LEMONADE -------- Princess Sally was having a bad day. More people had arrived, causing the shortage of supplies to increase, and there was no word from David, who went out to scout for locations to build another base and relieve the pressure put on Knothole's resources. The fact that she had to settle a few petty squabbles between some of the residents earlier didn't help her mood any. So, what Rotor had laid in front of her on his workbench was the cherry on the cake of her day. "What is _that_ doing here?" The object that she was referring to was a heavily damaged robot that Rotor retrieved on a "parts raid" in Robotropolis. This wouldn't bother Sally much at all if it wasn't for the fact that this particular robot looked almost exactly like her. "I found it in a dumpster while I was scrounging around in Robotropolis," Rotor replied. "I was wondering what ol' Iron Lips did with it after it trashed his roboticizer lab that time. Pretty cool, huh?" Sally frowned. "I'd rather not be reminded of that incident, Rotor. Still, I suppose there's a few good parts left in it that we could use..." "Actually," Rotor said, "I was thinking of rebuilding her." Sally blinked slowly at this. "What?" "Yeah, we could reprogram her and have her help us out, like with heavy equipment, or keeping Knothole safe..." "Rotor, are you out of your mind?!" Sally nearly yelled, feeling a headache coming on. "That thing nearly spelled the end of us!" Rotor jumped back at this outburst. "Well, it _did_ help us out in the end, and we could use her again... In fact, I thought it would be kinda cool if you could help me rebuild her, maybe use Nicole to..." Sally's headache was getting worse. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No, no, No, No, NO! I don't want anything to do with that... that _thing_. I don't even want to see it ever again! It belongs in a trash bin!!" "B-But, Sally..." "I mean it, Rotor!" Sally crossed her arms. "Get what parts you can from it, then dispose of it!" Rotor sighed and hung his head dejectedly. "Ok, Sally..." Sally stormed out of the hut and made her way to the ring pool. She needed a quiet place where she could cool off, and a Power Ring was due to rise up soon. * * * When she arrived, Sally sat in the grass and rubbed her forehead, looking up at the clear blue sky and sighing. "Not a cloud in the sky, yet it feels like it's raining cats and dogs..." *Sounds like I shoulda brought an umbrella with me, eh?* Sally gasped and quickly looked around, finally spotting a short, familiar pony-tailed wolf sitting next to a tree nearby. "Who...? Oh, Vision..." she said, catching her breath. "You scared me... What are you doing here?" Vision smiled and leaned back against the tree. "Oh, just passing through, seeing how things are going. Ya seem down today, what's wrong?" Sally laid back in the grass, closing her eyes. "What _isn't_ wrong today?" She then replayed all of the days events to Vision, finishing with her argument with Rotor. "Of all things, he wanted _me_ to help rebuild that bucket of bolts. Where'd he get such a horrible idea from?" Vision rubbed his chin, musing. "Actually, Sally, I don't think it's such a bad idea at all." Sally looked at the Keld'yrian in disbelief. "You have _got_ to be kidding..." "Not at all." Vision shrugged. "Give her a mind of her own, teach her the right things, and she could be a great benefit." "You just don't understand, you _or_ Rotor..." Sally groaned, rubbing her forehead. "That robot could have lead Robotnik right to Knothole's doorstep, and could have killed Sonic! And the fact that it looks like _me_ makes it that much worse!" Vision moved his arms behind his head and rested his head on them. "True, but I think it's a bit more productive to focus less on what she was and more on what she could be." "Easy for you to say," Sally replied, blowing her bangs out of her face. "It's just not that easy for me to forget one of the biggest lemons life has handed me, you know." "Lemon, eh?" Vision chuckled, skipping a stone across the pool. "Well, you know the old saying. If life hands you lemons..." Sally rolled her eyes. "...Make lemonade, yeah, I know, I know..." Vision grinned. "Well, summertime's here, m'lady. Perfect reason to get out the sugar and ice cubes, eh?" "But Vision..." Sally sighed, turning to look at him, only to find noone there. "Vision?" She looked around but saw no sign of him. She sighed again and sat there, deep in thought... Well, the robot _could_ be reprogrammed for our side, and it's strength could be useful... Her train of thought was interrupted as a Power Ring rose from the pool with a rush of water. Quickly grabbing a long stick nearby, she managed to catch the ring just as it it fell back to the pool. She let the ring slide down the stick and held it in her hands for some time, thinking... "Circle... what comes around goes around..." She then chuckled to herself and made her way back to Knothole. * * * Rotor heard a knock on the door to his hut. Putting his tools down, he opened the door to find Sally standing there. "Oh, hi Sally..." "Hi..." Sally said, somewhat sheepishly. "Rotor, I'm very sorry for snapping at you like I did... it's been a rough day for me, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that." Rotor smiled. "It's ok, Sally, I've had days like that before." He then turned to look at Sally's mechanical lookalike lying on his workbench. "I think it still has a few good components we could use, and the servos in it could be useful in..." He stopped as he watched Sally walk towards the robot, tying her hair back and putting on a pair of safety glasses. "Sally?" "Well, what are you waiting for?" Sally smiled as she pulled Nicole out, studying the robot. "We have some lemonade to make." Boggled, Rotor could only scratch his head and say, "Huh?" --> End <-- -- Sonic the Hedgehog, Sally, Rotor, Knothole, etc. (C) 1996 SEGA of America, Inc. David Prower (C) 1996 Shawn Wolski. Vision and this story (C) 1996 Pat Carson Jr. This story is not officially affiliated with SEGA of America, Inc. (which is a shame, we fanfic writers should have a chance to have our works drawn and animated professionally and appear in a video game, but you know how corporations are. :)