Welp, Halloween's coming on quick. Better make this fast.

Sonic and Tails belong to Sega Corporation. But on with it!

If Ellie ever left Las Desbaratandas, she'd be an excellent SFX editor for a campaign ad agency. Perhaps even better than Carmel and Christina were allowing her to be.

Of course, she had assistance from three major Sonic characters with the powers that allowed them to gauge human reaction on their own. But I still thought she deserved better than being stuck with gossipy, posh Carmel Beaumonchais and that tactless loudmouth Christina.

The video opened up with a shot of the intro to their blog – the Fairview crest against a flying American flag. Carmel's tagline pumped through the audio – "A fair view for a fair school!" (Had someone been paid to think up that one?)

It then cut to a shot of me leaning against the vehicle. "Everyone, I think you know about GABAFFS. They are putting a Pride flag up to make a statement."

"About what, though?" The shot cut back to DJ. "Their own beliefs? Their lifestyle? I know for a fact it's not for me."

Cut to Amos. "It doesn't align with my beliefs, that I know," he said, folding his arms in an I'm not even interested pose. "And truth be told, it's unnatural."

To Imira. "It won't bring food on the table," she said, banging her fist against the side of the van. "And it won't fill the wallet. So why are they indulging in this belief?"

Me. "Their leader, Hollins, attacked me when I tried to analyze the device they were using. They are planning to hack certain cars and arrange them in a Pride flag display as a protest. How much harm will this cause? We aren't sure."

DJ. "But it will be disastrous if we don't stop it. Just look at California. It's sliding into a disaster zone."

Amos. "It won't go down too well with anyone else's beliefs, that's for certain. And my people would never allow it."

Imira. "Discrimination is already illegal. He knows it. So why should he be allowed to continue?"

Me. "Come to Orianna Avenue tomorrow. We must stand up for this. Who will?"

DJ. "And we must have the courage to say –"

Amos. "Not in my synagogue!"

Imira. "Not in my store!"

Me. "Not in my school!"

DJ. "Not in my life!"

The flag showed up again, this time reading off the tagline:

NOT IN MY SYNAGOGUE

NOT IN MY STORE

NOT IN MY SCHOOL

NOT IN MY LIFE

Cut to black.

"Ooh, I've got shivers," Carmen said as the others applauded. "With a slogan like that, I'd join forces with those behind it almost immediately."

"Good thing we've got a Sirensong on our side," Amos said, nudging Sonic.

"Should we post it?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, sure," Tails said calmly. "This could definitely draw attention."

Sheldon frowned at the Holo. "Are you sure your computer can upload all that?"

"Don't badmouth my cyber tech, Cooper," Tails replied. "It'll work just fine."

"I'm more concerned about the other computers," Ellie replied. "Tails' model is much more advanced than others – practically a whole generation ahead. What if it crashes the rest of the internet?"

That's a fun thought, I observed silently.

"It won't," Tails said confidently. "I've sent things over the Holo a few times before. I haven't had that many problems with it."

But now that Ellie brought it up, I wondered if Tails could compress the resulting file into a format the computers could handle.

Tails smiled at me. Already done.

Gracias, I thought back.

Tails brought up the Kitswipe – the special search engine he'd coded for the Holo – and looked up YouTube. He then turned it over to Ellie, which had me confused. He was the only one who understood the Holo.

She stared at him dubiously, as if thinking the same thing, then began logging in. Oh, so she had some experience in this area! Once she was on the site, she made a sweeping gesture to Tails like, over to you, buddy.

None of this helped my confusion. Why didn't he have an account on the Holo? And why would he need to sign up just to upload it?

Tails finished the job, uploading the video and posting it. I caught a ping on Ellie's phone.

She then turned to check it and gave Tails a thumbs-up.

"All right," Imira said. "Now what?"

"We'll have to see the results in the morning," DJ responded. "Fingers crossed."

Sheldon exhaled.

"Gotta go," I replied. "It won't do if I miss Friday night dinner."

"A video?" Papa asked me as we ate dinner together.

Tonight, it was cheese pizza – no meat Viernes. Papa's rule. I was pretty sure that didn't apply until Lent, but I never questioned my father.

"Sí," I replied. "It's already too late. We already put it up."

I hadn't mentioned the other tidbits about our plan – getting the youth to the square to stop things from getting too out of hand. I was pretty sure Papa wouldn't approve of that. Nor did I mention that I was going on the word of a phone psychic (which he would approve of even less).

Papa sighed. "I just… I hope it works; I really do."

I frowned. "We were out of time. And out of ideas."

"Sí, I am aware," Papa said. "All I'm saying is, it feels kind of desperate, even for a last-ditch plan."

I glanced at him sideways. "This is so Fairview isn't compromised, again, people aren't killed in Mitch Hollins' path for the protest – did you know he had several traffic violations?"

Papa's shocked expression told me he hadn't been aware of that. "San José y Maria," he muttered. "If people got hurt –"

"People almost got hurt when he remote-controlled Hardwell's car," I countered. "When I met the geeks, I had to shove them out of the path."

"Dios mio" was all Papa said.

He understood my point clearly. If Hardwell's RC driving had led to a near hit-and-run, how would we be sure Hollins respect everyone's safety? Coupled on with the violations Hollins had racked up, it was almost guaranteed to be a trampa de muerte. I was grateful VLADJI was so familiar with danger.

Papa winced. "I'm calling the mayor about it in the morning."

You'd think with an imminent danger up ahead of me, I'd be tossing and turning the night before.

Nope. I slept like a coma patient. The next thing I was aware of, someone was shaking me awake. "Five more minutes, Papa?" I asked.

"Vinny Lee! Get up!"

I jolted. That was Tails, not Papa. Which was strange, because Tails had never once broken into my room – ever.

"¿Zorramigo?" I asked, jumping out of bed – and landing on the fox, who was on the side of it.

"Whoa! Man, Vinny Lee!" Tails shouted, disentangling himself. "I know, I know, I don't do that often, but – you gotta get out to Fairview. Now."

"¿Para qué? Did the video get across?"

"More than that," Tails replied. "It went viral."

Wow. Now what is VLADJI to do?

Verse for the update: Psalms 126:6.

Please review! No flames! And stay tuned!