Blah blah blah, you know where the legal stuff is, lets get to the fighting already!


A Visitor From Afar

Ch. 15 Battle's Edge


"Gotcha ya now ya two-tailed freak…" The green 'Badnik proclaimed; pointing the laser at the entrapped fox. Tails closed his eyes and looked away from the 'Badnik in fear.

Then suddenly: "NOOO!" Slasher screamed as he whipped two smoke bombs directly at Grounder.

The two silver spheres smashed right into Grounder's head; leaving two large, black singe marks on his polished green armour. "Aaahhh!" he shouted in surprise. The impact of the miniature explosives did little damage but did greatly surprise Grounder.

"What da!" Grounder muttered as he rotated his treads to the right while Tails craned his head over to see as well. There, standing on a nearby, recently felled tree, stood Slasher, limping distinctly on his right. "You wanna piece a' me?" Grounder threatened pointing a metal drill at the dragon.

"You threaten me, and try to kill my friend…" Slasher stated, whipping out his battle claws in mid-sentence. "… you better believe I want 'a piece of you!"

"OOoo, I'm shak'n in my treads." Grounder mocked fear, while two boxing gloves popped out of his metal arm cowlings. Slasher's eyebrow's shot up as he tried to figure out exactly what Grounder expected to do with the comically large bright red gloves.

Grounder hopped back and forth on his treads imitating a boxer's fighting rhythm; much to the bewilderment of Slasher. He had never seen boxer's where he came from, so this seemed extremely strange to him. Grounder, jabbed a few times shadow boxing with himself. But when Grounder launched another jab Slasher would have never guessed that the glove would suddenly shoot forward with his extendable arm and fly upwards giving a solid upper-cut right into Slasher's mid-section that sent him flying high into the tree canopy.

"Whooaaaa!" Slasher wailed as was hurled high into the air, then into the canopy of trees; his voice fading away as he flew out of earshot. Grounder smiled proudly, happy to be rid of that annoyance so he could……!

Grounder turned back around to face Tails, expecting him to be right where he left him. "Hey, where'd that little twerp go!" Grounder exclaimed as he realized Tails to be no longer there.

"Right here, bolts-fer-brains!" Tails shouted as he flew right for Grounder, delivered a powerful aerial punch to the bots head. In the same fluid movement Tails followed up his punch with a swift kick to his head.

"Ooof, Oww…" Grounder yelped, batting tails away with his left arm. "That, does it; that really hurt! I'm gonna…"

Tails hit the ground hard, but he never missed a beat as he leapt to his feet, spun up his tails up like a fan and darted back at Grounder. Grounder was just finishing his threat when Tails' spin dash crashed into him. Tails sliced right down the middle of Grounder's body using both appendages as one.

Tails spun through the gap the powerful tails ripped open in the robot and when he reached the other side he uncurled himself skidded to a stop a short distance away. The two halves of Grounder's body tipped over in opposite directions, the remaining metal attaching the two pieces together ripping apart with a sickly creaking noise just before the robot exploded.

Tails shielded his face from the debris as a satisfied smile crept across his face. "(phew) that's him down, I better see if the others need any help…" Tails breathed out heavily, whipping some sweat from his forehead.


Meanwhile, not too far off…

Sonic stared at Sally in amazement; sure he had seen Sally spin and twirl in practise and stuff, but he had hardly ever seen her use a move like that before; especially so gracefully. So deep in his jaw-dropped stupor that when Kater-killer leapt out of the ground just beside him, he found himself caught completely of guard. "You're mine, Hedgehog…"

Of course, you don't run at super-sonic speeds without being able to think quickly, which is exactly what Sonic did. Spinning on the balls of his feet to face Kater-killers attack, he grabbed hold of the two pincers on the side of Kater-killer's mouth and rolled backwards, pulling Kater-killer along with him. Sonic kicked Kater-killer in his now exposed belly as he flew over Sonic's sprawled out body; making Kater-killer collide with a tree several meters away.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh as Kater-killer stumbled around from the impact. "(Bah hahaha…) Ya, gotta be faster then that if ya wanna get the drop on this hedgehog. (Hah hahahaaa…)" Sonic burst out between fits of laughing.

Sally placed her hands on her hips in frustration; she could not understand how Sonic could be completely focused on a fight one second, and the next he'd become so over-confident it was ridiculous. Forgetting about Sonic's gloating Sally turned her attention back on her fight with Scratch and Coconuts.

Kater-killer shook his head, hearing a loose bolt or something rattling around inside his head. He glared at the gloating hedgehog, his eyes narrowing, becoming an even deeper shade of red. "Hey, hedgehog, you're not the only one with a spin attack!" he shouted as he clamped his mouth onto his rear section turning himself into a giant, spiked hoola-hoop.

The giant doughnut turned on its side and revved up in place before launching forward at an extreme speed. Sonic frowned at the mock, imitation of Sonic's spin dash. "Hey, that's my mo-ooovvve….."

Sonic's sentence trailed off as Kater-killer stormed up, narrowly missing his target. Sonic couldn't believe he almost got run over by that worm! He'd become over confident and he almost got killed for it. "Stupid, stupid…" Sonic grumbled, bonking his fist against his forehead.

Kater-killer turned back, ripping up the landscape as he did so. Sonic became aware of the sound of something approaching. "Uh oh, no time for self-pity…" Sonic leapt high into the air to avoid the rolling caterpillar. ", cause these 'bot mean business." Sonic finished his sentence as he landed in the torn up tracks left by the spinning robot.

"Hmm… if I try to do my super-spin on him, I'll get shredded by Kater-killers spikes, sooo… I gotta find some way to stop him from spinning." Sonic thought aloud as Kater-killer turned back for another pass. Suddenly an idea struck him. "That's it!" he exclaimed, saying it not to loud so it might tip him off.

Sonic dropped to one knee and pretended to clutch his ankle in pain. "Oohh… my ankle, I must'a rolled it when it when I landed!" making sure he said this loudly enough for Kater-killer to hear.

"Ha! You're mine now rodent!" Kater-killer proclaimed, swallowing the bait.

"Oh, now, what ever will I do…" Sonic grimaced at his own bad acting; he was laying it on pretty thick there, but it didn't look like Kater-killer suspected anything so Sonic rolled with it and pretended to limp over to the nearest tree. He hopped a few times to make it look like he was trying to reach a low branch.

"I… gotta… get… up this tree, or that awesome, and deadly robot, will get me!" he said between hops.

Across the clearing Scratch watched while Coconuts took on Sally. "Who does he think he's fooling with that bad acting?" Scratch commented, thinking back on how many times Sonic had tricked himself with such stupid tricks. Suddenly, a hard side-kick to his back forced Scratch to return his attention back to his own fight with Princess Sally.

Sonic waited til the last minute before Kater-killer would mash him to side of the tree before he used his speed to zip out of the way. "What!" Kater-killer screamed, as he slammed into the trunk of the tree. "Arg… my claws are stuck in this stupid tree!" Kater-killer grunted, furiously trying to pull himself out of the soft wood, but he found he could not pull them out.

"Hasta la vista mista!" Sonic shouted as he launched himself into a sonic-spin at Kater-killer. The spinning quills sliced right through Kater-killer's metal hide like a hot knife. The remaining pieces of the robot, sparked and sputtered then, a spark ignited the lubricating oil and the whole robot exploded in a violent fireball.

"That's one down…" Sonic chided, dusting off his hands as he ignored the massive explosion behind him like it was nothing. "Now ta help Sal."


Sally in fact found herself in a rather difficult situation; Scratch kept firing his laser pistols at her, while at the same time she had to contend with Coconuts and his grenades. Hence, why she always tried to stay right in one of their faces, they couldn't use their special weapons without risking hitting the other. Sally also made sure to keep Coconuts between her and Scratch when she would fight with him for a moment before switching to the other.

Coconuts, grew frustrated and threw a wild punch, leaving an opening Sally knew all too well from her sparring practices. She grabbed hold of the bots extended arm and threw a hip into Coconuts body to knock him off balance. She then pulled on the arm she clutched and, considering the excellent leverage she gained from this, threw Coconuts right at a tree with minimal effort.

Scratch saw his opportunity and opened fire on Sally. Sally jumped into the air, and kicked off from a nearby tree, heading straight for Scratch. She spun in the air and hit Scratch with a spinning, mid-air roundhouse kick; right in his diminutive head. His body flew sideways with the force of the blow; dropping one of his pistols in the process.

Sally chased after him, temporarily forgetting about Coconuts. Coconuts shook his head and growled as he spotted Sally fighting with Scratch. He jumped to his feet and pulled a Coconut from his dispenser. "Hmmm… should I?" Coconuts paused, contemplating his actions. "If I take out Scratch I get ta take over the 'Badnik's and with Princess Sally wasted, Robotnik, will give me a huge reward!"

"Heh, like I need to sleep on that!" Coconuts laughed, readying himself to throw the grenade. "Time ta kill two birds with one stone!"

Coconuts started to wind up his throwing arm, but then, someone grabbed hold of his arm and stopped him. "Ya know, that's not a very nice thing ta say chump!" Sonic advised, standing behind him; holding the arm.

"O, well dats' okay…" Coconuts replied, shoving his elbow into Sonic's ribs. "I'll take you out instead!" Sonic folded over wheezing for air as a result of Coconuts elbow. But Coconuts wasn't finished yet. He threw a hard left hook into Sonic's face, sending him tumbling into the tree Coconuts had been thrown into moments ago by Sally. Sonic hit the tree hard, but just as he started to get up, Coconuts threw a diamond shaped object at the ground beneath him.

Suddenly a web of energy beams erupted from the devise, creating a force field that Sonic could not escape from. "Heh heh, how do youse like my new gadget? And the best part is stuff can go in, but it can't get out." Coconuts explained, feeling very proud of himself.


Meanwhile in the forest canopy above…

"Whooooaaaa!" Slasher shouted as he flew through the tree tops, crashing through every branch that crossed his path. Finally Slasher's body collided into the main trunk of a tree; slumping down till he landed on a large branch. As fate would have it, the tree he landed in just so happened to be the same one Sonic and Coconuts were fighting under; and luckier still, his crash into the tree timed out with the energy shields loud activation. As a result neither of the two below noticed Slasher's noisy arrival higher up.

Slasher rubbed his back and his rump from the impact, grateful to finally be on the ground… well so to speak. He looked down and spotted Coconuts and Sonic. It looked like Sonic was in trouble, especially when he saw Coconuts reach down and pick up one of Scratch's laser pistols and point it directly at Sonic, who seemed to be trapped in some sort of transparent bubble.

He could hear Coconuts gloating about him taking out the famous Sonic and so on, but in doing so, Slasher noticed the branch he sat on went right over him, with another large limb branching off at an angle to the simian at just the right place.

Ignoring the pain from his leg Slasher stood up on the branch and moved as quickly as possible to the branch he wanted. Meanwhile Coconuts paused his rant when he heard some rustling in the canopy above him. Annoyed with the disruption, he fired several shots randomly into the mass of leaves saying: "Stupid birds…"

The shots were far from aimed, so they came nowhere near Slasher, but it did stress to him he needed to hurry. He got to the branch he wanted and moved onto it quickly. Then, in one swift motion he swung his battle claws out and chopped the branch about three quarters through. The branch started to bend under the added weight, just as Slasher expected and he ran farther down the branch, causing it to start to fall faster.

Just when the branch gave out, Slasher grabbed hold of the branch and felt the air rush past him as he used the tree limb lkie a vine to swing right for Coconuts.

Coconuts raised the weapon up at Sonic, his finger slowly moving from the trigger guard to the trigger. Suddenly he detected the sound of wood being sliced above him and falling. He turned to his left to see Slasher swinging from the falling branch, feet first right at him. Slasher's clawed feet nailed the monkey right in the noggin, sending him flying.

Slasher let go of the branch and landed on his feet; but dropped to his knee as the pain from his leg overwhelmed him. Sonic stared, slack mouthed at the dragon. "Isn't that the same guy I was treating like dirt before? Why's he helping me?" he asked himself in bewilderment.

"Awww… is the big hero hurt?" Coconuts patronized him, seeing the large wound on his right leg. "Don't worry; I'll make sure you don't feel anything after I'm done wit you!" Sonic snapped out of it when he saw Coconuts preparing to attack Slasher and lunged at the energy sheild in vain.

"Ugh, come a little closer and I'll give you hurt!" Slasher grunted with his false-bravado through clenched teeth as he tried to stand. He found he couldn't get up for the pain, and also found it becoming increasingly more difficult to stay awake, let alone move; he felt so tired. Slasher saw the simin boldly walk beside him and felt a cold, metallic hand clasp onto his head spikes and pull his head upwards so he could look right into Coconuts smug face.

"Dis is almost too easy." Coconuts chuckled maliciously, placing Scratch's pistol in under Slasher's jaw, aiming it at the back of the dragons's skull, with his free hand.

Slasher fought to keep his mind in the game, but the longer he tried the harder it seemed to become. He could not let himself drift to sleep, not now. Slasher noticed in his dazed state that Coconuts had left himslef completely exposed. Slasher's dazed expression hardened as his thrust his right arm out, blades extended, right for the closest body part he could; as it happened, Coconuts' hip.

The blades sunk right to Slasher's fist, tearing through the other side of the robots armoured shell. "Aaayyiieee!" Coconuts shrieked as he stepped back, his hip joint starting to fail already. Coconuts dropped the pistol and looked around franticly, clutching his sparking wound as if it would help stop the electricity.

His energy spent, Slasher collapsed to the ground, his breathing becoming more disjointed and ragged. Sonic could not stand this feeling of absolute helplessness. He pounded away on the force field, hoping it might have some effect.


Meanwhile, a short distance away….

"Hold still, ya spoiled brat!" Scratch shouted as he fired his pistol again, only to miss the princess yet again.

Sally had been doing an excellent job of avoiding Scratch's laser fire, but she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. She rolled forward, avoiding a potentially lethal blast and as she came out of the roll, she thrust her leg up into Scratch's chestplate. The force of the blow sent Scratch backwards, his robotic wings flapping furiously to try and maintain his balance.

"Ohhh….!" Scratch fumed when he managed to regain his balance without falling on his back. He brought his blaster back up and started firing again. Sally, still on her back, did a backwards handspring to her feet, leaving the laser blasts only the soft forest floor to hit.

Scratch corrected his aim and fired, but Sally leaped sideways, towards a tree. The blast skimmed past her, but she had jumped at the tree for more then one reason. She kicked off the side of the tree's trunk and launched herself forward. She used the kick-off to gain some spinning momentum and used it to deliver a spinning kick at the wing holding Scratch's pistol.

Scratch watched as his pistol flew from his grip, but he hardly felt worried. "Grrrr… Okay, you asked for it!" he said, throwing his wings out to the sides. This caused the feathers on his wings to become longer and more blade-like.

Sally's gasped in surprise as Scratch lunged forward swinging his arms downwards to try and slice her in two. Sally dropped to the ground and spun on her hands, letting her leg swing out and sweep the robotic chicken's legs out from under him.

With his forward inertia still acting on his body Scratch tumbled over the princess, landing in a heap. Sally stepped closer to see if that had taken the robot out since he wasn't moving. Scratch turned out to just be playing possum as he kicked her hard in the chest.

The hard kick sent Sally to the ground, but just as the bot's bladed wings loomed over head, about to slash downwards, Sally shot to her feet and delivered a hard, open palmed strike to the underside of Scratch's beak. She immediately followed up with a second open-palmed strike to his chest.

But Scratch would not be beaten that easily, and he slapped her away as she lunged forward, trying to strike for a third time. Sally got knocked to the ground, but she rolled back just as Scratch's wings implanted themselves into the ground. From the ground she threw a hard round house kick at Scratch's exposed head, sending his long neck into a rapid oscillation.

Scratch stepped back, and clamped his wings against is head to stop the motion. He growled in rage and ran forward. Sally side-stepped one strike and ducked under another, but got clipped in the jaw by an uppercut Scratch had thrown by surprise; making her stumble backwards.

Suddenly Sally heard a commotion to her left and while blocking and evading Scratch's attacks she spotted that Sonic was in trouble. Sally turned her attention back on her opponent in time to avoid a swing at her head. She took advantage of the situation by grabbing hold of Scratch's outstretched arm and threw him head long into a tree. With Scratch's head, momentarily stuck in the tree Sally made a bee-line for the Sonic.


Coconuts pressed his hand on the deep gashes in his armour, hoping that maybe it would conserve the electricity sparking out of the hole. He couldn't believe his turn of luck. One moment he had his original target at his mercy and now, his right leg was inoperable, and the source of his troubles lay only a meter away, badly injured and helpless; and he could do nothing about it.

In his annoyed ramble within his head he spotted the laser pistol he had tried to use on Slasher a moment ago, almost within arms reach! Coconuts stretched his arm out, wishing he had extendable limbs like Crabmeat or Grounder. He noticed as he reached for the pistol Slasher was watching; fatigue weighing heavy in his eyes. "Don't worry chump, this'll be over real soon."

He clutched the weapon in his hand and pointed it directly at Slasher's sweat and dirt ridden face; a look of malice returning to his artificial face. So engrossed in his self-satisfaction, he failed to notice someone's arrival. "I don't think so, Monkey-boy!" Sally retorted before stomping down on Coconuts face with all her might.

The force of the blow crushed the left side of the simian's face and eye. The body twitched and writhed around for a second or two before falling still. Kicking the pistol well out of reach just to be safe, Sally took notice of Slasher, lying barely unconscious, near the damaged hulk of Coconuts. She looked up to see Sonic trapped within the shimmering force field. "Sonic what happened here?" She asked as she look around, holding her arms out to gesture to the immediate area.

"Long story Sal, but I think he's hurt pretty bad." Sonic replied pointing to Slasher's prone, barely moving form. Sally turned away from Sonic and kneeled beside him to try and see the extent of his injuries. She looked into Slasher's eyes and noticed how weak and glazed over they appeared. He was in extreme pain, but he tried to speak, but it was so weak she hushed him into silence. He said nothing of his pain, no asking of her help, he did nothing but stare at her with that deep, blank stare; like a soldier in a battle waiting patiently for help.

She shook her head to help focus herself on what needed to be done. She pulled Slasher's hand away and saw his black glove completely soaked in his own thick red blood. Sally gasped in horror when she saw the gaping, bloody wound in his leg. "Oh my gosh! Sonic, what happened to him!"

"Ya got me, but we gotta get him outta here fast." Sonic replied, gesturing his thumb in the general direction of Knothole.

Sally patted Slasher's shoulder reassuringly before she turned away and pulled Nicole out and hooked her up with the tiny device that seemed to be producing the obstacle. "Hang in there, True Blue. Once I get you out of there I need you to get him back to Knothole fast; or he might bleed to death!"

Sonic opened his mouth to protest when he suddenly found himself interrupted by a robotic cackle.

"Ohh, Princess!" Scratch's distinctly scratchy voice called out not too far away.

"Oh, no!" Sally muttered under her breathe. This was all she needed now, she had her hands full trying to free Sonic, and without his speed Slasher would surely die without immediate medical attention.

"Where are yoooouuu?" Scratch he called again, rummaging through the bushes. If it hadn't been for Sally throwing him into that tree he would have switched his vision modes to make it easier to find her, but the impact knocked out his higher level ocular settings; leaving him with only his regular light sensors working correctly despite the large crack in his eyes making them look even more artifical.

Sally didn't want to leave Sonic and Slasher when they were both so vulnerable right now. And as if to answer her prayer Sally heard an all too familiar fluttering noise pass overhead. "Tails!" Sally uttered under her breathe.

"Don't worry 'Aunt' Sally, I'll buy you some time." He called as he flew past, right for Scratch. Sally felt a wave of adrenaline and urgency overflow her thoughts now. She now had several reasons to hustle.

Sally worked feverishly on Nicole's keypad trying to shut the system down. But so engaged in her task she didn't notice Coconuts stand up, his damaged face looming ominously behind her, a grenade in his hand. Sonic, however, did notice when he looked over her shoulder. "Um, Sal…"

"Not now Sonic, I've al-most… GOT IT!" She exclaimed cheerfully as the energy field dropped. Coconuts lifted his arm to through the grneade to the ground. Sonic didn't wait to warn her. He lunged forward, pushing Sally to the ground as he rushed through her. He went into a spin dash just as the monkey raised his hand up, about to activate the grenade.

The bot disintegrated into tiny pieces under the hedgehogs powerful attack. Pieces of the monkey scattered in all directions, with the head rolling to a stop a few feet from where the body had fallen. "I hate that hedgehooooggggg(blip)" the dismembered head muttered before losing power and dieing off in mid-sentence.

Everything happened so fast Sally could barely find any words to mutter in her surprise. Sonic smiled and offered his hand to the princess. She grabbed hold of his hand and smiled, taking in the moment. But sadly it only lasted a moment.

A loud, sudden shriek of pain echoed through the woods, and Sally and Sonic both recognized its origin. "Tails!" they both shouted at once.

"Scratch!" Sally uttered.

"We gotta go help him Sal!"

"No Sonic, you have to take Slasher back to Knothole now or he won't make it!" Sally gestured in Knothole's direction.

"But…" Sonic started to protest; he didn't like the idea of leaving his best friend in danger.

"Go, Sonic, I'll go and help him, he'll be fine." Sally assured him, her tone taking on that commanding air that everyone respected and obeyed.

"Alright Sal, good luck." Sonic was about to pick up Slasher when he noticed one of Coconut's grenades lying not too far away. "Here, Sal, this might come in handy."

Sally caught the explosive as Sonic tossed it to her. She walked over to Sonic, now holding Slasher in his arms, and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Go fast." She said sweetly.

"Always do." He replied flatly before speeding off. Sally watched him disappear into the woods before she too ran off, but in the opposite direction of danger.


Scratch cackled wickedly as he loomed over the much smaller kit at his feet. Tails whimpered quietly as he held the place on his leg where Scratch's razor wings had sliced; keeping the blood from pouring out.

Scratch could taste that feeling of satisfaction from killing this little whelp, but as so many things, this was not to be his day. Sally flew straight at Scratch, feet first, in a double sidekick to Scratch's rib area. The force sent him skidding across the ground. Sally took up a stance between the injured Tails, and the really pissed off Scratch.

Sally noticed a particularly large tree just off to her left and she felt herself struck by a brainstorm. "C'mon, clucky, you want me or what!" she taunted leading him towards the tree.

When he had followed her to where she wanted him, she discretely primed the grenade behind her back and lobbed it to the base of the tree. The two circled each other, just as Sally wanted until Scratch's back was to the tree.

The grenade went off with a loud boom, much to Scratch's surprise. The tree started to fall towards him with a heavy creak. Scratch looked down and saw that the tree's shadow passed right over him. "Oh, come on!" he huffed in irritation. "Do you think I'm just going to stand here and let that thing fall on me?"

Confidently, Scratch closed his eyes, folded his arms across his chest and took one large side-step to his left, bringing him out from under the shadow. Unfortunately Scratch failed to remember one fundamental element of shaded geometry… The direction of a shadow is relative to the position of the sun!

The shadow moved to the left as the tree came closer to the ground, returning the shadow over Scratch. Scratch opened one eye and had time to mutter: "Oh, crud." Before the tree crashed down on him; crushing him instantly.

One wing of the bot not underneath the trunk flapped feebly a few times before it stopped moving at all. Sally let out a deep sigh. She had been smart and had watched the direction the tree itself fell, not the shadow, so when it came down Sally barely had to move.

Sally turned and walked over to Tails, who already started to pick himself up, though he had a definite limp in his step. "Are you alright?" She asked, lacking the concerned motherly tone Tails had expected. He nodded to being alright and since Sally was eager to get back she didn't say anything more. "Lets go home, Tails…" She said simply as she walked past. Tails nodded and hovered next to her as they returned to Knothole.


End Ch 15

Sheesh, long fight scene eh? Oh well, but don't worry things aren't going to slow down now and the fights aren't going to get any smaller i assure you, coming soon THE MISSION. For all of who have followed the story thus far thanks for your inerest and support, especially you Ri2(YOU ROCK), you're practically all my reviews. I appreciate all the reviews, and anyone else reading, please feel free to send some reviews in as well if you wish, the more feedback, the better.