Freedom Rising

"'Scuse me, scrapheap, comin' through!"

The SWATbots barring the door had no time to react as the blue blur threw himself into their midst, rebounding around the walls with his spin-dash and knocking them around and all over until only he was left standing. Sonic shrugged mockingly as he scanned the short-circuiting remains of Robotnik's task force. "Tsk, tsk. Thought I gave ya a fair warning."

"Sonic, little less talk, little more 'make a break for it,'" Sally scolded him as she ran by clutching a few data drives.

"Pshht, I hear ya, Sal." Sonic wound up and took off after her through the clear doorway, catching up in no time and sweeping her up into his arms as they raced across a catwalk in a giant warehouse. There were a few aircrafts docked on the bottom floor, most likely prototypes, considering the sheet metal in some places replaced actual plating and there were large linen sheets covering up some portions of the vehicles. All in all, they looked unfinished.

Sonic kept running, and busted through a door that led back outside, across the skyline of Robotropolis. There were more SWATbots waiting for them, led there by the alarm they had triggered a few minutes earlier, some flying personal hover carriers. Either way, they were all shooting at Sonic and Sally, but since he was carrying her, they really had no chance of getting a clean hit. Sonic just ran erratically across the bridges and building tops his old home, veering left and right to avoid being hit, although he could run in straight line and not have to worry about anything, considering none of Robotnik's goons could keep up with him. They kept moving until the sounds of laser fire began to weaken and Sonic jumped down to street level and let Sally stand up.

Sonic spun his head around to get a good view of the street. No Robians nearby, and they had lost their pursuers. There wasn't anyone else in sight.

"Hey, where's Ant 'n Bunnie? Didn't you tell'em to meet right here?"

"Of course I did, Sonic. They must be late is all."

As if on cue, they heard someone call, "Ya'll mean fashionably late, sugah!" Over to the right, from behind a street corner, came Bunnie and Antoine, running as fast as they could. Antoine bent over and started gasping for breath when they got close enough to the other two. "Ya'll got whatcha came for, sugah-hog?" asked Bunnie.

"It was too easy, Bunnie. The SWAT heads didn't even know what hit'em!"

Sally showed her the memory drives to confirm and continued, "How about you? Did you get the server chip?"

Bunnie smirked and flicked her wrist. A slot opened up on her robotic arm and spat out a computer chip into the air, which she quickly snatched and handed to Sally. "Nothin' to it with Nic around, sugah," and she handed Sally her personal computer back as well. "Thanks fer loanin' her to us."

"No problem. Better get back to Knothole, then." Sally strapped NICOLE to one of her boots and looked over at Sonic. "And do it before Robotnik gets the chance to find us."

As soon as Sally finished her thought, spotlights popped up from all around, manned by SWATbots, and a raspy, hateful voice came up over the city-wide intercom.

"Going somewhere, hedgehog...?"

Everyone started looking around, Sally trying to find an opening that would provide the least resistance and least dangerous escape while Bunnie looked from one SWATbot to the other. They were perched on building tops, coming out of alleys, and some dropped from their hovercraft. She looked about ready to turn them all into scrap. Antoine was trying to fight the urge to run screaming, but it was pretty evident he was losing.

Sonic, however, didn't do anything right away. He just crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "As a matter of fact, Robuttnik…"

He finished his thought by launching himself into a few SWATbots coming from the front and using that momentum to send himself barrelling into the SWAT units in their hovercraft, bouncing between them like a pinball on a scoring streak. From there, he flew across a couple of the rooftops and destroyed the SWATbots aiming down at the Freedom Fighters below before he touched back down on the pavement and ran in a circle, snatching up his friends in one swift motion. Along with everyone in tow, Sonic took off down the boulevard.

"...We were just on our way out!"

With Robotnik's forces shaken up, getting out of Robotropolis from their current position was simple. All it took was a couple lefts, some rights, and the Freedom Fighters were back out in the fields just outside the city. After Sonic finally stopped on the threshold of the Great Forest, everyone cheered and headed deep inside. They walked into its heart and eventually entered a small clearing with a solitary tree stump. Sonic ran over to a tree, jumped up and pulled down a fake vine, causing a panel on the tree to flip open, revealing a number pad. It was a recent installment on Sally's request, considering she wanted a backup solution in case someone was lucky enough to find the vine that used to open up the slide to Knothole Village. Sonic punched in the code and the stump in the clearing popped open. He was about to jump down when Antoine, although still a bit shaken by the ride back, stopped him from climbing up. "Ant, whaddaya doin'?"

"Well, Sonic, eef you 'aven't noticed, zere are ladies present."

Sonic scoffed. "So?" He didn't wait for Antoine's reply before he jumped into the hole, whooping all the way down.

Antoine stuttered as he watched Sonic go before rolling his eyes. "Bâtard stupide," he muttered under his breath. "'E never learns." He quickly brushed his uniform off and bowed graciously (and made a real show of doing it) as he motioned for Sally and Bunnie to go first.

Sally bowed her head to him, said thanks and followed Sonic, and Bunnie did likewise. After Antoine had disappeared down the stump, it shut itself.

Within minutes, the four members of the resistance crossed a bridge over a small pond crowded with fish and entered Knothole proper. The trees covered up the small basin very well, and considering Robotnik's violent hylophobia, it meant he could only view the forest with satellites and at high altitudes, reducing his ability to pick up details and allowing Knothole to go unseen. The trees themselves supported hundreds of small cottages, used as barracks for the residents of the village. On the ground level there wasn't a lot except a large structure in the center of the village that served as the community hub. It was mostly used as an outdoor mess hall on top of other things.

The group had barely even crossed the open field leading into the village when two other Freedom Fighters saw them entering. One was Rotor Walrus, the oldest Freedom Fighter in the village when Robotnik took over, and now he was forty-five and still going strong. The other, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, was Amy Rose, a spunky pink hedgehog they had met on a reconnaissance mission to Emerald Hill Zone. Sonic had managed to save her from an encroaching horde of Badniks and SWATbots and she had head-over-heels for him ever since (much to Sonic's chagrin). As soon as she saw him approaching, she perked up, shouted "Sonic!" and rushed toward him and held on as if her life depended on it. Although used to it by now, Sonic still felt very "un-manly" when Amy bear-hugged him like that. Rotor on the other hand, approached them in a very laid-back manner. "Hey guys. Mission go well?"

"Come on Rotor, with Sonic around, any mission's bound to go well!" Amy interjected.

"Yeah, well, had to put dents in a few SWATbots, but we're back in one piece. So, yeah, we good."

"Speak for yourzelf, hérisson," Antoine mumbled as he wiped his forehead.

Rotor turned his attention to Sally. "Did you get the files on whatever Robotnik is busy inventing now?"

"As much as we could." She handed him the data drives and Bunnie handed him the computer's microchip.

"Alright," he huffed as he got a better grip on the data. "Come on. The sooner I decrypt this data, the better." The gathered party quickly followed Rotor to decipher whatever Robotnik was planning.

The old throne room for the deposed King Nigel Acorn had been repurposed into Robotnik's main observatory following his takeover. There were video feeds in a semicircular position all over the front wall, with a chair placed in the center of the circular room that could swivel three-hundred sixty degrees around. In this chair sat Dr. Julian "Robotnik" Kintobor, a fat blob of a man who wore a dictatorial jumpsuit modeled after ones Overlanders in positions of power used, albeit heavily modified and tailored to Robotnik's vain tastes. It was mostly red and black, with shoulder pauldrons that stuck far out, and he had a cape draped over his shoulders. His soulless red pupils scanned the video feeds that were currently up onscreen, replaying Sonic trashing the battalion he had sent to stop him and getting away with his comrades.

Robotnik stared at the videos. If he could project physical manifestations of hate from his eyes, they would have melted holes through the viewscreens several times by now. He sighed slowly, a sigh that was a sure indicator he was trying to control his temper. His nephew, Colin Jr., or "Snively," as everyone called him, looked from his uncle back to the video footage of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters making their getaway. He knew Robotnik was going to explode at any minute now. It was inevitable. It was just a matter of when he'd lose his cool.

"I...I'm afraid they got away, sir," Snively muttered as he turned back around to look at the console he was working at.

"I'm not blind, Snively."

Snively shut up and kept staring at the keyboard on the desk, waiting for the next inevitable question. "How much data on my Auto-Dusters...did they steal, Snively?"

"Before or after the RDAH system detected them, Doctor Robotnik?"

"What do you think...? All of it!"

Snively brought his head out of his hand and began punching keywords into his keyboard. "With my figures, the Freedom Fighters managed to download eighty percent of the data we have before the RDAH system detected a breach."

"Give me explanations, Snively, not numbers!" Snively didn't need to turn around to know he would be able to see at least five veins popping out of Robotnik's forehead.

"...They stole all the schematics, several locations of our prototypes, and three-fifths of the data we had on materials to build the Auto-Dusters."

Robotnik spoke slowly as he tried to keep himself level-headed. "So, what you mean to tell me is...they now have full knowledge of how the Auto-Dusters function, where to find our only working prototypes, and, should they somehow fail to destroy them, they have the capacity to steal the materials we've been using to produce them. Correct…?"

Snively stared blankly ahead accepting his fate, as he'd done hundreds of times before. "Yes sir."

He heard a deep growl and then the screaming started. "I hate that hedgehog! I hate him and every last one of his friends, and all the damned vermin running around in Knothole Village! I hate them! I hate them all!"

Snively closed his eyes and sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. "Just keep waiting, Colin. Your time will come. You won't have to suffer through the hell Julian keeps putting you through. Just...be patient." Snively wasn't worried over Robotnik overhearing him at the moment; he could barely hear himself think over his uncle's maniacal ranting.

Trystan flicked a switch on the dashboard of his bike. The interface turned into a digital clock that read "1100." He quickly whipped his head around. Nothing but grassy plains as far as he could see, as well as a few rolling hills.

"Ten hours. Ten goddamned hours I've been on the move and not even one rest stop." He sighed and kept on driving. "Thank God nanites don't need fuel...or breaks."

He'd left at one in the morning and hadn't stopped driving since then. He felt hungry, but not as hungry as usual, possibly because he was used to going long periods with little or no food. He figured he'd give it another one or two hours before he stopped to eat something quickly. "Just gotta keep on movin' in a straight line. Bound to run into civilization eventually. Or the ocean. If I do, that'll make my life simple, since I ain't crossin' that shit today. Not easier, but simple."

So he kept driving and did eventually stop to snack on some lukewarm canned peas, quietly thanking modern tech for preservatives, and then continued driving for even longer. Eventually, the scenery began to change, although it looked more different than it should have due to the the passage of the sun through the afternoon sky. The land began to make a noticeable dip in altitude every few miles, and trees began popping up in sparsely populated clumps that began to get drawn closer together every dozen miles until Trystan had to switch his bike into hover mode for easier handling as he raced through a dense temperate forest.

"Friggin' trees." He tried to weave around a grove of tall maples without crashing his bike (it almost happened twice), and he carried on his way to be stopped by even more trees in thicker groups than he had previously encountered before. "Oh, come the fuck on!"

Forced to abandon the easy mode of transport, Trystan grumbled even more vulgarities as he hopped off his bike and opened the hatch on his keys. The nanites disassembled themselves and returned into their origin point. It was more useful back in the olden days; vehicle theft was virtually nonexistent. He trekked onward by foot, trying not to trip on exposed roots and cut himself on brambles and thorns. Thankfully he could tell the landscape was steadily going downward. The forest had most likely sprung up around a water basin, which explained why the flora was so dense. Trystan kept trying to go in straight line, but it was difficult.

Eventually he came across a clearing which, conveniently, had a tree stump in the center. Trystan didn't need to think twice before sitting down to rest, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the sore stress of walking left his joints.

"Thank the mighty powers that be." He stayed there for a few minutes, possibly more, but as he stretched out backward, he felt his hand slide over something. It was small and felt cold, like metal. Initially mistaking it for some sort of bug, Trystan shot up and whipped his gun out of its holster and immediately set its setting to "kill," because if it was an insect, it must have been a nasty sumbitch. When he didn't see any signs of bugs, Trystan leaned in closer to the stump and noticed something. There was a piece of metal sticking out of the stump, nestled up next to the bark of the tree that had once been there, which hid it fairly well. It had a couple rungs welded into it, making it look like some sort of lever or switch. "Huh. Pretty sure that ain't natural."

His curiosity piqued, Trystan tried to grapple with the stump, figuring it might be some sort of trapdoor, given the placement of the metal switch on it. He couldn't get his fingers into a place to pry it open, however, because the leftover bark was raised up over the sides of the stamp, preventing his fingers from getting under the flat surface. "Shit...whoever built this contraption...must have been one genius engineer-Ow!"

Trystan recoiled when he felt a large splinter wedge itself into his hand as he tried to scuffle with the stump to get it open. He rubbed the area and spit on it to try and lubricate the wood and get it to come loose. "...With a cruel streak," he finished. After a couple more minutes, he got the splinter out and decided to look around for a hidden switch that was no doubt somewhere close by. It took him all of five minutes before he got frustrated and decided to do things his way. At the moment, he didn't rightly care if the stump was some complicated piece of disguised machinery; all he saw was a way forward.

"Alright you little shit, c'mere." He bent over the stump and squinted, trying to get a clear view of the hidden switch. Taking out his combat knife, he squeezed the handle and plasma shot out and completed the blade. He brought it close to the lever and carefully touched it with the burning plasma on the knife, and the metal began to superheat and melt. He started cutting and the knife went through the stainless steel as if he had been carving wood. When he'd cut the switch in half, he shoved his knife into the stump and began to pry it upwards enough for him to lift it. It wasn't easy, but he managed to get it far enough where he could pick it up and toss it aside (after a few more "F-bombs" of course).

Trystan looked into the stump and saw it had been hollowed out into a slide. As he climbed up and straddled his feet on opposite sides of the tree stump he realized he had no idea where it went. He hesitated for only a minute.

"Screw it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Geronimo...!"

He hopped up and fell into the slide and he had expected the ride to be anything but physically taxing. He got thrown against the walls, hit his head more times than he could remember, and got thrown around corners and through a couple loops. It definitely wasn't built to accommodate someone his size, that's for sure. He had to admit though, it was enjoyable, considering he hadn't had anything but cheap thrills in New Pacific. He got used to the bumping pretty quickly but before he could so much a smile, he saw a light and before he knew it he was sailing through the air for all of two seconds before landing unceremoniously on his ass somewhere outside again.

"Ooo...gonna feel that in the morning…" He rubbed his back and slowly got back up to find he was now in some river basin. Ahead of him he could see trees stretching up to the sky, most of them were definitely taller than the cliffs surrounding them; interwoven among the trees he could see...houses.

Houses. Where there were houses, there were people. Where there were people, there was…

"...Civilization."

Trystan just stood there in the shadows of the cliffs but eventually, he found himself slowly walking forward. He hadn't even noticed he was doing it at first, but eventually regained control of his body. It still felt surreal, like he was watching a movie in first-person. He'd been chasing something like this for the past day. He'd been hoping for this since he was twelve. He began to chuckle. Then, for the first time in what felt like forever, he laughed. Not a sarcastic, grim chortle. Actual mirth. Joy. He'd done it.

"I...I…" He stuttered but eventually began running toward the village nestled in the trees. "I did it! And all I had to do was solve some stupid puzzle! Oh, my God, was it worth it! Ah, ha-ha-ha!" He took it all in, drank down the fresh air, the sunlight filtering through the canopy. He started spinning around like a ballerina. The air and euphoria must have made him high after all the stress of trying to survive, but he didn't care about that at the moment. He was free. He kept twirling around, still giddy, but eventually had to stop after realizing he was getting a bit dizzy. When he did, and brought his gaze down from the treetops and bridges suspended between their trunks, he froze.

He hadn't fully realized it at the time, but he had walked his way into a wide street in the town and he came face-to-face with, how he put it in his head, "A bitch-load of mobians."

It didn't take him long to realize two things: one, they were the ones living here, and two, there were definitely more than a few pairs of eyes staring at him. He didn't need to know it was mostly a look of abject horror; he was pretty sure he heard one of them drop the glass of water they were holding, and it was only dead silent for a few more seconds before one of them pointed straight at him and screamed.

"Overlander…!"

And then all hell broke loose.

Mobians ran screaming, mostly away from him, but it wasn't long before another disturbance rang out. One of them, a grizzled looking wolf (or something like that, Trystan didn't really care at the minute) jumped up on a stack of crates and rallied his allies. "What are you all doing!? This thing's obviously one of Robotnik's machines, sent to chase us out! Well, we're not gonna run scared! C'mon, guys, let's sic'im!"

Trystan was definitely not ready for a fight. Definitely not right now. He remembered all the explanations and history lessons his dad and Z gave him on the mobians. How the Overlanders hated them. How hundreds on both sides had died a few years prior to The Great Conquering. He was different, though. He hadn't attacked anyone at all when he had the opportunity, thanks to years of pacifist genes passed down from the old dissenting houses of Megapolis...but they didn't know that, obviously. But then an idea struck him: if he just kept his cool and tried to talk, he wouldn't get hurt, and they could all have a laugh over this big misunderstanding. He approached, slowly of course, and said, "Well, thanks for stating the obvious back there, but I don't know who this Robotnik guy you're talki-"

He never got the chance to finish after a rooster, emboldened by his comrade, almost floored Trystan with a solid right jab. He stumbled and shook the stars out of his vision, as well as wiping the spit he had inadvertently sent everywhere from almost getting his teeth knocked out. Overlanders don't allow themselves to be stepped on, pacifist genes or no.

"Oh, if you wanna see Jesus…!"

Trystan came right back with haymaker that caught the bird off-guard, sending him reeling. He was closed in by a couple dozen mobians now. Trystan snorted and put his guard up. He was thanking the heavens that Z and Decker had given him lessons on how to box.

Sonic, Sally, Amy, and Tails had finally finished decrypting the data files on the processing units they had pilfered (Bunnie left to work out, and Antoine had gone back to his quarters). Tails and Rotor shared the same workshop, which Rotor didn't mind at all. On the contrary, he was glad to have a lab partner, although it would take a lot for him to admit it.

"Alright, Sally, go ahead and insert the server chip into port V-126." Sally did as Rotor asked and the drives they had began to hum. "I think that worked. Tails, you getting anything?"

Tails was hammering away on a keyboard in front of a monitor. The system they had set up was to connect the monitor to a chain of two computer towers to amplify computing power (any plans Robotnik wrote in digital format were usually heavily encrypted, and took up a lot of space and processing power). Tails was clicking on various symbols and virtual gibberish which slowly revealed more and more legible content. "Getting there."

Sonic craned his neck, cracked his knuckles, and proceed to lay down on the floor in the most extravagant way possible by breakdancing his way down. He made a few shoulder-spins before he finally stopped. Amy giggled, Sally rolled her eyes, the usual.

Eventually, the sound of Tails hitting the keyboard stopped. He smiled for a minute before it slowly faded and he issued a small, "Uh-oh."

Sonic didn't take that too well and shot back up to his feet. "What's 'uh-oh' mean, li'l bro?"

"Well, I've got all the data on Robotnik's new invention decrypted and it's not good."

"Aw, come on. I bet'cha it's nothing we can't handle."

"In all honesty, Tails, what's wrong?" Sally interrupted.

"Well," Tails began, "Robotnik's started up a new robot line he's calling his 'Auto-Dusters.' They're designed to be piloted by remote-control and have several tanks of plant-killing chemicals pre-attached."

"Does it say what he's gonna do with'em, Tails?"

Tails gave Sonic a worried look. "No, but my best guess is when he produced enough of them, he's going to fly them over the Great Forest and release the chemicals stored inside to kill all the plant life."

"If he does that, Knothole will be clearly on his map and we'll be at his mercy, if those toxins don't kill us first." Sally took out Nicole and plugged in a usb adapter to one of the computer towers. "Tails, I need you to download all the data you've got to Nicole."

"Sure thing, Aunt Sally." Within minutes, all the data on the Auto-Dusters was stored in Nicole's memory. "Now what?"

"Easy Tails. Sonic's gonna blow all of Robotnik's planes out from under his nose!"

"Not immediately, of course." Sally headed for the door. "I've got to review the data and come up with a solid plan first."

"Guess that's settled, then." Rotor followed Sally outside with Sonic and Tails behind them. As soon as they were out, they could hear some sort of commotion on the ground below and could definitely see the rest of the Freedom Fighters surrounding someone.

"What in the name of…?"

Sonic kept staring down. He didn't need to think twice before realizing there was a fight going down. "I'll check it out. Be back in two shakes!" The others didn't even get that chance to respond before he was off.

In seconds, the street he was on looked like it had held a Black Friday blowout sale, as there were mobians trampling each other to take a swing at the intruder. Trystan was holding his own decently, if only for the fact that he kept throwing two more punches for every time he was hit. It had nothing to do with the fact he was extremely durable; Overlanders were just stubborn like that, and he was no exception.

The situation was looking bleak for him, but he had already accepted it. There were far too many mobians ganged up on him for any chance of winning, but damned if he wasn't going to sign his autograph on as many of their faces with his fist as he could.

The street was in complete disarray, mobians swinging at him left and right, kiosks getting turned over every couple seconds. Trystan was just barely hanging on, having been tossed around like a ragdoll, but apparently his punches were strong enough to send people airborne for a couple seconds before the crashed back to earth. He noticed a pig charging him and quickly grabbed an apple from a nearby fruit stand. He socked the mobian in his stomach and shoved the apple into his open mouth. To seal the deal, he brought his elbow down on his assailant's head, causing him to bite so hard he no doubt cracked a tooth. "Main entree served."

Trystan didn't even get the chance to bask in the wit of his one-liner when he felt something heavy and really fast bash him from the back. He flew forward and skidded on the stone path on the ground and it took him a couple seconds to reorient himself and stand back up, albeit shakily. It wasn't helped when whatever hit him nailed him again but good, and he got a look at it as it sped toward him. When he got punched and felt himself land on the ground once more, he was pretty sure it was a hedgehog. "The fuck, hedgehogs can't move that fast…"

He staggered up again, trying to steady himself, but he'd really been knocked for a loop and crumpled back to the ground. He braced himself on his left arm and turned around. The hedgehog that had been pummeling him, although considering he looked like a streak of light when he was running so it was hard to tell, was running circles around him and bouncing off of everything in sight; no doubt to confuse him. May as well give up. It was kinda fun, though, despite the several bruises I know I'm gonna find tomorrow morning, he thought.

Trystan put his right hand over his face in defense and kept trying to breathe steadily. "Okay, okay, you're pissed, I get it! I give, I give! Uncle, goddamn!" The hedgehog somehow managed to stop on a dime, much to Trystan's surprise. The mobain was wearing a vest in the same shade of blue as his fur, and he wore red shorts with grey trim (and some admittedly snazzy hi-tops). He guessed, from the way he was eyeingt him, the hedgehog hadn't expected Trystan to actually surrender. No true Overlander would, but his blood wasn't pure. He got back to his feet and the hedgehog kept a close eye on him. Trystan then realized, to his dismay there were a few more mobians running up to them. Another hedgehog, a fox, a chipmunk, and a walrus, no less. "Oh, come on! I told you I surrender, why is there backup coming this way?"

"Look pal, even if that was my backup, I wouldn't need'em to beat the crap outta you," Sonic objected.

"Sonic…?"

Trystan guessed, from what he'd overheard from the chipmunk, the hedgehog's name was Sonic, a coincidence not lost on him. He stared up at the sky and chuckled weakly. "Aw, and the day was going so well, too. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten out of bed."

"No kiddin'! What's the big idea, comin' in here and trashin' our camp?"

"Excuse me…"

"Man, I'm just tryin' to find a good home!" Trystan fired back.

"By kicking us out of ours!?"

The other mobians were gathering to watch the argument unfold. Trystan paid them no mind. "Pff, as if! I've been on the run for the past ten-some hours!"

"Sir…"

"Hah! An Overlander on the run? Now there's a real story," Sonic mocked him.

"Hey, watch your mouth, needle-nose!" Trystan's temper was coming back. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

"Careful what you say to my boyfriend, you hairless ape!" Amy shouted from the sidelines.

"All of you, be quiet!"

Sonic and Trystan immediately shut their mouths and turned to look at Sally. She had her arms crossed and was staring them both down. Trystan knew she was extremely pissed at this point. (he'd seen it happen with each and every one of Decker's exes), but he subtly motioned to the gathered throng of onlookers and said "Technically, they started it," quietly.

"I don't care who started it," Sally rubbed her temple, "I'm going to finish it." She strode up to Trystan with no fear and deadpanned, "First...who are you?"

"Trystan, what's it to ya?"

Antoine, who had also been watching the fight and subsequent bickering, took offense to Trystan's brazen introduction. "Excusez-vous, Overlander!" He was about to walk up to him, but Trystan's sudden about-face in his direction made him flinch. If it hadn't been for Sonic snickering at him, he probably wouldn't have continued. "Y-y-you cannot be speaking to ze princess like zat!"

Sally really wished he hadn't said anything. "Oh my God, Antoine." On the other hand, Sonic was trying not to start laughing loudly, although his stifled guffaws made it fairly obvious.

Although Trystan hadn't recognized anyone in monarchical position of power before, he did know to give respect where it was due. Unaware, of course, that since Robotnik's takeover, Sally made sure that nobody would address her as "princess" until she could restore her father to the throne, and Antoine, of course, wouldn't have any of it. He "Ahh"-ed in understanding and quickly though courteously bowed to Sally. "Sorry about that. If we're being all formal here," he stood back up and continued theatrically, "I am Trystan Cronus of the House of...somebody, I don't know. We lost, like, all the historical archive records from Megapolis years and years ago."

Lost all the records from Megapolis? That implied something Sally hadn't thought about. "Are you...not from Megapolis, Trystan?"

Trystan smiled proudly. "Nope! Born an' raised in New Pacific City. Or whatever's left of it, at this point."

"New Pacific City." That name rung a few bells. That meant there were still people left in Switch Nightmare City, somehow. That was good. "Yeah, managed to scrape by," Trystan continued, oblivious to Sally, who was lost in thought. "All seven years after The Great Conquering."

That turned some heads. "The what now?" Sonic asked.

"The Great Conquering. Don't laugh, I thought it up when I was twelve."

Long awkward silence, right on schedule.

"Just out of curiosity, Trystan...what was 'The Great Conquering?'"

Trystan sighed, as if the memories brought him pain. And they did, but thankfully, selective memory had deleted the traumatic parts. "Shit...can't remember the whole thing in detail, just...looked up in the sky one day and there was this big airship...charged up some laser and just decimated, I mean, decimated, an entire block. There was screaming, crying...definitely blood, God...then some big robots came down-"

"Hold on."

Trystan stopped mid-sentence to look incredulously at Sally, who had turned to talk to Sonic and Rotor. "See, I told you that city got hit by Robotnik."

"'Robotnik?'" Trystan muttered. "What the fuck is a 'Robotnik?'"

"So?"

"So if we went back and looked around a bit more thoroughly, we'd be able to find other survivors."

Sonic scoffed. "More Overlanders? Sal, that's way too risky. They won't hesitate to pummel us into the ground."

"Trystan's from Switch Nightmare City and he's not like them." Although Trystan couldn't help but smirk that he had been recognized as an exception, he had to interject.

"Yeah, don't worry about revisiting New Pacific or Switch Nightmare, or whatever the hell ya'll call it." Everyone turned to face him. "The city's a waste anyway. Whoever ain't made of steel by now is dead." Before the Freedom Fighters could keep talking amongst themselves, Trystan carried on, "And again, I ask...what's a 'Robotnik?'"

Either he had said something taboo, blasphemous, or both, because everyone in the vicinity flinched and looked at him worriedly. Everyone except Sonic, who elaborated, "Robuttnik? He's the ugly hunk'a lard that burned Mobotropolis to the ground and rebuilt it as 'Robotropolis' seven years ago. He didn't even work for it! He just sat his ass on a chair while his SWATbots did all the dirty work for him. In the end, only we made it out, and now we're gonna win the city back if it takes us forever! That's why we're called the Freedom Fighters!"

The gears stopped turning and Trystan heard a *click* sound go off in his head. "So, you're telling me this...Robotnik guy...essentially took over a kingdom with minimal effort seven years ago?" Sonic nodded. "And I'm guessing he did it in less than a day?" Unanimous nodding all around. That meant only one thing. Robotnik, wherever he was, was the source of all his woes. "Where's Robotropolis?"

Bunnie, who had been standing close by to Antoine, walked up to Trystan and pointed to the southwest. "Just a hop, skip, an' a jump thataway."

He stood there in silence for a couple seconds before he nodded, cracked his knuckles and curtly said, "'Kay, thanks, b-r-b." He had only taken ten steps before Sonic rushed up and stood in his way. "The hell…?"

"Don't tell me you're thinkin' of takin' on Buttnik on your own, are ya, pal?" Sonic crossed his arms again, but his demeanor had changed. Slightly, but enough. Overlander or not, Trystan was on their side...which was a rarity these days.

"'Course I am, needles. I really do hate to chat and dash, but I gotta have a talk with this…" he trailed off and snickered. "'Robuttnik.'"

Sally walked up behind Trystan "Well, good luck getting to him. Nicole?"

"Yes, Sally?" her personal computer replied.

"Boot up the holomap of Robotropolis, please." Nicole processed Sally's request for a second before she projected a hologram of the entire city of Robotropolis. "Getting to Robotnik requires that you get into the city and not get nabbed by a Robian." The hologram started moving on a preset path through the wireframe streets of the city. "If you manage that, you'll have to get to the old royal district, which is the most densely populated part of the city, SWATbots, Badniks, and Robians around every corner. Then, you'll have to make your way up to the highest floor of Robotnik's headquarters, which he's lined wall to wall with every trap imaginable." The hologram went inside the tallest building of Robotropolis and began to work its way up through a maze of hallways and vents. "If you can manage that, you'll actually have to find an effective way of subduing him." The hologram stopped in a large circular room and promptly shut off.

Trystan was silent. He understood he would be no match for Robotnik's defenses alone. There was only one feasible solution…

"In that case...sign me the fuck up."

His words carried the force of a hurricane, because everyone who heard him nearly fell over and those who hadn't figured out what he said pretty quickly.

"Y-y-you are wishing to what?" Antoine stammered. Rotor and Amy frowned; a few other Freedom Fighters began voicing their discontent.

"Who do you think you are?"

"No Overlanders!"

"You and yer kind have done enough damage!"

Sonic could tell everyone would probably riot if not taken care of. He was never good at speeches, but at this point, what did it matter? He interposed himself between Trystan and everyone else and brought his hands up, motioning for everyone to stop. "Whoah, whoah, guys, come on! Why do you care if an Overlander joins us?"

One of the others, a squat little armadillo, shouted, "If it wasn't for the Overlanders and The Great War they started, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Okay everyone, I get it...but that was then. This is now. And right now, I see someone willing to break the mold you all set for the Overlanders. Besides, we need all the help we can get, don't we?" Murmurs of agreement. That was a good sign. "C'mon guys, give him a chance, will ya?"

Everyone was silent for a moment before they all nodded begrudgingly and sensing the situation was taken care of (at least for now), they began to disperse, a few sticking around to clean up the mess from the earlier brawl. Trystan was amazed how quickly his situation had turned around. He scoffed. "Guess the next time I'm in trouble, I just gotta admit I'm in the wrong'n then say something outrageous," he joked. "Anyway, where do I sign? Where's the paperwork? I know there's paperwork."

Sonic shook his head. "Nah, nothin' like that. All we're gonna do is bring you to a training room and gauge your strengths and weaknesses. I've never had to use it because I'm already good at everything."

Trystan scoffed. Cocky sumbitch. "By the way...your name is Sonic, right?"

"The one and only."

"Thanks, Sonic. You did me a solid one." Sonic just winked and raced off to the training chamber.

Trystan was about to follow him when Sally tapped his shoulder. "Hmm? Yeah, kid?"

"Well, Trystan while I appreciate your enthusiasm to join our cause, I think it would be better if I hit you with the formalities right now. There's only one, so don't worry. However, it is important."

"Fire away."

"Alright, Mr. Cronus-"

"Hey, just call me Trys. Everyone does."

"About that. Since you're new here, you'll be trained as a recruit. That means you won't be running many missions." Trystan's smile faltered a little, but he figured it could be worse. He could be starving on the streets of New Pacific. Revenge could wait. "Furthermore, I expect you to respect orders. Not necessarily obey them. If you have an idea about an alternate method we could take, please speak up. I understand that if we had a hierarchy like the military proper, it would probably just contribute to stress, so we try to keep things...structurally unstructured, I guess you could say."

Trystan gave her the "ok" symbol and they both headed after Sonic.

The training room was completely bare, and the only noticeable feature was a door that led in and out. He had seen Sally and Rotor boot up a console outside, but strangely enough, the outside was mostly just lockers for gear and the like. Trystan was inside and awaiting further instructions. The room itself was painted with a grid, from the floor, all across the walls and the ceiling.

"Huh. Barren, but quaint, I guess." He turned to the wall holding the entrance. "Hey, can you two see me from in there?"

"Yep. We've got a one-way window that lets us see inside," Rotor answered.

"Oh. Hi, guys!" He started waving excitedly at the wall. Sally couldn't help but giggle.

"He looks like a handful, even for an Overlander," Sonic quipped. He had sat down on a bench next to a row of lockers.

Sally punched a few more buttons. "Well, at least he's entertaining." The grid inside the room began to glow brightly.

"Whoah, okay, I'm getting the sinking feeling that you might have been lying to me. This ain't a gas chamber, is it?" Trystan began spinning his head around, panicking as he watched the grid get brighter.

"Oh, no, it's just the chamber starting up. We managed to get this thing built a couple years ago using more stolen tech from Robotnik." Rotor pressed a few more buttons and the glow died down again.

"Oh," Trystan spun around a few more times before he looked back in the direction of the windows. "So...what's the plan here?"

"We're going to put you up against a training dummy to see what you can do," Sally explained. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright. Three...two...one...go!"

Across the training chamber, a pillar of green light appeared and promptly faded, leaving behind a humanoid figure made of more of the same green substance. It vaguely resembled a SWATbot, but that was beside the point, because it wasted no time in charging Trystan.

"Ah, shit." Trystan put up his guard just in time to block the dummy's punch, but it sent him backward a fair bit. And it stung, too. "If that's how we're playin', then…" He dashed up to the dummy, taking an erratic, zig-zag path to try and confuse it before landing a jab on its torso. He capitalized immediately and launched a barrage of punches as fast as he could before backing away, just in time to see the dummy recover and slam downward, most likely a move that was meant to catch him and drive his face into the ground.

Trystan lunged forward again, but didn't expect the dummy to recover so quickly, as it brought its torso up and used its momentum to jab its knee into his chest. Trystan spat and flew backward, cursing hard as he skidded to a stop.

Rotor winced. "Ooh, it got him good."

He never got the chance to stand up, as the dummy was on top of him immediately and began pummeling him. It threw a couple solid punches to his gut, one to the face, and a drop-knee strike to the chest again.

Sally turned away every time she heard the dummy land another solid hit on Trystan. He laid on the ground seeing stars, but quickly shook them aside. The dummy was standing over him and turned around.

Summoning all his remaining strength and Overlander pride, Trystan shot back up and started wailing on the dummy with everything he had. In his beaten and bruised state, he lost momentum after two seconds and the dummy managed to grab his sweater and throw him over its shoulder. It was about to lay into him again, but abruptly, Trystan heard a low humming sound that, when it ended, caused the dummy to disappear. He could tell, however, that it wasn't really gone, but had actually disassembled itself in an instant. Considering he had seen a machine do that whenever he turned it off, he realized something.

"The whole room's got nanites in it...Robotnik's uses nanites…? Why would he need nanites?" he mumbled. He tried to pull himself back up, but he had lost some feeling in his legs and flopped back to the ground. He tried and failed again.

As he pushed himself up off the ground the third time, he heard Sonic ask him, "Need a hand?" He glanced up to see Sonic, Sally, and Rotor standing over him. Trystan said nothing but extended his hand out, which Sonic grabbed and pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks for that."

"Well, Trystan, I have to admit, I didn't think you'd get up from that," Sally commented.

Rotor made a shocked whistling sound. "No kidding. I thought he wouldn't be able to stand up for a day after that, much less get right back up and throw himself at the dummy."

"Overlander genes, son." Trystan smirked.

"In all seriousness, you've got potential, but you do need more training."

He cracked his neck. "Just tell me where to go, kid."

"Just get to the Fredrick Training Field tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, sharp. It's in the east corner of the village, you can't miss it."

"8:30. Got it," Trystan said.

They filed out of the training center and back into the open air of Knothole. Rotor and Sally bid Trystan goodbye and Sonic was about to race off as well before he turned around and called, "A'ight, Trys. Catch you later!" and he raced off

Trystan laughed after a moment. "See? This guy gets it!"