Sonic had once felt free beneath the endless skies of Green Hill, where the wind rushed past him like an old friend and the earth itself seemed alive beneath his feet. But that freedom had been torn away the moment Eggman and Shadow dragged him into captivity. Now he was trapped in New Yoke—a city of steel, screens, and suffocating order. Under the Chaos Council’s rule, its gleaming towers and neon lights thrived, powered not by nature, but by him. His own blue energy, once the symbol of boundless speed and life, now chained to fuel the machines of a false paradise.

He sat in his assigned quarters, the sterile room locked by reinforced doors and windows that never opened. At first, he had tried to escape, breaking locks, testing every seam, but he had given up. Not because he had surrendered, but because he no longer knew where to run. Green Hill was gone to him, his friends out of reach, and New Yoke stretched like a maze of iron with no exit.

Today, like so many before, was his scheduled extraction. The day when the city would siphon away another surge of his life force to keep its lights blazing and its engines humming.

The door hissed open, a pale glow spilling into the room. Shadow stood there, his presence sharp and imposing, his expression unreadable as always. He placed his hand against the wall-mounted scanner, unlocking the chamber with a soft chime.

“It’s time to go, Sonic.” His voice was steady, controlled, but heavy with the weight of unspoken authority. “Just cooperate, and I won’t have to use force.”