Chapter 43: Escape from the Prison

Lying in the small bed in his prison cell alongside his big brother, Tails couldn't sleep. He stared up at the transparent glass ceiling, the sunlight piercing through the ocean waters above and the fish swimming across his field of vision.

"This is hopeless," Tails said to himself as he pulled himself out of bed. Sonic was still fast asleep, snoring loudly as he subconsciously pulled the newly vacated blanket over himself. "Why would the government suspect we are the bad guys? After everything we've done to try putting a stop to Eggman, they were so quick to turn on us…and now Eggman's out there…"

Tails paced back and forth in the prison cell.

"What makes things even worse is Shadow. She's just as powerful, if not more powerful, than Sonic, and if the government doesn't free us soon, I can't imagine the damage she and her master will do to this world." Tails shifted his attention to the rusty bars separating the orange kitsune and blue hedgehog from freedom. He recalled the words shared by his big bro before nap time:

"This feels ancient, and the soldiers were nice enough to remove our cuffs. I could break us out anytime with a spindash."

The young fox approached the bars, his namesakes fluttering in anticipation as he contemplated breaking through the bars himself. He then turned away, shaking his head.

"Trying to flee from the military is a lost cause. Either they catch us again or we escape with collateral damage. If the humans want to rid this world of Eggman's evil, they'll need to realize on their own terms that they made a mistake."

Tails peered up at the far wall. "Hey, what are these writings anyway?" The inquisitive fox peered up at what appeared to be the drabble of a madman, written hastily and hardly legible. "It appears to go from left to right…" Tails peered at the bed in the back-left corner of the cell, where Sonic was still resting soundly. "He's a heavy sleeper, so I'm sure I won't disturb him." Jumping in the air, Tails activated his rotary namesakes, allowing him to slowly float until he reached the place where the wall and ceiling met.

"Oh my Chaos…" Tails read slowly, traversing to the right before starting over at the left like a typewriter. "These formulas…these ramblings…"

Finally, the orange kitsune reached a string of sentences right above Sonic's head. The fox crawled on the bed, making sure to avoid disturbing his big brother as much as possible as if he were playing Twister, but what he read next made him lose his cool.

"Project Shadow!?" Tails exclaimed.

The sudden shout caused Sonic to shoot up. Not realizing who was directly above him, however, his face directly collided with Tails' belly, sending the fox flying back, rolling off the bed and landing on the hard floor.

"Tails!" Sonic jumped out of bed and extended his arm out. "Are you okay lil' bro?"

"Y-yeah…" Tails grabbed hold of the blue blur's gloved hand, allowing himself to be pulled up.

"What's going on anyway? And why were you on top of me?" Sonic itched the base of his nose as he awaited Tails' reply.

"Take a look at the wall, Sonic." The orange fox pointed toward the scribbles and notes plastered across the stone.

"Yeah?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Isn't it common for prisoners to write on the wall? I know I'd be bored as hell if I had to stay here for an eternity."

"No, take a look at the writing itself," Tails replied, pointing at the sample that made him shout in surprise moments earlier.

Sonic crawled back up on the bed. "Project Shadow huh?"

"Yes, precisely," Tails replied. "I've been reading the notes here. The summary is, well…kinda disturbing."

"Lay it on me, buddy," Sonic replied. "I can take it." The blue hedgehog gave him a thumbs up.

"Well," Tails began as he itched the back of his head. "Apparently this was written by a Dr. Gerald Robotnik."

"Oh yeah, the one Shadow mentioned during our fight." Sonic replied. "Eggman having family? That doesn't spell good news at all."

"Tell me about it," Tails replied, "but it's not all bad: Gerald seems to be an ancestor of Eggman. This wall of text is nearly 50 years old, after all."

Sonic whistled as he placed his hands on his hips.

"This is where it gets pretty morbid," Tails continued. "Gerald was a respected scientist aboard a military space colony that stayed in Earth's orbit like a satellite. He held the dual responsibilities of aiding the military's technological capabilities while also developing a cure for his granddaughter's illness."

"Granddaughter?" Sonic raised a single brow. "Lemme guess: was her name Maria?"

"Why yes," Tails replied. "How'd you know that?"

"Shadow mentioned her during our tussle," Sonic replied. "Said something about how I was like the boys she warned her about, whatever that was supposed to mean."

"So it's come full circle," Tails said. "It seems…based on these notes, that the cure for Maria's illness was rooted in the development of Shadow, dubbed 'The Ultimate Lifeform', but the military took issue with Shadow's combat prowess. Fearing she'd be used against the military, they were ordered to destroy her, but Maria was caught in the crossfire."

"Wow…that's rough," Sonic shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Yeah," Tails nodded in agreement. "This loss drove Gerald mad. The last of his writings spoke of getting his revenge. He wrote out various formulas on the wall here, but I don't have enough data to surmise what he was actually plotting."

"Well, it all seems irrelevant now," Sonic replied. "Shadow mentioned he was killed, but even if he were alive today, he'd be ancient! One less evil mastermind to worry about I say."

"Maybe…" Tails raised a finger to his chin in thought as a frown grew across his face. "If he weren't a Robotnik, perhaps I'd be less concerned."

"Tails," Sonic approached his younger brother, placing his gloved hand on his shoulder. "If this Gerald person somehow causes havoc well beyond the grave, you can personally feed me my sneakers."

"Noted." Tails chuckled as he ran a hand behind his head. The fox peered at the wall once more, but when his eyes wandered to the floor, he found some small stones of various sizes and color hues. "Actually, I have an idea on how we could pass the time."

"You do?" Sonic sat on the bed and crossed one leg across the other. "What do you have in mind?" Tails approached the rocks, collected them in his gloved palms, and dropped them on the bed.

"We're…rock collecting?" Sonic asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"I was actually thinking we could play some chess," Tails replied. A smirk grew across his face. "C'mon, I'm sure you still remember how to play, right?"

"Well, yeah," Sonic replied, "but how are we supposed to tell the pieces apart?"

"The tall, thinner piece here could be the queen," Tails replied as he grabbed the rock. His focus then shifted to another piece. "This one is large enough to be a knight…and these smaller pieces could be pawns."

After several minutes, Sonic and Tails assembled their party of chess pieces, the two brothers sitting upright on either side of the bed. Tails' rocks were brighter in color while Sonic's were darker, allowing them to distinguish between their own pieces.

"Alright, Sonic," Tails began with a gesture of his arm, "hedgehogs first."


Flying high above the ocean, the Tornado biplane's metallic plating glistened in the afternoon sun as its occupants flew toward their destination: a daring rescue mission to save their friends.

"Amy, you reading me?" Helen asked from aboard her seat in the back of the biplane.

"Yes," Amy replied with a nod, sitting in the pilot's chair, although she was not actually flying the plane herself. "How's the handling? Need any help?"

"No thank you," Helen replied with a grin as she steadied the Tornado using the joysticks of her Nintendo Switch Pro controller. "Thankfully, Tails integrated the plane's controls with my wheelchair using the same technology that allow it to transform into the Helengelion."

"That boy has too much time on his hands, I tell you," Amy replied with a sigh. "I swear, sometimes I feel we need to find him a girlfriend."

"Hold on!" Helen interrupted as she tilted her controller. "Time for a barrel roll!"

"AAAAAHH!" Amy screamed as the young girl performed this maneuver. By the time the Tornado leveled off, the pink hedgehog was halfway off her seat, clutching the armrests to prevent her from falling out entirely. "Next time…warn me before you pull any stunts."

"Yeah, sorry Amy," Helen replied with a laugh, running a hand through her blond hair.

An icon blipped on the radar built into Tails' dashboard in the cockpit.

"Hey Helen, it looks like we're almost there," Amy called.

"Great! I'll start the descent," Helen replied. As she began lowering her altitude, however, she noticed a set of military planes surrounding her on all sides.

"You are in restricted airspace," called the loud, amplified voice of the Air Force squad's leader. "Be prepared to descend, or we will be forced to shoot."

"Oh, fudge," Helen complained. "Somehow I don't think we thought through our plan."

"Hold on, I think I have an idea," Amy replied before activating the microphone on the dashboard. "Please clear a path so we may land on the shore of the island below us," she requested.

"Expect a full interrogation upon your landing," replied the captain before signaling to their personnel to clear a space for the Tornado to land.

With that, Helen lowered her altitude, but to her dismay, the island was so small that it didn't afford any safe landing strip.

"Looks like we're gonna have a bumpy landing," Helen said. She gulped as she pressed down on her joysticks. "Hold on to something!"

"Right!" Amy replied, her gloved hands grabbing hold of her armrests as she shut her eyes, scrunching her face as she both physically and mentally braced for landing.

Helen activated the landing gear, but it ripped off the moment the plane made contact with the large, pointy boulders filling most of the space between the ocean and the prison facility. The rocks tore through the base of the biplane but were successful in stopping the Tornado in place.

"I think I'm gonna vomit," Amy complained, clasping her mouth with her hands.

As the Airforce planes flew away, a helicopter descended from the sky, with a dozen soldiers piling out upon its landing.

"Come out with your hands up!" The soldiers surrounded the derelict Tornado, training their machine guns at the cockpit above.

The first to come out was Amy, who gracefully jumped from the cockpit and landed on top of a small boulder, brushing the dust off her red dress moments later. Helen was next, descending from the handicap-accessible elevator on the side of the plane, which thankfully remained undamaged. Amy was quick to grab the handlebars of the wheelchair to stabilize the human girl on the uneven surface.

"You're one of those aliens?" The captain pointed her gun at the pink hedgehog before switching his perspective to Helen. "And you brought a friend? You do know this is restricted airspace, right?"

"My apologies," Amy replied, hoping to use her kind nature to subdue and convince the soldiers to be lenient without resorting to violence. "You see, we haven't seen our friends in a while, and none of our contacts have been able to provide any solid updates on their health. All we knew was they were being kept on Prison Island, so we decided to drop by."

"Prison Island does not allow visitors!"

"Yeah, well, it was either this or not see my precious Sonic for the next several months at least. That'd just utterly break my heart."

"I'm sorry to hear that, miss…" The captain pulled out a set of handcuffs. "…but rules are rules. I'm going to have to take you two in for further questioning."

"Wait, but we didn't do anything wrong!" Amy replied. "All we wanted to do was check in on our friends."

"Plus," Helen added, "this all reeks of a major government conspiracy. Sonic and Tails are heroes, and now they're suddenly being accused of treason? Where's the proof? Where's their right to a free and fair trial?"

"I'm not a lawyer, I just follow orders." The captain grabbed the pink hedgehog's wrist. "Alright, miss, let's go."

Amy's face grew dark as a sly grin grew across her muzzle. "Oh…I don't think so."

The pink hedgehog whipped out her Piko Piko Hammer, landing a solid hit on the soldier's chest, sending him and those behind him flying back like bowling pins.

"Open fi—" A supporting soldier was interrupted as Amy whipped his gun from his hands with her hammer, quickly swinging it back to land a clean blow to his stomach.

"You better get back for this next one," Amy cautioned as she braced herself, bending her knees as she tightened her grip on her hammer.

"Right…" Helen reversed her wheelchair and watched as the pink hedgehog began spinning, her arms outstretched as the face of her hammer made a devastating ring around the formidable Mobian.

"Fire!"

The remaining soldiers started shooting at the pink hedgehog, but their bullets simply bounced back, hitting their arms or legs, leaving no fatal wounds. Finally, Amy slowly approached each of the soldiers, spinning like a top as she sent them flying like how Team Rocket blasts off in Helen's Pokémon animé.

"Wow, that was great!" Helen exclaimed as she raised her fist. The two exchanged smiles and a fist bump before refocusing back to the task at hand: finding Sonic and Tails.

Amy pushed Helen toward the prison facility. Unsurprisingly, the double doors were locked, so the pink hedgehog had to pull out her Piko Piko Hammer once more, blasting through to allow their entry.

As they made their way inside, Helen peered around the lifeless hallway. "Hey Amy, you'd think there would be more guards here, right?"

"Well, it's not like they have a spot to park," Amy replied. "I'm guessing they rely more on remote monitoring to catch any suspicious behavior from afar. It's probably cheaper than having a bunch of guards on-staff living at the facility. That being said, I bet they have a few who do."

"Speak of the devil," Helen said under her breath as a group of three guards approached the guests.

"Halt!" The one in the middle approached the two with his pistol. "State your business!"

"Our business?" Amy asked as she stepped away from the human girl. "We were just visiting our friends! Can you point us the way? UwU."

The lead guard blushed from the hedgehog's adorableness but quickly shook himself out of it. "You think this is funny!? No, this isn't a joke at all. In fact, you two will be detained until we figure out what to do with you!"

"That's where you're wrong," Amy replied. "Nobody gets in the way of my love for Sonic. Now, if you just point the way, we'll be out of your hair, or, rather, what's left of it."

"Are you deaf?" The three soldiers pointed their guns at the pink hedgehog once more. "Hands up, now!"

"Alright, alright, geez…" As the pink hedgehog raised her arms, she gave Helen a wink, a gesture that was returned with a reassuring smirk from the young human.

Just as the guards were about to restrain and cuff the pink Mobian, Helen pressed a combination of buttons on the armrests of her wheelchair, shooting off a set of tranquilizing bullets from the sides of her chair. Before the guards could even lay a hand on the alien hedgehog, they were down for the count, sleeping in a pile on the floor.

"Thanks for the save, sis," Amy said, raising her fist to the young girl.

"My pleasure," she replied as she accepted the fist bump.

"Now it's time to search the guards for any information on Sonic and Tails' whereabouts…" Amy proceeded to sift through all their pockets. Ignoring their cell phones and wallets, she was able to find a single piece of folded paper reading "New inmates: lower aquatic level."

"Lower…aquatic level?" Amy raised a single eyebrow as she studied the paper once more.

"Maybe we should find an elevator?" Helen suggested.

"There's one!" The pink hedgehog pointed to the metallic doors with an unmistakable set of lift buttons along the wall. "We're so close, I can taste it!"

"Let's just hope he doesn't taste like chili dogs," Helen replied with a grin.

"I—" Amy froze as a blush appeared across her face. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

The human girl laughed, electing to roll past Amy instead of answering her question.

Pressing the button on the wall, they summoned the elevator and got in.

"Let's see…" Amy studied the button panel until she found one labeled 'AL'. "Aha! That must be the one from the guard's paper!"

Helen pressed the button, but instead of the elevator taking them to their destination, a card slot opened up above the set of buttons, and a computerized voice said, "insert identification card."

"Identification card?" Amy asked. "But we don't have one."

"If you do not insert your identification card in 30 seconds, the elevator will be locked down," replied the computer.

"Oh shoot, what are we gonna do?" Helen asked. "Is there time to grab a card from the soldiers?"

"Nada," Amy replied as she studied the card slot, sweat starting to drip from her forehead.

"10…9…8…"

"I usually don't like to resort to brute force," Amy said as she pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer once more, "but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"4…3…2…1…"

"Hiyaaaa!" Amy slammed the card reading apparatus with her hammer, causing it to spark.

"…Scanning…identification successful." The elevator proceeded to take the two girls to the lower level.

"Wow…Knuckles would be proud," Helen noted.

"Yeah, he would," Amy replied with a chuckle. "Oh wait, I forgot to send my status report!" As the elevator took them down, the pink hedgehog raised her wristwatch communicator, pressing a few buttons to make the call. Moments later, a projected video stream of Knuckles appeared above the watch's display.

"Hey Knuckles, just checking in," Amy said. "We are in the prison facility and are about to find Sonic and Tails."

"Glub glub…glu-glubb."

"Knuckles?" Amy peered down at the holographic video feed to find Knuckles swimming, his cheeks full of air as he swam downward. "Ah, busy I see?" The red echidna simply nodded his head before approaching the bottom of a lake. He pried a boulder from the ground, revealing the purple Chaos Emerald.

"Oh yes!" Helen cheered. "I knew it was a good idea to have Knuckles track down the emeralds while we went on our rescue mission. He didn't even mind taking Cream and Bokkun along for the adventure."

"We'll leave you to it," Amy said into the communicator. Knuckles nodded in response as he used his free hand to give a thumbs up before ending the call, returning to the surface of the lake so he could dry off and begin his quest for the next mystical gem.

By this time, the slow elevator finally found its way to the aquatic level, its metallic doors opening to reveal a sight that filled the girls with awe: the hallway was made of transparent glass, allowing them to see the ocean waters all around them. The pathway was long, but they could make out a sole prison cell at the end.

"We're almost there, Amy!" Helen cheered.

"Let's go!" Amy exclaimed as she gripped the handlebars of the human girl's wheelchair. Gripping her armrests, Helen braced herself as the pink hedgehog started running down the path.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the hallway…

"How many times have I checkmated you, Sonic?" Tails asked, a smirk across his face.

"I dunno, like…eight or nine times?" Sonic replied.

"Make that nine or ten times," Tails replied as his knight pebble knocked the tall queen rock from her square.

"…how about we play checkers instead?"

"But checkers is so boring," Tails complained. "C'mon, let's go again. I'll go easy on you this time."

"That's what you said last time," Sonic complained. "I don't think this time's gonna be any diff—" The blue hedgehog's ears fluttered. "Hey Tails, you hear that?"

"Yeah," Tails replied, his ears twitching as well. "It sounds like someone's coming this way." Before the two could pull themselves off the bed, they were met by the sight of their heroic companions.

"Helen? Amy?" Sonic and Tails gasped simultaneously. Their jaws were agape.

"What, surprised to see us?" Amy asked, her hands on her hips as a grin covered her face.

"Well, yeah, a lil'," Sonic replied. "So…what brings you 'round?"

"Oh, ya know," Amy replied, running a gloved hand through her pink hair, "I was in the neighborhood and thought it'd be a sweet gesture to rescue my boyfriend from the clutches of the evil government."

"That was mighty nice of ya," Sonic replied, "but like…how'd you get through the military?"

"Hammer," Amy replied.

"Your…hammer?" Tails questioned. "Like…swinging your hammer?" The orange fox made some swinging gestures with his arms.

"Yep," Amy replied as she pulled it from her hammerspace. "The same one that I'll use to save you guys…on one condition."

"Lemme guess," Helen said, "you're gonna make Sonic agree to a date?"

"Oh, am I that predictable?" Amy asked.

"That sounds like a nice offer, but there are two fatal flaws with your proposal," Sonic replied.

"Oh yeah?" Amy replied, placing her hands on her hips. "And what might those be?"

"First of all, we are already dating," Sonic said. "Hell, we live in the same apartment! Pretty much every night is date night…not that that's a bad thing!"

"And what's the second?" Amy asked impatiently, tapping her boot on the floor not unlike her blue boyfriend.

"The second flaw," Sonic began with a grin as he entered into a spindash, propelling himself forward at great speed to break through the rusty cage with minimal effort, "was that we could escape any time we wanted."

It was Amy and Helen's turns to drop their jaws.

"But why?" Helen asked. "If you could escape so easily, why keep yourselves voluntarily confined?"

"Running from the law didn't work before," Tails replied, "so we were just waiting things out until this mess got sorted out. Plus, our forceful breakout could cause more trouble than it may've been worth, but now that you've come for us anyway..."

"It's a lil' too late to hold on to what-ifs," Sonic replied as he dusted off his knees. "I think it's time we blow this popsicle stand."

"We probably shouldn't blow it up at all," Tails commented, "because, you know…this structure filling with ocean water would…let's just say it wouldn't go too well."

"Yeah, you said it," Sonic chuckled. "Amy may've taught me how to swim, but I'm far from a professional Olympic athlete!"

"Let's head on out," Amy declared, waving the party toward the opposite end of the long hallway back to the elevator.

"Right," they replied, following the pink leader back to freedom.

Before they could get very far, however, a large metallic sphere pierced through the glass hallway behind them.

As water gushed through the hole created by Eggman's creation, the party got their first glimpse at what they initially thought was a new foe: a metallic robot with a brown set of helmet hair and a torso color scheme not unlike the shirt worn by…

"…Chris?" Helen froze, becoming the first to recognize the horror that stood before them. "…Chris, what happened to you?"

Tears filled her eyes as the mindless metallic monster slowly crept forward, its cold, piercing glare seemingly fixated on the only human remaining.