Chapter 8 Lupe's disposition
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The sun was dipping lower down into the hills. The golden hue of the cornfields dulled, turning into a muddy brown. The deepening afternoon warmth was failing as the wind cut across Knothole.
Tails sat on a bank, knees drawn up to his chest. He was listening to a raccoon read a tale to the kits before their teaching was over for the day a few yards from him further down the green slope.
The children were seated round her in a semi circle on the lush grass. All of them intently listened to her, none of them uttering a word.
"A long time ago," the female raccoon was saying as she read from an old scroll, "our planet Mobius was like a paradise with the benevolent King Acorn as its ruler. Everyone and everything lived in peace. There was no need for greed. No need for trouble. No need to argue. That was until… the coming of the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik." Now the children began to whisper excitedly.
Tails sighed and sniffed. Bright tears clung against the fur on the edge of his eyes. The world before him moved gently in a haze. "It's no use crying." He told himself without conviction. "It's not going to help."
He heard someone approaching. He could hear the sound of grass stalks being crushed and the snap of a twig.
Tails looked up, eyes sparkling with sorrow. Shadow didn't meet eyes with him at first, and instead kept his gaze on the school hut a mile down near the river. He folded his arms and stood close to Tails like some somber guardian.
"Sonic's going to be all right." He said in a whisper.
Tails brushed away a few water droplets onto the sleeve of his glove. "Really?"
"Yes." He answered blandly, and then fell into a deferential silence.
Tails hiccuped and blinked, taking in slower breaths. "Can I see him?"
"Not yet." Shadow replied forcibly. "The princess is looking after him at the moment."
The young fox nodded, suddenly looking a little more crestfallen since Shadow had cheered him up.
They saw Knuckles heading towards them from his small hut that he was currently staying in while his minor wounds healed. All that was left were small bruises, and his posture looked confident and strong as he strutted down the grass and up the slope to meet them. Tails began to smile.
He had grown fond of the echidna since the guardian and Sonic had become good friends. But his shy smile dropped when he saw Amy sulking silently behind him. Her eyes were gazing down at the ground and her hands were knotted in fists. The top of her red dress was smeared in teardrops.
Knuckles stopped before them and sat by Tails. He was quick to place a great big paw on the fox's little shoulder. "Hey kid! How are you holding up?"
Tails nodded modestly, but inside he was full of painful anguish. He had only seen Sonic once so far after the accident that Shadow was stern to keep quiet about. The blood he had seen had been horrific. He would have fainted if Knuckles had not gripped him by the hand and led him outside to the edge of school where he now sat.
"Okay… I guess…" He responded meekly.
Knuckles nodded and grunted in satisfaction. "Can you look after Amy? She's been absolutely hysterical, haven't you, old girl?" He turned to her then, and Tails saw that her eyes were red and puffy.
Amy didn't even pass up a scant nod. Stiff and unreadable, she kept her eyes focused on the ground.
Knuckles gently chided her over to Tails, and she sat down abruptly like a sullen child. She crossed her legs, slumped down and continued to glare tearfully at a rock beside her foot.
The echidna focused his attention on Shadow now that he didn't have Amy on his back. As soon as the rumors had spread, the pink hedgehog had been screaming at him for information. Had been screaming to see Sonic until she had gone hoarse. Had been screaming in rage and despair. Knuckles could not tell her anything. Nor could she see Sonic.
"He's fine!" He had to shout back at her earlier in his hut, "he's got a little paper cut, okay?"
"So why can't I SEE HIM?" She would clamor hatefully in return.
"Because he doesn't want you to see him with a fucking paper cut!"
And so it had ended like that. Now Amy had lost her voice, and couldn't scream or cry anymore.
"Shadow," the echidna began dryly, "what happened to the Master Emerald?"
"I don't know."
"Why don't you know?"
They stared begrudgingly at one another.
The black hedgehog's lips curled. "All I saw was the badnik you described to Sonic. Large. Red. Metallic. Just. Like. You."
Knuckles mirrored Shadow's posture by folding his arms too. "So you're blaming me? Just because I look like that thing?"
"Get over yourself! Don't you understand? I saw no emerald! I had to get Sonic out of there you fool!"
Knuckles growled, but didn't protest. He had two youngsters at his feet and he didn't want to upset them.
"Where do you think it took my Master Emerald then?" He asked. The wind charged up the slope, catching his dreads in the breeze. They swayed and flickered like reeds.
"I have no idea. I don't even know why the Doctor would bother." He answered truthfully. They all knew that the human had tried taking it before, only to have the animals reclaim it after the human deemed it to be of no use.
"Maybe it's just to make us angry, or he's thought of something else." Knuckles pondered deeply, but could come up with nothing. At length, he said prudently, "we need to discuss what we should do with everyone. Then we can think up a plan to get it back!"
"If you wish." Shadow shrugged in disinterest.
Knuckles showed his teeth. "My people are on that island! If we don't get my homeland back into the sky soon, Robotnik will harm them! Okay? A reprisal is in order!"
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Shadow woke up in a sweat again in the middle of the night.
He felt like he was going to sick up his guts, so he went to the bathroom where he expected the toilet to be.
It wasn't there.
He hadn't got used to Knothole's customs. To use a toilet, you had to go outside into a sandpit to do your business. He didn't know if the same rules applied to the royals (aka Sally). So you would squat in the darkness, get over with and cover it up, but Shadow didn't like it. Back home in the Ark, there was a toilet. And he was so used to using it that he had forgotten what it was like to live wild.
So Shadow crept outside in the darkness in his shoes and gagged up vomit in the grass at the back of his hut. Fuck the sandpits.
Ever since he had come to Knothole, he had been feeling from bad to worse. The Doctor had injected him with something lethal, he could only be too sure. And whatever it was acted quickly and strongly. Shadow actually wondered if his body could flush it out of his system.
He heaved another bout and his previous lunch landed on the ground in splashes. He felt so sick.
The dreams had been uncomfortable and the bed he slept on didn't help. They used straw for padding! That explained the itchiness he got every time he laid down on that thing. And the food…
They lived like dinosaurs. Prehistoric mammals that should have died out long ago. They only lived on because they hid like mice. MICE!
Shadow thought that his stomach had stopped acting up so he started to head back. he was wrong.
Another urge stopped him and he was back to throwing his head down and coughing sharply. Bile oozed from his mouth, leaving a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
"Gotta… gotta lay down…"
At last it stopped and he was able to breathe.
What… what the fuck is wrong with me?
Why wasn't he getting better?
Then he heard the Doctor's words on the wind.
'You have to do two simple things. Two! First, find and kill Sonic! Then take his fucking emerald! Understand! Bring the emerald to me, and in return, I shall reverse the effects of the poison.'
Shadow wiped his mouth and went back inside, slamming the door of his hut. When he walked back in, it was dark. Artificial lights did not come on, provoked by motion sensors.
No.
He was in a primitive world now. No such technology here.
Shadow wondered if he should try reaching the Ark again. It had advanced medicine there. What if that could help the poison the Doctor had contaminated him with?
But at the moment the risk was too much. He was still weak. Weak and stuck in Knothole.
He bumped into a table, then whacked his knee on the bedpost. "Fuck's sake!"
Can't fucking see!
He found his bed at last and plopped on top of the covers. This time he was too lazy to take off his shoes. In a matter of hours before daylight, he would be out there again, throwing up, so what was the point?
"I am not going to hurt Sonic…" Even though the bastard had ruptured a kidney and he could have bled to death on the inside. "And I will not steal his emerald… There must be another way to conquer this substance… there must be…" He lowered his eyelids. The unfamiliar smells and sounds of this place made him very homesick. "Honestly… what's the point of a bathroom if you can't even…" He trailed off and dropped off into a light doze before he managed to finish.
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The following morning, Sally stood by the window, looking out sadly. She had kept herself inside the hut since Shadow arrived with Sonic in his arms. Knuckles hated to see Sally cooped up like this.
The princess leaned against the edge of the wall, eyes focused on what lay outside. "I've called for a meeting, Knux. We're going to gather all the remaining freedom fighters. And we're going to discuss our future."
Knuckles was surprised. A meeting? Now? Soon? With Sonic injured and the Master Emerald missing? Surely she was kidding?
"Princess," he started hesitantly, "why and when will this meeting occur?"
"The day after tomorrow, Knux." She avoided making eye contact with him. "Because we need to do something. I'm tired of waiting around, waiting for that evil fat human Robotnik to make the first move. And I think he already has."
"We'll get the Master Emerald back. Is it really necessary to bring everyone here…?" He raised his brow and cocked his head slightly.
"Of course it is. We are united are we not? We are freedom fighters, are we not?"
"Yes… but…" Oh, what was the point in arguing? Sally had obviously made her decision. Had taken charge of the operation. Knuckles was a guest in Knothole. He had no right to go about printing his opinion and thoughts on others.
He reluctantly accepted her plan.
Maybe getting the freedom fighters together might do some good?
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The day of the meeting was a summer afternoon that was incandescent and hot for the animals of Knothole. But instead of sheltering in the cooler shadows and retreating to the river, the village was a thrive of activity. The freedom fighters from different parts of Mobius had arrived and everyone had come out to respect the soldiers of freedom.
Sally awaited them by the cabin, which was designated to be their meeting place. Beside the door were poles establishing flags depicting the image of King Acorn on a vibrant red background. Since the day was so still and hot, there wasn't enough wind to lift the flags, so they clung against their poles like wet cloth.
Tails had been loitering around outside near the school, his mood cast over in shadow.
Meanwhile, Lupe had arrived in Knothole after a long day of travel. She was flanked by her mate, a red-furred wolf named Lobo. And behind him were two wolf soldiers. Canus and Lyco. Canus and Lyco held flags depicting the head of a wolf and they walked rigid and proud. Fearless representatives of their wolf queen and her power.
Lupe bowed haughtily when she came face to face with princess Sally Acorn. Sally mirrored the bow in return, doing her best to be as polite and welcoming as she could. Beside her were her own guards.
"I am pleased to see you, Princess Sally of the Acorn family." Lupe announced strongly. She was queen in her own right as well. She bordered the northern coasts of Mobius, and she was ledrene of the last wolf pack of freedom fighters. Her lineage was short but she had the blood of a warrior. She had participated in more battles than Sally had ever been in.
And it showed.
Across her muzzle and under her eyes were crinkled scars dappling her grey fur. If it would not have been for the scars, Lupe would have looked divine with unmarred beauty.
The two royals shook hands.
It was the females who took charge.
The females who were the queens.
They thought themselves as the hierarchy over males and this same rule applied in almost all the animal colonies of Mobius.
"How are things, ledrene?" Sally asked as they broke away from their handshake.
"Poor." Her somber eyes did not move away from hers. "But isn't this what we came to discuss. My feet are tired and my comrades were weary. We seek respite."
"Of course. And so shall you have it." Sally gestured them towards the cabin. On the cabin door was a note nailed in the center stating crudely; 'Freedom Fighters only.'
Lupe and her company went in.
Inside, the meeting room was only just large enough to accommodate all the freedom fighters.
There was a great long oak table where Lupe sat at the far end, and Sally sat on the other end.
Dulcy poured drinks into cups, with jugs containing elderberry juice, mead, fruit juices or just simple tea.
The table was absolutely covered with plates full of food. From all manner of summer vegetables and fruits to nuts, honey and pasta. The air was heavy with the smell of roasted nuts, basil and ginger.
Lupe was picking at her claws, with her partner Lobo at her side. He was not allowed to say a word unless Lupe gave him permission.
Sally bowed, heartened at the sound of cheers and the bay of excitement. Then she rose her hands up to still them. They silenced themselves so quickly that the hush afterwards sounded almost painful.
"I'm so glad we've gathered here today," she began, looking over at all the faces of the freedom fighters proudly, "to discuss our values and ideals. We need to band even tighter together if we are to defeat this evil in our land. I am sure that with our combined strength, we can defeat that evil for good!"
There was a brisk cheer, which faded back into silence quickly.
Sally smiled and her heart lifted. There weren't many freedom fighters left anymore, but she was glad that they were now here, together. Maybe they could realize something. For they were a force to be reckoned with!
Lupe said a little coldly. "I want to discuss plans. Yes?"
"Of course!" Sally politely put down her oak fork and stone knife. "What would you like to discuss first?"
The noise at the table that had started since eating had begun, was suddenly dented by tranquility as they listened to the two leaders. Most still continued to eat, as no official declaration had told them to stop.
"My people on Cold Mountain are dead." Lupe said.
"How so?"
"You want the details?" Lupe cried louder. "While you people here scoff your faces and lay about like lazy skunks in the sunlight, my kind is murdered!" She had now stood up and slapped her paws down on the wooden surface. "My people were lined up. Lined up like slaves by SWATbots! I told them to hide in the mountains! The winter makes it harder for Robotnik's evil henchmen to travel, see? But no, they found their village. So they lined them up and shot them."
A few freedom fighters gasped in horror. Amy looked as if she was about to throw up everything she just eaten.
"One of my people managed to escape." Lupe growled. "And reported to me about it. As you can probably tell, I was very, very angry."
Sally clasped her hands together, eyes welling up with tears in sympathy. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She declared with feeling. "I had no idea…"
But Lupe wasn't finished. "It will happen to every village soon! Cold Mountain was attacked two weeks ago. I don't know why. We had down nothing to call such attention upon ourselves, but even now Robotnik's forces are stalking us! Hurting us! WE MUST DO SOMETHING!" Her claws dug into the wood in the table. Her teeth gleamed in the candle light.
"And we shall!" Now princess Sally was on her feet. "This is why I brought you all here! To help each other! To come up with plans!"
"Plans? PLANS?" Retorted the wolf ledrene wildly, "oh, I've got a plan. And it's a good one."
"What is it?" Sally asked her.
Lupe looked straight at her, her long silver tail whipping at the air in melodious patterns. "We must destroy the chaos emeralds!"
At that there was a storm of voices. Now everyone wanted to be included in this argument. The throng of noise grew higher and higher.
Still, Lupe's voice commanded them all. Her voice sat wedged upon all others. "If we destroy them all, then Robotnik can't use them either!"
"Yaarrrh!" Cried Canus.
"Smash 'dem useless gems!"
"Silence!" Sally screamed. At her request, all freedom fighters stopped arguing. When she had made sure she had everyone's attention, she said harshly, "that plan will never work! You want to destroy an emerald? Oh, we have one. A blue one. Destroy that, then what do we have to defend ourselves? I'll tell you, nothing!"
The wolves started bickering among themselves. Amy was screaming about how ludicrous it was even thinking about smashing an emerald.
"I understand," Lupe barked, "but the emeralds are evil, just like Robotnik. We still do not understand their power, so it is deemed dangerous to use one."
"Maybe you don't know how to use them," Sally said hotly at the wolf, "but my freedom fighters do and have done for years!"
"Pah? Freedom fighters?" Lupe hoarsely spat, "that may very well be, as this is about us."
Lyco howled mockingly over his plate of tomatoes and fish. His chin was slobbery with saliva, making him not a pretty sight.
"We have to stop Robotnik." Sally mistakenly started to relax a little. Lupe rattled on, voice growing harder.
"How do we do that? With your mate… Sonic… oh, how can I put this gently...? Out of action… who do we turn to now? Rumors tell you a lot." The female wolf snapped. "Heard the Master Emerald was stolen." Lupe looked to all of them. "What if this has been Eggman's plan all along? To snatch the Master Emerald? To kill Sonic? Robotnik's not cowering in a base somewhere, thinking of revenge! We're already suffering his anger! We've got to do something!"
"I know, that's why Princess Sally summoned us!" Bunnie hollered.
Slowly, the noise level started to diminish. Sally found her voice. "Yes, the Master Emerald was stolen, and yes, Sonic got hurt."
Lupe, eyes as icy and sharp as steel, nodded reticently. "We must get it back." She said.
"He took it using a robot." Shadow said softly, and suddenly wished he hadn't spoken. He didn't relish the attention either. "It was in the appearance of an echidna. It surprised the guardian and took it, despite Sonic's attempts to stop it."
"And Sonic's accounts on this day?" Lupe asked uncouthly.
They all went silent.
Lupe wasn't satisfied. "The Master Emerald is gone. It contains a lot of power. And now Robotnik has it in his possession. We are doomed."
"Not quite." Sally said. "We could form an expedition! We could send some of us out there to retrieve it!"
"It would have to be a small operation." Shadow imputed again. "Robotnik mustn't know. A few travelers can hide. A bigger group would be caught more easily."
Lupe shook her head. "I'm not risking my people for this. It's suicide."
"And we don't even know where Robotnik has taken it either." Bunnie said.
Shadow scoffed. "He probably took it to his domain. Where that fat bastard lives."
Bunnie shrugged hopelessly. "But nobody's ever found out where he is. Nobody. It's a mystery. If we knew where he was… it would be a lot easier…"
Dib07: Please add your comments! Thanks for reading!
