	This is Yesterday, the first part of a trilogy (hopefully) that
will deal with all of the villains that Archie have left to rot, die, or
whatever. It takes place shortly after the events of Sonic #56.

	The following short story is based on characters created and/or
copyrighted by Archie Comic Publishers, DIC productions, and SEGA!
Enterprises.  All other characters were created and copyrighted by Roland
Lowery.
	The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long
as it is done so in its entirety, without altercations, 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.

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

	"He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."

					-Proverbs 11:29
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	Yesterday
		by Roland Lowery


	IT WAS time for a vacation.
	No other thought even made the pretense of crossing Sonic T.
Hedgehog's mind.  He was going for a vacation, and that was that.  As far
as he was concerned, everyone else was going with him.  No arguments, no
back pedalling, no weaseling out of it.  He and everyone else he knew were
going.
	After all, in his mind, they deserved it.  For the past year,
their lives had been nothing more than one crisis after another, with a
few catastrophes and life-threatening missions on the side.
	Besides, there was nothing pressing.  Robotnik was dead.  Ixus
Naugus had disappeared since his initial attack.  Enerjak was depowered.
The Dark Legion had disappeared again.  Snively, Nack T. Weasel, Drago,
Kodos, Uma Arachnis, and many other major criminals were cooling their
heels in the Devil's Gulag.  And most recently, Mammoth Mogul had been
encased in the newly christened Master Emerald on the Floating Island.
	About the only major project going on was the search for the Crown
of Acorns using the Royal Sword of Acorns, and after Princess Sally Acorn
had activated it using the rhyme that had been passed down through her
family, it could be handed to anyone and it would lead them to the Hall of
Limbo.
	So Sonic proposed that somone else handle it while everyone else
took a break.

	"Are you crazy?" asked Sally.  "We have PLENTY that has to be
done!"  She ticked the list off on her fingers.  "We have to rebuild
Mobotropolis.  We have to get all the Robians transported into Knothole
Village.  We have to deal with Robotnik's lackeys.  We have to-"
	"What we HAVE to do is RELAX, Sal!" Sonic interrupted.  "C'mon,
you know I'm right!  Ain't the main hedgehog ALWAYS right?"
	Sally snorted at Sonic's obstinancy.  "Not this time, you aren't.
Am I just supposed to leave my duties as Princess to go gallavanting off
on a vacation?  I can't!  I won't!"
	"You can and you will, Sal.  I'm sure Dr. Quack, stinkpot-"
	"St. John," corrected Sally.
	"-stinkpot," Sonic continued, nonplussed, "and Uncle Chuck can run
things without you for a while!  Besides, even though your pop is kinda
out of it at the moment, he can run things in a pinch.  Yes, he went a
little beserk about the roboticized Mobians, but he's beginning to calm
down a little."
	He noticed her resolve slip a little.  Flashing his most charming
smile, he said, "The kingdom isn't going to fall apart if you're gone just
few days, Sal.  C'mon, it'll be fun!  And fun is just what you need right
now.  You've been pretty tense lately, y'know . . . "
	The Princess sighed and looked around her at the throne room that
she and Sonic were in.  All around them, Mobians were hard at work,
cleaning or repairing or remodeling.  Through the large windows, she could
see that the city was already starting to shine in places where its new
citizens were clearing away the filth and grime of eleven years of
tyranny.
	"Alright," she finally said.  "I'll think about it.  Happy?"
	"Very," Sonic said through a wide grin.

		*	*	*

	Through the streets of Mobotropolis, a figure stumbled along.
He was rather large to be stumbling along, and many of the ruder people
that he bumped into made sure to tell him so.  He would simply mumble
something in a deep, rumbling voice and move on to bump into the next
pedestrian.
	None of them were able to see his face, nor much of his clothes,
because he wore a long, tattered cloak about his head and body.  He didn't
seem to have much of a direction in mind and simply wandered aimlessly.
	Every once in a while, he would stop to look up at a gleaming
spire in the middle of the city.  This spire had been the first of the
buildings that had been reconstructed, and had become the new Acorn
Castle.  Something about it stirred the figure's memory, but he couldn't
place his finger on what that was, exactly.  He thought more than once
that he might have a mind to visit the pretty spire, but it never
progressed past the mere thought level.
	He accidentally bumped into another person, then mumbled what he
thought might be an appropriate apology, but was only greeted with an
angry stare.

		*	*	*

	"Where . . . am . . . I?"
	The voice was ancient, older than anything the Dark Legionaire had
ever heard in his admittedly short life.  It was almost like dehydrated,
yet still living beetles walking across dry paper.  He bent over the being
who had spoken the words and began to nervously speak in hushed tones.
	"You are in a tent, my lord.  We had to flee Echidnaopolis, so we
brought you back here, to our underground camp."
	"Kragok?"
	"Captured, I'm afraid.  Is there anything I can bring you, Lord
Enerjak?"
	Somehow, the ancient echidna found some strength, and he raised
himself in the cot painfully slow.  He looked at the young Legionaire with
burning hatred in his eyes.  His whispery voice cut the air like a knife
as he said, "Lord Enerjak no longer exists!  I am only . . . "
	He laid back down.
	"I am only Dimitri, a long dead scientist," he finished, then once
again fell asleep.

		*	*	*

	Deep within the heart of the Master Emerald, a consciousness
stirred.  It wasn't sure what to do with itself for a moment, seeing as it
couldn't do anything.
	Though it was unable to move, however, it soon became congnizant
of its surroundings and looked around.  It found itself in a physical
body, but the body was trapped in some sort of green crystal substance.
Some distance outside the crystal, a wall that flashed multicolored light
stood.
	The consiousness began to feel itself strengthen, to grow.  It
became aware not only of its surroundings, but of itself.  It was a he, a
being, and for all to brief a time -
	- a MASTER.
	Mammoth Mogul screamed inwardly in impotent fury.

		*	*	*

	"Lousy, misbegotten . . . "
	Ever since his untimely defeat at the hands of the quickster, the
magician had not stopped cursing Sonic.
	" . . . filthy, cheating . . . "
	He would not be so easily taken next time, he would tell himself.
	" . . . conniving, annoying . . . "
	That was the last defeat that he would have to face, he knew.
	" . . . meddling, bothersome . . . "
	For he was Ixus Naugus, magician supreme, and rightful ruler of
the kingdom and the WORLD!  He would not be beaten back again, he would
not be humiliated, he would not-
	"Mmnh hnn uph . . . "
	Ixis' head snapped up as he noticed a strange figure plod into his
alleyway.  He had been here for the past few weeks, holed up in a
cardboard box and claiming this alley as his own at least, even if he
could not have the entire world.
	And this being his alley, he would not stand for intruders-
	"Nngh mrph nggle . . . "
	-especially fat, mumbling ones.  He stood up and pointed his new
sceptre at the figure.  Though it was still only half-formed, it had more
than enough power to take out a simple beggar.
	"Get out of my alley," he said, "if you want to live long enough
to serve as a slave to me after I become this world's lord and master!"
	The figure showed no sign of slowing.  In fact, it almost seemed
as if he were speeding up, running towards the squat magician.  Ixis began
to power up his sceptre to destroy this individual, when he noticed a soft
glow under the ratty cloak the stranger was wearing.
	A flash of light filled the alley.  A second later, it was empty.

		*	*	*

	"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh . . . "
	Sonic lifted up the coconut cup that he was drinking from and
sipped the sweet fruit juice inside.  As he adjusted his sunglasses, the
tiny umbrella in the cup was caught by the wind and it flittered away.  He
watched as it slowly parachuted from the two thousand yard height.
	"Aw, c'mon, Sonic!  It's bad enough we gotta clean up Mobotropolis
that you gotta keep losing those umbrellas all over the landscape!"
	Sonic laughed and looked down from his seat on the top wing of the
Tornado at Tails, the airplane's pilot.
	"Sorry, big guy," he yelled over the wind, "but I gotta keep up
the 'look', y'know what I mean?"
	Tails laughed and turned his attention back to flying the plane.
Not far in front of him flew the Turbo-Prop, Atoine's much larger
passenger plane.  Though he couldn't see it, he knew that many of its
passengers - Sally Acorn, Rotor Walrus, and Antoine DeCoollette, to be
exact - were probably fretting over projects that they had left behind and
wondering how in the Walker's name they had let Sonic talk them into this
crazy vacation.
	Aunt Bunnie probably isn't having any problems with it, thought
Tails with a grin.
	Ever since the reconstruction of Mobotropolis began, Bunnie and
the few Robians who had not yet gone to Knothole were constantly working,
doing many of the jobs that would be done by heavy machinary . . . if
there was enough working heavy machinary in the city to go around.  Bunnie
was one of the few core Freedom Fighters besides Sonic and Tails who knew
that this trip was severely needed for all concerned.
	Sonic pulled a wind-protected field radio out of his backpack,
lifted his sunglasses to wink at Tails, then turned the radio on.
	"I hope you ladies and gentlemen are having a WONderful journey
today," he said into the reciever.  "The lows will be in the seventies
today, highs in the nineties, as we make our way to the ever-lovely,
always-beautiful FLiCKiE Island, home to the reclusive and beautiful
FLiCKy bird.  We will-"
	"Sonic," Sally's voice interrupted, "I think we can do without the
commentary."
	Sonic laughed again, because he could clearly hear, even over the
wind, the sound of Antoine yelling, "Tell zat eencoreegable 'edge'og zat
'e can jump off zat wing for all zat I ca-" and Bunnie giggling.
	Just coming over the horizon, glinting in the midday sun, was
FLiCKiE Island.  The Tornado and the Turbo-Prop gently banked towards it
to land.

		*	*	*

	"Nnngh . . . "
	At first, Dimitri thought that it was he himself that was moaning
as he slowly woke back up from his deep, dreamless sleep.  It wasn't until
the gray haze of sleep had completely lifted from his mind that he
realized that the unusual moaning was actually mumbling, and it was coming
from a source outside himself.
	He slowly turned his head to confront the source of the moaning.
He found himself facing a large figure shrouded in a tattered cloak.
	Dimitri blinked a few times.   Being depowered must have affected
my vision, he thought.  Is that Kragok?
	He spoke his descendant's name, but was only greeted by more
mumbling from the figure.  He struggled to sit up, and was rewarded by a
sharp pain running through his chest.
	"Who are . . . you?" he coughed out.  "I demand to know . . . "
	The figure leaned forward.  Dimitri looked up and did not see the
familiar glowing cybernetic eye of the Dark Legion's leader, but the
glowing face of someone else not as familiar, but still known to him from
his days of omniscence . . .

	"Lor- er, Dimitri, sir, your food is he-?!"  The Dark Legionaire
stopped midsentence as he realized he was talking to an empty tent.

		*	*	*

	Mogul continued to scream into the empty recesses of his emerald
cage.  He intended to continue until either the crystal shattered or his
own mind died out, but he noticed something on the edge of his
consciousness.
	He turned his attention to it, only to find that a large cloaked
figure flanked by two smaller ones had somehow found their way into the
Chaos Chamber with him.
	Echidnas! was his first thought.  But upon closer inspection, he
found that only one of them was of that species.  He was about to stretch
his mind closer to them when he suddenly felt himself in the grip of a
power that did not emenate from the Master Emerald that surrounded him.
It was an odd sensation, one that was not entirely unpleasant.  It seemed
to sqeeze him, twist him, and-
	-RELEASE him!  Mogul found himself kneeling on the ground,
clutching at the emerald shards that were embedded in his chest and
heaving for air.
	"Who-whoever you are," he gasped, "I . . . thank you for releasing
me.  Now, if you will . . . excuse me, I have some unfinished business
that I wish to attend to.  S-stand aside!"
	"You!" wheezed a slightly familiar voice.  "You are the one who .
. . who . . . "  It degenerated into spastic coughing.
	Mogul looked up.  He saw Dimitri, the one who had been called
Enerjak, standing on the cloaked figure's right.
	"Ah," he mammoth said.  "So, I see you have not given up the fight
just yet, my dear rival.  I'm afraid that you are in no shape to stop me.
As for you other two, I'm afraid I don't sense that you are any threat
either.  You may have freed me, but I will destroy you if you try and stop
me from leaving."
	"DON'T PATRONIZE ME!" bellowed the small one.  "I am NAUGUS, the
future lord of this planet!"
	Mogul stood up and studied Ixis.  "Yessss," he hissed.  "I seem to
remember myself saying something along the same lines.  I believe you were
just as easily defeated by the insolent brats who call themselves the
Freedom Fighters, hmmmmm?"
	Ixis' face burned bright red as he reached for the sceptre that
hung from his belt.  He was stopped by a sudden movement from the cloaked
figure.
	"I did not bring you all here," the figure said, "to start
bickering amongst one another."
	"Ah, so you CAN speak normally," the wizard said.
	"After a fashion, yes.  I could not before, however.  I am still
attuning myself to this . . . corporeal, yes, that's the word . . . this
corporeal form again.  It has been quite a while since I've felt this body
around me."
	"Would you mind telling us what this is all about?" wheezed
Dimitri.
	"I would not mind at all," the figure replied.  "But first, I have
something that I wish you all to do."
	"And that is?"
	"Touch the emerald.  It will have a rather . . . suprising affect
on you all, I am rather sure."
	"Quite incorrect," said Mogul.  "I am afraid that if any power is
to be given by this emerald, it is to be MINE.  None of you will be able
to stop me, just as you would be unable to stop me from lea- URK!"
	To Mogul's, Dimitri's, and Ixis' extreme suprise, a burst of
energy flew from the cloaked figure's hand and struck Mogul, who was
raised into the air.
	"Don't bother to counter-attack," the figure said.  "It will only
be a waste of energy.  The reason you did not sense the energy within me,
mammoth, is because I did not WISH you to sense it.  Now, have we all come
to an agreement as to what to do at this conjuncture?"
	All three nodded in unison.  Mogul dropped back to the floor, then
the figure pointed out where he wanted them to stand as they touched the
emerald.  They followed his instructions exactly.
	"Well?" said Ixis.  "Nothing is happening!"
	"Patience."  The figure flared his energy into the Master Emerald,
which began to pulsate.  Mogul, Dimitri, and Ixis all glowed with the
power, the power of fourteen Chaos Emeralds.  As they stepped back and
reveled in their newfound power, the mysterious figure discarded his
tattered cloak.
	"EXCELLENT!" bellowed Dr. Ivo Robotnik.  "My friends, we are going
to make the Freedom Fighters . . . no, ALL of Mobius sorry that they EVER
crossed us!"
	The Chaos Chamber, far below the surface of the Floating Island,
was filled with the evil laughter of the four supreme beings.

		*	*	*

	Sonic stood on the sandy beach of FLiCKiE Island, shivering.
Sally walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.
	"What is it, Sonic?"
	He shook his head and said, "I dunno, Sal.  I just got this weird
feelin' in the back of my head that . . . that someone was laughin' at me
. . . "


	To Be Continued . . .

		Roland Lowery
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