It was still night. The second round of darkness since the branch had plunged into the river. The milky twilight of the moon illuminated it softly, casting an eerie glow across the water. The sound of small waves lapping at the wood was all that broke the nocturnal silence.

The river snaked for miles and miles, though it could not be said exactly how far the thick limb had traveled. It was still as intact as it was when it had first fallen, though the thick bark had gradually grown sodden as the water was able to seep in through the cracks. Nevertheless, it continued its lonely course down the flowing river – at the complete mercy of nature.

Thud

No longer. The journey ceased as the branch collided with an ancient looking, decayed concrete wall. Small grills allowed the current to flow beyond, further down the river; the branch, however, was far too large to follow it.

The dam groaned slightly as the thick, heavy branch pushed against it, powered by the current behind it. It wouldn't budge.

The two remained locked in place like a pair of lovers, neither moving for the other. The river continued to flow; above, the stars twinkled.

- - - - -

No stars could be seen as the group moved quietly through the piles of scrap metal that littered the streets of Robotropolis; a fact ensured by the dense pollution cloud overhead. Thankfully, it also meant that there was no moon – that there would be less chance of them being seen in the moonlight.

'What do you see, Sal?' asked Sonic.

'Hmm…' she murmured, looking over the top of their pile of scrap metal through a pair of binoculars. 'A medium sized, gray, rectangular building… about four stories high; I can see enormous amounts of cabling snake in one side and out the other. There are SWATbots patrolling the perimeter in pairs, though how many pairs there are isn't certain. From what I can see, there are no other tangible defenses… hopefully I'm not mistaken.'

She climbed back down as she finished speaking, giving the binoculars to Sonic. He took the position she was just in, looking over the top of the metal. He let out a low whistle as he saw the huge electrical cables that appeared to skewer the building.

The defenses of the building were indeed fairly minimal, for a center of such importance. However, from past experience Sonic knew that the SWATbots posed a huge risk for the other freedom fighters – unless you had speed, you were toast.

Climbing back down behind the pile, he handed the binoculars back to Sally. 'Any ideas on how we are gonna tackle this, Sal?' he asked, unsure of where to begin.

'Yes, a few… but things will change if something goes awry; be prepared to improvise. From what I can see, the safest way of getting this done is to have you distract the SWATbots patrolling the perimeter. Take them offline if you can, but don't take any unnecessary risks in doing so; remember, our primary objective is just to get in and get out as quick as possible.

'With the SWATbots out of the way, Bunnie, Tails, Rotor and myself will put the explosives in position. It'll take all four of us, as the building is larger than I first expected. Rotor – do we have enough explosives for the job?'

'According to Uncle Chuck we do. We just have to hope for the best…'

'Ok then. I'll leave it to you to ration them out before we commence. Again, I stress to all of you; after you get in, get the job done and get out immediately. According to Nicole, we only have another… twelve minutes until Zhora goes live. And from what I've seen, Robotnik never misses a deadline.

'I know that it's a rather ramshackle plan, but as far as I can see, it's all we've got. Does anyone have any questions?'

'Just one,' said Sonic. 'How are we going to set these things off? I don't like the idea of a timer…'

'Neither do I,' answered Rotor. 'Tails and I have created self-powered remote detonators for the explosives which have already been wired into place. Nicole has been configured to send the detonation signal after we have managed to get to a safe enough distance away.'

Sonic nodded in acknowledgment. Nicole beeped softly, getting Sally's attention.

'Eleven minutes.' She said, reading from the computer. 'Go. Now.'

Sonic didn't argue; immediately, he jumped over the jagged pile of scrap metal and sprinted towards the monolithic, gray building.

'Hey SWAT-butts!'

'PRIORITY ONE – HEDGEHOG' answered a raspy metal voice as Sonic was spotted, followed closely by the sharp zap of laser fire. Sonic's feet colliding with the concrete could be heard as he ran, making the two bots follow him out of sight.

Rotor, meanwhile, had opened his and Tails' backpacks and withdrawn sixteen black, plastic boxes. Their only conspicuous features were tiny antennae that protruded about an inch from each one.

'These have an incredibly strong adhesive on the underside,' he said, showing them to the other three who had gathered around. 'There are sixteen in all, which means we get four each. Try and place them as low on the building as possible, and near a corner if possible – doing this should shatter the foundation and the structure. Any questions on their operation?'

None were asked.

'Excellent,' said Sally. 'Sonic has already dealt with at least one pair of SWATbots, maybe more if we are lucky. Just remember that reinforcements may arrive at any time – if any of you get into trouble, run. Time is against us, as always – let's go!'

The group jumped over the top as Sonic had done, albeit slightly slower. With no bots in sight, they ran as quickly as they could to their respective sides of the building, carrying the small black explosives as they went. Tails opted to fly, and so took the furthest wall of the building, facing away from their original position.

Bunnie was the first to reach her target, as it was the closest wall to their position. With no bots in sight, she pressed the underside of one of the black boxes hard against the grey concrete of the building. Removing her hand, she found it had latched on without fail. She continued to move down the long wall, spreading the four explosives as evenly as she could.

Sally and Rotor reached their walls – the smaller sides of the rectangle that bore home to the nest of thick, humming electrical wires – at around the same time. They each attached their payload of explosives evenly across the concrete, low to the ground as Rotor had been sure to insist. As soon as they finished their job, they immediately ran back to their position behind the pile of scrap metal, wary of any SWATbots that Sonic may have missed.

When Tails reached his end of the building, he dropped to the ground and began attaching the black explosives to the grey concrete wall. The first three latched on without event, and all seemed to be going well. As he pressed the fourth against the furthest end of the building, however, a voice caught him from behind.

'FREEDOM FIGHTER. STAY WHERE YOU ARE. PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD IMMEDIATELY.'

A SWATbot. Tails turned and faced the machine, noticing that there were two as he did so. The black box remained attached to the wall, his mission complete.

He looked up quickly, wondering if he would be able to outfly the two bots. Glancing at their outstretched laser arms, he realized that it would be a suicidal effort. Reluctantly, he placed his hands behind his head.

Smash

The blue blur caught Tails off guard as it rocketed across his vision, reducing the two bots to mangled trash. It returned almost as quickly, stopping in front of him.

'Nice going there, big guy! Almost got yourself killed.'

'I was on top of it! I had a plan!'

'Yeah, whatever,' chuckled Sonic. 'Come on, let's get out of here.'

Tails jumped onto Sonic's back, letting him transport him back to their meeting place. Within a matter of seconds, they had arrived.

'Oh thank goodness!' breathed Sally, relieved. 'Come on, we need to get out of here – eight minutes till launch!'

Without a word, the group began to run towards a hill they had decided upon earlier. It lay on the outskirts of Robotropolis, and provided a view of the entire city. The rhythmic blinking of lights and belching of smoke into the nighttime atmosphere were among the more eye-catching features of the cityscape.

As they arrived at the summit, they paused to catch their breath. Sally looked at Nicole once more, and read the data like a court verdict; 'Six minutes.'

'Are we ready to detonate?' asked Rotor, eager to get the job done and put the nightmare behind him.

'But—' interrupted Sonic before Sally could answer him; 'but Sal – what happens if the explosives don't fire? Do we have a backup plan? What if they fire, and they are not enough? Six minutes…'

'If this plan fails…' sighed Sally heavily, almost in defeat. 'If this plan fails, then may God have mercy on all our souls…'

Looking down at Nicole once more, she prepared to detonate.

- - - - -

The thick oak branch, meanwhile, continued to press against the ancient, grey dam. The current behind it pushed harder as it blocked the waters path through the thin, rusty grill, and an audible groan could be heard as the concrete struggled to absorb the force.

A thousand miles away, the tiny bird that had landed on the thick branch twenty-two hours before came to rest on another tree, on a limb that overlooked yet another flowing stream. The branch didn't snap, however; fate allowed the tiny animal to take a well earned break from a day of flying. Chaos is many things; never consistent.

A small splash could be heard far below as a grey brick of concrete crumbled from the dam and fell into the water on the other side. Within seconds, more of the dam started to crumble. As the bird was to the oak tree, so was the oak tree to the old, concrete structure.

With a sudden lurch, the tree crashed over the top of the dam and fell through to the other side, ripping up even more concrete as it went. Undeterred, it surfaced on the other side, and continued to drift downstream.

The top of the dam now exposed to the night sky, water rushed into the hollow structure. Concrete continued to crumble, and the current steadily adjusted to a state of calm once more.

The ruined dam far behind, the thick oak branch continued its perpetual drift into the night.

- - - - -

On the hillside, Sally looked at Nicole, then once more at the Ropotroplian cityscape. The lights continued to blink, and the factories continued to belch their pollution into the night sky.

'Two minutes and counting,' she said to the others. 'Detonation imminent. Nicole, stand by…'

- - - - -

The shattered dam let more water flow into its hollow cavity as the thick branch continued to drift further downstream. Every now and then, another solid piece of grey concrete would come loose under the pressure and plunge into the water below.

The stars above continued to twinkle; the thick oak branch continued to drift. The night air was cold, and a chill breeze blew along the water.

- - - - -

'And on my mark… detonate.'

Sally spoke the words with firmness, not removing her eyes from Nicole. Two long seconds of uncertainty ensued as the explosives received and registered the detonation signal; it felt like an eternity.

Then boom – a massive explosion resonated into the night sky, shaking the ground. Sonic and the others looked in awe at the fireball that was once the main power distribution center; from a deep crater, filled with concrete and molten metal, rose a towering plume of black smoke.

Sally felt as though an enormous weight had been removed from her shoulders, and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt a strange kind of warmth as Bunnie's metallic hand came to rest on her shoulder.

'We did it, Sally-girl! We killed it! Oh my, ah feel so relieved…'

Sally smiled, and turned to face her. 'I guess we did,' she said; 'we all did.'

Sonic, Tails and Rotor held back cheers as they witnessed the entire horizon turn to black, the luminous glow of Robotropolis put out at last. The rhythmic, blinking lights had been replaced by a towering inferno, and the only smoke that rose into the sky came not from factories, but from a deep crater.

- - - - -

As the water poured into the fast expanding gap made by the thick oak branch, the innards of the dam began to drown under the current. The water found its way into every gap that appeared, and rapidly eroded the ancient concrete that had blocked the river for so long.

The water flowed across and downwards, stabbing into the heart of the dam. It washed over dusty control panels, and swept away the cobwebs that had since formed. Before long, it found a set of rusty, metal turbines.

Creaaak…

As the water continued to flow past them, the current gripped and began to turn them. At first, the rusty surface of the turbines created enough friction to oppose the motion. But, as the current steadily increased with the erosion of the surrounding concrete, the turbines began to turn more freely, grinding away the thick red grain and accelerating towards an unseen goal.

The water did not understand this, though. The water merely flowed through the doors opened to it by fate.

The dam continued to crumble. The turbines continued to rotate. The large oak branch that had been dislodged hours before continued to drift downstream.

It wasn't alone, though; through the onslaught of twisted metal and blocks of concrete, a wooden board plunged into the water, dislocated from its throne atop the dam.

Mobotropolis Power Authority, it read: Hydroelectric Station Six.

- - - - -

'You were great, Sal!' congratulated Sonic as he looked over a blacked out Robotropolis. 'You too, Rotor! Those explosives were way past cool!'

'Oh Sonic, we all helped in one way or another,' said Sally, smiling. 'We mustn't get too comfortable though; this was just a sticky-tape solution to buy us some time. The missiles are still intact, remember…'

'That's true,' agreed Rotor, 'but it was still a solution nonetheless. That damage will take Robotnik at least a week to repair – we should be able to think of a plan easily within that time, and I already have a good idea of where we could start.'

Sally just smiled, and looked once again at the blacked out landscape of Robotropolis. Without electricity, it was nothing more than a corpse, she reflected; they had cut off its lifeblood. They had ripped out its jugular.

'Come on guys,' she said, elated. 'Let's get out of here. I think we all need to get some rest.'

Everyone agreed. And with that, they turned and started heading back towards Knothole, feeling victorious. In their hearts, they knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to stand up and fight against Robotnik again, but for now, they were going to enjoy their lives; they were going to enjoy freedom, and be content with what they had accomplished.

'Aunt Sally!' pierced Tails' voice through the silent night air, 'Aunt Sally! The lights are coming back on! Look!'

The group suddenly turned around again. With alarm, Sally saw that the young fox was right; like a Christmas tree, the lights of Robotropolis gradually switched back on. After a matter of seconds, smoke was once again rising from the factories.

'Oh mah stars…' uttered Bunnie, 'how in the world..?'

'Sal!' rushed Sonic, the bite of anxiety clear in his voice, 'how long did you say we had until the missiles were ready to launch?'

Sally reached for Nicole and held it in front of her, reading.

'Well, according to Nicole, we have… oh no… oh no…'

As her heart sank, a single tear came to her eye.

'Oh no…'

With a powerful roar, ten more explosions rocked the Robotroplian landscape. These weren't random though – they were orchestrated. As the slender rockets of death raced into the sky, four arcing towards the Great Forest over a now illuminated, sinister looking Robotropolis, the Knothole Freedom Fighters knew one thing:

Their lives were over.

- - - - -

The thick oak branch continued to drift downstream, leaving the furious turbines of a ruined hydroelectric dam far behind. Coming to rest against a muddy bank, its journey was over at last; the tranquil sound of running water a fitting melody to the tapestry of stars above.

The bird that had landed on it so long before had since come to rest in another tree, miles and miles away. It would never know of what happened to the oak branch it once tried to call home. Indeed, it had long forgotten the occurrence.

As it twittled and cooed softly, cleaning its feathers, the dam at last decided it could take no more. The overbearing current taking hold, the hollow structure collapsed upon itself, imploding with a climatic splash and crashing into the very river it had held back for so long. Crushed by concrete, the turbines spun no more – in the far distance, the Robotroplian lights turned to black once again, no longer sustained by the weak power of an ancient generator.

And in the background, the great forest burned: illuminated by one thousand suns forged from chaos.

-