The Reality Project-- Part 3
by Ryan Carroll
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is not good."
The thirteen of us-- seven humans and six Mobians-- were gathered
around the gateway control panel.
"What is it?" asked Sally.
"According to the log, someone came through the gateway less than
two hours ago."
"Maybe it was one of the Freedom Fighters looking for us," Serena
rationalized.
"Somehow I doubt it. The security camera took this picture." I
pointed at the screen.
The shot was of a blue and silver robot vaguely resembling Sonic.
"This is NOT good. It's Mecha. He's found the gateway somehow.
Robotnik probably knows about it by now!"
"So now what do we do?" asked Wes.
"First, we prepare. Then, we go after him."
"Aaaaaaannnnnnd... how do we prepare?"
I shot a grin at everyone. "We see what these emeralds can do."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Mecha was scouring the streets for any sign of the
emeralds or the Freedom Fighters. No such luck. In the more
heavily populated areas he engaged his cloaking device, but he
preferred to stick to the back alleys where his cloak wouldn't
drain his energy.
As he was passing down Main Street (cloaked, of course), he passed
a TV/radio store. He stopped to look at the inferior
communication devices. The local news was being broadcast onto
every TV screen in the store, including the ones in the display
window.
"Still no trace of the blue emerald which disappeared from the
city museum this morning..." The newscaster recapped the story
of where the jewel was found as the screen showed a picture of it.
Mecha's visual sensors widened as he recognized one of the chaos
emeralds. He took off at top speed for the warehouse district.
------------------------------------------------------------------
We'd all been a little cautious about our rings since we knew the
chaos emeralds were slightly... volatile.
Now we stood in a circle, ready to activate the emeralds.
"Let's do it!!!" We thrust our right hands into the center of
the circle, rings pointing in.
What happened next is hard to describe. It's as if a blinding
column of light shot up from the ground through the place where
our rings met. The column expanded outward, enveloping us, and
then it faded.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mecha had just entered the warehouse district when he saw the bright
flash of light come from one of the buildings. His logic
circuits told him to investigate. He did.
------------------------------------------------------------------
When my eyesight returned, we were all wearing really cool-looking,
really high-tech-looking armor. The armor each person was wearing
corresponded to the color of their ring. Mine, for example, was
dark green.
We had become Team Chaos.
"Awesome!"
"Cool!"
"Way _past_ cool!!!"
"Hey! That's _my_ line!" Sonic objected.
A menu appeared on the visor of my helmet. It included
selections such as fight, mech, flight, and other options. I
thought about the the fight option, which opened a new menu.
Hmm. Thought controlled. Cool.
Air conditioning built into the suit switched on. Hmm. Guess
I'd better be careful what I think when I'm using this suit.
Then the "lightsaber" option caught my eye.
A section of armor popped open, revealing a silver-colored
cylinder. I pulled it out and switched it on. The blade
matched the color of my armor. I looked around and saw the
others experimenting with different weapons, scaled down Mech
chassis, and flight/hover jets. This was going to be fun.
Slasher interrupted. "The gateway's working!" We looked, and
sure enough, the portal was open... and it wasn't blowing a 200
mph wind, either. With the emeralds together and activated, the
strange magnetic field around the building was neutralized.
Slasher called the other Mobians. "Come on, let's go!"
A voice drifted down from the ceiling. "You're not going
anywhere."
Mecha dropped from the rafters where he'd been hiding for
several minutes. "So, Son--... Son--... rival, we meet again.
Too bad you can't use your emerald belt to get out of this jam;
not while your friends are using the chaos emeralds."
It looked like a stalemate.
"Hey, chips-for-brains! Look behiiiiiiiiiind yooooooouuuuuuuu!!!"
Metal Sonic turned around... to find he was staring at lightsaber
blades and down blaster barrels.
Every villain applies the old saying "Discretion is the better
part of valor" to a situation such as this even when valor is as
far removed from them as benevolence. (Translation: Even bad
guys know that it's best to beat a hasty retreat when you're
outnumbered.) Mecha applied this principle now. He turned and
dashed through the gateway...
...and out the other side. Serena had switched the portal
closed while Mecha's back was turned.
Wes fired a static pulse blaster at the fleeing robot, frying his
circuits and stopping him cold.
I walked up to the pile of collapsed metal. I pointed at it and
addressed the crowd. "This is your brain..." In one fluid
movement I pulled out my lightsaber and slashed through the body
several times. I pointed again. "This is your brain on drugs."
I sliced through once more for emphasis. "Any questions?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I watched as the group of Mobians left for Knothole through the
portal. I stopped Slasher, who was last to go.
"Do me a couple of favors."
"Absolutely."
I handed her a book and an envelope. "Give the book to Knux, and
deliver the envelope to Robotnik."
"And?"
"And take this. It's a remote signaling device. These lights
tell you if you can come, if you can't come, and if you have to
because it's an emergency. The buttons over here will send the
corresponding signal back to us."
"I'll take good care of this. And thank you for everything."
"No problem. Catch you on the flipside!!!"
"Only if it's a good song!" she replied, and leaped through the
portal.
The vortex closed, and we stood there for a moment. I
deactivated my armor and turned to the others.
"Let's go eat. I'm starving!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotnik found an envelope on his desk the following morning. He
opened it... and found a picture of a sliced up robot. It was
Mecha. The back of the photo read, "Courtesy of Team Chaos.
Have a nice day!!!"
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Slasher handed Knuckles a package.
"What's this?"
"A little gift from Ryan. Go ahead and open it up!"
The cover of the book read Holy Bible. Knux opened it up. The
dedication page read, "To Knuckles the Echidna, in honor of your
acceptance of Christ. Welcome to the family of God!"
***End Episode I***
Episode II: Initial Reality-- Coming Soon
by Ryan Carroll
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is not good."
The thirteen of us-- seven humans and six Mobians-- were gathered
around the gateway control panel.
"What is it?" asked Sally.
"According to the log, someone came through the gateway less than
two hours ago."
"Maybe it was one of the Freedom Fighters looking for us," Serena
rationalized.
"Somehow I doubt it. The security camera took this picture." I
pointed at the screen.
The shot was of a blue and silver robot vaguely resembling Sonic.
"This is NOT good. It's Mecha. He's found the gateway somehow.
Robotnik probably knows about it by now!"
"So now what do we do?" asked Wes.
"First, we prepare. Then, we go after him."
"Aaaaaaannnnnnd... how do we prepare?"
I shot a grin at everyone. "We see what these emeralds can do."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Mecha was scouring the streets for any sign of the
emeralds or the Freedom Fighters. No such luck. In the more
heavily populated areas he engaged his cloaking device, but he
preferred to stick to the back alleys where his cloak wouldn't
drain his energy.
As he was passing down Main Street (cloaked, of course), he passed
a TV/radio store. He stopped to look at the inferior
communication devices. The local news was being broadcast onto
every TV screen in the store, including the ones in the display
window.
"Still no trace of the blue emerald which disappeared from the
city museum this morning..." The newscaster recapped the story
of where the jewel was found as the screen showed a picture of it.
Mecha's visual sensors widened as he recognized one of the chaos
emeralds. He took off at top speed for the warehouse district.
------------------------------------------------------------------
We'd all been a little cautious about our rings since we knew the
chaos emeralds were slightly... volatile.
Now we stood in a circle, ready to activate the emeralds.
"Let's do it!!!" We thrust our right hands into the center of
the circle, rings pointing in.
What happened next is hard to describe. It's as if a blinding
column of light shot up from the ground through the place where
our rings met. The column expanded outward, enveloping us, and
then it faded.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mecha had just entered the warehouse district when he saw the bright
flash of light come from one of the buildings. His logic
circuits told him to investigate. He did.
------------------------------------------------------------------
When my eyesight returned, we were all wearing really cool-looking,
really high-tech-looking armor. The armor each person was wearing
corresponded to the color of their ring. Mine, for example, was
dark green.
We had become Team Chaos.
"Awesome!"
"Cool!"
"Way _past_ cool!!!"
"Hey! That's _my_ line!" Sonic objected.
A menu appeared on the visor of my helmet. It included
selections such as fight, mech, flight, and other options. I
thought about the the fight option, which opened a new menu.
Hmm. Thought controlled. Cool.
Air conditioning built into the suit switched on. Hmm. Guess
I'd better be careful what I think when I'm using this suit.
Then the "lightsaber" option caught my eye.
A section of armor popped open, revealing a silver-colored
cylinder. I pulled it out and switched it on. The blade
matched the color of my armor. I looked around and saw the
others experimenting with different weapons, scaled down Mech
chassis, and flight/hover jets. This was going to be fun.
Slasher interrupted. "The gateway's working!" We looked, and
sure enough, the portal was open... and it wasn't blowing a 200
mph wind, either. With the emeralds together and activated, the
strange magnetic field around the building was neutralized.
Slasher called the other Mobians. "Come on, let's go!"
A voice drifted down from the ceiling. "You're not going
anywhere."
Mecha dropped from the rafters where he'd been hiding for
several minutes. "So, Son--... Son--... rival, we meet again.
Too bad you can't use your emerald belt to get out of this jam;
not while your friends are using the chaos emeralds."
It looked like a stalemate.
"Hey, chips-for-brains! Look behiiiiiiiiiind yooooooouuuuuuuu!!!"
Metal Sonic turned around... to find he was staring at lightsaber
blades and down blaster barrels.
Every villain applies the old saying "Discretion is the better
part of valor" to a situation such as this even when valor is as
far removed from them as benevolence. (Translation: Even bad
guys know that it's best to beat a hasty retreat when you're
outnumbered.) Mecha applied this principle now. He turned and
dashed through the gateway...
...and out the other side. Serena had switched the portal
closed while Mecha's back was turned.
Wes fired a static pulse blaster at the fleeing robot, frying his
circuits and stopping him cold.
I walked up to the pile of collapsed metal. I pointed at it and
addressed the crowd. "This is your brain..." In one fluid
movement I pulled out my lightsaber and slashed through the body
several times. I pointed again. "This is your brain on drugs."
I sliced through once more for emphasis. "Any questions?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I watched as the group of Mobians left for Knothole through the
portal. I stopped Slasher, who was last to go.
"Do me a couple of favors."
"Absolutely."
I handed her a book and an envelope. "Give the book to Knux, and
deliver the envelope to Robotnik."
"And?"
"And take this. It's a remote signaling device. These lights
tell you if you can come, if you can't come, and if you have to
because it's an emergency. The buttons over here will send the
corresponding signal back to us."
"I'll take good care of this. And thank you for everything."
"No problem. Catch you on the flipside!!!"
"Only if it's a good song!" she replied, and leaped through the
portal.
The vortex closed, and we stood there for a moment. I
deactivated my armor and turned to the others.
"Let's go eat. I'm starving!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotnik found an envelope on his desk the following morning. He
opened it... and found a picture of a sliced up robot. It was
Mecha. The back of the photo read, "Courtesy of Team Chaos.
Have a nice day!!!"
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Slasher handed Knuckles a package.
"What's this?"
"A little gift from Ryan. Go ahead and open it up!"
The cover of the book read Holy Bible. Knux opened it up. The
dedication page read, "To Knuckles the Echidna, in honor of your
acceptance of Christ. Welcome to the family of God!"
***End Episode I***
Episode II: Initial Reality-- Coming Soon