.
44 B. "Fire Works"
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"Mother… It's me, Blaze… Mother, wake up…. Please… Mother!"
Blaze woke up gasping for air and in a cold sweat. But as she paused to look around at the straw walls and the makeshift bed she was in, she wasn't sure if she was awake or still dreaming.
"Where… Where am I?"
"Not where, when."
She jumped to her feet and threw up her fists in alarm.
"WAH! Woah-woah-woah! Blaze, it's me!" exclaimed the startled white hedgehog with extra fluffy spikes.
"…Silver?" gasped the purple Persian cat.
"Hi," he smiled sheepishly. "I was hoping you'd remember me."
Her ears drooped and her yellow eyes narrowed. "How can I forget the boy who jumps from one time era to the next? Speaking of which…?"
Silver nodded, "Right, let me explain: Earlier in my world, I did some research on past wars that made an impact on life in my timeline."
"Wait," Blaze stopped him. "I thought our last adventure saved your world."
"It did… At least it saved it from oblivion. But there's still so much more that needs fixing, like certain countries and cities that are still ruined by wars of the past. That's why I used Time Control again, only this time I had one thing on my mind: War. It brought me here, to the climax of the Iron Empire's last stand."
Blaze curiously peeked through the straw hut's blanket for a door, seeing nothing but fresh jungle outside, and various woodlanders walking around in traditional Chinese garments, carrying wood blocks and weapons.
"We're in the Dragon Kingdom?" she mused softly. "But… How did I get here?"
"That was an accident," frowned Silver the Hedgehog. "See, I met with your great-gramma, Ebony the Cat, and-"
"NO!" As she screamed, Blaze threw herself back into the hut, plowing Silver into a straw wall and cupped his mouth shut. "You didn't tell her who I am, did you? Did you?"
"Mm-mm! Mm-mm!" he mumbled back, shaking his head fearfully.
"Good," replied Blaze as she let him go. "We mustn't say or do anything that could jeopardize the future. My present world is already a mess…"
While clutching onto his puffy tuft of chest fur nervously, Silver frowned, "Why, what's happening in your world?"
Blaze turned around with her arms crossed, not wanting to show her own vulnerability. "…A lot has happened, but the worst part is that my mother is under a powerful spell. She thinks she's the Iron Queen, reborn. Now she's helping the Dark Legion take over one kingdom at a time."
"The Iron Queen," echoed Silver. "…Wait, that's it! That's perfect!" he smiled.
Offended, Blaze turned back to him with flames spouting from her paws. "How could you call that perfect?"
He backed up into the wall again, half shielding himself. "I- I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry. It's just that… we're here. We're right when the Iron Queen is about to attack the last group of rebel armies, and if we help out, we can stop her…"
As Blaze's temper cooled, so did her paws. "…You're right, Silver."
"Whew," he sighed to himself.
"Maybe my being here is a blessing in disguise. Maybe if I put an end to the real Iron Queen here, then my mother will be restored."
"That's was what I was thinking," smiled the hedgehog. "…By the way, you never did introduce me to your family. What's your mom like? –I mean, when she's not possessed or anything like that?"
Still reserving her personal feelings, Blaze replied bluntly, "She's a good queen."
Silver dared not reply, instead he followed her out of the tent and into the open, where Marine was already palling up with Techno, Johnny and the other warriors.
"And that's when I saved the island from Eggman Nega," concluded Marine on one of many of her tall tales, while her new friends tried to look impressed as they polished their weapons.
"Who is this Eggman?" asked a curious Techno Canary, "and why does he have 'Nega' in his name?"
"Well," Marine started, when Blaze came from behind and covered her mouth.
"That's a story for another time," replied the lavender cat. She then gave Marine a cold glare and a grimace. "I can't believe you followed me here, Marine."
The little raccoon shrugged, "Well, we were kind of pulled into a vortex together, weren't we? There was nothin' I coulda done about that."
"I meant you followed me onto the ship when I told you not to."
"But we're mates, mate! We need to stick together, don't we?"
Blaze's grimace remained, even as Silver came over to smile, "So, this is Marine huh? Nice to finally meet you, I'm Silver the Hedgehog."
"Oh, right! You're the time traveler. Ripper!" cheered Marine.
"No, Silver."
"Right, Silver."
"Then why did you just call me Ripper?"
Blaze rubbed her brow in irritation; "We're wasting time. Who's in charge around here?"
"I am," came a smooth female voice. The trio turned and saw Ebony the Cat walking toward them. Blaze and company noticed that the other warriors stopped what they were doing to either bow or genuflect before her.
"Who is she, Blaze?" whispered Marine.
"That," Blaze whispered back, "is my ancestor, Ebony the Cat."
"Your anscest-Mmf!" squealed Marine as Blaze cupped her mouth yet again to keep her quiet.
"Say nothing," warned Blaze softly as Ebony stood before them.
The tall black cat paused to look intently at the three new faces. "…I deeply apologize; it was by my magic that you three were summoned to our time."
"Feev mabbik?" muffled Marine.
"We could, of course, use as much help as we can to stop the Iron Queen."
"Bee I-worn Peem iff meer?"
Blaze finally uncovered Marine's mouth and sighed, "Yes Marine, the real Iron Queen is here, and we're going to stop her from taking over our future. And when I say 'we,' I mean Silver and I."
The tan raccoon pouted. "Aw, but Blaze. Haven't I been helpful all these years? I am a Sol Emerald guardian, after all."
"Not in this time period you're not. Besides, you're still too young, and this adventure is far too dangerous."
"But Tails is about my age, and he's always with Sonic."
"Tails… Tails is a special case," Blaze tried to argue half-heartedly.
"No fair! I built my own ship from the ground up! I've been keeping my islands safe for two years!"
"Yes, and then you got captured and frozen in place!" snapped the lavender princess.
This came as a sharp backlash for Marine as she took a step backward in shock. Then her ears drooped and her frown curled to indicate that she was about to cry.
Blaze stood her ground and hissed, "You're staying here, Marine. That's an order from your princess."
"But… b-b-but…" Marine turned around and crossed her arms. "Fine. Treat me like a kid, for all I care."
Blaze glanced away. "You are a kid."
"I heard that!" With a huff, Marine stormed off in a fit of anger. As she marched off, she softly muttered, "I'll show her…"
Blaze sighed deeply with closed eyes before facing her great-grandmother. "I'm very sorry about that, Your Excellency."
Ebony blushed softly. "Oh, you don't have to address me that way; just call me Ebony… And you were right to keep her out of this. I just hope you're up to the task at hand."
Blaze glanced at the sheepish hedgehog nearby. "My friend and I can handle anything."
"Good," nodded Ebony. "Then we have no time to lose; we must head for the Fire Market where the Legion is forging new weapons. It's a small step, but a critical one."
Blaze and Silver gave her a silent nod of agreement.
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- FIRE MARKET ZONE -
Fire Market was designed much like a traditional oriental marketplace, with red-roofed buildings lined perfectly parallel to each other and the streets paved in white stone. At the end of most corners were large heavily-detailed gates like ones seen in a Chinese market. Directly above most streets were woven cable lines decorated in either long red flags or round orange lanterns. And just about every outside store had silky tent tops that were elastic enough to act as trampolines. But what really made this market earn its name was the fact that the biggest selling items were large rocket-shaped fireworks. They would prove valuable to Ebony and her team.
Sneaking into the marketplace was easy thanks to the black robes they were wearing, courtesy of Johnny's knack of thievery. They were still cautious enough to hide in dark alleyways though, as black-robed Legionnaires marched down the streets.
Ebony whispered to Blaze, "It's been said that the Legionnaires are converting the town's firecrackers into deadly missiles. All we have to do is use up their gunpowder, and we'll be one step ahead of them."
"Sounds too easy," Blaze whispered back.
"We should split into teams. Silver, you go with Johnny to the East; Techno, you go with Porker to the West. Sun-Wu and Morian will head South. Blaze, you stick with me and we'll head North."
"Good thinking, Ebony," smiled the lavender cat. "Alright teams, whenever you're ready… Let's do this."
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- ACT I -
Selected Team: Black Magic (Ebony and Blaze)
Blaze took off down the straight and narrow path, straight into a speed booster on the road and allowed her to blaze a trail of fire. In boost mode, she knocked back four lynx ninjas that stood in her path and a long set of rings were drawn to her almost all at once.
Ring Count: 11
Blaze then had to quick-step left, right, and left again through a passageway that was blocked off by market stands. As she tore through the alley, she blazed a new trail through an open square where black-robed Legionnaires were waiting, armed with laser guns. Blaze used her homing attack to take out each one, eight in total, in just five seconds. Then she ran a lap around a water fountain to grab more rings before moving forward.
Ring Count: 19
Blaze ran toward a market stand and jumped upward to the long red flag hanging horizontally over it. The flag acted as a trampoline, sending Blaze flying straight up onto the red rooftops of the block. There she found both a boost pad and a trio of bouncers that launched her through the air. Then she grabbed ahold of a flag on a cable line and zip-lined down to the lower level, and rolled herself into a sword-wielding ninja.
Blaze then tagged in Ebony who came from behind; "Allow me the honor," said the black cat.
Ebony was only half as fast as Blaze, but took advantage of a speed booster on the road straight ahead, kicking into high gear past dozens of market carts and straight into three lines of Rings.
Ring Count: 32
She was the first to find a giant firecracker rocket, with a red top and pale center, just waiting for someone to grab onto its handle as it was launched into the air. It took Ebony spiraling straight upward and over a red rooftop. Then it started to flash red, indicating that it was about to blow up. She then let go as it burst into multi-colored fireworks, and used a homing attack to grab onto a cable of lanterns, zip-lining back toward the ground.
She then ran into another speed booster that launched her forward into a dark alley with red archways, and wooden crates that were hiding item boxes. She ran into one, releasing a basic green force field. Upon reaching a dead end, she jumped to one wall, then to its opposite, in a diagonal format until she was on the rooftops. Waiting for her there were Legionnaires armed with laser guns.
"I can use their weapons against them," she demonstrated by thrusting her open palm forward, and instantly the laser guns exploded in their owners' arms. This was enough to render the enemies unconscious.
"Allow me," purred Blaze as she jumped into play. She grabbed onto a cable of golden oval lanterns to zip-line across a fork in the road and landed into another open square with a fountain haloed by rings. She took advantage of it with her boost effect, magnetizing the rings to her as she spun around the fountain.
Ring Count: 54
Seven Legionnaires were running toward her, and so she tagged Ebony back into play. Ebony had to target her enemies before using her black magic on them once more, causing their laser guns to self-destruct. Afterwards, she hung a right and down another dark alleyway. She used her black magic to make wooden crates blocking her path to self-explode. In doing this, she was rewarded by rings that were hidden inside them.
Ring Count: 67
"Leave this to me," purred Blaze as she tore down the alleyway and onto a flag trampoline that pushed her upward onto a rooftop. A ninja star hit her unexpectedly, but thanks to her force field it counted as a free hit. She used her boost effect to run down her ninja enemies before making a leap of faith toward a launching firecracker bomb. The bomb was twice her size, as they all were, and when she grabbed onto its one handle bar, it carried her through the air, spiraling up down and all around.
She hung on until it started to flash red, but didn't let go until she was close enough to jump into a set of rainbow rings in mid-air, which carried her even further above the marketplace. As a reward, she gained more rings and a chance to land onto a rooftop that was otherwise inaccessible.
Ring Count: 82
Blaze was boosted forward by yet another well-placed boost mat, shooting her straight forward into a Ten-Ring box.
Ring Count: 92
She jumped off the roof, just as another firecracker missile was coming down on her from behind. It exploded into multi-colored fireworks, but none of them singed her. As any cat would, she landed comfortably on her feet and pressed on.
"Allow me the honor," said Ebony as she was tagged back into play. She ran down a sloped hill past many more outside shops, and just barely missed getting struck by arrows from the lynx ninjas that were hiding behind the crates.
"I can use a temporary shield," she reminded herself; when the arrows did in fact get too close to her, she summoned up a small blue shield that knocked them back for a good second or two.
She jumped onto a flag as a trampoline, then a higher one, onto a flying firecracker missile that send her on a spiraling whirl through the air. She let go just as it began to flash red, and watched it explode into many colors onto a high tower nearby. As she fell, she used her own homing attack to land on a yellow bumper that made her bounce straight up into five more rings.
Ring Count: 95
Blaze was then tagged in to pick up the pace; she launched herself like a fiery comet straight down the pathway, drifting into a sharp left turn into an open area where Legionnaires were waiting to attack her. She boosted herself forward to bypass them and jumped onto the last firecracker missile in the area. This one took her on a wild ride, straight up ten straight down, then spiraling out of control. But there was a method to its madness, even as it began to flash red; it was following a path of mid-air rings.
Ring Count: 127
Blaze could see that it was leading her straight toward the checkpoint, but in order to reach it she would have to wait until the very last second to let go of the missile's handlebar. On its fifth flash, she let go and dropped straight down into the Goal while she was showered with fireworks.
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- ACT I CLEARED! -
Ring Count: 127
Bonus Points: 0
Rank: A (Very Good!)
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Porker and Techno were on the other side of the marketplace, walking along and pretending to be Legionnaires, when suddenly Porker was pummeled by a flying tomato. Alarmed, Techno looked around and ducked just in time before a pineapple hit her in the face. That's when it dawned on her that the flying fruit was coming from a large fruit stand, and that they were being thrown by a certain young tan raccoon.
"Take that, you Legionnaire land-lubbers!" shouted Marine as she tossed an avocado their way.
Techno was quick to run up to her and yell, "Hey, wait! It's us, Marine!"
"Take that!" Marine threw an apple Porker's way, who caught it and took a large bite out of it.
"Thanks," he smiled. "I'll take that, and a whole banana stalk with it please."
Techno then un-hooded herself in front of the feisty raccoon, who finally recognized her as an ally and stopped herself from chucking a whole watermelon. "What are you, crazy?" she asked slightly angrily. "You're gonna get us all caught, what were you thinking?"
Marine smiled, "Well, I was thinking of ways of proving myself as a fighter."
"By assaulting us with fruit?"
"No not you, silly… Although, I admit I didn't think this all the way through."
"It's not bad," snorted Porker as he chowed down on the apple. Techno shot him a look and he grinned, "The fruit, I meant. Not the plan."
Techno looked back at Marine and smiled, "Tell you what. We need to get rid of the firecracker bombs here, and we'll let you tag along."
"Great!" cheered the hopping little raccoon.
"If," cautioned Techno, "you promise to drop the fruit."
"Right, got it." Marine dropped the large watermelon, but it landed on an unsuspecting bystander.
Before the squashed chicken could find out who hit him, the robed rebels slinked away, with Marine slinking with them while covering her face with her banded tail.
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-ACT II -
Selected Team: Fixer-Uppers (Techno and Marine)
The Western part of the marketplace wasn't too different from the Northern part, so Techno and Marine would come across lantern cables to use as zip-lines and vertical red flags as trampolines and the like. But they also had lynx ninjas and black-robed Legionnaires to worry about as well.
Techno took the lead. "I've told Porker to launch the firecracker missiles. We can use them in our favor while we clear the area of enemies."
"Sounds like a plan," nodded Marine.
The green canary raced down the pathway, into a sharp right corner and down a hall of open street vendors. She double-jumped over a crate of items and unveiled a hidden enemy. On her second jump, she homed in on the lynx and bonked him out cold. She would repeat this pattern of jumping and pouncing three more times while collecting the line of rings on the street.
Ring Count: 15
A firecracker missile in the distance was lit, indicating that Porker was already one step ahead of the team. As the fireworks rained down, Techno double-jumped onto a flag trampoline that took her straight up onto a rooftop. While there, three ninja lynxes were ready and armed with katana swords, but she pulled out her Piko-Piko bow and fired at them one at a time.
"Why bother fighting when my Piko arrows will work just fine?" she smiled.
When the roof was cleared, she used a zip-line to head back onto the street below.
"Aye-aye, matey!" cheered Marine as Techno tagged her into play. Though she was small, Marine was quite fast on her feet, even much so than Techno. As a Legionnaire approached her, Marine performed her own kind of spin attack: a top spin in which her tail became like a blunt object, whacking her opposition to the ground. She quick-stepped over to a speed booster that sent her down a downhill slope and a chain of rings.
Ring Count: 35
Straight ahead was Porker, lighting up a firecracker missile. Marine was fast enough to grab ahold of it before it took off into the air. Unlike the feline team earlier, she was given a slower and easier ride in the air, straight forward and into a trail of rainbow rings that granted her power rings along the way.
Ring Count: 45
Her flight continued, but now a pair of lynx ninjas were coming her way by means of hang gliders. They tried to block her path, but she could move the missile left and right to avoid their attacks. Then, as they passed by, the missile started to flash red.
"Time to abandon ship!" The little raccoon let go of the missile's handle and went falling straight down to the ground, where Techno was ready to catch her.
"I've got this," said the green canary as Marine gave her a high-five. She headed to the next speed booster on the street to get enough momentum to plow through the Legionnaires that were marching along the way. She hit them so hard and so fast, they didn't even have time to aim their guns at her. Then she drifted her body to the left to turn through a sharp corner, where she could see that a firecracker missile was ready to take off. She sped right past ninjas that were firing arrows at her and double-jumped in the air to grab the missile's handlebar just as it was taking off.
While in the air, Techno swerved the missile left and right to fly it through chains of rings…
Ring Count: 49… 52… 55… 58
Suddenly she noticed to hang gliding ninjas coming her way, this time armed with bombs.
"My arrows are no good up here," she frowned, knowing that one hand was gripping tightly to the missile's handlebar. But she was able to swerve the missile left and right to avoid the bombs. As the gliders passed her, the missile was flashing red. As Techno jumped away, she jumped again into a set of rainbow rings that sent her straight up, backward and looping in a circle before she came back down to earth, with more rings in hand.
Ring Count: 67
"Ahoy there!" called out Marine, which was her version of the phrase "Tag me!" But Techno had one more thing to do before tagging her partner: she had to shoot at the Legionnaires that were running toward her from all directions. Only one of them managed to hit her with a ninja star…
Ring Count: 0- 14
But she recovered nicely, and tagged in Marine.
"Avast, ye land lubbers!" Marine was quick to spin into her vertical spin attack, knocking down the remaining Legionnaires before they could shoot at her.
With the square now enemy-free, Marine had her choice of four paths to take. She chose the far right path, which brought her to a speed booster that shot her straight down a very steep hill and through unsuspecting ninjas.
A firecracker missile was spotted ahead, but not yet lit as Porker was there waiting for her to grab onto it. When she reached it, he lit the fuse and upwards she went.
Control of the field shifted automatically to Techno, who had to use her Piko arrows to shoot down the four hang-glider ninjas that were coming after Marine. With a keen eye and perfect aim, she hit one after another, until they all crashed to the ground.
Marine was still in mid-flight, when suddenly control of the field shifted back to her. The firecracker missile was now spinning and spinning like a corkscrew straight up; it was time to bail. She let go just as the missile self-destructed and unleashed multi-colored fireworks. On the way down she caught a vertical line of rings, then shifted her weight toward another vertical line of rings, then a third, until she landed softly onto the ground.
Ring Count: 21, 28, 34
The little raccoon made a mad dash toward a flag trampoline that took her back onto a red rooftop, where three dagger-wielding ninjas were waiting, She performed her vertical spin-attack on the first two, but miscalculated on the third one and got hit.
Ring Count: 0- 15
She redeemed herself with another vertical spin, and knocked the third ninja off the roof. Then she grabbed a lantern cable and zip-lined onto another rooftop, where she found two more ninjas, and a ten-ring box. This time she was careful to top-spin with proper timing, and, "Boom, Poof, Boom," one ninja, one box, and one ninja gone.
Ring Count: 25
Marine ran straight into a speed booster that carried her across the rooftops to the other end of the block, where a firecracker missile was taking off. She grabbed onto its handle and took to the air once more.
Again, Techno on the ground found herself in control. She aimed her arrows up at the hang gliders that were coming Marine's way, and shot each one of them down like a pro.
Marine's rocket started to spin higher and higher again, and she let go to free-fall back through a double dose of vertical ring chains.
Ring Count: 37
When her feet touched ground, Techno said, "Hurry! The last of the firecrackers are about to go off!" The team then ran forward, into a street of vendors where ninjas were popping out from behind crates and fruit stalls. Marine had to use the speed-booster on the floor to bypass them, or else she would have been hit with either an arrow or a ninja star.
When that area was clear, it was another mad dash down a long highway- this time with rockets lined up to take flight. Apparently, Porker found this chain of missiles and lit them all simultaneously. Now the girls had to take advantage of the speed boosters left and right on the street, to safely make it across the street before the after-burn of the rockets could harm them.
As they reached the goal, they were showered with hundreds of brilliant multi-colored fireworks.
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- ACT II CLEARED! -
Ring Count: 37
Bonus Points: 2000 (for the shooting range sections)
Rank: A (Good!)
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Meanwhile, in his control room, Snively was watching his computer monitor pick up distress signals twenty miles south-east of the temple. The flashing red circles on the screen could only mean one thing…
"So, we have rebel sightings in the Fire Market, eh?" he mused. He then fiddled his fingers on his keyboard with a smirk. "My latest creation is ready; let's see how those fur-balls take to him. Hee-hee-hee…"
With the last push of a button, a trap door opened up on the roof of the temple. A small Cybernik launched into the air from this secret launch base, and with a trail of black smoke he rocketed toward the marketplace…
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BOOM!
The small golden Cybernik landed in the middle of Fire Market's square with a loud and sudden landing; even the Legionnaires nearby were stunned. Present at this moment were Blaze, Ebony, Johnny and Silver. They too stood in awe at the creature. It was mostly silver plated, but also had golden plating on its face (a breathing apparatus covering his muzzle), gloves, and its spiked squirrely tail. Also, it had red and black-lined shoulder pads and boots. On its face, just at its brow, was a thick red "V."
The squirrel-shaped cyborg looked up at Ebony and Blaze; his eye visors flashed red as he made a battle stance. "Ebony Cat, Priority One. Orders are to destroy."
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- MINI-BOSS BATTLE: vs. SHORTFUSE -
Ebony and Blaze stood in the center of the market square, facing off against the Cybernik. It was quick to flip into the air and use the rockets on its feet to fly over them. Ebony was in play, and while in battle mode she could shoot small blue lasers of her own (which she dubbed "spell-balls"). But she missed her mark three times as the Cybernik's flight pattern was very sporadic. As he descended onto the ground, he started spinning like a top to keep his enemies from hitting him in an otherwise vulnerable state.
Blaze was tagged in, running around him in circles to keep him from hitting her with his laser guns fused to the tops of his wrists. His lasers gave off a golden and very thick beam of light. While in this panic, she managed to score three rings.
Ring Count: 3
When he stopped shooting and started to dart back and forth, Blaze had the chance to dash in and hit him with a fireball. One hit down.
The Cybernik returned to the air, and Ebony was tagged back into play. She waited until he started to sink close to the ground before aiming and firing a blue spell-ball. A second hit, and it only made him furious as steam puffed out through his breathing apparatus. Again, he landed while spinning like a mad top. Only this time, the golden spikes on his squirrely tail shot out, piercing his enemies.
Ring Count: 0… 1
Ebony was only able to catch one ring after being hit. But now that he was on the ground, she started to shoot more spell-balls until two hit him in his center. Four shots down.
The furious Cybernik started to shoot his wrist lasers once more; Ebony was hit, but she tagged Blaze into play so that she could outrun the laser beams. She ran forward to home in on him and jumped into a ball, hitting him in the face. The squirrel jumped into the air on his rocket boots before Blaze could give him one last spin attack.
Ebony was tagged back into play so that she could shoot down the enemy, but again his flight pattern was zig-zaggy and all over the place. He was flashing red though, meaning he was weakening. All she had to do was wait until he landed. When he did, he spun out his tail spikes again, only this time Ebony jumped out of the way in time. At the moment his body stopped spinning, she threw a blue spell-ball at him. He staggered, as electric bolts began to surge through him, and then he fell flat on his back in defeat.
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- MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED! -
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The golden metallic squirrel lay unconscious on the ground, even as his body flinched due to inner damages. While Silver and the two she-cats cheered and congratulated each other, Johnny Lightfoot bravely approached the fallen Cybernik.
After a few seconds of examining the body, he realized that the squirrel's breathing apparatus was detachable. By pressing the button in its center, a puff of smoke came out, and the golden tubes recoiled back into the helmet. Upon looking at the creature's true face, Johnny let out a small but noticeable gasp.
The team watched as Johnny suddenly fell to one knee before the Cybernik squirrel.
"Johnny," asked a concerned Ebony, "what are you doing?"
The gray rabbit bowed his head before the cyber squirrel with a deep frown on his face. Hearing his mistress, he replied while still genuflecting. "I had my doubts for a moment, mistress, but I know now… It's him."
Ebony and company took a cautionary step forward. "You mean… him, him?" gasped the black cat.
"Indeed," replied Johnny. He stared sadly at the twitching squirrel as it quietly writhed in agony.
"Forgive me… my king."
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LOADING ZONE…
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