I'm baaaaaack! I know, it's been ages since I've posted any fanfiction. I just kept getting stuck. Then one day, I was bit by the plot bunny, hard. Next thing I know, I have twelve full pages, the first few of which are posted here, and I had then made a decision to post up the story in chapters as I typed it. Note I did not originally write this with chapters in mind, so the cutoff points may seem a little shaky. What this fic is is basically my own attempt at merging the Underground and SEGA Sonic universes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic. Alright? Otherwise, Unleashed would have been composed of only daytime levels.
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"You may have captured me, Robotnik, but you cannot stop the prophecy from coming true!"
"You underestimate me, 'your highness.' Tell me? Where is Sonic? Or did you not know? He disappeared! Vanished without a trace! And his absence allowed me to do this!"
"NO!"
"Ah, yes. You understand the situation you're in now, your highness? All you have to do is agree to marry me, and I'll spare both of them."
"I…I…"
"Perhaps seeing one of them roboticized will speed up your decision…"
"Wait! I…You can't win! You won't! You…"
"Your highness, even you have to agree, without Sonic, there is no way the prophecy can come true. You've lost."
n/n/n/n/
The day Sonic disappeared was the day the world ended.
That was the opinion of many. One day, the blue hedgehog had vanished. And no one, not even his siblings, Sonia and Manic, had known what had happened to him. And no one could find him either.
At first not much happened. The two remaining hedgehog siblings continued to be at the forefront of the war they were now fighting. But as the weeks turned into months, it became painfully obvious.
Sonic was gone.
And once Robotnik had made that realization, he had acted. Crushing most of the resistance with a massive SWATbot army, he had captured Sonia and Manic. The two hedgehogs had expected to be roboticized.
But they weren't.
Robotnik had other plans for them. Holding them hostage, he managed to draw Queen Aleena out of hiding and capture her. Instead of roboticizing her, he made a clever move. With Sonia and Manic trapped in individual roboticizers before her eyes, Robotnik had given the queen a choice; Agree to marry him, thus making his reign legal, or see both of her remaining children roboticized. Either way, the result would be the same.
The Resistance was over. Robotnik had won.
Or so everyone thought.
Beyond the empire's borders, events had transpired that would set the stage for something that no one within the empire could ever imagine. And it all added up to one thing.
It wasn't over.
Far from it.
n/n/n/n/
Sonia had been trapped in this metal cage for the Goddess knew how long. She was sitting in a dark room, with absolutely no opening save for an air vent high above. The walls were completely smooth, and solid. From the inside, there were no visible doors. Her brother, Manic, was trapped elsewhere in Robotnik's citadel in a similar situation.
She didn't know nearly as much about the situation outside as she would have liked. All she knew was that she and her brother had been used as pawns for Robotnik's schemes. She shivered at a frightening memory.
She had been trapped in a roboticizer, with Sleet and Dingo watching her. Manic had been in another roboticizer next to hers. Both their medallions had been confiscated to prevent escape. She remembered bracing herself, waiting for the end. But it had never came. Instead, to her surprise, both she and her brother had been released and thrown back into their prisons. It wasn't until later that she had learned from Dingo (whom she could get almost any information out of when he visited using a combination of his simple-mindedness and his infatuation with her) that their mother had been watching the scene. Sonia knew that she and Manic were being kept here in order to make sure that her mother, Queen Aleena, went through with the forced marriage.
What Sonia didn't know was how the Resistance was fairing. How many had escaped the huge SWATbot raids? How many were still fighting? How many had been roboticized? And how were those left doing in this seemingly never-ending fight?
She felt irritation rise up in her at another thought. All this had happened because her other brother, Sonic, had decided to up and leave! Or had he really left? Was he even still alive? And if he was, why didn't he come and help them? Why had he abandoned them?
It was a mystery that no one had the answer to.
n/n/n/n/
To say that Aleena was revolted was an understatement.
The day of the wedding had come all too quickly. Up until that point, she had secretly attempted to find a way, any way, to rescue her children, Sonia and Manic. But she had found nothing. Robotnik hadn't even allowed her to see them after the occasion with the roboticizers.
She didn't want to go through with the wedding. But she had no choice. If she didn't, Robotnik would have both Sonia and Manic roboticized so quickly that not even Sonic would be able to rescue them. Robotnik claimed that he would release the pair after the wedding was over, but she didn't believe for a second.
The Oracle had appeared briefly once, but all he had told her was not to worry, and that help would come from an unexpected source. What kind of help, she had to wonder. She wondered if it was her son, Sonic.
The thought of the missing blue hedgehog always made her well up in tears. What had happened to him? Many presumed him to be dead. She wouldn't believe it until she had solid proof.
It was certainly hard to keep hope now, with everything looking so bleak.
Aleena entered the wedding chapel wearing a wonderful white dress. At the altar down the aisle, was the groom, the evil, vile Dr. Robotnik. Revulsion welled up in her again. As she slowly walked down the aisle, she took note of the faces of the various aristocrats that had come to watch. There wasn't pity, but there was a solemn acceptance, and a great respect that she knew that they all held for her, their queen.
And she knew that none of them hated her for doing this.
One of her first concerns when she had been forced to accept the wedding proposal was that she was abandoning her people, the ones that she had peacefully ruled for years before Robonik. But visits from various aristocrats and even a few disguised Resistance made it very plain. They all knew why she was going through with this. And they had all told her the same thing.
It was alright. They completely understood.
Aleena had been so touched then. And it had helped her so much through these nightmarish days.
She seemed to reach the altar all too quickly. She didn't even glance at her groom. Instead, she focused on the priest, who nodded at her solemnly. The priest opened his book to begin the ceremony.
That's when it happened.
n/n/n/n/
Fates from abroad and within all convened at that moment. Months of events, of battles, of triumphs and failures, had all led up to this moment.
The chapel door had blown open. A vicious and powerful wind like nothing else had blown in and began swirling about. Aleena braced herself against the gale. Around her, many also did the same, some looking about in confusion. She heard several explosions as the SWATbots standing guard were destroyed.
Then the wind stopped.
And a voice spoke,
"Nice party, Egghead. Too bad I had to crash it."
Aleena looked up, and quickly spotted who it was. And she could hardly believe it.
"Sonic!?"
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If this chapter seems short, keep in mind that it was not my original intention for this to have chapters. I just started typing after the idea hit my head. This just seemed like a logical cutoff point. We're going to encounter some very familiar faces from the SEGA universe in the next chapter so hold onto your hats!
R&R!