Sonic the Hedgehog and the Space Ace Transformers - Episode VII by Space Ace Part 6 The Rangers set off on their mission. Ace and Sally take the lead as usual, the two Peterbilt rigs travel in the direction of the enemy's position by following the presence of the nWo via their morphing rings as the others follow in our wake. HOPE: This is rough going, I had no idea it would be this difficult even in truck guise. SHADOW: You keeping up okay? HOPE: No problem, dude. At least Ace knows where he's going. SHADOW: Sure he does, lady. SALLY: Are we heading into the Great Desert again? Sure looks that way to me, honey. ACE: Guess so, after all that's where our rings tell us the Empire headed also. SALLY: Then if that's where they go, we follow. Crossing over the sand dunes and wastelands of the desert, the convoy proceeded onward until reaching the mountain passes on the far side. I order the teammates to shift to 4-wheel drive in order to ascend the climb and one by one Shadow, Hope, Kimberly, Tails, Miles Prower, Alicia, Sonic and Sally begin making their way up the grade behind me. Halfway to the top we pause for a rest period. KIMBERLY: Okay, transform and rest period, drink some water to hydrate your bodily fluids now. SONIC: Yeah, uh... hope we didn't take any contaminated water with us. TAILS: Or else we'll get sick ourselves. SALLY: Not to worry, you two. Use your rings to scan the contents to make sure it is safe to drink. She and Kimberly pass out the bottles of Gatorade and Powerade and we take it easy, sipping the flavored water and enjoying the cool breeze upon our faces and bodies, wiping sweat out of our faces and hair. After a quick rest we get back to our feet again. ACE: Proceed on foot, team. Once we reach the top we'll check our surroundings. HOPE: You're the boss, sire. ACE: Ha-ha, very funny... KIMBERLY: I know, to pass the time why don't we sing some songs to brighten our spirits up, he? The red-haired 2nd in command got us singing the tune "Burning Bridges" from the Mike Curb Congregation based on the theme song from the television movie "Hogan's Heroes" that went something like this... ACE: Friends all try to warn me but I held my head up high, all they tried to warn me but I only passed them by. KIMBERLY: They all tried to tell me but I guess I didn't care, I turned my back and left them standing there. BOTH OF US: All those burning bridges that have fallen after me. All those lonely feelings and those burning memories. Everyone I left behind each time I close a door, burning bridges lost forever more. SONIC: Joey tried to help me find a job a while ago, when I finally got it I didn't want to go. TAILS: The party Mary gave for me when I just walk away, now there's nothing left for me to say. ACE-KIM-SONIC-TAILS: All those burning bridges that have fallen after me. All those lonely feelings and those burning memories. Everyone I left behind each time I close a door, burning bridges lost forever more. HOPE: Years have passed and I keep thinking what a fool I've been. SHADOW: I look back into the past and think of way back when. SALLY: I know that I lost everything I thought that I could win. ALICIA: I guess I should have listened to my friends. ALL OF US: All those burning bridges that have fallen after me. All the lonely feelings and the burning memories. Everyone I left behind each time I close a door, burning bridges lost forever more. Burning bridges lost forever more!!! Finally after singing the song again we reached the rise and peered down into the valley on the opposite side. What we saw shocked and chilled us to the core, our blood run cold that is. SALLY: Oh, no! ALICIA: Impossible! Everything below is scorched and polluted. Trees stand like blackened skeletons. A stream runs with sludge that resembles an oil-slick of sorts. A smog-like fog blots out the sunlight. MILES PROWER: Great Scott, who would dare do such a thing? TAILS: Only one terrorist organization that would... SONIC: Aye, the New World Order. Commander Borf and his bullies to be exact. KIMBERLY: Come, let's check it out, Rangers. Working our way down the steep grade, having to lean backwards on occasion to keep from stumbling or tripping and rolling head over heels down the slope to avoid certain injury we reach the valley floor. HOPE: If it is the nWo who did this terrible curse to nature, did they use their magic to transform everything around us? SHADOW: That's what I would like to know myself. ACE: Uh-oh, is that a familiar looking rock formation directly ahead of us? KIMBERLY: Why do you ask that? ACE: Because it's the same cliff side that Ash and Sonic discovered recently where Shego was practicing earthquakes, the hidden fortress of Borf and company who attempted to attack the capital city with the Destruction Beam laser. SONIC: Of course! This is the same place where the Empire used that deadly weapon. SALLY: Oh, no...the original hideout of Lupe and her Wolf Pack tribe. ALICIA: Is that the nWo symbol above the rock face? KIMBERLY: The one and only, redhead. ALICIA: Hmmmph! Sure enough we could see the symbol of the Empire emblazoned just above the hidden doorway indicating the fortress hideout of the nWo. MILES PROWER: What are the Decepticons using the fortress for this time around, he? SHADOW: I bet it's where they are creating the poisons used in assassinating our friends. HOPE: Great, just wonderful. ACE: We got to get across that stream and investigate the hideout to discover Borf's next evil scheme. SALLY: Right, honey. Let's go! TO BE CONTINUED... www.geocities.com/silverstarr3224/