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Dark clouds loomed over the thick forest; the sun had long since set, and the wind was still. There was near complete silence in the woods…until the gentle footsteps of two Mobians interrupted nature’s serene tranquility.
“Why are we walking so quietly?” Ask the ebony echidna before entering a fighting stance, throwing air punches at an imaginary target, his boots dug into the grass and his knees bent.
“Victoria has eyes and ears everywhere,” replied the brown hedgehog before raising a finger to her lips, all but telling him to remain as quiet as possible.
“Ah, so the sooner we’re discovered, the sooner we can take the fight right to her,” he replied as he punched the open palm of his other hand, a grin across his muzzle. “Tell me I’m wrong, Sammie.”
“That’s exactly what we don’t want, Ceddie,” she replied, shaking her head. “We were captured once before, and if we’re not careful, she’ll capture us again.”
“I guess you’re right,” Ceddie said, abiding by his girlfriend’s request and lowering the tone of his voice.
“Thank you…” She sighed before scanning their surroundings. “There, let’s take a breather by that downed tree.” The hedgehog peered down at her turquoise dress, adorned with flowers, and sighed once more. “I hate to get this outfit dirty, but it can’t be helped.” She sat down next to Ceddie and glanced at the watch affixed to her wrist. Pressing a few buttons, the watch began projecting what appeared to be a factory surrounded by downed trees, built right along the edge of a cliff.
“We close?” Ceddie asked as he studied the projection.
“Just a couple more miles, yes,” Sammie replied with a nod. “Our objective is simple…” Pressing a button on her watch once more, the projected image changed to a schematic of the building’s interior. “As we know, Dr. Victoria Robotnik’s already taken over a good chunk of Mobius, and in the process, she has encased an untold number of Mobians, humans, and flickies into liquid rubber for no better reason than to be displayed for her personal amusement.”
“That sick bastard…” Ceddie shook his head.
“According to the intel we gathered with the rest of the Forest Fighters,” Sammie continued, “this factory is the main producer of liquid rubber. We destroy the factory, and Victoria’s collecting hobby will have to be put on hold.” She glanced up at Ceddie, a frown across her face. “We still don’t have a way to cure everyone who has been entrapped in rubber, but if we can stop the process, or at least slow it down, that’ll mean less victims, at least in the short-term.”
“Will this help us regain our memory?” Ceddie asked.
“I don’t know,” Sammie replied. “Honestly, all I remember from prior to us waking up trapped in Victoria’s lab is being with you, although even those memories are fuzzy.” She pulled herself up, patting the dirt from her dress. “My instincts tell me that stopping Victoria’s evil schemes will get us closer to having our memories restored.”
“Well, we have no other leads anyway,” Ceddie said, returning to his feet as well, “so might as well take some action!”
“Duck!” Sammie exclaimed in a whispered yet panicked voice as she pulled Ceddie down by his shoulders. Seconds later, a flying autonomous drone scanned the area where they were once standing. After the drone concluded that there were no intruders encroaching on Victoria’s land, it returned to its patrolling duties, floating away at a slow pace.
“Phew, that was close,” Sammie said, sighing with relief as she wiped the sweat from her brow. “Remember what I said about being quiet?”
“Yeah, my bad,” Ceddie replied as he ran his hands through his dreadlocks.
Sammie and Ceddie returned to their feet once more and crept onward.
“I think the drone is heading to the factory,” Sammie said as she studied a holographic map projecting from her watch. “Let’s follow.” Ceddie simply nodded in response, following the hedgehog until they made it to a steep mountainside. The drone made its way through a small tunnel, specifically designed for these small autonomous robots, carved into the mountainside.
“How do you suppose we’re getting in?” Ceddie asked, folding his arms in contemplation. “There’s no way we can fit in there.”
“You up for using your fists?” Sammie asked, raising her own, comparably smaller fists in encouragement.
“We gonna smash some robots?” Ceddie asked, excitement starting to build in his voice.
“Not quite yet,” Sammie replied, “but it’s the next best thing!” She pointed at the mountainside. “As an echidna, you’re practically an expert at climbing steep walls. Can you get us up the mountain?”
“Sure,” Ceddie replied, cracking his knuckles in preparation. He slammed one fist against the earthy rock, followed by another fist a couple feet above. “Hop on.”
With that, Sammie grabbed hold of the ebony echidna as he started making the ascent, leaving fist marks along the side of the mountain as the two made their way upward.
“Almost there…” Sammie studied her watch as Ceddie continued the climb. “Alright, this is good.”
“What do you mean?” He peered around, finding that they were roughly halfway up the mountain, the factory building well above their current location.
“As we saw below,” Sammie replied, “the factory is built atop the mountainside, but the inside runs deep within the mountain itself. According to my schematics, there’s a safe spot here for us to break through.”
“Say no more,” Ceddie replied as a smirk formed across his muzzle. He swung one arm back and launched his fist at the earthy mountainside, piercing a hole not just through the rock but also a metallic wall within. The echidna launched a few more punches, ensuring his other fist remained glued to the mountainside to keep them from falling to their demise, until his makeshift entrance was large enough for them to crawl through.
Dusting off the gravel from her dress, Sammie activated the hologram from her watch once more, studying the schematics of the building.
“Ahh, we’re in luck! Looks like we found ourselves in the processing wing,” she observed.
“What does that mean?” Ceddie replied, tilting his head in contemplation. “Like, processing the rubber?”
“Not only that, but this facility is built to actually encase victims as well.” Sammie led the ebony echidna to what appeared to be an autonomous assembly line. They hid behind some metal boxes as two robots latched up a Mobian cat to a conveyor belt, her mouth covered by tape to prevent her from screaming. Nevertheless, fear was in her eyes, and sweat dripped from her forehead, as she peered forward at the machine further down the line, the one that would encapsulate her into a liquid rubber mold.
With a few bleep bloops, one of the robots, communicating to the other, pulled a lever to start the conveyor belt. The cat tried to escape, but the restraints on her wrists and ankles prevented her from escaping her seemingly inevitable fate.
“We’ve got to help her,” Ceddie proclaimed.
“It’ll blow our cover,” Sammie replied with a brief pause. “…but we have no choice. We can’t let another innocent person fall victim to Victoria’s madness.”
With that, the two hopped over the box and lunged at the robots. Ceddie launched an all-out attack against the robot nearest him, diving forward and pulling back his arm to charge a devastating punch, completely blowing the head off the robot. Meanwhile, when Sammie was closing in, she abruptly braked before charging a spindash, rolling in place at great speed before launching herself toward the other robot like a bowling ball closing in on unsuspecting pins, and upon impact, the robot’s limbs went in all directions.
The two robots were left smoldering messes, leaving Sammie enough time to disengage the machine and Ceddie the opportunity to unlock the latches holding the cat down. As soon as the captive was free, she pulled herself up to her feet and ripped the tape from her mouth.
“You have my gratitude,” she said as she gave a gentle bow, her light blue fur contrasting the sparkling embers emanating from the robots.
“We’ve gotta go,” Sammie said, receiving a nod from Ceddie in response. She turned to the rescued cat. “Do you think you can make it out of here without getting caught?”
“I’ll be as quiet as a cat!” she exclaimed. “I’ll hear them coming from a mile away and hide when they get too close.” She turned to the exit. “I don’t think there are any other live captives, so whatever you need to do, I’d suggest making it quick.”
“Will do,” Sammie replied with a nod before turning her attention back to the echidna. “C’mon, Ceddie, let’s hurry.”
“Right,” he replied, following the brown hedgehog to the far corner of the processing wing, led by a shimmering green light.
“What is that?” Ceddie asked as he studied a large computer mainframe housing a single gem, a glass case keeping it protected yet failing to hide its magnificent beauty.
“That’s…a Chaos Emerald.”
“A Chaos Emerald?” Ceddie turned to the hedgehog, raising his brow. “No way. I thought that was only a legend…a fairy tale.”
“I’ve heard rumors Victoria had discovered some sort of powerful energy source, but I never would’ve thought a Chaos Emerald…” She reached her palms outstretched toward the gem. “They say when all seven are gathered, it manifests one’s desires into reality.”
“If that’s the case,” Ceddie replied, “then Victoria definitely hasn’t collected them all yet, or else we’d all be her action figures by now.”
“Let’s snag this one and bring it back to the Forest Fighters headquarters,” Sammie replied. “With this gem, the playing field will be leveled, and we’ll have a real shot at taking Robotnik down.”
“Oh really now?”
The two Mobians spun around to find Dr. Victoria Robotnik, a evil smirk covering her face, her white lipstick matching her ebony-striped hair. Large, flat goggles covered her sinister brown eyes, and she wore a black lab dress, puffy pants extending to her knees, and matching black and white boots. She let out a sickening laugh as she gestured to the Mobians with her white gloved hands.
“Ahh, if it isn’t my failed experiments Cedric and Samantha. How are you liking your new forms?”
“What are you talking about?” Ceddie asked.
“What, you don’t remember?” The grin across her face grew even more sinister, an evil laugh emanating from her lips. “Absolutely hilarious! Not only were you two miserable failures, but you were left amnesic as well! And now you’ve found yourselves coming home, like a stray puppy returning to its litter.”
“Tell us what we want to know,” Sammie replied, grinding her teeth as she bent her knees, entering a fighting stance alongside Ceddie.
“Oh, please,” Victoria scoffed. “You couldn’t even lay a finger on me, let alone defeat me in combat. Wasting my own precious time on you would be silly, so how about I introduce you to my robotic assistant!” With a snap of her fingers, a cyborg appeared behind the two Mobians, sending the two toppling to the floor with a sweeping kick. Ceddie and Sammie peered up at this creation from below; she wore a red and black lab coat fashioned like a crinoline dress, and pure black glasses covered her eyes. She wore long, black rubber gloves extended up her arms and corresponding leggings reaching down to her black boots. Completing the outfit was a golden headband adorned with a ruby, a large, red ribbon affixed to her head, and, upon first glance, natural red hair, overgrown yet simultaneously well-kept.
“Meet E. Blender, the best mechanical assistant I’ve ever conceived! Quite frankly, you two don’t deserve to die at the hands of such a brilliant feat of engineering, but I’m feeling…generous…” The smirk across Victoria’s face continued to grow. “Blender, you know what to do.” With full faith and confidence in her creation, Victoria strolled away, leaving her creation to do her dirty work.
“With pleasure, Miss Robotnik,” Blender replied, her voice nearly indistinguishable from that of a living organism. She approached Ceddie and Sammie, who had since returned to their feet and entered fighting stances, their knees bent and their arms outstretched. “So, who’s first?”
“Any ideas?” Ceddie asked.
“Blender was programmed to be Robotnik’s henchwoman, an obedient mechanical slave through and through. When she isn’t assisting in the building of her master’s mechs and machines, she can double as an elite fighter.”
“So what are our odds?” Ceddie pressed.
“Pretty slim, not gonna lie,” Sammie replied, wiping sweat from her brow as Blender slowly approached them. “Perhaps with backup from HQ, we’d stand a chance, but not the two of us alone.”
“What’s the matter, afraid to make the first move?” Blender asked before letting out a chuckle not unlike her master’s moments earlier.
“You’re the brains of the operation,” Ceddie continued, stepping back alongside Sammie as Blender edged closer and closer to the duo. “Do we flee?”
“If you can hold her off for a little bit, I can try stealing the Chaos Emerald,” Sammie replied.
“Leave it to me,” he replied, giving the brown hedgehog a thumbs up before shifting his focus back to the cyborg before him.
“I’ll take you up on that challenge and deliver a first move so hard your circuits will fry from the inside!” Ceddie jeered.
“Such confidence from someone who’s pitifully weak,” Blender replied as she adjusted her glasses. “A scan of your biodata shows you lack the strength to cause me any damage, not even a scuff on my titanium body, but just a few well-placed attacks from me will spell your doom.”
“Enough talk, let’s go…” Ceddie launched forward, swinging his arm back as he prepared a devastating punch. Before he could land a blow, however, Blender appeared to vanish, only to reappear milliseconds later behind the confused echidna. Before he could turn around, the cyborg delivered a roundhouse kick, sending him toppling to the ground once more.
“That’s the best ya got?” Ceddie jeered as he returned to his feet. “My grandma can kick better than that. Why don’t you show me what you can really do?”
“The cockiness is off the charts,” Blender replied with a laugh. “Although you were right about one thing: that was only a small fraction of my true power.”
“While they trade rhetorical barbs,” Sammie whispered to herself as she made her way back to the Chaos Emerald, “I can fulfill my objective.” Studying a small monitor affixed to the glass display protecting the mystical gem, the brown hedgehog began typing furiously, toggling through various prompts in an attempt to bypass the security measures that would’ve otherwise hurt anyone who tried to simply break the glass and steal the emerald with blunt force.
Blender raised a single gloved finger to the ruby affixed to her headband. “Prepare to die, fool!” Running her finger along the gem, the ruby started glowing a deep shade of red. “Now you will perish!” The cyborg dove forward, and while Ceddie made his best effort to dodge, a laser blast from Blender’s headband managed to pierce his arm, causing him to howl in pain.
“Sometimes I forget how fun it is to play with my food,” Blender replied. “But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.” The cyborg raised a finger to her head band once more. “Say goodnig—”
“Hey, cyborg!”
“How dare you interrupt me!” Blender exclaimed as she turned her attention to the brown hedgehog, who was holding the mystical green Chaos Emerald. “Hey, put that back right now!”
“You want it?” Sammie asked, a grin across her face as she tossed it in the air, catching it seconds later.
“You have no idea the power you’re toying with!” Blender replied, her voice growing increasingly angry.
“Then I guess you won’t mind a little game of…FETCH!” Sammie threw it over the cyborg’s head, landing several yards away behind a stack of metallic boxes.
“Damn you!” Blender immediately began searching for the gem as Sammie and Ceddie ran back to the hole the ebony echidna created before.
“You sure you can glide away with my weight and that injury?” Sammie asked in concern as they crawled their way back to the mountainside.
“Don’t worry,” Ceddie replied with a reassuring nod. “It’s just a flesh wound…now get on my back.”
“Right…” At the edge of the tunnel, Ceddie jumped off the mountainside with Sammie in tow, but instead of falling immediately to the ground below, the echidna was able to glide away, his arms outstretched like Superman as the two slowly descended until they landed in the forest.
“That was close,” Sammie said, sighing as she wiped sweat from her forehead once more. “Here, let’s treat that wound of yours.” The brown hedgehog tore a strip off the hem of her dress, using it to bandage the wound. Thankfully, it wasn’t that serious, missing bones or anything else vital. “We can clean it up when we return to base.”
“Thanks, sweetie…” It was Ceddie’s turn to sigh.
“What’s wrong? The wrapping too tight?”
“No, not that…” The echidna peered down at the brown hedgehog. “The Forest Fighters will appreciate our new intel, but we failed to meaningfully stop the operations at the facility and, worst yet, we couldn’t retrieve their Chaos Emerald.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Sammie as she pulled the green gem from her dress.
“B-but how?!” Ceddie exclaimed, gasping at the sight of the mystical emerald. “I thought you threw it away so we could escape?”
“Nahh, I had something else in mind…”
“What do yo—” Before Ceddie could inquire further, a loud explosion could be heard from atop the mountainside. Peering through the trees, the Mobians watched in delight as the facility became engulfed in flame, burning to the ground before their eyes as smoke rose from the smoldering building. “Oh, you sneaky devil!”
“Honestly surprised my remote bomb took that long to detonate,” Sammie replied with a shrug, “but it’ll do.” The brown hedgehog activated the hologram on her watch once more. “There are no more drones in the vicinity.” She gestured forward. “C’mon, let’s head back to base.”
And so the two Mobians made their escape, having successfully put the facility out of commission while retrieving an invaluable, mystical power source that will surely aid the Forest Fighters. Of course, as they made their way back to base, they couldn’t stop reflecting on Victoria Robotnik’s cryptic words.
What did she mean by “failed experiments”?
How did she know they were suffering from amnesia?
And what about their pasts was she keeping secret from the two Mobians?
These were the questions Sammie and Ceddie were left to ponder as they made their return trip back to base, and they knew that, as long as they continued their quest to stop Robotnik’s tyranny, they would eventually find the answers to these pivotal questions and, therefore, discover the truth about their past.