Warning: mood-swings from Sally, and weird behavior from Maria. Also, like previous chapters, it gets mushy. You have been warned!
Knuckles: Yeah, don't read this s***! She still hasn't given me my legs back! By the way, why are you so mad? You found that song you were lookin' for!
Latifah27: I know! I love 'Shorty Swing My Way'! I'm just pissed that my sound-card is butchering the music on my Lemmings games. And when I try playing my Macy Gray CD in Dos-mode, the computer screams at me, or at least it did a few months ago-
Knuckles: I would scream if you made me listen to Macy Gray!
Sonic: Oh, shut-up so we can get on with the story!
Knuckles(rolls his eyes): Alright... (leaves room)
*************************************************
Sally was worried. Tails and Amy had disappeared, and no one had any idea what happened.
"TAILS!!!! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!!!!"
No answer.
This is the last straw, the princess thought, no story for him-that is, if he was still alive. Still alive... The thought made Sally's blood turn to ice. What if something happened to him?
"TAILS!!! AMY!!! WHERE ARE YOU???"
The squirrel heard a grunt coming from Sonic's hut, and shook her head.
"I told him to chew his food," she muttered.
"SONIC!!!" Sally yelled, "GET YOUR A** OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"
"Ughh... I can't, Sal... I'm a little... busy... right now..." Sonic answered between grunts, obviously trying to expell the chilli-dog he had eaten a few hours earlier..
"D***IT SONIC!!!!! TAILS AND AMY ARE LOST!!!!!!"
The hedgehog ran out of his hut, after taking care of his 'business'.
"What? What happened? How could they be lost? They were playing by Antoine's hut last time I checked-"
"Yeah, and they took off while you were takin' a s***! D***it, Sonic, why can't you watch them more closely?" Sally snapped.
"Look, Sal, you know I can't watch them all day! I have to worry about that human who's runnin' Robotropolis now, not to mention getting ready for our wedding!"
"Well maybe I should just call the wedding off!"
Those words shocked Sonic.
"What? Are you calling off the wedding, after you were the one who started this in the first place???"
"Well, maybe you should have stopped me!"
"Well, I didn't see you try to stop!"
"Both of you, faight somewhere else so Ah can sleep!" Bunnie called from her hut.
Sally sighed again.
"I'm sorry. I'm just-you know..."
"I understand," Sonic said, "I'll find the kids. I'm sorry I didn't-"
"That's ok," Sally answered, "I need an asprin. I'm gettin' a headache the size of Robotnik-er-Julian"
Sonic laughed.
"Must be a pretty big headache. But what about the baby? Won't the asprin hurt it?"
"No, silly! The doctor told me asprin would be just fine! But we'll have to settle for sparkling cider tonight," Sally said, as she walked back to her hut.
"We?"
Sally turned and glared at him.
"Alright! No white wine for me either... heh heh..."
"That's better," the squirrel said, "We have to suffer together, you know"
Sonic gave her a lop-sided grin, and nodded.
"Uh, yeah... of course"
Better not open my mouth unless I'm eating...
****************************************************
Tails and Amy walked toward Robotropolis, and looked around for Knuckles and Latifah. No sign of them.
"That's funny," the fox said, "They were here last time"
"Maybe they're hiding," Amy replied, "What if they catch us and roboticize us?"
"We'll just hide from them"
Tails paused for a moment. Something told him he shouldn't be doing this, but he didn't have much choice now. He and Amy would just have to play it out.
He took Amy's hands and flew through the dead city, both children scanning for the two guardians. Their search still fruitless, they decided to split up.
"You search the buildings on this side, while I search these buildings," Tails said, pointing to the ones on his side, "Meet me back here in two hours, so we can sneek back to Knothole"
Amy nodded, a little scared, but she wanted to get Knuckles and Latifah.
Of course, neither of them thought how they would go about catching the guardians once they had found them...
****************************************************
"You must have a foot-fetish," Knuckles teased.
Latifah smiled, and kissed the echidna's foot again.
Not that he could feel it, since their link wasn't strong enough at that point. The psionic-bridge didn't last very long, and it took awhile for them to initiate it again.
That didn't stop the bansh-echidna from kissing and massaging Knuckles' feet. And it amused him, to watch her do that.
"You know we don't have much time for this," the echidna said, "We must find the remaining pieces of the Master Emerald, so Floating Island doesn't sink"
"Yeah, and we also need to keep the blood flowing in your legs. By the way, how can Floating Island still be airborn? It should have fallen by now"
"Well, it would either make a giant tidal-wave, or a ground-quake, and so far, neither has happened. Somehow, the island is still in the air. How it is staying up there is beyond me"
"Probably because someone has it under control; but then again, whoever is holding the island up isn't going to necessarily be doing this for our benefit. You may be right. Looks like we need to pay Pyjamas a little visit"
"Exactly," Knuckles said, "Which is why we need to find the rest of the fragments. We must re-assemble the Master Emerald and see what this Pyjamas is really up-"
The echidna suddenly went blank, and slumped to the ground, lapsing into another seizure.
Gotta get him breathing again, Latifah thought, as she performed CPR.
This wasn't from his spinal-fluid build-up, since the excess fluid had already been drained. It could have been his epilepsy, but they had enough medication to at least keep the seizures from getting that bad.
Finally, Knuckles regained consciousness, and coughed a little.
"Thanks," he said.
"Are you feeling ok?" Latifah asked.
The echidna nodded, and gave her a silly grin.
"Just a little dizzy... And I can't feel my legs"
Latifah laughed in spite of herself. She knew that joke was coming.
"Ha ha. Well, you'd better get some rest," she said, "Something's not right, and I can't have you getting sick while we're casing Robotropolis"
"No. You either take me with you, or stay here and tend to the poor sick cripple while Floating Island goes to hell in a hand-basket!"
"You are in no position to force me to take you," Latifah said.
{And just what will you do when you get there? You can't handle intense situations without me}
The bansh-echidna sighed and nodded.
{You're right. I'm just worried about you, that's all. I'll take you, but if you start getting sick again, we leave Robotropolis immedietely}
Knuckles nodded.
Latifah held the echidna and stroked his dreads, while looking into his determined eyes.
{I don't want to lose you,} she thought.
{Don't worry, you won't}
The bansh-echidna closed her eyes for a moment, as she remembered something that she had aquired from invading Robotnik's mind.
"That's it!" she said, "Carley and Donna! Maybe they know something about the emerald! And maybe I can 'persuade' Snively to help us..."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Knuckles asked.
*****************************************
Ebony saw the banshee and an echidna, who she knew were both guardians, start of towards Robotropolis.
The cat sighed. If only the undercover agent had listened to her and Pyjamas. And now Pyjamas was sick, probably dying, and Ebony could not be with her in her time of need.
That, and the crisis with Floating Island was almost more than she could take, but she had to do this, or Sonic's family-line would end with him, the triplets would never be born, and Mobius would be doomed.
That was frustrating enough, without three people who, without fail, refused to obey instructions. Orin's refusal to obey had caused this in the first place, and had also been the cause of Pyjamas' sickness. And Latifah and Knuckles had refused to obey the agent disguised as Pyjamas, complicating the matter with the other bansh-echidnas.
Ebony broke off all communications with the banshee scientist after Pyjamas had fallen ill. The last thing she wanted to do was help her, but if her sister were to take control, the power-hungry banshee would become even more dangerous than Robotnik.
Also, Zachary, the keeper of the eggs, was missing. Pyjamas had sensed that something wasn't right about him, and would never be alone in a room with the gray echidna if she could avoid it.
And she had very little to say to him. One of the few times she even talked to the echidna scientist was when Ebony and Aleena were leaving the room.
"I know you're up to no good. I can tell it in my sleep. You're going to ally with the dark side, and you will live just long enough to regret it"
"And what do you want?" the echidna asked.
"I want to live long enough to see you pay for what you're about to do. I would smile at you and wave, like this"
And she waved at him, and left the room as well.[author's note: got that from Babylon 5, where Vir tells Mr. Morden that he wants to live long enough to see the man beheaded. He would look up into Morden's lifeless eyes and wave]
"And how do you know you will live that long?" the echidna asked, to which Pyjamas answered with a particularly vulgar curse she rarely, if ever, used.
Now, Ebony would have to keep Jarad at bay, and try to rescue the agent, who had been living under the guise of a mobian for the past few years, from the dangerous opportunist.
One thing for sure, it wasn't going to be easy...
*********************************************
Meanwhile, Amy walked through the corridors of a building, which was filled with strange equipment, and had walls that were covered with dials and switches, and view-screens.
No Latifah, though. How was she going to find them? And more importantly, how was she going to find her way back to the meeting-place? She was lost, and getting very frightened.
A sound startled the pink hedgehog.
"Who-who's there?" she stammered.
"Hello? Can you help me?" a voice called.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, but I'm lost. Someone tried to roboticize me"
Roboticize? Amy thought, ...Latifah!
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Amy said, walking over to where the voice came from.
She saw a bat in a skin-tight dress, huddled under a console.
"Was it Latifah?"
The bat thought for a moment.
"Yes, it was her. She tried to roboticize me, and she wants this 'Master Emerald'"
"Don't worry, me and Tails will take you to Knothole. You'll be safe there. By the way, my name's Amy. What's yours?"
"Rouge," the bat answered.
She got up and followed Amy out of the building.
********************************
"What's the matter, Latifah, having a little headache?" Jarad taunted.
"Shut up," Pyjamas said, struggling to maintain control of her thoughts, "Shut up, Jarad... you are a... fool... stay away... from me..."
"Don't try that with me, my dear, it won't work. You're faking it. You just don't like me, do you?"
"Please..." the mobian begged, "Leave me in peace... stop talking to me..."
Then she started screaming, and leaving herself wide open for Jarad to capture her.
He grabbed the hysterical mobian, and put the collar he was carrying around her neck.
"Now to take off your mask..."
Jarad yanked at the mobian's bangs, but they would not come off. He saw that she only had one eye. Her left eye was only an empty socket, but her good eye... no... it couldn't be...
*******************************
Restless, Sally decided to go looking for the two children. She wasn't feeling like herself, and couldn't sleep knowing that they could be headed for trouble.
The squirrel tip-toed out of her hut, and toward the outskirts of Knothole...
"Where do you think you're goin, Sally-girl?" a voice asked.
Sally looked to see Bunnie smiling at her.
"Well, Ah thought you'd be up to somethin' lahk thait. You jus' go get your little squirrel-butt back to your hut, before ya force me to break it!"
The princess smiled.
"And just what makes you think I'm going to do-whatever you're thinking I'm gonna do?"
"Ah got mah ways. Besahds, Ah know ya too well. Now c'mon! Back to your hut-or bettah yet, Sally-girl, mahn!"
Sally sighed. The doctor is always the worst patient, she thought.
*******************************
Latifah walked through Robotropolis, this time, more familliar with it, as if she had resided in that dark city for years. She looked down at the echidna who was sleeping in her arms, and smiled. She absentmindedly stroked his fur, and for a moment, had this dark thought of roboticizing him.
No! The bansh-echidna told herself. He trusts me, and he's my friend!
The guardian stirred in his sleep.
I could never hurt him, Latifah thought, Come on, mind, stop thinking those horrible things.
{Just because you think them, doesn't make you evil}
"Knuckles! You awake?" the bansh-echidna whispered.
{Half there. I know what's going through your head. It's that part of Robotnik that you absorbed. Just ignore it. Know that it is not you; it's Robotnik. You would never do that}
"But I can't control my thoughts. It's happened to me before, and when I told people about it, and kept asking and asking over and over again, they started punishing me. After that, I learned to ignore them, or at least not tell anyone they existed, but they come back. Every few months they come back. I can't stop them forever"
Knuckles yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Don't worry, Latifah," he said, "I trust you. I know you wouldn't do anything like that. Besides, aren't we supposed to pay Carley and Donna a little visit?"
************************************
Back at Knothole, Chuck and Dr. Porker Lewis were still trying to find out who Shadow was, but with no luck. And the girl's behavior was becoming erratic.
"Don't point that at me! Leave me alone!"
"Please," the doctor said, "I'm only trying to administer a medication-"
"NO! Get away! Please! Don't shoot me!"
"I'm not going to shoot you. Good Aurora, what do you think I am?"
"Here, I think I can handle it," Chuck said, as he walked up to the frightened young woman.
She kicked him, knocking off the device that he was wearing on his wrist.
"Oh, shoot!" he said, "My nanite-filter! Hope she didn't ruin it, or I could re-roboticize in a matter of days!"
The hedgehog checked the filter, fiddled with it a little, then put it back on.
"Looks ok," he said, before returning to the still disturbed Maria.
She was crawling toward the door, obviously taking the oportunity to make an escape.
"Hold it," Chuck said, "We're not tryin' to hurt ya!"
"You're not shadow! What did you do to him? Why do you look like him?"
Maria climbed down the the ladder and out of the hut, and ran, not really aiming for anything. Of course, she didn't get very far before stumbling and falling again.
Getting up, she again started running, but was caught by the two Mobians, and fell.
"Don't hurt me!" she cried, waking some sleeping mobians.
"For the last time," Porker said, "We are not trying to hurt you! We're trying to find out who hurt Shadow!"
"I don't know!" Maria sobbed, sounding even more out of it.
"Shadow's my-friend," Chuck lied, "I want to know what happened to him, and see if he's ok. Ya gotta trust me! Do ya wanna find him?"
The girl nodded.
"Good. Then let's getcha back inside, and I'll fix ya something. Ya like chilli-dogs?"
Maria just gave him a blank stare.
**********************************
Latifah and Knuckles scanned Robotropolis from the control-room. No Carley or Donna, though someone had used Robotnik's equipment for some kind of experiment. Odd...
{Take a look at this,} Knuckles thought to her.
She looked at what had caught the echidna's eye, the comm-logs.
"Hmm... this should tell us something..." she said.
Both guardians smiled as they re-played the last message. Bingo!
They would have a nice little chat with Snively and his girlfriends...
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Don't worry; there's gonna be more. I just had so much stuff in my head, that I had to write all of it down. I just don't want to make my chapters too big.