Misguided Love
Majin Magus
*
The day Julian became Robotnik…
*
A mother carried her child into the forest. She had been an Overlander disguised as an ordinary Mobian in Mobotropolis, but royal guards found her out. This girl was a technological genius, which was very fortunate for her child, to say the least.
The pale woman ran, gasping for air, while her dark brown bangs blocked her eyesight. Gray eyes blinking sweat and hair away, she veered towards the forest.
"Oh, my child, I pray this works…and…and I am sorry you cannot have a proper childhood," she apologized, dodging into the Great Forest, the shouts of the guards not too far behind her.
Stepping up to a young yet thick sapling tree, the mother pulled on one of its branches. A sliding hatch revealed a compartment.
"Forgive me, my darling little Kadija," she whispered, tears running down her face. She placed the infant girl into the redwood sapling.
"Damn," she cursed softly. The guards found her…but the whole point of running was to save her daughter. She kicked the fake tree and it disappeared.
The guards, three of them, all of them beavers, grabbed the mother by the arms. They began to walk back to the city, but something large flying in the air cast a shadow on the them.
"What the…" one of the beavers gasped. It was an enormous metal aircraft and it was headed toward Mobotropolis. The guards jerked the woman along as they rushed to the castle, unaware of the dismal future of their wonderful city…
*
Present Day Mobius
*
During the eleven or so years after Robotnik took over, the child slept inside the 'tree.' The tree took in all information around her, like the surrounding area, what was going on, what had happened.
Kadija's tree was by the out limits of the forest, and it faced Robotropolis. So although the kid was sleeping, she knew who the Freedom Fighters were, who Julian was, what missions the FF had gone on, and they even knew what everyone looked like. The only thing Kadija wouldn't know was names. She would know that a blue hedgehog was with the FF, but she wouldn't know his name or the new name Julian had given himself.
It was only partially their mother's intention to have her sleep for a long time, for she had overhead Julian's plan. She had programmed the tree so that it would grow faster as Kadija grew. Obviously, this woman was a genius like no other.
When something hit the tree, the tree would open and awaken the child. Kadija, would know all, as well as know why she was in a tree.
It was on a rainy day, while the Freedom Fighters were retreating into the woods, that Tails accidentally crashed into the tree that held Kadija. After the little fox sped off after Sonic, the bark hummed and became liquid. It melted away, revealing a flash of metal.
For the first time in eleven years, Kadija opened her eyes. She had beautiful dark brown hair, and cold, steely gray eyes. She wore a black jumpsuit, designed for sneaking around.
"Mother…" she muttered as all the information of the past eleven years came flooding to her. She was supposed to twelve, but the tree sped up her growth so she looked sixteen. A slight drawback, but at least she was alive.
Her head turned to the large metal structure that was Robotropolis.
"Quite a project Julian has been working on," she commented. "It wouldn't hurt to explore a bit more. Those mindless robots won't see me."
Kadija ran off towards the city.
*
Near the center of the city, Kadija had to use very careful evasion techniques. SWATbots almost caught her a few times. Her black jumpsuit turned out to be incredibly valuable, as she blended in very well with the dark, dismal, environs of Robotropolis.
"Hmm…they can turn Mobians into robots? Yes, yes, I remember a robot hedgehog following the fast blue one. I think he was freed from slavery though." Kadija silently pondered this. "In the memory of my capsule, there was a log about Mobians becoming robotic slaves. Their minds must be hardwired to follow Julian's commands."
She stayed in one place too long, however, because she heard a robotic voice shout from behind.
"Halt intruder!" the voice shouted. Kadija turned and saw SWATbots (those things' names she knew) rushing at her.
"Shit!" she hissed, and she leapt into a pile of scrap metal. She breathed a sigh of relief as they passed. She rested there for a bit. It was nice to not have to constantly be on the lookout for a little.
'As odd as it may seem, I'm still neutral to this,' Kadija thought, and then she was a little surprised at her own standing on this whole matter of taking over Mobius.
Over the course of thirty minutes, she gathered all the jumbled thoughts and memories she had. Julian should be at the core, the center, of this city. Kadija would like to see Julian, see the great destroyer of Mobotropolis.
'It's decided, then,' she thought, smiling. 'I'll go see the "great" Julian.'
With a leap and a bound, she slid out of her hiding place and back into the shadows.
*
The small man walked slowly down the hall, obviously in no great rush. So what if some one was sneaking around the city? Let Julian worry about it.
Snively grinned for a moment, thinking of the expression on the fat man's face when he heard that someone was creeping in the bowels of the city, evading all capture. Not that any attempts had been made.
All in all, Snively was very short. He had a long pointed nose and a few faint wisps of hair on his head. He was Julian's, a.k.a. Robotnik's, nephew, and he hated his uncle. When he wasn't working in the control room typing reports and so on, he was scheming under Robotnik's nose.
Putting on a hurried expression and a look of concern and worry, he barged into the room, which was the room where Robotnik always sat in his big chair, hardly ever moving.
"Dr. Robotnik, sir!" Snively called. His voice sounded snobbish, sort of like he had a cold, but not quite.
A cool, steely voice answered. "What is it, Snively?" The green chair turned to reveal Robotnik.
A very large man, Robotnik had a long orange mustache, and no hair on his head. The whites of his eyes were black, and the pupils and irises had somehow fused to made a red circle in each eye. A piece of metal covered each of his ears, for unknown reasons.
"EyeSpy unit 314 has detected someone sneaking around Robotropolis, heading for here, sir." Snively put on a look of concern and he feigned interest.
Robotnik considered this. "Who is it? Which of the Freedom Fighters? It can't be the hedgehog, he'd never sneak around." The evil Overlander placed his fingertips together.
Snively actually read part of the report, and saw something that brought real interest to this matter.
"The height is…er…a bit much for any of the Freedom Fighters around here. It might be one of the wolves, but we can't be sure. The EyeSpy didn't get clear footage, just of a shadowed figure," Snively said, summing up the long, droning report.
The man's large fist clenched.
"If it isn't a Freedom Fighter, then we don't know what it can do. Capture it and bring it to me!" Robotnik hissed. Snively nodded, turned, and rolled his eyes as he left the room.
*
Kadija sat in the air vent, relaxing. She had been there for a while, hiding out from the now-alert EyeSpies. The SWATbots were on a more attentive patrol so she ran a greater risk of being caught. It was stimulating in a way.
The girl peeked through a nearby grate for the first time and saw a row of cells below her. Prisoners? Of course, Julian had possession of the Roboticizer, did he not? They must be awaiting mecha-slavery.
"Might as well take a look," she muttered softly, and she silently opened the grate and was about to jump down when…
"What do you mean, you haven't found the intruder yet?!" a voice yelled.
The first thought was 'not robot.' The second thought was 'Who the hell…?'.
A man with a large nose was standing in front of a SWATbot, which towered over him.
"We have not yet located the intruder," the bot said in its metallic voice. Around it in the cells, the capture Freedom Fighters watched interestedly, but they also wore glares of contempt and hate on their faces, and these were directed at Snively.
"Well, you have heard the order, so find whoever is slinking around in here! Stun, shoot, whatever, just find it!!" Snively commanded. The SWATbot turned and headed down the hall.
Snively started to go off in the opposite direction but he whirled around when he heard the SWATbot fall and break into pieces. His eyes widened with surprise when he saw what has caused the bot to break.
A teenaged Overlander girl stood in the midst of the broken bot, her eyes darkened with menace, but a little triumphant pride appeared with the shadow. She had long brown hair, and shockingly steely gray eyes. Dressed in black, this girl looked like a thief or an assassin. Could she a be a mercenary from the Freedom Fighters sent to kill Robotnik?
Quickly, hiding the shock of seeing another Overlander besides himself and his uncle, Snively produced an amused grin on his face. "Well, well, well…so you're the one who has been skulking around, bugging the hell out of Julian." He said 'Julian' because he knew that bugged the hell of out Robotnik, and he hated him anyway.
"I guess so," she replied coldly, getting an eyeful of the prisoners in the cells. Snively waited for a flicker of pity or a look saying 'I'll get you out,' but there was none. It was like she was just surveying a bunch of trees in a forest or something. The prisoners returned her glance with looks of confusion mingled with contempt.
Without warning, two SWATbots came up behind the girl and each grabbed one of her arms.
"Surprise, surprise. You should've paid more attention." Snively directed his speech to the SWATbots. "Come on, let's go."
As he turned, there was a crash and metal clinked on the ground. Sighing, Snively turned to see a SWATbot's head staring up at him from the ground.
With expertise, the girl was trashing the remaining SWATbots lightning fast – not as fast as Sonic, but fast enough – and within seconds there was a large trash heap at her feet.
A smirk crossed Snively's face as he grabbed a SWATbot's dropped stun gun. Before the girl could react, he fired, sending her into an unconscious blackness and to a heap on the floor.
*
About thirty minutes later, Snively strode into the main control room, the SWATbots holding the Overlander girl right outside the door. Robotnik's big chair turned and the machine overlord glared down at his nephew.
"Have you captured the intruder, Snively?"
The small man hid his hatred of the glowering fat man and said with a sniff, "Yes, sir." Without preamble, two SWATbots came in dragging the limp form of the Overlander.
Robotnik portrayed a look of interest. "It's quite unusual for a young girl to be wandering around my city…" He looked at the SWATbots. "Let her go."
The two bots dropped the girl and she stirred to consciousness. Snively glanced from the girl to the SWATbots to Robotnik.
"Sir, this girl has destroyed two SWATbots in under two minutes. Don't you think you should…"
Robotnik interrupted him. "Bah. However good a fighter she is, she can't possibly match that miserable hedgehog. Therefore, she cannot possibly be more a threat than the hedgehog," he said, signaling the SWATbots to leave.
'Such might be true, Julian, but your smug idiocy blinds you to the real truth, you moron,' Snively thought, narrowing his eyes at the waking girl.
"Aah…my aching head…damn it…" she muttered. Her left hand touched the floor. Her eyes flew open. She looked from Robotnik to Snively to the two retreating SWATbots.
The girl sprang up and her eyes locked on the fat man.
"Julian Ivo Kintobor," she said, taking in his robotic arm, eyes, ears, and, in other words, judging him like she had never seen him before. This didn't make sense to Snively. She was about sixteen, so she would've been six when Robotnik took over. Of course she would've seen him or something…or maybe not.
Robotnik's eyes narrowed. "The name is Robotnik, now. Remember it, child."
The girl bowed mockingly. "And my poorly invented name is Kadija. Actually, that's my real name, and it's way better than 'Robotnik.' What kind of idiotic name is that?" Kadija said, crossing her arms. She knew she was playing with fire, but she didn't care right now.
An evil grin spread across Robotnik's face. "SWATbots, take her to a cell. She will be Roboticized tomorrow with the other Mobians."
The two SWATbots returned and tried to grab Kadija, but she flipped behind them and kicked it. The other bot fired a beam out of its hand and it hit Kadija's left arm. Her arm hung limp, and she clutched at it. The SWATbot grabbed her and dragged her out of the room.
As she was taken, she glared at Robotnik, then Snively. She stopped her glower. She had never taken the detail of others before, in the few hours she has been officially alive, but her eyes swept over the tiny man. What…what was it? What was it about the evil little guy that made her expression soften and her eyes as shining as polished silver? This, this feeling… So far, the only emotions she had experienced were worry of being caught, the rush of battle, pride from victory, and indifference at the sight of the Mobians.
Could it…
Could it be…
Could it be love?
Everything was new to her, but the cold, hard facts had put the childlike wonder aside, preparing her for the real truth. Love and hate were completely unknown…but, yes, her heart told her this was love. Undeniable, unmistakable love. Even though he was evil, she felt love for him. Sure, he was years older, but did that matter? She thought it should, but it didn't.
'Snively,' she thought, saying his name in her head. As the SWATbot dragged her down the hall past all the contemptuous Mobians, she broke down the new emotion inside her. Then, it was pushed aside for fear.
R-Roboticization?!
As she was pushed inside a cell and the door closed with a 'clank,' her mind was on her fate. One day and a half as a living, breathing, conscious creature? Not fair!! She just woke up! She had just walked for the first time, saw the splendor of the organic world for the first time! This was totally unfair!!
*
Kadija didn't sleep at all. She wasn't even sure it was night. It might've been night when she entered the city. It was almost impossible to see the sun with the sludgy pollution in the air.
In the small hours, she surmised this since she was so tired, she heard crying the cell next to her. She couldn't very well see who was crying, but it sounded like a young child.
Softly and quietly, oh-so-quietly, the child sang.
"T-trouble keeps you runnin' faster,
Save the planet from disaster.
Through the dark, to the light,
It's a super Sonic plight,
Gotta keep it goin'.
Sonic boom,
Sonic move,
Sonic boom,
Trouble keeps you runnin' faster,
Save the planet from disaster…"
Kadija couldn't guess what this meant, but it gave her something to listen to. The child sang a few verses, obviously hope put into words. The song was describing someone…someone the child hoped would save him.
She remembered Julian saying: 'Bah. However good a fighter she is, she can't possibly match that miserable hedgehog.'
After fifteen minutes, the observations she had made came together, piece by piece.
A fast blue hedgehog running from Robotropolis to the forest many times a day.
Robotnik's words of distaste for a hedgehog.
This song.
'Sonic' was the blue hedgehog! He must be the part of the free Mobians fighting against Julian! Of course, it's obvious! She realized this, and then wondered if Sonic would come tomorrow. Maybe he'd save her, too…
'But…the Mobians hate Overlanders. Look at what they have to judge from…' Kadija thought glumly. Maybe Sonic would have mercy…
She then heard the clanking of metal footsteps coming from down the hall…
*
Thirty minutes after that, all the Mobian prisoners plus Kadija were lined up in front of a glass tube In a room full of machinery. The glass tube was the Roboticizer, obviously.
Robotnik, seeing Kadija, scowled. He remembered her mocking him from yesterday. Of course, revenge was easy and then she wouldn't be making fun.
"The Overlander first," he ordered the SWATbots. They pushed Kadija onto the platform and the glass tube came down around her. Her eyes widened with shock and she saw the Mobians staring at her with indifference mingled with the fear of the same thing happening to them.
She turned to face Robotnik. "Julian, you bastard!" she roared, but the evil tyrant just grinned.
'Kadija,' a voice in her head whispered. It was her own mind, which seemed to calm the rush of fear inside of her.
'Calm down,' it said. 'You busted up metal SWATbots. You can't break glass?' The realization dawned on her. Of course! Panic had clouded her mind, and she couldn't think rationally, and…
'Hey! Hey! Get back to the present!!!' the voice shrieked.
A low yelp came from her mouth as she became once again aware of the Roboticizer, which should have begun to work by now. It seemed to be taking a while to warm up.
But now wasn't the time to think. Now was the time to act.
Kadija put all her strength into a bash against the glass, and it broke it into hundreds of pieces. The glass cut her sharply, but she needed to escape. As she dashed down the hall, the Mobians behind her, sort of, she heard Robotnik's cry of rage.
From around a corner stepped Snively, and she paused for a second. Then, remembering her fate if she remained, Kadija leapt over him, the Mobians following suit.
"Stop!" Snively shouted, apparently instinctively, because of course none of them would stop.
Kadija, however, tripped at the sound of his voice. She fell over running and scraped her arms on the floor. All the Mobians behind her tripped as well and they all winded up in a heap.
*
The Mobians pretty much hated Kadija after that. Luckily there wasn't a Mobian in the cell across from her, so she didn't have to endure a dubious glare.
Hmm…love made you feel like you had to be near the person? Yes…that sounds about right.
Later that day, Kadija overheard two SWATbots talking.
"It seems Lord Robotnik will have the Roboticizer functional tomorrow," one said, its mechanical feet clinking as it walked.
"Yes, he will also be replacing the regular glass with a new type of glass that he calls Diamond Glass."
Kadija didn't like the sound of that. Diamond glass? Oh, man, that'll sure be as hard as it sounds.
"Inevitable doom," she muttered, then she dropped unconsciously to the ground from lack of sleep. In seconds she was slumbering peacefully, but it wouldn't last.
*
In a small woodland village deep into the woods, in a hut, a blue hedgehog tapped his foot impatiently.
"Sal, Uncle Chuck that the Roboticization didn't happen today. Something malfunctioned, or whatever. It's tomorrow, and we gotta do something!" the hedgehog protested.
A pretty squirrel turned to him, a small computer in her hand. "I know, Sonic, and we will. Just let me think of a plan." Sally turned to Sonic.
"Why can't we just go in, bust up the place, and take a hovercraft out of there?" he said, frustrated with the whole tactical thing.
Sally's eyebrows rose. "Sonic, that's actually a good idea! I'll talk it over with Bunnie and the others, and we'll be ready to go at dawn," she said. And with that, she left the hut.
*
It was just like the other day, only now the glass shown with pieces of reflecting prism embedded in it. Kadija was in the tube, just like before. She was crestfallen, and she knew trying to break out again would be utterly futile.
Robotnik, again, was there watching. The same grin that was on his face when he ordered her Roboticization was there again.
"Commence Roboticization," he said, and a SWATbot pressed a button.
As the machine began to hum, Kadija's eyes caught sight of an unwatched monitor's projection. A blur sped across it, but a hedgehog, who obviously was the blur, came back into the view of the camera. He curled up into a spiny ball and flew at the camera. The picture became static. Robotnik failed to notice this.
There were tiny little objects at the top of the Roboticizer, about two feet above Kadija's head. They glowed green, and she realized they were the things that shot out the green rays of Roboticization. If she only could destroy them…
A little bluebird, an oversized animal like the other Mobians, had also noticed Sonic on the now crackling monitor. For Kadija, everything was slowing down. She saw the glimmer of hope in his eyes, the same hope that was in the words of the song he had sung.
"If you're strong,
You can fly,
You can reach the other side of the rainbow.
It's all right,
Take a chance,
'Cause there is no circumstance
That you can't handle…
When you use your mind!
Sonic boom,
Sonic move,
Sonic boom…"
The bluebird was singing again, and the other Mobians obviously recognized the song. They were chiming in, but softly and fearfully. They hadn't seen the projection, but hope built with every word.
Green energy racked Kadija's body. She felt her body slowing going numb and gradually becoming hard, like metal… It was as painful as all hell.
But just as she was sure she was doomed, that there was no turning back now, now that there was green energy so bright she couldn't see…
A blue blur exploded into the room.