When Sonic woke up, Eggman was dead, but he didn't know what the man had sacrificed yet.
When Sonic woke up, he found himself in a large white room, with a single large window.
When Sonic woke up, his friends were gone. Except Tails. He was the other side of the window, sitting in the middle of his own white prison sleepily.
The emeralds were gone again. The blue hedgehog realised it suddenly as he dropped from the window and started pacing thoughtfully. Obviously, Giovanni had brought him here. His prison wasn't hard to break out of and surely the head of Team Rocket would know this? So what exactly did he have that stopped Sonic from leaving? He could break Tails out easily, so it couldn't be that...
Sonic paused as he heard a key in a lock. Part of the wall swung open like a door and Giovanni himself stepped in, a sadistic smile on his face.
"Your trainer's dead and your friends are gone, little blue blur." He purred as he stalked in "I shot Dr Eggman square in the chest." The man boasted calmly, a glint in his eye.
"In the chest?" Sonic smiled lightly, knowingly, making Giovanni narrow his eyes.
"Yes, why? What's wrong with the chest?" He asked and Sonic gave a shake of his head.
"I bet you didn't even check his pulse, did you? His chest didn't bleed, did it? I bet you thought no blood came through because of his thick clothing." The blue hedgehog tutted playfully "Me and Eggman have a strange similarity in that we don't tend to die. It's not really our thing."
"That's very... frustrating." Giovanni smiled lightly "No matter, next time I'll aim for the head. He's not even a threat to me anymore, not without you." The man circled Sonic slowly, looking up at the ceiling absently. "The collar was easy to get off, apparently." He mused "But you won't want to take it off now." Sonic instinctively put a hand to his neck and blanched- How had he not noticed it?
The collar sparked a warning at his touch and he cursed inwardly, before glaring at Giovanni. He must have put a new one on when Sonic was unconscious.
"Why wouldn't I want to take it off? And if it's because you're going to say please..." Giovanni gave a sharp glance that made Sonic hesitate.
"Your wrist." He told him quietly and the hedgehog looked at it. A small, watch-like bracelet sat there. "It's voice activated. Come with me, I'll make myself clear." The man brushed down his suit lightly before walking out the wall-door and after a small hesitation, Sonic followed. They moved around to a control panel with a thin screen that clearly showed Tails, the hedgehog could even see the rings of tiredness under the fox's eyes. Giovanni pulled up a chair. "Sit."
Sonic glanced at him in wonder. Did he really think he could order him about like that? The mans smirk gave him the feeling that he could and a small shiver went down his spine as Giovanni turned to him.
"Bad Sonic." The watch-bracelet gave a small beep of acknowledgement and Sonic tensed, but nothing happened. However, from the corner of his eye he saw a flash of yellow and looked up at the screen in horror. Tails thrashed in agony, electric sparks flying off him viciously, his mouth open in a scream that Sonic couldn't hear.
"Stop! Stop it!" Sonic turned to Giovanni in despair "Ok, I'll sit down, look!" He jumped onto the chair and looked at him desperately.
"Good Sonic." The bracelet beeped again and Tails stopped thrashing. He curled up and shook like he was crying, but Sonic couldn't hear his sobs. "If you break the collar, the wrist band will kill the fox. If you break the wrist band, the collar will kill him instead. You'll listen to me, you won't try to escape if you value your friend. No runs. No buts, just do as I say, like the good little Pokemon you know you can be." Giovanni smiled cruelly as Sonic started to shake with fury and anger and pulled out a small pokeball "Go inside." He ordered and when Sonic glared he added "Be a good Sonic."
Sonic hung his head and clenched his fists. For Tails. He'd do this for Tails. The pokeball opened up and swallowed him in darkness that could have been quiet and peacefull if he wasn't so stubborn and in such a miserable mood.
Forced to work for this wretched man again, because Team Rocket betrayed him again. He just hoped the rest of his friends were safe, that Eggman really had survived and had taken them home. He wished they would forget about him, so that they didn't come and get themselves killed or captured like him and Tails. Sonic wasn't allowed to talk to Tails. Giovanni said that if he did then he'd starve the fox and him, so Sonic stayed away. He felt very lonely and sometimes he went to very dark places in his mind, being forced to move slowly and stay by Giovanni's side had that effect on him. After two months, he really started to lose hope that he'd ever free Tails or stretch his legs again.
He became deeply unhappy, but Giovanni did not care for a single moment.
