Awakening by -- Joseph DeLaCroix This story is based on characters created by Service and Games (SEGA), and on characters created by Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Any resemblance to actual characters are not coincidental. ;) Joseph, Bahb, and all other independent creations of Joseph DeLaCroix are the copyrighted property of JoCo Inc. Commander Packbell, Bookshire Draftwood, and Sandra Nightweaver are the copyrighted property of David Pistone. David Prower is the copyrighted property of Shawn Wolski. All rights reserved. Etc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Timeline: Just about then... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - An abandoned sewer, deep beneath Robotropolis; one of the last reminders of the great city that had existed there before. It fell into disuse after the coup, and was slowly falling into ruin. However, a small creature called this place his own... The creature laid inside a smaller pipe, curled up into a fetal ball. He was far from home, cold, frightened, and going through painful withdrawl symptoms. Slowly, his mind began to collect itself from the shattered, psychotic state it had been in, and his memories started to return... Months ago...peace, tranquility. Beautiful waterfalls, tall cliffs, glorious trees that reached to the sky. Sparkling gems...an accident... a short man...fighting...a burning city...fleeing... And one day, he had returned to normal. His quills soiled, his shoes scuffed, and his head pounding. His memories were fuzzy, his body was weak, but one thing was certain. Knuckles the Echidna was still alive. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph held Sandra in his arms happily, gracefully spinning around the room. After a while, he swept down onto a chair, taking her with him. They were both very happy foxes; Joseph had finally perfected the deroboticizer, and could save Mobius from Robotnik's final curse. Theoretically. Bahb had put the appropriate numbers in the equation, and had discovered the proper approach that deroboticization would have to follow in order to work. It was actually quite simple; the machine would scan the subject for a DNA signature, and begin the replication of appendages and internal organs one part at a time. A transporter would gradually transpose the part over the damaged one, and would return each section to full working order within seconds. A full deroboticization would take about 5 minutes, while partial ones could take as little as 10 seconds. However, it had not been tested yet. It had only been created about 10 minutes ago, and was still in the process of installation. Still, to Joseph (and to Mobius), it was a major breakthrough. Sandra smiled at her mate, and snuggled up to him softly. "I like it when you're like this," she stated, "it's so much easier to talk to you when you aren't brooding about the deroboticizer." Joseph stroked her back gently, thinking. "Well, if this works, you'll never have to hear of the damn thing from me again." He grinned. "Except when I brag." She poked him in the stomach. "Do you mean I'm going to have to hear about this from you the rest of my life?" Joseph chortled. "Yes." Sandra rolled her eyes and laid back against him. "Great..." Joseph put his arms around Sandra's abdomen. "I promise I won't talk in my sleep..." She giggled. "Oh, shut up, you." He kissed her ears. "As you wish." Sandra involuntarily flicked her ears around. "You never tire of doing that, do you?" She smiled. "Don't answer, I already know." A pause. "So, what are you going to do with your life now?" Joseph blinked, having not considered this option. "I don't know. How about you?" She hmmed softly, and then replied, "No idea." "Well," Joseph noted, "maybe I'll work on my painting, plant some trees, build a spaceship, do some redecorating..." "Spaceship?" Sandra looked confused. "You aren't going to--?" Joseph rubbed inbetween her ears reassuringly. "No, I'm not going to leave you. In fact, I'd like to take you with me." Sandra raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" Joseph nodded. "Yes. I want to see if I can find any other survivors of my kind in this galaxy." He paused almost unnoticably, his mind bubbling with secret knowledge. "I have a feeling there are a few." Sandra mrred softly, almost oblivious to Joseph's subtle change of mood. "But you said they were all dead." Joseph groused internally. "No, not quite. You see, even though most of the fleet was by my homeworld when it...happened, a few ships were exploring deep space for new worlds to, uh, plunder." Sandra looked up at him with a disapproving look, which caused Joseph to rub harder. "Well," he said, "that's the truth." She sunk back down at that, regaining her former good mood. "Anyway," Joseph monologued, "The Royal Ur'thaen Solar Obliterator `Legacy' was out in a far sector of the Empire, as well as the infamous Royal Ur'thaen World Dominator `Apocolypse'..." "Infamous?" "Yes...among our own ruthless breed of captains, we had one who was the cruelest, meanest, most efficient, and quite possibly the most evil that had ever been spawned from the genesis tubes of Ur'thae. That fox was called `Soulless John', by your native tongue. He was the captain of the `Apocolypse' at the time of the...incident." Joseph continued. "The `Apocolypse' was only called in for a X operation...the last resort of our fleet, and the one John (Jhohn in my tongue) most loved; total obliteration of all life on a world." Sandra shuddered, clinging to Joseph tighter. "Did--" "About 10 worlds have been destroyed by the `Apocolypse' at the last count 300 years ago. Thousands have felt lesser punishments, but only ten have been utterly terminated. It is a part of my history that I would rather forget...yet..." Joseph paused. "Both of these ships have never been accounted for. The `Legacy' and `Apocolypse' seemed to have disappeared from this universe entirely after the accident, and have never been heard of since." "And you want to find these people?" "It is the only hope of finding out what happened afterward." "I hope they'll be a bit nicer if you meet them." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Yeah, right," Knuckles grumbled, "it's all a dream." Knuckles spat as he walked down the tunnel, looking for an escape. How had he gotten down here? Certainly it wasn't by magic. Magic felt different. All he felt now was a sincere sense of nausea, and an omnious feeling that he was in a very, very bad situation. He looked around for windows, doors, or holes in the smooth, round walls. What sort of cave was this? It looked like it should have a river in it, but there was no smell of moisture in the air. Only some sort of foul-smelling breeze occasionally wafted in from directly in front of him. Why did the air smell so -bad-? Not even the sulfur pools around the bubbling mud pits on his Island smelled so awful. After walking for a few more minutes, a fissure in the wall a few yards ahead drew his attention. He carefully approached it from the side, flattening himself beside the wall. He took a stick from the ground and waved it out in front of the fissure. Noticing no negative reaction, he carefully peeked out around the side. What he saw was not the sulfur pools of his youth, but something far more awful. A huge city stretched blackly before him, looking decadent and dying. Black clouds of choking smokee belched out of towers of rock and smooth metal. Flying machines roared by above him, carrying batallions of metal-men... He withdrew from the fissure and flattened against the wall. How could anything LIVE here? What was this place? Why did he come here? Then, a flood of memories suddenly hit him, causing Knuckles to tumble to the floor... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A small earthquake had hit the Floating Island, and had damaged the master chamber where the Chaos Emeralds were usually stored. In order to begin repairs on the chamber, he had to remove the emeralds from the core, and place them in the backup caves that served as secondary storage areas. But, something had happened when he was putting the last Chaos Emerald in its storage area...some sort of power spike. It had saturated him with the emerald's energy, and had caused some sort of negative reaction. In the case of the Red Chaos Emerald, it made him very angry and violent. The small man had come a few days later, and had talked to him. About what, he had forgotten, but he thought it had something to do with the fate of the world. He had convinced him to assist the small man's quest to save the world, and had spoken to him several times... A hedgehog thief had tried to steal his red emerald, and they had fought. The hedgehog had been killed, and he had escaped with the small man in his flying machine. A blur, and then the sounds of a city exploding. He had ran deep into the caverns beneath the city to escape... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles opened his eyes, and climbed back to his feet. He leaned against the wall, panting. He had left the Floating Island defenseless! Idiot! Who knows what had become of it now?! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph allowed Sandra to fall asleep laying upon him. It was rather late, so he simply talked to her in a gentle, soothing voice until she fell asleep. She had no reason to pull an all-nighter, after all. After she had dozed off, he climbed carefully out from under her, and covered her with a large blanket. After tucking her in snugly, he went about his work quietly. He realized that much still had to be done before the first test...simulations to run, equations to check... A few hours later, dawn broke above him. As he punched in the final command, the sun's warming rays activated the Dome's internal morning programming, and ended the long night at last. The deroboticizer was officially completed on the first seconds of Solstice Day. Not bad, Joe, he thought, not bad at all. Now, all he had to do was run a few more simulations, and then he'd be done... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On the surface, Solstice celebrations were beginning. A quiet prayer was said to each person's individual god(s/ess/esses), a small morning feast was held, and the celebrations began. The children entertained themselves with their various snowpeople, minor outbreaks of snowball launching, and generally enjoyed themselves. The adults worked on making more food for the nightly feast, or observed the children and kept them from getting into too much trouble. Sally was concerned with the master organization of the event, and kept the proceedings from going completely off-kilter. Bunnie and Rotor kept and eye on Tails, who was keeping an eye on a small group of children. Antoine and Charles helped to cook up some parts of the nightly feast, which Dulcy attempted to create heat for. (Eventually, some matches and a few drops of kerosene did it.) And Sonic, naturally, ran around. However, a few people wondered when Sandra and/or Joseph was going to come out and enjoy the holiday with them. Certainly they saw what was happening. (People had began to notice the fact that Joseph knew everything that went on in Knothole as it happened.) Why wouldn't they come out and participate? But thoughts soon wandered back to the feast, and the present-giving that would occur soon afterward... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles tried to collect his scattered mind. He had been off the Floating Island too long. The place he was in now boggled his sheltered mind, and he was probably in danger. What could he do? He knew that he had to get away from the city, and into the wilderness. There -had- to be wilderness, right? Where to find it, however, was the problem. All around him were the walls of this strange, unnatural cave. The only fissures looked out on the broken, evil city. And he certainly couldn't smell the sea from down there. (He could smell other things, tho.) So, Knuckles kept walking forward, and kept thinking back... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - They were on the flying machine, speaking of the future. The large-nosed man was doing most of the talking, while a robot patched Knuckles' wounds. "Robotnik," the man said, "is a stupid man. Evil, yes. Sadistic, yes. Smart? Far from it. He was -clever-, but not smart. He has totally wasted the past 10 years with his foolish plundering of the planet...probably devaluing it in the eyes of the Buyers." He had paused for a moment, and smiled at him. "But such things are not of your concern, echidna. It is probably far beyond you to imagine the interweaving webs of relationships in the universe that have made this planet such valuable real estate. You'd be able to do little about it, anyway..." The ship lurched a bit to the right, avoiding a spot of turbulence. "...after all, when the Buyers want something, they get it." Thunder boomed outside as the ship began to fly into a storm. "However, they have chosen to buy it from the current ruler of this world, Robotnik, so to avoid a run-in with this galaxy's various busy-bodies. They're doing us a favor by doing it legally, which is a fact not left unnoticed by either Robotnik or myself." The cabin was briefly illuminated by a flash of white light, which nearly blinded both carbon-based lifeforms. "Naturally, we've been holding out for the best deal. Occasionally, they will give us a bit of a bribe (in the form of alien technologies) to warm us up to them, but they know what we're doing, too. The only question is, echidna, whose patience will run out first?" The cabin flew out of the cloud, and returned to a state of relative stability. "This is why I have asked for your help, Knuckles. We must overthrow Robotnik now, before they lose all interest in doing things fairly and decimate this world for the sheer joy of it. Together, we can defeat Robotnik, -and- doublecross the Buyers; thus giving us the spoils of war and saving our world from a hostile takeover." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles shook his head, shuddered, and moved on. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A few weeks later, he had recalled, Snively and himself were doing a routine tour of the city, assessing the damage from something called `Doomsday'. "Look at this mess! And this is supposed to be the capital city!" Snively was displeased with the extent of the damage, he recalled, not believing the sheer amount of explosive force that had been unleashed. "The Buyers will be displeased...this will reduce their offering price substancially. Robotnik had made a deal based on a fully-functioning Robotropolis." Knuckles remembered saying, "What -was- de original offer?" Snively raised an eyebrow, but thought before speaking. "According to Robotnik's records, the Buyers had offered a totally manned starkiller...a very large, powerful ship that could conquer a planet single-handedly. Quite nice." "Why does 'e wan' one of those?" "Well, Knuckles, Robotnik wanted to get into the real estate business, as it were. He wants to do more of this sort of thing; conquering a world, taking out a bit of its resources, and selling it to other races for a small profit. From the profit, he would restock his war machines, and begin anew on a different world." "Dat's not a great thing to do, mon." "Robotnik wasn't a great person." He smiled. "But, as you know, -I- am great. I have thought ahead, beyond Robotnik's pathetically small plans for conquest..." "Ah." (Knuckles remembered his strange mental state at the time, so he wasn't surprised that he had simply said `Ah' to Snively.) "Yes," Snively growled, "this is going to force me to lower the price to a mere battleship and some fighters; but it will still enable me to pursue my own goals." "And what might dat be?" "Like Robotnik, I wish to go into..." Snively smiled in an disturbing manner. "...`real estate'...but I also have other plans. The burdgeoning field of space piracy, for example, or protection." "Ah," Knuckles had said again, uncomprehendingly. "Yes, friend, I think this will be a very interesting time indeed..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles continued to plod down the corridor, gradually approaching the end of the tunnel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - His next flash of memory came soon afterward, when he had left Snively and escaped to the tunnels... They were in the Command Center, observing a group of `annoying Freedom Fighter terrorists' fight off a group of metal-men. A rabbit was fighting one hand-to-hand (and winning) while a hedgehog...wheels in his mind turned... The coloration was different, but the form was the same. Speed and cunning were evident in the hedgehog's actions as wave upon wave of SWATBots fell to him. Yes, it -had- to be the same one! But how?! The boulder had killed him...hadn't it? He had begged Snively to let him go after him, but was flatly refused. "I'm saving you for a special occasion," he stated, "so the SWATBots can take care of them for now." Knuckles was infurated. This was his -right- to kill the intruder. He had somehow escaped death, so it was his responcibility to finish the job...so, while Snively was giving orders to the robots, Knuckles quietly crept out of the Command Center, and descended the steps to the surface... He walked for a few minutes toward the site of the attack, avoiding the various spy devices that swept the area for other visitors. His senses tingled with the anticipation of the battle, enhancing them to their full strengths. The invisible world opened to him, and Robotropolis was filled to the brim with unusual sights and sounds. However, as he began to approach the battleground, an explosion inside a nearby building knocked him off his feet. The brick and steel rained from the sky as the explosion spread all around him...surrounding him in flame... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And then he had awakened from his mental problems a few weeks later, after somehow escaping into the tunnels of the city. His head ached with the memories...how could he have been so foolish? Snively and Robotnik were -both- evil; he knew that by living in their city and listening to their plans. But their evil plans were not his concern. His life's work was to protect the Floating Island and keep the Chaos Emeralds from harm, not to keep the rest of Mobius safe. The `annoying Freedom Fighter terrorists' could deal with that. He approached the end of the tunnel. Carefully poking his head out, he gazed around at the strange landscape. The tunnel was on the outskirts of Robotropolis. The garbage piles and smoking ruins of the city were far lesser here, and the wasteland that lead away from the evil place was in plain view. No metal-men could be heard, nor flying machines be seen. He could escape from here without being noticed by anyone (he hoped). After waiting a moment, and checking his surroundings again, he ran out of the tunnel and out into the wastelands... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, back in the Great Forest: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra had woke up a few hours later, after the first few hours of the Solstice celebrations had been going on. Cracking her back a bit, she climbed out of the chair to see what Joseph was up to. After looking over his shoulder, she realized that he was putting the finishing touches on his work, so that it would work perfectly the first time. He wasn't very chatty then, however, because his mind was set only to his work. So, after explaining what she was doing, she went up and out of the Dome to see how Knothole was faring. She hummed a happy tune to herself as she walked down the path to the stump. She was a very contented fox at that time, and was in the holiday mood. Everything was going splendidly. Joseph would perfect the deroboticizer, and get everyone back to normal. With that invention, the Freedom Fighters would crush Packbell and retake Mobius. After it had become peaceful again, and the reconstruction had begun...well, they'd just play it by ear. She came to the secret entrance, and stared at it for a minute. Now, how did Joseph work this thing...? Then, just within Sandra's range of hearing, the flapflaping of foxtails was heard. This usually hearlded the arrival of Tails somewhere nearby. As an instinctive reaction, she found someplace to hide, and got ready to observe what would happen next. Tails flew in from her right, not seeing or noticing her at all. He landed for a moment, jumped in the air, and swung on a vine. The top of the stump popped open, and the small kit slid down inside of it. A second later, the vine retracted, and the lid closed. Sandra raised an eyebrow, but paid the entrance no further heed. Obviously, whomever had made this area for the King was a clever person, indeed... The entrance to her cave was only slightly more discreet. But, of course, she was sneaky for a living. This made her smile involentarily, and perhaps she giggled quietly to herself before coming out of hiding. She repeated what Tails had done, and carefully slid down the opening into Knothole... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles rushed through the wastes of Mobius, gradually approaching the Great Forest. As he ran further and further away from Robotropolis, he noticed a strange change in the weather. The black clouds faded to grey, and then to the occasional white. The air grew colder about him, and the wind blew a wet, white substance around him. He didn't understand what it was, but it was very uncomfortable to have on him. He was constantly brushing it off, and shaking his head to get it out of his dreads. As he got closer to the strange-looking forest, he noticed the ground had a great deal of this wet, white stuff on top of it. It was slippery, and hard to run on. It stuck to his shoes almost as unpleasantly as mud, and got his feet soaking wet. He was beginning to take a decided dislike to it. He entered the very edge of the Great Forest, and began to slow down. The trees here differed from the kind he was familiar with. They grew to the sky, had branches, and all of the usual tree-like attributes, but they had scratchy, brownish-black trunks and no leaves. He wondered what good were trees without leaves...you certainly can't eat *bark*. The bushes he found were hardly any better. Stickish, prickily things, they certainly weren't very good tasting. No leaves, no berries, no -flavor-. Bleh. He walked deeper into the woods, and looked about for some sort of path, natural or otherwise. Maybe if he found some sort of river, he could find his way back to the sea. And if he could find his way back to the sea, he could build a raft and float back home... He shivered. This place was very cold. The white substance collected around his heels, and probably could have blasted through any hut he could have built. How could any natural thing survive here? He wandered down a cleared out path patted down by some sort of hoofed animal, searching for some place to warm himself. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra made herself as nonobtrusive as possible within Knothole. The people of Knothole kept their developed hatred of her well-disquised, she noted, if there was any left for her. The holidays forced them to show their best sides toward all Mobians, even if they had once been less than kind to them... Sandra snuck through most of Knothole, evading most of the pleasant holiday activities while looking for some sort of vantage point over the whole scene. Joseph might have been able to walk through this area with no fear, but Sandra was outnumbered and disliked here...even though they tried to mask it, the majority of Knothole still did not like her. She smiled to herself, secretly pleased. Oh, but soon they would HAVE to like her. They'd have to be her best friend. After all, the mate of the inventor of the deroboticizer would have a little *clout*. Yes, she would be loved, alright. A regular Sally among the commoners. She allowed herself to laugh quietly. She had never been liked, even before her criminal tendencies had begun. Desired, lusted after, and even a few attempts at using her (Indeed! The very idea that *she* could ever be used...laughable) had been tried, but never a friendship did blossom during her `tender years'. She had been the bad girl in the back of the class that the atheletes wished for a `trophy' date, the studious ones wished would get hit by a hoverdisk, and the more homely wished they had her flawless body. Ha, but she defeated them all. She took the athletes for all they had, tortured the smart kids mercilessly, and used the homely as `friends' when she needed information. Ah, youth. In her later life, she had slipped into a sucessful criminal career. She could get anything for anyone, and no price was too high. She took the offers of the Mobian Secret Service, the various organized crime agencies, and any rich millionare with a desire for a certain piece they couldn't afford. And, of course, she was known to take something just for the hell of it. It was a rush, her wild and reckless life of amoral abandon. In and out of a few pathetic cells, the occasional foxhunt for her whereabouts, but they never could catch her for long. She was the ultimate criminal... But Ivo, Snively, and Packbell had ruined her normal business. She had been forced to work for them a few times, but always made sure they paid in kind. She smiled wickedly. Her sabotage of a few key items had allowed the hedgehog numberous escapes...and kept her business useful. Her life changed again when the Doomsday project and the various reprocussions affected Mobius. Now the little metalhead ran things, which made any future transactions impossible, anyway. Even though she had hated his synthetic guts to begin with, a customer is still a customer. She'd gone 180 degrees since then, she noted with a soft smile. She'd been saved by Joseph...she smiled again. For once in her life, she knew someone actually loved her. Her! Not for her body, but for who she was. He found her techniques and wit more attractive than her physical attributes. This was something she found very sweet about the mysterious giant...he'd probably love her unconditionally for the rest of his life. This issue had been something she'd been wrestling with for several days now. She knew he loved her; any cretin could pick that out. He was a warm, kind, honest, and brilliant individual, who'd fight to the death for her. He was one of the most handsome foxes she'd ever met. And he *knew* how to make a vixen happy. The only question was...did she feel the same? She'd only met him a few weeks ago, after all. She knew most of his life story...but what did he now about him, the *real* him? Almost everything he did on a daily basis was a total mystery to her. He did very weird things sometimes, which he could only explain with great difficulty. He was an alien individual in more ways than one. She sighed, leaning up against a tree and thinking. Yet, he was kind to her. He always did things to make her happy. She was certainly one of the healthier foxes on Mobius now...his `nanites' were making sure of that. He did so much for her...but did her heart have the capability to love? It was an alien feeling to her. This was happening so fast... Some rustling in the bushes triggered her instincts to freeze and listen for noise. A person was approaching through the woods, but the breathing was not familiar...her well-trained instincts caused her to instinctively scale the tree, and hide within its dark, gangly branches. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The echidna stomped through a few bushes, and walked out into a clearing. He was very, very cold now; snow covered his red quills from dreadlocked tip to steel-soled bottom. The wind slashed at him like a dirk, and his body felt like a sack of rotton banana peels. He looked around, and saw huts and fires in the distance. His spirits rose, and he totally ignored the instincts to hide from unknown individals and keep a good distance away from fires until the people around them can be sized up. His immediate concern was warming up, not defensive strategy. He stumbled away down a path, heading toward the people. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra watched the weird-looking creature stumble out of the bushes, make desperate groaning noises, and stumble toward the fires. She didn't know quite what to make of the odd person...bright red (where the snow didn't cover it), a long snout and tail, but long, dangling headquills. And ugly shoes. At first, she felt that the FFs could handle this themselves. She wanted to see how they'd handle it, anyway. But her curiousity was overriden by her newfound concern for the guardians of Mobius. They'd probably get their butts kicked or do something else stupid if she didn't intervene, anyway. She slipped out of the tree, and quietly padded after the stumbling creature with as little noise as possible. The final decision about her feelings for Joseph would simply have to wait a few more minutes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The echidna stumbled close to a group of people, who mostly ignored him. They were too busy running back and forth, preparing some sort of feast. But Knuckles wasn't as hungry as he was cold. So, ignoring the nearby food, he walked close to a large bonfire and stood almost in it for a few moments. The steam wafted off of him in a plume, and the hissing of melting snow hit the fire... Right about then, Sandra took a defensive position outside the light-ring of the fire, watching the new arrival closely. Her eyes focused in on the creature, and examined his every attribute. His knuckles were large and sharp, she noted with wonder, and could probably pound through a wall or a tree. He had long dreadlocks, which seemed like a near-sail... Knuckles began to regain his full faculties as the heat filled his fingers and arms again, and melted the remainder of the cold, wet substance off his quills and skin. Gradually, he began to notice things around him more clearly. He was standing by a unused cooking fire, which had recently been used to boil a kettle of water. Around him, preparations for a great feast were being made, and all sorts of people were running around. Foxes, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, rabbits...but most of them were strange. They were covered in some sort of metallic skin, but this didn't seem to bother them much at the moment. What strange creatures! He thought they were native to the City only. Perhaps they were all around the mainland... A question for another night, perhaps. Knuckles wasn't planning to stay long. This wasn't some place he felt comfortable in. Besides, he needed to get home. The Chaos Emeralds were probably in great danger... He dusted off his hands over the fire, cracked his knuckles, and looked around for someone who looked like they knew where the Great Ocean was. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He came to an open-looking hut, where a majority of the people appeared to be hanging around. With disturbing as few people as possible, he walked into the hut, and looked around. It was a medium-sized hut that had some generic furniture in it. A series of tables were set up in a buffetish form, with lots of various food items laid in an organized fashion on it. A stack of paper plates and tools made out of a strange white material laid on the table closest to him. Knuckles tried to make out what he should do. This food wasn't his. He hadn't helped make it, catch it, or even set the table. Should he take some, or should he leave it be? Suddenly, an older-looking raccoon calmly walked in front of him, took a plate and a few tools, and started placing food on his plate. Knuckles realized he was holding up the line, and started moving again. He got his plate and tools (tho he didn't know what to do with them) and also took some food, working his way around the line. If the raccoon picked up something, Knuckles took something similar. If he ignored something, Knuckles also paid it little heed. The raccoon came to the end of the line and walked out of the hut, and Knuckles continued to follow him...little realizing he was being followed himself. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bookshire didn't notice the echidna following him, lost in his own thoughts. He nibbled absentmindedly at a chili dog while he kept walking, heading toward the center of town. The present-exchanging part of Solstice was going to happen soon, and he wanted to be talk to Sally before returning home to start his own personal gift-reception. Knuckles followed the raccoon quietly, eating away at the strange food. He recognized some of it, but in a different form; potatoes, mushrooms, and some fruits. However, some of the strange spices and meats were unfamiliar to him. Some of them tasted good, others did not. However, most of it was pretty good, especially the strange object on which he was chewing on now. A cylindrical bun with a gash in the center for the finger-shaped meat was the outside of the object. In the crevice, a layer of beans, sauces, and ground meat covered up a core of hot, squishy meat. It was rather good, and many other people were consuming them as well. Perhaps this was some sort of ethnic food that these odd people had at Solstice. Knuckles ate away at his chili dog, and kept walking behind the raccoon quietly. He had absolutely no idea where he was headed to, but he only hoped that it wasn't into a dangerous situation. All the while, Bookshire continued to absent-mindedly walk toward the center of town, eating his chili dog and occasionally taking a drink of his Fizz [tm] soda. His mind wandered through the various playful imaginings of what he would recieve, and what people's reaction would be to the presents he would give them. Finally, Bookshire reached the center of town. Sally was leaning quietly against a nearby tree, watching the various proceedings occur. A few other people were gathered around her, asking her various things and recieving orders regarding the closing of the public ceremonies. Bookshire waved to her. "Hello, Sally," he stated, "mind if I call you away for a bit?" Sally smiled. "Sure, Bookshire, just a moment." After politely excusing herself, she walked over to him. "Yes?" "I was just wondering if you knew the whereabouts of David. He's been absent all day, and I wanted to ask him about what his perceptions of this Solstice holiday were..." He smiled, and took a small box from his pocket. "That, and I have a gift for him." Sally grinned softly. "Well, I'm afraid I don't know where he is, either. Try asking Tails, or maybe Rotor." Bookshire nodded, and walked off. However, the echidna behind him didn't follow this time, and stood close by the Princess. But again, he was not noticed; Knuckles' natural stealth allowed him to lurk around most beings for an indefinite period of time before being noticed. Sally walked away from the tree, and headed back toward the edge of town. The public Solstice celebrations were coming to an end, and the decorations and such were being cleaned up. Couples and families returned to their huts for their personal gift exchanges, but a great majority remained behind to return the village to normal. She smiled as she walked through the main path through town, observing and lending the occasional paw to assist. It was a pity, she thought, that Joseph and Sandra had not come to Knothole to participate. She wanted to spend time with them, and show that no hard feelings were held against either of the duo for what they had "done". When she thought about it, both of them were really only misunderstood. Well, she noted, that wasn't entirely true. Sandra *had* been a thief, a criminal, and generally a bad person for quite a long time. However, she had appeared to have changed for the better. At least, she hoped so. Joseph didn't deserve to have his heart broken... Sally took a misstep on a slick patch of ice, and slipped backwards. As her heart skipped a beat, she braced herself for the fall; but was caught by a pair of large hands. "Hey, you be car'ful dere," a voice said, "you almost fell on me, lady." The hands helped her to her feet, and dusted her off a bit. "Thank you," she said softly, not having heard that voice before. She turned around. "thank you very much, Mister..." She looked at the odd-looking creature. "I've never seen you in Knothole before," she stated, "are you new here?" Knuckled smiled a bit, trying to gain her confidence. "Aye, you could say dat, lady. I'm jus' passing through." Sally put her hands to her sides, appraising this new person's veracity. "We don't get many people who 'pass through' Knothole, stranger. How did you get here?" Knuckles pointed to the patch of bushes he had crashed through. "I walked in through those bushes." Sally looked over at the trodden-down foilage. "It appears so." She paused. "What's your name, sir?" Knuckles smiled. "My name's Knuckles. Knuckles de Echidna." Sally stook out her paw to shake the newcomer's hand. "Well, Knuckles, my name is Sally. It is a pleasure to meet you." Knuckles shook hands with the Princess awkwardly, her hands so dwarfed by his own. "'S a pleasure to meet you too, Sally." Sally manuvered her hand free out the echidna's. "So, Knuckles, just passing through? Where are you headed?" "I'm goin' home." "And where might your home be?" she enquired. "On de Flo--" He paused, realizing it would be best not to tell this Sally person any more than she needed to know. "My home 's at the Great Ocean." Sally nodded, suspecting nothing. "That's quite aways away from here, Knuckles. How did you get all the way over here?" "De short mon took me to the City." "The short man?" Knuckles looked at her confusedly. "Yah, Sally, de short mon. He calls 'imself Snively da Great. He sez he rules the world." Sally blinked, but was able to keep her composure. "Could you excuse me for a moment? I have to check on something." Knuckles shrugged. "Sure." Sally calmly walked into a nearby hut, took a chipmunk aside, and whispered something into his ear. He shot up, but Sally kept him from making any noise. She whispered some more things into his ear, and walked out of the hut. "Sorry about that," she said calmly, "but I had to attend to something." Knuckles smiled. "'ey, it's all good." "Okay. Now, why don't you tell me some more about this short man...?" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - While Sally continued to talk to the red echidna, a chipmunk walked casually out of the hut until he couldn't see Sally or the echidna any longer. Then, he broke into a sprint, and ran to the far side of the village, where he found Sonic. Sonic was boredly racing about, taking down Solstice decorations. He was just about done when the chipmunk seemed to mosey over to him. He stopped, and walked over to the exhausted-looking person. "Yo, dude, what's the problem? You look like you've tried to break my speed record." And he told him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A second later, Sonic was lurking in the shadows behind Sally, waiting to see if his aid would be required. They were still talking about what had caused Knuckles to end up in the Great Forest in the winter, so far away from the Great Ocean. Knuckles, with great difficulty, was trying to abridge the parts about the Floating Island, the Chaos Emeralds, and generally his entire life; while trying to satisfy the squirrel's curiousity. It was more difficult that he would have liked. "And den, ev'rything started to explode. I don' remember much else after dat." Sally was transfixed. This obviously wasn't a spy, because his story had too many holes. For example, he didn't know anything about Packbell or Robotnik, aside from what 'Snively the Great' had told him. He had no knowledge of the coup, the King, or even who the Acorn family was! He probably figured Mobius was always like this...as if he'd lived on a desert island all of his life. However, what he had told her was enough to make her believe that he was really just passing through. He obviously wasn't a Northern Continent sort of person. She smiled upon the completion of his dialogue, and took a breath. "Well, if you'd like, you can stay here for the night, and begin your travel back to the Great Ocean tomorrow morning." Knuckles put up one of his massive paws in a polite gesture for silence. "No, I'd rather jus' get moving again. Dis place is foreign to me, and I'd rather burrow out a place fo' myself in this...umm..." "Snow." "Yes, this 'snow'. What an weird name." Knuckles waved, and started to walk away. Sally smiled, becoming gradually more nervous internally. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay? The Great Forest is a dangerous place at night." "No, but 'ank you anyway." Sally shrugged, her mind racing but maintaining a cool exterior. "Well, okay. But please come back here again sometime. You're welcome here in Knothole." Knuckles grunted a dismissing sort of noise, and melded back into the forest. After he had gotten out of eyesight, Sonic stepped out of the shadows. "Do you want me to shadow him, Sal?" Sally nodded. "Yes, but be careful, Sonic. He looks like he could take out an entire patrol of SWATBots with those fists. Also, he doesn't appear to be a threat...so if he notices you, get scarce, okay?" Sonic nodded. "Okay, Sal." With that closing statement, he blasted off into the woods, quietly pursuing the echidna. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra watched the echidna walk by, a few yards away from her hiding place. He was a strange person, she noted, and someone with a lot to hide. But why? The question mulled about in her mind like cream swirling in a hot cup of coffee. She'd certainly never seen any sort of creature like him before; a vaguely hedgehogish individual with a long, thin snout; sharp, dangling headquills; large fists with sharp, hard knuckles; and a short, pointy tail. This was definitely not a creature born naturally here. As expected, the hedgehog pursued Knuckles a few hundred yards behind, observing where he went. Sonic didn't notice her, either, and trotted in Knuckles' footsteps as quietly as such an amateur could. She got into a crouch, and thought for a moment. Should she continue her survelliance of the echidna, or leave the rest up to Sonic? After all, he had left Knothole. Sonic could take care of himself. It was starting to snow a little harder. Nah. She wanted to see how this would develop. Joseph probably was too engrossed in the final tests on the deroboticizer to miss her, anyway. Besides, she had questions that she wanted answered. She got back up, and started to follow Sonic's trail... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Knuckles was aware of someone following him in the distance. He didn't dare turn around, for fear of provoking his pursuer into a direct confrontation...which Knuckles felt uncomfortable about in this environment. So, Knuckles tried to melt into the background. But this 'snow' stuff kept defeating his attempts. It was beginning to bother him. The clouds parted long enough in the grey glob of sky to show the sun rising to its zenith above him. Knuckles quickly took note of its location, did some quick internal calculations, and altered his course appropriately. He'd have to walk for another 5 days to reach the ocean, he noted, or run for about 6 hours at maximum speed. He looked around at the weird forest, the cold air blasting through his quills, and thought of the unattended Floating Island. He made his choice rather quickly. He took a breath. Using his speed was always one of the more difficult abilities for him to harness. It took great concentration and stamina to control it. He centered his mind on his home; the Floating Island, strong and free, bobbing freely over the waves. The warmth and beauty of it echoed through his mind, as the nectar of the sweet flowers seemed to dribble down his throat. He smiled, braced himself, and took off in a burst of hot air. The shadowers both blinked from their respective hiding places. Sonic walked out into the open, looked where Knuckles had taken off, and shook his head. "Forget this," he said, and blasted back to Knothole. Sandra, lacking the speed to even try, started the winding walk back to the Dome. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic returned to Knothole a few moments later, and filled Sally in on what had happened. She looked rather stymied. "He's got super-speed too?" Sonic nodded. "He juices in a most Past Cool way. I'd say he'd be almost a match for even my awesome juicage. And he's got those big fists and the hair thing going, too." Sally groused. "I hope that he one day comes back, and helps us fight Packbell. He'd be quite an advantage over that evil tinkertoy." Sonic smiled. "Well, Sally, I've got a feeling we haven't seen the last of him. Somehow, I think that there's more to him than meets the eye..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra entered the Dome, shook some of the snow off of her, and desended to the laboratory level. She smiled as she noticed Joseph still hard at work on the deroboticizer, running several tests...but, she noticed his former good mood had faded to one of grave concern. She walked over to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" Joseph turned around. "We've got a problem." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- | Joseph deLaCroix: hk512@po.cwru.edu | See: http://rat.org/bookshire | / MiSTie, orange fox, writer, MUCKer, builder, hacker, cynic, wiseass \ He slices! He dices! He crushes! He bashes! He liquifies and chops! Information wants to be sold for exorbitant fees, then totally devalued