Sonic The Hedgehog - Dimensions

Forward

     In this story, Doctor Robotnik (Eggman) has created an unstable
interdimensional gateway, which is utilised by the evil Demon-Mobians from
the Dimension of Darkness. Things look ill. Who can possibly fight these
near indestructible Demons? The answer, of course is an Angel-Mobian, from
the Dimension of Light. But can one young rookie of an Angel be enough? Read
on to find out.
     Note - The idea of this story is influenced by a good deal of the
artwork on the Team Artail web site, The Lord of The Rings by JRR Tolkien
and the Japanese cartoon show Digimon. I would like to make it known that I
personally do not believe in Angels, Demons or supernatural powers, I just
like them.
     Important note - This story isn’t based on Sega Sonic, SatAM, Archie or
Fleetway, it’s based on my own version of Sonic The Hedgehog but is very
similar to Archie and SatAM.  The differences are small but noticeable, I
have taken my favourite versions of Sonic The Hedgehog and added and removed
bits as I’ve seen fit as you are likely to notice when you read the story.

Characters

     Most of the characters in this story are copyrights to Sega or Archie
Comics, however there are many of my own creations here too. This is a list
to show who belongs to who in this story (in order of appearance).
? Sonic The Hedgehog - Sega
 Evelyn Darkwood (Eevee The Vixen) - my creation
 Princess Sally - Archie
 Swatbots - Archie
 Bolg The Orc-Gorilla - my creation
 Triss The Demon-Cat - my creation
 Balrogs - idea influenced from The Lord of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
 Savvok-Ri The Demon Echidna - my creation
 Doctor Ivo Robotnik (Eggman) - Sega
 King Maximus Acorn - Archie (slight alteration of name)
  Doctor Quack - Archie
 Arwen Evenstar, The Angel-Vixen - my creation (name “Arwen Evenstar”
borrowed from The Lord of The Rings)
 Captain Geoffrey Johnson - Archie (slight alteration of name)
 Julia, the King’s “personal server” - my creation
 Commander Omicron - my creation
 Antoine D’Coolette - Archie
 Miles (Tails) Prower - Sega
 Bunnie Rabbot - Archie
 Rotor The Walrus - Archie
 The Mecha-Balrog - my creation

     All of the characters that I have created belong to me and may be used
by other people, as long as they ask for my permission first. I’m quite
happy to let people who admire my ideas use them but not without my consent,
thank you. Now for the story!

Chapter I

     It was a grim morning. The dark clouds that covered the sky caught the
sun’s rays and trapped them like a net; only a pale gleam gave sight to the
inhabitants of Knothole. It was early afternoon, but it seemed much later
than that and the prospect of a storm was high.
     Amongst the deep foliage of the Great Forest, where all was darkness,
Sonic The Hedgehog was sitting upon a root of an immense oak. He was cold
but he didn’t care, he was dominantly upset by what had befallen the city of
Mobotropolis less than a fortnight ago. Uncle Chuck had finally perfected
the derobotisizer and began to derobotisize as many Robians as possible,
however he had refused to undertake the process himself. When Eggman’s
insider had contacted their master, he instantly launched an assault but
from within.
     Using a massive satellite, he took control of Mobotropolis’s remaining
Robians, including Uncle Chuck, so that they would attack the Mobians. It
had resulted in a terrible fight; many Mobians lay dead in the streets and
some Robians as well. Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters had managed to
get the survivors away to Knothole shortly before Eggman himself arrived and
declared the city back under his control.
     Because of the massive increase in Knothole’s population, development
was needed to house all of the people and ensure safety. King Maximus
declared the formation of the Kingdom of Knothole, a sanctuary for all those
seeking peace and freedom. He had a whole new Royal Palace built atop a
small hill in the middle of the forest but today its topmost towers were
engulfed in cloud. Sonic was pondering what the future might have in store
for him when a young orange fox approached him. Tails? No, it wasn’t Tails;
it was a vixen.
     She had a single long bushy tail that seemed to measure longer than her
actual body, long and well groomed hair that flowed behind her in the light
wind and met with her bushy fringe on her forehead. She was wearing a tight
blue vest top; large blue boots with read fastenings and red gloves without
fingers. Her eyes were large and a deep shade of bluish green. It was Evelyn
Darkwood, more commonly known as Eevee. A former Robian who had become very
well known in Knothole recently as she had designed the new hospital and
accommodation apartments in the new part of the village, if village it could
still be called.
     “Sonic,” she said, “the Princess has called a meeting in the old mess
hall. She asked me to come and look for you… are you okay?”  Sonic looked
up.
     “I gotta find a new place to be depressed in, Eevee,” he replied
“everyone seems to know this one.” He got up. “What’s the meeting about
anyway?”
     “Eggman,” was the answer.
     “All right,” said Sonic, “I’m coming.” He stopped suddenly. “Eevee, are
you gonna be a Freedom Fighter?”
     “To be with Tails, yes.”
     Eevee made no secret of her love for Tails; she wanted to be with him
the very day that they met, when she was derobotisized. Eevee was only just
fourteen in terms of her physical condition, but she was technically
twenty-four by her years. Robotisization for ten years had allowed her to
continue where she had left off when she was derobotisized. In this day and
age, Eevee wasn’t really “with it” but neither was Tails, so they were
perfect for each other, well that was her opinion.
     It was a long and boring meeting, Sally was going on about how they
weren’t going to try and retake Robotropolis until they had enough force to
back them up, which would take years. Sonic nearly fell asleep while she and
some others debated over where to develop and where to conserve. After well
over two hours Sonic was vaguely aware that the meeting was over as everyone
left the mess hall. He approached Sally.
     “Was that your decision or the King’s?” he asked.
     “Sonic?” she said slightly confused.
     “About not taking back what’s so rightfully ours?”
     “We came to an agreement, Sonic. I wanted to attack Robotropolis but my
father’s right, we don’t have the strength. Anyway, there are other ways to
win this war.”
     “Like?”
     Sally said nothing; Sonic had obviously caught her out.
     “Oh you’re right, Sonic! I shouldn’t listen to my father, he’s hardly
seen any of this war, and he doesn’t know a thing about handling our
situation. But he’s the King and my father… I sometimes wish I wasn’t a
Princess.”
     “Well,” said the hedgehog, “I guess the King’s spoken. He hasn’t come
up with a stupid law against me going for a walk though as he?”
     Sonic didn’t wait for an answer; he marched out of the mess hall and
sprinted away into the forest, as a role of thunder sounded on high.

     Many leagues away in the south, below the Great Forest’s borders in a
desolate land that was once full of small farms, a bolt of lightning
streaked across the sky turning the clouds into a pale blue for an instant.
A Swatbot hover unit came flying across the barren fields but stopped as its
pilots observed a strange site. What appeared to the mystical “ball
lightning” had appeared in front of their ship, but it seemed to be growing.
     It formed into a wide circle of glowing electricity that showed
darkness within. In it there was something moving, a figure… no two… five
figures moving in the circle towards the hover unit.
     One of the Swatbots activated its com-link. “Interdimensional activity
detected in sector twelve, area nine. Over.” Before any response could be
made, the hover unit erupted into fire and fell to the ground in smoking
wreckage, as the five figures emerged from the ring.
     The first was small and squat holding a large metal hammer; he seemed
to be a hideous form of gorilla with dark red eyes and totally black fur.
The next was another small creature, a cat it seemed, but she had wings
projecting from her shoulders, like those of a bat. She too had totally
black fur and red eyes. The next two had little to tell apart, massive
beasts shaped like oversized lions with massive bat wings. They both bore a
flaming sword and seemed primitive beasts rather than sentient beings. The
final figure to pass through was an Echidna female, she too had bat like
wings but she bore an axe with a long handle and a sharp, double blade. Her
eyes were a deep purple. She spoke.
     “What a horrible place! Never mind we shall change it all soon. Are you
well, Triss?”
     The cat-like one looked at her. “Yes, I am well, Savvok. I don’t like
this weather though.”
     “You may have the master’s favour,” said Savvok, “but do not expect to
get whatever you want of me. The master ordered me to make sure you and his
spawn survive, understand? He gave me no orders to ensure your every
comfort. And I only follow orders that I’ve been given by him, so don’t push
your luck!”
     “At least let us find some shelter,” said Triss. “It would not do for
me to catch a nasty cold before giving birth. You want healthy spawn, right?
If you fail, the master will kill you slowly and painfully, do you want
that?”
     Savvok did not answer; she seemed preoccupied with something far away
on the horizon. Triss looked herself, there was something approaching. A
small dot was moving quickly towards them, as it came nearer it became clear
that it was some kind of small aircraft and it was armed. It stopped about
ten metres short of them.
     The aircraft certainly was small, a mere one man ship without a glass
canopy and open to the air. It seemed to be carrying three cannons. Two were
behind the pilot and one under the smooth, round base of the craft. Its
pilot was a strange looking being, extremely fat but with thin, frail
looking arms. He had a massive, brown and untidy moustache that almost
concealed his mouth. He wore a suit of red that seemed only just large
enough to fit his almost round bulk. He looked insane. He spoke.
     “I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik,” he said, “ruler of Planet Mobius! You dare
to trespass upon my world? What is your mission here?”
     “Not a matter that concerns you or any of your people, Doctor
 Robotnik,” replied Savvok. “We are here to study this world and its way of
life.”
     “Is that why you destroyed one of my patrol units?” asked Robotnik. No
answer came, Savvok instantly attacked Robotnik as a clap of thunder shook
the rain filled air, she flew at his craft and swung her axe towards him but
he was too quick for her. All three of the weapons fired simultaneously and,
in a blast of blue light, she was down. She groped on the floor for a second
and then she stood up but she didn’t attack the craft again, she was
obviously no fool, wherever she came from.
    “I believe it may be time for a tactical retreat, people,” she said.
“Split up, Triss make for the cover of those woods, he cannot follow us
 all!”
     The others obeyed her and she flew away into the east. Robotnik did not
follow her though, he stayed where he was and bowed his head in deep
thought. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked up at the sky.
     “It has begun,” he said.

Chapter II

     Now it was raining hard but Sonic didn’t care. He was full of anger
towards King Max’s decisions and had to burn off his anger by running hard
and fast. He didn’t know where he was going, except that it was south, and
he didn’t recognise any of the recent land features. The trees were changing
too; there were less oak and pine and more thin and strange trees that he
could not name. He stopped suddenly in a clearing, observing the darkening
sky. It must have been nigh six in the evening now, Sally would be worried
if he didn’t come back before dark, worried that she’d have to sleep in a
cold bed for a night. That was another thing bothering the Hedgehog, he and
Sally had recently got engaged, mainly because Sally could never be Queen
without being married first, there was a mere three months to go before
their wedding. Ever since their engagement, they had slept in the same bed
and got used to each other’s company at night.
     Sonic was just contemplating whether he should return to Knothole or
not when he felt something, as if he were being watched… He looked up into
the tree above him, there was a creature in it, like a female black cat but
with red eyes and… bat like wings! This being fascinated Sonic and he seemed
to fascinate her. For a while they stared into each other’s eyes their only
movement being their slow breathing, in and out. After what may well have
been an hour or only a few seconds, the creature left her perch in the tree
and settled quietly on the ground before Sonic.
     “I’m Triss,” she said, her voice was calm and gentle but there was an
edge to it… a cold edge. “Who are you?”
     “Sonic The Hedgehog. You… er…” he faltered. “You don’t look Mobian, I
mean you do but you… What’s with the wings?”
     “Listen,” said Triss, “you have to help me, if she finds me something
awful will happen to your world. You must take me with you and protect me!
Please, Sonic The Hedgehog!”
     “Just call me Sonic,” said Sonic, mystified. “Whose after you?”
     “Her name’s Savvok-Ri,” whispered Triss, she seemed terrified of the
very name. “She’s a Demon-Echidna and one of the most powerful of our kind,
she wouldn’t dare to kill me but I don’t want her mission to succeed. If it
does all of this world will be plunged into darkness. Please take me with
you!”
     Sonic thought for a moment. Obviously Triss was not terrified of this
Savvok-Ri but she was scared of what she may do to Mobius if Savvok-Ri found
her. Demons? Sonic had heard of Demons before, evil creatures of darkness.
Was Triss a Demon? Yes. She must be; she said that Savvok-Ri was the most
powerful of her kind. So where did these Demons come from?
     “Triss,” he said, “ where are you from?”
     Triss was about to reply but a sound made her drop to the ground
silent. It was the sound of a voice, a female’s voice calling out. It was
also calm and gentle but had the same cold edge.
     “She’s coming!” whispered Triss, sharply. “We have to go now. No more
questions! I’ll explain everything when we’re safe!”
     Sonic took hold of Triss and ran her away with him back northwards to
Knothole. As soon as they had gone a menacing Demon-Echidna appeared in the
clearing. She looked about herself and then, with a beat of her immense
wings, she took to the black sky and vanished to sight.

     The rain was torrential by the time Sonic had got back to Knothole, the
ground was a shallow flow of red mud and the sky black, at least while no
lightning illuminated it. Sonic lead Triss through the gates of the Royal
Palace and up the road winding round the hill. He entered the Palace’s doors
and felt the blast of warm and dry air. Shaking the water from his spikes,
he guided the Demon-Cat down the corridor towards the throne room.
     He knocked lightly on the door and a voice answered, “Who is it? What
do you wish?”  Sonic replied that he had an interesting guest for the King
and the doors swung open. King Max was sitting in his throne watching the
great clock above the door. He turned his gaze onto Sonic and his
accomplice.
     “Who is this?” he asked looking at Triss but then he corrected himself.
“What is this? I’ve never seen a creature like it before.”
     “She is called Triss,” answered the hedgehog, “she’s a…” Triss cut him
short.
     “I’m a Demon-Cat, sir,” she said guiltily. “May I ask for sanctuary
here in your kingdom?”
     “Why?” asked Max.
     “Because I need it. Please, let me explain myself fully and you will
understand.”
     “Very well,” said Max patiently, “explain yourself.”
     “Well, sir, I think I ought to start from the beginning. I am from a
different dimension, one where time travels much faster, a year here is
equal to a thousand in my dimension. It was about a thousand years ago (in
my world) when an interdimensional gateway appeared and a group of weird
people came through. The master didn’t like them and we found ourselves at
war with this other dimension.
     “A few years later, I was captured by a group of these Angel-Mobians
and taken to their dimension where…”
     “We’re talking about nearly a millennium ago,” said the King, “how
could you have lived so long and yet seem so young?”
     “How long do you live? In my dimension, most people live for at least
two hundred thousand years, I must be about fifteen thousand years old
myself.” Sonic and the King looked at each other and then at Triss, as if
they were silently inviting her to continue her tale.
     “Well, when I was held captive there, at first I was nasty and
reluctant to let the Angels speak to me. But after a few hundred years one
of them, whose name was Eon, became my friend. Eon taught me about different
versions of Mobius and how someone in one dimension had created an unstable
interdimensional gateway that could open anywhere at any time. Through years
of research, his people had discovered many regularly appearing gateways
that always lead to the same places. They wanted to establish peace
throughout all dimensions but that was because their dimension was full of
good people.
     “Eon explained to me that every dimension exists on a scale of light
and dark. His dimension was at the furthest light end of the scale and mine
was at the opposite. The lighter a dimension of Mobius the more good there
is but the darker the more evil. I always thought that I was born an evil
Demon-Mobian and couldn’t change what I was but Eon taught me that I was
wrong, my dimension’s influence made me evil but his made me good. I cannot
change what I am, but I have changed who I am thanks to him.
     “After five hundred years in the Angel Dimension, I didn’t want to
leave but I was captured by an attacking group of Demons who took me back to
my own dimension. The master did not question me; he can read minds so I
needed no questioning. He found out from me all that he wanted to know and
launched an assault on the Angel Dimension. It was a devastating blow for
them and ever after the master has favoured me.
     “Over the centuries that followed I found that I wasn’t adjusting back
to Demon life, it wasn’t that I couldn’t but I wouldn’t. Finally the master
decided to colonise other worlds with his spawn and impregnated hundreds of
females that he favoured, myself included, with embryos to be born in the
other dimensions.
     “I was sent here with a team of four others, Savvok-Ri a Demon-Echidna,
Bolg an Orc-Gorilla and two Balrogs; horrible beasts with immense and
terrible powers. Almost as soon as we arrived an aircraft attacked us but
Savvok destroyed it. A few minutes later another one showed up piloted by a
fat guy in red, said his name was Robotnik, his ship was more powerful and
Savvok couldn’t risk loosing me so she made us split up and sent me into the
woods. I decided to make a break for it under the forest’s cover so that she
wouldn’t find me and that’s how I met you, Sonic.
     “Sonic knows the rest. He said he’d look after me so he brought me
here, sir. And please, if my spawn is born under Savvok’s control, your
world will perish. Please give me sanctuary, your highness!”
     The King, who had been listening intently the whole while considered.
She didn’t seem evil; there was a cold edge to her voice but apart from
that… If what she was saying was true, and Sonic seemed sure it was, then it
may be wise to stop her spawn from even being born. An abortion might be in
order.
     “Very well, young lady,” he said politely, although she was far from
young, “I, King Maximus of the Kingdom of Knothole grant you sanctuary in my
realm. You shall be protected as a citizen and will abide by my kingdom’s
laws. The only condition is that you go to the hospital in the morning to
have an abortion.”
     “A what?” asked Triss.
     “You don’t know what an abortion is?”
     “No, sir.”
     “It’s when a doctor stops a pregnancy via the injection of medical
drugs. It kills the offspring before it can develop too far.”
     “That’s really possible?”
     “Yes, my dear.”
     “And you’d do that for me?”
     “No, not me. Doctor Quack, Knothole’s chief medic will though. I shall
give him special orders to do so.”
     Triss fell upon her knees. “Oh thank you, sir! Thank you so much! I can
’t thank you enough!” Tears of joy trickled down her face.

Chapter III

     Sonic entered his chamber, it was dark but he could sense that Sally
was lying awake in their bed, waiting for him. He took off his sneakers and
his gloves and dumped them carelessly on the floor and then slid under the
covers. Sally said nothing but she turned to face him and, although he could
see nothing, he knew that she was looking straight into his eyes.
     “What is it?” he asked her.
     “I been waiting here for you, Sonic,“ she answered. “Why are you so
late?”
     “Went for a walk, Sal.”
     “Do you love me?”
     “What?”
     “I said, do you love me?”
     “I wouldn’t be in the same bed as a you if I didn’t.”
     “Wouldn’t you?”
     “Sally, what’s all this about? Someone been sayin’ stuff to you? Was it
Geoffrey? Is that it?”
     “No. It’s just I’ve never heard you actually say “I love you” to me
before. Do you really love me? I know that I love you, Sonic, and I always
will do but I sometimes wonder whether or not you love me. We seem to have
been drifting apart lately and I’m worried about it. Perhaps you’ve never
loved me and you’re getting tired of pretending now. Maybe you want
something new?”
     “That’s not true, Sal. I’ve just had a load on my mind of late, we all
have. You’re the right girl for me, the only girl for me!
     “Then say it.”
     “Say what?”
     “Say that love me.”
     Sonic found himself stuck; it was true that he had never really said
that he loved Princess Sally verbally and now he was confronted by a
challenge he had never faced before. Was he brave enough to face this
challenge? He lay quiet for a while listening to Sally breathing and feeling
the warmth of her body against his. Sally sighed as if she expected nothing
less of him and turned over. Sonic rolled onto his back and lay thinking.
     Suddenly the hedgehog sat right up, grabbed the Princess by her
shoulders and pulled her up before him.
     "Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, from the moment I met you, all those
years ago in Mobotropolis, I have loved your grace, beauty, intelligence,
wit, purity, and goodness. I have loved you with all my heart, mind, body,
and soul for so long, it’s as if you are a part of me. I‘ll always love you,
even beyond the day of my death. Will you do the same?"
     Sonic couldn’t hear the squirrel’s breathing now; she was obviously in
a state of total shock. She put her arms around his neck and drew him down
to her face and they kissed.
     “Yes, of course, my love!” she said, and kissed him.

     It was close on one ‘o’ clock in the morning and the storm had long
ended. The clouds were breaking up and the almost full moon was shining
bright over the southern end of the Great Forest. Upon a large and bare rock
standing out of the treetops two figure stood, they were Savvok-Ri and Bolg.
     “With all due respect, Savvok,” said Bolg, “I think ya shoulda gone
after ‘er. The master ain’t gonna be ‘appy when ‘e ‘ears ‘bout this, y’
know.”
     “We have greater strength in numbers, Bolg,” replied the Demon. “She’s
no fool. She’ll stay in the woods if she knows what’s good for her.”
     “Don’t matter what she does,” Bolg smirked, “this mission fails an’ you
’re the one ‘o takes the fall.”
     “It will not fail. And if it did, I’d ensure that you also died in the
master’s hands!”
     A sound from above made her break away, a roar of some great animal.
The two Balrogs landed upon the rock and folded their wings.
     “Excellent,” said Savvok. “Now that we are all here, I shall explain my
plan…”
     “An’ what abou’ Triss?” asked Bolg.
     “She doesn’t count. My plan is that we use this place as our temporary
base and conduct all of our searches from here. One of us shall stay on
guard here and rest while the others search for Triss.  Once we find her our
main plans shall commence, is that understood?”
     The other three nodded.
     “Good. Bolg, yours is the first watch. Hold the fort until our return.”

     “Well now,” said Doctor Marcus Quack, Knothole’s chief medic, “I’ve
been sent a special order by the King himself to give you an abortion. That
right?”
     “Yes,” answered Triss.
     “How long have you been pregnant?”
     “About two days.”
     “Fine. Okay, I’m just going to give you a little injection and that’ll
be our problem solved.” Doctor Quack gave her a quick injection in her belly
and said, “That’s it, problem solved! How do feel?”
     “Erm… okay, I guess. Is that it? Does mean that the master’s spawn can’
t be born now?”
     “Just a sec, I’ll check for you.” The doctor moved a scanner over her
belly and watched the computer monitor. “Yes. You’re no longer pregnant.”
     Triss leapt up and hugged the doctor so hard that he was gasping for
breath afterwards. She left the hospital and went away down the path into
the busy town that Knothole had become.

Chapter IV

     Sonic awoke. The room was light and clear. He didn’t need to look to
see if his fiancée was still there for her leg was lying across his own and
her head was against his side. He could feel her breathing gently and then
he realised that this relationship was total bliss. He knew that he and
Sally could only ever be happy together and last night had proven it. He
would have loved to stay in bed for a few hours but he had work to be done.
If there were four Demon-Mobians on the loose in this dimension, he’d have
to work fast to stop them soon. As he carefully got out of bed he realised
that Sally wasn’t asleep at all.
     “Where are you going?” she asked.
     “Out,” answered Sonic. “If what Triss said was true, I’m gonna need to
find these Demons and put a stop to them.”
     “Triss?” said Sally; she hadn’t actually met her yet.
     “Oh, yeah. You haven’t actually met her yet have you? I haven’t got the
time to explain, but your dad has. I’ll be back later!”
     “Can’t you stay an hour at least?”
     “Sorry, Sal, but this is really important, y’know; one of those
“fate-of-all-Mobius” kind of things.”
     “I understand,” said Sally, the doubt in her voice that troubled Sonic
the previous night had returned.
     Without waiting for this debate to go any further he put on his gloves
and sneakers, left the room and went out of the Palace into the Great
Forest.

     He forded a river and saw above him, in the sky a bird. No, not a bird.
It had a vast wingspan and its body seemed to Mobian like to be any kind of
bird. Also its wings were not feathered they were, like Triss’s, bat like.
It was, of course, a Demon-Mobian as Triss had described the night before.
     Unable to follow it, Sonic decided to run in the direction it came from
and see if he could find anything interesting. After a while, he reached a
huge piece of rock projecting out of the ground, totally bare without a
single blade of grass or tree to be seen. He decided that if he was to climb
it, he could a good view of the surrounding lands, so he found a gully
running up the rock’s side and climbed through it.
     At the top, he found himself standing on a wide flat area that, like
the rock’s sides, was barren and empty. There was a large pile of rocks to
Sonic’s left but nothing else. He walked over to the far edge and looked
south, out over the lands.
     It was a fair morning. The clouds were few and the ground was dry in
the sunlight; no one would have suspected that there had been a storm the
previous night. Sonic was just pondering what he should do next when he
heard a dull thud behind him. He turned and found himself looking at a
strange creature.
     Sonic had never seen a real gorilla before in his life but even in
pictures he had seen none were so foul and ugly as this monstrosity before
him. It had totally black fur and was wearing shabby looking armour and a
dull metal helmet. Strapped to its back was a massive hammer of polished
iron, the creature took out its weapon and bared itself as if expecting a
fight.
     “Well,” it said, “what d’you wan’?”
     Sonic couldn’t up with an answer. “Who are you?” he said.
     “Name’s Bolg,” answered the other, “an’ you are?”
     “Sonic The Hedgehog,“ answered the hedgehog, recognising the name from
Triss’s tale.
“Dead’s more like it, mate!” The Orc-Gorilla lunged at Sonic and tried to
strike him with his hammer. Sonic moved quickly out of the way and Bolg
managed to strike hard rock. Sonic launched a spin attack at the Demon and
knocked him down flat on his face. The hammer fell several metres away.
     Bolg picked himself up and swiped at Sonic, but the hedgehog was just
too quick for him. The Demon was getting angry now, he was too slow for
Sonic but too proud to give up. He grabbed one of the massive boulders and
lifted it above his head. Sonic could hardly believe how strong this monster
was!
     “’ere,” said Bolg, “catch!”
     He hurled the rock at Sonic and it crashed hard upon the ground. As the
dust settled, Bolg cackled maniacally in his victory and he felt a finger
tapping on his shoulder. He turned and saw that he hadn’t won at all. Sonic
launched a punch into the monster’s face sending him falling back to the
ground.
     Bolg got up again, he’d had enough of this pesky hedgehog and he was
ready to wrap up for now. He pounded his fists on his chest and, in a rage,
began beating Sonic to a pulp. Too slow for once, Sonic couldn’t escape; as
soon as he’d recovered from one punch enough to run, another took its place.
After much punching, Sonic was lying amongst the debris from the boulder,
bruised under his fur and bleeding in his mouth.
     “Lesson for ya,” said Bolg, “never fight an Orc, ‘cause they fight back
twice as ‘ard! S’all over now, roden’!”
     He picked up his hammer and approached Sonic slowly. About halfway
between he and the hedgehog, a ball of light appeared and lingered there. Bo
lg stopped and looked at it, Sonic watched from where he was lying as well
as he could. The ball opened into a ring filled with white light that shone
out in a straight beam. Bolg dropped his hammer and covered his eyes; the
light was blinding to him.
     From out of the ring a tall figure stepped, clad in shining metal
armour and a helmet, and girded with a long sword at its side. Sonic noticed
that the figure was definitely female and some kind of vixen. However, she
had wings but they weren’t anything like a Demon’s wings, they were smooth
and made of feathers, pure white and long. She was a menacing figure to
behold at first.
     Bolg’s sight had recovered by now and it was plain that this creature
frightened him somehow, he backed away looking about for his hammer. He saw
his weapon on the left of this new comer a lunged towards it. Picking it up,
he turned to face his enemy; all fear had left him now.
     “Right, Angel,” he said, “no messin’ now, or you die.”
     “I don’t think so,” said the new comer. She drew her sword of gleaming
silver steel and attacked the Orc. With a swing of her weapon, his hammer
broke in two, fell to the floor and vaporised into nothingness. Now Bolg
really was afraid. He made to run but tripped over his own large feet. He
got up and carried on going.
     “Stop right where you are, Orc,” said the Angel, and she pointed her
sword at him. The blade sparked a blue light and suddenly it sent a surging
beam towards Bolg, he fell onto his knees looked hard at the Angel and then
vaporised just like his hammer. Bolg was gone. Sonic was amazed, it seemed
impossible to just erase him like that but he saw it with his own two eyes;
it really happened. He approached the Angel and she turned to face him. She
seemed to realise that Sonic was a friend and put her sword away
immediately.
     “That was amazing,” said Sonic. “How’d you do it?”
     “It’s all in the sword,” answered the Angel, “it’s designed for
destroying Demons. My name is Arwen Evenstar, The Angel-Vixen, who are you?”
     “Sonic,” answered he, “Sonic The Hedgehog. An Angel right? Are you from
the Angel Dimension? Do you know Triss?”
     “Triss? Have you seen her? Yes I knew her… long ago.”
     “Well she’s here, the King’s given her sanctuary in Knothole.”
     “Alas, alas! That is why I have come! My mission here is to destroy all
five of the Demons that have come here and to save your world from darkness.
Triss is carrying the spawn of the Dark Master, I hate to do so but she must
be destroyed in order to save your world. There’s no other way.”
     “Actually you won’t have to. She’s had an abortion and she won’t be
giving birth to a race of evil Demons any time soon.”
     “An abortion?” Arwen was as surprised as Triss had been.
     “Yeah, it’s when a doctor stops a pregnant woman from having any kids.”
     “But if the kids are already developing does that mean… Does abortion
kill the offspring?”
     “Yeah, kind of.”
     “How can you just let a woman who’s got herself pregnant kill the
children she’s carrying? How can anyone justify the murder of children that
haven’t been given a chance to do anything wrong?”
     “Has to be a real good reason at a hearing first, some girls are
overruled and have to put up with the pregnancy though.”
     “A good reason? Like what?”
     “Like their kids are gonna the end of the world as we know it.”
     “Of course. Amazing. Then all I need do is destroy the other four
Demons. That’s good. I knew Triss before she was recaptured by her kind; she
was a good friend to Eon and me. I’m not sure that I could manage destroying
her. Come, tell me where we should go and I shall bear you there quickly. We
must not waste any time, Savvok-Ri is a foe that very few can rival.”
     Sonic told Arwen that they should go north to Knothole, where she could
get the help of the Freedom Fighters against the Demon threat. She took hold
of him and bore him north. She was a fast flier. She hardly beat her wings
and seemed only to glide through the air effortlessly.
     “Arwen,” said Sonic, “why does time travel so much faster in the Angel
and Demon Dimensions?”
     “It doesn’t travel any faster, Sonic,” she replied.
     “But Triss said a year here is like millennium there.”
     “Yes that’s true but that’s because our dimensions are not parallel. If
they were parallel, they would be synchronised and time would be exactly the
same but it’s not like that and it never will be.”
     “How is it that you Angels and Demons live for thousands of years?”
     “I don’t understand that, we just do and always have done. Why do live
such short lives? We aren’t considered to be adults until our eighteen
thousandth year and I’m only sixteen thousand, five hundred and fifty two. I
think, in your years, that’s about sixteen and a half. So, technically, I’m
only really about seven months older than you.”
     “How do you know how old I am?”
     “That’s one of my many talents, psychic powers.”
     “You can read my mind?”
     “I can probe it for basic information, nothing more.”
     “What are your other powers? Can you lift objects with your thoughts?”
     “Telekinesis? Well to a certain extent. I can only call objects to me
and not send them elsewhere and then they have to be within a certain range
of me and not too heavy. You must have some powers of your own to fight an
Orc.”
     “Speed’s my main power; it’s kind of what gives me my other skills. I
can create an electrostatic force-field around myself, when I’m moving fast
enough, but that can only stop me from being killed, attacks still hurt.
Hey, that’s it. Knothole! Just take us down and I’ll lead you to the Royal
Palace to see the King.”
Arwen spiralled around and settled in the park-land around the Palace, many
bystanders backed off at her sight. She turned around to face the crowd
assembling nearby and smiled pleasantly. She removed her helmet and shook
loose her long golden hair.
     “There’s no need to be afraid of me,” she said. “I am here to help you
and everyone else in this world.” She turned to Sonic. “Now, you were going
to take me to the Palace, Sonic?”
     “Follow me,” he said and lead her towards the hill. When she saw the
spiralling road, she picked Sonic up and flew him straight to the doors and
they entered. As they walked through the long corridor, Geoffrey Johnson,
captain of His Majesty’s Secret Service, appeared from a door on the right
and stopped them.
     “Step aside, Johnson,” growled Sonic. “This Angel-Vixen wants to see
the King.”
     “You seem to be bringing in a lot of weird creatures, Hedgehog,”
replied the skunk. “How can you prove that this one is an Angel and not a
Demon?”
     “How indeed?” answered Arwen. “There are many types of Demons; some are
just like creatures in this world except of course for their wings and
special powers but there are others. There are Demons that can change their
shape to suit different situations and some have no shape at all; they
possess someone else for as long as it suits them and they leave. However,
it is a Demon’s honour never to slay one of their own kind unless they have
committed a terrible crime. Sonic here will tell you that I have just slain
one of the four Demon intruders to this world.”
     Geoffrey waited for no answer from Sonic. “Four? The King told me that
there were five Demons here, he said, "Savvok-Ri a Demon-Echidna, Bolg an
Orc-Gorilla and two Balrog things." Plus there’s that Triss who Sonic
brought in last night, isn’t she a Demon?”
     “Yes,” answered Arwen, “but…”
     “Then,” interrupted Geoffrey, “shouldn’t you slay her as well? She’s
just like the others, an intruder to our dimension.”
     “She’s not evil, Johnson,” Sonic growled, “didn’t his Royal Highness
tell you?”
     “He did,” answered the skunk. “However, don’t forget that his Majesty
has been frozen for ten years aboard a rocket in orbit. No one has ever been
cryogenically frozen for that length of time, unattended. He’s not the King
he used to be you know, but that’s not his fault so I do my best to advise
him.”
     “Just get out of the way,” Sonic crouched ready to leap into attack. He
hated Geoffrey Johnson about as much as he hated Doctor Robotnik, or Eggman
as the Freedom Fighters called him. Geoffrey didn’t feel much different
about Sonic, they weren’t enemies but they were rivals. Once Geoffrey had
sought the hand of the Princess, but she had always loved Sonic and wouldn’t
love anyone else. When they were engaged, the King forbade Geoffrey from
pursuing his love any further so the skunk had started sucking up to the
King and giving him craven councils that he actually listened to. It was
probable that Geoffrey had had a hand in the King’s decision about remaining
in Knothole if he didn’t make the decision for the King. Unable to pursue
his love, he had resolved to make Sonic’s life as miserable as possible.
     “Go ahead,” said Geoffrey, “attack me. Believe me, though, the King
will make you regret it.”
     “What’s going on here?” said the voice of Princess Sally. She was
standing behind Sonic and Arwen.
     “Your Highness,” said Geoffrey innocently, “this brazen thug was just
about to attack me. I don’t know what I’ve done to upset him.”
     “You don’t?” Sally asked sarcastically. “Well I could name about… hmmm…
seven hundred and fifty five thousand, two hundred and sixty one different
things, Geoffrey, so you must be really dumb or just plain ignorant. Why don
’t you just let Sonic and what’s her name…”
     “Arwen,” said she.
     “Yes, why don’t you just let Sonic and Arwen through now and go away?”
     “Your Highness.” Geoffrey glared at Sonic but let him pass.

     They entered the throne room without knocking because they had Sally
with them and approached the King. He was sitting comfortably in his throne
in deep conversation with a serving girl on his right, when they saw their
guests she made herself scarce.
     “Yes,” said the King hurriedly. “Who’s this? Sonic you seem determined
to bring in the strangest creatures lately. First that Demon-Cat last night
and now this… this…”
     “Angel-Vixen,” finished Arwen. “I’ve come before you to ask for your
help.”
     “Angel?” Max mused. “I’ve heard tell of Angels and Demons but only in
ancient myths, how is it that they suddenly decide to exist?”
     “We don’t exist,” said Arwen. “Well not in this dimension anyway.”
     “And yet you’re here?”
     “We shouldn’t be, that’s why I’m here and why I need your help.”
     “Well, go on. Tell us your tale.”
     “Nearly a millennium ago, in our dimension, probably a year ago here,
doorways between different dimensions started opening. At first we thought
that they were random but after a few years we realised that they were
actually regular and always led to the same dimensions. Eventually, war
between our dimension and the Dimension of Dark broke out.
     “Our leader, Magnus set up a force of out of the most skilled Guardian
Angels (that’s what the Demon fighters are called) to go into other
dimensions after Demons, the Cross Dimensional Peace-Keepers. Our job is to
hunt down and slay every Demon-Mobian intruding on our world or any other
where they did not belong but it’s not easy, we have suffered many losses
during a Demon hunt. Eon would have been sent on this mission but he was
slain in battle by a Dragon.
     “Dragon?” cried the King, unable to contain his surprise. “I suppose
Dragon’s exist in your dimension?”
     “No,” answered Arwen, “but they do in the Demon Dimension. We’re very
fortunate that the Dark Master didn’t send a Dragon, I doubt that I’d be
strong enough to fight one and I’m the best remaining Peace-Keeper. Still,
two Balrogs and Savvok-Ri will make a hard enough challenge, which is why I
need your help. Please, your Majesty, it will be so much easier if we work
together.”
     The King sat in deep thought. He knew a lie when he heard one and Arwen
was not lying, the problem was how he should help her. “Very well,” he said.
“The Freedom Fighters, under Sonic’s leadership, shall do what they can to
aid you. You may have a bed chamber here in the Palace.”

Chapter V

     “An Angel was here,” said Savvok-Ri, as she sniffed a piece of earth
between her fingers. “This is where she will return if I know Angels. You,”
she pointed to one of the Balrogs, “find Triss, follow her trail and do not
return to me without her location confirmed. Do you understand?”
     The nearest Balrog bowed its hideous head in acknowledgement and took
off northwards. Savvok-Ri turned to the other Balrog.
     “As for you,” she said, “you and I shall find another place to make a
temporary abode. I shall not suffer the same fate as Bolg.”

     Flames leapt from the high chimneys of Robotropolis’s many Swatbot
factories, far below, platoons of robotic troops marched through the streets
of wreckage and the surveillance cameras upon every wall swivelled two and
throw monitoring all that passed in this terrible city of ruins. High above
the murky streets, amongst the clouds of smoke there was a rare sight, a new
building had just been finished, it was cylindrical and upon its top there
was hemisphere of great size. A Command Carrier flew slowly over the
decimated wasteland and settled upon a landing platform just south of Eggman
’s headquarters.
     The ramp at the front of the vessel opened and a huge robot stepped
out. He was made of black polished metal and had long arms and legs. His
face was almost like a Human’s but it had sharp red eyes and fangs
projecting from the mouth, almost like a vampire. Behind him trailed a long,
billowing cape of dark purple fabric attached at his chest by two brooches,
each shaped as a skull. Upon his huge shoulders and his kneecaps this skull
was painted. He was a dire menace to simply behold.
     From a nearby door, a man approached, it was Eggman. He walked straight
towards this robot and stood before him, he was only half the machine’s
size.
     “Ah, Commander,” said Eggman, ”Commander Omicron, you were very prompt.
Follow me.”
     Eggman lead Omicron away from the landing platform and to his
headquarters. They ascended in the elevator to the command centre, where
Eggman settled himself in his command chair. Omicron stood straight and tall
without any movement as he waited for his master to speak.
     “Now, Commander,” said Eggman, rotating his chair to face Omicron, “Do
remember a year ago?
     “My data-tracks record every moment of my operational life,” replied
Omicron, his voice was not robotic but it was cold and flat, as if there
were no feelings behind it, “of course I remember a year ago, sir.”
     “Well then, you’ll remember when I informed you about my attempt to
create an interdimensional gateway?”
     “Your attempt failed, sir, resulting in the destruction of your
machine.”
     “Yes,” there was an annoyed edge to Eggman’s voice. “I didn’t tell you
about the after effects of that event though, did I?”
     “I was not informed of any after effects, sir.”
     “Ever since then, doorways to other dimensions have been appearing in
regular patterns all over the planet. I discovered that they open for about
thirty seconds before they’re closed again and then it’s at least several
hours before they reappear, some don’t reappear for several days or even
months.
     “I sent a probe into one last month and when it returned three weeks
ago the information that I downloaded from it showed that it had been in
that dimension for years. This is proof that time travels at different
speeds in different dimensions.”
     “Did you summon me here to tell me about this, Doctor Robotnik? It does
not seem logical.”
     “That’s not the reason, Omicron, I just felt like telling you. You
never know, the information may prove useful someday. Only yesterday did a
group of Demon-Mobians from the Demon Dimension arrive here. This could be
the beginning of a cross-dimensional war, if it is I shall not lose it,
understand?”
     “As you wish.”
     “I’ve been working on a Master Plan and this incident has got in the
way of it. You’re aware of my Master Plan?”
     “Yes, sir.”
     “Good. I cannot abandon my city while these Demons are here so I’m
putting you in command of my plan… for now. Do not fail me.”
     “Failure is unacceptable, sir.”
     “Good. You shall depart for my secret base ere nightfall so that I may
keep well my city until this matter has settled down somewhat.”
     “As you command, Doctor Robotnik.”

Chapter VI

     It was supper-time at the Royal Palace; the King was sitting in his
great oak chair upon a dais at his round banquet table. About the great
table sat Sonic, Sally, Geoffrey Johnson, Antoine D’Coolette, Triss and
Arwen. The servants came in with the meal and they began to eat happily,
only Sonic seemed slightly depressed. The others laughed and talked merrily
while they ate, Geoffrey seemed to laugh the loudest. Sonic had a passing
feeling that Geoffrey was aware of his unhappiness and wanted to deepen it
with his own humour.
     Arwen and Triss talked much about the doings of their own dimensions
and listened to Sally and Antoine talk about the doings of this one. Sally
was speaking and Sonic could hear her voice clearly but not the words she
was saying because he was too busy thinking to listen. Arwen asked the King
for help, not the Freedom Fighters, what right had he to appoint them to
help her? He wasn’t in charge of them. He hadn’t offered any help of his
own, just the help of others. That wasn’t right. Since when was Sonic the
leader of the Freedom Fighters? As he recalled, Sally was their leader, was
King Max trying to stop her from being a Freedom Fighter? Sonic thought that
all too likely.
     “Sonic? Sonic?” The voice was Sally’s. Sonic suddenly awoke from his
thoughts and looked to find his fiancée, she was sitting next to him on his
right.
     “What?” he asked.
     “Wasn’t it terrifying?” answered Sally.
     “What?”
     “Perfect Chaos of course. Why, haven’t you been listening?”
     “Not really, no.” Sonic could well remember his battle as Super Sonic
with Perfect Chaos in Station Square. “I wouldn’t say terrifying.”
     “Well I thought it was, and you should have seen the size of that
monster! Tails and I went into the city’s power plant and we…” Sally went on
about all of their recent adventures and Sonic fell back into his thoughts
again.
     The servants came in again and cleared away the main course quickly,
they returned in a minute with the desserts but Sonic said he wasn’t hungry
anymore. He asked to be excused from the table and left for his bedchamber.

     It was about ten thirty in the evening when Sally finally left the
dinner party. She walked down the long stone corridor to the elevator and
ascended to level five and her bedchamber. The lights were on. She entered
and found Sonic lying on the bed reading a book. The squirrel read the
title. “Creatures of Ancient Mythology”. She greeted Sonic who smiled at her
but said nothing.
     Sally entered the en-suite bathroom and turned on the shower; Sonic’s
towel was wet, so he’d had a shower since he came in. She took off her boots
and vest-jacket and tossed them into the bedroom, a nice shower was just
what she needed after being the dinner’s main source of entertainment.
Something was troubling her, was Sonic drifting away from her? If he was,
why? Was it her? She stood before the mirror examining her body.
     Everything was fine, she hadn’t put on any weight, Sonic had never
complained about her new haircut. Her body still as beautifully shaped as
ever and her face was the face that she had always been happy with, the one
Sonic fell in love with. So why, if she was perfectly happy with herself and
hadn’t changed since they fell in love, why did she have a feeling that
something was pushing Sonic away? Maybe a nice soothing shower would help
her find the answer.
     She pulled back the shower curtain and stepped in. She and Sonic were
two very different people. While Sonic would rush straight into a fight
without question, she would stop and think about the situation first. How
they ever fell in love was beyond her knowledge. But one thing that they had
in common was that they both loved a specific water temperature while in the
shower, this they had discovered through their morning showers in which they
showered together. A strange thing maybe, but it was all she could think of
at this moment in time. They both hated Eggman, but then so did everyone.
     “What could be pushing Sonic away from me?” she thought, as she rubbed
the shampoo into her hair. Then she thought about the book that he was
reading when she entered the chamber. “Creatures of Ancient Mythology”?
Angels and Demons were creatures of ancient mythology all right, could Sonic
have become interested in Triss or Arwen? Of course not, what was going on
was hardly that recent a thing. There was only one thing that she could
think of offhand, her father and Geoffrey Johnson. They had been around
since early spring and since then and this seemed to have been going since
about that time. Were her father and Geoffrey pushing Sonic away, he hardly
ever saw them except at palace dinners, which he wasn’t fussed about
attending unless he was asked. No. Sally reconsidered; perhaps it was she
that was drifting away from Sonic?
     Of course, that would explain a lot. She knew now that Sonic wasn’t
happy during their meal and she hadn’t noticed it. She’d been too busy
entertaining her guests to think about her fiancé. It was she that was to
blame. The return of her father had forced her back into a more royal life
meaning she and Sonic’s relationship had become more difficult to maintain,
unless she lived a royal life she could never become Queen. Then something
dawned on her. A decision had to be made.
     She got out of the Shower and dried herself, then entered the bedroom.
Sonic was still reading the book. He turned to her.
     “Did you have a nice shower, Sal?” he asked kindly.
     “Wonderful,” she answered. “Sonic I’ve made a decision, the biggest my
life has ever seen and I want to know, will you back me up?”
     “Sally,” said Sonic his eyes widening, “you’re my fiancée! You’re the
woman I love! It doesn’t matter what decisions you make, I’ll always stand
by you.”
     “Good,” Said Sally. “I’ve decided to renounce my title as Princess.”
     She might as well have said she was dumping Sonic to go out with
Eggman, so shocked was the hedgehog.
     “What did you say?”
     “I don’t want to be Princess anymore. Listen, ever since my father
returned I’ve been pushed further and further away from you, I thought it
was you but it was me who was to blame, I’m sorry. I don’t think our
relationship can work like this, Sonic, my choice was to either be the next
monarch and have to give you up or love you and have to give my heritage up.
Not a very good choice, was it?”
     “No, not really,” replied Sonic.
     “Well I’ve made my decision, Sonic, and I hope you’ll keep to your word
and stand by me.”
     “Of course I will, Sal, of course I will.”
     Sally climbed onto the bed and embraced her fiancé without anymore
doubt of his love or her own.

Chapter VII

     The next morning, Sonic woke early. Through the window he could see
that the sun had not risen and the sky was the pale blue of the light before
dawn, but something had woken him. It must have been a sound though what it
was he could not remember. He was about to shut his eyes again when he
heard, quite distinctly, a bang followed by a long, low rumble.
     “That was the sound of an explosion,” he thought, “or I’ve never heard
one.”
     He swivelled around in his bed and sat with his feet on the floor
rubbing his eyes, then he put on his gloves and sneakers and made for the
door.
     “Where are you going?” asked Sally sleepily.
     “Didn’t you hear an explosion?”
     Sally yawned. “No,” she said. “I’ve just this minute woken up.”
     “Well I’m gonna investigate, you just stay here and I’ll be back.”

     Sonic left the Palace and sprinted down the spiralling road about the
hill. When he reached the bottom of he looked ahead and saw an amazing site.
Several pine trees were on fire and the Knothole Fire Department was out
fighting the blaze but it wasn’t this that caught his eye. Beyond the
flaming trees he could see Arwen locked in combat with something that was
dark as a storm cloud blocking out the sun. It was at least twice her height
and had to massive bat like wings that were of a red colour on the inside.
It had clawed feet and heavy looking muscular legs and arms. Its head
probably wasn’t very big but about it was a mane of dark brown maybe even
black hair. In its face there were two flaming red eyes and a mouth of
yellow fangs. It was the most terrifyingly hideous thing that Sonic had seen
in his waking life.
     Arwen, however, showed no concern that this beast might rip her in half
at a moment’s notice, she was weaving in and out of its reach as if taunting
it and had a smile on her face. It was plain enough that she was enjoying
herself. Sonic ran towards them
     “Arwen,” he shouted, “need any help?”
     “No, Sonic,” she answered, “I’ve got him right where I want him. This’
ll be over in a minute.”
     “He don’t look too scared to me.”
     “Oh believe me,” Arwen said in a low voice, “he’s terrified! I’ve
already destroyed its fire-sword!”
     She drew her long sword and flew past the monster’s right wing, driving
the blade through as she went. The beast roared in pain as blood dripped
from the wide tear in its wing, turned and fled in misery. Arwen settled on
the ground next to Sonic and sheathed here sword.
     “Not too shabby,” she said proudly.
     “That was cool!” exclaimed Sonic in awe. “Weren’t you even worried?”
     “Of course I was,” answered Arwen. “No one can face a Balrog without
fear. The important thing to remember is that they’re cowards. If you can
make it look like you’re not afraid of a Balrog they become weaker because
they feed on fear. That’s how you become stronger than a Balrog and
destroying their fire-sword does help a bit.”
     “Fire sword?”
     “The weapon of a Balrog, very dangerous you know. He’ll be a lot weaker
without it next time.”
     “So you didn’t beat it did you?”
     “Not this time, no. Fortunately, a Balrog never returns to a place
where they were badly injured so that one won’t be troubling Knothole again,
unless he’s ordered to by a stronger Demon.”
     “Why do you think he attacked Knothole anyway?”
     “Triss of course. He can’t have found out that she’s no longer pregnant
but he may know that she’s here, he’ll have followed her sent. I fear that
if that Balrog doesn’t return Savvok-Ri herself will. When she finds out
that her mission’s already failed she’ll be extremely angry and likely to
destroy Triss and everyone who’s befriended her.”
     “Then we’ve gotta find her and destroy her sooner rather than late,
right?”
     “There’s no we involved, Sonic. Only I have the power to slay a Demon
and then only with my sword. The best thing for you to do is defend your
home and let me do all the dirty work, okay?”
     Sonic didn’t answer, he wasn’t going to back out of defending his
planet from invaders and his help had been promised to Arwen.
     “Where are you going now?” he asked.
     “To the Palace,” Arwen answered, “I haven’t had any breakfast yet.”

Chapter VIII

     As the sun made its vein attempt to bring light to Robotropolis, Eggman
was watching the monitors in his control centre, hardly interested. As he
watched the robotic Uncle Chuck oiling a gear, in one of the many
underground factories where the Robians resided, the communicator started
bleeping. He pushed the receiver switch.
     “What is it?” he asked.
     “Sir,” said the electronic voice of a Swatbot, “one of the requested
beings has been captured. We have placed it on the Hyper Tower ready for
robotisization. Would you like to see it first?”
     “Yes,” answered Eggman. “Patch it through to monitor 1.”
     “As you command, Doctor Robotnik,” said the Swatbot.
     Monitor 1’s picture changed from corridor 8 in Swatbot factory 12 to
the Hyper Tower; it was the cylindrical tower crowned with a hemisphere.
Upon this hemisphere there lay a huge monster. It had bat like wings,
muscular arms and legs with clawed feet and a mane of dark hair. In its back
there were several darts that Swatbots had shot at it to sedate the beast.
The right wing was injured with a huge tear in the its membrane that looked
very recent.
     “You did that?” asked Eggman sharply.
     “No, sir,” answered the Swatbot. “The creature had that injury when it
arrived, we only shot it with tranquilliser darts.”
     “Well,” said Eggman, “it’ll do. I need to test the Hyper Tower on a
Demon and that’s probably the best chance I’ll get. Robotisize it!”
     “Yes sir!”

     Sonic re-entered his bedchamber to find Sally dressed and ready to make
her announcement to the King. She kissed Sonic and smiled at him.
     “Are you ready?” she asked.
     “Are you?” asked Sonic.
     “No,” Sally answered.
     “Me neither,” said Sonic.
     “Well,” Sally said, “it’s got to be faced, I can’t leave it any longer.
It’s a choice between Royalty and love and I choose…” She kissed Sonic again
to finish her sentence.
     They took the elevator to the ground floor and headed for the throne
room, the King wasn’t in there but they found Geoffrey sitting in the throne
for some reason. He told them that the King had left him in charge while he
dealt with a most important matter.
     “Where is he, Geoffrey?” asked Sally impatiently.
     “In his study,” answered the skunk, “but I shouldn’t disturb him if I
were you, he’s very busy.”
     What could possibly be keeping the King so very busy when he had loads
of servants to do all of his work? Sally wasn’t going to let her father’s
amount of work to shove her aside so she and Sonic entered the corridor
behind the throne and entered the first door on the left.
     What they beheld, they could hardly believe. There was the King
standing near his chair and he was not alone. He was engaged in an intimate
embrace with that serving girl who had made herself scarce when Arwen came
in the day before. She had her arms around the King’s neck and she and Max’s
lips were together and their eyes closed. It was a shocking sight for both
Sonic and Sally.
     “What’s this, dad?” asked Sally. “Who is this serving girl?”
     “Sally?” exclaimed her father. “Can’t you knock?”
     “Answer my question!” she growled not taking her eyes off of the
servant.
     “Her name is Julia and she’s none of your business.”
     “I think she is, you’re my father remember? If someone other than
mother’s in love with you then it is my business.”
     “Sally, your mother’s dead. She died when Robotnik destroyed the old
palace in Mobotropolis. I can have a relationship with another woman if I
want now.”
     “Couldn’t you at least tell me?” said Sally, tears were appearing in
her eyes now.
     “I was going to. I should tell you now that we’re engaged and going to
get married next week.”
     “How long’s this relationship been going, dad?”
     “About four months, it was love at first site.”
     “Don’t go into the details, just tell me why you never told me before.
I’m your daughter, don’t you trust me?”
     “Listen, Sally,” said Julia soothingly, “I know you must hate me but…”
     “Shut up!” Sally screamed, slapping Julia straight across the face.
“How dare you talk to me like that?”
     “Get out,” ordered the King, pointing to the door, “both of you!”
     “And you!” Sally turned to her father. “You can shut your face as well!
I was worried about what I want to say to you but not anymore. Go ahead and
get married, have kids and be happy, because I’m leaving the Palace and the
Monarchy. I renounce my title as Princess Royal of The House of Acorn. From
now on, I’m just Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters.”
     “Fine,” said Max. “You do that. I hardly know you anyway; you’re not
the girl that I fathered ten years ago. Julia will be my wife and I will
start a new life with her, to compensate the one that Robotnik stole from
me. Now you and Sonic had better pack up your things and find some pathetic
shack in the town because you’re no longer welcome here. You have until
tonight to leave.”
     “We shan’t regret it, your Highness,” scoffed Sally.
     She and Sonic left the King’s study and headed to their chamber to pack
up their things and leave.

     As they walked casually down the corridor, Sonic and Sally could here
the sound of Max and Julia kissing. Sally seemed triumphant. She wore a huge
smile on her face and her complexion showed naught but happiness. Sonic
asked her what she was so happy about.
     “It worked, Sonic,” she said. “I shan’t ever regret leaving this
prison, I’m a Freedom Fighter again!”
     “I’ll miss the en-suite bathroom, Sal,” said Sonic, “but at least I can
have chilli dogs when I want ‘em now!”
     They entered their room and started packing their belongings into
suitcases.

Chapter IX

     That afternoon, Sonic was walking down a street in Knothole with Tails;
it had been a while since they’d talked thanks to Sonic’s engagement. Tails
lead Sonic into a lengthy conversation about his biplane, the Tornado 2,
which dragged on until they met Bunnie Rabbot. She hadn’t seen Sonic much
since he moved into the Palace and was glad to here his news. She was happy
that Sally was leaving the Royalty to be a Freedom Fighter again and they
walked about the park talking merrily.
     In the shade of a tree, they saw a cat sitting with her head upon her
knees. No, she wasn't a cat; she was a Demon-Cat for she had those telltale
wings. Sonic, Tails and Bunnie settled on the ground near to her and she
lifted her head.
     “Sonic?” she said, “Who are these people?”
     “This is Tails,” answered Sonic, glancing towards the two-tailed fox,
“and this is Bunnie,” he glanced at the doe.
     “How do you do it?” she asked.
     “How d’ya do what?” asked Bunnie.
     “Fit in,” she answered. “Look at me. I’ve got wings and special powers
that no one else here has and that makes me different, people are afraid of
what’s different. But you,” she looked at all three of the Freedom Fighters,
“you all have something different about yourselves that gives you special
abilities; why don’t people fear you? You all manage to fit in.”
     “When you’ve saved peoples lives they’ll be less afraid of you,” said
Sonic. “Show people that your abilities can be used for good and they’ll
respect you, some’ll idolise you.”
     “It ain’t easy, sugar,” said Bunnie, “When ah was robotisized, no one
wan’ed to know me. Ah lost ma boyfriend ‘cause of it but ah foun’ that ah
could help people now. Worse thing was when ah had to have an upgrade,
thanks to that, ah’ll never be derobotisized but me an’ ma boyfriend are
back together now an’ he’ll stand by me forever. He’s a loyal friend an’
lover.”
     “Does such a thing exist in this world?” asked Triss.
     “Sure does, sugar,” answered the bionic doe, “ain’t easy to find but
they do exist. Sonic here’s one, he’s always bin loyal ta Sally-girl, that
right, sugar-hog?”
     Sonic nodded in acknowledgement.
     “Prove that ya can do summit good an’ people’ll like ya,” Bunnie
concluded.
     “Like what?” asked Triss.
     “When the time comes,” said Tails, “you’ll know, but not before.”

     They got up to leave but Triss stayed where she was. Thinking better of
it, Sonic, Tails and Bunnie left her and carried on walking through the
park. As they approached the fountain in the central pond they were joined
by Rotor and Sally and settled down upon the benches having a good chat
about life. Somehow Rotor managed to lead them into a long talk about the
Freedom Stormer’s engine problem.
      Sonic was just about to change the subject when Arwen landed right in
front of him. She looked ready for action and danger. Sonic asked her what
was up.
     “I’m off,” she said. “I’ve got Demons to slay and I’m not going to do
it sitting around here all day, am I? All I ask is two people to come with
me and help.”
     “But you said only you could fight Demons,” said Sonic.
     “No,” answered Arwen. “What I said was only I could kill Demons. I don’
t think I can fight these ones on my own though. Savvok-Ri is very powerful,
that’s why the Dark Master made her one of his lieutenants, you know.
Balrogs are easy; you could fight them while I take on Savvok. You weaken
them and I’ll destroy them.”
     “Okay,” said Sonic. “I’m in.”
     “Me too,” said Tails. “I can use the Tornado 2 against them.”
     “Fine,” said Arwen. “Well there’s no time like the present, let’s go
and quickly. They’ll have left the place where I slew Bolg and gone
elsewhere but we’ll have to go there to pick up their trail.”

     Tails took off using his two tails as rotor blades and flew towards his
workshop back in the village and Sonic proceeded on foot. Tails shared part
of a large workshop with Rotor, but Tails’s part was mainly for his biplane
the Tornado 2, powered by a Chaos Emerald that Tails found in Station
Square. They entered the workshop and boarded the Tornado 2, Tails in the
cockpit and Sonic standing dangerously on the back of the plane behind the
pilot.
     Tails turned the ignition key and the propeller began to spin. The
plane sidled out of the garage and blasted along the runway with its jet
engines mounted beneath. The Tornado 2 circled round over the woods and
rendezvoused with Arwen. Tails gave her the thumbs up and she returned the
signal and together they headed south in search of the Demons.

Chapter X

     Circling low over the forest, Arwen landed upon the vast rock. Tails
activated the vertical-landing system in the Tornado 2 and landed his plane
next to the Angel-Vixen. Sonic and Tails disembarked and Arwen began looking
around.
     “How do we know this isn’t a trap?” asked Sonic.
     “Demons wouldn’t set such an obvious trap,” unless it was just a band
of Orcs we were dealing with, but these ones are being led by Savvok-Ri and
she’s extremely intelligent.”
     Arwen began walking about again examining the ground; it seemed that
her visor had scanners built in, as she would continually adjust a knob on
the side of her helmet. After about five minutes of looking about she stood
up straight and spoke.
     “The usual trick,” she said, “they want us to go after them southwards
when they’ve turned west and north. They took off southward but veered north
-west about two kilometres into their flight. The only thing puzzling me is
why there was only one Balrog here; where was the other one, the one I
fought this morning?”
     “Scared of going back to its boss?” asked Sonic.
     “No I think not,” said Arwen. “Balrogs are loyal servants of the Dark
Master and always return to their commander; regardless of whether they
succeeded in their mission or not.”
     “Heading north-west you say?” said Sonic. “Well, let’s get going!”

     They took off again and headed after the Demons, Arwen constantly
scanning the terrain in search of a new lead. After about two hundred
kilometres, Arwen veered northward directly and they found that they were
heading towards Robotropolis from the south. Ahead of them they could see a
black mass. It was a massive plume of smoke venting from the thousands of
giant blackened smokestacks of Eggman’s many factories and power plants
beneath the ruins of Mobotropolis.
     As they came closer they could see the buildings of the city; they were
black as if burnt and standing in ruin. Only a few buildings looked well
maintained; these were Eggman’s ventilation towers, landing platforms, ship
yards, robotisization facilities and most important, his headquarters.
     They landed quite far into the city in Central Park, which was now one
of Eggman’s scrap yards and full of all kinds of junk such as smashed
Swatbots and wrecked ships; Sonic could swear that one wreck looked like a
portion of the gigantic Egg Carrier. Arwen sniffed the air and choked.
     “The worst air I’ve ever breathed,” she said in disgust. “What type of
creature is this Eggman? The air in the Demon Dimension’s not as bad as
this!”
     “He’s no Demon,” said Sonic grimly, “he’s worse. He’s a Human Being. He
can do far worse than pollute, he can turn innocent people into mindless
robotic slaves by the thousand at the push of a button.”
     “Well,” said Arwen, “we aren’t here to deal with him, we’re here to
destroy some Demons. Amongst these foul smells of smoke and toxic chemicals
I’ve managed to find the foul smell of a Balrog, but just the one. I don’t
understand why there aren’t two of them here. I’ve also picked out a single
female Demon-Echidna.”
     “Your scent’s that good?” asked Tails curiously.
     “Has to be,” answered Arwen, “it’s no good tracking Demons with no
sense of smell, smell’s the best way of finding them.”
     “So what’s that visor for?” Tails asked.
     “For identifying smells that are too far for my nose,” Arwen said
grinning. “Oh yeah, and magnifying over distances.”

     She led them along the remnants of a path through scrap yard and they
came to the foot of a ruined building. Piled along the wall were the rusting
bodies of scrapped Swatbots.
     “Heads up!” shouted Tails as a hover-unit sped into view.
     They ducked behind a pile of empty oil barrels and the hover-unit flew
past without stopping or slowing down. They carried on moving slowly but
after about five minutes, Sonic lost patience.
     “That does it!” he said. “I’ve had enough of all this sneakin’ around.
Where’s the action an’ the danger? Where’s the excitement?”
     “Sonic,” replied Arwen, “hunting Demons is a job that must be done
carefully. We have to sneak so that we can surprise them; they’re much
easier enemies if you catch them of guard. Like Bolg, if I hadn’t caught him
the way I did he’d have been more difficult to beat. As for action, danger
and excitement, we’ll get plenty of it in due time. Anyway,” she looked
about herself, “they’re close by. We’re nearly on them.”
     “I’m waitin’,” said Sonic with folded arms, tapping his foot
impatiently.
     Suddenly and as if out of nowhere, a huge winged creature swept down,
knocking Sonic right of his feet. It settled on top of a nearby pile of
rubble and produced a long sword, burning with an orange flame. It was a
Balrog but not the one that Arwen had fought for its right wing showed no
sign of damage. Not to mention, this beast showed no sign of fear when it
beheld the Angel, standing in her glory with a drawn sword. With a beat of
its wings, the Balrog leapt into the smoke-laden air followed closely by
Arwen. Their swords clashed together, showering hundreds of tiny sparks that
barely reached the ground before they faded into nothingness.

Chapter XI

     “Ah ha,” said Eggman as he watched his monitors. They showed one
picture, his central scrap yard, where two creatures were engaged in a
vicious dual. One was a lot like the creature that he had robotisized on his
Hyper Tower but the other had wings like a bird’s, with long feathers of
pure white. This creature looked like some kind of vixen wearing heavy
armour and carrying a long sword gleaming dully in the dim half light.
     “So, my theory proves true,” the mad scientist gloated watching. “There
is a dimension of evil and one of good. “This must be some kind of Angel
creature; like that other one’s a Demon… Maybe she’s here to stop these
Demons? Oh, it really doesn’t matter what she’s here for; her power’s
immense. I must have it… I must robotisize her!”
     He switched his monitors back to their normal setting temporarily to
check the surveillance and saw something shoot across the screen of monitor
4. He reached forward to his controls and adjusted the camera to follow it.
It looked like another Demon but, before he could be sure, it had vanished
into the clouds of smoke above the city.

     Meanwhile, in the scrap yard, Arwen had received her first injury since
she arrived. The Balrog’s sword had come too close and its flames had licked
her arm where it was unprotected by armour and blood trickled down it. She
showed, however, no sign of pain or fear as she fought this menace. She
fired a beam from the tip of her blade but it missed the Balrog by a mere
metre or so. As it made its next pass, blue flames blasted from the Balrog’s
sword but were deflected by Arwen’s wings. Sonic and Tails could hardly
believe that her wings could actually deflect such an attack without being
damaged.
     Arwen opened her wings and drove her sword into the Balrog’s arm. It
howled in pain and fell down sidelong into the pile of scrap metal and
rubble. Sonic and Tails approached to see that Arwen had dealt it a
devastating blow; she’d cut off the beast’s right arm, the arm it had been
holding its fire-sword in. Nearby, the arm lay, clutching the sword whose
flame had now burnt out completely but Sonic and Tails had no sooner laid
their eyes on it than both it and the Balrog’s arm had disappeared, just
like with Bolg.
     “Now!” shouted Arwen sweeping in. “Attack it now!”
     Sonic and Tails dashed into the attack, Sonic with his spin attack and
Tails with his tail attack. The Balrog tried in vein to shield itself from
attack but its pain was so great that it had no energy to move its wings and
barely enough to stand up. With the attack from the two furries, it toppled
over groaning a long, low moan of anguish as if welcoming the fate that
awaited it. Arwen flew low and fired her sword’s beam into the beast,
reducing it to a pile of dust that suddenly vanished like a mist drawn back
by a sudden wind, and yet there was no wind.
     Sonic and Tails were triumphant but Arwen stood serious as ever
sniffing the heavy air. Suddenly and without warning, she lifted off and
signalled the Freedom Fighters to follow her.
     “It’s Savvok-Ri,” she called. “She’s left the city. She must have used
that Balrog to act as a distraction so that she could make an escape. It’s
all too likely that she knows where Triss is. She’ll be going to Knothole
Kingdom right now! Come!”

     As they left Robotropolis, Tails and Sonic in the Tornado 2, Eggman
floated into the air, seated in his Eggmobile hovercraft. He hovered above
the Hyper Tower, which lay just as it had done when he left it earlier.
     “Captain,” asked Eggman, “is my machine ready yet?”
     “Sir,” replied the electronic voice of the Swatbot captain, “all
requested modifications have been made. All systems, full power.”
     “Excellent,” said Eggman and then he burst into laughter so long and
loud that it seemed it would never end.
     The top of the sphere atop the Hyper Tower opened and the Demon that
Eggman had trapped earlier arose, but it was now made of metal and covered
in powerful weapons. Its arms bore long blades and laser cannons and upon
its shoulders were a pair of double rocket launchers. Its vast wings
glimmered but there was still a hole through its right wing. Its eyes glowed
bright red as it arched its neck upwards and roared a long mechanical cry.
     “Behold the Mecha Balrog!” cried Eggman in triumph.

Chapter XII

     It drew now to afternoon by the hour and Triss was on her way back to
the Palace but Geoffrey Johnson stopped her.
     “Ah, Triss,” he said, “the King wants to see you and…” He stopped as he
stared up at the sky, frozen with an awesome dread.
     Triss turned to look herself and saw the most terrifying sight of in
her life. Savvok-Ri flew down and landed upon the ground before her. She
couldn’t run; she was terrified.
     “Sa… Savvok,” she stammered, trying to sound unconcerned. “You’ve
finally got here I see.”
     “Triss,” she answered in relief. “Come! There’s no time to waste, let
us go and quickly, we’ve lost our Balrogs no doubt and we can’t stay here or
anywhere near. We must fly.”
     “Er… I can’t,” answered Triss.
     “Why not?” asked Savvok.
     “They’ve… er… they’ve attached a… a… a tracking device to me. If I
leave they’ll send Arwen after me.”
     “Why hasn’t she killed you already?”
     “Er…”
     “Oh it really doesn’t matter, let’s go!”
     “It’s no use. The spawn is gone.”
     “Gone! How?”
     “They wanted to study me, they got rid of the spawn by forcing an
abortion on me.”
     “A what? Oh, who cares? This mission has failed! This is all your
fault; these pathetic furries are no match for a Demon, you let them do this
to you.” She spread her wings wide and drew her axe. “Now I can never return
to our world! You will die in my hands!”
     She swung her axe round and would have decapitated both Triss and
Geoffrey if they hadn’t ducked out of the way in time. Triss grabbed the
skunk by his arm and flew as fast as her wings could take her carrying him.
One thing was plain, even when carrying someone Triss was a lot faster than
Savvok and she managed to reach the village in time for Geoffrey to sound
the alarm. A hovercraft appeared and landed in the square, Antoine stepped
leading a group of the Royal Guards, which he commanded.
     Savvok came into view and landed not far from the square on the street
leading to the park. She bared her teeth and raised her axe and it began to
glow with a violet radiant. She swung it forward sending a blast of purple
light into the square, destroying the hovercraft.
     “Okay, men,” shouted Antoine, “fire!”
     The Royal Guards fired their guns at Savvok and she shielded herself
with her wings but they did some damage. She was forced to step back by the
beams from the power cannons and she obviously feared to leave her body
unprotected. Eventually she opened her wings and took to the air, firing
beams of light from her axe. The Guards soon started running out of
ammunition and Antoine knew that they couldn’t keep this up for long.
     “Treess,” he said to Triss, “I sink you should go to ze Palace. You
weell be safer zere, until Arwen gets ‘ere.”
     Triss was about to reply but a blast from Savvok sent her flying off
her feet. Antoine ran to see if she was all right but was thrown aside by
Savvok. She towered above her prey and lifted her axe high above her head.
     “I knew it would come to this,” she said without noticing the Tornado 2
and Arwen landing nearby, “I knew you’d do this to me. Why? Why did you
bother? Alas, I am stranded here for the rest of my life and you shall pay
for it!”
     She let her axe fall towards Triss’s face but, in the blink of an eye,
she was only holding her weapon’s handle. She stared at it; the axe-head had
been blasted off, leaving only a smoking metal pole, which vaporised on the
instant. Turning to look left, she saw Arwen The Angel-Vixen standing proud
pointing her Demon-Killer sword directly at her. Fear hit her like a ship to
an iceberg, cold and hard but she knew she could not show it, not to Arwen,
a rookie, and not to her fury accomplices.
     “Your people have sure come down a lot,” she said in an unconcerned
voice, “if you have to send rookies to do the work of professional Demon
Hunters. But then, the only descent one you ever had was Eon, but he’s long
gone. Put that toy sword away, do you really think you can hurt me with it?”
     “This sword,” said Arwen in a low voice, “belonged to Magnus himself,
he gave it to me for this mission. It’s the most powerful Demon-Killer in
existence and it’s what’s gonna kill you.”
     Savvok laughed. “I don’t think so!”
     She drew a sword of her own and flew towards Arwen. As the two swords
struck each other, a blast of sparks scattered across the cobbled square,
illuminating the area with a white light.
     “White?” sneered Savvok. “It’s weak, pathetic, easy to eradicate.
Perhaps it serves as a beginning, but the white cloth can be dyed, the white
page can be overwritten, and the white light can be broken!”
     “In which case it is no longer white,” said Arwen, “and she that breaks
a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”
     “You dare to teach wisdom to me?” cried Savvok, swiping her black sword
at Arwen, who only just ducked under its blade.
     “You could do with a bit,” answered Arwen, returning the attack, ”you
fight on even though your minions are destroyed and you know that your doom
lies ahead. Can’t you just face the facts and surrender? I will not destroy
you if you give up now!”
     Savvok-Ri made no sign of having heard her opponent’s words; she lunged
forwards with her blade, which delved into Arwen’s armour on her right arm
revealing her golden fur underneath. Arwen flew high into the air, followed
closely by the Demon and there they fought hard.
     They clutched and hued at each other until at last, Arwen slashed open
Savvok’s arm. Dark red blood ran from her wound, staining her armour ragged
clothes. She fell upon the ground and, cradling her wound, she got up but
her sword was a burden now. Arwen landed with her sword at the ready,
shining in the sunlight. Savvok made no attempt to move or escape, she
waited patiently for the Angel to make the first move.
     “Well, you’ve won, rookie,” she said callously, “get on with it. Slay
me! For pity’s sake, slay me!”
     Arwen made no move to do so; she dropped her sword down and then
sheathed it.
     “No,” she said. “I will not slay you. You’ve no reason to be my enemy
and I’ve no reason to be yours. You can never return to your home because of
something beyond your control and…”
     “Beyond my control!” scoffed Savvok. “It was never beyond my control, I
have failed my master and made a vain attempt to make revenge when it was
all my fault from the start! I ask you to kill me.”
     “I cannot destroy that which I pity,” answered Arwen, “nor have any
reason to do so. I’m sure that these Freedom Fighters will be happy to
befriend you if you turn over a new leaf. Believe me it’s possible, Triss
left the path of evil to become good. No one is truly evil within.”
     “You listen to much to the words of Magnus!” cried Savvok lifting her
blade and pointing it at Arwen and a single blast from its tip sent Arwen’s
sword far out of reach. “You fool. Did you really think that I could become
a sad follower of good like you? There is not a spark of goodness in me, I
am evil!” Her sword burnt as a bright violet flame and a single beam passed
from its tip towards Arwen.
     Sonic watched; it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Arwen pointed
her hand towards her sword, which lay at least ten metres away, and it flew
towards her. She caught it by the hilt and met Savvok’s beam with its own
causing a brilliant flash of white light.
     They were both knocked flat by the explosion but Savvok managed to get
up first, despite her wound she was less exhausted than her adversary. She
stood above Arwen pointing her blade at the Angel’s heart and then she
smirked.
     “I knew it would end like this, rookie,” she cackled, “die now and
curse in vain!”
     She lifted her sword, ready to strike but she found herself blasted off
her feet by some powerful force. Leaning on her good elbow, she stared
towards her attacker, it was Triss The Demon-Cat. Triss walked straight
towards them with a sword of her own, her red eyes luminous and narrowed.
     “Savvok,” she said, “leave my friends alone.”
     “There’s little harm you can do me, Triss,” Savvok returned, “I wouldn’
t waste your time, my dear.”
     Arwen, leaning on her sword and wheezing, got up and raised her head.
She lifted her weapon and stepped forwards.
     “You’re defeated,” she said, staring at Savvok.
     “Am I?” asked Savvok. “Are you sure? I’m afraid I seem to have given
you a false impression… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
     Cackling maniacally, she vanished completely.

     “What happened to her?” asked Sonic.
     “She teleported herself to safety,” said Arwen grimly. “We’ll meet
again some day though.”
     “What will she do now?” asked Geoffrey, who all the while had been
cowering amongst the terrified Royal Guards.
     “She’ll find somewhere to set up a lair,” said the Angel-Vixen, “and
wait for me to find her and put an end to her miserable life.”
     “You’re not going after her are you?” said Triss.
     “I’ve got to. If I don’t, she’ll just cause havoc elsewhere. But I’m
not going yet; I have to heal first. I dare say she’ll leave you all alone
though now.”
     “She won’t,” said Triss. “She wants revenge on me, so as long as I’m
here I’ll cause you trouble. Arwen I’d be happy to go with you and help you
find Savvok.
     Arwen was taken aback. “You can’t,” she said, “I’m not going to allow
it. It’s my duty and I know you don’t want to stay in this reality. Take
this if you will.”
     She handed to Triss a small device.
     “What is it?” asked she.
     “Your ticket back to the Angel Dimension,” answered Arwen, “I know that
’s where you want to be.”

Chapter XIII

     It was late evening of the following day and the sun was going down,
blood red in the last hour of daylight. Triss had already said goodbye and
departed to the Angel Dimension and it was now Arwen who was saying
farewell.
     None of the Freedom Fighters who had met her actually understood her
but she and Sonic had come to a point where they no longer had any doubts of
each other’s abilities. It was the hedgehog who was grieved the most by her
departure and he sat alone on a bench in the park, after she had taken off,
thinking.
     He looked up and saw his fiancée approaching him, she had a broad smile
on her face as she came and sat beside him. She put her arm over his
shoulders and asked what was wrong.
     “Arwen,” answered Sonic, “she didn’t beat Savvok and that Demon’s still
out there. I’ve got a nasty feeling that we’ll be seeing her again some
 day.”
     “I’m sure Arwen will defeat her eventually,” said Sally.
     “That’s another thing I’m worried about,” interrupted Sonic, “what if
Savvok beats Arwen? I mean how are we supposed to defend ourselves if there’
s no Angel to help? Man! I wish I’d gone with her.”
     “What?”
     “Don’t take that the wrong way, Sal. I mean, I don’t like putting our
faith in someone we hardly know.”
     “Well I understand where you’re coming from, Sonic. I don’t like it
either but that’s the way things are, we’ll just have to let her get on with
it and hope for the best.”
     “And another thing,” said the hedgehog suddenly remembering, “what the
heck happened to that other Balrog?”

     Meanwhile, in Robotropolis, Eggman was just finishing his dinner when a
Swatbot entered his dining room. He looked up and as the robot approached.
     “Well,” he said. “Is it ready?”
     “Yes sir,” the robot answered. “All requested modifications and
upgrades have been applied to the Mecha Balrog. Do you wish to deploy it
now, sir?”
     “No,” said Eggman, “wait until after midnight; let the dark be its
ally.”
     “As you wish, master,” said the Swatbot as it turned on its heel and
left the room.
     Eggman himself got up and went to the window. He looked north east,
towards Knothole Kingdom but the smog was so thick this evening he could
barely see his power plant two hundred metres away.
     “It’s over now, Hedgehog,” he said quietly, “I shall destroy Knothole
and everything in it at long last! Nothing can stop the Mecha Balrog, least
of all your pathetic defence cannons. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

     Sonic and Sally entered Bunnie’s dining room and took their seats.
Bunnie was cooking them dinner seeing as, for the meantime, they were
staying with her until they could get a home of their own.
     Bunnie did not live in a house, she, being a rabbit, enjoyed living in
underground so her home was a small network of wide runs and large burrows
under an embankment, all of which she dug herself. Her warren was made up of
a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a bathroom; each
linked via well-dug runs with tiled floors and panelled walls. Each room had
a skylight in its ceiling providing natural light by day but for the night
there were plenty of lights mounted on the walls.
     “Be through in a minute,” called Bunnie from the kitchen.
     Sonic could remember the last time Bunnie cooked, it hadn’t been the
best meal of his life and he wasn’t in a rush to sample the doe’s cooking a
second time but he was too good a friend to say so. Bunnie came in carrying
a huge plate from which came a smell that made Sonic’s ears prick up
straight away, the smell of chilli dogs. Bunnie put the plate on the table
and asked he and Sally to tuck in, while she fetched the salad.
     Sonic thought it amazing how Bunnie could get such an excellent taste
and couldn’t prevent himself from mentioning it several times over during
the meal. Sally was usually less enthusiastic about synthetic junk food
covered in chilli sauce and mustard but in this case, even she was enjoying
the meal. When the main course was done Sonic and Sally refused dessert, as
they were both full.
     “Bunnie Rabbot,” said Sonic triumphantly, “that was the best meal of
chilli dogs that I’ve had for months. Here’s to Bunnie!” He and Sally both
raised their glasses of orange soda in approval.
     “Thank y’all,” said Bunnie smiling.
     They all went into the living room to sit and talk. By about quarter to
twelve, Sonic found that Bunnie and Sally were talking more about feminine
issues than talk that he was in to, so he got up and said he was going for a
stroll. As he walked down the stone laden road, he looked up at the late
moon riding westwards. He found that his feet were leading him towards the
summit of a smooth round hill, crowned with ancient holly trees in the
centre of which was a large pale stone.
     Sonic sat upon this stone and stared towards the setting full moon. It
suddenly flickered as if something like a cloud had passed across in a mere
second then vanished. Then Sonic realised that he was afraid, but of what he
did not know. He started breathing faster and glancing about himself,
startling at every rustle in the leaves. For ten minutes he was too
frightened to move but to him, it was hours.
     When at last he decided to go back to Knothole he realised that he was
sitting on an island above a sea of darkness. The moon had set. The only
things that made the sky different to ground were its many thousands of
stars but their light was useless to guide him, he was lost.
     Without a warning of any kind an immensely bright light engulfed him
and the entire hilltop. He saw the shadow of something approaching him, some
kind of winged creature of a huge size. There was an irregularly shaped hole
through its right wing that had no counterpart on the left. Sonic knew at
once that it was the other Balrog, but hadn’t Arwen said it that wouldn’t
return to Knothole? Then he realised that someone was laughing at him, a
cold maniacal laugh, coming closer and closer.
     “HA HA HA HA HA!” laughed the voice of Eggman. “You’re up late, Sonic.
I present to you my latest weapon, the Mecha Balrog!”
     “Mecha?” said a confused Sonic, then he noticed that this Balrog truly
was mechanical, a robot.
     “That’s right, Hedgehog,” the villain sneered, coming into view in his
Eggmobile, “this creature is a Demon from the Dark Dimension, and extremely
powerful at that. I had to robotisize it; it was just too good an
opportunity to turn down! Now this machine of destruction will destroy you
and everything else in Knothole Kingdom! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
     “How did you know about the alternate dimensions?” asked Sonic.
     “How?” Eggman laughed. “How? HA HA HA! Because, my dear Sonic, it was I
that created the gateway into them! I am the one responsible for this mess,
and I really couldn’t care less!”
     “Why?” said Sonic amazed. “Why did you do it?”
     “To prove my theory, Hedgehog. To prove that other dimensions do exist,
and I‘ve done it. Now, enough talk! You have your orders, Mecha Balrog,
destroy this forest and everything in it… NOW!”
     The massive robot opened its wings and took straight to the sky with a
single, long and mechanical roar. It turned and headed towards Knothole to
fulfil its master’s bidding.

Chapter XIV

     “I wonder where Sonic’s got to,” mused Sally, it was close on half past
twelve and Bunnie had started yawning.
     “Ah’m sure he’s okay, sugar,” said Bunnie stretching her good arm.
“Heavens above! Is that the time already? Ah better get to ma burrow. You
goin’ ta bed, Sal?”
     “I’m staying up to wait for Sonic.”
     “’kay,” Bunnie yawned, “Ah’m off. G’night, Sally-girl.”
     Sally looked up at the stars through the skylight and sighed. Bunnie
was a good friend, but she did tend to chatter on relentlessly on topics
that hardly anyone could understand. The Freedom Fighters all loved Bunnie
as one of them and had grown to appreciate everything she did for them.
However, she was often so difficult to understand due to her Southern accent
that talking with her often became boring. Sally was relieved that she could
at least have a rest from talking now.
     She found that she was falling to sleep where she sat and the stars
through the skylight faded into a mist. She then found that she was aboard
some kind of aircraft on the command deck, below her was the pilot. It was
Tails. Standing next to the pilot chair was Sonic, they were both gazing out
through the ship’s windshield. Sally looked herself, they were approaching
something very big, another, massive aircraft. Suddenly she heard an
explosion and the image faded.
     She was being shaken violently by Bunnie. “Wake up, sugar, make up!”
she was crying.
     “Bunnie,” she said, sitting up straight, “what’s wrong?”
     “Dincha hear that big boom jest now?”
     “I… I thought I was dreaming.”
     “’sno dream, Sally-girl. Ah just heard a big boom whale ah was brushin’
ma teeth. Ah thank it came from the village down yonder.”
     “Well,” said Sally, getting up and putting her boots on, “we’d better
investigate then.”

     They climbed up the run leading out of Bunnie’s warren and ran for the
village as fast as they could go. The site that they saw was terrifying. A
massive winged robot was tearing the nearby buildings apart with its claws
and blasting at the people with its laser cannons. The Royal Guards were out
with their most powerful guns, blasting away at the machine, but to no
avail. Every bullet left no dint in its armour and every laser left only a
tiny black scorch only noticed when the robot was in range of a street lamp.
     “We need ze Secret Sairvice for zis!” shouted Antoine to one of his
platoon. “Go an’ get Geoffrey Johnson!”
     Bunnie activated the rockets in her bionic feet and blasted towards the
machine. It turned and swatted her out of its way like a fly. Sally grabbed
the gun of a fallen Guard and fired at the machine’s face. No trace of
damage was to be seen. The robot answered by sending a blast of fire from
its jaws that Sally could only just avoid.
     “Your pitiful pot-shots are useless against the Mecha Balrog, fools,”
cried Eggman, swooping down in his Eggmobile. “Mecha Balrog, don’t waste
your time here! Go to the Royal Palace and destroy it. Without it, their
defences will be useless and the rest will be…” He jerked forwards as his
Eggmobile was hit with something.
     “What was that?” he shouted.
     “Me,” said Sonic, but even as he spoke the Mecha Balrog lifted into the
air and flew towards the Palace.
     “Son-eek,” cried Antoine, “we ‘ave got to stop zat thing before it gets
to ze Palace!”
     “No problem,” said the hedgehog, “I’ll run on ahead, Antoine you catch
up with your Guards and bring something explosive!”
     “D’accord,” said Antoine, “bon voyage, mon ami!”

     Sonic ran with all the speed that his feet could endure, ignoring the
spiralling road around the Royal Palace’s hill, he tore straight up the
steep slope. The Mecha Balrog was already on the Palace’s roof and Sonic
hadn’t a clue what abilities it might have. He came to the door to find
Geoffrey Johnson standing outside the door.
     “You do realise that you aren’t allowed through this door, Hedgehog?”
he asked, smirking.
     “You do realise that if you don’t get out of my way, I’ll break your
nose?” asked Sonic.
     “I’d like to see you try, you brazen thug!”
     “I don’t have time for this, Johnson.”
     “Make time!”
     “Move it!”
     “You made the Princess give up her Royal heritage, didn’t you? Said
something like “if you really love me you’ll give it up” didn’t you? I can
see right through you, don’t even attempt to lie to me.”
     “There’s a robotic Demon on the Palace’s roof, you moron, an’ if you
don’t get outta my way, it’ll be too late!”
     “My men can handle it.”
     “Oh sure, I bet they can!”
     “Do you doubt His Majesty’s Secret Service?”
     “I doubt anything that you’re in charge of!”
     “The King has ordered the Royal Guard and the Secret Service to handle
this situation. If he said to me, “Geoffrey, find Sonic and tell him to help
us,” I’d be more than happy to let you in, but guess what? He didn’t, so why
don’t you just make like a tree and leave!”
     “No one gives orders to Sonic The Hedgehog! Least of all you or “His
Royal Highness”, get outta why way!”
     Geoffrey refused again. He was smirking no more, now he was actually
smiling. It was clear that Sonic both wanted and meant to get into the
Palace and Geoffrey delighted in preventing the hedgehog from doing what he
wanted to do. Sonic couldn’t stand the sight of this skunk, standing there
smiling in pleasure at his pain. At last his temper rose to the brink and he
lost all control.
     He lunged forward at the skunk and punched him in the nose twice.
Geoffrey grabbed his face in pain and let fly a roundhouse kick at Sonic;
the Hedgehog fell to the ground but was up again in a flash. He kicked
Geoffrey in the face sending the skunk to the ground. Geoffrey got up and
was about to punch Sonic but seemed to suddenly think better of it, but this
did not deter the hedgehog. Sonic struck out again, this time a punch to
Geoffrey’s eye and then another with his other hand across the nose, sending
the skunk to the floor.
     “Son-eek, what iz zis?” said a French accent, it was Antoine. While
Sonic and Geoffrey had been fighting he’d had enough time to get some heavy
artillery and lead his men up the hill.
     “This vagabond has attacked me, Antoine,” said Geoffrey. “I tried to
get him off me as you’ll understand but he’s a savage and fights dirty.”
     “You damn liar!” shouted Sonic, ready to throw another punch. He
advanced but two Royal Guards seized him and held him back.
     “See what I mean, Antoine?” asked Geoffrey innocently. “I think it’d be
best for us all if this one’s clapped in irons and put in Knothole Prison.”
     “Zis is no time to argue,” said Antoine. “We ‘ave got to get up to ze
Palace’s roof to fight ze Mecha Balrog, Geoffrey. Let us in.”
     “Of course,” said Geoffrey, opening the door, “but surely not the
hedgehog?”
     “We will dizcuss ziz later, Geoffrey,” said Antoine impatiently. “Come
on, everyone, oni va!”
     “Release Sonic, sir?” asked one the Guards holding the hedgehog.
     “Oui, yes, release him, let’s go!” answered Antoine.
     The Royal Guards all ran off into the Palace but Antoine stayed behind
for a moment. He walked over to where Geoffrey was trying to look badly
injured.
     “Why are you not ‘elping, Geoffrey?” he asked.
     “What do you mean?” asked the skunk.
     “You are not ‘elping with ze situation on ze roof. Where are your men?”
     “They’re dealing with that robot.”
     “Why are you not helping zen?”
     “I was… er… waiting for you, so I could tell you where to go.”
     “Even though we already knew where to go?”
     “Yes.”
     “Well you could ‘ave a worse reason, I sink. Oni va!”

     On the roof of the Royal Palace, or what was left of it, the Mecha
Balrog was standing; sending blasts of fire at anyone who approached. Sonic
came up onto the wrecked roof and saw the machine standing. He wondered what
it could possibly be doing.
     “HA HA HA HA HA!” laughed Eggman, sailing over in his Eggmobile. “You’
re wasting your time, furries! I think you’d do better to evacuate this poor
excuse for a Kingdom rather than fight against the Mecha Balrog for it. But
it’s your choice, not mine. I don’t care what you decide. You can all be
destroyed now, or be captured and robotisized another day. Either way, I
shall win.”
     “No way, Eggman!” shouted Sonic. “Not so long as I’m around!”
     “Foolish words, Sonic,” cried Eggman maniacally, “you see, you won’t be
around much longer! Mecha Balrog, are you ready?”
     The giant robot’s red eyes glimmered.
     “Excellent!” said Eggman. “You still haven’t seen the ultimate power of
the Mecha Balrog, the lightning blast!”
     The Mecha Balrog raised its arms into the air and from the tips of its
claws there came sparks of electricity. These grew and grew until an entire
ball of electricity was forming above the robot. The ball swelled until it
was massive and glowed bright electric blue. Then the robot opened its wings
and sailed into the air, followed by the Eggmobile, its pilot laughing all
the way.
     Sonic, the Royal Guards, the Secret Service and all the people in the
village far below watched in horror as the Mecha Balrog made ready to cast
this massive ball of electricity into them. Eggman put his right arm in the
air and then let it fall.
     Without any warning whatsoever, Sonic grabbed a rocket launcher off a
nearby Royal Guard, aimed it at the Mecha Balrog, and fired. The rocket flew
straight into the robot and yet, it did no harm, it merely knocked to
machine back a little.
     Sonic watched, now he knew that there was no hope at all. He waited but
he soon realised that nothing was happening or it looked that way. He gazed
up at the Mecha Balrog, it was sparking with electricity as if overloading
and suddenly it cast the ball of lightning away and exploded into thousands
of tiny pieces, all of which vaporised as they fell flaming.
     “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed Eggman in despair. “My
beautiful machine! AGGGHHH! I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!”
     He turned his Eggmobile to flee but a massive explosion on the horizon
made him stop. The massive ball of lightning had travelled all the way to
Robotropolis and destroyed his city, the surface at least.
     “No way!” he cried. “I can’t believe this!”
     A rocket flew up past his Eggmobile and realised that he had better
leave.
     “AAAAGGGGHHHH!” he screamed. “I hate you all! I swear I will return and
when I do, you will all suffer! You hear me?”
     He fled as fast as his Eggmobile could take him into the west.

Chapter XV

     The next day was bright and clear so the full extent of the damage
could be seen. It was mostly concentrated to Knothole Square, where the
Mecha Balrog had been demolishing houses with its bear hands. The roof of
the Royal Palace was gone but Sonic didn’t really care about that little
problem.
     Bunnie was asked by the King to dig some burrows for the people who
were left homeless by the Mecha Balrog. Tails, being a digging type Mobian
himself, volunteered to help her out. By late afternoon they had scratched
out a large burrow for the homeless to take shelter in.
     “I see his Royal Highness wasn’t too keen on keeping “commoners” at his
Palace for more than a night,” was Sonic’s comment to which Sally gave a
laugh of approval.
     The ex-Princess decided to give an important meeting for the Freedom
Fighters following the destruction of Robotropolis. All of the Freedom
Fighters, except one, and some other people of Knothole were there and many
had something to say.
     “All of the city’s factories,” said Rotor, “and any other place where
Robotnik kept Robians were located underground. I guess there would have
been some ceilings collapsing but I reckon most of the Robians are still
alive under the wreckage so we could send a team to find them.”
     “All those in favour?” asked Sally. Everyone said aye (at least anyone
who said nay went unheard). “Right, a team will be sent into Robotropolis
tomorrow to find and rescue all the Robians they can.”

     When the meeting was over, Sonic headed for Tails and Rotor’s workshop.
As he expected he found the only Freedom Fighter who had been absent.
     “Hey, Sonic,” said Tails, “what was the meeting all about?”
     “Sending a team into Bogus City,” answered Sonic, “to rescue Robians.
Why weren’t you there?”
     “Meetings are pretty boring, Sonic,” answered the fox. “I was just
going to fire up the Tornado 2 for a flight, you want to come too?”
     “Where to, Tails?” asked the hedgehog.
     “I dunno,” said Tails, “No trouble though is there? With Eggman gone
and all.”
     “He’s not gone, Tails,” said Sonic, looking westward. “He’s still out
there.”
     “Not around here he isn’t. Come on Sonic, it’s a great day for a
flight.
     Sonic didn’t feel like a flight, Tails only ever made a flight
interesting when Eggman’s ships were chasing them and that seemed unlikely
today. He didn’t, however, want to refuse flatly so he looked about himself
for an alibi. There was nothing he could think of that would sound authentic
today so he was about to hop onto the back of the biplane when he saw her.
     Eevee was walking down from the mess hall, obviously from the meeting
and seemed intent on seeing her beloved Tails. Sonic sighed; he was saved.
     “Say, Tails,” he said, not taking his eyes off the approaching vixen,
“why don’t you take your girlfriend for a ride instead? I’m not so sure what
she’d think if you just took off without her on this fine day. Say, Eevee!”
he called. “Come over here a minute, Tails wants to take you for a flight!”
     “Sonic, I don’t…” said Tails but Eevee was already standing nearby,
smiling broadly.
     “A flight?” she asked happily. “I’d love that, Tails. Thank you!”
     Sonic walked off down the path and then broke into a run into the Great
Forest. Looking back on the events of the last few days he thought that
nothing could possibly be any weirder. How wrong he was…

End