The Doom Crystal: Part 2, Stuck Between a Rock and a Very Hard Place Section 2
A Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfic by find-the-lion
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotnik, Snively, Princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, or Miles (Tails) Prower. They are copyrighted by SEGA, DiC Productions, and Archie Comics.
However, Ebony Moon, Taylor Dovewing, Josephine (Arrow) Lisara, and Maria are all copyrighted June 24, 2005 to me, as is this story which is also copyrighted June 24, 2005 to me.
Sally
It was the middle of the night and all of the major Freedom Fighters were gathered in the central meeting hut. Bunnie, it seemed had had a very strange experience while on a reconnaissance mission in Robotropolis. On her return, she had asked that we call a meeting about it because she felt that it could have a great impact on us in the future.
"It goes without sayin'," Bunnie began. "That Ah got the stuff we needed before this happened. But Ah was on mah way outta the city when Ah saw somethin' in an alley Ah passed by."
"What was it Bunnie?" Rotor asked.
"Ah wasn't sure at first, but when Ah got a closer look, Ah thought it looked like a cat." she said, "A black cat with a white face, an' she was walkin' funny, like she couldn' move her arms n' legs right. That was when she saw me. Almost immediately she raised a hand as though to hit me but then, before Ah even raised mah hand to block," She gestured with her roboticized left arm as though reenacting the event. "She suddenly stopped and said "What have I done?" and then, she fell over and started crying." She paused.
"What could that have been all about?" I asked, slightly bewildered.
Bunnie continued, "Ah stood there for a moment, and then she saw me again and yelled "Get away from me" Ah backed off and then Ah saw in the streetlight that there was a scar all down her face." She shook her head as if she still didn't believe it. "Ah tried to see if maybe she needed some help but when Ah tried to get closer to her to she ran like Ah was tryin' to kill 'er."
"It sounds like she was the subject of one of Robotnik's experiments." Rotor mused. "I'd guess that she wasn't in total control of her actions."
I stood up. "Anyone here want to look into this?" I asked.
"Ah'd kinda like to know what happened to her." Bunnie remarked. "She looked like she was in pretty bad shape."
Then Tails spoke up. "Can I come too, pleeeeease?"
Before I could say no, Sonic said, "Sure little bro'. Let's go kick some Robuttnik." Thirty minutes of discussion later, it was decided that Sonic, Tails, and Bunnie and I would leave in the early morning and collect what information that we could before noon. Hopefully, we would be able to do something about this poor creature, but I didn't know what. If Robotnik had really done something to her, there was no telling how this was going to go.
Ebony
Did I fall asleep? I don't know why, because I had every reason not to, but apparently, I realized as I heard Robotnik's voice coming from across the room, I had.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." I now realized that it was coming from a video screen across the room. I also noticed that Snively was fiddling with a control panel right in front of where I was. I also noticed as he moved briefly to the side that there was a button in the center of the panel clearly labeled 'Release'. Hmm. Another idea began forming but first, I decided, to bring this interview with Robotnik to a close so I would have more time alone with Snively, and I don't mean 'that' kind of time.
"Don't I have the right to know what you're going to do to me, since I'm hanging here?" I asked.
Robotnik gave an evil smile. "This is one of my newer inventions. Once it is turned on, it gives a jerk to those shackles, pulling them tighter each time, think of it as a step up from the rack. You'll have about an hour to give me the information I want before the stress on your body becomes too much and then..." He took a piece of paper from off camera and ripped it in half. I shivered involuntarily. If my idea worked, then hopefully I would be long gone before then. It got worse though. As I continued contemplating my situation, I felt a sharp object penetrate my shoulder and looked to see what it was. A robotic arm with a needle at the end retracted into the wall. Within about half a minute, it felt very painful to move. I turned my head back to the screen, as though hoping for an explanation of this occurrence.
Robotnik had none to give, as he was too busy talking to Snively. "I'll be in my chamber if anything comes up."
He left, and then Snively said "You know Miss Moon, that little prick you just felt was my idea. The layman calls it chemical pain. I may be tempted to use more if you don't cooperate, so I would suggest you hurry up with that information." He went to the control panel and hit a button near the one that said 'Release'. Almost immediately, I felt pain searing through my entire body, but I didn't scream. I was too busy trying to think how I could get Snively to press that button.
It was about then that I saw a blue blur running across one of the view screens behind him. Perfect. Give it a few minutes and then I would spring my plan.
Sonic
Sally, Bunnie, Tails, and me were creeping past an old building in Robotropolis when we heard the sounds of feet running towards them through the smog.
We hid behind a pile of garbage and waited. It was none other than the cat we'd been talking about last night. She stopped, looking undoubtedly lost. Then Tails accidentally knocked over the remains of a force field generator. The cat turned, shining a flashlight beam from her right pointer finger. She walked around the rubbish heap until she spotted us. At first, we got ready for a fight but then she cried out "Wait! I'm not here to fight!" The light went out then. It was pitch black where we were now, and I could barely see anything.
The cat stood there in the dark for a few minutes and then spoke. It was more like she was pleading then anything else. "Will you help me? Please." It was rather difficult to see her in the dark, but she sounded on the verge of tears.
"First, tell us who you are." Sally said.
"You'll know what I am if you meet me in a dark alley one night." The cat answered.
"But we're in a dark alley right now." I said. "I don't think I'm having any bright sparks of brilliance here."
"Are ya'll workin' for Robotnik?" Bunnie asked.
"Not out of choice, I won't say more than that. But yesterday night I helped catch a raccoon in this region of Robotropolis."
"What's that got to do with us?" I asked impatiently.
"I'm assuming that you know her because he seemed to associate her with Sonic Hedgehog and the Princess Sally Acorn." The cat answered. "Also, she seems to have in her keeping some information that is valuable to Robotnik, and he's trying to get it from her now."
"Why are you telling us this if you work for Robotnik?" Sally asked.
"I can only tell you these things because I found a way to temporarily escape. That was the first time I had seen a living creature since Robotnik captured me. I don't think I could live with myself if I had a hand in getting her killed. I don't want it on my conscience but there is nothing I can do, that's why I need you're help."
"Killed?" Bunnie asked curiously.
"I can't stay much longer, Robotnik could regain control at any second, and I must leave before I hurt anyone. Farewell Freedom Fighters."
She turned to go when Sally said, "Wait!" She stopped. "What can we call you?"
There was silence for a moment and then the cat answered in a hushed voice. "Maria" With that, she was gone. Someone risked using a flashlight and we looked at each other in its beam. Everyone else looked just as confused.
"Do you think we should look into this, or should we just go? It could be a trap."
"I could check it out." I said.
Sally thought for a minute. "Okay, but take Bunnie with you."
"What about me Aunt Sally?" Tails chimed in.
With that, Bunnie and me took off for Robotnik's fortress, hoping that if this prisoner was real, she'd be okay when we got there.
We were already halfway to Robotnik's main lab when I saw her through a vent shaft. I stopped so fast that Bunnie was slammed against me, knocking us both over.
"Sorry sugah-hog." She said.
"No prob." I whispered back. We picked ourselves up and looked down into the lab.
"Bunnie, look!" I exclaimed in a whisper.
"Isn't that Ebony? What's she doin' here?" Bunnie asked.
Our conversation was interrupted when Ebony yelled, "Hey Sonic! Come back! Don't just leave me here!" Snively's back was turned, and now he whirled around to see what was going down. I was curious now, because I had never been in this lab during the time she was here. I decided to keep watching even while Bunnie started unscrewing the vent cover so we could enter the lab.
"Stupid hedgehog. I see what you're doing! You don't care if I live as long as I don't tell Snively what you're up to!"
Snively was now approaching the wall where she now hung, as though to ask what she was doing.
Ebony continued to panic. "The hedgehog put a bomb on this thing! If you don't get it out from where he put it, it's gonna blow and you'll never be able to get the info you want!"
That got Snively's attention.
He was right in front of her now, demanding where it was so that he could remove it, but then Ebony leaned her head down toward Snively's as though whispering to him, and said in a voice I could barely hear. "It's right in front of you overlander."
With a sound that made Bunnie and me think, "Ow, that's gotta hurt!" She reared back and butted her head into Snively's, pushing him back into the control panel. Almost immediately, her shackles came undone and she landed in a crouch on the floor. As quickly and fluidly as she had landed, she attacked the overlander, knocking him the rest of the way to the ground and in the several minutes during which we got down into the lab, Snively underwent what can only be called a thrashing within an inch of his life.
Bunnie spoke first. "Well, it looks like you didn't need us to rescue ya after all, doesn' it sugah?"
After pummeling Snively one last time, Ebony stood up and turned toward us, although for a moment it was as though she didn't recognize us.
"Hi Ebony, long time no see." I said.
"Hello Sonic. Bunnie." She addressed each of us and then looked back at Snively. "What should we do with him?" It was then I noticed that there was something different about the way she was talking. I couldn't quite figure it out just at the moment, but it just seemed different from the way she usually spoke.
"We have to leave him." Bunnie said. "If we take him with us he'll know where Knothole is and we cain't risk that yet."
"Then why don't we kill him? Robotnik won't miss him." She gave Snively who was now cringing on the ground a look of pure disgust.
"Let's just go before the SWAT-bots show up." Bunnie said. I had to agree with her, this was creeping me out. After going over to the spot where her shoulder bag was and picking it up, she looked as though she might be considering taking a U-turn back over in his direction, although for what purpose, remains her little secret.
"Lets go." I said before anything could happen. Ebony shook her head and turned to climb into the ventilation shaft after us.
As we left the vent for the filthy street, Ebony muttered, "It would have been so sweet to see how he liked being almost pulled in half. Oh well." It was as though a switch had been flipped and the Ebony I remembered was back again. "Hey Sonic, where are we?"
"What do you mean? We're outside Robotnik's fortress, going toward Knothole."
I was beginning to wonder if maybe something really had happened to her during her stay in Robotnik's lab, but she shook her head as though trying to assure us that it wasn't what it looked like, and said. "What I meant was, I don't believe I've been on this street before. Where are we?"
"Oh. It's just a little side street that runs back toward the dump."
"Okay. Did anyone else come or was it just you two?"
Bunnie took that question. "Sally and Tails came, but they're back the meet'n place."
"Well, I guess I'll come with you there, and say hi to everybody, but then I have to get going again. I'm already running late." Ebony remarked.
"Late for what sugah?"
"I have a friend up near the edge of the plains who needs my help."
"Doing what?" I asked.
"Well." Ebony began. "You see, he has some family in one of the tribes that live on the plains, and just recently, this tribe just upped and left their usual hunting grounds. He wants me to help him find them again. The shaman that runs the tribe has a power stone she can use to protect the tribe, but the tribes don't usually deviate from their established turf unless there's something really wrong. And my friend's very worried." All this time we had been creeping through the streets toward our meeting place, all the while watching for SWAT-bots and stuff.
"Is there any way we could do something about this?" I asked.
"That's very generous of you Sonic, but I'm already going and Hank's pretty sure this is only a tracking mission." We saw Sally and Tails up ahead, and Tails waved at us. Ebony spoke again as we got closer. "We're here? I guess I'd better get going then. Like I said, I can't stick around, because I'm running late as it is."
"Late for what." Sally had just arrived.
"Oh nothing. Hello Sally, long time no see!"
"Are you all right?" Sally asked.
Ebony grinned. "I just kicked gave Snively a butt-kicking he won't soon forget. I'm great."
"Hi Ebony!" Tails said. He hadn't spent as much time with her as the rest of us, but he had met her during her stay at Knothole and they seemed to hit it off pretty well.
"Wow Tails, you've grown an inch or two." Ebony exclaimed, ruffling his headfur.
Tails just grinned.
"What exactly are you late for?" Sally asked curiously.
"I really don't have time to explain, but one of my buddies up near the Great Plains is worried about some family he has in one of the tribes up there and he wants to see where they went."
"I've never heard of any villages up there." Sally said.
"Well, there is one." Ebony said. "And I need to get going." With that she turned toward the forest and started walking quickly in that direction.
I suddenly had an idea. "Hey Ebby! Wait!" She turned around curiously. "If Robotnik were to get a'hold of that shaman person's power stone, it would be really bad right?"
She was facing us again, looking slightly annoyed now. "Yeah, it would be very bad. Not only could he kill off Hank's tribe, he'd also be able to find the other tribes too. Why?"
I decided to go on with my idea. "What if a few of us decided to go with you, just to be on the safe side?"
"Sonic, if your suggesting that I am going to have a string of freedom fighters on my tail all the way to Lilac then you can forget it. I respect you guys as friends, but I have no intention of dragging you guys all the way through the Great Forest only to let you bore yourselves to death while Hank and I are only out hunting for footprints." Ebony said, although she seemed about halfway to laughing. She turned to leave for the third time.
"But power stones happen to be a specialty of ours." I called after her. "The last thing I'd want would be to let it get in Robotnik's hands."
Ebony seemed to be debating with herself. "Once again, I appreciate your offer, but no, now if you will excuse me, I have to get going." For the fourth and last time she turned to leave, and after waving to us, she left us to discuss this new development.
Ebony
"Weird." I thought to myself as I entered the open lands around Robotropolis. What happened back there? It wasn't that I didn't know what happened specifically, but how it happened. For one thing, that stuff I'd been injected with. What Snively had called chemical pain? I would have thought that I would have been in agony for hours afterward, if the stuff was going to live up to it's name, but instead, it wasn't any worse than a bee sting. My body had stopped reacting to it just before Sonic arrived.
And then there was that moment when I had gotten myself free and nearly clobbered Snively. Had I really suggested killing him? I don't know. I guess I never really thought of myself as being that… well… ruthless. At the same time, wouldn't it have been for the best to go ahead and deal with the enemy right then rather then continue that vicious cycle of attacking and then retreating without a major victory? It was an interesting dilemma. As I said, weird.
The sun was setting now, and it was getting darker under the trees as I approached the edge of the forest. Once I was actually under the trees, I started to relax. The smells of the forest and the evening sounds were at last giving me the chance to calm down. The prospect of making camp soon and hopefully getting to Lilac Point tomorrow sounded like a wonderful.
I walked on until I found one of my favorite campsites in this area; a small lake with lots of rocks around it. I entered the clearing and started surveying it to determine where the best spot was to set up camp. It was then that it occurred to me. I wasn't really all that far from Knothole now that I thought about it and who was I kidding? I wasn't going to get very far once it got really dark. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to stay there tonight. Besides, I'd been kind of rude to Sonic and the gang. Perhaps I should try to make it up to them.
I sat on a rock that hung over the lake for a moment, pondering my choices. A moment was all I got because my thoughts were soon interrupted. All of a sudden, I heard a crashing noise to the east of my current location, and then a loud female voice.
"Meet thy end robotic scum!"
"Now what?" I thought to myself as I stood up and started running toward the noise. "They'd better not have found Knothole! I've had enough bad news for one day." When added to the synthesized voice saying "Surrender biologicals by order of Robotnik!", it was quite obvious that someone, or more than one someone, was going toe to toe with some SWAT-bots.
When I reached the clearing, which I may point out, was no closer to Knothole then the lake was, you are not going to believe what I saw, and at first, I didn't either.
There were a pair of foxes, each equipped with a bow, and a quiver of arrows and each one of them were attempting to take on four SWAT-bots. This in itself was not unusual, but would the fact that they were both airborne by virtue of the fact that each of them were endowed with a pair of wings as white as a snowdrift.
I rubbed my eyes and looked again, thinking that what I'd just experienced in Robotnik's lab had done something to my eyes. It hadn't. It was then that I realized that these two creatures were starting to lose in spite of their apparent expertise with their chosen weapons.
Suddenly, a laser whizzed past one of them and exploded on a tree right behind her. This one fell to the ground like a stone, knocked out from the shock. The other dived for her companion, dragged her into the woods, and began taking random shots at them from above in the trees.
After seeing this, I decided to take an active role in the fighting. I pulled my pistol out of my shoulder bag, made sure it was fully charged, and then aimed for the nearest available SWAT-bot. One shot, and the first one was down. Too easy. Then I aimed at the other one.
The remaining creature had been apparently put off by the first shot but when the SWAT hit the ground, she sent a perfect bulls-eye through the other one before I could get a clear aim. There was only two now. Odds I was comfortable with. I revealed my position and started firing in rapid succession, destroying the last SWAT-bots, and clearing the area.
I put my blaster back in my shoulder bag and then called up to whatever that creature was. "Are you all right?" No answer. "Whoever you are, I'm not going to hurt you. Will you please show yourself?"
This time I was answered by a rustling in the bushes on the other side of the clearing and the appearance of the second creature. We stood there and regarded each other for some time. Whatever this fox creature was, she had very light tan fur, almost white, but not quite. She was about a head taller than an average Mobian, and her wings had disappeared without a trace.
Her blond hair went down to just above her shoulders. She wore a quiver of arrows, a pair of green gloves that went up to just below the elbows, a green hunters cap with a red feather in it, and a pair of green boots.
Suddenly she spoke. "Well, are you finished gawking at me?"
"Oh." I looked away as I felt my face grow a little warm. "I'm sorry. I've just never seen anyone dressed like you before. You're not from around here are you?"
The creature grinned. "That obvious, eh?"
I nodded sheepishly.
The fox's expression became serious again. "Could you please help my friend, she seems to be hurt."
I nodded and followed the fox as she went into the trees. "If you don't mind my asking, what are you exactly?" I asked.
"A wingfox. We are very rare species." By now, we had reached the spot where the wingfox had deposited her companion. She didn't appear to be seriously hurt but the tumble she had taken seemed to have knocked her out.
I surveyed the scene and then asked, "Do you have a place to stay for the night?"
The girl shook her head. "We were moving toward one of our bunkers in the marsh and we got separated from our companions three days ago. We've been trying to find them ever since."
"What's your name?"
"My name is Taylor, and if she's all right, then this is my friend Josephine, although everyone has always called her Arrow." She said.
I smiled "Nice to meet you and my name's Ebony." I looked around at the materials at hand. "I know a place where you can stay and it's not far from here. Then, if you want, I'll see if I can find someone to help you get to the marsh area once your friend wakes up. I'd do it myself, but I have to be somewhere very soon."
With some difficulty, we managed to get the other wingfox's two arms over our shoulders. This accomplished, we headed in the direction of Knothole, which, was just southeast of here.
It was a lot harder than if we had been carrying a normal mobian because unlike Taylor the other fox hadn't withdrawn her wings. Taylor gave me the brief explanation that wingfoxes can do that when they are not airborne. I told them they needed to meet Tails when we got to Knothole, as he would probably be very interested to learn about other flying foxes, and as I started seeing lights emanating from the edge of the village, I had the feeling that that would soon become a definite possibility.
To Be Continued...