Chapter #15: Aftermath

The next morning, the heroes (all except for SpongeBob and Patrick) and the Animal Allies woke up. Blathers went to the basement's green pantry to get some breakfast, and Sonic and Ratchet went to wake up the sea creatures. SpongeBob acted just fine after waking, but Patrick was the exact opposite.

"Come on, Peanut Brain, wake up," grumbled the Lombax as he shook the starfish.

"Sorry, I don't speak Japanese," came the sleepy response.

Ratchet wasn't in the mood for these silly antics, so he shook him more violently and yelled, "Wake up, you idiot! The bombing's over!"

He regretted saying that, because Patrick went nuts again; his eyes popped open, and he jumped out of bed and ran in circles, screaming, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Aaaaaaaahhhh!!" Then he ran into a wall and fell to the floor with an, "Ouch."

Timmy and Tommy, who were feeling a bit glum, laughed at the sight. The others, even Ratchet, joined in, and their spirits lifted. Just then, Tortimer and Tom Nook, who had gone up to scout the area, returned.

Sonic saw them first. "Hey, guys. What did ya see up there?"

Tortimer sighed and responded, "Nuthin' good. The town is a disaster; craters are everywhere and the river has been stopped up at some points."

Tom was a little more optimistic. He told them that many of the buildings were still standing or had minimal damage. Also, The Chief and his ACSP robots had discovered their comrades' parts and had fled from the town instead of sheltering in their discovered base for the bombing. The Allies and heroes were safe for the moment.

"Where's K.K.?" Jimmy asked.

"He went to the nearby towns for some help. He should be back by lunch," Nook replied.

But just then K.K. entered the basement with a worried expression on his face.

"Slider!" exclaimed Tortimer. "Whatcha doin' back here so early?!"

The canine said, "We've got a major problem, dudes. Operation Apocalypse wasn't just for AnimaCity, but for every Animal Alliance base."

The mayor's eyes bugged out of his head. "What?!"

"That's all the other towns in this county!" moaned Tom.

K.K. nodded glumly. "When I went to Daytona, I found hundreds of refugees from all the towns with Alliance bases. All the survivors are comin' here, lookin' for leadership and safety. And that's just gonna make it worse. I dunno if we can hold that many animals!"

The raccoon folded his arms. "Well, we can't just turn them away! They can stay in any inhabitable buildings! We must gather them all together and be Good Samaritans!"

"Tom's right," agreed Tortimer. "Copper!"

The police dog ran over and saluted. "Yessir!"

"Gather all the villagers you can find and tell them about this situation. I want all the able-bodied animals to come and prepare to welcome those refugees! Kapp'n might be able to help us, too; K.K., go to Paradisa and bring all the supplies on the island to the Wishing Well."

"Aye aye!" cried the two dogs, saluting. Then they left.

The hero gang had listened to every word, and then Sonic turned to the others and asked, "Guys, think we oughtta lend a helping hand?"

Spike took out his Stun Club. "Of course! We shouldn't just sit here." The rest of them nodded their heads.

Grinning, the hedgehog asked the AC animals, "Tortimer, Nook, how can we help?"

The old tortoise scratched his chin. "Hmm…let's see…why don't ya go with K.K. and help him bring back some supplies from Paradisa's fort?"

"Sounds good! We'll go right now!" He rocketed out of the basement, with the other seven heroes struggling to catch up.

When they ran out into the open, even Sonic halted for a moment to look around. They could understand why Tortimer had been glum. The green, peaceful forest that had been AnimaCity was now a desolate wasteland full of eerie silence. Craters of all shapes and sizes dotted the landscape; some were deep pits while others were small holes. Fire burned in some places, and many trees had been obliterated or torched by explosions. The red dawn sky and the dark clouds also added to the gloom.

Ratchet shook his head. "I hate seeing dictators destroy good land. When I find Big Boss…" he twirled his wrench in his hands, "he's gonna get it."

Everyone else had similar feelings, and they nodded in agreement. But they could do nothing about it for the present; their mission was to get to the dock…if it was still there. With Spike and Jimmy leading (since Sonic didn't know the way), they found the dock, where K.K. was getting a large yacht ready.

"K.K.! Hold up for a moment!" Spike yelled.

The musician stopped his work to look at them. "Oh, it's you guys. The mayor sent ya?"

"We wish to assist you in your excursion to Paradisa Island," answered Clank, hopping from his spot on Ratchet's back.

He smiled and gestured for them to come aboard. "Pile in; this thing has enough room for all of you and the supplies."

The gang boarded the boat and they set sail for Paradisa. Only a few seconds after they reached open water, something happened.

"Finally! Back on the ocean!" exclaimed SpongeBob, fighting the urge to dive right in.

Someone gulped. "The…ocean? Oh drat."

"Whatsa matter, Sonic?" Spike asked. "Scared of the water?"

"I'm not scared!" the cobalt hedgehog retorted hotly. "I just…can't…swim."

"He sinks like a rock," confessed Tails.

"Hey, SpongeBob…" quipped Patrick.

"If you ask, 'Who owns Nookington's?', you're dead," growled Ratchet.

"I know the answer to that!"

Everyone turned to him in amazement.

He pointed at the Lombax. "You own Nookington's!"

Ratchet trembled with rage, and one eye and his fingers twitched, but miraculously he kept himself under control.

"Hey, SpongeBob, what's an ocean?"

Quite used to such dumb questions, the yellow sponge answered, "A body of water, Pat…a big body of water."

"What's water?"

"You know! That blue, wet stuff that you can swim in! You can dive deep into it, but you'll run out of air and drown if you're under too long!"

Spike interrupted the explanation. "SpongeBob, I think you should shut up. You're making Sonic nervous."

By then, Sonic had crawled under his seat and was shivering, remembering his nasty experiences with water. He turned green in the face and held his sides.

Uhh…K.K.," Jimmy called to their "captain", "I think Sonic's getting seasick."

"Don't worry!" he shouted back, his eyes on their destination. "The island's only a mile or so away!"

Sonic groaned. "I don't think I should've eaten breakfast."

Luckily, Sonic didn't throw up, and they landed on Paradisa Island in no time. K.K. hopped out of the boat, and the others followed. Everybody but Sonic and Tails, that is; the hedgehog was too sick to go out, and Tails volunteered to take care of him while they went on their errand. With the dog in the lead, the rest of them walked to the fort in the center of the island. (A/N: Paradisa is bigger than the average island.) They found Kapp'n, the escapees from the ACSP jailbreak, and the lone islander Annalise, who was a brown horse in a red aloha shirt, and told them everything. Then, with their help, they loaded all the boxes of supplies onto the ship. Kapp'n and Annalise took the old turtle's dinghy and followed them back to the mainland. They found Copper and Booker waiting for them at the wrecked jetty.

"Tortimer's waiting for you at the Wishing Well," the first police dog explained. "He says to bring all the supplies there." Then, to the eight heroes, "He wants to talk to you guys, too. …You okay, hedgehog?"

Sonic moaned, but didn't answer. So K.K. did it for him. "He got kinda seasick."

"He is a hydrophobe," said Clank.

Copper blinked. "Huh?"

"It means he's afraid of water," explained Tails. "It comes from the word 'hydrophobia', which is the Latin word for 'fear or hate of water'."

"Gosh. Two walking dictionaries are too many!" Ratchet said.

"I might be able to get some medicine for you, Sonic," Copper offered. The hedgehog nodded.

All of them walked back to the Museum basement, and Copper got out a bottle of liquid medicine for Sonic.

"I thought they were pills," he said, "but this will work too."

"What flavor is it?" Sonic asked.

"Grape."

He made a face. "Blech! That'll just make me worse! Forget it!"

Ratchet folded his arms. "Come on, Sonic, just take it. Don't be such a baby."

Glaring daggers at the commando, Sonic reached for the spoon that had his medicine on it, but it was gone. "Hey! Who took the medicine? And the bottle?!"

"Patrick! That's not grape juice!" cried SpongeBob. "Don't drink it!"

But Pat ignored him and slurped the spoonful of medicine. "Yummy!"

Then they all saw the empty medicine bottle in his right hand, and many of them slapped their foreheads. Copper dug through the cabinet again, and with a shout of joy pulled out a tiny bottle of pills.

"Here they are! They got shoved into the back!" He gave Sonic the bottle and told him, "Take one with some water, Sonic. I've gotta check on K.K." Then he left to go help with the unloading.

Sonic shrugged and swallowed the pills with a glass of water. He felt a little better and told the others he was ready to go see Tortimer. They went to the Wishing Well and found him ordering around some of the villagers they had recruited. Tom Nook was labeling crates and his sons were taking an inventory of the supplies. The mayor waved them over.

"Ya made it just in time!" he said. "I gave my speech to the recruits, but I wanted to talk to y'all in private. While you were with K.K., I came up with yer jobs. Sonic and Tails, I need you two to be messengers and delivery boys for Nook. Go back and forth between job leaders and Animal Allies like myself and help when ya can."

"Sure!" and "Okay!" were their enthusiastic replies.

"Ratchet and Clank, would ya mind commandin' some of my animals that are goin' to keep the peace in the refugee camps? K.K. is doin' that, so you two can team up with him. Do yer best to prevent violence in the camps."

The Lombax saluted. "Ready for duty!"

From his position on Ratchet, the little robot said, "I am delighted to be of assistance to the needy."

"Spike and Jimmy, y'all look like strong lads. You can help Tom an' Copper clean up this sorry excuse fer a town. Do ya think y'all can clean up the buildings and unclog the rivers?"

"I don't see why not."

"I'll do my best!"

"SpongeBob and Patrick, why don't you fellers guard the Museum's basement? I don't want any bozos comin' in and stealin' anythang."

"Yes sir!" The yellow sponge attempted to salute, but actually hit himself too hard and fell over.

Patrick simply said, "Turkeys!"

"Well, whaddya waitin' fer? Git to it!"

The two sea creatures ran back to the basement.

"Do you really think someone will try to loot that basement, Tortimer?" Ratchet asked.

The tortoise chuckled. "Nah! I just thought that they should stay outta everybody's way! While we're doin our work, they won't bother us!"

He snickered. "Heh heh heh. Pretty clever plan, Mr. T.

Tortimer smiled. "Mr. T…I like that! Well, I'm not paying ya to stand here! Git to yer jobs!"

"Uhh, Tortimer, you're not paying us at all," Jimmy pointed out.

"I know; I just wanted to say that! Git goin'!"

The six of them ran to Acre A-4, where the remains of Nook's store stood. The shop's windows had shattered and there was a hole in the roof, but that was all, thank goodness. Some animals were already repairing the roof, and Tom was supervising. When he saw the heroes, he climbed down a ladder to greet them.

"Good to see you again! Did Tortimer give you jobs? And where are the sea creatures?"

"SpongeBob and Patrick are back in the basement, 'guarding' it," answered Clank, "and we were also given assignments."

Spike stepped forward. "Jimmy and I are supposed to help you clean up."

The shopkeeper nodded. "I see. Well then, you can assist my boys in cleaning out the inside of the store! All sorts of things fell in there, and we need it all out if we're going to house homeless animals in it! Get to it!"

The two boys disappeared into the shop, and the others informed Nook about their assignments.

"Well, you're going to have your hands full when those refugees get here. Wait! Here they are now!"

They all turned and saw a huge crowd of animals streaming into AnimaCity through the train station. (A/N: They had come via trains that Porter and other engineers had piloted.) The creatures ranged from dogs and cats to kangaroos and anteaters, and from tiny birds to giant bears. Many carried heavy sacks over their shoulders, and some had bandages wrapped on their foreheads, arms, and legs. All of them wore gloomy looks on their faces.

Sonic whistled. "It's a lot worse than I thought."

"There must be hundreds of them!" Tails said, his blue eyes growing wide.

Just then, Copper ran out of the crowd to them and said, "Tortimer sent me to tell you and the refugees that he's giving a speech and instructions at the Wishing Well."

"All right then! Let's go!" said Nook.

Tom called out Spike and Jimmy, and they rejoined the group. Copper led the way to the Wishing Well, where the mayor was standing on a wooden platform. Booker, Kapp'n, Annalise, and K.K. Slider were standing beside him. All around the well were crowds of refugees; it was a sea of animals, with the platform like an island. When the gang walked up to Tortimer, he invited them to sit next to the others. The gang took their seats, and the old tortoise began his speech.