thx to Ri2 for being the only person to send in more then one review, glad you like the back story. there's obviously more to Slasher's story, but I don't have the time to write that much info; that's another story entirely that i'd be better off posting it on that i know there's more of you people reading this, that's right I can see you sitting there at your computer. if you like or dislike my story PLEASE send a review (no flames of course), it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know people are reading my stuff and liking it. or alternatively reading it and taking time to give me a few helpful corrections and pointers.
sorry about taking so long to update, it took me quite some time to go back and redo the original chapters, bearing in mind the originals just got chopped up, this is the first NEW chapter added. moving on, I shall now shut up and let you read the story instead of my incessant ramblings.
A Visitor From Afar
Ch. 10 Ambush
Somewhere deep within the Great Forest…
The chirping of the local birds droned on blissfully as bright sunshine streamed through the branches of the towering tree tops. Small animals roamed about on the forest floor peacefully nibbling away on the tender leaves and undergrowth to the music of the song birds above. The stump of a once proud maple tree stood within a small clearing of its fellow species. The center of the stump began to lift away as a golden-orange fox cautiously pushed away the trap door on well hidden hinges. The fox cautiously scanned for any signs of hostiles from his relatively hidden position.
Seeing that the coast clear, Tails smiled and looked back over his shoulder and carefully lead a blindfolded Slasher from the entrance and lead him onto the forest floor; advising him to watch his step as he did so. Tails left Slasher's side for a moment and closed the trap door over the hollow stump, securing the secret entrance. He rushed back to Slasher and let Slasher grab hold of Tails' shoulder so he could lead him deeper into the forest.
"Okay, you can take the blindfold off now." Tails announced once they were a safe distance from the stump entrance. Slasher eagerly reached behind his head and untied the blindfold that had annoyed the dragon ever since he had placed in on inside the secret tunnel that had led to the exit.
Blinking a few times to allow his eyes to adjust to the bright light that now filled his retina's, Slasher let out a gasp of awe at the sight he beheld. The forest was beautiful, trees standing twenty meters high at least, all the way up flowers, lichens, and creepers adorned the sides of the massive trees. Slasher figured it would take ten creatures his own size holding hands to go around the base of many of these old growth trees. The wildlife had stopped briefly to observe what had entered the wilderness, but resumed their songs and cries once they saw that the newcomer were no threat. The site was awe inspiring, even for a person like Slasher who had walked through many forests where he lived, but none were nearly as magnificent as this one.
"I can see why you call this place the 'Great' Forest." Slasher mused to his smaller comrade looking high into the towering trees.
"Yea, it's beautiful alright, too bad Robotnik will just about anything to destroy places like this." Tails remorsefully lowered his head. "C'mon, I'll show you where we're gonna eat." Tails perked up a bit, but his walk still showed his heart weighed heavy.
Slasher could see how this was affecting Tails so he decided to change the subject as they proceeded through the depths of the forest. "Tails, you said you're friends with that Sonic guy right?" Tails nodded silently, not sure what Slasher was getting at. "What can you tell me about him?"
Tails' demeanour instantly brightened up. "Sonic, he's the biggest hero in the whole world; and more importantly, he's been my best bud since I was a kid, he's the coolest guy ever." He answered cheerfully, recalling on his young, idolizing memories of his best friend. "One time he…" Tails voice trailed off as the pair meandered deeper into the great forest, oblivious of what headed their way.
Elsewhere in the forest…..
In this part of the forest, the mood of the forest was distinctly different from the one that Tails and Slasher enjoyed. The forest was eerily silent; all of the singing birds were either long gone or quietly huddling within their nests, praying not to be seen by what walked upon the forest floor. The forest animals that had been aimlessly wandering about in search of food fled in the wake of these menacing intruders. And just what were these creatures that drove such fear into the hearts of these primitive animals to freeze their voices in their throats and cause them to run for fear of them.
Bushes begin to rustle on the outskirts of a forest clearing… something approached. The rustling grew stronger and stronger as the foot steps and noises of machines drew nearer. Suddenly the bushes are trampled under the weight of a skinny robotic chicken as it sauntered out of the bushes, disregarding the flowers it had trampled in doing so. Followed closed behind was a green tracked robot sporting drill bits on the ends of its arms and on its nose. This robot crushed even more flowers following its comrade through the bush.
Grounder stopped in the middle of the clearing next to Scratch and looked around the forest, scanning for their target, but saw nothing. This has been the way of things for the last two hours of their search. The disgruntled robot looked to his counter part with what passed for annoyed glare from his robotic face. "Scratch, we've been looking for hours, and we still haven't found anything. Lets head back to Robotropolis, all these plants are getting stuck in my treads." Grounder whined as he pointed one of his arms to the mass of plants and mud adhered to his caterpillar tracks.
"Ah, quite yer whining ya baby, you heard Robotnik: don't come back until we get that creature." The bossy chicken barked back in his high pitched, scratchy voice.
"Scratch,-we-have-found-nothing-in-grid-ten." Announced Orbinaut in his robotic, monotone voice as the red sphere-shaped robot entered the clearing, its unique orbiting spiked balls cutting through the air around the bot. Following closely behind Obinaut, Buzz-Bomber fluttered in, its high-speed wings creating the same kind of buzzing a real hornet makes.
"Ditto in grid four, chicken boy." Coconuts added as he and Crabmeat entered the clearing from yet another direction.
Scratch rubbed the underside of his beak with his robotic wing absent-mindedly when all of a sudden the ground beneath him suddenly erupted upwards. Scratch jumped back in surprise just in time to avoid getting hit by Catekiller's re-surfacing face. "Watch where yer going ya stupid worm!" Scratch shouted in surprise and anger at the careless robot.
Catekiller disregarded the insult and went straight to reporting its findings. "Nothing in grid nine boss." He reported his more numerous golden-coloured spikes quivering with great disgust with having to refer to the chicken as its superior.
Scratch was just about to order the other 'Badniks to spread out and keep searching, but as his robotic eye scanned his forest surroundings he thought he saw something with his red-hinted thermal lens through the thick foliage of the forest. He could see the bushes and trees of varying shades from blue green, depending on if the surface was in the sun's glare, but something, something moving very fast had caught his attention. Whatever he might have seen was emanating much more heat then the trees and bushes; but whatever he had seen was gone now. But as he scanned farther to the left he noticed against the backdrop of the very cool blue that Scratch assumed was the nearby lake, he could make out… two heat signatures, both distinctively redder then their surroundings. The images were too distorted by the noon-day heat to pick out their exact shape, but there were defiantly two concentrated sources of heat, and the rough shape they formed was that of two living things. "Hey, over there… by the lake!" Scratch exclaimed excitedly pointing in the direction he was looking. The other robots did likewise and became excited as well. "Split up and surround 'em." Scratch ordered, his spirits rising considerably… if he truly had a spirit that is. With that the pairs of robots spread out and headed in the direction of the heat signatures.
Meanwhile back in Knothole….
Bunnie casually walked though the village, still propping her limp robotic arm with her real one as she went. She took special care to avoid walking though the more populated sections of the village in order to avoid having to answer any unwanted questions.
She had nearly made it across the village without drawing any attention to herself but all that came to a hearty crash as Antoine rounded a hut just ahead of her. Antoine spotted her immediately and hurried over to her without even noticing how Bunnie held her limp arm.
"Ah, mademoiselle Bunnie, how I missed you at ze meeting." Antoine greeted, his gaze never leaving Bunnie's beautiful violet eyes. Seeing Bunnie raise her eyebrow inquisitively, Antoine stopped to ponder just what he had actually said, realizing the suggestive nature of his comment Antoine blushed, and tried to stammer out an apology. "P-pardon-eh-moi, my Engleesh iz not zo good. But, I am wondering as to where you are off to?"
Bunnie was anxious to get away before Antoine discovered her arm, but wanted to do so discretely, she was enjoying the attention a great deal; plus she had also picked up on Antoine's slip-of-the-tongue. She knew that sometimes Antoine blurted out what was actually on his mind by mistake. It was something she had gotten very good at picking out with all the time she'd spent trying to decipher his bad accent all the time. "Oh nothin' much Sugar-'Twan; Ah was just practisin' at the spar'n ring."
"Oh I zee…" Antoine let his gaze fall from Bunnie's eyes and noticed something strange about her arm, particularly the way her hand dangled limply at the wrist. "Uh, Bunnie, iz something wrong; you're arm looks like ze wimp noodle."
"That's 'Limp' noodle 'Twan, and Ah'm fine." Bunnie corrected, turning to the side so Antoine would see the real problem. "Ah, uh, must'a knocked somethin' loose in mah arm when Ah was practisin', s'all." Antoine nodded, believingly, he had seen her break numerous practice dummies to pieces during the Freedom Fighters many training sessions, and something like this happening was fairly common, so it struck Antoine as nothing unusual.
"Zo, you are going to see Rotor zen, yes?" Antoine asked in his cheery accent.
"Yes, Antoine." Bunnie sighed. "Antoine always did have a knack fer stat'n the obvious." She thought to herself.
"Zhen allow me to be escorting you there Madame." Antoine offered with a gentlemanly bow.
"Thanks Antoine but Ah'll…" Bunnie started to protest but as Antoine his head from his little bow he noticed a streak of oil streaking down her arm from under where her real hand held her arm.
"What iz zat?" Antoine inquired as he pulled Bunnie's hand away before Bunnie could react. As he pulled her oil soaked hand away he could see the jagged edges of the three holes in her metallic arm. "ZUT ALORS! How did Zhis happen!" Antoine exclaimed taking a closer look at the damage.
"AH'm fine Sugar-Twan!" Bunnie pulled her arm out of Antoine's grip angrily.
"You are far from fine mademoiselle Bunnie, now tell me, who did zhis horreeble theeng to you?" Antoine insisted with a sternness Bunnie had never seen before.
"Look Antoine, me an' Slasher were spar'n and things got a lil' outta hand. It's noth'n, really." Bunnie persisted to shrug off Antoine's concern, but this did nothing to calm him down.
"You were sparring weeth Slashaire'… he was ze one zat did zhis to you!" Antoine exclaimed, putting two and two together. "Zat fiend! I shall make heem pay for zhis." Antoine turned to dash off and find Slasher but Bunnie grabbed his shoulder before he could do so.
"Now look'y her 'Twan, it was an accident. Ah don't want you start'n something cause a lil' ole' me; got it?" Bunnie said forcefully, never letting her hands grip loosen on Antoine's shoulder.
"But I…" Antoine began to protest but seeing the pleading, yet forceful look in her eyes, he let his anger fade away, for her sake. "Oui, I shall not be picking ze fight zhen."
"Good, now how's 'bout we head over ta Rotor's place together Sugar?" Bunnie offered playfully batting her eyelashes.
"But I thought you were not to be wanting me to escort you to Rotor's?" Antoine asked surprised by Bunnie's sudden change of heart.
"Well, Ah couldn't say no to such a kind offer from such a nice gentleman." Bunnie said wrapping her real arm though Antoine's arm. Antoine blushed a deep red that was clearly visible, even under his tan-coloured fur. Antoine gulped nervously, but regained himself quickly, and smiled as the two walked off side by side, arm in arm.
Meanwhile, at the old lake….
Sonic stood back to proudly admire his handy work; the picnic site was excellent; they had an excellent view of the lake. The blanket he had thrown down on the ground was held down firmly by the large basket of food that Sonic had brought with him; mostly chilli dogs he had cooked up earlier and wrapped in tin-foil to keep warm.
The smell that slowly escaped though the tin-foil made Sonic's mouth drool in anticipation, taunting him to not wait for his best buddy to show up. The wait was really starting to annoy Sonic as he paced back and forth, his resolve slowly being eaten away by the delicious smell wafting from the picnic basket.
Just when Sonic was about to give in to his craving and leap at the chilidogs and devour them without even bothering to remove the foil; Tails emerged from behind a stand of bushes. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, almost about to leap at the basket in fact, and quickly returned to a more innocent looking stance in hopes Tails didn't see him. "Oh… um, hi Tails." He muttered weakly trying to cover his embarrassment.
Tails had seen Sonic prepare to dive for the basket, but he decided not to bug him about it, though a small giggle escape as he entered the clearing. He was already a little anxious about how Sonic would react to his guest as it is; so no sense in getting him riled up early. "Hey, Sonic!" Tails greeted cheerfully. "Umm… hope you don't mind I brought someone else with me?"
"No problemo big guy, who'd you…" Sonic stopped his sentence short as the answer to his question rounded the bush behind Tails. A wave of anger filled his veins as Slasher entered the clearing, a look of uncertainly on the dragons face. "What's he doing here?" Sonic snapped pointing a finger menacingly at the approaching dragon.
"It's cool Sonic; I invited him, I, uh, was hoping you two might get to know each other better." Tails shyly admitted, his ears drooping at Sonic's negative reaction.
"I know about as much as I wanna know already. He's a cold-blooded murderer, and I don't wanna have anything ta do with him." Sonic said, disgust in his voice; speaking to Tails like Slasher wasn't present. Slasher, now beside Tails, scowled angrily, eyes narrowing from the hedgehog's unkind remarks.
"For some one who has such a high reputation of being a great hero and friend, you certainly don't act like one." Slasher replied coldly, his face remaining in an angry scowl.
"Hey, I don't need any moral advice from someone who kills his own species!" Sonic shouted thinking back to the story Dulcy had relayed to him..
"You think I enjoy killing other living creatures! I do what must be done! I can't afford to hesitate because of my conscience. If I do I'm as good as dead, and then my world is doomed!" Slasher clenched his fists in anger, his voice rising.
"That just sounds like an excuse to me." Sonic spoke with more control in his volume, but his words were like icy daggers.
"And what else could I do, hmm…?" Slasher mused, his glistening razor-sharp teeth showing. "Beat them to a pulp and hope they won't do it again? These creatures intend to murder all life on my world, including me. I must protect the ones I swore to safe-guard. I would have thought a fellow warrior would understand. But then, you don't seem to be much of anything, and certainly not a warrior; you certainly don't fight as one."
Slasher's insult struck a nerve in Sonic's pride. "That's it, I don't have ta stay here and listen ta this; I'm outta here!" Sonic yelled out, bursting off into the forest leaving Tails and Slasher behind in his wake.
Tails and Slasher were silent for a long time, neither wanting to say anything. Tails was hurt far more then Slasher though, Slasher was used to being rejected by others, it happened a lot back where he came from, not everyone liked the Elite's; and they especially disliked their habit of bringing trouble wherever they traveled, not like they chose to.
Tails finally broke the unwelcome silence. "Sorry about that Slasher, I, I didn't think Sonic would react like that to you." Tails apologized, knowing it was kind of a hollow apology.
"(Sigh) It's alright Tails…" Slasher began, but suddenly his ear twitched as he heard the singing birds stop their melodious cries begin to be over shadowed by the loud cawing of approaching crows. All the song birds in the area stopped their singing and took to the skies all at once, flying in the same direction the crows were headed. The forest was suddenly plunged into an eerie silence and both Slasher and Tails started to feel anxiety growing as the silence dragged on. The sound of rustling bushes nearby drew their attention across the clearing and both stood their ground, unsure of what was approaching.
Suddenly, Scratch and Grounder burst out of the bushes and stood triumphantly at the edge of the clearing. "(Bah ha aha ha) Well, well, what do we have here?" Scratch mocked as he put his silver wings on his hips. Slasher readied himself for a fight, but was still unsure what might happen. Tails on the other hand looked less the worried.
"I don't know Scratch, what?" Grounder asked as he turned to face the robo-chicken. In doing so however, Grounder's treads rolled on top of Scratch's toes.
"(Bakah!)" Scratch screamed as Grounder crushed his poor little toes. "Get off my foot you moron!" he yelled desperately trying to push the heavy robot off his foot. Grounder rolled backwards so that Scratch could pull his foot out from under the treads and after doing so grabbed his foot and started hoping around in a comical fashion as he wailed out painfully and started arguing with the numbskull robot.
Seeing this display, Slasher relaxed from his fighting stance and exchanged a confused glance with Tails. "(whisper) Um, Tails, who are these clowns?" he asked, keeping his voice down so to not gain the attention of the bickering robots.
"(Sigh) It's just Scratch and Grounder, they're a couple of dim-witted 'Badnik's we fought way-back-when." Tails explained half-heartedly.
"Were they tough?" he asked, though by watching those two still arguing he figured he could guess the answer.
"To put as Sonic said once: "I've had a tougher time with a toaster." Tails replied laughing as he finished his quote. Slasher didn't know what a toaster was, but he laughed anyway, it certainly sounded funny the way he described it.
"What was that!" Grounder yelled when he heard what Tails said.
"What are you doing here; shouldn't you be cleaning a toilet somewhere?" Tails mocked placing his fists on his hips chidingly.
"Stay out of this small fry. We're here for the freak show!" Scratch threatened pointing his feathery finger at Slasher menacingly. "So if ya don't wanna get hurt; buzz off."
"Why would they be after Slasher?" Tails wondered as he shared a surprised glance with the red dragon. "I may not know why they're after him, but there's no way I'm going to let them capture him." Tails assured himself before reality came rushing back to him. "There's no way I'm going to let you just walk in here and take him, Scratch." Tails said clenching his fist as he stepped in front of Slasher defensively. "(Whisper) Slasher, get ready to make a run for it, I'll hold these tin cans off." Tails whispered over his shoulder to Slasher.
Scratch looked less then surprised at Tails' defiance and simply shrugged his shoulders confidently. "(Bah ha hah ha!) Do you really think a little pip-squeak like you can stop us!" Scratch scoffed, grinning evilly seeing Tails' worried expression.
"Bring it on ya over grown trash can!" Tails shouted boldly as he readied himself to fight. He was alarmed when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder.
He looked behind himself to see the hand belonged to Slasher, standing proudly beside him. "You're not alone." Slasher stated plainly with a smile on his face, stepping out from behind Tails to his side as he spoke.
"Ha, you think teaming up with that freak will help you beat us… think again." Scratch proclaimed triumphantly.
"My name is Slasher, you ca tell your boss that; that is, if you manage to limp your way back to tell him after we're though with you that is." Slasher smirked confidently, flashing his arms out to the sides, allowing his battle claws to extend from the armbands.
"OOOOhhh, I'm shaking in my treads now, right Scratch." Grounder mocked by shaking his body pretending to be scared. "Robotnik sent us out for you, but I'm sure he'd be more then happy with me if I bring Tails back as well." Grounder gloated, a wicked grin crossing his plated face.
"Hey! Who says you're going to get the credit for catching them. I was the one who spotted them!" Scratch shouted angrily at the obstinate machine that stood a good two feet shorter then himself.
"So, I'm going to be the one who'll actually catch them, I'm the one with all the gadgets and weapons popping out of my arms; all you can do is beak off." Grounder accused sticking the tip of his drill-bit hand against Scratches torso.
"WHAT I'D I TELL YOU ABOUT THOSE BAD PUNS?" Scratch screamed, peaking furiously on the top of Grounders green head.
Tails and Slasher exchanged bewildered glaces of amusement at the spectacle that the two robots were putting on. "They always lose focus like this?" Slasher asked, his grin widening as Grounder countered Scratch's peaking with a few mild laser blasts in the butt.
"Yep." Tails nonchalantly shaking his head in embarrassment.
"No wonder Sonic beat them so easily." Slasher mused as Scratch resorted to beating Grounder with his metal wings.
"Well, we can see you two are busy, so maybe you can try to catch us some other time." Tails apologized sarcastically waving for Slasher to make a break for it as he stepped back from the combating robots.
Slasher and Tails hurried to the edge of the clearing, rounding the girth of a fallen log to do so. Just as they neared the end of the log, a thin red beam narrowly cut in front of Slasher hitting a dead branch jutting out from the dead log. The branch exploded into tiny splinters causing both of them to duck behind the relative safety of the log as they shout out in surprise.
They cautiously poked their heads over the top of the log, wary that the beam might be fired again. Scratch stood triumphantly on the other side of the large clearing twirling the smoking muzzle of a laser pistol in his metallic, feathered hand.
"You really think we're that stupid?" Scratch shouted out.
"Is that a trick question?" Tails called back, grinning as Scratch fired a wild shot over his head. "Since when did you have weapons like that anyway, Scratch?" He shouted to Scratch, keeping low in case Scratch fired again
"(Bah hah) Robotnik gave us some new upgrades, how's about we test them out on them Grounder?" Scratch jeered twirling a pistol in each of his wings.
"Sounds good to me, Scratch." Grounder agreed retracting the drill on his arm and extended a metal hand, clenching it for greater emphasis.
"If you think that some fancy weapon you have is going to beat us, guess again." Slasher shouted, raising his head higher above the log defiantly.
"Oh, they ain't the only one, what got new toys…" a new, yet strangely familiar, voice said from behind Tails and Slasher as a brown, round object landed on the ground next to Slasher coming to rest against the log.
Slasher instantly recognized the object… "One of those strange round objects that…" Slasher thoughts stopped cold as he remembered what happened the last time he had seen one of these things. "LOOK OUT!"
End Ch 10
I told you things were heating up, and the ensuing fight is going to be awesome, mass ass-wupping was never better. Sit tight because I'm going to try and update the story as soon as possible.
