Sonic burst through the door of knothole HQ. Where he would have normally gone to his room, Sonic bolted to the command center.
Admittedly, bringing a gust of wind into a room full of papers was a bad idea, but he wasn't concerned with that at the moment. He burst in, tearing open the door, "What's Eggman up to."
Sally, who was caught in a torrent of papers with Rotor and Antoine, growled, "What? Hold on."
She stretched out to catch as many papers as she could, and placing the bundles on desks nearby.
Sally rubbed her temples, "What now? Eggman hasn't done anything yet."
Sonic shook his head, "It's snowing outside."
Sally froze and shook her head, "Sonic, I don't have time for jokes."
"I'm serious!" Sonic pleaded. The command center had no windows, so it was going to be harder to convince them, "Come and look."
Sally growled, "I have things to do. I don't have time for stupid pranks or jokes."
Sonic growled, balling a fist.
Rotor stepped in, "Hey, um… guys let's not do this now. Sonic, we are a little busy with reports. You know how Nagus is."
Sonic growled, "Yeah, I know." He growled and turned around to leave, when the HQ monitor read an urgent call.
"Sally, incoming call from Nagus. He says it's urgent." Nicole explained.
Sonic blinked, as Sally growled, "Put him on."
The screen shimmered.
"Hello, your majesty, to what do we ow-"
"What is Doctor Eggman up to." Nagus shouted angrily.
Sally blinked, suddenly caught off guard, "Nothing, Nicole is monitoring his base 24/7. He hasn't released anything or done anything with massive energy spikes."
"Well your machine is broken. It's snowing, in summer, and the people want an explanation." Nagus growled.
Sally blinked, and looked at Sonic apologetically. Serves her right.
Sally took a moment to collect her thoughts, before sighing, "Nicole, pull up the scans of Eggman's primary and secondary factories."
The screen shrunk Nagus's face to the top left corner while the right pulled up screens with various factories and charts next to them.
Sonic didn't bother looking over them, he just stood there and waited. Sally reducing him to and unserious jokester had struck a nerve that he was sure he didn't want struck again.
Sally groaned, "There's nothing. Are you sure its-"
Nagus stepped back revealing a window curtain, and pulled the curtain back. There sat a small pile of snow on the window seal.
Sally frowned, "Rotor, pull up the Dark legion bases under surveillance. Antoine, get me in touch with other freedom fighters, your assignment will have to wait."
Sonic blinked, "Assignment."
"Sonic, I need you on standby. If something is going on we'll need to respond quickly."
"Sure, I'll respond with a nice, quick, in-character joke, like I always do." Sonic muttered.
"Save the SAS!" Sally barked, her teeth grit. She was caught off guard, and was wrong, both of which she hated, and Sonic could tell.
Rotor groan, "I'm not seeing anything, aside from Dark Legionaires huddling in. Seems they are as caught off guard as we are."
"P-Princess!" Antoinne cried in distress, as seven different emergency calls came in at once.
"Nicole, Answer all of them." Sally commanded.
The voice came through the screen, "On it sally."
"This is the Eastern Freedom fighters, requesting intel on weather surges."
"This is the Western freedom fighters, asking what the heck is going on."
Sally barked, "Get me in touch with the Arctic freedom fighters!"
Sonic saw the white wolf appear on the screen, "Greetings, Princess, what's up?"
"We are in snow, in summer, do you know anything going on?" Sally asked.
The screen flickered, "We picked up an energy spike, but nothing was there when we checking it out. It should be ending soon."
"Indeed, it is. Acorn, find out what happened, and keep it from happening again." Nagus growled, showing that the snow had stopped through the window.
This was getting weird.
As the transmission ended, Sonic turned to leave.
Sally called out to him, "Sonic, hold up."
Sonic stopped the whirling in his feet and turned around, "Yeah, Sal?"
Rotor cleared his throat, "Hey, Antoinne, buddy lets go outside."
The two scurried out. There it came.
Sonic was really trying not to look at Sally as she approached. He really didn't want to be here right now.
Sally placed a hand on his shoulder, and forced him to look at her, "Are you ok? Are we ok?"
Sonic felt a grinding inside him, between wanting to shout and run away, and wanting to wave it off. He decided on the second one to keep from having a massive conversation, "I'm fine. I think we are cool, how about you?"
Sally smiled shyly, "Are we? You've been a little…distant."
Sonic frowned. This was precisely what he wanted to avoid, "I'm good. I promise. I can do the mission, my way of course, with a little Sonic flare and a cheering crowd." He did his best to sound optimistic.
Sally giggled a little, in a restrained manner, "Ok, I'm just checking."
"Ok, So I'm going to go give Robutnik a stern talking to, Ok?" Sonic asked.
Sally opened her mouth to protest before sighing and nodded, "Yeah, go nuts, but I would like to talk to you when you get back."
Sonic gave a two finger salute and bolted. He really just wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.
/*-*/
Her teeth were chattering as the snow began to fall. Oswald looked uncomfortable, "What the heck. It's way too late in summer for snow?"
The kids had come by, their adorable little faces looking so sad- Gullible, gullible faces.
Fiona hated it. These villagers were idiots, and now their idiocy was rubbing off on her.
She felt a warm blanket- no it was a coat made of flax and wool. Very peasant-y, but it kept her warm.
Oswald smiled, "I don't know what's going on, but we've got our fish, so we can go sell it in the market. Heck, the snow might even help the fish stay fresh a little longer.
A wagon came around, being pulled by stallions.
Oswald began to load the baskets of fish into the wagon, and climbed on, "Do you want to come, or stay here?"
Fiona thought for a moment, "I think I'll go into town with you."
She could scope out the slums and see if Scourge was lurking around. Who knows, maybe she'd find an old destructix member and could get back to making scores.
Fiona climbed into the passenger seat of the wagon, and they set off.
They trotted on a path that was barely distinguishable from the snow covered forest. The trees seemed to be confused as well, dropping green leaves by sudden temperature drop.
Once they made it through the forest, Fiona relaxed, and reclined back.
"So who are you really. I Know you were lying to us." Oswald spoke with a steely voice.
Fiona felt her insides tense up, but she kept her body under control, "What do you-"
"I know you aren't some damsel in distress. The Storm clan doesn't exactly let people like that go. You had to fight off your attackers." Oswald growled, facing forward.
Fiona had two options. She could trying lying and playing dumb… but that had failed her. If she got it wrong, that was certain jail time. SO, she decided to tell the truth, or rather, a portion of the truth.
"I've done some things that weren't quite good or shiny on a record. I'm getting my life on track though." Fiona sighed. It wasn't a lie, just a vague enough truth that he would misinterpret it.
Oswald's eyes glanced at her, seeming to pierce her defenses. She may have overestimated his hospitality. If she need to run, she was in a bad spot, with her body still reclined under the tarp that sat over the wagon.
The snow stopped falling, and the temperature seemed to rise.
Oswald shook his head, "I'm sorry. I'm a little paranoid. I've done some bad stuff too."
Sucker Fiona though, but put on a concerned face, "Oh, come on, you're a nice guy, what could you have done?"
"I strangled three people." Oswald said flatly.
Fiona felt her spine shiver. That wasn't a joke, that wasn't a boast. She knew from the way he said it, he had done it.
Fiona let out a breath from her nose. There was no way she was going to keep him on guard with a question like "Why?" but it still plagued her mind.
Oswald seemed to become a psychic, "Robotnik was going nuts, and I was a dumb teen, trying to be a man. So I went into a bank, and though, "why not, one big score, I'll be rich and book it." I didn't expect to find guards that wouldn't let up. I lost my temper…and… well…"
He really trusted her enough to bleed his heart out.
"I ran as far as I could, but villages could tell I was trouble. Cities had my warrant, and then there was Robotnik himself. But Bill… He didn't care. He asked me one question, "Are done causing trouble?" and I answered. I got my second chance. I love my village, and I love trying to help, so if you are going to cause trouble for my people, I suggest you get off here. I will add another tally to my belt if you hurt them." Oswald not-so-subtly threatened.
It took all Fiona had not to snort. Her boyfriend would have this guy on the ground before he could register which way was up. "I got you, but I am going to fix my life." It may come at your expense, but hey, you don't know that. She had to hide the smirk with everything she had.
They entered the town, and Fiona pulled the hood over her head. As they strolled past the rubble that was soon to become a castle, Fiona saw the bounty board, with her face plastered all over it. Granted, she could cross a few names off, but she'd rather not be seen so close to a wanted poster.
She also felt a little upset. Only 40,000 mobiums…come on, she was worth more than that.
The Wagon came to a stop, and Fiona saw Oswald jump off the side.
She climbed off and walked over to find him unloading the two smaller baskets.
Fiona finally asked, "Ok, So where are we setting up shop?"
Oswald smiled, "We are setting up shop right here. Is that a problem?"
They were about half a mile from the wanted posters, so yes.
Oswald nodded, "Right, sketchy past. Alright, take these baskets two blocks left, and take the second alley you see. Got it?"
Fiona blinked, "Yeah, but what am I doing with them?"
"You'll understand, now get going." Oswald commanded. He was starting to act like a boss now.
Fiona picked up the baskets and walked. They were rather heavy, as fish tend to be when stacked on top of each other.
She followed the instruction and traveled up the city road. She was convinced this was a prank, and had half the mind to drop the baskets and run. But she still couldn't get anywhere, so best to play along.
Fiona made a right turn into the alleyway, and followed it, passing some old barrels. She was honestly surprised there wasn't any homeless in the city, or that she had seen.
Fiona kept walking and passed a muskrat.
"Dear, are you a friend of Oswald's?" She asked. This muskrat was in a black dress, and seemed to be quite old.
Fiona nodded. Friend wasn't exactly the word, but it would seem that way to the outside world.
"Oh goodness, the Children are just ecstatic to have both fish and peas tonight." The Muskrat exclaimed.
Fiona was tired. This cheerfulness and the weight of seventy fish was getting to her.
"Oh dear, STICKS CAN YOU COME-oh, can you help her?" The Muskratt called inside the building.
Fiona looked up, and saw brown fur, and immediately backed away, before noticing the small size and nature of the figure. It was a female badger, who had a set of tribal clothes on plus a hood.
The Badger made eye contact with Fiona, before turning to the muskrat, "I'll help her."
Sticks came down and picked up both baskets and carried them up like they were weightless.
Fiona gawked at that strength.
Sticks came outside, "What? You couldn't lift that?"
Fiona blinked, "You wouldn't happen to know a wolverine by any chance would you?"
Sticks suddenly tensed up, "Who's asking."
Fiona felt herself get nervous. That was a "yes" which meant this Badger was probably working with that demon.
The Muskrat smiled, "Tell Oswald we send our thanks to the village."
Suddenly, a bunch of small children burst outside, "Thank you Oswald!" They shouted in unison.
Fiona nodded and slowly backed away.
As Soon as she made it out, she bolted toward the stall.
There was only one Wolverine in this world, which meant that they were working together. A young badger… Anyone could work for him.
Fiona ran back, and hit the wagon, and doubled over.
Oswald looked down at her, "Did you deliver the baskets?"
"Dangerous Badger-need to go." Fiona groaned, picking herself up.
"Dangerous Badger? Are you talking about Sticks?" Oswald asked, grabbing five large blue-finned fish. That name sounded familiar.
Fiona caught her breath, "You know about her?"
"Well, She's right behind you, and yeah we know her." Oswald explained, causing Fiona to look at the tribal woman…no, girl. She was still pretty young.
"You talking about me?" Sticks asked, raising an eyebrow.
Oswald smiled, "She says you're dangerous."
Sticks nodded, "I am. And?"
"Well, you scared her." Oswald explained, still chuckling.
Sticks shrugged, "Not my problem. You got the fish?"
"You got the herbs?" Oswald asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sticks pulled out a small basket of greens.
Fiona examined them. Parsley, onions, garlic, rosemary, mint, and a couple others that Fiona didn't recognize.
"Here you are. See you around." Sticks said, grabbing a basket of blue-finned fish.
Oswald chuckled. Fiona stood up, "Wait, you know a wolverine, right?"
Oswald looked a little thrown off, and Sticks shrugged, "Wolverines have been extinct ever since the Acorns wiped them out. Don't know why you'd think there was a difference."
"But you said-" Fiona was getting agitated. She was lying.
Sticks snorted, "It's fun to see what secrets turn up when you ask "Who's asking?""
Fiona grit her teeth, as Sticks turned around, and carried the basket off.
"Ah, good ol' Sticks, making friends like always." Oswald chuckled.
Fiona jerked her head, "She was lying. She knows a wolverine."
Oswald shrugged, "She brings us herbs and spices we can't grow down in the village. I don't care if she knows Eggman personally, we love her. She also buys our fish a lot of the time."
He reached into the basket and pulled out mobian coins.
Fiona growled, wanting to tear her fur out.
The day passed with her sitting under the carriage tarp, handing out fish as they began to run out.
As they were leaving Fiona realized something, "Was I supposed to get money from that old lady?"
"What old lady?" Oswald asked, raising an eyebrow.
Fiona felt her heart leap in her chest, "The old lady I was supposed to deliver the fish to."
Oswald raised an eyebrow as Fiona felt a sense of dread creep up on her. Then Oswald cracked a smirk.
Fiona blinked a couple times.
Oswald roared, "YOUR FACE! HAHA."
Fiona growled, "Not funny."
Oswald shook his head, "To Answer your question, no, we don't expect payment from orphanages."
Fiona blinked, "But you could make a lot of money with that fish."
"What's a few mobiums in the place of healthy children. " Oswald shrugged, "Their lives have been hard enough."
Fiona reclined back. These guys were insufferably nice. So be it.
A green flash skirted around the plains. Fiona smirked. There was her ticket.
/*-*/
The Shadow passed over Johan as he lay there. He kept his breathing still as he saw the red and black figure walking.
His next meal had arrived. The Vibrations of the figure's voice resonated in the tight space. Johan remained as still as he could possibly be. Even his breath was still. This was going to be so-
The Figure stopped. They looked around.
Johan shuffled really low, before jumping forward.
He slammed through the clear icey roof he had made, bursting out, paralyzing the hooded figure. He closed his jaws on the figure's leg, and began to pulling, dragging them into the pit Johan had dug out for this ambush.
The Figure shrieks and clawed, but Johan was far stronger. As the incline became great, the figure stopped struggling and turned around. Had it accepted its death?
A small metal tendril emerged from the hood and fired a light, which burned Johan's cheek.
Johan roared in response, and smashed the side of the figure's face that had the danger-light.
He dragged his quarry down and began to feast.
The Door burst open from Johan's kick.
Johan shouted through the room, "YOU DECIDE HOW MANY OF OUR BROTHERS NEED TO DIE FOR YOUR CROWN!"
His cousin surged out from behind a table with his sword, "I Won't lose my birthright."
"You lost it when you failed to inspire your people!" Johan slammed his seax in His cousin's charge.
He Doubled over from the stab wound in his stomach. Amazing how the courage vanish from his cousin, who proved his cowardice by turn around and backing away, string blood across the floor.
Johan walked over, as the shriveling creature that was less than a man raised his hands in a pleading motion.
Johan pressed a foot on his chest, "I feel no pity for you Theode, You are not what our people need."
"Leave me, please, I will leave and renounce my claim." Theode was…Crying.
"You are the cancer of our race!" Johan shouted, "Weak men like you are why we lose!" Johan slammed his Seax into Theode's throat.
Johan let out a breath. This was difficult, but necessary for their people. He turned around to hear more sniveling.
Johan walked towards the table, his sword raised, and turned around the corner to find…. A boy. He couldn't be more than eight.
"Odacer." Johan commanded, and the boy raised his head. Odacer wasn't crying, but his breath was rapid, and terrified.
"Odacer, your father had to die because our people need to be strong, not weak. They need a pillar of stone, not sand. I will provide that pillar." Johan raised the sword over his head. The Sword suddenly felt heavy, even for him.
Johan looked into the frightened boys eyes. This was a taboo, even for them. A child slayer was…. Unheard of, outrageous. But Johan couldn't have claimants.
The boy was so young.
Johan closed his eyes, and lowered his sword letting out a breath, "Odacer, come here."
The boy stood up, his arms shaking.
Johan pointed at the bloody corpse over by the door way, "Weakness, is death. Your died from weakness. DO you understand."
The boy nodded.
"SPEAK! FEAR IS DEATH, FREEZING IS DEATH!" Johan shouted. The boy was pissing him off.
"I UNDERSTAND!" The boy shrieked.
"Will you be weak, afraid, or soft?" Johan growled. He didn't like shouting, but the boy needed to learn.
"N-no." Odacer shook his head.
"Good, you will train tomorrow, and you will learn the ways of war. I will kill your weakness to save your life." Johan growled.
Johan rose from the meal he was eating, his bloodied maw glistening.
He wondered what his nephew was doing right now. Was Odacer weeping for him right now? Or maybe he was stoic, or perhaps cheerful. Johan did kill his father.
Johan suddenly caught another scent. The Red Garden defender had been a nice snack, but he could find more meat from these scents. So Johan began his trudge through the snow.