Episode One by Murr-Quan (archived)

A tale of Origins (A short story about Slasher) By K. M. Hollar This story is copyrighted 1999-2002 by K. M. Hollar. Reproduction of any part of this story in any medium is prohibited. This story may be freely distributed online as long as it remains unchanged. Sonic and related characters copyrighted by Sega. Slasher copyrighted by K. M. Hollar. __________________________________________________________________ It was late evening in Knothole. A big raid had been run that afternoon by Sonic and Knuckles. Robotropolis had suffered a major factory meltdown because of it, and the Freedom Fighters were celebrating. Slasher had planned the mission, and was as jubilant as the rest of them. But now, as night drew on and the bonfire sank into a bed of glowing coals, they were settling down, finding places to sit. It was the time stories were told. Serena found Sonic and sat down beside him. He was gazing dreamily into the fire, chin resting in his hands. She poked him. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" "Hmm?" He sat up and looked at her. "Oh, hi. I was just wondering what story we'll get tonight." "Who gets to tell one?" "Oh, anybody who wants to." The hedgehogs sat and watched as the group slowly settled themselves into a ring about the fire. Unexpectedly Knuckles stood up and said, "I vote we have Slasher tell us one tonight." He sat down, grinning, as everyone seconded the motion. Slasher, sitting broadside to the fire, lifted her head. "Aw, you don't want me to tell you one." She was obviously pleased at being asked. "I'm not much of a storyteller." "Oh come on," Sonic said, leaning forward. "You never tell us any stories. I know you must have SOMETHING up your sleeve!" "Yeah!" the others clamored. "C'mon Slash, tell us one!" The big raptor sat back on her haunches, head high. Her green eyes were thoughtful. She gazed around the circle of faces, picking out Sonic, then Tails. Suddenly she said, "How about the first time I met Sonic?" Sonic's eyes lit up. He remembered their first meeting well. "Yeah!" he cheered with the others. After a moment they quieted, watching Slasher. The raptor gazed intently into the glowing embers, as if they contained the tale she was about to tell. Slowly she dropped her wings to the ground, covering her body until she looked like a monstrous eagle in the half-light. She lifted her head and stared off into the darkness. It was for effect; although she had spoken not a word, she had the full attention of everyone present. "To tell of how I met Sonic," she began, "I'll have to tell something of myself." Her voice was quiet, but clear. Every pair of ears within range pricked up. "As you all know," she said, gazing at each in turn, "I am not native to Mobius. I was born on Earth. I was a normal creature, of course--no wings. However, I only spent one year of my life there. There were humans then -- not as numerous as now, but there were some. One of these had established an intergalactic trade route. He had been paid much to capture a young bipedal dinosaur and ship it to another planet. I was the one snared, kidnapped and taken from Earth--never to return." A pin drop would have sounded like a gunshot. The only sounds were the chirping of crickets and the occasional pop from the settling bonfire. Slasher had fallen into her role as a storyteller. She lifted her hands and gestured as she spoke, eyes fixed on the distant trees. "The one who had paid so much was our own Doctor Robotnik." A unanimous gasp went up. "Yes," Slasher said, "believe it or not. I was sold to him as a pup. I was afraid of him and my new surroundings, and refused to obey him. He came up with a way to control me. He called it a brain-box; I call it a form of robotizer. Once he had clamped the box on my head the computer within controlled my thoughts and actions--but only up to a point. My mind was strong enough to shield off some of it, so I wasn't a complete fool. "I was with Robotnik three years. I was his personal pet; I went everywhere with him. I explored the Mobitropolis castle from top to bottom. I knew his old hideout like the back of my hand. I learned never to fear a robot ... " ... and then everything changed. I had reached the age where, naturally, I wished to hunt. Robotnik began my training to hunt and kill ..." She looked at Sonic. " ... a certain blue hedgehog." He stared at her. "Yes, my only reason for being on Mobius was to destroy Sonic. But I had only just begun my training ... when I was kidnapped again. "This time it was an advanced alien race. They carried me back to their planet in their starship. I was to be a slave. I grew up on their planet--Cockytus, it was called. They built my wings and surgically inserted them into my shoulders. I had to work with them. It took me a long time to learn to use them; I am not a bird by nature. But my slavery was with a free mind; they had removed the brain-box. "I could talk of Cockytus for hours, but I must skip to when they allowed me to go home. At first I wanted to go back to Earth, but it had changed too much. The raptor clan had all but vanished; possibly even extinct. My thoughts turned to Mobius, where I had spent three years of my life. "Mobius was in the separate spacetime but then, but time travel was no big deal to the Cockytains. They teleported me safely through. "Although I had been away for many years, only another two years had passed here. I was now fully grown and possessed my wings. I had no desire to return to my old master. Looking back, I could see that many of the things he had done were evil, underhanded. So I became a silent observer, alone on this planet. "I will never forget the day I first set eyes on Sonic Hedgehog." She grinned at him. "I happened across his trail one afternoon, remembered it from my previous training, and tracked him down. I was curious to see the hedgehog who was the reason for my being on Mobius. I came upon him at the river's edge. "He and a fox with two tails were fishing from the bank. I crept close enough to watch and listen without being detected." "I didn't know that," Sonic broke in. "That was the first time you ever saw me?" The big raptor bobbed her head. "Yes, but I did not make myself known to you then. I learned your names--Sonic and Tails. I began to follow you. I don't know why--I was somehow drawn to you. Perhaps I was lonely. Maybe it was the hand of God--I don't know. I learned where you lived in Mobitropolis. I felt I knew you, and yet I had never met you face to face. I was timid. Afraid you would hate me for my former alliance with Robotnik. So I kept my distance. "Ah, but then Robotnik got wind of the seventh chaos emerald's location, and it was a flight to the finish. I hadn't been there for the race for the six chaos emeralds, but I was on hand for this one. This time Sonic took Tails along on his adventuring." "So, you WERE along for the whole thing," Tails commented from across the fire. "How come you waited so long to help us out?" Slasher shrugged. "Like I said, I was uncertain. I didn't want to be rejected. But as I watched you cross paths with Robotnik over and over, I began to wish I could help. As you neared the location of the emerald, Robotnik's attacks grew in violence. He was consumed by the power lust, and no puny hedgehog and fox were going to stop him." "Yeah," Sonic interrupted again. "She didn't even try to help us until we were in such deep trouble there was no way out." "Is this your story or mine?" Slasher asked. "Yours," he said meekly. "Anyway," she went on, staring into the fire, "they made a bad choice and played right into his hands; they entered his factory chain on the coast. Needless to say, I followed them in. I can't really describe it, except to say that it dwarfed Robotropolis and everything in it. Robots, hostile and otherwise, were everywhere. I was able to keep from being spotted, but Sonic and Tails were attacked several times." "Get to the good part!" Tails exclaimed, bouncing up and down impatiently. Slasher lifted a hand. "Don't be in such a hurry. I'm getting to it." She paused and gazed across at Sonic. "How did you two get caught? I don't seem to remember." "The robots jumped us," Sonic replied promptly. "The pre-SWAT- bots. They were really fast." "Yes. Anyhow, you two got nabbed and before I knew it, Robotnik had devised a pleasantly painful demise for you." Sonic and Tails shivered deliciously at the memory as Slasher described it. "They were chained hand and foot to a huge steel pole, which would be dipped in molten metal. They would be dead before they had been halfway submerged, but oh-so-painfully. "So there they were, lassoed to this metal post and hanging above a vat of bubbling grey lead. Neither could move more than a few inches. Robotnik came out on the walkway to gloat at them. I'll probably never forget what he said: 'Mobius is in my hands now, Sonic Hedgehog. As soon as you are dead, I'll depart and board the Death Egg. I'll take with me the seventh chaos emerald. You have failed.' Terrible last words, huh? I seem to recall Tails was crying." "I was not!" Tails shot back. He looked down. "Well, maybe a little." Slasher's lips lifted a little as she recalled the hostility of the moment. "That was the last time I ever looked upon Robotnik with friendliness. From that day to this I have loathed him. "I found a heavy steel cable coiled up on the walkway." Her hands curled as if she could still feel the weight. "I took it, climbed up into the machinery and wound it through the gears. Then I jumped down, grabbed a welder's torch and melted their chains off. As I did, the machinery came on, lowered the pole a few inches, hit the cable and stalled. "There was fear in Sonic's eyes as I helped Tails and him to safety. Nothing I could say would quell it. He would have run had I not been carrying Tails. Tails was so scared he couldn't make a sound-- which was good, I guess. I sneaked them out of the factory. As soon as we were out they took off running from me. It hurt my feelings, but I followed at a distance anyway. "They went straight to a big runway alongside the factories. A bunch of planes and aircraft were parked there. Without hesitating, they went straight to a red bi-plane, stole it and taxied it out into the open. But from there they had no idea how to get it into the air. I jumped up on the wing for a look. I had worked with Cockytain machines before; the bi-plane was very simple by comparison. This time Sonic built up the nerve to pay attention to what I was showing him." Sonic smiled ruefully. "They finally took off. Neither really knew what they were doing, so I flew alongside and gave 'em directions. I accompanied them as they followed Robotnik's Wing Fortress. We got a little acquainted as they looked for a place to land on it. Sonic managed to jump to a boarding platform, but the plane got shot down before Tails could land. I jumped into the pilot's seat and flew the damaged craft until we could land. He found some tools in the cargo compartment, along with a strange sort of jet. We talked as I made repairs and he examined the jet. By the time everything was fixed and the jet had been installed under the landing gear, we were friends. "I test-drove the plane to try out the jet; come to find out it was so powerful it would rip the plane apart on full throttle. I warned Tails, then we jumped in and headed off to catch Wing Fortress. "I think the rest is old news," Slasher concluded. "You all know we caught up with Wing Fortress, picked up Sonic and helped him catch a ride on Robotnik's cruiser. He hung on to it until it docked on the Death Egg, which is how he made it there." "And I crashed it," Sonic said, "which is kinda how we met you, Knux." Knuckles nodded. He had stared into the fire the whole time, and was listening so hard he could almost see the events in the coals. It took a while for him to come back to reality. The spell of it was upon them all. The group sat in silence a few more minutes, none wanting to break it. Crickets chirped incessantly. A katydid clicked. Slasher broke the quiet by tossing a log on the fire. "Who wants to tell the next story?" Knux lifted his head and gazed at her. "You've pretty much fit the bill, Slash. I vote we go to bed." The others thought this was a good idea and left one by one. At last only the winged velociraptor and the blue hedgehog were left. "Slash?" "Hmm?" "I'm glad." "Glad for what?" "That you're here." She smiled. "So am I, Sonic. So am I." The End