FicWad

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In The Light
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I wanna be in the Light
as You are in the Light
I wanna shine like the stars
in the Heavens
Oh, Lord be my light
and be my Salvation
'cause all I want is to be in the Light
All I want is to be in the Light
DC Talk - In The Light
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Sally's fingers raced across Nicole's keyboard. She had a grave look on her face as she downloaded words from her brain to the computer before her. She had been keeping a log of recent events and was updating it.
"December 18th. Robotropolis has been devastated. It is the first time we have been able to spare Sonic, and his report was startling. Most of the big buildings are down. No factories are running. All power is out. The robots--even SWATbots--are wandering around with no orders.
"We heard the earthquake was a 9.2, then heard later it was a 5.4. It sure wrecked Knothole, whatever it was. We have no electricity and no
running water. Many of our huts collapsed. There is one dead and fourteen injured, and we are preparing for aftershocks."
Sally leaned back and ran one hand through her hair. Nicole, being battery-operated, was the only computer for miles that worked. From her position on the ground she could see across the village. Freedom Fighters and villagers alike were poking through the rubble, looking for anything worth keeping. Everyone was in a sort of daze.
The earthquake had struck the previous afternoon. No one had rested much since then, and were living in terror of the inevitable aftershocks.
"Sonic," someone called. Sally turned to see Tails, a bandage wound around his head, standing unsteadily beside a tree.
Sally jumped up and went to him. "Tails, you shouldn't be up. Go lie down."
Tails let himself be turned and escorted back to where the other injured people were. "But where's Sonic?"
"He went to Robotropolis."
"Why?"
"Because--" Sally stopped and swallowed her words. Sonic had asked her not to tell Tails. "Just because," she finished.
Tails gave her a cold, somewhat superior look. "They're looking for
Bunnie, huh?"
Sally was startled. "How did you know?"
"I may have a concussion, but I'm not stupid," said Tails. "He's been worrying ever since he saw what happened to Robotropolis."
That was true. Everyone was worried, but it seemed Sonic was channelling it all. Usually Sonic was the one reassuring everyone, telling them it would be fine; but now it seemed that even their reassurance to the hedgehog was falling on deaf ears, and always seemed deadpan in his encouragement.
Sonic's reports of the damaged Robotropolis combined with his attitude made the situation so much bleaker than first thought.
"Do you think Aunt Bunnie will be all right, Aunt Sally?" Tails questioned as Sally placed him in one of the empty cots outside the infirmary. From the corner of her eye Sally could see nurses and doctors standing by the other cots, monitoring the Mobians that were injured from the earthquake.
"I'm sure of it," Sally said. "You know Sonic would never let anything bad happen to any of us."
That was more of a reassurance for herself than Tails.
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The damage was unbelievable.
Busted pipes laid about the wreck bleeding dirty water, buildings were nothing more but piles of dust and broken bricks. Most of them had collapsed onto themselves, some even going one step further by collapsing into their foundations. The air reeked of a toxic cocktail.
Usually such a sight would have brought joy to Sonic, but as he stood there on that hill surveying it all, it only caused his heart to sink to the pit of his stomach. Especially knowing that somewhere in the midst of the chaos Bunnie was in there, probably trapped under tons of rubble, or lost and injured; maybe even bleeding slowly to her death while delirious from the pain...
Sonic shook those thoughts forcefully from his mind. No, now was not the time to be thinking like that. What mattered was finding Bunnie, then worry about all those thoughts if they are true.
After tearing his gaze from the disastrous view Sonic raced down to the city, his heart sinking lower the closer he got. He had seen the damage up close a few times already, but it did not make it any less heart aching. Without realising it Sonic's mind wandered back into the village. The damage from the earthquake was almost as bad as it was here. A lot of the trees were uprooted from the breaking earth, now lying in the middle of the forest, some even in the middle of the village, slowly dying. The thought of the ruined trees branched Sonic's thoughts to the one casualty of the disaster, an old sheep whom was literally crushed under a large oak tree, then continued to make Sonic wonder if Bunnie was in the same situation.
It was enough to startle Sonic into a faster pace, until everything around him blurred. He needed to stop these thoughts getting into his head. Sonic tried to distract himself by focussing on his search. From Bunnie's last transmission she was somewhere to the west of Robotropolis. It was a general clue, but the only one he had to the cyborg rabbit's location. This was the first time Sonic was allowed to go looking for Bunnie alone, seeing as Sally was still worried about his state of health. It took a lot of work to convince Sally to let him go, at least once while a proper search party could be banded together. So here he was now, equipped with an old two-way radio unit and a first-aid kit, just in case he did find Bunnie and she was injured.
As he ran Sonic could not help but stare at all the SWATbots wandering about like zombies. None of them seemed to notice the hedgehog, and if he was in his usual cocky mood Sonic would have taken advantage of the situation. But instead Sonic kept heading west, his sight set straight ahead. Briefly Sonic wondered where Robotnik was in all this. Most likely nestled safely somewhere deeper in his fortress, he reasoned.
"Bunnie!" he called as he ran, his voice sounding oddly loud in the stillness. It almost felt like he was the last Mobian on the planet.
"Bunnie!" The thought scared him, making his heart skip a beat. Oh why did Bunnie have to take his place? Of all the days...
"Bunnie, please answer me!" His voice choked up, Sonic had to cough to clear the lump in his throat.
"Bunnie! Bunnie! Bu-- Oh Chaos..."
Sonic stopped dead. He had arrived at the western regions of the city. There was nothing left but debris; debris as far as the eye could see. The smell of toxic was much worse here. The damage made it look like a bomb had hit after a tornado. It was so breathtaking Sonic had to lean against a small wall, the one thing that bordered the chaos from the calm, just so he could take it all in.
Sonic didn't even realise he was trembling as he began the gruelling walk into the heart of the chaos.
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The sound of dripping water echoed around her head.
When the sound became irritating enough lavender-coloured eyelids fluttered open, exposing to their owner a world of darkness. For a moment she could not remember where she was.
Bunnie lay in the position she woke in for what felt like hours, allowing her thoughts to gather together like the dust that still snowed down on her. Then she remembered everything. It was that morning; at least she hoped it was that morning still, which she had volunteered to take Sonic's place for his routine patrol of Robotropolis. The hedgehog was still recovering from his illness he had contracted two weeks before and Sally did not want him to do any work, even a simple patrol for a few hours, until he had fully recovered. Sonic had protested, but in the end Sally had won the battle and Sonic reluctantly agreed to the arrangement. Then the earthquake hit an hour before Bunnie's patrol was finished, and now she was... where exactly?
She looked at her surroundings, her vision finally, but just barely, adjusting to the dim lighting. With a start Bunnie found that she was pinned to the ground by a heavy steel beam, which was further weighed down by broken bricks and concrete. The dripping water Bunnie could hear was coming from an overhead pipe, the droplets about five centimetres from her head.
Bunnie's throat felt dry, the dripping making it tighten with thirst.
With a grunt Bunnie pushed herself up with her right arm, trying to ignore the aching protests her natural body cried out as she moved, and prepared to push the burdensome beam off before it crushed her. But when she moved her left arm Bunnie discovered, to her horror, she could not. The horror increased when she found that she could not feel her arm at all.
Her breathing quicken, her heartbeat following its example. Without her arm she would not be able to get herself out of the rubble. Bunnie was fairly dependent on her robotized arm, despite the emotional pain that it brought with it over the years. No matter what her robotic limbs always seemed to bring her more grief and stress.
Hesitantly she tried moving her legs, but they had been completely buried in debris, enough debris to actually put pressure on her legs so that she could barely wiggle her toes. But she could still feel them, which was a great relief.
Bunnie laid her head back, watching the faint outline of the water drops as they dripped. She wondered if she could drink the water, how long she had been there for, and how long would it be before someone found her.
"'hey'll find me, in less 'han a couplah houahs. Ah know 'hey will," she coaxed herself, finding mild comfort in hearing her own voice in the silence.
Drip, drip, drip...
Bunnie also wondered how long it would be before the sound of the dripping water drove her insane.
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A few miles towards the east of Robotropolis a strange activity could be witnessed, for it appeared that something, or someone, was digging from below the ground. A hole soon appeared, formed from a pair of clawed hands. The same hands rested themselves on the edges of the hole, before pulling out the body attached to them.
Once the body's feet had touched the ground it began dusting off its hands, eventually settling them onto its hips as it stared at its surroundings. With a small squeal of excitement, and a slight jump to emphasise it, the figure started wandering around, every so often stopping to swoop down and examine something that had caught its eye.
After about five minutes the figure's head suddenly snapped up and it paused, body still as it listened. A different sort of gasp from before escaped its lips, and after pocketing something the figure dove for the hole it had dug moments ago. Once it was in the hole the figure's hand reached out and grabbed a nearby sheet of rusted metal to cover the hole.
No other evidence was found from the strange figure.
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Sonic had been digging through massive piles of rubble for hours now. His gloves were torn in several places, and dirty from both dust and blood from the few cuts he obtained through his work. Most of his fur was full of dust, making it look like he had patches of natural white in his pelt. Sweat beaded around his forehead, stinging his eyes.
But he never stopped even for a second to wipe them away. Every second counted, according to Sonic, to find Bunnie before any aftershocks occurred. Sally had warned Sonic about the possible aftershocks saying that they could be worse than the earthquake itself. Sonic did not want to be around to witness how much worse, nor did he want one to happen before he found Bunnie.
In-between every fistful of debris he pushed away Sonic begged for every God and Goddess he knew about to delay the aftershocks, and to find Bunnie safe.
Once he had ploughed through the pile he was working on Sonic growled with frustration and ran for another, one step away from diving into it headfirst. In seconds large chunks of concrete started flying about, bricks and pieces of metal treated in a similar manner. Sonic grabbed pieces of debris one after the other, working like a machine without thought, his strength granted from his mutation making short work of the pile. When that labour proved fruitless Sonic pushed himself away from it and began searching for a new one to attack. This was the basic routine he had been sticking to for all those hours.
Soon Sonic felt his strength withering away as his muscles shook and ached with fatigue. As he dug Sonic began to slowly sink to his knees, until he was lying face-first in the rubble, breathing hard and shaking all over. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach, which had started cramping up, and his whole body felt cold. He wanted to keep going, but somehow he could not will himself to do so.
Sonic rolled over onto his back, being careful not to roll onto anything sharp or rusty, and tried to calm down. Doctor Quack had told Sonic to do this whenever he started feeling ill after any form of stress, just so the strange chemical in him could not get a chance to go through his body completely. And the last thing Sonic wanted was to end up in the hospital for any amount of time, especially now.
"It's so quiet," he murmured as he lay there, staring straight at the sky. Even without any proper life forms in Robotropolis the dark city was never quiet. Sonic closed his eyes and smirked a little. One good thing came out of the earthquake at least: most of Robotropolis was destroyed, including the site for the Doomsday Device's satellite. By the time Robotnik got everything functioning he would be far too behind in his schedule for the release of the device, and the Freedom Fighters would have more time to plan counter attacks. Or at least recover from the earthquake.
The silence was shattered by a tiny rumbling sound. Sonic's ears cocked up, trying to determine where the sound came from. The sound occurred again. Sonic sat up, looking around, body tensed and ready for anything. Under him Sonic felt the rubble he was sitting on shake a little. Then the shaking began building up, gaining ferocity until everything around Sonic began to shake. It was an aftershock, Sonic realised.
Panicked Sonic jumped up to his feet and ran from where he was, hoping to find some open space without anything that could harm him during the aftershock. But as he ran the quake worsened, not allowing Sonic to balance himself on the ground to run. He fell several times, each time being tossed about before he was able to get to his feet again, until the quake really began to shake up the city.
Sonic did not even see the tall pile of debris falling towards him until it was almost on top of him.
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Bunnie's eyes snapped open when she felt the beginnings of the aftershock. She had dozed off hours earlier to escape the throbbing pain from her body, and the reality of not being able to pull herself out of her entrapment. But now she had no idea how long she had been asleep, or what was going on.
She lay still, listening, as the shaking grew faster and violent. More dust rained down on her, getting in her eyes, ears, and even up her nose. She sneezed it out, feeling her eyes water over. The debris on top of her shifted down, pressing harder against her body and causing her to gasp as something pressed against her chest. The shaking continued, making more debris rain down on Bunnie, some rather large rocks falling dangerously close to her head and inactive arm.
Then she felt her heart freeze in her chest as a loud cracking sound ripped through her ears. The faint outline of the ground splitting open next to her jump-started her heart again. The splitting trailed towards her, rippling the earth underneath her and breaking it apart. A thunderous roar enveloped her as the ground yawned opened, swallowing the debris along with her into its depths. Bunnie was freefalling now, but the fall was short-lived. Abruptly she hit another layer of earth, her head striking a sharp rock and knocking her out-cold. The debris still fell, burying the rabbit.
An hour after the aftershock dwindled away Bunnie was still unconscious, the head wound received from the rock bleeding slowly. From the shadows several glowering eyes focussed on the scene.
Then, one by one they moved closer to her.
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Back in Knothole the rocking sensations of the aftershock in Robotropolis were echoing through the village. Because it was now dark out the fear factor of all the villagers were at their highest, so as soon as the trees started swaying with the shock everyone began panicking and took cover wherever they could. In the infirmary the nurses rushed around to calm the patients that had awakened either from the screams heard from outside or the aftershock's effects.
Sally sat with Tails in his cot, allowing the fox to huddle close to her as the mild quake shook its course. On Sally's lap Nicole sat opened, analysing the reason for why the aftershock seemed so weak here. Only one explanation was found: another earthquake, one much larger than before, had hit Robotropolis.
Sally bit at her bottom lip as she read over Nicole's recordings of the quake, Tails also watching. Sally noted that the aftershock seemed out of sync; usually an aftershock would occur a few hours after the main earthquake, or even a day. But it had been almost two days now.
"Sonic's still in Robotropolis, right?" he questioned, startling Sally out of her trance. She nodded.
"Better see if he's all right, and if he's found Bunnie," she murmured, reaching down for her radio. The quake should be over by now, so it should not be too hard to reach Sonic, Sally thought to herself.
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A large pile of debris exploded from the inside, sending pieces of it flying in several directions. Moments passed before the onslaught stopped, and slowly, almost painfully Sonic pulled himself out.
He fell to the floor, his arms unable to hold him up for long, and lay where he landed as limp as road kill.
"I can tell today's not gonna be my day," Sonic groaned as he held his head, where a large cut was located. Already the blood from the wound had run over his face and eyes, staining his fur and stinging his eyes. Some blood had reached his mouth, and he could taste the coppery bitterness. Most of his back was peppered with bruises, due to the fact that he had rolled himself into a ball to protect himself from the falling debris at the last second. He looked a ghostly white from the dust that had collected on his fur, but at the moment he couldn't care less about his appearance.
"Sonic. Sonic can you hear me?" a voice called, sounding static and so far away to the hedgehog. Grunting from the pain as he lifted himself up, Sonic tried to locate the voice. After a while he realised that it was coming from inside the pile he had just dug himself from and peered inside. At first he thought that it might have been Bunnie, until he found his backpack, where the voice was coming in through his radio. Sonic had managed to take off his backpack and curled himself around it, but it still managed to take some damage. Which explained why the radio transmission sounded so static.
Sonic reached into his backpack and pulled out the small radio, giving it a hearty shake to clear any dust from it and clicked on the receiver. "Sal? That you?" he croaked. His voice was dry, and it hurt to speak. Now he realised how thirsty he felt, and exhausted.
"Yeah, it's me," Sally responded, relief reflected in her voice. "Are you all right?"
Sonic nodded, then remembered that Sally could not see him. But he really did not feel like talking. "Yeah, got hit by some debris, but I'm fine," he said, forcing himself to speak. There was silence for a moment from Sally's side.
"You don't sound fine to me. Head home, we've got a search group together. Unless you've found Bunnie," Sally informed. Sonic coughed, some dust tickling at his throat.
"No way, Sal. I haven't found her yet and I'm not coming home until I do," he stated once he had controlled his coughing.
"Sonic, your time is up. You were only meant to be out there for two hours, and you've been gone for over four. Report home now, the search team will help us find Bunnie." Sally's voice had taken on a very serious tone, one she only used when she was giving out strict orders. Not that it fazed Sonic one bit.
"Sally, I'm not--"
"That's an order, if you're not home within the next hour I'm coming after you,"
That fazed Sonic. Sighing Sonic muttered, "Yes Princess," and signed off.
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A pair of eyes stared down at Bunnie's form, careful to look at every part of her body. The eyes' owner soon crept closer until it was right next to Bunnie and took a closer look.
"I think she's dead," they yelled out, turning to face the crowd of shadows behind it.
"You idiot, you didn't check properly," another voice scowled, sounding all the part of a leader. This figure stepped forward and shoved the first away from Bunnie, then crouched down and grabbed Bunnie's wrist betwixt its thumb and forefinger. There was a pause from sound.
"She's still alive," the figure breathed, instantly jumping away from the cyborg. A similar reaction waved through the other shadowed figures, save for one. It was a while until any of the shadows were brave enough to step up to Bunnie again.
"Where'd she come for? And what's with that weird armour on her legs and arm?"
"I have no idea about where she came from, but I bet her armour's pretty valuable. I wonder if it can come off?" The speaker bent over Bunnie and began frisking their fingers over Bunnie's arm, looking for anything that resembled a latch. They only stopped when a small voice coughed for their attention. All eyes turned to the one shadow that kept its distance from the group.
"Yes? What do you want now?" the leader demanded. The shadow shuffled its feet nervously, taking a great interest towards their shoes all of a sudden.
"Um... don't you think we should... maybe take her to the clinic? She's kinda... bleeding a bit there," the figure answered in a low voice, pointing to Bunnie's injury as it spoke. The leader glanced at the wound for a moment, then scowled at the shadow.
"Well why didn't you say something earlier? Honestly you're useless, Kaitlyn!"
The shadow, now identified as Kaitlyn, bowed her head and sighed to herself, twisting her hands in a jittery fashion. She only lifted her head to watch as the group lifted Bunnie from her arms and legs and began leading her down the tunnel, the leader shooting off instructions. Kaitlyn hesitated a moment before following.
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"December 16th. Over four hours ago a wave of aftershocks was reported going through Robotropolis. They reached Knothole, but somehow they were not as violent as expected. In fact they were quite weak. According to what Sonic reported that was not the case in the city.
"We were able to gather a small search party to send into Robotropolis and look for Bunnie, but so far they haven't reported anything. Sonic returned to Knothole completely exhausted and dehydrated. Doctor Quack felt it would be best to put him on an I.V overnight so he would not get sick from the stress. I'm guessing the last thing Sonic wants is to get sick while Bunnie's still missing, if anything that would make things worse. I know I'm starting to get sick with worry."
Sally began rubbing at her eyes as she slumped back against the wall. It was roughly one in the morning, and yet somehow she could not sleep. It did not surprise her much, but even Sally knew two days without sleep was not good, especially during a time of need.
Sally checked the battery gauge on Nicole's screen before deactivating her, making a mental note to grab a new battery cartridge in the morning, then looked towards the cot she was sitting next to. Sonic was curled up in a loose ball on the cot, sound asleep. The dust that was still in his fur made him appear a ghostly white, at the same time allowing what bleeding cuts he had obtained during his expedition stand out. His hands were heavy bandaged, callous from digging through so much debris, and an I.V needle was inserted into his right wrist, held in place with more gauze and pumping a mixture of Sodium Chloride water and the counteragent for the chemical that caused Sonic's Sleeping Sickness, for reassurance.
Beside him was Tails, also curled up in a loose ball and using Sonic as a living pillow, his two tails spread over him like a furry blanket. Tails did not want to admit, at least in front of Sonic, that he was afraid of the possible aftershocks and wanted to stick close to someone while he was sleeping. Sonic was, of course, first choice. Luckily the cot Sonic was using was large enough to fit two to three Mobians on it at once, as it was made for a larger Mobian that was previously checked in the infirmary.
"How are they doing?" a voice asked. Sally lifted her head towards the voice, realising that it was Uncle Chuck that had spoken. Sally's eyes fell onto the faint dents that peppered parts of the robotic hedgehog's body. Uncle Chuck was in his hideaway during the first earthquake, but had managed to escape with little harm. What injuries he did get were not serious and easy to repair. Beside him was a non-morphic robotized beagle, who Uncle Chuck was using as a sort of support. The dog's robotized state gave it the strength to put up with the task. When the robotized duo reached Sally Uncle Chuck allowed the dog to continue forward without him, on which the dog came closer to Sally and nudged its head under her hand.
"Hello, Muttski," Sally greeted before addressing Uncle Chuck. "Well Tails seems okay, the headaches have stopped now so he should be able to rest easier. Though Sonic doesn't seem to be handling the situation as well as he usually would, if this keeps up he's going to make himself sick again."
Uncle Chuck shook his head quietly. "I'm surprised you managed to make him sleep for more than five minutes," he commented.
"That wasn't hard, he was completely exhausted by the time he got home. But then at the same time he didn't put up much of a fight, which strangely enough is worrying."
"He'll be fine after some rest, don't worry. Though it might be a good idea if you got some sleep yourself," Uncle Chuck suggested. Sally gave a short laugh but nodded.
"I'll see what I can do."
It was at that point when the door to the Infirmary creaked open. Both Mobians lifted their heads towards the sound, spotting Rotor as he walked in. When the walrus saw that they were watching him he gave a shy smile and began making his way to them.
"Good, you're still awake, Sally," Rotor started when he reached her. On close inspection Sally could see the layers of dirt and grime that soiled his skin. At the moment Rotor was wringing a piece of cloth through his flipper-like fingers to clean them. Under his armpit was what appeared to be a metal pipe.
"I've managed to get the water running through the village again, so the electricity should be back on-line in the morning. It just might take a while for the generators to gain enough power through the water wheel," he reported. Quietly Sally clapped her hands together.
"Wonderful, good work, Rotor. Was there any permanent damage to any of the piping?" Sally asked.
"There was some, though I think you should take a look at it for yourself."
Before Sally could question Rotor further he had pulled out the pipe from under his arm and presented it to her.
"See here? I don't know what happened but somehow this pipe was cut into. The cut is too clean for it to have been done by falling debris or anything like that, so I think some sort of blade did this."
Staring at the pipe Sally took it from Rotor, not once moving her gaze from the strange cut. She ran her thumb tip over it, feeling just how straight the cut was. "But then who would cut the pipes with a blade?" she murmured out loud. "Were there any other pipes cut like this?"
"Mostly the lower pipes, they were somehow cut away from the rest of the plumbing and had caused a collapse, which is why we didn't have any running water. Everything's been repaired like I said, but now there's a lot of rubble and pipe debris at the bottom of the emergency tunnels."
"Why do I have the feeling that there's more to this earthquake than we think?" Sally groaned, pressing her hand against her face. "Thank you for your help, Rotor. You better get some sleep now." She handed the walrus the ruined pipe.
"All right then. Goodnight guys." Rotor turned to leave, but then stopped mid-step. "Uh, was there any word about finding Bunnie?" he asked, voice tense with hesitation. A quiet shake of Sally's head was his answer, and instantly he was downcast.
"We'll find her, Rotor. In the morning I'm going to check over the villagers and see if there are any willing volunteers for a larger search party," Sally informed.
"If you don't find enough animals then I'll go. I've done everything I can here on repairs," Rotor offered.
"We'll see, but thank you." Sally watched as Rotor made his way out the Infirmary, her heart growing heavy.
"Usually this is where Bunnie would say something reassuring to me," Sally commented in a somewhat dry voice, looking up to Uncle Chuck.
"You need to stay strong for the ones that are still here, Princess," Uncle Chuck stated. "I know it's hard but you have to be, for Bunnie and everyone else. They'll be looking towards you for guidance you know." He cocked his head down towards Sonic and Tails, both still sleeping deeply even through the conversation. Sally watched them in silence, allowing the robotic hedgehog's words to sink in. Idly she reached a hand out and ran it over Tails' drooped ear as she thought.
"You're right." A tiny smile crept across Sally's face, broadening a touch. "Thank you, Uncle Chuck."
"Any time, Princess. Now I think it is time for you to get some sleep. I'll be monitoring the generator in case you need anything." The elderly hedgehog gave Sally's shoulder a comforting pat before he departed.
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"Griff! Griff, come here we need help."
Turning from the piping he was repairing, a tall orange-brown goat watched as a group of Mobians came running up to him, a pale yellow lizard leading the group.
"Kevin, what's going on?" the goat, Griff, questioned as he dropped the tool he was using into a nearby toolbox.
"We were in the tunnels, and we found this strange girl just lying there. I think she's hurt," Kevin explained. He tugged at Griff's arm and led him to where the group was now laying Bunnie down, one Mobian supporting her injured head. Griff paused for a moment, surprised at the rabbit's half robotized form.
"Who is she? I don't think I've seen her in the colony before," Griff murmured.
"Dunno, never seen her either," Kevin shrugged, then cast a sinister glance at the lone fox that was following them. "But I bet Kaitlyn here thinks she's from the Surface."
The Mobians cracked up with laughter while the fox bowed her head in obvious embarrassment, twisting her thick tail in her hands.
"All right that's enough. I've told all of you to stop picking on Kaitlyn like that," Griff scowled. He knelt down beside Bunnie and carefully tilted her head to examine the wound. By then the blood had begun to clot, but what blood that leaked out had stained her pale fur.
"The wound looks pretty bad, hopefully it didn't cause any damage to her skull. Might be a good idea to get some X-rays done to be sure," he contemplated to himself. Out loud he asked, "Will you all be able to carry her into the Clinic?"
"Sure, Griff," Kevin confirmed, then called out the order to the group and led the way once again. "Coming with us?" the lizard called back when he realised the goat was not following.
"I'll be there soon, just need to clean up a bit here," Griff explained, jerking a hand towards the torn piping and tools he had been using. When the group was out of sight Griff looked about to make sure no one else was around before speaking to Kaitlyn.
"Have you been going up to the Surface again?" he questioned. Kaitlyn dug her toe into the dirt and nodded hesitantly.
"But I swear no one was there when I went up. I ended up in the junk yard this time," she confessed.
"Are you sure no one was around?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I know what I'm doing, Griff." The goat placed a hoofed paw on Kaitlyn's head and gave it a playful rub, messing up the fox's headscarf.
"I know you do, it's just a bit risky for you to go there alone. Especially with strange half robot rabbits falling in through the ground." Griff sighed and ran his free hand through his forelock. "I wonder what other damage we've caused up there?"
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He was falling.
Spiralling down into the black void below him Sonic could not make himself stop, nor stop himself from tumbling head over tail. The rate was dizzying, making his vision blur with black swirls.
Then he struck the ground with backbreaking force, the wind knocked out of him. Silence surrounded Sonic; it was so silent it actually hurt to listen. His ears began aching for some sound, any sound at all. Sonic regretted the wish when the very air itself cracked with an explosion, and moments later large rocks rained down on him. Sonic tried to move out of harm's way, but found somehow he could not, and as he pondered a way to escape the rocks continued pouring over him, bruising his body and cutting wounds.
More rocks came tumbling down, some small, some large, and some mere pebbles, each striking Sonic with a furious velocity until he was buried in them. The weight of the rocks began pushing down, pressing his throat and suffocating him. Sonic felt claustrophobic and began to panic, thrashing his legs and arms to move the rocks, but the more he moved the more the rocks pressed down. A medium sized rock fell over his face, smothering it.
Finally a hand brushed over Sonic's shoulder and took its grip, squeezing a little.
"Sonic, Sonic wake up," a voice called. Sonic thrashed a bit more, trying to squirm away. He gave a slight growl of frustration.
"Sonic, wake up."
Sonic tensed his body, his growl heightening in volume. The hand brushed by his eyes, stroking over his ear.
"It's all right, easy now," the voice comforted. Sonic slowly opened his eyes, allowing his body to relax. He realised he was in the infirmary, and the hand touching him belonged to Sally.
"Are you all right? I think you were having a bit of a nightmare just now," Sally informed as she stroked her hand along Sonic's throat. Sighing to himself Sonic rubbed at his eyes and nodded.
"Yeah, I was kinda," he confirmed, his voice slow with fatigue. Sonic began to push himself into a sitting position but felt a great weight pushing down on him. For a split second his heart stopped cold, thinking that he was still in his dream, until he saw out of the corner of his eye a ball of orange fur. One of the fox's tails had fallen over Sonic's face while he was sleeping, which explained the smothering rock from his dream.
"How long has Tails been there?" Sonic laughed as he gingerly lifted Tails into a sitting position, then moved himself the same way. He noticed Muttski was also lying with them, the dog 'sleeping' soundly.
"Since last night. He didn't want to sleep alone." Sally answered.
"He's okay though, right?"
Sally nodded.
Sonic leaned back against the wall, placing Tails so that he had his head on Sonic's side. After making sure that the fox was comfortable Sonic asked: "And how about you? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, just still a bit shook up I guess," Sally admitted. Sonic reached out an arm and pulled Sally towards him, planting a kiss on her forehead when she came close enough.
"You're doing great, Sal, trust me," Sonic encouraged. Sally smirked and patted Sonic's side.
"Oh I hate when you say that," she teased.
"But you are, you never believe me," Sonic sighed dramatically, giving Sally a slight squeeze. A sharp pain coursed through his arm when he flexed his wrist. On instinct Sonic hissed, startling Sally into pulling away from him.
"What? What's wrong?" she exclaimed. Sonic grabbed at his wrist and cringed as another sting of pain shot through, then glared at the I.V needle.
"Since when was this put in me?" he demanded.
"Last night when you got back. You wouldn't remember because you passed out with exhaustion," Sally said with a slightly harsh tone. She took a hold of Sonic's untouched hand to stop him from fidgeting with the bandages that held the needle. "We had to put you on the drip so you wouldn't get sick from you Sleeping Sickness, you were showing signs of relapse."
"At least that explains why I feel like I've been drugged." Sonic sighed and pawed at his eyes, then began massaging his neck. "Can I take it out?"
"Wait for this batch to drain, then you can." Sally nodded to the bag hanging above Sonic's cot. Sonic looked, noticing the bag was less than a tenth empty. The area around the needle began itching.
"Any word about Bunnie yet?"
When Sonic asked the question there was a trace of remorse in his voice. Sally could not even bring herself to look the hedgehog as she explained the situation.
"The search party I sent out last night just returned over an hour ago, but they didn't find any signs of her. I'm just waiting to see if any more animals are willing to join the new search group."
Sonic groaned, holding his head in his hands and leaning forward. "Still nothing?" he muttered. "We should have found her by now, Sally. Where the heck could Bunnie be?"
Sally could not help but stare as Sonic clenched his fingers, as if to hold onto his sanity physically, and curled into a tighter foetal position. He was reacting to everything so darkly, completely different to the way he usually acted, and it scared her. Sally wondered if Sonic was reacting like this through guilt: it was suppose to be him in Robotropolis that day, not Bunnie.
If that was the case then Sally understood the feeling, as ever since the earthquake hit all she felt was guilt. After all, she was the one that allowed Bunnie to take Sonic's place. But then Sally would have felt worse if it was Sonic lost.
It was a lost scenario indeed.
Before Sally could comfort Sonic movement beside him came to both their attention.
"Hey, Big Guy. How'd ya sleep?" Sonic questioned once the fox had fully awakened. Instantly a mask of calmness had covered all signs of Sonic's angst, almost like it had never been there in the first place. Though the look was still present in the hedgehog's eyes, which worried Sally.
"Okay, I guess," Tails yawned as he pawed at his eyes. Gently Sally reached over and scooped the fox cub into her arms, drawing him close to her. Tails curled up against Sally's body, his namesakes covering his body.
"That's good to hear, sweetheart. How's your head?"
"Still kinda sore, but I don't feel dizzy any more." Tails began tugging at the bandage still wound around his head and clawed underneath it. Sally pulled his hand away and untied the knot that secured the bandage.
"Well I think we can take this off now, though we might have to replace it a bit later, okay?" Sally informed as she pulled away the gauze. A small nod told her Tails acknowledged the vow. "See, Sonic? Why can't you be cooperative with medical procedures like Tails? It wouldn't hurt to put off your stubb--"
Sally looked up in time to see Sonic yank out the I.V needle from his wrist. She cringed as blood began to slowly seep out from the puncture, to which Sonic simply unwound the securing bandages and rewound it to cover it. Once that was done Sonic flexed his wrist to test its strength.
"Sorry, what were you saying, Sal?" he questioned eventually. Sally just pressed her face into her hand and sighed.
"You are unbelievable, Sonic Hedgehog."
"You said I could take it out when the bag was empty. There's no way I'm getting air pumped into my veins, sheesh!" Sonic rolled his eyes and slid off the bed, stretching his back and legs once he was standing.
"And where do you think you're going?" Sally demanded.
"Gonna join up the new search team and look for Bunnie, that's where," Sonic answered.
"No, you can't go out there again. Not like this," Sally exclaimed, instantly at her feet. In her haste she had forgotten Tails was sitting on her lap, so the poor fox cub had to grip onto Sally's shoulders to avoid a sudden fall. She redeemed the action by hoisting Tails up so he was secured.
Sonic regarded Sally coolly. "Yes I can, and I will. I feel fine, I'll be more careful this time I swear it," he promised. He stopped for a moment to look under the cot for his sneakers. "Besides the search will go much faster if I go with the group, you said it took them all night to go through the city."
"And if you get sick again? You're still recovering you know," Sally stated.
"I know, but this time I won't be alone. And I won't get sick again. Where's Rotor, I heard he wanted to join up a search team too?"
Sally gaped at Sonic. "How'd you know that?" She was sure Sonic was asleep last night while she was talking with Rotor.
"Like I said, I heard him say so," Sonic answered, not bothering to explain any further which annoyed Sally. The hedgehog tapped Muttski on his head, bringing him back into the waking world. Once the dog had finished with his usual welcome to his master, a half pounce that almost knocked Sonic to the ground and a cold lick across his face, he jumped down from the cot and stood by Sonic.
"I'm gonna bring Muttski with me this time. He might be able to sniff Bunnie out if she's been buried anywhere," Sonic said.
"I want to go, too. I can help find Aunt Bunnie no problem," Tails offered. Sally's arms tightened around Tails' form.
"That might be a good idea actually. Tails will be able to search from the air, and be look-out as well," Sonic said, looking at Sally for approval. Sally just shook her head.
"No, no it's too dangerous for Tails. Flying could aggravate his concussion--"
"But my head feels fine, and I wanna help," Tails protested. "Please, Aunt Sally, just this once let me help out." Tails stared up at Sally, making sure his eyes were wide and child-like. When Sally shook her head again the fox nuzzled his muzzle against her neck and hugged her, then looked up at her and tried to use the same look as before.
"Aw come on, Sal. How can ya say no to a face like that? Look he really wants to help out," Sonic insisted as he laid his hands on Tails' shoulders. It took a moment for Sally to realise Sonic was also imitating the look Tails was using, and could not help but let a ghost of a smile show.
"All right, but stay out there for only two hours, and not a minute longer," she sighed at a length. Tails yelped with delight and hugged Sally, then leapt out of her arms and made his way out of the infirmary at a run, calling for Muttski to follow him. The robotized beagle bounded away from the cot and ran after Tails, barking all the way. Sonic watched the two leave, a grin plastered on his face.
"Ah thanks, Sal. Tails really wanted to help out," he commented, turning to face her. When he did he saw that she now stood with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.
"I'm going with you," Sally said. Sonic stared blankly at the ground squirrel, eventually his body language mimicking Sally's own.
"No way, Sal. It'll be better if you stay put here. We'll contact you as soon as we find Bunnie. Now I have to get going before Tails runs off on his own."
Before Sonic could turn to leave Sally stood in his way. She jabbed a finger at the hedgehog.
"I'm going with you. There is no way I'm just going to sit here on my tail while all my Freedom Fighters are out there in the heart of dangerous terrain. You know me better than that, Sonic," she hissed in a low voice. A lot of the in-patients of the infirmary were now staring at the couple, attracted by their arguing.
In a blink of an eye Sonic had grabbed Sally's out-stretched wrist and pulled her close to him. In her ear he whispered: "Well there is no way I'm going to let you get lost in that dangerous terrain, especially when we've already lost someone. And that's already gotten me close to the edge, if I lose you I'll go completely off it."
Sally's eyes widened at that.
"Please just stay here, we'll be back before you know it. Trust me on this one, 'kay Sal?" Sonic pressed his muzzle against Sally's neck, nuzzling her. When he gazed up at her there was a desperate look in his golden eyes. Sighing, Sally gave in.
"Just... just be careful, please?" she murmured as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's shoulders. She felt him do the same.
"I will, I promise." Sonic leaned over and planted a soft kiss on Sally's forehead, then reached for his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "We'll be back in a Sonic-second, with Bunnie."