FicWad

With a sharp shove Griff finally managed to push his door open and stepped outside, watching as more steel doors folded away from other Mobians’ doors.
"Wha’ th’ heck happened?" Bunnie exclaimed as she and Kaitlyn followed Griff out into the main courtyard. Her long ears twitched, still trying to get the ringing sound that echoed through them thanks to the volume of the alarms.

"A security breach, judging by how quickly the alarms were switched off. Whenever the alarms go off everyone in the colony has about three seconds to get into either their homes or the designated shelters we have before the reinforced steel doors lock over the doors and windows. It’s another one of our security measures next to the flood gates," Griff explained. "I’m suppose to stay outdoors and help with whatever’s happening, but the alarms caught me off guard this time."

"So what was the security breach?" Kaitlyn asked. Griff searched around himself as Mobians began flooding out of their homes, they too looking just as confused as he was. He eventually focussed towards where the Power Station was situated, noticing the crowd that considered of Lower Mobians and uniformed Mobians that had gathered at the base of the station. He went a little closer, spotting three familiar looking Mobians in the centre of the crowd, and felt his heart skip a beat.

"Oh, no," Griff breathed, then took off towards the crowd.

"Griff!" Bunnie and Kaitlyn yelled, then followed the goat.

"-- How did you get in here?" one Mobian was questioning as Griff managed to push his way to the front of the crowd, getting perfect view of what was happening.

"Through the entrance, duh," Sonic answered, flinching when the Mobian cocked his gun at him.

"Stop being a smart-alec. What are you, some kind of mutant?" the Mobian snapped. Sonic growled, eyes narrowing as the quills on his back bristled.

"We’re just here looking for a friend, we mean no harm," Rotor yelled before Sonic could snap a remark. "So as soon as we find her we’ll be on our way."

"You won’t be going anywhere for a while, buddy. We can’t let you leave," another Mobian, a short brown fox, stated. Sonic, Tails and Rotor gaped at the fox, then gave each other nervous glances.

"What? But we’re--" Sonic began, his voice stumbling. At that point Griff decided to butt in.

"All right, what’s going on here?" he questioned, voice taking up an authorised tone. From behind the group of uniformed Mobians Phil stepped up to Griff.

"I spotted these three, including the dog, stealing Power Crystals from our supplies delivered here. I sounded the alarm because I’ve never seen them around here before either, and felt that they may be intruders," he explained.

"But we weren’t stealing anything, honest!" Tails yelped. Phil pushed through the barricade of Mobians and went over to Sonic, grabbing his arm and dragging him to Griff. He then shoved a hand into Sonic’s backpack and yanked out the Power Crystal Rotor had showed him earlier.

"Then how did this get into here? It just fell in?" he demanded.

"Let go of me!" Sonic roared, twisting his arm in the warthog’s grip. Phil tightened his grip, making Sonic yelp out.

"Hey! Leggo o’ mah friend!" Bunnie shrieked, and ran up to the warthog.

"Bunnie," Sonic breathed. Briefly the rabbit gave Sonic a smile, the she regarded Phil, her expression serious.

"Let mah friend go, sugah," Bunnie repeated.

"You heard the lady, Phil. Let him go," Griff stated. Phil gritted his teeth before releasing Sonic. Griff watched as Sonic and Bunnie embraced, reunited at last, then Rotor and Tails followed suite, Muttski barking happily when Bunnie scratched behind his ears in greeting.

"So, what’s this all about then, Griff?" Phil questioned. "I know them three and the dog are trespassers, but Bunnie here is an associate of yours. Yet they all know each other."

"They’re mutants from the Surface," Kevin shouted. A collective gasp waved through the crowd, and all at once every pair of eyes focussed onto Sonic and the gang. When Griff glared at Kevin the lizard realised his mistake, slapping a scaly hand over his mouth.

"Mutants from the Surface? But life doesn’t exist up there!" a voice from within the crowd protested, several more voices agreeing with the statement.

"We’re not mutants. We’re ordinary Mobians just like you guys," Sonic rebutted.

"You don’t look ordinary to me," a black rabbit snapped, pointing at Sonic’s eyes.

"Well I am, this happened to me recently but I was an ordinary hedgehog before," Sonic commented, quills bristling.

"But the Surface is toxic, no one could possibly live there," a tawny brown mole stated. All eyes turned to Griff, whom was now looking very nervous. Bunnie gave an apologetic look to the goat, and it took a moment for Griff to realise that the same look was mirrored on Sonic and the others’ faces, albeit with hints of guilt and regret.

Then Muttski's ears perked up. His eyes flashed a brighter red as he turned away from the group, a metallic growl bubbling through his throat.

"What's up with him?" Griff questioned. Sonic shook his head and stepped up to the dog.

"I dunno, but he's been doing that a lot today," he explained. Sonic bent to one knee and wrapped his arms around Muttski's neck when he tried to move forward. Muttski then began barking madly, pausing only to snarl.

"What is it, boy? What do you hear?" Sonic asked over Muttski's barking. When the dog paused again to snarl Sonic heard something. He perked up his own ears, cocking them about to pick up the sound again. He grabbed the robotic dog's muzzle to stop him from barking, and heard the noise again.

"Sonic, wha--" Bunnie began, but Sonic shushed her.

"Hear that? That squeaking sound?" he asked eventually.

"I don't hear it..." Tails said, but then his body tensed and he pointed behind Sonic. "But I see something that squeaks!"

Everyone turned in time to see the three large Rat-Bots round the corner and heading towards the group, each squeaking and hissing with a similar metallic ring Muttski had. The Rat-Bots watched the Mobians with a fixed red glare, some snapping their jaws in anticipation.

Slowly, the Mobians began backing away from the robots, Sonic dragging Muttski back by his collar. Behind them they could hear the Lower Mobians beginning to panic.

"These ain't any more o’ yer security measurahs, are they, Sugah-goat?" Bunnie enquired, her eyes focussed still on the Rat-Bots. They were now advancing on them, matching their own hesitant steps.

"No, I've never seen these before. Where'd they come from?" Griff stammered.

"They might have come from Robotropolis, but I've never seen 'Buttnik use these before," Sonic guessed. Muttski gave a savage growl and charged at the closet Rat-Bot, recognizing it as the one that had shocked him at their first encounter. The Rat-Bot hissed and swung its blazing tail at the dog, but this time Muttski was ready and managed to jump out of the tail’s way, thus causing it to smash into a pile of wooden crates near the scene. Muttski continued to attack the Rat-Bot, running up to it and biting at its jaws whenever it snapped at him, then jump on its back and bite at the back of the robot’s head. The Rat-Bot shrieked and flared its head and body like crazy, trying to get Muttski off it.

"What should we do, Griff?"

Griff turned, coming face to face with a massive crowd of Mobians. Phil was the one that had spoken. The goat tensed, glancing back at the Rat-Bots. The dog fighting the intruders had the right idea, and judging by the way Sonic and his friends were watching the scene Griff realised that they two wanted to fight.

"Get the women and children into the main tunnel once we’ve separated the robots," Griff instructed. Phil eyes widened.

"You mean--" he began, stopping when Griff began to nod.

"We’re going to defend our home, we cannot allow these monstrosities to destroy all we have."

"Now yer talkin’," Sonic exclaimed, grinning. "And we’re gonna help ya."

Griff turned to Sonic, a grateful look on his face. "Can you get these robots away from here? We need to get everyone into the main tunnel," he asked. The hedgehog gave him the thumbs up.

"No sweat," he confirmed, then ran up to the Rat-Bot Muttski was attacking and kicked it in the head, scrambling its circuits for a second. Muttski jumped off the robot and stood by his master’s side, preparing to defend him if he needed to.

"Yo, you have got to be the ugliest ‘bot I’ve ever seen. You’re defiantly one of ‘Buttnik’s," Sonic quipped. The Rat-Bot shrieked and snapped at the hedgehog with its powerful jaws, missing when Sonic ducked away laughing before taking off. Enraged as far as a robot could be the offended Rat-Bot shrieked again and chased after Sonic, the other two Rat-Bots following with the other Freedom Fighters close behind.

"All right, that’s perfect. Phil, take everyone to the main tunnel," Griff ordered as he pulled out the control to the main gate and handed it to the warthog. Then he yelled, "Whoever is willing to stay behind and help Sonic and his friends save our home grab what you can and follow me."

About ten from the thirty-odd citizens stayed behind, including Kaitlyn and Kevin, and armed themselves with broken pieces of wood that was scattered around the border of the Power Station, then made their way to the main courtyard where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters were fighting the Rat-Bots. Swallowing their fears the Lower Mobians raised their makeshift weapons and charged at the robots.

The fight was short, but not without its tragedies. Due to the Lower Mobians’ lack of experience in hand-to-hand combat, or any form of combat, they were easily overpowered by the Rat-Bots.

At one point of the battle Kevin was overcome because of his clumsy manoeuvres, and was forced against the wall that formed half of the main courtyard. The Rat-Bot towered over the fallen lizard, red eyes focussed on its prey as it activated its tail. Kevin felt his heart swell up in his throat when the robot swivelled around in a full circle, but at the very last second Kevin was able to gather his wits and duck.

The heated appendage missed the lizard by half a millimetre, but it did manage to slice through the thick pipe that was attached to the wall. The hole created allowed the natural gas to hiss out, filling the air with its toxic smell. But neither the Rat-Bot nor Kevin paid any heed as their little hunt was still on.

The Rat-Bot gave another shriek, the sound ringing through Kevin’s ears, and once again the robot spun around. Kevin flattened himself against the ground and squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that dumb luck would not help twice, and waited for the pain to consume him.

But when the pain never came the lizard allowed his eyes to sliver open, and he felt his jaw slacken. In front of him was Kaitlyn, standing stock still between him and the Rat-Bot. It took him a moment to realise that the fox was so still because low levels of electricity was buzzing through her. The Rat-Bot had struck Kaitlyn at her artificial leg, the metal conducting the electricity into her body, but to further Kaitlyn’s predicament the Rat-Bot’s tail had sliced right through the leg, cutting it just above the knee.

When the electricity finally died out Kaitlyn collapsed with a faint sigh, hitting the ground twitching. Kevin crawled to her side and scooped her up into his arms, shaking her.

"Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn, wake up," he cried, heart pounding. A shriek from the Rat-Bot distracted Kevin, at the same time reminding him that there was still a fight happening. Yet he could not bring up the courage to move, let alone attack the robot.

"Someone help," Kevin screamed as the Rat-Bot drew nearer, jaws snapping.

"Leave those kids alone, sugah!" someone yelled, and a second later two metallic feet ploughed into the robot’s head, crushing it against the wall. The Rat-Bot collapsed to the ground, head long gone and sparks flying out of its exposed neck. Bunnie retracted her robotic legs, then ran up to Kevin and Kaitlyn.

"Y’all all right?" she asked.

"I’m fine, but Kaitlyn was hit," Kevin explained breathlessly. Bunnie nodded and scooped up the now-unconscious fox into her arms.

"Sugah-hog, we’ve got an injured Mobian heah!" Bunnie hollered as she ran. Sonic was in the middle of the courtyard helping Griff and a couple of other Mobians that had gotten in over their heads with two Rat-Bot, which had teamed up against the flocking Mobians. Tails was there with him, throwing rocks at the robot to keep its attention away from Sonic while he prepared to finish off the battle with a final spin dash.

"I’m on it, Bunnie," Sonic called, then smashed into one of the robots as a ball of spinning quills. This caused a small explosion, knocking down any nearby Mobians that were not prepared. As the dazzled Mobians picked themselves up Sonic ran over to Bunnie and took Kaitlyn, then sped off to the main tunnel and deposited her there before racing back to the fight. A few moments later the last Rat-Bot was taken out, reduced to scrap metal.

"All right, we did it," Tails exclaimed.

"It was a cakewalk, but fun," Sonic grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Everyone okay?"

The Mobians that were involved in the fight confirmed their well being with a low murmur as they dusted themselves off.

"They’re gonna be sore in the morning, maybe we should teach them a few moves when it comes to robo’ bustin’," Sonic suggested.

"Or maybe just some fighting moves period," Rotor commented.

"It was that obvious that we’ve never been involved in a fight before?" Griff questioned as he wiped a hoofed paw over his forehead.

"Oh no, hardly noticed," Sonic retorted, looking up to the ceiling with sudden interest. Griff cringed.

"Perhaps we could work on that. For now, though, I think it’s safe for everyone to return to their homes."

Griff looked around for any damage to the colony, thankful that there was not any until he spotted the stumbling Rat-Bot Bunnie had attacked. He went to warn Sonic about it, but then noticed the cut gas pipe, and how dangerously close the live wires from the Rat-Bot’s exposed neck were.

"No, get away from there!" Griff bellowed, running over. Bunnie saw the danger when Griff yelled, and extended her arm and grabbed the goat by the scruff of his neck.

"Get back heah, Sugah-Goat, or you’ll be blow to smithereens," Bunnie warned as she pulled back her extended arm along with Griff. Just as Bunnie’s arm clicked back into place the Rat-Bot ventured close enough to the escaping gas for the electricity to spark it alight. At once a flush of flames flowed up and along the pipe, the heat causing to the pipe to explode.

Everyone shielded their eyes as rock and metal sprayed in all directions, each piece of shrapnel carrying a tiny flame. The fire continued climbing along the pipes and spreading itself across the colony, hitting apartments and stalls that had connections with the pipe. In less than three minutes everything surrounding the courtyard was on fire.

"No!" Griff screamed, before the black smoke resulting from the fires began choking him and the other Mobians. Because there was no ventilation in the cavern, and all the tunnels save for the main one were sealed after the Rat-Bots had invaded, the smoke had little to no escape and began to build up. The air reeked of smoke and natural gas, making it hard to breathe.

"We have to get out of here," Sonic informed. He began walking through the bellowing smoke, gathering everyone he could find. "Everyone hold hands, I’ll lead you out."

"Come on, Griff. We’all gotta go," Bunnie urged, tugging at the goat’s hand. But all he did was stare at the fires, watching it destroy everything that he was meant to protect. His grandfather never anticipated any large fires to break out under here, so they had no system for such an occurrence. Griff was helpless.

"Griff!" Bunnie snapped, but it was no use. Gritting her teeth the cyborg rabbit gripped Griff’s hand in a vice-like hold and dragged him away, then joined hands with the last Mobian in the line Sonic had formed just as the hedgehog began leading them out with Muttski’s help.

Once they were in the main tunnel Phil used the control Griff gave him earlier to close the main doors. Griff watched through the closing doors his home and his grandfather’s legacy explode in pods of flames before the doors slammed shut, plunging all the Mobians into darkness and cutting off what smoke had reached them.

Rotor fumbled with his tool belt and pulled out his flashlight, flicking it on and passing it to Griff. The goat shone the light over the crowd, taking in all the horrified looks on everyone’s faces and noting with a heavy heart that they reflected exactly how he felt. He drew in a deep breath, forcing the lump in his throat to dissolve before he spoke.

"Is everyone all right?" he called out, voice echoing in the cavern. Several murmurs answered him, some braving to shout the affirmative in words. All in all the Lower Mobians seemed all right, albeit shaken by the current events.

"Good, well done everyone. Just stay where you are and try to stay calm," Griff instructed. Sounds of people shuffling into new positions could be heard for a few minutes, then the tunnel fell into an almost complete silence.

Bunnie began pushing her way to the middle of the tunnel, trying to find where Sonic was. The only indication she had on the hedgehog’s location was the glow of his amber eyes, but because there were other Mobians in there with similar eyes to him it made things a little more difficult. She eventually found Sonic standing with Rotor, Tails and Muttski against the wall, and she squeezed herself next to him.

"Sugah-hog, wheredja leave Kaitlyn?" she asked. Sonic grunted when someone shoved their elbow into his ribs, and he wormed away from his position to avoid another jab.

"Near the entrance, there’s like a little notch there so I slipped her in it. Hopefully no one’s crushed her, everyone here seems to not know how to stand still," Sonic informed, before yelping out as another elbow found his ribs. He glared at the direction the elbow came from, then took Bunnie’s hand and guided her through the darkness, golden eyes reflecting as they darted about.The two Mobians found Kaitlyn where Sonic had stated moments later, and Bunnie knelt down beside the fox and tried to revive her, as she was still unconscious.

"It might be a while before she comes to, Bun. Maybe we should take her back home and get her checked out, just in case," Sonic offered when Bunnie’s efforts proved useless. "That is if we can get her back to the top safely."

"What? There are more of your up there?" a Mobian behind Sonic exclaimed, disbelief dripping from their disembodied voice. Instantly everyone in the cavern began talking, some crowding the Freedom Fighters and throwing questions at them three per half breath.

"Everyone, please calm down," Griff yelled when everyone began pushing and moving about in their attempts to get to each Freedom Fighter. But when the goat called out all eyes turned to him, and if there was more light in the tunnel he would have seen that most were glaring.

"You knew about these Mobians, Griff. So you knew about life on the Surface as well, didn’t you?" one Mobian demanded, pointing an accusing finger at their leader. Griff stumbled with his words, heart racing from the question.

"I... I can explain," he fumbled eventually, but had no idea how he was going to.

"How long did you know about this? You wanted everyone to stay underground because you had control over us, admit it," the same Mobian snapped, followed by a chorus of yelled demands by the other Lower Mobians. Griff tried to back away from the crowd, wishing that the ground would swallow him so he could escape. Then Bunnie stepped in front of the goat.

"Y’all should be ashamed of yerselves, Griff was only doin’ wha’ his daddy ‘nd grand-daddy asked him ta. And he was protectin’ th’ lot of ya," she scowled.

"Stay out of this, Surface-Dweller, this has nothing to do with you."

"Th’s has plenty ta do with meh, sugah. Because y’all ‘bout ta lynch a friend o’ mine ‘nd Ah’m not gonna let th’at happen, y’heah?"

With that said Bunnie clenched her robotic hand into a fist and braced her legs, her pose telling all that if they wanted to get to Griff they would have to go through her first. Then Sonic, Tails, Rotor and Muttski pushed their way through to the two Mobians, forming a protective circle around Griff.

"And if you want to lynch our friend Bunnie here, you’re gonna have to answer to us as well," Sonic remarked, a wicked grin on his lips.

Several growls bubbled around the group as the rougher members of the colony inched closer to them, seemingly taking up Bunnie and Sonic’s challenges. The Freedom Fighters slunk back and tightened their circle around Griff to keep him protected.

"Ugh, maybe we should have waited until we got top-side before throwing dares like that," Sonic proclaimed.

"But then we would be able to see when they do rip us apart. I knew I shouldn’t have kept any secrets, this is a disaster," Griff moaned.

"Uh, Sonic? Griff? I think we have a bigger problem," Rotor exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Sonic responded. Rotor simply pointed.

"That!"

In the darkness that increased near the distance of the tunnel two pairs of glowing red eyes shone, the air around them filled with metallic hisses. When Griff shone the flashlight on the eyes the light revealed them to belong to two more Rat-Bots, only these ones were much bigger than the ones the Lower Mobians had conflicted with before.

The two Rat-Bots approached at the same agonisingly slow rate their minors did, the gears in their joints shrieking as loud as their hisses. Snively had been successful in reconfiguring their memories, although he was unable to totally wipe out what records they had gathered since their reactivation. So security codes had been set up while the robots were in stand-by mode, so they could not access the locked away information.

The Rat-Bots had become something they did not want to be any more, nothing but slaves to a master they have never seen, and said master had forced only one command into their mutated brains:

Hunt and gather.

Upon sighting the Rat-Bots everyone began pushing themselves back as far as they could, pushing Mobians down and almost crushing anyone that did not move fast enough. The darkness added to their panic, bringing up the fear that there could be more robots lurking around them and they did not know it.

"We need to get out of here before we're crushed," Griff muttered. "Where's Phil? I need to get the controls for the doors off him."

"I wouldn't do that, the doors are way past hot. That means if you open them now we're gonna be barbequing tonight," Sonic warned.

"So what should we do? We can't fight those things in here, we'll be killed for sure," Griff protested.

"What’s going on? Griff? Bunnie?" a small voice murmured from the back, somehow managing to be heard over the noise.

"Kaitlyn!" Bunnie cried, and shoved her way through to where the fox was. Kaitlyn was sitting up, what light in the tunnel revealing that she had a pained expression on her face and her hand was resting on what was left of her false leg. Bunnie bit her lip at the sight.

"Kaitlyn, dear. Are ya all right?" she questioned. Kaitlyn nodded, then held her head as waves of dizziness washed through her.

"Yeah, I’m okay. Help me stand, it’s hot over here," she remarked. Bunnie looped her arms around Kaitlyn’s torso and pulled her up, letting the fox lean against her. As she did this Bunnie told Kaitlyn what had happened in the colony and about the approaching Rat-Bots in the tunnel. Kaitlyn looked over the crowd as best as she could, her height proving useless against the taller adults in front of her, and just managed to see the floating red eyes of the robots. An idea came to her.

"Bunnie," Kaitlyn whispered, "The digging machine."

"Wha' 'bout it, Sugah-fox?" Bunnie questioned.

"It should be strong enough to push the robots back. Then we can dig our way out to the Surface," Kaitlyn explained.

"But would Bradley have repaired it by now?"

"He should have, he's pretty quick with repairs."

Bunnie hesitated. She could not move through the crowd as the Mobians continued to push back, and the darkness frightened her as she could easily lose Kaitlyn in the crowd, and with her missing leg she would be crushed by the panicking Mobians.

"Think, Bunnie, think," she urged, eyes darting. Then an idea struck. "Sugah-hog, c'mere fer a sec!"

In an instant Sonic's eyes appeared next to Bunnie.

"What's up, Bunnie?" he asked.

"Kaitlyn's got 'n idea ta get rid of th' Rat-Bots, but Ah can't see a dang thang. Can you take her to th' diggin' machine th't's in th's tunnel?" she requested.

"Sure, if she can tell me how to get to it," Sonic confirmed. Bunnie slipped Kaitlyn into Sonic arms, and the fox told Sonic about the tunnel built into the wall up ahead. Thankfully the Rat-Bots had not reached it yet, but they were getting closer.

Once Kaitlyn was secure Sonic took a couple of steps back, then leapt up as far as he could, angling himself towards the wall. His advanced night-vision, along with what little light that came from Griff's flashlight bouncing off the few reflective rocks in the walls, allowed Sonic to see where the wall was without smashing into it first. As soon as his feet touched the wall Sonic was running, making it to the opening of the tunnel in less than a second.

"All the way down, right?" Sonic asked as he landed inside.

"Yep, you'll see a light when you get near it, if the power hasn't been knocked out from the Power Station," Kaitlyn said.

"All right, hang on tight 'cause we're gonna be juicin'," Sonic warned before taking off down the black tunnel.

Back in the main tunnel Bunnie and Rotor were fighting off the advancing Rat-Bots, Rotor using what limited tools he had brought with him as weapons. But the fight proved to be futile as their only guide to where the Rat-Bots were was their glowing red eyes. To make matters worse Griff had discovered that smoke was starting to seep through the cracks of the doors as a slow rate. So they had to get rid of the Rat-Bots, get out of the tunnel and somehow get above-ground before they all suffocated.

"Th’s is gettin’ nowhere fast," Bunnie yelled as she narrowly ducked the snapping jaws of the Rat-Bot that had blindsided her. Her ears twitched at the sound of Rotor’s wrench slamming into the robot’s head, the sound followed close by a pseudo-pain filled scream from the Rat-Bot.

"I know, but we have to try and keep them back at least," Rotor retorted before swinging his wrench again. A loud clang confirmed that the blow hit, but then Rotor was head-butted from behind by the second Rat-Bot, causing the walrus to stumble to the ground.

The Rat-Bot swung around and glared at the offending Freedom Fighter, then dived at Rotor. Rotor slipped away from the robot and scrambled to the wall, for the moment losing it to the darkness as it focussed on Bunnie. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the danger Bunnie was now in, and began to frantically paw at the ground for his missing wrench. Then something brushed passed him, three somethings to be exact, and a second later repeated clangs could be heard along with loud barking.

Rotor blinked, not understanding what was happening until he realised that there were now three red glows in the tunnels. For a fleeting moment Rotor thought that there was another Rat-Bot lurking in the shadows, but then he noted with relief that the third red glow was coming from Muttski’s eyes.

Rotor watched as the dog used the light from his eyes as a sort of flashlight to focus on the Rat-Bots, then seemingly out of nowhere Griff charged at one of the robots and swung the wrench into its head with an aggravated force, then would disappear into the darkness and Tails would take his place, using rocks he had found embedded in the earth as his weapon of choice.

"Whoa, now that’s team work," Rotor breathed, a small grin on his face.

"Rotah, y’all all right?" Bunnie asked as she appeared in front of him, flashlight in her hand. Griff must have given it to her before he got into the fight, Rotor mused to himself.

"Yeah, fine. But what’s taking Sonic and your friend so long?" he rebutted as Bunnie took his hand and helped him stand.

"Whaddya mean ‘what’s taking Sonic so long’? I never take long to do anything," Sonic quipped, startling Rotor and Bunnie as they did not see, or hear the hedgehog come up to them.

"Everyone better move back, unless you want to be squished something fierce," Sonic informed, then took Rotor and Bunnie’s hands and helped them back down the tunnel as Griff, Tails and Muttski too retreated. The Rat-Bots also followed the small group, still angered by the attacks, but when Sonic looked back he gave a short laugh.

"Oh this is gonna be fun to watch," he commented, and stopped running.

"Are ya crazah, Sugah-Hog? Yer gonna git skinned alive," Bunnie screamed. Sonic merely winked at his friend, his grin widening when the Rat-Bots stopped moving.

"Listen," the hedgehog said. Bunnie gave him a sceptical look but did as she was told.

At first she could not hear anything, nor did the others, but then the grinding of gears and the roar of an engine soon flooded the cavern. Two bright lights penetrated the inky darkness and shone down onto the two Rat-Bots, before the hulking shape of the digging machine came into view, Kaitlyn at the controls along with Bradley, who throughout the whole time was in the hanger at the end of the built-in tunnel.

The Rat-Bots shrieked as the machine rolled out into the tunnel, blocking their pursue towards the attacking Mobians. With a click of the throttle and a quick revolve of the treadmill wheels Kaitlyn and Bradley drove the machine towards the robots at a surprisingly fast rate. The Rat-Bots barely got a foot twisted in the opposite direction before they were torn apart by the large drill attached to the front of the machine, the pieces then being crushed under the wheels as the machine continued to roll forward.

When the last piece was crushed Bradley switched off the engine, leaving the headlights on.

"It’s all right, folks. You’re safe from those things now," he announced.

"Thank you," Griff commended, "But we still need to get out of here before the smoke gets in."

The goat pointed down the tunnel, where at the end the ceiling had been consumed by a thin layer of black smoke, and as the Mobians watched the layer began to build up. Some Mobians had started coughing due to the smoke, signifying that their air supply was already short.

"Don’t worry, we’ve got that bit covered too, Griff," Kaitlyn stated, then flicked on the engine again and took the controls, activating the smaller drill donned on top of the digging machine. Carefully she directed the mechanical appendage to the ceiling, the tip chipping into the thick rock and dirt.

"Better take cover, this’ll get a bit messy," Kaitlyn warned over the noise as fragments of rock and dirt began flying everywhere.


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Above ground the earth was shaking in result of Kaitlyn’s digging. Massive cracks snapped through the land, breaking apart what was left on the surface and causing the SWATbots patrolling the area to lose their footing and fall, some being crushed by falling debris. Needless to say the disturbance did not go unnoticed by Doctor Robotnik, who was watching the area with the help of his cameras.
"Snively, what is going on?" he demanded, glaring down at his nephew.

"It... It appears to be another earthquake, Sir," Snively reported. Sweat beaded all over Snively’s head as Robotnik growled through clenched teeth.

"Where are my Rat-Bots? See if there is something causing the earthquake, there is no way this can be an aftershock," Robotnik bellowed. The thought of his city being disabled again made the obese Overlander’s blood boil, and the nagging feeling that the Freedom Fighters were somehow causing the tremors made him see red.

Snively accessed the Rat-Bots’ on-board cameras, but came up with nothing, not even greyscale static.

"All Rat-Bot units seem to be disabled, Sir," Snively informed, mentally bracing himself. With a loud roar Robotnik slammed his fist into a nearby console, breaking its surface and deactivating three of his monitors, including the one that was showing the recent disturbance.

"If my city loses power again, you will be working on getting it back up even if it takes you months," Robotnik hissed at Snively, the red in his eyes glowing menacingly.

"Y-y-y-y... yes, Sir," Snively gulped.


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About five minutes later Kaitlyn finished drilling through the earth, creating a hole about six feet wide in the tunnel’s ceiling, and switched off the engine. The limited sunlight that could pierce through Robotropolis’ aura of smog and toxic fumes poured into the hole, acting like a beacon to the trapped Mobians.
By then the smoke had built up enough to be a choking hazard to the Mobians, although a handful were still able to breathe with only mild discomfort.

"That should be big enough for everyone to get through," Kaitlyn proclaimed as she dusted off her paws. Then she realised a flaw in her plan. "Though... how is everyone going to get up? I’m not sure if everyone can climb."

"Now this we can handle," Sonic commented, then climbed up the machine. When he reached the platform he crouched down, folding his legs underneath him and tensing them, then leapt up into the opening and dug his claws in the dirt. But his weight caused him to slip down slightly before he got a good hold of the frail earth, but Sonic caught himself before he could fall.

"Ooo-wee, Sugah-hog! A bit o' a klutz fer a cat, aintcha?" Bunnie exclaimed, grinning at her friend.

"Oh be quiet before I use you as a scratching post," Sonic scowled, although he too was grinning. He revved up his legs and up along the wall of the hole, spraying dirt behind him and disappearing in a blink of an eye. Once Sonic was on the surface he pulled out a rope from his backpack and secured one end of it around a still-standing pole of cement, then tossed down the other end.

"Does it reach?" he called.

"Yep, with plenty o’ rope ta spare," Bunnie called back.

"Cool." Sonic jumped down the hole again, landing bent-kneed to cushion his landing.

"All right, let’s get everyone out of here."

It took about half an hour to get all the Lower Mobians out the tunnel with the combined efforts of the Freedom Fighters. As each Mobian reached solid ground they would either stare in awe at their new surroundings, taking in every detail even when the limited natural light began to sting their sensitive eyes, or just sat around and glared at the new world as if cursing its existence. Griff was the last to get out as he still kept his duty as leader and made sure all were present and well, even if some did not wish the same onto him.

The goat looked around the city, noting all the destruction the area held due to Kaitlyn’s digging. He could only imagine what the rest of the city looked like, and felt his heart fall.

"You know, this place actually looks better thanks to you guys," Sonic informed off-handedly. Griff gave a mirthless laugh.

"So you figured out we were the ones that caused the ‘earthquakes’?" he said.

"Yeah well, you do have to wonder how an underground colony survives an earthquake without any damage. I mean you guys would have been more affected than us," Sonic explained. "Besides, the ruckus that machine of yours caused kinda gave it away."

"True, that is true I suppose." Griff sighed and pawed at his eyes. "I am sorry about any damage we've caused in your village. I should have checked the area personally before I went ahead with the digs," Griff offered. Sonic rubbed the back of his neck in thought, a smirk eventually crossing his lips.

"Well I suppose it was an honest mistake, from the sounds of things you don't get much time to go for a walk in the fresh air. And we do owe you one for looking after Bunnie when she was hurt," he said. "Although you might want to explain that to Sal, so how about coming to our village for a bit?"

Griff turned to look at the Lower Mobius citizens. Some still held the betrayed expression that seemed to have plastered itself to their faces since exiting the tunnels; some seemed just confused and dazed. Hardly any of them could keep eye contact with the goat without looking away scornfully. His heart sank.

"I don't think I can, Sonic. I've got a lot of making up to do here, and it might take a while. So perhaps some time in the future I can," he sighed.

"No! Go for it, Griff," a voice suddenly cried. The crowd of Mobians began murmuring amongst themselves as a path in the group began forming, cause by a Mobian making their way through. It took the Mobians a moment to realise that it was Kaitlyn. They fell into silence as the fox limped her way to Griff. Bunnie smiled, as Kevin was helping Kaitlyn to walk. The lizard had a bashful expression on his face as he walked with the fox, not because he was ashamed to be seen with her, but because he seemed to want to help Kaitlyn any way he could to make up for her risking her life for him, even after all the torment he had put Kaitlyn through over the years.

"Go, Griff. We were bound to be discovered sooner or later," Kaitlyn commented once she had reached the goat. "Besides, if the Freedom Fighters hadn’t found us, and we were attacked by those robots? We could have been killed."

She bowed her head, but Griff realised that she was staring down at her missing leg.

"We can’t keep this up any more, Griff. We need help now that our home’s been practically destroyed," Kaitlyn finalised.

The fox was right, Griff decided, they could not keep this up any longer. With the tunnels leaking gas like that it could lead to an eco-disaster, not just for the under-dwellers but also for whatever was directly above the colony. And Griff already had enough guilt riding on his shoulders.

Griff faced Sonic. "If I do come with you, would you be able to help us?" he asked. Sonic quickly glanced at the Freedom Fighters.

"I think we can spare some supplies. I'll check with Sal first, but we might also be able to bring in a few Animals with us while you talk with her, we should be able to find somewhere for everyone to stay for a while," he proposed. "Does that sound fair to you?"

Griff thought about it for a moment, every so often looking at the group. "Yeah, sounds very fair to me."

He grabbed Sonic's hand and shook it.


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"All I can say is when Sonic does get back I'm going to strangle him."
From a safe distance Uncle Chuck and Antoine watched as the Princess stalked in a straight line, paused for a heartbeat once she had reached the end of the room, then about-face and stalk along the same line, repeating the process. She had been doing this for the last three hours, only speaking when she had thought up a new threat towards Sonic upon his return.

"He probably got held up somewhere. I'm sure by now Robotropolis has most of its power back on-line, and all the surviving SWATbots are back in operation and are making things difficult for Sonic and the others," Uncle Chuck offered.

"For three hours? I don't think so," Sally exasperated, again pausing to turn. "If anything I bet Sonic managed to convince Rotor and Tails to stay out longer to find Bunnie, which is all well and good because I know his heart is in the right place, but as usual his brain isn't."

"'ave you tried contacting heem, moi Prinzess?" Antoine questioned, nervously biting his bottom lip.

"Several times, but there's some sort of interference blocking the signal," Sally responded. She stopped, keeping still for the first time, and swept her forelock out of her eyes.

"Unless Sonic switched off his communicator and the others' so that I couldn't reach him to make them come back."

The ground squirrel's eyes narrowed, and she began pacing again. "If Sonic did that I'm going to break his legs."

"For once I am being worried for zee 'edge'og. By zee time moi Prinzess is done wit' heem he will not be alive," Antoine whispered to Uncle Chuck.

"I'm sure Sonic will have a good reason for being so late. It might be a good idea to let him explain it before you cause any bodily harm to him," Uncle Chuck suggested.

"He better have a good reason. Of all the irresponsible things to do... this is much worse than those times Sonic used to go on 'solo missions' when he was a kid," Sally hissed. Antoine nodded, agreeing with Sally.

"Oui, oui. I remembaire t'ose missions." To Uncle Chuck he explained, "Zhere was one stage where Sonique was missing for almost three weeks, you know."

"Don't remind me, I nearly went nuts that time," Sally sighed as she rubbed at her eyes, the memories from those times flooding back a little too quickly for her liking.

At that point her communicator sparked to life, static flowing through the speaker like rushing water. All present stared at the little device as the static drained out and a clearer reception came through. Everyone tensed their ears, because they were not sure about it, but they thought that they could hear voices coming through.

Their suspicions were confirmed in the form of Sonic's voice as he spoke directly into his communicator.

"Can anyone hear me? Stupid piece of junk's gone all weird on me," Sonic commented. Sally dived for the communicator and flicked on the receiver.

"Yes, we can hear you. Are you all right?" Sally questioned, heart thundering in her chest as her anticipation grew.

"Hi, Sal. Yeah I'm cool, so is everyone else. Hey everyone, say hi to Sally," Sonic called. At once multiple voices greeted the Princess, and she was surprised at just how many there were. She could not help but smile, tightly but with just a little mirth, at Sonic's tomfoolery.

"See? We're all good, how 'bout you?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, fine. Just fine," Sally responded. She had now adopted Sonic's casual attitude towards the conversation, but she was scrapping her claws along the top of her desk, telling Uncle Chuck and Antoine that she still had evil intentions for the hedgehog when he came home.

"Can you tell me what's going on? It sounded like there was a lot of people there before," Sally questioned.

"That's because there is, Sal. You're not gonna believe it but we found a whole community under Robotropolis. They've been living there since the Great War, apparently. Weird, huh?" Sonic explained.

Sally blinked, not sure if she could believe the hedgehog. Even Uncle Chuck and Antoine appeared undecided about what Sonic had just said.

"Oh, and we found Bunnie, too. She's okay; she was underground with these guys and they looked after her," Sonic added.

"Let me talk to her," Sally demanded quickly, her heart skipping a beat at Bunnie's name.

"’kay, just a sec..."

There was a brief pause, the only thing stopping complete silence from being present was a few faint murmurs in the background. Then:

"Hey, Sally-girl. How are ya?"

Sally gave a sigh of relief, excitement overwhelming her as Bunnie voiced her trademark greeting to her.

"Bunnie, you’re okay," was all Sally could say as an emotional lump welled up in her throat.

"’course Ah’m okay. Ah’m a tough li’le bunny, y’all know th’t!" Bunnie remarked, voice cheerful. Then for a second Bunnie started talking to Sonic in a low whisper, but from what Sally could hear it sounded like the hedgehog was giving Bunnie some instructions.

"Sugah-hog told meh to tell ya ta meet us in th’ Great Forest, we’all got some mattahs to work out before we come home," Bunnie informed after a moment. "Is th’t all right?"

"Yes, yes that’s fine. We’ll meet you there soon, please keep in touch if you need anything," Sally stated, feeling sad that they had to close contact so soon.

"Shure thang, Sally-girl. See ya soon," Bunnie said before sighing off. Sally clicked off her communicator and stared at Uncle Chuck and Antoine, a confused look on her face.

"No what matters would Sonic want to talk about now?" she questioned. Uncle Chuck simply shrugged.

"Don’t know, but we can only find out by doing what he asked," he commented.


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When Sally reached the centre of the Great Forest she was shocked at just how many Mobians were waiting there. They all stared at the Princess, appearing just a shocked to see her. When Uncle Chuck and Antoine turned up the strange Mobians’ shock increased, their gazes glued onto the three Mobians.
Slowly Sally made her way through the crowd as Uncle Chuck and Antoine stayed behind, trying hard not to stare back at the various animals that surrounded her. They were all dead silent, which made the ground squirrel feel nervous.

"Yo, Sal. Over here," Sonic called out, which jump-started Sally’s heart. She looked around the crowd, finally spotting Sonic on the other side of the group, and ran up to the hedgehog and embraced him.

"Are you all right?" Sally said as she broke the embrace and pecked Sonic on his cheek. Sonic smirked at the kiss and returned it, nuzzling Sally for a second.

"Yeah, I’m fine. I already told you that. You should be worrying about Bunnie, she was the one that went missing," he remarked. He stepped away from the Princess and allowed her to walk over to where Bunnie was standing. Bunnie gave Sally a small wave.

"Hiya, Sally-girl," she greeted.

"Hi, Bunnie," Sally returned before hugging her friend, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "I was so worried."

"Aw, Sally-girl. Y’all didn’t need ta worry, Ah was fine," Bunnie commented. Sally pulled away from the rabbit and ran a hand over the bandage that was still wrapped around her head.

"But what happened here?" Sally questioned. Bunnie reached up and touched the bandage. She had forgotten that she had it.

"Jerst a bad knock, it’s all right," she assured. Behind them Sonic coughed quietly, getting the girls’ attention.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but Sal there’s someone that would like to have a few words with you. If that’s all right, of course," Sonic informed. He cocked his head behind Sally, and when she turned she found Griff standing behind her, his hoofed paw stretched out in greeting.

"Hello, I’m Griff. You must be Sally," he greeted. Sally took the goat’s hand, staring at the hooves that were at the end of his fingers, and shook it.

"Yes, that’s right." She looked back at Sonic. "I’m guessing that this is the matter you wanted to sort out."

"Got it in one, Sal," Sonic grinned. "He’s the leader of the underground colony we found."

"Oh, I see. Well, welcome to the Great Forest," Sally smiled.

"Thank you, we’re very honoured to be here," Griff stated. "Now your friend Sonic told me that you might want to know about us in detail, and that perhaps you would be able to help us with our current predicament."

"That would be nice, thank you. And I’ll see what I can do to help. Umm..."

Sally looked back at the Mobians gathered behind her, then to Bunnie. "First, we should get Bunnie home to look after that wound. Is anyone else injured?"

"Just one, her name is Kaitlyn. She’s with the rest of the crowd," Griff informed.

"All right, Rotor can you take Bunnie and Kaitlyn back to the village, please? And we should set up some sleeping gear for everyone here... Tails can you go with Uncle Chuck and Antoine and grab as many sleeping bags and blankets you can find in the supply shed?"

Rotor and Tails nodded and set off to do their tasks.

"While we do that you and me can talk here, Griff. Though if you don’t mind I’ll need a minute alone," Sally added.

"Of course, I’ll be looking around here, whenever you’re ready we can start," Griff stated, then with a quick nod of his head he walked into the forest, disappearing between the trees as he went further in.

"Want me to do anything, Sal?" Sonic offered once the goat had disappeared from their sights.

"Hold still," Sally simply stated. Sonic cocked his head to one side, looking completely lost.

"Hold still? What for?" he queried.

"This."

Before Sonic had a chance to react Sally had lashed out her hand and had grabbed Sonic’s ear in a vice-like hold, squeezing it as hard as she could. Sonic cried out as Sally twisted his ear and pulled it down, making him bend to lessen the pain. After a minute she let him go, and watched with slight amusement as Sonic tried to regain feeling in his ear.

"For disobeying my orders and making me worry so much about you," she explained before Sonic could speak, then walked towards the direction Griff disappeared to. Sonic pawed at his sore ear and snorted.

"Girls," he muttered.


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Two days later found the Lower Mobians back in the underground colony. The fire had died out hours after they had all escaped, the lack of oxygen and the smouldering dirt aiding with the fire’s dismissal. There was not a lot of damage to the settlement itself, save for the damaged gas pipes and the scorch marks that now scarred the stone apartments.
From the Watch Tower on top of the Power Station Griff watched everyone as they went through their apartments and cleaned the burnt stone that formed their apartments, using supplies Knothole Village had kindly given them, along with some willing volunteers from said village.

So much had happened over the last two days, which included the new alliance between Lower Mobius and Knothole Village that Sally and Griff had set up. And in return for the help Sally had proved Griff had offered his services towards the resistance against Robotnik, which Sally had happily accepted.

There was still tension between some of the citizens of Lower Mobius and Griff, though it had lessened quite a bit over the two days. Griff believed it was because they had something else to occupy themselves with, and that they were able to return to their homes without too much hassle. Griff hoped that they would not stay mad at him for long, as he did explain about his father’s final wish to him, and what had happened during his grandfather’s time underground.

"Hey, Griff," a voice greeted from behind him. The goat turned, coming face to face with Kaitlyn. She was currently in crutches, as her artificial leg had yet to be replaced, but she seemed happy enough without it. Rotor and Uncle Chuck were working on building the fox a new leg, one that would be much stronger and realistic than her old one, but the process was slow due to their limited supplies for the project.

"Hi, Kaitlyn. Everything okay with you?" Griff asked. Kaitlyn nodded, smiling slightly.

"A few of my things got destroyed in the fire, but nothing overly important so no big loss," she stated. "You?"

"Same old, same old."

He turned back to watch the Mobians go about their business, wondering what life would be like now that they knew about life above ground. Would it be better, or worse than life here isolated, but living in peace, for so many years?

"Hey, Griff?"

"Yeah, Kaitlyn?"

"You... you want to walk with me top-side? Bunnie showed me this beautiful river in the Great Forest, I think you might like it," Kaitlyn offered. Griff thought about it for a moment, then turned and smiled at Kaitlyn.

"I’d love to. Thank you."


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Completed Sunday, 30 November 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------