K.T.E: 20 Years Later
Lara-Su’s Quest, Part 3
By Chili Echidna

(You can the comic version at this site: http://www.geocities.com/larasu_us/index.html. Hopefully it’s up right now or soon will be.)

         The cold and merciless wind tossed the poor craft every which way, making them get lost several times. It was now snowing, white splattered all over everyone, as they soared over the icy water. Ice chunks littered the murky black water, and everyone couldn’t help but being a little spooked.
         Specks of white blanketed all over Kimber-Le’s black jacket, which was buttoned up. From a distance, one might mistake it was a dress. But it certainly wasn’t.
         Lara-Su sat, rubbing her bare arms and looking at Maniac with interest, who was shivering silently. Maniac stared at Lee’s jacket longingly, wishing he had something to cover himself up. He was bare, and unlike the two females, he had nothing to cover his upper half. He shrugged, holding his emerald green cloak in his hands, and wrapped it around himself like a blanket.
         The wind was howling, ringing in the three’s ears. Maniac and Lara-Su exchanged glances, but said nothing. Both were thinking the same thing. The North Pole was not the best place to head. But Lee seemed to know what she was doing. She didn’t speak nor even glance at the two; merely squinted through the wind and snow that came toward her and the small craft.
         Lara-Su once again gazed down at the icy water. Ice Burgs, as big as miniature mountains, floated lifelessly in the black water, their coloring almost blinding. She saw a dark shape under the water.
         “Oh wow,” she said. At first she thought it was a shark, but as it came closer to the surface, she noticed it was much too big. It was almost as black as the water itself, except for the patches of white along its body. It’s fin atop it’s head surfaced, and Lara realized it was a killer whale. She also noticed more were gliding silently behind it. At least 6. It was a whole pod.
         The craft was dangerously close to the water, and Lara could have touched the fin if she extended her hand down. But she decided against it. Instead, she decided to share the sight.
         “Hey Maniac, check this out.”
         Maniac scooted over and squinted down at the water. He stared at the pod for a long time, then looked up to meet Lara’s eyes. One word escaped his lips: “Cooooooool.”
         Lara-Su nodded and felt the smile on her lips. They looked back down at the water watching the pod for several more minutes, watching the water shoot from their blowholes. Finally, though, the whales went a different route and were soon only in the distance. Instantly the two remembered how cold it was and leaned against one another for body heat. After a moment, Maniac drifted off to sleep, his head resting on Lara-Su’s shoulder.
         Minutes passed, and they rode in silence. Suddenly a smile crossed Lee’s face for the first time in days since they left Downunda. “We’re here.”
         ‘Just in time too,’ Lara thought to herself, noticing that Maniac was almost drooling on her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and coughed loudly, awaking the hedgehog.
         “HUH?” he jerked away, his blue eyes wide with confusion. He looked Lara for a moment, raising both eyebrows, and wiped the wetness from his lips. They were chap beneath.
         Maniac licked his lips several times, hating the way they felt hard, and eventually gave up on the idea. Sighing, he complained, “We’ve been sitting here for HOURS! Are we THERE YET?”
         Lee’s eyes darted across Maniac’s path. They were glittering. “Yep.”
         At first, Maniac didn’t seem to understand what she said. He stretched and yawned, covering his mouth with one hand as he did so. And then, it hit him. His position stayed frozen for a moment, only changed by the fact that his eyes were wide. He then pumped one fist into the air. “Allllll right!”
         “Do you ALWAYS do that?” Lara asked curiously, watching as he continuously pumped his fist into the air. She grabbed it and pushed it down. “Stop that.”
         Maniac stuck his tongue out at her and performed a raspberry. “PPPPHT!”
         “Oh stop asking so childish,” Lara shook her head and rolled her eyes.
         Maniac smirked and folded his arms, watching in awe as what seemed like endless lands of ice appeared in the distance. They were now officially neat the top of the planet.
         Maniac continued to watch the endless ice, his mouth hanging open like a fish. After a moment he said, “Way past cool.”
         ‘He’s so much like his father’, Lara-Su thought and shook her head.
         After hovering above a patch of thicker ice, Lee landed the craft carefully. The craft landed, and the three looked at one another, their breath frosty from the coldness. White patches of air floated near their faces. Maniac was pink in the cheeks.
         “I guess we should explore,” Lara-Su shrugged and looked at Lee. She shrugged as well.
         “I guess.”
         The three animals piled out of the craft. Lara-Su put her hands on her hips and surveyed the area. “We have a lot to explore,” she muttered.
         “I am in no hurry to get to Mobotropolis,” Lee answered.
         “Well I am,” Maniac muttered under his breath. In Lara-Su’s mind, she could not help but to agree.
         “This is going to take quite a while to explore,” Lara-Su said.
         “Not if we used my super speed..!” Maniac revved up to take off.
         “No!” both girls cried at once, Lara-Su jumped toward him, and grabbing his shoulder. She jerked him back, a little too hard, because he fell on hid butt. Looking up he growled, “What’dya do that for, stupid?”
         Lara-Su bristled for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. “Your calling ME stupid? You’ll melt the ice if you use your ‘super speed’.”
         Lee nodded.
         Maniac’s lip curled into a snarl as he helped himself to his feet. Shooting Lara-Su a dirty look, he brushed the ice and snow off of his cloak and legs. He muttered something under his breath.
         “So… where should we go next, Guardian?” Lee questioned, glancing around.
         “I guess we should go….” Lara-Su paused and squinted. Several hundred yards away the ice ended, forming a cliff that plunged down into the icy water. Just beyond it, the sun was beginning to set. Somehow, she felt in her mind that it would be warmer over there on the cliff, being so close to it. From a distance, it seemed as though you could touch the sun if you were on the cliff. That, of course, was ridiculous. But it was better than sitting around doing nothing. She bit down on her lip for a moment, and said, “I guess we should go there,” she pointed toward the icy cliff.
         Lee stared at it for a moment, the wind whipping her long dreadlocks, twisting them around her body. Her bangs were plastered to her forehead. “I suppose,” she seemed uncertain. Maniac, a foot or two behind her said, “Let’s go then! I’m gettin’ pretty bored sittin’ around here doing NOTHING!”
         ‘He sounds like a whiny little brat,’ Lara-Su thought and narrowed her eyes in his direction. Her and Maniac stared at each for a moment, and Maniac said, “WELL? Are we goin’ or WHAT?”
         He said it so loudly and without warning, Lara-Su hopped away in surprise. She then whirled around and walked toward the cliff. Lee sighed and rolled her eyes in Maniac’s direction, then followed the echidna, shuffling her hands in her pockets as she did.
         Maniac threw his hands up in the air, “Finally!” He sighed heavily and stormed after them.

*

         He was running.
         His hat was tattered, patches of caked mud along the brims of it. One of the stars had been completely ripped off. But he didn’t care. He was more concerned about getting back to base at the moment.
         He splashed through a puddle, darting down an alleyway. He heard the mechanized voice a few feet behind him. “Halt Intruder!”
         Knuckles the Echidna froze where he was standing, his breath raspy, and his body tense. He blinked with his good eye, then tried to straighten his body. He was not afraid. He could take this thing on. Wait… How many where there again?
         The SWAT-Bot approached the former guardian of the floating island and aimed it’s laser. Robotnik’s commands were to bring the echidna back to the Headquarters, and he would obey.
         Knuckles could hear the footsteps. They were drawing closer. Finally, the robot was barely five feet away. Knuckles clenched his right mechanical fist, narrowing his left eye. His right eye was too damaged to do this. He bared his teeth like a wild animal, letting out a low threatening growl. Without warning, he spun around, driving his right fist into the robot’s chest, knocking it off it’s feet with incredible force. The robot hit the ground with a crash, parts flying every which way. Knuckles smirked, noticing that was the only one he had to deal with, at the moment. He turned back toward the alleyway and raced down it, glancing to his right, looking at the wall. When he finally reached a dead end, he found a door colored to match the wall. It was almost impossible to see it was there. Pushing his hat out of his eyes, he jiggled the handle, only to find it was locked. Sighing loudly, he hissed, “I can’t knock, unless you want a hole in the damn door, Sonic.”
         The door immediately swung open.
         Sonic stood there, his eyes having rings under it. He noticed Knuckles right eye, which had blood pouring from it.
         “What happened, Knux?”
         “Shut up and let me in,” Knuckles growled, pushing Sonic out of his way and stepping inside of the deserted factory. Old shelves with mechanical robot parts; (eye pieces, heads, arms, etc.) were along the walls, dust already taking over them. The place was pretty big, but not close to the size of most of Robotnik’s factories.
         Julie-Su came out from the shadows to greet her husband. She gasped when she saw his damaged eye. “What happened?!” she cried and touched his injured eye gently. He flinched and pushed her away. Her lavender eyes were large and shinning. She seemed hurt.
         “Sorry,” he muttered.
         “It’s okay,” she said, rubbing her left arm, avoiding eye contact. “It must have it hurt.”
         “Where’s ‘Twan?” Sonic asked.
         For a moment, Knuckles’ expression seemed as though he were extremely surprised that Sonic would ask that. After a moment though, he bowed his head. “He’s gone.”
         “Wha…?” Sonic’s eyes were huge. “He’s….d….”
         Knuckles interrupted him, “No. Mechanized.”
         “Robotized,” Sonic corrected.
         “Whatever.” Knuckles shrugged it off. For a moment it seemed like he cared less about the situation.
         “We have to get him back.” Sonic made a fist with his right hand.
         Knuckles sighed. “Well, we can’t right now. We’ve got bigger problems on our hands. We’re in a war, Sonic. We knew there would be casualties. There always will.”
         Sonic sighed. “Yeah, but we gotta tell Bunnie.”
         Knuckles frowned.
         Julie-Su bit her lip, “whose going to tell her?”
         “I will,” Knuckles took off his hat and sat it on one of the shelves. “But first, I am in need of some damn medical attention, peoples.”
         Sonic blinked, just remembering Knuckles’ injured eye. “I’ll get Bunnie, she knows a thing or two about medics.”
         Knuckles sighed, “Oh great.”

*

         Lara-Su, Lee, and Maniac were now jogging toward the cliff, wanting to get there before they would have to be walking around blindly in the darkness, as the sun was almost gone. The sun was almost blinding as they drew nearer, looking a bright orange as it lowered. Like her father, Lara-Su has super sensitive eyes. The light was almost too much for her. She moaned and shielded her eyes against the sun as she jogged through the knee-high snow. It had stopped snowing at least 10 minutes ago, and the insides of her boots felt like a mini-pool. She found herself climbing upward, her feet started to ache, and her hands beneath the gloves nearly frozen solid. Her hands were hugging her chest tightly, for body warmth. And worst of all, she was hungry again.
         Lee suddenly stopped, 5 feet away from the cliff. She extended her arms out to the sides, to stop the others as they approached. Lara immediately stopped, glad for a break. But Maniac was looking behind his shoulder. He completely missed Lee’s extended arm and walked right onto the cliff.
         “Maniac! We don’t know if it can support your weight-Don’t!” Lee cried.
         But it was too late. The ice gave away beneath him. Maniac gave out a startled gasp before he fell.
         “ARGH! MANIAC!” Lara-Su raced forward and slid across the snow, grabbing onto Maniac’s right foot. He was now dangling helplessly over the icy murky black water. He cried out, “HEY! Bring me back up, will ya?!”
         Lara-Su grunted as she attempted to pull her and Maniac up. But the snow was slippery. She was slipping. “I-can’t!” she said, frantically twisting her feet, trying, hoping for it to grab onto something-anything-a root, SOMETHING-to keep from both her and Maniac from falling to their doom. Just she could hear the ice beneath her body breaking. She cursed under her breath as it gave away.
         She found herself falling face first toward the water, both her arms holding Maniac’s leg with a death grip. And suddenly, she felt something around her ankle. A-hand?
         “WAAAAAAAIIIIIIII----Ugnh!”
         Lara-Su’s whole body was jerked upward painfully. Still holding onto Maniac’s foot, she twisted her head back to look up at her savior.
         Kimber-Le.
         She was breathing hard, lying on her stomach, holding on Lara-Su’s right foot with one hand.
         “I hope those shoes aren’t a size too big.” She smiled slightly.
         “They-aren’t,” Lara-Su felt as though her heart was in her stomach. It was beating so quickly!
         “Good.” Lee slowly got to her feet, pulling Lara-Su up.
         “Hurry UP!” Maniac shrieked.
         Lee snarled, “Do you want me to drop you?”
         “NO!”
         “Then shut up.” She pulled the two up. She set Lara on the ground, and dropped Maniac on his butt. He shot Lee a dirty look, and brushed the snow off of him.
         Lara-Su looked up. “Nyeh, the sun….”
         “Sensitive eyes?” Lee questioned, then opened her jacket up. On the inside, there were several pockets. She put her hand in one, and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. They were silver brimmed, and had green lenses. She handed them to Lara smiled. “I don’t need them. And I seriously doubt Maniac does.”
         Lara put the glasses on. The whole world seemed a rather odd shade of green. She looked at the sun and smiled. “Thanks.”
         “You can have them.”
         “I can?” Lara-Su looked surprised. She liked the glasses-a lot. “Thank yo…”
         Lee waved her off. “No problem, Guardian. They look better on you, anyways.” She walked off, “Let’s go make an igloo somewhere. We need to set up camp before it gets dark.”
         Lara-Su shook her head, making her bangs fly out of her eyes. She walked after her.
         “You look like a dork,” Maniac whispered as he strolled past.
         “Why thank you…. HEY!” Lara-Su looked insulted.
         The hedgehog snickered and raced off as the echidna chased him.
         As they flew past, Lee rolled her eyes, and one word escaped her lips: “Kids.”

*

         “Oh no, how could this have happened?”
         Bunnie had her head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. She sat on the floor, her head buried in her metallic legs. Next to her, on her knees, Sally tried to comfort her.
         Sonic stood a few feet away, arms folded, frowning. He looked behind his shoulder as Sonya, his daughter, walked up. She was pulling white gloves off her tiny fingers. Sonya has some medical training, and since Bunnie was too heartbroken to perform the surgery, she had to herself. She looked down at the ground as she stopped a few feet away from her father. Her long blue dress looked ragged, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
         Sonic returned his attention to Bunnie. Without looking behind his shoulder at his daughter, he asked, “Well?”
         She took a deep breath and looked up. Her green eyes were dull and faded. “The operation was a success, father.”
         “Good,” Sonic nodded slightly. He turned heel to face her. “And how did you fix him up? Eye patch?”
         “Uh, no,” Sonya looked slightly uneasy.
         Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Then what did you do?”
         “Well actually, Julie-Su helped a bit…. And…”
         “I don’t care if she helped!” Sonic barked. “What DID YOU DO?!?!”
         Sonya flinched and looked at the floor.
         Sonic sighed. He put his hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry.” He paused, “But what did you do?”
         “Maybe you should see for yourself…. He’s in one of the office rooms… where we performed the operation…. We didn’t have any numbing needles, so it was quite painful…. But he’s okay now…” Without caring to hear Sonya finish, Sonic walked past her, his red cloak billowing behind him.
         Sonic walked up to the small office. Not bothering to knock on the door, he opened it and stepped inside. Knuckles stood there, his back facing him. He was pulling his glove on his left hand.
         Sonic stood there, watching him.
         Knuckles placed his hat on his head, and stood there for a second.
         “What do you want, Sonic?” he said.
         Sonic nearly jumped. How did Knuckles know he was there without turning around?
         “I want to see how the surgery went….” Sonic’s voice drifted off.
         Knuckles spun around to face Sonic. Sonic jumped back as Knuckles brushed past, shoving him out of the way.
         Knuckles’ right eye was mechanical.

To be Continued….