Tolouse's Story A Sonic the Hedgehog Story by Kris Kelley This story is protected by copyright laws. Feel free to distribute this story, but the author does not allow any unauthorized alteration of the story or distrubition for profit. Author's credits, "thank you"s, legal jargon, and whatever else happened to enter my head: Welcome to my first Sonic story. The plot for this has been in my head for quite some time now, but unfortunately I had not seen the show until recently, and I did not want to risk contradicting too many details, or even write something blatantly wrong. Le'see, "thank you"s go to the creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog mailing list for getting me into this mess :), and to SEGA, Archie, and DiC for starting the whole thing to begin with :). A BIG "thank you" to David Pistone for being kind enough to give me access to the cartoon show. This and future stories would not have been possible without it. Parts of this story are based on my FurToonia adventures as "Tolouse." Thanks to David "Bookshire" Pistone and Dan "Sonic" Ramos for the inspiration. "Hello"s also go to Todd, Tyro, and whoever else plays there that might read this :). Please send questions and compliments...er...comments to: gt6005a@prism.gatech.edu All characters depicted herein are the creation and property of Service and Games (SEGA) and/or Archie Publications and/or DiC except for the following: Shirley, Jean, Tolouse, and other various characters: created and owned by Kris Kelley. Bookshire: created and owned by David Pistone. Historian's Note: The conclusion of this story takes place well before the time depicted in the cartoon, but after events chronicled in the stories "Bunnie Rabbot," and "Tails' Tale." Okay, enough rambling, on with the story... Part 1 5/13/3224, early evening. Mobotropolis. Jean was nervous. Tonight was supposed to be a big night. The Great War was finally over, and the King was throwing a celebration to, among other things, congratulate the Minister of War, Julian, and reappoint him as Minister of Science. Jean, who was a member of the Palace Guard, had been asked, along with several others, to work late this evening to watch over the ceremonies. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but still, Jean was nervous. There was something that just was not right. Julian had seemed less than enthusiastic about his change of jobs lately, and Jean had felt tension mounting. Jean stood his post, looking out over the city, when he noticed something that made his heart stop. A huge fleet of hovercraft, flying ships of all shapes and sizes, were headed straight for the palace! "Gods of Mobius!" he thought. "What is that?" A few minutes later, he had an answer. At the same time, all hell broke loose. * * * Shirley, Jean's beloved wife and a pretty 25-year-old brown-furred fox, was busy scrolling through today's e-mail when the telecommunicator buzzed. She pressed the answer button, and her "handsome fox of a husband" appeared on the screen. "Hey, honey, how's the---" "Listen, Shirley. Something's happened. I can't explain it, but get out of the city. Get Tolouse, get the neighbors if you can, but do it quickly. I repeat, GET OUT OF THE CITY!!" Shirley saw a look of fear that she had never seen before in her husband's face. "Jean, what is it?" "Just do it now! Julian has gone insane, and..." Jean was interrupted by a huge crash behind him, and by a robotic voice saying "You are under arrest." "GET OUT OF THE CITY, PLEASE!" Jean shouted. "GET OUT---" and the screen went dead. Shirley could not believe what she just saw, but she had no reason to doubt Jean, especially after looking into his eyes, petrified with fear. She quickly got up from the console and ran to Tolouse's room. "Honey, wake up!" she said, but before he could respond she already had her 4-year-old son cradled in her arms, and was running out the door. "Mommy, what's wrong?" "No time, baby. We've got to leave." Right as she opened the front door, an immense explosion rocked the city. She looked out and in the distance, she saw the palace, falling to pieces. "Jean!" she screamed. But there was no time to wonder what on Mobius was going on. All around her, people stared at the palace in utter confusion. Shirley tried to make her voice as firm as possible. "Everybody, listen! We've got to get out of here! My hovercar, now!" "Shirley, do you know---" "NOW! Jean said something's happened at the palace, but I don't want to be here to find out! Are you with me?" Most of the people who heard her followed her to the hovercar. Shirley had been fortunate that Jean got one with plenty of storage space to transport the various projects he was always working on. Now it would be a means of escape for many people. About 20 bodies were compacted into the storage space when somebody noticed something approaching. "Shirley, we've got company! Gun it!" Shirley looked over and saw a whole army of robot patrollers coming up the road, followed by angry-looking hovercraft she had never seen before. The robot patrollers (whom would later be known as the infamous SWAT-Bots) were grabbing every person they could and stowing them in the hovercraft. With the doors still open, Shirley maxed the accelerator, and the hovercar rose in the air and zoomed down the street. Down below, she could hear the cries of the people, who had seen the robot patrollers and now saw her hovercar, begging to be taken. There was no time. She closed the doors in bitter heartbreak. "Mommy?" Shirley looked down and saw Tolouse sitting in her lap, eyes wide and full of fear. He looked just like his father did. "It's okay, honey. It's okay." She did not believe it herself, but she could not think of anything else to tell him. Right then, somebody screamed, "Shirley! Look ahead!" About 200 feet ahead, several robot patrollers were standing in the street, forming a roadblock. There was no way around them! Shirley knew she couldn't stop now. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and maxed the accelerator. A robotic voice said, "Halt your vehicle by order of---" WHAM!! The hovercar lurched wildly, and several windows shattered, but the hovercar remained intact and in the air. Behind them, the frightened occupants heard laser fire, but by some miracle the hovercar made it through to the city limits, speeding towards the Great Forest. Tolouse was crying, as was several of the occupants of the hovercar. By now Shirley was too dazed to do anything but drive, hoping they would reach safety. Wherever that was. As nighttime approached, the hovercar sped along through the Great Forest. * * * Jean was one of the first citizens of Mobotropolis to be roboticized that night. Julian's (now Ivo Robotnik) coup had been a success, and his tyrannical rule had begun. Part 2 The next day. Somewhere deep within the Great Forest. The hovercar was dying. Apparantly the run-in with the robot patrollers had caused more damage than they had realized. Shirley wasn't sure how much longer it would run. About 20 minutes later, she was sure. No longer. The engines cut off, and the hovercar plowed into the ground. Shirley cradled Tolouse as everybody was thrown forward by the crash. Nobody was hurt. At least, not physically. Shirley wrestled the doors open, and the 20 or so refugees exited the hovercar. All were scared, most were crying, nobody knew what was to happen next. All eyes were on Shirley. "Shirley, tell us, please. Do you know what on Mobius is going on here?" Shirley looked at them wearily, holding Tolouse in her arms. "I don't know. Jean was in the palace when it happened, and he called me just before---" She looked away as a tear rolled down the fur of her cheek. "I don't know." Then an idea came to her. "The radio!" Shirley got into the hovercar, and switched on the radio, praying it still worked. It did. The commercial frequencies were nothing but static, so she switched to the frequencies used by the Palace Guard. She picked up voices on one of the channels. She fine-tuned it and turned up the volume for all to hear. A deep, evil voice sounded through the hovercar's speakers. "Snively, is it done yet?!" This was answered by a higher-pitched voice. "Yes, sir. SWAT-Bots have travelled through all sections of the city, and virtually all citizens have---" "Snively, what do you mean by, 'virtually'?" There was a hesitation. "Well, sir, it...appears there were some attempts at escape...various reports show that---" The deep voice interupted again. "SNIVELY!! I *trust* this is being taken care of?!" "Y-y-yes, sir. Hover-bots are patrolling the Great Forest for any signs of refugees. I...I promise you, sir, if there are any refugees, they will be captured." "Good, Snively, good. Continue." A note of relief was heard in the higher-pitched voice. "Thank you, sir." Nothing but static afterwards. Shirley switched off the radio and looked at the frightened faces around her. She realized they were unsure of what to do, and were looking to her for guidance. She sighed heavily, resting her head against the windshield. Gods of Mobius, what am I to do? "Mommy?" She looked down at Tolouse. Although they were still glazed with fear, there was expectation in his eyes as well. She sighed again. If she didn't help them survive, who would? Like it or not, she thought, I've been chosen to get us through this mess. Lucky me. Shirley climbed out of the hovercar and looked around, trying to determine what they needed to do. Ah! That was it. She cleared her throat, and tried to make her voice sound as confident as possible. It wasn't easy. "Well...it, uh, looks like we're going to be here for a while, and we've got work to do. We'll need to hide the hovercar, and we'll have to dig some burrows to hide ourselves in. If those 'hover- bots', whatever they are, are looking for us, we're going to have to live underground." She studied the ground, then began digging with her bare paws. "Come on!" she persuaded. A few joined her at first, and then eventually everybody was helping, even little Tolouse. Shirley watched him, sadly. Is this how he is going to grow up, without a father, as a refugee? Tears wet the fur of her cheeks. By nightfall, the hovercar had been covered over with foliage, and they had enough burrows for everyone to sleep in, safely hidden from any surveillance above. That night, Shirley and Tolouse were awakened by a loud roar. Overhead, hover-bots were continuing their search through the Great Forest. Shirley grabbed Tolouse and crawled as far back into the burrow as she could. "What is that, Mommy?" Tolouse screamed, crying. "It's okay, baby, it's okay." Shirley said, rocking him back and forth. She and the others had been careful to see that the burrows and the hovercar were as camouflaged as possible. Still, she just knew that those machines would stop, and any minute they would be flushed out of the burrows and taken away. It didn't happen. Soon the roar quieted to a whisper, and then was gone. The hover-bots had moved elsewhere. Shirley could not hold it in any longer, and tears flowed as she thought of Jean, Tolouse, and what their lives were to become. Eventually, sleep returned, and Shirley slumped against the side of the burrow, holding tightly onto the sleeping Tolouse. * * * And this is how their new life began, as refugees of the Great Forest.