"Slow Going"
by Shayne Thames
based on AoStH episode "Slooooow Going" by DiC Animation
Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indica © and SEGA
Shalita Ranay and related characters © and Star Dreams Entertainment
Dedicated to my bestest best friend Toni Ferraro, who was always a fan of AoStH and SU
Dr. Eggman growled as he fumed in his hidden lab in a town called Crystal City. He had to reclaim Mobotropolis. The city was stolen back from him just weeks ago by the powerful deities, Hope and Promise, who were really none other than Sonic the Hedgehog and his brother Shadow the Hedgehog. He'd never be able to get the city again as long as those two and their buddies were there.
What he needed to do...was to draw Sonic and Shadow away from their buddies and capture them! Without the others to call on the powers of Hope and Promise, Sonic and Shadow would be helpless to stop Eggman as he took over Mobotropolis once again! He grinned evilly and began to brew a plan.
A few weeks later, a wolf and a jackle approached a small home near the foothills of Crystal City. They bursted into the home, holding weapons up to a family of dogs. Frightened, they held their hands in the air.
"Miko Zsu, by order of Dr. Eggman, you are to come with US!" the wolf called.
"Dr. Eggman? You must be those bounty hunters, Sleet and Dingo!" Miko yelped.
"That is correct. If you wish for your family to live, you will come with us!" Sleet ordered.
Miko bowed his head. "Yes sir." When it came down to his family, Miko would never do anything to jepordize them.
"Miko!" his wife cried.
"Shi, stay there! I don't want you hurt!" Miko called back.
"Daddy!!!" the little girl cried.
"Hey Sleet, what'll we do about the rest of the family?" Dingo asked.
"Well I said no harm would come to the family..." Sleet started.
Miko sighed. "Oh, thank Hope!"
"...demolish the home," Sleet finished.
"WHAT?! NOOOO!!!!!" Miko yelped.
Sleet looked back at the family. "If you want Miko back, Mrs. Zsu, I suggest you tell Prince Sonic and Prince Shadow to come down here right away!"
And with that, Sleet carried Miko off, leaving Dingo grinning like a goon.
"Oh boy, this is gonna be fun!" he said.
In Mobotropolis, Sonic was doing what he always likes to do on days like this: have fun. And his idea of fun is running through the city, showing off his grinding tricks. He called off behind him. "You slow-mos could NEVER keep up with the Prince of Speed!"
A group of roller-bladers rounded the corner. Manic, Sonia, and Tails.
"Slow up Sonic! You know we're not as fast as you!" Tails panted.
"Not a chance Tails!" Sonic laughed. "I know of at least ONE person who can catch up to me and he's-"
"-over here!" a voice called and Sonic looked beside him. Air blading beside Sonic was his brother, Shadow the Hedgehog.
"I see you finally caught up!" Sonic grinned. "Catch me if you can!"
Sonic looked up and gasped. "BRAAAAKES!!!!"
The whole group stopped just inches in front of Queen Aleena.
"Oh...hey Mom. What's going on?" Sonic asked.
"Sonic, I need you and Shadow to come with me, something just happened down in Crystal City."
Sonic and Shadow watched as the video message of a little boy played. "My father, Miko Zsu, was kidnapped this morning by Dr. Eggman's fiendish bounty hunters, Sleet and Dingo. I don't know what they're planning to do to him, but they destroyed our home, and demanded that Sonic and Shadow were to come down here. We're supposed to contact them as soon as they arrive to meet their terms."
The message ended, leaving Sonic and Shadow shocked.
"So Eggman's at it again. And he wants us, huh?" Sonic asked.
"Sonic, it's obviously a trap," Shadow pointed out.
"Well of COURSE it's a trap. But no trap can hold us, Sonic and Shadow!" Sonic grinned. "Imagine, adventure, danger-"
"And kicking butt!" Shadow added. "Okay, we'll go, but we need to be catious."
Sleet and Dingo stood to one side as they waited for Dr. Eggman's next order. Eggman presented Sleet with a laser gun.
"Take this. It is a molecular slow-motion ray. You are to fire it on Sonic and Shadow, and they will lose their supersonic speed," Eggman grinned.
"Oh BRILLIANT, your routundous, sir!" Sleet praised. "Then should we destroy them?"
"No. Then call me from your location so that I can pick them up. I want to robotisize them myself!" Eggman said.
"How's this thing work anyway?" Sleet asked.
"Ah, that Sleet-" Eggman said, pulling out a tiny crystal. "-is powered by this. Crystal City is FAMOUS for their rich deposit of power crystals. I just managed to get my hands on one..."
Dr. Eggman put the crystal in the gun.
"Now get out there and wait for the Zsu's to call!" Eggman growled, ushering the two out with Miko.
The little boy waited outside what was left of his home.
"Sonic said he'd be here fast..." he murmured, looking around.
Two blurs later left thye boy waving for their attention. "Over here!" he called.
Sonic and Shadow raced up to the little fella.
"Heya little guy," Sonic said, looking around. "Your message didn't tell the half of it. You really got trashed!"
"Sleet and Dingo demands that we call them on V-Phone once you two arrived. Luckily, ours is still working, so come on in and let's take care of that," the boy said.
After the discussion over V-Phone, Sleet and Dingo were to bring Miko back to discuss terms of returning him in exchange for Sonic and Shadow's surrender.
"While we're waiting, how about if me an Shadow rebuild the place?" Sonic suggested.
"You'd do that for us?" the little boy asked.
"Natually, kid. What's your name, anyway?" Sonic asked.
"Sho Zsu, but my friends call me Rocket, cause I'm the fastest kid in school!" he grinned.
"Cool, Rocket! Well don't you worry because we'll have this place fixed up in no time, right Shadow?"
"Right Sonic!" Shadow grinned.
Sleet and Dingo stayed hidden, with a tied and gagged Miko nearby. Sleet held the gun in his hands.
"There are those hedgehog brats," Sleet said. "I'll fire this ray and Sonic and Shadow won't be able to run far anymore!"
"Ohoh! Can I fire the ray, Sleet? Pleeease?" Dingo begged.
"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, you doofus!" Sleet growled. "Now shut up and lets get this over with!"
Dingo pouted as Sleet started to aim at Sonic.
Rocket looked up and heard a noise. He saw a patch of orange in the bushes and gasped.
"TROUBLE!!!" Rocket yelped.
"DUCK!" Sonic cried, as the lot of them ducked, a ray shot by them. "We're under badnik attack!"
Sleet growled. "Darn that dog brat! Grrrr, we'll get those hedgehog brats yet. Come on, Dingo, and take Miko with us. I've another plan!"
Sleet and Dingo retreated before Sonic and the others knew what hit them.
A few minutes later, Sleet and Dingo came out, holding a gun to Miko's head. Sonic, Shadow and Rocket stared.
"No false moves or Miko gets it," Sleet growled. "I'll make an exchange. Sonic and Shadow for Miko's life!"
Sonic and Shadow looked at each other and nodded. They raised their hands in the air and slowly walked over to Sleet.
Sleet, satisfied, shoved Miko back towards Rocket, and advanced on Sonic.
"Big mistake, bozoes," Sonic grinned, and started spinning in place. "Time for a Sonic Tornado!!!"
"YOW!!!!" Sleet and Dingo cried, caught in the Vortex and flung to parts unknown.
"Hooray!!" they cheered.
"Great job, Sonic!" Miko cried. "Spectacular. Thanks for the rescue."
"No prob...but why DID they capture you?" Sonic asked.
"Who knows? They just wanted me to make a hostage exchange really..."
"Then it was a trap," Shadow said.
"A really LAME one," Sonic added. "All he managed to do was drag us down here..."
"Well are you still gonna help us rebuild our home?" Rocket asked.
"No prob!" Sonic said. "Me and Shadow will be back in a flash with supplies."
And with that, they zipped off.
Sleet and Dingo had overheard the entire thing and decided to catch Sonic on his way to the city. Dingo climbed a tree that Sleet hid in. "Uh, Sleet? What am I doing up here in this tree?"
"You idiot, it's so simple," Sleet said, pulling out a remote. He pointed it at Dingo and clicked, and Dingo morphed into a child, sitting in a tree. "Sonic can't resist helping someone in trouble. Now shut up and act like you're in trouble!"
"Act? What's my motivation??" Dingo asked.
"This!" Sleet growled, wacking Dingo upside the head with his remote.
"OOOOW!!!!' he cried.
Sonic and Shadow zoomed up to the tree, looking up to the kid.
"Hey kid, ya stuck? I'll get ya down!" Sonic called.
Shadow looked up and saw Sleet in the tree, pointing the gun at Sonic.
"SONIC! TRAP!" he shouted, and started bolting for it.
"-WHAT?!" Sonic yelped as Sleet fired the gun. "ARGH!!!!"
Sonic fell, the laser had hit him square in the chest.
"SONIC!!!!" Shadow shouted as Sonic strugged to his feet. Sonic tried to run but ended up tripping over his own two feet.
"Shadow! Run! Find Rocket and the others!" Sonic shouted and Sleet and Dingo grabbed him.
"SONIC!!!!!!" Shadow's cries echoed through the air as Sleet and Dingo whisked his brother away.
Miko knew where Sonic was being taken, and decided he and Rocket would help Shadow rescue Sonic.
Shadow himself was upset over the whole thing. After a few days, when the house was rebuilt, Shadow was still curled up in the corner of a guestroom, upset that he couldn't save Sonic sooner.
Rocket knocked on the door, entering.
"Shadow? We got a map of where we can find Sonic. You ready to go?"
"I don't know if I can..." Shadow sighed. "I couldn't save him then. "Who says I can now?"
"I know you can, Shadow. You may of messed up, but we all learn from mistakes. I'm sure you can save him now," Rocket said.
"You think?" Shadow asked.
"I know you can do it, Shadow," Rocket said. "Come on, let's go find Sonic!"
Sonic was chained hand and foot in a small location not far from Eggman's lab. Sleet and Dingo, eating their lunch, taunted the starving hedgehog.
"Face it, Hedgehog. You're too slow to get out of here, and your brother's NEVER coming to rescue you!" Sleet laughed.
"Hey Sleet, what're you gonna do with your half of the reward?" Dingo inquired. Sleet sighed in annoyance.
"Hire someone to replace YOU," he growled. Dingo shrank and frowned. Both failed to see a hand grab the slow-motion gun.
"Freeze, Badniks, or I'll zap ya both!" Shadow growled.
Sleet and Dingo looked at each other and laughed.
"I think you got that backwards, hedgehog!" Sleet laughed, as Dingo slapped the gun away from Shadow. "The gun doesn't work on us, but it will on you!"
As the gun fell on the floor, a compartment opened, and the power crystal fell out, broken.
"Uh oh, Sleet! The crystal broke!" Dingo said fearfully.
"No problem," Sleet said, grabbing the gun and putting the pieces back in. "Robotnik will never know the difference.
Shadow made a dive for the gun and the gun was dropped by Sleet.
The gun slid across the floor and it was a race between Shadow and Dingo to grab it. They had a tug-of-war to see who'd have it first. Shadow yanked it away as Sonic yelled.
"Run for it bro! Don't let them get a hold of the gun or you! Get help!"
"But-" Shadow started.
"NOW!"
Shadow looked back, then made a break for it, away from Sleet and Dingo.
Shadow explained to the Zsu family what happened as they sighed.
"I can't just go back to Mobotropolis for help. That'll take too long. What we need is local help," Shadow said.
"Yeah, but where? Crystal City has no local reinforcments," Rocket said, looking at the slow-mo gun.
"Careful with that, Rocket!" Miko suddenly said to Rocket, startling the pup. He dropped the gun and the ray fired, hitting him.
"ROCKET!" Shi cried.
"I'm fine, Mom," Rocket said, then paused. "But I feel...different."
Suddenly Rocket zoomed around the yard...at the speed of sound!
"Wow, I'm faster than ever!" he cried.
"Hey, that gives me an idea!" Shadow said. "Miko, would you and your family like to help?"
Miko looked at the gun, to Rocket, to Shadow, and grinned. "If you're thinking like I THINK that you're thinking, I think that's a great idea..."
Sleet and Dingo were playing cards when they were suddenly charged by 4 dogs.
"Hey, what the-?!" Sleet yelped as they were tackled. Shadow ran to Sonic.
"I brought reinforcements!" Shadow called.
"Cool! Hurry up and get me outta here!" Sonic said.
"No problem, bro," Shadow said, going into a triple spin and sawing off the chains. Sonic rubbed his wrists.
"Ah, much better," Sonic said.
"Shadow!" Miko called. The boys turned and realized the familiy was pinned against the wall. "The ray wore off!"
"It WORE OFF?" Shadow yelped. "Wait...then that means...SONIC!"
"Waaay ahead of you bro!" Sonic grinned and ran at Sleet, spinning circles around them until Sleet and Dingo were dizzy. With the help of Shadow, they raced the family out of the area.
"Well, that'll teach Eggman about trying to trap us," Sonic said back at the Zsu residence.
"Are you sure you boys can't stay longer?" Mrs Zsu asked.
"I'm sure, Mrs Z, Me and Shadow gotta get back-" Sonic started.
"We're having chilidogs tonight!" Mrs Zsu added with a smirk.
"Count me in!" Sonic grinned. Shadow groaned.
"Oh well," he sighed, shaking his head. The only thing that never slowed Sonic down was his appitite for chilidogs.
THE END for now.