I promised you a story, so without further ado, here it is... -B.B. "I need a new quote." -Myself This short story is based on the characters created and copyrighted by Archie Comic Publications, David Pistone, DiC Productions, Holly-Beth Kraft, and Sega Incorporated. The author gives his permission to distribute this work freely as long as it's distributed in its full, unaltered form and currency has nothing to do with the distribution. Any questions, comments, or protests can be addressed to the author. Copyright (C) 1995, Michael Szal. Timeline: This story takes place around 3235, a tiny bit before DiC's "The Doomsday Project." Pangolin Problems by Michael Szal (bblaze@aol.com) "Saaaaaallyyy!" called Tails, as he flew over to her hut. "Aunt Sally," he called again, knocking on the door. No answer. "Sally?" he asked, slowly opening the door. Nobody was home. "Too late!" he thought and quickly headed off toward the War Room. The War Room was not much more than another hut. It got it's name after Sir Charles build a holographic projector to use as a visual aid for planning raids, rescues, or other missions to Robotropolis. Everybody met in the War Room before a planned mission to work out the details. "Sally?" Tails asked again, this time at the front steps of the War Room. "Tails?" answered Princess Sally, opening the door. "What are you doing here?" "I wanna go on the mission too!" "I don't think so, Tails. Not this one, anyway. It's too dangerous." "But I can handle it! I'm a freedom fighter now, remember?" It was true. Tails was an official freedom fighter, but everybody was over-protective of him. "I think he can do it," defended Sonic. "Sonic..." grumbled Sally, "he's only ten years old..." "But he's a way cool ten!" Sally pulled Sonic away from the doorway into a corner of the room. "We can't afford to fail this mission!" she said in a harsh whisper. "So you're saying Tails'll screw it up?" "No......it's just that......well...fine. He can come." She stepped back into the doorway. "Okay Tails, here's what you can do." They discussed the plan and, after everybody was ready, Sonic lead the way to the power ring generator. He always wondered why the thing had to be underwater, but he knew that Charles must have had his reasons. It was still three whole minutes before another ring appeared. Sonic went over the mission again. He was deep in thought when Tails tapped him on the shoulder, offering him the ring. He took it and stuffed it in his backpack for later use. Sonic let Tails have a head start as they raced toward Robotropolis whilst Sally rode Dulcy as they flew the aerial route. It took less than a minute to get to Robotropolis (Sonic was taking his time) and, not surprisingly, he got there first. He was at "the usual" which was a small, open area surrounded by junk. Contrary to how it sounds, it was camouflaged quite well. If the raiding party had to regroup for any reason, this is where they'd meet. Sonic scanned the skies for a while, which got old fast. "Where are they?" he thought out loud. "They should've been here by now." And he was right. Ten minutes passed with quite a bit of hover units passing by. "Where ARE they?" "It's right behind you!" alerted Sally, ducking laser fire. "Hang on," warned Dulcy in just enough time to be too late for Sally to react. She dove, almost straight down, which was followed by a sharp left turn and then a full loop. This tactic worked, Dulcy was now behind the pursuing Stealth-bot, but with one side effect. "AAAAAAAAAA!!!" screamed Sally at the top of her lungs. Unbeknownst to Dulcy, Sally had fallen off. "Great," complained Dulcy, under her breath. "Couldja' hang on a sec!?!" By now, the Stealth-bot had figured out what had happened and was turning to continue the pursuit. The other two were far behind. This gave Dulcy the opportunity to "postpone" her little encounter and save Sally. "I'm coming!" she called. She looked down and located Sally, who had been falling for a good four seconds. By now, she had fallen well over three hundred feet and in another four seconds would have fallen eight hundred more. However, Dulcy had "cracked the whip" and caught her in little under a second. "There now, that wasn't so bad. You okay, Sally?" polled Dulcy. The only sound she got was a quick, soft whisper of "I'm fine," from Sally. After Sally caught her breath, she checked for the Stealth-bots and warned Dulcy as to where they were. This time she was ready for any more "stunts" Dulcy was going to pull. Sally could feel the centrifugal force holding her in the saddle as Dulcy pulled up and chased after one of the Stealth-bots. Dulcy was slowly getting closer and closer until she finally unleashed a miniature blizzard at the Stealth-bot. It froze instantly and dropped like a ton of bricks. "One down, two to go!" exclaimed Dulcy after she heard the Stealth-bot shatter upon impact. "There's one off to your left!" said Sally, leaning forward so Dulcy could hear her. "Left?" Dulcy thought to herself. She had noticed the one on her right. Then it hit her. She made a sudden turn to her right and headed straight toward the Stealth-bot. "What are you doing!?!" Sally screamed at her. "Trust me!" she replied, dodging laser fire as she went. At the last second, she let out a smoke screen and pulled up out of it. The two Stealth-bots, who couldn't see a thing, crashed right into each other. "Next time," suggested Sally, "tell me when you're going to play chicken with a Stealth-bot." They continued their flight to Robotropolis. "There's Sonic," Sally pointed out. "Okay," replied Dulcy. "Here I go..." she thought to herself. "I can do this. Just level off. Level off... Good. Slow down. Okay. Now land." The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground, face down, regaining consciousness. "You okay, Dulce?" asked Sonic. "I'm fine, ma," was the reply. "Where were you guys?" "Sorry, we were in a dogfight," answered Sally. "A dogfight? With who?" "A squadron of Stealth-bots." "A SQUADRON? Why was there a squadron out patrolling?" "Who knows." "There were a lot of hover units around," the intelligible young fox chimed in. "He's right. What's up with all the security?" asked Sonic. "Maybe Robotnik's up to something," replied Dulcy, fully recovered. "If he is, we're in trouble," Sally pointed out. "With all these patrols around, we're going to have a hard time completing the mission." "Right," confirmed Sonic. "Let's just get the 'bot and get outta here." "Okay. Dulcy, whenever you're ready." Dulcy flew up to a ledge on one of the surrounding buildings. After looking around, she signaled the "okay...no, wait...okay" sign. Sally jumped into Sonic's arms and he took off with Tails close behind. They were headed for the Swat-bot production factory. They arrived seconds later and all followed Sally as she led the way to an air vent. She carefully removed the grate, put it aside, and crawled through the small passage into the factory. After everybody was out of the vent, they spread out, scanning the interior. It was a vast place, conveyor belts, cranes, extra Swat-bot parts, yet not a single guard. "This is too weird," said Sonic. "Agreed," came a reply from Sally at the other end of the factory. "Sal?" "Over here. This must be where they put the completed Swat-bots before shipping them off to their posts and activating them." Princess Sally was standing in front of a loading dock. The Swat-bots would be left there until a transport shuttle came by to pick them up. "Good job, Sal. Meetchya' outside." Sonic dragged one of the Swat-bots back through the vent. Dulcy was outside waiting. "Here you go, Dulce." Sonic heaved the Swat-bot onto Dulcy's back and she took off for Knothole. Now came the hardest part of the mission: waiting. He waited... And waited... And waited... It seemed like hours before Sally and Tails finally emerged from the vent. Sally again leaped into Sonic's arms and he once more tore off into the night to the outskirts of Robotropolis. "Nicole," said Sally, "detonate." The factory went up in flames. A nice sized mushroom cloud soon followed. Then the shock wave. It was a spectacular light show, but all good things must come to an end. After it was over, the three started back toward Knothole, content in knowing the mission was successful. They were greeted at their small village by Rotor with a disturbed look on his face. "Message from Uncle Chuck," he said in a low voice. "What does it say?" Sonic wanted to know. Rotor handed him the message: Robotnik is definitely up to something. High Security. Lots of patrols. Working on the details. Watch for another message. "That's it?" "That's it." "But what could ol' 'Buttnik be doing that Uncle Chuck doesn't know about?" "Hard to say. Probably something big." "At least that explains all the security," concluded Dulcy. "But let's worry about that..." she yawned, "...in the morning." The group dispersed, each member heading of to his or her hut--except Rotor. He stayed up late in his lab, working on the Swat-bot. "Snively!" Doctor Robotnik contacted him via hologram. "Have you finished your interrogation?" Snively was in a small, enclosed room with a single chair in the center and a bright light aimed at it. It was one of the many interrogation rooms Robotnik had created. There were six Swat-bots assisting him, two guarding the door, three guarding the prisoner, and one off in a corner. Robotnik does not usually have this many guards assigned to a single prisoner. Even if a few of the prisoners did escape, where would they go? Snively gasped. "Well...uh...no, sir. Not yet," answered Snively. "He refuses to talk, sir." "Loosing your touch?" Robotnik thought back to when Commander Packbell arrived with the prisoners and wondered why he let Snively do the interrogating. "No, sir...it's just that...well, sir, we can't kill him." "Then roboticize him, fool! His secrets will be ours!" "Yes--" the hologram was gone, "--sir," Snively mumbled to himself. "Then roboticize him, fool! Hmph! I'll show you roboticizing!" He stormed off down the hall. "Bring the prisoner!" he called behind him. The three Swat-bots guarding the prisoner escorted him to the door with the Swat-bot in the corner leading the way, obviously designated as the unofficial leader. The other two at the door waited until everybody had left before bringing up the rear. "I don't think so," the prisoner announced. "Computer, retrieve all data from the Swat-bots, then delete all their data." All the Swat-bots suddenly fell flat on their faces. Snively heard the noise and spun around to find the prisoner escaping. "Get back here!" he demanded. "What are you waiting for!?!" he yelled at the Swat-bots. "Get him! Get him!" They did nothing. "What do you mean you LOST him!?!" asked Robotnik, holding Snively up to his face. Snively swallowed hard. "Well, sir..." "How can you lose a prisoner with SIX Swat-bots as escort!?!" "You see, sir..." Snively replied with sweat pouring down his face. "All their data is gone, sir." "WHAT!?!" "I-I-I can't explain it, sir. All data in the Swat-bots was deleted." "That's IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Robotnik said, throwing Snively back on the ground. "Find him, Snively! He cannot get away!" "Y-Y-Yes, sir." After Snively left to assemble his search party, Robotnik walked back to his chair and sat down. He pressed a button, "Packbell!" he ordered. A few seconds later a hologram appeared before him. "Yes, sir," Packbell awaited orders. "Whatever you're doing can wait!" Rotor emerged from his lab early the next morning. It was fairly dark for morning, and cold. He looked up and saw the dark, looming clouds overhead. "Rain," he thought to himself and made his way over to the center of the village. Bookshire was already there, sitting at a table. "Do you always get up this early?" Rotor asked. "No, not always," Bookshire calmly answered. "Can't get the Swat-bot to activate?" "I've tried everything I can think of and it just sits there. It all seemed so easy. Just steal a Swat-bot and examine it's technology." "Could I take a look at it?" "Go ahead." Bookshire suddenly got up and hurriedly limped over to Rotor's lab. "I'll need your help!" he called behind him. Once in the lab, Bookshire knew exactly what to do. "We'll both grab an arm and drag it over to my place." They took the Swat-bot to Bookshire's hut and put it on a table. It was Bookshire's first time being able to carefully examine a Swat-bot and he was very excited. He searched for some sort of serial port on the Swat-bot. Turning the head to one side, he opened a small panel and there it was. He opened another small panel, this time on his computer, and a cable ejected from it. Taking the cable in one hand, he pulled it over to the port in the Swat-bot's head, neatly unwinding as it went, and plugged it in. "Okay, computer," Bookshire told it, "open a direct link through port A." "Open," the computer reported. "Access the main memory matrix." "Access denied." "As expected. Try it again using Cryptosmasher software." The computer worked on it for a second and reported, "Access granted." "Display the boot-up data." The screen started to fill with a bunch of seemingly random characters. "Wait, wait, wait. Decompile it first." It took a bit longer to do this, but soon the gibberish stopped and was replaced with (somewhat) plain English. Bookshire was very excited now, he started to look through the code. Rotor sat and watched. It was a long while before anybody spoke again. "Getting anywhere?" Rotor asked rhetorically. "Actually, yes," answered Bookshire. "What did you find out?" "Well, it won't activate because somebody doesn't want it to." "What do you mean?" "The Swat-bot's fine. Nothing is actually 'wrong' with it." "Buuuuut..." Rotor said slowly. "But somebody altered the boot-up data so that it won't activate unless..." "Unleeeeess..." he urged Bookshire on. "Ah! Here it is! Unless you find the problem and fix it." "Isn't that what you're supposed to do when there's a problem--fix it?" "Well, yes. But normally when somebody sabotages something, they don't intend for it to be fixed." "So you're saying that somebody sabotaged this Swat-bot, possibly many others, and wanted Robotnik to know about it." "Exactly. It was pretty hard to find the problem, but whoever did this definitely wanted Robotnik to find it." "But......why?" "Because of this: computer, display string: 'problem.'" A few lines of text were displayed. Rotor read it aloud: Dear Robotnik, It's been a while. How are things going? Looking forward to a reply. Send Snively to following co-ords, haven't seen him in a while: 33 S, 75 E. "Send Snively? If this guy's working for Robotnik, why would he put his message in a Swat-bot?" "I have no idea." "Maybe we should tell Sally." "Snively!" Robotnik's face appeared in one of the monitors of Snively's hover unit. "Have you located the prisoner yet?" "Well," said Snively, "no, sir. But he couldn't have gotten far." He turned to another console and pushed a few buttons. "Stealth-bots, Epsilon squadron, report." There came no reply. "Report, Epsilon!" Still no reply. "Theta squadron, report." No reply from them either. Snively was getting nervous. "Alpha squadron?" No reply. "Beta?" No reply. "Anybody!?!" "I don't like what I'm hearing, Snively." Snively was shaking now. "It seems that communications are down, s-s-sir." "Then get them back up! I don't want--" "Hello, Robotnik." It was the prisoner, on every monitor. "Having fun?" "What are you doing on my communications channel?" asked Robotnik. "Oh, nothing much. Just getting revenge. I mean, you DID try to roboticize me." Robotnik was just about to speak when the prisoner spoke first, "Don't worry, I'm not taking it personally. I'll just have my revenge and leave you alone." He walked off the screen for a few seconds and came back grinning. Suddenly, the entire city lost power. "How can he DO that!?!" Robotnik called out. "Were you tracing that?" he asked Packbell, who had been in the room with Robotnik, working on the location of the prisoner. "Of course. Omega squadron is on their way." "Excellent! Let's go!" Rotor and Bookshire headed over to Sally's hut where they found her and Bunny deep in a conversation. "Glad you're here," Sally greeted them. "We got another note from Uncle Chuck. It says: A prisoner escaped yesterday and blacked out the entire city. Better send Sonic for all the details. "Where's Sonic?" asked Rotor. "He left about ten minutes ago. Do you have any clue as to what this means?" "I'd say so," said Bookshire. He explained in detail what he had found in the Swat-bot. "It's obviously the work of another freedom fighter," hypothesized Sally. "It can't be any old freedom fighter," Bookshire told her. "Don't you see? Nobody can just black out a city. Whoever did this is an extremely powerful individual." "Maybe Naugus found a way back from that void place," said Bunny. "No," contributed Sally, "Naugus would take care of Robotnik directly. Whoever it is would be an invaluable addition to Knothole." "But how can we find this person?" asked Rotor. "I guess we'll just have to wait for--" Sally was just finishing her sentence as Sonic came through the door with Charles right behind. "I think you guys better hear this," suggested Sonic. "Three days ago," Charles began "Robotnik's forces overpowered a small village just outside the Great Swamp. The prisoners were taken back to Robotropolis to await robotization. The very next day, most of them were roboticized. Some of them Robotnik kept to be interrogated. Yesterday, one of the prisoners escaped during the interrogation. Just this morning, he blacked out all of Robotropolis." "If he's so powerful, why not just overthrow Robotnik?" asked Sally. "Maybe he can't," assumed Bunny. "Not from what I just heard," said Bookshire. "This person can do anything, he just doesn't want to." "Doesn't want to!?!" Sonic entered the conversation. "We need to find this guy and bring him back here!" "WE?" rebutted Sally. "WE won't be able to get anywhere NEAR Robotropolis with all the patrols out looking for him." "Then WE will just have to get a power ring." Sonic had already made up his mind and was exiting the room. Lights everywhere were turning back on. "Sir," came Snively. "What is it, Snively?" Robotnik impatiently asked. He had more important things to attend to. "The power is back on-line." "I noticed. Thank you, Snively." He put his communicator down. "Move aside," ordered Robotnik as he pushed two Swat-bots out of his way. There were at least fifteen others, each with a laser rifle aimed at the prisoner, who was sitting in the middle of it all. Six Stealth-bots hovered overhead. "So..." said Robotnik confidently. "The tables have turned. Would you like to answer some questions now?" "Under normal circumstances," said the prisoner as if he was negotiating with Robotnik, "this would be a dire situation. But there's been this dragon flying around and--" "Dragon?" said Robotnik in disbelief as he flung around and looked up. There was Dulcy, circling the area. "The hedgehog! All units, full alert! Activate heat scanners! You two," he pointed to two Stealth-bots, "get that dragon!" "Hedgehog detected," said one of the Swat-bots in its monotonous voice. Sonic came around a corner, dodging lasers, and charged a Swat-bot. At the last second, he curled up with quills blazing and sliced right through it. He then grabbed the prisoner and continued onward to Knothole with Dulcy not far behind. The Swat-bots took their last, futile shots at Sonic as he disappeared over the horizon. "I HATE you, Hedgehog!" Robotnik called after him. The team regrouped in the war room, with just about everybody else, and immediately began an interrogation of their "prisoner." Now they could get a close look at him. He looked like an armadillo, and yet, was not. He was definitely older than sixteen, but nobody was quite sure by how much. Sonic, realizing that there were more important aspects to a person besides physical characteristics, began the interrogation. "Okay, bud," said Sonic, "why'd you blow our cover? You could've ruined the whole operation!" "Part of the reason is that I didn't know who was flying around up there, and I still don't," said the prisoner, looking at Dulcy. "Oh, I'm Dulcy," she answered. "Hello, Dulcy. You can call me Williams. The other part is that it distracted Robotnik so I could escape, but I see Sonic rescued me first," he said, nodding in Sonic's direction. "You know who I am?" asked Sonic. "Sure. Robotnik always talks about you. Boy, he REALLY hates you. Did you know that you've been officially declared the 'priority hedgehog?'" "You can access his computer core?" asked Rotor. "Of course. Contrary to popular belief, living in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere DOES get boring. It's amazing what you can do when you're bored." "So you can break into Robotnik's systems any time you want without him knowing about it and you never bothered to disable any of them?" asked Sally. "Why should I?" Sally was agitated. "Maybe it would be a little easier to win the war if Robotnik didn't have any defenses, don't you think?" "War? I wouldn't consider this a war. Think of it as a change it government," said Williams with an optimistic smile. Sally was angry. "Speaking of wars, I thought Mobitropolis was supposed to have a huge, powerful army. Didn't WE win the Great War? Where was our army when Robotnik took over?" He already knew the answer. After the Great War, the king gave his permission for Robotnik to dismantled the army. (Back then no one ever suspected him of plotting against the king.) Instead, he improved it and used it to take over the planet. Mobitropolis had been conquered by it's own army. Sally was very angry. "Isn't it true that your father was the cause of the whole thing? Maybe he planned--" "STOP IT!!!" Sally was enraged. "My father was an honest, trustworthy man and would never, EVER start a war that takes innocent lives!" She ran out of the room. "Sally!" called Dulcy as she went out after her. "You're worse than Robuttnik," accused Sonic. He began his search for Sally and Dulcy. That left Rotor and Antoine. "What I want to know," asked Rotor, "is who put the message in the Swat-bot?" "I did," answered Williams. "Robotnik doesn't pay any attention to them anymore, but they give me something to do." "I'm assuming you're also the one who blacked out Robotropolis?" "Uh, huh," he nodded. "That brings me back to Sally's question. If you're against Robotnik, why not just end the war now?" "First of all, I'm not in this war. Think of me as an impartial observer." "Impartial observers don't black out cities." "Only when they're captured, interrogated, and almost roboticized. Secondly, this is Knothole, right? Robotnik's been looking for this place for years. I could tell him where it is and end the war that way. In fact, why don't I do that. Computer, transmit current coordinates to everywhere in Robotropolis. You better hope Robotnik isn't looking at a monitor right now." "You fuel!" screamed Antoine. "You are going to get us all captivated!" He ran out of the room, screaming for somebody to come help him. Soon after, Sonic came rushing to his rescue. "What is it now, Ant?" "We are all doom-ed, DOOM-ED!" Rotor emerged from the War Room. "Williams gave away Knothole's location. Robotnik could be on his way right now." By now, Sally had arrived with Bunny. "What is going on?" asked Sally. "Williams told Robotnik where Knothole is," answered Sonic. "He's gone WAY too far this time," said Sally. Bookshire had an idea of what was going on, so he entered the War Room and closed the door behind him. As he did, Williams stopped transmitting. "You didn't really give away our location, did you?" he asked Williams, expecting an answer. "Yeah, why?" That wasn't the answer he was expecting. "I can't believe you. You've got the whole village scared to death that they'll all be roboticized, and they just might be! What are you going to do now?" "I'll just slip out through the window and leave you to explain everything." "I wouldn't come back anytime soon, if I were you. It seems the entire village hates you." "But you don't hate me." "I'm not sure what to think." And with that, Williams was gone. Bookshire faced the mob of panicked citizens and explained what had happened. A few accusations against him later, the crowd had dispersed and things were returning to normal. "Ah'm sure glad that's over," Bunny voiced her opinion to Sally as they walked back to their huts. "Me too," replied Sally. "I guess if Robotnik was going to attack, he'd've been here by now. I bet Tails is--" She stopped walking. "What's wrong, Sally-girl?" "Have you seen Tails lately?" "No, but--" Sally didn't care to hear the rest. She quickly found Sonic, also headed for his hut, and asked him the same question. "Nope, not since we left to go find that Williams guy," he said. They both started to worry. Usually, Tails is were the action is. They checked their huts and anywhere else Tails might have gone, but he was no where to be found. Williams was well into the Great Forest by now and was thinking of where to go next when he heard something behind him. He ignored it, forcing himself to believe it was just a small animal--he WAS in a forest. Back to the problem of where to go next. Maybe he'd go to back to his village and take what he could from what was left of it. Or maybe he'd-- He heard the sound again. There was definitely something following him. Ideas raced through his mind. A huge, carnivorous animal? An army of Swat-bots? He took out his computer and scanned behind him to see what it was. A small fox? He turned around. "Hellooooo..." he called out. "C'mon out." Tails stepped out from behind the bush. He was where the action is after all. Williams sat down at the base of a tree and groaned. Tails ran over and sat down next to him. "You're that kid from Knothole, right?" Williams started the conversation, not looking at Tails. "Yep. I'm Tails." Williams groaned again. "You can't be here, not after what just happened." "Why not? Did you really tell Robotnik where Knothole is?" "Yes, well...no. I didn't TELL him, I just sent him my location. He probably just ignored it." A moment of silence. "I'm not evil, but the rest of Knothole certainly thinks so. Which is why you can't be here. They're probably looking for you and think I kidnapped you. Why ARE you here anyway?" "I wanted to see where you were going. Why can't you live with us?" "Well, besides the fact that nobody would let me, there's always the fact that if I lived with you, that would mean I'd be on your side and against Robotnik." "Are you on Robotnik's side?" "No. How can I explain? I'm not for Robotnik, but I'm not against him either." "So you're neutral." "Nnnnno. Neutral implies not getting involved. And I'm really involved now." There was a short moment of silence after which Williams stood up, looked down at Tails, and said, "I'll be leaving now, you'll have to go." "But I wanna come with you," said Tails, also standing up. "You're almost as cool as Sonic!" "I'll take that as a complement." More silence. "You can come, but if anything happens, just do as I say and everything will be all right." "Cool." They started their journey to the Great Swamp. Not five minutes later, they were attacked. Williams was knocked in the back of the head by a large branch and fell to the ground, stunned for now. When he came to, he realized what had happened. He was sitting up against a tree with his hands tied behind his back and saw Tails against another tree across from him, also apparently tied. A seemingly tall woman approached him with a laser rifle. "You're awake. Good. Get up, both of you. We're going to the Great Swamp." They both got up. Williams was the first to talk. "Who--" "Shut up. Questions will be answered when we get there. You will lead the way. Try anything and you will die." As they walked, Williams was trying to think of when everything went wrong. Three days ago, everything was fine. Then they were attacked. He was taken prisoner and spent the night in a cell. The next night, he was interrogated. Then the escape and the night was spent in an air duct. He was found and captured the next morning, which is when Sonic rescued him. Then came the Knothole incident and afterwards he found Tails. Now he's being led to the Great Swamp by a woman with a gun trained on him and is responsible for a young fox's safety. "All in all, it's been a pretty good day," he said to himself. "No talking," came the woman's voice from behind him. "He's not in Knothole," reported Sonic. "I've searched everywhere." The group had, once again, met in the War Room to try to solve this mess. "Then Williams must have kidnapped him," said Sally. "I knew he was a spy from Robotropolis! I bet 'Williams' isn't even his real name!" "I don't know," explained Bookshire. "If he's with Robotnik, why did Robotnik capture him, and why did he black out the city?" "If he isn't with Robotnik, why did he give us away?" Sonic brought up a good point. "It was all just an act. Robotnik's probably sitting in his chair laughing, knowing he has us right where he wants us," assumed Sally. "Then let's find out," suggested Bookshire. "I'll just check his main computer core to see if there's anything about Williams or Tails." They were off to Bookshire's hut. "Computer," ordered Bookshire, "access the Robotropolis Main Computer Core using Cryptosmasher software." "Access granted," reported the computer. "Scan the entire core for anything about the name 'Williams.'" "Scanning......... No files found." "Scan for anything about Tails being captured." "Scanning......... No files found." "Scan for anything about relating to a prisoner that escaped yesterday." "Scanning......... One file found." "Show me." "Access denied. Level four security clearance required." "Forge it." "Access granted." The file was displayed. Bookshire read it and summarized it for the rest of the group. "Basically, it confirms the story that a prisoner was captured in a raid and escaped interrogation, the same prisoner that Sonic rescued. This was level four, I don't think it's fake. Williams is not on Robotnik's side." "Then why would he kidnap Tails?" Sally still wanted to know. "Maybe he didn't, but whatever the case, we need to find Tails." "Agreed. Sonic, you search Robotropolis, Dulcy, you and I will search the Great Forest." It was a long while before they finally made it to their destination and they were all tired. Williams and Tails sat down and got as comfortable as they could, considering their condition. "How about untying us now? If we try to escape, you can kill us." Tails immediately looked at Williams at the sound of being shot. "It's okay," he said to Tails, "just don't try to escape and she won't kill you." Tails was unsure about this plan. "Deal," the woman said. She walked over to Tails, crouched down, and untied his hands, being careful not to let Williams out of her sight. Tails, in turn, made his way to Williams and untied his hands. "Who are you?" asked Williams. "The name is Sandra Nightweaver. I deal in information. Who are you?" Williams looked at Tails, hoping he'd understand, then back at Sandra. "I'm Xero, this is Tails, we're Knothole defectors. Why do you want us?" "Oh, I don't want you, Packbell does. Strange, he said that you're a fugitive of some kind." "Yeah, well I am. I escaped from my cell, Tails happened to be in the same cell as me. Almost made it to Knothole. Hey Tails, you okay?... Tails?... Tails! He's dehydrated! You can't expect him to walk this far without water! Get him some water! If he dies, Packbell would be very disappointed!" Sandra just stood there. "You're good," noticed Williams. "If you want to escape, you haven't got much time left until noon. Besides, Packbell doesn't want HIM." She aimed the rifle at Tails. "He's expendable." Williams stood between her and Tails. "Uh, yeah. But right now I'm kinda responsible for his life, so if Packbell doesn't want him, why not let him go?" "Because he's my prisoner and I don't want to let him go. Now sit down, Zero or One or whatever kind of a stupid name you have." He obeyed. "Sigh," he sighed. "Must I explain everything? It's Xero, with a 'Xi.' Not naught." A short silence. "How much is Packbell paying you?" "He gave me this laser rifle and, when the operation is complete, a hover unit." "Wow. Hover unit. You do a lot of work for Robotnik?" "I don't work for Robotnik. I work for whoever hires me." "Ohhhhh," said Williams, nodding. "So if I give you something better than a hover unit, you'll let us go?" "Maybe." A long silence. No one moved, no one talked. Each of them looked at one another, thinking about the situation. Williams was looking at Tails when he realized that Tails had not said a word ever since they were captured in the Great Forest. "Tails," Williams broke the silence, "you okay, for real?" "Sonic would've saved us by now. I'll probably never see Vixie again." "Vixie?" "Never mind." "I'm sure Sonic's out looking for us right now. But everything will be fine as soon as Packbell comes." Tails was puzzled about what Williams just said. It sounded wrong. "I thought Packbell was gonna roboticize us? That's bad, right?" "Not really. I'll explain. You and I have the one most important thing it takes to win this war: intelligence. With it, you can do anything." "Then why are we stuck here?" "You underestimate me. Life is just a game. You only get one, so you have to make it as interesting as possible. This war gives you the chance to do that. When it's over, you can tell your kids all about how you helped win it. Chances are, their lives won't be nearly as exciting as yours. You may not think so, but you're a very lucky person." "YOU may think it's fun, but I don't. Not after my parents were roboticized." "Ha! I was there when it all started. Everybody I knew had been roboticized. I narrowly escaped certain doom and lived here, in a village near the Great Swamp. Just three days ago, Packbell found us and took us all to Robotropolis. I was the only one to escape." Williams was just getting started when he was rudely interrupted by Sandra, who had shot Tails. "Hey!" shouted Williams. "We had a deal! You could kill him, but ONLY if he was trying to escape!" "Oh shut up! He's not dead, just stunned. Your annoying little life story was getting to me." "You wanted ME to shut up so you shot Tails," illogically concluded Williams. "I couldn't risk killing YOU. You're the one Packbell wants." Williams groaned. He attended to Tails, who was fine but unconscious. "Here." Sandra threw Williams her rifle. "I'll be back," she said and was gone. "Nothing," reported Sonic as he arrived back in the War Room. He was the last to stop searching. "He HAS to be SOMEWHERE," said Sally. "Tails wouldn't just wander off alone. The ONLY explanation is that Robotnik has him somewhere." "That's impossible, Sal. I checked with Uncle Chuck. There's nothing going on down there." "There has to be!" "Whoah, Sal. You need a nap." "I'm sorry. I'm under a lot a stress right now. First Williams, now Tails. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who finds him." "He can take care of himself." "I certainly hope so." In five short minutes, Sandra did indeed come back with a small pouch around her neck. "Some food and water rations," she said, offering the bag. "Oh, I see. First you try to kill him, then you offer him food. I guess I never will understand the female mind. You hungry?" he asked Tails, opening the bag. Tails had regained consciousness, but was still a bit groggy. He mumbled something and held out his hand. Williams gave him the bag. Knowing that Tails was taken care of, he turned his attention to Sandra. "How did you know you could trust me?" He handed Sandra her gun back. "I could've escaped when you were gone. Or I could've shot you just now." "Besides being annoying, your little story revealed a lot about yourself. I shot Tails to test my theory. If you were here when I came back, I was right. If not, I didn't get my hover unit." "You still didn't explain how we're going to escape," asked Tails. "It's quite simple, Sandra gives us to Packbell and gets her hover unit. We get Packbell to take you back to Knothole. I let him take me to Robotropolis. Everybody's happy." "But..." Tails was worried. "You'll be..." "I'll be having the time of my life, trust me." The trio waited for Commander Packbell to arrive. And arrive he did. Sandra retreated deeper into the swamp, so as not to let Packbell see her. Two hover units landed in the middle of their "camp site." The pilot of Sandra's hover unit, a Swat-bot, got out and escorted the prisoners to the transport. "Good bye!" Williams called into the swamp, knowing Sandra was there. "And have fun!" He was loaded onto the ship. "I know you are there, Sandra," announced Packbell. "Here is your hover unit." He also got into the ship and took off for Robotropolis. "Are you prepared for the end of your natural life?" Packbell asked Williams. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. Computer, scramble the Swat-bot." The copilot made a few jerky movements, then lay limp in its chair. "Wow! How'd you do that?" inquired Tails. "What have you done!?!" asked Packbell, scrambling for a weapon of some sort. "Nothing much, I just randomized every bit of information stored in the Swat-bot. Computer, scramble Pack--" "No! Wait!" Packbell seemed frightened for his life--he couldn't find a weapon. "Computer, stand by to scramble Packbell." "What do you want?" "Take us to Knothole." "If I knew where Knothole was, I would have seized it long ago." "I wouldn't talk to the person who has your life in his hands like that. Tails, you know where you live, fly us there." "I can't fly a hover unit," explained Tails. "Well, here's your chance to learn. We've got time. Press some buttons, flip some switches, have fun! It's not like Packbell will even THINK of hurting you." Tails climbed into the front seat, pushing the Swat-bot onto the floor. "HE will never be able to get us ANYWHERE," observed Packbell. "HE is incredulously intelligent and will learn. And from now on, you will refer to him as 'Supreme Emperor of All Time and Space.'" "And what shall I call you? 'Lord of Mobius?'" "No, you may call me Williams." The ship suddenly shot forward, then stopped. "Getting anywhere, Emperor?" Tails giggled. He liked the feeling of being in control, of having power. "Here we go." He turned the hover unit around (sharply), then headed towards Knothole. "The little twit will kill us all," warned Packbell. "You cannot just get into a hover unit and fly away." "WHO will kill us all?" asked Williams. "The Supreme Emperor of All Time and Space," Packbell corrected his warning. "Very good! And if he does kill us all, you can blame me." Tails landed the hover unit right in the middle of town, where everybody could see. As the door opened, a hush fell over the crowd that gathered. Tails stepped out and took a bow. Sally pushed her way through the cheering crowd and hugged Tails as hard as she could. "I was so worried!" she exclaimed with a few tears rolling down her cheek. "I'm glad you're back! Where have you been? Are you okay?" As they were talking, Williams appeared in the doorway. "Sorry to leave so soon, but I have an unscheduled appointment with Robotnik." The hover unit took off for Robotropolis. "Why was he in there? Why were YOU in there? Oh, I'm glad you're back! What happened?" Tails was really excited. "I followed Williams into the Great Forest, then we were attacked by Sandra and taken to the Great Swamp." "You were attacked!?! Did she hurt you?" "No, not until we got to the Great Swamp, then Williams tried to save us but it didn't work, so she shot me." "My gosh! She shot you!?! Are you okay!?!" "Yep, fine Aunt Sally. I was only unconscious for a few minutes. Then Packbell came and traded Sandra a hover unit for us, but then Williams let me fly the hover unit and made Packbell call me the Supreme Emperor of All Time and Space!" "This guy's good," complimented Sonic. "But you were shot! I'll never forgive him!" vowed Sally. "It wasn't his fault, Aunt Sally. He stood between Sandra and me. But now..." Tails' tone of voice lowered. He spoke a bit slower and fought back a tear. "Now he's Packbell's prisoner." "You mean to tell me," said Sonic in disbelief, "that he got you to fly a hover unit with Packbell next to you in the cockpit, and now he's giving himself up?" "He even said he would," confirmed Tails. "He said that Sandra got her hover unit, I got home, and Packbell got his prisoner." "Okay Packbell," said Williams, "you can take me to Robotnik now. Computer, unscramble the Swat-bot." The Swat-bot on the floor, where Tails had left him, got up and returned to normal as if nothing happened. "How can you undo a random process?" Packbell wanted to know. "Only an idiot does something he can't undo," was all Williams said. "The Swat-bots you disabled earlier, you have all the data that was lost?" "Of course. When we get to Robotropolis, I won't mention anything about Tails or being taken against your will." Packbell was extremely confused. If Williams didn't want to be a prisoner, why was he giving in? He certainly had the ability to escape. All he had to do was tell his computer-- His computer! That was the key! "Give me your computer," ordered Packbell. "Huh?" "Give me that computer of yours." Williams laughed out loud. "I'm not your prisoner!" he managed to say, still laughing. "I'm just visiting Robotnik to help him out and what not." Packbell utilized all available data and still could not find any reason for this kind of behavior. In his experience, nobody ever wanted to help Robotnik. "If you are a freedom fighter," said Packbell, "why do you not resist?" "I just disabled a Swat-bot and threatened to do the same to you. You don't call that resistance?" "That is what I mean. Why do you help a freedom fighter, then turn around and help Robotnik?" "I guess there are just some things you will never understand." The rest of the trip was spent in silence. When they arrived at Robotropolis, Williams was escorted to Robotnik's lair. "Commander Packbell," greeted Robotnik, "I see you've brought me my prisoner." "I am in no way here against my will," stated Williams. Robotnik looked at Packbell as if this was all just a joke. "It is true. He can leave at any time." "Why can't you stop him?" Robotnik seemed worried. "I came here to help you out," said Williams, "and you treat me like one of your prisoners." "Packbell, seize him!" Packbell took one look at Williams and remembered what had happened to the Swat-bot. "No," he disobeyed. "I'll seize him myself." Robotnik started to approach Williams. "Computer, now." Robotnik's robotic arm suddenly grabbed his neck and started to strangle him. "What...is...going...on..." he somehow managed to force air out of his lungs even though his throat was being crushed. "Computer, stop." The hand let go. "I knew you were going to try something. You're a bit behind in this conversation. Packbell and I are on 'I'm here to help you.' You're way back at 'seize him.' If you want my help, I suggest you cooperate. If not, Packbell and I will go back to Knothole and rule the world from there." "Packbell?" Robotnik directed his attention to the android. "You were at Knothole? And you didn't tell me!?!" "Yes," he stood behind Williams. "Whose side are you on!?!" Packbell didn't dare say what was on his mind. "If only our positions were reversed," he was thinking. "This person has complete control over me, what am I to do about it!?!" He told Robotnik what he wanted to hear, "Yours, sir." "Then take him prisoner! Now!" "Okay, that's it!" Williams was fed up. "I'll be leaving now. Don't expect me to help you." He turned around and was about leave when Sonic came rushing in with four Swat-bots behind him. "You have to show up at the worst possible times, don't you?" "Grab on! We're gettin' outta here!" ordered Sonic. Packbell took the initiative and tried to grab Sonic, but was too slow. Sonic had already grabbed Williams and was headed for the door when he was cut off by the pursuing Swat-bots. He stopped, turned around and took off in the opposite direction. The next thing he knew, he was face up on the ground. Williams had held on to his backpack so when he took off his feet went forward and the rest of him stayed. Packbell reached down and picked Sonic up. "Hey! Put me down!" "I've always wanted to know what you keep in here..." Williams opened up Sonic's backpack. "What're you doin'!?!" He rummaged through the pack. "A power ring... Infra-red goggles?..." he put them on. "Hee, hee! Very cool." He didn't have a neat backpack like Sonic, so he wore the goggles over his forehead. "Well..." started Robotnik. "Williams," continued Williams. "Well, Williams. I see I've underestimated you." "People tend to do that. Want a ring?" He tossed the power ring to Robotnik like a frisbee. "Now what? We roboticize him?" "What!?!" complained Sonic. "What do you mean 'what?' You trust me, don't you?" "Not any more, bud." Williams groaned. He turned to Robotnik, "You trust me, right?" "Not yet." He groaned again. "Trapped in the middle," he said to himself. On the way to the roboticizer, Sonic said some things to the effect of "you'll never get away with this" and "you can roboticize me, but there will be others." In the end, they were all in front of that small, diamond-glass tube. Sonic was being lead inside by Packbell when Robotnik interrupted him. "No. Put the armadillo in first." "I am NOT an armadillo!" corrected Williams as he was being lead inside by two Swat-bots. "See this tail? Do armadillos have prehensile tails?" He was now enclosed in the tube. "I'm giving you one last chance before I retaliate." Robotnik walked over to the control panel. "Computer, throw the roboticizer boot-up program into an infinite loop." His computer inserted the necessary code. "And computer, retrieve the location of Knothole from Packbell, then delete it from his memory." Robotnik hit a button and the sound of the roboticizer warming up filled the room. But it kept warming, the beam never kicked in. "I'd say we've thirty or so seconds before the entire room blows up," approximated Williams. "I would get you for this," said Robotnik, "but you saved me the trouble. Packbell, lock the hedgehog in the room." Robotnik and the Swat-bots left the room. Packbell, still carrying Sonic, stepped outside, threw Sonic back in, and closed the only door to the room. Sonic looked at Williams and, albeit he gave Robotnik the only power ring Sonic had with him, he did save Tails. "Stand back!" he said and tried to buzz-saw his way through the glass. Not even a scratch. "Computer, raise the diamond-glass tube." It retracted back into the ceiling. "Computer, how much time until the roboticizer overheats?" "Forty-two seconds," his computer reported. "We have more time than I thought." "Let's go!" urged Sonic. "We're going to be toast!" "Relax. We have more than an ample amount of time." Sonic tapped his foot on the ground as he waited. Two seconds later, "Time's up, let's go!" "Don't you want to wait until the last second and escape just in time? Maybe dive behind something just as it's exploding?" "I'm not leaving without you!" "Okay. Computer, take the roboticizer out of the loop." The roboticizer stopped warming up and engaged the beam. Of course, nobody was underneath it. "You could've done that all along?" asked Sonic. "Uh, huh," nodded Williams. "Let's go. Through this vent." Sonic lead the way out of the building. Williams was in for a pleasant surprise. "Rain! I love the rain!" He started to walk away. "Bye!" Sonic caught up with him. "Where are you going?" "To the Great Swamp." "In the rain!?! I'll take you there." He picked Williams up and they were headed to the Great Swamp. Williams gave directions as they went and they soon arrived at a small village. "Thank you, you may go now." "You're going to stay here?" "Yes. This is where I live. Bye." Sonic was hesitant, but said his good-bye and left. The next day, there were still clouds overhead, but it seemed to be clearing up. Life in Knothole was returning to normal, but many villagers still talked about Williams. Tails and Dulcy were playing air tag. Sally was in her hut "recovering" as a messenger bird perched on her window sill. She took the note from it and it flew away. On it was written: To: Tails (No Pun Intended) "Tails!" Sally called out the window. Tails flew down and entered her hut. "What is it, Aunt Sally?" "You have...mail." "Cool!" Tails had never gotten mail before. He opened it up. There was a small disc tied to the bottom of the note. It read: Dear Tails, I thought you might like some information on the retrieval of data from other computers without direct links. You wanted to know how I scrambled that Swat-bot, this will get you started. Enclosed is a disc with everything on it. Tails untied the disc and asked Sally to borrow Nicole. She let him, so he inserted the disc and accessed what was on it. A list of all the files came up with a message at the bottom: P.S. You now have a virus. The End... And now the character profile. Name: Gabriel Williams Species: Giant pangolin Sex: Male Age: 22 War Standing: Impartial observer Occupation: Freelance hacker Specialties: Computers and everything about them Other Notes: Gabriel was originally born and raised in Mobitropolis, but was relocated to a village near the great swamp when Robotnik took over. He can make the best out of any situation and always stays calm, even when he has no idea what's going on. A few of his friends have been known to call him Xero at times, supposedly because of his sense of humor. He uses this name when he doesn't want anybody to know his real one. He doesn't really care who wins the war and has been trying not to get involved. But since he's been dragged into the war, he'll fight for whichever side he wants and change sides a few times to make it interesting. Gabriel has a computer, about the size of Nicole, as his aide. If ever it was taken from him, he'd have only his wits to get it back or make a new one.