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Dulcy begins to slow down as she nears the forest village. It felt nice to be heading to a place that felt like home, though she remembered flying past here earlier and not noticing anyone she recognized even though the place itself looked right to her, and her heart sunk a bit. 'What if none of the other freedom fighters she knew were here?' She wondered to herself. She just had to hold on to the hope that either Sally would be there, or at least someone else that was a good leader.
"Alright guys, we're nearly there. I'm going to land in the meadow. Hold on tight!" She called back to them as she flared her wings a bit and began to slow down a lot as the ground got closer and closer. She hoped this would be one of her better landings, though those were coming more often in the last several months. Before long Dulcy was just above the grassy meadow. She flares her wings fully as a break, she then touches down, landing feet first. She stumbles slightly but tries her best to keep her balance as she digs her claws into the ground and slows to a stop. She then looks back at Chadin and Giichi with a warm smile. "Well, here we are. Feels good to be home." She then crouches low again so that Chadin and Giichi would have an easier time getting off.
Giichi slid off of Dulcy's back smoothly, and turned around to help Chadin down. As he was waiting for the buck to climb down, he turned to survey this so-called freedom fighter base. Usually, freedom fighter bases looked pretty ramshackle and makeshift, because they tended to be assembled and taken down in a hurry.
This one however actually looked very pleasant. Lots of little cabins and huts were scattered all beneath the forest canopy, near a huge tree. A little brook winded its way past the village. He supposed this particular base had been around long enough for its residents to get settled in. It looked more like a weekend retreat than anything.
He could already see a small group coming out of the village towards them. Looked like a big mix of many different anthros like themselves.
However, as they approached, Giichi couldn't help but notice many were staring at him. He was getting lots of intense scrutiny. The cat couldn't help but start to feel a little confused and afraid.
What the hell did I do to them?
Still, some moved to brush past him to help Chadin, while others ran back to the village, presumably to get medical supplies.
[In case you're wondering what I'm doing here, they're very suspicious of Giichi because I imagine they're very strict about this base's secrecy. Giichi's a new, unknown face to them.]
(entering from Quest for sap)
Relic took 4 swings from his titanic sword to fell the tree. Something that had not occurred ever before. The crashing of the tree and his own fierce grunts would make it very hard for the village to ignore his presence. The dread knight was armed to the teeth and covered in metal, being mistaken for a robot wouldn't have been hard. With the tree on the ground, he began to crack it open length wise, eagerly digging for the sap that would please his master.
(Entering from Quest for Sap)
Falina didn't even know there was a village out here, but a wave of relief washed over her as she sighted the village. Surely there would be someone there that could help fend off this crazy armored sap hunter. Or, at least she hoped there would be. She kept running till she was in the middle of the village, and looked around for anyone that could help, quickly spotting the dragon, a cat, and... another deer? One that looked strangely familiar. She winced as she noticed that he appeared to be injured and several residents of the village were moving to tend to him.
At this point, she was sure that they knew what was happening, as the sound of the tree crashing to the ground was hard to miss, but she still called out to them. "Some crazy guy in armor is cutting down tree after tree and destroying them to collect sap. I tried to stop him, but I was no match for him alone."
The whole landing was quite the terrifying experience for this first-time flyer, let me tell you. After getting off Dulcy with Giichi's help my legs practically gave out from under me. If it wasn't for him I'd have face planted into the soft grass of the meadow; and not just because of all the blood I'd lost either. Not that I wasn't severely tempted to drop to my knees and kiss the ground out of gratitude to be be back on solid ground again.
I was relieved to see Knothole looked much as I remembered it. But like with so many other things it still looked slightly different. Nothing major, subtle things really, but enough to give me a hint that this place, as similar as it may be, might just be another version of Knothole from one of the parallel zones. That being the case, I could understand the odd looks on their faces as they approached us. Some of them must have noticed I was injured because those suspicious looks faded and they quickly rushed over and took my weight of Giichi.
One of the crowd rushed off and soon came back with a duck wearing a white lab coat and a silver disk strapped to his head. Now him I definitely didn't recognize from the Knothole I knew.
The man came up behind me and began poking at my shoulder. "Take it easy son, I'm a doctor." He assured me as I instinctively flinched away from his touch. "Hmm... I'll need you to take that shirt off, son. I can't see anything like this."
Hesitantly I unbuttoned the front of my shirt and peeled it off, giving the duck full access.
"Ah, that's much better. Now hold still, this is going to sting a bit." I cringed in pain as I felt a sharp tug on my shoulder. It felt like he was trying to pull the flesh right out of my shoulder!!
"There we are..." The doctor whispered in satisfaction as he pulled the metal fragment from my body. As he worked, the duck kept on talking, probably to keep my mind of what he was doing."That's a nasty gash you took there, lad. Do you mind if I ask where you got that if I might ask?" An assistant handed the duck some medicine which he applied to my wounds. It burned at first, but quickly the pain seemed to numb. I hardly even noticed when the doctor pulled out a long thread and curved needle and began to stitch up the gash the shrapnel had left in me.
"Me and Giichi here were in Robotnik's server room trying to find out what he's up to when we got attacked. A wall blew up next to me and I guess a piece found its way into me.
"What were you doing inside Robotnik's base?" One of the people in the crowd asked.
"Yeah and who are you anyway?" Another, gruff looking pig asked with a visible look of suspicion.
"Like I said, we were trying to figure out what Robotnik is planning." I answered one with a scowl from having to repeat myself. "I'm from the Mountain Freedom Fighter group. I was on my way to Knothole when some big flash of light knocked me out for the past week. When I woke up this morning I decided to investigate what Robotnik was planning when I ran into Giichi. He saved my life inside Robotnik's base when I got captured."
The duck finished wrapping a bandage around my shoulder and stood up. "That's a pretty tall tale, my boy. I can't say I've ever heard of a Freedom Fighter group in the mountains before. Under any other circumstances I'd suggest you let me examine you for any head trauma, but considering all that's happened lately, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. We all say that flash as well. After that a number of people have gone missing and others have sprung up out of no-where. My name is Dr. Quack by the way; and who might you be?" Dr. Quack asked, directing his query to Chadin and Giichi.
Just about then, the sound of a massive tree falling gained everyone's attention and Falina arrived, unintentionally interrupting the conversation. "Some crazy guy in armor is cutting down tree after tree and destroying them to collect sap. I tried to stop him, but I was no match for him alone."
I couldn't see the girl speaking because of the crowd, but something about that voice...
Dulcy backed away from Chadin and the others as the residents of this somewhat twisted version of Knothole came to tend to the buck. Soon though her eyes caught sight of a doe running toward them from out of the forest. "Hey Chadin, there's a doe coming this way, she a friend of yours?" She asks curiously, looking back toward Falina only to see a huge old tree come crashing down behind the deer. She blinks with shock, then spots the armored man who seems to have cut down the tree with his seemingly impossibly lengthy sword. When Falina confirmed this, she began walking over toward Relic. Even if this wasn't exactly the same Knothole that she knew and called home, she was certainly going to protect it just as if it was. She came to a stop a half dozen feet from Relic and looked up at him with a firm, unpleased expression. "Someone tells me that your cutting down trees and taking their sap. I had expected it to be some scheme of Robotnik, but here you are. Who are you, and what do you want?"
Giichi only half-listened to the conversation being kicked around right now. Instead, he focused more on the fact they were losing precious time here.
We need to get out of here RIGHT NOW.
As he surveyed the motley little crew, the cat didn't buy Chadin's boast that these guys were able to beat back an army. He wanted to warn Soleanna's REAL army as soon as possible so they could take care of the job. Granted, Soleanna was peace-loving, so their military was more along the lines of a self-defense force, but what they had was a hell of a lot better than anything he'd seen here so far.
As they were talking, Giichi could hear a tree crashing down in the distance. However, he paid no mind to it. He presumed it was just someone else who lived here that was making firewood.
"My name is Dr. Quack by the way; and who might you be?"
Giichi was about to say his name when another arriving deer interrupted.
"Some crazy guy in armor is cutting down tree after tree and destroying them to collect sap. I tried to stop him, but I was no match for him alone."
The cat let out a little sigh. Giichi didn't know or care what she was talking about. He was about to resume talking to the doctor, but then Dulcy took off to investigate what the doe had been talking off. That dragon was his ride out of here. If she got distracted by this, they could be stuck here longer than they needed to. So understandably Giichi got rather anxious and went after her. He had to jog while she merely had to walk, due to their size differences.
"Hey! Dulcy! Wait! We don't have time for this! We have to get to Soleanna!"
But she just kept walking right to wherever it was those trees were crashing down. If only he had his Ferrari right now... It wouldn't roll away from him just because it wanted to look at something. Eventually, Giichi realized she wasn't going to stop, and gave up. He stomped his feet a few times and marched back to the freedom fighters, shaking his head in frustration.
He supposed that it would take time for Chadin to heal anyway... Might as well take advantage of the time he'd be stuck here, even if he thought it'd be a fruitless endeavour to get these guys involved. Anyway, Giichi headed back to talk to the doctor, since he seemed to be the de facto leader of the group. The cat tried to speak quickly, but calmly, as he laid out his situation.
"Like I was about to say sir, my name is Giichi Twinkieland. I'm from the city of Soleanna. So far as I know, it's the last city on the planet now, aside from Robotropolis. And Robotnik is going to be attacking it soon. If Soleanna falls, there will be no organized military left to fight him. If you guys can do something to help, that'd be great, but we really need to warn the city before it's too late. Robotnik's fleet is already on its way there."
An idea struck Giichi then. He smiled and pulled out his netbook.
"I've got his invasion plan on this computer right now, and I really need to get this to my city's military. You guys wouldn't happen to have communications equipment out here, would you? I'd like to send the plans to them electronically. Oh yeah, and you guys can look at the plans too if you want."
Relic peered about, there seemed to be a village nearby. More importantly, a dragon stood in front of him, the strange thing was it was questioning him instead of belching fire. "Lady Priscilla would not care for me to disclose her business with every passer by, there are far too many and I far to few hours.
The large fox held the tree chopping sword single handed, the titanic blade remaining still as a rock in his grip. Though his body seemed to be less still, as if he was bothered by something. His entire body seemed to sway and lean from side to side. He was done with his task, but getting back would be much harder then entering. For one he had no idea were h was. He had just moved from tree to tree, second having seen were Knothole was could prove to be a reason to be kept there.
"I take my leave, dragon, I have no gold or jewels on my persons nor am I interested in your horde." It was some sort of message of non-hostility. Having said that he turned to walk away.
She does hear the other conversations going on at the moment, but doesn't pay much attention to them as she's a bit preoccupied with the sound of the tree falling behind her, announcing that the man she had fled from was still coming. She wonders what he'll do to this village if not stopped. One line does catch her attention though, as Dulcy mentions the name of the injured buck. She blinks, moving a bit closer to look at him, even as Dulcy moved off to confront Relic. "Chadin? Wow, it's been so long, I didn't recognize you. It's me, Falina. I... I thought I was the only one who made it out of that mess alive."
"Fuh-F-Falina...?" My eyes went wide and my ears fell to the sides out of absolute shock and disbelief. Annoyingly, I have to admit that the old 'deer caught in the headlight' expression has been getting a workout today, but that's about how I looked right about now.
I was so stunned to see Falina that I froze in place while I was still in the midst of pulling my arm through the sleeve of my shirt; inadvertently giving Falina a perfect view of the intricate criss-crossing lightning bolt scars across my chest. Not like they weren't already plenty visible on my face.
I was at a complete loss for words. It's not that I'm not happy to see her again, I positively ecstatic. She was best friend growing up; I just... I was just so surprised to see her alive. The memories of the forest fire that destroyed my home... our home came rushing back. Everywhere around me fire lapped at the trees and at my heels. I remember panic, sheer absolute panic. I ran. I ran as fast as my feet could possibly carry me. I looked back, hoping to see my parents right behind me. I never did get to take a proper look. When I looked back I stumbled right into an open fissure of a cave. I fell in. I dont' remember much of the fall itself, I just know that when I finally hit the bottom I was hurt; bad. I called out for help, but I think I must have blacked out not long afterward. The next thing I knew, I'm waking up in a dingy cave with all the makings of a hastily built hospital. That's when I met the MFF... That's when I found out I'd lost everyone I'd ever known.
My muscles finally found their strength as I finished pulling my shirt back on. More like shame. Somewhere in the back of my mind what Falina said hit a soft spot. "I didn't recognize you..." It was probably just a passing comment, but in my mind I could think of several reasons why she wouldn't recognize me; and probably not all of them from a visual stand point. I've changed.
Feeling uneasy, my eyes roamed with a mind of their own. Falina, it would seem has changed too. Still wearing a nice dress; probably at her mother's insistance. A little older now, and a sword strapped to her waist. That was a new one on me. The rest of her though... She looked the same, just the way I remembered her.
I got scared... too scared to speak. Scared I might say something wrong. Scared she might not like the new me. Scared that I might loose my best friend for a second time if she disapproves of the person I've become.
And the really frustrating part of all this? The other half of my brain was absolutely SCREAMING at me to hug Falina for joy and start spouting off everything that's happened to me and how happy I am to see her again and all that other stuff you'd expect to see out of some climatic movie reunion scene. Blast the cruel trappings of reality!!! Blast it to HECK!!!
As far as I was concerned at this point, the rest of the world was a dull blur in the background right now.
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