Not much to say. Just glad that the last chapter was liked, even if it did get a little brutal. This chapter will be different though. Please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters
"Please. No no!" screamed the voice of Mrs. Scroggins as the hands covered her eyes as well.
After the red glow died down, she stopped pleading and instead was more calm and sound. Harvester backed away and let his new servant stand back up and walk away. He moved on down the line as a couple of villagers held down another resident who were among several who were literally awaiting enslavement by Harvester's hands.
During the whole time that Sally and Sonic were away, Harvester had managed to enslave Bunnie and with her help, he had even managed to get a hold of Dulcy as well. With the two of them taken down, it had allowed him to easily enslave the rest of the village. By now he had enslaved each of the Freedom Fighters and most of the residents, including the children. All he was waiting on now was finishing up the line of residents he had and then wait for Sonic and Sally to return. But he had enough patience to wait on them. After all, even without them he could still take on his ultimate goal. He had his eyes set on a much bigger prize than some dinky little village in the middle of the forest.
He had to give Sally credit for a couple of things. The location was isolated and buried deep within the forest making detection almost impossible. This combined with the incompetence of the evil doctor made it no wonder that Robotnik could never find this location. It was far too perfect for Harvester to ignore. He also had to admit that Sally had been right in another department. He'd been waiting for the right moment for the village to be vulnerable to make his move against them. He had gotten lucky with Bunnie and she had had her guard down before he made his move and turned her into another slave. Dulcy had been a risk though. He had gotten Antoine and Bunnie within minutes of each other and he had been feeling bold.
With Tails as a distraction, he'd been able to ambush Dulcy from up in the trees. Even when she had tried to pry him off of her head with her claws or tried to throw him off, he'd barely been able to get her. But after he did the rest of the village fell like they were nothing.
The Freedom Fighters would make perfect servants seeing as they had been able to not only oppose Robotnik, but also fight and hide from him for most of their lives. With their skills he could achieve what he wanted. Only three things were still in the way. Sonic and Sally and then Robotnik himself.
Some time passed and the hour was growing late. Harvester had taken this time to hide in the shadows and had allowed the residents to carry on with their lives to appear normal. At least until the two remaining Freedom Fighters returned. Looking through Roxy's eyes, he knew that they were getting close and would be back shortly. He'd make them feel at home first, let them go to sleep. And then he could execute the rest of his plot.
It wasn't long before the trio arrived back in Knothole with Harvester still remaining in the shadows. As soon as they returned, the residents gathered around them to get information on how their mission went. Sally of course told them that they had managed to kill another entity, but that one had gotten away. Surprisingly though, the residents took it well. Sally figured that it was because either way, they had one less worry on their minds now.
"Well I guess now there's just the debriefing to go," Sally said, but Sonic shook his head.
"It's late Sally and I need some rest. Can't we debrief in the morning?" Sonic said with a yawn.
Sally was going to argue it with Sonic, but she then felt fatigue run through her body as well and decided that Sonic had a point. After all she had been going for most of the day after only having a couple of hours of sleep herself.
"Fine Sonic. We'll do it your way," she said and then yawned herself.
They said their good nights to each other and went their separate ways. Sally walked right into her hut, changed into her nightgown, and of course checked in on Tails to see if he was in bed. He was. With a sigh and another yawn, she climbed into her own bed and drifted off to sleep. Across the way, Sonic drifted off as well.
Outside as he waited, Harvester came from out of the shadows and sent a message to Roxy, telling her to come to him. Roxy left her temporary lodgings and went straight to him. As she approached him, she kneeled down before him.
"Yes master? What do you need?" she asked him.
He stood over her and said, "You did well out there tonight. That dying beast will provide an excellent distraction for Robotnik while I make my plans. And you hid the short one too?"
Roxy nodded and said, "Yes my master."
Harvester grinned behind his mask and said, "Good. You may actually have a place of power in my new order once I establish it."
"But sir, what of the princess?" asked Roxy.
Harvester rubbed his chin and said, "I actually haven't decided on her future yet. We'll see what happens in the future. But for now though, I'll just wait for her to fall into a deep sleep and then I'll enslave her and then the hedgehog too. With her brains and his speed, the rest will be a cakewalk."
He then began to laugh. He laughed so loud that he roused Sonic from sleep. Sonic groaned, went over to the window and was about to tell whoever it was to keep it down, but then he saw who was standing out there. He saw Harvester and Roxy and Roxy's eyes were glowing red. Glowing red? What was going on and what was Harvester doing here? Harvester knew that he didn't belong here. So why would he risk coming into the village at all? It was then that he saw several other villagers were roaming about and their eyes were glowing as well. Even Antoine of all people was wandering as well and his eyes glowed fiercely.
"Oh no. Not you too Ant," Sonic said and refocused on Harvester and Roxy.
"So how long do you think it'll be before you can get her?" Roxy asked.
"We'll wait a few more minutes Roxy. And then I'll send in the boy to check on her. If she's in deep slumber, I'll make my move. And then we'll check on the hedgehog. If he's not in deep slumber, I'll just send the others in to hold him down. He won't be able to move from that," Harvester said and then he began looking around.
As he turned in Sonic's direction, Sonic ducked down from his position to cover himself. He didn't dare to look back out again. Instead he began thinking about what Harvster had been saying. Send in the boy? Oh no, he must have gotten Tails as well. From the number of people he had seen out there, he may have gotten the whole village by now. And now he was going to use his friends against him and Sally. He couldn't hurt them and Sonic figured that Harvester would try to force his hand.
He had to get to Sally, but he had to stay quiet and would have to get there before Harvester could. He waited at the door to his hut and looked out to see if anyone was there. Thankfully there was no one in sight. He crept out and could see a couple of folks down the way some, but they had their backs towards him. So he dashed across the road and hid behind another hut. He crept around it and as he crouched beneath one of the windows, he heard the shutters open and looked up to see someone peering out with the same red glowing eyes. Thankfully they didn't look down at him and after a moment or two, they pulled back in and closed the shutters.
Sonic surpressed a sigh of relief and continued on. He moved on from hut to hut and did his best to keep out of sight. In a matter of minutes he was able to reach Sally's place and looked in on her. She was still asleep and there were no signs that anyone had gotten to her yet. But just as he was about to move, the door to Tails' room opened and Tails walked out with his eyes glowing. He approached Sally and looked right at her. She was breathing softly as she slept, indicating that she was now in deep sleep.
Tails mumbled something to himself and then he said, "The princess is sleeping well sir."
He paused for a moment before saying, "Yes sir. I'll wait right here for you."
Sonic didn't need to hear the other side of the conversation to know who Tails was talking to. He had no choice, he had to get in there now and put a stop to this. He climbed in through the window and charged right for Tails. Tails didn't get a chance to react as Sonic quickly had him pinned down and knocked a few other things to the ground at the same time. The noise of this roused Sally from sleep and she awoke with a start. She looked to the side to see Sonic holding Tails to the ground and Tails struggling to get out from under him with his eyes clenched shut.
"Sonic? Tails? What are the two of you doing?" she asked.
Tails opened his eyes which looked normal again and he said, "I was getting up to get a drink when Sonic attacked me."
"Liar. You were watching Sally and you told someone," Sonic accused him.
He hated doing this to anyone and throwing around accusations, especially towards his little buddy. But he knew that Tails was not himself right now and knew that he wasn't responsible. Still though it didn't change the fact that Tails was a threat to them right now.
Sally didn't know what to think. These two had never been like this before. Sure they had wrestled each other for fun in the past (usually with Sonic winning), but they never acted like this with each other before. What was going on? It wasn't long however when Sally got her answer.
Before she could break them up, the door to her hut flew open with a bang and in stepped the being she had grown to hate the past day or two. Harvester stepped inside while frowning behind his mask.
"It seems that someone has been interfering with my plans. How disappointing," he said as he stepped towards Sally.
Sally jumped from her bed and kneeled into a fighting position in front of him.
"What are you doing here? I told you to never come back here," she said.
Harvester began laughing and said, "You mean to tell me that you were actually serious about that? You should have figured by now that I listen to no one but myself. And now I have many friends to assist me in my endeavors."
Sally shuddered and asked, "And who are you referring to?"
Just as Sally asked this, Tails was able to place both of his feet onto Sonic's stomach and with a quick thrust he pushed Sonic off of him and sent him across the room and knocking him out against a wall. Tails stood up from his spot and looked at Sally as his eyes began to glow once again. Sally couldn't help but stare in horror as Tails began to grin.
"Oh no. Tails, what did he do to you?" Sally asked with fear and concern in her voice.
Harvester laughed and said, "He's my slave now. Most of the village is now as well. And soon you will be too. Now hold still and submit to me."
He reached out to grab her, but Sally dodged and grabbed a book that was sitting on her nightstand. She threw it towards Harvester and got him square in the face with a loud smack. Really it startled him more than it hurt him and it did shift his mask around leaving a small portion of his face revealed. Sally could see it and could swear that she could see some bone there. She turned to get Sonic but instead she found Tails who leaped onto her and tried pushing her back down. This made Sally scream a little as she struggled against him. She tried to pry his hands off of her, but couldn't get him off. She tried to find some other way to get him off, but in the end she realized she had no other choice.
She clenched her eyes and with some tears sliding out, she freed one hand and knocked Tails on the side of the head. His grip loosened and with a second strike he was out cold and lied on the floor.
Sally gasped and said, "Please forgive me Tails. I didn't want to hurt you."
Back with Harvester, he straightened out his mask and said, "A maternal figure attacking her child for her own survival. Always brings joy to my heart to see someone hurt the ones they love."
She turned back and he started to reach for her again. Sally turned to Sonic and started delivering light smacks to his face to wake him up.
"Sonic come on. We need to get out of here. We can't let him win," Sally said while shaking Sonic frantically.
Sonic groaned and said, "Sally you need to run."
"What?" Sally questioned in shock.
Sonic groaned again and said, "I can take care of myself. You need to get out of here. If he gets you even without me, we lose. Please Sally. The best thing you can do for me right now is getting out of here."
Sally was about to do as he suggested especially with Harvester practically standing over her at this point and reaching for her. Sally wasn't about to leave Sonic behind.
"Sonic remember you're worst case scenerio? This is the right time for it," she said.
Sonic listened to her and thought it over. He figured that she was right. He still felt weak after being thrown across the room, but he had enough strength to pull this off. He agreed with her, but he still told her to run in case it didn't work like they thought it might. Reluctantly, Sally turned back to Harvester and gave him a hard roundhouse kick to his chest and sent him stumbling a little bit and it allowed her a little bit of time to run away and jump out of her window.
Harvester growled and turned back to Sonic.
"It's only a matter of time before the two of you fall to me. Better now than later. Don't you agree?" Harvester asked and began reaching for Sonic's eyes.
"Before you make me mindless, you want to know what I think?" Sonic asked.
Harvester pulled his hand back a little and said, "Curiosity gets the better of me. So tell me what you think."
Sonic smiled and said, "I think you live in a world of your own delusions."
And with that, he curled into a ball and launched himself right into Harvester's stomach and slammed him hard against the wall of Sally's hut and caused part of it to come down. Sonic tumbled down on top of Harvester and looked around to see that most of the residents of Knothole were now out and about. And every one of them had the glowing eyes and were slowly gathering around him.
"Sonic! Over here!" he heard Sally calling out to him.
He looked and he could see Sally up near the cliffs with the elevator ready. She was no longer wearing her nightgown and was back in her blue vest. She must have grabbed it before she got out. Sonic could see what he was up against and he refused to hurt the other residents no matter what the circumstances. He quickly dashed past them and was able to reach Sally really quickly. They looked back in the village as the residents started coming for them. Almost like they were zombies. They turned around and got into the elevator pulley system and were able to get themselves out of the village quickly enough. As soon as they were out, Sonic lifted her off the ground and he dashed with her as quickly as his feet would allow. Their destination unknown.
Back with Harvester, he lifted himself off of the ground and brushed himself off. He looked down, only to see his mask on the ground and that it had been torn up in the attack, rendering it useless. He tossed the remains aside and looked back in the direction that the two had run off in.
"Nevermind. This operation will just take a little longer than I expected," he said.
Roxy came over with a burlap sack which he gratefully took.
"Run run little moths. You can't escape my grasp," Harvester said with a snarl.
Well then, Knothole has fallen to Harvester and he has a new goal set. Now Sonic and Sally are on their own and still have to bring Harvester down.
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