(sigh) to many disclaimers for the disclaimers... lets get to the action already... o and remember to keep sending in those reviews.
A Visitor From Afar
Ch 9 Evil Rising
Meanwhile……….
Sally, Antoine and Sonic sat at the table in the War Room waiting patiently for Rotor to return with Tails, and as if on cue Rotor and Tails entered the room. "Bout time Rote." Sonic grumbled as he leaned back in his chair.
"Sorry Sally, I couldn't find Bunnie, but I did find Tails." Rotor explained as he took a seat next to Antoine and Tails took a spot next to Sonic.
From her place at the head of the table Sally nodded. "That's okay Rotor, I can relate everything to her later." Sally turned her gaze from Rotor to Sonic. "So Sonic, did Uncle Chuck know anything."
Sonic shrugged his shoulders apprehensively. "He was just as surprised when I told him. He knew there was some kind of disturbance last night, but he never even saw this guy. And if he is working for 'Buttnik Uncle Chuck figures Robotnik is keeping the plan real close to that bloated vest a' his. He does know that Robotnik is analyzing some strange crystal in one of his labs and he knows where it is too. He also gave me a copy of some preliminary scans of the thing, I think." Sonic really wasn't an expert on such things so his uncertainty hardly surprised anyone.
"Here Rotor take a look at these." Sally said handing the papers Sonic had given her to the walrus. Rotor quickly scanned the readings, becoming engrossed in them.
"Sorry Sally, I'll have to take a closer look at these later in order to figure something out." Rotor scratched his head, baffled by the odd readings.
"So Uncle Chuck didn't know anything else?" Sally asked her disappointment apparent in her voice.
"He's said he'll look into it more closely, but he figures anything related ta Bolt-for-Butt's most recent plan will be heavily encrypted so he's not sure he can find much that will be useful." Sonic said just before his stomach started growling.
Sally grinned with the rest of her friends and said. "Fine, I still need to finish finally preparations for the mission tonight, so is there anything else we need to discuss?"
Antoine raised his hand a little hesitantly. "My liege, I am not so certain zis 'Slasher' person can be trusted, we should have him placed under ze custody in ze jailhouse."
"(Sigh) No guys, I'm certain that he's who he says he is. Besides, after hearing Dulcy relayed that story he told Tails and her earlier today I'm beginning to think he's not even from this planet. The fact that she believes him and what he has said about where he is from, despite how far fetched it sounds, is reason enough for us to give him the benefit of the doubt. And the fact that if he was out to kill us I'm certain he would have done so already. I'm certain we can trust him if we give him a chance." Sally said in a coaxing, persuasive way.
"As much as I hate to admit it, but I agree with Ant' on this one, we just can't trust him Sal." Sonic spoke up with a hint of disgust in his voice.
"Sonic, give him a chance, he might prove to be a valuable asset if we just be patient with him. If he is from another planet, then he's likely got nothing to do with Robotnik as it is. It's just a matter of figuring out how he got here and how to send him back." The others looked skeptical of the idea, but Sally hadn't steered them wrong yet, so none of them felt the need to ague any further; though the others didn't relent grumbling to themselves queitly. "Alright how's about we call this meeting to close and everyone get something to eat then." Sally finished with a smile that everyone quickly returned.
To that everyone nodded and filed out of the room in quick order. Tails was first out the door and he waited outside the door for Sonic to exit. As soon as the speedy blue one exited the door, Tails approached him with an unsure demeanor on his face. "Hey, Sonic, you want to go have a picnic out in the Great Forest?"
"Great idea lil' buddy!" Sonic patted Tails on the head getting a big smile on his face. "Where did ya wanna eat?"
"How about you go back to our hut and get some food and I'll meet you at the old lake." Tails suggested.
"What are you going to do?" Sonic asked becoming a little suspicious of Tails' lack of participation in the set up of the picnic.
"Um… I've, uh, got something I have to take care of… I'll meet you there." Tails stammered trying to avoid revealing his real reason.
"Well, alright, but don't take too long, or else there might not be any food left by the time ya get there." Sonic joked just before he raced off through the corridors of the limestone caves. Tails sighed, relieved that Sonic had not questioned him further.
He was about to leave to put part two of his plan into action when a suspicious Princess Sally walked up behind him with her arms crossed in a very authoritative way. "And just what are you planning young man?"
Tails stopped dead in his tracks and spun around upon hearing her voice. "Aunt' Sally, I… I was, just planning on going on a picnic… with Sonic and I was… going to bring Slasher…so they could to get to know each other." Tails said innocently, he knew he couldn't lie to his adopted 'aunt' so he didn't even bother trying. He still said it with great uncertainty, unsure how his 'Aunt' would react to a plan such as this.
Instead of being angry like he had expected Sally actually smiled warmly. "Hmm… that's a great idea, Sonic's is being so stubborn with Slasher, they both don't seem too fond of each other. Maybe those two hard-heads might actually get along and become friends. Just where are you going on your picnic?"
"The old lake." Tails responded quickly, dreading she may not approve the idea because the pond was beyond the safety of Knothole. Again he was to be surprised by his aunt.
"Well, as long as Sonic is with you I think you should be okay. Just to be safe though, blindfold Slasher when you leave Knothole and come back and make sure he doesn't know where the entrance is." Sally pondered but became more comfortable of the idea as she told Tails the conditions of the arrangement.
Tails' ears drooped down a little. "(Moan) But, 'Aunt' Sally I trust him, isn't that enough?" Tails replied sadly.
"I know sweetie, but I can't risk Knothole's safety on just that. I trust him too, but what if he's captured and forced to reveal the entrance's location?" Sally coaxed, softly stroking the small tuff of hair that clung to Tails' forehead soothingly.
"Gee, I never thought of that…" Tails pondered as his ears perked up in surprise realizing the omission of that detail in his plan. "Alright Sally, I'll do that for you." He finished by giving the squirrel-chipmunk hybrid a hug before running off, leaving Sally smiling as she watched the happy young kit gleefully run down the hallway.
A moment later………
Tails made good time through the headquarters winding tunnels and before long was standing in front of the training facility. He rounded the corner to see Slasher and Bunnie chatting on the outside of the perimeter wall of the sparring circle. The way Bunnie was propping her arm against the wall caught Tails' as rather strange; so he went over to them intending to find out what happened.
"Hey Bunnie, what's wrong with your arm?" he shouted out as he ran up to her. As he got closer the deep holes in her metallic arm became visible and his concern suddenly spiked. "Whoa, 'Aunt' Bunnie, what happened?" he asked as he took the limp, heavy limb into his hands and inspected the damage more closely.
"Now don't worry yer little ole' self 'bout me, Sugar-Tails. Me an' Slasher got a little carried away practisin' our sparrin'." Bunnie reassured Tails by placing her real hand on his shoulder. "It's nothin' ta fret over. I best get a' goin' now or else mah poor little arm her might plumb well freeze up on me. Later ya'll" Bunnie bid farewell as she waved her hand, letting the metal arm dangle to her side.
"Man Slasher, you did that to Bunnie's arm? How'd that happen?" Tails asked still curious about what had happened.
"Like Bunnie said, I got a little carried away, but have to say, she's one heck of a fighter." Slasher stated with an admiring smile as he watched Bunnie strut away.
"Ya, she's pretty tough, but she's really nice deep down. I'm surprised you managed to damage her arm the way you did." Tails admitted as he joined Slasher in his admiring stare as his 'Aunt' rounded the corner to the training center and disappeared from view. Tails suddenly remembered the reason he was there and turned to face the Guardian Dragon. "Say Slasher, are you getting hungry?"
"Yes actually, I think I could go for something to eat." Slasher admitted, soothing his rumbling tummy by rubbing it gently.
"Great, I know just the place c'mon." Tails nearly cried out with glee. He calmed himself down a bit as he remembered what Sally had asked of him. "Um, Slasher, there's just one thing, Sally wants me to blindfold you so you don't find out where the entrance to Knothole is."
Slasher gave the kit a look of apprehension, but then nodded as he understood what Tails said. "It's alright Tails; I don't blame any of you for not trusting me. One thing though, we're leaving the village?" he asked giving a look of confusion at the idea of leaving the village to go have some lunch.
"Yea, we're going to eat out in the Great Forest, I thought you might like to see it, it's really beautiful." Tails explained worried Slasher might not like the idea.
"Very well young one, lead on." Slasher waved his hands politely with a little bow. Tails took the lead and proceeded back towards the cliff face. They entered the headquarters and made good time through the compound and made their way to the secret entrance.
Meanwhile in Robotropolis…..
Doctor Robotnik stood before a large bank of blinking computer monitors, brooding over the wealth of information that scrolled across their screens. Half the monitors displayed the preliminary data on the scans of the strange crystal that Robotnik had seized from the creature, none of it made any sense, the crystals molecular structure was too orderly, every molecule lined up perfectly, too perfect to have been made naturally. And that wasn't the strangest part; the crystal didn't appear to be composed of any atomic elements the bloated human had ever seen before. Whatever this was it was something completely foreign to this world, perhaps more rare then even the vaunted Chaos Emeralds.
Robotnik diverted his attention to the other monitors that displayed readings from the failed experiment with the Void. One of the readings showed the telemetry that the Swatbot had been transmitting just before the timer had reached zero. Once the timer reached zero the signal stopped, by what Robotnik could gather, the return beacon had activated and opened a portal out of the void, but was closed almost as instantly shut. "Hmm… perhaps the particle cannon's blast hit the Swatbot within the zone just as the return device activated and destroyed it. It if that was the case such a portal opening and closing so quickly might have created a tremendous suction force into the zone." The evil doctor thought quietly to himself as he ran his large fingers over his equally large chin. "That would mean a hole was opened in the zone momentarily, the creature could have been sucked into the zone and somehow drifted into the Void Gateway."
Robotnik's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Snively appeared on one of the monitors before Robotnik and spoke to him in his whimpering, nervous voice. "Sir, upgrades to the 'Badnik's are complete, sir." Snively reported in his nasal, English accent.
"Excellent, display them now Snively." Robotnik grinned with malice satisfaction. Immediately another of the monitors changed. The room displayed was dark, an eerie set of silhouettes stood in front of the area illuminated by the single light on in the room. The line up of ranged in height shape from tall and slender bipeds to ones that did not even touch the ground. The menacing figures all possessed eerie glowing eyes that were a blood red colour, making them appear all the more imposing.
"Now, my mechanical minion's, go, and seek out that creature and bring him back here… ALIVE…" Robotnik hissed, the thought of having to bring that creature back alive disgusted him, but if he wanted to uncover the power the crystal possessed he would need to… persuade, the creature into revealing the information he needed. "You're upgrades will make you more then a match for that creature, go now, and don't come back till you retrieve the creature." The robots in perfect unison saluted the dictator and the monitor displaying them deactivated.
"Sir, have you discovered how that creature got here yet, sir?" Snively inquired from his monitor.
"I believe so yes, Snively." Robotnik sputtered, annoyed by the question Snively asked, especially since he still didn't fully know himself. "Somehow a combination of the void and it strange properties, the Swatbot's self-return portal generator and the particle cannon created some sort of gateway that the creature got sucked into. It doesn't explain everything, but it does explain a few things at least."
"Sir, might I ask what a Particle Cannon was doing in the Void Chamber?" Snively asked leaning closer to his monitor with interest.
"Idiot, don't you remember what kind of people we've banished there?" Robotnik shouted angrily at his foolish nephew. "Ixis Naugus, Kodos, King Acorn! I had that Particle cannon placed there as a fail safe in case any of them ever tried to escape the zone through the Gateway. Unfortunately those bumbling imbeciles Coconuts and Crabmeat activated the cannon and activated a fail safe protocol built into the system."
"Failsafe, what kind of fail safe protocol?" Snively asked, he had never been given much security clearance with anything related to the Void, especially after Robotnik had been briefly sent there himself.
"If the cannon should go off by accident the blast would destroy the Gateway's door, it would be impossible to seal; and the Void would suck everything into it. So I designed a fail safe that would open the door in case the cannon was activated without the door being open first to prevent that from happening. However, because of that the particle cannon's blast was able to enter the void and destroy the Swatbot and my prototype guidance system. The self-return device activated, but was immediately destroyed and closed the portal it had briefly opened. Something like that would have turned the portals opening into a massive vacuum and probably sucked the creature into. The creature then must have been blown though the Gateway as the Swatbot exploded." Robotnik's explanation seemed to satisfy Snively's curiosity, but it looked like something else still bothered him.
"That does make some sense, sir, after all the energy disturbance caused by the power of the particle cannon would have sent the void through a massive shock wave throughout the zone, the echoing wave could have carried the creature right to the gateway in that blast of energy that surged out of the void." Snively said as he thought aloud his theory.
"Exactly, but the how of the creature's arrival is not what bothers me most now, it is figuring out how to make use of the powers that crystal possesses. Have you learned anything else yet?" Robotnik sighed at the mention of the crystal. It annoyed him how this crystal held its secrets so well. "Have the secondary scans finished?"
"Not yet, sir, we've been running on our inferior back-up generators ever since the Particle Cannon fired; it drained and fried the generators. I've only been able to achieve 48 power from the back-ups. Shall I reroute power from other power grids to output to speed the process, sir." Snively reported as he turned in front of the monitor to allow Robotnik a view of the crystal as it was being scanned.
"Do it, I want to learn just what kind of power that crystal might possess. And I'm a very impatient person Snively." Robotnik leaned towards the monitor closer to the monitor, causing Snively to gulp in anxiety from intimidation.
"Y-Y-yes sir, right away, sir." Snively gulped as his monitor winked off.
Meanwhile….
Deep within the dark bowels of Robotropolis, beneath a seemingly large pile of robotic junk, a secret bunker lay below the hidden folds of the camouflage. Deep inside the bunker Robotnik's voice could be heard, conversing with Snively. But not because they were in the room, it was because a third party was secretly listening in to their conversation. The room had a low roof and was cluttered with all manner of computer and surveillance gear. A light blue robotic hedgehog sat before a large bank of computer gear as he watched a live transmission between Robotnik in his command room and Snively in one of the main labs within their fortress. This robot was none other then Sir Charles the Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. It had been some time since he had regained his free will and set up this spy station, but as it had on so many other occasions, it was paying off, big time.
He listened intently to their conversation, absorbing all they said into his robotic memory system. From what he gathered, it sounded like they were talking about an experiment that had gone wrong. It had taken Chuck quite some time to systematically scan Robotnik's files and avoid electronic detection, slowly piecing together what happened. The idea that Robotnik was experimenting with the Void sent a shiver down his metallic body. It showed Robotnik was willing to spare no expense to win this war, even if it meant toying with something as dangerous as the Void; making Chuck's job that much more important. While precisely what Robotnik was planning still a befuddled him, he did know something more about this strange creature now; which was something least.
Robotnik bellowed something to Snively about analyzing some crystal, likely the one Chuck had dug up those scans on, and told him that he wanted to learn what power the crystal possessed as soon as possible. "So that's their game is it? No doubt he intends to use it in a weapon of some sort. I'm sure the Princess will want to know about this." Uncle Chuck mumbled to himself as he disconnected his pirate signal from his communication hub. He ran a quick system check to verify that no security systems had locked onto his signal and retired from the spy gear and went over to his power generator to recharge his battery.
Back in Robotnik's command room
Robotnik raised a gloved hand to his chin as he thought for a moment. "Computer, display read out of the creature." The computer beeped in response and displayed a three dimensional image of Slasher in the form that he had originally arrived in. Robotnik had taken the liberty of performing a scan of the creature while he had been unconscious on the torture rack. The image rotated slowly, giving Robotnik a good look at the structural make up of the creature. In the corners of the monitor 3-D images of his sword and shield rotated giving detailed readings of dimensions and proportions. Seeing the image of the creature Robotnik remembered how the fierce and skillfully it had fought, perhaps….
A cruel grin crept underneath Robotnik's thick mustache as a brilliant idea struck him. Robotnik began typing commands into his computer, sending orders and commands to everything he would need to accomplish his task, speaking in a deep voice that accompanied his evil thoughts. "Oh this will be perfect, my greatest creation ever, the perfect assassin; the Freedom Fighters, will never know… what-hit-them." (Ha ahahah….!)
(! BUM BUM Bummm….. !) (! more ominous music. !)
End Ch 9
I wonder if that joke is getting old yet? Oh well, what is Robotnik plotting? What's going to happen next? Will Bunnie get her arm working again? Is the Author going to shut up yet? Will he stop asking plot provoking questions? Will he quit with these stupid jokes and start writing the next chapter already? To find out stay tuned till next time; Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.
Okay, so the lame jokes are going to keep coming but that's the only question I'm going to answer.
