Chapter 2:
Emergence

*** Robotropolis, One Week Earlier ***

"So what's the big emergency, Unc?" Sonic tapped his foot impatiently on the
ground, kicking up dust on the dirt floor.

"I don't know, Sonny, that's why I called you." Chuck gestured towards Sally.
"I was actually hoping Nicole might be able to shed some light on what I've found."

Sonic, Sally Acorn, and Bunnie Rabbot were inside Sir Charles's hideout,
concealed deep within the piles of junk in Robotropolis's largest trash dump. Charles
himself was sitting aside one of the many computers in the room, his headphones still
connected to the device. It was tapped into a bug placed just outside Robotnik's control
room. Sonic stood next to his Uncle's chair, while Sally stared at several of the devices
and frowned. Bunnie was seated in a corner, silent but listening intently.

"So what have you found?" Sonic asked anxiously.

"Robotnik's been busy in his lab for the past several days, so I haven't managed
to find out what he's been doing. However, when I have seen him, he was terribly
excited. I think something big's going down, guys."

Sonic grimaced. "So that's it? Robotnik starts acting jumpy, and you call us
down here?"

"Huh?" Chuck looked away from his computer for a moment. "No, no, of course
not. I've also found this." He punched a few buttons on the keyboard, and one of the
blank monitors began to glow with life. An array of numbers appeared on the screen,
blinking and constantly changing in almost random patterns.

"And that is..."

"These are charts of the energy emissions continually coming from Robotnik's
lab. I know it looks like gibberish to you, Sonny, but trust me, these are unusual."
Chuck's metal finger tapped the display, indicating several series of numbers. They
blinked and changed in a pattern. "Several of the higher frequencies-"

"You're starting to sound like Nicole, Unc."

"Listen for a moment, Sonic! Several of the higher frequencies are fluctuating in
harmonics... it's almost the exact pattern you would need to create something like a
hologram, except on a much larger scale..." Chuck trailed off when he saw the look of
utter perplexity on Sonic's face.

"I think I know what you're talking about, Sir Charles," Sally interjected. "Sonic,
don't you remember anything Julayla taught us?"

"Of course not, Sally," Sonic said bluntly.

"Fine. Try and follow along. Any form of energy that travels in a wave - light,
radio, sound, etcetera - can be made to transmit in harmonic frequencies. Harmonics are
what make those bands so easy for us to manipulate. Nicole, for instance, transmits
several frequencies of light and harmonizes them, so she can manipulate the light and
create holograms. She only has tiny speakers, too, so she creates and manipulates sound
harmonics to make her voice louder."

Sonic wasn't listening. "Keep going," he yawned.

Sally groaned. "What this means is that Robotnik's trying to manipulate some
kind of energy band in his lab, so that he can use it for his own purposes."

*That* much, Sonic understood. "Sounds mondo ugly."

"It could be," Uncle Chuck said. "I haven't been able to figure out what he's
been trying to manipulate, though. In my limited experience with harmonics, I've never
seen anything like this pattern. That's why I asked you to bring Nicole, Sally."

"Right." Sally bent down, and unclipped the hand-held computer from her belt.
It obediently flipped open.

"READY, SALLY."

She held Nicole's case up to Chuck's frantically flashing computer monitor.
"Nicole, scan through these numbers and tell me what the energy levels indicate."

Nicole paused for a moment, then spoke again. "THE RADIATED ENERGIES
ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE ASSOCIATED-"

Sonic scowled.

"-WITH THE VOID."

Bunnie gasped. "The Void? Y'all mean that place where Ari was sucked into?"

Sally took Nicole away from the monitor, and nodded sadly. "And where
Daddy..." she was unable to finish.

Bunnie stood up, and walked over to join Sally. "But Ah thought that Robotnik
didn't want to touch the Void. Isn't he deathly afraid of Ixis Naugus?"

"I know, it doesn't make any sense..." She held Nicole up again. "Any
explanations, Nicole?"

"THE FREQUENCIES ARE *SIMILAR*" Nicole stressed. "THEY ARE NOT
AN EXACT MATCH."

Sonic was still trying to make sense of this, but had deciphered enough to have a
general idea of what was going on. "You were right, Unc. This is important."

"Thank you for bring this to our attention, Sir Charles," Sally said, genuinely
grateful. "If there's any chance of rescuing my fa- the King, then we have to take it."

"That's right, Sally-girl," Bunnie said. "I say we do it."

"First we have to know where we're going." Sally frowned. "As I recall...
Robotnik's lab, the one in his castle, is heavily guarded. SWATbots at every entrance,
and more available to cut off an escape route if anything goes wrong."

"No prob, not for the hedgehog," Sonic grinned.

"But we shouldn't have to tangle with them," Sally finished. "Like almost
everything in Robotropolis, there's plenty of air ducts connecting everything that we can
sneak through. We just have to find one of them."

Sally scratched her chin for a moment, and then she remembered one of her
father's last gifts. She had found it almost a year ago, in the Dark Swamp's Ironlocke
Prison. It was a map of Robotropolis's underground tunnels and duct systems.

"Nicole, pull up file 'Sub-Ter'. We have a plan!"

***

"Snively!"

Snively squeaked, and spun around. He hadn't seen Robotnik come up behind
him. The fat man glared down at him, red eyes burning. He looked angry.

"Y-yes, sir?" he said subserviently, hands folded in front of him. Years ago, he
had learned that the best technique to avoid another beating was to look as harmless as
possible. Of course, when a person was as unpredictable as Robotnik, he had found
sometimes that the very act of *looking* harmless could provoke another violent
outburst. This happened less often, though.

Robotnik's index finger was leveled downwards at Snively's face, like it was a
loaded weapon. "When will the emitter be operational?"

"Oh, just a few more minutes," Snively looked up Robotnik's angry metal fist,
"sir!"

The anger flooded off of his uncle's face, and Snively felt his shoulders sag in
relief. "That's very good, Snively. Very good."

"Yes, sir," Snively agreed, turning back to the laboratory computers. Robotnik
had placed him in charge of overseeing the construction of test emitter machine. In the
room beyond, visible through a plate glass window, roboticized worker bots swarmed
machine the size of a table. Their forms blocked the view of the exposed piles of circuit
boards and tubing, but two large glass-like prongs shot out from the side of the machine,
pointing towards an empty wall.

Robotnik paced the room for a while, then he found a chair large enough to
support his immense form and sat down. "This is really starting to excite me, Snively.
Can you imagine the prospect?"

"Yes, sir," Snively said again, doing his best to fake anticipation.

"Whole other worlds are out there, Snively..." he chuckled for a moment. "Why,
just think of what we could do if we set up mining facilities on one other world? Just one
more? We'd have twice as much mineral resources!"

"Yes, sir."

"Why, we could finish the construction of the Doomsday Project in half the
time!"

"Yes, sir."

Robotnik's face twisted into anger, demonstrating to Snively once more just how
volatile his uncle's moods could be. "STOP saying 'yes, sir', Snively!"

Snively squealed. "Uh... of course I will, sir!"

Robotnik frowned, and growled. "Have you also taken a look at the schematics
I've sent you? My plans for an improved emitter device?"

Snively ground his teeth. "Oh... no, sir. I'm afraid I didn't have the time, so I
forwarded them to Commander Packbell, and told him to look at them."

"Snively," Robotnik said testily, "Are you saying that my schematics aren't
*worth* your time?"

Snively's eyes widened, recognizing the trap when he saw it. "No, sir!" he
exclaimed. "It's just that I, uh, I mean that, well I've been so busy assembling the first
emitter, sir! But Commander Packbell said he'll be done reviewing it any minute now!"

"For your sake, I hope you're right. After you finish building this one, I want my
new schematics implemented immediately!"

"Yes, s-" Snively stopped himself, "Of course, sir."

Snively turned back to the computer, trembling. As he did, he caught a glimpse
of another human form standing in the doorway. For once, he was glad to see
Commander Packbell. The android was as annoying, and as cruel, as all hell, but at the
very least he was punctual.

"Ah, Packbell," Robotnik greeted his 'son' sweetly. "Have *you* finished
looking over the new emitter schematics?"

"Yep, and once more I have to compliment you on your technical brilliance."

Robotnik grinned widely, flashing his ludicrously square-shaped teeth. **Suck-
up**, Snively sneered to himself.

"If we implement your new design, we should be able to reduce energy
expenditures and circuitry size for the next model. We may even be able to make an
emitter hand-held, about the size of a fist, instead of," Packbell indicated Snively's
construction in the other room with distaste on his lips, "the size of a hover unit."

"Excellent appraisal, Commander!" Robotnik's fat legs quivered as he slapped
his palms on them. "I want you to build me the new model by tomorrow."

Packbell snickered. "Good call, sir. We both know we can't trust your lazy
lackey," he hiked his thumb at Snively, "to build anything on time."

Snively's face darkened, but he remained quiet, still staring at his computer
monitor.

"So true," Robotnik laughed, enjoying his fun at Snively's expense. He leaned
back, a look of anticipation on his face, as if he were eagerly awaiting a show. Packbell
obediently provided one for him, trotting up to Snively and smacking his shoulder in a
mock-friendly manner.

"What'cha screwing up this time, Snip-ly?"

Snively rubbed his shoulder; the painful impact of Packbell's fist had jarred his
entire body. "Go away, Packbell. I'm trying to work."

"You should've been done hours ago. Isn't that the original schedule you had?"

Snively didn't bother to respond. The android was only trying to provoke him.

Packbell was modestly chagrined when Snively didn't respond to his baiting. He
turned to Robotnik, a wolfish grin on his face. "Hey, doc, you want me to throw
Snively's worthless rump outta here? He's barely working at all -- I guarantee you that I
can finish in a quarter of the time."

Snively opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, a shrieking alarm
pierced the laboratory's air.

Robotnik scowled, heaved his massive body off the chair, and trundled over to a
nearby computer console. His metal fist slapped down on a button, shutting the squealing
noise off. "Status!" he barked.

An anonymous SWATbot answered. "INTRUDER ALERT. CITY AIRSPACE HAS BEEN
VIOLATED."

"What?" Robotnik glowered, and his face shuddered in anger. "By who?"

"THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, IN A BIPLANE."

"A biplane?" Packbell interjected. "How the hell did they get so far over
Robotropolis without our radar detecting them?"

Robotnik ignored him. "Well, shoot them down!"

"THE ENEMY VEHICLE HAS ALREADY CRASHED IN SECTOR 7, BOULEVARD 9B."

"Order a team of SWATbots and hover units to comb the area. Search for any
survivors and capture them."

"YES, SIR."

A groan emerged from Robotnik's throat, and he raised a gloved fist to massage
his forehead. "I don't want to deal with any of those fetid rodents, not right now..."
Robotnik turned suddenly, to face Packbell. "Commander, you'll take charge of the
operation, won't you? Give me your report when you've found the furry beasts. Until
then, I want to play with my new emitter."

"Yes, sir," Packbell flung a hand to his forehead in a half-hearted salute. His gaze
fell doubtfully to Snively's hunched-over figure. "Though I wouldn't count on Snively
finishing it any time soon."

Snively lost it. "Just go away, Packbell!"

"That's enough!" Robotnik yelled. "Get to work, both of you!" Packbell walked
calmly out of the lab. "As for you, Snively, you'd better be done soon!"

***

"Will somebody tell me what the hoo-hah that thing is?"

Sonic, Sally, and Bunnie were crouched in one of the many air ducts that combed
every building in the city. Ever since the Freedom Fighters had found a map of every
hidden tunnel and cave, the ducts had become one of Robotropolis's biggest weaknesses,
since they had unfettered access to almost every building in the city. Yet, in some
supremely ironic tactical error, Robotnik had never figured this out.

Just beyond the barred grate leading into the labs, worker bots visible were busy
trundling around a cube-shaped machine that seemed to be in the center of the lab. The
metal slaves blocked Sally's view of the machine, but she occasionally caught glimpses
of exposed circuitry and complex wiring systems. A crystalline-like substance extended
away from the machine like a prong, facing an empty wall.

Through a plate glass window, Sally could just make out Robotnik yelling at
Snively and Packbell. With his voice muted by the barrier, he looked absurd just
standing there with his mouth flapping open and closed.

"All we know is that it's what's giving off those strange energy harmonics."
Sally held Nicole's hand-held form up to the grate. "Nicole, analyze that machine. Are
there any records of something similar in your database?"

"NO MATCHES FOUND, SALLY."

"So we just have to kill that thing, right, Sal?" Sonic whispered.

"I'd like to know what it is, first, and if we can use it to save..." Sally shook her
head. "Besides, if we just waltz in there and destroy it, what's to stop Robotnik from
building another one? He doesn't exactly suffer from a shortage of resources."

"She has a point," Bunnie said. "So what do we do now?"

"I-I don't know. We have to stop Robotnik, first of all. Then..." she trailed off.

"Y'all think that maybe Bookshire can steal the plans for this machine from
Robotnik's computer?" Bunnie asked. "Then we can build our own back at Knothole,
and see what it does."

Sally bit her lower lip. "It just doesn't sound right." She glanced back out at the
tub of a machine. The worker bots looked like they were finishing their work. Some
were already leaving. "But I guess it's the only thing we can do."

"Yeah, now we're gettin' somewhere!" Sonic grinned. "So are we ready for me
to run out there and trash that machine?"

"With so many bots around? Sonic, that's too risky. We're in the middle of
Robotnik's castle!"

"Anything ol' blubber butt can throw at me, I can take on." He shrugged, the
quills on his back brushing against the top of the cramped air duct. "Besides, what else
are we going to do? We can't just sit here."

Sally held Nicole up to the grate again. "Nicole, is there anything we can do from
here that can disable that machine?"

"YES, SALLY. IF I TRANSMIT ON THE ENERGY BAND FREQUENCIES THAT THE MACHINE IS
ATTEMPTING TO MANIPULATE, IT MAY BE ENOUGH TO DESTABILIZE THE HARMONICS."

"That's good, right?" Sonic asked, clueless.

"Right," Sally confirmed, smiling. "That's the trouble with harmonics. If
someone has a similar transmitter, they can instantly disrupt the signals on whatever
frequencies you try."

"If you say so, Sal," Sonic shrugged. "I guess that means that I don't get to kick
any butt-bots today?"

"Nope. Get ready to activate, Nicole."

"READY, SALLY." Nicole paused. "IF I TRANSMIT A REPEATING PULSE AT THE RIGHT MOMENT,
I MAY ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO CAUSE A HARMONIC FEEDBACK LOOP THAT WILL DESTROY THE MACHINE."

"Very, very good," Sally cooed.

***

"Snively..."

"We're just about ready, sir!" Snively squealed. "Just let me clear the worker
bots out of the room."

"Forget the worker bots," Robotnik snapped. "Let them stay in the room. Just
activate my machine!"

Snively's fingers frantically danced across the keyboard. Power began humming
audibly through the walls. His uncle's corpulent face lit up with glee at the noise, and he
sat back down in his chair.

"Oh... if I'm right," Robotnik's voice was rich with pleasure, "and there are other
worlds out there, parallel worlds, waiting to be conquered... this could be very fun,
indeed." He turned to Snively, apparently having already forgotten his anger. "All the
more power, Snively."

"Yes, sir," Snively said, waiting while the emitter powered up.

"Why, you wouldn't even need to stay in my face in Robotropolis, Snively. What
do you think -- your own world, to rule as a duchy in my kingdom?"

"Delightful, sir," Snively agreed. He actually found the idea rather tempting; his
own world, away from Robotropolis. He wouldn't have to see his uncle's fat face every
day, and wouldn't dare come anywhere near his capitol city.

"I-I have to warn you, sir," Snively said, ready to kick himself for breaking
Robotnik's good mood. "I've been doing a few calculations by myself, and the portal
will only stay open if the frequencies are harmonized exactly. Which I'm not sure they
are."

Robotnik's face darkened again, but he didn't yell. "And if they aren't, Snively?"

"Then the portal will collapse in a matter of minutes, sir. I think."

"But then we can just readjust the frequencies, correct?" Robotnik's gloved finger
rubbed his chin. "And be able to try it again."

"Correct."

"No matter, then."

His computer monitor blinked again. "Capacitors charged, sir. Synchronizing
harmonic frequencies now." The crystalline prong suddenly lost its glass-like
translucence, and began glowing.

"Looking very good, Snively. Prepare to activate."

***

Sally held Nicole up to the grate, watching the machine's prongs begin to glow.
"Nicole... activate!"

The machine exploded.

***

The room exploded in burst of white-hot energy that faded as quickly as it had
come. Snively heard the plate glass window shatter, and felt the flying shards strike his
pale skin, but could see nothing but the pure-white light. Too surprised to even shout,
Snively ducked down and covered his head.

When the light faded, it left a darkness as black as nothingness itself. Gradually,
the room's lights began to flicker on again. Snively was still curled up in a fetal position,
feeling the blood from stinging cuts drip down his face.

A metal fist the size of Snively's head grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and
hoisted him into the air. He found himself face to face with Robotnik, staring into his
furious red eyes. Somehow, Robotnik had managed to avoid getting cut by the glass.
Snively's needle-like nose was just inches away from his uncle's barred teeth.

"What HAPPENED, Snively?" Robotnik shouted, getting spittle in Snively's eye.
He blinked it away.

"I-I-I don't k-know! I think the emitter overloaded!"

"HOW?"

Snively whimpered, and didn't answer. The fist opened, and he fell roughly to
the ground, landing on his rump. He immediately scrambled to his feet and raced over to
the computer.

Robotnik stalked angrily over to the hole where the window had been. The tub-
like machine was spewing smoke into the air, its crystalline emitter cracked and broken.
Some of the worker bots had fallen dead, while others were only stunned. He glanced
over the ruins, but something caught his eye. The wall the machine had been facing was
now glowing: a flat, swirling vortex of white energy was floating there. The portal had
been opened.

He grinned. If it were stable, it would remain open permanently, with or without
the emitter device itself.

"I can only get a few of the worker bots to respond, sir," Snively said, frantically
typing. He turned away from the keyboard, anxious to appear as if he were doing
something. "I'll go in and investigate, sir." He practically dove through the doorway,
and into the other room.

Inside, Snively grumbled to himself as he frantically combed over the emitter's
ruins for a sign of anything that could have caused the overload. Why couldn't anything
ever go right while he was there? Never, never, never-

An irritatingly familiar chuckle from behind him derailed his train of thought. He
froze. Even though he was a human, his hearing was remarkably good. He heard
whispering, echoed as if in a confined space... or an air duct...

"Keep quiet, sugarhog!" A despicably southern accent whispered. It was the
Freedom Fighter, Bunnie Rabbot. He had heard the hedgehog laughing earlier.

He swiveled around, facing the air ducts. He thrust a finger in the direction of
the offending vent. "You... you've really done it this time!" he hissed.

"He saw us," he heard the Princess whisper.

"No kiddin'," the hedgehog laughed boastfully. "We have done it this time,
haven't we?"

"Doctor Robotnik! There are Freedom Fighters in the air vents!" he shouted.
Without the glass window, Robotnik easily heard his nephew shouting.

"HOW did they ever-" Robotnik cut himself off, slapping down a nearby alarm
button. "All SWATbots, seal off the castle's air ducts! Don't let them escape!"

The alarms drowned out Snively's computer. It beeped an unheeded warning: the
portal had begun to destabilize, and would collapse within minutes.

***

"Wake up, damn it!" Something kicked the back of the biplane's pilot seat.
"Wake up!"

Sonic's eyes fluttered open, and sharp pain immediately wormed its way into his
consciousness. His mouth opened soundlessly in protest against the pain.

"Stupid organics," the android Nicole cursed.

"He's hurt, Nicole," Packbell, the Mobotropolis Police Commander Packbell,
said.

"My leg," Sonic groaned. "I can't move my leg! What happened?"

"The biplane got shot before we could activate the Time Stones," Packbell said.
"I think we made it back anyway, but the plane crashed right after. And you blacked
out."

"Hell's bells," Sonic groaned. "Where are we?"

Packbell glanced out of the biplane's shattered front window. He saw soot-
stained streets, pollution-clouded skies, and looming metal buildings...

"I don't think we're in Mobotropolis anymore," he said. "God damn, you weren't
kidding when you told us about this place, were you? This is awful!"

Nicole glanced towards the dark city skyline. "I dunno... I kinda like this
world's version of Mobotropolis. At least it *looks* like it has a purpose."

Sonic looked down, and his feet. The pilot's chair had collapsed against the floor
during the crash. One of his legs was pinned underneath it. He tried freeing it, to no
avail. It was stuck solid.

Packbell's strong android arms were able to lift it. More pain shot up Sonic's
spine.

"It looks like it's fractured," Packbell diagnosed. "I'd forget about being able to
run anytime soon."

Sonic's head fell forward, looking like he was getting ready to sob again.

"We've got to get out of here," Packbell said. "If this place is half as nasty as you
said, we're going to be swarmed by robot military in minutes."

Sonic shoved the cracked biplane's door open. The hinges snapped, and it fell to
the ground with a loud clank. The wounded hedgehog winced; the Freedom Stormer was
wrecked.

"Can't get out of here if I can't walk..." Sonic mumbled. Carefully, he set his
injured foot on the ground. More pain. He wouldn't be able to put much weight on it,
but he could still walk.

Packbell followed him out the door, and the android Nicole scrambled out a
window.

"Smells nice out here," Nicole said, sniffing the pollution-tainted air. "Smells
like *industry*."

Sonic glared at Nicole. "I liked you better when you were hand-held."

"Screw you, too," the android Nicole said sweetly. She reached back into the
plane and grabbed the other Nicole: the hand-held version from Sonic's universe. "This
Nicole, see, she doesn't have any ambition. She never does anything for herself, so she
never got herself an android body. And look how far she's gotten in life." The android
tossed the palmtop computer to Sonic. "A slave to you and the Princess. That ain't me.
I'm nobody's slave."

Sonic limped around on his injured leg. Packbell was right; he wasn't able to rev
up his legs and use his speed. Sonic's greatest weapon was gone.

The android Nicole stared daggers at her parallel-universe counterpart. "She
never had any ambition."

"Can it, Nicole!" Packbell ordered.

"Would you stop telling me that?" Nicole snapped.

"We've still got to get out of the city," Sonic interrupted. "Butt-bots will be here
any minute. And... I can't move very fast."

Packbell nodded. "Nicole, what say you and I save our new hedgehog friend,
here?"

"Only for extra pay."

"We'll discuss that later." Packbell turned to Sonic. "You get out of here, take
one of the alleyways or something. We'll distract the bots so they won't be looking for
you."

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this: thanks, Packbell." Sonic limped off
down the boulevard, and ducked into an alley. He was gone.

"Are you sure about this, Packbell?" Nicole asked doubtfully. She could see the
outlines of approaching hover units in the smog-filled air.

"I've learned a few tricks from fighting the Knothole terrorists. There are
*many* ways you can outwit a city security 'bot. Trust me."

***

"Damn it, Sonic!" In Robotnik's castle, still crouched in the air ducts, Sally was
incensed. "You gave us away!"

He shrugged. "I couldn't pass that one up. You gotta love Snidely's expression
when he's scared silly. Trust me, Sal, we can handle it."

Sally's eyes widened in alarm. "Weren't you listening? He's cut off all the air
ducts! We can't escape the building now!"

"Sure we can, Sal," he said confidently.

A wind began to pick up through the vents, blowing directly outside. "Hey,
what's that?"

Sally pointed out towards the lab. "It's the vortex."

The portal that had torn through the air had grown, in only seconds, grown to be
twice as wide. It was destabilized, as Nicole had promised, and looked ready to collapse
and disintegrate at any moment. Air was being sucked inwards; wind whooshed through
the room, pulling at Snively's few remaining strands of hair.

"Then what do you propose we do?" Sally asked murderously.

"I say we leave," Sonic said simply.

"Well we can't do that now!"

The portal split into two separate pieces, spewing white energy in all directions.
The wind picked up even more, becoming almost a gale force. Robotnik's cape fluttered
violently over his head, blinding him. Snively's feet were knocked out from underneath
him -- his hands clutched at the ruins of the emitter device.

"Gah!" he screamed, panicked.

The portals began to shift through space, roaming throughout the room like lost
puppies.

Sonic raised his voice above the wind. "You have to listen to what ol' Robuttnik
doesn't say, Sal! He didn't order the SWATbutts to come to the lab, so we can just walk
out the doorway."

Sally nodded, her expression indescribable through the haze of fur being blown
through the air. The fact that this was the shedding season didn't help; loose strands of
fur blew out through the grate and towards the portals. "And he ordered all the
SWATbots to secure the air ducts. That means the hallway guards, too!"

Snively was suddenly overcome by one of the moving portals. When it stirred
again and moved, the frail human's form was gone.

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Right! So we can just walk on outta here!" He
laughed again. "Sal, grab on to me. Bunnie, grab onto Sal!"

The other Freedom Fighters did as they were told. Sonic managed to rev up his
legs in the tiny space.

"Time to juice and cut it loose!"

A blue-, brown-, and tan-colored streak of fur and quills burst out through the
grate, dodging deftly between the multiple portals, and through the shattered remains of
the laboratory window. It just barely missed hitting Robotnik's obese stomach head on,
instead nicking him on the side. The impact spun him around in several circles,
disorienting him, and he crumpled to the ground. The impact shook the floor.
"Hedgehog!" his angry, metallic voice shouted.

"Later, Robuttnik!" the streak of fur and quills dodged out the door. Robotnik
was frozen on the floor, hands gripping any nicks or niches he could find, until the wind
died down and the portals disappeared.

When the last one had finally collapsed, there was no sign of either Snively or the
numerous worker bots.

***

The streak of fur and quills burst out the front entrance of the castle and down one
of Robotropolis's main wide streets. Lasers were fired; all of them missed. The
hedgehog laughed boisterously, and disappeared beyond the city limits, going back into
the Great Forest before any airborne pursuit could be scrambled.

The wounded hedgehog from the future saw the blur from a distant street, but
with his injured leg, he was helpless to catch up. He saw a flash of brown fur. Oh god,
Sally...

He gritted his teeth against the pain, limping through Robotropolis towards the
borders of the Great Forest. He had to get back to Knothole in time. He *had* to warn
them.