Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Matrix ❯ Breaking Free ( Chapter 2 )

Shadow gasped and woke up in a translucent pod filled with reddish-orange gel. He noticed wires hooked to his body and started ripping them off in a panic.

The lid on the pod opened and a small robot hovered over to him, presumably to hook him back in.

Shadow kicked the robot and scrambled out of the pod. He landed on his knees on a cold metal floor and coughed up some of the gel.

Alarms started blaring.

Shadow got to his feet as quickly as he could with his unsteady legs and ran toward a hatch in the wall.

Shadow quickly made his way out of the facility and collapsed as soon as he made it outside.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes.

"Take it easy." Sonia said, stroking Shadow's spines. "You're dehydrated and malnourished."

"What happened?" Shadow asked.

"You've been unplugged." Sonia replied. "Robotnik only feeds you and gives you enough water to keep you alive. I think he feeds you less than he does anyone. You're the most malnourished victim we've ever seen."

"So this is the outside world?" Shadow asked.

Sonia got up and pulled back the curtain, revealing a beautiful sunny day without a green tint. "This is the outside world." She replied. "Robotnik's machines must be under maintenance. They usually give off a ton of fumes."

A few birds landed on the windowsill and chirped.

Sonic came into the room. "Sonia, Tails has a mission for you and Knuckles."

Sonia nodded and headed out of the room.

"As soon as you get your strength up, you'll start training." Sonic said. "Uncle Chuck and Tails are making you some power rings and air shoes. Well, the air shoes were supposed to be for me, but I hate those things. They're like rollerblades. Manic said that you love them."

"How did you find me?" Shadow asked.

Sonic gave Shadow a blank stare. "We unplugged you." He said flatly. "We know where the lab is. As soon as we got the signal, I ran out to get you."

"So you know where the lab is and you don't go in and break everyone out in one fell swoop?" Shadow questioned.

"We're planning on it." Sonic replied. "But we need an army to go against Robotnik and his army of robots. I got swarmed by his robots the last time I tried to do that. So Tails found a way to hack into the system and we freed as many as we could that way. It took forever to find Sonia. Manic was always getting in trouble, so he was easy to find."

"That makes sense." Shadow said.

Sonic got up. "I'll let you rest." He said. "Sonia or Manic will bring you your dinner later."

Manic came in with a bowl of chicken soup. "I don't like soup either, but Tails said you needed to ease into eating solids." He said. He set the bowl on the bedside table.

Shadow took the bowl and tasted the soup.

Manic tapped his fingers on the table, staring off into space.

"What's with you?" Shadow asked.

"Still looking for Jade." Manic replied. "Just found out our Ma died last year. We never got to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry." Shadow said.

"It wasn't your fault." Manic replied. He brushed back his long spines. "Anyway, you'll be able to train in a few months, but you'll have to do some physical therapy as soon as you've got your strength back. Do you want to watch tv?"

"Do you have any history books?" Shadow asked.

Manic got up. "Yeah, by the truck load." He replied. "I'll get them for you."