IMPORTANT NOTE! As of 03-16-16, this story is M rated. This is due to mentions of child abuse and torture that have occurred in the story, strong swearing (the F-bomb is not present, but the word "Bastard" has shown up once and words such as "shit", "damn", and "hell" are frequently used), strong themes of death and suffering (heavy detail not provided on these subjects at any point, but still), and violent combat where there are many injuries (i.e. a character gets stabbed (though excessive details are not given)). This is just a fair warning. For the most part, this story is generally suitable for a T rating. There are no "lemons", "limes" or other, shall we say, "intimate" interactions beyond kissing, things such as torture aren't described, merely mentioned, and so on. If you aren't bothered by what mature content is here, I hope you enjoy the story.
~ソニック~
It was a cloudy day. The sky was gray. The cold, bitter wind smelled of water, promised rain in the coming hours. Animals took refuge in their homes, seeking to escape the cold. The dismal atmosphere did nothing to improve the young pilot's mood, nor did the clouds pressing around him on all sides. No matter how high he flew, he couldn't escape them. He didn't dare go down; there were mountains in this area. He had no intentions of wrecking his plane. …Again. He glanced to his side, then his other side, then quickly looked up before chancing a look over his shoulder. Unless his pursuers were beneath him, it seemed as though he was finally alone. Still, he didn't let his guard down.
He continued to look around as he expertly piloted his small plane, searching for any sign of the eerie red lights from before. The propeller on the front of his plane, coupled with the rather loud noises from the engine, drowned out the faint sounds he had once heard from the machines from which he was trying to escape. Or perhaps he had already escaped them? However, he was wary of that hope, and for good reason. They were clearly after him, so what reason would they have to turn back unless he'd lost them completely? Even then, he wasn't sure their programming would allow them to give up. He doubted they even knew what the phrase "give up" meant.
A furry ear twitched as he picked up a sound. It was quiet at first, but quickly growing louder, a faint whir that turned into a buzz which made his heart speed up. That buzz quickly grew louder, and he tensed. The robots had returned… and they had friends. He barely had time to react before a bright red laser shot through the left wing of his plane, leaving a burning circle where it had hit. If he hadn't turned the plane when he had… Hesitating for only a moment, he cast that thought aside. Thinking about how he could have died wouldn't do him any good. He wasn't dead, so thinking about what could have been was pointless.
By now, he was surrounded by circular red lights. A few of the robots were close enough for him to get a good look at them for the first time as he sped up his plane. The robots themselves were almost spherical in shape, each with a red light in the center of what he guessed to be their front sides. Those lights almost looked like eyes. It was… creepy. Then, as if in reprimand for his staring, one of the robots shot at him again. He was thankful for his quick reflexes as he managed to lift the nose of the plane out of harm's way just in time. Glancing around, he silently counted. There were seventeen of them, twelve more than last time, and they each had lasers and, more likely than not, other weapons that he wasn't aware of. He had nothing. Just a pathetic excuse for a plane with an engine that was probably going to die any day now. Considering what it had been through, he supposed that was being optimistic. And he was never very optimistic.
More lasers shot past him, one of them singeing his right ear. He flinched and reflexively ducked his head, a motion that he regretted an instant later when he realized he had taken his eyes away from the sky. He crashed forcefully into one of the robots, noticing as it started smoking that they were bigger than he had originally thought. They were about as big as he was, in fact. The robot exploded a second later and he threw his arms up to cover his face. As soon as the fireball receded, he grabbed the controls again and started to lift the plane out of its nosedive. ...Except it wouldn't lift. Cursing softly, he tried everything he could think of to right his smoking plane, but nothing was working. Finally, he settled for just pulling hard at the controls in a last ditch effort to save himself. He glanced down and noticed a small, flat stretch of land not far from him. Although it was covered in forests, he was pretty sure he could land there. If only he could get out of this nosedive…
"Come on… you… stupid… plane…" he muttered through tightly clenched teeth. He watched as the ground raced upward to meet him and gave the controls one last desperate pull. Then, the engine roared to life. The propeller began to turn again. Knowing now was no time to celebrate, he quickly straightened the plane just in time to crash into the ground.
He held on tightly to the sides of the plane as it skidded and bumped and crashed until finally coming to a halt by slamming into an over-sized rock. Leaping out without a second thought, he dove behind a tree. Moments later, there was an explosion. Crouched low behind the tree, he peered into the sky, frowning as he saw the distant red lights in the clouds slowly fade away as though they had never been. Deciding to just be thankful they were gone for now, he stood. He'd worry about where they went later. He turned back around and walked to his plane. Or rather, what was left of it. Somehow nothing, not even the plane, was on fire. He chalked it up to pure dumb luck and kicked the side of the plane and sighed. It was beyond totaled. As he'd expected. Luckily though, he knew where he was. If he was careful, he could probably haul the smoking heap home. It wasn't far. Summoning up his strength, he began pushing.
~ソニック~
He supposed this was no surprise really. He'd been alone, vulnerable, and the robots from the day before had gotten away. Really, he should have expected another attack. Granted, he hadn't expected there to be so many, but it didn't matter. He'd just destroy them like always. But… Why were there so many? He jumped up and curled himself into a ball before launching himself at the nearest opponents. Tearing through them with ease, he watched with a sense of unease as still more came to take their place. Why are there so many? Glancing up for a second time, he began to suspect that the strange dark shaped he'd spotted in the sky a few minutes ago had something to do with it.
He glanced to the wreckage of his plane, which still lay in a heap not far away. There was no way it would fly right now, or anytime soon for that matter. So he decided he would have to do this the hard way. Using his great agility, he jumped up and landed on top of one of the robots before leaping up and landing on another, all the while avoided the burning lasers being shot at him from all around. He frowned as one such laser took out his next stepping-stone and, thinking quickly, he grabbed onto a robot that was above his head. Swinging himself forward, he landed on top of another bot that immediately began to shake when he landed on it. Fearing that it was about to self-destruct, he leapt off of it. The explosion that followed hurled him forward a good distance and he landed precariously on the edge of some metal platform. His eyes widened as he steadied himself. The platform he stood on was attached to a huge airship; one with many, many robots both on and around it.
Dodging a hailstorm of bullets from above, he raced inside the nearest doorway he could find. The turrets mounting the walls were easily destroyed and the cameras easily avoided, but he doubted that luck would remain on his side. He was badly outnumbered… even if the robots were easily destroyed, he would eventually tire while they simply would not. It wasn't fair. Making a quick turn, he found himself outside again. He started to go back inside but was forced to stop when he heard the heavy metal footsteps of some sort of robot coming toward him from down the hall. Cursing, he did the only thing he could do; he fled, and prayed for a miracle. But then again, he'd never really believed in miracles.
A series of explosions knocked him off of his feet and sent him flying into a group of robots with large arms that grabbed him, hauled him up so that his feet were no longer on the ground, and carried him away. He struggled, but he knew it would do him no good. He was hurt. He was tired. He was hungry. The constant attacks gave him no time to recuperate. He'd been through a lot these past few months and his recent plane crash had done nothing to help things. Gritting his teeth, he finally stopped struggling, determined to save his energy. If a chance came for him to escape, he needed to be able to seize it, since it was obvious he wasn't strong enough to simply break free right now.
He watched silently as he was carried back inside, through colorless steel hallways, past rows of sleeping robots, by walls of computers, and under security cameras that followed his every movement, watching the progression silently. Everything seemed to have a gun trained on him; even some of the computers had guns mounted on them. Still, he didn't let his concern show. He couldn't afford to be afraid. After what seemed like endless hours, he was carried through an automatic door that slid into the ground with a soft hiss when approached. Not far from the doorway sat a cage pathetic in it's size but obviously strong and high-tech. Its bars were made out of some strange machine-generated green energy that instantly killed a small fly that flew into it. His mood soured further.
"Now, now, don't put him in there. That's no way to treat our guest, is it?" With that, he was dropped unceremoniously onto the ground. He landed on his stomach and, just as quickly as he'd fallen, he was on his feet again. Bunching up his tired, sore muscles for an attack, he faltered at the highly comical appearance of his enemy. Even ignoring his odd bright red and yellow outfit and large shoes, he looked ridiculous. He was almost… egg shaped. To top it off, he wore tiny glasses and bore a large mustache that was just... too long. It was truly hilarious. The young boy suppressed his urge to laugh, concealing his amusement well as the man (egg?) spoke again. "Hello. My name is Robotnik. DoctorRobotnik, that is." The supposed doctor frowned down at him from where he sat in some strange hovering vehicle that may or may not have been a chair. "You've been quite a thorn in my side lately."
The boy blinked. What?
"Though how a mere child has managed to destroy legions of my robots on his own escapes me… I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen the footage with my own eyes."
Okay, now it made sense. He'd suspected that his mechanical enemies were all coming from the same source, he'd just never had any way of proving it, had had no tangible evidence to help him know for sure. This was the first confirmation he'd had since his battles with the robots had first begun those few months ago.
"I expected you to be better… to be more," the man continued. "I must say, I'm disappointed in you."
The boy ignored the egg-man and scanned the area for anything, anything at all, that could help him. A button or a switch to shut down the robots would be nice, he decided. As his enemy prattled on about who knew what, eyes bright with intelligence beyond their years locked onto a small console with a dark green screen and a dull gray keyboard. The data scrolling down across the screen was complex and went by fast, but he gleaned enough information to decide what he needed to do. He started to edge toward the computer, all the while feigning attention to the supposed doctor's words.
"…bot was very difficult to construct, you know. And yet you, a child, destroyed it in seconds. Where does your strength come from? Perhaps I should dissect your little body to learn how you can smash through solid steel without injuring yourself."
The boy bit back his revulsion and edged a little closer. When the man seemed to grow distracted as he monologued, his would-be prisoner reached over to the keyboard and pressed the large "Enter" key. A small window appeared in front of the rapidly scrolling text and, with one last glance at his captor, he began typing in commands.
He had hoped to have a little while longer to work, but it seemed that today was not his day. "Hey! Get away from there!"
Ducking, he intentionally let one robot's large metal fist smash the computer to bits. Now his work couldn't be undone. He ducked again and skirted around the robots, fleeing into the corridor as Robotnik loudly ordered the robots to capture him. There was no time to waste as he reached behind him and pulled a brown bag off his shoulders. Reaching inside, he withdrew a fistful of small metal objects and began tossing them wherever he could; down halls, into rooms and vents, and everywhere else he manage to reach. Having a rather innate sense of direction (he was rarely truly lost) he quickly found his way back outside. After he scattered the remaining devices, he clutched a special one in his hands. He would only have one shot. Straining his ears, he struggled to hear over the wail of countless alarms and the roar of the wind all around him, but he couldn't hear anything that hinted at approaching danger. Had he succeeded? Then, without any warning, there was a blast behind him that singed his fur and something rose rapidly out of the ground, carrying him with it. Suppressing his alarm, he relinquished his hold on his device, listening as it attached itself, and sprung free, landing neatly in a crouch on the ground. He faced his enemy without fear despite Robotnik's obvious rage.
"You would dare put a virus into my robots?" he bellowed. Several explosions went off and the doctor's face visibly reddened. "And you placed bombs on my ship?" Personally, the boy thought that this was a good lesson for the doctor. He hated being underestimated. Besides, he saw nothing wrong with this. After all, Robotnik had destroyed his plane. An eye for an eye, right? Several more explosions went off, shaking the ship violently and forcing both man and boy to dodge debris and flames. Robotnik glared hard at him from his hovering chair. His voice trembled with fury. "Who do you think you are?!"
He glared back, emerald eyes flashing. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. And now, we're even." Robtonik followed his gaze and stared in mute horror at the bomb that had attached itself to his machine. Sonic didn't wait; he turned and ran to the edge of the ship, jumping off just as the rest of the ship went up in flames as one by one his bombs did what they were designed to do. As he sailed down to the water far below, he couldn't help but wonder if his enemy had died, uncertain what to do if he hadn't.
~ソニック~
Edited 07-20-15. 2,285 words.
