Tale of Two Tails Ch 13

Chapter 13:
Freedom Challenged

The buildings flew by in a blur as he tore through Robotropolis looking for SWATbots to toast. His eyes darted from side to side and his ears swiveled to try to pick up any sign of the stupid robots. As he ran, he suddenly realized he wasn't alone. He looked at the hedgehog who was now running beside him and frowned.
"What are you doing here?"
The pink hedgehog looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Sonic, I wanted…" She paused and took a breath before continuing. "I wanted to ask for your forgiveness."
Sonic was so startled, stopped as did his cousin.
"Say what?" he said not quite believing his ears.
She hung her head and nodded. "I was out of control the last time you saw me. I know that's no excuse for my behavior but I wanted to admit that to you. I never wanted to put my dad, your Uncle Chuck, in danger. There was a lot of stuff…"
"Hold up a sec, Sonya." said Sonic holding up a hand. "There's just one thing I wanna know. Is there going to be a repeat of it?"
Sonya shook her head. "No. Not again. Now that I got things worked out, I'm a lot cooler."
Sonic nodded slowly and then shrugged and held out his hand to his pink cousin. "Past cool, Cuz."
She smiled. "Way past cool, Sonny."
They laughed but were soon interrupted by an all too familiar sound to Sonic.
"WARNING PRIORITY ONE HEDGEHOG ALERT!"
Sonya cocked an eyebrow at Sonic who shrugged, smiled. "They love me."
They laughed again and then took off at mach 1.3, generating a shockwave that sent the SWATbots into every surface in the area.

Dan watched the two hedgies blaze towards the hidden group at supersonic speed. Sonya stopped right in front of Dan while Sonic got clothes-lined. Dan shook his head and smiled down at the surprised blue hedgehog.
"Still having trouble stopping, Sonic?" he asked while helping Sonic to his feet.
"A little." muttered Sonic. "Nice to see you again. I think I'm still sore from the last time we trained."
Alex snickered and Sonic glared at her. "And thanks to you, I still have trouble getting my quills to got go all frizzy on me."
Alex looked at him with the look of a hurt puppy. "What do you mean? I didn't pull a prank on you."
Sonic tapped his foot in slight annoyance. "Ha! You put a small electrode in the pipe that goes to my shower. Not enough to hurt, but enough to give me static electricity for a month of Sundays."
Alex blushed and everyone laughed. Alex had struck again and this time a hedgie was having a continuous bad quill day. Sonya glared warningly at Alex, Mya, and Kaila who flinched and backed away. The message was clear, try that prank on Sonya and someone was going to be nicknamed pincushion.

Robotnik watched the replay of the surveillance videos and growled. So she was back. He watched as she apologized to Sonic about her behavior and clenched his fist. Curse it, now the two were on good terms and there was little he could do to try to separate them. He punched up another camera and jumped. There on screen was the face of a hedgehog with eyes that seemed to be filled with fire.
"Meet me at the Robotisizor Dr. Julian Robotnik." she said in a low and dangerous tone. "I have a proposition that you might find interesting."
Robotnik frowned. He did not like the look of this hedgehog but he was not about to turn down help in these dangerous times. He got up and walked towards the door.
"Snively, keep a close eye on the Robotisizor and keep a lot of SWATbots nearby."
Snively gulped. "Y-y-yes, sir."
Robotnik got into his hovership and was soon at the entrance of the building that held his now obsolete Robotisizor. He walked in and found a very beautiful red hedgehog dressed in yellow clothes sitting on the head of one of the techbots that seemed to be broken down. He gulped and stepped forward. Something about her did not feel right. She smiled a smiled that could have been considered sweet but the eyes ruined the whole thing.
"So you are the infamous Julian Robotnik." she said with mocking sweetness. "You are definitely taller then most of the other humans here on Mobius, and wider." she chuckled.
Robotnik growled. "I have nothing to do with those idiots from the colonies. I am not even of their race."
"I know that, Julian." she said. "I know a great many things actually."
Robotnik was suddenly very alert. "Oh?"
She nodded. "For instance, I know you are after the secrets to those 'power rings' that the blue speedster uses and I know where and how you can get the device that creates them."
Robotnik was instantly cautious. "Why would you want to betray your own kind, hedgehog?"
Her smile disappeared and she levitated up until she was directly in Robotnik's face, looking into his eyes.
"Just so you know not to say that again, I am neither a hedgehog nor anything of this world. Do not think me so weak. The only reason I am not out there right now killing him and his girlfriend is because of the three other Guardians protecting them."
Robotnik backed away bowing slightly, "I am very sorry, I did not mean to offend you, but I happen to have a really major dislike for hedgehogs."
She frowned. "I know. And that is why I have this offer. You are to kill either Sonic Hedgehog or Amy Roselle and then secure the area so that I can retrieve what my master wants. Once I have the object my master wants, I will tell you the exact location of the power ring generating device."
Robotnik grinned evilly. "Sounds like a plan."
With that, they shook hands.

Three shadows snuck through Knothole that night. One headed for Sally's hut while another headed to Antoine's hut, while the third headed towards Dulcy's hut with a bucket. The one that went to Sally's, snuck in and deftly swapped her shampoo's while the one headed for Antoine silently turned the place upside down. The last one spread a thin layer of some mega-muck on Dulcy's tail as she hung from her usual rafter. Then all three went back bed giggling.

Sonic and Amy sat straight up at the sound of Sally's scream and then they were startled again by another scream from Antoine's hut. When they finally walked outside, they heard Dulcy yell.
"WHAT THE HECK?! MEGA-MUCK?!"
Sonic looked and Amy who nodded and they rushed to Dulcy first since she could cause the most damage. They walked into the dragon's hut stared in disbelief at the mega-muck holding Dulcy to the rafters.
"You gonna just stand there or ya gonna help me out?" growled the green dragon with her arms crossed.
"Cool it, Dulce. Hang on a sonic-second." said Sonic. He then called out the door to Sally. "Yo! Sal you know anything… What the heck happened to your hair?"
Sally glared at him. "Someone pranked me last night."
"Oh. Well someone hit Dulcy too and now she can't get down."
Sally cocked an eyebrow. "Why can't she get down?"
"Someone slathered mega-muck all over her tail and now she's suck."
"Oh brother." muttered Dan as he and Sonya looked out the window of their hut.
"They strike again." groaned Sonya.
Sally looked at them. "Who?"
"Alex, Kaila, and Mya. Those three are the prankster queens."
Sally rolled her eyes. "Great." she said sarcastically. "That's the last thing we need."
They all looked towards Antoine's hut as the sounds of distress got louder. Sonic looked at Amy and Sally. "Should we check on him?"
Sally sighed. "Sure."
Before they could move however, Siren appeared in front of Sonic and struck.
"Give me the Emerald, worthless hedgehog." She growled.
"Flamethrower." said a young female voice.
Siren turned toward the voice and was met by a wall of fire that quickly engulfed her. Siren screamed a blood curdling scream and teleported away. Immediately, the fire went out and everyone looked at the young red fox that had driven off the attacker. She smiled sheepishly.
"I hope no one besides her got toasted."
Sonic sat down in shock. "Whoa. That was… that was…"
"Close?" suggested Amy.
"Cool?" suggested Sonya.
Sonic nodded. "Yeah, both of those will do."
Sonya looked at Dan and saw his concerned face.  "What's wrong, Dan?"
"I did not expect her to attack us directly like that."
"Siren is like that." said Kaila. "She was probably testing us to see how strong we are."
"No… I don't think so." said Dan. "She knows better then to attack five guardians."
"True, but what about Argarose. He seems a little over due." said Mya.
Alex joined in. "He can stay gone for all I care, but we do need to beat him."
Dan shrugged. "As far as Argarose goes, we need to wait for him."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Come on, Dan. The sooner we call him out, the easier it will be to take him down. We hurt him pretty good last time."
Dan smiled at the little echidna. "Emphasis on we, right?"
Alex blushed and everyone laughed. Sonya smiled and put an arm around the little echidna and Alex hid her reddening face in Sonya's shoulder.

Argarose watched as Siren fled the scene of the short battle and frowned. That little red fox was a major threat normally but now she also carried the Earth Emerald. He rumbled deep in his throat. He would have to deal with miserable little creature before anything could go foreword. He withdrew back to his den and went back to recharging himself. He wondered what had happened to the other echidna girl. What had happened in his long absence?
He hated these dang sleep cycles, they removed him from a world that seemed to always be shifting and reshaping itself. He looked at his hand-claws and sighed. This next fight would probably be his last. Siren was an Elite and that meant that he really stood no chance against her. He only had to hurt her badly enough to cause her to have to retreat back to her master. He did not care what he did to her, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty.
He yawned and settled down into a dreamless sleep. He would worry about Siren later but for now he needed to recharge. Soon he was snoring in deep sleep.

Robotnik cowered in front of the burned and scarred hedgehog who was yelling at him.
"What the hell do you mean you didn't detect anything?! I gave off an energy spike that could have been detected in space! Are you really that incompetent!?"
Robotnik groveled. "Forgive me, but my sensors started malfunctioning as soon as we began to pass over the Great Forest."
Siren growled and Robotnik flinched. "Fine. You had better find them human, or my master will deal with you personally and trust me, you don't want to see him pissed off."
"Of course not. I would rather be on his side then against him. I will do what I can to kill the hedgehogs and the others if possible."
"Those two are the weak link in the Guardianship right now. If they are not dealt with soon, they will be too powerful to even me to take on directly. Do I make my self clear?" Robotnik nodded. "Good, now… KILL THOSE HEDGEHOGS!" she shouted.
"Yes, of-of course. Snively!"

The Black Ghost raged against Siren until he heard her plan.
"This had better work, Siren. If it doesn't, you will be forced to live as a wanderer for all eternity. No one knows the old un-summon spells and so you never be able to return to your own world."
Siren grimaced. "Yes my lord, I will do the best I can."
He looked in her fire filled eyes. "You had better, Siren Darkspine."