BRIEF WARNING
BY HCBX97
_________________________________________________________________________
Still my idea. No copying.
_________________________________________________________________________
PROLOGUE.
TIME: One year after the overthrow of the dictator Doctor Ivo
Robotnik; during the Great War of the Reclaiming.
After Robotnik's power ceased to exist over the Earth-like planet of
Mobius, many boundaries had to be redrawn over the dictator's past
territories. The capital of Mobotropolis now belongs to its past citizens...
or so they thought.
The communists of the Soviet Anole Republic gave an ultimatum to the
King of Acorn, stating that the land belonged to them before Robotnik or
Mobotropolis ever existed. The citizens of Mobotropolis now realize that
this was just a ploy for the war-mongering anoles to take over Mobotropolis
in Robotnik's footsteps.
It has been seven months since the war started. Along the way, the
citizens of Mobotropolis have used every tactic possible to protect their
once and future home from the claws of totalitarianism. They have also
encountered the worst weapons of destruction ever invented by the enemy
forces. For help, they sent S.O.S.s to the main freedom fighter factions
of the planet Mobius: Chaotix, Downunda, Chamis Lions, and Communicaters.
They called the professional doctors from all over creation for help when
illnesses strike.
Though they never foreshadowed anything like this...
_________________________________________________________________________
The big, black hoverplane landed in front of the Mobotropolis Train
Depot.
Two foxes, a hedgehog, and a chameleon climbed out of a door in the
side of the plane, then walked into the building as the first fox closed the
door behind them. After checking a control panel on the inside wall of a
train car housed inside the dismal-gray depot building, the hedgehog turned
to face the other fox.
"Doctor Kovalevski, prepare to enter your new home.
_________________________________________________________________________
Doctor Quack Kildare paced around the laboratory in the underground
shelter, stopping every now and then to check a small computer screen
installed in the wall.
He was testing a chemical found in an enemy weapon recovered from an
espionage agent. He was also very interested in the structure of the gun; it
had two holding tanks built into where the cylinders were located. They each
had a small amount of liquid chemical in them. Nothing was written on the
tanks, but each had a small radioactive symbol on them, so Quack tried to
be extremily careful in his studies. He tested the chemical many times, with
many other mediums and reagents, but he still couldn't figure out what the
chemical actually was. This was when he called Dr. Kovalevski for help.
Josef Kovalevski, a gray fox in his early forties, had worked with
many unnatural illnesses and deformities, which were caused by unusual
polyatomic compounds. He memorized the formulas for these substances, and
recreated many of them through practiced alchemy. Quack called Kovalevski
to New Mobotropolis to help him identify this new chemical that was found
in the gun. He knew it had to be dangerous if it was in the hands of the
enemy.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Kovalevski opened the door of the express train and climbed out.
He was instantly greeted by many of the natives.
"Hey, Doctor! Nice to meet you!"
"So you're the new doctor, huh? Welcome to New Mobotropolis!"
"Glad to make your accquaintance."
Later, he was escorted to the underground shelter where Quack was
waiting for him. The chameleon on the plane, Tobias VanDaan, had already
taken and stored the Doctor's luggage in his dormitory, where he would be
able to get to it if he needed something. Tobias walked out of the room,
shut the door, and turned to Kovalevski, pointing off down the hall.
"He's waiting for you down there... Just follow me."
_________________________________________________________________________
Quack heard the sound of a door opening and closing. He turned away
from the Erlenmeyer flask on the table.
"Why, hello, Kovalevski! What a pleasure it is to meet the great
doctor of northern Sczhenanski!"
He shook his hand.
"The pleasure's all mine, Kildare."
Quack turned around, and pointed to the flask on the table.
"We just got this sample from a gun. It was found in some built-in
chemical tanks, and we believe it's supposed to be used as ammunition. I've
tried every kind of test I know with it, and I still can't identify it.
Could you help us?"
The Russian Doctor leaned over to look at the contents of the flask.
It contained a small amount of silver-gray liquid, similar to mercury, but
darker in color. He picked it up to inspect it closer.
"Were there any markings on the holding containers, Kildare?"
"Oh yes... there was a small radioactive symbol on each one. I was
careful to use lead-woven gloves in my experiments, though. Let me get you a
pair."
"While you're out, bring back one of the ordinary commoners, will
you?"
_________________________________________________________________________
Quack returned five minutes later with a pair of gloves and a young
wolf.
"Here's your gloves, Kovalevski... and this is Sebastian. He works
with some friends at the Observatories on Alkalo Island."
The reddish-gray wolf scampered right up to Josef.
"Hiya, sir! Nice to meet ya! Say, what's that?"
Kovalevski pulled on the lead gloves, then turned and picked up a
small, white object, shaped like a ball-point pen.
"This is what I called you here for. Could you please remove your
glove?"
As Quack left to find a Petri dish, he heard a loud "Ow!"
"It'll be alright... sorry about the pain. I have a bandage here in
my pocket. Here, hold this until I tell you put it on. Okay, Sebastian?"
"Okay, sir. It don't hurt as much now. Thanks."
Quack handed Kovalevski the dish. He placed it on the table next to
the flask.
"Here, child, give me your hand. I need to put some blood on this
glass dish. There. Now go wash your hand and put the band-aid on it. I'm
through with you for now."
"Okay. See ya!"
Sebastian scampered out the door and ran off down the hall to find
the washroom.
Kovalevski turned his attention to the dish on the table, chuckling
softly.
"Cute kid. Okay, Kildare. Time to use the organic sample before it
congeals."
He picked up the flask once more, and poured a small sample into one
side of another Petri dish. He then picked up the dish containing the blood,
and tipped it over so where some blood could trickle off onto the chemical.
After two seconds, the blood had dissolved.
He put some more blood into the dish. It was instantly
disintegrated, too.
He backed away from the dish, toward the opposite wall. He
instructed Quack to do the same.
"Just as I thought. Liquid rokellium."
"Rokellium?"
"Yes, Kildare... a chemical compound of uranium and graphite.
Paralyzes a person in two seconds, kills him in one minute, destroys the
body in fifteen. Completely eats up organic material. Also, a few drops of
blood added to it makes it highly radioactive. We need to get some lead
suits if we're to clean this experiment up..."
"Oh my... this is serious. Here, let me get you out of here before
something happens. We don't want you returning to Sczhenanski with some
kind of illness."
_________________________________________________________________________
Both doctors were waiting inside New Mobotropolis Control Stat
while two of the cleanup staff worked in the evacuted underground laboratory.
"Okay, Kovalevski... Both you and I know this stuff is very
dangerous. And only lead can shield someone from the intense radiation.
What else do you know about it?"
"Well... I know that rojinium is the only solvent. It can be
found in knockout gas. The only pure rojinium is a liquid form of cadmium
and boron, and you can find that in some of the jungles and forests on the
Floating Island."
"Right. Well, we'll send some of the Chaotix to go retrieve it as
soon as possible."
All of a sudden, the door to the control room burst open, and
Princess Sally Acorn ran inside.
"Everybody on the security staff! I just heard about the rokellium,
and I've got to tell you: We've got an espionage team out there right now!"
Kovalevski turned to the troubled chipmunk.
"Who do you have out there?"
"We've got Wulfgang, Lefty, Malicia, Natalya, Yars, and Tsarmina."
"Tell them to get out of there!!!"
_________________________________________________________________________
It was around midnight when the hoverplane "BuzzardBot" touched
down on the outskirts of New Mobotropolis.
Out of the plane's door ran an armadillo, a hedgehog, a chameleon,
and a giraffe. After concealing themselves among the bushes, the armadillo,
named Mighty, turned to face the others.
"Okay, gang, we gotta do this as quietly as possible. Gigi, you got
the radio?"
The giraffe pulled the small device out of her crossbelt pocket.
"Check."
_________________________________________________________________________
Up in the boughs of a sycamore tree, a young female wolf watched
over a section of the forest with a pair of infrared binoculars. After a few
minutes, she put on a set of radio headphones and talked into the
transmitter.
"Nothin' happening. Those tanks are just sittin' there. I guess
they're tryin' to find us or somethin'."
The voice on the other end cracked with the interfering static.
"Can you see other weapons, Wulfgang? I see some snipers waiting in
the bushes near the tank depot."
All of a sudden, the transmission was interrupted as Mighty's radio
message came through over both Wulfgang's and Lefty's recievers.
"---ey! ---ll of you! You need to rendezvous at the coordinates
5.0.0.1 immediately! This is Mighty the Armadillo speaking! You need to meet
at coordinates..."
And the message repeated itself again.
Wulfgang hopped down out of the tree, as the bear named Lefty
crawled out of the bushes. She put her hands to her mouth and shouted over
the surrounding area:
"Everybody! Evacuate the premises and follow me!"
Instantly, Tsarmina the Bobcat, Malicia Fox, and Natalya the
Chameleon came out of hiding as Yars the Sparrowhawk flew down out of a
tree.
_________________________________________________________________________
Louise the Hedgehog sat atop Gigi's head, watching out for the
espionage team.
"Hey, here comes Wulfgang! Open the door!"
Espio cleared away some bushes as the large beak-like door of the
BuzzardBot opened for the incoming refugees to climb inside. He then turned
around and switched on a flashlight.
"Yeah, and here comes the cavalry! Come on! Get in there before they
get you!"
As if on cue, a large war tank crashed through the folilage, almost
trampling Malicia!
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Forget it! Just come on!"
Wulfgang, Lefty, and Yars were already safe inside the cockpit of
the hoverplane. Malicia ran up the beak-ramp into the cargo bay as Gigi and
Louise followed behind.
But Natalya and Tsarmina were still out there.
A tree crashed down under the weight of another tank, pinning the
bobcat to the ground.
"Natalya! Help me!!!"
The chameleon stopped in mid-step, turned and saw Tsarmina
struggling under the branches of the tree. She ran toward her, passing by
another tank in hiding.
"Hang on!! I'm coming!!!"
The first tank, the one that felled the tree, had already turned
around and was now converging on the bobcat and chameleon. It stopped ten
feet from the tree.
Natalya grabbed Tsarmina outstretched and and began pulling. She
looked up at the war machine, and screamed. She pulled harder as Tsarmina
pushed on the tree.
The turret gun revolved around, pointed at them.
A continuous stream of dark-silver-gray liquid shot from the tank
cannon, hitting both tree and bobcat full force as Natalya sprang back
toward the bushes. Tsarmina gave a loud, shrill scream... and then suddenly
fell silent. She fell limp in the silver puddle of death.
Natalya stared wide-eyed at the horrible scene. After what seemed
like an eternity, she turned and bolted off toward the waiting door of the
BuzzardBot. Espio and Mighty were standing outside the ramp, waving and
shouting.
"Come on, Nat!!! You can make it!!! Just run!!!!!"
She was running as fast as she could, her heart pounding. She looked
over her shoulder, saw other anole snipers wearing lead camouflage, running,
trying to catch up with her. The tanks were left behind.
She was forty, thirty, now twenty feet from the door. She did not
see the sniper bearing a rokellium gun spring from the nearby thicket.
She was hit at close range with the deadly substance; it knocked her
down instantly. She gave a brief cry, and lay still.
Espio almost ran out into the melee, Mighty grabbing hold of his
tail to stop him. He was her only boyfriend, screaming at the top of his
lungs, reaching out toward the motionless figure in the bright moonlight.
"Nataaaaaalyaaaaaa!!!!! No-oooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"
Mighty had to quickly drag him into the cargo bay as the huge beak
shut behind them, the hoverplane lifting off under Yars' piloting.
Espio sat down in the empty cargo bay, covering his face with his
hands. He cried heavily all the way back to New Mobotropolis.
_________________________________________________________________________
Kovalevski, wearing a t-shirt; Sonic, and Walt Wallaby ran to the
landing site at the
train depot as the BuzzardBot landed.
The door opened slowly, the passengers slow in climbing out. Walt
ran up to the first one, Malicia the Fox.
"How did it go? Did everyone get out okay?"
She looked up at him, and he could tell she had been crying some.
"No... we had some casualties. I don't wanna talk 'bout it."
And with that, she turned and walked off toward the dormitory she
shared with a rabbit
named Donna.
Wulfgang walked up to Kovalevski, who had overheard Malicia and
Walt's conversation. He noticed the wolf standing at his side.
"I see you lost someone. Who were they?"
"Their names were Tsarmina Jasmine and Natalya Kasimov."
Kovalevski froze for a moment.
"Wait a minute... the Natalya Kasimov???"
"You know her?"
"Why, yes... I'm the one who helped bring her into the world.
Back when I was just starting my job. My first delivery was a chameleon
named Natalya Kasimov. She almost didn't make it. Ever since then she's
come so close to death, like ten years later when her skin color froze and
turned blue. I treated her in the hospital for that. She's always been my
personal favorite. But it looks like death has finally caught up with her..."
Wulfgang bowed her head.
"I can see how much she's meant to you. Her boyfriend, Espio,
probably won't be able to sleep through the night for a while."
_________________________________________________________________________
The sun slowly rose over the quiet forest, though hidden behind a
dreary and cloudy gray sky.
All of a sudden, the silence was broken by the sound of sniper
anoles tramping through the verdure. All wore lead-woven camouflage suits
and lead cowls, armed with ordinary bullet rifles. They were on a
renaissance mission to recover weapons and rations from the casualties
from last night.
One of them ran right up to the dead tree, one whole section already
rotted away. There was no body; it had deteriorated five hours ago. They
found nothing except a belt, laser pistol, necklace, gloves, and shoes.
Another one of the anole snipers gave a surprised yelp: the other
body was still there. The entire body of the
BY HCBX97
_________________________________________________________________________
Still my idea. No copying.
_________________________________________________________________________
PROLOGUE.
TIME: One year after the overthrow of the dictator Doctor Ivo
Robotnik; during the Great War of the Reclaiming.
After Robotnik's power ceased to exist over the Earth-like planet of
Mobius, many boundaries had to be redrawn over the dictator's past
territories. The capital of Mobotropolis now belongs to its past citizens...
or so they thought.
The communists of the Soviet Anole Republic gave an ultimatum to the
King of Acorn, stating that the land belonged to them before Robotnik or
Mobotropolis ever existed. The citizens of Mobotropolis now realize that
this was just a ploy for the war-mongering anoles to take over Mobotropolis
in Robotnik's footsteps.
It has been seven months since the war started. Along the way, the
citizens of Mobotropolis have used every tactic possible to protect their
once and future home from the claws of totalitarianism. They have also
encountered the worst weapons of destruction ever invented by the enemy
forces. For help, they sent S.O.S.s to the main freedom fighter factions
of the planet Mobius: Chaotix, Downunda, Chamis Lions, and Communicaters.
They called the professional doctors from all over creation for help when
illnesses strike.
Though they never foreshadowed anything like this...
_________________________________________________________________________
The big, black hoverplane landed in front of the Mobotropolis Train
Depot.
Two foxes, a hedgehog, and a chameleon climbed out of a door in the
side of the plane, then walked into the building as the first fox closed the
door behind them. After checking a control panel on the inside wall of a
train car housed inside the dismal-gray depot building, the hedgehog turned
to face the other fox.
"Doctor Kovalevski, prepare to enter your new home.
_________________________________________________________________________
Doctor Quack Kildare paced around the laboratory in the underground
shelter, stopping every now and then to check a small computer screen
installed in the wall.
He was testing a chemical found in an enemy weapon recovered from an
espionage agent. He was also very interested in the structure of the gun; it
had two holding tanks built into where the cylinders were located. They each
had a small amount of liquid chemical in them. Nothing was written on the
tanks, but each had a small radioactive symbol on them, so Quack tried to
be extremily careful in his studies. He tested the chemical many times, with
many other mediums and reagents, but he still couldn't figure out what the
chemical actually was. This was when he called Dr. Kovalevski for help.
Josef Kovalevski, a gray fox in his early forties, had worked with
many unnatural illnesses and deformities, which were caused by unusual
polyatomic compounds. He memorized the formulas for these substances, and
recreated many of them through practiced alchemy. Quack called Kovalevski
to New Mobotropolis to help him identify this new chemical that was found
in the gun. He knew it had to be dangerous if it was in the hands of the
enemy.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Kovalevski opened the door of the express train and climbed out.
He was instantly greeted by many of the natives.
"Hey, Doctor! Nice to meet you!"
"So you're the new doctor, huh? Welcome to New Mobotropolis!"
"Glad to make your accquaintance."
Later, he was escorted to the underground shelter where Quack was
waiting for him. The chameleon on the plane, Tobias VanDaan, had already
taken and stored the Doctor's luggage in his dormitory, where he would be
able to get to it if he needed something. Tobias walked out of the room,
shut the door, and turned to Kovalevski, pointing off down the hall.
"He's waiting for you down there... Just follow me."
_________________________________________________________________________
Quack heard the sound of a door opening and closing. He turned away
from the Erlenmeyer flask on the table.
"Why, hello, Kovalevski! What a pleasure it is to meet the great
doctor of northern Sczhenanski!"
He shook his hand.
"The pleasure's all mine, Kildare."
Quack turned around, and pointed to the flask on the table.
"We just got this sample from a gun. It was found in some built-in
chemical tanks, and we believe it's supposed to be used as ammunition. I've
tried every kind of test I know with it, and I still can't identify it.
Could you help us?"
The Russian Doctor leaned over to look at the contents of the flask.
It contained a small amount of silver-gray liquid, similar to mercury, but
darker in color. He picked it up to inspect it closer.
"Were there any markings on the holding containers, Kildare?"
"Oh yes... there was a small radioactive symbol on each one. I was
careful to use lead-woven gloves in my experiments, though. Let me get you a
pair."
"While you're out, bring back one of the ordinary commoners, will
you?"
_________________________________________________________________________
Quack returned five minutes later with a pair of gloves and a young
wolf.
"Here's your gloves, Kovalevski... and this is Sebastian. He works
with some friends at the Observatories on Alkalo Island."
The reddish-gray wolf scampered right up to Josef.
"Hiya, sir! Nice to meet ya! Say, what's that?"
Kovalevski pulled on the lead gloves, then turned and picked up a
small, white object, shaped like a ball-point pen.
"This is what I called you here for. Could you please remove your
glove?"
As Quack left to find a Petri dish, he heard a loud "Ow!"
"It'll be alright... sorry about the pain. I have a bandage here in
my pocket. Here, hold this until I tell you put it on. Okay, Sebastian?"
"Okay, sir. It don't hurt as much now. Thanks."
Quack handed Kovalevski the dish. He placed it on the table next to
the flask.
"Here, child, give me your hand. I need to put some blood on this
glass dish. There. Now go wash your hand and put the band-aid on it. I'm
through with you for now."
"Okay. See ya!"
Sebastian scampered out the door and ran off down the hall to find
the washroom.
Kovalevski turned his attention to the dish on the table, chuckling
softly.
"Cute kid. Okay, Kildare. Time to use the organic sample before it
congeals."
He picked up the flask once more, and poured a small sample into one
side of another Petri dish. He then picked up the dish containing the blood,
and tipped it over so where some blood could trickle off onto the chemical.
After two seconds, the blood had dissolved.
He put some more blood into the dish. It was instantly
disintegrated, too.
He backed away from the dish, toward the opposite wall. He
instructed Quack to do the same.
"Just as I thought. Liquid rokellium."
"Rokellium?"
"Yes, Kildare... a chemical compound of uranium and graphite.
Paralyzes a person in two seconds, kills him in one minute, destroys the
body in fifteen. Completely eats up organic material. Also, a few drops of
blood added to it makes it highly radioactive. We need to get some lead
suits if we're to clean this experiment up..."
"Oh my... this is serious. Here, let me get you out of here before
something happens. We don't want you returning to Sczhenanski with some
kind of illness."
_________________________________________________________________________
Both doctors were waiting inside New Mobotropolis Control Stat
while two of the cleanup staff worked in the evacuted underground laboratory.
"Okay, Kovalevski... Both you and I know this stuff is very
dangerous. And only lead can shield someone from the intense radiation.
What else do you know about it?"
"Well... I know that rojinium is the only solvent. It can be
found in knockout gas. The only pure rojinium is a liquid form of cadmium
and boron, and you can find that in some of the jungles and forests on the
Floating Island."
"Right. Well, we'll send some of the Chaotix to go retrieve it as
soon as possible."
All of a sudden, the door to the control room burst open, and
Princess Sally Acorn ran inside.
"Everybody on the security staff! I just heard about the rokellium,
and I've got to tell you: We've got an espionage team out there right now!"
Kovalevski turned to the troubled chipmunk.
"Who do you have out there?"
"We've got Wulfgang, Lefty, Malicia, Natalya, Yars, and Tsarmina."
"Tell them to get out of there!!!"
_________________________________________________________________________
It was around midnight when the hoverplane "BuzzardBot" touched
down on the outskirts of New Mobotropolis.
Out of the plane's door ran an armadillo, a hedgehog, a chameleon,
and a giraffe. After concealing themselves among the bushes, the armadillo,
named Mighty, turned to face the others.
"Okay, gang, we gotta do this as quietly as possible. Gigi, you got
the radio?"
The giraffe pulled the small device out of her crossbelt pocket.
"Check."
_________________________________________________________________________
Up in the boughs of a sycamore tree, a young female wolf watched
over a section of the forest with a pair of infrared binoculars. After a few
minutes, she put on a set of radio headphones and talked into the
transmitter.
"Nothin' happening. Those tanks are just sittin' there. I guess
they're tryin' to find us or somethin'."
The voice on the other end cracked with the interfering static.
"Can you see other weapons, Wulfgang? I see some snipers waiting in
the bushes near the tank depot."
All of a sudden, the transmission was interrupted as Mighty's radio
message came through over both Wulfgang's and Lefty's recievers.
"---ey! ---ll of you! You need to rendezvous at the coordinates
5.0.0.1 immediately! This is Mighty the Armadillo speaking! You need to meet
at coordinates..."
And the message repeated itself again.
Wulfgang hopped down out of the tree, as the bear named Lefty
crawled out of the bushes. She put her hands to her mouth and shouted over
the surrounding area:
"Everybody! Evacuate the premises and follow me!"
Instantly, Tsarmina the Bobcat, Malicia Fox, and Natalya the
Chameleon came out of hiding as Yars the Sparrowhawk flew down out of a
tree.
_________________________________________________________________________
Louise the Hedgehog sat atop Gigi's head, watching out for the
espionage team.
"Hey, here comes Wulfgang! Open the door!"
Espio cleared away some bushes as the large beak-like door of the
BuzzardBot opened for the incoming refugees to climb inside. He then turned
around and switched on a flashlight.
"Yeah, and here comes the cavalry! Come on! Get in there before they
get you!"
As if on cue, a large war tank crashed through the folilage, almost
trampling Malicia!
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Forget it! Just come on!"
Wulfgang, Lefty, and Yars were already safe inside the cockpit of
the hoverplane. Malicia ran up the beak-ramp into the cargo bay as Gigi and
Louise followed behind.
But Natalya and Tsarmina were still out there.
A tree crashed down under the weight of another tank, pinning the
bobcat to the ground.
"Natalya! Help me!!!"
The chameleon stopped in mid-step, turned and saw Tsarmina
struggling under the branches of the tree. She ran toward her, passing by
another tank in hiding.
"Hang on!! I'm coming!!!"
The first tank, the one that felled the tree, had already turned
around and was now converging on the bobcat and chameleon. It stopped ten
feet from the tree.
Natalya grabbed Tsarmina outstretched and and began pulling. She
looked up at the war machine, and screamed. She pulled harder as Tsarmina
pushed on the tree.
The turret gun revolved around, pointed at them.
A continuous stream of dark-silver-gray liquid shot from the tank
cannon, hitting both tree and bobcat full force as Natalya sprang back
toward the bushes. Tsarmina gave a loud, shrill scream... and then suddenly
fell silent. She fell limp in the silver puddle of death.
Natalya stared wide-eyed at the horrible scene. After what seemed
like an eternity, she turned and bolted off toward the waiting door of the
BuzzardBot. Espio and Mighty were standing outside the ramp, waving and
shouting.
"Come on, Nat!!! You can make it!!! Just run!!!!!"
She was running as fast as she could, her heart pounding. She looked
over her shoulder, saw other anole snipers wearing lead camouflage, running,
trying to catch up with her. The tanks were left behind.
She was forty, thirty, now twenty feet from the door. She did not
see the sniper bearing a rokellium gun spring from the nearby thicket.
She was hit at close range with the deadly substance; it knocked her
down instantly. She gave a brief cry, and lay still.
Espio almost ran out into the melee, Mighty grabbing hold of his
tail to stop him. He was her only boyfriend, screaming at the top of his
lungs, reaching out toward the motionless figure in the bright moonlight.
"Nataaaaaalyaaaaaa!!!!! No-oooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"
Mighty had to quickly drag him into the cargo bay as the huge beak
shut behind them, the hoverplane lifting off under Yars' piloting.
Espio sat down in the empty cargo bay, covering his face with his
hands. He cried heavily all the way back to New Mobotropolis.
_________________________________________________________________________
Kovalevski, wearing a t-shirt; Sonic, and Walt Wallaby ran to the
landing site at the
train depot as the BuzzardBot landed.
The door opened slowly, the passengers slow in climbing out. Walt
ran up to the first one, Malicia the Fox.
"How did it go? Did everyone get out okay?"
She looked up at him, and he could tell she had been crying some.
"No... we had some casualties. I don't wanna talk 'bout it."
And with that, she turned and walked off toward the dormitory she
shared with a rabbit
named Donna.
Wulfgang walked up to Kovalevski, who had overheard Malicia and
Walt's conversation. He noticed the wolf standing at his side.
"I see you lost someone. Who were they?"
"Their names were Tsarmina Jasmine and Natalya Kasimov."
Kovalevski froze for a moment.
"Wait a minute... the Natalya Kasimov???"
"You know her?"
"Why, yes... I'm the one who helped bring her into the world.
Back when I was just starting my job. My first delivery was a chameleon
named Natalya Kasimov. She almost didn't make it. Ever since then she's
come so close to death, like ten years later when her skin color froze and
turned blue. I treated her in the hospital for that. She's always been my
personal favorite. But it looks like death has finally caught up with her..."
Wulfgang bowed her head.
"I can see how much she's meant to you. Her boyfriend, Espio,
probably won't be able to sleep through the night for a while."
_________________________________________________________________________
The sun slowly rose over the quiet forest, though hidden behind a
dreary and cloudy gray sky.
All of a sudden, the silence was broken by the sound of sniper
anoles tramping through the verdure. All wore lead-woven camouflage suits
and lead cowls, armed with ordinary bullet rifles. They were on a
renaissance mission to recover weapons and rations from the casualties
from last night.
One of them ran right up to the dead tree, one whole section already
rotted away. There was no body; it had deteriorated five hours ago. They
found nothing except a belt, laser pistol, necklace, gloves, and shoes.
Another one of the anole snipers gave a surprised yelp: the other
body was still there. The entire body of the