Chapter 1:
My name…is Sonic the Hedgehog. I was born in a town called Knothole on a planet called Mobius. It was a quiet little town, ruled over by King Acorn, that was, until 7 years ago. King Acorn was betrayed by his most trusted advisor, Doctor Robotnik. He captured many of our citizens and turned them into his robotic servants. His daughter Sally barely managed to escape. Now I fight alongside her, helping lead a resistance group called the Freedom Fighters as we hope to free our kingdom from Robotnik's Tyranny, starting with our hometown of Knothole.
Dark, gloomy skies drain the light over Castle Acorn and the Acorn Kingdom's capital city of Oakville. Clouds so polluted it looked as if the sun had never shone on the land. Smog was a constant, bare husks of trees littered the landscape fed by rivers of nothing but sludge. Roboticized shells of Mobians drifted through the broken streets, working aimlessly for their oppressive overlord who looked over them from high in his tower. Robotnik smirked; his red eyes twinkling when looking upon his handiwork. With a twist the mad doctor returned his gaze to his war room, toward four slender white robots with the hilts of swords poking out from their belts, all overlooking the Robians who toiled away aimlessly at consoles.
"Snively, where are you?!" The doctor calls out, scanning the empty command room with an impatient scowl. Soon, a short little bald man with a large nose and a green jumpsuit; contrasting Robotnik's red, poked his head out from behind a corner at the war room's entrance.
"Y-yes, Uncle…?" Snively waddled over nervously, timidly expecting his uncle's wrath.
"I want a status report on those drones I sent out a few hours ago." Robotinik demanded harshly as his nephew took out a small tablet and looked it over.
"Well, out of the eight sent out, five have returned, while three are still out…"
"Any successes?"
"No sir, not…not yet" Robotnik grimaced at his nephew as the green-suited man relayed the news.
"I hope for your sake they do, young nephew." Robotnik stared down over the desolate land he ruled as Snivley gulped and quickly went back the way he came, leaving the doctor alone once more.
Elsewhere, far off where green covered every inch of the earth, every rock and every tree. A white drone with a ruby red eye flew inches over the ground. Scanning for any life forms. It's eye darted around constantly, scanning everything, until…it picked up something. With its target acquired, the drone flew, quick as a whip, towards a forest. It zoomed through the air, narrowly avoiding trees until it froze in place. It crept forward, hiding itself in a bush until its target was in sight. A young rabbit Mobian with large ears, a small blue chao alongside her, the two picking some flowers and putting them in a cute little basket.
She was humming a song as she stood up, gasping in shock as she saw a floating white orb. Its oppressive red lens glaring into the young rabbit's soul. She dropped her basket, trembling in fear as she backed away from the surveillance drone.
"TARGET ACQUIRED!" The rabbit girl cowers and curls into a ball as her sky blue chao stands in front of her ready to fight. "SIGNALLING FOR BACK~" In an instant a blue blur flew through the drone, cutting it in half before it exploded. The Rabbit pokes her head up in fear, as she sees a blue hedgehog standing above her holding his hand out.
"You ok Cream?"
"M-mister Sonic?" Cream nervously stood up as Sonic turned back to look at the remains of the drone.
"You better get out of here quick, if one's here, more are probably around." Cream nods gratefully as she picks up her little Chao.
"Thank you!" She did a little bow before turning to gather up her flowers. Sonic zipped around the small clearing, quickly snatching up the loose flowers, handing a makeshift bouquet to the young Mobian. Cream giggled before she ran off into the forest with her Chao snuggling in her arms, the flower basket dangling from one arm.
Sonic felt a buzzing underneath his glove, a hidden communicator bracelet signalling an incoming call. Raising his glove closer to his ear the blue blur is soon greeted by an impatient voice. "Sonic, where the heck are you? You're running late!" Antoine's stern voice with a mild French accent rang out through the comm, Sonic rolled his eyes and responded.
"Relax Antoine, I was just putting out a fire."
"That's nice and all, but this plan can't be pulled off if you're not…" As Antoine berates Sonic, the hedgehog zooms into a small portion of the forest. Screeching to a halt near a group consisting of a short yellow two-tailed fox sat by a rock working on a gadget. A slender lynx with a scar over her left eye leaning against a tree, chewing on something. An insect Mobian, a monarch butterfly, perched in the branch above the lynx polishing one of his blasters; and Antoine, a coyote standing in the middle of them all, a sabre hilted at his side his communicator raised to his mouth. "Here…" Antonie lowered his arm while staring gully at Sonic who cheerfully responded
"Alright 'twan, I made it. Now what's the plan?"
"It's not my plan, it's Jack's" Antoine replied, deactivating his communicator on his wrist. The monarch up in the tree finished polishing his blaster, spinning it around before holstering it.
"Where is the captain anyways? He's usually the first one here."
"Down here, Corporal Lance!" The butterfly followed the voice and saw a brown otter wearing a blue and red military suit stepping out from behind one of the trees. He brushed some hair out of his face and lowered his red scarf from his mouth as he cleared his throat.
"I was out scouting our target." He glanced over at the hedgehog. "Sonic, Impeccable timing as always." Sonic shrugged nonchalantly.
"Sorry, my hands were a little tied, had to bust some bots on my way here." Antoine sighed while Jack nodded.
"I see… Well now that we're all here, we can begin." The otter reaches into his vest and takes out a small disc shaped object. He activates it as it displays an amber holographic map. "We are here, our target is here, on the other side of the woods." He pointed as two targets appeared on his map. "A sentry tower, overlooking Knothole. If we take this out, the north side gets exposed, turning Eggman's attention away from the west side, making it easier for us to get inside." The little Fox raises his hand. "Yes, Private Miles?"
"What types of enemies guard the tower? I assume fairly formidable ones."
"Excellent question." Antoine nods approvingly as the holographic map zooms in near the base of the tower. "There's quite the variety of bots guarding this tower, the ground is full of Egg Pawns and Motobugs, alongside one of those big Egg Rooks; the giants with the hammers." As he spoke, Miles took notes, Sonic tapped his foot and the Lynx took what she was chewing out of her mouth. "The air is full of Blast Hornets and there's rumored to be an extra layer of defense on the inside. "Miles, you and Sonic are going to deal with the ground enemies outside, with some air support from Lance." He points up towards the butterfly who nods. "Then…Antoine, Lara and I will sneak inside and arm the tower to blow. In and out in five minutes. Any questions?" Lara raises her hand. The Otter nods in response.
"Any chance of support coming to the bots?"
"If we do it fast enough, it's unlikely. It all depends on how good our ground troops do." He looks over at Sonic
"Relax, speed won't be a problem so long as a certain coyote doesn't drag me down" Sonic chides with a cocky smirk at Antoine, who growls at his blue rival. The captain gives Sonic a look before giving Antoine the same look, calming the growling canine. The coyote Mobian scowls before clearing his throat to speak.
"Are we sure Tails is ready for zhis mission?" He asked, his voice filled with concern despite his feelings toward Sonic. "He is still rather young, I don't want a kid freaking out on the battlefield and costing us." Tails' ears droop at the comment, rubbing his arm nervously.
"He'll do great. He's smarter than any of us, and we've been practicing a ton of cool new moves right pal?" Sonic nudges his friend as Tails perks up.
"Y-yeah! I'd love to see how those robots tick and so long as I'm with Sonic, I'll be fine" He smiles wagging his tails. The captain nods with a gentle smile.
"You all know the plan, you three scout out ahead, and radio in when things are ready." Sonic nods to the otter as he turns to Tails.
"C'mon! Let's go!" He starts to jog, even at such a 'gentle' pace moving faster than most would be able to as a full sprint, holding Tails' hand and carrying him along. Tail's twin tails begin to spin before he rises into the air. Sonic's speed picked up, going closer to a car 'til he let Tails go, zooming off at the speed of a jet, Tails speeding behind, not going much slower. Lance packs his guns away and hops off of his branch, soaring after them. Antoine turns to the Otter.
"Jack, are you SURE Miles iz ready?" He asked, letting his accent leak through. Jack nods confidently.
"If Sonic trusts private Miles, I do too." Jack stares out at the horizon, watching the young fox disappear from sight, crossing his arms.
"But what if he breaks down? 'Ve can't afford a situation like that."
"Then we'll just have to rely on Sonic to get us out of it."
"Zhat's what worries me..."
Sonic dashed along the forest, jumping over rocks and under logs. Across streams and through gorges. Tails and Lance flying close behind. Tails chuckled as he felt the wind through his fur. It was a funny feeling, it was brisk and smooth. As they flew closer to their destination, the green started to fade as more pollution crept in. Tails coughed as he hit a cloud of smog barely able to see. Suddenly something grabbed Tails' leg, causing him to rapidly slow. Tails looked back and saw Sonic hanging onto him, helping him back down to the ground.
"You doing ok bud?" Tails nodded his head as Sonic grinned. "Great, Come with me" Lance landed not far behind them as the three of them walked up to a black bush overlooking a clearing. Dozens of robots littered the brown field guarding a Metal Tower. Tails covered his mouth as he looked over at Sonic.
"Gah… does it always smell this bad?"
"You get used to it eventually." Lance looked over the land solemnly. "It's disgusting to see what Robotnik did to this land in less than a decade…"
"That's why we gotta take this place out. All it needs is one push and the dominos start falling." Sonic said with gusto as he looked up at Lance. "You ready?" Lance responded with a silent nod and drew both of his blasters. Sonic looked down at Tails; eye-to-eye with his little buddy. "You're sure you want to do this, Tails? This is your last chance, no turning back after this."
"Y-yeah…" Tails responds meekly, unable to meet the hedgehog's gaze.
"Tails…"
"I-I can do it! We've practiced for weeks, so as long as I'm with you, I'll be ok!" Tails looked up at his friend, feigning confidence. Sonic responded with his signature grin.
"Just what I wanted to hear."
Sonic rushed out down the hill as Lance leapt and soared into the air, sniping one of the hornets with his blasters. Tails gulped and ran out from their hiding place spinning his tails as he began to fly down. As he descended Sonic twisted back and curled himself into a ball, using a nearby boulder as a ramp to strike an Egg Pawn square in the face. Alarms started to blare as the robots turned their attention towards the three Mobians attacking them. Lance soared, keeping away from the tower as he fired shots erratically from his twin blasters, providing aerial support. Tails ducked his head as he heard lasers fly past him from the Egg Pawn's blasters.
"Tails! High Ten!" Sonic jumps up towards Tails holding out his hands. Tails scrambled, nearly falling over himself. Sonic grabbed his companion by the hands and swung back before the two of them began running in a circle. They launched in opposite directions as balls, each smashing through a Motobug and into an Egg Pawn. Tails uncurls shakily, holding his head as stars fly around him. "You ok pal!?" Sonic calls out as he rushes towards the little fox.
"Yeah just a little dizz…"
"DUCK!" Sonic charges forward, tackling Tails to the ground as a hammer smashes down where Tails once was. The giant Egg Rook glares down at them.
"Is that-?!" Tails asked nervously.
"Yep, it's a Rook and a big one" The Rook raised its hammer up "Split!"
Sonic jumped left while Tails jumped away to the right. Sonic gives the mechanical menace's chest a roundhouse kick only to be knocked back onto the ground.
"Gah! It's plated…Tails! You focus on the small fries, got it?"
"Y-yeah!" Tails quickly got back onto his feet and let out an 'eek' as a Motobug charged towards him. He closed his eyes and turned around quickly, using his tails as a club, smacking the Motobug backwards into the air and causing it to crash into the ground. He opened his eyes and chuckled.
Seizing its opportunity with the distracted fox, an Egg Pawn suddenly grabbed Tails' back from behind, picking the young fox up. "Ah!" Tails squirmed and tried to hit the egg-shaped robot with his tails to no avail.
"Help!" Tails continued to squirm, desperately trying to reach Sonic before the Egg Pawn's head exploded. Tails looked to where the Pawn's head was seeing Lance waving back at him.
"T-thanks Lance!" Tails said weakly as he hopped out of the grip of the bot and dashed towards another wave of incoming Motobugs
"Try to keep up Tails! We can't be there to save you each time!" Lance called out as he fluttered around, sending out a signal on his communicator before dodging a few shots from approaching Blast Hornets.
Tails took a breath, jumping up with a wince as he landed on the tips of his twin tails, using them as an impromptu spring to launch himself higher into the air; curling himself back into a ball as he soars toward the mechanical ladybugs. The yellow ball seemingly homing in as it bounds from robot to robot, breaking each one with a precise strike between the wing-plates.
While the battle raged on around the tower Jack, Antoine and Lara poked their heads over the bush. Jack looked tentatively from left to right, watching as Lance led the Blast Hornets away; Tails whittled away at the smaller enemies on the western front; and Sonic distracted the Egg Rook on the eastern side; forming an empty zone down the centre, leading to the tower. Jack turns back to his partners.
"Excellent, are you both ready?" Antoine and Lara both give a reassuring nod. Jack draws his sword and hops over the bush and slides down the cliffside, Antoine and Lara following closely behind. The three of them dashed in a triangle formation across the battlefield, narrowly avoiding a shattered Egg Pawn that flew near them. They race toward the southernmost wall, leaning against it to catch their breath. Antoine puts his ear up to the wall and knocks a few times before pointing at a spot.
"Setting charge." Lara takes the gum out of her mouth and sticks it to the back of an explosive charge. She places it against the wall and arms it.
"Charge is live!" The three of them run backwards, out of boat range. Antoine covers his more sensitive ears before the charge goes off, blowing a hole in the wall. The trio quickly ran inside their newly created entry point.
"Lara, you set up the rest of the charges. Antoine and I will check out what's up top."
"Fine by me." She takes off her bag and starts setting up charges on the walls one by one. Jack takes a grappling hook out and looks around, firing it up at an overhanging lip, swiftly securing it into place. He and Antoine climb up the rope, leaving Lara to do her demolition work.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are we looking for up 'zhere?" Antoine asked, tilting his head.
"Our informant gave us intel that said these towers contain some kind of crystal-based data storage system that's connected to Robotnik's network." Jack explains as the duo climb, the upper lip of the higher platform closer by the second. "They could hold blueprints for his bots or lists of Robians he has, either way, if these crystals DO exist, we can't have them shattering in the explosion." The two of them quickly made it up to a small platform at the top of the tower, a large purple crystal, approximately half the size of Antoine, hovering above the centre of the platform. Antoine reached out to it but yelped as he got electrocuted.
"Careful. Looks like there's a security system." Antoine sighs to himself at the inconvenience, waving his hand in the air to regain feeling.
"How are we gonna get it down then?" Jack looks around as he climbs up onto the platform as well, scanning the area for any hint, his eyes tracing the seams of the walls. Jack's gaze stops as he spots a cluster of thick metal cables along the floor. "Bingo. Betcha that's the power source, I'll cut them down, you catch the crystal."
"Got it." Antoine planted his feet in some wires and bent down, below the crystal. Jack shuffled over and readied his sword. He covered his hand with his scarf before grabbing onto the wires with his other hand and cutting through them like butter. Jack winced, getting a quick shock before letting go of the wires. The Crystal let out a dying pulse before falling, Antoine catching it quickly to keep it from shattering on the cold metal floor. Jack let out a sigh of relief as the two heard Lara whistle out from down below.
"I'd hurry up, boys; charges are all ready to go. So, unless you guys wanna be rubble I'd suggest you hightail it out of here in the next minute." Jack turned to Antoine, Lara's warning giving them a moment of pause.
"I'll go down first, drop the crystal then follow me down." Jack explained quickly while Antoine let out a strained grunt, holding the crystal upside down being a big strain. Jack quickly hopped from the small platform and slid down his cable, the sound of zipping echoing down to the floor below. Antoine let out a groan of relief as he let the crystal go, allowing Jack to catch it at the bottom. The coyote soon clamoured down to follow Jack. Once Antoine reached the bottom he checked the timer on the charges seeing it count down. '10, 9, 8…'
"Lara! Take cover!" Antoine yelled frantically as he and Jack ran like a pair of bats outta hell. Tails ears perk up as he hears the charges beeping. He shivers as he jumps behind a rock and curls into a ball to protect himself. Sonic launched himself at the Egg Rook's head stunning it. Once it recovered a few seconds later, Sonic smirks standing in front of the bot.
"Hey pal, watch out!" Sonic points up before dashing off quickly, Antoine covering his ears the best he can. The Rook looks up at the tower squinting its eyes. The base of the tower explodes as the Bot's eyes grow wide in simulated fear. It turns around to run but it's already too late: The hulking machine blows forward in the concussive shockwave, falling on its feet and stumbling to remain upright before the head of the tower crushes it to pieces. As the blast went off, Antoine and Jack hit the deck, Jack cradling the crystal so he wouldn't damage it. They both turn back watching the fire rage as Lance finishes off the last Blast Hornet. He swoops down and lands in front of the two of them.
"Is that it?" He held his upper right and lower left hands out to help his captain and lieutenant up. Jack wiped some dirt off of his forehead.
"Yep..." Jack nods with a sigh of satisfaction. "Don't know what it contains, but that's why we brought that little fox along." He turns to Antoine "Rally 'em up, Commander." Antoine nods before letting out a whistle. Sonic blitzed up first, munching on an apple. Antoine did a double take
"Where the heck did you get zhat?"
"…'Orest" Sonic says through a mouthful of fruit, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder. Antoine's face dipped.
"Und where is Lara?"
"BOOM!" Antoine let out a yelp as he jumped a few feet up. Lara burst out laughing behind him as Sonic chuckled as well, coughing as he choked on his apple a little bit. Antoine growled.
"Not…funny! You know how my ears feel about loud noises! Chiant Andouille!" Antoine began to mutter to himself in French as even Jack let out a small chuckle.
"Regardless…where is Miles? I thought I saw him when we ran out." Jack can hear the little fox clear his throat behind him.
"Right here, uh, sir." Tails awkwardly saluted Jack.
"So, how'd you do in your first mission?"
"I did…ok…I guess?"
"Ok?! You were great!" Sonic smacked Tails' shoulder with a wide grin, his voice cheery. "You should've seen him. He must've taken out at least six of those motobugs all by himself. You did GREAT on your first mission, little buddy." Sonic beamed before finishing off his apple; tossing it nonchalantly behind himself. Jack looked over at Tails and cracked a warm smile.
"You did, huh? Great job, kid. You've got the makings of a Freedom Fighter, Miles." Jack held onto the crystal with one hand as he pet Tails on the head with the other, rustling his pointed fur. Tails let out a chuckle before Jack repositioned the crystal to rest atop his shoulder. "Alright, let's head back to the rendezvous point, team. I imagine some reinforcements are on their way and I think I speak for everyone when I say I'd rather not have to fight another few dozen bots." Everyone nodded, Sonic and Antoine both letting out a small chuckle before the team split up once more.
Antoine and Lara began to scale up the small cliff the group had come from, making their way back up and to the safety of the woods. Jack handed the crystal off to Lance before following the pair, Lance wrapping each of his four arms tightly around the fragile gem before taking flight. Tails spun his twin appendages before hopping up, floating in the air. He held his hands out for Sonic who responded by grabbing on, the duo taking to the skies together. Nobody waited for their comrades-in-arms to reach the top; simply fleeing the area as quickly as they could before any reinforcements could arrive.
The group slip back into the forests beyond the cliff with Jack, Antoine and Lara at the head to keep a vigilant ear out. Lance took the centre position, his wings fluttering to keep both himself and the precious cargo in his arms away from any tripping hazards. Tails and Sonic take the rear, both taking it easy as they follow behind the group. Tails twiddles with his thumbs, his gaze stuck at the forest floor.
"So…how was your first mission, pal…?" Tails let out a nervous chuckle, putting on a brave face to hide how nervous he truly was as Sonic walked beside him.
Sonic tapped his chin with his index finger, taking not of his friend's nervous tone. "The mission? Hmm…well, it was…hectic, dangerous and frightening. No one can deny that. But also fun, smashing up those robots. And seeing that tower explode? It was crazy!" Sonic flashed a big grin, turning toward his flying friend with a thumbs up.
"That's how it always felt, anyway. You get used to it over time. Once you get good on your toes, then you'll become as good as me or Jack over there." Sonic points up as Jack waves from up ahead. Lara looks back at Tails with concern.
"So, you're some kinda tech wiz, right? I saw you making some gizmos earlier." Lara asks, trying to distract the young fox from his racing thoughts. Tails nods nervously.
"Yeah… that's me."
"Any clues what that crystal might be then, smart pants?" Lara giggles a bit, her voice bubbly as she sees Tails' eyes brighten.
"No idea. Could just be a power source or, like that intel said, it could hold vital information. It's really hard to say." Tails looked up from his feet finally, growing slowly more comfortable with the group. "Do you make your own bombs?" Lara chuckled at the young fox's question, shaking her head.
"Nah, I just get that Rotor guy to make 'em for me. Have you ever talked to him? You're both good with your hands, after all."
Tails looked away, his sheepishness returning. "He's more Sonic's friend than mine…"
The sunlight breaks through the canopies above, speckling the ground in light and dark patches. An open clearing breaks the mystique of the forest air, the group setting down back in their original meeting place. Lance lays the crystal on a small bed of moss and has a seat on a fallen log to rest his weary wings, massaging each of his arms. Jack stood above their stolen treasure with an air of pride.
"Miles, are you sure you can analyze this?" The coyote turns toward Tails and Sonic as the duo emerge into the clearing to be with the group. Tails nods, taking out a little tablet from the fur of his twin dipsticks.
"Yeah… give me a moment." He bent down and plugged some wires into his tablet. He then attached the other ends of the wires into the crystal. Tails then got to work as Sonic laid down on an exposed rock, crossing his legs and tapping his foot impatiently. Lara leaned against a tree again, Antoine stood at attention and both Lance and Jack stood over the crystal, watching Miles work with incredible ease. Lance peered closer at the crystal, noticing its pulse.
"What just happened?" Lance flutters anxiously, his lower right hand resting on the hilt of a blaster.
"Well… that just confirmed it. This crystal is a synthetically created data storage system." Miles beams with pride as the crystal's lavender light pulses like a faint heartbeat against the mossy ground.
"Which means…?"
"Which means, it contains some kind of information on it…" Tails' eyes squinted as he read through code. Sonic's foot tapping faster in both anticipation and restlessness.
"Is this gonna take long? It's getting close to dinner time." Antoine huffed impatiently.
"Relax, I know it's hard to believe but this is important work." Sonic muttered back.
"Then why not do it at home base…" Antione groans as Tails' tablet beeps to life, the crystal pulsing again like a bearing heart.
"Holy! That's a huge file, one of the biggest I've ever seen!" Jack peered over at Tails' device, his excitement matching the young cadet's enthusiasm.
"Is it a database? Are you able to open it?" Jack chimes in with baited breath, watching Tails' fingers furiously tapped both on his screen and virtual keyboard.
"I'll try…" His eyes darted left and right as his fingers tapped rapidly, cracking codes and getting deeper into whatever he had unearthed. Tails' eyes grew more uneasy the closer he got. And the closer he got the more the crystal pulsed. Lance soon placed his two lower arms on the hilts of his blasters as Tails took a nervous gulp. "Uh guys…I think this might just be one big program…maybe…life data?"
Sonic quickly got to his feet and nervously asked. "Which means…?"
Tails quickly unplugged his tablet as the crystal began to spark. "Run!" Tails dashed off as Lance drew his blasters, firing at the crystal. The laser shots caused the crystal to crack in a few places before it began rising into the air of its own power. Antoine and Jack both quickly drew their swords as Sonic jumped in front of Tails ready to fight. Lara prepped a grenade as the crystal hovered in the air and began to spin. Lara threw her grenade but the crystal knocked it away as it flew over their heads and into the nearby woods. A small explosion rang out as two pairs of legs sprouted out from the bottom of the crystal while a pair of tentacles sprouted out of the mid section. Everyone except Tails sprang up to attack the beast but it knocked them all back with an electric field it generated.
Sonic recovered first, grunting in pain as he landed on his feet. He took out a power ring, the energy from the ring quickly being absorbed into himself. He soon ran a few circles around the crystal kicking up some wind around it before trying a homing attack. The crystal was knocked back but quickly responded by piercing Sonic right in the mid section with one of its writhing tendrils, sending hundreds of volts coursing through his body. Sonic cried out in pain, a splash of blood landing on the crystal shell of whatever was attacking.
"Leave him alone!" Tails screams as he desperately reaches for some sort of weapon, throwing a nearby rock toward the attacking creature. The beast in the crystal let go of Sonic who flopped onto the ground before quickly turning its attention toward Miles, charging at him with a roar. Tails backed away quickly before tripping over a tree root and falling on his back. Before the crystal could strike, Lara hopped up on her back and placed a charge on it.
"Try this one on for size!" The crystal released a vibration like a chuckle as it simply let out an electric shock, disabling the charge and knocking Lara out cold. Lance took flight, drawing his blasters and firing down on the crystal from different angles.
"There's gotta be some kind of weakness!" Sonic grunts as he gets up, coughing up a small amount of blood. "Tails…what did you say this thing was made of again…?"
Tails nervously responded."I-I dunno! Data a-and tempered-g-glass!"
The creature within its crystalline shell slams one of its tendrils into the ground near Antoine, causing the otter to roll out of the way, dirt flying into his face. "Glass you say?"
Tails quickly got to his feet and ran over to Sonic "Y-yeah! But it's reinforced!"
Jack dodged another slam. "Would our swords crack it?"
"I-I don't know…maybe with the right angle?"
Sonic wiped his mouth as he noticed a new tentacle sprout out and wrap around Lara, its grip crushing her. In spite of his injury the blue blur homing attacks the tendril holding his fellow Freedom Fighter, cracking it, though the beast's grip tightens on the struggling lynx. "Well, we gotta try something quick. It's…so durable…and I don't want to lose anyone."
Jack nodded and held his sword. He took a breath before he lunged at the crystal, striking directly into its core body; the force of the impact sending both himself and the creature apart from each other. Lance, spotting a small crack forming on one of the monster's crystalline legs, takes quick aim and fires at it. The crystal stumbled and seemed to let out a cry of pain. Antoine chuckled.
"That seemed to do it, Sonic! Catch!" Antoine tossed another power ring to Sonic who nabbed it and took a deep breath before unleashing the power in a spin dash right at the crystal's centre. The creature within the shell seems to cry out in pain as it is flung back, smashing against a tree with great force. Sonic bounced back, landing besides his allies. He looked back at Antoine and Jack who both nodded and charged at the crystal without a word between them. The two of them both slashed at its original arms, cutting them down as the monster struggled. Antoine smirked.
"I sink zis sing is fini-" But before he could continue to gloat, in the brink of an eye another tentacle sprang forth. Jack quickly pushed Antoine out of the way and cried out in pain as it grabbed him, hundreds of volts flowing through his body. Antoine quickly got back to his feet; but the crystal released an energy pulse through the air that knocked everyone back, even Lance. Sonic quickly recovered and grabbed his last power ring, trying another homing attack but stopped, as the crystal tried to use Lara as a shield.
A low hum emanates from deep within the crystal, the distinctive pulse of light coming from it only becoming faster and brighter. Tails struggles onto his hands and knees, glancing over his shoulder with a worried expression. "I think… it's about to teleport…"
"Antoine! Get this back to Princess Sally!" Jack squirmed his hand free of the living data's grasp, throwing an information disc towards Antoine who barely managed to catch it. "It has all of our contact intel with the informant, don't lose it!"
Sonic stood up again, some of his quills smoking from hitting the creature. "Jack…" He dashed up to Jack and tried to break him free from the crystal's grasp. "There's still time, we can get you and Lara out of here!"
"Forget it! Get back to base, that's an order!"
"But Jack-!" Sonic shocked himself trying to free his captain. Jack sighed sadly.
"Sorry about this…" Jack kicked Sonic in the face, knocking him backwards onto his tail.
"NO!" Sonic yelled just as the crystal warped away, leaving Jack's scarf behind as the only trace of them. He quickly recovered and dashed at where it once stood. "We've gotta get them back, Tails!"
"Sonic, there's no time, Jack gave us orders!" Antoine stood behind Sonic, trying to reason with him.
"We still have time, I could run down there, break them out in time."
"And what?! Get caught by hundreds of Eggman's robots? Jack knew as well as the rest of us there's nothing we can do right now. Best we can do now is continue the fight, and one day, free him and everyone else. C'mon, it's time to go." Antoine held out a hand to Sonic. Sonic just glared at him and swatted his hand away with an indignant scoff, walking towards Tails.
"C'mon pal… let's go home…" Sonic sulked off with the nervous fox, tenderly brushing his injured tails with his hands. Lance grunted as he stood up, examining a broken wing.
"Great…" He sighed as he walked over to Antoine. "You ok Twan?"
Antoine gritted his teeth "I can't wiz 'im…"
"Leave him be, let's just focus on what's important and get back to HQ." Antoined nodded and bit his lip. Lance noticed Antoine holding a piece of fabric in his clenched hand. "You ok pal?" Antoine nodded solemnly, picking up the remnants of Jack's scarf and holding it close.
"Jack, he was like a brother to me, he was all I had left after mon père passed, and Lara… two good soldiers gone." Lance followed along with Antoine putting an arm over his shoulder.
"They're both tough. Robotnik won't get them to crack." Antoine nodded, and adjusted himself, putting the scarf in his back pocket.
"C'mon, Sally is waiting." The two ran off leaving the wrecks of their battle behind.
Snivley was in his little alcove, below the main control room of Acorn Castle. He worked on a small ferret robot. She was about the same height as he was. He was carefully setting wires in the little Robian, wiping beads off from his brow as he gently strips a wire. A tablet near him starts to alert, he checks it and gulps; quickly hiding his project away and picks up the tablet.
"Uncle won't like this…" Snivley scrambles out of his hideyhole and rushes down the long staircase out of the command tower. He rushes past ruined artifacts, rubble littering the floor with Robians who just walked around aimlessly, no thoughts, no instincts, just mindless drones waiting for commands. Robotnik sitting on a metal throne, looking over several electronic screens at once. Some contained plans for robots, others held files he was attempting to decrypt. Snively nervously walked up towards the throne. Robotnik quickly glanced at his nephew before looking back at his work.
"Yes?" Snivley rubbed the back of his head unsure how to explain the news to his uncle.
"Uncle…I, uh, just got a report back from one of the drones… a-and well…one of them was..one was destroyed…" Robotnik paused his work immediately. While Snivley could not see it, he felt his uncle's red pupils gazing through his soul.
"Was there any kind of report saved?" Robotbik hissed out incredulously, causing Snivley to shudder and look down at the device in his hands.
"W-well, yes, but it's s-still uploading…" Robotnik continued to stare as Snivley stood there, breathing nervously, awaiting his uncle's punishment. Robotnik then cracked a small smile.
"You're in luck, dear nephew. One of my traps went off and managed to catch two of those lousy 'Freedom Fighters'." Robotnik turned away from his work as Snivley heard a noise coming from the other end of the hall. A pair of swatbots were marching up, with a bound Lara and Jack. The blades of the laser swords were aimed directly at the prisoner's throats. Snivley stepped out of the way as Robotnik stomped down from his throne, towering over his new captives. He cracked a wide grin. "It's a pleasure to see the Crystal Guardian still works." Jack and Lara simply glared at Robotnik as he adjusted his glasses. "Judging by your uniform, you must be the captain of a squad and one of those former royal guards." Robotnik bent down and got a closer view of Jack. "Yes…I remember you, that little brat Jack who was always hanging around General D'Coolette…he must be proud of what you've become." Robotnik chuckled smugley as Jack continued to glare.
"You've turned this castle into a mockery! It's become as hollow as your soul." Robotnik simply smirked at Jack's retort and walked back towards his throne.
"I like to think I've put it to far better use then that fool King Acorn ever did. But, no matter, you two will be joining him soon enough. Unless…" He looked up at them with a wide grin on his face. "I could give you a far more favorable fate. That is…if you are willing to surrender information about your dear colleagues." A wad of spit hits Robotnik's face, making the mad doctor grimace. Lara wipes her mouth off on her shoulder before the blade gets closer to her neck.
"Not on your life…" Lara growls while Robotnik sighs, wiping the spit from his cheek.
"You Mobians are far too resilient. Very well…Swatbots! You know what to do…Snively! Prepare the Robotization chamber." Snivley shakes after his uncle mentioned him, having gotten lost in his work on his device. Robotnik's grin widens to a cruel degree, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
"Y-yes uncle, right away." He runs off as Jack and Lara are dragged away by their mechanical captors.
"All it takes is one domino to fall Robotnik! If one falls, the rest follow quickly! This isn't over and you know it!" Jack yells to Robotnik, taunting him before his voice is silenced by the slamming of the iron doors. Robotnik is left alone in his throne room, reading over his files one last time. He notices the data from the drone has finally been updated. He watches over the last few seconds of the video, seeing a young Rabbit girl standing frozen in fear before a blue blur crashes into the drone. He rewinds a few frames and pauses, getting a blurry picture of Sonic. He growls to himself.
"Hedgehog…" He rewinds a few frames earlier to a clear picture of the rabbit girl. He smirks as he pulls up another screen. "Perhaps it's time to test out Scorpio…" He lets out a low chuckle as the words TARGET SET flash on screen. "I may not be able to stop you hedgehog… but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you." Robotnik continues to chuckle as he hits a red button on his screen. His chuckle turns into a laugh as he stands up, walking towards the iron doors at the end of the throne room. Elsewhere, Jack is placed into a glass tube while Lara is forced to watch in horror as her Captain is robotized. He screams out in pain as electricity shoots out, coating his limbs in metal and binding his body to a robotic shell. His body quickly went limp as his cries were silenced by a robotic throat, his eyes closing as he passed out from the pain. Robotnik watched from the shadows, grinning ear to ear as he could hardly contain his evil cackle. Lara's cries rang out as she befell the same fate as her captain, while the ruby eyes of a predator awoke deep beneath the castle. It quickly got to its feet and scurried out a passageway as the hunt began.
A hazel furred chipmunk wearing a blue jacket with matching combat boots sat in the nook of a tree branch overlooking the landscape. She brushed her red bangs out of her face as she squinted seeing a blue streak approaching in the distance through the dense forest cover. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, at least some of them are coming back." She climbed down a few branches before climbing through a hole in the tree. She climbed down a ladder which led underneath the tree into a large cavern with several Mobians working inside. She hopped off the ladder and saw a smartly dressed rabbit standing near the door. The chipmunk walked over to her.
"Vanilla, is everything ok?" The rabbit was startled by the chipmunk approaching her, but curtsied slightly, lifting her ankle length dress with her gloved hands.
"O-oh! Your majesty, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be here…" Sally chuckled at Vanilla's startled expression, waving the older rabbit off.
"Please, call me Sally, and you're allowed to be here like anyone else. You're waiting for Tails, aren't you?"
Vanilla nodded nervously. "I'm just so worried about him, I know he's so smart but he's still so young, he and Sonic both are…" Sally looked down as she heard the sound of pounding on the ground and saw Vanilla's foot thumping nervously
"Well, I saw Sonic running back so Tails probably isn't far behind him." Vanilla let out a sigh of relief as some of her stress melted away. A buzzer went off as a door opened up from the dirt on the far side of the room. Sonic could be heard running before slowing down completely as he reached the entrance to the base. Sonic turned back and watched as Tails tripped and rolled down the tunnel leading into their secret base. Sonic held out a hand and stopped his friend before he bumped his head on something. Tails sat up, head spinning dizzily.
"Thanks…"
Vanilla gasped and ran over to the small fox helping him up and constantly making adjustments to his fur. "Miles! Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Are your tails sore? Please tell me Sonic kept an eye on you." Tails let out a squeak, being overwhelmed by Vanilla's immediate and frantic concern.
"Y-yes…it went well…" Vanilla noticed she was smothering the poor fox and let go, regaining composure. She clears her throat.
"Yes, I'm sure Cream and Kimmy would love to hear about it." She turned to Sonic "Was he safe?"
Sonic replied grumpily "As safe as he could be." Seeing the concern return to Vanilla's eyes his tone quickly lightened up. "With me around of course, never took an eye off him, and he played a big part today." Sonic pet Tails on the head ruffling his fur as Tails let out a small yip. Vanilla mellowed out again and fixed Tail's fur.
"Very well…come on Miles, we don't want to keep the girls waiting." Sonic and Tails say goodbye with a fistbump as Sonic walks off, his bright mood slowly dissipating as he rests a hand on the still open wound from the fight with the crystal creature. Sally noticed Sonic's mood and walked over.
"What happened out there? Tails better not have gotten hurt." Sonic let out a sigh, not meeting Sally's worried eye.
"Relax. He's fine…"
"What about everyone else?" Sally presses, as if reading the hedgehog's mind reaches and takes Sonic's chin to make her look at him. Sonic looked back grumpily.
"Twan and Lance are fine…mostly. You can figure out what else happened."
Sally responds with a horrified gasp. "Lara and Jack…?"
Sonic nodded solemnly."I had an idea to get them back, but a certain mutt overruled me"
Sally let out a sigh, patting his shoulder in an attempt to console him. "Sonic…" Sonic was silent.
"Just…I wanna be left alone…" Sonic brushes the chipmunk's hand off of his shoulder and walks off down some hallways leading deeper underground, leaving Sally alone. She sighed and walked off as a cyborg rabbit wiped some sweat off of her brow, looking up from some mechanical work on her arm. She closes up the panel on her arm, puts her brown vest and matching cowgirl hat back on before walking over to Sally.
"What's eatin' Sonic?" The half mechanical rabbit asks as she places her tools down, a southern drawl in her usually cheery voice. Sally noticed the rabbit's left robotic arm was limp, pointing at the metal appendage.
"Uh…Bunnie…your arm?" Bunnie looks down at her arm and chuckles.
"Oops." She pops her arm back into place as it reactivates. "There we go…guess Rotor'll have to check it out later, huh?"
Sally chuckled nervously. "Yeah…" Sally turned around heading towards the entrance.
"Anyways, what's up with Sonic?"
Sally sighs, putting a hand in her head and shaking it, her voice sullen. "Sounds like the mission didn't go well… and both Jack and Lara got captured"
Bunnie gasps."They got Jack?" Sally nods as Bunnie sighs angrily. "Great…is Twan ok at least." The door opened back up and Antoine slid down and landed gracefully on his feet. "Speak of the devil." Antoine makes his way to the girls, quickly saluting the chipmunk.
"Votre Majesté." Sally sighs and chuckles slightly.
"At ease…so how did it go?" Antoine took at ease and turned around and helped Lance into the base. Lance stumbled in and headed over to the med bay for aid with his broken wing. Antoine turned back to Sally and Bunnie, scratching his arm sheepishly.
"Well…we did manage to destroy ze tower. But…"
"Lara and Jack…" Antoine nodded sadly, making Sally sigh. "Great…well at least we took care of that tower…" Sally scratches her forehead.
"Well, at least we can try to sneak in on our next mission. But I'll have to readjust ze lineup for it zough…" Sally groans at the news and shakes her head, turning away from Bunnie and Antoine, oblivious as the coyote's eyes light up.
"Sally! Wait!" Antoine ran up to Sally and held up an information disc. "Jack gave me zis…before he was taken…eet has information about zee informant. Maybe we can track them down and get zem to join?" Sally sighed and smiled, grabbing the disc from Antoine's outstretched hand.
"Thanks Twan…at least we got something out of this." She takes the disc and walks into the war room, leaving Bunnie and Antoine behind.
"I'm goin' ta go talk to Sonic, ya wanna come?"
Antoine huffs and readjusts his collar. "I'd rather train." Bunnie sighed.
"Fine, have fun 'Twan." Antoine walked towards the ladder and then climbed down it. Bunnie turned around and headed down the long winding hallways, past different, near identical, rooms before coming across a room near the end of the hallway. She knocked on the door. Sonic grunted from within.
"It's unlocked…" Bunnie opened the door slowly, entering the room. The walls were covered with posters from various rock bands. A TV sitting in the corner with an old PlayStation plugged in with a stack of CD cases next to it. Sonic was lying on his belly on his racecar bed, playing on a beat up PSP. Bunnie sat on the edge of the bed and took a breath while taking off her hat.
"Everythin' ok Sonic? Ya seem a bit...grumpy." He just played a game on his PSP. "Sonic…"
"It's fine…" Sonic continued to play grumpily, not taking his eyes off the console.
"Look…ya know…"
"I know we can't save everyone, but that doesn't mean we should just give up." He looked back at Bunnie as he put the game console down. "I'm tired of losing people I could easily save." Bunnie sighed.
"Ah know…it sucks, don't it…" Sonic turns around and sits up on the bed.
"How am I supposed to be a hero if I keep letting people get hurt?! Even today, Tails almost got killed by that Egg Rook. Sure, we managed to bust up that tower but we lost two of our best fighters as well." Bunnie listened intently, trying to think of something to cheer Sonic up, her eyes downcast with how the blue blur had been affected by the events of today's raid.
"Well…what's a hero do? Save folks right? Well, that's what YOU do. Always tryin' yer hardest to save people, and always with a big smile on yer face. Ain't that what heroes do?" Sonic sighs and cracks a smile.
"Yeah…I guess you're right. We're at war, and I guess this is something I'll have to get used to." He flips himself over on his bed, arms behind his head as he lies on his back. He looks towards his nightside table and sees a picture of his younger self at a baseball game, sitting with an elderly baby blue hedgehog with a mustache. He grabs the photo and looks at it closer, a more determined look forming on his face as he puts his thumb onto the frame. "And the more I fight, the closer we get to getting everyone back." Bunnie smiles and pats Sonic on the head with her natural hand, rustling his quills with a chortle.
"That's the Sonic I know. C'mon, I'm burning up like an oven, let's go get some soda."
Sonic puts the photo down and races to his door in half a second leaning against the doorframe. "Dibs on the cherry" With seemingly renewed vigour Sonic rushes down the hallway. Bunnie chuckles and shakes her head with a warm smile before she gets up. She puts her hat back out and walks out of the room, shutting off the light and closing the door behind her.
"Atta boy, Blue…but first, let's get you patched up."
Tails followed closely behind Vanilla as they walked along a narrow forest trail. Tails' nose twitched like mad, trying to clear out the residual scents from the battlefield earlier that day. Vanilla smiled looking behind her shoulder at the yellow fox.
"Is everything ok, Miles?" He let out a startled 'Eep' as he noticed what his snout was doing and put his hand over it, nodding frantically to Vanilla.
"Sorry…I just…smelled a lot of bad air earlier." Vanilla chuckled, covering her mouth with one hand while taking some keys out of her purse.
"It's fine, perfectly natural even. I bet you're pretty hungry, aren't you?" The lovingly warm mother asks with a cheery voice, rooting through her purse while the two walk. Tails nodded excitedly, feeling his belly rumble at just the mention of food. "How do chicken wings sound?" Vanilla beams, watching as Tails' twin tails start to wag.
"Really? But we already had them this month."
"You had a big, scary, job today. I think you deserve a reward." Vanilla explains as she reaches behind her, tenderly running her fingers through the fox's fur while the duo reach a large wooden door buried into the side of a hill.
"Could we have them with mint too?" Tails asks eagerly, his wagging tails moving faster behind him, causing Vanilla to giggle again with a loving nod.
"Of course honey." Vanilla puts the key in the lock and opens up the door. The two walk into a living room kitchen combo, with Cream coloring next to a yellow fox girl with a big bushy tail, while a red furred wolf is holding a green rabbit baby, feeding him with a bottle. The little fox girl looks up and gasps before running towards the door and tackle hugging Tails.
"Miles!" She hugs him tight as Tails laughs and falls to the ground. She sniffs the air before sticking out her tongue. "Bleh, you stink." She hops off him and brushes herself off. Vanilla looks down at Tails. He sighs and stands up.
"You knew this was coming, dear."
"I know, I know, I'll get in the tub" He walks across the room and towards a hallway. The baby rabbit fusses as the wolf cradles him to soothe him. Vanilla walks over to the wolf, and takes a small ring bag out of her purse.
"Thanks for everything, Gadget. You've been a big help this past week." She puts the ring bag on the table and takes the rabbit baby who giggles and hugs his mom as she grabs him. Gadget the wolf nods and takes the ring bag.
"Thanks Mrs. V, the girls and little Mint were good today…but, there is one thing though…" Gadget begins, glancing over into the living room at Cream, drawing peacefully on the floor while lying on her belly. Cream looked up from her doodles and gasps, grabbing the paper she was drawing on before hopping to her feet and rushing over to Vanilla.
"Momma!" She hugs her mom tight. Vanilla smiles and looks around the room.
"Cream…where's Cheese?"
"Sleeping, we had something great happen today! I was grabbing some flowers for you when Mister Gadget took us to the woods to play but then a robot snuck up on me and Cheese, but Mister Sonic saved us!" Vanilla's eyes went wide in terrified awe hearing Cream recount the event so nonchalantly, her eyes widening in shock.
"A robot did what?!" She looks over at Gadget who was sweating bullets now.
"Mrs. V. I-Im sorry, we didn't go too far into the woods…she asked to go grab some flowers and was gone for just five minutes. I-I'm sorry…" He holds out the ring bag with a bowed head as Vanilla sighs. She places her hand onto his to stop him and shakes her head, taking a centring breath.
"It's…ok Gadget. No one was hurt, and Cream seems to be fine. You need the rings more than I do. We have plenty." Vanilla's tone is solemn, though she smiles so as to not worry Cream or baby Mint who babbles in his mother's arms.
"A-are you sure?" Gadget looks up sheepishly before his gaze turns back to the bag of rings in his paws. "I-I put Cream in-"
"Yes dear, now go home. I'm sure your mother is waiting." Vanilla interjects quickly, silencing Gadget with a tender pat on his hand.
"Y-yes, ma'am…you're right. Cya later little dude." Mint giggles and babbles, reaching out to his babysitter and grabbing one of Gadget's fingers before he can leave. Gadget cracks a smile before picking up a green backpack by the door and walking out. Vanilla tickled Mint making him giggle more before putting him in his high chair. One of her ears pops up as she listens.
"Miles! I don't hear any water running!" The tub quickly turns on as Vanilla smiles and turns to the girls. Cream holds up a picture, showing a crudely drawn Sonic smashing an egg shaped orb.
"Look momma, I drew mister Sonic!" Cream explains as she holds out the drawing proudly to her mother, Kimmy sitting nearby.
"That's a lovely picture, Cream. But I want you to promise to me to be more careful from now on, ok? I don't want you getting hurt. Mister Sonic won't always be around to save you." Vanilla crouches down to Cream's height, cupping her daughter's face with one hand. Vanilla's voice is calm and assertive, hiding the panic of knowing her daughter was in danger.
"Ok momma. Can Kimmy and I watch some TV? Space Channel Five is gonna start soon!" Cream asks innocently; the seriousness of what had occurred earlier in the day either having not yet registered, or been ignored by the young lop-eared rabbit.
"Alright, but not for too long, Dinner will be ready soon." Cream and Kimmy both nod before running back over to the couch in the living room, flopping on it. They turn the TV on and watch excitedly as the intro to the show begins to play. Vanilla turns towards Mint and boops his nose. "Are you ready to help mommy make dinner?" Mint giggled as his mother gently poked him and responded the best he could, clapping and giggling eagerly.
"Na!" Vanilla exhaled in an attempt to calm herself, stroking the little rabbit's head and got to work taking cooking utensils out of the bottom cupboard and putting them on the countertop.
Meanwhile in the bathroom, Tails stood alone by the tub's edge, watching the steam rising from the water's surface. He poked the tip of his flat foot in the water, wincing as it was too hot. He sighed and stood waiting to hop in the tub and reflected on his day. He wiped at the bathroom mirror with a tail, staring at himself in the mirror thinking back to something Sonic had told the fox once, shortly after they'd started hanging out together.
"It's not the size of the hero that matters, it's what he does that makes the difference." Tails went back to the tub, tested the water again with his foot, and smiled before climbing in; immersing himself in warm bubbles. As Tails closes his eyes, letting the feeling wash over him, the young private begins to calm; the whirlwind of emotions and experiences settling like the patches of Badnik oil and grease that drift off of his fur.
Later that night, with a belly full of soda, Sonic had decided to go out for a run, hoping to clear his own racing mind. He snuck out through the main entrance of Knothole while making sure to shut the door on his way out before he crouched himself into a track pose, using an exposed root as a runner's block. He took a breath before dashing off at the speed of sound, ignoring the pulsing feeling of his wound now wrapped in medical gauze. He ran a few miles in what felt like a few feet. Dashing through the forest and out into the open plains of Green Hills. He ran through the large earthly loop de loops, and soared over sinkholes and crevasse. He practiced his homing attack and spin dash on springs and climbed up and down the sparse palm trees. He spent close to an hour just running around, trying to forget about today and focus on the future, until finally he slowed down, before he stopped, right in the middle of a field. He crashed down looking up at the moon and the stars.
"One day, Uncle Chuck…I'll get you, mom, and everyone back." He took the picture from the frame in his room and looked at it longingly. "One day…" Sonic tucked the picture back into a little bag slung around one shoulder and dangling at his hip before standing up and stretching. He backed up before dashing off back towards the forest. As he was running he heard something large skittering along the ground. He screeched to a halt, squinting his eyes in the low light of the moon Sonic spotted what looked like a shining yellow light in the dense woodland. "What the…?" Sonic maneuvered his way cautiously toward the light. What at first appeared to be an odd flower growing from the ground suddenly snaps toward Sonic, revealing itself to be a camera at the end of a subterranean robot's large, jagged, scorpion-like tail.
Sonic froze, his eyes wide in shock as he felt the earth trembling beneath his feet. In a cloud of dirt and stone emerges a large green beast, a scorpion built from metal wire with camera eyes that shift from a patient yellow to a ferocious red, narrowing in a mimicry of focus upon the machine's Mobian prey. The robot's tail shifts and expands from its small and unassuming shape, thickening with dense metal plating until it was similar in thickness to a palm tree; the camera that had enticed Sonic before now the scope of a large blaster at the tail's end, pointed directly at the panicking hedgehog.
"Great…look pal, let's make this quick. I wanna get home." Sonic's voice had none of his usual humour as he stood back to his feet, wiping the dust from the fur of his belly; instead sounding more defeated, tired, and lacking his trademarked enthusiasm.
Scorpio screeched as its claws opened before the mechanical monster lunged at the hedgehog. He barely managed to dodge as the enormous vices snapped shut, crushing the earth where he once stood. Sonic landed on top of an uprooted tree stump, the tail cannon of Scorpio quickly charging and firing an energy blast at Sonic. Knothole's hero barely managed to jump out of the way as the tree was vaporized where the blue blur was just a moment prior. Sonic landed on the ground, his foot slipping on a patch of loose dirt, using his arm to try and save himself only for it to hyperextend and cause pain to shoot up his arm.
As he started to get up something sucker punched him from behind, knocking him onto the ground. He coughed and slowly got to his feet, seeing a brand new Egg Rook approaching him, glaring with its ruby eyes as the moonlight reflected off of its painted white body. "Two big bots…great…it's gonna be a long night." Sonic got to his feet looking over at the scorpion bot as it slowly approached, prepping its stinger again. then back at the Egg Rook. He cracked a smile, shook his arm and let out a chuckle. Sonic leapt into the air ready to fight, just as the sting hit the ground; covering the field further in dust and ash. "My Kind of Party!"
