#bonus points to whoever can name the person mina met in the alley

[thetravelersjournal]

Gear Foxx- Chapter 3

Don’t Repeal Net Neutrality!

“Were you trying to kill yourself, kid?”

“Er… is this a rhetorical question?” I asked.

Dr. Quack, Knothole’s lead physician, muttered angrily under his breath. He finished wrapping the cast around my leg before stating, “You got off pretty easy. But if you had kept running on that broken leg of yours, the last thing on your mind would be how painful it is.” He left the room for a moment, before bringing back a pair of crutches.

“Guh!” I breathed, getting to my feet with the crutches. Mina tried to help me, but I brushed her hand from my arm. “I’m fine,” I said, before asking, “So how long until this heals?”

“A few weeks, but if you want it to heal faster, I suggest not trying to walk for a while. The only reason I gave you those crutches is because we’re fresh out of wheelchairs,” the doctor pointed to the window, where I could see a few Mobians stuck in portable chairs.

“Good to know. Thanks doc,” I said, moving towards the door.

“Hey, kid!” Quack called after me, “Leave the heroics to Sonic! Otherwise you’ll just make my life harder!”

“Glad to know he cares about my well-being so much,” I muttered to Mina as we left.

Mina shrugged, “Well, you were the one to run around on a broken leg. I’m surprised you’re even still able to walk on it.”

“It was because of the brace I made,” I explained, “It held my bones in place long enough for me to get them fixed, but running on them didn’t really help.”

Mina silently stared at me, perhaps disturbed at how calmly I was taking the situation. She finally sighed, “Well, Doctor Quack is right. You should really leave the freedom fighting to Sonic.”

“And you should really not run to your death,” I interjected, thinking about Mina’s mad dash to rescue her mother. Her face flushed with anger.

“You’re the one who thought it was a good idea to go rescue her!”

“Yeah, but since Sonic’s right about everything, there’s no problem, right? Why don’t you go tell him how right he is?” I practically snarled.

“Fine! I will! And honestly, I don’t think I even care anymore if you try to get yourself killed whenever Robotnik attacks. Do what you want,” she stomped away, annoyed.

I watched her disappear into the large crowd of people flooding the small village. “Looks like I’m on my own again…,” I mumbled sadly.

I limped through the mass of Mobians, trying to find a good spot to rest. People were setting up tents, hundreds of them, to accommodate for the massive population- there just weren’t enough homes to go around.

I found a quiet corner, just a little ways away from Knothole, and rested my back up against a tree. I sighed, my mind still focused on my row with Mina. I didn’t want to get mad at her, but I needed some time to think, to process things. I needed to be alone, and getting Mina to avoid me was the best- the only- solution I could come up with.

“Sorry, Mina,” I grumbled to myself, before absorbing myself into my own thoughts.

A Human. A Fox. A Doctor. Another Doctor. A Hedgehog. A Foxx. A Mongoose. Mobians. A lab. Snapping electricity. A robot named George. A small village. A Chipmunk. A giant emerald. Project X. Armored guards. A burning city. A burning scar.

I lifted the hem of my shirt, revealing my brand once again. I ran my finger across it, wincing from the sharp sting that followed. The raw flesh was still tender.

I had been created, not born. I wasn’t ‘real’, per se. Then again, I did have the souls of two different individuals inside me. Were the souls now my own, or theirs?

Another question remained- Why was I created? The doctor said I was supposed to be “the ultimate soldier”, but was that the only reason? It’s not like I wanted to fight all those robots, I just…

I just wanted to help people.

Was that just another part of a programmed personality? Or was it my own? My head was swimming from the questions.

And of course, I couldn’t forget about where I was. I was in a world where Sonic the Hedgehog existed. And Dr. Eggman… they had called him Dr. Robotnik, hadn’t they? Kintobor backward is…

“If Dr. Robotnik is fighting Sonic, then does that mean Dr. Kintobor will be coming after me soon?” I thought.

No. He implanted a tracker in me, hadn’t he? If he wanted me, and if he was here, he would have done so already. I was safe- for now.

Back to the present situation. Some of what happened seemed familiar. I’m sure that the Human had read something like this in his comics before. If I can just remember… what did the Human read about?

Suddenly, the answer hit me. A flash of colors shot through my mind, as a smoking village captured my attention. The scene shifted to reveal a rogue AI, who was tormenting Mobians. The setting changed again, this time to missiles hitting a domed city. Again and again images flew in my head, only lasting a second or two as I recalled key events. A golden echidna. A hidden city. A roboticized scientist. A freed mad scientist. An empty suit of chainmail. A large egg-shaped aircraft. Invading aliens. A giant panda bear.  A blue emerald. Strange robots from another world. A destroyed universe.

I strained my mind for anything else, but failed. My vision was ragged, and I fought to control my breathing. I had to calm down. I bumped my head against the tree, staring up at its branches. Sunlight danced through the leaves, flooding the forest floor with a late afternoon gleam.

I knew some of what was going to happen, but beyond that, I couldn’t seem to remember much of anything else. Both the Human’s and the Fox’s memories were locked away from me, only snippets of information leaking out of the sealed chest of reminiscence. Why couldn’t I remember? And why was I even here? How did this world exist?

A low rumble made its way to my ears, piercing the silence like an arrow. I clicked my tongue with impatience.

“Ugh… I’m hungry,” I sighed.

Unfortunately, I was tired more than anything. Battling throughout the entire day, then thinking too hard about the situation I was in, was just too much for my body and mind. My eyelids slowly slid shut.

“At least, for now, I’m safe,” I thought, before falling asleep.

Now that I escaped Dr. Cain, what should I do?

It was this question that made me wake with a start, a cold sweat pouring down my back. The sun had retraced its steps in the sky, and my back was sore from being in the same position for so long. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, stretching.

What should I do? My mind drew a blank from this obvious question. What is my purpose? Do I even need one?

My stomach grumbled loudly. “Well, I know what I should do for the moment. But even before that…” I turned my attention back to Knothole. Hundreds of Mobians were walking here and there, grabbing lunch with friends or setting up more tents- apparently, it had continued through the night. I saw a familiar face speaking with an elderly woman. I got up slowly, placed my armpits on my crutches, and made my way to them.

The older woman had left by the time I got there, leaving Mina with three small children I hadn’t noticed before. She seemed to be telling them a story.

“...When suddenly, a giant robot appeared! Dr. Ro-butt-nik’s forces were attacking the city! The robot started firing at me, but I was able to sneak past it into a small alley. There I met- Wait, did I even meet anyone in the alleyway?” She seemed momentarily confused, but continued on, “Anyways, I was able to escape, and after making it through the alley I found a bunch of other people. We were about to escape the city when,” she paused dramatically, “More Shadow-bots attacked!”

The children gasped, completely enthralled with Mina’s story. I chuckled, stopping behind her. Neither she nor the kids saw me.

“We were completely surrounded! I thought that it was the end. What I didn’t expect was for Sonic the Hedgehog to come swiftly to our rescue! He tore all the robots apart before I even had time to blink!”

“You forgot to mention the part where I heroically tried to save you guys, but landed flat on my butt and looked like an idiot instead,” I said.

Mina turned her head so quickly I heard an audible crack. She rubbed her neck, moaning before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Apologizing. Unless you’d like me to leave…?”

“Preferably the latter. But go on.”

“I didn’t mean to bring up what happened in the city, or get mad at you for no reason. I’m sorry for starting an argument,” I said truthfully.

Mina looked at me with a strange expression on her face. For a second I thought she hadn’t accepted my apology, but then she said, “You’re so weird, Gear.”

“Er… Okay?” I wasn’t really sure how to respond to this statement.

“Most people don’t like apologizing or admitting they’re wrong about anything, but you come right out and do it like it’s nothing.”

I stared at her, blinking rapidly, still not sure how to reply.

“I guess if I’m being perfectly honest, I was glad that we got into a fight. I wanted some time to think by myself. With everything that went on yesterday… It was all rather chaotic, wasn’t it?” She smiled before saying, “So I guess you didn’t really need to apologize… Though it was still nice to hear.”

“Heh… It’s funny, I started arguing for that exact same reason. I thought that you might stick close to me because of my leg,” I tapped my leg with one of my crutches, “I guess we’re both just a couple of hot-heads, huh?”

Mina laughed, shoving me to the side, “What are you talking about? You’re the one who started the argument!”

“What about the rest of the story, Ms. Mina?” one of the kids finally spoke up.

“Oh! Right, sorry,” she apologized, turning her attention back to the story, “Umm, let’s see… actually, Gear, do you want to tell your side of the story?”

“My side?” I asked.

“Yeah! Tell what you were doing when the robots started attacking, then tell how we met!”

“Um… sure, I guess. Ok,” I sat down on the ground in front of the children. They eyed me suspiciously, as if they didn’t think my story would be as good as Mina’s. “Alright, so, uh, I was in a really tall building when the Shadow-bots attacked. About as tall as that tree over there,” I said, pointing to a rather tall tree closer to the center of the village, “It was there that a large ‘bot fired at me! I dodged out of the way and...”

The sun lowered as I told my side of the story, up till the part where I met Mina, where she resumed her own story, while I added details and comments every now and then. Finally, the elderly woman came back.

“Thank you for watching the young ones for me, Mina. And who is your friend?” the woman smiled at me.

“This is Gear, Ms. Rosie,” Mina said. I waved, nodding. Rosie returned the gesture, before taking the kids back (who were rather sad to leave) and heading on her way.

“Well that was fun,” I said, lying on the grass, “You wouldn’t happen to have anything to eat, would you? I haven’t eaten in a day or two.” My stomach rumbled to confirm my statement.

Mina sighed, “Here, have a granola bar. It’s not much, but if you’re starving…”

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I shoved the bar into my mouth. My belly quieted a bit.

“Did you see Sonic’s ceremony?”

“No. Did he have one? I was sleeping till just before I found you.”

“Yeah, they knighted him and everything. I guess we can call him ‘Sir’ Sonic now.”

Mina and I talked for a while longer, the sun finally disappearing from the sky as the moon drifted between the stars. It felt good to talk to Mina, even if she was the one doing most of the talking. It was close to midnight when she finally let out a yawn.

“Wow, it’s so late… have we really been talking that long?” she asked, surprised.

“I guess so… It didn’t seem that long, anyway,” I offered. I stared up into the heavens, a gentle breeze floating through the night air. Mina got up.

“Well, I’m going to head off. It was nice talking with you again.”

I nodded, “Yeah, same.”

She looked at me uncomfortably for a few seconds, before saying, “Um… I was wondering if you wanted to do this again sometime. Talk, I mean. I don’t really have many friends to talk to…,” she trailed off.

I pondered her question. “On one condition,” I said.

“Huh? What is it?”

“That you count me as a friend,” I chuckled. I couldn’t dwell on my past all the time. I needed something to distract me. Besides, I had had fun talking to her. It was a very different change of pace from what's happened over the last couple of days.

Mina studied me closely, before her face lit up like a fireworks stand. “Of course!” she said, beaming.

I watched her walk away to a larger outcropping of tents. She disappeared between them as I slowly got up myself, making my way to the same tree I had rested up against before. I had barely taken a step, however, when a blue streak flashed past me, followed closely behind by a short, dark, spectacled human.

“Was that Sonic?” I said out loud to no one in particular. I watched him and the human continue zooming through the city, up into one of the tree canopy walkways, before finally stopping in front of a squirrel wearing a large crown- the same Mobian I had rescued back in the city. Based on what Mina had talked to me about, he was apparently the king over all the people of Knothole- King Acorn, they called him. They were barely visible from where I stood, a good few houses away. I started to walk closer in order to hear their conversation, but I didn’t really need to. I could somehow hear them from all the way over here without any trouble at all.

“...But I believe that Dr. Robotnik and his Shadow-bots have discovered the Hidden City of the Ancients!” the human was saying.

“The Hidden City of the Ancients? I thought that was a part of Mobian mythology, Uncle Nate,” said the King.

“Wait… hidden city? Didn’t that have something to do with…,” I whispered to myself.

“An unpolluted ecosystem like that needs protection from the world in general, but where Robotnik is concerned, it requires much more!” Nate continued.

“I’m in total agreement, old friend- there's no telling what Robotnik could be cooking up this time! ...And the Hidden City needs to be forewarned. I want both of you to depart first thing in the morning,” King Acorn ordered.

I continued watching Sonic as he and Nate said goodnight to the King. A hidden city- The Hidden City. Perhaps something I should check out for myself… It just might have some of the answers I’m seeking...

Read the Beginning!- Prologue

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Gear and Dr. Cain belong to me.

Mina, Rosie, Nate Morgan, Sonic, and others belong to SEGA, Archie(?) or Ken Penders