CHAPTER 3
"So, after packing my weapons and supplies, I said good-bye to everyone
and made my journey here to Knothole. I had been trekking to and through the
Great Forest for about half a week now trying to find this place. Thankfully,
my search was over when I came to the clearing and found Antoine in that
lookout tower."
"And here you are, as it were," Sally replied. "So, now that you've
finally made it here, you're asking us to try and find your missing family."
"Rather, I want you to help ME find my family," Brian commented. "Like
I said, I knew two things throughout my quest: I can't do this on my own, and
your collective heroics against Robotnik have been legendary. Thus, if he's
gotten them, then there's no other way to get around it. You guys are my only
hope."
Sally listened carefully to Brian's words, contemplating her decision.
"Fellow Freedom Fighters, I would like to call a group conference to decide on
what to do about Mr. Sapinski here. Mr. Sapinski, with your permission, will
you please wait outside?"
"Yes, Princess Sally," Brian replied. With that, he stood up from his
chair, gave another bow to the Freedom Fighters like the one he gave to Sonic,
and walked out of the hut, closing the door behind him.
"Well, you've heard his story. What do all of you think?" Sally asked
the group.
"Well, moi, for being one, am not being in favoring of letting zis
barbarian stay here. Any fyuel who was trying to be hurting moi is ze very bad
person. NO, I say, and NO again. He must not be--"
Sonic reached for a nearby towel rag and shoved it in Antoine's mouth.
"Stuff it, Ant," he groaned. "I mean, c'mon, the guy said he was sorry for
doing that stuff. Besides, he came to look for the best to help him find his
folks, and he sure picked a cool guy to idolize, if I do say so myself."
"Sonic!" Sally scolded. "Now is not the time to get a swelled head
here... as usual."
"Hey, I'm just joking around. Besides, the guy's traveled a long way.
We should give him a chance."
"Well, I thank that we all should help him, too," Bunnie said. "After
all, Ah'd sure like to see about those weapons of his and see how good he says
he is."
"Seems like a nice enough guy to me," Rotor chimed in.
"That's true, Rotor," Sally remarked. "But the problem is that he while
he went to find us and ally himself with us, he wasn't afraid to attack Antoine
to get what he wanted. Still, he did apologize for it, giving that he did not
know who Antoine was at the time."
While the group continued to debate on Brian's fate, Brian stood by the
steps leading up to the War Room hut. He took a moment to look around and take
in a breath of fresh air from the forest scenery. Slowly, he brought himself
into a joonbi stance and started to engage in one of his Tae Kwon Do forms. He
performed a continuing series of concentrated blocks and punches as he
maneuvered in all directions.
As he did this, he gained the attention of someone. "Hi!" the kid
called out. Brian heard the kid's call, but continued his form until he was
finished, at which he returned to his joonbi stance before relaxing.
"Greetings," Brian replied to the kid, a small fox of about 10. "Liked
the show, huh?"
"Yeah! Where'd you learn that stuff?"
"I've been training for over 5 years now. I have a great master back in
Bluebrook that has taught me well."
"Wow! That's really cool."
"Thanks. It's nice to meet you. My name's Brian."
"I'm Tails," the fox replied.
"Hmm... I could probably guess where you got the name," Brian said,
noticing the two tails that Tails had. "Your parents were really creative
there."
"Nuh uh," Tails replied. "They named me Miles. Miles Prower. I HATE
that name!"
Brian half-suppressed a smirk upon hearing Tails' real name. "Did you
ever tell your parents that?"
"No, I never knew my parents. They disappeared when I was little,"
Tails said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Ooh... uh... sorry, kid. Didn't mean to stir up old memories there.
Well, at least you have a name you like now."
"Yeah. Say, can you teach me some of that stuff you were doing?"
"Sure, I guess. Have you done any of it before?"
"A little. Aunt Bunnie's been teaching me."
Brian looked a little puzzled at that statement. "Wait a sec. 'Aunt'
Bunnie? As in the one inside the hut with the metal body parts?"
"Yep, that's her. We're not really related, though. I just call her
that."
"Oh, OK. Well, that answers my observation about her. Anyway, let me
show one of the basic forms."
So Brian guided Tails through the steps of the basic form, showing him
the stances and motions that were necessary. As they did this, the door to the
War Room opened. Sally looked on, as did the rest of the Freedom Fighters, as
Brian did the form along with Tails. When they finished, they received a small
applause from the group.
Brian and Tails turned behind them in the direction of the clapping.
Brian looked to Tails, who nodded, and they each gave a small bow to the others.
"Thank you," Brian responded.
"Hi, guys," Tails said happily.
"Very impressive, Mr. Sapinski," Sally said. "We're ready for you now.
Tails, you'd better run along."
"OK, Aunt Sally." With that, Tails gave a quick bow to Brian, who
returned the gesture, and scampered off elsewhere into Knothole.
"Hmm... this is weird," Brian thought aloud. "First Aunt Bunnie, now
Aunt Sally. Why does he call you ladies that?"
Sally responded to Brian's comment. "We have him call us that because
he's younger, and he looks to us as parental figures ever since he lost his
parents."
"Aah... OK. Yeah, Tails told me about that. Chose not to dwell on it
too much. Anyway, back to the business at hand." With that, the two re-entered
the War Room.
Returning into the War Room, Brian once again took a seat. He took a
momentary deep breath as he sat down in order to brace himself for whatever the
news may be.
Sally was the first to speak. "Mr. Sapinski, we have considered your
request. And while we each have our own personal reasons, we all agree that no
one deserves to lose their family, no matter what the circumstances. Therefore,
in response to your request and the journey you made to come to Knothole, we
have decided to assist you in finding your family."
With this, Brian leaped from his and gave a couple very quick bows in
his excitement. "Yes! Oh, thank you, thank you, Your Majesty," he said quickly.
"I thank you for this opportunity."
"However," Sally interrupted, "there are a couple of issues that we
have to go over."
Brian regained his composure at this and sat down again. "I saw this
coming. What are your questions?"
"First, we know that you have no place to go now that you are here. But
we have no place for you to stay."
"I don't think so," Sonic replied. "Tails seemed to like him. Let Brian
crash with him."
"Sonic," Sally replied with a stern tone. "He's too young to have a
roommate."
"Ah don't know, Sally," Bunnie interrupted. "Ah think he'd make good
company for the kid."
Slowly, everyone else nodded in agreement as well. "All right," Sally
sighed, knowing she was beat. "Mr. Sapinski, you may stay with Tails for the
time being."
"I think that's fair," Brian said. "Now, what's the other issue?"
"The other important problem depends on whether or not we find your
family. Given that this happened 3 days ago, they may be in Robotropolis and
possibly roboticized long before you got here. There's no guarantee that we
will find them unharmed."
"I understand that, and I knew that when I chose to come here, time was
not on my side. But I had to take that chance in order to get them out."
"And if we don't find them, then what will you do?"
"I... I really don't know," Brian said slowly. "For some reason, my
parents trusted that you guys could help me should something ever happen to
them and I needed someone to turn to. All of my friends felt the same way. They
never said what may happen if I never saw them again. I guess the only way I'll
really know is to try and find them."
"We will find out, won't we?" Sally responded. "Tonight, we'll make a
journey into Robotropolis and see if we what we can discover."
"Thank you, Princess. You don't know what this means to me. But what
shall I do until then?"
"Well, would you like to have a tour of Knothole?"
Brian thought for a second. "Why not? Got nothing better to do, and if
I'm gonna be staying here a while, I may as well get used to the surroundings."
"Very well, then. Is there anyone that you wish to have accompany you?"
Brian took a few more seconds to think. "Well, to tell you the truth,
I'd like it if you all came. But just to keep things simple, I'd like Sonic to
show me around."
"You got it, Brian," Sonic said with a thumbs-up. "C'mon. We can start
right now."
"Sonic, just make sure that the tour lasts more than 5 seconds this
time," Sally said.
"Hey, don't worry, Sal. I can slow it down, no prob."
"Famous last words," Sally muttered to herself.
And with that, Brian picked up his bag, and left the hut with Sonic.
"So, where you like to go first, Brian?" Sonic asked.
"Well, first things first. Could you show me which hut belongs to Tails
so that I don't have to lug this bag with me the whole time?"
"Sure. What've you got in there, anyway?" Sonic asked as they started
walking toward Tails' hut.
"A few assorted items. My bo staff and my sais, a general survival kit
for the wilderness, a little food, and a couple computer disks with some games
that I liked."
"Cool, maybe if we get the chance later, you can show them to me."
"All right. We'll see what happens," Brian said as the two reached
Tails' hut. Sonic opened the door and proceeded inside.
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails said as he saw the two enter.
"Hey, big guy," Sonic replied. "Guess what? I've got a surprise for
you. Brian here's gonna be spendin' some time with us, and he's gonna stay with
you."
"Way cool, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. Then turning to Brian, he gave a
quick bow and asked, "How long are you gonna be here, Brian?"
"Not sure. It depends on what happens with the mission tonight. I'll
tell you about it later."
"OK," Tails said. "So what's going on now?"
"I'm taking Brian on a tour of Knothole, little bro," Sonic replied.
"Wanna come?"
"Sure," Tails said.
With that, Brian set his bag down in the corner and the 3 left the hut.
Sonic and Tails proceeded to show Brian around the perimeter of
Knothole. At first, it didn't seem all that special to Brian. The main part of
Knothole just consisted of the huts where the other Freedom Fighters lived.
Along the way, the group ran into various furries, most of whom seemed to pass
glances at Brian. Brian gave a short wave to most of them that he saw. Some
returned it, some didn't. "Ah, just as well," Brian thought. He then said to
Sonic, "Place looks nice enough. Got any major points of interest here?"
"You bet. They're just over the bridge there."
Once outside Knothole, Sonic and Tails brought Brian to a large
clearing that Brian had seen before. "I recall this place," he said. "This is
where Antoine was sleeping in the tower up there."
"Yep," Sonic said. "Ant's a real airhead, so he drifts a lot. We use
these towers as a lookout post to watch for Buttnik and his SWATbots in case
they get too close to Knothole."
"But there's another reason we like this place, right Sonic?" Tails
asked.
"You betcha, little bro. This is also where we used to play Capture the
Flag as kids when we were growing up."
"Hmm... not a bad place for it, either," Brian said. "Maybe we should
take that idea up again sometime."
"Really? Cool, Brian," Tails exclaimed.
"Maybe we will someday," Sonic said. "Well, we'd better get moving.
There's one more site we've gotta show you."
The three proceeded toward a heavy group of trees. Making their way
through the foliage, Brian observed a stone wall with a waterfall as the trees
began to clear away. When the three came out from the trees, there was also a
small pond in front of the stone wall. A log stretched out over the bank of the
pond and above the water.
Brian was the first to speak. "Hmm... I'm gonna guess that this is the
old swimming hole or something, right?"
"No way, Brian," Sonic told him. "This is the pool where I get my power
rings from."
"Your what?"
"My power rings. My Uncle Chuck made 'em for me. They help me to juice
it to the max and kick some serious tail on Robotnik."
"Now this I'll have to see. So how does this work? You just call for a
ring and it comes up or something?"
"No. There's a device at the bottom of the lake that makes them from a
power stone. It makes a ring once every 24 hours."
"Oh, OK. Any guess when the next one's coming?"
"Not for a couple hours. Tell you what. I'll show you when it comes up.
Right now, I wanna head back to Knothole for some serious munchin'. You in?"
"Yeah!" Tails said, jumping with excitement.
"Sure, I'm up for some," Brian said.
"Cool. Grab on and we're outta here."
So, with Brian and Tails each holding one arm, Sonic revved up to speed
back to Knothole. As he started running, two things could be heard in the air.
One was the sonic boom left behind by Sonic. The other was a scream through the
air. It was Brian.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A couple hours later, Brian was walking through the main area of
Knothole, admiring the trees and other foliage as he had earlier in the day. He
also thought back to how great lunch was. "Man, Sonic sure knows how to make a
chili dog," Brian thought. "They don't make 'em like that in Bluebrook." While
he was thinking, he noticed Bunnie passing nearby. Clearing his mind. he
decided to approach her.
"Ah, greetings once again, Bunnie," Brian called out.
"Why, hello there, Brian," Bunnie responded. "Ah see you're admirin'
the scenery."
"Yeah, I can't get over it. It really is breathtaking. Speaking of
breathtaking, I'm glad you're here. I was hoping I could ask you something."
"Oh?" Bunnie asked as she began to blush slightly.
"You remember earlier when we were introduced that I told you how I
sensed something about you?"
"Yes ah do. What was that about?"
"Well, I felt that there was a bond between us, and my first
conversation with Tails proved my observation. If I am not mistaken, you are a
martial artist like myself."
"Oh mah stars, you're right! I'm a Kung Fu master. But how did you know
that?"
"I've been in Tae Kwon Do for 5 years, and I've just learned how to
sense when people I meet are in the martial arts, too. Just something about
their mannerisms, how they carry themselves, that sort of thing."
"Well, ah must say ah am impressed. You must be really good to be able
to do that."
"Well, I was hoping I could show you how good. Are you up for a
sparring match?"
"You mean right here?"
"Sure, why not? I'm always looking for a good challenge."
"Well... OK, then. Let's begin."
The two stepped back to face each other. Both bowed to each other in a
traditional fashion and assumed a fighting position. "Ready?" Brian called.
"As evah," Bunnie said.
"Then... SHI-JAK!"
The two began to circle each other slowly, eyes slowly surveying their
opponent, looking for potential weaknesses. The mood was now turning from
casual to intense.
Bunnie was the first to make a move. She rushed in and lashed at Brian
with a series of close range punches. Brian skillfully blocked the punches,
attempting to strike with some of his own. Bunnie blocked Brian's punches with
similar ease and hopped backward to gain some space.
Brian took the offensive next. He advanced on Bunnie with a roundhouse-
spinning hook kick combination. Bunnie blocked and ducked the pair of kicks,
then tried to come in from underneath with a hook punch to the chest. Brian
came around just in time to block the punch and counter by jumping back with a
switching roundhouse kick. Bunnie was just barely able to block the kick with
her robotic fist before it hit her in the face. The block was still enough to
make Brian wince momentarily as he retracted the kick. "I can see my targets
are limited," he thought. "Those metal limbs are gonna rip through me if I'm
not careful."
Bunnie regained her balance and closed the distance with a barrage of
punches and kicks aimed in several places. Brian tried to block the attacks,
but he missed one of the last kicks, which caught him flush in the chest.
Bunnie seized the opportunity and followed up with a side kick that sent Brian
sprawling back a couple feet.
Bunnie immediately ran forward to continue the assault. Brian saw this
coming and countered with a hoping front kick to Bunnie's chin. The kick
stunned Bunnie enough for Brian to follow up with a blinding one-two series of
roundhouse kicks. Brian finished it off with a leaping back kick, but Bunnie
managed to catch and hold Brian's foot in mid-air. She went to sweep Brian's
other leg as it hit the ground, but he leaped as the sweep came and spun around
backwards with a hook kick to the head. Bunnie ducked it easily from being low
to the ground, sending Brian crashing to the ground.
Brian immediately sprang up with a kippup that would've caught Bunnie
in the chin if she had been any closer. The two then began more close-range
fighting, alternating between punches and kicks, separating and closing the
distance between them constantly. Most of the shots were blocked by the other,
with a couple of kicks making contact. Finally, Bunnie went for an ax kick
above Brian's head. Brian blocked high to knock it away, then went for a grab
at the top of Bunnie's jumpsuit.
"Ah don't think so, sugah," Bunnie said. "Hiii-YA!" With a quick grab
of Brian's wrist, she dropped to her back and kicked him over her. Brian went
tumbling forward and to the ground.
"Ouch," Brian grumbled as he sat up. "Geez, I guess you can't take a
joke."
"Oh, ah can, sugah. Just don't do it unless you mean it."
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. I meant nothing by it."
"You're forgiven, sugah. Now, shall we?"
Brian sprang back to his feet again as the two resumed their battle.
They immediately started to attack with the same barrages that they launched
moments ago. As before, Brian & Bunnie blocked most of the other's attacks. As
the two circled and sidestepped, Brian began to advance on Bunnie with a couple
of hits. Then, Bunnie started to gain an edge and caused Brian to withdraw.
After jumping a step back, Brian leaped from his feet and did a full 360 spin
before firing a roundhouse kick. The kick was too fast for Bunnie, and it
caught her in the face, sending her sprawling a few feet away.
"That wasn't all that bad, sugah," Bunnie said as she stood back up.
"But let's see how you like this."
She then fired her metal fist, stretching her robotic arm as the fist
sped toward Brian. Brian, taken in surprise by the tactic, was caught flush in
the face and fell back a few feet as well.
"Yikes! You never said you could that," Brian called back.
"You nevah asked."
With that, Brian charged forward, and Bunnie followed suit. As the two
closed in for another round, Sonic came running in. "Hey, guys, stop it!"
Brian & Bunnie stopped right before they reached each other, and turned
to face Sonic. They also looked around and noticed that a small crowd had
gathered around to two to watch the action. Some let out a small groan as they
could tell the fight was now over.
"Brian, Bunnie! What's going on? Why were two trying to kill each
other?"
"Kill each other?" Brian asked. "Oh, no, Sonic, I was just challenging
Bunnie to a little sparring match. And a good one it was."
"You said it, sugah," Bunnie added. "Ah haven't had a match like that
in a long time."
"Anytime. Maybe we'll have the chance again sometime."
"Mah pleasure."
The two then bowed to each other for a job well done. A small round of
applause came from the crowd, which Brian & Bunnie welcomed.
"So anyway, what brought you over here besides the match, Sonic?" Brian
asked.
"Well, I came to get you cuz the power ring was coming up in a moment."
"Oh, OK. Thanks. Let's go then. You wanna come, Bunnie?"
"Sure, why not," Bunnie replied.
With that, Brian and Bunnie grabbed onto Sonic as he sped off. As he
took off, another scream from Brian could be heard running through the forest.
Seconds later, the 3 reached the power ring pool.
"Shoo-wee, Brian," Bunnie said. "Ya almost dang screamed mah ears off
back there."
"Sorry, but I can't help it," Brian replied. "Sonic's so fast I feel
like I'm gonna get my skull yanked out of my body."
"Ah, it's not that bad, sugah. You get used to it."
"If you say so. Anyway, we're here, and I'm ready to see how this
works."
"Any year now..." Sonic said, tapping his foot in his usual display of
impatience.
Moments later, the pool started to swirl around, glowing a bright
yellow. A spinning column of water began to rise about 15 feet in the air.
After peaking for about a second, the column fell back into the lake, leaving a
glowing ring hovering in the air in its place. Bunnie ran over to a log hanging
over the pool and caught the ring as it fell from the sky.
Brian watched the entire scene in awe. "Wow. So this is a power ring...
so what does this do again?"
"Power rings give me extra super speed for when I go to face Buttnik
and his robots."
"Not bad. Mind if I have a look at that, Bunnie?"
"Sure thing, sugah," Bunnie said as she handed the ring over to Brian.
Brian took the ring and started looking at it from various angles. As
he studied it, he held it up to the sky to get a better look at it.
Then, suddenly, Brian's body froze in place. The ring started to glow
brightly, releasing its energy into Brian. His body was surrounded by the same
light that glowed in the ring. As it did this, his body began to change. His
muscles grew slightly, and his quills suddenly shocked to a dark blue color.
Brian's eyes snapped back as this happened. Sonic and Bunnie watched in
surprise as this took place.
When the ring finally released all its energy and faded, Brian remained
motionless for a second. Then, almost instantly, he leaped straight up into the
air, spinning in incredibly fast circles, throwing a kick out as he spun. A
thunderous yell then emerged from his lips.
"TATSU-MAKI-SENPUU-KYAKU!!!"
The force of the spin started to bring the winds circling around him,
causing leaves and water to circle around in a tornado. Sonic and Bunnie had to
hold on to some nearby trees in order to avoid being swept in the winds as well.
Finally, after almost a full minute in the air, Brian stopped spinning.
As the wind died, he fell limp. He plummeted to the ground, crashing hard as he
landed.
"Oh mah stars!" Bunnie exclaimed. "What the hoo-ha happened? Is he OK?"
"I don't know, Bunnie," Sonic said. He ran over to Brian. "Yo, Brian,
are you OK?" No response. "Brian, wake up!" he yelled, shaking Brian as he did.
Still nothing.
"Hoh man, this is serious. We'd better get him back to Knothole. Let's
juice, Bunnie."
Bunnie grabbed on as Sonic picked up Brian and ran toward Knothole at
top speed.
Back in the medical hut in Knothole, Sonic and Bunnie were recalling to
Sally and Rotor what they had seen as an unconscious Brian lay on the bed. "And
when he stopped spinning, he just fell. He's been out like a light since,"
Sonic said.
"That's... amazing," Sally said. "But what I don't understand is how
the ring did this to him."
"Yeah, I know. Since when can anyone use the rings 'cept me?"
"Well, maybe Nicole will have an answer," Sally said as she reached for
her trusty pocket computer. "Nicole, run a scan of Brian's systems. Determine
why Sonic's power ring affected him."
"SCANNING, SALLY." Nicole said as it ran a beam over Brian's body.
After it was done, it processed some material on its screen. "SCAN COMPLETE."
"Results, Nicole?"
"TRACES OF SONIC'S MOLECULAR STRUCTURE WERE DETECTED TO HAVE BONDED
INTO BRIAN'S STRUCTURE. TRACES ARE DETERMINED TO HAVE COME FROM A TRANSFER
DURING SUPERSONIC TRAVEL. THE POWER RING DETECTED THE TRACES, RESULTING IN AN
ENERGY RELEASE, CAUSING ADVERSE AFFECTS TO BRIAN'S SYSTEM."
"Whoa, Nicole," Sonic interjected. "Mind running that by us again, in
English?"
"YOU RUBBED OFF ON HIM WHILE HE WAS HOLDING ON TO YOU WHEN YOU WERE
RUNNING FAST. SO, WHEN BRIAN HELD THE RING, THE RING THOUGHT YOU WERE HOLDING
IT. SO BRIAN ABSORBED ITS ENERGY."
"But if Sonic rubbed off on Brian, why didn't the ring release its
energy right away?" Bunnie asked.
"THE TRACES OF SONIC ONLY MEASURED 0.01% OF BRIAN'S MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
WHEN BRIAN TOUCHED THE RING. THUS, THE RING COULD NOT IMMEDIATELY DETECT
SONIC'S STRUCTURE."
"What are his current conditions, Nicole?" Sally asked.
"BRIAN HAS SUFFERED A MOLECULAR SHUTDOWN DUE TO PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION. HE
SHOULD RECOVER WITHIN 2 HOURS. DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF THE POWER RING, HIS
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE NOW READS APPROXIMATELY 25% OF SONIC'S STRUCTURE."
"Well, that probably explains why Brian's quills turned dark blue like
that," Rotor said.
"But what does all that mean?" Sonic asked.
"It means he may have picked up some of your speed," Sally replied.
"Whoa, you mean he could actually juice like me?"
"Probably, but I'd guess not as well. Nicole?"
"EFFECTS OF THE POWER RING CANNOT BE DETERMINED UNTIL ALL VITAL SIGNS
HAVE STABILIZED, SALLY."
"So what do we all do about Brian now?" Bunnie asked. "He wanted us to
help him find his folks, but he sho ain't comin' now."
"Well, we still have to prepare for the mission. We'll just have to
change our strategy a little. Meet in the War Room in 15 minutes."
(
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