FicWad

Chapter 3: Two fluxes

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The sun was setting as Slasher, the winged velociraptor, stepped onto the pavement and flexed her wings. She had writers' cramp in her right claw from having to sign her name with three fingers and no thumb, and she was chilled from standing under an air conditioning vent for six hours.
She opened her wings, leaped into the air, and flew to a rooftop. The summer heat beat up at her as she landed, and warmed her icy feet. Bliss. She crouched close to the heated tiles and peered at the street below. Mobians went about their business and hovercars travelled up and down. There were no robots in sight, for they were not allowed inside Riverbase. Slasher rested her chin on the roof margin and closed her eyes. Her brain was tired, and she was in a quiet, warm place. She was hungry, too, but dinner could wait until she was warm again ...
A combination of hearing and smell told her of his arrival before she opened her eyes. She lifted her head and focused one eye on the figure kneeling in the far corner of the roof. He watched her without moving, and she did the same. He was a black hedgehog with a gold plate around his neck, and black gloves with claws.
He stood up, and she did too. Her nostrils worked, trying to catch his scent.
"Hello, Slasher," he said quietly.
"Hello," the raptor replied, cocking one eye at him, then the other. "Do I know you?" She had only seen Shadow once, up close. A breeze was blowing away his scent.
"I know you, but you don't know me," said the stranger. "I'm looking for Sonic."
"He's not here," said Slasher, teeth flashing as she spoke. "Why do you want him?"
"Because I need him," replied the black hedgehog. "I must find him before the flux or all will be lost."
Slasher peered at him, a red flag waving in her mind. There was something elusive about this hedgehog, as if his generic manner were a mask. "No," she said evenly. "He's on vacation right now and can't be bothered by fans."
The black hedgehog lowered his head, but kept his eyes on Slasher. His voice was a snarl. "Take me to him, reptile."
The raptor bared her teeth. "Never, rodent."
They faced each other for a long moment, staring the other down. "Very well," said the black hedgehog at last. "I will find him myself, and you will be sorry when I do." He whirled and vaulted from the roof.
In a flash Slasher was after him.
She had trailed Sonic before and knew that in a city with few open spaces and lots of obstacles, he could only achieve forty to sixty miles an hour at a stretch. She was a decent runner, but her real power was in her wings. Thus she took to the air and flew after the black shape in the street below. He was slower than Sonic, but had his lightning-quick direction changes, and Slasher lost sight of him several times.
"Who is that insolent hedgehog?" she wondered as she glided over a street, following her target on the sidewalk below. Was it Shadow? Or was it someone else? She was certain she had met him before, but he was in disguise now, and she couldn't place him. What did he want with Sonic?
She rounded the corner of a building, passed over him and swooped back. Tails? Was that Tails? Yes, the Cyclone was parked in the mouth of a garage, and the fox was standing in its driveway, talking to the black hedgehog. Suspicious and worried, Slasher landed on a sloped roof, folded her wings like a great predatory bird, and watched.
She couldn't hear what they were saying, but Tails was gesturing to the Cyclone, probably bragging about it. What was he doing in Riverbase? Maybe he needed specialized work on his mech. She didn't want him talking to that maniac hedgehog. He might hurt him or--
Slasher whirled. Another velociraptor had crept up the opposite slope of the roof and was perched on the ridge, its head and tail low. For one terrified instant Slasher thought it was Leviathan resurrected, then saw that this raptor had no robot parts. It was colored like herself, brown with chocolate stripes, and its eyes burned yellow. Its teeth bared in a hiss. Slasher hissed back, suddenly wishing she weren't facing uphill.
The other raptor sprang down the roof, crashed into Slasher and knocked her off the roof. The two struck the pavement, Slasher on the bottom. She landed on her left wing and felt the bone snap. She shrieked.
The enemy raptor slashed at her belly with its toe claws, but Slasher lashed out and knocked it away. She scrambled to her feet, an uncontrollable whine of pain in her throat. Her left wing hung haphazardly, the long pinions dragging.
The other raptor's jaws opened in a laugh.
"Why did you attack me?" Slasher panted. It made no sense. Raptors didn't attack each other unless threatened. She was unaware that other velociraptors existed on Mobius, except for Flicky Island. Her injured wing sent electrical shockwaves of agony through her body, and her left arm was contracting into a tight knot.
"You got in my way," the strange raptor growled in the tongue of dinosaurs. "Die!"
It sprang, jaws open. Slasher whirled and struck it with her muscular tail, knocking it into the wall of the nearest building. The pain was making the world pitch and roll. Slasher was having trouble keeping her balance. Wait--the other raptor was having trouble, too. The world was indeed pitching. Undeterred, the other raptor ran at Slasher again and slapped her with its own tail. Slasher nearly fell, but staggered and caught herself. Cracks snaked up a nearby wall, and mortar fell from somewhere above. "Stop this!" Slasher roared. "We're in danger, this is an earthquake!"
The raptor sprang at her again and hissed, "So?" Slasher rose to meet it, wings outstretched--
Something moved behind her. She glimpsed the black hedgehog, arms upraised with a brick clutched in both hands. Then the world exploded into hot white light, and whirled away in fragments and snowflakes into darkness.

*

The earthquake shook Riverbase, cracking foundations and tearing apart buildings. It rippled on into the Great Forest, making the trees sway and snap, and struck Knothole. The Freedom Fighters ran for the safety of the outdoors, away from falling objects. The quake rolled on for miles, finally dying out somewhere among the Ice Cap mountains in the northwest.
But it was followed by other earthquakes, longer and more severe. The residents of Knothole pitched tents out in the plain between the forest and the remains of Robotropolis, and suffered the shaking ground with animal patience. No one had the time to worry about anything else, but Sally's face took on a drawn, tense look. Slasher and Tails were in Riverbase, and a city was no place to be during geologic upheaval. But communication lines were jammed, and she had no way of contacting them.
The quakes intensified until dusk, when they became so violent that the ground was moving in water-like ripples. The reason for this became apparent when the moons lifted above the horizon, aligned one behind the other. The small moon was visible through the crater in the large one, and the glow from both created an unearthly halo in the sky. Their combined gravity exerted such pressure on Mobius that the planet's continents heaved and cracked, and massive tidal waves swept the coast with as much power as the water monster Perfect Chaos.
By dawn the moons began to move apart, and the earthquakes lessened in frequency and strength.
The Floating Island had suffered minor earthquakes, but it had not been affected as harshly as the rest of Mobius. Sonic and Knuckles stayed awake all night, trying to contact Knothole via an audio program on Knuckles' computer. When it was not Sonic's turn, he sat with the seven Chaos Emeralds lying around him, holding the indigo Chaos Emerald in both hands, as it was his favorite of the seven. "It's happening," he muttered once in a while. "The earthquakes. They're happening. I saw it."
Towards dawn, as the island stopped rocking and Knuckles was dozing, he heard Sonic mutter, "I hope Tails is all right ... if he went to Riverbase in this ..."
Knuckles opened his eyes and saw Sonic turning the green gem over and over, as if thinking.
"I could try to See ... but I'm not sure ..."
Knuckles yawned and sat up. "What are you mumbling about?"
Sonic eyed him and fidgeted. "Nothing. I need to run."
"Why are you worried about Tails?"
"No reason," said Sonic, without meeting his friend's gaze.
Knuckles watched the hedgehog's nervous hands toying with the green stone. "Did you See something?"
"No! Well, maybe ..." Sonic met Knuckles' eyes and looked down. When Knuckles said nothing, Sonic laid his ears back. "Okay, yeah, I saw Tails, all right? And he was scared and maybe hurt. And now with these earthquakes going on, I'm afraid it's happened."
He stood up and began to pace. "I wish I'd never laid eyes on these stupid Chaos Emeralds! If not for them, the moon wouldn't have a chunk missing and this wouldn't have happened!" He turned on Knuckles. "And don't you contradict me, I'm sick of you being all high and mighty, I'm sick of this island and I'm sick of these emeralds and I'm going home!" He held up his emerald and snarled, "Chaos Relocate!" There was a green flash, and the hedgehog was gone.
"Fine, go," said Knuckles to the spot where he had been. "I'm sick of you, too."

*

"Dear Sonic,
"The first flux has occurred. It was a small one and slightly blue. But they will intensify, and I must find you at all costs. Your life hangs in the balance. Do not use the chaos emeralds! You have no idea of the power they contain, and until I come to you, they pose a great threat to your life. I hope this letter finds you well and unharmed after the earthquakes of two days ago.
"Twilight."

*

Two days had elapsed since the eclipse, and aftershocks kept coming. Sally estimated that the entire Great Forest had been elevated by a foot, and in many places the once-smooth ground was rough and broken. There had been no causalties among the Freedom Fighters, but there were many scrapes and bruises.
Slasher and Tails had not returned. Sonic had arrived in Knothole and was immediately pounced on by a distraught Sally, who was stressed, afraid, and needed moral support. She was looked upon as a leader in the crisis, and the squirrel was growing exhausted and fearful of what the future held. On top of that, she was fretting over Tails and Slashers' absence. But Sonic's presence was reassuring, and he supported her as best as he could.
He saw that he wouldn't be able to leave Sally for several days, and chafed at the delay, but tried to keep quiet about it. Chances were that Tails was fine, and was out helping with relief work. Slasher, too. Sonic imagined them rescuing people from collapsed buildings, too busy to call home.
Despite this rosy image, another four days passed without any word from the two prodigals. Communication lines reopened and Sally reached Slasher's communicator, but there was no answer. Tails' communicator was switched off, as was the Cyclone's radio. It seemed ominous to Sonic, who was already expecting the worst, and he ached to dash down to Riverbase and look for them.
He was thrown off kilter by another letter from Twilight (or Shadow, as Sonic called him mentally). It was slightly more friendly that the others, and seemed concerned with Sonic's safety.
"I'm not going to stop using the emeralds," Sonic muttered to himself, reading the letter displayed on Nicole's minuscule screen. "Sorry, Shadow. Nice to know you're alive, though. I wonder what this flux thing is he's talking about?"
He closed the letter. "Nicole, define 'flux'."
"Affirmative, Sonic," said the computer in a bland feminine voice. "Flux: noun. A discharge of energy."
"That's a big help," said Sonic, frowning. "Thanks, Nicole."
He was sitting on a rock not far from the Knothole camp, holding Nicole, when Sally came looking for him. "Hi Sonic. Get another letter?"
"Yeah," said the hedgehog, scooting over so she could sit beside him. "Weird as ever. Sal, do you know what a flux is?"
"I have informed him, Sally," said Nicole.
The squirrel smiled and took the palmtop. "Did he understand your definition?"
"Negative."
"I did, too," yelped Sonic. "It's an energy discharge. I was just trying to figure out the letter. Check it out."
Sally shook her auburn hair out of her eyes and scanned Nicole's screen. "He said it's a small flux and slightly blue. What's that mean?"
"You got me," said Sonic, shrugging. "Why do you think I'm trying to figure it out?"
"Sonic, you're thinking!" said Sally with mock surprise, pushing him. "I never thought it of you!"
"Cut it out," he said, stifling a smile. "This is serious. It's like he knows why everything's happening and he's giving me clues."
"Maybe he meant the bi-lunar eclipse," said Sally. "That discharged a lot of power, I bet."
"But why the blue thing? Was it sad? I don't get it."
Sally shook her head. "Have you tried writing back to him?"
"No," said Sonic. "He writes from a different address each time. I don't think he wants me to reply."
"It's worth a shot," said Sally. Her blue eyes, which for a moment had sparkled with good humor, became weary and grey again. "I have to go back to the camp now. Will you set up the two tents on the far side again? The last aftershock knocked them down."
"Sure," said Sonic. "Give me a minute to reply."
Sally walked off, and Sonic watched her, noting how she carried her head high, to face the trials of leadership, despite her rumpled fur and clothing that had not been washed in three days. He felt a surge of emotion, although he wasn't sure what it was; he wanted to follow her, and stay at her side, and help her lead, and shield her from harm. A second later it was gone and he wondered what he had been thinking. He bent over Nicole.
"Dear Twilight,
I'm fine thanks. I'm going to use the emeralds as much as I like. Do you know something about the moons, because you mentioned a flux and I wondered what you meant.
"Sonic."

*

Slasher opened one eye. The light made her head pound, and she closed it again. Somewhere in the back of her mind was the idea that she needed to do something, but the pain in her head and left wing kept her from remembering. She lay still, letting her aching body rest as her senses kicked in. She was lying in a quiet place, and there were sirens in the distance. The ground under her felt like pavement, and her nostrils were full of ashy plaster dust.
The raptor opened her eye again. She couldn't open her other eye--it felt hot and swollen, as if it had a sharp splinter lodged in it. She dragged one forepaw up to her head, and her claws grated on dirt. Her skin was caked with thick white dust. She pawed clumsily at her injured eye, but could feel nothing sticking out of it. Perhaps it was full of dirt.
Her head felt as big as a washtub, but by bracing herself with her forearms, she managed it lift it a few inches. She was lying in a pile of rubble in the shadow of two buildings that looked liable to collapse any moment, for their walls were cracked and the wall of one bulged outward.
Where was she? Why was she not in Knothole, and why was she in such pain? She felt as weak as water, and could scarcely drag herself out of the rubble. Her back legs quivered and refused to work. She groaned and lay on her right side, her broken wing stretched out at a crazy angle. Thirst. She would die for a drink of water. She had to get off this narrow street, get out where someone would see and help her ...
The dinosaur coughed and struggled to get her feet under her. Her back legs moved a little more than before, but she could not stand, not yet. She sank back to the debris-littered pavement and noticed the object strapped to her left wrist. She twisted her head around to look at it with her good eye. Her communicator! The message light was blinking. She scraped grime from its liquid crystal face and squinted at it. Sally had tried to contact her eleven times. Good grief, how long had she been here?
It came back to her as she lay in a half-crouch, her hind legs bunched beneath her. Tails! Tails had been here, and so had that black hedgehog, and another raptor, who had broken her wing. She recalled something about an earthquake. It must have been a bad one, judging from the condition of the street. She rubbed her blind eye feebly with a grimy paw, and felt it begin to water. Maybe it would flush out the dirt.
Slasher dragged herself to the end of the street and rested at a deserted intersection. There was no one in sight, and the buildings across the road, once a row of little shops, were now piles of rubble with merchandise strewn everywhere.
"God, help me," the raptor thought, and snapped on her communicator.
"Sally? Is anyone there?" Her throat was so dry she could scarcely speak above a whisper.
After a moment Sally's voice said, "Slasher! Is that you?"
"Yes," Slasher rasped. "I need help."
"Where are you?"
The raptor glanced about her with one eye. "I think--I think I'm in Riverbase."
"Are you all right?"
"No. My wing is broken and I can barely move."
There came an incoherent babble from the com's speaker, then Sonic said, "Slasher! Slasher! Are you on an intersection with a bunch of smashed buildings in front of you?"
"Yes."
"Is Tails with you?"
"No ... I saw him before the earthquake, but nobody's here now ... Sonic, bring water."
"You got it, Slash. I'll be right there. Bye!"
Sally's voice returned. "Talk to me, Slasher. What happened to you?"
Talking was work, and was making her throat hurt. Slasher had to try several times before she was able to speak. "Earthquake. Another raptor. Attacked. Hurt me. Hedgehog. Hit me on the head." She rested her head on the sun-warmed pavement and shut her eye. Her wing throbbed and sent jolts of pain through her whole body.
"There was another raptor that attacked you?" came Sally's startled voice. "Did you know who it was?"
"Stranger," Slasher murmured. She lifted her head and listened for Sonic.
He appeared in a sparkle of light, the green chaos emerald in one hand. He was carrying a field canteen that contained about a gallon of water. He dashed up to her and knelt in front of her, unslinging the canteen from his shoulder. "Slash, what happened to you? What's wrong with your eye?"
She didn't answer until he had helped her lift the canteen and drink a third of the contents. "Better," she sighed, licking her scaly lips. "I was attacked by another raptor and a black hedgehog. He knocked me out and I just woke up. I don't know where he went or where Tails is."
Sonic fumbled with the canteen, suddenly jittery. "A black hedgehog? Um, was it ...?"
"I'm not sure." Slasher struggled to stand, using the corner of the nearest building as a prop. She made it to her feet and stood panting, her broken wing trembling. "If it's Shadow, he's in disguise. I know I've seen him before."
Sonic stood up, torn in three directions--Slasher needed help, but Tails was missing, and Twilight was so close ...!
The velociraptor twitched, her head jerking backward. A second later she twitched again, clawed forepaws groping at nothing. "Sonic!" she choked. "Sonic, don't let--" Her voice was cut off in another spasm.
Sonic grabbed her wrists, trying to hold her still. "Slash, is it a seizure?" She had done weird things while hurt before. She grabbed his arms with iron strength, even as her legs gave out and she sank to the ground. "Don't let me go," she gasped. "Don't let--"
Then Sonic felt it, too. It was like standing on a carnival ride that pitched upside down without warning. The world wavered and swirled. It was like a Chaos Control, but Sonic's emerald lay on the ground with the canteen, a few feet away. "Slasher, let me go!" he cried, but the words were torn from his throat. They flew end over end through blank nothingness, tumbling, braced for impact. Slasher's grip slipped.
Sonic landed with a thump on mossy stone. The world had returned and he could see and hear again. He sat up, rubbing his arms, and gasped. He was sitting on a rocky precipice poised on a ridge a thousand feet above a narrow, tree-filled valley. Mountains rose around him as far as he could see, peak upon peak of rocks and blue-green trees against a cloudless sky.
He stood up, open-mouthed in shock. What in the world had happened? Where was he? He had never been here in his life!
"Slasher, are you okay?" he said, looking around for her. "Slash?" The rock he was on was ten feet wide, and below it trees stood up from the mountainside. Thick silence blanketed the world.
Slasher was not there.

*

Twilight swore and lowered his binoculars. Beside him, the velociraptor that had assaulted Slasher uncovered Tails' mouth.
"You shouldn't say those words," said Tails.
"Shut up," Twilight growled. "They're gone! The flux took them both!" He swore again.
"Good!" said Tails, ears flattening in anger. "That way you couldn't kill Sonic or whatever you're going to do to him."
The black hedgehog turned from the edge of the rooftop and glared at Tails. His black spines were streaked with blue, as if he had unsuccessfully tried to dye himself blue. He wore a wide gold plate around his neck called a torc, which made him look like an escapee from another time. Up close, Tails could see his face was a patchwork of scars, as if his face had been grafted together after an accident. His eyes had a milky film over them, as if his vision had been impaired, and the combination of his eyes and mangled face made his scowl all the more terrible. "You. Shut up. I'm only keeping you alive as a favor to a friend. The Beast has permission to remove your limbs if you annoy me."
The dinosaur tightened its grip on the fox's shoulders and licked its chops.
Twilight turned away and peered toward the ruined corner where Slasher and Sonic had been. A second later he lifted the binoculars again. "He dropped his emerald!" he muttered, and leaped from the roof at once. Tails watched him run through the wreckage, snatch up a small green object, and race back. "Bring the fox," he called to the raptor, who lifted Tails and jumped down to the pavement below.
Tails watched as the black hedgehog pressed the emerald into his torc. There were seven dents in the torc, and the gem fit its slot as if made for it. "So it works," said Twilight, unbuckling the torc and holding it up to admire it from arm's length. "My research has proven correct. If only Sonic had not vanished!" He looked with fierce wistfulness at the spot where Sonic and Slasher had been.
"He wouldn't tell you where the rest are," said Tails.
Twilight lifted a hand to slap him, and Tails flinched, but Twilight thought better of it and put his torc back on. "I want him for reasons of my own," said the hedgehog. "I daresay you could tell me where they are located, if I asked."
"Over my dead body," sneered Tails.
"Or perhaps your dead Cyclone," replied Twilight. "What would you do if I smashed it, one spindash at a time?"
The fox said nothing, and it was Twilight's turn to sneer. "Tough kid, aren't you? I'll save such persuasion for later. Beast, bring him. We need to be under cover by the next aftershock."
The raptor called Beast lifted Tails again and sprang after its fleeing master.