FREEDOM HQ, KNOTHOLE VILLAGE

October 1, 3234

1141 Hours

"Sonic the Hedgehog, reporting in, your highness!"

"Rotor, too!"

"Glad you're back, boys, but who's your friend?"

Bunnie Rabbot* opened her eyes, feeling very much like she was hit by a car. But when she came to her senses, she bounced out of the hands of the walrus holding her and toward the enthroned chipmunk ahead. "Y'all can call me 'Bunnie'!" she said "You can call me 'Buns'! Just don't call me 'Bugs' or late when it's time to defeat Robotnik!" She noticed the blue hedgehog nearby. He was part of the duo that saved her when those two SWATBots were about to roboticize her with a Bot-on-the-Spot. She poked his nose with her right hand. "You're fast and cute. What's your name, sugah?"

"Er, Sonic. This is Freedom HQ and may I introduce—!"

"Princess Sally Acorn?" Bunnie interrupted, totally shocked. "Oh my stars! You're my hero!" She got down low. "I mean know disrespect! It's always been my dream to be your hairdresser!

"And I need one," said Sally. "But first, join us Freedom Fighters."

"Oui! We need all we can get!"

Bunnie's attention shifted to the uniformed coyote rushing into the cavern they were in. He was very panicked, but adorable as far as she was concerned. "My, oh my! Who is that li'l ol' soldier boy?"

"That's Antoine D'Coolette," said Sonic "or as I call him 'the head windbag'!"

"Highness!" Antoine shrieked, his arms stretched out as far as they could go "It was zis big! No, bigger! Really!"

"You interrupted us to talk about your fishing trip?" Sailly asked, annoyed.

No sooner had Antoine had his exchange with Sally did a great rumble shake the HQ. It only seemed to get stronger. "Do you feel that?" Rotor asked.

"Zat's what I'm trying to tell you all!" said Antoine "Robotnik built a zhigantic Burrobot zat's tearing up ze Great Forest above us!"

Sonic smiled from ear to ear as he made for the large spring to the surface. "Stand back, everyone! This is a job for Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"And his new botbustin' partner: Rabbot!" Bunnie added. The whole thing was familiar to her, but somewhere in the back of her mind, something was off.

Sonic and Bunnie popped their heads out of the hidden hatch in a stump. The hedgehog was ready to bust up Robotnik's new toy right now, but Bunnie had to drag him back into the chute.

The house-sized badnik rolled right over the stump, flattening it.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Bunnie! I was almost a Sonic pancake!"

"Don't mention it!" Bunnie told him. "Although I may use you for a reference when I apply to hairdressing school! Meanwhile, let's dispense with this ill-mannered machine! Y'all got a plan?"

"I sure do, Bunnie… watch my smoke." Sonic dashed ahead, leaving Bunnie on the hilltop. He was kicking up a lot of dust and smoke as he got closer to the kaiju-sized badnik. As Sonic began to run around in a circle, the cloud left in his wake was collected into a growing whirlwind. "I'm going to play a game of "Twister" with him! I'll provide the tornado!"

"Gracious me! Sonic's quite a hero!" Bunnie exclaimed. "But I could tell Princess Sally has designs on the Hedgehog!"

Soon, the machine was making a turn and fired off a beam at the hedgehog. Robotnik seemed to have foreseen what he was going to try.

He was down in the dirt, stunned.

Bunnie had to step in before it crushed Sonic under its large treads. Starting with a great leap, she darted forward. She was going to flip the badnik over with her robot arm before it killed him.

That was when the big horror hit her: Sonic and Rotor had gotten there sooner. She'd never touched that Bot-on-the-Spot. Her left arm and her legs were still organic!

The shock of the revelation left her open for a stun blast of her own. Now she was as helpless as Sonic.

She could do little now except watch as the colossal Burrobot rolled inexorably closer to her and Sonic. It a few seconds, they'd be dead.

"NO!"

Bunnie thrusted upward. The Great Forest had dissolved into a hospital room wrapped in shadow. No Sonic. No giant badnik. Just a rabbit girl sweating bullets.

She turned on the lights with the switch behind her bed. It was all just a nightmare.

No, a "what if"?

She was thinking back to when she first joined the Freedom Fighters, less than three years ago. The way things were then and were now were like night and day. Things seemed goofier and more fun back during the bulk of their operations against Dr. Robotnik. At least until that point Sally nearly died and Sonic was framed for murder and treason.

All a distant memory.

Even her marriage to Antoine was ancient history right now. What came later, though, him almost getting killed during a failed attempt on the deposed King Elias' life, was still a vivid image. The last time she'd ever seen him, he was comatose and on life support back at Tommy Turtle.

It was all because of Naugus. He'd restored her limbs to her. In doing so, she had become vastly less powerful.

It was curse posing as a blessing.

Had she still had her limbs at the time of the robot attack, she could have saved Antoine right there.

That was why she left New Mobotropolis. She was ready to fix this.

Unfortunately, the only person she knew of who could help was her Uncle Beauregard, Grand Master of the Great Desert Chapter of the Dark Egg Legion. The enemy.

She threw back the covers on her bed. Apart from her underwear, she had nothing on, but she could see why. He right arm was the only limb still attached to her torso by bones and nerves. Her restored legs and left arm, though, had been amputated. Substitutes of alloy and circuitry had replaced them.

It was what she wanted, but not the way she wanted it.

Would the now-Legionized Bunnie even be able to see her husband again? Her friends?

Beauregard was a good man, but he served the Eggman Empire. Not by choice, though. After their mistreatment by the rogue Sand Blasters, he turned to Eggman for help.

If she were to attempt to go back to Acorn of her own volition, the bombs within her could be detonated with the press of a button.

Worse still would be if the detonation order came from higher up on the ladder and the whole chapter would explode simultaneously.

And it would be all her fault.

*Pronounced "Rab-BOW" when completely organic.

Forgive the brevity of this entry, I just needed a little breathing room from Amuro. If you notice, the nightmare is pretty much a retelling of her introduction in Sonic the Hedgehog #3, up until she fights back against the Burrobot. You can probably YouTube the story if you want to see what really happened.