Chapter 2: Panic IRL

Meanwhile, in a hospital in the real world, a group of doctors quickly enter the building with a stretcher carrying Sonic, who is wearing the NerveGear, and his best friend, Tails follows them with tears coming out of his eyes. Minutes after Sonic is transported into his hospital room, the doctor speaks to Tails about the hedgehog's condition.

"The good news is, Sonic's life is not in danger at the moment" he says. "However, it is too risky to take off the NerveGear. As the reports say, taking off the device will be fatal."

"I see" replies Tails.

"Rest assured, Sonic's health is in our hands. We will make sure he lives. As well as the other SAO players that are coming in."

"Thank you, for taking care of him." the fox replies again with a slight smile, which then turns into a sad face. A while later, he's sitting by a bench, watching as more patients wearing the NerveGear arrive.

"Nijika-Chan... Please... Niu-Chan!" yells a young teenage boy with white hair as he sobs for a girl his age wearing the headset and holding her hand. "Give her back!"

"Onii-Chan... No..." a young girl is seen sobbing for a boy with black hair.

Tails not only couldn't help but feel sorry for the people and their families affected by the crisis, but he also feels guilty that he put his own best friend in danger. "I'm sorry, Sonic!" He starts crying. "I'm really sorry!"

As he continues to sob for his best friend, a couple of familiar friends show up to greet him.

"Hey!" a male voice calls out. Tails is greeted by his friends, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, Big the Cat and Froggy, and Cream the Rabbit and her Chao, Cheese.

"You guys came..."

They all talk about the situation, that not only Sonic is trapped in Sword Art Online, but so is Shadow.

"Oh, I hope Mr. Sonic and Mr. Shadow will be okay" says Cream.

"Chao..." Cheese says with a sad face.

"Yeah. Me too" Big replies while Froggy croaks.

"I'm sure they're both fighting really hard inside that game to find a way out, we all know they're both strong" says Rouge.

Everybody looks over to Tails, who is crying "I'm sorry everyone, I shouldn't have gotten the NerveGear" he says. "I should have known about all this, but I didn't. I never should have taken part in that beta test and I never should have gotten Sonic to play that... so-called game!"

The red echidna places his hand on Tails' shoulder. "Hey, come on. It's not your fault, Tails. You couldn't have seen this coming. Nobody could have."

"Knuckles is right" Amy replies. "That monster, Akihiko Kayaba, is the bad guy here. Don't blame yourself for this, Tails."

"But... "

"I know that you're not gonna give up without a fight" Knuckles replies again. "We need to find some way to help Sonic and Shadow, as well as all the other SAO players. And I know that with your brains, we might be able to help."

"Yeah. Don't cry Tails" Big says, patting the fox's head.

"We'll be right here to help out, Mr. Tails" Cream follows.

Tails wipes the tears from his eyes and calms down, listening to Knuckles and Amy. "You're right. This isn't the time for moping. We need to help Sonic and the other players."

"If we can't take off the NerveGear's, is there a way we can shut down the game?" Amy asks.

"There might be." Tails replies "Though I would have to get into Argus HQ. They're the company that made the game."

"By now, the place is swarming with police officers and government officials" says Rouge. "They're having the building checked out and are interrogating the staff. And nobody's allowed in or out at the moment."

"But we need to get inside and figure out how to log everybody out." Knuckles replies.

"Of course, I might know a way to get in." the bat continues.

A while later, Everybody meets up right outside of Argus HQ. The place is swarming with angry civilians around the exterior, with police lines blocking their way, and cops guarding all entrances.

"SCREW YOU!" shouts a grown man.

"GIVE ME BACK MY KID!" yells a grown woman.

"YOU MONSTERS TOOK MY BEST FRIEND FROM ME!" a teenage girl shouts.

"These people must all be friends and family of some of the SAO players" Tails says.

"It's really sad" Cream says. "They all want their family and friends back."

"Some of them even lost their lives" says Amy. "And it just keeps on counting."

As everybody watches the people for a little while, begging for their loved ones back, they feel very sorry for them. Not sure of what to do for them, but to try and shut the game down or log out all the players.

"So how do we get in?" asks Knuckles.

"Simple, through the roof" says Rouge, pointing at the top of the building. "Tails and I will go on ahead. The rest of you wait out here."

"Okay. Be careful in there, you guys" Amy replies.

The fox and the bat head to a safe place where nobody's looking and start flying to the top of the building. Once they make it, they go through the door on the rooftop. Very soon, they find themselves in an office, hiding behind a desk. Looking overhead, they see public officials talking with the developers and staff.

"We already told you a million times! We didn't know about this!" a male team member yells. "And we don't even know where Kayaba is right now!"

"Are you very sure you're telling the truth, Sir?" asks one of the officials.

"Yes! You can look into all our files if you want, but we still weren't aware of this!"

"I have a kid who got stuck in that game!" yells another male team member. "If I find Kayaba, I swear I'm gonna kill him!"

The fox and the bat put their heads back down behind the desk they're hiding at.

"We need to find the server room" Tails says. "If I can get access to the system, I might be able to find a way to log the players out."

"Lead the way, Tails" Rouge replies. "I'll make sure we stay out of sight.

The two start making their move, trying their best to stay out of sight. Soon they find a map of the building, seeing that the server room is on one of the lower floors. Once they finish, they quietly take the elevator down to the floor it's at. Upon arrival, they enter the server room past one of the doors in the hallway. Thankfully for them, the coast is clear.

"Okay. Here we are. The server room" Tails says. "Keep a lookout for a little while, Rouge. Make sure nobody's coming."

"Okay. Whatever you're gonna do, be quick about it" Rouge replies.

The fox proceeds into the room and finds the main computer that has full control over the game. "This is it. Now let's see here..." He hacks in to try and log everybody out. "It should be in here somewhere."

Over 30 minutes pass as he tries to hack into the system. Very soon, Rouge finds two people approaching from far across the hall.

"Tails. You need to hurry" she says. "There are people coming."

"I need a bit more time" the fox says. "It keeps locking me out but I'm getting very close this time."

In several attempts to log the players out or shut down the game, the system locks him out one last time.

"No! Come on! Not again!" the fox panics as all his attempts to get into the system fail. Then, just before the people enter, Rouge quickly grabs Tails' hand and they both take off out of the building through the escape stairs. "I was so close... So close!"

"You tried your best, Tails" says Rouge. "We'll need to find another way."

"Right. Let's meet back up with the others."

Meanwhile, back outside on the street...

"It's been over an hour and a half" says Knuckles. "You think they're gonna be okay?"

"They should be if they don't get caught" Amy says. "And it might take time for Tails to hack in."

"I hope Mr. Tails finds a way to free everyone" says Cream.

"Me too" Big replies.

"Hey guys!" the fox calls out to them from above as he and Rouge fly down. Everybody looks toward them in anticipation.

"You're back! Were you able to log the players out?" asks Knuckles. But the fox looks down in disappointment as he shakes his head.

"Oh no..." Amy says. "Does that mean..."

"I tried everything, and..." the fox sighs. "There's no way to shut the game down or log out any players on our side."

Everybody expresses feelings of shock and sadness after hearing what he said.

"There really is none?" asks Knuckles.

"The only way for all the players to log out and the game to shut down is by beating the final boss on Floor 100."

"That's it?" the echidna asks. "If that's the case, then if we get our hands on some NerveGears..."

"No! It's too risky" Tails says. "Don't forget what it can do to you."

"And plus, the government's already started confiscating them" Rouge says. "It would be difficult to get our hands on them now."

"What are we gonna do now?" asks Big.

"Unless we have a device that could let us into the game with out any risk of fatality like the NerveGear, then I'm afraid there's nothing we can do except monitor what's happening in the game" Tails says.

Everybody begins to feel gloomy that they are unable to do anything to help the SAO players.

Several weeks pass since the game began. One morning, Knuckles remains on Angel Island, protecting the Master Emerald, while Big and Cream are having tea at Vanilla's place, and Tails is at his workshop in Green Hill, listening to the news about SAO and monitoring the game by looking through live in-game footage of players fighting for their lives, while others cower in fear and die from fighting enemies. Eventually, he finds Sonic, who appears to be in search of the Labyrinth. The same goes for Shadow. As of right now, the players are still on Floor 1. The fox couldn't help but feel powerless that there's nothing he can do to help his best friend nor the other players, even after trying so hard to log them out.

A little while later, Amy enters the workshop. "Hey Tails. Is everything okay?"

"Hey Amy." he replies. "I'm doing fine."

The pink hedgehog walks up to him, in hopes to lift his spirits. "Cream and Vanilla invited us to their place. And Big's over there already. They were wondering if you wanted to come along." she says. "We're also planning to visit Sonic and Shadow later today."

"Sure. I'll head over in a little while." Tails says. And then Amy walks up to his computer, seeing the live feed in the game.

"You've been cooped up in here for a few weeks now" she says. "Even I'm worried about Sonic and Shadow. But I know they'll be okay. They've been through worse after all."

"Yeah. But it's just that I'm trying so hard to find a way to free the players. But nothing's working."

"Well, then maybe try something else" Amy says. "Could there be maybe some other way we can help them?"

"It's too dangerous to use the NerveGear though" Tails replies. "If we want to interact with Sonic, we need a device that could..." Suddenly the fox had a realization, thinking back to what he said at Argus HQ a few weeks prior. "Let us in the game with no risk of fatality! That's it!"

"What is it, Tails?"

"Let's call everybody over! I have an idea!"

"Well, okay."

Tails and Amy call their friends over to the workshop. Arriving are Knuckles, Cream, Big, as well as Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chamelion, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Tangle the Lemur, and Whisper the Wolf. They all listen to what Tails has to say regarding his plan to help Sonic and the other SAO players.

"As many of you already know, Sonic and Shadow, as well as 10,000 players are trapped in that game, Sword Art Online" he says. "There's no way to control the game or shut it down from the outside, and Akihiko Kayaba is the only person in the world who has full control over the game, but nobody knows where he is. But I think I may have an alternative that may help out, though it's going to take time."

"What do you plan to do?" asks Knuckles.

"I'm going to make a Full Dive VR headset that's like the NerveGear, but make it so that there's no risk of death from using the device" he says.

Everybody starts looking surprised, but can probably understand what he's saying.

"How do you plan to do that?" asks Silver.

"If I can get my hands on a NerveGear, I may be able to build something off of that. Though I would need to do a ton of analysis and changes. It may even take months to a year or so."

"It will be difficult to get your hands on one" Espio replies.

"Yeah. And none of us even got a NerveGear or the game." Vector follows. "The government's been confiscating them since the servers opened up earlier this month."

"I may need help from an outside source." Tails says. "The question is, who?"

The fox starts thinking about who may be able to help him, but then, Rouge speaks up. "I think I may know somebody who can help. Seijirou Kikuoka."

"Who's Seijirou Kikuoka?" asks Tails.

"He's a man from Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs who is working on SAO's case" Rouge replies. "They have the names of every SAO player. Both their real name and avatar. Since you're both working on the case, he may be able to help you."

"How do I contact him?"

Rouge hands Tails a business card that has Kikuoka's email and phone number.

"Tails. You should contact Mr. Kikuoka" Blaze says. "If what Rouge says is true, he may be willing to cooperate."

"I agree." Whisper says. "Take this chance. The sooner we can help the players, the better."

"You said it." Tangle follows. "We're gonna need all the help we can get on this one."

"We're gonna help you too, Tails" Charmy says.

"Tell us what you need, Tails" Big follows. "We can get it done."

"Can I help too?" Cream asks.

"We're not gonna stop until Sonic, Shadow, and all the SAO players are back home safe." Amy says.

The fox smiles at everybody. "Thanks guys. I'll take this chance. We definitely need all the help we can get." he says. And after that, everybody puts their thumbs up and cheers, as they believe in Tails and all agree to help out. The fox will soon begin his first task to contact Seijirou Kikuoka.

Meanwhile, at Dr. Eggman's hidden base somewhere in West Side Island... The doctor and his AI daughter, Sage, listen to the news feed about the SAO incident while running an analysis on a NerveGear that he has acquired, and also monitoring the world of Sword Art Online. Very soon, Orbot and Cubot show up to give the doctor lunch.

"Here's your egg salad sandwich, Doctor" Orbot says.

"Fresh from the robot stove!" Cubot follows, and then looks at the monitor. "Wow. The numbers keep on counting, huh?"

"I was incredibly surprised hearing that Sonic and Shadow are a part of this. But I'm sure they will make it out one way or another."

"The first floor still hasn't been cleared" Sage says. "With the way things stand now, resources in the game are very limited. If they are not careful, things may go wrong."

"Still, you would expect them to have a few floors cleared by now" Cubot replies.

"In RPG's, strength is all about numbers" Dr. Eggman speaks up. "And it's very much the same in a game like Sword Art Online. Leveling up your stats and skills, as well as getting better equipment, and also enhancing them is vital to survival in any RPG. But in this case, your life is on the line."

"So what do you plan to do, Doctor?" asks Orbot.

The scientist looks at the monitor, watching Sonic run across the field on Floor 1, and then gives an evil grin, and very soon, laughs maniacally.