CmptrWz

Several hours later

Tommy had gotten a fresh supply of CDs and a new CD player, as well as enough spare TFM chips to last him a lifetime. He found, however, that he couldn't get the speakers to work so he had to use headphones instead. He caught up with the group after a little searching, and soon he was bombing ants again.

"Hey idiot," called Melissa. "Why don't you try using something other then bombs for a change."

Tommy barely heard this, but flew down and started yelling at Melissa. "I can't use anything else because of this STUPID CURSE. Do you have a PROBLEM WITH THAT?"

Melissa glared at Tommy as he yelled, waited a moment, and flew back up again. He then turned and stuck his tongue out at her as she was turning away. She saw this out of the corner of her eye, however, and before anyone knew what had happened a MP box had opened up, and the value in it dropped by fifty. Time seemed to stop for everyone but Melissa and Tommy as a gleam seemed to come from her eyes, flying into the air and striking Tommy, after which time restarted and Tommy fell, KOed. Looking at the box before it closed they saw that Melissa had given Tommy "the look", which apparently had given an instant KO. Rose, Emily, Jaime, Katarina, and Hikeya all checked their attack listings to find they had the same attack listed. Checking the extended information they found that it only worked on males that could pass for human in appearance. That included Elves, for instance, but not humanoid cats or ants. The downside was that it only worked on someone you were seriously pissed off at.

The group didn't want to leave Tommy sitting there, but the only way they had of waking him up was to have Rose kiss him. Since she wasn't about to do that at this point, they ended up having to leave him. Sonic did, however, figure out enough of the controls to set it on autopilot, the only destination being the scientist's home. Soon Tommy was off, maybe he would wake up sometime soon. In the meantime the group continued on, finally spotting the fortress about half an hour later.

As the group made their final approach to the fortress Sonic was thinking, making sure he wasn't transmitting to anyone else. He had been watching Melissa more closely, having noticed that nothing seemed to attack her, damage her, or cause her to attack, aside from Tommy. In fact, the only attacks she had used had been to turn off that blasted music, which was good enough alone he supposed, and to knock out Tommy after he had yelled at her. She was, however, always doing something behind the group right before an attack hit. It took him a while, but he finally realized that she was somehow calling the attacks. She was the traitor, and he had to let the others know so they could do something about it.

Melissa, however, saw the glint of realization in Sonic's eye. She quickly blocked his thoughts so that only she would hear them for the next few minutes. Seconds later Sonic let out a warning to Rose, Emily, and Jaime. They didn't react to it though, which shocked him. Stopping and trying again he found that they only tried asking him why he had stopped, just before they all froze. Turning around he found Melissa, still moving. "Oh shit," he thought, not realizing he was transmitting.

"Shit nothing, I am just leaving," Melissa said. "Congratulations on figuring it out, the others didn't even appear to be taking the warning seriously." With that Melissa pulled on a black cloak, her body changing under it as her face was hidden. A bright light appeared for a second and the cloaked figure was gone, leaving behind a sword. Sonic reached down and picked it up, finding that it raised his attack five points and did more damage then the sword he was currently using. On the hilt he found two Ms, one black and one white.

"So it was the old coot the entire time," thought Sonic.

"What are you talking about now?" asked Rose, sounding annoyed. "And what did you do with Melissa?"

"Melissa was the old coot," Sonic said. "He left me this sword, as a reward for figuring out his secret I suppose. Then he left."

Several jaws dropped at this, Sonic not realizing what he had just said. He looked at Rose, Emily, Jaime, and Shampoo with their jaws hanging open, Ukyo stuttering in Chinese, Kalshion and Katarina trying to decide if they should be falling over or congratulating Sonic. Then it hit him, he had just SAID something. He had his voice back! He then noticed Ryoga and Hikeya were fighting over something, both getting very angry.

"What are you two fighting about?" Sonic called, finding speaking felt slightly odd initially.

"This PERVERT tried to rip off my shirt," screamed Hikeya.

"I tripped on a branch," yelled Ryoga. "Then YOU tried to pull my pants off!"

"This isn't like Ryoga at all, but who knows about Hikeya," Sonic whispered to himself, just before two stat windows popped open. Ryoga and Hikeya's stats were showing, their class was currently Guide. That didn't last long, however, as suddenly both of them changed into Aimless Wanderers, before they both stormed into the fortress. Moments later two screams were heard, one distinctly male and one distinctly female.

"Oh great," said Rose. "Now we have to save them too!"

A bright light startled Rose a moment later, coming from the clouds and surrounding her. She then heard a voice in her head, knowing that no one else was hearing it.

"Sonic no longer needs your services as a voice," came the voice. "Fly above the door to the hole there. Inside you will find a ring sized for your finger."

The light vanished, and Rose decided that she couldn't get much worse off then she already was, so she found the hole and the ring inside. She examined the ring for a moment as she flew back to the group, and put it on. Suddenly the glow from her body grew fifty fold, blinding those around her. When the glow subsided her stat window was open. All of her attack values were showing zero, before they suddenly jumped. She now had almost all her stats identical to Sonic's, and a wand formed from the ring she had put on. She didn't have time to celebrate, however, as a rumbling came from the fortress.

Chapter 26
The First Fortress
Order, Chaos, and .... tea parties?

Everyone was watching the fortress, not realizing that night had just fallen. All the biometal units were returning, and this happened to be the ISDF fortress. All kinds of scouts, tanks, walkers, and more suddenly returned, using openings that literally seemed to melt out of the walls of the fortress. After twenty minutes of this the holes closed, no units left outside.

The group slowly approached the entrance, checking for turrets hiding inside, and finally finding themselves in a large open space. A gate crashed down behind them, cutting off any chance of escape, as a pedestal raised itself out of the center of the room. Lights blared from the pedestal, lighting up the entryway they had come in through as well as 3 others. All 4 entryways were barred and the room was otherwise empty.

Walking over to the pedestal, having nothing better to do, the group noticed a single button in the middle of it. Ignoring the button, for now, they checked all the gates to find they were all sealed shut tightly, and they couldn't see anything through them, not even the one they had come in through. By this time they had, however, lost track of which one that was, not that it would have mattered as the entire room had moved since they entered it anyway. The pedestal was now in the center of the fortress, the main entryway no longer existing outside.

Sonic then walked back over to the pedestal, staring at the button. "This is either entirely too easy," he said, "or something is seriously wrong with this picture." Sonic continued to look at the button for a moment, before reaching out to press it.

On the Enterprise......

The ship is suddenly rocked by a shockwave of some kind......

"What was that?" asked Picard, half-dazed from the sudden shock.

"It was a shockwave," replied Data. "Similar to a Sonic Boom. Based on that, I have determined what it appears to have originated as. Would you like to hear it?"

"Make it so," said Picard, followed by Data starting playback.

"YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCHHHHHH", the recording played back.

"That is what I call painful," noted Riker.

Back with the group......

The lights on the pedestal have gone out, leaving the group in near-darkness. Rose's pendant is providing enough light to see by, but not much more.

"Sheesh," said Rose. "I am surprised that this place is still STANDING after that!"

"I guess it was too easy," said Sonic, pulling himself off of the floor. "That shock was a tad much, though."

Suddenly four lights came on, one above each entryway. The lights are cast to the floor, where symbols are revealed. The first entryway shows an atom with a rose for a nucleus, the second shows an oven mitt with a cat on it. The third entryway showed a single light-blue dragon, while the fourth showed a ying-yang. After twenty minutes of mulling over the symbols the group had come to a decision.

"Looks like we have to leave in pairs," said Jaime, flying over to the ying-yang. "Each symbol showing the pair that should go through."

"We must go through this door then," said Sonic, speaking for Rose and himself.

"This oven mitt must represent cooking," came Shampoo's voice, "which would be me, ummm, Ukyo, ummm.... Well, the cat would seem to represent Shampoo, ummm, me, ummmm...."

"It represents Shampoo and Ukyo," said Katarina. "Although possibly not in that order."

"Based on our heritage," Kalshion said, "this dragon would be me and Katarina."

"Which leaves the ying-yang for me and Jaime," finished Emily.

Each group went over to their entryway, looking for some clue as to what they should do next. They started with the gates, finding nothing, and one by one started examining the symbols on the floor. As everyone was over the symbols circles of energy formed, a barrier quickly rising out of them. Everyone was trapped on top of their symbol, which then vanished just before a powerful wind sucked everyone into the floor. The holes in the floor then sealed up, the barriers vanishing and the lights shutting off.

Somewhere in a dark cavern

"Ugh," moaned Sonic. "I didn't need that."

"Mmmph", mumbled Rose. "MMMMMPPPHHH"

Sonic looked around for a second, then realized that something was glowing UNDER him. He quickly rolled over, revealing Rose.

"Sorry," Sonic said. "Didn't know you were under there."

"It's ok," said Rose, as she got up. "Where are we?"

"Looks like a cavern," Sonic responded. "But I can't see a way out. How did we get IN?"

"I don't know, let me look around for a minute," responded Rose. "My pendant should help me see."

Rose flew around the cavern, finding absolutely nothing. The walls were perfectly smooth, as was the floor, and the seam between the two was non-existent. The only imperfection in the entire cavern was where they had fallen, right in the center, where a small circle was raised from the floor.

"So there is nothing but this thing," Sonic said after Rose explained her findings. "Wonder if it is a clue." With that Sonic tapped the edge of the circle with his foot, causing a rumbling to fill the cavern.

"What did you do?" asked Rose, a little worried.

"All I did was tap it with my toe!" said Sonic, watching the circle raise in a silver shape, taking the form of a pedestal. A single red button adorned the center of it.

"Another button..." said Rose.

"Your turn," said Sonic, glaring at Rose. "I pushed the last one."

Rose looked at Sonic, remembering what had happened to him when he pressed the last button, before flying over and landing on the pedestal. Seeing no other way to push the button, she stepped on top of it, depressing it. She cringed, expecting a shock, but none came.

"Well," said Rose. "That was useless."

"Appears so," said Sonic. "I don't suppose a door opened up anywhere?"

"Let me go check," said Rose, flying off the button. The button then popped up, causing a rumbling to fill the cavern. Sonic and Rose looked around as the pedestal sank back into the ground and a massive light appeared above them.

"Here, I bring you gift," came a loud voice. "From the Island!"

"SHIT!" echoed the voices of Sonic and Rose as a giant pineapple dropped into the middle of the cavern. They had no time to react before it exploded. When the smoke cleared Sonic and Rose were KOed, both plastered to the walls, with a hole in the center of the cavern revealing a tunnel.

Meanwhile, in a bedroom

Two beds are sitting side by side. The first contains Emily, who appears to be having a nightmare, while the second contains Jaime, who is sleeping soundly. Laying on the end of each bed is a set of clothes, if you examined them closely you would find that they are the clothes that each had been wearing before they were pulled through the floor. The clothes have been washed and repaired, where needed. Their weapons are sitting on a table next to each bed, also having been cleaned and repaired where needed.

Emily finally woke up, with a classic high-pitched scream. As she was clutching her chest, trying to get her heart to stop trying to get out, Jaime rolled over.

"Hey sis," said Jaime, groggily. "What got into you?"

"I had a nightmare," said Emily, turning towards Jaime. "You were turned into a....." Emily froze at this point, staring at Jaime.

"Into a what?" asked Jaime, rubbing her eyes.

"P...P...PIXIE!" screamed Emily, jumping back against the wall, clutching her blanket to her chest.

"Don't worry," said Jaime, getting dressed. "Dad will eventually change me back. In the meantime, where are we?"

Emily had finally calmed down at this point, and had started getting dressed. "I don't know. Looks like a house."

"Weren't we in a fortress?" Jaime said rhetorically. "When did we end up here?"

"There are no windows," said Emily, more to herself. "Just that door."

"Well," Jaime said, picking up the last of her things. "Lets get going. The longer we are here the better chance something happens to us."

"You don't know how right you are," thought a small girl watching through a painting as the two left the room, finding themselves in a hallway full of doors. There were no stairs, and no door looked like a better choice then any other. On a whim, Emily opened one door and stepped through. A second later she came out of a door farther down the hall.

"What the...." said Emily, looking at the door. She walked across the hall into another door, and ended up coming out of a trap door they hadn't seen in the floor. Jaime then tried a door, ending up in the light fixture in the middle of the hallway. Another attempt landed her down the hall. They continued this way for an hour, trying every door in the hallway except for the one opposite the door they started at.

"You know," Jaime said, leaning against an open trap door. "We still have one more door to try."

"Well then," said Emily. "Lets try it!"

The two went over to the door, opened it, and stepped through into darkness. Emily fumbled for a light switch, finally finding one and turning it on. A small light came on overhead, blinding them for a second. When their eyes adjusted they saw that the room contained three things. To the left was a door to a small room with a cabinet in it. Straight ahead was a gateway with a field over it, that proved to be quite solid to the touch, but appeared to be the way to get to a large room with a table and a few other similar gateways in it. To the left was a small alcove with a verbal puzzle in it.

Blood may flow through your veins
Your heart may beat to a tune
But if you pass you will have deathly pains
Your appearance must change to avoid your doom

"What could that mean?" thought Emily. "It makes no sense."

"Hey Emily," called Jaime. "Come check this out."

"Coming," said Emily, still puzzling over the puzzle. "What is it?"

"Looks like new clothes for us," said Jaime, gesturing at the now-open cabinet. Inside were two sets of clothes, one sized for each of them. Both were dresses with lollipops and bonnets, a green one for Jaime and a red one for Emily. On a glass door covering the outfits was a yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside it.

"You know," said Emily, "that is probably what the riddle means. We have to change our clothes to go through that gateway."

"What riddle?" asked Jaime.

"The one over in that alcove," Emily responded. "I am more worried about what else the clothes will do to us."

"Right now I don't think that is a factor," said Jaime. "If we have to wear them to get out of here then we have to wear them because I am NOT staying here."

"Good point," said Emily. "Lets get this over with."

Emily reached for the door, which opened with a hiss before she could touch it. Shooting a look at Jaime for a second, they each touched the clothing sized for them. Instantly their existing clothing vanished, and was replaced with the clothing they had touched. They both quickly checked their inventory, and found that their old clothing wasn't there.

"Ok," Emily finally said. "This is NOT what I was expecting. We can't even change out of these things now without going naked!"

"Then we will just have to deal with that," said Jaime. "Lets go already!"

The two walked over to the gateway, and found it would let them pass. Once they were through it sealed behind them, blocking any chance of escape. The other gateways would not let them through, so they sat at the table. It was currently empty, so they had nothing to do.

"Well," said Emily. "That didn't get us far."

"Nope," said Jaime. "We shouldn't have moved, it would have been easier to sleep."

"You got that right!" came a high-pitched voice. A hologram of an odd-looking young girl appeared above the table, facing Emily and Jaime. "You fell for a trap, and your time has come. As those dresses activate, dolls you shall become!" With that the hologram vanished, leaving Emily and Jaime shocked. They started trying to pull off the dresses, not caring if they were naked any longer, but found that they would not come off. Instead, they started to glow, engulfing Emily and Jaime in an eerie light. When the light died down they found they could still move and speak, as well as not having shrunk, but were now made out of porcelain.

"Oh great," said Emily. "Now we are very fragile."

"At least we still have attack abilities," said Jaime, looking at her stats. "I just wish I could still fly, but my wings are gone."

The two mulled over what had happened to them as the others arrived.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dina.
Someone's in the kitchen I know, I know.
Someone's in the kitchen with Dina.
Playing on the old banjo.

In the kitchen(you did figure that out from the above, right?) we find Shampoo and Ukyo on the floor. They aren't moving, but a banjo can be heard playing somewhere. Before the camera can pan away to find the person playing the banjo Ukyo's wrist moves. Soon both Shampoo and Ukyo have gotten up, and are trying to figure out where they are.

FYI: For the purpose of this sequence, Shampoo and Ukyo will refer to the body that contains the named mind.

"Where are we," said Ukyo, looking around. "And where is that Banjo coming from?"

"I no know," said Shampoo. "Looks like Kitchen."

"Lets get out of here as quickly as possible," Ukyo said nervously. "Who knows what could happen to us in here."

"Good idea," said Shampoo.

Soon the two were looking for a way out, both also trying to figure out where the banjo was coming from. After twenty minutes of searching they had discovered that there wasn't a single door in the place. The only thing of interest was a very large cake, the kind that you pop out of, that looked large enough to hold a dozen people. They hadn't seen a small girl watching through cracked cabinet doors, nor had they opened the walk-in fridge, when they stopped back where they had started.

"Well," said Ukyo. "There isn't a way out, and I am getting hungry."

"Me too," said Shampoo. "Maybe there food in fridge?"

"Good idea," said Ukyo. "Lets check."

They walked over to the fridge, opened it up, and looked inside. The fridge was filled with desserts, more then they thought possible. The little girl watching smiled as the two each picked up a chocolate from a shelf next to the door and tested it. Within seconds both Ukyo and Shampoo got a look of intense hunger and started gorging themselves uncontrollably, eating everything in sight. Half an hour later they had cleared out the entire fridge, as well as the freezer in back of it. All in all they had each gained five hundred pounds, all of it fat. Their clothes had expanded to fit, but they had trouble getting through the fridge door. As soon as they left the fridge they realized what they had done, but found they were so bloated they couldn't speak. They waddled through the kitchen, starting to get annoyed at the banjo and still not noticing the little girl watching from behind cabinet doors. They finally came across the giant cake again. For some reason they got the idea of climbing inside of it, finding that they fit perfectly inside. So perfectly, in fact, that they were stuck. The little girl came out of hiding and closed the top of the cake, keeping herself unseen by staying behind the top of the cake as she put it into place.

"You shouldn't gorge yourself like that," the little girl said, snickering. "It isn't good for your health." The cake suddenly sank into the floor, taking the little girl with it, into what looked like a laboratory. The little girl walked over to a control panel, aiming a large gun at the cake. "What should I do with you two pigs?"

We now return you to the weird bit of "Shampoo in Ukyo" and "Ukyo in Shampoo"

As she messed with the controls on the beam the banjo music changed tempo slightly, slowing down a tad. Behind the ray gun Ryoga sits playing the banjo, in a weird cell that looks like an airlock. He appears to be in a trance, not moving aside from what is required to play the banjo itself.

"Stop playing that stupid banjo and go back to your cell," the little girl yelled. "I am sick of that stupid sound!"

Ryoga nodded, stopping his playing, and the area he was in flew up into the fortress, returning to where Hikeya was. She appeared to be in a similar state, washing clothes that would fit the little girl. She was dressed in clothes that were the same style as the little girl's, but sized to her. If you took a good look you would notice that she was smaller then she had been, looking younger, as she slowly regressed in age to match the little girl, her suppressed mind only partially regressing with her body.

"Soon my playmate will be ready to play," the little girl said. "Then the fun will really begin. Until then, lets have some fun with you two." The girl studied a scanner that had loaded info on the two, then a sneer adorned her lips. "I know just what to do with each of you now, you blobs you."

The girl started setting the beam, changing settings all over the place. After a few minutes she was done, and she turned the beam on. The cake was unaffected, but the occupants were knocked out and changed. When the beam shut off the girl pushed a button, and a tube came down over the cake. The cake was then sucked up through the tube as the girl laughed about what she had just done, before going to torture others.

Back with Emily and Jaime

Emily and Jaime were trying to figure out the ins and outs of their body when a tube dropped down onto the table. A cake dropped in the tube, landing on the table, before the tube vanished again. It was a very large cake, and Emily and Jaime both wished they had the ability to eat right now. After a few minutes of examining the cake, having nothing better to do, Jaime jumped back, almost falling off the table.

"It..." Jaime stuttered, "it moved!"

"WHAT?" yelled Emily, rushing over. Just as she got there the top of the cake flew open and two blurs came out of it. The first blur turned out to be a humanoid cat with purple hair, which happened to be Ukyo mentally. The second blur turned out to be a gingerbread woman, an inch shorter then Jaime, that happened to be Shampoo mentally.

"You know," said Jaime, "I think we lucked out on our change."

"I think you are right," said Emily, who was checking their stats and had just found out who they were.

They started to talk, as best they could, before the next group arrived.

In a Shrine-like area

Kalshion and Katarina found themselves in a large room, a very large tree adorning one end. Katarina was floating, as usual, while Kalshion had been laying on the ground under her. They both appeared to be fine, and started looking around.

"Where are we?" Katarina asked no one in particular. "Looks like a shrine."

"If this is a shrine then I wonder who, or what, worships here," replied Kalshion, looking at weird statues serving as pillars. "These statues aren't all exactly sacred material."

"Well, we don't have much to do," said Katarina. "There are no doors or windows."

"Just statues and the side of a tree," Kalshion finished. "I don't suppose there are any hidden doors around?"

Katarina looked around, noting the smooth walls. "I doubt we could find them."

Kalshion walked around the room, feeling the walls. "Nothing," he said, perplexed. "Not a single imperfection until the tree."

"That's it!" yelled Katarina. "The tree, it must be a door!"

"You might be right," said Kalshion as he and Katarina started to examine the tree. After twenty minutes or so they had found nothing. "This is getting us nowhere."

"There has to be a way out," said Katarina. "We did get in, after all."

"Well then," said Kalshion, "maybe there is a hidden switch in one of the statues?"

"I personally do not want to think about touching some of those," said Katarina.

"Neither do I," agreed Kalshion. "However, it may be our only way out. Lets just start by looking for anything that might be a button or lever or something, from what we can see."

"Ok," said Katarina. "I can deal with that. Lets get started."

Kalshion and Katarina searched each statue, examining every detail they could stand to examine, looking for any kind of button, lever, or switch. Over half an hour later they finally finished, each of them having examined half the statues. After resting for a minute, leaning against the tree, they started to discuss their findings.

"I only found one statue that showed promise," said Kalshion, pointing at a statue of a girl with one arm straight out in front of her. "It looks like the arm on that one can be pulled down, but I can't reach it."

"I found one that looked promising as well," said Katarina, pointing at a warrior statue adorned with weapons. "I think the buckle on that one's belt has a button in it."

"Well then," said Kalshion. "Lets trade. You go pull that arm down while I push the button."

"I don't know," said Katarina. "Can we trust them?"

"Do we have a choice?" answered Kalshion. "I don't know about you, but since I don't have anything that makes it so I don't need to use a bathroom I can't stick around as long."

"Alright," answered Katarina. "But if that statue curses me again I will hold you responsible!"

"Sounds fair," said Kalshion. "But only if I get out of here without a curse. Deal?"

"Deal," Katarina agreed, floating over to the statue holding out its arm. "Lets get this over with."

Kalshion walked over to the statue with a button in the belt, reaching out and pushing it as Katarina was about to grab the arm. Suddenly the arm swung down, grabbing Katarina. Before she had a chance to scream the statue's hand glowed brightly and ripped her body off of her spirit, throwing it through a hole that appeared in the wall. Shocked into silence, Katarina didn't notice that she was now standing on the ground, but no longer had a body. She was a transparent blue all over, even the clothes she was wearing were transparent.

Kalshion, on the other hand, hadn't exactly fared much better. He had been hit by two small tubes going into his legs a moment after pushing the button. Soon small metal protrusions started coming out of his skin, becoming part of him. Before long he looked like a Borg Drone, although anyone with knowledge of Borg technology taking a good look would have noticed that there was nothing in the mechanics for assimilating. He soon battled the mechanics for his mind, winning out in the end, pushing most of the Borg mentality to the recesses of his mind. As a result of this, Katarina recovered from her experience first.

"Kalshion," Katarina stuttered, afraid to move. "What just happened?"

Kalshion turned and looked at Katarina, stunned for a second. "I think you are dead," he finally said, with a slight metallic sound in his voice.

"D..." Katarina started, finally looking down at herself. "Dead?"

"Yea," said Kalshion. "At least, you look like a ghost."

Katarina finally looked over at Kalshion, and would have fainted had she had blood to leave her head on her. "You...you are part machine!" she finally blurted.

"We guess we are," said Kalshion, not noticing his royal 'we'. Katarina, for her part ignored it. "Did any doors open?"

Katarina looked behind Kalshion, noticing that the tree was no longer there. "If the tree being gone is a door opening, then yes."

The two walked through the opening the tree left, which promptly closed up behind them. They found themselves with the others, and weren't sure if they were more shocked with themselves or the others already there now.

Back in the cavern

Sonic and Rose are on opposite sides of the cavern, just waking up. In the center of the cavern the hole in the floor glows ever so slightly, just enough to illuminate the cavern itself. The cavern appears to be empty otherwise. Both look up, and are startled, staring straight at each other as if there was something between them. Soon anger boosted their power fifty fold each, and they lunged at each other, putting their full power into an attack. When they made contact a shockwave disrupted the fabric of space-time, sending the pulse back into itself, the resulting exponential rise in force resulting in an energy black hole forming at the point of contact. The two forms and the energy they were unleashing mixed, became one, and then split in another massive burst of energy.

When all was said and done, Sonic and Rose were in the hole that had appeared in the floor after the pineapple exploded, this time Rose was on top of Sonic. They awoke, and looked at each other.

"Sonic," Rose started, shocked at what she saw. "Did I do that to you?"

"Did you do what?" Sonic asked, confused.

"Where to begin," said Rose, touching her finger to her lips. "Well, there is my symbol emblazoned on your forehead, your hair looking like mine, and the bulges in your shirt."

Sonic looked down at his chest, felt his forehead, and then his hair, before taking a good look at Rose. "You know," he started, "you seem to have a mark on your forehead too, have my hair, and the front of your shirt looks a bit flat."

Rose looked down at herself this time, then repeated Sonic's previous motions with her forehead and hair. "So, what just happened?"

"I don't know," Sonic said thoughtfully. "I woke up, and saw DS cut your head off with a sword. After that things get fuzzy."

"That is odd," said Rose. "I saw DS rip you in two before things got fuzzy."

"Could it be that we hallucinated," said Sonic, "or were tricked, and ended up attacking each other in our rage?"

"Seems like a plausible idea to me," answered Rose.

"Hey you two," called a squeaky voice. "You gonna sit there all day?"

Sonic and Rose turned and looked down the tunnel they were currently in, to a gateway with a small doll on the other side. Looking at each other and shrugging, they got up and walked through the gateway, which sealed behind them. They surveyed the room, finding the various members of the group transformed. There was one open gateway left, that no one could pass through, and they soon figured out who was who. Nobody was missing, so where did the gateway go?

In a large, pink bedroom

"That was funny," a small girl said. "Using the love those two shared to get them to attack one another."

"Transformation chamber one reports completion," a computerized voice interrupted.

"YAY!" yelled the girl as she jumped up. "My playmate is ready!"

The girl ran down some stairs to where everyone else was, on a balcony that hadn't been there before. The ceiling opened up and Hikeya, now the same age as the girl with identical clothes, floated down and landed next to the girl. Taking a good look at her you would notice that she appears to be in a trance, which would be correct. No one had seen them though, at least not yet, as they were arguing over who had gotten off the easiest. Rose had, however, been staying out of the argument initially, and finally lost her temper.

"SHUT UP," screamed Rose, shocking everyone including the little girl, who had been working on bringing Hikeya out of her trance while instilling a mindset similar to her own devious one. "ANYONE WITH EYES CAN SEE I GOT OFF THE EASIEST, CAN WE GET ON WITH IT NOW?"

No one had a chance to answer, however, before Hikeya snapped out of her trance, her mind having not been affected. She took one look at her body as everyone else stared at Rose. She didn't say anything at first, feeling herself to make sure it was real. After assuring herself that her body was indeed younger, although she wasn't sure how she knew what a younger girl looked like, she went into shock for a second.

Precisely eight tenths of a second later she seemed to calm down, taking in a deep breath. No one had heard her or noticed her movements yet, the little girl just turning around to turn her attentions back to her and the group about to start apologizing to Rose. Hikeya held the breath in for a tenth of a second, then did the only thing she could think of at the time.

She screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," came the ear-splitting scream, causing gale-force winds to fill the entire room. The vibrations from the scream caused the ceiling to split and crack, and Ryoga fell into the room. Hikeya was still screaming, however, and Ryoga snapped out of his trance because of it. Soon the balcony that Hikeya was standing on collapsed, dropping her into the group, finally stopping her screaming as she struggled to not pass out from the effort.

The little girl was still hanging in the air, however she was transparent now. Her lower half had been replaced by a wisp of smoke-like substance, and she turned towards the group. "Damn you all," she said as she vanished. "I never got to play."

Hikeya finally lost her battle and fell asleep. Shampoo was currently broken, pieces spread around the room, while Emily and Jaime were merely cracked. Katarina was the only one who hadn't been affected physically by the scream, having nothing physical to be affected, while most of the others were dealing with headaches. Any concern for the others faded very quickly, however, as the room filled with an eerie glow, blinding everyone. Music came on in the background as the glow appeared to fade, but instead of seeing the room they were in the group saw a key. Their view flew backward out of a window, showing the top room of a tower, continuing outward to show an impossibly tall tower. The helicopter on the other side of the tower was missed, however, as the blinding glow came back, and then vanished, leaving the group in the room.

The glow had done more then just show them their goal, however. Emily and Jaime were flesh and blood again, Jaime having gotten her tail back, but they noticed they were still wearing the clothes that had changed them. Sonic and Rose no longer had their burn marks, and now had their complete, correct bodies again, although they hadn't noticed yet. Shampoo and Ukyo were the happiest of those returned to normal, however, as they were no longer in each others bodies. Of course, the cost of their restored forms was their ability to fight, but they didn't realize this yet.

The bad news was that Kalshion was still part machine, Katarina was still a spirit, and Hikeya was still a little girl. Their changes had apparently been done in a way that prevented them from changing back afterwards, and no one could tell how long the changes might last. They were not, however, in any condition to move on, so they decided to rest here.

The next day

Everyone had gotten a good night's sleep in the room, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.

Well, the rest of the fortress anyway.

The group found that the final gateway in the room had been opened, and they passed on through it. Ryoga, calm at this point, led the way. Hikeya was still working on getting used to her new nine-year-old body. The change wasn't as drastic to her as she would have normally figured, however, as her mind had regressed to around fourteen. The change was, however, enough to put her in an odd mood that made her directions unreliable.

Ryoga led them through every back path and corridor, bypassing every patrol in the place, until they came to a single wooden door. Ryoga stopped here, looked at the door, and then backed off.

"No," he said to himself. "There isn't any other way." He reached out for the doorknob as everyone else looked on, confused. He swung the door open and stepped through, everyone else following him. Looming high in the sky in front of them was the tower they had seen the day before, the only door being in the base that was across a courtyard below them. Everyone had, however, frozen at the sight of the courtyard, watching hundreds of Scouts, Tanks, and Mortar Bikes roaming it with several gun towers guarding the tower entrance.

"AAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," came a loud whistle, causing the entire group to jump back against the wall in case they had been seen. The opposite soon proved to be correct, though, as the sun peeked over the wall and most of the units in the courtyard left through various tunnels, apparently to resume their tormenting of the planet. Enough tanks and scouts were left to cause a problem, not to mention the gun towers. With less units below them the group approached the edge of the platform they were on, to get a better look.

"Well," Sonic said, examining the layout of the courtyard. "Our only chance to get past without additional curses would appear to be finding some way to distract those gun towers. We should be able to handle the tanks and scouts."

"Easier said then done," commented Rose, looking around. She and Jaime had moved out off the edge of the platform, as they didn't need the platform to stand on. "Especially with the turrets below the platform."

"Turrets?" said Katarina, going to look for herself. Soon she was next to Rose and Jaime, floating out off the edge of the platform. She was, however, large enough to form a target that the turrets saw and fired at. Katarina closed her eyes and screamed at this, Rose and Jaime having pulled back already. Katarina prepared for the worst, but it never came. Finally gathering up the courage to open her eyes, she looked down at the turrets. "Huh?"

"Looks like they can't hit you," said Kalshion. "Must be because you don't have a physical body."

"In that case," said Sonic, "you just volunteered to be our distraction!"

"WHAT?" yelled Katarina.

"It isn't like it is dangerous," noted Jaime.

"Yea," said Emily. "If they can't hit you then you can't be cursed."

"I suppose you are right," said Katarina. "Lets get this over with." She still hadn't moved from where the turrets were firing at her, when the turrets finally ran out of ammo. They packed up and went off to get more, so the group hurried down into the courtyard before replacements could show up. Katarina distracted any biometal forces that showed up long enough for the others to blast them away.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the gun towers. Katarina distracted the two, then came up with an idea. She floated right between the two towers, causing them to hit each other. The rest of the group passed through untouched, then she floated through the door into the tower.

"Ok," Katarina said as she re-joined the others. "I have to admit, being dead can come in handy."

"Lets hurry," Ukyo said. "I don't want to be here any longer then I have to." She hadn't tried fighting yet, nor had Shampoo, so they still didn't know that they had no ability to fight as the group pressed up a staircase.

Six hours, 98 battles later

Ukyo and Shampoo were hiding behind the rest of the group at this point, scared out of their wits by their inability to defend themselves. They had been fine initially, but after thirty battles or so their mental block against the fear had started to crumble. Everyone else was badly injured at this point, and in serious need of rest. Katarina was included in this, as she found magic attacks could harm her. The group soon came to a landing with a sign and a door. Sonic stepped up to read the sign aloud.

"Congratulations," the sign read. "You made it halfway up. Please feel free to use the beds."

The entire group, Ukyo and Shampoo included, fell over backwards at this. After a few minutes they got to their feet, went into the room, and collapsed on beds. Rose shared a pillow with Sonic, Jaime doing the same with Emily. Kalshion found a Borg alcove, and used it, while Ukyo, Shampoo, and Katarina each used a bed. Katarina didn't appear to need the bed, however, even though she still used it.

The next morning

The group woke up, got their things together, and left the little room. They were shocked when they found themselves at the top of the tower. There was a note on the floor outside the room, Kalshion picked it up and read it.

"You are welcome. I was lazy and didn't want to write about the other half of the climb." It was signed Wz.

"Well," said Sonic. "Whoever this Wz person is, they were a help. Now, how do we open this giant door?" Sonic examined the door, tried breaking it down by ramming into it and cutting it, and ended up winded having made no progress.

"May I make a suggestion?" asked Rose, sounding amused.

"Sure," Sonic replied, looking at her.

"Why don't we just do this," Rose said as she pushed a button next to the door labeled "Open", causing the doors to open.

"Oh, sure," said Sonic. "Do it the EASY way."

The group walked through the doors, Shampoo and Ukyo still hiding behind the others. The windows around the room let light in, showing a large mirror. Behind the mirror was a smaller door, obviously what was being protected. Seeing no enemy in the room, the group approached the mirror. Sonic was the closest when the mirror started to glow, his reflection jumping out of the mirror with a decidedly evil grin on its face. Soon duplicates of the rest of the group had also come out of the mirror, and the battle was on.

Well, the two Shampoos and the two Ukyos went off to the side and talked, neither the good nor evil versions having the ability to fight. The original Shampoo pulled some cookies out of her pack, and offered them to the evil clones. The evil clones, only have duplicate stats, attacks, and personalities, had no memory of the cookies and therefore nothing to suspect. They were the evil ones, after all. They each took a cookie, ate it, and were instantly KOed.

"So," said Ukyo. "What were those?"

"Akane's cookies," Shampoo replied, smiling.

The others started fighting their counterparts, no one having much of an advantage, the contents of their packs the only thing keeping the group from being wasted. Sonic and Rose, however, did seem to take less damage then their counterparts, key-shaped glows coming from them every few turns. This was not missed by MM, who had been watching their ordeal and continued to do so.

Two hours later

"That took WAAAAAY too long," said Sonic, barely standing.

"Uuuuuuuuugh," moaned Rose from the floor, assumingly in agreement.

Looking around the room would show destruction of anything and everything but the mirror and the door being protected. The clones had all vanished once defeated, and the group itself was barely conscious. Sonic hobbled over to the mirror, raised his sword, and barely touched the glass. That was enough, however, causing the mirror to shatter, glow, and vanish. The entire group was hit by a healing spell, bringing them back to full health. As soon as they got themselves together they moved through the smaller door, and stared at the pedestal they knew the key should have been on.

Unfortunately, there was no key. Behind the pedestal was a single window, the only other way into the room. Bars had been on it, but they had obviously been cut. Where the key should have been was a single piece of paper, folded into a small tent. On the visible part of the paper the group could see the words "Sorry, too late". Sonic reached out and picked up the paper, reading the inside of it out loud for the benefit of those there.

"Lupin was here"

Sonic looked at the others, no one knowing what to say. Ukyo finally snapped out of it, asking "Who is Lupin?"

"A master thief," replied Sonic. "But which one is it?"

"What do you mean," Katarina said. "You mean there is MORE THEN ONE OF THEM?"

"Three," said Rose. "At least. Although I could have sworn they were all dead by now."

"They were," came a voice out of nowhere, Sonic and Rose being the only ones that could hear it. "You are dealing with Lupin the Third, as well as his cohorts. However, if you want to know how to find them you will need to give something in return."

Sonic and Rose looked at the others, who were unmoving. "What do you want?" Sonic yelled, a pretty good idea of who he was talking to forming in his head.

"Your keys intrigue me," came the voice. "I wish to take a closer look at them. If you will let me do so then I will tell you what you need to know. If you agree to this then place your keys on the pedestal."

Sonic and Rose looked at each other, Sonic shrugged. He knew that the keys were useless to anyone but themselves, so he put his on the pedestal. Rose followed suit, and the pedestal "ate" their keys.

"Thank you," came the voice. "Your goal lies due north of the tower, two days on foot. You will also need three fish from the fishing spot along the way."

At the completion of that the others un-froze, just in time for the fortress to melt. When it was done there were no more ISDF forces, and a beam of energy flew back towards town. Sonic and Rose explained what they had to do, not entirely sure about the fish. Shampoo and Ukyo decided to stay with them, more for protection then anything. Soon the group was on their way.

The next day

"This must be that fishing spot," said Sonic, pulling a Rod and lure out of a chest. "Shall we do some fishing?"

"You go ahead," said Kalshion. "I have to get some of this water out of my joints."

"Suit yourself," said Sonic, going off to do some fishing. Rose didn't bother joining him, as she didn't want to become bait.

Ukyo made some Okonomiyaki, Shampoo made some Ramen, and Sonic soon returned with a dozen fish. They rested there that night, the location seeming safe. The next morning they set off again, constant battles in the forest they were passing through proving to be an annoyance. At some point it started to rain, causing further trouble. Finally they came to a large warehouse in the forest.

"Suppose this is the place?" asked Ryoga, holding his umbrella in one hand and Hikeya, in rabbit form, in the other. Shampoo was walking along in cat form next to the group, not having had her umbrella with her.

"I would say so," replied Emily.

"Who are you?" came a voice from the roof of the warehouse.

"We are warriors looking for a specific key," Jaime called back.

"You want the key," the voice came. "Fair enough. But you have to fight us for it!"

Without warning the side of the warehouse opened up and three massive machines flew out of it. Sonic and Rose both fell over, literally, upon recognizing the Gun sniper, Blade Liger, and Hellcat. After re-gaining their composure the group ran into the warehouse to see what was left.

Once inside Sonic and Rose finally understood the reason for the fishing. Rental on Zoids was done by fish, one fish per Zoid. There were three Zoids left, so Sonic gave the man three fish. After a moment of discussion it was decided that Sonic, Ryoga, and Kalshion were best suited to pilot the Zoids right now, so they each hopped in a Zoid. Ryoga didn't notice his extra passenger hop into the second seat of his Zoid, at least not right away anyway.

Out of the warehouse came a Shield Liger, piloted by Sonic, a Command Wolf, piloted by Kalshion, and a two-seated Dibison, piloted by Ryoga with Emily having jumped in the back in case a navigator was needed. They soon found a large maze-like area, and Lupin contacted them.

"This is where we shall do battle," he said. "As soon as the judge arrives, anyway."

On cue a white capsule slammed into the ground nearby. After the dust cleared it opened up, revealing a white judge. It started speaking immediately.

"The area within a fifteen mile radius is a designated Zoid Battlefield," came its voice. "This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger! All others must leave the area at once. Area scanned. Battlefield set up. The, uhhh, what is your team named anyway?"

"Ummm," Sonic thought for a moment. "The Hero team?"

"Ok," the white judge responded. "The Hero Team versus the Lupin Team. Battle Mode 0973. Ready...FIGHT!"

Both teams stormed into the maze, not knowing what exactly they would end up doing. They spent the first ten minutes searching for each other, then finally met a few times and battled. No one was winning, however, as the battle reached the half-hour mark. A large explosion was then heard, none of the fighters knowing what was going on.

"Hahahahaha," came a new voice. Sonic recognized it at once. "This battle is boring, so lets spice it up a bit. Battle Mode 0999. Ready...FIGHT!"

"Oh great," said Sonic. "I guess now we can play dirty." No one else was listening, they just kept on battling like nothing had changed.

As the battle hit its second hour Sonic was getting sick and tired of the situation, not to mention the dark judge's constant insults. He left the maze, took out the stupid judge, came back, and knocked over the edge of the maze. The resulting domino effect flattened all the Zoids still in the maze, leaving the Shield Liger the only Zoid left standing.

"We win," Sonic transmitted. "Give us the key!"

"Ok, ok," came Lupin's voice. "A deal is a deal." The key was thrown out of the maze by Lupin, who promptly split. Sonic retrieved the key, had Kalshion, Ryoga, and Emily hop onto his Shield Liger, and arrived back at the warehouse shortly. After paying the rest of the fish for the damages incurred to the Zoids the group was on their way, heading back to town where they hoped to find someone to point them to the next fortress.

Along the way they ran into Tommy, who was pissed at having missed all the action. He joined them again, fighting off the various monsters that attacked them as they approached town.