Nightmare in Reality
By Tamara Lucas


     It was a cold day on Mobius. Partly because Robotnik's reign was unended, but mostly because it was 
snowing. Yet, this was a cold snow, colder than any other, so much that everyone had to stay inside just to 
stay warm enough by the fire in the fireplace. In Sonic's hut, the core freedom fighters sat around the 
blazing fireplace to discuss their next mission into Robotropolis. Snow, even cold like this, would not stop 
them from shutting down Robotnik's next plan.
     "Ok guys, " said Sally as she quickly warmed her hands from the cold. "We've got to shut down 
Robotnik's weather machine before all of Knothole freezes. Furthermore, we've got to destroy it before 
Robotnik's snow-bots find Knothole."
     "But 'aw can zee bots find Knothole, my princeez? And in this terreble cold?" asked Antione, freezing 
from the cold that even the fire could not warm.
     "Well," said Sally as she kept rubbing her hands together to keep warm, "these robots are designed for 
the cold, even extreme cold like this. From what Chuck has told us, their heat sensors are designed to seek 
out any sign of body heat and go to spots that has the most body heat signs.... and being that there're lots of 
body heat signs here, they'll come here," she explained sadly.
     "No prob," shivered Sonic as he huddled in a blanket of his, trying to keep warm. "We'll just destroy 
them all."
     "That's the main problem, Sonic. Think you can hold off bots like that in 60 below zero weather?" Sally 
said sarcastically.
     "Ok, so you've made your point," Sonic said, narrowing his eyes. "Then how the heck are we gonna stop 
it?"
     "Simple, if you would've let me finish, I would've told you that Chuck is going to put a virus into the 
system. It will shut the machine down for exactly 1 hour.... plenty of time for it to warm up and allow us to 
get there and destroy the machine.”
     “Great plan, Sally. So how are we gonna do it?” asked Rotor, who wasn’t the slightest cold.
     “Well…,” began Sally as she explained the plan to them. Afterwards, they went to bed, ready to carry 
out the plans the next day.

     Meanwhile in Robotropolis.
     “You should congratulate me, Snively,” Robotnik said with a smile, “Because I have finally figured out 
a way I can rid myself of those accursed freedom fighters.”
     Snively only grumbled. He hated when Robotnik was too excited about dumb plans that weren’t in the 
works yet. “Laugh all you want, you tub of guts,” he whispered to himself, “Just watch the freedom fighters 
mess this one up like they always do.”

     The next day, the mission went underway as the weather began to improve. Thanks to Chuck that is. 
And so, Rotor, Sonic, Sally, and Tails approached Robotropolis for their mission. Riding in a hover-unit 
that Rotor recently restored, they easily passed security of the outside guards and landed in the old junk 
yard.
     “Ok, everyone,” began Sally as they landed, “you all know what to do, right?”
     “Right,” they all nodded.
     “Ok, everyone meet here right after their mission is done, k? No sooner than half an hour.” They all 
agreed and went off to their missions. Tails and Rotor headed to the snow-bot factory while Sonic and Sally 
took on the weather machine.
     “Ok,” said Sonic as they neared a corner, “time for a major distraction.” With that he walked up to the 
nearby bots. “Yo, you guys seriously need a new job. Guarding doors is just way too boring,” he fakely 
yawned.  With that, the bots began firing on him and he, of course, dodged them and sped off in the other 
direction. While the bots gave chase, Sally quickly went to the door and lurched it open. Inside was the 
weather machine.
     “Nicole,” she said as she took out Nicole, “think you can fry this thing?”
     “Negative, Sally,” Nicole beeped. Sally then tried to consider another alternative when Sonic sped in. 
     “In that case, a Sonic spin should do the trick,” he said as he whirled into a ball and totaled the machine. 
He stopped in front of Sally. “Am I cool or what?”
     She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, we better get outta here before that thing explodes, Mr. Hotshot.”
     “Well, excuse me,” he said in a sarcastic tone as he grabbed Sally and high-tailed it outta there.
     Outside, they heard the factory going up in flames. “Well, atleast Rotor and Tails are successful,” he 
said with a smirk. 
     They soon met up with them. “Good work, guys,” Sally congratulated them, “now let’s get back to 
Knothole before anymore bots come our way.”
     “You guys go back to the hover-unit, I’ll meet you later,” said Sonic as he turned to leave. “I'm gonna 
go see Uncle Chuck.”
     Sally frowned. “Oh, can I please go with you, Sonic?” pleaded Tails.
     “Just be careful, ok? Robotnik is capable of anything,” she warned before they took off.
     “Don’t worry, nothing can ever get this hedgehog,” Sonic winked as he sped off with Tails.
     With that, Rotor and Sally took off to the hover-unit stashed away, until suddenly swat-bots came outta 
nowhere and grabbed them.
     “Hey! Leggo you mangy bots!” yelled Rotor as they began to drag him away.
     “Rotor!” Sally shrieked, but soon she noticed Robotnik’s hover-unit land in front of her. 
     “Well, well, well,” snickered Robotnik, “who do we have here? The lil royal brat I see.”
     “Laugh at you want, Robotnik. When Sonic gets back---,’ he cut her off.
     “Oh, I assure you, I have a BIG surprise for him,” he said sinisterly with a glint in his eye. “Take the 
walrus to the roboticizer, I’ll deal with the brat myself.”
     “No!” Sally shrieked, watching helplessly as the bots hauled Rotor off.
     “Now,” said Robotnik as he walked up to Sally, “tell me where your base is and I’ll go easy on you.”
     “Oh, I’ll tell you where it is… when you lose 300 pounds tubby,” she snapped.
     Robotnik only smiled. “I didn’t want to do this, but it’s the only way,” he said as he pulled out a rather 
large gun. “Tell me or else I’ll be forced to disintegrate you into ash,” he snickered. Sally gasped.

     “Sonic,” said Chuck as he pointed to the screen, “there’s seems to be an awful lot of swat-bots near the 
place where you guys stashed the hover-unit. I think you should check it out.”
     “Right on it, Unc,” said Sonic as he went for the door.
     “Can I come?” Tails asked.
     “No, too dangerous. Stay here while I check it out,” he told the lil fox as he sped off.
     As he sped, he noticed a familiar purple walrus with the swat-bots. “Rotor!” he shrieked as he went to 
go help him. After totaling the swat-bots, Rotor told how they were ambushed. “You gotta save Sally 
before Robotnik does something awful,” Rotor explained.
     “No need to ask, I’m on it,” Sonic said as he sped off. He arrived just in time to witness what was going 
on.
     “Ah, Sonic hedgehog, nice of you to drop in,” said Robotnik, “you’re about to witness the end of your 
dear princess.”
     “Not as long as I’m around, fatty,” he said as he tried to get past the swat-bots.
     “Say good-bye princess,” Robotnik said as he raised the vaporizer.
     “Sonic! Do something!” Sally shrieked.
     As Sonic watched Robotnik aim his vaporizer at Sally, he gritted his teeth. He had to do something. 
"Stop! Don't hurt her, please," said Sonic, as he stared at the ground. "Take me instead of her," he said 
sadly, knowing that it was the only way. 
     "No, Sonic! Don't do it!" Sally pleaded, still restrained by the bots.
     Robotnik let down the gun and rubbed his chin, smirking. "Hmmm.... should I do in the royal pain that 
still stands in my way...," he then grinned wildly. "Or the rodent that been the biggest torn in my side ever 
since I took over."
     Then he grinned sinisterly at Sonic. "If I let her go, you promise you won't try to run away?"
     He lowered his head to the ground again. "I promise," he said meekly. This was one situation that he 
couldn't find any way out of.
     "No, Sonic! Save yourself!" Sally screamed.
     "No princess!" Sonic said sternly, turning to her, which surprised Sally. It surprised her even more that 
he used her rightful title... he never did. "It's my sworn duty to keep you safe, has been ever since Robotnik 
started this war," he told her, "I'm not gonna break my promise to you now."
     Sally's eyes welled up in tears. Sonic never talked that way, unless he was truly serious. She knew he 
had to do it, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe it.
     Robotnik gave a sarcastic sniff. "I'm almost touched by this," he said, wiping an invisible tear away 
from his eye. "But unfortunately I'm a little pressed for time..... make your decision Sonic!"
     Sonic stood tall. "I'm yours if you let Sally go, safe and sound," he said fearlessly as he stared into the 
eyes of his fate. 
     "It's a deal then," smiled Robotnik as he turned to his robots. "Release the princess," he ordered as the 
robots tossed the squirrel aside and right in a nearby wall, almost knocking her out.
     "Sal!" yelled Sonic as he watched Sally's limp form recoil from the wall. Yet, before he could react, 
surrounding Swat-bots quickly grabbed him up and restrained him securely so he couldn't get away if he 
tried.
     Robotnik grinned wildly. Having his greatest enemy in his grasp finally was almost like a dream. He 
raised his vaporizer gun at him. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment, rodent," he 
said coolly, but sinisterly.
     Sally struggled to get up from the impact. She heard Robotnik and quickly turned her head. What 
happened next was almost like slow motion. "NOOOO!!!!" screamed Sally as she watched Robotnik aim 
his vaporizer at Sonic. She struggled even harder to get up to stop Robotnik, but somehow that impact 
weakened her too much. She had to watch helplessly as Robotnik, with a fiendish grin on, pulled the trigger 
and released a purplish beam that struck Sonic dead on. Agonizing screams emitted from Sonic as he 
slowly disintegrated from the purplish beams. Sally was already in tears as she finally managed to climb to 
her feet, but she was still too late. For all she could see of Sonic now was just a blue pile of ashes in the 
spot he had disintegrated from.
     "Sonic...," she cried, holding her hands in front of her face as she dropped back down on her knees. Her 
cries were soon drowned out by Robotnik's laughter, who was doing a victory dance at the moment. A hand 
then grabbed her shoulder and began to pull her away from the bots quickly. She turned to find it was 
Rotor, he had escaped from the swat-bots and had come to help finally. The expression on his face, Sally 
noticed, showed that he had seen Sonic's demise.
     She stopped him. "I can't go, Rotor.... I just can't after what Robotnik did to Sonic....," she sniffed.
     "But, Sally, Robotnik will capture you for sure," Rotor argued.   
      She shook her head. "I don't care! Without Sonic we're all doomed anyway," she sniffed.
      "Look," said Rotor sternly, obviously he's already had enough of this night, "Sonic gave himself up to 
save you. If you give up then Sonic's sacrifice was for nothing, Sally."
     She knew he was right and she gritted her teeth. "We'll get him someday.... and then we can finally live 
in peace." With her courage regained, they both slipped out of sight before Robotnik had a chance to regain 
his composure.
     They soon met up with Tails at Chuck's secret headquarters. Both Chuck and Tails seemed excited that 
they had destroyed Robotnik's dreaded weather machine and the snow-bots. Obviously, they didn't know of 
the casualty of this mission.
     "Yea!" cried Tails, "Mission complete, we totaled Robotnik's machine!"
     “Yeah, we sure did. Now let’s back to Knothole,” Sally said in a sad tone, turning to leave.
     Tails looked confused. “What’s with her? And where’s Sonic?” he asked Rotor as he followed Sally out.
     Rotor frowned. “He’s not coming with us,” he said plainly.
     “Not coming with us? What, is he facing Robotnik alone?” Tails asked, almost excitedly, “I hope he 
whips Robotnik’s butt for good.”
     “He’s not facing Robotnik, Tails. So, hurry up before Sally leaves without us,” Rotor said sternly.
     This was confusing to Tails because Rotor almost rarely was stern, especially to him. “Then where is 
he? Come on, Rotor, tell me.” Tails pleading.
     “Not right now, Tails,” said Rotor, spotting the hover-unit they had stashed away in the junk yard.
     “Maybe it’s because Sonic decided to finish the dirty for you guys? Y’know, he is better than all of us 
put together,” Tails said, trying to get on Rotor’s nerves.
     “Or you guys just fled for your lives so he can do all the dirty work for---.”
     Rotor gritted his teeth and turned to him. “He’s dead, Tails!!!” he yelled, his eyes welling up in tears. 
“Robotnik disintegrated him.” 
     Tails mouth dropped. “You’re…. you’re kidding… right?” he asked meekly.
     Rotor’s face softened. “I’m afraid not….,” he said softly.
     Now Tails’ eyes welled up in tears. “No… it can’t be…”
     “I’m afraid so…. I saw the whole thing,” he frowned even more. “He gave himself up to save Sally from 
Robotnik’s clutches.” 
     Tails just stood there and let the tears fall. Rotor gave a sigh, “Sally’s not taking it any better, Tails. 
Now, let’s get back to the hover-unit,” he said softly, taking Tails hand.

    But, there was someone else that was taking Sonic’s death as a celebration.
     “I can hardly believe it, Snively, “Robotnik said with a happy tune, “I actually killed Sonic, myself. Oh, 
the years I’ve waited to hear myself say that.”
     “Yes, sir. So, what about the freedom fighters? They seem to be getting away,” said Snively, looking at 
the screen. Obviously he wasn’t as happy as Robotnik about Sonic’s demise.
     “Ah, who cares? Without Sonic the Freedom Fighters should fall quickly,” he said, still smiling. “Think 
of it as, giving them a chance to stir in their sorrow over the hedgehog fall,” he said with a laugh.
     
     When they finally reached Knothole, all they heard were cheers. 
     “Yea! Way to go team! Another mission accomplished, right?” they heard the crowd say.
     “Yeah, we totaled the weather machine,” Sally said in a flat tone as she walked to her hut.
     Bunnie then walked up to Rotor and Tails. “Ah knew ya all could do it, sugar,” she said with a smile, 
“So, where’s sugar-hog?”
     Rotor gave a sad look at Tails and he immediately burst into tears. Bunnie tried to calm him down. 
“Whah happened, sugar-Tails?” she asked in a concerned tone.
     Tails wiped away the tears. “Robotnik disin…. disintegrated him!” he wailed. Gasps rose out from the 
crowd.
     “Oh no! what are we gonna do? With Sonic gone we’re done for!” cried the furries in the crowd.
     “No, we’re not,” Bunnie said as she stood up from Tails. “One person doesn’t make up a team, everyone 
does, understand?” They nodded, but still rushed away towards their huts in fear.
     She turned back to Rotor. “Ah can imagine Sally-girl’s not taking it too well,” she said in a soft tone. 
“So… whah exactly happened?”
     Rotor gave a sigh. “On our way back to the meeting place, Sally and I got captured. Robotnik was about 
to disintegrate Sally, but Sonic stepped in and gave himself up for her,” he said in a sad tone, taking off his 
cap.
     “How noble of the sugar-hog,” Bunnie sniffed. “Well, ah better check with Sally-girl… she needs a 
friend righ now,” with that she started off towards Sally’s hut.
     Sally heard a knock at the door. She quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes. “Come in,” came her 
shakey voice. 
     Bunnie walked in and gave Sally a sad look. “Ah, uh… heard the news Sally-girl. Ah’m so sorry,” she 
said softly.
     “He was a great hero,” Sally sniffed, “Even though he got on my nerves all the time… he didn’t deserve 
this.”
     “Well, atleast he all went out with dignity,” Bunnie comforted.
     “You call being disintegrated because of my stupid self, dignity?!” she screamed.
     Bunnie went and sat down beside her friend and looked her straight in the eye. “Sally-girl, ah know it’s 
hard. Look at me, ah lost both mah arm and legs to Robotnik,” Bunnie said, pointing to her robot 
appendages. “The point is, weh can’t cry over all the casualties we’ve lost in this war with Robotnik… 
otherwise we’ll never win this war and those sacrifices would’ve been for nothing.”
     Sally nodded, but started to cry again. “I… I just miss him,” she sniffed, wiping more tears away.
     Bunnie gave a caring smile and gave Sally a hug as she cried in her arms. “Ah know, weh all do Sally-
girl,” she said softly, letting Sally’s tears fall on her shoulder.

THE END?

Of course not! This is only the beginning of a series of parts I will write to the end of Robotnik’s reign, so 
stay tuned to the next story entitled “Picking up the Pieces”