CHAPTER 2
"Brian, you'd better get moving or you're going to be late!"
"I'm on my way, mom," Brian called back. He quickly came out of his
room carrying a duffel bag. As he headed for the door, his mom called out
again. "Are you going to go see Andrea after Tae Kwon Do?"
"No. That's on Friday. She's busy with her studies tonight."
"Oh, OK. I'll see you when you get back then."
"All right. Bye."
Brian paced quickly through the village of Bluebrook, although this was
usually his normal pace. It was a quiet day in the village, typical for a
Wednesday. Still, the weather was pleasant, and Brian noticed that some
children had taken advantage of it and gathered outside of some houses to throw
the ball around. He smiled as he saw one of the kids accidentally throw the
ball over another kid's head. It made him feel good to see that everyone was
happy and having a good time.
A few minutes later, Brian reached a large house on the other side of
the village. This was Bluebrook's Tae Kwon Do facility, where Brian had been
going for the past 5 years. The house showed its age, as it had been there for
over 20 years despite taking its toll from time.
Brian was met by some of his fellow students upon entering the dojo.
"So, the Sonic Whammy has arrived once again," one black belt remarked.
"Good to see you all again," Brian responded as he bowed to the others
in the outside room. "Ready for a real workout tonight?"
"You bet. Gonna see how well you live up to the name of that other
hedgehog."
"I can only hope I'm as good as the stories I've been told. I'll meet
you guys inside."
Brian caught his breath as he came out of the dressing room, relieved
after the hard class. He was met in the outside room by an aged, yet
gentle-faced mouse around his height. It was the grand master of the school,
Master Cha. Master Cha watched and taught all the classes, and tonight was one
of his fiercest trainings to date. He met Brian with a wide grin when he saw
him. "Tired?" he asked in a Korean accent.
"A bit," Brian replied between breaths. "You find ways to make it
tougher all the time."
"I watch you in there. You fight well. You just have to remember stay
relaxed. Let your body relax so your focus wider. No get as tired."
"I am doing my best, Master, but I admit it's not easy to keep up with
you all the time."
Master Cha laughed. "Well, you just need to practice more. When I was
learning, practice 2 hour every day. Build strong focus, strong body, strong
mind. So now, when I practice, never get tired."
"Well, I haven't gotten that far yet, but I've put a lot of time into
this. I've never felt better in my entire life."
Master Cha smiled again. "You good student. All right now, we see you.
Say hello to family and girlfriend."
"I will. Good night, Master," Brian said. They exchanged friendly bows
as Brian picked up his bag and left the dojo.
Brian headed back for home in the twilight sky overlooking Bluebrook.
Brian was taking this trip a little slower so that he could recover from the
workout, and so that he could that admire the stars that filled the sky. He
liked doing this, and he always made it a personal habit to enjoy the view.
Looking afar, Brian noticed a star disappear and reappear a second
later. At first, he passed it off as nothing. But then, he saw other stars
doing the same thing. Brian rubbed his eyes and tried to get a better look. He
saw what looked to be small dark objects flying through the sky, and they
looked like they were headed toward the village. "What the heck..." Brian
muttered aloud.
Before he could think about it any more, he saw those who were on the
streets suddenly screaming and running in a panic. "They're coming!" "Run for
your life!"
Brian stopped one of the people who were running. "What's going on?
What are those things?" he asked.
"SWATbots ships," the panicked Mobian cried out. "Robotnik's raiding
the village!"
"WHAT?!"
Shocked, Brian began to race for home. While running, he watched in
horror as some of the hover units began to land. SWATbots marched from the
ships. They started breaking down doors & smashing windows. Screams were heard
as the SWATbots dragged the Mobians from their homes and into the hover units.
Occasionally, the SWATbots even shot at the homes, setting some ablaze. But
Brian's mind was elsewhere.
On the other end of town, a hover unit landed near a small home. The
SWATbots immediately proceeded to shoot down the door.
"What the...!" a hedgehog male yelled. "What's going on?"
The commotion brought a female hedgehog into the room as well as the
SWATbots broke in and tried to grab the male.
"Wha... honey, watch out!" the female cried out.
The male shot low for the SWATbot's legs. The legs were heavy, but the
bot fell to the floor. The hedgehog tried to get away, but another SWATbot came
and bear hugged him from behind.
"Tom!" The female exclaimed. She ran to the SWATbot, but the other one
then got up and grabbed her. "Ow-- let go!"
"Peg!" Tom yelled. Just then, a crash was heard in the other end of the
house, followed by a scream. "AAAAIIIIEEEE!!!"
"Tracy!" Peg screamed. Moments later, a SWATbot emerged dragging a
white hedgehog female. She struggled along with her parents as the SWATbots
dragged them outside to the hover units.
"Let me go!" Tracy screamed. "Mom, dad, help!"
"Wait a minute! Where's Brian?" Peg said. "Do you think he's OK?"
She got her answer a second later.
"HIIIIIIIII-YA!!!
Brian flew in with a running side kick to the head of the SWATbot that
was holding his mom. The bot's head spun in circles a few times before the bot
fell to the ground. The other two bots immediately faced their attention at the
new hedgehog, letting go of their captives.
"Brian!" Peg exclaimed.
"Guys, I'll hold them off. Run for it!" Brian shouted as the other
SWATbots charged for Brian.
Brian turned to meet the two attackers. He blocked and pushed the first
one aside while going to attack the second one. He ducked the plasma shot the
second one shot, and countered with a punch to the small midsection of the bot.
The bot doubled back, shaken up. The first bot came from behind and grabbed
Brian by the arms. Brian struggled at first, then leaped in the air, flipping
behind the bot and landing a double kick to its back. The bot was pushed
forward and knocked into the second one. They fell, but got back up a moment
later to attack again.
While this was going on, Brian's family went to make a run for it. But
as they started, Tracy tripped underneath the SWATbot that Brian first knocked
down.
"Tracy!" Peg cried. She and Tom turned around to grab her up. But then,
the SWATbot started to get up. In the process, he grabbed at Tracy's leg.
"Aaiee! Get off me!" she cried. Tracy screamed and tried to kick away,
but to no avail. Tom and Peg ran to the bot and tried to pull Tracy free, but
the bot released a plasma blast that caught both parents, stunning them. The
SWATbot, now getting up, picked them up over its shoulder while carrying Tracy
over the other. However, the bot, damaged from Brian's kick, was walking rather
unsteadily towards the hover ship.
Brian saw none of this, as he was continuing to battle the other
SWATbots. He ducked under a swipe from one of them landed a series of punched
to the midsection, making the bot fall. The other then fired at Brian. Brian
sidestepped it, then jumped forward and spun into a full 360 spin followed by a
roundhouse kick. The kick knocked the bot's head clean off, and the bot fell,
sparks coming from where its head used to be.
Quickly, Brian turned his attention to the other bot, which was just
getting up. He ran for it and took a leaping side kick to its upper chest
before it could react. Then, while down, Brian raised his foot and slammed it
on the bot's head, crunching it. The bot fell limp.
Brian slumped over to catch his breath. Then, he heard a scream. It was
Tracy.
"AAAIIIEEE!!!"
Brian turned around to see the SWATbot carrying his family into the
hover unit.
"Brian, help!"
"Tracy!" Brian yelled as he started to make a run for the ship. But as
he started, the SWATbot had entered the ship, and the door was starting to
close. By the time Brian got to the ship, the door was shut.
Brian banged on the door. "Egh! Open up! Mom! Dad! Tracy!"
But the ship did not answer his cry. Moments later, the ship took off
and started to fly away. Brian watched as other ships began to fly away as well.
"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Brian fell to his knees and continued to watch in horror as the ships
flew away. Brian sank his head into his hands and cried as the ships
disappeared on the horizon.
The following morning, the sun rose over a village in shambles. The
signs of a ravaged Bluebrook were clearly visible. Many homes were damaged,
with doors broken down and windows were smashed in. Some houses were even
burned to the ground by SWATbot fire. Nearby trees were destroyed as well. It
was also an emptier village, as many of the citizens were captured in the
SWATbot invasion. Surprisingly, though, at least half the village survived,
with the far part of the city virtually untouched.
Brian awoke with a shiver. He wasn't cold. It's just not easy to sleep
in your bed when all your windows are shattered. Besides, Brian had other
things on his mind to make him shiver. He had to figure out what was going to
happen next.
Brian decided to go to the house of his girlfriend, Andrea, who lived
nearby. When he got there, he saw a little damage to the house, but nothing
incredible. Brian sighed, thanking the heavens that they made it through.
Andrea was outside already, and she met Brian with a big hug of relief.
"Oh, Brian, I'm so glad you're all right!"
"Me, too, Andrea," Brian replied, returning the fox's hug. "Me too. Is
everyone else OK?"
"Yeah. Dad shot and fought off a couple of those big robots. They broke
the door down and got a couple shots on the house, though."
"Yeah, I can see." Brian could see Andrea's father, a muscular lion,
surveying the damage. He spotted Brian and waved. "Um... Brian, hi," he called.
"Hey, Mr. Andy, Brian replied. The greeting sounded a little odd, but
it was his way of addressing Andrea's father. "Andrea told me that things are
under control here thanks to you."
"Yeah, they got the door and shot the house a little, but we're fine.
Is your family all right?"
"Well... that's what I came to talk about..."
"What?!"
That was all Andrea - or anyone - could say after hearing Brian's story
of the night before. Her parents were equally astonished.
"Oh my..." Andrea's mom, also a fox, said. "So what are you going to do
now?"
"What else can I do, Ms. Louise? I've gotta find them," Brian said.
"How?" Andrea asked. "You can't just go into Robotropolis. Robotnik
will get you, too."
"Exactly. I know that I can't do it alone, but I have to go after them.
They're my family and I can't just leave them."
"Well, why don't you go and find Sonic and see if he can help you?"
Andy said.
"Dad, now is not the time to make jokes," Andrea commented.
"No, Andrea, wait," Brian replied. "He's right."
"What?" Andrea said sarcastically. "You're kidding, right?"
Brian shook his head.
"Brian, how are you going to do that? You can't just go off and expect
to find him around the corner or something."
"I know that, Cutie, but this could be a great idea. I mean, you've
heard the stories. You know what Sonic's been able to do. Hey, even the guys at
Tae Kwon Do have thought good enough of me and my abilities to nickname me the
Sonic Whammy. That's gotta stand for something."
"So you're gonna do this because of some nickname that your friends
gave you?" Andrea asked with a hint of agitation.
"No, that's the farthest reason from it. I'm doing this because I want
to find my family, and because Mr. Andy is right. If there's anyone that can
help me get them back, Sonic can." He paused, then spoke again with an air of
concern in his voice. "I know you don't like this idea, Cutie, but this is for
the sake of saving my family's lives. I have no other choice but to do this."
Andrea began to shiver. "Oh, Brian, Sweetie," she said in a tiny voice.
"Don't go. I don't want you to get hurt."
Brian got up and hugged Andrea. "Cutie," he said as he held Andrea's
face up to his. With caring eyes, he softly replied. "I promise you that I'll
be all right."
"But what if you don't come back to me?"
"With the Almighty as my witness, I will come back for you. You are
never going to lose me. Believe me when I say I love you."
Andrea gave a sad nod. Brian gave her a kiss to seal the pact. "I love
you, Andrea."
"I love you, Brian."
"So do you know where you're going, Brian?" Louise asked.
"Well, that's the trick," Brian replied. "I know from the stories that
I was told that Sonic and the rest of them are somewhere around the Great
Forest, but no one knows for sure. Still, I'll have to start there.
"So when will you be going?"
"The sooner, the better. I can't afford to lose any time, so I had
better get packing. If you guys want to help, I'd be thankful."
"Of course, Brian," Andy said. "Just say the word."
"Thanks."
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