Chapter 6 - Wolf Getaway
As Sally made her way towards her hut, Nicole appeared next to her, and walked aside the princess.
"Sally, Tails and I have considered the possibility of you spending a prolonged time in a particular animal shape."
"How so?" Sally asked as they finally entered the hut.
"You saw the problems you had when you tried to fly with bat-like wings; even with the simulations and Tails' assistance, the best mentor for you would be a real bat. The same way, you might need to spend time with other species in order to use their forms in a more effective, efficient manner."
"Mmm... you might have a point there. Then, if I transform into, let's say, a cat, I'd need to spend that day with Hershey so she can teach me how to use the claws for climbing and fighting, or how to use the tail for balance, right?"
"An excellent example and since Lupe is already visiting us, maybe you can start with that shape, the wolf one. She can teach you to use your nose for following a scent, and not just mimicking the shape; also, you have to learn how to use your jaws for fighting, just in case. Not to mention the possibility of Lupe training you in assorted battle skills."
"Good idea. I'll tell her about that tomorrow, during breakfast. It's already a bit late, and she's now getting ready to sleep in the guests hut." Sally commented Nicole, the holographic feline nodding at her in agreement.
Meanwhile, Knuckles was making his way out of the infirmary, using the walls for support; most of his torso was bandaged, and he had lots of band-aids all over his face, plus several bruises, small right after the spar, were now quite big, plus his face was so swollen he barely could open his right eye.
"Leaving already, Knuckles?"
The echidna groaned and looked up, finding Sonic in the hedgehog's usual relaxation place, a tree branch.
"How I knew that you'd somehow spot me on my way out of here?" Knuckles shook his head, stopping mid-way because of a sudden pain in the neck.
"Knuckles, Nicole can see anything and anyone around here; the only reason we feel comfortable with her looking over us all the time is because she's pretty nice and gives us our space... but you can bet your gloves that she would have called us if you were already exiting the place and nobody was there to stop you." Sonic shrugged, keeping a relaxed attitude about the whole thing.
"Yeah, I forgot about her. Nobody gets in or out without Nicole finding out." Knuckles growled a bit, not out of anger against Nicole, but due pain and the fact Sonic was looking at him in such a vulnerable state; Bunnie carrying the echidna to the infirmary was humiliating enough, as if he hadn't have enough with his defeat at Sally's hands.
"And you know I don`t let any of my friends to leave on their own when they're so badly hurt, including red echidnas with rock-hard skulls like you." Sonic finally jumped down the tree. "And you also know Sally didn't mean to humiliate or hurt you; it was a spar that went too rough. We've all had at least one of those, and I have the scars to prove it."
"YES, I KNOW." Knuckles snapped, but couldn't help but cringe in pain and holding his chest a moment later. "Nnnngh... The Princess really got my ribs."
"If it makes you feel better, she defeated all her sparring partners, including yours truly... not that I mind the method she used." Sonic rubbed his chin and grinned before getting back to semi-serious. "My point is, you are used to win all the time, and you have this whole proud and stoic warrior thing... it's cool, in some sort of lone fighter way, but it also makes you grumpier than usual when someone kicks your butt."
"Yes; not easy to accept." Knuckles sighed. "How do you..."
"Well, I almost never lose either, Knuckles, but when I do, hey, stuff happens. At least I lost to Sal while helping her practice her powers, and it wasn't a fight against Robby and his deadly toasters, that you can't lose because it means you're done. That's what sparring is for, to help your buddies improve their skills and also to improve your own."
"It must be an effect of the medication... you're actually talking as if knowing what you're talking about." Knuckles frowned yet eventually grinned a bit. "Well, don't get an ego... or an even larger ego from this, but I think you might be right."
"Yes, I'm cool like that." Sonic then motioned Knuckles to return to the infirmary. "Now, go back in there, have a nice night of sleep, and Tails and I will fly you back home after breakfast."
Knuckles didn't say anything else, but didn't object to Sonic's suggestion/invitation, and returned to the infirmary to finish his recovery. Sonic was tempted to help him, since the echidna was still limping, but he knew Knuckles' pride was already having a hard time accepting his need for medical help, and he wouldn't allow Sonic to help him walk back to his bed despite his injuries, so the hedgehog just followed him with his eyes until Knuckles was already inside the infirmary, and then returned to his tree branch to have some sleep himself.
"Maybe I'll dream with Sally's hot form." Sonic thought out loud before covering his mouth and then whispering, "Nicole, if you heard that, please, don't tell the princess."
After getting no answer for a minute or two, Sonic decided to take this silence as a 'No problem', sighed in relief, and went back to sleep.
The next morning, Sally wake up the next morning and headed over to Lupe's guest hut to talk to her about teaching her to use her wolf form, just as she was on her to have breakfast she bumped into none other, Lupe.
"Lupe, just the wolf I wanted to see, listen I need a favor," Said Sally.
"What is it?" Asked Lupe.
"Well, Nicole said I need to spend time with other species in order to use their forms in a more effective, efficient manner and I was wondering if you could teach me how to be a wolf." Asked Sally.
"Of course, Sally." Lupe smiled at the princess. "We can leave whenever you want."
"Thanks, Lupe." Sally grinned at this. "Just let me tell Tails so he can give us a ride in his plane... oh, wait, Sonic and him are gonna use the plane to get Knuckles back home."
"Knuckles is in good enough condition to leave?" Lupe asked, a bit concerned about the echidna's health.
"Lupe, it`s Knuckles we're talking about. Even if I turn myself into a rubber band to tie him up to the infirmary's bed, he'd find a way to leave." Sally said to a nodding Lupe, both females knowing how stubborn Knuckles could be, not to mention it would wound his pride even more.
"Guess it will be a good time to test my flying abilities." Sally pondered for a moment before deciding on the right form for such a long travel.
A while later, Lupe was gliding back to her territory... and the glider was Sally herself. Tails, Knuckles and Sonic gave them a little ride on the fox's plane, and once they were at the right height, the females jumped down, Sally morphing immediately into a glider, and thanks to some favorable winds, they were now half way. Sally was a bit worried about Lupe's comfort during the journey, but then again, being a warrior wolf, Lupe was more than capable of standing the cold wind, the speed, and the heights, and in fact, Lupe was enjoying it a lot. Besides, if they encountered some problem, or the wind no longer favored them, Sally could always morph into a parachute for a safe landing and then the females would finish the journey on foot.
Luckily, the wind was cooperating, so Lupe and Sally glided over the wolf village not so long after jumping. Lupe smiled and even waved hello to her people, as the wolves finally spotted them and got all together to receive their leader. Sally, with Lupe's help (after all, the female canine was doing most of the glider's control at the moment), made some circles around the village while starting the descent. Finally, they landed, Lupe's paws touching the ground without any problems, and when feeling they were no longer moving, Sally morphed back to normal, to all the villagers' amazement and surprise.
"My People, Princess Sally Acorn has only come by for a visit and for good reason, as she has acquired a new skill." Announced Lupe.
"What is this new skill?" Asked a wolf in the crowd, and everyone else gave him a questioning look, until the wolf realized he made a silly question, as he and everyone else just saw Sally morphing from a glider form to her natural one. "Oh, right... she can change her form... I'm shutting up now."
Lupe and her wolves offered Sally a welcome lunch, and after that, the Wolf Leader started Sally's training. Once the princess took her wolf form, Lupe started showing her how to use her canine nose for tracking; this was easier said than done, since Sally had rarely used her smelling sense for this as a normal rodent. Luckily, as Sally soon found out, a larger nose and muzzle could inhale a larger volume of air, containing the mini-particles that carried things and animals' scent. After an hour or so of practicing, Sally was doing a semi-decent work, even if, as Lupe told her, she`d still need to practice this skill, and also getting familiar with her friends back at home, so Sally would eventually be able to recognize each one's scent, something that would come handy in case she had no other way to find a missing friend than following her nose.
After this, Lupe passed to another particularly acute canine sense; hearing. Sally realized that wolves could not just hear a lot better than most animals, but also could detect the sound's origin with great precision thanks to their capacity to move their ears, using them like antennas. This wasn't as hard to dominate as the tracking lesson, and soon Sally found out she could actually hear better than the wolves since she could make her ears as big as she wanted. Of course, Lupe also informed her that larger ears and a better audition could make her a lot more sensitive to loud noises, as Sally soon found out when someone outside Lupe's house dropped a pot that crashed against the floor, creating a noise that gave Sally a light headache.
After that, Lupe passed to another particularly acute canine sense; vision. Sally tried to change her eyes to match a wolf's, not just in appearance, but in corneal dilation and other details that influenced the wolves' night vision, and after that, focused on long distance vision, that required a more precise, acute corneal and pupilar modifications than Sally's regular long distance sight. Soon, Sally found out that she could do this a lot better if making her eyes larger in size before trying to change her corneas and pupils, but Lupe advised her to not overdoing it, as a sudden change in light or distance could prove hurtful, like, for example, if she was using the night vision and then faced an intense flame or other light source on a sudden; wolves and other animals with similar optical adaptations could get used to the change after a very short time, but Sally, not being among those species, would need more time and it would more uncomfortable for her.
Once Sally got more or less used to her wolfish senses, Lupe showed her how to use her tail for balance, something Sally had never used before with her naturally short tail. Sally soon found herself moving faster and with more agility than ever, even using her tail to keep balance while making quick turns and direction changes while running; Sally also realized this was the reason Lupe started the lessons with the senses lessons, since she needed to use her hearing and sight to the max in order to keep balance and not losing sight of where she was running while using the wolf tail for the speed and direction changes. Sally got a bit thoughtful about how Sonic could move so fast and change his direction in the blink of an eye without having the advantages of a long tail, but then realized Sonic didn't need it as his brain and reflexes already worked fast enough to keep up with his body's speed.
Once Sally got used to her wolfish speed, Lupe showed her how to use her new found wolfish strength. Sally knew she wouldn't need this too much since, when needing super strength, she could just transform into her muscular form, but decided to practice it anyway. As expected, Sally was considerably stronger in this shape, even without increasing her muscular density beyond the normal limits of a wolf, and soon found herself lifting 3 or 4 times more weight than she could in her normal form. The resistance of her rubber muscles also helped her getting the natural stamina of a normal wolf, allowing her to apply her force for longer periods.
After practicing this, Lupe decided to start training Sally in the use of her people's weaponry, especially the spears and arrows. Using her new canine sight, Sally realized her accuracy was a lot better than before, even considering she had already trained with similar weaponry in the past. Lupe also trained her in the use of the battle staff, Sally making her own contribution when making her staff out of her own hand; Lupe managed to hit and take Sally down a number of times, without hurting her a lot, until the princess started getting used to the staff's length and moves. Lupe even had the idea of making Sally transform into a battle staff herself; the result was a rubbery staff that was both flexible and resistant, and thanks to Lupe's own wolf strength, she could handle Sally's new form despite the staff being as heavy as the princess' normal self; with some effort, Sally could make one or both of her edges very pointy, so her body could also be used as a spear. This would surely prove useful if one of the princess' companions needed a weapon, or if someone had to carry her, making this assistance a very unique form of cooperation and a useful way of carrying a weapon that was also a teammate.
"Mmm..." Lupe examined Sally's spear form, noticing it felt quite hard without being extremely heavy (at least for the wolf). "Sally, you think you can morph into a shield?"
Sally responded immediately, changing into a large shield, a shape she had already practiced.
"Okay, Sally, I'm going to use you to hit something. Tell me if it hurts." Lupe then used the living shield to hit a nearby boulder. Sally then separated her head from the rest of her body by stretching her neck.
"I feel the hit, but it didn't really hurt." Sally informed the wolf.
"Mmm... can you morph into a gauntlet now, please?"
Sally wrapped her body around Lupe's arm, and morphed into a battle gauntlet that covered it almost entirely, getting sure to still have some flexibility in the areas covering the joints (the wrist, fingers and elbow) so it didn't interfere with Lupe's arm and hand's moves. The wolf moved her arm and, when realizing it was comfortable enough, made some quick battle moves, grinning when getting another idea.
"Sally, I want you to form a suit of armor around my body. I'm sure you can be a very good one."
Sally then wrapped Lupe`s full body, and a moment later started morphing the right way; once she got sure Lupe could breath, talk and see (not covering her face entirely), Sally opened some spaces in the 'helmet' for Lupe's ears, and then in her lower back to make space for the wolf``s tail. Sally proceeded to make more elastic joint-covers, yet still hardening them partially, in the right places, so Lupe's joints would still have a certain level of protection without messing with their mobility. Sally made sure to make the armor suit a lot thicker and more resistant in the areas protecting vital organs, namely Lupe's brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and abdominal organs. Finally, Sally formed some sort of glass frame around Lupe's eyes, protecting that area as well without messing with her sight.
"Ready for a test run?" Sally did the 'separating head' trick again to talk face to face with Lupe, who nodded in reply.
Lupe started jumping, kicking and punching around, checking out her general mobility before going for a literal run. The wolf dashed at full speed, realizing Sally's body didn't just protect her, but also added Sally's strength to her own, and the rubbery material in Lupe's back paws/feet made her steps longer, faster, and needing a lot less effort to reach her top speed, and even surpassing it with ease.
"Good, Sally." Lupe stopped running when finding a clear in the woods. "Now, try to form a battle stick in my hands."
Lupe obeyed and, by stretching and hardening one section covering Lupe's arm, provided the wolf with a moderate length battle stick. Lupe made some quick moves, deciding it worked perfectly.
"Now... a whip!"
The battle stick became a lot longer and considerably more flexible. Lupe used it perfectly, as if using a real whip.
"Knuckles Fists."
Sally hardened the area around Lupe's hands, and grew large spikes on their back. Lupe then charged at a nearby tree, one with quite a thick log, and punched it twice, once with each fist, leaving two big dents and making splinters to jump around. Lupe felt no pain at all, the 'gloves' protecting her hands perfectly and absorbing most of the impact while the spikes made the damage on her target.
Lupe continued testing the 'Sally Suit' for a while, making her form new weapons, every time getting them better and faster than before. The wolf could only imagine how good this would work if Sally provided herself as a battle suit for Sonic, Knuckles or Bunnie.
"I think this is enough weaponry test for the day, Sally." Lupe said to her friend. "Now... something less destructive. Try changing into other clothes."
Sally obeyed immediately, the princess feeling a bit mischievous and playful at the moment; Lupe felt the suit of armor becoming even more comfortable, and the whole of it becoming thinner and feeling more like regular clothing than a protective armor.
"Let's see how I look now." Lupe walked to a nearby pond, with crystal-clear water, that would work perfectly as a mirror... and gasped when looking at herself.
"A... clown? Or... it`s a jester... or..." Lupe made an effort to get back her cool... and then broke out laughing loudly. "Sally, I didn't know you had this sense of humor!"
"What can I say? Sonic is a bad influence." Sally, grinning, stretched her neck to talk directly to the wolf, who was now trying to control her laughter. "I'll change back to normal.."
"Wait, Sally, before that, let`s see if this costume actually has some battle potential." Lupe then made a series of sommersaults, the jester outfit allowing perfect agility. Then, Lupe looked up at a nearby tree, a very tall one.
"Sally... Spring Shoes."
Sally formed 2 large springs under Lupe's feet/paws, and a moment later the wolf got literally shot up in the air thanks to the bouncing action, reaching the top of the tree with ease.
"Okay, now the arms, Sally." Lupe pointed at a branch on a nearby tree and then made a grabbing move with her hand. Since Sally's jester outfit provided gloves, the princess had little problem to extend the gloves' fingers like living ropes, reaching the branch and wrapping around it perfectly. Lupe jumped from the branch she originally was, and made a rope-swing, reaching the other tree with ease.
"This has potential." Lupe grinned and did the same grabbing move with the other hand. Sally repeated the action, wrapping the fingers around another tree's branch while releasing the other one, and Lupe jumped again. After practicing a few more times, Lupe, thanks to Sally's fingers, was now swinging from a tree to the other, making this a very quick, almost entirely silent locomotion. After a while, Sally no longer extended her fingers, but the whole arm, grabbing the branches with the whole hand, making it a firmer, more secure hold, and the few times Sally realized the branch wouldn't resist, and the other hand was already grabbing another branch, the princess would extend another part of her body, like her legs or torso, to grab another tree, securing Lupe and making sure the wolf wouldn´t fall and the 'travel' was still as fast and agile as before.
"Okay, now the legs, Sally." Lupe looked down at the ground and extended her legs; Sally understood the gesture and stretched the 'boots' of the jester outfit until they touched the ground. Then, Lupe stopped the swinging and started walking, her body way over the ground while Sally's elasticity provided perfect stilts; at first, Sally thought about extending some parts of the suit to improve the balance, but Lupe's own agility was more than enough to allow a quick, secure walking, even when Sally made the stilts a little 'bouncy' for longer steps, and soon Lupe was moving almost as fast as she would do by running at her top speed with a lot less effort. The wolf theorized that, in a plain terrain, free of trees and other big obstacles, this trick would allow a very fast, secure walking, with the added benefit of a very ample sight of the area provided by the increased height.
"Sally, what if you were to extend my torso?" Lupe suggested Sally.
"Uh... that wouldn't be a good idea, Lupe. Remember I'm the one stretching, not you; that can probably hurt you. The most I can do is extending the torso area but then some of your body will end very loose inside myself." Sally told the wolf. To prove her point, Sally started doing that, and, as said, she could only stretch herself, both the legs and torso sections, and Lupe no longer could feel her own legs covered by Sally's body, all her lower body moving almost freely inside Sally's body.
"Okay, I see what you mean. Let`s try something different... change into a balloon like form, and see if you can carry me inside."
Sally started sucking air inside herself, and soon Lupe was entirely covered except for her own face, something necessary for the wolf's breathing, and Sally's form was now entirely spherical, trapping enough air to both float and keep Lupe comfortable inside her. Lupe still had the jester hat, but the rest of her body no longer resembled the jester suit, as it obviously lost this shape when overstretching and making itself thin and flexible enough for the balloon shape.
"Perfect... okay, let's prove this form working as a ball."
Sally hardened her surface, so no longer wasn't as flexible as the balloon form, but still not rock-hard or anything close to that. Doing this, the 'ball' fell down, no longer being light enough for floating, but the contained air was still enough to make her bounce; due the size of the 'ball', the bounce was quite impressive, getting as high as some of the forest's tallest trees. They had to stop soon, however, since the bouncing wasn't as easy to control as a directed flight, and with Lupe's face uncovered, it was possible for her to get injured if falling face down.
After a while, they stopped this test and Sally morphed again into the regular jester suit. Lupe then suggested trying some weapon shapes for the hands; first, Sally made the suit's gloves big enough to hold a watermelon on each hand, and then, once Lupe got used to the gloves' size, asked the princess to morph them into mallets, with excellent hitting results, making trees to tremble when hitting them.
Lupe then looked at her 'suit's' hands, and got another idea.
"Let`s test your precision with more complex shapes, Sally. Try morphing the hands, and just the hands, into someone's face... let's say, Sonic's."
Sally started morphing the right hand into a hedgehog face; it took her some time since this was considerably more delicate and precise than the mallet shape, but soon made a good enough impression of Sonic's face and head, including his hedgehog's quills. Encouraged by this, Sally practiced with other faces, including Tails, Bunnie, Knuckles, Nicole and Lupe herself.
"Mmm...you think you can use this to create a mask for me, Sally?"
Sally reacted by extending the jester hat's over Lupe's face, leaving spaces for her mouth, nose and eyes. Sally then morphed this section until it looked exactly like her own face; Lupe then asked Sally to change the feet back into the 'spring-like' mode so they could return to the crystal-clear pond and the wolf could see the mask; aside from the snout being a little bit longer than Sally's original one (due Lupe's face being longer), it was a very good copy.
"Excellent job." Lupe admired her face on the water. "Now, let's try it with Sonic's."
Sally made another perfect impression; then, another one, this time with Bunnie's face... one that didn't work as well as the others since, obviously, Lupe's snout was a lot bigger than Bunnie's face, so the result was a very long nosed rabbit mask.
"Okay, there's one of this trick's weaknesses; the face you copy can't be shorter than the face under the 'mask', or it would be too noticeable. Besides, you can't mimic other colors... no big problem with Sonic's face since his fur is already blue, like your suit, but Bunnie's color scheme is completely different, so it wouldn't trick anyone even if the mask could cover my face perfectly." Lupe thought out loud.
"I think we've tested this long enough; should we call it a day?" Asked Lupe as she was getting used to the jester suit, but had to finish with Sally's training for the day.
"Yes, but allow me to take you home." Said Sally as she stretched out her hands into glider wings and formed two spring shoes under Lupe's feet, before shooting themselves up in the air and flew back to the village.