Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are copyright Sega, Archie Comics, and/or DiC. I’m not sure which, nor do I care.

Robyn Hedgehog and related characters are copyright Michelle McGee.

And this story is copyright me, the author. Feel free to print yourself out a copy for later reading, but don’t try to sell it, or take credit for it. You may think I’ll never find out, but I will. And when I do, I’ll have exactly 113 pizza’s sent to your house and tell the government that you’re a spy from another country. So there ;).

White Roses

The Roses Trilogy, Book Three

By: Robyn Hedgehog

Three weeks had passed since Sonic had brought his younger cousin home from The Great Plains. The knife wound she had sustained had done no permanent damage, and was healing nicely. One would think that things would have reverted back to normal by now. But they hadn’t.

Robyn had locked herself away in her hut, only leaving when the need arose. She had fallen into a deep state of depression that none of the Freedom Fighters could move her from.

Sonic, on the other hand, had become unusually quiet, and seemed distracted most of the time. When asked what was wrong, he would simply shake his head and deny anything was bothering him. He still kept up his normal routine, but the change was apparent to the Freedom Fighters. This even got Antoine worried after time. And Antoine being worried - having had more than one spat with the blue blur - meant that things were really bad.

Having learned of the situation, Uncle Chuck had come down to Knothole to visit his niece and nephew. This seemed to lift both their of spirits some, but it was only temporary.

Now becoming desperate, Sally finally thought she had figured out a way to help her friends. Neither of the hedgehogs had spoken to each since returning to the hidden village. She supposed it was because Robyn was still mad at Sonic for having her best friend spy on her, and that Sonic was still mad at Robyn for not listening to him. Perhaps putting the two of them in a situation where they would have to work together might do trick. If not, at least it would help them blow off some steam.

So, without discussing it with any of the other Freedom Fighters, the princess took it upon herself to set her plan into action.

Sonic was down by the Power Ring Pool skipping stones when Sally found him. His expression was far, far away, and he didn’t seem to notice her. So when he said hi to her, she nearly jumped out of her boots.

"Hi Sonic. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine, Sal. Why wouldn’t I be?" he replied, feeling slightly annoyed at being asked that question AGAIN.

"No reason. You just looked a little distant is all." Sonic hurled another rock into the pool. It skipped across the waters surface three or four times before going under. They were silent a few moments more, when the princess spoke again.

"Sonic, why haven’t you been going on any of the raids in Robotropolis?" she asked bluntly.

The hedgehog shrugged. He knew where this was probably leading, and wasn’t really in the mood to argue with her again. "I dunno Sal." it wasn’t much of an answer, but it would do.

Inwardly, Sally smiled. He was falling right into her trap. "Losing your touch, huh?"

"What? Moi? I think not." there was a little bit of the old Sonic in that statement.

"Well, it has been awhile since you were in Robotropolis."

"Sal, I am not losin’ my touch."

"Prove it then. Go on a training mission. That is unless," the squirrel paused to pick up a smooth, flat stone off the ground. She flung it across the water, it skipped all the way across the Ring Pool. "You’re not up to it." the princess finished, smiling sweetly.

Sonic looked at Sally, at the pond, and then back at her. He gave her a dubious look, she was up to something, he could tell. But teasing Swat-bots did sound like fun. "Okay, Sal, I’ll go. But only to prove to you that I can still bust bot heads."

"Sure. Whatever you say Sonic. Why don’t you take Robyn with you? I’m sure she’d like to get out of Knothole for a little bit."

"Oh yeah, sure. If she’d talk to me. She refuses to even open her door! How am I suppose to ask her if I can’t even get near her?" Sonic wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of having water dumped on his head again. To convince him to leave her alone, Robyn had set up a bucket of cold water to fall on him should he make another attempt at bugging her. Sure enough, it worked. Now he wouldn’t go anywhere near her home.

"Just leave Robyn to me, Sonic. I’ll talk her into it." Sally promised. He warned her about the bucket, then left, claiming he was hungry.

The next day, Sonic was getting ready to leave for Robotropolis. He was checking the supplies in his backpack, making absolutely sure he had everything he might need should he get into a tricky situation. And with his past track record, he probably would.

The blue hedgehog had just placed a power ring inside his non descript brown backpack, when he saw Sally, accompanied by Robyn approaching. She didn’t look to happy to be there, and Sonic was starting to have second thoughts about this. Being anywhere near the violet hedgehog when she was in a foul mood was about as much fun as being sat on by Robotnik.

Robyn wasn’t looking in his direction, she was saying something to Sally. What it was, he couldn’t tell. As they drew nearer, Sonic was able to hear some of their conversation.

"It’s only a couple of hours. He really needs the practice. Besides, you’re one of the best instructors I have."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Sally. And you haven’t told me who this trainee is yet."

"Well, actually, he isn’t a trainee. He’s -"

"Sonic!" Robyn had chosen that exact moment to look in her cousin’s direction, and she wasn’t to pleased to see him. "Oh come on. Anybody but him! I’d rather listen to one of Antoine’s lectures!"

Sally groaned silently. She knew this would happen. "Robyn, you’ve been locked away in that hut since you got back three weeks ago! And you haven’t spoken to him for the same amount of time." she paused long enough to take a breath. "You and Sonic are two of my best Freedom Fighters, and I can’t afford to have you at odds with each other. Both of you need to go on this training mission."

"I am staying right here. You can’t make me go." arms crossed, the purple hedgehog looked as if wild horses wouldn’t have been able to move her.

Sally was starting to get very irritated. Fortunately, she still had something up her sleeve. "I didn’t want to do this, but if this is the way you want it. Robyn Hedgehog, by royal decree, you are here by ordered to accompany Sonic into Robotropolis for a training mission."

This wasn’t good, Sonic thought. This had only happened once before, and it did not end pretty.

"Don’t give me that Sally. I’m not a Mobotropolis citizen. You have no power over me." you could see the defiance in her expression as she spoke. The hedgehog had used this tactic and won last time the princess had tried to pull rank.

"Yes I do. As long as you are a member of the King’s Knothole Freedom Fighters, you have to follow MY orders."

Robyn’s jaw practically fell to the forest floor. That was quite unexpected. "Alright! Alright. I’ll go." readjusting her backpack, the purple hedgehog stormed off. "Are you coming? Or do I have to drag you by the quills?" she called back over her shoulder at her cousin.

Sonic took a moment to look at Sally in amazement. Never had he seen her do that before! "Bye Sal." he said, then went to catch up with Robyn.

"Okay, here’s the deal. I stay outta your way, you stay outta mine. We meet back here in a hour. Got it?" the two hedgehogs were now in view of the massive polluted city of Robotropolis. The entire trip Robyn had pointedly ignored her cousin and was now laying down some ground rules to make this thing go as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

"Fine." he agreed, his tone of voice bordering on rude. If she was gonna be like that, he would too. The two hedgehogs tore off toward the city, splitting up when they reached the garbage dump.

A basic training mission was quite simple. Get into the city, practice your fighting skills on any and all Swat-bots, and get back out again alive. Really a very easy task. These on sight training sessions lasted generally about an hour, with a minimum of ten robots down to be considered a successful mission.

Sonic, of course, had already destroyed his minimum requirement and was now just killing time. "C’mon ya brainless pieces of scrap metal! Come and get me!" he called out to a group of Swat-bots who had not yet seen him. They gave chase, droning the usual ‘Priority one hedgehog’, and ‘halt Freedom Fighter’.

Sonic let them chase him for a little while, then grew bored and trashed them. He stood there among the wreckage, congratulating himself and admiring his handy work.

There was a sudden crash of metal impacting on concrete behind him. The blue hedgehog spun around just in time to see Robyn pick herself up from the remains of a couple of ‘bots she had rammed into a wall.

"You really ought to pay more attention to what you’re doing." she said as a teacher would to an erring pupil, while brushing herself off.

Sonic was about to reply when he saw four or five more Swat-bots heading towards them. "Duck Rob!" he cried, flinging the head of a nearby ‘bot like a Frisbee at their would be attackers. Robyn managed to duck just in time. The affect was similar to that of rolling a bowling ball at a set of pins. "Sssstrike!" he shouted triumphantly.

The violet hedgehog looked behind her at the felled Swats, then back at her cousin. "Well, don’t just stand there! Run!" she ordered, leaping to her feet and dashing off, disappearing between two buildings across the street.

He stood there a moment, undecided. Then he heard the clanging of metallic feet, and decided he’d rather follow her for now.

Sonic caught up to Robyn a few blocks away. She was leaning against a wall, breathing heavily.

"You okay?" he asked, forgetting his annoyance at her.

Robyn looked at him darkly. "What’s it to you?" she was apparently still mad at him. Sonic gave her a ‘I’m not leaving till you answer me’ look. She inhaled deeply, and let it out noisily. "I’m fine."

"No you’re not." he said. She gave him a quizzical look before he continued. "You’ve been like this since we got back from the Plains. So just tell me what’s wrong and be done with it."

The violet hedgehog looked at her cousin, not looking at him like she would at somebody who she disliked, but really looked. She hadn’t noticed it until now, but Sonic had gotten mature on her. "To be perfectly honest, I don’t even know any more." she looked up gave him a little tired half smile. "I have no idea what I was thinking when I left Knothole. I guess I was just so mad at you for treating me as if I were some little kid, that I didn’t see that you were trying to help me." Robyn then gave him a stern look. "This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook though." the violet hedgehog said, shaking a finger at him.

"If I ain’t off the hook yet, then why’d you save my bacon back there!?" Sonic asked, exasperated. He’d been so close to patching up his relationship with his only remaining flesh and blood family member.

"I was just returning the favor." she said in a controlled, measured voice. "Now, if you’ll excuse me," Robyn walked off, leaving her cousin standing in the alley.

When she was out of site, Sonic kicked a nearby tin can as hard as he could. It knocked into the side of a building, and clattered to the ground. Why did she have to be so difficult!?

Sonic stood there a few minutes, brooding. Then he decided that he might as well go tease a few more Swat-bots until the hour was up. There was only fifteen minutes left anyway.

"HEELLLPP!!!" a female voice screamed. It was obviously Robyn. Sonic revved up, ready to go once again save his little cousin. Then he stopped. Did she really deserve his help after she had treated him like that? He heard her cry for help again. But did he really have the right to try and run her life? Even if he did happen to be right? She did kinda have the right to be mad at him. He’d acted like a jerk too. Besides, if Robyn was calling for assistance, she must be in a lot of trouble.

So, with that decision made, Sonic once more revved up, and ran off to the rescue.

It took him a few minutes to find her, she’d traveled farther in that short amount of time than he’d anticipated. When he finally located her, the problem was all too apparent. The Swat-bots had her surrounded, as well as grossly out numbered. There was no way the purple hedgehog could’ve fought her way out of that by herself.

Reaching into his back pack, Sonic pulled out a power ring. He was bathed in it’s warm yellow light, gaining the extra boost he would need from it. The blue hedgehog then curled himself up, going into a spindash and buzz sawed his way through the wall of ‘bots.

When he reached his cousin, he uncurled, grabbed her arm, and ran back the way he came, bashing through a few more Swat-bots in the process.

The super sonic hedgehog kept running until he reached the junk yard at the out skirts of the city. He found a concealed place between several large mounds of garbage, where he stopped, relinquished his grasp on Robyn’s wrist, and stored away the ring, now drained of it’s power.

"Sonic…I-I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been a total doofus. I’m sorry. I should not have treated you like that." she said, her voice full of conviction. She had wanted to apologize before in the alley, but pride, and a little bit of stubbornness had kept her from doing it. Now she felt just awful, and wanted nothing more than things to be okay again.

"After we went through all that? Ya only now want me to forgive you? Nuh uh, no way." his arms crossed, the blue hedgehog was turned slightly away from her. Sonic was all ready to accept her apology, but he was far more stubborn than she was, and was gonna milk it for all it was worth.

"Oh come on Sonic! You didn’t do a whole lotta smart things either." she had him there. "Please, forgive me." the violet hedgehog was pleading now. Sonic looked at her a minute. Her eyes were glassy, and she looked extremely tired. And the forlorn sound in her voice was certainly one that could not be faked.

The blue hedgehog put his arm around his little cousin. "Apology accepted, Robbie." he said, giving her a hug. Robyn and Sonic’s watches went off a moment later. The hour was up. "Well, wadda ya know? We did all that in less than a hour!"

"Hehe, I suppose Robotropolis IS good for something after all."

"Yep. Say, you hungry? I could really go for some chili dogs right about now."

"Sure! Race ya back to Knothole! Loser makes the dogs."

"You’re on! Ready,"

"Set,"

"GO!" the two hedgehogs were off in a flash, clouds of dust trailing behind them. The promise of chili dogs spurring them on.

The End. Maybe. It probably is. But then again…no, it’s the end. I think. =P