The Skunk
"Cora, I decided a long time ago. Hamegg, the Peacekeeper, Atlas, and Shadow couldn't change that. No one will." What many people didn't realize was that humans are known for their mistakes. It's what they learned from, and made them stronger. "People are allowed to make mistakes, Cora. It's people like Atlas, Pluto, Zoran, and I that can't." "So, your pretty much saying robots can't make mistakes, but what if you do, what then? If you don't show people how much like them you are, then they won't leave you any room for mistakes." Astro thought it over, but he must have stayed quiet for too long, because Cora soon said, "I'm sorry Astro, you barely got your real dad back and you probably already have too much to think about. I'm just mad at my mom, she didn't like all the emotion you put into that speech you gave before you stopped that missile from destroying Robotopia. You know, you scared me when you risked that much for those robots that tried to kill you in the first place. I honestly thought you were gone, just beaten beyond repair."
Just then blue letters appeared in his vision, saying 'call from Metro City Police Station: Detective Tawashi' Astro sighed, and answered the call. The detective just flat out told him what happened and what he was needed for; no softening or anything to hint that he didn't take his job seriously, as he always acted. This time, though, was different, more urgent. "Astro, we caught Skunk in an abandoned military base and found probably our only suspects for the blue flashes people around the world have been having. We need you over here now!" The call terminated, and Astro was left to explain to Cora that he needed to go, but before he could answer Cora said, "I know hero boy, just drop me off at my house, alright. I'll talk to you later." Appreciative of being understood, Astro flew towards Cora's house, which was directly under them. When taking friends on flights, he liked to stay near their house just in case something came up, like the call from the detective.
He landed very slowly, not wanting the flight to end, but eventually he made contact with the earth. Cora hopped off and ran toward her house. As she got to her front door she called, "Careful, Astro! Don't push yourself too hard." "Don't worry, I won't!" he gave her a reassuring smile, and then blasted off. It had been sometime since he last heard of the blue flashes that had been sighted all around the world, and his 'memory' was a bit fuzzy. (Another installment of Dr. Tenma, his memory was now separate from his database, like having two brains.) So he went over all the information of the blue flashes to refresh 'it'. They were first sighted on the now-small town of Station Square; it used to be the capital of a state, but had since lost its importance. The bustling city was now a ghost town. From there the blue flashes spread throughout the United States, in a matter of seconds. They soon hit Metro City and Japan in mere hours. They were last spotted somewhere in what used to be India. From his database, the blue flashes were also seen in Station Square some time when countries still existed. The phenomenon was then called the 'blue blur' No other records of it were recorded anywhere else in the world. Both Detective Tawashi and Astro thought it had something to do with the pollution in the atmosphere, but pollution practically disappeared when nearly everything became recyclable. There were still huge piles of garbage outside Metro City, but it was rapidly depleting.
Astro made a forward dive, letting his rockets shut off. There was a moment of stillness as he quickly lost momentum, building up excitement for what was to come next. He fell. The wind whipping past his face and through the cloth of his clothes, pulling at his skin. 'Artificial skin' he reminded himself, and he had a moment of melancholy despite the thrill of the fall. He turned the rockets in his legs back on at the last possible moment before he became a pile of broken circuits and tangled wires to rid himself of the feeling. His regular joyfulness back at having survived the fall, he walked into the Metro City Police Station, where the detective was waiting.
"Oh, there you are Astro, come here. We are going to interrogate Skunk. If anything funny happens, don't let him get away." "Alright, detective you can count on me." Astro replied. They walked several minutes in a corridor that seemed to go on forever, and Astro busied himself taking in all the information he could. Everything was gray, from the roof to the hundreds of doors that lined the corridors. Each door had a golden number above it. "What section of the Station is this detective?" Astro asked, having seen all there was to see. "These are interrogation rooms, Astro. The new ones. They are equipped with the latest in defensive, bug detective, and containment technology, no one is getting in or out without their own unique key card." He held up a blue card with his name on it. The card glowed a brilliant sky blue. "The scanner not only scans a microscopic code on the card but the brightness and color of the card as well. Even Skunk couldn't sneak out of here, considering that the walls are also made up of a reinforced diamond-titanium alloy. You wouldn't believe how many years it's going to take to pay off all the Station owes."
"Why go to all that trouble just for these rooms? Shouldn't the containment cells also have the upgrade?" Tawashi chuckled as if he was immensely proud of himself, "Astro, don't you think even the number of interrogation rooms is ridiculous?" Astro's eyes lit up as he got the meaning of the question, "you're saying that these also double as containment cells?" "Exactly right, this was a total upgrade; no one is going to be escaping prison for a long while." Astro stared at the detective in respect and appreciation. It was a smart move, and it cut more than half of the time that Astro spent taking down ridiculously dangerous criminals off, as he was mostly taking down criminals that escaped on an embarrassingly regular basis. "That cuts both our work clean in half, I'll be able to finish more of the paperwork that seems to double every day, and you'll be able to do whatever you do on your free time."
Astro smiled, "actually, Dr. Tenma is helping me be able to sleep again. Of course, I can sleep already if I want to, but he's still working on making me able to dream." "Why would you want to sleep, you're a robot. Isn't sleeping almost like dying to you?" "Maybe, but I just want to be human again." Astro looked hurt by Tawashi's comment then he realized how carelessly he had asked that question. "Sorry Astro, you know I didn't mean it that way." Astro lightened up a bit after the apology, but was a shade sadder than his usual, cheery self. When they arrived at door 152, the detective held the card up to a scanner on the right of the door. The scanner flashed green, signaling the acceptance of the code' and the door slid open silently. Skunk was sitting down on the cot, facing them. For once, he looked legitimately frightened. "Alright Skunk, since we didn't actually catch you doing anything illegal this time, we just want to know what attacked you at the base and why. If I catch you next time though, you'll be happy to know your time will be doubled for whatever you got away with this time. So tell me, what does it have to do with the blue flashes going on world-wide?"
Skunk hesitated, and then mustered up the courage to ask, "Why should I tell you?" Tawashi answered in a grim tone, "Because whatever is creating the blue flashes is also causing city-wide blackouts, and causing all sorts of robots to short circuit, and explode. In short, it's a robot murderer that is incredibly strong based on the energy readings we recently received. In fact, not long ago, the flash appeared right here. Astro's energy readings are off the charts. Even the residue from the flashes though..." The detective reached into a coat pocket and pulled out an energy gauge. He turned it on, and it immediately made whining sounds as it short circuited and died. Skunk visibly blanched. "Alright, alright just save me from it. It was some kind of mutant hedgehog, but blue. I was searching for a jewel called a Chaos Emerald; it's a jewel so powerful it can sometimes destroy a machine just by physical contact. I wanted it to-uh; sell it to-uh, Metro City. Something like that is hundreds of times more powerful than Astro's blue core. The thing is, that was exactly what it was after. When I refused to give it to him, he stepped closer to me. I pulled out my gun to shoot him, but I only shot one bullet. After that, I don't know what happened; I just blacked out...Sonic! I remember his name was Sonic the Hedgehog! His name wa-" "Is that all?" Tawashi asked rudely. Skunk nodded his head. "Astro, did you get all that?" "I'm analyzing it right now detective." Astro said. A minute later Astro replied "the information is ninety-eight percent accurate, knowing Skunk, I'd say that it is good enough."
"Alright Skunk, you're a free man, now get out of here before I change my mind." Skunk sat there for a moment, dumbfounded, then got up. He walked out, staring out into space. "Now how do you suppose we catch this 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. He sounds like he could take on just about anything we throw at him." Astro thought for a while, formulating a plan, then said, "I think we should give him what he wants, detective." "Are you crazy Astro? We can't just let someone that powerful has those gems, and it obviously wants them for a reason!" Tawashi stared at Astro like he was going to blow up in his face. "I don't mean like that detective, I mean make a fake one, and get him to talk to us, to see why he wants them so bad. It's the only thing we can do, given our current circumstance." The detective was quiet for an entire minute before agreeing. "I'll make the gem, detective. Send out a message through as much media as you can, and tell him to meet us in Station Square by the end of this week." Tawashi nodded and dismissed Astro. That night Astro got to work making the fake emerald.
Astro didn't have any money to make a real fake, so he made it out of paper. Astro stuck a light and small, empty battery in the center. There was a small opening on it so he could transfer some of his energy into the battery. Just as he was taping it all together the next morning, Zoran happened to see him working on the gem. "Hey, big brother. Whatcha workin' on?" Astro, who hadn't noticed Zoran until now said, "What? Oh, hey Zoran, just a fake gem to deal with the blue flashes that have been appearing." "Really?" Astro nodded, "uh-huh, the flashes are actually a blue hedgehog. I want to know what it wants, so we can hopefully figure out how to cooperate." "Well, that's one sorry looking gem, how do you expect him to get fooled if the fake barely looks like a gem?" Astro winced and said, "Zoran, couldn't you have said that a little nicer, I worked all night on it." Zoran burst out laughing as soon as he said that. He heard chuckling from the kitchen, nearby. He guessed it was his father. Astro fumed while the laughing continued. When she finished laughing, Zoran almost made Astro fall off his chair when she called out, "it's okay, Sonic. He just wants to talk to you about his sorry-looking gem, you can stop hiding now." The chuckling in the kitchen, which Astro now realized was too high pitched to be his dad's stopped. After Astro recovered from nearly doing an emergency reboot, he said, "Zoran, what did you just say?"