CAPTURE THE FLAG A Sonic the Hedgehog story by Daniel J. Drazen Pause for bourgeois legalities: "Sonic the Hedgehog" and other characters and situations in the following story are copyrighted trademarks of Sega Incorporated, Archie Comics and/or DiC Productions. Permission to reproduce this specific material is granted by the author, unless you try and make a buck off of it, in which case drop me a line at drazen@andrews.edu first. I may be a grown-up cartoon fan, but I also know my way around Title 17 (the Copyright Law) of the U.S. Code. (c)1995, Daniel J. Drazen. Chapter 1 The sun was setting on the Great Forest. They knew they didn't have much time left. Sonic the Hedgehog didn't like all this sneaking around. The direct approach had always worked for him...well, almost always...and he preferred it to stealth. But he knew that the objective would soon be in sight. A short distance away, hidden from him, Sally lay in waiting. For her, there was only one objective: stop Sonic at all costs! Rotor and Bunnie were nearby as well, paused and waiting for some cue. At the moment, Antoine was lost. "Why am I always to be given such unuseful directions?" he thought to himself. "If I was not knowing for better or for worse, I would be saying to myself that I am trying to be avoided!" The light began to fail as night closed in. The others would have to act soon, he knew, and he intended to be in on the action. But it didn't help if he was lost. Not daring to call out and give himself away, Antoine began slowly backing up. There was a hint of an autumn chill in the early evening air and the floor of the Great Forest already had a few dead leaves which, if stepped on, could give away Antoine's position. As he moved back, he brushed against the trunk of a young tree. It bent just enough to release a branch that had fallen from another tree overhead. The groundfall struck just next to Antoine. "Help! Help! It is the invasion! We are doom-ed!" Out of sheer terror, Antoine ran. It didn't matter to him at the moment just where he was running to. He darted straight ahead and plunged through a bush. As he did so, he fell to the ground. In his fall, he grabbed at something--a small square of red cloth tied to a stick. "Antoine!" Sally yelled. He looked at the object in his hand. "I have done it? Yes! Yes! I am *triomphant*!" "Aw, man!" Sonic groaned. The others began to come out of hiding. "Bunnie!" Sally snapped, "you were supposed to go for it!" "No way, Sal!" "Yes, way!" "You said Ah was supposed to run interference for you!" "I said ROTOR was supposed to run interference!" "I thought I was supposed to be guarding the flag!" "Some kind of guarding, if you let Antoine get it!" "Now waiting a minute! Princess or non,...." And soon everyone was talking at once and the scene looked like an argument among a group of ten-year-olds. Which was only fitting, since they WERE a group of ten-year- olds. Chapter 2 Few Mobians had ever heard of Knothole, and fewer still knew its precise location. That knowledge had been reserved for a handful of members of the King's court. The idea of an alternate command post had occurred to King Acorn and several of his advisors during the Great War, at a time when there was a very real threat to the safety of Mobotropolis. Yet with the easing of that threat, the King appeared to lose interest in the concept. The truth, however, was something else again. He began to conceive of the proposed royal redoubt in the peacetime role of a retreat--a protected place where he, his family and selected members of the court could go to get a different perspective on things or simply to relax. Taking only a few into his confidence, he suggested modifications in the already-secret project. While the King was to be credited with the location of the site (which he had stumbled upon in the Great Forest in his youth while exploring), it was Sir Charles Hedgehog who had planned the site as a base of operations, and then modified the plans for more peaceful purposes once the tide of battle had turned. Truth to tell, the layout and planning of Knothole was more to Charles's taste than the war-work that had kept him busy and that had earned him his knighthood. Knothole had many things going for it even before the first pieces of timber were joined together. Located deep in the Great Forest in a slight depression, it was amply covered by foliage so as to be virtually invisible from the air. There were several small clearings within walking distance that could act as landing sites for hover units. There was farmable land close by (equally well camouflaged) and a river ran along the site. Access to it through the Great Forest was almost impossible unless one was aware of the network of trails and paths that would take one to it. To bring any ground vehicle to the site was impossible; it could only be reached on foot. This, as much as Charles's own aesthetics, dictated that the design for Knothole be one of rustic simplicity. As much of the material as possible would come from the Great Forest itself, with some items brought to the sight (in secret) from the city. Work had progressed to the point where a half-dozen huts of various sizes were finished as the Great War drew to a close. But then there was a new development to cope with: one that called himself "Robotnik." Before his own capture, Charles had managed to arrange that a handful of children and two adults be secreted in Knothole. The two adults were women, staff members of the royal household. Rosie, nanny for the Princess Sally Alicia, was an obvious choice. Sally was, after all, heir to the Mobian throne and was a natural candidate to be hidden away in Knothole. The other adult had been recently retained to be Sally's tutor: an older feline named Julayla. She was reserved and, to those who didn't know her, somewhat intimidating. What was intimidating was, in fact, her patience and circumspection. Unlike the open and affable Rosie, Julayla seemed at times to be playing a perpetual chess game--sizing up moves, reviewing and plotting strategy, seeking an overview of the situation. She let few have access to her mind and heart; eventually only Princess Sally would have that distinction, and she found Julayla to be as kind as she was wise, as tender as she was shrewd, as empathetic as she was observant. This complex character served as a balance to the simple straightforwardness of Rosie. Not that Sally or any of the other children (who were all friends of hers) could appreciate any of this when they first arrived in Knothole as refugees. For they had just seen their families and their world destroyed. They were a diverse group of children, all of them about 5 years old. Yet at first they reacted to their new situation in the same way. It began with a reluctance to talk about what had happened. The pain of watching the arrival of the SWATbots, of seeing parents, relatives and friends being captured and turned into soulless mechanical caricatures of what they had once been, was too much for their young minds. The children pushed the scenes from their consciousness by day, only to have the memories trouble their dreams at night. In the beginning, the woods around Knothole were filled in the evening with the sound of screaming as one or another of the children found themselves haunted by their dreams. As the children realized that Knothole had become for them a safe place where Robotnik's SWATbots weren't going to intrude, they began to display differing styles of adapting. Rotor, a young walrus, was thought at first to be the most serious potential troublemaker. He seemed most at ease when he was destroying things. It drove Rosie to distraction, but Julayla counselled patience. That patience was rewarded when, during one trying stretch when Rotor had spent three straight days taking things apart, he methodically made the rounds of the demolished objects and put them all back together in less than a day's time. In some cases, they worked better than before. Julayla explained that Rotor's mechanical aptitude was part of his way of coping with the situation: demonstrating some form of mastery over a world gone mad. She encouraged him in his interest in things mechanical and electronic. It was a different matter when dealing with Bunnie, a close friend of Sally's and the only other girl among the children. A child of the southern provinces, she had no use for the formalities and mannerisms of the royal court. If she didn't care for your company, she'd just as soon make a face at you than politely tolerate you. Yet this also gave her a free-and-easy happiness that was delightful to behold. She was extremely conscious of the natural world around her, and especially so of her own body. The women did the best they could with Bunnie, hoping against hope that she would grow out of some of her more excessive behaviors by the time she began to mature. It was with Bunnie in mind that Rosie and Julayla declared the hut where the two girls slept to be Off Limits to the boys. If Bunnie was hard to deal with because she had not been exposed to court manners, Antoine was even harder to deal with because he had. The young fox was the son of a minister in the King's diplomatic service; as a result, he had virtually from birth been exposed to the ways of the court. In Knothole, he clung to those ways with a fierce tenacity, as if he had personally been charged with safeguarding those habits and customs even if there was no royalty. Yet if he was loyal to those traditions, he was also so convinced of the rightness of his loyalty that nobody could tell him anything. It could be almost impossible to correct him. In time he even refused to correct his speech--an atrocious mangling of the language by someone who was not a native speaker. He would back down when he had to, but only to the grown-ups; he stubbornly held his own against the other children and, despite taking his share of lumps as a result, refused to yield. Julayla wondered if there were any way to sift through the chaff of arrogance to isolate the loyalty beneath. Of all the children, perhaps the easiest to understand was Charles's nephew, Sonic Hedgehog, and that made him all the more exasperating to deal with. He was very straightforward in his approach to life. Unfortunately, in his quest for the immediate, he would sooner take a shortcut than not. It showed in his schoolwork, for all the children had to spend their mornings in Knothole's dining hall, which doubled as a classroom where Julayla did the best she could with improvised materials. It was hard to say whose patience was put to the test more during these sessions, Sonic's or Julayla's. Somehow, Sonic needed a steadying influence, and he found it in, oddly enough, a new arrival to Knothole. It was when Sonic was about 7 years old that he disappeared from Knothole one day. This in itself was not unusual; he was prone to making himself scarce when he didn't care for what was happening. Yet it was almost dusk when he returned without any explanation as to where he had been, without apology, and with a small child in tow. It was a fox cub, little more than a toddler. Yet this fox cub had not one, but two, tails. Nobody knew how he could have been born with two tails; the consensus was that he had been *in utero* when Robotnik's systematic destruction of the planet and his crash program of industrialization had begun to poison the air and sky of Mobius. The only other clue to his identity was the name "Miles Prower" written on the inside of one of his shoes. Sonic finally admitted what had happened: on a surreptitious journey back to Mobotropolis, he had seen a fox couple, husband and wife, hide the cub inside a dumpster just before being apprehended by SWATbots. Sonic had waited until they had been taken away, then retrieved the cub. Sonic never admitted it in so many words--it would not have been cool for him to do so--but it was clear to everyone that Sonic's heart had gone out to the little cub from the first. "Tails," as the fox cub came to be called, grew into an active and happy child, apparently unscarred by any memory of being orphaned. He was doted on by Rosie, and treated like a plaything on occasion by the girls. Yet his own attentions were on Sonic. As he grew older he was constantly shadowing the young hedgehog, copying his speech and his mannerisms devotedly. The women worried that Sonic's ego was getting quite big enough, thank you, without Tails' hero worship. But of all the children, Julayla was at the moment most concerned about Princess Sally. She was developing in a natural, unstudied way. She had a sharp intellect made sharper by study, yet she was not bookish; physically, she was strong and agile, and at an age when she might have been physically awkward she carried herself with grace. But something was beginning to change, and the change was worrying Julayla. She could not yet sense what exactly, but it was becoming clear to her that a part of Sally--a very vital part--was dying. Chapter 3 The day's activities had been routine. The children had either awakened before dawn on their own or else were gotten out of bed by Rosie. They slept two to a hut: Sally and Bunnie in one hut, Antoine and Rotor in another, and Sonic and Tails (by mutual insistence) in a third. Rosie and Julayla knew that, when the children were a little bit older and stronger -- probably in the coming spring -- work would have to begin on additional huts to encourage independent living and to prevent personality clashes. Rotor was especially eager to set up housekeeping on his own, though the fastidious Antoine would have balked at the use of the word "housekeeping" in the same sentence as Rotor's name. It seemed the one thing of which Rotor was incapable. Spare parts and unrecognizable electronic components littered his half of the hut and drove Antoine to distraction. The children then went to have breakfast in the largest of the huts in Knothole: a general purpose building that served as both a mess hall and a classroom. Bunnie tended to arrive last, usually because she couldn't decide which color ribbons to use to do up her ears. After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, it was time for the children's schooling. At ten years of age, they were literate enough in the Mobian language, except for Antoine, though his grasp of the planet's history was almost as complete as Sally's. Sally and Rotor were more adept at mathematics than the others, and there was no question that Rotor outshone the others in mechanics. Bunnie worked to keep up with the others, finding botany to be her easiest subject. Sonic tended to lose interest in just about everything after the first hour of instruction. Though Tails would spend some time in the classroom in the mornings, he was basically playing school. By the time noon rolled around, Julayla would signal the end of class. From there, the children would tend to their chores, for Knothole still required a fair amount of maintenance. The huts and the bridge across the river had to be maintained, and that meant carpentry. Rotor was able to fashion tools for some of the tasks. The vegetable gardens that helped sustain them also needed tending. It was at this point that Sonic tended to make himself scarce. Not that he was lazy; as with his schoolwork, he simply got bored easily. But if Tails wanted to "help," Sonic would pull his share of the load without complaint. However Sonic might feel about a particular task, he seemed to want to set a good example for the adoring cub. Sally, however, would sometimes spend the afternoon in Julayla's hut. There they would review old volumes of Mobian letters and lore that Julayla had managed to save during the invasion, and the gaps in Sally's knowledge of the history of the House of Acorn would be filled in. As evening approached, everyone gathered in the main hut for the second meal of the day. Then before bedtime, there would be play outdoors (weather permitting). Lately, this had meant dividing up to play Capture the Flag, a game of which Sally never seemed to tire. Yet lately it seemed that nothing went right when they played the game. No matter what team configuration they formed, something would happen to bring the game to a premature halt. Either Sonic would ignore strategy and make some rash move that would give away his position, or else Bunnie would refuse to try sneaking through foliage for fear of ruining her ears, or else Antoine would find something new to complain about, or else Tails (who was too young to take part in the game) would give away Sonic's position by ignoring everyone else and walking up to the hiding place of his older idol. But this afternoon, with a slight nip in the air and the wind sounding through the trees, Sally seemed more than just lost in thought as she looked at the blank piece of paper on the table before her. "Your first question," Julayla said. "What happened on this date in the year 2275?" Sally said nothing and wrote nothing. "Did you hear me, Princess?" "I'm sorry, Julayla. It's just that...oh, what's the point?" She let the pencil she was holding fall to the table. Julayla rose from her chair and seated herself on the bench where Sally was seated. She knew better than to say anything right away. "Julayla, why am I doing this?" Sally eventually asked. "This would all make sense if I were going to rule Mobius one day. But it doesn't make sense." There was a pause. "What happened?" Julayla finally asked. "Last night, when I was in bed, I closed my eyes and tried to remember what my old room looked like. But I couldn't. I couldn't even remember the color!" She looked at Julayla, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I'm forgetting it, Julayla! I'm forgetting it all!" Sally threw her arms around Julayla and began to cry. Julayla said nothing and simply held her close. After a couple of minutes, Sally was able to regain her composure. "I'm sorry," Sally sniffled. "Don't ever apologize for caring too deeply, Princess. You may go now, if you want to." "Thanks." "And tell the other children that there will be no class tomorrow." Chapter 4 Sonic drew the shades of the hut and looked to see that the door was bolted. "OK, Tails, nobody can see in. You ready?" "Uh huh." "Go for it!" Tails closed his eyes and his two tails began moving in a circular motion. Nothing else happened for a second. But then Tails began slowly rising off the floor. "Doin' good, big guy!" Sonic said. "Keep it up." Tails looked rather awkward with his legs dangling beneath him and his rump in line with his head. But he continued to slowly gain altitude. He managed to get halfway to the hut's ceiling when, exhausted by the effort, he let himself fall into Sonic's outstretched arms. "Way to go, Tails!" "How far did I get?" "About halfway up. You're getting better each time." "Cool! When are we gonna show the others?" "Pretty soon. But it's our secret until then, OK?" "OK. Sonic?" "Yeah?" "How come you didn't finish your supper?" "I don't know; I guess I'm just tired of having the same stuff all the time. And I was thinking about how Uncle Chuck used to make chili dogs. They were great," he added as he unbolted the door. "What's a chili dog?" "Oh yeah, I guess you never had one. Man, are YOU missing out!" "So, how did he make 'em?" "Well, you know what a hot dog is, right?" "Uh huh." "And you know what chili is?" "No." "Oh, right. Well, it's sorta like a real spicy bean stew." "Eeeew! Doesn't sound so good to me!" "Well, trust me on this one: it tastes a lot better than it sounds!" Just then there was a knock at the cabin door. That meant one of the grown-ups doing a bed-check. Sure enough, a second later the door opened and Julayla looked inside. "Is everything all right?" she asked. "Uh huh," Tails replied. "Those aren't proper words, Miles," Julayla said. She never missed an opportunity to correct Tails' speech, just as she could never bring herself to call Tails by his nickname. She felt nicknames to be improper, especially nicknames that were so...so anatomical! "Sorry. Everything's OK. G'night!" "Good night Miles. Good night, Sonic." She waited until the two boys were in their respective beds. She then extinguished the candle that burned on a nightstand close to the door. Once she closed the door, however, that was no guarantee that Sonic and Tails would go to sleep. In fact, most nights it was their cue to continue talking. "Where did Uncle Chuck live?" Tails asked in the darkness. "In Mobotropolis; in the city." "Where in the city?" "In a house, a place bigger than this one. And not too far from a park with a really neat playground. I'll show you," Sonic said as he pulled a flashlight from under his bed and turned it on. He then got out of bed and walked to a small table and chair in the room. He took a scrap of paper and a short pencil. "OK, let's say Knothole is here. This is the Great Forest and it comes out to just about here. Right here's the park and the playground in the park. And there's a block of houses over here. And...THIS one, from the end, that's where Uncle Chuck's house is." "Cool! Can you show me where it is for real some day?" "You can count on it, big guy." Sonic turned out the flashlight and the two found their way back to their beds. "Man, this is nothing like living with Uncle Chuck!" "What was it like?" "In some ways it was kinda fun. It was just the two of us, nobody else. He worked a lot, and that was kind of a drag, but we still spent a lot of time together. Maybe that's why he made chili dogs: they were real easy and it was just for the two of us. "I guess the worst part was cooking the chili, 'cause it always took forever! He had to get the spices mixed just right, and he always used to sweat that part. But that was cool, too, 'cause that's when Uncle Chuck and me, we'd just talk to each other while it cooked. Kinda like you and me are doing now." "What'ja talk about?" "Just about anything. And Uncle Chuck never talked to me like he was a grown-up and I was a kid--the way the grown-ups around here do. I think that's one of the things I miss most about Uncle Chuck. "He tried talking to me about his brother a couple of times, about the kind of life he led and stuff, but I guess I wasn't paying all that much attention back then. Now I wish I had. 'Cause now I know he was talking about...about my Dad. Only I didn't know it and Uncle Chuck didn't want to come out and say it." Sonic was about to go on, but he stopped. Across the darkened room he could hear the steady rhythm of Tails breathing. Sonic smiled. "Sweet dreams, little bro," he whispered. Chapter 5 It was just before dawn when Sally was roused from a dreamless sleep by a knock at the cabin door. "Who is it?" she asked. "Get your cloak, Princess." It was Julayla. Sally got out of bed, felt around the side of her bed for her boots, slowly pulled them on, then walked across the hut to a wardrobe. Fumbling through, she found the heavy hooded cloak that belonged to her. She draped it over her shoulders gladly, for the morning was cold. "Whuh the hoo-ha's goin' on, Sally?" Bunnie asked in a sleepy slur of words. "Julayla wants me for something. I wonder what?" "Homsanomuh," Bunnie mumbled as she drifted back to sleep. Sally stepped out of the hut, slowly closing the door behind her. Julayla was already dressed in a long cloak of her own. Without a word, she began walking to the edge of the clearing, with Sally following close behind. Ordinarily, Sally wouldn't have hesitated to ask Julayla a hundred questions: Why get up so early? Where were they going? Did she bring provisions? But there was something about Julayla's demeanor that morning which forbade questioning -- which forbade conversation altogether. The two walked on for several hours. Breakfast was taken on the run, as Julayla and Sally ate berries and other edibles they found along the way. This was nothing new to Sally, for Julayla had taught her survival skills already. At last, after several hours, they had circled back to a large meadow about ten minutes walk from Knothole. Julayla sat down on a fallen tree trunk, and Sally sat down next to her. "What is this place?" Julayla asked. "Well," Sally began, not really sure just what Julayla was asking, "it's a meadow. We usually come here to play Capture the Flag." "Why?" "I guess because it's so open. See, if the flag were placed at that small sapling there, or over by that stone, you'd have a hard time getting to it without being seen." "Princess, when you play this game, what is it you're after?" "We try to capture the flag that's held by the other team." "No, Princess; what is it you're REALLY after?" "I don't understand." Julayla said nothing. She leaned back slightly and studied a few small clouds overhead in the sky. Sally looked too, not knowing what she was looking at. "There," Julayla said at length. "That cloud toward the northern horizon." "I see it." "Do you see the face in it?" "No, I don't. Whose face do you mean?" "You never met him," Julayla said as she turned to look at Sally. "More years ago than I care to recount, when I was only a little older than you are now and living in our village far to the East, I loved a boy. Juleric, his name was. He never sought my heart, but I gave mine to him gladly." Sally listened in rapt attention. The thought of Julayla as a young girl in love was one she'd never entertained before. "He could have claimed the heart of any girl in the village. When he chose another, it was devastating. Yet I knew that I would always love him, and that I would still see his face even when he was gone." "You saw his face in the cloud, then?" "Yes. But only because I carry his face with me. In my heart." The two were silent for a short time. "Princess Sally, you miss your home. I think we all do. And yet you still have that home." "I do? Where?" Julayla didn't answer the question. She just looked at Sally and waited for the Princess to answer her own question. "But Julayla, what good is a memory?" "That I cannot answer. You yourself will discover the answer. When it is time." "Time for what?" Julayla didn't answer. Instead, she rose to her feet. "You must remember. Remember everything and anything. You said you were worried because you could not remember your old room, even its color. Then remember the shape of the door or window. Remember the sounds you heard every day in that room. It will return. And once it returns, you will understand what a memory is good for. "That is your assignment: to stay here and remember. Come back to Knothole when you are finished, whenever that may be." And without another word, Julayla walked away. "This is ridiculous!" Sally thought. "There's no way this can help me! Why should I even bother?" Indeed, she spent the first 20 minutes or so studiously and angrily avoiding her "assignment." She circled the meadow, looked at the clouds in the sky, tried and failed to count the number of trees surrounding the meadow, then finally as the sun climbed to its midday height she sat at the foot of the willow. "This is stupid!" she said out loud. "Remember this! Remember that! It's all a bunch of..." She was so disgusted she was at a loss for words, but she finally came up with a phrase: "It's all a bunch of...of moonshine on water!" Sally gasped. Her eyes went wide. She hadn't heard those words spoken since...since she was a girl. She had said them while watching the delicate willow branches as they swayed in the breeze, branches as fine as...as hair! Suddenly it all flooded over her. She was young again; she must have been only three. She was seated on someone's lap, looking at her own reflection in a mirror as that someone brushed Sally's hair after her bath. That someone was singing a song, a lullaby, about night and the moonshine on water. And Sally was remembering. She remembered that she was in the nursery, only now she could see it all. She saw everything with absolute clarity and conviction. She remembered every sound, every scent, every color. But most of all, she remembered how good it felt at that very moment, to sit without a stitch of clothing on someone's lap watching yourself in a mirror having your hair brushed by someone singing a simple song. Sally's reaction was simple and straightforward: for the next forty minutes, on and off, she cried her eyes out. The memory had created a joy in her she had not felt in a long time; the realization that that joy was now lost to her was too much to bear. Finally, worn out from crying, she looked across the meadow from beneath the tree. "Anything and everything," Julayla had said. What else was there? Then she looked at the meadow itself. It was familiar, but in a way Sally couldn't describe. It looked like...like the palace garden in Mobotropolis! Was this what Julayla was driving at? Had she chosen this meadow because it was a good game field, or because of the memory it evoked, a memory unidentified until now? This was getting to be too much. Sally quickly walked away from the willow and stepped into the Great Forest. She took one quick look back over her shoulder at the willow, then turned. And now she saw something that almost stopped her heart. She looked up at the trunks and branches of the trees as they interlaced to form the protective shield that kept Knothole hidden. Only now it looked less and less like a covering of tree branches and more and more like a ceiling. The ceiling of the Throne Room at the Palace. And before her she thought she could see an aged tree trunk shift into the ornate throne of the Acorn kings. And seated on the throne.... "Daddy?" she heard herself say in a half-whisper. "What's wrong, my dear?" "Daddy, I...I don't know what's happening to me. And I'm scared." "I know. I wish I could calm your fear but it's not within my power." "What IS happening to me?" "You're growing up, my dear. I only wish I really WAS here to see it." And he smiled THAT smile, the one he gave when there was a joke that only two could share. "But I'm not ready yet!" "I know. But there's nobody to assume the throne as Regent until you come of age, and you no longer have the luxury of waiting. Whether you're ready or not, whether you like it or not, this old throne is yours. If you're ready to take it back. THAT is the point, Sally." When Sally awoke, it was with eyes red and swollen from crying. She was at the base of an old tree stump, its wood long rotted with decay. She looked around. The light was failing. The sun was low in the sky; almost night! How long had she been asleep? She gathered her cloak about her and began running back toward Knothole. Despite all the emotions that had overwhelmed her that day, Sally felt no fatigue. In fact, remembering what she had gone through buoyed her up as nothing had before. She had to tell someone! She ran into the center of Knothole. There appeared to be no activity of any kind. She quickly walked to the cabin she shared with Bunnie. "Bunnie?" she called out as she opened the door. No sooner had Sally entered the hut than the door slammed shut behind her. Sally turned, and could see Bunnie in the dim light. "Bunnie, I've got to tell you what...." But before she could say anything else, Bunnie placed her hand across Sally's mouth as if to silence her. Sally simply batted it away. "Bunnie, what's your problem?" "Tails is missing, THAT'S mah problem!" Chapter 6 As Sally's eyes became adjusted to the dark, she could see that Sonic, Rotor and Antoine were in the room with them. It was a major infraction for ANY of the boys to be in the girls' hut after curfew, but that fact seemed to pale in comparison to Bunnie's news. "When did it happen?" Sally asked. "We don't know. Last anyone saw of Tails, he was sittin' next to Sonic at dinner. He left the table and never came back. Whenever Rosie or Julayla asked about him we told them that he was with someone else who wasn't there at the time--Sonic or Rotor or someone. I think we managed to fool them through bedcheck, but we still don't know what happened to the little darlin'!" "I even took a quick dip in the river," Rotor added. "At least we know he didn't fall in." "Sonic, did you say anything to Tails that might have gotten him mad or...?" "No way, Sal! I was just, you know, talking to him." "What did you say, exactly?" "Not much, just the usual, like how I was getting tired of the same old thing over and over for meals and how much I missed Uncle Chuck's chili dogs and...oh boy." "Sonique, what is meaning this 'oh boy'?" "Well...." "Sonic, what are you trying to say?" "It's probably nothing, Sal, but...well, last night I was talking to him about Uncle Chuck's chili dogs and how he used to make 'em and...." "Sonic, please! I don't want to hear any more about chili dogs! Besides, it's not like Tails knows the way to Uncle Chuck's." "Well...." And so Sonic told the others of their conversation the night before. "Sonic, you didn't! Why would you tell Tails where Uncle Chuck's house used to be?" "How'd I know he'd go looking for it?" "He's four years old!! Four-year-olds do things like that! Smart move, Sonic! He's probably lost somewhere in the Great Forest right now." "He is not. I...." "There's more?" "I...sort of kind of drew him a map." "And he's got it?" "I can't find it anywhere; he MUST have taken it with him." "Perfect! You gave him directions to get to Robotnik! And if Tails get caught by any SWATbots, they'll have directions to get to us!" "Relax! I'll just go get him." "Sonic, you can't just go walking back to Robotropolis and...." "Who says I can't?" It looked like the two of them were two seconds away from a fight. That would REALLY have brought out the grown-ups. Instead, Sally lowered her voice. But while she spoke calmly, she continued to look Sonic in the eye. "What is it, really?" "I..." Sonic hesitated. "Well, it's just that I promised Rosie that I'd look after Tails all day today. And...and I promised her I wouldn't let her down. "Look, Sal, we both know the grown-ups think I'm a loser, some kind of screw-up. Just 'cause I don't do well in school or I don't help out as much as they say I'm supposed to. I WANTED to show them I was good at SOMETHING, but...." Sonic turned away from her and the rest of the children. "It's OK," Sally said in a whisper, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We'll look for him together. All of us." "Sal, you weren't even here when...." "That doesn't make any difference, Sonic. I don't want to see anything happen to him, either." "But Princess," Antoine asked with a tremor in his voice, "for the all of us to be going to that terrible place...." "Fine. We'll only take volunteers, then. All those who care about Tails, raise your hand. OK, it's unanimous. Get your cloaks--we're leaving." Chapter 7 There had once been only a narrow wooded strip between the place where the Great Forest and the city of Mobotropolis met. Only a portion of the strip remained; the rest had been cleared and just beyond that clearing were acres of garbage. The children stood in the shadows of the trees at the edge of the wood. Ahead of them the once-beautiful city of Mobotropolis was lit by electric lamps that cut unnaturally through the polluted air. "Sally, girl, this is just awful!" Bunnie whispered. "I know, Bunnie. Robotnik's ruined the whole city." "I'm talkin' 'bout my ears--the stuff in the air's makin' 'em wilt!" "They'll be OK, Bunnie, but Tails is what matters now." "How come it's so warm, Sally?" Rotor asked. "It was cooler in the forest." "All the pollution in the air must be trapping the heat from the city. We'd better leave our cloaks here; besides, they might get in the way. OK, Sonic, how do we get to Uncle Chuck's?" "How should I know?" "You said you knew the way!" "Sal, look around! Too much has changed! I always used to know my way to Uncle Chuck's from the playground in the park. I'd climb to the top of the slide in the park, and I could see Uncle Chuck's house from there. With all this garbage here I don't think I can even FIND the park!" "We can and we will, Sonic. For Tails' sake. Now come on, we've got to try and find it." The children walked cautiously over and around mountains of refuse for about ten minutes. Finally, Sally stopped. "What's up, Sal?" "I don't know where we are, Sonic. I thought we'd be in the park's playground by now, but I don't see it anywhere." "You mean we're lost?" "Not yet, Bunnie; I just need to get my bearings somehow. Just give me a minute to think." "What if we ain't got a minute, Sally-girl? Them SWATbots could be on their way here right now!" But Sally was already studying the landscape. She started to walk toward the city, hesitated, then looked to her feet. Kneeling, she began to clear away the debris. The others gather round her. "What's up, Sal?" Sonic asked. "This pipe, with what looks like some kind of clamps on it. I think I should know what this is." "What're you talkin' about?" "Julayla told me to remember, even the smallest things about Mobotropolis. Help me clear off this pipe." The children did. Soon, the top of the pipe was exposed. "Hmmm. There are six clamps of some kind. That could also mean...Oh my gosh!" "Sal, what is it?" "Sonic, don't you see what this is?" Sally asked excitedly. "Uh...." "This pipe...it's the top of the swing set!" "Come again?" "The swing set! Remember how it had three swings on it. That meant it had six chains holding the seats. These clamps must be the ones that held the chains in place!" "I was gonna say that." "Then the park...." Rotor began. "Exactly. We've been right all along. The park is here, under all this garbage." The children were silent for a moment. "Man, this is the pits!" Rotor said. "It's bad enough Robotnik had to roboticize everybody, but then he buries the playground under tons of garbage!" Bunnie started crying: "I want to go home!" "Bunnie," Sally said gently but firmly as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders, "you ARE home. This city, this whole world, used to BE our home! And one of these days we're going to take it back!" "Really?" she sniffled. "Really. But right now we've got work to do. Now if this is the swing set, then the slide should be somewhere over there!" Sally ran off to her left, the others following closely. She began scratching at the garbage heap again. "What're we lookin' for, Sally-girl?" "The top of the slide: two curving metal tubes." The others began scrounging as well. In less than a minute: "Found 'em!" Rotor had indeed found the handrails of the disused slide. Sally dug some more until she uncovered the well-worn metal plate that was the top of the slide. "OK, Sonic. Stand here and close your eyes." "Then what?" "Then see if you can see Uncle Chuck's house." "With my eyes closed?" "In your mind, with your heart, your imagination! Now come on, we don't have all night!" Sonic was taller than he had been the last time he was on the slide, and he had to bend his knees slightly to take hold of the railings. Once he did, however, it all flooded over him. He no sooner closed his eyes and held onto the railing than he gasped, opened his eyes, raised his arm and pointed ahead of him. "That's the way to Uncle Chuck's." Ahead of them, just beyond where the trash stopped, was a block of modest homes, homes long deserted. Some of them were already partially buried by the garbage. "Which one is it?" Sally asked. "That one: fourth from the corner, facing the next street." "Great work, Sonic! Let's go." The children began walking toward the houses. "Sal, it was like I really COULD see it! That was way past cool! But what if Tails isn't there?" That was the one thing Sally hadn't allowed herself to think about. "Let's just search your Uncle Chuck's house first," was all she said. Chapter 8 The modest house which had once been the home and workshop of Sir Charles Hedgehog was deserted. Unlike the other houses, it showed signs of having been thoroughly ransacked. The door appeared to have been torn off its hinges, and almost every window had been smashed. Ducking down an alley, the children made their way to the small workshop attached to the back of the house. The inside of the workshop resembled the garbage dump the children had just left. Papers and components littered the floor. Dust and grit lay heavy on smashed glass and scattered pieces of paper. "Oh my gosh," Sally whispered, "this place looks like someone fought a war in here!" "It is looking like the SWATbots, they destructioned everything." "Looks like they haven't been back since. Maybe they'll leave us in peace while we look for...Are you OK, Sonic?" "Back off! It's just...dusty in here, that's all." It WAS dusty inside the workshop, but Sally didn't see any of the others rubbing their eyes the way she saw Sonic rubbing his. She backed off. "What is your planning, Princess?" "We can't call out for Tails; the SWATbots might hear us. Look at the floor and see if you can find any footprints; it so dusty in here he's bound to have left some if he came this way." "Got it, Sal. Rotor, you and me will check out the store room." Sonic and Rotor made their way to a room just off the workshop. It may have been a storeroom but it was no mere closet; it was at least half the size of the workshop. Mechanical components lay just about everywhere. "Oh, wow! Look at this capacitor unit! Sonic, your Uncle Chuck had some great stuff!!" "This is all junk, Rotor!" "Not after I get through with it. I gotta take this back with us!" "That stuff hasn't worked in who knows how long." "C'mon, Sonic. I've fixed TOASTERS that were in worse shape than this!" "Worry about your toasters later, man, right now we gotta look for Tails!" "OK, Sonic, OK. But why do I get the feeling I've seen THIS thing before?" Rotor wondered out loud as he looked at a large box-like mechanism in the center of the room. "Because it is looking like every other contraptionation you have builded in our hut," Antoine said pointedly. He had found no trace of Tails and had gone to the store room to tell Rotor and Sonic. Sally and Bunnie were right behind him. "I don't think so, Ant. There's just something...." At a loss for words, Rotor tapped the side of the machine. Immediately, there was another sound, one that brought all other sound and movement to a halt: "Sonic? Where are you?" It was Tails. "Yeah, it's me! Where are you, big guy?" "I felled in here. I can't find my way out." "Hang on, honey," Sally said, as she felt her heart start beating again, "we'll find the door. How did you get in there?" "I finded the place just like Sonic's map said, but I couldn't find where the chili dogs were. So I opened the door and looked in here, but it closed and I can't open it. I guess I felled asleep." "OK, Tails, where was the door?" "On this side." "Tap on the side for me." In a second the others heard Tails tapping on the casing. "Rotor, can you get inside there?" "Give me a second to...wait, I think this is an access plate. If I can find where to push..." The top of the plate moved in toward the inside of the machine. The foot of the plate was apparently hinged, and a spring at the top was what must have trapped Tails inside and prevented him from opening it. "You OK, Tails?" Sonic asked. "Uh-huh. But I can't get out." "Tails," Sally called to him, "you'll have to move away from the plate." "The what?" "The...the thing that Rotor's pushing on." "It's too tight!" "Tails, you have to try!" "I can't hold this open by myself. The spring's too tight! Antoine, get over here and lean." "Sonic, can you reach around them and pull Tails out of there?" "I'll try, Sal." Rotor and Antoine pressed against the access plate. It gave, but at the same time they heard a small yelp from inside the machine. "You OK, Tails?" Sonic called out. "The door bit me!" "Stand to the side of the door, honey," Sally called to him, "as far as you can go." After a second, Rotor and Antoine resumed pushing. Then, in the room's dim light, Sally made out a shape emerging from the machine: a waving hand. "I see you, Tails! Hang in there. Sonic, grab on!" It took about a minute more of pushing and fidgeting, of grabbing and having to let go, but eventually Tails was out of the machine with Sonic's arms around him. Freed of his prison, he started to whimper. "Hey, everything's cool, big guy. We got you out of there." "He must have leaned against that access plate just enough to fall inside," Sally guessed. She then cradled the cub's face in her hands. "But I'm just so glad we found...." She paused. "What's up, Sal?" "Tails, where's the map Sonic gave you last night?" "Right here," he said, holding up a crumpled piece of paper. "Tails, honey, we have to get rid of it right now." "But it's mine! Sonic made it for me!" "Better do what she says, little bro, or else Robotnik might find it. For me, OK?" Sonic added as Tails showed signs of hesitation. "Well, OK," Tails said as he handed Sally the paper. "Now let's burn this before.... Oh no." "Now what?" "Sonic, this isn't your map. Tails must have dropped it inside the machine and picked this up instead." "But what is it?" "I don't know; it's too dark to read. Rotor and Antoine, see if you can feel around for that map inside the machine. The rest of us will be in the kitchen; maybe we can find some matches in there." "Here we are going against," Antoine sighed. While Rotor and Antoine once more did battle with the access plate, the others followed Sonic into the kitchen of Uncle Chuck's house. The room appeared orderly, though dusty. "Looks like they didn't bother searching this room," Sally observed. "Robotnik must have figured that the good stuff was in the workshop." "Yeah, well he never tasted one of Uncle Chuck's...." "Sonic, DON'T say it!" "What's the matter, you don't like chili dogs?" "No, it's just that I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast and I'm starving!" "Well, somethin' 'round here's killin' MAH appetite!" Bunnie said, her nose wrinkling. "What in the hoo-ha IS that?" "Got the map, Sonic!" Rotor said as he walked into the kitchen. Antoine followed close behind, muttering and brushing the dirt from his coat. "Hey, Sal, I found a candle and some matches in this drawer." "Don't light it yet, Sonic! Make sure the window shades are down; we don't want to be seen." After a few seconds of pulling down what was left of the shades, Sally dared to light the candle. "OK, here's the map. First things first, we'd better burn this. What's that other piece of paper, Sonic?" There was a long pause. "I don't know, but it's got Uncle Chuck's writing on it." Sonic handed the paper to Sally. "Looks like random notes: COOLANT PROBLEM SOLVED SECURE POWER SOURCE EXTRA ONIONS." "'Extra onions?'" Rotor asked. "Yeah, that's how Uncle Chuck liked his chil...his you-know- whats: with extra onions." "THAT'S what Ah'm smellin'!" "What, Bunnie?" The children did a quick search of the kitchen and located several bins, one of which was labeled ONIONS. Sally opened it. "EEEEEEEEEWW! Close it, Sally girl!" Immediately Sally replaced the lid. "Man, I didn't know ANYTHING could smell THAT bad!" "We've got to get rid of those things; they're rotten!" Using a ruler from the workshop, Sally scooped out the remains of a couple of thoroughly rotted onions. She pitched them out of a broken window. "Well," Sonic said, "that takes care of the bad ones. At least the other onions in the bin looked OK." "Sonic," Sally asked, "when's the last time you heard of onions staying fresh for five years?" The children looked at each other in silence, then started grabbing at the onions in the bin. "Sacre bleu cheeze. They are the *plastique*!" "I don't get it, Sal. Why would Uncle Chuck keep plastic onions in this bin?" "Maybe there's something about the bin itself. Help me empty it." In a matter of seconds the children had dumped all the plastic onions onto the floor. "Now what, Sal?" "Let me think." She spent several seconds looking into the empty bin. She then opened the bin next to it, one marked POTATOES. It was empty as well. "Looks like we struck out, Sal." "Not yet. Let me try something." Sally reached into the onion bin until her palm rested flat on the bottom. The top of the bin went just past her elbow. When she tried the same thing with the potato bin, however, the top of the bin came up almost to her armpit. "I knew it! This bin must have a false bottom! Can you get me a knife?" Sonic opened a drawer and produced a long kitchen knife. Sally began using it on the edge of the bottom of the bin. It slid between the bottom and the side wall easily, and Sally worked the bottom of the bin loose. The children backed away in awe. Underneath the false bottom lay a large yellow, faceted stone, about as big as Sally's head. It appeared to glow from within. "Oh my gosh! This looks like a power stone." "A what?" "A power stone. It's a source of tremendous energy. Looks like this was where Uncle Chuck kept it hidden. That may be what Uncle Chuck's note meant by 'SECURE POWER SOURCE.' If Robotnik had gotten hold of this...." "So what do we do, take it back to Knothole?" "You know, Sally," Rotor said, "I think that stone will fit into the top of that machine in the storeroom." "Rotor, this is no time to experiment; we've got to get out of here!" "But what if that contraption was something important? What if it was something that could be used against Robotnik?" "Like what?" "Like...I don't know; we have to turn it on." "Look, we'll see if the stone fits; then we'll HAVE to leave!" The stone, though sizable, was surprisingly light in weight. Rotor carried it back into the storeroom, with the others following him. "Why are you giving to him this indulgence?" Antoine whispered to Sally. "I don't know; just a feeling I have. I think this thing IS important, somehow." Rotor guessed correctly that an aperture near the top of the machine would accommodate the stone. After fitting it in, Rotor didn't even bother saying anything to Sally, but simply turned on what appeared to be the power switch. At first nothing happened. Then a low humming filled the air. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash as a metallic ring, shining like gold and light, shot up from the top of the machine, ricochetted off the ceiling, and landed with a clang at Sonic's feet. Rotor reached over and turned off the power switch. At the same time something else fell to the ground, something that had been ejected from the machine just behind the ring. Sally picked it up. "Sonic, it's an envelope. With your name on it!" "Were you hearing that?" Antoine whispered. "Come on, 'Twan, let's go see if this house is haunted," Bunnie teased. "That is not a thing of which to be funny." "Maybe you two had better check it out; see if anyone's coming." Antoine and Bunnie reluctantly left the room. "Be careful!" Sally whispered after them. "What's this thing?" Tails asked as he reached for the ring. "Don't touch that, Tails!" Sally cautioned. "We don't know WHAT it is yet." "Awwww." "Come on, honey, let's see where Antoine and Bunnie went to," Sally said as she guided Tails out of the room. Sonic opened the envelope and looked at the letter inside by the light of the power stone. "Hey, Rotor, this is from Uncle Chuck!" "Uh, right. Maybe I'd better see what the others are doing," Rotor said as he walked out of the room, figuring that Sonic would want to read the letter in private. Sonic began to read: "SONIE, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU'VE DISCOVERED SOMETHING I WAS WORKING ON FOR YOU BUT WASN'T GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT UNTIL YOU HAD COME OF AGE. I SUPPOSE I SHOULD BE CROSS AT YOU FOR FINDING THIS, BUT I KNOW HOW UNSTOPPABLE YOU CAN BE. THIS DEVICE HARNESSES ENERGY FROM A POWER STONE AND CONVERTS IT INTO A PORTABLE FORM; I CALL IT A 'POWER RING.' THESE RINGS ARE USELESS TO ANYBODY BUT YOU; THE OUTER CASING CAN RECOGNIZE YOUR GENETIC CODE JUST BY COMING IN CONTACT WITH YOUR SKIN. I DON'T KNOW WHAT EFFECT THE RINGS WILL HAVE ON YOU; I HOPE IT WILL BE SOMETHING BENEFICIAL. AS PUNISHMENT FOR FINDING THIS MACHINE AHEAD OF TIME, YOU OWE ME 100 CHILI DOGS -- YOU KNOW HOW I LIKE 'EM. LOVE, UNCLE CHUCK." "Yeah," Sonic thought as he wiped away the tears that had built up, "with extra onions." Sonic looked at the ring at his feet. It gave off a strange glow but didn't look all that remarkable. He bent down to pick it up. As soon as he did, he felt something -- almost like a wave of some sort -- shoot through him. It was as if something inside the power ring had found its way into every cell of his body at once. It was a sensation he'd never felt before, and it was wonderful. "Cool!" He had to show this to the others. Holding onto the ring, he walked through to where the others had gone. He then noticed that the front door was open. Through the door, he could see Sally and Tails with their backs to him. They appeared to be standing on the sidewalk in front of the house. He stepped through the door into the night. "Hey, guys! Check this...." He stopped. He could now see that the others stood huddled in a small group on the sidewalk, surrounded by four SWATbots with blasters at the ready. Sonic could sense another SWATbot just behind him. Chapter 9 "Sonic!" Sally screamed. "Run!" And run he did. Holding onto the mysterious ring, he found himself running as he'd never run before. He was travelling at a fast that went "way past fast"--that was the only way he could describe it later on. The scenery around him was an indistinct blur of colors. Nothing looked normal, but it didn't make any difference to Sonic. He was incapable of feeling any fear. And there was no word at all to describe the exhilaration, the rush, the joy he felt as he ran. It was all of that and more. He had to tell somebody! Without thinking, he turned and raced back the way he had come. He returned to the spot he had left but the others weren't there. They were about a hundred yards up the street, sprawled on the ground. They were covered with dust and their hairs were going in every direction. "Hey! What happened?" "You are what has been happened!" Antoine sputtered. "You and your silly showing-off type behavior." "Say what? What's he talking about, Sal?" "You mean you don't know?" "Know about what?" "Sonic, something happened when you ran away. There was this explosion and it was as if...I don't know how to describe it...as if you were pulling the air around us after you! It knocked us all off our feet! I've never felt anything like it, not even during the worst storm!" "And check THIS out!" Rotor added as he examined the pieces of what had been at least one of the SWATbots. "These bots got tossed around like they were nothing. They hit walls and lampposts and BAM!, started flying to pieces." "But what happened?" Sonic repeated. "Antoine was right the first time," Sally said in a voice filled with awe, "YOU happened! I don't know how you did it, but your speed saved our lives." "Oui, but we are not being back in the woods yet! What if there are more of these terrible things on the approach?" Just then, they heard in the distance the warble of a siren. That meant more SWATbots were on the way. "Come on! We've got to get out of here." "But Uncle Chuck's..." "Uncle Chuck's will be the first place they look for us, Sonic. We'll hide in one of those row houses." The children ran to the end of the block, where several old row houses stood. The doors had fallen off long ago and the windows were just empty rectangles. They dashed into what had once been someone's living room. Sally instructed them to lay down on the floor in the shadows of the room. Colored lights from a SWATbot hover unit shone through the window spaces and danced on the bare walls. "Now what, Sal?" Sonic asked. "Wait here," Sally whispered. I'm going to check it out." Sally slowly crawled toward the front door, inching along through the dust. Tails began to shiver with fear, but Sonic held onto his hand. At the doorway, Sally peered around the corner of the doorway and down the street. She knew that she presented such a low profile that it would be difficult to see her. "How bad is it, Sal?" Sonic whispered. For a moment, Sally didn't say anything. "It's bad, Sonic. And it just got worse." "Snively!" Dr. Robotnik bellowed as he strode out of his hover unit. This brought his nephew and lackey out right behind him. "What is this place? It looks familiar." "This used to be the workshop of Sir Charles Hedgehog." "Ah, yes. I've sometimes thought that this place hadn't yielded up all its secrets. And where are the SWATbots who are supposed to be patrolling this sector?" "It appears that something happened to them just before they went offline," he said as he began picking up some of the bot debris. "I can retrieve their black boxes if you like, and...." "Don't waste my time with that! Something happened to those SWATbots, and it happened to them here. Bring in the SWATbots from the adjoining two sectors: I want a house-by-house search of this street!" "At once, Sir!" Snively said before disappearing back into the hover unit. Chapter 10 "We're dead!" Bunnie began to whimper. "Stop it, Bunnie!" Sally whispered, for she had rejoined the others. "We can get out of this." "You got a plan?" Sonic asked. "As a matter of fact, I do. The Willow Tree Diversion." "Time out, Sal!" Sonic whispered. "This ain't no game!" "Sonic, that's what I wanted to tell you! Look out the window." Sonic edged toward the window, keeping to the shadows of the room. Sally stayed next to him. "Isn't the street from here to Uncle Chuck's workshop about the same size as the southern meadow?" "Yeah, sort of." "And the door is exactly where the willow tree stands." "Hey, yeah! And that mailbox is about where the old stump is!" "That's what Julayla was trying to show me: that I've been rebuilding Mobotropolis all along, carrying it in my mind. Even when we were playing Capture The Flag, it was our way of practicing to take Mobotropolis back. And now that we're here, we just have to remember how we practiced it." "You think this'll work, Sal?" Rotor asked. "With one or two modifications, it should work perfectly. Sonic, check to see if the alley behind these houses is clear. Bunnie and Antoine, you'll be running the play." "Can I help too, Aunt Sally?" "You bet, Tails!" Sonic said. "Sonic, he's too young to be taking chances like that!" "News flash, Sal: we're ALL too young! Besides, we've been working on a little...surprise." "Ah, here come my SWATbots now," Robotnik said as two hover units landed. Their doors opened and two SWATbots emerged from each craft. "Snively!" "Yes, sir." "Deploy the SWATbots along both sides of this street, two to a block. Have them search every...." Robotnik's instructions were interrupted as he looked down what he thought was a deserted street. Something moved. It was small, about the size of a young fox, and it moved fast. It darted out of a doorway and then darted into another one just a few feet down the street. "Did you see that, Snively?" "Yes, sir." "Then send the SWATbots after it!" "At once, sir." But before Snively could do so, another figure -- this one more like a young rabbit -- emerged from yet another doorway in the same block of row houses. Once more, it ran a short distance before ducking into yet another doorway. "I'm...awaiting your orders, sir," Snively said with some nervousness. "There appears to be more than one intruder, and they're moving away from Sir Charles's house. It could be..." Robotnik let his sentence go unfinished as the first figure emerged from a doorway. "Never mind strategy; AFTER THAT INTRUDER!" Robotnik, Snively and the SWATbots began to give chase on foot. The figure disappeared into the shadows of yet one more doorway. As Robotnik approached, still another figure emerged from the last doorway. Robotnik's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was a young hedgehog, perhaps about ten years old. The child strode to the middle of the street, put his hands on his hips and addressed Robotnik: "Hold it right there, Buttnik!" "That's 'ROBOTNIK', you impudent brat!" "That's what I said, 'RoBUTTnik!'" "I know you," he said slowly, "you're that nephew of Sir Charles Hedgehog, the one who got away from me. I remember you VERY well," he said as he massaged his roboticized left arm, a painful reminder of their first encounter. "Where have you been hiding?" "That's for me to know and you to find out. NOT!" "Why you fresh-mouthed upstart!" "Hey, if you want a piece of me, come and get me!" Robotnik drew closer to the young hedgehog, who made a point of crossing his arms and whistling nothing in particular. He showed no fear, and this infuriated Robotnik all the more. Robotnik could have been more apprehensive, but suddenly all he could think of was settling an old score by getting his hands on the boy. Robotnik wasn't ten feet from Sonic when the hedgehog yelled out "NOW!" Sonic looked up and Robotnik followed his gaze. Something was hovering in the air about 30 feet above them, something small and tawny-colored. It dropped a bright object which Sonic caught in a jump. The next thing Robotnik knew, the air around him was swirling around and he was knocked off his feet. Looking to where Sonic had been, he saw that Sonic had moved, in less than a second, the length of a city block. "Hey, slow poke!" Sonic taunted. "What's the matter, time for your beauty sleep? You NEED one, fella!" Speechless with surprise and anger, Robotnik picked himself off the ground. Snively was doing the same. The SWATbots that were with them, though, lay in pieces nearby. Robotnik scrambled back to his hover unit. "Get that hedgehog now, Snively!" "But Sir...." "NO BUTS! I want him and that ring he's carrying!" With Robotnik on board, Snively took off after Sonic in the hover unit as Sonic began to lead them a merry chase. No matter how fast Snively drove the hovercraft, the hedgehog on foot was always just a little bit faster. Robotnik didn't know how the boy did it, and he didn't care; he would have his answers when Sonic was caught. Robotnik also didn't know that the moment the hover unit left the scene, Sally and Rotor emerged from their hiding place in one of the row houses and ran back into Uncle Chuck's workshop. "Perfect, Sally! The Willow Tree Diversion never worked better!" "Let's just hope Sonic can keep from getting caught. Now, help me remove the power stone from this unit. Then we can meet the others back at the garbage dump." She placed her hand on the outside of the machine, then yelped and drew her hand away quickly. "That hatch is red hot! Looks like Sonic's Uncle Chuck didn't have his coolant problem solved after all." "No, he DID solve it!" Rotor said with sudden realization. "Now I know where I've seen this before: at the bottom of the pool back in Knothole. He must have built a water-cooled version and installed it in Knothole before Robotnik took over. This must be his prototype!" "But how do we get the power stone out so we can get it back to Knothole?" "The best way is to turn the machine back on. It'll probably overheat, malfunction and shut itself down." "Won't that harm the crystal?" "No, you don't have to worry about that." "Great!" Sally said as she threw the power switch on the machine. "What you DO have to worry about," Rotor added, "is the possibility of this unit exploding." "WHAT!?" "Some of those old components have gotten pretty unstable over the years; they could act as bombs if the unit overheats." "Rotor, how bad could it be?" "The worst that can happen is it'll take out a block or two." "A block or...!" Sally reached for the power switch. "Rotor! The switch is jammed; I can't shut it off!!" Chapter 11 "Don't lose him, Snively! I must have him!!" "Easy for you to say," Snively muttered under his breath, "you're not driving." Sonic was moving with a speed and agility he had never known before. Somehow, though, it all seemed so natural -- as if he had been born to do the impossible. Sonic was able to keep up a grueling pace and not feel any fatigue. He zigged and zagged down streets and up alleys, doubled back and slipped under conduits and bridges. He didn't want to slow down, not only because it might have meant his capture, but also because it felt so good to run. Snively, however, managed to stay on the young hedgehog's trail. He took some corners a little too sharply and he and Robotnik got knocked about in the process. Robotnik, however, kept his attention on the blue blur visible ahead of them. "Whoa, this looks interesting," Sonic thought as he found himself heading down a side street which turned into a dead end. An enormous skyscraper marked the end of the street. "We have him now, Snively! He's got nowhere else to go!" "Nowhere except up, Sir. Look!" Sure enough, Sonic wasn't about to let a little thing like a building stand in his way. He was on a roll and he just kept on rolling. He was running up the side of the building, propelled by momentum. Snively put the hover unit into a climb in the nick of time. "After him, after him! If that ring can enable him to do THAT...." Sonic was halfway up the building when he looked over his shoulder. Robotnik was keeping pace. "Man, this is getting boring!" he thought. In the blink of an eye, Sonic reversed directions and was running down the side of the building. He blew Robotnik a raspberry as he passed the hover unit. Snively quickly turned it around. "We're gaining, Snively!" Indeed, they were closing in on Sonic. They were almost on top of him. It was then, about fifty feet from the ground, that Sonic decided that he had better stop coasting and do some serious running. He pounded ahead, reached the ground and streaked away. The hover unit, however, was in virtual free fall. "Pull up, Snively! PULL UP!!" Snively worked the controls, but the underside of the hover unit scraped the street. That was enough to sent the hover unit tumbling with all the aerodynamics of a stone skipping across a pond. By the time the hover unit came to rest its shell was pocked and torn, its windows were smashed, and its contents badly shaken. "Snively," Robotnik panted. "Y-yes, Sir?" "I have decided that I am going to make it one of the supreme goals of my life to GET THAT HEDGEHOG!" Snively rolled his eyes. This did NOT sound like a worthwhile job description. Sonic raced back to the dump, where the others were gathered at their pre-arranged rendezvous point: the excavated remains of the slide. "Man, you shoulda seen ol' Buttnik eat my dust! I was..." "Sonic, not now!" Sally cut him off. "Get down!" It was only then that Sonic noticed that the others were lying prone on the ground. "Nap time already?" "Sonic, Rotor thinks that that ring unit is going to blow up!" "Say what?" "It's overheating and going unstable," Rotor added. I couldn't get the power stone out and..." "You mean that stone thingie is still in there?" "Of course, we...." "Chill, guys." And before anyone could say or do anything, Sonic took off toward Uncle Chuck's. "What are we to be doing?" "What CAN we do, Antoine?" Sally asked. "Sonic's gotten too fast for...." Anything else Sally might have said was drowned out by a deafening roar as the power ring unit exploded. In moments, the home of Sir Charles Hedgehog was engulfed in flames. The children stared at it silently. "Sonic?" Tails said in a hesitant voice. "That's my name, don't wear it out!" The children turned. There standing behind them, the power stone on the ground at his feet, was Sonic. Tails yelped and threw his arms around Sonic's neck. "Sonic!? How did you...?" "No biggie, Sal. I just yanked it out of there real fast. And from now on, "fast" is my middle name!" "This is what I was to be saying," Antoine sputtered, "about your unresponsibility and your utter fuelishness and your...." Antoine never got to finish his sentence as Sally touched him on the shoulder. For now they could all see that Sonic's demeanor had changed. He might have been careless when it came to putting his life on the line, but it was a more subdued Sonic who watched his Uncle Chuck's house -- the only home he had ever known before Knothole -- being consumed by fire. They watched for several silent seconds. "Come on," Sonic said quietly. "Let's go home." The children were subdued and apprehensive as they entered the Great Forest. But the farther they made their way, the louder and more animatedly they talked about what they had just done. All except Tails who quickly succumbed to fatigue. Sonic carried the cub in his arms the rest of the way back to Knothole. They also speculated as to what would happen to them if Rosie or Julayla ever found out. They each thought that they would be severely punished if either of the grown-ups found out about their experience, but they also all agreed that any punishment would be totally worth it. It was about two hours before dawn as the children neared Knothole. As they recognized that they were getting closer to Knothole, the children fell silent. Their luck had held in that they were able to get away undetected. If they could just get back and into bed before Rosie or Julayla learned of it, they would be home free. They edged toward the clearing. So far, so good: there were no lights on in any of the cabins. The children all made their way into the nearest cabin, which was Sonic's and Tails'. "How's Tails doing, Sonic?" Sally whispered. "The big guy's still asleep." "Good." "Ah can't see a thing, Sal. Think we can take a chance on lightin' a candle?" No sooner had she whispered these words than there was a hiss and a burst of light as someone at the far end of the room struck a match. The children froze as its light momentarily dimmed, then the light grew stronger as someone had lit a candle with it. That someone was Julayla. She calmly blew out the match; the children each caught the smell of burnt sulfur. Julayla stood up. "Julayla, I..." Sally began. Julayla raised her hand. "There'll be time enough for talk in the morning," she said quietly, as she took the sleeping Tails in her arms and began putting him to bed. Rotor, Antoine and the girls silently drifted away. Sonic wanted to say something to Julayla, but couldn't. Julayla didn't say anything to Sonic as she let the cabin. That silent reproach hurt Sonic almost as much as watching his old home go up in flames. Chapter 12 Despite the early hour at which the children had gone to bed, nobody slept in that morning. They all gathered in front of the dining hall but didn't go in, except for Tails. He was as buoyant as ever as he raced from his hut. He even flew half the distance to the dining hall, since he figured that the secret was out. "Well, SOMEONE's in a good mood," Bunnie observed gloomily. "What to you think they'll do to us?" Rotor asked. "I don't know," Sally said. "Maybe it won't be so bad," Sonic suggested. "Right, Sonic," Sally shot back, "we only broke every rule in the book and then some! Well, let's get this over with," she added as she walked toward the door. As they entered the dining hall, Tails was already seated at a table with Julayla. Rotor volunteered to walk as close to their table as possible, in order to hear what was being said. He heard Tails happily recounting the events of the previous evening in one long run-on sentence: "...and then Sonic seen us when he came outside and Sally said for him to run so he runned away but real real fast and...." "So, how is it?" Bunnie asked. "It's bad, guys," Rotor said as he sat down at the table with the others. "I was listening to Tails just now. He's telling Julayla everything that happened last night." "How's Julayla taking it?" Sally asked. "Tails was making all kinds of grammatical errors, but Julayla didn't even stop and correct him once!" He put his head in his hands. "That's it: we're toast!" "How are you to be thinking of food at the time like this?" Sally was in no mood to say anything to Antoine just then, because they saw Julayla walking toward them. "Miles has told me what happened last night. Does anyone wish to add anything?" "I do," Sally said, her head bowed. "We should have trusted you, and told you and Rosie that Tails was missing." "But Sal," Sonic immediately said, "they'd have grounded us and we wouldn't have gotten Tails back." "Perhaps, perhaps not," Julayla said calmly. "But now you'll never know, will you?" This was enough to overwhelm Sonic's attempt at argument. While he and the other children contemplated this reply, Julayla went to the side cupboard where the school supplies were kept. She returned with paper and writing instruments. Sonic and the others anticipated that they'd each have to write something long and chastening one hundred times. Just for starters. As the children passed the materials around to each other, Julayla began unfolding large old documents: they were maps of Mobotropolis. "I want each of you to study the maps that I've spread out on the table. Write out any changes in the city that you noticed last night. Be as detailed as possible. You'll probably want to compare notes with each other." "What kind of crazy punishment is THIS?" Sonic whispered to Sally. "This is not your punishment, Sonic. You've already brought a very severe punishment upon yourselves. Until yesterday, Robotnik had probably forgotten all about you; today, he knows better and you've given him a reason to look for you. Yesterday you were children playing a game; as of today, you are in a war. There is no worse punishment that I or anyone else could possibly inflict." The children looked at each other silently. Bunnie looked at Sally and silently mouthed the word "war." "It'll be OK, Bunnie, as long as we work together," she said softly. Then, in a louder voice she spoke to the others, "OK, where did the trash heap begin? We know that it covered all of the playground where this park used to be...." "Sally," Julayla added, "your afternoon lessons will be held in my hut." The children waited with anticipation around the pool just outside Knothole. Everyone, that is, except Rotor, who was somewhere under the water. With the exception of Rotor, none of the children particularly cared for the water. They could swim if they had to, but there were more at home on the land. Especially Sonic, who couldn't swim a stroke. Rotor suddenly broke the surface, getting a breath of air. The others shook the water from themselves. "Stone's in, everybody! The machine started right up! If it's the same as the machine in Uncle Chuck's workshop it should be producing a power ring any time now." As the other children gathered as close to the edge of the pool as they dared, Julayla touched Sally on the shoulder. The two of them moved away from the group and walked toward Julayla's hut. Once inside, Julayla began writing something on a scrap of paper which she then handed to Sally. "Commit this to memory. When you have done so, burn it. Leave no trace." "Why? What is this?" "It is a list of four settlements of refugees from Mobotropolis located in various parts of the Great Forest. These aren't their true locations: only the locations of drop sites where we leave the messages by which we communicate with each other. We wanted to keep from jeopardizing all of the settlements, so we devised this system. It's a good thing we did; one settlement, Birchwood, was discovered by SWATbots the other day and its inhabitants scattered." "There are others!? But why...?" "Why were you not told? None knew of the existence of the other camps except for one member of each, and even they did not know the precise location of the others." "But what were they doing?" "Surviving. Living in hiding. Living in fear. And waiting." "Waiting for what?" "Waiting for WHOM is more like it. They have no one to guide them, no one to formulate strategy and carry it out. I knew that the day would come when there would be a sign, a sign that we can begin to hope again. A sign that the time had come to begin resisting Robotnik. Your raid on Robotropolis last night was reckless and uncoordinated, but it was also the sign that I and the others had been waiting for. It was the sign that we finally have a leader amongst us." Julayla walked over to Sally and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. Things got very still and cold inside the hut. Suddenly they heard the sound of cheering outside. The machinery at the bottom of the pool had indeed produced a power ring. With ring in hand, Sonic was tearing up the turf of Knothole. He was just a blur as he streaked around and between the buildings. And as he ran, the other children began chanting his name: "So-NIC! So-NIC! So-NIC! So-NIC!" Sally and Julayla watched Sonic's dashing about. Then Sally spoke, with a startling bitterness in her voice: "Yes, you've got your leader...." She said no more, choked back a sob, then ran from the hut. She ran across Sonic's path, and the sight managed to bring the hedgehog to a halt. "Chill, guys," he said to the others, "I'll be right back." Sonic walked around the corner of a hut. He saw Sally seated on a log, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders heaving. He quietly sat down a little way from her. Sally stopped crying and tried to adopt a formal appearance. "Tired of your adoring fans already?" she asked sarcastically. "Hey, Sal, you got too much class for that kind of a cheap shot." "I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I...I guess I'm just scared." "Scared of what?" "Sonic, everything's changed now! Julayla expects me to start acting like some kind of leader...and I don't know if I can." "What're you talking about, Sal? We found Tails, got Uncle Chuck's power ring machine working, AND got in and out of Robotropolis in one piece! And we did it as a team, thanks to you. All I did was run fast. You're a GREAT leader!" "But will the other Mobians feel that way?" "Say what?" So Sally told Sonic about the other camps hidden in the Great Forest. "Sonic we're talking about grown-ups here! Even if I am the heir to the throne, I'm still just a kid. Do you really think any grown-up would take orders from a ten-year-old girl?" "I would." Sonic said it so simply and sincerely that it surprised both of them. For several moments all the two of them could do was look at each other. For Sonic, it was as if he were looking at someone he'd never known before. His hand slowly reached over and took hold of hers... Suddenly the stillness of the moment was broken by a chorus of hoots and whistles. Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine and Tails were looking at them from around the corner of one of the huts. "Aw, man! Knock it off, you guys!" Sonic's face grew bright red, and Sally adopted that studied indifference which children sometimes mistake for maturity. And then the other four children began a traditional Mobian chant. It was a chant that further embarrassed Sonic and annoyed Sally, though there was a secret part of her that was glad to hear it. It began: "Sonic and Sally sittin' in a tree...." THE END