Chapter 7
The other Freedom Fighters watched in horror as the building caved upon
itself. The entrance was belching dust into the air, until it too gave in
and collapsed, sealing their friends inside.
"Oh mah lord!" cried Bunnie. Knuckles fell to his knees, face in his mitts.
Rotor took off his hat, and bowed his head. Bunnie looked at them fiercely.
"Come on, ya'll, we've got tah try and get them out ah there!" She ran up
to the pile of debris, and began heaving it pieces off to the side.
Knuckles and Rotor ran up, and started to dig. Knuckles, being an echidna,
was well adapted for this type of job, and had quickly removed a large
portion of stuff.
After about an hour of hauling and lifting, they were exhausted. They had
so far not run across any sign of their friends, and were beginning to give
up hope.
"We're never gonna find them," said Knuckles. "And even if we do, what's to
say that they're still.alive?" He was on the verge of tears. Bunnie placed
her mechanical arm about his shoulder.
"Don't worry, hon," she said soothingly. "We'll find them. You jus' wait
and see." He gave her a weak smile. Suddenly, the pile gave a slight
twitch. Bunnies' head snapped around. "Did ya'll hear that?"
"Yeah," replied Rotor and Knuckles, their faces filled with fresh hope. The
threesome dove forward, and began tearing away at the debris once again.
After a few minutes, they ran into a sharp blue spine, sparking madly. At
first they did not want to continue in that area, but they heard a soft
voice calling from beneath it.
"Help us, please! Anyone!"
"Sally-girl, is that you?" called Bunnie.
"Bunnie! Am I glad to hear you! Tails and I are both down here. We're
fine!" They dug madly, and uncovered one of the metal hedgehogs. Sally then
pushed herself up through the wreckage, Mecha lying lifelessly atop her
legs. Knuckles jumped over and wrapped her in his tight embrace, tears
running down his face.
"Sally, I thought we'd lost you!" he sobbed. She hugged him back.
"You would have if it weren't for him." She nodded toward Mecha. "He put
himself between me and the collapsing building. Tails is over there."
Bunnie and Rotor went and moved the debris where Sally had pointed. They
ran across Sonic, and they paused for a moment, not really wanting to move
him, for a fountain of sparks was spewing from his backside. Tails lifted
himself up, crying.
"What's wrong, Tails?" asked Bunnie. Tails looked at her and sniffled.
"He.he sacrificed himself.for me. He protected me with his body." Tails
gazed at Sonics' unmoving body. "Sonic." He hung his head into his hands,
unable to hold back his emotions. Bunnie, Rotor and Knuckles all recoiled
in shock.
"You mean." Knuckles started, "he was telling the truth?" Sally nodded, her
own tears streaming down her face.
"Yes, he was. They gave up everything in order to save us." She looked over
at Rotor. "We have to do something. We can't just leave them here." She
stood up, and bent to pick up Mecha. She held him in her arms, bearly able
to support his weight. "Let's get them back to Knothole, and see what we
can do to help them. Rotor, grab Sonic."
"Yes'm," he replied. He picked up Sonic, and gave him a quick glance-over.
"He's in bad shape, Sal. I'm not sure if I'll be able to repair either of
them effectively. But I'll try." They set off for the forest in silence,
their hearts heavy.
As they approached Knothole, it's inhabitants swarmed about them like
bees to a flower. They pressed in against the five-some, wanting to know
why they were so late. Sally told them to get out of their way, so that
Rotor could get to his workshop to try and revive Sonic and Mecha. The
villagers did not move a muscle, and finally Knuckles and Bunnie drove them
back, clearing a path for Sally and Rotor. They reached Rotor's workshop,
and went inside, locking the door behind them. Sally laid Mecha down on
one of the tables, her arms dripping with oil. Rotor put Sonic down, hooked
both hedgehogs up to a computer, and ran a schematics scan on them.
"It doesn't look good, Sal," he said. "They've both taken heavy
internal damage as well as externally. I'm not sure that even if I repaired
them, that would even come back on-line." Sallys' gaze met Rotors.
"We have to try," she replied. Rotor nodded.
"Right. I'll begin right away. I could use some help, if you're
willing to stay."
"Of course I'll help you," she said. With that, they both began to
try a restore Sonic and Mecha. Knuckles came in after a few minutes, and
worked with them.
A week passed, with none of the three emerging from Rotor's workshop.
The inhabitants of the village were getting worried. They were wondering
what was so important that they did not leave. Bunnie and Tails told the
villagers what occurred in Robotropolis. When their tale was finished, the
people were in shock. They could not believe that Sonic had actually
disobeyed Sally's order, that he had been roboticized, and that he had
sacrificed himself to save his best friend. They also didn't believe that
Mecha had become good, and was friends with Sonic. After this knowledge was
known, the village simmered down, but everyone was still worried about what
might happen when the two hedgehogs were brought back on-line.
Another few days passed, and still no one had left Rotors' workshop.
Inside, they were still finishing repairs on Sonic and Mecha. None of them
had slept or eaten much, most of their time used to try and revive the
heroes. Sally was constantly close to tears, praying that they would be
able to ignite the spark that would bring them back. Her mind told her that
it was hopeless, but her heart would not give up hope.
After a total of two weeks passed after their return from
Robotropolis, they were ready to try to bring Sonic and Mecha on-line.
Rotor had the two hooked up to power cables, ready to be given energy.
"Let's hope this works, guys," said Rotor. He walked over to a switch
on the wall. "Here we go." He pulled it down, sending millions of watts
through each of the hedgehogs. Knuckles and Sally watched with
anticipation. Please let this work, thought Sally. I don't know what I'll
do if it doesn't. Power flowed into the still figures, but no change was
seen. After a few minutes, Rotor turned to Knux and Sally.
"I don't think it worked, guys," he said quietly. "They should have
come on-line by now." Sally burst into tears, and Knuckles ran up to her to
try and comfort her.
"Hey, Sal." he whispered in her ear. "We did the best we could."
Sally sobbed onto his shoulder.
"I know." she replied. "But I feel like we let them down.oh
Knuckles!" He wrapped his arms around her, tears silently dripping down his
face. Rotor walked over to them and joined them in their moment of sorrow.
They exited the hut to tell the village the sad news. But what none of them
noticed was one of the metallic hedgehogs twitching on the table.
