Chapter one
The trees of the forest trembled as a disturbance passed through them. After a bit of rustling, Hypo Prower shot out of the limbs. He was using his two red tails like a helicopter to fly at super speed through the forest.
The red fox looked back desperately at the forest. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He looked ahead, and then looked back. It was too dangerous to go back. He would have to get help.
After looking back into the trees one last time, Hypo sped over to his home: CherryBerryville.
Skree Hedgehog paced back and forth impatiently. Where was Hypo? He stared out the window of his hut and locked his gaze in the trees. He knew Hypo was in trouble, but he had promised to stay near the village to look after things while Hypo and Chaos Prower went to check out the forest.
Meika sat glumly in a chair in Skree's hut. She was worried about Hypo. He was, after all, her husband, and she couldn't help worrying.
However, she had some really big news for her spouse. She couldn't wait to tell him once he got back.
Suddenly, Skree watched as Hypo burst through the trees with sweat rolling down his face.
"Skree!" he screamed. "Meika! Anybody!!!!!" Both the fox and hedgehog leaped up and dashed out of the small shelter to meet the panting fox. He was about to fall to the ground from exhaustion, but luckily, Skree caught him just before he hit the ground. Skree and Meika looked down worriedly at his face.
"Guys…" he gasped with a final huff. "Chaos is…" then the red fox passed out.
Hypo woke up in his bed. No one else was in the hut where he and Meika lived. He clutched his forehead. There was a monster of a headache brewing inside his forehead. Ow.
The fox slid out of bed and slipped on his green and white tennis shoes. Then he crept silently over to the door and looked outside. Everything seemed fine. Was everything just a dream?
Suddenly, everything came back to him. Hypo raced off in the direction of Skree's hut, his two tails giving him extra bursts of speed.
Skree looked up from a magazine he was reading to see Hypo burst through the door. "Hypo!" Skree cried surprisingly. Hypo skidded to a stop in front of his friend and gave him a grave expression.
"Get the rest of the villagers," he demanded. "There's something horrifying lurking in the woods."
The whole of the town arrived at the sound of the emergency bell. Hypo stood in front of the villagers, his two tails twitching with anxiety.
Meika shuffled her feet in the dirt. Skree stood next to her. He noticed that she was actually getting a bit plump. Maybe it was all that ice cream she had yesterday.
"People of CherryBerryville!" Hypo cried. "As you all may know, Chaos Prower did not come back to town yesterday." There were some horrified gasps in the crowd. Hypo cleared his throat and continued.
"This is because on our stealth mission in the woods to get rid of the robotic spy mice that Enerjak was building, we encountered…something else." Meika turned her gaze from the dirt to her husband. She gave him a questioning glance. Hypo sighed, and then started trembling vigorously. Skree leaped up and put his hands on his friend's shoulders.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Hypo shut his eyes and uttered shakily to the townspeople, "We found Slayer." There were terrified screams sounding from the crowd as people began to panic. Skree jumped back in surprise, and his eyelids flew open. Meika put her hand over her mouth and clutched her chest.
Hypo opened his eyes and stared into the eyes of his fellow villagers with a discontented expression on his face.
"I need to go into the woods to get back Chaos Prower," he said sternly. He turned his head towards the woods and felt a bead of nervous sweat roll down his face.
Skree gave him a challenging glare and stepped up next to his friend. "You're not going in there alone," he said. "I'm with you." Hypo shook his head.
"No," he said. "It's too dangerous…" Meika stepped up next to the two.
"Don't listen to him, Skree." She said with a smirk. "That bonehead husband of mine isn't going in there alone because I won't let him. I'm with you guys." Tails smiled from out of the crowd and hopped up with his friends.
"Sonic never let me go on missions when I was a kid," he said. "My cousin may be the hero here, but there is no way I'm gonna stay here." Hypo blushed.
"I'm not a hero," he said. "Just a normal, average two-tailed fox." The red fox nodded at his friends. He knew it would be risky, having everyone close to him go into the woods to face a great threat, but it had to be done.
"Hypo," Hypo turned around to see a silver echidna and a red hedgehog named Satchel and Fenna facing him. "We'll keep the village safe if anything comes up." Hypo nodded at Satchel's words.
"Wait, Hypo!" The fox turned around to see a black rabbit running toward him. Her name was Wind, and she was Hypo's apprentice.
"Can I come too?" Meika turned and walked over to Hypo, telling him that they were leaving, when she saw Wind.
Hypo bent down on his knees and stroked Wind's ear in his gloved hand. He wrapped his two tails around her body, as if he was caring for his own child.
"Wind, if anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself." The black rabbit looked down with eyes full of disappointment. As Hypo got up to walk away, Meika greeted him.
"Are you sure we can't take her?" she asked. "I mean, she's been really loyal to the town, and-…" Hypo stopped her.
"Just…just trust me on this one." Hypo walked past his wife and asked Skree and Tails if they were ready to travel into the woods. Meanwhile, Meika was looking at him curiously. What exactly was Hypo worried about?
Hypo led the way through the woods. Tails looked around in marvel at all the beautiful things-there were flowers, trees and insects. Birds chirped happily while squirrels chattered to their friends. This place was their little home-away-from-home.
Tails then grew worried and looked down at the ground. If this place was ever destroyed, CherryBerryville wouldn't be able to thrive. True to the name, the residents' diet consisted mostly of berries, all of which grew here in the forest. Plus, the water supply came directly from the crystal-clear Emerald Pond.
Skree looked up into the sky. It was about noon, according to the sun. Soon he would grow hungry, but lucky for him, all the food was growing around him as he thought.
Hypo sighed wearily and paused to lean against a tree. Skree gasped worriedly and ran over to him.
"You OK, Hyp?" he asked. Hypo nodded while panting. He tried to stand up, but he fell right back against the tree. Meika and Tails dashed over to join their friends.
"Here, sweetie, just sit down a minute." Meika urged. Hypo slid his body down the trunk and collapsed on the ground. Meika took one of her husband's legs and inspected it. She was CherryBerryville's field medic.
The fur on the leg was rubbed and raw. It was starting to swell up. Meika turned to Skree and Tails, who were watching anxiously.
"You two," she addressed. "Skree, I need two Ferry Mushrooms, a long strip of lamb's weed and about a cup of wild onion juice. Tails bring us some food-I'm not too picky about what it is." The two nodded and went on their way. Hypo stared tiredly up at Meika.
"Oh…my leg is so…" Meika silenced him with a finger to his mouth.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'll make a poultice and fix that leg of yours up. What in the world happened to it anyway?" Hypo narrowed his eyes and stared out into space.
"No!" he cried half-way conscience. "Please, don't…uh…" Hypo closed his eyes and fell asleep, his head and heart pounding. Meika gasped and stared out in the direction Tails and Skree had gone in.
"Hurry back," she whispered.
In about an hour, Hypo had a bandage tied around his sore leg. He was chewing on some berries along with Skree, Meika and Tails. Hypo stood up and stretched his leg. Meika glanced up at him.
"Careful, dear, that leg of yours is still pretty weak." Hypo smirked.
"Don't have to tell me," he replied. "Can we get going now?" Skree stood up.
"I'm ready. Tails?" The twin-tailed fox stood up.
"Ditto," he said. "C'mon, we've gotta find Chaos Prower." Meika stood with the rest.
"How is he related to you anyway?" she asked. Meika really didn't know because she married into the family, rather than growing up a Prower. Hypo flicked some hair out of his face.
"I'm not really sure, but that guy's like my brother." Tails nodded in agreement. Skree started off deeper into the forest.
"Geez, let's stop wondering how he's related to you guys and get a move on! He might not even be alive to tell us about his relationship if you people won't hurry up." The remaining three caught up with Skree and continued on.
"So what exactly happened to Chaos Prower on your guy's little mission?" Meika asked curiously. Hypo sighed.
"The unspeakable," he said. "Robots surrounded us. I tried to fight, but I hurt my leg. And Chaos…" He paused and took a short, irritated breath.
"I should have been there!" he cried. "But my stupid leg…oh man, if I ever get my hands on those robots…"
"It's not your fault," Tails pointed out. "Besides, we'll get him back. Oh, where are we?"
Surrounding the four adventurers was a blood stained battle field. Trees were knocked down, obviously clearing the path for the robots. Hypo sighed.
"The battle grounds," he said wearily. Meika gasped horrifically.
"That's awful!" she exclaimed. "So, this is the last time you saw Chaos?" Hypo nodded.
"I'm afraid something horrible has happened to him." Skree sighed.
"I'd believe that," he said. "Oh man, Chaos…dude, you were like my older brother."
"Stop that!" Tails spat. "You said "were". You never know, he may still be alive. But he's…"
"Captured," Hypo finished. "He may be facing his doom right now."
"Then what on Mobius are we waiting for?" Meika asked. "Let's follow the trail that the robots left. I'm sure they stampeded through here in a hurry, so let's watched for destroyed trees, crushed berries, etc." As the four followed the hollowed-out trail in the forest, Hypo couldn't help but glance back at the destruction and play back the attack in his mind. He shuddered and snapped his eyes shut, clearing the image. He would find Chaos Prower, or give his life trying to track him down.