Everything Changes [Part 1] 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. All rights reserved. Etc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "The more things change, the more they stay the same." -- Anonymous. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Timeline: A month or two after Doomsday. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was nearing noon over the Great Forest. The day's activities were in full swing for most of the world, and save one--nay, make that two--places, it was bathed in a glorious yellow tint from that world's local star. However, the place we shall be focusing on would soon be bathed with light as well. When the sun reached its zeinth above it, focusing mirrors would bounce an amplified beam of light off a series of mirrors and focusing devices, until the light was a tight, hard beam of energy. Then, it would be shot down from the final mirror, and hit an energy port on a certain still figure laying on a slab in the center of the area. For 3 minutes, this beam would strike the port, raising the object's energy levels back to its full capacity. Then, the mirrors would fall out of alignment, and the area would return to its normal, dim state. Seconds later, the sun reached its full height above that area of Mobius' horizon, and beams of the life-giving orb fell upon the Dome's clear skylight. The beams reflected off a series of mirrors, through a myraid of lenses, and finally struck the lifeless figure's opened abdomen. The ray crashed into a ultraefficent, recently-installed solar panel, and created gigawatts of energy within seconds. It continued like this for several minutes, gradually raising the temperature inside the glassy structure to an almost unbearable, fog-inducing high. Finally, the sun started to descend toward the other parts of Mobius, causing the beam to weaken, dim, and finally die. As the abdomen of the figure closed up, the ventilation system kicked in and started pumping the hot air out of the structure. It traveled through a long pipe along the forest floor, and finally was permitted to escape several yards away, into another glassy structure. This one, however, was rectangular, and was completely opaque. It was the size of a small hut, and appeared to have no door in or out of it. The mysterious structure released nor admitted a single particle. Its purpose is only known to Joseph, and he has yet to choose to explain its purpose to the common populace... Meanwhile, Joseph was beginning to regain his senses. His power levels were back where they should be, and the Dome had cooled off rapidly. He felt pleased with himself over the device he had constructed, and the deroboticizer was coming along nicely. So, since he had worked so hard the last few days, he decided to allow himself a day of leisure. He took a cleansing breath of the charged air, and set himself to the remainder of the pressing work that he had to accomplish before going out to `play'. Thus, after he cleaned up the public area in which he now stood of the Dome, and doing some minor body maintanence, he emerged into the warm sunlight of the forest floor. It was a lovely afternoon around Knothole, he noted. The wind was blowing toward the wreckage of Robotropolis, so one couldn't smell it. The sun shone through the forest in places, illuminating parts of the well-trod path to Knothole irratically. A few non-evolved rabbits hopped by, looking for clover or grass to eat. In the distance, he could see the secret entrance to the village, with a few Mobians lurking around it on guard duty. Smiling slightly at the rustic scene, he blasted toward the secret entrance at nearly full speed, and stopped just short of flying through it. His control over his new form was improving daily. Who knows, he thought, perhaps it was an even better form than his initial one? Meanwhile, the two guards were gradually getting used to Joseph's blazing entrances. It was usually the way he entered the village, because it was the way Sonic usually entered it. The two were becoming more alike than either of the hedgehogs would like to admit. Yet, Joseph's behavior was still more unpredictable than Sonic's...he was slightly more mature than his blue twin, and far smarter. But before either guard could muse on this topic further, the orange hedgehog nodded at them and shot through the stump with a flourish; to a lower clearing in the forest where Knothole was located. He popped out of the log, and rolled to a halt upon the pile of hay that served as a cushion for incoming Mobians. He slid off the pile and brushed himself off. Few were around the entrance today...security had become slightly more lax since Robotropolis was mostly destroyed. The mood of the village had also become lighter, and a bit more hopeful. More roboticized citizens wandered into the Great Forest daily, and they almost all regained their free will within days...thanks to a quick hack called a `Cerebral Re-Activator' Charles and himself had created. However, the newly-reborn roboticized citizens' reaction to Joseph occasionally was not always positive, he ruefully mused. After someone that had been in the village relayed the story of Charles and Joseph to one of them, the odd cold stare could be felt creeping up his neck by a few irate roboticized citizens. They didn't dare say anything, of course--Sonic would zealously defend his new intergalactic `brother' as if he were Tails--but he could feel their hatred. He honestly couldn't blame them for it, either...his guilt was not to be purged until the deroboticizer was running, and all damaged were healed. And even then, he thought, it'd still be there, albeit weaker than before. Sighing at this, he walked toward the hub of Knothole, hoping to snag a chili dog or two off Sonic. He walked (he preferred walking within the city limits) into the town square, where Sonic was leaning against a tree, munching a chili dog. When Sonic saw Joseph wandering into the village, he waved him over to him, and tossed over a chili dog. "Yo, Joe!" he hollered, and continued to gnaw on his pork product. "Hello, Sonic," Joseph said, and started eating his. "Anything new?" "Nope, just havin' some of Unc' Chuck's chili dogs." He looked at the one which he had almost completed, and sighed. "Mmm, I didn't know how much I missed these--" He polished that one off in a single motion, and began eating the other, half-eaten, one. "--chili dogs." Joseph nodded. He sometimes envied Sonic's simple approach to life; running fast, thwarting `badniks', eating chili dogs, and pursuing the mutual affection of the Princess. No guilt, no internal demons gnawing on his soul about someone else's mistakes, no constant, nagging feeling that he's going to fail miserably, or that one of his mistakes could destroy the entire world. No loneliness, no yearning for a home that was annhilated centuries ago, or even one pang of misery from the cold looks of a roboticized citizen that would make his eyes sting from woe. Just speed, heroism, and the fufillment of carnal desires. Oh, how that life appealed to him! He wished he could just return to nature; go feral, live in the woods, eat berries...but, alas, his new form demanded technology to survive. He was no longer a simple organic construct, he was the last remaining creation of his father, his world, his entire culture...he might as well wish for a purple sky instead of wishing to escape the technological plague that his mind, body, and soul were infected with. Both were about as likely! It didn't stop him from wishing, tho. That's all he had; hope, wishes, and dim memories and the collected knowledge of a world that nobody could ever see, ever again. He actively despised the last part, especially. If he was just blind to what had happened, and was just a rogue being crusing the galaxy for cheap beer and cheaper women, his soul would be far purer. But the knowledge made his soul blacker than night. The evils that his world had perpetrated, the curses they had heaped upon themselves...they laid only on his shoulders now. It was his only inheritance. At night, he looked for the star that Ur'thae used to orbit, and waited patiently for the one moment when the light of the explosion would finally reach Mobius. Only then would he believe it was actually gone. He didn't want to believe it was dust...he so wanted to blame the live body of his father for this, just to get the hatred away from him. But his father was dead, as was his world. He was the only target left for Mobius' anger, so he would take it all upon himself. He was glad his father couldn't see this world now-- "Joe! Snap out of it!" Joseph returned to his normal mental state. "Sorry," he embarrassedly said, "I was thinking about something." "You think too much." was Sonic's reply. "Yes," Joseph said, "I do." Sonic kept eating his chili dog. "Anyway, nothin's up now." He smirked. "It's just another boring day in Paradise." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, in the smouldering wreckage of Robotroplis: Snively flew around the perimeter of Robotropolis in Robotnik's hovercraft (which gave him a great deal of satisfaction) assessing the progress of the reconstruction of Robotropolis. For the most part, the progress was positive; without bothering to rebuild all the useless, smoke-belching factories, and only rebuilding the essential parts of Robotropolis, the reconstruction would only take another 6 months or so. SWATBot production was up, so soon regular patrols could start again. However, Snively was becoming progressively more irritated with the lack of Worker-Bots remaining to do the menial work of Robotropolis. Apparently, most of them were simply wandering off into the Great Forest. Also, a good portion were being abducted by Freedom Fighters. This was really beginning to bother him, because he was forced to call in other platoons of Worker-Bots from other installations all over the planet. If this kept up, soon Mobius would be liberated from sheer lack of an occupying force. But Snively let not this bring him down. After all, he was Snively the Great, Ruler of Robotropolis, Conqueror of Mobius, Master of All He Surveyed! No problem could hold *him* back for long. He'd just think of a way around it! He laughed fiendishly. And soon, he'd destroy the Freedom Fighters once and for all! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Back in Knothole: Sonic and Joseph were leaning against a tree, and they were up to about their 4th chili dog each when Charles walked over to them and greeted them. "Hello, boys," Charles' metallic voice spoke, as he took a seat on a nearby stump. "What are you up to today?" Sonic shrugged. "Not much, Unc. I'm chillin' until Sal needs me for somethin'. Maybe I'll get to go to ex-'BUTT-nikland to kick some more SWATBot tail!" Charles smiled. "Son, at the rate you kick 'Bot butt, we're not going to have a single one left standing for target practice." "I know! Isn't that Way Past Cool?!" Charles laughed. "Yes, Sonic, it is." He turned toward Joseph as Sonic started into another chili dog. "How about you, lad? Are you just going to take a break today...you should, considering you haven't left that dome in 2 weeks." The metallic hedgehog smirked. "I'm surprised you haven't discovered the secrets of the universe yet; you've not stopped work in all this time to go out and relax." "I'm not quite the vacationing type," smirked Joseph, "and besides," He regained a more serious expression. "it's important to all of Mobius that I perfect this device. Then, Robotnik will truely be dead." "Well," said Charles, "give yourself SOME time to relax. We don't want you to have a nervous breakdown or anything like that. We do have a good chunk of time left for you and I to work in." Joseph nodded somberly. "It's as much for your benefit as it is mine." Charles understood this silently. "Look, just don't work yourself to death." He smirked. "You're the other resident expert on the roboticizing process, so stay alive long enough to finish the deroboticizer, okay?" Joseph chuckled. "Okay, okay, I get the idea." Sonic chose then to complete his dog. After gulping it down, he said, "Anyway, how're you doing, Unc?" "Me? Oh, I'm fine. I just completed work on the Cerebral Re-Activator Ray--something I had in the works after Joseph and I completed the nonmobile chamber--and it should greatly raise the number of roboticized citizens we're able to return here. All you have to do is make sure the beam hits the head of the target, and their mind will override the programming Robotnik put in them." He smirked. "And I'll have it in the stores by Christmas." Sonic smiled. "Way Past Cool, Unc! That'll make Sal happy." Joseph nodded. "Affirmative. That will really be a big help." Charles bowed. "I try." Then, Bunnie wandered over from a nearby hut. "Hi, sugahhogs!" she shouted, and hopped over to the tree. "Anythin' new?" Whenever Joseph looked at Bunnie--ever since he learned of the true nature of the roboticizer, that is--he always felt a pang of sorrow for the damaged rabbit. Her body had been cursed with those ugly steel limbs, yet she continued to be as she always had been. His awe of her sheer will to be happy was only exceeded by his shock of her lack of external bitterness toward her life. She was a survivor, and she still considered herself (publicily, anyway) beautiful...yet, Joseph could not help but feel a dagger plunged into his psyche from the sight of her. He knew it wasn't his fault for any of this, but he still felt responsible...she was one of the main reasons he worked so hard on the deroboticizer. It was one thing to see someone who was totally roboticized: at least that person had lost all of their external links to nature. But Bunnie still was warm to the touch, still had sparkling blue eyes to admire the world with...and a steel arm to touch things with, and metal legs to walk across it. He felt that she was a metaphor for Mobius; damaged, sick from the contaminants that seeped into her; yet still strong and determined to be well again. Sonic shook his head. "Nope." He smirked. "The metalheads are just talkin' shop." Charles and Joseph laughed. "That we are," said Joseph, suddenly breaking from his internal anguish. Bunnie smiled. "Well, god forbid Ah keep y'all from yaur work." Joseph shrugged. "Well, we're not accomplishing a whole lot now." He smiled at her. "How are you doing? Are you doing anything interesting?" "Nah," she said, "Ah'm jus' killing tahm until Sal needs muh." She looked around a bit. "It's a slow day in Knothole today, sugah. Nuthin's gonna happen 'til tonight, when we'll get s'more people outa Robo-tropolis." Joseph raised an eyebrow. "There's gonna be a mission tonight?" Bunnie bemusedly looked at him. "Yah, sugah, there's been a mission ev'ry night. Didn'--" Then, she realized something. "Oh yah, you've been inside the whole time. You wouldn' know." While Joseph mulled this over, Charles broke into the conversation. He smiled, and said, "Excellent. Now my new device can be tested!" Before Bunnie could ask, Charles explained what he had made. "Y'all better tell Sal about that, sugah." She waved to Sonic and Joseph, and took Charles by the hand. "She's planning the mission now," she said, "So c'mon, let's go." She dragged the disoriented Charles off to see the Princess, while Sonic and Joe looked on. "Well," Sonic said, "if that thing works, it'll be Way Past Cool! No more dragging spastic 'bots back to Knothole!" Joseph nodded, and smiled. "It'll certainly save you a lot of time." "I hope so," he said, "Joe, how I hope so." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Snively sat down in the large green chair that was the main piece of furniture in the control center. He observed the various screens that displayed live video of areas all over Robotropolis, not to mention Mobius itself. It looked quiet today; the Freedom Fighters still only became overtly active at night. He pushed some buttons, and reveled in the fact he was sitting in Robotnik's chair. He spun it around a few times to gloat. After growing tired of that, he talked into the intercom. "Attention all SWATBots!" he piped, "roboticize all remaining prisoners, and send them to work in Sectors 5A, 6G, and 436A-5." A metallic voice on the other side acknoledged his transmission. He smirked evilly. "And do it slowly." A quiet beep was heard from the speaker, and it fell silent. Satisfied with that, he thought of other things he needed to do that day. He had covered Robotnik's usual itinerary; He'd surveyed the landsdscape, ordered the daily robotization, had lunch, sneered at the Great Forest, brooded about the domination of Mobius, and abused a SWATBot. The Worker-Bots and SWATBots were able to handle the actual repairs by themselves, and the refinaries would do just fine without any Sniv-intervention for a year. He sighed, as bored badniks are wont to on occasions such as these. What to do, what to do... Then, his eyes brightened as he realized what he could do to pass the time. He walked over to a R&D laboratory close by to the Control Center. He entered it, and gazed upon an object he was keeping in here for its own good. A Worker-Bot on the far side of Mobius, while in a crystal mine, hit the large stone while trying to dig out a particularly tenacious formation. It broke the pickaxe on contact. So, following its programming, it called over a SWATBot for assistance. It blasted the stone out, and when it could not determine its nature, sent it to Robotropolis a few days after Doomsday had miserably failed (...as expected). Since then, Snively was trying to figure out exactly how this stone, the Amber Chaos Emerald, worked. He decided against trying to make it power Robotropolis...Robotnik had tried something similar once, and Snively thus reasoned that that course of action would be suicide until the Freedom Fighters could be eliminated; they would notice the sudden lack of smoke being belched out of the city, and go to in to investigate, and then they'd find some way of stealing the emerald from him. So, he decided to pick a less obvious use for the emerald, yet one totally predicitable to any individual familiar with Snively's mind: convert it into a weapon that could destroy the Great Forest, and reveal Knothole. However, this course of action was mysteriously difficult to accomplish. The Emerald Ray would destroy non-natural things completely; SWATBots, Worker-Bots, garbage, anything that was manufactured. But if it was fired at a tree, or a small animal, it'd heal it and make it stronger. That annoyed him to no end. But, he was determined to bend the emerald to his will, no matter how difficult it would be to do so. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The sun was beginning to set, which signaled Knothole to begin to prepare for the night's activities. The Mobian village put away its things from the day's work, ate its dinner, and cleaned up everything else before preparing for a restful sleep. Everyone, that is, but the Freedom Fighters who were about to go out for a night's mission. Sonic, Sally, Antoine, Charles, Dulcy and Bunnie were standing around the updated holographic depiction of Robotropolis, planning their route in and out in order to get as many people out as they could in a night. The Cerebral Re-Activator Ray dramatically increased this number, so they figured on getting (at the least) about 20-25 people out that night. While they were discussing their plans, Joseph sat outside the hut, silently listening to their plans. He'd never been on a mission, and he always had wondered how one had been organized. Quite well, by his observations. Maybe they'd ask him to tag along one day... He heard movement in the hut, and disappeared up a tree. Using his martial arts training, he slipped into the shadows without a sound. Sonic was the first to emerge. "I'm gonna bag a ring, Sal," he said into the hut, and ran off to the Power Ring Pool. A few seconds after he left, the rest of the Knothole crew went outside the hut. They divided into teams, and the leader of each team recieved a pistol to zap roboticized citizens with. A second later, Sonic arrived with his ring. "Charles, you're with Antoine," Sally said, "and Bunnie, you're with me. Sonic will provide the diversion, and we'll ship the roboticized citizens out on you, Dulcy." She looked at the dragon. "Do you remember the rendezvous point, Dulcy?" The dragon nodded. "Good." She took another deep breath. "The last ride out is at 00:00, at the predetermined rendevous point." She looked at her watch. "Okay, sync your watches at 21:00.....now!" A round of beeping later, everyone had the same time. "Everyone ready?" A round of nodding. "Okay, everyone on Dulcy but Sonic." They boarded the dragon. "Sonic, you rem--" "Like the recipe for Unc Chuck's chili dogs, Sal." Sally smirked. "Then go!" Sonic, with a wink and a flourish, took off toward Robotropolis. After waiting a minute or two, Dulcy got a running start, and also took off toward Robotropolis. After they had left, Joseph lept out of the tree, and landed quietly on the ground. He vaguely considered going home, and waiting for them to return, which would be what a logical, rational person would do. But, for some reason, he had a yearning to pursue them. He wanted to kick 'bot butt as well. (Such feelings were becoming more common as the hedgehog DNA began to sink deeper in to his genetic makeup.) He pondered for about 5 minutes, but finally snapped. He was going to follow them. But he wouldn't interfere; he'd watch from a distance cloaked. To study Mobian guerilla warfare. That's it. He would *study* them. It wasn't tagging along when he was forbidden to, it was science! He checked Bahb's energy levels. Once he was sure they were up to 100%, he took off toward Robotropolis as well. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Snivley stared into the control center's screens. So far, the Freedom Fighters hadn't shown up for the night's attempt at freeing Worker-Bots. He had, like he had done for the last several nights, dedicated himself to killing them all tonight. He put Robotropolis on full alert, and had his aerial forces circling the perimeter, as usual. There would be no mistakes tonight. I(vos)H(yper)A(c)T(iv)ET(rackerof)H(e)AT(fromthe)HEDGEHOG (Robotnik's last joke. The acronym is I.HATE.THAT.HEDGEHOG. He always did make really, REALLY stupid jokes, Sniv thought.) radar beeped, detecting Sonic roaring in to start the eternal diversion. Sniv wondered what he'd hit tonight. He was running out of things to destroy...Robotropolis wasn't much now to begin with. The lazer fire he heard, and the SWATBot calls for backup seemed to denote that Sonic was assulting one of their primary refineries again. Snively growled. He either let the hedgehog weaken Robotropolis further by destroying the refinary, or let the hedgehog weaken Robotropolis further by his abduction of Worker-Bots. Snively was beginning to DESPISE these Catch-22s. Resources for SWATBot production was going from 300% to 500% tomorrow, he vowed annoyedly. Then, Snively angrily activated the intercom. "Attention all SWATBots! Hedgehog alert! Report to Refinery 24-A!" he bellowed, "AND SHOOT TO KILL!" Snively realized that this was going to leave the Worker-Bots in Sectors G, H, and I unguarded and ripe for FF attack. But the refinery was more important to Sniv, so he forced himself to tolorate the FF damage of his labor force. (Needlenose isn't the brightest bulb in the box, y'know.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic raced through the refinary, smashing the hell out of anything that looked fragile or important. Dodging SWATBot fire, he swerved to and fro inside the building, spin-dashing through the metallic menaces. It would normally take him maybe 5 minutes to totally disable one of these establishments, but he needed to buy lots of time for the rest of the FFs who were rescuing citizens. So, he simply continued to race back and forth irratically, damaging and destroying as much stuff as he could. Meanwhile, the first 5 people they were able to grab and zap were loaded onto Dulcy, and were flown back to the Great Forest as fast as Dulcy could manage. They were disoriented, but they got themselves together enough to hang on to the dragon for dear life. Joseph was watching the whole scene from a safe distance on the eastern limits of Robotropolis. He'd tapped into the security system, and was getting a Sniv's-eye view of what was happening. (He was also blanking certain screens at random times, so to make it appear like simple technical problems as a result of Doomsday, to keep Sniv from knowing where the FFs were...but it wasn't directly hurting anything, so it was okay!) It appeared to Joseph that what Sonic had told him about Snively was correct. He was a freakin' moron. He was concentrating a majority of his forces in one localized area to fight one Freedom Fighter from destroying something that would be vital in the short-term; while the majority of the Freedom Fighters were all over Robotropolis, taking a resource away that would be vital for the long-term survival of Robotropolis. His brother would have a cerebral hemorrhage from watching this. Joseph smiled when he thought of his brother. Jhack was a big, tough high-ranking member of the warrior caste, a master of all things tactical. He always kicked Joseph's butt in jed'ar (a game similiar to chess). He would have loved to watch this conflict unfold; it was a classic example of unconventional warfare toppling a conventional regime. He missed him sometimes. Sighing, he went back to watching the chaos unfold... Then, he noticed something. There were no SWATBots around the Command Center. Nary a one. They were all either at the Refinary, or guarding the prison blocks. Sniv left his front door wide open, but locked the back! Quickly, Joseph debated how to utilize this information. Should he sneak into it and directly sabotage the command center, and risk capture, or should he try and tell someone else? He shook his head. No, telling someone else would endanger the mission. If anything was to be done, he'd have to do it himself. What to do... He took a 25 Mobium coin from the side of his boot. He examined it. The side he was looking at had a grim-faced King Acorn on it, with some writing along the side. "Heads, I go, tails, I don't." He flipped the coin, and caught it in midair. He opened his hand; heads. He smiled. "Very well, I go." He quickly removed all evidence he had ever been there, threw the coin over his shoulder, and stealthily stalked toward the egg-shaped Command Center. The coin flipped over again when it hit the ground; on that side, Acorn was smiling. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic was beginning to tire of bouncing off the refinary walls. He was not only running out of things to smash, but the whole thing was getting old. He just wanted to trash the damn thing, and move on to something more interesting. But what? This was the only distraction Sally had given him. He didn't know what other targets to hit. There wasn't much left! Then, it occurred to him that he could drag all the SWATBots into the center of 'BUTT-nikville by attacking the control center. Then, the rest of the place would be nearly empty, and Sal could grab LOTS of guys and gals. He was rather pleased with himself for thinking at such a supersonic pace. So, the next pass by the control room, instead of blasting past it, he blasted into it. This bought him a few precious seconds while he pressed every button in the room, pulled every switch, and generally started trashing the place. Alarms upon alarms went off as the entire plant went critical. "WARNING! AUTODESTRUCT MODE ENGAGED! 30 SECONDS UNTIL AUTODESTRUCT. 29. 28. 27. 26. 25...." Sonic took that cue to juice on outa there. He engaged a little bit of power ring, and left a deafening sonic boom to be the harbringer of the larger orange-yellow explosion seconds later. Snively went spastic. Now not only had the Freedom Fighters gotten several more Worker-Bots than usual out of Robotropolis, his favorite refinary was totally destroyed. He screamed and pounded his fists against the chair, a la Robotnik. "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!" he hollered as he ordered every resource he had available to stop the hedgehog from escaping. But meanwhile... Joseph approached the central entrance point for the egg-shaped control center. As more SWATBots streamed out of it, he quickly snuck in against the flow of traffic and got past the 'bot dispatch point without a hitch. Sniv was too irate at the recent destruction of some installation he liked to put up floating spybots inside his own inner sanctum. Joseph took this as a good omen, and traversed his way up the access stairs. After walking for a few minutes (and hiding from a few SWATBots that were rapidly streaming down the stairs as well) up the stairs, he finally came to the outer fringes of Sniv' innermost sancti sanctum. This was obviously where all the really important stuff was. Various sensitive and fragile computers were hidden all the way up here, not to mention Sniv's R&D labs. He was really losing a lot of respect for Needlenose. And since he didn't have a lot to begin with, that's saying something. He walked into the center of the room, and observed some monitors. Ooohing at the stuff he saw, he extended his dataspike from his right arm and started downloading all of it. After an incredibly short period of time, he got it all. 200 virus checks later (2 seconds), he compiled it and mulled over the information. The latest version of the roboticizer software, plans for everything Robotropolis had, locations of bases, codes, everything Sniv didn't want anyone to know about he had. Joseph cackled quietly. This would certainly be useful--he heard a noise. Quickly, he hid behind a pile of old boxes, and waited to see who drew near... Snively stomped down the stairs, and rushed into his R&D room. He *thought* he heard the sound of rapid downloading, but there was obviously nobody there. Quickly, he ran to the back of the room to fetch his Emerald Ray. He kicked some boxes out of the way as he reached the zero-energy field in which he kept it--a shadow--he turned to look behind the pile... ^L Nothing. Sniv shuddered. He must be so angry, he thought, his mind was starting to play tricks on him. He took a breath, and took the gun from the field. He wanted to be sure that he had it with him if the hedgehog tried to attack him tonight, and he believed he'd figured out how to make it kill. He didn't know, tho, but he didn't want to have it laying out, anyway. He rushed out of the room and shot back upstairs to the central control center, beginning to snarl somethin' fierce. After he had left, Joseph cautiously poked his head out. Sniv had taken some sort of weapon from the far side of the room, and rushed back upstairs. Obviously, it was meant to attack Sonic with. He hoped he'd be able to evade it once Sniv started pursuing Sonic actively. Either way, he had what he basically needed. Now, he'd just set up a nice cat's-cradle program within the Robotropolis computer system OS, and... "RED ALERT! RED ALERT! HEDGEHOG PRIORITY ONE!" Alarms! Had he been discovered? Arrgh! He had no time left now. Quickly, he looked around for an exit. He couldn't take the door--footsteps! Shit! He spotted a vent and jumped up and through it, closing it behind him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But it was not Joseph that set off the alarms. It was the first Mobius-biased Freedom Fighter hedgehog, Sonic, who set off the alarms. He managed to set off every alarm system that Sniv had downstairs, calling every SWATBot in Robotropolis back home to defend it from the blue blaze of vengence that was Sonic. He started his usual smash-and-run technique there, attempting to take down the central Robotropolis SWATBot dispatch grid, the food machines, and anything else that looked somewhat valuable. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But Snivley knew the alarms to be the work of the hedgehog. Immediately, he rushed down the stairs, through his lab, and to a secret minihangar. There, Snivley kept *his* new pride-and-joy, Robotnik's old hovercraft. He'd dug it out of the wreckage, and refurnished it himself. It looked as good as new, and now he'd add one more accessory to it; his (hopefully) new Emerald Death Ray. He slapped the turret into place in front of the hovercraft, and jumped inside of it. Wasting no time, he started the formitable craft and blasted out through a nearby wall. The unexpected explosion was felt all over the remains of Robotropolis. When the Freedom Fighters spotted the hovercraft, several of the weaker-hearted (namely, Antoine) quickly panicked. "Aaaa!! It is zee Robotnik! Ze has come back from ze dead to make us dead like heem! Aaaaa!" Charles didn't even try to calm him down. "Run!" shouted Sir Charles, and took the petrified Antoine by the paw as the remainder of the rescued roboticized bretheren followed suit. Meanwhile, Sonic rushed out of the building, dodging some irksome SWATBot fire, and was observing the hovership's flight path. He was apparently circling the center of Robotropolis, looking for where the hedgehog might have hidden. He quickly came to the conclusion that he'd give the ship something to look for. He rushed over to the center of the street, and started yelling. "HEY, NEEDLENOSE!" he yowled from the streets below, "YEAH, YOU IN RO-CLUCKNIK'S RIDE!" This sucessfully got Snively's attention. "PREPARE TO DIE, HEDGEHOG!" he bellowed, and started firing amber beams down upon him. "Uh-oh." Sonic thought, and swiftly began swerving through the center of Robotropolis to avoid the beams. "Stand still!" Snively muttered as he continued aiming, firing, and missing the hedgehog. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph was watching the battle unfold from inside the intake vent for the Control Center, high up on the remains of the `roof' (if an egg-shaped structure can have a `roof'). He had noted that even though Snively believed he was weaving around as irratically as the hedgehog, he passed through a certain area of space every few seconds or so. Joseph was working on refining the exact target area, and was beginning to time his envelope so he'd know when to....now! Snively had passed through a section of space every 2.3 minutes. In another 2.3 minutes, he'd be there again, and then would be the time Joseph would enact his plan. He watched silently from his perch, continuing to watch the battle unnoticed. Sonic was irritating Snively rather efficiently. Apparently, whatever sort of `ray' he was using was constantly missing the hedgehog, and he was making sure Snively knew it. "HEY SNOTLEY! NICE AIM!" "YOU WILL EAT THOSE WORDS, HEDGEHOG!" And then another barrage of firing from the hovercraft, even more badly aimed than the first. He prepared himself to enact his plan. 30 seconds. 20. 10...9..... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At the exact moment Snively first entered an area directly below Joseph's vent, he jumped into the hovercraft, taking the repugnant imp by surprise! With a smooth movement, Joseph grabbed Snively by the neck, and started throttling him. "Die, you hideous excuse for a semi-evolved simian!" he shouted into Snively's ears, and attempted to take control of the craft. But Snively didn't fight fair. (Or well.) He kicked at the hedgehog's stomach, only to fracture a few toes on the android's chestplate. Yelling in agony, he pulled a small dirk from his belt, and tried to shove it through the hedgehog's armpit. It penetrated it, but didn't even seem to slow the creature down...then he got a good look at him, and then that's when he really became frightened. He looked like Sonic's body double, aside from the bright silver eyes. Also, the hedgehog didn't look like he took prisoners. After a quick assessment of the mood of his attacker, he came to the conclusion that he was about to-- Joseph knocked the little rodent out with a single punch. He tore the knife from his armpit, and threw it out the window. Now, while trying to regain control of the odd craft, he was also attempting to disarm the strange weapon, which seemed to be approaching overload levels. Apparently, whatever this thing was powered by, it was too much to be withheld by the weapon for very long, once it was fired up. He feared it was going to explode, and he was still far too high up to jump--he quickly pulled hard to the right, barely missing a tall buidling. He was still too high to jump, and he didn't know how powerful the power source was. As he fumbled around with the access port for the fuel cell, he mused what Sniv could have found that was so powerful? Some sort of radioactive isotope? Alien technology? Perhaps a Keld'yrian had lost something again... All this time, Sonic had been hanging out, watching the aerial battle. He was surprised to see his `brother' here, but he was glad he'd shown up. Joe'd given Snotley the pounding of his life. And soon, he'd just bring the ship down to Mobius, and then they'd REALLY have him... He finally fumbled with a octogon-shaped thing, and quickly removed it from the gun. He threw the powerless weapon off the ship, and tossed the stone casually into the back seat, not bothering to examine it (steering a unfamiliar ship tends to discourage scientific discovery), and continued to attempt to regain control of Robotnik's round hovership. He tried to make it go lower by cutting the power, but all that suceeded in doing was make the ship slow down. That wasn't the effect he'd desired, but at least he could concentrate on the altitude control. As he fiddled with the lever, he realized he was now drifing around on the eastern outskirts of Robotropolis. He was rather surprised. This vehicle travelled rather quickly. It must be the lack of its usual load. He snickered at his joke. Robotnik must have needed a whole lotta thrust to move this thing, he pondered, and took the lever in his hand. Then, taking a breath, he began to slowly pull the lever down... While Joseph had been trying to regain control, Snively had slowly regained consciousness, and gradually came to the conclusion that this passenger was not wanted in his hovership. Reaching silently under the seat as the craft started to come to a halt, he pulled out a short pipe Robotnik had kept under the seat to club things with if they came too close to him in flight. With a slow, purposeful movement, he raised the club above his head, and swung just as Joseph was starting to lower the ship slowly to the ground. The impact from the club didn't hurt Joseph as much as it surprised him. The metallic `thud' from the club attempting to damage his right lobe did, however, make his teeth rattle unpleasantly. He fell forward from the blow, suddenly sending the small ship on a course straight up into the sky. As it rocketed upwards, it began exerting strong g-forces against the contents of the craft. Snively, being a runty little weakling, was immediately forced to the floor of the craft after the second g, while Joseph (being an android and having more resistance to such things) merely readjusted his stance a bit, and desperately tried to regain control of the reddish blur before it entered a low Mobius orbit. Sonic watched the ship bob downwards, stop, and then scream up into the upper stratasphere. Needless to say, this surprised him. Obviously, Joe wasn't the world's greatest pilot. Or maybe he was going to fly all the way up there to drop Snively, or--lazer fire from behind him. Uh-oh. The SWATBots had wised up, and now had figured out where he was. He quickly poured on some speed, and raced away from the area, hoping to buy Joe some time... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - With a small degree of difficulty, he stuck out his hand and took hold of the lever. Not wanting to be thrown out of the craft, he slowly started to pull it back down; and slowly, the ship began to stop. It came to a halt again near the center of the lever's pull-area, to just about the limit of the Mobian atmosphere. Taking the opportunity to relax, seeing that Snively was too weak at this height above Mobius to put up any sort of a fight, Joseph looked up to note this unique perspective. He could see the darker areas with almost no ozone above it from the lighter, bluish areas that had a higher level. It was odd to observe such a thing; one comes to believe after long examinations of the sky on a clear day that the sky seems to be an impervious bubble from which the rest of the universe is seperated. But, he thought, as one gets closer to the fringe of the atmosphere, one can see the small gaps that are formed as air currents cause the air to flow around in erratic patterns, leaving for minutes at a time small holes in the atmosphere; yet, from the ground, the sky always appears to be a solid blue bubble. It brought to mind a proverb his grandfather had taught him... "Even the strongest wall has a hole." He waved his hand around in the small, black gap. "A hole." he logically said, and exhaled a breath into the hole, filling it. "Filled." After looking into the sky some more, he decided to return to a more Snively-compatible altitude, before the now quite-cold and weak human went and died. He was sure that Sonic could figure out what to do with him. Probably put him on trial and lynch him, or maybe throw him in Ironlock. Either way, it was an affair of state, so he'd try to stay out of it. He was probably in enough trouble as it was going off to Robotropolis without telling anyone. Ruing Sally's potential wrath, Joseph pulled the lever slowly back, and gradually brought the hovership back closer to Mobius. As he got nearer to the blackish cloud above Robotropolis, Snively began coughing himself back to consciousness. As he entered the murky depths of the pollution cloud, all vision became temporarily obscured. After penetrating the center of the cloud, Snively gasped out a few words. "Where... *cough* are you tak-- *cough* ing me?" "You're going back to Robotropolis, Snively." "*cough* Huh? *cough*" "Yeah, you're going back to Robotropolis, and Sonic is going to decide what to do to you next." The ship broke through the cloud, and the air slowly began to clear up. They were still high above the tops of the buildings, tho, but they could now both see each other clearly. "The hedgehog won't have the chance to. My SWATBots will finish him before we even hit the ground!" "Oh, really?" Joseph snarled, and grabbed Sniv's green collar. "I don't think so, Snotley." He lifted the protesting Snively outside the hovercraft. "You're going to call off your marauding SWATBot armies right now." He grabbed the microphone for the com-unit with his other free hand, and shoved it into Snively's face. "Aren't you?" Searching for any sort of retort, Snively could only gasp. After a second of hanging precariously over the ground, tho, he finally stuttered, "Att-t-tention all SWATBots!! Cease Priority One pursuit and await further orders!" Joseph clicked the microphone off. "Good work, monkey. Perhaps we'll keep you around to read commercials." Snively could only stare blackly at his obnoxious orange opponent of his overtaking of Mobius. "Now, stop squirming around, or I'll save Sonic the trouble and snap your neck right here." The human stopped wiggling. "Good." The ship finally came to a slow halt 3 inches above a stretch of road somewhere within the center of Robotropolis. Joseph dragged the whining Snively back into the ship, and took him with him as he dehovercrafted out the other side. Looking around, he realized that it was almost time for the Freedom Fighters present to go to the rendezvous point on the outskirts of town, and then return to Knothole for the night. Quickly, he realized he'd have to get their attention in order to bring them back here. So, he shook Snively again. "Flares! I need a flare gun! Now!" Snively quickly gesticulated to the glove compartment, where there was a loaded, largish flare gun. Joseph quickly grabbed it, and fired the device into the air. It shot into the sky, and into a bank of explosive gas that one of the factories had recently set off. The ignited phosphorous in the flare reacted with the various methanes in the cloud, and created a large explosion that quickly became a massive one. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters had assembled with a large group of recently renewed roboticized Mobian citizens. Sonic was attempting to explain what had happened to him as quickly as possible. "...and then, Joe comes flyin' off the roof of Sniv's command center, right?! He must've said something cool like me, and done some of that wicked kung-fu stuff he does, 'cuz Sniv went down for the count in a Sonic Second! Then, he starts joyriding in 'BUTT-nik's hovercraft, and was tryin' to land but Snotley musta done somethin' 'cuz Joe fell forward and hit some lever and then the ship went screamin' up, up, Way Past Up into the sky, right about--" and just as he pointed to where it went up, a small flare went up into a small cloud. Within seconds, the whole sky seemed to be on fire. "--there." "He must be in trouble!" Sally said, "Sonic, go--" When Sonic heard the word `go', he figured out the rest for himself. Quickly (which is the way he did most things), he took out a power ring and ultra-juiced toward the center of Robotropolis. As he entered Robotropolis, the usual entourage of SWATBots arrived, and began chase. Normally, he'd be pelted by lazer fire, but this time they only followed him. Sonic found this odd, naturally, and came to a temporary stop a few blocks from the flare's origin. The SWATBots came to a halt about 30 feet away, and floated in mid-air omniously. They stared at each other for a few moments. Then, Sonic broke the silence. "Hey, bucketheads! Why don't you shoot me?! I'm the Hedgehog Priority One! Your JOB is to shoot me!" The SWATBots looked at each other for a few moments, obviously relaying information back and forth. Then, the bot on the pursuit module closest to him said, "Snively has overrode our programming, and has ordered all units to pursue, but not damage or terminate Hedgehog Priority One." Sonic looked puzzled. "Why?" "Unknown," the 'bot said. "Way Past Weird," Sonic thought, "maybe Snively's captured Joseph, and wants me as ransom." With that, Sonic took off again, toward the center of Robotropolis. A second later, the 'bots took off after him. Joseph was beating Snively's head against a wall to sedate him when Sonic arrived seconds later, being trailed by the oddly non-violent SWATBots. Sonic's view of the situation changed rapidly after that. "Yo, Joe!" he shouted, and ran closer to the orange doppleganger. Joseph stopped clobbering Snively for a moment, and allowed his stunned body to slump to the ground. "Hey, Sonic." Sonic looked at Joseph, then at Snively. "I see you've been busy," Sonic smirked, "but you didn't leave a lot for me to play with!" Joseph shrugged. "The opportunity presented itself, so I seized it." Sonic kicked Snively lightly in the chest, which didn't seem to phase him. "Looks like he's just about ready to die." "You want to do the honors, Sonic?" "Huh?" "Do you," Joseph plainly spoke, "want to finish him off?" Sonic looked at Joseph strangely. "You mean..." "Kill him. Yes." Sonic's face went blank as he considered this. If he killed Snively, it would finally put an end to all of Robotnik's legacy in one blow. No more roboticized people. No more pointless deaths. The world could be beautiful and clean again. Joseph would make a deroboticizer, Uncle Chuck and Bunnie and everyone else would be well again, and they'd find a way to bring back King Acorn. And everything would be beautiful and clean again. But Sonic had never killed anything before. He didn't think he could.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He remembered when he was a young hedgehog, and he'd built a small rabbit trap. He'd built it because he'd overheard Uncle Chuck complaining to one of his friends about how rabbits kept getting through the fence he'd built somehow, and eating his produce. So, Sonic decided he'd make Unc Chuck proud of him, and kill the rabbit that kept getting in the next time it tried. He thought of the proper way of constructing such a trap, collected enough stuff to make it out of, and snuck into Uncle Chuck's workshop to build it. He'd been proud of that trap, he recalled, and he'd tested it throughly to be sure it'd work. It was a small wooden cage, held together with bits of twine. The front of it opened up with hinges, and a small stick would hold it up. A little piece of string could then be attached to it, and close the cage. In retrospect, it was a pathetic, primitive device, but it did the job... He'd set it out in the back yard, in the middle of the garden. In it, he'd put a carrot, covered with a layer of peanut butter. (Uncle Chuck had told him once that small animals loved the taste of it, so Sonic put it on as additional `bait'.) Then, he covered the string with a thin layer of dirt, so to be sure the animal couldn't see it, and hid in a bush. About 15 minutes later, the rabbit hopped into the yard. It sniffed around, nibbled on some lettuce, and then noticed the peanut-butter carrot. As planned, it hopped into the cage. The second it was all the way in, he pulled the rope, and closed the cage. The rabbit frantically tried to push its way out, but it was far too weak to push open the door. Sonic cheered upon capturing the rabbit. Uncle Chuck would be so proud of him! He'd get a few extra chili dogs for this! But, he thought, he'd have to finish the job. So, he found a large rock that would eclipse the cage, and difficultly picked it up. By slowly walking toward the cage, he was able to keep the rock above his head so to more easily smash the rabbit. He finally arrived close enough to the cage to see the rabbit. The pathetic look in its eyes drained Sonic of its resolve. No matter how much vegetables it had eaten, Sonic had thought, it didn't deserve to die for it. He just threw the rock in the opposite direction, toward a small creek, and ran away from the cage. A minute or two later, he was able to find Uncle Chuck at the chili dog stand. He waited until he was done serving a customer, and then explained the situation to him. Oddly enough, Charles had said, "Sonic, I'm proud of you for not killing that rabbit." Sonic blinked. "I don't get it, Uncle Chuck. Why? I chickened out. I choked." Charles put his hand on his shoulder. "Sonic, you didn't kill that rabbit not because you're not brave, you didn't because you felt it was wrong. Your conscience told you not to, because you know it is wrong to kill. That's not a bad thing. In fact, it's good. If more people were like you, Mobius would be a perfect world." "Really?" Sonic said. "Yes." And then, Uncle Chuck gave him a hug, and they walked back to his garden. Charles picked up the cage (after commenting on its handiwork positively) and wandered over to a neighbors' house and borrowed a small burlap bag. Then, he carefully dropped the contents of the cage into the bag, and put the wooden construction down. After that, he signaled for a PeaceBot via a special watch he had on his arm for that purpose, and gave it some very specific instructions on what to do with it. The PeaceBot beeped in compliance, took the bag carefully, and zipped off to parts unknown. He'd remembered hearing Uncle Chuck tell him later that the rabbit was released on a different part of Mobius, where it wouldn't eat anyone's garden up. He smiled when he remembered that Uncle Chuck had always been proud of him for never killing anything, and that he'd promised never to... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But, if he didn't kill Snively, he could escape from whereever they'd put him, and return to Robotropolis. Then, he'd keep hurting people and destroying things and doing things that were Way Uncool. Maybe he'd get lucky and kill one of his friends. Maybe he'd even kill Sally! Or him! Then, something or other would cause Joseph to NOT make a deroboticizer, and everyone who'd been roboticized would die...Uncle Chuck... No, Sonic thought, he'd have to break his promise. The cycle had to end. If he didn't, too many more lives would be put in jeopardy. He had the chance, and he had to make the most of it. "It would be," Sonic said, "a pleasure." With a fluid movement, he grabbed the semi-unconscious Snively by the collar, and threw him against the wall. He punched him a few times in the stomach, yelling and cursing at him the whole time. He'd occasionally shout out, "This is for--", nail Snively in the face, and then yell a name of a FF, friend, or just some innocent person who had been killed or roboticized. After a while, Sonic began to sense that Snively was just about to buy it. He knew if he was going to complete what he had started, he had an obligation to make it impressive. Then, he knew what he had to do. He curled up into a ball on the ground, and started to power up a Sonic Spin Dash Attack... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The rest of the FFs around arrived there seconds later. Dulcy had returned home, with the last load of citizens they'd get that night. Antoine had also been taken home as well, because he was just too mental at that time to even join the rest of them to find out what had happened to Sonic and Joseph. So, just Bunnie, Sally, and Charles arrived at the scene. Needless to say, they were surprised that Snively was nearly dead on his feet, and his large nose (not to mention the rest of him) looked all bloody and bruised. However, they were more surprised to see Sonic getting ready to do a Sonic Spin Dash Attack right into him! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Charles knew he had only seconds to act. While the rest of them were simply struck dumb with shock, he rushed toward Sonic and shouted "STOP!" The shout distracted the hedgehog just long enough for him to slow down to a low enough speed so Charles could rush into him to knock him over. "No, Sonic!" This was one of the times Sonic was simply struck speechless. He tried to form a complete sentence explaining why he was about to kill an Enemy of the State, that it was worth a life to save a million others, etc, but he simply could open and shut his mouth and make the articulate conjunction, "Uhh...". But Charles was far more verbal. "Sonic, it is not for you to decide who lives or dies! I don't care if Snively *has* nearly destroyed this world, and I wouldn't care if Robotnik was in the same position Snively is in! Killing is wrong! It would make you no better than Robotnik to destroy this pitiful creature!" He pointed at the area that Snively was occupying. "We will take him back to Knothole, and--" But when he, and everyone else who had been intently listening to Charles, turned to look at the spot he was pointing at, he was gone! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic broke the silence with "Oh, man..." "Where'd the smeg he'd go?" Joseph said. "Never mind that," Sally said, "we better get out of here before he finds out where the...uh...smeg WE went!" "Agreed," Charles said nervously, "we can discuss this back at Knothole in the morning." Sonic, silently damning himself for blowing it, let everyone join hands, each person linking to another in a chain, and grabbed the last link in the chain, Sally. He looked back, checked that everyone was attached, and took a ring from his backpack. He looked at Joseph, but said nothing. Joseph understood his silence, and spoke softly. "No, Sonic, I'll run interference," he said to the blue (in more ways than one now) version of his body, "You just get everyone safely back to Knothole." The hedgehogs nodded, and Sonic fired up the ring, albeit grimly, and took off out of Robotropolis. Distant lazer fire was heard seconds later, but none of it seemed to hit its mark, as usual. However, Joseph chose to stay behind not to run interference, but to get the rock that he had taken out of Snively's weapon. He grabbed it from the backseat of the idling hovercraft, and examined it closely for the first time. Within seconds, he realized exactly what it was; Snively had somehow gotten the Amber Chaos Emerald from somewhere. He didn't even want to guess, tho. What was important now was that he had it, not him. He was already thinking of all the good ways he could use it when lazer fire started raining toward him. SWATBots! Now he was in `the deep merde', as Antoine might have called it. He quickly turned on the hedgehog drive, and zipped away at a rapid pace. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, a familiar figure was tapping some buttons on Robotnik's chair, and ordering various SWATBot batallions out to capture the stone from the orange hedgehog... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph dodged the lazer fire as best he could. He wondered how Snively had recovered so quickly. Or perhaps this was an automatic program in case of the injury of either Robotnik or Snively. He didn't know, and didn't care a whole lot at the moment, either. He tried to devise a plan of escape. If he could get free of Robotropolis proper, then he could lose the 'bots in the maze of garbage. The only problem was that there were a LOT of SWATBots left, and Joseph couldn't stop to fight them, or risk the Chaos Emerald falling back into Snively's hands. He continued to dodge some 'bot plane fire and the pursuing platoon of SWATBots. He was able to trick one of them into flying into a wall, and another by splitting it in twain on the corner of a building. But there were still a lot of them around! And they were *gaining* on him! Quickly, he knew he had to really throw on the speed, or be overtaken by the SWATBots. But how? He didn't have a power ring or anything. He certainly couldn't fly away; he had neglected to bring his antigrav belt. Returning fire was right out because he was plasma cannonless. And surrendering meant death. Then, he remembered the glowing Chaos Emerald he had in his hand. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic had told him a week or two ago how he fired up a power ring. "It's like...well, imagine having a chili dog in your right hand." He lifted up his hand to demonstrate. "Now, imagine the dog's chili and sauce starting to run over your hand. That's the energy from the ring. Now, you certainly can't *eat* the power ring...it'd blow off your jaw." He smirked. "Besides, they don't taste very good." He lifted his empty hand higher in the air, like he'd hold a power ring in his hand. "Now, try to imagine the chili starting to run down your arm," he said, starting to trace the path with his left hand. "tingling over your forearm, elbow, and finally all the way to your armpit." He paused to let this sink in, and moved on. "After it's covered your arm, imagine the flow of chili starting to move down your ribs, becoming stronger after jumpin' over each one. After that, have it fall down your stomach, and finally have it dribble down your leg." Sonic resumed a more relaxed posture. "After that, your body should probably take over. It's reflex to me, but you should be able to do it right one day. It's a Way Past Cool feeling, like you're a big blue--" He smirked. "--well, orange, in your case. A big, orange lightning bolt." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And if that could be done with a power ring, he thought... As Joseph ran, he began to lift the emerald above his head, in his right hand. He imagined the chili dog.... The figure in the chair watched the orange hedgehog lift the emerald above his head, seeming to begin some sort of meditation ritual. The figure wondered what the hedgehog was trying to do. As he began to visualize the chili dog beginning to drip down his hand, the emerald began to glow brighter and brighter...seeming to power up for the occasion. The person in the chair was entranced by the brighter-glowing emerald. Could it be that a Chaos Emerald could also be used as a power source for organic beings? Down his arm....and the emerald's light went from orange to yellow to green to blue to indigo to violet and beyond in under a second. "Wow," Joseph said, and continued to visualize the chili dog exercize. The figure quickly kept up with the emerald's frequencies, altering the scanning units to counter. He imagined the power flowing down to his ribs, lapping over each one. The emerald was now giving off strong x-rays. This was beginning to frighten him. But he could not stop. Even if there weren't any SWATBots chasing him, the feeling was intoxicating. He was high on the sheer amount of power he had in the palm of his hand. The figure was glued to the screens. The level of power from the emerald was far higher than had ever been calculated in such a small crystal. It could be even more powerful than the total collective energy from the Mobian sun... When the energy rolled onto his stomach, the crystal started giving off gamma rays. If it wasn't for the fact Joseph's body was designed to be spaceworthy, it would have instantly killed him. This led him to the conclusion that only he would be able to safely use the emerald in this way. Of course, he was too busy trying not to fly into a dead end to mull that thought over further. The figure was passionately awaiting what would happen next. The SWATBots had almost steered the hedgehog right into a dead end, where'd he either stop, or become a greasy spot on a wall. Either way, he'd get what he wanted. He laughed at the simplicity of it all... Joseph kept running. The final stage of powering up must take the longest, he noted, and ran down an alley. Oh no. The alley ended in a wall. There wasn't enough room to turn around. The SWATBots were pursuing him, and were now firing at him with extreme prejustice. The power hit his legs. The wall stretched before him now, and in one second he'd-- All reality snapped away in one blast of light. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The figure in the control room screamed, and pounded his fists against the armsrests. No! That was impossible! Nobody could bend reality! How?! Why?! He couldn't think of an answer, which even made him madder, and just contented himself with screaming, and bludgeoning things. The hedgehog had powered up the crystal to a level that his instruments couldn't even measure, been surrounded by an ultra-powerful version of Sonic's usual nova effect, and shot *through* reality. The wall had literally bent IN, and he had blasted through it. A second later, the wall had normalized, like nothing had even happened, and his platoon of SWATBots slammed into it, destroying them instantly. The night had been a tour de' force by the Freedom Fighters. They'd not only gotten about 25% of the remaining Worker-Bots out of Robotropolis, but they'd destroyed a few good refinaries and somehow (and the figure had no explaination for this) downloaded the sum of the main computer's knowledge. That fact just made him madder. And the figure didn't even have a Chaos Emerald left to experiment on, to boot! However, even this horrid experience had an upside. He smirked unpleasantly as he turned the chair around, toward a slab in the back of the room. The figure looked over at the unconscious form of Snively, who occupying the slab, and was plotting a way to give Snively a very, VERY unpleasant surprise when he woke up.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Everyone had arrived back at Knothole but Joseph. The night's activity had exhausted the Freedom Fighters, and they still had to instruct the new rescuees on basic procedure. But that could wait until the morning. They gave all who needed it temporary lodging somewhere, reunited as many families as possible, and put the rest of the village to sleep. Two hedgehogs, however, were still awake. They sat by the Power Ring pool, staring out at the ripples that formed in the water. Occasionally, one of them would skip a rock over the surface of the liquid, attempting to break the tension. After a while, one of the hedgehogs spoke. "Sonic?" Sonic nodded. "Yeah, Unc?" "Do you want to talk about this now?" Hesisitation. "Well, if you want to." Charles coughed. "Yes, I do." He paused. "I'm not angry at you, boy. Not in the least. If I had been in your place, and Joseph had given me the option, I would have done the same thing. It was just that I didn't expect you to think of doing that..." He sighed. "In retrospect, I suppose killing Snively might have been a feasible option; seeing that he escaped somehow. However, I still feel it would have been morally wrong to do so, no matter how evil he is." Sonic put his face in his hands. "I'm confused." Charles put his hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Boy, so am I. These kind of situations are always the worst. This war....god, this war...it's starting to take its toll on you kids. I wouldn't wish the position you've been in on Robotnik. All this death. I'm surprised you didn't crack earlier; you've had the opportunity countless times, when you could have just killed Robotnik and/or Snively, and ended it." Sonic mumbled, "It was because...because I would have endangered others if I woulda killed 'BUTT-nik or Snotley in those situations. Yeah, I coulda spin-dashed 'BUTT-nik open, and finished off Snively a few times, but I always had to save someone else, or stop a berzerk machine from destroying somethin' important. This time, I had a Way Past Clear shot, and I knew I might not get another." Charles nodded. "Sonic, it's okay...everyone is entitled to act on impulse occasionally--" Sonic stood up and angrily pointed to himself. "But I let you down! I became as bad as Robotnik when I got pumped up to kill!" Charles' eyes glowed a surprised red. "You certainly did not! Your father would have done the same thing, and he was the finest man I ever knew!" Sonic's resolve fell as Charles said this. "H-he would?" "Yes, he would have. Your father was so much like you, boy, that I sometimes have to remind myself not to call you by his name." Sonic dazedly sat back on the ground, and stared back over the water. "Everything's gone crazy." Charles scooted closer to Sonic, and gave him a hug. "It will be right again some day, boy. It will." Sonic whimpered softly, and let his head fall upon Charles' shoulder. "But what if I go crazy like that again? What if I lose control, and--" Charles comforted the confused hedgehog. "You won't." Nothing more needed to be said. Nothing more could be said. All that was left for Charles to do was to hold his nephew in his arms, watch the sun rise in the east, and make him right again... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was the gap between realities. It had been called the `Void' by some, `Creation' by others. But it was everywhere and nowhere, at alltime and notime. It was the universal nexus, where all dimentions combined. This is where Joseph found himself after breaking through the alley wall. He drifted through nothingness for a moment while the emerald idled down. It took an incredible strain on him, but he was able to return the mighty object to orange status again. He felt weak, and he so wanted to sleep... He saw the floating crystal `iceberg' a few miles....feet....inches? Length, width, height, volume, mass, location; they meant nothing here. Everything was as close as anything else in this strange semi-universe. Either way, he drifted for some period of time before finally pulling himself onto it. He looked around. There was a small crystalline home here. He wondered what else could survive in this odd omnispace...he walked over to the door, and knocked upon it a few times. A voice. "Hold on, Nagus, I'm coming." So there were at least two other people here, he thought, and stepped a polite distance away. The door opened. He looked at the figure. He was dressed in a outfit that looked like it'd seen better days. It was kind of ratty, and there were stains on the lapels from what looked like a few years of dinners. Yet, it appeared to have once been regal, and it denoted authority. The figure was tall for a Mobian fox, about 4' something rather than the usual 3'. He had a tarnished, dented crown on, and his eyes gave the impression he'd been to Hell and back again on several occasions. "You aren't Nagus," he said, evaluating the strange creature. "Who are you? How did you get here?" Joseph bowed. "Greetings, citizen. I am Joseph. I seem to have ran a hole through the time/space continuum. Would you have any idea how to leave this strange world?" "That depends," he said, intrigued. "Where did you come from." "Mobius, specifically around Robotropolis. Time 'round 3237." The figure was surprised. "Oh? Well, I'm from Mobius too. In fact, I'm--" "Look," Joseph interrupted, "excuse my rudeness, but it's vital I get back to Mobius before my friends start panicking and go back to Robotropolis to look for me. You understand, right?" The figure looked a bit hurt, but quickly got over it. "Yes, yes, of course. Now," He pointed to a bluish hole on the horizon. "go over to that hole, and run through it as fast as you can. And KEEP running through it. After a minute, you'll pop out in the Great Unknown. The Great Forest is to the east." Joseph nodded. "Thanks, citizen!" "Please," the figure smiled, "just call me Acorn!" While running off, Joseph smiled, and yelled back, "Sure, Acorn! See you some other time!" With that, he fired up the crystal, and shot through the hole as fast as he could. As the figure zoomed out of sight, King Acorn smiled. "Oh, you will, orange one. You will." Then, he walked back into his hut, and closed the door quietly behind him, leaving no evidence of any activity there at all. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Snively groggily awoke on the cold, hard steel plate in the back of the semi-operational control center. He pulled himself to a sitting position, and hopped off the uncomfortable table. He rubbed his head. The hedgehog had beaten the crap out of him. He wondered how or why he had either escaped from them, or was rescued... He walked over to the wall-intercom, and pushed the button. "Please send some aspirin up to the command center, anyone." It beeped, noted the order, and set to work delivering it. He walked over to the drink dispenser and poured himself a cold glass of water. Chugging it rapidly, he felt some of his memory returning.... He'd been tottering on his feet while Charles was yelling at Sonic for attempting to kill him, with the unknown orange hedgehog looking on. Then, someone had snuck up behind him and roughly grabbed him, pulling him into the shadows. He remembered someone ordering a SWATBot battalion out to capture the Freedom Fighters-- "Hello, Needlenose!" a too-familiar voice shouted. Uh-oh. He turned around to look for the source of the voice, and saw someone he did NOT want to see. He screamed upon recognizing the evil features of... Commander Packbell?! "Miss me?" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Timeline: That next morning. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Daybreak over Knothole was its usual glorious self, if not somewhat busier than usual. The multitude of rescued Mobitropolis refugees were basically wandering around, trying to learn their new routines. Order was something that could be achieved later, and confusion shortly became the rule. It had started, of course, with Sally's usual speech about what had happened in the last 10 years, about how Way Past Cool the Freedom Fighters were, etc etc. The usual propaganda, Joseph mused, as he watched the various parts of Knothole from deep within his control room, yet inspiring in a way... He went back to flipping through the selections he had available. Every sector of his fortress, and the surrounding lands around it, looked relatively peaceful. The occasional roboticized citizen would wander in, look around, and walk back; either that, or someone would escort them back...it had been learned that Joseph did not like uninvited guests roaming around his property. However, it was relatively quiet around Knothole today, because everyone was trying to readjust to their new surroundings. So Joseph finally grew bored with looking around, and began the day's work. He would upload the information he had taken out of Robotropolis the night before, and then begin creating an antidote for the roboticization process...and then, he could rest. He walked over to the input port, and activated his dataspike. He balled his left hand into a fist, bent it up toward the ceiling, and...clik. Clik. Clik. Clik. Nothing happened. His arm looked like it did before. Normally, the top of his forearm would open up, and a 3" long spike would pop out. Then, he would insert it into the port, and begin a direct interface with the computer. But all he got now was an error message and a metallic `clik'. Obviously, something was wrong with him. Perhaps the Emerald had somehow overloaded his arm, and it had just fused shut. That could be fixed rather easily, so this didn't start to bother him...yet. All he did was to go up to the repair level, and started a full diagnostic on his body. As he walked on to the pad, as he had done many times before, he realized he felt odd as the plasma rings went up and down his form, doing a routine circuitry check. Normally, he'd feel nothing. But today, it was a tingle...that was slowly turning into a stinging...that forced him to shut off the scan out of self-preservation! He quickly reviewed the results of the scan, and suddenly realized what the problem was. ^L He was flesh again. He pondered this for a moment. This was not necessarily a `bad' thing...this was merely a very strange, abnormal thing. He had a basic idea of what the `why', `what', `who', and `when' was; obviously, the use of the Amber Chaos Emerald figured into it somehow. But the `how', the `how'...a freakish nanite failure? Impossible; nanites can't make metal flesh again, and his repair systems would have kicked in to stop it. A late-forming side effect of the DNA mutation from the power ring? Highly improbable; the nanites were able to neutralize the reaction after the initial change. "So, hotshot," he muttered to himself, "what's done it?" He hated to admit it, but the hated word `magic' seemed to be the `how'. Joseph did not like the whole concept of magic. It was like getting a desired result without knowing -why- or -how- or -what- did it. He did not like just having blind faith in anything; his father had taught him that, as his father taught him. But this was the only (and he hated admitting this) logical answer. He sighed. This situation was getting more annoying by the minute. Maybe doing an internal diagnostic would help get his mind off of it. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on reactivating as much of his former abilities as possible...if there were any left. But since he still had use of his brain, that meant most of his android form's mental abilities would be left... He thought hard and unwaveringly about his task. Normally, he could activate all of his sensors and other powers in a nanosecond. But something had gone wrong due to the emerald. He finally opened his eyes again. It was hopeless. He was 100% Mobian hedgehog now, and there wasn't anything left inside of him to change that--but outside... "Bahb," he said, "prepare a brainscanning unit, to the following specifications...." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Back in Robotropolis: Packbell sat in the Control Center, overseeing the repairs of Robotropolis. Snively's utter failure in running the city was obvious. Only 25% of the total possible SWATBot units were operational. 12% of the city had power. Just over 35% of the Worker-Bots remained, and a good portion of it was on fire. Typical. However, the repairs were going as well as could be expected. He had employed a large portion of the SWATBots with the Worker-Bots to increase productivity, which was working out about as he'd predicted. A few of the refineries were going back online that afternoon, which would keep the city operational while he worked on finding an alternative energy source. For the time being, Packbell noted, the city would pretty much take care of itself. There was no need for him to sit and stare at it while it put itself back together....so he could allot himself some leisure time. Turning away from the monitor screens, he smiled evilly at the thought he had recently created. He pushed the intercom button, paused for a moment, and bellowed with all of his might into it! "SNIVELY!!!!! GET IN HERE *NOW*!!!" He released the intercom button and laughed fiendishly, and waited for the sound of Snively's footfalls rushing up the stairs. Snively rushed up the stairs from the 3rd basement in the Command Center, where Packbell had put his new room. He knocked the filth and rubbish out of the way as he clawed his way up the the lobby and rushed up the stairs. He knew very well why Packbell was doing this, but if he wanted to live another day, he would have to obey... Packbell listened in silence as the short, large-nosed human desperately threw himself up the stairs, probably taking some minor damage as he climbed. (Packbell didn't even begrudge Snively a stairrail...he had to run up the stairs completely under his own power.) After a few more seconds, Snively burst in, falling at Packbell's feet. Snively panted as he pushed out the words that Packbell forced him to say every time he saw him. "*pant*...Hail *pant* Supreme Commander *wheeze* Packbell, Total *gasp* and Omnipotent *cough* Ruler of Moebius *pant*, Conqueror of *wheeze* Robotropolis, and my *gasp* Almighty Lord." Packbell kicked Snively out of his way. "Good boy, Snotley." He stood up, looking down on the cringing human. "Now, here is your task for the day. I want you to go back downstairs, and run to the other side of Robotropolis. There you will find a soda machine." Packbell threw two golden coins at Snivley, which hit him in the chest. As he grabbed them, Packbell continued to speak. "Purchase a can of Fizz, and open it. Then, run back here, and hand it to me. If so much as one drop is missing from it," he stated, smiling evilly at Snively, "you die." Packbell snapped his fingers. "I want to see you back in...oh, let's make it 5 minutes this time. Now go!" Snively quickly rushed out of the room, running for his very life. Packbell laughed, and sat back down. He giggled as he started his internal chronometer.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph stood in his lab as Bahb put the finishing touches on the brainscanner he had instructed it to make. It was similar to the neural transfer device, but merely made a backup of one's memories and preserved them on a storage device. It was ideal for this situation's delicate position...he didn't know how much time he had. It was a rather nodescript device. Basically, a long pipe that was connected to the computer ended in a plunger-shaped scanning device, that fit around Joseph's head with room to spare. When the device was activated, a slowly scanning ring of energy would pass up and down his skull, taking a 3-D scan of his brain and replicating its design into a file. It would capture any thoughts he had since he was born, was having now, and could predict what he was going to think 10 seconds later. He sat down under the device and allowed it to surround his head. He started to clear his mind of any thoughts, and ordered the scan to begin when his mental activity was at its ebb. He focused--and for 5 seconds, his entire existance was blinked out. A minute later, the device lifted, and Joseph's mind was returned to normal. He stood back up, shook his head a bit to reorient himself with reality, and walked over to the console. "Bahb, give me an ETC on the compliation of the brainscan." Bahb hummed for a moment, and then emitted, "Estimated time of completion: one solar cycle." Joseph nodded. "Very well. I am going to go check on the Emerald, and then I shall go outside to interact with the populace. Give me a status report hourly." Bahb beeped obiediantly, and set itself to its work. After a moment of silent contemplation of this development, Joseph opened the secret stepdisk that led to the power core and rode down to examine it. The sight of the emerald made Joseph feel better already, for some reason. He had placed it where his old ship's power core had been, which he had used to power the complex when he first arrived. It glowed with a warm, orangish light, and made him feel younger and stronger. The room was beginning to grow greenish energy crystal around the sides of it as well, but only in a few isolated patches. Either way, Joseph found the development intriguing, and sought to encourage it...and perhaps, even understand it. The annoyance toward the crystal could not be manifested here. He simply was too invigorated by its presence to be angry at it. It was only an inanimate object, after all...it couldn't hurt him...in fact, he rather liked the glowing, warm emerald. It radiated an almost maternal love and happiness (perhaps an airborne antidepressant is created from its reaction with the oxygen here, he mused) for all living things... Occasionally, a swirl of a different color would be visible in it, but it would quickly fade back to its normal amber state. Joseph found the object beautiful. He liked to look at it, feel its power, and be near its warmth. But he had a responcibility to check on his various experiments on it; so he tore himself away from gazing on it, and examined the readings that were taken of it instead. The readings still made no sense to him. He could detect all sorts of radiation coming off of the emerald, yet still could not find any energy signatures that could tell him what the emerald was made out of. On scans, it showed the emerald as a black area, denoting an unknown substance. But it gave off energy that could come from hydrogen up to element 534. It contradicted itself. According to most sciences, this object shouldn't even exist in this universe...he decided he should probably give up on this for the day. Sighing as he walked away, he looked at the emerald one last time before he took the steppad back to the surface. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He squinted somewhat as he stepped out of the Dome. Normally, his optical sensors would adjust within nanoseconds to the light change, but organics took a bit more time. He cursed them as he slowly adjusted to the photon bombardment. The Great Forest looked as it always did. The trees were still there. He could hear the sounds of his creek in the distance, with the occasional fish jumping out of the water. It was `pretty' to most people, but it gave Joseph a different sort of feeling. All it was to him was a series of subconscious distractions to keep people from getting too close to his home. But still, he enjoyed being around them. He wandered to the creek, and sat down on a rock. He gazed into the water for a few moments, collecting his thoughts. His life was spinning out of control. He had no family, no lover, no hope of escape. From the moment he set foot on this planet, it had started taking things from him. His ship. A few droplets of blood, which must have wetted its thirst for more. A clean conscience? Good bye. Even his last reminder of home, his own body, had been taken from him. All because of this damn planet. But it was a good world, he mused. There were nice people on it. What was happening here happened on his own world long ago; perhaps by helping it, he'd help himself. Besides, his was a black and cold culture...the universe probably is better off without it. He stood up. Nay, he thought, it is gone 300 years now. As the universe has forgotten it, so shall I...they would have wanted it that way. "Progress over the antiquated, and those that lead the march shall live forever in the hearts, minds, and actions of the next generation." His grandfather had said that all those years ago when he had given the Empire the power of roboticization. And he knew now that his words applied here. He needed to evolve. He was a outdated model of a line that had gone out of production. He pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. It was time to make the leap to the new model year! He sat down again and thought. He wanted to be able to return to his fox form; might as well not reinvent the wheel. But the form of the hedgehog would come in handy, too. He also wanted some of his old android abilities back, and especially some sort of neural net. And, of course, he wanted to be able to utilize the Chaos Emerald again. But, how could he do all three feasibly? He pondered for a few moments. He would have to design a body that could do some limited shapshifting, but with resistance to powerful gamma (and above) radiation. Also, he would have to patch in cybernetics with it that could handle the shifting and adjust quickly. It would be a challenge, but he was sure he could figure out a way to pull it off... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The spacecraft glided silently over Robotropolis, cloaked to all known scanning devices on Mobius. It quietly landed on the appropriate pad in the center of Robotropolis, making no noise or signal that it had arrived. A small hole seemed to open in reality as a figure emerged from inside the cloaked vessel. As the figure walked away, the hole closed, making the ship completely invisible again. The tall, slim creature quietly walked up the stairs, ignoring the various SWATBots that ordered him to halt. They fired at him, but their lazers refracted off of the figure's personal shield. After a while, they ceased fire, and made way for the commanding, yet silent, figure. Upstairs, Snively had just arrived, and was cowering before Packbell. The figure, wanting to observe what was going on, arrived at the open door and phase-cloaked. While invisible and untouchable, he listened to the banter that went back and forth... "Well, Snively," Packbell exclaimed faux-happily, "you've gotten me my can of Fizz!" He grinned in an unpleasant way. "*Thank* *you* -so- much." He then snatched the can from the cringing underling's hand, and threw it violently out the window. Upon seeing Snively's shocked and horrified reaction, he laughed. Then, his expression and tone became infuriated. "Now get out of my sight!" After Snively had run off for his life, Packbell sat back in his chair and had a good laugh. "I see that you've inherited Ivo's sick sense of humor, tinkertoy." Packbell sat up in his seat. "Who said that?" "It is not for you to know. Tell me where Robotnik is." Packbell blinked, and looked around. "Where are you?!" "Tell me where Robotnik is. You have 30 seconds to comply." Packbell stood up. "I don't need to tell you anything. I am the ruler--" "20 seconds." Packbell became irate, and pushed the intercom button. "SWATBots! Report to the Command Center *immediately*!" The voice grew increasingly more annoyed. "10 seconds, tinkertoy." SWATBots streamed into the Command Center as Packbell began shouting at them to find the voice. The voice even whistled quietly so to assist them, but they couldn't seem to get their hands on him. "Time's up, tinkertoy. Where is Robotnik?" Packbell cursed and angrily looked around for the voice. "Show yourself!" "Very well." In the center of the room, about 3 feet from Packbell, a humanoid figure began to materialize. It was about 6'4, about 190 pounds, and was vulpine. He had reddish fur, with hints of orange in it. His silver pupils glared at Packbell, and his silver canines glinted against his otherwise natural-appearing teeth. He was clad in a black trenchcoat that went down to his calves, and was wearing a uniform-like suit under it. His black boots went over his pants, and his white fingerless gloves gave him a distrubing appearance. "I seek Robotnik. You will tell me where to find him, or you will be terminated." Packbell looked at the figure. "And why should I tell you anything?" The figure grabbed Packbell's throat at an unnatural speed, and began to squeeze it tightly. "Because, tinkertoy, I said so." The SWATBots tried to move to act, but collectively realized that movement to assist Packbell would most likely result in his termination. So they simply stood at attention as the figure continued to speak. "If I didn't have a liking for Robotnik," it said, "I'd simply break you in half right now, and use your entrails as materials for a selection of post-modernist art." He moved his face uncomfortably close to Packbell's. "So cut the attitude and tell me where he *is*." Packbell tried to squeak out an answer, but the figure had closed off his windpipe. Realizing this, the nameless one threw Packbell back into his seat. "Tell me -NOW-!" Packbell took a few breaths, reacclimating his lungs so to be able to produce an answer. "Robotnik," he wheezed, "is dead." The figure looked temporarily surprised, but resumed his normal demeanor. "So, Ivo finally managed to get killed... I told him his idiotic Doomsday project was doomed to failure." Packbell looked at the figure confusedly. "You'd been communicating with Ivo?" The figure resumed his cold stare at Packbell. "Yes...my people have an interest in this world. We would...well, would have liked to acquire it from Ivo." He paused. "So I suppose you have possession of it now?" Packbell nodded, and started to speak, "But..." The figure raised his hand for silence. "Very well. We will simply continue the negotiations with you. But first, we will require an updated manifest of your possessions. Would you happen to have the latest one available?" Packbell nodded, thinking. "Give me 30 seconds to produce one." He walked over to the console, pushed a few buttons, and displayed a file on the main viewer. "I had wondered what this was..." He rose his hand again for quiet, reading... "You've suffered some losses recently, haven't you?" Packbell nodded, silently cursing the idiocy of Snively. "A minor catasthophe occured when one of my underlings took control of the main city while I was on a brief hiatus." The figure mused. "Yes...was it the hedgehog again?" "You know about Sonic?" The figure looked over at Packbell. "I'm beginning to despise that accursed vandal as much as Ivo...did." He muses. "Well, have you tried using nanites to get rid of him?" "Yes." "Tried making a robot version of his little girlfriend and have her kill him?" "Yes." "Tried to use his ego against him?" "Tried it." "Broke his will?" "Unbreakable." "Killed some of his friends?" "Several. Hasn't phased him." "Kidnapping?" "Many, many times." The figure hmmed. "Well, you're on your own, then." He looked back at the monitor, and tsked. "My, my, my. You've lost over 75% of your Worker-Bots in the past 3 years. This won't do at all. This planet was already a fixer-upper, and now most of its work force has escaped." He looked back at Packbell. "I'm afraid Ivo's original price for this world is just too high." Packbell blinked. "Price?" The figure looked surprised. "He never infor--oh yes, silly me. He didn't want the possibility of a Freedom Fighter finding out that he was going to sell this planet to the highest bidder." Packbell stood there, his positronic brain temporarily locked up. He could not justify in his mind a reason to sell Mobius. After all, it was Ivo's home, right...? "And, naturally, this development is simply going to lower what we are willing to give. We were hoping to convert this planet into a colony world...it will take a bit longer, now; we'll have to recapture the already roboticized citizens, and polish off the rest. But I assure you, you'll still get a very nice package for this..." He smiled evilly. "very rustic little world." Packbell snapped out of his lockup, forming a plan. "Understood. What are your new terms?" The figure started to turn away. "I will have to update my people on this development first. I will return in about 2 of your Mobian weeks. For now, we will leave the promised...gift below with your SWATBots." As he faded from view again, Packbell got to his feet. "Wait! I don't even know your name!" As he slipped back into the shadows, he whispered, "Call me...John." With that, he disappeared, leaving behind a confused and puzzled Packbell. After a few moments of processing this new influx of data, he pushed the intercom button. "SWATBot Squad 34-G: retrive the crate left by our visitors, and bring it to me." A compliant beep was heard, and then the intercom automatically shut off. The SWATBot squad went down to the pad, where a small crate was being set out by some lowly-looking red foxes. They scurried back inside the light-hole, and disappeared. A few moments after that, a dim hum was heard, and something seemed to leave the area. A hole was poked in the clouds, allowing the outline of the saucer-shaped craft to be seen before it faded into space. The SWATBots didn't really notice that as they carefully picked up the crate and walked into the freight elevator. SWATBots are not creative machines; they are rather dull, and aren't great conversationalists. They merely follow orders. The platoon of SWATBots arrived inside the Command Center, and placed the box by Commander Packbell. They stepped away from it, saluted, and walked back to their posts. Packbell waited for them to leave before opening the box. He carefully popped the top off of it, and pulled off the nearest side. A wave of packing material fell at his feet as he removed the object from the crate... It was a long object, about the length of a baseball bat. There was a hole on one side, and a power cell attached to the other. It had a button on the top by an aiming sight, and an shoulder rest. A few extra power cells were attached to it by some shrinkwrap, with a note. Packbell put the device down for a moment, and opened up the note; which read: "Ivo: This is the latest revision of our basic plasma cannon. We've altered the power cells so they can be charged by your power stations. The usual schematic is inside the shrinkwrap. Enjoy! -- T." Packbell smiled. So this is how Ivo kept `developing' the new technologies they had been utilizing! He sat down in the chair, and begin to analyze the new device... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The day had passed uneventfully at Knothole. The initial chaos of having an influx of new villagers had been taken care of, and everyone had settled in well. Everyone had gotten their work assignments, which really began to fly by...the day's work usually would end at noon, thanks to the introduction of new technologies and the muscle power of the roboticized citizens. So the rest of the day had been a needed relaxation period for most people, while Sally and the rest of the military section of the Freedom Fighters planned their next raid. But, deep inside Joseph's lab, the events of the surface were of little concern. He had spent most of the day running simulations...and he had figured out the exact DNA he would need in order to create something to his specifications; a mixture of Keldy'rian, Ur'thaen, Mobian, and a bit he had strung together himself would be the matrix for his new shell. The Keldy'rian would be the conduit for the Ur'thaen and Mobian DNA, and would hold all three together while only allowing one to manifest at a time. In a nutshell, it would give him the ability to appear to be either a normal Ur'thaen orange fox, or a normal Mobian orange hedgehog, while being able to switch to one or the other freely. The extra bits of DNA he had added would give his new body the ability to withstand extremely high radiation for unlimited amounts of time, and be sure that his body would not reject the cybernetics he was going to add. He was especially proud of the way he was going to be able to maintain his intelligence within the form. If he was home on Ur'thae, this would have gotten him the same level of accolades that his father had recieved for the neural transfer device; he had perfected a mimetic polyalloy. His people had tried for decades to perfect one that would maintain molecular consistancy yet be able to remember programming and instructions. But all of them had failed for one reason or another...but not this one. Not only would it be able to remember and maintain his own personality matrix, but it would maintain the knowledge he had already acquired *and* was able to hold an unlimited amount of additional data. It would be the perfect central nervous system; all he would have to do is to inject it into the new form (after the brain and nervous systems had been removed) and it would take over. At last, he would have the ideal, nearly perfect body he had always wanted. Free of the worries of brain or other physical death, yet still organic. Enhanced sensor sensitivity, fast nervous system, highly resistant to outside influence, genetically compatable with most other species...and, with the addition of nanites, almost instant healing and a nearly invincible immune system. It was a form that could last for as long as he wanted it to. After doing some final bits of tweaking, he began the creation process... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But up on the surface, a mission was being planned. The usual suspects, Sally, Sonic, Rotor, Antoine, Dulcy, Charles, Bunnie, and Tails were standing around an updated aerial view of Robotropolis, figuring out the Worker-Bot details for that night. Tails was mostly in the background, tho, listening. "...and that's how we're going to do that. Remember, Snively probably realizes that we'll strike here, so it's going to be a hard fight. Therefore, it's a fair bet that there'll be lots of SWATBots around, guarding the Worker-Bots. That's why only Sonic will actually go in to get the group of citizens, while Dulcy, Antoine and Bunnie will assist people in escaping. I will lead a diversion with Charles and Rotor that will strike on the opposite side of Robotropolis, forcing Snively to spread out a few platoons of SWATBots at us." She paused, looking for questions. Finding none, she deactivated the hologram. "We will leave for Robotropolis at the usual time. Dulcy will drop Charles, Rotor, and myself off first. Five minutes after she has returned here, Bunnie and Antoine will leave for Robotropolis, with Sonic having an approximate head start of 10 seconds." She smiled. "Dismissed." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - An hour or two later, thanks to the science of age-acceleration, Joseph's body had completed being grown. The mimetic polyalloy had been injected without incident to take over the nervous system, and it had created a datajack in the center of the back of its neck to permit Joseph to upload himself into it. Everything had gone according to plan. Now, Joseph waited for Bahb to complete processing the collected information of his life he had given it that morning. It was just about completed; Bahb had sped up the process considerably, thanks to the long periods of zero input he had endured. In another five minutes, it would be completed. He drank his coffee and admired his old form one last time. He tapped it somewhat, smiled, and laid down on the guerney. It pulled itself over underneath the intelligence transfer unit, next to his new form. The device went down over both of their craniums, and activa-- Reality stopped. ^L Reality started. Joseph opened his eyes in his new form as the old one was derezzed. The device lifted away from his face, and he hopped off the guerney. He noticed that he was already back in his normal vulpine form. Success! He walked over to the mirror, which confirmed his suspicions. He was a normal, breathing flesh-and-blood fox again! Quickly, he tested out his mimetic polyalloy brain. He pulled up his heads-up display faster than he ever had before. He scanned the room in every spectrum of electromagnetic radiation he could surmise. Perfect! He did an internal diagnostic. Everything was at 100% -or- -greater-! He was better off than he was before! He did some backflips to celebrate, and to test the agility of his new body. Perfectperfectperfect! But there was one final test. He closed his eyes, and thought of becoming a hedgehog....he was overtaken by a sense of vertigo....he opened his eyes...and was a hedgehog. Yes! This RULED. He closed his eyes, and thought of becoming a fox again...the vertigo...and then he was. He was so proud of himself. He'd finally done something worthwhile with his abilities...then he remembered. The files he had gotten from Robotropolis! Were they still there?! He closed his eyes and searched... [NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE] Joseph cursed. He must have lost them during the transfer. He'd have to go back and get them again...of course, he couldn't just go out and steal them like he did last time. That was an extremely lucky break. No, he would have to think of a new way of going about getting what he needed...his super-strength, for example, was no longer present. He'd have to find a way to deal with that. Of course, he'd have to explain to the others how he had returned to his `natural' state, and find a way of getting to and from Robotropolis as quickly as possible. He certainly didn't want to mooch a ride off that dragon. Too unreliable. He'd have to get around to building some sort of transportation one of these days. But that would wait until later. Right now, he'd be content with simply shifting into his hedgehog state, running to the edge of Robotropolis, and allowing the Freedom Fighters to distract Snively while he stole as much data as possible. Then, he'd run back home, and return to normal as Bahb processed it. He'd extrapolate the needed data, and have Bahb rig up deroboticizer software. Then, he'd build the necessary device, and finally begin repairing his father's mistake once and for all...in an orderly fashion, to boot. For now, he'd bide his time until nightfall, enjoying being a fox again, and perhaps he'd work in a brief martial arts practice period before he left...so much to do, so little time! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Night fell on the surface, and the majority of Knothole turned in for the evening's rest. Only a few denziens of Knothole, the ones going on the actual mission stayed awake. Dulcy airlifed Sally, Charles, and Rotor to Robotropolis, where they were planning on sabotaging a chip manufacturing facility. Upon her return, Bunnie and Antoine were taken to the other side of Robotropolis, where a large group of Worker-Bots were working under heavy guard on repairing a SWATBot production plant. Sonic shot after them, and hid in the shadows until the diversion started. A minute or two later, Joseph came out of the Dome, ready to do an assult on Robotropolis as well. He had his personal shield unit fully charged, had a small phaser attached to his side, and was at 100% efficiency. He took a path that would lead him into the center of Robotropolis with as little difficulty as could be expected. He'd have to dodge the occasional squad of SWATBots (and who knows what else), but he figured he could always teleport out if it got too hot. He hoped. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sonic arrived at Robotropolis a minute before Dulcy did. He paused to examine his current target, a refinary. SWATBots were assisting the Worker-Bots this time...guarding and working at the same time. Clever, the hedgehog thought, but not Way Past Cool. He plotted a course of attack, figuring in the large amount of SWATBot fire that was bound to occur. It appeared everything was going to go as expected...yet, something seemed amiss to the hedgehog. It was unlike Snively to use his SWATBots for actual `work'...just Freedom Fighter-shooting and patrolling. This stunk of something fishy. Big Time. He heard Dulcy land in the distance, far enough away so not to be spotted by 'Bot planes when leaving Robotropolis. Now, all they had to do was wait for the-- An explosion in the distance lit the sky as alarms started to sound. Sally had set off the charges around the SWATBot production plant, slowing the further regeneration of Snively's troops. That'd get him steamed for sure. He listened for the usual screechy howling from the loudspeakers, cursing for all available SWATBots to destroy `that hedgehog', no matter who actually -did- it. Bulbhead was pretty low-watt. But not a voice was to be heard. Yet, the SWATBots put down what they were doing, climbed into 'Bot planes, and flew off toward the explosion. Sonic was puzzled for a moment, and then remembered that SWATBots could take orders by certain radio frequencies, too; encrypted, of course. But Snively had never thought of that before...maybe he was finally starting to catch on about this `badnik' business. Nah. He waited for the majority of them to leave before readying himself for the attack. It appeared that about a squad was left, something Sonic would normally be able to take care of in an instant....it still didn't feel right. It was as if a 6th sense had noticed something deeper than his keen hedgehog eyesight couldn't detect. He was wasting precious time with this wimpyness, he thought. What am I, Ant? He scoffed at that, imagining how panicky Ant would be in a situation like this. That's why he was always left in someone else's care, noted Sonic, and started into a run-- A glitter of 'Bot metal from around a corner. That's all Sonic needed to see. Now he knew this was an ambush; his delay had allowed him to see what was coming. Past Cool! Wait. Way Uncool. Now he'd have to either turn back now, warn Dulcy and risk hanging around here without doing anything until Sally ordered the evac; or fight through a few squads of SWATBots and risk being captured, killed, or roboticized. Hmmmm... Discretion is the better part of valor, it is said. If that is so, Sonic was slightly worse off than Antoine in that department. He took out a power ring, took out his free-will inducing pistol, and blasted off into the now-expected `ambush'. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph approached the front gates into Robotropolis, his cloak active. He stealthily approached the main door, listening for activity. Only a few SWATBots were around now...the Freedom Fighters had probably distracted the rest of them. But, of course, this was to his advantage. He snuck inside the gates with no incident. Walking quietly by some SWATBots, who were barely even paying attention to anything behind them, he wandered closer into the heart of Robotropolis. Some repairs had been completed since last night; a few buildings had tarps on them to keep the outdoors out, while a few piles of garbage had been tended to. This was odd to Joseph; Snively would not normally take such care of Robotropolis. Then, he detected the familiar sounds of distant explosions and lazer fire echoing in the distance. Joseph listened carefully to them, and concluded they would not become a threat. At least, it was improbable that they would. He hurried up somewhat, not wanting to tempt fate. Joseph approached the Command Center, and was mildly surprised. The Command Center was actually -guarded- today with SWATBots. Finally, he thought, Snively had got on the ball. You can't just leave a fortress, no matter how formitable, unguarded. Roughly two squads guarded the main entrance, while 3 or 4 were watching over the minor entrances. This would actually be an enjoyable challenge to infiltrate, Joseph mused, and walked closer to the main entrance. The SWATBots took little notice of the cloaked figure before them...they didn't have the amount of imagination required to put together that the occasional disturbance around 3 feet above ground level was not caused by some sort of fumes, nor were they merely the product of a heat-producing device underground. They merely ignored it, and kept scanning the horizon for threats they could comprehend. Joseph crouched on the ground, looking for an opening. He kept waiting for a SWATBot to move, or for something to occur near enough to them to trigger some sort of response. Nothing. He stared at the SWATBots. The SWATBots looked out over him. He waited. They didn't move. Finally, he sat down and thought for a little while. What would cause me to panic, if *I* was a SWATBot...having an idea, he rushed off back into Robotropolis. A few minutes went by. The SWATBots still stood there, emotionlessly waiting for a stimulus to respond to. Then, a low hum was heard in the distance. The SWATBots sent queries among themselves, trying to determine the cause of the noise. It drew nearer. The SWATBots armed their wrist-blasters and waited. Then, it went further away. Automatically, the SWATBots went back on standby. A few more minutes went by. The hum returned, and then left. This was starting to make even the most uncreative SWATBot among them suspicious, and a few of them broke rank to investigate. The hum remanifested after the SWATBots would have gotten close enough to hear it...but suddenly, the sounds of SWATBots getting fried were the precursors to a very fast, rocket-powered red blur racing past the Control Center. The SWATBots immediately started to pursue the blur, and called for backup. After most of them had left, Joseph walked out from behind some semi-demolished architecture, and wandered into the more invasion-friendly Control Center. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph was yet again greeted by the odd semi-cleanliness of Robotropolis. This was beginning to get ridiculous, he mused. Snively is definitely not behind this; but if not Snively, who? He went over to the stairwell, only to stop short of opening it: an alarm was attached to a low-powered lazer, which had set up a bounce-pattern around the door that made entering by that method impossible. Whoever was behind this had a knowledge of security that was beyond Snively's...so how would he continue to ascend into the Control Center into the central computer core? He pondered, and then flattened himself against a wall as a group of SWATBots walked over to a wall. The head SWATBot sent a small blink of red light into a panel, opening an freight elevator up. Before it could close behind them, Joseph poured on a little hedgehog speed and zipped into the elevator. The wall shut in front of the elevator, and it started to ascend... Joseph stood in the midst of 4 SWATBots, all of them oblivious to his presence and busy communicating amongst themselves in a sort of robotic gossip. Joseph listened in to the conversation, which was mainly a dull discussion of the new policies that would be implemented in Robotropolis as of such and such, blah blah blah. He caught snippets of the important stuff, tho...a more agressive search for Knothole, a continuation of roboticization of captured citizens, rather than termination for offenses against...`Packbell'? Joseph had heard the name in the occasional conversations he'd `unintentionally' listen in on. Apparently, `Commander' Packbell was an android like he used to be, but with a (and this had made him chuckle) -positronic- brain. He almost giggled in the elevator when he thought about it...he'd built a positronic brain when he was a child. It was his final exam for his admission into what would be `4th' grade on Mobius. They were comically inefficient, they locked up when chaotic situations (like the majority of situations in life) occurred, they learned slowly...all they were good for was memorizing things and applying what they learned to certain tasks. But their thought patterns ran to practical means. You could stun one with a good, hard riddle, and pretty much fry one by leaving it in the presence of a few kits. But a few of the more `advanced' (ha-ha) ones had simple emotions...it was very possible that Packbell had somehow returned from whereever he had been hiding for all these months, and taken back over Robotropolis. It would explain the strange and semi-intelligent security measures that had recently taken place. The door opened, and the SWATBots (and Joseph) left the elevator. They were on a lower level than Joseph would have wanted, but hitchhiking never got one hand-delivered anywhere. So, he looked around, and tried to figure out what he could usefully do from this area. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was a basic sub-level of any good fortress. It was a SWATBot storage area, and had some basic supplies present in it. No windows, but dim lighting that was just enough so SWATBots could manuver their way around inside. However, they did Joseph's regular vision no good. He switched to I/R, which was usually easier to utilize. Ahh, here we go. He was standing at the end of a corridor that stretched down around the curvature of the building. A few sliding doors were on the side, for quick SWATBot dispersal. The floor was solid, but there was a grate in the ceiling that might lead higher up into the complex. He'd have to investigate that soon enough. However, he might as well explore around in here while he had the chance to at a leisurely pace. After all, he had--he checked his internal power gauges--about 2 hours left of full cloak before he'd have to start heading home... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, back on the surface: Sonic had dispatched the majority of the SWATBots that were at the complex, due to the fact that they had anticipated on having the element of surprise. He'd gotten a few Worker-Bots conscious and out, but he found that few others were about. But, he had gotten some of them out, so the mission wasn't a total failure. However, the SWATBots seemed to be crawling out of the walls...the more of them he was able to destroy, the more that seemed to appear. They had also scored a few nicks on him; mainly in the back, ironically enough. But the outcome of the battle was still uncertain. They wouldn't get Chuck, Bunnie, Ant, Sal, Rotor or Dulcy...they had escaped with the platoon of Worker-Bots he'd sent out with them. At least they'd thought of that. But he had one last hope; his power ring. The only thing was, they'd never back off enough to let him take it out, concentrate, and then juice. They kept coming, so he'd have to keep spin-dashing through them. And he was getting tired. Way Past Uncool. Unless he kept moving, they'd grab him, and then it'd be Game Over...but, just when all appeared lost, and Sonic was about to pass out from exhaustion, a great roar was heard drawing near... To the amazement of Sonic and the SWATBots assaulting him, Robotnik's old hovercraft, albeit worse for wear, was the source of the fire! It swooped out of the sky, cannons blazing, and started strafing the SWATBot platoons. 'Bot after 'Bot fell to its rampage, most retreating after the first pass. With flames licking out from beneath it, it scooped the hedgehog and roared back into the sky. After a moment of adjusting to the shock, Sonic looked up from the floor of the hovercraft and saw a hazy image of an orange hedgehog. "Huh?" he grunted, trying to grab onto something solid. "Hello, Sonic," the image said, "and no, I'm not really Joseph. I'm a holographic image of Joseph, programmed with a limited amount of his knowledge. He quickly assembled me as a diversion, but since I saw you in a spot of trouble, I decided to assist you as well." Sonic was still reassembling his senses. Then, a chili dog and a Fizz [tm] soda appeared before him. "Please, consume this food," the image said, "it will help your body recover its needed nutrients." He quickly bolted down the food, and reacquired his basic personality matrix. "Whoa," he amazedly said, realizing exactly what was going on, "Joe put you together as just a -diversion-?" The figure nodded as the craft roared faster around Robotropolis. "He required an intelligence to fly the craft around to distract SWATBots. There were too many around the Command Center for him to elude." Sonic blinked. "Allow me to explain," the image said, and filled Sonic in on the finer details of what had occurred within the last 48 hours. "So that's why he keeps tagging along," Sonic said, "he wants to get the info right from the source! And our missions were the perfect diversions for him. Way Past Smart!" The image smiled as the craft dodged some incoming lazer fire. "He'd thank you for that...but now I must complete my function." He flickered for a moment. "You might wish to hold on to something, hedgehog," the image twittered, "because it's going to get very bumpy in a moment." Sonic nodded and strapped himself in. "Hold on," the computer said, and set the craft into a 3G turn... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph navigated the halls for a while, but then realized there was nothing of value to him inside here. Not a solitary dataport was on this level; he'd have to go up further into the complex to find such a device. So, he wandered back to where he started, opened up the grate, and climbed inside. He crawled around inside the grates for a while, listening for the familiar sounds of humming computers. He climbed up a few 75 degree planes, jumped up into a sheer ventcliff, and finally seemed to get close enough to the computer room to hear it... Looking through the grate, he saw the familiar R&D room. However, it was guarded by a few SWATBots this time, so it would be unwise to merely bust through the grate. No, a more subtle method would need to be used...so, he chose to crawl further down the line, outside the R&D room itself. He looked out this grate, and noticed guards outside the R&D room itself as well. Packbell was certainly paranoid, wasn't he? He mused for a moment. How could he get rid of both guards without alerting anyone else of it? His phaser certainly wouldn't be quiet enough, and smashing them would be even worse. He leaned against the wall and thought harder...and had an idea. An insane, completely stupid idea, but one that just might work. He remembered how Sonic had told him once that he was able to free Sally from a cell by impersonating Robotnik to a computer. So if Sonic could do it with a cup, Joseph could certainly do it with his precision mimicry programming. He concentrated on the sound of Robotnik's voice...adjusted his vocal chords accordingly...and then announced out the grate: "Attention all SWATBots! Report to the lobby IMMEDIATELY!" He looked out the grate, and waited for the incoming fire. But that didn't happen...appearently, SWATBots must be programmed to obey Robotnik's voice; because not only the ones in front of the door rushed off to the elevator, but the ones inside pursued them! Joseph was oddly surprised, but he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth--he kicked out the grate and rushed inside the R&D room. As his vocal chords returned to normal, he popped out his dataspike and quickly did the 2-second download of all of Robotropolis' information. This, of course, set off every alarm in the entire complex. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Packbell had been busy ordering about SWATBot squads and 'Bot planes when the main alarm system finally went off. << RED ALERT! RED ALERT! SECURITY BREACH IN SECTOR 2-ALPHA! >> He immediately sprung out of his seat, ordered all SWATBots to continue their respecitive pursuits, and grabbed his plasma cannon from off a table. After he had armed it properly, he burst out the door and ran down the hall, in an especially bad mood. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph emerged from the R&D lab rapidly, also in a angry mood. He shouldn't have been in such a hurry. Now he'd really have a problem escaping from here with all his quills attached. He looked down the hall, and saw a humanoid figure toting... He increased magnification and enhanced the image. He scanned it twice to be sure, but it was. He dared not say it, for he did not wish to reveal any information inadvertantly to this individual (besides, he was still cloaked). But he knew he could not leave without it. But how could he get it from him, and yet not risk staying here to fight him? As he got closer, he tried to scramble behind a wall, but bumped into something going the opposite way and stumbled forward. His forward momentum caused his foot to stick out from the corner of the wall, directly within Packbell's path. As Packbell drew closer to the corner, he tripped over the hedgehog's foot and fell forward, dropping the gun from the shock. The gun spun across the floor to the foot of an open elevator, which then lodged itself between the inside of the elevator and the hallway; holding the door open. Several things happened very fast after that. Joseph, not wanting to miss an opportunity, scrambled over Packbell (leaving an imprint in his face from his boot) and shot into the open elevator. The thing he had bumped into happened to be a SWATBot, which shot in the direction of the motion. Joseph spun, grabbed the gun from the door, and slipped to the side--as the door closed, deflecting the blast. Quickly, he toggled the down button, leaving the floored Packbell alone to pummel the SWATBot in anger. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As the door opened at the lobby, Joseph was immediately besieged by SWATBot fire. (Perhaps it was a mistake to send them down there after all.) He blasted a few of them, but mostly fired wildly as he used his innate hedgehog speed to race his way out of the complex, leaving a blue-hot trail of plasma behind him. As he raced toward the exit of the city, trying madly to evade the entourage of 'Bot planes he'd attracted, he wondered what wrong life decision led him into this situation...but his brooding was interrupted by the familiar-sounding roar of the hovercraft as it smote his pursuers. Now he was the one rescued as the hovercraft swooped down from the sky and grabbed him from the earth. Now Joseph, Sonic, and his hologram raced through Robotropolis, being blasted at by anti-aircraft cannons. "Joe!" Sonic yelled, ducking a few bursts of lazer fire. "Yeah, Sonic?" was the reply from Joseph as he took control of the craft. "Do you have," Sonic hollered, "a plan!?" Joseph shouted back, "No!" "That makes the both of us!" "Good!" was the last retort, as a shot from a 'Bot plane finally crippled the craft, sending it spiraling down...down... ^L - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The two hedgehogs jumped from the craft instinctively, but they both soon realized bailing out about five thousand feet over hostile territory with not a parachute between them is not a good idea. Sonic and Joseph let out a long, collective scream as they plummeted toward a rather unpleasant part of Mobius, waiting for the bright light to start shining before them. After all, neither of them could *fly*... However, Dulcy could. And she cracked the whip in the nick of time, and saved the two hedgehogs from becoming greasy spots on the pavement. As they calmed down and flew away from Robotropolis, the banter began again. "Hey," Sonic said, "my life just flashed before my eyes!" "My breakfast just flashed before mine," Joseph said weakly. The rest of the flight passed in silence. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Everyone was glad to see Joseph and Sonic when they returned. Well, that is, except Sally. After accepting a round of applause, Sally dragged the both of them back into her hut, demanding an explaination. "What did you two think you were doing out there?!" "Just getting my butt saved!" was Sonic's initial reply. "If Joseph hadn't pulled the hat-trick and had his diversion come get me, I would've been fried!" "You shouldn't have stayed to begin with, Sonic Hedgehog! If you knew that the odds were against you--" "Tell *that* to the people I just bailed out of there, Sal!" A pause. Sally's voice grew softer. "Sonic...those people would have been there tomorrow. We could have gotten more out if you could have waited--" She immediately saw the response forming in Sonic's head. "--and, yes, I know, you aren't the waiting type." Her voice rose again. "But what you did was foolish! It was insane! It was--" "Honorable," Joseph said. "and it was something I would have done, if I would have been in the same place." Sally looked over at Joseph, and shook her index finger at him harshly. "And *you*, you maniac, what possessed you to go and invade Snively's--" "Packbell's, ma'am." Sally blinked. "What?" "Packbell's, ma'am. Packbell has unseated Snively. He is in charge now." Sally's anger left her. "Dear Lord..." Joseph nodded. "It is rather unfortunate. But I was able to get important information out of his computers, and capture a piece of very sensitive technology." He hefted the cannon out in front of Sally. "I need to run tests on this, but I believe it may utilize an...alien technology. Perhaps it would give us a clue to who is helping...umm, Packbell now, I guess." He put his hand on Sally's shoulder. "Boss, I know what I did was unsanctioned by you, and was certainly an unwise thing to do tactically. But I did get positive results, and I will have more developments for you in the coming days as I analyse this data." Then, Joseph bowed slightly. "I will make this up to you." Sally just blinked, her initial anger defused. "Well, okay, Joseph. Just don't pull any more crazy stunts like this again." She coughed, regaining her normal voice. "Dismissed." Joseph smiled softly. "Affirmative." And then, he walked out of the hut. Sonic blinked. "Packbell's in charge? Way Past Uncool, Sal! What'll we do now?" Sally turned away from Sonic, and looked out the window. "I don't know, Sonic...I don't know..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph returned to his lab, and placed the cannon down in front of him. He stared at it for a while, transfixed on the information that identified the kind of weapon, its make, and its year. He stared at it for a while, hoping that if he glared at it long enough, the familiar language would change, as well as its information. He touched it, feeling the steely perfection of its design. It was probably built by a machine, yet it retained that familiar workmanship that was so familiar to him... He could not let them know. Not yet. He would be lynched, burned, and possibly drawn and quartered; and his work would die here, on this desolate, primitive world so far from civilized space. He took a power sander from the table, and fired it up to its full power. In a burst of strength, he slowly tore away the paint that held the accursed phrase on the side of the weapon... "UR'THAEN PLASMA CANNON, MARK 26-ALPHA. MODEL YEAR -- 8000 PE..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE END