-Sonic Hearts-

Act II: The Secret Admirer

Chapter 7

Sally Alicia Acorn was always considered the perfect little daughter, and as such was the center of her father's world. This grated on the young chipmunk, who now found herself with a burden of responsibilities and expectations heaped upon her. As she sat at a lone wooden desk with her head in her hands, she thought only of her compatriots waiting for her to be free from Julayla's lessons. Especially when it came to her "history" lessons...

The brown-furred feline, with the faintest of lines under her eyes giving away her thirty years of experience in the world, tilting the gold frame of her bifocals downwards to regard the princess with a sharp glare. She rapped the desk with a firm ruler carved especially for the tutor, with her name engraved on the oaken surface. Sally immediately snapped to attention, her blue eyes regarding Julayla with blue eyes that shined with the faintest glint of tears.

Sighing heavily, the aged cat ran her fingers through her tightly braided red hair and aimed the ruler at a simple message inscribed on the chalkboard. Clear erasure marks taking up the majority of the surface signified that it had started out something far more complex, but the Princess could no longer make it out. The only words left behind were "To Rule With Honor".

"Ms. Acorn, ruminate on these words before we convene again. It is clear you are tired and wanting of company. Go to your friends and practice what you have learned today..." Springing up from her chair, a wide smile formed on the young lady's face as she scrambled out the door, free at last!

–

"Free at last..." Sally mused aloud, now a seasoned Freedom Fighter with numerous victories under her belt. It had taken a couple weeks for that fact to sink in as her tight knit group of Bunnie, Antoine, and Sonic formed up behind yet another pile of rubble leading toward their destination. The sparse patrols of Swat-Bots, which had continued to dwindle in frequency every day, invited complacency but the ever alert chipmunk knew better. That's usually when things are bound to go wrong...

Motioning to spread out, the half-cyborg rabbit and the Royal Guard himself took up positions beside a heavy steel door barring entry into yet another of Robotnik's old factories. Pillars of steam rose skyward from several grates surrounding the entryway as the rabbot firmly grasped the handle of the door, tearing it cleanly from its mooring and holding the hunk of alloy triumphantly above her head! "Way's open, sugar!"

"So far, so good Sal..." The blue hedgehog beside her was tightly wound as he continued to eye the coyote keeping a look out as Bunnie tossed aside the door with an impassioned grunt. "Looks like Antoine's got his act together too. Buns wasn't kiddin' about him growing a spine!" Sally affixed her companion with a stern look as Sonic shrugged non-apologetically. "It was a compliment! Chill."

A muffled shriek drew their attention back towards Antoine, who now had his hands covered over his muzzle. Pointing further down the ruins of the street leading further into Robotropolis, Sally followed his gaze and found a pair of hover units shooting down the narrow road! "Abort the mission! We've been spotted! Split up and meet at the rendezvous point!" What are they doing here!? I thought all the patrols were on a fixed pattern now!

"C'mon, sugah-Twan! Let's take the back way outta here!" Bunnie cried as she scooped up the tense young guard and tapped a conspicuous button on her right ankle. The two shot into the air as the rabbot's robotic legs extended towards the roof! A high-pitched yell escaped Antoine's maw as the half-metal lady slung him onto the top and grabbed the ledge with her robotic arm, allowing her legs to catch back up with her body!

"Nice move!" Sonic yelled as his partner leapt into his arms, now content that the two lovebirds were safe for the time being. She could already hear the hedgehog revving up for a nightly chase! "Hang tight! We're juicin'!"

With that, the blue blur rocketed back toward the relative safety with the two hover units in tow!

"Something's fishy, Sonic... We've been able to predict their movements and plan around them without any problems! What's going on!?" Sonic shook his head in response to Sally's query and pointed toward a wide gap ahead of the pair,

"Think I could make that jump, Sal?" Her eyes widened nervously in response with mouth agape at the suggestion. Even though he had proved her wrong on several occasions, she was always prepared for disaster. Still...

"We got no time to argue! Go for it...!" A scream erupted from her as the two found themselves flying over the open pit. Suddenly, Sally saw a glint of something shining below as a steel projectile shot upward from the center, lodging itself into one of the hover units! An explosion soon followed, flinging the two far across the chasm with considerable force. A quick front flip from the hedgehog righted their trajectory as he came to a skid with the princess clinging to him tightly!

"Whoa...! Did you see that, Sal? Major fireworks!" Sonic croaked as he dusted himself off, catching the other hover unit beside crashing into the side of the chasm before falling into its depths as well.

"Yeah... It came from down there. An old security system, maybe?" Sally regretted not bringing Nicole with her on this particular adventure, but the events of the day prior had left the AI lynx in dire need of repairs—more than what she could handle on her own. However, glancing over the edge she caught the fallen ship being dragged away into the darkness of the tunnels below. Is...there someone living down there!?

A hand clasped over her shoulder, startling the wound-up lady as she leapt to her feet with a shout! Turning around, she saw Sonic tapping his foot impatiently. "C'mon. Let's talk about it when we get back to Knothole! If the patrols are off their route, who knows how many Swat-Bots will be swarming us next!" With a silent nod, Sally jumped into the awaiting arms of the blue hedgehog as they sped off toward relative safety...

–

"Graceful and quick thinking as always..." A raspy, yet somehow youthful voice echoed out of the pit once the two Freedom Fighters were out of earshot. A lithe shape stood at the edge of a shaft of light trailing downward into the pit, with only a single green scaled hand resting on the hull of the remaining downed hover unit to hint at a possible identity. Two Swat-Bots, stripped of their armor and resting motionless were all that remained when its task was finished. Turning on its heels, the figure disappeared once more into a nearby tunnel as the sound of metal scraping the ground followed it. "I think it's past time I invited you to my domain underneath, Princess Sally..."