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“Freedom Fighters, this is truly a glorious day,” began Sally Acorn, standing in the center of the cracked and ruined throne room next to a large supercomputer, “for the traitor Eggman has finally been overthrown!”
“Thanks to yours truly~” Sonic said at her side, gesturing to himself.
Sally glared at him..
“And all of our friend’s sacrifices over the past decade,” Sally said, pointedly.
Sonic, wincing a little, chuckled nervously.
“Right right. That was implied!”
“Of course.” Sally inhaled and exhaled, trying to resume her usual poise when speaking as a leader. She clasped her hands together. “I’d like to personally thank all of you.”
The main group of Freedom Fighters— Tails, Amy, and Knuckles— all cheered, though Tails only briefly as he was busy removing a panel from Eggman’s supercomputer.
“Hissssss”
Sally only briefly rolled her eyes, refusing to acknowledge Eggman, currently bound with rope on the floor by Knuckles’ feet.
“Do I really need to be here for this?” Eggman shouted. “I already got beaten by a bunch of teenage rodents today. I’d rather be executed before the speech, if you don’t mind.”
“The prisoner will remain silent!” Sally shouted and gave a wave to Knuckles, who gave a swift kick to Eggman’s belly. Eggman let out a groan.
“Wait, Knuckles, listen to me!” Eggman said in a whisper he didn’t even attempt to make quiet. “Sonic is planning to steal the Master Emerald, you have to stop him!“
“Wait, what?” Knuckles shouted. “Are you serious?”
Sally, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to briefly drift to her happy place, opened her eyes.
“Knuckles, honey, it’s a trick” Sally said, as sweetly as she could manage while shaking with anger. “Remember what we talked about? If Eggman says anything about the Master Emerald, it’s a lie.”
“Huh? Oh. Ohhhhhhhhh.” Knuckles shook his head. “Thank you for reminding me, Sally.”
Sally sighed. “Don’t mention it.”
“Eggman’s constant mind games take a toll on me.”
“We’re stretching the definition of ‘mind games’ but whatever,” Sonic mumbled.
“As I was saying …“ Sally said, projecting to the room. “… not only has the throne’s usurper been overthrown, but we will also be able to finally retrieve my father, the rightful King Acorn, from his unlawful banishment in the Void.” She smiled sweetly. “All thanks to the work of our fearless young prodigy Tails, of course.”
Tails peaked out from behind the metal panel, a smile on his face.
“Thank you, Aunt Sally,” Tails said sweetly.
“Oh the fox tampering with my machines thinks the chipmonk is his aunt, that’s reassuring,” Eggman said sarcastically.
“HEY!” Sonic snapped.
“Just a suggestion, but maybe the one monkeying around with machines designed by the greatest scientific genius this world has ever known shouldn’t be the literal child who clearly hasn’t grasped basic biology yet.”
“Tails has more brains than you ever did, Eggsack!” Sonic retorted. “He helped us depose you, I don’t think you got any room to talk.”
“Sonic—“ Sally said.
But Eggman talked over her. “Oh forgive me, I was unaware radicalization of the youth equated with intelligence! I must have missed that at some point in my academic career collecting my many doctorates! Clearly the yellow stuffed animal has surpassed me. Furthermore—“
Sally rubbed her eyes. “Amy … could you—“
“Sure thing, boo,” Amy said as she hoisted her large yellow hammer effortlessly over her shoulder and loomed over the doctor. “Hi Robotnik! Remember that time you made a fake Sonic robot that kidnapped me? Cause I sure do!” Amy grinned with a wild look in her eyes, showing an unsettling amount of teeth.
Eggman froze.
“Does the doctor have any further opinions?” Sally said, calm but ice cold.
Eggman grumbled under his breath, but didn’t add anything.
“Ahem—“ Tails said, shifting his feet as he looked awkwardly at the floor. “The machine should be ready to open the Void, Aunt Sally.”
“Surprised if it doesn’t turn us all inside out grumble grumble grade schooler grumble” Eggman muttered.
Sally ignored the usurper. She clasped her hands together. Her chest felt tight but she tried to ignore it, unwilling to allow her mask of the leader to falter. A leader must always project confidence, she thought, even as the moment weighed on her.
The first time she’d see the King-- her father-- in over a decade. She took a breath.
“Alright ... let’s give our King the royal welcome he deserves!”
“YEAH!” Sonic exclaimed. “Raise the roof on this--”
“Sonic--”
“Hey come on, just enjoying the win here!”
“Oh, please ...” Eggman mumbled before he was silenced by a swift jab from the handle of Amy’s hammer.
Sally took a moment to collect herself, then pointed to Tails.
“Alright!” Sally said, perking up. “Tails, throw the switch!”
“Hmph! This is absurd!” shouted Eggman. “Surely you don’t expect an infant to grasp the quantum mechanics necessary to --”
Tails threw the switch and suddenly the supercomputer hummed to life, bathing the area around the ruined throne in light.
Sally, Amy, and Knuckles all shielded their eyes, barely making out the silhouettes of everyone in the room. Eggman’s mouth was agape.
“WHAT,” Eggman said.
Meanwhile Tails stared, slack jawed, as surprised as Robotnik.
There was a blur blue of movement as Sonic went to Tails side.
“HA! See? What did I tell you guys?!” Sonic slapped Tails on the shoulder. “My buddy is the smartest guy in Mobius.”
“EXCUSE ME?!” Eggman screamed, aghast. “HOW DID YOU-- HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!”
Tails grinned sheepishly. “I--I guess me fixing up the Tornado wasn’t a fluke, I guess.”
“Don’t be modest, Tails! Planes, Eggman’s machines, you’re good at fixing it all. It’s all the same.” “HELLO, ACTUAL SCIENTIST HERE! THEY’RE NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE SAME!” Eggman shouted.
“Yes they are,” Sonic said casually, not looking in his direction.
“NO THEY’RE NOT-- HOW EVEN-- THAT THING HAS A PARTICLE ACCELERATOR IN IT!”
“Yeah, see, planes have accelerators too, no biggie,” Sonic said, smiling as he and Tails looked at the light.
“AGHHHHHHH!” Eggman was nearly foaming at the mouth. Everyone ignored him.
“Thanks for always believing in me, Sonic,” Tails said.
Sonic patted Tails on the shoulder, smiled, and said, “...we should not be staring directly into the light like this, should we?”
“Not at all.”
“The pain in my eyes is incredible.”
The light slowly began to fade. Static danced in the air with the stench of ozone. And when the light finally receded, a figure Sally hadn’t seen for over a decade was in its place. He stood as tall as she remembered, in his blue royal finery. His thin mustache and fur were tinged with gray now, but it was still him. Sally’s father. King Acorn.
The King blinked, gazing all around. He clutched his head.
“Father!” Sally shouted as she ran to his side. She was dimly aware that this didn’t seem very regal of her ... not that she cared. “Are you alright?”
“Careful!” Tails said. “He might be disoriented.”
Indeed, the King didn’t answer for a moment, trembling ever so slightly. His eyes settled on Sally.
“Sally?” King Acorn said. “Dear Chaos, is that you?”
“Yes, Father.”
“What ...” He clutched his head. “What happened?”
“You ... you were put in another dimension by Dr. Robotnik,” Sally said. “You were there for a decade! He took over the Kingdom of Acorn and turned so many of its citizens into robots to fuel his army. My Freedom Fighters and I have been fighting Robotnik for control this entire time ...”
“Wellll...” Sonic chimed in. “Technically it was like three major campaigns with some lulls in between. Mayyyyybe three and a half tops, when we met up with Knuckles here.”
“We blew up a space station and caused trillions in property damage when it crashed to the earth,” Knuckles said, pumping his fists.
“We sure did, bud! We sure did.”
“Ummm Sonic?” Amy said, leaning on her hammer like a cane. “You forgot to count the, you know, thing with Metal Sonic. Where you and I met~” She batted her eyes at Sonic.
“Oh, that.” Sonic rolled his eyes. “I mean, that was really more of a side thing more than anything.”
“OH, YOU’RE CALLING ME A ‘SIDE THING’ NOW, ARE YOU?”
“What? No no, Amy, you got it all wrong. You’re not a side thing. I’d never say that.”
“THANK you.”
“Yeah not you at all. Just all the events around how I met you weren’t really as important as all the other events I mentio--” Sonic stopped as he saw the look on Amy’s face. His face went pale. “Oooooh boy that came out even worse, didn’t it?”
“You know, I’m not sure.” Amy dug her fingers into the handle of her hammer. “Why don’t you come a little closer and repeat that?”
“Umm guys?” Sally said with a nervous chuckle. “You’re uh-- kinda killing the moment here. Reuniting with my father who I haven’t seen since childhood, maybe just kinda--”
There were stammers of agreement from Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles. Sally sighed, and turned back to her father.
“But yes, we’ve been fighting Robotnik all this time. Do you ... do you remember anything?” Sally said.
“Yes ... yes, it’s all coming back to me.” The King straightened up. “Yes ... of course ... Robotnik.” He strode over to Eggman, bound on the floor, looking down pitiably. “Ivo, I’m surprised at you! I had no idea my most trusted advisor would turn on me in such a way!”
“Well, you never were an especially good judge of character ...” Robotnik said.
“And changing the citizens into mechanized slaves! I mean, really Ivo! I’m surprised at you.”
“That’s right!” Sally said, folding her arms.
“After all, when I instated you as Warlord, we agreed you’d only be using the roboticizer on political dissidents!”
“That’s ri-- wait what?” Sally said.
“Wait, what?!” Sonic shouted.
“Pardon?” Tails said.
Everyone else looked around in confused, murmuring in disbelief. All except Eggman, who was silent for a moment, then started laughing.
“Oh boy, this was-- this was almost worth getting captured,” Eggman said.
“Um ... Father, are you-- are you sure you’re not still confused?” Sally said, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice. “You can’t possibly have known about the roboticizer before.”
“Know about it? Don’t be preposterous, Sally.”
“Whew, good, for a moment--”
“Why, I funded it!”
Eggman laughed harder.
“You ... you funded it, Father?” Sally said.
“Of course! Fascinating invention really.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Eggman said, giggling.
“Whoa let’s--” Sally chuckled nervously. “Sorry, let’s back up. You wanted Robotnik to use this on ‘political dissidents?’”
The King blinked and smiled.
“Well, only the most extreme cases, of course!” he said.
“Oh well that explains it! So you mean assassins and the like--”
“Oh yes! Assassins, anarchists, protestors--”
“Wait, protest--?”
“Intellectuals, critics ... literates ... you know, only the most dangerous sorts.” The King, with no hint of self-awareness, pointed at Eggman. “But this scoundrel clearly didn’t hold up his end of the bargain!”
“Well, what can I say, I’m an equal opportunity villain.”
“Wait wait wait,” Sally said, holding out her hands. “But that— that can’t be right. None of that was in the royal records!”
“Of course they weren’t in the records,” King Acorn said. “The records are for lying.”
“FATHER!”
“Sally, come now, that’s royalty 101. Dear me, what did Rosie teach you all day when she was nannying you?”
“MATH. AND HOW TO READ. AND ETHICS!”
“Ah yes.” His voice took on a sardonic edge. “Liberal arts.”
“HOW IS MATH A LIBERAL ART?!”
“Sally!” The King’s eyes were wide. “What’s gotten into you? You’ve never spoken to me like that. And in front of these common--”
“Don’t call the Freedom Fighters commoners, Father.”
“Oh dear me, you’re so right, I always forget commoners don’t like being called commoners when they can hear you calling them commoners,” he said gently. “Devil, where are my manners?” He cleared his throat. “How dare you speak to me in front of these um ...” He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “Blast, what in blazes is the word I’m looking for ... ‘peons?’ No no, that’s not right. ‘Agitators?’ No that’s not right either. Gosh ... no one tell me, it’ll come to me, um ...”
Eggman snickered from the floor and said, “Fools?”
“No no, Ivo, not like that. Something like that though-- OH RIGHT-- ‘subjects!’ There we go. Whew, that was starting to bother me. Sally, how dare you speak to me in such a way in front of these quote-loyal subjects-unquote? We shouldn’t bicker and squabble in front of two low-born hedgehogs, a ... fox I think and-- oh my goodness, is that an echidna?”
“Huh?” Knuckles said, startling out of his lull. While everyone else had been listening in stunned silence, Knuckles simply seemed spaced out. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. I was trying to hear if anything was approaching the Emerald on Angel Island.”
“... Knuckles, Angel Island is three hundred miles away,” Sally said.
“I was listening hard!”
“My goodness, that is fascinating!” King Acorn took a step towards Knuckle, looking him up and down. “I’d thought they’d all gone extinct centuries ago! How the devil did you survive so long?”
“I was raised by an Emerald.”
“Oh that’s ...” King Acorn blinked and gave a long pause. “... interesting! My family has always had strong ties to the echidnas. Great warriors, always willing to have weaponry sold to them, practically built the Acorn family treasury they did!”
“Oh dear Chaos, you’ve gotta be kidding me...” Sally muttered to herself, hands over her face.
“You know,” King Acorn said to Knuckles, “I can’t in good conscience offer you a title because I don’t think a green rock has the necessary pedigree for that to square, but tell you what, if you ever want to buy arms ... by gum, I’m your man.”
“.... thanks but I already have two,” Knuckles said, a bit bewildered.
“HA! A comedian as well! How very droll! Ivo, make that fine red fellow some arms at once!”
“Father ...” Sally groaned.
“Oh right right, the betrayal and exile for ten years, that complicates matters a bit, doesn’t it?” King Acorn held his chin. “I’ll need to find another advisor to advise me on courtly matters and also occasionally make weapons for me ... I’ll have a busy first day!”
“Um … yeeeeeaaaah,” Sonic said with a nervous chuckle. He gave a look to Tails and Amy, then caught eyes with Sally. “Um … King?”
“Please, please, nothing so formal!” The King smiled kindly. “Please, call me Your Majesty.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” Sonic grumbled under his breath, before raising his voice to a normal octave. “Could we all speak to Sally for a moment? Just as a uh … private matter. Completely unrelated to what we’re doing here.”
“Oh yes, standard advisor requests, of course, please do!”
“Great! Awesome!” Sonic gave finger guns to the King, before shooting Sally a serious look. “Fearless leader, if you would?”
Sally slowly walked over, feeling oddly heavy, as Amy, Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles huddled together over Eggman on the floor.
“Okay so, Sally,” Sonic whispered. “I know we’re like family, you’re a good leader, all that jazz, but sorry, the writings on the wall, we gotta beat the rings out of your dad.”
“Sonic!” Sally said in a harsh whisper.
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“I agree with Sonic!” Amy interjected.
“Amy! Not you too!” Sally said, mouth agape.
“Oh that jerk called me low-born, sorry Sal, but it’s on!” Amy said, raising her hammer.
“Tails, Knuckles, please tell me you two have a more reasonable opinion.”
“Uhhhhhh …” Tails shrunk his head into his shoulders. “There’s … good points on both sides …”
“Do you guys think I’d be better with another arm?” Knuckles said. “Maybe your dad is right. I wasn’t sure at first but I could probably fight off a lot more thieves on Angel Island with one right on the swell of my back.”
“Well okay, maybe not they’re not all good points, but still,” Tails amended.
“Well,” Sally said, eyes blazing, “I hate to disappoint you all but I’m not gonna just let you beat up my father!”
“Sally,” Sonic went on, “it’s better it happens from someone he knows rather than gets in front of ‘commoners’ who aren’t us and starts talking! They will tear him apart!”
Sally sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
“You’re right,” she muttered.
“Right!” Sonic said. “Glad you agree. Okay, Amy, you start first, you’ve got a blank check.”
“Oh baby, it’s time!” Amy shouted, eyes lighting up, hands quivering as she squeezed her hammer.
“No no, I didn’t mean about the beating up part, but you are right.” Sally cringed. “I hate to admit it but I don’t think I have much confidence in my Father’s … leadership abilities.”
“Yeah speaking of which,” Sonic said, “I thought you always said he was a wise and good man! Rather than, you know …” Sonic gestures vaguely in the King’s direction. “That.”
“That is how I remembered him!” Sally insisted. “There’s a lot of explanations for why he might be like this now! Like Tails said, he could just be confused from coming through that portal. This whole thing could just be the effects of confusion or … or isolation or—“
“Or high birth.”
“Or hi— shut up, Sonic! What I’m saying maybe we shouldn’t take everything he said at face value. Maybe this behavior is new—“
Eggman chuckled as he lay on the floor.
“Oh no, this is definitely not new,” he said.
“Nobody asked you!” Sally snapped.
“Why do you think I threw him in another dimension instead of roboticizing him? I have too ingenious of an operation to have that buffoon damage MY brand!”
“Hold on,” Tails said. “You have robots like Scratch and Grounder and you’re saying King Acorn is more of a detriment than them?!”
“That’s precisely what I’m saying, yes.”
“Wow, that’s not good.” Tails looked up at Sally and scratched his head. “Um … no offense, Aunt Sally.”
“But … no no, I remember him being wise and good and …” Sally paused. “Well I mean I suppose I … was seven at the time …” Her speech became slower and less confident. “And I suppose … I spent more time with Rosie than my Father as a child … but— but she always told me he was a noble, ethical King! And why would she lie about that to me? Me … the … the princess …” Her speech got even slower. Her eyes grew wide as she stared off in the middle distance. “Who is the daughter of the King … her boss … who had supreme executive power … and was also apparently … bumbling and … mildly insane …”
“Uhhhh …” Amy gently shook Sally’s shoulder. “You feeling okay, Sal?”
“Yes, just having an existential crisis for a minute,” Sally said blankly.
“Oh. Cool. Cooool.” Amy rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
“Hang on, just gonna suppress that …” Sally sharply inhaled. “And done!” She smiled.
“Uhh …” Knuckles said. “Maybe it’s just because I live alone but that doesn’t seem healthy—“
“And done!” Sally repeated, louder.
“Okay, um … nevermind I guess!”
“So …” Sally looked around at everyone. “What do you propose we do about this?”
“Okay, you didn’t like my first idea, but let’s workshop this a little,” Sonic said. “You know how we kinda just had Tails pull your dad from the Void— great job by the way buddy!”
“I STILL WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW THAT EVEN HAPPENED,” Eggman shouted. “THE SHEER IMPOSSIBILITY OF IT IS—“
“We don’t care, shut up,” Sonic said offhandedly. “Anyway, well, yeah, we pulled him out of the Void but we could easily, you know … not have done that.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Sally groaned.
“Okay Sally—“
“That’s my dad!”
“Yeah but beyond that? Redeeming qualities are low.”
“How insensitive are you?!” Sally said. “I mean how would you feel if we were talking about throwing your uncle in the Void?!”
“Yeah, there’s three things the matter with that, Sally.” Sonic holds up a finger. “One: my uncle is already turned into a robot.” He held up another finger. “And two: he’s way cooler than … than that over there. And three: MY UNCLE’S NOT A KING WHO HAPPENS TO BE AN IDIOT! I mean, let’s be real, if Eggman tries to take over again—“
“When,” Eggman said.
“What he said, yeah, when, you think that he’s gonna have like … like any problem at all accomplishing that? Like ‘hey, great job Princess Sally, you’ve reinstated the government. Too bad it lasted only three hours—‘“
“Two,” Eggman interjected.
“‘Two hours before Eggman overthrew it again.’ I’d at least like a chance to grab a chili dog before I have to carry another war effort on my back! Just saying!”
“Oh—“ Sally risked. “C-come on now, give my Father a little credit—“
“No.”
“No, give him a little credit, it— it wouldn’t get overthrown that quickly!”
“OH!” Sonic leaned back aghast. “Reeeeally? Okay. Hey Eggman! Don’t lie! You already have a plan on how to do it, don’t you?”
“I have several,” Eggman said casually. “Wouldn’t even be that hard. Honestly? There’d hardly be any sport in it. I’d almost feel bad.”
“Excuse me, why is he helping?!” Sally gestured at Eggman.
“MY OPINION IS VALUABLE AND DESERVES TO BE HEARD! I AM THE SMARTEST ONE —“
“Second,” Tails said.
“Sorry thank you, SECOND SMARTEST ONE HERE AND—“ Eggman stopped, then turned his head up to Tails with a glare. Tails flashed a grin as Eggman said, “Oh, fox boy, your day is coming …”
“Look I’m just saying,” Sonic said, only focusing on Sally, “the right thing to do can’t be to like ... put that guy in charge.”
“Ugh, alright!” Sally said. “You’re not wrong! But what am I supposed to do? He’s my Father and he is the rightful king. What am I going to do? It’s not as if he’s going to just abdicate because we asked him!”
“Well, not if you ask him like that.”
“That’s just--” Sally stopped then thought for a moment. She glanced over the huddle to see her father with his back turned, humming to himself. She touched her chin in thought. “Hm ... actually Sonic, you may have given me an idea.”
“Oh, really?” Sonic said. “What’s your angle?”
“Everyone!” Sally said out loud. “Just follow my lead, alright?”
Everyone sans Eggman murmured in agreement and broke the huddle.
Sally approached her father from behind. King Acorn was humming what sounded like a military march.
“Um ...” Sally tapped her father’s shoulder. “Father?”
“OH!” King Acorn whipped around. “Sorry, I was simply humming to myself while your advisors spoke in confidence, as is custom!”
“... that’s a-- who’s custom is that?”
“Why Ivo insisted it was a sacred Soleanna custom.”
“Of course he did,” Sally whispered under her breath.
“What was that, Sally?”
“Um!” Sally raised her voice, pausing only to shoot a glance towards Sonic and the others. “I ... just wanted to ask, Father, now that Robotnik is defeated if we were still going to enact your plan.”
“Oh?” King Acorn blinked in confusion. “Uh, what plan was that?”
“Oh Father, don’t tell me you forgot!” Sally looked towards Tails. “Tails, didn’t you say being pulled from the Void could cause some confusion?” She gave a wink.
“Uh... yeah!” Tails gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, I guess maybe he’s having some ... memory disruptions of some kind! It’s a very common physiological response to um ...quantum displacement!”
Eggman grumbled.
“That child is just putting words togeth-” But before Eggman could continue, Amy casually kicked him in the head.
“Oops! Foot slipped!” Amy chuckled playfully. “Silly me.”
King Acorn hardly seemed to notice. He rubbed his head in confusion. In that moment, Sally did feel genuinely bad lying to her father ... but not bad enough to stop.
Not that she loved her father less, but that she loved her kingdom more.
“Yes Father, surely you must remember some of it? Remember?” Sally touched his shoulder. “You took me aside right before Robotnik’s coup and said you had a plan to take a much deserved vacation?”
“‘Vacation,’ you say?” the King said.
“Yes, yes, remember. You mentioned a clever trick where you’d tell the people you were stepping down and reorganizing the Kingdom into a democratic republic--”
“Really?! Well, that certainly doesn’t sound like me!” King Acorn chuckled. “Imagine! Lower classes, rabbits, and foxes voting!” He scoffed.
“Hehe boy, the ... the hits just keep on coming, don’t they?” Sonic whispered just loud enough for Sally to hear.
Sally grimaced, giving Sonic a glance that said ‘Yeah, I know’ for just a moment, then turned back to her father. She sighed.
“Exactly!” she continued. “Remember, you said that obviously such a government run by peasants was destined to fail in a matter of months at most, at which point they’d swear our family back in with the highest honors! ‘Heavy weighs the crown,’ I believe you said.”
“Yes ... yes of course,” King Acorn said, nodding slowly. “Yes, now that you mention it, I do recall saying that.”
“Oh, excellent!” Sally said, clasping her hands in false excitement.
“Well, all except for that ‘heavy weighs the crown’ rubbish. It’s actually quite light! Spacious too!”
“Yeah, there’s almost no head to fill it ...” Sonic said.
“Pardon?”
“Nevermind that peasant, he’s an idiot,” Sally said, shooting Sonic a glare. Sonic glared back, but said nothing. “So shall we enact it?”
“Yes of course! Brilliant plan! Glad I thought of it!” King Acorn said. “We’ll let the Mobians know right away. Good vacation. Will give plenty of time to formulate my policies upon my return!”
“Excellent! I’m sure it’ll be a quick return ...” Sally chuckled, shooting the others a glance. “I mean, after all, democracy. Pfft, it’ll never work.”
“Never at all!” The King let out a hearty laugh.
As he was laughing, Knuckles leaned over to Sonic.
“So we’re just gaslighting him forever now, that’s the plan?” Knuckles whispered.
“You’d rather he be in charge?” Sonic shot back.
“That seems pretty unethical for you guys, doesn’t it?”
Sonic gave him an annoyed look.
“Knuckles…who’s watching the Master Emerald right now?”
Knuckles let out a loud gasp.
“I HAVE TO GO!” Knuckles shouted as he sprinted out of the throne room. There was the distant sound of loud crashing of stone in the next room, followed by the faint sound of gliding, and then he was gone.
Sonic dusted off his hands.
“Alright,” Sonic said. “All’s well that ends well.”
The King stopped laughing.
“Now then, Sally, I’d like for us to do some catching up, good old daddy-daughter time. Does that sound nice?”
“That ...” Sally let out a sigh. As much of a disappointment as her Father turned out to be, she was still her Father. “Y-yeah, actually that does sound nice.”
“Excellent! We’ll get right to it, but first I’m going to put on some tea then write up some future proclamations. First thing when I return: no more machines! Anything with gears, gone! Could help Ivo again, can’t be trusted.”
“Um ... Father, many citizens were actually irreversibly turned into machines by Robotnik and aren’t under his control. In fact, one of our best Freedom Fighters is a bunny with robot limbs and my gir-- good friend is actually a hologram ... it’s--it’s complicated.”
“Ah of course, I understand. Don’t worry.” King Acorn put his hand tenderly on Sally’s shoulder. “I’ll spare no royal resources to get you a new rabbit friend and replace the hologram with a ...” He waved. “A mirror or some reflective foil of some kind. Won’t that be fun?”
Sally stared blankly at her father.
“... suuure, Father, sure. As soon as you’re reinstated.”
“Of course!” King Acorn looked around. “Now, are any servants still alive? I would very much like that tea...”
As the King turned to walk down the hall, Sally gave a heavy sigh.
‘Heavy weighs the crown ...’ she thought to herself.