Sonic sat in the fields of Holy Summit under a palm tree, with the Tornado stationed at the foot of the hill. "Gonna be hard to give up fresh air… clean water, too," He sighed, Sage resting her head beside him. "It doesn't feel great leaving without telling anybody, either. Right when I was getting settled in, too."
"That isn't anything new. When you want to get up and go somewhere, you'll drop anything at a moment's notice to do so. That is your defining trait and greatest social flaw," Sage replied.
"I usually intend to come right back to them," Sonic mumbled. "I have a habit of running into the same crowd on my adventures, but there's no guarantee when I'm serving the Empire. Maybe it's best if I don't see any of them again, they'd probably be really mad. I might even have to fight them."
"Anger is the most illogical emotion of all. Your companions have proven themselves loyal beyond time and space," Sage said, staring at the moon as it faded into the purple-orange sky. "I've run the simulations, and my data found they were more scared they may lose their friend than they were angry at your proposition." Sonic took a long, loud sniffle in. Sage sat up and looked over. Sonic had his face stuffed in a big sunflower he picked from the ground. He hid his eyes from her.
"Just smelling the flowers…"
Far from Holy Summit, a spotlight shined down on a dour-looking platypus in a strange suit. "I regret to inform you all that Sonic the Hedgehog has signed up for the Eggman Empire's military. As we speak, he is preparing for departure, never.. to… return," Doctor Starline spoke into a microphone, surrounded by a theatre audience. "This ends the hedgehog's decades-long adventure, but for him, it's been less than five years due to the mind-altering effects of Supreme's tank as well as time dilation in outer space." No response from the crowd, the light didn't reach their faces. "As president of Knowing Smile Enterprises, I feel obligated to inform you of Sonic's treachery. React however you must, for we are all grieving our hero today."
"With that being said…"
The spotlight moved away from Starline, leaving him looming over the audience in near complete darkness. As the strobe light roamed the seats, disfigured Eternalists hissed and writhed against their constraints. They each bore resemblance to Sonic, his friends, and even their distant acquaintances. "In our former hero's absence, you are to take his place. We will keep tabs on him over the coming months, but from now on, you are all the shining stars of the media. Heroes to the general public." The doppelganger of Ata, an awful veiny lump of pink flesh with multiple faces, began screaming and groaning in agony while choking up red acid that melted the floor. "King Dodon Pa has seen to it that every generation can have their own heroes… and I am his number 1 fan."
STAMP!
"Next!" The humanoid office robot exclaimed. Sonic slogged over to the front desk of the Eggman Empire's customs, and gave the robot his papers. "My name is M, how can I help you today?" She asked. Sonic stared blankly at M, carrying Sage on his back.
"Uhh, could you let me through?" Sonic asked. "I have places to be." M looked down at Sonic's new passport, and scanned it slowly with a red laser coming from her visor.
"These old models haven't been upgraded in 25 years, please be patient with them…" Sage whispered. The scanning laser suddenly pierced a smoking hole in the desk through the photo of Sonic's passport.
"SONIC detected, intruder alert! Enemy of the state;SONIC THE HEDGEHOG has entered the premises!" M screeched and whirred, shedding the skin of her arms and becoming a weird mechanical tendril monster. "EXTERMINATE!"
Sonic hopped back, as M tore through the ceiling and desk with her tendrils and laser. The other people waiting to be let into the country forgot all about the paperwork, and escaped outdoors. Sage fled behind a chair, peeking out as Sonic and M tore the room down in their battle. Sonic cut through multiple tendrils, causing rainbow oil to spew out all over the beige walls. He tore wall tacks out of the banal propaganda posters in Spinball form, and tossed them towards M like bullets. M smashed Sonic through the wall with her tendril arm, mopping the floor with his face at high speed before he crashed headfirst into a fenced-off contemporary art exhibit.
Sonic groaned, leaning his head against the abstract sculpture. He stood up, just in time to run back towards M as a spiked metal sphere fell from the exhibit and rolled towards him. Sonic and the spike ball entered the conveyor belt, which was moving against them at full speed. As Sonic picked up his pace, the conveyor belt changed its direction under the force of his footsteps. The spike ball was flung towards M, who caught it by the sides with her tendrils. She wouldn't be able to hold it for long, and as she tried to keep her balance, she slipped on the puddle of her own oil blood under her. She was pinned down by the ball, before Sonic used Phantom Rush and sent his speed clones to push the ball down onto her. M was crushed through the floor, the spike ball turned to little needles and revealed her broken remains under it.
Sage stepped out from the busted chair she was hiding behind. "Your combat prowess is remarkable… Eggman will have much use for you in battle scenarios," Sage said, floating over to Sonic as he stared down at M.
"Right. I'm still not sure about all this. I wanted to follow you here, of course, but I need to find ways to hold back in fights," Sonic muttered, M's visor on her decapitated head powered off. Sonic's eyes widened, his head pounding. She looked so realistic, and it made him feel as if he just tore apart a human. "Robots are one thing… but I don't want to see a living being end up like this because of me."
"Hypothetical: I am a robot. Does the same ethical disconnect when terminating artificial beings instead of organic ones apply to me?" Sage asked. Sonic put a hand to his head, remembering the rusty skeleton of the first Sage… Finale… in his arms. It didn't matter if she was a robot, he had lost a loved one regardless. Sonic didn't meet Sage's gaze as she frantically tried to reorient herself to make eye contact. She failed as he shut his eyes tight.
"Don't ask stupid questions like that."
…
After breaking through customs, Sonic ran around Imperial City, a technological hellhole that spiraled down the world's widest bottomless pit. "Fascinating. This entire city was built around a crater caused by the Babylonian Impact event. Babylon Garden itself crashed here long ago before glaciation pushed it out to sea," Sage murmured, drifting idly behind Sonic and phasing through other pedestrians. "Hmm? Sonic, we've already been on this city layer. You appear to be misguided, shall I open the GPS?"
"Nah, I'm just stalling. I want to savor my last jog as a free hedgehog," Sonic groaned, skidding to a stop and leaning over the thin layer of glass between the streets and the pit. Sage phased through the window and leaned forward quizzically. Sonic jolted upright. "Hey, be careful!"
"I can levitate. Your care is misplaced," Sage replied. Sonic took a deep breath. "Do you truly believe yourself a 'free hedgehog' in this current moment? You are back in Eggman Empire territory. Nobody is 'free' in this surveillance-control state."
"I could leave at any moment, but I'm doing this for you," Sonic said, his ears drooping. "I'd do anything it takes to get your memories and personality back."
"You can't leave the Empire, even if you escape the land. As one of the first military defectors, you should know this better than anyone," Sage scoffed. "The Badniks hunt you down, Eggman herself tries to reel you back in. Once you've no energy left to run, you return willingly." Sonic looked into the pit, spiraling down as far as the eye could see.