Annie's POV

The next time I saw Connor, he was still in the hospital. There were less machines hooked up to him and he was staring at the wall.

"Connor?" I asked him from the doorway with a big smile on my face.

He looked at me. I gasped.

"Connor?" I asked him, hoping he would say something. I wanted to run to him so I could hug him.

"Whoa, Princess." Dad said.

"Gah." He picked me up.

"Relax Annie."

"Da-ad." I struggled to get out of his grasp. Connor was up, I had to go talk to him.

"Be gentle Annie. You can't tackle him."

"I wasn't." I told him, annoyed and hurt that he would think that.

"Yes, you were. You have the exact same stance as your Mom." He bobbed his head up and down.

"Ugh." I groaned. I just wanted to hug him, to talk to him.

When I looked back, Connor's eyes were closed.

I was disappointed that he wasn't awake. The doctors said he may be able to respond to stuff but that he might not actually recognize anything but he looked at me when I called out to him. He had to have recognized me.

I still believe he recognized me.

For a while, he did this. He'd open his eyes, I would try to talk to him and sometimes it seemed like he understood. He'd be back soon. I knew he would.

But before that, I had an adventure in the air. Ben and Whits called and asked if I would help them test their new plane. They were really excited about it. Seeing their faces made me smile and I realized I missed them. I hadn't actually seen them since my birthday. The whole thing with Connor kind of took up all of my attention and I didn't really want to do anything for a while. Mom and Dad had barely been able to talk me into doing a little family training. For the first time, in a long time, I was up for something outside my own back yard.

What I didn't realize was that they wanted me to fly the plane myself.

"You need the practice Annie. Besides, we want to know how you think she flies. If there are any kinks we didn't notice or think of, you can tell us. Pleeease?" Whits pled with her big hazel eyes. Her bun bounced with her.

"Wellllll." It had been a while. I did need to practice and the weather was about as perfect as it was going to get since it was fall. And it is cool to fly… "Sure, I'll do it. Nothing complicated though."

"Yay, thanks so much Annie." Whits said as she hugged me.

I hugged her back and turned to Ben who smiled at me. "You ready Ben?"

He gave me a thumbs up.

"All right, let's go." I told him, feeling… determined, I guess.

I hopped in their new plan that they named the Snap Dragon. It reminded me of the X Tornado but smaller and wider. Ben and Whits agreed on lilac accents on the wings while the rest of the plane was silver. The controls were still pretty much the same as Uncle Tails planes. Should be okay to fly.

In the air, she flew smoothly. We left the Mystic Ruins and made our way to Green Hill Zone. I had done this same route a dozen times and it still amazed me how big the forest was on the way there. In the distance, I could see the hills and cliffs and father out, I could see forested mountains. I smiled, I think, when I remembered just how amazing this feeling was. To be out there in the air and seeing the sights from up there. I was almost excited about this again.

"Loop de loop?"

"Whoa," I glanced at him on my right before I snapped out of my surprise. "You spooked me."

"Sorry," Ben said.

I shook my head. Wow. "Uh, its okay Ben," I said and made sure we were steady. I forgot how much more he actually talks when we're in the air. "But sure, I think I can handle that."

"Snap Dragon, come in, over." I heard Whit's voice. She and Uncle Tails were on a hologram to my left.

I giggled. "Snap Dragon, here." I said as I took the plane higher.

"How is she flying?" Uncle Tails asked.

"Great so far. You guys did a really good job. We're going to go for a loop de loop now."

"Awesome," Whits responded. "That'll be a great test."

"Just call if you need anything, okay?" Uncle Tails asked.

"Okay Uncle Tails."

"And have fun."

"We will."

The projection disappeared.

I took a deep breath as I steadied the Snap Dragon. "Ready Ben?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"All right, hang on." I went up for a wide one. Holding the controls, we headed up and felt the acceleration before a slight weightlessness. For the first time in a long time, I felt a rush of adrenaline that made me feel so… happy and excited without a twinge of sadness. I hadn't smiled that big in a long time.

"Whooohooo. Yeah." I giggled, still feeling the rush.

"That was a good one Annie." Ben chuckled.

"Yeah," I said with a smile. I didn't realize how much I really missed that

Aaaag. Aaaag.

"What the-" A tiny red light flashed on the console and a siren sounded. "BEN-" Before I could say anything else, he pushed a button. The plane transformed into a sleeker design. Ben's seat moved so that he was sitting and facing behind me. A control panel appeared in front of him.

"There's a robot."

"What?" Not again, not now. Time slowed down…. A projection appeared on my right of the area behind us. There was a huge cloud of smoke and then a giant bird metal thing flew out of it and right at us! My heart stopped beating… then… KABOOM!

I screamed as I sent the plane speeding forward. Need to get away. Need to get away. I looked around frantically and then looked back at my control panel. Nothing told me we got hit. We entered green hill zone.

"What was that?" I was heaving and look around me. The hills rolled underneath us.

"It sent a missile." He squeaked. He was scared. I was scared. We were two scared kids with a metal monster after us. I remember my heart pounding so hard, I felt it in my head. I was trying to remember what my family taught me.

"Annie, Ben? What's going on?" Uncle Tails appeared again on my left as a projection.

"Robot attack Uncle Tails. Help." I said frantically, while trying to keep a hold of the plane. Stay in the air. Get away.

"On my way to you now. Do your best to stay in the air until I get there. I'm sending your coordinates to Sonic too."

"Copy that. Thanks. And hurry please." I responded, still freaking out about this. It was the first time we had been attacked in the air. Robots really would jump out of anywhere. No where was safe.

The projection of Uncle Tails disappeared.

"I-it's still there Annie."

"Ben…?" Suddenly, I felt a rock in my chest over the sound of Ben's voice. He sounded so scared.

"It's still there Annie." He repeated.

"Okay, okay," I responded as I took another breath. I looked at the projections of the giant metal bird flying right behind us as I assessed our options. "We need to fight it or lose it. What do you think?"

"Lose it." He said and I sped up again, heading towards the mountains. We had the chance to lose it in the mountains. If we made it, we might be able to out-maneuver it and maybe hide.

I took the plane down, through loops, over rolling hills. I felt the plane shake and saw the smoke around us as we were fired at. I jerked up and we flew straight up before I leveled the plane and headed for the mountains again. Find the cave.

"A-Annie! It's right behind us!"

I went right, left, lift… barrel roll and up and over the first mountain. Then, another mountain and another… back down. I swerved and twisted us around, I treated the Snap Dragon like an extension of my own body. Keep moving. Don't let it catch you. Up, down, double back. Need to get home. I flew us through the line of tall trees at the base of the mountains. The robot was still there. Where is the cave? I frantically looked around. I internally groaned. Forget it.

"Shoot it." I told Ben.

"What?"

"Shoot it, we're not losing it like this. We need to get home." I told him… feeling frustrated actually. I remember narrowing my eyes and gripping the controls with a new sense of purpose. No more flying away, we had to fight our way out.

…

Ben!"

More shots. I saw tiny explosions around us. I felt Ben take fire. Then, something else launched from the plane. We hit the metal monster almost directly as I sped straight up and over towards the direction of the Mystic Ruins.

"Still there?" I couldn't tell. There was still smoke.

Looking ahead, I saw a gray dot in the distance.

Please be Uncle Tails. Please be Uncle Tails.

The hologram on my left appeared. It was Uncle Tails. "Annie, Ben, we see you. Head straight home."

I sighed in relief.

"It's still coming." Ben choked. I glanced at the hologram on my right of the robot. It looked ugly with burns and soot but still functional. Outer panels were gone, we could see its insides though.

"Shoot again if it gets too close." I told Ben.

"Okay."

"You did great, we'll meet you at the hangar in a bit. Your mothers are waiting for you." Uncle Tails told us.

"Got it." I said, feeling less tense.

I glanced out as we passed Uncle Tails and my dad who was on the wing of the plane. I smiled a little and then felt a twinge of worry. I remember looking around at my control panel and the hologram to my right. Dad spin dashed from the plane towards the giant robot thing. As far as I could tell, it was the only one.

A jolt. "Ah," I squeaked out and tensed up. But it was just the plane transforming back. Ben was at my side again and he put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped. He let go. I glanced at him in a panicked hurry. He looked worried and scared. For whatever reason, that calmed me down enough I could tell him, "It's okay Ben." I took another look to make sure everything was functioning. "We're going to be okay. We'll be home soon."

I want to say I was still pretty tensed up when we got back to the workshop. I never thought I'd be so happy to see Aunt Cream and Mom. As soon as we landed, I made a bee line for my mom.

"Oh, thank goodness." I started to cry. That was so scary, so intense. I broke down. Mom held onto me and repeatedly told me that we'd be okay. I wasn't listening. I just wanted to cry and hug my mom. I was safe in my mom's arms. Nothing would get to me. When I finally stopped crying and looked up at my mom, I suddenly remembered, Dad.

I stared out the hangar's door, hoping to see the plane any second. I knew they'd be back but I just wanted to see them. I wanted to be sure. I didn't want to leave anyone behind. Finally, when Uncle Tails and Dad landed, I ran to him. Flash got there first but Dad put him down and lifted me up when I got to him.

We're okay. We're okay.

I squeezed him.

"Wow, since when do you have your mother's arms?" Dad laughed.

"I always did, just never used them." I choked trying to laugh with him.

Everyone: So this one was fun and difficult to write. Action scenes were never my strong suit. But I want to say all things considering, it's not bad.

Tell me what you think if you like.

Hope you enjoyed, and see you next time.