Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, blah, blah, blah. You've heard this sht before.

But I do own this story.

A Wily tale

Part 12

As the Freedom Fighters approached the fringes of the forest, they noticed a structure of some sort. Once they cleared the few final trees they saw it. A enormous teched out tower had risen above the forest almost miraculously in the time it had taken them to walk from the now nothing but cinders village of Knothole to this spot, it seemed impossible for something that big to just appear, but there it was. Sadness gave way to wonder, and a little fear, as it was decorated with the likeness of skulls. Overlander skulls to be precise, a huge recreation of one sat at the main entrance, the mouth was open revealing a heavy iron door.

The Mobians at the back of the troop where the ones that had gone back to gather what little wasn't destroyed in the fire.

"What is this place?" Sally thought aloud.

"This is Skull Tower." A voice came from the shadows of the entrance way.

All eyes came to see an Overlander standing at the opened doorway. He was wearing a white lab coat that had been remade to look like a trench coat, which by the way he wore open. Underneath that a simple black t shirt and blue jeans, his leather belt had a silver heptagram (Jazzerman: a seven pointed star) buckle on it, in the center of the star was a small 'W'. He wore old grey and red tennis shoes that had seen better days, this was apparent due to all the rips and small holes in the material that held them together. He had short dark brown hair and a handsome face, as far as Overlanders go. But his most propionate feature was the pair of sunglasses he wore, the whole thing was one large flat lens that was so big it almost over took his eyebrows. His hair was a dark brown and appeared to be a young adult Overlander, no one knew much of Overlanders so none could be sure how old he really was. He looked at the Mobians and smiled.

"Greetings and salutations my friends!" He said loudly so everyone could hear him, "I extend my dearest apologies for the loss of your village. Yes I know of it. You've all met my fastest robot. Known to you as Red."

Red stepped out of the shadows, wearing the same 'W' as the Overlander on his waist. He grinned and leaned against the wall looking out at the surprised crowd.

"Hey! That's Jonny's robot!" Ali-Su cried, the crowd got behind her in this, calling the man a thief and many other nasty names.

"Jonny? Oh, you mean this Jonny?" The man smiled as if Ali-Su had made a joke and snapped his fingers. a television screen rotated out of the wall above the door and displayed a set of schematics. Very familiar schematics. The design was identical to Jonny in every way. Everyone was shocked, this man had built an entirely realistic Mobian robot, had he made more?

He walked up to Sonic and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Nice to finally see you in the flesh Sonic."

"Get your hands off Sonic!" A voice came from a pink hedgehog. No sooner had the Overlander turned to look at who the voice belonged to, a large hammer connected to his face. Sending the man to the ground. He stood up shakily a few seconds later, holding his head.

"Amy!" Sonic said, staring wide eyed along with the crowd.

"What?" The young Hedgehog asked, not seeing a huge blue hand reaching for her.

The hand grabbed and lifted her up by the ankles. Causing her to drop her hammer. Amy was staring into a pair of mechanical eyes set into the dark recesses of a midnight blue medieval style helmet.

"The impudence!" The robotic knight said, it's eye's blazing with fury. "To striketh my lord is one thing, but to striketh the one who offers you and yours sanctuary is unforgivable!" The robot said, beginning to swing its flail above its head, glaring at Amy.

The crowd looked on in horror, Amy closed her eyes, 'This is it... This is how I'm going to die, at the hands of a robot...'

"That's enough Knight man!" The Overlander said firmly, the knight stopped swinging the flail and retracted the ball back into the hole where his hand should've been.

"But Sir!" Knight man protested, "This act should be punished. Look what she did to thine sunglasses!" It was true, Amy's little stunt had cracked them so bad that one whole half to fall off his face. He instantly shut his eyes.

"No blood, no foul Knight man. Besides, I always keep a spare." The man said, pulling out another pair of shades, exactly like his first ones, and quickly put them on. "Now put her down. Gently."

Knight man grumbled a little but did as he was told. Amy ran over to the Overlander, who was now rubbing his head.

Amy looked over at the man, he had bent over and was gathering the pieces of his sunglasses up and placed them into a pocket in his coat.

"You carry one mean swing girl." He said, smiling at Amy and handing her back her hammer.

"Thanks." Amy said, guilt in her tone. She looked down at her hammer. "I'm sorry for hitting you and breaking your sunglasses. I get a little carried away sometimes." She then looked up at him, smiling. "Besides, we don't get many friendly Overlanders."

"I know." He said, extending his hand to her. "What Knight man said was true. I am here to offer you all asylum. And I'd like to be your friend as well Amy."

She looked at his hand. Something was odd about it, but she shook his hand anyway. Both smiled at each other.

"Hold on! Just who are you?" Tails asked harshly, angry for being tricked.

The Overlander laughed, "A friend." He then looked as kindly as much he could, but with his huge shades the expression was not very powerful.

"Would the Freedom Fighters: Sonic, Princess Sally, Tails, Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine please follow me to the conference room? Oh, and Amy can come too." He said, turning back into the shadows of the tower without waiting for a response. A snap of fingers was heard as the florescent lights buzzed on. The tower's hallways were clean and white, with shiny black ammonium floors.

Red looked at them, "Well?"

"Well what?" Sally asked.

"Don't you want some answers? He has them, so go ask him." Red stated calmly.

"Can we trust you not to harm the others?" Sally asked, her eyes narrowed.

"You trusted me before in the village, Princess."

"Yes, but we were under the impression that you weren't built by an Overlander."

"Nothing's changed; I'm still the same guy you knew. You're just about to learn the whole story."

Sally cautiously walked into the tower, followed by Sonic, Amy, Tails, Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine. All of them expecting a trap...

Ali-Su was fuming in the back. She had been tricked, and she would get even.

To be continued....