Redesign

It was at times like this that Amy Rose reminded herself that she was still technically the leader of the Restoration.

Key word being "technically," because as of a month ago, there was nothing "technical" about it. As of a month ago, the metal virus had been stopped in its tracks, if not necessarily Eggman himself. As of slightly more than a month ago, she'd founded the Restoration as a means to carry on the legacy of the Resistance – to restore the world that the Resistance had saved, and to honour those who'd given their lives in the fight against the Eggman Empire. As of a month ago however, things had changed. And walking to the command hub of Restoration HQ, she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

It had changed. That was the only objective statement she could give. The Resistance had largely been a group of eclectic individuals who'd followed Knuckles's directions of "attack wherever and whenever you can," which was a strategy they'd kept up to the point when that rookie had turned up and in doing so, begun to turn the tide. Now, however, the entire essence of the operation had changed. Guards with body armour and wispons stationed at junction points, looking either very bored, or very angry. Rows and rows of terminals with various members of the Restoration going over data coming in from the field, or dispatching it back out there in turn. A giant flatscreen covered an entire section of the wall, showing a map of the planet and who owned what. And people. People going to and fro, always on the move, keeping the gears of the Restoration going.

It was working, she told herself. It was working, despite her feeling that something had been lost along the way. Camaraderie. Friendship. Some fancy multi-syllable word that summed up the idea of "I know we're fighting Eggman, but this has changed, and I don't like it, and I don't know if that means I'm getting older, or it means that I'm longing for the days when it was just me, Sonic, and the rest of the gang nipping Eggman's plans in the bud." If such a word existed in any language, she wanted to know about it. Also a word for "I'm still running the show, and I'm totally not jealous."

You're totally jealous.

Sometimes her inner voice flared up like that. Usually it came up whenever she was near Sonic, prompting her to just come out with her feelings and speed up the process of matrimony. Right now though, it was flaring up in the presence of another individual. One standing in the centre of the room, holding a pocket terminal with one hand, and talking to a Restoration member at the same time. An individual that Amy Rose approached and said, "ahem."

The one in front of her, Sally Acorn, looked to Amy and gave a forced smile. "Yes?"

Jealous!

Still ignoring the inner voice, Amy gave a smile that was just as forced and looked around the room. "Like what you've done with the place."

"Frankly, I'm surprised it had to be done at all. I mean, this was Resistance HQ, right? The last holdout against the Eggman Empire?"

"Well, obviously not the last holdout," Amy murmured. Her smile dropped, as her lips hurt, and lying didn't become her. "I mean, not everyone took part in the fighting."

Sally's smile dropped as well. "Fair point," she murmured. She turned around and walked over to one of the base's terminals. "Still, not my decision."

"I know, I know. Your dad's."

"And now we're paying for the sins of the fathers." Sally got out a chord from the blue best that she wore and attached it to her hand terminal. "Well, I'm here now."

"I noticed," Amy murmured.

Sally gave her a look. Amy did nothing to placate it.

One month. That was how long it had been since she and her friends had encountered a group led by Princess Sally Acorn of the House of Acorn, rulers of the Kingdom of Acorn. On that day, they'd learnt three things. One, they named everything after acorns over there. Two, it had kept itself isolated from the world, and even more so when Eggman had launched his global conquest. Three, although it had escaped the worst of the metal virus outbreak, that the zombots had reached there at all had alerted Eggman to its existence. So, one visit from the Face Egg later, and the kingdom had lost its king, a portion of its people, and the notion that it could wall itself off from the world. One month since an exhausted Sally Acorn had literally collapsed into the arms of Sonic, and looked at him in a way that had made Amy less pink and more red. One month of following Sally's advice on how to run a resistance movement, to the point that Amy had to remind herself that she was still the one running the show.

So when Sally tried to plug in her hand terminal into one of the command hub's terminals, Amy grabbed her by the arm. "Excuse me, what are you doing?"

Sally glared at Amy. "Plugging in Nicole of course."

Amy blinked. "Your hand terminal's named Nicole?"

"Don't be silly, the artificial intelligence construct located within the hand terminal is called Nicole."

"I see…"

She didn't. And she'd had enough bad experiences with artificial intelligence (cough*Metal Sonic*cough) to be wary of any such thing being in her midst. But nevertheless, Sally plugged the terminal in. And a second later, the lights flickered. A second after that, the entire room was plunged into darkness.

"What did you just-"

Before Amy could finish her sentence however, the lights came back on. Life had returned to normal, or at least what counted for normal these days.

"Hello everyone."

Seeing a lynx's head on the main screen, smiling out towards all the fleshy meatbags that might or might not be slaughtered in the inevitable robot apocalypse? Amy couldn't say.

"Nicole," Sally said, smiling just as much as the AI in front of her. "How are you feeling?"

Well, at least Princess Sally Acorn was ready to accept the robot overlords, Amy reflected.

"Great," Nicole said. "I mean, the hardware's a bit clunky, but otherwise, great."

That she'd once befriended a certain E-series robot didn't make her unease hypocritical at all, Amy told herself.

"This her?" Nicole asked. "Amy Rose?"

"Yes. Amy Rose." Sally looked at Amy, her face like a mask. "Leader of the Restoration."

Amy didn't smile.

"Charmed," Nicole said.

Amy looked at the flatscreen image, then back at Sally. "A chipmunk, a rabbit, a walrus, a jackal, and a lynx," she said. "Certainly got your share of friends."

"I do. Also, Antoine's a coyote, not a jackal."

"I mean, I have friends as well," Amy said, speaking harder and faster than before. "Friends who've been fighting Eggman for years."

"Like Sonic?" Sally asked.

The mask was beginning to crack.

"Where is he anyway?" Sally asked.

Crack very hard. "Somewhere," Amy murmured. "Fighting the good fight."

Sally nodded – her own mask was cracking slightly.

"Might take awhile though," Amy continued. "I mean, while some people hide away from the world, he's been out there from the day Eggman first turned up at Green Hill. The guys love him, the girls love him…"

"Girls?" Sally asked suddenly.

"Oh, yeah, lots of girls," Amy said, finally smiling. "I mean, not that he'd go with any of them. He knows when girls aren't really on the level with him. When they're just infatuated with his speed, or his looks, or…stamina." She cleared her throat. "You know what I mean."

Sally gave Amy a look. "I have an idea."

Is she insulting me? She's totally insulting me. Just because she's some princess who Sonic saves, that doesn't change anything, right? I mean, there's no way he'd fall for her when I've been at his side for years! Like, sure, we're taking it slow and steady, but there's no way Sonic would go for a floozy like this. Right?

Sally was talking to the people in the command centre.

Right? The voice asked.

"…so using Nicole, we'll be able to track Eggman's forces more easily, not to mention our own. Trust me – Nicole's been an invaluable aide to my kingdom for years, and dare I say it, a friend. Hopefully she can earn your trust in time as well, as we take back our planet. Together."

Amy didn't have an answer for her inner voice. And if her inner voice was saying anything, it was drowned out by the cheering and clapping of those in the command centre. The people Sally had brought in. And her own as well. Clapping and cheering that followed the princess as she took her leave, heading for the exit.

Oh no you don't.

Amy followed Sally out into the hallway, summoning her piko piko hammer to her side. Out in the hallway, bereft of any company, she let out a yell.

"Hey! Princess!"

Sally spun around and stared at Amy's hammer. "The heck did that come from?"

"Oh, that would be telling." Amy walked up to Sally, flicking the hammer up and down in her palm, before holding it in front of the usurper. "You like it? I can smash most badniks with a single hit."

"Hmm. Like these?"

Sally flicked her right wrist. Amy let out a yelp and jumped back from the blue energy blade that had extended from Sally's glove. "What is that?"

"What this is, is an ring-blade," Sally said. She flicked her left wrist, and an identical energy weapon came out. "And so is this. And when both are together, they can cut through anything."

Amy clutched her hammer even tighter, and didn't let go even when Sally deactivated the blades. "Believe it or not, I know how to handle myself," Sally said. "Just because I lived in a castle most of my life doesn't mean I didn't learn a thing or two about the world."

"What, that Eggman was tormenting it for years?"

Sally nodded, her gaze softening. She looked aside, and murmured, "I kept telling my father we should help. But each time, he refused." She snorted. "'A strong kingdom has strong walls,' that's what he'd always say. Well, we sure learnt a thing or two when Eggman flew over them."

Amy remained silent. She wanted to be angry. Part of her still was angry. But listening to Sally speak, seeing the look in her eyes…she couldn't be. She'd heard words and seen eyes like this before. Some of them, like the rookie, changed their words and eyes over time. Others, like Whisper, didn't.

"I get it, you know," Sally said eventually. She came closer to Amy. "You're the leader of the Restoration. You've been fighting Eggman for years, ever since he kidnapped you at Miracle Planet."

Amy stared. "How'd you know about that?"

"Oh, Sonic told me. He's said a lot about you."

Amy wasn't sure if that was a point in her favour, or Sally's, in this competition that totally did not exist right now.

"…but on the other hand, Eggman's a threat to everyone," Sally said. "Whether it's the metal virus, a Phantom Ruby, a Death Egg, or anything else, he's a threat, and always will be until he's defeated. So to do that, we need to work together." She held out a hand. "Can we agree to that at least?"

Slowly, very slowly, Amy took Sally's hand and shook it. "Sure," she said.

"Good." Sally quickly withdrew her hand. "Because among other things I want to discuss is the outfit's name. 'Restoration.' Bit passé, isn't it?"

Amy shrugged, not sure what the word meant.

"I mean, I understand," Sally said. "Trying to restore the world. But we can't do that yet. Not until Eggman is defeated once and for all."

"I guess I…we, can't," Amy said. She sighed. "Back to the Resistance then?"

Sally shook her head. "No. Not this time. It's a new era, and a new era requires a new name."

Amy wasn't sure if it did.

"Tell me," Sally said. "How does the name Freedom Fighters sound to you?"

And she wasn't sure about that.

Right now, with everything going on, she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

A/N

So, not too long ago (at this time of writing), Ian Flynn made a series of tweets concerning the prospects of bringing the Freedom Fighters into the IDW comics. Now, how or if they should be incorporated is a discussion too long for an author's note, but there was one claim he made that they'd need to have visual redesigns. To which I went, "huh?"

Now, I could understand the argument if one presented it as the idea that since the Freedom Fighters have appeared in two continuities (arguably three if you include Sonic Spinball, and no, I'm not talking about the STC Freedom Fighters which is another issue), but that wasn't presented as the reason. Because it certainly can't be a question of art style, as the IDW comics are using a similar art style to the ones the Archie comics were going with by the end of their run. Least as far as I can tell.

Anyway, tangental as it is, drabbled this up.