Chapter 1; a chance meeting

"Help me...anybody...please..." My voice was small, and wouldn't carry very far…I knew this, but I still kept crying. I was scared, beaten, and coughing up blood. My cyan coat was stained with crimson, and my drooping quills dripped moonlit drops of crimson. My originally white gloves had turned an awful reddish-brown color, and my red and white shoes matched with everything else… I was a mess, right down to the golden buckles of my hi-tops. Even if someone did come down this abandoned trail, they'd probably think I'm too far gone to save...and at this point...I'd agree with them.

The dirt road was slowly turning black beneath me as the trees that guarded this forsaken path waved maliciously in the foreign, dark wind. Every second seemed to last forever as this soul-splitting pain consumed me, the moon's light fading from my eyes. Fear escaped me as I softly chuckled…

I'm sorry...I guess...I couldn't leave either.

Everything then started to go numb. The feeling in my chest, my arms, my legs...everything vanished as I took one last look at the shadowed path before me. Breathing didn't seem to matter anymore.

Hope...where are you?...

The shadows of the dirt way up ahead started to warp and bend. My vision bringing them to life in the shape of a young man. The shape was running now, the apparition bouncing up and down.

What was he running to? There was nothing here...

"Hey! Are you alright?" A shocked voice pierced through this numb feeling, the voice driving me back to stark reality, "Oh, God… What's happened to you, little guy? You're bleeding..." The worried man's voice was so far away…

"Hey, are you okay! Come on, I'm taking you home." He declared, scooping me up in his arms. I couldn't make out his face; everything was way too fuzzy and distant. "Have you been eating? You're so light..." He whispered more to himself than to me. My voice tried answer his question, but all that came out was a strangled grumble.

"What's your name?" He asked, his dark face now looking at mine. I tried to answer… my voice sounded choked and I was gargling on my own blood like a dying sewer rat.

"M-Maurice...the..Hedgehog..." I managed, my vision starting to fade in, only to fade back out, "Why...did...?" I started, choking on the words.

"Oh, just cause. I wanted to know who I was bringing home." He responded, but I shook my head, slowly.

"No...why...why save me?" I whispered, my eyes closing.

"You're hurt, I can't just leave you that way." He noticed my eyes were closing, "Hey, please don't fall asleep." I couldn't help but chuckle softly. I was so tired.

"What-what's your...name?" I gagged, unable to open my heavy eyelids.

"My name is Ivo, Ivo Robotnik. But you can call me Robotnik." He told me, still running down the road to oblivion.

"Where...?" I retched and tasted blood as the black liquid slowly raced down my chin.

"We're going to my house, or my corner of the house anyway. My parents don't like me in their living space, so they gave me the basement to live in. At least mom comes down with my meals during the day. You'll be safe there." He explained quickly, running still faster, "My dad's a workaholic, so he's never home, and my mom is too ashamed of me to be around me."

"Why?" I asked him, grateful for his voice.

"Because she wants me to become a real scientist, like father, but for some reason...I just can't do it. I hate hurting anything, and I don't want to do what he does. I like saving people and animals...like you." I felt hot drops of water falling onto my pale muzzle and shaved stomach; soft sobs come from the mouth of my savior.

"Why...are you...crying?" I asked him, and he stopped, one hand reaching to something in front of him.

"Because...I'm scared. You seem really hurt, Maurice..." He lamented, opening something and plunging into total darkness, "I..I don't want you to die."

I giggled painfully, the sound more like coughing than laughter, "I-I'm not gonna die, Robotnik...not anymore." He looked at me, and smiled.

"You have that much faith in me? Wow...no one ever has before." He told me, laughing softly as he wiped his tears away with his shoulder.

The darkness opened up, and suddenly, I was swath with multicolored lights. However, I couldn't make anything out, my vision was way too red and lost to see anything besides blurry colors.

"Oh, god...you-your injuries..." His voice was filled with horror, "You're far worse than I thought...Who...who could've done this to you?" He asked as he laid me down on a soft surface. It was so comfortable that I could've gotten lost in it.

"K-kids..." I told him, "Kids...don't like...blue hedgehogs..." I started to shiver, a deep cold sprouting from deep within.

"You're blue? You look brown to me." He told me bluntly, his face seeming to study me, "That could just be the dirt and grim though...why don't I get you cleaned up, Maurice? Then I can try to pinpoint your injuries afterward."

"Okay..." I coughed, and he picked me up again, but this time, he put me over his shoulder like the young child that I was.

"How old are you, Maurice?" He wondered as he started some distant water for the bath. The steam was strange in my lungs, and for a moment, I had a coughing fit. Thankfully, it subsided and I was able to answer.

"I-I'm...six...six years..old." I choked as he set me in the soothing water. It was warm, and made the cold run away. Its crisp, dewy scent drew me back to the mortal realm, and it wafted through my fur, easing the pain a bit as Robotnik started to scrub me gently. The water started to turn redwood brown and my fur back to blue, "How old are you...Robotnik?"

"I'm twenty four, going on twenty five." He told me as he scrubbed, concentrating hard on where he scrubbed so he wouldn't hurt me any further, "My parents won't let me leave home until they deem me worthy of my father…" At first, he sounded sad, but then he laughed, "Ha ha, joke's on them. I like living here. What about you, do you have parents?" He stopped scrubbing and took me out of the bath, only to place me back in when he had replaced the water.

I shook my head, and watched his head sink, "oh...I'm so...sorry..." He apologized, his scrubbing more gentle than before.

"It's...okay. I don't know-where they are….one day...they just drop-dropped us off...and vanished..." I responded, "I-I guess...they didn't...want mutant..." My head slowly dropped.

"I'm sure that's not true, Maurice! I'm sure they loved you. Maybe… Maybe they just..." He couldn't think of anything to say, and at this point, it didn't matter to me.

"It doesn't matter...if they loved...us or-not. I'm on...my-own….now..." I choked, but he gripped my shoulders softly.

"No you're not! You can stay here with me! I could take care of you for as long as you need. I'm technically an adult now, so..." His eyes started to shift into view, and what I saw were the most beautiful, green eyes I had ever seen. They resembled that of the forest, intermixed with light green and dark to the point where they were more beautiful than any sacred gem. They were so filled with excitement at the idea that I would be staying, that I couldn't help but accept his offer, "Yes!" He whooped and let me go to dance around the room. Though an adult, he seemed to me a child that was never able to grow up.

I smiled as he continued, "We are going to be the best of friends, Maurice! Oh, and for the record, I like your blue fur, I think it looks cool! Those kids were just jealous of you!" He went back to the edge of the bathtub and continued to wash me happily.

My vision started to come back in small bursts, and I could now make out what he looked like and where I was. I was in a white bathroom, with a mirror opposite the bathtub near the open doorway. My clothes were on the ground next to it, and in it was my sorry reflection. I was extremely beat up, my emerald eyes stained red with blood that hadn't been fully cleared away.

Robotnik was another story. He was human and had messy, reddish hair with a freckled face. He was also very scrawny and wore clothes that were too big for him. Right now, he was wearing a stained, gray t-shirt, and baggy jeans. He was actually quite a handsome young adult, and his green eyes were absolutely stunning.

Eventually, all the muck was cleaned out of my quills and fur, and he emptied the bathtub for the last time. It had taken him seven washes in order to get me fully cleaned up.

My eyes were also finally cleared. I stared around the small, yet very nicely decorated bathroom. To the left of the tub was the sink with an engraved, redwood cupboard sitting right above it. The mirror seemed to have been removed form it and set beside the door in front of me, and to the tub's right was the toilet. It was blocked off from the door's view by a short wall.

He took me out of the bathtub and pulled some gauze out of the cupboard above the sink. He than began to wrap the gushing wounds around my chest, head, arms and legs.

Finished, he then took me back into the strange room with all the lights. Only, I could now see what this particular room was.

It was a large laboratory, with multicolored lights coming from the strange liquids he had in bottles all over the tables and desks that had been placed all around the walls. A large bed rested near the door, unmade and messy. The cement floor was covered with papers, and a small trashcan filled with crumpled pieces of paper sat beside the bed. In the middle of the room was a strange machine with a bed below it's large scanner-like thing. A TV was hooked up to it.

He placed me in the strange bed beneath the machine and went to the TV.

"What...is this for?" I asked him.

"Oh, that? It's just so that I can see why you were coughing up blood. I think you may have a few broken ribs and bones… I just want to make sure before I let you sleep." He told me kindly, flipping a switch on the TV. The machine reacted and it started to go over me slowly with a green, horizontal light.

"What happens...if I do?" I wondered, awaiting his answer.

"I'll just give you some pain medication and hope you heal correctly, Maurice." He said bluntly, "Kidding. I'll set the broken bones, then give you some ice for your ribs." He looked at me, "It's going to hurt if I have to set the bones, so I'll give you a numbing agent to keep you from passing out from the pain if there is more than one broken bone." I nodded and he went back to the screen. A few minutes passed in silence, then;

"Thank you, Robotnik...I've...never met someone as compassionate as you before." I said quietly.

"No sweat, Maurice, Same here. I've never met anyone like you either." He answered happily as he cracked his knuckles, "Welp, looks like you have two broken ribs, and a broken arm. That's better than I thought it was going to be, but I still have to set your arm." He told me, waking over to my left side.

"Hey, before you set the bone, could I ask you something?" I started as he picked up my left arm gently. I winced but didn't cry out.

"You can ask me tomorrow, when you're feeling better, okay. Then I can answer anything you want... promise." He put a large cloth in my mouth, and another over my eyes. Then, he snapped the bone back into place.

I screamed weakly, the scream muffled and lost to the dark walls of the basement. It had hurt so much that a couple tears fell from my eyes and I started shaking, almost violently.

He took the cloth off my eyes, and out of my mouth, and let me cry for a few minutes. He then took me to a hidden closet in the corner of the room and grabbed a small pair of pajamas. They had blue stars and moons flying across a black sky etched into the soft fabric.

"These were my pajamas when I was a baby, Maurice, but I think that they may fit you." He told me as he put me in them. They did fit, and quite comfortably, I may add. I was only six, so I can't blame them for fitting me.

I was taken to the large bed next to the doorway now, and he wrapped me in those blankets snug and tight, so that I couldn't move my arms or hurt myself any further. He also got a small pack of ice and placed it on the broken ribs.

"Get lots of rest, Maurice. I want you to feel better tomorrow, okay." He said, making sure that I couldn't move an inch.

"Okay, Doctor." I joked, "But, what about you? Isn't this your bed?" I coughed a bit.

"It's fine. I normally sleep at my desk or on the floor anyways. Besides, you need it more, my friend." I chortled lightly at that.

"Friend? Are we really...friends?" He nodded and I smiled, "Wow, I've never had a friend before..."

"Me neither. Why don't we be the best of 'em, huh?" He smiled too, and then we laughed happily.

This was just the beginning for us...soon after this little conversation, we fell asleep. He fell asleep at one of his desks and I shortly after him. This had been one of the best moments of my life. My first friend… Everyone before him had cast me out, or shoved me through the door. He, the son of an evil man, had let me in with open arms, and now calls me friend. Talk about a good Samaritan, I mean jeez. He's done more than anyone else in my life. Thank you, Robotnik.