The distance to Treetop Village wasn't very far, but Raza's shuttle wasn't built for speed. The events of the day had been draining and almost everyone took the opportunity to catch some sleep. Sally tried to take a nap, but a combination of the uncomfortable floor and the weight on her mind made sleeping impossible. She had to admire the boys who were happily snoring away, despite of everything. They had found bandages and some painkillers for Sonic, so that was one less thing to worry about. The chipmunk signed in defeat and headed towards the pilot seat. She sat down and watched as the shuttle flew over the water.

"Is everything alright, Sally?"

Sally nearly jumped out of the chair. "Oh, Nicole." She smiled at the handheld unit plug into the console. "You startled me."

"My apologizes. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Its alright. I just have a lot on my mind. It was only a few days ago, I was happily digging in the dirt, looking for old things, completely oblivious to the world around me. Now I am sitting in the shuttle of mobian hunter that tried to kill me. And several good people died trying to protect me. I am starting to wish I just stayed in the palace. Played the role of a royal princess that my father always wanted me too."

"You could have not predicted events would unfold they way they have. From my observations and listening to Sonic, I doubt that things would have been significantly different if you hadn't been in the equation. Raza still would have attacked Knothole and Snively was unaware of the fact you were at the dig site. If anything, if you hadn't been there, Sonic wouldn't have gotten involved and the smuggling operation wouldn't have been uncovered."

"I guess the makes some sense." Sally shifted in the seat to try and get more comfortable. "So what is your story? There are several AIs in Mobotropolis, but none seem as real as you."

"The programs you have encountered are most likely Virtual Intelligence rather than fully Artificial Intelligence. They have a set of premade responses to inquires and are unable to do anything outside of their base programing. While my father did some basic programing, the majority of my personality and intellect grew in a similar fashion a mobian's would."

"How so?"

"I do not think the story would be that interesting."

"Please. I truly am interested, and it might help take my mind off things for a while."

"As you wish? I am still unclear why father choose to create me, but he started with a simple algorithm that he added to over the course of several years. The first thing that I remember is him typing 'Hello' into my interface. At the time, I didn't know what the word meant, but I responded with it. As time passed, my awareness grew as father slowly introduced concepts to me. Rather than simply downloading them into my programing, he allowed me to absorb it at my own pace. Eventually, he presented me with a large array of voices into which to choose how I would communicate. I spent hours listening to each one before selecting the base voice that would eventually become my own. I adjusted the pitch and tone until I got the voice you are listening to now."

"It is a lovely voice."

"Thank you. Father then gave me the name Nicole. It was a name he hoped to give his future daughter. After that, I was raised alongside Sonic. I participated in the lessons that father gave Sonic, played computer games with him, and even enjoyed the bedtime stories father would tell. I used the times when everyone was asleep to practice my more computerized functions. Interfacing with devices and similar functions."

Sally yawned. "Sounds wonderful. Seems like you were treated more as a person than a computer."

"Yes. Often I wonder what I would have turned out like if father had opted to just download everything directly into my program rather than letting me learn and grow." Nicole seemed to pick up on the fact that Sally was starting to doze off. "Would you like to hear one of the bedtime stories father would tell Sonic?"

"Sure."

Nicole began telling Sally the story about The Hedgehog and The Dragon. Sally fell asleep before she could get past the first part. Nicole turned the shuttle lights down. "Sleep well, Sally!"

Treetop Village was a straight and to the point name for their destination. The island itself was only slightly larger than the island they had come from. This island was dominated by massive trees that covered all but a thin area of beach that circled the island. Looking like redwood trees rather than the palm trees, the bark of the trees was as hard as steel. Rather than waste time and energy cutting them all down, the mobians had opted to use them as the foundation for their village. Buildings were built on the branches and anchored to the trees with large spikes. Eventually a small military base was established by hollowing out a section of the largest tree. As the shuttle approached the village, Sally transmitted her id code, so the base wouldn't try and shoot them down. Nicole brought the shuttle down on one of the base's landing pads. As Sally stepped out, she noticed a much larger number of airships and shuttles than a base this size would normally have.

A skunk dressed in a military uniform and purple beret who appeared to be in his late thirties walked up and knelt in a respectful bow. "Greetings Princess. I am Commander Ian St. John. We were glad to hear you were unharmed."

Sally gave her own respectful bow. "It has been a troubling few days. I plan to make a full report to my father when I get to the mainland. What is a member of The Royal Secret Service doing here?"

"A shipment of gold rings is scheduled to leave here tomorrow for the kingdom. The king wanted to increase the security in light of all the raids that have been happening."

"Gold Rings?" Sonic stepped out of the shuttle with Rotor and Antione. "There are gold rings here?"

Ian stood up and looked at the hedgehog with suspicion. "And you are?"

Sally cut Sonic off before he could respond. "His name is Sonic and he saved my life no less than three times." She motioned to Rotor. "That is Rotor and he pulled me out of the ocean before I drowned." Sally smirked as Antione stood at attention. "And of course, I wouldn't be here without brave Antione."

Ian's face didn't change, but he gave both Sonic and Rotor a respectful bow of his head. "You have my thanks for safeguarding the princess's life." He turned to Antione and saluted. "I trained under your father General Armand D'Coolette. He will be very pleased to hear about your bravery."

"Thank you, sir." Antione returned the salute.

"Yes, Ant is very brave." Sonic looked around. "About those rings?"

"They are secured in the base. Why are you so interested in them?"

Sonic pointed at his injured arm in the sling. "I can use it to fix my shoulder."

"Nonsense." Ian gave Sonic a look over. "What mobian are you? Are you from one of the southern islands."

"I'm a hedgehog." He ran a hand over his quills. "These should have been a dead giveaway."

"Impossible." The skunk's hand moved closer to his blaster pistol. "There are no hedgehogs left. What trick are you playing at?"

"Commander!" Sally spoke up. "He is indeed a hedgehog and what harm is there in letting him try."

"Very well. But I am keeping my eye on him." Ian waved at them to follow as he walked into the base's warehouse.

Several stacks of metal crates sat at the center of the warehouse with several guards around them. Sitting on top of one of them was a mid-twenty-year-old purple-and-white weasel with a long-bent tail and blue eyes. He wore what appeared to be combat armor that was designed to be lighter than the traditional armor the rest of the guards were wearing. A brown well-worn fedora sat on his head. As soon as the weasel spotted Ian and the others, he jumped off the crate and gave a mock salute.

"How is it going boss?" His accent hinted that he was from one of the southernmost islands. When the weasel opened his mouth, everyone could see the large pointed tooth on the right side of his mouth. "You now doing the kiddie's tour?"

"Show some respect, mercenary. You are in the presence of the royal princess."

"Oh!" The weasel stepped up to Sally, knelt and kissed her hand. "Nack at your service your highness. I take it you will be joining us on our journey to the capital."

Sally did her best to hide her distain. "Yes."

"Normally I would have to raise my rate, but I will make an exception for you." Nack let go of her hand and stood up. "If you will excuse me, with the commander here, I think I will go grab a quick bite. Care to join me?"

"I will have to decline. I have business to take care of with the commander."

"Later then." He walked off.

Ian's fists tightened. "Damn mercenary. He was hired for security, but he has been disrespectful since day one."

Antione snorted. "Then why keep that fool around?"

The skunk sighed. "He is the best around. If it wasn't for his help, we would have lost three major engagements with human forces. But I wouldn't mind teaching him some respect."

Ian walked toward the crate and entered a code onto the keypad built into the lid. With a hiss it unsealed, and the lid lifted open. The area was covered in a golden glow that came from the open crate.

"Wow!" Rotor, who had been quietly watching everyone walked up to the crate, memorized by the glow. Inside the create was a large pile of gold rings. "I've never seen so many in one place. I was only able to find a few on my island."

"Yes!" Ian picked one of the rings out of the create. "We still don't know how the appear or quite what they are made of, but they are the reason we beat the humans in the war." He reluctantly handed it to Sonic. "I wouldn't try and steal it, or the guards will put you down. Many of the guards with rifles turned towards the hedgehog as Ian spoke.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sonic held the ring up with his good arm. "But I am afraid I won't be able to give it back." The ring flashed with golden light, that enveloped the hedgehog. It vanished, and Sonic tore off his sling. He rolled his shoulder around and smirked. "All better."

Everyone in the room was silent as they tried to understand what just happened.

Nack's trip to the mess hall was stopped short when his wrist communicator started to beep. He grumbled a bit as he turned from the mess hall and headed for one of the side hangers. It was one of the smallest and at the time, only contained his personal vehicle, The Marvelous Queen. A sky cycle where the words heavily modified wouldn't come close to describing everything Nack had done to it. From the weapons to the ion-engine, there was little remaining of its stock components. After double checking he had disabled the hanger's security cameras and mics, Nack unlocked the controls of his vehicle with his wrist communicator and pressed a small button on the control panel. A small screen slid out in-between the handlebars and an image of Snively appeared on it.

"Fang! I have another job for you."

Snively was asking for Nack's alias he worked under. Fang the Sniper was the name he used for the less than pleasant jobs. Typically, ones that ran counter to mobian interests. The communication system would scramble his image and voice to keep his identity secret.

"What is it Swinely?"

"That's Snively!"

"I fail to see how that sounds better."

Snively mumbled some curses before continuing. "A hedgehog has appeared and caused me no end of problems."

"A hedgehog?" Despite walking away, he hadn't missed Sonic's stunt with the ring.

"Yes. A blue one that can run at incredibly fast speeds." The image of Snively changed to show some footage of Sonic taken from the vehicles Snively had used to destroy the ruins. "I know you usually eliminate your targets and while that is an acceptable outcome, I would prefer if you could bring him to me alive."

"If you want him alive, it will be triple my usual bring in alive rate."

"WHAT?"

"Hedgehogs are a very rare mobian. You have any idea how much I could get for his hide in the human lands. But I'll be fair, if I must kill him, I'll only charge you double my rate."

"Do you think you can extort Snively the Great?"

"Not at all. Fill free to find another bounty hunter capable of doing the job for less. I'll wait."

More cursing followed before Snively sighed in defeat. "Very well. Contact me when the job is done." The screen went dark.

Nack laughed as he opened on of the cycle's storage compartments. "Easy money."

With Sally busy calling her family on the main island. Sonic and Rotor decided to spend the few hours before nightfall exploring the village. Sonic had never been to a village, save for his brief visit to Knothole and Rotor's only experience was with his herd since they rarely interacted with other mobians. Sally gave Rotor some money, just incase they wanted to grab a bite to eat. Sonic looked at one of the thin strips of metal Sally had provided as he and Rotor walked out of the base. It was cool to the touch and had the seal of the kingdom of acorn and some numbers engraved on it.

"This is money?"

"Yeah! My herd kept some when they would deal with traders at ports. It is made from gold rings that didn't have any of the magical properties they typically have. They come in verity of sizes and shapes."

Sonic handed the strip back to Rotor. "Wouldn't that get heavy?"

The Walrus shrugged. "I guess. But they seem to manage."

The two stopped as the reached they edge of the village. A large wooden platform had been built across several massive branches. Stalls and small structures dotted the platform to offer good and services to the traders that came to the island. Several airship landing pads were in the distance and lifts leading down to boat docks could be seen. It was busy with activity as mobians of all types went about their business.

"Never seen so many in one place." Sonic looked around a little nervously. "Not a lot of running room either."

"I'm not a fan of crowds either."

"Hmmm!" Sonic sniffed the air. "I hope my nose isn't lying to me." The hedgehog took off in a direction as quickly as he could given the crowd.

A large window stall was set up on the side of a larger restaurant. Built for the travelers who didn't have time for a sit-down meal, it had a verity of food for the mobian on the go. One of them was fresh hotdogs with a pot of chili not to far away. The female rabbit behind the counter was a little startled when Sonic suddenly appeared.

"Can I help you?"

"Two chilidogs with the works please."

"Certainly, that will be two strips."

"Huh?"

"Two gold strips. To pay for the chilidogs."

"Oh!"

Thankfully Rotor managed to catch up to Sonic. He had to lean against the counter to catch his breath as he had to practically run to catch up. "Not to complain, but could you move a little slower."

"Sorry, Rote." He patted him on the shoulder. "I am not use to having to watch my pace. I was entranced by the aroma of that wonderful chili. Do you still have that money we got from Sally?"

Rotor nodded and straightened up. "I'm a bit famished myself. I enjoy fish, but I was starting to get a little sick of it. I'll have what you're having."

After completing the transactions, Sonic and Rotor moved off to a small seating area nearby to eat. Rotor sniffed the chilidogs. "I never eaten one of these before, but it does smell good."

"Trust me. You'll never eat anything better." Sonic rubbed his hands for a moment before picking up one of the chilidogs. As he started to take his first bite, he stopped and slowly set it down on the plate.

"Something wrong?"

Sonic looked around and seemed to spot something. "I'll be right back."

"Do you want me to…." Rotor was cut off as Sonic got to his feet and walked into the crowd. "I guess not."

Sonic did his best to move through the crowd quickly as he could. What had caught his attention was someone wearing a light red cloak. Whoever it was, spotted him before he got close and took off down a small alley way. Luckily, the alley was deserted, so Sonic was able to pick up speed when he got to the alley. As he reached the end, a large object slammed into his head and knocked him out cold.