Chapter 14: the evil kitty
"Where is she? The darkness comes from here."
They were deep within Robotnik's city. Lazer and Sonic looked at the aircraft hangar. Both of them felt the all-to familiar darkness that came from the Black Emerald.
"Hannah! Come out and play! We won't hurt you too badly!"
"Company," came the one word warning from Lazer.
They were under siege by a large gathering of hoverbots and combots. Exchanging glances for a split second, they leaped into action. The robots' artillery hit air, not because Sonic was faster than sound or Lazer had formed an indestructible shield, but because the robots were simply destroyed before they had a chance to even aim. Two rainbows shot down from the wreckage, and the warriors reformed.
"Man, I wish I never lose these powers!"
"More company," Lazer said. He was staring at something that had emerged from the hangar, and was suspended in mid-air. It was Hannah, but there was something else about her that was so vile he could not express it in words.
"Pure. evil. I can't sense a trace of light within that thing."
"What? Hannah?"
"Sonic, that may look like Hannah, but I know it is not. Even Robotnik had shades of gray within his mind, but the mind of this. thing, it's dark. So very black, I can't even sense a conscience."
Sonic said nothing. When Lazer got all moody and mysterious like that, it was not much use to talk. He looked at Hannah closely. She was wearing the two-piece, gray suit that she had worn during the first encounter, but there was something about her face. The confident grin was gone, replaced by a grimace of unadulterated hatred and contempt. Her eyes glittered not green, but black. That was the difference. Her eyes were black diamonds that glared down at him in a very disturbing manner.
"You. The Brothers of the Rainbow."
It was her voice, but also changed. It was not charming or even derisive, but expressionless. If she were not fiercely glaring in their direction, they would have thought her bored.
"You have come to defeat me once again, have you? You are both weak in comparison to the Brothers that defeated me thousands of years past."
"Defeated you? You're not that old!"
"You are also ignorant, Sonic. This body, this shell, contains my thoughts and a portion of my magic. I am the One who is imprisoned within the Black Emerald."
"So it's you," whispered Lazer, and then his voice grew louder, "You, the one who was trapped inside of the emerald. You're using her body!"
"You are correct, bearer of Chaos Emeralds. I will not be imprisoned for another five millennia. I will break free of that jewel prison and reclaim Mobius."
Hannah, who was not Hannah, descended to the ground and the air became dark around her.
"She's using the same shield," Lazer warned, and assumed a fighting position. He wished that he had his sword, so he could use the flat edge to knock her out. Sonic frowned and stretched his right arm forward.
"Good riddance," he said, and fired off a single beam. The rainbow struck the invisible surface, and moments later there came a burst of white energy! The Brothers shielded their eyes from the flash of light and then looked again. She had not moved, but the air was normal again, if the damp, misty air that covered Robotropolis was normal.
"Very well. I will make you suffer."
"Do not think so!" Sonic shouted, and released another rainbow strike. Several emotions ran through Lazer, a mixture of expectation, doubt and fear. He did not want Hannah to be killed, because she was not in control, but the entity of evil was. He saw the rainbow hit her feline form, and heard a cry escape her lips.
"Bulls eye," Sonic said grimly. Hannah faltered, unsteady with her step, but her body was not injured.
"That burned. Like the first time!"
She was angry now. Before either had time to react, she flung her arms outward and they were both thrown violently backward by the spell. They crashed painfully into a metallic wall, and slid to the ground. She was flying speedily toward them, while casting another spell. It was not the conventional attack spell, but something even more destructive. She first targeted Sonic.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest creature on Mobius. Was your speed enough to save your parents from the pain of roboticization? Were you fast enough to save your King, who was paralyzed, and unable to walk due to your own mishap? Shameful, you are. You act proud and mighty, so sure of yourself, but you know that you are nothing more than words. You cannot escape from your own clumsiness!"
Sonic's mind had heard those cruel words, and he was remembering the shame and remorse he had felt when the King was injured, at his own fault. He would not normally be affected by past memories, but the spell was bonded to his mind, and its compelling power caused him to break down and cry, overwhelmed with emotion.
"I didn't mean to! It wasn't me!"
Lazer looked with alarm at the evil being done to Sonic.
"Lying to yourself, all these years, that you are a hero! How many parents needlessly lost their children because you could not run fast enough to save them? How many allies became roboticized due to your stupid mistakes? Pathetic!"
She was causing him to feel sorrow that was not his, and emotions that he could not handle.
"Stop! Oh, Goddess!" he pleaded. His mind was in a whirl of terrors, people pleading for his help and being cut down, people becoming roboticized and screaming while it happened. She relentlessly conveyed the emotions and thoughts toward him, until he was a cowering mass of blue fur, sobbing hopelessly on the ground. The rainbows upon his body dimmed.
"Mind tricks! You fight dirty," uttered Lazer. He was feeling the intense flames of anger rising within him, toward this thing that had possessed Hannah and done terrible things to Sonic's mind. "Stop, or I will kill you," he said, and formed a ball of chaos energy in an open palm.
She turned her gaze toward him. He held it evenly.
"The second Brother. You have even more to be ashamed of than that weak fool. Countless millions have died in your country. I know why they died. You may think it was Robotnik that dropped the bomb, but it was you that brought destruction upon your race!"
"Liar! Robotnik is responsible!"
"No! You do not know why he had dropped it. I can read your mind. You were in the sky, in the Death Egg's airspace, when the bomb was dropped. You were shooting down aerial forces. When Robotnik found out that his robots were being shot down so close to his location, he thought that your military had sent fighter jets to attack his Death Egg. He decided that he was in too much danger, and it was the final straw. So you see, Lazer, if you had not been fighting in the war, Robotnik would not have dropped his bomb."
Lazer was thunderstruck, and he forgot the energy ball in his hand. There was a part of his mind that screamed, "Don't listen to her lies!" But the larger part of his conscience had accepted the fact. The enchantment was too strong. He was thinking dark thoughts. that he had never forgiven himself for what had happened. He should have attacked Robotnik at the source, before he had a chance to drop that gigantic bomb. He should have killed Robotnik when he had the opportunity, by invading the Death Egg!
"Me. my fault." he whispered.
"Yes. It is your fault that your family died. It is your fault that your friends perished. IT IS YOUR FAULT THAT MILLIONS LOST THEIR LIVES!" she screamed harshly, her black eyes blazing with accusation. Overcome by the new knowledge, Lazer, the fighter whose resolve never broke, sunk to the ground, and tears came from his eyes.
"All those people. by the Ancient Walkers. I never knew! I never knew!" he howled, and backed against the wall, his eyes full of tears and the horror.
"So sorry. make it stop!" Sonic wailed, and beat his head against the ground. She was effectively killing them with the mind spell.
"Die now, you foolish children, die with despair!" The voice hissed into their minds.
"NO!" Lazer shouted. He had stood up, shaking his head with disbelief. She rounded on him with energies forming in her hands, and attacked him ferociously. The dark forces mercilessly tore into his body, racking it with a pain and a sizzling burn. He screamed once and fell. On the ground, the pain was returning his mind to normal, breaking the enchantment.
"No," he gasped, "I will not die, even if it was my fault."
"Silence, fool! You will die!"
She focused upon his body, and his mind, and began to rip at them magically. Many cries the Brother gave, and none of them answered, except with more pain.
"Stop it. damn it, you."
She stopped the onslaught and turned toward Sonic. He was still curled up foetus-like on the cold hard ground, the tears leaking from his eyes.
"Stop doing that, he doesn't deserve more pain!"
"What will you do, little hedgehog? Will you defy me with what remains of your ego?"
"I swear that I will stand up," he replied, and floated off the ground, landing unsteadily on his feet. He was breathing with difficulty, but stared her in the eye.
"Go back to hell where you came from!" he yelled, and struck with his gauntlet fist. She stepped aside and gave a glancing blow of dark magic. Winded, Sonic fell to the ground, barely gasping.
"Your lives were worthless, and worthlessly you will die."
She raised her head to listen beyond the faint breathing of the Brothers.
"I hear battle in the distance. All of your Freedom Fighters will contribute to my resurrection."
"Never. will I let my allies fall unaided."
"What?"
She considered the barely alive form of Lazer. He was spread eagled on the ground, his fingers grasping at air, the rainbow lights fading.
"My mind is a fortress against the powers of darkness," he said laboriously.
"You are wrong. I defeated you mentally."
"And. I shall not let my brother fall," he continued. A light came from his body, not the lights of the Rainbow, but the crimson light of the five Chaos Emeralds within his being. The light suffused his prone form, and he was lifted off the ground by it.
"Your emeralds cannot defeat me, Bearer of Five. The One Dark Jewel is enough."
She held out an arm, palm outward, and cast another spell. The red light disappeared and Lazer collapsed to the ground, conquered at last.
"Testing me was not wise. Die now, and join your Ancient Walkers. But I do not believe that even they will save Mobius from my wrath."
"Then Destiny will save it!"
"This cannot be." she began saying, as she turned toward Sonic again, until she was struck full force by two rainbows. The brilliant colour beams picked up her body, spun it around, and slammed it into a crumpled heap against the wall. A shuddering gasp came from her. The evil entity was feeling the toll of the attack.
"Truly, I have underestimated you, Sonic!"
"You didn't underestimate me, you underestimated him," he said, and nodded toward Lazer, "Lazer healed me when that light surrounded him. He gave what remained of his strength to me."
"Hmm. Will he save you now?"
She began to float off the ground, but he did nothing. She sneered at him.
"Will you not even attack me again?"
"You. You, thing, whatever you are, you have no idea who I am."
"I know who you are."
"Now you're the ignorant one."
The being within scoured Hannah's mind. What was this impudent mortal insinuating, about him being something more than what he was? The being could find nothing except what it already knew.
"What are you talking about, mortal? There is nothing that I do not know about you."
"Do you know how fast I can move?"
"You." she said, but did not realize that Sonic had been distracting her. Before the last syllable of the word was spoken, Sonic had leaped off the ground and bodily crashed into her, a spin attack that held the rainbow energy. Before the being could even think about reacting again, he had bounced away and proceeded to hit her twenty times more, in a furious bombardment of spin strikes! He did not break any bones, he did not need to, he did not slash with his quills, he did not need to do that either, but struck her repeatedly with the Rainbow. It was enough.
"Mortal. I. curse. you."
Her body fell to the ground and moved no more, eyes vacant and staring. The being within was thoroughly 'burned'. Sonic smoothed back his hair.
"Never, ever underestimate my speed, fool," he sneered. He was talking to the foreign entity, and not to Hannah. Then he regarded Lazer.
"Lazer, you can get up now."
The red hedgehog did not respond.
"Damn it!"
Sonic ran to Lazer's side and knelt. He felt for a pulse, and got one. It was skipping beats, a very bad sign.
"Lazer, you old bastard, if you don't get up, I'll never forgive you," he muttered. Without thinking he placed a hand on Lazer's head. The last thing he expected was a reaction, so he received a reaction. Lazer's voice whispered broken words into his mind.
"They. told me. the rainbow. use it."
"What?" he asked, but heard no more thoughts. He got up and paced around in indecision.
"Damn it, dammit! Why does it have to be me who does the risky stuff?"
He looked down at Lazer, and remembered the words. Never let your brother fall. Lazer is not my brother, he thought for the thousandth time, but in a way, he is.
"If this goes wrong, I apologize in advance, bro."
Sonic closed his eyes and poured rainbow beams from his fists to Lazer. The light was so bright that it penetrated his eyelids, and white was all he could see. He prayed to Destiny, a short heartfelt prayer, for Lazer. Amidst the bright flame in his eyes, a voice was speaking.
"You can stop now."
"Lazer!" he shouted, and opened his eyes. The other hedgehog was looking at him with a wry grin, and standing tall.
"Thanks, bro. I don't know why, but I always seem to get badly injured in these climatic battles."
"Yeah, I noticed, and that sucks. Well, at least you're alive, and never felt better?"
"Yep."
A thought occurred to Lazer. He swung himself around and looked up at the tallest tower.
"Augh! Robotnik! He must have seen this happen!"
"Oh, no! He must have upped and gone a long time ago!"
They both swore venomously. Lazer looked down at Hannah's body.
"Poor girl. She was being used like a puppet."
" 'Poor girl'? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't she almost kill you two days ago? And shouldn't we go after Robotnik? I need to get back at him real bad."
"Okay, but you'll have to stay here with her."
"What! Why do I have to baby-sit?"
"Sonic, you did your part by stopping her, and saving my life. I can't let you do everything, you know. If she wakes up, blast her again. That thing is still inside her, and very much alive."
Lazer soared high above the ground and closed his eyes. He reached out with the enhanced mental powers and felt for Robotnik. He could pick out Robotnik's mind within a crowd of a million people, and there were not many people in the city. He felt, and saw what he needed to see.
"He's on the run! I'm going after him! Stay here!"
"Aw! Go already!" Sonic yelled back. Lazer took off, blazing rainbows in his wake, toward Robotnik.
Left alone with the sorceress, Sonic grumbled angrily and looked at her unconscious body.
"Girl, if it weren't for you, I'd be kicking his blubbery butt right now."
"Where is she? The darkness comes from here."
They were deep within Robotnik's city. Lazer and Sonic looked at the aircraft hangar. Both of them felt the all-to familiar darkness that came from the Black Emerald.
"Hannah! Come out and play! We won't hurt you too badly!"
"Company," came the one word warning from Lazer.
They were under siege by a large gathering of hoverbots and combots. Exchanging glances for a split second, they leaped into action. The robots' artillery hit air, not because Sonic was faster than sound or Lazer had formed an indestructible shield, but because the robots were simply destroyed before they had a chance to even aim. Two rainbows shot down from the wreckage, and the warriors reformed.
"Man, I wish I never lose these powers!"
"More company," Lazer said. He was staring at something that had emerged from the hangar, and was suspended in mid-air. It was Hannah, but there was something else about her that was so vile he could not express it in words.
"Pure. evil. I can't sense a trace of light within that thing."
"What? Hannah?"
"Sonic, that may look like Hannah, but I know it is not. Even Robotnik had shades of gray within his mind, but the mind of this. thing, it's dark. So very black, I can't even sense a conscience."
Sonic said nothing. When Lazer got all moody and mysterious like that, it was not much use to talk. He looked at Hannah closely. She was wearing the two-piece, gray suit that she had worn during the first encounter, but there was something about her face. The confident grin was gone, replaced by a grimace of unadulterated hatred and contempt. Her eyes glittered not green, but black. That was the difference. Her eyes were black diamonds that glared down at him in a very disturbing manner.
"You. The Brothers of the Rainbow."
It was her voice, but also changed. It was not charming or even derisive, but expressionless. If she were not fiercely glaring in their direction, they would have thought her bored.
"You have come to defeat me once again, have you? You are both weak in comparison to the Brothers that defeated me thousands of years past."
"Defeated you? You're not that old!"
"You are also ignorant, Sonic. This body, this shell, contains my thoughts and a portion of my magic. I am the One who is imprisoned within the Black Emerald."
"So it's you," whispered Lazer, and then his voice grew louder, "You, the one who was trapped inside of the emerald. You're using her body!"
"You are correct, bearer of Chaos Emeralds. I will not be imprisoned for another five millennia. I will break free of that jewel prison and reclaim Mobius."
Hannah, who was not Hannah, descended to the ground and the air became dark around her.
"She's using the same shield," Lazer warned, and assumed a fighting position. He wished that he had his sword, so he could use the flat edge to knock her out. Sonic frowned and stretched his right arm forward.
"Good riddance," he said, and fired off a single beam. The rainbow struck the invisible surface, and moments later there came a burst of white energy! The Brothers shielded their eyes from the flash of light and then looked again. She had not moved, but the air was normal again, if the damp, misty air that covered Robotropolis was normal.
"Very well. I will make you suffer."
"Do not think so!" Sonic shouted, and released another rainbow strike. Several emotions ran through Lazer, a mixture of expectation, doubt and fear. He did not want Hannah to be killed, because she was not in control, but the entity of evil was. He saw the rainbow hit her feline form, and heard a cry escape her lips.
"Bulls eye," Sonic said grimly. Hannah faltered, unsteady with her step, but her body was not injured.
"That burned. Like the first time!"
She was angry now. Before either had time to react, she flung her arms outward and they were both thrown violently backward by the spell. They crashed painfully into a metallic wall, and slid to the ground. She was flying speedily toward them, while casting another spell. It was not the conventional attack spell, but something even more destructive. She first targeted Sonic.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest creature on Mobius. Was your speed enough to save your parents from the pain of roboticization? Were you fast enough to save your King, who was paralyzed, and unable to walk due to your own mishap? Shameful, you are. You act proud and mighty, so sure of yourself, but you know that you are nothing more than words. You cannot escape from your own clumsiness!"
Sonic's mind had heard those cruel words, and he was remembering the shame and remorse he had felt when the King was injured, at his own fault. He would not normally be affected by past memories, but the spell was bonded to his mind, and its compelling power caused him to break down and cry, overwhelmed with emotion.
"I didn't mean to! It wasn't me!"
Lazer looked with alarm at the evil being done to Sonic.
"Lying to yourself, all these years, that you are a hero! How many parents needlessly lost their children because you could not run fast enough to save them? How many allies became roboticized due to your stupid mistakes? Pathetic!"
She was causing him to feel sorrow that was not his, and emotions that he could not handle.
"Stop! Oh, Goddess!" he pleaded. His mind was in a whirl of terrors, people pleading for his help and being cut down, people becoming roboticized and screaming while it happened. She relentlessly conveyed the emotions and thoughts toward him, until he was a cowering mass of blue fur, sobbing hopelessly on the ground. The rainbows upon his body dimmed.
"Mind tricks! You fight dirty," uttered Lazer. He was feeling the intense flames of anger rising within him, toward this thing that had possessed Hannah and done terrible things to Sonic's mind. "Stop, or I will kill you," he said, and formed a ball of chaos energy in an open palm.
She turned her gaze toward him. He held it evenly.
"The second Brother. You have even more to be ashamed of than that weak fool. Countless millions have died in your country. I know why they died. You may think it was Robotnik that dropped the bomb, but it was you that brought destruction upon your race!"
"Liar! Robotnik is responsible!"
"No! You do not know why he had dropped it. I can read your mind. You were in the sky, in the Death Egg's airspace, when the bomb was dropped. You were shooting down aerial forces. When Robotnik found out that his robots were being shot down so close to his location, he thought that your military had sent fighter jets to attack his Death Egg. He decided that he was in too much danger, and it was the final straw. So you see, Lazer, if you had not been fighting in the war, Robotnik would not have dropped his bomb."
Lazer was thunderstruck, and he forgot the energy ball in his hand. There was a part of his mind that screamed, "Don't listen to her lies!" But the larger part of his conscience had accepted the fact. The enchantment was too strong. He was thinking dark thoughts. that he had never forgiven himself for what had happened. He should have attacked Robotnik at the source, before he had a chance to drop that gigantic bomb. He should have killed Robotnik when he had the opportunity, by invading the Death Egg!
"Me. my fault." he whispered.
"Yes. It is your fault that your family died. It is your fault that your friends perished. IT IS YOUR FAULT THAT MILLIONS LOST THEIR LIVES!" she screamed harshly, her black eyes blazing with accusation. Overcome by the new knowledge, Lazer, the fighter whose resolve never broke, sunk to the ground, and tears came from his eyes.
"All those people. by the Ancient Walkers. I never knew! I never knew!" he howled, and backed against the wall, his eyes full of tears and the horror.
"So sorry. make it stop!" Sonic wailed, and beat his head against the ground. She was effectively killing them with the mind spell.
"Die now, you foolish children, die with despair!" The voice hissed into their minds.
"NO!" Lazer shouted. He had stood up, shaking his head with disbelief. She rounded on him with energies forming in her hands, and attacked him ferociously. The dark forces mercilessly tore into his body, racking it with a pain and a sizzling burn. He screamed once and fell. On the ground, the pain was returning his mind to normal, breaking the enchantment.
"No," he gasped, "I will not die, even if it was my fault."
"Silence, fool! You will die!"
She focused upon his body, and his mind, and began to rip at them magically. Many cries the Brother gave, and none of them answered, except with more pain.
"Stop it. damn it, you."
She stopped the onslaught and turned toward Sonic. He was still curled up foetus-like on the cold hard ground, the tears leaking from his eyes.
"Stop doing that, he doesn't deserve more pain!"
"What will you do, little hedgehog? Will you defy me with what remains of your ego?"
"I swear that I will stand up," he replied, and floated off the ground, landing unsteadily on his feet. He was breathing with difficulty, but stared her in the eye.
"Go back to hell where you came from!" he yelled, and struck with his gauntlet fist. She stepped aside and gave a glancing blow of dark magic. Winded, Sonic fell to the ground, barely gasping.
"Your lives were worthless, and worthlessly you will die."
She raised her head to listen beyond the faint breathing of the Brothers.
"I hear battle in the distance. All of your Freedom Fighters will contribute to my resurrection."
"Never. will I let my allies fall unaided."
"What?"
She considered the barely alive form of Lazer. He was spread eagled on the ground, his fingers grasping at air, the rainbow lights fading.
"My mind is a fortress against the powers of darkness," he said laboriously.
"You are wrong. I defeated you mentally."
"And. I shall not let my brother fall," he continued. A light came from his body, not the lights of the Rainbow, but the crimson light of the five Chaos Emeralds within his being. The light suffused his prone form, and he was lifted off the ground by it.
"Your emeralds cannot defeat me, Bearer of Five. The One Dark Jewel is enough."
She held out an arm, palm outward, and cast another spell. The red light disappeared and Lazer collapsed to the ground, conquered at last.
"Testing me was not wise. Die now, and join your Ancient Walkers. But I do not believe that even they will save Mobius from my wrath."
"Then Destiny will save it!"
"This cannot be." she began saying, as she turned toward Sonic again, until she was struck full force by two rainbows. The brilliant colour beams picked up her body, spun it around, and slammed it into a crumpled heap against the wall. A shuddering gasp came from her. The evil entity was feeling the toll of the attack.
"Truly, I have underestimated you, Sonic!"
"You didn't underestimate me, you underestimated him," he said, and nodded toward Lazer, "Lazer healed me when that light surrounded him. He gave what remained of his strength to me."
"Hmm. Will he save you now?"
She began to float off the ground, but he did nothing. She sneered at him.
"Will you not even attack me again?"
"You. You, thing, whatever you are, you have no idea who I am."
"I know who you are."
"Now you're the ignorant one."
The being within scoured Hannah's mind. What was this impudent mortal insinuating, about him being something more than what he was? The being could find nothing except what it already knew.
"What are you talking about, mortal? There is nothing that I do not know about you."
"Do you know how fast I can move?"
"You." she said, but did not realize that Sonic had been distracting her. Before the last syllable of the word was spoken, Sonic had leaped off the ground and bodily crashed into her, a spin attack that held the rainbow energy. Before the being could even think about reacting again, he had bounced away and proceeded to hit her twenty times more, in a furious bombardment of spin strikes! He did not break any bones, he did not need to, he did not slash with his quills, he did not need to do that either, but struck her repeatedly with the Rainbow. It was enough.
"Mortal. I. curse. you."
Her body fell to the ground and moved no more, eyes vacant and staring. The being within was thoroughly 'burned'. Sonic smoothed back his hair.
"Never, ever underestimate my speed, fool," he sneered. He was talking to the foreign entity, and not to Hannah. Then he regarded Lazer.
"Lazer, you can get up now."
The red hedgehog did not respond.
"Damn it!"
Sonic ran to Lazer's side and knelt. He felt for a pulse, and got one. It was skipping beats, a very bad sign.
"Lazer, you old bastard, if you don't get up, I'll never forgive you," he muttered. Without thinking he placed a hand on Lazer's head. The last thing he expected was a reaction, so he received a reaction. Lazer's voice whispered broken words into his mind.
"They. told me. the rainbow. use it."
"What?" he asked, but heard no more thoughts. He got up and paced around in indecision.
"Damn it, dammit! Why does it have to be me who does the risky stuff?"
He looked down at Lazer, and remembered the words. Never let your brother fall. Lazer is not my brother, he thought for the thousandth time, but in a way, he is.
"If this goes wrong, I apologize in advance, bro."
Sonic closed his eyes and poured rainbow beams from his fists to Lazer. The light was so bright that it penetrated his eyelids, and white was all he could see. He prayed to Destiny, a short heartfelt prayer, for Lazer. Amidst the bright flame in his eyes, a voice was speaking.
"You can stop now."
"Lazer!" he shouted, and opened his eyes. The other hedgehog was looking at him with a wry grin, and standing tall.
"Thanks, bro. I don't know why, but I always seem to get badly injured in these climatic battles."
"Yeah, I noticed, and that sucks. Well, at least you're alive, and never felt better?"
"Yep."
A thought occurred to Lazer. He swung himself around and looked up at the tallest tower.
"Augh! Robotnik! He must have seen this happen!"
"Oh, no! He must have upped and gone a long time ago!"
They both swore venomously. Lazer looked down at Hannah's body.
"Poor girl. She was being used like a puppet."
" 'Poor girl'? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't she almost kill you two days ago? And shouldn't we go after Robotnik? I need to get back at him real bad."
"Okay, but you'll have to stay here with her."
"What! Why do I have to baby-sit?"
"Sonic, you did your part by stopping her, and saving my life. I can't let you do everything, you know. If she wakes up, blast her again. That thing is still inside her, and very much alive."
Lazer soared high above the ground and closed his eyes. He reached out with the enhanced mental powers and felt for Robotnik. He could pick out Robotnik's mind within a crowd of a million people, and there were not many people in the city. He felt, and saw what he needed to see.
"He's on the run! I'm going after him! Stay here!"
"Aw! Go already!" Sonic yelled back. Lazer took off, blazing rainbows in his wake, toward Robotnik.
Left alone with the sorceress, Sonic grumbled angrily and looked at her unconscious body.
"Girl, if it weren't for you, I'd be kicking his blubbery butt right now."
