“It is Rings that hold the world together.
It is Rings that form the chains that bind us.”

···

♪ ~ [KIDS RETURN ~ Joe Hisaishi Ensemble ~ Shoot the Violist]

Red shoed feet running at the speed of sound
Two sapient hedgehogs racing through a peculiar city
Manufacturing plants everywhere like a coral reef
Steam and great gears giving them power
Machine like golems built around knightly great helms
On propeller, spider leg, and armored foot they march
The waterfall curtained, labyrinthine canyon overrun.

         “Enough is enough!” Rosy whined as a great helm with a ball and chain was moved about by a whirling propeller above it. The same propeller that prevented Rosy from landing on it or attacking it. “KYA~!”

         A jingling sound filled the air, and Rosy fell into a shallow pool that overflowed a shelf like step in the cliffside. Watching her collected Rings scatter and bounce away, her cheeks puffed up and her face reddened in frustration.

         “You might want to watch out.”

         Scooping Rosy up and out of the way of the ball and chain that swung back towards her, Sonic put some distance between them and the machine golem, or rather, machine knight.

         “Yeah, even under Yolk’s control these machine knights are a pain.”

         “And they’re everywhere!” Rosy whined while throwing a small tantrum. “Where are they even coming from!”

         “Looks like everywhere,” Sonic surmised as he spied the mushroom and moss covered scenery, the coral reef of manufacturing plants erupting out of it.

         “Ugh!” Rosy groaned as she threw her hands down at her sides. “Then we’ll need to trash them all! They’re ugly, I can’t even see the sky anymore past all the steam, and if I keep dropping my Rings I won’t be able to find the Red Gear Ring!”

         “You’ll have to get better at fighting the machine knights if you want to pull all of that off.”

          ~Sonic wasn’t being mean to me, even though he laughed at my determination. He was just being honest and encouraging in his own way. If we were going to destroy all these robot making plants, I’d have to be able to help smash them all up.

          ~Whoops! They aren’t really robots. Even though they are.

          ~Sonic calls them machine knights, which he says is a special type of golem called an autogolem. More precisely, an autogolem is a golem made like a robot but powered by Rings, and an autogolem is a special type that isn’t. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but maybe breaking this one open will help!~

         “Yay!” Rosy cheered and jumped up in the air with her balled up hands above her head. “I did it!”

         “Not bad, rascal,” Sonic offered Rosy a compliment, but not without taking his eyes off the scrap metal that had been a machine knight.

         “I did beat it, right Sonic?” Rosy queried as she spied the destruction she wrought. A moment later a large, red mote of light rose out of the wreckage. “What’s–?”

         Rosy’s incomplete question went unfinished as her eyes widened in surprise. Two pairs of gossamer wings unfolded from around the mote of light, a pair of large eyes opening in its teardrop shaped form under a smaller mote of light.

         “S-S-Sonic!” Rosy stammered and pointed. “W-What is that!”

         “It’s a fairy,” Sonic remarked as the selfsame creature saw him approaching and took to the sky in a panicked hurry. “And from the looks of it they’re under Yolk’s control too. I’m starting to wonder how he got himself sealed up. Heh, maybe he’s like another eggy dope I know.”

         “Who’s that? Rosy asked confused, until her mind caught up with what Sonic had said prior.

         “Wait! A FAIRY! REALLY!”

         “Amy! Calm down!”

         Backing away as he tried to keep Rosy at arm’s length as she had shoved herself in his face, Sonic looked away from her massive eyes. He did not see an avenue of escape however and had to contend against Rosy’s always surprising strength. Or so he thought.

         “Fairies are way too special to let Yolk use them to power his machines!” Rosy declared as she clenched a held-up fist determinedly. “We have to go and rescue them!”

         “Amy, wait!” Sonic tried to stop Rosy, but she was already on her way to the nearest manufacturing plant. Sighing, Sonic shook his head. “It’s not like you’re thinking Amy.”

          ~I don’t get why Sonic isn’t more upset about this. First Yolk takes their minds and now their bodies! That’s totally unforgiveable! I’m going to destroy every single one of these plants right now. Or I’d like to at least.

         ~Zones are relatively huge, and even with Sonic’s speed I can only make so much progress. And while my mind can’t tell how much time is passing, especially with the eclipse never moving from directly above us in the sky above, my body can tell how much time passes. So maybe I’m too tired as I plow into this really big factory.

          ~W~o~w~! It’s full of so many conveyer belts, gears, pipes, and machines. Ha-ha… I’m feeling kind of dizzy.~

         “Time for a break kid,” Sonic states as he catches Rosy as she nearly falls over from all of her running about leaving her more worn down than she realized.

         “Hee-hee,” Rosy giggles as she rests an arm against her brow. “How long was I going at it? And why aren’t you tired Sonic! I never get tired before you.”

         Her cheeks puffing up in frustration, Rosy’s eyes looked at Sonic pleadingly as he summoned a Ring to his hand from within. “We can’t just let them keep being used like this Sonic!”

         “And that’s why you’re tired before I am,” Sonic smirked as he handed Rosy the Ring. Taking it and absorbing its energies to serve as a much-needed meal, Rosy listened as Sonic continued. “You’ve been running around all gung-ho just trying to destroy all of the machine knights and factories that make them while I’ve been concentrating on just putting the plants themselves out of commission and keeping you from getting in too much trouble.”

         “But Sonic, how can you ignore what’s happening to the fairies?” Rosy implored of Sonic as she waited for the Ring Energy to revitalize her.

         “Because the fairies don’t have it as bad off as you’re thinking. If anything, under Yolk’s control they’re less of a threat to us than they would normally be.”

         “What? Rosy asked, tilting her head in emphasis of her confusion.

          ~What it is is horrible.

          ~Back to my energetic self, I follow Sonic’s lead as he takes me into one of the bigger manufacturing plants. It isn’t just a manufacturing plant though, it’s like an… um… Sonic calls it a staging ground for the machine knights. But really, it’s just a fancy way of saying a place where a bunch of them gather before moving out. And because of that Sonic can show me what his words can’t.~

         “Are they…?” Rosy trailed off, as she watched red glowing fairies buzzing about the machine knights like busy bees.

         They were entering them and seemingly socializing with each other, even going so far as to show off with the autogolems to each other.

         “I… I don’t get it,” Rosy pouted and crossed her arms as she fell on her bottom and leaned against a wall. “That doesn’t look like they’re being used at all.”

         “Well, if it makes you feel better Amy, they’re still being mind controlled by Yolk,” Sonic offered meager comfort to Rosy. It was enough to get her to be less fussy however as she replied in a joking tone.

         “That only means they still have to be saved,” Rosy smiled at Sonic.

         “Even if it means allowing them to turn against us of their own free will?” Sonic asked, though he knew the answer and could see it in Rosy’s eyes. He could not keep himself from smiling either knowing how Rosy was.

         “Obviously, Sonic!”

          ~I guess I got ahead of myself this time, though Sonic simply laughed it off and said maybe I remember more than I realize. Ooh~! Sonic can be such a tease sometimes!

          ~It’s a shame though that we won’t be able to get along with the fairies. According to Sonic, machine knights are enemies of Yolk, but because Yolk can use me as a medium they’ll come after us regardless of that creep’s control.

          ~I don’t even know why he’s controlling them then!

          ~Ooh~! It doesn’t matter. Fairies may not have cities and towns or even have any form of civilization according to Sonic, but they still need to be saved from that creep. Maybe they’ll realize I’m a good person in a bad spot if we can save them, and then maybe we can at least get along. The Far Lands are already too lonely. It’s too sad to think that the natural inhabitants of them would rather hurt us than be our friends.