Chapter 5: Naftali Ngugi:
Sonic's POV:
We were walking when this bird thing came at us. It was about to attack, but then it got lassoed. "Are you alright," asks this ranger.
"Ranger Ngugi," I asked.
"You have to be careful with the Phorusrhacos," says Ranger Ngugi, "it acts like a lion when caught quickly."
. . .
"So, you are the heroes we were expecting," says Ranger Ngugi.
"Can you tell us what Hans has," asks Knuckles.
"I can," says Ranger Ngugi, "because I have seen it! He uses some sort of strange magic rock. It was unlike anything I have ever seen!"
Knuckles was horrified.
"Knuckles," asks Tails.
"A Time Stone," says Knuckles, "the Time Stones have the power of freely controlling time to perform amazing wonders, like transforming a desert into a jungle, and turning a polluted lake into a beautiful one; just one can transport entire planets across spacetime and restore the state they had at some point in the past. If you had all seven, you can control Time itself!"
"In that case... we better hope he only has one," I said.
"This was a crazy way to celebrate Kwanzaa," says Ranger Ngugi.
"My Mom tries to get me into it, but it's just not me," says Scar, "I was adopted by the way."
"I see," says Ranger Ngugi, "maybe you just don't know what Kwanzaa is. It celebrates history, values, family, community and culture. We celebrate the seven principles, Umoja, meaning Unity, Kujichagulia, meaning Self-Determination, Ujima, meaning Collective Work and Responsibility, Ujamaa, meaning Cooperative Economics, Nia, meaning Purpose, Kuumba, meaning Creativity, and Imani, meaning Faith."
"So, what does all that mean," asks Scar.
"Maybe if you knew the story that would help," says Ranger Ngugi, "American black separatist Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 during the aftermath of the Watts riots as a non-Christian, specifically African-American, holiday. Karenga said his goal was to 'give black people an alternative to the existing holiday of Christmas and give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.' For Karenga, a figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored the essential premise that 'you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose, and direction.'"
"That does sound pretty cool," says Scar.
"Scar, you stay with Ranger Ngugi and learn more about Kwanzaa," I said, "we gotta go after Hans!"
To Be Continued
In the next chapter, Sonic and the others have to take Poacher Hans down.