In the Kingdom of Acorn, there was a forest, known simply as the Great Forest. This forest was ancient, the trees larger than in any other forest on Mobius and the depths seemingly endless. One could wander into the forest, without knowing where they were going, end up lost for weeks before finally finding a way out. And thanks to the Lake of Rings situated in its centre, the forest was protected from the same large-scale deforestation methods commonly used by the Eggman Empire.

So it was only natural that the Resistance would use the forest as one of its safe havens, and that is exactly what Princess Sally had done when she and her friends escaped from the destruction of Mobotropolis four months ago.

A secret passed down through the Acorn line revealed a clearing in the middle of the forest, known as Knothole Glade, and this clearing was used by the Acorn family's Secret Service for centuries, before their mysterious disappearance a couple of months prior to the attack. After the attack on Mobotropolis, those who had escaped wandered to this clearing hoping to find them there. However, the place was empty.

Secret tunnels led to a large, maze-like complex underground, but it was empty. Weapons and armour were left unattended, food had been left to rot in the kitchens, dust had piled up in many rooms, and computers with sensitive information were left unguarded.

Whatever the reason for the Secret Service's sudden disappearance, it was clear that they would not be able to help. And so, Sally took it on herself to lead her people. With the help of her friends, Rotor and Antoine, and her mentors Julayla and Rosie, Sally was able to restore order and establish the base of operations for the Knothole Resistance.

Bunnie Rabbot was awestruck as she entered the clearing. It had been so long she had seen nature so pristine and untouched. Beautiful, green fields of grass stretched into the distance, a river of clean freshwater flowed through, and flowers of all colours blossomed everywhere.

The village itself was small – simple wooden huts and treehouses and some large farms, a small schoolhouse and a park for the little ones to play. However, when Sally showed her one of the secret tunnels to get underground, Bunnie realised just how big Knothole truly was. She was certain she would be lost within minutes trying to navigate the base by herself.

"Antoine, can you go to the kitchen and prepare some food for Bunnie?" Sally asked. "We'll take her to Doctor Quack for a quick check-up."

"Oui. I will be zere in a lickety-split." Antoine wandered off down one corridor, and Sally and Rotor continued down another, the latter carrying Bunnie on his back.

"Doctor Quack was my father's private physician back before the war started," Sally explained. "Since then though, he's headed our medical team here in Knothole."

"The king's doctor?" Bunnie asked. "Mah stars…"

"And then after that we'll give you the grand tour." Sally looked down at her handheld. "You too, Nicole."

Nicole drew a smile on her screen. Bunnie looked over Rotor's shoulder and asked, "So how come ya turned off your hologram?"

"That form eats up a lot of energy," Nicole explained, "And the Power Ring I'm using was already drained. It'll need a recharge."

"We'll stop by the Lake of Rings later," Sally assured her. "First, I'd like to give the data you gave us to Uncle Chuck."

"Uncle Chuck?" Nicole asked, a question mark appearing on her screen.

"He's the one who set up all our electronic systems," Sally explained. Rotor cleared his throat behind her. "With Rotor's help," she added.

"He's a scientist whose smarts are on-par with Robotnik's," Rotor said. "Charles the Hedgehog is his real name, but we all call him Uncle Chuck."

An exclamation mark appeared on Nicole's screen. "Oh! I have data on him! He was one of Julian's – that is, Robotnik's – research partners."

"He worked with Robotnik?" Bunnie asked.

"Back then, Robotnik hadn't shown his true colours yet," Rotor explained. "He had us all fooled. He claimed he had come to Mobius purely for research, but he was actually using it as a base of operations, and a testing ground for his creations."

"Uncle Chuck hit it off with Julian right away, mostly because he was thrilled to meet somebody as interested in science as himself," Sally said. "Julian just wanted Uncle Chuck's expansive knowledge of Mobian life, ecosystems, geology… anything that would help him when he launched his attack."

Bunnie gripped Rotor's shoulders as she reeled in anger, though in her weakened state the walrus didn't mind. "That no-good piece'uv… If'n there's one thing ah hate more than a bully, it's a traitor!"

The three arrived at the infirmary, where they were found there was no queue, though somebody was already seeing Doctor Quack. "Well then, I'll go and take Nicole to Uncle Chuck," Sally said, waving goodbye to Rotor and Bunnie as the latter two waited outside to see the doctor.

"Say, Bunnie, um… Sorry if this is inappropriate, but I was wondering about your limbs…"

"What about 'em?"

"Well, how does it feel?" Rotor immediately regretted asking. "I mean, if you feel uncomfortable talking about it then you don't have to-"

"It felt strange t' begin with," Bunnie said, staring intently at her left arm. Her fingers moved one-by-one, and she frowned. "But after a spendin' a bit of time in that cell, I realised it was jus' like usin' mah regular old arm. There's no pain if'n it gets hurt, though."

"Oh, I see…" Rotor swallowed nervously as he tried to work up the nerve to ask his next question. "Um, would you mind if I… I mean, after your check-up with Doctor Quack, would you mind it if I studied your arm and legs for a bit?" There was a brief silence, and Rotor quickly added, "There might be a way to reverse it and all, y'know?"

Bunnie gasped. "Y'really think y'all can put mah body back the way it was?"

"W-Well, maybe." Rotor sighed. "Maybe Uncle Chuck could. I just wanted to look for curiosity's sake… Sorry, Bunnie."

Bunnie leaned down against Rotor's back, silent for a few more seconds. "Well, ah wouldn't mind if ya had a look," Bunnie said. "Y'all did save me, after all. It's the least ah could do to say 'thank you'."

Rotor shook his head. "You don't have to force yourself."

"Ah'm tellin' ya, it's okay." Bunnie returned her gaze to her arm and said, "An' maybe, if y'can't reverse it after all, y'all could give it some upgrades?"

Rotor hummed in thought. "Upgrades, huh? What did you have in mind?"

"How 'bout some lasers? Then ah'd be jus' like a super hero."

Rotor laughed. "Then in that case, how about a rocket-propelled fist?"

Bunnie got stars in her eyes. "Y'all can do that? Then, put rockets in mah feet, too! Then ah can fly! Ah could fly up to Robotnik's airship and fire mah fist in that smug ol' face of his!"

Rotor and Bunnie shared a hearty laugh as they discussed all manner of hypothetical upgrades and ways that they could be used to school Robotnik. They were so caught up in their discussion that they had failed to notice the yellow-feather duck calling out to them the first two times.

On the third time, they finally realised that Doctor Quack was standing there, waiting for them to follow him into his office. They entered, and Rotor lay Bunnie down gently on an empty bed. Doctor Quack then hooked up all manner of machine to her body. "I'll check her vitals and give her an X-ray. I'll also need to test her blood."

"Y'sure all this's necessary, Doc?"

Doctor Quack read one of the monitors as he replied. "You've been malnourished for some time, and in one of Robotnik's old labs, no less. Better to take no chances."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rotor asked.

"Just sit there for now. I'll need you to help when I'm drawing her blood samples."

"Samples?" Bunnie asked, her ears flopping. "How many d'you need?"

Doctor Quack didn't answer. He simply prepped a needle and some empty vials, earning a worried whimper from his patient.

Meanwhile, Sally entered Charles' lab with Nicole in her hand. The lab was more of a large, empty room with spare mechanical parts thrown about everywhere, and a couple of workbenches to the side. At one of those benches was the blue hedgehog in question, the wise and intelligent scientist, Charles the Hedgehog.

He turned as he heard footsteps behind him, and beamed at Sally's presence. "Oh, my girl! I didn't realise you were back. I trust everything went well."

"More than well," Sally answered. "We made two new friends. Prisoners of Robotnik, left abandoned in one of his old labs."

Charles bristled at that. "That dastardly… It's one thing to abuse the power of science the way he does, but then to simply abandon it at a whim?! And leaving others to suffer for it, no less!" Charles sighed, and then cleared his throat. "Forgive me, I do get rather carried away. So, these friends of yours, how are they?"

"Well, one's getting checked-up by Doctor Quack right now," Sally replied, before holding up her handheld. "The other one is…"

"Hello, Sir Charles!" Nicole greeted, a smiling face on her screen. "It is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Nicole."

Charles' eyes widened as he stared at the small monitor. "An AI?"

"Not quite…" Sally explained the story to Charles, about how Nikki was kidnapped and digitized by Robotnik, and how she had access to some of Robotnik's old data. "Anyway, I thought it would be best to leave it with you."

"Extraordinary," Charles mumbled, stroking his chin as he stared at the handheld. "Yes, you are quite right to bring this to my attention, but… how are you so certain that what she is telling us is the truth?"

Nicole fell silent at this, and Sally averted her eyes as she answered, "Well, it's just a feeling I had after I questioned her. It didn't seem like she was lying… More than that, her fear and her pain, they felt real. To me, at least."

Charles closed his eyes and chuckled, drawing a confused look from Sally and a question mark from Nicole. "Ah, just like your father, and his father before him. The Acorn family has a tendency to trust their feelings… Though here, I must say that I share your sentiments."

Sally brightened up at this. "You mean you do trust Nicole?"

"At the very least, she doesn't seem like one of Julian's signature traps." Charles turned around and reached for a laptop sitting on his bench. He opened it and extended a cable from its side. "Well then, let's have a look at this data. It may be old, but it could still prove valuable to the Resistance."

Sally put Nicole down as Charles plugged her into the laptop. As he set to work extracting the data, Sally felt something poking at her leg. She looked down to find cream-furred dog staring up at her excitedly, wagging its tail and it panted. It barked, and Sally smiled as she leaned down to pet it.

"We're back, Muttski! Another successful mission!"

"Who's Muttski?" Nicole asked from her position on the desk. "And what was that sound?"

Sally stood up, picking Muttski up with both arms, and faced him at Nicole. "Nicole, meet Muttski. Muttski, Nicole."

"A… dog?" Nicole asked. "Um, how do you do? You look… different from most other dogs. Though I suppose I haven't met many."

Sally giggled, confusing Nicole even more. "Muttski's not a typical Mobian dog," Charles explained, still typing away on his laptop. "He's an unevolved species that still exists on Earth, similar to mobini, but much bigger."

"A mobini? That's that big?" Muttski barked, and Nicole drew a frowny face on her screen. "D-Did I offend him?"

Sally laughed, and said, "No, that's just how he talks. I think he likes you."

"Oh, is that right? Well, I would like it if we could be friends, Muttski." Muttski barked again. "Uh, I'll take that as a yes."

Sally waved Muttski's paw before gently lowering him down. "We'll play later Muttski, but we have important work to do now. Can you wait just a little longer?"

Muttski whimpered, but then barked once more and ran over to a small basket in the room. He lay down and curled up in the basket, and not long after, Charles announced that he was finished.

"That's all of the data! Most of it looks corrupt, but give me a day with it and I'll sift through everything and compile all the readable data."

"You're a life-saver, Uncle Chuck," Sally said as she picked up Nicole. "I'll drop by later to see how you're doing. But for now, I have to drop by the Lake of Rings, and then see how Bunnie – our other guest – is doing."

"Just leave it with me, Princess. I'll have that data sorted in no time at all!"

When Sally returned to Doctor Quack's office, she had been told Bunnie's check-up was complete and, barring any negative results from her blood tests, she was in good health. Rotor had taken her to the mess hall, where Antoine had gone to earlier.

As Sally entered the hall, she was delighted to see one energetic rabbit gobbling up food faster than a child opening their birthday presents. Antoine was struggling to keep up and had pulled Rotor into helping him in the kitchen.

"Easy now," Sally said as she approached Bunnie at the long, empty table where she was eating. The mess hall would usually be full at lunchtime, but as it was late into the evening, they were the only ones there. "You're going to run the poor boys ragged."

Bunnie stopped to swallow the load of food in her mouth and then looked over to where Antoine and Rotor were preparing more good. She giggled sheepishly, her cheeks turning bright-red. "Sorry 'bout that. It jus' tasted so good, ah forgot where ah was for a second there."

Sally shook her head. "I'm only joking. They're used to far worse, trust me." Sally took a seat next to Bunnie and set Nicole down. "I'm glad to see you doing so well. It must feel good to have a proper meal after so long."

"Sho' enough!" Bunnie's ears fell as she turned to face Sally, realisation suddenly sinking in. "O-Oh dear, ah'm so sorry. Y'all are giving me so much, but are you sure ya have the food to spare?"

Sally waved a hand dismissively. "Don't give it a second thought. We ration our food, yes, but we do that specifically so that we have plenty of it for liberated prisoners."

Rotor set a plate of spaghetti down next to Bunnie, a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry about our food stores. Just eat up until you're feeling at full strength again."

Bunnie smiled back. "Thanks, y'all are sweet. But ah think ah'll be fine after this last servin'."

Antoine breathed a sigh of relief as he set down a bowl of stew and slumped over the table. "Oh thank goodness… Finally I can be taking ze much-needed break."

Sally and Rotor laughed as Bunnie dug into the food for just a few seconds, before they were all interrupted by the sudden appearance of a pig wearing a blue vest, running into the mess hall with a letter in his hand and a look of urgency on his face. "Hamlin, what is it?!" Sally asked, rising to her feet.

"We got another letter from that F. F.," Hamlin reported, stopping to catch his breath as he handed the letter to Sally.

Sally examined the letter, nodding her head as she did so. "Who's this 'F. F.'?" Bunnie asked.

"We don't know," Rotor said with a shrug. "They sent us a letter recently tipping us off to an attack on a small fox-and-wolf tribe."

"The information before was accurate," Sally said, "But we shouldn't be ready to trust them just yet. This letter says there's a generator run by Robotnik. I think we should check it out and see if this F. F. person shows up."

"We should take a small group, just to be safe," Rotor said, to which Bunnie quickly shot up her hand.

"Ah'll come along!" Bunnie said, stars in her eyes. "Ah wanna thank ya for savin' me!"

"That's not necessary," Sally insisted, but Bunnie shook her head.

"A Rabbot never leaves their debts unpaid. Ah'm comin' an' that's final."

Rotor snapped his fingers. "In that case, let's wait a few days! I can look into those upgrades you asked me about and use this as a field-test."

At that, Sally raised an eyebrow. "Upgrades?"

"You'll see," Rotor promised. "Don't want to spoil the surprise for you."

"Be zat as it may," Antoine began, "Ze Eggman has many generators, all over ze world. Why should we be targetting zis one in particular?"

Sally grinned. "Because, Antoine, this one is special. It's powered by a Chaos Emerald."