Legal shit is on first page, blah blah blah, includes all chapters etc.


At the request of one of the readers, and because I haven't updated in such a long time, here's a quick review of events up to ch 16…. Robotnik attempts an experiment with the Void (the same dimension he banished Sally's father too). But an accident occurs that caused a mysterious stranger called Slasher to appear in Robotnik's lab and is captured. During interrogation Robotnik steals a strange gem from Slasher, believing it to be a Chaos emerald.

While on a mission to uncover Robotnik's latest scheme Tails stubbles upon the entrapped Slasher and manages to rescue him and return him to Knothole. When Slasher awakes the next morning a violent brawl breaks out with both Sonic and Sally fighting Slasher. In the end Slasher reveals he is a guardian of some sort and has taken an oath of loyalty to royal families everywhere.

Robotnik discovers the gem he stole from Slasher to not be a Chaos Emerald, but that it does in fact have some strange powers of its own. Wanting to unlock that power for his own purposes Robotnik orders his 'Badniks to go out into the forest and recapture Slasher. A violent clash in sues with Sally, Sonic, Tails and Slasher eventually defeating the 'Badniks. However Slasher and Tails were injured in the fight. Sally now wishes to discover what makes this crystal so important to Robotnik and now plans to launch a dangerous mission into Robotropolis to retrieve it and simultaneously cripple a major factory.


Sheesh, that's a lot of talking from me! Anyways…. Wow, I have to say I'm happy to see such an explosion of hits on my story since that bug whipped out the previous numbers, which by the way were originally in the 700 range! And now they're at the 150 mark! So thx for all the support from all you anonyms readers and a special thx to everyone who has sent in a reviews. Heh heh, and don't worry details on the crystals powers are coming up soon; along with plenty more action. But for now, on with the show………. (okay, so it's a story that you have to read, but you get the idea  )


A Visitor From Afar

Ch. 17 Checking Up


Freedom Fighter headquarters…..

Sally held up Nicole and started reading the text message displayed on Nicole's screen. "C'mon Sonic, looks like Slasher's starting to wake up." Sally said as she rose from her seat. Sonic who had already started to try and read over her shoulders nodded and walked out of the War Room. Sally folded up Nicole and promtly followed him.

A familiar whirling sound caught her attention as she left the room and caused her to look to her left and spot Tails down the hall, flying towards her with a large white bandage wrapped tightly around his left thigh. "Tails, Dr. Quack told you to stay off your feet." She scolded, placing her fists on her hips.

"I am off my feet 'Aunt' Sally, see." He joked swaying his feet back and forth as they hung underneath his hovering body.

"Tails, you know what I mean. You should be resting and letting that leg heal." Sally replied in annoyance.

"Ah, but that's boring!" he whined.

"I know sweetie, but that's the only way for your leg to heal properly and…" Sally started to say.

"Chill out, Sal, he's tough." Sonic interrupted, placing his arm around his buddy's shoulder encouragingly. "He can handle a little scratch."

"Yea, like he said 'Aunt' Sally, I can handle it." Tails chimed in feeling encouraged by Sonic's faith in him. Truth be told, his leg felt extremely sore, hence why he had taken to flying around the village, but now he didn't want to disappoint Sonic so he pushed aside his discomfort.

"Don't encourage him Sonic." Sally warned waving her finger at the pair. The two exchange a glance and in unison present a 'sad-puppy' look to Sally. Sally tried to resist the adorable pair of faces, but it was no use. "Oh, alright!" She exclaimed, caving in. "C'mon, me and Sonic were heading over to check on Slasher anyways, so why don't you come with us; but right after that you go back to your hut and rest, understood!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Tails saluted cheerfully, satisfied in squelching some more time away from the monotonous boredom of his bedroom.

"C'mon big guy, lets go. I'll race ya!" Sonic challenged and before Sally could get an objectionable word out the pair had jetted off, leaving Sally in a cloud of kicked up dust and gusting wind; the wind thoroughly messing up Sally's hair.

Sally stared down the hallway in annoyance and sighed. "Urgh, one of these days I'm going to stuff lead in their shoes!" she huffed in irritation as she put her hair back in order and chased after them.


Back in the Knothole infirmary….

Slasher opened his eyes slowly, this time intent on remaining awake. He sits up a little and rubs the back of his head, his fingers brushing the row of spikes that line the back of his neck. "Welcome back to the land of the living." A familiar voice greeted.

Slasher looked to the open window and spotted who had spoke to him. "Dulcy!" he replied in surprise. He didn't expect to see her here. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life it would seem." Dr. Quack answered for her as he strode into the room holding a clipboard in the crook of one arm.

"Huh?" was all Slasher could say in his confusion.

"See that red tube attached to your arm…" Dr. Quack explained pointing to the tube attached to his left arm. "You'll notice that tube is also attached to Dulcy's arm as well." As the doctor spoke Dulcy pointed to the tube to illustrate the doctor's point. "Simply put we're bsically transferring her blood to you. It's a lucky thing you two have a close blood match since your dragons or you would have surely died from blood loss."

Slasher felt amazed that Dulcy would be willing to do something like this for a complete stranger, especially one that hasn't exactly hit it off well with the locals. "Thank you Dulcy I..."

"Don't sweat it. It's no big deal; I'm happy I could help. I'd hate to see a dragon die; even if he is from another world." She cut him off with a warm grin.

Slasher felt extremely grateful for the generosity of the gentle dragon, he really did judge her too quickly before, and he felt real bad about it. "Dulcy, I…" Slasher didn't get to finish his apology before the door opened up.

"I almost beat you Sonic!" Tails blurted out, continuing their own conversation.

"Dream on lil' buddy." Sonic smirked waving his hand at waist height. "But ya know, you are getting faster; I'm actually having to try lately." He replied patting the smaller fox on the back.

With that Sonic spotted Slasher sitting upright in his bed, as well as Dulcy and Dr. Quack. "Hey, gang; hey Slash' how's the leg?" he asked greeting the stricken Guardian in a very different tone then he had previously greeted him at the picnic.

This took Slasher a bit by surprise. "Um… About as good as anyone with a hole in their leg could be I guess." He joked, rubbing the injured leg under the blankets. "I can tell you this much though… I'm getting sick and tired of waking up in this hospital bed." He grumbled swinging his legs over the side of the bed, revealing the large bandages covering his leg, in addition to the fresh ones covering the cuts on his upper body from earlier.

"Well I'm just glad we haven't had an exact repeat of last time you woke up here; we only just replaced the window." Sally sassed as she entered the room, throwing Slasher a cynical grin.

Slasher grinned sheepishly while Dulcy giggled loudly at his embarrassment. "Well, I'm still up for a fight if someone wants one." Slasher replied, hopping off the bed. Immediately a surge of pain coursed up from his leg. He groaned in pain, and his face well displayed his pain and discomfort, but despite it he fought to remain standing tall.

"Take it easy Lad, your leg needs time to heal properly." Dr. Quack advised, rushing over to forcefully push Slasher back down onto the bed.

"This is (Agh)… nothing, things like this never stopped me before." Slasher stated, waving off the doctors advisement. Dr. Quack placed a hand underneath his bill curiously; thinking about his behaviour.

"Maybe you won't listen to the good Doctor…" Sally stated as she leaned up against the door frame. "But I expect you'll to listen to me and rest." Slasher's shoulders slumped down indignantly. "You won't be any help to anyone with your leg injured like it is; you need to give it time to rest."

"Very well you're Highness." Slasher answered. His voice was sincere, but his tone defiantly resented it.

"Princess, may I have a word?" Dr. Quack interjected upon seeing Slasher's mood turn. Sally nodded and moved over to the far corner of the room with the doctor. "Sally, I know you mean well, but perhaps ordering him to stay put will do more harm then good."

"What?" Sally just barely managed to keep herself from shouting loudly enough for the others to hear. A quick glance back confirmed the others hadn't heard her and were too busy conversing with themselves. "What on Mobius do you mean by that, weren't you the one who said he needs to take things slow so his leg could heal?"

"Yes, but from what I've seen and what you've told me about him, he's led a very hard and very dangerous life." Dr. Quack explained.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, not catching the doctors meaning.

"Well from what I've seen bandaging him up, he's got numerous scars all over his body. Far more then you'd normally expect. And by the looks of the scar tissue, it looks like he's suffered many serious injuries in combat, including several fractured bones; but despite that he's in remarkably good health. Judging by the story Dulcy has told me, I'd say he's never had the luxury of allowing his injuries to slow him down. And it seems to have made him stronger for it; you've seen how his injuries hardly phase him."

Sally thought on what the doctor said for a minute. "But, he still needs time to rest and recover."

"Agreed Princess, but I think you shouldn't try to order him to do so. Warrior's aren't used to being told what to do and nothing hurts a warriors pride more then being told what they can't do."

"Hmmm… maybe your right." Sally said, taking his advice to heart. She turned away from Dr. Quack and looked to see exactly what Dr. Quack had meant. Something seemed different about Slasher; the way he held his head and shoulder up proudly was no longer visible. "Slasher…" She said attempting to gain the Guardians attention. "Forget what I said before, go at your own pace, but just be careful, alright."

Instantly Slasher's whole face seemed to brighten up."I would recommend you get something to eat soon, Lad; your blood sugar and electrolyte levels are extremely low." Dr. Quack added absently as he looked over Slasher's medical charts.

"My what?" Slasher asked in regards to the strange terms.

"Never mind, it's almost dinner time so why don't Sonic and Tails take you back to their place and get something to eat." Sally remarked, changing the subject. As if to agree with Sally, Slasher's stomach growled loudly causing a few people to grin and giggle.

"Looks like it's unanimous." Sonic joked laughing with the others.

"Yah, I'm getting pretty hungry." Tails piped in, rubbing his growling tummy for emphasis.

Everyone filed out of the room, while Dr. Quack removed the transfusion equipment from Dulcy. Slasher rose out of the bed again and cringed in pain when he placed some weight on his wounded leg. Still, the warrior training in him tried, despite the pain to stand straight and proud. However, he was forced to relent as the pain became too much, causing him to remove the weight from his leg and favour the other leg.

"I can find you some crutches if you like; that leg will be awfully stiff and sore right now." Dr. Quack offered, waving good-bye to Dulcy as she pulled her head out the window and flew off.

"I'll be fine, I just have to…" Slasher dismissed the doctors offer and tried to take a step with his sore leg, but he found the same result. The pain was just too much.

"No one is going to think any less of you by admitting you're hurt." Dr. Quack argued, finding a cane in the corner of the room. "But maybe you'll fancy this instead."

Slasher groaned rubbing his sore leg gingerly and swallowing his pride took the cane and found it much easier to be able to walk already. This surprised Slasher a great deal. "Thanks, doctor." With that he hobbled his way out to the lobby, receiving more perplexed stares by on-lookers in the waiting room where Sonic, Sally and Tails were waiting for him.

"We need to discuss a few things Slasher, but we can talk after you have some dinner, alright?" Sally asked, folding her arms across her chest to indicate the seriousness of the topic.

"May ask what this is about?" Slasher asked, feeling a bit on the spot all of a sudden.

"We'll discuss it at the planning session tonight at seven, make sure you're there." And with that Sally walked out of the hospital, off to take care of other business around the village.

"C'mon, let's go get some chow." Tails said with his usual exuberance. Tails took to the air while Sonic trotted along beside him with Slasher hobbling along behind. For Slasher the trip back to their place felt like a gruellingly voyage. It made him wish he could fly like Tails, being able to fly and avoid walking on his own injury. When they finally arrived Slasher couldn't find a place to sit down fast enough.

"Oohh… this leg is killing me. That short little walk felt like a mile hike." Slasher complained rubbing the bandage sorely.

"Just relax we'll find you something to eat." Tails replied, already kneeling on the counter top, rummaging through the food in the upper cupboards.

"Tails, I've got just the thing." Sonic stated with a gleam in his eye. A few minutes and dirty pots later Sonic placed a plate of steaming hot chilli dogs before Slasher. Tails groaned in an annoyed, sarcastic way. It seemed like tradition for Sonic, as soon as he meet someone new, he just had to treat them to his all time favourite snack. Tails didn't mind though, he liked them as much as Sonic did, but he enjoyed having others things just as much.

Slasher stared at the unusual looking food before him. "Um, what is this?" he asked, sounding like a lost kid in the mall.

"The food o' the 'hogs." He announced proudly. Seeing Slasher's lack of any response, other then a raised eyebrow Sonic figured he should call them by their proper name. "They're chilli dogs. And they taste great." He said, taking one and taking a big bite out of it.

"These are dogs? He asked sticking his tongue out in revulsion.

"Nah, that's just a name for 'em, and before you even make a wise crack about the chilli part, that's what the meat on top is called." Adding that last part with a stout grin; obviously more then one person had made that remark.

Well, Slasher was hungry, and the smell of the food did entice his nose in a most curious way, why not? Slasher took a hold of one of the meaty hotdogs just as Tails was making a move for his second. He tentatively took a small bite and chewed. His eyes bulged at how good it tasted. "MMmmm…" was all Slasher could say as he quickly devoured the remainder of the chilli dog.

"Hey, slow down, ya don't wanna get an upset stomach." Sonic shouted as he watched Slasher dig into a second one.

"Sorry, I guess I must be pretty hungry." Slasher muttered after he finsihed swallowing the second chilli dog.

"No problemo, but even being as hungry as you are there's now way you can top my record." Sonic boasted tauntingly.

"Is that a challenge…" Slasher stood; a grinning broadly as he called Sonic's boast. "I must warn you, I'm plenty famished."

"Oh no…" Tails groaned, hiding his face with his hand.

Sonic grabbed a chilli dog and stuffed it into his mouth, managing to fit the entire thing into his gaping jaw, his cheeks puckering out a great deal to accommodate the chilli dog. With some effort on his part, Sonic managed to chew and swallow the chilli dog. "Top that!"

Slasher smiled and grabbed a chilli dog of his own. He opened his massive jaw as wide as he could and placed the entire length of the chilli dog on his tongue, then, snapped his mouth shut, chewed a few times and the chilli dog was gone.

Sonic and Tails' eye's widened in surprise. "Sonic, I think we have a contender here." Tails stated, suddenly gaining an interest in this little competition.

"I have not yet begun to gorge." Sonic joked, grabbing another chilli dog and preparing himself to devour it. Outside the hut one could hear the two devouring the chilli dogs as fast as they could, leaving one passer-by perplexed as to what was making such noise.


End Ch. 17

Tee hee I had to throw that last bit in. anyways don't worry, things will heat up real soon. thx again to the people who sent my two latest reviews and I hve to say I'm truly sorry about taking so darn long to update, BUT I DO HAVE A LIFE! Ahem… anyways thx again and I hope to have the next ch up ASAP.