The Team Chaos Chronicles-- Episode III
Worlds Apart-- Part 2
I came out of the tunnel at a run. Wes was waiting for me. "Where ya
been, man?"
I ignored his question; there wasn't time. "What's the antidote for
Lithium Trioxide?"
"Lithium Trioxide? Isn't that poisonous?"
"Just answer the question! Slasher's been injected with some!"
"No way."
"The antidote?"
"Oh yeah... It's Barium Tetrafluoride."
"Barium Tetrafluoride?"
"Found on earth only in synthesized form. In natural form..."
"Found everywhere on Mobius."
"Exactly."
"Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to get some Barium Tetrafluoride."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Knothole we found Sonic and Tails fishing at the nearby lake.
Sonic looked up at me expectantly. "Where's Slasher?"
"We need some Barium Tetrafluoride."
His eyes widened. "No."
"'Fraid so."
"How much Lithium Trioxide?"
"5000 cc's."
"Oh, man."
"What?"
"The only place you can get Barium Tetrafluoride in the concentration
you need is on the Floating Island."
"So?"
"Knux made all the Freedom Fighters _persona non grata_."
"But not us." I turned. "Come on, Wes."
"Where are you going?" Sonic called after us.
"We're going to the Floating Island," I replied over my shoulder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Knuckles climbed to the top of the tallest mountain on the Floating
Island for his daily surveying. He'd given the rest of the Chaotix,
including the newest member, Tal, a couple weeks vacation (they
jokingly called it "shore leave") to visit the mainland. Now he was
here, alone. Alone to think about how he'd wrongly mistreated Sonic
and the other Freedom Fighters... If there were only some way he
could make it up to them...
A flash of light caught his eye. At first he thought it was just the
sun reflecting off the water below, but as he looked closer he saw it
was higher over the horizon. He reached down for his binoculars,
which he kept in a niche in the rock at the top of the mountain. As
the distant objects came into view, he immediately recognized the
profile-- Pyro GX models. he only knew of seven people who used those.
But why didn't they use the teleporter? Stupid question, he reminded
himself; he'd securely hidden the teleporter when he'd returned from
Knothole after kicking Sonic off the island. Man, he felt terrible
about that...
The two jets streaked in, hovered over the mountaintop, and suddenly
seemed to collapse as the two jets reverted to normal armor mode.
Green and red.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes and I deactivated our armor. Despite what we'd expected, Knux
seemed almost glad to see us. Before he could say anything, though, I
stopped him. "We need some Barium Tetrafluoride, ASAP!"
"Barium Tetrafluoride? Why?"
"Because it's the only known antidote to Lithium Trioxide, which Slasher
has 5000 cc's of going through her system as we speak. So if you don't
mind... WE NEED IT NOW!!!" This last was not screamed out of anger, but
out of desperation. A life was on the line, and this was almost as
bad as dealing with red tape.
It didn't take long for Knux to realize that this was an emergency.
"I keep some in the first aid building down by the Pool. I'll glide
down and get it--"
I cut him off as I reactivated my armor. "There's no time. Hop on."
I selected "rocket glider" mode and blasted off the peak just as K-T-E
grabbed hold. Following his directions, I swooped low over the treetops
and reached the first aid station in record time. Wes landed as Knux
came out with a capped needle. The label read: WARNING! Contains BaF(4)
Concentrate!
"How much is there?"
"About 3000 cc's with the kick of twice as much."
"Won't there be an imbalance?"
"Nah, once the Lithium Trioxide's safely inert it all gets filtered
out of the body in 12 hours. By the way, we're not flying all the way
back to the mainland to reach the portal, are we?"
"Nope," I replied, as I activated a control on my wrist. Suddenly a
portal gate appeared in front of us, and we went through it.
When we got to Jurassic Park, there were about 20 people surrounding
the spot where I had hidden Slasher.
"Great; now what?" I groaned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slasher, by this time, was barely breathing, but still aware of what
was going on around her. She had been conscious when Ryan had hidden
here here, but unable to speak. Now her vision was dim, but her hearing
strangely acute. Must be the poison...
She heard the voices around her now.
"Doesn't look like one of the ones we engineered here..."
"Must have mutated bird DNA or something..."
If only you knew, thought Slasher.
"What did you shoot it with?"
"I shot it with the Lithium Trioxide... It looked like it was trying to
escape."
"You idiot! We could have taken it back to the lab to examine it!"
Slasher wished these people would stop referring to her as if she were
a _thing_.
"Excuse me..."
That voice sounded familiar...
"Who the heck are you?"
"I'm an expert on this species of dinosaur. Now if you'll excuse me--"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Just a minute, pal," the brute said as he pushed Wes away. "I just
have two questions: where are your credentials... and how did you get
here, anyway?"
Wes looked at me. I nodded. Now was the time.
Wes and I both rolled out of the way in opposite directions as Knux
came gliding from behind and knocked out the three men that had
turned to look at us. In the time that happened, Wes and I had
activated our energy gloves (powered by the rings) and started laying
punches that would have broken our hands if we hadn't been using the
rings. Knux started in, and before long the fist fight was over:
Team Chaos, 20; JP goons, zilch.
Knux pulled out the needle as I found Slasher's carotid vein; that
way the blood carrying the serum would go straight to the heart and
disperse from there. I let Knux take care of administering the
medicine; I hated needles myself.
When he finished, I asked, "How long does this stuff take before we
see any sign that she's improving?"
Slasher looked up and stared at me for a minute. "So you're an
expert on my species, huh?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When Slasher was strong enough to walk, we headed back to Knothole.
Knux told us that he planned to make a formal apology to the Freedom
Fighters. When we got near the village, Tails came running out.
"Are you OK, Slasher?"
Soon everyone was out, asking about Slasher, asking us how we rescued
her, asking why we went there in first place...
Then all became silent when they saw Knuckles standing in the
background.
When he saw that everyone was staring at him, he cleared his throat
and announced, "I have an apology to make." He then related what had
happened a month earlier, beginning with Sonic's departure from his
week-long vacation.
"Man, no wonder you were ticked off at me!" Sonic said when Knux was
finished.
"Well, I just want you to know that you guys are welcome on the island
again anytime you want."
Sonic looked straight at him. "Thanks, man."
"Don't mention it."
"Now," I cut in, "what's this technology that you risked your life
for, Slash?"
"This," she replied as she pulled a little black box out of her pouch.
"It's a portable static pulse generator-- the most powerful one I've
ever seen. This could disable a whole squad of Swats with one shot."
"Oh, no," I groaned.
"What is it?"
"Why didn't you tell me? I could've given you a copy of the one I've
got in my armor!"
"You're kidding."
"I wish I were." My voice echoed strangely...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I awoke to find myself in my bed.
End Episode III
Worlds Apart-- Part 2
I came out of the tunnel at a run. Wes was waiting for me. "Where ya
been, man?"
I ignored his question; there wasn't time. "What's the antidote for
Lithium Trioxide?"
"Lithium Trioxide? Isn't that poisonous?"
"Just answer the question! Slasher's been injected with some!"
"No way."
"The antidote?"
"Oh yeah... It's Barium Tetrafluoride."
"Barium Tetrafluoride?"
"Found on earth only in synthesized form. In natural form..."
"Found everywhere on Mobius."
"Exactly."
"Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to get some Barium Tetrafluoride."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Knothole we found Sonic and Tails fishing at the nearby lake.
Sonic looked up at me expectantly. "Where's Slasher?"
"We need some Barium Tetrafluoride."
His eyes widened. "No."
"'Fraid so."
"How much Lithium Trioxide?"
"5000 cc's."
"Oh, man."
"What?"
"The only place you can get Barium Tetrafluoride in the concentration
you need is on the Floating Island."
"So?"
"Knux made all the Freedom Fighters _persona non grata_."
"But not us." I turned. "Come on, Wes."
"Where are you going?" Sonic called after us.
"We're going to the Floating Island," I replied over my shoulder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Knuckles climbed to the top of the tallest mountain on the Floating
Island for his daily surveying. He'd given the rest of the Chaotix,
including the newest member, Tal, a couple weeks vacation (they
jokingly called it "shore leave") to visit the mainland. Now he was
here, alone. Alone to think about how he'd wrongly mistreated Sonic
and the other Freedom Fighters... If there were only some way he
could make it up to them...
A flash of light caught his eye. At first he thought it was just the
sun reflecting off the water below, but as he looked closer he saw it
was higher over the horizon. He reached down for his binoculars,
which he kept in a niche in the rock at the top of the mountain. As
the distant objects came into view, he immediately recognized the
profile-- Pyro GX models. he only knew of seven people who used those.
But why didn't they use the teleporter? Stupid question, he reminded
himself; he'd securely hidden the teleporter when he'd returned from
Knothole after kicking Sonic off the island. Man, he felt terrible
about that...
The two jets streaked in, hovered over the mountaintop, and suddenly
seemed to collapse as the two jets reverted to normal armor mode.
Green and red.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes and I deactivated our armor. Despite what we'd expected, Knux
seemed almost glad to see us. Before he could say anything, though, I
stopped him. "We need some Barium Tetrafluoride, ASAP!"
"Barium Tetrafluoride? Why?"
"Because it's the only known antidote to Lithium Trioxide, which Slasher
has 5000 cc's of going through her system as we speak. So if you don't
mind... WE NEED IT NOW!!!" This last was not screamed out of anger, but
out of desperation. A life was on the line, and this was almost as
bad as dealing with red tape.
It didn't take long for Knux to realize that this was an emergency.
"I keep some in the first aid building down by the Pool. I'll glide
down and get it--"
I cut him off as I reactivated my armor. "There's no time. Hop on."
I selected "rocket glider" mode and blasted off the peak just as K-T-E
grabbed hold. Following his directions, I swooped low over the treetops
and reached the first aid station in record time. Wes landed as Knux
came out with a capped needle. The label read: WARNING! Contains BaF(4)
Concentrate!
"How much is there?"
"About 3000 cc's with the kick of twice as much."
"Won't there be an imbalance?"
"Nah, once the Lithium Trioxide's safely inert it all gets filtered
out of the body in 12 hours. By the way, we're not flying all the way
back to the mainland to reach the portal, are we?"
"Nope," I replied, as I activated a control on my wrist. Suddenly a
portal gate appeared in front of us, and we went through it.
When we got to Jurassic Park, there were about 20 people surrounding
the spot where I had hidden Slasher.
"Great; now what?" I groaned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slasher, by this time, was barely breathing, but still aware of what
was going on around her. She had been conscious when Ryan had hidden
here here, but unable to speak. Now her vision was dim, but her hearing
strangely acute. Must be the poison...
She heard the voices around her now.
"Doesn't look like one of the ones we engineered here..."
"Must have mutated bird DNA or something..."
If only you knew, thought Slasher.
"What did you shoot it with?"
"I shot it with the Lithium Trioxide... It looked like it was trying to
escape."
"You idiot! We could have taken it back to the lab to examine it!"
Slasher wished these people would stop referring to her as if she were
a _thing_.
"Excuse me..."
That voice sounded familiar...
"Who the heck are you?"
"I'm an expert on this species of dinosaur. Now if you'll excuse me--"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Just a minute, pal," the brute said as he pushed Wes away. "I just
have two questions: where are your credentials... and how did you get
here, anyway?"
Wes looked at me. I nodded. Now was the time.
Wes and I both rolled out of the way in opposite directions as Knux
came gliding from behind and knocked out the three men that had
turned to look at us. In the time that happened, Wes and I had
activated our energy gloves (powered by the rings) and started laying
punches that would have broken our hands if we hadn't been using the
rings. Knux started in, and before long the fist fight was over:
Team Chaos, 20; JP goons, zilch.
Knux pulled out the needle as I found Slasher's carotid vein; that
way the blood carrying the serum would go straight to the heart and
disperse from there. I let Knux take care of administering the
medicine; I hated needles myself.
When he finished, I asked, "How long does this stuff take before we
see any sign that she's improving?"
Slasher looked up and stared at me for a minute. "So you're an
expert on my species, huh?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When Slasher was strong enough to walk, we headed back to Knothole.
Knux told us that he planned to make a formal apology to the Freedom
Fighters. When we got near the village, Tails came running out.
"Are you OK, Slasher?"
Soon everyone was out, asking about Slasher, asking us how we rescued
her, asking why we went there in first place...
Then all became silent when they saw Knuckles standing in the
background.
When he saw that everyone was staring at him, he cleared his throat
and announced, "I have an apology to make." He then related what had
happened a month earlier, beginning with Sonic's departure from his
week-long vacation.
"Man, no wonder you were ticked off at me!" Sonic said when Knux was
finished.
"Well, I just want you to know that you guys are welcome on the island
again anytime you want."
Sonic looked straight at him. "Thanks, man."
"Don't mention it."
"Now," I cut in, "what's this technology that you risked your life
for, Slash?"
"This," she replied as she pulled a little black box out of her pouch.
"It's a portable static pulse generator-- the most powerful one I've
ever seen. This could disable a whole squad of Swats with one shot."
"Oh, no," I groaned.
"What is it?"
"Why didn't you tell me? I could've given you a copy of the one I've
got in my armor!"
"You're kidding."
"I wish I were." My voice echoed strangely...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I awoke to find myself in my bed.
End Episode III