A Word to the Wise
Part I of the SWAT-Vengeance Saga
By Hack Emery

        Sonic the Hedgehog leapt out of the way of the oncoming SWAT-Bot laser
fire and laughed.  "Ha!  Is that the best you can do?" he asked
Robotnik.
        "They'll get you yet, hedgehog!" snarled the tyrant, aiming his missile
launcher.
        They were battling on a tall building in Robotropolis.  Sonic's
original intention was to talk to Uncle Chuck, but he had been
side-tracked.  Here he was, bashing his way through dozens of 'bots.
        Sonic shoved a SWAT-Bot in the way of the oncoming missile, and
ducked.  The blast knocked most of the remaining robots off the
building, and only a few remained.
        "Now, Snively!" Robotnik shouted into his portable communicator.
        Suddenly, the roof they were standing on began to shake.  Sonic
frowned.  A huge robot burst forwards.
        "Not good," said Sonic.
        It was gigantic.  It was roughly three times as big as any SWAT-Bot
Sonic had seen before, and it's left arm was replaced by a huge gun.  It
charged forwards.
        "Yeowza!" cried Sonic, dodging the 'bot as it barreled past.  He nearly
dodged into the open arms of a SWAT-Bot.  Sonic frowned and watched the
robots began to create a circle around him.  
        "Do you like my new invention?" asked Robotnik.
        Sonic kicked at a SWAT-Bot "What in blazes--" he began.  
        Then the 'bot punched him in the face.
        Sonic reeled, and fell to the ground.  His head spun, and it was
difficult to focus on the polluted sky above him.  "Very nice, Robo. 
What do you call it?"
        "I've named it SWAT-Boss.  It's basically the brain for these robots. 
It calculates your speed, trajectory, and some other stuff, then
predicts the next move you're going to make.  It also broadcasts the
calculation to the other bots around it.  A SWAT-Boss--"
        Robotnik never finished his sentence.  Sonic ran towards a SWAT-Bot,
then back-flipped and hit a different 'bot in the chest.  It slammed
into Robotnik, who rolled over and grunted.  "Cursed hedgehog!  You'll
pay for that!" he snarled.
        Sonic immediately dashed through the new opening in the 'bots, and
headed for the edge of the roof.  He leapt over the small alleyway which
divided the buildings.  The SWAT-Boss fired, and the place that Sonic
had intended to land on was in tiny pieces.  Sonic slammed against the
wall, grunted, and began to fall.
        "Definitely not good," he muttered.  The fall was about eight or nine
stories, with no flagposts or anything else to grab.  Suddenly, however
he was saved.  His descent was  halted suddenly, and he looked up.
        The SWAT-Boss had grabbed him.
        "Give it up, hedgehog.  Resistance is futile," said the robot.
        Sonic kicked the 'bot in the face.  It had no effect.  Well, none
except for the SWAT-Boss slamming him into the wall.
        "Ouch," said Sonic.
        "Do you give up?" asked the SWAT-Boss again.
        Sonic shrugged.  Then he opened his backpack.  Most of the stuff fell
to the ground, but he did manage to grab what he was after.  Sonic held
a small metal disk, which was designed to overload a 'bot's circuits,
causing it to explode.  Sonic was not sure how he was going to survive,
but he didn't have much choice.
        The disk sailed through the air, and landed directly on the SWAT-Boss'
chest.  It staggered back, and began to shake.  Sonic grabbed the edge
of the building and began to pull himself up.
        Robotnik, realizing what Sonic had done, began to dash down the stairs
to the lower levels of the building.  He glanced back at the writhing
'bot, and hurried his pace.
        The SWAT-Boss exploded.
        As Robotnik was slammed against the wall by the force of the explosion,
he wished he had not placed so much explosives in the SWAT-Boss.  The
wall gave in, and Robotnik sailed to the ground, narrowly missing
several spikes.  He slammed into a bunch of tires.  He lay on the tires
for several minutes, and fell asleep from exhaustion.  

        When he woke up, the entire top half of the building was gone. 
Robotnik grinned and picked up a charred piece of SWAT-Boss.  "Snively?"
he asked the communicator.
        "Sir?!  What happened?" asked Snively.  "I thought you were dead!"
        "I'm fine, Snively.  But guess what?"
        "What, sir?"
        Robotnik laughed.  "I think the hedgehog's dead!"
        You could almost hear Snively grin.  "Very good, sir!" he said.
        "I said I thought.  I want you to have the SWAT-Bots sweep the
perimeter."
        "Yes sir," said Snively.  "Snively out."
        Robotnik stood up and began to make his way back to base.
        
        Meanwhile, in a huge Robotropolis junkyard, a pile of old SWAT-Bot
parts began to stir.  It shook, and shaked, and a low moan could be
heard from it.  Then, a hand poked through.
        Slowly the creature began to make it's way out of the old, destroyed
pieces of junk.  It was covered with garbage, but it was still partially
functional.  Mecha-Sonic made it's way through the old pieces of trash. 
It was back on-line, and it was really mad.  The robot only had one
thought on it's mind:  revenge.
        Mecha-Sonic checked it's outer shell, and realized to with horror that
a sharp piece of metal had penetrated the motherboard.  Right through
the eyeball.  Man, if Mecha-Sonic had pain sensors....  It pulled the
metal out, and ran an complete system's check:

Memory:  Fully functional
Outer shell:  Currently activating self-repair function
Turbo motor:  Off-line, un-fixable.  New motor required
Jet fuel:  Low
Calculation chip:  Fully functional
Artificial Intelligence Chip:  Damaged.  Unrepairable.
Loyalty chip: Damaged.  Activate self-repair function?
Diagnosis:  Repair is needed.  Motherboard has been off-line for over
two months.  Return to Robotropolis immediately for aid from Robotnik.
Note:  Motherboard is damaged.  Artificial intelligence has been
affected.  Intelligence has increased greatly.  This may lead to
destruction of current model by means of loyalty chip.  Power is
required now.

        Mecha-Sonic told the motherboard to delete the loyalty chip.  This
action was highly suicidal.  Ever since E.V.E. had gone AWOL, Robotnik
had placed a loyalty chip in all his 'bots.  Any anti-Robotnik thoughts
would result in the immediate destruction of the robot.  Also, any
attempts to remove the chip would cause the robot to explode.
        However, Mecha-Sonic did not really care about who it was loyal to. 
It's only concern was revenge against the creatures that wronged it. 
Besides, the loyalty chip was fairly large, and slowed the machine
down.  
        There.  The loyalty chip was de-activated.  Mecha-Sonic began to walk
towards the exit.  He had a plan.  He would get his revenge.
  
        Sonic was not dead.  He had a twisted ankle, and one of his sneakers
had apparently been sent to southern Mobius, but he was not dead.  He
staggered to his feet and looked at his surroundings.
        He was in the Great Forest somewhere, but Sonic wasn't sure where.  He
glanced at the sun and saw it was beginning to set.  Or rise.  Sonic was
also not sure how long he had been out.
        He headed towards the sun, hoping he could find his way back.  It was
slow-going with his wounded leg, but he still kept walking.  Finally,
however, Sonic felt he had to rest.  He sat down under an old oak tree.
        Suddenly, he began to hear a faint noise.  Sonic got to his feet and
stared in the direction the noise was apparently coming from.  It was a
very faint sound, one that he heard all the time.  However, the fatigue
to the events of today had exhausted him, and Sonic did not realize what
it was for several minutes.
        It was the exact same noise Sonic made while running.
        He began to climb a tree, because he realized that Robotnik must have
rebuilt Mecha-Sonic.  Then, he waited for the blur to speed by.  Sonic
began to jump, but realized that whatever it was could not be his
robotic doppleganger.  Sonic slammed into the blur, and they both rolled
over into a small clump of bushes.
        Whoever it was seemed pretty mad, and Sonic only had a glimpse of the
hedgehog before it threw a wicked punch at Sonic' nose.  "Gamph," said
Sonic, if groaning can be considered a response.
        Sonic rolled several times, and leapt to his feet.  Then, he grunted
and fell to the ground.  He was in far too bad a condition to be
fighting anyone.  "Uh, sorry about that," he said.
        "You've got some nerve, pal!" the brown hedgehog yelled.  "What's the
big idea, tackling me like that?  Are you trying out for Mobian Football
or something?"
        Sonic smiled, despite the situation he was in.  "Sorry, I thought you
were someone else.  I'm Sonic the Hedgehog."
        The hedgehog stopped moving.  "What did you say your name was?"
        "Uh, Sonic the Hedgehog."
        The hedgehog began to laugh.
        Sonic looked at the hedgehog closely for the first time.  He was brown,
and had an eyepatch over his left eye.  His right hand was replaced by a
small, round gray ball.  If Sonic had not been paying attention, he
wouldn't even have noticed the hand.
        Sonic felt his jaw, and realized the ball was made out of some kind of
metal.  Even a punch from Knuckles wouldn't hurt that much.  Sonic,
while observing this hedgehog, began to feel nervous.
        One, he was out in the middle of the Great Forest and completely lost. 
Not all the animals in the Great Forest were friendly.  Some of them
were carnivorous, like the Mobian Fighting Vulture, and the Wild Dog. 
There were also some other animals.  It was rumored that a deadly
monster lived in the Great Forest also.  It had no name, supposedly
because no one had lived long enough to figure out what species it
belonged to.
        Two, he was apparently dealing with a lunatic.  This hedgehog was
laughing his head off.  Sonic had heard rumors of Freedom Fighters who
snapped under the stress they were constantly under.
        Last, he was wounded and partially shoeless.  Without his shoes, it
would be impossible to go above four hundred miles per hour without
setting his sock on fire.  Even then, of course, his socks would be
incredibly hot.  He doubted he could even reach a speed of sixty miles
per hour with his leg cut.
        "Um, excuse me?" asked Sonic.
        The hedgehog wiped his eyes and began to stand.  "Sorry, Sonic.  I just
thought it was kind of funny.  I'm Cinos the Hedgehog.  Pleased to meet
you."
        "Hi."  Sonic felt strange looking at the hedgehog.  "You look...
weird."
        Cinos smiled.  "I'm not surprised.  You look weird to me, too.  You
want to know why?"
        "Why?" said Sonic.  As long as he was dealing with this crazy person,
Sonic might as well stay on friendly terms with him. 
        "You're my brother."

        The SWAT-Boss turned it's head and looked at Robotnik.  "What is your
plan," master?" it asked.
        Robotnik smiled.  The best thing about SWAT-Bosses were that they were
similar in design to SWAT-Bots.  Now that the factory was finished, he
could produce thousands of the deadly robots in only a few hours.  Other
robots, like Mecha-Sonic, were much more difficult to work with, because
of their complexity and rare metals.
        "We will initiate a perimeter sweep of the Great Forest in twenty-four
hours," he announced.  "You are to shoot to kill any living being.  If
you are damaged by an attack from a Freedom Fighter, explode
immediately.  Your experience will be uploaded to the mainframe,
allowing other SWAT-Bosses to not make the same mistake."
        "Yes, master," said the SWAT-Boss, which turned and walked away. 
Robotnik laughed.  Soon, the Freedom Fighters would be destroyed. 
Without Sonic, they had no hope whatsoever of survival.
        Yes, they were surely doomed.

        Sonic found this "Cinos" character funny.  "My brother!" he said,
finally, when he stopped laughing.  "I'm an only child... my parents
were killed during the revolt long ago."
        Cinos frowned, and prepared to argue.  Suddenly, though a sharp barb
slammed against the tree he was leaning against.  "What was that?" he
said, standing up.
        Sonic looked around.  "There's a lot of them.  Looks like barb frogs."
        Cinos didn't like the sound of that.  He had encountered barb frogs
before.  "Get down," he said. 
        "How many do you think there are?"
        There were probably ten or twenty.  "Three," Cinos said, not wanting to
alarm Sonic.
        "We've got to get out of here," hissed Sonic.
        Cinos shook his head.  "You're in no condition to go anywhere.  Not as
beat up as you are."
        Sonic sighed.  "We've got no choice.  Whoever you are, let's go."
        Suddenly, a frog stepped out of the shadows.  It was slightly larger
than Sonic, and it was a dull gray color.  "Prissssonerssss," it hissed,
much like a snake.  "You were very easssssy to capture.  You cannot be
the Sssssonic the Hedgehog Robotnik wants ussss to get."
        Sonic gasped.  They were agents of Robotnik!  Why would living beings
work for that megalomaniac?
        "He payssss us well, and protectsss usss.  You will ensure our safety
forever."
        The other frogs came out.  There was no hope of escape.

        The SWAT-Bosses moved forward.
        Robotnik laughed.  "Isn't it great, Snively?  In eighteen hours, they
will have located the Freedom Fighters, and there will be no hope of
escape for them."
        Snively nodded vigorously.  "The best part is, Sonic isn't here to save
them.  Sir Charles hasn't been found, but the radio scrambler will
ensure the 'bots don't change their direction soon."
        Robotnik laughed.  "The Great Forest will be destroyed.  And there is
no way for the Freedom Fighters to ever know!"

        Sally brushed the dust off of her vest and opened the door to Uncle
Chuck's headquarters.  "Oh, hello, Sally," he said.
        "Hi," said Sally, worriedly.  "Have you seen Sonic?"
        Uncle Chuck shook his head.  "Nope.  He was supposed to meet me, but he
never did."
        Sally frowned.  "I wonder what happened to him."
        "I'm sure he's all right.  He didn't survive this long without some
know-how as to how Robotnik's weapons work."
        Sally felt a little reassured, but not much.  "Anything new?" she
asked.
        Uncle Chuck shook his head once again, and leaned against an old
chair.  "Not at all.  Robotnik's been suspiciously quiet lately.  I
think he suspects there's a spy again."
        Neither realized that the SWAT-Bosses were marching towards the Great
Forest as they spoke.
To Be Continued....