The Other Side - A Sonic Fan Fiction Pilot for the "The Other Side" series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by: Aaron Lye e-mail: prower@pacific.net.sg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEGAL STUFF Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters used within this fanfiction are fully owned and copyrighted by one or more of the following: Sega of America, Sega Enterprises (Japan), DIC and/or Archie Comics Several characters used in this work were created by fanfiction authors. This fanfiction is to be distributed in it's original, unedited form, and strictly cannot be used for financial gain, monetary or otherwise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cast of Characters (in random order) Sally Sonic Terri Mik and other characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Governments ----------- Confederation of Mobius Caynorian Federation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Resistance Movements -------------------- The Freedom Fighters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Timeline: 3254, one year after the end of the Race Wars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One year has passed since the surrender of the Alliance of Races, ending the first civil war in Mobius' history. However, Mobius is no longer what it used to be. Once a proud people, Mobians were now afraid. Afraid of the unexpected. Afraid of conflict. Afraid of war... The Federated Races of Mobius immediately set about on governmental reforms, transforming itself into the Confederation of Mobius, a sleeker, more militaristic government agency. Even today, the member races of the Confederation bicker internally on the decision to make such major changes to the government. Some are pro-freedom, the rest, pro-control... After the end of the War, most of the Alliance races were assimilated into the Federated Races peacibly. Some however, revolted. Federated Races Military was sent in to quell the uprising, and the revolters were literally beaten into submission, unwilling members in a drastically changed government. The independent races were also given an ultimatum. Ally with the Confederation, or suffer the consequences... There was to be no dissent. The entire planet had to be under one government... ***** Sally Alicia Acorn stood at her apartment windows and looked out at a bleak world gone mad... Once a great city, Mobotropolis now looked like a military base, a bastion of war... Although still President, the majority of the Confederation had ruled that no one person should have that much power over planetary decisions. She was now a figurehead, by choice of the Congress of the Confederation. She had as much say as a mere ambassador now... What had gone wrong? Sometimes, she thought of migrating to Caynor, a world like the Mobius of a bygone era....a world which was ruled by the Acorns, and not by a militaristic regime bent on enslaving their planet... She heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see Sonic walking up to her. As he got nearer, Sally noticed that he was carrying a small black object in one of his paws. He handed the device to her when he got in range. Sonic said, with a touch of contempt, "THAT...is the Confederation's latest toy... The Congress of the Confederation just passed a new law stating that every citizen on the planet must have one of those devices attached to him, her or it. It's a tag, to allow the Confederation to monitor every movement across the face of Mobius. The penalty for not wearing the tag is unspeakable... Sal, they've gone too far this time! You have to-" His wife cut in, "Do something? What, Sonic? What can I do? I have as much say in this as you do! What makes you think I would have any better luck?" In her heart, Sally knew that she couldn't blame them. They were frightened, and reacting accordingly. This was exactly what she had wanted to avoid when she formed her Federated Races Council twelve years ago. She wanted to keep people she could trust in power. After the War, the races of Mobius split up their territories into sub-divisions, with each division sending one representative to the Congress. There were now over 100 members, most of whom were pro-control. They were composed of the Mobians who had spent the years under Robotnik's tyranny as roboticized beings, slaves without any free will, Mobians who had spent the years of the Race Wars helpless and inadequately represented on the Federated Races Council. It was no surprise about how much control they wanted now that they were in power. They were no longer going to take chances. That however, was no excuse for the way they were treating the citizens of Mobius. Once oppressed, they were now the oppressors. They just didn't realize it... Of all the members of the Confederation's Congress, only 1 in 10 were pro-freedom, most of whom were ex-Freedom Fighters. They were badly outnumbered by the pro-controls, who now ran the government, but they were enough to cause heated debates whenever Mobius's rulng body met. Sally looked at Sonic. "I'm sorry, Sonic. There's nothing I can do. You should have realized that a year ago..." She handed the black device back to her husband. ***** Ten minutes after Sonic left the room, Sally's comlink beeped. "Ms. President, you have a visitor. President Terri Acorn of the Caynorian Federation." "Send her in." Terri walked in a moment later, flanked by two Confederation guards carrying amptachs. Sally sighed. Mobius had assimilated all Caynorian technology in the short space of time since they had been introduced to it. With the condition of the planet being what is was, Sally didn't know if the assimilation of such advanced technology had been the best of decisions... Terri waited till the guards left, then smiled at Sally. "It's been a while since we last spoke, Sal. How've you been?" Sally sighed as she walked over to the replicator. "I've been better." She ordered two grape juices and handed one to Terri. Terri's voice took on a concerned note, "Sal, what's going on here? The reports I've been getting from the Caynorian Embassy here says things are getting real bad. I've even been told that you're no longer in power.." Sally simply nodded. "So many things have happened to these people...some of which could be considered my fault..." The two squirrels chatted for a while, then Terri brought up an uncomfortable topic. "Any word from Tails?" Sally looked down, and shook her head. Six months ago, after observing the atrocities committed by the Confederation, the Guardians, Ghylcanan and Floating Island alike, withdrew their membership in the Confederation of Mobius. Even though Sally and the pro-freedoms objectred strongly, the Confederation sent in the military, but found the Floating Island deserted and the Emeralds gone. They never succeeded in finding Ghylcana. Since then, no one had seen any sign of Tails, Tasha or Knuckles. It was like they had disappeared off the face of Mobius.... Sally began to speak, but was interrupted by a large explosion. She looked out the window, and saw a power generator go up in flames... ***** One hour later, the Congress of the Confederation had an emergency meeting. Sally sat at her usual chair in the large wood-panelled chamber, and listened as Anthony Mane, once Vice-President of the Alliance of Races, now Minister of Internal Security spoke. "Power Station 48B was totally destroyed. We found traces of an old-style photon charge in the wreckage. Half an hour ago, a resistance group calling themselves the "Freedom Fighters" claimed responsibilty for it..." Those two words, Freedom Fighters, brought back so many memories for the Mobians who were once called that... Sally leaned back, engrossed in thought about this new revelation... ***** Later that day, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Dulcy and Tayla met inside Sonic and Sally's apartment. Sally spoke, "I have a job for you all. I want to find these new Freedom Fighters, before Confederation Intelligence does." Bunnie asked, "Whatever for, sugah?" Sally's eyes gleamed, "We're going to help them..." "WHAT??" Sally spoke again, "C'mon guys, you feel the same way as I do about the way the Confederation is going. There's no way we're going to change anything by sitting in meetings and yelling at each other in debates that you know we can't win. This is the ONLY way we'll ever regain control from the Confederation... not by bickering internally... but the time-honored way in which Robotnik was defeated..." Sonic said, "Back up a bit, Sal. You're expecting us to become Freedom Fighters again? I don't know if you've noticed, Sal, but we're not 15 anymore...are we up to it?" Sally gave her husband one of her *looks* and said, "I'm not saying we should become Freedom Fighters outright... we would be of much more use to them where we are right now, as informants and strategists working with them from within the bowels of their enemy...much like how Charles helped us back during Robotnik's regime." Rotor nodded, "Sounds good to me, Sal." Antoine agreed, "Zame here, Madame President." Dulcy smiled, "We're with you, Sally." Tayla nodded. *We'll do our best.* ***** That night, they set out for Knothole, hoping by some chance the new Freedom Fighters had decided to use that as a base of operations. They were only half-surprised to find the place deserted. It would have been too obvious as a FF base these days. What did surprise them however, was the energy forcefield that materialized around them the minute they entered the village.... They heard footsteps as soon as the bluish glow of the forcefield's activation had faded. The captives turned in the direction of the footsteps, and recognition passed between captive and captor. Ari. ***** Sally eyed the ram, not saying anything. The once-president of the Alliance of Races stared back, but asked, "Why are you here?" Sonic spoke, "You a Freedom Fighter again?" Ari shot back, "Depends on who wants to know. Why are you here?" Sally answered, "To help the Freedom Fighters in their fight against the Confederation. We're as unhappy about how this turned out as you are." Ari laughed, "Now why should I believe that the President of the Confederation is willing to defect?" "Ari, you know me. You know us. For a long time too. We trusted each other once, and if you're a Freedom Fighter again because of what the Confederation has done, I'm willing to trust you again, because it shows that you still have some semblance of loyalty and sanity." The ram looked at Sally, and then at the rest of the group in turn. Seemingly sastified, he tapped a device on his wrist and the field deactivated. Unholstering a phaser, he motioned for them to stand in a circle, which they did. Ari took out a comlink and spoke to someone on the other end. A few seconds later, the whole group dissolved in a mist of sparks. ***** They reformed inside a transporter pad. Ari smiled at the winged cat that had operated the transporter, and said, "Mik, take these people to the meeting room and get the FFs together." The cat nodded, and led Sally and her entourage to the requested destination. Before long, the room had filled up. Ari addressed the group present. "Freedom Fighters, welcome our new allies. They will be helping us from within the Confederation, working together to defeat the monster that it has become." He turned to Sally, "As for you, welcome to the new base of the Freedom Fighters...the Floating Island." As if it was a staged performance, three familiar faces walked into the room. Tails, Tasha and Knuckles... Sally felt a wave of emotion wash over her, and undoubtedly the rest of her entourage was feeling the same... Things were finally looking up.... The old FFs were reunited, and now had a common goal with the next generation of Freedom Fighters. Although the enemy was no longer machine, it was still an enemy. One thinking human and an army of mindless machines had created chaos on their planet over twenty years ago... This time, the battle would be harder.... ***** EPILOGUE -------- Anthony Mane sat in his office and read the report from Confederation Intelligence he had just been handed. The more he read, the more grim he looked. Before long, he had assembled his entire senior staff. The Minister of Internal Security growled, "Sally and a group of representatives were seen together with a possible Freedom Fighter several hours ago. This can only mean one thing...." "I want concrete proof that she is in collaboration with the Freedom Fighters...and when we get that proof...Sally Alicia Acorn will dread the day she was born...." TO BE CONTINUED