A Cold Reception Written by: Adrian Tymes [Legal disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by SEGA and DiC Productions, and Commander Packbell by David Pistone. Permission is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as: a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who distributes the story, and b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored. In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it. Copyright (c) 1998, all rights reserved, et cetera.] ****** Many miles south of Knothole, waves crashed gently on a serene beach. Marine birds called to each other as they circled a mud-caked hedgehog, who lay motionless on a thin strip of sand between the Great Ocean and the Great Forest. Although he could have been sunbathing, the birds' predatorial reputation for seeking out dead meat suggested otherwise. The scene was totally quiet, save for the avians' cries, the pounding of the surf, a light breeze rustling the nearby trees... "You're not gonna die on me! BREATHE!" ...and the delicate, frenzied yell of a female fox pounding fiercely on the hedgehog's chest. She leaned on his ribs, supporting nearly her entire body weight on them through her palms, then settled back to sitting over him. The hedgehog's ribs flexed inwards a few centimeters each time the cycle repeated, nudging his stopped heart back into its normal rhythm and forcing water from his lungs. Eventually, he started coughing, which the fox took as a signal to let up and get off. "You," she growled, "are very lucky." The hedgehog spent another minute getting rid of the water he had inhaled, and another few seconds breathing hard to restore his blood's oxygen content. "Thanks," he panted. "Just remember, you owe me. Big time." "Sure thing..." He looked up, trying to recognize her face. "Who are you?" "You know me." "I do?" She rolled her eyes. "The name is Sandra Nightweaver." "Sandra...Sandra..." He scratched his chin and stared out to sea. "I'll take your word for it, but I can't remember..." His brow furrowed. "...anything. How did I get here? Who am I?" Sandra smiled. "Well, this is interesting. I'd heard of near-death experiences causing amnesia, but I'd never seen it before. Your memory should return within a few days." "I hope so. Until it does, could you at least tell me my name?" Sandra grinned. "What? I do have a name, don't I?" "You do, but it's not important right now." "What do you mean it's -" Sandra cut him off with a kiss. His eyes bugged out almost as soon as her lips touched his. When she pulled back, he realized that he had forgotten to breathe, and started panting again. "Now, then," she crooned, "do you have a name?" "I do," he said between gasps, "but it's not important right now." "Good. I'd hate for you to focus on trivial things, Sonic." He laid back on the sand. "Sonic...hmm..." He shrugged. "If you say so." "I do." She frowned. "And I also say you had no right to scare me like that." "Like what?" "Trying to cross the ocean without a boat. You drowned less than a hundred meters from here. Fortunately for you, the currents washed you ashore quickly." "Ok, I'm sorry. I'll never do it again." "Don't make promises you won't keep. You almost made it." "Say what? You said I didn't make it more than a hundred meters from here." "No, I said you stopped there. You started from the other side." "I did?" He smiled. "Cool." "You were visiting the FSM." She scratched under his chin. "Getting data for me." "Was I working for pay?" "Oh, you'll get a reward." She smiled, and again brushed his lips with hers. "Tonight." Suddenly, her ears perked up. "But first, we've got to get out of here. Someone's coming!" ****** As Sally looked around, she noted that everything was all white, and that was definitely not all right. She had been standing watch, dangling her feet off of a circular wooden platform which had recently been rebuilt to give whoever stood on it a greater view of the nearby forest. Nothing usually happened during guard duty, and her latest shift had been no exception. Although she denied it when asked, even Sally knew that the reason she had been volunteering for an unusually high number of turns at the watch tower was that she wanted to know immediately when Sonic returned. Just as Sally started to wonder whether the hedgehog would return before it snowed, flakes of frozen water started coming down. Before long, miniature ice crystals had covered the ground with a white sheen, and the air had chilled noticeably. A stiff breeze had been blowing for at least five minutes, and had slowly picked up speed as the princess wondered where it was coming from. No snowstorms had been expected for at least a month, so Sally had foregone her usual winter preparations. Her fur was still kept at its shorter summer length, and the heating pads which warmed the insides of her vest and boots were back in her hut. Unwilling to abandon her post, Sally pulled her knees to her chest and shivered, wondering when relief would arrive. "'Allo," the wind seemed to howl. Sally shook her head, wondering if she was really crazy enough to think that the wind was speaking to her. "'Allo, my prinzess." Now she knew that something was talking to her. She looked around, not expecting to see anything... "C-could you please be lowering ze rope?" ...until she looked down. "Antoine?" At first, Sally thought the fox's uniform had grown on him. Upon closer examination, she saw that the blue color under his brownish-yellow fur was actually his skin. "I was af-fraid you had been b-bit by the frosten," he replied while trying to control his shivering. Sally unfurled herself, and crawled to where she had secured the platform's rope ladder. "No, Ant, I haven't been frostbitten." She shoved the rope into a hole, and watched as it uncoiled into the only easy means of access to the planks on which she lay. "But thanks for the thought." "Eet was nothing," the fox lied as he climbed. The snow had not yet begun to fall when Antoine had started to think of how he could use Sonic's absence to win Sally's heart. Sally pulled the rope up to help his ascent. "Nothing? Then, what's in your coat?" she asked, noticing two distinct bulges underneath the royal guard's uniform that the fox nearly always wore. The blue started to fade as Antoine quickly scampered up to the platform, as his deliberately harder than usual exercise forced his heart to beat faster. "A little something to keep you warm." Once at the ladder's top, he hoisted himself up, then helped Sally retract the rest of the ladder. Sally grabbed the rope as a sudden gust of wind nearly sent it back down. Before she could speak, the gust turned into a blast, which turned into a force that nearly blew her away. Grabbing Antoine's hand, she crawled to the protected side of the tree, quickly followed by Antoine. Fortunately, the tree's "shadow" was large enough for both squirrel and fox, although it was a tight squeeze. "I suggest we share zem," Antoine continued as he opened his jacket to show off two large heating pads. "Zey are not at full capacity, and Rotor said ze blizzard will last for some time." "Blizzard? How could a blizzard start up this quickly?" Sally had to raise her voice considerably to be heard over the wind. "Eet is quite sudden, no? I was to take you back to Knothole for shelter, but it seems I was lucky to reach you before eet hit." Sally tried to yell something back, but the wind was now generating too much noise for Antoine to hear her. As she crawled closer, Antoine grabbed her, pulled her close, and stretched his uniform around her. Briefly surprised that his jacket could enclose all of her body below her neck along with his torso without tearing, Sally did not immediately notice when Antoine turned on the heating pads. Over the span of a minute, she felt her body relaxing, almost melting as the air near her chilled flesh switched from winter cold to tropical summer warm. At the end of that minute, her sudden relaxation was enough to trigger grogginess, which soon lead to sleep. Antoine smiled. At long last, he had his heart's desire asleep in his arms. Although this was definitely not the furthest he wanted to go, it would do for a start. It would do, for now. ****** Tails looked back upon the Great Ocean, trying to spot Sonic. They had been island-hopping both ways, combining Tails' flight with Sonic's raw speed to run across the surface of the water from island to island. Either one alone would have tired and drowned on one of the longer crossings, but together, they made it easily. It was a trip that they had made many times before, when they had roamed Mobius together while alternately fleeing or chasing Robotnik. On the way back, while resting at the last island prior to Mobius's Northern Continent, Sonic had challenged Tails to a race across the last crossing. He said it was short enough that they could make it separately, although Tails was not so sure. Then again, where Sonic's abilities were concerned, no one was as sure of their potential as Sonic. There were a few sandbars in the way, and Sonic had figured that it would be faster for him to run around them than over them. Tails, however, could - and did - just fly over them, so Sonic had designated this part of the beach as their meeting point. But, when Tails arrived, there was no sign of Sonic, nor did the fox see his mentor anywhere along the route he had said he would take. Eventually, he figured that Sonic must have beaten him here, gotten tired of waiting, and taken off for Knothole. The hedgehog had done this before, but less and less often over time. Sally said it was because Sonic was growing up and learning not to leave his friends behind. Whatever the reason, this was the first time in over a year that it had happened, but Tails remembered the drill: head for where Sonic was headed, and the fox would eventually catch up. So, Tails set off for Knothole. Hidden in a bush nearby, one Mobian removed her hands from over the eyes and mouth of another. "What was that all about?!?" Sonic demanded. Sandra put a finger to her lips. "Shh! That was the best tracker on this continent. We are very lucky he didn't suspect that anyone was hiding from him, or he would have found us in an instant. Speak any louder, and he still might." "Well, ex-squeeze me for not knowing who we're hiding from, but you dragged me in here before I even got a look at him! What is he, our mortal enemy?" "Not really. But I would rather not deal with him right now. I've got..." She draped her arm around his shoulder. "...work to do first." After listening carefully to the sound of Tails' tails fading away, Sandra stood up. "Come on, there used to be a village not too far from here." "Used to be? What happened?" "Robotnik." "Robotnik?" He frowned. "That's...not good, right?" "Long story. Short version: I'd say the ex-residents would prefer to be alive, rather than corpses or robots. At least the buildings are still intact." ****** Kenal rode the breeze, doing somersaults and loop-the-loops almost at random. Temporarily forgetting what he had been taught - first by his fellow griffins, who had been raised to always be useful, and later by Tails, who had shown him how to fly fast - he flew just for fun, intoxicated by the sheer joy of simply being. His mood had brightened considerably since Bunnie and Dulcy had finally broken the hold his memories of being a robot had had on his mind, not only chasing away his nightmares but actually allowing him to dream again. Thus it was that, when he should have flown straight, he abruptly looped up and over a nearly invisible net that had sprung up in his path. He never even saw it, nor did he see the spike-nosed human who silently fumed when the trap failed to catch its prey. Between the minimal amount of attention Kenal paid to his environment, and the extensive stealth precautions his would-be captor took - the least of which was a color-shifting camouflage suit - the griffin did not notice Snively take down the net and run after him. ****** Sonic whistled as he surveyed the village ruin. "You weren't kidding about this place. Those black marks aren't just for decoration, right?" Sandra chuckled. "No, Sonic. Carbon scoring by laser blasts is rarely an art form. Same goes for the skeletons." "Did any of them get away?" "Only one. He was a baby at the time. You rescued him." Not quite true, she thought: Sonic had only brought Tails of out his shell, and let him start interacting with his world like a Mobian, rather than an unthinking animal. But what she said was close enough to the truth. "I did?" "Yes." Sandra hugged Sonic, and idly toyed with one of his quills. "We'll see him later, but first, I want to see what you brought back." She gestured to a nearby building. "That place used to be a traveler's lodge, and most of its facilities were still working last time I stayed here." Sandra rested her head on her companion's shoulder. "The honeymoon suite should be free." "You're sure we should stay here? The sun hasn't even set yet." "Come on, Sonic. There's a few people who will want to know what you learned, but they'll be there when the sun rises." ****** Sally was not sure if she would live to see the sun rise. At first, she thought that the rifles pointed at her were nothing but a nightmare. They had to be: there were living Mobians holding them, not Packbell's metal lackeys. Their faces made plain their hatred, but whether their ire was directed at her or at Antoine, she could not tell. Even their bodies seemed to be grotesque parodies of what she fought against, with biological and robotic parts merged as seamlessly as in any workerbot, but fur showing prominently over a fair portion of the skin that she could see. Hooded cloaks, which quickly changed color to match the slightest variation in the world behind them, covered most of their bodies, making the pair of creatures in front of her almost seem to be disembodied hands and faces reaching out of holes in the air. On her left, a grizzled female bear snarled. On her right, a younger iguana male was wearing one of the best poker faces Sally had ever seen, yet managed to convey as much hatred as the bear using just his eyes. At least the blizzard had subsided, although its origins were still a mystery. "Get up," the bear growled. >From the nervous humming behind her, Sally knew that they had woken up Antoine as well. Slowly, she pulled her legs out of his jacket, then carefully stood up as he did. Sally tried to free a hand to extract herself from the fox's clothes. "Don't even think about it, if you want to live. We don't HAVE to bring you in alive." The iguana tapped a control on his rifle. "You do now. Set your weapon to stun." "That wasn't in our orders." "Our orders said 'dead or alive'. I choose alive." The iguana sneered. "Remember who's in charge here." The bear frowned at her companion as best she could while not taking her eyes off of Antoine and Sally. "Yes, sir," she eventually replied, tapping the same control on her rifle. ****** Bunnie sat on the table which held Rotor's computer, and gazed longingly at her walrus. Rotor had been typing away like crazy for the past hour, ever since the first flakes of snow had been seen drifting across Knothole. Whatever he was doing, he had been ignoring the outside world entirely, and Bunnie wanted some attention. Rotor had not heard her come in, had not answered her questions about his activities, and had not reacted to her propping herself up on the table. That last one was really odd; she could usually get a rise out of him if she perched so that a minor slip would cause her to fall onto his computer, and crush it under the weight of her robotic limbs. "Only one thing left to try..." she sighed, as she leaned over to kiss him. Her head descended slowly, her lips only five centimeters from his scalp... ...four centimeters... ...three... ...two... "Bunnie..." It seemed Rotor had finally noticed her. ...one... "...sound the evacuation alarm!" This was not what the doe had expected to hear. "That blizzard was targeted. Look!" Rotor pointed to his computer's screen. On it, Bunnie saw a map of Robotropolis and the Great Forest. A small cone of white overlaid it, with Knothole in the dead center. "Someone knows where we are." Bunnie rotated around Rotor until her chin was on his shoulder, facing the screen. "You mean Packbell." "If it was Packbell, he would have already sent his robots. This is someone else, and I don't think they want to be friends." Off in the distance, a bell the two hoped would never be rung started to ring quickly. The evacuation alarm. The pair looked at each other in confusion until an energy blast sounded, silencing the alarm. Wordlessly, they scrambled for Knothole's nearest exit. Neither one fully believed what they saw as they ran for their lives. Bursts of light kept coming out of nowhere, striking down the fleeing villagers. Occasionally, a flicker of...something...could be seen where one of the bursts had been fired from. Both Freedom Fighters had seen stealth suits in action before, and both knew that they were seeing - or more accurately, not seeing - them again. They would have helped their fallen comrades, but Sally's orders had been explicit: in case of evacuation, everybody's first priority would be to get themselves away, for it was very likely that only a few would be able to flee a surprise attack. Given that fact, every additional body that made it out would be a significant help in rescuing those who did not. ****** Tails knelt next to an invisible line in the ground. On one side was the Great Forest, in all its normal greens and browns. On the other was the Great Forest, covered by a seemingly uniform thickness of snow. The line extended to his left and right as far as he could see, and the entrance to Knothole was not too far ahead on the snow side. Something was not right, but Tails was unsure whether to head along the line to try to find its source, or to check Knothole first. As he pondered this decision, an unfamiliar laughter sounded nearby. The voice was familiar enough, but he had never heard it laugh before. Already on alert due to the unnatural snow, Tails ducked into a nearby bush and waited. Before long, Kenal came into view, still flying erratically. Tails was about to go after him when he saw a movement on the ground below. It did not take him long to discern a Snively-shaped warping of light ineffectually waving something at Kenal, apparently trying to hit the griffin with it. Tails crouched, waiting for Snively to get in range, then sprung at the human with all his strength. The fight lasted more than a minute only because Tails had difficulty seeing his target at first. Once the kitsune managed to remove Snively's helmet, however, Tails quickly pinned Snively to the ground. "What did you do to Kenal?" they both demanded in stereo. "Me? I haven't seen him in weeks!" This commotion got Kenal's attention. He landed next to the pair, still smiling. "Welcome back, Tails." Indicating Snively with a paw, he continued, "You know, welcome home presents are usually given to ones who've been gone for a while, not given by them. But I don't think Sally will mind." "Are you ok?" Tails asked. "I haven't felt this good since..." Kenal cocked his eyes upwards in thought for a second. "...ever. Why?" Tails looked back at Snively, and bunched up the human's collar in his fists. "What drug did you give him?" "Now look here, you pint-sized furball, I've spent the past two hours trying to catch him before he ran into a tree. Hard as it may be for you to believe, I do not want to hurt *him*." Tails blinked. Never before had he seen Snively display anything even remotely resembling a spine. "He was my best servant before his brother took him away," Snively continued, "and I want...no, I need him back." "And what makes you think he wants to go back?" Tails replied. Before Snively could respond, a huge shadow loomed overhead. Looking up, Tails saw Dulcy circling down for a landing. And being shot at. Tails, Snively, and Kenal leapt for the bush Tails had been hiding in, and looked around for the sources of the energy bolts that Dulcy barely managed to dodge. Rotor and Bunnie burst out of the forest, with Rotor in Bunnie's mechanical arm. The half-roboticized rabbit jumped, forcefully extended her legs into the ground, and used the recoil to bound onto Dulcy's back. "Time to leave this party, sugar." "Not yet," the dragon protested. "I heard Kenal nearby. I'm not leaving without him." "If he's this far out, ah'm sure he can take care o' himself." Bunnie ducked a shot that had been aimed for her head. "That's more than I can say about us if we don' leave now!" She set Rotor in front of her on Dulcy's back. "There's one!" Rotor pointed. Dulcy looked back at Rotor, quickly moved her head to face in the direction he indicated, and exhaled. A Mobian-sized hunk of ice accumulated around something invisible, which Dulcy shattered with a snap of her tail. The firing stopped. "Phew." "Good shot, Dulcy." "Ah don' think that was all of..." And started again, faster and fiercer before. The first two shots both went low and collided under Dulcy, exploding with enough force to blow her up and out of the way of the rest of the initial volley. "Kenal!" she called. Bunnie's robot arm wrestled the dragon's left wing to send her veering away from the rising fire. "We gotta leave now, sugar! Waitin' for Kenal'll take all three of us down, even if he is here." "But..." "No buts," barked Rotor. "Crack the whip!" "Kenal..." she cried, then whipped her tail straight and shot off with a crack. Snively had pinned Tails in the bush while Kenal stood as still as a rock. Hurried footsteps sounded after the firing ceased, but all the three could see of whatever had been firing were occasional blurs of distortion. Once the steps had faded into the distance, Snively let Tails go and walked up to the shattered ice mound. Tails dusted himself off, then stormed up to Snively. The human halted the kitsune by wiping a finger across the shattered ice and holding it up, coated in blood. "This was a living being - not Packbell's style at all," Snively commented. "I suggest we set aside our rivalry until we find out what is going on." Tails stopped to consider this, but the expression of hatred never left his face. "How do I know you won't throw me to those...whatever they are?" "You don't. And I have a similar level of assurance about you. Kenal, however, knows he can trust me." Tails turned towards the griffin. "Come on, Kenal. We can find Snerdly again after we clean up this mess." And flew off. Only to gradually realize that he was not being followed. Still looking backwards, he floated to a stop, wearing a mask of betrayal. "KENAL?!?" The griffin, who had started to chip away the ice with his paws, returned Tails' gaze. "I'll keep an eye on him. He's right, it's probably not safe for you to work with him. But it is for me." The kitsune trembled slightly, then frowned. "FINE! Abandon your best friend. But don't expect me to talk to you again, ever!" "Forever is a long time, furball," Snively chided with his back to Tails. "You two will make up later, once Kenal's program ends." Tails blinked. "...program?" "I scanned him some time ago. Part of his brain is still roboticized. He was my best workerbot, programmed to follow my orders no matter what - even to the point of going against Robotnik, if necessary. The program for that behavior is in control for now. The Kenal you know will assert himself sooner or later; I am prepared to escape when he does." Before Tails could respond, Kenal piped up. "Am I really your best friend? I thought that was Sonic." "That's another thing," Snively continued. "Strange that you should return without that egotistical blue rodent." "Sonic's not back yet?" Tails frowned again, suspicious. "How do you know?" "He always returns from long trips with a sonic boom. The faster he travels, the louder the boom. On a trip as long as he's taken, he would have built up enough speed to generate a boom so loud it could be heard anywhere in the Great Forest. But aside from some migratory wildlife..." Snively grunted as he pried free a chunk of ice that Kenal had loosened. "...the forest has been rather quiet lately." "And how do you know where he's been?" "Elementary." Snively snap-tossed a piece of metal that had been in one of the broken off pieces of ice at Tails, who snatched it out of the air. "I recognize the logo, as do you...now that you've been there." Tails read a stylized trio of white letters in a red and blue oval. "The FSM? They said they'd take a week to get up here." "Then they lied. Sonic may be the fastest thing alive, but there are machines that can move faster than him. Furthermore, if he did not think there was a reason to hurry back, he would have taken his time, and even I can outrace him when he's resting. They may already have him. If you won't work with me, then for all our sakes, go get him. He may be our only chance of stopping them." Tails quickly sped off, back the way he came. ****** As Sandra thoroughly examined the contents of his backpack, Sonic sat on the edge of the two-room suite's large bed, cast his gaze into the sunset, and sighed. "What's wrong?" "Huh?" He snapped out of his trance, and saw the fox looking at him with a hint of worry. "Nothing. It's just, I dunno, it feels like I should be sharing this with someone." "Oh." Sandra walked towards him. "And it's not you." Sandra froze in mid-step. "I can almost see a face; make out a name: S...sssaaa..." "Sandra." She ran up to him. "Don't act like you don't know it." He shook his head. "Believe me, I'm not acting. I wish I was." She dropped onto the bed, bouncing slightly as she landed. "Maybe you just need your reward," she purred. "What I need is my memory back." Pointing at the table where Sandra had left his backpack, he suggested, "Maybe if you tell me what I did, that would help." Sandra sighed. "Fine. You kept good notes; I could tell you everything that happened." "Please. First off, who or what is the FSM?" ****** Sally stumbled, but remained upright, as Antoine tripped over her feet. "Would you two mind letting me get out of his jacket?" She remained still long enough for Antoine to recover his balance, then stumbled again when the bear shoved them both forwards. "It's not easy to walk like this." "We mind," the camouflaged pair replied in unison. "Who are you two, anyway? And what do you want with us?" "Commander Flint and Sergeant Crusher, FSM Special Forces." The iguana paused to look around quickly. "Not that you'll live long enough to care," the bear continued. "That's enough, Crusher. We want them alive. Understand? Vengeance can wait." Flint pointed his rifle at the bear. "I mean it. Your kids would not want it this way." Crusher lowered her weapon. "Yes, sir." "Her kids...?" Sally risked a glance behind her, but could not crane her neck far enough to see Crusher's face. "You killed them. But then, you probably don't remember. After all, you had to make the entire FSM suffer." ****** Sandra scrolled through the text on a minicomputer in front of her. "The Federation of Southern Mobius. It was one of the main enemies of the Kingdom of Acorn during the Great War. In fact, they were the ones who started the whole mess." "Why would anyone want to start a war?" "Politics. Some demagogue got their people believing that the Kingdom of Acorn was an oppressive dictatorship; that the commoners were treated like slaves while the elite lead a life of luxury. Never mind that that was more true of the FSM than of the Kingdom of Acorn, nor that this could be easily seen if anyone just came over and looked for themselves. They couldn't have that, so the FSM tried to close the kingdom's borders. One thing lead to another, and within a year, it was all out war." Sandra smirked. "I've heard that Robotnik was the demagogue. That would make sense, since he was the first Minister of War that the Acorns had had in over a century. When he came here, he first offered to solve the problem by draining all the world's evil into the Chaos Emeralds. War broke out before he could finish his efforts, so he took on the added role of Minister of War. You once told me that he changed after an accident at his lab, but personally, I think he planned this from the start." "I did?" Sonic blinked. "What, my word wasn't good enough?" "No, I just think he deceived you, too." She patted him reassuringly. "It just makes too much sense for Robotnik not to have planned. He was a genius, for the most part. He knew Acorn's enemies like the back of his hand, before he started wearing gloves. Robotnik was a good enough con to keep King Acorn practically wrapped around his finger, and King Acorn was tougher to fool than most. And, from your notes, it seems that the FSM is still sensitive about the communications blackout." "Why? Robotnik didn't shoot down their offer to surrender, did he?" "As a matter of fact, he did. Many times." ****** "What do you mean? I haven't killed anyone." Sally kept on walking, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. She was determined not to let them see her defeated, even if they did have her at gunpoint. "Maybe you didn't pull the trigger, but your family authorized the attack. No one got through your blockade, even if they wanted to talk peace. With your father gone, you are responsible for the actions of your subjects. That includes their robots." Flint stopped looking around, and rejoined the march. "I still don't know what you're talking about." "Then let me make it real clear to you," Crusher continued through clenched teeth. "Seven years ago, my children were on their way to surrender to you. They broadcast their intentions on all frequencies, in plain Mobian. Your machines shot them out of the sky, then hauled their bodies away to use as fuel. We know that your father had already disappeared by that time, which meant that you were in charge. On that day, you showed that you were every bit as vile as your father." "Seven years ago? Robotnik was in charge! We had no control over his robots." "Your Minister of War? Don't try to feed us that coup nonsense, he reported to you. You are to blame for his actions. Now, shut up and move!" ****** Sandra brought up a map of Mobius's communications net, overlaid on colored blobs showing the war's progress. Significantly, the net was broken at every point where it crossed the border of Acorn's territory, only to be quickly rebuilt when one side or the other pushed the border away from the broken link. "As far as the Kingdom of Acorn knew, the rest of Mobius wanted to fight to the bitter end. Everyone else thought that the Acorns knew about, and had authorized, Robotnik's atrocities. The only ones getting accurate data on the war were the ones doing the fighting - and on Acorn's side, all of the troops were machines under Robotnik's direct control by this point. Robotnik used the war as an excuse to test and refine these machines, especially the roboticizer." "Robotnik thought he could keep this up forever? He must be insane." "He was insane, but not stupid. He knew that, sooner or later, the truth would leak through." Sandra grinned. "Helping to crack his blackout was one of the best things I've ever done. At least, that's what Acorn's Minister of Information said when she paid me for smuggling a real picture of the war through." Her grin vanished. "Robotnik struck just as I gave my report. I barely managed to escape when he overthrew King Acorn." "So now, it was Robotnik against the FSM, rather than Acorn against the FSM." "Robotnik against Mobius, actually, which it had been all along. The FSM did not care. They still don't. That's one of the things you were doing down there, trying to explain to them what happened. From your notes, I'd guess they did not believe you." "Great. Did I do anything right while I was there?" "You convinced them to visit what's left of the Kingdom of Acorn, to see for themselves. That could be interesting to watch." "You said I just went down there to get data." "And you did." Sandra cuddled up next to the hedgehog. "I also promised you a reward." She slowly draped herself around him, only to be shaken off as he curled into a ball. "Now what?" she fumed. "I...I just can't. It doesn't feel right." "Let me guess. That mysterious 'someone else' should be here, not me?" "Yes," he said from somewhere within his spiky sphere of a body. "Fine." She slammed the bed to exaggerate her disappointment, then walked back to the table. "You can come out when you're ready. Or were you planning on sleeping like that?" His only answer was a light snoring from inside the quills. Sandra turned back to the backpack. "Hopeless," she muttered. ****** "Hopeless," the human sneered. Sally gaped in awe as she took in her new surroundings. The snow abruptly ended only a few minutes away from her post, as if she had stepped from winter back into fall. Beyond the frost lay an expanse of brush that she knew had not been there yesterday. This giant shrub turned out to be a very carefully crafted arrangement of dead foliage, even better disguised than Knothole. Inside the thin shell was another world. A regular grid of tents filled half of the covered space. Although they looked like they were carefully erected, this illusion was betrayed when she saw a machine at the other end of the enclosed space set up a tent in five seconds. The other half was taken up by various vehicles, few of which Sally recognized, but all visibly armed and armored. Sally also saw a storm generator with signs of recent use, just like one which had mysteriously disappeared from Robotnik's inventory in the Southern Continent a few years ago. A single light shone at the top of the canopy, suspended by means too small to see, yet powerful enough to provide the sole illumination for the entire scene. All around, a small army of Mobians scurried on various errands. Most of them had robotic parts, making Sally wonder if they had gone through what Bunnie had experienced. Sally and Antoine had been marched to a tent near the center of the enclosure, where a human wearing some kind of black powered armor mulled over a checklist in his hands. Flint yelled something which Sally, distracted by the sights around her, missed, but it got the human's attention. "Get her out of there. I don't want her lover to do something we may regret." Flint saluted, then quickly unbuttoned Antoine's jacket. Sally gratefully stepped away. "Lover? He's not my..." "Spare us," the human snapped. "I don't care what you call it, but I call it 'Princess playing hooky with a guard'." He rolled his eyes. "You put kids in charge, and look what happens." Pointing a finger at Antoine, he snarled, "Are you even a member of the Royal Guard, or did you just steal that?" Antoine rebuttoned his clothes. "Oui." "'Oui', which?" "Oui, I am being ze guard of ze royalty." "You mean, you're one of the guards. I refuse to believe that even Princess Sally Acorn would cut her bodyguards to just one person." Sally tried to read some identification on the human, but could see none. "So you know who I am. You have me at a disadvantage, Mister...?" "General Manx." He grinned. "And having you at a disadvantage is the point. Once your forces know that we have you, they'll surrender." "What are you talking about?" "You, and your father until his disappearance, have directed attacks against the rest of Mobius for the past fourteen years. The crimes committed by your robots are beyond listing. It is time to put an end to your reign of terror. Your kingdom will come to an end, and its people will enjoy the benevolent rule of the Federation of Southern Mobius." "We've been hiding from Robotnik and Packbell for almost twelve years now. We have had neither the time, the resources, nor the inclination to attack anyone else." "Right. Robotnik overthrew your father, who never knew what was really going on." Manx leaned closer to Sally. "Read my lips: I do not believe you." He leaned back to a standing position. "How you brainwashed Sonic into telling us that, I may never know. Just one more thing you have to answer for." "You've seen Sonic?" "Two days ago. We told him it would take a week for us get here to meet him, knowing that you would try to set up some kind of trap. We lied." Manx nodded to Crusher and Flint. "Now, we wait for him to try to find you, so we can catch him and undo whatever you did." "Sonic was telling the-" She was cut off again as Crusher rammed her metal fists into the back of Sally's head. As she blacked out, Antoine fell over, the victim of a stunner Flint had jammed into his neck. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?" "Yes." Crusher grinned, obviously ready for more. "Don't do it again." Manx frowned. "We may need her undamaged." ****** Having shaken her pursuers, Dulcy soared over the edge of the Great Forest, and was soon gliding above the outskirts of Robotropolis. Rotor scanned the skies in vain for anything else airborne. "Geez, Dulcy...out of the frying pan and into the fire!" Bunnie performed a similar check for movement on the ground. "Ah'll say. Though, ah'd take Packbell over those whatever-they-ares any day." She let out a whistle. "And so would Packbell, I reckon. Look down and ahead." Rotor and Dulcy directed their eyes accordingly. The absence of patrolling robots was quickly explained by a field strewn with demolished machinery. Dead bodies were also visible in places. Curious, Dulcy dove down for a closer look... ...only to rebound off an invisible force field. After a few blinks of surprise, Rotor unhooked a scanner from his utility belt and gazed through it at Robotropolis. "The whole city's covered by some sort of deflector shield. Wonder when he put that up?" "Just today." Packbell's voice was unmistakably artificial, if for no other reason than the fact that it carried more hatred than any Mobian could ever voice. Bunnie instinctively looked around, then remembered that Robotnik had installed a public address system throughout Robotropolis, which Packbell would often use to taunt the Freedom Fighters when he discovered their location during a raid. "Ah take it those things that overran Knothole ain't yours?" she yelled. "Knothole has fallen? If the circumstances were different, that would be music to my audio sensors. But no, the FSM army's presence here is your fault." Bunnie was about to retort with a string of obscenities when Rotor shushed her. "What did we do?" the walrus asked. "Remember when you depleted my supply of robots? I was forced to withdraw the forces that had been holding the FSM at bay to reinforce Robotropolis. Someone must have told them where we retreated to. They view the Freedom Fighters and my forces as one and the same, and they could easily overpower us both. The only reason they have not demolished Robotropolis yet is the shield. I had been experimenting with it as a means of interfering with your raids, but this event forced me to put it to use before I could finish testing it. As it was, my robots were able to delay them just long enough for me to raise the shield." "Huh. I hope that shield fails, Packbreath!" Bunnie retorted. "You should hope it does not. Until the FSM has been dealt with, we are on the same side." "You're kidding, right?" "How does that annoying hedgehog put it?" Packbell's voice shifted into a perfect reproduction of Sonic's. "'I'm kidding, wrong.'" Then shifted back. "If the FSM does not go away, all three of you will join me on the scrap heap." "Ah think the stress is getting to him," Bunnie quipped. "Yah don't recycle dead bodies, unless you're a machine." "Actually, I learned that practice from observing the FSM. They do indeed recycle their dead. You should land before we continue discussions." "How?" Dulcy queried. "We can't get through your shield." "I have lowered the shield directly below you, and I shall raise it once you are through. I suggest you hurry, as the FSM has detected your presence and is headed this way." "Wait," Bunnie ordered. "How do we know we can trust y'all?" "If you do not come inside, the FSM will hunt you down and kill you. If you do come inside, I may or may not betray and roboticize you. I leave it to you to decide which path holds a better chance of survival." A small barrage of fire, all of which missed, announced the arrival of the team that had shot at Dulcy earlier. "Packy's got a point." Dulcy made a ninety-degree snap turn and dived as if her life depended on it, which it did. "Tell me when I'm below the shield." Half a second before she collided with the ground, knocking herself and her passengers out cold, Dulcy heard, "Now." ****** As night fell, Snively smirked to himself. As expected, the FSM soldier that Dulcy had smashed had been wearing a visor that allowed him to see other soldiers. Fortunately, the visor was not damaged, and since its former owner had no more use for it, Snively had "borrowed" it to detect and avoid further patrols. He and Kenal had followed one patrol back to their temporary base, and after climbing the shell, they had stretched the remains of Snively's stealth suit into a small tent on a structural strong point of the leafy camouflage at its top. Even months after having lost Robotropolis to Packbell, Snively was still not used to so much exertion in one day. Soon after ordering Kenal to spy on the FSM below until he got tired, Snively was sound asleep. Only pure luck kept him from snoring loud enough to alert the army below to his presence. ****** Under the cover of a moonless night, Tails hovered into a ruined city. It looked vaguely familiar; images from deep in his memory kept trying to surface, only to be blocked. He paid this little heed, as his attention was on his nose. Sonic's scent was evident, mixed with someone else's. Someone... ...sniff, sniff... ...who had sprayed themselves with pheromones. Making a mental note to resist any attempt at seduction, Tails followed the scent into the darkness.