Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 15
In Haven, there is a small area towards the back that is used for training purposes. There's not much there, a handful of mannequins from a department store and a punching bag make up the little equipment this area has to offer. There's also a mat in the center of the training area that can be used for sparring sessions. Right now that mat is occupied by a rabbit with blonde hair and a mechanical suit.
"Cum on Antoine, it ain't that hard!" Bunnie said in an encouraging tone.
Antoine shook his head. "No. I am stayink right 'ere where I will be perfectly zafe!" He lifted his head and pointed his nose toward the ceiling in defiance.
Bunnie rolled her eyes and reached out with her left arm to pull him into the sparring area. "Look Antoine, theah's even a mat so y'all wont get hurt when ya fall. How bad could it be?"
Antoine gulped as he looked down. "I am not rememberink agreeing to zis." He said with a tremor in his voice.
Bunnie put her hands up and spaced her feet, right foot out front, roughly shoulder length apart. As she looked around her left ear that draped over the front of her face, she focused her gaze on Antoine and told him to mimic her position; which he did... sloppily.
Everything seemed like they were both ready to go, so Bunnie took one slow step forward. Antoine panicked. He stumbled backward for several moments before falling into the wall which was several feet behind him. He slid down it slowly until his bottom hit the ground and he subsequently 'oofed'.
He picked himself up off the ground and took a step away from the wall. As he brushed himself off he said: "I weesh to apologize. Jou are clearly more confident than moi."
Bunnie put her metallic hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side as she studied Antoine. "What ah y'all so scared of anyway?"
Antoine laughed nervously and pulled at his collar as he replied. "Hehe... I Am scared zat I will fall and be breaking ze leg. Leeterally."
She kept the puzzled expression on her face as her curiosity only deepened. "What else ah y'all scared of 'Twan?"
He looked down at his feet as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the other and then back again. "Robots, robotic people, tornados, zunder, lightening, waterre, heights, high weends, tight spaces... spidairs." His tone told Bunnie that he'd actually cut the list short. Not only that, he was rather embarrased about the legthy list of things he considered terrifying.
"That's quite the list." She said. "Why ya scared of all those things?"
"Because I can only see ze worst possebel outcome for zeez situations." He said with a sigh. "Like wiz ze spidairs. Zey are beink so gross! And what if zey bite moi? I might be alergiic to zem!" A chill went up his spine as he continued speaking, his words becoming a rambling mess as he picked up pace. "Zen ze bite swells, and zen I can't breaze becuase of ze zwelling, and zen I die of apostriphication!"
"That's asphyxiation Antoine." She paused as she thought about his words. "Does that really run through yer mahnd every tahme you see a lil' ol' spahder?"
"Oui. And zat ez just wiz ze spidairs. Do not even make me speak of ze zunderstorms!" His tone changed from one of panic to one of defeat almost on a dime. He let out a sigh. "But it is ze same for anyzing zat I see. I cannot see ze likely outcome, I can only see ze worst one. It's as if dangierre is everywhere, waiting to kiill us, and only moi can see it."
Bunnie felt her heart sink a little in sympathy for her teammate. She couldn't imagine living in Antoine's world, but she knew it must be terrible! But what could she do to help him?
"Hey Antoine." She said in a soft tone. "Things ahrn't always as bad as they seem. What kahnds of things can you see rahght now that ahrn't scary?"
"Well..." he paused as he looked around to see if he could identify anything not scary. "Ze floor is not zat scarry I guess."
"Alrahght. What else?" Bunnie was trying to encourage him to think positively.
"Ze mat on ze floor is very soft and non-dangierreous." Then he lifted his head to identify something hopefully above shoe level. "Zose chairs are bolted to ze ground, zey should be safe. And jou are non-scary."
Bunnie let out a little giggle. "Ah would hope not. Now focus on the positives and tell me how ya feel."
She could see the focus on Antoine's face as he tried to be positive for a change. "I do feel bettair." He said.
"Ya see Antoine?" She started to explain. "Fear is a state a mahnd. If y'all keep focusin' on all the negatives then yer just gonna keep feelin' down all the tahme. But, if y'all keep focusin' on what makes ya happy, then yer gonna be happier fer sure."
"But what if I get hurt?" He asked.
"Don' worry 'bout gettin' hurt sugah. Just take it slow and steady and work on yer coordination, then eventually you'll be able to do some pretty impressive stuff without hurtin' yerself." She said with just a little bit of confidence that she hoped would rub off on him.
"Mon Dieu! I had no idea that focusink on non-scary things was so effective!" He exclaimed.
She smiled. "Yeah. And it'll only get better as ya work on yer confidence more and more."
"So," He asked. "Do jou want to try zis whole 'trainink' thing again?" He stuttered a little bit as he finished. "Eh... slowly... p-please."
"Sure thing sugah." She said with a wink. "Just let me know when yer ready."
He tried to exude confidence. "But of course..." It was obviously fake, but at least he was making an attempt.
He took a deep breath and spaced his feet like Bunnie had done earlier. Then he gave her a short nod and the two of them began sparring. Slowly and weakly at first, then increasing in effort as the minutes ticked by. Soon, Antoine was exhausted and Bunnie was just starting to feel the impact of training for a half-an-hour.
"Y'all look tuckered out sugah." Bunnie said as she took slow and deep breaths. "Maybe it's time we call it a day."
"Oui." Antoine said as he gagged the air out of his lungs in a hurried and exhausted rythym.
Bunnie decided to make one last push. "Just keep workin' on bein' positive, alrahght? The more good things ya see around you, the easier it is to face the scary stuff."
"Of course." He said as he bowed to his sparring partner. "I am wishink you a good day mademoiselle."
She bowed herself, though it wasn't as graceful. "See ya later sugah."
As Antoine walked away, Bunnie noticed a red female fox watching her off to her right. It took her a moment to make the connection between this fox and the fox that Sonic had told her about after they'd come back to Haven. What was her name again?
"I'm Fiona." She commented after noticing that Bunnie was staring at her.
"Nice to meet ya. Y'all are from G.U.N. aren't ya?" Bunnie asked.
"Yes I am. Sonic must've told you about me huh?" Fiona asked.
Bunnie nodded. "Yeah. He didn't tell me much, but he did say that y'all' would be comin' soon to keep an ahye on us."
"It's not as bad as you make it sound." Fiona said as she walked over to the mat Bunnie was still standing on. "I'm mostly just here to be a liaison of sorts between you and G.U.N.." She hesitated before adding: "And to make sure that you don't get overzealous and blow up the city or something like that."
"Alrahght. Has someone shown you the ropes already?" Bunnie asked.
Fiona shook her head. "No, I actually just got here. There were some choice words directed at Scourge right as I entered. That was about two minutes ago. I just kinda stood over there waiting for someone to notice." She cocked her left brow into the air in a question. "Could you maybe show me around?"
"Sure thing girl." Bunnie said with a nod. "Just let me take this thing off first." She reached around to her back and hit a small button on what looked like some kind of metallic backpack which caused her entire robotic body to shudder and start to contract. Eventually, after all of the shiny metal limbs had retracted back into the backpack, all that was left was a slightly underweight cream colored and blonde haired rabbit in a black jacket.
"Soooo..." Fiona said as she gestured to Bunnie's backpack. "That thing comes off?"
"Of course it does." Bunnie said as she pulled the backpack off. "It's just a suit."
The confusion on Fiona's face was very evident, even to someone with no experience in trying to read expressions like Bunnie. "But you can control it, unlike the other suits that I've seen." She phrased it as a statement, but it was more of a question as to how that was possible.
Bunnie took in a breath and began to explain. "It's because of some adjustments made by Tyler. Normally the pack puts the host ta sleep when it latches on. Then it uses the body heat insahde as a fuel of some kahnd while it does whatever Robotnik wants. Tyler just turned the suit controllin' ability back on so that Ah could move it mahself."
"Interesting." She said slowly as she tried to wrap her head around it. Bunnie's terms were rather non-technical, making the explanation a little more cloudy than it otherwise would be, but she was still able to discern what was going on.
Having learned all she needed to know about the robotic suits, Fiona decided to change subjects back to being introduced to everyone. "So... where does the tour start then?"