Four words. I hate the cold. It's still better than the blistering heat though if you ask me. Makes it hard to write too. But I'll do my best here.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters
It was around noon by the time Sonic and Sally had found it safe enough to get close to Robotropolis. True to what they had suspected, Robotnik had stepped up his patrols. More SWATbots were patrolling the streets than usual and more hovercrafts patrolled the skyline of the city. There were even a few roboticized Mobians patrolling about as well. Luckily they only had to get to the city outskirts where Uncle Chuck's hideout was located.
They would wait until nearby patrols were past before they would dare to move up to the next blind spot. Given the increased patrols, there were fewer blind spots than usual so they had to move quickly and silently. Though they had to duck into a shelter whenever one of the aircraft flew by due to their bio scanners. It was slow going which was agonizing for Sonic. He always preffered to move quickly and loudly instead of slowly and silently. Normally with a bunch of SWATbots out patrolling the city he still would have been a distraction for the SWATbots. But seeing as they didn't have any backup this time and there was more at stake this time around, he wasn't about to do that. No, he cared more for his friends and Knothole than his inflated ego. That's why he and Sally had to stick together this time.
It didn't help that the temperature was increasing. Today just had to decide to be a hot one. The past few days had been a comfortable temperature and had made fighting easier. But in this heat, anyone could get slowed down. But they had friends to help, so they kept their focus on their current path.
Even with their silent yet quick pace, it still took them over an hour to reach Uncle Chucks hideout. They found the hollowed out pile of debris and gave it the signature knock that Chuck had told them to use. After a moment or two it opened and Uncle Chuck poked his head out.
"Sonic? Sally? What brings the two of you out here today?" he asked.
Sally looked straight at him and said, "We have trouble Uncle Chuck."
"Mondo trouble," Sonic added.
Chuck peered around their location and told them to enter his little lab. They did so and seated themselves as he went to continue monitoring Robotnik's activities for a moment.
"Seems like you lot stirred up a hornets nest yesterday. Robotnik was furious after you guys destroyed both those monsters," he said.
Sally turned to Chuck and she said, "What? We only destroyed one of them. The other one escaped. Didn't it?"
Chuck shook his head and said, "No. The other one was destroyed, but it's probably not dead yet though. Roxy was able to take off it's head off and kicked it down a ventilation grate. Funny thing about bugs, they can lose their heads and still live for a while."
Due to this new piece of information, Sally pulled out Nicole and scanned Robotropolis for any extra energy signals. Sure enough there was still one within Robotnik's labs, but it was not as strong as it had once been. But why would Roxy do that and then lie about it? Given what they had seen in Knothole last night, Sally was running two different scenarios in her head.
Roxy must have already been working for Harvester by that time. Either that or she was looking to take revenge on these beasts after what had happened to her brother and her friends. Either way it still created a series of other questions. Why lie about it? What did Harvester have to gain to keep the thing alive a while longer? What would he have to gain from killing the other creatures as well? Could they have been a hinderence or something?
"There's more. It looks as if Snively has disappeared too. He was not in the labs after you guys were finished and he wasn't around the labs or assembly this morning. The cameras from the lab don't even show what happened in there after you guys left. The monster must have destroyed them as it escaped," Chuck stated.
This made little sense to Sally. If Roxy had been the one that had destroyed the other monster in the labs then she must have done something to Snivley as well. But what would Harvester have to gain by making him disappear? What did he have to gain by hiding him?
"Uncle Chuck? Has Snivley been involved in any other projects lately?" Sally asked.
Chuck shook his head and said, "Not that I know of. He does however have a secret computer hidden away that he thinks no one knows about. I only noticed it when he was coming out of a hidden room a few weeks ago. I guess he didn't know that we roboticized citizens still use our memories. There's no telling what's on it though."
After they had settled down for a bit, Chuck finally asked them the question that's been on his mind the entire time.
"So what brings the two of you here today anyway? It's not a social visit is it?" he asked with a chuckle.
Sonic and Sally both frowned and shook their heads. They took the time to explain to Uncle Chuck all that had transpired. Not just the events of last night, but the past several days. The sudden awakening that they had experienced, the attack on the Scroggins couple, the encounter with Harvester in the forest, the events of the meeting, Mangle, the worms, and the events in Knothole.
Here Chuck's smile vanished and turned into a frown of despair.
"Oh that's not good. I think I know what caused it too," he said.
This time it was his turn to explain the events in Robotropolis that had taken place just before the residents in Knothole had experienced their rude awakening. He explained the failed experiment that Robotnik had worked on regarding a mobile Void projector and the tear that it had caused. As well as a dozen different orbs that had escaped from it. As soon as he was finished, Sonic could feel his anger rising to a boil and bile rising in his throat.
"So Robuttnik is responsible for all of this. Those monsters, those travelers killed in the Badlands, and our friends being enslaved by that Harvester creep. He's going to pay big time for this one," he said and then kicked over the chair he had been sitting in.
Sally grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "Now Sonic it was an accident. I agree that he's still at fault here, but it's not like he intentionally sent them after us."
Sonic growled in his throat and said, "But he would have if he were given the chance."
He picked his chair back up and sat back down.
"So what's your next course of action?" Chuck asked.
Sally shrugged and said, "That's the problem. I don't know what to do next. I have no idea how to go against Harvester and his minions. We can't hurt them because they're our friends."
"Maybe if you can find a way to free them from his control it could at least keep you from hurting any of your friends," Chuck suggested.
Sally couldn't help but let out a quick laugh and said, "Good luck with that. They were always together in groups while they were hunting for us and I doubt that they would have given us a chance to find out how to break the control."
It was here than an alarm started going off and Uncle Chuck turned his attention back to the security monitors to see what was going on.
"There's a couple of intruders on the outskirts of the city," he said and started switching the monitors to find out who was here.
He switched from monitor to monitor until he found a quick glance of someone rushing down an alley. Not one person, but two actually. He hadn't been able to get a clear look at them, so he switched from monitor to monitor near the same location to get a better view of them. After a couple of moments, he was able to find a clear enough image and the folks he saw stunned him.
"Um the two of you may want to see who is here," Chuck said and pointed at the screen.
They went over to the monitors and were shocked to see that it was Bunnie and Tails on the screen. Bunnie was holding off a few SWATbots while she kept Tails behind her to keep him out of harms way. Unfortunatly some more were coming up behind them as well. They could see Tails yelling out and Bunnie then turned to face the extra enemies and tossed one of them and it hit the camera that was set up there and the screen went to static.
Before either Chuck or Sally could say or do anything, Sonic was already rushing out the door.
"Sonic! Wait!" Sally said but he was already too far ahead.
Sally groaned in frustration and ran right after him.
Some time earlier, Bunnie and Tails had been walking towards Robotropolis after he had landed in the forest. Tails' arms had gotten tired as did his tails while they were flying, but both figured that they were far enough away from Knothole to slow down some. They had chosen Robotropolis because Uncle Chuck was the only person they could think of that could help them. It was also likely that Sonic and Sally would go there after losing Knothole.
The sun was getting high in the sky and the day was getting surprisingly hot. They were moving through a thinner area of the forest so there was a lack of shade around them and the sun was beating directly down on them.
"Bunnie are we almost there?" asked Tails.
He rarely left the village and it was even rarer for him to go anywhere near Robotropolis so Bunnie couldn't blame him for being impatient about getting there. She looked up ahead and could see Robotropolis in the distance. If they kept up the pace they did, they'd be in the outskirts in about half an hour or. Maybe even less than that.
"We'll be there soon Tails. Don't you fret now. Try to keep up and we'll be there in a little while," she said.
"Do you know where we can find Uncle Chuck?" he asked.
Bunnie nodded. She was exhausted, they both were. But they had to keep moving otherwise they gave up to Harvester and his plans. She wasn't about to go back to him or allow Tails to as well.
Some time passed and they got closer to Robotropolis. By now the clouds of pollution had blocked out the sun and took care of the sun that was beating down. But the heat was still unbearable and seemed to get worse as they moved into the city because of all the clouds of carbon dioxide. The amount of heat was taking its toll and was slowing the both of them down too. She was just hoping that they didn't encounter anything on the way to Chucks place. But seeing the large amount of patrols that were roaming about the city, that was a task that would be easier said than done. She knew where to go, but with the large amount of SWATbots, the heat slowing her down and keeping an eye on Tails was going to make this a difficult trek.
After wandering through the outskirts of the city, they saw the path that would take them straight to Uncle Chuck's hideout. Before they could move however, they heard something flying above them and saw a hovercraft hovering up there. Given it's of movement, it must have been scanning the area.
"Tails we need to move... GO NOW!" she yelled and the two of them started running.
Tails tried to twist his tails together, but as the hovercraft's siren began blaring he became too nervous to do so. Instead he focused on where Bunnie was taking the two of them. They dashed down one alley and stopped for a moment to catch a breath. Bunnie knew it was futile however seeing as the bioscans that the hovercrafts carried would be able to detect them no matter where they went.
They continued running, but the two of them were getting worn out really quickly. They had been walking for most of the day in the heat and it was hotter here in the city than it had been in the forest due to the vast amount of pollution. And now running to escape from Robotniks goons was taking it's toll on them. But still they couldn't get caught and Bunnie had a duty to protect Tails from anything. Before long however, they were cutoff by a small group of three SWATbots. Using whatever strength was left in her, Bunnie was able to roundhose kick one into a wall and break it apart. She was able to kick the head off of another and knock the third to the ground and disable it.
Tails stayed behind her the entire time, but turned his head to see several more SWATbots coming up behind them in an attempt to ambush them.
"BUNNIE BEHIND US!" Tails hollered in fright.
Bunnie turned her head and saw the SWATbots running to grab them. She grabbed the first one that came into grabbing distance and slammed it right into the wall. But the rest in the group were armed with laser rifles and were charging them up to fire. Bunnie instinctively grabbed Tails and pulled the two of them into the cover of a nearby doorway as the laser weapons fired and struck the walls around the doorway. Bunnie used this brief reprieve to continue their trek.
At this point Tails had been able to calm down enough to attempt to take to the air again. But then the laser blasts started again and were striking the ground near them and Tails couldn't concentrate on it. All they could do was avoid as much of the laser fire as they could. But they knew that if they didn't get to safety, there'd be no way out.
As they entered into the streets, their escape came to an abrupt fault. Tails was wearing out and accidently stumbled and fell to the ground and Bunnie fell along with him as she was gripping his hand tightly. As they tried to pull themselves back up they heard a large amount of metal feet running towards their location and before they knew it, they were surrounded by at least twenty SWATbots. Bunnie looked around but couldn't find a clear way out. There was no spot in which their ranks were thinner and they were in such close quarters that if they even dodged one or two, the blasters would be enough to take them down anyway. Tails clutched Bunnie tightly and Bunnie onto him as well, believing that this was it for them.
As she waited for the two of them to be grabbed or blasted, there was some commotion as the SWATbots turned their attention elsewhere. Before they knew it, several SWATbots feel down and broke apart. Bunnie looked up and she and Tails were grabbed... by a familiar blue blur.
Tails looked at the person that held them and said, "Sonic! It's you."
Bunnie looked too and sure enough it was Sonic indeed. Even if it had only been for a few hours, it felt like much longer since they had seen him and right now she was glad that he was there.
Sonic dashed as fast as his feet would allow him while carrying two passengers in his arms. He made it to a side street before releasing the two of them. As soon as he had released them, Tails wrapped his little arms around the hedgehog and smiled.
"We found you," Tails said.
Sonic returned the hug before he pulled Tails' arms off of him gently and said, "Hey big guy. It actually looks like I'm the one who found you guys."
Bunnie smiled a little and said, "Glad you're okay Sugar Hog."
She peered around real quick and asked, "Where's Sally at?"
"She's safe for now at Uncle Chucks place. You and Tails try to get there and I'll take care of the SWATbutts and then I'll catch up," he said.
Before anyone could say anything, Sonic ducked down and did a spin dash and rolled back out into the streets to take on the remaining SWATbots. As he rammed into each one, they tore apart like a buzzsaw going through cardboard. As Sonic took them on, Bunnie and Tails ducked into a nearby building as any hovercraft and SWATbots in the area focused on Sonic. They moved from building to building and they were able to get to Uncle Chucks hideout more quickly. They found Sally was already standing outside expecting Sonic to return first. Instead she was surprised to see Bunnie and Tails approaching.
They were about to move towards her, but instead she readied herself as if she was ready to defend herself.
"Hold it right there you two. How do I know you're not with Harvester? He could have easily sent you after us," Sally said accusingly.
Bunnie scratched the back of her head and said, "Well I didn't consider something like that. How do we figure that out?"
"Well if we were after you, wouldn't it make more sense than to just send two? One of them being me?" Tails asked.
Sally took in what he said and allowed it to process through her mind. He did have a point that if it was just the two of them, then Harvester would have sent too small a group and he was way too smart to do that.
"That's a very good point. Let's get inside," she said and both Bunnie and Tails followed her inside.
As soon as they were inside, Sally got a better look at them and saw the sincerity in their eyes which was nothing at all like the ones the people that Harvester had enslaved. As soon as she was sure, she pulled the two of into a hug and let out some tears of joy. Tails wrapped his arms around her midsection and Bunnie around the shoulder. They would explain everything later once Sonic had returned.
In the meantime Sonic finished tearing through the gathering of SWATbots that had trapped Tails and Bunnie, but he saw plenty more were coming for him. He decided that he would have to lose them first and then regroup with Sally. He turned and ran through several alleys as the SWATbots chased after him. He ran into the sewer as some flying cameras followed him in. They floated through the darkness with their lights on and searched around for him. Once they find him they could relay his position to any waiting patrols. The SWATbots stood on standby waiting for the go ahead once the hedgehog was discovered. The cameras glided along waiting for the right moment. As they rounded one blind corner however, one camera suddenly blacked out and then the other. Since the patrols hadn't been able to pinpoint the location, they had no choice but to search the sewers on foot.
They jumped down into the sewer to search it, but Sonic was already out of their pathway. He popped his head out of one manholes and saw that there were no SWATbots around him. He pulled himself out and replaced the manhole cover to keep suspicion away. He looked at some signs to get his bearings and used them to find his way back towards Uncle Chuck.
Back in Knothole in the meantime, Harvester sat on the edge of a pond just outside of the main village. He had been told by some of the residents about power rings and their importance to them. When they had told him about the power they posses, he figured that he could use a few of them to assist him in his goals. Antoine stayed by his side as they waited for the ring to appear. It had to be any time now and all he could do was wait for them to appear.
Finally his impatience began to set in and he said, "I'm sick and tired of all this waiting. How much longer is it going to be?"
"Well it is every twelve hours. It can be any moment," Antoine answered.
Suddenly there came a golden glow from the water and a golden ring suddenly flew out of the water and into the air. Harvester stood up, waded into the water, and caught the ring before it could hit the water. As he held it, he could feel it's power coursing through him and enhancing his power.
Harvester smiled and said, "Excellent. Now we just need one more and then we can begin the operation."
Okay so I'm gonna try to get one or two more chapters out before I have to leave. We'll see what I can do so wish me luck.
Any questions, comments, or advice? Feel free to comment.