THE GUESTS OF HONOR

Series 1 - The Origins
Episode 8

Visit Shax's Virtual Den
E-mail the author

A pre-warning from the author: I wrote series 1 a very long time ago (two years! Wow!), so please forgive me if the thirteen stories of this series are nowhere near as well written as the future series'. These fics are shorter, and have bad punctuation and may have cornier or holier plotlines. They do introduce a lot of future characters and concepts, however.

CHAPTER ONE: METEORS

"You see, around about 50 years ago, as you know, my ancestors vanished from the Floating Island without a trace. The only ones left were my parents. Shortly after I came into being, my mother was killed in a freak accident. I lived with Dad until I was about 10, when he was also killed. And, since our trip to the Chaos Isle, I found out that that island was also heavily populated with the same race of echidnas, and they disappeared, too. For years, I have searched for any possible reason for the disappearance, but I have failed. Now I may have the answer."

"That's a great speech Knux, but me an' Sage are your only audience, so you might as well just skip to what you found."

Sonic, Knuckles and Sage were standing in the middle of Mushroom Hill, where they had agreed to meet that day. Knux had announced that he had found something very important in a Sandopolean pyramid. "Very well, here it is!" Knuckles brought out some kind of small mural, written mostly in hieroglyphs. "Hey!" said Sonic. "I recognize that black blob! That was in the temple in Marble Gardens, when it was talking about Sky Sanctuary! You know, that day we almost wiped out all existence because of that lousy piece of crud?" Indeed, in various places on the mural Knux held, there were several little black blobs, exactly as they were on the last mural they encountered. "That blob represents evil!" said Sage, who had apparently seen it before. "This goes on to tell of a cycle." said Knux. "Apparently this 'evil' comes back every certain number of years, and the last time it came, it stole away the majority of the echidna inhabitants. But wait, there's MORE!" he said, sounding like a TV home-shopping salesman. "It even says what happened that fateful day! It says, and I quote, 'Strange shapes descended from the heavens like the gods, and hovered above our island. Then, everything began to adhere to everything else, as if glued, and our machinery refused to operate. Then......." he paused. "Then?" prompted Sonic. "It ends here." said Knux. "That must mean that this guy was in the process of painting this when he and the other Floating Islanders disappeared!"

****

Mecha Sonic approached Robotnik, who was eating, as usual. The egg- shaped professor noticed that the robot was staring at him. "Want some?" he asked, sarcastically, offering Mecha a turkey leg. "A SWAT bot was just damaged by an asteroid" said Mecha, ignoring the offering. "Was it the hedgehog?" Robotnik grumbled, stuffing the turkey leg into his mouth. Mecha's eyes dimmed. "Sir, it was an ASTEROID!" he said, practically spelling out the word. "How do you know?" Ivo asked him. "Because it was!" Mecha replied. "Haven't you seen the shower? It's been going on for hours!" Robotnik stood up, grabbing a napkin to wipe the grease from his mustache, and walked towards the window. Staring at the pitch black sky, he noticed thousands of thin red streaks, every so often buzzing by. "Most of them are small, and burn up in the atmosphere, but a few of them are getting through and hitting the robots at tremendous speeds, and could damage their delicate instruments, as one already has." Mecha explained. "Very well, call the SWAT bots inside." Robotnik said. "Funny, though. You say it has been going on for hours?" "Correct." Mecha replied. "Where could they be coming from?" Ivo mumbled. "Computers indicate they are directly from one, or maybe both of the asteroid belts." Mecha replied. "They are located exactly 1,000,000 kilometers from Mobius..." "I KNOW where the asteroid belts are!" Robotnik snapped back. "Hmm... Mobius's gravity isn't strong enough to pull asteroids out of orbit when they are that distance away.....It's as if something else is pulling them out of orbit..." Mecha walked up closer to the doctor. "Or perhaps, sir, something else is PUSHING them out of orbit."

****

The entire village of Knothole was on the edge of the Great Forest, as to get a good view of the meteor shower. "Why the hell are we here staring at a stupid meteor shower?" Petals asked, the only one not enjoying herself. "Where are all those rocks coming from?" asked Tails. Nobody knew exactly why there was a phenomenon like this, all they knew was that it was a beautiful sight. But one thing that NOBODY knew, was that there was a lot more behind this than met the eye. A LOT more.

****

"Doctor Robotnik, we are picking up a very large object on radar, outside Mobius' atmosphere." said Mecha Sonic. "It's either a comet- sized asteroid, or......something else." "That's obvious" said Robotnik. "can you in any way clarify 'something else'?" "Well, I'm thinking in terms of something....un-natural, sir."

****

CHAPTER TWO: MAGNETIC

The next morning, Sally was on her computer, attempting to hack into the Robotropolis mainframe. She just needed to see if anything was 'up'. "Hello, what have we here?" she asked, noticing a new file hidden in the depths of the Robotropolis main computer. "Identify file" she commanded the computer. "As you wish" the computer replied. It began making dull beeping sounds, but then something strange happened. "ERROR" the computer cried. "CANNOT PROCESS REQUEST, GOING INTO AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN", then the screen went dark and the computer died. "That's strange" Sally mumbled. She tried to turn it back on, but it was completely dead. She left it on her bed, and went next door, to Rotor's workshop. Rotor was busy taking apart a SWAT bot that the Freedom Fighters caught scouting the area. "The laptop died" Sally said. "Oh?" said Rotor, not taking his head out from inside the robot. "I'll need to take note of this" Sally continued. "What's the time?" Rotor emerged from the robot, spots of oil all over him, one hand clutching a spanner. "It's....." he began, looking at his watch. He frowned, and tapped it with the spanner. "Uh, my watch has stopped, sorry." Sally shrugged and began to leave the workshop. Rotor put down the spanner next to his steel toolbox, and got one out a size smaller. Then he plunged half his body inside the robot, and began taking out bolts. The spanner he put on the table began to slide ever so slowly across the bench, until it touched the toolbox.

Sally walked down a dirt path through Knothole, towards Sonic's hut. On the way, she noticed Bunnie Rabbot's hut, and she could just see Bunnie and Streak inside. She decided that one of them would have the time. She knocked on the door. They didn't seem to hear her, so she opened the door a bit. Streak noticed her there. "Oh, hi Sal" he said. "You came just in time, I think we have a problem here." "What is it?" asked Sally, walking up to them. Bunnie was in a strange stance, her legs and robot arm were dead still, and her other arm was thrashing around wildly. "Oh, hi there Sally girl, don't you worry yourself about lil' ol' me, mah robot parts are not workin' no more, I'm sure they'll kick in in ah second." she said. "I tell you, there's something strange going on around here." said Streak. "First I realize that my electric charge isn't working any more, every time I try to use it I get shocked myself, and now I find out that Bunnie's robotized limbs are broken." Sally's eyes widened. "My laptop broke a few minutes ago!" she said. "What's the time? I'll have to take note of all this, it may be Robotnik." Streak looked at his watch, frowned a bit, then put it up to his ear and jiggled it. "Sorry Sal" he said. "My watch has stopped."

"HELP!" came a muffled voice from inside Rotor's workshop. Sally and Streak ran in. They couldn't see Rotor anywhere, just the robot in the center of the room, the opening where Rotor was working was covered in tools and spare parts. "HEEEELP!" came the scream again. Then the two noticed one of Rotor's sneakers on top of the pile, still attached to Rotor's foot. Sally and Streak rushed over to give him a hand. They held onto his shoe and pulled. Eventually, the walrus, black with oil, came bursting out of the robot shell. "Wow" he said, out of breath. "How did you get yourself in THAT situation?" asked Sally. Rotor explained that he was working inside the robot, when his spanner all of a sudden pulled him to the bottom of the robot's body, and all his tools came flying in and held him inside. Streak went over and pried a bolt off the side of the robot shell. He let go, and it flew towards it and landed on the side of the metal sheet with a clang. "Very strange..." he murmured. At that time, Sonic came rushing in. "I think you guys should have a look at this." he said. He held up a compass. The thin arrow was spinning around randomly. "What does that mean?" asked Rotor. "A compass points north, because that's where the planet's magnetic field goes." Sonic explained. "If there is a stronger magnetic force nearby, like a magnet, the compass will point towards that instead." "But this stupid compass ain't pointing anywhere!" said Streak. It was then that the arrow literally ripped out the pin that was holding it down, and slammed into the plastic top of the compass, pointing straight up.

Robotnik sat in his throne, thinking. He reached out with his robotized arm to pick up a cup of coffee, but for some reason, he couldn't get it to move. "Mecha!" he yelled. "This darn arm won't move! Come and fix it!" silence. He yelled louder, but Mecha wouldn't come. Then he yelled for Packbell, more silence. He got out of the throne, mumbling. "If you have to do something right, do it yourself." he said. He turned on the master computer to scan his limb for defects, but the power wouldn't come on. "YAAAH!" he screamed, pounding the monitor with his non-robotic fist. He charged out of the room and down the hall. "MECHA! PACKBELL! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?!" he screamed. There was a short squeal in reply, but the voice did not belong to Mecha or Packbell. "Snively" Robotnik sighed. Snively ran down the hall towards him. "All the robots are dead!" he yelled. "The SWAT bots, Mecha Sonic, Packbell, the computers, the security systems, everything down to the electric coffee machine is broken!" Robotnik stared at his lifeless robot arm. "Hmmm..." he growled. "What is going on here?" "It's real spooky!" said Snively "There was a crackling sound, and everything went off-line!" Robotnik began to walk down the hall further, when suddenly he let out a whoop and flew sideways into the steel piping on the wall. He tried to pull away, but his metal arm was stuck fast onto the wall. "Everything's been magnetized." he said. "What?" asked Snively. "Everything metal in Robotropolis has been magnetized" Robotnik repeated, still struggling to get off the wall. "That means that all the electronic machinery would get scrambled, that explains everything shutting down." "But who would want to turn Robotropolis into a magnet?" asked Snively. Robotnik instantly flew off the wall and landed on top of Snively. He tried to get up, but realized he was stuck to the floor. "I don't know" he continued, struggling. "I don't think it's Sonic, he couldn't do this. I think it's probably a shift in the magnetic field on Mobius. Nothing to fret about, it shouldn't last long." he managed to pick himself off the floor, but got stuck to the wall again.

"So you are saying that everything has been turned into a magnet?" Knuckles asked. "Well, everything metal has" Sonic replied. "Why?" Asked Knux, confused. "That's where I'm dumbfounded" Sonic replied. "Although, I wouldn't mind betting that it's Robotnik." Knuckles shrugged, and got back to reading the artifact he found a few days ago. "Knux, you've been reading that dumb rock over and over again since you found it! You should know it off by heart by now!" said Sonic. "It's not just a dumb rock" Knux replied. "And besides, have you noticed a connection between what it says here, and what is happening now?" "Uh, no" Sonic replied. "Think about it" said Knux. "This 'rock' talks about things sticking together, and machinery refusing to work. Does that sound familiar?" Sonic frowned. "Come on Knux! Don't be so nervous! There's probably just an unrelated natural explanation for all this." "But Sonic!" Knux protested. "It says right here that the phenomenon happens in a cycle! Today is approximately 50 years since this was written, now you can't say that that can be a co-incidence! What if......what if the echidnas even come BACK?" Sonic shrugged and walked out of the hut. Knuckles began reading the mural again.

It was a beautiful day, considering that everything metal was sticking together. Sonic turned his head towards the sun, after seeing something out of the corner of his eye. Right beside the sun, there was a strange red blotch. Sonic couldn't make it out, as he was squinting so much because of the sun. It seemed to be moving a bit, sort of blowing around. "What's that thing?" he asked himself. Sage walked past. "Whatcha looking at?" he asked. Sonic pointed at the strange dot, dancing slowly across the sky. There was silence for a couple of seconds, then Sage said, "It's called the sun." Sonic pulled away from the sight, and gave Sage a funny look. "Not that! Beside the sun. That red dot." Sage squinted. "I can't see nothing....oh wait..... oh yeah! Hey, what is that?" Sonic shrugged. "Probably Robotnik." he said. The red dot began to get bigger. "Uh, I think it's another meteor" Said Streak. "It looks just like those ones we saw last night." "Maybe" Sonic replied. They both lost interest and walked on. The red dot continued to grow. Continued to fall at incredible speeds towards Knothole.

CHAPTER THREE: THE VISITATION

Snively was trying to pry Robotnik's metal arm off the roof with a plastic bar. Robotnik was using the full force of his body to propel downwards. "Take a note, Snively." He said. "Remind me to rebuild the fortress with non-magnetic walls." Snively put one foot on the wall to help pull. Suddenly, he stopped pulling, and started to use the bar on his own foot. "What's wrong, Snively?" asked Robotnik. "Don't tell me you're wearing your steel-soled shoes...."

There was a large gathering outside Knothole, as the residents watched a glowing red object land in the Great Forest nearby. "What is it?" asked Tails, hiding in the back of the crowd. There was no crash, not even a bump, considering the tremendous speed that the object was moving at. The strange sounds stopped, and all went silent. "I'm scared, Sonic!" said Tails, worriedly, beginning to back off. Sonic slowly began to walk into the forest towards the object. He looked back at the others, but nobody was following him. He gulped, and continued into the forest. There was a particularly thick patch of shrub, so Sonic had to do a spin-dash to cut through. Eventually, he found the crash site. Except it wasn't a crash site. The object was perfectly intact, and it was obvious what it was. It was some kind of spacecraft. Heat was radiating from it, but it seemed to be cooling rapidly. It was round and flat, and had strange writing on the side of it. But this wasn't what Sonic was concerned about. He wasn't looking at the spaceship, he was looking at the open hatch on the side. And, more importantly, the several rows of footprints in the dirt.

Robotnik fell onto the ground with a thump. He stretched out his robotic arm, and wiggled his fingers. "Aah, that's better!" he said. Snively gave one last heave, and his boot became un-attached to the wall, flinging him into the opposite wall head-first. He got up, dazed. "Everything's back to normal?" he asked. "It would seem that way" Robotnik replied. He could hear the Robotropolis main computer network booting up, and robots coming on-line. "Now that we have our computers back, I can do a scan and find out where that disturbance was coming from." said Robotnik, making his way towards the computer monitors. He could hear the clanking sound of a robot's footsteps coming towards him. "Sir, I compute that there was just an hour and a half lost time that I cannot account for. Was I off-line?" came Mecha Sonic's voice. Robotnik spun around. "Yes, Mecha, Robotropolis was magnetized, and all systems shut down." "Magnetized?" asked Mecha. "I am about to do a scan on any disturbances in the area." Robotnik replied. "Save yourself the bother" Mecha said. "I am currently picking up a reading from somewhere in the Great Forest. Something mechanical has parked directly in the center. There is a large magnetic disturbance in the vicinity." Robotnik's eyes widened. "Really.....So it isn't a natural phenomenon?" Mecha shook his head. "Well then!" Robotnik said, eyes gleaming. "It seems the Freedom Fighters have made a new weapon! Something that can disable Robotropolis..." "I doubt it is of the Freedom Fighters' creation," Mecha interrupted. "The metal, it seems, is of an unknown alloy. I mean, I don't know for sure, I'd have to see for myself, this is only judging from the long-range scanners." Robotnik frowned. "Well then, I want you to go down and inspect it." he said. "And whatever it is, seize it. Imagine, if we have that weapon in our hands, we can simply blank out entire cities, and go in and take over them! Mobius will be mine in no time!"

"It's aliens!" Sonic screeched frantically. "It's aliens! The spaceship, and the..the..the footprints! I've....I've never seen anything like them! They have two toes and.....and...." Sally tried to calm him. "He's pretty freaked" she said. "He must have seen something that spooked him good. Better get ready, in case of a fight." All the Freedom Fighters returned to their huts. Tails approached Sonic hesitantly. "Didja see the alien?" he asked. "No" replied Sonic. "But don't you worry little bud, if it's hostile, I'll stand by you all the way."

Hours passed before anything else strange happened, but eventually the beings returned to their ship, and just happened to come across Knothole... Rotor was the first to actually see them, and he freaked just like Sonic did. His first impression was a snarling beast type creature, but that was just his fear clouding his mind. They were in fact quite different. Their general form was that of a human, only skinnier and taller. They all wore identical clothing, like uniforms. They all had beard-like growths on their heads, which made them look like wise old men. But the most visible feature was their eyes. They had none. Their foreheads began at their noses, and ended at their bald heads. Rotor hoped that the fact that they had no eyes meant that they couldn't see him. He stood completely frozen. He wasn't sure if they had noticed him or not, they seemed to be just staring into air, or they would if they had eyes. Then the silence was broken by the tallest alien. "Please do not fear us, for we may look strange to you, but no moreso than how strange you look to us." There was more silence, as the confused walrus thought. He had expected the alien to growl at him, or say something like 'Take me to your leader'. The mere thought that the alien was so kind made Rotor feel like laughing, not from happiness, but from relief. As his fear faded, he decided that they weren't all that scary-looking, anyway. "Uhhhhh...." he started. These beings had traveled for, possibly light years, to land on this planet, and what do you say in a situation like that? Rotor decided to say the first thing that popped into his head. "Uh....Welcome to Mobius!" he said. The alien smiled. "Your welcome is greatly appreciated." he said, taking a bow. "Oh wow!" thought Rotor. Sage leaped out of his hut, armed with a bow as tall as he was, and an arrow nearly as big, still. "Freeze!" he shouted. The aliens seemed unconcerned. Sage suddenly pulled back on the string, and let rip the arrow...

CHAPTER FOUR: CAPTURED

...Into the air. "What th....?" he said. He had without warning pointed the bow directly upwards, he didn't have control while he was firing. The arrow hit a tree stump a few feet away with a 'THOK'. "Please do not fear us" the main alien repeated. Rotor and Sage saw that he was holding one of his three-fingered hands outwards. "Did you just make me fire upwards?" Sage asked. "Indeed." replied the alien. "I prevented you from acting a grave mistake. We come to your planet in the greatest of peace. I am KA1, Supreme Ambassador of the Kall race." "Uh....kay" replied Sage. "Um...I'm Sagittarius, the...uh...Supreme... Bow and Arrow...guy...of, uh..." "I give you the warmest greeting, Sagittarius." replied KA1, bowing again. "And I'm Rotor, Knothole's mechanic" said Rotor. "Pleased to meet you also, Rotor" said KA1. "These are my 'associates'" He began to signal the other aliens, who in turn, gave their names. "KA12" "KA34" "KA6" "KA54" "KA42"... "Hang on!" Sage interrupted. "Does EVERYONE on your planet have a name 'KA' and then a number?" "That is correct" replied KA1. "The names go by priority. One with a lower KA value is less important than one with a higher KA value. That is how we can automatically know the importance of an individual, just by asking their name." "But your name is KA1" said Sage. "Does that mean you're, like, the king or something?" "That is correct." replied KA1. "The Supreme Ambassador is the head ruler of Kallympus. The KA value of one is always reserved for the Supreme Ambassador." "Cool!" said Sage. "Hey.." said Rotor, "What if you are born, and the highest number available for you is KA7483107, but you get really important later on, but any number higher is already taken?" "We have a very complex, but successful naming system." replied KA1. "To explain it to one who is not from Kallympus would take hours, maybe days. Just take it from me - it works well." "Well....Want me to show you around the village?" Sage asked. "It would be my delight" KA1 replied.

It wasn't long before everyone in Knothole knew the aliens, and wanted to meet them. They had all been scared at first, but the aliens seemed to have powers of calming. Only Knuckles still cowered away, avoiding the beings. He had read the mural over and over, it explained things sticking together, machinery refusing to operate, strange shapes in the sky... Somehow he knew that these aliens had something to do with the disappearance of his echidna ancestors. He was trying to decide whether or not he should confront and interrogate this 'KA1'. He decided to wait a while, and see what they did first. One thing was for sure - they could not be trusted.

"Scanning..." said Mecha, standing inside the strange spaceship. He then got out a two-way radio. "The craft is almost definitely of alien design, Doctor. I have never seen metal like this, and the magnetic radiation from here is almost enough to shut me down again." "Are the alien life forms still there?" came the reply from Dr. Robotnik. Mecha looked around. "Negative. They appear to have fled." "Well track them down! Imagine if we could steal a powerful spaceship AND a powerful alien creature! Think of the technology we could learn.....or steal." "Right away sir." Mecha put away the radio and walked outside. He noticed many rows of alien footprints in the loose soil, leading into the forest. Under his cold, hard metal shell, you could just see Mecha smile, as he turned on a silent rocket booster, and soundlessly tracked the aliens.

The Freedom Fighters were asking a million questions a minute, but the aliens were determined to answer every one of them. "Are you responsible for that magnetic stuff?" asked one. "Indeed" replied one of the aliens. "That is how we take off and land our ship - the boosters emit a negative magnetic field, which repels the magnetic field of your planet. We can alter the frequency to slow down, stop, or take off. Unfortunately, there is a side effect, which is that it scrambles your magnetic field, and magnetizes everything metal. We are working to improve that." Another Freedom Fighter came up. "How can you see us without eyes?" he asked. "Our senses are different than yours." the alien replied. "We can..... how will I explain this........we can kind of 'smell' colors. We sense things in different ways, anyhow. It is very efficient - while you can only see what is directly in front of you, we can 'see' a complete 360 degrees."

Mecha approached the hidden entrance to Knothole. He had followed the footprints for approximately a kilometer, and they ended up here. Mecha took a look around. "Well, it's no surprise that they led me to the Freedom Jerkoffs." he said. He could hear a lot of noise coming from the meeting hall in the center. He walked over to it.

Sonic went over to Knux, who was sitting alone in the corner. "What's wrong?" he asked. "These aliens have something to do with my ancestors' disappearance." he replied. "Don't get started on that again!" said Sonic. "It's just a coincidence! Besides, do these seem like the kind of people that would steal away an entire civilization for no reason?" Knux put his face right up to Sonic's, as if afraid the aliens might hear him. "Is it EVERY DAY that an alien race shows up on your doorstep, and refuses to tell you why they are here?" he asked. Before Sonic could answer, there was another, very familiar voice. "Don't mind me, folks!" said Mecha, in the doorway, holding a laser pistol. Some of the Freedom Fighters ran, while others tried to attack, but Mecha just rocketed up to the roof. The aliens seemed unconcerned. Mecha flew down from the roof, fist outwards, and slammed into the head of the first alien he could see, knocking it unconscious. Now the other aliens became concerned. They tried to wrestle the KO'ed alien away from Mecha, but the robot managed to pick him up, and fly out the door with him. "Sorry to crash the party!" he called back.

"Come on!" yelled Sonic. "We have to get him back!" "KA12 is very experienced." protested KA1. "He would be able to save himself, I'm sure." "Well he could do with some help!" replied Sonic. "I wouldn't want Mobius to have an intergalactic reputation of being kidnappers!" He ran out of the hall in hot pursuit of Mecha. Streak and Sally followed him. "Stupid aliens." said Petals.

CHAPTER FIVE: RESCUE ATTEMPT

"Well, mister alien!" said Robotnik to the heavily chained-up KA12. "What kind of technology can you tell me about?" The alien looked up at him sleepily. "Oh, I have a lot of secrets that I will be glad to tell you!" he said. "But you will have to un-chain my left arm first." Robotnik thought about it. "Hmm...I suppose there is no harm in that, seeing as how I have the key." He un-chained KA12's left arm. "Now you might want to un-chain the rest of me." said KA12. "Ummmmm.....no" said Robotnik. "Nice try, though. Now, may I ask what it is you have to show me?" KA12 held out his left arm. "This" he replied. Robotnik stared at the arm, dazed. "Now, un-chain me and let me leave the city." said KA12. Robotnik got out the key, and began to un-chain the alien. The expression on his face showed that he was furious. "I don't know how you're making me do this" he said "But stop this instant, or you'll be sorry!" KA12 smiled. "Ummmmm.....no" he said. "Nice try, though." in a few seconds he was free, and he left the building. He wasn't running, he was just strolling, allowing Robotnik to watch him for a long time, angry at his inability to do anything about it. Eventually, the alien had left Robotropolis, and headed back towards Knothole. At the same time, Sonic, Streak and Sally came out of the forest and headed TOWARDS Robotropolis.

Sonic burst into the building. "Where is the alien!?!" he demanded. Robotnik turned, and saw the three Freedom Fighters standing there. "Oh, you just missed him!" he said. "He used his mystical powers to free himself!" "Oh" replied Sonic. "But no matter" said Robotnik, grinning. "I might not have a man from the moon, but I have you!" At that moment, SWAT bots appeared from the shadows, and captured the three. "Uh...this isn't what I had planned in a rescue mission." said Streak, struggling in the robot's arms. "Take them to the Robotizer" Robotnik ordered. The robots didn't move. "I said, TAKE THEM TO THE ROBOTIZER!" Robotnik yelled. Still no response. Robotnik tried to walk up to them to see what was wrong, but he couldn't move, because his metal arm was stuck to the wall. Sonic, Streak and Sally freed themselves easily, and looked out the window. They saw the flashing lights in the night sky, that could only be coming from the alien craft.

EPILOGUE:

"I asked them before they left." said Knux. "They said that they have never been to this planet before, they only came now to refuel their ship. They said that they know nothing about any stolen echidnas, but they gave me the best of luck on my quest to find out what happened to them." "Sorry you didn't find out." said Sonic. "Well, one of these days I will." said Knux. "They also said that we were so nice to them, that they'd like to return someday." "I hope they do." replied Sonic. The Freedom Fighters had stayed up for hours talking about the alien encounter, but they were just starting to feel tired. "Well..." said Sonic with a yawn. "I'm getting pretty tired, I think I'll pop off to bed." he turned to Streak. "How long have we been up, anyway?" Streak looked at his watch. "Dunno." he said. "My watch has stopped."

THE END

SERIES ONE CHRONOLOGY:
1. Time and Space
2. I Am Your Evil Twin
3. Micro-Sonic
4. Android Wars
5. Chaos
6. Diary of a Mad Assassin
7. Fire in the Sky
8. The Guests of Honor
9. Time and Punishment
10. The Secret Past
11. Tale of a Rocket Knight
12. Cyber Sonic
13. Apocalypse