God's gift to writing has done it again! Posted by Sonique on August 05, 2000 at 11:29:19 Chapter 7: Treason "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. "I'll 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 hedgehogs, who appeared relatively young in age, stared back at Sally. They looked very similar except one wore black tennis shoes and stood taller, and his color was a shade of brown. The second hedgehog wore red 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." Soinc 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, "C34FGD4." 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 C34FGD4.* "And with the code name C34GD4." 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’sreadandithastherightcodeC34GD4andSonicandSallyneedit butSnivelyneedsitsandican’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 C34GD4 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 C34GD4 that Snively dropped." Sonic picked it up, "Hey, I think this IS the disc with the brown case and the code name C34GD5." "No, it’s the disc with the red case and the code name C34GD4." 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 C35... C32... C-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! ######!" 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 C34GD4, 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.