Chapter 2: Thinking about the Question
Knothole. It had grown considerably these past two years in peace. Huts were being constructed larger than usual, some of them were houses, but all was still under the camouflage of the trees. Many of the Freedom Fighters had left Knothole for the new city, as they planned to have better lives there. Now that the threat of Robotnik seemed to be past, Knothole had a happy community. The original Freedom Fighters, that is, Sonic, Sally, Tails, Antoine, Bunnie and Rotor still lived there, along with some of their friends.
King Acorn still resided in his palace near to Knothole. His legs had been paralyzed for some time after a failed attempt of attacking Robotropolis, but continuous therapy had worked, and he had donated his wheelchair to one of his unfortunate subjects. At least he could walk again. He now resided contentedly with his son, Elias, who had handed reign over to his father after the King had regained his ability to walk, his wife, Alicia, who enjoyed taking long walks in the woods with him, and his daughter, Sally, who came to visit ever so often. Sir John was ever the loyal guard to the royal family. So far, he had never failed to protect the King and his family from danger, and accompanied the King and his wife on those long walks. Antoine had been assigned as Knothole's permanent guard. The coyote did not complain, of course, for he was but a subject to the King. Thus, the King reigned, and all was peaceful in Knothole and the Great Forest.
Sonic screeched to a halt just outside of Knothole. The sun was still at its zenith, with a single, large cloud covering it. It was a welcome cool after an entire morning of racing across hot pavements while balancing an equally heated pizza. Citizens of the not-so-humble village (well, since King Acorn had taken residence, Knothole was officially a kingdom, but was still a village in terms of size, nonetheless) greeted him with a 'hello' or 'welcome back, dude'. He muttered replies and locked himself inside his hut. Pushing aside his bed, he reached underneath and removed a key from between the mattress springs. He removed three floorboards and unlocked his cashbox. It was chock full of cash (remember his overpaying job and exorbitant tips). He stuffed the fistful of notes inside it and replaced the floorboards and bed to their original state. Then he decided to look around the village.
The sun had revealed itself once again. Its strong rays beat down upon the forest. However, Knothole, which was obscured from view by the dense foliage, did not feel the brunt of the fiery orb's attack. Sonic wandered about. He saw that some of the older citizens (that is, above the age of thirty) were engaged in conversation, or simply lounging against a tree in the dim shade. The Boondock family had taken out their board games, and others joined them at the foot of a massive oak tree. Walking into the shadow of an elm, he spied the 'royal' guard, Antoine D'Coolette, sneaking toward Bunnie Rabbot's hut. Antoine looked over his shoulder, and then obtained a small, pink piece of paper from within his uniform. He let it flutter to the ground, spun on his heel, and walked off.
Sonic did not notice when the coyote's boot deftly kicked the paper under the door.
With a small smile on his face (if you knew Antoine and Bunnie as well as Sonic did, you would also have smiled at the furtive delivery), Sonic came from behind the tree and softly walked off in another direction.
Near to his own hut, one of the younger members of the Freedom Fighters, Tails, had a hot plate of food waiting for his pal. Usually it was chilidogs that the twin tailed fox rustled up for his buddy, but Tails had decided long ago that Sonic should start eating HEALTHY food. He left the barbecue pit, hung his apron on a nail and walked into the village square. He noticed Sonic walking among the trees.
"Hey, Sonic!" he called out. The teenager turned in surprise. "I've got your lunch for you over here."
"Hey, Tails, my main man, good to see you."
He broke into a run, zoomed past Tails and gave him a high five. Tails smirked at the abrupt greeting. He was used to the fast-paced life of Sonic.
"Hey! Tails, aw man, not again…"
"You have to eat your vegetables, Sonic. They're good for you."
Sonic muttered under his breath as he glowered at the plate containing an assortment of wild fruit and vegetables that Tails had collected.
"What do I have to do to get some decent chow around here?"
"Eat that, and I'll give you what I made on the grill today."
Sonic tilted his head to one side and sniffed. An appreciative smile spread across his face.
"Chili dogs! Yeah…"
"Now, eat your veggies, or I won't give you them," he held up the plate with Sonic's favourite food.
"AW! Tails, you know that my food groups consist of chilidogs, chilidogs and chilidogs! I can't eat this green stuff without getting green in the face! Give me a break."
Tails rolled his eyes. The wind wafted the smell toward Sonic.
"Gimme those chilidogs! I'm starving."
The fox pointed to the vegetable plate.
"First, you…"
"Oh, that DOES IT MAN!"
Before Tails could so much as blink in surprise, his speedy blue buddy whisked the plate from his hand and shot off to parts unknown.
"What the! Sonic, you idiot, get back here!"
But his cries of protest went unheard. During all these years, Tails thought exasperatedly, Sonic's attitude toward food hadn't changed.
After stuffing his face, Sonic washed up using a nearby water pump. He blindly reached for the towel and someone handed it to him.
"Hey, thanks."
He rubbed his eyes, and threw back the spikes of hair that had fallen over his eyes. He recognized her immediately.
"Sally!"
"Hey, Sonic, how was work?"
His heart suddenly began to beat faster, as a smile lit up his face. Cute girls (especially Sally Acorn) had that effect on him. She had moved out of the palace about a year ago, since her tutelage had been going remarkably well and the royal tutor was satisfied that she was able to take up the throne at any given moment. Sally had moved into Knothole once more, and was now seeing Sonic a lot more often. Sonic had also moved out of his parents' home in favour of living near to Knothole and (obviously) Sally.
"Hey Sally! Work was fine, delivering pizza at the speed of sound," he leaned forward and pecked her cheek. He put the towel to his face and began rubbing again.
Sally smiled and pulled the towel away, hanging it on the hook next to the pump.
"I won't take such a common answer from you. Really, did anything happen at all besides work?"
She was looking at him, with those light blue eyes. Those eyes were one of the many things that had caused him to fall in love with her.
"Well, there was this guy, in a car with no brakes."
"What happened?"
He looked sideways at her, amused.
"Well, I had to run, open the door and bail him before he got separated by a light post."
"Sounds interesting! Was he all right?"
She was looking at him eagerly, as if such trivial matters held any interest for her. He could not resist that gorgeous face of hers.
"Yeah, well, he was okay I guess. He said somethin' about suing a motor company."
"Well, I know you're okay."
He grinned. She was his girl.
"Yeah, well, I did save him and all. Anyway, Sal, I gotta run…"
He turned to leave.
"Why? I was hoping we could go play a board game together…"
The word 'together' hung in the air as he stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder, smiled a little, uttered the platitudinous "Maybe next time" and ran off.
Sally smiled knowingly. She, too, was accustomed to his supersonic (pun intended) lifestyle.
Sonic was running toward his hut. Arriving there, he quickly pulled out the armoured cash box from the floor and shot off to the city this time.
The moment Sally had said the word "together" a thought had entered his mind, which had surprised him. Why hadn't he thought of it the moment he had seen her today? Why hadn't he asked?
It was not the right moment. The conditions were not correct for such a question. If he were to make such a commitment, the place in time and the place itself must be perfect, for she was royalty, and his girl. Then he remembered. The free VIP passes to the most expensive restaurant in the hemisphere. The money he had earned today.
Of course! It all made sense, as if something divine had caused these series of events to occur, for this to happen:
He was going to ask her to marry him.