“But please, I hope you see how important this is. Let’s all do this together, to defeat Polanzo and Robotnik!” Vector said.
“So wait,” Tails said, “You’re saying you want us to go to the SEGA building and beat up the higher-ups?”
“Well yes. That’s exactly why I’m asking. If we beat all of them up we would have the power to stop the Mean Bean Machine project, dethrone Polanzo, and return the company to better hands.”
“Would this even work?” Sonic asked, “Defeating the executives and Polanzo in a fistfight?”
“According to the company statute,” Tails said. “If Polanzo’s law is still in effect if someone defeats him in a fight they become the president. It has to be a one-on-one though.”
Sonic turned to Kiryu: “What do you think, you’ve been pretty quiet?”
Kiryu held his arm on his chin, “Hmm there isn’t enough of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“If all of us in this café were to storm the SEGA building we wouldn’t be able to take over all of the leadership positions. Fights have to be one-on-one and you can't hold two positions at the same time. For example, I can't be the vice president and the captain of SEGA of America.”
“Oh crap,” Vector sighed. “I guess I haven’t thought about that.”
“I do have a solution, I can call my friends and allies to come and help. I think I know enough people that if we put them all together we could take on every single SEGA executive. That way we would be able to truly seize power away from Polanzo and all of his associates.” Kiryu pulled out his phone prepared to make the necessary phone calls. “Are we all on board with this?”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Tails said resolutely.
“Heh,” Sonic chuckled.
“Are you up for this?” Tails asked Sonic with concern behind his voice. He worried that his friend will reject this idea.
“I am absolutely on board with this,” Tails was relieved and felt proud of his friend while Sonic continued talking. “I was thinking how ironic I think this whole situation is. A long time ago, I became a hero by happenstance. The situation happened to call for someone to stop Robotnik and I along with you Tails and the rest of us were there to stop him. I left the idea of being a hero and I said I was never going to do something like that again.
“But here we are. Decades later, that very same Robotnik, indirectly involved in all of this is pulling us back and we have to stop him again. I don’t feel like I am here because I wanted to, again circumstances out of my control made me be here. If Vector knew someone else who had the same security clearance as me he would have asked that person and that person would be standing here and not me. I feel like only do the right thing because I am made to and not by choice.”
“I disagree,” Vector said. “I don’t think you are as passive as you think, you chose to help us and give us the files. I think a lot of people would have chosen their careers over their friends.”
“I guess you’re right. Well, I’m ready. This will be like old times.” Sonic said and turned to Tails.
“Only this time,” Tails lowered his head as he spoke, “Knuckles is on the other side.”
The mood immediately soured. He was going to have to go up against his friend who in a lot of ways reminded Sonic of how he used to be for a long time. Sonic thought about all of the things he should’ve said before it eventually came to this. However, on the flip side maybe this was an opportunity for them to talk it out.
Maybe now it was time to say all of the things he should’ve said. To try to reconcile and to start over their friendship. Maybe Knuckles had changed so much that there was nothing left to salvage. Maybe he was going to be disappointed like he was when he met with Amy. Or maybe just maybe they could be friends again.
A lot of scenarios were going through Sonic’s head but either way, he was going to find out very soon.
“I'm in too!” Shadow enthusiastically yelled out. He hadn’t said anything up until now. “I think it’s time for a revolution.”
“Oh no you don’t Mr. Mayor.” Tails said. “Hello! You’re the mayor. You can't be a part of this. Mayors don’t go and beat up businessmen. How would the people of Kowareta Yume perceive you if they heard you went into a private company and had a fistfight with an executive. Japan isn’t some banana republic.”
“Oh no,” Shadow’s bubble burst and he slid into depression. “I am now a part of the system, I am no longer a revolutionary. I am a traitor to the revolution.” Shadow dramatically crouched and grabbed his head with his hands. Never was a thinking kind of person.
“God, Shadow don’t be a baby,” Tails snapped at him. “You haven’t been in a fight in your whole life, didn’t you forget, you were always an actor and game director. You don’t even know how to fight! What are you gonna do, drama class you're way through a fight and audit their taxes?”
“Yeah,” Sonic said. “Tails is right. You wouldn’t be any help in this situation even if you weren’t the mayor.”
“Sorry I forgot Shadow wasn’t with us fighting Robotnik back in the old days,” Vector said apologizing to the group.
“Well, what do I do now?” Shadow raised his hands in frustration.
“You can like stay here and watch TV and wait until we are done,” Sonic shrugged.
“If everything is settled I will start calling my friends,” Kiryu said impatiently still holding his phone.
“If only you had Lupin the 3rd’s number, this would be a cakewalk,” Sonic sighed.
“I wish I did,” Kiryu started to make many calls. He briefed each of them and after making the calls all of them started arriving at café Alps to go on this mission together. Majima, Akiyama, Saejima… and many others. Practically anyone Kiryu was close with and that could handle himself in a fight.
Once everyone arrived talks began on planning the entry and who was going to fight who. They didn’t have time to reminisce or make small talk, they needed to organize themselves quickly. Kiryu and his friends were going to have to have a casual get-together some other time. All while this was happening Shadow sat in the corner and scrolled through random stuff on his phone.
Everyone got a designated person they were going to challenge and fight. Most importantly, Kiryu was going to fight the president, Marchiano Polanzo and Sonic was going to fight the vice president, Knuckles.
As the final details were being ironed out the group decided to call taxis and make their way over to the SEGA building. It was already nighttime and they would need several cars to get to their destination.
Sonic split away from the rest of the group, insisting that he needed to bring his backpack from their apartment. He was met with a few odd looks, even a slightly concerned one from Tails, but they agreed to meet him in front of SEGA HQ. And so, Sonic went outside, he had decided that he wasn’t going to take any kind of Taxi like the rest of the group.
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Sonic was about to put all of his jogging and training these past few months to the test and run his way to the apartment and then to SEGA.
He walked out to a starting place and went into a full sprint. As he was speeding up, the buildings, night lights, and other surroundings began to blur. He broke the sound barrier creating a Sonic Boom and causing a shock wave as he reached a speed faster than the speed of sound.
He couldn’t make out the faces of the people he was sprinting by and the cars he was overtaking on the road were disappearing from his sight in an instant leaving only a small blue trail behind him. His breathing was steady and he was in full control of himself.
He reached his top speed, the speed at which he ran so many decades ago. Sonic felt light like a feather. All the threads and regrets he had on his mind for such a long part of his life had been resolved. For the first time in a very long time, he felt like he was truly free. Free to run, but mostly free from himself.
Apart from his physical condition, the things that had mostly been weighing him down were regret, pride, and selfishness, He had been on a pathway to redemption and the goal was in sight. In fact, the only thread left unresolved and without closure was Knuckles.
Sonic’s focus was dead center on the task at hand and he was going to do and say all of the things he should have already said. Even if he fails to reconcile with Knuckles he is determined to do right and to make amends. He felt the thing he was going to take from his apartment was going to be the key to this.
Sonic reached his apartment, grabbed what he needed to take placed it inside his backpack, and off to the SEGA HQ he went. Once again he hit full sprint and he reached his top speed. A sense of euphoria overcame Sonic, he brought back his lost speed and he was fully in shape. Like the hero he once was.
Sonic was naturally the first to arrive at the SEGA HQ and he waited patiently for the rest of the gang to arrive in the parking lot. He was so giddy and happy with himself that he cried a little from the joy.
He noticed he got a lot more tired than he did in the past. He was able to get in shape but age had caught up to him. This older Sonic gets tired a lot more quickly than his young self. He wondered how Kiryu managed to be so fit and ageless despite being so old. However, he wasn’t going to get depressed about his age at this moment, he was still young enough to be able to run at top speed. Sonic felt a degree of confidence he didn’t think he had in himself anymore with just the right degree of cocky.
Since he arrived earlier than the rest of the group he could take the time to rest before the big fight.
Eventually, everyone came to the SEGA HQ and right through the front door they entered. A woman was at the reception and she panicked once she saw this unexpected group marching angrily inside the building.
“I’m sorry but if you don’t have an appointment with the president I am going to ask you all to leave,” The receptionist said.
“We don’t have an appointment but we came to see the president anyway. He does whatever he wants so we thought we’d follow in his footsteps,” Sonic said and smirked the receptionist.
“Choto matte!” An unfamiliar voice shouted from the end of the hallway. “You’re not going anywhere!” A group of men in suits entered the reception area surrounding Sonic and his allies. The group of suits that entered all looked like Yakuza members. They were definitely Polanzo’s goons.
They were going to have to fight their way through.
***
After fighting many nameless Goons Sonic made his way in front of Polanzo’s office. The group had split up, and everyone was off to fight the person they were supposed to fight. Sonic opened the doors to the office filled with golden furniture and a golden statue of Polanzo, inside the opulent room sat Knuckles in the presidential chair.
“They said I’d found you here.”
“What the hell are you and your mob planning on?” Knuckles said.
“I came to challenge you,” Sonic raised his arm and pointed at Knuckles, “for your position of vice president. If I win I get to take your place.”
“So that’s how it is,” Knuckles stood up from his seat.
“We don’t have to do this. In fact, I’d much rather we talk this out but I doubt you’d listen to me without a fight.”
Knuckles snapped at Sonic and slammed the table, “You took everything away from me! I’m not letting you take this away too! It’s bad enough that you being here is ruining my plan!”
“Your plan?”
“Enough talk! You said you wanted a fight!”
"Not like I didn't expect a fight first."
Sonic and Knuckles clenched their fists and charged at each other.
***
Kiryu had found out that Polanzo was on the roof. He climbed his way up the stairs until finally reaching the very top of the SEGA HQ. On the roof was a giant helideck, the SEGA HQ was a massive skyscraper. One could get an impressive view of Tokyo from up there. It was a clear night sky with a light wind blowing.
On the helideck, Polanzo stood there, in his maroon-colored suit next to his black helicopter. Polanzo had his sunglasses on and lit up a cigarette as he saw Kiryu approaching him.
“My subordinates tell me you’re here to challenge me for the presidency is that right?” Polanzo inhaled his cigarette.
Kiryu simply nodded.
“Might I ask why am I being challenged?” Polanzo said in a mocking tone.
“I found out about your plan.”
“So?”
Kiryu was confused.
“And so what?” Polanzo continued to speak as if he was mocking Kiryu.
“What do you mean so what?”
“What about my plan upsets you?”
“The mean bean machine that’s meant to monetize people’s dreams.”
Polanzo shrugged. “I was under the impression that the leader of a company is supposed to make the most money possible. This project is going to make us millions and I don’t see any reason why the company shouldn’t use the talents of someone like Robotnik. Before you say anything please spare me a lecture on ethics. You are an ex-Yakuza and an ex-convict. You’re the last person I want to hear from about this company employing a criminal, despite that same company filling your pockets with millions of yen.”
“Just because I made money employed by SEGA doesn’t mean I will agree with all of its decisions. I won’t let you put the Mean Bean Machine on the market. That’s not the only reason I’m here. I found out about your past and who you really are.”
“That crocodile must’ve told you didn’t he,” Polanzo puffed on his cigarette. “And so what?”
“Again with your so what.”
“So what about my past, tell me what about it upsets you Kiryu?”
“You need to pay for your crimes against humanity and stand trial in the international courts. You may have fooled everyone in SEGA to support you but once the word gets out on who you really are, everyone will turn against you!”
Polanzo laughed. “You honestly believe in something so stupid to be true. The employees at SEGA turning on me?”
“Why are you so sure of yourself?”
“Do you think you are the first one to bring up my past? Do you think you are the first person to oppose me or challenge me for the presidency in my now over 20 years of ruling this company? Let me tell you some things that have gone over your head. When I seized power of the company in 2001. a lot of the then-company elite despised me.
“They wrote articles about me, made little gestures of protest calling on me to resign, they said I was a violent brute and a gangster that had no business running a video game company. They said I was an autocrat. Do you know how the president of SEGA is chosen?”
“Every employee of SEGA votes like any democratic election every 4 years.”
“Bravo. That’s correct. In every election, I won in a landslide. I was accused of stealing or rigging elections but I never did such a thing. The employees of SEGA chose me themselves, every time. Do you know why? I was the guy that was raising their pay. I was the guy who brought this company out of the red and failure of the Dreamcast era they remember. All anyone ever cares about is money. They get paid, and they are happy. They get paid more they are even happier.”
Polanzo inhaled his cigarette and continued to speak. “All anyone ever cares about are themselves and does something personally affect them. The common employee of SEGA and its subsidiaries wasn’t affected by any of the bad things my opponents kept saying about me.”
“The employees never had a chance to hear about your true identity and your crimes.”
Polanzo dismissively shook his hand. “Oh, my time in Bosnia was mentioned in the 2000s quite a bit by some of my opponents. In fact, most of what that crocodile told you about is public information that can be found on the internet. We live in an age where you can't really hide what you did in your past life. Such are the times. But you know what’s funny about this whole thing?
“People like to grandstand on social media pretending they care about various issues, but at the end of the day, people don’t give a shit about anything. They read about some grave evil in the world, some disaster or tragedy, they say oh that’s terrible they shrug and they move on with their lives as if nothing happened. Many of my opponents warned the employees of me being a literal war criminal.”
Polanzo started laughing loudly, he took a moment to regain his composure and then continued. “The people working at SEGA just didn’t care, they shrugged or thought oh that’s bad and didn’t lift a finger. I don’t blame these employees they are like everyone else. You look at most of these autocratic countries of today, they aren’t like what communist governments of the past century were like. Total control of all media, one-party state, murdering and jailing opponents…
“Those methods are passé at this point. Now you keep your population well fed and well paid, a little populism with platitudes like LONG LIVE JAPAN, you let little opposition parties oppose your rule and you constantly push the envelope of what is acceptable in society by tearing down checks and balances little by little. You give them a chance to beat you in an unfair but mostly free election. Any time anybody challenges you shrug and say so what, dismissing any evil you committed and you project a sense of power and intimidation into everyone so that if anyone disagrees with you they are afraid to speak up.
“Voila, you have guaranteed, permanent rule. If the majority is well-fed and well-paid, they don’t give a fuck about any evil you committed. People forget everything and they just don’t care. The majority willingly surrenders to you. You might get some dissonant voices here and there but tell me, do you know the name of any person in SEGA that dared to oppose me? You don’t, or you don't remember because they were swept away with winds of time only to be little white noise in people’s screens for a day until they were forgotten. The majority never stands to defend those voices”
Kiryu shook his head. “You talk about having the majority supporting you, but that support is based on fear and intimidation, your whole rule is built on violence, violence which you used to seize things from other people that didn’t belong to you, including the presidency of this company. Your whole vision for the future is greed and misfortune. Of course, people didn’t vote against you because they were afraid of you.”
Polanzo chuckled, puffed his cigarette, and said: “When I abolished presidential term limits, there was a big talk in the company for everyone to get together and stop me in the upcoming election. That could have happened. Despite me threatening and intimidating a few, every employee could have simply circled the opposing candidate’s name and I’d be rotting in a prison in the Netherlands. I can’t influence a person’s free will and what they circle on the ballot. But the apathetic and spineless majority still supported me.
“Why? Because oh well nothing bad he does affects me personally and he keeps my pay high. He keeps the company running okay it's best to do nothing. I wouldn’t call you a spineless and cowardly person, but even a paragon like yourself heard about my past for the first time today, right? You could have informed yourself about me and researched about my legal troubles on the internet all these previous election cycles? But you didn’t. Why? Because it never affected you. You were too busy making video games for SEGA to care. You’ll give me excuses on how you’re handling troubles in the Tojo clan or running your little orphanage. But that’s how it always is. Everyone has an excuse for themself on why they allowed evil to happen when they had the power to prevent it.”
Kiryu didn’t say anything.
“I think we babbled on long enough.” Polanzo threw his cigarette on the ground and stomped it with his shoe. “I believe you came here for a fight.” In one singular motion, Polanzo threw his Maroon suit to the ground and was shirtless. He revealed a muscular and ripped body. On his face, Polanzo looked over 50 years old, but his body looked like he was a 25-year-old athlete.
On Polanzo’s back was a tattoo of a double-headed eagle with a lot of monarchic symbolism. The double-headed eagle looked like a mix of the Montenegrin and Serbian doubled-headed eagle used on their coats of arms.
Kiryu also took off his upper suit, age hadn’t changed him at all, he was still fit like he always was and still carried his Dragon of Dojima tattoo on his back.
Now the two men were ready for a brawl.