[Notice: This story was written in 1998. I have no intention of continuing this, as I have no time to. However, please enjoy it, as I only recently found it on my HD. And, just for the record, I am embarrassed at this pathetic piece of self-insertion.] OBLIGATORY BOURGOISE LEGAL BULL****: This fanfiction story is copyright by the author, Daniel Harris. The characters of Lupe, Princess Sally, Dr. Robotnik, and Snively are copyrighted by SEGA, DiC, and/or Archie Comics. The Wolf Pack, Robotropolis, and all related trappings are also (c) them. The characters of Paco Black as well as Kino, are creations of the author. Daniel Harris, Faith Merriam, and Thomas Merriam are actual people. Any reference to them is purely intentional :) NOTE: This story contains adult language and situations. Reader discretion is advised. "The Great Spirit of the Creator" By: Daniel Harris It's not that Daniel enjoyed burning the midnight oil. He had often taken great pains for his late mannerisms, which left him exhausted during the day, but refreshed at night. Daniel had almost become a nocturnal creature from the late nights spent at college. Although Daniel tried many times to hit the sheets before midnight, every time he failed. Sitting at the computer in the middle of the darkest night of the year, Daniel typed away, oblivious to the time. He enjoyed working on his stories, for they were an escape, a passage to another world. Maybe one time, long ago, Dan needed such escapes from the real world, but now they were more than that. Over the last few years, Daniel had turned these writings of his into a kind of psuedo-enterprise, selling them for money. First and foremost an artist, Dan was also pleasantly surprised at the quality of his fiction. The high level of detail and excellent plot development amazed many people, including Daniel's professors at college. The characters in them seemed almost alive, and the places he described were shining with towering spires, as well as darkened with filth and decay. He could span any literary gap and come out smelling like a rose. He especially enjoyed writing about intelligent animals, and the future that they created on earth. Daniel Harris was by no means a perfect human being. His arrogance and bad attitude towards anyone who refused to accept his "strange" beliefs and values kept his circle of friends quite small. Dan liked it that way, however. He knew that often, rebellious ideas changed the world, that square pegs in round holes were a good thing. He was determined to become the model of one of those square pegs, sooner or later. For now, however, Daniel was growing very weary of staring into the stark white of the blank computer screen, looking for story ideas that just didn't exist. Although many nights, his visions of a future of intelligent animals ruling the earth flowed like water, this night there was simply nothing. He drew in a long breath and let it out as a sigh. "Well, at least no one can say I didn't try." he said quietly as he rubbed his eyes. Shutting down the system, Daniel clicked off the monitor and snapped the computer's front panel shut. He looked at the red LED numbers glowing on the cable box. They read 2:30 A.M. That's about right, he thought. No one ever became successful by going early to bed, anyway. It's all about working late, munching on fast food, and crunching ideas down to their basest ingredients. But something didn't feel right tonight. Daniel couldn't quite explain it, but there was an odd air about the night, something almost electric. "I definitely have been up too long when I get to thinking like that. Okay, Danny boy, just go to sleep and it'll all come to you tomorrow. Like it has before." He covered the computer with the bath towels that he used as dust covers, replacing them very sloppily. Grabbing his crumpled shirt off of the couch, Dan practically stumbled into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Every little sound he made was crisp, as if he was on a soundstage. He was still not used to the sound of complete silence that permeated dark nights such as this one. Few people would be out after dark on nights like these, and certainly not after midnight. It was even more pronounced now that he was isolated in a house. Dan had become accustomed to the noises of apartment life, and life in a house still amazed his senses. However, about halfway through his nightly hygiene, Daniel heard a noise. It was low, almost inaudible, and clearly a howl. "Who's dog could possibly be up at this hour?" he thought. He heard it once more, louder this time. No, not a dog. It was far too deep and long for a dog. A wolf? Absolutely out of the question. Wolves have never been out this far, have they? He trained his ear in the general direction of the sound, straining to hear it again. Nothing. Maybe he was hearing things. It was quite late. Daniel dismissed the sound as a dog, and nothing more. Finished in the bathroom, he flipped out all of the lights and headed to the bedroom. He stripped off his pants, pulled on his pajamas, and collapsed onto the bed. In the pitch darkness, he heard his mother Faith cough once and roll over onto her side. At least some people around here can get some sleep, he thought. "At least some people have lives." he murmured softly to himself. He then rebutted his statement with, "At least I know where I'm going in life." Satisfied with himself, he relaxed and rolled over onto his back, crossing his arms on his chest. In mere minutes, Daniel was asleep, breathing softly. *********************************************************************** "Maybe if I can achieve that much...I will have the dream that I have always wished for." "But Sir...this child...how can he...?" "Never question my motives!...the child is much more useful than you can possibly imagine...his power is limitless...limitless...limitless..." *********************************************************************** Daniel awoke to the crowing of birds, as he had many mornings before. "Goddamn crows..." he groaned. He reached over to the other side of his bed and grabbed a handful of dirt. There was no bed. He rolled over to pull up the shade, but only grabbed air. There was no shade, or window, for that fact. Stunned, Daniel sat up and blinked in the harsh sunlight. He tried opening his eyes all the way and couldn't. It hurt too much. Speaking of hurting too much, his ankle hurt like a bitch. Shit, I must have slept on it. He put his hand down to feel it. It was wet. He brought his hand back to right in front of his face. It was blood. His blood. Turning over his hand, he noticed a small animal curled up in his palm. It was a scorpion, with blood on the tip of its stinger. "Holy shit! What the hell!?" He shook off the little beast and stumbled backwards, away from it. Daniel grabbed his stomach and winced in pain. "What the fuck is going on? How did I get here? What the hell happened?" He squinted hard, looking out at the horizon. What met his gaze was a vision of absolute desolation. It appeared to be some sort of desert, like the ones Dan had seen in Nevada, except much larger. The grayish-orange flat plain extended forever in all directions, obscured now and then by a dust storm. It was very hot, and extremely dry. The cracked mud tiles under Dan's feet burned the skin, and he hopped from one foot to the other as he looked for any sign of life. He could not see trees or bushes, dead or otherwise. Not even a cactus. Shit. He heard the sharp caw of birds again, closer this time. The sound was harsh, with an almost angry tone. It sounded like they were right above his head. Wait a minute, those aren't crows, Dan thought. Peering through slits to keep out the dust that blew at him, he looked above his head to see the dark outline of large, ragged birds flying in a circle. No, those weren't crows. Those were vultures, and Daniel knew they smelled his wound. "Wonderful, I get dumped in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, and now I got vultures on my ass. Fucking great." Feeling the ire and indignation rise quickly in him, Daniel screamed out, "God Dammmit!!!! What the fuck happened!!!!!!!?" With all his energy expended, he collapsed onto the ground. "All right, Daniel. Let's try and think things through logically. Somehow, someone grabbed me in the middle of the night and drugged me. They then drove way out to the middle of nowhere and dumped me. Then, I wake up in this fucking place with a splitting headache, which explains the drugs. It must be nearly 120 degrees out here, so I need to find shelter. There are vultures above me which can smell my blood, so I gotta cover that up." Recognizing that fact, Daniel proceeded to tear off a length of sleeve from his pajamas and tie it around his left ankle. That'll do for a while, he thought. Until I find a road and hitch my way to a hospital. Dan stood up uneasily and immediately clutched his gut. Poison, he thought. I forgot about the poison. The damned thing must have stung me while I was asleep! Now I really need to find a hospital. I won't last much longer in this heat, either. Wiping his brow, he desperately scanned the desert for any structure to focus his direction on. There was only one oddity, a squarish lump of rock on the horizon. "Well, it's a start...not much else I can do..." he murmured through winces. So, removing the rest of his pajama top and tying it around his head to keep it cool, Daniel began slowly walking away from nowhere, towards somewhere. *********************************************************************** Searing heat. Blinding dust. Endless, endless desert. It seemed like it would never end. Three hours ago, Daniel had torn off the legs of his pajama bottoms to cover his blistered feet. The lump grew closer. Two hours ago, Daniel had torn off the rest of his pajamas, which were now laying in tatters miles back. The lump had turned out to be a large mountain, flattened at the top. One hour ago, Daniel tore off his underwear because the heat was so intense. Now, almost five and a half hours into his trek, sunburned, naked and exhausted, Daniel stumbled blindly forward. It didn't matter where he was going now, he just had to find shade to lay in, cool water to drink. Through his tear-streamed eyes that he hadn't opened in hours, he saw that there was a path carved through the sheer cliffs, only a few hundred yards away. Their deep, dark, cool shadows seemed to call out to him. It seemed to be a low, long, haunting howl that echoed off of the canyon walls. Daniel couldn't tell if that was his mind playing tricks on him or not. A few minutes later, Daniel dropped to his knees and began dragging himself towards the sound, towards those cool shadows. His right arm reached out and felt the coolness of the canyon first. He dragged the rest of his battered body into the shadow, and fell on his face. He craned his stiff neck up one last time and saw the image of a beautiful fountain spraying water up to the yellow sky. Then he dropped his head to the ground and passed out. *********************************************************************** "Sir, I must insist, how will this child help us?" "This child holds the key to all of us, my friend. But he is more than a child. He holds the ultimate power. He is the one who will lead us to our destiny." "But I still don't understand..." "You will soon, my friend...you will soon..." *********************************************************************** "I think he's coming around...get that water over here." "Son? Son? Are you all right? Can you hear me?" "Mmmm...mom...I had this...horrible nightmare...I dreamt I was lost in a desert. It was so hot...oh so hot...I felt like I was going to die." "Well, you don't have anything to worry about anymore. You're back here with us now. Just rest for a while longer." Daniel rolled over onto his side, keeping his eyes closed tightly to the bright light in the room. He grimaced at this reluctance his muscles had to move the slightest bit, vaguely wondering why. "I want him kept under guard for as long as it takes for him to regain consciousness. And make sure you keep applying those cooling patches." "Yes, Madam Lupe." Daniel instantly shot up. "Madam Lupe!?!??" He whipped his head to the left. Standing in the torchlight of a small stone cave were two wolfish figures, each standing about four and a half feet tall, and each wearing clothes. Wearing clothes? What in the world? And why the hell were they talking to him? "I have got to be fuckin' tripping out." he nervously whispered under his breath. He began shaking as they approached him, slowly. "You have been asleep for over six hours. We found you laying unconscious in the middle of the courtyard. We thought..." Daniel stopped the tall, female one short. "All right, don't come any goddamn closer. I don't know what the fuck is going on here, but whoever's making the joke better stop right now." He waited for a response, but the two just stood there, perplexed. "Get the stupid wolf suits off and bring me back to my house, now!" "We...can't do that, young one. Even if we knew what you were talking about, there is no possibility of you returning home tonight. Here, let me..." Lupe stepped forward, reaching out her hand to help him up. Daniel shrunk back into the corner, cowering in blind fear. "Keep away from me, you freak! Don't touch me!" Daniel tried desperately to stand up, but collapsed on the stone floor. Frustrated, he pulled off the cooling patches and blanket. Then, noticing he was naked, he threw the blanket back over him, clutching it tightly. "Oh my god! Where the hell are my clothes, you fucking freaks!" "We could not find any of your clothing, young one. Your skin had been severly burned by the sun. We brought you here, where Kino attended to your wounds." The female wolf's slender hand remained extended to Daniel. She smiled slightly, tilting her head to one side as she did so. Dan closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his sweat soaked hair. "Look, I don't know who...or what you..." He stopped in mid sentence as he raised his head, and for the first time, met his gaze with that of the female's. His heart began pounding quicker, and he blinked a few times as his mind unclouded somewhat. He dropped his mouth in amazement, and pointed to her, as he remembered who she was. "Wait...I know who you are...of course! That's it! I thought I recognized that name! You're Lupe, leader of the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters! But...how...can that be..." He began to feel faint again. "There will be time for explanations later. Now, please, let us help you back to bed. Kino can't do his job if you're lying naked on the floor." Daniel blushed as he recovered himself further. "God...I'm so tired...I just don't understand... how this could have happened..." He weakly stuck out his hands to the slender, gray-furred one of Lupe. She clasped them tightly and, to Daniel's amazement, pulled him to his feet with no difficulty whatsoever. Daniel grimaced again at the soreness of his limbs. Kino, a well-built brown wolf, immediately came to his side and bore him up gently. Two specimens of the strangest creatures Daniel had ever seen were now carrying him to a small stone shelf, set back into the wall, and covered in a soft quilt. His mind began to swim with elation, and with all of the possibilities that this new world had. The last image of the night that he had was of furry, clawed hands pulling the quilt over his shoulders. *********************************************************************** Daniel awoke at around dawn. For a moment, Daniel thought he had gone home. The silence was so great that it almost deafened him. Just like home, he thought. But then the realization set in on him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't home, and this wasn't his bed. This bed was made of stone, polished to perfection, but stone nonetheless. And the air wasn't right. It was damp, and quite musty. And there wasn't a complete silence, after all. Daniel could faintly hear the echoing drip of water somewhere around him. He must be in some sort of tunnel system. Slowly but surely Daniel remembered where he was, or at least thought he was. Somehow, he had gotten transported to the future that he described in his stories. And now he was stuck here, for a time, anyway. "So this is Mobius..." he said in a half whisper, amazed that he was actually saying that. Despite attempts to keep his voice low, it echoed down the pitch black tunnels to his left. Better keep quiet then, he thought. Or they'll hear you. Who?, he asked himself. The Mobians, his brain replied. The Wolf Pack. The people that you wrote about, the people that you created. Them. That's absurd, he told himself. How can you be here? What happened to you? Why are you here? Why am I so damn important? He refused to answer the simple, logical questions his brain threw at him. Instead, Dan let out a long sigh, sat up on the stone, and wrapped himself in the ample quilt they had given him. In pitch darkness, Daniel decided to go look for the source of that water he had heard before. Daniel had expected more pain when he stood up, like the night before, but there was none. It was gone. That male wolf, who he assumed was a shaman of some sort, had worked a minor miracle. With the cooling patches went the pain. Simple, yet effective. The stone was cool under his feet as he padded his way to the exit of the cave he had been in. As he quietly stepped out into the draft of the tunnels, the wind brushed against his ankles. It made him realize something else. He hadn't died from the scorpion sting yet. He hadn't even gotten sick. The shaman must have extracted the poison somehow, even though Daniel knew that it must have been circulating in his bloodstream when they found him. Another minor miracle performed by a creature he had only seen one time, and whom he barely knew. This was insane, he thought. Here I am, wrapped in a quilt, standing in God knows where, freezing my ass off. What am I *doing* here? He wished that someone had given him some answers, but all they did was tell him that he "couldn't go home now". Why? Oh well, just forget it for now. Get a drink, Daniel. Yes, that is why he came out here. To find some water. Since he had no light to find his way down the tunnels with, he followed close to the cold stone walls, inching his way along in the blackness. He followed the sound for about 200 yards, his parched mouth making him more anxious to get to his destination. The quilt made an intermittent shuffling sound that occasionally masked the faint sound of the water, and made Daniel stop so he could pick it up again. After those 200 yards, he found himself at some sort of intersection. He walked gingerly around in a circle to discover how many exits there were. Four, including the way he had come. "Great, now what?" he said out loud. He repeated his circle, straining his ears to find out what tunnel possessed the loudest echo of the water. He could not tell, and began getting increasingly frustrated, as well as frightened. What if no one ever went down this way? Would they ever find him? He frantically searched the walls for anything to point the way: arrows, signs, markings or engravings. Nothing. So, summing up all of his courage, he turned around and took his path. About a half of an hour had gone by. In that time, Daniel had taken a right, another right, a left, and a right. His mouth had long since given up the search for water, and now his only mission was escape. Escape from wherever he had been carried into. He had never found a pool of water, nor a stream, river, or even spring. Wherever the water was, it certainly was beyond his reach. He figured that he would get a drink from the fountain in the courtyard that he had seen before he had passed out, once he escaped. Yes, that would work nicely. Then he could leave this bizarre fantasy and finally go home. He wondered if his parents missed him yet. It was just past sunrise, and he knew that his mother and stepfather would have already risen to go to work. He just hoped that they noticed he was gone, so they could send some rescue team to get him. Maybe the police were already working on his case. Maybe he had been unconscious for days, not hours. Maybe he'd find his parents greeting him with open arms as soon as he found his way out of the caves. The sun had just broken over the horizon, and Daniel noticed that the light somehow found its way down to where he was. Faintly though noticeably he saw rays of light streaming their way to him, tinting the walls a tender rose color. His spirits brightened as the day did the same. Now he would have little problem finding the exit. Then, just as Daniel neared a curve in the tunnel, he stopped dead in his tracks. Snoring. He heard snoring. Yet that was impossible, given that he hadn't heard or seen another living soul in hours, and even that he couldn't be sure of. Unless...that's it! His kidnappers had stayed the night. Of course! Daniel almost smacked himself for being so stupid. It all made so much sense now. Daniel had been drugged, then taken by a group of kidnappers to a remote desert location, maybe somewhere in Nevada. The long distance had only taken a few hours because they had flown him in. He had then been dumped in the middle of the desert when they found he had no value. Or maybe the police were chasing them, and they needed to get rid of the evidence. Then why hadn't they killed him outright? They probably figured that the heat of the day would take care of that. And it almost had. He had, somehow, found his way to their hideout, where they found him and brought him inside. Because they didn't want him to see their identities, they had donned animal masks and drugged him further, to make him delirious. But those were damned good masks. He hadn't even noticed any seams. But that was irrelevant. That *had* to be the answer. And now he was standing right outside of the door of the room where his abductors had crashed for the night. It was simple. He would go in, take their weapons, and run for his life. He must be near the surface, or the light wouldn't be so bright. Okay, he had a plan. Now he had to carry it out. Daniel quietly edged his way around the corner, sticking as close to the carved stone wall as he could. Once he noticed that there was a closed door set into the rock, he stepped away from the wall. Drying his palms on the quilt, Daniel reached out for the oddly shaped brass pull. "Hmm...how odd." he muttered to himself as he noticed that the knob was in the shape of a wolf's head. "These guys really take this wolf thing to the extreme." Inches at a time, he slowly eased the handle towards him. Without as much as a single creak, the heavy wooden door swung back into the room. Picking up the quilt so he wouldn't trip over it, Dan tiptoed into the pitch black room. As soon as he was down the stone steps that led into the chamber, Daniel quickly scanned the room for any weapons that he could possibly take. He noticed a slight glint of metal coming from the far corner of the chamber. Keeping his eyes focused on that glint, he quietly shut the door. The glint disappeared, but his eyes had become adjusted enough to the darkness that he found his way over to the corner without any problem. As he snuck over to the dark corner, he picked up details he couldn't notice before. There was a heavy wood bed in the corner, with tall posts topped with some sort of animal figureheads. Leaning on the side of it was a large, thick machete. Apparently these were no ordinary criminals. The loud snoring became almost deafening as he neared ever closer to the bed. The shadows cast on the bed made it impossible to tell the identity of the sleeper. "Damn. Now I can't tell the police what these guys look like." he cursed at himself. Just as he finished that thought, the figure in bed snorted and rolled onto its side. I better get that machete, he told himself. Before these loonies wake up and slit my throat. He kneeled down on the straw mat that he stood on and readied himself to grab the knife. With his heart pounding in his throat, Daniel gingerly reached out for where he thought the machete was. However, instead of grabbing the knife, he bumped a table that he didn't notice when he entered the room. Too late, he grabbed for a mirror that came crashing to the stone floor. The figure in bed shot up immediately, and in one motion, grabbed both the machete and Daniel's throat. The amazing grace and speed of someone who had just woken up surprised Dan as he was slammed against the wall with considerable force, the knife's razor edge at his throat. With one hand, the dark figure picked him up off of the ground. Still in shadows, Daniel couldn't see who it was, even when it drew so close that Daniel could smell its bad breath. Through gasps for air, Daniel blurted out, "Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything! Just don't kill me!" The figure seemed shocked at this, and dropped Daniel. "Computer, lights!" Instantly the room was bathed in flourescent lighting coming from small fixtures in the ceiling. "Huh?" Daniel was completely taken aback by what he had just heard. He recognized that voice. It was from the night before. And that simple realization was all it took for him to uncloud his mind of all erroneous theories that he had imagined. The truth was, in fact, much stranger than fiction. There were no kidnappers, no druggings, no masks. There was only him, lying on a stone floor, staring up at a strikingly beautiful female wolf. The truth, indeed, stood right before his eyes. "Are you all right, my son? I am very sorry, I nearly decapitated you there..." the wolf said as she knelt down next to Daniel, laying down the blade as she did so. Between gasps for breath, Daniel managed to get out, "Yes...I am...it was...entirely my...my fault..." "Had I known you would be up so early I would have waked the others so that we could cook you something." "That's all right. I was never one to intrude..." "Nonsense." She stood up and motioned to her bed. "Come, sit with me awhile. Besides, I would like to get an explanation from you before I wake the pack." Dan knew that she wanted to ask him how he got here, and he wasn't even sure. But there was something wonderfully hypnotic about her gaze that he just couldn't resist. Anyone else would have run away in abject fear, but Daniel had a much deeper understanding, and more importantly, curiosity about life. He wasn't about to back down from this opportunity, whether it was real or not. "Sure...I guess I could talk for a bit." He timidly inched his way over to the stuffed straw bed and sat respectfully at the other end. He had a brief moment where his mind just failed him, and he stared blankly at her face. Now that he had his first clear image of her, he wanted to sit there all day and soak it in. Where logic failed him, emotion took over. He couldn't believe he was sitting next to a wolf that talked, and his heart momentarily short-circuited his brain, and he just sat there, staring. He might have sat like that all day, looking into those deep green... "Son? Excuse me, but why are you staring at me like that?" Daniel blushed. "I'm terribly sorry. It's just that you're so..." "So what? What did you want to say?" Beautiful. He couldn't tell her that. Why? Because it's improper. To what extent? I don't know. Just tell her! "I wanted to say that you're ...beautiful." It sounded dumb. He knew it, and he bet she knew it, too. "Beautiful?" Oh, no, here it comes. "Why, thank you...son. I have never been complimented by a...human...before." Okay. Major hint here, Danny boy. She knows you're human. You're in far over your head, now. "You know I'm a...human?" The wolf cocked her head a bit, and giggled. "But of course...I can be fairly sure, anyway. All creatures as devoid of fur as you are must be human." Daniel checked his biology. Sure enough, she was right. Hairless apes, that's what it breaks down into. "So let us get down to business, shall we? I would first like to know a little bit about how you managed to find our encampment. It has only been discovered once in our whole history..." "Wait a minute...Lupe, right?" "Well, Madame Lupe if you want to be formal, but yes, Lupe will do. Ah, yes, that reminds me, I never did ask your..." "Daniel. Actually, my full name is Daniel Harris, if that means anything." Lupe thought for a moment. "Hmmm...no, I can't recall ever hearing of you. But then, we never heard of Robotnik or Snively until Sally told us..." Robotnik. Snively. Sally. Yep, they ring a bell. "You...know of them? I mean, they're out there, somewhere?" "Yes, unfortunately for us. Except for the Great Forest Freedom Fighters, we rarely get any contact with the outside." Yes, Daniel, you're certainly not in Kansas anymore. This world apparently is accurate to Mobius down to the letter. Hint two, Robotnik exists. So does Snively and all the rest. Conclusion? It's gonna be one hell of a long day. ************************************************** End of Chapter One