-Chapter 97-

Innocence

Knothole

A few weeks passed after Naugus' attack. On a lazy day, with Sonic at a therapy session, Chris, Keith, Kat, and Hope had called Danny, Frances, and Helen to Freedom HQ to hang out. Danny was looking through the Ages Neptune (1) game collection before perking at the sight of one in particular.

"No way…" he pulled it out. "Sonic has Tomatopotamus 2?!"

"Yeah, he found it at a flea market last Saturday," Keith said.

"That's the best game in the entire series!" Chris exclaimed. "Tomatopotamus never worked in 3D."

"Right?" Frances agreed. Game companies are always ruining their beloved franchises."

"Plus, they never should have changed the color of Tomatopotamus' legs," Kat mused.

"We used to play this all the time," Helen recalled. "Why'd we ever stop?"

"The game was built with a microchip made from Sparcium, a rare alloy that proved more valuable than the cartridge itself," Hope explained. "All existing copies were recalled and melted down years ago."

"Well, they didn't get all of them," Chris pointed out.

"My dad had a copy back home," Kat recalled. "I would play it all the time with my friend Jade. We called ourselves 'Fānqié jiàng Guànjūn'."

She got blank looks.

"Ketchup Champions." she clarified.

"We gotta start taking Chun-ese lessons," Keith muttered. "In the meantime…"

Danny plugged the game into the console, and they began playing.

"Hah!" Hope declared. "Eat ketchup, Kat!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Kat said. "Taste Tomato Toss!"

"Need I remind you that I'm the undefeated Tomatopotamus champ?" Chris bragged.

"Oh yeah?" Helen retorted. "Maybe you should put your tomato where your mouth is!"

Before long, they heard a knock at the door.

"Not it!" Keith declared, with Kat, Helen, Frances, Danny, and Hope repeating.

"Not-" Chris winced. "Damn it!"

Nonetheless, he got up to answer the door. As he opened it, he saw no one there. Then he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Down here."

Chris looked down to see a little Mobian lop-eared rabbit around Charmy's age with cream colored fur and brown eyes, along with orange markings around her eyes, on her head and at the ends of her ears. She wore a simple red dress with a white collar and blue cravat, and orange and yellow shoes. Floating beside her was a little blue fairy-like creature with yellow markings at the tip of his head, hands, feet and tail, a bulb-shaped head, dark blue eyes, a floating, yellow pom-pom ball hovering above the top of his head, two pink butterfly-like wings and a small circular tail, his only article of clothing being a little red bowtie.

"Uh, hi," Chris greeted. "Can I help you, Miss...?"

"My name is Cream," the rabbit replied. "I was looking for Mr. Sonic. I was told to come here."

"He's at a doctor's appointment at the moment," Chris answered. "Would you like to come in and wait for him?"

Cream nodded. "Yes, please."

Chris allowed her and her pet in. The others turned to see her, most of them surprised, but Helen's eyes were sparkling.

"Oh my gosh, you're adorable!" she squeed.

"Is that a Chao?" Kat asked.

"Yes," Cream said. "This is Cheese, my special Chao friend."

"A Chao?" Hope repeated. "You mean like those little critters in the Chao in Space movies?"

"And the Omochao toy line?" Keith added. "They're real?"

"Uh-huh," Cream nodded. "They aren't often seen by people because they live in secret colonies."

"There was one not too far from my village," Kat recalled. "I found it once when I fell in the river and got washed down a tunnel. I woke up surrounded by the critters."

"My family watches over one of the biggest Chao Gardens on Mobius down in the Southern Baronies," Cream told them.

Her face seemed to fall slightly and her grip tightened on Cheese. Everyone else saw that and a wave of uneasiness washed over them.

"Cream... did something happen?" Helen asked gently. "Is that why you're here?"

"Yes…" Cream admitted. "My old babysitter, Bunnie Rabbot, always told me that if I was in trouble, to come here to Knothole."

"Bunnie's your babysitter?" Hope asked, getting a nod.

Kat stood up. "I'll go get her."

She got up, heading for the door before pausing. "Cream, whatever happened, we're going to help you. I promise."

She departed, soon coming back with Bunnie in tow. Antoine was in the door behind them as Bunnie approached Cream.

"Bunnie!" Cream ran over, hugging the older rabbit. Bunnie returned the embrace, petting her head gently with her organic arm.

"It's good to see you too, honey," she said. "But... did you really come all the way here from the Baronies by yourself?"

"I wasn't alone," Cream pointed out. "I had Cheese with me."

Cheese gave a small chirp, saluting like a soldier. Cream took in Bunnie's roboticized limbs, her breath starting to quicken.

"Your legs… your arm… Did that bad man Dr. Robotnik do this to you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Bunnie admitted. "But don't you worry, sugar. I'm still all me."

Cream sniffled. "Is he gonna do that to Mommy and Daddy?"

The realization hit them like a lightning bolt.

"Sugar, what happened?" Bunnie asked.

"Robotnik attacked Floral Forest Village," Cream began, tearing up. "Mommy and Daddy were caught along with the others. I... I barely got…"

She broke down in tears, Bunnie pulling her into a hug as the others looked on sympathetically.

"That good-for-nothing son of a garter snake," Bunnie hissed. "Vanilla and Coco never did nothin' to nobody."

Kat was stock still on the couch. Her hand was digging into the arm hard enough to rip the cushion.

"He burned it all, Bunnie…" Cream wept. "He burned all our homes… He took everyone."

A loud crunch was heard, and they turned to see Kat had gripped the couch's arm so hard it had snapped clean in two. Her face was a twisted mask of rage and pain, a deeper shade of red than her hair.

"Whoa, whoa!" Keith cried, running over to her. "Kat, just take a deep breath and calm down. Save the property damage for the doc."

Kat got up and walked out.

"Where are you going?" Keith asked.

"Training hall!" Kat snapped without stopping. "Do not let the bunny follow me!"

A few minutes of silence passed before Kat suddenly let loose.

"That cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, floor-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, bloodsucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey SHIT!"

A very long primal shriek of rage followed, before they heard the sound of numerous things crashing and breaking. The others looked on nervously, Bunnie's hands over Cream's ears.

"We… better not interrupt her," Hope managed.

"Hopefully Sonic's appointment will be over soon," said Bunnie.

"In the meantime, let's do something to keep us busy," Helen suggested. "Have you ever played Tomatopotamus, Cream?"

Cream shook her head. "No, I haven't."

"C'mon, we'll teach you," Helen offered.

Bunnie nodded at Cream, who went over to sit with the others. Helen handed her a controller.

One hour later…

Sonic arrived at Knothole at last. The first thing he noticed was that Shard was in the middle of cleaning out the training room of several broken dummies.

"What the…?" he managed.

"Kat needed to vent," Shard said simply. "Head for the living room for the details."

Sonic headed into the living room, expecting to find a mess. Instead, he found all the kids sitting around a freshly replaced couch, Cream in Helen's lap and Cheese resting on Kat's head as Keith rubbed her back.

"Sonic, thank Aurora," Bunnie sighed.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked.

Cream perked, looking up at him.

"Hello, Mr. Sonic," she greeted. "My name is Cream. I need your help."

Sonic looked at her, confused.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Eggman's at it again," Hope told him. "He attacked Cream's hometown in the Southern Baronies."

"Burned it down…" Kat growled. "Took everyone."

Her nails dug into her arms. Sonic was already on alert. He strode over, sitting across from Cream.

"Start from the beginning," he told the little rabbit.

Cream nodded. "It was just another day at first. We never saw it coming…"

Flashback

In the Southern Baronies sat the quaint, remote little village of Floral Forest Village, surrounded by a dense forest. Cream was playing in the garden of her family's plantation with Cheese and a brown and yellow Chao wearing a little blue bowtie. Watching her were two older Mobian rabbits. One was a woman with similar coloring to Cream and a tuft of light orange hair between her ears, wearing a long light pink and purple dress with a white trim and a fitted burgundy vest, a blue ascot, white gloves with gold cufflinks, and low-heeled burgundy shoes. The other was a man in overalls and a button down corduroy shirt. His coloring was the reverse of his wife.

It was a peaceful, sunny day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened... until something began to block out the sun. All over the village, people looked up in horror to see a massive floating ship, similar in appearance to the first Death Egg, hovering overhead. Before long, fire began raining down on everyone. The woman, Vanilla, scooped up Cream and took her to a small well, placing her in the bucket.

"Hide, sweetie," she urged. "Stay here, and don't make a sound."

"Mama!" Cream cried. "Daddy!"

"We'll come back for you, Cream-puff," the man, Coco, assured. "We'll always come back to you, I promise. But for now, hide. And be brave."

They both kissed her, then they lowered the bucket, hiding her. Cheese hid with her as she cried, hearing the noises above.

"You are all under arrest in the name of Dr. Robotnik!" a robotic voice declared. "Surrender or die!"

Eventually, the noises ended. Cream and Cheese cautiously peeked up, seeing the village ablaze and no sign of life besides them.

"Mom…?" Cream managed, tears in her eyes. "Dad…?"

She collapsed to her knees, weeping. Cheese nuzzled her, chirping and wiping her eyes. After a minute, Cream stood, sniffling.

"Cheese… we need to get to Knothole Village," she insisted. "Mr. Sonic is our only hope."

Cheese nodded, flying into her arms as the two began walking.

Flashback Over

Knothole

"I just kept walking," Cream continued. "A nice family found me and got me on a plane to Mobotropolis, and I was given directions here."

Throughout the entire exchange, Sonic had been twirling his fidget spinner to keep himself calm. They heard a smouldering sound, and the others were somewhat alarmed to see he was spinning the spinner so fast and so hard that it was beginning to smoke from the air friction. Kat reached over, gently stopping it.

"This is not going to be like Shēngcún (2) Village," she assured. "This won't be like the Death Egg. We're gonna save them."

"Right…" Sonic took a deep breath. "Right."

He pocketed the fidget spinner. "Don't you worry, Cream. I'll get your mom and dad back."

"I'm going with you," Bunnie told him. "Miss Vanilla was like a second mother to me. This is personal."

"If she's going, so am I," Antoine decided.

"We're all going," Chris insisted.

"Can me, Frances, and Helen come?" Danny asked. "At the very least, we can help out in the village."

"Yeah!" Frances said. "We can help find others who may have escaped."

"And the Chao," Helen added. "I'm sure they're probably scattered too."

"I think that can be arranged," Sonic stood up. "Okay, our first step is checking out Cream's village. See if we can find any clues as to where Eggman's headed."

"We'll take the Special," Bunnie decided.

"Alright, let's do it to it," Sonic declared.

Everyone rushed to the Special, Chris pushing Helen's chair as they prepared for their latest mission.

Egg Utopia

Within his latest station, the Egg Utopia, Robotnik oversaw his plans as Grimer and Snively stood beside him.

"Sir, with all due respect, why attack the Floral Forest Village?" Snively asked. "There's no strategic merit, no point in conquering it. It's nothing more than a glorified gas station rest stop. A hick town."

"That's exactly the point, Snively," Robotnik told him. "It's not a big, well-known area like Mobotropolis or Station Square. Which means Sonic won't be on our tail for quite a while. By the time he finds out, it'll be too late."

"Still, acting so soon after Naugus?" Grimer asked.

"It's because of Naugus I'm acting as soon as I am," Robotnik explained. "If I'm to stand a chance, I'm going to need more bot-power. That means more Robians, and as little Hedgehog interference as possible. So no matter what, no word of this leaves this ship, and not a single slip up."

He glared at Snively in particular as he said that. "Is that clear?"

Snively gulped before nodding. "Crystal, sir."

"Good. Now, get the Roboticizer primed and ready."

"I should warn you, sir," Grimer began, "the Egg Utopia is equipped with an older model. There will be a long cooldown period."

"Those blasted Freedom Fighters couldn't have picked a worse possible time to become scrap scavengers," Robotnik grumbled before shrugging. "Alright, I'll take what I can get. And prepare the Emerald Radar. I'm not taking any chances."

"Yessir!" Snively and Grimer declared before heading off. A chair turned, Eggatha revealing herself.

"And I really get to keep one?" she asked.

"Yes, my dear," Robotnik assured, ruffling her hair. "Can't have too many bodyguards for my favorite niece."

Author's Note:

(1): A reference to the cancelled Sega Neptune, which would've been a two-in-one Genesis and 32X. Ages is Sega's Mobian counterpart her.

(2): Chinese for "Survive", and the name of Kat's village.

Oh, no! Cream's folks are in a tough spot, ain't they?

While Cream does not have a canon father, I decided to give her one here in the form of Coco. My own little twist. As for Floral Forest Village, it's her hometown in IDW; I made it part of the Southern Baronies as per Archie, where that's where she was from.

Voice cast for this chapter:

* Vanilla - Veronica Taylor (April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003, Ash and Delia Ketchum in Pokémon seasons 1-8, Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon)

* Coco - Jeffrey Pierce (Tommy in The Last of Us, Robert Cross from Prototype, Jason Bourne from The Bourne Conspiracy)

Please R&R. Until next time!