Getting Back To 'Normal'
It was a bit after midnight when a figure left her hut and began to walk through the village of Knothole. She buttoned up her vest when she felt the cold air sweep past her. Sally had decided to check on the three echidnas in the medical hut one last time before turning in. She wasn't sleeping anyway, so it wasn't a problem for her.
As she walked, she heard a strange sound. She looked around her, but saw no one. Quietly, she crept over to where the sound had originated. She turned around a tree, and there was a large, shadowy creature hanging from a tree branch! "AH!" "AH!" "AH!" "AH!" the two exclaimed, first Sally, then the figure, then again. She then noticed that it was DJ, hanging upside down from a tree branch. "AH!" he finally said after a short pause. "What are you doing here?" Sally whispered. "I dunno. Hanging out?" She put her hand over her eyes and shook her head. "I just came out to think," he continued, "I do my best thinking here." "Upside down?" "Yeah, I know. Go figure." She chuckled. Although she thought he was an absolute idiot, she loved how he was always in a bright mood, just like Cap. "I was going to check up on Knux, Julie, and Mace. Wanna come?" "Sure," he said as he swung right-side up and jumped down from the branch.
"How are things?" he asked. "Fine. Sonic has kitchen duty for a month for running off recklessly. You?" "Meh. I'm doing alright. Just enjoying the time off while I can." There was silence for a moment or two, until she asked, "DJ…Todd…Do you think that we'll ever win this war, or that we're wasting our time and energy?" He thought for a second, then said, "Yep. Probably wasting our time." She looked at him in shock, until he continued, "But even if we are, we're showing them that we aren't afraid to fight and die for what we believe in. We're standing up to the man, man…um…I mean squirrel! So many people are afraid to do anything anymore. But if we stand up, others will soon follow. We give the people hope for the future." "A future that we'll never obtain?" "I didn't finish. We give people that hope, which is needed more than anything else. So yes, we may be wasting our time, but as long as there's hope, and people that will believe in a certain ideal, like peace, then we'll never be defeated. We have the heart and desire to go on and never stop. We have the guts and the leadership to carry on, even after great hardships. We have the spirit to…to…….we have spirit! We have the bond that a real family has. Why do you think the Ravagers are all so close? Because we're a family. A wild, crazy, slightly psychotic family. And now, like a virus, we've spread it to you guys, so now we're all a wild, crazy slightly-psychotic family!" She stared at him for a few seconds, then he finished, "Neither Robotnik nor Dimitri have that kind of power. In the end, we will prevail." She looked at him in admiration, then shook her head and asked. "Wait a second! I thought you were just talking about us wasting our time fighting something we'd never win?" "Was I? Hmmm…Oh well. Guess I changed my mind."
They then noticed that they were in front of the medical hut and decided to peek in through the window. There was Knuckles, still lying there, with Mace snuggled up against the side of his chest. Julie-Su was in the hospital bed next to them, fast asleep. Satisfied with their trip, the two turned back to their huts. DJ walked Sally to her hut, being that hers was farther away. "Thanks again. I'm…glad we had the chance to talk," she said with a smile. "Me too." They said good night and turned, but DJ stopped her. "Sal," he said. "Yes?" "Could you…not tell anyone you saw me out here tonight?" "Why?" she asked to his strange request. "Because…I put shaving cream in Grim's hand and tickled his moustache…" DJ said. Sally stared at him blankly, then said, "Fine. Good night." "Thanks. You too."
The morning came with a cool, brisk breeze. It was still early, and not a soul was awake. The birds chirped as they swooped through the air, and the rising sun opened the flowers, perfuming the air with their scents. The sunlight finally broke through the trees, and the grass shimmered with the morning dew, making the whole village glisten. There wasn't a more peaceful place on the planet. "DEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" It would seem someone is awake…and now everyone else is.
"Kitchen duty for a month, huh?" Swiper asked Sonic, who was behind the counter at the mess hall. Cap was still holding Grim back, who was still angry at DJ for the shaving cream. "I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" "No one else would do something so stupid and childish!" "Calm down, Grim!" It was then that Sonic noticed that all of them were in their boxers. "You guys know Sal will kill you all…" Freezie coughed and stood on top of one of the tables, so all could see him. Grim stopped struggling with Cap and looked at the table Freezie was on. "Your feet are on the table. Feet are disgusting." There he stood, hands placed upon his hips, as if he were exhibiting his black, red heart boxers. Some were staring at him while others shook their heads as he began, "Now…there are some problems that I would like to present before all of you. This may be a surprise to you, and some of you might be shocked, so be ready for this…none of you are wearing any pants. Now, we humans cannot indulge in the privilege that you all so enjoy for…well, obvious reasons, but is it fair that we are confined to pants? I say it is not! Why are we fighting for freedom abroad when we don't even have it here in our own quarters? Why, I ask, are we humans not permitted to wear just our boxers, when you all walk around in shoes, and nothing but? Princess Sally and her restrictions! Confining us whilst she flaunts herself around in nothing but boots and a vest! Well, I have a few words for her! I-" "Then say them." He, very slowly, turned around and saw Sally, glaring at him. He chuckled for a split second and said, "The system works!" before darting off out the door before anyone could draw a breath. She then turned to the others and glared. Swiper, whose back was to her as he gathered his breakfast, didn't notice as the others slunk away. He turned, with a happy smile on his face, to meet the dark glare of Sally. He stared, with his bright smile, which slowly faded, put his breakfast down on the table, and ran off to his hut to get some pants.
'Uhhh…Where…where am I? Why can't I…move?' Knuckles cracked his eyes open and glanced around. He was alive. In terrible shape, but alive. He was back in Knothole! In the medical hut! Why was he here? He glanced over to the side of the room and saw Julie-Su glancing out the window. She turned around and their eyes met, causing both of them to freeze. Finally, she whispered his name, while he continued to stare. She suddenly smiled widely and shouted his name as she ran over and threw her arms around his neck. She then yelled out the window that he had woken up, and the sounds of their friend's voices could be heard approaching. He just laid there on the bed as they all rushed in, smiling and saying things like 'How are you feeling?" or 'Did you sleep well? What would you like for breakfast?' Their smiles faded to looks of confusion as he turned his face away from them. "What's wrong?" Sally asked him. "…After…after how I…how I used you all…how could you…" he said quietly, until Cap cut in with, "Because friends forgive friends." Knuckles just stared at their smiles, until he had grown one of his own. Suddenly, he jumped. "Enerjak! What-" "He vanished. We think he might have imploded. There's not trace of him anywhere. F.C. and Shadow have been-" "Shadow? You met Shadow? He's here?" "Right here," said Shadow, who was sitting in the window. Knuckles smiled at the sight of his old friend, then jumped to attention again. "Mace!" "Quiet! You'll wake him."
Knuckles looked down at his side and froze. There was his baby brother, cuddled up next to him. Slowly, the little echidna brought his ting hands up and wiped his eyes. He looked up at Knuckles, paused, then smiled and giggled before crawling up to his older brother's face. "Mace…Oh God, Mace," Knuckles sobbed as he wrapped his arm around Mace without hurting him with his cast. The others simply stood and smiled as Mace giggled while Knuckles cried.
"I have to be in a what?" Knuckles said to the doctor, who was cringing. "A…a wheelchair. Your arms are fine, but your legs took much more damage. Walking on them will do more harm than good." "But I can't just sit around! I've been lying around for…How long have I been out?" The doctor cringed again before saying, "About nine days." "WHAT!" Sally shook her head as she saw this conversation getting nowhere. She was also worried about Knothole. Without her around, who knows what kind of damage those idiots were causing. She shuddered at the thought of it.
"Who took the boom box?" Rotor yelled. "I did," DJ said proudly. "Why?" Mighty asked, wondering why anyone would separate the gang from their tunes, especially one within their own ranks. "I've been working overtime on a private project back in the woods. You gotta take an oath of secrecy, though. If Sally found out she'd kill me for wasting so much time." They reluctantly took the oath of secrecy, which included belching the alphabet, forwards and backwards. After much difficult, they followed him into the back of the woods. "You ready?" he said, before pushing back a thick brush and leading them through a narrow passage. It led them into a small open area, filled with papers, some of which were perverted pictures, scrap metal, and a big sheet. Tails looked up at the ceiling and noticed it was assembled from logs, branches, and vine. "Like the roof, Tails? I made it myself." "You can tell. Is this place safe?" "Now, I present to you, my secret project," he said as he tightened his fingers on the sheet. "Isn't that the bed sheet that was stolen?" "Borrowed. With every intent of returning," DJ said before pulling the sheet and revealing a long…well it resembled a vehicle, but one might not call it that. It was long, it has four wheels, a strange spherical chamber in the back, and a sort of drill in the front. They could tell it was made from scrap metal, being that the hub caps were SWAT bot heads. "What a piece of junk," Ray said as they stared. "Luke Skywalker said the same thing about the Millennium Falcon! And look what that baby did, man!" "All things aside, what is it?" Vector asked. "Remember all those weeks ago when we were checking out that huge hill and though about how much air we could get off of it? Well, I went to work and constructed…the Freedom Ferrari!" "More like Freedom Station Wagon. What does it run on?" "Super speed. See, you get Sonic or Freezie or both, and put them in the glass ball chamber. They run, and that turns the wheels. The drill is for plowing through trees and rocks and that sort." They all looked at each other with smiles. "This could be cool…" they said to each other. "Well, let's take her for a spin!" "Yeah!" "Problem," DJ said, cutting off their excitement. "What?" "It's kinda stuck in here until I dig out a secret entrance for it," he said, showing a small indent in the wall and a bunch of spoons. They all groaned as they grabbed spoons and began to dig.
Not much later, they were out, positioning the Freedom Ferrari upon a large hill. At the bottom was a smaller hill, which they intended to launch off of. "Everyone strapped in?" DJ asked. "Yeah. Let's do this!" Sonic said in excitement, entering the chamber. "Wait a sec!" Cap said, trying to keep a level head and out of trouble. "What about Sal?" he asked. "She can have a ride once we make sure it's safe." Cap paused, stroked his chin then said, "Sounds good to me! Let's go!" Shadow simply stood off to the side and shook his head. "I wash my hands clean of you," he said. "You're the one missing out!" "Ready?" "Countdown, everyone!" "THREE…TWO…ONE…GO!"
"Howcouldyouallbesostupid!Thisisthemostidioticthingyou'veeverdone!Youhaveabsolutelynocommonsenseatall!" Sally said, still shouting at them a mile a minute. They all stared at the ground, covered in leaves, with a bump here, and a scratch there. They wondered when Sally last drew a breath. "Whatdoyouhavetosayforyourselves!" "Well…we didn't go high enough to show up on radar," Cap said, met by more super fast scolding from Sally. "We actually made it through all the trees…we just didn't expect to…soar into the mountain side…" "Shutup,Mighty!" She then turned to DJ, who sat there in silence. "And you! Constructing that monstrosity in secret, planning to do something so stupid with it! I'm gonna-" She then noticed he wasn't moving. "Areyouevenlisteningtome?Youwantmetodieyoung?" Tails knocked on DJ's helmet, and all they heard was a hollow echo. 'This is DJ. Sorry, but I'm not in my suit right now. Leave a message after the sicka-whaaaat?' Sally groaned, waited for the 'sicka-whaaaaat?', then screamed, "TODD!GetyourassbackinyoursuitsoIcankickit!" Suddenly, the door opened and in strolled Todd, sporting his cow boxers. "Sup, y'all?" he said as he walked in, scratching his behind. He casually took his time putting on his suit, gave it a minute to boot up, and waited for all systems to check. When they did, he checked his messages, and then looked at Sally. "…You wanted me?"