Sally Says: The Missing Year – Pt 5
The four mobians followed the mysterious stranger, with the girls hanging all over him and Ray looking on suspiciously. They continued their journey into the deepest sections of the forest, when the flying squirrel finally spoke up.
"Does anyone think we're going in too deep here?" Ray asked, looking all around at the gathering darkness. "I don't really think it's a good idea to simply abandon the ship and follow this spooky guy we barely even know."
"Oh, quit your worrying, Ray." Sally sneered at him. "It's not like we were following some scary monster or something." At that moment, Vanilla broke from her trance for a second and looked towards the shuttle.
"Huh? That's strange." The rabbit commented. "I almost have the feeling that I've left somebody behind…"
Meanwhile back aboard the craft, an air vent popped open and a little brown furball in an orange dress rolled out of the closet.
"Oh… it was stuffy in there." Cream declared, coughing at all the dust. "I guess I shouldn't have followed mommy."
Looking around at the empty cockpit, Cream toddled over to the control console and began randomly pushing buttons.
"Ooh, what does this button do?" The little bunny stated, curiously. Lights flashed on and off all over the ship and the guns spun wildly around in every direction, shooting the nearby plants and scaring the forest animals. "Oops, sorry." She said, her eyes drifting over to a big red button. "Ooh, what's this control marked 'Ejection Seat' do?" Cream quickly pressed the button and a seat belt strapped over her shoulder. "Hey, what's going on?" Suddenly, the hatch overhead opened and her chair was launched high into the sky by a giant coiled spring beneath it. "Ahhhhhh! I don't know how to fly!" Biting her way out of the seat belt, the little rabbit tumbled helplessly back towards the Earth. Clearly heading towards a landing that would be a fatal blow. "Oh no! I don't want to be a pancake." Cream cried out covering her eyes with her hands.
As if by magic, a strange bolt of energy shot up from the ground beneath her striking the rabbit's ears. As she tumbled towards the ground, her ears instinctively moved into a wing position and she began to glide towards the forest floor.
"What's going on?" The little bunny asked, looking up and seeing her enlarged ears. Cream suddenly smiled. "Yay, I can fly." The excited child suddenly began zipping around the sky, doing twirls and loop-de-loops through the air. After several minutes of gliding around and laughing, Cream turned her attention towards the ground where the bolt of magic had been fired from.
"Hey, that looks like a spring down there." She noted. Her eyes following the trail she sense the magic had taken. Gliding towards the clearing, Cream landed in a beautiful circle of flowers and looked around in amazement.
"Where am I?" The surprised child asked. "How did I get down to the ground like that?"
"I saved you." A voice said on the wind. "I used my magic to awaken the power that was within you."
"You made it so I can fly?" Cream smiled. "Thank you. Gee, I wish I could do something for you in return."
"There is something you can do, little one." The voice replied warmly. "Step into the fairy portal and I shall introduce you to a new friend."
Then, she noticed the sound of a flute in her ears. She looked up and she noticed a red figure with large butterfly wings. The figure was wearing a green dress and had a silver tiara. The figure stopped playing the flute and looked towards the frightened rabbit.
"Hello there." The feminine figure asked the small bunny. "I can provide you a shelter for the time being." She moved to the side and a door was revealed to her. Cream looked towards the figure and then to the door, before walking to the door and opening it up.
The rabbit saw a very beautiful garden and a smile appeared on her face. Every kind of flower imaginable with in the garden.
"It's so pretty." Cream said to the figure.
"You can stay here for the time being." The figure answered. "I am Titania, the queen of the garden." He sung out a beautiful tune and many chao came out of their hiding places. "These are the chao who live here."
For a while, Cream went out and played in the field with the chao that came with her. There was a particular chao that she liked the most out of the group. It was a light blue one with yellow tips on its hands, feet, tail, and bulb-head. He was also wearing a red bowtie.
"Who is this one?" Cream asked the queen.
"This chao's name is Cheese." The queen of the chao answered. Afterwards, she began to yawn.
"I'm starting to get sleepy." Cream covering her mouth.
"Very well, then." Titania said to her. "I'll let you sleep." Then, the little bunny girl decided to lay down in the daisy field. And she closed her eyes. She continued to hear the flickies chirping as she slept.
When she woke up, she saw that she was tucked in the dormitory of the shuttle. She sat up and looked around in confusion.
"Was that a dream?" She asked herself.
"Chao. Chao." A voice replied. The little bunny turned and she found Cheese next to her.
"Oh, Cheese." The little rabbit stated with glee. "You're still here." There was a note that he held. "What's this?" The chao handed Cream the note.
"I had allowed this chao to remain with you wherever you go." The note stated. "Please remain friends with this chao and you won't get lost. Sincerely, Queen Titania."
"I will." Cream stated to herself.
Meanwhile, the four friends had followed Count Ruball back to a strange looking cave. Ray looked on in disgust while the three girls gasped in amazement.
"This is your wonderful home?" Vanilla asked in surprise. "Oh, such a wonderful mansion."
"Can you believe how many rooms, this place has?" Bunny stepped forward grabbing a dirty leaf off of a tree and rubbing it against her face. "And these silk towels are so soft and fluffy."
"What the heck are you both babbling about?" Ray asked in disbelief. "This place is a dirty mud hole."
"RAY! Quit being so rude." Bunny snapped at him. "I can't believe you would talk to our host like that."
"Oh, don't worry about it." The Count smiled. "He's just… envious of my abode." He motioned for the girls to follow him inside. "Now, step into my dining room and I would just love to have you all for dinner."
The three girls began to follow him inside when Ray grabbed the bovine's tail and flew high into the air.
"Wait, what are you doing?" The count demanded, hanging in mid-air upside down. "Put me down this instant, you uncouth ruffian!"
"Making them see your cave as a mansion, appearing out of nowhere as a handsome stranger after we heard those ominous footsteps." Ray growled at him angrily. "Come on, how could anyone not see that these were all the warning signs of a troll?"
"RAYMOND! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Princess Sally yelled at him. "THIS NICE MAN WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP US!"
"Sally, don't look at him with your eyes." Ray pleaded, flying in circles overhead. "Look at him with your heart and see this beast for what he really is."
Sally closed her eyes took a deep breath and cleared her head. To the princess's horror when she opened them again. Ray was tangling a hideous hairy creature with tusks and a big warty nose over their head.
"EWW! WH-WHAT IN TH-THE NAME OF THE ANCIENT W-W-WALKERS IS THAT!?" Sally sputtered out, her eyes going as wide as dinner plates.
"This is what you were ready to follow into that dark and dank cave." Ray snapped back, glaring down at the hungry troll. "Alright, you hideous beast. Remove the glamour spell or I splatter you all over the landscape."
"AHH! YOU STUPID SQUIRREL!" The troll growled. "Very well! But you still can't escape." Ruball snapped his fingers and everything went back to normal, kicking the squirrel that was holding him in mid-air. The ugly troll tumbled to the ground hitting the dirt like a rock; then scrambling into the cave.
"Oh my lord. We were going to follow that thing." Vanilla cried out before running over into the bush and emptying the contents of her stomach. "Belch!"
"That ornery critter was probably going to cook us up in a stew." Bunny exclaimed. "Good gracious, Sally-girl. How could we have been so stupid?"
"We didn't know, Bunny." Sally replied, glaring at the cave entrance. "But now, we're going to give that smiley old troll was coming to him."
"One giant monster slightly roasted coming up." Ray smiled, shoving a bunch of oily rags into the cave's entrance, then stuffing a hot torch into the hole. Suddenly the entire cave complex burst into flames. In angry defiance, the troll exploded out of his hole in a burning rage.
"HOW DARE YOU!?" The monster roared. "I'LL TEACH YOU A LESSON FOR TRYING TO TORCH MY HOME!" Picking Ray up by the throat, the troll began to shake him violently.
"AAAHHHHH! I'm getting seasick." Ray complained.
"Don't worry, sugar. I'll get 'em." Bunny jumped onto the troll's back warpping her legs around his mid-section and pummeling the beast with a flurry of punches. "Let. Go. Of. My. Friend. You. Big. Brute." The troll cried out in pain before throwing off Ray and reaching back to get Bunny.
"He's going to hurt my sister." Vanilla cried out. "We've got to do something." Sally nodded and pulled out two long daggers from inside one of her boots.
"Here, let's let him have it." Sally declared, tossing one of the knives to Vanilla. The two girls nodded towards each other. Then, pointed their weapons at the troll.
"Y'all want me to stab it?" Vanilla asked in shock. "But I hate violence."
"You want to save your sister, right?" Sally asked. The female rabbit nodded in disgust, before the two mobians jumped at Ruball stabbing their blades into his chest.
"NOO!" Ruball screamed, flailing about before falling to the ground. "How can you defeat me?"
"Because unlike you, we all work together, villain." Ray replied, standing up and dusting himself off. "We have strength in numbers instead of just strength like you."
"Lay off the friendship speeches." The troll grumbled. "Why did you hunt me down in this forest anyway?"
"We weren't after you, ugly." Sally responded. "We're trying to track down a traitor named Ari, a ram who was last seen near this forest." The troll just laughed as he got back up on his feet. "What's so funny?" She demanded.
"Oh, you mean this Ari?" The troll snapped his fingers again and shifted into the likeness of a ram. "This is an easy disguise. One I have been using for years."
"So, it was you who tried to poison my uncle." Bunny gasped. "But where did the real Ari go?"
"I replaced him when you fools sent him to the Zone of Silence. I was banished to the Special Zone by your ancestors, princess, for eating innocent villagers." Ruball explained. "I've took this form so that you fools and the wizard would get me out of the Void. And I've been playing the part until it became useful for me to strike."
"But why try to kill Uncle Beau?" Vanilla asked. "You were locked up generations before he was born?"
"I tried to poison him to sow confusion and chaos among the survivors of West Side Island." The troll sneered at them as it resumed its original form. "There are many among my kind who would love to see the primordal chaos of the days before Amunrapi, and that means the Dark Brotherhood must eliminate your line, the hedgehogs, and those damn solar cats on Down Unda."
"So you want to topple all of the mobian kingdoms." Sally replied angrily. "And who else exactly is in this 'Dark Brotherhood' of yours?"
"Sorry, I'd love to tell you. Some more but it's seems mother nature has decided to shed some light on the subject." The troll laughed as the first rays of sunlight glistened through the trees. "With my sacrifice, the Dark Brotherhood will rise up and crush your newly rebuilt West Side Island."
The troll continued to cackle as the sunlight touched his skin which slowly began to harden. His cackling laughter slowly died away as the muscles in his throat solidified into solid stone. Within moments, the suspect they had in front of them became nothing more than a grinning stone statue.
"DAMN IT! He was just trying to keep us busy." Ray growled, kicking the statue over in anger. "Without him to testify, there's no way to clear Grif's name."
"This is what he wanted, sugar." Bunny shook her head, sadly. "Even though, he failed to assassinate my uncle. By getting Grif framed for the crime, he's taken out one of Mobius' new leaders before the new government can even get off the ground."
Sally went back to the charred remains of the cave and dug through the twigs, bones, and broken pottery. Underneath a large clump of dirt, she found a metal box with a padlock.
"Hey guys?" Sally called them over. "I think I may have found something." Bunny reach out with her mechanical arm and crushed the lock, allowing Sally to open the box. Inside, they found the troll's journal detailing his plans for the assassination and some crazy scribblings about Dark Brotherhood conspiracy."
"This is it. This is what we need to clear Grif's name." Bunny yelled excitedly. Hugging the princess. "You did it, Sally-girl. You just saved our friend's life."
"Well, we better head back to Soleanna with the evidence here." Vanilla noted, pointing a finger back at the troll. "But what do we do with old rock-head here?" Sally smiled evily.
"I think I know just the thing…" Sally answered.
A few days later, everyone in the new capital greatly admired the princess's new exotic gardens. The flowers bloomed beautifully and the waterfall created a cascade of color. But everyone thought the very ugly statue standing beneath the falls was a hideous design choice. The scowling thing almost looked miserable under the endless flow of icy-cold water. It was almost as if the statue was miserable because it had given its life in vain.
"Gee, I sure am glad you were able to clear my name, princess." Grif thanked Sally shaking her hand. "It's hard to believe I almost lost my head because of that baaaad troll."
"Don't worry about it, Grif. I know your people have had a bad history with trolls." Sally smiled. "Just try to be a good leader for Emerald Town and we'll consider things even." The goat bowed to her and marched off to get his shuttle.
On the other side of the courtyard, the baron was saying his goodbyes to his youngest neice.
"Ah really want to thank y'all for clearin' that feller's name." The rabbit shook his head. "Ah could never live with my conscience if I sent an innocent goat to the gallows."
"Ah, tweren't nothin', Uncle Beau." Bunny laughed, giving the old gentleman a hug. "Ah just couldn't stand by and let your pride get the better of y'all."
"Ya sure you don't want to come back to the Southern Barones with us, my little carrot?" Beau smiled. "We could sure use your strength on the new plantation."
"Nah, I think I'll be good here. I am the royal handmaiden to the princess, after all." She smiled across the courtyard to Sally. "You, Vanilla, and Aunt Lulubelle take care of each other, you hear?"
"I'll help take care too." Cream replied running up with her new found friend.
"Chao. Chao." Cheese added.
"Well, is seems like this little stowaway we had in the shuttle has taken a liking to y'all." Bunny laughed, petting the chao. "Ah just don't get how we didn't notice him on the way back."
"Oh, he was probably hiding in the vent shaft." Cream answered, a hidden smile on her face. The rabbit family said their goodbyes as Ray came up behind Sally.
"So, how was it going on another adventure? My good princess." He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Seems like we did quite a lot of good together. I think we could do a whole lot more good, Ray." She replied, watching Bunny's family leave. "How would you like to stay around here as a knight of Acorn? I already have a request for your transfer typed up and ready to send to Queen Blaze."
"That… that'll be great." The squirrel replied, excitedly. "I would love to serve you and your kingdom, princess."
As the sun began to set behind them, Sally reached up and gave Ray a peck on the cheek. It might not be a life of running from SWAT bots with a handsome blue hedgehog at your side… But it was enough to make her happy.
Back to the Present
"So, that's how you and Ray got together?" Elise asked. "Ah, so cute."
"He stuck by me when a temperamental emo hedgehog ran away." Sally grumbled under her breath. "It really did hurt that he spent over a year trying to get my attention and then blew it all in one night of drinking."
"But from what I understand, Sonic never touched alcohol again after that." The human princess responded.
"So, it seems he benefited as well."
"But what was Sonic doing during that missing year?"
"That's something you'll have to ask him about." Sally answered with a shrug. "Because I have no idea. But whatever he did, at least I know why." The limo came to a sudden stop in front of the royal opera house.
"We have arrived madam." Jeffery stated in a calm tone. "I hope you enjoyed your ride."
"Good-bye, Sally. I hope we get a chance to talk again soon." Elise said, hugging the shorter mobian like a stuffed animal.
"Good-bye, Elise." Sally replied, getting out of the car. "Thank you for lending me an ear when I needed somebody to talk to."