Subj: KnK updates Date: 96-09-07 22:31:53 EDT From: ZJLM18@Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu (MIYAMOTO, JULIE LYNN) To: dgonterman@aol.com Sonic the Hedgehog-based series: "Kith and Kintobor." by Hysteria. Reality Base Sub Five: Mi CASA, Su CASA... Based on characters from Sega, Archie Comic Publications, and DIC Enterprises, Inc. This work is freeware and can be distributed freely provided it is not altered in any way, shape, or form and is not sold for monetary gain. The content of this work is not intended to infringe on the rights of Sega or any related companies and may be destroyed if ever the need should arise. Author's note: Don't worry, kids. It'll all be over soon. We hope. This is a rewritten update on the original version. * * * No sooner had Mikano Andara stepped through the teleporter than the fist of force faded. Roll and Dr. Light slumped to the floor in relief. "Well, Roll," the elder said uneasily, rubbing the back of his neck to ease the pain, "I think I may have deduced something about this *particular* teleporter..." Roll turned to him, popping her metal joints back into place. "*What* have you deduced, Dr. Light?" "Well, after that strange display of magic," he explained, "I don't think it leads anywhere on *this* planet..." The robotic girl blinked. "How do you know?" "If it did, a sorceress of HER caliber should have been able to maintain that magical attack for some time--much longer than it did--but since it faded..." She caught on. "Then it MUST lead to a whole other world?? Oh, Dr. Light! What about Terri and Darian??" Nodding, he took the information into consideration. "Unless the physics of retro-teleportation reaches as far as whatever new world they're on, I'm afraid... they're gone for good." ______________________________ Darian soared through the air. It was an invigorating feeling, actually. The feeling reminded him of the time he'd ridden the Rad, Bad Wolf at Whoosh Gardens--the two-second zero-gravity free-fall was enough to make him never dream of flying ever again. Those were his feelings then. It was just the same now. As with the ride, he would have taken it much worse had he not felt the securing grips at his shoulders. Knuckles was gliding, carrying the young man from the island by way of fanned-out dreadlocks. The prospect piqued Darian's curiosity. "How do you do that?" he asked. "Where *I* come from, echidnas don't fly." "They don't HERE either, silly human," replied the Guardian. "We GLIDE. But I suppose that's what you mean. Well, I can't explain it, either. I just do it because I *can*." Darian was thankful for that, for otherwise they'd BOTH be pancakes on the ground way... way... WAY... *WAY*... below. He covered his eyes. "Are we on the ground yet?" he whined. Knuckles chuckled. "Silly human..." he muttered. ______________________________ "Watch out below, Dulcy!" cried Sonic. The dragon nodded assuredly. "Don't worry, Sonic! I've got it ALL under control-lohhh-ohhh-WHOAAAAAAA!!!!" In the instant she was off-guard, Dulcy caught a strong updraft and went spiraling into a tailspin. "Oh, no!" she yelled. "Look out beloooooooooooooow!!!" As Dulcy went in for a landing, everyone grabbed onto whatever they could to prepare themselves for a bumpy landing. Five minutes later, they were still bracing themselves. Sally was the first to look up. "Hey, everyone!" she called. "We're on the ground!" At last, the others opened their eyes, including Dulcy. "Wow," she said. "I did THAT??" "Apparently so!" laughed the princess. "Have you been practicing?" "Tee hee," she giggled. "Not since I broke my wing last winter..." Sally blinked, dumbfounded. "Well, maybe it was luck?" "Luck, shmuck," spat Davey. "She's getting GOOD, Sal." As they all hopped down, Chuck made a keen observation. "Hey," he said, "the ground's a little closer than I remember..." "Maybe 'cause you've had your head in the clouds too long!" laughed Davey. That is, he laughed... until he disembarked as well. Dulcy, the sky-scraper tall Dulcy, the dragon who was surprisingly taller than even Davey... ...now came up to his nose. ______________________________ Later that day, Terri had managed to work about halfway through the ropes around her arms on a rough piece of stone in the wall. Had that silly little maniac with the big nose captured Sunspot and thrown HER in there as well... Alas, she had to work with what she had. she thought, just when the prison door swung open. "It's decision time," sneered a high cranky voice. "Either you cooperate with me, or... I'll get *some* use out of you... What'll it be, milady?" the redhead thought. As Snively ripped the gag from her mouth, Terri spat out the words she had rehearsed in her mind. "You don't know who I really *am*, do you?" Uh, okay, so maybe she hadn't rehearsed them. "I know *exactly* who you are!!!" he screamed suddenly, "and so does your 'loving' husband, you *FIEND*!!!" Husband?? Terri was right! She'd never even had a BOYFRIEND in all her life... (Well, except *maybe* Darian, but...) Anyway, that *proved* it. He DID mistake her... She tried to bluff. "Then why, if you know who I am, think that *you*, of all people, could order *ME* around??" Snively started. "Uh... well, uh, because... because I control the guards here!" he stammered with his most assured voice. It came out as an almost whimper. "Plus, I am the only one who knows the way through the labyrinth, because I changed it myself just this morning!" thought Terri, <...labyrinth? I wouldn't even know where to BEGIN, much less how long it'd take to get through... better 'go along' with him.> "WELL???" Terri nodded. "You think you're something else, eh?" she sneered in her most haughty voice. It spooked the lackey somewhat. "Weeeeell, *just* because it's YOU and your 'friend'..." To Snively's meek surprise, the redhead nodded in agreement. "Oh, g-good..." he whimpered, half-afraid of what she might be plotting, "well, th-then, let's get *on* with it." Snively regained his composure. Or what there was of it. "I shall take you to him... right now." ______________________________ Mischief and Saphron stared dumbly at the mongoose. "Who *is* he?" asked the squirrel. Saphron turned to her. "I have seen him before, in a few visions. He is one called 'Scatter', and I fear he has even more power than all of Mist combined. Maybe even more than all of Mobius!" Adrus snorted. "What does he want? Why is he doing this to us? Come, Saphron! Tell me, did you not see this in your visions?" The egret let loose a small 'harumph'. "Most certainly NOT! If I *had*, I would not have stepped out that door and made myself look like a silly fool! He must have blocked my powers, I suppose?" Missy couldn't stand the confusion anymore. "Hey!" she called to the mongoose. "Whaddaya think you're DOING???" Scatter heard her question and laughed. "Why, ay'm 'elpin' along 'e fate 'a the Univeerse, 'at's wot! Doncha think it's 'i time fer a lit'l bit 'a re-deck-eraitin' 'roun' 'ere?" "WHA--!!" Missy shrieked. What a horrible abuse of authority! Turning to Saphron, she screamed, "*Whose* side is this guy *ON*, anyway???" "That's the problem," the egret sighed, shaking her head. "He doesn't TAKE sides. He does what he can to accomplish whatever it is he desires. And it looks like he *wants* to destroy the WORLD..." Adrus sneered, then turned back toward his private dwelling. "Where are *you* going?" called Saphron. The clearseer grunted. "I'm going to fetch a secret 'Dispel Magic' spell I'd been saving for such an emergency, you silly bird!" Saphron crossed her wings. "You expect to fight a megasuperpower like Scatter with a worn-out Dispel spell?" Pausing and turning to face her, Adrus grinned. "Well, *you're* the one who wanted to take on the whole *Universe*..." ______________________________ A burst of light cued the appearance of another teleportee. From within the light stepped a tall brown-haired woman whose very ambiance turned the nearby vegetation to rot. No sooner had she stepped from the light than it disappeared without a trace. Mikano looked around. "Nylfig Ukfc!" she shouted in gibberish. It meant something very bad in her home language, but her voicebox was no longer structured for such sound, not since the mark she'd received so many years past. She never could figure out why that was so. The new world around her was quite similar to the planet she'd just left, only with more vegetation. Vegetation made her sick. "No," she cried, "this isn't my home, either..." About to tear her hair out, Mikano suddenly picked up a strange lifeforce eminating from nearby. Turning toward the source, she spied a stank city just over the next hill, but before that, she spotted something spotted. A Sunspot, in fact. "One of the metal cats?" she mused, recalling the work being done in Maverick Industries. Then she formulated a thought. "The cat's here," she began. "The cat is electronic. Electronics was one of the things THEY liked so much. If that teleporter led from their techno-lab..." Suddenly an idea popped into her mind. "Morganite... CHANGE!" she said, suddenly taking on the image of a muddleheaded young male. "Sunspot?" Mikano cried, recalling the name she had heard used before when watching Darian testing. "Come HERE, girl!" At once, the metallo-calico perked up, hearing what she thought was her master's voice. "Sunspot! It's me, Darian!" "Mrrow!" cried the cat, running toward the fake Darian. As she leapt into Pseudo-Darian's arms, the illusion melted away. "Rr--? HISS!!!" Sunspot tried to hop away at the last instant but was caught by the equivalent of the scruff of the neck by Mikano's waiting hand. The clever sorceress then quickly snapped at the cat's head, switching off its power. "Me--oooowww...." Sunspot fell limp. Mikano looked at the robot cat in her hand and shuddered. She hated any creature other than her own. Her own original, that is, but she was *slowly* growing accustomed to humans. "Let's see what this little katze has to offer, information-wise." With a click, she turned on the cat's holographic infoviewer, replaying all the events recorded in its mind. "Uh-huh," she said, watching the reel, "...yes, right... interesting... yep... yep... ye--*wait* a sec--" She rewound the scroll to one scene and paused it. "You *stoop*," Mikano sneered. "You were *here* all along." Turning off the cat, she started to reprogram it. "Well, then... I'll just have to *finish* off what I started so long ago, won't I?" ______________________________ The harsh wind grew stronger as the day progressed. Each of the ten wolves left in the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters watched the formation of the new Zone, half in fear. "What's going to happen?" asked Flambe, rubbing his red-gray fur to ward off an unexpected chill. "Nothing," calmed Lupe, "as long as we remain in the safety of these caverns." "How can you be so sure?" Forte inquired. The pack leader turned to the group. "Sonic assures us the dangers of the Zones remain contained in what little space the energy source takes up in our world--for instance, the Zone created by the half-Chaos Emerald a year ago actually was only the size of the Emerald itself. As it turns out, the Zones occur on Alternate Planes of Reality, and what is being created right now is nothing more than a sort of 'gate' to these other Planes." From the edge of the Great Unknown flashed a brilliant light, and all of the Wolf Pack stared in anticipation of the new Zone's formation. The gate had only begun to form when-- "Look!" Dante shouted, pointing toward the sky. It was a distinctly red shape gliding carefully to the ground below. Knuckles touched down on the edge of the Great Forest. "Final stop: All out!" he said, dumping the flight-wracked Darian onto the ground. Groaning from motion-sickness, the young man could barely respond. "Gee, thanks," he managed to whisper. Forte gritted his teeth uneasily. "We *have* to warn them!" he growled, rushing toward the lower access chute, when Dante motioned for him to stop. "It's too late," he said sadly. In the instant Forte had turned away, light from the Zone flashed, forming the gate. In that instant, the Zone had sucked up Knuckles and Darian. ______________________________ Jaw slack, Davey stared at the considerably shorter dragon before him. Blinking at last, he motioned with one hand. "Stand up as tall as you can," he instructed her. Confused, Dulcy did so, revealing the mere six-inch height difference between her and the bionic fox. Oh, certainly she was taller, but the height gap was closing. "Now I *KNOW* something's wrong," he said, and the others nodded in unison agreement. "But what could it be?" asked Sally. "We know *you're* well past growth spurts, Dave, and it's logically unsound for anyone to have SHRINK spurts..." Chuck rubbed his chin. "Actually, now that I think about it, you ALL kind of look, well... SHORTER. Sonic, *you* used to be exactly my height, even after my Roboticization! *NOW* look at you!" With a scornful expression, the blue blur stared down at himself. "Yeah, these sneaks HAVE been feelin' a little *loose* as of late, and the ol' QUILLS ain't holdin' out so good either--they look all PALE and stuff. You suppose I'm getting... premature?" "You've ALWAYS been pre-mature!" countered Sally, trying vainly to maintain a less-than-terrified attitude. "Try me again when you're *mature* and I'll give you my opinion!" No one laughed. They were too baffled. Determinedly, Davey shook his head. "There's GOT to be a reasonable explanation for this. We're not doing *ANYTHING* else until this mystery is SOLVED!!" Coughing, Dulcy pointed toward Robotropolis. "Uh, Davey? What about rescuing Terri before she tells where Knothole is?" The fox snapped out of it. He slapped his head. "Oh, right. Yes, that would be a good idea, too. Let's go." * * * To these personages... oh, you know: Busch Gardens, for the ride "Big, Bad Wolf" -- Whoosh Gardens; Rad, Bad Wolf (yes, there IS a two-second zero-gravity free-fall, and if you ever dream of flying, this'll likely cure it) Capcom, for the Mega Man series -- Roll; Dr. Light And of course, Sega, Archie Comic Publications, & DIC Enterprises -- Sonic the Hedgehog series and related char.'s Thanks lots, --Hysteria... %) ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- From ZJLM18@Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu Sat Sep 7 22:31:20 1996 Return-Path: ZJLM18@Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu Received: from Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu (ACCESS.etsu-tn.edu [151.141.8.9]) by emin02.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id WAA23429 for ; Sat, 7 Sep 1996 22:31:18 -0400 Received: from NOVIX_2.etsu-tn.edu by Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu (PMDF V5.0-4 #16780) id <01I97P3GHL8G90QBG2@Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu> for dgonterman@aol.com; Sat, 07 Sep 1996 22:31:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 07 Sep 1996 22:11:50 +0000 From: "MIYAMOTO, JULIE LYNN" Subject: KnK updates To: dgonterman@aol.com Message-id: <01I97P4TBP0Q90QBG2@Access.ETSU-Tn.Edu> Organization: East Tennessee State University X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Finfo: DOS,"knk_r5.txt",,,,Text Priority: normal X-file: knk_r5.txt Comments: Authenticated sender is