Ren was devouring a bagel like it would be his last, while Knuckles was almost losing his sanity. Sonic had an edgy look on his face, and Tails looked stricken with fear. I could immediately tell something was wrong.
Sonic said, shakily, "You have to come with us. We've got trouble."
With a baffled expression on my face, I asked, "Why? What's happen—?" He cut me off before I could finish.
"There's no time for questions!" he snapped. "Just come on!"
It hurt my feelings just a bit, but I hid it well with a façade. I then stepped closer to my anxious friends. Then, Sonic said, this time in a more serene tone, "Come closer and stay still. We're gonna take you to our Earth, called Mobius."
I obeyed his command, still unsure about everything. Then, the blinding light wrapped around us before I had a chance to think. Then, in only a second, it vanished. I wasn't in my room anymore...I was on an alternate Earth! I looked around confused. Everything looked the same as on Earth. But my shadow was bluer, the air was a bit warmer, and everyone was an anthropomorphic being. They resembled every animal from fish to raccoons and weasels to mongooses. I felt like an outsider. I heard some of them saying things like, "Who is that with Sonic? What is that with Sonic?" and "The other one looks like an alien!" It really made me feel uneasy.
Sonic spoke out, "Don't worry. He's just from another dimension."
One person asked, in a disgusted tone, "What is that cretin you have with you?"
"He's a human."
Another shouted, "Kill him!"
"He might be able to help stop the impending doom we're facing right now!" He was beginning to sound somewhat irate. "Just give him a chance! He's a friend!"
Everyone was silent. Then Sonic whispered in my ear, "Once we get home, put on your uniform and equip yourself with every gun you can get your hands on."
"Okay?" I didn't mean for it to sound like a question, and my voice was trembling involuntarily. But I knew what I had to do, just not why. The very thoughts of why Sonic refused to tell me what was wrong exasperated me, but I knew he'd eventually tell me.
Then, we headed home, without another word.
When we got home, I asked, in a demanding tone, "What's going on here? You haven't told me a thing since you arrived in my room this morning! I hate when you go all enigmatic on me! Tell me right now!"
Sonic turned his head and gave me a threatening look on his face. He then snarled, "I'll tell you when it's most convenient, okay?!"
Again, his hostility hurt my feelings, but I had no façade to cover it up. In fact, I looked just about ready to cry. Sonic's expression became repentant. He patted my back and apologized. Then, he said, "A terrible conqueror from your dimension wants to take over our world. We can't stop him alone."
As soon as he told me, my personality seemed to change from being your average fourteen-year-old boy to a twenty-four-year-old commander of a large infantry.
I slammed my hand down on the nearest table and said, in a stern tone, "Then let's make this lunatic feel right at home!"
The sudden slam of my hand made everyone jump a little. But they gathered themselves and went to put on their uniforms. The uniforms were the same as the ones we wore in the war we fought three months ago, except the Purple Heart was directly beneath the name tags. Jacob and Daniel had died in the last war, but they had both earned a Purple Heart. A soldier who is either wounded or killed in a war earns a Purple Heart.
Each of us were equipped with five guns: a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun, a bazooka, and a machine gun. Once we were ready, we headed out the door to the makings of a very long and grueling war.
All was silent. The only sounds we heard were our own breathing and our hearts pounding in our chests. We walked about with nary a clue where the danger was.
That's when a large, deafening explosion took place three yards away.
The shockwave sent us flying three feet in the air and carried us off at least ten meters. We all struggled to our feet. What the hell was that?, I thought. None of us expected it to happen. An anthropomorphic weasel was shouting in terror, "Run! Hide! The first shots have been fired! The first...!!" That was all he could say before another explosion blew him to pieces. Blood spattered everywhere less than six feet away.
"Oh, shit!" Knuckles exclaimed. "We'd better watch it!"
I knew these explosions were being caused by an aerial force, so I looked to the skies. I didn't see anything. Then, all of a sudden, six humanoid beings dropped from the sky and surrounded us. They looked almost like stereotypical aliens with green skin and large, almond-shaped eyes. They spoke in Russian.
One of them shouted, "Vy druzya ili vragi Ivana Velikogo?"
"What is he saying?" Ren asked.
"He's asking if we are friends or enemies of 'Ivan the Great,'" I said. Then, I turned to the one who asked the question and said, "Yesli vy ne khotite prichinit' nam vred, to my ne ugrozy." It meant, "If you do not want to harm us, we are not threats."
Then, he shot and wounded Tails and gave a smirk. Out of anger, I pulled out my pistol and shot and killed the humanoid being. The other five aimed guns at us. But they didn't pull the triggers. In fact, we were silent and motionless for about two minutes. Then, the five of us pulled out our machine guns and fired at the humanoids without giving them a chance to think. They were all dead within five seconds. The look of their blood disgusted us. It was gooey and a slime green. It felt like melted Silly Putty. But that wasn't what worried us. Tails's chest was shot at. Thankfully, the bullet went across it and not into it, but he was still hurt. Immediately, an anthropomorphic mongoose ran to our aid. He had brown fur and wore a similar uniform as ours, except that it was green. He held a first aid kit.
"Don't worry," he said. He was panting. "I've got this!"
Knuckles asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Michael. I'm a trained professional."
Michael's hands were so swift that it seemed like he healed Tails in only ten seconds. We were amazed.
We all heard Tails's stomach growl. He then said, "I'm hungry..."
Michael gave a caring smile and said, "Come with me to our campsite. We have plenty of food there."
"Thank you."
We all came with Michael to make an impromptu trip to his campsite.
We never expected the campsite to be so far away. It was just about four fifths of a mile away from where we were. We all wondered how he got to us so fast. But the campsite was very organized. It was well-hidden in the thick forest. The first-aid tent was found just across from the soldiers' tents. The commander's tent was found in the middle of it all. The soldiers wore outfits like ours, except green, just like the tents. They wore a green hat with a visor. They were all friendly, but to me they seemed like they were hiding something. Michael showed Tails where the food tent was. The entire campsite resembled the campsite in the television show M*A*S*H. At the end of the day, Michael showed us a completely vacant tent where the five of us could sleep in. And so we slept for the rest of what seemed like a long day, marking the end of the first day of the war.
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