Quack's Anatomy
Shadow and Sonic were carrying Lien-Da to Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital as fast as they could. They ran through the doors and were greeted by Dr. Horatio Quack. The duck's attention immediately went to the incoming party.
"What's the matter?" He said.
"It's Lien-Da. She just collapsed in front of us. She's extremely hot." Dimitri said.
"When was this?"
"About ten minutes ago."
Dr. Quack examined Lien-Da. He first took her pulse. He took note of its weakness. She also had shallow breathing and dry skin.
"She appears to have a case of heatstroke. I can give her a shot of something to help her. When she comes 'round in twenty five minutes, you have to keep her cool and give her a solution of salt water."
"Heat stroke? How can she have heat stroke? She's been in this tepid city for the past month and went into space a few days ago. The only hot place was Eggman's small robot making factory in his base, and we were only there for about a few hours."
"Hmm... In that case we'd better run a few tests."
Quack then asked a nurse to bring him a bed trolley and put Lien-Da down on it. Quack and the nurse then rushed off to commence the tests.
Thirty minutes later, the family of Lien-Da were in the waiting room. Remington had recently learned about his aunt and had become rather close to her. Julie-Su was there too. She was quite surprised by herself being there. She'd fought against Lien-Da for years and here she was; worried about her. Dr. Quack then came out of the examination room with the holographic NICOLE.
"Lien-Da's condition is the first I've seen. There's no medical history of such a condition existing. It might even be unique."
"What's wrong with her?" Dimitri asked.
"NICOLE, you tell him. I'm still trying to make sense of it all."
"Somehow, Lien-Da's DNA has mutated so that it blocks her ability to absorb vitamins and other nutrients from sunlight." The AI explained. "Without sunlight, she can't get enough of those nutrients, and even if an IV drip or something like that worked it would leave her hospital bound for life."
"Is there any way to cure it?" Dimitri asked.
"We won't know until we figure out what caused this."
"This condition is not unique. Lien-Da has told me about it before. This condition is what killed her mother. There's only one person alive who knows more about it than her. Gae-Na, fetch Meister."
Gae-Na had been Lien-Da's friend for some time now, and also her right-hand-woman when it came to making battle plans and preparations. She hurried off to find the echidna Dimitri had asked for.
"Who's Meister?" Julie-Su asked.
"I didn't think you would have remembered him. He was your father's bodyguard. He protected Luger for years and was there when Merin-Da was ill."
After ten minutes, Gae-Na returned with Meister. He was a large brown echidna in his fifties with a long goatee.
"Grandmaster Dimitri, it is an honour to see you, sir. How may I assist you?" Meister said.
"Lien-Da has inherited her mother's condition. We need everything you can tell us about that time."
"Lien-Da has Merin-Da's condition? May I see her?"
"Yes certainly. She's conscious at the moment, but delusional." Said Quack.
They all followed Dr. Quack into Lien-Da's room. She was in bed still burning up. You could barely tell that her eyes were open.
"I wouldn't try to talk to her. She isn't seeing things straight. I tried to get her attention by snapping my fingers in front of her face and she lashed out at me before collapsing again." Quack told everyone.
Meister looked at Lien-Da and worry was plain on his face.
"I've protected Luger's family for years, but Lien-Da was special among them. Like the daughter I never had. I'll tell you all I know about Merin-Da, but there's very little to tell. After we came out of the Twilight Zone, when Lien-Da and Kragok were about eight, Merin-Da said she felt as if she was burning up and suffered the same thing Lien-Da is now; delusions and immense bodily heat. We even took her back to the Twilight Zone in the hopes that she'd better, but it failed. She died five months after she contacted the condition. That was in the Twilight Zone. Time seemed to slow to a crawl in there. Aurora knows how long Lien-Da has out here."
Inside Lien-Da's head, she was in a world of her own; an insane one. Everything was different to her. She tried opening her eyes and to get cooler but it didn't work. Then one moment, she heard the comforting voice of Meister and a memory suddenly flashed before her. She was about five years old and was playing with her brother Kragok; a simple game of chase outside. She kept running after her brother and tripped on a rock she failed to notice. Her knee had been grazed and she started crying.
"What's the matter?" Said a much younger Meister, coming to see what all the commotion was about.
"She tripped! I didn't mean for it to happen. Am I in trouble?" Kragok said.
"You should be! My knee's real sore." Lien-Da said.
"They'll probably have to cut it off." Kragok said.
"Eek!" Lien-Da screamed.
"Now, it's nothing that serious; just a little scratch." Meister said.
"Something wrong? Said a purple echidna.
"Nothing, Luger. Lien-Da just hurt herself."
"Well, it's your job to make sure that nothing happens to them or the rest of my family. Stopping a five-year-old from hurting themselves is a simple task, and yet you can't even do that."
"I'm sorry, sir. I'll see that it shall not happen again."
"See that it doesn't, or there will not be a next time." And with that, Luger departed.
"Did I get you in trouble, Mr. Meister?" Lien-Da asked.
"No. But could you guys do me a favour? Be more careful the next time you're playing. OK?"
"OK!" the two young echidnas said.
"Is there anything else you can tell us? Did anyone else encounter this condition?" Asked Dr. Quack.
"No. Not a soul. Luger even had his troops search for anyone else with it in the hopes that he could find a cure." Said Meister.
"Then there is something unique about Lien-Da and her mother. Both entered the Twilight Zone, but so did the Dark Legion and Brotherhood of Guardians. The Guardians could have easily avoided it through their Chaos powers, but how did the Dark Legion fight it? Perhaps their... Wait a minute."
Dr. Quack went over to a folder near Lien-Da's bed. He opened it up to reveal x-rays of Lien-Da.
"What is strange about her body?" Quack asked everyone.
"Nothing." NICOLE said.
"Exactly. She's a member of the Dark Legion. Where are her cybernetics? The only ones she has are on her head. Meister, did Merin-Da have any cybernetics?"
"Barely any, really. She only had an internal modification to one of her lungs and some in her nose to get rid of a flower allergy she had."
"That's it! Everyone else in the Twilight Zone had some sort of protection against it, except Lien-Da and her mother."
"And this helps us how?" Dimitri asked with a touch of annoyance.
"It helps us figure out a way to keep the condition from worsening until we find a cure."
"But why didn't she get the condition sooner? She had entered the Twilight Zone years ago along with the rest of the legion."
"She was only a child. Her body was still growing. It probably just adapted to the conditions there to survive."
"Dr. Quack, the tests have found something." Said a nurse who had just entered. Quack took a look at the test results.
"This could help us find a cure. You see, the Mobian ability to absorb nutrients from sunlight is similar to photosynthesis in plants, and so we need to find a plant with DNA compatible with Mobians so that they can synthesize a gene to replace Lien-Da's mutated DNA and restore her to health. NICOLE, could you please search for such a plant in your files."
"Searching..." NICOLE began searching through her database that held records of almost everything on Mobius. After a few minutes, she stopped with a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, doctor. There's no such plant." The AI said. "Perhaps we could use the Chaos Emerald like you did for King Maximillian."
"No, it's impossible to tell if it would work. Max was simply in a coma, something we know about. I have no idea what we're up against here."
"A plant with DNA that is compatable with Mobians. What about a living plant? A plant that could walk and talk like a Mobian?" Said Dimitri.
"You know of such a plant?" Said Quack.
"I've heard of it."
"Who has it?"
"He doesn't have it, but he probably knows where to find it, the traitorous scoundrel!"
"Wait, Dimitri, you don't mean..." Said Julie-Su.
"I do. Dr. Finitevus."