Sonic Haven

Season 1 - Episode 5

"Seeds of War"

Sonic came to a sliding stop as he entered the city of Mobitropolis. It was now late afternoon and everyone in town seemed to be going about their business completely unaware of what was on its way here. Robotnik, apparently past all sense of morality at this point, was flying a giant metal airship towards them and was no doubt looking to take the town by force.

Tails landed next to Sonic, a worried look plastered on his face. "What do we do now?" He asked.

Sonic kept his voice as calm as possible, although he was far from calm on the inside. He turned to Tails and said: "We need to warn the public. You tell anyone who'll listen, anybody you see. Stop some people on the street if you have to. Just make sure they get the point."

Tails noted that Sonic's instructions didn't include himself. "What about you?"

He turned his gaze to the far side of the city where the pristine Acorn Palace sat on top of a hill. "I'm headed to the palace to warn the King and Queen. Hopefully they'll have a plan we can use to stop Robotnik" He looked back to Tails. "Once I finish up there I'll come back and help you. Alright?"

Tails nodded and Sonic took off in a flash.

He ran at a considerable speed, but not anywhere near his fastest. He wanted to make sure that the people in town would be safe. At the pace he was keeping he would at worst be a strong gust of wind that they felt as he passed them. He made his way to Naka Ave, a road that ran through the heart of Mobitropolis, and started weaving between the densely packed cars as he tried to hurry to the royal palace.

It wasn't easy going. The cars kept getting tighter and tighter. He was doing alright avoiding them but wouldn't be able to forever. Unfortunately, he saw a gridlock in front of him that he was about to plow into. At this speed, he'd probably be dead on contact, and the drivers and pedestrians in the immediate area would get hurt in the ensuing wreckage. He had only a split second to figure out what to do.

Since he was on the rightmost outside lane, he jumped over the sidewalk and took a few steps on the glass face of the skyscraper next to him, then jumped, clearing the jam and ending up on the other side where traffic seemed to suddenly disappear.

Coming over the top of a small hill he could see that the bridge only a few steps ahead had collapsed. At the bottom of the valley was a river wide enough and deep enough to require swimming to get across. He didn't have the time to go around and he didn't have the ability to swim, so he did the next best thing.

Putting his head down and accelerating even more, he burst through the sound barrier only a half step before reaching the bridge. Then he jumped as high and as far as he could, stretching his body as if willing himself through the air and over the gorge.

His eyes widened in fear as he realized that he wasn't going to make it! Thinking quickly, he turned his forward momentum into a spin that redirected him upwards, effectively letting him jump again mid-air. He was only a couple of feet from the far end of the bridge, but too far away to let him reach out and grab it, so he reversed the process. He uncurled violently, thrusting himself forward in a dash that flung him onto the concrete, thus completing the jump.

He ached from the effort, sore from head to toe, but he'd made it. He pulled himself off the ground and brushed the dust off his skinny blue legs. Then, knowing he had to hurry, he continued his sprint in the direction of the palace, which was only a couple of minutes away now.

Tails jumped in front of a car, holding his hands out as if willing the driver to stop. The tires squealed in protest and just barely stopped him from getting hit.

The driver of the blue car rolled down his window and leaned out. He was a middle-aged human with a light complexion and black hair that was probably colored to be as dark as it was. He was furious, that much was obvious just from the look on his face. "What the heck man?" He asked angrily.

Tails didn't waste time. "You need to get out of town, something is coming and you're not gonna wanna be here when it arrives!"

The driver, still angry about being stopped, made a sound that proclaimed his indifference and then drove away.

Tails was in the town center now. It was almost like a cul de sac, but with skyscrapers on all sides. Huge businesses with elaborate signs were in every direction, trying to draw customers in any way they could. One of them even had a huge display proclaiming sixty percent off everything they had. Everyone around him was looking at one of the large buildings trying to decide where to shop next. Nobody paid him any mind. That is until the sky grew dark.

Tails turned and looked up to see Robotnik's airship overhead, blocking out the sun and opening small holes all over the bottom of its hull. It was dispersing something, It looked like bugs from a distance, but they were far too big. The objects, metallic spheres barely bigger than most Mobians, fell to the ground and crashed into the pavement. A long seam ran around each one vertically, splitting the sphere in two.

As Tails approached the one closest to him, the seam split open to reveal what looked like a fox about his height and weight, but with glowing red eyes and a dull, dark gray shell around its entire body. He was both frightened and confused. Why would Robotnik, or whoever was helping him, take the time to build robots that looked like Mobians?

As the robotic mobian stepped out of the shell, the realization as to what it truly was hit him like a ton of bricks. Robotnik had been building a robotic suit. That's what the trial was about, the use of that suit. He must have used some people to create a small army.

He looked down at the roboticized feet of the person in front of him and noticed that on the inside walls of the sphere were small dark gray backpack-like devices. They were no doubt more roboticizers. This was not going to be good!

He turned to run away from the monstrosity but was grabbed by his tails and flung over to the far side of the plaza. He wondered why he'd been thrown until he realized that the cyborg had missed its true target, a tank that had most likely just arrived from the army base at the western edge of town. It was dusty though otherwise looked to be in good shape. Obviously, it hadn't been used much.

The tank turned its main weapon at the robotic individual and looked like it was about to fire. Tails felt shock snap up his spine like an ice cold spike. He got up, then used his two tails to propel him forward so that he could position himself between the tank and the robot. The quick burst of energy left him gasping for air, but he used what little oxygen was left in his lungs to scream at the driver. "Don't shoot! There's a person in there! if you shoot you might kill them!" After a second, the cannon turned away. He sighed in releif; they'd obviously taken note of his warning.

After only a moment, the robotic mobian jumped over his head and landed on the top of the tank. "Must remove all threats." It said in a grimy monotone voice. It ripped off the top of the tank, then jumped inside to 'remove the threats.'

Tails jumped onto the base of the tank, trying to get to the hatch on its top before the occupants were either killed or roboticized. Just as he reached the top, he heard the metal-skinned monster trying to climb back out. He couldn't be seen, otherwise he too would be turned into a cyborg.

Thinking quickly, he jumped down from the top of the tank and landed in a half roll that planted him on his back. He used his two tails in tandem with his legs to push himself underneath the tank so that he was staring up at its filthy underside.

The robot jumped out of the tank and looked around, a low hum coming from it as it scanned the environment. Then, apparently not finding anything, it walked off.

Tails crawled out from underneath the tank warily, looking for other Robotic Mobians that might've been in the area. He didn't see any.

He once again climbed up on top of the tank and looked down inside. He couldn't quite see the tank operators from here so he climbed in and squeezed himself against a set of glowing displays that the driver no doubt used to steer the vehicle. He looked at the driver and the gunner both.

The gunner, an underweight light brown bloodhound with a white face, was lying limp in his chair, his head at an odd angle. He was dead, his neck broken. Tails gagged and tried to hold down the bile in his stomach. Swallowing hard, he turned his head to the driver who had been stabbed and was also dead. He dropped his head in disappointment. He was about to climb out but stopped when he heard a groan come from the driver. He spun back around and looked at him again.

The driver was a black-furred Siberian Husky with a white face He was wearing a green jacket and dark gray t-shirt coupled with green cargo jeans and tan military boots. Not seeing any motion from him, Tails leaned forward and grabbed onto his left wrist just above the cuff of his white gloves. He felt a soft beating under the skin, indicating that he still had a pulse. He was wrong, the driver was still alive!

He looked down at the seat he was strapped to, a buckle running over his chest and secured to the seat on both sides. He reached for the latch but stopped when the top of the tank shook. Suddenly, the sun hit his face, catching him off guard and blinding him as he turned away and filtered its light with his right hand.

Once the sting left, he looked down the base of the tank to see what had caused the damage. It was a red echidna with long red dreadlocks each of which had white stripes painted on them. He was somehow holding the top of the tank in one hand, not even grimacing with the effort. He had thick white gloves with spikes over his knuckles and red and yellow shoes that didn't help at all in identifying where he came from. Weren't echidna's extinct?

He set down the top of the tank beside its base and jumped up on it, landing only an arm's length away from Tails. "Are you okay?" The stranger asked.

"I'll be fine, but I'm not the one you need to worry about." Tails said, pointing to the driver. "This guy needs medical attention ASAP!"

The Echidna shook his head, his dreadlocks hitting the side of his face as they swayed. "There's no time. Those monstrous robots could be back here any second." His voice was eerily calm in spite of the anxious words that he spoke.

Tails planted himself firmly in place and straightened his spine in defiance. "No way! This guy needs help. Either you help me get him somewhere safe so he can recover, or you can just leave me here with him. I'm not leaving otherwise!"

The echidna dropped his head, not because he was upset at Tails, but because he was upset with himself. Tails could see his look of regret plastered on his face. "Alright." He said as he reached down and grabbed the base of the seat. He grunted once as he ripped the seat off of its mount and then levered it over his shoulder like a baseball bat. "Where do we go?"

Tails collected himself after being shocked at the level of sheer strength being displayed. He stumbled through the first part of his sentence. "Bedhththeres a hospital not far from here. If the robots haven't gotten there yet, they should be able to help."

"Alright, let's go." He gestured for Tails to take the lead, then waited for him to jump out of the tank and start walking in the right direction. With any luck, maybe the three of them would all make it out of this in one piece.