Episode 002

Razor's Edge

/

"My name's Razor," the red hedgehog said, "I've been looking for you, Sonic."

"Well, you found me," Sonic retorted cautiously, awaiting more Chaos creatures to appear. "Care to explain what's going on?"

"We have precious little time," Razor began to approach. "I need you to come with me, now."

"Hold up, sister, I ain't going anywhere until I get some answers."

Razor, clearly not amused, placed the clip back into her pistol frame, causing the weapon to form again. "I didn't want to hurt you, but there's too much at stake."

Sonic readied himself for battle as Razor began to raise her weapon, but before she could strike another gunshot sounded. Blood sprayed from Razor's shoulder as she yelped in pain, falling to the ground.

Behind her stood Officer Cream the Rabbit, gun drawn and barrel freshly smoking.

/

When Miles swung the door to the conference room open he found a wild array of faces turn to greet him. Sitting around a massive oval table there was Sonic, of course, along with Cream, a human police officer, a more decorated police official, and…

"Amy!" He rushed to her and she stood to embrace him. "I got so worried! The news said a female hedgehog had been shot and…" Miles opted for a kiss instead of continuing his paranoid rant, one which Amy happily returned.

"I'm fine, dear," she replied.

"Dr. Prower," the superior police official rose as well. "Thanks for coming on such short notice. I'm Lieutenant Charles Hawthorne, CCPD. These are my officers, Cream the Rabbit and Adrian Day; they took down the suspect before she could cause any injury."

"Like I needed help," Sonic added, folding his arms.

Miles turned to a seat he hadn't seen when he entered. In it sat a red hedgehog, clearly the one from the news report. Her hair was disheveled and she slumped over in her chair, seemingly unaware of the room.

"She's...still alive, right?"

"Heavily sedated," Amy explained.

Hawthorne chimed in, "The last thing we need is for her to run rampant inside. She's dangerous."

"We confiscated her weaponry," Day spoke up, "But I've never seen anything like it. It's like a gun, but it also isn't."

"Fascinating…" Miles couldn't help but roll his eyes at the explanation as he and Amy took their seats. "Is she responsible for the Chaos field as well?"

"Most likely," Amy said.

"She took out a bunch of those creatures like it was nothing," Sonic added, practically giddy at the thought.

"They're called wraiths…"

All present turned to the red hedgehog, who slowly lifted her head and surveyed the room. Her breathing was labored under the strain of the sedatives.

"How do you know about these...wraiths?" Miles asked. "We've never seen anything like this until you appeared. Did you create them?"

"Yeah, what's the deal Razor?" Sonic pressed.

"Razor?" Hawthorne interjected. "Is that her name?"

"Oh yeah," Sonic blushed, "I probably should've mentioned that. She told me right before she tried to kill me."

Razor let out a pained grunt, shifting in her seat to better see Sonic. "I never tried...to kill you."

"You had your weapon drawn!" Cream protested. A wave of Lieutenant Hawthorne's hand kept her in her seat.

"We have...no time…" Razor continued.

"Maybe this is all a coincidence," Miles said. "Perhaps Razor came to defend us against these things. It's not completely unprecedented."

Amy responded, "That doesn't change the fact that she seems to be after Sonic."

"He's...the last one…"

"Last one?" Sonic questioned. "I'm the only one. Sonic the Hedgehog, one of a kind!"

"No," Razor sat up straight, her energy returning. "Every world has its own Sonic."

"Every...world?" Miles repeated.

"Your world...is just one in a sea of worlds. I have seen them... traveled the Cosmic Highway…"

"Those sedatives are sure doing a number on her, eh?" Day cracked, returning harsh looks from all involved.

Before Razor could continue her ramblings, the door to the conference room opened. In walked the imposing figure of Commander Abrams, followed by Rouge the Bat and a recovered Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Started without us?" Abrams said. "No matter. Has the terrorist given up any information yet?"

Razor turned her glance to the new arrivals; as her eyes fell over Shadow they became wide with fear.

"Wh...what is it doing here?!" she screamed, stumbling out of her chair as she tried to back away. Before anyone could come to her aid she managed to pull a small capsule-like device from a concealed compartment, tossing it in the air.

"Get down!" Abrams and Hawthorne commanded simultaneously.

The capsule hung in the air momentarily before it began spinning rapidly in place.

"Grrg!" Shadow clutched his head in pain, falling to his knees. "What...the hell…"

Rouge made her way to Shadow's side before casting daggers at Razor. "What did you do to him?"

The red hedgehog did not respond, her eyes shaking with terror as she squirmed up against the far side wall.

/

Sedatives hadn't worked, and while Razor was panicking on the floor Rouge and Cream were able to apprehend her. A swift kick to the head, one which Rouge took more joy in than was protocol, put the frenzied hedgehog to sleep.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Day commented.

"She hadn't actually committed a crime," Hawthorne replied. "I assumed this setting would provide more fertile grounds for dialogue. Clearly, I was wrong."

"Where will they take her?" Cream wondered aloud as Miles, Sonic and Rouge carried the unconscious hedgehog out of the room.

"A holding cell we've secured for special individuals," Commander Abrams answered. "Where she should have been in the first place."

"How are you holding up, Shadow?" Amy asked. The black hedgehog had taken one of the conference room chairs and was resting his head in his hands.

"That thing," he muttered, "it made me feel like my head was on fire from the inside."

"How did it only affect you?" Day asked.

"That's enough questions," Abrams interrupted. "Agent Shadow, I want the doctors to take another look at you. First the wraith and now this…"

"I'm fine Commander, I—"

"That's an order, Shadow!" Abrams barked. The two marched out of the room, the Commander casting a final glare at Lieutenant Hawthorne.

While Sonic and his group saw to the transfer of Razor to her cell, Cream and her group decided to investigate the strange weapon the hedgehog had been using. Spreading the components out on the large table, they began to pore over

It took nearly an hour for the combined team of Cream, Day and Amy, but soon they were beginning to understand Razor's strange weapon.

"It's like Day said earlier," Cream explained, "It's a firearm, but it's more complicated than that."

"How so?" Lieutenant Hawthorne pressed.

Amy stepped in to handle the heavy lifting. "It seems to be using an advanced 3D printing mechanism, possibly nanotechnology, to construct the majority of components based on whichever accessory is attached."

To demonstrate, Cream picked up the assembly and chose a thin clip from the ones found on Razor's person. Sliding it into the gun's handle, sparks began to fly as a pistol body was created from thin air.

"This one's a handgun," Cream said. She removed the clip and attached a small square looking box to the end of the assembly. The gun transformed from a pistol into a formidable looking sniper rifle.

"It can take on several different forms," Amy continued. "However, the ammunition is not entirely clear."

"The bullets she fired destroyed the wraiths," Day said. "That bat tried to shoot it in the alley and did nothing, so they can't be conventional ammo."

"That's just it," Cream continued, "There's nothing in the clips. We didn't recover any casings from the scene either.

"Why don't we just ask her?" Day's point elicited a groan from nearly everyone present.

"How do we know she'll spill the beans?" Hawthorne objected. "We can't torture her, Treaty and all that."

"I guess we'll just have to hope the interrogation team fairs better than us," Amy concluded, hoping Miles would be able to make some sense of this stranger and her story.

/

As Razor awoke, she found herself inside a small tempered cell with nondescript walls, a single bed, and a toilet, with a modesty curtain. What she couldn't detect was the gaze of GUN officials from behind two-way glass. Sonic, Miles, and Rouge stood by, watching the girl come out of her slumber in this new habitat.

"Why didn't they do this in the first place?" Miles asked.

"Hawthorne's idea," Rouge replied. "Idiot. Just let the terrorist roam free."

"She's not a terrorist…"

"Shadow nearly died fighting one of those wraiths she brought along, and the moment she sees him she attacks. I'll call her what I want."

Miles sighed. He couldn't argue with Rouge's ill sentiment, but he knew better. The bat was always an emotional actor, someone reactionary despite her conniving ways. He, on the other hand, had been piecing together parts of this puzzle since the moment he arrived.

"Is he going to be alright?" he extended an olive branch.

"He's been through a lot, but Shadow will pull through," Rouge responded.

"What about him made her freak out like that?" Sonic spoke up. "You think she knows him?"

"Why don't we ask her?" Miles moved towards a large console beneath the window display. Razor was investigating the room thoroughly, her sedation now completely worn off. A small boom microphone was set into the console, and Miles activated a large red switch that glowed brightly.

"Razor, can you hear me?"

She spun around, trying to find the source of Mile's voice as it infiltrated her space. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but it worked for now.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way, but you've tried to hurt too many people. Until we learn who you are, this is where you'll stay."

"You can't!" Razor pleaded, sitting defeated on her simple bedframe. "We have no time!"

"You keep saying that," Miles said, "but you haven't yet explained anything. Why do we have no time? What exactly is going on?"

"I need Sonic," Razor said, bluntly. "He's the only way to fix this."

"Not that I object," Sonic said, "I just like to know what I'm fixing first."

Miles agreed, impressed with Sonic for not simply jumping headlong into whatever crazy scheme this girl was thinking up.

"Let's start from the beginning. Who are you, and why are you here in our city?"

Razor sighed deeply, burying her face in her hands. For a moment, Miles wondered if she was beginning to sob, but she soon lifted her head; a blank look rested upon her face.

"Sonic the Hedgehog was the hero of my world," she began, "until one day he just...vanished. Some thought he had been kidnapped, or even killed, but not even the enemy knew what had happened. They didn't wait to find out either, pushing hard against us and running rampant over the world."

"I was part of the resistance army, fighting against Robotnik and his legions of machines. But, without Sonic, we couldn't hope to win. They told me it was foolish, but I went out to find him; I knew he had to be alive somewhere. For months I searched the ravaged planet, hiding in the shadows, fearing for my life. And then...I found the Highway."

"You mentioned a Cosmic Highway?" Miles recalled. "What is that exactly?"

"It's a pathway between worlds," Razor continued. "It requires a sizeable amount of Chaos energy to open a portal to the Highway, but once inside you can travel freely. One by one I entered new and fascinating worlds, some very similar to my own and some wildly different, but each one had a single thing in common. Each world had lost its Sonic."

"Just how many of me are there?" Sonic exclaimed, this time loud enough for the microphone to pick him up.

"There are beings, protectors of the Cosmic Highway. They told me that each world has its own Sonic, a guardian against the evils that fall upon the world. Someone, or something, has erased Sonic from every world."

"Except ours…" Miles said, looking over to Sonic, equally confused as he was.

"He is the last Sonic," Razor replied.

"Answer me this, then," Rouge took control of the microphone. "Sonic is the protector of our world, yeah? And you want to take him from us? How are you not the bad guy in this situation?"

"Sonic is the only one who can push back the forces of evil. If we can correct the worlds, bring back the balance between light and Chaos, then perhaps we can stop the destruction of everything as we know it."

"Now hold on there lady," Sonic jumped in. "That's a pretty big leap. How did you go from missing Sonics to the destruction of everything?"

"Those Chaos wraiths are just the beginning," Razor explained, "The very fabric of existence is beginning to crack as Chaos consumes the worlds. My coming to this world brought the wraiths, and they'll cease when I leave, but if the spread of Chaos isn't stopped then they will return in unthinkable numbers. I don't know if I can bring back the Sonics that have been erased, but I know that I can't do this without him."

Miles shut off the microphone for a moment of privacy. He turned to Sonic for his thoughts. "I gotta say, it's not the most unbelievable thing I think I've ever heard, but still she's asking for a miracle here."

"A damsel in distress," Sonic mused, "How can I say no?"

"She's far from a damsel," Rouge interjected. "Not a bad actor, but we have no reason to believe what she says."

"Not entirely," Miles corrected. "It's far-fetched, sure, but I don't see any inconsistencies with her story."

Rouge gave a slight sneer before flipping the microphone back on. "Hey, you! I'm not done with you yet. Why did you attack Shadow?"

Razor's eyes became wide again. "The...android?"

Rouge slammed her fist down on the console. "He is not an android, he's the real deal."

"Then why did it react to my disrupter?" Razor stood and shouted, her fists clenched for action. "Why is it even here? No one is safe with that thing around!"

"Shut your mouth!" Rouge snapped before Miles could pull the microphone away from her.

"Razor," he spoke calmly, "How do you know about Shadow or the androids?"

"How do I know?" Razor repeated. "Those things have killed every person I've ever cared about."

/

As night fell the world became a sea of lights amidst a royal blue landscape. From high up on Angel Island, Knuckles the Echidna could see straight out to the very curve of the horizon. A shrill wind howled past and rustled his fur, but he was used to this weather. In the past thirteen years he rarely, if ever, left the sacred home of the Master Emerald. The Island and its Echidna Tribe were considered an independent nation by the world's governments, and Knuckles chose not to involve his people in the affairs of ground dwellers.

The whipping of the wind masked the sound of a cloaked figure approaching the echidna, but Knuckles' keen senses were well informed.

"She's here," the mysterious visitor said.

"And the wraiths?" Knuckles asked.

"A few so far, but nothing that hasn't been handled."

"This island will be swarming with them soon; they'll sense the Master Emerald's power for sure."

"Assuming she stays."

"It doesn't matter," Knuckles replied, "This is how it's gonna happen either way. You should know that better than anyone."

"I do," the figure said solemnly. "I've seen it countless times. But it ends here."

"Sonic's going to go then?"

"Did you doubt him?"

"I doubt the company he keeps. Sonic's never thought twice about helping others, but the rest have grown complacent."

"They will be tested."

Knuckles glanced off to a darker portion of the land below; the soft illumination of man-made lights seemed to halt abruptly. Robotropolis had been dark since the war; an ominous blight on the peaceful planet.

"Robotnik's still out there. As soon as he knows Sonic is gone he could strike again. There's also the Babylon Rogues or that menacing FOX Squad. Someone's gonna have to step up."

"There are contingencies in play," the shadowy figure mentioned. "We would not let the world fall so easily."

"We?" Knuckles asked, turning to face the cloaked one. "Just how many of you are ther—" He stopped, as there was no one behind him. "Damnit!" he cursed.

Out in the distance, the clouds were thickening and flashes of lightning could be seen mixing among them. Soon the pouring rains and claps of thunder would wash over the Island, and the world.