CHAPTER 5
In the heart of Robotropolis, a door opened to a large chamber, at the
center of which stood a mechanized platform. SWATbots entered the door, two
carrying the limp body of Brian. On the other side of the chamber, another door
opened, revealing Doctor Robotnik. He walked across the room as the SWATbots
stood there, still holding Brian by the arms.
"So... this is our little intruder," Robotnik chuckled to himself.
"This should prove entertaining. Release him!" The SWATbots dropped him to the
floor in a heap.
Brian's body began to stir after being dropped. "Ugh..." he murmured,
shaking his head. He looked up and around the room groggily before fixing on
Robotnik. "What the..."
"Seize him!" Robotnik ordered, and the SWATbots quickly grabbed Brian
again before he could react. Brian struggled but couldn't free himself. "Ah,
it's so nice of you to come this evening," he said to Brian.
"What's going on here? Who the heck are you?!" Brian blared out, a
trace of fear in his voice.
"I am Doctor Robotnik, ruler of Robotropolis, and soon, the entire
world," he bellowed, spreading his arms wide. "And you are a trespasser in my
city. Why have you come here?"
"I came for my parents," Brian responded, now with an angry tone. "You
took them from my home in Bluebrook and I've come to find them. Where are they?"
"I do not know who you are talking about, little hedgehog. I have only
seen two other hedgehogs in my time other than you. But then, when a man of my
power sees so many poor Mobians become my mindless slaves," he added with a
chuckle, "It's easy to lose track."
Brian was getting angrier and more frightened at Robotnik's words. "I'm
not amused," he droned.
"Oh, but you see, I AM amused. Very much so, in fact, for you are an
intruder, and for that, you must be punished." He looked up to the SWATbots.
"Throw him in the roboticizer."
The two drones carried Brian toward the platform in the center of the
room. Moments later, however, they were bowled over by a blue blur that came in
from behind. As the bots and Brian fell, Sonic stood in front of them.
"Hey, Buttnik, is that any way to treat your guests?"
Robotnik looked surprised at Sonic's appearance. "Where did you come
from?" He demanded. "No matter. SWATbots, get that hedgehog!"
Sonic was ready for this. He quickly went into a buzzsaw spin and
leaped over Robotnik to the other end of the chamber. Robotnik turned around to
face his adversary again.
"Surround the hall! Don't let him escape!" The SWATbots spread out,
circling the chamber, each one arms raised to fire their beams. "You're trapped
now, hedgehog. There's no way you can get out this time."
"Then you don't know me very well, Doc," Sonic taunted after a pause.
"Go for a spin on me!" He revved up and circled the room, creating a small
whirlwind. Robotnik and the SWATbots were picked up in the current and sent
flying.
Sally, Bunnie and Antoine watched from outside the doorway where Sonic
came in. Seeing that Sonic had the situation in hand, Sally motioned to the
others. "Now's our chance," she said, as the three went over Brian, who was
just starting to get up. "Are you OK, Brian?" Sally asked.
"I think so," Brian said, holding his back as he stood. "Better now
that you're here, though.
"Good, then let's get you out of here." The four ran back out the door
while Sonic continued his cyclone.
"So what did you guys find out?" Brian asked as they continued to run.
"I found nobody in the prison cells."
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, Brian," Sally replied.
Brian immediately stopped running. A look of concern crossed his face.
"Oh no, please don't tell me they've been roboticized."
"Worse. We couldn't find them at all."
"What?! Tell me you're kidding!"
Sally shook her head. "I'm afraid so. Uncle Chuck found no hedgehogs
listed among those roboticized in the last four days. It's as though your
family was never even here."
Brian was completely shocked at this point. "But that's impossible!
They couldn't have just disappeared! Unless..."
"Unless that hover unit never reached Robotropolis."
"Do you know if there's any way to check?"
"I was thinking the same thing. Uncle Chuck couldn't find any
information in the computer on that, either. Only one way to find out now,"
Sally said, reaching for Nicole. "Nicole, locate the nearest hover unit factory
from here."
"SEARCHING, SALLY," Nicole droned. A projection of Robotropolis
appeared with a red dot flashing at a certain spot. "NEAREST FACTORY IS ONE
QUARTER MILE EAST OF HERE."
Just then, Sonic sped into the corridor. "Robuttnik's out on his feet.
We'd better hightail it outta here."
"Not yet, Sonic. There's one more thing we've got to do. Nicole will
show you way," Sally said, handing over the computer.
Suddenly, alarms began to blare throughout the building. "Sounds like
we'd better juice," Sonic said. Everyone grabbed on as Sonic sped off on the
path Nicole showed.
A minute later, the five arrived at the hover unit factory.
"Sal, what are we doing here?" Sonic asked as he returned Nicole to
Sally. "SWATbots are gonna be here any second."
"This will only take a second, Sonic," Sally replied as she pressed a
button on the wall of the factory, revealing a terminal. Plugging Nicole into
the base of the terminal, she said, "Nicole, locate records on hover units
deployed during the Bluebrook invasion 4 days ago. Crack all codes necessary to
retrieve the information."
"SEARCHING, SALLY. ESTIMATED DOWNLOAD TIME: 3 MINUTES," Nicole said as
numbers began to run across her screen. Brian watched intently, sweating a
little.
"Better act quick, Sally-girl," Bunnie called. "Ah see SWATbots comin'
this way."
"We have to hold them off. Nicole isn't done yet."
Bunnie and Sonic turned their attention back in the other direction,
eyeing the advancing SWATbots. "Here they come, sugarhog," Bunnie said.
"Let's do it to it, Bunnie," Sonic winked back. The two charged to meet
the horde. Sonic struck first, taking two out with a Sonic Spin. Bunnie ducked
a plasma shot from a SWATbot and punched through its midsection with her
robotic fist, sending sparks flying.
The other SWATbots fired from their rifles as well. A few shots strayed
from the melee and hit the SWATbot factory where the others were standing.
Antoine screamed in fear and jumped behind the nearest garbage pile he could
find.
"Antoine, come back here!" Brian said, but stopped himself before he
ran after him. He looked on toward Sally, who was still waiting for Nicole to
finish. He glanced over at Sonic and Bunnie continuing to battle the SWATbots.
They were holding their own, but there were still more coming.
"I've gotta help them, Princess," Brian called.
"No, Brian, you're hurt," Sally said. "Your back will never hold out."
"It'll hurt even more if I don't find out that information. I'm going
in!" he replied as he ran by Bunnie's side.
"Brian, what are y'all doing here?" Bunnie asked as she punched out
another bot.
"Thought you could use a lift," Brian said. A SWATbot tried to grab its
new target, but Brian met it with a blow to its midsection, then a flying side
kick, taking the SWATbot down. He quickly grabbed one of his sais and planted
it in the bot's head, shorting it out.
"Ah like your style, Brian," Bunnie called as she tripped another bot
with a leg sweep. "Have one on me."
"With pleasure," he said as planted his sai into the new bot's head.
Meanwhile, Bunnie extended her robotic fist to take out another SWATbot. The
two continued battling along with Sonic, and the SWATbot forces began to
dwindle.
Sally watched as Nicole began to respond. "DOWNLOAD COMPLETE, SALLY,"
she droned.
"What are the results, Nicole?" Sally asked.
Before Nicole could respond, a plasma blast exploded at the wall again,
throwing her back.
"Sal!" Sonic yelled. He eyed the SWATbot that fired the shot and
destroyed it with a Sonic Spin. He started to run for Sally.
"Sonic, duck!" Brian called as a bot was about to fire at Sonic from
behind. Sonic ducked the blast, and before he could turn around, Brian
decapitated the SWATbot with a 360 spin kick. When he landed, however, he was
clutching at his back.
Sonic saw that Brian was hurt. He scooped him up and rushed toward
Sally, who was just getting up. Bunnie began to withdraw as well. Five SWATbots
remained, and the Freedom Fighters were huddled together as they marched in.
"Nowhere to go but through them," Sonic said. "Ready for the big
finish, Bunnie?"
"Ready," Bunnie replied.
"Ready," Brian sternly replied, drawing his sais as he slowly stood up.
The others cast a worried glance at him momentarily.
The SWATbots halted in front of the group. "SURRENDER, FREEDOM
FIGHTERS!" they droned.
"On three, guys," Sonic whispered. "One, two, THREE!"
Simultaneously, Sonic plowed through two of the bots with a Sonic Spin,
Bunnie plowed her metal fist through another, and Brian threw his sais into the
heads of the remaining two. The five bots all fell to the ground in a mangled
heap.
"That takes care of them," Sonic said.
"Wait! Where's Antoine?" Sally asked.
Whimpering, Antoine appeared from behind the garbage pile. "Ze SWATbots
are blowing ze big one?"
"You mean, 'bit the big one', Ant," Sonic said.
"Is everyone OK?" Sally asked.
"No..." Brian groaned as he fell to one knee. Bunnie helped him back to
his feet.
"Whoa, you're not looking so hot, Brian," she said. "We'd better get
you back to Knothole."
"Leave that to me. Let's juice outta here," Sonic said, carefully
lifting Brian as everyone else latched on from behind. A sonic boom later, they
were gone.
As they ran, Brian was cringing from the pain in his back. Yet in the
back of his mind, he didn't know which hurt more at that moment - his body or
his soul.
The following morning, sunlight appeared through the tall trees
surrounding Knothole. A new day began just like the ones before it.
Brian groaned as the sun's beams shone through the window. He tried to
turn over, only to feel a pain coming from his back. Rolling back again, Brian
opened his eyes and looked to find himself on a bed in the medical facility in
Knothole. He slowly brought himself up to a sitting position and took a look
around the room. His weapons belt was resting nearby the window, with his sais
back in their holsters. No one else was there. "Hello?" He called out.
Receiving no response, he rested back down against the recline of the bed.
A few minutes later, the door to Brian's room opened as Rotor walked
in. "Good morning, Brian," Rotor called.
"Hey, Rotor, what's up?" Brian replied.
"Oh, not much. Came over as soon as I heard you. How are you doing?"
"Eh... I've been better." Brian sighed. "So what am I looking at?"
"Well, Nicole says you have some strained muscles in your lower back
from the SWATbot blast and the stress you put on it afterward. It's gonna take
a couple of weeks to heal up."
Brian buried his head in his hands with another sigh. "Things can't get
any worse than this," he groaned. "Am I stuck in here for that whole time?"
"No, I just need to have Nicole do a couple readouts on you and then
you can go."
"Better than nothing, I guess. Any good news for me, Rotor?"
"Well, are you up for some visitors?" Rotor asked.
Brian lifted his head and rested back on the recline of the bed. "Yeah,
I'd like that," he finally said.
Rotor went and opened the door. "OK, guys, c'mon in," he called. A few
moments later, Sonic, Sally and Bunnie entered the room.
"Hi, Brian," they all said in unison.
"Hi, everyone," Brian replied heavily as the others circled the bed.
"How are you feeling, Brian?" Sally asked.
"After everything that happened last night, I really don't know. I just
wish I knew what happens now."
"Yes, you almost got roboticized yourself. I warned you about what
might happen."
"Yes, Princess, and I apologize for disobeying your order. But I had to
try. I wouldn't know what happened to my family otherwise."
"Actually, we still don't know," Bunnie spoke up. "We nevah checked
that file Nicole got last night."
"Oh my gosh, you're right, Bunnie!" Sally said. She quickly pulled out
Nicole. "Nicole, do you still have the file on the Bluebrook invasion?"
"AFFIRMATIVE, SALLY."
"Playback."
"FILE INDICATES 100 HOVER UNITS WERE DEPLOYED TO BLUEBROOK. 99 UNITS
WERE RECALLED TO BASE. 1 UNIT FAILED TO RETURN. STATUS OF UNIT IS UNKNOWN."
The room was silent for several seconds. Everyone turned and looked at
Brian. His face just sank upon hearing the report, and the others could tell
that his heart had sunk as well. Sally was the first to finally speak. "I'm
sorry, Brian. I know finding your family meant a lot to you."
Brian sighed. "Don't be sorry, Princess. I'm the one who got caught.
Besides, there was nothing that we could've done, I guess."
"That's not true, Brian. If we hadn't gone into Robotropolis, you would
have never known what happened to your family. You've shown a lot of courage to
come this far and do all this. Others would have given up hope long before
this."
"Yeah, and you were great last night against those SWATbots," Sonic
said. "You're way past cool in my book."
Brian cracked a smile. "Thanks," he said. "You don't know how much your
help has meant to me."
"So what are you going to do now, Brian?" Sally asked. "You're welcome
to stay in Knothole if you'd like."
"Well, to tell you the truth, I can't. I still have Andrea waiting for
me back in Bluebrook. My home is there. Besides, I'm not a Freedom Fighter like
all of you. I'm just a guy who wants to get his family back."
"We're all in the same boat as you, sugah," Bunnie interrupted.
"There's nothin' that we all wouldn't do to see our folks again. Near as ah can
see, you're just as much one of us."
The other Freedom Fighters nodded in agreement.
"You mean that?" Brian asked.
"You bet!" Sonic replied with a thumbs-up.
"Well, I'll tell you what, guys. Since I'm gonna be healing up for the
next couple of weeks, I'll stick around. At least then, I can get back up on my
feet before I trek back to Bluebrook."
"Oh, you don't have to walk back," Sally said. "Dulcy can fly you home
if you want."
"Who?"
"Dulcy's one of our friends. She's a dragon, so she could fly you back
to Bluebrook. She's away now, but she'd be glad to help once she returns."
"Heh... looks like I have some more faces to recognize while I'm here.
Sounds cool, though. Thank you, Princess."
"Please, call me Sally," she replied.
Brian nodded. "Very well... Sally. I accept your offer."
Rotor then stepped forward. "Um... guys, I hate to interrupt, but I
need to run those tests on Brian now. Sally, I'll need Nicole for that."
Sally nodded. With that, everyone turned for the door. They exchanged
good-byes with Brian as they left. Now alone again in the room, Brian relaxed
back on the bed and looked outside the window of the hut, seeing the trees
gently swaying in a light breeze. He sighed at the sight.
"This isn't over yet..." he thought. "Somewhere, someday, we'll be
together again."
THE END
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