Chapter 3
The next morning, Halley slowly opened her eyes and blinked. She yawned
and stretched herself up. She then realized that Knuckles was gone.
"Knuckles?" Halley called out. "Knuckles, where are you?" Something hit her
mind. "Oh, now I know where he went. He's probably looking for something to trade with me for
the Chaos Emerald." Suddenly, Halley heard someone laughing. She looked up at the sky to see
Bokkun flying with his rocket engine.
"Hey, down there," he said, waving his hand and landing near Halley.
"Who the heck are you?" asked Halley.
"The name's Bokkun. I'm the delivery 'bot around here. You've probably
heard of me, right?"
"Eh…no, not really."
"Oh. Well, anyway, I have an important message for you from my boss."
Bokkun pulled out his television messenger.
The screen showed Dr. Eggman on it. "Hello, my dear," he said. "You must be
Halley Hallivan. I've heard so much about you. I am Dr. Ivo Eggman and I'm a scientific genius.
I would like to have a conversation with you, personally. Bokkun will lead you to my base. In the
meantime, Chao!"
As the screen shut off, Halley burst out in laughter, "Dr. Eggman? What kind
of name is that? That's just stupid!"
"I don't think the doc would like it if you said that in front of him," said
Bokkun. "He happens to take insults very seriously."
"Oh, sorry," Halley stopped laughing.
"Let's go!" Halley stood up and began to follow Bokkun. She took her bike
with her.
During the walk, the cat and the robot had a conversation.
"So," said Bokkun, "you new around here?"
"I guess you could say that," said Halley. "I used to live in a huge town, but it
got blown by a hurricane."
"Gosh, that must've been horrible."
"It was, believe me."
Bokkun pointed his finger down below. "Well, here we are." Halley saw a
huge ship near a junkyard.
She gasped. "Oh…my…God!" she said. "That thing's humongous!"
"Yeah, well, he's been working hard on it. C'mon, let's go." Halley parked her
bike near a clear area. She and Bokkun walked inside the ship. While he was leading her to Dr.
Eggman, Halley was amazed by all of the scientist's inventions.
"Whoa," she said. "This is so cool."
When they reached the core of the room, Bokkun called out, "Here she is,
doctor." Dr. Eggman turned around on his chair and saw Halley.
"Welcome to Eggman Enterprises, Halley," he said. "It's a pleasure to make
your acquaintance."
"Same to you, doc," said Halley, shaking the doctor's hand. "What's all the
hubbub?"
"Well, I'm kind of looking for something that you have."
"Like what?"
"I've heard that you found something valuable. Like a…how do you say...Chaos Emerald?"
"Okay."
"So, I would like you to hand it over to me because I need it for an important
experiment, if you please."
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."
"And why not?!"
"'Cause I'm already making a trade with someone."
"Who?!"
"Some guy named Knuckles. You see, I met him last night after--"
"What?! Why would you make a trade with him?"
"Well, maybe because he's trustworthy or maybe because he insisted and I
couldn't resist."
"Why I ought to--" Dr. Eggman suddenly came up with a solution. "What if I
trade you something better than what that lousy echidna has?"
"Perhaps, but it depends. What's on your mind?"
"I'm glad you asked. Decoe, Bocoe, show this girl what we've got." A huge
stage appeared with the two robots wearing fancy suits, carrying a bunch of stuff (kind of like
those reality shows you see on TV).
"Today, on Eggman Enterprises," said Decoe, "we have a lot of things to trade
you for the Chaos Emerald."
"For example," said Bocoe, "we've got a huge supply of make-up for girls like
you."
"Or, we can give you a bag filled with over 1,000."
"Or," said Bokkun, also dressed in a suit, "we can give you a hair piece kit for you."
"Well," said Halley, "I don't know…"
"Hold on," Dr. Eggman added. "There's one more thing. We'll give you the
opportunity to join our team. Plus, as an added bonus, we'll give you this special outfit for you to
wear. It's just like mine, except it's your size and it's pink. And you can have all four of these
things if you agree. What do you say?"
Halley was a little nervous because she couldn't decide. She thought it was a
nice outfit, but she also didn't want to upset her new friend.
"Come on," said Dr. Eggman. "You know you want to."
Halley couldn't take it anymore. "All right. It's a deal." She gave the doctor
the emerald and she got the outfit in exchange.
"Thanks a lot, Halley," said Dr. Eggman.
She was glad that she got it, but she thought, "What am I going to tell
Knuckles? He's going to be so upset. Well, a deal's a deal, no matter what."
As Halley left to change her outfit, Dr. Eggman thought while smirking,
"That girl's as naïve as that knucklehead. I must admit, she might make a great henchwoman." He
chuckled silently.