Chapter 1



"Miiiiina!"
"Mina! Lookit! Lookit!"

The three children – a bear, a cat and a dog - ran down a knoll of soft grass, laughing and giggling as they reached the bottom.

"Lookie! Look what we found!!!"
"….Hmm?"

At the bottom of the knoll was a young yellow mongoose, still in her teens, fingering her shortened hair in a distant manner. Around her waist and stomach was a large bandage, which was barely covered by her black shirt.

"Hi!" Mina looked up to see flowers in her face. "Snaggle got 'em for you. They're smelly!"
"Oh…..dandelions." The girl smiled as she took the bear. "Tell Snaggle thank you, Rory."
"Mina! Guess what!" Sasha, the cat, giggled. "Snaggle said he picked 'em because they remind him of your pretty skin!"
"Nuh uh!" Snaggle, the dog, and the youngest, jumped up at this. "Nuh uh! Did not!"
"Did so!" The dog turned red as Rory made smooching sounds. "Snaggle loooooves Mina!"
"DO NOT!" Snaggle was very red at this.
"You want to marry Mina! Snaggle and Mina, sittin in a tree…"
"Arrr!"

What followed was a chase; Rory and Sasha laughed insanely as Snaggle pursued on his stubby legs back up the knoll. Mina watched, her thoughts drifting again as the children disappeared on the horizon.

Sonic……

"Sonic! I knew you'd come for me…..you always do……"

They stood as Mina watched, and they held each other close.

"I…..I love you." Sally smiled through her tears of relief.
"I know." Sonic smiled in return.

Then they kissed. Mina could only stagger out of the room, tears welling up in her eyes.

I hope you are happy with your choice….
Mina looked down at her wound. Because, no matter how I try to forget, I can't be happy for myself. I'm free, but….I'm confused. I am heart broken over someone who never really returned their feelings to me. Oh….why did I have to fall in love wi-

She stiffened. The sound of the bushes parting came to her attention.

"……Rory?….Sasha?"

She turned around to face the bush. There was nothing there.

…..My imagination.

She turned away. As she did, the sound returned, and this time, she turned back as fast as she could.

"…Oh!"

A figure in the bushes gave a huff as Mina's eyes trained on them. Slowly, they stood up, their eyes illuminating in the shades of the trees that surrounded the knoll.

"….Um…." Mina felt a chill go up her spine, and she took a step back. "May….may I help you?"
"…Yes. Yes you may." A strange male voice, one Mina had never heard before, spoke as the figure stepped forward. "I was wondering if you could help me. As a friend."

Mina took a step back as she saw the figure coming before her. It was a monkey, brown-furred, wearing a red vest. He floated on top of a small nimbus cloud formation inches off of the ground. In his hand was a long golden staff.

"H-huh?!" Mina became apprehensive. "I've never seen you here before! Who are you?"

The monkey gave such a smile that gave Mina a violent chill down her spine. It was toothy, very toothy, and it showed his sharp back teeth. His eyes almost seemed to turn red as he began to approach.

"….R…..Rory!!!" Mina knew better than to stay around. She turned heel and began to run as fast as she could towards the top of the knoll. "Sasha!!!"

With a growl, the monkey pounded his chest and roared. He then disappeared from the bushes with a crackle of electric energy, reappearing in front of Mina.

"Sna-AAAAAAAH!!!!!"
"You cannot escape me!" The monkey's eyes were now definitely flashing red, and they bore into her in such a way that struck the mongoose with an intangible fear. "You will be brought to my masters! No one can escape the wrath of THE MONKEY KHAN! Surrender!"
"Mina!"

Suddenly, a rock clocked Monkey Khan in the head, and he gave an angry cry as he almost tumbled forward onto Mina. Behind him, Mina could see Rory and Sasha picking up rocks.

"No! Kids, run!" Mina glared at the doubled over monkey. "Leave us alone!!!"

With a shout, she gave him a roundhouse kick to the face as hard as she could with her right foot. As she was wearing her boots, which were wide to begin with, and she was at a point blank range to his cheekbone, it didn't miss its mark. Monkey Khan's neck twisted, and his face went away from her.

"…………Heheh."

Mina's eyes widened as Monkey Khan slowly turned back to glare at her. The kick had had no effect on him, and the menacing grin was still on his face. He raised his staff, and his cloud began to sizzle with electricity.

"Thunder…..BOLT!"

She barely missed the heat of the lightning. Mina jumped to dodge, and landed on the ground head-first. Pain shot up her side from her wound. The spot that she had been standing at before was now bare of vegetation, and the grass was melting from the attack. Also on the ground were the dandelions, now also smoldering in flames.

"Ugh…." Mina shook her head. "What the-"
"Mina!!"
"Thunder…"

Mina's eyes suddenly widened. The monkey had turned towards the two kids standing there. They looked petrified as they turned to run.

"NO!!!!!!!!"
"BOLT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Mina screamed; it was no use. The bolts shot out from the cloud, slamming into the backs of the two children. There were screams of terror, the children shouting out Mina's name. Then they fell, limp, to the ground, burns covering their body.

"NO!!!" Mina scrambled up and started to run towards them. "RORY! SASHA!!"

As she did, Monkey Khan swerved back around, and the next thing Mina knew, the staff barred her way.

"Let me through!" Mina growled, clenching her fists. "Or else!"
"Or else what?" Monkey Khan's cloud sizzled again. "Or else you'll hit me? That's a terrible way to save those children. You already know your attacks have no effect on me."

Monkey Khan then turned towards the children, pointing his staff. The rod became fused with electricity.

"But if you care to try, go right on ahead, mongoose." Mina's fists began to shake. "Though I must wonder if you really want the blood of those kids on your hands. Not a good way to impress Sonic, now, is it?"

Mina stopped. Her hands went to her sides, and she bent her head down. Her eyes went wide, and within them, a mixture of anger, sadness, guilt and conflict.

"…Why…..are you….."
"There's a good girl." Mina heard the cloud swerve behind her. "I knew you'd do the right thing."

Then down came the staff's blunt end onto the backside of her head, and with a grunt Mina saw and heard Monkey Khan no more.

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As Monkey Khan smirked over his prey, a silent rustling came from the bushes over at the top of the knoll. Two dog ears, then two widened, frightened eyes, came peeking down as they scanned the area before it. First, there was Rory and Sasha, unmoving, on the ground, with dark splotches on their skin. Then, he saw a monkey slinging an unconscious Mina over his shoulder.

"That was easy enough!" Callous laughter came from the monkey as Snaggle fearfully watched from afar. "Now all that's left is to bring her back with me. There's no witnesses to stop me, anyhow – like those kids were any threat to the great Monkey Khan!!"

Laughing harder, Monkey Khan pointed his staff up, and the nimbus cloud shot up into the sky with Mina in tow.

"M…..mina!!"

Snaggle was frozen in thought; he had seen too much, and had done nothing to stop that monster. At least, he would have if he could, but when he saw what had happened to his friends, he thought it best to just hide and hope the man would go away.

"I…..I have to save Mina!"

With that, he turned towards the opposite direction and ran as fast as he could, screaming. He ran across a small field that intersected with the knoll, running until he dove into a thicket. After the thicket were tall wide trees, and numerous paths. Checking off the path marks as he blazed past, Snaggle took deep breaths and screamed as he ran. His face turned red as he passed by the oak slide; by the time his echoing screams had caught the attention of anyone in the village down in the gully below, his legs were burning from lack of breath.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!"

He jumped down the side of the cliff, tumbling down and getting sticks and leaves stuck onto him. Branches cut his skin open, but he still screamed even as he was sputtering out dirt.

"Snaggle!!!"

Finally, he reached the end of the hundred-foot drop; he tumbled in a ball up to someone's feet. As he unrolled himself, he looked up at the person over him, all dirty and bleeding.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!"
"What the-?!?" Amy jumped back and covered her ears. "Ow! Brat! What were you thinking?!"
"HEEEEEELP!!!!!" Snaggle screamed louder. "I NEED THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!!! HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!! SOMEONE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!"
"Hey, HEY!"

First came Sally to the scene. Her eyes widened at how injured the little boy was.

"Snaggle!" The little boy began to tear up. "What's going on? How did you get so hurt?"
"He tumbled down the side of the gully," Amy rolled her eyes.
"What?! Isn't Mina supposed to be…." Sally's eyes scanned the cliff. "Where's Mina and the other children?!"
"M-m……." The rush wore off, and the dog was so jittery he suddenly found himself unable to speak. "Th-the…..th-the cloud…."
"Cloud?"
"Huh? Whats all the…" Sonic walked by and stopped. "Woah! What happened to the kid?"
"Snaggle, where's Mina?"
"….The m-monkey took her!" Snaggle finally summoned more energy. "Th-he monkey came an-and shot thunder at R-rory and S-sasha, then sh-shot stuff at M-mina, th-then t-took her away!"
"…Monkey?"
"Monkey!"

Sonic and Sally looked at each other uneasily as Snaggle started to shake. The little dog then began to cry.

"I'm s-sorry…"
"Hold on…calm down, calm down." Sally took Snaggle gently by the shoulders. "Where were you?"
"I w-was picking flowers for M-mina, and Rory and Sasha made f-fun of em, and said I loved Mina, a-and I chased them, th-then I hid to t-try to sc-scare them, bu-but then th-the monkey c-came and-"
"Hang on…monkey." Sonic bent down. "This monkey say his name?"
"I…" Snaggle sniffed. "All I heard was him saying the k-kids w-were no threat t-to Monkey K-khan. Then he took Mina away o-on his cloud."

Sally and Sonic looked at each other, then back at the blubbering Snaggle, then back at each other.

"That cyborg…again!" Sonic mumbled. "What's going on with him now?!"

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Black, nothing but black. Then, slowly, blue began to appear. Mina slowly opened her eyes.

"Welcome back…."

Mina gave a start. She was inside a gigantic tube, and completely submerged in a gooey blue substance. She went to press her hands against the glass, only to find that she was unable to move.

"Where…?!?"
"You finally awaken."

A cloaked figure stood below her outside the tube as she floated. Her eyes widened at the sound of the figure's voice.

Wait a minute…

"I knew it would be perfect to get you here…" Mina's eyes turned to see a dark mass of metal inside a neighboring tube. "You are always playing with those children, every day. Knowing you, and who you are, and the details of our plan, I would consider you perfect as the first test of a technology of the new era."
"New era? Are you crazy?!"

Snickering, the hooded figure uncovered their face. Mina's eyes widened as they looked down. There was no mistaking the facial features; only one person had such a nose as her new captor had.

"Oh NO! SNIVELY?!?!?"