Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Matrix 2 ❯ Sanctuary ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Shadow flinched and pulled the blanket over his head as someone banged on his and Sonia’s door repeatedly.

 Sonia yawned and threw a pillow at the door. “I know that’s you, Sonic!” She yelled. “Knock it off!”

 “We’re almost at Sanctuary.” Sonic called. “Bunnie made strawberry pancakes for breakfast.”

 Shadow started to get up. “If you don’t-”

 Sonic ran off, creating a sonic boom in the process.

 Shadow stretched his arms. “Smart aleck.” He muttered under his breath. 

 “I hate traveling with him on the airship sometimes.” Sonia said, getting up. “Ignore him. He’s too cocky for his own good and it’ll catch up to him one day.”

 Shadow and Sonia quickly changed clothes and left their room.

 Manic was standing in the hallway of Tails’ airship, Tornado 2.0. “Are you two helping Bunnie with breakfast?”

 “Sonic said breakfast was ready.” Shadow replied.

 “Bunnie just sent a group message out, asking for help in the kitchen.” Manic said.

 Shadow’s lip curled.

 “I’ll handle it if he’s in there and help Bunnie.” Sonia said. She started walking toward the cafeteria.

 Shadow leaned against the wall. “What is wrong with your brother?”

 Manic adjusted his communicator. “Well, Sonia usually attracts some of the weirdest guys and he’s had to deal with every single one of them.” He said. “So it’ll take a while for him to trust you. Two, Tails and Knux have been teasing him by saying you’re faster than he is. He also didn’t like it that you eloped because you haven’t known each other that long and neither of us were invited.”

 Shadow nodded. “I see.”

 Manic adjusted his coat. “I hope we’re in Sanctuary already.” He said. “I’m sick of eating those dehydrated meals. You know what? I’m getting an instant breakfast drink instead.” 

 “Might as well.” Shadow replied. “I don‘t think we have time for an actual breakfast anyway.”

 Shadow and Manic headed for the airship’s control room. 

 “So what’s Sanctuary?” Shadow asked.

 “As many times as we’ve mentioned it, no one’s explained it to you?” Manic asked.

 Shadow narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t have asked if anyone had explained it to me.”

 “Sanctuary is the resistance headquarters.” Manic replied. “We have to check in once in a while, but Sonic makes us go there more often  to go to the chili dog stands and Sonia likes the gourmet coffee place.”

 “I was only told we’re going there to plan an assault on Robotnik’s fortress.” Shadow said.

 Manic raised an eyebrow. “We are?” He asked. “Huh. Sonic was serious about cutting me out of the loop after the D-man thing.”

 Knuckles ran down the hallway toward Shadow and Manic, then skidded to a stop.

 “What’s with you?” Manic asked. “Is Sonic hogging the treadmill again?”

 “Sanctuary was blown up.” Knuckles replied. 

 Manic shook his head in disbelief. “It’s gone?”

 “Pretty much.” Knuckles said. “Sonic wants you two to help with the search and rescue efforts.”

 Knuckles led the way to the airship’s bridge.

  Shadow, Manic, and Knuckles arrived on the ship’s bridge.

 Tails looked up from the Tornado 2.0’s control panel. “Found a safe place to land. We’re landing in two minutes.” 

 “Great.” Sonic said, glancing over his shoulder.

 Manic and Shadow walked over to the window Sonic was looking at.

 Sanctuary, which was a repurposed mall, was nothing but smoldering rubble and twisted pieces of metal.

 Parts of destroyed airships were scattered over the site.

 Manic sighed. “Any survivors?”

 Sonic shrugged. “I couldn’t reach Cyrus or Trevor.” He said, typing on his communicator. “We’re searching the wreckage as soon as-”

 “We’ve landed.” Tails said.

 “Let’s go.” Sonic said. “Tails, you and Bunnie guard the ship. The rest of us will inspect the wreckage.”

 Sally, Bunnie, and Sonia walked in.

 “We’ll go in teams of two.” Sonic said. “Knuckles and Manic; Sonia and… Shadow. Sally, you’ll go with me.”

 

 Shadow and Sonia, wearing goggles and gas masks, wandered around what was left of the lower level of the facility.

 The only lights in the area were from their goggles and their communicators.

 Shadow glanced at a desk and noticed the body of Sonia’s best friend, Mindy, who he only recognized from the few pictures Sonia had. 

 Shadow caught Sonia’s shoulders and walked her further into the facility, away from Mindy.

 “What’s over there that you don’t want me to see?” Sonia asked.

 “Mindy’s dead.” Shadow replied. “You don’t need to remember her like that.”

 Sonia quietly cried as they walked toward what was left of the staircase to the upper level.

 Sonia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before she moved her headset closer to her mouth. “There’s no survivors, Blue Blur; Rogue.”

 “Meet up in the dock in five minutes.” Sonic said.

 Sonia moved her headset away. 

 Shadow and Sonia climbed the stairs.

 “I’ll never understand why we weren’t allowed to change our usernames.” Shadow said.

 “Tails strengthened the security and switched our hacker accounts to something like incognito mode.” Sonia replied. “So Robotnik won’t be able to know when we’ve hacked into the system unless he gets past all the firewalls and encryption.”

 They finally reached the top of the stairs.

 Sonia exhaled loudly.

 Shadow turned to face Sonia. “Are you okay?”

 “I just need a minute.” Sonia said, holding onto the handrail. She started to lean on the handrail.

 The handrail creaked and started to buckle.

 Shadow picked up Sonia and raced off to the meetup.

 The rest of the group was already by the Tornado 2.0. 

 Sonic rolled his eyes as Shadow set Sonia down.

 “Thanks, Shadow.” Sonia said.

 “Are you feeling better now?” Shadow asked.

 Sonia nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 Sonic stepped over to Sonia, giving her a concerned look. “What happened?” He asked. “Are you okay?”

 “It was a long flight of stairs.” Shadow replied. 

 “All that dust probably didn’t help her either.” Manic asked.

 “I only had half a pack of apple chips too.” Sonia replied.

 Sonic activated the keypad on the ship and unlocked the door.

 The group joined Tails in the ship’s deck.

 “I still haven’t found the other ships.” Tails said. “I take it there were no survivors.”

 Bunnie handed Sonia a breakfast drink and walked her over to the latter’s desk.

 Sonic took off his headset. “No survivors; no supplies except for the fuel Knuckles found.”

 Tails dipped his chin to his chest, closing his eyes for a moment. 

 Shadow locked his gun in the locker. “Where do we head to now?” 

 “Lake valley.” Sonic replied. “It’s another resistance safe house.”

 Tails typed in the coordinates and started the ship up again.

 The ship lifted off the ground and headed on its way.

 Shadow walked over to Sonia and knelt down beside her. “Are you feeling better now?” 

 “A little.” Sonia replied. “Are we just going to leave Mindy there?”

 Tails leaned back in his seat. “I’ve sent the clean up crew.” He said. “That was the only ship I’ve been able to reach so far.”

 Knuckles leaned on his desk. “So do we even know if there’s survivors in Lake valley?”

 “I picked up a code from one of the members.” Tails said. “It’s a definite resistance code, but it’s possible Robotnik broke it and is luring us into a trap. I’m engaging with it to see if it’ll slip up or something.”

 Shadow got up and headed to his desk.

 “Oh, Shadow.” Tails said, getting up to stretch. “When you’re done eating, meet me back here. I need to teach you how to use my laptop.”

 “What makes it different from mine or everyone else’s?” Shadow asked.

 “I designed and built it myself.” Tails said, beaming. “From the operating system to the hard drive and everything in between. I believe everyone should learn how to handle all the jobs on the ship in case of an emergency.”

 Knuckles snorted. “Is that so?” He asked. “Then why do you ask me to do all the heavy lifting on the ship?”

 “Why am I the one to relay messages when your communicator’s battery is dead?” Sonic asked.

 “I … uh… well…” Tails stammered. “Hey, neither of you can fly,so I get stuck with any job that requires flight.”

 “How did I get saddled with these lunatics?” Shadow muttered under his breath.