[The 'Bots enter the theater.]

CROW:  Snively's boringness disturbs me.

>  While people filed into the meeting hall/courtroom, I talked to Sally. 
>  	"Why aren't I dead? How come His Majesty stopped his lynching?"
>  	"I stopped him because he had no proof.

SERVO:  Not counting the video camera evidence, DNA traces...

>  We cut you down. He had only
>  Geoffrey's word...and you were blindfolded, you couldn't of known the 
>  location anyway. Just the same, I sent word to Uncle Chuck to get proof of
>  whether or not you did give it away."
>  	I hoped Uncle Chuck wasn't a liar. 

GYPSY:  Sure, trust the guy with an old grudge on Snively for making him what
he is today.

>  	"Well, thank you," I said. She nodded, but her eyes were impatient. She 
>  didn't like me. Tough shit. I didn't care for Ms. Pert n' pretty myself.
>  	"All right, group," said Sally. "Got some disturbing news."

SERVO[as Sally]:  No more possesive pronouns from now on.

>  She looked very solemn behind the podium. I was glad to be sitting in the
>  crowd instead of in front of everyone. Not that anyone sat near me. They
>  all sat as far away from me as possible.
>  	Geoff came in, his flat blue eyes swiping the room.

CROW:  Stop those eyes!  They're stealing the room!

>  They saw me and a
>  sickening grin spread over his face. The bastard sat down behind me. I could
>  smell his musky stomach-turning scent. It hung in the air like an insult...
>  and I was insulted. Insulted by the brute following me around.
>  	Antoine sat next to me, looking worried. "Zee princess, she ees not having
>  that light in her eyes. These ees bad." He chewed on his claws nervously.

SERVO:  I thought no one was sitting near him?

>  	Geoffrey kicked the back of his chair. 
>  	"He ees a disgrace to zee royal guard," growled the tailless fox.
>  	"Yer a disgrace, Ant. You wimp." Geoff kicked his chair again.

GYPSY:  Wow, Geoff is even more of a dick in fanfiction.

>  	Sally glared over at us, her eyes laying the blame on me. I sighed. 
>  	"We've uncovered," she paused to elaborate, "Geoffrey, Snively, and myself
>  uncovered this top secret file and I've discovered Nagus's newest plan.
>  It's...it's twisted...

CROW:  He's making Manos II!
ALL:  [gasp]

>  I don't think he's necessary after us...he just wants to test his magical
>  capacity."
>  	"Tell us, mah princess!"

SERVO:  Get that half-breed out of here!

>  	"He's planning to deroboticize some people..."

GYPSY:  The feind!

>  	There were a few cheers, but she rose her voice. "But not for good! Not for
>  good purposes!

CROW:  Please control yourselves!

>  Nicole...display."
>  	A holograph shimmered in the air. There was a crude drawing of a beast...
>  but looking closer, I saw it was lots of furries molded together into this 
>  horror.

SERVO:  Huh?

>  	"This is what Nagus is going to do. Use his magic to..." Sally held her 
>  hands out and then brought them together. "...to smoosh them all together."	

GYPSY:  That was for all you unsophisticated people.

>  	There were gasps from the crowd. 
>  	Geoffrey whistled. "That's quite a trick, luv. Ya think he can do it?"
>  	"It doesn't matter if he can or can't. If he deroboticizes them, then we 
>  have to rescue them! Just think of how many new citizens we'd have!"

SERVO:  Overpopulation: the goal of every uncrowded city.

>  	The crowd was getting riled up. I felt this pang...of guilt? But it was 
>  almost a pleasurable guilt...like a woman eating the forbidden chocolate treat 
>  while on a strict diet...

CROW:  Is this simile supposed to make me hungry?

>  it was I who had roboticized...it was I who had released
>  Nagus...it was I who had caused their troubles.

SERVO:  Duh...

>  	My eyes narrowed. Who cares. These stupid animals weren't my friends anyway.
>  They were even stupider if they thought so. I turned to glare hatefully at
>  Geoff, whose kicking had transferred from Ant's chair to mine.

CROW:  Geoff the Bully.

>  	And then the meeting was over. 
>  	But not for everybody. Oh no. I was one of the privileged. I was one of the
>  rescue team. I looked around the scant population of the room. There was 
>  Sally and her father, heatedly arguing. I smiled almost smugly...they were arguing
>  about me.

GYPSY:  They care!  They really do care!

>  	"I don't believe him, daddy! You know Geoffrey overexaggerates. There's no
>  proof that he told."
>  	"I don't want that traitor...," King Acorn's accusing eyes glanced up to 
>  stab at me. I looked as innocent as possible, "...to go with you. Not until 
>  Charles says he's innocent. It's too risky."
>  	"All right. He won't go till then."
>  	King Acorn laid a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead.

SERVO[bitterly]:  I love you.

>  	Also in the room was Sonic, who was tapping his feet impatiently.

CROW:  Who?  When did this character come into the plot?

>  	"Gonna spoil the mission, aren't ya, mate?" Geoffrey was mouthing off to 
>  the hedgehog. I suspected Geoff was just going along to keep his beady eyes on 
>  me. He couldn't be of any other use.  

GYPSY:  How about endangering a love interest?

>  	Bunnie and Antoine were seated near each other, their faces very close.
>  Discussing the mission maybe, or maybe brushing lips. Probably the latter.
>  	For second  I felt a twinge of envy for Antoine. Oh, to be inches from
>  Bunnie's face...feel her soft whiskers on my skin, her eyes, the color of 
>  light on newborn leaves, gazing into mine...I loved the way one of her ears 
>  flopped down onto her cheek. It was like a skein of golden-brown silk. 

SERVO:  Ugh, and this *isn't* a lemon?

>  	I rubbed the back of my head, and tried to push those thoughts away. Bunnie 
>  is an enemy. An animal. Animals and humans don't mix.

GYPSY:  Although humans are animals...

>  	I didn't really listen to the rest of the meeting. I didn't have a big part
>  anyway. I was just back-up.

SERVO:  Yeah, they have him back up into a ditch.

>  I was too busy trying to banish my thoughts on Ms. Rabbot.

CROW:  Ugh, and now he calls her *Ms. Rabbot*.

>  	God...through the entire meeting I kept glancing at the unwanted invader of 
>  my thoughts. I rubbed my head nervously. No. I did not care for Bunnie. In any
>  way. I did not want her. In any way.

GYPSY[matter-of-fact]:  This is sick.

>  	I sipped in a long breath of air. It felt cool sliding into my lungs. But 
>  the rest of me felt hot.
>  	I was burning up.
>  

SERVO:  And the end of Snively was spontaneous combustion.

>  					************
>  
>  
>  	I was sleeping. Wrapped up in a sheet. The room was still dark when two 
>  hands grabbed my shoulder and shook. I didn't want to wake up. I was havingone
>  of those mystical hazy erotic sort of dreams, and I was jerked out of it.

CROW:  Could you have used a less stimulating verb, please?

>  "Wake up, hon." Bunnie's whispering was like an extension of my dream. I 
>  slowly opened one eye and saw Bunnie leaning over me. Her pink nose and soft
>  lips were right there. I closed my eyes.

GYPSY[Snively]:  I'm not awake.  Leave me alone.

>  	"What time is it?" I groaned.
>  	"It's 6:00."
>  	I groaned again. Then I felt something soft tickling my ear. It was Bunnie's
>  whiskers.

SERVO:  Yeah, my cat does that all the time.

>  She giggled and I jumped, falling off the couch. My leg hit Bunnie's
>  and she tripped, falling on top of me. She was heavy from the robotic limbs.

CROW:  This has all the whollop as the bed breaking scene from "The Starship
Captain that Neelix Claus Forgot."

>  	Her eyes widened a little and the pink inside of her ears got darker...like
>  blushing. I felt the heat rush into my cheeks...oh my...we were in the 
>  perfect position to...

ALL:  Boink!

>  	No! I smiled weakly as Bunnie laughed and climbed off. I slid back up onto 
>  the couch and rubbed the back of my head.

ALL:  Whew!

>  	"We got news from Sugah-Chuck last night.

SERVO:  Sugar-flavored chalk?
CROW:  Servo?  Shut up.

>  Ya were already in bed. But Chuck said that ya didn't give away KnotHole."

GYPSY:  Well, yip-dee-do-dumb.

>  	"No kidding."
>  	"So ya can come on this mission. We gotta git there early, ya know. 'Cause 
>  the deroboticization is supposed ta happen around 9:00."

CROW:  This is really good, because I was in suspense over if Snively could come
or not.

>  	Great. I was so excited.
>  
>  					********	

SERVO:  I was so exited that I drew stars on the page.

>  
>  	I was picking at my breakfast. It was a fruitbowl.

GYPSY:  They make him eat wooden bowls?  He should have just stuck with the greul.

>  I avoided the cantaloupe and honeydew melon, but the watermelon I scarfed up.
>  I also downed the grapes and strawberries. 

CROW:  A story where no detail is forgotten.

>  	I was eating my breakfast all by my lonesome, perched on the log by the 
>  pool. I allowed my gaze to travel over the still waters. Why had Geoffrey yelled 
>  at Antoine for bringing me down here?

SERVO:  Oh, the ring pool secret sub-plot.

>  	I heard the stomping of feet coming my way.
>  	"Sally! The hedgehog dressed up like a SWATbutt? I'm the slyest of the sly,
>  the quietess of the quiet! I won't get spotted."

GYPSY:  A quietess?  Sonic's a master female quiet person?

>  	"Sonic." Sally's voice was impatient and they came into my view and stood
>  looking at the pool. "Me and you and Bunnie are going to dress up like
>  SWATbots. The other three are back-up. That's final! And if you don't like 
>  the

SERVO:  ...grammar mistakes then just don't bother talking to me!

>  plan then stay behind!"
>  	Sonic's face was stormy and he turned to me. "Get out of here, Needlenose.
>  This is a private conversation!"
>  	"Leave him alone. And quit changing the subject. Are you going along with 
>  the plan or not?" 
>  	"Parade around in a bunch of metal," grumbled the blue blur.

CROW:  You didn't mind the limo ride.

>  	"ARE YOU?" Sally's voice was no-nonsense.

GYPSY:  And no-lowercase, I might add.

>  	"Ok ok, Sal. But just for you." Sonic managed a sweet smile.
>  	"Thank you."
>  	I stared down at the ground as they kissed. Then a light crept over the
>  ground, killing the shadows around my feet. I thought it was only sunlight
>  through the trees, but it got brighter and brighter. I looked up and saw a
>  golden ring spinning in the air above the water. The pool was disturbed...

SERVO:  It had a tummy ache.

>  the ring must've come from the water!
>  	Sally reached out and snatched the ring as it fell, and then placed it into
>  Sonic's backpack. I watched in interest. It was a power ring! Something
>  Robotnik had drooled at the thought of. We'd gotten our hands on one a 
>  couple of times.

CROW:  Yeah, thanks to Antoine.
SERVO:  Is he really a super-smart double agent?

>  So they came out of the pool? But how? I peered into the water, but
>  saw only the reflections of the trees.
>  	Sally and Sonic walked off.

GYPSY:  Apparently forgetting they just disclosed a secret of national security
to a former enemy.

>  I dipped my fingers into the water. It was cold.
>  I decided I'd swim down and see where the rings came from. But not today.

CROW:  I was wearing my good suit.

>  	I sat back down and finished my breakfast.
>  

SERVO:  Huh.  So everyone is cool with this.
CROW:  If it was such a secret, why didn't they plug Sniv full of bullets or
something?

>  					**************		
>  
>  	So there we were in Robotropolis again. Bunnie and Sally and Sonic had 
>  trashed three of the bots standing guard along one of the Robotroplian streets. 
>  Dressed in SWATbot armor, the three Freedom Fighters had taken the destroyed 'bots
>  place. Me, Antoine, and Geoffrey St. Dick were standing in a nearby alleyway.

[Gypsy starts humming the Mission Impossible theme.  Servo does the bass.]

>  I was diverting any SpyEyes that came near with my remote.
>  	Sally had contact with us via a headset that Antoine was wearing. She also 
>  had contact with Uncle Chuck. 

CROW:  I pulled out my portable TV and we all sat down to watch Jodie Foster in
her best role.

>  	Why call him uncle if he was only related to Sonic? I wondered. I guessed 
>  they considered themselves a big family. Ooh. How sweet. It made me sneer.

SERVO:  Yeah, it's a whole colony of in-breeds.

>  My family. Puh. My father was an abusive alcoholic who thought he deserved
>  respect. My uncle...he was a piece of crap. 

CROW:  Really?  Weird family.

>  	"What's your problem?" demanded Geoffrey. He shoved me. I slammed into the
>  alleyway wall and felt pain stab through my shoulder.

SERVO:  I think at this point we deserve a schematic on the current statis of
Snively's body parts.

>  	I head Sally's voice over Antoine's headphones. The fox listened for a few
>  moments. I caught the word 'deroboticized' and then Antoine turned to us.
>  	"Dey are derobticize-ed. Dey will be coming down theese street. We stay
>  here..." He gave Geoff a hard stare. "...while Son-eek

CROW:  A spider!

>  an' mah princess an'

GYPSY:  Will the characters please keep their original accents.

>  bonne et bell Bunnie rescue dem. We only go out eef der ees trouble.
>  Understanding?"
>  	"Understanding, mate," drawled Geoffrey. 
>  	I nodded.
>  
>  	So we waited. Antoine got fidgety. He was very nervous, but was trying to 
>  hide it. I wasn't feeling so hot myself.
>  	"Wimp," said Geoffrey. "Never shoulda come. Cracks like an egg under
>  pressure."
>  	"Did you know...that when pressure is applied to both ends of an egg it
>  doesn't break?"
>  	"No. An' who cares?" Geoffrey rewarded my interesting fact by pulling my 
>  hair.
>  Not that I had much of it. Only a few sparse strands. I couldn't bear to cut
>  them off. Even though they were a painful reminder of the hair I had loved.

SERVO:  If I did SEGA of America would be on my tail like a hound dog on
the scent of a treed raccoon.

>  	"Maybe mah fathair will be one," mumbled Antoine.
>  	"Your father was roboticized?"
>  Geoffrey rapped his knuckles on my head. "You oughta know, faggot."
>  	"I didn't do all the roboticizations, and besides we roboticized thousands. 
>  I don't remember everyone."
>  	Ant's green-blue eyes looked sad. "I hope mah fathair ees der."

CROW:  Subtitles!  We need subtitles!

>  	"So cueball, what happened to yer pops?" asked Geoff.
>  	"He died," I said.
>  	"Ya sound happy 'bout it. Ya killed him, didn't ya?"
>  	"No." I frowned. "But I should have."
>  	Geoff's muzzle crinkled with a malicious grin. "Ah, I get it. He hit you
>  around, didn't 'e? Whoo! Did 'e make you a faggot? 'E did, didn't 'e? Oooof..."
>  Geoff's taunting broke off as I punched him in the groin. He moaned and 
>  slumped against the wall.

ALL:  Horay!  Whooooooooooo!!!

[standing ovation]

>  	"Quiet!" hissed Antoine.

ALL[meekly]:  sorry.

>  	Sally's voice came over again. "They're coming. We're going to move...
>  remember don't do anything unless we're in trouble!"
>  	
>  

CROW:  Except leave the theater.

[All do just that.]

[commercials]