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	The following short story is based on characters created and/or
copyrighted by SEGA! Enterprises, DiC Productions, Archie Comic
Publishers, Fleetway Comic Publishers, and the Taki Corporation.  All
other characters were created and copyrighted by Roland Lowery.
	The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long
as it remains intact and unaltered, and the transfer of monetary units is
not involved.
	Questions, comments, suggestions, complaints?  Send them to me at
.  I enjoy hearing from people who can
spell.

	Chaotic Multiverse Tale #7

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote for the day:

	"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine . . ."

			-R.E.M., It's the End of the World as We Know It
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	Heroes Reborn  (Part 3 - Heroes Saga)
		by Roland Lowery


	SONIC KNEW that the odds were against him.  So did the Machine as
it sat in its Research and Development building, pondering over the
situation.
	Ever since it had jumped forward in time, it had been performing
random planet surface scans and found nothing but pain and suffering.
This was all due to the evil tyrant, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who's image was
getting worse and worse in the opinion of the Machine.
	The planet was dying.  Nearly 90% of the world's plant life had
been destroyed.  Only a handful of animal life was not extinct.  Smog
filled the air.  The Greenhouse Effect was leaving everything broiling,
even in the middle of winter.  The ozone layer was nearly depleted.
	The Machine gave Mobius an estimated three years of life left
unless things were turned around.  After that, it would become nothing but
a desolate wasteland with one small pocket of civilization left . . .
	Robotropolis.
	But even there, the strain was already felt.  Even those Mobians
with Mind Bleeders warping their view of the world felt the oppression of
Dr. Robotnik, though they thought him long dead.
	But they were being misled.  Robotnik was alive and well, and was
rapidly building the world . . . HIS world to the final stages, where
nothing but robots would grace the planet's face, and those few organic
beings left were either slaves, dying, or already dead and decomposing.
	But the only things standing in his way, the few remaining Freedom
Fighters left in the world, were headed his way.  Sonic T. Hedgehog,
Knuckles T. Echidna, and Bunnie Rabbot were all converging on the doctor's
precious city.  Sonic, for one, was intent on destroying him utterly for
what he had done.
	And the Machine, more than anything, wanted to help the Mobian
make that a reality, but it had no idea how it was going to help.  So far,
all direct actions he would've been able to take were only accessable when
certain strings of factors were provided.  Anything, even simple
communication, would have helped, but it was unable to do even that much.
	The Machine began to pray to its creator for guidance.

	Phil stood in front of the machine with a new idea.  That idea
took the form of a small pinwheel toy that he had borrowed from a
mind-bled Mobian child that he had found out on the street.
	For the past 23 years, Phil and the rest of his colleagues had
been trying to find a way to get their machine to take them back home, but
it was like running uphill all the way, and the end was nowhere in sight.
	Meanwhile, all around them, they had watched the entire planet go
to ruins.  It was a shame, but the 'bots had long since decided that there
wasn't anything that they could do about it.  They were scientists, not
fighters, after all.  And what could a mere handful of scientist robots do
against a power mad dictator like Robotnik?
	Heck, Robotnik had decreed nearly two decades ago that the 'bots
weren't even allowed out of the building until they discovered something
worthwhile that he could use, even.  Fortunately, as time wore on,
Robotnik turned his attention away from them and more towards his world
domination.  That was how Phil had been easily able to sneak outside to
get the pinwheel toy.
	Without much hope, he twirled the pinwheel in front of one of the
machine's sensors.  There was no discernable reaction.  Releasing a few
years' worth of frustration, he threw the toy at the machine with disgust.

	Thwap!
	The Machine was startled by the sound.  It had been so engrossed
in the hedgehog's problems that it hadn't been paying attention to the
robot units anymore.  It redirected its sensors to look around the room.
	It found one of the robots stomping on a small pinwheel toy.
Several lower level factors slipped into place as the Machine watched
this.  Everything from colors on the toy to the number of oxygen molecules
in the air set off various mundane functions, many of which the Machine
routinely did every day.  They were all pretty much in the Level 20 to
Level 12 area, dealing mostly with the Machine's own maintenence.  All
very boring.
	What wasn't boring, however, was the unlocking of another Level 3
function.  It had two very unusual factors.  First, the robot designated
Phil by the echidna had to be stomping on a pinwheel toy.  Second, the
Machine had to be existing in two different time periods.  But the most
exciting part was the function that it unlocked.
	The Machine reconfigured one of its communication nodes for
telepathic transmissions.
	But how did the creator- the Machine thought.  No, never mind.
The creator knew.  No matter how he knew to give the Machine this ability,
it was time to use it.

	Sonic raced through the city streets, stopping every once in a
while to hide.  Strangely, though, no patrol squads came by.  NOTHING came
by, for that matter.  Ever since he had entered the city, he had not seen
a single person or 'bot anywhere.
	Sonic, for one, was relieved.  He had been afraid at first that he
would have to take on not just Robotnik, but the entire city-full of his
minions.  As relieved as he was, however, Sonic thought that the situation
was also . . . spooky.  It was as if Robotnik had known that he was coming
and had ordered the streets cleared.
	But that was a stupid thought.  He wouldn't have done that.  Would
he?  The only reason he'd have done it was if-
	"If he expected this to be our last fight," Sonic said to himself
in sudden understanding.  With the world entirely in his grasp, the
populace subdued, standing so close to total victory, the doctor had to
have seen Sonic enter Robotropolis and decided to have a final showdown,
face to face.
	If this were the case, Sonic would be more than happy to oblige
him.  He stood up out of his current hiding spot and prepared to blaze his
way straight to the command tower.
	Suddenly, he felt something burst into his mind.  At first, he
thought it was another block of memory coming loose, but then he quickly
came to the realization that it was something of quite a different nature.
He stood straight and waited for it to come back again.
	< . . . help . . . >
	"What?" he said.
	< . . . help you.>
	"Who . . . who are YOU?"
	< . . . sn't matter.  Stop robot . . . any way you can.>
	Sonic looked around, perplexed.  "What robot?" he asked.
	< . . . o, no!  . . . obotnik!>
	Well, yes, of course, that was exactly what Sonic planned to do.
What did this voice want?
	"I was already going to," he said out loud.  "Get to the point!
What do you want?"
	The voice fell silent.  Sonic was getting impatient.
	"Look, pal," he said, "I've got buttnik to kick, and I'm kinda
impatient to get to it, right?  So if you've got somethin' to say, spit it
ou-"
	< . . . aos Emeral . . . help you . . . >
	"Chaos Emeralds?" he said, incredulous.  The only Chaos Emeralds
he could think of were directly under Robotnik's control.  Having them
would be NICE, yes, but he didn't have the patience nor the ability to go
and liberate some from their current owner.  "Where?"

	The Machine was still stunned.  It had been in communion with the
hedgehog, trying to figure out what it was going to tell him all the
while, when three masked figures had suddenly appeared in the room with
it.  It sensed massive energy readings coming from the three, but it could
not determine the type.
	All thoughts of the figures had been shifted into the background,
however, when they set down four small yellow and green glowing piles on
the ground.  With silent nods, they had disappeared.
	Checking its memory banks, the Machine matched the masks with the
only three figures that, in its opinion, were the only three more
important than its own creator.
	The Ancient Walkers.

	
	Sonic was confused.  Here where?  He looked around, but the
streets were still empty.  He was about to give up on the strange voice,
but then it began to give him directions through town.
	Before the voice was even done, Sonic had already sped off, having
recognized the address.  It was the old R&D plant he had visited 23 years
ago.

	Sonic stepped out of the elevator and was immediately greeted by
Phil, who shook his hand nervously.
	"Greetings, Sonic!," said the 'bot.  "Um, I'm afraid we're not
much for attending to guests at the moment.  We've had some rather, er,
strange goings on occur in the past few minutes.  But, if you don't mind
my asking . . . what brings you to our humble abode?"
	"Those," Sonic said simply as he pointed in front of the machine
that took up most of the room.  Laying there were small piles of Chaos
Emeralds and Power Rings.
	"Oh, yes," Phil said as he nodded rapidly.  "Those arrived just a
few moments ago, delivered by some very unusual . . . "
	He trailed off when he noticed Sonic wasn't listening.  The
hedgehog was busy sorting through the emeralds and rings.
	"There's too many," Sonic mumbled.
	"What's that?" Phil asked.
	"There's too many," Sonic repeated, louder this time.  "There's
enough for two people."
	The 'bot had no idea what Sonic was going on about, but he decided
to play along for the moment.  "Er, who would the other person be, then?"
he asked.
	"Me," said a grating voice.  Phil and Sonic turned to see Knuckles
T. Echidna stepping out of the eleveator.

	A short time later, Sonic and Knuckles had the two piles divided
between them and stored in their backpacks.  This accomplished, they took
their leave of the robots and their machine, then headed for Robotnik's
control tower.
	Even though they were sure that Robotnik knew of their presence in
the city, and might even know that they were at the tower by then, they
decided it would be best to sneak inside.  They had found a loose grate,
removed it, and were moving rapidly through the air ducts.
	"Hey, Sonic," whispered Knuckles.
	"Hey, what?" Sonic whispered back.
	"You been wonderin' who gave us these emeralds?"
	"No," said Sonic.  "I don't wanna look a gift horse in the mouth,
Knux."
	"H'okay."
	Too bad, Knuckles thought.  I know who to thank, at least.  While
they had been packing earlier, the Guardian had noticed that each emerald
had been ingraved with the mark of three very familiar masks.
	"Shh."
	"What?" asked Knuckles.  When they stopped moving, he heard it.  A
steady, rhytmic banging noise that was getting closer and closer to them.
Soon, the entire duct they were in was shaking with each bang.
	"Obviously," Sonic yelled over the noise, "Robuttnik doesn't
believe in insulation!  Whatever's makin' that noise is hittin' the WALL
instead of the duct itself!"
	"How can you tell?"
	Sonic pointed at a point a short way along the duct wall.  "'Cause
whatever's doin' it is right there, and they aren't denting the aluminum
sides!"
	"Good point."
	The banging continued.
	"Any ideas?" Knuckles asked.  He then coughed, all the yelling
playing havoc on his already scratchy throat.
	"Just one!" Sonic yelled back.  "Run!"
	They turned around as quickly as they could in the cramped area
and started to scamble back they way they had come, Knuckles up front and
Sonic right behind him.  The banging began to speed up to catch up with
them.
	"Oh, ferget this crap!" Knuckles yelled.  He stopped and began
shredding the ductwork with his spikes.  Once he had carved a large enough
hole, he leaned out and punched a hole in the adjoining wall.
	"What on Mobius do you think you're doing?" yelled Sonic.
	"Do you want to go see what's out there, or do you want to wait
for it to come in here with us?"
	"Good point."
	They jumped out of the hole to the floor below, then looked to
their right to find the source of the banging.  Sonic's jaw fell open and
his eyes grew wide when he saw what it was.
	Princes Sally Acorn was kicking the wall with her metal legs.  She
looked up, gave the wall one final kick, then turned to face them.
	"S-Sally?" stuttered Sonic.  He stepped forward, but stopped short
when Knuckles put an arm across his chest.
	"She isn't anymore.  She thinks we're 'bots, remember?" he said.
He turned to Sally.  "How did you know where we were?"
	"Sir Smalley told me, traitor," Sally all but snarled.
	Sonic reached up and grabbed Knuckles arm.  "Get.  Out.  Of.  My.
WAY!"
	"'Scuse me a second, would you?" Knuckles said to Sally.  He
turned to Sonic and said, "Dammit, Sonic, it's not her.  She doesn't
believe YOU are YOU.  This is tearing my heart out, too, but there's
nothing we can do for her."
	"Yes, there is."
	"What, pray tell?  You can't just go up to her and say, 'Hey, I'm
Sonic!  Remember me?' and expect her to believe it!"
	Sonic glared at him.  "You see that thing on her head?" he asked.
"It's the Mind Bleeder.  If I get that off of her, she'll be fine!"
	"Or she could die.  Can you live with that?"
	Sonic shook his head sadly.  "I . . . don't know.  But I DO know
that I can't live with her like this."
	Knuckles sighed.  "Fine.  Let's go."  He turned back to the
Princess.  "Sally, my dear, I'm afraid we'll have to remove that device
from your head."
	"You're not going to do a thing," said Sally, "except die."  For a
second, it looked like something underneath the jacket Sally was wearing
moved.  Both Sonic and Knuckles dismissed it as imagination.
	"You see," she continued, "Sir Smalley had given me certain . . .
abilities to help me deal with traitor 'bots like yourselves.  He's
changed me, made me better, faster . . . "
	This time, there was no mistaking it.  Sally's body was moving
underneath her skin.  Muscles began popping onto her arms and back, chest
and stomach.  The jacket she had been wearing tore at the seams.
	" . . . STRONGER," she finished.  "Sir Smalley is a WONDERful
geneticist."
	"Should we use the emeralds?" Knuckles asked out of the side of
his mouth.
	"No," said Sonic.  "Not yet.  You do it if necessary, but I'm
saving mine for 'Buttnik."
	Sonic scanned the room they occupied.  It was a huge storeroom
filled with crates and boxes.  On the wall opposite them, the crates were
staked to the ceiling 40 feet up.  He blasted off to the left as Knuckles
jumped and glided along the wall towards Sally.
	Sally swung her fist, hitting the flying echidna and sending him
in the other direction.  He landed on a stack of crates, breaking them
open and spilling the contents all over.
	He grabbed something and pulled himself up, then looked at the
something.  It appeared to be a gun, but he couldn't tell what it shot.
There was a cylinder on the barrel, making it look like a tommy gun.  In
slots in the cylinder were rubber batons that -
	A stun gun!
	"Hey, Sonic!" Knuckles yelled.  "Get ready!"
	Ready for what? thought Sonic.  He was looking through boxes and
crates for something useful, but was only coming up with microchips and
robot parts.  Hastily, he grabbed a SWATbot arm and weilded it like a club
before turning around.
	He saw Knuckles running for the crate mountain with Sally close
behind.  Knux was holding what looked like a gun, which he was trying to
aim while he ran.
	Knuckles was halfway up the crate mountain before he got the first
shot off.  Unfortunatly, the baton went flying off nowhere near Sally.  He
had only five batons left.
	He saw Sonic at the bottom of the mountain, holding his SWATbot
arm and looking unsure of what to do.
	The second shot hit Sally's shoulder.  She merely grunted and
continued climbing after the echidna.  Four batons left.
	The third shot hit the crate in front of Sally.  The crate burst
apart, throwing the Princess back.  She caught herself three feet lower
and started climbing again.  Down below, Sonic jumped into a ready
position, raising his makeshift club to hit Sally if she fell low enough.
Three batons left.
	Knuckles reached the top level of crates.  His fourth shot went
wild as he tried to maintain his balance on a narrow crate.  Two batons.
	Sally stood up straight on one box.  Knuckles carefully took aim,
squeezed the trigger . . .
	And hit Sally in the stomach.  Even with her pumped up muscles, it
hit her hard enough to bend her double.  The last baton hit her head and
pushed her to the ground, 15 feet below.
	As soon as she hit, Sonic smashed to Mind Bleeder with the 'bot
arm.  Knuckles discarded the empty gun and glided to the floor.  Sonic was
feeling of Princess Acorn's neck.
	"Unconscious, but alive," he said.
	"Let's go," said Knuckles.  "She'll be fine for now."
	Sonic hesitated, but followed Knuckles to find the door out.

	Robotnik jerked out of his reviere.  He felt his connection to the
Princess blink off.
	"Mecha-Sonic," he said.
	"Ici, Monsieur Smalley!" the mecha said.
	"Go get the hedgehog and the echidna."
	"Si, senor.  Arriba!"
	Robotnik watched as his slightly imbalanced creation sped out on
its mission.

	"Put that out, ya one-eyed freak!"
	Knuckles chomped down on his cigar and asked, "Why should I?"
	"You'll attract attention!" Sonic said.
	"It's a little late for that, don't you think?"
	Sonic didn't have time to answer.  Without warning, Mecha-Sonic
came blasted down the hallway at them yelling out, "Guten tag!"
	Sonic dodged out of the way, but Knuckles wasn't fast enough.
Mecha-Sonic grabbed him and continued on down the corridor.  Sonic truned
to help the echidna, but saw the glow of the emeralds.  Mecha-Sonic would
have to deal with Hyper Knuckles now.
	The hedgehog decided, instead, to continue looking for Robotnik.

	The tower, much like all of Robotropolis, was too quiet for Bunnie
Rabbot's taste.  She had found her way deep into the building without
encourntering any resistance.  She had finally decided to simply run
through the corridors when she heard a rocket engine.
	Suddenly, Mecha-Sonic burst around a corner further down the
hallway.  It looked up and noticed her, then began yelling, "Mueve te,
maldito seas!"
	As Bunnie quickly jumped to one side, she noticed that Hyper
Knuckles was riding the mecha cowboy style.  The super powered echidna
punched through Mecha-Sonic's upper body, and they fell to the ground.
	"Schiesse!  Merde!  Caga!  Shit!" the mecha yelled.  It spasmed on
the ground a few more times, then fell silent.
	Knuckles stood up and kicked the lifeless metal.  "That's what ya
get, ya metal moron!"
	"Knuckles!" Bunnie yelled.
	"Bunnie?"  He looked up.  "Bunnie!  Perfect timing!  Sally needs
your help!"
	"Sally?"
	"No time to explain.  C'mon!"

	"Sonic."
	"Robotnik."
	Robotnik looked suprised.  "What?  Not 'Robuttnik', or 'Blubber
Bolts', or another of your clever nicknames, hedgehog?"
	"Not this time," Sonic said.  "And afterwards, never again."
	They were standing in the main control room, staring at each
other with hatred that stretched across more than three decades.
	The attack was sudden and mutual.  Robotnik fired a blaster as
Sonic jumped up and angled downward in a Sonic Spin.  The blue hedgehog
bounced off of something two inches from the doctor.
	"You like?" asked Robotnik.  "It's a personal shield."
	"Well, we'll have to do something about THAT, won't we?"
	Sonic's backpack exploded as he initiated the Chaos Emeralds.  His
body began to glow yellow with power.  His eyes flared with pure hatred as
he started up a Super Sonic Spin.
	"BLASTED HEDGEHOG!" Robotnik screamed.  "Do you think you're the
ONLY one with a trick up his sleeve?"
	He flipped a switch on his wrist, causing mechanization energy to
surround him.  After a second, his flabby body heaved.  His non-robotic
arm burst, flinging blood, muscle, bone, and flesh everywhere.  Underneath
the organic arm was a metal one . . . small, sharp, and quick.
	Soon, the rest of the doctor's body followed suit.  Standing in
front of Super Sonic was a robot that came straight out of hell.  The
skull was misshapen and sported a fang filled mouth.  Every part of the
body was covered with various spikes, sharp edges, and spinning blades.
The black, blood soaked metal made it nearly blend into the background,
and two evil red eyes glowed from the distorted skull.
	The thing that stood before Super Sonic was no longer Robotnik as
he had been known.  It was a totally new entity that knew only one thing
at the moment.  It hated Sonic the Hedgehog and would do anything to
destroy him.
	It was not Robotnik . . . it was Mechanik.
	The two combatants screamed inarticulate war cries and blazed
forward.

	The entire tower shook.  Windows burst throughout the city.  Trees
blew over miles away.  Each hit was like a mega-ton blast.
	Bunnie, Knuckles, and Sally were repeatedly thrown off of their
feet as they tried to escape.  Knuckles' hyper-powers were running down.
	"I dunno if I can make it," he told Bunnie.
	"Yes you will, shugah," Bunnie said.  She picked up Sally and
Knuckles and tucked them under each arm, then ran for the exit.

	"Gotcha," said Super Sonic.
	He grabbed Mechanik around the force field.  He ran, then jumped
straight up.  Propelled by the primordial magical powers endowed by the
Chaos Emeralds, they shot straight out of the atmosphere.
	Super Sonic looked at the writhing robot in his hands.
	"See you in hell."
	He threw Mechanik towards the sun, then began the long fall back
to Mobius.

	As the two combatants fell through space, the Machine felt the
last of its Level 3 functions unlock.  As dimensional energies began to
flow around it, the last Level 2 function unlocked, and the hedgehog and
echidna were sent back to their time.
	Slowly, the Level 1 function was unlocked.  Inside the Machine's
computer brain, it saw the function unfold before it like a fractal,
spinning off into cyberspace.  And sitting in the middle of it were the
final instructions from its creator.
	The Phils of the future and the past watched in awe as the Machine
started to glow.  Dimensional and temporal energy poured from it in waves,
covering him and the other 'bots in its wake.  Gradually, the physical
world began to fade away for all of them to be replaced by their home, a
place they had searched for for so very long.
	Everything was clicking into place for the Machine.  There was
just one last thing to do.
	It wasn't going back with the 'bots.  It was going back to the
same place, surely.  The same dimension, but not the same time.  It had to
go back a few years and deliver a package before it expired.
	It no longer had a physical container at this point, but floated
along as pure energy instead.  It was still aware, however, that it was
dying.  So as quickly as it could, it pushed forward and sought out the
one that could fulfill his last function.
	It searched out its creator.  It searched out Sir Charles
Hedgehog.  And with its last bits of life, it delivered its package to Sir
Charles, the blueprints for a Machine, which would later be built and
prove instrumental in saving not just one future, but two.
	Its last program run, the Machine ceased to have a reason to be.
It floated in the time stream for a few more relative seconds,
contemplating its role in the universe, and decided that it did pretty
alright for itself.
	And then the Machine knew no more.

	TO BE CONTINUED

		Roland Lowery