Warning Signs

As the villagers of the peaceful kingdom of Knothole embraced the rising sun, a new day was slowly beginning. While most mornings were usually pleasant and refreshing, this one was particularly……special. Anyone who was out that day could have told you, told you of the wonderful sounds they heard. The sound of a beautiful southern voice was signing happily in the air. Bunnie Rabbot owned that voice, and she sang it for all of it's worth.

She swayed and sang her happy little heart out, the girl's metallic toes twirled with indescribable joy. Sonic gasped as he saw Bunnie charmingly run up to him and plant a big, fat, kiss on the stunned blue hedgehog. "Good morning sugar hog" Bunnie giggled, her eyes filtering in a happy little daze. Sonic blinked "Uh good morning to you too Bunnie, sleep well?". The girl sighed happily as she looked to the sky and simply said "Like a dream".

Bunnie giggled once more and danced off again, kissing Tails and Rotor as they walked by, brimming with laughter. "Wow Bunnie sure seems……spiffy" Rotor said, Tails nodded "I'll say, I've never seen her that happy before". A sudden French voice popped in "Zat is because, she is in laaaave Mon ami". The gang blinked at Antoine's peculiar choice of words. "Laaaave, laaaave, you know, like Romeo and Juliet?" Antoine persisted.

"OOH you mean love" Rotor said, Tails added a very disgusted "BLEACH" to that remark. The young fox still wasn't sure about girls and dating yet, especially if you end up like THAT in the morning. "Zut alors of COURSE love, this is what I said" Antoine grumbled. Sonic smirked at this notion, thinking to himself "Way to go Bunnie, way to go. Miracle's the genuine deal after all. I sure hope he stays with us……for Bunnie's sake at least".

Meanwhile……

The blue hooded stranger was smiling happily, humming a cheery tune of himself as well. Miracle was just about to head out of his hut when suddenly, something happened. "ARGH" Miracle grunted, he clutched his hooded head, feeling tremendous pain. Flashes of images burned across his mystical mind. A mountain, machines, gemstones, a man, no, a monster, Dr Robotnik, the images were clear as day now. Miracle had found Robotnik.

In seconds, the masked stranger soared across the land and rushed to Castle Acorn with great urgency. Sonic and Tails quickly followed as they saw him soar over their heads. "Sugar hood?" Bunnie asked softly, also seeing her beloved mystery man flying away. The Freedom Fighters soon assembled before King Acorn and Geoffrey St. John to discuss what Miracle had seen. The stranger bowed before the king, and explained his dreadful prediction.

Miracle announced "Dr. Robotnik and a massive battalion of Swat-Bots are at the edge of Condor Cliffs. I sense his digging machines have uncovered a great power, one that could cause serious trouble if he obtains it".

King Acorn blinked "Digging machines? The same as the ones you and my daughter destroyed 2 days ago?".

The hooded man nodded. The skunk, St John idly scratched his chin at this.

"And you believe this is that "great disaster" you came to warn us about?" the King asked.

Miracle nodded "Yes your majesty. I don't know exactly what it is, but I do know that whatever Robotnik has found there, will be the cause of the disaster".

Tails looked to Sonic "Do you think it's what I think it is Sonic?".

Sonic shook his head "No way to know yet little buddy, we won't know until we juice on out there and find out what's going on".

The Aussie skunk immediately protested, pointing a finger dead on at Miracle.

St. John frowned "Hold your tails lads, something's not right. How can we be sure this bloke's information is solid? We still don't know if we can even trust him yet".

The southern cyborg angrily stormed up towards the skunk, Bunnie growled as her friends held her back.

Bunnie growled "GRR I told you, he's right as rain St. John. Miracle is our friend, NOT our enemy. And if he says Robotnik is out there then I believe him 100".

St. John snapped back "You don't give the say so on suspects girlie, I DO. And I say he's about as trust worthy as Swat-bot".

"Why you rotten mouthed smelly" Bunnie started to turn red.

King Acorn stomped his boot down hard and demanded they ceased their arguing immediately. Bunnie and St. John were yanked away though much to their displeasure.

Rotor sighed "I hate to say it Bunnie but St. John has a point, blurry images isn't rock solid evidence. We need something a bit more concrete".

"And you just got it" a voice shouted.

The gang turned around and spotted Princess Sally rushing down the hall with a piece of paper in her hand. Sally had just received something important, it was a message about Robotnik.

Sally blinked "Miracle's right, Robotnik is digging up gems in Condor cliffs. We just got a fax from Uncle Chuck, he's there at the site with Robotnik".

Sonic smirked "Then that settles it. Come on Freedom Fighters, you too Miracle, we've got a Robttunik to kick".

Chunks of dirt crumpled under the massive explosions that vaporized Condor Cliffs. A gaping hole was created in the cracked bowels of the cliff, leading to a small, hidden little cave. "Excellent Snively, it seems the scanners weren't mistaken after all" Robotnik said. The bulking, maniacal man entered the cave, with a host of robots quickly following him. Inside the cave, the flashing of a faint green light lit up the dark and dreary little spot.

There was a small rock pillar carved in the shape of a pedestal, and on that pedestal was a bright, shiny, green emerald. Robotnik grinned "A chaos emerald, the most powerful bauble in all of Mobius. I was hoping this stone would eventually turn up, it's just the gem I need to power up my ultimate weapon". The diminutive Snively nodded in agreement with his wicked uncle "Very good sir" Snively said. Robotnik immediately took the emerald.

The army of Swat-bots watched in awe as their dark master emerged with his infamous prize. Robotnik smirked "It's a lucky thing those explosions knocked out the magnetic plates inside those cliffs, otherwise the scanners would never have been able to find the emerald's energy signature". Snively once again nodded "Agreed sir, whoever buried this emerald clearly didn't want it to be found". The dark doctor eagerly admired the emerald gem.

"Hope your not getting too attached to that thing doc, because it's coming home with us" Sonic shouted. Robotnik gasped and turned around in shock, Sonic and the Freedom Fighters had arrived. Sally sternly added "You have no right to take that Dr. Robotnik", Robotnik scowled "Hedgehog wash, I stole it fair and square". Snively was just as surprised as Robotnik was, how in the world did the Freedom Fighters know where they were digging?

"That a boy sonny" Uncle Chuck whispered from behind, the robotic hedgehog watched safely behind several trees. Dr. Robotnik screamed "Don't just stand there you brainless dolts, GET THEM, blast them all into atomic dust". Savage combat broke out as Sonic's friends battled Robotnik's Swat-bots. Sonic and Tails dashed and bashed each bot with speed, and amazing skill. Hundreds of robots charged on and on, constantly attacking.

Bunnie grunted as she crunched her robotic arm through a Swat-bot's cyber skull, and then turned to blast another with her arm cannon. "Y'all gotta learn how to behave nicely boys" Bunnie said. Snively growled hatefully "Swat-bot tanks, fire omega cannons, maximum force". Miracle gasped as the black robot tanks were charging their guns, preparing to fire upon Sonic and the others. "This shall not be so" Miracle said as he soared forward.

The masked stranger knew those guns were powerful to easily vaporize Sally and the others. The princess gasped "Everyone get down, brace for impact". Miracle blocked the furry beings and spread his arms out. "Leave my friends alone, and remove your rotting robots this instance or else" Miracle boomed. Robotnik laughed "I don't know who you are, but I already know what your name is: DEAD MEAT! Omega cannons fire, full power".

BANG! BANG! BANG! Three colossal energy blasts fired towards Miracle, his gloved hands glowed bright with powerful magic. "HAAAA" the hooded man screamed as he unleashed his amazing energy. The energy blasts were sent right back at the tanks, instantly destroying Robotnik's entire armada. Snively and Robotnik stared dumb founded at the stranger. "Inconceivable, that single creature just destroyed my entire robot army" Robotnik said.

Miracle roared again as he unleashed another powerful spell. A large tree was literally ripped from the Earth, and raised in the air like a baseball bat. The 2 overlanders screamed as they turned to run away. But Miracle simply snarled and smashed the tree down hard, knocking Robotnik and Snively to the far right. Uncle Chuck gasped as the 2 collapsed right before his feet. The evil humans groaned as they rubbed their faces, smeared with dirt.

"IT WAS YOU, I should have known" Robotnik hissed as he grabbed Uncle Chuck by his steel collar. The robotic hedgehog groaned as he was helpless in Robotnik's steel fisted grip. Robotnik growled "You're the one who lead those filthy rodents to my digging camp; this is all your fault". Snively gasped as he heard voices and footsteps coming closer, it was the Freedom Fighters. "Sir? Sonic and his friends are coming, we must go" Snively said.

Weakly, Uncle Chuck tried to call out to his nephew, but Robotnik's vice like grip was too tight. "Stall them you twit, I'm not letting this robot reject go yet" Robotnik snapped. Red hair and blue boots could be seen, no doubt Princess Sally. Snively smirked "This should put a starch in their shorts". The troll like man removed a small, black and yellow colored grenade from his pants. "I think I see them up ahead, come on" Sally said, as she charged.

PING! The grenade landed right in front of Sally's foot, the princess gulped. "SALLY, NO" Sonic screamed. The hedgehog shoved the princess and her friends back hard, trying to speed dash away from the bomb. KABOOM! Sky rocketing flames engulfed Sonic as the explosion violently erupted. Bunnie, Miracle, Tails, and Sally were all violently thrown back. Sally painfully coughed "Ugh oh my aching head, I……Sonic? Sonic? SONIC?".

The hedgehog laid before his beloved princess, twitching on the ground, his body covered with burnt marks. "SONIC NO" Sally screamed. Miracle charged his hands and unleashed his magic, using it to pull 2 large trees away from each other. The gang could now see Snively, Uncle Chuck, and Robotnik. "Back to the scrap heap where you belong" Robotnik said. BANG! A laser blast from Robotnik's steel arm sliced into Chuck's chest.

Busted chunks of melted metal exploded from Uncle Chuck's ruptured robotic chest. Sonic's weak body struggled fiercely, tears swelling up as he weakly cried out "NOOO, UNCLE CHUCK". The lifeless robot hedgehog was tossed aside like a piece of trash. Robotnik laughed "Sayonara hedge rat, I've got a world to conquer, and you've got a funeral to prepare for". The maniacal man laughed wickedly as he and Snively ran into the woods.

As much as Sally would love to rip that fowl smile off that monster's face, she knew Sonic and Chuck came first. The Freedom Fighters quickly grabbed Uncle Chuck and Sonic. Miracle took the 2 hedgehogs into his arms; he leapt into the sky and immediately soared back to Knothole. "Oh poor sugar hog" Bunnie whimpered, "Don't worry Bunnie he's gonna be okay, they both will……I hope" Sally said. The princess blinked back tears.

Meanwhile……

The hulking blob of red and yellow cloth trudged deeper into the woods, Snively following right behind him.

"We must hurry back to Robotropolis Snively; there is much to prepare for" Robotnik ordered.

Snively bowed "Yes sir".

Robotnik smiled "Once we install the chaos emerald into my secret weapon, there will be only one crystal left to obtain. However"

Snively interrupted "Your concerned with that masked creature we encountered back there, aren't you sir?".

The wicked doctor smacked his long nosed sidekick upside the head, growling angrily as he entered his private hovercraft.

Robotnik screamed "OF COURSE I am, you moronic midget. But that's all going to change once I obtain the final crystal for my secret weapon. Once it's completed, nothing, not even Sonic or that masked friend of his will be able to stop me from wiping out every last living creature on Mobius. Let's go".

To be continued……