Utter despair. There was no other way to describe the mood that fateful night in Knothole among Sonic and the other children living there. Just hours ago, they received the news they had desperately hoped not to hear, but would nonetheless.

Princess Sally was the first of the young children to find out. At around 8pm, Rosie, the leader of Knothole was visited unexpectedly by Lupe, the 21 year old leader of the Wolf Pack. Once there, she told them the horrible news of Sonic's parents along with the Prowers.

"I'm so sorry to tell you this." Lupe said shaking her head angrily, trying to fight back the tears. "The mission… failed."

Sally gasped in horror, as Rosie asked, "What happened? I was told that virus was supposed to finish Robotnik's network off."

"It would have… had they not gotten caught first." Lupe answered, still trying to fight her emotions. "But… that vile Julian found out and surrounded them. I don't know all the details, but from what I could gather, Amadeus was killed in the line of fire. Jules and Bernadette were roboticized. As for Rosemary, we have no idea where she is now. All I've been told is she's disappeared."

By this point, Sally could not hold back the tears, as she asked sorrowfully, "What… what does this mean for us then?"

Lupe knelt down at her level, and responded as lovingly as she could, "Princess… it means we have lost the battle, maybe even the war."

"NO!" the squirrel princess exclaimed, now about to break down. "Say it isn't so! Are you saying we're all… doomed?"

"I don't know…" the Wolf Pack leader answered somberly. "One thing is for sure though: Robotnik has the upper hand for now and I greatly fear what he plans to do next to us all." Before Sally or Rosie could say another word, Lupe told them bluntly, "I think you all better be prepared for the worst now. For all I know, it's only a matter of time before that vile man will turn his attention to the Great Forest and tries to take you all prisoner."

At that moment, Sally finally broke down and sobbed uncontrollably on Lupe's shoulder, crying out, "This can't be happening! I was supposed to be reunited with my daddy! All of us were supposed to be reunited with our families! I… I… was supposed…"

Sally could not mutter another word, as her sorrow finally consumed her to the point of crying profusely. Lupe then tried to console her by giving the young squirrel princess a personal hug, but it was to no avail. Sally's heart by this time was completely broken.

Rosie eventually picked her up in her arms, trying to console as well, saying to Lupe softly, "You better go now. I'll tell the others the news. You be careful when heading back out, ok?"

"I will." Lupe replied. Before she left, she looked back at the still crying Sally, saying with a sympathetic nod, "Take care, Princess. Perhaps one day we'll meet again."

And with that, Lupe departed.

Rosie then broke the news to the rest of the group, including the young children. Needless to say, it hit them all like a ton of steel. Like with Sally, most of the other children also began to cry profusely, as they could not also believe the news. The only one who didn't seem that affected by it was young Antoine. However, that was only due to the fact he was the only one at that point who seemed emotionally lost from the moment they all escaped to Knothole.

Antoine's father, Armand D'Coolette, had been tragically slain in the final battle of the Great War. From that day on, Antoine became a shell of his former self. Before then, Antoine had looked up to his father as a great war hero and a rock to lean on after his mother passed away years before, hoping one day to be as strong and courageous as his father was. Now, the young coyote had lost all hope to even carry on with daily life. After being forced to leave his home, he could only carry two things with him amidst Robotnik's raid: A photo of him with his mom and dad along with his father's legendary sword, a weapon that he had used to slay countless enemies. His sword was by no means just any sword, but one with a special nanotech blade that could cut though just about any material.

Not wanting this weapon to fall into enemy hands, Armand beforehand had the sword specially programmed to respond to only two Mobian fingerprints: His, and his son Antoine's. However, after his father had passed, Antoine could not even hold the sword with pride and honor. Instead, he looked at it in shame and sorrow.

"What was my father thinking?" Antoine thought to himself in anger when holding the handle of the sword awhile back, tossing it aside. "I'm not even worthy to hold one of his dirty boots, let alone his special sword. I'm just a pathetic coward, nothing more! I'll never be even half the man he was."

Once he heard the news of the other Freedom Fighters failed to cripple Robotnik's network, Antoine could only think to himself in self-pity, I doubt I'll even be able to die with honor like he did either.

Meanwhile in Robotropolis, the mood was quite different. After defeating the last great threat of his enemies for the time being, Julian was full of vigor, savoring what now his reign over the planet Mobius.

"Isn't it marvelous, Snively?" Robotnik stated, rubbing his hands together in glee. "I finally have the planet in the palm of my hand."

"Yes, sir." Snively answered, rolling his eyes from behind. "You clearly have outdone yourself. Those wretched Mobians who tried to take you down clearly didn't know what hit them."

"Oh, you could say the whole planet won't know what will hit them." Robotnik retorted smugly. "What I did to those pathetic rebels is only a taste of what I had in mind for the rest of them. I will soon begin to mount a much more aggressive front, sending my army all over to weed the rest of those vile vermin and either make them my robotic slaves or suffer a slow and painful death." Julian then began to laugh in glee at the thought of carrying out.

"Good for you, sir." Snively said again nonchalantly. "I'm sure it won't be long before it's taken care of knowing how powerful our army is. However, I do have one main concern."

"And what would that be, my pathetic lackey?"

Snively frowned angrily at those words, but soon composed himself, saying, "Well, sir, you are fully aware a few months ago some of the Mobians escaped from the now destroyed Mobotropolis to the Great Forest to their secret bunker called Knothole."

"And your point is…?"

"Well, I don't mean to question your decision making or anything, sir, but how come you haven't captured them yet? I mean, Knothole is clearly one of their stronger safe havens. Why not just burn the whole forest to the ground to flush them out?"

Robotnik now turned his chair around and answered him with a frown, "Because I have bigger fish to fry now than flush out a pitiful number of young children." He then added with a chuckle turning back the other way, "Besides, where's the fun in that? If I capture them now, they'll only experience a small amount of fear and despair before I roboticize them. However, if I wait them out, playing mind games, they'll be in fear for days, weeks, maybe even months and years."

Julian again relished the thought of that. "And that to me is a much worse punishment than mere roboticization."

"But, sir. They could clearly use the time to get stronger and mount an attack." Snively argued. "Don't forget one of the children in Knothole is Jules' son Sonic, and I've been told he has the gift of super speed."

"So what?" Robotnik shot back. "His super speed is not going to do him much good now. I have a fleet of Swatbots patrolling the area around the Great Forest. Anyone gets close and they're going to get caught. Plus, he's just a mere child. What's he going to do now, defeat them all with a spin dash attack?"

Before Snively could argue again, Julian added, "I know what I'm doing, you pitiful lackey, so you just do your job and mind your own business. Understood?"

Snively by this point was completely disgusted, muttering under his breath, "Your arrogance will be your undoing, you pathetic tub of lard."

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Robotnik quickly turned around and grabbed him tightly by the throat with his robotic arm. "Did I just hear you insult me?"

Snively quickly backtracked, answering with a whimper, "Oh no, sir. I was just saying that knowing your brains and power, it shouldn't be very hard."

Not entirely convinced of his answer, Julian strongly tossed him against the wall, retorting, "Don't forget I can easily turn into a paperweight if I so wanted, worm, so I'd choose my words very carefully from this point on. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, sir. I fully understand." The small lackey responded nervously.

"Good, then get out of my sight. I have things to do."

Not wanting to test his patience, Snively did just that. Once he was out of the room, he then turned to his new weapons on the far-right side of the room, none other than Metal and Silver Sonic.

"Heh heh, I shall make good use of you two soon enough." Julian said to them, patting Metal Sonic on the head. "With your new weaponized bodies, I shall finally be rid of that vile Wolf Pack and the rest of their rebellion scum."

And with that, Julian began to laugh heartily to himself, eagerly waiting to sic them on his enemies.

Back in Knothole, the mood remained for the rest of that evening dark and full of despair.

The one who took this hardest next to Sally was none other than young Sonic himself, as he had been separated from his two siblings Manic and Sonia during the invasion, being taken to another shelter after Knothole was surrounded by Robotnik's army. To make matters worse, Sonic had no idea they were, or if they were even still alive and unroboticized. He was now completely distraught inside, longing to be reunited with them and his parents. However, for the time being, he would have to carry on without them.

Needing time to think, he went to the Power Ring pool, a special pond made by his Uncle Chuck to harness not only his super speed, but even the special abilities of his siblings. From birth, Manic had been bestowed with aerial skills, being able to ride a specially made hoverboard with ease. Sonia meanwhile was given the gift of super strength. Even as a young child, she was able to lift things up to two hundred pounds without hardly breaking a sweat.

Realizing the potential in fully harnessing their special talents, Sir Charles quickly developed a special stone for each of them that was still in its beta stages. His original intent had been in case the Great War had prolonged for years on end, they could use a Power Ring from it after becoming of age to defeat their greatest enemy at the time: the Overlanders, and finally free the Mobian race from the threat of war. However, that all went out the window after Julian defected to their side and used his robotic forces to finally defeat his once allied Overlander brethren.

Ironically though, Sir Charles' hard work would not be in vain, as now his assistant in Knothole vowed to see this project through and use it to defeat their greatest foe now: Robotnik himself.

Once Sonic arrived at the Power Rings pool, he slowly sat down and looked at the water, eventually laying his head on his knees, sobbing softly to himself. His emotions eventually turned from grief to pure anger, desiring in his heart at that moment to go out and destroy every single last robotic solider to make Robotnik pay for taking away those he held dear to him. Before he could even contemplate this for even a minute, young Sally soon sat next to him. She did it so quietly, Sonic did not even know she was there at first. In fact, when she finally spoke up, it nearly startled him.

"What are we going to do, Sonic?" She asked him, her face still streaming with tears. "How can we carry on knowing we could be caught and roboticized any day now?"

At first, Sonic said nothing. He was still too consumed with anger to give her an answer. However, when she pressed him, the young hedgehog eventually responded with a sigh, "I don't know… I just feel so helpless inside. I want to get that tub of lard so bad now, but I feel I'll just be making things worse if I do."

Ironically, Sally could not help but feel the same way. She too wanted to get back at Robotnik, but had no idea how being only five years old. Instead, she lashed out in a different way. She soon grabbed part of her upper dress, intentionally tearing at it in anger.

"Sal, what the heck are you doing?" Sonic asked in a bit of shock.

"I hate this dress…" She muttered to herself in bitterness. "I wish I never had it."

"But, it looks good on you." Sonic told her. "You are a princess after all."

"What do you care?!" Sally remarked at him angrily. "What good is me being a princess anymore?! I don't have my father around. I don't have a kingdom. I don't even have a home I can feel safe in either!" She then added shouting while tearing at her dress some more, "I wish I never was a princess! All that talk of finding your prince and living happily ever after… what a load of garbage!"

Sonic could only look at the young squirrel princess bewildered, as he had never seen his childhood friend become so unglued before. She then laid her head on her knees softly sobbing to herself. Not wanting to have her lash out at him again, Sonic let her be for the time being.

Eventually, she looked up at the blue hedgehog and said with a sniffle, "I'm sorry, Sonic. I just… can't take this. I just can't… The only reason I didn't give up hope before was because I was told there was still a chance to fix this mess with the virus. I was hoping it would finally put an end to this."

Not surprisingly, Sonic had shared the same sentiment. After his parents came by a few days earlier to explain their plan, it gave Sonic a glimmer of hope they would make things right and things would go back to the way they were.

"But now? I don't know if we'll even be still here in Knothole within a week." Sally soon added sorrowfully. "I almost feel like giving up entirely and letting Robotnik do what he wants with us."

Sonic then put his hand firmly on Sally's shoulder, saying, "We can't give up, Sal, not after everything our families sacrificed to get us here."

"But what's the point of fighting it?" Sally argued. "We can't do anything about this now. We're only kids!"

Sonic sadly had no answer for that. Instead, he told her, "That may be true, but I still refuse to give up. Someway, somehow, I will get back at that vile Robuttnik and make him pay in full, no matter what!"

At this point, Sally was completely in awe of Sonic's determination. She was even tempted to tell him how much his courage helped her feel better inside. Instead, all she could do was hug him, sobbing again to herself. Ironically enough, Sonic soon embraced her as well, crying softly to himself too.

Sally eventually told him trying to fight back the tears, "I wish I knew what to do now. I feel so lost inside."

All Sonic could muster from that point on was, "Just follow your heart, Sal. Just follow your heart…"

For the rest of that night, not another word was said between them, as the pain of their loss soon hit them again full force. Instead, they cried on each other's shoulder for the next hour before eventually going to bed. It was ironically the only way they could cope with this. How long it would take them both to have any semblance of peace about it was anyone's guess.

While this was going on, Rosie gathered with the other adults in Knothole to discuss their future. There was sadly only four of them. Along with Sally's nanny, there was Argus, a muscular tiger who was King Acorn's personal bodyguard. During the raid, Sally's father had instructed him to do whatever it takes to get her daughter to safety and look after her until the threat of Robotnik was dealt with. Next was Gandar, a muscular olive-green furred lion with blonde hair. He had been one of the top soldiers in King Acorn's military, recently promoted to a sergeant to train new recruits. He had also been instructed by King Acorn to look after the Princess and the other children when escorting them to Knothole during Robotnik's invasion.

Last, but certainly not least was a tech specialist named Renee, a yellow and orange furred fox with red hair. Before the invasion, she was the main tech there under Sir Charles, doing his experiments when he was not able to do so himself.

"We are in deep trouble." Rosie eventually said after a long period of silence.

"Ya think?" Argus remarked annoyed at that statement.

"There's no need to lose our cool here." Gandar told him firmly. "It won't do any good."

"Well, what do you suggest we do then, tough guy?" Argus shot back. "In case you haven't noticed, there's a ton of Swatbots outside the entrance just waiting for us to make one slip up."

"I'm aware of that, but let's think of this rationally." The olive-green lion replied. "Robotnik wants us to be afraid. If we do that, we'd be playing right into his hands."

"And staying calm won't do that either?"

"Alright, that's enough, you two!" Rosie remarked, now fed up with their arguments. "Look, I understand it's a very dark time now for us all, but we must work together in order to stay alive and free."

"Easier said than done..." Argus muttered.

"Yes, it won't be easy." Rosie said. "But think of the young children here. If they see us in a panic, it'll crush what little spirit they have left. Do you really want to do that to them?"

Before Argus could answer back, Renee finally spoke up, asking, "Speaking of the young kids here, what do you plan to do with them concerning our safety here?"

"That's why I called this meeting." Rosie answered her. "After thinking this over, I think… it would be best for them to be trained now for possible Freedom Fighter missions when of age."

"Are you serious?!" Argus asked with arched eyebrows. "They're only five years old! What could we possibly train them to do now? They're not even fit to hold a gun, let alone protect themselves."

"We don't have any choice." Rosie shot back. "The young children here have talents, some very strong ones as well, like young Sonic for example. If we can harness his ability of super speed, it will be a great asset to our cause."

"But how can we do that?" Argus argued yet again. "None of us have that ability or know how to bring it out of him."

"You let me worry about that." Gandar told him. "I have trained quite a few soldiers in the past and I can do the same with them."

"Oh yea? What about those Seedrians?" Argus asked. "They're not even from Mobius."

The Seedrians he was referring to was none other than Cosmo, along with her big sister Galaxina and best friend Jasmine. Their race had been part of the allied forces when helping the Overlanders deal with the Black Xorda threat many years before the Great War. Ironically enough, they would then chose to ally with the Mobian forces against the Overlanders once their prejudice against any other races came full circle.

"Again, I'll take care of training them how I see fit." The olive-green lion retorted." You just do your job in protecting them from any possibly intruders. Are we clear?"

Realizing he was in a no win situation, Argus finally shrugged and said with a huff, "Alright, fine. It's not like it'll make a big difference anyway."

And with that, he departed for the entrance with a big laser rifle in hand, as part of his duties as guarding Knothole from possible intruders.

"Don't mind him." Rosie told Gandar. "It's been a long day for all of us."

"Yea, I know…" Gandar then asked Sally's nanny, "You really think I ought to be training them this early? I mean, there's only so much they can do at this age."

"I understand your concern," Rosie answered softly. "but like I said, we really don't have a choice now. The young children must be prepared to fight if Knothole gets raided. Just take it slow with them and work it up to higher levels when they're ready to move on to the next part of your training."

Gandar slowly nodded, saying in response, "Very well then. I'll give them training just tough enough for them to handle until further notice."

"Sounds good." Rosie acknowledged. After a long pause, Sally's nanny spoke up again, saying "You know, I just got thinking… they don't all have to be trained the same way."

Gandar gave Rosie an arched eyebrow look, demanding, "How do you figure?"

"Well, I just remembered something… Seedrians aren't designed for hand to hand combat. They're more made for providing support and helping keep plants and trees healthy."

"So what do you suggest they do then?" the olive-green lion asked.

"Well, since we have a limited food supply and small number of trees," Rosie deducted, "why don't they practice working on harnessing those skills instead to keep our trees healthy so we have enough to eat?"

Gandar ironically had no complaints with that idea, saying with a nod, "That sounds fine to me. You go help them do that while I train the others."

"Consider it done." Rosie replied. "Anyway, I think it's best we turn in for the night. Argus is on watch, and we have a booby trap set near the entrance just in case, so we might as well get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for the young children."

Later that night, Robotnik received an upcoming transmission from one of his Swatbots near the Great Forest on his video screen."

"What is it?" Julian asked slightly annoyed.

"Sir, we experienced several casualties while patrolling the area."

"WHAT?!" Robotnik began to clinch in teeth in anger. "Who did this? Did you capture them?"

"Negative. The culprit was not seen by any of our visual screens and appears to have escaped."

Robotnik banged his arm rest in rage several times, now seething inside. "I want a complete combing of the area. Leave no stone unturned. Find out who did this and bring them to me AT ONCE!"

"Affirmative, sir. We shall send you the report once we have it."

And with that, the Swatbot signed off.

Before Julian could rage some more, Snively finally spoke up from behind while listening in, saying, "I told you the Mobians in the Great Forest would be a thorn in your side, sir. You should have taken my advice about it and taken them out instead of trusting mere machines."

"SHUT UP, LACKEY!" Robotnik quickly turned around and grabbed Snively again by the collar of his shirt. "I told you to watch your words around me, so I strongly suggest you drop your patronizing tone if you don't want to get hurt again."
Not wanting to anger his uncle any further, Snively said nervously to try to calm the waters, "I was only trying to warn you is all, sir. Surely you can't blame me for not wanting to take any chances here."

Ironically this time, Snively's words did the trick. Normally Robotnik would have thrown him against the wall for daring to speak his mind. This time however, he dropped him with a grunt and a shove, turning back around.

"Fine. I'll double the Swatbot troops around the Great Forest." Robotnik muttered after a long pause. "This time, they'll be so many, they won't be able to even breathe without being spotted."

"But, sir, why not just raid and burn it down already?" the small lackey pleaded. "You just heard how crafty those Mobians can be."

"I already told you, Snively… I have bigger fish to fry. I don't have time to waste my troops on an insignificant number of Mobians in a forest. I'll deal with them later once I've dealt with the bigger issues at hand."

"And, what would be that exactly, sir? You never told me what exactly these bigger fish are."

Robotnik turned back to face Snively, replying with a fierce glare, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Before Snively could reply to that, his Uncle added, "I'm only going to tell you this one more time: Do not meddle in my affairs that's none of your business. You just do the job I tell you to and all will be good between us. Otherwise, I may just carry out that threat from earlier." He then grabbed Snively again, pulling him close to his face, adding with a look that could kill, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir." The small lackey answered in a panicked tone of voice.

Like before, Julian again didn't throw against the wall. Instead, he said after dropping him to the ground, "I have had my fill of you for the night. Now get out of my sight before I lose my temper.

Snively quickly obeyed and did as he was told. However, he was not about to comply completely. Once he was outside the doors, he muttered angrily, "Alright, Julian… you want to play mind games with me? Then we'll play…"

The small lackey then pulled a specially made hearing device from his pocket he built earlier for just such an occasion and clipped it to the wall. Once there, he listened into his Uncle's personal conversations. The first conversation went like this after getting another update from another Swatbot unit not even a minute later.

"Status report."

"Dr. Robotnik. We are currently on the trail for the Mobian Rosemary Prower."

"Good. How close are you to tracking her down?"

"Not very close to be perfectly honest, sir. It will be awhile due to how little we have to go on."

Robotnik let out a frustrated sigh, soon saying after composing himself, "Whatever… she can't run for too long, so keep the heat up on her when hunting her down. Do not give her a moment to breathe. Understood?

"Affirmative, Dr. Robotnik. We shall search every spot on this planet until we find her. You can count on that."

"Good. Keep me up to date of any changes during your hunt."

"Yes, sir. Swatbot Unit 93 over and out."

"Now why would Julian care so much about the wife of Amadeus Prower?" Snively pondered softly to himself. "She's no threat to us. I don't understand this logic of his at all."

Before he could ponder what this was all about, he heard his Uncle leave his chair and walk around a bit. Fearing he might be heading for the door, Snively prepared to take his device and run. Thankfully though, he was heading in another direction, now looking at his two new machines Metal and Silver Sonic. He then overheard this little tidbit.

"I do have to say my genius can be sometimes scary." Julian soon chuckled to himself about it, adding, "To think I could craft two new machines due to my sheer cunning is quite the accomplishment."

"What in blazes is Julian going on about now?" Snively pondered again. "Doesn't he realize those two are…"

Before he could finish that thought, Julian spoke up once again, saying to himself, "This plan of mine is foolproof. Have Metal Sonic as the main weapon during the attack to shatter their morale and Silver Sonic organizes the troops around him to make sure they're the most effective. Heh heh… who knows? If Silver Sonic does that good of job at leading my army when raiding the bases of those pathetic Freedom Fighters, perhaps I won't need Snively to do my dirty work anymore. Maybe I'll finally be able to put him to better use… as my paperweight."

Once Snively heard that, he was completely incensed inside. He soon said to himself, "Oh, so you think you can just replace me with those two machines, Julian?! Well, I got news for you: Your little plans are now going to get a little monkey wrench thrown into them, and by the time you realize it, it'll be far too late. I promise you that, you pathetic tub of lard."

Not wanting to risk getting caught, Snively quickly left to brainstorm. He was now determined to sabotage his Uncle's plans whenever necessary.

To be continued...