AFTER THE METAREX: SONIC'S STORY
Chapter Two
"A Mystery To Solve"
While Sonic and the others were discussing what to do, a small figure moved stealthily through the quarry. Masked, and wearing a heavy coat, the figure was quick and quiet. A close look might give the observer the information that the figure was female, but no one got that good a look. A flip over a low wall gave her the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen, which was currently occupied only by the constantly complaining Coconuts.
"Do this, do that! I got a brain too, ya know! But does anybody ever listen to Coconuts? Noooo!"
The girl waited until the monkey robot placed a large squash on a table, then went to get a knife. She took the squash, leaped onto the table, and placed it in the light fixture overhead. Then she dived for cover.
Coconuts returned, started to carve the table before he noticed. "Hey! Where's my squash?" He looked around. "Must be thieves around here!" He started jumping up and down in fury. This, of course, dislodged the squash, which came down on his head. "Ow! What's going on around here?!" He turned, stepped on the squash, and slid across the floor into the oven headfirst. Clang! He passed out on the floor.
"What a moron!" the girl muttered, stealing food. She left a note on the robot. "KICK ME." She jumped to the table, sprang out the window and over the wall, then raced to where the prisoners were being held.
"Here you go," she said in a hoarse voice, giving out the food to the children. Most of the food was given to the guards, while the prisoners received whatever the guards didn't want, which wasn't much.
"Bless you, my child," Mister Plume said.
"I wanna be just wike you when I bigger!" said a tiny mink about three or four.
"Sorry, honey," the girl said, patting her on the head, "but I'm hoping Robuttnik will be gone before you're that old." She took off, somersaulted over another wall, and was gone.
"Hey!" Grounder yelled at Coconuts. "Wake up, ya lazy good fer nothing!"
"Where am I?" Coconuts asked, shaking his head. "Oh yeah! A squash attacked me!"
"Your brain's a squash!" Grounder said. "Get back to work! If we don't feed the guards, they'll turn against us, and we can't expect him to help us!" He ran over Coconuts' foot as he left.
"Ow! You idiot!" Coconuts yelled. He picked up a cantaloupe and threw it at the other robot. Crash! That was the sound of the window in the kitchen breaking. "Uh oh! I'd better figure out how to blame Grounder for that!"
"Sonic!" St. John called as the hedgehog was preparing to leave. "Remember, bloke, you're just to stop that troublemaker then get back here. We don't go up against Metal Sonic 'til we know what else we may be dealing with. You got me?"
"I know what I'm doing," Sonic said. "I've handled worse than Metal Sonic. Dark Oak would send you hiding under your bed, crying for Hershey to leave a night light on."
"Your sense of humor is as witty as ever," St. John said. "I don't scare."
"Anyone not afraid of Dark Oak didn't live long," Sonic said quietly, "and a lot that were scared still didn't make it." He turned and took off. Once near the quarry, he stopped and hid behind a cactus. He had been wanting to try this stuff out again, but hadn't had the opportunity in years.
Grounder was inspecting the diggers' work when he heard a knock at the only gate. "Yeah? What is it?'
"It's-a me, Mario!" Sonic was dressed with a big fake nose, a hat, a mustache, and bib overalls. "I come-a to fix your plumbing!"
"I don't remember anything about our having trouble with the plumbing," Grounder said, letting Sonic in. "I'm not even really sure where it is. I'm a robot!"
"Scuse-a please, I find it myself, a-thank you!" Sonic said, hurrying past the robot.
"Yeah, well don't be all day about it."
"Who were you talking to?" Scratch demanded, coming back from inspecting the mine at the far end of the compound.
"Mario the plumber," Grounder said. "He's here to fix the pipes."
"Well, that's good," Scratch said. "Wait a minute! Did the doctor send him? Hey! You can't just let anybody in here, you know!"
"Duh, do you think I should have made sure he doesn't do a lousy job, then overcharge us?" Grounder asked, scratching his head.
"Yeah, I think there's a good chance he might…" Scratch realized what he was saying. "Argh! You're an idiot!" He noticed the note. "Sounds good to me!" He kicked Grounder, then set off to look for the intruder.
Sonic came across a bunch of children eating. "Hey, kids," he said. "Can you tell me where I can find this girl that's been running wild around here?"
"Beat it," a badger said. "We ain't seen nobody!"
"Yeah," an ocelot agreed. "Who are you, anyway? And what's with the lame disguise?"
Sonic chuckled. These kids weren't any older than Cream, but they could tell he was wearing a disguise when Grounder couldn't. Man, what had Eggman been thinking, sending them against him?
"Seriously, guys, I need to find her. She could get in a lot of trouble, fighting Eggman when she doesn't know what she's doing!"
"Oh, working for Robuttnik, huh?" the badger said. "Let's get 'im, guys!"
Sonic was knocked down by about a dozen little boys and several little girls. One little white mink kept kicking him, and she kicked hard. Sonic remembered how Amy, Cream, and Cosmo had beaten up Knuckles. He had cried out for help, and Sonic had laughed at him. How did you fight somebody you couldn't actually hurt? He decided the only answer was to make a run for it. The problem there was that he couldn't get on his feet without knocking several kids for a loop.
"Ow!" he cried. The little mink had just bitten his ankle. "Hey, stop that you little cannibal!"
The badger and ocelot had found rocks and started pelting Sonic with them. Luckily, all of the chaos energy he had absorbed over the years made him surprisingly tough. Otherwise, he'd've never survived the fall at the end of his first battle with Dark Oak.
"Hey!" came a voice he didn't recognize. "What's all the ruckus over there?"
"Ah, come on, you guys!" Sonic begged. "We're all on the same side! I want to beat Eggman more than anybody! Let me go!"
He could hear another voice. "I'm getting my gun!" Sonic was desperate now. But he couldn't, wouldn't, harm another child. Not like Cosmo. He had to get free. There was only one thing to do. He threw off his disguise. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" he cried.
The kids all stopped and stared at him. Sonic grinned, thinking he'd gotten through to them. Then they all screamed and ran away.
"Hey!" Sonic said. "What's the deal? I ain't ugly!" But there was no time to dwell on their strange behavior. The voices were coming from just the other side of a tool shed to Sonic's right. He spun dashed to a watering trough, and ducked down. Two figures came around the corner. He didn't know either of them, but they sure were ugly.
"See anything, Dingo?" one asked. He was the one with the gun.
"Yeah, I see something, Sleet!" the bigger one said.
"Well, don't keep me in suspense, what is it?" the smaller one demanded, waving his gun about.
Dingo bent over. "I found a strawberry!" He picked it up off the filthy ground and stuffed it in his mouth. "Mm. Sweet!"
"Why do I bother?" Sleet said. "I don't know who's stupider, you or Grounder!"
"That's not nice, mate!" Dingo said. "Hey, a slice of orange! Yummy!"
"Have fun pigging out of garbage," Sleet said, walking away. "I'm going back to sleep--er, guard the prisoners!"
Sonic grinned. It was always fun messing with morons. He snuck back, got his disguise, put it back on, then said, "Hey, excuse-a please!"
"Who are you?" Dingo asked.
"I'm-a Mario," Sonic said. "I come to fix the plumbing, only the job, she's-a more complicated than I think. I go now to get my brother, Luigi! You tell-a the lawn mower guy who let me in I'll be back in the morning, okay?"
"Uh, sure," Dingo said. "Oo, a radish!"
Sonic hurried away. This guy was a little too stupid to even bother with. Now, where would a crazy, wild girl be in this place? He looked around. There was an old duck sifting dirt out of a pan. Maybe he could help. The guy didn't look good.
"Pst, gramps," Sonic said, suddenly behind him.
The old duck jumped and dropped his pan.
"Sorry," Sonic said. "Listen, I'm here to help. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"Really?" the old duck said. "And you've just now shown up here? Do you have any idea how long the children here have been working for that maniac?"
"I…had some trouble awhile back," Sonic said. Now wasn't the time to discuss his trip to Earth or into space. "I'm here now. I promise, I'll stop these guys. But I need to find this girl I've heard is shaking things up first. We can't have her getting in our way when things start jumping."
"If you mean our masked friend, I don't know anything about her except that she's fast and acrobatic," the duck said. "You may want to ask Sonia, though. She says she knows her."
"Sonia?" Sonic asked. "Where can I find her?"
"She's in solitary for causing trouble," the duck said. "I hope she's all right. It's awfully hot today, and the box has no ceiling. The sun shines right down on your head. You can't even get water in to her."
"Well, I can get to her," Sonic promised. He got directions to solitary, then gave the old duck a thumbs up. He started to take off, then said, "Oh, by the way…these kids ran off when I told them who I was. Any idea why?"
"They may have confused you with our captor," the duck said, getting back to work. "Most of them have been here half their lives. The only Sonic they know is Metal Sonic."
"Thanks, gramps," Sonic said. The old duck felt a strong breeze, then he was alone.
"Well, he's as fast as they say he is," Mister Plume muttered to himself. "Maybe he'll actually have a chance against Metal Sonic."
Sonic headed towards the brick building where prisoners were punished for insubordination. When he reached it, he ran straight up the wall. At the top, he looked down to see a girl laying on the floor. She looked bad. Sonic hurdled the wall, running around and around the building all the way down. He put on the brakes. "Hey," he said. "You okay?"
There was no response. He bent over and gently shook the figure. The head fell off. "What the…?" Then he realized it was a coconut shell. "A dummy!" he exclaimed. "How'd she get out of here?!?"
Suddenly, he heard fast running outside. Then someone cried out above him. "No! You!" Sonic looked up, but the figure was already gone. It had been a girl's voice, he was sure of that. Were they racing off to give an alarm, or had the mysterious person mistaken him for Eggman's robotic duplicate the same way the kids had. Sonic decided not to wait to find out. He ran back up the wall the way he had ran down, then leaped at the top. He turned several somersaults on his way down to break his fall, and landed like a ninja. He looked around. No sign of whoever had just ran from him.
Sonic knew that if he couldn't find the troublemaker, he should repeat back in. St. John would have kittens. But he had a mystery to solve now, and he wasn't leaving until he solved it. He put his disguise back on, then raced to the main building. If his observer worked for Metal Sonic, she'd go there.
"I don't want to hear any more about a squash beating you up!" Scratch was screaming at Coconuts. "We have enough trouble! Metal Sonic says he'll be here tonight, and he wants everything in tip-top condition! So snap to it!"
"Say, listen!" Grounder said. "I'm getting sick of you telling me what to do!"
"Oh yeah?" Scratch said, squirting ketchup in Grounder's face.
"Hey! Don't waste the food!" Coconuts cried.
"You stay out of this!" Scratch said, squirting Coconuts.
"Well, Larry, Moe, and Curly don't seem to have heard from her," Sonic mused to himself. He started to creep away, and came across a masked and robed figure, also listening to them.
"Bingo!" Sonic said to himself. He moved quickly, wrapping one arm around her and placing his other hand over her mouth. "Don't fight me!" he hissed. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! I've come to rescue you!"
But the masked figure elbowed him in the stomach, flipped him over her shoulder, and ran.
"Oh no you don't!" Sonic said, racing after her. He'd've caught her in a second, but suddenly, the kids were there again.
"He's after our friend!" the badger yelled. "Let's get 'im!" They all started pelting him with rocks.
"Ow!" Sonic cried. "Hey, quit it! I'm your friend! I'm trying to help!"
He ran from the kids, but they'd succeeded in their mission. The masked girl had vanished.
To be continued.
Sorry if this chapter is kind of zany, but I thought Sonic would enjoy annoying these guys. He's seeing this as a relief from the doom and gloom he's experiencing with Tails. Sonic needs the break, because Tails will be…but that would be telling! If you're really unhappy with the wackiness, just assume that Sonic is telling what happened later to his friends, and he's trying to make the story more interesting.
