NOT SO DIFFERENT

THE START

NOT SO DIFFERENT: CHAPTER ONE: THE START:

2 DAYS AFTER STARLINE'S DEFEAT:

It was all pitch black, for what felt like ages. What would look like only rubble and debris, was actually housing a thought to be dead villain. Who should have been dead. But slowly, he began to open his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he tried to regain his bearings. Due to getting hit on the head during the fall, he had ended up with mild amnesia. However, it would not take long for the scientist to figure it out all for himself. 'If I am here, and not back at base, then that means that I-' He did not have to finish that trail of thought to know. Not that he would ever even admit to that. 'This- It CAN'T be possible, everything was planned out, I had all outcomes planned for, I even had my own creations, Surge and Kits- Wait, where did they go when I was defeated?' As Starline began to think about what they could be doing right now, he heard some noise in the distance. The sound was quite loud, and some sort of other noise following it could be heard too, but as Starline had been injured due to the fight against Dr. Eggman, his head was ringing quite loudly, and he could not even try to focus on what it was for the time being. All Starline could do is hope that this was his ticket out of here. For now though, he should still try to find a way out of here, in case it was not a way out, and that the noise was just some machinery of some sort, or that it could all just be Starline hearing things, alongside with the ringing.

Starline began to try and push off all of the rubble that was laying inches above him, only giving him a little room to crawl around in. Of course, without his Tricore, he could not even hope for a good chance. After minutes of trying to find a way out, he gave up, and began to think of a strategic way to get out of the mess he ended up in. Of course, there had to be a gap, otherwise there would be no oxygen coming in, and he would be dead already. But no matter where he looked, there were no gaps, not even a source of light. As he tried to push off a little bit of debris that looked like it could collapse one of the sides of the rubble, he then noticed that the sound from before was getting louder, as if it was getting closer. Starline sat there, thinking what it could be. As it got closer and closer, he then realized that it must be something clearing out the area, as the sound of things crunching, bending and smashing could be heard as it neared. Starline began to panic, needing to get out fast. While it may help him get out, the chance of it killing him was far too high, and he decided to not take any more chances. Starline began to crawl through the little space there was, in hopes that he may find that gap that was here. As he crawled around, with the sound of metal and concrete scraping and screeching against the marble-like tiles that made up the floor. As he searched around in a blissful panic, he felt his hand go against something on the floor. Starline got nearer to it and tried to feel for what it was. He then realized that it was a sewer grate, one of the ones that are rectangular and have the gaps in between the bars. This all then began to make sense, if there was no light, then there could surely be no gaps, otherwise the light would give it away in seconds. 'How had I not thought of that sooner?' Starline assumed that it was due to just regaining consciousness, and from trying to get out fastly before really dying. Starline frantically grabbed the sewer grate, throwing it against the rubble walls, and jumped in a good few seconds before the robot cleaning the area came by and caved in the rubble hut, with some dust and small chunks of debris falling through the sewer grates entrance. After coughing up some of that very dust, and wiping his eyes on his torn clothes, Starline was finally free, and began to navigate the sewers to return to the surface levels, preferably outside of Eggperial City.

A good hour or two later, he found one of the many exits to the outside. From his estimations, this should be the one outside Eggperial city, and will be the route to his freedom and revenge. He climbed up the ladder, and shoved aside the sewer grate above him, climbing out frantically. As he peeked his head outside of the sewer, he was met with dense wildlife, definitely not Eggperial City. Trying to find out how far he got, he turned around, looking for that very city and saw the walls to it a good few miles away. This was perfect. He fully climbed out, and began to think of what to do first, now that he was out and needed to form a plan quickly. "Hmm, first, I will need to find somewhere safe to actually plan some things out, and move on from there, before I can even try to make a plan of sorts." As Starline began to think of some locations he could go to, he remembered that during the escape navigating the sewers, he had found out about some mild injuries. A banged up leg and some cuts and bruises on his head, most likely where the rubble hit him and left him unconscious. Because of these, he would have to find somewhere closeby, and somewhere where he can find equipment to patch himself up. A few came to mind that he knew of, but he could not go there. "I can't go back to my base, if Surge and Kitsunami are on the loose again, I bet they went scrambling back to there, having nowhere else to go but there, since that is their only home to them." As Starline had thought about some of Dr. Eggman's abandoned bases he could use, one in particular came to mind.