"A Fiery Spirit"

A work of Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction by Glazius Falconar

Legalese, toujours legalese, encore legalese!

This story and all new situations and characters are copyright ((c)) 1998 by 
the author, Glazius Falconar, except for the characters of Lyria the lynx and 
Callista the firecat, who were created and copyrighted by Maegan and 
CallieFir, on EFNet's #sonic, and are used with permission. But... you can't 
change the text in this story without contacting at least one of us. Sonic 
the Hedgehog and all characters from that Saturday morning cartoon of his are 
copyright SEGA, DiC, and/or Archie Comic Publications, and are used without 
permission. You can't charge money for the express purpose of viewing this 
story without getting permission from at least one of them. And good luck 
getting said permission. The Internet and the automatic teller machine were 
originally envisioned by H. G. Wells, in "Men Like Gods." Read it sometime. 
And if you want to contact me or the creators of Lyria and Callie, our e-
mails are at the end.

****

She felt, rather than heard, the explosion.

Stirring in the warm flow of lava that had comforted her for as long as she 
could remember, the cat slowly made her way up... to a place she had not been 
for a very long time. Even from the crater in the Great Unknown where she 
finally emerged, she could see the plume of smoke rising from a very familiar 
city. Was it... was HE... gone? She did not know, and, as much as she hated 
it... she had to find out.

The world's last firecat walked along the sandy wastes of the Great Unknown 
toward Robotropolis... and eventually gave her mind fully over to the 
memories that pushed at its surface...

****

"Callie? Callie? Wake up, sweetie, it's morning."

Her mother, Io... this was... this was when it all started.

"Callie? Callie, get up!"

"Don' wanna, ma... AIEEE!"

It was more the shock than the heat of the flames which her pillow erupted 
into that brought her out of bed. Her mom always used that trick, and it 
never seemed to fail.

"Okay... I'm up... why so early?"

Io slowly shook her head. "Callista, you'd forget your tail if it weren't 
attached. Today's the big victory celebration in Mobotropolis, and King Acorn 
wants everyone to attend."

The victory... from what little Callie could remember, there had been a 
war... and the firecats had served - no, volunteered - as spies for King 
Acorn, moving through the flows of lava beneath the surface world as only 
they could.... Callista rubbed the sleep from her eyes, gave her whiskers and 
fur a cursory cleaning, and turned to follow her mother... out the entrance 
to the underground cave which was their home, and up to the surface world.

She climbed to the surface and... it was dark outside? "Mom, it's still 
nighttime. Why'd you make me get up?"

Io sighed. "It's a long walk to Mobotropolis, Callie. Iapetus is waiting for 
us there, so we'd better get moving."

With that, Io began striding briskly along the sands of the Great Unknown, as 
her daughter struggled to keep up. Iapetus was... her father... or so she 
seemed to remember. But it was all so long ago, so unclear now...

****

"Callista, please shut your mouth."

Her mother's words finally got through as the two of them entered the city 
limits.

Even from afar, Callista had been amazed that something built above ground 
could be so beautiful... and now that they were walking through the streets 
of Mobotropolis, she realized what she had been missing... what this city did 
to sunlight.... And water... Callista, like all firecats, was afraid of it... 
but it somehow didn't seem so scary when it came gurgling out of a flower to 
splash into a marble pool.

"Callie! Io!"

"Iapetus!"

"Father!"

The three firecats collided in the center of one of the many parks that 
dotted Mobotropolis... and fell to the ground, laughing merrily.

"This place is wonderful, Iapetus!"

"You're telling me. I've been here two days, and I don't think I've seen all 
of it yet."

"So... when is King Acorn going to be giving his speech, Master Spy?"

Iapetus laughed. "Master Spy indeed! I was only doing what came naturally... 
and the speech is going to be in a few hours."

Suddenly, the scene froze.

****

This was it. This was when it had happened. This was when... HE... had 
come.... Much as the firecat wanted to forget this... she couldn't.

And the scene continued, in all its awful glory...

****

Suddenly, a black shadow fell over the city. Callista looked up... to see a 
massive balloon, floating through the sky, spraying some kind of black smoke 
into the air.

"Daddy... is that part of the celebration?"

But Iapetus was on his feet, tailtip flaming brightly as he looked around. 
That told her that this was not normal... 

And the world turned white.

Callista tried to call out, but the white stuff flooded into her mouth and 
she spat it back angrily. She tried to burn her way through it, but the 
flames which came from her paws seemed to be swallowed up instantly. And she 
tried to make her way to her mother... but the white began to harden... and 
began to close in...

****

She had later seen... because HE had thought it amusing... the same thing, 
happening to all the firecats in Mobotropolis. HE said it was "a 
revolutionary extinguishing foam". What she called it... was not something 
she could bring herself to repeat.

****

She awoke... and panicked. She was surrounded... completely... by water... 
except for her face, which was encased in a plastic bubble of some kind. HIM. 
A man who looked more like a walking egg than anything else. He was holding a 
clipboard and flipping the pages.

"You know, this experimentation is proving extremely rough... oh, I beg your 
pardon." The last four words were absolutely dripping with contempt, but 
Callie was too terrified of the water to lash out at him.

"You're probably wondering why I invited you to my little hideaway. And who I 
am, for that matter. You've probably never seen me before. Dreadfully sorry. 
I am Dr. Robotnik, the supreme ruler of Mobius. And you, my dear girl... are 
sadly the last of your kind."

"WHAT?!" Callie let out an enraged yowl of protest and flung herself at the 
behemoth... to collide with a wall not a foot away from her face.

"Oh, I wouldn't try that again if I were you... a few hits like that could 
crack your face plate, and we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"

"What have you done with them?" Callie cried as she clawed at the walls of 
the water-filled tube which held her. "Mother! Father! Where are you?"

The behemoth laughed. "Oh come now. I rather doubt they can hear you..."

A screen behind Dr. Robotnik blinked on, and Callie was struck dumb with 
fear. The bodies of the Mobian firecats lay heaped in an inelegant pile... 
with hideous metal limbs and tails... and heads... scattered throughout. 
"... in their condition. 

"It appears that my roboticization process has hit a minor snag trying to 
cope with your... unique... abilities. And so... this." Dr. Robotnik gestured 
to the tube which held Callie. "I've decided to implement a slightly more... 
primitive... method of control."

Callie screamed as every nerve in her body went raw, and her muscles all 
tensed at once. But before she could understand what had happened... the pain 
was gone, and her body was floating limp in the tube again.

"Do what I ask of you, and that will happen most infrequently. Only once a 
day, and then not for very long. Disobey me, however..."

Callie shrieked as the pain returned... continuing on and on... would it 
never... it ended... for now...

"And that one-second shock I gave you will seem like pure bliss. I trust we 
understand each other?"

Callie could only nod. 

"Excellent!" Dr. Robotnik clapped his hands together as he left the room. As 
the lights slowly dimmed, he called back... "Try and get some sleep, my dear 
girl. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." And Robotnik's laughter 
faded off into the distance.

****

"Wake up."

Callie stirred, not wanting to leave the pleasant dream she was having...

"Perhaps you didn't understand me. Wake up!"

Callie screamed at the pain that flooded through her body, and wrenched her 
eyes open. She was lying on a flat metal table, and she quickly sprang to her 
feet... a bit woozy, for some strange reason.

"So the surgery was a success. Good."

It certainly didn't sound like that mad doctor... she turned, to see a short 
man with a long nose looking up at her. "Who are you?"

"I am Snively, Dr. Robotnik's assistant. I'm sorry to say that he's otherwise 
occupied at the moment, and he's left me in control of your further 
training."

"Training? What training?"

The short man sighed. "Apparently, Dr. Robotnik has seen fit to give you 
some... new abilities. He wants to make sure you can control them properly 
before you begin fighting for him."

"Like I'd ever fight for that obese piece of... AAAIIEEE!"

Callista screamed as pain swept her body again.

The short man shook his head. "I really didn't want to do that to you... 
roboticization is one thing, but this - " he gestured with the remote he held 
in one hand - "is inhuman."

Callista smiled as her eyes flared. The little fool had given her the key to 
escaping. Simply destroying that box would end everything... she smiled 
cunningly at the strange man and began forming a ball of flame in her right 
paw.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." said Snively, in a rather cautionary 
tone.

"And why not?" Callista brought the ball of flame over her head and prepared 
to eliminate the source of her suffering.

"Because... there's a backup."

The ball of fire dimmed a bit. "A backup?"

"I'm afraid so," replied Snively. "If this remote is destroyed or damaged in 
any way... a machine located at the other end of Robotropolis will begin 
emitting a certain pulse of radio waves... and I'm sure my uncle will enjoy 
watching you for a few hours as your pain receptors are overloaded. And 
you'll become a novelty for the medical history books as the first Mobian to 
die of pain itself." He sighed, and slowly shook his head. "You can see why I 
don't think you should use that."

Callista nodded, as the ball of fire dimmed to a spark and flashed out of 
existence. Then, something that the little man had said struck her. "That... 
monstrosity... is your uncle?" 

Snively nodded. "Yes. I thought I could become his colleague someday... but 
instead, I have to settle for being his lackey. I don't want to end up a 
robot... but I think he keeps me around just to have someone there to feel 
pain occasionally."

The firecat gasped. "You mean he...?"

Snively laughed rather weakly. "The bruises don't show that much, do they? 
But I don't think Uncle Julian would like it if I spent my time talking to an 
'experimental specimen.' We'd better begin with your training soon. And don't 
worry." Snively gestured with the remote. "I won't use this unless you do 
something silly like try and escape. As a matter of fact..." Snively opened 
up the remote and began fiddling with some of the wires inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you killed, if you interrupt me again... there." The remote's cover 
clicked shut. "How does this feel?"

Callie felt a sort of... tingle... but nothing more. 

"Don't bother to answer. What woke you up was formerly this device's lowest 
setting. Now, I've done a little rewiring. What you just felt was its new 
highest setting."

Callie gasped at the little man who had set her free... and swept him up in a 
hug.

"Now, there's no need for that... you're still a prisoner, after all. Nothing 
I do can change that. And when my uncle is around, be sure and act like 
you're being ripped apart by the pain when you feel that tingle. And... could 
you please set me down? I don't much like heights."

The firecat laughed as she lowered Snively to the floor. "But what's to keep 
me from running off?"

"Nothing. So far as I can tell. But if you do escape, I have every reason to 
believe that my uncle will destroy the remote. And you know what that 
means..."

Callista nodded. "Pain for the rest of my life."

"I'm afraid so." The short man sighed. "I am still going to have to train 
you, though. Uncle Julian has made you my 'personal project'... which means I 
am wholly responsible for how you turn out. I've spared you a lot of pain... 
I only hope you can see fit to do the same for me."

The firecat opened her mouth in surprise. "I'm no monster like your uncle."

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Now..." Snively walked over to one 
wall and pushed a button, and some of the paneling slid away... revealing a 
window which looked down on a fairly large room. "... this is your new 
training area."

"How do I get down?"

Callista felt the floor slide out from under her... she was falling... and 
couldn't get a claw hold on the material which coated the shaft she was 
falling down. She searched around for something, anything to break her 
fall... and was relieved to land in... a pile of snow? "Where did this come 
from?" she wondered aloud.

A relieved sigh echoed... in her ear. "It came from you. And I'm glad to know 
the procedure worked. Oh... and I'm talking to you through a transceiver in 
your ear. Please don't take it out."

Callie was a bit astonished, to say the least. "Snow? But... I'm a firecat! I 
can't make snow!"

"Perhaps you couldn't... but you can now. I hope you can remember what you 
did to make that... I had the feeling that a sudden shock to your environment 
might bring out the ability... which Dr. Robotnik gave you."

Callista was struck dumb... and slowly found her voice. "You mean... he..."

"Actually, I came up with the concept, but my uncle performed the dirty work. 
It simply enables you to reverse your natural mechanisms for producing and 
controlling fire, to enable you to produce and control ice. Quite simple, at 
the core... but I can see I'm boring you. Shall we get to work, then?"

****

The next few days... months... years... Callie couldn't keep track of the 
time... were rather fun. She quickly mastered the rather simple concentration 
needed to become an "ice cat"... and she was thankful that she had practiced 
her powers so many times at home. What Snively asked her to do... even though 
the tasks were increasingly complex... was actually fairly easy, and she 
found herself gaining much better control over both forms of her powers.

And she and Snively had worked the "Robotnik routine" into perfection. 
Whenever that monster of a man came to check on the progress, Snively would 
dim the lights in the room, and she would run to one corner and huddle there, 
shaking as if she were deathly afraid. Robotnik would order her to perform a 
rather simple feat, and she would try and fail. She would then scream and 
contort her body... even though what the mad doctor was doing with the remote 
was tickling, at best... and finally manage to do what Robotnik asked of her. 
Leaving Snively with an admonition to be generous with the pain, the behemoth 
would stalk out, convinced that he was training a killing machine... and it 
was all that she and Snively could do to keep from deafening each other with 
laughter after Robotnik had left.

And then... one day... something strange happened.

****

Snively entered her training room, wearing what looked to be ridiculously 
thick clothes. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"A... favor? Not some new trick to perform?" Callista idly crafted a fiery 
replica of Robotnik and an ice sculpture of some hedgehog she'd seen on the 
screen that Snively was kind enough to provide her with as a window on the 
outside world. The two collided and annihilated each other.

Snively laughed. "Some days, I wish that would happen. But no, it's just a 
favor... although you might call it a final test of your powers. Can you - " 
and the little man paused for a minute, fumbling with a knitted woolen hat - 
"make it snow?"

Callista was puzzled. "Make it snow?"

"Yes. Fill this room with snow, about up to... here." The little man held a 
gloved hand against his waist.

The firecat shrugged. Snow was nothing new, but on such a massive scale... 
she turned and began concentrating, willing the water in the air to condense, 
to turn to ice... and she stopped when she could feel it touch her knees. "If 
you don't mind my asking... why do you... hey!"

Callista turned around and picked a lump of snow off the back of her head. 
"What was that for?"

Snively looked a bit astonished. "You've never played in the snow?"

Callista laughed. "I'm a firecat, remember? When winter came, we just went 
underground, where it was warm."

Snively slowly shook his head. "Well... I haven't seen the snow since I was a 
child in the Northern Province. Of course, it snows now... but in this city, 
it's little more than slush in the streets. But all I can say is... you have 
no idea what you've missed."

For the next hour or so, the two flung snowballs back and forth, slid down 
massive piles of snow that Callista crafted, and generally had the time of 
their lives. But, after they had built a snow replica of Robotnik, which 
Snively had knocked to the ground with a whoop of delight... the little man 
grew suddenly sad.

"Hey, why so glum?" A snowball collided with Snively's jacket, and it slowly 
slid downward as Snively turned to Callista, tears in his eyes.

"Today... will be the last time I see you for a very long time. Because, 
tomorrow... you'll be free."

"Free?" Callista let out a cry of joy, leaping high into the air and landing 
on her back in a pile of snow. "But... why? And how?"

Snively managed to retain his composure long enough to explain. "For a while, 
I've been working on a way to destroy the backup system... without Uncle 
Julian suspecting what I've done. Tomorrow, a group of Freedom Fighters will 
make a raid on the city. My uncle knows that, but what he doesn't know is 
that I've pulled the guard from the building which houses the backup system, 
under the pretense of protecting one of our refineries. Since there's nothing 
else of value in the building, I doubt he'll be able to question my judgment. 
And hopefully, the Freedom Fighters will manage to take it out. If not... I 
can always set off the explosives I planted there myself. It's building 25-J. 
Just remember that name... and... goodbye, Callista."

With those last few words, the little man leaned against her shoulder and 
began crying... and she could think of nothing better to do than to wrap her 
arms around him and gently stroke the few hairs on his nearly bald head.

****

"Well, I see you've managed to do something right for once, Snively. Leave 
us."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik."

Callista was standing in a room in Dr. Robotnik's command center, awaiting 
(or so the behemoth thought) her first mission as an agent of Robotropolis. 
Dr. Robotnik began briefing her on the number, size, and descriptions of the 
Freedom Fighters who would be invading the city, holding his thumb over the 
remote while she relayed the information back to him. He was satisfied... 
temporarily.

"Good. Now, the Freedom Fighters will be approaching this location - " he 
gestured to a map - "in a matter of minutes. Your mission is to prevent them 
from going any further. And I believe you know the consequences for failure."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik," she murmured, with eyes cast downward.

"Good! I'm glad we understand... what is it, Snively?" bellowed Dr. Robotnik 
at a monitor screen. "I'm still entertaining our little guest!"

"D...dreadfully sorry, sir... but the Freedom Fighters have already struck."

"WHAT!" screamed Robotnik. "What's out there for them to destroy, Snively?"

"I d...don't know, sir. Was there anything of value in building 25-J?"

"No, of course not! Only the backup... pain... generator..." Dr. Robotnik 
abruptly realized what he was saying. "Snively..." Dr. Robotnik's breathing 
grew shallower by the second... "you didn't happen to explain to our little 
friend what the backup pain generator was, did you?"

"Yes, sir. She made it quite clear that she would destroy the primary pain 
generator, and I don't believe you would wish to have your newest operative 
disabled."

Dr. Robotnik suddenly grew very afraid as he looked into the burning eyes of 
Mobius's last firecat. "Snively..." he said with a quavering voice... "send 
all SWATbot units to Command Central IMMEDIATELY!"

"Of course, sir." The monitor blinked off.

Dr. Robotnik gently set the remote on the table in front of him. "Now... 
now... keep your temper under control, my dear... no need to do anything 
rash..."

****

"You did WHAT?"

"I singed that silly mustache of his with a fireball and managed to make his 
robotic arm freeze up before he got through the emergency door."

Snively laughed out loud through the transceiver in Callista's ear, and she 
laughed with him as she ran through Robotropolis, pausing for only a moment 
to turn a group of SWATbots into slag or a solid block of ice... depending on 
how she was feeling.

"You can take the transceiver out now, Callista... we really don't have very 
much more to say to each other. You're free... and I hope Uncle Julian 
doesn't get the idea that I set you free... or else..."

Callista actually felt sorry for Snively... he was just as much a prisoner of 
Robotnik as she had been, and she wished she could have taken him with her. 
She stopped for a moment, at the outskirts of the city... "Thank you... my 
friend."

She tore the transceiver from her ear and sprinted for home, hoping to be in 
the magma before tears came to her eyes. She almost made it...

And a voice came from a discarded piece of electronic equipment in the 
Robotropolis junkyard... "No... thank you."

****

Callista shook her head as she came in sight of Robotropolis... she had 
forgotten about the little man... blocked him from her mind... let her anger 
at Robotnik fill her thoughts when she returned to the lava. But it wouldn't 
cloud her judgment when she... oh Almighty...

She saw the source of the smoke... it looked like a massive structure of some 
kind had blown up, been wiped from the face of Mobius entirely. Nothing 
remained but rubble... and it looked like someone - or something - was 
sifting through it. She readied a fireball and sprinted closer, her padded 
feet making soft crunching noises as they ran across the sand.

As she got close enough to see who was in the rubble, the fireball faded to 
little more than a burning ember. It was just a walrus... not a SWATbot... 
and certainly not Robotnik. He was rummaging through a rather large pile of 
rocks with a rather bored look on his face...

****

"Hello there!"

Rotor quickly scrambled to his feet and turned to face the voice, hand 
reaching into a pouch of his tool belt... and he quickly dropped the static 
inductor back into its compartment. "Oh... you startled me."

The Mobian he was facing... who looked to be some kind of cat... laughed. "I 
can see that. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," replied the walrus.

The cat sighed. "I felt the explosion, and wondered what kind of thing could 
make a shock wave that powerful. I guess I got my answer."

Rotor slowly rubbed his chin. "You mean... you didn't know about Project 
Doomsday?"

The cat slowly shook her head. "Was that what exploded?"

Rotor was a bit cautious... every Freedom Fighter knew about the Doomsday 
Project. "Umm... where were you when you 'felt' the explosion?"

"My home in the Great Unknown. I could feel the cave walls vibrate, and... 
well, I got curious."

The walrus thought for a minute. The only Freedom Fighters in the Great 
Unknown were the Wolf Pack... and the cat certainly wouldn't be in league 
with them. Perhaps... "You ran away from Robotnik."

At this... the cat's eyes seemed to burn for a second. "Yes. Robotnik killed 
my family... and he showed me what he had done to them..." She shuddered. "Is 
he... gone?"

Rotor shrugged. "As far as we know. He and Snively were in the main control 
center when it exploded, and we didn't detect any ships flying away from it. 
But then... he's used holograms and cloaking devices before, and this could 
all be a setup. He might be out there, waiting for us to explore too far. So 
that's why I'm here... trying to find something that'll tell us, one way or 
the other. But so far - " he flung a piece of rubble onto a heap of stones - 
"nothing."

"Could I help?"

Rotor was a bit surprised by the cat's request. "Sure... if you want to..."

She nodded, and headed over to a pile of rubble which hadn't been moved yet. 
As she bent over it and began sifting through it with her paws, Rotor called 
to her. "Why are you doing this?"

The cat shrugged. "I've been hiding... I don't even remember how long 
anymore. I need to do something... just to get myself used to being outside 
again."

The walrus laughed. "Sure. And digging through rubble is the perfect leisure 
activity. Oh well, I guess I can't refuse someone who wants to help..."

Rotor crouched down, and began sifting through the debris around him. A fried 
semiconductor... a partially melted length of cable... a glob of green 
plastic and wires that looked like it had once been a circuit board... 
whatever Sonic and Sally did with those Deep Power Stones, it was not 
something he'd care to be on the receiving end of. He was about ready to give 
up and head back to Knothole when he heard the cat's voice. "What are we 
looking for again?"

Rotor chuckled to himself, and he called out across the mass of debris, 
"Anything that's still intact."

"Like a metal disk embedded in the ground?"

****

Rotor dashed toward the voice, leaping piles of rubble and scrambling over 
heaps of debris. He arrived to see the cat bent over a polished metal 
surface, cleaning her whiskers. She looked up at him, embarrassed.

"Sorry... it's been so long since I've had a decent mirror..."

Rotor laughed... but his face slowly changed to awe when he cleared some 
loose rubble away from the disk. It looked to be... a containment unit of 
some sort... but he couldn't be sure. He pulled out a tiny screwdriver from 
his tool belt and began working on removing the cover on the disk's surface.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to find the up button on this thing."

Rotor smiled as he pried the cover loose... there were manual controls here, 
or what amounted to them for someone with his technical expertise. He reached 
down into the wires with a pair of insulated pliers and began poking 
around... almost... there! He stepped back as the tube rose from the ground, 
admiring his handiwork.

****

The tube rose perhaps as high as Rotor's head, and a door on its front slid 
open. The walrus slowly began circling the tube, tapping on the walls every 
now and again. After he had completed one circuit, he turned to the cat. 
"Titanium-alloy steel. With a coating of industrial diamond on the roof. 
Whoever was in there... could probably have lived through a nuclear blast. If 
there was someone in there."

The cat stuck her head inside and sniffed... and a smile slowly spread across 
her face. "Snively!"

Rotor was a bit astonished... she sounded... pleased. "You knew him?"

"Yes. Robotnik assigned Snively to work on me... but the dear little man 
didn't like what his uncle was doing, so he let me go. I just wish I could 
have taken him with me..." The cat sighed.

Rotor was a bit puzzled, to say the least. Snively... had been NICE to 
someone? Well, if the cat were a spy, she was going about things all wrong. 
He thought for a minute... he wasn't one for cross-examination, but Sally 
certainly was. He just hoped he wasn't making a big mistake by taking the cat 
back to Knothole...

"So, where are you going?"

"Me?" The cat shrugged. "Back to the Great Unknown, I guess. Maybe I'll stay 
around here and look for Snively..." She yawned a bit loudly... "assuming I 
can find a decent place to stay..."

"Why don't you come back to Knothole and spend the night with us?"

The cat looked a bit puzzled. "Knothole?"

Rotor thought to himself that this was no spy. That look of bewilderment 
couldn't be anything but genuine... he'd seen it on Sonic's face often enough 
when he launched into a technical explanation. "Yeah. That's where I live. 
It's a sort of a city, in the Great Forest."

"How do we get there?"

Rotor walked over to a fairly large pile of trash and opened it up... it was 
a light plastic cover-up for the hover unit he'd managed to re-engineer. "We 
take this. Get inside, it won't bite."

The two Mobians climbed inside what was once a Robotropolis transport vehicle 
and headed for Knothole.

****

Callie was excited... there were others out there who'd managed to escape 
from that evil thing who called himself Robotnik. She was a bit puzzled at 
the way the walrus had reacted at Snively's name... but shrugged it off. He 
had been working for Robotnik, after all, and the walrus hadn't been allowed 
to escape from a life of pain...

Callie felt a sudden jolt as the hovercraft touched the ground. They were in 
Knothole... or at least, near enough to it to walk.

"Come on, we'd better get going. It's getting dark out." The walrus extended 
a claw to her, and she hesitated before taking it.

"You haven't even told me your name..."

The walrus quickly withdrew his arm, and... blushed slightly. "Oh. I'm sorry. 
I'm Rotor."

"And I'm Callista."

The two clasped paws, and Callie carefully stepped out of the strange 
hovercraft that had brought them to... a forest.

She had never seen... so many trees... this whole place looked like one giant 
park. She looked around, taking it all in... the world was green, extending 
as far as she could see...

"Never been in a forest before?"

Callie slowly shook her head. "I lived in the Great Unknown... before 
Robotnik captured me. The only... trees... I've ever seen were in 
Mobotropolis."

The walrus chuckled. "And the first time I saw the Great Unknown, I was kinda 
shocked that nothing could grow there. You'll get used to this."

****

"Hi, Rotor. Who's your friend?"

Callie turned to face the voice, and saw... a fox... with two tails... flying 
out of the trees?

"Oh, hi, Tails. You got sentry duty tonight?"

The fox stuck out his chest. "Yup. Sure did."

The walrus laughed at the young fox's bravado. "Well... how 'bout I take over 
for you? I need to get the hover unit unloaded anyway. You can take Callista 
to see Sally... I think I may have found us a new recruit."

Tails nodded. "Okay. C'mon then... Callista."

Callista smiled. "Call me Callie." She followed the fox as he began picking 
his way through an overgrown trail in the forest.

****

Callie couldn't help staring at the fox's two tails as he led her down a path 
with more brush on it than clear space. She finally got up the courage to 
ask... "Did Robotnik... experiment on you too?"

The fox stopped for a second. "Experiment on me?" He turned back to Callie, a 
puzzled look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've got two tails... and you can fly... that's hardly normal."

Callie looked up... following the fox, who had somehow managed to get up in 
the air. "I know... but this is how I've always been. I sure don't think 
Robuttnik had anything to do with it."

Callista laughed at the pun the little fox had made. "The name fits him very 
well... just as yours fits you, Tails."

Tails lowered himself back to the ground. "But what's Callista supposed to 
mean?"

The firecat smiled. "I don't know. It's just my name, it doesn't mean 
anything." The little fox was inquisitive, certainly.

"Oh... hey, there it is. Welcome to Knothole... Callie."

Callista stepped off the trail and looked around. This place... was 
beautiful. Definitely, in comparison to Robotropolis and her own home in the 
Great Unknown. She slowly turned, taking everything in... the huts, the 
trees, the sounds of the night, the stream running through... and the dragon?

****

"Hi!"

The firecat backed away a bit from the figure who extended a claw to her. 
"H... hi."

Tails smiled. "Callista... this is Dulcy. She's one of the Freedom Fighters, 
too."

Callie nodded, and swallowed. "Do you... have the Protector powers?"

Dulcy looked a bit puzzled. "Yeah... how'd you know?"

Callie thought... how had she known... oh yes... "I watched you, in action... 
on a monitor Snively was kind enough to give me."

"Snively?" The fox and dragon gave each other a quick look as they uttered 
the name in unison, and Dulcy looked at Callie a bit questioningly. "Snively? 
Little guy, long nose, works for Robotnik?"

Callie nodded. "He let me go free... and... well, it's a long story, but I 
guess I owe him my life."

Dulcy shook her head. "I don't think we're talking about the same Snively 
here. He captured me when I was out, training, with my Ma... and I woke up in 
Knothole, somehow. I don't know what he did to me... but that little weasel 
couldn't be kind to anybody."

Callie bristled a bit. "He was kind enough to turn off some sort of pain 
implant Robotnik put in me. When you've felt every part of your body 
screaming in pain... and then had someone take that away..." The firecat 
sighed... "I guess you haven't seen the part of him I've seen. He couldn't 
bear to cause me any pain, not even when his uncle was tossing him around 
like a rag doll."

Dulcy let out a low whistle. "Needlenose was like THAT? I had no idea..."

Callie sighed and shook her head. "I don't think he wanted anyone... at least 
not his uncle... to see that he was being kind to anyone. But Tails was 
taking me to see... Sandy, was it?"

The fox laughed. "Close enough... her name's Sally, and she's in that big hut 
at the center of Knothole."

Callista nodded, and set off to see Sally. She walked over to the hut, 
knocked, and entered in response to a "Come in" from inside.

****

"Oh... I thought Sonic was back from his reconnaissance patrol. Who might you 
be?"

Callista took one look at the Mobian who spoke to her... and somehow... she 
felt she knew her... "You're King Acorn's daughter?"

Sally nodded. "And you would be..."

"Oh... I'm sorry... your Highness... I am Callista Luminaria... the last of 
the Mobian firecats."

The Princess seemed a bit shocked. "The last...?"

Callie nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so... it all started back when we were 
invited to Mobotropolis for a victory celebration."

And Callie began to tell her story to a very rapt audience of one.

****

She was running through the forest... swinging around tree limbs, leaping 
over bushes... having a bit of fun, making her way back to Knothole. But the 
news the lynx bore was anything but joyful.

She leaped off a particularly high limb, and touched down inside Knothole. 
Waving a quick hello to the dragon, she headed for the hut of the Princess. 
She knocked, and entered... to see another cat, rather like herself...

****

"...and that's how I got out of Robotropolis."

"Lyria... please wait until I say you can come in my hut before you do. 
You're getting as bad as Sonic."

The lynx bowed low. "I am sorry, Your Majesty, but I have returned with bad 
news. My quest for the seven wonders of Mobius... has failed."

Callista was a little puzzled... and frightened... by the new arrival. She 
was a very powerful-looking lynx...

Sally was nonplussed. "Failed? How do you mean? And it's not 'Your 
Majesty'... it's Sally."

The lynx pulled a parchment scroll from the belt of her robes and unrolled it 
on the table. "The seventh wonder, Maj... Sally. 'This is by far the greatest 
of the Wonders of Mobius, for it has the power to mend a world broken.' And I 
think that a broken world is exactly what we live in. But... there's a 
problem."

"The problem would be?" asked Callista, as she bent over the scroll. Try as 
she might, the firecat could make no sense of the words written on it.

"The problem would be," continued the lynx, "that it requires six runic 
phrases to translate the remainder of the text. I've found five. One, written 
around the tunnel of the Breath of Mobius. Another at the base of the Pulse 
of Life. A third at the rocks surrounding the Bog of Decay..."

Lyria looked at her left paw and shuddered. It had been too close...

"A fourth at the bottom of the Spring of Renewal, and a fifth at the Source 
of Crystal. But the sixth... appears to be at the bottom of the Fire Springs, 
and I have no desire to dive into lava. So," said the lynx with a heavy sigh, 
"I have failed you."

Callista idly stroked her whiskers. "Not necessarily. I think I could... at 
the very least, remember that ruined whatever-it-was..."

Lyria looked quizzically at the other feline. "You could dive into lava... 
and survive?"

Sally nodded. "Nicole, display entry 'firecat'."

"Affirmative, Sally..."

Princess Sally's hand-held computer displayed a picture of a cat who looked 
very much like Callista. "Mobian firecat. A rare species with a unique inborn 
ability to project and control flames. Can survive temperatures exceeding 
that of most Mobian magma, and often makes its home in caves far below the 
surface of Mobius."

Lyria looked with awe at the firecat. "Astounding... would that I could do 
such a thing as that."

Callista smiled, and extended a paw. "Callista Luminaria."

Lyria extended hers in return. "Lyria. That is all the name I know."

The two clasped paws, and turned to leave... and Sally called to them. "I 
take it you're going to find the Fire Springs, then?"

Lyria turned back to Sally. "I've already found them... Sally. It's just a 
matter of guiding..." The lynx yawned.

Sally shook her head. "You two both look completely exhausted. Lyria, you 
haven't spent more than a night in your hut, after all the trouble we went to 
get it built for you."

The lynx bowed. "I am sorry... perhaps I should... rectify that?"

The Princess laughed. "Yes. You should. And there's more than enough room in 
there for Callista to spend the night. Sleep well... both of you. There's 
plenty of time, now that Robotnik's gone."

****

Lyria looked the firecat over. She looked like she had been through a lot... 
through some terrible ordeal. And those strange powers of hers... many of the 
things in this world bordered on pure magic. Lyria wasn't sure she could 
handle another creature with strange powers... she was beginning to feel a 
bit inferior to the supernormal Mobians who lived in Knothole. But... a royal 
order was a royal order.

****

Callista looked the lynx over. Such strength... and something told the 
firecat that the sword at the lynx's side had been used quite a bit. A life 
spent fighting... and her attitude and mannerisms were very strange indeed. 
But not unwelcome.

****

The two felines left Sally's hut and headed to a rather large wood-and-thatch 
hut on the outskirts of Mobius. Both slept peacefully that night, dreaming of 
what tomorrow could bring...

****

The end? Yes. For this story, at least. But there are more tales to tell.

The author can be reached at arezina@acad1.stvincent.edu.
Lyria's and Callista's creators can be reached by proxy, through the author's 
email. (They didn't like to have their addresses put in the public domain, so 
to speak.)