"Oh, thank you mom!"
"Of course sweetie, I'm glad you like it" Petunia leans over to hug her husband Xavier in front of the fire
'Knock knock knock'
Petunia gives Xavier a worried look after the knock has passed "don't worry what are the odds its" a loud banging cuts Xavier off.
"Who's that?" Baxter asks noticing his parents worried expressions, Xavier picks up Baxter and runs down to the Basement "Daddy what's wrong?" Baxter whines as he is put into a small crawlspace "Don't worry Baxter it's okay, just stay here and if we don't come back go to Uncle Jason okay?" Baxter nods and Xavier runs up to answer the consistent bangs on the door.
"Okay Xavier you knew this was coming!"
"Come on now Blast the war was years ago"
"True but a new one is just beginning"
Baxter can hear struggles upstairs and cries from his mom.
"Burn the House down!" Baxter begins to crawl over to the hole leading to Jackson's house up the hill. He crawls along the moist tunnel, tears running down his face, 'what was that all about, who was that and why was he so mad' continuing with those questions racing through his mind, Baxter opens the door to Jacksons cellar and is greeted by a bright light and a shotgun to his face
"Oh my Baxter, nice job getting over here, uh no one followed you right buddy" Baxter nods and Jackson helps Baxter up out of the cement hole and wipes the tears from his eyes
"Where's mom and dad Uncle Jack?" Jackson takes Baxter upstairs to his Livingroom
"Well uh, they uh need to uh…"
"Uncle Jackson!" Baxter starts to cry causing Jackson to fumble over his words
"They need to uh go on… a trip, err yeah a trip, they will be back soon"
"Jackson that's not true!"
"When have I ever lied to you ill buddy" Jackson chuckles in his gruff old voice with a wink and wag of the tail
The Adventures of Baxter the Rabbit
Chapter 1
A 14 year old Baxter wakes up in his hovel home; he had dug this hole in the ground a year ago and has called it home since. He walks out to the lake in front of his hole; the lake is surrounded by thick forests on all sides. Baxter washes off all the dirt and walks back behind his hovel to a trail leading off into the dense woods. He starts the trek into the forests remembering all that transpired after he had made it to Jason's house.
"Alright Baxter show me your hi jump kick"
"Righto uncle" Baxter runs and jumps his foot smashing into a target a meter from the ground
"Nice job there Baxter"
"Thanks Uncle Jason but, why do I need to learn how to fight and what herbs are good for me and how to rewire stuff?"
"You need to know this stuff for later on in your life, things are going to get very rough out there and I want you to survive and even be able to help others. It's a lot for your age Baxter but you're a special kid, most other kids couldn't learn half as fast as you have and I'm super proud." Jason pulls Baxter into a tight embrace "if ever there comes a day when I aint there for yah buddy I want to know you can handle everything that comes your way"
"I'll make you proud uncle, no one will beat me!" Baxter muffles through Jason's coarse fur
"You already have buddy, you already have"
A tear rolls from Baxter's eye recalling what his uncle told him, "man I wish you were here uncle Jason" Baxter murmurs to himself in the murky emotionless night, he looks up at the few stars he can see through the thick canopy remembering the last time he saw Jason.
Baxter runs out of the house and in the direction of the loud pop sound only to find Jason lying on the ground as a dark figure climbs into a hovering machine. After the machine passes he runs over to the unresponsive Jason, "Jason!" Baxter screams tears rolling down his face
"Uncle Jason! Jason please gets up! Jason!" Baxter sits down and finds that he is all alone but remembers what Uncle Jason always told him 'be strong' rang in Baxter's mind. He got up and ran straight after the ship.
Baxter sits on a fallen tree to take it all in… "Wow, crazy. Heh I, I wish I could have saved him"
A voice of immense power rings through the forest "Baxter" Baxter jumps from the deep voices presence
"Baxter, I need your help"
"Wait who are you and how do you know me?" Baxter yells looking for the source of the voice
"Don't be alarmed" a fairy limps into sight from behind a tree. Baxter runs over and kneels down to it. "I don't know how long I can last; I need your help… Will you help me?"
"What do you need help with?"
"I need to know you'll help me"
"S-sure"
"Thank you, I need you to take the last of my power to stop a powerful force, his name is Mad and he is planning on ruining this planet just as he did mine, you can defeat him though"
"Wait, mad that dictator? He destroyed your planet! You're an alien! What!?"
"I know this is a lot to take in but you will learn more if you try to take down Mad"
The fairy starts to dissipate and leaves Baxter to wonder what just happened.
"That… that was cliché and… very odd" Baxter gets up and feels different in a way, powerful. He hears screams and can see smoke coming from the direction of golden gate town, Baxter runs straight for it.
An echidna engulfed in flames flying around the town burning things to the ground roars "You golden gate rejects haven't payed your taxes to mad, you'll pay for that runts". Without a second though Baxter grabs a piece of metal jumps and brings it down right over the echidna but is abruptly stopped with Baxter hanging onto the end of it.
"Oh you thought you were going to be a hero huh kid? Well you just tried to be the hero at the worst possible time cause now Blast is goanna destroy you!"
"You refer to yourself in third person?" Baxter flips of the shrapnel and Blast throws the metal straight at Baxter, Baxter jumps onto it and heads straight for Blast but the echidna dodges and Baxter hits a brick wall. "You have no idea what you're doing kid!" Blast charges up a ball of liquid fire and hurls it straight for Baxter, Baxter barley jumps out of the way and starts running along the street trying to find a place to take shelter as orbs of fire are flung down. Baxter hurdles onto a wall and ricochets straight for Blast then hits him straight in the jaw, Baxter lands on the ground and Blast does as well. Baxter runs straight for Blast aiming for another punch but is greeted by an uppercut square in the jaw. "I can play dirty to you know" Blast chuckles as he lunges for the now air born Baxter but Baxter kicks the echidna straight through a wall. Baxter lands, jumps, spirals, and kicks Blast in the face sending the echidna through another wall and into another street. The echidna holds his throbbing head as Baxter swings his leg back around for another well placed kick to the gut; it chucks the echidna back and leaving him on his knees. "not too bad for someone who hasn't ever fought before" Baxter smirks through the pain he still feels in his jaw, the echidna hurls more liquid fire at the rabbit nearly scorching the soft lush purple fur of the rabbit. Baxter slides under a few more pellets of lava and kicks the echidna straight in the gut and into the air; the echidna takes to the sky and flies off into the clouds.
Baxter hears cheers from all around and feels delighted. But through the cheers and fur of animals swarming him he hears a slightly familiar voice and sees bright pink ears poking up through the horde of animals. Baxter jumps in that direction and is greeted by an all too familiar face "Ginger!?"
"Baxter it's been so long I thought you had" the pink bunny stops to hug Baxter for a long time Baxter hugs back and realizes that the crowd has dissipated and there is a yellow mouse shooing them off.
"I should probably introduce you to my friend Petite"
"Baxter this is Petite my best friend and Tutor, and petite this is my long lost brother" Ginger backs up for the two to get aquatinted
"Nice to meet you" the mouse grabs Baxter's paw and shakes
"Speaking of which Baxter… WHY DID YOU JUST LEAVE LIKE THAT?" Ginger screams throwing punches in Baxter's direction, Petite jumps back and so does Baxter.
"You have some explaining to do" Ginger yells furiously at Baxter
"I'm sorry but I just, I thought that I was causing you and your family so much pain that I should just go"
"That's not true! Mom and Dad were so sad when they found out you ran away" Ginger cry's as she turns from Baxter
"Oh… I uh… woops" Baxter sheepishly squeaks out through an even more ashamed smile. By this time Petite has backed up about a meter from the heated argument between the two.
"Baxter you need to know that what happened to Jason and your parents was not because of some bad luck aura. They were all involved in overthrowing the previous dictator Alison and were killed by Mad."
Baxter almost jumps out of his skin "MAD! Are you sure?"
Ginger turns to face Baxter only to see anger in his eyes "well I mean… yeah, why?"
Baxter storms off
"What was that all about?" Petite asks still 2 meters from the two of them
Chapter 2
"I can't believe this, oh now its personal, Mad must be stopped" Baxter jumps from building to building but is suddenly taken down by a red fox.
"Get off me you stupid fox!"
"Hay whoa now I need to know a few things, first off how are you doing that?"
"Doing what"
"Jumping from skyscraper to skyscraper"
"I just can okay"
"You seem to be in a bad mood"
"Yeah because I'm pinned under a fox!"
"Yeah sure" the fox gets up off of Baxter "I'm Thunder" the fox raises his hand to Baxter
"Baxter" Baxter says taking Thunders paw
"Second off, would you like to help me with something?"
"What is it first? I'm… busy"
"I'm creating a task force to stop Mad and I think you would be a great ally, what do you say?"
"I'll do whatever it takes to stop Mad!"
"Great follow me then"
Baxter and thunder weave in-between streets and alleys of golden gate city and turn onto a street leading far out of the city, they start walking down the scenic path.
"So Baxter how come I can't find any files on you?"
"Have you been searching for me? I've lived off the grid all my life except for a few months at one point"
"Oh alright then I can understand that, the same is true for me. Yes I was"
"How? Oh wait this is the way out to that weird metal rock,"
"wrist tech and yes, that is our base, its underground,"
"Nice, make the rock natural and no one would notice"
"It's just temporary"
"Fair enough"
Baxter and Thunder arrive at the rock and Thunder presses his hand on the rock and a door opens on a tree by the rock, they both step inside and start ascending. A giant Underground world is revealed through glass panes on the elevator, Baxter's mouth drops at the sheer enormity of the underground world bustling with life.
"Yeah we don't like cramped spaces" Thunder smirks, the elevator stops and the doors open. They both walk out Baxter still gawking over all the scenery, the overall underground base was four stories high with metal lining all of the walls and ceiling and metal beams supporting the tunnel every few meters. There was no shortage of animals as they were all surrounding Thunder and Baxter in the main stretch of blank metal road. There were dorms lining the sides of the metal cavern and as they both traveled further it turned into small shops and dojos with elevators every so often leading to different levels of shops, dorms, and centers of trade. Eventually they made it farther back into the deeper smaller part of the cave system where jobs and assignments were handed out.
Thunder stopped in front of an intimidating building "Baxter"
"Yeah?" Baxter chirped out still beholding the entire underground city before him
"I need you to pay attention if you're going to become a bulkhead of my fighting force, all of what we've walked through is just training centers and shops for people that help the fighting force such as medics personalized trainers and cooks. There is definitely a lot to all of that which you'll learn later on after you finish initiation"
"That isn't all of it?"
"No to put it simply, behind this gate is another division of the cave that is specified for missions and training for our fighting force"
"Okay I think I'm passed all of my... ahem oohing and awing, how do I begin?"
"You will be put through three tests, first is your mental capability, then your physical abilities, and finally you will fight my right hand and if you last past a minute you're done"
"Alright I can do this easy"
Thunder and Baxter walk through the gate and turn down a few corridors into a room with a control panel, door, and a window.
"Go through there Baxter" Thunder says pointing to the door.
Baxter walks through and decides to sit on the seat
"What are you doing, I told you go in not go in and sit down"
"Sorry it seemed obvious with that chair right in the middle of the room"
Baxter stands back up
"Okay now sit down"
"You sure?"
"Baxter I had to calibrate the test to your species"
Baxter rolls his eyes and sits in the chair, "how does this work exactly?"
"The room has sensors that are able to measure different bodily functions, I'm going to release a gas with nanobots that will enter your blood stream and start giving me data, you'll become rather sleepy. Once asleep I'm going to assimilate different scenarios in which you'll have to find ways out."
"okay fine then" the gas enters the room and Baxter takes a deep breath of it, the smell is something like that of freshly cut grass but if you had oil sprayed on all of it after. Baxter starts to nod off and wakes to find himself in a long hallway full of monitors, wires, and pipes. They line the walls and at either end of the hallway are doors. To Baxter's right is a metal door and to Baxter's left is another metal door.
"Okay... I hope I'm dreaming, but still be careful just in case. Now which door?"
Baxter runs to the right door and opens it; the hallway disappears as he walks through and on the other side is a big room filled with animatronics.
"oh god... I uh, I shoulda went left"
Baxter swallows hard as he silently creeps through the room of hanging animatronics. There lifeless limbs are dangling by their sides as they hang from their individual racks, Baxter tip toes around a few rows of them and sees a giant amalgamated animatronic searching around with a spotlight. Baxter jumps back behind a row of animatronics and takes a deep breath, he listens to the scrap metal quietly make its way down the aisle. Baxter chooses to jump past the creature, he takes a few steps back and jumps right over the entire row and into the next aisle silently, he continues to somewhat run through the aisles looking for a door or window or something he can use to escape the room of scrap pewter. Baxter sees a ramp leading up to an exit door guarded by another blasted animatronic. Baxter decides to run for it and is spotted by both the guard and another searching the room, they both lunge at Baxter, he jumps out of the way but his foot is grabbed by an extension of the assortment of metal . Baxter is slammed back down onto the cold iron floor leaving a dent in its wake. Baxter backflips away from the creatures but they are already on him, he turns and runs through the rows of racks trying to lead the things away from the exit. Baxter turns to look back only to see them gaining on him, Baxter runs faster and jumps, he rebounds off a wall and plants his feet straight into one of the robots launching it back several yards into the other. Baxter swings off ones appendage back toward the exit but it once again grabbed Baxter this time he was flung around like a rag doll, Baxter grunts as he is thrown straight into wall after wall. Baxter grabs a rack and holds onto it for dear life the robot behind soon lets go and charges for Baxter, Baxter hurry's and runs for the exit avoiding any more contact with the long tactical like limbs of the animatronics shooting at him like missiles, Baxter slams through the door and slams it shut behind him. He falls to his knees and catches his breath. Now outside in the pale moonlight with a river and bridge where the door was, Baxter decides to see what else this dream scape has prepared for him.
He walks over the arched bridge into a dense forest, the leaves rustle in the crisp dry summer air. Baxter takes in the scenery but can't help but feel an ever present urge to run from something. He stays alert and cautious but shrugs it off as an after effect of whatever air type drug Thunder may or may not have put in him. A dark slender tall figure starts to follow Baxter But every time Baxter turns around the shadow disappears from sight like a phantom. "Alright, whose following me" a chuckle emits from the dark dense woods, the light of the moon just barely illuminating a tall figure creeping from the shadows. "Hi friend, how are you? It's uh... heh an uh... beautiful night huh?" the figure only continues to inch closer to Baxter down the pale grey gravel road. Tentacles start creeping out from the back of the figure and Baxter takes two steps back as the figure gets ever closer. "Um... you know I'm just going to go now" Baxter chuckles as he starts to walk off in the other direction. Baxter can tell the figure is gaining on him now and begins to run fast and hard. Looking for a way to lose the figure Baxter resorts to jumping from tree to tree to leave the creatures visual. Baxter is able to get a ways off from the slim figure and sits on a branch "what is all this for, the hallway? What could that of been for? And those animatronics, maybe to face my fears but that's it and what's up with this thing? What is this supposed to help me with?"
Baxter is snapped back to reality as he receives a sharp shock, "Ouch, dear lard and butter what's your problem man!?"
"The test was going on way to long you were supposed to wake up after the animatronics"
"Oh"
"Come on time for physical endurance"
"Wait what was all that supposed to tell you?"
"I don't know what you were dreaming specifically I was just gaining info from your body's abilities under this or that kind of pressure, you did surprisingly well. Maybe you have been through more than I thought?"
Baxter is ripped from reality and thrown back to his days in golden gate
"You best not mess with me!" a 10 year old Baxter yells at some thugs "or what you'll cry to your mom kid? all the street rats of this city are ours and you can't do a thing about it" the large lion roars in laughter Baxter jumps and hurls a kick that breaks the arm of the lion. The alligator and Badger lunge for Baxter, Baxter swiftly dodges by jumping over one and using that momentum to slam is fist into the gators jaw. Baxter pushes off of him with his feet doing a backflip into the badger slamming his feet straight into the nose of the Badger. With the lion and badger out of commission and the gator having a few broke teeth he decides to tactfully retreat. "Yeah and don't come back!" Baxter chirps
"Baxter? Baxter!?" Baxter wakes to Thunder shaking him
"I'm up I'm up,"
"The effects will wear off by the time we get to the gym" Thunder says reassuring Baxter
They hurry off to the gym.
"Here is our gym," Thunder opens a door and behind is giant room filled with many amazing objects that Baxter can't even begin to understand but one unparticular catches his eye. He runs up to it but is stopped by thunder, "that's for the end of your gym experience right now you have to go to the speed gauge" Thunder guides Baxter over to an oversized tread mill. "I'll own this" Baxter chuckles as he jumps on. Thunder turns it on and Baxter starts running as fast as he can reaching well over 510 miles per hour "Whoa Baxter calm down this thing can only go to 700," Thunder says tapping buttons furiously "Sorry but I like to go fast" Baxter chuckles running backwards on the machine going about 350 still. Thunder looks up and his jaw almost drops "Baxter run forward at full speed please." Baxter turns and goes as fast as he can. "550, that is 5 times over the fastest time which is hops at 110"
Baxter hops off beaming with pride "okay hot shot not many can withstand the stretch." Thunder chuckles moving off to another panel Baxter stands on an elevated platform and places his ankles and wrists in the clasps and they clamp down on him. The machine starts to pull and gets ever so slightly harder. "Now when you feel you need to fight back please do, and if I need to stop let me know" Baxter nods as the machine pulls ever harder, Baxter starts to pull back against the machine and this goes on for a while. "Reaching 500 psi Baxter you okay?" Baxter grunts "yep" he replies through clenched teeth. "550 psi Baxter you can stop now" "No I can keep on going" "Baxter the machine can't take too much more!" The machine starts to creak and puff out smoke, Thunder hits the release and Baxter falls to the ground, "ouch" Baxter just kneels there for a few minutes as Thunder examines the machine, "great fractures, this costed millions, oily vie" Thunder walks over to the next machine Baxter limping behind, "pull something?" Thunder chuckles "I'll be fine what is this?" "This machine examines leg strength, just jump and give a good side kick" Thunder yells from a panel. Baxter jumps and slams his heal into the target planted firmly in a wall, with all his force "uhhhhh, kay alright, that's... powerful" "what is it Thunder?"
"I'll level with you Baxter, this test is supposed to degrade you, when you start running you lose breath and that keeps your muscles from the nutrients they need to withstand the stretcher, then the stretcher is supposed to weaken you further so by the point you get to here most just want to drop and there is still another after this. Only three people have ever been able to beat this professionally, Me, Hop, and a strange mouse that came in one day just to beat the scores. You have beaten all of us combined"
"Wow I aint too bad then" Baxter exhales
"It's a bit too good to be honest"