You make your way towards the barracks and find yourself in a lounge area. Many comfortable couches lay around the large room, which is fairly empty, save for your best friend Tails, sitting with Janae Lightfoot. Janae is holding out a slim tablet, which shows various holographic images, and Tails is looking at it with both an impressed and depressed look.
"What'chu guys lookin' at?" you ask as you approach the two.
The two look up to acknowledge your presence. "I'm just finding out what happened while we were gone," Tails replies, "Silver was right. It has been two hundred years since we left for the Twilight Cage."
"Of course," Janae mutters, "Why would he lie?"
"Sorry," you say, "We're used to him being the time traveling visitor."
Janae rolls her eyes and turns back to the holographic history lesson. "It was dumb of you to leave, y'know," she snarks, "Why'd you go for so long anyway? What was so important that you left our world vulnerable to the greatest threat the planet's even known to just stroll in and take over?"
You glare at her. "Just to save the world from an evil imperator from using the Master Emerald to control our dimension."
"Yeah, thanks," Janae grunts, "A lot of good that did us."
You sigh and plop yourself on the couch on Janae's other side. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't, I guess," you reply. "So what'd we miss while we were gone?"
Janae sighs and presses another button. "Let me go ahead and start from the beginning," she says…
200 YEARS AGO….
After Angel Island crashes onto Metropolis, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and E-123 Omega mysteriously disappear. Within a month, Dr. Eggman uses mysterious technology left behind from the remnants of Angel Island, rebuilds his city, and uses his newfound findings to create a stronger army. It didn't even take an entire year before the Eggman Empire took over half the planet.
Many kingdoms and cities were forced to evacuate and flee as Eggman's armies stormed in and took control. They took shelter in sanctuary cities that Eggman hadn't touched yet, as political leaders banded together along with many civilians to create a Resistance, sworn to fight and defeat the Eggman Empire and win back our world.
"You may have known most of them," Janae cuts in, "Ever hear of Team Chaotix?"
Surprised, you nod your head yes.
"They were the original forerunners of the Resistance. They gathered everyone they knew that didn't suddenly disappear and banded them together in the fight against Eggman. Anyone and everyone. Made some decent progress. Was able to keep the Empire at bay, though not as strong as you guys probably could… Apparently, Sonic, the moment Eggman would sneeze, you were on top of him with a tissue and a butt-kicking."
You glance away in response.
Janae continues on…
Throughout the years, the Empire and the Resistance were at a Tug-of-War for the planet. Eggman would manage to grab more land, but the Resistance would find a way to foil his plots. While it was a tough start, the Resistance did manage to push back the Empire more and more. Their highest peak of success was when the legendary Cream the Rabbit took charge.
"Cream the Rabbit?" you cry out, "Cute little Cream headed the Resistance?"
"Yeah," says Tails, "Though the files here say she became leader when she was seventeen. And she was a real effective one too. More foiled plans, rescued many towns and civilians…"
You give a low whistle. "Wow… Go figure. Who knew the kiddo had it in her?"
"You didn't," Tails mutters, "You wouldn't let her join us, remember?"
You lower your head at that. "Oh right…" you then lift your head, "But hey, she wouldn't have become the 'greatest leader of the Rebellion' then, would she?"
Janae starts grinning at this. "So what are you happy about?" you ask her.
The rabbit gives you a smug smile. "Let's just say Cream's lineage has a proud history of continuing the tradition of being the best."
"Lineage..?" you raise an eyebrow, "You're saying Cream had kids..?" The idea of a six-year old being a mother somehow sent disturbing shivers down your spines.
Janae nods. "And then THEY had kids, and so forth, and so forth… Right up to yours truly!"
You shake your head in disbelief. "Wha-WHAT?"
"That's right!" Janae grins, "I'm the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Cream! Well, probably more greats should be there, but you get the idea!"
You stare at the ground. "I don't believe it…"
"You better," says Janae, "You're talking to the seed of a real legend! Pretty cool, huh?"
"I mean about Cream!" you say, "I mean, who did she end up with?!"
Janae gives you an unimpressed look. "Get real," she snorts, "Anyway, Cream was a true legend in the Rebellion, and I'm descended from her! I've got a lot to live up to!"
You roll your eyes. "I'm sure freeing the planet takes a bigger priority, right?"
"Well, yeah," Janae replies, "And who's going to free it?" She pointed her thumbs into her chest, "The legend, of course!"
You give an unimpressed look of your own, almost feeling bad for Cream for becoming an ancestor to this egotistical air-head. "So what have you done exactly to help out the Rebellion?" you couldn't help but ask, "After all, Silver said something about Eggman having 90 percent of the world now?"
Janae sneers at you. "Wasn't me!" she shouts, "Blame the mole! Or the duck, rather…"
"Duck...?"
"Bean the Dynamite Duck. Actually, all of Team Hooligan. They joined the Resistance later in the years. Everyone thought it was just for protection from Eggman's invasions, but Vector, leader at the time, figured they could use all the help they can get, and that they did have skills that they could use to contribute. They SEEMED like team players… Even Bark sacrificed himself to save his team at one point. Bean looked especially heartbroken and lost after that event. He seemed more determined than ever to put a stop to the Empire. So when Cream took over as leader, she had already put a lot of trust in Bean and Nack at that point…"
Years later, the Resistance got a tip about one of Eggman's schemes, and they created a new battle plan that would heavily damage Eggman's Empire and turn the war in their favor… But as they infiltrated Metropolis Zone, it turned out to be a big trap, orchestrated by Nack the Weasel and Bean the Dynamite. All those years, Team Hooligan had been working for Dr. Eggman the entire time, acting as double agents. They spilled all their secrets, their plans, and put the strongest team out to be killed in a carefully planned out double-cross, courtesy of Eggman.
The sanctuary cities were found and taken over. Survivors were captured and taken in. And if that didn't beat all, Bean at the last minute threw Fang in with the rest of the team to be murdered, as payback for sacrificing Bark for their plan.
The only reason the Resistance was able to find all this out afterwards was a small crawl space that could shield one person from the explosion Eggman set. At the last second, it was Cream's friend Charmy that shoved her in that crawl space and rescued her as the rest of her team were killed.
The Resistance was taken down a huge notch, and Eggman managed to grab more of the world for his Empire. Ever since then, Cream had lost her will to fight, and almost all of her will to live, had she not found the few remaining Resistance members that managed to escape. They banded back up, but Cream stepped down as leader. She couldn't forgive herself for what she allowed to happen…
"Ever since then, the Resistance slowly built back up, but not enough to hold back Eggman," Janae continues, "Over the next two centuries, the Empire took control of more and more of the planet. Now he has pretty much 90% of the world."
She smiles, "But even if there's only ONE percent left, there's still going to be a Resistance, and we're going to fight hard to win back our world!"
You smile back. "That's some determination," you say, "You're my kinda team."
Janae grins at you. "Funny you should say that," she says slyly, "After all, I always believed this would be the generation that would turn things around. Now that you and everyone else are back, we finally have an advantage against Eggman Nega! We can finally win this war once and for all!"
You look to the ground in thought. Janae makes a lot of sense. The world became what it is now because you weren't there to stop Eggman to begin with. The least you could do is go back to doing what you do best: Kicking Eggman's tail.
Speaking of which… You look over to Tails. He is still staring sadly at the hologram, and of Cream's profile. The picture was of the little rabbit; only not so little anymore. She was very much grown up, and her face was filled with years of war, and of things she probably shouldn't have gone through at such a young age.
"Don't sweat it, buddy," you assure him, "Once this is all over, we'll find a way to go back, and Cream will be the cute little girl she was when we left her."
Tails closes his eyes and gives a slow nod. "I hope so…"
"Yeah right," Janae groaned, "Silver always talks about going back in time whenever things don't go the way we want. He once mentioned something about an 'Ifrit' creature, but I don't remember any ridiculous fire monster…" She closes out the holograms. "He needs to learn when things are bad, you can't just turn back time. Work with what you got! The results will be much more satisfying."
You can't help but shrug. "Yeah because things are going so well here…"
Janae glares at you coldly. "Well like it or not, you're stuck here, so you BETTER make the best of it."
You return the cold stare, and figure you've had enough of this rabbit's company…