Return to the Underground

The Truth and Eggman Arrives

"Cyrus, what's wrong?"
The lion was wheezing in front of the siblings. Shadow had woken up and was now standing beside Sonic. All the children were being corralled back inside by many of the new recruits while some of the older ones (and Sonic's parents) had stayed behind to hear what Cyrus had to say.
"Sleet and Dingo," he managed in-between breaths. "Just announced that- Robotnik is back and is headed to Robotropolis."
There were gasps all around and even some crying. Sonia just stood there with a death grip on Manic's arm. Manic only stared at Cyrus.
Sonic, on the other hand, had his eyes grow to the size of saucers then, realizing who they meant, face palmed. "Oh boy."
"That is a big understatement." His brother said beside him.
At that moment, he remembered what the Oracle had told him in the cave: 'Take your time. But not too much time.' If he didn't tell them now, not only would they probably be madder at him than if he told them, but the surprise might just throw them off and they could be put in danger. This was gonna be fun.
Shadow leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Sonic, you need to tell them. Now."
Sonic sighed softly, leaning his head against Shadow's for comfort.
"I know," he whispered back.
"What are you two whispering about?" Sonia asked, looking over to them with a suspicious look.
Sonic bit his lip. Shadow gently nudged him with his shoulder to encourage him. "Well... I didn't exactly tell you everything about my first adventure. And pretty much every other adventure."
Now they were curious. "Sonic?" Sonia slowly walked up to him.
"You remember Eggman, right?" They nodded and Sonic took a deep breath. "His real name... is Dr. Ivo Robotnik." He braced for impact as the shocked silence hung in the air.
He definitely needed to. "What?! Why didn't you tell us?! Robotnik! What was the point of not telling us?!"
Sonic was starting to feel a twinge of anger starting to form in him. "I didn't want to ruin your arrival! You cannot tell me that you would have been as happy or playing and relaxing if you knew it was him!" Shadow nudged him again, this time a bit rougher and as a warning, but Sonic ignored it.
Sonia slightly flinched at how much harsher his voice sounded than before, but quickly recovered. "No, but it still would have been better than not knowing! He could have attacked and destroyed half the city or something! We've seen his power!"
"You haven't seen his power!" Sonia completely flinched at Sonic's yell. He was really starting to get mad. "I was there when he blew up half of the moon! I was there when he broke the planet apart! I was there when he took control of a bunch of super powerful entities, lost control of them, and almost cost me my best friend! You have not seen his power! I have, and I have overcome every single one! No medallion. No magic, laser-shooting guitars. And not even my friends in some cases." He had started tearing up at this point. "I've had to face huge things alone. I've had to deal with everyone I love being lost again. I was trying to protect you."
With that he ran off at full speed, setting off a sonic boom in his quake, leaving all his family and friends just standing there, staring at the space where he had been standing.
"Sonic!" Shadow yelled. He skated off after him, setting off his own sonic boom.
Tails, who had heard the sonic boom, ran over. "What happened? Where's Sonic?"
Maddie walked up to him, putting a mask over her face to hide the truth. "It's nothing, sweetie. Why don't you go inside with the other kids?"
Tails wasn't so easily fooled. "I'm not that dumb. I have an IQ of over 300, after all."
Maddie stood up quickly, very surprised. As were many of the other adults. Amber ran over next to Maddie. "It's not nice to lie, Tails."
"I'm not!" The fox was getting annoyed now. "I built the machine that got us here, and I built my own plane as well as pilot it! Now. Where is Sonic?"
Sonia jumped in before the two could accuse him further of lying. "After Cyrus told us Robotnik was back, he told that Eggman was Robotnik. We fought, and then he ran off. Shadow went after him."
"Oh." He could tell wasn't going to be good, but he wasn't expecting that. He sighed. "I'll bet he's going off to wherever they're arriving from."
Sonic's adoptive mother rose. "What? Why would he do that?"
Tails shrugged. "That's Sonic. He gets really reckless when he's fighting for something he believes in. Especially if it has anything to do with the ones he loves."
Sonia and Manic looked at each other, then in the direction Sonic and Shadow had ran off to, then back to Tails as he started spinning his tails. "Tails, what are you doing?"
"I'm going after Sonic. What does it look like?"
Manic put a hand on his shoulder. "You do realize that this is a powerful maniac that happens to rule over this land."
"Of course I do." He shook the hedgehog's hand off. "I've faced him by myself before. He doesn't scare me. And besides, I'll be with Sonic and Shadow." He took off after his blue and black companions.
The two siblings stood there for a few moments, taking in all that the fox had said, and ran to the van to follow.