting to ascertain where the shots were coming from, he scanned around the structure, only to be surprised by a shout.
"For freedom...!"
This shout, along with the sound of an explosion, was all the indication Sonic needed. Looking up, the hedgehog hero was greeted by the sight of a large smoke cloud, quite obviously left by whatever had caused the explosion, along with...Was someone falling out of the cloud?
Dashing up the stairs a little bit more to get level with the mysterious figure, Sonic leaped off from the staircase, successfully grabbing hold of her. Though she was quite disheveled and wounded in a few places, Sonic couldn't help but stare. She had brown fur, auburn hair and he saw that her eyes-when she managed to open them- were a deep blue. She also had a rather shapely figure, though he got the sense that, unlike his friend Rouge, this girl didn't flaunt her good looks. He could tell from her strong-looking arms and legs that she could handle herself in a fight if she had to. She was wearing a blue vest and similarly-colored boots, and strapped to one of her thighs was a small device, possibly a handheld computer of sorts. Unexpectedly, the girl began to speak, snapping Sonic's attention away from her appearance.
"Ngh...Leave me...Run!"
"Is it alright if I do one and not the other?" said Sonic half-teasingly.
"What? You...You need to get out of here!"
"I think you mean we need to get out of here, don'tcha?"
With that, amidst a hail of laser blasts from the surviving automatons, the Blue Blur was off like a shot. Taking great care not to boost while carrying the girl, he continued to make small talk with her, if only to keep her conscious long enough to hopefully get her some medical attention or whatever she needed. Most of all, he needed to get her back to Rotor. Surely he'd now what to do?
"I'm guessing you're Princess Sally, right?" Sonic asked.
"Ngh...Just Sally is fine. I'd...I'd rather not have my friends call me 'Princess'. It sounds so...formal."
"Heh, alright Sal, you got it. How's this?"
Managing a small smile, the princess replied, "Better. You certainly jumped to familiar names quick-"
Crackling to life from her thigh strap, the computer spoke, addressing Sonic.
SCAN COMPLETE. UNKNOWN SUBJECT DETECTED. CONFIRM IDENTITY.
"Uh...Rotor?" asked Sonic, hoping his walrus friend was eavesdropping as he had been before.
"Oh, that's just N.I.C.O.L.E.," Sally replied. "N.I.C.O.L.E., deactivate security protocol and register new ally identification for-"
"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."
REGISTRATION FOR ALLY "SONIC SONIC THE HEDGEHOG" COMPLETE.
"N-No! It's just 'Sonic the Hedgehog'!" the hedgehog hero protested.
"Don't worry, I'll have her change it later," Sally told him.
"Heh, alright. You sure are holdin' out pretty well for someone who got shot twice."
"Those were only stun bolts," Sally replied, grimacing, "Not very deep. The worst a couple of stun bolts will do to you is paralyze you for a few hours. I'll be fine as long as I get these wounds bandaged."
Glancing at the blood-matted brown fur on her leg, Sonic felt slight relief at her words. At least she wasn't in any real danger.
"Heh. Guess those blasts managed to take most of your clothes, too, huh?"
"Excuse me? This happens to be how I always dress. Are you trying to imply that I'm underdressed?"
"Well...Not really...It's just that..."
"Oh, nevermind. We can discuss that later. I'm just glad to be out of that situation."
"Yeah...What was that about? From the look of things, Eggman was trying to capture you, wasn't he?"
"Yes...He seems to have been capturing mobians left and right, especially lately. What he does with them is anyone's guess, though I have my suspicions...For example, perhaps he-"
"What's a 'mobian'?"
Sally simply stared at Sonic as if he had suddenly grown spikes from his nostrils. "What do you mean, 'what's a mobian'? You're...kidding, right?"
"Actually, no..." Sonic replied sheepishly. Was this some new term he was expected to be familiar with? Did Tails already know this word?
Sighing, Sally explained, "We are mobians. Obviously, since we live on the planet Mobius. You, me, Rotor, everyone barring Dr. Robotnik. We'rea all mobians."
"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but...We live on Earth, not Mobius."
"Well of course we live on earth," Sally replied exasperatedly, "It's what you're running on right now. But the planet is called Mobius."
"No, I meant the planet. I might not be as smart as Tails or Rotor, but even I know it's called Earth."
"What has Dr. Robotnik done to your mind?" Sally wondered, increasingly worried.
"He hasn't done anything to me! What's he done to you?"
Both of the arguing teens were saved from further headache by the reappearance of Rotor's bunker.
"Let's talk to Rotor," Sally said in an aggravated voice, "He should be able to help us figure things out."
"Alright," Sonic sighed. "I still say the planet's called 'Earth', though."
Hoo, boy. I wonder what's going on? What's Eggman playing at? And also...What's up with Sally? Find out in the next chapter!