Legend of ChaosJedi-- Eye of the Storm, Part I
by Ryan Carroll
The tunnel's randomness was more of a continuous cycle among four destinations. With one origin and four cycling destinations... Though there was no matter to speak of in interdimensional space, there was still the energy created by the constant cycling. The transdimensional storm was the first of its kind to ever be created, and judging by its growth rate, it would have serious effects on interdimensional travel...
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"I find this unacceptable."
"The blasted machine will not work. What do I have to do to get that through that thick metal skull of yours?"
"Why can you not hook me up to your computer to scan the code?"
"One, I don't trust you. Two, you might upload a virus. Three, you might copy the code for your own use."
"Two and three fall under the same category as one, do they not?"
I ignored Mecha. "Four, you don't know what you'd be looking for; and five, you have no connectors that are compatible with my computer anyway. You weren't designed to interface with a personal computer, that's all there is to it."
"And yet I must trust _you_ to get me back to Mobius."
"And I have to trust _you_ not to stab me in the back in the process. Besides, I'm sure you'd rather trust me than Sonic."
"I never want to hear you speak that name again."
The quiet rage in his voice made me turn to face the robot. "Why _do_ you hate him so much?"
"Everyone knows I am merely a copy. I want to be the only Ssssonic in existence!"
"I don't know, I think you'd make a better Mecha than you would a Sonic. You can't live your life trying to be someone you're not. That's not how things work."
"What would you know about that?"
"I know, okay? Half my life has been spent trying to fit some mold, whether I made that mold myself or someone else made it for me. No one is meant to fit the mold; that's why everyone was designed to be different."
"You are saying I was never meant to replace Ssssonic?"
"That may have been Robotnik's intention, but it doesn't have to be the end result."
"You are saying that I would do better to just be myself?"
"That's the way I see it. You might find it that much easier to look in the mirror and like what you see."
"You are just saying that."
"Honestly, I'm not. I look at it this way: you were designed by Knuckles, who at the time hated Sonic. This is because Robotnik lied to him. Robotnik's hatred for Sonic rubbed off on you, and you've hated him ever since. Now look at the current state of Mobius. Chaos8 has taken over Robotnik's body. Packbell's long gone, and who knows where the heck Robo Knux disappeared to. If he's smart he'll find a nice big rock to hide under until Chaos8 is defeated. Everything you've existed for is gone. All that's left of Robotnik is the shell of the man that was there. The real Doc is probably drifting through the Interweb, slowly losing his memory bit by bit. If he ever manages to get out of there, he won't be Robotnik, he'll be an amnesiac walking around in what used to be Chaos8's body."
"Can we not rescue Dr. Robotnik?"
"I don't know if you'd be able to find your way out OR if you wouldn't lose your memory too. I'm sure not about to volunteer to have my memory wiped."
"The I must work for Chaos8 when I return to Mobius."
I couldn't believe my ears. "What!?"
"It is all that is left for me. I am an agent of evil. I always have been. Why change now?"
"Because you CAN change. Chaos8 would crush your head the first time you ever failed him."
"A fitting end to my existence."
"What, to be destroyed by the monster who betrayed your master?"
"If it comes to that... yes."
I shook my head. "And I thought you were smart."
THAT got Mecha's attention. "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"
"You'd rather risk geting yourself killed than side with the good guys."
"That has never stopped me before."
"Except once."
"...What?"
I knew I was treading on thin ice after hearing that response, but I plowed ahead. "Aren't you forgetting the Viceroid incident?"
"Commander Packbell challenged me. I had to accept."
"You didn't have to return and save Slasher."
"The raptor has earned my respect. I will never allow a vanquished foe defeat a worthy adversary."
I tightened the last screw on the portal frame and stepped back to take a look. Good ol' America Online; always providing the reflectors I need for the frame... My thoughts turned back to the conversation. "So you'd rather die than help the friends of your rival."
"I am a machine. I do not _die_."
"You cease to exist. Sounds like a good definition for death to me."
"By then I will have fulfilled my reason for existence."
I lost what patience I had left. I threw down the screwdriver I was holding and turned full force on the robot. "And just what is that, huh? Your boss is as good as dead, you're a billion light years away from home, and your only options are to trust me or risk your neck out there in my world. What reason for existence have you got left to fulfill?" I turned to the computer sitting on the desk. "Priorities _change_, Mecha. You have to learn how to change with them. Now leave me alone while I work this code."
The robot glided silently out of the room.
------------------------------------------------------------------*
Jason and Christine were promptly dumped on a patch of grass.
"You okay, Chris?"
"Yeah, you?"
"I'll be better when I know where we are."
"That was a wild ride. I hope I don't have to do it anytime soon."
"Uh oh."
"What? What is it?"
"Not 'what is it'. It's 'where are we'."
A nearby sign read "Welcome to Hill Valley".
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"Do we know anything about where we are?"
"Besides that it's an island?"
"Yes, besides that."
"Well, it's a freakin' WEIRD island, I can tell you that much."
"Thank you, Mr. Noah Webster."
"I'm sorry, Slasher, but that's all I can determine about this place. I thought I knew all there is to know about islands, but this place defies description."
"That it does, Knuckles. I don't want to explore too much; we may get separated and lost."
"Let me guess: that would be a bad thing."
"You read my mind."
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A black armored fist slammed down on the arm of the chair. "I don't care HOW long a cleanup effort will take, I want to find those emeralds as soon as possible! We can clean up the city when I have those emeralds in my possession!"
Snively crept away from the door. He had seen and heard what had gone on in Robotnik's study on that fateful night, and he knew that the odds of seeing his uncle again were slim to none. The short assistant had no love for Chaos8 and was glad that he had been able to remain hidden during the course of the past week. He now smuggled himself out of Robotropolis to alert the Freedom Fighters of what had happened.
When he reached Knothole, the first person to see him was Talon. Recognizing the little man from a picture, he took Snively straight in to see Sally. There he divulged the events of the past week, right up to 8's call for a massive emerald search.
"We have to get to those emeralds first. Are you sure that Sonic and Slasher were both sent to unknown dimensions?"
"Quite sure. I saw it happen myself."
"Wonderful. I'll notify the other groups. Looks like we have a treasure hunt on our hands."
"Winner take all?"
"That would be funny if it weren't so blasted true."
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The nearly lifeless body flopped on the sand. Eventually the young man came to and picked himself up. He then wandered aimlessly inland, heading in the general direction of a nearby mansion.
When he reached the front door of the mansion, he knocked with all his strength (which wasn't much to start with). A blond-haired man answered. "Can I help you?"
The young man looked into his eyes and pleaded, "You have to help me. I have no memory!"
The man at the door turned and called inside. "Elaine?"
A female voice called from an interior room. "What is it, Guybrush?"
"There's someone at the door for you."
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The Final Egg base was dark. Very dark. The lack of light didn't
perturb the lone robot examining the interior of the base. Robo Knux had lights built into his forearms, and the thrust from his jets provided a glow to the room as well. The archived instructions on RK's hard drive had led him here, and he now headed to the docking clamp for the Egg Carrier; the third ship that had been Robotnik's mobile base until the "Chaos incident", as the doctor had referred to it. Once aboard the Egg Carrier, the robot stepped into the transporter room and used the primary preset destination.
Once there, RK crossed the clearing and took the mine cart into the jungle, then abruptly switched tracks and wound up in a small cavern.
Across the room stood a cylinder filled with liquid... and containing a body. A live body.
RK pushed a button and stood back to watch the process he had just initialized work itself to fruition. "Welcome back, Doc," the robot remarked.
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"Why do these things always happen to us?" Serena wondered aloud. She and Tails had landed in a strange world that neither could recognize. Everything had a decidedly digital look to it, and the whole city looked futuristic. Neither Mobian had any idea where they were, so they decided to look around, hoping to gather some info as to where they were.
As they headed for the center of town, a figure on a zipboard slowly followed the pair.
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I was halfway through recoding the Dimensionalizer program when I felt a slight breeze on the back of my neck. I looked behind me to observe a vortex opening up in the portal frame. I did a double take at the computer screen, then back at the vortex. I knew in a split second what was going on. And I knew that it was bad.
Very bad.
"MECHA!" I screamed, partially out of fear. "GET YOUR SHINY METAL BUTT IN HERE _NOW_!!!"
The robot seemed to be glowering at me as he came in. "What is the sudden..." He trailed off when he noticed the unnatural whirlpool in the far wall. "...emergency," he finished, summing up what we were facing.
"Something must be happening to the fabric of the continuum," I conjectured aloud. "Something's caused the energy of transdimensional space to twist out of its normal state, causing this vortex. I wonder if it's affecting any other dimensions..."
----------------------------------------------------------------*
Slasher looked up in the sky at that moment and observed a dark spot in the sky.
"Knux, find some cover, NOW."
"Why, what's up?" the echidna inquired.
"We've got problems."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sonic sat up, spitting the sand out of his mouth. "Ugh, wonderful landing THAT was..." he complained, brushing himself off. He looked up into the night sky and wondered where he was... for all of a fraction of a second. Then he saw the huge whirlpool floating in midair, blocking the view of the stars. The hedgehog stared at the vortex for a moment before offering his opinion to no one in particular.
"This is bad."
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The city of Mainframe was experiencing a vortex of their own. Fortunately, everyone was running for cover. Unfortunately, they were running for all the wrong reasons.
The city leaders had gathered inside the principal office to work out a strategy of what to do...
"Phong, if this IS the Web, I'm the best chance we have of stopping it."
"I don't think this is the Web, Bob. If it was, don't you think we'd have creatures swarming all over the place by now?"
"Dot has a good point. We should wait until we know what this is we are dealing with."
As Phong was finishing that last sentence, Matrix walked into the room. "I think I have a good idea," he replied, holding Serena and Tails by the backs of their jackets.
"Put us down, you big bully!" Serena yelled at her captor. Both Mobians squirmed to free themselves, but neither was successful.
Bob looked at Matrix with a skeptical look on his face. "You think these two caused that vortex?"
"It's possible. Look at them; they haven't got any icons, and they don't look like any sprites I've ever seen."
Andraia came in behind him and updated the group on the situation outside. "That vortex is getting larger in size every nanosecond. It won't be long before it envelops the entire system!"
Web Surfer looked over at the rest of the group from his position analyzing the portal. "That there ain't no Web portal, mates. That's something beyond my knowledge base."
Bob looked at the two Mobians. "Do either of you know what's going on?"
Tails spoke up, though slowly and with some doubt evident in his voice. "It might have to do with how we got here, and if what you're saying is true..."
"We're all in big trouble," Serena finished for him.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Elaine came to the door of the mansion, introducing herself as she did so. "What can I do for you?"
The young man at the door merely stood there for a second before saying, "I-I don't know who I am. I just woke up on the beach without any memory..."
Guybrush waved the youth off. "Ah, don't worry about it; the grog will wear off in a few hours."
"Guybrush!" his wife reprimanded. "This man doesn't remember anything about his life. Have a little sympathy, why don't you?"
"Sorry, Elaine."
"Do you even remember your name?" Elaine inquired, turning to the young man.
"I think... I don't know... R-Rob? Th-that's all I can remember..."
"It's a start. There's a guest room upstairs; you can spend the night there."
"Thank you." Rob made his way to the bedroom and was out before his head hit the pillow.
Elaine turned her gaze on Guybrush. "Guybrush, I need you to help Rob out while he's staying with us. Tomorrow, I need you to teach him some skills. Swordfighting, ship sailing, anything you can think of. But NO INSULTS."
"Aw, but that takes all the fun out of it..."
"Guybrush, the poor boy has amnesia! You want to add a lost limb to the list?"
"Hey, nice alliteration."
"Guybrush!"
"Right. Teach Rob. Got it."
As the couple closed the door and went back inside, the swirling vortex in the sky went unnoticed.
------------------------------------------------------------*
Mecha and I stared at the vortex for a moment. Without saying a word, we both jumped in.
I immediately began flailing about, looking for some way to stop this sick joke of a dimensional tunnel. From what little I saw of Mecha, I could tell he was having no problems maintaining his equilibrium. I shut my eyes to counter the dizziness and focused on what I had to do. I had to find an opening and get myself out of this demented gyroscope!
Suddenly I was flung out of the maelstrom and was freefalling over a digital city. Using the Gravity Stone I righted myself and landed slowly on my feet. The Mainframe street felt good after that wild ride through the dimensional storm. Mecha floated down to meet me.
"I'm surprised you decided to join me. Didn't think you cared."
"You are my only hope of returning to Mobius. I must protect my ticket home."
Suddenly the two of us were surrounded by police vehicles and ordered to raise our hands. Mecha folded his arms in defiance.
"Mecha," I muttered to him, raising my hands above my head, "do what they say."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't, you'll never get home." The robot reluctantly raised his hands.
"I hope you know what you are doing..."
"Relax," I replied, "I've got connections."
An officer binome approached the two of us. "Where did you two come from?"
"We came from outside the Net. I need to talk to Bob. Immediately," I replied urgently.
"Outside the Net?" the officer repeated, raising his single eyebrow in skepticism. "How is that possible?"
"I realize it may sound strange, but that up there," I told him, pointing upward at the ever-growing vortex, "is an interdimensional storm. If I don't get help soon all of Mainframe will be destroyed."
The officers all looked at each other in shock as another voice signaled the presence of a newcomer. "He's right." I looked up and saw two figures on zipboards approaching from the direction of the principal office. One looked as if he'd had a hard life, with a cybernetic eye, five o'clock shadow, and a general biker look. The other reminded me of Andraia, though neither one of them looked familiar to me.
The biker dude looked me over. "Who are you?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Name's Matrix. Haven't seen you around here before. Though you do look familiar..."
The name hit like a lightning bolt. Was this guy Enzo...?
"Maybe this will refresh your memory," I replied, holding up an icon I'd generated on the spot. The Emerald on the icon was green, as I'd used in previous visits to Mainframe in the Virtualizer.
"Looks familiar..." Matrix's partner interjected. "Ah, now I remember! Matrix, don't you remember Ryan?"
"Andraia?" I guessed, and the sprite nodded in reply. "Last time I saw you was before the big war," she continued. "A lot has changed around here..."
"Including some of us," Matrix finished. "Wait till you see Hexadecimal; she'll get a kick out of seeing you."
"Oh joy," I replied. "Any chance of seing Bob now? We've got to hurry..."
"Sure, no problem... But, uh, who's the other guy?"
"His name's Mecha. I expect him to be treated the same as you'd treat me."
I glanced over at the robot, who seemed thoroughly surprised that I hadn't requested him to be thrown in jail, or worse.
"I think we can arrange that. Need zipboards?"
"Nah, I've got some new tricks, and he can fly anyway. Let's get moving; we haven't got much time..."
----------------------------------------------------------*
"Great Scott!"
Christine and Jason stood at the front door of one Dr. Emmett Brown, who at that moment had been just about to sit down to lunch with his family. The pair had been directed to the inventor by Marty McFly, whom they'd run into in a local cafe. Marty now stood behind the two as they explained their predicament to the temporal scientist.
"I agree, Doc, this is heavy. What do we do now?"
"This... this is unbelievable... That the time-space continuum could fall apart from such careless application... It's unthinkable!"
"I sincerely hope you're not accusing our friend, Dr. Brown," Christine admonished. "He's been extremely careful with the Dimensionalizer. It's our enemies that have misused it."
"Nononononono, I'm not accusing anyone! I'm just flabbergasted at how fragile the continuum really is! I knew that changing history was dangerous, but I never heard of a trans-dimensional storm before!" The white-haired inventor paced back and forth in the entryway as he spoke. "Do you know of any way to dissipate the energy?"
"Hard to say, really," Jason replied. "When we built the crazy thing we didn't even realize that such a thing was possible."
"That's preposterous! How can you create a device and not take into account all possible disasters that could occur?"
"Uh, Doc?" Marty broke in. "DeLorean?"
"Yes, yes, of course, I know all about that. So the two of you are here by accident?"
"Essentially, yes."
"And that vortex could tear the whole continuum apart."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Great Scott!"
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"Nice library."
"Well, I figured we might as well wait here as anywhere. Too bad most of these books are burned... Well this is interesting..."
"What's that?" Slasher inquired.
"Most of these books are pretty descriptive. This book talks about some barren wasteland with microphones in strategic places..."
"How about this one: four islands, a central one which links to three others by rotation. Whoever wrote these was a pretty wild author."
"I wonder if this place has anything to do with the worlds described in these books..."
"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"
"Well, you never know... Stranger things have happened."
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Sonic wandered around the local town, surprised that no one gave him a second thought. It seemed that the locals were used to seeing strange, out-of-the-ordinary sights around here. The blue hedgehog stopped to watch a pair of buccaneers practice their swordplay in the streets of Melee Town.
Neither one of the pirates noticed the hedgehog at first, as they both were too busy with their battle. Both of them were into it viciously; swiping, dodging, and clashing.
"Nobody's ever drawn blood from me and nobody ever will!" Guybrush spat out.
"You run THAT fast?" Rob shot back. Guybrush backstepped and Rob slashed through the air where Guybrush had just been.
"You fight like a dairy farmer!" Rob yelled, cutting the air between them.
"How appropriate. You fight like a cow," Guybrush replied calmly. Rob fell back a few steps.
"My tongue is sharper than any sword!" Guybrush jabbed.
"Uhhh... Hey, you never taught me that one!" Rob complained. Guybrush swiped Rob's blade out of his hand. The blade embedded itself in the ground six inches from Sonic's feet. "HEY!" Sonic objected. "Watch it!"
"Sorry," the two swashbucklers replied without looking. "You're getting pretty good," Guybrush told the younger swordsman.
"Yeah, but you haven't told me everything. You never did teach me that last insult you pulled on me." Rob walked over to the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it free.
"I just remembered that one from when I last fought Carla. You ought to try going against her sometime. You already know all the right comebacks; you just have to know which comebacks to use with her insults." Guybrush turned to Sonic. "Sorry about that. You okay?"
The pirate's polite manner threw the hedgehog for a loop. All pirates he had ever heard of were total jerks, caring only for treasure and glory. What dimension had he landed in? "I'm fine," Sonic offered. "You guys are pretty good, but I didn't realize that such good friends could insult each other like that."
Rob laughed. "Oh, that? We don't take it seriously, it's just a sport with us. By the way, what's your name?"
"Name's Sonic. Sonic Hedgehog."
Rob's eyes disfocused for a moment as he zoned out. He saw a huge, futuristic city, dark with shadows and smog. He saw a large man sitting in a throne as a dictator, overlooking the world he claimed to own...
A slap on the back brought Rob back to the present. "I'm Guybrush Threepwood, and this is Rob." Rob waved a greeting.
"Listen, I don't know if you guys are going to believe me, but there's a couple of things I need to tell you. I'm not from around here, and I don't think there's much time before we're all in trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"See that dark spot in the sky? It won't be long before it destroys this whole dimension."
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"Dimension? I thought that Mainframe was a system within the Net."
"It is," I replied, "but apparently the Net is a physical dimension in itself. I know it seems strange that I got here the first time through a virtual gate and now by a dimensional portal, but that's not important. What IS important is that Mainframe, and any other dimension affected by this storm, will be dust in a matter of hours if we don't DO something." I looked the guardian sprite straight in the eye and said, "That means your home, my home, and the homes of millions, maybe billions of others, will cease to exist, AS WILL WE."
Bob returned the gaze. "What can we do? How do you neutralize something like this?"
"If I may offer an analysis," came a voice from across the room. Every head turned to regard Mecha. A few sprites shied away from him because of his lack of an icon, but aside from that he had been treated fairly well during his time here. "It has come to my attention that we are dealing with rotational energy."
"One word, Mecha: duh. It's a vortex. That's what vortices do. They rotate. What's your point?"
"I will answer that by asking you a question. I have been studying your recreational computer equipment--" (I breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't say "game") "and have noticed an application of science in one of your software programs. How do you neutralize cyclonic energy in this 'Chrono Trigger' program?"
A flash of inspiration. "You use a Slash attack. A linear force disrupts the rotational nature of the vortex. Mecha, you're a genius!"
"What are you two talking about?" Matrix cut in.
I looked around the room. "We are going to neutralize that dimensional vortex, but we need some help."
-----------------------------------------------------------*
"How goes the emerald search, Princess?"
"We've got four of the emeralds, Snively, but unfortunately the rest of them are somewhere on the southern continent. We'll have to send some search teams down there."
"Might I suggest staying away from the old Final Egg base? It's highly dangerous, and I'm not sure whether any of Dr. Robotnik's experiments are still functioning down there or not."
"I'll keep that in mind."
As the former assistant left, Sally turned to the window in frustration. The vortex was blocking half the view of the moon now, and it wouldn't be long before the entire dimension was torn asunder.
"Sonic, where ARE you?" she whispered to the air.
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Chaos8 paced as he tried to hide his nervousness. He knew he had caused that dimensional storm, and he also knew that if the time-space continuum were torn apart, there would be no way even he could survive.
For the first time in his life, Chaos8 wondered if he had done the best thing.
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"All systems are operational, Doc. You're back in business."
A silhouette appeared in the doorway. But this wasn't Robotnik. This person was trimmer, leaner, and stronger. This person was perfect... perfectly synthetic.
Robotnick, a clone, turned to RK and replied, "Excellent work, Robo Knux. It's time to take back Mobius.
"Chaos8 may think he's evil, but he's just met his match."
To Be Continued...
by Ryan Carroll
The tunnel's randomness was more of a continuous cycle among four destinations. With one origin and four cycling destinations... Though there was no matter to speak of in interdimensional space, there was still the energy created by the constant cycling. The transdimensional storm was the first of its kind to ever be created, and judging by its growth rate, it would have serious effects on interdimensional travel...
-------------------------------------------------------------
"I find this unacceptable."
"The blasted machine will not work. What do I have to do to get that through that thick metal skull of yours?"
"Why can you not hook me up to your computer to scan the code?"
"One, I don't trust you. Two, you might upload a virus. Three, you might copy the code for your own use."
"Two and three fall under the same category as one, do they not?"
I ignored Mecha. "Four, you don't know what you'd be looking for; and five, you have no connectors that are compatible with my computer anyway. You weren't designed to interface with a personal computer, that's all there is to it."
"And yet I must trust _you_ to get me back to Mobius."
"And I have to trust _you_ not to stab me in the back in the process. Besides, I'm sure you'd rather trust me than Sonic."
"I never want to hear you speak that name again."
The quiet rage in his voice made me turn to face the robot. "Why _do_ you hate him so much?"
"Everyone knows I am merely a copy. I want to be the only Ssssonic in existence!"
"I don't know, I think you'd make a better Mecha than you would a Sonic. You can't live your life trying to be someone you're not. That's not how things work."
"What would you know about that?"
"I know, okay? Half my life has been spent trying to fit some mold, whether I made that mold myself or someone else made it for me. No one is meant to fit the mold; that's why everyone was designed to be different."
"You are saying I was never meant to replace Ssssonic?"
"That may have been Robotnik's intention, but it doesn't have to be the end result."
"You are saying that I would do better to just be myself?"
"That's the way I see it. You might find it that much easier to look in the mirror and like what you see."
"You are just saying that."
"Honestly, I'm not. I look at it this way: you were designed by Knuckles, who at the time hated Sonic. This is because Robotnik lied to him. Robotnik's hatred for Sonic rubbed off on you, and you've hated him ever since. Now look at the current state of Mobius. Chaos8 has taken over Robotnik's body. Packbell's long gone, and who knows where the heck Robo Knux disappeared to. If he's smart he'll find a nice big rock to hide under until Chaos8 is defeated. Everything you've existed for is gone. All that's left of Robotnik is the shell of the man that was there. The real Doc is probably drifting through the Interweb, slowly losing his memory bit by bit. If he ever manages to get out of there, he won't be Robotnik, he'll be an amnesiac walking around in what used to be Chaos8's body."
"Can we not rescue Dr. Robotnik?"
"I don't know if you'd be able to find your way out OR if you wouldn't lose your memory too. I'm sure not about to volunteer to have my memory wiped."
"The I must work for Chaos8 when I return to Mobius."
I couldn't believe my ears. "What!?"
"It is all that is left for me. I am an agent of evil. I always have been. Why change now?"
"Because you CAN change. Chaos8 would crush your head the first time you ever failed him."
"A fitting end to my existence."
"What, to be destroyed by the monster who betrayed your master?"
"If it comes to that... yes."
I shook my head. "And I thought you were smart."
THAT got Mecha's attention. "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"
"You'd rather risk geting yourself killed than side with the good guys."
"That has never stopped me before."
"Except once."
"...What?"
I knew I was treading on thin ice after hearing that response, but I plowed ahead. "Aren't you forgetting the Viceroid incident?"
"Commander Packbell challenged me. I had to accept."
"You didn't have to return and save Slasher."
"The raptor has earned my respect. I will never allow a vanquished foe defeat a worthy adversary."
I tightened the last screw on the portal frame and stepped back to take a look. Good ol' America Online; always providing the reflectors I need for the frame... My thoughts turned back to the conversation. "So you'd rather die than help the friends of your rival."
"I am a machine. I do not _die_."
"You cease to exist. Sounds like a good definition for death to me."
"By then I will have fulfilled my reason for existence."
I lost what patience I had left. I threw down the screwdriver I was holding and turned full force on the robot. "And just what is that, huh? Your boss is as good as dead, you're a billion light years away from home, and your only options are to trust me or risk your neck out there in my world. What reason for existence have you got left to fulfill?" I turned to the computer sitting on the desk. "Priorities _change_, Mecha. You have to learn how to change with them. Now leave me alone while I work this code."
The robot glided silently out of the room.
------------------------------------------------------------------*
Jason and Christine were promptly dumped on a patch of grass.
"You okay, Chris?"
"Yeah, you?"
"I'll be better when I know where we are."
"That was a wild ride. I hope I don't have to do it anytime soon."
"Uh oh."
"What? What is it?"
"Not 'what is it'. It's 'where are we'."
A nearby sign read "Welcome to Hill Valley".
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"Do we know anything about where we are?"
"Besides that it's an island?"
"Yes, besides that."
"Well, it's a freakin' WEIRD island, I can tell you that much."
"Thank you, Mr. Noah Webster."
"I'm sorry, Slasher, but that's all I can determine about this place. I thought I knew all there is to know about islands, but this place defies description."
"That it does, Knuckles. I don't want to explore too much; we may get separated and lost."
"Let me guess: that would be a bad thing."
"You read my mind."
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A black armored fist slammed down on the arm of the chair. "I don't care HOW long a cleanup effort will take, I want to find those emeralds as soon as possible! We can clean up the city when I have those emeralds in my possession!"
Snively crept away from the door. He had seen and heard what had gone on in Robotnik's study on that fateful night, and he knew that the odds of seeing his uncle again were slim to none. The short assistant had no love for Chaos8 and was glad that he had been able to remain hidden during the course of the past week. He now smuggled himself out of Robotropolis to alert the Freedom Fighters of what had happened.
When he reached Knothole, the first person to see him was Talon. Recognizing the little man from a picture, he took Snively straight in to see Sally. There he divulged the events of the past week, right up to 8's call for a massive emerald search.
"We have to get to those emeralds first. Are you sure that Sonic and Slasher were both sent to unknown dimensions?"
"Quite sure. I saw it happen myself."
"Wonderful. I'll notify the other groups. Looks like we have a treasure hunt on our hands."
"Winner take all?"
"That would be funny if it weren't so blasted true."
------------------------------------------------------------------
The nearly lifeless body flopped on the sand. Eventually the young man came to and picked himself up. He then wandered aimlessly inland, heading in the general direction of a nearby mansion.
When he reached the front door of the mansion, he knocked with all his strength (which wasn't much to start with). A blond-haired man answered. "Can I help you?"
The young man looked into his eyes and pleaded, "You have to help me. I have no memory!"
The man at the door turned and called inside. "Elaine?"
A female voice called from an interior room. "What is it, Guybrush?"
"There's someone at the door for you."
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Final Egg base was dark. Very dark. The lack of light didn't
perturb the lone robot examining the interior of the base. Robo Knux had lights built into his forearms, and the thrust from his jets provided a glow to the room as well. The archived instructions on RK's hard drive had led him here, and he now headed to the docking clamp for the Egg Carrier; the third ship that had been Robotnik's mobile base until the "Chaos incident", as the doctor had referred to it. Once aboard the Egg Carrier, the robot stepped into the transporter room and used the primary preset destination.
Once there, RK crossed the clearing and took the mine cart into the jungle, then abruptly switched tracks and wound up in a small cavern.
Across the room stood a cylinder filled with liquid... and containing a body. A live body.
RK pushed a button and stood back to watch the process he had just initialized work itself to fruition. "Welcome back, Doc," the robot remarked.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Why do these things always happen to us?" Serena wondered aloud. She and Tails had landed in a strange world that neither could recognize. Everything had a decidedly digital look to it, and the whole city looked futuristic. Neither Mobian had any idea where they were, so they decided to look around, hoping to gather some info as to where they were.
As they headed for the center of town, a figure on a zipboard slowly followed the pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------------*
I was halfway through recoding the Dimensionalizer program when I felt a slight breeze on the back of my neck. I looked behind me to observe a vortex opening up in the portal frame. I did a double take at the computer screen, then back at the vortex. I knew in a split second what was going on. And I knew that it was bad.
Very bad.
"MECHA!" I screamed, partially out of fear. "GET YOUR SHINY METAL BUTT IN HERE _NOW_!!!"
The robot seemed to be glowering at me as he came in. "What is the sudden..." He trailed off when he noticed the unnatural whirlpool in the far wall. "...emergency," he finished, summing up what we were facing.
"Something must be happening to the fabric of the continuum," I conjectured aloud. "Something's caused the energy of transdimensional space to twist out of its normal state, causing this vortex. I wonder if it's affecting any other dimensions..."
----------------------------------------------------------------*
Slasher looked up in the sky at that moment and observed a dark spot in the sky.
"Knux, find some cover, NOW."
"Why, what's up?" the echidna inquired.
"We've got problems."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sonic sat up, spitting the sand out of his mouth. "Ugh, wonderful landing THAT was..." he complained, brushing himself off. He looked up into the night sky and wondered where he was... for all of a fraction of a second. Then he saw the huge whirlpool floating in midair, blocking the view of the stars. The hedgehog stared at the vortex for a moment before offering his opinion to no one in particular.
"This is bad."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The city of Mainframe was experiencing a vortex of their own. Fortunately, everyone was running for cover. Unfortunately, they were running for all the wrong reasons.
The city leaders had gathered inside the principal office to work out a strategy of what to do...
"Phong, if this IS the Web, I'm the best chance we have of stopping it."
"I don't think this is the Web, Bob. If it was, don't you think we'd have creatures swarming all over the place by now?"
"Dot has a good point. We should wait until we know what this is we are dealing with."
As Phong was finishing that last sentence, Matrix walked into the room. "I think I have a good idea," he replied, holding Serena and Tails by the backs of their jackets.
"Put us down, you big bully!" Serena yelled at her captor. Both Mobians squirmed to free themselves, but neither was successful.
Bob looked at Matrix with a skeptical look on his face. "You think these two caused that vortex?"
"It's possible. Look at them; they haven't got any icons, and they don't look like any sprites I've ever seen."
Andraia came in behind him and updated the group on the situation outside. "That vortex is getting larger in size every nanosecond. It won't be long before it envelops the entire system!"
Web Surfer looked over at the rest of the group from his position analyzing the portal. "That there ain't no Web portal, mates. That's something beyond my knowledge base."
Bob looked at the two Mobians. "Do either of you know what's going on?"
Tails spoke up, though slowly and with some doubt evident in his voice. "It might have to do with how we got here, and if what you're saying is true..."
"We're all in big trouble," Serena finished for him.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Elaine came to the door of the mansion, introducing herself as she did so. "What can I do for you?"
The young man at the door merely stood there for a second before saying, "I-I don't know who I am. I just woke up on the beach without any memory..."
Guybrush waved the youth off. "Ah, don't worry about it; the grog will wear off in a few hours."
"Guybrush!" his wife reprimanded. "This man doesn't remember anything about his life. Have a little sympathy, why don't you?"
"Sorry, Elaine."
"Do you even remember your name?" Elaine inquired, turning to the young man.
"I think... I don't know... R-Rob? Th-that's all I can remember..."
"It's a start. There's a guest room upstairs; you can spend the night there."
"Thank you." Rob made his way to the bedroom and was out before his head hit the pillow.
Elaine turned her gaze on Guybrush. "Guybrush, I need you to help Rob out while he's staying with us. Tomorrow, I need you to teach him some skills. Swordfighting, ship sailing, anything you can think of. But NO INSULTS."
"Aw, but that takes all the fun out of it..."
"Guybrush, the poor boy has amnesia! You want to add a lost limb to the list?"
"Hey, nice alliteration."
"Guybrush!"
"Right. Teach Rob. Got it."
As the couple closed the door and went back inside, the swirling vortex in the sky went unnoticed.
------------------------------------------------------------*
Mecha and I stared at the vortex for a moment. Without saying a word, we both jumped in.
I immediately began flailing about, looking for some way to stop this sick joke of a dimensional tunnel. From what little I saw of Mecha, I could tell he was having no problems maintaining his equilibrium. I shut my eyes to counter the dizziness and focused on what I had to do. I had to find an opening and get myself out of this demented gyroscope!
Suddenly I was flung out of the maelstrom and was freefalling over a digital city. Using the Gravity Stone I righted myself and landed slowly on my feet. The Mainframe street felt good after that wild ride through the dimensional storm. Mecha floated down to meet me.
"I'm surprised you decided to join me. Didn't think you cared."
"You are my only hope of returning to Mobius. I must protect my ticket home."
Suddenly the two of us were surrounded by police vehicles and ordered to raise our hands. Mecha folded his arms in defiance.
"Mecha," I muttered to him, raising my hands above my head, "do what they say."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't, you'll never get home." The robot reluctantly raised his hands.
"I hope you know what you are doing..."
"Relax," I replied, "I've got connections."
An officer binome approached the two of us. "Where did you two come from?"
"We came from outside the Net. I need to talk to Bob. Immediately," I replied urgently.
"Outside the Net?" the officer repeated, raising his single eyebrow in skepticism. "How is that possible?"
"I realize it may sound strange, but that up there," I told him, pointing upward at the ever-growing vortex, "is an interdimensional storm. If I don't get help soon all of Mainframe will be destroyed."
The officers all looked at each other in shock as another voice signaled the presence of a newcomer. "He's right." I looked up and saw two figures on zipboards approaching from the direction of the principal office. One looked as if he'd had a hard life, with a cybernetic eye, five o'clock shadow, and a general biker look. The other reminded me of Andraia, though neither one of them looked familiar to me.
The biker dude looked me over. "Who are you?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Name's Matrix. Haven't seen you around here before. Though you do look familiar..."
The name hit like a lightning bolt. Was this guy Enzo...?
"Maybe this will refresh your memory," I replied, holding up an icon I'd generated on the spot. The Emerald on the icon was green, as I'd used in previous visits to Mainframe in the Virtualizer.
"Looks familiar..." Matrix's partner interjected. "Ah, now I remember! Matrix, don't you remember Ryan?"
"Andraia?" I guessed, and the sprite nodded in reply. "Last time I saw you was before the big war," she continued. "A lot has changed around here..."
"Including some of us," Matrix finished. "Wait till you see Hexadecimal; she'll get a kick out of seeing you."
"Oh joy," I replied. "Any chance of seing Bob now? We've got to hurry..."
"Sure, no problem... But, uh, who's the other guy?"
"His name's Mecha. I expect him to be treated the same as you'd treat me."
I glanced over at the robot, who seemed thoroughly surprised that I hadn't requested him to be thrown in jail, or worse.
"I think we can arrange that. Need zipboards?"
"Nah, I've got some new tricks, and he can fly anyway. Let's get moving; we haven't got much time..."
----------------------------------------------------------*
"Great Scott!"
Christine and Jason stood at the front door of one Dr. Emmett Brown, who at that moment had been just about to sit down to lunch with his family. The pair had been directed to the inventor by Marty McFly, whom they'd run into in a local cafe. Marty now stood behind the two as they explained their predicament to the temporal scientist.
"I agree, Doc, this is heavy. What do we do now?"
"This... this is unbelievable... That the time-space continuum could fall apart from such careless application... It's unthinkable!"
"I sincerely hope you're not accusing our friend, Dr. Brown," Christine admonished. "He's been extremely careful with the Dimensionalizer. It's our enemies that have misused it."
"Nononononono, I'm not accusing anyone! I'm just flabbergasted at how fragile the continuum really is! I knew that changing history was dangerous, but I never heard of a trans-dimensional storm before!" The white-haired inventor paced back and forth in the entryway as he spoke. "Do you know of any way to dissipate the energy?"
"Hard to say, really," Jason replied. "When we built the crazy thing we didn't even realize that such a thing was possible."
"That's preposterous! How can you create a device and not take into account all possible disasters that could occur?"
"Uh, Doc?" Marty broke in. "DeLorean?"
"Yes, yes, of course, I know all about that. So the two of you are here by accident?"
"Essentially, yes."
"And that vortex could tear the whole continuum apart."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Great Scott!"
----------------------------------------------------------
"Nice library."
"Well, I figured we might as well wait here as anywhere. Too bad most of these books are burned... Well this is interesting..."
"What's that?" Slasher inquired.
"Most of these books are pretty descriptive. This book talks about some barren wasteland with microphones in strategic places..."
"How about this one: four islands, a central one which links to three others by rotation. Whoever wrote these was a pretty wild author."
"I wonder if this place has anything to do with the worlds described in these books..."
"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"
"Well, you never know... Stranger things have happened."
----------------------------------------------------------
Sonic wandered around the local town, surprised that no one gave him a second thought. It seemed that the locals were used to seeing strange, out-of-the-ordinary sights around here. The blue hedgehog stopped to watch a pair of buccaneers practice their swordplay in the streets of Melee Town.
Neither one of the pirates noticed the hedgehog at first, as they both were too busy with their battle. Both of them were into it viciously; swiping, dodging, and clashing.
"Nobody's ever drawn blood from me and nobody ever will!" Guybrush spat out.
"You run THAT fast?" Rob shot back. Guybrush backstepped and Rob slashed through the air where Guybrush had just been.
"You fight like a dairy farmer!" Rob yelled, cutting the air between them.
"How appropriate. You fight like a cow," Guybrush replied calmly. Rob fell back a few steps.
"My tongue is sharper than any sword!" Guybrush jabbed.
"Uhhh... Hey, you never taught me that one!" Rob complained. Guybrush swiped Rob's blade out of his hand. The blade embedded itself in the ground six inches from Sonic's feet. "HEY!" Sonic objected. "Watch it!"
"Sorry," the two swashbucklers replied without looking. "You're getting pretty good," Guybrush told the younger swordsman.
"Yeah, but you haven't told me everything. You never did teach me that last insult you pulled on me." Rob walked over to the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it free.
"I just remembered that one from when I last fought Carla. You ought to try going against her sometime. You already know all the right comebacks; you just have to know which comebacks to use with her insults." Guybrush turned to Sonic. "Sorry about that. You okay?"
The pirate's polite manner threw the hedgehog for a loop. All pirates he had ever heard of were total jerks, caring only for treasure and glory. What dimension had he landed in? "I'm fine," Sonic offered. "You guys are pretty good, but I didn't realize that such good friends could insult each other like that."
Rob laughed. "Oh, that? We don't take it seriously, it's just a sport with us. By the way, what's your name?"
"Name's Sonic. Sonic Hedgehog."
Rob's eyes disfocused for a moment as he zoned out. He saw a huge, futuristic city, dark with shadows and smog. He saw a large man sitting in a throne as a dictator, overlooking the world he claimed to own...
A slap on the back brought Rob back to the present. "I'm Guybrush Threepwood, and this is Rob." Rob waved a greeting.
"Listen, I don't know if you guys are going to believe me, but there's a couple of things I need to tell you. I'm not from around here, and I don't think there's much time before we're all in trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"See that dark spot in the sky? It won't be long before it destroys this whole dimension."
-----------------------------------------------------------*
"Dimension? I thought that Mainframe was a system within the Net."
"It is," I replied, "but apparently the Net is a physical dimension in itself. I know it seems strange that I got here the first time through a virtual gate and now by a dimensional portal, but that's not important. What IS important is that Mainframe, and any other dimension affected by this storm, will be dust in a matter of hours if we don't DO something." I looked the guardian sprite straight in the eye and said, "That means your home, my home, and the homes of millions, maybe billions of others, will cease to exist, AS WILL WE."
Bob returned the gaze. "What can we do? How do you neutralize something like this?"
"If I may offer an analysis," came a voice from across the room. Every head turned to regard Mecha. A few sprites shied away from him because of his lack of an icon, but aside from that he had been treated fairly well during his time here. "It has come to my attention that we are dealing with rotational energy."
"One word, Mecha: duh. It's a vortex. That's what vortices do. They rotate. What's your point?"
"I will answer that by asking you a question. I have been studying your recreational computer equipment--" (I breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't say "game") "and have noticed an application of science in one of your software programs. How do you neutralize cyclonic energy in this 'Chrono Trigger' program?"
A flash of inspiration. "You use a Slash attack. A linear force disrupts the rotational nature of the vortex. Mecha, you're a genius!"
"What are you two talking about?" Matrix cut in.
I looked around the room. "We are going to neutralize that dimensional vortex, but we need some help."
-----------------------------------------------------------*
"How goes the emerald search, Princess?"
"We've got four of the emeralds, Snively, but unfortunately the rest of them are somewhere on the southern continent. We'll have to send some search teams down there."
"Might I suggest staying away from the old Final Egg base? It's highly dangerous, and I'm not sure whether any of Dr. Robotnik's experiments are still functioning down there or not."
"I'll keep that in mind."
As the former assistant left, Sally turned to the window in frustration. The vortex was blocking half the view of the moon now, and it wouldn't be long before the entire dimension was torn asunder.
"Sonic, where ARE you?" she whispered to the air.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chaos8 paced as he tried to hide his nervousness. He knew he had caused that dimensional storm, and he also knew that if the time-space continuum were torn apart, there would be no way even he could survive.
For the first time in his life, Chaos8 wondered if he had done the best thing.
------------------------------------------------------------
"All systems are operational, Doc. You're back in business."
A silhouette appeared in the doorway. But this wasn't Robotnik. This person was trimmer, leaner, and stronger. This person was perfect... perfectly synthetic.
Robotnick, a clone, turned to RK and replied, "Excellent work, Robo Knux. It's time to take back Mobius.
"Chaos8 may think he's evil, but he's just met his match."
To Be Continued...