Ch.2-Forming an odd alliance

Times in Knothole were tense and orders were being disobeyed, countless times. Princess Sally laid flat on her bed and her head seemed to blow with arguments from Rotar about creating a machine to contact Sonic, or Amy about meetings, Tails wanted to take his plane out to scout; a poor excuse to visit Sonic, Bunnie wished to track down swats, and Antoine too worried for Sonic's health! Why was she the enemy all of a sudden? So what if she threw Sonic out due to complications involving leadership and ignorance? Being the Princess meant she had the control, so why did they everyone hate her? "Note to self," Sally said aloud, "cancel all scouting missions until Sonic's manners simmer." Relaxed now, she closed her eyes.

"Princess are you awake?" Sally's eyelids flipped open lazily and she stared at Antoine. The nervous royal guard always had this awkwardness when he was before her, at times she found him annoying and cowardly, but he had this sense of loyalty and she felt he'd never hurt her. "The group was a little shaken by your orders and many are considering joining Sonic. I for one would die first before leaving the Princess defenseless."

"You…would?" Sitting up straight she saw the young fox, or was it wolf, for a new person. Who needs Sonic? She thought proudly, who needs that show off hedgehog when I have Antoine, the loyal and trustworthy. Inviting Antoine to her side she held out her hand and wrapped it around his. He was scared, but she reassured him, "Sonic is no longer my boyfriend Antoine, I need someone who is sure of himself. You can be brave when you want to, and you are not afraid of leadership, which in my case is what I need." Sitting on the bed he kissed her and Sally returned it, but was her heart there? Their lips parted for air then they engulfed each other's lips feeling the tension of far away flirting fade away. They were teenagers now and kissing was all they did and it was outside where the real tension had reached its boiling point.

"I can't take this!" Tails was sitting on a branch looking out at the treetops. "Sonic has been gone for too long now and the Princess forbids us to search! Rotar, can't you create a silent device that can avoid Sally's detection?"

"Wish I could," he said regretfully, "but it'd be like trying to take out one swat bot with a pebble. I know we can take care of ourselves, but Sonic was here with all the positive energy and blasted cockiness. Besides, the Spooky Forest is not my best of courage," he said shakily. Rotar finished a small weapon which could trap an enemy, and if time passed strengthened the hold. The walrus now a day seemed troubled.

"Tails is right," Amy said from another branch, "we need Sonic here to keep our spirits up, now is the time we need him the most." Everyone knew Amy was Sonic's biggest admirer and had a secret crush on him, they also knew her attempts were ignored. Ever since Sally threw Sonic out Amy was there to talk to him, which made the squirrel very jealous. Bunnie came from the tree house looking disturbed.

"I never thought…" As she caught everyone's concerned look she hung her head. "Well I might as well tell yaw before you find out the ugly way, Antoine and Sally are together." Tails fell from the tree branch and into the leaves, Amy was hanging on by a thread, and Rotar had accidentally set the device off on himself. "The two of them were hound glued and the things she said made my furred hand shiver. It was Ewe."

"Sonic doesn't even know," Amy said. Tails twirled up into the sky and scanned the horizon hoping he'd see his best bud, but instead saw only a horizon. The Princess wasn't possessed, she wasn't a clone, and she surely wasn't in a trance, so it was confirmed she wasn't in her right mind. And the weasel that had been jealous of Sonic and wished to get revenge, he had it, and by the way events transpired, had already won.

Sonic and former evil genius Dr. Eggman had their plan set, all they needed was transportation. Sonic hated stealing Tails's plane and really hated it under these conditions, considering the enemy of Knothole was in the co-pilot's seat. With his gloved hand he flipped the ignition on and went through the pre-check list before they lifted off. Frowning at all the dials and don't touch these; Sonic scratched his spiny head in confusion. Eggman saw the hedgehog's dilemma and grinned, "Never flew a plane huh?"

"Not really on my get to know list," Sonic admitted. Tails was the pilot and he was always usually co-pilot or offense. Now when the pilot wasn't here Sonic couldn't help but grimace at the situation Sally put him in. I'm over her, Sonic thought to himself, who needs a bossy Princess who has relationship ides.

"Luckily for you my fine blue spine friend, I happed to be a licensed pilot. Move over and let the good Dr. have a whirl at it," he said professionally. Hating what he was about to do Sonic moved back to the familiar safety of the co-pilot's seat, and again had to realize his life was in his enemy's hands.

"Now take it easy Eggman, you don't want to dent her or scratch her…because I'm not responsible for this plane," Sonic advised him. Eggman frowned at the "her", but realized all vehicles were usually referred to as female. With all the dials in proper order he set the plane in motion. Pulling upon the yoke the red plane flew into the sky and its destination was where the clouds began. "So Eggman, how much of this guy do you know?"

"Sonic like I told you, not much. The green fatigue was rather unusual and the eyes were fiery red. I couldn't define him as an annoying hedgehog or a pesky fox. The last message I received was scrambled, but those mean something is going down. You do realize once I get my power back I will again be the twisted diabolical Dr. Eggman?" Sonic never expected this good and frightened Dr. to stay, but it was relaxing knowing this good old' Eggman had no secrets or captives.

"Yeah…I just didn't realize how soon," Sonic said with fake sentimentality. Dr. Eggman was about to hit him when a trio of air swats came through the clouds. Pulling himself up onto the wing Sonic dodged an incoming blast and curled up into a ball. He then sped off the wing and crashed into one of the swats. It exploded in nuts and bolts showering the tree tops with it. The plane broke his fall while the other two swats fled back to the base. "Doc I think their expecting company."

"Put a cork in it Sonic!" Standing up on the wing Sonic smiled and watched as the clouds parted to reveal a hideous fortress with four base canons and…600 of those swats. Steering the plane away from any known sensors Eggman did a very careful landing procedure; it worked with no sensor alert.

"Nice landing, although in Tails's own words it'd be 'touchdown Eggman'". If they had missed any sensors it would have been the audio, which they so happen avoided, not well. Klaxons were on within their few moments of touchdown and soon 300 pair of swat bots were out of their latches and speeding towards them.

"The ball is still in play," Eggman corrected. Sonic then ran around in circles and the faster he went the more dust came from the deck to create a curtain to blind the swats. The two "allies" rushed into the door and found themselves in a launch bay where the spider bots were being fixed up.

"Whoever recreated your work has to have some credit," Sonic said in amazement. The spider bots rose on all legs and their eight eyes let out fiery beams destroying 200 swats, which were well hidden and out of range. Going in for a closer look Sonic could see the green caped figure writing results on a pad. It seemed these bots had high accuracy shooting and within only 10 seconds! There were enough of these bots for an invasion too.

"Think of the power and invincibility I'd have if I were in command," Eggman said dreamily. Shaking the thought from his head Sonic climbed up onto the walkway and proceeded at a crawl rate. I have it within my grasp, Eggman thought desperately, and the hedgehog has my trust, but a deal is a deal after all. As he followed Sonic he felt the walkway shake and held onto a safety rail as another came. "Sonic…maybe this wasn't-"

"Hurry up before I carry you across!" Sonic interrupted the doctor knowing he was afraid of heights, who wasn't? He too shared the fear, but overcame it with the help of his friends. "Whatever you do don't look down; always keep confidence within your reach." Eggman let go of the rail and held his face high above his round body and soon felt Sonic's foot trip him.

"You…" Sonic held his hand up and motioned for him to follow, silently. They were now past the safe return and were deeper in the fortress then either liked to admit. The spiral stairs led to a laboratory where 2 machines lay; connecting to what to them looked like an egg that cracked…a lot. The door at the far corner opened and the figure in green stomped over to the controls. Muttering in unintelligible words the mastermind of the fortress threw a lever causing wild blue sparks into the machines. "Those look like models 001 and 002."

"I see you had backup," Sonic said. The 001 machine was female and to Sonic looked like an Echidna. The 002 machine was a falcon, from the looks of it very strong. Feeling his curiosity piqued Sonic leaned in too far, and fell down the last step onto the cold floor. The falcon rose and roared a challenge whacking Sonic into some chemicals with metal wings. Dr. Eggman ran to help, but the lady echidna arose cracking his cherry nose and tripping his legs. It seemed they were caught.

"Hehehe," a laughing voice responded. Stepping into the light was the unmasked mastermind; she was red furred with a white tail, a green tail, and a yellow tail, and a chilling but warming smile. She was young and very familiar in appearance. The falcon and echidna also laughed and Eggman had then realized his cards were dealt and served.

That night in Knothole Tails planned a secret meeting that would hopefully lead to rescue Sonic. Rotar had created a silent shield that made no noise to cover their meeting and a fake audio tape confusing all those outside with boring conversations. "Sonic has been gone too long now and now it's to the point where Sally's orders are not justified. She and Antoine are having a romantic dinner, which gives us about 4 hours time to leave and come back with Sonic. Amy do you got the decoys?"

"Yes," she said. The decoys were simple miniatures in a flowerpot, just in case they needed to go in stealthily. The next part involved Bunnie rigging the place up with explosives, and that left him with leading them. Rotar would use all his tools to create a craft that would carry them to the fortress; Tails knew Sonic would be frustrated and try to uncover the mystery by himself. It always happened that way.

"The followers will have lots of opposition, so there will be tons of sensors. Once Bunnie has the place rigged we leave, no mystery solving until we explore the wreckage. I maybe no Sonic or Sally, but under their teachings I hope someday to be. Let's go rescue Sonic and save Knothole!"' His speech was inspiring and motivational and the group felt he was a good substitute for Sonic…or Sally. The plan was set and the rescue of Sonic was underway.

Authors note: A cliffhanger if any, but you be the judge on that. Ch.3 should be up soon, as this is all revision work. First time I sudmitted this it was single spaced, sorry I did that, it was rushed. Now it is much clearer and easier to read. Review and I'll get back to you.