Sonic Beyond: Love and TreasonSonic Beyond

Love and Treason

part 1

by Sonique

"Snively, how I love you.

Why can't I make you see

That I'm the only one for you

And you're the one for me.

Snively what can I do

To get all your attention?

To make you give me your sweet love

And your sweet affection.

Snively, my dear sweet man

For Whom my love is true.

When will you return my love

Can't you get a clue?

Snively, how I love you

One day I know you'll see

That I'm the only one for you

And you're the one for me."

Alison finished her poem and sighed to herself. She sat upon her bed with her

back to the wall day dreaming about Snively. Her feelings built up inside of her

more and more everyday, but she knew she couldn't possibly tell any of the

Freedom Fighters she liked Snively. They would probably laugh at her or maybe

even kick her out of the network. She planed to someday show Snively how nice

she could be, but knew if she told him how much she liked him, he'd tell the

Freedom Fighters and she'd be right back to her first problem. The only way was

to show Snively how nice she could be, so maybe he would begin to like her.

"Yes, one day I'll prove to you, Snively, that I can be a nice person and you'll

see how mature I really am. I don't care what I have to do, I will prove this to

you." She closed her book and held it close to her.

"Yo, Al!" Sonic yelled from outside her window.

Alison startled then looked out her window, "What?"

"You ready to go?"

Alison moaned to herself. She'd forgotten about the mission they had been

planning to shut down the roboticiser. "Okay," she set her book down, put her

belt on and put her weapon in her holster. "Coming," she put her backpack on and

left her hut.

Sonic, Sally and Alison looked off into Robotropolis in the dim moon light

reviewing their plan. "Now remember," Sally spoke, "we split by the main

building..."

"Uh, Sal."

"Yes Sonic?"

"Remember 'Butt-nik moved the Roboticiser to the main building so he could guard

it better?"

Sally sighed, "That's right, I forgot."

"I thought it had always been there," Alison remarked.

"No," Sonic replied, "he must have moved it there right as you came along."

"That sucks," Alison said.

"Okay, new plan..." Sally was about to speak again but suddenly became silent.

"Sal, wha.."

"Shhh!" Sally hushed Sonic. She listened for a short while, "Do you hear that?"

she whispered.

Alison and Sonic listened closely and then heard the sound of panting. The sound

came from the Great Forest, which was a few feet behind them. Each of them

turned around slowly as the sound grew louder and louder. Then, they heard the

sound of rapid footsteps coming straight toward them. Alison whipped out her gun

and pointed it in the direction of the sound. Two shadowy creatures quickly

emerged themselves from the bushes and ran toward the Freedom Fighters.

"All right, don't move!" Alison yelled. "Ill shoot!"

Both shadows shot their hands into the air and one yelled, "We surrender, don't

shoot."

Sonic took a flashlight from his backpack, turned it on and shined the light at

the figures.

"They're hedgehogs," Sally realized.

Two brown hedgehogs, who appeared relatively young in age, stared back at Sally.

They looked very similar except one wore black tennis shoes and was taller and a

darker shade of brown than the other. The second hedgehog wore brown tennis

shoes on his feet that matched his fur.

"We thought you were SWaT-Butts," Sonic said.

"We thought YOU were SWaTBots," the taller one said, then his eyes widened at

Sonic, "Hey, you're Sonic, aren't you?"

Sonic pointed to himself proudly, "That's me!"

"It's a great honor to meet you," he reached his hand out and they shook hands.

"I'm Shorty." He pointed to the shorter hedgehog, "This is Riochet."

"Nice to meet you, Sonic!" Riochet also shook Sonic's hand. "Yep, I'm Riochet

the Chicken Master!"

"Uhh... oh..." was all Sonic could say.

Then Riochet's eyes focused on Alison, "Evil!" he pointed to her. "Overlanders

are evil!"

"She's on our side," Sonic replied.

"That's a relief," Shorty remarked.

Sally asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

Shorty looked up at Sally and again, his eyes got big, "Wow! Princess Sally.

Cool!"

Riochet spoke answering Sally's question, "We escaped Robotnik, yes we did!"

"How'd you guys do that?" Sonic asked in amazement.

Shorty explained, "Well, we used to live on the other side of Robotropolis in a

small cave. It seemed like the perfect place for a hideout because we thought

Robotnik could figure no one's hide out would be that close to Robotropolis. It

worked for a many years, but they somehow found us. We heard the SWaTBots coming

so we escaped out the back way and ran for our lives. We ran down into a sewage

pipe and through the sewers. That's why we smell so bad. Anyway, we ended up on

the other side of Robotropolis and we ran into the forest. That's where we found

you."

Riochet's eyes narrowed, "Our home is gone now."

Alison turned to Sally with "puppy-dog" eyes, "Awww... can we keep them?"

Sally chuckled, "Well they seem sincere enough. I'm sure they aren't spies for

Robotnik so I guess they can stay in Knothole if they like."

"YES!" Both hedgehogs yelled in excitement slapping one anther high fives.

"What about the mission, Sal?" Sonic asked Sally.

"Well, we can postpone it to take these guys to Knothole."

"Cool!" Riochet exclaimed.

The three hedgehogs, Sally and Alison moved their way back to Knothole in the

dark.

"You know where we're going right?" Shorty inquired with a worried tone.

"Sure do!" Sonic replied.

"Should we tell them about the disc, Shorty?" Riochet asked his buddy.

"Yes, we should. You tell them, Rio!"

"What disc?" Sally said without letting Riochet get a chance to speak.

"Well," he began, "as we escaped, Snively was in a hover craft near by..."

"Snively?!" Alison exclaimed once she heard his name.

"Shh." Sally hushed Alison this time.

"Yeah." Riochet went on, "He was talking to Robotnik somehow, we couldn't see

how, but we could hear his voice. He said something like," he took a deep breath

than lowered his voice doing his best Robotnik impression, " 'Snively, don't

loose that disc. It's vital to my plan to find Knothole. It frightens me to

think of what would happen if you loose or break it. Do you understand?'" Then

Riochet changed his tone to a high whinny voice, " 'Yes, sir. I won't loose it.'

Snively replied. And that's all we heard."

"Mondo bad new," Sonic declared.

Sally thought for a moment, "We have to get that disc somehow. Whatever is on it

is vital to Robotnik's plan to find Knothole."

"Uhh.." Shorty began, "Rio just said that."

"Derm right!" Riochet replied.

"We still have to get it," Sally said.

"How?" Alison asked in her usual annoyed voice, "It's not like we can just walk

up to Snively and ask him for it."

Sally sighed to herself, "Well, we have to think of something before Robotnik

does."

"Well, technically, he all ready thought of something," Riochet remarked.

"Technically, the word is technically," Shorty said to him.

"I said 'technically'."

"I didn't say you didn't."

"Oh," Riochet replied. "That's very true."

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, "I'm waiting."

"Let's get back to Knothole and we'll discuss this further," Sally suggested.

"It's cool with me," Riochet replied.

"Let's juice!" Sonic exclaimed.

Sally held onto Sonic, Alison onto Sally, Riochet and Shorty onto Alison, and

Sonic took off full speed toward Knothole.

The next morning, Alison walked from her hut and over to a picnic table where

Sonic and Sally sat. "What's up, guys?"

"Have you seen Rio or Shorty yet?" Sonic asked her.

"No, not yet."

Sally remarked quietly but loud enough for them to hear, "I wish I knew what was

on that disc."

"Again with the disc?" Alison inquired in her usual annoyed tone.

Ignoring Alison's remark, Sally replied, "I say we go to Robotropolis and find

it before Robotnik can use it!"

Sonic stood up, "Y'know we're with ya, Sal, but we don't know the first place to

look."

As if from nowhere, Riochet came up behind them and said, "Well, why don't you

try and find Snively? He should have it."

Sonic smiled, "Good idea, glad I thought of it."

"Okay," Sally spoke to Sonic and Alison, "let's meet back here in one hour

whether we find something or not."

Sonic and Alison nodded in reply.

Sally turned and pointed behind her, "I'll take the North," she turned back to

Sonic and Alison, "Sonic you take... oh geeze!"

Sonic and Alison had all ready left, running off in opposite directions. Knowing

it would be no use to try to catch up, Sally just walked off to the North side

of Robotropolis.

Alison walked along carefully and slowly down an alley as not to been seen or

heard. She could hear the SWaTBots' metal feet bang on the ground as they

patrolled the city, but they couldn't been seen anywhere. When a SWaTBot spotted

an intruder it would sneak up behind one so no one would know until...

CRACK!!

*Gasp* Alison jumped a few feet back in shock when she heard the noise. After

taking in a few deeps breaths, she regained her composure and picked up the

small case she had stepped on. She held a small red case in her hands which

resembled a CD case; a few cracks dented it but overall, it didn't look too bad.

"I could use this," she opened it up to see if anything laid inside and again

gasped, "No way can I be this lucky," she pulled out the disc from inside and

examined it. On the back, written in purple ink, were the symbols, "RSAS4TL."

Alison had no clue as to what it could possibly mean, but she figured it was a

code name. *No way could it be the same one Snively should have.*

Suddenly, she heard slow footsteps on the other side of the building, but before

she could react, she heard Snively's voice say, "The big round guy's gonna kill

me."

Alison backed up against the wall of the building and listened closely. *No way!

He's not saying that cause he lost the disc I just found.*

"He's gonna kill me cause I lost the disc," Snively muttered from around the

corner.

Alison quietly stopped her foot on the ground, "Dammit!" she looked at the case

of the disc, *It can't be this one from the red case.*

"The one with the red case."

Alison sighed, *Okay, so the one he lost had a red case, but no way does it have

the code name RSAS4TL.*

"And with the code name RSAS4TL."

By now Alison's heart had almost sunk into her feet. "What am I gonna do?" she

asked herself. She took a deep breath and whispered, "Okay, time to evaluate. On

the one hand, if I give the disc to Snively, it'll show him my good side and he

won't hate me as much, but Knothole will be destroyed. On the other hand, if I

give the disc to Sally or Sonic, Knothole will be saved, but Snively will be

killed." She groaned to herself, "What cruel dilemma is this that I am torn

between the one I love and what is overall and morally right? What cruel fate am

I about to endure in my young and pretty life?!"

She heard Snively's footsteps coming closer and could see his shadow

approaching. Quickly, she leaped up the side of the building, landed on top, and

peered over the edge down at Snively. He walked around slowly looking at every

corner of the alley for the disc.

"What am I going to do? I know what the right thing to do is... but I don't want

Snively to be hurt," after thinking for a short while, she got an idea, "I know,

Uncle Chuck, he'll help me!"

Alison slowly approached Uncle Chuck's hideout. As if expecting her, the door to

the inside opened up, and Uncle Chuck stood in the doorway.

"Oh... uh, hi, Chuck."

"Alison, this is a pleasant surprise. I was just about to go back to my

station."

Alison sighed, "Oh, well, if your busy, I can come back," she began to walk away

but Uncle Chuck stopped her.

"You know, I do have a few minutes. What's on your mind?"

"Well..." Alison took a deep breath and began to ramble her thoughts as they

came into her mind, "it's just

...Ihavethisdiskandit'sreadandithastherightcodeRSAS4TLandSonicandSallyneeditbutSnivelyneedsitsandican't..."

"Whoa! Slow down, I can't understand a word you're saying. Now take a deep

breath and think before you say each word."

Alison took a short pause to think of what she would say, "Okay, I have this...

friend... but it's not me."

"Okay..."

"And she has something, but if she gives it to her friends, who are not anyone

that we know, it would be very beneficial to them... possibly their lives. But

on the other hand, the disc... (I mean the thing, that's NOT a disc with the

code name RSAS4TL that came from a red case) this guy that she likes, again we

don't know him, also needs the thing, and if she doesn't give him the thing back

this other ugly mean guy (but it's not Robotnik) will be really pissed off at

him. And I really REALLY like him and don't want anything to happen to him... I

mean... my FRIEND really likes him and doesn't want anything to happen to him."

Uncle Chuck became pensive for a moment trying to take in everything Alison had

just told him.

"So, what should I... I mean, my friend do?" Alison asked.

After a short moment, Uncle Chuck finally answered, "Well, think of it this way,

if you had something that the Freedom Fighters could benefit from, possibly save

their lives, you would give it to them wouldn't you?"

"Umm... I dunno, probably, but what about Snive... I mean the other guy? What's

gonna happen to him?"

"Your friend needs to figure out what's more important, but I know if my friends

needed the disc... or whatever this thing is, I'd give it to them. Friendship

can last for a long time, but love is sometimes only temporary."

Alison fiddled with the disc for a moment, "Yeah, I think I know what you mean."

"I hope I helped, but I got to get back to my station or they'll know I'm

missing."

"Okay, thanks."

With a remote control, Uncle Chuck closed the door to his hideout and walked

past Alison, "I know your friend will do the right thing."

Alison stood in place thinking to herself for a while; without realizing it, she

began walking to the main building of Robotropolis. The whole time she stared at

the disc in her hand as thoughts ran through her head, *On the one hand if I

give this to Snively, he will think I'm nice and he won't die, but Sonic and the

others may die. On the other hand, if I give it to Sonic, it'll be helping the

Freedom Fighters, but Snively dies then.*

"Yo, Al!" Sonic's loud calling startled her causing her to drop the disc

revealing it to Sonic.

Sonic ran right up next to her, "What's that?" he asked pointing to the disc.

"Umm... it's nothing... it's not the disc with the red case, and the code

RSAS4TL that Snively dropped."

Sonic picked it up, "Hey, I think this IS the disc with the brown case and the

code name RSAS56L."

"No, it's the disc with the red case and the code name RSAS4TL." Alison realized

what she had just done and quickly said, "I mean it's not that red disc... oh,

forget it!"

As if from no where, Sally jogged up beside Sonic, "Sonic, what's that?"

"It's the disc from the red case with the code name RSQ... TRS... R-niner..." he

turned to Alison, "What was it again?"

"Um... well I don't think it's important. We should put it back."

Sally took the disc from Sonic, "I think we should bring it to Knothole first."

Sonic replied, "Great plan, Sal. Think anything's on it."

"From the looks of it, I can't really say, but any find like this is important."

Sonic took Sally's right arm and Alison's left, "Let's juice then."

Before they left, Alison looked over at the main building and saw Snively

walking into the door with his head bowed down and his eyes narrowed. She took

her arm from Sonic and after she did, both looked at her with puzzled

expressions.

"Umm..." she began, "go without me, I have some things to do first."

After a short pause of awkward silence, Sonic asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah... I'm sure."

"Okay, I guess we'll see you in Knothole," Sally said, "be back soon, so we know

you're okay."

"Yeah, okay," Alison nodded.

Sonic took Sally in his arms, and ran full speed back to Knothole. Once Alison

knew they were gone, she looked back to face Snively, but he had all ready

entered the building. She thought to herself, "I need a way in." She ran closer

to the building hoping no SWaTBots would see her. When she got close enough, she

spotted a small vent within jumping distance for her. She took out her gun, and

with one shot, took the vent off the wall allowing an opening for her. Before

she could make it inside, she heard an all-too-familiar sound, "Freedom Fighter,

priority one. Detain by order of Robotnik."

She gasped and turn to two SWaTBots charging toward her. Without hesitation, she

leaped up into the open vent, crawled inside, and backed herself into wall. The

SWaTBots continued to recite their cry, "Freedom Fighter, priority one. Detain

by order of Robotnik."

Alison assumed she would be safe inside the vent so she started to catch her

breath, but suddenly a red hot laser beam rocketed past her, inches away from

her head. She gasped and peered down toward the SWaTBots, who had their arms out

ready to fire again, "Oh, crap!" She quickly stood up as high as she could, for

the ceiling was low, and ran toward the center of the building where she knew

Snively would be.

After many turns and tight squeezes, she found herself above the main chamber,

and sure enough Robotnik sat on his chair, and Snively paced back and forth in

the corner mumbling to himself. She figured he was probably rehearsing what to

say; Robotnik didn't seem to notice Snively was even there. After a few minutes

of pacing he went over to confront Robotnik.

"Well Snively," Robotnik turned his chair around, "where's my disc?"

"Well, you see sir... I ...um ...don't know," Snively stuttered.

"WHAT?!?! What do you mean you don't know?" he stood up and stormed over to

Snively.

Snively made a small screeching noise, then feel down to his knees as if begging

for forgiveness, "I didn't mean to... it wasn't my fault... you see..." he

stopped as Robotnik came closer to him with his irate expression. "Please don't

kill me," Snively sobbed with his head facing the floor.

"I give you one simple task to take care of and you screw it up?!" Robotnik

bellowed.

Snively looked back up at Robotnik's burning red eyes, "That's why I wanted to

make a copy..."

Robotnik raised his arms as if he was going to hit Snively, and that's when

Alison's instincts told her to leave. Without thinking, she quickly stood up to

her full height causing her head to slam against the cold steal of the vents.

"OW! Shit!" she screamed in pain. She sat back down on her knees and rubbed her

head; that's when she noticed the sudden silence between Snively and Robotnik.

Robotnik broke the silence by asking, "What was that?"

Alison knew she had two choices, to be quiet or to try and make up an excuse.

"Um..." she thought for a moment, "I am... your imagination!"

Snively then spoke too, "Then how come I can hear you, too?"

Alison thought for a moment then, like last time, said the first thing that came

to mind, "Okay... I am a ghost... THE ghost of Robotropolis past." she tried to

imitate scary noises, "Ooo-oooo-ooooo."

Robotnik put his hand over his head and shook his head hopelessly.

Alison replied, "Okay... I am going to haunt the SWaTBot factory now. Ooo-oooo,"

she stood up as high as the vent would allow her.

Snively and Robotnik could hear the sounds of her fleeing. *thump* *thump*

*thump* *thump* *thump* *thump* *CRASH!!!* "Ow, damn pipe. I mean, ooo-oooo I'm

leaving now." *thump* *thump* *thump* *thump* *thump* *thump* "Waaahhhh!!!

There's a dip here!!" *BANG!!* "Owww.... that's gonna leave a mark."

Robotnik sighed, "I'm not gonna waste my SWaTBots on her," he looked back at

Snively who was still on his knees, but now looking back at him with an innocent

expression. "You have exactly one hour to find that disc in the red case with

the code name RSAS4TL, or else..." he opened his mouth as if he was going to say

something else, but just shook for a moment, "Don't even put that thought in my

mind, Snively."

Snively whimpered back in a small voice, "Yes, Sir."

Alison arrived in Knothole moments later looking for Sonic or Sally. *I gotta

get that disc back,* she quickly dashed over toward the huts. Her feet pounded

hard against the dirt floor, and with ever other step she began to hear a small

clicking noise. She looked down to see her shoe had become untied. "Oh, great,"

she mumbled between huffs.

"Look out!"

"Huh?" Alison looked up just in time to see large purple object standing right

in front of her. She crashed into it feeling the wind get knocked out of her,

and plummeted on her back onto the hard ground. When she landed, she could hear

some kind of metal clanking as if fell to the floor. "Ow..." she moaned.

"I'm sorry, I tried to warn you," Rotor stood over Alison with his hand out to

her. "You okay?"

Alison sighed and took his hand, "Yeah, I love being knocked onto the floor."

Rotor helped her stand up, "Sorry, I tried to warn you," he repeated. He then

noticed the dirt and dust that covered her clothing, "What happened do you?

You're all dirty."

"Yeah, well," she replied in a mocking tone, "Robotropolis is a dirty place."

"You seem tense, is something wrong?"

"No!" she lied.

"Well, why don't you help me pick up these tools I dropped," Rotor requested as

he held his empty tool box.

Alison sighed to herself; it just seemed as if her horrible day wouldn't end. As

fast as she could, she grabbed a bunch of tools, turned to Rotor and dumped them

into his tool box.

"Whoa!" Rotor exclaimed as the weight pulled him forward.

"Okay, I gotta run, Motor Boat," Alison then ran over toward Sally's hut

expecting Sonic and Sally both to be in there. When she reached the hut, she

crawled on her hands and knees to the window and peaked inside. Nicole sat on a

table near the window silently beeping, and Sonic and Sally stood across the

room discussing something. Alison quickly scanned the room for the disc, but

ducked down when she saw Sally turn around. Alison pressed herself against the

wall below the window hoping no one would see her. She listen closely to what

went on inside the hut.

Sally walked over to Nicole, picked her up, and asked, "How's it coming,

Nicole?"

"Still trying to find access code, Sally. The disc is triple encrypted."

Sally sighed, "Can you calculate how long it'll take, Nicole?"

"Hmmm... could be a number of minutes to hours, Sally."

"Thanks, Nicole. Keep trying," Sally set the small computer back down on the

table and turned back to Sonic. "She's trying, keep your fingers crossed."

"I can't wait much longer, Sal," Sonic replied with his arms crossed.

"Show at least a little patience, Sonic."

"I'm trying."

"We're just lucky Alison found this."

Alison rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Oh, I don't want a guilt trip now," she

listen closely and she heard Sally's footsteps walk across the room. Then, she

heard Sally say something to Sonic, but she couldn't make out what it was. It

didn't make any difference to her, all she wanted to do was get the disc and

leave. When she heard Sally walk away, she peaked inside and saw Sally and Sonic

discussing something on the other side of the room. While keeping her eyes on

Sonic and Sally, she slowly reached her hand inside and seized Nicole, then

quickly brought Nicole to her.

"Nicole," she whispered as she held Nicole tightly, "I need that disc."

Nicole began to say something in her normal tone, and Alison hushed her worried

Sonic or Sally would hear her.

"Shhh, not so loud. I really need that disc, now!" she whispered in a harsher

tone.

"Password needed to fulfill request."

*Man, Sally put a password on this.* "Okay, I don't know the password, but can I

please have it. I really need it."

"Password, Alison."

Alison thought for a moment growing rather frustrated quickly, "Screwdriver,"

she replied hoping a threat would work.

"Processing... access granted." with that, the disc slid out of a small slot in

Nicole.

Alison took it, "YES! You are one smart computer, Nicole," without even looking

in the window, she propped Nicole back on the desk.

Sally heard a noise behind her, but by the time she turned to look, Alison had

left, "Did you hear something?" she asked Sonic.

Sonic shrugged in response.

Alison dashed through the forest surprised no Freedom Fighters had run into her

asking her where she was going. She made it through Knothole without anyone

seeing her, then took off for Robotropolis.

Alison wasn't sure how much time had gone by since Snively's hour of finding the

disc started, but she hoped she wasn't too late to save him. She didn't stop

running till she reached the boarder of Robotropolis. *Well, now I'm here, but

what do I say to Snively when I find him?* She made her way through the junk

piles wondering to herself where she could find Snively. After a few minutes of

walking through the junk piles, she could hear Snively mumbling a few feet ahead

of her. She quickly made her way to the sound of his voice and sure enough, she

found him looking through one of the trash piles. For a short while, she just

watched him as he tossed cans, rotten food and compost aside looking for the

disc that would save his life.

She whispered to herself, "My poor misunderstood love," she took her eyes off

Snively and looked downward, "Always getting yelled at; always being mistreated

even though you try so hard to..."

"ARUGH!"

"Huh?" Alison looked up just in time to see a small pile of rotting compost

begin to stagger a bit, then decent to the ground like an avalanche burring

Snively underneath it. She gasped in response, then quickly ran over to the

trash pile, knelt down, and dug her hand into the slime and mud that covered her

love. Her hands channeled through the filthy waste and mud until she felt the

back of Snively's hand. She clenched both of her hands onto his tightly and

pulled as hard as she could until finally she pulled his arm through the trash.

She positioned her right hand further down his arm and pulled again; this time,

Snively grew close enough to the top of the pile that he was able to work his

head to the surface. He took in a huge breath then choked up some compost.

Alison reached her hands underneath his armpits and gave one last tug with all

her might pulling his arms free. Snively, then pushed his way out through the

muck and stood up on the solid ground. After brushing himself off, he took in a

breath, "Thanks so much..." he finally turned his face to Alison and his eyes

widened as he nearly jumped back away from her, "What are you doing here?"

Alison shrugged, "I dunno. What are you doing here?"

He rolled his eyes at her, "I live here."

"Oh yeah, good point."

Then Snively's eyes focused downward at the disc she was carrying, and he

gasped. His eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched, "You had it?!" he asked

angrily.

She held up the disc, "This? Yeah... I... uh, found it..."

"Oh, you found it?" he asked in a mocking tone.

She figured the best way to show how much she liked him would be to play

innocent, "Uh... yeah, I found it. Why? Do you need it?" she smiled

uncomfortably.

Snively thought to himself, *Stupid miscreant doesn't know what she has.* He

smiled back at her, "Well yes, I do need it now that you mention it." he held

his hand out, "Can I have it back now?"

*Now's you big chance.* "Um..." she paused for a moment, "you really need it,

right?"

He clenched his teeth in frustration, but tried best not to show it to her,

"Yes!" he sighed heavily, "Please give it back to me."

Alison felt a heat wave sweep over her. She began to sweat and her heart pounded

rapidly; she knew it wasn't a feeling of love but one of guilt. The guilt was

finally starting to hit her like a blow to the stomach. Her stomach began to

twist and turn, and part of her wanted to run away and cry. She'd never been hit

by guilt this bad and knew the only way to get rid of it, would be to return the

disc to the Freedom Fighters.

Snively woke Alison up from her thoughts, "Give it to me!" he attempted to grab

the disc from her hand but she jerked it away from him. In response, he let out

a frustrated growl and reached his hands towards her as if getting ready to kill

her.

Alison scowled back, "All right! All right!" she whipped the disc at him, which

hit him in the stomach and fell to the ground. As he bent over to pick it up,

she replied, "Keep your shirt on you dipshit." with that she began to walk away

from him.

At first, he said nothing in response to her remark but picked the disc up,

turned the other way, and mumbled to himself.

Alison turned around, "I heard that!" she yelled even though she hadn't

understood him. Then she began talking to herself, "Okay, so maybe that didn't

go completely according to plan. It's a start... but on the other hand, Snively

has the disc now. Well, I'll just tell them I dropped it or something, I mean,

what's the worst that could happen?"

Alison placed her hands on the cell bars in front of her and looked outward.

Dirt, dust and horrible smells surrounded her as she stood inside her small

cage. At her feet sat two small dog bowls, one filled with dirty water and the

other was empty. She shivered to herself as the freezing cold air engulfed her;

her legs shook, not only because of the cold, but because they grew week from

her standing for so long. She would sit but could feel the dank puddle of water

below her.

Suddenly, the door to the prison hut flew open and a skunk stormed in toward

her. He walked right up to her with his enrage expression, which sent chills

down hers spine, took a deep breath and said, "You're trial's in an hour,

bitch!" he bellowed in an Australian accent. Then, he picked up her food dish,

dropped a few small pellets inside, and slammed the dish onto the floor. Alison

jumped as it hit the ground with a smash. The skunk turned his back to her and

on his way out, declared, "There's your dinner." he slammed the door behind him

and left her alone.

She picked up the dish and smelled what he had just put in. It reeked like old

rotting cheese and look like gravel. She set the dish back down and sighed to

herself.

An hour later, the same skunk stormed into the prison in the same manner as

before. He carried keys in his left hand and walked with a military strut and a

glare in his eye. He slowly walked up to the cage, grabbed the lock and put the

key in, turning it slowly.

"Um..." Alison began.

"Silence!" he yelled at her as he unlocked the lock.

"Can't I ask a question?"

He sighed, "What is it?"

"How does this trial work? Is it a jury or does a judge decide?"

"In the case that there is a hung jury, the judge will decide unless otherwise

stated."

"Otherwise stated by who?"

"Hey, that would be whom!" he threw open the cage door, "Now get your little ass

out here." he motioned for her to come out.

Alison obeyed and stepped out only to have her left arm violently grasped and

her wrist stung with hard metal. Alison let out a small whimper and pain and

looked over to the skunk; he had just slammed one hand cuff on her left wrist.

He took her other arm and put the other hand cuff on, only not as wrathfully.

"Let's go." he grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the door.

"If you don't mind my asking, who's the judge?"

"See for yourself."

Alison looked straight ahead of herself to where the Freedom Fighters and

residents of Knothole all sat on the ground. In front of them sat a chair with a

table to the right and a gravel on top. Then, the judge entered from the left,

walking slowly dragging out the suspense. He took his seat, picked up the gravel

and set it down in his lap. Alison let out a small gasp out of surprise, and she

and the judge made eye contact for a moment, "Motor Boat." she whispered to

herself.

Rotor sighed then look at the skunk, "You can bring the prisoner down now,

Geoffrey."

Geoffrey tugged her arm as he pulled her to the front of the crowd. Alison

looked at Rotor again and he didn't give her his usual friendly look but a look

of betrayal. At that moment Alison realized she wouldn't be able to win this

case using her charm; she also knew she wouldn't win by telling the truth. She

had to think up a lie and fast, and this lie had to be the best one she ever

told.

Geoffrey sat Alison down on the ground next to a few members of the crowd, but

her never took his hand off her arm. A few turned and scorned at her while

others whispered among themselves. The whispers echoed in the court area, and

Rotor pounded the gravel a few times for silence. "Court is now in session." he

declared in a stern tone. "Will the defendant please rise?" he said looking over

at Alison.

Alison pointed to herself with and mouthed the word, "Me?"; Rotor nodded in

response. Alison obeyed and stood, and Geoffrey still held a tight grip on her

arm.

"Please state your full name to the court," Rotor said next.

"Umm..." Alison felt a bit nervous but figured it be best to do as she was told,

"Alison Marie Scharlemann."

A middle aged raccoon behind her whispered, "Overlanders and their stupid long

names."

Alison whipped herself around to her, "You shut the hell up! We have fine

names!"

The raccoon stood up as if ready to fight, "How are you use such language toward

me."

"Language?" Alison freaked. "What language? That was nothing!"

Geoffrey tugged hard on Alison's arm, "Shut up! Stop it!" he ordered.

Rotor banged the gravel down a few times, "Order, please!"

The raccoon sat back down on the ground.

"Please keep your comments to yourself," Rotor instructed with a glare to the

raccoon.

*Good, he's on my side,* Alison thought to herself.

"Okay, Alison, come up here we need to ask you a few questions."

Geoffrey led Alison up to the front of the crowd and stood her next to Rotor.

Alison faced the front even though the many angry and betrayed faces that looked

at her sent chills and goosebumbs down her spine. She held her ground trying to

be as brave as she could be, despite the fact most of her wanted to run away in

fear.

"Okay," Rotor said calmly, "Alison, I'm just gonna ask you some questions.

You're being tried for treason this doesn't mean you're guilty or innocent just

yet."

The same raccoon that had stood up before spoke again, "Oh, she's guilty all

right."

"Shut up!" Alison yelled at the top of her lungs.

Rotor banged the gravel down again, "One more outburst from you an you'll be

dismissed."

"Thanks, dude," Alison remark to Rotor.

"No problem," he replied. Then his tone became more serious, "Alison, the first

question I need to ask is where were you today five hours ago?"

Alison remembered clearly where she had been; she had been in Robotropolis

returning the disc to Snively so he wouldn't get hurt. She couldn't possibly

tell the others this or who knows what punishment she would face. Sweat began to

form on her forehead, and she felt another heat wave strike her body. Her body

shook slightly as fear rang throughout her; she wanted badly to run and hide but

knew what she had to do. "I was..." she began.

"Yes?" Rotor asked in a patient voice.

"I was in Knothole," she finally answered. "Sonic, Sally and I had just returned

from a mission."

A few whispers came out from the audience for they could tell she was avoiding

the truth.

Rotor, however, remained completely patient, "Okay, where were you a few moments

after that?"

"Umm..." she thought for a second again, "I was... well I guess I was being

arrested for treason."

Again, mumbles could be heard from the audience; one of them was from Sally, "I

can't believe this. She's only getting herself into deeper trou..."

Sonic interrupted her with a harsh tone, "Hey, no one's gonna call my friend a

traitor."

"You mean you don't think she's guilty? Sonic, we saw Nicole show us a display

of her taking the disc."

"It's not her fault you made the password so easy to guess."

"I didn't think screwdriver was an easy password..."

"Order, please," Rotor demanded.

Geoffrey didn't obey him, "Hey, you're being tried for treason, but we can add

not cooperating to your list of..."

"Hey, she's not doing anything wrong!" Rotor hollered at Geoffrey.

"Not doing anything wrong?" Geoffrey let go of Alison and stormed over to Rotor,

"She's working her way around the questions so she can avoid telling the truth."

"No, she isn't," Rotor insisted.

Sally stood up and walked over to them, "Maybe you should let someone else ask

the questions, Rotor."

"What am I doing wrong?" Rotor asked innocently.

"It's nothing you're doing wrong, Rotor, we just feel it would be better if

someone a bit more stern dealt with the questioning," Sally responded,

"You know how easily Alison will get involved in a fight; if we get all tough

it'll cause more problems."

"Well, how about I ask her a few questions. I won't be angry or anything, but

I'll be sure she gets to the point."

"Okay," Rotor agreed. "That's what we'll do."

"Hey!" Geoffrey screamed. "She's gone!"

Sally gasped and turned to where Alison had been standing and sure enough, she

had disappeared. Rotor stood up in shock, "How could she leave with everyone

watching..."

"Um..." a small boy in the audience stood up, "she said she was gonna go to the

bathroom."

"Where is she now?" Sally asked.

The boy pointed over to the huts, "She went that way."

"How could you people just let her leave without at least having someone go with

her?" Geoffrey demanded.

"Who says we didn't?" the boy responded in a sharp tone. "As a matter of fact,

Sonic the Hedgehog went with her."

"I'll go check," Sally jogged over toward the huts. When she became close, she

saw Sonic impatiently standing outside Alison's hut.

"What's up Sal?" he called.

"Sonic, where is she?"

Sonic pointed to the hut, "Inside. Said she hadda go pretty bad."

Without hesitation, Sally walked up the steps leading to the door and let

herself in.

"Hey, Sal, that's rude," Sonic followed Sally into the hut. "Uh-oh," he remarked

when he entered.

The window had been pushed wide open and Alison was no where in sight. She had

run away. She looked down upon Knothole, catching her breath with one thought in

mind: she could never go back.

Alison found her way into Robotropolis that night. She knew Robotnik would never

take her back, but thought perhaps Snively would help her, since she helped him

earlier. Besides, she wanted to see him again. She carefully made her way

through the city, until she stood on the ground looking up at the window that

lead to his bedroom. His bedroom was about six stories from the ground, but he

had a fire escape she could climb up; however, she was in a hurry and decided to

jump up to the balcony instead. Once she landed, she slid the window open and

peaked inside. Snively lay on his back, tucked underneath the warm sheets of his

bed. He appeared peaceful in his sleep snoring slightly. Alison giggled to

herself at his appearance, "You are so cute," she whispered. Quietly, she made

her way into his room and tiptoed to his bed. "Snively," she spoke softly

shaking him a bit. In response, Snively mumbled something in his sleep, and

turned over. Alison sighed, "Snively!" she spoke a bit louder this time and

shook him harder. Snively moaned and said, "Mmm... I don't wanna, Mommy."

Alison rolled her eyes and had lost all patience by now, "Wake up!" she yelled

while hitting his shoulder.

Snively made a yelping noise and jumped in surprise. His eyes hadn't adjusted

but he could clearly see a silhouette standing next to his bed. Figuring it was

a worker bot, he grumbled, reached up and turned his light on. His eyes became

almost as big as baseballs when he saw Alison standing there, "What the..."

"Um, hi," Alison responded with a small wave.

"Get out!" he growled in harsh unrecognizable tone. "Now!" he pointed to his

door.

"Wait, wait, just hear me out."

Snively sighed, sat up and rubbed his face. After a short pause he asked, "What

do you want?"

Before she answered, she remarked, "Nice PJs," she pointed to his light green

pajamas, "But anyway... I need your help."

In reply, Snively just stared at her with his narrow eyes intense with hatred.

"Okay..." Alison said after an uncomfortable pause, "Remember that disc I gave

you? Well, I'm kinda being charge for treason for giving it back to you."

"Treason?" Snively chuckled; then he said, "You can't have it back," with that

he laid back down in his bed and pulled the covers up to his, head expecting her

to leave.

Alison took a few steps closer to his bed, "Um... actually," she spoke in a

small voice, "Can I stay with you until..."

Snively whipped around and freaked, "What?!"

"Well..."

"No!" he yelled. "Get away from me."

"C'mon! I helped you!"

"When did you help me?"

"I gave you that disc back."

"You also called me a dipshit."

"You were acting like a dipshit," she retorted.

Before either of them could speak next, they heard someone outside say, "Okay,

let's split up. If you find her and she puts up a fight, shoot her."

Alison recognized the voice right away; it belonged to Geoffrey. She gasped and

ran over to the window. Outside, a few others walked away from Geoffrey, and he

watched them carefully with a large gun hung over his shoulder. Once the others

were far enough, he turned and began walking in the other direction.

"They're gonna kill me?" Alison shrieked in horror. She felt a hand placed on

her should and turned to face Snively.

He smiled at her, "I'll handle this."

Alison felt shocked that Snively had actually decided to help her; she felt like

throwing her arms around him and kissing him, but figured it'd be best to not

show how much she loved him.

Snively calmly walked over to the window, peaked out then yelled, "She's in

here! Come up here and get her!"

In response Geoffrey turned and looked at Snively for a second. Then, almost

without hesitation, he began climbing up the fire escape, holding the gun in one

hand.

Snively turned and smiled deviously at Alison who just stared back at him in

disbelief. She backed way from him, "I thought you said you'd help me."

"I never said that."

Then she remembered; he said he'd handle it, but he never said how, "Dammit!

You're right."

As Geoffrey became close to the top of the ladder he yelled, "Hold her up there,

Snively."

Alison looked at Snively confused, "How'd he know your name?"

Snively shrugged in response then reached out for her.

"Oh, no you don't," Alison was about to run the other way but Snively was too

quick. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and held her close to him as tight

as he possible could. "Let go!" Alison demanded as she tried to squirm away.

"Never," he held her even tighter.

Alison moaned to herself and grasped Snively's hands, which firmly held her

stomach. His hands felt so smooth and soft to her; his fingers were so long and

delicate. Without thinking, she gently stroked his arm with the back of her

hand.

"What are you doing?" Snively demanded.

"Huh?" Alison snapped out of it. "Nothing... I think." was the only thing she

could think of to say.

Geoffrey then stormed his way into the room and aimed his weapon at Alison. For

a while he just held it there as if thinking of what to do next. The scowl and

sneer never left his face the whole time.

"Don't do this, Geoffrey," Alison pleaded.

"Do it. Kill her," Snively said.

"You have the right to remain silent," Geoffrey spoke in an evil tone. "Anything

you said can and will be used against you in hell!" on the word hell, he pulled

the trigger on his gun.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The next thing any of them knew or

heard was Geoffrey tumbling to the ground after being attacked. His attacker

seemed to have come out of no where, and no one but Alison recognized her. It

was the same echidna that had visited her so many times in her dreams:

Sorceress.

Sorceress' attack caused Geoffrey's shot to go off course and blast a hole in

the wall.

Snively gasped and let go of Alison in shock.

They all heard Robotnik bellow from the room next to them, "Snively!"

Alison look at Snively's horrified expression, "I bet you get blamed for that."

she remarked while pointing to the hole.

"Where'd she go?" Geoffrey stood up and looked around for his attacker, but she

had mysteriously disappeared in the same manner that she appeared.

Alison knew now was her chance to get away; she knew Sorceress planned it that

way. Before Geoffrey had a chance to look over at Alison, she quickly ran to the

window, and gracefully leaped to the ground.

Geoffrey gasped and turned to the window, "You won't get away!" he also ran to

the window, climbed out and began lowering himself down the ladder as fast as he

could.

"Snively!" Robotnik whipped open the door to Snively's room and glared intensely

at him, "Why is there a hole in my wall?"

Snively gulped, "Well, you see, Sir, there was a skunk and an echidna... and

then Alison came by and..."

"Alison is here?!"

"Y-yes, Sir," Snively answered in a small whimpering voice.

"Find her!" Robotnik ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" with no hesitation, Snively ran out the door and headed for the main

chamber.

Alison tore through the streets of Robotropolis hearing Geoffrey's footsteps

close behind her. Suddenly, she heard Geoffrey cry out and turned to see he had

tripped and fallen flat on his face. She couldn't help but chuckle as he sat up

and spat out dirt from his mouth; then she figured while he regained his

composure, she'd get as far ahead of him as possible. She took off running at

full speed but stopped when she felt someone grab her ankle. Alison screeched as

they pulled her ankle so hard she crashed against the hard pavement. When she

landed, she figured it was over, but they consisted to drag her across the

gravel. She tried to get up, but the person hauled her into a small window on

the bottom of the building next to her. She felt herself falling into the

basement, but to her surprise, the person caught her before she hit the ground.

They covered her mouth and whispered for her to hush. Geoffrey could be seen

running by the window, and once he ran far enough down the street, the person

released Alison's mouth. She took a deep breath and turned to face them, "Motor

Boat!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Rotor replied softy.

"No, it's okay, I'm glad to see you," she looked around her dark surroundings,

"Where are we?"

"Some kind of storage room, I think."

"Okay," after a short pause she asked, "Are you going to help me? Help me escape

I mean?"

"You don't need to escape. You need to go back and tell everyone the truth."

She sighed, "I... I... I would but... I just.... I can't," she managed to choke

out.

"Why not?"

She paused for a moment, "Cause."

"Well what happened?"

Alison just sighed in response. Rotor walked over to her and put his hand on her

shoulder, "Hey, you can tell me. I'm not gonna hurt you or do anything

horrible."

She took in a deep breath and turned to him, "The truth... is... after Sally and

Sonic took the disc back to Knothole, I stayed behind and heard..." she sighed

again and looked downward.

"You heard?"

Alison felt herself begin to tingle in some areas as she thought of what to say

next. "Okay, I heard Robotnik saying he would... y'know kill Snively if he

didn't find the disc, and I just didn't want to see blood shed over something I

could fix," she looked at Rotor and awaited his response.

Rotor nodded, "Yeah that makes sense. You didn't wanna see someone die because

of something you did."

"Yeah, basically."

"Well, now we need to get the disc back somehow."

"No!" Alison freaked without thinking, knowing Robotnik would blame Snively if

it disappeared.

"Why?"

"Because... well... just because," ended up being her reason.

"Well, I can't accept that as a reason. I mean if you don't have a good

reason..."

"Well, I don't think Snively has it anymore, but I still know he'll get blamed

if we take it."

"But if you think like that, we'll always have a reason not to do these things.

I mean, we have a lot of reasons not to fight against Robotnik, but that doesn't

stop us from doing it. A lot of people have gotten hurt and even killed..."

Alison interrupted his speech right there, "But that doesn't mean we have to

kill in return."

Rotor just stared at Alison with his perplexed expression pondering over her

statement. Alison turned around, crossed her arms and faced the other direction.

Complete silence fell over them until Rotor finally spoke softly, "Y'know, I

didn't want to say anything before, but is this all, by any chance, because

you... like Snively?"

Alison gasped and felt her heart skip a beat as he guessed her secret. Disbelief

and shock crossed over her face as she sputtered the word, "What?!" she turned

to face him with her best innocent expression, "That's... no... I don't like

Snively. That's a lie," she angrily pointed to him as if accusing him, "How dare

you tell a lie like that!"

Rotor sighed in despair, "Cause if you did like him, I wouldn't tell anyone... I

mean it's a good reason for me to drop the charges," Rotor didn't really have

the power do drop the charges on her, but he could almost feel Alison's built up

feelings inside of him.

"Wait," Alison immediately calmed down, "You're saying that if I say I like

Snively, not that I do, but if I did, you'd drop the charges?"

Rotor smiled, "That's what I'm saying."

"And you swear you would never tell anyone, no matter what the cost?"

"Of course, you're my friend."

"What if Robotnik tortured you?"

"Nope, wouldn't tell," Rotor knew Robotnik would never torture him over that

anyway.

"What if someone covered you with meat and threw you into a pit with mad raving

dogs?"

Rotor chuckled, "I could never tell a friend's secret."

"Okay," Alison's voice became quiet, "I... like him," she mumbled.

"I couldn't hear you."

Alison spoke a bit louder but not by much, "I like Snively."

"You're still not talking very loud..."

"Oohhhh..." Alison shook with frustration, "I love Snively!" she yelled. "I love

the boy! I love him, love him, love him!" she cried excitedly. She smiled

brightly and began to talk quickly and loudly, "I love the way he scowls when he

says my name! I love his snobby British accent. I love the way he whimpers when

Robotnik calls his name."

Rotor had just stared at her in an almost confused expression. He thought she

was through, but before he could speak, she interrupted him with more energized

cries, "I love him, and I want us to fly off to foreign lands and eat fancy

meals together!" she took in a huge breath. "I LOVE SNIVELY!" she called one

last time.

"Shh!" Rotor ran over to her to stop her from saying anything else.

Alison gasped as she heard her calls echoing through the streets of

Robotropolis, "Oops," she mumbled.

"It's okay, I kind of dragged that out of you."

"Yeah," she took in a breath, "I'm glad you did. That had been building up for a

while," then her expression turned mad, and she whipped around to him, "And if

you ever tell anyone..."

Rotor cut her off, "Hey, you don't have to say anything. I won't tell. Promise."

Alison sighed, "Okay, Motor Boat, I trust you."

"But we still need to clear your name, somehow."

Alison thought for a moment, "Well... if we steal the disc directly from

Robotnik, Snively can't be blamed."

"But we don't know where it is."

Alison began to think again; her mind fixed upon a small building no bigger than

a storage shed that Robotnik used for a high security area. Whenever he had

something or someone of value, it or they would end up in there.

"I think I know where Robotnik may have it, but I'm gonna need your help."

Rotor stood up to his full height, "That's what I'm here for."

Alison smiled, "Okay, let's get to work," Alison reached up for the window, and

leaped onto the ledge. After a quick look both ways to make sure no one was

coming, she crawled through the window and into the street and Rotor followed

behind her. "Okay, now we need to get to..." Alison began.

"There she is!"

Alison and Rotor both gasped and turned around. They saw Sonic running up to

them with Sally in his arms. Alison's first thought was to run, but she knew she

would never be able to out run Sonic. Sonic stopped in front of them, "Don't

worry, Al, we're gonna get you outta here!"

Alison gasped again in shock, "You want to help me?"

Sonic nodded, "Sure do," he put Sally down on her feet.

Alison turned to Sally, "Even you?"

"Well, Sonic thinks it's a good idea, and I guess you've proven yourself more

than once to me. I'll do what I can."

Alison took a deep breath, "Okay, well I know what we need to do; I'm gonna need

everyone's help."

Sonic, Sally, Rotor and Alison peaked out from small pile of trash focusing

their eyes on the small building a few feet in front of them. SWaTBots and hover

units swarmed around the place awaiting for intruders that dared come by.

"So, we have to get in there?" Sally asked Alison.

"Yes, somehow," she answered.

"I'll distract the bots," Sonic replied, "and you guys go in..."

Alison cut him off, "The door has a defensive system. All bots in this sector

are programmed to attack unauthorized intruders."

Sally unclipped Nicole from her boot, "I'll bet Nicole can hack into the

security system and shut it down temporary."

"For how long?" Rotor asked.

Sally thought for a moment, "Judging by the defensive system it all ready has,

I'd say no more than thirty seconds."

"Then we gotta juice," Sonic remarked.

"Okay," Alison spoke, "How about us three distract the bots, and Sally breaks

in..."

"I think you should come with me," Sally said to Alison while grabbing her arm.

"Why?"

"This way I can help clear your name. If not we'll have no proof you're not

running around with the bad guy."

Alison nodded, "Okay, that makes sense."

"Now that we got a plan, what are we waiting for?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"Okay," Sally remarked, "let's do this."

Sonic turned to Rotor, "Okay, Rote, you take the bots in back, I'll take the

ones in front. Don't let any of them get near the entrance."

"Got it," Rotor nodded.

"Okay," in a flash, Sonic darted in front of the factory and became face to face

with the SWaTBots. With a gentle wave he replied, "Yo, Bot-heads! What's up?"

In an instant, the SWaTBots replied with, "Priority one, hedgehog!" "Hedgehog

alert!" and many other cries to forewarn the others of the intruder. Before

other SWaTBots had a chance to move in, Sonic took off in a small cloud of dust

and dirt which followed him. As planned, a group of hover units and SWaTBots on

foot pursued after Sonic, leaving the entrance unguarded.

Sally, Rotor and Alison quickly ran up to the entrance ready to fulfill their

plan.

"Okay, Rotor, keep the others at bay," Sally quickly whispered to Rotor.

"No problem," Rotor gave a thumbs up sign and headed off to the side of the

building.

Alison began to feel a bit worried about Rotor, "I hope he makes it out okay,"

she thought aloud.

Sally hooked Nicole up to the small access computer on the front of the factory.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine," she pushed a few buttons on Nicole hoping she

could hack into the access code, "Let me try this."

A read light lit up from the computer denying their access. Then, Alison's voice

rang out from the computer, "Access denied you worthless shit eating pig

fucker..."

Then they heard Snively's voice, "What are you doing?"

There was a slight paused followed by Alison's voice with an innocent tone,

"Nothing."

"Give me that."

They heard someone muffling a microphone and then the message ended. Sally

looked at Alison funny, and Alison looked down to the floor in response, "I had

to keep myself busy while I lived here," she replied.

Sally sighed, "I guess that makes sense."

Sonic dashed around a corner of the building avoiding the SWaTBots laser fire.

"Rotor!"

Rotor jogged in zig zags to try to avoid the three SWaTBots chasing him. his run

became gradually slow, for his legs had a hard time carrying his wait, and Rotor

himself was not used to running so fast. Sonic noticed Rotor was in trouble, and

in a second he dashed over to Rotor, grabbed his arm, and took off around the

SWaTBots.

"Priority one Hedgehog!" the SWaTBots blared simultaneously.

Sonic whipped around a corner, "You okay Rote?" he stopped for a moment to help

his friend.

"I'm okay," Rotor puffed.

"C'mon, Rote!" Sonic turned around and bent over allowing Rotor to climb on his

back. "Let's juice!"

Sonic was about to run when a loud mechanical noise, similar to that of a garage

door, made him stop in his tracks. "What's that?"

"It sounds like they're in!" Rotor replied.

Sally and Alison quickly ran inside the small facility. As soon as they entered,

levers, buttons and computers surrounded them. The room had very little light

except for the blinking buttons on the computers.

"Okay," Sally replied quietly, "We only have a few seconds to find that..."

"Here it is!" Alison seemed to pop up out of know where and have the disc with

her. She smiled and showed it to Sally.

Sally felt puzzled, "Where'd you get that?"

"I found it," she replied casually.

Sally shrugged, "Well, okay, then... I guess our work is done."

"Great! I was pretty worried that..." when Alison began speaking, she leaned

against a computer accidentally pushing a button.

Suddenly, an ear piercing buzzing alarm rang out from all corners of the

building and a blinding fluorescent light from above rapidly began flashing.

Sally let out a short scream, and both she and Alison covered their ears and

ducked. Before either one of them could get up or uncover their ears, they heard

a loud robotic voice declare, "Emergency self destruction active in thirty

seconds!"

"Shit!" Alison screamed.

"Let's get out!" Sally grabbed Alison's arm but before either of them could

move, a giant steel door crashed to the floor blocking their only exit.

Again Sally screamed in horror, "Oh no!"

Doing the only thing that came to mind, Alison ran over and banged on the steal

door, "Let us out!" she hollered as if someone could hear her.

"Alison, you're laser! Use it!" Sally exclaimed tugging on Alison's arm.

Alison turned to Sally with a hopeless expression, "It was confiscated when I

went on trial."

"Emergency self destruction active in fifteen seconds!"

All Sally and Alison could do was stare at each other with the same hopeless

expression. Sally's felt a lump in her throat and her eyes filled with tears.

She still held a weakened grip on Alison's arm. Alison gazed back at Sally

feeling her heart sink lower and lower with each breath she took. The alarm

buzzing and all other distractions disappeared from both their ears, and the

only sound they could hear was each other's breathing. The silence between them

lasted a few seconds, but if felt so much longer to them.

Finally, Alison took a deep breath and spoke in a soft voice, "I'm sorry."

Sally replied, "I'm sorry, too."

"Emergency self destruction active in ten seconds!... Nine... eight... seven.."

Alison spoke again, "May as well ask this. Do you think..."

"... five..."

Before anyone else, even the robotic voice, could speak next an explosion

blasted out just outside the door of the building. Alison and Sally both ducked

their heads and moved from the door.

"... four..."

When they turned to see what had happened, their mouths dropped in shock.

Someone had blasted a hole in the steal door for them to escape. Before they

could move, Sonic appeared at the entrance.

"... three..."

"Guys!" he dashed toward them at full speed and grabbed securely onto their

arms.

"... two..."

"Let's juice!" Sonic sped out the hole clinging tightly to the two females he

held. He ran as far away from the facility as possible before...

"... one... emergency self destruction activated."

The building didn't explode in a huge pit of fire or anything like Sally and

Alison feared while inside. Instead the computers inside blew large fuses

causing them to shoot fire out and destroy the interior. Eventually, the whole

building had caught fire and was slowing burning down to a pile or rubble.

Sonic ran up to Rotor who had taken Sonic's orders and fled when the self

destruction mode had been activated. Rotor's eyes lit up like Christmas lights

when he saw Sonic had saved Alison. "Alison!" he exclaimed.

Sonic stopped in front of Rotor and gently set Alison and Sally down. Alison

turned and noticed Rotor had his arms out as if asking Alison to hug him. Alison

felt so happy, she was glad to extent her arms and give Rotor a hug.

"Man," Sally replied with a sigh of relief, "I thought it was all over for me

and Alison."

"No way, Sal!" Sonic declared. "This hedgehog was on the job!"

Alison let go of Rotor and faced Sonic, "What did you use to blow the door up?"

Sonic looked at her puzzled, "Say what?"

"The hole in the door," Sally replied, "What did you use to make it?"

"Oh," Sonic paused as if thinking, "well, that was like that when I got there."

"Pfff, typical male response," Alison remarked. She shrugged, "I guess one of

the SWaTBots did it."

"But the SWaTBots left the area when the destruction mode was activated, it

couldn't have been them."

Sally and Alison just stared at each other blankly, and all Alison could think

of to say was, "But..."

Sally interrupted her, "Do you still have the disc?"

"Uhh..." Alison felt her pants pocket then remember she'd dropped it when the

alarms went off, "Oh, I dropped it, but it was in the building, so it's probably

burt by now."

"Oh," Sally paused for a moment, "Well, that'll do just fine."

Sonic chuckled, "As long as it's outta Ro-butt-nik's hands!"

"Let's get outta here, please," Sally replied with an almost desperate tone.

"Sure thing, Sal!" Sonic took Sally's hand and they began walking in the

direction of the Great Forest.

Alison stood watching them, then Rotor turned around to her, "C'mon, let's go."

"Okay," Alison replied. She stood there for a short while still wondering who

had blown the small hole in the door, and who had saved their lives. After a

short while of pondering, she shrugged, "Maybe it was just a malfunction," she

walked swiftly to catch up with her friends.

"Maybe," Sorceress came out of the dark alley and watched Alison from behind,

"or maybe you have someone watching over you," she fiddled with the disc in her

hand for a second, then stuck it in her pocket, and exited Robotropolis.

All comments about this fic can be written to me, Sonique, at

soneec@sonicrules.zzn.com