"The Enforcer Saga"
Chapter Two:
Take Off!
By
John "the Echidna" Fadeley
The year: 3235. The place: Mobius. As Robotnik takes center stage for the course of events on this war-torn orb, the resistance against him, lead by Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, still manages to overthrow his attempts at spreading his evil clutches. All of Mobius has now rallied against the foul tyrant. All, except for the legendary Floating Island and its residents. One in particular, who has plans of his own...
"Well, now Downunda is with us in our fight against Ro-butt-nik." Sonic said proudly as he reclined in the seat of the carrier plane. With him were Dave the Hedgehog, Knothole's resident Jedi, Kenny the Vampire Bat, Dave's padawan learner, and Antoine, Knothole's resident coward and klutz.
"Our meeting with the Freedom Fighter group there would have gone much smoother if Antoine didn't make a complaint against their cuisine." Kenny said, shooting a mean look at the coyote.
"Well, it served them right!" Antoine sniffed, "The very idea! Grubworms and soy sauce?! What were they thinking?"
Dave laughed at this. His laughter, however, came to a halt. He heard a strange rumbling noise from the ceiling...nay, from above the plane!
"What is that?" Kenny asked.
Just then, the young bat's question was answered when the air around the plane began to glow a bluish color.
"What's going on?" Sonic asked, "Are we under attack?"
Antoine began to panic and ran towards the compartment where their parachutes were kept.
Kenny and Dave, suspecting an attack, pulled out their lightsabers.
The pilot ran from cockpit and said that the plane's normal functions had become nullified. They were practically dead in the air!
"What about radar? Do we at least have that?" Kenny asked.
"No! Everything is dead!" the pilot shouted.
Dave, who was unusually calm during this tense situation, put his hand on the pilot's shoulder and said, "We are not dead yet. Let me see if I can sense the cause of this occurrence." Dave stretched out with the Force. "It's not a ship....it's an island....a floating island....wait...there's something else...I can't exactly pinpoint it...but it has incredible power...I...." Dave muttered before clutching his head and letting out a blood-curdling scream of terror!
"Master...I mean, Dave! What's wrong?" Kenny asked as he ran to his teacher's side.
Dave, after taking in several long breaths, said, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if something, or someone, was blocking me from sensing the source of this occurance."
"Well, I personally don't want to find out what is causing this. I prefer that we jump chip!" Antoine cried as he put a parachute on.
Kenny then corrected, "That's jump SHIP, not chip, Frenchy!"
"For once, I actually agree with Ant. Let's get out of here!" Sonic said as he grabbed four more parachutes and strapped them on himself, Dave, and the pilot. Kenny, however, refused to take a parachute.
"I'm gonna stay on board and see what's behind this. You guys get going!" Kenny said while taking his lightsaber and cutting the door open.
Dave, before jumping out of the plane, put his hand on Kenny's shoulder and said, "Then take care of yourself, my young padawan. Be mindful."
"C'mon, Dave, let's go!" Sonic shouted.
With that, Dave leaped from the plane. The last sight Dave saw of his young pupil was of him looking out of the windows of the plane...
A week later....
"I never should have left him behind, Sally. I never should have left him behind." Dave muttered. He was saddened by the disappearance of his "adopted" little brother. He now felt that it was his fault that the Knothole Freedom Fighters were short another member.
"Dave, it wasn't your fault." Sally said while patting Dave on the shoulder, "What he did was very brave and noble. You should be proud of him."
"But I didn't get to say goodbye to him, Sally. He was so young...and now..." Dave said before breaking down into tears.
Bunnie put her hand on Sally's shoulder and said, "Sally-girl, I really think we should let him alone for a while. I think he seriously needs it."
"Princess Sally! Princess Sally!" Antoine shouted as he ran into Dave's hut.
"Don't you ever knock?!" Dave scolded.
Sally asked, "Antoine, what's going on?
"You had better come over to Rotor's tool shop and see for yourself." he replied.
As they viewed the radar screen, it displayed a small blip coming at Knothole Village at an incredible velocity. Sally, her blue eyes focusing on the screen, asked, "Rotor, what is it?"
Rotor took off his yellow basball cap, scratched his head, then answered, "Unknown, Sally. It's coming from the south-east, moving at 100 miles per hour, and it seems to be...passing us by?"
The other Freedom Fighters watched as the object, whatever it was, flew over Knothole's location on the radar, and headed in the direction of Robotropolis. Then, it vanished off the radar.
"Sonic, I think you better..." Sally started to say.
"Way ahead of ya, Sal!" Sonic said with a confident smirk, "Robotropolis, here I come!" With that, Knothole's blue hero ran out of Rotor's tool shop.
Sally scowled for a moment. Sonic, while he was her friend since childhood, tended to put up a few arguements and rush off without seriously thinking. And that seriously grated on the Mobian princess's nerves. She then turned to Dave and commanded, "Dave, take Bunnie with you and try to get to object's landing coordinates before Sonic gets into trouble".
"Yes, your Highness." Dave said with a bow. He then picked up Bunnie until she was in his arms and ran out of the tool hut.
"Be sure to take a Power Ring with you!" she called after the both of them.
Dave and Bunnie then arrived at what the Knothole Freedom Fighters called the Lake of Rings. Every twelve hours, a Power Ring would emerge from the pond's depths and into the hands of the waiting Freedom Fighter. Where exactly the rings come from or when this mysterious occurance orginated has forever remained unknown.
"Here it comes, Sugah-Hog. Three...two...one..." Bunnie counted.
Just then, the pond began to glow. A water spout began to erupt from the seemingly calm waters, towering over the two rebels. Then, the watery funnel collapsed into the pond, the Power Ring appearing at what was once the top of the funnel. As the Power Ring began to fall downwards, Bunnie extended her roboticized arm upwards and clutched the ring. "Got it!" Bunnie cried triumphantly.
"Good. Slide it into my backpack and hang on tight, Bunnie, 'cause we're on our way to Robotropolis on the Jedi Express!" Dave said. As Bunnie held on tight, Dave took his usual stance and then ran until he and Bunnie were nothing more but a blur to the naked eye...
Sonic looked over a pile of scrapped metal in Robotropolis's junkyard and was astonished by what he saw. There, in a clearing amidst the piles of junk, was a large, truck-shaped vehicle did not have any wheels nor identifiable markings or insignias. "Man, where the heck did this come from?" he wondered.
Dave and Bunnie then appeared at his side. He turned, grinned at them, and slyly asked, "What took you guys?"
Dave frowned and said, "We brought you a Power Ring, Sonic. One of these days, your rushing off unprepared will be your undoing."
"Yeah, right. And Robotnik has this entire world under his control." Sonic chuckled sarcastically, "Anyway, guys, scope out the mondo weird ship."
As they did so, Bunnie caught the sound of rustling metal. She then whispered, "Guys, get down! Someone's coming."
They peered over the heap and watched as a crocodile, an armadillo, and a bee were carrying armloads of scrap metal into the truck-shaped craft. The crocodile, wiping sweat from the top of his head, said, "Manoman, is this hard work. I just hope the boss-man rewards us for this."
"Don't sweat it, Vector." the armadillo said as he dumped his armload carefully into the craft, "Just as soon as Espio chooses to show his mug and join us, we'll be back at the Floating Island faster then one can say 'Up, over, and gone!' "
"Floating Island? Are these guys nuts or what?" Sonic whispered, "The Floating Island is a myth. It doesn't exist!".
"Don't be too sure, Sonic." Dave assured his blue friend, "I definitely heard them correctly. They clearly said 'Floating Island', which could possibley mean that it actually exists."
But then it hit Dave. "Floating Island?! That's exactly what I sensed when our carrier plane disappeared!" he thought, "Maybe these guys know what happened to Kenny."
Suddenly, Dave felt like he was being hoisted into the air and thrown towards the vehicle. "What the...OOF!" he stammered before his head hit the ground. Sonic and Bunnie soon followed.
"Hey, guys, I just caught these three snooping around!" a voice snarled.
"What the...who said that?" Sonic asked, looking about in a confused manner.
Something hit Sonic's bottom jaw. "Shut up, Quill-butt! We'll ask the questions." the owner of the voice growled as he "faded" into view. It was a chaemeleon.
"Epsio, must we be so rude?" the bee asked, "Surely these are just rebels fighting against ol' Egg-bottom".
"They were spying on us, Charmy. That's all we need to know." Espio snapped.
The armadillo turned to Vector and asked, "What should we do with them, Vector? You know you-know-who doesn't take prisoners."
Vector grinned a toothy grin and said, "Plain and simple, Mighty, m'boy. They're LUNCH, just like that winged rodent that came with the plane we caught last week."
"NOOOOO!" Dave roared as he ignited his lightsaber and turned on the crocodile.
"A lightsaber? What kind of numbskull gives these lesser sentients a lightsaber?!" Espio shouted in surprise.
Vector, while nimbley dodging Dave's swipes, yelled, "Never mind that! Get this psycho away from me!"
"Allow me." Mighty said. He then walked over towards Dave and performed a karate chop in the back of the hedgehog Jedi's neck. Dave then collapsed on the ground, unconcious. However, Mighty started howling in pain. There were several yellow spikes stuck in his hand.
Sonic then tripped Mighty up. "That's for hurting my friend, you armoured idiot." he muttered.
Then, something hit Sonic like a gale-force wind and sent him flying into a pile of junk. "Hedgehog Pain, in stereo." Vector chuckled as he placed his headphones back on his scaly green head and reset the volume control on his headset to a normal level.
Bunnie, seeing what had happened to her friends, then attempted to severely beat the four attackers to a pulp. "How dare you yankees attack us! What did we ever do to you?" she yelled as she battled them.
Mighty, seizing Bunnie from behind, said, "It's not what you did to us; it's what you did to our leader. An old friend of yours, I think."
"And now, our boss wishes to return the favor." Vector snarled as he then jabbed Bunnie with a needle full of a black, swirling liquid. Within moments, Bunnie's struggles slowed to a halt.
"Alright, guys!" Vector said, "Haul Robofreak on-board. Once she's on, we'll get the other two."
Suddenly, Dave grabbed Charmy! He was feining unconciousness all along.
"HEY!" Espio shouted.
Within moments, a fight ensued. During the midst of it all, Mighty grabbed Sonic, and threw him at Dave.
"Yo, Chaotix! Time to haul tail outta here!" Vector ordered.
But as the Chaotix began to retreat to the safe-haven of their vehicle, Dave fired several spikes from his fingers and pinned Espio down to the ground...just as the carrier craft took off. Espio lowered his head in shame. "I've let him down." he muttered in fear, "I've let him down...and soon, he'll be coming for me."
"Let who down?" Dave asked as he pulled the chaemeleon to his feet.
"You're not going to extract that information from me, spine-scum!" Espio snapped before spitting on Dave's shoe.
"Don't be too sure, my scaly adversary. I have my ways." Dave said with a confident smile.
The yellow hedgehog then looked in the direction of the departing carrier and said, "Oh, Bunnie. Do not fear. I'll come for you.
Night was beginning to fall on the legendary Floating Island. The carrier craft veered towards the underside of the island. But when it was only thirty feet away, the craft just hovered in the air. Then, part of the island "moved down" and revealed a large, panel made of a dark, shiny metal. It then lowered like a drawbridge. With that, the vehicle entered a long metal tunnel and landed in a massive docking bay. As the ship's occupants exited the vehicle, Vector then shouted out, "Hey, fellas! Time to unload!"
Several robots rolled over to the carrier craft on their treads and started gathering the bits of scrap that the Chaotix had gathered. Then, a screen came down in front of them, flickered to life and pictured someone in the shadows. "Ah, you're back. Nice landing there, Vector. You're improving. Welcome back guys." the person said.
"Hey, glad to be back, boss man." Vector said with a big toothy grin.
"Wait a minute. Where's Espio?" the figure asked, a pair of silvery-blue eyes glowing in the darkness.
Mighty immediately shouted, "We were attacked by the Freedom Fighters! We had no other choice but to leave him behind. One of them was armed with a lightsaber!"
"A...lightsaber, you say? Did it perchance have a golden glow?" the figure asked, his eyes glowing even brighter.
Charmy answered, "Er...something along those lines, yeah."
"Um...look on the bright side, boss. We captured one of their own." Vector said, hoping to appease their leader.
"Hmm....very well. Bring him out." the figure requested.
"Yo, Heavster! Bomb! Bring her out." Vector shouted out to John's chief Mechanix.
The figure then advance towards the screen and said, "Her?"
As Heavy and Bomb hauled Bunnie out, the shadowed figure shouted, "HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO HER FRIENDS ARE?!"
"Whoa, easy, big guy. There's no way they know about this place." Vector said, trying to calm their leader down.
"Her closest friend is a Jedi Knight! How long do you think it will be before he finds an entrance to the base?" the figure roared.
The glow in the figure's eyes disappated. "Put her in one of the guest quarters. I'll deal with her later. As of right now, I need you to get those parts installed in the...you-know-what." he said.
"Yessir!" the remaining Chaotix said with a salute.
"Alright. We can either settle this like the civilized sentients that we are, or we can do this hard way and beat the information out of you. Who's your leader?" Sally asked as calmly as her temper allowed her. She was attempting to interrogate the chaemeleon that Dave had captured.
Espio, his hands tied behind his back while seated in a chair, snapped, "Maybe you ought to clean the crud out of your ears, your Royal Loserness. All your going to get out of me is my name, age, and affiliation."
"Well, we've got to start somewhere." she thought. She then asked, "What's your name?"
"The name's Espio, I'm sixteen years old, and I answer only to the Chaotix." he answered, "Can I leave now?"
Sally shook her head. This reptile was a real wise guy with no respect for authority and this was the kind of personality she detested. "Not so fast. Your commrades kidnapped a friend of ours. Where did they take her?" she asked.
Espio grinned, let out a bone-chilling laugh, then said, "You fool! You think I'm honestly going to tell you?"
Dave stepped forward, placed his hand on Espio's head, then calmly said, "Then you'll tell me everything you know."
The chaemeleon's eyes shrank for a moment, then, almost as if he was in a trance, said, "I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"Is Kenny alive?" Dave asked.
Espio answered, "Yes. He is alive and well...for the moment."
"Where is he?"
"A prison cell in a base hidden two miles under the surface of the fabled Floating Island."
"Who is your leader?"
Before Espio answered, his normally green eyes faded until the entire area of his eyes turned a glowing silvery-blue. And he grinned a horrifying grin.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid that's classified." Espio said in another voice...before letting out a terrible, terrible burst of evil laughter.
Then, a terrible wave of electricity sent Dave flying across the room and into a wall.
"Dave!" Sally shouted. She ran over to the yellow hedgehog. His eyes were wide with fright. Sally then glared at Espio and ordered the guards to take him away. The chaemeleon grinned and laughed, "When he comes, none of you will be spared from his wrath!"
Sally ignored Espio's ravings and tried her best to revive Dave. "Dave? Dave, please, say something!" Sally demanded, almost going to tears.
Dave looked at her, grabbed her shoulder, feebly got to his feet, and in a hateful tone, said, "I know who their leader is!"
As morning rose on the Floating Island, Bunnie awoke with a slight moan. Her head hurt more than she could possibly imagine. "Wha...what the hoo-ha-hey happened to me?" she muttered.
Before she started to panic, she calmed herself down and looked around to find out where she was. It was a room. The walls were made of some kind of shiny metal. There were a couple of circular light fixtures in the celing.
She, herself, was in a bed of some sort. It was soft, even more so than her own fur. There were long bedposts at the corners of the bed, supporting a canopy above her. Around the bed were pearl-white curtains. All in all, she felt like she was in a mansion or a palace. "Oh my stars! Whoever built this must be very rich or..." Bunnie started to say until another voice completed, "Very brilliant?"
She looked about the room and her heart almost stopped. There, standing at what looked like the door to the room, was an echidna. A blue echidna! It was none other than John the Echidna! "I trust you slept well." he said.
"I'll never sleep well knowing that a nightmare like you still haunts Mobius!" she shouted defiently. She then got out of the bed and prepared to charge at John. But before she even got close, John's eyes began to glow. She practically froze where she stood.
"Now, now. Is that anyway to treat a host?" John said while waving a finger at her, "At the moment, you're not a prisoner. You are a guest of Floating Island Central Command, F.I.C.C. for short. This base is hidden two miles under the surface of the fabled Floating Island. My commrades, whom you've met earlier, are my friends and followers called collectively as The Chaotix."
John then chuckled for a moment. "Forgive me. I completely forgot why I came here in the first place." he said, "I would like to extend a dinner invitation to you."
"Oh, really? Am I the main course?" Bunnie snapped contemptuously.
The blue echidna then burst into fits of laughter. As he calmed down he said, "Oh, mercy. Seriously, you are my guest, and you will be treated as such." His voice then dropped to a threatening manner, "Unless you do something to convince me to treat you like a prisoner." He then returned to a suave tone, "You will find a closet towards the right of the bed. In it are some fancy clothes that you may wear. Dinner will be at five o'clock in the afternoon."
Bunnie then went over to the closet. But before she opened it, she turned towards John and asked, "How do I know there aren't any spy cameras or whatever in here?"
"Madame Rabbot, I respect a woman's privacy. I can assure you that there are no fixtures of that nature in here." John said.
"Then explain this!" she yelled as she pulled out what certainly resembled a spy device.
John saw the device, became embarassed for a moment, then became extremely agravated. "Vector!" John roared as he ran off.
"Vector, how many times do I have to tell you?! STOP PUTTING THOSE CAMERAS IN THE ROOMS!" John shouted as he repeatedly slapped the music-crazy crocodile, "Have you no respect for when a woman needs her privacy?!"
"Like we *OW!* have ever *NOT THERE!* had any females *YOWCH!* in the base." Vector said between cries of pain.
Heavy, John's chief mechanic, strolled up to the blue echidna and said, "*AHEM!* Sir?"
"WHAT IS IT?!" John shouted angrily. Realizing it was only Heavy, he calmed himself down and asked, "Yes, Heavy, what is it?"
"We have almost completed construction on the...you-know-what. I've come to get your approval, sir." the Mechanix robot said.
"Excellent!" John thought, "My little pet project is almost done". He then instructed, "Lead the way, Heavy."
John then glanced at Vector and said, "Vector, remove all the cameras from each of the living quarters."
"Yes, sir." Vector said nervously.
John and Heavy then went to a window overlooking a sight that gave John great joy to look at. It was large in size, arrowheaded in shape, and a metallic shiny black in color. It had several windows at the front and along the sides of the vehicle, razor sharp wings at the sides, a row of sharp blades along the roof of the vehicle, and a massive rocket engine at rear of the ship. Several odd-looking robots were working on fastening the black metal plates on the ship's structure and securing two large blaster cannons on the underside of both wings.
"Absolutely beautiful work, Heavy. I'm very impressed." John said with a proud smile on his face, "How soon will it be until it's finished?"
Heavy nervously fidgeted his manipulators together and said, "Well, it's not complete yet, sir. We still need three more components to finish it."
"Three?" John asked, eyeing the robot.
"Well, for the plans you laid out for this ship, we need a Corellian J46 hyperdrive motivator, a AK3-46 Energy Flux-Capacitor and a steady and continuous flow of energy to power it. Otherwise, we'll be lucky to survive getting into Mobius's orbit." Heavy explained.
"That bad, eh?" John muttered as he looked at the yet-to-be-completed ship, "Well, I know where to look for two of the necessary objects. The third one will be hell to acquire. Perchance, is Project 2 complete?"
"Just about, but we haven't exactly tested...its...tolerances yet. We are still uncertain of how much it will take before it goes down for the count." Heavy stated, "The power source just isn't sufficient to supply its energy needs."
"BLAST! Another inconvenience!" the blue echidna thought with a snort, "The Power Rings The Chaotix and I have gathered just aren't enough to keep the flow of endless power going. If there were only a power source I could use that doesn't run out..."
Then it hit John like a bolt from his own powerful attack-of-last-resort. "Heavy, I've just been given a brilliant idea of how to keep a constant flow of power running through both of our projects. The Chaos Emeralds! According to records made by echidna scientists of our world's past, these gems have limitless power. Just one emerald would be enough to power Project 1."
"One problem with that, sir. You know as well as I do how rare Chaos Emeralds are. Where shall we find such legendary gems?" Heavy asked.
"I'll deal with that when the time comes." John said as he glanced at the chronometer on his left wrist. He then panicked! "OH, SHIT! IT'S 4:55! I'm late! Quick, Heavy, how do I look?"
"Like you need a new, more handsome form." Heavy joked.
"Up yours, you bag of bolts." John muttered as he rushed off, "Heavy, tell Charmy to tell Miss Rabbot that I'll be twenty minutes late to dinner, and tell Mighty to whip up something with pasta, marinara sauce, and mozzerella sticks."
"JOHN THE ECHIDNA?! How can you be sure?" Sonic asked.
"I could see it in the chaemeleon's eyes before he shocked me." Dave explained, "The last time I saw that hellish glow, it was in the prescence of that dreadlocked monster."
Sally shook her head. The last time she and the other Freedom Fighters were in the prescence of John the Echidna, they were nearly shocked to death by his Mental Lightning Attack (as it was now called). That John was involved in the disappearance of Bunnie and Kenny was enough to worry the Mobian princess. "So what do you advise we do, Dave?" she asked.
"You heard where the chaemeleon said they were. We must go to the 'Floating Island', rescue Bunnie and my young padawan, and stop John from accomplishing whatever he's up to." Dave declared.
But before anyone said anything else, there was a fluttering at the window of the hedgehog Jedi's hut. It was a Pidgey with a small carrying case under its left wing. Sonic opened the case and saw a small bit of paper fall into his hand. "Hmm...It's from Uncle Chuck." Sonic said as he began to read it, "Robotnik mining for Chaos Emeralds in Downunda. Recommend looking into the matter, as Chaos Emeralds would make ol' Oil-for-Guts even more dangerous than usual. *Phbt!* 'Robotnik dangerous.' Yeah, right!"
Dave let out a terrible moan. He knew this would keep him from searching for his missing friends. "Sally, with your permission, I will go to Downunda and put Robotnik's mining operation to a grinding halt." he requested.
"You don't have to ask me twice, Dave. Permission granted." Sally said, "But as for finding our missing compatriots, it will have to wait until we know what to expect on this 'Floating Island'. If we rush off unprepared, John will seriously have the upper-hand."
"Believe me, Your Highness, I've been trying to get Sonic to learn that lesson for a while." Dave said while shooting Sonic a glance.
Bunnie came into the dining room, dressed in a shimmering green dress. She was simplely awestruck by how well the dining room looked, practically fit for a banquet hall of a mansion.
Charmy, who escorted the partially-roboticized rabbit to the table, pulled out a chair at one end of the table. "If I may say so, Miss Rabbot, you look very lovely in that dress." the bee complimented.
"Well, thank you." Bunnie replied, surprised by the bee's good manners.
Charmy bowed, then fluttered out of the room.
John, dressed in a fancy tuxedo, entered from another side of the dining room and sat down at a table on the side opposite of where Bunnie was seated. Vector, Mighty, and Charmy sat at their seats on the sides of the circular table. A few robots entered the room, holding with one manipulator a tray of food. Heavy and Bomb approached the table, sat themselves down and plugged themselves into wires that extended from the wall. For them, the electricty that flowed into them was a feast.
The serving robots placed a tray of food at the spots where John, Bunnie, Vector, Mighty, and Charmy sat. On each of the trays were a bowl of cylindrical noodles covered in rich, red sauce, a plate with six breaded sticks of mozzerella, and a full drinking glass of water with three ice cubes in it. All in all, it looked like a sumptuous, appetizing meal.
After several minutes of dining on the sumptuous food, John rose to his feet, tapped his glass of water a couple of times to get everyone's attention, and said, "Lady and gentlemen, if I may have your attention, please? Thank you." The blue echidna then activated a hologram at the center of the table. The hologram displayed the ship that was being built. "Just last week, I was granted with a vision. My destiney calls to me...from the stars! Once this ship is complete, I shall depart from this world and seek my fate."
Vector almost choked when he heard what John was planning.
Mighty asked, "But why? Why are you leaving us? I mean, you're our leader! Where will we be without you?"
John calmly answered, "I will return to Mobius when the time is right. Until then, Vector, you're in charge. You all have been with me since I returned to the Floating Island, and I'm very proud of what we have accomplished." The blue echidna then raised his glass of water and said, "I propose a toast, to my grand journey and to my return to Mobius."
The gathered Chaotix and Bunnie raised their drinking glasses and clinked them together. John then eyed Bunnie across from him and said, "Madame Rabbot, you have been very quiet. Is there something you would care to share with us?"
Bunnie then put her glass down then said, "In my opinion, I think you're crazy. No Mobian has ever left our world."
John chuckled at her words and said, "Madame Rabbot, I assure you that I am a perfectly sane. 'Crazy' is a word in the dictionary of cowards. As for your second comment, I'm...I'm not even sure I'm a Mobian."
"SAY WHAT?!" the Chaotix shouted in confusion.
"Isn't it obvious that I'm not a normal, Mobian Echidna?" John said, "As if my powers, weren't enough to convince you, it is my physical form that truly makes me stand out." He then turned to Bunnie and said, "As your princess's hand-held computer said, I have an alternate DNA strain that doesn't correlate with any MOBIAN specie. How do you think that explains me?"
No one said a word after that.
"Point made." John said as he sat down.
Heavy then rose from his seat, activated the hologram, and said, "Sir, we're coming up over Downunda. Aptiva is scanning large amount of power down there. The energy signature matches that of..."
"Chaos Emeralds!" John muttered with grin.
"Aptiva is also scanning numerous biological and mechanical sentients down there." Heavy answered.
"One of Robotnik's mining operations, no doubt." John growled under his breath.
Heavy's eyes then flashed 1's and 0's. He then said, "Sir, Aptiva is detecting a motor-powered vehicle approaching from the North-West at thirty miles per hour."
John then turned to Mighty and whispered something that Bunnie didn't hear. Mighty then nodded, rose from his chair, then went over to Bunnie, then said, "Madame Rabbot, John has requested that you are confined to your quarters until further notice."
"What?!" Bunnie shouted in disbelief, "I haven't done anything wrong!"
"It's nothing personal, Bunnie." John said, "But what I'm about to do might upset you and you needn't be around to see it. Mighty, if you will."
"Sure thing, boss echidna." Mighty said as pulled out Bunnie's chair, "Come with me."
As soon as Mighty and Bunnie left the room, John activated a screen behind him and viewed a plane with two hedgehogs. "So. Those pesky rebels are going to halt Robotnik's little dig, eh? They will no doubt take the Chaos Emeralds there as well." he mused.
Vector then asked, "You want me and the boys to blow em' away?"
"No." John said, "Instead, I need you guys to head to Knothole village and rescue our color-changing comrade. Without Sonic or Dave, their friends will be no match for you. I shall deal with these pests myself."
"If you say so, John." Charmy said as he and Vector left the room.
"And us, sir?" Heavy asked.
"As for you, Heavy, get Project 2 ready. And use this." John said as he handed Heavy a red Chaos Emerald.
Heavy, after a few moments of speechlessness, said, "Right away, sir!" He and Bomb ran off.
"Those lousy hedgehogs always left me cold." John muttered angrily, "I do believe it is time that I returned the favor!" With that, John focused his powers...
"I don't get it, Dave." Sonic said, "Why would John go to the trouble of kidnapping Bunnie and Kenny? And what's with all the junk his flunkies are gathering?"
Dave, who was piloting his plane "The Gust", answered, "Quite frankly, Sonic, I don't know why. It is hard to sense what John is up to."
Suddenly, a horrible screeching was heard. Both hedgehogs looked and saw a flock of Aerodactyl to their left. "Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Sonic said as he glanced towards the flock of Flying/Rock-type Pokemon.
"Get real, Sonic." Dave said, "There are Pokemon all over Mobius."
"No, I mean one of those guys is carrying a Cloyster in its talons." Sonic pointed out. Dave looked and saw what Sonic was referring to. Then, the very Aerodactyl Sonic spoke of left the flock and flew towards the tiny biplane.
"Sonic, call me kooky, but why is that Aerodactyl carrying that Cloyster and flying at us?" Dave asked.
As both Pokemon approached, Dave then noticed somehing sickeningly familiar: both Pokemon's eyes were glowng a silvery blue!!!
"Oh, crap! Those are John's Pokemon!" Dave shouted, "Hang on, Sonic!" Dave then pulled hard at the controls and caused the plane to go into a dive.
What Dave was well aware of was that Aerodactyl was among the fastest Pokemon in the world. He knew that he couldn't out-manuever a Pokemon like Aerodactyl and that the best move was to head to the sea below and attempt a water landing.
Then, something rather unexpected happened. The Aerodactyl pulled up alongside "The Gust" and said (in John's voice, no less), "You're certainly going to have to do better than that, hedgehogs!" It then flew in front of the plane and turned the Cloyster in its talons to face the propellor. The Cloyster then fired an Ice Beam at the propellor and caused it to freeze!
"Oh, crud!" Dave muttered. He then instructed Sonic to fasten his seating restraint because they were due for a rough landing.
"Oh, it's going to be rougher than you think!" the Flying/Rock-type laughed cruelly. It then turned around, opened its jaws wide, and prepared bite off one of the wings! Dave, however, pulled out his gold-bladed lightsaber, and slashed underside of the Aerodactyl as it passed by with the ripped-off plane wing in its mouth. The Pokemon then let out a scream so loud and horrible, both hedgehogs covered their ears as best they could.
"You quill-backed bastards! For this, you shall suffer!" the Cloyster hissed angrily as it then unleashed a Blizzard attack!
A patch of ocean below the horrifying occurance then froze until it was a solid block of ice!
"Happy landing, fools!" both of the attacking Pokemon laughed as it they flew into a dark cloud.
"John! If you're listening, what I gave that winged lizard of yours is nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you harm one hair on Bunnie's head!" Dave angrily shouted at them.
"Um, Dave, don't you think we have a more urgent problem, like landing this plane with us still intact?!" Sonic shouted.
Dave then pulled out a Pokeball and commanded, "Mew, I choose you! Use your psychic powers to ensure we have a safe landing."
The "New Specie" Pokemon obeyed and used its powers to lower "The Gust" (what was left of it) onto the iceberg below them. "Good work, Mew. Return!" Dave said as he recalled his psychic pal.
Dave and Sonic then got out of what was left of their plane and stepped out on to the make-shift iceberg. "Now what do we do?" Sonic asked.
"The only thing we can do! Go, Blastoise!" Dave said as he unleashed another of his Pokemon, "Blastoise, push this iceberg in the direction of Downunda."
"Blastoise!" the powerful Water-type acknowledged as it dove into the water, put its head to the iceberg, aimed its water cannons at the area of ocean behind it, and used Hydro Pump to push the iceberg...
As the Aerodactyl and the Cloyster landed within the base, John went up to them. "Excellent work, you two. Avalanche, return!" John commanded as he held out his Pokeball and recalled his Cloyster. He then went up to his Aerodactyl, put his hand on the wound Dave made, and healed the Flying/Rock-type.
"Don't worry, Sky Terror, my loyal pet." John said as he ran his hand along the Aerodactyl's chin, "We'll get back at the miserable rodent who did this. That's a promise! Return!"
"Sir! Excellent news!" Heavy said as he plodded up to the blue echidna.
"What's up?" John asked.
"The Chaos Emerald you gave me works perfectly with Project 2." Heavy reported, "Sir, it's ready!"
"Good." John mused. As he walked with Heavy towards the mysterious "Project 2", John said, "Heavy, I think it is time I tested it!"
"Move it, you weaklings!" the robotic overseer ordered as he whipped at couple of quickly tiring Mobians, "His greatness, Lord Robotnik, is awaitng this shipment of Chaos Emeralds within the hour and he does not want to be kept waiting! MOVE IT!"
"Please, we need a break!" a female fox begged.
"I can't take much more of this." complained a Totodile Pokemobian.
"I need some water, please." cried a young turtle.
The overseer, a roboticized boar, snarled and whipped at the backs of the female fox and the Pokemobian until their backs began to bleed from the lashes. "Your going to mine those Chaos Emeralds until we have to move your dead carcasses out of the way!"
But as the overseer was about to whip at the poor slaves again, a laser blast soared at whip and cut it apart!
"What the...who did that?!" he roared, "Was it one of you miserable whelps?!"
"No. It was ME!" a harsh, gravely voice behind him snapped.
The boar-bot turned around and faced a terrible sight. It was echidna in shape, but from head to foot, it was covered in black, shiny metal. Its feet ended in 3 sharp claws, there were some weird wheel-like objects at the heels, and it had some kind of small-yet-curved blades at the forhead with a red jewel where the blades met. And its eyes, its horrible, horrible eyes, had a blood-red glow!
"Who the hell are you?" the boar growled as he went for his blaster.
The metallic-looking echidna said, "I'm your worst nightmare, you wretched swine."
"Yeah, RIGHT!" the boar laughed as he fired several shots.
The metallic echidna pulled up his arms and deflected the shots back at the boar. The slaves quickly ducked behind the carrier car full of Chaos Emeralds to avoid being shot.
"What the hell's going on?! That should have turned a robot to scrap!" the boar shouted in disbelief.
"I'm not a robot." the metallic echidna snarled as it then charged at the robo-boar, a pair of drill-like claws popping out of his fists. The drills were then fired at the boar, which then bored into his metal hide.
"No, NO, NOOOOOO!" the boar screamed as the drills cut through his circuits, gears, servomotors, and finally went at his computer brain, "MAKE IT STOP! HAVE MERCY!"
"Yeah, I'll show you mercy...the same kind of mercy you showed these slaves!" the metal figure roared as he tackled the overseer and ripped him apart with his bare hands. Within seconds, the red glow of the boar's eyes faded.
The female fox peered out from behind the immense mine cart that she and her fellow slaves hid behind during the fight. "You...you killed him!" she shouted.
The Totodile Pokemobian rushed forward and happily cried, "How can we ever repay you?! What Freedom Fighter group are you with?"
"I'm not with any Freedom Fighter group." the metallic echidna snapped, "However, I'm going to set all of the slaves here free. I'm going to need your help to do it, though."
"Sure thing!" the turtle piped up, "Anything to get out of this hellhole!"
"Hold on!" the female fox said, "You said that you're not with any Freedom Fighter group. How do we know we can trust you?"
The metallic figure raised his hand. The whip, what was left of it, flew into his hand. "Let me put it to you this way: would you rather spend the rest of your days with some...machine whipping at you relentlessly?"
The three slaves sluggishly pushed the mine cart to the surface. A long, insect-like Badnik crawled up to the cart, a few Swatbots standing by. The Badnik's name designation: Caterkiller.
"Well, it's about time you worthless heaps of flesh got a mine cart up here! What took you?!" Caterkiller demanded.
"We're very tired." the turtle whined, "We seriously need some rest."
"Very well. Head to your barracks!" the insect-like robot commanded, "But don't expect a long break."
As the slaves began to walk away from the cart, however, Caterkiller slithered up and around the fox. "Not so fast, lovely one. How about you stay with me?" he slyly said.
"No! Please, leave me alone!" the female fox cried, slapping the Badnik across the face.
Caterkiller, outraged by the fox's attack, grinded his sharp teeth, then growled, "You will certainly adopt a better attitude for me when you're roboticized! TAKE HER AWAY!"
Two Swatbots grabbed her arms and, for some horrible reason, started twisting them. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted. Then something unexpected occured. Five more tails sprouted out from where there was only one, wrapped around the Swatbots heads and smashed them together. More Swatbots ran toward her.
"Keep away from me!" she shouted. Then, several fireballs flew from her fingertips and into the oncoming hoard of Swatbots. They melted into steaming puddles of metal as the fire surrounded them like a fiery funnel.
"What?! She's a Vulpix-morph and nobody told me?!" Caterkiller screamed in surprise.
One Swatbot was lucky to squeeze off one shot at her left shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching her now bleeding wound.
"Now we've got her! Seize her!" Caterkiller cackled.
Suddenly, there was an explosion from mine cart, scattering Chaos Emeralds in every which direction. Standing atop the cart was the metal echidna!
"Who the hell are you?!" Caterkiller shouted.
"I'm not going to repeat myself if you slag-brained bozos aren't paying attention." the metal echidna said, a sinister looking grin spreading across his face, "So kiss my output!"
"Kiss my...HURT HIM! A LOT!" Caterkiller fumed.
The metal monstrosity then jumped down from the cart and ruthlessly hacked his way through the hoards of Swatbots. Within thirty seconds, the only robot left was Caterkiller. Realizing he was the last one, he gulped, then tried to slither away. The metal echidna's dreadlocks extended and whipped apart each of Caterkiller's segments. But instead of completely deactivating, he cackled and said, "You fool! You stupid, stupid, fool! I can regenerate my segments!"
And it was true, as several wires popped out of each segment, connected with another segment and began pulling himself back together. The metal echidna quickly took out a concussion grenade and placed it between two of the segments.
"Oh, poop!" Caterkiller muttered as he heard a long beep.
The Badnik then exploded, showering the ground with his metal innards. The Vulpix-morph looked through the flames, and was practically petrified with fear as the metal echidna walked out of the flames towards her, unscathed and undamaged. She was so scared that she could barely move.
The metal skin of the echidna then "opened up". First, the metal around the dreadlocks popped open like manacles and receded into the head, revealing blue dreadlocks. Then the helmet split into two halves and went behind the echidna's head. The armor around the legs and arms opened up and receded into the metallic torso, which then popped open like a clam shell and seemingly vanished behind the echidna's back. Underneath the armor was a blue echidna.
"Hold still." he said as he knelt down and examined the wound on her shoulder. A red monacle came over his left eye as he got a closer look. It then went back to the side of the echidna's head. He then put his hand on her wound and closed his eyes. He lifted it. When the Pokemobian looked, she was astonished. The wound on her shoulder was nowhere to be found. There was no way she could explain it, but this mysterious echidna before her healed her.
"My name is John the Echidna." he said in a calm, soothing tone, "What is yours?"
"I...I...I'm not sure if I have a name. I just don't remember." she said sorrowfully.
He put his hand on her other shoulder and said, "That's okay. I'll come up with one for you. How about...Kara. Kara Vulpix."
"Okay." she said, a slight smile spreading on her face.
John then got up. "To think, that Robotnik is carrying out such sick, twisted experimentation on Pokemon and Mobians alike to create this." he muttered.
Unfortunately, his words were heard by Kara and she began to cry.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you." John said, trying to apologize.
"But what you said made it sound like you think I'm some freak of nature!" she cried tearfully, "I didn't ask to be a mutant!"
"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." John said.
"What?" she asked, wondering how the feeling, beyond the palest of possibilities, was mutual.
The blue echidna shook his head. "Never mind. I gave those other slaves some blasters to eliminate any of the other overseers. My work is almost done here." he said as he gathered up as many Chaos Emeralds as he could carry, "If you wish, you can come with me. You will be amongst others like me, outcasts from the rest of Mobius. I highly doubt the Freedom Fighters will accept you among their ranks. Whadya say?"
"Would 'yes' suffice?" she said with a confident grin.
"By the Jedi Council!" Dave said in utter surprise. The compound where the mining was taking place looked like it was completely leveled. Bits and pieces of Swatbots and Badniks were strewn all over the place.
"What the heck could've done this?" Sonic asked, surveying the wreckage.
Dave looked around, then heard a voice weakly call out, "T...t...thank g-g-g-goodness. Help-p-p-p-p hazzzzzzz ar-r-r-r-rived."
"A robot, no doubt." Dave thought as he quickly pulled out his lightsaber.
"It came from over here." Sonic said as he ran over to a pile of scrapped robot parts.
The two hedgehogs started digging through the pile and uncovered the head of a familiar robot. "Caterkiller. What happened here?" Dave asked.
"Heck, I'd rather I tell you guys what happened rather than R-R-R-R-Robotnik-nik-nik-nik-nik-nik. If I-I-I-I-I tell him what hap-hap-hap-happened, he'll-ll-ll-ll scrap me for s-s-s-s-sure!" Caterkiller said between lapses of power, "If I-I-I-I-I told him that one guy whupped-ped-ped-ped an entire legion of Swatbots in less then thirty-y-y-y-y-y sec-sec-sec-seconds, he'll blow more than his s-s-s-stack!"
"One guy did all this? That's impossible!" Sonic said.
"No, Sonic. He's right. One guy did all this. It was John the Echidna." Dave said grimly as he used the Force, "The stench of his prescence is all over this area."
"Maybe he ought to start clipping his toe nails. Look at this footprint!" Sonic said as he pointed to a footprint in the ground. It had three claw-points at the toes, and another claw-point at the heel, almost reptillian in nature.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You hedgehogs don't know nothing!" Caterkiller laughed, "That guy had on some kind of metal armor on. I saw it come off when he went over to this Vulpix-morph! And besides, missles and lasers didn't so much as scratch the paint job off it!"
"I think we've heard enough." Dave said as he tossed Caterkiller's head into the air, switched to some other option on his lightsaber, then struck the Badnik's head over the horizon. "And he outta here!"
There then came a beeping at Dave's wrist. "Dave here. Your Highness, I'm afraid the blue demon struck here first. The place has been completely leveled, every Swatbot practically anihilated. According to a survivor, John had some kind of armor on."
"Dave, I think you and Sonic better keep away from Knothole for a while." Sally said.
Sonic then grabbed the communicator and asked, "Keep away? Why?"
"Maybe this will convince you why, hedge-butt!" a gravely voice snarled before a laser bolt soared at the screen, causing static to appear.
"SALLY!" Sonic shouted.
Vector aimed his blaster at Sally and snarled, "So, trying to alert your hedgehog heroes to come to the rescue? Ain't that typical of a princess?"
"What do you want with me?" she asked, trying to keep her distance.
"Oooo. Quick and to the point. I like that in the dames." Vector said with a grin.
Charmy flew up to her and said, "It's nothing personal, your Highness. We just want our friend back."
"In essence, it is personal." she said while quickly reaching for a quarter staff near the back of her hut.
Mighty, however, grabbed the iron quarter staff, broke it in half, and tossed both halves out the window. "No, no, no, lady. That ain't nice." he said while waving a finger at her.
"And what you three are doing is any better?" she thought. With no other option, she decided to break for the door and call for reinforcements. Vector caught her by the waist with his long tail, and held his blaster at her head.
"Take us to our color-changing compadre, or I'm gonna blast every bit of brain out of your pretty head!" the crocodile threatened.
The three Chaotix then followed Sally to the jail cells where Espio was held. A security guard noticed Sally and trio, got up from his desk, then said, "Good evening, your Highness. How might I help you and your three...friends?"
"I'm taking them to see the chaemeleon. They've never seen one in person." she said, Vector's blaster thrusted at her back.
"Wait a minute. Your Highness, these guys are the Chaotix, John the Echidna's followers! You briefed me and every other Freedom Fighter on these guys" the guard said, quickly going for his weapon.
Charmy zipped around the guard, said, "Have a seat!", and pushed his seat in, trapping him at his desk.
Vector then went up to the guard and delivered a hard headbutt, putting the guard on an unscheduled break. "Man, that's something we didn't count on. A smart guard." Vector laughed.
The crocodile then turned to the Mobian princess and said, "Now that we know where our cold-blooded bro is, we don't need you anymore." He then whacked her in the head with his tail, knocking her out.
The Chaotix then went to the cell where Espio was held. Charmy fumbled with the keys and asked, "Hey, guys, do we know which one of these will open the door?"
"Here's MY key!" Mighty said as he pulled back his fist and punched the door down.
Espio, chained, looked up at them and sarcastically asked, "What took you guys?"
"Charmy was fumbling with the keys." Vector said as Mighty went up and ripped the chains apart.
Charmy angrily looked at Vector and said, "Well, if a certain music-loving moron didn't knock out that security guard, we could have asked him if he knew which key opened this cell door."
"Oh, sure." Vector mocked, "Then we could also ask him for tea and cookies."
"Okay, knock it off, you two." Mighty said, "We got who we came for".
"Hey, guys, while we're here, we might as well pick up the last two parts John needs for that ship he's working on." Espio said, "I saw them being put in the two-tailed kid's plane."
As a terrible fog set in, Tails was putting the final touches on his plane, "The Tornado". "Wait'll Sonic gets a load of this!" the two-tailed fox said proudly.
"Get a load of what, little guy?" a voice asked.
Tails looked and saw a silohuette of what looked like a hedgehog. "Sonic, is that you? I didn't expect you back so quickly."
"Hey, they don't call me 'The Fastest Thing Alive' for nothing." the hedgehog said, "Why don't you catch a few Z's while I finish up the work on your plane?"
Tails, before leaving the plane, looked carefully at the silohuette, then asked, "Sonic, since when did you start wearing a baseball cap?"
"Darn it, Mighty! I told you this wouldn't work!" the "baseball cap" shouted, revealing a pair of jaws. The "spikes" on the imposter's back slid off, formed a wheel, aimed itself at Tails and rammed him.
"OW!" Tails exclaimed as his body flew through the air. Something else started spinning about like a tornado and smacked Tails back over the plane like an estranged game of ping-pong.
Finally, Mighty caught Tails, started twirling the fox around until he launched him into a tree.
"Now, where were we?" Vector asked with a grin as he opened up a panel of Tails's plane...
"So, they're finally gone." Kenny sensed. He was confined to a prison cell within in F.I.C.C.
He then pulled out his two lightsabers, hidden within his folded wings. "Good thing those guys were too stupid to frisk me for my weapons, or otherwise, I'm gonna have a helluva time getting out of here." he thought.
Kenny then hacked at the bars. Alas, no such luck. "How odd. Could John have discovered a metal that is actually impenetrable to lightsabers?" he wondered, "But I'm willing to bet that he didn't do the same to the walls." He looked at the back wall of his cell, then thrusted his lightsabers through and created an X-shaped slashing at the wall.
"One good Supersonic Yell should do the trick." he muttered with a confident smile. He then took a deep breath, then unleashed a scream so loud, it practically blew a hole into..."A bed room?!" Kenny thought in utter surprise.
There, in the bedroom was Bunnie, cringing to dodge whatever blew a hole into the room.
"Bunnie! Boy, am I glad to see your pretty face again!" Kenny said as he ran over to her.
Bunnie looked up, smiled, then ran up to hug the young vampire bat, "I sure am happy to see you, Sugah-Bat! I thought they...they..."
Kenny frowned and said, "Ate me? No such luck! Instead, those goons threw me in this cell and fed me nothing but bananas for days! What do those jerks think I am, a flying monkey?!"
"Well, do you think you can get us out of here before John gets back?" Bunnie asked.
Kenny gave her one thumb up and said "No problemo!"
The doors to the bed room opened and revealed John the Echidna standing at the door way.
"Okay. We have a problemo!" Kenny said as he pulled his lightsabers back out to face the blue echidna. John frowned, then promptly pulled out his own lightsaber, one with two, blue blades. With a tribal battle cry, John charged at the young vampire bat, slashing at him for all he was worth. Thankfully, Kenny's Jedi training paid off. He blocked every one of John's attempts to hack him to bits and leaped behind him to deliver a stab to John's back. The blue echidna let out a horrific scream of pain and dropped his weapon. Kenny then hacked the double-bladed weapon to bits while shouting to Bunnie, "C'mon! Let's get out of here!"
But as Bunnie and Kenny fled, the wound that the young Jedi-to-be inflicted began to slowly re-heal itself. John growled, leaped to the celing and crawled along it in pursuit of the two escaping Mobians. "You're not getting away that easily!" he growled.
The two Mobians then arrived at the massive docking bay. Kenny looked about and saw an empty carrier craft. "We'll take that craft and exit this hellish base!" Kenny said.
But before they got to enter the craft, something came down right in front of the open door. It was none other than John the Echidna! And just by looking at the glow in John's eyes, he was not very happy to see them.
"Going somewhere?" he snarled.
"Out of this base. Like, duh!" Kenny taunted.
John grumbled a bit then yelled, "Then get on board and get out of my sight before I change my mind!"
"What?!" Bunnie exclaimed in utter confusion, "You're...you're letting us go?"
"JUST GET OUT!" he roared as he stepped aside and pointed to the inside of the craft.
"Alright, alright. Geez!" Kenny said as he and Bunnie boarded the carrier craft.
John then watched as the carrier craft took off and out of the docking bay. He then grinned and said into a communticator, "Vector, fire seeker missles at the escaping craft. It'll be a message for them not to come back."
"Firing seeker missles, boss." Vector replied.
John terminated the communication, then slyly said, "You fools are being allowed to leave. What a shame you won't live to reveal any secrets of this base."
"It's hard to believe he's letting us go so easily." Bunnie said as the left the Floating Island.
Kenny, however, noticed something coming at them from behind on the craft's radar. Fifteen somethings, to be exact. "Um, Bunnie? You might want to buckle your safety belt because we've got company!" he shouted, "Fifteen seeker missles are on our tail and closing fast."
The partially-roboticized rabbit strapped herself in, then asked, "Kenny, I know we're in a rather tense situation, but please tell me we have some sort of defenses on this ship."
Kenny looked over the control panel, then found two buttons marked ENERGY SHIELD and PARTICLE SHIELD. "Well, fire counts as energy, but the missles would count as paticles." he desparately tried to decide which button to press.
Then, a miracle occured! A blue beam of light soared at the warheads of several seeker missles and formed blocks of ice around them so heavy, that they dragged the missles down towards to the sea below.
"That's an Ice Beam attack!" Kenny identified.
Bunnie looked and happily shouted, "That's not all! It's my Sugah-Hog!"
Sure enough, there was Dave and Sonic riding upon Dave's Articuno. The Flying/Ice type took out missle after missle after missle with its Ice Beam and Blizzard attacks.
"Way to go, Sugah-Hog!" Bunnie cheered on.
One missle, however, flew at the repulsors on the underside of the carrier craft, exploded, and caused it to fall towards the sea.
"NOOO!" Dave shouted.
Kenny, not panicking in the least, pulled out a Pokeball and shouted, "Mewtwo, GO! Halt our descent!"
The powerful Psychic type utilized its psychic powers, caused dark-blue bubble to surround the craft just before it hit the surface of the ocean. Dave and Sonic then arrived near the top of the carrier craft. "Bunnie! Kenny! Are you two alright? Please, for the love of Mobius, answer me!" Dave shouted.
Suddenly, the dark-blue bubble disappeared and the vehicle began to sink into the sea. But as it did, the roof opened up and out flew Kenny and Bunnie riding upon his Dragonite.
"C'mon, guys, last one back to Knothole is a filthy chili dog!" Kenny called to them.
Sonic, never one to resist a racing challenge, called back, "You're on!"
Suddenly, a black blur soared over them, angled itself up towards the heavens, then took off faster than any of the gathered Freedom Fighters could blink. "What the heck was that?!" Sonic exclaimed.
Dave then thought, "Safe journey, old friend."
John the Echidna stood at the helm of his ship, finally constructed, and entering hyperspace. He then set the ship to Autopilot and went up to his co-pilot. "Well, I have to hand it to you, Heavy. The 'ShadowHunter' is performing even higher than my own expectations."
Heavy turned to John and bowed. "I'm glad that my own modifications are satisfactory, sir. Now, why are leaving Mobius?"
"Plain and simple, Heav-ster." John answered, "I need to get better fighting skills. And I know of one career that will suit my training needs."
"That being?" the Mechanix asked.
"Bounty hunting!" John exclaimed excitedly, "It will surely sharpen my skills to the point where I won't even have to think to make a move".
"I see." Heavy mused.
"Just one problem, though. I need a name. A name that will strike terror into the hearts of criminals and those who hire me. Any ideas?" the blue echidna asked.
Heavy began pacing back and forth while saying, "Well, let's see...you are now an echidna with ditanium-alloy, Chaos Emerald-powered armor, intense psychokinetic powers, who wishes to be some kind of law enforcement officer..."
John shouted, "That's it, Heavy! THAT'S IT! Armor: ACTIVATE."
As the armor began to close around John's body, he said, "From now on, Heavy, I have a new name. And that name is...THE ENFORCER!"
THE END...for now....
Okay, on with the legal mumbo-jumbo...
John the Enforcer, ShadowHunter, F.I.C.C. and other such stuff are copyright of John Patrick Fadeley.
Dave the Hedgehog and Kenny the Vampire Bat are copyright of David Benjamin Fadeley
Sonic, Tails, Robotnik, Caterkiller, and other such persons and things are copyright of Sega of America and Sonic Team.
Sally, Bunnie, and all other persons, places and things are copyright of Archie Comics and DiC.
Lightsabers, hyperdrive and other such cool terminology are copyright of Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox.
All Pokemon are copyright of Nintendo, Game Freak, and CREATURES.
Kara Vulpix is copyright of her player.
Anw without further adieu (funny word, "adieu") the special thanks...
Neon Dragon: This part of the saga is dedicated to you on your birthday of which this chapter of the Saga is being released. You've always been very supportive of my work and you've done so many pictures for me. Thank you very much. I hope you have a merry Christmas! ^_^
NoOman: Keep up your wonderful talent, NoO! Your hard work will always pay off. I appreciate your support and for that, I thank you greatly!
Dave and Kenny(my brothers): You've always said something to make me laugh and you've cheered me up when I really needed it. I enjoy viewing your artwork as much as I enjoy viewing the hard work of Sonic Fans worldwide. Thank you very much.
Kara Vulpix: I thank you for the usage of your character in "The Enforcer Saga" and for being there when my buddy NoOman needed encouragement and a good laugh.
To everyone else: I thank you for patiently awaiting the second chapter of my hard worked fanfic series. I guarantee that you shall not be dissapointed by any other chapter of the Saga that I write.
To the Almighty: Once again, I thank you, God, for giving me my talent for the literary arts and for creating such good friends that I have. Without you, nothing is possible.
A powerful romance and an exciting adventure...all in one fantastic story!
All in "The Enforcer Saga", Chapter 3: The Bounty on Chandral.
"A past shrouded in shadow, nothing can destroy me. My armor tells me my destiney."-John the Echidna
Chapter Two:
Take Off!
By
John "the Echidna" Fadeley
The year: 3235. The place: Mobius. As Robotnik takes center stage for the course of events on this war-torn orb, the resistance against him, lead by Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, still manages to overthrow his attempts at spreading his evil clutches. All of Mobius has now rallied against the foul tyrant. All, except for the legendary Floating Island and its residents. One in particular, who has plans of his own...
"Well, now Downunda is with us in our fight against Ro-butt-nik." Sonic said proudly as he reclined in the seat of the carrier plane. With him were Dave the Hedgehog, Knothole's resident Jedi, Kenny the Vampire Bat, Dave's padawan learner, and Antoine, Knothole's resident coward and klutz.
"Our meeting with the Freedom Fighter group there would have gone much smoother if Antoine didn't make a complaint against their cuisine." Kenny said, shooting a mean look at the coyote.
"Well, it served them right!" Antoine sniffed, "The very idea! Grubworms and soy sauce?! What were they thinking?"
Dave laughed at this. His laughter, however, came to a halt. He heard a strange rumbling noise from the ceiling...nay, from above the plane!
"What is that?" Kenny asked.
Just then, the young bat's question was answered when the air around the plane began to glow a bluish color.
"What's going on?" Sonic asked, "Are we under attack?"
Antoine began to panic and ran towards the compartment where their parachutes were kept.
Kenny and Dave, suspecting an attack, pulled out their lightsabers.
The pilot ran from cockpit and said that the plane's normal functions had become nullified. They were practically dead in the air!
"What about radar? Do we at least have that?" Kenny asked.
"No! Everything is dead!" the pilot shouted.
Dave, who was unusually calm during this tense situation, put his hand on the pilot's shoulder and said, "We are not dead yet. Let me see if I can sense the cause of this occurrence." Dave stretched out with the Force. "It's not a ship....it's an island....a floating island....wait...there's something else...I can't exactly pinpoint it...but it has incredible power...I...." Dave muttered before clutching his head and letting out a blood-curdling scream of terror!
"Master...I mean, Dave! What's wrong?" Kenny asked as he ran to his teacher's side.
Dave, after taking in several long breaths, said, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if something, or someone, was blocking me from sensing the source of this occurance."
"Well, I personally don't want to find out what is causing this. I prefer that we jump chip!" Antoine cried as he put a parachute on.
Kenny then corrected, "That's jump SHIP, not chip, Frenchy!"
"For once, I actually agree with Ant. Let's get out of here!" Sonic said as he grabbed four more parachutes and strapped them on himself, Dave, and the pilot. Kenny, however, refused to take a parachute.
"I'm gonna stay on board and see what's behind this. You guys get going!" Kenny said while taking his lightsaber and cutting the door open.
Dave, before jumping out of the plane, put his hand on Kenny's shoulder and said, "Then take care of yourself, my young padawan. Be mindful."
"C'mon, Dave, let's go!" Sonic shouted.
With that, Dave leaped from the plane. The last sight Dave saw of his young pupil was of him looking out of the windows of the plane...
A week later....
"I never should have left him behind, Sally. I never should have left him behind." Dave muttered. He was saddened by the disappearance of his "adopted" little brother. He now felt that it was his fault that the Knothole Freedom Fighters were short another member.
"Dave, it wasn't your fault." Sally said while patting Dave on the shoulder, "What he did was very brave and noble. You should be proud of him."
"But I didn't get to say goodbye to him, Sally. He was so young...and now..." Dave said before breaking down into tears.
Bunnie put her hand on Sally's shoulder and said, "Sally-girl, I really think we should let him alone for a while. I think he seriously needs it."
"Princess Sally! Princess Sally!" Antoine shouted as he ran into Dave's hut.
"Don't you ever knock?!" Dave scolded.
Sally asked, "Antoine, what's going on?
"You had better come over to Rotor's tool shop and see for yourself." he replied.
As they viewed the radar screen, it displayed a small blip coming at Knothole Village at an incredible velocity. Sally, her blue eyes focusing on the screen, asked, "Rotor, what is it?"
Rotor took off his yellow basball cap, scratched his head, then answered, "Unknown, Sally. It's coming from the south-east, moving at 100 miles per hour, and it seems to be...passing us by?"
The other Freedom Fighters watched as the object, whatever it was, flew over Knothole's location on the radar, and headed in the direction of Robotropolis. Then, it vanished off the radar.
"Sonic, I think you better..." Sally started to say.
"Way ahead of ya, Sal!" Sonic said with a confident smirk, "Robotropolis, here I come!" With that, Knothole's blue hero ran out of Rotor's tool shop.
Sally scowled for a moment. Sonic, while he was her friend since childhood, tended to put up a few arguements and rush off without seriously thinking. And that seriously grated on the Mobian princess's nerves. She then turned to Dave and commanded, "Dave, take Bunnie with you and try to get to object's landing coordinates before Sonic gets into trouble".
"Yes, your Highness." Dave said with a bow. He then picked up Bunnie until she was in his arms and ran out of the tool hut.
"Be sure to take a Power Ring with you!" she called after the both of them.
Dave and Bunnie then arrived at what the Knothole Freedom Fighters called the Lake of Rings. Every twelve hours, a Power Ring would emerge from the pond's depths and into the hands of the waiting Freedom Fighter. Where exactly the rings come from or when this mysterious occurance orginated has forever remained unknown.
"Here it comes, Sugah-Hog. Three...two...one..." Bunnie counted.
Just then, the pond began to glow. A water spout began to erupt from the seemingly calm waters, towering over the two rebels. Then, the watery funnel collapsed into the pond, the Power Ring appearing at what was once the top of the funnel. As the Power Ring began to fall downwards, Bunnie extended her roboticized arm upwards and clutched the ring. "Got it!" Bunnie cried triumphantly.
"Good. Slide it into my backpack and hang on tight, Bunnie, 'cause we're on our way to Robotropolis on the Jedi Express!" Dave said. As Bunnie held on tight, Dave took his usual stance and then ran until he and Bunnie were nothing more but a blur to the naked eye...
Sonic looked over a pile of scrapped metal in Robotropolis's junkyard and was astonished by what he saw. There, in a clearing amidst the piles of junk, was a large, truck-shaped vehicle did not have any wheels nor identifiable markings or insignias. "Man, where the heck did this come from?" he wondered.
Dave and Bunnie then appeared at his side. He turned, grinned at them, and slyly asked, "What took you guys?"
Dave frowned and said, "We brought you a Power Ring, Sonic. One of these days, your rushing off unprepared will be your undoing."
"Yeah, right. And Robotnik has this entire world under his control." Sonic chuckled sarcastically, "Anyway, guys, scope out the mondo weird ship."
As they did so, Bunnie caught the sound of rustling metal. She then whispered, "Guys, get down! Someone's coming."
They peered over the heap and watched as a crocodile, an armadillo, and a bee were carrying armloads of scrap metal into the truck-shaped craft. The crocodile, wiping sweat from the top of his head, said, "Manoman, is this hard work. I just hope the boss-man rewards us for this."
"Don't sweat it, Vector." the armadillo said as he dumped his armload carefully into the craft, "Just as soon as Espio chooses to show his mug and join us, we'll be back at the Floating Island faster then one can say 'Up, over, and gone!' "
"Floating Island? Are these guys nuts or what?" Sonic whispered, "The Floating Island is a myth. It doesn't exist!".
"Don't be too sure, Sonic." Dave assured his blue friend, "I definitely heard them correctly. They clearly said 'Floating Island', which could possibley mean that it actually exists."
But then it hit Dave. "Floating Island?! That's exactly what I sensed when our carrier plane disappeared!" he thought, "Maybe these guys know what happened to Kenny."
Suddenly, Dave felt like he was being hoisted into the air and thrown towards the vehicle. "What the...OOF!" he stammered before his head hit the ground. Sonic and Bunnie soon followed.
"Hey, guys, I just caught these three snooping around!" a voice snarled.
"What the...who said that?" Sonic asked, looking about in a confused manner.
Something hit Sonic's bottom jaw. "Shut up, Quill-butt! We'll ask the questions." the owner of the voice growled as he "faded" into view. It was a chaemeleon.
"Epsio, must we be so rude?" the bee asked, "Surely these are just rebels fighting against ol' Egg-bottom".
"They were spying on us, Charmy. That's all we need to know." Espio snapped.
The armadillo turned to Vector and asked, "What should we do with them, Vector? You know you-know-who doesn't take prisoners."
Vector grinned a toothy grin and said, "Plain and simple, Mighty, m'boy. They're LUNCH, just like that winged rodent that came with the plane we caught last week."
"NOOOOO!" Dave roared as he ignited his lightsaber and turned on the crocodile.
"A lightsaber? What kind of numbskull gives these lesser sentients a lightsaber?!" Espio shouted in surprise.
Vector, while nimbley dodging Dave's swipes, yelled, "Never mind that! Get this psycho away from me!"
"Allow me." Mighty said. He then walked over towards Dave and performed a karate chop in the back of the hedgehog Jedi's neck. Dave then collapsed on the ground, unconcious. However, Mighty started howling in pain. There were several yellow spikes stuck in his hand.
Sonic then tripped Mighty up. "That's for hurting my friend, you armoured idiot." he muttered.
Then, something hit Sonic like a gale-force wind and sent him flying into a pile of junk. "Hedgehog Pain, in stereo." Vector chuckled as he placed his headphones back on his scaly green head and reset the volume control on his headset to a normal level.
Bunnie, seeing what had happened to her friends, then attempted to severely beat the four attackers to a pulp. "How dare you yankees attack us! What did we ever do to you?" she yelled as she battled them.
Mighty, seizing Bunnie from behind, said, "It's not what you did to us; it's what you did to our leader. An old friend of yours, I think."
"And now, our boss wishes to return the favor." Vector snarled as he then jabbed Bunnie with a needle full of a black, swirling liquid. Within moments, Bunnie's struggles slowed to a halt.
"Alright, guys!" Vector said, "Haul Robofreak on-board. Once she's on, we'll get the other two."
Suddenly, Dave grabbed Charmy! He was feining unconciousness all along.
"HEY!" Espio shouted.
Within moments, a fight ensued. During the midst of it all, Mighty grabbed Sonic, and threw him at Dave.
"Yo, Chaotix! Time to haul tail outta here!" Vector ordered.
But as the Chaotix began to retreat to the safe-haven of their vehicle, Dave fired several spikes from his fingers and pinned Espio down to the ground...just as the carrier craft took off. Espio lowered his head in shame. "I've let him down." he muttered in fear, "I've let him down...and soon, he'll be coming for me."
"Let who down?" Dave asked as he pulled the chaemeleon to his feet.
"You're not going to extract that information from me, spine-scum!" Espio snapped before spitting on Dave's shoe.
"Don't be too sure, my scaly adversary. I have my ways." Dave said with a confident smile.
The yellow hedgehog then looked in the direction of the departing carrier and said, "Oh, Bunnie. Do not fear. I'll come for you.
Night was beginning to fall on the legendary Floating Island. The carrier craft veered towards the underside of the island. But when it was only thirty feet away, the craft just hovered in the air. Then, part of the island "moved down" and revealed a large, panel made of a dark, shiny metal. It then lowered like a drawbridge. With that, the vehicle entered a long metal tunnel and landed in a massive docking bay. As the ship's occupants exited the vehicle, Vector then shouted out, "Hey, fellas! Time to unload!"
Several robots rolled over to the carrier craft on their treads and started gathering the bits of scrap that the Chaotix had gathered. Then, a screen came down in front of them, flickered to life and pictured someone in the shadows. "Ah, you're back. Nice landing there, Vector. You're improving. Welcome back guys." the person said.
"Hey, glad to be back, boss man." Vector said with a big toothy grin.
"Wait a minute. Where's Espio?" the figure asked, a pair of silvery-blue eyes glowing in the darkness.
Mighty immediately shouted, "We were attacked by the Freedom Fighters! We had no other choice but to leave him behind. One of them was armed with a lightsaber!"
"A...lightsaber, you say? Did it perchance have a golden glow?" the figure asked, his eyes glowing even brighter.
Charmy answered, "Er...something along those lines, yeah."
"Um...look on the bright side, boss. We captured one of their own." Vector said, hoping to appease their leader.
"Hmm....very well. Bring him out." the figure requested.
"Yo, Heavster! Bomb! Bring her out." Vector shouted out to John's chief Mechanix.
The figure then advance towards the screen and said, "Her?"
As Heavy and Bomb hauled Bunnie out, the shadowed figure shouted, "HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO HER FRIENDS ARE?!"
"Whoa, easy, big guy. There's no way they know about this place." Vector said, trying to calm their leader down.
"Her closest friend is a Jedi Knight! How long do you think it will be before he finds an entrance to the base?" the figure roared.
The glow in the figure's eyes disappated. "Put her in one of the guest quarters. I'll deal with her later. As of right now, I need you to get those parts installed in the...you-know-what." he said.
"Yessir!" the remaining Chaotix said with a salute.
"Alright. We can either settle this like the civilized sentients that we are, or we can do this hard way and beat the information out of you. Who's your leader?" Sally asked as calmly as her temper allowed her. She was attempting to interrogate the chaemeleon that Dave had captured.
Espio, his hands tied behind his back while seated in a chair, snapped, "Maybe you ought to clean the crud out of your ears, your Royal Loserness. All your going to get out of me is my name, age, and affiliation."
"Well, we've got to start somewhere." she thought. She then asked, "What's your name?"
"The name's Espio, I'm sixteen years old, and I answer only to the Chaotix." he answered, "Can I leave now?"
Sally shook her head. This reptile was a real wise guy with no respect for authority and this was the kind of personality she detested. "Not so fast. Your commrades kidnapped a friend of ours. Where did they take her?" she asked.
Espio grinned, let out a bone-chilling laugh, then said, "You fool! You think I'm honestly going to tell you?"
Dave stepped forward, placed his hand on Espio's head, then calmly said, "Then you'll tell me everything you know."
The chaemeleon's eyes shrank for a moment, then, almost as if he was in a trance, said, "I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"Is Kenny alive?" Dave asked.
Espio answered, "Yes. He is alive and well...for the moment."
"Where is he?"
"A prison cell in a base hidden two miles under the surface of the fabled Floating Island."
"Who is your leader?"
Before Espio answered, his normally green eyes faded until the entire area of his eyes turned a glowing silvery-blue. And he grinned a horrifying grin.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid that's classified." Espio said in another voice...before letting out a terrible, terrible burst of evil laughter.
Then, a terrible wave of electricity sent Dave flying across the room and into a wall.
"Dave!" Sally shouted. She ran over to the yellow hedgehog. His eyes were wide with fright. Sally then glared at Espio and ordered the guards to take him away. The chaemeleon grinned and laughed, "When he comes, none of you will be spared from his wrath!"
Sally ignored Espio's ravings and tried her best to revive Dave. "Dave? Dave, please, say something!" Sally demanded, almost going to tears.
Dave looked at her, grabbed her shoulder, feebly got to his feet, and in a hateful tone, said, "I know who their leader is!"
As morning rose on the Floating Island, Bunnie awoke with a slight moan. Her head hurt more than she could possibly imagine. "Wha...what the hoo-ha-hey happened to me?" she muttered.
Before she started to panic, she calmed herself down and looked around to find out where she was. It was a room. The walls were made of some kind of shiny metal. There were a couple of circular light fixtures in the celing.
She, herself, was in a bed of some sort. It was soft, even more so than her own fur. There were long bedposts at the corners of the bed, supporting a canopy above her. Around the bed were pearl-white curtains. All in all, she felt like she was in a mansion or a palace. "Oh my stars! Whoever built this must be very rich or..." Bunnie started to say until another voice completed, "Very brilliant?"
She looked about the room and her heart almost stopped. There, standing at what looked like the door to the room, was an echidna. A blue echidna! It was none other than John the Echidna! "I trust you slept well." he said.
"I'll never sleep well knowing that a nightmare like you still haunts Mobius!" she shouted defiently. She then got out of the bed and prepared to charge at John. But before she even got close, John's eyes began to glow. She practically froze where she stood.
"Now, now. Is that anyway to treat a host?" John said while waving a finger at her, "At the moment, you're not a prisoner. You are a guest of Floating Island Central Command, F.I.C.C. for short. This base is hidden two miles under the surface of the fabled Floating Island. My commrades, whom you've met earlier, are my friends and followers called collectively as The Chaotix."
John then chuckled for a moment. "Forgive me. I completely forgot why I came here in the first place." he said, "I would like to extend a dinner invitation to you."
"Oh, really? Am I the main course?" Bunnie snapped contemptuously.
The blue echidna then burst into fits of laughter. As he calmed down he said, "Oh, mercy. Seriously, you are my guest, and you will be treated as such." His voice then dropped to a threatening manner, "Unless you do something to convince me to treat you like a prisoner." He then returned to a suave tone, "You will find a closet towards the right of the bed. In it are some fancy clothes that you may wear. Dinner will be at five o'clock in the afternoon."
Bunnie then went over to the closet. But before she opened it, she turned towards John and asked, "How do I know there aren't any spy cameras or whatever in here?"
"Madame Rabbot, I respect a woman's privacy. I can assure you that there are no fixtures of that nature in here." John said.
"Then explain this!" she yelled as she pulled out what certainly resembled a spy device.
John saw the device, became embarassed for a moment, then became extremely agravated. "Vector!" John roared as he ran off.
"Vector, how many times do I have to tell you?! STOP PUTTING THOSE CAMERAS IN THE ROOMS!" John shouted as he repeatedly slapped the music-crazy crocodile, "Have you no respect for when a woman needs her privacy?!"
"Like we *OW!* have ever *NOT THERE!* had any females *YOWCH!* in the base." Vector said between cries of pain.
Heavy, John's chief mechanic, strolled up to the blue echidna and said, "*AHEM!* Sir?"
"WHAT IS IT?!" John shouted angrily. Realizing it was only Heavy, he calmed himself down and asked, "Yes, Heavy, what is it?"
"We have almost completed construction on the...you-know-what. I've come to get your approval, sir." the Mechanix robot said.
"Excellent!" John thought, "My little pet project is almost done". He then instructed, "Lead the way, Heavy."
John then glanced at Vector and said, "Vector, remove all the cameras from each of the living quarters."
"Yes, sir." Vector said nervously.
John and Heavy then went to a window overlooking a sight that gave John great joy to look at. It was large in size, arrowheaded in shape, and a metallic shiny black in color. It had several windows at the front and along the sides of the vehicle, razor sharp wings at the sides, a row of sharp blades along the roof of the vehicle, and a massive rocket engine at rear of the ship. Several odd-looking robots were working on fastening the black metal plates on the ship's structure and securing two large blaster cannons on the underside of both wings.
"Absolutely beautiful work, Heavy. I'm very impressed." John said with a proud smile on his face, "How soon will it be until it's finished?"
Heavy nervously fidgeted his manipulators together and said, "Well, it's not complete yet, sir. We still need three more components to finish it."
"Three?" John asked, eyeing the robot.
"Well, for the plans you laid out for this ship, we need a Corellian J46 hyperdrive motivator, a AK3-46 Energy Flux-Capacitor and a steady and continuous flow of energy to power it. Otherwise, we'll be lucky to survive getting into Mobius's orbit." Heavy explained.
"That bad, eh?" John muttered as he looked at the yet-to-be-completed ship, "Well, I know where to look for two of the necessary objects. The third one will be hell to acquire. Perchance, is Project 2 complete?"
"Just about, but we haven't exactly tested...its...tolerances yet. We are still uncertain of how much it will take before it goes down for the count." Heavy stated, "The power source just isn't sufficient to supply its energy needs."
"BLAST! Another inconvenience!" the blue echidna thought with a snort, "The Power Rings The Chaotix and I have gathered just aren't enough to keep the flow of endless power going. If there were only a power source I could use that doesn't run out..."
Then it hit John like a bolt from his own powerful attack-of-last-resort. "Heavy, I've just been given a brilliant idea of how to keep a constant flow of power running through both of our projects. The Chaos Emeralds! According to records made by echidna scientists of our world's past, these gems have limitless power. Just one emerald would be enough to power Project 1."
"One problem with that, sir. You know as well as I do how rare Chaos Emeralds are. Where shall we find such legendary gems?" Heavy asked.
"I'll deal with that when the time comes." John said as he glanced at the chronometer on his left wrist. He then panicked! "OH, SHIT! IT'S 4:55! I'm late! Quick, Heavy, how do I look?"
"Like you need a new, more handsome form." Heavy joked.
"Up yours, you bag of bolts." John muttered as he rushed off, "Heavy, tell Charmy to tell Miss Rabbot that I'll be twenty minutes late to dinner, and tell Mighty to whip up something with pasta, marinara sauce, and mozzerella sticks."
"JOHN THE ECHIDNA?! How can you be sure?" Sonic asked.
"I could see it in the chaemeleon's eyes before he shocked me." Dave explained, "The last time I saw that hellish glow, it was in the prescence of that dreadlocked monster."
Sally shook her head. The last time she and the other Freedom Fighters were in the prescence of John the Echidna, they were nearly shocked to death by his Mental Lightning Attack (as it was now called). That John was involved in the disappearance of Bunnie and Kenny was enough to worry the Mobian princess. "So what do you advise we do, Dave?" she asked.
"You heard where the chaemeleon said they were. We must go to the 'Floating Island', rescue Bunnie and my young padawan, and stop John from accomplishing whatever he's up to." Dave declared.
But before anyone said anything else, there was a fluttering at the window of the hedgehog Jedi's hut. It was a Pidgey with a small carrying case under its left wing. Sonic opened the case and saw a small bit of paper fall into his hand. "Hmm...It's from Uncle Chuck." Sonic said as he began to read it, "Robotnik mining for Chaos Emeralds in Downunda. Recommend looking into the matter, as Chaos Emeralds would make ol' Oil-for-Guts even more dangerous than usual. *Phbt!* 'Robotnik dangerous.' Yeah, right!"
Dave let out a terrible moan. He knew this would keep him from searching for his missing friends. "Sally, with your permission, I will go to Downunda and put Robotnik's mining operation to a grinding halt." he requested.
"You don't have to ask me twice, Dave. Permission granted." Sally said, "But as for finding our missing compatriots, it will have to wait until we know what to expect on this 'Floating Island'. If we rush off unprepared, John will seriously have the upper-hand."
"Believe me, Your Highness, I've been trying to get Sonic to learn that lesson for a while." Dave said while shooting Sonic a glance.
Bunnie came into the dining room, dressed in a shimmering green dress. She was simplely awestruck by how well the dining room looked, practically fit for a banquet hall of a mansion.
Charmy, who escorted the partially-roboticized rabbit to the table, pulled out a chair at one end of the table. "If I may say so, Miss Rabbot, you look very lovely in that dress." the bee complimented.
"Well, thank you." Bunnie replied, surprised by the bee's good manners.
Charmy bowed, then fluttered out of the room.
John, dressed in a fancy tuxedo, entered from another side of the dining room and sat down at a table on the side opposite of where Bunnie was seated. Vector, Mighty, and Charmy sat at their seats on the sides of the circular table. A few robots entered the room, holding with one manipulator a tray of food. Heavy and Bomb approached the table, sat themselves down and plugged themselves into wires that extended from the wall. For them, the electricty that flowed into them was a feast.
The serving robots placed a tray of food at the spots where John, Bunnie, Vector, Mighty, and Charmy sat. On each of the trays were a bowl of cylindrical noodles covered in rich, red sauce, a plate with six breaded sticks of mozzerella, and a full drinking glass of water with three ice cubes in it. All in all, it looked like a sumptuous, appetizing meal.
After several minutes of dining on the sumptuous food, John rose to his feet, tapped his glass of water a couple of times to get everyone's attention, and said, "Lady and gentlemen, if I may have your attention, please? Thank you." The blue echidna then activated a hologram at the center of the table. The hologram displayed the ship that was being built. "Just last week, I was granted with a vision. My destiney calls to me...from the stars! Once this ship is complete, I shall depart from this world and seek my fate."
Vector almost choked when he heard what John was planning.
Mighty asked, "But why? Why are you leaving us? I mean, you're our leader! Where will we be without you?"
John calmly answered, "I will return to Mobius when the time is right. Until then, Vector, you're in charge. You all have been with me since I returned to the Floating Island, and I'm very proud of what we have accomplished." The blue echidna then raised his glass of water and said, "I propose a toast, to my grand journey and to my return to Mobius."
The gathered Chaotix and Bunnie raised their drinking glasses and clinked them together. John then eyed Bunnie across from him and said, "Madame Rabbot, you have been very quiet. Is there something you would care to share with us?"
Bunnie then put her glass down then said, "In my opinion, I think you're crazy. No Mobian has ever left our world."
John chuckled at her words and said, "Madame Rabbot, I assure you that I am a perfectly sane. 'Crazy' is a word in the dictionary of cowards. As for your second comment, I'm...I'm not even sure I'm a Mobian."
"SAY WHAT?!" the Chaotix shouted in confusion.
"Isn't it obvious that I'm not a normal, Mobian Echidna?" John said, "As if my powers, weren't enough to convince you, it is my physical form that truly makes me stand out." He then turned to Bunnie and said, "As your princess's hand-held computer said, I have an alternate DNA strain that doesn't correlate with any MOBIAN specie. How do you think that explains me?"
No one said a word after that.
"Point made." John said as he sat down.
Heavy then rose from his seat, activated the hologram, and said, "Sir, we're coming up over Downunda. Aptiva is scanning large amount of power down there. The energy signature matches that of..."
"Chaos Emeralds!" John muttered with grin.
"Aptiva is also scanning numerous biological and mechanical sentients down there." Heavy answered.
"One of Robotnik's mining operations, no doubt." John growled under his breath.
Heavy's eyes then flashed 1's and 0's. He then said, "Sir, Aptiva is detecting a motor-powered vehicle approaching from the North-West at thirty miles per hour."
John then turned to Mighty and whispered something that Bunnie didn't hear. Mighty then nodded, rose from his chair, then went over to Bunnie, then said, "Madame Rabbot, John has requested that you are confined to your quarters until further notice."
"What?!" Bunnie shouted in disbelief, "I haven't done anything wrong!"
"It's nothing personal, Bunnie." John said, "But what I'm about to do might upset you and you needn't be around to see it. Mighty, if you will."
"Sure thing, boss echidna." Mighty said as pulled out Bunnie's chair, "Come with me."
As soon as Mighty and Bunnie left the room, John activated a screen behind him and viewed a plane with two hedgehogs. "So. Those pesky rebels are going to halt Robotnik's little dig, eh? They will no doubt take the Chaos Emeralds there as well." he mused.
Vector then asked, "You want me and the boys to blow em' away?"
"No." John said, "Instead, I need you guys to head to Knothole village and rescue our color-changing comrade. Without Sonic or Dave, their friends will be no match for you. I shall deal with these pests myself."
"If you say so, John." Charmy said as he and Vector left the room.
"And us, sir?" Heavy asked.
"As for you, Heavy, get Project 2 ready. And use this." John said as he handed Heavy a red Chaos Emerald.
Heavy, after a few moments of speechlessness, said, "Right away, sir!" He and Bomb ran off.
"Those lousy hedgehogs always left me cold." John muttered angrily, "I do believe it is time that I returned the favor!" With that, John focused his powers...
"I don't get it, Dave." Sonic said, "Why would John go to the trouble of kidnapping Bunnie and Kenny? And what's with all the junk his flunkies are gathering?"
Dave, who was piloting his plane "The Gust", answered, "Quite frankly, Sonic, I don't know why. It is hard to sense what John is up to."
Suddenly, a horrible screeching was heard. Both hedgehogs looked and saw a flock of Aerodactyl to their left. "Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Sonic said as he glanced towards the flock of Flying/Rock-type Pokemon.
"Get real, Sonic." Dave said, "There are Pokemon all over Mobius."
"No, I mean one of those guys is carrying a Cloyster in its talons." Sonic pointed out. Dave looked and saw what Sonic was referring to. Then, the very Aerodactyl Sonic spoke of left the flock and flew towards the tiny biplane.
"Sonic, call me kooky, but why is that Aerodactyl carrying that Cloyster and flying at us?" Dave asked.
As both Pokemon approached, Dave then noticed somehing sickeningly familiar: both Pokemon's eyes were glowng a silvery blue!!!
"Oh, crap! Those are John's Pokemon!" Dave shouted, "Hang on, Sonic!" Dave then pulled hard at the controls and caused the plane to go into a dive.
What Dave was well aware of was that Aerodactyl was among the fastest Pokemon in the world. He knew that he couldn't out-manuever a Pokemon like Aerodactyl and that the best move was to head to the sea below and attempt a water landing.
Then, something rather unexpected happened. The Aerodactyl pulled up alongside "The Gust" and said (in John's voice, no less), "You're certainly going to have to do better than that, hedgehogs!" It then flew in front of the plane and turned the Cloyster in its talons to face the propellor. The Cloyster then fired an Ice Beam at the propellor and caused it to freeze!
"Oh, crud!" Dave muttered. He then instructed Sonic to fasten his seating restraint because they were due for a rough landing.
"Oh, it's going to be rougher than you think!" the Flying/Rock-type laughed cruelly. It then turned around, opened its jaws wide, and prepared bite off one of the wings! Dave, however, pulled out his gold-bladed lightsaber, and slashed underside of the Aerodactyl as it passed by with the ripped-off plane wing in its mouth. The Pokemon then let out a scream so loud and horrible, both hedgehogs covered their ears as best they could.
"You quill-backed bastards! For this, you shall suffer!" the Cloyster hissed angrily as it then unleashed a Blizzard attack!
A patch of ocean below the horrifying occurance then froze until it was a solid block of ice!
"Happy landing, fools!" both of the attacking Pokemon laughed as it they flew into a dark cloud.
"John! If you're listening, what I gave that winged lizard of yours is nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you harm one hair on Bunnie's head!" Dave angrily shouted at them.
"Um, Dave, don't you think we have a more urgent problem, like landing this plane with us still intact?!" Sonic shouted.
Dave then pulled out a Pokeball and commanded, "Mew, I choose you! Use your psychic powers to ensure we have a safe landing."
The "New Specie" Pokemon obeyed and used its powers to lower "The Gust" (what was left of it) onto the iceberg below them. "Good work, Mew. Return!" Dave said as he recalled his psychic pal.
Dave and Sonic then got out of what was left of their plane and stepped out on to the make-shift iceberg. "Now what do we do?" Sonic asked.
"The only thing we can do! Go, Blastoise!" Dave said as he unleashed another of his Pokemon, "Blastoise, push this iceberg in the direction of Downunda."
"Blastoise!" the powerful Water-type acknowledged as it dove into the water, put its head to the iceberg, aimed its water cannons at the area of ocean behind it, and used Hydro Pump to push the iceberg...
As the Aerodactyl and the Cloyster landed within the base, John went up to them. "Excellent work, you two. Avalanche, return!" John commanded as he held out his Pokeball and recalled his Cloyster. He then went up to his Aerodactyl, put his hand on the wound Dave made, and healed the Flying/Rock-type.
"Don't worry, Sky Terror, my loyal pet." John said as he ran his hand along the Aerodactyl's chin, "We'll get back at the miserable rodent who did this. That's a promise! Return!"
"Sir! Excellent news!" Heavy said as he plodded up to the blue echidna.
"What's up?" John asked.
"The Chaos Emerald you gave me works perfectly with Project 2." Heavy reported, "Sir, it's ready!"
"Good." John mused. As he walked with Heavy towards the mysterious "Project 2", John said, "Heavy, I think it is time I tested it!"
"Move it, you weaklings!" the robotic overseer ordered as he whipped at couple of quickly tiring Mobians, "His greatness, Lord Robotnik, is awaitng this shipment of Chaos Emeralds within the hour and he does not want to be kept waiting! MOVE IT!"
"Please, we need a break!" a female fox begged.
"I can't take much more of this." complained a Totodile Pokemobian.
"I need some water, please." cried a young turtle.
The overseer, a roboticized boar, snarled and whipped at the backs of the female fox and the Pokemobian until their backs began to bleed from the lashes. "Your going to mine those Chaos Emeralds until we have to move your dead carcasses out of the way!"
But as the overseer was about to whip at the poor slaves again, a laser blast soared at whip and cut it apart!
"What the...who did that?!" he roared, "Was it one of you miserable whelps?!"
"No. It was ME!" a harsh, gravely voice behind him snapped.
The boar-bot turned around and faced a terrible sight. It was echidna in shape, but from head to foot, it was covered in black, shiny metal. Its feet ended in 3 sharp claws, there were some weird wheel-like objects at the heels, and it had some kind of small-yet-curved blades at the forhead with a red jewel where the blades met. And its eyes, its horrible, horrible eyes, had a blood-red glow!
"Who the hell are you?" the boar growled as he went for his blaster.
The metallic-looking echidna said, "I'm your worst nightmare, you wretched swine."
"Yeah, RIGHT!" the boar laughed as he fired several shots.
The metallic echidna pulled up his arms and deflected the shots back at the boar. The slaves quickly ducked behind the carrier car full of Chaos Emeralds to avoid being shot.
"What the hell's going on?! That should have turned a robot to scrap!" the boar shouted in disbelief.
"I'm not a robot." the metallic echidna snarled as it then charged at the robo-boar, a pair of drill-like claws popping out of his fists. The drills were then fired at the boar, which then bored into his metal hide.
"No, NO, NOOOOOO!" the boar screamed as the drills cut through his circuits, gears, servomotors, and finally went at his computer brain, "MAKE IT STOP! HAVE MERCY!"
"Yeah, I'll show you mercy...the same kind of mercy you showed these slaves!" the metal figure roared as he tackled the overseer and ripped him apart with his bare hands. Within seconds, the red glow of the boar's eyes faded.
The female fox peered out from behind the immense mine cart that she and her fellow slaves hid behind during the fight. "You...you killed him!" she shouted.
The Totodile Pokemobian rushed forward and happily cried, "How can we ever repay you?! What Freedom Fighter group are you with?"
"I'm not with any Freedom Fighter group." the metallic echidna snapped, "However, I'm going to set all of the slaves here free. I'm going to need your help to do it, though."
"Sure thing!" the turtle piped up, "Anything to get out of this hellhole!"
"Hold on!" the female fox said, "You said that you're not with any Freedom Fighter group. How do we know we can trust you?"
The metallic figure raised his hand. The whip, what was left of it, flew into his hand. "Let me put it to you this way: would you rather spend the rest of your days with some...machine whipping at you relentlessly?"
The three slaves sluggishly pushed the mine cart to the surface. A long, insect-like Badnik crawled up to the cart, a few Swatbots standing by. The Badnik's name designation: Caterkiller.
"Well, it's about time you worthless heaps of flesh got a mine cart up here! What took you?!" Caterkiller demanded.
"We're very tired." the turtle whined, "We seriously need some rest."
"Very well. Head to your barracks!" the insect-like robot commanded, "But don't expect a long break."
As the slaves began to walk away from the cart, however, Caterkiller slithered up and around the fox. "Not so fast, lovely one. How about you stay with me?" he slyly said.
"No! Please, leave me alone!" the female fox cried, slapping the Badnik across the face.
Caterkiller, outraged by the fox's attack, grinded his sharp teeth, then growled, "You will certainly adopt a better attitude for me when you're roboticized! TAKE HER AWAY!"
Two Swatbots grabbed her arms and, for some horrible reason, started twisting them. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted. Then something unexpected occured. Five more tails sprouted out from where there was only one, wrapped around the Swatbots heads and smashed them together. More Swatbots ran toward her.
"Keep away from me!" she shouted. Then, several fireballs flew from her fingertips and into the oncoming hoard of Swatbots. They melted into steaming puddles of metal as the fire surrounded them like a fiery funnel.
"What?! She's a Vulpix-morph and nobody told me?!" Caterkiller screamed in surprise.
One Swatbot was lucky to squeeze off one shot at her left shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching her now bleeding wound.
"Now we've got her! Seize her!" Caterkiller cackled.
Suddenly, there was an explosion from mine cart, scattering Chaos Emeralds in every which direction. Standing atop the cart was the metal echidna!
"Who the hell are you?!" Caterkiller shouted.
"I'm not going to repeat myself if you slag-brained bozos aren't paying attention." the metal echidna said, a sinister looking grin spreading across his face, "So kiss my output!"
"Kiss my...HURT HIM! A LOT!" Caterkiller fumed.
The metal monstrosity then jumped down from the cart and ruthlessly hacked his way through the hoards of Swatbots. Within thirty seconds, the only robot left was Caterkiller. Realizing he was the last one, he gulped, then tried to slither away. The metal echidna's dreadlocks extended and whipped apart each of Caterkiller's segments. But instead of completely deactivating, he cackled and said, "You fool! You stupid, stupid, fool! I can regenerate my segments!"
And it was true, as several wires popped out of each segment, connected with another segment and began pulling himself back together. The metal echidna quickly took out a concussion grenade and placed it between two of the segments.
"Oh, poop!" Caterkiller muttered as he heard a long beep.
The Badnik then exploded, showering the ground with his metal innards. The Vulpix-morph looked through the flames, and was practically petrified with fear as the metal echidna walked out of the flames towards her, unscathed and undamaged. She was so scared that she could barely move.
The metal skin of the echidna then "opened up". First, the metal around the dreadlocks popped open like manacles and receded into the head, revealing blue dreadlocks. Then the helmet split into two halves and went behind the echidna's head. The armor around the legs and arms opened up and receded into the metallic torso, which then popped open like a clam shell and seemingly vanished behind the echidna's back. Underneath the armor was a blue echidna.
"Hold still." he said as he knelt down and examined the wound on her shoulder. A red monacle came over his left eye as he got a closer look. It then went back to the side of the echidna's head. He then put his hand on her wound and closed his eyes. He lifted it. When the Pokemobian looked, she was astonished. The wound on her shoulder was nowhere to be found. There was no way she could explain it, but this mysterious echidna before her healed her.
"My name is John the Echidna." he said in a calm, soothing tone, "What is yours?"
"I...I...I'm not sure if I have a name. I just don't remember." she said sorrowfully.
He put his hand on her other shoulder and said, "That's okay. I'll come up with one for you. How about...Kara. Kara Vulpix."
"Okay." she said, a slight smile spreading on her face.
John then got up. "To think, that Robotnik is carrying out such sick, twisted experimentation on Pokemon and Mobians alike to create this." he muttered.
Unfortunately, his words were heard by Kara and she began to cry.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you." John said, trying to apologize.
"But what you said made it sound like you think I'm some freak of nature!" she cried tearfully, "I didn't ask to be a mutant!"
"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." John said.
"What?" she asked, wondering how the feeling, beyond the palest of possibilities, was mutual.
The blue echidna shook his head. "Never mind. I gave those other slaves some blasters to eliminate any of the other overseers. My work is almost done here." he said as he gathered up as many Chaos Emeralds as he could carry, "If you wish, you can come with me. You will be amongst others like me, outcasts from the rest of Mobius. I highly doubt the Freedom Fighters will accept you among their ranks. Whadya say?"
"Would 'yes' suffice?" she said with a confident grin.
"By the Jedi Council!" Dave said in utter surprise. The compound where the mining was taking place looked like it was completely leveled. Bits and pieces of Swatbots and Badniks were strewn all over the place.
"What the heck could've done this?" Sonic asked, surveying the wreckage.
Dave looked around, then heard a voice weakly call out, "T...t...thank g-g-g-goodness. Help-p-p-p-p hazzzzzzz ar-r-r-r-rived."
"A robot, no doubt." Dave thought as he quickly pulled out his lightsaber.
"It came from over here." Sonic said as he ran over to a pile of scrapped robot parts.
The two hedgehogs started digging through the pile and uncovered the head of a familiar robot. "Caterkiller. What happened here?" Dave asked.
"Heck, I'd rather I tell you guys what happened rather than R-R-R-R-Robotnik-nik-nik-nik-nik-nik. If I-I-I-I-I tell him what hap-hap-hap-happened, he'll-ll-ll-ll scrap me for s-s-s-s-sure!" Caterkiller said between lapses of power, "If I-I-I-I-I told him that one guy whupped-ped-ped-ped an entire legion of Swatbots in less then thirty-y-y-y-y-y sec-sec-sec-seconds, he'll blow more than his s-s-s-stack!"
"One guy did all this? That's impossible!" Sonic said.
"No, Sonic. He's right. One guy did all this. It was John the Echidna." Dave said grimly as he used the Force, "The stench of his prescence is all over this area."
"Maybe he ought to start clipping his toe nails. Look at this footprint!" Sonic said as he pointed to a footprint in the ground. It had three claw-points at the toes, and another claw-point at the heel, almost reptillian in nature.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You hedgehogs don't know nothing!" Caterkiller laughed, "That guy had on some kind of metal armor on. I saw it come off when he went over to this Vulpix-morph! And besides, missles and lasers didn't so much as scratch the paint job off it!"
"I think we've heard enough." Dave said as he tossed Caterkiller's head into the air, switched to some other option on his lightsaber, then struck the Badnik's head over the horizon. "And he outta here!"
There then came a beeping at Dave's wrist. "Dave here. Your Highness, I'm afraid the blue demon struck here first. The place has been completely leveled, every Swatbot practically anihilated. According to a survivor, John had some kind of armor on."
"Dave, I think you and Sonic better keep away from Knothole for a while." Sally said.
Sonic then grabbed the communicator and asked, "Keep away? Why?"
"Maybe this will convince you why, hedge-butt!" a gravely voice snarled before a laser bolt soared at the screen, causing static to appear.
"SALLY!" Sonic shouted.
Vector aimed his blaster at Sally and snarled, "So, trying to alert your hedgehog heroes to come to the rescue? Ain't that typical of a princess?"
"What do you want with me?" she asked, trying to keep her distance.
"Oooo. Quick and to the point. I like that in the dames." Vector said with a grin.
Charmy flew up to her and said, "It's nothing personal, your Highness. We just want our friend back."
"In essence, it is personal." she said while quickly reaching for a quarter staff near the back of her hut.
Mighty, however, grabbed the iron quarter staff, broke it in half, and tossed both halves out the window. "No, no, no, lady. That ain't nice." he said while waving a finger at her.
"And what you three are doing is any better?" she thought. With no other option, she decided to break for the door and call for reinforcements. Vector caught her by the waist with his long tail, and held his blaster at her head.
"Take us to our color-changing compadre, or I'm gonna blast every bit of brain out of your pretty head!" the crocodile threatened.
The three Chaotix then followed Sally to the jail cells where Espio was held. A security guard noticed Sally and trio, got up from his desk, then said, "Good evening, your Highness. How might I help you and your three...friends?"
"I'm taking them to see the chaemeleon. They've never seen one in person." she said, Vector's blaster thrusted at her back.
"Wait a minute. Your Highness, these guys are the Chaotix, John the Echidna's followers! You briefed me and every other Freedom Fighter on these guys" the guard said, quickly going for his weapon.
Charmy zipped around the guard, said, "Have a seat!", and pushed his seat in, trapping him at his desk.
Vector then went up to the guard and delivered a hard headbutt, putting the guard on an unscheduled break. "Man, that's something we didn't count on. A smart guard." Vector laughed.
The crocodile then turned to the Mobian princess and said, "Now that we know where our cold-blooded bro is, we don't need you anymore." He then whacked her in the head with his tail, knocking her out.
The Chaotix then went to the cell where Espio was held. Charmy fumbled with the keys and asked, "Hey, guys, do we know which one of these will open the door?"
"Here's MY key!" Mighty said as he pulled back his fist and punched the door down.
Espio, chained, looked up at them and sarcastically asked, "What took you guys?"
"Charmy was fumbling with the keys." Vector said as Mighty went up and ripped the chains apart.
Charmy angrily looked at Vector and said, "Well, if a certain music-loving moron didn't knock out that security guard, we could have asked him if he knew which key opened this cell door."
"Oh, sure." Vector mocked, "Then we could also ask him for tea and cookies."
"Okay, knock it off, you two." Mighty said, "We got who we came for".
"Hey, guys, while we're here, we might as well pick up the last two parts John needs for that ship he's working on." Espio said, "I saw them being put in the two-tailed kid's plane."
As a terrible fog set in, Tails was putting the final touches on his plane, "The Tornado". "Wait'll Sonic gets a load of this!" the two-tailed fox said proudly.
"Get a load of what, little guy?" a voice asked.
Tails looked and saw a silohuette of what looked like a hedgehog. "Sonic, is that you? I didn't expect you back so quickly."
"Hey, they don't call me 'The Fastest Thing Alive' for nothing." the hedgehog said, "Why don't you catch a few Z's while I finish up the work on your plane?"
Tails, before leaving the plane, looked carefully at the silohuette, then asked, "Sonic, since when did you start wearing a baseball cap?"
"Darn it, Mighty! I told you this wouldn't work!" the "baseball cap" shouted, revealing a pair of jaws. The "spikes" on the imposter's back slid off, formed a wheel, aimed itself at Tails and rammed him.
"OW!" Tails exclaimed as his body flew through the air. Something else started spinning about like a tornado and smacked Tails back over the plane like an estranged game of ping-pong.
Finally, Mighty caught Tails, started twirling the fox around until he launched him into a tree.
"Now, where were we?" Vector asked with a grin as he opened up a panel of Tails's plane...
"So, they're finally gone." Kenny sensed. He was confined to a prison cell within in F.I.C.C.
He then pulled out his two lightsabers, hidden within his folded wings. "Good thing those guys were too stupid to frisk me for my weapons, or otherwise, I'm gonna have a helluva time getting out of here." he thought.
Kenny then hacked at the bars. Alas, no such luck. "How odd. Could John have discovered a metal that is actually impenetrable to lightsabers?" he wondered, "But I'm willing to bet that he didn't do the same to the walls." He looked at the back wall of his cell, then thrusted his lightsabers through and created an X-shaped slashing at the wall.
"One good Supersonic Yell should do the trick." he muttered with a confident smile. He then took a deep breath, then unleashed a scream so loud, it practically blew a hole into..."A bed room?!" Kenny thought in utter surprise.
There, in the bedroom was Bunnie, cringing to dodge whatever blew a hole into the room.
"Bunnie! Boy, am I glad to see your pretty face again!" Kenny said as he ran over to her.
Bunnie looked up, smiled, then ran up to hug the young vampire bat, "I sure am happy to see you, Sugah-Bat! I thought they...they..."
Kenny frowned and said, "Ate me? No such luck! Instead, those goons threw me in this cell and fed me nothing but bananas for days! What do those jerks think I am, a flying monkey?!"
"Well, do you think you can get us out of here before John gets back?" Bunnie asked.
Kenny gave her one thumb up and said "No problemo!"
The doors to the bed room opened and revealed John the Echidna standing at the door way.
"Okay. We have a problemo!" Kenny said as he pulled his lightsabers back out to face the blue echidna. John frowned, then promptly pulled out his own lightsaber, one with two, blue blades. With a tribal battle cry, John charged at the young vampire bat, slashing at him for all he was worth. Thankfully, Kenny's Jedi training paid off. He blocked every one of John's attempts to hack him to bits and leaped behind him to deliver a stab to John's back. The blue echidna let out a horrific scream of pain and dropped his weapon. Kenny then hacked the double-bladed weapon to bits while shouting to Bunnie, "C'mon! Let's get out of here!"
But as Bunnie and Kenny fled, the wound that the young Jedi-to-be inflicted began to slowly re-heal itself. John growled, leaped to the celing and crawled along it in pursuit of the two escaping Mobians. "You're not getting away that easily!" he growled.
The two Mobians then arrived at the massive docking bay. Kenny looked about and saw an empty carrier craft. "We'll take that craft and exit this hellish base!" Kenny said.
But before they got to enter the craft, something came down right in front of the open door. It was none other than John the Echidna! And just by looking at the glow in John's eyes, he was not very happy to see them.
"Going somewhere?" he snarled.
"Out of this base. Like, duh!" Kenny taunted.
John grumbled a bit then yelled, "Then get on board and get out of my sight before I change my mind!"
"What?!" Bunnie exclaimed in utter confusion, "You're...you're letting us go?"
"JUST GET OUT!" he roared as he stepped aside and pointed to the inside of the craft.
"Alright, alright. Geez!" Kenny said as he and Bunnie boarded the carrier craft.
John then watched as the carrier craft took off and out of the docking bay. He then grinned and said into a communticator, "Vector, fire seeker missles at the escaping craft. It'll be a message for them not to come back."
"Firing seeker missles, boss." Vector replied.
John terminated the communication, then slyly said, "You fools are being allowed to leave. What a shame you won't live to reveal any secrets of this base."
"It's hard to believe he's letting us go so easily." Bunnie said as the left the Floating Island.
Kenny, however, noticed something coming at them from behind on the craft's radar. Fifteen somethings, to be exact. "Um, Bunnie? You might want to buckle your safety belt because we've got company!" he shouted, "Fifteen seeker missles are on our tail and closing fast."
The partially-roboticized rabbit strapped herself in, then asked, "Kenny, I know we're in a rather tense situation, but please tell me we have some sort of defenses on this ship."
Kenny looked over the control panel, then found two buttons marked ENERGY SHIELD and PARTICLE SHIELD. "Well, fire counts as energy, but the missles would count as paticles." he desparately tried to decide which button to press.
Then, a miracle occured! A blue beam of light soared at the warheads of several seeker missles and formed blocks of ice around them so heavy, that they dragged the missles down towards to the sea below.
"That's an Ice Beam attack!" Kenny identified.
Bunnie looked and happily shouted, "That's not all! It's my Sugah-Hog!"
Sure enough, there was Dave and Sonic riding upon Dave's Articuno. The Flying/Ice type took out missle after missle after missle with its Ice Beam and Blizzard attacks.
"Way to go, Sugah-Hog!" Bunnie cheered on.
One missle, however, flew at the repulsors on the underside of the carrier craft, exploded, and caused it to fall towards the sea.
"NOOO!" Dave shouted.
Kenny, not panicking in the least, pulled out a Pokeball and shouted, "Mewtwo, GO! Halt our descent!"
The powerful Psychic type utilized its psychic powers, caused dark-blue bubble to surround the craft just before it hit the surface of the ocean. Dave and Sonic then arrived near the top of the carrier craft. "Bunnie! Kenny! Are you two alright? Please, for the love of Mobius, answer me!" Dave shouted.
Suddenly, the dark-blue bubble disappeared and the vehicle began to sink into the sea. But as it did, the roof opened up and out flew Kenny and Bunnie riding upon his Dragonite.
"C'mon, guys, last one back to Knothole is a filthy chili dog!" Kenny called to them.
Sonic, never one to resist a racing challenge, called back, "You're on!"
Suddenly, a black blur soared over them, angled itself up towards the heavens, then took off faster than any of the gathered Freedom Fighters could blink. "What the heck was that?!" Sonic exclaimed.
Dave then thought, "Safe journey, old friend."
John the Echidna stood at the helm of his ship, finally constructed, and entering hyperspace. He then set the ship to Autopilot and went up to his co-pilot. "Well, I have to hand it to you, Heavy. The 'ShadowHunter' is performing even higher than my own expectations."
Heavy turned to John and bowed. "I'm glad that my own modifications are satisfactory, sir. Now, why are leaving Mobius?"
"Plain and simple, Heav-ster." John answered, "I need to get better fighting skills. And I know of one career that will suit my training needs."
"That being?" the Mechanix asked.
"Bounty hunting!" John exclaimed excitedly, "It will surely sharpen my skills to the point where I won't even have to think to make a move".
"I see." Heavy mused.
"Just one problem, though. I need a name. A name that will strike terror into the hearts of criminals and those who hire me. Any ideas?" the blue echidna asked.
Heavy began pacing back and forth while saying, "Well, let's see...you are now an echidna with ditanium-alloy, Chaos Emerald-powered armor, intense psychokinetic powers, who wishes to be some kind of law enforcement officer..."
John shouted, "That's it, Heavy! THAT'S IT! Armor: ACTIVATE."
As the armor began to close around John's body, he said, "From now on, Heavy, I have a new name. And that name is...THE ENFORCER!"
THE END...for now....
Okay, on with the legal mumbo-jumbo...
John the Enforcer, ShadowHunter, F.I.C.C. and other such stuff are copyright of John Patrick Fadeley.
Dave the Hedgehog and Kenny the Vampire Bat are copyright of David Benjamin Fadeley
Sonic, Tails, Robotnik, Caterkiller, and other such persons and things are copyright of Sega of America and Sonic Team.
Sally, Bunnie, and all other persons, places and things are copyright of Archie Comics and DiC.
Lightsabers, hyperdrive and other such cool terminology are copyright of Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox.
All Pokemon are copyright of Nintendo, Game Freak, and CREATURES.
Kara Vulpix is copyright of her player.
Anw without further adieu (funny word, "adieu") the special thanks...
Neon Dragon: This part of the saga is dedicated to you on your birthday of which this chapter of the Saga is being released. You've always been very supportive of my work and you've done so many pictures for me. Thank you very much. I hope you have a merry Christmas! ^_^
NoOman: Keep up your wonderful talent, NoO! Your hard work will always pay off. I appreciate your support and for that, I thank you greatly!
Dave and Kenny(my brothers): You've always said something to make me laugh and you've cheered me up when I really needed it. I enjoy viewing your artwork as much as I enjoy viewing the hard work of Sonic Fans worldwide. Thank you very much.
Kara Vulpix: I thank you for the usage of your character in "The Enforcer Saga" and for being there when my buddy NoOman needed encouragement and a good laugh.
To everyone else: I thank you for patiently awaiting the second chapter of my hard worked fanfic series. I guarantee that you shall not be dissapointed by any other chapter of the Saga that I write.
To the Almighty: Once again, I thank you, God, for giving me my talent for the literary arts and for creating such good friends that I have. Without you, nothing is possible.
A powerful romance and an exciting adventure...all in one fantastic story!
All in "The Enforcer Saga", Chapter 3: The Bounty on Chandral.
"A past shrouded in shadow, nothing can destroy me. My armor tells me my destiney."-John the Echidna