- - - -
Chapter One
Ransom
by John Wainscott
- - - -
Time line - June, 3235.
- - - -

     It was early right now and everyone was still asleep. They all stayed up
late last night with a mission to Robotropolis stealing computer parts.
Surprisingly, Sonic woke up before sunrise. He tried to get back to sleep, but
he just wasn't tired. He felt like running for a while, but he also didn't
want to wake everyone else up, they had a long night. So he was stuck for a
couple of hours.
     He remembered that Sally was a light sleeper and was probably awake. He
was bored and had nothing else to do, so he walked over to Sally's hut. When
he arrived, he saw Sally through her window still asleep. That only made him
more bored and being bored made him a little irritable. So he decided to
surprise her with a bundle of flowers he saw planted outside her door. Sonic
took the flowers and let himself in. He quietly walked up to Sally and kissed
her on the cheek waking her up.
     "Sonic!" Sally yawned as she was trying to fix her hair. "What are you
doing here?" As Sonic presented her with the flowers, he sat down on her bed
and held her hand. "Okay, what do you need" Sally asked as if he wanted a big
favor.
     "I was wondering if you wanted to watch the sunrise with me." Sonic
asked with a slight smile. Sally was a little confused.
     "What, you don't want me to wash your socks or make you a chili dog?"
     "What?" Sonic asked just as confused as her.
     "You've been too nice."
     "I've been too bored." Sally looked out the windows and noticed that the
sun was about to rise. She looked back at him with the flowers in her hand.
     "Can you wait in the front room while I get ready?" Asked Sally.
     "Sure thing." Sonic started walking toward the couch when he noticed a
small note folded in half on the table. Since Sally was getting dressed, he
thought he could take a small peek. He picked up the note and started reading.

Dear Sal,
     I can't wait to meet you tonight. I want to be alone with you so we can
get to know each other better. By the way, I'm sorry I acted silly last night.
I was nervous and didn't know what to say. I can't stop thinking about you.
Love, you know who.

     Sally just got done getting dressed and came out to see Sonic holding
the note.
     "Sal! Who is this note from?" Sonic asked in a confused tone. With a
small giggle, Sally explained.
     "Its a note from you, silly. You gave it to me when you were only five
and I've kept it ever since. Don't you remember?" Sonic looked at the note
again and placed it back on the table.
     "Oh... yeah." Sally went into the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase
and left with Sonic to watch the sunrise.

- - - -

     Later that day, Tails and his friends went into the forest to play tag,
hide and seek, and other games like that.
     "Hey, what's that?" Tails asked when he looked off into the distance.
     "What?" Nina said while she was trying to catch her breath from running.
     "What's kicking up all that dust?"
     "I don't know."
     "Oh, no! It's Robotnick! Run!" Tails barked in a frantic voice. "Nina!
Come with me!" Tails took Nina by the hand and started to fly as fast as he
could through the forest. With a SWAT-Bot on their tail, they took a sharp
turn and lost the robot... temporarily. Tails and Nina hid next to a tree so
they could rest. Tails and Nina heard one of their friends off in the distance
yelling for help. Tails couldn't sit there and do nothing. "Stay here!" Tails
started to run for Ziggy. Suddenly a bot came out from nowhere and snagged
Nina by the foot.
     "Tails! Help!" Cried Nina as she was taken from Tails. He knew that he
couldn't help her, and all he could do was get Sonic. Tails started to take
off and was soon zipping through trees on his way back to the village.
     When Tails came flying from the forest crying, he was still looking for
Sonic and yelling his name. Soon, he was at Sonic's hut and ran inside. Sonic
was swallowing whole chili dogs and almost choked when he saw Tails fly in
like he did.
     "Sonic! Help!" Tails cried.
     "Whoa! What's wrong, bro?" Tails was trying to catch his breath and
explain to him what happened.
     "Robotnick got all my friends in an attack! I got away and came to get
help. Do something, Sonic! Hurry!"
     "Go to Bunnie and tell her that Sal and I are goin' straight to
Robotropolis, okay?" Tails ran off to Bunnie's hut and explained to her what
happened. Bunnie was shocked to see him scared like that. She also felt real
bad about his friends.
     "Oh, Sugar Plum, you must frightened out of your fur. Don't worry about
a thing honey, your ole friend Sonic will take care of that mean Robotnick."
Tails got up on Bunnies lap and gave her a hug. Tails was feeling reassured,
but Bunnie felt like she had just lied to him.

     "Sal! Where are you! Hey Sal!" Sonic yelled at the top of his lungs.
     "In the garden!" Replied Sally. Sonic took off as fast as he could for
the garden and almost ran her over when he got there.
     "Hey Sal, Tails' friends needs us. Robotnick got to them and he's goin
to roboticize them if we don't bring them back!" Sonic grabbed her arm and
rushed back to his hut. Sonic grabbed a power ring and Sally picked up Nicole.
Before even one minute had passed, they were off.

     Sonic and Sally were hiding behind a pile of trash just outside the
entrance when they saw Robotnick return with his catch of the day.
     "Sonic, you distract them while I go around."
     "But what about the-"
     "Now!" And Sally was off. Sonic was trying to warn her about the swat
bots, but he didn't get the chance.
     He didn't know who to save, Sally or the kids. He kicked an old rusty
pipe out of anger and it attracted the attention of Robotnick.
     "Well hello, you little piece of filth!" Robotnick yelled in the
distance. Sonic knew he couldn't do anything because he was holding Mindy by
her neck. She was doing all she can to try to get away, but he was too strong.
To his left about thirty feet away, Sally was waving her arm. He knew she was
all right.
     "What do you want Robuttnick?" Sonic grunted.
     "What do you think I want, rodent? Your power ring! It's a fair trade,
don't you think?" Sonic looked at his power ring and back at Mindy. With all
of his strength, he threw the ring up to Robotnick. The expression on his face
was of great satisfaction. Robotnick caught the ring over his head and looked
at it. "You make my very happy, but you never do learn, do you?"
     "Leave them alone! We made a deal!" Sonic yelled.
     "You actually thought I'd keep my word?" Robotnick laughed at him and
started to walk inside. Sally gave Sonic a thumbs up and they both left to
return to Knothole.

     "Get it working yet, Bookshire?" Sonic asked.
     "Yeah, just about. It'll connect in twenty seconds." Sonic, Sally and
Bookshire waited patiently for the computer to connect to the swat-bot Sally
tapped earlier. "Okay, I've got video." On the computer screen, there was a
black and white picture of the inside of Robotropolis. Bookshire pushed the
joy stick forward and the bot started walking.
     In the holding cell where all of Tails' friends were being held, they
could hear something coming. Soon, they saw a bot standing outside the
electrified bars.
     "We'll get you out, guys." The robot said in a computerized voice.
"Stand back." Everyone was confused, but still listened to the bot. The next
second, there was a bright light and lots of heat. The bot was grabbing the
bars and attempting to drain the energy.
     From Bookshire's point of view, the screen went blank and the connection
was lost except for audio.
     "Did it work?" The bot asked as it laid motionless on the ground. Nobody
said anything because there was somebody walking down the hallway. It was the
one who shot the robot Sally tapped. Bookshire told Sonic and Sally that they
had to go back.
     "Is that you, Sonic? I'm impressed. But I'm a little upset about that
ring you gave me." Robotnick said. "It destroyed one of my favorite machines."
Sonic said nothing. "I'll tell you what, you give me a real power ring and I
won't roboticize the children." Robotnick kicked the foreign device off of the
neck of the dead bot.

- - - -

     Sonic and Sally returned to Robotropolis and made their way inside. They
saw two bots guarding the locked cell.
     "They must be in there." Whispered Sonic. "Lets go, Sal." Sally grabbed
Sonic's arm as he was getting up and took out Nicole. "What are you doing?"
Sonic asked. Sally didn't answer. She only started pushing some keys on
Nicole. A few seconds later, the robots walked off down the hallway into
another room. Sonic was confused. "Hey, what happened?"
     "They think they have to go and clean the weapons room now. That will
give us enough time to get those kids out of here." Sonic only smiled.
     On their way to the cell, they heard some of Tails' friends crying and
then saw most of them hiding in the corners. When the kids saw Sonic and
Sally, a few of them ran up to the bars.
     "Are you guys all right?" Sonic asked.
     "Packbell took Nina away!" Yelled Mindy. Sonic looked at Sally and back
at the kids.

     Three minutes had passed and Nicole still couldn't override the
security. Sonic reached into his backpack and pulled out a power ring. In a
frightened voice, he told everyone to stand back.
     "What are you going to do, Sonic?" Sally asked, frightened for him.
     "I'll be okay." Sonic replied, even unsure of himself.
     "No, I'll try harder with Nicole! Don't act stupid!"
     "We can't risk Robuttnick or Packbell walking around that corner." Sally
couldn't argue.
     "Be careful, Sonic!" Sally said to him as she started to shake. Sonic
stepped back, and looked at Sally once more. He took a deep breath and ran for
the bars. He jumped and started his spin yelling and collided with the bars. A
bright, constant light from the electricity temporarily blinded everyone. A
few seconds later, they regained their vision, and saw Sonic laying motionless
on the inside of the cell.
     "Sonic!" Sally screamed as she ran for him. As she reached to pick him
up, she almost burned her fingers on his arms.
     "No!" Sally was petrified with fear and didn't know what to do. Ziggy
saw a water bottle in Sonic's back pack, grabbed it and gave it to Sally.
     "T- Try pouring water on him. It might help." Sally didn't know what
else to do so she sprinkled some water on his face. Almost immediately Sonic
sat up and screamed.
     "I'M ON FIRE! HELP ME!" Sally didn't know whether to be grateful or
scared for his life, but she continued to pour water on his singed body.
     "Sonic! Are you okay?"Sally cried.
     "I broke my arm!" Sonic yelled.
     "Don't ever do that again! You scared me, and I didn't know if I'd ever
see you again." Sally started crying and hugged the warm hedgehog.

     As Sonic sat against the wall, Sally was telling everyone how to get
out.
     "We don't have enough time to fool around. We can leave the way we came
in, but you have- Oh, no! I forgot Nina! I have to help her."

- - - -

     Tails was violently awakened from a nap by loud buzzing coming from
Sally's hut.
     "Aunt Bunnie! What's that loud noise?" Yelled Tails. Bunnie, covering
her ears, yelled,
     "I don't know, darlin. You just stay put and I'll go see what that darn
racket is. Okay, honey?" As she made her way towards Sally's hut, she noticed
about fifteen other people surrounding it wondering what is going on. Rotor
walked inside and saw a message on the monitor. He hit a key and the buzzing
stopped.
     "Rotor! I need you to come to the edge of Robotropolis and wait for
Sonic and the kids!"
     "What happened?" Rotor asked as he saw Tails' friends stand around
Sally.
     "No time to explain, Sonic will meet you there. I'm looking for someone
else so don't wait for me."
     "Okay, be right there." Rotor told everybody what was going on and left
to get Sonic. Bunnie came back to her hut and started talking to Tails while
trying not to show how worried she was.
     "Sugar... Sally just told us that she found all but one of your
friends." Suddenly a chill of fright came over Tails when thinking that the
one person Sally was talking about was Nina.
     "Now don't let that bother you, Sugar. Everything's gonna be fine.
Sonic's there. Everything always turn out okay with him, right?"
     "Yeah, I guess you're right." Bunnie was just as frightened as Tails,
but she couldn't let him know that, it would break his heart.

- - - -

     "Sonic, can you walk?" Sally asked in a concerned voice.
     "I get dizzy when I stand up." Sally really wished she didn't let him
open the cell.
     "I need everyone to take Sonic out of here while I look for Nina, okay?"
     "See ya back home, Sal." Sonic said in a weak voice. Tails' friends
helped Sonic up and started to leave. Sally started to look for a way to find
Nina and almost immediately, she found her. She was just around the corner and
she was completely roboticized. As soon as Nina saw Sally, she punched an
alarm on the wall and charged at Sally. Sally quickly reached into her
backpack and pulled out a small device. As Nina jumped to attack, Sally pulled
the trigger and an electric charge was given to deactivate her. She landed in
the corner and Sally picked her up. She ran as fast as she could from a swarm
of bots, past the robots cleaning the storage room, made it outside, and
continued running with Nina in her arms.
     "Poor Tails. He's going to be devastated when he finds out about her."
Sally reached into her vest pocket and pulled out a hand grenade. She took the
pin by her teeth and yanked it out. Sally, with all of her energy, threw the
grenade and hit the first bot dead on. Before the smoke cleared from the
explosion, Sally hid under an old shuttle body and waited for them to stop
searching and leave.

- - - -

     "Sonic, Sir, are you going to marry Sally?" Asked Mindy.
"Whoa, hold on there, kid! Where did you get that idea?" Asked Sonic in a
surprised voice. "Tails tells us a lot about you, and he said that you were in
love with Princess Sally."
     "Well, I don't know if I am going to or not. King Sonic... It's got a
nice ring to it, but I think that's just between me and her right now. And
don't call me Sir, it drives me nuts! Just call me Sonic, that's what everyone
else calls me, so it's no different for you."
     "Oh, I wanted to ask you," Ziggy questioned "Why did you give Robotnick
your power ring? You know that's the only thing he wants from you."
     "Don't worry, I disabled it and removed the power stone cell before he
got it." As they started walking towards Knothole, they saw something kicking
up dust and soon realized that it was Rotor.
     "Hey Rotor! Over here!" Everybody yelled. A few seconds later, Rotor
pulled closer and got a good look at Sonic. He was shocked to see him injured.
     "Sonic! What the hell happened to you! Are you okay?" Rotor yelled as he
jumped off of the hover craft.
     "Oh, just some burns and a broken arm, nothing serious." Sonic said in a
sarcastic, but irritated tone.
     "Yeah right, funny man. Let's get you back home right now." Rotor
started to load Sonic and the kids on the hover craft. Just before they took
off for home, Mindy saw Sally and Nina over in the distance.
     "Wait! There's Sally!" Screamed Mindy.
     "What happened to Nina!" Rotor yelled as he ran up to her.
     "I found her... but I was too late." Explained Sally as she laid Nina
down in the hover craft. All of the kids circled around Nina and started to
cry. Sally kept blaming herself.

- - - -

     "They're back! They're back!" Tails yelled in a nervous voice. As the
hover craft pulled up, he started to fly towards it. When it arrived, Tails
saw Nina. He didn't say a word. Everyone was looking at him look at Nina.
Tails jumped off, ran towards Bunnie and started to cry. Everybody got off one
by one.
     "Don't worry, Tails, I'm sure Aunt Sally can fix her right up." Tails
just kept crying. Uncle Chuck and Rotor helped Sonic off and walked him to
Bookshire's hut.

     Sally and Rotor started to work on Nina while Sonic got his arm fixed by
Bookshire. After a few hours of work, Sonic had a cast and Nina was
reprogrammed. Sally placed a panel back on Nina's back and flipped a switch.
Her eyes opened. She looked completely confused.
     "Hey... what's going on? Why am I wearing this silly costume?" Sally
took Nina aside and explained to her what has just happened.
     "You mean- I'm a robot?" Nina asked as she began to cry. Fear and
confusion overwhelmed her and she started to run away. When the door to
Sally's hut flew open, Nina ran into Tails and knocked him over.
     "Nina?" Tails asked wondering if that was really her. Without answering,
Nina took off into the forest. Sonic and Bunnie started to run after her when
Bunnie saw Tails on the ground.
     "Oh, Tails. Ah'm sorry you had to find out this way." Tails took a deep
breath and started to follow Nina in the woods. After looking for a few
minutes, Tails just remembered to look in their secret place. Soon he found
Nina there on her knees crying with her hands in her face.
     "Nina?" Tails asked in a soft voice. "Is that you?"
     "Tails! I'm sorry I ran away." Nina cried as she stood up.
     "Nina! What happened to you!" Tails tried to keep himself from crying.
     "I got turned into a robot and I'm going to stay this way for the rest
of my life."
     "No you're not! Uncle Chuck's gonna find a way to turn you back!" Nina
looked down and wiped her eyes. "I missed you, Nina." Tails and Nina started
walking back to the village.
     "I missed you too, Tails."
     "Nina?"
     "Yes, Tails?"
     "You're crushing my hand." Tails calmly said as he grinned with pain.
     "Oh, I'm sorry! I guess that's something I gotta get used too." Said
Nina while she examined Tails' hand for injuries and smiled.
     "That's okay, Aunt Bunnie had that problem and got used to it after a
while." Tails said as he put his hand around her waist to avoid being crushed.

- - - -

     The next day, Tails wanted to talk to Sonic.
     "Sonic?"
     "Hey bud, what's up?"
     "Can I ask you a question?"
     "Sure. What's on your mind?" Sonic asked as he sat down on his bed.
     "What's it like having you're Uncle Chuck turned into a robot?" Tails
asked hesitating. Sonic paused.
     "Well, it's kinda hard to explain... It's a big change that you might
never get used to. When I look at Chuck, he's not completely there. But he
still is my uncle, and I've learned to live with it." Sonic continued with
more advice and soon finished. Tails thanked him and went over to Rotor's hut.
He knocked on his door and waited. Finishing a repair on a small toy, Rotor
opened the door and Tails asked if he could come in. Rotor let him in and
pulled up a chair.
     "Can I ask you something."
     "Ask away."
     "What's it like having your parents roboticized?"
     "Oh, man... I got pretty lonely, I haven't seen my parents in five
years. But when I fell in love with Bunnie, I wasn't as lonely. You're lucky
to have Nina with you right now, I don't even know where my parents are."
     "Well thanks, Rotor."
     "Sure thing. See you later." Tails wanted to talk to one more person
before he took off to talk with Nina, Bunnie.

     "Hey, Ziggy, have you seen Bunnie?"
     "Uh, I think I saw her walk to the Ring Pool about ten minutes ago."
     "Great, thanks." After a short flight through the forest, he arrived at
the Ring Pool and saw Bunnie sitting alone next to it skipping stones.
     "Aunt Bunnie?" Tails said as he walked up behind her. Tails startled her
and she jumped when he said her name.
     "Oh mah stars! Don't do that, Hun. You almost scared me to death."
     "Sorry about that."
     "That's okay, just don't sneak up like that again, okay Sugar?"
     "Sure. What were you doing?" Asked Tails.
     "Oh, just thinkin."
     "About what?"
     "Well... you... and Nina." Bunnie said looking into Tails' eyes.
     "Really?" Tails asked as he sat next to Bunnie.
     "Yeah, I hope you two are still friends."
     "Of course we are!" Tails snapped at her. "Sorry."
     "That's okay, I know how you feel sweetie." Bunnie explained in a
sympathetic voice.
     "You do?" Tails asked curiously.
     "Sure I do. You're just not really sure about Nina."
     "Well... I guess you're right." Tails said in a low voice looking at the
ground.
     "Oh, come on, it's nothin to feel bad about, you've known her for almost
a year now and suddenly she's a robot. Its okay to feel that way about her,
but you soon realize that she hasn't changed a bit. Why, even Rotor felt that
way about me the day we met."
     "He did?"
     "Oh, yeah!" Bunnie exclaimed as she put her robotic arm on his shoulder.
     "And look at us now, were dating." Tails smiled, looked at her arm and
paused.
     "Aunt Bunnie?"
     "Hm?"
     "What's it like... having robot legs and arm?" Bunnie took her arm from
around Tails and looked at it for a second as a single tear ran down her
cheek.
     "Well, to tell you the truth, I can't live with it, and I can't live
without it."
     "Huh?"
     "Well, I'm pretty strong, and they've helped me with a lot of things...
but its not me. Sometimes I even hate myself when I know it's not my fault. I
hate them, but I don't know what I'll do without them." Tails wondered if Nina
was going to feel that way soon.
     "I hope Nina's okay. I'm gunna go talk to her right now." Tails started
to take off for Nina's hut. "Thanks, Aunt Bunnie!" Yelled Tails as he flew
away.

     Tails wanted to talk to Uncle Chuck, but he was too nervous. He didn't
really know what to ask. The just thought he would ask him some other time.
     He walked up to Nina's door and started to feel a little more nervous.
He took a deep breath and knocked. A second later, the door knob was pulled
through the door.
     "Oh, darn it!" Yelled Nina in frustration. "I just can't stop breaking
things! Is that you, Tails." Nina asked as she lowered her voice.
     "Uh, yeah Nina, It's me. Are you okay?"
     "Yeah, come on in." Nina said. Tails slowly pushed open the door and
walked inside.
     "Can we talk a minute?" Tails asked as he observed some broken objects
on the floor.
     "I think I know why you came over to talk." Nina stated in a low tone.
     "You do?" Tails asked as they both sat down on the couch.
     "Yeah. You want to know what its like being a robot, right?"
     "Well, not exactly. I just came over to see how you were doin."
     "I guess it's pretty obvious, huh?" Asked Nina as she smiled and looked
at the broken toys on the floor.
     "Yeah, I guess it is. But don't worry, you'll learn to control your
strength."
     "I really hope so. If this keeps up for much longer, I'm going to break
everything, maybe even hurt someone!" Said Nina as Tails glanced at his hand.
     "I'm sure you're goin to be just fine." There was a long pause.
     "I guess you're right."

- - - -

     A month has passed since Nina was roboticized, and Tails and Nina still
have a good friendship together. Its Nina's tenth birthday and she's in
Rotor's hut having her arm adjusted.
     "Thank you, Rotor." Nina jumped off of the work bench and ran back to
her party.
     "You ready, Nina?" Asked Tails in excitement.
     "Sure, lets go!" Tails and Nina took off to the potato sack race, picked
up a sack and got on the starting line with five other kids. Sonic held up a
starting pistol with his good arm and shot it in the air starting the race.
Tails tripped at the start and Nina soon won the race.
     "Are you okay, Tails?" Nina asked as she ran back to Tails.
     "Yeah, I'm okay. Hey! You won. That's great."

     After the cake and present routine, Sonic started to look for Tails and
Nina, they were no longer at the party.
     "Hey, Sal. Where's Tails and Nina? I can't find them anywhere." Sally
looked at Sonic with a nice smile and said,
     "Oh, I think they'll be just fine."
     "Oh, okay." Sonic looked back at Sally and smiled.

     Tails has learned to accept Nina as a robot, but he still keeps a
picture of her by his bed and Nina is the last thing that goes through his
mind every night before he falls asleep.