Chapter 1 – Don't run before you can walk
I didn't quite know what to do. Memories were flooding into my mind all at once and all I could hear was my accelerating heartbeat and my breaths getting more and more rapid. What had happened? Last thing I remembered was… No! It hurt way too much. I remember that large metal cylinder forced over my head, the fast jolts of electricity quickly pulsating through by veins, my muscles turning stone cold and then BLANK…
"G-grandad?" I muttered looking down at the black veins coating my hands and arms. The blue, red and black metal that coated most of my arms was decreasing in temperature. I tried to move but everything seemed slow and draggy. I couldn't move one of my legs so I had a look down at it to find that it was completely robotic! I quickly found that the electric current seemed to have been obstructed somehow, I couldn't feel… anything!
I looked around for some answers but all I saw were large cobwebs and robot parts cluttering the floor. It reminded me how my broken mind felt at that moment. As I continued to look, I finally found a way out, a large slightly open window. I gasped and leapt up… well at least I tried to. I was quickly brought crashing back down again straight to the floor without the support of my damaged leg. I just lay there for a second before I felt some tears forming in the corners of my eyes. Crying is supposed to make you feel better but I just spiralled down into more tears. It didn't take me long to realise how much these tears were stinging my eyes. It felt like crying vinegar! This only fuelled my self-frustration and I was overcome by a strong feeling of helplessness.
I have no idea how long I stayed like that but I know that I eventually realised that I couldn't just stay here. Fuelled with frustration, anger, depression, fear and pain I grabbed the floor harshly and started dragging myself towards the window when I noticed a quiet beep. This was hardly noticeable as my heart was covering most of the sound anyway.
I stopped and listened hard, turning round to see a large broken swat bot. I crawled over to it and felt no fear. Suddenly, a memory leapt to the front of my mind crushing reality and barging every other sense out the way like a friend uninvited to a birthday party.
~MEMORY~
"What would you like to do today miss Candy?" came a voice I knew oh so well. My little face appeared out of a heap of robot pieces.
"Can you tell me a story?" I asked hopefully gazing at the swat bot.
"Ok, imagine this. Three hedgehogs were lying with their mother in a warm bed. One was green, one was blue and the other was pink. The mother was worried about something and various servants were telling her things. The next thing the baby hedgehogs remembered was being left on separate doorsteps, separated from each other." Explained the swat bot reciting this information from somewhere. It had clearly run out of information as it's expression went blank. I looked at it and smiled.
"Mr Swat bot that's a nice story. I want to meet those hedgehogs one day."
"Maybe you will. I can't answer." Replied the swat bot.
I walked over to it and gave it a hug. "I hope the hedgehogs were ok in the end."
"No more input on that story." Said the swat bot in a monotone voice.
~MEMORY END~
I looked at the swat bot instantly recognising it and sat beside it looking at my leg further. Maybe he could fix it, he was a bot after all. I opened up a small panel on its arm and tapped a few keys, shortly afterwards wondering how I knew what to do.
The swat bot slowly got up and a few lights flickered on here and there.
"Cannot confirm visual identity." It said finally looking at me.
The way it spoke sent a chill down my spine, it was a landslide away from that soft mildly electronic voice the swat bot in my memory had. Suddenly my mouth went dry and I couldn't find any words to say so I just sat there, eyeing it closely.
"Where is Doctor Robotnic?" It asked.
That name clicked something in my mind and another memory tip-toed into to the front of my thoughts, like a spy sneaking to the front of a crowd.
~MEMORY~
"Grandad I feel sick." I said clasping my throat. It felt kind of sticky and really rough. My eyes were so heavy and my legs wanted to just cave in and drop me to the floor.
"Is that so?" Replied the person I called grandad. He was marvellously round and had a large uncombed moustache.
"Well what a surprise you feel sick on the day of your robotisisation." He said snorting and watching me tremble in fear.
"No… It's not that, I legitimately feel really strange." I replied. Suddenly, on that comment my head started really throbbing all over. I could tell I was sweating and I could feel my temperature rising. Suddenly, someone screamed, a long loud scream of utter terror! I noticed everyone was looking at me and I wondered why until I found that it was my own voice screaming.
~MEMORY END~
This thought made me wince. That complete terror I could feel, that sinking violent feeling as if someone had put me in a blender and set it to high.
I felt my heart start pounding again as the swat bot met my eyes.
"What do you want?" I asked staring at it back even though it was probably wondering the same thing about me.
"Nothing, boss." It replied looking away.
'Boss? I'm not your boss' I thought looking at it confusedly. I tried to get up once again forgetting about my leg and tumbling down smashing a couple of pieces of metal armour off my other leg.
"You need help." Said the swat bot lifting me clean off my feet and picking up some spare pieces of metal in the other hand.
"What?! Get off!" I yelled struggling throwing some fists at its strong metal arm. It grabbed my leg and started taking pieces off it, completely ignoring my screams. I watched in horror as it moulded the other pieces of metal to different sizes and started attaching them in replacement of the pieces it had taken off.
Suddenly, I felt the need to close my eyes and as much as I tried to prevent it, they did and I slipped into unconsciousness.
~DREAM~
My eyes slowly started to open but the world around me was dark. A small pink hedgehog was standing over me. She had a cold flannel resting on my head and she had a very worried expression on her face.
"Manic! I think she's waking up!" The hedgehog yelled.
A green hedgehog ran to her side with pretty crazy green hair. For some reason, I felt safe in the company of the two of them. The green hedgehog smiled calmly putting a hand on the top of my head and stroking my hair gently.
"I'm sure she'll be fine Sonia." The green hedgehog whispered to the pink hedgehog who he called Sonia.
~DREAM END~
I awoke with a jolt, my leg feeling fine again. I stood up cautiously testing the swat bots work. The new leg felt fine so I looked around for the swat bot but I found no trace.
"Probably went back to that Robotnic guy." I thought aloud.
Slowly, I walked towards that big window I had noticed earlier. My robot parts were creaking quite a bit and they felt really achy, like when you have an injection.
I eventually managed to climb out of the window toppling off the other side into a heap of rubbish. Luckily, it was only robot parts so I shook it off and attempted to climb out but just kept falling backwards. I sighed and lay down wondering what to do next; besides even if I did get out where should I go? 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it' I thought pulling myself up by an overhanging metal pole. Now standing up on top of the rubbish I had a better chance, I still wasn't sure who I was or what I was doing here but something was telling me that something really scary had happened. This fact tugged on my sanity all the while.
