To those who asked: I do intend to keep doing these one per day. Yes, I
could do it faster. If you really want to read them all at once, wait
until I've posted them all here, or go to the archive listed in the
synopsis list.
---cut on this line---
"Vengance Denied" Part 3: Queen
by Adrian Tymes
[Legal disclaimer:
This story is based on characters created by SEGA and DiC Productions, as well
as Sandra Nightweaver and Commander Packbell by David Pistone, Nina Waterwoods
by Holly-B Kraft, and "Postcards From Mobius" #2 by Richard Ray Roberts.
Permission is granted by the author to freely distribute this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who
distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored.
In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.
The griffins in this story are my own creations. If you wish to write a story
including or referring to the griffins as presented below, or the events in
this story, please contact me in advance - I would like to know who uses them.
Copyright (c) 1996, all rights reserved, et cetera.]
******
Knothole was proving to be a very wierd, very disturbing place for Rikal. She
was not bothered by the fact that the Mobians here were of different shapes from
the griffins of Home. Nor did she mind the presence of a dragon, once she
learned that Dulcy no longer harbored the ancient grudge...although she was
careful to stay out of Dulcy's sight, just in case. She identified with
Knothole's need to hide, although she wished that Home could take as agressive a
stance against its enemies as Knothole did.
The thing that troubled her was that she was still alive.
Rikal had failed to assassinate Tails, letting her heart overrule her mind. For
her attempt, the villagers should have beaten her to death. But, for some
reason, they had let her go free after speaking to Kenal. She wanted to ask him
what he said, but Kenal had been chatting with Dulcy ever since Rikal's release,
and she dared not approach the Wyrm.
She had tried to speak to Tails again, but he had flow off with a pink skunk
who seemed to be the "Nina" he had mentioned. Dispirited, she tried to ask a
few questions of the one who had helped her tickle Kenal. That had been a
mistake, for Bunnie tricked her into a room with shrinking walls. Bunnie did
not notice the walls moving, but Rikal knew that any room as small as the one
Bunnie walked into was about to collapse. It was a miracle that it still stood
one hour later. Maybe Bunnie really did live in it, after all. She seriously
doubted that what she saw was just a hallucination due to...what was Bunnie's
word..."claustrophobia", whatever that was.
A shadow fell over her suddenly. Looking up, she saw Kenal landing nearby.
"Welcome to Knothole, Rikal. Better than Home, isn't it?"
"Better? Wierd is more like it. How'd you convince them to free me? They
obviously don't want Tails dead."
"Neither do you. When I told them about your change of heart, they agreed."
"They believed you? Gee, these outsiders really are gullible, huh?"
"Tails told them what you did at Robotropolis."
"So? I could have just been acting."
"And give up such a perfect chance to kill him? No, if you still wanted him
dead, he'd be dead."
"We wouldn't give one of them another chance."
"And they didn't give you one, either, since you won't take it."
"I don't understand. I tried to kill Tails, so they should kill me. That's the
way it's always been."
"The rest of Mobius does not live in fear like Home does, Rikal." Kenal smiled.
"They don't relive the past every day."
Rikal gasped. "You're kidding. How do they keep their culture? How can they
be safe?"
"Look around you, Rikal. Does it look like culture is their highest priority?
Uh-uh. Survival is. Even if it weren't, they have a better way of being safe
than just doing what has been done before. They want better lives, not just the
ones they were born with. If it weren't for Packbell, almost everyone here
would be contributing to and improving their society. We just fossilize ours,
as we have since the dragons drove us underground."
"You don't mean that."
"I do. Why do you think I didn't return when Tails gave me my life back? I
like it here. Sure, it doesn't have all the benefits of Home...no ultrasonic
showers, no indoor weather control, no c'tnep plants...but I don't have to
measure my life by its similarity to my ancestors'. Out here, I could actually
come up with a new way of doing something, and not have it be shunned just for
being new."
"We don't shun things just because they're new. What about all the technology
we've gained?"
"Copied from someone else. Almost every invention we used for the past thousand
years was invented by an outsider, even if we do use it in ways that they don't.
Even the deroboticizer...I just wish I could tell Knothole who we adapted it
from. Fear of change might not be the reason the other griffins give, but it's
the reason they feel. My brother could sense their emotions when he was King,
and I could see it in their eyes."
"But...but..."
"Here, I can try stuff like teaching a dragon the secrets of our stealth."
"You didn't." Rikal was horrified.
"Nah. I just distracted you while Dulcy snuck up from behind."
Rikal spun around in a fraction of a second, only to brush her head against
Dulcy's nosering. She looked up, to see Dulcy's head attached to that ring,
directly above her. "K-Kenal, call her off..." Palpable fear permeated Rikal's
voice.
"Relax. She won't eat you, will ya, Dulcy?"
Dulcy licked her lips. "Well, maybe just a little nibble..."
"Dulcy!"
Rikal fainted.
******
The next morning found Sonic checking in on Sally, who wore a wide grin.
Sonic was concerned, but he did not let it show. "You seem mondo happy today."
"I had an awful nightmare, Sonic, but I just realized that's all it was: a
nightmare."
"Oh? Mind tellin' me about it?"
"It seemed so real, like a memory. It seemed to last an entire day, and..."
"Yesterday was no nightmare, Sal."
The grin was gone from Sally's face in an instant, as her voice went from cheery
to downcast. "It all happened, didn't it? Me, you, Tails, Antoine...Rikal's
still here, and we're still in trouble, right?"
"Right. Don't worry, the ol' hedgehog instincts are telling me this will work
out."
"How do you know?"
"Trust me."
"I hate it when you say that."
"C'mon, Sal, T2 and I came up with a plan."
"You, plan? Now we're really in trouble."
Sonic put his arm around Sally's sholder. She flinched away at first, but
gradually forced herself to accept the gesture. Sonic slowly extended his other
arm to take Sally's hand.
"Ok, Sonic, what's the plan?"
"Part one is to make sure you're ok. Yesterday was rough, even for you."
"I'm fine, Sonic." Sally's voice made plain her lie.
"You don't sound like it. I think you need to clear your mind. When I'm trying
to work something out, it sometimes helps me to just run around. Tails thinks
it might work for you too, now that you can juice the same way I can. I was
thinking you could help me check the message drops."
"I don't think s-OOOAAAAHHHH...." Sally's voice dopplered off as Sonic ran
away, Sally in tow.
A barely awake Bunnie peeked in from her bedroom, her eyes still half shut.
"Good luck, sugarhog," she whispered.
******
The first rays of sunlight were just starting to play through Knothole when
Rikal awoke to find herself still near the dragon. She could feel scales on all
sides, and quickly deduced that she had been placed in Dulcy's pouch. The
Wyrm's stench, while extremely strong, was not as vile as she had heard. Mixed
in with Dulcy's scent was...Kenal's?
Rikal quickly found and opened the top of the pouch, to find Dulcy staring at
the griffin who had been moving on her stomach.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well in there?"
"What kind of dragon are you? You should have eaten me long ago."
"Why?"
"Because, that's what dragons do to griffins."
"Why?"
Rikal blinked. This was definitely not what she had expected. "I thought that
Wyrms were supposed to always hate griffins. Isn't that part of your powers?"
"Oh, that. Kenal showed me how to get rid of that part."
The griffiness paused to ponder this fact. "How?"
"With the crown. It was made to control minds, so we let it help me control my
mind."
A rustling of leaves interrupted Rikal's thoughts. Easing her head further out
of the pouch, she saw that Dulcy was hanging, upside down, by her tail from a
tree limb. Near the top of the tree, just inside its cover of leaves, an
interlocked series of branches had a blanket draped over them. On one section
of the branches which the blanket had been tossed away from, Rikal saw Kenal
stretching. A thin layer of shed fur made it obvious where Kenal spent his
nights.
Looking down, Kenal saw Rikal's head peeking back at him. "Aww, I was hoping to
wake up before you. How long did it take you to tell you were in her pouch?"
"One second. Did they do this to you, too?"
Kenal smirked. "Yeah, and it took me a minute. Even worse, I managed to
sleepwalk in without knowing it."
"Well, that's what happens when you keep the crown on for long periods of time.
You get disoriented at first."
"What do you mean?"
"Dulcy told me you used the crown to control her power's anger towards
griffins."
"I did."
"The crown couldn't alter minds permanently, Kenal. It could only redirect the
anger and eliminate it as it came up."
"Dulcy's anger hasn't returned since the crown was destroyed. Don't tell me
it's still working."
"Of course not. WIth the crown gone, the telepathic link it set up has been
broken. Dulcy's anger has been redirected."
"Wait...could you run that by me again?"
Rikal took a deep breath, then replied, "The crown set up a telepathic link
between itself and Dulcy, so it could absorb her anger and get rid of it. When
the crown was destroyed, the link still took anger away from Dulcy, but it had
to deposit it somewhere. It's probably spewing it to these outsiders."
Kenal quickly remembered Bunnie's and Sally's unusual behavior over the past
day, and guessed that stress was not their only reason. "Any idea how we can
control the link?"
"We can't, now. It'll settle on the biggest source of hate it can find before
long, and add to that source." Rikal snickered. "If I read Sandra's reports
correctly, that source is not in Knothole."
******
Packbell caught himself about to smash a monitor for the fifth time that
morning. He knew that something was wrong, but he was too busy trying to
control his newfound agression to find out exactly what. Over the next few
hours, he found a series of circuits in his positronic brain which had fused
under an unexplicably high load. Unable to find the load's source, he settled
for just upgrading his hate circuits to more robust ones.
******
Back at Knothole, Kenal was getting curious. "How did you learn so much about
the crown?"
"The same way you did," Dulcy interrupted.
"Uh-uh. Snively pumped my brain full of information when I was a workerbot.
Once I was deroboticized, I had to read up on the crown and our history since I
was next in line to be King. Neither of those happened to Rikal."
Rikal dropped to the ground, cautiously stepped away from Dulcy, and began
trying to brush the Wyrm's odor from her fur. "Well, the others thought there
was a chance that Tails just faked the crown's destruction. They told me how to
use it, just in case."
"Are you crazy? You know what the crown would do if you'd suceeded, if it was
still around. Tails doesn't have a sucessor..."
"That was another part of my mission. If he had the crown, I was supposed to
make him give it to me."
Kenal smiled wickedly from his perch in the tree. "All the better."
"What do you mean?"
"It was Tails' idea, maybe you'd better ask him." Kenal pointed with a wing to
the incoming fox.
Love chased out all other thoughts from Rikal's mind as she watched Tails land.
"Good morning, handsome. Umm, about yesterday..."
Tails silenced her with a brief hand wave. "I know about your problem, Rikal.
You were sent here to do something you don't want to do. You can't stay here,
but you can't leave until you're done."
"Why can't I just stay here? I'm sure I could hide us if the others attack.
Your friends wouldn't survive, but we would."
"I have a better solution. Why don't I make you...Queen?"
Rikal's mood immediately brightened. "You mean it?"
"Sure. It's not like the other griffins would accept me as their King anyway."
"When do you want to do the ceremony?"
"Why bother? I now pronounce you Queen Rikal." Tails snapped his fingers.
"Done."
"What? But...the ceremony..."
Kenal flew down, close enough to Rikal to whisper in her ear. "That was only
for the benefit of the crown. Now that it's gone, the ceremony serves no
purpose."
"It's tradition," Rikal protested.
"He has just given you the Monarchy. All the power of Home is at your command.
What else could you want?"
Rikal lowered her voice so that only Kenal could hear her response. "Tails. I
want Tails to rule with me."
"Don't push your luck. I don't think he likes you."
"Kenal! How rude." Rikal raised her voice back to where Tails could hear her.
"You do like me, don't you?"
Tails' answer was almost too quick. "Let's go already. Home is waiting for
you."
Rikal started to reply, but Tails flew off before she could speak.
Kenal smirked. "Told ya." He was about to do as Tails did, when he heard a
heavy thud behind him.
"I'm coming with you." Dulcy shook off the last vestiges of sleep.
Almost without thinking about it, Kenal snatched a dart from Rikal's collar,
leapt at Dulcy, and stabbed her with it.
"Hey, no...*yawn*...fair..." Dulcy fell over, asleep again within seconds.
Rikal quickly counted her darts. She was surprised to find all of the unused
ones accounted for, even after she had forgotten about them while tailing Tails
to Robotropolis. "Gee, Kenal, you really had me going there. For a moment, I
actually thought you liked that Wyrm."
"I do." Kenal pulled the dart out of Dulcy. "That's why I used a sleep dart.
I knew I couldn't talk her out of following us, and you can imagine what would
happen if the other griffins saw her again."
"They'd shoot her down as soon as they recognized her."
"Exactly. We'll be done by the time she wakes up." Kenal broke the spent dart
in two, starting a chemical reaction that quickly turned it into dust and vapor.
He smiled as he remembered some of Robotnik's cheaper robots, which had used the
same stuff to encase nonsentient animals in war machines that did Robotnik's
bidding. When he had been a workerbot, Kenal had often wished to do to them
what he had just done to the dart, but had been held back by the tougher
circuitry that the roboticizer implanted in sentient creatures. "C'mon, Tails
is waiting for us."
******
Sally was still amazed at how little energy running now took. So much of her
attention had been forced into keeping up with Sonic, that she had forgotten
about the events of yesterday.
"See, Sal? I told you running would clear your mind. Not that you have to
worry about Tails anyway."
Until Sonic reminded her.
Sonic saw her mood droop. "Oops."
"Ok, what's going on? You know message pickup's not until tomorrow. The blind
drops will be empty right now."
"Yeah, but I couldn't stand to see you moping around like that. Besides, big
guy asked me to get you outta the way while he took care of Rikal. He thought
you might object."
Sally was alarmed, but she knew that Sonic would stop her if she tried to
interfere. "Get me out of the way? What's he doing?"
"He's making Rikal the griffin's Monarch. That way, she can go back without
anybody getting hurt."
"And what if they don't accept her?"
"Tails has that covered."
"How?"
"I don't know. But I'm sure he thought of it."
"Sonic, just because he's your hero doesn't mean he can do everything."
"I know. But he does a lot more than you give him credit for."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"Well...umm..."
"I'm waiting." Sally had noticed that her patience had gone down as her speed
went up, and made a mental note to correct that.
"You know, lots of stuff. He's helpful, a good tracker, he can trash 'botbutt
second only to me...I'd say he should come on missions more often, starting
today."
"But he's just a kit. He'll be safe on guard duty until we can get rid of
Packbell."
"He saw through that line the first time I tried it on him. He knows it's just
an excuse, Sal. He wants to help out, and I can't see why we shouldn't let
him."
"Well, I do. Tails is still weak..."
******
As they raced through the Great Forest, travel was starting to take its toll on
Rikal.
"Kenal, slow down," Rikal panted. "I have to catch my breath."
Kenal obliged, trying to hide the fact that he, too, was exhausted.
"Why'd Tails have to scout on ahead, anyway? If he'd waited for us, we could
have just soared behind him, and go as fast as he does."
"These woods aren't safe. Packbell's got patrols wandering through here looking
for any stray Mobians. That includes us."
"And Tails." Rikal shuddered at the thought of what Packbell would do to Tails
if he caught the fox, then wondered if Tails would still be as cute if he were
roboticized.
"Yes, but he knows what to look for." Kenal landed on a nearby tree limb as he
heard the familiar whirring of two tails.
"Hurry up, guys, there's a hoverbot patrol not too far away." Half an hour of
constant full speed flight had not even winded Tails.
"Just a second. Rikal wants to catch her breath."
"No time. Come on!" Tails swooped towards Rikal, grabbed her from behind, and
took off.
Kenal launched directly into the high speed flapping Tails had taught him. From
his point of view, Kenal could see Tails angle his propellor for maximum thrust,
as Rikal steadied her wings to generate enough lift for both of them. He could
also see Tails straining to maintain his grip on Rikal, which resulted in an
embrace that made the griffiness smile.
"Why, Tails, I thought you didn't like me."
"I'm just trying to get you out of here."
"Oh." Rikal kept smiling anyway, as her self-delusion played on.
******
Travelling at an increased speed, the trio soon arrived at the significantly
depleted ring of scrap surrounding Home.
Kenal landed on a large, metallic cylinder, which looked like it had once been
the barrel of some kind of heavy weapon. They had outraced the planet's
rotation, which, combined with the fact that the sun was just barely up when
they left, made Kenal's shadow stretch all the way to the steam geysers that
marked Home's entrance.
Tails dropped Rikal near the shadowed side of the cylinder, then left to fly
over the circle of trashed equipment out of curiosity.
"Where did all this come from?"
"Packbell gave us some gifts after your last visit. We had to shoot them down;
I think he actually thought he was attacking us. Didn't that outsider who came
by here tell you? I saw her at Knothole."
"Oh, right, I forgot Sally's report. But she said there was a lot more than
this."
"We've been salvaging it. I was sent out just after Sally came by, because of
what she told us. I don't think she knew we knew who she was."
"What did she tell you?"
"She told us Tails absorbed your life. We'd seen him use our magic on the
crown, but we couldn't get to the surface in time to see how he got the power.
Believe me, that was the only reason we wanted him dead, was to free you."
"Ha. Yeah, right. That might have been your only reason, but that's not the
only reason everyone else had."
Rikal sulked, although it was hard to see in the shadows. "What is it with you?
We're the only family you've ever had, and now you won't trust us."
"That's because I know how they think. And they're not the only family I've
ever had. Dulcy counts."
"Dulcy? The Wyrm?" Rikal angrily hopped onto the cylinder, marched towards
Kenal, and tried to stare him down. "You would dare consider a dragon to be as
close to you as we are?"
Kenal returned Rikal's gaze, and tried to stare her down. The result was a beak
to beak confrontation, neither side willing to budge. "Closer. I can trust her
to be my friend, to let me do what I want to do, not just what she wants me to
do. I can trust you to let fear rule."
******
"...he doesn't know when to duck..."
******
The deadlock might have gone on longer, had Tails not returned amidst a hail of
laser fire. He dove into the barrel that Rikal and Kenal were standing on, as
several laser bolts bounced harmlessly off the metal.
"Oh, yeah...they were going to turn the salvage into a robotic defense, in case
any dragons, or any outsiders at all, came by. I guess it's working now. It
was going to be designed to destroy anything that moved near Home, except for
griffins."
Kenal whistled as he surveyed the agricultural fields surrounding Home, trying
to see the laser installations. He knew that they would be planted to avoid
detection by outsiders even in the best light, but Kenal was able to see a few
of the salvaged rifles turning. "Umm, Rikal...anything except griffins?"
"Yep. They've got image recognition -"
Kenal abruptly pulled Rikal behind the cylinder just before the lasers opened
fire on the cylinder's top. "I think that's anything including griffins. They
were going to kill you whether or not you suceeded."
"No way. The system's broken, that's all."
A brief burst of laser fire accompanied Tails' exit from the cylinder, as he
dashed from inside to behind. "Your friends sure know how to put out the
welcome mat. Can they hear us from here?"
Rikal shrugged. "I think so. They put audio sensors next to each camera..."
A flicker of motion caught Rikal's eye. "There's one right there." She pointed
to it.
"If they put cameras out here, why aren't there any lasers here?"
"They must not be done building the system yet."
"Lucky for us," Tails muttered before yelling to the camera, "Hey, hold your
fire! Your Monarch's here, do you want to hurt her?"
The sensor cluster turned to face the trio, then demonstrated that it had
speakers as well. "We reject your claim to the throne, outsider," its operator
spat. "Wait...you're not a her."
"No kidding. I'm not the Monarch, Rikal is."
"What? How?"
"I made her Queen, then stepped down. That's ok by your laws, isn't it?"
"Well...umm...yeah, I guess. Even if you were trying to lie, your saying you
did it makes it so. But how do we know you're not mind controlling her?"
"'Cause I'm not a necromancer anymore. The crown's gone, so I can't control her
mind."
"Oh, really? Where's...Kenal?" The operator noticed a third presence. "Rikal,
why aren't these two dead?"
Rikal sat down, and tried to avoid sounding annoyed. "I was sent to kill the
necromancer. Tails revived Kenal and gave up his powers before I got to him, so
there was no necromancer for me to kill."
"You were sent to make sure that Kenal's and Tails' souls were removed from this
planet."
"Nuh-uh. Take a look at the exit logs. I left to kill 'Tails the necromancer'.
Tails is just Tails now, and Kenal wasn't even mentioned."
"Exit logs?" Tails whispered to Kenal.
Kenal whispered back, "Home only has one entrance, so we record every time
someone enters or leaves. Most of the passage is for griffins working in the
fields, but if someone leaves on an official mission, that's where the details
are recorded."
"See, I said I didn't want to kill you," Rikal interrupted.
Whoever was on the other end of the sensors apparently completed his check.
"Ok, you're right, you were sent against the necromancer. New orders, then: you
are to kill Tails and Kenal."
"Excuse me?" Rikal growled and advanced on the sensors. "You would presume to
order your Queen around?"
"I...uh-oh..."
"Turn those lasers off now!"
"Y-yes, ma'am."
"And turn off this camera. I want to talk to these two in private."
The sensor cluster quickly retracted into the ground, as if the cluster itself
feared for its existance.
Tails kept whispering to Kenal. "Just like that?"
"Just like that. Blind obediance...they're not that different from workerbots."
"They're all like that?"
"Most of them. All my life, I'd wanted to change this, to stop letting fear
keep them in the dark. But now..."
"I'm going to put an end to it."
"You? How?"
******
"...he's emotionally immature; not quite as bad as you, but..."
"Hey!"
Sally giggled as Sonic feigned offense at her mock insult.
******
For a reply, Tails faced Rikal, who had been starting to daydream while watching
Tails' namesakes.
His motion snapped Rikal out of it. "What would you say if I ordered them to
make you live with me?"
"That's not a good idea, Rikal, for you or me. With the crown gone, your job
will be tougher than any Monarch before you. You'll have to come up with some
other way of seeing into the hearts of your subjects; you can't just assume they
feel as you do. There will be so many little things you'll have to take care
of, you'll have no time for romance. Besides, you know they'd never accept me
as their King right now."
"They wouldn't have to accept it. I don't care what they think, I just want
you."
"As their Queen, you have to care. That's your job. But never forget,
underneath your title, you're just an ordinary griffin. Queen Rikal, not just
Queen. If you really want, though, there is a way we could be together."
"How?"
"Change the minds of your subjects. You've seen the outside world; make them
know what it's really like. Dispel their fears, for they are the only reasons I
can not come with you."
"But...that's never been done before. How do I know it's safe?"
"Do you trust me?"
Rikal paused. Tails was an outsider, and she knew no outsider could be trusted.
But Tails had acted with such kindness, and seemed to know what he was doing.
Memories of her past life conflicted with memories of the past day, paralyzing
her logical thoughts and leaving only her emotions to decide. "Yes."
"Take my word, then. Opening their eyes is safer than letting them remain
closed. Ignorance breeds fear, and fear is the only reason your people still
hide underground. Lead them back to the greatness they once had, and they will
let us share their throne."
"Oh, Tails." Rikal hugged Tails, who hugged her back without a second thought.
"I don't want to leave you. I don't care if I have to give up being Queen. I
love you, Tails."
"This is bigger than either of us, Rikal. If you abandon the monarchy, you'll
regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of
your life."
The decision was tearing Rikal apart, but eventually she replied, "Ok, I'll do
it. I'll do it for you."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Good." Tails released Rikal. "Now go. They're waiting for you."
Rikal slowly let Tails go, leapt up to the top of the cylinder, and paused.
"What if I can't change their minds? I'll never see you again."
"We'll always have Robotropolis."
Rikal nodded, waved, and soared back to her small kingdom. Tails lead Kenal
away at full speed the instant she was out of sight.
As Home receded towards the horizon, Kenal finally spoke his astonishment.
"That was...where did you learn to speak like that?"
"From some old movies, and from Sally. Your Monarchs' duties are like our
kings' and queens', right? Sally once told me what royal life was like, before
Robotnik, so I figured that Rikal's life would be similar."
"And you did this just so my kind would have a better life? Thank you."
"No, I did it because it got Rikal to stop trying to kiss me." Tails brushed
off the parts of his body that Rikal had hugged. "Yuck."
"But what if she suceeds? You sounded like you'd kiss her then."
"I'll worry about that when it happens."
******
"...he still has a lot to learn..."
******
As they penetrated the Great Forest en route back to Knothole, a glint caught
Kenal's eye. "What's that?" He dove towards it.
"What's what?" Tails slowed down and turned around.
"This." Kenal held up what looked like a power ring, except that it did not
glow. "I thought power rings were only made by that machine at Knothole."
"That's not a power ring. It's just a plain old protection ring."
"Protection? There's more than one type of ring?"
"Sure. Our ringsmiths made all kinds for various uses. The power rings were
designed to look like just another ring, except that they glow."
"So what's this one do?"
"Fly into that tree to find out."
Kenal looked at Tails suspiciously, but did so. Just after colliding with the
tree, he dropped the ring as if it had burned his paw.
"What'd you feel?"
Kenal rubbed his head, surprised. "It didn't hurt. But the ring suddenly got
too hot to hold."
"That's a protection ring, all right." Tails snatched the ring as it bounced
off the ground towards him, then held it out to Kenal. "Here, hold it again."
Still a bit confused, Kenal hesitantly touched it, then grabbed it. "It's not
hot anymore."
"That's how they work. If you get hurt while holding one, the ring turns the
damage into heat, but the heat goes away after a couple seconds. They used to
be all over the place, 'til Robotnik got smart and swept them up. Until then,
me and Sonic used 'em to keep his robots from hurting us. It was almost like
we were invincible, as long as we had rings."
"Kinetic entrophy," Kenal murmured in surprise.
"That's what Rotor said they were. But I don't see how they're related to ticks
and prizes."
"Huh?"
"Kin 'a tick an' trophy."
******
"...he gets scared easily..."
******
Before Kenal could reply, disaster struck in the form of fifty hoverbots.
"SURRENDER FREEDOM FIGHTERS."
Kenal dropped to the ground and covered his eyes. Tails just yawned, then
replied, "Can't you come up with a better line?"
******
"...he doesn't know how to fight..."
******
One of the hoverbots landed near Kenal to pick him up. Tails dashed to the
bottom of its rear propulsor, out of sight from the other hoverbots. One
SWATbot exited, then walked around to the rear of the craft where the other
hoverbots had seen a Freedom Fighter go. "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP."
Tails crawled underneath the SWATbot's line of sight, then launched upwards in
a flying kick that cleanly decapitated the robot, snatching the SWAT's laser
rifle as he passed it. When he came back down, he hid under the door as the
SWATbot's partner came out to investigate the disturbance. For its efforts,
Tails tripped it and threw it into a tree, wrecking it and leaving the hoverbot
empty.
******
"...he hasn't even fired a laser in his life."
"Are we talkin' about the same T2 here, Sal? None of that's true."
******
Tails expertly switched the rifle to full auto and squeezed the trigger. The
hoverbots returned fire.
Every so often, a stray shot would hit Kenal. He reflexively let go of the
ring, but grabbed for it again as soon as he could. His paw was singed once,
when the ring was hit and blew up just as he reached for it. Kenal started
dodging after that, just barely avoiding the closest laser bolts.
Tails, on the other hand, dodged all incoming fire from the start, and never
missed a shot. It took several hits to down each hoverbot, but before long, all
forty-nine of the ones in the air were nonfunctional.
******
"Shh." Sonic listened carefully. "You hear that? It sounds like a firefight."
"You're right." Sally turned her head, then pointed. "That way."
Both of them took off, curious as to who had a laser this far from Robotropolis.
******
Kenal had landed again, and was panting hard as Sonic and Sally cruised up.
Tails was inspecting the wreckage for anything salvagable.
Sonic looked around, trying to see who Tails had taken the laser rifle from.
"Whoa. What happened here?"
Tails glanced up. "We had a little fun with Packbell's toys."
"It that...*huh*...what you...*huh*...call it?" Kenal fell over, too winded to
keep standing. Sally noticed smoke rising from a streak of blackened fur where
one very near miss had passed. Upon closer examination, she saw that only
Kenal's fur had been damaged.
"We?" Sonic was still trying to see who fired. "You and who else?"
"Just us." Tails brandished his rifle. "I took 'em out while Kenal distracted
them."
Sally was still counting the wrecks. "All of these? What were you doing
ambushing this large a patrol? They could have captured you easily."
"They got the drop on us." Tails' expression, and voice, became petulant.
"Sorry."
Sonic let out a brief laugh, which earned him another look from Sally. "Well,
Sal, I guess he's ready. I say we let him go on tonight's raid."
"Sonic!"
"What? Admit it, Sal, he could be as much use as I am."
"But he could get hurt."
"And we can't? He won't take any more risks than the rest of us."
"It'd be tough to beat you."
"If anyone can outdo me, Sal, he can."
Tails tapped a few keys in the undamaged hoverbot, which hummed to life.
"Alright. C'mon, Kenal, let's go take Packbell out, right now."
Kenal, recognizing a hint of mischief in Tails' voice, righted himself and
scampered inside just before the hoverbot took off.
Sonic noticed Sally's expression. "Oh, you meant at risk taking." Then he
noticed the hoverbot taking off with Tails inside. "Wait up, big guy! You
don't have to prove it."
Tails lead Sonic and Sally on a merry chase through the Great Forest before
finally ditching the craft just outside of Knothole.