School's back from summer and chapter 10 is up after much waiting! Be sure to review, it's never too late to do so.
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A deep whooshing sound reverberated around the room, as if it were located under a waterfall, neither Selim nor his roommate could sleep. The white albino mouse was sitting up in the top bunk tinkering with something while Selim continued to write in his journal.
...I think things are finally starting to turn around, at least Sonic doesn't see me as one of Robotnik's machines anymore. I think that got to me more then anything. Also I believe my old Aunt Sally is starting to trust more in my judgment. I finally have hope that I can save them both and give my younger self a brighter future. It's storming outside right now and-
"You're still writing in that thing?" Jerome laughed; "you've been at it almost a half hour now."
As the vulpine's concentration was now broken he left it at that and closed the book, a good 10 pages written, he'd be out of room by the end of the month if he kept this up, if he was here that long. There was so much happening each day it was hard to contain it all within him, so writing it down was the best way to get it all out of his system. He looked up to see the mouse looking down from the top bunk toward the desk.
"It's just I can't sleep, there's too much going on, and the pounding rain doesn't help much at all." Selim says scratching the back of his head... "Wish I could sleep though."
Jerome nods and smiles. "Ya, I heard that you went on a mission with Sonic today, not many of us get to do that, especially not on the first day. You must really have talent."
Selim chuckles, "Me? Nah, just as much as any of you do, I messed up today. We're all capable of failure, no matter how talented we are." He looked up at the mouse who was still tinkering with something. "You're still messin' with that? You've been at it for like a half hour." He said with a laugh.
The mouse chuckled himself, "Well, I tried to sleep... but now I'm just working on this old contraption." He said lifting himself up the devise in his hand...
The older Tails laughs... "What good is that thing? We're against robots here." He stated commenting on an ancient looking firearm; though it was old, it was in good keep. He slid a strange looking cartridge in, apparently custom made, up the butt of the black pistol. "It belonged to my dad, who got it from his, kinda been in the family... though the ballistic cartridges wouldn't pierce armor that well... I've been thinking of more effective ammunition. Of course it'd have to be the same size and all..." He pulled out a shell and it was sharply pointed, titanium tipped. "I tried to see if I couldn't place an EMP charge in the bullet to disable the robots... it works, but the enemy has to be close range, the charge kinda dies down soon after it leaves the barrel."
Selim placed his hand under his chin in thought. "That's neat... I'm not really into firearms; my expertise is more in aviation."
The Albino mouse laughs at that, "Well ain't that a stroke of irony... the young Miles likes those too. Rotor says he's got a very incredible knack for machines, especially planes. He's afraid the kit's gonna outdo him someday."
The older fox chuckled to himself. He always loved to work on planes it was true, but after Sonic and Sally died he only had little time to worry about tinkering with engines and things. He would do so whenever he needed to, and learned to enjoy every precious second he got, but when he became the leader of the Freedom Fighters, free time like that was precious. "That's neat I'll have to see if I can't talk to him someday about it."
The mouse nods. "Ya, I'm sure he'd be glad to." And about as soon as the albino finished the sentence, a bell shrilled through the air catching the two off guard. It was barely heard through the rain but it was noticeable, it was a sound they all feared. They both look to the north where the alarm in the village was sounding. "What's going on?" the pale rodent asked, his ears perked as he sat still for a moment.
Selim's mind raced. He never remembered an alarm that night, even if it was a bad storm. "I don't know, but we have to get out there Jerome, it means there's trouble." The fox said moving quickly to the hallway. The mouse thought for awhile and then jumped out of the top bunk and quickly followed the vulpine freedom fighter.
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The rabbot was soaked with rain, but she rang that bell with all the strength she could without pulling down the whole branch. The sound of the ringing was loud and shrill even with the waterfall of rain pouring down; luckily they had made the bell so the sound would carry through any other loud noises. It was working and lights were starting to turn on.
Sally then came up behind Bunnie. "There's too many of them... I don't think we're going to be able to hold them off." She stated, her fur dripping, also soaked, boots caked with mud. To this the rabbot nodded. "I know Sally-girl... I know."
Sonic blasted onto the scene first, splattering mud on everything in his path. "What's up girls?" He asked the two as they continued to ring the bells.
"Sonic! There are Swatbots, hundreds of them, coming this way!" Sally yelled pointing off in the direction, the sounds of the stomping metal just audible under the rain. Sonic looked in the direction.
"They found Knothole? No, they couldn't have, they're probably just blindrushin' us Sal." Sonic said, to which the princess shook her head.
"Sonic if they didn't know where we were they'd be more spread out. This is a concentrated attack!"
Sonic thought. "But how would they find us Sal?"
It was at the time Selim arrived, the other freedom fighters were running up some distance behind him. Sonic sneered as if his question was just answered, he felt himself grow angry, he knew it, but no one would listen. That spy was able to give the coordinates to Buttnik, and now he was coming to claim innocence, and 'help' them escape to their deaths. He felt the hatred for what the vulpine did rise until he suddenly charged at the fox at full speed.
The girls both gasped as they were suddenly covered in mud from the sudden speed burst. Selim himself couldn't move in time as the blue blur tackled him, the noise from the collision of the two speeding bodies almost rivaled the raging thunder that started to rumble adding to the noise of the rain. Everything else seemed to stand still as the hedgehog had the fox pinned on the ground. Before anyone could even move, including the pinned vulpine, the blue hedgehog let a fist connect with the downed Mobian's right cheek. "You bastard!" Sonic shouted. "I knew you were a spy, I knew it, because we let our guard down Knothole is finished." He was about to let another blow strike when Selim came to his senses and pushed the hedgehog as the rodent shifted his weight, flipping him over his head.
Sonic got a face full of mud while the older Tails stood up. "I'm not a spy, what the hell are you talking about, why is Knothole finished?" He asked, the girls finally regaining their composure and running up behind Selim, Sally noticed something as she approached the fox, there seemed to be a little spark coming off of the vulpine's back. It wouldn't have been noticeable if it had been lighter out.
"Hold on a second." Sally said as she came up behind the fox and scrounged through the mud caked back fur to find the source, Selim turned his head to see what she was doing. He then yipped a little as he felt something like a bee sting. She held the devise in her hand, a little metal point attached to a tracer... "This explains a few things, but it was obviously placed on by force, so that means they somehow got it onto you without you knowing." She said. Sonic by this time had gotten off the ground and walked over to take a look. He took note on what Sally said as true. It was a tracer, and a not too friendly one, he suddenly snatched it from the princess's grasp and threw it at the ground and stepped on it, and grinding his foot.
The fox looks down and thinks back to when they were in the Junk Yard, and when he was walking up to Sonic after they squabbled... the sharp sting, that was it. He beat himself inwardly for not thinking to check himself before returning to Knothole, his presence has already taken its toll, and the first victim was Knothole. He felt himself start to cry, but the others wouldn't be able to tell, since the rain soaked face would show no sign of tears.
Sonic looked to Selim, "Look, I'm sorry..." He said, though it didn't sound fully sincere, but the older fox knew he meant it, it was just that Sonic was never good at apologizing.
"Ya'll know I'd hate to interrupt, but we got a little ol' crisis here." Bunny stated, the clanks starting to become very audible. They would probably be there in another five to ten minutes.
They all snapped back into it as the other freedom fighters congregated. Sally nodded, "Listen up! Knothole has been found, our only option now is to evacuate, now don't panic, we need to devise a plan quickly..." She thought for a bit, she wished she had more time, they couldn't run to the Great Canyon, Robotnik would probably anticipate them leaving the forest, so they'd be spotted as soon as they left. There must be a way out of here, someplace to reestablish.
Selim knew exactly what Acorn was thinking, he was in the same situation himself, however he probably had more time then her to come up with a strategy, but the same one would work in this situation. The fox grabbed a thick twig and wrote in the muddy ground, since the princess was looking in his direction and everyone else was turned to Sally, he was hoping his action would appear nonchalant to the crowd. It worked, luckily for him, as the squirrel looked up and saw what the fox had scratched into the ground, and she instantly made the connection. 'Grif' was the word, and it all clicked, one of the access tunnels that lead to Lower Mobius was right inside the Great Forest, it'd be the best escape route, of course they'd have to seal the entrance, and since the ground was so muddy they'd have to cover their tracks, but if it worked they'd all be safe again. Now there were only some other few problems to deal with and those were easily sorted through.
"No one panic," She started, asserting her lead quickly so that all the idol chatter would fade distant washed away by the rain. "We have to move quickly, we're evacuating Knothole." The squirrel had to keep from looking down in sadness, this had been her home for a good decade of her life, and now, like Mobotropolis, it fell quickly. She knew they were being run into a corner, running out of places to hide. She kept her head up though, for the sake of sanity, for a voice to come over the storms and clangs of incoming metallic footsteps. "We're going to Lower Mobius, since the path can be hidden from spy drones, quickly head back to your rooms and grab only things of value; we have only seconds to spare."
Sonic piped up for the first time since his apology. "We should probably get the power rock out of here as well; we can't let ol' Buttnik get a hold of it."
Sally nods, "You're right Sonic, but we should probably also get the ring generator out of here as well..."
Bunnie thought, "But Sally-girl, the machine is sunk at the bottom of that pool, how we gonna get it up outta there?" She asked.
Sally thought for a minute. "We can have Dulcy lift it... we just need someone to tie some rope around the other end." She looked about, knowing Sonic wouldn't touch the water, not after what happened in Hydrocity. Rabbot couldn't, she'd rust over if she was over-exposed to water, under these rainy conditions Rotor would probably have to stand by with some oil to prevent her from getting stuck. Tails was good at swimming, she turned to him. The little kit was talking to Sonic; the fox looked a bit scared. Of course she was as well; she just wasn't allowed to show it. She couldn't put the kit through it, so she looked to Selim, maybe he was still good at swimming, and if that was the case then he'd probably be the perfect candidate.
"Selim, it's up to you, take some heavy rope and tie it to the generator." She said. "When we're done, we'll have Dulcy... hold on, where's Dulcy?" Everyone starts looking around, the dragon was nowhere in sight.
Bunnie smacks her forehead. "She didn' wake up..."
Just then a laser blast was heard followed by a loud cracking sound, all their eyes looked over toward the sound, their was a heavy black smoke rising from the direction, the forest was burning. Selim looked down, he had just saw the beauty of the forest which he hadn't seen in so long, and now, he couldn't save it, in fact, he was the one that had killed it.
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Next chapter will be up on September the 6th. Remember to review. Thanks to all those that have done so far.
