The Corruption of Perfection.
By Pip the Bat.
"Everyone has a choice." -- Citras
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Sonic, Tails and related characters are copyright to Sega.
Citras, Pip and related characters are copyright to me,
Pip the Bat. Slasher and Serena are copyright to NetRaptor.
Used with permission.
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The water sparkled in the sunlight, vague shapes
shimmering within its depths. A few feet away the stream
broadened out somewhat before becoming a roaring, frothing
waterfall.
Lying at the edge of the stream was a brightly coloured
yellowy green hedgehog, his head propped up by a log. His
spikes stuck up high and had metal tips as did his ears and
tail. On each arm he had a metal strip fastened about his
elbow with a spike protruding. On his forehead there was a
small purple triangle. He wore a purple bomber jacket and
steel rimmed knee caps. His shoes were white with black ends
and silver lace clasps.
As he lay there, there came sounds from further
downstream. First his ears pricked up and dismissed it as
unimportant, but at a shrill yelp, he opened his eyes and
lifted his head to have a look.
Two small creatures, chao, were fighting with each
other. He didn't have much of a chance to see what they
looked like, because at that moment one of them fell into
the water with a splash and was dragged under by the fast
flowing current, surfacing once more a short distance from
where he'd fallen in, gasping and panting. Then the current
caught him once more, dragging him over the waterfall.
He hit the bottom of the collective lake with another
small splash, but was forced underwater by the force of the
falls. It was quite clear that the little creature could
not swim.
The other chao looked half worried and half triumphent.
He was red, with long, cat like ears, small golden wings and
a darker mark down the centre of his head. The back of his
head was also darker. He gave the drowning chao a nervous
glance, then turned and ran off.
Guessing that he wasn't going to be much help, the
hedgehog took matters into his own hands. Springing to his
feet, he took a few paces back then, with a sudden burst of
speed, ran up to the edge and sprang off, changing his posture
into that of a graceful dive.
There was a splash, louder than the one made by the
chao as he hit the water. Surfacing almost immidiately, he
looked round for the chao. There he was. He struck out
swiftly towards it, hoping that he'd get to it in time. As
he came within reach of it, he stretched out one hand and
snatched it out of the water as it was about to go under again.
He let out his breath slowly [he hadn't even realised
he'd been holding it] and began to swim back to the shore, the
roaring of the waterfall still pounding in his ears. When he
reached there he layed the chao on the bank above him before
pulling himself out of the water and checking its tiny pulse.
Yes, luckily it still had one.
It was a blue chao with spikes and ears that made it
look rather like a hedgehog. The stranger rather liked chao
and would love to have one of his own. Actually, he wasn't
sure if anyone COULD really hate them. A thought traced itself
across his brain: What about the truly evil, huh? What about...
There was movement in the bushes near him and he
looked up to see another hedghog, a blue one, which the
prone chao resembled. The yellowy green hedgehog didn't know
it, but this was Sonic.
"Who are you?" he asked, then, seeing the chao: "Axel!
Is he okay? What happened to him? I've been trying to find
him for ages." He knelt down by the chao.
"Yeah, he should be okay. He was having this fight with
another chao, one who looked something like a red cat. The
other chao pushed him and he... fell down the falls." Sonic
didn't seem to notice his pun as he was too busy checking
over Axel. "I dived in and saved him."
"There's no chao like that at Knothole," Sonic said,
thoughtfully. "And they're all back there right now anyway.
So," he added, picking up his chao and turning back to the
other. "Who are you then?"
"Citras. Who're you?"
"Sonic." There was a moment's awkward silence in which
they both took each other's appearences in at a glance, and
wondered what to say next. "Well, thanks for saving Axel. Do
you want to, uh, come back to Knothole then."
Citras hesitated for a moment then shrugged. "Sure, why
not."
Little did Sonic know that he was going to regret
inviting Citras back with him.
***
As soon as he stepped inside the village, Citras a
few steps behind him, Tails came rushing up. "Hey Sonic,
can I show you my new part I made for the Tornado--" He
broke off, seeing the stranger behind Sonic. "Who's that?"
"I'm Citras," said the green hedgehog, quickly.
Tails stared at him, and Sonic didn't like the look
in his eye; it was one of admiration, reserved usually only
for Sonic himself.
The other chao came hurrying across to them. "Is Axel
okay Sonic?" asked Bik, in a buisness-like fashion.
"Yeah, he's fine thanks. Citras here rescued him."
They exchanged looks, and Sonic was displeased to see
the same look in their eyes as in Tails's.
"You're a hansome bunch of chao," remarked Citras,
cheerfully.
"Yes," agreed Peppi, self conciously, and Tropican
stepped on his foot hard.
"Do you want me to show you around a little," asked
Tails, hopefully. Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic saw
Serena, his sister coming along. He perked up. Serena
wouldn't be so stupid as the others... but as soon as she
saw Citras, Serena's eyes seemed to refocus in the now
familiar way and she opened her mouth to say something.
"Don't forget you autograph book, will you?" snapped
Sonic, and stalked off. The worst of it was that nobody
noticed him go. They're all acting like they're on some
stupid television soap, he thought, angrily. What's so
special about Citras?
***
Sonic hated the next few days; there was one thing
he had overlooked about Citras when he had first met him,
namely his attitude and aura. He was popular and clever
not to mention good looking. Citras was rapidly becoming
the centre of attention, appearing to be good at anything
he turned his hand to, without fault.
Sonic complained bitterly to Serena about him. "I
wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the world's
best flyer instead of turning into paté if he took a notion
to superglue a pair of wings to his arms and jump off a
cliff," he said, a slight sulky tone to his voice, which
he detested.
She looked at him, surprised. "But Citras is really
nice!" she protested. "You're just jealous of him."
"No I'm not," Sonic snapped back. But he was.
It reminded him of when Spike had first shown up at
Knothole. Only, since it was happening in the present and
not in the past, a whole lot worse. He was begining to feel
really left out of everything; Serena even forgot to
include him in an outing one day.
She apologised at once of course, but it annoyed Sonic
no end, and when asked if he'd like to come along, he flatly
refused. To his surprise, he found that Citras had declined
his invitation too.
When the others had left, Sonic watched him walk out
of the village. Curious, he followed him. He found him
sitting on the stream bank, much further up from where he'd
been the day before, swinging his legs and gazing into space.
Suddenly, the jealousy seemed to drain from Sonic, and
he flopped himself down next to him. "What's up dreamer?"
Citras glanced at him, surprised. "Nothing. I was just
thinking." He gave Sonic a slightly shy smile. "Look, I'm
sorry about what I've done. I didn't mean for everyone to
act like that over my... problem."
"Problem?"
"I'm perfect." His voice sounded bitter.
"Nobody's perfect," answered Sonic, confused by the
other's reply.
Citras hesitated for a moment. "Can I tell you
something? It's a big, big secret. You'd have to promise not
to tell anyone else."
"Of course." Sonic was more than a little interested
by now.
"I'm a android." Sonic opened his mouth to say
something, he didn't know what, but Citras raised a hand,
cutting him short. "There was this scientist, you see, who
wanted to create the perfect beings. So to do that, he made
a bunch of androids, perfect in every detail, great at
everything and no slouches in the looks department.
"But that wasn't good enough for him. He had to do
better. Have you heard of the Gemstones, Sonic?" Sonic did;
in his last not so fun adventure he had had with Pip, the
Mecha bot, Tails and Marina [who preferred to be know as
Spines], the porcupine, he had had more to do with them than
he had ever wanted to. Nightshade, the werewolf cat had
tried to kill them all, with help from his Gemstone of
Control but had been thought to die himself in the end.
Pip owned one too, the Gemstone of Hope.
"There's three isn't there?" he ventured.
Citras nodded. "That's right. No one knows where Hope
and Control are, but he had managed to get his hands on the
Gemstone of Oblivion, the black sheep of the stones. It
takes over the one who weilds it, turning them totally evil."
"They don't have a choice?"
"Everybody has a choice." A deep look of regret and
sadness passed over Citras's face, but he quickly controlled
it and hurried on. "Anyway, he had got the Gemstone of
Oblivion, and he took one of the androids, and inserted it
into her brain."
Sonic thought he heard a faint quaver in his voice
as he said the last few words. Not normally particually
perceptive, he surprised himself by saying: "You like her,
don't you?"
"Yes. She was called Lena, a lynx. And... I did love
her." He sounded almost lost as he spoke.
"Was? Did she die?"
"No, no, she's still alive. Or at least something
is. She killed the scientist and the other androids in
an explosion. Only I escaped; I was on a walk at the time.
Thinking. I've been hiding out in this forest for a while.
I'm worried though. I don't know what she's planning but
she's capable of anything now, both beautiful and deadly."
Sonic sat, rivited. "Do you know where she is?"
"I could find out."
They both thought for a few minutes. "We could...
y'know... see if we could find her..." Sonic said,
cautiously.
Citras nodded, he was thinking the same thing.
"Let's go back to base," he said smiling at his friend.
"And make some plans."
As they walked off, a still figure hanging off one
of the higher branches of an ancient oak murmered. "Thank
you Sonic and friend. Lena and the Gemstone of Oblivion
are mine." It detached itself from the tree and flew off
into the woodland.
***
Citras's eyes snapped open. "I know her location." He
shook himself slightly and said, self consciously: "I mean I
know where she is." He looked a little embarrassed at his
first choice of words.
"Cool. Where?" Sonic was impressed. Citras had been
using his inside programming to locate Lena. She was the
only person he'd be able to do it for since they were the
only two of the 'perfect' androids left, but they were
grateful for it.
"Mobius Grand Canyon. That's..." He paused, trying
to work it out. "A long way away from here," he concluded
finally.
"We'll need to get kitted up I guess. I'll go and
forage some supplies and stuff too. Not too much though,
we don't want to be weighed down. And we'd better leave a
note for the others. We don't want them worrying about us
as they'll be back in a day or two and we certainly won't."
As they talked they walked down to the supply and
equipment stores.
"I can tell you've done stuff like this before,"
said Citras, grinning at him.
"You have no idea," Sonic replied, rooting through
the equipment and deciding what to take. "Hold the
backpacks open will you." Citras obliged and Sonic stuffed
handfuls of equipment and supplies into each, not very
tidily.
They both looked at it for a moment, then together
they neatened his hasty packing up, scribbled a quick
note and departed, swinging their backpacks onto their
shoulders as they went.
***
Sonic and Citras tramped cheerfully through the forest,
conversing in loud, friendly tones. If they'd stopped to
think, they would have realized how stupid it was, but they
didn't expect to run into danger so soon. But danger expected
to run into them.
As they walked on, they both began to shoot nervous
glances at the surrounding shrubbery. They had the feeling
that somebody was watching them. There was a faint whisper
in the trees they had just passed, and they jerked their
heads round to look, while their feet speeded up.
"Do you get the feeling we're being followed?" Sonic
asked Citras cautiously. Before he could reply however,
another voice answered in his stead.
"And have been for the last hour or so. Y'know, if
you get any more astute, I might even think you've got a
brain."
They turned their heads back to the path before them,
stopping dead. Leaning casually against a tree, with her arms
folded and her legs crossed over, was a bat. A robot bat. On
her shoulder was a small red chao.
"That's the chao who pushed Axel into the stream,"
Citras whispered to Sonic, spotting the chao at the same time
as his friend. Sonic gritted his teeth, torn between giving
the chao a piece of his mind or not commiting suicide.
"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
the robot said to Sonic, who looked a little uncertain and
apprehensive.
"Uh... Pip-Citras, Citras-Pip."
Citras, obviously unsure what to say due to the
circumstances, came out with "Um, charmed I'm sure."
Pip looked amused. "Tickled pink, I'm sure," she
said, mimicking Citras's voice perfectly, without a fault.
"This is Heat," she added. "My chao." There was a faint note
of pride in her voice.
"Hiya," said Heat, looking a little amused too.
"Like owner, like chao," muttered Sonic, under his
breath.
Citras was aware of a tension in the air between Sonic
and Pip. Sonic wasn't sure what Pip wanted; sometimes she
would almost be willing to help them, like the last time
they had met, but others she was more than willing to devise
cruel and unusual deaths for him. Like the other times. Pip
just didn't like Sonic much.
"And where are you going on this fine day?" she
enquired, the picture of innocence.
Sonic was on his guard at once. Citras, who didn't
know Pip in the slightest, opened his mouth to reply, but
Sonic kicked him so hard in the shins he yelped out loud,
screwing up his eyes in pain. "Oh," he managed, realising
that Sonic didn't think Pip's question was at face value.
Pip glared at him.
"Tell me!" she said, impatiently.
"Why do you want to know?" asked Sonic, his mind
racing. He was wondering whether or not he and Citras could
out-run the robot. He was fairly sure that he could beat
her just running, but he knew she was a very fast flyer...
and he wasn't sure how fast Citras could run, come to that,
he'd just assumed that he was good at that too.
"Just the location of Lena, an android like your
friend Citras, who, most unfortunately, has the Gemstone
of Oblivion lodged in her brain," she remarked nonculently,
examining the silver tips of her metal hand. "Did I miss
anything?"
Citras looked stunned. "How did you know?" he
blurted out.
"Well, mon ami, walls may have ears but I certainly do."
"We're not going to tell YOU," snapped Sonic, taking
an unconcious step backwards. In response, Pip casually
raised her arm so that it was pointing straight at Citras's
chest. Citras didn't even seem to notice, but then again he
didn't know what Sonic did; there were concealed lasers in
Pip's wrists. Sonic didn't see what else he could do but
tell her. Unless... "Alright, alright. She's in Rainbow
City."
"Merci, mon ami." Pip shot off like an arrow from a
bow, Heat almost falling from his perch on her shoulder.
"Citras gave Sonic a puzzled look. "What the heck
was that all about, exactly? And who was she?"
"Pip's a Mecha bot, really annoying type of robot.
She's pretty good at speed and combat skills I suppose."
He sounded reluctant to admit the fact. "But she's the
most guillable person I've ever come across. If I'd told
her that Lena was on another planet and we were just nipping
along to get our spaceship she'd probably have believed me.
Oh yeah, and she's always willing to help."
"Willing to help?"
"Yeah, just the wrong people." He paused. It might be a
good idea to get moving though. She won't be too happy when
she finds out I lied." Their footfalls became considerably
faster.
***
It was late evening and they decided to camp down for
the night on a small hill. It was quite warm so they decided
to do so without using a tent, wrapping blankets round them
and lying on their backs watching the stars.
Sonic had fallen asleep, and Citras was about to drop
off too, when he heard a blood-curdling growl from a nearby
clump of bushes. He froze, not even daring to breathe. After
a moment he relaxed a little, but not entirely. In his
wanderings he had learned to trust to his instinct. It had
helped him to survive so far, after all.
"Sonic," he whispered, shaking his friend.
"Uhn?" Sonic drowsily lifted his head to look at him.
"Sonic, something is out there."
Sonic groaned and tried to snuggle back into his sheets.
"You've been watching too many X-Files episodes, Citras."
"Sonic!" The growl came again and Sonic fairly flew
out of his blanket, looking from left to right. "That's
what I mean. What do you think it could be?"
"Dunno," Sonic replied, sounding worried. At that
moment, a dark shape slunk out of the bushes, padding
softly towards them. A few feet away, it stopped and sniffed
the air. The growl emmited from it's throat once more.
They could now see that it was an animal, a panther,
with long dark stripes down it's forehead, sharp curved
claws and glittering purple eyes. It looked at them as a
predator looks at it's prey. And pounced.
The two of them scattered in opposite directions, Sonic
tripping over his sheets and knocking both of them to the
floor. They began to roll down the hillside, yelping and
owching over the bumpy parts, thorns tearing at them from
the bushes all around. With one final yell they landed in
the most prickily bush of them all and lay still.
There was the sound of padding feet behind them and
they looked up to see the panther looking down at them,
curiously. They gulped but knew better than to move. Neither
of them knew it, but the panther was debating whether of not
to risk getting torn to pieces by the thorns by going after
his prey. Luckily for the two hedehogs, self presevation won
the battle and he turned and padded away once more.
Citras groaned from the dissolved tension and his head
slumped backwards onto Sonic and the merciless thorns in
relief. But they didn't dare to leave the bush until morning.
***
When they retraced their undignified path from the
night back up to their camp, they found most of their
equipment scattered about and no food left at all. They
guessed the panther must have eaten it. Still, however
annoyed it made them, they were glad that it had been their
food rather than themselves. Although they would have to
see if they could find some more food soon, otherwise they
might die anyway, from starvation.
Wearily, they repacked their backpacks and trudged off
once more; they could not risk staying there another night,
considering the ration problem and the fact that the panther
might decide to come back for his forgotten meal.
After more than fifteen miles had been put between
them and the hill and it was growing dark, Citras nudged
Sonic hard in the ribs, pointing. Ahead of them, just above
the trees, they could see smoke spiraling into the air. It
reminded them of a campfire, which in turn reminded them
of their empty stomachs.
"Should we have a look?" asked Sonic, cautiously.
"It could be someone with a lot of food and a kindly
disposition towards starving travelers."
They both laughed, but a voice from the trees ahead
spoke out, silencing them. "It's just your luck you cheeky
young whippersnapper that we ARE kindly people with food
to spare. Come on over."
"Cheeky young whippersnapper?" Sonic whispered to
Citras, looking hurt. "Me?"
Citras grinned at him. "Well, I guess there's nothing
to do but oblige, cheeky whippersnapper." He ran towards
the clearing and Sonic followed, pretending to be angry
with him. When they reached it they saw an old greyish fox
and a younger, very large and muscular polar bear sitting
around a small crackling fire which glowed and sparked in
the non-light.
"Hi," said Sonic, falteringly.
"Hello," remarked the fox, cheerfully. They realised
from his voice that it was he who had been talking before.
"And who are you then?"
"I'm Sonic and this is Citras." Then, feeling as if
more was expected of him, he tore his eyes away from the
delicious looking food and said: "We're from Knothole. Well,
at least I am. Citras is our guest there; he's a wanderer."
"Welcome to our camp, Sonic of Knothole and Citras the
Wanderer," said the fox. "My name is Barq and my great
friend here is called Earf.
"Unfortunately, he cannot speak. He was hurt
grievously by a group of robots once in an effort to protect
me. I am unfortunately too old to defend myself from such
enemies as those. His vocal chords were damaged and he has
not uttered one single word since; he only roars and uses
normal animal noises, which is a good sign that he might be
recovering."
The polar bear inclined his head as his friend spoke,
as if asserting the story's truth. At the end he grunted,
and smiled at the two hedgehogs, overwhelming them with a
feeling of great strength and power, which they had only
previously felt from Slasher. They were both over-awed by
him. Sonic and Citras took an immidiate liking to the fox,
with his strange, almost poetical ways of talking and the
strong, silent polar bear.
Barq opened his mouth to say something else, but at
that moment his ears pricked up and a second later they
heard it too, the sound of running footsteps. A figure burst
in from the side of the clearing, moving so fast they could
hardly see what it was, and slammed into Sonic's side with
such force he thought he heard a rib crack, knocking him to
the ground a few feet from where he had been standing.
He hit the ground rolling, coming to a stop face down
on the ground. He was not given one second for retaliation
however, as the creature hit him again and again, yelling:
"You LIED, you LIED!" Then he recognised the voice; it was
Pip, fairly crazed with rage. He managed to roll over and
saw her eyes burning with a vengeful fire. Then she was on
top of him, kicking and punching and tearing. He couldn't
fight back, he was going to die, he was going to DIE...
Suddenly, the weight was gone. Looking up, he saw Pip
sent flying across the clearing by another heavy blow from
Earf. She was very strong, but she was also lightweight.
The polar bear followed up by pinning Pip against the tree
with one arm, roaring deep within his throat. Pip made a
sound like 'urk', but then lashed out with one foot, hitting
him hard across his neck. He let out a bellow of pain letting
go of her. The robot hit the ground running and, using
descression as the better part of valour, ran out of the
clearing full tilt, almost as fast as she had arrived.
Earf pursued her for some way, but Barq called to him
and he returned, growling. He then walked over to Sonic, who
hadn't the strength to move, picked him up almost tenderly
and lay him down next to the fire. Citras hovered nearby,
looking concerned.
"He will be fine soon, after he has had some of our
nourishing broth," Barq informed him, studying Sonic
closely. "Do not fret yourself, Citras the Wanderer."
Citras nodded and squatted down next to the other
three, hoping that the ancient fox was right. He was passed
a wooden bowl, filled with a browny-grey substance, halfway
between solidity and being a liquid. It didn't look that
appertising close too, he thought. Still, wanting to be
polite, he tried a tentative spoonful. His eyes closed in
happiness; it was delicious, showing that its looks were
nothing to go by. After a few spoonfuls, it dawned on him
how tired he was. Before he'd even realised it, his eyes
had closed and he had fallen asleep, his head lolling onto
Earf's side. The polar bear smiled, and stroked the
sleeping hedgehog into an even deeper, luxurious sleep.
***
Heat moved slowly and stealthily through the woodland.
He was looking for his master and owner, Pip, who had left
him behind to keep an eye on Sonic and Citras while she went
to Rainbow City. It was he who had told her that Sonic had
lied, rather than just made a mistake, as she had been
inclined to believe at first. For Lena had been in Rainbow
City, leaving her mark rather throughly, but was there no
longer. It had just been luck that Sonic had said the place
where she'd just been. Pip had flown off in a rage, but he
knew she'd since come back from chasing the hedgehogs.
There she was. He watched as she lay down in the bracken
and twigs, trying to snuggle up and find the cosiest postion,
as any normal Mobian would. A wave of sadness passed over him;
she was not yet completely used to being a robot and was still
retaining some characteristics of normal animals. He was not
usually given to regret, but for some reason this touched him
deep down.
Not many people had seen the robot like this, when she
was seen in her true state. He looked for a long time, trying
to figure out what it could be. Finally, he realised he could
settle on nothing but a child-like loneliness and innocence.
Pip, he knew, had never been loved or cared for apart from her
brief time at Knothole. Even when she was very, very young she
had been abandoned by her parents, for reasons she still did
not know. And yet she was still cheerful and believed that
everyone was nice deep inside, if not on the top. He just
didn't get it.
Pip shifted position softly, sheilding her face from
view. Heat decided that his information could wait until
the morning, and quietly lay down by her side.
***
Like Barq had predicted, Sonic was fine in the morning.
At an early hour, he was jumping about, feeling ready to take
on the world, meeting the other's tired groans as he tried to
wake them.
"We'd better get going," said Citras to Barq, once they
had finally risen. "She'll probably be after us if we stay
much longer."
"I'm sorry that we can't come with you," said Barq,
regretfully. "You have not told us yet, where are you going?
Or would you prefer not to tell us?"
The two explained about their journey, each interupting
the other every time they thought they had missed a bit out,
or not explained it fully enough. Barq and Earf listened
carefully, not saying anything until they had finished.
"Yes," said Barq, and there was anger in his tone.
"I've heard of her. She's killed some people in Rainbow
City, for no reason at all apparently. And that's just one
of several similar cases. I wish you luck, Sonic of
Knothole and Citras the Wanderer."
They parted, Barq and Earf insisting on them taking
half of their provisions. After realising they couldn't
be dissuaded, Sonic and Citras accepted the food gratefully
before hiking on, waving over their shoulders to their
friends. Earf watched them out of sight, a wistful smile
on his face, waving his large white half hand, half paw.
Barq waved too, quite vigorously for an old fox.
"Let's hope that everyone's that nice, Sonic of
Knothole." Citras grinned at Sonic, who returned it.
They had not wanted to say anything about the names that
Barq had given them in front of him, but they had thought
them very funny.
"Yeah, not wanting to eat us like that panther, huh?"
"Nu-uh." They walked briskly on for a while, before
Citras, who was on the alert for anything strange or
dangerous, said "What's that?" and pointed out a small
green blade of grass sticking out onto the path, a
different colour from the rest.
The blade of grass moved, whipping behind some
ferns. They moved closer. Suddenly, a large fanged
mouth whipped up; the mouth of a snake. Sonic leapt
backwards with surprise, landing hard on Citras's
foot. He winced, and backed away, pulling Sonic with him.
The snake swayed it's head from side to side,
hissing. "Have you ever dealt with a snake before?"
Citras asked Sonic without turning round.
"No, but I think Knux got into fight with a
basilisk once. He killed it too, with a lance or something."
"Unfortunately though it's easier to hit something
that big. With a normal snake it's just too thin, not to
mention we haven't got any weapons."
"Can't we just run away?"
"I don't really wanna turn my back on it."
There was a laugh from behind them. They turned their
heads ever so slightly to see who it was, although they
could both have had a pretty good guess. It was Pip, Heat
once more on her shoulder.
"It's easy to see you don't know anything about
snakes," she said, smirking. "Otherwise you'd know that
it's just a harmless grass snake." She paused, to let
them digest this information before continuing. "I see
you've ditched the dumb thug."
Citras leapt at her angrily, grabbing a large
stick off the ground and hitting her hard several times,
before she had a chance to recover. She moved quickly,
bringing something up in her right hand.
"You've picked the wrong person for a fight, pal."
She made a swift gesture and the stick was cut neatly in
two halves. they could then see the rapier in her hand.
Instead of attacking, she put it neatly away, making a
show of it, before looking back up at the two hedgehogs.
"Now, how about telling me where Lena is?"
"Haven't we told you we're not saying?" said Sonic,
glaring at her furiously; the comment about Earf had got
right under his skin too.
Surprisingly, Pip sighed and said "Look, I'm sorry
about what I said about your friend. I've had a bit of a
bad time, topped off by you lying to me and him trying to
smash my head in."
Sonic guessed she probably meant it, her personality
and temprement changes could happen at the drop of a hat,
but he still wasn't about to tell her where Lena was. Taking
advantage of Pip's momentery let down of her guard, he yelled
"Run Citras!" and fled himself.
He ran for a few yards before glancing back to see how
Citras was doing. To his surprise, he saw that he was lagging
quite far behind. Obviously he wasn't that good at running
after all. Almost as if to confirm this, Citras called to him
"Wait Sonic! I can't run as fast as you!"
Not hesitating, he ran back to his friend, grabbed him
by his arm and took off running again, his speed carrying
both of them along. Looking back again, he couldn't see Pip
anywhere, which wasn't a good sign at all. Still, he took
it at it's face value, and after running for another few
miles he stopped and they got their breath back.
"We may as well camp up here for the night," said
Citras eventually. Sonic nodded.
They settled on sleeping in a tree that night. Not
that it would be any safer than the ground if Pip did
come looking for them, in fact it would be perhaps even
less so, since Pip tended to sleep in trees too, just
upside-down. But it made them feel safer, which was important.
But unbeknownst to them, it would serve another purpose.
***
A beautiful looking lynx lay on a rock high above
Mobius Grand Canyon, several taller rocks giving it a slight
shade and coolness against the sweltering heat. She was
called Lena.
At that moment another creature approached her,
cautiously, moving through the shadows of over-hanging rocks.
She didn't bother looking up as she knew who it was. It was
another android, one of the ones who Citras thought dead,
a male polecat named Snow.
"You... wanted me?"
Still not looking up, she answered him. "Yes. I need
you to do something for me. I need you to destroy Citras. He
is coming to kill me. Now, do you think you can do that?" Her
voice was sweet, melodic almost. After leaving a gap of
several seconds, she added "You are still here?"
Snow whipped away without a word. She knew he would do
what she had asked or die trying. Almost all creatures did
her bidding or she killed them. They were all so easy to
manipulate...
"Except Citras," she whispered out loud, and her face
contorted, as if she was undergoing some inner struggle.
"Citras, Citras, Citras. Why couldn't you just stay away?
Don't you understand? She'll kill you..." Her eyes grew
stony cold once more. "Yes. I'll kill you."
***
Sonic and Citras passed an uneventful few days
progressing in their journey. It was so uneventful they
began to think that they may have lost Pip and that they'd
passed all the danger. They were wrong, in both respects.
Pip had merely decided to shadow them until she was
at least fairly certain of where they were going, and
danger was almost upon them. In the form of a polecat.
Snow crept quietly along through the bracken. He
had been looking for hours. He knew that Citras was in
this area, yet he could not see him. It never occoured
to Snow to look upwards, into the branches of the trees.
In his opinion, that was a place for the birds.
As he crunched across the woodland floor, the
ground suddenly opened up beneath him and, with a howl
of terror, he plunged downwards, gathering speed as he
went. It was a long way to the bottom, and when he
finally hit it, there was no chance of his survival.
He died, instantly.
Pip, followed as usual by Heat, walked casually
up to the hole and they both looked down it. In fact,
hole was the wrong word for it. It was a crevice, a crack
in the land made long ago and now covered up by moss and
twigs like the rest of the area. Or rather it had been.
"D'you think he's alive?" asked Heat, craning over
the edge and almost falling in himself.
"I doubt it. It was a pretty big drop."
"It must have hurt," said Heat, who had managed to
catch a glimpse of the android and felt a little sick.
"You haven't experienced true pain until you've
stepped on a plug." Pip shrugged and walked away from
the hole. It wasn't any of her business if other
creatures didn't look where they were going.
***
The next day Sonic and Citras were up early,
trudging off once more. They had managed to travel quite
a few miles the previous days, and they were almost over
halfway to the canyon.
By midday they had reached the edge of the Great
Forest, at least in the direction the were headed, and
their spirits were high. For most of the afternoon they
walked over a small hilly area, chatting happily.
When it reached evening, they had got to the edge
of what might be their most challenging stretch yet; the
Sandblast Desert. it was only a small part of it crossing
over their path, but they knew why it was called Sandblast.
Sonic and Citras choked and coughed as the wind blew
the sand into their eyes, noses, ears and mouths. It stung
them viciously and without mercy. When they dared to open
their eyes a crack more, they couldn't see more than a few
inches in front of them, only dark and hazy shapes moving
around them. Just when they thought the sandstorm was never
going to end, it finished, as abruptly as it had started.
And they then saw what the dark shapes were.
Beautiful pearly white horses, with long, smokey manes
and great silver tipped wings folded neatly at their sides.
Citras felt that the scientist who had created him had been
wrong: he and the androids were not perfection. They were
capable of evil like any other creature and, although that
had been what he had wanted, it did not make them perfect.
But these... they were perfection. Beautiful, innocent and
yet powerful.
A horse with a long, spiraling horn on its forehead
stepped forward, pawing the ground. It was obviously the
leader. "I am called Decor. We are the Innocens, a race of
winged horses, Pegasuses. We live in this desert. Tell me,
who are you and why do you come here?" Its voice was soft
and gentle.
Quickly, they poured out their story once more, and
the Innocens listened intently, shaking their heads every
so often, and stamping on the ground. The two hedeghogs
found that they did not interupt each other like they had
done when telling of their journey to Barq and Earf. When
they had finished, Decor nodded gravely.
"Yes, we have heard of Lena. She tried to cross here
once, but she could not. We have used equipment all around
the borders of our area. No creature who has ever killed
another can cross them. We will gladly help you and speed
you on your search."
At that moment, another horse, a foal, was nuzzling
at Decor to get her attention. She looked down to it,
giving it an affectionate smile. Citras and Sonic realised
that they were thinking that they wouldn't mind being the
receiver of that smile in the slightest.
"Yes?"
"There's someone else coming, following the same
route as the hedgehogs," he said, and despite his youth,
his voice too had a steady calm about it.
With a tight feeling in the pit of his stomach, Sonic
slowly turned around. A figure was moving towards them at
quite a fast pace. He groaned. It was her. "How did you get
across the borders?" he demanded of Pip.
"I walked. How about you?" said Pip, with her deadly
pleasantness. Heat snickered.
"You aren't supposed to be able to if you've killed
someone."
Pip looked hurt. "I've never killed anybody."
Sonic hesitated a second. Come to think of it, he
couldn't remember her saying that she had. Then a sudden
recollection came to him. "Didn't you say that you'd got
that hawk to help you because you'd killed all his enemies?"
Pip looked ever so slightly ashamed. "I... exaggerated
a little. I just give him a handful of bird seed a day. It's
hard to chase pigeons when you've got a family to look after,
like Sharpeye has."
Decor had been looking from Sonic to Citras to Pip and
back again. When they had finished talking, she spoke. "Is
this the robot you were telling us about?"
"Yeah."
"Famous already," remarked Pip. Decor nodded her head
and several of the Innocens moved in front of Pip with fast,
supple movements, blocking the robot from the hedgehogs and
herself.
"Quickly," she urged them. "Mount!" They hesitated for
a moment before clambering onto her back. Somehow it felt
wrong to do so, like they were using someone's most precious
object without permission. But she had granted them
permission to ride her, so they obeyed.
Then she was off, the others following her closely.
Never had either of the riders experienced such speed.
They felt sure that they must be going at the speed of
light they moved so fast and gracefully. Not even Slasher,
who was the fastest creature Sonic knew, could run like this.
The other horses had left them now. The sand blurred
past them on either side, then they were half running and
half flying... Sonic closed his eyes in bliss... and then
it was over. Decor had slowed to a halt, and they could see
that they were at the edge of the desert.
They dismounted, and Decor bent down, nuzzling each
of them in turn with her soft wet nose, leaving a sweet
tingling feeling behind.
"I must leave you here," she told them. "Farewell,
my friends and good luck."
She turned and cantered away into the darkness, her
white coat showing her position until she was out of sight
and over the horizon. They both sighed deeply, heard each
other and grinned.
"We'd better get going," said Citras. "We're nearly
there anyway."
***
Lena sat in the dark, thinking. Absentmindedly, she
brushed one of her long ears back with her exquisite clawed
hand.
"Come," she said.
Ruby approached her. She was Lena's right hand android,
a sandy coloured cat with long golden hair and a pretty face.
But if you could see under it, you would see merely cruelty,
vanity and greed.
"Snow is dead." Ruby looked taken aback. "He is a fool
though, and no loss. I suppose I should have sent someone
with more brains than him to tackle Citras."
"Should I send someone else?"
"No. Don't bother. He'll be here soon anyway, and I
can deal with him myself."
"Do you think that... wise?"
Lena's eyes flared up and she sprang up, knocking
Ruby to the ground. "Don't dictate to me! Do you think
that I can't deal with him?"
"No, no," said Ruby, soothingly.
"To prove to you that I am worth all of you put together,
leave tonight and I will deal with him on my own, without the
problem of worrying about you or the other idiots blundering
in."
"Of course, of course... I'll go and tell them now..."
Lena let her get up and she bowed hurriedly, then strode
quickly away, a cruel smile lighting up her face as soon as
her back was turned. Her plan had worked perfectly. Now
there was more chance of Citras killing Lena and then there
would be room for a new leader, a better leader, a more
cunning and ruthless one... Oh yes, she had plans for herself.
***
Next morning, and Citras and Sonic were still walking,
but with a more mechanical motion. They had been walking all
night, fueled with excitement, but now they were beginning to
feel the consequences of their action.
They were almost at Mobius Grand Canyon now, and Citras
suggested a rest to get their strength up before tackling Lena.
Sonic agreed, and they scoped out the nearby land for a
suitable shelter. They found a small cave, which was only
still standing because of a blocky support at the entrance.
They stepped inside, checking as they went for any
unpleasant occupants who might not want to share their
dwelling with them. Fortunately, there was no-one inside
and they settled down, unpacking their provisions.
Suddenly, the light was eclipsed. They looked up to
see a figure standing in the cave mouth. It was hard to see
who it was because of the glare of the sun behind it, but
they could easily guess.
"Can't you just leave us alone?" snapped Sonic, but he
was a little scared. He knew that Pip was blocking their only
way of escape, and if she meant to attack them there was
little chance of escaping. How could they have been so
stupid as to come into the enclosed space?
"Hello to you too," said Pip. "I just thought that
you'd like to know that I can guess where Lena is from here,
and now I have no further use for you. Goodbye Sonic and
M.Perfect Prince Charming."
With one quick movement, she kicked the support,
knocking part of it out. Sonic and Citras sprang to their
feet but they were too late. She stepped back and watched
as the cave collapsed.
"They're not going to be in too good a shape now,"
said Heat, grinning. "A very flat one probably."
Pip grinned at him. "Too true. Now let's go and
collect our prize, the Gemstone of Oblivion." She walked
off, whistling loudly and tunelessly.
***
Citras groaned and felt his head. He had been lucky,
a large bolder had crashed in front of him, saving him from
the more punishing rocks as he sheltered behind it. But
Sonic... what about Sonic? Frantically, he called out for
his friend. After a few moments Sonic's voice answered him,
not too far away. He began tunneling towards his voice.
Sonic appeared to have been doing the same thing,
since they both bumped heads halfway there and sat back.
They exchanged glances. "Time to be moles."
Citras managed a weak smile. "YOU can be a mole if
you want. I'LL be a rabbit."
Sonic shrugged. "Whatever." They began to dig.
***
Lena smiled to herself and walked into one of the more
roomy caves above the Mobius Grand Canyon. In one of her hands,
almost imperceivably, she held a small dart gun.
The robot bat followed her, her chao at her heels.
"So," she said, still smiling. "What do you want?"
"It's all in the mind."
"Ah. I thought so. You want the Gemstone, correct?"
"Yup."
"I am not going to let you take it. For one thing, I
doubt very much that you've ever performed legal brain
surgery, let alone successfully."
"You're an android, it shouldn't hurt you. Much. And
I promise I won't kill you."
"A robot's promise? And what's that worth?"
Pip looked hurt. "I always keep my promises."
"Especially if it involves death to other creatures,"
remarked Lena, scathingly. "But I return your promise. I will
not kill you either. Not directly, anyway."
In the blinking of an eye, she had aimed and fired her
gun. Pip didn't have time to dodge and the dart struck her
arm, embedding itself into it. Annoyed, Pip pulled it out
and threw it away.
"And what exactly was that supposed to achieve--" she
began, but suddenly her machinery gave a warning whine and
her expression became that of great pain. Yelping, she
turned and fled from the cave. Heat gave Lena one frightened
glance before running after Pip.
The look on Lena's face was terrifying.
***
"I can see daylight!" exclaimed Sonic. He felt weak
with relief, just managing to stop himself from laughing
hysterically. He had hated being trapped under the rocks
and rubble, and had felt like he was about to go mad any
second. At least they were out now.
Citras gave him a leg up then Sonic helped him to
climb out behind him. "There's no point in resting," said
Citras, when he was out. "We might as well push on after
all." And he was off before Sonic could stop him.
He had to jog to catch up with him, so determinded
were his strides. Just as he reached him, he halted. A
figure had stepped out of the nearby rock hanging to meet
them.
Whatever Citras had told him about her had done
nothing to prepare him for this. She was not just beautiful,
but stunning. He had a vague sense of going into some sort
of trance. Nothing mattered anymore, he just wanted to be
here, looking at her forever. He would do anything for her,
anything at all. Then Citras's voice cut across his thoughts
and the trance was broken.
"So."
"So, you have come Citras. I always knew that you would
come eventually. No one had ever been able to resist me."
Citras glared at her contemptuously. "Yeah, right. You
know why I came here Lena."
"To kill me, yes." She smiled sweetly. "But you don't
have to. And you certainly don't want to. You used to love
me..."
"I used to love Lena. Not you."
She laughed. "Have it your way Citras." She stepped
towards them. "You may have killed Snow, but I am practically
invincible. You cannot hope to win against me." Sonic had the
feeling that neither of them was paying any attention to him
anymore. It felt more like he was eavesdropping on a private
conversation. "Your robot friend found that out."
"Pip?" said Sonic. "What did you do to her? And she's
not our friend," he added.
"I have injected a virus into her system," said Lena
matter-of-factly. "She will die slowly and painfully, each
of her systems cutting off one at a time. I should imagine
that she will suffer a great deal." It was the way in which
she spoke that made it so chilling, Sonic thought. Like it
was just an interesting plaything, nothing more. As much as
he disliked Pip, he wouldn't have really wished that upon
anybody.
Suddenly, the ground shook beneath them, cutting off
further conversation. "Dang!" Sonic snapped. "Earthquake."
The ground split open with an ear-splitting cracking sound,
jagged lines appearing all around them. "Come ON!" Sonic
called to Citras to follow him: Citras didn't come. Looking
back, he saw that Lena had fallen down one of the cracks
and was now clinging to the edge, fear showing clearly in
her eyes. "CITRAS! Come on, leave her where she is."
Citras looked from Sonic to the scared face below him.
"Sonic, I think this really might have snapped her out of it."
"Please," moaned Lena. "Please, Citras, help me."
To Sonic's horror, Citras reached out a hand, which
Lena grasped, firmly. "Thank you..." she began. Then the
cruel light snapped back on in her eyes and she sneered up
at him. "...for being so stupid. I've always wanted to do
that. You are so easily tricked. I could have pulled myself
up Citras, you know that."
Before Sonic could even make a move towards them, to
help his friend, Lena had tugged with an unnatural strength,
pulling Citras over with her. He ran to the edge, but it
was futile: there was nothing he could do. Lena and Citras
were falling to their deaths.
***
Citras slowly lifted his head. He was alive, although
he wasn't sure how or why. He was lying at the bottom of the
canyon and the earthquake had stopped now. Lena... he knew
he must find Lena... There she was, lying still a few feet
away from him. He couldn't stand, let alone walk, so he
crawled painfully over towards her.
He gently touched her face and her eyelids flickered
open. "Citras?..." she whispered. "Where am I? Why does it
hurt? I don't understand." She sounded bewildered and scared,
and Citras knew that at last, he was facing the real Lena
for the first time in years. Her face suddenly creased. "I
remember... oh Citras, I remember." Tears flowed freely
down her face, mingling with the dirt. It took him a moment
to realise that they were joined by other tears: his own.
He put a hand to her brow, stroking her head to
comfort her. She seemed to be more badly hurt than himself
even, but she managed to move her hand with tremendous
effort and pain. She pushed her gun towards him. "Do it,"
she whispered.
"No." He shook his head, ignoring the pain that this
simple action caused. "I can't."
"You must. The only way that the Gemstone will be
lost once more is if its owner dies. You know that. It may
control me again, or another may steal it for their own
evil. You must do it."
Citras knew that she was right, however much he hated
to hear those words. Slowly, and with a trembling hand, he
reached out and took the gun. He bent down, kissing her
forehead. They stayed like that for a while, his hand
caressing her brow. Then, holding out his unsteady hand,
he fired.
The sound of the shot echoed off the canyon walls.
Citras looked at Lena's face. She wore a smile of pure
happiness. "At peace," she whispered to him, softly. Then
she died, her eyes glazing over above her now peaceful
complexion. The pain flowed back through Citras's head and
he slid to the canyon floor. His own eyelids closed.
***
Citras was aware of voices right next to him, that he
was in a different position than he had been in before and
he could feel a strange sensation. His eyelids felt too
heavy to open, so he just lay there listening.
"And then I blew the whistle to call you here. I don't
know why I didn't think of it before, I guess I was just
too... I thought we could handle it all. Or," the voice
which he guessed was Sonic's, in a sudden burst of
embarrassed honesty. "I just DIDN'T think." there was a
pause, then "Will he be okay Slash?"
"He doesn't look too badly off considering the fall
he's had. I suppose he was built to last." Slasher, he
supposed. Which must mean that the strange sensation was
flying. He was safe. They were going home. He drifted
out of consciousness once more, satisfied that
everything would be okay now that Slasher was there to
take charge of the situation.
***
In the Great Forest, below where Slasher was flying,
a figure appeared, glowing white for a moment. She had just
teleported there using the Gemstone of Hope about her neck.
It had not been intentional, she had just been teleporting
anywhere to get away. All her systems were malfunctioning
and she couldn't do anything to stop it. A red chao trotted
along behind her, looking anxious.
"They're all going to regret this," she snarled,
under her breath. "Sonic, Citras, Lena, all of them." She
contorted in pain, trying to pretend it wasn't there at
the same moment.
A second later, her legs gave way under her, and
she slumped against a tree, her eyes snapping off, looking
for all the world like she was dead.
The End (for now)
