Series 1 - The Origins
Episode 3
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CHAPTER ONE: THE PARTY
Tails walked towards his hut, escorted by Sonic. It was Tails' birthday, and Sonic had just taken him on an "adventure" through the great forest. They were playing games all day, and now they were returning home. They entered Tails' hut, and all of a sudden the lights flashed on and all the Freedom Fighters appeared out of nowhere and yelled "SURPRISE!!!" Sonic had gotten Tails out of Knothole for the day, so they could prepare for a surprise party. Tails was overwhelmed! He spent about an hour or so playing party games, Then they all went outside and had a barbecue. Tails hadn't had such a great party since before he could remember! He ate until he nearly burst! Just then, there was a rustling in the bushes. Everyone looked over and tried to see what was making the sound. Just then, a large, scaly figure jumped out at them. Everybody screamed.
The large scaly figure was me (Shax). I looked at them and they looked at me. "Sorry if I scared you!" I said. "I smelled meat cooking, so I came to have a look-see!" Sonic smiled. "Shax, ol' buddy!" he said. "How are you?" He obviously remembered me. I helped him get through Dominatrek's tests a few months back, but I'd been living alone in the forest ever since. Tails recognized me too. "Hi, Shax!" he said. "It's my birthday!" I smiled and put one clawed hand on top of his head, messing his hair up. "Well happy birthday, little bro!" I said. I turned to Sonic. "I'm glad I found you, by the way." I said to him. "I saw a robot tramping through the forest today. He was carrying something big." Sonic looked up at me. "Ok, we'll be on the lookout." he said. Knuckles walked up to me. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "Yeah, I haven't had dinner yet." I replied. "Why?" Knux looked back at the barbecue. "We have a lot of leftovers." he said. "Thanks!" I said, running over to the barbecue. I won't bore you with the details of what I did for the rest of the night, 'cause it's Sonic and Tails this story is really about. Sonic noticed that the sky was very bright, so he asked Tails if he wanted to go to the lake, and he'd teach him about the constellations. Tails agreed, and they headed off. Poor guys. This is when the trouble really started. They can't say I didn't warn them that something was out there. Stalking.
CHAPTER TWO: BIG THINGS COME IN VERY, VERY SMALL PACKAGES.
"See that star?" asked Sonic, pointing at a very faint, almost invisible dot in the night sky. "There is a planet named Earth orbiting that star. Someday we might live in harmony with the beings that live there, but for now, it is just a faint dot." Tails was fascinated with this astronomy thing. He asked Sonic the names of every single star he could see, but of course, Sonic could only name a couple. Then, they both heard a twig snap in the forest behind them. Sonic knew it was one of his friends, trying to sneak up on them. "I know you're there!" he yelled. He expected to hear laughter, and see a Freedom Fighter step out from behind the trees, but something different happened. Sonic noticed two faint red eyes amongst the trees. And, what was that? A gleam of metal? Then he heard a voice that was all-too familiar. "Weapon engaged." it said. Then a flash of light burst through the trees, smothering Sonic and Tails and knocking them back onto the rock they were sitting on before. When the light had gone, the trees were all burned, all that were left were tall, pointy, dark brown stumps where the trees used to be. And then there was a sight that made the two nearly faint. Mecha Sonic. Except he wasn't the Mecha that Sonic and Tails had known. He was huge. I'm talking HUGE! Like, so huge it made the trees look like grass. He was as tall as a skyscraper, if not bigger! He stepped right up to the two shivering Freedom Fighters, and nearly squashed them underneath his giant metal foot. He pulled out a two-way radio that was attached to his arm, and began to speak in a loud voice. "Shrinkage test alpha engaged, Doctor. Mission successful, the hedgehog and the mutated flying fox have been shrunk. They are no longer a threat to you. They are gone for good. Over."
Sonic and Tails listened to the Giant robot's transmission in shock and amazement. Had Mecha shrunk them? It was impossible, because Mecha was the only thing that looked any bigger. Then, as Sonic turned to face the lake, he realized that it was very true. He stared at a huge rock. Then he noticed that the rock he was staring at was the rock him and Tails were sitting on before, and what they were on now was just a tiny pebble. He stood up, and realized that the "trees" that he thought had been burned down by Mecha, was simply dead grass. They were as big as ants, now. How were they going to get out of this problem?"
It was the next morning, and me and the Freedom Fighters were out searching for the two near the lake. When they didn't return the night before, we had all decided to look for him as soon as possible. Little did we know that the two were bug-sized, and they were screaming at the tops of their voices for us to help them. We didn't even hear a squeak. "DOOOOOOWN HEEEEEEERE!" screamed Sonic until his voice was hoarse. "It's no use." he said, finally. "There's no way they can hear us."
"Why don't we get really close and talk into their ears?" asked Tails.
Sonic's expression lit up. "Tails! You're a genius!" he yelled. "Fly me up to Sally's ear." So Tails got his tails spinning like a helicopter rotor, and Sonic grabbed onto his hands. "UNH!" Tails grunted. "The air is so thick all of a sudden!" "That's because we're so small." replied Sonic. "You'll get used to it."
so Tails lifted off the ground, Sonic dangling underneath. They flew towards Sally, who was searching the bushes a couple of meters away. When they finally got to her, they landed on her head and made their way to her ear. Sally felt them land, and waved her hand around to make them fly away. When they didn't, she shook her head furiously. Sonic and Tails tumbled off, and Tails managed to grab Sonic's hands and start flying again. They looped around Sally's head to land on her ear again. Sally looked up at the two specks, frowning. "Darn mosquitos!" she said. "They're as big as beetles out here!" She lifted her hands up. "Uh oh, not good!" said Sonic, realizing what she meant to do. Tails tried to pull up, but he wasn't quick enough. Sonic accidentally slipped and fell from the sky, and Tails, still flying, was caught as Sally brought her hands together an a deafening "CLAP!"
CHAPTER THREE: NATURE'S LITTLE HAZARDS
Sonic landed in a soft patch of grass with a thud. He looked up at Sally who had her hands together, and Tails was nowhere in sight. He feared the worst. When Sally opened her hands, Tails came tumbling out, and l landed a few meters from Sonic. (It was actually just a few centimeters, but Sonic was so small that it seemed like meters.) He ran through the tall grass and saw Tails lying in a strange position. He wasn't squashed, which was a good sign. Sonic instantly checked his friend's pulse. He was alive, just unconscious. He must have somehow managed not to take too much of a blow from the clap. Sonic picked him up in his arms and started walking. Now that he couldn't fly, he couldn't communicate with his friends by speaking into their ears. And to make things worse, they were all starting to leave. They had realized Sonic wasn't in the Great Forest, and they thought the two must have been captured by Robotnik, so they moved on to Robotropolis.
Sonic lightly splashed water on Tails' face. He woke up, moaning. "Are you okay?" Sonic asked him. "I-I think so" replied Tails. "I think I sprained an ankle, though." Tails sat up next to Sonic. "Now what'll we do?" asked Sonic. They heard a quiet, splashing sound from the pond behind them. They looked, and saw a gigantic green monster swimming to the shore. It wasn't a monster, really, it was a frog. "WOW!" said Sonic as the frog stepped out of the water and sat down beside them. "We're as big as flies compared to that thing!" The frog looked at him suspiciously. Sonic thought for a second. "Uh oh, did I say FLIES?" he asked. The frog bounded over close to them. He emitted a deafening "RIBBIT!" and opened his mouth, revealing a long, shiny tongue. "RUN!" shouted Sonic. "I can't, Sonic!" shouted Tails. "My...my ankle!" Sonic remembered his friend's sprained ankle. He put his super speed to work and zipped over to Tails, picked him up and ran, just as the frog's tongue shot out to get him. They ran and hid behind a rock. The frog looked around a bit, and hopped into the water. "That was close!" said Sonic. They walked all day, and that night, they ate bits of grass and stuff as a salad, and roasted ants. The ants were as big as rabbits to them, so they only needed two. "One thing I love about being small is the grub!" said Sonic.
"It's an ant." replied Tails. "When I say the grub, I mean the food!" said Sonic. "Yeah, I know." said Tails. "But it isn't a grub, it's an ant!" Sonic spent about fifteen minutes trying to explain what he meant by "grub" when they heard a terrifying screech rip through the air. "What the...?" started Sonic, but he was knocked over, and then lifted into the air. "SONIC!" screamed Tails, as his friend was carried into the night sky.
It didn't take long for Sonic to realize that he was in the talons of a huge owl. The bird screeched as it flew higher and higher, carrying Sonic higher and higher. Pain shot through his shoulders, because the bird was holding onto him so tightly with it's thirty centimeter long claws (They were really only one centimeter long, but they seemed a whole lot longer to Sonic.) eventually, ten minutes later, they arrived at the bird's nest. The owl dropped Sonic into it and flew off. Sonic had a nasty bump on his head, and he looked around the huge nest. There were four huge white eggs, about two and a half times as big as he was, surrounding him. One of them was pulsating and emitting a strange tapping sound. It started to crack, and then a second egg began to wobble. Sonic decided it was time to leave about now. One of the eggs burst open and a wet, pink baby bird started to peck at him. He ran towards the edge of the nest and jumped, just in time to see two other eggs hatch. He fell and fell until he landed on a leaf and nearly bounced off. He realized he was at the top of a huge tree, and it was a long, long way down.
Meanwhile, the other freedom fighters and I approached the main building in Robotropolis. That psychotic robot, Mecha Sonic, stood guard outside. We expected him to jump up and shoot us, but he just said, casually, "Can I help you?" He seemed surprised, but he tried not to show it. "Take us to Ro-BUTT-nik!" said Sally, frustrated. "Walk down the corridor, turn left at the red door." said Mecha, pointing. Hesitantly, we entered. When we were out of hearing range of Mecha, he pulled out his two-way radio. "Doctor Robotnik" he said "Your plan is working out better than you thought."
Sonic ran for his life, bounding from branch to branch. Behind him, a long stream of giant, angry wasps. He had gotten a bit too close to their nest, and now he was paying for it. He slipped off a branch and fell out of the tree, and landed inside a giant flower on the ground. The angry bugs lost sight of him, and returned to their nest. Sonic climbed out of the flower and walked across the ground. He wondered how he was going to survive as a bug-sized hedgehog. Suddenly, he heard a scream. "TAILS!" he shouted, running to the source of the noise. He discovered Tails floating in mid-air. No, he was in a net. A spiderweb! And there, moving in for the kill, was the biggest black widow spider Sonic had ever seen.
CHAPTER FOUR: ROBOTNIK GETS HIS WAY
"Where are Sonic and Tails?" demanded Sally, frowning at the egg- shaped man sitting on the throne. Robotnik laughed. "I have your friends captive!" he lied. "And if you ever want to see them again, you will tell me the location of Knothole!"
"Agreed" replied Sally. The other Freedom Fighters looked at her strangely. Sally told Robotnik where Knothole was located. The other Freedom Fighters smiled slightly, for she had not told him the correct location. Robotnik was about to let them go, because he wanted to defeat them along with the Knothole raid, but Mecha Sonic saw through Sally like a pane of glass. "Doctor Robotnik!" he said, standing in the doorway. "How can we tell that she is telling the truth?"
Robotnik scowled. "Send a party of robots to the location stated by the Freedom Fighter." he said "In the meantime, you shall all stay here, in the dungeon!" Sally looked at the robot hedgehog. Mecha began to laugh at her.
Meanwhile, Sonic had his own problems. He had picked up a stick and started to hit the monstrous spider with it, but it didn't make a difference, so he started using the stick as a lever to get Tails out of the web. But the sticky substance was stronger than rope to the tiny hedgehog, and his friend was too tangled. He ran up to Tails and tried to untangle him manually, but the web was too sticky, and he ended up tangling himself up. Now they were both stuck in the web, and the giant spider lurched over them, cleaning its antennae, and extending its sharp, thick fangs, venom trickling out. All was lost.
Just then, they heard a familiar screech. They looked up, and so did the spider. A gigantic beaked face shot down and within an instant the spider was gone. Looking around, the owl that had carried Sonic off before, now had the spider in its beak. "That was way too close!" said Sonic. After about half an hour, Sonic had managed to cut the rope- like web with his spikes, and clean him and Tails off. They looked up and saw an army of strange figures make their way towards them. SWAT bots! "This is the spot" said one of the robots. "The Freedom Fighter lied!" said another. "Return to Robotropolis and report to Robotnik" said a third. "Freedom Fighters?" asked Tails. "Robotnik has the others!" gasped Sonic. The robots turned away. "How will we get to Robotropolis?" asked Tails. "We take the express train!" replied Sonic, running towards the robots. He jumped on one and held out his hand for Tails.
Later on, they reached Robotnik's capital city, the infamous Robotropolis. Sonic and Tails sat undetected on the shoulder of the tallest SWAT bot. They passed through the main building, and entered Robotnik's room, where Mecha was escorting the trapped Freedom Fighters. "Doctor Robotnik" said one of the robots with a salute. "We did not discover Knothole at the place pointed out by the squirrel."
"Well, well, well!" said Robotnik, scowling. "Mecha Sonic, show them what we do to liars!" Mecha saluted and randomly picked out one of the group of Freedom Fighters. It was Rotor. He then went up to a control panel and pressed a few buttons, causing a hole to open up in the floor, and a machine to rise from the hole. The robotizer. "Oh no!" gasped Sonic, staring in horror as Mecha escorted Rotor through the open hatch. "Tails, fly me over to the control panel!" said Sonic, frantically. Tails obediently span his tails and pulled Sonic through the air towards the controls for the robotizer. As Mecha shoved Rotor through the hatch, he caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye. Sonic jumped up and down on the off button, but he couldn't put on enough force to press it down. The machine began to go into motion. As Sonic tried frantically to turn off the machine, Mecha Sonic approached him. "Hello, Sonic the Beetle!" he said. He was carrying the shrinking ray. "Looks like I didn't stop you the first time, maybe I'll have to finish the job!" He aimed the ray at Sonic and fired.
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
The beam hit Sonic, and he expected to be shrunk into the size of an atom, but instead, he began to grow! Robotnik turned his head. "HEDGEHOG!" he screamed. Sonic pounded his fist down on the off button of the robotizer. As Mecha stared in shock, Sonic noticed the miniature Tails, sitting on the shrink ray, one hand on the "reverse" switch, and the other hand giving him a thumbs up. Sonic grinned, and began to kick some robot butt. The other Freedom Fighters, including Rotor, joined in the rebellion. Sonic grabbed the shrink ray, put Tails on a table, and restored him to his normal size.
After a big fight, the Freedom Fighters returned to their home in Knothole. Sonic and Tails told of their adventures in the little world, and, as for me, I just returned to the forest and had a headache in the morning. Still, it was a memorable few days, that have now come to...
SERIES ONE CHRONOLOGY:
1. Time and Space
2. I Am Your Evil Twin
3. Micro-Sonic
4. Android Wars
5. Chaos
6. Diary of a Mad Assassin
7. Fire in the Sky
8. The Guests of Honor
9. Time and Punishment
10. The Secret Past
11. Tale of a Rocket Knight
12. Cyber Sonic
13. Apocalypse
