Antoine and the Mystic Photosword
                     fanfic by Daniel Wheeler

Chapter 1:  Attack of Shadebird

        Antoine was looking around the Great Forest one day, finding some
flowers for Sally, since her 17th birthday was coming ("Remember, my
fanfics take place after the fall of Robobutt"-Danny).  However, he was
startled when a flash of midnight blue light streaked across the sky,
heading for Mobotropolis.  Fortunately, Antoine did not wander too far
from the city.

        Antoine rushed to the palace, only to see the the flash of light
turn into a dark-colored hawk dressed in an indigo robe.  The bird threw
a powder at the two, and Sonic and Sally were turned into statues of
silver.  "Sacre blue cheese!," cried Antoine "Sonic and Sally have been
turned into seelver!"  After his hex, the bird spoke:

        "I am Shadebird, the Nighthawk Wizard.  Now that I have removed
these threats to my reign, I shall make Fren the new capital of ALL
Mobius!  I have taken Fren already prior to this conquest!  And now, all
of Mobius is in my grasp!"  "Fren!," Ant thought, "zees madman has taken
ovair ze place of my birth.  Well, I guess eet eez up to moi to free
eet."

        Another fortunate thing is that Athair was visiting Mobotropolis
at the time of the attack.  He came into the palace just as Shadebird
vanished.  He said to Antoine "What sorcery has done this to the Hero and
Princess of Mobius?"  Antoine replied "Eet was zat Shadebird wizard!  He
cast a spell that turned Sonic and Sally into seelver feegures!" 
"Shadebird?!," Athair exclaimed, "That rebellious student of the Ancient
Walkers has always been a threat to Mobius!"


Chapter 2:  The Legend of Shadebird

        "How do you know so much about zis Shadebird?," asked Antoine. 
Athair explained "Years ago, Shadebird was cast out of the Ancient
Walkers' realm because he was too harsh on mortals and too rash in making
decisions.  He landed in Fren in about the Mobian year 1719.  He cast a
spell on himself to keep himself from aging.  Now, after the threat of
Robotnik was gone, he had taken this opportunity to strike!"

        Antoine then said "I must stop zis madman before he can do more
damage to Mobius.  But how do I stop him?  He eez obviously powerful!" 
Athair then spoke "The Photosword of Fren is the one weapon in the land
that I know of that can defeat Shadebird.  It lies within a series of
catacombs deep beneath the ruins of old Fren City.  It is guarded by many
traps and monsters that you alone must face!"

        With a strong sense of justice, Ant asked Athair to take him to
Fren.  Athair agreed and used a portal to send him to the ruins of old
Fren City.  He then set out to seek the entrance to the catacombs.


Chapter 3:  The Search for the Catacombs.

        Antoine searched the city ruins for the entrance to the
catacombs.  His first problems came in the form of Black Archers,
panthers with crossbows and keen aim.  He simply dodged the fire and
rushed further into the city.  He then met some Leopard Grunts, who were
armed with pikes and have great agility, but not much strength.  It took
a while to learn their weaknesses, but Antoine has managed to fell the
Grunts.

        He ventured near what looked like a giant cow skull.  He thought
"Maybe zis eez ze entrance to ze catacombs" before he was ambushed by an
enchanted shadow.  The shadow was that of Antoine's only it was animated
by magic.  He had to find the source of the magic in order to dispel the
shadow.  He found a yellow orb in the skull's right eye (which was on
Antoine's left).  He plunged his sword into the orb, and the shadow faded
away.  He then went into the mouth of the cow skull.  He was confronted
by a door made of rustproof steel.  He approached the door, and the door
spoke "Whoever wants to enter the catacombs must speak the name of the
darkness, that he may seek the weapon to drive away the darkness.  SPEAK
NOW THE DARK NAME!"  Antoine, mustering up all his courage, answers
"Shadebird!"  The door opened with a thundering roar.

Chapter 4:  The First Level of the Catacombs

        Ant enters the catacombs, a intricate, dark, and fearful maze of
rooms.  He goes north two rooms, west two rooms, and south one room to
face his first challenge:  A clever maze of tiles.  There was writing on
the wall that said:

        "Step upon the tiles of white, to near the end of the
        tunnel's light.
        Step upon the tiles of dark, and to your death you will
        embark!"

        Evidently, there was no room for error here.  Antoine carefully
crossed the room, stepping on the white tiles only, until he neared the
door on the west wall.  He then went west three rooms, north one room,
and west two rooms to fight a giant bat.  The bat was brownish-red with a
thirst for blood.  Antoine's blood.  Ant, however, killed the bat with
three slashes of his sword before it could approach him.  He then went
north one room and fell through the trap floor.


Chapter 5:  Catacombs Level 2

        After the landing, Ant dusts himself and looked around.  Sure
enough, he had found himself in another level in the labyrinth of rooms. 
He went south one room, west one room, and south another room.  There
were two doors-one to the south and one to the east.  An inscription on
the west wall said "The south shall take you forward, the east shall be
your end."  Not taking any chances, he went south.  With a sigh of
relief, he went through another door to the south and found himself in
another puzzle room.

        This room consisted of three circles.  The inscription on the
south wall read:  "First 123, second 213, third 321 fourth 312."  He
thought for a moment, the Antoine knew what to do.  He looked at the
circles-- the leftmost had the Roman numeral I, the center had the
numeral II, and the rightmost had III.  He walked across the circles from
the left to the right;  his second trip, starting on the center circle,
stepped on the circle marked I then backflipped onto III; the third round
he ran across from Circle III to Circle I; and his final trip, starting
on Circle III, jumped onto Circle I, then backstepped onto Circle II. 
The door to the west was finally open.

        After going west, there was again a fork in the road.  The sign
above the North Door had a skull and crossbones sign on it, obviously
indicating a trap.  Not taking any chances, he went into the South Door. 
After going south two rooms, he entered the room to the east, and
encountered a giant scorpion.  He managed to kill it before it could
sting him.  He went into the room it was guarding and, going down the
stairs, went into the third level of the catacombs, where the sword lay.

        
Chapter 6:  The Photosword Found!

        After entering the third catacombs level, Antoine went into the
west room, north two rooms, west one room, north one room, and west one
more room to find a puzzle.  The puzzle was a locked door on the west and
colored tiles on the floor.  The two tiles in front of either door were
gray, the rest were in the colors of the rainbow.  An acrostic phrase was
on the door, large enough for Antoine to read.  The phrase read:

        Behold the rainbow tiles of mystery.
        Over these tiles lie the key to destiny.
        Great is the challenge
        Inside this puzzle.
        Yet across the hall is the next room
        Vouchsafing you until the next puzzle.
        Run, warrior.  Run like the wind to your destiny.

        Antoine thought for a moment, then he noticed that the floor was
a 9x7 shape.  The tiles near the doors were white with the ones an the
side of the west and east walls gray.  The rest were set in a 7x7 square,
each color going diagonally.  So he stepped on the blue tile closest to
him first, then orange, green, indigo, yellow, violet, and finally red,
and the door opened.  He ran through the door into the next room.

        He then went south two rooms, west one room, and south one more
room to another puzzle.  The room was full of bridges and had plenty of
circles in them.  He then figured that the circles would make the bridges
collapse.  Being as carefully as he possibly could, Antoine crossed the
bridges until he entered the south door.  He then traveled west three
rooms, and north one room to one more puzzle.  The puzzle here was to
pick the right lever.  Pulling the wrong one would trigger a laser trap. 
He looked carefully:  There were two levers, one golden, one stone.  He
decided to take a chance at the stone lever.  Sure enough, the door
opened.  He entered the next room, only to be ambushed by a cyclops.

        The cyclops was created by Shadebird to ensure that Antoine would
not get the Photosword.  "I must get rid of zis beast," thought Ant, "or
Mobius will be brought to ze end!"  He looked carefully and noticed that
the cyclops, besides having the telltale one eye, had three horns, and
one horn was of a different color than the rest.  He whipped out his
sword and slashed the horn, and the cyclops dissapated in a flash of neon
pink light.  Antoine then went west and found the Photosword!  Grabbing
the handle and raising it heavenward, he was transported out of the
catacombs and back onto the surface of old Fren.


Chapter 7:  The Palace of Shadebird

        Antoine traveled to the northeast portion of old Fren and found
an ominous alabaster palace, looming in the ebony sky of night.  It was
the Palace of Shadebird, sure enough.  After defeating the two guards at
the gates, he charged into the nefarious fortress.  He noticed that the
stairwell was blocked by a rust red door with a large keyhole.  He went
into the west tower and found a blue crystal ball.  Even though it
wouldn't help him with the door, Antoine took it anyway, hoping that it
would bring him good luck.  After going down and fighting some more
guards, he went into the east tower, and found a red key and a mirror. 
He took both, thinking that the mirror would also make a gift for Sally.

        He then went downstairs and unlocked the red door with the red
key and went up.  Halfway up the tower, Antoine noticed a cyan forcefield
guarding the upstairs.  He then knew what the blue crystal ball was for. 
He tossed the ball into the forcefield, and it vanished in blue-gray
smoke.  Antoine continued upward.


Epilogue:  The Battle with Shadebird

        Antoine, his Photosword prepared, ran toward Shadebird as the
wizard sat on his shadowy throne.  But just as Ant would strike a blow,
Shadebird disappeared in a cloud of brimstone.  He reappeared right
behing Antoine and deliberately shot a laser and missed to get the
guard's attention.  Just as Ant would slash the fiend, he disappeared
again, and reappeared as a gigantic cloaked monster.

        He charged up his silverbolt spell and was ready to turn Antoine
to silver as he did Sonic and Sally.  But just as he let go of the bolt
of energy, Antoine whipped out the mirror he found in the east tower and
the spell bounced right back at Shadebird.  Shadebird was turned into a
giant image of silver.  Antoine took this opportunity to finish him off. 
He jumped toward him and slashed the statue in half, and it exploded. 
Shadebird was defeated.

        After the battle, Athair reappeared as the clouds scattered to
show the moonlight.  He was transported back to Mobotropolis to see Sonic
and Sally back to normal.  "Congratulations," Athair said.  "Your friends
are restored."  Sonic said "Thanks, Ant.  You really pulled us out of the
fire."  Sally added "Yes, thank you.  It was rather uncomfortable being a
statue, especially when it was almost my birthday."  Antoine said "Theenk
nothing of eet.  I have some birthday presents for you."  He gave her the
mirror and flowers.  Sonic said as Sally received her gifts "I guess it's
true what they say-- 'Sound is SILVER, but silence is golden!'"

                                        The End

                                                =)