-----Chapter Three: Reunion-----
Author's Note: Tsk, tsk, I'm getting into a bad habit here with this delaying stuff. Glad I got that last story over with. I've wanted to do this story (as well as the one following this) so badly! In this chapter, I'm introducing some of my own characters. (Lena Prower, Miles Prower, Jacques D'Coolette, and Bridget D'Coolette) If you need any descriptions, I'll put them in a revised copy of the story. Wow, short author's note this time. (Hears cheering in the distance) Hey! Alright, that's all for now. Toodles!
Disclaimer: All Sonic the Hedgehog characters used in this story are trademarks or registered trademarks of SEGA CORPORATION or its affiliates, and Archie Comics or its affiliates except where noted, in which they were created and trademarked by me. Any attempt to steal ownership or make profit from this story will be considered a violation of copyright law.
"Wish us luck," Queen Sally said to those gathered in the room.
"Good luck Mom," Sonia said.
"Good luck Dad," Manik stated.
"Aww c'mon, Sal, we don't need luck! When we last saw everyone, we all promised that we'd keep our communicators on at all times, just in case something happened, so don't fret!" King Sonic said confidently, pulling Sally closer to him.
"If you say so...," she muttered hesitantly. Sally and Sonic had been seated on the sofa, Knuckles to Sonic's right; Julie-Su to Sally's left. Sonia, Lara-Su and Manik were assembled behind the sofa, watching over their parents' shoulders. "Okay, I'll call Bunnie and Antoine, you call Rotor, and then-"
"Wait," Sonic interrupted. "We haven't seen them in such a long time; they probably want to hear from both of us."
"Point taken. Nicole, establish link that has been requested."
Bunnie and Antoine, to no one's surprise, became inseperable after Patch, who had impersonated Antoine and almost married Sally, was sent back to his own dimension. (Archie 155-156) After being engaged for two years, they were finally married in a ceremony that was unforgettable for all of the Freedom Fighters. They currently lived in a quaint house nestled in the country on the outskirts of Mobotropolis. Sally had given Antoine his dream job; Captain of the Royal Guards, and he had trained Bunnie in the art of swordsmanship so she could assist him. Sally had offered him and Bunnie a portion of the castle, but they disagreed with the idea, stating that neither of them was crazy about the city, but they remained close to the castle so she and Antoine could easily commute to work. But being that both couples were busy with their jobs, whether it was ruling the kingdom or guarding the ones ruling it, they had not seen each other in a long time.
"Mom! Dad! There's this strange ringin' sound comin' from your bedroom," Bridget appeared in the doorway of their hut, much like the ones in Knothole. "An' me n' Jacques are pretty sure it ain't the phone."
Bunnie and Antoine disengaged from the sword fight they were having outside the hut, which was a daily activity for them since it increased their skills, and stared at Bridget, then at each other, in disbelief.
"It couldn't be...," Bunnie whispered.
"But eet ees," Antoine responded, his French accent still intact. They dropped their swords on the ground and ran past Bridget to their bedroom.
"Oh, an' Jacques's already on his way up," she called after them.
Being that he was so curious, Jacques looked around his parents' bedroom, trying to locate the source of the mysterious ringing sound. He stooped to look underneath the bed when Bunnie and
Antoine burst through the door and hastily pulled open the drawer on the bedside table next to him. Antoine was about to turn the communicator on but Bunnie noticed Jacques standing by them and hurriedly shoved him out the door.
"We will to be explaining thees later," Antoine reassured Jacques, shutting the door in his face. His twin sister joined him shortly after, helping him to his feet.
"What the hoo-ha is goin' on in there?" Bridget asked, only getting a shrug in return.
"Nothing worth listening to," he said, still angered at his parent's rude behavior towards him.
"Receive transmission. Audio and visual, please," Bunnie said to the device. The small screen flickered on and the image of two they hadn't seen in over ten years; the two that lead the Freedom Fighters in their distant past; the two that were their best friends, appeared.
"Sally-girl, is that you?" Bunnie whispered disbelievingly.
"My Princ-I mean, my Queen!" Antoine exclaimed, obviously overjoyed.
"Hey, what about me?" Sonic asked, more annoyed than confused.
"Don't worry, Sugarhog. We haven't forgotten about you," Bunnie laughed.
"Oui, Your Highness, how could we ever to be forgetting about you?" Antoine joked.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "I don't care how long it's been; I still hate when people call me that!"
"Get used to it, King," Sally smirked, playfully nudging Sonic in the ribs.
"Ya'll haven't changed a bit!" Bunnie said cheerfully. "So why'd ya call? There isn't a problem, is there?"
"I'm afraid so, Bunnie," Knuckles said, moving closer to the communicator so that he could be seen on the other line.
"Knuckles? Why ees eet that you are at ze castle?" Antoine inquired.
"Well, it seems that Robotnik has resurrected himself from the dead, or rather, Snively has," Julie-Su explained.
"WHAT?!" the two exploded. Sally could swear she felt Nicole shaking. "But we took care of him years ago," Bunnie said, the mirth subsiding from her voice.
"Yeah, we thought 'Butt-nik was toast too," Sonic agreed. "But I guess we never took care of Snively." The two stared at him with perplexed looks on their faces, so Sally continued for him. "Basically, he's back, and we need some help brainstorming ideas and attacking once we have one."
"I am agreeing, my Queen. We will be seeing you tomorrow then."
"We'll explain the rest of the details tomorrow," Knuckles said.
"Oh, and you can bring Jacques and Bridget if you want," Lara-Su added, earning herself a shove from Sonia. "We won't mind the company."
"Ah'm sure they won't either, Lara-girl," Bunnie concurred. "See ya'll tomorrow!"
"Bye!" everyone at Castle Acorn said simultaneously.
"That went rather well," Sally said quietly, but still audible.
"What did I say?" Sonic said, proud but also relieved that he had been right. He had had the same doubts as Sally, even though he had hidden it. "One down, two to go. Uhh...call Rotor next."
"Already on it, Sonic."
Rotor's house was located not too far from the business district of Mobotropolis. He owned an exceptionally famous electronic shop, in which he sold copies of his creations, which were mostly ones that benefited the citizens in some way. In addition to that, he also repaired damaged devices that were purchased, many of them coming from other various electronic stores. But instead of being at work, like he normally was at this time, he was helping Sonic's Uncle Chuck with a pollution method he created for Mobotropolis.
"So you're saying that if all goes as planned, this machine can restore Mobotropolis's ozone layer?" Rotor asked, admiring the machine's blueprint.
Uncle Chuck nodded. "I'm quite sure it can, just not all at once. And I still haven't collected the materials needed to-"
"Hold that thought, Sir Charles. I'm receiving a call on my communicator."
"Who would be calling at this hour of night? It's quarter past twelve, for heaven's sake!"
"Receive transmission. Audio and visual," Rotor said aloud. The mechanism responded to his voice by beeping a few times and then showing the image of a couple they knew all too well.
Uncle Chuck slapped his forehead. "I should have known it was you, Sonnie-boy. You're the only one I know who would consider calling anyone this late."
"Hey Unc! Long time no see, eh?" Sonic responded on the other line. "And I do have a good explanation for calling this late. Rote's there, right?"
"Right here, buddy," Rotor said, moving into view of the communicator. "How are you doing these days?"
"Wish we could say great but we kinda have some bad news," Sonic sadly. "Here, you seem to be a pretty good bearer of bad news," he said, passing Nicole off to Knuckles.
Knuckles sighed, taking Nicole. "Robotnik is using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, as well as the Master Emerald, to sustain his life."
Both Rotor and Uncle Chuck held their breath, not believing their ears. "You can't be serious," Uncle Chuck gasped. "Everything we did, all of our efforts-"
"We're well aware of that, Sir Charles," Sally said. "The main reason we're calling is not to discuss the return of Robotnik, though. We're holding a reunion at the castle tomorrow to confer our plans of action."
"Reunion? You mean like a party?" Rotor questioned.
Sonic shrugged. "Call it that if you want. I don't mind hiring a DJ, or anything."
"Cool, Your Highnesses," Rotor taunted.
Sonic and Sally rolled their eyes. "Would everyone quit doin' that?" he demanded, while Rotor laughed and apologized. "All the other Freedom Fighters are coming too, so far," he continued.
"Great! Better get some rest then. Oh, before I leave, how's my great-niece doing?" Uncle Chuck asked.
Sonia grabbed Nicole from Sonic, beaming. "Great, Uncle Chuck!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, you forgot me!" Manik said.
"Sonnie, was that you? Your voice sounded different for a second-"
"Uhh, yeah Unc!" Sonic said quickly, taking Nicole back from Sonia. "Must've been some bad reception. See ya tomorrow! Bye!" Sonic ended the link before his Uncle could respond. He turned to Manik, arms crossed and his foot tapping. "You were supposed to be a surprise!"
"How was I supposed to know?" he said innocently.
"Forget it," Sally said, covering Sonic's mouth. "It's getting late, and we still have to call Tails and Lena."
Lena changed into her nightgown, completely exhausted. It had been a long day for her. She had been helping Tails with a new blueprint for the "Ultimate, Way Past Cool Plane" as he had called it. The features on it combined many of the previous planes he had created, making it better than ever. He had needed Lena's opinion on the various parts of machinery he was using, since her knowledge of mechanics was just about as extended as his. So they had spent the entire day designing the blueprint, while their son Miles checked their inventory for the supplies needed for the plane. After they had finished their work for the day, Tails took off with his son for a race around the border of Mobotropolis as usual, something that could be considered "father-son time." It wasn't a normal race, though. Each of them spun their twin-tails around like helicopter blades and flew the distance. At first, Tails decided to do this once a day to train his son to make good use of his inherited gift. But it didn't take long for him to reach his potential and was soon rivaling his father's skills. But Lena was not born with two tails, and it was impossible to keep up with them, so she stayed at home for this time of day, reading a book or cleaning.
She sighed as she climbed into bed, waiting for them to return. She missed the days towards the beginning of her marriage, where she and her husband would spend hours on end, her in his arms, flying through the Great Forest. Her mind floated off to the time they first met, all those years ago.
She had been reading her favorite book outside her father's house, sitting underneath the large oak tree in their front yard. She smiled to herself, looking at the clear blue sky and the small plane gliding across it. Her smile had vanished when she heard the engines sputter and saw smoke in the air. The plane began to spin in circles, heading straight for the field to her right. She closed her book and hurriedly ran to the crash site. Next to the plane there stood an orange fox, who seemed to be in his early twenties. She walked over to the stranger and asked if he was harmed. He replied that he was fine, but he wasn't so sure about his plane. She told him that her father was an expert in mechanics and had gotten her into it, so she offered to help him fix the plane.
While they were fixing it up, she asked what his name was. He said that his name was Miles, but since he hated the same, his "big brother" Sonic had renamed him Tails. Her face suddenly lit up when he mentioned Sonic. She was surprised that he knew such an important figure. But she soon put two and two together and realized that he was Tails Prower; the famous mechanic and Freedom Fighter! She told him that it was a wonder that she hadn't recognized his plane. She then asked where he was going when he crashed. He said that he was in search of his parents: Amadeus and Rosemary Prower. She questioned if she could come along and help him search. He gladly said that he could use all the help he could get and let her accompany him. They had soon become best friends and...
Her reverie was interrupted by the beeping coming from her and Tails' shared communicator. She got out of bed and crossed the room to the dresser it was laying on.
"Receive transmission. Audio and visual," Lena said to the communicator. It instantly responded, like the others had, and her face lit up at what, or rather who, she saw.
"Your Majesties! It's been such a long time!"
Everyone at Castle Acorn laughed at her response to the call. "Wow, I guess that joke really goes around," Sonic muttered.
"Yes Lena, it has been," Sally said, her laughter subsiding.
"Hey, how many people do you have over there?" Lena asked, surprised at how loud the laughter had been.
"Well, let's see, there's me n' Sal, Sonia, Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Lara-Su," Sonic responded, purposely skipping over Manik.
"Are you throwing a party or something?"
"Kind of," Sally said. "We're inviting all of the original Freedom Fighters to our place for a reunion tomorrow. And that reminds me, is Tails there?"
"Right here, Sally!" Tails called from the doorway. "And Miles is here too!" he added, moving into view and wrapping his arm around Lena.
"But Knuckles was never an original Freedom Fighter, so why's he there?" Lena asked.
"Here ya' go Knux," Sonic said, handing Nicole over to him yet again. "Like I said, you're pretty good at this kind of stuff."
Knuckles reluctantly took Nicole from his hands. "I'm here to run the meeting that will take place sometime tomorrow. It concerns Ivo Robotnik, need I say more?"
"What happened? He's not back, is he?" Tails questioned, slightly panicking.
"'Fraid so, T2," Sonic stated solemnly. "So we need you, Lena, and Miles to come here so we can figure out how to get rid of him."
"Got it, Sonic. We'll be over tomorrow as soon as we can." The connection ended, and Sally flipped Nicole shut.
"Now what?" Manik queried.
"Now...we wait," Sally finished.