FIRST HONOR

                    A Sonic the Hedgehog story

                       by Daniel J. Drazen

PAUSE FOR BOURGEOIS LEGALITIES: This story is copyrighted 1997 by
the author.  The characters and situations portrayed, aside from
the plot itself, are the property of the following: Sega
Corporation: Sonic, Tails, Dr. Robotnik; DiC Productions: Sally,
Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine, Snively, Rosie; Archie Comics: Julayla. 
Distribution of this story is rabidly encouraged with the following
provisions: 1) that the text not be altered in any way; 2) that you
don't try to pass this story off as your own; 3) that you don't try
to make a buck off of it.  If you have any ideas along the lines of
#3, contact me at drazen@andrews.edu and we'll discuss my cut.  All
other provision of Title 17 of the U. S. Code concerning copyright
laws apply.

TIMELINE: early spring 3230, about 6 months after the events in
"Capture The Flag".

===================================================================

     "Good night, girls."
     "'Night, Mizz Julayla."
     "Good night, Julayla."
     It was bedtime in Knothole.  Julayla was going from hut to hut
doing a final bed check.  She had found Sonic and Tails high-spirited
and reluctant to settle down.  Rotor wanted to stay up and
work on yet another gadget, and it was to Antoine's considerable
relief that Julayla had insisted he go to bed.  Now she closed the
door of the hut where Sally and Bunnie lived.  She knew from
personal experience and from the girls' too-ready compliance that
they weren't about to go to sleep just yet, but would resume the
whispered conversation they had been engaged in and which had been
broken off when Julayla had knocked on their door.  No point
fighting it, she told herself.  She resolved to come by their door
in a few minutes to remind them that they were supposed to be
asleep.
     Sure enough, a moment after Julayla had closed the door to the
hut, Bunnie threw off the covers and sat herself down at the foot
of her bed.  Sally sat up as well, the better to hear Bunnie's
whispering.
     "So what'd y'all find out, Sally-girl?"
     "Just what I was afraid of: Rosie and Julayla are planning to
wean Tails in two days."
     "Did they tell you that?"
     "No, but I took a look at Rosie's notes for meal planning for
the next few days when she was out of the kitchen."
     "Two days?  But ain't that the same day as First Honor?"
     "Exactly.  We don't have much time left."
     "Ah still cain't see why we don't just raid the kitchen."
     "Come on, Bunnie.  You know it'd be like taking food out of
Tails' mouth!"
     "Ah suppose.  But Ah don't like YOUR idea any better, if y'all
want to know."
     "Bunnie, where else can we get the milk we need?"
     "This'll be the first time we've had First Honor since we came
here, won't it?"
     "Right, and I want this to be special."
     "Me too, but...."
     There was a rap at the door.  "Are you two girls in bed?"
Julayla asked.
     "Yes, ma'am!" they answered truthfully in unison.
     "All the way?"
     They both swung their legs up onto their beds before replying
"Yes, ma'am."
     "And under the covers?"
     It took them a little longer to answer, with less enthusiasm,
"Yes, ma'am."
     "Good night, then."
     "Good night."
     The two girls waited a few seconds until Julayla's footsteps
had faded completely.
     "Think the coast is clear, Sally-girl?"
     "Uh-huh."  The two girls sat up in bed, their legs under the
blankets.
     "So now what?" Bunnie whispered.
     "What about Rotor?"
     "He's been sneakin' our stuff into the kiln whenever he's had
a chance."
     "So we've got six bowls ready?"
     "Five."
     Bunnie heard Sally slap her mattress in frustration.  "Don't
tell me Sonic's still holding out?"
     "Yeah.  He says he don't want no part of no First Honor ritual
no how."
     "What is his PROBLEM!?"
     "Ah wish Ah knew.  What're we gonna do?"
     "I'm going to try talking some sense into him one more time,"
Sally said as Bunnie heard Sally snuggling into her bed and
wrapping herself in her blanket.  "And if he's still going to be
stubborn about it, we'll just have to go ahead without him.  Good
night, Bunnie."
     "G'night."

***

     Milk was not a staple food on Mobius.  In fact, many Mobians
went through their whole lives never knowing the taste of milk once
they'd been weaned from their mother's breast.  And that event in
itself was considered a special occasion.
     In addition to the public holidays of Mobius, the beings of
that world had also developed a host of smaller, more intimate
celebrations, known collectively as "The Times," to mark
significant moments in a Mobian's life.  These celebrations were
always family matters, private rather than public.  They were a
chance for a Mobian family to gather and to strengthen their bond
with one another.
     The act of weaning was the first such occasion in a child's
life after it had been born.  It marked the formal transition from
infancy to childhood.  It was always a joyous time for the child,
who was the guest of honor at a party thrown by the family.  It was
also a bittersweet occasion for the child's mother, for it marked
the beginning of the process of letting go.
     This was the celebration that was being planned for Tails by
Rosie and Julayla.  He was considerably older than the usual
weanling, for most Mobians were weaned by the time they were three
years old.  But since Sonic had brought Tails to Knothole as a
foundling it was impossible to pinpoint his age exactly.  Still,
the women decided that the time had come for at least a ceremonial
weaning.  In practical terms it meant the exclusion of milk from
his diet from that day on.  The other children, of course, had
their own priorities; they were looking forward to the party.
     There was one other Mobian holiday, however, that was
uppermost in the minds of Sally and all of the other children
except Sonic, and it was the only other Mobian ceremony where milk
played a key role.  Once a year, in the spring, Mobians would
observe "First Honor."  The name originated with an ancient
proverb: "Of all the debts of honor you will incur, the first is to
the one who gave you the life you have."
     So the practice gradually developed that once a year on Mobius
milk appeared in the markets in good supply, and it did not require
one's life savings to buy it as at other times of the year.  For on
the morning of First Honor, mothers all over Mobius would awake to
find their children each offering her a small bowl of milk to
drink.  It was a way of thanking their mothers for giving them life
and for nurturing them, a kind of symbolic repayment.  It was a
simple but touching gesture, and many a mother would season the
milk she drank with tears of gratitude.
     Despite the fact that milk had always been a scarce commodity
on Mobius, even before Mobius found itself under Ivo Robotnik's
thumb, Rosie somehow had always made sure that there was milk
available for Tails' meals.  Nobody knew where she was obtaining
it, but there it was just the same.  Every time any one of the
other children asked her about it, she would dismiss them with the
same response: "Ask me no questions, dears."  It became a matter of
speculation amongst them.
     That's what was happening the next morning as the children of
Knothole, with the exception of Tails and Sonic, gathered on the
bridge spanning the river.  They had finished breakfast and while
helping Rosie with the dishes had "casually" tried to ask her where
she got some of their provisions, items they knew they had not
grown themselves.
     "Ask me no questions, dears."
     "But Rosie," Sally asked as she hung her dish towel up to dry,
"it has to come from somewhere."
     "Now, m'lady, do I asks you about where you go some nights?"
     "No," Sally admitted.  Rosie had a good point.  For the last
six months, the lives of the children had altered dramatically. 
Tails had turned up missing one evening and the other children had
gone looking for him, finding him inside the abandoned home of
Sonic's Uncle Chuck near the very edge of Robotropolis.  It was
there that Sonic discovered his Uncle's legacy to him: the power
rings and the means to generate them.  Using the rings, Sonic could
now travel faster than he or any of the others could even imagine,
and he was using that speed to lead the other children in scouting
parties to learn what changes had taken place in Robotropolis and
what Dr. Robotnik was doing to their world.  Rosie insisted that
she NOT be told of these raids, "in case something happens."  She
never said what she thought might happen, but the words were
sobering enough to make the children obey.  Now she was using that
ignorance to forestall any further questioning from the children,
and they knew it.  They silently finished helping with the washing
up and retired to the bridge.
     "I am becoming too much tired of that answer," Antoine said at
last.
     "Me too, Ant," Bunnie replied.
     "And I must repetition you NOT to be calling me that!"
     "What's the matter?  You gettin' BUGGED?" she asked with a
grin for his squeamishness about insects had become something of a
teasing point.
     "That is something about which you are not to be joking! 
Besides, that kind of fuelishness I was to be expecting from
Sonique."
     "Yeah, where the hoo-ha IS Sonic, anyway?"
     "He was with us in the kitchen," Rotor added.
     Then they heard Tails' high-pitched laughter.  Turning, they
saw Sonic chasing after the young fox, who was using his two tails
to fly from one spot to the next.  It was a game the two of them
played frequently, and it served the purpose of sharpening Tails'
flying skills.
     "Forget about him," Sally said gruffly.
     "You mean that?"
     "Just about, Rotor," she sighed.  "First Honor is tomorrow. 
If he doesn't want any part of this, why bother trying to drag him
into it?"
     "Are you being sure, my Princess?  What if we are having...how
does he say...the need for speeding?"
     "We don't need to be fast if we're smart.  Now what about the
bowls?"
     "They're all fired and ready, Sally," Rotor replied.  "I can
bring them to the big hut after dinner.  Antoine will have the
paints and brushes ready."
     "Great!  Rosie'll be gathering provisions and won't know what
we're doing."
     "What about Julayla?"
     "If she catches us, I'm sure she can keep a secret if we ask
her."
     "But even if we are having the bowls, what about the something
to be putting inside of them?"
     "I've got that all figured out," Sally said as she lowered her
voice, looking around her.  "We know that Robotnik's turned my
father's castle into his headquarters.  He's changed a lot of
things about it but it should still have the same rough layout."
     "Sally-girl, don't even THINK about it!" Bunnie pleaded.
     "I'm sorry, Bunnie, but there's no other way.  Now if you want
out too..."
     "No, Ah'm in.  Ah just WISH Ah wasn't."
     "Good.  Now I'll try talking to Sonic one more time."
     But Sonic spent the remainder of the day eluding Sally and the
others, spending his time with Tails playing games and regaling him
with talk about what he had to look forward to as a "big guy." 
Tails didn't understand much of what was said -- he only knew that
there was going to be a big party the next day -- but he still hung
on Sonic's every word simply because he was Sonic.
     Sally knew that the situation called for subtlety and tactics. 
She waited until the evening meal when Sonic was seated at the
table eating.  In a neatly executed move, she sat down to Sonic's
left with Rotor (by virtue of his weight) sitting on his right. 
Sonic was boxed in.
     "What's the deal, Sal?"
     "You know what the deal is, Sonic."
     "Then you know the answer, so leave me alone."
     "I'll make this easy for you."  With that, Sally placed an
unpainted clay bowl in front of Sonic.  All of the bowls that the
children had planned to use for First Honor had been hand-made and
showed the distinct characteristics of their makers.  Sally's bowl
was clearly the product of a lot of thought and consideration;
Bunnie's was designed with a stylish flair, practical but more
ornamental; Antoine's was functional but needlessly ornate; Rotor's
had a machine-like precision of execution; Tails' was crudely
executed but it looked as if a lot of love had gone into it anyway. 
The bowl in front of Sonic was typically Sonic: hastily executed
and discarded once he'd lost interest which, in this case, had been
about two months ago.
     "Hey!  Where did THAT come from?" Sonic was clearly annoyed.
     "I saved it from being turned back into clay, and had Rotor
fire it.  If you want to paint it, fine; if you don't, that's fine,
too."
     "And if I want to forget about it?"
     "Sonic," Sally said with a patience more appropriate to a
grown-up, "I'm going to explain this one more time."
     "Well, make it fast 'cause you're starting to sound like that
old slave driver, Julayla."
     "She is NOT a...Sonic, you know what First Honor would mean to
Rosie.  She's been like a mother to us...to ALL of us!  So ALL of
us have to be in on this together."
     "Forget it Sal.  No way."
     "Sonic..."
     "I SAID NO!!"
     With that, Sonic picked up the bowl in front of him and hurled
it at the nearest wall.  It instantly shattered, the gray shards
raining down on the floor.
     "Sonic!"
     Everybody turned toward the doorway.  Julayla was standing
there, silhouetted by the early evening light.  Her arms hung at
her side, and Sally gasped when she noticed that both her hands
were clenched into tight fists.  It was something she had never
seen Julayla do before.
     "Everybody but Sonic, leave."  Her voice was low and measured,
but everyone could feel the rage just below the surface.
     "But..." Sally began.
     "Now!"
     The children rose silently and walked out of the hut as
Julayla stepped aside, her facial expression never changing.  No
sooner was the last of them outside than Julayla closed the door
with a bang.  Then they heard something they had never heard
before: Julayla sliding the bolt on the door, locking them both
inside.  Tails started whimpering and Bunnie held him close.
     "Now what are we to be doing?" Antoine asked.
     "There's only one thing we can do," Sally replied.
     "Pause for a moment of silence?" Rotor asked as he removed his
cap from his head.
     "No. We leave for Robotropolis."
     "Say what?"
     "I saw Rosie leaving Knothole to get provisions on our way in
here, and Julayla's going to be in there with Sonic for...well, for
a while, anyway.  It's now or never!"

***

     "Sonic Hedgehog," Julayla began saying in even tones as she
walked toward the table where Sonic sat, "it's not my place to tell
you what you can or can't feel.  But you know that I will NOT allow
that kind of behavior in this hut or anywhere else in Knothole!  Is
that clear?"
     "Yeah," Sonic grumbled, his arms folded in front of him,
refusing to even look at Julayla.  "So can I get out of here now?"
     "You're not getting off that easy, young man."  She took a
piece of paper and a pencil from an adjoining table and placed them
in front of Sonic.  "You're going to do some writing."
     "What do you want me to write, 'I will not break stupid bowls'
one hundred times?"  Whatever it was going to be, he knew it would
be a stupid waste of time.
     "No," she said calmly.  "I want you to write down everything
that you can remember about your mother."
     Sonic had been ready for everything but that.
     "Say what?"
     "You heard me, young man.  Start writing."
     "Here," he said as he handed her the blank piece of paper with
a disingenuous grin, "I'm done, 'cause I can't remember nothing."
     "I don't think so," Julayla said as she placed the piece of
paper back in front of Sonic.  "Start writing."
     "But..."
     "No buts."  She sat down on the bench next to Sonic.  "We're
both going to stay here until you finish, and I don't care if it
takes you all night or a week or the rest of your life.  Now start
writing."
     "But...but I can't!"
     "Yes, you can.  Now write!"
     "No!"  Sonic slammed his pencil down on the table.
     "I said write!"
     "But I..."
     "Start writing, Sonic!"
     "I...I can't!"
     "And why not?"
     "Because I...."
     "What?" Julayla demanded.
     "Because...." Sonic's lip began to quiver and his eyes
widened.  His voice sounded as if someone had him by the throat. 
"I didn't have...I mean, I never knew...my...she...."
     Sonic suddenly let out a howl of pain.  His well-cultivated
cool was gone.  He threw his head upon his folded arms and cried.
     He didn't know how long he spent crying out the anger and
grief he had carried inside for so long.  He only knew that it had
gotten darker inside the hut when he opened his eyes.  He also
realized that his head and arms were in Julayla's lap, and that she
was gently stroking his head.
     Sonic looked up into her face.  It was no longer stern and
angry.  It was softer now, and tears stood in her own eyes as well.
     "Sonic?" she asked kindly.
     The boy was still unable to talk; his chest heaved as he
breathed in an erratic rhythm and tears continued to stream down
his face.  Julayla put her arms around him and held him to her as
she slowly rocked her body back and forth.  Her embrace was so
comforting to Sonic that he started crying all over again.
     Eventually Sonic stopped weeping.  His breathing steadied.  He
felt as if someone had reached into his chest and scooped out
whatever was inside.
     "Sonic?"
     He again looked up into Julayla's face.
     "Sonic, I'm sorry for what I did to you, for forcing you to
face the pain behind your anger.
     "But everyone here has felt that pain.  All of your friends
have lost their parents; you lost your parents first, but we all
have lost them."
     "We?"
     "My own mother died in childbirth.  Every year, at First
Honor, I'd take a bowl of milk and pour it out upon her grave."
     Sonic sniffed loudly and ran his upper arm across his lip. 
Julayla did not correct his manners.
     "It was a long time before I realized that mothers do not give
their milk to the dead, but to the living.  I then began to show
honor to my father, who had been both mother and father to me when
I was young."
     "Like...like my Uncle Chuck," Sonic sniffled.
     "Yes.  First Honor isn't just about our mothers; it's about
all those in our lives who have cared for us and helped us along
the life path thus far.  It would be no dishonor to your true
mother or to your uncle to show First Honor to Rosie."
     "You know?"
     Julayla smiled.  "I'm afraid I've lived long enough to be able
to find out many of the secrets you children think you can keep to
yourselves.  That's why you must tell Sally when you see her that
whatever she's planning, she doesn't have to go through with it. 
The milk you'll need for First Honor has been set aside in the
kitchen."
     "But that's for Tails, isn't it?"
     "Rosie knew that First Honor was coming, so she made provision
to have extra milk on hand.  You children won't have to put
yourselves in danger.  Tell her that."
     "OK."
     Julayla stroked Sonic's head one more time.  "Go, now.  I'll
clean up in here."
     "But the paper...."
     "I think you've learned enough for now."
     Sonic stood up and began walking toward the door.  He stopped
and turned.  "How did you know what was ticking me off?"
     "Sonic," Julayla said as she shook her head, "it's easier for
a red bird to hide in a green tree than it is for you to hide your
feelings.  I've watched you struggle with the loneliness and anger
you've felt every year when First Honor rolls around.  And Sonic?"
     "Yeah?"
     "Whatever was said here, don't repeat it to the others.  Let's
keep this between you and the 'slave driver'."
     Sonic smiled.  "That's cool," he said in almost a whisper.  He
stepped outside and closed the door.
     It was now early evening, and a couple of stars were visible
in the sky.  Sonic was more than relieved because of his session
with Julayla; he was elated.  She hadn't punished him and they
didn't have to go through with Sally's plan!  What's more, he
hadn't felt this unburdened in a long time, at least not since he
first held a power ring in his hands.  He ran to the girls' hut and
knocked on the door.
     "Yo!  Sal!"
     No answer.
     "Sally?"
     He tried the door, and it opened easily.  The hut was empty.
     Next he ran to Antoine and Rotor's hut.  "Hey, Rote!" he
called out as he opened the door.
     Empty.
     With a start, Sonic realized that the rest of the kids were
gone.  They could only be one place: on their way to Robotropolis. 
He ran back to his hut and began fishing under his bed.  He had
stashed that day's power ring in his backpack.  He needed to catch
up with the others, and fast!

***

     Five small figures moved in and out of the shadows at the base
of Robotnik's headquarters.  They huddled behind the hulk of a
wrecked hovercraft.
     "Can we go home now?" Tails asked for the tenth time.
     "Not yet.  We're almost there," Sally answered.
     "But my princess, how are you to be knowing where we are?"
     "It stands to reason that no matter what he's done to the
palace, there still had to be a door leading to the kitchen from
the outside.  We just have to find it."
     "Yeah, before Robotnik finds US!"
     "Bunnie, quit worrying.  Let's move."
     They slipped out of hiding and walked several hundred yards
around the base of the giant egg-shaped structure.  Sally paused.
     "OK, I think we're almost there."
     "I hope so, Sal," Rotor whispered.  "I've got a feeling that
there'll be a SWATbot patrol coming after us any second now."
     "Let's just keep moving."
     They rounded the building and paused several yards ahead. 
There was an access door and some kind of loading dock clearly
visible.
     "That's it!" Sally whispered.  "Come on."
     The children paused in front of the door, studying it closely. 
Rotor was so intent on examining the electronic locking mechanism,
and the others were so intent on watching Rotor, that they failed
to notice the figure moving toward them out of the shadows of the
loading dock.
     "About time you slow-mos got here!"
     The children just about jumped out of their skin, then turned. 
There was Sonic, smirking and leaning against the wall.
     "Sonic!" Tails started to call out.  But he only got past the
first syllable before Sally covered his mouth with her hand.
     "What're YOU doing here?" she hissed.  "I thought you didn't
want any part of this!"
     "Sal, we don't have to DO this!  Julayla said...."
     But before Sonic could finish speaking, there was the wail of
a SWATbot siren.  They couldn't see any units but they sounded
close.
     "We've got to get out of here!" Sally said.
     "Where are we all gonna go?"
     "Inside!" Rotor said in a husky whisper.  "I've almost cracked
the locking mechanism."
     "But Rote...."
     "Got it!"  The door began to slide open and the children
dashed inside.
     It took a few seconds before their eyes adjusted to the dim
light but they knew that they were in a kitchen.  It wasn't
however, the kitchen that Sally remembered.  That room had been one
of her favorite rooms in the palace, with its worn flagstone floors
and its wooden shelves piled with food and the giant centuries-old
stone hearth.  It was a room with a personality -- an open,
friendly personality.
     The room they were in now had no personality, or if it did it
was a formal, cold personality.  Everything in it was metal: the
floors, the walls, the ceiling, the tables and the shelves and the
oven and the doors and the sinks.  This was indeed a kitchen made
in the image of Robotnik.
     "I don't like this place," Tails said.
     "Me neither, little bro."
     "Such a pity that this could not being used for good instead
of the evil," Antoine lamented.
     "What the hoo-ha do YOU know about kitchens, Ant?"
     "My oncle, he was a great chef.  He let me watch once while he
made for us the souffle that was the master's piece!"
     "Save it, Ant!" Sonic said testily.  "We gotta juice outta
here!"
     "Not until we get what we came here for," Sally insisted.
     "But Sal...."
     "SWATbots!" Rotor whispered, his ear up against a door.
     "Where?" Sally asked.
     "In the hall.  I heard them!"
     "Everybody scatter!  Maybe they'll go away!"
     With that the children dove for cover.  Sonic grabbed Tails
and slid under a table, Rotor squeezed into a pantry alcove,
Antoine slipped into a spacious oven and eased the door shut, and
Bunnie hid behind a nearby janitor's sink.
     As for Sally, she saw that she was standing next to a massive
door with a large latch.  She opened the latch, stepped inside and
closed the door behind her.
     The first thing she noticed was the dull, red light that
bathed everything in the room, a room that seemed to stretch on
forever.  Then she noticed the cold -- a bitter cold.  There had
never been a room like this in the palace.  It was dark and
freezing cold and, Sally had a feeling, evil.
     In the light she saw numberless forms that appeared to be
suspended from the ceiling all around the room.  They appeared to
be hanging down from hooks that ran in grooves that laced the
ceiling like the strands of a spider's web.
     Sally blew on her hands, trying to keep them warm, and saw her
breath come out in clouds as if it were winter in the room.  She
looked intently at the form hanging in front of her.  She had never
seen anything like it before.
     Then she remembered one of Julayla's lessons: when confronted
by something unknown, see if it resembles anything known.
     Looking again at the form, she studied it for a few seconds. 
She then tried turning the image over in her mind, as if looking at
it from a different angle might be the solution.  She felt no urge
to reach out and touch the object.
     It was only by the vaguest of associations that she realized
that there WAS something familiar about the skinny part of the
object, the part impaled on the hook.  She never formed it as a
conscious thought but suddenly she saw it with ghastly clarity. 
She saw the part as it might have been at one time -- covered with
fur and ending in a foot, a foot which had been severed at the
ankle.
     With that the truth fell into place and the full weight of
horror closed in on Sally.  The object before her was no longer
some mysterious abstract.  It was, it had once been, a Mobian.  Its
skin had been stripped from its body, its feet and arms and head
were gone, and it had been gutted.
     She had solved the mystery of the room and now knew it for
what it was.  This was a place where dead Mobians were stored, but
this was no tomb like the burial vaults of the long-dead kings and
queens of Mobius which lay beneath the lower floors of the palace. 
This room was too close to the kitchen to be anything but a place
to store food.
     In her mind she suddenly saw the room teeming with Mobians of
all ages, males and females and children, strung up with hooks
through their ankles, split from chest to groin and their vital
organs gone, their throats slit, their life's blood poured out onto
the grated gleaming metal floor below as they looked at Sally with
open mouths and with dull, pleading eyes.
     Speechless with panic, Sally started to back away.  Her back
came in contact with the cold metal wall and she gasped.  She was
so gripped with fear that she was only dimly aware that she had
emptied her bladder onto the floor.  Unable to take her eyes off
the forms she saw in her mind she groped for the door latch.  She
found it, opened the door and stepped outside.  She closed it
behind her.
     "THERE you are!" Sonic said.  "Coast is clear, Sal.  Those
SWATbots never even came in...you OK?"
     Sally only nodded.
     "What's in there?" Tails asked.
     "Nothing!" Sally's eyes were wide and her hands trembled
slightly, and it wasn't from the cold.  "Nothing at all."
     "OK, Sal, OK."
     "Where's the sink?  I've got to...to splash some water on my
face."
     "Over yonder, Sally-girl."
     "Yeah, then we gotta get gone!"
     "What's that smell?" Tails asked.
     "Guys!  Look!"
     "What's up, Rote?"
     The children gathered around Rotor, looking at a screen
mounted on a wall.  Sally joined them after drying her face on a
nearby towel, which she then used to dab the inside of her legs
before tossing it into a nearby garbage can.
     "It looks like one of Robotnik's security monitors.  I was
doing some channel surfing when I saw THAT!"
     On the screen they saw Robotnik's malevolent image, seated in
what appeared to be some kind of control room.  They also heard his
voice coming from a nearby speaker saying: "Bring in the prisoner."
     "Prisoner?"  The children looked at each other as if to make
sure they were all here.  Then they looked back at the screen.
     "Sir," Snively began, "a SWATbot patrol apprehended
this...this creature outside your headquarters.  I believe she was
trying to break into the kitchen."
     The kitchen?
     "How bold," Robotnik said sarcastically.  "Bring her to me."
     Two SWATbots moved into the camera's view, a small figure
hunched down between them.  Yet the children all gasped when they
saw the figure, for they recognized her in an instant.
     It was Rosie.
     "Turn it UP!" Sally urged.
     "Yeah, right, and let the SWATbots know we're here."
     "Sonic, be quiet!
     They gathered closer to listen as best they could.
     "Well, well, what kind of thief is this?"
     Rosie just stood there and said nothing.
     "The face is familiar, but I can't quite place it."
     "Sir," Snively piped up, "this is the former nanny to Princess
Sally."
     "Ah, yes!  Miss Rosie, isn't it?  Well, this IS an occasion. 
And how IS the Princess these days?"
     Rosie continued to be silent.  Robotnik simply grinned.
     "I THOUGHT she might still be alive.  And if she is, that puts
me in the awkward position of having a competitor.  Bring her to me
and perhaps I'll spare your life."
     "Not for all of Mobius!" Rosie declared.  Sally, who was
apparently more worried about her nanny's fate than Rosie was about
herself, couldn't help but smile out of admiration.
     "Your stubbornness will be the death of you.  And her!"
     "She's just a child!"
     "Child or not, she's also a symbol of resistance.  And that's
something I don't need.  Snively!"
     "Shall I prepare the roboticizer, sir?"
     The children held their breath.
     "No, Snively.  I'm not going to make this easy for her.  She
WILL tell me what I want to know, even if it's with her last
breath.  This will require some thought.  Have the SWATbots take
her away until I can decide just HOW I want to..."motivate" her."
     Rosie was led away and the children looked to each other.
     "What's gonna happen to Rosie?" Tails asked, his voice
wavering.
     "We get her outta here, that's what."
     "Sonic!"
     "Sal, this ain't a milk run no more!  It's now a search-and-
rescue operation."
     "Hope y'all got a plan, Sugar-hog."
     "OK, so we'll have to make it up as we go.  We can't go back
to Knothole and wait for Buttnik to come up with something first."
     "I guess you're right," she sighed.  "But how will we know
where Rosie's being taken?"
     "No problem, Sally," Rotor replied.  "I figured out how to use
this scanner to track her movements.  See those numbers in the
lower corner?"
     "What is the good of the numbering when they cannot be telling
us her locution?"
     "I got that figured out, too.  Keep watching."
     The children kept their eyes on the screen.  As Rosie and the
two SWATbots began to disappear out of camera range, Rotor would
quickly key in a set of numbers on a nearby keypad.  Instantly the
image would shift so that once more she was in sight.  After
several minutes they saw Rosie being placed in a holding cell with
a numerical lock.
     "OK, now what?" Sonic asked.
     "Now this!"  Rotor turned off the image on the screen.  It was
replaced by a computer-generated schematic of Robotnik's
headquarters.
     "OK, let me enter the coordinates for the last video image we
saw with Rosie; that should show up on the diagram there."
     "Well, SOMETHING's flashing," Sonic noted.
     "Now, I think these are the coordinates to this panel I'm
using."
     "So that's where we are, right?"
     "Right, Bunnie.  All we got to do now is get from point A to
point B."
     "And hope we don't run into any SWATbots on the way there."
     "I hope we DO, Sal, Sonic replied as he pulled the power ring
from his backpack.  "I'm in the mood to kick some serious can!"
     The path Rotor indicated on the schematic was mercifully
short, and she was apparently being held on the same floor as the
kitchen.  Still, the children had no idea what to expect as they
moved out into the hallway.
     For several hundred yards they made their way down stark metal
corridors with no doors or windows.  Nobody said anything until
they came to a large metal door that blocked their path.
     "This could be the entrance to the cell block," Rotor
observed.  If I can get this open there's no turning back."
     The others waited nervously as Rotor experimented with the
mechanism.  Sonic, however, wasn't nervous so much as impatient. 
He almost began tapping his foot on the floor when the door began
sliding open.  On the other side was a short corridor that turned
to the right.
     "Now what?" Bunnie asked in a whisper.
     "Now we need a scout," Sonic replied.  "Take the point, big
guy."
     Beaming, Tails revved up and flew as close to the ceiling as
possible, then slowly inched along it until he was at the corner. 
He only poked his nose around the corner for a second before
hurrying back to the others and landing.
     "What's the story?"
     "SWATbots!  Two of 'em.  They're just standing there."
     "Not for long."
     Gripping the power ring, Sonic dashed to the corner, banked
off the wall and sped past the two SWATbots standing guard in front
of Rosie's cell.  Sonic screeched to a halt at the other end of the
corridor.
     "Yo!  SWATbutts!"
     The two SWATbots rotated their heads, their bodies remaining
stationary.
     "C'mon!  Let's see what you got!"
     The two raised their arms and sent several rounds of blaster
fire down the corridor.  Rosie gasped and covered her eyes as the
wall at the far end crumbled in spots.  Even before the smoke had
cleared, Sonic was poking his hear around the far corner.
     "Pretty lame, guys!"
     Now the two SWATbots began giving chase, which was the point
of this exercise.  Sonic took off with the bots in pursuit.  Just
as they rounded the corner and were lost from sight, Sally and the
others emerged from hiding and gathered around the door to Rosie's
cell.
     "Children!" Rosie whispered.  "What are you doing here?"
     "Getting you out," Sally replied.
     "You children must leave now!  You're in danger!"
     "Not without you, Rosie."  Sally looked at Rotor who was still
studying the lock.  "Can you figure it out, Rotor?"
     The sound of a distant metallic crash drifted around the
corner.  Rosie and the children looked in that direction and heard
nothing else.
     "Uh-oh," Tail said.
     "Rotor, what about the lock?"
     "I think I can do it, Sally."
     "You THINK?"
     "Sally, this is a grown-up lock!  I'm gonna need some time."
     "That's something we might not have."
     Just then they heard another sound from around the corner,
this one very familiar.  A split-second later, Sonic rounded the
corner then screeched to a stop.
     "Sonic!  What about the SWATbots?"
     "Don't sweat the bots, Sal.  I creamed 'em."
     "Wow!" Tails said.
     "Rotor, keep working on that lock!  Sonic, what are you
talking about?"
     "They chased me into this blind hallway with no doors or
nothing.  They musta figured they had me, so I kinda slowed down. 
Then just before I hit the wall I juiced up it and ran the ceiling. 
The bots plowed right into the wall.  You shoulda seen it."
     "You ran the ceiling?  Cool!"  Tails gave Sonic a look of
total admiration.
     "Yeah," Sonic replied casually as he slipped the power ring
back into his backpack, then took it off.  "I gotta get Sal here to
help me work on my landings, but...."
     "SONIC!"
     Sally had cried out because Sonic had absent-mindedly hung his
backpack on the cell's locking mechanism, which stuck out from the
door.  Now the numeric display on the lock was glowing brighter
than before.  The numbers were sequencing through at an alarming
rate.
     "Now look!  You just undid all Rotor's work!"
     "Hang on, Sally," Rotor said.  "Look!"
     The displayed numbers continued sequencing faster and faster
for another two seconds, then the display went dark.  At that
moment, everyone heard the locking mechanism reset.  Rosie tried
the door and it slid open.  Rosie stepped outside and several of
the children put their arms around her.
     "Howdja do THAT, Sonic?" Tails asked, convinced yet again that
there wasn't anything Sonic COULDN'T do!
     "I dunno, little bro.  All I had in my backpack was that power
ring."
     "It must have overloaded the locking mechanism," Rotor
guessed.  "Wish I could take it back to Knothole and check it out."
     "You'll have to hunt for souvenirs another time," Sally
interrupted.
     "The Princess is right," Rosie said.  "We've wasted too much
time already."  She started walking quickly down the hallway, back
in the direction they had come.
     "Where are we goin', Mizz Rosie?"
     "To the kitchen, Bunnie."
     "We just came from there," Sonic said as Rotor opened the
metal door.  Just then a deafening warning klaxon sounded in the
hallway.
     "No more time for talk, children.  Run!"
     Retracing their steps, the children and Rosie soon found
themselves back in front of the kitchen.  Rosie waited until all
the children were inside.  She then closed the kitchen door and
began moving several garbage cans in front of it.
     "That ain't gonna stop 'em!" Sonic said.
     "No, but it WILL slow them down, and right now that's all we
need."
     Rotor, Sonic and Antoine joined in, finding things to heap in
front of the door.  Rosie then hurried to the door to the freezer.
     "Rosie, NO!" Sally cried.
     "It'll be alright, dears.  This is our way out."
     "But..."
     Rosie gave Sally a sharp look, as if to reprimand her.  Sally
understood, and she saw for a fleeting moment a deep pain behind
Rosie's look.  She knew that Rosie was equally aware of the weight
of horror in that room, but that there was no avoiding it.  She
opened the door and the children began crowding inside.
     "What kind of place IS this?"
     "Never you mind, Sonic.  Now follow me."
     Rosie led them off to the left toward a darkened corner of the
room.  Sally brought up the rear, her heart beating wildly as she
glanced around her.
     Rosie led them through a door into another room.  Though
smaller than the other room and not as cold, Sally still felt the
same sense of foreboding.  Once again. almost everything in the
room was metal.  In the center of the room was a large metal table
with slightly raised edges.  It appeared to be tilted at a slight
angle, toward a grate set in the flood.  There was a large sink in
the corner, and hanging from racks on one wall were many cruel-
looking knives and saws.
     "Is this some kind of operating room?" Rotor asked.
     "I want you children to forget about this place," Rosie said
as matter-of-factly as she could.  "Now give me a hand with this."
She bent down to lift the grate, and several of the children joined
in.
     "Now what?" Bunnie asked.
     "Inside."
     "Down THERE?"
     "It's only water, dear.  Now hurry!"
     The children dropped down the several feet into the shallow
water of the pipe below the floor.  Tails was too afraid to even
fly down alone unless he were holding Sonic's hand.  Rosie was the
last down the pipe, pulling the grating back into place.  She then
began shepherding the children down the pipe toward the place where
it emptied out into an open sewer in the shadow of Robotnik's
headquarters.
     At that moment, Snively and the SWATbots were in the kitchen. 
They had broken through the pile of debris in front of the kitchen
door and were looking around.  Snively stepped over to the
communication panel.
     "We've sealed off the exits to the building.  They must be
around here somewhere.  We're searching the kitchen area now."
     "Don't disappoint me, Snively; I want her back and I want her
NOW!"
     He looked around the room, his eyes resting on the door to the
freezer.  A small trail of mist was seeping through the bottom of
the door; it wasn't completely closed.  He pulled on it and it
swung open.  Stepping inside, he looked around.
     "SWATbots!  I want you to...."
     Before he could finish giving them orders, Snively stepped on
something that wasn't supposed to be there: a small patch of ice
near the wall.  Apparently, something had been spilled there
recently and had frozen solid.  Snively lost his footing and fell,
his head hitting the metal floor.  The SWATbots just stood there,
passively awaiting instructions.  By the time Snively had picked
himself up off the floor and the pain in his head had subsided,
Rosie and the children were making their way down the darkened
streets of Robotropolis.

***

     There was less light in the Great Forest than on the streets
of Robotropolis.  Yet the darkness of the forest held no fear for
the children.  In fact, they took comfort from it.  They had been
tense and anxious all the time they were in the city, not knowing
whether there were SWATbots in pursuit of them.  Bunnie was close
to tears by the time they reached the outskirts of Robotropolis,
but now that they were back in the forest it was as if she couldn't
remember what had scared her.
     "Children," Rosie asked, "you still haven't told me what you
were doing in that place."
     "It was my idea, Rosie," Sally admitted.  "First Honor is
tomorrow and..."
     "And you thought that Robotnik's kitchen was the only place to
find milk.  Bless you, dear, I already had plenty put away for
First Honor."
     "What?"
     "That's what I was trying to TELL you, Sal!" Sonic piped up. 
"Julayla told me that we didn't have to sneak into Robuttnik's
place to get any milk."
     "You are meaning we risk-ed limb and life for nothing!?"
     "It weren't for nothin', Ant.  We still got Rosie outta there,
right?"
     "And I'm grateful to you all, children.  But I won't be
putting you through that again.  That was my last time inside that
dreadful place."
     "It was?" Sally asked.
     "It tells me more than ever that we have to rely on what we
grow ourselves to provide for ALL our needs.  Miss Julayla and I
had been talking about it and it looks like the time is right. 
Some of our meals may be a little plainer in the future for it, but
it's a small enough price to pay."
     "So where the hoo-ha IS the milk, anyway?"
     "Left-hand cabinet, second shelf, second-largest canister."
     "THAT stuff?  The kinda crumbly white stuff that looks like
big snowflakes?"
     "Yes, Miss Bunny.  It's powdered milk.  We use so little that
it would go bad if we used only fresh milk.  Use the measuring cup
in the canister with a cup of water.  I dare say there's enough in
there now to carry you through three First Honors."
     By this time the group had reached the bridge.  They could see
Julayla standing in the doorway of her hut, a dark silhouette
against the light inside.  Apparently satisfied that Rosie and the
children had returned safely, she stepped inside and closed the
door.  A few seconds later the hut was dark.
     "We'd all better turn in, children.  It's been a long night. 
And I don't think Master Tails will want to be falling asleep in
the middle of his own party."  She cupped the cub's face in one
hand; Tails grinned broadly.
     "We're ALL gonna party hearty, Rosie; don't worry about us."
     "I DO worry, Master Sonic.  Just my nature, I suppose.  Good
night."
     Rosie walked across the bridge and back toward her hut. 
Sally, who had been looking at the dark waters of the river flowing
beneath the bridge, turned to face the others.
     "Bunnie, guys, I'm sorry I put you through all this.  If I'd
have checked in with Julayla instead of worrying about secrecy, I'd
have known that Bunnie had the right idea all along.  I guess I've
still got a lot to learn about being a leader."
     "No harm no foul, Sally," Rotor replied.  "Besides, we STILL
got in and out of there in one piece, AND helped spring Rosie!"
     "Yeah, and don't that beat all!" Bunnie added.
     "What do you mean?" Sally asked.
     "Ah mean her sneakin' in and out of Robotnik's kitchen all
this time!"
     "Yeah," Rotor added.  "And doing it to put food on the table."
     "And she goes and says she's worried 'bout US!"
     There was an awkward silence while the children thought about
it.  Finally Sonic spoke: "That's grown-ups for you!"
     "Come on, guys," Rotor said, "we can still get a few hours
sleep before we raid the kitchen and get the milk for Rosie."
     "You're right," Sally admitted.  "Let's turn in."
     "No way!" Sonic said forcefully.
     "What?"
     "There's something I gotta say first!"

***

     Julayla opened her shutters a crack.  It was not enough to let
much light into her hut, but it was enough to watch the scene
unfold.
     She saw the children, each carrying a bowl, approaching the
door to Rosie's hut in a group.  Their attempt at stealth by
walking on tiptoe was undercut, however, by their whispering and
giggling.  They were soon there, and she saw Sally knocking on the
door.
     Julayla looked hard, trying to count the children.  Sometimes
she thought she saw Sonic among them, other times he seemed to
disappear from view.  She rubbed her eyes, wishing she had put on
her spectacles first, but she was confident that Sonic was
somewhere among them.
     Now she watched as, one by one, the children walked up the
steps and handed Rosie their bowls.  She couldn't see Rosie's face
clearly, but she knew that Rosie (who was well aware that the
children had planned this) was beaming with an entirely unfeigned
happiness.
     Before the last child had presented his bowl to Rosie, Julayla
closer the shutters.  She would not begrudge Rosie the joy of
receiving a mother's due on First Honor.  Besides, Julayla told
herself, there was too much to do to prepare for Tails' weaning
party later in the day.  There was no time for her to feel sorry
for herself.
     She took her time getting dressed, then walked toward the
door.  She opened it, looked outside, and gasped.
     For the old feline, who had never borne children and on whom
no one had ever bestowed a single thought on First Honor, looked at
the base of the steps leading up to her hut and saw six children
standing there.  Each one carried a bowl of milk.
     She felt herself sinking to her knees.  Sonic, who was the
closest to the stairs, walked up and smiled as he held his bowl out
toward her.  She took it from him, bringing it to her lips.  She
drank from it, the smoothness and the sweetness of the milk
unleashing a flood of memories.  As she set the bowl down beside
her, Sonic stepped forward and threw his arms around Julayla's
neck.  Julayla wrapped her arms around Sonic as well, and he
whispered something to her that none of the others could hear. 
Sonic then walked down the steps and moved to the back of the group
where he stood next to Tails.
     "Sonic?" Tails whispered.
     "Yeah?" he whispered back.
     "You said this would make Julayla happy."
     "Yeah, so?"
     "So how come she's crying?"
     "It's a grown-up thing."
     "Oh."


                             THE END