Day 37

[from Sonic the Hedgehog Returns]

The rain was driving down hard in Scrap Brain Zone that afternoon, as Sally Acorn sheltered beneath a giant rusting statue, her fur almost completely soaked. Clutched tightly in her left fist was a small USB flash drive, containing the thing that had brought her and half the Freedom Fighters out this far: plans for Dr. Robotnik's latest weapon, stolen from a supposedly top-secret research laboratory of his. Of course, when you had an undercover spy on your side, nothing was ever top-secret.

Sally activated her hidden microphone, speaking in a hushed tone, though still loud enough that she could be heard over the rain. "This is Mary-Sue calling Needlemouse," she said. "Come in, Needlemouse."

"Do we really have to use the codenames?" came the reply in Sally's earpiece.

Sally sighed. "Yes, Sonic," she replied, "that's why we came up with them."

"They sound so lame, though," said Sonic. "I mean, "Needlemouse"? Really?"

Sally rolled her eyes, ignoring Sonic. "I've got the plans," she said. "We'll regroup at the clock statue. Sheepdog, Bergerac, do you copy?"

"This is Sheepdog," said Bunnie Rabbot. "No signs o' trouble here. We're headin' on over."

"Zis is Bergerac," said Antoine d'Coolette. "Eez all clear. On my way back with Bunnie."

"Good to hear," said Sally. "Let's hurry up and get back to Knothole before Robotnik's goons find us." Peering round the statue to make sure there was nobody there, Sally darted out from behind the cover of the rusted statue and headed through the driving rain towards a small plaza, where a large clock statue stood lop-sidedly in the centre, its buckled hands rusted in place.

Sonic was, unsurprisingly, already waiting there when she arrived, impatiently tapping his foot. It had only taken her a minute or two to reach the clock tower, but Sonic was so impatient that he probably would have been tired of waiting after only a few seconds. He seemed a little relieved to see her, but carried on tapping his foot until Bunnie and Antoine arrived as well, their soaked hair plastered across their faces.

"Y'all got the plans?" asked Bunnie, wiping a tuft of fur away from her eyes.

"Right here," said Sally, holding up the flash drive.

"Great going, Sal," said Sonic, grinning. "Now let's get outta here before-"

"Going somewhere, hedgehog?"

"…before that happens," finished Sonic lamely, a sinking feeling rising in his gut as he turned to face the source of the voice. It was Robotnik's vile nephew, Snively Kintobor, piloting a large bipedal robot with giant spiked balls for hands. In the driving rain, with visibility severely hampered, he had somehow been able to sneak up on them and surprise them.

The moment he laid eyes on the mech, Antoine froze, his body gripped by panic as his shell-shock kicked in once more. "I'll take Ant and get these plans back to Knothole," said Sally, taking charge of the situation. "Sonic, you and Bunnie take care of Snively."

"We're on it," said Bunnie, readying herself into a combat stance.

"This'll only take a Sonic second," said Sonic, doing the same.

As Snively began to engage the other two, Sally took Antoine by the hand and tried to lead him away. "Come on, Antoine," she said. "We have to get back to Knothole."

Antoine did not respond, nor move an inch. He was in another place, another time, watching for the hundredth time as the armies of the old kingdom crumbled around him before the might of Robotnik's army. The unstoppable wall of metal grew ever closer, a hail of neon-green laser fire coming at him from every direction, about to cut him to ribbons-

BOOM. The giant spiked fist slammed down into the dirt, and Antoine was shaken from his nightmare by the ground reverberating beneath his feet. "Sacre bleu!" he exclaimed. "I… e-eet was…"

"It's okay, Antoine," said Sally, in a soothing, gentle voice. "It's alright. The SWATbots are gone. They can't hurt you now."

"Zey can't hurt me," repeated Antoine, nodding frantically as he tried desperately to keep hold of reality. "Zey can't hurt me."

"Come on, let's head back to Knothole," she said. "Our work here is done."

Antoine nodded again. "Oui," he said. "Our work here eez done."

As Antoine and Sally ran off, headed back towards the Great Forest, Sonic and Bunnie continued to engage Snively's robot. The fist swung down again, and again, trying to crush Sonic, but the speedy hedgehog sidestepped each blow at the last second, grinning up at the robot's cockpit. "I could do this all day, Snively," he taunted.

Snively growled at his tormentor. "Initiate Plan B!"

Both of the robot's fists slammed down onto the ground at once, creating a massive shockwave that knocked both Sonic and Bunnie off their feet. As the pair picked themselves up, the spiked fists began to rotate, ripping up the ground around them and sending clumps of mud flying everywhere. "Let's see you stop my machine now, Sonic!" he proclaimed, grinning nastily.

As the robot advanced towards them, ripping the ground up, Sonic seized Bunnie's hand and ducked behind the statue. "That makes things difficult," he admitted. "If we try to get in close, we'll be mincemeat!"

"Don't y'all worry," said Bunnie, flexing her robotic arm: an unwanted gift from Robotnik, along with her mechanical legs. "This looks like a job for ol' Bunnie Rabbot!"

Bunnie's arm began to transform itself, slowly turning into a powerful laser cannon. Ducking round the statue, Bunnie aimed briefly, and fired. The laser blast struck the cockpit at full force, frying the control panel and rendering the machine almost inoperable. Snively tried to work the busted controls but was met with only a shower of sparks. "Curse you, rabbit!" he growled.

"Curse yourself," said Bunnie, grinning as she patted her smoking metal arm, her hand quickly recoiling from the hot metal.

"Timber!" cried Sonic. Curling into a tight ball, he rushed forwards, rolling along the ground at supreme speed. Leaping up, he barrelled straight into the machine's chest, with more than enough force to knock the crippled robot over. Snively's Egg-O-Matic, docked in the robot's head, toppled out and rolled along the ground for a moment before lifting off, hovering several feet in the air above the broken robot's sparking remains.

"Well, this has been fun," said Sonic, "and we'd love to stay and chat, but… we've got plans. Smell ya later, Snively!" And with that, Sonic took Bunnie's hand - her non-robotic one - and raced off, a loud sonic boom and a bright blue trail heralding his exit. In a matter of seconds he caught up to Sally and Antoine, seizing Sally's hand as he passed and taking the pair of them with him, Antoine suddenly clinging to the princess for dear life.

Snively hovered in the air for some time, watching them go. Strangely, he did not seem too bothered by the Freedom Fighters' escape. "That's right, hedgehog," he said menacingly, "run while you still can. Once you see what we have in store for you and your friends, you'll see there's nowhere on Mobius you can hide!" Laughing maniacally, he turned the Egg-O-Matic around and headed in the opposite direction, towards Dr. Robotnik's fortress.