Chapter 8: Knothole sweet Knothole


Mobius - Knothole

It was the cool of the evening, Crickets were chirping around the trio as they walked to Alyx's new tree house. Around them, people were settling in for the evening, heading back to their homes.

Alyx followed behind Sonic, Tails at her side. They made their way behind the central great tree, to a group of old sheds and other assorted oddities. Above them were more of the tree houses, clustered rope bridges linking the platforms. Alyx smiled a giddy grin. "That's so amazing! How did you guys build all this!"

Tails glanced over to her. "We scavenged a lot of building materials from that Starline complex we came through." He looked back to the elaborate network of platforms, bridges, and safety rails. "As for the construction, we've got a very dedicated Robian wood worker. She loves to build stuff. She stepped up to the task years ago. Other than lifting the new platforms, she basically does this all herself."

Sonic nodded, glancing over his shoulder. "Belle's an interesting Gal." They started ascending one of the ramps, overlooking a small air hanger with a vertical landing pad in front of it. It looked like they had built the catwalks deliberately to avoid the landing pad. "If you're going to be hanging out in the lab below Rotor's workshop, then I'm sure you'll meet her." They arrived at the top of the ramp to a platform. Connected to the platform, there was a curved suspension bridge, angled to miss the landing pad. On the other side, there was a small cluster of houses perched around the tree's base on a big circular platform. "She spends most of her free time there, since Robians can't sleep and we aren't in constant need of new housing anymore." He pointed to the hanger below them. "That's Rotor's workshop. There's a staircase in the back to the basement computer lab. Belle's house is actually up here, just past the hanger." He pointed to one of the tree houses on the central platform in front of them. "We got to talking and Belle was actually wondering if you'd want to be neighbors."

Alyx nodded then hesitated remembering something she heard. "You said she was a Robian? Is that a roboticized Mobian?"

The three stopped on the rope bridge before they could make it to the next platform. Tails looked over to Alyx. "Yeah, Belle's roboticized, she's one of the few that figured out how to break the mind control. Uncle Chuck's also roboticized."

Sonic noticed her nervousness and frowned. "Is that going to be a problem?" He questioned.

Alyx slowly shook her head. "No, It shouldn't be. Sorry, just still trying to figure out in my head how that works." Her mouth formed a slight wince. "Is… Is it like… still her brain, but in a robot body?"

The trio slowly continued for the tree houses. Tails nodded. "It's something like that… Roboticization seems to convert the brain into an isolated component with its own mini bioreactor." He grimaced, looking disgusted. "We've been able to take some scrapped robians apart... it looks like there is still a biological brain inside... They slowly continued about a third of the way to the outcrop of houses.

Alyx looked bewildered. "How does it stay alive?!" She hissed.

Sonic put a finger to his chin, gently rubbing as he looked off into space. "Uncle chuck told me he just has to drink water. Everything is handled by the junk in his head, I guess it just recycles stuff..." He shrugged. "He can eat but I guess that can stink after a while, so Chuck's settled for drinking water like before he broke free." He sighed. "Belle's a little different though…"

Alyx's ears drooped a bit. "What does that mean?" She stopped.

The two boys noticed and stopped. Tails got an amused look. "She customized her body. She's using an old animatronic her dad made for their arcade... or restaurant... " He glanced to Sonic. "What was that place called again?"

Sonic wagged his eyebrows. "You mean mouse casino for kids?"

Tails got a flat look. "Oh ha ha, funny. I'm being serious, I cant remember the name."

Sonic smiled. "It was called Mr. Tinker's Arcade, or Wondercade if you were more CULTURED!" He rose a hand, putting a pinky out to be fancy and dramatic. "Sal used to drag us there as kids. She loved arcade stuff." His act dropped as he looked to the fox. "That's where we found you, remember?"

"Nope!" Tails gave a dry reply. "Don't remember that early."

Sonic sighed, scratching the back of his head. He gave a thoughtful look to Alyx. "So, let's be up front. Belle isn't the most popular. Some consider what Belle's done to herself to be embracing what happened to her."

Tails gave him a flat look. "Really? Is that still happening that much?" He shook his head, sighing. "I guess some of the others haven't gotten over the fact some of us are mutants either…" He mumbled. "I think she made an improvement! She put so much effort into her eyes too…" Tails started walking again, the two following him. "It's not like she got rid of her old body either. If we ever find a way to reverse the process, she just has to move her brain back to the old body." Tails brought a hand up to his mouth to yodle. "Hey Belle! Long time!"

A head popped out of the porch window on the nearest house. "HI TAILS!" The girl enthusiastically waved while leaning out the window. She leaned too far, slipping. "AHHHH!" She tumbled to the porch.

Tails swore under his breath as he bolted to the Robian splayed on the ground. Alyx and Sonic jogged after, catching up to Tails as he struggled to help pull the robian's heavy chassis to her feet.

"Thanks Tails!" She smiled nervously.

Tails looked the robot over. "No splinters or cracks?"

She looked herself over. "I don't feel anything off, not a big deal if there's a scratch though, I can sand and paint later."

Alyx got a good look at the Robian. Her mechanics seemed thin and covered in wood finish, making her appear to be a life size puppet. She seemed to be a generic Mobian of no discernable race with orange paint as pho-fur. Her muzzle wasn't painted, showing the grain finish of the wood that made her face. Her eyes seemed to be two flat screens underneath her face plate that animated her expression. Her hair seemed to be orange colored yarn, two pigtails poked out the back of a green bandana. She was wearing green work overalls over a pink shirt.

The wooden girl looked over to Alyx, her eyes excited. "Hi! I'm Belle!" She hesitated, the expression dropping a bit. "I heard you were going to be working in the computer lab a lot, so I thought I'd put you up around here." For a robot, she started to look nervous. "Short commute and all."

Alyx stepped forward putting her fist out to bump. "I'd love to be neighbors!" She smiled.

The Robian's eyes lit with excitement. "Great!" Her confidence returned as she met the girl's fist with her gloved one. "Come on!" She waved the group over. "Right around the other side. Take your pick I guess!" She said, placing her hands on her hips.

Alyx stepped over to the nearest door. "I guess this will do fine!" Alyx smiled, moving to open the door. It was locked.

Alyx was passed a key on a ring by the Robian who gave a nervous smile. "We've had some issues in the past with people breaking into others homes..."

Sonic huffed. "People used to know better, we've grown in the last 10 or so years though." He shook his head as he leaned against one of the support poles. "It hasn't been an issue for a while, but better safe than sorry I guess…"

Alyx nodded. "I'll keep that in mind I guess..." She opened the door into a small room, it had a bed on one side and a desk on the other. There was a door in the back of the room.

Belle came up beside her. "There's a basic restroom in the back with a small incinerator for waste. There's a sink with water from the central pump as well, no heater for it I'm afraid." The android looked sheepish. "Sorry we got to stick you in a tree house like this though…" She started rubbing the back of her neck while avoiding eye contact. "Cabins are reserved for families and the huts are for people who were here first or have major issues with heights." She chuckled. "Space is a premium now."

Alyx looked ecstatic. "Are you kidding? When I heard treehouse I thought I was going to be camping in a box! THIS IS AMAZING! HOW DID YOU GUYS GET ALL THIS STUFF!?" She turned, smiling to Tails. "You guys really found all these building materials just laying at that industrial mining complex?"

Tails nodded. "Nicole found it in some records. It was in an underground portion of the complex. We have limited access there, but she managed to hack the door. It's almost all gone, but it was like someone was preparing to rebuild society."

Belle clasped her hands, looking wistful. "Everything you'd ever need to build a town!" She started listing on her fingers. "Wood, plumbing, wire, metal,concrete… by the dates of some of the supplies, it looks like whoever did that had been stocking up building materials for years." She sighed. "It was most likely for the Great Echidna War, but I wish I could thank them."

A pang of envy started in Alyx's heart and her smile faltered, why did these people get to have such a safe haven? She quashed the toxic thoughts. Comparing situations wasn't helpful at all. She smiled again, confident. Her people would have a safe haven soon too.

Tails noticed her expression shift. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Just thinking of home, it's nothing."

Tails nodded. "Okay."

Sonic pushed off the wall he was leaning on. "I better head back, Sal's probably wondering what's taking so long."

Belle waved. "See ya Sonic!" She smiled. "Stop by and say hi more often! I'm sure Rote would love to have you see the new contraptions he's working on!"

He chuckled. "I should." He waved to the three. "See ya guys!" Then turned to leave.

Alyx moved to the desk, setting her bag at the foot. "This is going to be good..." She smiled to herself. She looked at miles, "You got a watch right? What time is it?"

He glanced at the wrist computer. "Looks like 1900 or 7:00 PM."

Alyx thought for a second. "Didn't that Tangle girl say she was having a bonfire tonight?" She met his gaze. "Can we go? Or can you show me where it is?"

He nodded. "Yea, we should be able to go." He looked to Belle. "You wanna go?"

Belle seemed to shrink a bit. "I appreciate the invite, but I think I'll go see what Rotor's up to before he goes to bed." She turned, giving a curt nod to Alyx. "It was nice meeting you Alyx, I hope you enjoy your new home." She absconded, leaving the foxes alone.

Alyx noticed the mood shift. "Is something wrong?"

Tails frowned. "I…" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Not everyone here is the most understanding, people can follow rules but they don't always follow the spirit of the rules..." He shook his head, an annoyed look on his face. He waved her to the door. "Come on, lets go to Tangle's"

She followed him, closing and locking the door. "What do you mean by people follow the rules, but don't follow the spirit of the rules?"

Tails grumbled as he led her down the catwalks to the ramp. "So to put it more bluntly. You can't discriminate by denying services to Robians or Mutants... but..." He gave a deep sigh. "There isn't really much you can do about personal relationships between people... As long as they don't cause huge fights... It's not like people can really fight here anyways…" He shook his head. "Nevermind, Sometimes people slug each other anyways and fight outside the forest." They started descending the ramp and he put a palm to his forehead. "Sally tries her best to keep the peace and act if and when someone goes overboard but again, there's only so much you can do and kicking out a big group of people would just add more to the potential workerbots building Robotnik's machines."

Alyx frowned as they descended the ramp. "You've mentioned mutants a few times, What do you mean by that?"

He paused giving her a really weird look. "Uhh..."

She frowned back. "What?" He pointed to his rear, moving his two tails in different directions. Her eyes got wide. "WOW, THAT'S SO COOL! YOU CAN MOVE THEM INDEPENDENTLY!?"

He choked a laugh back. "What did you think this was, if not a mutation?"

She hesitated, a nervous grin on her face. "I don't know... normal?"

He blushed under his fur. "Umm..."

She shrugged. "I don't know, mines got a crook." She brought her own tail forward, grabbing it. "But that's because I slammed it in a door on accident."

Tails looked at her crooked tail in bewilderment. "You did what?" He turned, pushing off the warm feeling he was getting. "R- right, lets get to Tangle's..."

They reached the bottom. Alyx frowned. "Do people really pick on Belle? Is that why she didn't want to come?"

They started heading to the great Tree in the center of the village. Tails did his best to push off his flustered feelings and shrugged. "Maybe pick on isn't the best word. Some people can be cold... After a while you can pick up on it, it gets old quick." He put his hands in the borrowed jacket's pockets. "People are people though, they stick to their friend groups. Tangle has a lot of friends though, she doesn't like to turn people away."

Alyx noticed A yellow wolf in flannel walking the same direction as them. She nervously smiled. "Whisper! Is that you? Are you going to Tangle's bonfire too?"

The older girl noticed them and nodded. She made her way over to them. "Hi." She rasped. Her nose scrunched. "Tails…"

He looked at her questioningly. "Yeah?"

"Go home and wash, I can tell..." She stepped away from him, scrunching her nose. "You still reek of blood, I think you're both scent blind if you can't tell right now."

Alyx frowned. "What are you talking about, scent blind?'' She looked at Tails. "No one else has said anything."

Tails laughed nervously. "I guess I am a bit scent blind right now… I've spent the last couple of months scavenging in the acidic fumes of the industrial district... My scent should come back strong at some point..." He looked sheepish. "I tried being careful, but there's only so much you can do…"

Alyx reiterated. "There's something I'm not understanding here. How come Whisper is the first one to say anything? Why should I be able to smell blood like that?"

Tails looked confused. "You're not sensitive to blood?"

She skipped to be next to him, meeting his gaze. "I don't think so? Should I be?"

Whisper looked at her confused, she held her hand to the base of her neck to speak a bit louder. "Canines have a gift for hunting, part of that gift is scent tracking by blood." Her face scrunched. "It's not the most pleasant scent when it's old though." She turned, glaring at Tails. "Go home and wash before coming to Tangle's. I don't want to smell that massive patch on your back all night."

He looked sheepish. "Ok…" He turned, meeting Alyx's gaze. "You can follow Whisper to Tangle's. I'll meet you guys later."

Alyx nodded. "Okay, See ya soon!" The boy turned, making his way to his own hut and the public wash.

She turned and followed the older girl. Alyx could see a bonfire coming up with a group of people sitting around it.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked over to the yellow wolf. She looked nervous, avoiding Alyx's gaze. "I want to apologize again for earlier... Holding a knife like that to your throat and cutting you, even a little... I want to apologize..." She wheezed.

Alyx felt at her neck, still feeling the subtle sting of the nick in her throat. "It's ok, I should have made what I was doing clearer." She hesitated, the thought striking her. "Can't you smell my neck?"

"I can." She hesitated. "It's not the most pleasant, but it's not overwhelming like his was." She shook her head.

It was evening and the summer sun was starting to set, leaving the area in twilight. They were getting closer to the bonfire, more mobian faces became discernible. A blue skunk pointed at them and Tangle's head turned, squinting. She smiled brightly, getting up and running to meet them. "GUYS! HEY!" She gave both girls a hug, then pulled both their wrists for them to join the group. "Glad you could make it!" She paused, her head tilting. "Where's Tails?"

Whisper sat next to Shadow and Amy. "He needed to clean up before coming." She sat, resting her head on her arms crossed over her legs. "He shouldn't be long.

Tangle nodded. "Alright!" She turned to Alyx gently grabbing her wrist to drag her around to meet people. "Alright everyone! We've got a newcomer, say hi to Alyx! Let's all give a little intro and welcome! Share a fun fact about yourself or something!"

Tangle stopped in front of Shadow and Amy first. Shadow grumbled, his arms crossed as he looked away. "We already met."

Amy poked him and he growled at her. She frowned, shaking her head. She met Alyx's gaze. "I like music, do you play anything, Alyx?"

Alyx sheepishly shook her head. "I never got the chance to learn anything like that."

Amy perked. "That's ok, Maybe you'll have time now!"

Tangle nodded, dragging the girl to the next pair. It was a pair of skunks in patchwork leather armor. One was tan and white where the other was shorter with blue and white. The taller one seemed to have a stubbed tail, he was leaning his back against a log, his arms crossed over his chest.

The smaller skunk puffed up, pointing a thumb to his chest. "Call me Rough! I guess I like rhymes and poetry!"

Shadow grumbled. "If that's what you call what you do, okay…"

The older teen glared at the black and red hedgehog. "You got something to say pup?"

"I just did." He rolled his hand in the air. "Please, continue…" Shadow dralled.

The teen skunk sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He used his free hand to gesture to the taller skunk. "This is my brother, Tumble–"

"I can speak for myself." He cut his brother off. "He gave a shark grin to Alyx. "I'm Tumble, I guess I like sparring but that's difficult to do here…" He tapped a finger to his chin. "Coming up with rhymes is fun too I guess."

Tangle bent down, bringing the two into a hug. Her tail swished as she wrapped her arms around their necks, causing both to yelp. The shorter blue skunk blushed, looking away as his tan brother just looked annoyed. "Aww, I knew you guys could play nice! See!" She let go, letting them sit back down. She turned to glare at Shadow. "Don't egg them on Shadow, I heard that comment."

Shadow rolled his eyes, looking away as he leaned back in his seat. "Yeah, I got it."

The lemur sighed, a frustrated look on her face. "Right..." She blinked, smiling back to Alyx. "Next we have Cream!" She gestured to a teen Rabbit, sitting on a log.

The cream colored rabbit was wearing a simple dress. She gave a bright smile and waved. "Hello Alyx!" She started tapping a finger to her lips as her eyes looked up. "Let's see." She mumbled. "I guess I like baking sweets when we get flower but regular cooking is fun as well. There's also helping Mother with the rest of the orphans at the manor, reading them stories and all. Sewing is fun, oh and quilting!"

Tangle interrupted her before she could continue her huge list. "Alright! Thank's Cream!" The droopy eared rabbit looked slightly flustered as Tangle swiftly moved to the next little group.

It was a couple in their mid 30's. The girl was a white bat and the guy was a large red echidna, both wearing what looked to be worn adventurer clothes "This is Rouge and Knuckles!"

Alyx waved to them. "Hi! I think I met your son at Sally's house!"

The bat smiled. "Ahh, so you must be the newcomer Brandon mentioned." She rose an eyebrow. "The so-called human computer expert." That perked the ear of most everyone there.

Knuckles nudged his wife. "We're saying hello right now, you can gossip after." He grunted.

She gave him a withering glare, then rolled her eyes. "Fine." She shook her head. She smiled, placing her fingers to her heart, outstretching the other hand towards Alyx for dramatic flair. "I'm Rouge, and this is my husband Knuckles. We're here for the free fire right now." She motioned passed them to another red Echidna. "That's my daughter Ava." The girl waved. The white bat pulled her legs up, crossing her arms over her knees. "We're retired treasure hunters, taking a break to raise a family I guess..." She stretched back out. Folding her legs. "We're from the East!" She rolled her eyes. "Well, Mom and Dad were from Acorn territory but They didn't really like talking about the past. I'm still trying to figure that out but mom had to have been some sort of deposed noble, I'm sure of it!" She smiled at the girl. "Guess that's an interesting fact about me, I'm interested in treasure and genealogy."

The older Echidna sighed. "I'm Knuckles, I Like exploring I guess. I spend most of my day helping at the farm and recently Vanilla has been teaching me the local written script."

Rouge smiled, her eyes half lidded. "About bloody time..." She mumbled.

Knuckles forced a grin, trying to ignore his wife's jab. "I'm finally finding enough time and reason to. I didn't need more than the ancient scripts before!"

Tangle nodded, moving to the next two. Two young girls, maybe in their early teens. The first was the red Echidna, she had a mousy face covered with thin glasses. She was a bit large for a mobian, like her father. Her dreads were long and fell behind her shoulders. She wore a modest dress and was clutching a thick book. She smiled nervously, her eyes darting to Rouge and Knuckles who were silently bickering with each other. She looked back to Alyx. "I'm Ava!" She said softly. "I like history and reading."

The other girl was a bit younger, maybe pre teens. She was a brown coyote with blond bangs covering her right eye. She was in shorts and a long sleeve baggy button up, it was almost like she was wearing a dress. The girl puffed up, putting her sleeve covered hands on her hips. "Elaine D'coolette, at your service!" She smiled. "You can call me Elly though." Her eye brightened. "You can catch me at the archery range a lot! Hope to see you there!"

The tan skunk started audibly snickering, drawing the group's attention. Elly's smile started to falter. Tangle frowned as she started to move to the skunks, she paused as Rough elbowed his brother. "Quit it Tumble!" He hissed. "I don't want to get kicked out!"

Tumble scoffed. "Whatever dude." He mumbled, quieting down.

Rough gave a nervous smile to Tangle. She sighed giving a soft smile back.

There was an awkward pause and the young coyote cleared her throat. She sighed, squinting, as if to collect herself. "I still think I'm one of the better shots." She lifted a sleeve covered hand to her bangs and drew them back. She didn't have an eye on her right side, it was just a smooth patch of fur. She let go of her bangs, letting them fall back in place. She opened her eye and smiled. "Daddy says it makes me sharper with the one I have." She brightened up. "Maybe you can come by the range and we can have a contest!" She smiled, sitting back down to rest her head on her knees. "Welcome to Knothole Alyx…"

The crickets grew louder as people started to turn on their lights. Windows illuminated in the cabins and huts around them, it was getting later.

"YO!" Tails shouted. They all turned, they could see him waving as he approached. "Hey guys!" Tails walked up, his fur was all frizzed up from his wash. He was wearing cargo shorts and a plain shirt.

Cream brightened. "Tails! You're back! You're ok!" She moved to get up as the boy stiffened. Rouge pulled her back down by her dress.

"Leave him alone." Rouge whispered. "We don't need you chasing the boy off with an overabundance of attention."

Cream frowned. "I just wanted to give him a hug!" She snapped to the older woman under her breath.

The older woman poked her shoulder. "I know you dear, I've seen you pester him to the point he makes some excuse and leaves. He just got home, leave the boy be."

The rabbit grumbled as she looked back to Tails who seemed to relax.

The yellow wolf looked up to the fox from her spot on the ground. "Welcome back." Whisper rasped. "Thankyou for doing that, you smell much better."

He grinned nervously. "Yea, that was way worse than I thought, Sorry about that Whisper."

Tangle turned leading Alyx back to Tails. "And of course you already know Tails and me!" She turned and made for the seat by Whisper. "Tell us a little about yourself Alyx! You like human computers? How did you even learn about those!"

Tails glanced at Alyx, a little alarmed, he mouthed "You told them?"

She blankly shook her head in response. The two foxes paused as the others looked questioning to the two. Alyx cleared her throat. "I guess I'm a realmwalker, I only recently got here. Where I was before, there were humans, most likely where Robotnik is from..."

Tails face scrunched, this conversation was going to be interesting...

The Tan Skunk grunted. "They invade and pollute that world too?"

Tails looked tired. He took a deep breath, then smiled, gesturing Alyx to a pair of free seats. Cream's eyes got a little wide, watching the two being so familiar, sitting next to each other.

Alyx sat, her back to a log, facing the fire. "Actually no, well I guess humans did pollute but that's… never mind. Earth got invaded by other Aliens." She sighed mentally preparing for the upcoming conversation. "Humans are the indigenous species there."

Cream frowned. "Well, from what I can tell, you seem normal enough…" She said, a slight hint of passive aggressiveness bleeding from her voice.

Tumble got a big grin. "Their homeworld got invaded?!" He started laughing. "Wish i could slap Robotnik in the face with that info! Hope his kind gets what they deserve!" His full blown laughter subsided into a fit of chuckles. "Tell me, how bad is it?"

Alyx frowned, a rage building. "Shut up…"

Tumble raised a brow. "What? What's your deal?" Quipped the tan skunk.

Alyx grit her teeth. "There's normal people on Earth, people that have nothing to do with what happened here!" She snapped.

Tails looked between Alyx and Tumble, uncomfortable. Most everyone else there looked surprised, a few looked disgusted.

Cream shifted in her seat, looking at the vixen weirdly. "So some of them aren't deranged?"

"Yes!" Alyx choked out.

Tangle seemed on edge, her eyes darting to everyone's faces. "Hey!" She blurted. Everyone looked at her. "This is an exciting experience to learn about something none of us know anything about! Not only do we have a real realmwalker here to tell us stories! But we also got the inside scoop on what Humans and their world are really like!" She grinned nervously, looking from face to face. "They can't all be bad!"

Tumble scoffed. "Whatever, Maybe they're normal. Doesn't change the fact that one of theirs came over and polluted enough to give me a stump tail."

Elly frowned. "I don't get you, you're a mutant too. Why do you give me a hard time about my eye?"

The older teen grumbled. "What was that pup? You got something to say to me?"

Tangle bristled. "Hey now! Your attitude's been bad enough! Don't speak to the kids like that!"

Rough grabbed his brother's shoulder and squeezed. "Please..."

Tumble growled, shaking his shoulder from his brother's grip. "What's your deal dude? Why do you want to put up with this?!" He got up, dusting his armor. "Let's bounce."

Rough's ears wilted, his eyes darting between his brother and Tangle. "I…"

Tumble growled, noticing his brother eyeing the lemur. "Fine!" He growled. "I'll see you at home. Don't stay out too long." He turned to leave the clearing.

The smaller blue skunk looked torn, growling in frustration. He let out a breath, looking irritated at the whole situation. "Yeah…" His attention returned to the group, everyone was looking at him. He flustered, looking at the newcomer, he motioned for her to continue. "You're a realm walker right? Tell us about whatever planet it is!" He blurted.

Everyone's eyes transitioned to Alyx who now really felt the spotlight on her. "Uhh."

Shadow of all of them perked leaning forward. "What's the human world like? It's similar to ours right?"

Alyx nodded. "Yeah, cities, forests… all this so far looks familiar."

"What happened to the humans?" He asked.

Amy looked curious at the boy, it wasn't like him to be interested in group conversations like this.

Alyx pulled her knees to her chest and crossed her arms over them. "I guess I should start from the beginning, or what I've been told."

She went into a story about rival science companies racing to build a practical teleporter, finding the border world Xen and the strange creatures that had found refuge there. She spoke of the resonance cascade, ripping a giant hole between Earth and the boarder world Xen. The eventual widening of the hole and the invasion of the Combine's Universal Union. Her ears drooped as she told her father's experience of the 7 hour war and the surrender of Earth. She told of the destruction of the ecosystem by the Antlions and the other invasive species from Xen. She hesitated, blushing under her fur as she recounted the fungal biomass infections that had crossed over from Xen. She shuddered as she told them of the different dangerous animals… She decided to skip the headcrabs that took over people's nervous systems and the lightning dogs that crawled into corpses to reanimate them to spare the kids having nightmares. Finally she got to the suppression field and the Combine's occupation of Earth."

Shadow frowned. "What's a suppression field?"

Alyx hesitated. "It's a device that prevents pregnancies, it can target specific species…"

Cream shifted nervously. "Wait, that means…"

"Where I'm from, I'm the youngest person I know." Alyx responded. She sighed. "Even if people leave the cities, the field is planet wide. Humanity is just waiting for extinction if it's not shut down."

Tails looked chilled at the concept. "How does that even work?"

She glanced at him. "One of my dad's friends told me it selectively prevents certain protein chains from forming that are essential to early embryo development, those pregnancies fail…"

Cream felt conflicted, She didn't like humans but that machine sounded horrible.

Rough frowned. "Is the Human planet's name really another word for dirt?" Alyx's expression dropped.

Tangle coughed, forcing the inappropriate laughter off, she glared at him. "Really dude?"

He flustered. "It's a legitimate question!" He looked at all of them. "Come on! I can't be the only one that was thinking that!" He grumbled looking down at the ground.

"Meathead." Whisper mumbled.

Alyx looked forlorn. "I… I guess it is…"

There was silence as the fire crackled. Shadow scooched up. "You mentioned you had a Dad."

Alyx froze, it probably wasn't a good idea to let them know–

"Was he a human?" Shadow asked.

She felt a cold sweat. She didn't want to lie to them. She slowly nodded, looking at the ground.

Rough and Cream got ridged. Rough got up, furious. "What?! You were raised by one of them?!"

Shadow got up and stomped over to the older teen. "You don't choose who raises you numb nuts! That's not how it works! Not for you, AND NOT FOR ME!" He grabbed the older boy's collar, pulling him forward from his sitting position. Shadow raised his fist. "QUIT IT! Or you and I WILL go for a ride!" He growled, his eyes squinted. "You may hit hard, but I know for a fact I can outlast you..."

Knuckles got up to separate the boys as Tails jumped to his feet. "WAIT DON'T!" The fox shouted. "NOT TONIGHT!" Both boys looked at Tails frantically running to them. "There's rumor that Robotnik's firebombings are going to start again! We can't be dumped outside the forest right now! You don't want to be caught in the crossfire!" Both boys quickly separated. Knuckles looking to the fox, giving a thankful look. He re-took his seat next to his wife as everyone hesitantly watched the two teens.

Rough dropped to his seat, holding his head in his hands. The skunk looked super frustrated and began to growl. "This conversation is weird enough already!" He groaned. He looked up to Tangle who looked nervous and uncomfortable. "I have to go." He shook his head. "I'm sorry Tangle, thanks for inviting me." He gave a sheepish grin then moved to follow his brother. On the way out he turned to glare at Shadow. "Be careful pup, Don't go picking fights you'll regret."

Shadow didn't even turn his gaze from the fire. "I don't think I'd regret picking a fight with you." He replied coldly.

Amy scooched forward, grabbing Shadow's hand. "Please stop." She whispered. "Tonight's supposed to be fun…"

"Fine." He grumbled.

The skunk growled as he turned to leave.

Once he was gone, Elly huffed. "Tangle… Why do you even invite Tweedle dee and Tweetle dumb…"

The lemur sighed, looking to the ground, her head in her hands. "Trust me, This is progress."

The young girl crossed her arms, she was annoyed. "But why invite them at all?" She sneered.

Tangle looked at the younger girl. "I want them to have another chance." Her big tail swished behind her. "Rough needs some work, but he's been attempting to socialize and actually participate in the group… I can't slap his hand away if he wants to be better... Work in progress, ya know?" She shrugged.

The young Coyote rolled her eye, pouting. "Whatever…"

Shadow pulled his hand from Amy's grip. He looked at the older Vixen as Amy's expression faltered. "What was your Dad like?" He asked.

Alyx relaxed back into her seat. "Dad… is Dad… He took care of me and hid us from the Combine. Kept the Combine from confiscating me, like the other kids... He hid me until I was tall enough to pass for an adult..."

Cream looked horrified. "Wait! What do you mean confiscate you?!"

Alyx shrugged. "People get shipped from city to city, torn away from friends and family first. Its a monthly thing if you comply with the system."

Cream thought of all the kids her mother took care of and started shaking. "Why would they do that?"

Alyx paused. "As a social species, It breaks your morale if you can't form meaningful relationships with others. The norm is for you to stay in one city for a few weeks and then you get randomly shipped to another city." Alyx looked at Tails. "That's also why they confiscate all food that isn't distributed by them."

Ava leaned forward. "I've read some of the horrible things that have happened on this planet before but… I don't get something about what you're telling me. Why are these Combine going to all the effort to do this? Why not just kill all the Humans?"

Alyx nodded. "Yeah, that threw me for a loop too when I could understand. Dad said it was because we were under evaluation to join their Universal Union. If humanity can't deliver any use to them then they probably plan on letting the species die." She sagged. "The main force that conquered Earth is gone at this point. Earth is just under occupation." She paused, then smiled. "It's been amazing seeing Mobius so far…"

The quiet girl nodded. "It's not perfect here, but we are thankful for what we have in these times."

Alyx looked up to the tree houses above, lights in windows showing. "I think you guys have it pretty great…" She mumbled.

The conversations continued as they entered the night. Alyx got to know each of them a little more and they got to know her a little more too. These people were just trying to get by, just like the people back home. Eventually it got late enough that everyone had to turn in, Tangle dumped a pail of water on the fire, putting the embers out. Alyx said goodbye to the group and Tangle skipped over, hugging her new friend goodbye. Tails led Alyx back to her new home as she smiled, thinking about how the day went.


Knothole - Sally's Cabin

Sally was finishing the reports for the day at her computer when she got a call. She mindlessly answered as she continued reviewing the mission reports. "Commander Acorn, What can I do for you?"

"Thought I'd let you know that Robotnik's firebombings are starting." The older robian's voice came over the channel.

The Chipmunk blinked, looking up to her monitor. "Uncle Chuck!"

The Robian Gave the equivalent of a warm smile. "Hi Princess! Ya got a minute?"

She nodded, stacking the paperwork to her side. "This stuff can honestly wait. I got through all the urgent reports earlier." She sighed. "Guess I was expecting the fire bombings to start…"

Chuck began typing and his video feed swapped with a night vision look outside the forest. There was a line of flamer variant swatbots marching towards the forest. As they started to get close, spraying flammable chemicals, there were flashes of light as their defending portals kicked into gear. They began pouring water on the flames licking at the trees. There were more flashes as portals started opening under the robots. They fell through to exits higher up. As the mess of robots were falling and spewing flames, a shredder of portals started bisecting parts, spilling fuel and sharp metal across the field that lit up. More portals opened pouring more water onto the fires. The battle field was littered with cut up swat bots and singed grass.

"Chatter I heard says is going to go on for a few weeks at least." Chuck mumbled. "I'll see if there's a schedule Robotnik's using so we can plan and avoid going out accordingly."

Sally frowned. "He's really going to waste that much resources?"

"It's a warning." Chuck grunted. "Here's where it actually affects us. There's a new squad loadout, in the outer city there's going to be flame variants patrolling with regular swatbots."

Sally groaned as she held her head. "So now we have to worry about fires even more." She dropped her head to the desk, missing the keyboard. "Great."

He chuckled. "Don't be dramatic, It doesn't fit you." She turned her head, looking to the screen. "I've got news of another problem."

Chuck noticed how exhausted she looked. "What?" He asked nervously.

She got up, leaning back in her swivel chair. "So Alyx arrived, she had quite the tail."

Chuck looked curious. "Oh?"

Sally nodded. "Few things actually. Make sure to keep an ear out for any weird activity in the old junkyard south of your outpost."

Chuck nodded. "Already doing that. I may have to leave to my backup soon actually. Robotnik has been setting up a perimeter, don't know why yet. He started using a new encryption earlier today." He grumbled. "Still trying to break it, shouldn't take too long."

Sally frowned. "Ok, I might know why he is starting to set up a perimeter. Alyx told me she may have come with some biologically unwanted guests."

Chuck frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sally sighed. "Some kind of biomass growing fungi that can eat through stone. Robotnik's probably already detected it and is trying to quarantine the area. If you're in the estimated perimeter, I want you to abandon your base."

The older Robian wilted. "But… Yes Ma'am, You're right." He grumbled, checking his maps. "Think i'm good for now but I'll start the mirror backup and plan to leave anyway. From what I could tell, Robotnik sent Snively to study the remnants of whatever portal Alyx fell out of."

Sally remembered something. "Hey uncle chuck.'' She pulled a worm in a clear plastic tube from her drawer. "I have something dangerous I need you to look into…" She relayed the info about the antlions and their potential use for the dangerous biomass cleanup."

Chuck was quiet. "I think I'm needed at Knothole more than out here if that's the case. Permission to come back?"

Sally laughed. "Your oath to stay until you weren't needed out there was your idea to begin with. As far as i'm concerned it's fulfilled, I've been meaning to talk to you about this anyways. We got the hardline to Robotropolis now. You can set up shop here permanently for all it matters. I'm sure Sonic would love to have you home." She put the grub back in her drawer and another nagging thought poked her mind. "When you get a chance, I have a suspicion…"

The older Hedgehog tilted his head. "Oh?"

"Can you check the video feeds for the main underground path?" She asked. "That teleporting realmwalker you spotted may have been tailing Tails and Alyx." She frowned.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

She gave him a quirky grin. "No, I'm asking you to check because I'm not sure., Just check before 1500 hours for their cart moving through the tunnels."

He nodded. "I can do that." He sighed. "You doin alright?"

She got up from the desk. "Long day, I actually need to turn in, the rest of the paperwork can wait for tomorrow." her fur was a bit frizzed . "Got a long day tomorrow hosting the festivities..." She sighed, putting her face in her hands. "Is there anything else we need to discuss tonight?" She muffled.

Chuck sighed, a pang of worry forming for his best friend's daughter. "No, go take care of yourself. Get some good sleep." he nodded. "I'll get things ready and start heading to Knothole soon. Maybe Rotor will let me set up a workstation in the computer lab."

Sally dropped her hands from her face as she gave him a tired smile. "That can definitely be arranged. Night Uncle Chuck."

"Goodnight dear." The gentle Robians voice cut out with the end of the call.

Sally turned to Nicole's hologram sitting on the desk watching her. "Goodnight Nicole."

The holographic lynx smiled. "Goodnight Ma'am. Wake me if you need anything." The hologram flickered out as the violet drone entered sleep mode.

Sally pushed in her chair and moved from the dining room to the hallway bedrooms. She stopped at her son's room, seeing lights shine under the door. She sighed, It was late, what was he still doing up? She knocked on the door and peered in. The three boys were crowded around an old television playing some sort of adventure game. It was one she remembered fondly as a child, a wolf armed with a sword and magic masks, stuck in a 3 day time loop to save the world from the falling moon. Xander paused the game and looked up to his mom. "Hey mom!" He smiled.

She stepped in. "Do you boys know what time it is?"

The rabbit looked sheepish. "The clock's lights were too bright for the game so I took out the power cells…"

The tired bat sat up, looking at his watch. He frowned. "Oh dear…" He stood up. "I need to head back." He looked up to the chipmunk woman next to the entrance. "Sorry about overstaying my welcome Miss Acorn."

Sally looked at him oddly. "Brandon, you know you haven't overstayed your welcome, we just need to make sure you boys get enough sleep."

Xander yawned. "What time is it anyways?"

"Almost 2300 hours, 11:00 PM." The bat yawned, carefully stretching his cramped folded wings.

Hunter jumped. "Oh crud!" The rabbit bolted for the door. "Mom's gonna be so ticked!" The boy frantically waved to his friends. "See you guys tomorrow, bye!" He skooched past Sally who gave the youth an amused look.

Brandon sighed as he watched the other boy abscond. "I should be off as well, Mother and Father don't really care how late I stay out, but I've got some things I want to try tomorrow in the computer lab before the festivities start." He nodded to both chipmunks. "I bid you adieu." and moved to leave.

Xander waved. "See ya Brandon." He yawned again. "Thanks for coming over!" The younger boy smiled.

The albino bat smiled back, waving goodnight to his friend. "Goodnight Xander." He nodded as he left.

Sally walked over to her son and picked up the smaller boy from the nest of blankets and pillows, carrying him to his bed. "You're almost too big for this."

"I am too big for this." He squirmed as she set him down. "How about a hug instead?"

"A hug I can do." She smiled, leaning down to hug the boy. "Get some good rest kiddo."

He melted into her arms. "You too mom… Thanks for letting me have my friends over so late."

She pulled away looking her tired son in the face. "Don't push it, no batteries in the clock is no excuse. You're fixing it tomorrow, you know you should have been watching the time." She sighed. "Please don't do that again, sleep's important, it's when your body heals and grows."

He looked concerned. "I'm sorry, we really did just want all the lights out, it makes the game more immersive!"

Sally was really tired. "It's ok… Lets just not have this become a recurring thing, ok?" She smiled.

The young boy nodded to confirm and turned to climb into his bed. He rolled on his back and she pecked him on the forehead. "Goodnight sweetie."

She moved to turn off the old tv game, saving his progress and flipping off the electronics. She turned to see the boy had already drifted to sleep. Gently closing the door, she moved to her own bedroom. She changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed beside her already asleep husband, drifting off to the realm of dreams.


Mobius - Mobotropolis - year 3224

Sally was leaning against her hand, looking out the passenger side window as Rosie drove the car through the metropolitan's northern outskirts.

Her nanny smiled at her. "What's with the sour expression? It's your day off!"

Sally sighed as she glanced behind them. There was a hovercraft following their car, Julian's peacebots watching over them. "I'm not sure I like the new guards any more than the old ones." She shook her head. "This might be even less incognito..."

The middle aged woodchuck sighed. "There's some things we just have to put up with, especially with your birthright." She flicked her blinker, turning into the arcade's parking lot. "It's got to be better then having Mr. D'coolette and his soldiers breathing down your neck all the time." She pulled into a parking spot, turning the car off.

The two got out and Sally frowned. "Mr. D'coolette was a bit overbearing at times… but I feel bad. He seemed a bit depressed to be delegated back to palace duty…" The young teen pulled her favorite blue jacket from the car, putting it over her graphic T. "I may approach Dad to see if he can be reinstated…" Her mouth turned into a line. "Just him though, the amount of guards before was a bit excessive. Maybe Ant can squire under his Dad if more bodies are really needed…"

Rosie gave a rhy laugh as she locked the car. "HA, Good luck with that!" The older woman smiled at her charge. "I do miss having Mr. D'coolette's company though, way more conversation then a peacebot could ever offer..." She sighed. "So who are you meeting today?"

Sally perked. "Sonic, Ant and Ant's new girlfriend, I think her name's Bunnie!" She shifted. "Sir Charrels drove them, so you can hang out with him while we do our thing!"

Rosie smiled as they started their way to the door. "That'll be lovely! It's been a While since I've been able to speak to Chuck. He's usually so busy when he's at the palace…"

There was a thud and the sound of hoverpad engines powering down. Sally frowned as she glanced to see two of the red and white peacebots climb out of the small hover car. They clanked over to tower above the two Mobians. "PRINCESS, LET US KNOW IF YOU REQUIRE ANYTHING."

Sally shifted uncomfortably. "Sure… Please just watch from the max distance you're allowed…" The girl got a frown. "And use the code word! Don't call me princess in public!"

The main peacebot nodded. "REQUEST ACCEPTED FOR DISTANCE. ERROR, UNABLE TO UPDATE NAME DESIGNATION." They stood stone still and waited for her to move.

Sally turned, grumbling about stupid buggy robots. She shoved her hands into her jacket's pockets and quickly strode to the entrance of Mr. Tinker's Wondercade. She pulled out Nicole to check her messages. The PDA lit up, bringing up the main interface. Calming down, Sally smiled at her AI companion. "Nicole, any new messages?"

The screen switched to the mouth-like line that bounced when the simple AI spoke. "Affirmative Sally, Two text messages."

Sally nodded as she got to the door, her guardian by her side. "Play em for me!"

Nicole paused as if to hesitate. "Playing message one… Look at me. I'm a computer! Weep whoop pew pew. LOGIC BOMB :D THIS STATEMENT IS FALSE!–" Sally groaned as Nicole continued rambling weird snippets one after another. Sonic was supposed to stop doing this. She was glad Nicole had worked out how to ignore the logical paradoxes, no more having to hard reboot the PDA from lock ups. The tirade ended with Nicole pausing, she continued. "Playing message two. Sal, we're here. Ant and Bunnie will be skating for a little but I'll meet you in the food court –Sonic :P"

Sally sighed as she pushed through the door to the arcade. "You don't have to read stuff like that when you know he's messing with you Nicole."

"I wasn't sure… I will try and learn for next time, Sally." The advanced computer replied.

Rosie looked amused at the girl's interaction with the PDA. "To the food court then?"

Sally nodded, an uncomfortable look on her face as she felt the second hand embarrassment for her AI friend. They went through the checkin and entered the arcade. The 13 year old smiled, this was one of her favorite places to escape the palace, last kids arcade in all of Mobotropolis. They passed the showfloor, the advanced animatronics hidden behind the stage curtain. The other side held the playground and ball pit, looking as lively as ever as the children played. She noticed a young mother fox playing with her toddler… who seemed to have two bushy tails…

Sally's smile dropped at the sight. Rosie noticed. "What is it?"

Sally turned forward. "That kid. He has two Tails…"

Rosie glanced, a sad look forming. "It's unfortunate, he looks happy enough though. He doesn't seem like he's in pain."

Sally bristled. "Why are there so many mutants now?!" She hissed under her breath.

Rosie looked at her, a little shocked. "You… you don't have a problem with them do you?"

Sally got a weird look. "What? No!" She cooled off, her shoulders dipping as she slouched. "A few years ago things were fine! Now all these kids are being born with birth defects? Something's not right! Something happened to start this!" Her eyes glanced at the two robots following her at a distance. "I've got my theories but I don't want to talk about them here…" She growled under her breath.

They entered the central food court, there was a bowling alley to the left and the arcade was on the right. There was a big skate rink in the backdrop. Sally scanned the tables looking for her friends. She saw two blue hedgehogs and smiled. She walked up behind the young blue hedgehog, his arms were crossed as he leaned back in his chair. Sally grabbed his shoulder, causing him to jump a little and almost lose balance, he tilted his head back, looking at the girl. Sally put on a big grin. "Hey Maurice!"

The hedgehog frowned. "Come on Sal! I thought we agreed you'd stop calling me that!"

She gave him a half lidded smile. "I thought we agreed you'd stop teasing Nicole and making her say stupid things when she reads my messages."

"Whaaaaat?" He whined.

The older hedgehog sitting across from his nephew gave a hearty chuckle. "Hey Sonny, you better keep your end of the deal if you want her to keep hers."

Sonic flustered. "Well how's Nicole supposed to learn if she doesn't read?!" He tried giving a confident smile.

"Don't push it." Sally replied as she sat down next to him. "Why on Mobius did you choose Sonic for a nickname anyways."

The blue hedgehog grumbled. "I like to think I'm quick…"

Sally looked amused. "What? Like quick witted? Sorry, I can't see it."

The boy flustered. "I like to run..."

She rose an eyebrow. "I don't think I've ever seen you run."

He huffed, crossing his arms. "Not around you…" He got quiet. "Not around anyone…" He grumbled to himself.

Chuck silently watched the interaction between his nephew and the princess, letting out a silent sigh. His eyes lit up as he saw the woodchuck approach. "Rosie! It's been a while! I hope you've been well!"

The older woodchuck moved to sit next to him, giving him a warm smile. "I've been wonderful Charles!"

The two adults began catching up as the young teens continued their own conversation. Sonic gave an awkward smile. "Sorry about Nicole, I got bored..." He chuckled. "She's figured out how to ignore chucks logic bomb thingies or whatever. Maybe she'll figure out how to tell the difference between real and fake texts!" He gave her a grin.

Sally didn't look amused and pushed his shoulder. "She shouldn't have too!" She brought out the PDA, setting it in front of him. "Apologize to her, not to me."

Sonic looked awkward, looking at the piece of plastic and metal. He glanced to Sally, realizing how serious his friend was. "I'm sorry Nicole." He hesitated. "I won't send dumb text like that anymore…"

The PDA lit up. "Apology accepted Maurice! thankyou!"

Sally gave a rhy grin, giggling. "Good choice, both of you!"

Sonic flustered, looking between his friend and her lifelike computer. "Come on Nicole! Be cool! Please use Sonic instead of that other name!"

"Affirmative." The PDA replied. "Re-registering Maurice Hedgehog as Sonic Hedgehog."

Sally broke out into laughter as she pocketed the PDA. "You're really serious about this nickname? This isn't just a phase? I thought Maurice was a nice name." She settled down, giving a smug grin. "We'll see how long this lasts…"

His expression got cocky. "Whatever you say, Princess Acorn…"

Her smug look dropped. "Come on!" She pushed him. "Today it's just Sally! I go here to get away from all that royalty stuff!"

Sonic started laughing, clutching his gut. "Ant's got a surprise for you then!"

Sally's eyebrow rose as she started to feel concerned. "What? Why? What did he do?"

Sonic got up snickering. "You'll see, let's go wave 'em down."

Sally shot up, following the smug hedgehog. "What did Ant do!"

He ignored her question, motioning her to follow. They arrived at the dividing wall for the roller rink, he started to wave. "You get to meet Bunnie today too! She's cool, you'll like her!" He gave her a grin. "She's a tomboy, just like you."

Sally gave him a glare back. "You'd prefer me to like dolls and dresses? We probably wouldn't be friends if I did." She shook her head as her eyes squinted, looking through the floor's colored lights for the Coyote. She froze as she saw the young squire in his full dress blues, skating with a Rabbit with metal prosthetics. "He didn't…" She snapped her head to Sonic. "Why is he in his squire outfit!" She hissed as she dropped behind the barrier. She sat, her back straight against the carpet covered divider. "I don't need a gaggle of five year olds asking me princess questions all day!"

Sonic looked amused as he continued to wave to the two teens. Bunnie noticed the blue Mobian and nudged her boyfriend, catching his attention. The two finished their loop next to the exit Sally and Sonic were at.

The coyote Smiled. "Any news on Sally?" He asked, stepping out of the rink, bunnie following behind him.

Sally shot up behind the divider, her fists at her side. "You're seriously in your dress blues?" She hissed.

Antoine's smile dropped, his ears flattening as his balance wavered. Sally looked really annoyed. "Yes?" He stammered. "Why is this a problem? I thought I'd show some patriotism and Bunnie here wanted to see my uniform!"

Bunnie looked a bit worried as she stepped forward, her ears dropped as her eyes widened at the girl in front of her. Her head snapped to Antoine. "Wait! That's the princess!" She hissed. "I thought you were talkin bout some squire buddies er somethin!"

"Please be quiet!" Sally pleaded, looking around. They were starting to draw attention. "This is like one of the last places I can go without being called out, I really don't want that to change!" She hissed.

Sonic chortled. "Ant, tie your jacket around your waist or something, let's get over to the arcade, maybe they fixed Sally's game."

Sally nodded and bolted for the arcade section, Sonic following behind, his arms crossed behind his head.

The bunny and coyote frantically moved to replace their skates with their shoes. Antoine frantically undid his blue dress coat, revealing a plain shirt underneath. He tied the jacket around his waist and grabbed bunnies hand to follow his friends. He caught up with Sally and Sonic as they made their way towards the back where all the beat em up games were.

Antoine flustered as they caught up. "Pri– Sally! I'm sorry!" She stopped, turning to him. He pulled the rabbit in front of him, she looked frazzled, then horrified. "This is Bunnie!" The coyote stammered. "You said to bring a friend, so a friend I have brought!" His accent was coming back strong. "I thought it would be nice–"

The rabbit looked like there was a big spotlight on her, yanking out of the boy's grip. She turned to Sally and stammered an apology, her head bowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you and i didn't know you wanted to be incognito, I'd of never asked him too–"

Sally cut off the girls rambling. "It's fine!" She forced a smile, looking around. "I think we're fine…" Her forced smile dropped as she noticed her peacebots patrolling the arcade, not the most unusual sight to have them patrol stores and different public places… She diverted her attention from the robots, a genuine smile forming on her face this time. "Call me Sally!" She grinned, putting out a fist for the rabbit to bump. "It's nice to meet you!"

The rabbit hesitated then relaxed, smiling back. She moved to bump the girl's fist with her metal hand. She realized and quickly switched to her flesh hand. "Sorry, Still getting used to these things…"

*bump*

The young floppy eared rabbit still looked nervous. "I'm Bunnie. It's nice to meet you Sally!" She turned to her boyfriend. "You could have given me some warning!" She snapped.

He looked flustered. "I thought you understood! My dad's in the royal guard! Sonic's Uncle is the Minister of Science! Sally is the pr–"

Sonic chortled, cutting off the boy's rambling. "Where on Mobius did you meet this girl Ant?"

Bunnie perked up, She slung her natural arm around Ant's neck, causing the boy to squawk, giving the gang a big grin. "We met at sparring school!"

The coyote grumbled. "Father's been getting me into every combat oriented extra curricular activity he can..."

Bunnie let go. "I think you're doin fine, shug!" Ant gave a tired smile back at the girl.

The four of them continued towards the back. Sally kept looking at the girl's metal prosthetics and her curiosity got the better of her. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your limbs?" She blushed from the forward question.

The rabbit looked back to the chipmunk. "What?"

Sally blushed under her fur. "To your… nevermind…"

Bunnie's eyes widened. "Oh that's fine…" She gave a sigh. "It's not like it's anything traumatic or nothin. Went for a swim in the canal's on a dare, guess that's where some of the poison's leakin into, whatever it is… I was losing the movement and feeling in those limbs…"

Sally's ears drooped. "Are you going to be ok?"

The Rabbit's face brightened. "Sure am! They ain't as beautiful as the ones I was born with, but they'll do just as fine for workin!" She flexed the metal arm. "These are the converted ones right here but, they're adjustable to an extent. They already made me up my grown up ones too, sitten at home all ready for my next growth spurt! Got to choose the color and everything!" Her smile faltered. "I… I wish I could of kept the old ones…" She smiled. "But this way I can do more than just peck at a computer someday!"

Sally nervously returned the smile. "I'm sorry if I shouldn't have asked…"

Bunnie pursed her lips, waving it off. "I said you were fine, leave it be."

The four came up to the beat em up section. The Ninja Reptile cabinet was open, there was a teen walrus on his back, his arms up in the mess of wires. The Owner's daughter was standing over him, directing him on the repair.. She was an orange mouse in her late teens, she looked up noticing the group approaching. Her face lit up. "Rote!" She nudged the boy with her foot. "Break time, we got guests!"

The teen crawled out from under the panel, blinking. "What Belle?"

Belle waved to Sally and opened her arms. "How's my favorite customers!"

Sally smiled. "Hey Belle!"

The mouse smiled. "I wasn't expecting you guys back so soon! What, it's been a week?"

"You know this is my favorite hide away." Sally blushed.

Belle nodded. "Hey, I've got news! Dad's been ordering more import boards from the far off kingdoms! We've got a few in the stockroom that I've finished the new wood cabinets on. We want to rotate some on the main floor, maybe sometime you guys can beta test for us?"

The walrus finished getting up. "Belle, have you got any solvent or... I don't know, hand sanitizer? That's definitely spilled soda down the slot…" He finally noticed the other teens in front of him. "Oh hi!"

Belle motioned to the boy. "Guys, meet Rotor!" She smiled. "He's studying under Dad, part of that's doing maintenance and work around here."

Sonic leaned up against a cabinet. "Take it Mr. Tinker's still turning down the thrones contracts with Unc? Uncle Chuck would love to have him on the team."

Belle smiled. "You know pigs, they're a stubborn bunch. Dad has fun running this kids show and when he gets bored, there's lots for him to work on with small contracts."

She slung an arm around the younger walrus's shoulder. "Ya learnin 'lots?" She smiled rocking the tubby boy back and forth.

"Yes Ms. Tinker." He smiled.

She pushed him. "That makes me sound like Mom!" She laughed. "Come on, we aren't friends yet?"

He gave a soft smile. "Yeah, we're friends." He glanced back to the cabinet. "You got any ideas on cleaning the sugar mess?"

She snapped her finger in front of his face. "Priorities my dude! Break time! And we got important guests right now!" She gestured to the four teens.

The laid back teen smiled, putting his fist out for them to bump. "Sorry, my name's Rotor. As you probably heard, I'm interning with Mr. Tinker."

Sally stepped forward bumping the older teens fist. "It's nice to meet you Rotor." She smiled. The smile faltered "Is Ninja Reptiles still broken?"

Belle stepped away from Rotor, giving an awkward grin as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Yea…" She replied as she avoided Sally's gaze. "We just got the parts for the board replacement today…" The mouse frowned. "Some kid threw a drink at the controls, it seeped down onto the mainboard…"

Sally wilted. "That's what happened?! Why would someone do that?"

Belle jumped to the side, starting a prospector jig. "Kids are great but as you well know!" Her eye twitched. "They can be little terrors as well!" A fake smile was dramatically plastered across her face. "Banned the little sucker! Wasn't the first drink he threw!" She stopped her dance, leaning on another cabinet, crossing her arms. "He threw such a fit! Dad got into an argument with the Mom as well!" She smiled. "Both are banned actually!"

Sally sagged. "Oh…"

Belle frowned. "Sorry kiddo. Once it's clean we can finish the board replacement. I'd give you a card with some credits but you already got the max time card, yeah?"

Sally gave a defeated smile. "Yeah, It's ok. We got lots of other stuff to do."

Belle nodded. "Next week it should be fine. Go have fun! It's what ya come here to do!" She waved goodbye. She turned to Rotor, starting to talk about possible cleaning chemicals to deal with the sugar mess.

Sonic came up to Sally and started to drag her from the broken arcade machine. "Come on Sal. Lota stuff we can do. Wana race me?"

She smiled as the four spent the next hour and a half playing the different arcade games. The time flew as mid morning turned to noon. They all convened back at the central food court to unwind and have lunch. Sally sat in her chair, her head resting on her arms on the table. She relaxed, taking in the simplicity of this moment. She looked around, her eyes scanning all the different mobians around her. There were so many kinds of Mobians in the kingdom of Acorn, so many of the other kingdoms still segregated their clans. Her mind drifted to the Echidna tribes, their raids and land disputes had turned into a bloody war that lasted 25 years. Julian's robotic swarm had made short work of them, no more worrying about throwing Mobian lives away… The Echidna had almost been entirely eradicated, very few of them wanted to assimilate into their kingdom… Many of the survivors rejected the olive branch, choosing exile in the wastes far to the south where they had come from.

She didn't know what to think, she looked around to all the kids that had been untouched by the war and smiled. It was nice they would be able to grow up in this new peacetime. She noticed the twin tailed boy from earlier and his mother sitting at the table next to her. The little tyke was digging into a bowl of mac and cheese while his mom was reading a book, a hand gently rubbing his back. She softly smiled, his mutation seemed to add to his charm instead of taking from his health.

Sonic poked her arm. "You alive Sal? You haven't touched your food.''

She looked to the boy, then back to her plate of untouched food. "I'm ok, I've just been thinking."

*CRASH*

They all perked up, everyone watched as the peacebots continued to push past Belle who had been carrying a platter of drinks and glass jugs. She was shaking, pushed to the ground in a pile of broken glass. Sally's eyes widened. She got up to run to the fallen girl, Sonic hopping from his chair to follow. The robots seemed to ignore the scene they caused, pushing past more guests to move to Sally. Everyone was staring at the commotion, some of the kids started crying.

Sally flared. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU TWO!" She raged at the dumb security droids. "Get help you dumb droids!" She darted to move past them towards Belle who was being helped up by a terrified Rotor. She felt herself grabbed by the scruff of her jacket and lifted. "WHAT?!" Sonic froze, a few feet away, his eyes widening at the scene.

She was brought eye level with the cold robot's vizor. "PRINCESS SALLY ACORN, YOU ARE REQUIRED AT THE PALACE BY ORDER OF WAR MINISTER JULIAN." The robot droned. "YOU WILL COMPLY..." It looked towards the crowd of frozen Mobians. "NO ONE MOVE, RESISTANCE WILL AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATE FORCE!" It said as it pulled it's riot baton to Sally.

*CRACKLE* *ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTT*

Sally froze, eyes wide as she saw the jolting stun baton being held so close to her cheek. She got a pit of dread that slowly crept through her gut, what was happening?! She noticed Sir Charles bolting from his seat, eyes scanning for an opening. Sonic and the rest of her friends were shocked, frozen at the sight of her dangling from the robot's grip. Rosie looked terrified as she got up to follow chuck.

*SLAM*

A door in the central restaurant kicked open as a heavyset pig with coke bottle glasses and a poofy orange mustache stomped out. "WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOING ON!" Mr. Tinker froze, his eyes immediately locking on his daughter being pulled from a pile of glass and blood on the ground. "Belle?!" He panicked, moving to dart past the peacebot to his daughter. She looked like she was about to cry. Rotor looked terrified, he was helping her staunch the blood with napkins as she picked the chunks of glass out of her hands and legs.

*CRACK*

"NO!" Sally screamed as the robot that was holding her brought the stun baton full force against Mr. Tinker's temple.

Belle's head darted, her eyes wide, she let out a blood curdling scream as her father crumpled to the ground. "DAD!" She got up to move to her father then realized the situation of the robot standing over him with Sally in her grip. She started to panic. "He's supposed to avoid stress!" She frantically tried to open her fanny pack and pull out a baggie of medicine. She started to move to the scene. "His heart–"

The girl froze as the robot raised its baton to her face. "DO NOT INTERFERE WITH AN ACTIVE INVESTIGATION, BE PATIENT AND YOU WILL BE PROCESSED WITH THE REST."

The panic started as parents near the exits grabbed for their kids, bolting for the door.

Terror gripped sally's heart as she began to struggle, the robot held the electrified end to her face causing her to freeze again. "YOU WILL STOP RESISTING."

"THATS ENOUGH!" Chuck raged, pulling what looked to be a small vibro-dagger from his coat, charging it, he dashed for Sally only to be kicked in the side of the chest by the other peacebot's metal boot.

"YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST. LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND AND SURRENDER ANY WEAPONS. YOU WILL BE PROCESSED." It droned as Chuck smashed into the table next to Sonic.

"UNCLE CHUCK!" Sonic screeched as he bolted for the fallen Mobian, his eyes were full of terror as he looked between his uncle and Sally.

The vixen mother who had been frozen, clutching her crying son, bolted. She tried to run past the two peacebots. The second swatbot bolted. "LAY ON THE GROUND AND ASSUME THE POSITION! BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE WAR MINISTER, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" It managed to cut her off, bringing the crackling stun baton across the back of her head. She dropped her child who let out a shrill scream as he tumbled to the floor. She crumpled to the floor and began ceasing, thrashing from the electrical concussion.

"NO!" Sally screeched. "STOP IT! STOP IT!" She began crying. Chuck started getting to his feet with the help of Sonic and Bunnie. Ant was petrified, his nervous habit of biting his finger starting to cause them to bleed.

Chuck coughed blood as he pushed the vibro-dagger's handle at Sonic who fumbled to grab it. "Do it!" He grit. "I don't care if anyone knows anymore! You're not in trouble, I am! Just protect the Princess!" He barked.

The shaken boy nodded as a rage built within him. He turned to the scene. Belle was hesitantly trying to figure out a way to her Father as Rotor was pulling her back. Sally was frozen in the first bot's grip, hyperventilating at the scene of the toddler going ballistic over his fallen mother, foaming at the mouth in her seizure. Sonic growled. "HEY METAL HEAD!" The thing ignored him which made him even angrier. "HEY YA STUPID CANNER!" He rushed it, using his gift. Everything seemed to slow as he ran. The robot started to move as if in slow motion, angling to strike him. He sideswiped the things blow, digging the small vibra-blade into its weapon holding wrist, It did not slice clean. The thing tore through the wrist slowly, he followed its reaction as it started to let go of sally, reaching to grab for his head. He pulled the blade back, running behind the robot that was starting to bend for him. He pushed as hard as he could to tip it, It wouldn't budge. He realized Sally was dropping and he pocketed the knife, running to catch her. The robot was turning to swipe behind itself, he paid it no more mind and grabbed Sally in mid air. Careful of her head to not cause whiplash he gently carried her over to Rosie.

Time returned to normal as Sally was still panicking. "WHAT?!" She looked at him.

He gave a goofy grin. "That's why I chose Sonic!"

Sally looked bewildered. "Did you just?!"

He looked so proud. "Told you I was fast!"

She looked confused and terrified, her eyes darted to the toddler who was trying to shake his flailing mother to get up. Sally Looked at the robot who was now starting to move to them with only one working hand. She turned to Sonic. "Grab that kid! get him away from his mother, She could really hurt him bad!" The girl got up eyeing the approaching peacebot.

"SALLY!" Rosie caught up grabbing for the girls shoulder. "WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!"

"Sally ripped her shoulder from the woodchucks grip. "WE WILL! WE GOTTA HELP THOUGH!"

Rosie moved to grab her. "MY OATH AND PRIORITY IS FOR YOU!" Sally swept back. "NO!" Rosie shrieked, trying to grab the girl.

She turned to see a blur going to grab the twin tailed fox kit. Above her, the partially disabled peacebot made a swipe for her, she dodged. Rosie shrieked, backing away from the robot's swipe.

Sally noticed the other robot was occupied with some of the other parents trying to fend it back with chairs. Everyone else was fleeing the establishment. Belle had clawed her bloody way to her father, fumbling with the bag of medicine as Rotor tried to help her.

There was a toddler pushed into her arms as she saw Sonic turn to fight the robot with the small blade. She froze, clutching the kid as he screamed, crying for his mom. She backed up from the robot that was still trying to grab for her and bash Sonic with its other arm. The toddler finally realized he was being held and there was a scary robot clawing for him. He turned and clung to the princess.

*BANG*

The front of the establishment tore open as more of the peacebots marched in, there were even the blue military variants mixed in the group. They started bashing the fleeing parents, ignoring the fleeing kids and only turning on them when they made to protect the older mobians.

Sally got queasy. On the one hand something horrible was going on with their code, on the other hand, the minor protection protocols were still working... WHAT WAS HAPPENING!?

Rosie pulled her from her thoughts, she looked enraged. "SALLY ALICIA ACORN!" The older woman scorned. "HOW DARE YO–"

The robot that was being cut up made a final lunge for them.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Both screamed, getting ridged. The small fox's grip dug deeper, tightening around Sally's waist as he buried his face against her.

The thing slumped as the head was cut off. Sonic appeared, looking frazzled, the knife clutched with both his hands. "That wasn't as easy as I thought…" He gasped.

Rosie looked confused at the appearing boy and the robot cut into pieces. She looked up to the entrance and her eyes widened at the scene of fleeing kids and parents getting beaten. "We can try the back!" She yelled. "Come on you two!" She pulled Sally's wrist towards Chuck.

The older hedgehog was clutching his side in pain. Sonic freaked out, not knowing what to do. "UNCLE CHUCK! IS THERE– WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP!"

The older mobian winced, glaring at them. "Make sure Sally gets out of here alive! You're not old enough to take the oath but you might as well have already done it!" He ripped a necklace with his key card on it from around his neck, handing it to the boy. "If it comes in handy! Back-end access to any state buildings and proof you're my Nephew!"

He grabbed for the card and looked at his uncle. "But–" He stammered.

Chuck flared. "YOU SERVE THE THRONE AND THE THRONE SERVES THE PEOPLE! MAKE SURE THE PRINCESS IS SAFE, THIS IS YOUR DUTY!" He continued to cough up blood. "I need to rest for a bit. I'll catch up when I can, Promise!" He shakily smiled at the boy. "Please…" Sonic nodded, his eyes darting between his uncle and Sally who was trying to stop to check on chuck but Rosie was doing her best to pull the girl along.

The young hedgehog looked back to his uncle, his eyes watering as he curtly nodded. "Yes sir!" He made to follow Sally and Rosie.

Chuck pushed himself up. "Sally!" The chipmunks head snapped to him. "Go to Knothole!" He barked. "This counts as an emergency! If this is as big as I think it is, then the rest of the heads of government will show up and protect you!" He continued to cough. Rosie continued to pull the girl's arm as she was stammering.

Bunnie shook out of her fear and grabbed her stunned boyfriend's wrist, dragging him to follow Sally, Sonic and Rosie. "COME ON, WE CAN'T STAY HERE." He slowly started to nod and then shook his own fear off. Joining by her side.

They all made their way to Belle and Rotor, the Mouse looked up from her chest compressions on her father, Terrified. "He isn't breathing!" She cried. She looked so frazzled and dazed with her blood smeared on her clothes and her fathers chest. The mouse realized Sally was there, THE PRINCESS! The mouse's head snapped to Rotor. "Go in the office, My dad's keychain should be on his desk. He nodded, getting up to move. SHE REMEMBERED! "There's also a defibrillator on the wall next to the first aid! Bring me that too!" She cried, her voice getting hoarse.

Rosie pulled out her cell phone to dial emergency services. The call wouldn't connect… She frowned, pulling the device from her ear. Looking at the screen she could see there were no bars. She looked over towards the brawl at the entrance, the Mobians were losing, one after another was being struck down by the electric batons. Her heart rate picked up as her head snapped back to the girl doing CPR on her father. "I just tried calling Emergency Services, but it looks like the signal is dead…" Rosie looked really uncomfortable. "Dear, I need your help getting out the back…"

The girl choked on her tears as she continued to try and revive her father. "That's why Rotor's getting Dad's key!" She cried. "Dad's van is in the back, Rotor will take you guys to it and if you see anyone that can help, send them!" She continued to sob as the adrenaline pushed her forward.

Rosie looked back as some of the peacebots were starting to break from the group, moving towards them. She bristled. "Dear, I think you need to come with us–"

"I'M NOT LEAVING MY DAD!" The mouse shrilled. "NOT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO MOM!"

Rotor came back with a lanyard of keys and a bag with the defibrillator. "I got it Belle!" He fumbled to open the emergency device, shoving the thing at the girl. She snatched it and started ripping her father's shirt up to place the electrodes. "Rotor! Take those keys and get Sally and Rosie to dad's van, Make sure they get wherever they're going safe!"

Rotor looked confused, looking at the shaken chipmunk clutching the fox kit. "What?"

Belle started charging the device. "JUST DO IT, IF YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE HER, THAT'S PRINCESS ACORN!"

Rotor got stiff, staring at the princess. "R– RIGHT!" He stammered as he clutched the key. "See you later Ms. Tinker!" He shouted as he motioned for the group to follow. His eyes lingering on the sight of his boss, jolting on the ground from the electricity.

They made their way across the roller rink to a door in the back. Rotor fumbled the key as he unlocked the door. Opening it, the group made their way through. He turned and jumped at the sight of a blue peacebot running towards them. He made it through slamming the door behind him and locked it. The door banged as they heard a crunching sound, the metal knob being ripped from the other side.

"RUN!" Bunnie shrieked. Rotor led them through the back room to a loading dock as the banging continued. They made their way out the back and down a flight of stairs. There was an old hippie van parked in the back. Rotor hit the unlock and sure enough the car's lights flashed. Rosie strode forward and grabbed the key from the teen. "Give me that!" She snapped. She made her way to the car as the teens followed. "Everyone get in, NOW!" She moved to the driver side and climbed in, starting the vehicle.

Sally climbed into the front side passenger, shushing the small boy who was still clinging to her. "It's ok, it's ok! It's going to be ok, we can sort this out!" She rubbed the boys back as he shook. "Don't worry about your mom sweetie, I'll take care of you, I promise!" She hugged him tighter as his little hands squeezed her back.

The rest of the group got in the back and buckled up. Rosie looked behind counting the kids and nodded. She looked to Sally sitting next to her and her eyes grew wide at the sight of the toddler sitting on the princess's lap. "DID YOU TAKE SOMEONE'S KID!?" The older woman shrilled. "SALLY?! HOW– WHAT?!"

The chipmunk's ears flattened as she looked panicked. "What was I supposed to do?! His Mom was having a seizure! She could have punched him! I had to do something!"

Rotor rolled the window down, sticking His head out to look in the distance. "Guys! WE NEED TO LEAVE!" He pointed at an incoming drop ship.

Rosie snapped to attention and slammed on the reverse, backing up to swing the car around. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOOK SOMEONE'S KID!" The older woman screamed.

Sally bristled as she watched her nanny drive faster than she had ever seen. "WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Rosie started crying, swerving around the landing hovercraft.

There were hovercraft dropping all over the place. Sally looked in front of the arcade to see one in the parking lot, there was a line of Mobians all with raised hands being marched into the transport. There were more of the military grade swat variants of the peacebots, breaking into buildings and beating people. She bristled, how could she help?! How could she stop this!? Was this because she hadn't gone willingly?! Why were Julian's robots doing this?! There was a tugging at the back of her mind as she could just feel the answer. A slow rage started building, he did this on purpose. She grit her teeth, those Humans always gave her off vibes…

"Where are we going!" Rotor asked as the van slammed back and forth from the sharp turns.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Rosie exasperated. "I'M JUST TRYING TO GET OUT OF THE CITY!" She manically cried.

"Go to the great forest!" Sally snapped.

They all gave her a bewildered look. Antoine finally snapped out of his stupor. "WHY!?" He shrieked. "SO WE CAN GET CUT UP?! THAT PLACE IS CONDEMNED FOR A REASON!"

Sally snapped her head to Rosie. "It's where Knothole is! The place Chuck was talking about!" She hugged the shivering fox, rubbing his back to try and calm him down. "Dad showed me a few months ago, he was probably going to show you Rosie, but the war ended. All the heads of state are supposed to go there if something terrible happens! Dad will know to go there!"

Rosie looked nervous and turned for the far north, clipping a swatbot in the process. "So we just go there and it'll be fine?!" The middle aged nanny asked.

Sally shook her head. "There's a route in, I'll guide us!"

Rosie floored it, crashing through some more of the swatbots.

They made it out of the city, to the fields before the forest. The teens looked back at their city, watching in horror at the rising smoke and swarms of drones and hovercraft.

Things got quiet as Rosie drove them towards the forest. Sally looked down to the little boy who was no longer shaking, he was looking at her. She thought… She didn't really know what to say. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything else for you… Are you ok?"

He slowly nodded as he let go of her. She turned him around, sitting him on her lap. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you until we can get you back to you're Mom."

His ears wilted. "What's wrong with her?" He started tearing up. "I've only seen her shake like that once before. Daddy wouldn't tell me…"

"I…" She didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry…" She hugged him.

The little boy wilted as he sniffled. Sally tried soothing him again. "What's your name?" She gently asked.

His sniffles slowed. "I– I'm Miles. Miles Pow– Pr– Prowsers…" He stuttered out, a scrunched look on his face.

She gave him a concerned look. "What was your last name again?"

"Prow– Prower?" The little boy questioned.

"Miles Prower…" She smiled. "It's nice to meet you Miles. My name is Sally, Sally Acorn."

"Thankyou Sally…" He drowsily replied as he hesitantly snuggled into her hug.

She held the boy against her, making sure he was secure as could be without a kid's seat. The Toddler was exhausted, he drifted off to sleep.

Sally watched as the forest approached in the distance.


Knothole - Sally's Cabin - present time

Sally woke with a start, she glanced at her clock. The segmented display showed 3:44 AM. She sighed, that was a strange dream to have… more like a flashback… She thought back to Tail's birth mother, convulsing on the floor… She took Tails from his mother… She didn't know what else to do though… Who knows if the woman was even alive… Sally rolled to her side and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She hated the thought of any other woman taking her child from her… But also would want someone to make sure he was safe if something happened to her… Her eyes tiredly lidded open. She needed to stop thinking about this… She closed her eyes giving a deep sigh as she tried to go back to sleep.


Chap 8 end.


Authors notes: wow this was a long one, first real full on sally sub chapter too! Decided to post even though I wanted more sub chapters. this is the longest so far. it felt like a satisfying amount of info. The flashback scene was interesting to write and not just turn it into a massacre... don't want that but it was supposed to depict the active coup. more characters! OC kids and actual characters. Not much else to say on this one I guess. OH, I've cross posted this to another site that allows ebook downloads so that's neat. as always, comments are not necessary but are deeply appreciated and motivational. Also if there's something wrong let me know! (as long as its constructive) otherwise how can I improve my writing?!thanks for reading up to this point.

Traveler out.