The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.*
*SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 01~

         ★The Empire lives! May it be forever!

         Government. Without exception it exists for one simple reason regardless of the ambitions of those who comprise it, to bring order and stability to the masses to assure the survival of people. It is a simple goal, and one strived for in many ways. But what are the ends with which a government will go to protect its people? What are the ends to which those in power will seek to amass more? Its purpose is singular, but its weaknesses many, and thus those with true loyalty must step up to see it serve its purpose. But few are that loyal.

Cavern of labyrinthine pipes
Conduit and airducts
Great fans and arcing electricity
Steel-toed boots stepping onto floating platform
Grey military coat and red with armor
Tall gray hat and featureless red helmet
Two “heroes”
Flickering force field

         “These things really should come with seats,” the older human man in the gray uniform sighed as the floating platform lurched away from the catwalk it had been docked at. Rubbing his mustache with a finger, he looked down at the woman who stood beside him in silence with her hands clasped behind her back. “I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking under that helmet of yours, Hunter.”

         “Nothing to threaten your pursuit of comfort, General,” the woman replied without giving any hint of her thoughts.

         “Still, we make quite the pair, don’t you think,” the general prompted as he folded his arms on the railing of the platform. Looking back at the woman he smiled. “Thorn the Crimson, the most feared Hunter in all the Empire, and Page General Pinn Bowlings, once most beloved of the Empire’s generals.”

         “All that matters is that we carry out our duty, General.”

         “Ha! Not one for small talk, are you Hunter?”

         Silence met the General and he sighed and held out a hand so that he might rub his forearm. Looking at the gold shackle like bracelet at the cuff of his jacket sleeve and matching the one on the other sleeve and tops of his boots, he smiled wryly. “You know, you’re lucky you’re not a Knetic. When you get old you need these things to keep your powers under control like you were a kid again. In my case though, it still burns even when the flames are quiet. Ha!

         “What about you though? Any problems you get just for being you? Not that I know what you are. That armor and your short tail would leave me to believe you’re a hedgehog or something, but you seem kind of tall for one.”

         “What I am General is a loyal subject of the Empire. It’s why I’m here, just like you.”

         “Ha!” Bowlings laughed having seemingly irritated Thorn, or so he allowed himself to believe as her tone held level and did not reflect her emotions. “Loyal servant of the Empire. We both know you serve the Projector, and no one knows if he serves the Emperor, the Council, or even the Secretaries. So, when you say you serve the Empire–”

         “She means the Empire, General,” A man’s voice spoke out of thin air as though cast by a ventriloquist.

         “Brilliant,” Thorn greeted the voice as the platform she rode with Bowlings flew out of the labyrinth of pipes into a massive empty chamber.

         Well above the platform a giant sphere of blue light illuminated the space in a white light that the quickly distant pipes faded into. Large metal obelisks several meters long and across floated beneath it as though laying down in a spiral pattern that shifted with the jerking of the second hand on a clock. Like the now distant pipes they too disappeared into the white distance as they descended below.

         “It is good to see you Thorn,” Brilliant the Projector’s voice responded with little care for the distance the platform traveled for his voice to bounce off anything to reach it. “And you as well General.”

         “Don’t make me laugh Projector,” Bowlings scoffed and wriggled his mustache irritably. “Good to see us? From where I wonder.”

         “It does not matter General,” Thorn cut him off. “We’ve reached the Spiral Archive.

         “Brilliant, raise the Spine and fill us in.”

         “Of course, Thorn.”

         Though the metal column that rose from the white distance below did so at the Projector’s command, it was so timely that it might as well have done so at Thorn's. There was little way she could manipulate such a structure however as despite being like a spiral staircase wrapped around a pin, it was massive like the spine of a skyscraper. And scrape the sky it did as it reached up into the blue sphere of light above. Its own rotation becoming clear as the platform neared the Spine.

         “According to the observations of my peers, ‘something’ has been observed in the Sky Ring and the Emperor believes it to be able to save the Empire. To that end he ordered the deployment of a task force to retrieve it. The Council deliberated on which division should be tasked with the mission and were at an impasse until the Secretaries suggested sending in a Hunter.”

         “And what a Hunter they chose,” Bowlings scoffed as he again turned his attention to Thorn. “One who answers to the ancient Projector who they’re trying to use to usurp power from the Council and gain favor with the Emperor.”

         “You would do well to remember that such speculation is just that General,” Thorn warned, a hint of steel in her voice. “Unless Intelligence has confirmed it, it is but gossip and rumors you waste your time humoring.”

         “And I wonder who that secretive lot answer too,” Bowlings countered with a sneer.

         “It matters not,” Brilliant interrupted. “I’ve accounted for both reality and fabrication already, hence the presence of the general.”

         “Is that how it is?” Bowlings asked and conjured a small flame in his hands, his Knetic Shackles opening and casting an orange light. “Choose the Page General who lacks what it takes to still be a threat himself to oversee an Imperial Decreed Operation.”

         “One who answers to the Council, and not the Secretaries,” Brilliant clarified.

         “Yet it’s a manipulative move all the same, Projector. If I fail the Council looks inept for choosing me for one last operation, but if I succeed, I get to retire not just as the most beloved general of the Empire, but the full blown ‘Hero’ who saved it. You really are playing all sides.”

         “A necessity.”

         “One you created by taking in the Hunter, if those rumors have any grain of truth in them.”

         “Your investment in rumors is dangerous General,” Thorn again warned Bowlings. “I’d advise making friends in Intelligence to keep it sorted for you.

         “Now, if you two are done planning your next political machinations, let us get to the task at hand, saving the Empire and assuring its future. What exactly are we being brought in to accomplish Brilliant? My line of work would suggest I’m an ill fit for an Imperial Decreed Operation unless the identity of this ‘something’ is a person.”

         “You’re reasoning is correct Thorn,” Brilliant congratulated the Hunter. “The observations of my peers suggest it is related to other recent problems and have determined that there were traces of a person involved. We have no way to identify them however and thus have been tasked with scouring the records of all of their recent projections to spot anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Once they have been identified-”

         “We finish this manhunt in an instant,” Bowlings finished and sighed. “It really isn’t much of an operation. No wonder it’s just the two of us.”

         “Yet your authority to order military deployment in civilian missions is a boon as we will be working around the Sky Ring. The possibilities of a Machine God appearing are not low. And if we must extract the target from a protected situation military might will be needed. The only problem exists if we must cross paths with Doctor Eggman. At that point we are to abandon any deployments and convene with the Council.”

         “Doctor Eggman, huh?” Thorn queried as a large toothy grin appeared on the surface of her helmet reveling it was all one continuous screen save the horns that rose from it.

         “I’d heard you smiled like that, but it really is unsettling,” Bowlings swallowed as he observed his mission partner before having to catch his balance as the platform docked with the Spine.

         Thorn did not need to check her balance and casually strolled from the platform as the forcefield flickered out and several of the monoliths in the air also docked with the Spine.

         “A monster, that’s what she is,” Bowlings muttered under his breath as he extinguished the flame he had summoned and let his Knetic Shackles snap shut. Rubbing his forearm and breathing as though he were winded, he stepped from the platform as well. “Should have put the blasted flame out sooner. Hopefully this blasted place has seats while we dig through the records.”