All characters mentioned in this story are Copyright © of Sega of America, Archie comic publications, and/or DIC. The author allows the reader to print this story off of the net, but you can’t sell it.

No characters in this story are from other authors, however, any new characters I introduce are mine, and may not be used without saying so.

Natural Born Killer

Nighttime fell over a vast open land. It was relatively quiet around now. Nothing could be heard or seen for miles. It’s been that way for a long time. No surprise really. This area was left highly untouched by Robotnik. Enerjak never had the time to use it. There was absolutely nothing in it, so why start now?

Ironically, no one knew. That’s why future events were to be made scary. But we’d have to wait till morning.

Day 1

8:09 am

Five and a half miles east of Peppernook, seventy eight miles northwest of Knothole.

Near the Great Plain, Rotor was collecting more data on growing plants in conditions belonging to the landscape. He wasn’t pleased with the results as of yesterday, but now for some unknown reason, the plants seemed to spring up overnight. It confused him deeply. Using his scientific method, he observed the plant conditions.

(Sight)

Rotor could see definite improvements in growth, stability, and flowering of the plants.

(Smell)

The plant had a distinct and pleasant odor. Very strong.

(Touch)

The plant was amazingly sturdy in this soft soil. The roots must have fused themselves strongly underneath the surface.

(Hearing)

Not willing to make himself look like a fool trying to listen to a plant, he waved that option aside.

(Taste)

Rotor shook his head. Tasting the plant now would only make data inconclusive. Reason being, taste was not a controlled variable at the beginning of the experiment.

Rotor also noticed that the nearby surroundings were covered with flies. He was constantly waving them away from his neck.

"Ahh! I do say, mon ami Ro-dor."

Rotor jumped. He did not realize he was being followed.

"Deese buzzies! No can stay away, hmm?" The voice came again.

Rotor knew it didn’t take a rocket scientist

(Like me)

to know it was in fact Antoine. He had nothing to fear.

"Ro-dor, are you hearing me?"

"Yeah, yeah Ant. I heard you."

Although Rotor had nothing to fear from Antoine, he could get annoying after awhile. He recalled a time a while back when he asked to help Rotor with his new toy, a voice command controlled airplane. He gave Antoine explicit instructions, and he always seemed to come back 5 minutes later to recall what they were, and then, he’d smack himself for finally remembering. Although everyone knew he meant well, the consistency of it was what really got on everyone’s nerves. Saying that following instructions is like his English is true, saying that his leadership and strategy skills are like rocks eroding isn’t. His military skills in offensive and defensive placements and tactics always proved useful, as did his 6th sense to anticipate enemy movements. So, in the long run, while some may dislike him, he was always to be trusted.

"Listen, Ant, you really caught me at a bad time. These plants just sprang up over a short period of time and I’m trying to figure out why. So if you please could..." Rotor stopped, Ant had stopped paying attention after Rotor finished his sentence, and placed his attention to the plants. He first had rocked the plant back and forth in its soil, which discomforted Rotor. The last thing he needed was for Antoine to make his experiments more complicated.

"Ant, please." he pleaded. Antoine turned his attention then to the soil. He placed the palm off his hand on the soil, and brushed away a pair of flies with the other. He lifted his hand up and rubbed his fingers on his thumb.

"Ro-dor, ‘ave you looked at zees soil?"

"No, Ant, I haven’t, and right now, I don’t care."

"Ah, mon ami, that is where your problem lies." He brushed away some more flies that hung around his head and cursed.

"What’s wrong with the soil?" Rotor asked.

"I’m sinking, Ro-dor, zat something was, ‘ow you say, multiplied to the soil

"Added."

"Oui, oui, added." He corrected, brushing away more flies. "Something was added to the soil, and..." He stopped and choked. He then began coughing spasmodically, and spitting to the ground now and then.

"What’s wrong Ant? Swallow a fly?"

"No no, *cough* but almost. *spit* Honestly, zese flies, what could be causing them to make such a coocoo?" He cursed. Rotor had to laugh silently when Ant began following a swarm of flies off into someplace that Rotor didn’t at the moment care much for. He knelt down to the soil and took a small chunk of it in his hand. Looking at it, he couldn’t tell much anything different, so he tried sniffing it.

He tossed the soil aside and fanned under his nose with a grim expression. Something certainly was added to the soil, and whatever it was, it stank. It had such a strong and unpleasant smell.

(Smelled like...)

He stopped and thought to himself.

(could it be?)

(Smelled like... like...)

A sharp cry cut through the silence. Rotor jumped and reacted in less than a second.

"Ro-dor, Ro-dor! Come here, quickly"

Rotor started running. Something wasn’t right. Whenever Antoine gave out a cry like that, nothing could be right. Inferences and predictions raced through his mind.

(Did he get stuck in some branches?)

(Did he fall and hurt his ankle?)

(Did he mess himself?)

Rotor hoped that wasn’t it.

He saw Antoine up ahead, so he slowed his pace.

"What is it Ant? What’s wro-oh MY GOD!" He cried aloud.

8:18 am

Knothole.

The residence of Sonic and Sally.

Sally, who is still pregnant, had been continuously sleeping for the last 12 hours. By that time, Sonic had already arisen, made and ate breakfast, showered, and groomed. He still at this time found nothing to do. Being a leader for the freedom fighters WAS a big responsibility. Now, it meant nothing. There was nothing to fight, no innocent lives to protect, no one to rescue, which meant, no fun. It was in fact quite boring now in his life. Besides looking after a quite pregnant but active Sally, he had not officially been appointed a job for the reproduction of the planet. Neither had Antoine, he noticed.

(Wonder how he wastes the time.)

He grunted with frustration.

He could just as well sit and twiddle his thumbs, but he put that option aside. After doing that for 4 hours straight every day for the last two weeks, it really made him look stupid, especially after it almost became a habit. He remembered last week how he went to monitor the hot water disposal after he nearly got pneumonia after taking a shower. He had walked out the door, and within seconds, he began twiddling his thumbs. He hadn’t noticed it until Bunnie started laughing uncontrollably. When he noticed it, he immediately placed his hands at his side and gave Bunnie a threatening look. Just to mock him, she did her best innocent little angel impression. However, instead of resting her head in her hands, she twiddled her thumbs. Sonic did not find this amusing, but Bunnie again resumed laughing hysterically. Sonic ignored her, and made a mental note not to humiliate himself again. That was before an overripe apple smacked on his head, giving Bunnie all the more reason to laugh. Sonic shuddered as he remembered it.

"Man, this is totally one hundred percent lame-o. Not a single thing I can do for the whole day." He muttered. He was frustrated. He never pictured his life to be like this. All he saw himself doing after the war is partying and celebrating.

(Unfortunately, parties and celebrations don’t last long when half of the planet is nastily crudded. I need some action!)

An arm closed around his neck. He jumped and felt an instant of fear. He heard giggling behind him.

"Did I scare you?"

"Huh?"

"I said, did I scare you?" The voice was sweet, quiet, and non-threatening. Sonic felt relieved.

"Sally. I didn’t hear you get up." He said. "I was thinking, to myself." Behind him, Sally laughed.

"So it was burning sawdust I smelled." She giggled. At this moment, Sonic realized that lately, everyone was playing jokes on him at least once. Bunnie caught him twiddling, Sally joked about his intelligence, Tails nailed him with a paintball after Rotor somehow managed to put a bullseye on Sonic’s back without him knowing, so that was a 2-in-1, and Antoine... Antoine’s practical joke actually made Sonic laugh. Antoine said after looking in a mirror, he always saw perfection. Sonic laughed, and Ant nailed him in the ribs with a nasty right hook, so again, that was two. Sonic believed that getting hurt by Antoine was not only a joke, it was also very embarrassing, especially if Tails is around. Sonic thought that Tails would go running to him and asking if he was all right, instead, he just fell to the ground laughing. He grunted after remembering these past events.

"Did you notice Tails is getting more and more independent?" He asked Sally, who had just started to eat breakfast.

"Oh yeah, who hasn’t? He hasn’t been hanging over you and idolizing you as he has before. Why? Do you miss it?"

"NO! Jeezum-crow no. Actually I feel better now because of it. But ever since he started pulling away, everything began changing. People have been playing jokes on me more than I have on them."

"Have you played any jokes on any one lately?"

"No..." He watched as Sally lifted the salt shaker to her soft boiled egg. "not lately." Sally gasped as the lid from the salt shaker fell off and dumped a heap of salt into the egg. Sonic chuckled. Sally just gave him a look that said, "I am not amused."

"Well, Sonic," She began as she cleaned off most of the mess, "That isn’t entirely true. You may not have noticed it but you’ve changed somewhat too." She explained. Sonic looked at her in mocking amazement.

"Wow! I’m changing! Just like daddy said I would! Ooo, ooo, I gotta get a razor, and some o’ dat acne fighting stuff cause I’m gonna get pimples!" He then changed his expression to a dumbfounded one. "We-he-hell DUH! It’s called puberty, you usually experience it at my age."

"No, I don’t mean that."

"Oh, please Sally, inform me." He said, batting his eyes.

"You’ve become much more responsible, and reliable. Ever since you knew you were going to be a father you got way more mature." She ate a piece of the egg, and made a face. She swallowed the piece quickly. "Somewhat." she added.

"Well of course I have Sal. I can’t let you go through this alone."

"I realize that, but you’ve also become more tolerant around people. Some are worried, they think you’ve been brainwashed. Part of it is that Tails is becoming more mature and independent. Because of when he met Snowflake, and witnessed her death, he’s spent much more time alone, and it’s been good for him. When that happened, you started joking around less and acting more your age. Why? Because you and Tails always did childish things. Therefore, with Tails out, you become more your age, and everyone notices. In Tails’ case, with you out, he thinks now on more important things in life."

The communicator beeped, Rotors voice overcame static, which indicated he was quite a distance away.

"Sally, you’d better come here, we’ve got a problem."

9:17 am

Five miles east of Peppernook. seventy-eight miles northwest of Knothole

Neither Sally nor Sonic expected to see a dead body so grossly mutilated today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or at all. They hoped that all the killing was over. This was just enough to make them sick. A female cat lay twisted crudely on the ground before them. Her eyes were some distance away from her body, leaving her eye sockets bloody and empty, a gash on her forehead was what made it possible for her eyes to fall out. At the neck, her vocal cord failed to connect. The missing piece was farther down. The trachea was torn and ripped, but still there. Lower down, large pieces of flesh were missing from her chest. Splintered ribs and jelly like marrow barely covered up shredded lungs underneath, and a blood-flooded heart. At the stomach and upper abdomen, a tear in the flesh allowed the intestine and some other internal organs to protrude. They were wrinkled and dry from exposure. Not to mention blood, everywhere, on the body, and on the ground. The only thing keeping the flies off was a spray that Rotor sprayed the body with.

"Uggh!" Sally grimaced.

"I know, that’s what I said when I saw it."

"No no, monsieur Ro-dor! You said, and I quote," Antoine cleared his throat, but nobody paid attention.

"What could’ve done this?" Sonic asked, kneeling beside the body. He poked a wound in its side and drew back fresh blood. He shuddered.

"You seriously want an answer? You’re not going to like it." Rotor warned. He kept in mind that it was hard to keep Sonic scared for lengthy amounts of time.

"Her kid." He said.

"WHAT?" Sonic and Sally said simultaneously.

"See for yourself." Rotor replied, pointing to a gray blob located between the body’s legs.

"Rotor, what is that?" Sally asked. She was pretty sure what it was, but she wanted to be certain.

"It’s a placenta Sally. Came out about five or six hours ago, during the night. I didn’t know myself if that’s what it was, so to make sure, I checked for cervix dilation. It was, to the normal birth-giving size, ten centimeters."

"I find it hard to believe that a baby could have done THIS!" Sonic exclaimed, holding up an eyeball.

"It’s quite easy to explain Sonic. Believe it. There’s your proof." He said, pointing to the body.

"But there must be an explanation. It just isn’t possible Rotor" Sally protested, clutching her obese abdomen nervously.

"Well, there is. Her child is not a cuddly little bundle of joy you’re probably expecting. It doesn’t make sense, but the proof is there. She gave birth to a monster, a merciless monster, I shall add." Rotor said as reassuring as he could.

"Antoine, what do you think? Could this be some monster on a killing spree?" Sally asked him.

"Pwincess, in my expert opinions, I do not know what sink to." Antoine’s expression changed.

"I do not know what... to sink. Yes. All I knows ees zat, whatevar it ees, zis creature, has very sharp claws, very sharp teese, and ees vary strong. Ozzer zan zat, nossing. Zere was’no trace left from ze monster, so we don’t know whar it went, or what it’s feet look like. I’m afraid zat zis will have to go under unexplain-ed." He explained apologetically. Sally just nodded.

10:25 am

Knothole: Medical centre

After seeing that gruesome and horrid body, Sally immediately went to Dr. Quack to test and be positive she would give birth to something that wouldn’t try to kill her at first glance. The CAT scan was taken, and Dr. Quack was studying the results. The longer it took, the more Sally got nervous.

(What if I have to give birth to a monster too?)

(Is it possible?)

(If it’s true, what’ll I do?)

(I’ll have to get an abortion.)

(But it’s been nine months. What if this thing grew and developed so much that it can avoid abortion?)

Sally shuddered.

When Dr. Quack came into the room, she sat up instantly. She was tense,

(Don’t ask questions, he’s the doctor.)

but she didn’t say anything.

"Well Sally, I have news, and good news."

"Good news first please doctor."

"Good news is, you won’t give birth to a monster."

(Depending on how I define monsters, you’ll get double trouble.)

(Don’t tell her that though.)

"And the news?" She asked nervously, almost stuttering.

"I don’t know if you call this good or bad, but..."

(Should I tell her?)

(No, but give her the other details)

"My technology reports that your baby will have an overdue birth. Lucky you will most likely be seeing me in another five weeks. So is that good news or bad news?" He asked. Sally pondered the question and thought of the best possible answer. Dr. Quack had to wait a while for the answer.

"It’s both really. After seeing that body, I have to take a stand in the investigation, I wouldn’t have time for the baby. The bad news is I’ll have to worry about labor pains for another month."

"Ah, I see. Well, after my kids were born, Chelsea said that seeing each of their faces made the pain worth it." He smiled. "You can go now." Sally slowly rose and walked to the door. Before opening it she turned to face the doctor.

"Thanks for everything, doctor. The next time you see me will be in maternity, helping me with this." She pointed to her abdomen, and left. Once the door was closed, Dr. Quack muttered to himself.

"I’ll see that, and raise you double."

1:34 pm

Two miles south of Oakridge.

Danny-Taylor hated being treated like a baby by his mommy. What was wrong with him and the other kids? They were his friends, but mommy said they were a bad inference of something like that. He hadn’t gotten into any trouble with them, they only got into trouble when he wasn’t around, but they were his friends. Just because they get into mischief doesn’t mean he has to fear them.

(I’m seven years old! I can look after myself.)

He huffed, and crossed his shoulders. He was sitting in his private place not far from the village. He was skipping stones in a small pond. He remembered a proverb his grandfather told him.

(Skip seven stones seven, skip seven stones.)

Although it was like jittery nonsense to someone who had heard it for the first time, D.T. knew what it meant. It was his favorite philosophy. His grandfather portrayed that it takes a year for the soil and sediments to make a stone, so in essence, one stone represented one year. Skip seven stones, meaning skip seven stones at different times. Skip seven stones seven, meaning skip seven stones at different times, but for each stone, skip it seven times. After completing that, you will have known that you have skipped seven stones in your life. D.T.’s grandfather did this every seven years, and on his 77th birthday, after skipping his last stone, he died. In honor of him, D.T. continued the tradition. It wasn’t at all easy though. He picked a stone, and threw it at the water, but it skipped 6 times. The second skipped 8 times. The next two tries he got it, but he slipped on the third, thus ending the try. This didn’t bother him at all, for his grandfather also said that...

"The first time you skip the stones, for every time you fail, means one year of your life. Fail over seven times, and it’s assured that you won’t be so skilled on your first stone skips, every other failure will mean an extra year on your life."

D.T. smirked, and then purposely chucked six more rocks into the water.

(That’ll make six, keep this up and I’ll... what was that?)

A nearby rustle in the tall grass nearby startled him. Turning his head, he saw nothing. He called out a greeting, no response. Sensing danger, he picked up a hand sized rock and stealthily moved toward the bushes. With a trembling hand he brushed aside some grass and raised his arm threateningly. He moved his eyes around, but he couldn’t see anything at all in the bushes. He couldn’t smell anything either.

(Someone is here, and they’re trying to scare me)

He knelt down slightly in the bushes to avoid being seen. slowly sinking down on to all fours, and sinking deeper to avoid detection.

(They’re doing a good job)

He figured it was probably Jacen and Jaon, those troublesome twins always were giving him a hard time, if it wasn’t at school, or at the playground, it was...

(It can’t be them! Only I know where here is!)

Filled with an instant relief, he stood and turned to head back to the lake. His ears pricked up again at a new warning, there were loud thumping noises amplifying with each new thump. They were moving fast, as if someone were

(Running)

moving incredibly fast. He also felt the ground ever so slightly vibrate. He turned his head and looked. He saw grass being leveled in the field. Whatever was leveling the grass was also moving dangerously fast in his direction. He turned and ran. He was about to scream, but a great weight and tearing pain was thrown on his back. Unable to keep his balance, he fell to the ground and hit his head. The light disappeared and the world went black. The rock that was in his hand flew out and skipped along the water. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Five times. Six times. It sank into the water on the sixth skip.

A failed attempt.

A seventh failed attempt.

A final failed attempt.

4:29 pm

Same location.

Sally shook her head pitifully. Somewhere deep inside her head, she believed this was going to happen again. She hoped it wouldn’t, but she figured it would.

She wasn’t surprised.

This time was just as gruesome as the previous, only nothing on the previous death was missing. This victim, male, was decapitated. His throat had spilled a lot of blood as was seen. If not for the smell, he probably wouldn’t have been found either. Once found, the village security was notified, and immediately thereafter, Knothole was informed. Rotor arrived on the scene first, and nearly tossed his cookies upon seeing the body. He too had expected seeing another body shortly after the first death, but not this quickly. As before, there was no trace of the killer, just a dead body. Had the kid’s head been attached, the village would’ve probably expected suicide. Another thing that was unhelpful was that the nasty disfigurement the body was in now foiled all hopes of identifying him.

Well, almost all.

Rotor took a blood sample from the body. Hoping to turn up some evidence on WHAT the killer could be. From all he saw, still nothing could be told about the killer. Many questions ran through his head.

(What is the motive?)

(Why such a gruesome death?)

(What had this person to do with the killer? What had he to do with the last killing?)

(Was this planned? Was the kid just in the wrong place at the wrong time?)

(Who’ll be next?)

He tried not to think anymore, but the thoughts came back.

(I might be next)

He frowned, trying to keep his

(I will be next)

thoughts to himself. He got

(I KNOW you’ll be next)

tense, his thoughts began to torture

(You’re going to die, just like this fool)

him, he closed his eyes and tried to fight his mind.

(You’re going to die, just as sure as your name is...)

"Rotor? Are you all right?"

Rotor suddenly jumped up in surprise. He grasped his chest and tried to calmly breathe. His eyes were wide.

"Did I scare you Rotor?"

"Huh?"

"I asked, did I scare you?"

"Yeah, you did. I’m sorry Sally, I’ve never worked on someone without getting ahead in my work first. Heh heh," He looked at Sally. He could tell she didn’t find the pun humorous. "heh? Get it? Ahead? A head?" He smiled idiotically.

"I got it," Came a voice from nearby, Sonic’s voice. "And I think I can help you Roat."

Roat was the pronounciation of Rotor’s nickname. Sonic tossed him a plastic bag. Rotor caught it and looked inside. A pair of dead eyes stared coldly back at him. He dropped the bag with a surprised cry. His breathing once again sped up and his eyes widened to the size of pearls. Sonic laughed out loud. Furious for being treated so, Rotor socked Sonic good against the jaw, which shut him up quickly.

"DAMMIT, SONIC! Don’t fucking do that again, y’hear?" He warned with a deadly obvious deadly tone. Sonic just held his swelling mouth and looked at Rotor with a "Can’t you take a joke?" look in his eyes. His expression held no truth to the anger that swelled inside him. He jumped at Rotor and jabbed him hard in the left cheek. Rotor grunted, and became extremely pissed off. He kneed Sonic in the stomach. While Sonic clutched his abdomen, Rotor clubbed him on the head using his two fists like a wrecking ball. Sonic fell to the ground helpless. Rotor breathed calmly, after which he lifted Sonic’s head and gazed into his eyes like a merciless tyrant to a peasant.

"I said don’t fuck with me. You deserve it." He droned. He slowly rose, spat on him, and continued with his work. The adrenaline rushed in Sonic once more, and he was filled with new energy. He rose up and picked up a rock. He raised it over Rotor’s head. He suddenly felt a sharp pain as something hard and solid connected with the back of his head. His vision blurred and blackened. His head bounced up and down, and finally he blacked out.

6:01 pm

Knothole: The residence of Sonic and Sally.

"You didn’t stop it because?" Sonic asked, holding an ice bag to his head. He had come to not long ago, and had a monster of a headache.

"I was sure that after he nailed you, you’d have accepted defeat, but no. You came up behind him with a rock in your hand," Sonic groaned as Sally spoke, "So I interfered."

"Did you have to be so rough?"

"YES! You were going to club Rotor over the head with a rock! You were probably bent on killing him!" Sonic looked away in anger. Sally continued,

"How can I count on you as a father if you were ready to kill one of your friends? Come to your senses, and when you have, let me know. Until then, good-bye!" She cursed. Sonic’s anger turned to surprise.

"Whaddya mean, good-bye?" He asked. A door slammed shut in response.

(Oh, that’s what you mean)

He stood dumbfounded, plumped in a chair, and an ice bag on his head.

(What am I going to do? She’s endangering herself, she needs me)

(She knows that)

(I better get my act together before the bad comes to worse)

He stood up, groaned in pain, and sat back down again.

(After I get some rest)

(Oh, my achin’ everything)

8:20 pm

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation.

Rotor studied the data collected at the sites of both the killings. Every single bit of data had been placed into the computer. Various things were taken into consideration when the investigation started. Using the data collected, Rotor pondered the different subjects.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

(Possibly suggesting where the creature stood)

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

"Hmm. Interesting."

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Rotor shivered slightly.

Possible relation to victims:

None

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

Nervous with the so little information he was getting, he wasn’t ready to miss even slight details. He typed a request in the computer asking for all related distinctions, including those not worth implying.

Revised related distinctions to victims:

Blue eyes

Rotor pounded the desk. Certainly this creature wouldn’t go off killing people with blue eyes. For what purpose? He could see nothing.

He heard laughter from the morgue division of the facility. A laughter that indicated success, the kind of laughter you’d hear as though someone found a crucial piece in a 5000 piece puzzle. He felt excited.

(Antoine must have found something!)

He jumped and ran through a door.

"What is it? What did you find?" He asked excitedly. Antoine just shook his head disappointingly. He showed Rotor a tag on the kids glove. Mixed with blood, but legible, were the letters DT.

"It means nussing, oui?" Antoine asked. Rotor’s shoulders slumped, but he placed a reassuring hand on Antoine’s shoulder.

"It’s the kid’s name Antoine." He said politely, so as not to make him feel bad. He turned and walked slowly back to his terminal. He checked the time as he sat down in the chair. It was 8:30 at night.

(Comm systems should be down, but I can give it a shot.)

He picked up a set of headphones, and pressed a button.

"Tails? Ya there buddy?" He spoke into the mike. He waited. After a few seconds, Tails’ voice came through.

"Say again?"

"I asked how it was going. You sleepy?"

"Oh, hi Rotor. Yeah, I was about to shutdown the system. Can I help you?"

"Yeah you could. Could you get me Oakridge security please?" He asked, typing in a new request for the computer.

"Sure thing." And that was that. When Tails’ finished, the monitor showed a map of the near vicinity to some 75 miles west. Two dots blinked on the screen, indicating the murder scenes. Seeing the first location as the point of origin, and the second just 3 miles east. Rotor looked closely at the screen, and zoomed in on the locations. Could it have been coincidence? The two locations had the same navigation degree. It was a dead straight line. He asked the computer to pinpoint the next possible attack, if any. While the computer tallied, examined the data, and determined, a voice came through his headset.

"Oakridge security. Do you read Knothole?"

"I read Oakridge."

"Good. Anything new on the investigation?"

"Uh, yeah. We’ve identified the body. Someone named DT. Sorry, but that’s all we have."

"Ah, Danny-Taylor. Poor lad. Thanks for the information Knothole, we’ll notify the parents. Oakridge out."

"Rotor," Tails’ voice suddenly appeared in the headset, "Before you go, we’ve got a incoming communications from Peppernook."

"Peppernook? Isn’t that where the band of savages live? I don’t want to talk to them."

"Rotor, they are very persistent. They demand to know information on the deaths." From the tone of Tails’ voice, Rotor knew he wasn’t kidding.

"All right, put it through." He stared at the computer. Still computing.

"Knothole investigations? What’s this with a murder near our town?"

"They’re was a death of a female cat just 5 miles west of your village. The second was found 8 miles east of your village, so it seems that whatever it is that is doing this is moving away from your town."

"Say again first victim? Sex and species?"

"Female cat."

"Thank you Knothole, you helped us clear up some trouble down here."

"Woah, waitaminute, what trouble?"

"The priestess Kara went missing a day ago. No one was able to find her. Glad to hear you did."

(Priestess?)

"Peppernook out."

Rotor had to laugh. The first victim looked nothing at all like a priestess. She must have been a member of Kreczik, a religion who believes that every turn of events will change the lives of everyone.

(Strange, Danny-Taylor was a Kreczik...)

The computer screen flashed. The presumed following death location had been pinpointed. As Rotor presumed, it was a dead 3 miles east. He smacked the terminal on the side.

"Dumb box! I could’ve done that in three seconds, and you take three minutes." He cursed. He got what he expected, but what he didn’t expect were the odds. There was a 99% chance that the killer would move in that direction. It could never be 100%, because no one can perfectly anticipate a person’s next move. He turned his head and yelled,

"Antoine, come..." He was surprised to see Antoine just three feet away from him.

"Didn’t see you there."

"Do not warry, Ro-dor." He was studying the computer screen as well.

"What do you make of it?" Rotor asked. Antoine seemed to concentrate harder. After a while he shook his head.

"Ze compooter ees quite right. Zat is most likely the next strike point." He pointed out apologetically.

"That’s rather close to the city of Unixx. We better warn them." He picked up the head set and pressed the "open communications" button. Static came through.

"Shit!" He spat, "Tails shut down the system." He breathed deeply.

"Well, zen, I guess we should just pray..."

"That nothing happens overnight."

"Bravo Ro-dor." He said. "Eet is getting late. You should make ze report for Sally quickly, before she goes sleep, no?" Rotor nodded. Antoine turned and left the building, leaving Rotor to look at the screen.

(I better get a transport ready for Unixx tomorrow if we want a quick departure. Two deaths in one day. That is just too much.)

Day 2

6:45 am.

Seventy-one point five miles west of Knothole.

No matter where he was, waking up was no problem to Duj. This 6’ 3" Grizzly lived for the outdoors. He detested crowds, people, and company. He was a loner, plain and simple, and proud of it. Although he was well known, and respected, he did keep an emergency communicator on hand in case he ever got in trouble. He never needed it, and he was positive he wouldn’t. This particular trip, he realized he clumsily packed it. He was tempted to throw it in a river, but why waste good technology?

At this particular time, he was camped at the highest point of a small hill near a great chain of mountains. The sun hadn’t risen yet, so the air was chilly. He took a deep breath of fresh, semi-alpine air, and exhaled a cloud of vaporized carbon dioxide. His attention suddenly turned to the direction his breath flew. He discovered he was upwind.

(Aww, so I’m upwind. Who cares?)

He dug into his tent and picked out his slingshot, net, trapping gear, and bait. He was going to get breakfast, the old fashioned way. He enjoyed the hunt. It always made him tense, and proud. Possessing the knowledge, and technology required to hunt was a privilege. He lived for the satisfaction of the hunt, which he found was to be the best thrill he had experienced.

That was soon to change. He made plans to travel to this particular chain of mountains and go mountain climbing and cliff diving for two weeks. He had wandered for many years, conquered many hardships (even desert wandering), and now, to conquer this. He couldn’t wait.

He set a trap for his breakfast, then stood downwind and waited.

7:39 am

Same location, just deeper into the forest.

Duj could wait all morning if he had too, but this was really ridiculous. Nearly an hour, and absolutely no movement from anywhere.

(Dammit! I’m hungry and I want to...)

Bushes rustled.

(Aha! Finally.)

A stag jumped out from the bushes and ran panicking not even anywhere’s near the trap. Confused, Duj stood up and ran after his breakfast. He hadn’t eaten stag in a while, but he immediately remembered the taste.

(Fast little bugger. Wonder what he was running from.)

He suddenly stopped dead.

(What WAS he running from?)

He turned to look behind him. Since the stag was still running, that must’ve meant that its pursuer was still coming. He saw tall grass and other green plant life start to level in synchronization, moving closer in his direction.

(Get clear, quick!)

Duj jumped out of the way of the incoming predator. He waited to see what was chasing the stag.

He saw it.

It saw him.

It realized he saw it.

It changed his prey decision.

It lunged. Duj was ready, but not expecting it. He fell to the ground. He felt the creature dig its claws into his gut, but Duj wasn’t that easily defeated. Most of his body was muscle, he proved it. He kicked the creature off, which in turn, gave up a large wad of skin the creature was holding on to.

(Turn around)

Duj redirected himself.

(RUN!)

Duj gave every bit of strength he had into running back to camp. He could hear the creature hot on his trail. He knew that running in a straight line would soon end his life. He cut sharply left, nearly losing his grip on the ground and falling. The creature could not keep up, and slipped on the ground. Duj took this to advantage and ran faster. The end of the woods was near, his camp inched closer, closer.

(Not close enough)

He knew the creature would already be up and running toward him. Although it would be a long distance away, there was no denying that it would soon catch up. He had to give his best. He probably would have, if he saw the tree root that hung out over the ground. He tripped. He hit the ground and landed on something hard. He cried out. He figured he had less than seven seconds to live. He reached for the hard thing, hoping it was a rock. Once it was in his hand, he recognized it immediately.

(Emergency communicator)

He knew he had no choice. He pressed the SOS button and hid the communicator in the grass. By this time, the creature was upon him.

7:46 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"I don’t believe it! You have to be kidding me!" Rotor cried out. He checked his computer's analysis. There only stated a next possible death scene, but, strangely enough, Unixx reported no deaths or missing persons.

"We’ve said it Knothole, no deaths, and no missing persons. Can we still be of service to you?"

(If there was no attack, perhaps the Oakridge kid was the last one...)

(They won’t be needing any extra security.)

"No Unixx, thanks for your assistance." he said, and ended the communications. He smiled shortly. He felt relieved for some reason, as though a great weight was lifted of his shoulders. He was about to turn his computer off when it beeped. Again. Again.

(Something’s not right)

He looked at the screen. His jaw went slack. About 30 miles south of the second death site blinked a red dot.

(Emergency SOS signal)

(The damn thing anticipated our next capture spot, and headed dead south!)

He radioed Tails,

"Tails, get some men, we’ve got trouble."

8:02

The remains of Duj’s campsite

Tails broke through the foliage, phased plasma rifle in hand.

(Look out creeps, an eleven year old with a gun)

He signaled the rest of his troops to move in, and a couple of armed troops moved alongside. The camp was trashed. The tent, however, wasn’t damaged highly. Still intact, but waving around in the quiet breeze. Tails smelled blood, a lot of it. It was the only thing he could smell, which made him a tad nervous. With the smell of blood this strong, nothing else could be smelled. He saw a small trail of blood head off in one direction, into the bushes. He followed it. It stopped at the bushes, but there was nothing in the grass.

(I went the wrong way)

Looking at the trail of blood from the opposite direction, he noticed that the blood appeared more and in larger portions. It rounded a corner behind a tree on the opposite side of the camp. Tails took a deep breath, cocked his gun, and slowly edged to the corner. He listened for anything strange, perhaps a scuffle, but heard nothing. Seizing up all his courage, and rounded the corner gun ready, pointing down at a twisted and bloody body of a grizzly. Tails stomach turned knots.

"Sir, I haven’t found anything. You?" Came through his communicator.

"Yep, I found something. It’s Duj. Rotor, get over here." He choked. He holstered his weapon, and slowly walked out of the death scene. Rotor was coming up a hill. Tails just pointed to where he found Duj and head back to the transport.

Rotor didn’t like the possibilities already. The look on Tails’ face told him that whatever was beyond the place where he pointed wasn’t pretty. When he reached it, his reaction merely was a sickened expression. He feared that sooner or later, he wouldn’t even react, just shrug his shoulders and begin working.

9:15 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"All right, Rotor, what’ve you got?" Sally asked. Rotor punched a few keys.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 3: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Torn biceps. Protruding backbone. Missing liver.

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Case 3: Hunger

Possible relation to victims:

Case 1 and 2: Both victims Kreczik

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

"We got someplace, Sally, we finally got someplace. Tails, would you please?" Rotor said smugly. Tails nodded and continued for Rotor.

"The evidence here," He said, pointing to the method used for killing section, "States that in all three killings, a similar method was used to kill it’s victims. Gruesome mutilation." pointed out.

"We know now that whoever is killing all these people has to be the same thing, not the work of different individuals, just one thing, and I’m willing to bet it was the first victim’s kid." Rotor concluded proudly.

"And?" Sally asked. Rotor’s proud expression faded slowly.

"That’s it." He said, hanging his head.

"That’s it? You still don’t even know what it looks like?"

"Okay, okay! There are other details. Whatever this thing is, it has sharp claws, sharp teeth, it’s not very bulky, not very big either, and it’s fast. Or you can forget all I said, and walk out with the possibility that it can fly."

"Why do you say that?" Sally asked quietly. Rotor could tell she didn’t comprehend 100%

"We found no trail of the killer left behind after it killed, at any of the scenes. That must mean that’s it’s either small, light, and extremely fast, or it can fly. As of now, we don’t know. But after every death, something new is unlocked."

"At this rate, it might take you fifty deaths to find out just what it’s feet look like!" She scolded. Rotor just shrugged.

"It’s progress."

"Not very good progress."

"Better than nothing."

"Lives are being ended, Rotor. To prevent the loss of anymore, I suggest you find a way to kill it."

"Not bloody likely."

"Why not?"

"Look here," Rotor said, pointing at the terminal where Duj’s death scene was. "this is where Duj died. The computer thought that the next possible death would be here," He said, pointing to a location not far from Unixx. "The odds were ninety nine out of one hundred. What do we find? Duj. Nowhere near Unixx. What does this tell you? It can’t be trusted. Unless we’re 100% sure where this thing’ll strike next, we’re deploying useless infantry."

"That’s not very reassuring." Sally commented. Rotor at this point was rather fed up with Sally. She made it all sound like it was all under their noses.

"It’s the best I can do, right now."

"THAT makes me feel a whole lot better." Sally said disapprovingly.

(THAT’S IT!)

Rotor grabbed his hat and tossed it just beyond Sally’s head. She jumped in reflex and stared astonishingly at Rotor.

"YOU THINK IT’S EASY WHAT I’M DOING? I DON’T SEE YOU HELPING AT ALL IN MY INVESTIGATIONS SALLY, I SEE YOU HINDERING IT!"

"Watch your tone Rotor!" Sally warned. "Do you realize your speaking to a..."

"SCREW THE ROYAL TREATMENT, BITCH!" He spat.

"What did you call me?!"

"You heard me!" Rotor cursed. Sally stared in shock, Tails watched on with surprised amusement.

"Woah!" He said. Rotor was staring at Sally with murderous fury, and Sally was faltering. Tails knew it. Rotor knew it. Sally knew it. She was frightened. So frightened she didn’t know what to think, or what to do. The thought crossed her mind to

(Slap him)

strike Rotor, but she didn’t know the consequences

(Or the amount of such)

that would come out of his response.

"Ah!" Rotor said with glee. "You didn’t expect that, did you?" His eyes wide with insanity. He leaned forward, as he did so, Sally leaned backward, raising an arm to her face to protect her should Rotor try to hit her.

"You had NO IDEA that I would get this pissed, did you?" He cackled. Sally said nothing.

"DID YOU?" He screamed. Sally fell under the immensity of his voice.

"Hey Rotor, calm down buddy!" Tails exclaimed. Rotor delivered a nice backhand that sent Tails flying against a wall. He growled, and turned his attention back to Sally.

"DID YOU EXPECT ANYTHING?" He roared. Finally, Sally shook her head. Tears were streaming down her face. She swore Rotor was going to kill her.

"Well," He said in a much quieter and calmer voice. "Now you know how I feel." He offered Sally a hand, but Sally raised her arm and shivered.

"Oh come on now, Sally. That was just a demonstration on how these killings affected me. I hope I didn’t scare you. Sally? Sally?" He looked at her eyes. They were shut. He checked for pulse, and found one.

(Thank God!)

(She fainted.)

Rotor laid her out on a bed. He expected that once she woke up, there would be hell to pay.

4 Hours later

Sally had awoken about 2 hours ago, luckily for Rotor, she forgot everything. How, he didn’t know, or care. To him it was better she forgot. Tails clued in that it would be good to keep his mouth shut, but he kept wondering whether or not Rotor would act up like this again. He decided to keep his thoughts and beliefs to himself. Rotor on the other hand, was stressfully working away at the investigations. He tried everything he knew, and he could get nothing more. To equalize this picture relative to a typical Earth one, picture a male businessman staring at his computer, jacket off, tie around his neck, hair in a mess, cigarette in hand, sweat on the brow, wet blotches by the armpits on his shirt, whisky bottle (or some other alcoholic beverage) on the desk, lights off, and fan rotating, ever so slowly.

Rotor stared at the data, and simply pursed his lips and blew, making a pb-b-b-b-b type noise.

(All right, that’s enough for one day, throw in the towel and get some sleep)

Rotor turned off the computer and left the office. After turning out the lights, he heard a knock on the entrance door. Rotor raised an eyebrow.

(Now who could that be?)

He opened the door and came face to face with the only hedgehog he knew.

"Hiya Rotor." He said sheepishly. Rotor’s eyebrow rose higher.

"Listen, I kinda... wanna... y’know..." He began trailing off. Rotor’s eyebrow rose so high it disappeared under a wrinkle in his brow.

"Umm... I... well, uh..."

(He wants to apologize)

It clicked in, Rotor smiled and slapped Sonic’s hand.

"No hard feelings, big blue." He said. Forgiveness was obvious in his tone.

2:05 pm

Outside the city of Unixx.

Guko Fyt, a fox, had been proud of his job. He enjoyed helping people, especially saving lives. But now it was time to take a vacation. At this point in time, it was quite warm out, and relatively windless. Dr. Fyt walked out of his summer house and took a deep breath. The air was fresh, not like the stuffy stuff in his office. This is everything he lived for. He deserved it. He got a lawn chair, put on some sunglasses and walked down to the lake. He lazed himself out and sipped a Martini. Sunning himself and reading a book, he had nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, and unfortunately, nothing to do. He just finished his book, and tried to feel proud. It soon died.

(What to do now?)

(Go to sleep.)

(Sleep?)

(Yeah, catch those zee’s you always complain about not getting enough out.)

(But I don’t feel like sleeping.)

(Fine, sit and complain about having a boring vacation.)

(Shut your hole.)

He grunted and shut his eyes in a vain effort to fall asleep. Funny enough, with the sunglasses on his eyes, it did make it easier to sleep. He soon began snoring, drifting into one of his heavy sleeps.

3:01 pm

A shadow loomed over Dr. Fyt. He seemed to be in a very deep sleep, waking him wouldn’t be easy. But the shadow wasn’t interested in waking him. It clasped its claws over the doctor’s neck, dug them in, and slowly grazed across his neck, like a soil triller being pulled by a tractor. Red liquid followed behind the claws, overflowing and slowly dripping out of the large wound. The shadow raised its claws and waited. Dr. Fyt shook, and coughed, but remained unconscious. Blood flew out his mouth as he coughed, and splurted out his mouth as well, leaving a red mess on his face. He coughed twice more, spitting up more blood. After coughing, he instinctively exhaled, consuming blood from the wound and bringing it down to his lungs. This continued 3 more times before Dr. Fyt finally gurgled and drowned in his own blood. His head slumped down. The shadow didn’t like it that way. The shadow rose the head upright and opened the eyelids wide. It removed its hands, and the eyelids remained in place. The shadow then dipped it’s bloody claw in a tiny puddle by the lake to clean it, and lumbered off quickly so as not to leave a trace.

9:37 pm

The death site of Dr. Fyt

When Rotor heard there was another death, he almost jumped for joy. When he found out where, joy was the last thing on his mind. The utter irony of it almost made him insane. He had not thought of this possibility. At the death site, he was still regretting it.

"I should’ve looked more closely. This location was most definitely going to have a death, it was just a matter of time." He muttered under his breath. "How could I have been so stupid?"

The victim, later to be identified as Guko Fyt, a local doctor, was found with his eyes wide. However, a keen eye told one of Rotor’s assistants that Fyt was killed in his sleep. He noted a tiny, but noticeable cut on the victims right eyelid, suggesting that the eyes were forced open. Seeing nothing more of importance, Rotor gave the go ahead, and the body was taken away. The city’s morgue would study the body and report anything they found to Rotor. Back in Knothole, Rotor added new information to the computer. The screen looked like this.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 3: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Torn biceps. Protruding backbone. Missing liver.

Case 4: Deep gash at victim's neck. Victim died by drowning.

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Case 3: Hunger

Case 4: Unknown

Possible relation to victims:

Case 1 and 2: Both victims Kreczik

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

As can be seen, not much changed. Rotor had one more inference to add to the list. Whatever the creature is, it only wants to kill, and do it as effortlessly as possible. To prove this, Dr. Fyt was the only one killed with a single injury. Which suggested that everyone else at least gave SOME, if at most little, resistance. This thing fought dirty, and it knew just where to strike. Cases 1 & 3 were both grownups. Duj, a Mobian of his mass, and the Priestess, a resident of a band of rogues, probably gave quite a bit of resistance. They were attacked below the midsection, spilling internal organs. This would then distract them just enough for another attack to be made, a fatal, final attack. Case 2 on the other hand was a child. What could he have done? Try to get the thing off? Maybe. Whatever the resistance, it wasn’t good enough. Case 4, well, there was no resistance given, so the victim was killed effortlessly. Rotor summed it up in a simple sentence...

10:27 pm

Knothole: The residence of Sonic and Sally

"If you come in contact with this thing, resistance is futile, you should consider yourself dead." He said blankly. He finished the sentence by tossing Sally a report printed out by his computer. It had all the data Rotor had been studying, plus a suggested C.O.A. (which was known to Mobians as Course Of Action) Sally picked it up and read it. She sighed and looked up at Rotor.

"I really wish you could find more than this. But, with what you’ve been given to work with... I can’t press you any farther."

"Princess," Rotor said, removing his hat, "I’m sorry that that is all I have, but, I do know that every time someone else is killed, I discover something new."

"With four deaths and the data received, we are in too much trouble." She placed the report on the table and paced around the room. Rotor stood and waited.

(She’s deep in thought. She doesn’t know I’m still here)

He cleared his throat. Sally looked up at him.

"Something wrong Rotor?"

"Will that be all, m’lady?"

"No, there’s one more thing, answer quick, because I hate drifting off from a topic so important." She pointed to the report. "Has Sonic apologized for the incident at Oakridge?"

"Oh yes, he just did this morning."

"Fine, that will be all. Dismissed." She waved him off.

"Do you want to keep this?" Rotor asked, referring to his report.

"Yes, I’m going to go over it with Antoine and Tails." She said, picking it up. Rotor left to make up with his own life.

Sally picked up the report and looked at it. Frustrated, she tossed it over her shoulder. She stood up and began pacing once again. She took five steps before she realized that the report didn’t make an impact. She looked behind her. She could see nothing, but she heard footsteps. She got nervous. She moved behind the wall and drew her phased plasma pistol. In the little light there was, she saw a disfigured shadow, and heard small footsteps, creeping, sneaking, and moving ever so discreetly. She waited, breathing quickly, but quietly. Her hand tensed on the gun as she turned the safety off. Her heart jumped. She forgot that turning the safety off on a phased plasma weapon of any kind charged the energy inside up, making a very obvious noise. The shadow heard it too. It stopped abruptly, and part of it twitched in one direction.

(The head snapping in the direction of the sound)

The footsteps became louder and quicker as the shadow moved in her direction. From behind the wall, she stuck her foot out. She felt a pressure on it as the shadow tripped over it. It made a grunting noise. Between the tripping and the grunt, Sally pinned the shadow on the ground and held the pistol to the back of its neck. Had she not recognized the grunt when it happened, she would have fired. Recognizing the shadow as Sonic, she quickly turned the safety on and flipped him on his back.

"I take it you still hate me?"

"What’s the big idea, sneaking up on me like that?"

"I was wondering what you were doing in MY house. After you left, this became MY house, correct?" Sonic inquired. Sally realized he was right. She had nothing to say. Sonic smiled.

"I knew it, you couldn’t stay away from me forever." He gave her a hug. Sally rolled her eyes, but she knew there was no denying it. He was right.

(Best thing to do now is play ignorant)

"Oh really? I could’ve made a simple mistake."

"Sure, whatever."

"I think I’ll go now. When you’ve learned to act your age, let me know." She picked herself up and opened the door. Before leaving, Sonic grabbed her arm in protest.

"Sally, don’t go. I’ve made up with Rotor. I swear! Go ask him!" He pleaded. Sally smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I did it this morning." He said. Sally pursed her lips.

"I know, Rotor told me." She said seductively. She slammed the door shut, and placed her hands around his neck. Sonic smiled.

"Whaddya say we dim the lights, and... y’know..." He whispered. Sally giggled, and sucker punched him.

"Sorry, the expiry date isn’t up. Besides, we already did, 9 months ago, remember?" She said plainly. Sonic could tell that she was only playing sexy with him. She loved doing that.

"Besides, I have to read this over." She said, looking for the report she tossed.

"You mean this?" Sonic asked, throwing her the report. "It hit my head while I was napping, that’s when I found you here." Sally caught it.

"Yeah, thanks."

"I knew you were here, but I checked it out before you tripped me."

(That would explain the slow foosteps)

"Then I heard a phased plasma pistol charging up,"

(The rest falls into place)

"And I went to go see what was up. I thought someone was going to try to kill you."

"So what do you think about it then? The report." Sally asked. Sonic shrugged.

"Not at all cool. This thing is way fast, not as fast as yours truly, but still fast." Sally nodded.

"Still, too fast for any of us. I’m going to look it over, then, in the morning, I’ll talk with Ant and Tails." She explained.

"By the way, when are you due?"

"Hmm? Oh, I’m really not sure. Dr. Quack says anytime within the next five weeks."

"Nervous?"

"Nervous?! Me?! Of course not!"

"Suit yourself, I’m gonna catch some zee’s."

"Good night."

(Sleep tight)

(Don’t let the bed bugs bite)

Sally shivered.

Day 3

9:54 am

Knothole: Bureau of Military Action

The report Rotor had given Sally was displayed on a screen via Nicole. It showed all the locations of the deaths in numbered order. Tails and Ant were seated there at the conference table to give their advice. Rotor was there to give them all the details he had.

"All right," he began, "As you know, this is the location of the first death site. This will be known as case 1. Case 2 was killed here, Case 3 here..." Tails cringed. "And the most recent, Case 4, outside the city of Unixx.

"In all cases, please note, there was no trace of the killer left behind, but the killing pattern suggests that it is in fact the same... thing. This may lead us to believe that this thing flies. If not, it is either relatively small in height and width, and light.

"We were also led to believe after studying Case 4, that this thing prefers to kill with as little effort as possible. Case 4 was killed with a simple slash of the throat, allowing the victim to drown. In the previous cases, it is likely that the thing was met with, if at most, a small amount of resistance. If it had the choice, it probably would have killed with ease as well.

"Also, this thing is..." Antoine rose his hand, Rotor paused to let him ask a question.

"Apologies Ro-dor, but I am having troubles understanding all zis. Could we not we give zis sing a name?" He asked. Rotor raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah Rotor, why not?" Tails said in a failing voice. "this thing is obviously serious enough to classify it as such."

"Tails?" Sally asked, "Is something wrong? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, something’s wrong with my voice though. Something about a mild cold, Quack said."

"Well, Antoine, Tails, what did you have in mind for classifying these events, and possibly events to come?"

"Well, Ro-dor, I do remember you say-ying to Sally that this sing belonged to ze first victim."

"Wasn’t it the victims kid?" Tails asked.

"Yes, it was, and is." Rotor said.

"How about we call the thing NBK? Natural Born Killer?" Tails suggested. Rotor raised an eyebrow. Tails shrugged sheepishly.

"Of course, I’m just eleven years old. What do I know?" He pointed out.

"You know a lot more logic than I thought you did, Tails." Rotor complimented, "NBK it is then. Now, where was I?"

"Uh, the part with the least amount of effort used to kill. You finished it."

"Oh yes, thanks. NBK is a dangerous killer. Once contact has been made, Resistance is futile, your life is over, get to work on your grave because you are not walking away. NBK shows no mercy, no remorse. It cannot be reasoned with, bargained with, and befriended. It will kill, nothing less." He finished. Everybody was staring at him.

"Any questions?" No one raised their hand.

"All right, suggested COA?" He said, sitting at the head of the table. No one spoke. Rotor realized he would have to ask them individually for suggested Courses of Action, or last minute advice to help so.

"Antoine?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot see a pattern for zis NBK. It seems to be random killings all around. I advise, howevair, that we get extra defenses to all ze communities, no mattair what ze size." Tails continued from this point,

"I agree, but it won’t be that easy. That means two men to every community from Knothole. That isn’t much for extra security."

"Agreed," Rotor said. He pondered possibilities. "We still don’t even know what this thing looks like, so our men wouldn’t know what to shoot at." Antoine and Tails both nodded.

"Zen evacuate ze little towns and everysing zat doesn’t have a self defense system."

"To where? Here?"

"No, no. Ze nearest community WITH a self defense system."

"Agreed," Tails said, "It’s risky, time consuming, and stressful. But after it’s complete, the residents can rest assured that they’ll be safe." Tails added. Rotor nodded.

"And afterwards?"

"We send out squads of men during the day, and set a curfew for the residents. Once the curfew is reached, the cities defense systems come on. No one is to leave during the night."

"Good, but NBK attacks during the day, too."

"That’s why we have the security dispatchments, patrolling everything from here to death site 1."

"And curfew rules?"

"If anyone or anything is found outside the community after curfew, orders are shoot on sight."

"That’s a little excessive, don’t you think?"

"Keeps people in."

"What are we to do if we encounter an uprising?" Rotor asked. To his surprise, Tails didn’t have an answer straight away.

"If people defy this, they will not be allowed to evacuate with the rest. If whole communities defy the order, they will be permanently cut off from the Mobotropolis colony funding."

"That’s risky Tails." Sally warned. "You don’t know the consequences of that action. You could start a civil war."

"Not if we confiscate anything and everything that was sent to them from the kingdom, including weapons. Rebelling factions will have no chance."

"And if they rebel?"

"Then they’ll be charged with treason."

"No they won’t. If they’re cut off from Mobotropolis funding, they are no longer part of Mobotropolis. How can they be charged with treason?" She asked, her voice was not at all nice. Tails just stared. He was stumped, and Sally knew it.

"Zey can be charged with treason for not obeying ze ordairs of ze reigning monarch." Antoine cut in. Sally gave him a sharp look. Tails, seeing that Sally’s back was turned, breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"And if zey put up a fight, zey will be declared hostile rebels. Zey can be shot, killed, arrested, tortured, and ze like." Antoine finished. Sally hung her head. Everyone was looking at her. She looked back at every one of them systematically, and bit her lip.

"Are there any OTHER possibilities?" She asked.

"We can send two men to each community, and rely on our defense system, we can do nothing, or we can do this." Tails explained. Sally sighed. Nicole chimed up.

"With all due respect, Sally, evacuation of all the smaller communities is the wisest choice." she said in a one-tone voice. She didn’t like what she was going to have to do.

11:52 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"Ready Rotor?" Sally asked. Rotor, complete with a headset, flicked a switch on a console. He then rotated on his chair and activated a hidden touch-pad. Touching the buttons quickly and errorlessly, a quick hum of energy told everyone that something was working. Rotor placed pressure on his headset, bringing it closer to his ear. After 3 seconds, he turned to Sally and gave her a thumbs-up.

"It’s a go!" He cried out triumphantly.

"Monitor it and tell the computer to set it at the right modulation. In the meantime..." She strapped on a headset and pressed the "Open Communications" button.

"Tails?"

"Copy Princess."

"Get me all communities."

"Already there Princess." A pause. "You’re through."

"This is Princess Sally Acorn from Knothole, home of the throne of Mobotropolis. I am declaring a state of emergency. All smaller communities are ordered, repeat ordered, to evacuate and head to the nearest community with a self defense system. We can provide escort of a single war vehicle to an evacuating community at most. We urge you to move as fast as possible. Once this is complete, further instructions will be issued." With this, she ended the message.

"Well said Sally. We have huts sufficient enough for those coming out of Gulk, and Sadchville. Any further instructions?"

"Negative Rotor."

"All right."

"Sally," Came Tails’ voice through the headset, "We’ve got communications incoming from Peppernook. Should I put it through?"

"Please." She heard a beep, then continued. "This is Princess Sally Acorn, something wrong Peppernook?"

"We demand to know what is the meaning of this state of emergency!" Came an angry voice. She guessed it was that of a badger, the head of Peppernook.

"I’m not at a liberty to discuss that right now. You have orders, I expect you to follow them."

"We follow orders for damn good reasons. If it is something we can handle, we stay."

"There is a crazed killer on the loose. One of your priestesses was a victim." A grunt was her reply, then,

"Just because you can’t detain a killer doesn’t mean we have to pack and leave our village!"

"You have orders from the reigning monarch of Mobotropolis. Defiance of the order will result in the cut off of all future Mobotropolis assistance. You will also have to surrender all Mobotropolis technology not developed in your community, and the head of your community will have to be charged for treason. Do you defy?"

"Not only do we defy, we refuse to follow any of the instructions that you have given us!"

"Then we will have to consider you hostile rebels and take all actions necessary to bring you under control." Sally said sternly. She cut the communications link and hailed Tails.

"Princess?"

"Tails, how many men do you think you need to take out Peppernook?"

"Peppernook? Are you nuts?"

"Tails, how many."

"About one hundred fifty at LEAST."

"Your allowed one hundred, no more."

"Psshh! Yeah, right!"

"Make it work Tails, you leave within the hour."

"All right." He sighed. He knew it was pointless, but attacking Peppernook with only 100 men was near suicide. They were outnumbered by 126, but they were not outgunned. Casualties would be high. He didn’t like it that way. "What can you give me for supplies, Sal?"

"We can transport you in three heavy transports, and I can give you two thousand four hundred units of energy per soldier. We can also equip your men with power armor, as the enemy uses many ballistic weapons. Would you like kevlar suits overtop?"

"Please, if it’s not too much to ask."

"I can get you that, and, after you depart, we’ll send another transport with emergency weaponry, if necessary."

"Trust me, it’ll be necessary. What about explosives?"

"Five grenades and two canister bombs per soldier." On the other end, Tails winced. "Will you need anything else?"

"Yeah, a miracle"

"Well I can’t give you anymore, sorry. Ask Rotor." She handed the headset over to Rotor. He put one piece of it to his ear.

"Rotor here."

"Rotor, Sally gave me orders to attack Peppernook, but she’s giving me a mole hill of supplies to do it. What can you provide?"

"Tails, you’re in luck. Get down here."

12:02 pm

Rotor opened up a heavy security door, and led Tails and Sally down a long glass corridor. At the other end was another security gate. Rotor placed a key in one slot at the side, and instinctively, Tails put his in the opposite one. He waited for Rotor’s signal and turned the key with him simultaneously. Withdrawing the key, he looked at the door, which was still closed. Confusion struck him.

"Why is it still closed?" He asked.

"Security precautions." Rotor said as he began typing away at a console that wasn’t there before. "Turning the keys opened this keypad. Once the correct password is placed..." A sharp crack was heard at the opposite end of the hall. "That combination is opened." He ran back all the way to the other end of the hall. Tails and Sally watched him puzzled. A digital voice came out of nowhere when he completed the combination.

"Please state security authorization password level 4 vocally." It said. Rotor was walking calmly down the hall, he ignored the digital voice requesting a password. The digital voice asked again.

"No." Rotor said ignorantly, still walking.

"Please state security authorization password level 5 vocally, failure to heed will result in termination of all exits."

"Rotor tee-zero alpha gamma charlie." He spoke, loudly so the security system picked his voice up. Another panel in the wall opened, a handprint panel. Rotor placed his hand upon it, and it flashed green. A trapdoor 6 feet away was opened, and stairs descending downward became visible.

"Follow me." He said coldly. Tails and Sally stared dumbfounded at the trapdoor and the door at the end of the hall.

"We went through all that trouble and the door didn’t even open?"

"That door is there for decoration only. Glad to see it’s purpose there works."

"What purpose?" Sally asked.

"To fool intruders into thinking it’s the door that opens. Get a security password wrong, it opens, and begins a laser cage sequence." Rotor explained.

"He’s just too damn smart." Tails whispered to Sally. They followed him down the flight of stairs, turned left, and walked down a hall.

"Right now, we’re walking underneath that door you saw." Rotor mentioned. Sally gave an impressed expression.

"This is very impressive Rotor." She complimented after turning to the right and walking up another flight of stairs. Rotor picked up one of five keys from the wall, placed it in the lock, turned it, removed it, and repeated the procedure with another key, and another, until he had completed it with all five keys. The door hissed open, revealing another door. The procedure was repeated again, but in a different order.

"Thank you Sally," He said as the door opened slowly. "I take special pride in my... Oh for God’s sake!" He cursed as he kicked a stray cat out an unlocked, badly damaged, but worst of all, wide open back door. Tails and Sally stared in astonishment. Rotor shut the door, and tried to lock it, but he was having some trouble getting the key to turn. He pulled the key out, checked it, replaced it and tried to turn it again. It still wouldn’t lock. Frustrated, he slammed his palm onto the lock, and stomped his foot when the lock fell off and shattered on the ground.

"Rusty piece of shit! Good for nothing irony!" He cursed.

After Rotor had given up with the lock, and placed a doorstop underneath, he brought Tails and Sally over to another section of the lab. He twisted a grip lock, and a coffin-like chamber opened. Inside, a Mobian fox that bore a striking resemblance to Snowflake was lying on it’s back, arms at its side, staring at the ceiling. Tails grabbed his chest upon seeing it.

"No need to worry Tails, after hearing of Snowflake’s creation, I was quite intrigued. I created a similar model, building an endoskeleton protecting the robot’s vital systems, and then grafting organic skin overtop. The only difference in that with Snowflake, is that this model is run by AI instead of Snowflakes RI."

"Huh?" Tails and Sally said simultaneously.

"This model is completely robotic. It has artificial intelligence, AI, compared to Snowflake who had real intelligence, RI."

"Oh!" Tails and Sally chorused.

"It does work, and it’s primary function is a super soldier. She’ll fight with everything she has, and when that’s done, she’ll drop everything and take your lights out. She’s everything a general would need in a soldier, and then some.

"She can take horrendous amounts of punishment too. She can take dozens of shots from an assault rifle, and keep walking underneath the punishment."

"What about energy weapons? How well does she stand up against them?"

"Extremely well. In fact, bad shots just deflect off. She’s so well constructed, that any shot not perfect will ricochet in the appropriate angle.

"She can move in various environments, withstand excruciatingly hot and cold temperatures, and rely on emergency power for seventy two years.

"She even has various types of vision. Night, heat, infrared, normal, and X-ray. Her vision is equipped with the latest in scanning and targeting technology. She never misses anything standing still, and never misses anything moving, but it takes time for her to calculate the perfect shot on a moving target.

"She’s also well accustomed with all of our weapons, and can carry them all. She knows how to use them to their full efficiency, explosives, ballistic, projectile, and energy. Enough talk, let’s get her working." He threw a switch, and the robot’s pupils glowed red. It got up and stepped out of its holding compartment. It spoke in Snowflake’s voice,

"Please state the nature of assistance." It looked directly at Rotor, awaiting orders. Rotor ignored it and continued talking about it.

"I used Snowflake’s voice to allow it the full capability of speech. She can engage in full conversations, understand, and even make senseful replies. She can’t be deactivated either. She lives like one of us, and that’s how it will stay."

"So you can’t shut it off?"

"Not without destroying it." Rotor said. "She’s all yours, take her to the war zone and let her do her stuff. Ask her for a complete battle report when she’s done, and give it to me. I can’t wait for field test results."

(Field tests?)

Tails felt nervous for some reason.

(What if this thing goes berserk and starts firing at us?)

(What if it completely misses all it’s targets?)

(What if it unknowingly steps into heavy crossfire?)

(Enough "what ifs!")

"Oh, and just so you know, she knows everyone in Knothole." Rotor finished.

"What do I call it?" Tails asked him. He chuckled.

"Anything you want. Monster, It, Satan, God." He said jokingly. "But better make it quick. Tell it what it’s unit name is, and she’ll respond to that only." Tails nodded.

"Your unit name is Snowflake." He told the robot.

"Unit Snowflake requesting nature of assistance."

"Military." He said sternly. "Follow me." Tails walked out the back door, Snowflake following him as ordered.

11:48 pm

Knothole: Military headquarters docking bay

Tails had assembled 100 of his best men down here. They all stood at attention, each one of them just slightly taller than him. Had he not outranked them, they would walk all over him and push him around. Normally, anybody would wonder why all these heavily armed troops would take orders from a squirt, relatively speaking. Here, that was not the case. If he was 11, turning 12, it didn’t matter. He saved more lives than anyone in he knew. He knew where everything counted, and he knew how to pounce on mistakes when they came. No wonder he beat them all in paintball exercise games.

"All right, listen up." He spoke to the 100 soldiers standing at attention. "Peppernook has defied the orders of the reigning monarch, and rebelled. Our orders are too eliminate them. Keep a watch out. The orders are shoot to kill, but, if you see anyone from Peppernook surrendering, do everything you can to get them into the prison transports that will accompany us. You are given permission to shoot anyone and anything ONCE I give the order. Understood?"

"YES, SIR!" They responded as one.

"All right, get equipped. Everyone gets power armor underneath a kevlar suit, two thousand four hundred energy units, three thousand bullets in clips of one hundred each, five grenades and two canister bombs. Get moving." The whole mass of soldiers went to get equipped. Tails called out,

"Snowflake, come here please." and the robot approached.

"Your orders?" it asked.

"You are going under different conditions from everyone else. You will be given five thousand energy units and four thousand bullets in clips of two hundred each. You can take more punishment than anyone else, so get in the front lines. Take some heavy weaponry with you as well."

"Understood. Is there anything else Tails?" It asked. Tails looked at it with a confused expression.

(Isn’t it supposed to refer to me in the proper military style as "sir?")

"Tails? Did you say Tails?"

"I did."

"When you speak to me, Snowflake, you refer to me in the proper style as ‘sir.’ Do you understand?" He asked. The robot just smiled and winked, and walked off to get equipped.

(No way!)

He stopped the robot and turned it to face him.

"Snowflake?"

"Yes, ‘sir?’" The robot chorused.

"Is that you?"

"So, you recognized me."

"I thought you were dead!" Tails said amazed, and confused.

"You know you can’t keep me away, not even death can separate us."

"When did this happen?"

"Immediately after you named the robot Snowflake, I had the chance to possess it. Don’t worry, it’s just like when we first saw each other."

"I can’t send you out, you could get killed again!" Tails whispered loudly, to express his concern. He thought about what he said, and blinked confused.

"Don’t worry about me, I’ll do fine." She said sweetly. She sucker punched his jaw, and left to get equipped. Tails was filled with a new distraction. He didn’t know if he would be able to command the army. Memories came back to his head by the hundreds. He shook his head sharply and hoped it wouldn’t interfere.

Too much.

1:12 pm

10 miles east of Peppernook

Tails had felt the descent of the heavy transport he was in begin to land. Once they touched down, he and his troops would take their positions, weapons in hand, and await his orders. If the order to attack was sounded, the transports would lift off, and begin firing on any armed Peppernooker. They would be the safest, but they had orders, once their shields were depleted, they had to get the hell out of there and charge them before getting back into the battlefield. Tails was nervous. He didn’t know how many soldiers he expected to lose. Outnumbered, but not outguned, they would fight for the glory of Mobotropolis.

The heavy transports touched down, Tails jumped out and surveyed the scene. All the Peppernookers were standing in a great horizontal line. He could see most of them had ballistic weaponry. Painful if aimed in the right places, but temporarily useless against the armor they were wearing. But what really made him nervous is the incredible size difference between his army and their army. You could have as many injured as you wanted, as badly injured as you wanted them to be too, but if they could still fire a gun, they were dangerous. He spoke into a headset the final orders before the firefight began.

"All right soldiers, listen up. They can’t hear me, so don’t worry. I’m going to give them a warning first. No one shoots until I give the order. Shoot to kill, I don’t care if you have to take their heads off, just make sure they can’t shoot. If you encounter any enemies who wish to surrender, grab their guns and ammo, and use those weapons as you do a drag-out rescue. If you understand, signify by killing the safeties on your guns." A loud reply came with the simultaneous clicking of safeties being turned off. He motioned for a loudspeaker. One of the transport pilots handed him a mike. Tails spoke loud and clear,

"In the name of the reigning monarch of Mobotropolis, you are all under arrest. Those who wish to come quietly..." A loud crack was heard and Tails felt a sharp impact in his chest. He looked to see the damage a shotgun shell had done. It wasn’t very much. He continued, "Those of you who wish to surrender now, do so, and you will not be fired upon." He then chucked the mike back and turned the safety of his phased plasma cannon "Sugar-baby" off. Sugar-baby was like a child to him, plus, one shot and entire vehicles went up in flames. He readied his communicator and waited. In the two mile distance separating the two factions, he could see some Peppernookers throw their weapons down, raise their arms and hang their heads, signifying surrender. Somewhere deep inside, Tails felt something was wrong. Something terrible was going to happen.

Suddenly there were loud rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat noises filling the air. Screams came afterward. Tails stared in shock as the Peppernookers who had surrendered fell to the ground.

(Dead, all dead)

Silence.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snowflake restrain a trigger-happy soldier.

(He didn’t shoot them)

(The Peppernookers shot the one’s that surrendered! They shot their own!)

He grabbed the mike and yelled with fury,

"Bastards! You shoot your own brothers and sisters if the defy you? ROAST IN HELL FUCKERS!"

He chucked the mike back to the transport pilot, and issued orders through his headset. "Begin attack pattern Pyromania." He said blandly. Immediately, everyone dove into the ground and lied in wait. The Peppernookers began yelling battle cries and shooting their weapons. The bullets either made little explosions of soil on the ground, or flew over top them. Nobody on the Mobos side fired. Instead, they waited for the transports to fly over and began a series of phases. Phase 1 began when the first transport began dumping propane onto the battlefield. Phase 2 started almost immediately after phase 1 started. the second transport flew close to the ground, and used its rear turret, which was a flame-thrower, to start a blazing inferno on the battlefield. Phase 3 used the third transport. It flew over the fire and dumped ethanol upon it, to keep it lasting. Some Peppernookers saw the play as it was underway and fled into the city, however, others were doused in flames and began screaming high heaven. Most stayed behind the fire using it as a wall.

"Begin attack." Tails uttered into the headset.

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

Rotor and Bunnie were monitoring the evacuations of all the communities incapable of defending them. Sonic was monitoring communications and dispatching the escorts for all the communities requesting it. There was no doubt about it, many communities were panic stricken. Sonic shook his head pitifully.

"Knothole Comm, this is escort 6, we’ve got a problem. The citizens are screaming and running over top of each other and the like, what do I do?"

"Issue two warnings. If they still do not comply, fire, and issue a final warning."

"And if they still don’t comply?" Came the response. Sonic sighed and thought the decision through.

"Then return to base."

"Say again?"

"I said return to base if all else fails. They want our help, get it, and refuse to listen to it, then we say ‘fuck it, and fuck you’ and leave."

"U-understood sir, escort 6 out."

Rotor saw one of the escort ships break off and begin toward Knothole. He radioed Sonic,

"Sonic, find out what escort 6 is doing." He said, watching the escort ship continue on course to Knothole. The community it was escorting stopped dead, but what was going on down there, nobody knew. Sonic came back through the headset. Rotor’s expression changed as he alone heard what Sonic said.

"What orders? Who authorized them?" Rotor cried. Bunnie’s attention was drawn away from her console towards the uptight walrus.

"You issued orders to what?!" He screamed. Curious, Bunnie picked up the extension. She only caught half of what Sonic said by the time she set the channel.

"...to shoot, and issue a final warning. They must have done so. If that failed, they were to report to Knothole."

"SONIC!" Rotor yelled, "Those people must be panicking like there’s no tomorrow now! Order the escort to return."

"No can do. They wouldn’t even listen to the escort after it tried to get their attention."

"All right, all right, fine." He said, trying to keep calm.

(Now is not the time to panic)

As he thought, he looked at Bunnie with an expression that read, "this is hell."

"Listen, we’ll send a bulk transport out to relieve the escort. Tell the escort to get back and keep them where they are, use any method necessary, but don’t let them scramble.

"Understood." Sonic acknowledged. Rotor dispatched the bulk transport and checked for other disturbances. From all 64 evacuating communities, everything was actually going quite well. Only this recent disturbance and Peppernook made things difficult.

The battlefield at Peppernook

Blue and red beams colored the sky whereas bullets and other projectiles could be heard flying past your head. It was warfare, such so extreme Tails hadn’t felt or participated in for a long time. Kneeling over a downed Peppernooker he had just killed, he picked up the soldiers assault rifle and clips. He placed a clip in and held it ready. A sharp pull on his shoulder brought him face to face with an enraged Peppernooker. The anger in his eyes mixed with the blood on his face told Tails he had been already in a few scraps during this battle. The Peppernooker raised a bent pipe and screamed with fury. He swung it down and missed Tails’ head as he ducked. With a retaliant effort, Tails used the butt of his newly found gun, he caught the savage under the jaw, knocking him down. Tails placed a foot on the chest of the Peppernooker and raised the hot nozzle of his gun to his face.

"Eat lead, fucker!" He said coldly and mercilessly. He emptied half of the clip into the savages face, permanently disfiguring it and ending its life. He raised the gun and surveyed the battle scene. Heavy fogs of cloud hung over the battlefield. Bodies fell with every minute there was, most of them Peppernookers, but Tails did see some Mobos dead with large holes in the armor or twisted necks. The fire of Pyromania had died down so that it was no longer lethal.

A swelling noise attracted his immediate attention. A small hovercraft was barreling down on his location. Tails jumped clear of the oncoming vehicle and rolled onto his back. He doused it with the assault rifle he acquired, but some of his shots missed their mark, and soon the gun just clicked. He tossed it away and pulled out Sugar-baby. He took aim as the hovercraft set a new course and accelerated dangerously fast toward him. He pulled the trigger once. The hovercraft rolled to avoid impact, but the shot hit it on the backside, sending it on a flat spin to the ground. It hit, bounced, and rolled uncontrollably. Tails readied the gun again and lined the vehicle in his sight. The magnifier on his weapon showed positive that it would hit. A sudden shower of bullets instinctively made him put his head down. He was being shot at, from behind it felt. He could feel the impacts against his armor, but not puncturing. He could hear the hovercraft approach fatally close. Panic overtook. He rolled to the left and stood up, gun in hand. He shot blindly at the hovertruck, missing every shot. He knew he had to calm down. He felt a sharp smack from behind. He was being shot in the back. He whipped around and fired a single shot at a Peppernooker. He fried. Hearing the hovertruck get closer from the opposite side, he turned around and held the gun up and steadied his hand on the trigger. He fired, hitting the truck on the roof. It was too close. Tails jumped clear again, rolled onto his back and steadied the gun. Just then the hovertruck was hit from behind. It rocked to the left, slammed into the ground, and exploded. Tails looked on astonished. Amidst the flaming mass, he saw Snowflake walk through the flames and aim her gun directly at him. He instantly felt sick.

"Get down!" She called out. Tails ducked onto the ground and simultaneously heard the sound of an assault rifle being fired. The bullets slammed against her chest, and under the shower of bullets, she still walked forward. The bullets only seemed to be slowing her down, not driving her back. Tails saw fear in the Peppernooker’s eye as he noticed his gun was ineffective.

Snowflake fired. The blue light flew over Tails, and smacked the Peppernooker in the head. Tails felt the Peppernooker fall onto his armor, wet, hot and in a gooey mass. He grimaced and wiped it off.

Tails saw Snowflake extend a helping hand. He took it, and she hoisted him up with a strong tug. She didn’t let go.

"Snowflake, this is not the time, nor the place." Tails said apologetically, "We have a fight to win."

"Tails how long has it been? A year? Come on, live a little." She urged. Tails hung his head. She was right. It had been a long time, but...

"Still, it isn’t the right time or place." He said, trying to end it right there. Snowflake smiled.

"You already forgotten so much. You must relearn." She said quietly. She pushed his chin up and kissed him softly, holding it there for a short amount of time. She pulled away and giggled childishly.

"Whatsa matter? You never kiss a robot before?" She said, and winked. "Now, let’s put an end to this fight."

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"Rotor, Sonic here. Escort 6 has been relieved. The transport has arrived."

"Excellent. Bring the refugees to their designated city." Rotor ordered as he relayed digital calculations to the final stages of evacuation.

(The worst thing that can go wrong now is Tails losing that war.)

4:33 pm

The Peppernook battlefield.

"VICTORY!" Tails shouted as he blew a hole the size of a hand threw the chest of the last Peppernooker. He holstered his gun and took a look around. Smoke covered the area in some spots, not very densely, but still hard to breathe through. The smell of burned, burning and/or rotting flesh was high in the air. It was most unpleasant. Twisted bodies of both Mobos and Peppernookers lay on the ground, some just bones, blackened by the fire, or bleached with a clean shot to the right spot. Many weapons remained littered on the ground, still in working order. What really surprised Tails was the efficiency of his soldiers. From the look of things, there weren’t too many lost, and not many casualties either. Many soldiers were still walking upright uninjured.

(Not bad for a 3 hour war)

"Regroup at the transports. Bring any wounded you can find, and salvage all the leftover weapons and armor," He ordered, "and well done soldiers." He finished. He could hear cheers uprising from all over the battlefield. It was things like this that made him feel really important and useful as a superior officer. He rubbed some sweat of his brow, and discovered he had acquired somewhat of a cut over his eyebrow.

"Should you get that checked?" Came a familiar voice behind him. He turned to face Snowflake in the eye.

"No, it’s not bad." He said. She put a hand over the cut and seemed to be examining it.

"What’re you doing?" He asked.

"Examining the wound. My programming and experience with Mobian anatomy is better than even the doctor’s. It makes me an effective surgeon."

"And a more efficient killer too, right?" Snowflake paused for a moment.

"Somewhat. Interesting way of putting it." She said, bringing her hand away from the cut, "You will be fine, it isn’t serious, but without treatment, you’ll get a heavy scab, and maybe even an infection. Be careful where you walk." She advised. Tails nodded with a "Don’t become my mother" expression.

"The first thing I do when I get back to Knothole is find out how that possession of yours is possible." He told her, walking back to the transport. She shrugged.

"You could, IF I allow it." She said.

"Whaddya mean, allow it?"

"Well, I think we should make up for lost time first." She said, taking hold of his hand. "I’ve missed you Tails. There’s so much we have to catch up on."

"The only thing you missed is the making out." He said blandly.

"Excuse me?" Snowflake asked surprised.

"Well, what else do we do together?"

"We live through life as one."

"You’ve been in limbo for almost a year, had you not been, what would we have done other than love each other like crazy?"

"It’s not just that! We live a life of our own, with no one to push us around. I for one like..." She stopped and corrected herself. "liked it. Don’t you enjoy my company?"

"Sure I do. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Are you sure? You weren’t programmed to have emotions." He teased. He put an arm around her and walked to the transport.

5:00

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"Mission accomplished Rotor. Presently, we are on our way back from the battlefield."

"Way to go Tails. We’re finishing up the last bits of the evacuations now. See you back at base. How’d my robot perform?"

"Oh, that’s right. Rotor, your robot’s been possessed by the real Snowflake."

"Say again?"

"You heard me." Rotor stared blankly at the wall and heard Snowflake’s voice over the headset.

"Oh my God! That’s impossible!"

"No it’s not," Tails said over the headset, "It’s her, I recognized it instantly."

"Okay, okay, look," Rotor said, pinching his sinus. "bring her into the shop. We’ll see what we can do."

"Thankies? What kind of a word is thankies?" He shook his head, removed the headset, and got up to fill up his stomach.

"Bunnie, I’m gonna get something to eat. Want anything?" He asked, standing by the door waiting for a response. She was staring into the screen, appearing to locate a transport’s present position on the screen. She occasionally acknowledged someone on the other end.

"Bunnie?" Rotor said, trying to get her attention.

"Hmm?" She muttered, glancing in her direction. When she saw Rotor, she lumbered back into reality instantly. "Oh, Rotor. It’s escort thirteen on th’ line. One of the citizens just began panicking, ran up to the soldiers and said that his friend was just yanked into the bushes. He heard screaming and some kind of animal-like sneering noise."

(Oh God, NO!)

"Did he try to help his friend?"

"No, in fact, he’s detained right now. A pair of escorts are checking it out now, they haven’t reported..." Her attention was drawn away from Rotor and to the headset.

"Yeah? All right, all right, slow down. Listen, I’m gonna give the headset to Rotor and you can give him the details, okay? Here y’go sugah." She said, handing Rotor the headset. Rotor just took it, put it on, and practically demanded details. Bunnie could hear the soldiers voice through the earphones, and he didn’t sound calm.

"All right, this is what I want you to do," Rotor said calmly, "are you listening? Good. I want you to trace whatever did it. Don’t go alone. I want the area within five miles to be completely searched, all right? When I get there and find out you didn’t follow that order, I’m going to shoot your legs, and prohibit you to use the bioreconstructor." He tossed the headset back to Bunnie, and spoke to her,

"Bunnie, I’m going out to that location in my hovertruck. In the meantime, radio all the escorts and make them do a head count. Report to me if any of them have a missing head."

5:35 pm

Death site as reported by escort 13, 11 miles east of Dr. Fyt’s death site.

When Rotor arrived, 6 men remained. He guessed the rest had escorted the refugee’s to the respective community. The environment was perfect for a killing. Since the creature was fast, it just had to yank an unsuspecting victim, bring it into the underbrush, kill it and leave. Lightly forested, but high grass, and a little bit hilly, wasn’t all that difficult for such a beast. He hoped that the witness saw the killer, either that or if one of the soldiers found it. As he guessed, none of them saw it.

"No trail to follow right?"

"That’s right sir. How did you know?"

"I know a lot about this thing that you don’t."

(But I don’t know enough)

"So where’s the body?"

"Follow me please sir." One of the soldiers said. He escorted Rotor into the underbrush, and brushed away some grass to show Rotor the body. Rotor glanced once. The victim had his right arm torn off, a large scratch across the chest, and deep cuts everywhere else. Rotor nodded and walked back to his hovertruck and picked up a data recorder, punched a few keys while the soldiers just stared at him like he was some kind of idiot.

"Excuse me sir, aren’t you going to undergo a better search than that?" One of them asked him. Rotor looked him in the eye, shook his head and said,

"No, why?"

"With all due respect, sir, I think that you need to put more of an effort on investigating than glancing and nodding your head."

"I didn’t see a reason to..." He glanced at the soldiers rank insignia. "ensign."

"That dead body is not a reason too, sir?"

"Ensign, I’ve seen four dead bodies, killed in much a same way. This has nothing to add to evidence."

"Nothing?!"

"If it’ll make you feel better." He looked the ensign deep in the eyes, and asked quietly.

"Did you see what did this?" The ensign shook his head

"Did anybody see what did this?" The ensign shook his head again.

"No further questions, the investigation is over. Carry on soldiers." He sat in his Hovertruck and waited for Bunnie to radio him.

5:51 pm

The radio chimed. Rotor picked up the receiver and hit "talk."

"Rotor here."

"Rotor, it’s Bunnie. You know that head-count report you asked for?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Including the one you’re at, there were five missing persons incidents.

"Any of the missing victims found?"

"No, that’s why they’re missing."

"All right." Rotor said, powering up the engine. "I’m coming back to Knothole. Tell Tails to dispatch search parties. Have them search everything along the related escort ships trajectory until the five have been found. They are not to give up the search until it is complete. Anyone finds anything, they are to let me know immediately. Copy?"

"Loud and clear. Bunnie out."

Rotor sighed heavily. Looking at the clock on his dashboard, it was just about 6 pm. The day was long over from the future events that had to be done.

(How DID Snowflake manage to return?)

(Could it be a joke?)

(No,)

(Tails wouldn’t joke about a thing like that.)

(It doesn’t make sense, though,)

(or does it?)

(It isn’t possible!)

(Rephrase that.)

(It isn’t believable!)

(Forget about how, just try and bring her back to normal.)

(That’s impossible, the only thing organic on her is her skin! Before when I deroboticized her, it was very similar, but she...)

(What’s so different about her NOW than before?)

(She was roboticized in a special way before.)

(Now, she was created as a robot, not roboticized as one.)

(I could deroboticize her, but I’d need the internal organs to place inside or else she’d be nothing but jelly.)

(Oi, nothing like a good stress out before bedtime.)

6:46 pm

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

Rotor walked in through the door and began punching the new computer data in. It now looked like this.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 3: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Torn biceps. Protruding backbone. Missing liver.

Case 4: Deep gash at victim's neck. Victim died by drowning.

Case 5: Right arm torn off. Large scratch found at victim's chest. Deep cuts on all other limbs.

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Case 3: Hunger

Case 4: Unknown

Case 5: Unknown

Possible relation to victims:

Case 1 and 2: Both victims Kreczik

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

Rotor tossed his arms up in dismay. He shook his head angrily.

"It won’t stop. It’ll never stop killing. We’re screwed. It’s too good." He jabbered insanely.

"We can’t get it. We’ll never get it." He said, with occasional maniacal laughter.

"Hee hee. We can’t catch it. WE CAN’T CATCH IT!" He cried. Bunnie looked over at him.

"DON’T YOU SEE? Heh, heh, DON’T YOU SEE? IT HUNTS FOR SPORT, AND MAKES ITSELF A SPORT! BUT NO ONE CAN CATCH IT, IT’S TOO GOOD!" Bunnie put a reassuring, but robotic, arm on Rotor’s shoulder to calm him down.

"Rotor, keep you’re cool."

"COOL? COOL? Heh, I’M COOL! I’M VERY, VERY COOL!"

"Rotor!"

"WHAT? IS IT YOU? ARE YOU THE KILLER? IT’S YOU ISN’T IT?" He raved. He stood up and pointed at her accusingly. She looked on confused.

"IT’S YOU! I MUST KILL YOU!" He picked up a hammer. "But first, I take out your legs, so you can’t get AWAY! YAHAHAHA! I GOT..." He brought the hammer down, Bunnie caught it in her robotic arm.

"CALM YOURSELF ROTOR!"

"OH NO! YOU’RE GOING TO KILL ME! YOU’RE..." Bunnie saw a smaller gloved hand enclose around the back of Rotor, where the shoulder met the neck.

"GOING..."

The hand placed an immense amount of pressure down on its location. Rotor jumped, but started to calm down.

"To..."

His eyes rolled backward. He got sleepy.

"kill..."

He collapsed onto the ground. Snowflake, proud of her accomplishment, just stared at her hand and nodded."

"Cool!"

"Is he dead?" Bunnie asked quickly.

"Oh, well, you’d think that, but really he’s fine. He’ll wake up in about five minutes..." She then clubbed a certain part of Rotor’s head, not hard, but not soft either. "and he won’t remember anything that happened within the last eight."

"Impressive."

"Thank you."

Suddenly, the computer beeped, and the terminal displayed big, bold, and colorfully, TASK COMPLETED. Bunnie picked up the headset and radioed the communications department.

"Sonic here."

"Sonic, tell Sally she can say what she wanted to say now."

"THANK YOU! She’s been pacing back and forth like there was no tomorrow waiting for you to say that. Sonic out." And he ended the communication. Bunnie laughed.

"Sally, Sally. Sometimes you take things too seriously, girl." She said, leaning back in her chair.

"Finally, a little relaxation after a hard half-days work." She said. She looked like she was going to fall asleep right there. Instead, she got bored very quickly.

"Bunnie," Piped Snowflake. "could I ask you a question?"

"Sure hon, shoot.

"Well, It’s about..."

"Attention, all communities. This is Princess Sally Acorn, reigning monarch of Mobotropolis. I’m pleased to announce that all smaller communities have been successfully evacuated. However, the stat of emergency still stands. People, it’s about time you learned the truth.

"There is an uncontrollable, untraceable killer on the loose. It attacks during the day as well as in the night. Therefore, we must issue the following rules until further notice. Citizens. During the day, you will be allowed outside your cities during the times of eight to eight. The security shields of your community will be active the rest of the time. Under no circumstances is anyone allowed outside the community at night. If anyone is out... Never mind.

"Security. You must be posted at defense towers bordering the community. Anything that doesn’t look Mobian is to be shot on sight. During the times when the defense shield is up, anything seen outside is to be shot on sight, citizen or no citizen.

"At the end of every day, everyone is ordered to report to the head count station to be registered. Report any missing persons to us immediately. That is all." Bunnie grunted.

"Ah hope she knows what she’s doing. Everyone’s on the brink o’ panic, if it does break out, there’s no controllin anyone. Anyway, what were you sayin’ sugah?"

"It’s Tails," Snowflake said, "I think he’s scared of me."

"Why’s that?"

"I don’t know! He doesn’t seem happy that I’m back."

"Do you think he should be?"

"Well, I’M happy that I am. I mean it gets awful lonely in limbo."

"Well, sugah, ah think he’s just recoverin’ from the shock. He’s missed you too, believe me, but he never expected you to return."

"Uh huh."

"Once he can cope with it, he’ll forget about the shock and you two can go on wi’ yourselves." She said, sweetly.

"You two are a very nice couple, and believe me, it’ll take a lot more than some stupid walkin’ chaos emerald to separate you." Snowflake had to laugh there. Just then Rotor jumped to his feet, and fell back into his chair.

"GAH!" He cried. Snowflake moved to restrain him, as he was waving his arms wildly.

"Don’t touch me, don’t touch me. I’m blind." He cried. He waited three seconds, and sighed deeply.

"There we go." He turned his head and saw Snowflake meeting him in the eye. She blinked twice. She brought a finger up and meant to poke him in the eye, but Rotor moved her arm aside.

"I did not detect any blindness in your eyes, Rotor."

"Yeah, NOW I’m fine." He said. Snowflake sat in a chair and stared at the ceiling. Rotor snuck a glance at her, Snowflake suddenly met his eye and put a cheerful expression on her face. Rotor raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, you could." She said. Rotor expected more, but Snowflake expected him to ask what. Rotor gave in.

"With?"

"Making me organic, again."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Pweeeeeeeease?" She begged. Bunnie laughed under her breath. Rotor rolled his eyes.

"Snowflake, you were originally created as a robot for a purpose." He stated. Snowflake’s expression changed to one with disbelief written all over.

"To kill?" She asked worried.

"Okay, I’ll rephrase that. You were originally created as a robot for MANY purposes."

"Such as?"

"To serve, to maintain order, to advise, to entertain, to learn, to help, to save lives... and to end them."

"I can’t live THAT life! That’s not the one I want!"

"Oh? What life do you want?"

"I want to live my life w... as I want to, not the way anyone else says I should." She complained. Rotor nodded.

"I see the dilemma." He said and smiled. "I’ll tell you what. I’ll do the research, and see what..." Snowflake interrupted him.

"Can’t you just throw me in the deroboticizer."

"Do you want to die? Again?"

"Huh?"

"You weren’t originally roboticized to begin with. If I deroboticize you, you come out with no internal organs. Nothing whatsoever. You’ll die." He explained. Snowflake’s gaze slowly left his eyes and met the floor.

"There’s nothing you can do?" She asked, almost in tears.

(God, this really means a lot to her. Maybe I could find something out.)

"I’ll see what I can do. Chances are we won’t be able to get you deroboticized unless you can find some people who are willing to donate their vital organs." He said as nicely as he could. Although dissatisfied with his answer, Snowflake nodded and left silently, running her hand through her hair.

"She’s a wonderful kid. She really is, but she’s tortured emotionally."

"Half o’ it’s her love for Tails."

"Love?"

"Oh yeah. She asked me if she wasn’t going about something she called ‘it’ right. Ah figured she meant the relationship that’s been restarted between them. Tails is still shocked that Snowflake is back, and he probably needs to recover from it before she can bring back any past fantasies. She’s probably missed ‘im s’much she didn’t think about how he felt right then.

"Ah’ve seen ‘em look into each others eye’s, Ah’ve seen the love between them. It’s so obvious it’s like a fire that encompasses the whole forest in two seconds." She stated. Rotor rubbed his chin and nodded.

"You have a boyfriend?" He asked. Bunnie shook her head while smoothing out one of her immense ears.

"You have a girlfriend?" He asked with a smile on his face. Bunnie immediately stopped and looked at him strangely in the eyes.

"Ah ain’t that kind o’ woman!" She exclaimed.

((HINT HINT Dan Drazen!))

"Good." He chuckled.

"Why? Y’like me?" She smiled.

"Who doesn’t?" Rotor said blandly. Bunnie gave him a confused expression, and on doing so, one of her ears flopped over her eye.

"Everyone likes you, just that they fear you and your arm." He said pointing to her metallic limb. "They say one wrong word and their head will need to be bolted to their neck." Bunnie stared at her arm as she flexed it in several ways.

"Ah’m not like that, though."

"You don’t slap disrespectful men?"

"Naw, that doesn’t get the message ‘cross good ‘nough," She said with a wave of her hand. She crossed her metallic legs and continued, "what really get’s the message through is when ah make ‘em wish they weren’t male." She said with a wink. Rotor nodded and shifted in is chair.

"Anybody that unlucky?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Ah think ah got Sonic once some time ago, after Sally’s pregnancy. Had I done it before, maybe Sally wouldn’t be pregnant now." She pointed out.

"Do you regret it?"

"Naw, he deserved it."

"Wasn’t that the time he wouldn’t leave his hut for three days?"

"That’s it. You really watch carefully." She laughed. He smiled and made an "oh well" motion with his hand.

"So how about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Oh sure!" He said, and pointed to his head.

"Imaginary?"

"No!" He blurted. "Well, I don’t have one physically. I tend to consider my girlfriend as my brain. I love it, it’s my best tool."

"So you have no interest in findin’ a lover?"

"No, I can’t say I do. I don’t have the time, and right now I don’t have the responsibility either."

"How old are you Rotor?" She asked.

"I’m sixteen." He said.

"How old do you think I am?

"You? Oh, umm. I don’t know, sixteen?"

"seventeen, as of yesterday. Antoine turns twenty in six months."

"And?"

"Ah don’t know. Ah just said it cause we were on the subject of age. Tails turns twelve soon. Couple o’ months."

"Well congratulations on an seventeenth birthday."

"Thank you." She said smiling. There were two sharp beeps. Rotor glanced at his watch.

"Oh, eight o’ clock."

"Oh, Sally just gave the final instructions a while ago."

"She did? I didn’t hear it."

"Well, not much to listen too." She explained the details of Sally’s final orders to him. He laughed out loud.

"Incredible. Orders to shoot on sight on anybody found outside. I think our princess is just a few clicks away from reality. When is she having the baby?"

"Ah think in four or five weeks." Rotor nodded. He looked at his watch again.

"Well I think I’m gonna throw in the towel for today. Gotta make some rest before I go out tomorrow."

"Do you ever get scared you’re gonna run into this thing?"

"Not anymore. I used too, but now it’s just work. All I worry about is finally tracking it and killing this creature. I don’t want to be the one that does it."

"No one does." She said quietly. Rotor snuck a glance at her.

"Hey, you wanna, uh, go grab a sundae from the café?" He asked politely. Bunnie looked up at him and stared for a while.

"Are you asking me on a date?"

"No."

"Are you asking me out?"

"No. I’m asking if you want to get a sundae or something from the café. Do you?" He asked again. She managed a small smile.

"I’d love too. Let’s get a large, with two spoons." She said. She took her normal hand and held Rotor’s. He chuckled quietly.

"Are you coming on to me?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"No, I’m just being friendly." She said. Rotor nodded.

"Good." He said. They left the building hand in hand, but that ended soon when Rotor locked the building up. Sensing that Rotor would like to keep it discreet, she just walked alongside with him to the café, which was really pathetic. A computer took your order, took a biologic sample and replicated your order. Although it was a synthetic, it didn’t taste bad, and it was quick, no waiting involved. He ordered a large sundae, chilled to -1 degrees Celsius. The computer asked if any specifications were necessary on the sundae. Rotor requested vanilla soft ice cream topped with chocolate sauce on one side. Bunnie asked for the other side to be topped with strawberry sauce. Sensing two voices on the same order, the computer asked if two spoons would be necessary. Rotor acknowledged. Soon, the computer took a bio-sample, and created Rotor and Bunnie’s order. Rotor took it in his hand and offered Bunnie a spoon. She took it, took a spoonful of the sundae and ate it. She nodded her head.

"It’s good." She said. Rotor took a sample for himself to taste.

"Hmm," He said, smacking his lips. "it could be better."

In time, they finished the sundae, sitting out in the New Beginning Park. Rotor placed the empty sundae container in the bio-garbage, and sat back down beside Bunnie, who was lying on her back looking at the stars.

"Have you ever noticed that some of the stars look like things?"

"Yeah, I have."

"That one looks like a big pot." She said, pointing up in the sky. Rotor looked and saw it as well.

"You think that’s cool? Watch this!" He took her hand and made it follow with his instructions.

"Find the end of the handle, and pinpoint that star. Now follow it about two pots length away in a southwesterly direction. There you should s..." He stopped. He realized suprisingly that he was showing her deep space.

"Hmm, must be to far away."

"What? Am ah s’posed to see somethin’ over there?" She asked sitting up.

"Yeah, it’s supposed to be a smaller version of that star cluster. Either it’s not dark enough, or it’s the wrong seaon to spot it. I don’t think it’s dark enough." He said, rubbing one of his tusks.

"That’s a shame then."

"Well actually, that isn’t the only one there." He turned a half-circle and pointed up to the sky. "Look up there, where that row of three stars is. Do you see it?" Bunnie looked, and squinted. Once again he took her hand and pointed to each of the tree stars in turn. She smiled, but she still didn’t understand.

"What’s so special about them?"

"That’s the belt of King Acorn’s long ancient ancestor, sir Jacob Acorn. If you look in the surrounding area of the belt, you’ll be able to make out the full posture of him, shield high, and his sword up in the other hand held high."

"Oh yeah! Ah see it now!"

"My father said that the ancient one’s told a story, that a great evil was brought down on Mobius, many years ago. It had eyes of fire, hooved limbs, and horns that protruded from his head, like a bull. I can’t remember what the bull was named, but he said that he spread terror throughout many lands on the planet. Until one man stood up and said he would fight it. His name was Jacob Acorn. People laughed at him when he said he would fight the beast, but he didn’t care. He just took his sword and shield, and he confronted the bull. They fought for days on end, until they both died of exhaustion. The stories say that Jacob and the bull continue their fight even today, for if you look to the right of Sir Jacob Acorn, you might be able to notice the bull."

"Yeah, ah see it! This is cool!"

They continued looking at star clusters and Bunnie soon understood that the brighter stars were actually other planets orbiting the sun. Unfortunately, none of them were able to support Mobian life, but Rotor said that his dad also told him that as technology developed, they would be able to live on uncolonizable planets.

"What else did your dad teach you? He must have been a very educated man." Rotor chuckled. Immediately he remembered something else that his dad told him.

"Rotor? Rotor? Are you paying attention?" His dad asked. Rotor was playing with a yo-yo and ignoring his dad somewhat. When he realized his dad stopped talking, he looked up.

"Hmm? Yeah yeah yeah, stars are good for the head." He said, continuing his yo-yo technique. His dad sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Rotor, you should pay more attention to this. Some day, you’re going to run into the greatest looking girl in the world, and you’re going to love her at first sight, but she’s gonna want nothing to do with you because you don’t know enough about stars as she does." He warned. Rotor stopped and looked at his dad with a whiney face.

"But dad, girls don’t like the stars, they just think they’re twinkly lights in the sky, or firefly’s that got stuck up in the sky." He complained.

"You mean the atmosphere." He corrected.

"Sky, atmosphere, what’s the difference?"

"Nothing, just I know what it is and no one else does."

"No, you THINK you know what it is, and everyone thinks your looney because of it." He said defiantly.

"Rotor, trust me. One of these days, everyone will see the galaxy as I see it, and the girl of your dreams will leave you because you don’t like the stars."

"Aww, dad, no one likes the stars."

"Nothing much." Rotor quickly said, "He just told me everything everyone knows about the galaxy."

"So, you got a jump on everyone else then?"

"Yeah, in a way."

"You were a very lucky guy Rotor. My dad didn’t tell me much. He couldn’t. He died when I was five. Good riddance. I didn’t like him much anyway. When did your dad die?"

"He died before my eyes during a bombing of our community some years ago. He was a big part of my life, and he still is. I’ll never forget the things he told me, the advice he gave. It meant so much to him that I know the stuff he knew. He never got to finish. That’s why anytime I’m curious, I follow the best advice he ever gave me. ‘When you don’t know, but you want to know, strive to know. I guarantee, it will become known.’ He used to say." He shook his head and hung it. "He was considered looney in our community, but it didn’t matter to him. It mattered to me, but I was young and ignorant then. Now, I honor him." Bunnie inched closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. She turned his head so he’d face her.

"Forget about it. Back then, everyone was stupid." She pointed out. Rotor smiled, feeling a little better. Just then, Bunnie caught something out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh my stars, look at that thing up there in the sky!" She pointed up into the northwest area of the sky, but she didn’t need to point. Rotor saw it too. A ball of blue light just hanging in the sky, with a gracious tail trailing behind it.

"That’s a comet, and very close too. Not threateningly close, but I believe it’ll hang around for a few more days."

"Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve seen in your life?" She said excitedly.

"They are cool, but it’s not the first one I’ve seen. It is a thrill to see one. Beside’s, I have seen better things than comets." He said. Bunnie turned her face with a confused expression. He looked back at her.

"What could possibly be more pretty than that comet?" She asked.

"Oh, I’ve seen a few things." He said confidently. Bunnie still stared. She jumped when one of her ears drooped covering half her face. She lifted it upright giggling and blushing shyly. Rotor smiled and put an arm around her waist. She inched closer and leaned against him slightly, taking his other hand in hers. They both watched the comet slowly streak by overhead for a while in this embrace. Rotor felt something smooth suddenly make contact with the side of his face, he turned and looked at Bunnie, who was blushing a deep red. Her ear drooped over again, and she giggled slightly. She blew on it, twice trying to get it to stand upright. Rotor took it in his hand and stood it up again. Bunnie took his hand and brought it down on her face, moving it softly as though he was stroking her cheeks. She looked into Rotor’s deep green eyes and blushed again. Rotor brought his face slowly closer, Bunnie moved hers forward as well and kissed him on his mouth. He pulled away first and looked into her eyes. They were half open, as though she was dreaming, and she had that small dreamy smile on her face. She took her organic hand, put it behind Rotor’s head, and pulled him closer for another long kiss. Rotor sat up straight and embraced Bunnie, pulling her as close as she could get. This time, Bunnie pulled away, just long enough to say,

"I love you Rotor."

She didn’t get a reply, nor did she allow the time for one.

Day 4

9:09 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

The morning had broken over most of the sky now, just barely waking Rotor up. Once Rotor realized the sun was shining in his face, everything else inside him started to click in. He opened his eyes as wide as possible, but they told him to go back to sleep. He forced them to stay propped open. He needed a shower.

After spending a good half hour in the shower, and a few minutes drying himself, he put the towel around his neck and went to make some breakfast. In the kitchen on the side of the wall, was a computer console with a numbered keypad. It displayed the following.

The time is presently 9:42 am. Please select ONE of the following choices.

#1. Lite snack

#2. Breakfast

#3. Quick on-the-go type meal.

He pressed number 2. The screen changed.

Please select the appetizer.

#1. Coffee

#2. Hot chocolate

#3. Milk

#4. Juice

He pressed 3. Once again the screen changed.

Please specify selection.

#1. Skim

#2. 1% Partly Skimmed

#3. 2% Partly Skimmed

#4. Chocolate Partly Skimmed.

He pressed 4.

Please select first course meal.

#1. Eggs and Bacon.

#2. Waffles/Pancakes.

#3. French Toast.

He pressed 1.

Please specify egg design.

#1. Scrambled

#2. In-a-hole.

#3. Over easy.

#4. Sunny side up.

#5. Soft boiled.

He pressed 4.

Would you like salt?

#1. Yes

#2. No

He pressed 1.

How much?

#1. Light (1 gram spread even)

#2. Normal (3 grams spread even)

#3. Heavy (5 grams spread even)

He pressed 1.

Would you like pepper?

#1. Yes

#2. No

He started toward 2, but changed his mind and pressed 1.

How much?

#1. Light (1 gram spread even)

#2. Normal (3 grams spread even)

#3. Heavy (5 grams spread even and a second beverage)

He pressed 2.

How many strips of bacon?

He pressed 3.

Please select second course meal.

#1. Sausage(s)

#2. Buttered toast with meat

#3. Fruit and/or veggies

#4. Not that hungry.

He pressed 4.

Your meal is being prepared. Please take a seat.

Rotor walked through the kitchen to the front door. He fumbled through his message box. From what he saw, there was the usual report of the electricity and water supply, both functioning well. The report on the Café replicator, working fine. The newspaper, wow, enough said. He tossed everything aside and opened it up. The front cover read,

"Princess Sally Declares State Of Emergency Over Crazed Killer"

Rotor decided not to read it, he knew everything there was to know about NBK, and was still nervous that there wasn’t enough to know. On the second page, the main story was,

"Knothole Scientist Brings Chief Of Security’s Lover Back From The Dead"

(Since when did the newspaper become a tabloid?)

He turned the page and discovered he had already reached the comics section, which was strange. He figured that the state of emergency forced all other things necessary for this weekly newspaper to be postponed.

A hole in the table opened, and Rotor’s drink was slowly brought high. It was chilled, just the way he programmed it, and filled just under the top, or, as Rotor called it, almost full. He always tried to be optimistic, even in the worst of situations. It helped, but now, with NBK, it wasn’t easy. He took a sip of the beverage. It even tasted perfect. That new fan he installed to prevent excess heat from hydraulics and other gadgets from effecting the food had been working efficiently. Good thing too. The last thing Rotor wanted was to drink warm milk that would be more appropriate for a cat, more or less him.

A sharp ring was heard. Rotor looked at the roof in the relative direction of where the sound came from. When he saw a box on the side, he immediately remembered. He got up and opened the front door. It was Bunnie, and she was astounded.

"How did you know ah was at the front door? Ah never knocked!" She exclaimed.

"It’s something I made. Instead of having to waste the energy of trying to be heard knocking the door, just press that button, and a bell inside will let me know someone’s outside and wanting to come in."

"Well, that certainly would make a story for the newspaper. Did you see how small it was today?" She asked as Rotor welcomed her inside. "Ah sure hope that this matter get’s cleared up soon, otherwise the weeks are gonna be mighty boring reading about who visited their dentist recently." She complained.

"How’ve you been Bunnie?"

"Never better." She said smiling, "Thanks for yesterday night, ah really enjoyed it."

"I did too. Are you hungry? I’m about to have breakfast, and if you want some you could..."

"Oh, ah’m sorry Rotor, ah didn’t know you were busy makin’..." She stopped and looked at him funny, "ah could? Whaddya mean ah could? If you’re makin’ breakfast where’s your cooking equipment?" She asked with a confused expression.

"You’re sitting at it. There’s a computer on the wall on the side there, fill out your request and it’ll be made shortly."

"But how..." She stared in shock as a part of Rotor’s table opened and brought a fully prepared meal under his chin. An egg, sunny side up, sprinkled lightly with salt and varied with pepper, 3 strips of bacon alongside, fork and knife in respective positions, and a small clove of parsley over the bacon to destroy bad breath after eating. He smiled smugly while Bunnie stared absolutely dumbfounded.

"Neat isn’t it?"

"Incredible is what it is."

"Thank you, I take pride in my work. You sure you don’t want anything to eat?"

"If ah had known about this earlier, ah would’ve packed up and moved in."

"Who says you’re not planning that now?" He said with a grin. Bunnie gave him a "that’s not nice" look, but had to laugh herself.

"Have the search party reports come in yet?" She asked.

"I don’t think so, they’ve either only been out a night, or they’ve left an hour and a half ago and haven’t had the time to report." He said. "I don’t care really. I’m just as much out of the whole damn thing anyway, it’s up to anybody who carries a firearm to take care of that thing. I’m just still here to record death locations and use new evidence to make this thing easier to find. I’ve given Tails copies of my report to give the search parties. I expect one to be returned and updated, so I can update the computer. Otherwise I can continue with my merry but stressful life. I’m going to be uneasy as long as I know that that thing is alive and killing." He pointed out. Bunnie nodded with understanding.

"You know, Bunnie, I’ve been doing some thinking. Do you want your original limbs back? You haven’t said a thing about it since Robotnik was destroyed, and I was sure you were going to come and jump in the deroboticizer." Bunnie sighed and ran her metallic hand through the fur on her head.

"Ah don’t know really. Ah used to hate these things, but ah think ah got used to them." She looked at her arm curiously and thought about it some more.

"Ah think ah’d regret it sooner or later."

"If you don’t like it, I could just undo the deroboticization process." He pointed out. She stood up and walked over to him, and he stood up to equal out the size difference.

"If you make up your mind, I’ll get that done for you, anytime."

Elsewhere in the wilderness

Since 7 pm last night, search parties had begun searching for the missing (but presumed dead) citizens who disappeared during the evacuations. Stopping only to sleep for the night, they were efficient in their searches, relatively. When the time had come for them to regroup, they all met together at the same time, just as they expected to. Tails had pulled up in the hover truck. When he exited the vehicle, they all saluted, he saluted them back and they stood at ease. The soldier in charge of the search handed the report over to Tails, which he looked at. He glanced at it, and noticed the soldier in charge get slightly nervous.

"Something wrong Pascell?"

"Actually, sir, there is. The report is incomplete."

"So I’ve noticed. Why is it incomplete?"

"Tzcikowsky and Weever failed to report."

"Ah, and where are they?"

"We don’t know, they don’t respond our hails." He said, his voice cracking. Tails’ expression turned worried.

"Oh shit!" He ran to the truck and hailed Tzcikowski. There was no response.

"Tzcikowski and Weever are, odds suggesting, dead. Conduct their search and report to Rotor immediately after. I have to find Tzcikowsky and Weever. Go!" Immediately, everyone turned around and jogged off to conduct the search. Tails hopped in the truck and traced the transponder setting of Tzcikowsky. The last thing on Mobius he wanted was to lose such a valuable scout.

10:14 am

The campsite of Tzcikowsky and Weever

Upon reaching the campsite, Tails was immediately reminded of Duj’s death site. He stepped out of the truck and immediately reached for his phased plasma rifle. He found nothing. He looked down to find not even a holster. Checking his other side, he pulled out a less efficient, but still deadly, reconnaissance laser, or recon red for short. Although less effective and unable to pierce armor as well as the phased plasma weaponry, it had a magnifying monitor mounted on the back. The user could see through walls with X-ray setting, use heat setting to change hide-and-seek to seek-and-shoot, or use night setting to see your prey even in pitch black night. Tails flicked the safety into the off position, the laser made a distinct noise, but it didn’t matter to him. The tent was whipping around like mad in the wind. It was torn in some areas, so there was definite evidence of a scuffle. He expected to see two dead bodies nearly skinned alive. He inched slowly along the perimeter of the tent, waited, and finally jumped in front of the doorway, whipping the gun in all directions in the tent. There was nothing in the tent.

Nothing alive.

Tzcikowsky lay in the middle of the tent. His neck was slashed at the center, his face was literally ripped off, showing gums, teeth, a bloated tongue, wide eyes, and a protruding sinus. The entire tent had blood splashed all over, making a dark red mess everywhere. He sighed and pinched his sinuses. He didn’t see Weever anywhere, but he saw a long and wide trails of blood and something thick and yellow that bubbled where it stood. The blood left a trail leaving out a hole in the tent, and the thick yellow blobs followed alongside.

(Weever was dragged out.)

(But where? And why?)

The silence was ended by a sharp, high pitched, bloodcurdling shriek. It went off in the direction where Weever’s blood went. Tails shivered as clouds blocked out the sun and darkened the sky somewhat. He radioed Rotor.

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

Rotor scrambled for the headset. When he finally put it on, he acknowledged Tails eagerly.

"Yeah Tails, what is it?"

"It killed again. It killed Tzcikowsky and Weever."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah, but it didn’t get away uninjured. I’m at the location where Weever is right now. If I check the map on the truck, I’m about four miles north of Tzcikowsky’s death site, and that’s about twenty five miles north west of Knothole. Did you get that?"

"Yeah." Rotor acknowledged. He motioned to Bunnie to record the death sites, but not to make them official.

"Anyway, I’ve got some very good news."

"Did you see it?" He asked frantically.

"I said good news, not phenomenal. I found a trail of three toed foot prints in which Weever was dragged over." Rotor began taking notes. "And along the left side, clumps of something thick and yellow. It has no odor, but somehow it’s keeping the flies off."

"Is the yellow stuff in a thick mass?"

"Uh, yeah, somewhat like gelatin."

"Did you touch it?"

"Are you kidding, I’m not touching that stuff!"

"Well you are now. Touch it, without the gloves."

"Rotor, this had better be for a good reason." There was a pause, and then a sudden cry of pain.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I’m fine, my finger isn’t. It’s slightly melting."

"Melting?!"

"Yeah, and it fucking burns!"

"Douse it in water." He instructed. After a while, he heard a slight hissing noise.

"That is MUCH better. Now what?"

"Toss the water, you won’t want to drink it."

"Yeah, sure."

"Listen, stay where you are, I’m coming out there, I got to get a sample."

"Rotor..."

"Yeah? What?"

"It’s here." Rotor almost lost his balance.

"You see it?"

"No, I feel it’s presence. I can’t see it." Rotor could tell he was getting shaky.

"Stay calm Tails, stay right where you are, I’m coming, you hear?"

Static.

"Tails?"

Static.

"TAILS?"

Static.

"Fucking shit!" He tossed the headset off and rapidly began punching keys on the computer.

"What? What is it?" Bunnie cried, terror in her voice.

"It got him." He said, typing rapidly.

"He’s dead?"

"Not yet, he’s a strong kid." Somehow, that made Bunnie feel a tad better.

"He’ll be dead in about five minutes." Bunnie felt sick immediately. Rotor looked up at the screen, a red dot flashed the positive location of Tails communication responder.

"Relay those coordinates to my truck. I’m going out there."

"Are you crazy?" She shrieked.

"Maybe, but this is the closest opportunity we have."

"You can’t go, send one of the soldiers to."

"One? Yeah, right."

"Rotor..."

"I know the most about this thing, more than anyone else. It’s not enough, but it’s the best chance we’ve got. I have to try."

"Please come back." Bunnie said, tears beginning to leave her eyes. Rotor looked at her face, and said as confidently as he could.

"If you want me to return, pray that Tails is dead and that this thing has moved on." He said shutting the door behind him. Bunnie fell to her knee’s, head in her hands, crying heavily.

10:34 am

The death site of Weever

Rotor had burned ever since he left Knothole. If there was a bump, he went off it. If there was a family of geese walking across, he ran over them. He was so tense, and scared shitless he didn’t care what happened. Finally, when he did arrive, he got out and readied a phased plasma rifle in his arm. There was nothing in the near vicinity, except for Weever, who was face down and had an immensely large wound that covered his entire back. Tails was there too, face down as well, he didn’t appear to have any obvious injuries, but he wasn’t moving. Rotor inched closer, placed a hand on his shoulder, and flipped him upright. Tails flopped like a rag doll, but there were no injuries on him. He brought a trembling hand forward to his neck. He could feel blood pulsating through underneath the fur and skin. He felt immediately relieved. He shook him to try and arouse him, but he didn’t come to. He tried again and Tails jumped to life. His breathing increased in speed dramatically, and his eyes were wide with fear.

"What’s happened? Where am I?"

"Tails, calm down."

"All right, all right, just don’t kill me."

"Kill you? Are you nuts?"

"Rotor? What happened?"

"You had a run in with NBK."

"Oh yeah! Now I remember everything else. Everything is fine now."

"I thought you were dead, you just all of a sudden failed to respond."

"Yeah, you know, I felt a hand clasp over my nose and mouth, I couldn’t breathe, I passed out, and then you woke me up."

"It didn’t kill you?"

"Apparently not."

"That doesn’t make sense. You’re the first to survive an attack against this thing. What did it feel like, the thing’s touch."

"It felt like a snake, slimy, but not slimy y’know? Dry and smooth."

"Was it scaly?"

"No, it wasn’t scaly, it felt like a rubber synthetic."

"Incredible. This helps a lot you realize. Come on, let’s get you back to Knothole."

11:03 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

When Rotor opened the door to his office, Bunnie nearly pounced on him with joy. She would have to if she hadn’t seen Tails right behind him. She preferred to keep the relationship between them secret, much like Rotor. Nobody ever thought they would be good for each other, just goes to show how little is known amongst everything else in society.

Tails was still quite shaky over the incident, so Bunnie offered him her seat. Rotor activated the computer and entered the program where all the data was tabulated.

"Bunnie, did the search parties bring the report in?"

"Yes they did. Each of them stated that nothing unusual was found near the bodies."

"Any mention of an acidic substance that was yellow and jelly like?"

"No."

"Good, do some tests on this then." He said, tossing her a vial of the acid he had picked up while retrieving Tails. She caught it and headed to the lab for testing. Meanwhile, Rotor tabulated the data from the search party reports. The data on the screen showed like this.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 3: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Torn biceps. Protruding backbone. Missing liver.

Case 4: Deep gash at victim's neck. Victim died by drowning.

Case 5: Right arm torn off. Large scratch found at victim's chest. Deep cuts on all other limbs.

Case 6: Victim’s head bashed in by sharp impact onto a tree. Heart removed, found elsewhere.

Case 7: Missing trachea, victim died by suffocation. Severe blood loss.

Case 8: Decapitation.

Case 9: Victim died due to bite’s to the throat, destroying oxygen circulation.

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Case 3: Hunger

Case 4: Unknown

Case 5: Unknown

Case 6: Unknown

Case 7: Unknown

Case 8: Unknown

Case 9: Unknown

Possible relation to victims:

Case 1 and 2: Both victims Kreczik

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

Witness descriptions of killer:

_

"Now Tails, this is where you come in. First off, did you see what color it was?"

"No, unfortunately. When it clasped it’s hand over my mouth and nose, it closed my eyes as well."

"How many fingers do you figure were on the hands?"

"I’d say three and a thumb."

"Were they long?"

"Yes, extremely long. Four inches almost."

"Did it have claws?"

"Yes."

"What did it feel like?"

"Like a rubber synthetic, slimy, yet dry."

"Much like how a snake feels."

"Snakes aren’t slimy..."

"Just answer the question given."

"Yes, sort of like how a snake feels, but it wasn’t scaly."

"So then it felt more like that stuff I made to seal the leaks in the huts after the hailstorm?"

Tails shook his head slowly.

"No, it was warm, extremely warm."

At that moment Bunnie came back with the results tested on the acid. Rotor glanced at Bunnie astonished.

"That was fast."

Test results on sample 000000A

Sample contains a heavy acidic element that doesn’t match anything on the present Periodic Table.

Radioactivity: None

Corrosive to,

Organic matter: Yes

Metals: Yes

Non-magnetic material: No

States and temperature requirements of solidity:

Solid: 38 degrees Celsius and under

Liquid: between 38 and 72 degrees Celsius

Gas: 73 degrees Celsius and over.

"Tails, you said this thing had a very warm touch, is that correct?"

"Yes, extremely warm."

Rotor rubbed his chin in thought. After a while, his expression began to change.

"Rotor? Did you figure something out?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, the longer I think about it, the more the odds point in that direction. This substance is the creatures blood."

"Blood?" Tails cried. "How can it be? Why doesn’t it shrivel up and melt away? Why doesn’t it’s blood freeze up and just eat it’s way out?"

"Tails, calm down. Now it’s painfully obvious that this creature is warm blooded, which means that like us, it’s body temperature is on the majority of times relatively the same. It also must have a synthetic skin covering, and everything ‘organic’ inside must somehow nourish on this blood, much like we do ours. In other words, the blood’s second use is for self defense. It get’s a beating in a good spot, the blood will ostracize, much like when we get a cut in a vein or an artery."

"You mean it’ll spit out relative to beats of the heart?"

"Exactly, and it’ll most likely aim for the eyes. Once those are hit by this stuff, there’s nothing left in your sockets."

"Ouch! So what do we use to kill it?"

He could tell Rotor hadn’t thought of that. He began thinking there.

"Would any of our energy weapons work?"

"No. Phased plasma cut’s easily through rubber. Once it’s hit with phased plasma, the shooter is in deep trouble, but a good shot would probably kill it. We’re looking for an efficient way to kill it without getting one of our people hurt."

"Laser? Shoot from far enough away and it leaves nasty burns."

"It’s too quick, it could dodge easily. No, what we’d need to kill NBK in the most efficient way would have to be fire."

"Fire?"

"Fire." Rotor nodded.

"That’s great! We’ve got flame-throwers here that we used to fight Peppernook with."

"But flame-throwers present a great danger to anyone nearby. We’d have to get it while it’s down. I doubt this thing sleeps."

"What about electricity?" Bunnie spoke up. Rotor whipped his head in her direction, staring astonished.

12:47 pm

Knothole: Bureau of Military Action

All of Knothole’s soldiers had massed together in the gymnasium. Tails had issued it, something to do with ending the NBK situation. There were murmurs throughout the entire room, everybody asking everybody questions on life, some asking the recipes for the great supper they had at their friends the other night, others telling stories from Peppernook, one case of a female soldier slapping a male soldier who had just asked an inappropriate question. Tails came out from the curtain and touched the mike twice. Everybody turned, sat in their chair and faced the front.

"You’re being issued some new orders. From this day forward, every single one of you is going to work nights. During the times of the security shield being up, each of you will be outside searching for NBK." Some murmurs erupted from the crowd.

"You’ll be armed with this." Tails explained, holding up an electricity gun that made everybody shut up just by looking at it.

"This is a class 5 electronic flux weapon. It weighs approximately eleven kilo’s, and one pull of the trigger sends out an electronic beam capable of frying anybody not protected by any kevlar product. It has it’s own energy supply, and lives off it’s own energy supply as well. Using the energy remaining, it recharges itself by splitting, much like cells do. Split energy is inefficient, but it increases in efficiency as time passes as well. You are to use this weapon against NBK, Rotor believes you won’t have any trouble electrocuting it to the point where the electricity it absorbed gives off temporary convulsions after death. Get some sleep, you leave at seven thirty tonight. Any questions?"

A hand from the back right rose.

"Sir, how long can we hold the trigger down until the juice is gone?"

"The longest shot you have with this will last at most twenty seconds. Which reminds me, if the gun is completely dejuiced, you’re screwed. Any more questions?"

No one’s hand rose.

"Dismissed, and have a good day’s sleep."

2:34 pm

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

Rotor had completed the updates for the deaths. There were in fact 11 instead of 9, so Rotor updated it. Now it looked like this.

Method used for killing:

Case 1: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Bite at the neck. Torn vocal cord. Disfigured trachea. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 2: Missing head. Small scratches found at various points of the body.

Case 3: Slashes to the abdomen, disemboweling victim. Torn biceps. Protruding backbone. Missing liver.

Case 4: Deep gash at victim's neck. Victim died by drowning.

Case 5: Right arm torn off. Large scratch found at victim's chest. Deep cuts on all other limbs.

Case 6: Victim’s head bashed in by sharp impact onto a tree. Heart removed, found elsewhere.

Case 7: Missing trachea, victim died by suffocation. Severe blood loss.

Case 8: Decapitation.

Case 9: Victim died due to bite’s to the throat, destroying oxygen circulation.

Case 10: Face of victim removed. Death caused when victim choked on tongue.

Case 11: Victim died due to severe blood loss. Large cavity in victim’s back and missing spinal cord sections suggests that the victim was paralyzed before dying.

Motive used for killing:

Case 1: Unknown

Case 2: Unknown

Case 3: Hunger

Case 4: Unknown

Case 5: Unknown

Case 6: Unknown

Case 7: Unknown

Case 8: Unknown

Case 9: Unknown

Case 10: Unknown

Case 11: Unknown

Possible relation to victims:

Case 1 and 2: Both victims Kreczik

Related distinctions to victims:

None worth implying

Witness descriptions of killer:

Touch was warm, and rubbery like a synthetic skin. Fingers were relatively four inches long

Rotor smiled. It may have taken awhile, but they were finally getting somewhere. Soon this thing would be dead. He felt satisfied. So satisfied that he was willing to call it a day. As he got up from his chair, he accidentally hit a key on the keyboard. The screen changed to display the death sites. Catching a simple glance at it, Rotor immediately became uneasy.

(The death sites are getting frighteningly close to Knothole.)

(Don’t worry about it, by the time it get’s to the Great Forest, it’ll already be dead.)

(I hope.)

Rotor shook his head and tried to get the thoughts out of his head. NBK was no longer any of his concern. The soldiers are quite capable of taking care of it. He shut off the computer and walked out of the office. Bunnie came in through the front door as Rotor shut the office up.

"Callin’ it a day?" She asked. Rotor figured she must have finished lunch.

"That’s right."

"What’ll you be doin’ case anyone calls?"

Rotor looked at the clock, which displayed a flashing 12:00.

"When did the juice cut?" He asked, pointing to the clock. Bunnie looked up.

"Well ah’ll be danged. Ah didn’t notice that."

"Better check it out. Anyone asks, I’m at the plant."

Bunnie acknowledged with a thumbs up.

Knothole: Power Plant

Danger: High Voltage

The first thing anybody saw when nearing the power plant was the signs. They gave obvious reason why this place was dangerous. Even Rotor used extreme caution when working here. Electricity hummed its toneless hum as Rotor unlocked the front gate. Walking carefully in the marked pathway, he kept an eye out for loose or frayed wiring. When he neared the front door, he punched in the number code on the keypad. It flashed green, and a hidden lock underneath was revealed. He placed the correct key in the lock, turned it, and entered the building. Instantly, the buildings lights came on, and guided Rotor to the touch screen that controlled all of Knothole’s electricity distribution. The screen flashed a request.

1. Add/Remove master or slave modules 2. Add/Remove Client

3. Add/Modify power source 4. Diagnostic reports

Rotor touched the screen where Diagnostic reports was located. The screen changed.

Please specify diagnostic report hours

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

. 0

Rotor touched 4 and then 8. What he saw did not please him and it did not anger him. It scared him.

The residence of Sonic and Sally

The expression on Rotor’s face told Sally something was terribly wrong. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know or not.

"I have bad news Princess, very bad news."

"Well, let’s hear it." She said nervously.

"Tonight is the last night of Shield Up."

Sally sighed and hung her head. She didn’t need this, it was completely unnecessary.

"Okay, clue me in here." She said. Rotor nodded.

"On average, the power plant produces more than enough energy needed to power Knothole. The leftover energy is then placed into auxilary and emergency power. I just discovered that the energy needed to power Knothole during Shield Up is more than the possible output, thus draining our reserves. To make matters worse, the energy in our reserves cannot recharge and become one hundred percent efficient before Shield Up again. Tonight, Knothole will run on inefficient energy, and tomorrow night, all of it will be gone. Knothole will be in a complete blackout for at least thirty six hours. During those thirty six hours, we are completely vulnerable. What do you suggest?"

"I’ll tell you what I suggest. I suggest you get your ass in gear and get that fucking creature killed."

Rotor flinched. He never expected Sally to curse like that.

"What is up for tonight?"

"Uh, Tails is dispatching our entire military to guard the Great Forest boundaries. They’re armed with weaponry that should destroy NBK."

"Should? You’re not completely certain?"

"Sally, recently I’ve figured out that shooting this thing is lethal to the hunter. It’s blood is acidic, and if the first shot doesn’t kill, all NBK needs to do is chuck some blood in it’s attackers eyes. The guns they’ve been assigned are supposed to electrocute NBK within seconds. Only time will tell."

"These guns are supposed to electrocute it?"

"Well, actually, it’s not proven."

"Do you have something that IS proven?"

"Yes, I do know that fire can kill it in the most efficient way possible, and that it will work."

"How?"

"The standard issue flame-throwers we use may not penetrate NBK’s skin layer upon contact, but, it’s so hot, that it’ll evaporate the creature’s acidic blood, it won’t be able to travel to all the bodies systems, therefore, the muscles won’t be nourished and moist, and in the heat, they’ll dry up. NBK will falter and eventually be destroyed by the fire."

"And you didn’t use flame-throwers as standard issue weapons because?"

"In the Great Forest, that poses a bit of threat."

"Good point. Well, I guess it’s up to the soldiers. In the meantime, is there anything you can do to get us more juice?"

"Ooo, let’s see, I can shut off the café replicator, and I can tell people to keep their lights off for the whole day..."

Sally tapped her foot. Rotor sighed and shook his head. Sally nodded her head understandingly, and bit her lip.

"Keep the faith up Sally, NBK will die within a matter of time. There’s no need to worry." He said as he turned to leave.

"Yeah I guess so, even if it is far away from Knothole. So far away that I have nothing to worry about, right?"

Rotor stopped suddenly. Since his back was turned to Sally, he silently mouthed,

"Damn it all."

(I’m in shit now.)

"Right?" She asked nervously.

"Well, uh..."

"Don’t tell me it’s coming here."

"Okay, I won’t."

"ROTOR?"

He grimaced, and turned to face her.

"Sally, it is coming closer to Knothole, slowly, but it is coming closer."

She covered her mouth and staggered to sit down.

"Oh God, no." She whispered.

"Should I leave you?"

She looked up at him.

"No, please, don’t go."

Rotor re-entered the house. He stood by the open door, not knowing what to do. He found it natural that Sally would be slightly afraid about hearing that news, but unfortunately, he wouldn’t know what to do about it. He felt bad. Sally wiped some tears from her eyes and crossed her shoulders over her chest. She was shivering.

"Are you all right princess?"

"No, I’m not. I just found out that some crazed killer is on the loose, and it’s making it’s way toward Knothole." She stuttered.

"Princess, whether or not it’s on it’s way to Knothole is still a mystery. It could change direction."

"But that is uncertain as well. I do know though that we are defenseless as of tomorrow night. It could strike."

"It might not."

"It also might."

"Princess, up until now I’ve had to put up with dead bodies, badly mutilated. I have studied NBK’s every move, every kill, and every contour of it’s physical structure, data permitting. I find it my responsibility to keep some optimism in the air. As long as we fear, we are vulnerable. As long as we believe in ourselves, we will stand and destroy it. NBK has made too many mistakes to overcome us. It will die, I promise you."

Sally looked up at him. His eyes showed determination, optimism, and faith. He stood by what he said. He knew so much that he wasn’t going to tolerate failure. Rotor was a role model for everyone in Knothole the past few years, it was time to believe in him.

"Please, hold me." She requested, her voice quivering. She approached him warily and just leaned against him, digging her tear filled eyes onto his chest. Rotor comfortingly wrapped his arms around her as she quietly sobbed on his chest. He thought of some way to change the subject, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Shouldn’t Sonic do this?"

"He’s off monitoring communication relays, he should be back in about half an hour."

"All right, listen. I want you to tell him everything I’ve said, express how you feel about it. He’s the one you should talk too. I have to go."

He loosened his grip and left the hut.

7:45 pm

Knothole: City Entrance/Exit

There were at least 300 soldiers present at this time equipping themselves with the electric weaponry that Rotor had issued. They’re orders, terminate. Amongst all the clutter, the soldiers were conversing with each other, and joining up in groups. Each of them was scared in some form or another. They were each praying to themselves that they wouldn’t run into NBK. Everyone was in a state of unease. They wanted this state of emergency over. Coincidentally, everything was left up to the residents of Knothole, everyone else had to sit in their cozy corners of the house waiting for the okay. Some groups of soldiers already began dispersing, call it bravery, or stupidity, they had to follow orders. Some 45 minutes later...

"That’s it, all communities indicate their defense shield are up and running." Came a male voice.

"At least THEY have nothing to worry about." Complained another.

"Shut up Kile, you’re just a wuss!" A female voice blurted.

"That may be, Jayn, but remember, my gunnery score kicks yours in the head." Retorted the one named Kile.

"Yeah, when Jayn finds it, we’ll look to the sky for her shots!"

"Good one Spike."

"I may be bad at long range, Spike, but one things for sure, when this guns shoved down your throat, there’s no chance of missing."

"Jeez! That time of month again Jayn? It’s only been six days!"

"Would you Knothole soldiers cut it out? You’re interfering with my Radar!" Someone from one of the nearby communities complained.

"Sorry Viga’daer. All right Knothole soldiers, frequency two eight niner."

Up in a watch tower of the city of Viga’daer, Gel Dofger was monitoring the movements of all the Knothole soldiers. Shortly before, he requested some data on the latest NBK death. The data was just coming through now. Normally such top-secret information wasn’t given out, but the option was up for grabs now that the guards of the communities were allowed to give directions to the soldiers, as long as they were reasonable.

"Squad thirty-niner, do you read?"

He waited. The pair would pick up the signal, but it would take them a while to respond.

"Squad thirty-niner, Lieutenant Commander Hax reporting Viga’daer, something up?"

"Affirmative, check out grid Alpha Gamma for me, would you please?"

"Why? Did you lose a ring?"

"No. Go to grid Alpha Gamma, and hold your position. I believe NBK will come through there."

"Oh, sure. While your at it, send me a burrito, would you?" Came the rude reply.

"What’s the magic word? Move out and hold your position soldier."

"Yes, SIR! Jastic, come on."

Gel shook his head disapprovingly when squad 39 changed course. They WERE heading in the right direction, but that wasn’t what disappointed him. What disappointed him was the ignorance of this particular soldier. He’d talk to Tails in Knothole about it.

(Damn tower guard. Thinks he’s so tough because he can order us around. Tomorrow, I’m calling in sick.)

"Jastic? Where are we?" Hax asked annoyed. He was a burly and quite gruff wolf. The kind of person who not only disliked being pushed around, but also often went his own way, even if his orders were to go in the opposite direction.

"Presently, grid Alpha Gamma, where we were ordered to go, sir."

"Orders my ass. There’s nothing out here but swamp muck, strong vines, funny looking trees, and a bad smell."

Jastic, a coyote, began sniffing in the air. He raised his eyebrows, he noticed the smell too.

"Knothole, this is Jastic, get me Rotor please."

He waited. Hax looked at him and mouthed,

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?"

Jastic put a hand up and listened into his headset. Hax could make out a humming coming from the headset. Jastic must’ve had it turned up dangerously loud, which wasn’t unusual. The hours he spent listening to music, and the volume too, was considered abnormal. His ears were so badly damaged, that when his stereo was off, he didn’t hear his girlfriend leave. He always had a keen ability to read lips. He could never completely hear what you were saying, he just knew that you WERE talking, so he’d face you and read you like a book.

"Yeah, Rotor, can you tell me if NBK has a distinct odor we should be aware of?" He asked politely, another characteristic Hax hated.

"Okay," He smiled, "Yeah good point... I’m with Hax." A short pause, then he started laughing hysterically.

"What? What’d he say?" Hax asked tensely.

"Yeah, thanks Knothole, squad thirty niner out. He said the smell was probably you." He laughed. Hax looked Jastic in the eye, and he immediately shut up. One characteristic Hax liked about Jastic, he was sometimes cowardly.

"You find that funny?" He threatened. Jastic could tell that the smell was much closer now. It WAS in fact Hax. He tried to keep a burst of laughter down.

"Keep one thing in mind Jastic, I have an itchy trigger finger, and if you cuss me again, I’ll shoot the first thing that moves, understand?"

Jastic stood his ground. Hax bared his sharp teeth in threat, and tossed him aside. He headed off into the mist nearby.

"W-where are you going?" Jastic cried out. Hax responded, but neglected to face him, so he couldn’t lip read. Within seconds, Jastic was alone, but he knew that Hax would return. He’s seen him do this sort of thing before.

"All squads report."

"Nothing to report home base." He called into his headset. He listened as others on the same channel reported in.

"Squad two six reports clean."

"Ditto for squad three three.

"Aye, anna squad seven one reports all clean ‘ere, eh?"

"Jastic, how come the scanner reports you as alone?"

Jastic jumped, how would he explain this?

"Hax is, uh, well..."

"Relieving himself?"

Jastic felt relief flow up his spine. It was very unstrategic to give Jastic a suggestion...

"Exactly, sir."

Especially when he can use it to his advantage.

"Well tell him to hurry up. We don’t need any more dead heroes."

"Yes sir, Jastic out."

He turned the headset off and checked his watch. 9:15 pm. Another 11 hours of walking around the forest aimlessly. Maybe even less if someone shot straight.

Elsewhere...

"I swear, Spike is a dead dumbass!" Jayn complained to herself. She was one of the common folk in Knothole, a natural fox. She had a quick mouth, a warrior's instinct, and the aggressiveness to boot. When it came to sniping, she was last in line. That’s why she was paired up with another Knothole commoner, Shaila, who was an orange hedgehog with pink dyed bangs. Anything she didn’t have, Jayn did. Anything Jayn didn’t have, she did. She was an expert marksperson. Give her something to shoot at, and 8 out of 10 times it was good as shot.

"Spike is obnoxious, nothing more."

"All brawn and no brain."

"Actually, he’s got a good deal of both."

"Shut up Shaila."

"Maybe he was right too. How long has it been? Six days?"

"Oh come on! I’m not pre-menstrual."

"Yeah, if you were pre-menstrual, Spike would be headless in two seconds."

"Just some days when everyone’s a jerk."

"Know what you mean."

"No you don’t!"

"Who says? I find it very annoying when it comes, and I’m only seventeen!"

"Believe me girl, it get’s very annoying."

"Thanks for saying so."

They both sat there for a while, guns in their holsters, arms crossed. They were at the location they needed to be, but now there was nothing to do.

"This is most definitely not where this stupid NBK is going to show up." Jayn finally said.

"What makes you think so?" Shaila asked. Jayn shrugged.

"Call it a sixth sense."

"Has this sense always worked?"

"Every time."

"Well then we should get a move on, but if I find out later that NBK came this way, I’m saying that I went with you because you had the gun to my head."

Jayn smiled.

"Right whatever." She replied sarcastically. She checked her watch, 9:15 pm. Another 11 hours of wandering through the forest aimlessly. Maybe even less if someone shot straight.

Spike was a bulky Mobian from Oakridge. He came to Knothole to join the military as a foot soldier. Like all other bears, he was naturally strong and aggressive. Unlike bears like him, he was very well educated. He also had many different things on his head at one time. His imagination was wild, which sometimes caused him to drift away from what he was supposed to do. Most of the time when he drifted, it’s because he was bored. Like now.

"Spike? Spike, pick up the pace man! Where are you going?" Called his companion, Tyl.

Tyl was another typical fox, just rather small for his age, which came in handy. He was quick, agile, and best of all, slick. He’d stay on your tail until you made a mistake. Many called him "The Grader." Only those that managed to evade him got high marks. Anyone who made a mistake, failed immediately. He never missed when it counted. The only reasons why his accuracy wasn’t perfect was because he wanted to use his weapon to lure his target into a better and easier location. If he wanted too, he’d never miss. He knew just when to shoot, to dodge, and to run. He was one of the best soldiers in the bunch. If he’d only choose better weapons, maybe he’d be the best. He’s had the same firearm since childhood, and it works wonders for him.

"Whatcha been dreaming about this time?" Tyl asked politely. Spike shook his head.

"There something on your mind?" He asked. Spike shook his head.

"There SOMEONE on your mind?" He asked with a smile. Spike rolled his eyes and nodded.

"HA! I knew it! Who’s the lucky girl?" He asked, his English accent became much more distinct now.

"It’s no one, really." Spike said, trying to ignore Tyl.

"Aww come on now mate, y’all can tell the ol’ grader here. Not like I’m gonna go shootin’ off my mouth er nothing. Now come on, who is it?" He pushed. Spike sighed. "Do you have to know?"

"No, not at all, you don’t have to tell me, but I won’t shut up until ya tell me." He warned, and clicked his tongue.

"Never mind." Spike said.

"All righty, then I’ll guess, and wait ‘til you flinch. Erikka?"

Spike didn’t flinch.

"Shayla?"

Spike still didn’t flinch.

"Jessika? Jayn? Flika?"

"Flika? No one likes that snob!"

"See how little y’know, big bear? Actually, me ole ears heard that Hax has taken quite a likin’ to the little miss Flika."

"Hax? Hax likes Flika?" Spike asked Tyl.

"Sho’nough. Why, ya suprised?"

"I think anybody’d be surprised if they find out Hax like ANYONE. But Flika? I mean, she’s got less chest then the walls of the city!"

"Spike, I’m shocked. Is that what you think makes a woman? Her bust size? Flika’s attitude runs around that very same predicament. She’s all right y’know, just because she’s a tad flat doesn’t mean she ain’t Mobian inside. That’s what counts really." The conversation stopped there as the pair moved toward the location where they were supposed to meet up with another squad. Tyl was thinking to himself. Then it hit him.

"You like Foggy, doncha?"

Spike jumped, and at the time, he was holding a branch. It swung back and smacked Tyl on the nose. He rubbed it gently, but laughed triumphantly.

"I knew it, I knew it Spike. You like Foggy."

"Keep it quiet, Tyl, no one else knows."

"Hey, Spike, if it means that much to you, I swear by the lifespan of these trees, you’re secret is as good as kept. Only you, these here trees, and m’self know this secret. Y’all go on ahead, I be needin’ to let out a river here."

Spike grunted and moved on. Tyl reached into his pant pocket and took out a switchblade. He began to carve into a nearby tree.

"Unfortunately for Spike, the trees today can never keep their mouth shut."

He carved a heart onto the tree, and inside, he carved Spike + Foggy. He chuckled to himself and scolded at the tree.

"I said under my word that we’d keep this secret, tree."

He began to carve the same thing in another nearby tree.

"Oh, you’re such a mischievous bunch of conifers." He scolded again. He checked his watch. 9:15 pm. Another 11 hours of wandering in the forest aimlessly. Maybe less if someone shot straight. He continued to carve the mark into every tree he saw in the near vicinity. He was on the 6th when his ear twitched.

"Eh?" He said out loud, looking around. Something was out here, and he couldn’t see it. He pulled out his gun and replaced his switchblade. He could see nothing, it was dark, and misty. He pulled out a small light and shone it into the fog.

"Spike?" He called into the communicator. "You better come here."

He looked as far as he could through the fog, but there was nothing there. He turned around. There was nothing behind him either. He looked up. Still nothing.

"Spike? Spike?!"

(Oh dear God, no.)

He lowered himself down to avoid visual detection. He was trying to breathe calmly and steady his heartbeat, and maybe even quiet it down. A hand clasped over his mouth, and he let out a muffled cry.

Elsewhere...

"Say again?" Jastic spoke into the communicator. He tapped it twice, and there was no response.

"Hax, I think we have trouble." He cried out. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hear his response, so he continued,

"Trace me on the transmitter, come as quickly as you can." He instructed. He checked his watch. 9:30 pm.

Elsewhere...

"Come again Tyl? What did you say?" Shayla spoke into her communicator. Static was her only response.

"What is it, Shayla?" Jayn asked.

"Sounded like Tyl, he just gave out a surprised muffled cry, I can’t reach him now." Her expression turned to a worried one.

"We’d better hurry." Jayn ordered. They drew their guns and began to trace Tyl on their transmitters. Shayla checked her watch. 9:30 pm.

Elsewhere...

"Need to let a river out you said. Awfully long time to let out a river now, isn’t it Tyl?" Spike asked as he withdrew his hand from Tyl’s mouth.

"Blimey, Spike. D’ya always sneak up on people like that?" Tyl cursed.

"Only liars Tyl, only liars." He pointed to the mark on each tree.

"If Foggy sees those carvings Tyl, it’s your head."

"And if she likes them?" He asked, hoping there was a way out of it.

"Then you will be so kind as to let me have all the credit, right?" Spike threatened.

"Sure thing Spike. No problem." He assured. He always thought Spike had a soft spot. He found it, but the trouble was, Spike didn’t like his soft spot, and so he hid it behind severe aggression. Spike must’ve hated his bashfulness. He joined Spike up on the way to their destination.

"Wait!" Spike whispered loudly. On instinct, Tyl withdrew his gun.

"Somethin’ cookin mate?" He asked quietly.

"Some... someone’s here."

"Someone? Well then we don’t need these then."

"Wait, if it’s someone we know, wouldn’t they have warned us of their presence?"

Tyl looked at his companion astonished.

"A plus Spike, well done." He said, raising his gun to a comfortable position. He could see nothing, neither could Spike. Tyl knew that in a situation like this, panic was out of the question. He refrained from looking around frantically.

"Where’d you hear it?" He asked Spike.

"It came from this direction." He said, motioning with his head in the direction they were facing. "Listen Tyl, if I don’t make it, can you tell Foggy that..." He stopped. He could feel something cold and sharp touch the side of his head.

"If you think you’re going to die, maybe I should just make it painless for you then, eh? You’re on my team Spike, and no one from my team..."

"FREEZE!" Came a voice from the bushes. Tyl whipped his head around. He faced a pair of soldiers, their guns were pointed at him.

"Jayn? Shayla? What d’you think you’re doing?" He asked surprised.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Grader. Why is your gun at Spike’s head?"

Tyl looked at his gun, and eased away from Spike’s head.

"Long story really girls. He thought that y’all was NBK, got the chills, thought he was going to die."

"So you hold the gun to his head?" Shayla asked, misunderstanding written all over face.

"A soldier who thinks he’s dead, is dead, miss." He stated, holstering his weapon. The two girls and Spike did the same.

"We heard you give out a muffled cry over the communicator, we thought something happened."

"That’s what I thought too!" said Jastic as he came out of the bushes. "So what happened?"

Tyl looked at Spike. As he expected, Spike was giving him a look that said, "Keep it quiet, keep your life." Still looking at Spike, he said,

"I tripped."

"You? The Grader? Tripped?" Jayn asked, a smile growing on her face. "That’s new."

"Yeah, well, even the best of soldiers mess up."

Jastic was looking around, like he was lost.

"Jastic? Something wrong?"

"Yeah, there is. Anybody seen Hax?"

Everyone looked at everyone else, thinking one of them was going to acknowledge the question. Nobody did.

"Shit. Where’d he go?"

"Let’s track him." Spike suggested.

"Good idea. Is he in one of those moods, kid?"

Jastic nodded.

"Someone cheesed him, and he ran off. He probably turned his transmitter off, but..." He put the frequency on his transmitter. The viewscreen changed and a picture of Shayla came up on the view screen.

"Wrong frequency bud," She said. "but thanks for caring." She winked. Jastic looked up from his communicator and raised an eyebrow as everyone quietly laughed. He shook his head and re-typed the frequency. The vid screen changed to that like a radar circle. A line extending from the centre rotated clockwise in the circle, blipped, and showed a dot near the centre, just to the right. He waited for it to blip again. The dot didn’t move.

"He’s sitting still, about a hundred yards down that way." He pointed towards the north.

"Jastic, that can’t be, one hundred yards down that way is the dead bottom of a ravine." Jayn pointed out.

Day 5

8:26 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"Who died now?" Rotor asked into the headset. He was bored, and angry. Angry that even with the amazing numbers of military out in the forest, NBK still managed to kill someone.

"Hax this time sir."

"Hax?"

(Shit! This thing shows no fear in choosing it’s victims)

"Where’d you find him?"

"The bottom of the ravine, sir."

"Sure enough, a dead straight line from the last one. I imagine the morale of the troops is falling?"

"No sir, they had a good laugh about it."

Rotor raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn’t sound right."

"Well, what are you to expect? He wandered off on his own."

"He did? He deserves it then. Get some rest soldier, thank you for the report."

"I know you don’t mean that."

Rotor smiled.

"Get some sleep. That’s an order."

"Yes sir, Jastic out."

(Those troops have been out there for the whole night! They aren’t used to this. I just hope and pray that this’ll all be over soon)

The days grew ever more stressful for everyone who had to live with the chaos that NBK had given them.

"Are we really this incapable Rotor? We’ve fought a nasty tyrant over the years, finally overthrew him, and we’ve gotten rid of a psycho sorcerer before he even started to terrorize us. Why is it different now?" Bunnie asked him. She didn’t expect an answer. She understood how stressful this must be on him, but still, she felt as though she was pressing him on.

"To be honest Bunnie, we are incapable. Robotnik was stupid, made big mistakes, and we capitalized on them all. We were lucky with Enerjak, but he was also very overconfident. This... thing knows just what to do, and when to do it. It’s almost errorless, and we can’t stop it."

"Don’t say that! We can stop it!"

"But at what cost? What have we already lost to this killer? I’ll tell you, we’ve lost twelve innocent people to that thing alone, and not just that. The state of emergency resulted in the death of over a hundred lives."

"But Peppernook rebelled!"

"It doesn’t matter, there wouldn’t have been a massacre if NBK didn’t show up. And there’s more, what if it’s not the only one? What if there’s more? What’ll we lose then? You really have to respect these creatures, for they are not like anything we’ve ever fought before. They’ll chew us up and spit us out. If there is another death tonight, they’ll have beaten Robotnik’s record for deaths in a week! This is by far the worst enemy we’ve encountered."

He rested his head in the palm of his hand. Bunnie swore he was almost insane. Never before was he like this.

"What can we do?"

"What can we do? We’ve been asking ourselves that question for I don’t know how long. The goal still stands, we have to kill it. There’s just no other way. But that task is almost impossible! It is smarter than any individual on the planet. It attacks when it is in the safest position. The only way we can kill it, is if we know just where it’s going to strike next. Then, and only then, will we beat it."

"Did it take this long to realize that?"

"No, I always considered that an option, and tried to find some other way of unleashing fatal wrath upon it. But it knows when to hit, and when to fall back. It also knows that we are on it’s trail."

"Does it know that eventually we will win?"

"Bunnie, we don’t even know that. The evidence is slamming into my head finally, and I am getting my first taste of pessimism."

"Are you saying that you’re willing to give up?!"

"I will never give up, but I wouldn’t be a fool if I did so."

"Do you know where it could strike next?"

"I’ve got eight different ideas. Eight miles in any direction on the compass rose."

Bunnie stared at him, and blinked.

"Eight miles north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest...

"Yeah, ah get it now. So are you going to stage the men in those locations?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because everytime I do something with uncertainty, someone else dies, and in a totally different spot than I expected. The best thing to do is to keep security out, and strike when I’m one hundred percent sure."

"Uh huh, and until then?"

Rotor was stumped. He simply shrugged and said,

"We keep trying."

3:46 PM

Knothole: The residence of Sonic and Sally

Sally had just gotten word that Hax had died. It made her stomach turn. She needed answers, unfortunately, she believed that Rotor would have nothing for her. Nevertheless, she ordered him to report. He had just stepped in, and he knew what was on her mind.

"Am I to understand, Rotor, that one of our best soldiers was killed yesterday?"

"Yes ma’am."

"And he was found at the bottom of a ravine?"

"Yes ma’am."

"And he was badly mutilated?"

"Yes ma’am."

"And it was done by NBK?"

"Yes ma’am. Would you like to take over the investigation?" He retorted.

"Watch it buster, or you’ll find yourself bound, gagged, and in the middle of nowhere tonight."

Rotor grunted. He hated how Sally rubbed it in that she had higher authority over him. It made him feel that she was saying she could do better. Even when she changed the subject, she sounded like she was better.

"Should I assign Geoffrey St. John’s men out with their dogs to accompany our incapable men?"

"It has nothing to do with incapableness Sally." He said, shifting his weight. He’d been standing most of the day, so when Sally offered him a seat, he gladly took it. "Hax was killed because he defied orders, and didn’t heed to the warning."

"Which was?"

"Do not travel the forest alone."

"Ah, and his death was the latest, correct?"

"Incorrect."

"Pardon?"

"Another victim was just found four hours ago, face down in a slough."

"That doesn’t sound like a death by NBK."

"His head was the only thing in the water. The rest of him was found hanging from the pier."

"I stand corrected." She said. Rotor had noticed how quickly her attitude toward him had changed. Although, he wasn’t surprised when she started rolling out the questions, again.

"Do you have any more suggestions?"

"One. Our men mustn’t travel the forest alone. They must be in groups at all times."

"And those who stay in groups remain protected?"

"It’s not assured. NBK may even attack when it’s victim is in a small group of maybe two to three soldiers, but it can only attack one soldier at a time. While one person is being attacked, the other has ample opportunity to shoot it."

"Supposing the soldier with the upper hand doesn’t get cold feet."

"If they do, it’ll be their last time.

"Have you got any possible locations where NBK could attack next?"

"Yeah, somewhere on the planet."

"That isn’t very reassuring Rotor."

"Well, how this thing avoids our sophisticated equipment beats me too. We can only see it physically. It avoids all of our forms of scanning and vision enhancement. We can’t even see it with heat vision!"

"Why not?"

"Apparently, NBK can live in absolutely any temperature it is presently in. Not only that, but it also matches the temperature of the ground it’s standing on."

"So if it stands on ground that’s ten degrees hot..."

"It’ll become ten degrees."

"But I thought that it was warm blooded!"

"Apparently, we were wrong about that too."

"Geez!" Sally cried out, slamming her fist into the wall. Rotor didn’t have to be the rocket scientist he was to know that Sally wasn’t pleased with his report, but he kept his calm.

(It’s her own damned fault. She’s the one who asked to see me, even though she knew there was no good news for her)

"So, what have you got planned?" She asked him, hope written all over in her eyes.

"We do the same thing tonight. I’ll analyze the results and report to you if you wish."

He got up to leave. Sally placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He heard her say,

"Don’t talk to me of this again unless you have good news." It wasn’t a threat, nor a warning, it sounded like more of a plea, the type of thing a starving beggar would ask if he was helpless.

"Then you won’t be hearing from me for a long time."

8:56 pm

Northwestern Guard Tower of Viga’daer

Gel Dofger felt bad about leading Hax to his doom, as would anyone. He had been court martialed the very next morning, and was found to be innocent, but still, the thought clung to his brain like a burr would his fur. He HAD given Hax the request to move out to a better position, and Hax did in fact go to that position, but Hax separated himself from his team mate, and consequently ended his life. On top of that, another victim was found dead at the pier, which wasn’t too far off from where Hax had died, nor was it too far away from the city.

Like everyone else on the continent, the question on his mind was

(Who will be next?)

who the next victim would be.

(Me?)

He shuddered, and quickly groped for his weapon, standard issue assault rifle, ballistic class. He cupped his hand over the safety catch and held it there as the relief passed through him as realized that just by flicking that switch, pointing the gun, and pulling the trigger, he could kill anything. His gun was his best friend, the one he thought highest of when on the job. It couldn’t compare to his wife and kids at home though, nothing could take THOSE loves away from him.

"Break me, shake me, and hate me, but I’ll always love my wife and kids."

He sighed happily, and closed his eyes. He drifted off as the clicking sounds started crescendoing. By the time a clawed hand had groped it’s way up to the window, he was unconcious.

In less than two minutes, he was deader than a doorknob.

Day 6

7:56 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

"Died in his sleep? What a lucky guy." Rotor mumbled. "What of the rest of the city?"

"No one reported dead or missing sir."

"No one? No one? Check again." He requested. The communication link went standby, and Rotor turned to Bunnie, a look of awe on his face.

"All those innocent people, all unarmed, supposedly safe behind the city walls, and yet, NBK just kills one security guard, and dashes through the city!"

"Unseen?" Bunnie asked. Rotor nodded.

"Apparently, everyone was asleep at the time Dofger died. No one heard a scream, no one knew he died. But no one else died, which... hold on."

"Check confirmed sir, no one else is missing or dead. Would you like me to check again?"

"No, that’s all right Viga’daer." Rotor said, and ended the link. He immediately jumped deep in thought. Bunnie decided to punch in the new data into the computer for future reference, if necessary.

"Whatcha thinkin about now? Surely not NBK. If he kills an armed man, and leaves innocents alive, then he surely must be an honorable creature."

Rotor shook his head.

"No, it’s killed innocents before. The child at Oakridge, Dr. Fyt, even it’s mother. What’s on my mind is, why leave all those innocents alive when it had the chance?"

"Maybe it didn’t want to attract attention."

"It can kill silently without anyone knowing, but good thinking."

Now Bunnie joined Rotor in pondering.

"Have you ever tried to think like it?"

"Oh yes, many times, but it’d help a lot of I was a ruthless killer. Would also help if I knew just what specific qualities his victims had that caused them to strike such an interest for NBK."

"Well, none of the victims have a common characteristic, but, maybe it has nothing to do with the victims..."

Rotor’s attention was suddenly sparked.

"You have an idea that may link the victims?"

"No, ah’m just saying it might have nothing to do with them at all."

"But if the victims had no part in it, that only leaves... location..."

8:23 am

Knothole: Diner

Antoine had just donned on his uniform, newly starched. He was proud, not only because he had done such a fine job of starching, but also that he carried all the honor that his family name had aquired upon his shoulders. He was proud to be a D’Coolette. The only downside, he was hungry. That’s why he came to the diner. At this hour, breakfast choices were up for grabs, and he particularly, was in the mood for a typical french breakfast, Omellette du Champignons. Walking into the diner, he detected the smell of fresh Hashbrowns, and simply snorted. One thing he disliked about his fellow citizens is that they had no class of food, not like him, who ate a specific style of food, known as delicacies. He smiled. Perhaps he was being a bit conceited, but he loved his background. He had seleted his usual spot in the diner, the far right corner, by the double windows. As he took his seat, he noticed the atmosphere was different. No one was cheerful, they all had looks of worry and anxiety on their faces. Some constantly looked out the window, as though looking for someone. This disturbed Antoine. He was still pondering the people’s disturbance when the waitress came around.

"Good morning sir, may I take your order? Or will you have the usual again?" She asked. Her voice and smile were sweet, which went well with her rather large chest features. This pleased Antoine.

"Please, mon cherie, ze usual zis morning." He said rather suavishly. She giggled and blushed.

"Ah-ah, mon ami Antoine, you flatter with me with your words. I’ll be back soon."

She turned and slowly walked to the kitchen. The sway in her hips as she walked caught Antoine’s eye and again he smiled. When she disappeared, he resumed his studying of the mood in the room. Surely people were uptight because of NBK, after all, there was no other explanation. His mind suddenly drifted off, and he was in the forest, it was dark. He couldn’t see. Then, pairs of eyes, in different colors and sizes began popping out of nowhere, disappearing and reappearing... He shook his head to come out of it before it got too severe. A soft tinkling noise sounded, and Antoine instinctively looked up to see who had set off the door’s entry/exit signal. He was a bit relieved to see Tails enter through the door. Tails took notice of him, and approached the table where he sat. Antoine greeted him with a simple upward tilt of the head. Tails nodded in turn.

"Mushroom Omelette again?"

"Oui, but please, eet ees an Omelette du Champignons. A delicacy." He stated. Tails smiled.

"Sure frenchy, whatever." He commented, taking a seat across from him. Immediately a conversation started.

"So, Tails, what ees new in your neck of ze woods, hmm?"

"Not easy. I had to risk sending out some patrols of troops in singles yesterday night, cause we had to up the security at the gates. They all came back alive thank God, although I can’t say the same for the Viga’daer guard."

"Agreed, ze poor fellow. Killed in hees sleep I heard."

"Indeed he was, ‘best way to go’ Rotor says."

"And perhaps he ees right young one. NBK ees a very efficient killer, and sometimes also, ‘ow you say, merciful?"

"Merciful to his victims, but merciless in his decision. Rotor and Bunnie were discussing it at the Bureau. Something now about nothing to do with the victims at all."

"Je m’excuse, Tails, I don’t quite understand."

"Rotor had always been thinking that NBK killed who it killed because it had a certain characteristic about them. The data they have proves this wrong, as they all seem to be random killings."

"Je comprende, but isn’t it true, that all the killings had a direct geometrical relation to the previous one?"

"Apparently so. All the killings have ocurred in an area around the previous one, but if you retraced your steps from death a to death b, you wouldn’t have to change your course. Walking in a straight line would take you to the next one."

"‘Tees scary in a way."

"Well, it’s days are numbered, that’s a definite certainty. Something wrong?"

"No, no, I’m just thinking... all ze deaths have had to do with ze location of a victim then!"

"Come again?"

"Well, NBK will kill, and zen leave ze scene quickly, so as not to leave anybody knowing as to which direction he went. But, if zere were any witnesses, he’d leave zem alone, correct?"

"Maybe, good thinking Ant. Oh, breakfast is served."

The waitress returned, carrying a steaming hot omelette on a medium sized plate. She carefully placed it down in front of Antoine, then turned to Tails.

"Can I get you anything sir?" She asked, adressing him as formally as possible. Tails was very polite in his request,

"What would you suggest?"

"The hashbrowns are going fast, but we still have some pancakes coming, so if you want dibs on those..."

"I shall have the pancakes then."

"Three or four?"

"Four please, with a slab of butter on the side."

"Right away." And with that, she turned and headed back to the kitchen.

"Everybody here seems so quiet?"

"Oui, I too noticed. Must be ze anxiety."

"Or the fear that anyone could be next."

Antoine nodded, "Or zat."

Tails waited for Antoine to finish a mouthful of Omelette he had just started chewing. He could tell Antoine was going to add something to his opinion.

"What I do not understand, ees zat NBK had the chance to kill many innocent people at Viga’daer. Eet also could’ve pulled eet off wizout attracting attention to eetself. Why didn’t it?"

"That question just backs up the theory that it has something to do with location. At any rate, it’s getting closer to Knothole, and we’d best be ready."

"Agreed."

Tails waited a while for his pancakes to arrive. When they did, they arrived with a child’s activity sheet underneath the plate. He grunted.

"Diner policy. All customers thirteen and under get activity sheets with their order." Said the waitress with a smile. "Although, I’m pretty sure you’ve got the maturity of a seventeen year old, sir."

"Damned right. Living through a war most of your early life, living with seriousness seventy-five percent of the time, and inheriting command of the military will do that to you." He said with a touch of bravado. He thanked the waitress, who simply smiled and nodded. He ate his pancakes at a slow pace, trying to figure out why they tasted differently than last time. Afterward, he gently pushed his plate aside and began working on the crossword.

"Wis nossing to do, mind as well just work on zees childish little zing, eh?" Antoine hinted with a smirk. Tails nodded annoyedly.

"Nothing better to do, after all, the soldiers are getting their sleep. What’s a five letter word for ‘the opposite of life’?"

"Death?"

"No, that can’t be it, the third letter has to be an S."

Antoine took a look at the crossword. He quickly discovered Tails’ problem.

"A nine letter word for ‘leaving one’s residing area’ would, in zis case, be ‘emigrated,’ not ‘sent away.’ Eet’s one word."

"Nyah." Tails said, sticking his tongue out and erasing his answer. "Hell, I’m just going to do the connect-the-dots. Antoine, help me find the first one. Ant? Ant, what’s wrong?"

8:59 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigations.

As soon as Antoine made his amazing discovery, he jumped and ran to the Bureau, leaving Tails stunned at the table.

"Rotor! Quick! Display all of ze murder sites on ze computer!"

Rotor, who was rather startled by Antoine’s sudden burtsing entrance, looked at him like he had just been pied in the face unknowingly.

"Woah! Calm down Ant! You scared the shit outta me!"

Antoine looked puzzled. "I did? Funny, I do not smell any sheet."

Rotor rolled his eyes. "I wasn’t speaking literally. Now, what is with the murder sites?"

"Ahh, oui, oui, zat ees why I am here. Please, put zem on ze computer screen."

Rotor clicked away at the computer keyboard. Antoine waited patiently, anxiety building up within him.

"Antoine, do you know something I don’t? Come on, out with it."

"Mon ami Rotor, I figured out how we can track down NBK."

"How?" Rotor asked, his attention sparked and ready.

At this time, the death site map was on the screen. All the death sites were shown as white dots on the screen. Antoine pointed to the site of the first death site.

"We connect ze dots!"

Rotor’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped. He turned his head to face the computer screen.

"Computer, draw a straight line from the first death site to each of the other death sites, in order of event, until you get to the most recent."

Rotor and Antoine watched. The computer did as asked, and when it was finished, it came out with a really odd looking design. Rotor raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn’t seem to give us much more of a hint..."

"Wait..." Antoine blurted. He studied the display strongly, doing some mental calculations. Rotor could tell he was concentrating hard, but he couldn’t tell what he was concentrating on.

"Computer... remove all fragments of ze line from ze third death site onward." Antoine ordered. The computer did so. Antoine pointed at the new design.

"Look! See how much eet resembles ze letter T?"

Rotor leaned forward and the expression on his face turned to awe. It WAS in fact the letter T, just rather akward looking because the middle part was slanted inward.

"Computer, make this line more like the letter T." He ordered. The slant in the display shifted position, and moved itself to form a better letter T.

"Antoine, I think we may just have found out where the next attack will be! We must try and get the rest of these death sites and try to make them letters as well."

Antoine looked discouraged.

"Mon ami, we will be in here for a long time zen. Zese next ones get tougher and tougher."

7:56 pm

Knothole: Eastern Residential District

Another day had come and gone, and again, no reports of NBK anywhere. Tails figured this was a good thing. If no one saw it, no one died, supposedly.

(Could someone have died?)

(Naw, they all checked in after the patrol)

(Right, nothing seen by anyone)

Tails sighed. Killing NBK had become his responsibility, and thus, the responsibility is shared by his soldiers. He had faith in his soldiers, but what good what that do him if his soldiers didn’t have faith in themselves?

He shrugged it off. More soldiers were dispatched with dogs, trained to kill on command. This all helped to relieve Tails’ anxiety, but he still couldn’t shake the possibility that even the dogs may get frightened. He could see it now. A two-man patrol, in the thickest parts of the forest. Their dog sniffing, growling, and driving onward with the scent of NBK getting stronger... suddenly, the growling stops, the dog’s ears flatten out, and it cringes back, whimpering. The soldiers, seeing all the dog’s aggressiveness suddenly become nothing more than timidness, also lose faith. Fear takes over. NBK strikes. Game over. Try again with another set.

Tails shivered. Was it really that easy for NBK to kill? He didn’t know, but he guessed affirmatively. NBK could’ve killed him, but for some strange reason, it kept him alive. No one else had survived an encounter with NBK. No one lived to tell, or realize for that matter, that they stared NBK in the eyes, except Tails.

(Did I really get a good look at him?)

(So long ago...)

(So frightening)

(Just forget it. It can’t survive much longer)

Tails unlocked the door to his house, a sturdy bamboo hut, and opened the door. It felt good to be out away from the night sky. Lately, the darkness had been giving him the chills.

"Snowflake? You home?" He called. The lights were on, but Snowflake always had a habit of leaving them on, even when she left the hut, so Tails wasn’t ever sure if she was home or not.

"Snowflake?" Tails called again. Still no answer. Tails figured that she wasn’t home. To be sure, he began checking around for a note. He checked the bulletin board... Nope.

The dining room table... Nope. The only thing there was an empty glass.

Tails did find a note, on the living room table. It read,

Hey sexy boy,

Won’t be home till around 10. I’ll be at Rotor’s having tests done for the deroboticization. Keep the door unlocked, otherwise I’ll have to kick it down. If I do that, I won’t be able to lock it now, will I?

Signed,

Your sexy, seductive Snowflake.

Tails twitched uncomfortably. For her age, Snowflake was rather naughty, and Tails was never quite ready for her spontaneous ‘desires,’ even though they were almost always similar. She’d wait till he was off his guard, then pounce him, then rest her head on his chest, softly stroking his neck and face. Her warm breath would tickle his throat with each time she exhaled...

Tails shook his head and cleared his throat. Man, did she have an affect on his concentration. Thank God she only teased and played when the time was appropriate, and when no one was around. She knew Tails was sensitive about that. He liked Snowflake, but Sally wouldn’t probably approve of their ‘interactions.’ Once, his keen hearing caught Sonic conversing with Sally, asking whether it was ‘time’ to tell Tails about ‘it.’ Something they both knew, but Tails didn’t. Whatever ‘it’ was, it must’ve made Sonic nervous, because he could never talk about ‘it’ without losing his ground. Whatever made Sonic nervous must not’ve been good.

Tails sighed and headed into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and removed his military gear. He wiped one of his hands down his arm and grimaced. That armor he had clad on him had caused him to sweat somewhat terribly. He opened the shower door, and twisted the faucets. As always, ice cold water shot down on his arms instantly before he could pull away. He closed the door to prevent splashback as goosebumps developed under his fur. He stood by the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. His light brown eyes resembled the color of his fur quite well. Was that it? Was that why Snowflake was so attracted to him? His eyes? Sally says that the eyes can do much more than see. She says when she looks into Sonic’s eyes, they talk to her brain, telling her that they belonged to a fabulously handsome hedgehog, and that she should love that fabuously handsome hedgehog. She also said that those eyes know Sally so well, they could pick her out in a crowded area easily.

Tails frowned. What was all this schmuck Sally had been telling him lately? Everyone knows eyes can’t talk.

His attention was returned to the shower. He could see steam pouring up and over the door. He opened it and put his arm under the shower head to test it. Too hot. Cautiously and quickly, Tails adjusted the hot water flow slightly. Soon, the water temperature became bearable, and he stepped in.

Tails hated taking showers, or anything that involved both cleaning himself and water. He had amazingly thick fur, so trying to get his skin wet was a difficult task. Not only that, but when his fur got wet, the smell got rather strong. It wasn’t a bad smell, nor was it a good smell. The worst that it did was make his fur heavy and uncomfortable. He also had to spend longer soaping himself down. Sometimes after doing so, it left knots in his fur, but that wasn’t so bad after Rotor had made that new brush for him, which ripped knots of fur right out of placement. The upside to the brush was that it was painless, and it never got stuck in his fur when it had knots. The downside was that it pulled a heck of a lot more fur out compared to his other brushes. It didn’t make too much of a difference much of the time, but now and then, it did.

After a good 45 minutes, Tails turned the shower off, and just stood still, inhaling and exhaling the steam in the room. He pictured himself opening the door, towel wrapped his waist, steam pouring out the open door, and running into Snowflake. She’d look at the steam pouring out and say something like, "Who was in there with you?" or "Hmmph! Having fun without me?"

The latter Tails didn’t understand, even though he knew she meant them as jokes. He then remembered one time he passed by the bathroom when she was coming out, and a lot of steam poured out through the door as she was leaving. It was then that he had said,

"Hmm, I didn’t know you had a hot shower." She just smiled at him, winked, and said,

"I didn’t." When Tails rose his eyebrow, she fell into a heap of laughter. Turns out she did have a hot shower, but the water pressure was so low the pump didn’t make any noise, so Tails wouldn’t know. Tails nodded but didn’t tell Snowflake that he didn’t raise his eyebrow for that reason. What confused him was why she had burst out laughing after he raised his eyebrow.

Tails chuckled, and shook his head.

"Women."

He turned the knob on the bathroom door and pushed it open. He took two steps outward and was tossed from his feet as something big and heavy slammed into him from the side. Tails grunted as he hit the ground and immediately tried to get up. He felt something sharp stab into four different parts of his back. He cried out in pain, and realized that Snowflake wasn’t what pounced him.

He couldn’t push himself up. Whatever was in top of him had him in a bad position. If he moved upward, whatever was in his back would dig deeper. It hit him.

(Claws! There are claws in my back!)

He struggled to roll over, if only just enough to see what was attacking him. He turned his head enough to see a black creature. It’s head was long, and curved backward. It had no eyes, no ears, no nose, just a mouth, a mouth wet with some type of saliva, drooling slightly. It didn’t seem to care. It’s chest was strange to him. The skin on it looked rubbery, yet strong enough to repel a rock. This was all Tails could see. Some saliva fell and smacked onto Tails’ fur, which immediately began to smoke as the saliva foamed and fizzed where it was. It burned his skin underneath. He began breathing faster and harder.

(It’s... It’s NBK)

(It’s the Natural Born Killer, and I’m next!)

Tails forced himself to roll over more, ignoring the pain of the claw as it dug deeper into his skin. He slammed his fist across the creatures jaw. It shrieked in pain and rocked to the right, but still remained on top of him. Tails slammed his fist into the creatures side, and felt his fist sink into the creatures skin, like punching a fat person in a flabby spot. The creature seemed unaffected. It took it’s free claw, and forced Tails’ head to the ground. It also used what seemed like a knee to pin Tails’ free arm down. Tails was scared. He was pinned under some monstrosity that had complete control over him, and knowing this things history, Tails guessed this was the last time he’d feel fear. He could feel the creature breathing down on his neck, snarling, drooling. The saliva burned his neck wherever it fell. He kept asking himself

(Why is it taking so long?)

(Why is it waiting?)

(Why doesn’t he kill me now? Does it please him to toy with his prey like a cat toys with a mouse?)

unanswerable questions. He closed his eyes and hoped that at least the creature would be merciful and paralyze him before killing him.

He hoped in vain.

Something sharp clasped onto either side of Tails’ neck, and began forcing his neck up. Tails knew that in his present position, this was fatal. If strong enough, the creature could rip Tails’ head clean from his neck, but most certainly, it could break it on the way up. The pain was unbearable, the sharp needle-like pains in his throat, mixed with the burning of the acidic saliva, and the heat of the creature’s breath.

There was no doubt about it, NBK had come back to finish what it started.

Then there was a change. Almost in an instant, the creature released Tails’ head from it’s mouth and lifted it’s claws from his back. There was a bloodcurdling shriek, and it didn’t sound like anything Tails had heard before. He covered his ears with his freed hands, and shut his eyes. Then, in another instant, NBK was off him, Tails didn’t know why, or where it had gone, but instinct told him to get up and run, and he did. He ran right into Antoine, who was at the other end of the hall. Slowly, Tails’ senses returned to him, and he could hear Rotor, crying out in madness, and loud thumps. He was too scared to open his eyes and see what was happening, he just clung to Antoine and held on tight. Soon, the thumping and screaming subsided, and Tails felt Rotor tap him on the shoulder.

"It’s all right Tails," He said calmly. "it’s over, NBK is dead."

10:04 am

Knothole: Bureau of Security and Investigation

Rotor had spent most of the night discarding the body of NBK. He was proud, and yet still shaken up over the incident. Who wouldn’t be? He was the only one to ever get an edge over NBK, and be able to capitalize so well that it ended up dead. Other than Tails, no one had ever encountered NBK once, or if they did, they didn’t live long enough to tell about it. The creature was finally dead. When things had calmed down, out came the questions.

How did he know where it was going to attack next?

How was he so sure?

What would’ve happened if Rotor hadn’t made it?

These, and many others sought answers from Rotor, yet there were questions he had that no one else could answer.

Was it finally over?

Was there only one NBK?

What happens if something like this happens again?

Rotor was not pleased, but he, and many others knew, that the recent events that took place upon this planet would most likely be swept under the carpet, like nothing happened. In reality, Mobius wasn’t yet advanced enough to survive another dictatorous rule, or another appearance of a killing creature. He, along with every other Mobian, would have to pray that everything was finally over, and the planet would live in peace, once again.

On a lighter note, Rotor wanted to get some well deserved R & R, but there were still some things he had to tend to.

10:18 am

Knothole: The residance of Sonic and Sally

When Rotor knocked on the door to Sally’s office and received no answer, he became suspicous. The only other place she could be was at her house. Rotor considered the possibilities. If she was at home, and still sleeping, he could be in a ton of trouble, however, he was told that if there was any good news regarding NBK, that he should report to Sally immediately, so there was his excuse. There was also the possibility that she wasn’t in her house, but elsewhere. If so, he’d have to wait.

He walked up the pathway and knocked on her door. Nothing, but there was a faint sound behind the door. He pressed his ear to the door to get a better clarification. He heard loud female gasps and grunts, and immediately he raised his eyebrow. From what he knew about Sonic and Sally, his first guess was that they were together mating, although, sex during pregnancy doesn’t harm the baby, but it could possibly be uncomfortable on one or both of the lovers.

Rotor decided to come back later. As he turned to walk back down to his workshop, he spotted Sonic off in the distance, eating at the diner. Something didn’t seem right...

(If Sonic isn’t mating with Sally, then why is she gasping and grunting...)

(Wuh-oh)

Rotor turned and ran back to Sally’s hut. He forcefully opened the door and found Sally on the ground, clutching her bloated abdomen. Her hair and face were drenched in sweat. Rotor’s second assumption was correct, she was giving birth.

4:40 pm

Knothole: Infirmary

It had been a long, gruesome 6 and a half hours. Everyone was in the waiting room, sitting anxiously, waiting for the result. Snowflake was clinging to Tails’ side, shivering with excitement. Bunnie was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself now and again about how long it was taking. Rotor was in the office assisting Dr. Quack, while Sonic encouraged Sally. Antoine just sat there in the waiting room, waiting ever so patiently.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Snowflake exclaimed. Everyone was tense, in their own way, ruling out the possibilities. Just then, the door to the maternity room opened, and Dr. Quack was standing beside the open door. He welcomingly gestured them in.

"Apparently, it is my duty to inform you that the princess and prince request your attendance in the room."

Everyone jumped up, but it was Bunnie who beat them to the door, and consequently entered first. As the others were entering, they could already hear her start pouring out her awe and begin cooing at the infants. When at last everyone was in the room, all attention was focused onto the infants. I say infants, because they were twins, a boy and a girl.

The girl was the same species as her mother, a ground squirrel. She looked at everyone with curiousity and intrigue. Her eyes were green, like the evergreen trees of the Great Forest. Her hair was blond, and it didn’t seem to go well with her fur color, a pineconelike brown, but she was still extremely cute, nonetheless. The fur on her chest and stomach was lighter than the fur everywhere else, as it usually is.

The boy was like his father, a hedgehog. He was sleeping soundly, and was being admired more by Tails and Snowlake. His quills were short, and dull. His tail was also rather short. His skin color wasn’t as blue as Sonic’s, it was a bit lighter in color, like a sky-blue somewhat. His arms and stomach were just like his father’s, and all in all, he was the cutest ball of spikes you’d ever seen.

"Have ya thought of any names, sugah?" Bunnie queried. Sally looked at Sonic, who in turn shrugged and gestured for her to answer the question.

"We hadn’t thought we we’re going to have twins. We picked out Leora (pronounced lay-or-ah, much like Leia from Star Wars) for a girl’s name. But we haven’t yet decided on a boy’s name."

"We’ll start with Pain-in-the-ass, and work our way up from there." Sonic explained. There was a mild chuckling in the room, and Sonic merely smiled. Pain-in-the-ass yawned, squeaking mildly in a high pitched noise. Everyone chorused with ‘awws’

"They’re both so adorable!" Snowflake exclaimed. "They both resemble you so much! Except Pain-in-the-ass, he’s got a lighter skin color than you Sonic, but he’s still adorable!"

"He’ll make me proud one day." Sonic boasted, "The day when he outruns me."

Over the next few days, Sally was released from the hospital to become a full time parent for her newborns. Sonic now and again helped with the reconstruction and maintenance of Knothole, but came home whenever possible to help Sally with the parenting responsibility.

Just a few weeks later, Rotor completed his research, and was able to successfully de-roboticize Snowflake without any harm coming to her.

Tails remained leader of the military for 6 weeks, then he retired from his position to spend more time with Snowflake. His position was handed down to Antoine.

Bunnie is faced with a dilemma, in which she has to decide whether or not to keep her cybernetic limbs. Finally, she’s decided to get rid of them for good. After the de-roboticization, something went wrong, and she wasn’t able to use her recovered legs or left arm. She’s presently resting in the infirmary, and will remain there until her brain can rediscover her limbs, and attach the necessary nerve endings and such.

The colony of Peppernook was to be immediately forgotten, by royal order of the princess. According to everyone on Mobius, Peppernook never existed, it’s citizens never lived, and the records of the soldiers who died fighting them on the side of Knothole were altered, from ‘deceased’ to ‘missing in action, presumed dead.’ All former knowledge and records of the colony were burned, and in 15 years, no one remembered a single thing.

The body of NBK was placed in a 15 inch thick metal cage, and dropped 500 feet deep into the nearby ocean. Rotor has estimated that over the years, the tide’s movements would pull it deeper into the ocean, and eventually crush the cage to dust.

And so, the story of the Natural Born Killer of Mobius comes to an end, but the legend will be passed on down for generations to come on Mobius, so that the children may learn valuable lessons. Never underestimate your opponent, and never give up on yourself, or your friends.