#mobius loop

"Shhhhh!" She held her hand up to her beak, causing him to look over toward her. "Look." She pointed up, and, there, making a steady descent toward the planet, was something fairly round, and decent-sized in the atmosphere, probably no bigger than an escape pod.

Eyes widening, he stood up. "How did something like that get past our sensors without anyone knowing?!"

She shook her head. "I don't know...But, from what I can tell from the angle of its descent, it looks like it's going to land right here." As she continued watching the object in question, her eyes looked filled with worry. It was definitely looking more like an escape pod, as it got closer...But, there was no telling who or what it would have in it exactly. "We need to send an evacuation order."

Almost as if he had had the exact same idea, he was already reaching for his communicator, nodding in response to her, getting into the area wide transmission for all the hidden speakers strewn throughout the Green Hill Zone Garden. "Attention all Acornian residents in the Green Hill Zone! We have an unidentified object looking to make impact somewhere here! Please proceed toward the exits in an orderly fashion!"

...He practically rolled his eyes, as he heard exclamations over the area. It didn't sound like everyone was panicking, but, a few were definitely acting more scared than necessary, at least by his logic.

His fellow guard shook her head, as if she was already guessing what he was thinking. "Everyone's worried about Robotnik. At least most of them have the common sense not to panic over it, right?"

He sighed a bit. "Right...Common sense. Because thats what it's called when big ol' Kodos acts shifty, reassuring all of us thats it gonna be 'fine'..."

Standing up, the bird placed on her comrade's shoulder, looking concerned for him. "Hey. We will make it through all of this...Right?"

He looked back at her for a few moments, doubt clear in his eyes, but then he shook his head, and sighed again. "Right, you're right. Even if we can't rely on Kodos, maybe General D'Coolette's boy will come through for us."

She smiled a bit, nodding to try and help reassure him, before she looked back up at the sky. Seeing how the pod was much closer now, she didn't look any less worried about it.

The groundhog turned his head. "How long do you think it'll be until it-?"

He grunted, placing his hands on his ears, as the pod seemed to answer that question for him, crashlanding into a spot not too far away from them, shovelling up a whole lot of dirt for up to twenty-five feet, then just stopping. Shaking his head, the groundhog waved at his companion to follow, moving over to the pod. As they got there, he looked over what all they could still see of the pod. "Well, looks like its definitely some sort of variety of escape pod."

Having followed him, she nodded, looking it over and- "Look!" She pointed to a symbol on the side of the pod: A hedge, with an ornate sword in the middle, circled by a golden ring.

His eyes were practically bugging right out of his head. "That's the Royal Hedgian symbol! Who the heck-?"

As if answering his question, the pod hatch began to open, and, they could hear coughing sounds from inside it. That didn't sound too good.

As they both looked inside, they could see a male blue hedgehog, probably not any older than thirteen, wearing what looked to be the scarf.

"We need to help him out of there," the groundhog mumbled, and, the bird girl, with some trepidation nodded. They both reached in, grabbed his hands, and helped to pull out of the pod, onto his feet on the ground.

He seemed a bit dazed...And, now that they could look over him a bit better, he seemed to be wearing odd clothes. On the long black scarf, there where several little white star-like shapes, representing what you might see looking into space from a distance. Some of the little white dots were more filled out, looking to be closer, and, some looked like specks, more distant than the others. But, star-themed clothing itself wasn't necessarily an oddity in any Mobian sector, no. There were a fair amount of people who wore varying types of space-themed clothing.

Rather...The oddity lay in the red symbols adorning his choice of apparel: Mobius Strips. Some would even call them '8's or infinity symbols. There was a large, painted, red metallic '8' shaped ring on the end of his scarf, a red '8' on the center of both of his white gloves, and, on his red and white shoes, there were red, horizontal '8's on each side of his shoes. It was a bit peculiar, to be honest. While the strip was considered an important symbol through the galaxy(Not only did it represent infinity, but, the Mobius Strip lanes were also the method used by space travel for the majority of the galaxy's inhabitants), it was odd to see it used in their apparel, by someone who looked more like an ordinary teenager, than an infinity or chaos priest.

However, rather than focusing upon that for too long, the groundhog looked right at him. "Hey, kid, you okay? That couldn't have been the easiest landing." Seeing that the kid was having a bit of trouble standing, he positioned himself under his arm, helping to lift him more firmly up onto his feet, grunting. "There ya go."

The other white beret, however, didn't look so helpful, just yet. Instead, she looked right at the hedgehog with suspicion. "You're from the Hedgian sector, correct...? Why does your pod bear the Royal Hedgian crest?"

The young man looked up at her, honestly seeming kind of confused. "Wha...?" Seemed like he was just orienting himself. The groundhog didn't know why his partner was interrogating the kid already, especially since he didn't seem dangerous. More dazed, honestly. "I-I dunno what you're talking about...Where- Where are my parents?" Concern started to show heavily on the hedgehog's face. "W-where's Fi? Mighty, Mina, Ray? A-are they okay...?"

The groundhog gave his companion a bit of look. "Hey, Clarice? I know you're worried, but, you were the one who was just telling me a minute ago everything was fine. Why are you interrogating the kid like this...? He's clearly a refugee. And, the only refugee from Hedgia we've seen, at that!"

As Clarice took in what he said, her face softened, and she sighed. "I know, you're right..." She moved under the arm, helping him to stand up better, grunting a bit herself." Still, I think we should bring him before the king. Like you said, he is the first refugee from there we've seen, after all."

The groundhog nodded. It wouldn't be a bad idea, anyway. King Nigel might have been the only king that he knew, but, still, he was the nicest king they knew.

However, before they could get too far-

"Wait!" A young, female chipmunk suddenly burst out from some nearby bushes, not looking any older than the hedgehog. She was wearing a black shirt, adorned with pointy yellow star patterns, and, wearing a blue jacket, the pocket of which stored some sort of boxy electronic device. She was also wearing blue goggles, with golden rims. "I-I want to come with you."

The groundhog groaned a bit. "Look, kid, we need to get him before the king and-"

"Wait," Clarice spoke up. "Ron, don't you recognize her...?"

Ron blinked a bit, looking a bit more closely at her and- ...He had no idea why, but, he was only just realizing now, that this was none other than Princess Sally Acorn. Of course, part of the reason why he hadn't recognized her as first, was likely because she wasn't wearing any sort of royal ensemble. Princess Acorn practically never wore any sort of tiara, or other royal outfit these days, if she could help it. Anyway, he knew what was going to happen, if he declined to let the princess follow them...She was probably going to complain to the king. She did have a fascination with things outside of Grand Acornia, after all.

With a heavy sigh, he looked at her, and just sort of nodded. "Yeah, sure, you can follow us, princess."

With a smile, the princess took a position behind them, and Ron rolled his eyes, moving with Clarice and the kid toward another exit.

...Honestly, though, he couldn't blame her. He was kind of curious about this kid from another sector himself.

--------

After they reached the royal throne room, Princess Sally decided to step back to the sides, and watch, as the royal white berets brought the other before the court, which consister of her father, King Nigel Acorn, in an ornate, blue and red kingly outfit, with gold trimmings, as well as her father's advisors, consisting of General Kodos, a hulking beast of a lion, wearing a heavy version of a typical Acornian General's uniform,  Walter Naugus, her king's vizier, all clad in his spooky purple and black wizard uniforms, Sir Charles, also known as Uncle Chuck, wearing some brown and green engineer's apparel, and, the skinny Dr. Ovi Kintobor, wearing his typical white scientist outfit as always.

OH, lest she forget, Antoine was there. To be honest, despite how formal he seemed to act, it felt like her father was accepting him as an honorary fourth advisor

Honestly, it wasn't everyday that a pod from another sector crashlanded on Grand Acornia. Better the Green Hill Garden zone, though, than any of the city planet's major population centers. To be frank, when she first saw the pod, she was suspicious, wondering if this might be some sort of Robotnik trap. But, to be honest, it would have been easier for him to grab something not belonging to the Hedgian royal family, since she had heard he had gotten several hedgian noble families into his pockets anyway.

...It was also weird how they hadn't heard anything about the Hedgian Royal Family themselves.

Suddenly, however, she was broken out of her train of thought by her father finally addressing the blue stranger, after the guards having finished talking. "I say, good lad," Nigel started, in a polite, cordial manner, "Is it true you're from Hedgia itself?"

The blue hedgehog, still looking shook up a bit, managed a nod. "Y-yeah, I was."

"Do you have a name?"

"Sonic, Sir."

"Ah, Sonic!" Nigel promptly smiled at that. "Good to meet you, Sonic. Do you have any friends or family, that you know of?"

Sonic took a moment, but, all of a sudden, he smiled. "Ah, that's an easy one, sir! My parents, Bern and Estelle. I've also got my pals, Mighty, Mina, Ray, and Fiona. All of them are pretty darn amazing!"

Nigel simply chuckled. Sally could only imagine what was going on in his head listening to this. Probably something like 'Ah, kids'. Anyway, the king spoke once more. "I see, I see. And, how long have you been with Bern and Estelle now?"

Sonic paused, double taking. For what reason, she had no idea. It felt like for the longest time, he hadn't said a word. Sally felt all sorts of antsy. What sort of mystery was afoot here? Did he not know how long he had been with his own parents? Was this actually the trap she thought it might be?

Finally, though, he answered, "A-about a year, sir."

This one caused Nigel to frown a bit. Even Sally could tell, there was something suspicious about that...Unless he had been an orphan until recently,  which did make sense, she supposed, but, there were the other signs, including the mobius strip imagery. That wasn't a common sort of thing, not by a long shot, even if some did see it as the symbol for infinity, or travel.

Anyway, Nigel finally spoke up again. "And, how much about your parents do you know, Sonic? And, don't worry if you don't wish to answer. I don't want to pressure you if you're unsure, or if it would make you uncomfortable." He told him, admittedly looking a bit concerned for the boy. Even she had to admit, under most normal circumstances, they should be welcoming Hedgian refugees with open arms, but, to be honest? Robotnik made that difficult. Humans and Overlanders made so much difficult at times, especially with their own noble houses, and military. At Least Acornia tended to be relatively peaceful, unless provoked. But, Robotnik and his army were on the war path, made up of not only robots, but, also, ex-GUN officials.

Anyway, seemed like Sonic was doing all he could to remember about them, before all of the eights/strips on his clothing started to glow red, on his scarf, gloves, and shoes, and he started to shake, causing Sally to look a bit fearful. What was this? What was even happening?!

After ten seconds, though, he finally collapsed to the floor, clearly unconscious.

Nigel stood right up. "Guards! Take him to a guest room so that he can get some rest, and recover from...whatever that was." Even he looked shook up from witnessing that.

Sally started to come a bit closer, and asked. "C-can I help...? Nothing about that seemed right."

Nigel smiled kindly at his daughter, and went, "I'm sure so long as we give him time to himself, he'll be fine. Granted, we should also have the royal physician check on him, to see if there's anything specifically wrong."

"I say we execute him!", Kodos suddenly exclaimed, rather dramatically, snarling as he saw two guards take the boy away.

"Are you daft, Kodos, or has all your stubbornness finally acclimated into pure stupidity? We have to study the boy for any sort of enemy magic!" Naugus berated him.

"Heavens no!" Ovi exclaimed.

"Don't be ludicrous!" Nigel snarled at Kodos and Naugus.

"He's only a boy!" Chuck told them...Yet, for some reason, he looked ill at ease. Almost as if he knew something that the others didn't.

Meanwhile, Antoine, who had been standing right by the king's side, had been watching, silently observing. Sally didn't know what to think of it, if she was being honest with herself...

--------

About an hour later, still in the throne room, stood the coyote, who had been pondering over the events from earlier for all this time now. Once things had quieted down, and there hadn't been any more royal business for the being, and the other royal advisors had departed, Twan spoke up. After all, what better time to talk about this than at that very moment? "Your Majesty, s'il vous plait, might we be discussing the hedgehog now?"

Luckily for him, while the king raised an eyebrow at this, he still nodded and said "Proceed."

Twan cleared his throat. "Well, not only seeing as we be knowing little about him, aside from what he himself be claiming, and the fact that he be coming here in a royal Hedgian pod, but, also that mon princess has been developing an interest in him,  we cannot, how you say, be too trusting of everyone, especially with what has been going on in Hedgian space, oui? Therefore, I would like to be being the hedgehog's escort for the time being." After all, someone had to be keeping an eye on him, and, if no one else, why not him?

The king thought about this, before nodding. "Very well, I wish to know more about him myself. Your request is granted."

The Coyote gave him a bow, and proceeded to leave the scene, all kinds of suspicions running through his head. But, of course, they were on Grand Acornia, which meant the hedgehog wasn't going to get away with anything suspicious on his watch...

--------

Hours later, in a very lavish bedroom, the blue hedgehog would start to stir. As his emerald eyes finally opened, he took in the room. "Wow, looks really, really nice..." For some reason, he didn't seem as in awe of the room as he should have been. "...Oh,  right, the throne room! Man, did I go unconscious or something while I was in there...? Gee whiz, just what is going on with me?"

He was looking around, when suddenly, he heard a knocking at the door. "Huh, wonder who that could be..." He finally got up, and started walking toward the door, before opening it up, and- Woah! There was that coyote dude he recognized who had been by the king's side.

"Bonjour, Blue Hedgehog...Tis being I, Antoine Decoolette, who has been being assigned to watch you as your escort from now on. Please be realizing, I will accept absolutely no kind of treachery from you, comprendre? If you do anything that jeopardizes the royal family, nay, the kingdom itself, I shall deliver unto you a butt kicking so ginormous, it shall make your father weep, wherever he be! Comprendre?"

Sonic backed up a bit, at first unsure about the route the conversation was taking...But, then, he just smiled, and chuckled a bit. The coyote was just trying to serve his people and country, that was all. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll try not to give ya a reason, Twan."

The coyote looked a bit shocked at first...Before nodding. "That is a good idea, mon ami. You can jus- Hey!" He declared in shock, as Sally suddenly just brushed right past him, coming in. "Princess, we don't really know anything about him, he's-!"

"It's okay, Twan, if he had any bad intentions, I'm sure he would have tried something by now."

Antoine stopped, groaning, and looking to the side, grumbling. "Is there being anyone who does not naturally grapple onto my nickname? Even Tails and Rotor did it after they first met me!"

Sally seemed to just kind of ignore him, focusing on Sonic at the moment. "Hey, you, mysterious stranger! Why don't you tell us some about yourself, okay? Like, if you can, what's your home like? What are your friends like? How did you end up on that escape pod?"

Sonic looked taken aback, but, then- "...Oh, right, the princess! Yeah, you were there in the garden zone when they found me, weren't you? I can tell you about myself...But, you have to do the same~ How about a game of ten questions?"

"Deal! Okay, lets, see, uhhhh...What was your home like?"

"Eh, if we're talking about the area where I was raised, homey, but, kinda boring. That's why I used to hang out with my friends so much. Okay, now for you, Twan mentioned something about Rotor and Tails. Who are they?"

"Oh, they're Uncle Chuck's apprentices, they're both basically prodigies when it comes to tech. You should meet them yourself. Okay, next question, what are your friends like?"

"Oh, all of them are pretty cool, especially Mighty and Mina." ...Well, that was a short answer. "Next one, who was that hedgehog that was with the king?"

"Uncle Chuck, I mentioned him to you when you asked about Rotor and Tails. He's one of my father's most loyal advisors, and, a great engineer. Now...how the pod thing happen?"

"..." Sonic scratched the back of his head. "Memories are kind of murky, but, I can remember Bern and Estelle launching that thing with me in it, inside our barn. They told me they loved me, then sent me here.  I kinda miss them, and my birth parents...Its kind of weird, though."

Sally blinked. "What is?"

"I remember having two moms at one point, but- That can't be right... Can it?"

Sally just kind of blushed, before shaking her head. "There are all kinds of life styles, Sonic. Anyway, I think we should go get Ice Cream."

Antoine deadpanned. "Princess, he cannot be of the going of anywhere without me, due to my being his escort."

"Then, you can come too, Twan. Remind me again, what's your favorite flavor?"

Twan couldn't help but blush at the current state of affairs, and answered somewhat meekly. "I-it's being mint chocolate chip..."

Sally nodded, and, once the three were ready, they proceeded to leave

--------

The royal engineering lab, the current residence of the Starblazer, a twenty-man fighting starcraft meant to protect not only against Robotnik's forces, but, whatever other threats they might face. Tails and Rotor were working on it at the moment, while Muttski was kind of just watching and studying. As for Chuck? He was in the corner...

Lamenting something. What was he lamenting? Well, not that the others would know, but, his brother, of course. Chuck'd been acting weird ever since he saw that other hedgehog in the throne room, the one who had arrived in the Royal Hedgian pod, and, it was probably because it brought not only memories, but, also, other things: Like regrets.

"Was that really him, Jules? He looks so grown up since I last saw them...Granted, its been a while since I've been to Hedgia. Too many scars, I think. Still, thats no excuse for their uncle to be making. I wonder how the other two are doing? They probably don't even remember me... I'm not sure even he remembered me. Then again, if I just come out of a landing like that- Eh...Better not ask too much. Sounds like something's happened...Something I don't know about."

--------

"I wonder what's up with Chuck," the two-tailed fox mechanic went. "He's not really like this usually...at least, not when we're working on something this big."

Rotor just shrugged. "Probably just thinking on his home country, Tails. He does get like that sometimes. Now, lets see here..." How could they improve upon the Starblazer? Felt like it already had some of the best stuff they could work on.

...As he was thinking on that, though, his thoughts turned to Sonic, the hedgian they had heard about. Wasn't it kind of odd that this was happening, just as Robotnik was seemingly getting closer? And, heck, felt like barely anyone actually knew what was going on with Hedgia. He bet Twan was suspicious of their new arrival, though.

He'd heard that Sally was also curious about him, though, and, Rotor couldn't help but wonder why. Probably because he was another outsider from Hedgia, most likely. With all the political turmoil involved in that sector, a lot of people were likely curious about what was going on.

Ah, well. After he had thought on for a little bit, he resumed his work with Tails on the Starblazer.

--------

As the Chinchilla ate her electric lemonade sherbet at the ice cream parlor, she couldn't help but think on what she thought was the biggest craze at the current time: Robotnik. From what it sounded like, he was the power on the rise, crushing enemy after enemy who got in his way. Who couldn't help but admire someone like that? Most of the fools in Grand Acornia, apparently...to them, he was a security threat, instead of a great and glorious overlord. But, she knew better! He would take them, and make them greater than they had ever imagined. It was only a matter of time!

Suddenly, though, three people came into the parlor. One of them was a coyote, wearing what looked to be an Acorn military uniform. She didn't know much about the others, but, one of them was wearing mobius strip themed clothing, with '8's, or infinity symbols all over, and, the other one was a chipmunk. Did that mean-? Bah, she hated the Acorn royals, always thinking they were the best, and that Robotnik was a menace. And, sure enough, it wasn't long before the three of them were dissing him.

Well, she didn't have to stick around here and take that,  did she? Quickly finishing her sherbet, the chinchilla known as Thunderbolt hastily took her leave. Once Robotnik was there, things would be better, she was sure of it.

--------

An hour passed, and the three were doing pretty well! While Twan was just sort of sitting and observing, the princess and the hedgehog were having somekind of conversation. Right now, they seemed to be talking about Sonic's past friends, including two of the male ones that he had previously.

"-And, poor Ray was terrified that entire time! I don't think I'd ever seen him so scared in all the time that I've known him! It took Mighty fifteen minutes just to coax him out of the tree!" Sonic chuckled. "And, all of that because of the biggest hopper you'd ever seen to come out of the pond."

Sally was snrking at first throughout the story, then, after he had finished, it boiled into full blown laughter. "Snrrrrrkk, Y-you know what, I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like that. You have quite the friends, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Heh, yeah, I know. And, I'm willing to add more to my collection of them too, Princess~"

Sally couldn't help but blush. "Well, that sounds like a pretty good offer. I might have to take you up on it."

"Heh. You know, I really do have the best family and friends. Like my parents, and my bro and sis~"

Sally couldn't help but stare a bit at this revelation. "Really? Because, this is the first time I've heard you mention even having a brother or a sister."

A look of bewilderment crossed Sonic's face. "R-really? I- UGH!" He grunted, as all the '8's on him started to glow, and he seemed to react with great pain.

While Sally looked horrified, Twan regained his stoic composure. "Come," Twan told them. "He is needing somewhere to relax. Perhaps we should be taking a tram to some part of the Green Hill Zone, perhaps far from ze crash landing area?"

Sally nodded, and, they both heaved him up onto their shoulders, and carried him out.

-------

It didn't take too long, before the three of them were sitting on a bench in the Green Hill Zone. Thankfully, the infinity symbols on Sonic had stopped glowing by then.

"Hope you're feeling a bit more relaxed now," Sally said, still looking a bit concerned.

Sonic simply nodded, looking around at the Zone around them, before something seemed to catch his attention. "Awful sharp-looking flowers you've got around here, don't cha think?"

"Hmmm? Oh! Heh, those are to distinguish the Green Hill Zone from its zone of origin, the Emerald Hill Zone, which is in Western Acornia." Sally told him.

Twan was just watching and listening again. Sonic couldn't tell whether he was actually interested in any of this, or just doing his duty as escort.

"Yeah, I mean, that sounds cool," Sonic said to Sally, "but, what about the mountains and the lakes? I mean, aren't those a bit much for one garden zone?"

"Mmmmm, not really. They're here to give it a sense of both peace and grandeur. We have some pretty great equipment we can use, that can sort of just transfer whole areas. Its a testament to what the Peaceful Acornia can achieve, without any feudal politics going on, which is why we have such a centralized government, and most planets have trusted planetary governors."

Sonic just chuckled a bit. "Heh, they would never go for that thing-the government type, I mean-back in Hedgia. Too many nobles, too many powerful and interested parties. Even in the rural areas, its common knowledge that the nobles have waaayyy too much power over things. I bet Robotnik's bribed most of them, probably with benefits, and other things."

Sally blinked a bit. "Is the nobility in Hedgia really that ba-?" Suddenly, however, before she could finish, a bright light enveloped a part of the city, causing her eyes to widen, and her to murmur, 'Daddy...'

Sonic would later find out that it was the Royal Court's council hall that the weird light had enveloped...

------- While things had been going on with the others, the royal council had arrived in the council chambers. Well, arrived, so to speak, in the case of two of them: Sir Charles the Hedgehog, and Ovi Kintobor, royal scientist, were both only there via hologram. Why were they all here? Well, that's what they were there to find out, considering Ovi had been so cryptic when asking them all to come there.

"Sorry, but, I've gathered all of you here today to talk about Robotnik. I believe I've found a solution, to the somewhat imminent invasion."

Nigel hummed in thought. Finally, it was about time. Both him and Charles seemed curious. However, both Naugus and Kodos were acting a bit...Off. He couldn't put it into words, but, there was just something different about them during this meeting. Oh, well, they might just have both been antsy to use their skills to deal with the threat.

Anyway, he nodded at the scientist. "Go on."

"Well, I-"

All of a sudden, however, they felt some sort of impact on the planet, and the alarms started to blare rather loudly, interrupting the doctor.

Ovi looked shocked, as Nigel was. "How this could have happened...?"  However, he suddenly started to grin, which Nigel found unnerving this time for some reason. "Oh, that's right!" Suddenly, the hologram of the skinny, tall scientist, started to change that of a similar man, but, a rotund one, wearing a uniform, similar to a GUN uniform, with a stylized admiral's badge, with the top in the shape of his own rounded head, which round spectacles were perched on.

"I made it happen~" Robotnik finished, the hologram of him now standing in Ovi's place.

Nigel and Chuck both stood there, stunned...Before both Kodos and Naugus both started to break out into laughter.

"You really should have thought it more suspicious, how the armada didn't seem to pop up here until just now, 'My Liege'." Kodos said, growling out those last two, before chuckling. "We've been disabling sensors for Central Acornia, left and right, and, yet, you didn't seem to notice, until now. Not only that, but, for soldiers who knew better, and who were loyal to you instead of us, well- I take it 'Sir Charles' knows about his own robot-making tech~"

Chuck look horrified, and for good reason. Nigel couldn't blame him. He himself thought that they had all roboticizer tech under tight supervision. ...And, yet, it was possible that they had gotten such tech with Ovi's help. He had been so sure that Ovi was a good, honest man, that he wouldn't use the authority Nigel had given him for nefarious ends.

"I bet you didn't even know that Ovi was an android," Robotnik exclaimed, pinching his moustache a bit. "I used him to get into the highest levels of power, and, then, when he was in charge of research, he was directed not to do anything to help you in the slightest, dear King Acorn. We've also been using coded transmissions with each other. And, for the last week, I've been controlling him, using him in the talks, fooling you~"

Naugus cackled. "And, to think we've been able to fool you, all this time~"

"Ah, correction, dear Wally," Robotnik interjected with a chuckle. "I'm the one whose fooled you all~"

Now it seemed like it was Kodos and Naugus turn to be confused and shocked, which they seemed to be.

"Sadly, I no longer need either of you. But, instead of killing you, I'm going to send you, with your king, to a dimension where you will likely not be heard from again."

Kodos, fuming, roared in pure outrage. "You won't get away with this!" He quickly ran over to a nearby window, and opened it. Was he under the impression that he could survive the fall? Didn't matter, apparently, since what was a laser shot hit the outside of the wall, and Kodos withdrew back in.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't even try it. I have Sniper SWATbots surrounding the entire building. But, don't worry, its been tested. And, who knows maybe you'll see the Hedgian queens as well." A dark chuckle from the uniformed figure. "They are the ones I tested it on, after all~"

Finally, Nigel could bare it no longer. Fuming, he pointed a finger right at Robotnik’s hologram. "You scum! You think you can get away with this?! I'll see you imprisoned! There'll be a day when your darkness is finally put out, and, then, you can no longer-!"

However, during this tirade, a giant green beam of energy enveloped the council building, sending it and the ones inside it, somewhere unknown...

--------------

Chuck, who had been in the meeting, quickly exited the workshop's holoroom, and ran over to Tails and Rotor. "We have to leave, now!"

Rotor sighed. "In a minute! Can't you see the turrets need more work?"

"We don't have more time, Rotor! We'll have to do what we can! Ben, Tails, hurry up!"