Chapter 72: Memory Lanes
After the mission to gain the sixth Anarchy Beryl along with saving an underground singer Mindy Latour to be living in Echidnapolis. Sonic and Mina head over to Bernadette's house to ring the doorbell. The older woman opens the door to be greeted by the loving duo. "Oh, good morning you two. I hope you are hungry. I baked some muffins and squeezed some orange juices for us," Bernie said as the loving couple sat on the couch in the living room.
"Thanks, Mom," Sonic said as Bernie handed them their food and drinks as the elder hedgehog sat beside her son.
"This is a very delicious Bernadette," Mina said as she needed to get used to this as Bernie is now her mother-in-law.
The older woman spots Mina sporting a pretty blue top and a white frilly skirt along with black shoes. "You look nice, dear," she said.
"Thank you, Bernadette, I wanted to look good too," Mina said.
"I always wanted a daughter and I am quite lucky to have a bright sweet young lady like yourself hooking up with my favorite boy," Bernie said playfully poking Sonic's face.
"I am grateful madam," Mina said as she bowed her head to drink some orange juice.
"I am just happy that a good woman is keeping watch over my son while I wasn't there for him," Bernadette looks down at her cup of orange with a frown on her face.
"I am a lucky guy," Sonic said as Mina smiled at him.
"I should be the one who is lucky here. The other choice would have been a disaster," Mina said as Ash's face made her shiver in her spine at those terrible memories.
"I am sorry I have failed you, son," Bernadette said as Sonic placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Mom, we found each other and now we can make it up," Sonic said.
"I know when I went to that Scrap Brain base, my life turned upside down. Being in another world and trying to survive with you on my mind. When the doctor came to find me, I was in luck. To become his agent and gather all the supplies he needs while protecting his hideout for so long. Things are finally coming our way, soon enough I can come back to my homeland again," Bernadette said.
"Yeah the Kingdom of Acorn is doing pretty good but there was that whole thing about Sally and Bunnie being terrorists along with Geoffrey," Sonic said as Bernadette was not pleased with this.
"That is sad. Those two girls were so young and now they are reduced to terrorists. Sally was to become a great queen but Elias is the clear winner in that," Bernie said as they explained Elias and his role in defending the kingdom against the hostile takeover. "That is insane, how could she be like that? Such a shame for her family," Bernadette said.
"She was corrupted by Geoffrey and his bigoted ideas," Sonic said as Bernie was angry at the mention of Geoffrey's name.
"I know his father, he used to be part of an old group who call themselves the Protectors. They have a deep hatred for humans and want to prevent the Kingdom from reaching the outside world. Keeping us on those little islands in the Pearl Sea," Bernadette said.
"That is nuts," Sonic said.
"Yes, when I was pregnant with you. There was a big operation I sadly had to step out of with your father going in with his team. We won the fight against Protectors but your father died in the battle. He was a good soldier and good husband," Bernie said.
"Wow," Sonic said as Mina gently pressed her hand onto his back.
"That is great, he did his best to save his kingdom," Mina said.
"A real hero," Sonic said as Bernadette giggled at this.
"He was, he would be so proud to see you now. Sadly, I was alone to raise you on my own within the city," Bernie said.
"I feel humbled by all this. My father was a soldier working in the defense forces in Okina City but a group of thugs jumped him and killed him. He died a good father and soldier to protect our people," Mina said.
"We have something in common. Your father seems like a nice guy," Bernie said.
"He was, I still think about him from time to time," Mina said to close her eyes to see the warm smile of her dad looking down at her feeling kindness and pride beaming towards her.
"Speaking about the Scrap Brain, I managed to defeat Eggman when I was 12 years old," Sonic said as he recalled his battle with Dr. Robotnik within his huge fortress on the edge of South Island.
-Flashback Begins-
12-year-old Sonic speeds towards the massive base after a few days of going through Robotnik's defenses until he is at the mad scientist's doorstep. "Okay, Robotnik. Time for some payback," Sonic said as he saw a group of Buzz Bombers flying toward him. "Out of my way," Sonic uses his Spin Dash to cut them down and free the little animals inside to turn the robotic shells into scrap metal.
Within the Scrap Brain fortress, Dr. Robotnik is detecting something on his scanners. Snively is looking over a screen to see the little blue hedgehog crushing his Badniks. "Sir, that brat has come in force," Snively said as Robotnik was not pleased that his war against the Kingdom of Acorn was being undermined by a runt.
"That blue rat is ruining my foothold on this forsaken island. I need to crush him fast and deal with the crown," Robotnik said as he is not ready yet to launch a worldwide operation to use the Acorn Isles as a base of operations.
"Sir, I will deal with the blue rat myself," Snively said.
"Do not fail me or there will be consequences nephew," Robotnik gave him a nasty look which put Snively in an uneasy mood.
"Of course, sir," Snively goes to the hanger to get into one of his mechs. "I will show him what I am capable of," he thought as he got ready for Sonic's arrival.
Sonic blasts through dozens of Badniks to run up the huge walls to see if the fortress is connected to the sea. He scales up the wall to curl up into a ball to smash into a few Crabmeats to manage to get inside to head for the center of the Scrap Brain fortress.
"Time to end this," Sonic thought as he was focused on pushing further into the base. He uses his speed to avoid traps and blocked paths. He leaps over a spiked trap with him kicking an incoming Buzz Bomber to slam into a Caterkiller destroying them both at once.
Sonic leaps over a laser turret to barely avoid the laser beam with Sonic scaling into an opening to leap onto a platform.
"Hello there runt," Snively said on a speaker to be within a mech called the Egg Serpent.
"Yo big nose. I am going to fight your uncle and you are not going to stop me," Sonic said as he was a one-man army to Robotnik's forces including Robotnik several times himself in his various weird mechs.
"Sorry rat but I can't let you pass," Snively said as he moved his metal snake to lunge at Sonic. He flips over the attack to slam into the cockpit to break the glass somewhat. "How dare you land a hit on me brat," Snively said as the Egg Snake opened its mouth to unleash a beam of energy but Sonic was running along the walls to avoid the assault.
"You got to be faster than that big nose," Sonic taunts him as Snively's ego is unable to take him being outwitted by a pre-teen.
"Eat this," Snively said as the Egg Serpent launched missiles to home in on Sonic's heat signature.
"Oh boy," Sonic said as he leaped over the crates some of the missiles hit the boxes causing explosions but some still tracked behind him. "Special delivery," Sonic runs towards the metal beast for him to curl into a ball to go underneath the Egg Serpent for the missiles hit the robot.
"You little shit," Snively said as his mech is at 50% hull integrity to activate an energy shield that protected Snively from Sonic's Spin Dashes. "Try again Hedgehog, your little tricks will not save you now," he mocked the pre-teen with Sonic trying to come up with a plan. The shielded Egg Serpent is lunging at Sonic noting sections of the walls being exposed with electric wires.
"Got it," Sonic said as he stood in front of the wires to blow the little man a raspberry. "Hey Needlenose, how about giving me a big wet kiss with that robot," Sonic taunted him.
"I will give you more than a big kiss, you pest," Snively said as he lunged at Sonic for him to dodge at the last minute. The Egg Serpent lunges into the wires to shock the mech enough to disable the shield. Sonic slams into the cockpit and breaks it causing the mech to go nuts. "No, no! I can't believe I got outsmarted by a blue rat," Snively said as the Egg Serpent ceased to function anymore.
"Come at me some other time Needlenose," Sonic said as Snively teleported away in shame.
Robotnik looks at the video to be deeply disappointed with his nephew. "That Snively's hatred for the Mobians blinded him. I need to teach him a harsh lesson but now it's time to do things myself," Robotnik said as Sonic speeds through the complex to fight more Badniks for the path to Robotnik is clear. "Alright Buckbeak, I will avenge you and the others who died by this man's dirty hands," Sonic thought to be focused and clear-minded.
"Hello Sonic," Robotnik gives him a shit-eating grin which made Sonic quite angry to speed right toward him.
"Egghead," Sonic said as Robotnik pushes a button on his glove to reveal a trap door which send Sonic falling below.
"This will give me extra time to set up his demise," Robotnik said as he ran to his special room to await Sonic's arrival.
Within a few minutes, Sonic returns from the depths of the base and heads for the center to meet Robotnik inside a tube working under his control. "Time to end this brat," Robotnik said as he sealed off the room for all tubes to come from all directions trying to crush him.
"Oh gee," Sonic is using his speed to avoid all the presses with Robotnik popping in and out in one of the tubes trying to turn Sonic into a bloody pancake.
"This is the Egg Crusher which is this whole room. There is no pause or escape. Only death for you, kid," Robotnik mocks him as Sonic tries to find which tube is holding Robotnik as it keeps switching out rapidly.
"This will not stop me, egghead. I will make you pay for what you did to Knothole Village and Buckbeak," Sonic said as he spotted Robotnik using his Spin Dash to slam into his tube to damage it.
"Who are you talking about kid?" Robotnik questioned as he sped up the tubes trying to crush Sonic but he kept dodging and weaving with all the tubes becoming a blur of greys in his vision.
"She is like an aunt to me, who took care of me and raised all the orphan kids like her own children. She is a truly good person you murdered along with the others," Sonic said feeling determined.
"Sorry I can't recall," Robotnik said as this made Sonic upset.
"You don't remember?" Sonic asked.
"For you, the day the brilliant Dr. Ivo Robotnik graced your pitiful village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Monday," Robotnik has the biggest evil grin on his face as the young Sonic is not having it.
He focused more on his speed for Robotnik is getting uneasy by this sheer burst of speed. "Robotnik!" Sonic is bouncing off the walls to go over Mach 1 for the first time to smash into all of his tubes with ease to slam into Robotnik's tube for the second time.
"No impossible," Robotnik is getting desperate trying to stop Sonic but he triggers his emotions which push him to go beyond his limits to crush every single tube in the Egg Crusher.
"Take this," Sonic slams into Robotnik's tube to break it as well.
"Damn it, this kid has more power than I thought," Robotnik prepares to use his Egg Mobile to speed out of there. "You have not seen the last of me boy," Robotnik presses a button to trigger the Scrap Brain's self-destruct systems. "That boy remembers of a certain female Hedgehog who tried to stand against me," he thought as he flew away to meet up with his nephew to come up with a new plan while his war against the Acorn Kingdom was swinging in their favor.
Sonic runs out of the base for it explodes turning it into a burned-out set of ruins. Sonic is on top of a hill to overlook the ruined bae with parts of it falling into the Pearl Sea. The young Sonic did it, he was able to defeat Robotnik and forces to knock them out of South Island for good.
"Buckbeak and everyone, I hope you can find some peace now. That egghead is still out there but my home is safe from him," he thought as he soon tracks down Robotnik to go on a long journey to make him become Mobius's greatest hero.
-Flashback Ends-
Bernadette is amused by the story to go hug her son. "Oh really, very impressive my boy. You are, indeed, my son," Bernie said feeling proud of him to be able to defeat a war criminal from GUN at the ripe age of 12 years old.
"I had to since Knothole village was destroyed by that bastard along with Miss Buckbeak," Sonic said as Bernadette was deeply saddened by hearing about the loss of one of her old friends.
"How horrible, she would always watch over you when I go on missions. It was the right choice to raise you when I was gone. That horrible man but thankfully as you told me before. Eggman is now dead and the world is a better place because of it," Bernadette said
"Yeah with Naugus and Eggman dead, the world can be finally at peace. It's nuts, we are working with the good version of that evil mad doctor," Mina said.
"Indeed, faith is weird like that," Bernadette said.
"After all this is over, I wanted to quit my singing career and go into the family business of Tofu making," Mina said as she bit into the muffin.
"You sure about that honey?" Bernie asked.
"Of course, there is an expiration date with these things. Once I am done, I will carry out my duties to run the family business with me and Sonic side by side. Mina Rapids and Sonic Rapids going to serve Tofu one at a time," Mina said with a bright smile to feel proud to say their new family name Rapids.
"That's sweet," Bernie said as she finished her breakfast. She opens the window to let a nice breeze inside her home. "What a wonderful breeze today. I am going to check out that lakeside resort pretty soon," Bernadette said.
"I would love for me and Sonic to go there and spend some time together there. Enjoying the lakeside view and the various water rides," Mina said.,
"That would be pretty fun," Sonic said as Bernie had a cheeky smile on her face.
"You two were in the park for a long time. What did you both do?" Bernie asked as the two blushed from this.
"Oh Mom, nothing. We were enjoying the fireworks while embracing nature," Sonic said getting sheepish about this.
"You did have sex in the park, it's so romantic," Bernadette said as the couple was flushing even redder than before.
"Oh, we didn't do that," Mina said as she was badly failing to hide her embarrassment.
"Come on, it's all over your faces. You two seem to be very close to doing things like this," Bernie said.
"Well, we've been through a lot and I have complete faith in him," Mina said as she kissed Sonic on the cheek with her big bright smile.
"I can see that my dear. I hope you can speed up the process to see a baby baring stomach on Mina," Bernadette said.
"Mom," Sonic protested as his mother teased them.
"Oh, I am kidding, take your time," Bernadette said as they enjoyed their time enjoying their company in Bernie's house for the rest of the day.
Elsewhere Anti-Nicole is within her server room to look over records of the old world being curious about what happened to it. "Gee, there is a huge gap in the records. The humans are all gone, wipe from the face of Moebius," she said.
Miles is curious about her recent activities to check in on her. "What are you doing Nicole?" Miles asked.
"I am researching the past and the humans that went extinct nearly 1000 years ago and their underground cities are now ghost towns. No one knows how they were wiped out but that is not my concern and you must heed my words as well," Miles said.
"Of course, I am curious is all," Nicole lied to him.
"Well, you will resume your duties, Nicole. I need to take care of Smalls before I can undergo my next plan to invade other worlds to bring them to my rule," Miles said as he showed Nicole the images of two versions of Mobius. "I will use the current Sonic's world as a test run before going after that other Sonic who defeated Scourge over 2 decades ago," he said.
"How are you going to do that?" she asked.
"I stole the prototype designs of Dr. Kintobor's Goal Posts. Those special devices will allow me to travel to different dimensions which I will rule in time," Miles said as he showed her the machine Nicole is very interested in this device.
"How interesting, it will take a lot of power to use," Nicole said.
"I have more than enough Anarchy Beryl to pull this off but Smalls is taking up all my time. So, I can't begin production of the device until my rival in this world is dead and his organization destroyed," Miles said.
"I see," Nicole can see he is holding over 200 Anarchy Beryl gemstones in his vault to be used for his very powerful machines.
"Well get back to work Nicole," Miles said as he walked out of the server room with Nicole being more determined about the past.
"Humanity being purged out of nowhere. I need to find out why and the past before this current age. A time when Mobians didn't exist and Humans dominated the planet. This is never recorded, this is a matter of interest I need to check in as well," Nicole said as she noticed the record of Mobians in the fossil record stopped mysteriously 12,000 years ago. "Despite Miles's orders I will push on and find out the truth of this world," she said as she was determined to find out the past.