Chapter 13: Back to Work

Sonic smiled down at him and looked back up at the door, half expecting to see Mephiles coming in. Or hearing him yelling for her.

A few minutes later, Mephiles came in. "You've had time with your baby, now get back to work!" He yelled. "I gave you a few months off because of this, but now it's time for you to work again."

He took Mephic and dragged Sonic out of bed. She whimpered in pain and nodded. "Of course, Master. What do you want done first?"

"First, make the bed. Then you can clean the palace and scrub the floor."

Sonic nodded and started making the bed. She heard the crack of a whip and felt a sting across her back, then yelled in pain and did as her Master asked. When she swam out of the room, Sonic bumped into a shelf and it toppled to the ground as everything on it shattered.

"Not again," Sonic whimpered. She moved quickly to clean it up, flinching when she heard Mephiles come into the room.

"What the hell happened here?" He yelled. He growled, and whipped her. She screamed in pain as blood ran down her back and wounds appeared.

"I..." Sonic tried to talk through the pain, switching to crying out with each hit instead. At the sound of Sonic's screaming, Mephic started crying.

Mephiles stopped and looked at his son. Sonic looked back at Mephiles, sniffling. The baby's crying made her want to rush to him, but Mephiles wouldn't allow her to do anything but clean up.

"I'll take care of him," he said. "Get back to work...and don't screw anything else up. I'm not through with you yet, slave."

Mephiles went to the baby as Sonic got back to her work. Cleaning up the mess her clumsiness had made was painful with all the open wounds on her back. After she did that, she bent down and began to scrub the floors. But as soon as she did, her back gave out and she screamed in pain. Whimpering, Sonic pushed herself up as soon as she could. Mephiles hadn't come in, which she took to mean he was ignoring her. She stood up and flinched in pain; her back was bothering her a lot. Sonic considered taking a break but shook her head; that would only give Mephiles the incentive to hit her more. Trying not to cry out with each movement, Sonic looked for another way to clean the mess. When she didn't find one, she whimpered.

"Damn it," she muttered. The mermaid swam around and saw Mephiles. The sea dragon looked at her.

"Did you clean that mess yet?"

"No, I...I can't find anything to clean it up with. Plus, my back is aching badly."

Mephiles growled and grabbed the whip. He didn't want excuses. Sonic had shapeshifting powers; she could turn herself into something that could clean the mess.

Sonic backed away the moment he grabbed the whip. "Please... don't, Master. I'll do it right away."

"You better," the sea dragon said as he turned back to his son.

Sonic went back to the mess, then closed her eyes and began to transform into a vacuum cleaner. All over Sonic, everything changed to plastic. The change spread to the insides of her body as well, hardening everything and stopping her organs. At the bottom of her tail, the plastic bent forward. Two small wheels formed on the back of them, molding back into the plastic as the body decided it didn't need wheels underwater. Small writing appeared over the body. The writing on the topside of the fins explained how to operate it as the label, warnings, and anything else needed wrote themselves onto the main body. Wires and tubes started taking the place of everything inside her body. Some wires had to change where and how they connected, looping around each other. Holes and slots dug out of the plastic shape, connecting to the tubes inside. All of her upper organs molded into one, which would have caused her pain had she not 'died' at the beginning. This single form morphed, thinning so it was long, cylindrical, and divided into three sections. Holes pierced into the middle section, covering every inch of space it had to offer. In front of the three became transparent as the body around it altered shape. Air filled the plastic form, expanding it as far as it would go to form the outer casing. More air went to different sections to ensure the vacuum shape. Needing a light, one formed on the lower edge of the cylindrical body, just below the vents that were in the process of cutting themselves out. A long, thin rod formed at the bend, holding the two pieces together as they carved into separate pieces. Screws screwed themselves in to finish off holding it together. None of the extra pieces formed, not needed for the task Sonic was going to be doing.

The vacuum turned itself on and began cleaning up the mess. It vacuumed the entire house, making sure everything was clean. Once it did, the vacuum wheeled itself into the closet and turned off, knowing it would be used again. Mephiles was impressed by how clean Sonic had made the house, swimming around it with Mephic. He saw the vacuum and smiled, then closed the closet door. It would stay there if he ever needed to use it. The sea dragon looked at his son and smiled. Mephic laughed, reaching up toward Mephiles' face. Mephiles smiled and took his son, patting him on the back. The sea dragon looked around, and then swam off to his room to care for his son.