Here and Now, There and Later

Okay, I've managed to restore the internet connection here, at least partially. So, I guess it's time to tell the truth about this sudden chaos, huh? About how Sonic and I happened to be here when the missiles struck.

We've actually been here since yesterday after coming in on the Tornado. We had to keep a low profile and not appear to anyone in public as, technically speaking, we were civilian consultants for the FBI and the Adabat military that have come here to recover or destroy those stolen X-1 UAVs. So only they knew we were here.

I think it can really only be Robotnik that could have done this, but we have no concrete proof of his involvement so far. The whole situation really stinks of him, though, since the ARA has never managed to pull anything like this before. And the illegal shipment of airplane parts that I stumbled upon that day was being handled by ARA members - Robotnik would certainly be someone who would know how to use them.

So last night we parked the Tornado in an isolated spot, and then, with the help of some Adabat military folks - I won't say who – we went to one of the ARA's many cave hideouts, one close to where the X-1s were last seen before they disappeared. Sonic got inside, destroyed two of them and killed a large bunch of ARA members in the process (but I can absolutely swear he didn't mean to do the latter). We finally got out of there and back to the plane, thinking that we'd solved the problem.

Then this morning we were woken up by explosion sounds rather than my alarm clock, and when I checked my messages, one of them was from the FBI saying that they found that the Adabat military had actually understated the number of X-1s stolen to avoid embarrassment.

Well, I've never liked to point fingers, but look at how well that's worked out. If we'd known the true figure much earlier, we could have continued finding the rest throughout the night, captured or destroyed them, and none of this would now be happening. I'm not blaming the guys who accompanied us yesterday, though. It's very possible that the information was kept away even from them.

The building I'm in now, Adabat Telecommunications, was hit hard but not directly in the attacks. It still suffered quite a bit of damage from the destruction of the Federal Police headquarters nearby, causing the internet in the country to go down. I'm not going to brag and say I'm the one who restored it – there were many technicians who were still alive that could have done it themselves, but they had lost some people and needed extra hands, so they asked for my help.

As of this typing, I've seen at least eight people die of heavy injuries in front of my eyes already, and the bleeding man next to me is going to be the ninth. And not being a doctor, there's nothing I can do to help him other than being his last companion.

I…I just don't understand. Look, I've read that the economic policy here has been criticized for being unfair, and that politics here are too mired in corruption to change that. But how is killing all of these people going to help? People that actually agree with these complaints themselves and are only working to support their families. And the ARA still targets them anyone just because of their employers. Or because they happen to be in the same buildings.

And as for the politicians and businessmen which they hold responsible for the economic inequality and stuff…well, I won't claim that I know how to make them more accountable for their actions or bring them to justice if they've committed crimes, but I'm pretty sure dropping bombs on them, their families or their properties won't really solve the problem, and may actually worsen the present economic troubles.

Yeah, let's just say neither Sonic or I agree or condone that, though we really can't go beating people up now. There are still a lot of victims here that need help, and that's way more important to us.

But I can assure you, the moment our hands are freed up, we're going to take the fight to them for this. What I've just witnessed is far worse than anything the ARA's own declared enemies have ever done. And if that's not a good enough reason, there's also no way we can let Robotnik take advantage of the ARA to take over the country. We know how he'd rule, and we can't let that happen, ever.

[Lame attempt at humor] Besides, I still need to get back at them for punching me in the head. [/Lame attempt at humor]

I've typed way too much already. I need to get back to helping the others. I really hope any of you reading this can also do something to help, maybe donations or something. But I gotta go. I'll try to post updates whenever I can. Bye.

Spoiler warning: Next blog post refers to the final chapter of Concepts 2.