- - ACT 1: Stage 4 (Downtown District) || START - -

  — Peak Haven (Downtown District) —

  The stairwell was nothing but pure emptiness; everything was hollow, echoey, and eerie. The stairwell seemed endless, the lack of light from above and below creating an effect. The air from the rooftop blows deep below; the never-ending wind from above unsettles the place further, creating a hollowing noise that envelops. It doesn't help when their footsteps are too loud to hear; even the slightest step can be heard at best from a minimal distance. And despite the building being mainly for tourists and workers, nothing from below is heard; the doors opening and closing, along with the footsteps, are nonexistent.

  “They really used metal for this? I know it’s cheap, but wouldn’t concrete be a better choice?” Asks Tails, anxious about what lurks beneath the stairwell, while he directs the flashlight for Sonic, who leads the team down the stairs.

  “This building had a revenue of five hundred million Lunars back when it was being commissioned, so it isn’t like it’s a luxury hotel or anything. Besides, some of the floors aren’t finished yet, which makes sense since this should’ve cost more than a billion, but I digress.” Tricky responds, being in the middle of the pack while he fidgets with his flashlight.

  Despite the facts about the building, they questioned what the building would have been like in their minds. Instead of an office building, they envisioned something interesting. “What if it’s a hotel? Would it be capable of living the dreams of something fancyyyyy?” Amy smirks, turning her head at them while behind the Blue Blur.

  Scoffs, “I bet it’ll cost around one thousand Lunars for a single night.” Sonic tries to estimate the hypothetical price for staying inside the hotel, knowing that something well-known and famous will already have high demand at such a high price—a common business tactic.

  “Nah, that’ll cost more than one thousand for being the tallest building, located in a district filled with hotels and popular markets everywhere. And, I swear, if they scam me, I’ll destroy this place.” The porcupine jokes around, although his voice almost sounds consequential. “... Don’t take that seriously, please.”

  “Bro, we won’t. We know you’re always screwing around and saying such unserious topics at this point.” Knuckles finally speaks out, initially focusing on the freight of the stairs, until their casual conversation led him to be involved.

  “Now we brought the echidna to our conversation. Any thoughts about what the building could be in your red head imagination?” Sonic glances back at him, teasing him while he holds the rail to keep him steady.

  “This building should be an obstacle course, test out everyone’s strengths and-” Snickering. “What?”

  They can't help but suppress a half-laugh, trying their best not to laugh. But one couldn't hold it in, as Tricky finally bursts into laughter, holding the railing not to trip, wiping his tears through the process. "... Not gonna lie… your idea went from crap to shi-"

  “SHUT UP, THAT WAS THE BEST IDEA I COMPLETELY THOUGHT ABOUT!!!”

  “Typical Knux… I sometimes can’t tell if you’re serious or-”

  SNAP!!!

  “WHAT THE-!?” The metal stairs collapse under Sonic, forcing him to land on the stairs below due to such a sudden fall.

  “Sonic!” A unified shock, they all look down through the broken step, concerned about his well-being. “Are you alright!?” Amy exclaims, jumping over the broken step to rush down to his level.

  “I’m fine! I’m fine!” Letting her check on him while he chuckled at the unexpected situation. “It’s not a huge fall, anyway!” Still, she doesn’t let go of her actions, continuing to check up on his status.

  Yet, the building’s critical conditions should be alarming, especially concerning Tails. “When was this building even built?”

  They all look at Tricky, knowing he’s the person who knows (not a lot, but some) about the city’s history, somewhat expecting him to answer questions about the place when they need to. “You expect me to know about this building? I don’t even know when this was even built!” Flaring his arms in the air in complaint. Groans… “I’ll use my phone and–oh yeah, no internet, by the way. I hope that answers your questions.” Briefly putting the phone back in his glove to ignore their questions earlier.

  Tails snaps his fingers, providing an educated guess. “This place was probably built nearly nine decades ago. You can spot the rust from each step if you’re unaware.” He says while pointing the flashlight down, checking the amount of rust over time. “I hope that doesn’t affect our investigation. We wouldn’t want to deal with broken steps with a height-”

  THUD!!!

  The team immediately silenced itself; hearing the door suddenly opening and closing indicates that they’re no longer the only people in the stairwell. The person was already deemed suspicious to them, but instead of confronting the person from a few floors below, they remained silent, wondering what the person in the stairwell was doing here. Although nothing much to note, they eventually listened to the random person’s conversation.

  “... What’s up? How’s the progress throughout the districts? I heard they’ve finally found the final base to start our progress for the Master Emerald. The doctor wants to use its energy to power each district for his own purposes. I’m unsure whether his ideals are right or wrong; even then, I’m still satisfied with the pay. Five hundred Lunar per hour? I’d be rich just for walking around and coordinating the team, along with defending these bases against Sonic and his aliens from another dimension! I heard they’re strong, but with enough recruiters, we’re practically unstoppable. I don’t know why, but the doctor’s right-hand man doesn’t want anyone to kill that orange hedgehog. I think it’s like… Sid… Sol…? … Ohhhhh, Solid! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that hedgehog. The right-hand man wants to kill him for personal means, and when I mean him, I mean ONLY him. It’s amusing because they don’t want to reveal their true identity just yet, not until they finally achieve what they want. …Nah, that’s all I have to say; the other group had Solid, but that kid leader and his recruiter betrayed us. We don’t even need their ass anyway, we’ll give him time to get rid of him, especially his dumb girlfriend and weak brother… Alright, yeah. See ya!”

  In the end, the recruiter continues his descent, prompting the team to follow him silently. However, Knuckles can’t help but clench his fist and teeth, silently building up his anger. “I’ll punch that recruiter in the face. I swear, I’ll get the Master Emerald back to where it’s been for centuries.” He hisses to himself, envisioning what he wants to do at this very moment.

  Tricky understands the weight of the situation, especially when the recruiter mentioned that the right-hand man wants to kill his brother. It pains him, it breaks his heart; he doesn’t want to witness his death just like his mother a few years prior. However, he remains calm and puts a reassuring hand on Knuckles. “We’ll get your Master Emerald back. Trust me. They want my brother, and I won’t let anyone stop them from taking him away. It takes time to get this rolling; as my brother says, it’s not about the big plays, but how many good plays you want. You don’t wanna cut those corners, bro. To stop their progress, we’ve gotta play this smart and coordinated.”

  “He’s right. Sometimes it’s necessary to rush, but it’s better to take this slowly rather than rushing and potentially creating multiple problems.” Tails whispers, trying to keep their conversation to the team as secretive as possible.

  “Even if we’re trying not to overdo ourselves, handling two situations is already hard. We’re fighting Eggman and protecting Solid—it’s a lot to bear.” Amy expresses her concern, feeling bad about their entire situation.

  “I know it’s a lot, but don’t give up on ourselves. Sure, we don’t want to build pressure, even if we don’t have much time. However, we’re still a team; do we give up based on what we see? No. We don’t bring ourselves down until we actually do it; we always try, and we live and learn for the very next mission.” Motivating them, Sonic inspires them to continue forward. He’s the team’s leader, having the responsibility to be a role model, and that’s a lot for a person like him. Although his voice hides his concern for their situation, he’s clearly feeling the pressure and understanding how the team feels. The journeys the Blur Blue had been through his entire life started as a struggle, but slowly turned into success, proving that there is a way to move forward. “Hey, we’ll even modify this building to be whatever in the near future. You know what I mean, right?” His unexpected joke eventually prompts the team to snicker, briefly relieving them momentarily. “Now then, let’s do this for this world. We’ll win for sure!”

  Whistles… Whistling… “?? Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna run around… and desert you! Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna tell a lie… and hurt you! ??”

  “... Not gonna lie, he should be a singer instead of helping out Egghead,” Sonic whispers, giving out his first reactions to the recruiter’s voice. “I guess he didn’t make too much money from his career, because look where he’s at right now.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  After an unsurprisingly long flight of stairs, they eventually reach the bottom of the stairwell; although their legs are tired, their mission is locked on the recruiter. As the recruiter unlocks the door to the far end, Sonic pulls him, followed by Tails tazing him, which he feels sorry for. “Sorry about that…” The fox whispers to him, gently dragging him behind the stairs so it wouldn’t alarm the other recruiters if they saw his body.

  “Don’t worry about him. He’s gonna be fine once he wakes up.” Amy supports Tails’s action, since it isn’t necessarily non-lethal. Once she opens the door, their jaws immediately drop from what they’re witnessing. Underneath the tallest building, they witness a medium-sized underground base, all dedicated to a reactor core, containing the Master Emerald’s energy. Surrounding the core, just like the Grand Good ol’ Maze, is an entire laboratory, filled with control panels.

  “So this is what Eggman has done to the Master Emerald… sucking the life energy out of the precious thing. Manipulating the power… god, I want to retrieve it.” Knuckles once again clenches his fists, but Sonic looks at him with a determined face, letting the echidna loosen his fists, understanding the situation they’re in. “Right… recruiters first, then Master Emerald… I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

  Throughout the base, not only are there the typical armed weapons wielded by recruiters, but some of the recruiters are scientists. It’s surprising the number of recruiters Eggman had recruited, just from a span of a few days. Not only was the recruiting fast, but the bases that have been established are already complete. That means they’ve built this place from the ground up in a span of a few days, indicating that Eggman must’ve recruited more than they initially thought.

  “Question. How dedicated is Eggman personally to you guys? Because to me, he looks like more than a scientist, he’s a god damn maniac. Like, how do you even build all of this in under a week?” Tricky takes a slight peek before leaning against the wall, looking at them with such curiosity.

  “Egghead is… always that same person I’ve seen. Either he’s my number one enemy or some unexpected ally that’s helping me. Otherwise, his dedication is on another level.” The Blue Blur crosses his arms, shaking his head in disappointment at what he is currently witnessing.

  “Any plans to deal with this base now that we’re seeing what we’re seeing right now?”

  “To be fair, we’re too recognizable to be discovered, especially since we’re too iconic,” Sonic explains, pointing out the obvious for the team. It’s true otherwise; if a team can’t recognize a standout blue hedgehog or a red echidna, then they’re probably blind. “It’s either we recklessly fight like the team we are or…”

  They all shift their gaze at Tricky, frightening him. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What’s gotten me to be an integral part of a plan you guys are thinking?” He quickly looks at the downed recruiter before realizing. “Oh…”

  “Alright, Tricky. You hear me?” The communicator continues to rupture Tricky’s ear, Tails’s voice lingering through his eardrum, forcing him to readjust the volume.

  “I heard you VERY loud and clear… Tails…” He tries to move on from the pain inside his ears, but the voice continues to linger. “How loud is this normally set for you?”

  “Umm… approximately around eighty-”

  “Yeah, you’re insane.”

  Despite the complaint about the volume, the mission is still ahead of them, making Tricky the infiltrator while being disguised as one of the enemy recruits who specializes in guarding the entire reactor. To the team’s relief, he’s not standing out, and no one seems to recognize him, his helmet obscuring his face. “I guess the others are too iconic not to disguise themselves. At least a porcupine has another advantage.”

  When he walks around the base, he gazes at multiple scientists researching the energy, wondering what this Mobian object is capable of doing to a normal world like theirs, stronger or weaker than he thought. Otherwise, throughout the base, some are conducting research, while others are assigned to the control panel. Not to be a weak energy that’ll slow down the process, or a strong energy that’ll continuously pressure the reactor, resulting in a meltdown that they don’t wish.

  While the porcupine continues to gaze at the control panels, he accidentally bumps into one of the enemy recruiters. “You a rook?” To which Tricky nods, letting the other recruiter reply with a scoff. “Typical rookie… of course, you’ll be distracted by the base rather than helping us out in guarding the damn reactor…” They walk away, leaving him speechless, but motivated to continue his mission.

  “Once you get close to the reactor, inspect it. You don’t have to get into much detail, but try your best. Just be informal about what you’re currently seeing.” Amy speaks out from the comms, adding additional support for him.

  “Right. I’ll do my best to stay in formation.” He says, focusing on what he’s assigned to do.

  Getting to the usual routine of the armed recruiters, they’re meant to guard the reactor, letting no outside invaders halt their process. However, the only outside invaders they have in their mind are literally Sonic and his team. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that it matters to overprotect the reactor, because the police wouldn’t do anything, let alone an innocent civilian who would randomly stumble inside here. But safe measures, in case.

  “Mind you, what’s our team name again?” Tricky whispers while he’s adjusting to his miscellaneous tasks as an acting recruiter.

  “… Safe Haven? … Ehh, I don’t like that name, but oh well. It’s for the team, can’t complain until the story is over.” Sonic replies, peeking through the door to keep a check on the porcupine's status.

  The other three look at each other, confused, feeling something was wrong with the Blue Blur’s response. “Didn’t you literally create our team’s name, Sonic?” Tails questions, recalling last night when Sonic had created the name.

  “... Nope! Never was me, never made that name up! I think Knux made that name up, like, why are you that bad at creating such team names?” He crosses his arms, presenting a smug face to prove his stance.

  Knuckles instantly glares at the hedgehog, immediately getting ready to talk trash. “I-!”

  However, Amy covers his mouth, hushing his voice for an important reason. “Shh! You don’t want to expose where we are!” She hisses, hoping that the echidna complies. And to her credit, he slowly but surely lowers his tone, relaxing but holding a bit of resentment for Sonic’s mocking. The team heard him slightly grumbling in response, listening to her words while sending a message to the Blue Blur.

  “... What the hell…?” Tricky rolls his eyes from their interesting conversation through the comms. Nevertheless, he reminds himself that he’s close to the reactor now that they need the information. “Guys! Guys! Listen!” He hisses, forcing the team to focus on what they’re literally doing.

  From the reactor, it’s roughly 20 ft tall (or 6 m tall for you non-Imperial System readers), containing as much energy from the Master Emerald. They’re unsure how much energy it’s holding, but it’s being shared with the other bases for Eggman’s reasons. Otherwise, they’re checking the information first before doing this with the other reactors they’ll eventually find soon.

  Although they soon find out that the reactor is roughly 10% completed (which is the total for all the other reactors). It doesn’t sound serious, but as the days pass, it’ll be dangerously closer than they envision. For now, they need a plan to shut down the reactor entirely, without causing a meltdown. “They say that they require control rods to shut this reactor off. It won’t shut down the entire reactor off, just this one alone.” He whispers, completely scanning while pretending to guard the reactor.

  “Good… anything else?” Tails whispers, watching Sonic peeking out the door to continue checking Tricky’s status.

  “Not really much. I’ll probably get more info-”

  “Hey, rookie.” The same enemy recruiter looks at him with a menacing glare. “What’s your name, again?”

  The porcupine’s heart immediately drops, but he provides a simple yet effective answer. “My name is Prickly the Porcupine. Nice to meet you, sir!” He extends his hand out, hoping a handshake would do the trick. “Sorry about my mistakes, I hope not to pull off such crap like that again.”

  “...” Witnessing the recruiter reacting with such a mixture of shock and confusion, he can’t help but scoff, yet again, having the same mentality as Tricky’s reaction to such a response, ironically. “Yeah. Yeah, rook. I hope you’re fine n’ stuff. Not gonna disappoint me just because I’m an experienced recruiter who’s literally joined 2 days ago.”

  With a shared laugh, although Tricky was conspicuously nervous, the recruiter didn’t seem to mind. “I-I’ll continue with the formation.” He says, before eventually going along with the flow. “Thank you-”

  Bumps.

  The porcupine accidentally bumps into another enemy recruiter, knocking their helmet off. “Whoops! My bad, bro. Our helmets fell… off…” He slowly looks at the enemy recruiter, finally revealing his exposed face. “... Oh shit.”

  “ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!! SONIC AND HIS ALLIES HAVE INFILTRATED OUR BASE!!! IMMEDIATE ACTION TAKING PLACE!!!”

  Sonic instantly groans from the mess, leaning against the wall to take the time to process what had just happened. “You ready to kick some ass?” He grins at them, pushing away the bad feeling from him to let this be their opportunity for some more chaotic mess they’re used to.

  CRASH!!!

  The door to the stairwells pops open, revealing nothing but darkness that draws everyone’s attention. The armed recruiters all point their guns while a few manage to bring Tricky down to the ground, a gun pointed at him to force him to remain pressured.

  …

  Suddenly, the moment they’ve been waiting for. The iconic Blue Blur spindashes through the base, letting every recruiter focus on shooting him, unaware that he’s with a team. Instantly afterward, the other pops out and does their assignment. Knuckles punches the recruiters with his threatening fists. Amy swings with her threatening Piko Piko Hammer, causing many to get caught up and get whacked with her swings, along with the recruiters from a nearby distance to get knocked by their own allies. Although Tails doesn’t seem menacing to them, his gadgets immediately get the best out of the recruiters, as they underestimate his tools. Some are caught up in the hidden net, while others are tased, stunning them as they drop their tools, which were quickly snatched by none other than Sonic.

  Although the other recruiter quickly reacts by pulling a trigger at Tricky, the porcupine instantly teleports from above and kicks the recruiter down to the ground. “I AIN’T NO ROOK, BITCH!” His remark forces him to show off his spindash and knock out the other recruiters that haven’t been swiftly dealt with, doing so with the process.

  Even if Sonic gets targeted, he manages to stay away from the control panels and the reactor, afraid that a singular shot would dramatically mess up this entire situation. Fortunately, the last remaining recruiters have been dealt with, leaving them defenseless as all the enemy forces escape through the stairwells and retreat. However, the scientists were meant to stay put, with the Blue Blur convincing all of them. “Everyone! I know you’re my number one enemy, but I want all of you to turn off this reactor! The worst that can happen is a huge meltdown that’ll affect the entire city from above!” He convinces them all to go to the control panels and swiftly tackle the situation, hoping to shut it off.

  However, he notices that one scientist is not listening, grabbing the Blue Blur’s attention. “Hey! Are you going to listen? You know your life will be better once you turn off the reactor with a singular button or something.” Still, the scientist doesn’t react, forcing him to wave his hand close to his face. “Hello? Hello? He-” Grabs. “WHAT… THE… !?”

  The scientist quickly reveals himself as a wombat. Old, but is actually the leader of this entire base, quickly getting a hold of his neck. “Look at you… Pathetic… This hedgehog shall NOT ruin the doctor’s motives with the Master Emerald!”

  “Oh, yeah…?” Sonic manages to speak despite the struggle with his grip. “What are you going to do with me as the leader of this-?” Snaps.

  RummmmmmmmmmmmBLING!!!!

  All around the base, a mech crashes from below, opening up a sinkhole from underneath. “It’s not as big, but threatening to you and your USELESS FRIENDS!” He instantly shoots a bullet at the reactor, forcing the pressure to escape. “I hope you deal with my mech. The doctor gifted me with a powerful force.” He throws Sonic to the control panels, breaking one of the machines before hopping onto the mech, taking full control. “Good luck!” He launches himself and the mech, a bad sign to the people on the ground.

  Rumble…

  Throughout Downtown District, pedestrians continue their regular Friday afternoon routine. However, the rumbling forces them to think an earthquake is happening, but as it intensifies, everyone panics, running for their lives until the ground opens, and a mech appears.

  But just when the wombat had initially thought he had the freedom to terrorize the lives, a flash of red punches the mech, briefly stumbling it before landing on the ground. “First, taking advantage of the Master Emerald… Now… TERRORIZING INNOCENT LIVES!?” He looks at the towering mech, blocking the sun’s view. However, all of that doesn’t matter because the echidna tells him, “Let’s fight.”