"Bat wings, birds' eyes and water from a spring," says the Dragonlord, consulting a scrap of paper. "Crystals charged with light from a full moon."

"That's real helpful," Robo says sarcastically. "How are we supposed to know which rocks are charged and which aren't?"

"Use your brain," the Dragonlord retorts. "We just had a full moon a few nights ago. This area should be rich with mana...wait, I forgot. You two are as spiritually sensitive as thumbtacks."

Mobo shrugs. "He ain't wrong. Guess we're on bat-and-bird duty."

"That'll do. Spelunker, you get the crystals. And the little prince here..." The Dragonlord gestures to Filmia, the diminutive frog prince. "Should be able to find our water."

Filmia croaks proudly. "Though it's far beneath my station to be fetching sundries, I do appreciate my talents being acknowledged."

The Dark Spelunker nods. "Well, there's worse ways to spend a day than out in the wilderness...especially when we're getting paid for it."

"Oh, I don't require payment," Filmia says. "It's the duty of any dashing prince to help those in need...even when those in need are evil wizards, I suppose."

"Guilty as charged," the Dragonlord says in a matter-of-fact way. "Now quit your yammering and go get me those ingredients! Come back in time for supper, and I'll have made us a stew."

"Wait...with the bat wings, or without?" Mobo asks.

"With a pair of idiot robots, if you keep asking questions!" snaps the Dragonlord. "Now get going!"

From some investigation, it appears my official designation in this realm is "soulbond." I'm "soul-bound" to the entity known as "moon." It's mostly an inconvenience, but it does give me some insight into how human minds operate, and all I have to do in return is pipe up every once in a while or consent to an interview. Helpful.

Here's the interesting part. "moon" contacted me in some way, because I resonated with it. I was created by Dr. Eggman in his image and, once I was reborn as Heavy King, we shared (ugh) many of the same personality traits and characteristics. Who's to say that I'm not a soulbond of the doctor, given form? Or perhaps I was a soulbond of the Phantom Ruby in some way?

This is all outside the scope of my investigation, but it's fascinating to think about nevertheless. I dislike the idea of being "bound" to someone or something else, but if I was able to gain my independence from Eggman, who's to say I can't gain independence again?

Testing, testing, one-two-three...isn't that cool? Now if you want to talk about other people behind their back, you can at least pretend they can't see it.