Legal stuff is on first chapter, you people should know this by now.

Yay, its finally here, the battle royale! Well what are you waiting for? Why are you reading this! The good stuff is below. Get to it!


A Visitor From Afar

Ch 13. Battle Royale


"You!" Slasher shouted pointing his finger as he stood up; a furious scowl on his face. "I sliced you in half, you should be dead!"

The one Slasher pointed at folded his mechanical arms across his chest and laughed. "Hahahaha…. That's the beauty of being a robot, I can be rebuilt…" Coconuts sneered evilly, thoughts of payback filling his electronic thoughts.

"Unlike you organic trash!" a new voice stated as the hovering Spheroid Orbinaut entered the clearing. "Right Crabmeat?"

At the introduction the small crab clanked its way out of the bushes, snapping his claws menacingly. "Better believe it Orbinaut, I'm dieing to get some payback. How 'bout you Buzz-Bomber?"

"I'd (buzzzz) be happier to see them dieing Crabmeat, how about you (buzzzzz) Cater-killer?" the hornet-like robot buzzed as he flew out of the canopy of a tree.

"The master just told us to bring him back alive, he never said he had to be unharmed." Cater-killer pointed out as he bust out of the ground, his razor-sharp spike glistening in the bright day-light.

With no further warning Crabmeat lashed out one of his large claws at Slasher. His claw moved much faster then Slasher remembered from last time and did not expect his claw to latch on around his ankle with such speed. Crabmeat threw Slasher high into the air much to Tails' and Slasher's surprise.

"Wooooahhh!" Slasher shouted as felt himself flung high into the air, spinning and flipping wildly.

"Hahahahaa…" he flies pretty well, lets keep him up there…" Orbinaut laughed, releasing one of the orbiting balls around him from its magnetic orbit and sent it flying right at the free-falling Slasher. He retracted the spikes on the ball just so he wouldn't harm him… too much!

The projectile hit Slasher square in the chest, sending him back up with the force of the blow. Slasher flew back up for a few feet. "What do you think Buzz-bomber?"

Just as his upward momentum began to fade the hornet-like robot burst out of the trees again and flew on a collision course with Slasher. "I think he (Buzzzz) stinks… (Buzzzz) sorry, but you're grounded!" the robot mocked, ramming Slasher on the right cheek, the force increasing the speed at which Slasher hit the ground.

"UGH!" Slasher groaned as he hit the ground hard. Tails ran beside Slasher, relieved to see him still awake and uninjured.

"Grounded! That's an insult to me!" a muffled voice said from below Slasher and Tails; though the owner of the voice was made clear when Cater-killer burst out of the ground; ramming Slasher in the chest, knocking Tails to the ground with his head. "Take that freaks!" the loathsome worm muttered; slithering back to his comrades.

"I told you; my name is Slasher!" he shouted out and he tried to muster the strength to stand after the repeated beatings.

"(Bah hah) Like we care! Beside it's a dumb name anyway!" Scratch laughed, rolling his head back on his long neck.

"You're one to talk: 'Scratch'!" Tails sassed with great pleasure. Scratch started fuming at that remark.

"That's it you little two-tailed freak, we might have to bring him…" pointing to Slasher. "…back alive; but you're dead!" Scratch raised his laser pistols and centered them on Tails. He pulled the trigger, but Tails revved up his tails and shot up into the air before the blast hit him with time to spare.

"As if; you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" Tails mocked as he landed back beside Slasher, getting an even greater rise out of Scratch.

The other 'Badniks now began to close around the pair forming a wide horseshoe pattern with only Coconuts preventing them from fleeing. Tails and Slasher were encircled and had little chance of escape, unless someone acted now.

"(whisper) Tails, remember that trick you showed me in the village; when I say now, do it!" Slasher muttered trying to speak in riddles that Tails could understand but the 'Badniks wouldn't. Tails thought for minute then nodded he understood Slasher's meaning.

"Trick, what trick! What are you talking about!" Grounder demanded, pointing his arm at them menacingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Slasher lied innocently.

"Yes you do! What were you talking about!" Grounder shouted, his patience wearing thin.

"Alright you win, see these…" Slasher reached into his sash and pulled out several of his custom smoke bombs. "… These are like those things the monkey threw at me, but much more powerful, easily enough to destroy all of you!" a grin of malice and false-bravado crept across his long muzzle,

The 'Badniks looked at each other nervously; unsure of what to make of this. "You better back off before you get blown apart!" Slasher raised his hand holding the small spheres above his head, preparing to throw them at the intimidated 'Badniks. Some of the 'Badniks did back up a little, others didn't, like Orbinaut and Scratch.

"Is that so; prove it!" Scratch said, calling Slasher's bluff.

"Suit yourself…" Slasher said coolly shrugging his shoulders. Slasher moved to throw the spheres down; causing the "Badniks to a jump back as they expected him to throw the spheres at them. "NOW TAILS!" He threw the smoke bombs to his feet, each exploding smoke bomb creating a loud noise, a massive flash and huge plumes of black smoke as they struck the ground. Within the black cloud Slasher grabbed hold of Tails' hand and felt a himself being pulled aloft as Tails started to fly them up and away with the rising black plume.

"Ahhh!" Scratch and the other 'Badniks screamed in surprise.

"My optics, can't see!" Grounder wailed incoherently. Inside each of their respective minds their onboard computers began to recalibrate the optic sensors and return sight. It took a moment or two but finally all of them could see plainly again.

Scratch stared furiously at the column of smoke that the bombs were still creating. "You think that can hide you! Coconuts, give 'em a double!"

"You got it chicken legs!" Coconuts replied, pulling out two grenades and threw them on opposite sides of the rising plume of smoke. The combined power of the grenades created a massive explosion, and threw up huge spouts of earth. The grenades did serve to disperse the smoke column. But as the dust settled Scratch could see one thing plainly…. "THEY'RE GONE!" Scratch screamed gripping his head in horror. "Spread out and find them!"

The 'Badniks ran off in different directions, frantically searching the surrounding forest. But at that moment Slasher and Tails sat on the limb of a tree not too far away snickering amongst themselves. "Man Slasher, the way you act sometimes, I'd never of imagined you were one to bluff like that!" Tails bemused aloud.

"What, you think I've survived this long without bluffing my way out of a few fights?" Slasher smiled mischievously. The pair shared a momentary laugh.

"So what now?" Tails asked, his ears drooping. "We can't get back to Knothole with these 'Badniks roaming the forest…"

"And I don't even know the way back. Besides, I don't run from a fight!" Slasher added, slamming a closed fist into his other hand.

"But how are we supposed to fight them; its seven on two! Plus, they're way tougher then they use to be!" Tails replied, his voice mired in doubt and worry.

"We can't worry about that, we just have to fight them one at a time if possible; they may be tougher, but we're smarter." Slasher patted Tails on the back with a reassuring smile.

"Sez you!" Crabmeat called out beneath them at the base of the tree. Before Tails or Slasher could react, Crabmeat clamped onto the tree with his claws and sliced the trunk in half. The tree began to fall and with Slasher and Tails on one side it began to tip over on their side.

"Tails, jump for it!" Slasher yelled, pushing Tails off the branch as he jumped in another direction. Tails fell from the tree, whirled up his tails and flies away, but Slasher isn't quite as fast to react. As he leaps from his branch, another branch catches Slasher and brings him down with the rest of the tree.

Tails wheeled around just in time to see the tree crash to the ground with the sickening sound of branches snapping under the force. "Slasher!" Tails shouted scanning the fallen foliage for any signs of movement from Slasher.

"(Buzzzzz) Worry about your own skin, fox!" Buzz-Bomber shouted before firing off several pin-sized missiles. Tails spun around and flew behind another nearby tree to avoid the miniature missiles. The missiles struck the trunk of the tree, and despite their size the ensuing explosions shredded the large tree trunk to splinters, causing the canopy to come crashing down.

"Whoa, those little things pack a wallop!" Tails shouted in surprise as he quickly dodged the falling tree canopy.

"I'm (Buzzzzz) so glad you noticed; now lets (Buzzzz) see what they do to you!" Buzz-Bomber retorted; firing off another salvo of missiles. The missiles drew nearer but just as they would make contact Tails flew straight up, narrowly dodging all of them. But as a confident smile crept across Tails' face he looked behind himself to see all five missiles turn back; zeroing in on his position.

"Yeeow! They never did that before either!" Tails shrieked, racing off to distance himself from the missiles. The deadly projectiles closed in at a rapid rate. "(gulp) I don't think I can out run those things! I'll just have to out smart them!"

"Not if I don't let you!" Buzz-Bomber chuckled, firing his stinger laser gun as he chased after Tails. Tails, now forced to duck and weave through laser fire while at the same time keep ahead of the missiles, found it hard to focus his mind to think of a way out of this mess.


While Buzz-Bomber busied himself with Tails, Crabmeat chuckled away with pride at bringing down Slasher with such ease. "Heh heh heh heh… so much for him." He boasted with great glee as he clattered closer to the canopy so he could dig his prize out.

"Don't count your young before they hatch, Crab-legs!" Slasher shouted as he lunged at Crabmeat from the fallen tree. Slasher did a hand-spring off of Crabmeats body landing behind him with ease. "I'm not down for the count yet!"

"What! Grrrr…. No matter I'll take you down anyways, I'm tougher then you remember!" Crabmeat proclaimed extending his claws too quickly for Slasher to react. Both claws clamped onto Slasher's vambraces. "Let's just see how tough you are without your hands!" he said with a sinister malice in his voice.

He started to squeeze, but much to Crabmeat's amazement the metal did not seem to be buckling under the considerable pressure he exerted on them. "That's impossible… how can those things resist my squeeze! No matter, I can just as easily pull your arms right out of their sockets!" Crabmeat loosened his clamping claws a little, and pulled Slasher's arms apart, pulling as hard as possible to rip his arms right out.

"ARGHHH!" Slasher yelled in pain. Thinking quickly Slasher noticed Crabmeat had pulled him too close to his body. Slasher kicked Crabmeat several times in the body with his sharp toe claws, barely doing any damage.

"Hahahaha! You think that's going to do anything, I've seen how you fight, your little tricks, and now you're helpless!" Crabmeat laughed at Slasher's feeble attempts, pulling harder to reward his efforts.

"UUUGHH! You fought me as an adult (ugh) not as a kid!" Slasher stated lifting his tail back, then swinging it with all his might at one of eyes that sat atop the antenna sprouting from Crabmeat's body. The dagger like spike shattered the robotic eye sending sparks forth from the gaping wound.

"AHhhh! MY EYE!" Crabmeat screamed in anguish, releasing Slasher from his death grip to sooth the damage. Slasher had no time to rub the pain out of his shoulders since this opportunity would not last long.

"Ergha!" Slasher drove an extended battle claw deep into Crabmeats' body. Feeling a small electrical jolt Slasher quickly retracted the blades just before a much bigger electrical surge coursed through the crab's body.

The body writhed and twitched wildly before falling to the ground limply. Slasher stared over the wreckage for any movement when suddenly one of the crab's claw swung up, clipping Slasher under the chin. "(Zzzt) Power (bzzzzt) failure… Mmmmemory lost… AI mmmatrix deactivating to conserve power (zzzt) initiating (Bzzzzzt) self-defence combat pro-zzzt protocol." The machine spoke; its tone not the normal voice of Crabmeat, but a much more machine like quality.

"How many times do I have to kill this thing!" Slasher groaned to himself. The robot blindly charged at full speed, swinging its claws wildly. Slasher stood his ground, extending the other battle claw in preparation. The machine grabbed hold of Slasher's left arm, Slasher swung down with his right battle claw, slicing into the robotic arm, leaving two sparking gashes. He swung again cutting the arm about three quarters of the way through. The claw lost its grip and the weight of the claw tore the arm the rest of the way off, falling to the ground with a muffled thud.

The robot backed away, its one eye gazing at its opponent with a blank, unemotional robotic stare that was creepy in a way. Slasher stared back at the robot, planning his next move. Which became abruptly interrupted as a laser blast hit the soft dirt in front of Slasher. He looked to his right and saw Scratch running up to attack. Slasher dove behind a tree just as several more shots connected with the side of the tree. "Great, now what!"


Tails weaved between tree after tree dodging both laser fire and those pesky missiles, especially since Buzz-Bomber fired new missiles to replace the ones that hit the trees. Tails knew he couldn't keep this up forever; sooner or later he would tire out and get hit by something.

Tails broke hard right around a particularly large tree, while Buzz-Bomber, who had been flying too closely, was forced to break left around the other side to get a better firing angle, narrowly avoiding the concussion blasts of the missile impacts. When Buzz-Bomber cleared the trees trunk he look ahead expecting to see Tails, but saw nothing but forest. He kept flying straight, scanning for the fox's heat signature.

He passed slowly underneath the canopy a low lying tree when suddenly Tails burst out of the overhead leaves, drop-kicking Buzz-Bomber square in the head. Buzz-Bomber flipped several times before he righted himself automatically. One of the antenna atop his head had been broken off from the attack and Buzz-bomber growled in anger.

"Nyah nyah! Bet you can't catch me!" Tails taunted waving his hands beside his head with his tongue hanging out. Before Buzz-Bomber could say anything Tails flew off at full speed; straight up one of the larger trees.

Buzz-bomber growled again and took off after his prey. The two spiral upwards around the massive tree, dodging one another as well as the thick branches along the trunk. Tails landed on one of these branches for a moment and waited, mostly to catch his breathe, but when Buzz-bomber rounded the tree, oblivious to Tails' position, Tails saw his chance. Buzz-Bomber passed under the branch exactly the way Tails had wanted.

Timing his move perfectly Tails leaped onto Buzz-Bomber's back, grabbing hold of the two rocket pack supports. "Hey! Get off'a me!" Buzz-bomber shrieked in surprise.

"Fat chance bug-boy!" Tails replied holding for dear life as Buzz-Bomber speed up. Buzz-Bomber ducked and weaved through the forest trying to shake Tails off his back; all to no avail. Tails pulled himself higher onto Buzz-Bomber's back and released his grip on the right rocket support. He punched several times on the robots head, though he found the metal far too tough to punch through.

Tails suddenly got a brain storm and decided to act on it. He grabbed hold of the left rocket with both hands then leapt off, still holding onto the thin metal support. As Tails had expected the support broke off, causing Buzz-Bomber to careen out of control.

"YAAAAGHHH! Moving too fast! Can't slow down!" Buzz-Bomber wailed just before he collided into the trunk of a massive tree. The large bug-bot exploded into little bits of hot, smoking metal that fell back to the ground.

"Whew! Now to find Slasher…" Tails breathed out a sigh of relief and turned to head back and find what had become of his friend. From the eerie quiet of the forest Tails could suddenly pick out the ringing report of several laser shots. "Oh no… Slasher's in trouble!" Tails wound up his twin appendages and readied himself to race back and help his friend when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Tails!" Sally shouted, as Sonic screeched to a stop a few meters away. She ran up to him hugged him with so much relief flowing through her that she failed to notice Tails couldn't breathe. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright…"

Sonic walked up behind Sally and put a hand on her shoulder, snapping Sally back to reality. Realizing she was squeezing the life out of Tails she released her grip.

After allowing Tails a moment to catch his breathe Sally decided to ask the kit about what she had noticed when they first arrived. "Tails, where's Slasher?"

"He's back that way, there's a whole bunch of 'Badniks after him and their badder then ever; we gotta help him!" Tails pleaded with his infamous sad-puppy-dog eyes.

"That way?" Sonic confirmed pointing his finger in the direction Tails had specified.

"Yea, hurry, I can hear lasers firing!" Tails shouted as Sonic disappeared in a cloud of thrown up dirt.

"C'mon Tails he might need some help." Sally added running off.

"Right behind you 'Aunt' Sally" Tails shouted as he raced after her.


Meanwhile at Slasher's location….

"Give it up short-stuff; you can't hope to beat me!" Scratch shouted out, firing several more laser blasts at the tree Slasher had taken refuge behind.

Slasher growled in frustration; "The chicken's right, as long as he keeps shooting I can't get close enough to attack, just like with the Swatbots last night."

Scratch had Slasher pinned, there were no other trees nearby that he could reach without being hit. And Scratch knew it; ordering the other 'Badniks gathered behind him to move in on his position. With sinister grins the other bots obliged, slowly advancing on Slasher's position. "Just be careful…" Scratch warned as he continued to fire off shots at Slasher's tree. "… Just look what he did to Crabmeat!"

The other bots looked to the right and saw the badly damaged Crabmet dancing around, waving his arms around like a fool singing: "I'm a little tea pot, short and stout…" the other bots shook their heads in dismay. The damaged systems were trying to reboot, but there were too many damaged systems by the looks of it.

The sinister grins on some of the bots disappeared; while others became determined to avenge the little bot. Grounder took point while Scratch and Coconuts followed in behind leaving Orbinaut to hang back as Kater-Killer dove into the ground.

Slasher sat at the base of the tree, keeping his back tight against the rough bark of the tree, but hearing a sudden lack of incoming laser blasts, he could guess what would happen next. Determined to not let that happen, Slasher extended the battle claws on his arms. Slasher could hear footsteps, (or tread steps, whatever) approaching on his left so he slowly, quietly picked himself up off the ground; keeping his back tightly pressed against the tree trunk.

Slasher flattened his ears and spikes against his head, poking his head around the tree trunk. He got a quick glance before Scratch fired on his position; forcing Slasher to duck his head back.

As Grounder neared the tree he converted one of his arms into a large laser gun; while his other arm converted into a hand to steady the weapon. Grounder grinned with salvage glee. "There's no way he can get away now!" He started to round the tree hugging it closely, planning to catch him by surprise.

Slasher knew of Grounder's approach, but he didn't know he if he were fast enough to strike before Grounder could fire. Suddenly Kater-Killer's head poked out of the ground on Slasher's right; although Katter-Killer had surfaced facing the wrong direction. Kater-Killer looked around in bewilderment, turning his whole body around before either Slasher or Kater-Killer noticed one another. Slasher's heart jumped when he saw Kater-Killer right next to him and even more so as he realized Grounder was just starting to edge his way around the tree.

Kater-Killer hissed in evil delight and lunged for Slasher. Slasher batted Kater-Killers head away, deflecting his main attack, but those claws were still a threat and could easily slice him up. Slasher did the only thing he could think of… he leapt backwards, vaulting over Grounder just as the 'bot rounded the tree. Slasher momentarily balanced on Coconuts' head before redirecting himself towards Scratch. As Slasher flew threw the air towards Scratch he spun himself in mid-air, letting his arms swing freely, making him look like a spinning top.

Thanks to Scratch's improved reflexes he jumped back in time to avoid the brunt of the dragon's attack. Even so the spinning blades sliced into Scratch's metal armour, leaving distinctive claw marks in the thick metal hide.

Slasher landed gracefully in the midst of the 'Badniks, not moving even as they surrounded him. Anger filled the emotionless eyes of the 'Badniks, but if Slasher were worried in the least bit, his unwavering frown and cold fierce stare showed no sign of it.

"We have him now!" Grounder grinned as he closed in on their prize.

Slasher looked up from his stone posture and looked to Scratch with a grin of undeniable confidence and spoke with a voice lacking any trace of fear or uncertainty. "We'll just see about that!"


End Ch 13

O curse these cliff-hangers eh? Well I'm sorry to report that this will be the last up date for a while as I'm leaving for a vacation now. (Curse not having a laptop!) But fear not, this does not mean I've given up the story, I will update as soon as I get back so hang tight!