"Mr Highcastle...are you afraid of god?"
"No. Our god is Master, and he is harmless...but I'm afraid of you."
KNIGHT ISLAND
Off the coast of The United States
October 23rd, 1922 7:32PM
Mr. William Needlemouse
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" came the first of the voices, a young one, filled with joy, wonder and an overpowering sense of boredom.
"Not yet, little one..." another voice said, older and yet still young, but weary and low pitched, laced with a British accent and a tire of the daily life events, "But we're close. So very close..."
There was a gurgle and a groan as light, or what little of it, flooded the man's eyes. William slowly arched his neck upwards to the same sight as he had seen a long time before. He was on a boat in the middle of nowhere, nothing but wild, dark blue waters in every direction. The winds were strong and the waves fierce, rocking the boat all over the place and keeping William focused on his balance. Ahead of him were three people, all hedgehogs just like him. One was old, around the same age as William, which was around 24. He had dark fur, causing him to blend almost seamlessly against the darkly lit night that over-shadowed the sea surrounding them, with a sort of "skunk stripe", following along his eyes, from his brow to the top quill, which contemplated his purple eyes and rather dark, but still light skin. He was wearing a yellow raincoat and matching hat, but William could see he was wearing a waistcoat under that, with a white shirt and black tie, along with his pinstripe trousers and monocle.
Next to him was another male, younger and smaller than the other, around 15 or so. He was a very dark brown in colour, the darkness surrounding his eyes (along with sitting with his back to William) and masking his eye colour, instead showing off his quills, which were short, bushy and rather badly kept. He was dressed much more strangly, with some sort of strange cloth jacket with metal teeth and trousers with many pockets and metal buttons, made of a rather strange material. He wore woolen gloves that had the fingers cut to the middle and metal glasses that shone a radient blue, even in this environment. Beside him was a small child, which William had recognized as his own son. He was a radient blue, just like his father, with a coil of brown "hair" across his eyes, acting as a fringe. His own eyes were an even lighter blue, almost aqua, and he was wearing a small waistcoat and matching suit, as was comman for such a grand party.
The younger and older males were both working at the oars of the boat, rowing slowly but strongly, pushing the water aside with great strides and sending jets of water along and across the sides of the boat, a touch of white to the otherwise dark setting. The child was just tugging at the younger's woolen jacket, as if demanding something.
"So, this Rose woman..." the older male spoke up from the gloom, his voice thick and wallowed in the middle class, "What makes one say she has much importence to you. Is she your girlfriend or something?"
The older one chuckled at his joke. The younger still had his face away from William, but the strain and the low volune of his voice made it clear he was weary and tired, but stuggeling to stay awake for something that seemed importent.
"No..." he sighed, "It's just...unfortunate that some of my test subjects decide to make a break for it, that's all. Me and someone else have been sent to this rightly marvelous party and...retrive her. A Mr. William Needlemouse, I think."
"And..." William spoke out, his voice normal, but otherwise timid, "And that'll be me...right?"
"Indeed, he seems the right man for the job," the older spoke again, all three seeming to ignore William, "I've went through some of his old case files. Ex-Freemason, before someone turned him away, worked as a private detective. Only one child, and that'll be young Jules here..."
The younger stared at the child that still tugged at his jacket, but never-the-less continiued his indefaticle rowing, "Yes...good kid'll go far. His...eyesight needs attending to, however."
"Oh yes, don't want to make him LOSE it or anything..." the older continued chuckling, "It would cause something horrible no doubt...he might become half machine or something!"
"Heh heh...yeah, don't press your luck..."
The younger reached under his seat and pulled out a wooden box, with brass engraving and corners with metallic screws. He gave this to Jules, who then gave this to William. The box's engraving read "MR WILLIAM NEEDLEMOUSE. Bring me the girl ALIVE". William opened the box and slowly inspected the contents. There wasn't much, just a picture of the girl and her profile:
AMELIA ROSEANE AGE 17 FEMALE HEDGEHOG GREEN EYES, PINK FUR ANSWERS TO SONIC
William smiled to himself. Sonic sounded like a very good name to him. Another thing inside the box was a key, fairly standard, but with the initials AR along the edge. The last thing was a pistol, a Browning M1922, as was standard for the time. William wasn't the biggest fan of guns, but it was only needed if Amy decided to fight back. William cocked the slide of the gun and put it in his sholder holster, saftey on, with a wide grin on his face, "Nice..."
"So, this William..." the older continued, "Does he hold any significance to you? Why pick him?"
"You make him sound like your typical meathead," the younger sighed once more, "No. He is...special to my cause. It's probably best you don't know."
"Yes, but what makes him so different?" Older asked, brow raised in question.
"Because he doesn't row," Younger shrugged back.
"He doesn't ROW?"
"No...he DOESN'T row..."
"Oh..." Older mused, "I see what you mean...kinda..."
The younger looked up to the background behind him. In the distance, getting bigger and more brightly lit with every passing second, was a castle, huge and majestic, covered top to bottom in deleicate engravings and candlelit windows. The being chuckled in satisfaction, "We've arrived."
"Finally!" Jules chirped in, turning to William, "We're here dad! Isn't it wonderful?"
The boat soon pulled up to the dock and wedged itself firmly in the mold. The owner of the castle, a Mrs Eliza Prower, had designed new-fangled mechanics designed to ease the course of life. The mold was so the boat wouldn't need attaching to the dock, which saved rope and rot. The younger was the first to climb out, straining in effort as he dragged his wrecked body onto the soggy wood. He reached down and pulled Jules up next, who emitted an outburst of joy at this action. The older climbed out next, showing no strain or no effort, leaving William the last to leave. As he climbed out, he could see a vast array of cogs that held the infernal contraption working, knowing that if single one of them went wrong, the entire thing would fail. The logistics of the entire thing made his brain ache. 1920's tech wasn't exactly space age.
The three hobbled up the long, winding stone staircase towards the castle doors. The doors were three times the height of William and twice as wide. They were a very polished walnut brown with big brass handles and doorknobs. A majecticly engraved bell sat near the side, once more hooked to a mass of bits and bobs so it could work. The Prower Family, Charles and Eliza, were complete geniuses and were quite happy about it too. They had designed many advanced mechanisms and contraptions way ahead of their time and had made a rather large fortune selling it to the government for private and public use (though the actual public never got to use it. Obviously). They bought the castle on an island just off the coast of America, Knight Island. There they speant their days inventing new and perfecting old, to keep their money coming in. They used the money on regal and sophisticated parties that everyone wanted to attend, often unvieling new machines in the process. William was beaming with delight on the inside at the mere thought of attending this kind of party, but he was nevertheless a man on a mission to find a young girl who had fallen into strange hands.
Strange really. Like that man who went to that flying city ten years previous. The older man was somewhat...familiar.
William suddenly jumped with shock at the thought of the man before him, "Oh! Almost forgot! I never got your name, Mister..."
"Me? My name's Dewitt Highcastle," the older stretched out his hand to shake William's, "Nice to be assissting you on this adventure."
"And you?" Jules poked at the younger.
"Me? Hmmm..." the younger paused over his words with caution and skepticism, "Just call me Master. Everyone else does."
Master and Dewitt Highcastle. Very strange names, William was thinking to himself. However, such odd names would become entwined in his memory for a long time soon.
After the nightmare this "adventure" would bring to him.
KNIGHT ISLAND-ABANDONED
Off the coast of Mobius Alpha
July 5th 2013, 2:12PM
Oliver Maruice "Sonic The Hedgehog" Needlemouse and Lowell Theo Highcastle II
"The things we take from Miley, huh?" Lowell joked as he kicked the fragile wooden door, "And to think I never think this place even existed.
Sonic shyly sighed to himself. Lowell had only just learned of this place's existence, but Sonic and his family had know about it for time inmemoriable. It was said to be so majestic so long ago, but a mysterious accident had caused the place to enter a new state of mystery, no two rumors being alike. The castle was shut down finally entering the 1940's and had thus been abandoned for 73 years. The engravings, while still present were almost completly illegible and faded from the cruel concept of time, the once amazing art now nothing more but vaugly interesting shapes and shadows of a previous world. The insides were coated with dust and darkness, damp and cobweb-flooded. A place that shrieked the themes of horror and possession...and, unfortuently, it was the place Sonic and his friend would be spending the next month.
This is because while the place was completly empty, the castle was said to be, in one of it's many rumors, to have once been the property of the the Prower family, whom which Sonic's best friend Miley was of. It was said they were of great technological importence to the government and thus they were dead rich via selling their tech to the world, but the accident, whatever it involved, screwed up their reputation and forced them to flee the castle and go low-profile, until Miley came along and improved her family name once more. Unfortuently, that's all it was; just another rumor. There wasn't even a deed inside the house, at least at the time of inspection. All Sonic and Lowell had to do was find this will and they'll be able to help Miley reclaim her fortune. That, or live there for at least a month. Sonic thought this was the easier and more likely to succeed plan. Lowell didn't even know of it's existence. Luckily, Sonic had managed to hide luggage and their girlfriends aboard the boat before setting off.
"Uh...yeah," Sonic said awkwardly, trying to find a subtle way to mention such plan, "I suppose. It's a mystery to many, isn't it?"
"I thought it was a secret to everybody, but I'll take that too," Lowell shrugged, "Not too bothered about that. Besides, we shouldn't be here long. All we need to do is find that deed and we SHOULD be free...right?"
Sonic sighed heavily. It was now or never, Sonic thought, and while he certainly didn't want to do it, it HAD to be done. He slowly inched over to the boat that had dragged the four onto this island and pulled the luggage free from it's hiding place. Sonic's face spoke a thousand words, mainly fear at his compadre's reaction as well as a little confidence at doing the thing, considering the traumatic event that had caused his radical change in personality so many years ago. Lowell's own face twisted into the same grimace it normally took hold of, a mix of confusion and anger.
"Sonic..." Lowell asked, puzzled, "Why have you got four suitcases?"
Sonic said nothing and simply shuffled backwards, awaiting the inevitable coming in the form of a bellowing scream from Lowell's unusual lungs. Instead, Lowell was hobbeling around the orange suitcase, opening it's lid with a patterend zipping sound and inspecting his contents. His grimace turned to an even more puzzled frown as he inspected the contents. A couple of extra capes of varying colours and pocket amounts, specially made toothpaste designed for fangs, a red cloth blanket that was extra soft to the touch and an old record by Sully Mcgrenzy, mainly his hit single "My Best Friend Is My Colon"...the switch finally flicked in his head. He threw his gaze at the blue hedgehog before him, who had managed to stand up straight for once.
"SONIC..." Lowell said once more, a bigger hint of anger in his voice, "This is all MY stuff! Why?"
"Because..." Sonic said timidly, "Because I said that...well...the political state of Mobius Alpha has gone to the red abyss, you know that. The new government says that squatters living in forgotten homes can own it after a month of living in it. That, and we need to do this because we ended up with that bet from Shadow. And we haven't got 1'000'000 Rings. And I'd also like to hang on to my knees if that's alright to you..."
Lowell's eyes shrunk to bead-like proportions for a few seconds as the shock of Sonic's words brushed against his mind.
"A...a...A MONTH?!" Lowell shrieked in his mix of shock and anger.
"Yeah, but it was the only way to do so..." Sonic tried to calm the angered wolf down, albiet to no avail.
"A BLOODY MONTH?!"
"Well, it ain't MY fault!" Sonic said quickly, getting defensive, "It was you, after all, that got hammered and tempted Shadow to fire an arrow at his own skull via Chaos Portals. After that, he had us over the sharks. Besides, I don't see why YOU'RE complaining. I've only got enough underwear for tonight!"
"Well THAT'S because you only wear it as Soma!" Lowell was still riled up, but had become remarkebly calm in such a short space of time, "That's all you've EVER had!"
"...True..." Sonic regained his composure, "Now look, we're stuck with it. Trust me, I'm a master of speed. It'll fly past in no time at all. After all, remember when you were born and then a month old? The time flew past."
Lowell's annoyed mind stood him up and replyed, "It passed because you had two breasts big as your head at beck and call day and night! Give me that now and I wouldn't be complaining!"
"Well..." Sonic kicked the floor with a smug look on his face, "I can give you something similar," he edged his way towards the second suitcase, a dark grey with purple highlights, "You see, I came prepared. Just in case you decided to ventilate me in anger..."
Lowell's confused head tilting to the left like a robot powering down gave Sonic the signal he had to show him exactly what he meant. He unclipped the suitcase and opened it with a large creak and a sudden WHOOSH as someone burst out of the bag. It was a female hedgehog, black in fur colour with delicate purple highlights on her fringe and quills. She wore a light grey t-shirt with a black cloth jacket and trousers with a skirt oddly wrapped around her belt, ending in white boots with red bands. The woman sat up in the case, clutching her chest and taking deep, heavy breaths.
"Darn you, Sonic!" she gasped inbetween the stinging breaths, "I haven't had a worse trip to nowhere since I ended up on the DeviantArt Fetish Train!"
"Sonic, let me get this straight..." Lowell facepalmed, "You locked Kathrine...MY girlfriend...in a suitcase and brought her over here..."
"Yeah!" Sonic said happily, giving a thumbs up, "And Frost is in the other suitcase. I thought it was a good idea..."
Lowell's face scrunched up into that grimace. He slowly walked up to the beaming hedgehog and stared at him in the face for quite some time. With a sudden burst of speed, he whisked his custom revovler out of his holster and jabbed it firmly to Sonic's forehead, who let out a sudden high pitched scream at this.
"Give me yet another reason to blow your head off," Lowell growled threatingly, "Come on..."
"Wait..." Sonic started inching backwards and cowering, "Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAITWAITWAITWAIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As Sonic's back slammed against the castle walls, there was a huge roar that shook the very confines of the island to it's core, a monsterous and low growl spreading throughout the air. The door glowed with a strange purple haze, casuing all three people to ignore the whole "ventilation" thing and stare at it. The doors swung open on their own terms with deafeing creaks, showcasing a large, long hall. Lowell slipped the revolver back into it's holster and ran towards the hall. He dragged his bare finger along the nearest well and stared at. Something had felt wrong to him, and his check had confirmed this to him.
"No dust..." Lowell said, "And no cobwebs. This place looks like it was never abandoned, at least on the inside..."
"Didn't Miley said this place was left barren for 73 years?" Kathrine asked.
"Yes..." Sonic said with wonder in his voice, "Perhaps someone already owns this place? Perhaps we'll have our work cut out? We should explore just to be certain. Let's go!"
Sonic clicked his heels together and sped off in his usual way towards the doorway, wooping all the way. Lowell suddenly pointed to the fourth, unopened suitcase, yelling "Unlock Frost first!"
Sonic suddenly skidded to a stop, "Unlock Frost first, right..." and walked back towards the suitcase.
Lowell sighed and reached into one of the many pockets on his yellow cape, rummaging around and finally pulling out a large bottle of whiskey. He opened the bottle and took a large swig before turning to Kathrine.
"Looks like we're in for a long one here..."