CHAPTER 22
Robot parts exploded sending shards of metal flying into other Swatbots as Ford was swinging the swords. The Swatbot bodies were designed to withstand energy ammo, not true physical impacts such as the bullets that tore through them earlier like they were paper and the swords that were doing so now. He was trying to stand between them and the area that was believed to be the entrance, though slightly far off, of the single large Master Chaos Emerald.
Sally watched in shock and awe as the overlander ran into the massive army of Swatbots. She saw an uncountable amount of laser fire hit him as he started hacking his way through their lines. Whatever was keeping him safe, she hoped to find out later. She ran back to the others to get them to the chamber. She only wished she knew where Knuckles and his friends were. So far they had not been fighting with them yet. They must be at the chamber she figured.
Ford felt multiple heated area's on his body but he did his best to ignore them as he slashed and slashed ever Swatbot that got within range. His coat was starting to look and feel like it was ready to give out. He grabbed one bots arm as it came around to blast at him and turned it upon the other Swatbots. The robot started firing as he ripped the other arm off and tossed it into another Swatbot. He managed to get a good dozen with the laser when it was finally shot. He tossed the broken arm weapon, with the Swatbot into the others making them all explode. He kept fighting and fighting not knowing how long or how many might be left. Carter buzzed through his com saying they were having trouble guarding the entrance. He kicked one Swatbot into a group of others and started running Carters direction. He smashed his way through several bots as he ran. Many more tried to grab him, shoot him, or smash him as he fought.
Carter wasn't feeling to well. Her arms hurt, her legs hurt, and her chest hurt. All because she took a couple hits from the laser blast. They stung, which was the intention, which someone had told her. It was to make her pass out so she would be captured and not dead. She fired trying to conserve her ammo as much as possible. So far it was working. Lara was firing her guns as well. As more of the Swatbots started appearing they backed into the chamber. Sam threw a couple grenades out and covered her head. Everyone else had already gotten in leaving Carter and Lara to cover them. The explosions took a good deal of them out which in turn caused a chain reaction making a good battalion worth go up. Carter checked her gun seeing it still had half a clip. Lara did a quick reload saying those were her last. A hearty, evil sounding laugh came from somewhere making them look up. The saw a very fat and ugly man that had on very strange clothes. Some red and black suit that had a stripe making it look like a target was painted on his belly, plus a short yellow cape. His left arm was metallic too. He had several black Swatbot behind him.
"So they send two overlander women to stop me."
The laugh came back even harder.
Carter didn't even bother to talk, she opened up on him with her gun as did Lara. Robotnick pulled his left arm in the way and a force field came up deflecting all their shots. When they ran out, Robotnick told the Swatbots to finished them off. Carter and Lara ran inside.
"Some fat man is coming! It must be your enemy. We're out of ammo." Carter said with her hands on her knees.
She was breathing hard from all the pain and the run inside. Lara and her were both surprised at the shear size of the Emerald. It was about the size of a Volkswagen sitting in the center of the room which was about the size of a theater room. The Emerald was resting on a few metal prongs that came from some small platform. Lara had dropped down near the wall. Her injuries where bad since she wasn't wearing much in the way of fully clothed. With her arms and legs bare they took the brunt of the hits. She was in obvious pain but trying to ignore it. Sonic ran out the way they came only to come back several seconds later with laser fire on his tail.
"What do we do?" Carter asked seeing as she had to options or ideas.
"We wait." Sally said as Robotnick's shadow came into view.
He came in with only a few Swatbots that had everyone get against the wall. He moved closer to the Princess as he spoke.
"I must say these last few years have been very difficult dear Princess. Your band of rebels have caused me a lot of trouble and today is the day that all ends. Once I have this Chaos Emerald, you will all be left down here as the Island falls. I could shoot you all, but where I ask is the fun in that? A camera aboard my ship will let me see your finally hours. I have some friends that would like to join you." he said gesturing.
A couple Swatbots came in dropping off Knuckles, Julie-su, and the Choatix, all who were very injured.
"Your father will be so upset that his pitiful kingdom will be a pushover." he said reaching for her face.
"Leave her alone you disgusting pig!! Carter yelled.
Robotnick's eyes flared red as he turned to her and then moved over to her.
"You have caused me a great loss in Swatbots!!! You and that pathetic friend of yours that failed to stop my army."
Carter spit in his face pissing him off more. Robotnick almost had her face in his hands.
"You touch her Robotnick and you'll wish you were never born." a voice with very evil intent behind it said.
Since Robotnick's back was to the intruder, the others saw who it was. Ford was standing there looking shredded. His coat was thrashed badly, he was bleeding from several places including the head which was missing the hat, and was holding two swords that had a lot of different chemicals dripping from them. And a lot of damage.
"WHAT?!!!" Robotnick said turning suddenly.
Someone with a large fist ran up and punched him directly in the face. He was actually thrown back and nearly fell over as he stopped at the wall. The Swatbots turned to face the intruder. Ford brought one sword around stabbing it through the black Swatbot and shoving the blade into the wall. He turned back around and rushed Robotnick as he got up. The others attack taking the Swatbots by surprise and easily defeating them. Ford gave Robotnick a right hook across the face followed by a quick left and another right. He lanced the other sword through Robotnick's left arm causing him to cry out as sparks flew out. Robotnick backhanded Ford sending him spinning away without the sword and then he pulled the sword from his arm as Ford grabbed the other one. Robotnick parried a few hard blows. Ford then swung as hard as he could. Robotnick blocked it, but his sword broke shattering the blade as Ford's slashed his belly. Blood did come out, but it had only managed to break the skin. Robotnick punched Ford dead in the face causing him to fall onto the Emerald. It pulsated under him as he slid off. Robotnick tossed the damaged blade aside and pulled a laser gun from his back.
"If I can't have it then no one will!!!" he yelled shooting the Emerald.
It cracked sending out electrical energy everywhere. He then started trying to shoot everyone else. Ford tossed his sword at Robotnick catching him in his real arm. It sliced him and then bounced off the wall. Robotnick grabbed his arm as it bled bad and he ran out dropping his laser gun.
"Oh this isn't good." he muttered barely getting to his feet.
Ford got up grabbing the sides trying to keep the Emerald from breaking apart. The whole island started shaking as the crack started to get bigger. Knuckles though badly bruised and bleeding in some places got up trying to help get it from breaking. Carter, Lara and Mel got up trying to help it stay together.
"What do we do?!" Carter asked.
"Knuckles we need a power ring!!!" Ford yelled.
Knuckles looked around seeing that Sonic had left but had dropped his backpack. He grabbed one as the others ran out after Sonic trying to stop Robotnick or get off the island. He set it in the crack as Ford said, not understanding completely. For some reason that Knuckles didn't understand, the crack actually started to repair itself. Knuckles stepped back as it slowly began to become whole again and the island stopped shaking. Ford and the other stepped back and watched as Knuckles ran out quickly.
"We did it. I don't know how…" Carter began.
Ford felt dizzy and dropped to his knees as he suddenly didn't feel so good.
"Ford?!" Carter said starting to move forward when she got dizzy as well. All of them started feeling dizzy.
Knuckles was calling for Sally when a sudden rush and blast of power came from behind him. He looked to see that the entrance to the Emerald Chamber blast pure energy at him blowing him down and away several feet. He got up quickly rushing in thinking the Emerald was going to explode or that the overlanders had done something. The Emerald was back to normal, but the people who were around it were all against the walls. He ran back out grabbing someone to fetch Dr. Quack.
Ford woke up feeling all wrong inside. He knew something bad had happened, especially when Hercules said something.
I cannot repair the damage we have taken. This is it then.
Wait, we're dying then? But can't you...
Unfortunately yes. It's to much even for me.
No! We can't! I haven't……
I'm sorry…
Ford opened his eyes seeing some nurse as far as he could tell standing over him. A raccoon maybe.
"He's awake Princess!"
She came in seeing the him badly bruised, mostly burned over a major part of his body. He didn't have long with the damage he took.
"Mr. Primus? Can you hear me?" Sally said standing next to the bed.
It sounded like she rushed over.
"My friends, the girls?" he choked out.
He remembered a line that sounded like it would be perfect as his final words seeing as Hercules said he was dying and couldn't stop it. He wanted to live, but he could feel he couldn't stop it with sheer will power, or love.
"They're fine. They're going to be fine."
"Did we do it? Did we make a difference?" he said as his vision began to fade. He felt tears coming as he spoke.
"Yes. Yes you did. You saved us all." Sally said grabbing his hand.
He couldn't feel it though, but he did see it when she held his hand in the air. Sonic was there looking at him as were several others that made up the front line of the Freedom Fighters. They were all hurt in some form as well.
"Least I could do, for the leader of the Freedom Fighters." he said looking at the sky then back at her.
"It was….fun!" he said with a smile as Hercules said goodbye to him. "Tell Sam I love…."
Sally shook him seeing if he actually was gone. Dr. Quack came over and did a quick check.
"I'm sorry Princess. He's gone. There was nothing I could have done." he said closing Ford's eyes.
Sally turned around seeing the other dead and injured. She knew that it was going to be difficult to tell the other families in Knothole what had happened, but it was going to be even harder to tell……the others about Ford and the other problem. That is if they ever woke up.
Carter awoke feeling groggy and somewhat different. Like something had changed inside her. For one thing she was very warm, not sweaty warm, but warmer than usual. She tried opening her eyes but they didn't seem to want to respond yet. She brought her hand up to rub her eyes when her hand hit something. It hurt too where she believed it to be her nose. She felt her face feeling something had changed. A whole lot had changed. She heard talking and movement that was getting closer as she sat up quickly.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!!!" she yelled seeing her body had really changed.
She wasn't human anymore. She was a white something. She was about to get out of the bed when she realized she wasn't wearing anything either.
"Please try to calm down. We haven't figured out what has happened, but it happened to all of you." Sally said standing near the bed trying to comfort Carter.
"What am I?!"
"You a perfectly healthy fox as far as I can tell. How your body changed to become a Mobian like us I still haven't figured out as the Princess said. Whatever happened in that Chaos room made you a Mobian like us." Dr. Quack said looking at a clipboard.
"How long have I been like this?"
"We found you and your friends unconscious in the room after a surge of power came from the Emerald. Whatever you all did saved everyone, but it changed all of you. That was a couple of hours ago." Sally said sadly.
"What happened to the my friends? What are they?"
"The one that carried those pistols was changed into a orange cat. For some reason your friend…Melissa was it?" When Carter nodded Sally continued, "She became a overlander."
"You mean human?"
"Yeah. We just call humans overlanders." Sonic said walking up.
"What about Ford?"
They all looked down as Sally fidgeted some as she tried to explain.
"He was….."
"During his fight with the Swatbots he incurred a lot of injures and those hits he took from Robotnick didn't help. The transformation must have been to great for his body to take. He didn't make it Major. I'm sorry." Dr. Quack said. "I did everything I could."
Carter barely choked back tears and the others noticed she was more than visible upset.
"Where is he? I want to see him." she choked out.
"We thought you might." Sally said as Carter was given a robe.
She quickly put it on and followed with help. As soon as her feet hit the ground she had trouble walking. She couldn't stay balanced for some reason. Dr. Quack got her to a wheelchair and pushed her along.
"Why can't I walk? I thought you said I was healthy?!"
"You are, but I suspect that your problem resides with the fact you don't know how to walk since you now have a tail." the doctor said as he wheeled her over to a empty room. "That's the theory I have anyway."
On the table was a body covered with a sheet. He parked her close then pulled the sheet back. Carter did a double take. It didn't look like Ford, but it had to be. He had many burnt areas on his body and other injured areas that only Ford had when she saw him last. His damaged coat and other stuff was on another table next to the wall. The rest of their stuff was there too. What really was surprising was the fact that even though he was now a fox like her, he had a completely different color than any fox you'd ever find. He had blue fur, but his hair was black and styled just like he always had it. Was kinda strange looking she thought on some level.
"We don't know why he turned out this way, but it is him. We found him just like this with his heavy coat and everything. It took Bunnie's help to get him off the ground and into the plane." Sally said as she placed a hand on Carter's shoulder. "I'm sorry we couldn't do anything."
Carter didn't know how, but somehow it was Ford. She could feel it, sense it, smell it even. She took his hand and held it to her face as the others left her to be. She started crying, not caring who noticed or heard.
Lara awoke feeling a headache coming. Something was wrong and what was worse is she was out of ammo. For once she was in serious trouble. She always had spare ammo, but it took all of it to keep those damned robots from killing them all and then she remembered something about a large green gem and then a flash that shocked her and then nothing. She sat up holding her head and noticed her hair felt funny.
"Oh I need an aspirin."
Someone near her said try this while they grabbed the sheet holding it up. She looked over seeing that duck doctor. He was looking up at her, more up that usual while trying to hold a sheet over the top section of her body. She finally realized what he was doing and grabbed the sheet.
What is it with doctors and removing all clothing! Lara thought.
"How do you feel?" he said giving her a small cup with a pill.
"Other than the headache, fine. What is this?"
"Aspirin. Believe it or not, we actually have it. Before Station Square became buried, they shared their medical information with us."
Lara didn't know what city he was talking about, but took the pill anyway.
"I'm going to guess that you don't know about what happened yet?"
"About what?"
He picked up a mirror and handed it to her. Lara looked at herself and then lifted the sheet some looking down at the rest of her.
"Tell me I'm dreaming."
"You're not dreaming otherwise the headache wouldn't be there."
"Right."
Well look on the bright side, you weren't seeing anybody and maybe this will be fixed later. If not, maybe I will have extra abilities for when I go exploring. I could even join the SGC since I can't really go home like this. Hey, I could explore tombs on other planets like Daniel pointed out. He did have some feelings for me, hmm.
"How are you handling this?" Sally said coming over.
"Give me some time. This isn't all that bad actually. Better this than a lost limb or not being able to move."
They walked away going over to Melissa who probably would be waking if not already awake like the others.
Melissa was indeed awake and was looking at herself in a mirror. She didn't even notice the three enter the room. She was still trying to cope with the fact she wasn't….animal anymore. She was a human. A lot of things she was used to knowing and feeling were gone. That feeling of safeness or aggression in the air she couldn't tell anymore. She couldn't smell the air the same way and the hearing had definitely changed. She had the sheet wrapped around her tightly since she also felt the change in the temperature in the air. She was used to feeling warmer. Her hair was white, but other than that, she didn't have much that said she was the Melissa that everyone was used to seeing.
"How are you feeling?" Dr. Quack said walking in.
Sally and Sonic were following along in case anything happened. So far the others very coping….slightly. They figured that Melissa would having more trouble since she was or is an Mobian…whatever.
"Amazing. Whatever caused this to happen….it's just amazing. I still look good. Actually I look even more beautiful than before. Amazing!"
Sally and Sonic both looked at her like she just said something like 'I'm going to marry Robotnick'.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the doctor asked.
"I'm cold, and can tell certain things I normally notice or feel are gone." Mel said scratching her head. "Such as I don't smell all the blood in the air anymore."
"I'm not sure if she is coping." Sonic muttered.
"I really look good." she said still admiring herself in the mirror.
"She's got to be okay or she's went nuts." Quack said.
She kept looking at herself as they heard Carter yell.
Carter was still holding his hand and crying. She was talking through her tears when her hand was suddenly squeezed. She looked up quickly and saw Ford breath in suddenly.
"AAAHHH!" Ford yelled.
Carter yelled at the same time seeing him suddenly sit up. She almost fell out of the wheelchair, but it rolled back quickly when the brake released. Ford fell out of the bed onto the floor, on his face. For some reason it hurt, more than it should have.
"OW!" he yelled grabbing his face. "That smegging hurt!"
Blood was coming from his nose and he looked at his hands seeing something was wrong. He stood up looking at his arms then the rest of him.
"What the hell?! How did this happen?!"
He tried pinching his nose to stop the blood, but having a snout it didn't seem to work and it didn't taste much like copper. It tasted worse. He looked around grabbing the sheet off the floor and covering his nose.
"Ow."
"Ford! You're alive?!" she said seeing he was alive and completely healed. No burnt spots or any other injuries.
"Yeah, it's strange. I don….." he started saying.
He turned seeing a white fox in a wheelchair. She almost looked like Melissa, but the hair was wrong. It was shorter, like Carter would have it, actually exactly like she wears it, and the same color. It even sounded like Major Carter. It couldn't be though.
"Sam? Is that you?" he said staring into her eyes.
"Yes, it's me."
"What happened to you?" he said giving her a once over.
"Well…..can you…umm…"
"What?" he said waving with his right hand.
The left hand was using the sheet to cover his nose. He took it off seeing he had stopped bleeding.
"That stings. Wait minute, I'm not human. This is weird."
"You…." she said looking away but pointing near the bed.
He looked down seeing he was wearing nothing and from where he was standing, she could see it all. He grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around himself before sitting down. The blood stained section was hanging off the bed.
"Sorry Major. That wasn't intentional." he then muttered, "Not that you haven't already seen me anyway."
"I thought we weren't going to bring that up, ever!"
"You're right. Sorry. That slipped out."
"You bet it did."
"Everything alright in h….?!" Quack said walking in then coming to a dead stop. Sally and Sonic both were surprised to see Ford sitting there, alive.
"Can you explain this?" he asked pointing at himself. "I can't go back to work like this. Actually we could, but we would have to live somewhere off planet."
"We're not sure about your…..transformation, but how'd you come back to life is what I'd like to know?" Quack said coming over to examine him.
"Uh……" Ford said confused. He looked over at her then at the doctor again.
"I came back for Carter." he said in a serious tone and he sat up straighter.
"To take her with you?" Sonic asked bewildered.
"No you….no. We're a lot like you and Sally are. We're a couple, just not married. She's had enough death in her life, don't need me adding to it."
"Did you hear any of the things I was saying or me crying at all?" Carter asked moving the wheelchair forward.
"I'm sorry to say no. The last thing I remember was saying your name then feeling someone squeezing my hand. After that I fell out of the bed and nearly broke my nose." he said testing it gently. It was still sore. "At least I didn't break it."
"That explains the blood I see." Quack said picking the sheet corner up. It was still wet. "I want to examine this."
Sonic noticed the blood and walked away. The doc tried to leave the room with it quickly went Ford stopped him.
"Give me my clothes first then you can have the sheet Doc."
Sally grabbed his clothes, minus the coat and set them on the bed.
"How are you feeling otherwise?" Quack asked.
"Really good actually. Not as…..oh no."
"What's wrong?" Carter asked sitting on the bed.
Sally had brought her clothes over as well. Carter hadn't touched them yet. Ford had his shirt halfway on.
"I'm alone. He didn't make it." Ford said sadly. "I think I know how you felt Carter."
He dropped his arms and visibly slouched as he sat on the bed.
"I don't understand?" Sally asked.
"Ford had a symbiont in his head. He'd been there for awhile now and apparently didn't make it. Hercules must have been able to save you somehow by sacrificing his life." Carter said to him placing an hand on his shoulder.
She explained with more detail as Ford grabbed his and Carter's pants. Carter was about finished telling them when he handed her back the pants. There was a cut section in the back of the pants.
"Why did you do that?"
He gave her tail a small yank, which made her actually yelp. She slapped him for it too.
"You could have just told me."
"True." he said buttoning the shirt. "But I couldn't help myself."
"Good thing Jack isn't here or he would have done the same."
"And probably make dog jokes."
Doc asked Sally to leave saying he had to talk to them about medical matters.
"You're going to have some trouble with that soon." he said as Sally left.
"What do you mean?" Ford asked as he pulled his pants on under the sheet.
"It's summer here. Gets around 80 to 90 some days."
"Point doc?"
"You're one of us now. Mobian in general. You're going to get hot very quick in those clothes."
They both stopped dressing. Carter was beneath a sheet trying to put hers on while Ford was standing and getting ready to put his vest on.
"Oh god. This is going to get some getting used to."
"What do we do then? It's obvious that we can't walk around like the rest of you?" Carter said from under sheet.
From what they had observed since showing up, though very short time, the Mobians didn't wear much if at all anything, but their fur was thick enough it covered everything for those that never wore clothes.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to wear it all anyway." he said.
He had to really work on his underwear, but they went on. Everything felt a little funny, almost uncomfortable. He got the vest and coat on then had to forget putting the socks on. His feet basically had their own insulation, in a sense. The boots went on fine. He walked around at the amazement of both of them.
"What?"
"You're walking." they both said.
"I can dance to." he said then proceeded to deliberately dance a few steps. When the Doc still looked at him funny, he asked what was wrong.
"Your girlfriend her can't walk."
"Did something go wrong?" he asked rushing to her side rather quickly.
"Her legs are just fine. Her problem is she isn't used to walking around with a tail. Her balance is simply off. I can't figure out why you're walking. Your tail is bigger."
"Thanks a lot." he said. He looked seeing he did have a rather big tail. Compared to Carter's, it was larger, but not as fluffy. "Never mind. I'll help her learn to walk."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Carter said pulling the sheet off.
She wore the tank top and pants which seemed too tight. It made Ford's mind wander, along with his eyes for a moment and he had to shake his head to clear it. She pulled the boots on and stood up noticing Ford looked embarrassed. She brushed it off.
"I can do this." she said walking a few steps forward and then started to fall. Ford caught her as she began to drop.
"Easy there Sam. I'm pretty sure I can survive a broken bone better than you can. Or nose in this case."
She unfortunately had to agree and was helped back to the bed.
"You are both free to go whenever you want. The princess will be able to help you with anything you need. See you later."
"We should see how the others are doing?"
Carter nodded allowed him to help her walk. They left their stuff since it wasn't going to do them any good at the moment. He left his large coat behind but kept the suit on. She looked better off than he did seeing as her clothes were pretty intact still. They walked out and found Lara first. She was dressed in her normal clothes and putting her empty guns away.
"So I'm not the only one that's changed." she said turning around.
"You're a cat." Ford said simply.
"A keen grasp of the obvious." she said rolling her eyes. "We should go find our other friend……it's Melissa right? Princess Sally said something strange happened to her, but she wouldn't say what."
"A cat?" he muttered as she walked by. "Well, you are very agile."
They walked over, slowly and opened a closed drape. Mel had her back to them and was putting her coat on. Her tail was missing and she looked to be human from what they saw.
"Sally said something was wrong with you? Are you okay?" Carter asked.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine. It's certainly different from what I thought it would be, but now I can explore your world without any trouble." she said turning around.
"Oh my god." Ford said slowly.
"That can't be." Lara said with surprise. "How?"
"She looks like Meg Ryan!" Carter exclaimed.
"I'd swear it is Meg Ryan!" Ford said. "Except for the hair."
"Is that a bad thing?" Mel asked sounding almost tearful.
"No way. You look like a very popular movie star from Earth. You're almost better looking that Carter." Ford said.
"I can live with that. So on Earth I'd be considered very beautiful?"
"Yeah." the ladies said like it was more of a statement than anything else..
"Oh yeah." Ford said with a tone that made Carter smack his arm. "Ow."
They were giving a tour of the place later that day. Rotor said he'd do what he could to try and replace the ammo they had all used, just in case. He also said it might take awhile. Ford offered to help in any way he could with anything technical or otherwise. They were greeted by King Acorn who gave them a Royal commendation for helping to save not only the Floating Island, but Knothole as well. Things went well the rest of the day, Ford had to help Carter around everywhere since she still couldn't get used to walking. Since there was only one guest hut available they had to share it until another was built. Ford instantly started building the next day, with help since he had to stay with one of the guards. The ladies realized that Ford had changed some, personality wise to a point. He still had his strength though. Despite being not human anymore, Carter and the other two women….well….noticed he was rather good looking. Very good looking, for a fox. For some reason, they didn't seem to think much of it that they were now animals seeing other animals as attractive. If it weren't for the fact that Carter knew Ford only wanted her, she would have been extremely jealous, especially with the other women in Knothole looking at him. A few woman from what Sally called the Wolfpack, really kept watching him, with extreme interest. One even asked him something that Carter didn't fully catch, but she did catch the part with him saying no, he was already taken.
Mel seemed to be having a great time at being human. Carter and Lara didn't understand what she really thought was great about it even when they asked her. She said something about a new experience and that they should take the time to see what being what they were, was like. Melissa was looking forward to going to Earth and looking around to see what it was like without having to wear a hood and such, be free. Lara left after that and tried climbing. She did better than she did before with her new reflexes. The next three days were uneventful and by the third day Carter was able to walk on her own.
"Hey Ford, what….." Carter asked walking over to where he was in the middle of trying to build his hut.
Several other's were helping and continued on as he walked a way.
"What's up Sam?"
"Can we talk? I mean take a walk and speak more privately?"
"Sure."
They walked through Knothole and over to the ring pool. It was quiet and no one was around. They sat down on the fallen log that stretched just over the pool.
"Everything okay?" he asked putting hand on her back.
"I…..I'm feeling….I don't feel right. This is just too different for me. I'm trying to cope with it, but…."
"I know. Not being human anymore. It's rather strange. I'm still getting used to it." he said leaning forward and holding himself up with his elbows on his knees.
"It's….a interesting experience and I've been trying to figure out a way to make us norm..…human again. But nothing has came to mind." she said looking at her hands in her lap.
"That's the problem with Chaos energy. It's…Chaotic. I've talked with Knuckles, and he doesn't understand what has truly happened. He's tried talking to his father and I guess former guardians, but all they could say was no human had ever touched the Master Emerald before, other than Robotnick. Mostly because overlanders would use it for all the wrong reasons."
"They can't help us then? Can't let us try touching it again will they?"
"We could, seeing as that's all we'd be doing, but I doubt anything would happen. Or so, the Emerald has said to Knuckles."
She looked confused and surprised and Ford smiled seeing her face change.
"What?"
"Even with the change you went through, you're still as beautiful as ever." he said pushing aside a few strands of hair from her face.
"You're not repulsed or anything like that then…"
"No. No way. You're different, but still as great looking as ever. But that's only one of the reasons why I love you Sam. It's your mind, what you do, how you do it, personality and everything else that I have come to love. Your looks are just a very big bonus." he said holding her face with a one hand.
She closed her eyes and leaned into it.
"You're really different from anyone I've ever met. Any man actually."
"I try." he said shrugging.
She laughed lightly as he moved closer, putting an arm around her.
"Sam, if you let me in, I'll do everything to make sure I never let you down. I want to be there to help you through anything, no matter what it is."
"Are you proposing?"
"Um, I admit I have thought about it." he said seeing the shock on her face. "But I don't have a ring or anything so I'd have to say no. Not yet."
"This is….I've got to think about this." she said looking away.
"If you say no. I would understand and wait until you're felt more comfortable about it. Even if it took twenty years, or longer." he said rubbing her shoulder.
"I….thanks Ford. I know you care and that helps me cope."
"If nothing else, just remember that I'm here for you, in anyway I can be. Anyway you'll let me."
