TES Episode 7: What Dark Webs We Weave

by John the Enforcer

The seventh episode of the Saga is a terrifying tale of vengence from beyond the grave...

THE ENFORCER SAGA

Chapter 7: What Dark Webs we Weave

By

John "the Echidna" Fadeley

Revenge. It is a mortal trait. The desire to "get back" at someone for being wronged in any way. Whether it be for a small, "harmless" prank or the violent death of a loved one, the fire of vengence burns bright. Of course, such a concept as revenge exists on the mortal plane...

Or does it?......................................................

The date: August 25th, 3237, 2:30 AM

Neela, the Chandralite squirrel servant girl and lady-in-waiting to the echidna Princess Adonna-Lyn, held her charge's arm tightly as the carrier craft sped away from Floating Island Central Command. Adonna-Lyn's teeth were clenched in pain.

In the span of her arm from her elbow to her wrist, there were two large puncture marks. She was fighting hard to restrain her healing abilities, in the highest possibility that there was deadly poison injected into her and the hope of it being removed from those wounds. There was atleast a wire tied very tightly around her elbow in an effort to keep such a thing from reaching the rest of her body.

"Just hang in there, your Highness." Mighty, John's armadillo lieutenant, coaxed, "We're almost at Knothole Village. Then, whatever's been injected into you can be removed."

"I hope so." the echidna princess of Chandral replied.

Neela turned to he foster sister and asked, "How could this have happened?"

"I don't know, Neela. I don't know. But for right now, we have to regroup and recover...especially if we're going to take our home back from that creature." Adonna-Lyn replied.

To all the citizens of Knothole Village, the arrival of the truck-shaped carrier craft was a rude wake-up call. But Dave the Hedgehog, the Jedi Master better known as the Gold Jedi, it meant something was seriously wrong.

As he got dressed, he tried to focus on the occupants of the craft through the Force. He sensed Vector, Espio, Mighty, Charmy, Neela, and Adonna-Lyn on board...but oddly enough...he didn't find John on board. He felt Adonna-Lyn's pain and thought that surely John would be there, trying to help his beloved wife.

Sally was the first one at the craft's landing site. As she was the leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, it was her responsibility to see what was going on firsthand, so then she'd command the others to make a break for it if necessary.

As the door in the back of the craft opened slowly, she quickly got everyone to back off, ordering, "Everyone keep your distance. Just stay back. I'll try to handle this."

"Good! Then handle this, babe!" a deep gravely voice said as the back door slammed down. Fortunately, Sally's own personal training and quick reflexes kept her from being flattened beneath the door.

As she got back on her feet, Sally scowled at the sight of the Chaotix disembarking from their craft. "YOU! What brings you floating rock scum here?!" she harshly asked, not forgetting how Vector, Mighty and Charmy beat her up a bit while going after an imprisoned Espio, just before John left Mobius.

Espio replied, "Your medical facilities bring us here, your royal snippiness."

"Why? Doesn't John care enough to have a doctor's office in that underground dump he dares to call home?" Geoffrey St. John, the head of the Royal Secret Service, joked.

Vector snapped his jaws at the skunk and growled, "Watch your mouth, stinky-boy, or I might just find a recipe back home that includes jerks like you as one of the ingredients!"

"That is enough of this bickering." Dave said as he approached the ship, "I believe you mentioned something about medical facilities. I sensed that one of the occupants on boad is in pain. Should you not be helping her?"

"Her?" Sally asked, shooting Dave a suspicious look.

"And who would this 'her' be, Sugah-Hog?" Bunnie asked, shooting her boyfriend an angry look.

"John's wife, my dear Bunnie." Dave replied.

Neela helped Adonna-Lyn exit the craft, carrying the echidna princess with her arm looped over her back.

"My gosh...what happened to her?" Sally asked.

Neela faced Sally and replied, "It would be better if we get her Highness to the medical facility. After she has recovered, she will explain what happened."



A while later...

Adonna-Lyn finally let the wounds on her arm heal up, after the local physician removed the poison from her arm. But even as she recovered, she released tears of pain. Not physical, but emotional pain. She felt so guilty...

"Okay, now that you're back to full health, would you mind telling us what happened?" Sally asked.

"Hey, give her a moment, for pity's sake!" Mighty said on Adonna-Lyn's behalf, "Can't you see she's having a really rough time coping with what has just happened?"

"I would understand what she's trying to cope with...that is, if she'd atleast tell me what has happened!!!" Sally exclaimed.

"Then perhaps I should tell you what's going on." Adonna-Lyn replied, her purple eyes glowing as she began to mentally place the images of what had happened into the gathered freedom fighters' heads....

It all started about a week ago, last Monday night, to be exact. She was sleeping with her loving husband, the infamous ex-bounty hunter John the Enforcer,...when a vision hit her.

The vision was about her following the calls of distress from John, the calls echoing throughout the halls of FICC. She could not bare to think about what was occuring to her beloved husband to have him call for her help. All that mattered was that he needed her. That was all she needed to know.

But when she reached a point where John's calls were the loudest, his calls were replaced by sinister chuckling. Then, the floor plates below her feet vanished, causing her to fall into a darkness...until she landed back-first on a net-like structure! As she tried to get up, however, she found that her limbs, torso, and head were unable to part from the net. The strands of the net were stuck tight to where she touched it. It wasn't a net...it was a big-ass WEB!

The strands began to vibrate. Whatever created this sticky trap was large and coming towards her. It appeared to be a spider-like creature...but it had the head of her beloved husband!

It was releasing a horrendous chorus of vile laughter through its needle-like (sharp, too) teeth as its mouth opened. A long, thick tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around Adonna-Lyn's waist. With quick motion, it ripped her from the web...and brought her right into the creature's drooling mouth.

That was when she woke up with a terrified scream. She found herself back in the Master Bedroom, John snuggled close to her. Her scream eventually woke up her husband, who then shook his head and asked, "Adon? What's wrong?"

She told him about everything that happened in her dream. Before John even coaxed her into thinking it was just a dream, she told him of how the dreams of Chandralite Echidnas are often prophetic. "Before we first met, I dreamed how an angel in dark armor would release me from Blue Fang's cursed prison with a lance of invincible light." she told him, "And that did come true, John...the night I first met your armored self."

"Well, I'm not a hideous, eight-legged freak of nature, so maybe it was just a nightmare." John reassured as he brought his loving wife into an embrace, "There's nothing to worry about."

How little did John realize how wrong he was.

The following morning, when John came to breakfast, Adonna-Lyn, Neela, and the Chaotix received the shock of their lives. John's normal, silvery-blue eyes had taken on a red-and-orange, reptillian appearance! He simply replied that he was lacking sufficient sleep. Adonna-Lyn's fears were even further confirmed when John spit out the grapes that he usually had for his breakfast, complaining that they taste terrible to him.

Espio tried the grapes and said that they tasted fine to him. John suddenly became very hostile, grabbing his chaemeleon friend by the neck and shoving him against a wall, to which Espio claimed that six smaller eyes with the same appearance as John's current optical state opened up on his forehead.

Finally, John was talked into letting Espio go. But then, the blue echidna said that he would be dining out for breakfast...alone. Vector threw down his napkin, saying, "Now I know there's something screwy going on; John never dines out for breakfast."

As the days proceeded, however, things turned out that there was something far worse going on with the Chaotix's leader. Reports came from the surface of the Floating Island that many animals were vanishing, often reappearing either wrapped up in silky cocoons...or with half of their bodies bitten off! Even more so, John had become extremely reclusive, locking the door to his chambers, even to his own wife! Whenever he was present, the fresh stench of death followed.

Then, during the past Sunday, the full extent of what had befallen John was revealed.

Adonna-Lyn was on her way to John's study to hopefully discern what was wrong, when Vector, Mighty, Espio, and Charmy practically stampeded past her, screaming about a monster near John's quarters. Adonna-Lyn's face paled. Neela was delivering a meal to John, in hopes to atleast make him a bit more friendly, which would put her in serious danger!

The echidna princess snuck up to where John's study was and fought hard to stifle a startled gasp. Neela was pinned against a wall under a large, sticky, net-like web! But that wasn't all. Emerging from John's study was a hideous mockery of her husband's form.

It walked on eight spindly, almost blade-like legs, bore the face of John, but now had a bulbous abdomen, two small bumps where the cephalothorax met the abdomen, and had the six smaller eyes that Espio claimed he saw two days before. But John's face...it had become hideously sinister-looking. His grinning mouth had becomed full of needle-like teeth, his tongue hung out like a necktie of the damned, and she could almost swear she saw a pair of smaller, manipulative appendages coming out of his cheeks.

"What do you want from me?" Neela asked, while struggling to free herself of the web that pinned her to the wall.

The spider-like beast that was once Adonna-Lyn's husband replied, "I think that's pretty obvious, babe...but first, I think you owe me a scream...ever since I demolished that overlander encampment you were in!"

Adonna-Lyn recognized the voice and remember Neela's account of what happend after her sister was coldly killed before her eyes. It was the Arachna lackey of Blue Fang's: BRUTUS!

Thinking quickly, she took up a fire extinguishing unit, tossed it into the fray, and launched a psychic burst at it, causing it to explode and throw a cloud of freezing CO2 over beast and captive.

Using her telepathy to home in on Neela, she found her friend, broke apart the frozen strands of the half-spider's web and freed the servant girl. She seized Neela's hand and quickly ran for the Central Control room, leaving a blinded creature behind.

But as both girls reached the Control room, where Adonna-Lyn sensed the Chaotix were, she found that the door was locked. She pounded the door and demanded to be let in.

"How do we know that it's you and not that thing?" Espio asked suspiciously.

"Because you're an asshole!" Adonna-Lyn shouted.

Vector shrugged and said, "Can't argue with that. It's her. Let her in!"

As her Highness and her lady-in-waiting dashed in, Mighty held Neela close, asking, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Not as much as I'm scared out of my wits, my friend." she replied, "Your Highness...can it truly be that monster?"

"I don't know, Neela. It has to be John...but I can never forget the voice of that foul Arachna Brutus." the echidna princess answered.

Espio then shouted, "WHOA WHOA WHOA! Back up! Adon, just what the hell's going on here? What's an Arachna? Who's Brutus?"

Adonna-Lyn went on to explain that Brutus was a bat-winged, spider-like lackey of the vile Blue Fang. Somehow, the vixen enchantress was able to take control of Brutus when she was about to be sacrificed to it. She finished her tale by saying that she killed Brutus before it had a chance to kill John.

"Well, you didn't do that good of a job." Espio snapped, "That thing's still alive!"

Adonna-Lyn shook her fair head and said, "No, I DID kill Brutus. For now, I can only guess that John has become posessed by the foul spirit of Brutus, his body changing to suit that murderous arachnid's anatomical configuration."

Vector slapped his head in confusion and yelled, "WHAT?!"

"She means that Brutus needs to regain his original form, so he's mutating John's body to suit his form." Charmy replied.

"So what do we do...Who's in charge?" Mighty asked, shaking a bit fearfully, "Neon's busy helping her pal Snake with the repairs of his casino. Who's in charge...?"

"Mighty! Chill, will ya?!" Vector said, "It's obvious who's next in the chain of command."

"Yeah. What a shame the little walking powder keg is in the ventilation system with Heavy." Espio remarked.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Espy." Vector snorted, "I mean..."

Mighty then asked, "What about Adonna-Lyn? Technically, she is a princess, so that makes her a natural born leader."

Charmy verbally agreed, "Yeah. And since she's John's wife, that should put her next in the chain of command."

"Okay, so you're our current leader." Espio said to Adonna-Lyn, "So...start leading. What do we do?"

Adonna-Lyn looked a bit bewildered, giving the chaemeleon cause to snap, "Oh. This is just great. Wonderful! Shit!"

"Well, I do have this one idea." she started.

"Oh? Then what do we do, fearless leader?" Espio mocked, "Last time I checked, you were as pale as a sheet when you ran in here. Personally, I say we torch that thing..."

Adonna-Lyn grabbed Espio and shoved him into a wall, her right fist-claws aimed at his throat. "Need I remind you, that 'thing' is still your employer and friend...as well as my beloved." she hissed, "First one of you that causes him to spill his blood will answer to me."

"Okay, we won't kill him or harm him." Mighty said, "But what DO we do?"

"Vector, I need you and the other Chaotix to take whatever we can carry and need to survive and load them onto one of the carrier ships." Adonna-Lyn planned, "Neela and I will try to hold John...Brutus...whoever he is right now off...possibley even bring my dear husband back from whatever painful limbo he's in right now. Heavy?"

Heavy appeared on the main screen of the Control Room, saying, "Heavy here. How may I be of assistance?"

"Heavy, I need you to lock up any exit from FICC. Something has happened to John...something unspeakabley evil. When next we communicate, I'll need you to activate the lock-up." she said.

"Something wrong with John? Hmm, that would explain the screams we've been hearing from below us." Heavy stated, "Very well. We'll work on it. Heavy out...NO, BOMB! This one goes there, that one goes there, not the other way around!"

With that, Adonna-Lyn and Neela left the confines of the Control Room and went back to where John was lurking...rather, waiting for them in the dimly lit corridors. Adon pulled out her infamous dagger, hoping that she could pull Brutus out of John that way with it's energy-sucking powers. Unless, of course, she accidently pulled out John's good side...

Her thoughts were interupted by her slamming into something...something that stuck to the front of her body. It was a web whose strands were spread out in the entire width and height of the hallway. She tried to pull herself off of the web, but true to form, she was stuck tight to the arachnid-produced trap. In her struggles, she dropped her dagger and it landed on the floor on the other side of the web.

"Hang on. I'll get it." Neela said as she reached through a large gap at the bottom of the web...just as a taloned hand the size of Adonna-Lyn's head gripped her arm and pulled her through to the other side of the web. It was Brutus!

"Well, whadya know...the princess serves the servant girl." the half-Arachna, half-echidna monster chuckled through its fully arachnoid mouth, "Serves her up for my dinner, that is."

Neela then took her De'kar stick out with her free hand and, while calling upon the Force, delivered a powerful electrical jolt into the beast's eyes through the point of one of the extended blades. As it dropped her and thrashed about madly, she commented, "Serves you right.", and quickly ran over to Adonna-Lyn to cut her free from the web.

But as the princess and her servant were about to leave, the spider beastie sprayed them with its webbing from both its mouth and its abdomen. They tried to slice at the webbing with their weapons, but soon found they were doing so with limbs that were quickly losing their full mobility. Almost within moments, they appeared to be nothing more but large, writhing cones of sticky Arachna silk.

"I don't need this kind aggravation from my meals!" Brutus snarled as he drew close to the web-wrapped girls.

"John, I know you're in there...deep within this cursed shell." Adon said with her still-free mouth, "Fight Brutus. I know you can do it!"

"Sorry, John's kinda out of it for a while, babe." Brutus snickered, his mouth only inches from her head.

"I don't think so." she said as she focused her mental energies and stabbed hard at the creature's mind, "He's in there...and I'm going to bring him back.

Brutus clutched his head, screaming and roaring as Adonna-Lyn continued her psychic assault on him. But during the half-Arachna's thrashings, he just nearly severed Neela's head with one swipe of his blade-like legs. It was fortunate that Neela ducked in time.

However, it enraged Adonna-Lyn enough to telekinetically throw the beast against the Ditanium-covered walls. But as the spider-beast came to, the echidna princess noticed a significant physical difference in the creature's appearance. It was only the eyes...but they were John's normal, silvery-blue, rather than the Arachna lackey's red-and-orange reptillian eyes.

"What a headache I got." the beast spoke...encouragingly, in John's voice, "Um...Adon? Neela? What happened to you two?"

"I'll explain, beloved...as soon as you get us out of this." she said, encouraged by this turn of events.

As John scuttled forward and ripped the webbing off the two Chandralites, something dawned on him. He quickly said, "Aptiva, scan for any arachnid forms within FICC."

"Scanning...location confirmed. Hallway 5, near units Adonna-Lyn and Neela." Aptiva replied.

With his fear-filled, eight eyes, he looked into a reflection on Adonna-Lyn's crown...and panicked, shrieking, "Wha...What happened to me?!"

"John, it's kind of hard to explain, but...you've mutated, due to Brutus' ghost taking over your body." Adon said as she came close to John.

He backed away from her, shouting, "Stay away from me! I don't want to harm you. Please, stay away!"

It brought a tear to both their eyes. The whole thing reeked of Blue Fang...trying to tear them apart. "Adon...I can't be like this. How can we love each other...how can you even bare to look at me? I'm a monster." he weeped.

"John...from our first days together, I thought you were a monster. But deep down, I knew there was a kind-hearted hero within that armored shell. That bit of good is still in you...it's with you right now." Adonna-Lyn stated, "No matter what happens, John, I still love you, with all my hearts. Nothing, not even this monstrous form, will ever keep me from caring about you, my love."

Suddenly, a pair of John's newly acquired eyes began to revert back...slowly, but menacingly. "Adon...he's coming back. Get out of here! Run!" John said as he backed away from his wife again, clutching his head.

Just then, the bumps Adonna-Lyn saw earlier burst open, unfurling a pair of bat-like wings! She looked back at John, tears pouring from her eyes, and called, "John?"

But as the monstrosity released his head, he glared at Adonna-Lyn and Neela...then lunged at the servant girl, his fangs bared. The echidna princess leaped in between the Arachna beast and her friend...feeling its fangs piercing into her skin. She winced painfully, crying out in agony.

But as Brutus bit even deeper, a few of his wicked eyes returned to John's eyes. They widened in stunned horror to what the foul soul within him was doing to Adonna-Lyn...and narrowed in anger. John managed to take control of his left fist...and plowed it into his altered form's chin with the force of a charging Bantha herd. "Get your ugly, fang-filled self away from my wife, you web-spraying son of a bitch!!!" John's voice shouted.

"Hey, Johnny-boy! I knew she was going to leap in the way." Brutus taunted.

"You...YOU BASTARD!!!" John roared in full fury, "I'll kill us both if that's what it takes to keep you from harming anymore of my friends!"

Afterwards, it appeared to be a bizzare brawl, with the spider beast rolling about the floor, trying to punch and strangle himself. John telepathically called, "Neela, get a wire around Adonna-Lyn's elbow and get her out of here!"

The glow in Adonna-Lyn's eyes faded. She had finished her tale. "Now do you see why we have left out home?" Adonna-Lyn asked.

"Yes...and quite frankly, you disgust me!" Sally snapped, "If you cared anything for your husband, you should have stayed behind and helped him."

"Like you would have done as you're suggesting!" Adonna-Lyn snapped back, "If I recall correctly, it was you who made him into the heartless bounty hunter he was before he met me! He did care about you in the past, he believed in the ideals you fought for during your war with Robotnik...and you cast him aside like an broken tool!"

"Well, excuse me for the fact that he turned on my fellow freedom fighters when one them accidently blasted him in the back of the head!" Sally argued, "And don't forget that he slaughtered innocent people in pursuit of those he hunted in his career as a hired gun! It sickens me to think that you would fall in love with that...that monster!"

"You know, you're THIS close to having your friends see the color of your insides, you little smart-mouthed...!" Adonna-Lyn said while powering up a psychic blast.

"That is enough!" Dave said, bringing out his lightsaber and igniting its blade, "There will be no violence on these grounds between fellow Mobadon System residents! Our main focus should be on how we're going to stop this creature before it gets out and devours far more sentient life."

Adonna-Lyn glared at Sally...then dispersed the psychic energy back into her body. "Jedi Master Dave...I bow to your wisdom." she said.

"So...what do we do?" Vector asked.

Espio said, "Well, it can't dig its way out. The walls and doors in FICC are made up of 4 feet of titanium alloy."

"By now, that thing should have mutated to the point were it will suit Brutus's main physical form...no humanoid features like hands or feet." Charmy added, "It shouldn't be able to access keyboards or security panels without cutting them to pieces."

"Then why come to us?" Sonic asked, "If that thing's trapped within John's base, he'll probabley starve to death without enough to eat. Problem's solved."

"Hardly, hedgehog." Adonna-Lyn said, "If Brutus dies, then so does John. Since that creature is still an ethereal entity, it cannot take physical form...it needs something or someone it can draw life force from to sustain its own existence."

"So what's the problem?" Geoffrey said while fiddling with a toothpick, "We'll just wait until that creature wastes away..."

His snide remark was met with a hard tail slap by Vector and a hard blow to his mid-section by Adonna-Lyn.

"That 'creature' is still my boss and her beau, stinky Jones. Now, unless you have no more need for the bones in your body, you better keep your trap shut." Vector commented, his jaws close to the skunk's left ear, St. John's head in a strong head-lock

"Sonic, stop this!" Sally ordered.

"Actually, Sal, I'm gonna allow this." Sonic said, wanting to have his rival (Geoffrey St. John, that is) for Sally's affections removed.

"I won't." Dave said, "Adonna-Lyn, if you need my help, I will be more than ready to serve you. I may not like John myself, but no one derserves what he's going through right now."

"Master Dave, I thank you for your willingness to help. Vector, get off of the skunk." she ordered.

Vector glared at the skunk, growled, and said, "Saved by la belle femme, odor boy." He then dropped St. John out of the head-lock he had the skunk in, having the skunk fall face down on the floor.

Just then Mighty received a message on the communicator he had with him. "Mighty, here." the armadillo replied.

"Mighty, this is Heavy. I have important information for her Highness." the Mechanix drone said.

Adonna-Lyn came over to him and asked, "Yes, Heavy? What's up?"

"I recorded a rather bizarre and frightening sequence of events. I really think you need to know about this." Heavy replied, punching a few buttons off to his right.

A hologram began to display Brutus/John in the Central Control room of FICC, trying to get the computer to unlock the doors to the outside of the underground base. "DAMN IT!" the Arachna beast roared in frustration.

John's voice was heard, speaking, "What's the matter, beast? Can't find your way out?"

"You'll tell me how to unlock the doors out of this pithole or else..." Brutus threatened.

"Or you'll what?" John said, the eyes of him and the Arachna changing as one spoke to the other, "You kill me, and you'll be back to being nothing more but a passenger of the Ethereal Plane (I know, bad pun)."

"You will tell him, you goody goody geek!" a harsh, mechanical voice growled, the eyes of the spider beast turning a hellish glowing red.

"You...I should have known you would have let Brutus into my body and mind, knowing your blood and destruction-lust!" John snapped.

"And he made me an offer I couldn't refuse." the third, vicious voice added, "All the people and things I could watch being destroyed."

As the hologram paused, Kenny asked, "Who the hell was that?"

"As best as I can guess, it's John's darker half, his alter-ego if you will-The Enforcer." Heavy said, "The vocal pattern matched that of John whenever he's in his armor."

"Well, that's interesting to know John's a big ol' schizo, but how does that help us?" Geoffrey asked...just to result in a hard slap in the back of the head by Vector.

"Man, you just don't know when to keep your big trap shut, do ya?!" the headphone-wearing crocodile yelled while slapping Geoffrey out the door.

"Trap...OH SHIT!" Heavy realized aloud, "Neon doesn't even know what's been going on here. She left her communicator back in her room...she's about to walk straight into a trap! I have to keep her from getting back into the base...or in the very least, get her into the ventilation system, out of that monster's reach. Heavy, out!"

On the Floating Island's surface...

"What the bloody hell's going on here?!" Neon shouted in her frustration to get back into FICC. For some reason, the Zoom Tube elevator was refusing to come to the surface, even when she entered her password. And she had to check up on the egg she had purchased from a pet shop on Coruscant.

Having enough of this nonsense, she used her pyrokinetic skills to open a hole into the shaft and used her wings to gently glide down the shaft (but not before using her powers to seal up the hole to keep any intruders from getting in). When she landed on the elevator cab, she opened up the emergency exit on the roof and entered the cab. She then got her fingers to open the elevator door, and quickly got out before the doors slammed shut and did some serious harm to her.

The sights that greeted her were not in the least bit encouraging. The place had become dark, there were frayed wires on the floor, and thick cobwebs were lining the walls and celings.

"Either this is Vector's idea of decorating for Halloween, which is way too early, or a few thousand years have gone by...and that's unlikely, considering I know for a fact that it only took a couple of hours to get from Snake's casino back to the Floating Island." she thought as she proceeded into the base, "My only conclusion now is that there was a battle here. But where are the others?"

As she tried to push aside a cobweb, she was a bit surprised when her hand became stuck to it. As she pulled back, she felt her wings get stuck to some cobwebs behind her. She felt her feet sticking to the floor, and saw that there were some webs on the ground as well. She swung around with her free hand to try and brush the webs off her wings...only to get that hand stuck as well. She fought with all her might (which she had a lot of) to break free from her sticky bonds, but only became even more ensnared by the webs. After struggling for a while, she was caught in an extremely awkward position and really got ticked off about it.

"I've had enough of this!" she yelled as she called upon her pyrokinetic powers and burned the webs off of her. She didn't worry about her clothes, seeing as John coated it with a flame-resistant chemical he was experimenting with, utilizing her DNA...

Suddenly, she heard what sounded like blades striking the metal floor of the base at a rapid pace. She looked down the hall leading into the crew quarters...and gasped. Peeking around the corner was a spidery monstrosity!

"Well, that would explain the webs." she thought. As it began to bound down the hallway, she ran quickly into her quarters and engaged the safety lock, to which it would take the force of ten charging Reeks to bust.

Fortunately, the lock held...but she was sent flying across her bedroom from the impact of the creature ramming the door. She heard the sound of a wooden pedastal teetering...and saw the egg she had purchased, about to fall off! She caught it, thanking her lucky stars that she had wrapped it in extra blankets to incubate it and to protect it from being damaged.

The growling sounds of the creature outside grew louder, its ill-smelling drool flooding under the door. She easily came to the conclusion that whatever-it-was out there was very hungry, also noting the growling coming from its stomach. She then heard what sounded like someone calling her name. She looked about and saw Heavy peeking out of a ventilation grate, calling, "Neon! Get over here now!"

"Heavy, what is going on?!" she asked as she came over to the grate.

"I'll explain once you're out of harm's way." Heavy replied as he opened the grate, "Now just get in here!"

As she handed the egg to Heavy, the creature managed to slice apart the lock with one of its blade-like legs. It then busted down the door. She quickly ducked into the ventilation system and pulled the vent over the opening, welding it shut with her fire powers...just as the creature stormed into the room.

Once she, Heavy and Bomb had gotten far from the crew quarters, she asked, "Heavy, I want to know three things. One, what is going on around here? Two, what the hell was that thing? And three, where's everyone else?"

"I shall answer all three. Everyone else have left the base because John has mutated into a creature he and Adonna-Lyn had faced and killed on Chandral. Bomb and I have remained here to keep that creature from escaping. Could you imagine what would happen if that thing got out of here?" Heavy posed while giving the egg back to its owner.

"Just from what I've seen since I got in here, I've got a very good idea." she said, looking back at the sound of an insect-like roar.

"You've just merely sampled the frosting. The inner part of the cake is far worse." the Mechanix stated in a metaphor, "According to Adonna-Lyn's own account of her encounter with one of these creatures, as they age, they develop a psychotic sentience, forcing their victims to scream and be terrified...and that's before the victim is devoured. Apparently, it's the act the creatures enjoy more than the nourishment."

"Now, that's just mentally sick!" she commented.

"The creature in question is called an Arachna." Heavy further explained, "Its webs are only third in inescapability to the Arachnor of Azrid or the Purella spider of Yavin 8. Believe this or not, the Arachna of Chandral is an omnivore. While meat is the main part of its diet, it also feeds on the super sticky sap of the numerous Betabora trees, and I guess that the sap is then synthesized into the Arachna's sticky webs."

"Tell me about it." she snorted, "I felt like I was caught in a stasis field."

"You became caught?!" Heavy gasped, "You're quite lucky to be alive. If you were stuck there a minute or so sooner, that beast would have been upon you. How did you free yourself?"

"Well, it just so turns out that Arachna webs aren't as fire-proof as my scaly skin." she said with a smirk.

Just then, she felt the egg jiggle a bit. A crack began to appear on one part of the egg. She looked at Heavy and asked, "Heavy...are you seeing this?"

"Indeed, I am." Heavy replied.

The crack began to spread to the rest of the egg, creating more cracks as whatever inside the egg was beginning to hatch. Finally, the shards of the egg fell to the "floor" of the vent system. Neon looked on in surprise and awe as the creature stirred in her arms.

It was a small, indigo, cat-sized, lizard-like creature. It had a pair of wings like hers, small paws, large ears, and a small tuft of hair (?) on its forehead. It let out a slight yawn and opened its light-purple eyes.

"Oh, Heavy...it's so cute." she said after it yawned again. It looked up at Neon...and stretched out its forelimbs, as if wanting to embrace her. As she held it close, it let out a purring noise while wagging its thick tail.

"It would appear that it has identified you as its guardian, Neon, possibley even its mother." Heavy suggested.

"I've noticed, Heavy." she stated. As she held it, she then heard it whimpering. "Why, what's wrong?" she asked. A rumbling sound from its stomach then confirmed what it needed.

"It would appear that he is hungry. Well, this is not a well situation, seeing as we would have to leave the safety of the ventilation system to get food...and you know as well as I do of what that means." Heavy grimly stated.

"Yes, I know. But I'm not about to let the poor little thing go hungry." she said, "You could possibley get it some food...I mean, that creature might think you're inedible."

"Oh, your motherly concern is overwhelming." Heavy muttered sarcastically as he opened a grate, jumped into the hallway below him and waddled awkwardly to the kitchen.

"He sure is brave...for a mechanic." Neon commented to Bomb as she cradled her newly-hatched pet in harm.



As Heavy entered the kitchen, he looked about the various food stuffs on the shelves and in the freezer. Then it occured to him: what kind of food would the little fellow eat?

"Neon, I made it to the kitchen...but what do we feed your pet?" Heavy asked, "We don't know what its exact dietary preference is."

"Well, bring whatever samples you can and we'll experiment." she said over the communicator.

"Oh, very well." he said as he gathered up a leg of Shaak meat, a bottle of milk, a head of lettuce, and some cherries.

Back in the ventilation system, Heavy tore off a bit of lettuce and gave it to the little winged pet. It sniffed at it curiously, licked it, then recoiled and made sounds of disgust.

"Hmm...maybe it's a picky eater." Heavy said as he brought out the leg of Shaak meat and put down on the vent-system ground. The pet repeated what it did earlier, but instead of rejecting the food presented to him, he let out a cry of happiness...and practically skeletonized it!!!

"Okay. So, he's not a vegetarian." Neon said as it let out a cheerful belch.

Heavy added, "And he's no gentleman, either. He has the table manners of a Hutt."

Almost as if to retaliate to Heavy's comment, the little thing picked up the left-over bone...and clubbed the Mechanix drone in the head with it! As Heavy shouted in surprise and angst, the pet made a sound...like it was laughing at him.

"Why, you little..." Heavy angrily said as he brought out a laser saw. Upon seeing the tool, the pet scurried up onto Neon's shoulder.

"Heavy, put that thing away! I will not let you harm little Caylis!" Neon ordered.

"Caylis? Is that what you named that little monster?" Heavy asked, casting an angered glance at the winged trouble maker.

"That little monster, as you put it, is just a baby. He doesn't know any better to behave." Neon stated...just as a long blade nearly sliced off her nose.

"It's that beast! We have to get moving!" Heavy shouted as they heard a roar of frustration outside.

As the Detrossian and the two robots ran through the spacious ventilation system, the creature's blade-like legs kept trying to spear them. As they reached a slight junction, Heavy looked down one way and said, "Neon, let's go this way. It will lead to the Armory. It's the most secure part of Floating Island Central Command. Nothing, not even a germ can..."

"I GET IT! I GET IT!" Neon said, "'Nuff talk, more run!"

They made a quick run for the ventilation shafts leading into the Armory. Along the way, one of the half-Arahna's blades surged up and hit Neon in the back of her right thigh. She let out a scream of pain, but kept moving.

Heavy kicked open a grate into the Armory and helped Bomb and Neon down. As Neon landed, Caylis looked at Neon's leg and whimpered.

Heavy examined the damage the beast had wrought. "Neon, I must say you're lucky he scratched you. However, if we don't treat this wound, it might become infected."

Caylis looked at Neon, who was grimacing from the pain she was suffering, and began to lick the wound.

"Stop that! Shoo! Shoo!" Heavy said, trying to get Caylis away from Neon's wound. It then growled at the robot. "Don't you growl at me! I'm trying to help your master and your slobbering might be making her situation worse!"

Bomb, however, noticed something and alerted, "PING! Ping pingpingping ping ping!"

"What do you mean her wound is becoming disinfected?" Heavy asked. Bomb pointed out where Caylis licked her wound...and where there were points of purple lining the otherwise green scaly skin around the open wound, the purple points were disappearing where Neon's pet had his tongue touch.

"Hmm...fascinating." Heavy said in observation.

"What's fascinating?" Neon asked.

Heavy explained, "It would appear that Caylis' saliva is somehow acting as a disinfectant to the infection in the wound on your leg..."

Neon interupted, "And you stopped him?!"

Realzing so, Heavy grabbed Caylis, forced his tongue out, and continued to spread the little guy's saliva over the scar. After Heavy put Caylis down, it growled slightly at Heavy.

"Well, that will atleast take care of the infection...but you're still bleeding, Neon." Heavy reported, "The last thing we need is you dying from blood loss." The Mechanix drone then found a bit of webbing that was on him, ripped a bit of Neon's already torn pants and put it over the wound, using the webbing to hold it there.

"I guess that will have to do until Adonna-Lyn and the others get back." Neon said as she examined the wound.

A slight hum was heard on Heavy's communicator. He answered it. It was Adonna-Lyn. "Your Highness! Thank goodness you're alright." Heavy stated.

"I'm fine now. Is Neon safe?" she asked.

"For the moment. She took an Arachna blade-scratch to the back of her leg and is still bleeding. She'll need your healing abilities to keep herself from losing too much blood." Heavy reported.

"She'll do what she can to help her...that is, if you let us in!!!" Espio shouted over the comm.

"Oh, right!" Heavy said while slapping his "forehead". He then opened one of his drawer-like compartments and pulled out an input/output jack. He then plugged it into a nearby port. "I'm now opening the outer hatch. Once it's completely open, you need to get in here quickly so that I may shut the hatch before Brutus has a chance to get out."

Within the returning carrier craft...

Dave looked over at Princess Sally as the craft entered FICC. "Sally, are you sure you needed to come along? I mean, with all due respect, this is too hazardous. You've never encountered something like what's taken over John. You won't know what to expect." Dave said.

"Well, if this thing is as dangerous as this echidna princess of his says it is, I want to make sure that this threat is eliminated before it really does some serious damage to the rest of this planet." Sally replied, "Besides, do you think I'm going to entrust your safety to John's crew?"

Suddenly, the carrier craft came to sudden halt. When everyone had recovered, they saw the reason why. The craft was stuck to a huge web in the Docking Bay. From the looks of it, there were webs everywhere!

"Looks like someone's been a busy boy." Vector remarked.

"I've heard of 'making yourself at home', but THIS..." Espio started.

Adonna-Lyn quickly advised, "Okay, everyone. We're going to try and find a way to drive this thing out of John's body. First, we need to meet up with Heavy, Bomb and Neon and see to her injuries. Stay clear of the webs if you don't have the means to free yourself. These webs are extremely adhesive and if you are caught, any unarmed means of prying yourself from them will only get you further ensnared, leaving you open to be devoured. If you have a cutting or burning tool or any sort of weapon, for the love of Chandrala, don't lose it...it will make all the difference between life and death."

"Gee, how reassuring." Sally commented.

Charmy opened the door. Immediately, they were greeted with the foul smell of a murky cave. The air was slightly cold, but not enough to be freezing.

As they disembarked from the carrier craft, Dave stretched out with the Force. All he could feel was the emptiness of the halls of FICC. He called upon the Force, a bit stronger this time, to sense where their main adversary was.

"What is it?" Mighty asked.

"Either he found a way out of here...or he's somehow blocking me from sensing his exact location. Either way, I have a bad feeling about this." Dave said, watching the walls and the celings carefully.

Suddenly, something hit Sally's head and pulled her up to the celing! As the others shined some hand-held illumination devices towards the celing, they saw Sally being wrapped up from head to toe in Arachna silk by Brutus!

"My, you dress scantily!" Brutus commented about her vest and boots combo, "If you're just a mere sample of what the girls are like on this planet, then I can't wait to bust out of this hole!"

Espio took aim with his blaster and fired, nearly hitting Sally in the chest. Dave grabbed at the chaemeleon's weapon and ordered, "Hold your fire! You'll hit Sally!"

"What's your point?" Espio asked as he fired again.

"As much as cooked meat tastes better to me, I prefer my meals alive and kicking! Later, losers!" Brutus called as he ran off with the cocooned Mobian princess on his back.

"HEY!" Mighty shouted, "Come back here and fight like a...a...spider-thing."

"I'll be back sooner than you think. HAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Brutus laughed, his cruel bellowing of laughter echoing througout the halls of the underground base.

" 'Come back and fight like a...'...MIGHTY, HAVE YOU LOST IT OR SOMETHING?!" Vector yelled, "That thing's 3 times bigger than we are...and not even the Gold Jerkie here sensed him!"

Espio slapped an energy pack into his blaster rifle and said, "Not to mention blaster shots just bounce off that thing's hide. I didn't even scratch it!"

All eyes turned to Adonna-Lyn. "Well, how did you kill that thing when you first faced it?" Vector asked.

"When I killed it, I chopped off its legs then stabbed it with John's lightsaber." Adonna-Lyn answered, "But that's not what we're going to do!"

After a brief pause, Neela asked, "Then what DO we do?"

"First, we need to deal with Neon. There's no telling how much blood she's lost by now." Adonna-Lyn instructed, "Vector, you and the other Chaotix get on board the ShadowHunter and pull up a map of FICC. We'll need it to discern and plan out every possible way Brutus can get at us...maybe even find a way to ambush and free my husband from his cursed clutches. Neela, you and Dave will get to the Armory and extract Neon from there."

"And what about you?" Vector asked.

"I'm going to track Brutus down to his lair." she answered while pulling out her dagger, "We'll need to know about the hallways and what hazards to expect."

"Your Highness, I highly advise against this action." Dave said, "If you get caught, I might not be able to help you if I'm away from you."

"I know about the risk involved in my part of this plan, Master Dave. But this is important. And besides, I can handle that slobbering beast." she said defiently, "Now let's go."

In the Central Control Room...

Brutus took Sally off his back and threw her towards the celing, where a massive network of webs was. As Sally opened her eyes, she looked about, trying to get an estimation of her options. She knew from basic knowledge about spiders that any struggling on her part would only strangle her to death. And even if she did get free, there was still the matter of the eight-legged nightmare below her. She figured that the best she could do now was just sit tight and wait, knowing someone would have to come for her.

"Who's going to come for you?" the monster below her guffawed, "John's goon squad? Unless you haven't noticed, they don't care about you."

Sally knew well about John's telepathic abilities, which scared her to think about what other powers this creature figured out how to use.

"Now let's see here...Ah, HA! Enforcer Drones...let's just see how efficient they are." Brutus chortled. Two hands and arms seemed to "grow" out of the foul beast below Sally and went for the keyboard...just as one of the hands seized the other!

"No...I won't...let you...hurt..." John spoke through the creature as he tried to restrain it from touching the keyboard.

"I'll deal with him." The Enforcer's harsh voice snarled, sending a cold chill down the spine of the captive Mobian princess.

What she witnessed afterward was a bizarre thrashing about and shouting of several voices within the web-spinning monstrosity underneath her. While she didn't really care much for John, she hoped he'd win this mental fight.

But the minute she heard that vile chuckle rise from the spider-like thing, she realized that John has lost out in his fight against both his dark side and the foul spirit that had mutated him into this cursed form.

"Now, where was I...Oh yeah. Now, I remember..." Brutus snickered as he began typing on the computer console in front of him....

The Armory...

Neon clutched the wound on her leg. Heavy's make-shift bandage was beginning to leak. She didn't know how much more of this she could take before she snapped...

There then came a rapping at the door of the Armory. Heavy quickly ran to the door and shouted, "Who's there?!"

"Heavy, it is Master Dave and I." Neela's voice called through the door.

"Checking vocal patterns........voice confirmed!" Heavy said after a slight check, just to be safe.

He then plugged into a computer port next to the door. And after several large and loud mechanical sounds, the door opened. As Heavy opened the door, he was greeted by the sounds of laserfire and a lightsaber deflecting the shots. Neela bolted in, while Dave stood in the hallway, causing laser blasts to soar back at their senders, a group of on-coming Enforcer Drones.

As Dave quickly ducked into the Armory, he yelled, "CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR!"

"Right away, sir!" Heavy replied as he used the computer terminal he was jacked into to close the heavy Armory door.

Neela was already kneeling close to Neon, and examining her wound. "My goodness...how bad does it hurt?" she asked.

Neon looked up at the servant girl and snapped, "A LOT! Geez..."

Dave came close to the Detrossian Dragon and said, "Calm yourself. Neela, call upon the Living Force to help mend her wound."

"You gotta be joking..." Neon said glaring at the Chandralite squirrel, "She's barely been trained enough, Gold Jedi. Right now, I'd rather trust you with this than her!"

Dave shook his head and said, "She has to learn how to do this, Neon. She is currently under my supervision as a Padawan Learner."

"You mean...?" Neela asked, her heart beginning to beat rapidly.

"Yes. Master Yoda gave me authorization to train you in the ways of the Jedi." Dave replied, "I would have told you, but you went off with John and his friends to rescue King Aaron from the Trade Federation. Now, please hurry. There's no telling how much blood she's lost by now."

"Right. I'm on it." she said as she held her hand close to the bleeding wound on Neon's leg.

"Remember, Neela: You must feel the Force flow through you. The Force exists within all parts of nature, within every being." Dave spoke.

With that, Neela closed her eyes and began to focus. Neon watched. Where Neela's hand was position, the open wound was beginning to close. "Un-bloody-believable." Neon said as Neela continued her Jedi healing on her.

Neela suddenly began to sweat, almost losing her focus. Dave sensed it immediately and said, "Keep it up, Neela. You're doing fine so far. Don't lose your focus."

But ultimately, that's what happened. Neela let out a slight cry and fell on her back. She had gotten as far as closing the originally large wound to being a hole the size of a human eye. Dave lowered his head, and finished the healing.

Neela got back up, breathing heavily. "Why couldn't I do it?" she weeped.

"You have yet much to learn about the Living Force and the ways of the Jedi, Neela." Dave said as he helped both ladies up, "Still, you didn't do that bad. You healed up the majority of Neon's injury. Most learners wouldn't have been capable of healing that much in one setting. Your father would have been proud of you."

"Are we quite finished with this discussion?" Neon snapped, "What the hell was going on out there?"

"I don't know." Neela said, "Several of those...machines that John built switched on and began firing at us."

"It would appear that Brutus has somehow managed to reprogram the Enforcer Drones and turn them against us." Dave explained.

Something then occured to Neon. "Wait a minute. I remember those particular drones. They were in the middle of recharging...hooked up to the central computer!" Neon exclaimed, "That means...HEAVY, NO!"

Heavy was still hooked up to the computer input/output port!

Neon quickly ran forward and pulled the input/output jack Heavy was using out of the port. For a moment, Heavy's being fell limp. Neon put the jack down and looked over to the Chief Mechanix Drone, asking, "Heavy...are you okay? Heavy?"

Heavy's optic sensors took up a black coloration and two glowing red lights appeared as he droned, "New programming received...Capture, detain, and bring all biological units to Central Control Room...by order of Lord Brutus! Capture and detain!" The Chief Mechanix Drone lurched towards Neon, swiping with his manipulators to grab at the Detrossian.

Neon rolled out of the way. Heavy began to follow her, still trying to capture her. As he continued to drone his new orders and continued to pursue the Detrossian, she took to the air, thinking Heavy's overweight self couldn't follow her.

"Activating Jet Boosters..." Heavy said as a pair of rockets popped out of his sides. With a slight hum, Heavy began to lift off...to a maximum of five inches off the ground. "Damn!" he cursed, "Activating Head Prop blades..." The top of his head flipped open and a pair of helicoptor blades extened from a central rotor. The blades began spinning and increased his maximum altitude...to about a foot. "DAMN!" Heavy cursed again.

Neon then headed for ventilation system, calling to Dave and Neela. They came running and jumped up. Dave made it into the vents...but Neela fell a bit short, only able to get ahold opening with her finger tips. As Dave turned to pull her up, he was surprised to see Heavy bounding after them, heavy-duty springs between his bulky body and his feet.

"You have got to be bloody kidding..." Neon muttered.

Neela was trying hard to get into the vents, but her feet kept slipping against the wall...and her grip on the bottom of the opening was beginning to fail her. As she lost her grip and began to fall down, Dave caught her wrists and tried to pull her into the ventilation system.

"Neon, I need some help here!" Dave called over to her.

Neon quickly looped her arms around Dave's chest and pulled back...and then she realized, "Where's Caylis?"

"Neon!" Dave shouted as she accidently let go and had his chin hit the "floor" of the vent system. Neela fell again, with only Dave's left hand holding onto her right wrist...and Heavy was almost upon them.

The Gold Jedi aimed his right hand at Heavy and Force-pushed the robot away, forcing the bouncing mechanic to fly backwards and crash into a rack of edged weapons.

Neon then heard a slight cry behind her. She turned and saw Caylis...in Bomb's hands. The little winged reptile extended its front paws, as if reaching out for his owner.

Thinking Bomb was also reprogrammed, she made a fireball appear in her hand and threatened, "Bomb, let Caylis go or else I'll..."

Bomb simply walked up and gave Caylis to Neon. Then the little explosive robot went over to help Dave and Neela. After helping the Jedi Master and his new Padawan into the vents, Bomb looked and saw Heavy once again bouncing towards the vent, armed with a vibroblade this time.

Bomb leaped out of the vents and tackled Heavy, knocking his superior to the floor of the Armory.

"C'mon. We have to regroup with the others." Dave said.

"But what about Bomb? We can't leave him with Heavy!" Neela protested.

"Bomb can take care of himself." Neon said, holding Caylis close, "Besides, the little walking powder keg may be the only one to reverse what has happened to Heavy."

As they went through the vents, they heard an explosion behind them. Bomb had done his thing...

Dave quickly ordered, "Let's keep moving! Heavy can regenerate Bomb within himself...and could spread Brutus' reprogramming to Bomb."

"Wait a damn minute! How can some creature from some primitive world...?" Neon asked.

Neela interupted, "I beg your pardon, but that primitive world is my home! Just because we don't use advanced technology like on your world, that doesn't mean we Chandralites are stupid!"

"Well, if your people aren't so stupid, then why are you stuck with using regular swords, arrows, and shields?" Neon said almost in a taunting tone, "Where are your spaceships?"

Neela, trying hard to restrain her anger, explained, "My people don't use advanced technology because we've seen what it has done to screw up worlds like this one!"

Neon, not about to let the world she had hatched into be insulted by some little wench from some backwater planet, put Caylis out of her hands and out of the way. She then tackled Neela, threatening to beat her up severely...only to have the both of them fall into the hallway below them!

Neela pushed Neon off of her and tried to get up, her back aching. Neon flew back at Neela...only to kick-tossed over the squirrel servant girl and land behind her. Neela jumped back onto her feet and turned to face Neon, who used the flapping of her wings to get back up.

"I don't want to have to fight you." Neela said, taking up a defensive stance.

"Fine by me." Neon hissed through her clenched teeth, "It will make it all the more easier when I kick your butt from here to Kingdom Come!" With that, Neon went on a fist-throwing frenzy, causing Neela to back up to avoid the dragon's punches.

As Neon continued her barrage, she noticed that the floor was getting a bit sticky. She looked behind Neela and noticed a large web behind the squirrel servant girl. The Detrossian grinned. With a few more steps, she would have this arabian-clothes-clad upstart right where she'd want her.

With that thought in mind, she used one powerful flap of her wings to blow Neela backward onto the web behind her. Neela was stuck tight to the web and could not get herself off.

"Time to teach you to insult this world I've called home throughout my life." Neon said, cracking her knuckles as she stepped towards Neela.

Neela noticed that the Detrossian was having an increasingly hard time trying to even walk towards her, seeing as there was many webs on the ground. The Chandralite did her best to extend her hand and Force-pushed Neon, causing the Detrossian to fall backwards...and onto the web-covered floor.

"And that will teach you to insult mine." Neela said as she continued to futiley struggle.

Neon let out a pure roar of anger as she tried to get up off the sticky strand-covered floor.

Dave came down out of the vent, Caylis cuddled up in his arms. The stern look in his face spoke more of his shame than what he said, "I hope you two see a metaphor in this: to follow the path of anger and hatred is to trap yourself. Now before I free you two, I expect you to apologize to each other, regardless of who started the fight."

Neon snorted a bit, then said, "I'm sorry I insulted your world, Neela."

Neela, ashamed of herself, replied, "And I'm sorry that I insulted this world."

"That's better. Now I hope this will stop the fighting between the both of you." Dave said as he helped them both. After he freed them, he turned to Neela and said, "And I truly hope you've learned from this lesson, my Padawan."

Neela felt so guilty. She was hoping to be like her father, a Chandralite Jedi Knight named Traiga...and she was already beginning her path to the Dark Side of the Force.

During this whole time....

Adonna-Lyn carefully stepped through the hallways of FICC, watching carefully of where she stepped and where she was moving, not wanting to get caught in any of the webs that lined the walls, floor and celing.

She heard something loud behind her. She quickly wheeled around, her dagger in her hands...only to see that it was only a pipe releasing steam.

She let out a breath of aggravation and thought, "I've got to get ahold of myself. I can't jump at every damn sound I hear."

But as she turned around, she came face-to-face with what looked like John's armor! As she jumped back, she then noticed that it had tank-like treads instead of actual legs. It was another one of John's Enforcer Drones.

"I hate these things!" she thought as she walked past it, "They just give me the creeps."

But as she proceeded onward, she heard what sounded like metal grinding against metal. When she looked, the Enforcer Drone had turned its head a complete 180 degrees and was staring menacingly at her.

"Okay, this is getting a little too creepy." she thought.

Then the drone's torso twisted around so that it faced her. The drone then began to roll towards her.

Adonna-Lyn began to calmly walk away, thinking it was just following its normal programming, which was to take care of the maintenance of the base. But when it began following her path exactly, she obviously suspected that this was not part of its programming.

"Get away from me! Do I look like a damaged pipe to you?!" she shouted at the drone...just as she ran into a web!

"Damn it, I'm really getting tired of this!" she cursed as she tried to pull herself off.

Another Enforcer Drone came at her from the front. "Oh, now what?!" she wondered.

The drone used a laser cutter to sever the strands on the walls. It then grabbed her bare belly and spun her around, causing webs to wrap around her as she spun. The drone that was chasing her grabbed her bare feet to stop her from spinning. When she stopped, she looked like a barely bandage-wrapped mummy, with her arms pinned to her sides and her legs bound together.

"Biological captured." the drone who spun her around said, "Detainment complete."

The one that was chasing her said, "Acknowledged. Shall we bring her to the Central Control Room?"

"Negative. We are currently at twenty-five percent power. We must recharge our batteries." the other drone replied, "We'll come back for her later, ED-45.

ED-45 said, "Acknowledged, ED-37."

The two drones rolled away, leaving Adonna-Lyn hanging by several strands on her head. Once the drones were out of her line of sight, she thrashed and struggled about furiously. Her very shouts of frustration were muffled by the webs keeping her mouth shut.

Fourteen minutes, later she heard what sounded like laserfire and a lightsaber being used. She knew it had to be Dave. She tried to call to Dave...until she remembered about the webs covering her mouth. She then tried to contact him mentally, but she was barely able to keep herself focused enough send a telepathic message.

After another while, she heard what sounded like an explosion echoing through the ventilation system. Remembering that Bomb was with Heavy and the others, she feared that they were blown to bits.

Suddenly, she heard what sounded like treads rolling her way. She wiggled a bit to turn herself around and saw the same two Enforcer Drones that trapped her heading right towards her.

"Man, them's good rechagin'." ED-45 said.

ED-37 said, "Indeed. Now, we shall bring her to Lord Brutus."

" 'Lord Brutus'? " Adonna-Lyn thought jokingly, "You gotta be kidding..."

One of the drones then fired a small laser. Adonna-Lyn then felt herself falling hard on her back! She didn't feel herself sticking to the ground. With that thought in mind, she began to struggle a bit, thinking the webs has lost their full use. Unfortunately, the webs wrapped around her still held her captive.

ED-45 rolled to the front of her and grabbed the bit of webbing on her head. ED-37 grabbed her bare feet in a strong grip. Both of the Enforcer Drones then lifted her off the ground and began to roll away with her in tow.

"UNHAND ME, YOU HUNKS OF JUNK!" she tried to shout through the webs over her mouth.

Almost as if ED-45 understood what she yelled at them, he said, "Flattery will get you nowhere"

"And neither will this, I wager." a voice said.

Before ED-45 could react, a golden blade of light pierced his mid-section. The Enforcer Drone let out several electric screams...until collapsing to the ground at the feet of Dave the Hedgehog.

Neela dropped down behind ED-37 and stabbed the drone in its left eye with her De'kar stick.

"Um...Neela?" Dave said, "It's CPU is in its chest."

"Hmm? Oh, right." Neela said as she stabbed the drone at its weak point. ED-37 then did the same thing as his computer-controlled comrade before shutting its systems down and collapsing at Neela's feet.

After both Dave and Neela got the webbing off of Adonna-Lyn, the echidna princess said, "Boy, am I glad to see you two...Where's Neon? Is she alright?"

"She's fine." Dave said, "She's currently on her way back to the ShadowHunter where the others are."

"Thank Chandrala." Adonna-Lyn said.

"Don't thank your goddess just yet, babe!" Brutus said, his putrid form down at the end of the hallway.

"Awe, crud!" Dave said as he quickly helped Adonna-Lyn to her feet, "Get back to the ShadowHunter, your Highness. Neela and I will handle him."

"Alright. Neela...be safe." Adonna-Lyn said to her foster sister.

"I will be, my lady." Neela said with a bow.

As Brutus rapidly approached the two Jedi, Dave looked at Neela and whispered, "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Master Dave." Neela replied, defiently staring at her past tormentor.

At the last possible second, they held their hands aloft and Force-pushed Brutus down the hallway with all the force of a hurricane's wind. After tumbling a bit, Brutus slammed his head into the wall behind him, knocking him out.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Dave said, pulling on Neela's arm.

Neela looked at Dave and argued, "But now's our chance. We can finish this nightmare and free John of Brutus' control. It is justice I want, Master Dave."

"Beware, Neela. You may claim you want justice, but deep down, you have a reason to seek vengence against Brutus. Do not mistake vengence for justice, for revenge is a path to the Dark Side, Neela." Dave warned.

Neela was torn. She wanted to avenge her mother, father, and everyone killed by the cruel Arachna. But what good would vengence do in her father's eyes?

"Very well, Master Dave." Neela said, lowering her head respectively.

"You're a smart girl, Neela. I knew you'd make the right decision." Dave said as they left the hallway.

Back at the ShadowHunter...

Mighty had brought back a wooden crate. He saw it fall out of the carrier craft, which was still stuck to the huge web at the mouth of the tunnel leading to the outdoor hatch of the Docking Bay.

As he brought it on board, he looked towards the other Chaotix as they stood over a holographic map of FICC, planning out the proposed ambush on Brutus.

"Hey, guys! I got the crate." Mighty said...just as the lid popped open! Out sprung Kenny the Vampire Bat,...who then kissed Mighty right on the lips! The other Chaotix looked on, stunned.

"Oh, Neela...I'll remember this moment for years to come..." Kenny said dreamily, his eyes still closed.

"Um...maybe in your nightmares. Try opening your eyes, numnutz." Vector said.

When Kenny did open his eyes, he snapped, "HEY! You're not NEELA...ACK! I kissed this idiot right on the lips!"

Kenny then turned around and began spitting all over the inside of the crate he was hiding in.

"What makes you think she's interested in rude little maniacs like you?" Mighty asked, breaking off a part of the crate that ended in a sharp point.

"What makes you think she's interested in muscle-bound morons like...?" Kenny asked...until he noticed the bit of wood in Mighty's left hand, "What the hell is that?"

"Think of it as insurance that you won't get your blood-sucking self on her." Mighty said, taking aim with his make-shift stake.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" Kenny said, "Just cuz I'm a vampire bat doesn't mean I'm a real vampire...besides, Dave weened me away from blood."

"Well, call me kooky if I find that little claim hard to believe." Mighty snapped, still holding onto the stake.

"And another thing, she's a Jedi. I've got more midi-chlorians in my little finger than you have in your entire waste of biological mass." Kenny said, turning away from the armadillo, "You might as well quit while you're ahead, muscles."

"Shut up." Mighty said, his voice in a low whisper.

"Sooner or later, love will guide her to me." Kenny stated.

"Shut up!" Mighty said, his voice rising in volume and anger. To him, this little Jedi creep was to Neela what Prince Jirrard was to Adonna-Lyn.

"What could she possibley see in some steroid-using sucker like you?" Kenny taunted.

Now, that really hit below the belt! Mighty worked hard at making himself strong through rigorous exercise, and for this arrogant little punk to make a remark like that..."SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!" Mighty roared as he tackled Kenny to the ground, causing the bat's chin to bleed as he hit the floor.

"You are so dead, muscle-brain!" Kenny snarled as he went for his lightsabers.

But before the young bat got a chance, Mighty picked him up by neck, took one of the lightsabers and shoved the bat back. Mighty ignited the green blade of light.

"You are really stupid if you think you can kill me with one of my own tools." Kenny snapped as his other lightsaber flew into his hands.

"We'll see." Mighty said as he lunged forward, performing a downward slash...only to be blocked by Kenny's other lightsaber blade. Mighty struck again. Kenny blocked it again. To the armadillo, the bat's grin was a bigger affront than anything he had said.

Mighty continued his attack, striking in pure rage. Kenny, keeping his cool, blocked each of Mighty's attacks. He knew Mighty didn't have that many midi-chlorians to make him as sensative to the Force as he was. It took a master of the Jedi arts to make full potential of a lightsaber, and Mighty was no master, let alone, a Jedi.

As the rest of the Chaotix watched this brutal and meaningless conflict, Espio noticed something in Kenny's side of the battle. He was making it far too easy for someone of Mighty's experience to get at him. "Oh, my God...Kenny's just toying with Mighty!" Espio said.

"Wha?!" Vector asked.

"He's just trying to wear Mighty down...and make it easy for him to kill that muscle-bound romantic!" Espio whispered.

Kenny sensed that Mighty was beginning to tucker himself out with his every strike and slash at him. "Playtime's over." Kenny felt.

Kenny began to attack back, striking hard at Mighty. Mighty was barely able to defend himself, never mind being able to fight back.

With Kenny's next strike, he nearly nicked Mighty's left leg. But it was enough to have the armadillo fall on his armored back, clutching his leg in pain.

"Pathetic." Kenny said as his lightsaber flew out of Mighty's hands, "John's about to lose a member of his goon squad...don't worry. I'll take good care of Neela for you."

"Go to Hell." Mighty snapped.

"You first." Kenny said as he prepared to bring one of the blades down on Mighty's head.

But before the young bat did so, a hard Force-push hit him in the stomach! As he recovered, he saw Neela's hand extended in the position for a Force-push.

"What have you done to Mighty?!" Neela demanded.

Kenny, acting as if he had come out of a trance, said, "Wha? What happened? Last time I checked, I was back in Knothole. Next thing I know, I'm here on the Floating Island."

"If that ain't the biggest crock of..." Vector began...only to be silenced by a hard look from the vampire bat Jedi.

"Then, for some reason, Mighty began attacking me with one of my lightsabers." Kenny said.

"Somehow, I find that very hard to believe, my former Padawan." Dave said stepping up to his previous pupil from behind.

Kenny sheepishly turned around to face Dave, who was not at all happy to see what his foster brother and former Padawan had wrought. "Hi, Dave. Good to know you're oka..." Kenny said.

"Save it, Kenny!" Dave said, "I'm very disappointed in you. I thought I had raised you better in the ways of the Jedi. And here I find you, nearly killing one of our allies because of a ridiculous rivalry. For now, you had better head back to Knothole. Blue Fang and her group will take advantage of my absence to get at our friends. Get to it!"

"Yes, Dave..." Kenny said as he left, a dejected look on his face. But as he left the Floating Island, courtesy of Adonna-Lyn's teleportation skills, he looked back a bit and growled, "Neela should be mine..."

Mighty looked up at Neela and said, "Neela...I didn't mean for this to happen...but, when I heard some of the awful things he said,...I..."

Neela went to work healing Mighty's lightsaber wound. He continued, "He said things that almost made him...sound a lot like Prince Jirrard and it was mostly about replacing me in your affections..."

Neela stopped for a moment. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Dave's former Padawan and Mighty...both pining for her.

"I'm sorry, Neela." Mighty apologized, "I really like you...and...I just couldn't picture you with him, seeing the way behaved around you during that whole Trade Federation affair. I would never treat you that way, Neela."

In a way, the moment was rather touching.

After an awkward silence, Neela said, "You're lucky he barely scratched you, Mighty. I think healing this shouldn't take too long."

Adonna-Lyn, who was next to Dave for a while said, "I don't know about you, but I definitely think Neela and Mighty are going to get along just fine."

"Adon, the Jedi Order classified Love as a path to the Dark Side for good reason." Dave said, "In many cases, love leads to jealously, to anger, and finally to the Dark Side of the Force. With this little outburst, I fear that Kenny has begun his path."

"So, what's happened as of late?" Vector asked.

"Well, we've found out that Brutus has completely reprogrammed the Enforcer Drones...and Heavy as well." Dave said.

"Well, that's just peachy!" Espio said, "That means we're hopelessly outnumbered! By now, Brutus probabley has control over every Enforcer Drone in the base!"

"And how many is that?" Dave asked.

Charmy answered, "Over five hundred, minus the ones you've undoubtedly had dealt with already."

Neon threw up her hands and said, "Well, then that's it. To say the least, we're seriously screwed!"

"We're far from screwed, Neon." Adonna-Lyn said, "For one thing, the drones can be destroyed, unlike John's armor."

"Yeah, but then, we'd lose entire shipment that we were going to lease to hotels and the Echidnopolis Security Department." Vector argued. Everyone turned to face the crocodile. "What?" he asked.

Suddenly, there came a knocking at right hand airlock door. Adonna-Lyn asked, "Is everyone here?"

"Well, except for Princess Sally, Heavy and Bomb, we're all accounted for." Espio said.

Charmy flew to one of the windows and saw Heavy and Bomb outside. "Hey, it's Heavy and Bomb!" he cried happily. He began to fly for the airlock on the lower part of the ShadowHunter...until Espio caught him.

"Charmy, didn't you hear what the Gold bozo said?! Heavy's under Brutus's command! You let them in, and we're arachnid chow!" Espio said, "And there's no telling if Bomb has been reprogrammed as well."

"But what if Heavy managed to override it?" Charmy whimpered.

Espio hissed, "And what if he hasn't?!"

Neon started down for the airlock door. Vector followed after her and stopped her before she got her hand on the handle. "Neon, are you crazy?!" he shouted at her.

"Vector, I brought those two to the Floating Island when I first came here. In a way, I feel responsible for what's happened to them. So...I'm going to deal with them." she replied.

With that, she flung open the door. Instead of just pouncing on her and dragging her back to Brutus, Heavy said, "Neon! You're alright!"

"Heavy...what are your current orders?" Neon asked.

"If you're referring to that whole 'Capture and Detain' business, it's out of my systems. When Bomb exploded, he regenerated himself within me, like he normally does. But as he regenerated, he uploaded an emergency diagnostics program into me and wiped Brutus's programming from my memory banks." Heavy explained, "However, I keep getting this unnatural urge to kick myself in the butt."

"Ping pingpingping ping." Bomb said.

"What do you mean 'there's nothing unnatural about that'?!" Heavy asked, "Are you sure you didn't add something with that diagnostics program?"

Bomb just laughed in response to Heavy's question.

"Anyway, we came back to let you know that we might have a way to bring back the old John and dispose of Brutus." Heavy announced.

Back in the hallways...

Brutus got back on his blade-like legs and skittered back to the Central Control Room.

"Damn those lousy Jedi!" Brutus cursed as he got into the center of the room, "That royal echidna babe would have been in my stomach by now if they hadn't interfered!"

"If who hadn't interefered, Brutus?" a seductive voice asked. The main visual screen in the Central Control Room activated, revealing none other than the vile vixen enchantress, Blue Fang!

"Blue Fang...babe...the royal pain is back." Brutus reported, "She came back with a coupla other people, one of which is cocooned and up there on the celing."

"Why isn't Adonna-Lyn out of the way, you cretin?! Her elimination was the whole reason why I made you posess the bounty hunter's body!" Blue Fang hissed at Brutus.

"Guaranteed, she will be killed, your almighty..." Brutus said...until Blue Fang terminated her transmission, "Crabbiness. Man, she's a bitch!"

Sally was peacefully napping (despite her situation), until she heard Brutus commenting about his boss.

"Oh, you're awake. Feeling comfortable?" Brutus teased.

Sally turned up her nose, refusing to gratify the beast with an answer.

"Her captivity serves no benefit to us!" the Enforcer's voice growled through the horrible mouth of the arachnid monstrosity, "Just devour her and be done with it!"

"Whadya mean? She could still serve as a hostage." Brutus said.

After a grunt of frustration, the Enforcer snapped, "That's my point, you idiot! Only one of those furry fools cares about her safety. Otherwise, she's useless! EAT HER!"

"Mmmmm...okay." Brutus said, chuckling evilly as he reached up with his blade-like forelegs trying to grab at Sally's cocooned form. But the Arachna failed to even get the tips of his edged legs on the Mobian princess.

"You idiot! You have wings, USE THEM!" the Enforcer roared.

"Oh, yeah. Duh!" Brutus said...as he tried to grap at Sally with this wings.

"YOU INCOMPETANT ARTHROPOD! FLY!" the armored demon within John yelled.

The minute Sally heard John's darker half spout these orders, she knew Brutus would be busy later...picking her remains out of his mouth!

Just then, she heard John's voice speaking, "Guys, guys, wait a minute! Um...don't you think it would be better if she were handed over to Blue Fang? Her father's the king of this world. Blue Fang could force King Acorn to do whatever she wants."

"Nice...but what's in it for me?" Brutus asked.

"Um....you could be Blue Fang's...uh...personal executioner! Yeah. Executioner. She could have you devour those who don't bow to her will." John offered.

Sally could not believe her ears! John...if there was any goodness in him...would never say such a horrible thing!

"Blue Fang's personal executioner...I like the sound of that!" Brutus thought aloud.

The Enforcer hissed, "Snap out of it, you fool! He's distracting you! KILL HER!"

"All the rabble-rousers you could eat..." John said.

"Armor-boy...take a hike! I like the way Blue-Skin's thinkin' right now." Brutus said, "I better relay this idea to Blue Fang."

With that, the Arachna activated the main communication system and reached...a brown skinned echidna with thick black eyebrows.

"Wha...who in Harak'tha are you?!" the echidna asked harshly. Brutus recognized his tone...stiff...proper...it was an echidna of Chandralite Royalty.

"Is a Blue Fang there?" Brutus asked.

One of the echidna's eyebrows lifted as he asked, "Who wants to know?"

" 'Brutus the Arachna' ring a bell?" Brutus growled. It was the first time in so long that someone didn't recognize his voice.

The echidna looked furtively to his left and right, checking to see if the coast was clear, then asked, "What is your message? Where are you located?"

"I'm within the Enforcer's base...and I have captured the daughter of the ruler of this world. I'd like to suggest to Blue Fang that we use this Mobian princess in an effort of taking over Mobius." the Arachna proposed.

The brown echidna thought about what Brutus was suggesting...then replied, "Understood. I shall deliver the message. And make sure that Adonna-Lyn is captured...but alive and unharmed!"

"Hey...how do you know Adonna-Lyn?" Brutus asked suspiciously.

"That's for me to know...and for you to keep your big mouth shut about." the echidna replied, a hard look in his dark green eyes. The brown echidna, better known as Prince Jirrard Calyon Echidna, reached for a switch for the communication screen on his end.

Brutus looked up at Sally and said, "Hope you enjoy you're time with Blue Fang. Who knows...once she begins her rule over Mobius, she might spare your life...that is, if you don't upset her when you become her slave."

"IN YOUR DREAMS!" Sally shouted at the beast, "I'd rather die!"

"Better be careful of what you wish for, princess. I can easily arrange your death." Brutus said, "However, you're not my concern. It's that lousy Adonna-Lyn I'm really after! She's the one who reduced me to this state, having to take over this blue rodent's body just so I can exist in this reality. Once I deal with her, her hubby, and her servant girl friend, my vengence will be complete!"

Back in the Armory...

As Neon held the device, which looked like a back mounted leaf-blower with what looked like a tuning fork at the end of a long wire, and asked, "Heavy, what are these things for?"

Heavy, while equipping the other Chaotix with the same devices, replied, "These, my friend, are Electromagnetic Wave Dischargers. When used, they fire a sustained beam of energy that can capture and hold electromagnetic fields in place. Since those of the Ethereal Plane give off a similar field whenever they cross into our dimension of reality, we can use these clever inventions to draw Brutus' foul spirit out of John's body."

Espio, checking the power in the EWD on his back, said, "Okay. Now, when we get this Arachna's ghost out of our boss, what do we do with it?"

Heavy walked over to what resembled a man-sized circle with electronics all around it, patted it and explained, "With Brutus's spirit out of John's body, you must direct his spirit over to this dimensional portal generator. I have it set to a frequency to open a dimensional rift known as THE VOID. Theoretically, the vortex generated by this rift will draw in the beast...to which I will then switch off the generator and seal Brutus within the Void forever!"

Neon shook her head. "Heavy, there is a catch to this, isn't there?" she asked.

Heavy replied, "Several, actually. One, the EWD's can only fire a sustained beam for about three minutes before heating up and becoming inoperable for a good five minutes. Two, according to Robotnik's notes on the Void, the vortex generated by this dimensional warp is strong enough to bring in anything within a three yard radius. Anything not fully secured or out of range will be sucked in."

Mighty then said, "Which is why I suggested using some magnetic boots to keep us on the celing, which is a good distance from the portal generator."

"Clever thinking, I might add, for someone who uses brawn more than brain." Heavy commented.

"Thanks...I think..." Mighty remarked.

"Four, I can only keep the portal open for about ten minutes before the generator loses power." Heavy continued, "And this point is perhaps the most important...how do we lure Brutus in here without risking anyone's lives?"

With that thought, Adonna-Lyn said, "I'll have to act as bait. I'm the one who killed Brutus. I'm the one he wants."

"Your Highness, I will not allow this!" Heavy stated, "If he actually succeeds in killing you..."

"He won't...not unless this plan fails." Adonna-Lyn protested, "Besides, Brutus has taken over my beloved's body, so I have to help John! He'd do the same if I were in his place."

Heavy lowered his head. She had him there. "Very well." he muttered as he began final checks on the EWD's on the Chaotix's backs.

Espio looked over at Neela and said, "What about her? Brutus seems interested in her as well. How about she accompanies her Highness as bait for that thing?"

Mighty, naturally, was the first one to protest, "Absolutly not! I don't want to place her in danger! Leave her out of this!"

"Unless you haven't been paying attention, Mighty, this Arachna is interested in both Adonna-Lyn and your girlfriend. If we offer Neela as well as Adonna-Lyn, it will make this trap irresistable." Espio stated.

"No!" Mighty argued, "Unless you didn't know, you heartless hooligan, Neela's family was slaughtered by that beast! I will not let her die if something goes wrong!"

Espio said, "Come to your senses, Mighty! Once she begins training with Dave, she'll have to forget about you, unless you've forgotten about the Jedi's ways...about the paths to the Dark Side and all that Jedi jazz!"

"He sure knows a lot...for someone who keeps to himself all the time." Vector whispered to Neon.

The argument between Mighty and Espio suddenly escalated into a fight between the two Chaotix, as punches and kicks were exchanged between Espio and a fully enraged Mighty!

Neon put down her EWD and ran over to the two Chaotix, ordering, "C'mon, you two! Knock it off! Save some of that energy for Brutus, will ya?!"

"Stay out of this, Neon!" Mighty yelled, "I think it's about time I put this color-changing coward in his place...the grave, that is!"

"I'd like to see you try, brawn-for-brains!" Espio snarled, lowering the horn on his head to aim for Mighty's soft underbelly.

But before either chaemeleon or armadillo made a move, Neela extended one of the blades of her De'kar stick and aimed it between the both of them. "Just stop the fighting. Both of you. It's bad enough when my mistress' husband has become possessed by a malevolent spirit. We don't need everyone turning on each other like starved Taekwraithes. I will take my place alongside Adonna-Lyn and act as bait for that creature, if it will end this madness once and for all!"

With that, Mighty and Espio backed away from each other, but not before exchanging a glance that clearly meant that their fighting was not over.

As Neela went over to join Adonna-Lyn, Dave walked up to her and said, "You handled that situation well, Neela. You will do the Jedi tradition proud."

"Will I?" she asked, "When I was fighting with Neon, I...I felt cold...but I felt it from within me."

Dave nodded, "Because you struck in anger. Neela, you have to understand that many negative feelings are path to the Dark Side. But you must also understand that there is a darkness within every being in this galaxy. It is, more often than not, a matter of whether we control the darkness within us or we let that darkness control us."

"Who taught you that?" she asked.

"A Jedi trainer known as the Dark Woman. Her main bit of expertise is trying to help Padawans control the darkness within them. She taught me the lesson...after I nearly had the crap kicked out of me." he answered, "Despite her reputation, as well as her disturbing and violent training techniques, she is still committed to the Jedi Order. Someday, you will undergo her training, Neela. I will do my best to prepare you for that moment."

"Thank you, Master Dave....John has already begun my training." she said.

Dave just stopped. "WHAT?" he asked.

"Um...he said he could atleast take care of my combat training while you take care of all of the philosophical stuff...as I believe his words were." she said.

"Really?" Dave said, his teeth clenched, "How...thoughtful...of him..."

Realizing she had said something to offend him, she quickly said, "I'll be with Adonna-Lyn...discussing what we should do once the trap has been sprung."

As she ran to join the echidna princess, Dave went off into some corner and cursed to himself, "Who does that sonofagun think he is?! He's not even a Jedi, let alone, someone qualified to train her in the Jedi arts!"

Vector approached Dave and said, "Yo, Gold Jedi boy! We're almost ready to begin Operation 'Parlor Trick'! We need you to talk to Brutus and convince him to get his bulbous butt in here!"

"Hmm? Oh. Right. I'll be there in a moment." Dave said as he tried really hard to calm himself. He had to be calm. To go on with the way he was feeling, the arms of the Dark Side would be thrown wide to welcome him...

The Central Control Room...

Brutus was pasting the cocooned-wrapped Sally against the wall when the computer announced, "Incoming transmission."

"Of all the times...WHY NOW?!" he said as he finally spewed a web over Sally.

As he answered the communication, he was about to let loose with a remark like, "Do you mind?! I'm busy here!"...until he saw that Blue Fang was on the comm-screen! "Blue Fang...your Vileness...eh, heh heh, what a pleasent surprise. What can I do for ya?" he asked.

"Spare me of your prattling, Brutus! One of my followers came to me, saying that you had captured this Mobian princess and that she could be essential for taking over this lousy world...AFTER I HAD ORDERED THAT YOU WERE TO KILL THE PRINCESS ADONNA-LYN!" Blue Fang erupted, "Do I have to remind you what will happen if you failed to end her life?"

"Look, Blue Fang, let me explain..." Brutus said until another call came in, "Um...I'm getting a call here. Please hold."

With that, the line to Blue Fang's hideout was paused. He answered the other line and saw the yellow hedgehog who helped Adonna-Lyn and her servant friend escape from being his meal. "What is it, pin-cushion? I'm a little busy at the moment." Brutus growled.

"I'm calling to signal our surrender. We're obviously outmatched by your superior intelligence. So, to bring an end to this madness, we're offering the Chandralite princess and her lady-in-waiting, to appease your anger and vengence." Dave said, the two Chandralites chained together.

"Well, it's about time!" Brutus gloated, "Bring them to me...and maybe I'll spare your miserable lives."

"No deal." Dave said, "You get Adonna-Lyn in exchange for our lives, and you get her servant girl in exchange for the life of your hostage. And you must come to get them yourself. No drones!"

Brutus fumed for a moment...then finally said, "Agreed!"

"Very well. Come to the Armory, where we currently have them. Dave out." the Gold Jedi stated as he switched off the comm at his end.

Brutus finally went back to Blue Fang, saying, "Good news, your Voluptiousness. The Enforcer's friends are handing the echidna monarch and her servant girl ally over to me. Consider them digested."

"Wait a minute, Brutus." Blue Fang said, "Don't you even think this is a little too easy? This is obviously a trap, you ignorant arachnid! If you had any sense in you, you'd..."

"Geez, you party-pooper! I just came to you with good news and you immediately shoot me down!" Brutus snapped, "And besides, even if this is a trap, I'll have the Enforcer's machines poised to kill them all. Brutus out!"

With that, Brutus shut off the communication system. "Man...all she ever does is bitch at people!" Brutus muttered.

"There is truth in her words, Brutus." the Enforcer said, "Even I can feel it...this IS a trap."

"Didn't I tell you to buzz off?!", Brutus growled, "I'm in command here...and I'm not about to pass up this opportunity to have my revenge!"

"Fine!" the Enforcer hissed, "But be warned: if I'm proven right, you will have to face John's friends alone. I will not assist you in this endevour."

"Fine! Who needs you anyway?!" Brutus roared, "I can handle these bozos...just like I killed that squirrel girl's Jedi father."

With that, Sally watched as Brutus skittered out of the room, a deep rumble coming from within the beast. He was really hungry...and it seemed that his hunger (both for sustenance and for revenge) was speaking louder then his sense of danger.

When the Arachna was out of the room completely, Sally struggled a bit, seemingly trying to break out of the webs. Instead, she was reaching for her own hand-held computer, Nichole, which she had in a pouch on the outside of her left boot. Much to Sally's relief, she managed to get at it.

"Nichole, I need you to use that built-in laser cutter to get me out of this webbing." Sally commanded, "Do you think you can do it?"

"Possibley, Sally...however, this webbing is unfamiliar to my systems. I could give out a sustained laser, but I fear that rapid usage will drain my batteries to a point where I will be unable to function any further." Nichole stated.

"Very well." Sally acknowledged, "Do it."

En route to the Armory...

Brutus licked his spidery chops excitedly as he continued on his way to the Armory. That royal brat and her friend had it coming for some time...and finally, after all this time, sweet vengence would be his.

Finally, the Arachna reached the Armory. He could almost smell the fear of both of those Chandralite girls, and imagine the taste of their blood as it would pass over his tongue.

He shoved the door open...

Neon almost felt sick, being upside-down this long. But soon, this nightmare would be over...and her boss (hopefully) restored to his true form. She looked and saw the other Chaotix up on the celing, using magentic boots to hold them up there.

She charged up her EWD, which came online with a slight, low-frequency hum. She hoped that it wouldn't attract the Arachna's attention, as it was entering the room, moving in on its eight, blade-like legs.

She thanked her lucky stars that she had Bomb place Caylis back in her room and that the explosive robot would take care of fixing her door to keep Brutus out...and keep her pet in her room.

Brutus approached the Gold Jedi, his mouth drooling with anticipation. "So, finally decided to cave in, eh? You did the right thing, Hedgeboy." Brutus said.

" 'Hedgeboy'?" Dave muttered.

Brutus then smacked Dave aside with the flat end of one of his blade-legs and got close to Adonna-Lyn and Neela. "Finally...my hunger and my revenge...all satisfied in one huge gulp." Brutus muttered, "You wouldn't believe how much I've longed for this. I think I'll start with you, servant girl...."

Just then, a red-and-blue burst of electric energy hit Brutus in the back. The Arachna released a loud scream and thrashed about.

"MIGHTY!!! We were supposed to wait until he got within jaws-reach of the girls!" Espio shouted over to the armadillo as he furiously fired from his EWD.

"Says you! I'm not about to let her get devoured!" Mighty said as he intensified the beam's power.

Vector just shrugged and said, "Oh, well. Let's let him have it, Charmy...CHARMY?!"

Vector saw that Charmy had made a slight increase in his size, until he was about half of the crocodile's height. "Didn't you know, Vector? This is my true height. I just shrink down into the size you've normally seen me at for manueverability and speed."

"Can we leave this discussion for later?!" Neon shouted as she began firing on the creature.

Espio, mumbled for a moment and opened fire on Brutus.

With the trap sprung, Adonna-Lyn removed the chains by telekinetically causing the chain to unwrap off of her and Neela. The two Chandralites then ran out of the way.

As Neon paused for a moment and let her EWD cool, she noticed that the efforts of her and her comrades was having an effect. A dark haze was beginning to emerge from the creature's front. However, she noticed that the back of the creature was beginning to take on a grey...almost rock-like color! "Heavy! Something's happening to the creature. It's starting to turn to stone!" Neon called over a small comlink.

"Funny...that isn't supposed to happen." Heavy stated, "Unless...is this occuring as we're drawing Brutus out?

"Yes." Neon replied.

"Keep it up! I'm guessing that as we force Brutus' ghost out, it's causing a transformation, causing Brutus to shed his physical form and leaving behind the body he usurped. In essence, John could be trapped within a statue of the form Brutus had mutated his body into." Heavy explained.

As the spirit of Brutus was drawn out, he looked around, noticing he was no longer within in the form he had corrupted. He let out a slight shriek and tried to get himself back in.

"Oh no, you don't!" Neon snapped as she fired at the creature.

At last, she noticed the forelegs emerging from creature, struggling to get back in. Then...the beam from Mighty's EWD stopped. She knew that either Mighty stopped to let it cool off...or he overheated the device. Mighty's cursing made her realize it was the latter.

"HEAVY!" Neon called, "Start up the Void! I don't how long we can keep up this barrage."

"Not until I see all of his legs!" Heavy shouted, "We must make sure he hasn't a foothold left in John!"

The abdomen of the creature had petrified. They were making serious progress against the eight-legged terror.

Neon then commanded, "Chaotix, form a half-moon formation behind the creature! We'll use the EWDs to push Brutus into the Void."

As soon as Brutus' eight legs were extracted from John, Heavy opened up the portal...

In the ventilation system...

Bomb was on his way back to the Armory...when his olfactory sensors picked up the smell of smoke...coming from the Central Control Room. He headed in the direction of that very room and saw the web-wrapped Mobian princess using Nichole's laser cutter to slice through her sticky bonds.

Bomb then kicked open the grate and jumped down into the room...a bit surprised to hear an extra thump behind him. He looked and saw Caylis there, wagging his tail.

Bomb scratched his head. He made sure that he had welded the grate into Neon's room shut...

Sally saw Bomb and Caylis there and called over, "Hey, you two! Would you kindly get me out of this? My laser cutter just shorted out. Your assistance will be commended."

Bomb started over to her...just as Caylis ran past him and bit into Sally's left boot! While the little guy had yet to develop his teeth, it still hurt the Mobian princess because she felt like she had a vermin-trap clamp on her leg.

The explosive robot quickly (as quick as a walking bit of dynamite could manage) ran over to Sally's cocoon wrapped form and tried to pull Caylis off of her Mobian Highness. Eventually, Bomb's efforts succeeded...perhaps too well, for it also pulled Sally out of the cocoon she was trapped in.

When Bomb realized how much he had succeeded in his efforts, he made a verbal response. To Sally, it sounded like, "Well...that worked."

"Thanks." she said as she got up, "Where is Dave the Hedgehog?"

"Ping pingpingpingping ping ping pingping!" Bomb replied.

"WHAT?!" Sally asked, "I can't understand you...Wait....Nichole, translate."

"Translating....he said that Dave is in the Armory, helping the others in taking down Brutus." Nichole responded.

Back in the Armory...

Brutus was finally driven out of John, leaving only a statue-like shell of the hideous creature behind. The Void began to pull Brutus' cruel spirit in. The Arachna struggled furiously to get a foothold and keep himself from being sucked in...but he only inched closer and closer. The concentrated fire from Neon and the other Chaotix only further reduced Brutus' chances.

Mighty, determined to finish the whole thing, jumped down from the celing and increased the output of his EWD. One hard blast from him sent Brutus flying into the Void...just as one of his blade-like legs caught one of the sides of the gateway.

"If I'm going down, I might as well take one of you with me!" Brutus snarled as he fired a ghostly line of webbing at Heavy.

"Silly spider." Heavy laughed as the line of webbing passed through him harmlessly, "One, robots do not have souls. Two, you've lost your control over the physical aspects of this realm. And thus, Brutus the Arachna, your reign of terror ends here!"

With that, another blast from Neon and the Chaotix sent Brutus tumbling into the Void. Heavy quickly shut off the Dimensional Portal Generator, sealing Brutus within the Void forever.

Adonna-Lyn looked at the statue that was the terror that haunted FICC and tried hard to hold back her tears. For all she knew, this would be the end of her beloved husband.

"Well, I'm glad that's over...WHOOPS!" Vector said as he unstrapped his EWD...and accidentily had it fall on the statuesque remains of Brutus' form. The overgrown heap of rock cracked, shattered, and collapsed to the ground.

Adonna-Lyn clasped her hands over her mouth in stunned horror. Neon glared at the crocodile and snapped, "Oh, good one, Vector!"

"Well, who knew THAT would happen?" Vector said, gesturing to the mess of rock on the Armory floor.

But then, there was a disturbance coming from the rubble. Emerging from the destroyed spider-like statue was none other than John himself, back in his original, echidna form! "Ow...did somebody get the liscense plate of that rockslide?" John asked while holding his head.

"JOHN!" Adonna-Lyn cried happily, "You're alright!"

Vector commented, "You're...as naked as a jaybird."

John looked down and gasped. It was true. When he had mutated, it shredded his original clothes. He wasn't even wearing his high-tech glasses. He quickly brought up several rocks around his nekkid self with his telekinesis and asked, "Um...could someone please get me a robe?"

In a remote location....

"So...Brutus has failed." Blue Fang muttered, "Then again, it was rather obvious. That web-spinning idiot couldn't do anything right!"

"Gee, tough break, Blue Fang." Jirrard gloated, "Too bad. I would have loved to see what Adonna-Lyn would have looked like, wrapped up in Arachna silk like a scared child during a thunderstorm."

"That reminds me. This whole thing was your idea, wasn't it?" Blue Fang asked, casting her blood-red glare towards the former echidna monarch.

"I...I have no idea what you're talking about." Jirrard sputtered.

"Well, I do." Lady Screech rasped, "I believe your words were, 'Let's send Brutus to possess the body of the echidna bounty hunter. He'll make short work of his friends.' Weren't those your exact words?"

"SHE'S LYING!" Jirrard shrieked, knowing what sort of punishment would be in store for him.

"And in doing so, you've admitted to your own falsification of the facts." Blue Fang snarled, "Sleet! Dingo! Take this dreadlocked idiot outside and beat him!"

"Right away, your Loveliness." Sleet acknowledged.

"Heh heh heh...I like clobbering things!" Dingo chuckled as he and Sleet grabbed Jirrard.

"Unhand me, you moronic mercenaries!" Jirrard ordered.

"Love to, but you're not royalty anymore, let alone, our boss." Sleet said.

Dingo laughed, "Heh heh heh. I'm really gonna enjoy beating him senseless."

After the two Luperians left the room, Blue Fang rubbed both sides of her forehead, saying, "There goes yet another opportunity to get the Enforcer and the Princess Adonna-Lyn out of my way. I swear, good help is so hard to get these days."

"Maybe not, my Dark Sister. I was wandering through the echidna city on the Floating Island when I heard some claptrap about a group of the dreadlocked vermin who wish to conquer this world." Lady Screech mentioned, "I've also heard rumors about the Enforcer...along the lines of his origins and his connection with this technologically obsessed group."

A wicked grin began to appear on Blue Fang's face before she requested, "Do tell..."

Later, in the Dockiing Bay of FICC...

Dave boarded the carrier craft with Sally. He looked back at Neela and said, "Don't forget, fair Neela. If you need further training in ways of the Jedi, you can always come to me."

"I shall not forget, Master Dave." Neela said with a respectful bow.

Adonna-Lyn walked up to Dave and said, "Thank you for your assistance during this time, Master Dave. You don't know how much I appreciate your help."

"Dave...you won't hear me say this often to you, but...thanks. I couldn't imagine my life without feeling the soft touch of my beloved Adonna-Lyn." John said, "Hopefully, this will be the last time that I'll require your aid."

"Knowing you, old friend, this won't be the last time." Dave said, "I will extend my helping hand, as it is the Jedi way."

As they began to part ways, Dave looked back at John, smiled, shook his head and took the carrier craft out of the Docking Bay. Sally looked over to Dave as he piloted the craft out of the bowels of the Floating Island. To her, he looked even wiser and more formidable than the young, yellow hegdehog she had known so long ago...



FICC Central Control Room...

John watched as they departed, then turned to the screens with each of the Chaotix, requesting, "Okay, people; We have to get this base up, running, and prepared for Blue Fang's next move. I need a report from all stations."

"Sir, I have successfully reprogrammed the Enforcer Drones to begin repairs on FICC's maintenance and ventilation systems. Bomb reports that all Arachna webs will be taken down and eliminated within ten minutes." Heavy reported.

"Neon here. Security systems are still intact. All we need to do is to get all these damn webs off...Caylis! Get that out of your mouth! You have no idea where that stuff came from!" Neon said.

"Espio here. I've gotten the Zoom Tubes and exits out of FICC up and operational again. I'll go inspect our food supplies." the chaemeleon said.

Charmy was next with his report, "Communications, life support, and outside defense systems are nominal, chief. Incoming power from the Master Emerald is still at full."

"Mighty here. Looks like Brutus did some major damage to one of the exits out of here. The tunnel to the escape vessels has caved in. Give me a few seconds and I'll tunnel a way back into the Escape Bay." the armadillo reported.

"Good work, everyone." John replied.

"John, I'm afraid I have some bad news to report. The Medical Bay has been...how does one put it...trashed." Neela reported, "Brutus obviously didn't want anyone healing themselves that easily."

"How extensive is the damage?" John asked.

Neela stepped to one side and showed John what looked like a trash heap of medical supplies, stands, chemicals, and whatnot.

"That bad, eh?" John commented, "I'll send a couple of Enforcer Drones to clean up the mess."

With that, John leaned back in his seat. He felt Adonna-Lyn's hand on his left shoulder and smiled. "You would not believe how much I missed your touch, Adon. Even though I had no control of my body, I still had control of my thoughts...and many of them were about you and your safety." he told her.

She smiled down at his face and said, "My thoughts were about you, my beloved. I couldn't bare to think what our life would be like without each other. John, maybe we should both get some rest. We've been through a very rough time."

"In a moment, Adonna-Lyn." John said, "I need to think about a few things. I'll join you in our room soon."

"Very well. I'll see you then, my love." she said as she began to leave...but not before giving her husband a kiss on the cheek, whispering, "It's good to have the real you back."

"That it is." John said with a smile, "And thank you, Adon. I knew you'd come through for me."

As the echidna princess left, John sighed a bit. He certainly felt lucky to have such loyal friends and a devoted wife by his side.

Blue Fang's recent attack didn't leave John with a great deal of confidence in himself. If that vixen was able to infiltrate FICC through him in this way, there was no telling what other tricks the vile enchatress had up her sleeves.

He looked at the screen with Neela. She was so young and full of potential...potential for being a Jedi Knight. She would soon become a powerful warrior.

Deeper, darker thoughts entered the blue echidna's mind. Why should Neela become a Jedi? She is already contaminated with the possibilty of falling to the Dark Side of the Force. She would be an excellent apprentice...a Sith....

John shook his head. What was he thinking?!

With that, he finally got out of his chair and made his way to the Master Bedroom. But when he entered, he noticed that Adonna-Lyn was nowhere to be seen. He ran over to the bed and looked around.

"John, I'm up here!" he heard Adonna-Lyn call. He looked up and saw her stuck to a web on the celing, trying to get herself loose. "Don't ask how I got up here. Just get me down." she smugly said.

The End

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COPYRIGHTS....

John the Echidna, Adonna-Lyn, Neela, and other characters, places, and things are copyright of John Fadeley (who else?)

Dave the Gold Jedi and Kenny the Vampire Bat are copyright of Dave Fadeley

Neon Dragon, Caylis, and all other characters are copyright of Emma Goodman

Mobius, and its characters and elements are copyright of Sega, Sonic Team, DIC, and Archie Comics

The Force, the Jedi, the Sith, lightsabers and all others stuff are copyright of Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox

Electomagenetic Wave Dischargers were loosely inspired by Ghostbusters, which are copyright of Columbia Tristar Pictures

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL THANKS

To Emma Goodman: Thank you again for the usage of your characters and for your wild and humorous artwork. I wish you better days in college and that you can always depend on me as a friend.

To Dave: Thank you for the usage of the Gold Jedi and his former Padawan learner, brother. I know that your work is tiring, but don't let it get you down.

To Hannah Lupton: Thank you very much for your support and your advice. I will look forward to including your character into "The Enforcer Saga".

To the movie, video game, and book companies: I thank you greatly, for your works continue to inspire my work.

To the Almighty: As always, God, I thank you above all. You have not only given great wonders and needs to survival, but more than anything, you've given me the wonderful friends I know. Be with us as continue to face the near future and give us hope for brighter days.

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A new player has entered into the battlefield. Is this newcomer's motives benevolent...or malevolent? Discover the truth in The Enforcer Saga Chapter 8: The Detrossian Cometh...