Chapter 18 The Second Day: First Trip

On the second day, the three friends from Earth setup an expedition to investigate the mysterious planet and its strange inhabitants. Their first stop was Knothole again, this time Neile promised he would not wander off on his own.
"What's going on?" Neile asked. He was looking through the pair of binoculars at one of the huts. They were all standing just within the borders of the forest watching what they could see from their vantage point.
"I'm not sure… Sonic and Sally and a bunch of others are all gathered outside of someone's hut. They're all holding bowls of something and like offering the bowls to whoever's in the hut." Aaron answered, looking through his high-power camera lens. Sam took the binoculars Neile was looking through.
"I can't see anything through these… where're you guys looking?" Sam wondered while scanning the village. Aaron reached over and aimed Sam's binoculars to where he was looking. She and Aaron watched the children each walk up to the creature in the hut and hand off the bowl to whoever it was. Once the children had all offered their bowls to the creature in the hut, they all went about their daily games and activities. Out of the corner of his eye, Neile saw something large in the sky coming their way.
"Hey… check that out! What is it?" Aaron and Sam looked up into the sky at the object. The children saw the shadow approaching the village. The children stopped what they were doing and all stared at the sky and the approaching object. Someone in the village shouted,
"It's Robotnik! He's got his airship!" Sally and the children watched it fly over.
"No it's not… it's the Floating Island!" Sally said. She knew the island from her childhood; the King and Queen vacationed there when Sally was young.
"The Floating Island? How can an island float?" Neile asked. Aaron, Sam, and Neile watched the island float over the village. Aaron managed to get several pictures in the short time that it flew over the village. The villagers stood and watched as it flew over and then went back to what they were doing.
"They're so much different than us… if we saw something like that on Earth, it'd be like the biggest thing anyone's ever seen!" Sam said. She watched as the island flew away to the north. Once the island was out of view, Aaron and the others continued their trek to Robotropolis.
Robotropolis was easy to find; from five miles away they were able to clearly see the plumes of smoke from the factories. In the light, the city was much more imposing than it was the previous night. The command center was the most intimidating building of the entire city. Around the whole city was a ten-foot high wall patrolled by robots. Each robot looked the same; about six feet tall, domed head with a red visor. Occasionally, one of them would stop and turn its head in a complete circle scanning for anything in the area. Aside from the robots, there was nothing else monitoring the borders of the city as far as Aaron or Sam or Neile could see.
"Aaron… how close do you think we can get?" Neile asked. Aaron scanned around the edge of the city through his long-range camera lens.
"No clue, but I think we should stay just inside the forest… those robots don't look all that friendly." Aaron answered. Sam, Neile, and Aaron watched the robots patrol for a few minutes before they started to get restless. Neile got up from where they had been hiding and walked about a hundred feet to where the edge of the wall was. He motioned for Sam and Aaron to come over to where he was.
"Aaron… there's none of those robots over here. What'dya say to trying to get inside the city and have a look?" Neile asked, scanning the wall through the binoculars. About fifty yards from the corner of the wall, there was an open gate with no robots near it. Aaron was about to try to talk them out of trying to get into the city when Sam took Aaron's hand and led him through the shadows towards the open gate. The robots made no move to stop them. Once they made it to the gate, they walked through it into the city.
"Aaron… look at the size of this place! It makes New York look like a tiny model." Sam exclaimed. Aaron grabbed the camera from Neile and started snapping pictures.
"It's huge! I wonder what the inside looks like?" Aaron asked as he looked at the buildings. Near the bottom of the largest building, Aaron saw what looked like an open door near the back of the building. He pointed it out to Neile, who had taken the binoculars from Sam. They both studied it for a few seconds before nodding to each other and, taking Sam's hand, Aaron led them towards the door. As they dodged from shadow to shadow, Aaron kept watch for any robots in the area. Eventually, they made it to the door and entered it. Aaron made it a point to stop and check every few feet for any kind of traps or sensors, though it proved to be a waste of time, as he found none.
"Aaron… are you sure it's a good idea for us to be walking around out in the open like this?" Neile asked. They had entered into a larger hallway with a higher ceiling and wider walls with many doors on either side of them. Aaron scanned over the walls looking for anyplace that they could hide. Near the floor, he spotted what looked like a heating duct. Down the hallway, the sound of voices caught everyone's attention and hurried up their decision to hide in the vent. Aaron dug through his pockets and found a makeshift screwdriver to pry the cover off. Once the cover was off, the three humans climbed inside with Aaron sliding in last and pulling the cover back into place.
From the inside of the vent, Aaron and his two Earthly friends watched as a seriously overweight pair of legs walked by followed by a pair of scrawny-looking legs scurried past.
"Snively, you're coming with to capture the members of this rag-tag team of rebels. I think that blue hedgehog is one of them." The owner of the overweight legs said.
"Yes, Doctor Robotnik, but do we know where they could be?" Snively asked. The overweight person answered quickly,
"Not yet, but we will. I want them captured and roboticized as soon as possible. I can't have any rebels trying to thwart me. This planet will be mine if it takes me a hundred years!" Robotnik cackled as they continued walking past the vent. Aaron and friends listened intently as Robotnik and his assistant walked out the door and closed it behind them. Once he was sure that they were alone again, Aaron turned around so he was facing away from the vent and towards his friends. Samantha had crawled to the far end and was motioning for the two young men to follow her. The three of them continued down the tunnels until they came to a vent opening into a large room with what looked like some kind of operating table in the center of it. Above the table was what looked like a grouping of lights with some very thick wires coming up from the tops of them. All three of them climbed out of the vent and into the room.
"Aaron… what you 'spose that's for?" Sam asked, pointing to the table. Aaron jumped up on the table and took a closer look at the light fixture.
"Not sure, but I want you guys to keep an ear open… let me know if anyone starts coming back here. I'll try to figure out what the heck this thing is… it's not a light fixture, I can tell that, but I don't know what it is." Aaron said as he examined the fixture and the table. The table was about as long as Aaron was tall and had restraints where his arms, legs, and head would be. Just out of curiosity, Aaron laid down on the table so his head, legs, and arms were where the restraints were.
Above and below him, he suddenly felt static begin building all around him. Above him, what he thought was a light fixture opened up like a metallic flower into what resembled some kind of ray gun. Aaron lay there fascinated for a few seconds until he heard it charging up. Neile glanced back to where Aaron was to see how his friend was doing and got the shock of his life; his life-long friend was laying on a table with some sort of ray gun pointed at him. Without hesitating, Neile sprinted over to where Aaron was and pulled his friend off the table. Neile and Aaron both tumbled to the floor. The ray gun automatically reverted to its previous state of looking like a light fixture. Samantha stood by the door, simultaneously listening for any footsteps outside the door and glaring at Aaron and Neile.

Deep inside the Great Forest, Bunnie had taken to going around the forest planting various types of flowers and plants. She had been warned by Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters to not wander too close to the edge of the forest and had no intention to. At the edge of the forest, Robotropolis was clearly visible, even through the haze that constantly covered the city.
"Ah do declah, this ol' forest does look a lot bettah with all mah flowers planted!" Bunnie thought aloud to herself. Sitting down under a shade tree, Bunnie yawned and dozed off.
"Sir, I detect one lifeform just within the borders of the forest." Snively reported. Robotnik looked over at the display his nephew was reading.
"Can our hovercar get in there?" Robotnik asked. Snively pulled up the satellite images of the area.
"Yes, sir. There's an old path on the north side of the forest; we can get through there to the lifeform." Snively reported. Robotnik grinned and accelerated the hovercar. Within twenty minutes, Robotnik and Snively were navigating the large hovering machine through the forest to where the radar scans indicated the lifeform was.
After a quick nap, Bunnie woke up and started making her way back to the village. As she made her way through the twisting trails of the forest, she realized that she had forgotten her shovel and seed pail. She jogged back to where she had left it and was about to make her way back through the trails to home when she heard a noise behind some trees. Setting her pail and shovel down, she pushed her way through the brush that made up that part of the forest.
She did not see anything. Figuring it must have been a branch falling or maybe the wind, she turned to leave. As she made her way back through the dense foliage, she felt something tugging at her feet. Before she had a chance to shake it free, a large net closed around her. Out from behind a stand of immense trees, Robotnik and Snively came walking.
"Ah, young child… you're going to become my first volunteer for my new improved robotization process." Robotnik proclaimed before climbing into the waiting hovercar. Snively followed behind the fat man after tying the net holding Bunnie to the craft. Snively got into the machine and it lifted off the ground and carried its cargo back to the city. All the way back to Robotropolis, Bunnie screamed and cried as loud as possible.

"Sonic, could you go out and see what's taking Bunnie so long? She's long overdue." Julayla asked while serving dinner for everyone who was there. Sonic just nodded and ran as fast as he could out the door and into the forest. After running through the forest from edge to edge, Sonic had not seen any trace of Bunnie's even being there. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes happened upon her pail and shovel. Just beyond the pail and shovel, there was a flattened area of ground and a recently used trail. The trail led in the direction of the city.
"Ahh, man… it's Robotnik!" Sonic spat under his breath before racing back to Knothole. "Sal! Where are ya?" Sally came running from the mess hall where dinner was being eaten.
"Good… you're back! Did you find Bunnie?" Sally asked. Sonic explained what he had found as quickly as he could. "Are you sure? How do you know Robotnik did it?" She asked.
"Sal… there's no time to debate it! She's in serious trouble! We've gotta juice, like now! You coming or do I gotta do this solo?" Sonic asked. Sally rolled her eyes, wrapped her arms around Sonic's shoulders and they were gone. Within a minute, they were in Robotropolis; looking at the same building they rescued Rosie from.
"Sonic, I don't like being here." Sally whispered as they approached the command center. At the side of the building was an aircar that had been flown recently and had a net attached to the back of it. Sonic and Sally made their way to the only door near the craft and carefully pushed it open. Inside was a corridor that branched off in several directions, only one of which had any light shining down it. Sonic and Sally made their way down the corridor towards the light.

Aaron, Sam, and Neile had climbed back into the vent moments before the fat man and his slim assistant came back into the room. Once in the vent, Aaron took a chance and dug out his camera. Looking through it, he could clearly see the creature that Robotnik had brought into the room.
"Aaron… what's he gonna do to that poor creature?" Sam whispered. Aaron shook his head and handed the camera to Neile. Sam still had the binoculars and was trying to read lips through them, though it was not working.
"Doctor, shall I warm the machine up?" Snively asked. Robotnik shoved the young rabbit towards the table. Picking the rabbit up by the ears, Robotnik tossed the creature onto the table, which produced hold-down straps. Above the rabbit, the light fixture opened as it had when Aaron had lain on the table.
"Start the machine." Robotnik ordered. Snively ran back and forth between the various control panels pushing buttons and turning dials. On the central monitor, it displayed a clock and began to count down as the ray gun discharged. The clock began counting down from three minutes. Before Aaron, Sam, and Neile's eyes, the rabbit's left arm and legs began turning from flesh and fur to cold metal.
Through the camera, Neile was able to see tiny electrical components materialize out of thin air and embed themselves in the rabbits skin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam grab Nicole from her side and open it.
"Nicole, can you overload the central computer system?" Sam asked as quietly as she could. Nicole's lights blinked and then the computer replied very quietly,
"Working, Sam." On the computers small screen, it displayed scrolling lines of zeroes and ones as it communicated with the mainframe trying to overload it. As the computer worked to bring down the mainframe and every computer connected to it, Sonic ran into the room with Sally a few seconds behind him. Sonic and Sally glanced at each other before running across the room to the control panel. As quickly as possible, Robotnik and Snively both pulled out some type of gun and aimed at Sonic and Sally. As Robotnik and his assistant got ready to fire, the computers behind them powered down along with the roboticizer.
"Snively… get those computers back up! Hedgehog… you're too late… your friend is already mine!" Robotnik cackled. Sally ran over to Bunnie and, using all her strength, pried the tie-down straps from Bunnie's ankles and arms. Trying her hardest, she managed to pick up Bunnie in her arms and ran out the door they had come into the lab through before collapsing under Bunnie's weight.
"I think you should take a seat while I clean this place up a little!" Sonic said before going into what he had termed a 'Sonic Spin' and running into Robotnik. Robotnik stumbled under the hedgehog's impact, but managed to keep his balance by grabbing onto the table that the rabbit had been lying on. Sonic sprinted around the lab trying to cause as much damage as possible. Once he was satisfied he had caused enough damage, Sonic took off out the door he and Sally had run in through.
In the vent system, Aaron and Sam and Neile watched Sonic and Sally rescue their rabbit friend from the table that Aaron had checked out earlier. As Sonic ran out of the room, Nicole lost contact with the computers and the machine started back up. Before his eyes, the machine changed the fat man's flesh and blood arm into the same mechanical type that the rabbit had. Behind him, Neile tapped Aaron on the shoulder and motioned that they should leave. Aaron and Sam both nodded in reply and began making their way out of the ventilation system.
Sonic and Sally got their friend, Bunnie, back into the safety of the forest as quickly as possible. Once they made it into the forest, they both stopped to take a break. Bunnie had passed out just outside the city from the pain and shock of being partially roboticized. Without a word between them, they slowly made their way back to the village with their friend in tow. On arriving in the village, Rosie was the first to greet them. She looked mad at first.
"Children, what took you… oh my gosh!" She gasped as she laid eyes upon Bunnie's changed form. Sonic and Sally looked as if they were about to pass out from exhaustion. "Rotor! Get Rotor immediately!" Rotor came running out of his hut to where Julayla, Sonic, and Sally stood looking at someone's crumpled form on the ground. As he got closer, he could not believe his eyes.
"Geez… what happened to her?" Rotor asked, digging through his tool belt for his makeshift stethoscope. Once he found it, he checked Bunnie's heartbeat and found it to be normal. Rotor gave Sonic and Tails orders to go find a handful of different herbs and plants and bring them back to Bunnie's hut. While Sonic and Tails went out looking for the herbs, Rotor and Sally managed to carry Bunnie back to her hut. After a few minutes of waiting, Sonic and Tails came back into the hut with the herbs and plants that Rotor had asked for. After carefully mixing the various plants in a beaker and boiling the mixture, he administered one drop of the concoction to Bunnie. Once he was sure that it had taken effect, they all gathered together outside Bunnie and Sally's hut.
"Okay… she's fine, just a little shaken. And understandably so… she's partially roboticized. I have no clue how that's possible at all, but she is. I gave her an herbal sedative, so she should be out cold for at least a full day… that should give me enough time to run a few tests and see if it can be reversed." Rotor explained to the village.
"Is she going to be okay?" Julayla asked. Rotor shook his head.
"Not sure… I've only briefly seen robots that were fully roboticized and haven't had time to check them out really. It really depends on her body being able to use the robotic limbs or rejecting them. We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I suggest you guys let her rest." Rotor answered. Once everyone was sure there were no more questions, Rosie and Julayla took the children back to the mess hall for a midnight snack before sending them back to bed. All that night, none of the children slept soundly. Their thoughts kept going back to Bunnie and whether she would be all right.
At their campsite, Aaron and his two friends sat around the campfire wondering what had happened to the rabbit that had been partially roboticized. The following day, they decided they would sneak close to Knothole and see if they could see or hear anything about the rabbit's condition. Once they were tired enough, the three friends climbed into their sleeping bags and fell asleep. Their dreams were troubled by visions of the city. In their dreams, it was one of them on the table being roboticized and then sent out to capture the others. During the night, Aaron awoke to the sound of rocks being kicked around somewhere outside of the forest. Aaron got up and went to investigate.
Pacing in the clearing near where the car was parked, Sonic wandered back and forth kicking pebbles with his foot and quietly talking to himself.
"Why? If I'd left the village only a few seconds sooner, I would've saved her." Sonic kept repeating to himself. Finally, he threw a rock in the direction of Robotropolis and sprinted back towards Knothole. Aaron watched the blue hedgehog run back to his hut after blowing off some steam and crawled back into the tent and dozed off.

(End of Chapter 18)