Chapter 2: Survival Instincts


Narrator: Trace

I felt the air rush out of me as we crashed into the lake near the wall. Desperate to get air, I swam as fast I could and broke the surface gasping for a breath.

What the hell was Nikki thinking?

"Nikki, are you crazy?"

I continued to shout, "You almost got us ki-!"

That's when I finally looked and noticed…I couldn't see her…anywhere.

"Nikki?" I called out to her, thinking that she must've already swam to the other side. "Nikki!"

No answer…she couldn't have…-!

Without even hesitating I dove down and looked around. The water was so murky, it was almost impossible to see anything down there. Diving deeper I found her and quickly grabbed her and swam as fast I could back to the surface. Hey, I might not like her or anything, but I wasn't just going to let her drown. With whatever strength I had left, I dragged her to shore.

"Nikki, are you okay?"

As soon as we were on land, she started to come back around. "…oh…you heavy…can't swim…"

Are you freaking kidding me?

"What the heck? Nikki, why didn't you tell me you can't swim?"

"…wasn't important at the time…"

"That's not the point, I-!"

I suddenly heard Mrs. Stern coming toward us.

Oh shit!

I tried to get Nikki up so we could make a run for it, but it was more of a challenge than I thought.

"And you said I was heavy", I grunted as I tried to drag her up on her feet.

"Excuse me?"

Well, at least that got her up. But by then, it was too late. Mrs. Stern and her husband were already there and had a hold of us before we even had a chance to run for it.

"So, do you mind telling me what the hell it was you were thinking?" I could tell that Mrs. Stern was trying not to explode. Smoke was practically coming out of her ears.

"Funny, I was about to ask the same thing about your hair.", Nikki retorted.

She just had to piss her off, did she?…great.

Thanks to Nikki's mouth we got stuck with cleaning the entire orphanage from top to bottom…again great.

Thanks Nikki, I'll be sure to return the favor later.


Narrator: Sonica

Yeah, now thinking about it…it wasn't such a good idea to add fuel to the fire…ah well.

So, Trace and I had to sweep the whole orphanage, it really wasn't too bad. Could've been worse. As I was sweeping, I could barely notice Trace glaring at me the entire time. I know he was just as thrilled about this as I was.

"You're looking at me like this is my fault or something."

"Uh Nikki…" He gave me this 'no shit' look and waved his fist at me. "This is all your fault!"

I didn't really pay too much attention to him, I was distracted by something else. It was a scream that nearly gave me a shiver down my spine.

"Trace, did you hear that?"

"Of course I heard it", he rolled his eyes. "Probably one of the kids had another nightmare, I wouldn't worry about it."

That did happen a lot around here. Jodi and I would often comfort the younger children when they had such nightmares. I wouldn't have put it past Trace not to care about it. The scream didn't last, so I figured Jodi took care of it.

"You're right, it's probably nothing."

Trace then sighed and continued sweeping. "Let's just get this done and over with."

"You know, with my super speed I can-"

"No", Trace butted in.

"But you didn't even hear my-"

"No!"

At that same moment, a loud roaring sound came from downstairs that made both Trace and I jump.

"Okay, that was no kid." Trace said with a shock.

"It came from the hall downstairs", out of curiosity I dropped the broom and dashed off. "Gotta find out what that is."

I heard Trace drop his mop and run after me, "Nikki! Wait!" but I was already long gone and almost to the bottom floor.

I looked around the corner and could see the intruder as Trace came rushing down the stairs.

"Shh…Quiet Trace, it'll hear you." I hushed.

Trace was trying to catch his breath, "I…hate you."

He came up behind me and looked over my shoulder. "Anyway, what will hear me?"

"It's just around the corner", I cautioned.

The intruder walked closer and that was when I got a better view of what it was. It's metallic body shined as it stepped into the light. It stood on four legs and had talon like claws on each foot.

I could tell Trace was a little surprised by it. "Okay, that's a big robot. How did that get in here?"

It was really massive, at least three times bigger than Trace and I put together. We could be standing on each other's shoulders and it would still be at least a foot taller than us on all fours.

I glanced around the corner. "I don't know, but it hasn't seen us yet. As long as we stay still, we should be-"

Suddenly, I heard a familiar annoying voice bellow from behind us. "Sonic! Trace! What are you doing down here?"

We both couldn't help but jump up. "Mrs. Stern!"

Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I thought I told you both to clean upstairs!"

I was really hoping the robot didn't hear that. "Mrs. Stern, you really need to keep it down-"

"Keep it down? Now you listen here young lady, I am so sick and tired of you disrespecting everything I-!"

I could hear the robot coming closer to the corner. "Shh!"

"Don't you 'shh' me you little ingrate! I am going to make sure that you never-!"

I heard a low growl and felt air blowing on my neck. I looked up and just above me was the monstrous robot, glaring down at us with bright, red lights for eyes.

Both Trace and Mrs. Stern were frozen. As I noticed the red light from it's eyes shining at me, something happened. It was like my body knew exactly what to do before my mind could follow. I dashed forward and pushed Trace and Mrs. Stern out of the way as the robot's laser shot out and hit the wall where our heads would have been if I hadn't reacted.

But I didn't stop, I didn't even dare to. As soon as I got my footing back, I grabbed Mrs. Stern and used my momentum to throw her across the hall. Then I grabbed Trace, dashed down the hall and shoved Mrs. Stern and Trace into one of the empty rooms.

As soon as I shut the door, Trace finally snapped out of it. Mrs. Stern, of course, was freaking out.

"What the hell is going on?" she panicked.

Trace tried to calm her down. "Mrs. Stern, you have to calm down. That robot is still out there."

While he was doing that, I glanced out the door. It looked like it just took off down the hall thinking we just turned the corner and ran up the stairs.

"That thing is going to find us!"

"I don't think so" I reassured her. "It looked like there was something wrong with it, some wires were cut loose."

"How do you know about that?" Trace asked.

"My best friend is a genius, remember?"

All I could think of was one thing…the other kids. Who was going to help keep that thing away from them? Without even thinking, I started to dash out the door when Trace caught my arm.

"Whoa! Hold it!"

"Trace, let go!"

"You can't go out there! It will kill you!"

"And what about the other children in this hell hole?" I yelled back defiantly as I forced him to release his grip.

"You're right. But what can we do?"

"I need to find Jodi, she's the only one that knows about these things better than anyone else here." I stood in the doorway and looked back, "Stay here with Mrs. Stern and I'll be back."

Without even waiting for a response, I dashed out the door and rushed toward the stairway.

I just hope I'm not already too late…


Narrator: None, third person format.

The halls were quiet, all that could be heard was the young hedgehog's quick feet as they echoed off the walls. She tried to slow down as she got to the corner, but her feet slid and threatened to slide out from under her.

No, not again. Not now!

Nikki slid and flew by the hall that the robot was walking by. The robot turned and barely saw the blue hedgehog and ran after her. Nikki crashed into the end of the hall and her shoulder slammed into the wall. She shook it off and noticed the robot coming in at her at full speed. She scrambled back to feet and dashed out of the way before the robot fired, the bullets hit the stone wall instead of their intended target.

The young hedgehog dashed on ahead, the robot right on her tail. She saw the turn ahead of her.

Okay, I can't stop…maybe I can try something new.

Instead of slowing down, Nikki maintained her current speed. When she got close, she jumped up on the wall and placed her hand on it for support. Swiftly, she pulled her feet onto the wall and jumped off. Because she was still moving at 100 miles an hour, she simply jumped to the next wall, landed on the ground and continued running. The robot, wasn't as lucky. It didn't have enough time to turn and crashed into the wall as Nikki did before. Wondering if that stopped it, Nikki glanced back. The robot wasn't even phased by the crash and continued chasing her.

You've got to be kidding me?

The robot aimed it's laser at her. Now that Nikki knew that she could turn on walls, she could use that to her advantage. She jumped out of the robot's line of sight and the barrage of bullets just behind her. She continued to jump from wall to wall as she darted down the halls.

The young hedgehog looked ahead of her and saw an air vent on the ceiling. She quickly jumped up and grabbed the grate on the old fashioned vent. The robot fired and she jumped down. The bullets blew the grate off and as the robot ran toward her she jumped on top of the robot's back and swung herself into the vent. The robot was too big to fit, but Nikki was small and had just enough room to be able to run. Wasting no more time, Nikki ran down the vent and followed it all the way to her room. In one motion, she spun and kicked the grate beneath her. The sound nearly knocked Jodi out of her bed.

"Whoa! Nikki what the heck are you doing?" Jodi yelled. "You nearly gave a-!"

Nikki ran over and covered her friend's mouth. She stood still and listened…silent. Realizing it was safe, young hedgehog breathed a huge sigh of relief and released her friend.

"I'm so glad you're alright", Nikki breathed.

Jodi didn't know what to think, she had never seen her best friend act this way before. "What's going on?"

"No time to explain everything, there's a robot somewhere in the halls." Nikki warned.

"What here?" Jodi was trying to run through this in her head. The fact that the robot was in there wasn't so farfetched. They both knew that the wall wouldn't hold them back. Jodi knew that, even though she can be a prankster, there was no way Nikki would make up something as important as this. And even if she did, she would never lie to her.

Jodi gave Nikki a nod, "Alright, so what we need to do first is know what we're up against. What does it look like?"

"Well, it's definitely an Exus robot. It has the insignia and everything."

The Exus robots have an insignia that is derived from the old Eggman brand symbol, but parts of the original logo were blacked out to make an "X" like mark.

"It stands on four legs and its' fast. I mean, really fast." As Nikki described it, Jodi pulled a book off of the shelf. It was a collection of files that she had found from news articles.

Suddenly, she stopped at a page and showed it to Nikki. "Is this it?"

Nikki was surprised to find that it was the same one. "That's it!"

"It's called an Exus Beast Class robot. They're basically hunter trackers. This could be a problem."

Nikki continued to look at the picture. "There's something different about it than in this picture though."

"What's that?" Jodi asked curiously.

Nikki pointed to a spot on the page. "Well this right here had wires exposed everywhere, I don't see that here. And here on the forearm too. Also, it doesn't have this thing on it's head either."

"That thing on it's head is a scan amplifier shield."

"In English please?" Nikki said confused.

"It's a shield that protects the scanners underneath it. It also makes it impossible for it's opponents to tell where it's firing."

Jodi then brings the discussion back to the problem at hand. "So, it's damaged…this is good. We can work with this."

Jodi began to pull her invention from under her bed and started putting it together. "Now is as good a time as ever to test this…but I'm going to need more time to get it running."

She pulls additional wires from under the bed and attached them to the computer. "I'm also going to need a way to get the current to move freely so that it will hit the robot, kind of like a radar system only to mess with the programming. If you can buy me some time, I can have this ready."

"How much time do you need?"

"About thirty minutes."

The girls suddenly heard a scream down the hall.

"Get it done Sis, I'll buy you as much time as I can."

Nikki was about to run down the hall when Jodi stopped her.

"Wait!…Be careful." Jodi said with concern.

Nikki gave her a nod and smiled back, "I will."

She dashed off like lightning to track down the 'beast.'

Besides, I think I'm enjoying this.

Nikki ran toward where she heard the scream. There around the corner was the robot, trying to get into one of the rooms where the children we trying desperately to keep it out. The young hedgehog looked around for something to get the robot's attention. She realized there was only one thing that she can throw at it.

The blue hedgehog curled herself up and began to spin. As soon as she built up enough momentum, Nikki rushed at the robot and rammed into it's head as hard as she could. To her surprise, the robot actually almost lost it's footing. She bounced off and landed a few yards away.

"Hey! Looking for me?" Nikki yelled.

The robot turned and roared loudly.

Nikki antagonized it even further. "Come on, you pile of scrap! I'm right here!"

The robot charged at Nikki, it's eyes locked on it's target. The small hedgehog rolled and dashed around the corner, the robot was right on her tail, firing wildly. She stopped rolling, but continued to speed down the hall. As she was running, she scanned around searching for anything she can use against the robot to stall it…well at least get it to stop shooting anyway. Suddenly, she looked ahead of her and saw Trace hiding behind one of the corners.

"Trace! What are you-?"

"Get down!" Trace demanded.

Nikki slid and Trace stepped out into the open with a fire extinguisher. He aimed and fired at the robot, blinding it with foam. Trace then grabbed Nikki and tried to pull her toward the corner, but she was still trying to slow down and a loud crack was heard as the force almost pulled Trace's arm out of socket. He grinned and bared it and, with all his strength, pulled Nikki out of harm's way. The robot continued to slide on the foam, unable to stop. It crashed hard into the wall. Nikki looked back at where the robot crashed.

She then looked back at Trace, "Thanks."

Nikki stood up, "What about Mrs. Stern? I told you stay with her."

Trace held up his hand to stop her, "First of all, I don't take orders from you." He then lowered his hand to finish "Second of all, if it wasn't for me you would be Swiss cheese by now."

"And I already thanked you for that, but what about-?"

Trace interrupted her again, "She's fine. In fact, everyone's fine. They're safe."

"That's good…" Nikki looks back at the robot.

Trace leaned to look too, but his shoulder gave him trouble. He quickly grabbed it and winced with pain. "Oww!"

"Trace?"

Nikki turned and looked at the shoulder that Trace was holding.

The young hedgehog knew exactly what to do. This had happened to her before numerous times while attempting to learn to control her running speed.

She gently grabbed Trace's arm and placed her other hand on his shoulder. "This'll hurt, hold still."

Nikki held on to the arm and then gave a swift push to Trace's shoulder. Trace tried to hold back, but a yell escaped him.

She released him and stepped back. "How's that?"

Trace moved his shoulder and it was back to it's original position. "Still sore, but I can move it."

His golden eyes glance at her for a moment. "Thank you."

Continuing where he left off, Trace leaned and looked over at the heap of metal smashed in the wall. "What should we do about that?"

Nikki looked back. "It looks like it's out for the count to me."

Suddenly, the robot's arm pried itself from the wall and dug it's claws into the tile floor. The other arm followed and the robot pulled itself out of the wall and rubble.

Nikki and Trace looked with disbelief.

Trace took a step back. "No way…I don't get it, does this thing only turn off with an off button or something?"

"It just keeps coming back." After that outspoken thought, Nikki realized something. "There's only one more thing we haven't tried yet…"

Trace and Nikki both looked at each other.

"…Let's just hope that Jodi's ready." Nikki looked back at the robot.

"In that case, we better hurry and get to her then." Trace started running down the corner hall when Nikki stopped him.

"Wait!" Nikki motioned for him to look toward the robot, "Look."

The robot was trying to look around, but both lights that it used for eyes were out. Did that mean it was blind?

"What's it doing?" Trace was really confused.

"I think you blinded it when you hit it with the fire extinguisher." Nikki started to sneak out into the open, but Trace grabbed her.

"Just because that thing might be blind, that doesn't mean it can't find you."

"I know that," Nikki said defensively. "It'll at least give me an advantage."

She leaned over and looked toward the hall she came from. "Head down that hall, it's closer to Jodi's room. I'll distract it."

Trace nodded and got himself ready to run.

Nikki dashed out into the hall. "Hey!"

The robot looked up and fired, but Nikki swerved to the side and it missed.

Nikki looked back at Trace. "Go!"

Trace ran down the hall and Nikki drew the robot's attention. As soon as it noticed her, she dashed down the hall and turned the other corner, away from Trace. It worked, the robot chased her instead of the young wolf.

Nikki found this to be a lot easier than earlier. Blinding the robot really slowed it down by at least a fraction of a second, and that amount of time was what Nikki needed. She was practically flying through the halls. Then, when the robot least expected it, Nikki curled herself up and bounced off the far wall. She came hurling at the robot and plowed into it head on. After she bounced off the robot, Nikki slid to a stop. She dashed forward and spun so fast that sparks were flying. Just before she gets to the robot, she bounced up, smashed into it, and sent the robot flying toward the far wall. The robot caught itself just before it crashed.

Nikki was surprised. The robot must've started adapting to it's new weakness after it was blinded…

This might not be good…

Suddenly, the robot launched itself from the wall and hit Nikki hard. She's sent rolling and almost hit the wall, but she caught herself. She just had enough time to look up when the robot was right on top of her. She rolled and dashed down the corner.

Trace and Jodi came running down the hall looking for them when they saw Nikki and the robot dash right by.

Jodi threw the electric barrier charge toward the far corner, "Nikki!"

Nikki looked back and saw her friend's invention hurling toward her. She sped on ahead and caught it. The wall was just ahead of her and the robot was coming up on her heels. She jumps up, plants both feet on the wall and back flips into the air. The robot dug it's claws into where Nikki would've been if she didn't jump. The young hedgehog lands on the robot's back. Right where the wires were exposed on it's head, Nikki drove the charge into the robot and then jumped off. The robot lit up like a lightning storm, began to smoke, then crashes to the ground.

Jodi tried to see her friend through the smoke. "Nikki?…Nikki!"

Nikki coughed, "I'm good."

Jodi breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"That…was awesome!", Nikki laughed.

"And that's why you're the stunt junkie and I'm not!" Jodi yelled for her to hear down the hall.

But Nikki just laughed louder at her 'sister's' response. She walked out of the cloud of smoke and met Jodi and Trace.

Jodi's face suddenly turned serious. "You're…still going to leave, aren't you?"

Nikki eyelids fell shut and she nodded.

"I thought so…", Jodi looks down at her feet.

Their eyes both met as they looked up, wondering what the other's answer was going to be.

Suddenly, Jodi took a couple steps back. "But you can't go, not yet."

"Jodi, we just proved your invention works. The other kids will be safe."

"Wait, let me finish." She started to run back around the corner. "Just listen for once and don't move."

She grabbed something and ran back. "I meant you both can't go…"

She held out both Trace's and Nikki's knapsacks. "…Without these."

Nikki gently took the knapsacks and then embraced her friend. "Thanks, Sis."

They released each other and Jodi and Nikki both took each other's hand in a firm handshake. "I know you both can make a difference in this war. Even if no one else is fighting out there, I know you will."

"You can count on it." Nikki gave her a determined smile and they released their grip.

"Still, there's one problem…How do we get out of here now? We can't use the same plan to escape." Trace pointed out.

"I think I have an idea," determination still in her bright emerald eyes. "How about the roof?"

"Nikki, you can't jump that far. You have no room on that roof to give you enough momentum to make it over, you'll crash." Jodi calculated.

"Who said anything about starting on the roof?" Nikki started putting on her knapsack and buckled it.

She then throws the other knapsack to Trace. "You may want to buckle up too."

"It's gonna be one wild ride."


Author's Note: Hmm…I wonder how this is going to go down. The next chapter should be interesting, a lot of arguing going on between Nikki and Trace (of course). But it should be a lot of fun. If everything goes according to plan, it should be up on Sunday or Monday. Keep your fingers crossed!

I think now is a good time to warn you that I'm going to try and write this story as often as I can, but I do have a very busy life and I do this strictly for fun. I am going to finish this don't worry. I'm just letting you know not to worry if a new chapter doesn't come up within a week or so, once I start something I finish it.