In the midst of the wreckage, in Robotropolis, Robotnik lay half-conscious and badly-injured.
What was going on? Everything was throbbing. His head was pounding, he was confused, didn't even know who he was. He remembered a woman, though. Latifah. And an echidna...
Strange... He was surrounded by robots, some that looked like animals...
That woman! She was his lover! Latifah, who went to bed with him every night, to rescue... animals?
He had to get up. He just had to. Had to fix the aircraft... some project... The lense... something about a lense... but what???
Uncle...
A voice was speaking to him, a strangely familliar voice, stuffy and nasal...
Uncle...
"What..."
"It's me, Snively, 'Uncle'" the voice said.
"Uncle? Is that my name?" he asked.
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The midget looked down at the bulk of his uncle and smiled. Like shooting fish in a barrel...
"No, your name is Julian," Snively said.
It wasn't really a lie; but his uncle, for some reason, had chosen to change his name to Robotnik.
The assistant snickered. Now he was going to be the one to call the shots. No more being pushed around by lard-belly.
"Julian..." the fat man mumbled, before passing out again.
Oh, yes, it would be easy... No one to stand in his way, except for those pesky fur-balls.
Snively knew nothing about the banshee, since he wasn't often kept in the loop...
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Meanwhile, back at the Banshee camp, Evan woke up. He had been out for several hours. Whoever knocked him out had invaded his mind. He remembered going into the storage shed for something, then it was all a blank.
He got up and brushed himself off and returned to his station. He would probably get a reprimend for negligence, or even a demotion. Of all the lousy luck. And Latifah 27 was still missing.
"EVAN!" came an angry voice from outside the shed.
"Wha-" he said, still groggy.
"What the hell have you been doing?" an older man, Commander Jared 84 demanded.
"I dunno, sir" Evan answered.
"What happened? You look like s***!"
"I think someone invaded my mind, sir"
"Well, you better get back to your station, before the sergent gets here or there'll be hell to pay!"
"Yes, sir"
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Latifah and Knuckles were still hiding out in the forest, sleeping most of the time, or discussing their dysfunctional childhoods.
{I don't think I ever had a real friend outside my family, besides you}
{Yeah, I know the feeling. I guess it's our lot in life,} Knuckles joked.
"Well, you're not gonna believe this," Latifah said, this time verbally, "But I don't have a belly-button. I know you don't have one because you were hatched, but I was labeled a freak."
"Really? I'm the only echidna with that white mark," Knuckles replied, pointing to the mark on his chest.
"Wow. I thought all echidnas had it"
Knuckles shook his head.
"It was given to me when I was chosen to be the guardian of Floating Island"
"At least you don't have a psycho as a father," Latifah laughed.
"Yeah, but we're both in deep trouble"
They both laughed.
The banshee wanted to tell him that she also had a white mark on her chest, but she didn't think it wise. Then, she felt a familliar mental-signiture coming their way. Sonic! And several others!
"Quick! We gotta get moving! Now!"
Latifah took Knuckles and the duffel bag and flew off. She could feel her powers weakening a bit, but didn't think much about it.
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"What's goin' on?" Bunny Rabbot wondered, as she and the other Freedom Fighters looked at the human flying off into the distance.
"I don't know," Sonic said, "But I think it was that dark human who pulverized Robuttnik"
"That was the girl who picked you up without touching you?" Sally asked, finally comprehending what Sonic had told her.
Sonic nodded.
"Well, we'd better investigate. She could be a powerful ally"
"I am not knowing if it is wise to be chasing ze human," Antoine said, cowering as usual.
"Antoine," Sonic began.
"Oui?"
"Shut up!"
At that, Antoine stuck his nose in the air.
"Harummph!"
Sally shook her head. Typical.
"Come on! Let's go!" she ordered.
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"So, someone got Robotnik?" Carley asked.
"Yes, and whoever it was wiped his mind. He doesn't remember a thing!" Snively said with glee.
"What're we gonna do with him now?" Donna asked.
"Make him work for us," Snively answered, "And abuse him like he abused me! Ha ha ha!"
"Oh, you do have good ideas!"
Donna kissed him, not out of love, but because he was really the only man who was interested in her. He was the only human, in fact, besides Carley, who gave her the time of day.
Her kiss was interrupted by Carley squeezing her arm flirtingly.
"There will be plenty of time for that, love. Now let's get to work at finding the chaos emeralds"
"Of course, Dear"
She kissed Carley, passionately, before getting to her station. None of them noticed a figure standing in the shadows.
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What in tarnation??? Charles thought to himself.
Whoever it was that wiped Robotnik's mind had opened another can of worms. Now Snively was in control, and if he knew Snively right, the bastard would take over the place, then discard the women like gum-wrappers.
The roboticized hedgehog cursed under his breath. He was not one to curse, but this was unnerving to say the least. He had to tell Sonic...
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Meanwhile, Latifah was heading for a remote part of the forest, knowing that she was being persued. Odd that she couldn't sense their thoughts as clearly as she should've...
She felt it getting increasingly difficult to levitate. What was happening? Whatever it was, Latifah would have to land, or crash and kill both herself and Knuckles. She saw a soft area and decided to land.
The banshee set Knuckles down and ran as fast as she could. She tried to levitate, but couldn't get off the ground. She hid behind a bush and watched as the natives, one of them she knew to be Sonic, gather around the echidna.
"I can't walk," Latifah heard Knuckles say.
"You guys take him to Knothole, while I go see who this human is," Sonic said.
Latifah ran, not looking back. She made for the mountains, but was stopped by a hedgehog that seemed to just appear right in front of her.
"Alright," he demanded, "Who are you, and what are you doing with Knuckles?"
"Please don't hurt me!"
Latifah was freezing up again, like she always did when in an unfamilliar situation.
"I'm not gonna hurt you! Just tell me what you did to Robuttnik! And why can't Knuckles walk?"
The banshee was scared, and couldn't think straight. She was hyperventillating, which Sonic found rather odd.
The hedgehog thought, I was just asking her a simple question, so why is she all worked up?
"You don't need to be scared! I won't hurt you! Cross my heart and hope to die-"
"Stick a hedgehog in my eye," Latifah finished.
Sonic gave her a funny look.
"What???" he laughed.
"That was what I used to say, because a hedgehog is a whole lot sharper then one needle!"
Sonic blushed.
"Well then, now that we broke the ice, what's your name?"
"Latifah"
"Mine's Sonic"
"I know," Latifah said.
"You do? But how-oh yeah, you were with Knuckles, which remindes me, why can't he walk?"
"Well," The banshee began, "He was in Robotropolis, and he was dying. When I rescued him, I found that Robotnik had manually severed his spine, and fitted him with an adamantine implant"
"What?!?"
The hedgehog was beginning to understand why his friend was acting so strange. Adamantine was poisonous, but he never knew it to cause changes in behavior.
"And that's not all," Latifah continued, "Knuckles' spine was only bruised; I found that out when I invaded Robotnik's mind. He had fooled Knuckles into thinking that his spine was severed by you moving him around, and later subjected him to hallucinogenic gas and subliminal messages. He convinced Knuckles that you were using him as a shield-"
"And that's why he tried to kill me! Oohh, that sonofab****! When I get my hands on Robuttnik, I'm gonna make him pay!"
"I think someone beat ya to it," came a voice from a few yards away.
"Why is that, Sally?" Sonic asked, sounding a bit worried.
The squirrel showed him a computer with a small view-screen. The screen showed a male hedgehog, obviously alot older then Sonic, and made of metal.
"Uncle Chuck? What's goin' on?"
"Robotnik lost his memory. I don't know who did it, Sonny, but I think it was either Snively or one of his lady-friends"
Sonic gagged at the thought of that ugly human having a girlfriend, let alone two.
"Uh, e-excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I know who did it," Latifah said.
"Well, spit it out, human"
"Her name's Latifah, and she did it!" Sonic answered for her, "She saved Knothole and one of my best friends!"
"Well, hi there, Latifah! Didn't know there was any good humans"
"Um, pardon me, but I'm not really considered a human, I mean, not by other humans," Latifah said.
"Oh, then what are ya?"
"I'm a banshee. My people descended from the humans, but they didn't like us so they exiled us here"
"Banshees? You mean you can kill people by screamin'?"
Latifah laughed.
"No. That's known as the 'burning'. When someone dies near a banshee, the banshee will feel it and absorb the soul. The transition is rough on the body and mind, causing an intense burning and sometimes killing a weak banshee"
"Oh. Is that how you got Robotnik?"
"No. The chaos emeralds mutated my people, strengthening their powers. I invaded his mind, something I wasn't able to do until very recently. Like the other Mobian banshees, I'm also a telekinetic, or I was. Something's wrong with my powers"
The old hedgehog chuckled.
"Welcome to the Freedom Fighters, Latifah... didn't catch your last name"
"We don't have last names. We have identification-numbers. Mine's 27"
"Latifah 27, hmmm... kinda has a nice ring to it, but you need a real last name, not a number. You're not a prisoner, ya know"
"Kintobar"
"What?" the three Mobians asked at once.
"Either that or Robotnik. He's my father"
'Oh my gosh' Sally mouthed.
"How did you find that out?" Sonic asked.
"I had a flash when I was in the aircraft. He was hitting my mom. She told me to run away, and I never saw her again"
"Oh," Sally said, then snapped back to command-mode, "We'd better take you to knothole"
"But-"
"Don't worry. Sonic told the others about a certain human-I mean banshee who blew up Robotnik's death-machine"
"What about Knuckles? Please don't arrest him! Arrest me instead-"
"No one's gonna be arrested! Now come on! let's get back to Knothole before it gets dark!"
"And I'd better get movin'. Good luck," Chuck said, as the picture dissolved to static.
Sally switched the computer off, then all three ran to catch up with the others.
Knuckles was being carried on a stretcher, and would be examined when they reached the village. Latifah found she could still read his mind, but no one else's. Strange... What was wrong?
to be continued...