FicWad

Ivo groaned as he read a message from Dr. Starline, asking him to oversee the children’s progress in training.

He turned off his music and got up. “I don’t know why he bothers with the others.” He muttered as he walked to the gym. “The only children that I have any confidence in are Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow. Manic is only useful by being completely cured of NIDS. That’ll make us a fortune.”

Ivo finally made it into the gym where Dr. Starline had the children training.

Shadow and Sonic were fighting.

“Boys, stop.” Sonia protested. “Please stop.”

Ivo glared at Dr. Starline. “You’re not going to stop them?”

“Shadow is a rebel.” Dr. Starline said. “Sonic is about his equal, he’s willing to keep Shadow in line for me in exchange for an extra reward.”

Shadow pinned Sonic to the floor and started punching him in the face.

Manic, Knuckles and Tails tried to help Sonic, but were swiftly defeated by Shadow.

Shadow could easily punch the three out of the way while keeping his hold on Sonic.

“Boys!” Dr. Starline yelled.

Shadow looked at Ivo and Starline. His eyes and spines glowing reddish orange.

Ivo stepped back.

“Power down, you little punk, or you’re not living to see your next birthday.” Dr. Starline ordered. “It won’t be pleasant.”

Shadow thought about it for a second and calmed down.

Sonic slowly got to his feet. His nose was bloody and his left eye was starting to swell shut.

“Came close to actually having to euthanize him a week ago.” Dr. Starline said, leaning close to Ivo. “The glove never had an effect on him.”

Ivo scoffed. “Find another way to deal with him other than letting experiment zero-one try to beat him.” He ordered. “I want them both alive.”

Shadow walked over to Sonia and sat down beside her.

Sonia quietly stroked Shadow’s spines while Kit, Sally, and Bunnie checked on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

Surge checked on Manic and helped him sit up.

“Alright, kids, back to your room until reward time.” Dr. Starline said. “Except you, Shadow. You’re going to stay in your room for the rest of the day.”

Dr. Starline looked at Ivo. “Their training session was filmed. I’m terribly sorry to have bothered you.”

“It’s fine.” Ivo muttered as he walked away. “I think I saw something worthwhile.”

Dr. Starline called the robots over to escort the children to their room.

*

The kids gathered in their one skylight cell.

Sally stood in front of Shadow and Sonic with her arms crossed. “You boys don’t make things easier on us.”

“Shadow is gonna get us killed.” Sonic said, jerking his thumb at Shadow. “I’m just trying to keep everyone safe.”

“But you are fighting him.” Sally replied. “We need to work together to figure out a plan and get out of this mess. Starline and Eggman are our enemies, not each other.”

“She’s right, Sugarhogs.” Bunnie said, brushing her ears out of her face with her one cyborganic hand.

“You’re right.” Shadow muttered.

Sonic looked at Shadow and smirked. “So we’re friends now?”

“It’s a reluctant partnership until we can escape.” Shadow said.

The alarm chimed.

Sonia squealed. “Reward time!”

Shadow shook his head.

Manic curled up. “I’d rather leave.” He whimpered. “Can that be our reward?”

The door whooshed open, revealing the robot assistant waiting to escort the children to the rec room.

Sonic and Shadow led the way.

*

Dr. Starline set Tails in front of an old computer monitor. “There, take it apart and see what’s wrong with it. Then, put it back together.”

“Yes, sir.” Tails said, tails swishing happily.

“You assist Tails, okay, Kit?” Dr. Starline asked.

Kit smiled. “Yes, sir.”

Dr. Starline patted Tails and Kit on their heads. He stepped over to the other kids.

Sonia and Bunnie were in one corner, playing with a couple of old dolls as a reward for good behavior in their training.

Manic and Surge were listening to music while the former worked on a puzzle as their reward.

Sally played a game on her tablet.

Sonic ran on a large exercise wheel while Knuckles punched a punching bag.

Sonic stopped running to take a sip of water from his sports bottle. “Why are we doing any of this, doc?”

“You’ll see.” Dr. Starline replied.

“Getting tired of the cryptic stuff.” Sonic said, folding his arms. “I behaved, why can’t I leave?”

Dr. Starline made a note in his files. “That’s concerning….” He muttered under his breath. He held his hypnosis glove up in front of Sonic.

The glove activated.

Sonic froze for a few minutes, before snapping out of the trance. “Yeah, cool glove, Duck guy.” He said. He started running again. “Tired of seeing it though.”

Dr. Starline ran a diagnostic test on the glove. “It’s working fine.” He said. “This could be a problem.”

*

Later that afternoon, Dr. Starline walked into Ivo’s office.

Ivo stopped working on one of his new robots. “What do you want?”

“We have a problem.” Dr. Starline said. “The glove seems to be losing effect on the children.”

“So use the other disciplinary measures.” Ivo snapped. “Why are you bothering me with something so stupid?”

“Forgive me, I felt it was necessary to inform you of all potential problems.” Dr. Starline said, rolling his eyes upward.

“I’ve been informed, now go do… whatever it is you do.” Ivo replied. “Leave me to my new drone.”

Dr. Starline nodded tersely. “Yes, sir.” He said. He turned on his heels and stormed off.

“Egotistical idiot.” Dr. Starline muttered under his breath. “I can’t wait to backstab that loser.”

*

The children gathered back in their cell for bedtime.

Tails bit his lip. “Uh… I found some stuff in the files when Dr. Starline let me use the computer after Kit and I put it back together.” He said, sitting down. “We were kidnapped. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are royalty.”

Sonia grinned. “I’m a princess?”

“So how come no one has tried to rescue us?” Manic asked.

Tails shrugged. “Maybe they don’t know where to look.” He replied. “We are somewhere in the Mobian mountains. No one climbed the mountains and survived.”

“How’d we get here?” Sally asked.

“Drones; airships.” Tails replied.

Shadow scoffed.“Then they could get ships up here.” He said. “I’d say they don’t care.”

Manic slowly nodded. He wiped his eyes as he sniffled.

Surge handed Manic a tissue.

Sonic shook his head. “I kinda agree with Tails.” He said. “We don’t know what’s between us and them. We haven’t been outside since we were brought here.”

Shadow crossed his arms. “So you honestly think someone is looking for us?”

Sonic groaned. “Yes, and whether someone is or not, I’m gonna find a way out of here.”

“Finally, something we can agree on.” Shadow said.

Manic looked closer at Shadow. “Uh, Shads?” He asked. “I thought your eyes were brown.”

“They are brown.” Shadow replied. “Are they messing with your eyes now?”

“I don’t know, but your eyes are red now.” Manic said.

Sonic looked closer at Shadow. “I see it too, Shads, your eyes are red like your spines.”

Everyone nodded.

Shadow stepped into their tiny bathroom and looked in the mirror. He seethed and punched the glass.

The other kids flinched and looked at Shadow as he walked out of the bathroom, rubbing his wrist.

Shadow’s glove was ripped and bloodied.

Sonia hugged Shadow. “It’s okay, we’ll get out of here one day.” She whispered.

Shadow nodded tersely.

Tails hung his head. “That’s not the only transformation or whatever that’s happened.” He said. “The injections they gave us cured Manic of a disease that should’ve killed him already.”

Manic sighed. “So that’s the only bright side.”

“I wound up with an extra tail.” Tails said. “Bunnie and Surge had a bad reaction to the shots and had to have cyborganics. It said Shadow somehow sensed it.”

Bunnie broke down sobbing.

Sonia and Sally hugged Bunnie.

Surge looked at her arms.

“Yours are inside you, Surge.” Tails said.

The children, except Shadow and Knuckles, broke down in tears.