Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik Wars ❯ The Freedom Fighters ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Two

The Freedom Fighters

Sally entered the hut again early in the morning and gently prodded the lump on the bed.

Grunt.

“Hey, wake up. Look… I'm sorry about what happened last night but you have to understand. We just don't get any humans around here so…” she tailed off as the lump began to extricate itself from the sheets that were to small for it. Sally winced and felt a wave of guilt wash over her when she saw his bloodshot eyes.

“Someone didn't bother you did they? No… I guess that was me huh?” Robert scowled and gave a curt nod.

“I'm sorry about that, but we have to be very careful, what with Robotnik and all. We started off on the wrong foot. I'm Sally Acorn,” she said holding out a hand. In the daylight, Robert was able to get a better look at her. She had to be roughly four and half feet tall if he was any judge of height, She wore her trademark blue vest and blue boots, but she was also wearing a white T-shirt and jean shorts. Other than that, her features were practically identical to the ones he knew from the comic and the cartoon.

“Robert Hayes,” he grunted, with a guarded look on his face.

“I am really sorry about what happened last night…”

“It's fine,” yawned Robert, “you've got security to worry about. What I want to know is… WHAT IN THE CRAPPIN' SMEG AM I DOING HERE?!”

“I think we should go outside and talk about this with the others,” said Sally a little taken aback.

“The others?” You mean the other Freedom Fighters?” asked Robert, feeling nauseous again.

“Well yes,” said Sally, “Come on.”

“I can't go out there!” said Robert pointing to the door.

“Why not?”

“'Cause I'm in my night clothes,” said Robert, standing up and reveling his mesh shorts and overlarge T-shirt with a picture of Mars on it.

“Oh. Well that should be fine for now, don't worry. Come on, let's go.” Robert tried to follow her out the door, but he didn't realize that the door was about a foot shorter then he was and he cracked his head on the too small frame. Growling he rubbed his head and stepped out. For the briefest of moments he felt what Neil Armstrong probably felt like as he took the first steps onto a brave new world.

The rest of the Freedom Fighters, Sonic, Tails, Sasha Acorn, Bunnie, Rotor, and Antooine stood on the grass outside the hut. So far only Rotor had seen the Overlanders up close. They were all feeling very nervous, since none of them were old enough to remember the Great War between human Overlanders and Mobians. The one thing they did know was that the Overlanders had nearly wiped out the Mobians. They snapped their gazes to the door as it opened and Sally walked out. She was followed by a large shape that bumped its head on the door frame. It paused, rubbing its head, and then stepped out into the muted sunlight of Knothole Village and the Great Forest. The Overlander was a good height, probably six feet exactly. As Sonic recalled, Overlanders were on average about six and half feet tall and very broad in the chest and shoulders. Either this guy was a midget or very young. The human and the Freedom Fighters stared at each other.

Rob's brain had locked up again. He looked like one of those vegetable people that have to be kept on life support. Sally tapped his arm and he snapped back to reality. He sank down to the ground and put his head between his knees as his world began to lose focus.

“Are you all right?” asked Sally as the other Freedom Fighters crowded `round. Sally waved them back as Robert slowly began to rise to his feet. He stared back into those faces from his childhood that he knew so well. They were almost the exact same, the one major difference was, like Sally; they all wore clothes of some sort. Sonic didn't have a shirt though, as his spikes prevented it. But those jeans had to have been a custom fit. The only ones who didn't look any different, except for the fact that they were real, were Bunnie and Antoine. Bunnie's legs, pelvis, and left arm were all robotic and she was wearing the pink tube-top that he remembered. Antoine was of course, wearing his Royal Guard uniform. I wonder how many of those he has, thought Robert. After the awkward silence had played out for a few more moments, Robert gave a little wave and said “Hi!”

There was an immediate uproar. Everyone started asking questions at once.

`Whoa, whoa, whoa, one at a time people, one-at-a-time, please,” yelled Robert, a little louder than he meant to.

“I think that it would be better if we continued this discussion somewhere else, the mess hall perhaps?” announced Sally in a clear, commanding voice. Everyone nodded and they made their way towards the central part of Knothole Village. Robert was astonished. If he didn't know any better he would swear that he was on Earth. But he knew he wasn't.

Knothole, as Robert saw it, looked like a fusion between the version shown in the comics and the one in the TV show. It was settled in a natural valley within the forest that was hidden by gigantic oak trees. At the moment they were walking through a grassy area covered in different sized huts. They all followed the same design, with one circular wall, circular windows, and cone-shaped, straw-thatched roofs. As Robert and the Freedom fighters walked on they came to what Robert guessed was the town center. There was a single, Titan-sized redwood here, its base 50 feet in diameter. The gargantuan trunk disappeared into the other trees' branches, but the canopy of this tree must've begun not to far above the others. At the base of the tree were a bunch of covered pavilions, their awnings made of what seemed to be white tarp. Robert guessed that they must've served as a gathering place for the mobians. Sally led them under one of the awnings and into a huge, hollowed out room that could only be the mess hall. It looked remarkably like a wooden school cafeteria. Sally directed them to sit at a table near the door. And so a heavy silence descended on the Freedom Fighters and the man from Earth.

The silence was so thick that it could have been cut like a roast. Sally, ever the princess, was the first to speak.

“Well, before we start letting you run around Knothole, free as a bird, we need to have a little chat with you. We need to know where you came from, who you are, and why you're here,” she said.

Robert stared around the table at the faces he knew so well from his boyhood. He gulped and prepared for the most difficult speech of his entire life.

“Well, um… I have to tell you guys something straight out. About my story well… um, you're probably not gonna believe it, it's that crazy. Okay, here goes…” he took a very deep breath, like he was about to SCUBA dive or jump out of a plane, and then prepared to tell them everything, “I am not from this world.” He paused, letting the statement sink in.

And so he told them everything about himself, and about the events leading up to his arrival here on Mobius. When he had finished the Freedom Fighters sat there and stared at him, as if he were some sort of freak. Robert couldn't blame them. If the situation were reversed, he knew he would've had a very hard time believing this sort of stuff, although he liked to think that he was more open-minded than most people. What he was really afraid of was that they would think him a loony and dump him to rot in whatever passed as a jail in Knothole. He was also afraid that they would have some means of sending him back. He didn't know why, but part of him wanted to stay in this place. Eventually Sally spoke up.

“We have had some experience dealing with other dimensions and vortexes. A couple of months ago we found out what had happened to my father, that he was trapped in the Void.” At this point her gaze began to shift around and she bit her lip slightly, as if getting ready to say some thing unpleasant, “we will have to scan you for Void particles to confirm this, but for now we'll take you at your word.”

Robert leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. At least they believed him about the portal part.

“About this country you live in, what was it called again?” piped up Tails who had been sitting next to Sasha Acorn and listening with wide eyes. Rob smiled and sat up again. This would be a good way to break the ice.

“I live in Florida, which is one of the states that makes up the United States of America.”

“Who leads your country?” asked Sally.

“We have a President that's in charge of the executive branch of the government, but he isn't, you know, the supreme ruler. He has Congress and the Senate working with him…”

And so the questioning went. The mobians' curiosity had been piqued and now it seemed that they wanted to know everything there was to know. Rob was happy to answer their questions partly because it was turning out to be a pretty darn good icebreaker. After about fifteen minutes Sally stood up announced that they should take Robert over to the infirmary.

“Why do I have to go there?” asked Rob.

“Like I said, we need to test your blood to make sure you are who you say you are and scan your body for Void particles.”

“That means a shot doesn't it?”

“Yes it does.”

“Oh man!! I HATE needles!” And so they left the mess hall and walked off in the direction of the infirmary, with Sally and a very enthusiastic Sonic, who began telling Rob about all the events of the REAL Great War. The rest of the Freedom Fighters moved off. Only one stayed behind and did not look at all happy. Sasha Acorn.