BOREDOM – idle paws are the devils workshop

It was a calm, clear morning in Knothole Village. The sky was a gentle shade of blue, nearly cloudless, and it promised to be a wonderful day. All of the Freedom Fighters were quite tired from recent battles; although on this particular morning, another sort of battle was being waged.

7:30 a.m.

" Please, Sonic?" Tails’ voice.

" No." An extremely annoyed blue hedgehog.

" Come on, we’re bored. You’re being mean!" Carmen.

" Forget it." Sonic grumbled. He had been in the middle of a wonderful dream about Sally and a 50- foot tower of chilidogs, before he had been jostled out slumber. The two youngest members of the village were demanding that he take them on an adventure.

" We’ve been doing nothing for days. I’m getting cabin fever," Carmen whined as she tugged at Sonic’s glove.

" You’re not even in a cabin," Sonic pointed out matter of factly.

" Hut fever then." Sonic pulled his glove out of Carmen’s hand and rolled over, only to face Tails.

" If you don’t want to take us anywhere, then let us go alone. Carmen and I can take care of ourselves." Tails countered. Sonic groaned and stuffed the pillow over his ears, trying to drown out the sound of Carmen who was saying ‘please’ in the loudest, most annoying voice that she could possibly muster.

" ALL RIGHT!!!" Sonic had finally had enough. " Go have fun. Anything," he begged. "just get out of my room." The kids slapped each other hi-fives and headed out.

" And don’t slam the-" WHAM. " Door." Sonic rolled his eyes and settled back down to sleep. Finally, some peace.

Outside Sonic’s hut, Tails hit the timer button on his stopwatch.

" How long did he last?"

" Not even 45 seconds."

" Wimp."

8:30 a.m.

They were getting bored again. Tails had been throwing rocks at Carmen so she could use them for target practice. The fun in that ended when she accidentally hit him, instead of the target. It took him a good fifteen minutes to chip the ice off his tail. But now they truly admitted that they had run out of things to do.
" What should we do now, Tails?" Carmen asked while gently swinging from a tree. Tails hovered over and pulled her up to sit next to him.
"Well, Knuckles is out treasure hunting, but I don’t know where. Amy would probably kill us if we bothered her on her vacation." Carmen nodded to this and paused in deep thought. Suddenly she burst out with an idea.
"Hey! I know where we can go!" She hopped down from the tree and did a small cartwheel. Tails suddenly knew what she was talking about.
"That’s a great idea! Lets go."
8: 35 a.m.

Ding-dong. "Hey doc," Carmen said cordially. Robotnik looked confused as to what the two were doing on his doorstep. "Everyone in the village is being mean and they won’t take us anywhere. I was wondering if me and Tails could hang with you."
Robotnik considered this. He was bored with world domination, and there was nothing good on TV. "What the heck? Come in."

9:35 am

" Get him in a headlock!" Tails shouted. Robotnik and Carmen were playing a video fighter game, with them as the fighters. AICarmen proceed to beat the crud out if AIRobotnik and the game flashed "You win!" across the screen.

" Whoo-hoo!" cried Carmen as she won the game for the 16^th time in a row. She did a little victory dance around the TV, ending in a hi-five with Tails.

Robotnik groaned and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, you beat me. Again." He stood up and sighed. He was tired of being whipped by an eleven-year-old kid.

" All right, what now?" he questioned the two.

They looked at each other with devious grins. Robotnik raised an eyebrow. What are those two up to, I wonder. Carmen and Tails were saying nothing but once again were on the same wavelength.

" I know what we could do," Carmen started. "We could play-"

" Hide and Seek!" Tails finished.

Robotnik let out a relieved breath. I must be overreacting. They’re just kids. How evil can kids be?

9:40 a.m.

" 98, 99, 100!" Robotnik opened his eyes. The two were nowhere in sight. He looked around the room just to make sure they weren’t hiding behind the door or something. He ran out the door, searching for the two children.

The room was silent as Tails calmly hovered down from the top corner of the room where he had been holding Carmen up. Robotnik had fortunately forgotten that he could fly and had neglected looking up. He hopped down to the ground and set Carmen on her feet.

" Told ya getting rid of him would be easy," He said to her. He peered carefully around the hallway to check for any guards. " All right, Carmen. The coast is clear. Stay close behind me, ok?" She nodded silently and followed him out into the hallway. Tails had explained to her that they were going to look around to see if Robotnik was building anything new. The Knothole crew could use all the help they could get, and the two were in the perfect position to do a bit of spying.

" Being a secret agent rocks!" she whispered excitedly. Tails grinned at that comment but then stopped, his ears picking up a noise coming around the corner. He pulled Carmen backwards and up into the air, one hand covering her mouth before she could say anything in surprise, his other hand half wrapped around her waist and holding hers, just in case she had the instinct to blast whoever was coming around the corner. She could feel his hands shaking as Robotnik walked around the corner. Please oh please don’t let him see us! Tails thought frantically.

" Where could those two have disappeared to?" Robotnik wondered aloud. He paused to think about where they could possibly be. Above his head, Carmen was trying to wrestle her hand free of Tails’ grip. She pulled away finally and blasted a marble sized ice ball from her finger. It made a light sound as it exploded somewhere down the metallic hallway. Robotnik looked up in the direction it had come from.

" Aha! I’ve got them now!" He raced down the hallway.

Tails hovered back down to the ground to rest his tired tails. " Good thinking, Carmen, " he said to his best friend. "I couldn’t hold out for much longer." They headed in the opposite direction Robotnik had left.

10:00 a.m.

" All right, I give up." Robotnik announced defeatedly. " You can come out now." The two peered out from the end of the hallway. They had barely made it back in time to fool him. If he noticed that they were both slightly out of breath, he said nothing. The world-dominating-evil- genius part of him was beginning to take over. Two of the Freedom Fighters right here in front of me . I must bring them to my side…

11:00 a.m.

" How are we gonna get out of here?" Tails wondered aloud to Carmen. They had managed to keep Robotnik temporarily busy by sending him for snacks. The young otter girl didn’t answer, she was pacing around the room, already deep in thought. They were both now somewhat scared, as well as disturbed by what they had found out. The two children were better snoops than they thought, as they had managed to find a new invention that Robotnik was working on. They had eavesdropped on the building of something called a "Personality Modifier". It looked like some big torture device, with small wires to hook up to the head. Once someone was hooked up to it, the wires would change their personality to the exact opposite. Carmen paused in her pacing and finally faced him. She was shaking lightly. " I don’t know how we’re going to get out, but it has to be quick or else-."

She hardly had time to finish before the doctor came back. He was carrying a tray full of drinks. " Ok, I’ve got lemonade, fruit punch and chocolate milk." Tails took his fruit punch, and Carmen took her lemonade. They were both parched from running around. Before Carmen could drink though, a sudden instinct in her mind told her not to.

" No thanks," she said quickly. "I’m not thirsty right now." She turned to signal Tails to put his down, but he had already finished it. He seemed to be all right. Maybe I’m just overreacting… The doc ‘s actually been nice to us, I’ve gotta give him credit for that.

She looked back over at Tails, who suddenly seemed a little woozy. She walked over to him, concerned and confused. Tails was wavering on his feet, almost looking drunk.

" Tails, what’s wrong with you?" she asked frantically. He leaned gently on her shoulder, trying to keep on his feet. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

" Get out of here, now!" He mumbled drowsily. Then he fell forward into her arms, out like a light. This is terrible! Now I’ve really got to get out. Oh, if I could get my hands on that dumb doc, I’d- Carmen suddenly realized that he wasn’t in the room anymore. She looked around nervously; a chill running down her spine that she knew wasn’t from her ice powers. She decided to go while she had the chance. Carmen hoisted Tails up into her arms and began to run from the room. She didn’t get far before Robotnik stepped out with a large laser gun, blocking her escape.

She began to back up slowly." You big fat jerk! I was stupid to think we could have trusted you." Robotnik was slowly advancing on her.

" Well, it was all fun and games for a while, but playtime’s over, kid." Robotnik said menacingly. Well that was a major cliché. Oh well. "You’ve got nowhere to run, so you might as well surrender." Carmen raised an eyebrow at that, her mouth curling into a Sonic- like smirk.

" And that is where you’d be wrong." She was backed up about 3 feet from him. Her eyes glittered and she suddenly broke into a full speed charge. Robotnik stopped surprised, and she jumped into the air as high as she possibly could, bounced off his shoulder, fell into a tumble with Tails still in her arms, and took off running as fast as she could.

" Come back here, you little brat!" Robotnik yelled. He shot his laser gun at the child’s retreating back. Carmen barely dodged the shots and kept on moving. She rounded the corner, having absolutely no idea where to go next. Her moment’s hesitation gave Robotnik a slight chance to catch up. " Gotcha!" Carmen ducked before he could catch her and picked a random direction to escape. But this time she wasn’t as lucky. A laser blast nearly hit her in the ankle causing her to lose her balance and trip. The last thing she remembered was the cold ground coming up to meet her forehead and sinister laughter…

11:30 a.m.

Ow. My head hurts. My mouth is dry as cotton. Why can’t I move? A sore Carmen opened her eyes to find the answer to her question. She was tied down to a metal chair in a large room with glass windows.

" Mmpfh! " There was a gag over her mouth, the reason she couldn’t talk. Robotnik looked up from tweaking with the machine. He smiled sadistically and walked over to her.

" Its about time you woke up." Carmen yelled something incomprehensible through her gag. He pulled it down slightly so she could talk. " Now, what was that?"

Carmen took a greedy breath of air. " I said, ‘where’s Tails?’" Robotnik jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

" He’s over there." Tails was curled up into a tight ball. "Still sleeping. It’s too bad, I wanted him to see you getting roboticized." Carmen burst out yelling angrily. " You big jerk! You’re lucky my hands are tied down or else I’d blast you in a second, you big pile of – Mmpfh mpphm mumr"

Robotnik had replaced her gag. " Such language for a child. Who taught you those words?" Carmen mumbled something. " Figures. He has enough mouth for two people." He moved away from her and went back to his machine. " You won’t have that kind of mouth when you’re working for me, will you?" He laughed diabolically and got ready to press the button. Carmen closed her eyes in defeat. Someone, anyone, please help me.

" Yeowch! Little brat!" Carmen nervously reopened her eyes. Tails was awake, and by the way Robotnik was jumping around, Tails had just kicked him hard in the shins. He flew over to her while Robotnik was busy and removed her gag. " You all right?" Carmen gave him a relieved grin.

"If I’m not some metallic robot droid, I think I’ll be ok." Tails struggled with Carmen’s bonds but still couldn’t free her arms or legs. Suddenly he was pulled back by a pair of SWATbots holding both of his arms. Robotnik limped over to him with a triumphant look on his face.

" I put enough sleeping pills in your drink to keep you out for a least another hour. You should’ve stayed asleep, brat." He began to limp back over to finally activate the machine. Carmen tried stalling for time, desperate for a plan.

" If you don’t let me out of this thing I’ll- " her eyes gleamed as she was hit with sudden inspiration. " I’ll scream."

Is that all she could come up with? ‘ I’ll scream?’ Oh please. "I’m in big trouble now. Do your worst." Robotnik taunted. Carmen’s eyes flashed blue for a moment, and she looked directly at Tails and winked. Tails was confused as to what she had planned, but didn’t say anything.

" If you say so…" She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with as much air as possible, and began to scream…

Still 11:30 a.m.

" If you say so…" She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with as much air as possible, and began to scream. The glass windows surrounding her began to vibrate wildly. Everything started to shake as if there were an earthquake. The two SWATbots fell over, releasing Tails, who threw himself to the ground and covered his head in fear. The glass finally shattered into thousands of pieces. Smoke began to come from the SWATbots, whose circuits had overloaded. The walls were still wavering as the sound waves bounced around the room. Everything finally stopped suddenly, as Carmen had finally run out of air.

Robotnik’s finger was poised above the roboticizer’s button. He looked around in shock, whimpering as if about to he was about to cry.

" Hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you," Carmen said rather breathlessly.

Robotnik said nothing, as a tear slid down his fat cheek and his face got angrier and angrier. Suddenly a light fixture from the roof fell down and hit him directly on the head. He fell down, knocked out cold.

Tails lifted his head and looked around warily. When he saw that all was clear, he got up and flew over all of the debris to his friend’s side. "Once again, you are the diva of destruction," he said grinning. She shrugged with a diabolic, yet quite satisfied smile on her face. " You could do that all along, couldn’t you?"

" Yup, and would you believe I learned from opera lessons?" Carmen replied. She twisted her wrists in her bonds. " Help me out of these things."

12:00 p.m.

Tails took a deep breath of fresh air as soon as they had made it outside. " Ah, freedom," he breathed. Carmen walked beside him with a thoughtful look on her face.

" Tails," she said finally, " How did you wake up in time to save me? The doc said you should have been out for another hour."

He shrugged. " Just instinct, I guess."

Carmen blushed lightly and she smiled. " You mean you instinctively knew that I was in trouble and that you had to save me?"

Tails looked sheepish as he answered back. " Err, actually it was more of an instinct of having to go to the bathroom."

Carmen’s face fell. "Oh."

12:35 p.m.

The two waved at Sonic, who was sitting out on a beach chair, catching some rays.

" Hey, you two," he called out, lifting his sunglasses. " Where have you been all morning?"

Tails grinned. " Playing video games with an interplanetary tyrant, covert spy operations, mass destruction, and… drinking lemonade."

Sonic blinked and then chuckled. Kids and their imaginations…

" All I can say," Carmen finished, " is that I’ve had enough fun to last me the rest of the day." Tails nodded, and they both went to grab some lunch.

7:30 a.m. (next day)

"Sonic…"

He grumbled and rolled over.

" Hey, blue-boy."

Sonic put the pillow over his head and ignored whoever was calling him.

Carmen put both two fingers in her mouth and whistled an extremely high pitched call. Sonic groaned and opened one eye, catching a flash of brown and orange fur.

"Oh, no."

Tails and Carmen looked at each other, and then spoke in unison.

" We’re booorrrreeeddd!"

The End

A/N: And the moral of this story is: " Isn’t it amazing how much chaos 2 kids can cause in just 5 hours?" Just a thought.

And no, there wasn’t much of a point in writing this.