don't worry folks, i know the last few chapters have been a bit dry, but fear not, things will be heating up very quickly, and its not because my pants are on fire... wait a minute... MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!... AAAAHHHH! while i try to extinguish my ass heres the next chapter... (Stop, drop and roll; Stop drop and roll...)
A Visitor From Afar
Ch 6 Questions Answered
"Yes. I am a dragon." Slasher replied cautiously easing his stance, his words still held an icy note of distrust, unsure if she was truly no threat.
"Slasher, meet Dulcy; Dulcy, meet Slasher." Sally said pointing to each other as she introduced the two. She sighed, relieved to see Sonic restraining himself from another skirmish with this stranger.
"Sally, can you please explain who on Mobius this guy is?" Dulcy asked, shaking her head in confusion.
"I'll fill you in later Dulcy." Sally replied petting Dulcy's neck assuringly; trying to settle the emotional dragon's nerves. Sally turned to Slasher with a stern, angry look on her face. "Alright you, what gives?"
Slasher returned a confused look of innocence, unaware he had done something wrong. "Why did you attack Dulcy like that?" Sally yelled, clarifying her question.
"Yea, what gives, you just attacked the most gentle creature on this planet!" Sonic shouted, pushing Slasher back.
Slasher held his footing and glared at Sonic, but ignored the obstinate hedgehog and looked over to the princess behind him. "Sorry your highness, I was not aware she was a friend; I thought she might have been dangerous." He replied in a solemn, regretful tone.
"Say wha? Are those spikes on yer head cut'n off the circulation to yer brain, dragons are peaceful!" Sonic exploded; anger and sarcasm in his voice.
"Not where I come from…" Slasher shouted. "…in fact one of my worst enemy's is a dragon; a very dangerous dragon. He seeks to build an army and kill every living thing." Slasher added dryly.
"Sally, I know what he's saying is hard to believe, but it's the truth." Dulcy said, listening to his words in shock and amazement.
"You sure Dulcy?" Tails asked innocently.
"Tails, you know we dragons can't lie." Dulcy replied soothingly to the young kit.
"HA, that's a load of it." Slasher laughed out sarcastically. "The dragons I've known can lie with the best of them, and can be just as evil as anyone or anything."
"You mean there's more dragons where you come from?" Dulcy asked her interest sparked more.
"Yes, we're not as common as the mammal species; especially my breed, but yes there are many of us." He admitted shaking his head.
Now that the situation had calmed down a bit Dr. Quack came around the table and began to finish wrapping the bandages. "Your breed?" Dr. Quack asked looking up as he continued to tighten the disheveled wrappings around the creature's upper chest. He quickly finished wrapping the chest and swiftly applied the dressings and wrappings on the few cuts across his arms.
"Yes, I am a Guardian Dragon." He calmly explained to the physician.
"I've never heard of such a species before?" Dulcy confusedly replied.
"Fair enough, I've never seen a species of dragon that looks quite like you before." He replied quickly, raising his arm as Dr. Quack began unrolling the long, white bandages around his other arm.
"How is that possible, Dulcy is what most of the dragons on Mobius look like." Rotor interjected.
"I don't know, but this is becoming very confusing." Slasher replied. Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement with the small dragon.
Robotropolis….
Deep within the dark and sinister bowels of Robotnik's fortress we find the evil dictator pondering over recent events. Sitting in his command chair; he impatiently awaits for the computers to complete their scan of the crystal. The crystal itself lay within a glowing chamber as it delicately floated within the glass tube. Eerie blue lights shone from above and below the crystal. As the beams shone over the ruby crystal itself the light passed through it and refracted inside the crystal and exited at all sorts of odd angles. Finally the beams winked out and the gem gently floated down to the bottom of the empty tube of glass.
"Sir, preliminary scans of the gem are complete, sir." Snively reported.
"Excellent, display them on screen now." Robotnik ordered as he approached Snively from behind. Snively pushed a few glowing buttons on the panel and, as ordered the screens flashed the lists of readings gathered from the scan.
Robotnik menacing red and black eyes scanned over the report thoroughly, but something didn't add up. "The creature transformed after touching the crystal, therefore it must have some power that would allow it to do so; yet there appeared to be no residual energy emissions coming from the crystal like a Chaos Emerald would. There had to be some sort of power within the crystal, there had to be."
"Snively, continue with further testing, I want to know everything there is to know about this gem." He ordered.
"Yes sir." Snively replied pushing another series of buttons which caused the glass tube holding the silver-encrusted ruby to start working again and begin a new series of scans.
"There is something I'm missing here, the crystal has power, I've seen it; but why can't I discover how to access it?" Robotnik thought hard, trying to uncover the crystals secrets, but could think of nothing. All the initial scans served to prove was that this object was something completely new. Its chemical make up, mineral content, molecular shape, everything. And that knowledge did little to help Robotnik figure out what it was or how it could be used. "It looks it would seem that the only way to learn what this thing can do; is to have another little 'talk' with him…." He glumly admitted to himself.
"Snively, send for my badnik's immediately, I have a job for them with them." He said with a cruel smile creeping underneath his thick mustache.
Back at Knothole Medical…
"So you're the only ones left on the whole planet that can fight this… Robotnik, person?" Slasher asked; recapping the story the Freedom Fighters had relayed to him moments ago.
"We're not the only ones left; there are others, but we are badly outnumbered by his robotic armies." Sally explained, depression creeping into her voice.
"So this army Robotnik possesses, it's made up of robots and machines?" All the Freedom Fighters reply by nodding yes to Slasher's question. "And those two bone-heads I carved up last night, Coconuts and Crabmeat, they were robots as well, not regular people?" everyone nodded as he tried to grasp the idea. "Hmmm… I think I got it but I'm still not quite sure about all this technology stuff is."
"You're kidding right?" Sally groaned in disbelief. Slasher only shook his head no.
"You mean to say zat you know nothing of ze technology?" Antoine reiterated in his bad accent. Once again Slasher simply shrugged and nodded to the question.
"Umm… okay this is Nicole, she's an example of technology. Rotor made her for me in his workshop." Sally pointed to the small hand held computer in her arms as she sot out an example.
"What is it supposed to do?" Slasher asked in his curiosity.
"Well, she helps me to keep track of schedules, plan our attacks, retrieve intelligence…" Sally listed off a number of Nicole's functions.
"Really; how does something so small help you do all that?" he asked peering closer at the tiny computer, his reaching an arm out to touch it.
He got a little too close for Nicole's liking however, and before Slasher could touch her inquisitively, she shouted at him. "Back off bub!"
"(Whoah) That thing is sentient!" Slasher exclaimed as the computer yelled at him; recoiling back in surprise.
"Sorry about that, ever since Sonic got to her a while back she can be a bit snippy at times." Sally apologized glaring at Sonic in blaming manner.
"But how can that thing be conscious of its' surroundings; it's certainly an impressive spell." he said still baffled.
"Magic, hah." Sonic laughed out loud. "Man, you can't tell me you believe in all that magical mumbo-jumbo!"
"I do." Slasher replied coldly to the blue hedgehog. "It's likely how I got here in the first place."
"What do you mean?" Sally asked, speaking for all of the puzzled faces in the room.
"Well the crystal I have here in my…" Slasher reached into the top pocket of his sash, feeling around for the gem, but finding nothing. "MY CRYSTAL! Where's my crystal!" he shouted in shocked panic, realizing it was missing. He spun around the room frantically trying to spot the small gem, but he could see no trace of it anywhere.
"Slasher… Slasher, calm down." Sally shouted grabbing hold of the panicking dragons' upper arms holding him fast. Slasher settled down a little in Sally's strong grip, giving Sally enough confidence to continue. "Listen, that crystal was lost in Robotropolis when we rescued you." Sally calmly explained.
"You mean fatso has MY crystal! I have to…" Slasher tried to head for the door, but Sally still held him tight.
"Slasher, you're in no condition to head off into Robotropolis and pick a fight. Besides we don't even know where Robotnik has your crystal. Besides you don't know your way around Robotropolis; you'll get lost if you go there by yourself. Don't worry we'll get it back, but in the mean time you need to rest and get your strength back." As Sally spoke, Slasher still looked longingly to the door and opened his mouth to protest, but Sally took hold of Slasher's head and turned it to meet her eyes. "Please, you have to trust us."
Slasher sighed in defeat and let himself relax under her grip. "Very well your highness." Sally nodded, satisfied with the creatures response. Encouraged by this she let go of his arms and turned to Sonic.
"Sonic, think you can make a quick recon run to Uncle Chuck's and see what you can find out?" Sally asked, knowing full well Sonic wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to see some action rather then talk. "As for the rest of us, we have a debriefing for tonight's raid at eight o' clock."
Everyone acknowledged Sally and rose from their seats to leave. "I'm on it like chilly on a dog, Sal." Sonic rose and was just about to zoom out the door when Bunnie grabbed his arm before he could zip off.
"Hold on there Sugar-Hog, ya'll best get a power ring first." Bunnie explained, releasing Sonic's arm as she finished her sentence. Sonic conceded to her logic, but grumbled as he left the room, placing the ice pack back on his bruised face. The other Freedom Fighters filed out of the room with beleaguered and tired expressions, showing they'd had quite a bit of excitement for one day. Dulcy pulled her head out of the window and sent a surge of wind blasting through the open window as she flew off.
The only ones left in the room now were the Princess and the crimson coloured stranger. "Princess, I would like to help if I can." The lizard-like creature commented holding out his hands in friendly gesture.
"I'm sure you would, but for now, you need to recover from last night, you won't do anyone any good in your condition." Sally replied in gratitude.
"Your highness, I've been through worse, believe me, I can still fight. It's what I've been trained for since I was born." Slasher proudly stated, beating his fist against his bandaged chest. "I swore to protect the rightful rulers of their lands and the inhabitants of those lands, to serve justice, protect the weak and defenseless, show mercy to my enemies and fight with honor. I would be honored to stand by your side." He stated bowing before the princess as he had done previously outside.
"Stand up already, and knock off the formalities, just call me Sally." Sally replied waving her hand, dismissing the royal treatment from the bowing creature.
"As you wish; your majesty." Slasher replied bowing his head respectfully as he stood up. When he saw Sally's stern gaze he quickly corrected himself. "Sorry… Sally." Instantly the stern look on Sally's face brightened up, pleased at the correction.
"Much better; now, come on." Sally said in a much more cheerful voice.
Sally walked out the door and Slasher followed her out the door with a smile on his face. "It may not be home, but at least I'm among friends."
Outside the room Sonic awaited the princess and gave a scowl to the creature as he followed her out. "Sal, can we talk." Sonic asked; his tone uncharacteristically serious.
"Sure Sonic, Slasher; go on ahead to the lobby please." She beckoned Slasher on with a wave of her hand. Slasher nodded his head and continued down the hallway; the sharp claws on his feet making an odd clicking and scrapping noise on the wooden floor.
"Alright, what's the problem?" Sally asked already knowing Sonic's concern from his expression.
"Are you sure we can trust this guy Sal, you heard him in there, he's a trained kill'n machine, how do we even know he's not work'n for 'ole buttnik!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Sonic, if he was here to attack us, he wouldn't have spared us when he had the chance to kill us." Sally said trying to appear calm and in control.
"We don't know that! He could be just trying to get us to trust him and then BAM he leads Robotnik right to us!" he says slamming his fist into his other glove for emphasis.
"Sonic, he had me at his mercy after he knocked you out; all he had to do was ever so slightly twitch those blades and I would have been dead before I hit the ground." She said, her voice resolved and unflinching. "Instead, he backed down and even got on his knee and practically swore his allegiance just now. In fact, he could have easily killed you if he hadn't retracted his blades; but he pulled them back at the last second and only hit you with his fist. He wouldn't have hesitated like that if he's an assassin working for Robotnik, especially if he's been trained as a warrior since birth like he says."
Sonic pondered about this, he had been unconscious for most of the fight, and the others had only briefly described what happened after he had been knocked out. He never knew that the situation had been that dire, of course Tails exaggerated the events a little, many in his amazement at seeing Sally fight like that, but he hadn't mentioned how close Sally had been to dieing. "Alright Sal, but I still don't trust 'em." He conceded to her logic, not like he could ever win an argument with her, but his expression still showed his dislike of the idea.
"Good, then you won't mind him staying with you and Tails for now." Sally said with a goading smile on her face.
The hedgehog's eye already big eyes widened even farther and his mouth dropped in shock at the idea. "Say wha? You want me 'n Blade-fer-brains as roomies? When did you decide that?"
"Just now." She replied grinning wide as she enjoyed his little fit.
"No way, no how, nuh uh, ain't gonna happen Sal." He shook his head and hands defiantly in front of the princess as he protested.
"Oh, it's gonna happen Sonic, like it or not. Besides if you don't trust him as much as you say, what better way for you to keep an eye on him?" Sally crossed her arms and put a face on that said she wasn't going to budge on this. Her expression changed to a crooked grin as she said. "Or maybe you don't like him simply because he beat you and your jealous?"
That struck a nerve, Sonic glared at her for a few moments trying to think of a come-back, but could find none. "Fine, he can stay at my place, but I'm not jealous." He finally said bitterly.
Sally nodded in personal satisfaction. "Now, we better get going, I've still got to finish planning tonight's raid. And you better get to the ring pond and get a ring."
"Sure thing, Sal." Sonic zipped out of the hospital like a bat out of hell leaving a wake of flying papers and a rush of wind in his wake. "(Groan) I wish he'd stop doing that indoors." Sally groaned to herself before she walked down the hallway towards the lobby.
As Sally walked into the lobby she instantly spotted Slasher, not like it was hard, the numerous bandages that now covered much of his chest were hard to miss against the distinct contrast of his deep crimson skin. Most of his chest, his right shoulder, as well a small part of his upper arms were wrapped up in bandages. A small scrape across his left cheek was the only cut visible, but it only helped to remind Sally of the recent incident with a turning sensation in her stomach.
She had to smile however when she spotted Tails having what appeared to be a friendly chat with Slasher. They seemed to be hitting it off very well, which gave Sally an idea. "Hey, Tails, getting along with the new guy are we?" Sally greeted cheerfully.
"Ya, he's pretty cool, Aunt Sally. He says he's fought dozens of bad guys at a time on his own and won; just like Sonic." Tails said excitedly, rushing over to Sally and giving her a big hug.
"Really?" she patronized him as she returned the hug. "Well I'm glad to see that you two are getting along, cause I'm going to have him stay with you and Sonic for now." She finished as she let Tails out of her hug.
Tails eye's lit up with excitement. "Really, awesome! C'mon Slasher I wanna show you around." He shouted happily as he took Slasher's hand and proceeded to drag Slasher behind him.
Before they got out the door however Sally grabbed hold of Slasher's shoulder and stopped the two of them. "Just a sec Tails I need to talk to Slasher for a second. How 'bout he meets you outside after we're finished." She suggested as she pulled Slasher away from the door.
Tails cheerfully agreed and walked outside. Sally could see that she had Slasher's full attention. "Listen Slasher, I'm going out on a limb here by trusting you. If you do anything to harm Tails or Sonic, so help me; you'll wish you hadn't." she threatened waving a finger at him; her tone giving the dragon every indication that he should believe her.
"You care for the hedgehog a great deal don't you?" Slasher replied in a deep empathetic voice.
His response surprised Sally, and she could not think of anything to say; she wasn't certain if she could tell him the truth or not because if he was an enemy he'd use that knowledge against her, but if he wasn't a threat she didn't want to embarrass herself. Slasher saw this hesitation and decided that he didn't need an answer. "It's alright Princess. I promise you, no harm will come to them by my hand. And I will do my best to protect them if trouble should arise." He said in the deep soothing tone he had used a moment ago.
Sally was again surprised by the creature's words, but she smiled in relief at them. She turned to walk out the doors and Slasher walked by her side. "Is it that obvious?" she asked as they parted the doors of the hospital.
Slasher smiled and laughed a little. "(Heh, heh) I might be a warrior princess, but I could see how much you love him as soon as you attacked me." Sally could feel her cheeks grow warm as she blushed. "The ferocity you attacked with, the pain I could see in your eyes, the way you fought like there was nothing left to lose, it was pretty plain."
"Wow, you are good." She blushed more from his accurate assessment of her emotions in the fight.
"Highness, when you've fought as many battles as I have, you start to pick up things like that in fight. And emotions are easy to read in battle, in some ways it's a gateway to the soul." Slasher laughed at the complement and scratched his head in embarrassment. The pair walked outside the doors and were instantly greeted by Tails as he waited patiently outside.
Meanwhile in Robotropolis…
Dr. Robotnik sat upon his command chair, impatiently tapping away on the arm of the chair as he continued to stare at the readings that were still displayed on the large computer before him; trying to decipher the odd readings. Suddenly a door to the command room swooshed open and Snively entered the room, followed by numerous other mechanical creatures.
The robots came in various shapes and sizes, but all were cold and metallic minions of Robotnik. Two familiar figures walked into the room last, and a bit on edge. Crabmeat entered first, still twisting his new left arm back into place while Coconuts walked in carrying his head under his arm, grumbling about being called away before repairs could be finished.
The other robots lined up in front of Robotnik's chair like a group of soldiers, though, none of them looked alike. The first one to the left was a tall and slender looking, silver coloured chicken by the name of Scratch. The one beside him, called Gounder, was a teal robot that rested on a pair of caterpillar tracks. Its arms and nose ended in drill bits, but they could change into any other machine he needed. Next to him floated a very ugly looking wasp-like 'bot called Buzz-bomber. Its metallic yellow and black body bristled with needle-like missiles and its cold unmoving eyes made it a very fearsome looking machine indeed. The next one over, known as Cater-killer, consisted of series of purple spheres connected by a complex mechanism that held them together and allowed it to move about. Adorning its body were multiple razor sharp spikes and a powerful jaw on its 'head' that could snap the bone any poor animal that got caught in its powerful grasp. The next one over hovered silently about half a meter off the ground using its anti-gravity device to control its hovering. A magnetic polarity device held about five smaller spheres within an invisible magnetic field; allowing the spike-covered balls to orbit the red, spheroid body of Orbinaut. Like all the others, its 'eyes' held a no emotion in them, only a deep hatred for all living things. The last two bots, Crabmeat and Coconuts, were quick to fall in line beside them.
Of course even this array of impressive war-machines had already proven to be
in-capable of stopping Sonic the Hedgehog. Mainly cause they were all morons, they had very simple brains, all most one-track minds at times, but not as bad as the Swatbots. They had their uses since they were more intelligent then the mindless drones of robotisized Mobians and Swatbots so they could be used to coordinate defense and other menial tasks like coordinating construction projects and even security after their first miserable defeat by the hedgehog. But for the task at hand, they might be far better suited.
"Sir, I brought the 'Badnik's as you asked, sir." Snively stated; unnecessarily as far as Robotnik was concerned.
"I can see that, you dolt!" he bellowed at the small minion. Snively shuddered in fear at Robotnik's shouting, the unfeeling 'bots however didn't flinch a bit under the loud noise. "Alright you miserable failures, I have a job for you…" he glowered evilly pushing a button on his command chair. The read-outs on the monitors quickly changed to display a picture of the creature. "I want you to go into the Great Forest and track down this creature." He ordered directing the robots attention to the monitors behind them. And to assist you I'm going to give each of you some upgrades."
All the robots looked at each other with happy expressions. Coconuts' eye's bulge and he quickly whips his head onto its rightful place with a solid clank. "Does this mean we're getting a second chance?" he asked hopingly.
"Yes my mechanical monkey. Complete this task and I will give you all much better duties then the ones you currently fulfill for me. I might even find it in my black heart to do a complete upgrade on all of you. Just remember the price of failure." Robotnik clenched his fist and spoke with venom in his voice. "He will no doubt try to retrieve his crystal, and when he does, I want him taken… ALIVE…."
(! BUM BUM BUMMMM…… (more ominous music) !)
End Ch 6
Phew, well, my pants are extinguished just in time. another chapter down and the story takes another twist. What do you think thus far? Please R&R. and to reiterate Slasher is NOT a digimon. And I know Slasher is a kind of silly name, but I think it suites him. How do you like that, I managed to get all the 'Badniks into the mix as well, "YAY for me!
