Country Crisis



"Country Crisis" is the thirty-first episode of Sonic Underground. It first aired on April 19, 1999. It was written by Laren Bright.

The episode's song is "How You Play The Game".

Plot
Sonic, Sonia and Manic complete a mission in Robotropolis, setting off a number of bombs in the city. After the explosion, SWATbots chase them and they escape back at base. They find that the three pebbles outside the base have been moved, indicating that someone has been there... or still is. Sonic turns his medallion into a guitar/weapon, but the base is empty except for a glowing note left by Queen Aleena. The note explains that Doctor Robotnik is building a hydroelectric dam in southern Mobius, and he's getting away with it because of a feud between the Freedom Fighters in the mountains and the valley. The triplets head off to southern Mobius to make peace between the two groups.

Sonic Underground arrive in the valley, where they are initially mistaken for Robotnik's goons by Zeb, a senior member elder of the Valley Folk. In order to prove his identity, Sonic has a race against Jerod, the fastest runner in the valley. When the race starts Sonic stops to pick and smell a flower. Zeb assumes he's too afraid to compete, but when Jerod is almost back to the finish line, Sonic runs so fast that he not only beats Jerod but leaves two fiery lines behind him. The Valley Folk are convinced and agree to help Sonic Underground destroy the dam. Jerod offers to show them around so that they don't run into any Robotnik patrols or Mountain Folk.

Meanwhile, Sleet and Dingo see through a nearby robot's camera that Sonic Underground are in the area. They plan to kidnap the hedgehogs then hide them, forcing Robotnik to pay them a lot of money to hand the hedgehogs over. Dingo wants the money to retire, and Sleet promises that they'll make so much money that Dingo can spend the rest of his life waiting on Sleet hand and foot. Dingo responds "Oh boy, wow, thanks!"

Back in the valley, Jerod explains that the Mountain Folk and Valley Folk used to be friends. Queen Aleena gave each group a gold medallion (half of a circle) to represent that the land was theirs. During a hoedown, the Mountain Folk lost their medallion and accused the Valley Folk of stealing it to lay claim to the Mountain Folk's land, but Jerod says that the Valley Folk didn't take it.

Jerod leads the triplets to the dam, which is guarded by a huge Guardian Bot. Sonic tests the bot by throwing four rocks at it, but it easily blasts them all with its shoulder lasers. The Sonic Underground realize that they'll need help, and ask Jerod to take them to the Mountain Folks. He agrees to take them part of the way, but says that he won't be welcome there. He takes them to the edge of the mountain land and they go on ahead. After they've gone, Jerod becomes nervous and hurries in too.

Sonic Underground come across a young girl raccoon called Serro, who guesses that they are the Freedom Fighters who've come to help the Valley Folk stop the dam. (She almost mentions Jerod by name, but stops herself.) She takes them to see Granny, leader of the Mountain Folk. Granny refuses to make peace with the Valley Folk, but with some encouragement from Serro (and after Sonia points out that the damn, if completed, will flood the mountains too), she agrees to a meeting with Zeb.

Zeb and Granny do briefly agree to work together until the dam is destroyed. However, Granny spots Jerod and Serro holding hands and realizes that they are in love. Granny immediately backs out of the agreement and draws a gun, as does Zeb. Sonic quickly steps between them, saying that it is "mondo uncool" (confusing Zeb with his lingo). Sonic and Sonia convince the two elders to settle their differences through music instead of fighting, but since they haven't had music for a while, Granny picks Sonic to play on the Mountain Folk's behalf; Zeb picks Sonia to play for the Valley Folk. Sonic Underground play "How You Play The Game" and manage to convince the two groups to work together.

At the dam, Sonic lures the Guardian Bot away. Once it is gone, the others run out and chase away or destroy the worker robots building the dam. Manic tries to bring the dam down with a tremor caused by his drum solo, but he is interrupted by Sleet and Dingo, who arrive in a scorpion-design hover vehicle and fire at them, believing that the Guardian Bot has been destroyed. The Freedom Fighters are forced to take cover. Sonia gets an idea, and Jerod offers to take a message from her to Sonic (by following the trail of destruction left by the Guardian Bot). Jerod catches up with the Bot, and together he and Sonic lead it back to the dam.

Sonia and Manic climb on top of the dam, and the Guardian Bot returns just as Sleet and Dingo fired at them. Perceiving this as an attack on the dam itself, the Guardian Bot destroys Sleet and Dingo's vehicle. Sleet and Dingo manage to escape by turning Dingo into a hang glider.

Jerod and Serro are reunited. Manic plays another riff on his guitar, cracking the dam and causing water on the other side to pour through and wash away the Guardian Bot. The Bot short-circuits and fires wildly, hitting the dam, which is destroyed. Zeb and Granny decide to have a "wing-ding" in celebration for the dam's destruction.

At the celebration, Granny wants to give Sonic her music jug as a thank you, only to find her medallion inside! Suddenly she remembers that, back at the hoedown, she put the medallion in their for safe keeping, but she forgot because she'd been dancing with Zeb. She apologizes and Zeb asks if they can pick up where they left off, with a dance. Granny and Zeb give their medallions to Sonic Underground instead. When held together, the medallions are revealed to be a map left by Queen Aleena. At a final hoedown, Jerod dances with Serro, Granny with Zeb, and Sonic with... Manic, leaving Sonia on the sidelines laughing.