"Sophia's slept for almost two days."
"Well, she had in her backpack some pills that let her go longer without sleeping. Who knows when she last slept?"
"True. So what do we do with her?"
"I say we can never let her out of our sight."
"Do you know how difficult it would be to maintain that?"
"It's worth it. She knows where Knothole is. No matter what, we can never let her reveal that."
"That may be true, but I think we can still make something out of this situation."
"No way. We cannot let her go anywhere except away from Robuttnik."
"Sonic, will you at least let me tell…"
"Fine, fine, Sal, I know it'll be good, just tell me."
"We know she's dedicated to those in the Southern Continent. Well, we make her do something to help them."
"Like what?"
"Like offer to help evacuate them."
"Sal! What you're planning… uh-uh, I know what that means."
"Yes. We've got to send her back."
"And then we've got to sneak those guys back, a few at a time, over a long time."
"Exactly."
"Nice plan."
"Thank you."
"That was sarcasm, Sal. This ain't gonna work. There's no way. We can't evacuate that many. Where would they go? Here? We can't support 'em, we don't have the supplies and we'd give away our position to Robotnik. Anywhere else would take weeks, and they'd be without food. I mean, we've gotta believe Sophie had a lot to start with, and she was half-starved before she got to us."
"All good arguments."
"I have my moments."
"Too bad it doesn't help us any. We can't keep her and we can't send her home. So what can we do with her?"
"Beats me."
"I will, gladly."
"Watch it!"
"Seriously, I can only think of one possibility."
"Something we haven't said before?"
"Yes."
"Cool. What is it?"
"Boro."
The Freedom Fighters waited in silence the next morning, their normal conversations paralyzed by Sally's stony expression. Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor faced her as she spoke. It was in a more hurried tone than they'd expected. "We know how we want to deal with Sophia, but we need to keep her restrained for a few more days. Antoine, I want you to deal with that."
"Oui, my preencez."
"Rotor, I have a task for you."
"Another? But, Sally, I need to…"
"Put all your other projects on hold, Rotor. My task is for you to find an apprentice." Rotor drew back in surprise. "Yes, either here or in some other village. We need your expertise now more than ever, but there's only so much of you to go around. If you find someone to help you—and I mean really help you, as in they can do some things without you—you'll be able to catch up."
"Okay," said Rotor, unsure.
"Bunnie, I need you to go through Knothole. I want you to catalogue everyone's skills and abilities. What are they good at? What did they do before the coup? What are their strengths? We need to know that."
"Why ever do we?"
"Unless we can more efficiently involve everyone, we're never going to take down Robotnik. We need to get everyone involved. Sonic, I have a special job for you…"
"Sally-girl!" Bunnie interrupted.
"Yes?"
"What's with the hurry?"
Sally stopped speaking and faced each of them in turn. After the silence, she spoke again. "Okay, maybe I'm rushing a bit. But sometimes… other animals are dying out there. Sophia reminded me of that. They're buying us time, and we need to use it. Robotnik must be stopped; we all know that. But we have to stop him before he can kill others, too. It's our obligation.
"So I want all of you to step up your efforts a little. We need to put more time and energy into those things that'll help us defeat Robotnik. Now, that doesn't mean I want Knothole to be anything other than a home for us. But I wouldn't be able to stand having a home because other animals died and there was something I could do about it."
Again, she looked at each one. "I don't expect you to devote all of your time to it. I just want a little more. Even though we want to remove Robotnik, and don't want to think about him, I think the problem deserves some more attention. Does everyone understand?"
Nods.
"So, can I have a little cooperation to start things off with?"
More nods.
"Okay. Everyone, I need to talk to Sonic, so feel free to leave when you're ready."
As they drifted out, Sally turned to face Sonic, but somehow couldn't raise her eyes to him. "Sonic, I… your job…"
"It's Tails, isn't it?"
She nodded. "I don't want anything to happen to him. But… he's got potential we might need… if push comes to shove, we might need everyone. In truth, he's among the most talented animals in Knothole. And… much as I hate to admit it… if… we might need him... I want him to be ready."
"I gotcha, Sal."
"So I want you to teach him everything you know, Sonic. Stealth, surviving, evasion, that sort of thing. If we really have to use him, I want him to have the bet possible chance of surviving. I'll spend time with him, too. With luck, he'll get the best parts of both of us."
"Your brains and my good looks?"
Sally shook her head. "I'm not in the mood, Sonic."
But he only smiled at her, his smile growing. "Oh, come on, it was funny!"
"Not it wasn't!" Sally said, trying desperately to be angry.
"Ah-ah, I think I see a smile… yes, there it is… oh, this is gonna be good…"
Sally pushed him out of his chair as a smile exploded on her face. "You are impossible, Sonic Hedgehog!"
Because of the distance between Sumberland South and Knothole, only once a year did either side travel all the way to the other. However, they had more goods to exchange than could be transported in just one meeting. As a result, they would meet regularly to exchange goods and information at a halfway point. Most of these meetings were around the time of the annual trip, because that's when the food was in.
It was only two weeks after the annual trade meeting when the Sumberlanders arrived at the rendezvous point. To their surprise, in addition to the expected animals were two more.
"Boro!" cried the Sumberland leader. "Coming home already?"
Boro responded even as the other villagers from both sides went about the transfer business. "Yes, actually, and I'm bringing a guest."
"A guest?"
His voice dropped. "Yes. She's not very willing, if you catch my meaning."
"Ah, I see. So why are you coming home so soon? Did you learn anything?"
"No, it didn't really work out."
"Why not?"
Boro gave a smile/grimace and caressed his bandaged hand. "I had too many weapons."
"With any luck, Sophia is safe in Sumberland South by now." Sally spoke from atop the bridge. Sonic stood next to her. They both watched the stream flow, thinking over recent events.
"Yeah. Hopefully, they'll be able to keep an eye on her."
"Luckily, the village is a fair distance away from Robotnik. As long as they never take her on a raid, I think the situation is safe." She sighed. "Of course, it is one more worry, one more potential threat to Knothole. There are so many of those…"
"Sal," said Sonic, caressing her forehead with two fingers, "you worry about much more and your face'll shrivel."
"My face will be fine, so long as Knothole is."
"You know what? You care too much."
"And you don't care at all."
"That's not true."
"Oh yeah? For what?"
"Is that a challenge?"
"You bet it is, hedgehog. C'mon, surprise me."
"I care about you."
There was a long silence.
"Really?"
"Really, really."
"Oh. Sonic, I am amazed."
"You said to surprise you."
"Well, you did." She frowned. "It seemed like… like you had a strange way of showing it."
"Sal, Sophia was nothing. I just knew she'd be leavin' soon, so I wanted to get to know her before she left."
"How'd you know she'd be leaving?"
"Rotor told me somethin' I thought was pretty cool. I guess I knew it before he said it, but it helped me anyway."
"Wha-at?" she said, voice irritated from his stalling.
"He said, when Sal's got a feeling, she's usually right. I trust my instincts all the time. Why shouldn't I trust yours? If you really thought something was wrong with her, I knew you'd figure it out."
"Sonic, I… you're flattering me," said Sally, blushing.
"And how about you?"
"What about me?"
"Do you care about me?"
Sally stuttered, blushed again, turned away. "Well, oh, I don't know…"
"Uh-uh, you can't worm outta this now. I gave you an answer, I deserve one, too."
"Oh, fine, I care about you."
"You can do better than that!"
Sally threw back her head with her paw in her face, like some ancient dancer. "Oh, Sonic, I am desperately in passionate love with you, and if I don't swoon with it now I think I'll die from the lack of your company!"
"Cool! Does that mean I get out of guard duty?"
"Sonic, I'm going to kill you!"
Sophia balled herself in a corner. Although her room had everything she needed, and any number of things to keep her entertained, she wanted none of it. She wanted to be alone.
Alone with her failure.
Sure, she didn't give a damn about Knothole, but it would have been pointless—counterproductive, even—to sell them out if she couldn't secure peace for her family. And she'd failed that.
Now she was a danger to everyone, something that had to be contained.
She knew that was how animals thought of her. She had to do no more than look under the door to see the footpaws of her guard. Or listen as he chatted with other villagers. She only had to test the handles on the door and windows—all locked.
She didn't care. She didn't want to go anywhere in any event.
The villagers spoke little to her, and she said nothing to them. Accordingly, they'd soon stopped trying. Coupled with their natural hostility towards her, and soon no one wanted to talk much.
That was how she wanted things.
She felt she didn't deserve such luxuries as freedom or relationships. She'd failed her mission in the worst possible way. At this point, she could add nothing to help anybody.
But, she thought as she reached for her plate, if there's one thing I can do, it's this. Slowly, methodically, she threw away most of the food, leaving only a small amount.
She knew from her trip to Knothole that she needed little to survive. Besides, this was how much food her family would be getting, soon enough. Once the last bays grew overloaded.
I'll be with my family somehow, she thought. I'll be with them in hunger.
Snively glanced over his shoulder. Robotnik had missed a great opportunity, and had made his regret quite clear to Snively, but aside from that, the bucket of lard wasn't showing any difference.
It worried Snively. Is there something there that I don't realize?
His station beeped, reminding him of what he was doing. "Sir, the newest production of Swatbots is complete."
"Excellent. Snively, I want them delivered by special transport to the Southern Continent. The next two runs, as well."
"The Southern Continent, sir?"
"Do you need a recorder, Snively? Yes, I said the Southern Continent. I intend to shift the balance of power there once and for all. Snively, do you have our estimations for when we can overwhelm the resistors there?"
Snively's trained fingers pulled the data quickly. "Here, sir."
"Recompute with the addition of these reinforcements."
"Done, sir."
"Now, delete six months from the timetable."
Snively blanched. "Sir, six whole months! Why?"
"Snively, would you send an envoy to negotiate surrender if you thought you could hold out for a while? She never actually said it, Snively, but I could feel it in her. They're breaking. If we increase the pressure more, they'll snap like so much deadwood. What is the projection?"
Snively looked over it. "Subtracting those six months… we can expect to have complete control of the Continent in half a year, perhaps even five months."
"Good, Snively, very good. That will do nicely."
Bryon Nightshade
Disclaimer (had to be here somewhere…)
This story includes characters and situations that belong, not to the author, but to one or more of the following: SEGA, Dic, and Archie Comics. They are used without permission. This story is copyrighted by Sam Durbin, a.k.a. Bryon Nightshade. It's abuse, misuse, copying, or selling is prohibited. If you want this for your site, e-mail me about it. Otherwise, paws off.