main chapter finished 10 /01 /03;
reformatted: 12 /14 /03;
revised/reformatted: 08 /04 /04
Antipode Evangel Presents:
Freedom Fighters of Mobius
Sonic the Hedgehog Neo Redux
Year 3235, Day 364
Light
Story (c) 2003 by the author. Based on characters created by Sega, DiC Productions, and/or Archie Comics Group, used without permission, but protected by applicable copyright laws... So there.
Other characters:
Bookshire Draftwood (c) Bookshire Draftwood, without permission.
Kara and Grease (c) Antipode Echidna / Adam Czech. Please ask permission before using any of my charas, thanx!
"C'mon, Sal! Why not?"
"You know why not: it's too dangerous!"
"We didn't have a problem last time!"
"Look, I'm not discussing this any more, Sonic. I have things to do. We'll talk about this later."
"Oh, fine."
tap, tap, tap
"How 'bout now?"
Sally slammed her clipboard down on her desk. "Sonic Hedgehog, if you keep this up I'm going to have to..."
He inclined his head toward her. "Yes?"
The princess was visibly trembling. She forced herself to loosen her jaw and breathe, remembering to count to ten before opening her mouth again. "Give me one good reason I should let Tails go with you."
"We've been trainin' for two months now, I think little bro should get some field time in."
"I agree, Sonic, but he's nine years old. He's too young to be going to Robotropolis."
He crossed his arms and stared her down. "I was goin' to Robotropolis when I was nine."
She shook her head. "That's different."
"How different?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Just 'cuz we had six people then instead-a sixty?"
"We were short of field agents then. We had to make do."
"Whoa, what? 'Make do?'" Sonic gave a look of shock. "So that's what I am now: I'm a 'make do?'"
"Sonic, that's not what I meant and you know it."
"Ya know what I think? I think you're not givin' T2 a chance."
She looked up from her desk, eyes ablaze. "And I think you're too anxious to throw him into the line of fire!"
There was a moment of extremely awkward silence. "It's not like that, Sal," Sonic spoke first, his voice almost a whisper. "I'd look out for Tails no matter what. We all would. I wouldn't be askin' this unless I was really, really sure I know what I'm doin'. I think he's ready."
Sally thought it over for a long while. As most times, Sonic had a point. Tails had been proving himself at the field tests, very clever in his handling of situations. But Robotropolis... "All right, but one condition," she finally answered, unclipping her palmtop from her belt, "you take Nicole with you. She can handle Robotnik's computer system better than you."
"All right!" Sonic yelled, grabbing Nicole and heading for the door. "Thanks, Sal. You're not gonna regret this!"
She rubbed her forehead. "I hope not, Sonic. I hope not."
Sonic was across the compound in the blink of an eye, finding Tails where he had left him, in the commons. He was hunched over a sheet of paper, pencil in his hand, feet swinging contentedly over the edge of the chair. "Hey, Tails! What'cha doin', buddy? Let's juice on outta here!"
"Where're we goin', Sonic?" Tails put down the pencil, looking perplexed.
"Robotropolis, remember? We're gonna find Uncle Chuck, just like I said."
Tails' head fell to one side. "Sonic, ya said that a month ago. And almost every other day since."
He held out his hands, palms forward. "This time I'm positive. I talked to Sal and got the whole thing figured out. Look!" he held out Nicole for Tails to see.
"Wow, really? Goody!" Tails jumped out of his chair. "Let's go!"
"Uh-uh, little bro," Sonic waved a finger. "What first?"
"Um... Supply pack?"
"You got it," he nodded and smiled. "Go get one, then we can go."
"'Kay!" he squeaked and ran for the supply hut. He quickly came back, trying as he did to fit his short arms through the straps of the knapsack. He finally succeeded, then looked up at Sonic. "Ain't you gonna get one, too?"
"Nah, can't fit one with you ridin' on my back, can I?"
This was news to Tails, but he shrugged as if it were common sense he had known all along. Sonic crouched down, letting the fox clamber up into a comfortable position. "All right, little bro. You ready? Hold on tight, it's time to juice!" The hedgehog took off at top speed, Tails clinging on and screaming and having the time of his life.
As they entered the north forest path Sonic flipped Nicole open. "Yo, Nicole. Wakey-wakey."
[Unknown user pattern,] the computer answered in its monotone rendition of Sally's voice. [Please identify.]
"Uh, it's me, Sonic. C'mon, you know me, don'cha?"
[Processing...]
Sonic looked behind his shoulder to Tails, who shrugged the best he could manage with his arms around Sonic's neck.
[Voiceprint registry created. Greetings, Sonic.]
"Geez, ya sound worse'n Sal! Loosen up a little, will ya?"
[Editing voice set for current user... Yo, Sonic, my main hedgehog. What up?]
Sonic was speechless. Never in a million years would he expected Sally's voice to ever utter those words, even in a mechanical device. Still, it was a welcome change. "That's better. Why don'cha gimme a map o' Ro-Buttnik's fortress, huh?"
[No prob, Sonic.] From the front of the computer came the glowing map of the Imperial tower that Sally had used so many times before. Sonic looked it over. When they tried to get in a month ago there had been an old kitchen entrance they had used on the north side. Hopefully the SWATbots hadn't found that one yet, and they could still use it.
"Hey, Nic, has Buttnik moved any of his troops since we were here last?"
[Negative, Sonic. All troops are still in their previously recorded sectors.]
"Good. One less thing to deal with once we get there."
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
"Now, remember buddy," Sonic whispered as they neared the tower, "you just do what I tell you, 'kay?"
Tails nodded hard. The hedgehog peeked behind the corner down both sides of the street, then hustled across to the back door. Tails jumped off his back, and he crouched by the door panel. "Hey, Nicole, crack the door?"
[Just a sec, Sonic,] the computer replied, starting the work to break the security code on the door so Robotnik wouldn't see them coming in. There was a pleasant-sounding beep and the lock clicked. Sonic opened the door and he and Tails hurried in.
"Hey, Tails, you got a torch in that pack, right?" Sonic asked through the darkness.
"Yeah, hold on," came the reply. He heard the rustling of fabric, then a snap-hiss as the torch lit up the room. The young fox took a look around the dirty kitchen. "Eww, icky."
"Good job, little bro. The door should be over..."
Tails followed Sonic to the hallway, which was still dark from lack of power. Knowing there was no danger Sonic let him take the lead, using the torch to brighten the way. It made the cub feel important, which was what this trip was all about, right? Well, mostly.
The two reached the elevator. "All right, T2. Time for what we talked about. Ready?"
Tails nodded, then slipped off the pack and began rummaging through its contents. They had discussed on the way there how exactly they were going to get the elevator open, since before it had taken a freak occurrence to let them downstairs.
It was not a freak occurrence, Sonic still remembered Sally saying from that day. It was my father, I'm sure of it. Somehow...
Yeah, well, dear ol' daddy wasn't here now, so they'd have to rely on their own devices. Speaking of which... "Almost ready?"
Tails repositioned the torch so he could see better. "Almost..." So far he had found the spare batteries for the torch, and fastened them as best he could to a spool of spare wire. He brandished a screwdriver and attacked the elevator control panel, fumbling a bit but going faster than one would think with his limited training. He had the panel off in five minutes, poking into and staring at the mess of wires inside. "Rotor said... it was the blue one... I think."
"You sure?" Sonic asked, crouching down to see inside as well, though he could make zero sense of it.
"No."
He shrugged. "Try it anyway."
Tails squeezed his eyes shut as his wire cutters came down to snip the wire he hoped was the main power circuit. Thankfully, nothing seemed to happen, so they pressed on. Tails took the crude battery pack he had built and tried to connect it to the wires in the panel. It fit, kind of, but it did the job anyway. The double doors dinged and slid open.
Tails disconnected the battery and peered into the empty shaft. "Um, Sonic? There's no elevator inside the... elevator."
"Figures that would happen," he answered, coming up beside him. "There's a ladder inside here somewhere. Hop on."
The fox slung the knapsack over his shoulders and jumped over to a ladder on the left side of the lift shaft, following Sonic down the four floors to the sublevel. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, but he was still tired by the time they reached their stop.
Sonic was already scanning the area with Nicole when Tails jumped out of the shaft. "You okay, buddy?"
"Woo... Let's not do that again, huh Sonic?"
"Sorry," he smiled wryly, "but that's how we gotta get back, too. That'll be the hard part."
Tails would have fainted, by they didn't have time to screw around. Sonic called up Nicole's floor plan of that part of the tower, and they headed off down the hall, soon entering the area that still received power from the generators. Sonic told Tails to wait outside, then opened the large double doors that he knew would go to the construction area they had discovered before. Now, however, the large machine that had previously occupied the floor space had been removed.
Sonic cautiously crept out onto the platform, looking down to see that the worker 'bots were gathered into groups of eight. A handful of personnel carriers were at the west side of the room, and a complement of SWATbots were bringing the workers into the back of the carriers. As soon as one was filled to capacity, it closed up and took off through a tunnel passage that Sonic guessed would go up to the surface somewhere.
"What, the job's done already?" he whispered to himself.
Tails heard him and peeked around the corner. "Where's Uncle Chuck, Sonic?"
He began scanning the room. "Shoot, I don't see him. They must have shipped him off alread- Wait, no, there he is!" He spotted him in the group that was the farthest from the SWATbots. He took out Nicole and aimed it toward his uncle. "Nicole, take a picture."
Something inside the computer clicked, then Sonic ducked back inside the doorway. "What're they doin' out there, Sonic?" Tails asked anxiously.
"Looks like the 'bots are shippin' out," Sonic answered, his mind already formulating a plan. "You stay here, little bro. I'm goin' down there."
"Be careful," Tails whispered after his friend as Sonic vaulted the railing and landed on the walkway below.
He made his way to the edge of the catwalk, looking down almost directly on the group of workers his uncle was in. Sonic wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but like most things he did, he played it by ear. "Psst, hey Unc," he called down, but his voice was drowned out from the hum of the transports' engines. He tried again, hoping that somehow only Uncle Chuck would hear him and no one else.
Realizing that it wasn't working, Sonic thought through plan B. Maybe there was a way he could separate him from the crowd, talk to just him without the SWATbots getting in the way.
But he was too late. As he was thinking, the two SWAT-guards came over to the group, barked a series of orders and led the workers into the waiting carrier. Sonic watched on helplessly, wishing there was something he could do but knowing that he couldn't endanger his life, or Tails'. The door was slowly closed behind them, then the SWATbots went forward into the cab. The large double doors that led to the sub-tunnels were opened and the vehicle shifted to drive.
Sonic just stood there, unable to act. Tails, however, had something else in mind. As the carrier pulled out into the tunnel he ran forward, bringing his arm back and throwing with all his might. He couldn't see if he had hit or not, but in a matter of moments all was quiet in the construction bay, and Sonic and Tails were alone.
The fox hopped down to the lower platform, using his tails to slightly slow his descent. He came up to Sonic, who had slumped to his knees, staring at the closed tunnel door and blinking away tears. Tails reached up to Sonic's belt and unclipped Nicole, flipped it open. "Hey, Nicole? Can ya do somethin' for me?"
[Unknown user pattern. Please identify.]
He sighed. "Oh, come on. You don't need to do that. This is really simple. And kind of important."
[Please identify.]
"It's Tails."
[Processing...] Tails tapped his foot in an accurate emulation of Sonic's impatient pose. Sonic, meanwhile, snapped out of his funk and tried to figure out what he was up to. [Voiceprint registry created. Greetings, Tails.]
"Yeah, that's nice," he replied quickly. "Activate tracking mode."
[Complying...] Nicole's screen now showed a grid-map, the center vertex a white dot for their position, and a blinking red dot showing...
"Yes!" Tails thrust his fist into the air. "I knew that's what it was!"
"That's what?" Sonic asked.
He showed him the computer. "I threw a tracker onto that last truck! Now we can see where it goes!"
The hedgehog's eyes widened and he laughed in disbelief. "Great thinkin', T2! Great thinkin'!"
He smiled proudly. "Thanks."
Sonic took Nicole back. "Sal's probably worryin' about us by now. We should get back."
"Sorry we couldn't get Uncle Chuck back, Sonic."
"Well, thanks to you, we won't have to start all over on this stupid search. We'll get him back later. We'll get him later..."
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
By the next morning most of the excitement of the mission had died down, but not before Sonic and Tails were able to personally tell everyone at Knothole what had transpired, greatly exaggerated as a matter of principle. Sally had requested a full debrief; Sonic had complied, and Tails offered what he could. She was as greatly impressed as Sonic with Tails' handling of the situation, and was anxious to hear how he had finally put his training to use. She had listened intently, taking notes on a piece of paper that, unknowingly to them, would go into Tails' new personnel folder for later use.
They had hardly slept that night, but were still refreshed the next morning as they greeted everyone and had breakfast. Rotor was there; a rare occurrence, most of the time he was in his lab working on something, but today he took the day off. Most of the work on the new generator was progressing smoothly, and they were ahead of his projected schedule. "If we keep this up," he reported in between bites, "we can have that sucker done quicker than I thought."
Sally came in, prim and proper, but in a better mood than usual. "Goood morning, everyone!"
"Mornin', Aunt Sally!" Tails called out.
She came over and kissed him on the head. "Are you ready for the big party tonight?"
"Party?" Tails blinked.
"New Years' party, remember, silly?"
"Oh, yeah," he reached for another bite of cereal. "I thought ya meant another party."
Sonic smiled. With all the excitement of the mission the night before he had nearly forgotten that the year was almost over, which was odd considering that Sally had been reminding them about it for the past month or so. No matter what the situation was like at the base camp they always found time to set the war aside to let everyone relax. New Years' was traditionally the greatest Mobian holiday.
"We'll start setting up once everyone's done with breakfast," Sally told them, standing. "And I expect you to help this time, too, Sonic."
Tails spoke up before the hedgehog had a chance to protest. "And I get to stay up to see the Glow this year, right, Aunt Sally?"
"Oh, I don't know," Sally teased. "You think you can stay up all the way to midnight?"
"Course I can," he replied confidently. "Tell me 'gain what it's like?"
"Well..." she answered, taking a seat next to Tails. "When it gets to be about midnight, we'll stand outside, and then you'll feel a tingling all over your body," she demonstrated by tickling him and Tails giggled. "Then you'll see all the trees and plants, and bushes all glow bright green and light up everything!"
That was, of course, the un-scientific explanation for it all. The reason for the natural phenomenon was that the distance between Mobius and the sun would be just right to trigger a radiation spike in all of the foliage on the planet. They had discovered long ago that it wasn't dangerous; in fact, it was actually beneficial to Mobian physiology. It seemed to come from the sun itself: for some reason that the Mobians hadn't discovered yet, on the surface of the sun there was a point where the solar rays were focused differently, thus sending a different type of solar radiation to the planet.
"Wow... Really?" Tails' eyes were wide. "Then what?"
She shrugged. "Well, then it will fade away and everyone will go to bed."
"I'm not goin' ta bed. I'll stay up all night!"
"All right, mister, but there's not going to be any party until we set up. You want to help?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, let's go," Sally got up and Tails jumped after her.
Sally's first stop was the vehicle garage. Since they had stolen one of Robotnik's cargo pods a month before, Kara had been busying herself with the task of upgrading its components in an attempt to make it more of a combat craft than a hauler. The princess had seen her work so far, and she thought the mechanic was making good progress. Sally opened the side door to the garage and stepped in, noticing at once the large egg-shaped hovercraft standing in the middle of the room. It was still recognizable as one of Robotnik's vehicles, but almost as obvious were the modifications made to it: a large repeating cannon was welded onto the right side, and the engines seemed to be highly altered.
There was a blue light crackling on the opposite side of the craft. Sally called out and the light stopped, then Kara came over to them, removing her welding goggles. "Hi! What do you think?"
"I think it's looking great, Kara," Sally answered, looking up at it. "You've put a lot of work into it."
"That's for sure," she chuckled, brushing her gloves on her overalls. "Grease and I were able to make detailed schems on just about every component in the thing, too. That should help us later on."
Sally nodded. "I'll need copies of those for my files. Safety procedures."
"Hey, no problem. I'll get Grease on that. He's not much help anyway, the lazy bum." She turned and called into the hangar. "Yo, Grease!"
He replied with his customary, "Eh, whaddya want?"
"It's Princess Sally. She needs copies of our schems!"
There was a pause. "All of 'em?"
"Yeah, all of 'em! Get to work, slacker!"
The chimp grumbled something unintelligible -- something that probably shouldn't have been heard anyway. Kara turned back to Sally. "Sorry about that. Some people don't like to pull their weight around here."
"I know what that's like," Sally nodded, Sonic being the example that came to mind.
"So, was there anything else you needed?"
"No, I just wanted to see how you were doing on the pod."
"Well, we're almost finished. We should be done in a couple weeks or so." There was a short silence as Kara debated whether or not she should bring up the other matter of business. "Um, Princess Sally? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, what is it?"
She had been trying to figure out how to place her words, and they didn't come easily even now. "Well, um, I've been working on these prints for an airplane. Nothing too fancy, just to take people from place to place, but now with the cargo pod stuff we've got now..."
"Kara, slow down," Sally put up her hands. "You said a plane? How long do you think it would take?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe six months, maybe a year, depending."
"But do you think you could do it?"
Tails appeared from around one of the pod's landing pylons. "A plane? I've always wanted ta fly in a plane!"
"I could do it, I'm sure. I'd just be fighting Rotor for the raw parts, that's all. And maybe," she squatted down beside Tails, "this little guy could help with it, if he wanted."
Sally smiled. "You'd be fighting Rotor for that part, too. Tails was helping Rotor with the de-Roboticizor."
"Oh, we can figure something out, right, Tails?"
He just grinned.
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
"All right, breathe in... and breathe out." Bunnie allowed herself to relax as Bookshire took off the stethoscope and set it on the table. "Everything sounds fine," he said as he turned to scribble more information on his sheet. "Are you having any problems?"
"No more'n the usual, doc," she mumbled.
He nodded. She said that every time she saw him, referring to her mechanical limbs. He imagined he was the only one in the camp with whom she allowed her cynicism to show through. If any attention was drawn to her... alterations she would get angry -- whether at herself or something else he couldn't tell. At least around him she didn't have to broadcast the facade of "being fine" and let it out every once and a while. In his opinion, there was nothing beneficial to keeping it all bottled up.
"That concludes the regular portion of our visit," he announced, reaching for a syringe lying on the table. Bunnie's right arm immediately tensed, knowing what was coming. Every New Years' now she had to go through more injections, another consequence of her modifications.
Bookshire raised the needlepoint level to his eye and tapped it with a claw. She wasn't really sure of the particulars of it, but whatever effect the New Years' Glow had on Mobians it didn't sit well with her bionics. Without the shot of whatever-it-is the muscles around her implants would break out as they battled for control of her body, resulting in serious and perhaps permanent damage.
Bunnie forced herself to look away as he dabbed at her shoulder with a cloth. "Just relax," she heard him say gently. "This will only prick for a second."
"Yeah, ah know," she replied slowly. "Ya say that ev'ry time."
"And every time it's just as true," he said as his skilled hand inserted the needle just under her skin. Bunnie felt a shiver run through her arm as she felt the contents being pushed into her body.
"All done," Bookshire placed the syringe back onto the table. "The medication may make you a bit drowsy, but it won't kick in for about twelve hours."
Bunnie glanced down at the red dot under her fur. "How long will it last?"
"When you wake up tomorrow morning you'll feel perfectly fine," he answered, affixing a small bandage over the penetration. "Now go enjoy yourself. You've got a party to go to tonight, don't you?"
She eased herself off the examination table. "Ain't ya'll comin' to the party, too, Bookshire?"
"Oh, I doubt it," he turned back to his report to finish it up. "You kids don't need an old guy like myself putting dampers on things."
"Well, consider me extendin' a proper invitation, then. I wanna see ya there an' I wanna see ya dancin'."
He chuckled. "Doubt I'll be doing much dancing with my bad hip, but I'll be there, at least."
"Glad ta hear it," she started for the door of the hut. "See ya, doc."
"Good bye, Bunnie."
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
"Hey, Sonic, can you hand me those ribbons?"
"These?"
"Yeah, just throw 'em up."
Sonic took the bucket by both hands and tossed it up to Rotor, who was on the top rung of a ladder propped up against a tree. The walrus caught it, then proceeded to tie a bunch of them to the branch he was decorating for the party.
"Sonic!"
He sighed, turning to face Princess Sally, who was on the roof of the commons and consistently called him in the tone of voice that got on his nerves. "What?"
Because of his speed Sonic was constantly elected to be the "go-to on the ground" who got to run around to everyone's beck and call to do things for them. Sally took advantage of this by being more careless than usual just to poke his buttons.
"I dropped the screwdriver," she called, pointing down to where it lay on the ground.
"Again..." Sonic mumbled, picking it up. "You want to me to bring it up to ya, or ya want me to throw it?"
"Just throw it's fine," she answered.
Sonic's mind fabricated an image of a screwdriver throw that didn't go quite right, and he smiled. He tossed the tool up to Sally, who caught it in the air. "Thank you!" she smiled sweetly, again just to bug him.
He walked out into the middle of the camp, taking in all of their progress so far. It was the middle of the afternoon, and he had to think they were almost done, although Sally probably had different ideas. Around the curve of the meeting hall appeared Tails, lugging a bucket that was almost as large as he was, most of its contents spilling out over the sides and onto the wooden platform. Sonic was glad that Tails got to help get ready for the big party because that meant that he himself didn't have to do that much.
Sonic watched as the fox approached a small set of stairs that he could barely see around the pail. He made his way down carefully, one step at a time, then started off again across the compound. "Hey, little bro," Sonic greeted slowly as he passed.
"Hi, Sonic," he managed in reply.
"What're you up to?"
"Gettin' water from the well for, ah, the kitchen."
"Need any help?" Sonic asked as Tails tried shifting the bucket and almost fell over.
"Nah, I got it."
"All right," he watched him go warily. Tails had persistence, that was evident.
Sonic watched as he disappeared through the kitchen door, appearing a few moments later with the empty bucket and running back to where he had come from.
"Sonic!"
Sally again. He turned and, as he expected, she had dropped her screwdriver from the roof once more. He sighed and went to pick it up. It was going to be one of those days.
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
Robotnik typed frantically into his computer, making another set of calculations in his formula. He cursed his procrastination. He had been too distracted by the infernal freedom fighters to realize the incompletion of his work. If he didn't finish in the space of the next few hours, he would have a replay of last year's fiasco, one that had almost cost him an arm.
"The blasted radiation," he grumbled to himself as he worked. "The bane of my people."
The New Years' radiation was killing off his race, the Overlanders. Through Robotnik's extensive research he had learned that his race was indeed much more different from the Mobians then at first had been thought. While the radiation was beneficial to their biological systems, it was exactly the opposite to his own. He was able to find a serum that had been developed long ago to block the effects on Overlanders, but had to modify it due to his cybernetic implants. So far he had been unsuccessful.
He commanded the program to run, then watched with intent as the results were displayed to the screen. He scribbled down some key values, then prepared to enter more data. This had been going on for some time, with Robotnik still not pleased with any particular result. It took a while before he realized complete perfection was not possible, and he forced himself to choose the formula with the best predicted outcome.
Robotnik took the completed serum and thrust the needle into his skin, injecting the medication into his bloodstream. Hopefully it would be enough to counter the radiation poisoning this time.
-=:=-=:=-=:=-=:=-
With all of the work the freedom fighters had to do evening came quickly, and the sun set. The lamps around the courtyard were lighted, casting a warm glow on the Mobians as they gathered. Resources were such that most were wearing their usual day-to-day attire, but the general mood of all was one of lifted sprits.
Sonic was there to chat it up with whoever came, but after an hour retreated to the punch table. Tails was there with a glass in his hands, watching the festivities from the sidelines. "Hey, buddy," Sonic called, getting a refill. "Havin' fun?"
"Yeah, I guess," he nodded.
"Too bad there's no kids your age 'round here, huh?" Tails stayed silent; he changed the subject. "Have you seen Sal around anywhere?"
"Not really," Tails answered, scanning the crowd. "Maybe she left?"
"Left?" Sonic echoed. "That's weird, this is her kinda thing, anyway."
Sonic disappeared into the crowd, and Tails turned back to his drink. "Mmm, punch," he licked his lips.
Sally came out of her hut, dressed in her blue vest and khaki pants, but now with a golden necklace that Tails didn't recognize. She came over to the punch table and got a glass, mind seemingly pre-occupied.
"Hi, Aunt Sally," Tails greeted. "Sonic was lookin' for ya before."
"Yeah, I bet," she mumbled. "He does this to me every year. Which way did he go?" Tails pointed into the crowd, not knowing what she was talking about. She thanked him and circled around the Mobians in the opposite direction.
Tails watched her go and wondered. Grown-ups were weird.
In the commons on the opposite side of the courtyard sat Antoine, dressed in his Imperial Guard uniform, which he had cleaned and pressed since noon. He wanted to look his best, despite the fact that he never did anything at New Years' parties. He watched as a feline couple made their way past on the walkway outside, laughing. It wasn't that Antoine didn't want to participate, but he was afraid of embarrassing himself in front of everyone, especially in front of the princess.
"Hey, Han'some, what're you up to?"
Even without turning there was no mistaking Bunnie's accent. "Oh, just seeting 'ere feeling sorry for myself," he sighed.
"Mind if ah join ya?"
Antoine turned to reply and hardly recognized her. Bunnie was wearing a navy blue evening dress that hung around her hips to her feet, and loosely covered her arms up to the elbow. With her left ear worn down over her false eye, barely any of her implants were visible. He found himself struggling for words. "Bunnie, you look... magnifique."
"Oh, Antoine, stop it," she replied as she sat, then realized the complement was genuine. "Um, ah mean, thank you."
"I must admit, for a moment I did not realize that it was you," he chuckled. "I 'ave nevair seen you dressed up before."
"First time fer ev'rything," she replied, finding how uncomfortable she actually felt in the thing. "Why're you up here, anyway? Wouldn't ya rather be down there with ev'rybody else?"
"I am contented to be with myself," he said simply.
"Oh. Well, ah can leave if ya-"
"No," Antoine said instantly. "That ees not what I meant. Please stay."
Bunnie sat back down, noticing the tone in Antoine's voice, something that pleaded for someone to talk to, someone to be with. Maybe that's what he really meant, she thought: he would rather be by himself than with someone who wouldn't listen. She wondered how many of the freedom fighters actually took some time to talk to Antoine, get to know him. Certainly not Sonic, maybe not even Sally.
"Antoine, if ya wanna talk... 'bout anything, really..."
He smiled. "Bunnie, I could not bear to be unloading my own things onto you. Surely you have enough to be worrying about."
She knew what he was referring to, but for some reason it didn't make her angry. Everyone seemed sincerely concerned for her at times, but somehow coming from Antoine it was even more so, as if someone cared about her more than about themselves. As Bunnie thought about it, though, she found that she was offering something that had been offered to her once, an invitation that had never been honored.
"Yeah, that's right," she replied after a moment of silent thought. "Ah do have things to worry about. But ah don't let that ruin my life, Antoine." She tapped her left-hand fingers together. "Ya know how much ah hate these things? Made it dang hard ta get inta this dress, ah'll tell ya that. Maybe it's time ah talked about it with someone, too."
She couldn't believe what she was doing. She had never sat down to have a serious conversation with Antoine before in her life, and here she was spilling her guts to him. Maybe it was the pleasant atmosphere of the party, maybe the sincerity of his words, or maybe it was the medication kicking in, she couldn't tell.
"So you want me to be talking to you?"
"Only if ya want." There was a long pause that fell between them, and Bunnie sensed his hesitation. "Sally's got a sayin', I think she got it from her mom: 'If you won't do somethin', it means you're afraid.' What are you so afraid of, Antoine?"
He thought about that one long and hard. "I am afraid... of failure, I suppose. If I try, per'aps I will only end up making a fyool of myself."
"And why would that be so bad?"
He straightened in his chair. "It is not feeting of an officair of the Imperial Guard."
"Antoine, we ain't officers of nuthin. We're just kids. You don't have ta prove yerself to anyone out here."
"But I feel..." his voice trailed off and he unclenched his fists, "it is something that I need to do. To carry out a tradition."
Bunnie didn't have an answer for that one. She didn't know anything about traditions, or carrying on a legacy. She certainly wasn't the last of anything, and she didn't have that kind of responsibility. Her gaze wandered back to the crowd. "Looks like the dances are startin'."
Antoine's head came up. "Oui," he answered passively as he saw.
Bunnie got to her feet. "Ah think ah'll head down. You comin'?"
"I think I will stay 'ere a while longair."
She turned to face him. "Would ya like ta come with me?"
A look of surprise crossed his face. "With you as en 'with you' or 'with you' with-"
She planted her hands on her hips. "Oh, Antoine, just invite me ta dance with you and stop worryin' about it!" Surprise turned to shock, and he couldn't get a complete phrase to come out. "Ah just asked you ta ask me ta dance. Now if ya cain't do that ah'm sorry but there's little hope for you, Antoine D'Coolette."
A smile finally broke through his clouded expression and he rose from his table, giving a bow. "Lady Bunnie, I would be honored if you would join me for this dance."
She took his hand, a smile forming on her face as well. "See, now ain't that better?"
His left hand moved to her side, and his right went to take hold of hers. He stopped half-way there. "Oh," Bunnie realized, noticing that it was her left hand he was going for, which succeeded in making both of them uncomfortable. "Maybe, ah, it'd be better if ah lead?"
"I am thinking that would be best," he smiled to cover up his embarrassment, and they both switched hands. As Bunnie's claw dropped down to Antoine's side he realized that it didn't feel as bad as he thought it would. It wasn't a cold piece of hardware anymore, it was just... Bunnie. He looked up into her face, seeing that for the first time he could remember, she looked happy, and he as well.
The two rocked back and forth on the dance floor for hours, ignoring the stares they only imagined were coming from the crowd.
They had returned to the commons when they heard Sonic call out so everyone could hear, "Hey, it's almost time!"
The Mobians became suddenly silent, as each stood and watched the forest around them. Sonic finally found Sally, who simply smiled at him in quiet anticipation. She could feel it coming already, and Sonic could, too. The only thing they could hear was the faint whistling of the wind through the trees.
It began as a faint shine all around them, the kind that was only detectable through peripheral vision. It built in intensity, growing brighter until everything seemed to be tinted with the green of the forest. It was a strange light, one that could be heard and felt as well as seen. Its energy coursed through the bodies of the Mobians gathered, and most closed their eyes to focus solely on how it rippled over them.
Those who did open their eyes would see the world around them in shades of black and green, so deep was the radiation's glow. They would feel as if they could do anything, but would not feel the need to leave their positions. How long it was before the electric feeling began to fade no one could tell, but when it finally did the Mobians opened their eyes, slowly as if from a trance.
Gradually the conversations started up again, some heading back to their huts to turn in. Sonic and Sally could just look at each other before Sally silently turned and headed into the crowd to mingle. Sonic meant to ask Tails what he had thought, but as he neared the punch table he could see the little fox, head slumped forward onto his chest, his glass fallen to the ground.
He smiled, then scooped the cub up into his arms, carrying him off to their hut. Guess he couldn't make it to midnight, Sonic thought to himself. Oh, well. There's always next year.
::END OF CHAPTER::
Revision history:
08 /04 /04 :: added HTML formatting, revised Bunnie's accented dialogue (I was getting complaints from my southern girlfriend )
reformatted: 12 /14 /03;
revised/reformatted: 08 /04 /04
Antipode Evangel Presents:
Freedom Fighters of Mobius
Sonic the Hedgehog Neo Redux
Year 3235, Day 364
Light
Story (c) 2003 by the author. Based on characters created by Sega, DiC Productions, and/or Archie Comics Group, used without permission, but protected by applicable copyright laws... So there.
Other characters:
Bookshire Draftwood (c) Bookshire Draftwood, without permission.
Kara and Grease (c) Antipode Echidna / Adam Czech. Please ask permission before using any of my charas, thanx!
"C'mon, Sal! Why not?"
"You know why not: it's too dangerous!"
"We didn't have a problem last time!"
"Look, I'm not discussing this any more, Sonic. I have things to do. We'll talk about this later."
"Oh, fine."
tap, tap, tap
"How 'bout now?"
Sally slammed her clipboard down on her desk. "Sonic Hedgehog, if you keep this up I'm going to have to..."
He inclined his head toward her. "Yes?"
The princess was visibly trembling. She forced herself to loosen her jaw and breathe, remembering to count to ten before opening her mouth again. "Give me one good reason I should let Tails go with you."
"We've been trainin' for two months now, I think little bro should get some field time in."
"I agree, Sonic, but he's nine years old. He's too young to be going to Robotropolis."
He crossed his arms and stared her down. "I was goin' to Robotropolis when I was nine."
She shook her head. "That's different."
"How different?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Just 'cuz we had six people then instead-a sixty?"
"We were short of field agents then. We had to make do."
"Whoa, what? 'Make do?'" Sonic gave a look of shock. "So that's what I am now: I'm a 'make do?'"
"Sonic, that's not what I meant and you know it."
"Ya know what I think? I think you're not givin' T2 a chance."
She looked up from her desk, eyes ablaze. "And I think you're too anxious to throw him into the line of fire!"
There was a moment of extremely awkward silence. "It's not like that, Sal," Sonic spoke first, his voice almost a whisper. "I'd look out for Tails no matter what. We all would. I wouldn't be askin' this unless I was really, really sure I know what I'm doin'. I think he's ready."
Sally thought it over for a long while. As most times, Sonic had a point. Tails had been proving himself at the field tests, very clever in his handling of situations. But Robotropolis... "All right, but one condition," she finally answered, unclipping her palmtop from her belt, "you take Nicole with you. She can handle Robotnik's computer system better than you."
"All right!" Sonic yelled, grabbing Nicole and heading for the door. "Thanks, Sal. You're not gonna regret this!"
She rubbed her forehead. "I hope not, Sonic. I hope not."
Sonic was across the compound in the blink of an eye, finding Tails where he had left him, in the commons. He was hunched over a sheet of paper, pencil in his hand, feet swinging contentedly over the edge of the chair. "Hey, Tails! What'cha doin', buddy? Let's juice on outta here!"
"Where're we goin', Sonic?" Tails put down the pencil, looking perplexed.
"Robotropolis, remember? We're gonna find Uncle Chuck, just like I said."
Tails' head fell to one side. "Sonic, ya said that a month ago. And almost every other day since."
He held out his hands, palms forward. "This time I'm positive. I talked to Sal and got the whole thing figured out. Look!" he held out Nicole for Tails to see.
"Wow, really? Goody!" Tails jumped out of his chair. "Let's go!"
"Uh-uh, little bro," Sonic waved a finger. "What first?"
"Um... Supply pack?"
"You got it," he nodded and smiled. "Go get one, then we can go."
"'Kay!" he squeaked and ran for the supply hut. He quickly came back, trying as he did to fit his short arms through the straps of the knapsack. He finally succeeded, then looked up at Sonic. "Ain't you gonna get one, too?"
"Nah, can't fit one with you ridin' on my back, can I?"
This was news to Tails, but he shrugged as if it were common sense he had known all along. Sonic crouched down, letting the fox clamber up into a comfortable position. "All right, little bro. You ready? Hold on tight, it's time to juice!" The hedgehog took off at top speed, Tails clinging on and screaming and having the time of his life.
As they entered the north forest path Sonic flipped Nicole open. "Yo, Nicole. Wakey-wakey."
[Unknown user pattern,] the computer answered in its monotone rendition of Sally's voice. [Please identify.]
"Uh, it's me, Sonic. C'mon, you know me, don'cha?"
[Processing...]
Sonic looked behind his shoulder to Tails, who shrugged the best he could manage with his arms around Sonic's neck.
[Voiceprint registry created. Greetings, Sonic.]
"Geez, ya sound worse'n Sal! Loosen up a little, will ya?"
[Editing voice set for current user... Yo, Sonic, my main hedgehog. What up?]
Sonic was speechless. Never in a million years would he expected Sally's voice to ever utter those words, even in a mechanical device. Still, it was a welcome change. "That's better. Why don'cha gimme a map o' Ro-Buttnik's fortress, huh?"
[No prob, Sonic.] From the front of the computer came the glowing map of the Imperial tower that Sally had used so many times before. Sonic looked it over. When they tried to get in a month ago there had been an old kitchen entrance they had used on the north side. Hopefully the SWATbots hadn't found that one yet, and they could still use it.
"Hey, Nic, has Buttnik moved any of his troops since we were here last?"
[Negative, Sonic. All troops are still in their previously recorded sectors.]
"Good. One less thing to deal with once we get there."
"Now, remember buddy," Sonic whispered as they neared the tower, "you just do what I tell you, 'kay?"
Tails nodded hard. The hedgehog peeked behind the corner down both sides of the street, then hustled across to the back door. Tails jumped off his back, and he crouched by the door panel. "Hey, Nicole, crack the door?"
[Just a sec, Sonic,] the computer replied, starting the work to break the security code on the door so Robotnik wouldn't see them coming in. There was a pleasant-sounding beep and the lock clicked. Sonic opened the door and he and Tails hurried in.
"Hey, Tails, you got a torch in that pack, right?" Sonic asked through the darkness.
"Yeah, hold on," came the reply. He heard the rustling of fabric, then a snap-hiss as the torch lit up the room. The young fox took a look around the dirty kitchen. "Eww, icky."
"Good job, little bro. The door should be over..."
Tails followed Sonic to the hallway, which was still dark from lack of power. Knowing there was no danger Sonic let him take the lead, using the torch to brighten the way. It made the cub feel important, which was what this trip was all about, right? Well, mostly.
The two reached the elevator. "All right, T2. Time for what we talked about. Ready?"
Tails nodded, then slipped off the pack and began rummaging through its contents. They had discussed on the way there how exactly they were going to get the elevator open, since before it had taken a freak occurrence to let them downstairs.
It was not a freak occurrence, Sonic still remembered Sally saying from that day. It was my father, I'm sure of it. Somehow...
Yeah, well, dear ol' daddy wasn't here now, so they'd have to rely on their own devices. Speaking of which... "Almost ready?"
Tails repositioned the torch so he could see better. "Almost..." So far he had found the spare batteries for the torch, and fastened them as best he could to a spool of spare wire. He brandished a screwdriver and attacked the elevator control panel, fumbling a bit but going faster than one would think with his limited training. He had the panel off in five minutes, poking into and staring at the mess of wires inside. "Rotor said... it was the blue one... I think."
"You sure?" Sonic asked, crouching down to see inside as well, though he could make zero sense of it.
"No."
He shrugged. "Try it anyway."
Tails squeezed his eyes shut as his wire cutters came down to snip the wire he hoped was the main power circuit. Thankfully, nothing seemed to happen, so they pressed on. Tails took the crude battery pack he had built and tried to connect it to the wires in the panel. It fit, kind of, but it did the job anyway. The double doors dinged and slid open.
Tails disconnected the battery and peered into the empty shaft. "Um, Sonic? There's no elevator inside the... elevator."
"Figures that would happen," he answered, coming up beside him. "There's a ladder inside here somewhere. Hop on."
The fox slung the knapsack over his shoulders and jumped over to a ladder on the left side of the lift shaft, following Sonic down the four floors to the sublevel. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, but he was still tired by the time they reached their stop.
Sonic was already scanning the area with Nicole when Tails jumped out of the shaft. "You okay, buddy?"
"Woo... Let's not do that again, huh Sonic?"
"Sorry," he smiled wryly, "but that's how we gotta get back, too. That'll be the hard part."
Tails would have fainted, by they didn't have time to screw around. Sonic called up Nicole's floor plan of that part of the tower, and they headed off down the hall, soon entering the area that still received power from the generators. Sonic told Tails to wait outside, then opened the large double doors that he knew would go to the construction area they had discovered before. Now, however, the large machine that had previously occupied the floor space had been removed.
Sonic cautiously crept out onto the platform, looking down to see that the worker 'bots were gathered into groups of eight. A handful of personnel carriers were at the west side of the room, and a complement of SWATbots were bringing the workers into the back of the carriers. As soon as one was filled to capacity, it closed up and took off through a tunnel passage that Sonic guessed would go up to the surface somewhere.
"What, the job's done already?" he whispered to himself.
Tails heard him and peeked around the corner. "Where's Uncle Chuck, Sonic?"
He began scanning the room. "Shoot, I don't see him. They must have shipped him off alread- Wait, no, there he is!" He spotted him in the group that was the farthest from the SWATbots. He took out Nicole and aimed it toward his uncle. "Nicole, take a picture."
Something inside the computer clicked, then Sonic ducked back inside the doorway. "What're they doin' out there, Sonic?" Tails asked anxiously.
"Looks like the 'bots are shippin' out," Sonic answered, his mind already formulating a plan. "You stay here, little bro. I'm goin' down there."
"Be careful," Tails whispered after his friend as Sonic vaulted the railing and landed on the walkway below.
He made his way to the edge of the catwalk, looking down almost directly on the group of workers his uncle was in. Sonic wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but like most things he did, he played it by ear. "Psst, hey Unc," he called down, but his voice was drowned out from the hum of the transports' engines. He tried again, hoping that somehow only Uncle Chuck would hear him and no one else.
Realizing that it wasn't working, Sonic thought through plan B. Maybe there was a way he could separate him from the crowd, talk to just him without the SWATbots getting in the way.
But he was too late. As he was thinking, the two SWAT-guards came over to the group, barked a series of orders and led the workers into the waiting carrier. Sonic watched on helplessly, wishing there was something he could do but knowing that he couldn't endanger his life, or Tails'. The door was slowly closed behind them, then the SWATbots went forward into the cab. The large double doors that led to the sub-tunnels were opened and the vehicle shifted to drive.
Sonic just stood there, unable to act. Tails, however, had something else in mind. As the carrier pulled out into the tunnel he ran forward, bringing his arm back and throwing with all his might. He couldn't see if he had hit or not, but in a matter of moments all was quiet in the construction bay, and Sonic and Tails were alone.
The fox hopped down to the lower platform, using his tails to slightly slow his descent. He came up to Sonic, who had slumped to his knees, staring at the closed tunnel door and blinking away tears. Tails reached up to Sonic's belt and unclipped Nicole, flipped it open. "Hey, Nicole? Can ya do somethin' for me?"
[Unknown user pattern. Please identify.]
He sighed. "Oh, come on. You don't need to do that. This is really simple. And kind of important."
[Please identify.]
"It's Tails."
[Processing...] Tails tapped his foot in an accurate emulation of Sonic's impatient pose. Sonic, meanwhile, snapped out of his funk and tried to figure out what he was up to. [Voiceprint registry created. Greetings, Tails.]
"Yeah, that's nice," he replied quickly. "Activate tracking mode."
[Complying...] Nicole's screen now showed a grid-map, the center vertex a white dot for their position, and a blinking red dot showing...
"Yes!" Tails thrust his fist into the air. "I knew that's what it was!"
"That's what?" Sonic asked.
He showed him the computer. "I threw a tracker onto that last truck! Now we can see where it goes!"
The hedgehog's eyes widened and he laughed in disbelief. "Great thinkin', T2! Great thinkin'!"
He smiled proudly. "Thanks."
Sonic took Nicole back. "Sal's probably worryin' about us by now. We should get back."
"Sorry we couldn't get Uncle Chuck back, Sonic."
"Well, thanks to you, we won't have to start all over on this stupid search. We'll get him back later. We'll get him later..."
By the next morning most of the excitement of the mission had died down, but not before Sonic and Tails were able to personally tell everyone at Knothole what had transpired, greatly exaggerated as a matter of principle. Sally had requested a full debrief; Sonic had complied, and Tails offered what he could. She was as greatly impressed as Sonic with Tails' handling of the situation, and was anxious to hear how he had finally put his training to use. She had listened intently, taking notes on a piece of paper that, unknowingly to them, would go into Tails' new personnel folder for later use.
They had hardly slept that night, but were still refreshed the next morning as they greeted everyone and had breakfast. Rotor was there; a rare occurrence, most of the time he was in his lab working on something, but today he took the day off. Most of the work on the new generator was progressing smoothly, and they were ahead of his projected schedule. "If we keep this up," he reported in between bites, "we can have that sucker done quicker than I thought."
Sally came in, prim and proper, but in a better mood than usual. "Goood morning, everyone!"
"Mornin', Aunt Sally!" Tails called out.
She came over and kissed him on the head. "Are you ready for the big party tonight?"
"Party?" Tails blinked.
"New Years' party, remember, silly?"
"Oh, yeah," he reached for another bite of cereal. "I thought ya meant another party."
Sonic smiled. With all the excitement of the mission the night before he had nearly forgotten that the year was almost over, which was odd considering that Sally had been reminding them about it for the past month or so. No matter what the situation was like at the base camp they always found time to set the war aside to let everyone relax. New Years' was traditionally the greatest Mobian holiday.
"We'll start setting up once everyone's done with breakfast," Sally told them, standing. "And I expect you to help this time, too, Sonic."
Tails spoke up before the hedgehog had a chance to protest. "And I get to stay up to see the Glow this year, right, Aunt Sally?"
"Oh, I don't know," Sally teased. "You think you can stay up all the way to midnight?"
"Course I can," he replied confidently. "Tell me 'gain what it's like?"
"Well..." she answered, taking a seat next to Tails. "When it gets to be about midnight, we'll stand outside, and then you'll feel a tingling all over your body," she demonstrated by tickling him and Tails giggled. "Then you'll see all the trees and plants, and bushes all glow bright green and light up everything!"
That was, of course, the un-scientific explanation for it all. The reason for the natural phenomenon was that the distance between Mobius and the sun would be just right to trigger a radiation spike in all of the foliage on the planet. They had discovered long ago that it wasn't dangerous; in fact, it was actually beneficial to Mobian physiology. It seemed to come from the sun itself: for some reason that the Mobians hadn't discovered yet, on the surface of the sun there was a point where the solar rays were focused differently, thus sending a different type of solar radiation to the planet.
"Wow... Really?" Tails' eyes were wide. "Then what?"
She shrugged. "Well, then it will fade away and everyone will go to bed."
"I'm not goin' ta bed. I'll stay up all night!"
"All right, mister, but there's not going to be any party until we set up. You want to help?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, let's go," Sally got up and Tails jumped after her.
Sally's first stop was the vehicle garage. Since they had stolen one of Robotnik's cargo pods a month before, Kara had been busying herself with the task of upgrading its components in an attempt to make it more of a combat craft than a hauler. The princess had seen her work so far, and she thought the mechanic was making good progress. Sally opened the side door to the garage and stepped in, noticing at once the large egg-shaped hovercraft standing in the middle of the room. It was still recognizable as one of Robotnik's vehicles, but almost as obvious were the modifications made to it: a large repeating cannon was welded onto the right side, and the engines seemed to be highly altered.
There was a blue light crackling on the opposite side of the craft. Sally called out and the light stopped, then Kara came over to them, removing her welding goggles. "Hi! What do you think?"
"I think it's looking great, Kara," Sally answered, looking up at it. "You've put a lot of work into it."
"That's for sure," she chuckled, brushing her gloves on her overalls. "Grease and I were able to make detailed schems on just about every component in the thing, too. That should help us later on."
Sally nodded. "I'll need copies of those for my files. Safety procedures."
"Hey, no problem. I'll get Grease on that. He's not much help anyway, the lazy bum." She turned and called into the hangar. "Yo, Grease!"
He replied with his customary, "Eh, whaddya want?"
"It's Princess Sally. She needs copies of our schems!"
There was a pause. "All of 'em?"
"Yeah, all of 'em! Get to work, slacker!"
The chimp grumbled something unintelligible -- something that probably shouldn't have been heard anyway. Kara turned back to Sally. "Sorry about that. Some people don't like to pull their weight around here."
"I know what that's like," Sally nodded, Sonic being the example that came to mind.
"So, was there anything else you needed?"
"No, I just wanted to see how you were doing on the pod."
"Well, we're almost finished. We should be done in a couple weeks or so." There was a short silence as Kara debated whether or not she should bring up the other matter of business. "Um, Princess Sally? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, what is it?"
She had been trying to figure out how to place her words, and they didn't come easily even now. "Well, um, I've been working on these prints for an airplane. Nothing too fancy, just to take people from place to place, but now with the cargo pod stuff we've got now..."
"Kara, slow down," Sally put up her hands. "You said a plane? How long do you think it would take?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe six months, maybe a year, depending."
"But do you think you could do it?"
Tails appeared from around one of the pod's landing pylons. "A plane? I've always wanted ta fly in a plane!"
"I could do it, I'm sure. I'd just be fighting Rotor for the raw parts, that's all. And maybe," she squatted down beside Tails, "this little guy could help with it, if he wanted."
Sally smiled. "You'd be fighting Rotor for that part, too. Tails was helping Rotor with the de-Roboticizor."
"Oh, we can figure something out, right, Tails?"
He just grinned.
"All right, breathe in... and breathe out." Bunnie allowed herself to relax as Bookshire took off the stethoscope and set it on the table. "Everything sounds fine," he said as he turned to scribble more information on his sheet. "Are you having any problems?"
"No more'n the usual, doc," she mumbled.
He nodded. She said that every time she saw him, referring to her mechanical limbs. He imagined he was the only one in the camp with whom she allowed her cynicism to show through. If any attention was drawn to her... alterations she would get angry -- whether at herself or something else he couldn't tell. At least around him she didn't have to broadcast the facade of "being fine" and let it out every once and a while. In his opinion, there was nothing beneficial to keeping it all bottled up.
"That concludes the regular portion of our visit," he announced, reaching for a syringe lying on the table. Bunnie's right arm immediately tensed, knowing what was coming. Every New Years' now she had to go through more injections, another consequence of her modifications.
Bookshire raised the needlepoint level to his eye and tapped it with a claw. She wasn't really sure of the particulars of it, but whatever effect the New Years' Glow had on Mobians it didn't sit well with her bionics. Without the shot of whatever-it-is the muscles around her implants would break out as they battled for control of her body, resulting in serious and perhaps permanent damage.
Bunnie forced herself to look away as he dabbed at her shoulder with a cloth. "Just relax," she heard him say gently. "This will only prick for a second."
"Yeah, ah know," she replied slowly. "Ya say that ev'ry time."
"And every time it's just as true," he said as his skilled hand inserted the needle just under her skin. Bunnie felt a shiver run through her arm as she felt the contents being pushed into her body.
"All done," Bookshire placed the syringe back onto the table. "The medication may make you a bit drowsy, but it won't kick in for about twelve hours."
Bunnie glanced down at the red dot under her fur. "How long will it last?"
"When you wake up tomorrow morning you'll feel perfectly fine," he answered, affixing a small bandage over the penetration. "Now go enjoy yourself. You've got a party to go to tonight, don't you?"
She eased herself off the examination table. "Ain't ya'll comin' to the party, too, Bookshire?"
"Oh, I doubt it," he turned back to his report to finish it up. "You kids don't need an old guy like myself putting dampers on things."
"Well, consider me extendin' a proper invitation, then. I wanna see ya there an' I wanna see ya dancin'."
He chuckled. "Doubt I'll be doing much dancing with my bad hip, but I'll be there, at least."
"Glad ta hear it," she started for the door of the hut. "See ya, doc."
"Good bye, Bunnie."
"Hey, Sonic, can you hand me those ribbons?"
"These?"
"Yeah, just throw 'em up."
Sonic took the bucket by both hands and tossed it up to Rotor, who was on the top rung of a ladder propped up against a tree. The walrus caught it, then proceeded to tie a bunch of them to the branch he was decorating for the party.
"Sonic!"
He sighed, turning to face Princess Sally, who was on the roof of the commons and consistently called him in the tone of voice that got on his nerves. "What?"
Because of his speed Sonic was constantly elected to be the "go-to on the ground" who got to run around to everyone's beck and call to do things for them. Sally took advantage of this by being more careless than usual just to poke his buttons.
"I dropped the screwdriver," she called, pointing down to where it lay on the ground.
"Again..." Sonic mumbled, picking it up. "You want to me to bring it up to ya, or ya want me to throw it?"
"Just throw it's fine," she answered.
Sonic's mind fabricated an image of a screwdriver throw that didn't go quite right, and he smiled. He tossed the tool up to Sally, who caught it in the air. "Thank you!" she smiled sweetly, again just to bug him.
He walked out into the middle of the camp, taking in all of their progress so far. It was the middle of the afternoon, and he had to think they were almost done, although Sally probably had different ideas. Around the curve of the meeting hall appeared Tails, lugging a bucket that was almost as large as he was, most of its contents spilling out over the sides and onto the wooden platform. Sonic was glad that Tails got to help get ready for the big party because that meant that he himself didn't have to do that much.
Sonic watched as the fox approached a small set of stairs that he could barely see around the pail. He made his way down carefully, one step at a time, then started off again across the compound. "Hey, little bro," Sonic greeted slowly as he passed.
"Hi, Sonic," he managed in reply.
"What're you up to?"
"Gettin' water from the well for, ah, the kitchen."
"Need any help?" Sonic asked as Tails tried shifting the bucket and almost fell over.
"Nah, I got it."
"All right," he watched him go warily. Tails had persistence, that was evident.
Sonic watched as he disappeared through the kitchen door, appearing a few moments later with the empty bucket and running back to where he had come from.
"Sonic!"
Sally again. He turned and, as he expected, she had dropped her screwdriver from the roof once more. He sighed and went to pick it up. It was going to be one of those days.
Robotnik typed frantically into his computer, making another set of calculations in his formula. He cursed his procrastination. He had been too distracted by the infernal freedom fighters to realize the incompletion of his work. If he didn't finish in the space of the next few hours, he would have a replay of last year's fiasco, one that had almost cost him an arm.
"The blasted radiation," he grumbled to himself as he worked. "The bane of my people."
The New Years' radiation was killing off his race, the Overlanders. Through Robotnik's extensive research he had learned that his race was indeed much more different from the Mobians then at first had been thought. While the radiation was beneficial to their biological systems, it was exactly the opposite to his own. He was able to find a serum that had been developed long ago to block the effects on Overlanders, but had to modify it due to his cybernetic implants. So far he had been unsuccessful.
He commanded the program to run, then watched with intent as the results were displayed to the screen. He scribbled down some key values, then prepared to enter more data. This had been going on for some time, with Robotnik still not pleased with any particular result. It took a while before he realized complete perfection was not possible, and he forced himself to choose the formula with the best predicted outcome.
Robotnik took the completed serum and thrust the needle into his skin, injecting the medication into his bloodstream. Hopefully it would be enough to counter the radiation poisoning this time.
With all of the work the freedom fighters had to do evening came quickly, and the sun set. The lamps around the courtyard were lighted, casting a warm glow on the Mobians as they gathered. Resources were such that most were wearing their usual day-to-day attire, but the general mood of all was one of lifted sprits.
Sonic was there to chat it up with whoever came, but after an hour retreated to the punch table. Tails was there with a glass in his hands, watching the festivities from the sidelines. "Hey, buddy," Sonic called, getting a refill. "Havin' fun?"
"Yeah, I guess," he nodded.
"Too bad there's no kids your age 'round here, huh?" Tails stayed silent; he changed the subject. "Have you seen Sal around anywhere?"
"Not really," Tails answered, scanning the crowd. "Maybe she left?"
"Left?" Sonic echoed. "That's weird, this is her kinda thing, anyway."
Sonic disappeared into the crowd, and Tails turned back to his drink. "Mmm, punch," he licked his lips.
Sally came out of her hut, dressed in her blue vest and khaki pants, but now with a golden necklace that Tails didn't recognize. She came over to the punch table and got a glass, mind seemingly pre-occupied.
"Hi, Aunt Sally," Tails greeted. "Sonic was lookin' for ya before."
"Yeah, I bet," she mumbled. "He does this to me every year. Which way did he go?" Tails pointed into the crowd, not knowing what she was talking about. She thanked him and circled around the Mobians in the opposite direction.
Tails watched her go and wondered. Grown-ups were weird.
In the commons on the opposite side of the courtyard sat Antoine, dressed in his Imperial Guard uniform, which he had cleaned and pressed since noon. He wanted to look his best, despite the fact that he never did anything at New Years' parties. He watched as a feline couple made their way past on the walkway outside, laughing. It wasn't that Antoine didn't want to participate, but he was afraid of embarrassing himself in front of everyone, especially in front of the princess.
"Hey, Han'some, what're you up to?"
Even without turning there was no mistaking Bunnie's accent. "Oh, just seeting 'ere feeling sorry for myself," he sighed.
"Mind if ah join ya?"
Antoine turned to reply and hardly recognized her. Bunnie was wearing a navy blue evening dress that hung around her hips to her feet, and loosely covered her arms up to the elbow. With her left ear worn down over her false eye, barely any of her implants were visible. He found himself struggling for words. "Bunnie, you look... magnifique."
"Oh, Antoine, stop it," she replied as she sat, then realized the complement was genuine. "Um, ah mean, thank you."
"I must admit, for a moment I did not realize that it was you," he chuckled. "I 'ave nevair seen you dressed up before."
"First time fer ev'rything," she replied, finding how uncomfortable she actually felt in the thing. "Why're you up here, anyway? Wouldn't ya rather be down there with ev'rybody else?"
"I am contented to be with myself," he said simply.
"Oh. Well, ah can leave if ya-"
"No," Antoine said instantly. "That ees not what I meant. Please stay."
Bunnie sat back down, noticing the tone in Antoine's voice, something that pleaded for someone to talk to, someone to be with. Maybe that's what he really meant, she thought: he would rather be by himself than with someone who wouldn't listen. She wondered how many of the freedom fighters actually took some time to talk to Antoine, get to know him. Certainly not Sonic, maybe not even Sally.
"Antoine, if ya wanna talk... 'bout anything, really..."
He smiled. "Bunnie, I could not bear to be unloading my own things onto you. Surely you have enough to be worrying about."
She knew what he was referring to, but for some reason it didn't make her angry. Everyone seemed sincerely concerned for her at times, but somehow coming from Antoine it was even more so, as if someone cared about her more than about themselves. As Bunnie thought about it, though, she found that she was offering something that had been offered to her once, an invitation that had never been honored.
"Yeah, that's right," she replied after a moment of silent thought. "Ah do have things to worry about. But ah don't let that ruin my life, Antoine." She tapped her left-hand fingers together. "Ya know how much ah hate these things? Made it dang hard ta get inta this dress, ah'll tell ya that. Maybe it's time ah talked about it with someone, too."
She couldn't believe what she was doing. She had never sat down to have a serious conversation with Antoine before in her life, and here she was spilling her guts to him. Maybe it was the pleasant atmosphere of the party, maybe the sincerity of his words, or maybe it was the medication kicking in, she couldn't tell.
"So you want me to be talking to you?"
"Only if ya want." There was a long pause that fell between them, and Bunnie sensed his hesitation. "Sally's got a sayin', I think she got it from her mom: 'If you won't do somethin', it means you're afraid.' What are you so afraid of, Antoine?"
He thought about that one long and hard. "I am afraid... of failure, I suppose. If I try, per'aps I will only end up making a fyool of myself."
"And why would that be so bad?"
He straightened in his chair. "It is not feeting of an officair of the Imperial Guard."
"Antoine, we ain't officers of nuthin. We're just kids. You don't have ta prove yerself to anyone out here."
"But I feel..." his voice trailed off and he unclenched his fists, "it is something that I need to do. To carry out a tradition."
Bunnie didn't have an answer for that one. She didn't know anything about traditions, or carrying on a legacy. She certainly wasn't the last of anything, and she didn't have that kind of responsibility. Her gaze wandered back to the crowd. "Looks like the dances are startin'."
Antoine's head came up. "Oui," he answered passively as he saw.
Bunnie got to her feet. "Ah think ah'll head down. You comin'?"
"I think I will stay 'ere a while longair."
She turned to face him. "Would ya like ta come with me?"
A look of surprise crossed his face. "With you as en 'with you' or 'with you' with-"
She planted her hands on her hips. "Oh, Antoine, just invite me ta dance with you and stop worryin' about it!" Surprise turned to shock, and he couldn't get a complete phrase to come out. "Ah just asked you ta ask me ta dance. Now if ya cain't do that ah'm sorry but there's little hope for you, Antoine D'Coolette."
A smile finally broke through his clouded expression and he rose from his table, giving a bow. "Lady Bunnie, I would be honored if you would join me for this dance."
She took his hand, a smile forming on her face as well. "See, now ain't that better?"
His left hand moved to her side, and his right went to take hold of hers. He stopped half-way there. "Oh," Bunnie realized, noticing that it was her left hand he was going for, which succeeded in making both of them uncomfortable. "Maybe, ah, it'd be better if ah lead?"
"I am thinking that would be best," he smiled to cover up his embarrassment, and they both switched hands. As Bunnie's claw dropped down to Antoine's side he realized that it didn't feel as bad as he thought it would. It wasn't a cold piece of hardware anymore, it was just... Bunnie. He looked up into her face, seeing that for the first time he could remember, she looked happy, and he as well.
The two rocked back and forth on the dance floor for hours, ignoring the stares they only imagined were coming from the crowd.
They had returned to the commons when they heard Sonic call out so everyone could hear, "Hey, it's almost time!"
The Mobians became suddenly silent, as each stood and watched the forest around them. Sonic finally found Sally, who simply smiled at him in quiet anticipation. She could feel it coming already, and Sonic could, too. The only thing they could hear was the faint whistling of the wind through the trees.
It began as a faint shine all around them, the kind that was only detectable through peripheral vision. It built in intensity, growing brighter until everything seemed to be tinted with the green of the forest. It was a strange light, one that could be heard and felt as well as seen. Its energy coursed through the bodies of the Mobians gathered, and most closed their eyes to focus solely on how it rippled over them.
Those who did open their eyes would see the world around them in shades of black and green, so deep was the radiation's glow. They would feel as if they could do anything, but would not feel the need to leave their positions. How long it was before the electric feeling began to fade no one could tell, but when it finally did the Mobians opened their eyes, slowly as if from a trance.
Gradually the conversations started up again, some heading back to their huts to turn in. Sonic and Sally could just look at each other before Sally silently turned and headed into the crowd to mingle. Sonic meant to ask Tails what he had thought, but as he neared the punch table he could see the little fox, head slumped forward onto his chest, his glass fallen to the ground.
He smiled, then scooped the cub up into his arms, carrying him off to their hut. Guess he couldn't make it to midnight, Sonic thought to himself. Oh, well. There's always next year.
Revision history:
08 /04 /04 :: added HTML formatting, revised Bunnie's accented dialogue (I was getting complaints from my southern girlfriend )