Sonic Begins
Chapter 3: Please Accept This Honor
Nick's eyes flew open accompanied by a sharp gasp of air.
His body was painfully sore all over and the back of his head was throbbing.
Out of focus his eyes remained as he tried to make out his surroundings.
Nick laid on his back on what felt like a sandy surface, and he could hear the river calmly washing downstream nearby.
He stared upwards towards the tree tops. Massive pine trees loomed overhead, the faint dawn sky beyond the branches.
"Am I dead?" he thought.
He tried to move.
"Arrgghh." Pain surged through his sore body as he attempted to sit up.
He was far from death.
Fighting through the pain, he managed to sit upright. Nick's head was throbbing with a nauseating intensity. His vision started to become a bit clearer which revealed a sudden revelation: he had no idea where he was.
Nick found himself on a riverbank in the middle of what had to be the Great Mobian Forest. It was a woodland landscape rather than the tropical jungles of Green Hill he was used to.
The hedgehog couldn't believe he was still alive, not after what happened...
"Oh no...No! It wasn't a dream?!" Nick thought.
Given his current setting, it was pretty obvious the horrific events from the night before did indeed happen. All the terrible visions of his brother being taken, his mother and father gone, and his entire village being attacked by those creatures flashed before his eyes.
Nick staggered to his feet, fighting the pain of nearly every joint of his body refusing to move. He felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't know where he was, what happened to his family, or even what was going to happen to him.
Nick had no idea what to do.
A cold shiver ran down his spine, followed by the thoughts of his lost family. Were they gone forever? What were those things taking his people? All he knew was that it couldn't be good and only the worst scenarios came to mind.
Reality just came crashing down upon the hedgehog.
He couldn't take the sudden bombardment of emotion that came over him.
Nick didn't feel safe anymore. Not after what happened last night.
Those things could be out there, looking for him. Or, an even worse thought crossed his mind: maybe they were watching him already and preparing to strike.
Nick felt like he was going to throw up from this sudden fever of paranoia and anxiety that tied his stomach in knots.
The hedgehog was lost and all alone in this never ending forest that surrounded him.
Fortunately for Nick, however, only one of those details was true.
When Nick turned away from the river before him, he saw something, or rather, someone, that he wasn't quite expecting to be there.
He wasn't alone after all.
Standing timidly before the exhausted hedgehog was an orange fox, staring up at him with wide, bloodshot eyes. His fur was ragged and dirty. He shook nervously and was about a foot shorter than Nick.
Nick froze, meeting eyes with the vulpine.
A crooked smile appeared on the fox's face as a tear streamed down his cheek. He lunged forward and threw his arms around Nick, nearly bursting into tears.
"You're not dead! I thought you were! I could have sworn..."
Nick was completely caught off guard and didn't know quite how to respond.
"Oh, sorry!" The fox jumped back as his face turned red and he wiped the tears from his eyes. "It's just... I found you a few hours ago floating down the river and I was able to get you to shore. I tried to wake you up... you know, C.P.R? They taught us that at school... In with the good air, out with the bad... You coughed up a bunch of water and called me Alex or something and then you passed out and I thought you weren't going to wake up and..."
"Whoa, whoa, slow down... You saved me from the river?" Nick asked, raising one brow.
"Uh, yeah... Yeah I guess I did... um, yep." The fox proudly grinned ear to ear.
"I guess I owe you one then", Nick added.
The fox just smiled and nodded.
An awkward moment passed, accompanied by the sounds of the forest and the ever-flowing river.
"Um, I'm Miles! That's my... my name, Miles Prower." The vulpine quickly extended his arm towards Nick.
"I'm Nick. Nick Hedgehog." He shook the fox's hand.
"Yes! Nice to meet you, Nick! Please, you just have... no idea how thankful I am that I found you." Miles shook Nick's hand vigorously.
"Uhh, are you okay?" Nick could see the fox was a bit delirious.
"I'm... I'm okay. Just a little tired is all", Miles replied, scratching the back of his head.
Nick could tell the little fox was uneasy, and he could only imagine why. Perhaps Miles was out in the middle of this forest for the same reason he was.
"Miles, what are you doing out here? Is your village nearby?"
The vulpine shuddered at the question.
"Uhh, well actually I... I'm kinda lost, and my friends were..." Miles seemed to be choked up about something. He stopped talking and his vision drifted away from Nick. Tears filled his eyes once more.
"Your friends? There are others? Where?" Nick asked.
Miles snapped himself out of the daze and quickly wiped a tear from his face.
"Hey, Nick, can I ask you something?"
"Uh... sure?"
"Well, uh... how come you were in the river?"
"I doubt you would believe me." Nick turned to his left, walked over to an old hollowed-out log, and sat upon it with a heavy sigh. He hung his head over and rested his arms on his knees.
"I have a feeling... I would. Because I was going to tell you why I was out here, and I thought the same thing." The vulpine slowly walked over to the troubled hedgehog.
Nick looked up once more at Miles and said, "Alright."
The fox sat down next to Nick, awaiting what he had to say.
The hedgehog began, "Well, last night, my village was attacked by something. I have no idea what... I mean, these things came from out of nowhere, started taking everyone from their homes right out of the beds they were sleeping in! My family, my village... it's all gone, Miles! Green Hill is... I just can't believe it myself, and I don't want too. I was able to escape somehow, and as I was running through the jungle, I tripped and fell off a damn cliff right into the river. You probably think I'm crazy."
Miles bit his lip.
"Well, uh... I'm from Emerald Coast... or what's left of it, anyway. To be honest... I really wish I did think you were crazy."
Nick glanced over at the vulpine.
"What?"
"Were they like, giant octopus things?" Miles asked timidly.
Nick nodded his head slowly.
Miles continued, "They did. They came in the night, just like you said. I'm... I'm from an orphanage in Emerald Coast Village. It was like an earthquake, or at least, that's what we thought it was. Then the m... monsters... they just came out of... out of nowhere.
Nick could see the little fox was losing his grip on his composure again. He could tell he was trying so hard to be strong.
Tears started welling up in the young fox's eyes as he continued, "One of our caretakers managed to lead us to some underground tunnel that was beneath the orphanage. The tunnel was suppose to be in case of really bad storms and floods; it would take us all the way to the forest. About fifteen of us got out, plus the one caretaker."
Nick's ears perked up.
"What? Really? Where are they?"
Miles just started to shake his head, one hand covering his face.
"I'm the only one left!"
Nick's heart sank as the kit finished his story.
Miles leaned over and grabbed hold of Nick, crying his eyes out.
The hedgehog wrapped his arms around him, trying to comfort the little fox.
Nick didn't ask Miles why he was all alone; he could only imagine what happened to his friends out in the woods.
They just sat there on the riverbank, neither saying a word. They both felt as if they were bystanders of the end of the world. If what happened to Nick's home occurred at Miles's village too, then it had to be happening other places as well; perhaps all over Mobius.
One thing Nick was thankful for, however, his one saving grace, was the fact that he wasn't alone. The hedgehog continued to hold onto the fox who was still crying. It reminded him of being with his brother, just moments before he was taken away.
Then Nick broke the silence, "Miles?"
"Hmm?" Miles pulled away and looked up at Nick with his bloodshot eyes.
"You, uh... You ever had a big brother?"
Miles looked away, and then slowly shook his head.
"I've never had anyone; I never knew my family. Now even my friends are gone."
Once more, Miles looked up at Nick with his heartbroken eyes.
"You're all I got right now. That's why I had to save you from the river. I almost couldn't do it, I almost drowned too... but I had to."
Nick felt like his heart was smashed into a thousand pieces. He thought he had nothing left to live for, but Miles never had anything to begin with.
Then the hedgehog made a silent promise to himself: he would protect Miles at any cost. He would act as the brother he never had; the family he never had. He could be that person Miles would look up to and confide in.
A silent vow.
Nick had no idea what kind of horrors fell upon his world. So he kept the promise to himself, not wanting to instill a false sense of security on the fox. He knew it was out of his power to stop those creatures, machines, or whatever they were from finding them, and if they did, he couldn't stop the inevitable.
The hedgehog thought if he had nothing left to live for, he might as well live for Miles.
He would be dead if it wasn't for Miles anyway, so he figured it would be fitting to return the favor somehow.
"Miles, look", Nick grabbed the fox's attention, "I know how you're feeling right now. I know you feel like the whole world is coming down on you; trust me, I do. But right now we need to move; we need to find our way to the other side of the forest to Mobotropolis. We need to warn them about what's happened. Hopefully it's not too late... So, can you be strong for me? I know we can both make it if we start moving right now."
Miles wiped his nose, nodded, and replied, "Okay, let's go. I think I know the way; there should be a trail not too far from here that leads to the city."
Then the fox looked at Nick in a serious manner and said, "You really think they could stop those things? If they knew they were coming?"
"I really don't know Miles. I wish I could say 'yes'."
The fox jumped off the log they were sitting upon and walked a few steps away from Nick.
"Alright, follow me."
Then the hedgehog saw something really out of the ordinary about Miles that he failed to notice before.
"Whoa..." Nick's eyes grew wide.
Miles turned around.
"What? What is it?"
"You... you have two tails!"
Indeed he did. The young fox had not one, but two full tails. Both with white tips.
Suddenly, Miles scrunched his brow.
"So? What, you gonna make fun of me like everyone else does?" The fox's attitude changed in the blink of an eye.
"Hey hold on!" Nick stood from the log and folded his arms. "Why would I do that?"
"Because everyone does! Even my friends did. They called me a freak... A deformed freak!"
"I think it's kinda cool, actually."
"SEE? I... Wait, what?" Miles's face changed from anger to surprise.
Nick circled around the fox, getting a better look at the unusual sight. Miles kept his eyes on the hedgehog as he did.
Nick started to nod his head.
"Yeah I think that has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Way past cool."
Miles laughed.
"Really? You're just saying that... You're lying."
"No, I'm serious. I mean, I don't even really have one tail! You've got two! You think I could borrow one?"
"Ha ha! NO! They're mine!" Miles replied with a smile on his face.
"Then be proud of them. For some reason you have two, and you should be proud of it. It really sets you apart from everyone else. I mean, there's nothing special about me, and that's boring."
Miles couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was always ridiculed about his deformity: his dual tails.
"Trust me, Miles; everyone wants to be different. And those very same people make fun of the ones who are. They're just jealous you have an advantage."
The fox just stared at Nick, dumbfounded by what he had just heard.
Then he spoke, "You know, Nick, I never thought I would meet someone like you, during the worst time of my life." He was all smiles. "Makes things seem... not so bad."
Nick just grinned and waved his hand, signaling it was time to go.
The two orphans made their way into the woods. This marked the beginning of their journey of inconceivable proportions. They wondered through the dense woodland forest, trying to find their way to the trail that would hopefully lead them to Mobotropolis.
They talked and laughed as if nothing had ever happened as they trekked onward.
It was early morning and the sun was still beginning its ascent into the sky. The air was crisp and saturated with a natural pine scent from the trees. All around them, birds started to sing and chirp, greeting another day.
That's just what it felt like to Miles and Nick: just another day. It didn't feel like the end of the world at all. It's amazing how a good friend can seem to have the ability to lift the weight of the world from your shoulders.
The two came to a break in the trees, and stood before an open field. A wide green field of grass panned out before them, the forest trees surrounding its edges. They could finally see the clear blue sky above. The parting of the forest almost acted as a window to the scattered clouds above. The field had soft, rolling knolls throughout, and colorful flowers of many kinds were scattered about.
"I'll race you to the other side!" Miles challenged Nick to a foot race.
"What? I don't know, I'm still pretty sore. I can barely walk as it is", Nick replied.
"Oh, come on, I'm not that fast... First one to the trees on the other side of the field wins!"
Nick rolled his eyes.
"Well, yeah, I figured that, Tails."
"...What did you just call me?"
"Uh, Tails? I don't know, it's kinda like a nickname, I guess."
The fox smiled.
"I... I like it! 'Tails'... It's better than my stupid normal name."
"Hey, don't say that! Miles is a cool name!"
"Nope! I'm Tails now!" he laughed. "You said it! Now I need a nickname for you! I guess I'll just call you 'Blue' from now on."
"What? Oh, come on, that's the best you can come up with? How 'bout... Spike or something? I am a hedgehog; I've got quills! I called you Tails because, well... it makes sense!"
Tails just stared at Nick, and then shook his head.
"No, I'm calling you 'Blue' because you are the first blue hedgehog I have ever seen."
Nick just sighed, "Awesome."
"Alright, Blue! Let's get going! We gotta get to Mobotroplis before sundown!"
The little fox was filled with enthusiasm by the new nickname that Nick bestowed upon him.
Unfortunately, it was an enthusiasm that would only be short-lived.
Something caught the fox's attention. He froze in his tracks just moments before he was going to run into the open field. Something wasn't right.
He turned towards Nick with a look of fear on his face and screamed, "It's here!"
"What? What are you talking about...?"
Before Tails could respond, his worst fears were realized. A couple of hundred feet away from where they were standing, something emerged from the wall of trees that lined the left side of the field. It was some sort of metallic figure that glistened in the rising sun. It came from the tree tops, soaring through the air and landing in the middle of the field with a ground-shaking impact.
Tails ran for Nick, and found refuge behind the hedgehog, cowering in terror.
"That's it! That thing is what took all my friends away when we were lost in the forest! It's some kind of robot!"
The sounds of rocket boosters igniting echoed throughout the forest, and the machine charged towards them at an alarming speed.
"Please, Nick! Don't let it take me! Please!" the vulpine cried out a desperate plea.
Nick widened his stance, and braced for the impact of the incoming machine. He could see it in greater detail as it careened towards him. It looked like your average robot out of a comic book. It was a red and black bipedal-type mecha with a round, yellow domelike head. One arm hosted a claw at its end, and the other some sort of weapon.
The hedgehog couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had never heard of such a thing existing in real life.
It barreled towards him still, not showing any signs of slowing down.
Nick gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to budge, he wasn't going to let this machine hurt Miles. He may have failed Alex, but this time he wasn't going to fail again. Nick's body was still sore and it pained him to move, but his spirit was stronger than ever.
He braced for the impact... but it never came.
The robot fired its boosters in reverse and came to an abrupt halt right before the hedgehog. It disengaged its propulsion system and planted its metal feet right before Nick.
The blue hedgehog looked up at the machine that stood several feet taller than him.
The robot emitted a red laser field that scanned over Nick.
"Processing", a robotic voice blankly stated.
In a flash, the claw of the machine reached out, grabbed Nick by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.
The hedgehog kicked and struggled with both of his hands gripped on the mecha's claw, trying to budge the unbreakable grasp around his neck.
"Subject, H132GH. Specimen is still awaiting collection and processing procedures. Action: discard. Subject is out of jurisdiction of alpha patrol. Alerting gamma patrol for collection."
The mecha then dropped Nick to the ground. The hedgehog fell on his back, coughing and gasping for air.
"Nick! No!" In an instant the vulpine was by the hedgehog's side.
Then the same red scanning beam from before was washing over Tails this time. Once more, the mecha's claw reached for his target.
Nick saw this, which caused him to sit up and throw his arm across the vulpine's chest, pushing him behind the hedgehog.
The claw stopped right in front of Nick's face.
A brief moment of silence passed, until the machine emitted a single word from its voice box:
"Obstruction."
Nick struggled to his feet. The red eyes of the machine locked onto the hedgehog as it retracted its arm.
Still trying to find his breath, Nick managed to speak, "No! You... are not... taking him, you bucket of bolts! You aren't going to hurt him! I won't... I won't let you!"
The robot just stood there, frozen in place.
Nick prepared for the worst as his newfound terrified friend stood cowering behind him. Tails was amazed by Nick's courage; he couldn't believe he was standing his ground against the machine.
"Obstruction must be removed. Specimen must be collected. Failure not acceptable."
In a flash, the mecha swung his other arm at Nick and struck him in the head, causing blood to spurt from the blow. The strike nearly made him black out as he was knocked right off his feet. He slammed into the ground below, landing on his left arm.
"NICK!!" He could hear Tails scream his name as he hit the ground.
The hedgehog felt pain surge through his body like he never felt before. He never knew what it meant to suffer until now.
"Specimen F101EC acquired." The robot snatched up the fox without hesitation.
Nick could faintly hear Miles screaming for help as the mecha claimed its prize.
The broken hedgehog rose to his hands and knees. His head felt like it was two sizes too small from the blinding pain.
The sounds of the robot's boosters igniting erupted once more, and Nick watched the robot make off with Miles slung over its shoulder. The fox was locked into place by some belt-like clamp that emerged from the machine's shoulder.
Nick, only out of desperation, crawled forward, trying to justify in his mind that he was giving an effort to stop the robot from taking Miles away. Blood dripped from the fresh open wound on the hedgehog's head as he struggled to get to his feet. He could hear the young kit crying and screaming for Nick to save him as the mecha sped off across the field, making its way towards the trees.
The blue hedgehog's head spun as he managed to stumble to his feet. The sorrowful, desperate pleas coming from Miles brought agonizing visions before Nick's eyes. He could see the look on his brother's face as he was taken from his home. He could almost swear it was Alex himself that was screaming for help rather than Miles. He saw a vision of his parents' destroyed and empty bedroom. Nick never even had the chance to see them one last time.
He just couldn't do it. He just didn't have the strength to go on.
The silent promise he had made Miles Prower was broken. He thought he could keep him safe, but already he had failed him.
Nick dropped to his knees and fell forward. One hand braced him from the ground, the other covered his aching wound that continued to ooze crimson red. He held his eyelids shut as tears of guilt and defeat began to seep out.
The hedgehog's spirit was crushed.
Nick felt his last ounce of strength leave his body. He collapsed onto the field, and everything went dark once again.
_
_
"Hey, Nick! Wake up! You said you would go fishing with me today!"
A small voice echoed in a sea of blackness.
"It's like I wonder why we try so hard to make all our dreams come true, but in the big picture of things, none of it matters because we are so small."
The faint ghostly image of an old friend could be seen before it faded away.
"Alex I'm sorry! Please... I just, I don't know why I yelled at you this morning, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I'm just.... I'm sorry, okay?"
Regret. Sorrow. Forgiveness.
"So, you still scared?"
"Huh? Nuh-uh, I wasn't... I wasn't scared! I was just seeing if you were scared!"
A flash of lightning. The crack of thunder.
"Alex... Alex, what did you see?"
Screams of terror.
"Hey, you're the only little brother I'll ever have... I'll never let anything happen to you. Never."
An empty promise.
"Um, I'm Miles! That's my... my name, Miles Prower."
The face of innocence in an unforgiving, bloodthirsty world.
"Please, Nick! Don't let it take me! Please!"
A chance for redemption.
"No! You... are not... taking him, you bucket of bolts. You aren't going to hurt him! I won't... I won't let you!"
Failure.
_
_
"No."
Nick's eyes flew open.
His mind was free from the nightmare, and he was back in the field in which he had collapsed.
An uncontrollable rage flowed through his body. It lifted his broken spirit from the depths of the Hell into which it had nearly fallen.
The screams of a crying child echoed through the forest as Nick climbed to his feet.
His head snapped towards the cry for help, his primal instincts kicking in.
The hedgehog scrunched his brow, clenched his blood-soaked fists, and growled through his clenched teeth, "No. Not again."
The strange, powerful force that helped him escape Green Hill took over his body once more. It was all coming back to him as the anger and regret that plagued his mind faded away.
Then he let go completely.
_
_
Miles pounded his fist franticly on the back of his metallic captor as it sped through the forest.
"LET ME GO! PLEASE! NOOO!"
He watched as the trees flew by at an alarming rate. The machine was already deep into the woods.
Miles cried hysterically as he was taken through the forest. He didn't want to know where he was being taken by the machine; he had a feeling he would be better off dead.
But before the vulpine shed the final tear of his dying hope that someone would save him, something incredible happened.
The sound of some sort of explosion could be heard, and an invisible, unstoppable wave of energy caused all the trees to sway in unison, as if a powerful, gale-force wind were rolling through.
Miles could see something in the distance rapidly gaining on him and the robot. It kicked up a huge dust cloud as it weaved through the labyrinth of trees.
The fox's eyes grew wide as it came closer and closer. He couldn't make out exactly what it was... but the unstoppable force careened through the woods faster and faster.
It was nothing but a blur.
A blue blur.
"No", Miles thought. "It couldn't..."
The next thing Miles knew, it slammed right into the back of the mecha and sent it flying through the air. The constraint holding the fox to the machine snapped, and he too was sent freely tumbling out of control.
The little fox hit the ground hard, and bounced and rolled across the forest floor. As he did, he could hear the sounds of twisted metal. The robot was nearly broken into pieces by whatever smashed into it at breakneck speed, and it too tumbled across the ground until finally smashing up against a tree horizontally, breaking it in half.
Then all the commotion finally ended as Miles finally came to a stop, landing in a large patch of flowers, which softened his final landing.
His head was spinning as he tried to rise to his feet. He stumbled along, trying to retrace his steps back to where he was before the robot was destroyed.
He found the trail of broken scraps of metal and other sorts of metallic bits and pieces that led to where the mecha had come to its final stop. It was completely dismantled, its remains resting before one of the mighty redwood trees.
Then something caught Miles's attention out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his left, and saw a blue figure leaning up against a tree trunk.
"NICK!"
Miles ran over to the hedgehog.
Nick rested against the tree, holding his shoulder as if it were in great pain. He was covered in cuts and bruises. Needless to say, he was in bad shape, but he was alive and breathing.
The hedgehog noticed Miles standing before him with an awestruck look on his face.
Nick smiled.
"Hey, Tails. You okay?"
Miles just couldn't find the words.
"You... Wait... what... What the heck was that?! It was moving so fast... It couldn't have been... WAS THAT YOU?!"
Nick just nodded as he gritted his teeth.
"Man, I think I broke my shoulder hitting that thing."
"But, you were moving so... And the robot was just... I... But, how?" The two-tailed fox was lost in disbelief. He just kept looking over at the mangled robot and then back at Nick, who was just about to pass out again.
Miles then simply walked over to Nick and sat beside him, leaning up against the tree.
The vulpine just stared off blankly, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
"That... was you? But, how did..."
Nick replied, "Your guess is as good as mine, Tails."
A moment of silence passed. Then Miles spoke up again.
"Remember how I wanted to call you 'Blue'?"
Nick looked over at his dual-tailed friend with one brow raised.
"Yeah, I think. Why? Arrghh, I think I busted a quill too..."
Miles looked over at Nick and just smiled while letting a quick laugh escape his lips.
"I think... I just thought of something better to call you instead."
Authors note: I would like to thank Blue Phoenix 12 for accepting the task of becoming my new editor for Sonic Begins. You rock!!
Thanks for reading! More to come soon! Reviews are much appreciated!