Through the Monitor Chapter 36: The Smell of Pine, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Through The Monitor

Disclaimer: Most characters in this story are owned by Sega, except for those they don't own. There, I said it.

Author's Note: This chapter is the first to be written by our new author, tazkol the master of emeralds.
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Chapter 36: The Smell of Pine

Clang, slam, jab, bam, clang, ding, Roger Bension was trying to concentrate. Maybe a couple years ago he could afford to mess up. But that was with kendo sticks and wooden blades! But these where not kendo sticks or wooden blades, these where actual swords. These where sharp! These could kill! And his sensei was not a man to let up. Since the day he could walk, swordplay was all Roger knew. He came from a long line of blades men, men who knew how to use every sword, he had spent all his life learning the way of the katana, the claymore, the rapier, the broadsword, the scimitar, the double-blade, and his personal favorite the long sword, he had even made some pitiful attempts at the zanbato, which had been an extreme failure! All the men in the Bension family had been raised to master sword fighting, all the women where taught the assassin arts of the dagger and the shrunken, it was unusual in a world where wars are fought with guns and bombs. Roger shook his head; he had to keep concentrating on what he was fighting for! The right to carry the family hilt. The family hilt was an old and rusty sword hilt, some of his family said it was from Excalibur, others said it was made from the remains of the Green Destiny. No one was sure because the cross hilt had been rusted off. Roger shook his head again, he came back to now just in time to parry a blow from his sensei's rapier. He quickly flicked his hand so as his long sword blade hit his sensei's hand causing the sword to go flying and it landed with the blade buried into the wall all the way up to the cross hilt. Then he quickly turned and landing the pommel of his sword into the mans stomach, the man bent double, Roger quickly grabbed the man and turned him around and raised his sword so the blade was pressed against the mans throat. The old man made a toothy grin as Roger released him. The old man began to clap, just then another set of clapping hands was heard, and Roger turned around to see his uncle standing there.

"Very good," his uncle exclaimed, "You have your coordination down. You have no hesitation, but you must remember to focus."

"I try..." Roger mumbled, the truth was that he had been thinking about what he had heard on TV, about those kids who had become characters from Sega. Roger was not like most people he didn't just put something like that out of his mind. He had seen some very strange things, and he wasn't going to put this off. Roger took a deep breath, he looked at his uncle for a long time, his father had died months before, and his mother had decided to go traveling the world. Roger had been left with his uncle to finish his training, although this man was not his uncle by blood or by marriage he was just such a close friend of the family that his parents had taught Roger to call him 'uncle'. He snapped back into reality just in time to hear his uncle finish what he had been saying to him for the whole time.

"So since you have mastered your training, I think that it's time for you to take the family hilt," the old man said in a low tone as he walked solemnly over to the hilt and picked it up, he twirled it in his hands a couple times before handing it to Roger. Roger slowly reached out and grabbed it not saying anything. He weighed it in his hands it must have belonged to a very fine blade at one time, it was balanced perfectly! All of a sudden a shock went thru his body! He blinked a couple of times; trying to expel the tingling feeling it was giving him. He thanked his uncle and his sensei, and respectfully dismissed himself. He grabbed his jacket and put on his old brown leather hat so that the rim was just about covering his eyes. The winter air was cool and crisp, Roge walked slowly down the street towards his house, he knew the people where giving him odd looks, it's not every day you see somebody with purple eyes. He walked pass the ally where a kid he knew had disappeared, Timothy! That's what he had called himself! Roge had not seen him in a while... Almost 3 years, they had met at a dojo that Roge had visited with his uncle on business.

Flashback

Roger was meeting the sensei, this was different than his sensei though, he taught his students to fight empty handed, Roger's sensei was teaching him 'the ways of the blade' as his uncle put it.

The sensei voice sounded deep when he stated more than asked "Impressive, huh?"

Then the man laughed when Roger responded "There good yes! But when do they actually start fighting...with weapons?"

The teacher stopped laughing long enough to say, "Any student here could remove a weapon from someone's hand faster than you can blink!"

His uncle quickly took this as a challenge "Would you like to prove this?"

That's when the sensei quickly called out to the students, "Everyone clear some space, Timothy come here!"

Roger's uncle turned to Roger and pulled a kendo stick seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to Roger. Roger bowed and took up his fighting stance as did Timothy. When the signal came to start, Timothy wasted know time attempting a kick to the chest, it would have knocked Roger down on the ground right away, too bad for Timothy - Roger countered with a step cross slash combo. The hit made Timothy stagger, but he quickly recomposed himself to catch Roger off guard with a kick to the waist, causing Roget to fall back only to have him make a quick recovery the sword never leaving his hand. The fight went on like this for about half an hour before a tie was declared. The two shook hands, both panting heavily! Until it was time to leave the two sat and talked quickly becoming friends.

End flashback

Rogine smiled as the cold winter wind blowed against his thick blue fur. He smiled as he walked into the house that his uncle and he had shared, it was a small house, but it was home! He walked in to his room and took off his jacket, and hat, and the rest of his training uniform, and went to take a shower. When he came out Rogine put on his white gloves and his blue sneakers with a purple stripe going across them. He looked at the rest of his cloths, they seemed a little...unnecessary, all except the hat, his fur covered him quite well, especially with the extra thick winter coat. Rogine picked up the hilt, he found a rag and started to rub of the dirt, he didn't even notice that the hilt seemed to shift and mold in his hand. Pine smiled his classic half smile, the one thing he shared with his distant cousins Nicollete and Nack. Pine had never known his parents, he had been raised as an adopted nephew to Merlin Prower, but Merlin never had kept his family tree hidden from him, besides Pine hated the weasel end of his family tree, he didn't even acknowledge them as family, plus he had a bone to pick with Nic and Nack when he had last seen them he had been ten and was shorter than both of them, they had called him "shorty" and "small-fry".

Now he could get back at them... Pine had grown a lot in six years, sure like all mobian's he was not as tall as a adult human, but he was not short, in fact some had said he could be face to face with Big the Cat, but no one was sure. He stopped rubbing and looked at his Chaos Hilt, it had retained it's usual white luster with gold symbols indented into it, it was writing in ancient martin, not even Merlin could read it and yet, to Pine it was as easy as reading a book. Pine looked up and noticed a note on the table, he picked it up and saw it was from Merlin, Pine didn't even question how it got there, Merlin always seemed to contact him no matter where he was. He picked up the note and read:

Dear Pine

I have not had the chance to contact you until now; I hope this note finds you well! I am afraid I well not be able to return for a little while yet. I need you to go to station square and find my nephew and his friends. Offer your assistance to them where they need it but do not interfere! You well know my nephew when you see him; he is a peachish colored kitsune with two Tails. he is named Miles but he goes by Tails, he well be with either a blue or pink hedgehog, a Cream colored rabbit with a chao, a blue raccoon, or quite likely a mix of any of these. Don't worry I will be back soon. Remember without a balance of chaos, peace can't exist.

Signed your friend/uncle/mentor

Merlin Prower

Pine smiled, he had heard of this group, also known as the Sonic team, he had been longing to meet them for some time, and he had heard that Mighty had been seen with them. He and Mighty had met before, they were old friends. But now was not the time for reminiscing, Merlin had given him a job and he was going to do it. He put his Chaos Hilt back on it's chain and put it back around his neck, the he put his few meager belongings and some traveling equipment in his subspace pocket, he put on his special cufflinks, they were different from other mobian, each one had a small round stone set in the middle of it, Merlin said that they were his mothers, Pine always wore them on a mission, he adjusted his hat so the brim slanted down just barely over the tip of his muzzle and stepped out into the harsh cold snow covered mobian forest. Pine decided that while he walked he would like a little music, so pulling his guitar out of subspace; he began to play when he thought the rhythm was right he started singing:

Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!

WHOA YEEEEEEEEEAH (Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!)

Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!

YEEEEAAAH! (Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!)

YEAH!

It's been a long rough road and I'm finally here

I move an inch forward, it feels like a year

Everything I feel seems so unreal

Is it true? Is it true?

I take one step forward and two steps back

Got a hundred thousand pounds sittin' on my back

I'm up down all around don't know quite what to do

To get through

Well I'm on (ooooon) my way

on my way

Here I am, made it to the end of you

Never had a chance when I'm around

No! No!

No no no no!

Well now I'll never turn back (Never turn back!)

Never turn that way

No matter how life tries to face me,

I'll turn the other way

Now and then, my head starts to spin,

but I'll never turn back again

from this moment on, I am moving on,

and I'll never turn back!

NO!

Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!

I guess I'm movin' alright, I'm on my way

facing every moment, day by day

take a chance, with my mind

got no time to ask why, head straight

I head straight

what will I become, If I don't look back

Give myself a reason, for this and that

I can learn, no U-turn, gotta stay right here

Where I'm at, Where I'm at!

Well I'm on (ooooon) my way

on my way

Here I am, made it to the end of you

Never had a chance when I'm around

No! No!

No no no no!

Well now I'll never turn back (Never turn back!)

Never turn that way

No matter ho life tries to face me,

I'll turn the other way

Now and then, my head starts to spin,

but I'll never turn back again

from this moment on, I am moving on,

and I'll never turn back!

NO!

Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh Wha oh! Whoa oh yeah!

I'll never turn back!

He ended the song just in time to hear voices and smashing metal. Pine was lucky, the noise drowned out the sound of his guitar. He quickly put the instrument back into his subspace pocket. taking the Chaos Hilt off the chain around his neck. Pine held the long slender white pole out facing away from him, concentrating as he had been taught, Pine said only one word "Tave", as the word left his mouth, the Chaos Hilt went from being pearl white to onyx black. Pine watched as a circular cross hilt grew out of the handle. The metal, moving like liquid molded a curved hand guard around Pine's gloved hands, the light seemed to move away from the area at the end of the handle he watched as the darkness formed a curve, and then hardened into a long sharp blade of a scimitar. Pine felt the energy surging through him, this was Tave the Scimitar of Darkness, legend stated that anyone who held the blade of darkness could snap a twig without making a sound.

Pine slowly crept thru the bushes towards the sound, as he looked thru the bushes he was shocked at what he saw. There was his old friend Mighty the Armadillo, fighting a group of... Shadowbots! Shadowbots where bigger, stronger, and faster, than Swatbots. There must have been a hundred, maybe two hundred; metal bodies sprawled on the ground! He caught a glimpse of something in a tree, there was a gunshot as Mighty looked and saw a yellow tranquilizer dart sticking out of his arm. Mighty ripped it out and tried to continue fighting, but was eventually overcome, finally he fell to the ground unconscious. Pine repressed the urge to run out and rescue his friend, he knew it would be better to wait and see, though what he saw next made it a lot harder, he watched as Nack the Weasel came down form the tree. He saw Nicollete come out of the bushes nearby, the sight of his "cousins" made Pine want to run out and cut their heads off. But Pine knew that if he and Mighty where in the reverse, Mighty would wait till they least expected. Pine was forced to watch as Nack put on neural restrainers on Mighty's wrists and ankles. He followed them as they marched, keeping to the trees and bushes. Finally about three hours after sunset, they stopped so Nic and Nack could have a rest.

Pine saw his chance, he waited till Nack was barely out of earshot of Nic, then doing a perfect impression of Nack's voice he said "Yep! The doc's goanna be happy with me, Fang the Sniper brought him the famous Mighty the Armadillo!"

Just as he had hoped Nic took this as a shot to her pride, "OH YEAH! WELL WE WILL SEE WHO GETS IN THE DOC'S GOOD BOOKS!" Nic said as she stormed off, Nack gave a confused look in her direction then put his head against a tree and went to sleep.

Pine followed Nicollete until they where out of the shadowbots hearing range, then he walked up behind her and taking out a special acupuncture needle and picked her in the neck, as he said "Not a very good place for a person to be by themselves".

Nic who had not noticed the needle jumped and turned around. "P-Pine! I didn't hear you come up behind me, what it has been three years?", She asked as she looked up at him.

"Six! But who's counting? Now listen the needle I have just picked you with will take effect in an hour, you won't remember seeing me, you will walk that way until it takes effect," Pine said as he grabbed her gun and threw it away then pointed in the direction he was talking about.

Nicollete not wanting to mess with the angry martin towering over her did as she was told. Pine held tave out in front of him, he concentrated again holding the scimitar out, he watched as the blade disappeared, then he called out "Funa".

He watched as the hand guard slipped away, the metal melted from a circular hand guard to a straight cross hilt. from out or nowhere fire sprouted from the hilt and took shape hardening into the straight wide blade of a broadsword and with that Tave went away and Funa the Broadsword of Fire took it's place, Funa could allow a person to create an illusion around themselves. Pine held the blade so the tip was in the ground, there was a disturbance in the air, like steam off a bonfire, and the next minute "Nicollete" stood where Pine was, holding her gun. "Nicollete" walked back into the camp and up to where Mighty stood guarded by shadow bots.

"Leave me alone with the prisoner," 'she' said, when they where out of eyesight and hearing range, Pine let down the illusion. Mighty looked up at the creature who before him, he looked a lot like Nic and Nack, but he was taller, a navy blue, and he did not have the one huge fang, he had purple eyes, and he did not have his fur sprawled out in a beard like fashion like Nack did.

"Who the Hell are you?" Mighty asked as Pine took off the neural restraining anklets, and bracelets.

"WHAT? I figured you would remember the one guy who can stand against YOU in a fight!" Pine exclaimed in a sarcastic shocked hurt voice. Timothy tried to think who did Mighty know who looked like Nack but carried a sword just then Timothy got hit with some of Mighty's earlier memories, memories of Pine and him when they where kids. You could say they had an interesting friendship; Pine was always disappearing for a couple months, then coming back. They had loved to spar with each other, but to both Mighty and Pine's dismay neither had ever won, they had always ended with a draw. Then one time Pine left and he hadn't comeback.

"Pine," Mighty exclaimed in an excited yet unsure voice "What in the world are you doing here!? Do you work with Nack now?".

"Don't mention that that sad excuse for a mobian to me, I'm here to save you!".

"I don't need to be saved, moron! I let them catch me so they would take me to Robotnik's base and then I could escape and tell the others where it is!"

"Oh..." Pine said in an I just realized I screwed things up voice "Well you can take care of the Shadowbots, I'll go carve the turkey, and get the info." Pine said before dashing off, leaving Mighty with a confused face. Nack shook his head as he woke from his sleep, he tried to move his hands to stretch, he couldn't, he looked to see that he was against a tree his legs were being weighed down by the two huge stones that had been tied to his feet, his hands where tied so they bent backwards around the tree. "What in the hell is going on Nicollete?" he asked the night air.

"I'm afraid Nic couldn't quite make it," stated a familiar voice that Nack couldn't quite place, "But don't worry! I'll keep you company!"

Nack looked as out of the shadows walked Pine carrying a thick kendo stick, Nack was speechless. Pine had grown a lot in the last six years.

"So, Nack I hear that you know a certain location that me and my friends are looking for, mind helping me out?" Pine ordered more than asked.

"I am not telling you anything!" said Nack.

"Wrong answer!" Pine said, the joy in his voice unmistakable. He lifted the kendo stick and began to beat Nack with it, the whole time reciting an old rhyme he had made up from when they where kids and Nack would try to bully him, which usually ended with Nack having a broken arm.

With a Nicnack crakety crack

Oops I broke a bone

I sent Nack crying home

When the rhyme was done he would ask Nack again, Nack would give him the same answer, so Pine kept up. After only three, and to Pine's great disappointment, times Nack broke. "All right! You go five miles west of here and two miles north," Nack said weakly.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Pine said.

"I have a GPS, right here with the location on it!" Nack said implying to his belt. Pine took the GPS, and looked at it, it seemed real enough. Pine reached into subspace and took out his own GPS, he loaded the location on to it, and then he put his back and replaced Nacks where it was. Pine turned around and knocked Nack senseless with the handle of the kendo stick, then he untied him and left his body on a sprawled out position on the ground. When he got to Mighty, he was ripping the head off the last shadowbot.

"How do you know he won't tell Robotnik that we know where he is?" asked Mighty.

Pine smiled as he pulled a small vial out of subspace, "I stabbed him and Nicollet with this, it will make them forget everything right up to stopping for a rest." Pine told Mighty as he placed the vial back into subspace "They'll wake up thinking you escaped well they were asleep".

"Nicely done Pine," Mighty said as they headed off "so where you headed?" he asked realizing that Pine had just appeared out of the blue.

"Well... I'm going to Station Square, I'm doing a favor for a friend and offering help to Sonic and Tails." Pine said.

"Where are you going to stay?" asked Mighty, not wanting to sound offering, he liked Pine but his house was pretty full with Chris.

"That depends... Where is the nearest Chao Garden?" Pine asked.

"Why the Chao Garden?"

"Well I can understand chao and besides it's peaceful there," Pine explained.

The two friends walked right thru the night, though they where tired, they wanted to catch up on some old times. The next day, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese, Amy, Big, Charmy, Vector, Espio, Rings, and Tricky all were waiting at the entrance to Chao Garden.

"Aw, man! Mighty's taking forever, are you sure this is the place Tails?" Sonic complained in his normal impatient voice.

"Mighty said to wait for him at the entrance to the Chao Garden at station square, that's where we are" stated Tails matter of factly.

Just then Mighty came right up behind them "sorry I'm late! I got back kind of late and I needed some sleep" Mighty said as he walked over to the entrance "last night, I met an old friend, I want you guy's to meet him".

When they entered the garden, the first thing they noticed was a tent in the middle of the garden. The next thing they noticed was Pine sitting on the ledge of the pool, he was looking at the foot of a chao who looked like it was in pain.

"Chaaoo...", it said weakly.

"Yes, I know it hurts. But don't worry, it's only a sprain. I'll wrap it up and it'll be as good as new in no time, you'll see." Pine said as he pulled out a chao sized tenser bandage and slowly wrapped the foot.

When he finished Pine looked behind him and noticed the group "Oh! Sorry didn't notice you there/ Mighty back already? I figured you would be asleep for a bit yet, and let me see, who do we have here? You must be Sonic the fastest thing alive, and your Amy rose famous for her obsession with Sonic and for her piko piko hammer..." Pine had to stop and pull out his kendo stick so he could block the hammer from coming down on his head, he whacked the stick against Amy's hand causing her to let go of the hammer, which he picked up and handed it back to her.

Turning back to the group he continued "You are Cream the rabbit famous for her partnership with her chao cheese and a fellow chao lover. you are Charmy the bee, hyper, immature, yet deadly with his stinger and a member of the C.D.A., you are Espio the chameleon famous for his knowledge of nin-jitsu also a member of the C.D.A., you are vector the croc, head of the CDA you, my fine plump friend are Big the cat simple, yet dedicated, a legendary fisherman and the best friend you can have, and Knuckles the echidna smash a boulder with one punch". Big gave him his simple smile, the rest looked confused, finally Pine turned to Tails "you my friend are the famous miles "Tails" Prower, genius I.Q. capable of flying with his two Tails, also you may know my teacher, an old man wears a cloak goes by Merlin" Tails gave Pine a blank look, this was the first time he had heard someone mention Merlin in long time outside of their inner group. Pine smirked as he said. "Now, I know who all of you are you probably want to know who I am."

Vector spoke up "I believe we would all like to know that wea..." he was cut off because he just barely moved out of the way of the kendo stick which would have hit him in the head.

Pine was standing there in a fit of rage, "Finish that word, and the next one won't be made of wood".

Mighty stepped in. "Vector, back away NOW!" he said putting his hands slowly on the edge of the kendo stick getting Pine to lower it. "It's okay Pine he didn't mean it, everyone this is Pine the Martin, NEVER call him a weasel if you value your lives, believe me last time someone made that mistake, I had to pry him off of them".

Everyone was backing away with very scared looks on there faces.

Vector however was un-deterred by Mighty's words he walked up to Pine saying, "Listen, buddy NOBODY takes a swing at me and get's away with it". Mighty saw the look on there faces, he knew Pine and he knew Vector - neither would walk away from a challenge.

Mighty knew however that Vector was not stupid so he said, "Fine Vector you want to fight him go ahead, I wish you luck, you'll need it".

Vector looked at Mighty "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mighty walked away a bit as he said "I'm just wishing you luck on hopes that you beat him, I never could," everyone except Pine and Mighty had a shocked look on there face.

"W-Wha-What did you say?" asked vector in a shaky voice.

"He saying, you big green iguana, that we've sparred about fifty times, and tied every single time." said Pine.

Vector put on a brave face as he said, "Well seeming as this is the chao garden, I'll let you go with a warning this time".

While this was happening Kyle and Ben moved into the corner "Who the heck is Pine the Martin? I've never seen him in the comics, in the show, or in any game," Kyle asked Ben.

"I dunno bro. But he must be a figure out of Mighty's past, did you feel the chaos energy that dude is giving off? And what's that white pole around his neck?" Ben said.

Kyle was about to speak when Pine called him over "Tails, would you mind showing me around? I haven't been to Station Square in a while." Pine asked.

Before Kyle could speak Cream ran up "Can I come too?" she asked excitedly.

"Duh, I wanna come to!" said Big. Pine just smiled, he looked at the two kids and the cat .

"Sure why not? The more the merrier, you guy's can show me around then we can get some ice cream and go fishing or something."

Cream ran up to tell Amy what was happening, Kyle went to tell Ben, Big sat down and played with a passing chao, Team Chaotix ran off when Pine was distracted, and Mighty had some stuff to do. Pine saw Tricky and Rings, he realized that he had not met them, he walked up to them, "Hello, I believe I do not know your names, I'm sorry I must have missed you" Pine said sticking his hand out.

"Hello Pine, I'm Rings the Raccoon and this," he said pointing to Tricky who was trying to reach some of the leaves on one of the trees, "Is my brother Tricky". Just then Tricky reached one of the leaves, he laughed as he threw it at Pine and Rings. In a flash Pine tore off the Chaos Hilt shouted "Lief" and did a star like chop. Even as he said it light had hardened to make the long slender blade and the cross hilt. Lief the Long sword of Light allowed it's wielder to move a bit more speedily. The leaf stopped in mid-air and then it burst apart. Rings clapped his hands, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream, stared at him and Big continued to play with the chao, oblivious.

Tricky looked horrified. "Y-yo-you stopped my trick," an especially rare sincere angry look crossed his face, "You're goanna pay for that!". Rings jumped up grabbed Tricky and they both vanished, though there was a weird air disturbance that had headed towards the door. Pine let the sword fade away as he replaced the hilt on his neck and slowly rubbed it, it was sore from having to tear it off.

He looked at the others they where still freaked, Pine put on a smile and said "Well are we going or what?" Pine, Cream, Big, and Tails, left then Sonic ran out at top speed, Amy followed soon after with her hammer raised yelling about how they should go on a date well the others are away. Knuckles, of course, headed back to Angel Island.

As they walked down station square; Tails was a blur of questions "How'd you do that? What is that thing? Do you really know my uncle? Man, Hunt is going to want to meet you!" Pine laughed as he spoke.

"Settle down, my friend we can have a Q&A later, for now let's enjoy the day! It's been a long time since I've had a chance to relax!" They walked down the street and turned the corner, all looking forward to an interesting day.