Chapter #16: Cleaning Up
"Citizens of Animal Crossing," Tortimer began, "welcome to AnimaCity…or what's left of it. I apologize for not bein' fully ready for yer arrival, but, as y'all can see, we were bombed as well. But don't doubt yer decision to come here; you'll git plenty of food and shelter. But what yer lookin' for most is leadership, and I'm here to answer all yer questions and do as much as I can to make y'all feel at home. I'll start by answerin' any questions ya have. If yer curious 'bout somethin', now's the time to speak up."
A shouting match ensued, but, luckily, Copper was at hand and managed to find the person who spoke first. It was a lion named Rex. (A/N: I don't know all the animals' catchphrases, so I won't put all of them in.)
"Where are we gonna sleep?"
"This town wasn't hit as hard as some other towns, so many of our buildins are still standin'," the mayor answered. "We'll cram as many people as we can into 'em, and we've got tents to make camps when they get full."
"What about the villagers' houses?"
"Some of 'em are still standin', but because of looters, no one is allowed inside until the villager cleans it out fer use."
There was some complaining about this, but Tortimer just ignored it. He asked for the next person, and Copper picked Bangle the brown-and-yellow tiger, who asked, "What is there to eat?"
"Some of our female villagers have volunteered to cook meals (and you can do this too, might I add). But we need to conserve most of our supplies, so the main course will be Animal Alliance rations, the MREs, 'Meals Ready to Eat'."
There was some groaning, but the mayor moved on to the next animal, Hornsby the purple rhino.
"What about police? I don't wanna get robbed!"
"Already taken care of. I've got Copper and some squads to keep the peace. They can also fight off robots if they come here. We also have a very helpful ally, a commando named Ratchet. I've given him command of a team of Allies. Ratchet, could ya please stand up?"
Ratchet obeyed, though reluctantly. He felt the curious stares of the animals, and sat back down as soon as Tortimer gave him permission.
"Now, is that all of the questions?" No one spoke, and he nodded. "Good. Now, what I want y'all to do is go down to the police station. Tom Nook will be there to write down yer names. When he's done that, he will assign ya to a buildin'. Also, if yer lookin' for missin' loved ones, y'all can use the bulletin board in Acre B-3. I warn y'all to keep yer personal belongins close, 'cause it'll be very hard for our police to track down missin' items in this post-bombing chaos. This brings me to the end of my speech." He cleared his throat and continued.
"Last night, June 15th, the night of the bombing, was a terrible day…a day that will live in infamy. Animal Crossing will never forget the day when a ruthless dictator destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged the resistance against him. Although the Animal Alliance is crippled, it is not beaten. We're far from it! In fact, this event will spur us on to our goal…to win back Animal Crossing's independence!" The crowd cheered, and the heroes found themselves clapping.
"I can see why he's the mayor and the leader of the Alliance," Ratchet remarked. "He's got a way with words."
"And he's old," Jimmy added. Everyone stared at him. He held up his hands. "What?"
Then Tom Nook walked up to them. "Hey, fellows, I'm going to need your help with signing in the animals."
"What are we supposed to do?" Spike asked.
"Once I've signed in an animal and given them a nametag, I want you to give them one ration, a sleeping bag, and a set of clean clothes. If there's a family, give each of them an item. It's simple!"
Ratchet sighed. "Will this work ever end?"
"Remember, Ratchet," Jimmy told him, "'A hero's work is never—'"
The Lombax rolled his eyes. "I know, I know."
Sonic folded his arms and lightly stamped his foot on the ground repeatedly. "Less talking and more action! Let's go!" Then he rocketed off after Nook.
The others watched him, and then Ratchet asked Tails, "Is he always like that?"
The fox shrugged with a small grin. "Pretty much."
They went over to the police station, where there was already a long line of animals. Tom took a seat at the table in front of the station and began writing down names and handing out nametags. Sonic and Ratchet lugged some sleeping bags outside to hand out, and Tails and Clank opened a package of rations. The boys found the clothes and carried a box to a spot by the sleeping bags. Within seconds they were passing out items to the refugees. And the line just kept going on and on…
An hour later, the eight heroes took a break and snacked on a few rations. They didn't have much of a taste, but no one complained.
Ratchet gave a groan and rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, am I tired…"
Jimmy agreed, "My arms feel ready to fall off."
Suddenly they heard two familiar voices.
"We'll help!"
"What's help?"
Spike groaned. "Just who we need: SpongeBob and Patrick."
The two sea creatures ran up to them, and Ratchet asked, "Weren't you two supposed to be guarding the basement?"
"Blathers told us to take a break!" SpongeBob replied.
(Flashback to a few minutes ago)
"Patrick! Don't chew on those fossils!" Blathers cried. "You're worse than Booker! Here, give me the bone!" He grabbed one end of the bone Patrick held and attempted to take it back.
Patrick tugged back. "My bone!"
"No it's not!"
He frowned a little and tugged harder. "My bone!"
The owl also tugged harder. "No, it's not!"
"My bone!" He tugged again, and Blathers stumbled.
But Blathers got back up and did the same. "No, it's not!"
"My bone!"
Patrick tugged so hard that he threw Blathers over his head and into a red vase. SpongeBob, who had been looking at the bugs, came over to see what was going on.
"Hey, Pat! That's a pretty big bone! Where'd you get it?"
In response, his friend bared his teeth and growled like a dog. "Grr…my bone."
"Okay okay, no offense!" he exclaimed, holding his hands up in the air.
Patrick growled some more and then resumed chewing on the bone.
I wonder if this is a side effect from that medicine… SpongeBob thought. Then he noticed that Blathers was gone and asked, "Hey Patrick, where's Blathers?"
Right on cue, Blathers' voice echoed from inside the red vase. "Ohhhh…my…head."
The yellow sponge peeked into the vase and grinned. "Hey, Mr. Blathers! Are you playing hide-and-seek? You didn't tell me! I wanna play!"
The curator climbed out of the vase and shook himself to get rid of any dust. "I'm not playing. Your friend threw me in here."
His eyebrows rose. "Oh. Well, it's not like Patrick to be mean…" He glanced at Patrick out of the corner of one eye, and bit his lip when he saw that he was still chomping on the bone and growling.
Blathers sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. "I tell you what. Why don't you take a break and see your friends? I can guard the basement."
"Really?! Thanks!" He turned to Patrick and waved for him to follow. "Come on, Pat! Leave the bone and come with me!"
The starfish suddenly grinned and dropped the bone. "Pickles!" He raced after SpongeBob up the stairs and out of the secret basement.
Once they were out of sight, Blathers fainted in relief.
(Flashback ends)
"He's a nice guy!" said SpongeBob. "I like all the bugs he's got!"
Spike whispered to Ratchet, "I feel sorry for Blathers. He had to put up with these guys for a long time."
"Especially with Patrick," the commando whispered back.
"Is there anything we can do?" asked SpongeBob.
Ratchet, Spike, and Jimmy tossed reluctant glances at one another, but Sonic scratched his chin thoughtfully. Then he answered, "You can go get us more clothes and food. Just make sure Patrick doesn't eat any rations."
"Okay!" He ran into the station, and Patrick followed. A minute later, he returned carrying two boxes of food and shirts. He set them down and took the empty boxes back into the building. The others were quite surprised at how he could carry them.
"He's stronger than he looks," Ratchet remarked.
"Not bad for a sea sponge," Spike added.
Suddenly a scream split the air. A black cat wearing a ski mask ran into the acre, and a pink mouse named Candi followed him. "Stop him!" she cried. "He's got my purse!"
Ratchet groaned. "My first police action today." He pulled out his N90 Hurricane and cocked it. "I'd better take care of this."
ZOOM!
"Sonic's way ahead of ya, Ratchet," said Spike.
The blue streak that was Sonic ran right in front of the thief. The force of the wind knocked the cat down on his tail, and the purse fell from his hands. The blue hedgehog rocketed back and snatched it from the ground. He stopped in front of Candi, who watched him with eyes as wide as saucers.
But the thief wasn't going to give up that easily. With any angry yowl, he got back up and leaped toward Sonic. The hedgehog was slightly caught off guard, and whirled around with fists raised. But suddenly Ratchet was there with his Omniwrench, which he used to hit the cat in the gut. The thief fell to the ground and clutched his stomach, groaning, "Urghh…aw, man…busted."
Smirking, the Lombax twirled his wrench with one hand and tucked it into its place on his belt. "Ya got that right, kitty."
Grinning also, Sonic walked up to Candi and held out the stolen purse. "Here's your purse back."
"Th-thank you," she stammered. "How did you do that?"
"It's a gift I have," he replied with a shrug. He turned to Ratchet and asked, "You gonna 'take him downtown', Ratchet?"
The commando grabbed the thief by the scruff of his neck. "Sure. Wanna come, Sonic?"
"Okay."
The two each took one arm of the cat and dragged him away to the town hall, where Tortimer and Copper had set up a makeshift detention center. As they left, a crowd of refugees that had witnessed the skirmish whispered to one another. (A/N: No particular villagers from the game in here; I just picked colors and species out of a hat.)
"Did you see that?" a dark gray wolf whispered.
"Unbelievable!" exclaimed a green rabbit. "Did you see that hedgehog move? He was like lightning! And that weird-looking one has the biggest wrench I've ever seen!"
"Who were those guys? I've never seen 'em around here before," said another rabbit.
"Didn't you hear them talking?" the wolf replied. "The weird one is Ratchet, and the hedgehog is Sonic."
"I'll bet they're with the Animal Alliance," a calico cat interjected. "They've been recruiting some strange characters lately…"
On another side of the crowd, a trio of female animals watched the two heroes leave with dreamy looks.
"That Ratchet guy is sooo handsome," a pink squirrel said.
"But Sonic was so fast," sighed another. "My hero…"
A third girl sighed dreamily and fainted against a tree, and the other two began to argue about which one was cuter. The other six heroes saw and heard everything, and Tails covered his face and muttered, "Oh brother."
"Sonic and Ratchet are gonna have some crazy female fans running after them soon," Spike said, shaking his head. "Trust me; I had the same thing happen to me when I captured all the monkeys and put them back in Monkey Park."
Jimmy added, "I remember that. You got lots of love letters."
His cousin flushed almost the same color as his hair. "It was embarrassing."
"Sonic's not very fond of fan girls either," Tails said. "They drive him nuts."
"I cannot determine how Ratchet will react to this situation," Clank put in with a shrug. "He has never had many female fans."
Just then Ratchet and Sonic returned, and the latter greeted them, "Hey, guys! Copper's got the thief in jail now."
"You guys have become the talk of the town already," Spike told them, "or will be soon."
The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Word gets around just as fast as I do around here, doesn't it?"
"You've got quite a few crazy fan girls already."
Ratchet gave a groan and shook his head; the last thing he wanted was a bunch of love-struck girls following him around. Sonic, on the other hand, had a bigger reaction; his green eyes got several sizes bigger. Tails saw it and seemed to read his mind.
"Don't worry, Sonic, there aren't any girl hedgehogs, except for the Able Sisters. And they aren't even here."
He wiped his forehead and leaned against the police station. "Phew! Thanks, little bro! For a moment I was worried she had followed me all the way here!"
Spike cocked an eyebrow. "Who's 'she'? A hedgehog fan girl?"
Tails nodded. "Uh huh. I know which one he's talking about."
With a big sigh, Sonic sat on a box of sleeping bags and said, "Persistence, thy name is Amy Rose."
"Perfect name," Ratchet said with a snicker.
"She's crazy, and I mean crazy about me!"
"Crazy about you to what degree?" Clank inquired in curiosity.
The hedgehog's face turned beet red, and he looked down at his sneakers. "I don't like talking about it."
Spike cracked a grin. "Lemme guess: she wants to marry you."
He hung his head in embarrassment. "Yup."
"Oh brother," said Jimmy, slapping his forehead.
"Can we just drop this subject? Just talking about Amy makes me nervous."
Ratchet suddenly gave a mischievous, maybe even evil, grin. "In what way?"
Sonic shot a glare at him. "Don't even think that I like her in that way!" he exclaimed, raising his voice.
Suddenly Patrick, who had been quiet during the whole incident, cocked his head, gave a goofy smile, and asked, "You're in love with a rose?"
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then everyone (excluding Sonic, Tails, and Clank) busted out laughing.
"For once, Peanut Brain was actually funny!" Ratchet gasped, holding his sides.
Sonic fixed Patrick with a glare that could have melted an iceberg.
"Uh, guys," Tails broke in, "Sonic takes it too seriously. I think you should stop."
The fox's words and the look on his face showed how serious he was, and Ratchet, Spike, Jimmy and SpongeBob stopped; Patrick, however, was too stupid to know when to quit. In fact, unfortunately for Sonic and him (as we will see), he knew a popular rhyme that was perfect for the situation.
"'Sonic and Rosie, sittin' in a tree, k-i-s—gulk!"
The "gulk" was Sonic grabbing Patrick by the throat.
"Stop now and I'll spare you a thrashing," he growled with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
Ratchet whistled. "You're right, Tails; he's dead serious."
But Patrick still didn't catch on, and finished, "…s-i-n-g!"
Sonic choked him harder, and then, with amazing speed and force, he threw the starfish into an empty box and closed the top. He looked around with mischievous eyes and said, "Hey Ratchet, got a bazooka or something that I can borrow?"
The other six stared at him with wide eyes, and SpongeBob cried, "Don't do it, Sonic!"
From inside the box, Patrick asked, "Who's Sonic?" Sonic glared and kicked his box. "Ouch."
But then Sonic grinned. "I was just joking, guys. I'm just gonna keep him in this box until our work is done." They sighed in relief.
"But he can't breathe!" protested SpongeBob.
Ratchet shrugged and walked up. "I'll shoot a hole in it with my N90 then!"
"No, don't!"
Bang!
Too late.
The shot left a big hole in one side of the box. SpongeBob ran up to it and peeked in. "Patrick, are you okay?!"
"…Ouch," came the weak reply.
Suddenly Spike looked up and saw a new crowd of animals walking towards them. "Guys, some stragglers are coming. Let's get back to work."
Luckily for them, these stragglers were the last of the refugees, and Tom Nook, who had taken advantage of the pause and had gone to check on his store, told them to go to their original jobs. The gang dropped off SpongeBob and Patrick at the Museum, where they saw no sign of Blathers.
SpongeBob shrugged and said, "Oh well. We'll just surprise him. Speaking of which, I want to do something special in here, so come back at around 5:00, okay?"
"Whatcha gonna do? Tear it all down?" asked Jimmy.
He shook his head and grinned. "No, it's a secret." Then he turned to Patrick, who was still in the box, and said, "Come on, Pat! We're going inside the Museum!"
"I don't wanna go!" came the starfish's voice from inside his "prison".
"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"
"What's fun?" Ratchet glared and kicked the box, which solicited another, "Ouch."
After thinking for a moment, SpongeBob got an idea. "We'll go find that bone you like!"
The box suddenly sprouted two pink, stubby legs, which propelled it and Patrick towards the Museum.
"I want my bone!" he cried, and shoved his arms through two other sides of the box as well.
The Museum wasn't very far away from the police station, but there were plenty of obstacles along the way: trees that were still rooted, trees that were lying in their path, and animals wandering around. Since he was unable to see anything, Patrick bumped into several of these as he ran for their destination. The other seven followed behind him, a few (namely Spike, Jimmy, Ratchet, and Sonic) snickering whenever he ran into something. When they went into the marble building, everyone saw that the basement door was open…everyone except Patrick, that is. He kept going until he tripped on one of the steps, and the box tumbled down the stairway, coming to a rest at the bottom. From the sound of Patrick's voice, he wasn't hurt too bad.
"Peanuts!"
SpongeBob wiped his forehead in relief, "Phew! For a moment I was worried that he broke his neck or something!"
"No such luck…" Ratchet muttered to himself.
With SpongeBob and Patrick dropped off, the other six heroes left for the Wishing Well, where Tortimer was giving orders to some animals in uniform armed with small weapons. K.K. Slider, who was among them, saw the group and came over to them.
"Hey dudes," he greeted. "Tortimer is getting ready to send out some animals to check the abandoned towns. He wants you alien dudes to go."
Ratchet rolled his eyes at the word "alien", but he didn't comment. Instead he replied, "Okay. Clank and I will go."
Tortimer finished his orders and went over to them. "Hey there, fellers! I've made a small change of plans. A lotta animals volunteered to be messengers, so I don't think I'll be needin' ya, Sonic. You can go with Ratchet and Clank if ya want."
The hedgehog's eyebrows rose. "No kiddin'. Sure, I guess I'll go. But what'll happen with Tails?"
"He can work with Spike and Jimmy on those buildings. That okay, son?"
The fox smiled and replied, "Yeah. I'm good with engineering."
"He's modified the Tornado all by himself," Sonic remarked with a proud grin.
It was Tortimer's turn to be surprised. "Really?" He stared at Tails, who blushed, looked down at his feet, and scraped one shoe along the ground. "This should be interestin'."
"When did ya say we would be leavin', Mr. T?" K.K. asked.
"I'm sendin' some men out right now, but I want you, Ratchet, Sonic, an' yer boys to go at sunset fer a sort of night patrol."
The dog scratched his chin for a moment, and then nodded his head. "Works for me."
The tortoise looked at the entire group and addressed them all. "Can y'all stay together 'till it's time to go? It's hard to track everybody down today."
They all saluted and replied in unison, "Yes, sir!"
"Thanks, and good luck to y'all!" Smiling broadly, the mayor walked off to check on Copper and Booker, who were working on the Post Office.
The canine musician turned to the hero gang and suggested, "Let's check on Nook's shop. That still needs some cleanin' out."
They went to Nookington's and found a crowd of refugees that had been assigned to the building. The Nooklings and some other animals were moving tables, beds, and other furniture into the shop for the crowd, and Tom Nook was doing a roll call. The heroes were admitted inside, and they helped set things up. When everything was ready, the animals slowly filed in and picked places partitioned off for sleeping.
K.K. pulled up a stool and started playing one of his most popular (perhaps his best) songs: "Rockin' K.K.". Many animals tapped their feet to the beat and some even danced. When he was finished, they begged for more, and the dog struck up "Lucky K.K.", and even more people danced to the lively tune.
After playing about 3 more songs, K.K. stopped and took the gang to one of the other buildings in construction, the Post Office. The group of seven set to work handing up boards of wood to the workers on the roof and cleaning out the inside of the office. They took breaks every hour or so until 4:30, when the job was finished. Blathers, who had been supervising the work, went to get the refugees assigned to the Post Office. The gang helped them settle in once again, and K.K. played some more of his famous music, which seemed to raise the homeless animals' spirits. It was then that Tails noticed the time.
"It's 5:00!" he declared. "SpongeBob and Patrick must be ready for us!"
Sonic also checked the Post Office clock and slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot! Let's get Blathers and go!"
After retrieving the curator, they ran off to the Museum to see the "surprise" the sea creatures had in store for them. Blathers was glad to see that the building looked normal.
"I'm surprised it's still standing, especially since Patrick has been occupying it," he said.
They went inside, and an amazing sight greeted them.
The entire museum was clean and well organized. All the holes in the roof were closed up with wood temporarily, and the stained windows in the lobby were patched up. In the aquarium wing, the fish tanks were repaired or replaced, and all the fish were put in their correct places. In the insect wing, the long windows were patched up, and the insect boxes were stacked by color. In the art wing, all the paintings were hung in their correct places. The fossil room was the most impressive of them all. Every single skeleton was set in its proper spot; not a single bone was missing or out of place.
The group, especially Blathers, was open-mouthed.
"…Wow," Spike said.
"Everything's so…neat," his cousin commented.
Tails studied the T-rex skeleton on display. "Couldn't have done better myself."
Clank remarked, "Very impressive."
Sonic whistled. "And to think SpongeBob and Patrick did this."
"Or SpongeBob anyway," Ratchet corrected him.
Blathers, who had not heard that fact before, whirled around and gaped at them with wide eyes. "What?! But…but th-that's…impossible!"
Suddenly, SpongeBob came up out of the basement, and his face split into a huge grin when he saw the others. "Hey, guys! Like what I did with the place?"
"Unbelievable, SpongeBob!" replied Jimmy.
"How'd you do it?!" Spike asked.
"It was easy!" the sea sponge said with a small shrug. "I just found the boxes of museum stuff Blathers left behind and put them in their proper places! It was no sweat!"
"How did you manage to repair the roof?" Clank inquired, and pointed to the Museum's ceiling; it had some pieces missing, but they were covered up from outside by plywood.
"That was the one thing I didn't do. Copper and Booker came and did that. I did everything else."
Sonic folded his arms and smiled. "You never cease to surprise us, SpongeBob."
"Where's Patrick?" asked Ratchet. "Did he do anything?"
SpongeBob shook his head and pointed one thumb to the basement. "No, I just kept him in his box and let him have his bone. Turns out it was Booker's bone."
As if on cue, Booker came in, and he heard the sponge's last comment. He blinked and said, "Somebody's got my bone? He'll pay for taking it! I think…" He ran into the basement to get his bone back. Several minutes later, the gang heard shouting.
"Give it back! It's my bone! I think…"
"My bone!"
"No, it's mine!"
"My bone!"
"No, it's mine!"
"My bone!"
"Grrr…my…bone!"
"My bone!!"
Blathers held his head in his wings and moaned, "Oh no, here we go again…"
Whack!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
Booker came flying out of the basement and landed with a thud at their feet. Blathers looked down at him and said, "Booker, I think it's his bone now." The bulldog gulped and nodded his head vigorously with wide eyes.
Then Patrick came out of the basement with the bone in his mouth, chewing on it noisily. Everyone stared at him, mostly in surprise, disgust, and confusion. Copper entered the Museum lobby at about the same time.
"Hey guys! All the holes in the roofs are fixed up now!" Then he noticed Patrick. "Hey, isn't that your bone, Booker?"
"It's his now, I think…" his partner stammered.
Patrick, while chewing, noticed Copper watching him, and clutched the bone tightly. "Grrr…my…bone."
The police dog held up his hands and backed away. "Okay, okay, it's yours!"
Satisfied, he sat down with the bone in mouth and began panting like a puppy. "Arf arf!"
Everyone stared at him, and Ratchet shook his head and said, "What a twisted little weirdo."
Copper did his best to ignore the starfish and addressed the hero gang and Blathers again. "I came to tell you guys that Tortimer wants you to get ready to go on night patrol."
"Are you goin' too, Copper?" asked Sonic.
"Yup, and I'll be with you guys."
Jimmy pointed at Booker and inquired, "Will he come?"
Copper shook his head. "Of course not! He'd be more of a hindrance than a help!"
Booker scratched his head. "What's a hindrance?"
Ratchet heard him, and watched the bulldog out of the corner of one eye. "You've got a point."
Spike stepped forward. "What about Jimmy, Tails, and me?"
"Tortimer wants you to help out with the villagers' houses," Copper replied. "He's waiting at Acre B-3."
"What do we do?" SpongeBob butted in, jumping up and down.
"Arf! I want my treats!" exclaimed Patrick, continuing his dog impression.
Copper thought on that hard. "Uhhh…why don't you stay here and keep an eye on the Museum with Blathers?" The owl's eyes widened, and he frantically waved his arms (wings?) in a "no" gesture.
SpongeBob shrugged and said, "Okay, I guess." Behind him, Blathers moaned and held his head in his hands.
"Arf!" Patrick yipped again. "I wanna go for a walk! Arf!"
Copper glared at him and snapped, "That's pretty insulting, you know."
"Woof! I'm a stupid dog named Copper! Woof!"
"Why you…"
"Woof! Arf? I only speak Dog and Chinese."
"You're speaking English!"
"Bark bark! Woof! Arf! What's English?"
Copper laid back his ears and gave him a genuine dog growl. But Pat hardly paid attention to the warning.
"Woof! Arf arf arf! Bark! Yap yap! Pardon my Dog, but I don't speak Dog."
Whack!
"Ouch." The pink starfish fell to the floor.
As you might've guessed by now, Copper had borrowed Ratchet's wrench (or rather, Ratchet had offered it to him), and had knocked Patrick in the back of the head. After calming down, he told the gang (all except for SpongeBob, Patrick, and Blathers, of course) to come with him to the train station. The owl and the sea sponge said their good-byes, and the group of eight (Booker tagged along) marched to their destination. They found Tortimer talking with Porter and some other Allies. The mayor waved them over.
"Hey there, heroes! The sun's about to set, so it's time fer the soldiers to go check out the nearby towns to our west."
(A/N: The other company went east, so the towns the gang is checking out haven't been investigated yet.)
"What about the rest of us?" Spike asked again. "Copper said we would work with the villagers in cleaning out their houses."
Tortimer nodded. "That's what I had in mind. Jeremiah and Anchovy's houses are closest, in Acre B-1. They should be there."
"We'll go right away. Bye, guys!"
"Have fun!" Jimmy said, waving as he ran to catch up with his cousin.
Tails shook Sonic's hand and said, "Good luck, Sonic!"
"See you later, Tails." In return, the blue hedgehog ruffled the fur on the fox's forehead. Then Tails darted off after Spike and Jimmy for Acre B-1.
Ratchet, Clank, Sonic, K.K., and Copper joined the group of Allies that were going on the mission. Before they began their trek, Tortimer gave them a kind of farewell speech.
"I wish y'all good luck and that everyone will return safely! You've all been briefed, so I don't need to do it agin. But here's my last warning: be careful! Big Boss might've sent some nasty 'bots to take survivors. Don't fire on them unless you're fired upon! Our objective is stealth and recon, not combat. Give medical treatment to any survivors, and capture and question any animals suspected of being spies. That's all, men; move out!"
The tiny army prepared their weapons and marched down the train tracks westward to the destroyed towns, which lay near the border of Big Boss's territory.
Version 2 Author's Notes:
In case anyone was wondering, yes, I did get the last part of Tortimer's speech from President Franklin Roosevelt's speech after Pearl Harbor. What can I say; I love my American history. ;)
