Disclaimer: I do not own Ray or Mighty. They are trademark characters that belong to Archie comics and Sega. This is a work of fiction and is not meant to infringe on any copyrights.
***
Josh looked out the window, feeling tired, yet being unable to fall asleep. He had just gotten home from a gig where his friend’s band, Liquid Vibrations, was supposed to have played, but none of the members had shown up; they hadn’t even phoned the restaurant’s owner to cancel.
It was about one in the morning, and he had just sat up in bed and turned the light on, looking around.
Josh was not really a ‘normal’ teen. He was sixteen, but he had never been able to get along with others his own age. All of his friends were a few years older than him, most of them already out of high school. That had been fine by him; they still got to hang out on the weekends, and he still usually went over to Tim’s house after school, seeing as they didn’t live too far from each other. Aside from since Tim’s recent disappearance, the two were usually very good friends. Then again, he thought, looking over at the picture of Tim and himself as kids he kept on his desk, we were sort of drifting apart before he disappeared.
In fact, Tim was the person who had introduced Josh to everyone else: Kyle, Ben, Charlie, Chris and Sean. They had accepted him without question of his age. Why? Because he, like the others, loved the Sonic games and comics. Well, not the games as much, because there weren’t any with his favourite character Ray the flying squirrel. But they still were fun.
Josh shook his head and stood up, closing the door to his room so his parents wouldn’t notice the light. Almost all of his friends had disappeared over the past few weeks, along with several other teens and kids from the city, and he was starting to get worried for them. Also, there was the fact that he was bored out of his mind without anyone there to talk to.
A little voice in his head said that he should have made some friends his age, seeing as no one his age had disappeared yet, but Josh quickly flattened that idea. It didn’t matter what was wrong, they were his friends and they’d stuck with him through thick and thin.
Josh looked back over at the clock. 1:05 now. He looked around the room for something to occupy his attention, but found nothing. Finally, he decided to go for a late night walk. He knew that it was really late, and that he had school tomorrow, but he also knew that he wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. There was just too much in his head.
After getting dressed, he walked out of his room, turning out the light as he went. When he got to his front door, he nearly tripped over a pair of shoes that were in his way. Looking down at the offending set of footwear, he was shocked by the fact that they didn’t resemble any pair he’d ever seen in his house. They were a deep blue colour, with a light blue strap going down the front. On either side of each shoe was another light blue stripe which crept up almost to the other stripe.
But he just ignored them, looking instead for his own pair of shoes. He couldn’t find them anywhere, then realised that his mother had said she was going to buy him a new set of shoes that day. That other pair must be them. Looking back at them, they seemed somewhat familiar, but he just dismissed it as being his imagination.
He slipped them on, and they fit perfectly, almost as if they’d been custom built for him. He walked out the front door, and his green eyes flashed in the moonlight. It was a windy night, but Josh liked the wind. He ran a hand through his brown hair and started walking.
A Spanish-looking girl stepped out from behind a bush in the front yard behind him, holding Josh’s shoes in one hand. Julan smiled once, than disappeared into the night.
Josh was enjoying this night. Normally he wasn’t one for just going on a walk at the spur of the moment, but tonight he figured he’d make an exception. It was a bit chilly, he realised suddenly. My fur will keep me warm. Josh paused. Where in the world had that thought come from? Well, it didn’t matter, he thought, ignoring it. But there still was a small nagging worry at the back of his mind.
Suddenly, he seemed to feel warmer around his face. That was strange. Josh reached up with his hand to feel his face. His mouth and the area around it seemed normal, but as he felt up on his forehead, he got the surprise of his life. Was that… fur!? He ran to a nearby shop and used the front window as a mirror. He nearly fainted at the sight.
His hair seemed to be spreading down from the top of his head to his face in a short fine layer. Along with that, his hair seemed to be turning a lighter colour. He watched as in moments, his hair turned a yellow colour and the lighter covering of softer hair covered most of his face but the skin just below his eyes. The changes stopped then, and Josh stared at his reflection in the window. This was… impossible. He touched the fur again, running his fingers through it. It felt real, and the skin underneath registered the movement of the fur.
"My god…" he muttered to himself. I must be dreaming. That’s the only possible explanation. I’ll just keep walking and then I’ll wake up.
With these thoughts, he started walking, faster this time, and in a nervous fashion. In his mind, he kept repeating that it was just a dream, just a dream. As he passed another window, he dared to look at himself again. The fur was still there. He was about to look away, when he felt a strange feeling in his ears, the same warmth he’d felt on his face, and another strange feeling like something was squeezing them at the tips.
Josh rushed over to the window and stared in shocked silence as the fur, his fur, enveloped his ears, which were reaching up into points and moving towards the top of his head. He stopped to look and feel them for a moment, but this time the transformation didn’t wait for him. As he rubbed the two ears now located much higher up on his head, his hair, or head fur now, began sucking back into his head, becoming shorter and shorter until there were only a few messy tufts of fur sticking out just above his left eye.
Then his eyes began to grow huge, taking up most of the room on his face, and joining together at the bottom just above his small black button nose. Josh felt a strange pressure on his face from the inside, and his entire head became much more round. When he looked back, his eyes had gone their usual from lime green to a pure sky blue colour.
Josh realised what was happening as the warm feeling spread down from his face to his torso. He was becoming Ray the Flying Squirrel! The tabloids were telling the truth the whole time, he thought, pulling his shirt off and staring at the fur spreading along his sides, back and front aside from a circle of skin on his chest.
As he watched he had to close his eyes because of a strange falling sensation he was having. When he opened them up again, Josh saw that the pavement of the sidewalk was much closer than before. He looked sideways at the store window, and realised that he could only just see his head in it, instead of most of his torso like before.
"What th-" he stopped speaking midsentence and clamped a hand to his mouth as his too big pants fell down, not that he needed clothing anymore anyways. He sounded like a kid! That voice could only belong to someone about eight or ten years old.
He was distracted from his voice by the spreading feeling of warmth stopping at his hands and feet. He brought his hands up in front of his face and gasped. His fingers were now completely enveloped in a layer of slightly darker yellow coloured fur. Josh also noticed then that his arms had become much thinner, yet they seemed more flexible somehow. Looking down at his legs, he found they too were thinner like his arms, and they seemed stronger.
Josh breathed deep. If he was turning into Ray, then he couldn’t be done yet. I still don’t have my tail!
He hadn’t even finished that thought when he felt a massive pressure at the base of his spine. With a cracking feeling that wasn’t quite painful, his spine pushed out, and he felt what would soon be his tail taking form. He almost fell over from the sudden added weight to his back, but his legs, using a reflex he didn’t remember having before, crouched slightly to compensate for the counter-balance. His tail continued growing, until it was almost the same size as he, and it had curved so that it formed a loop behind his back.
With that, he was done. Ray looked back at his massive tail, wondering what he would do. If anyone saw him, he’d either be donated to a zoo or have medical experiments done on him. He wouldn’t even be able to go home; he would have to pass a busy street, and he would no doubt be seen. But he couldn’t just leave without any clothes or… Josh looked down at himself. Alright, forget the clothes, but he’d need food and shelter and money, etc.
His worries were replaced suddenly, though, by an immense need to be in the sky. Not realising what he was doing, Josh crouched his legs, and sprang upwards from the ground. As he lifted off, a strange state of weightlessness overcame his body. Josh smiled, the smile of a kid who knows he’s about to have fun, and he launched himself into the air, holding his fists out in front of him.
He went straight up, aiming for the full moon. The wind running through his fur felt amazing! As he built up speed, the squirrel let out a whoop of joy. He felt alive up here, like this was where he belonged.
He flew through a layer of cloud and suddenly, the moon was right in front of him, gleaming in night. He stopped moving for a moment just gazing at the beauty. Then, Josh, showing a little smile, allowed himself to free fall.
Anyone who saw would have never believed it; a squirrel plummeting from the sky, letting out a little kid’s laugh of joy. His fur rippled along his sides in little waves. As he came closer to the ground, Josh saw his target, and headed towards it. Leaning towards the left, Josh aimed for his house. He should really be going home.
He stopped suddenly, landing on the top branch of a tree. Was his house really his home anymore? Thinking about it, he realised that that building didn’t mean anything to him. It was just a place, not really his home. He sat down on the branch, not wondering how it was supporting his weight. When he thought about home now, the image in his mind was a small apartment in Emerald City. Sure it was tiny, but it was home.
Thinking of it fondly, he didn’t notice the small vortex of light which had appeared at the bottom of the tree. It slowly grew and rose up the tree, until it was just below him. Josh just so happened to look down at that moment, and noticed the strange changing ball of light. He didn’t know why, but it called to him. His smile widened slightly, and he slipped off the branch, falling into the ball.
Inside Josh’s room, another small ball appeared. The picture of him and Tim glowed for a moment, and was replaced by a picture of Ray and Mighty. It let out one more little flash, then disappeared.
Josh was flying along a tunnel of light, and not the kind of flying he usually liked. This was the going in all directions, bouncing off the walls flying. Just as he felt he was getting used to the movement, something pushed at his mind. He felt memories and thoughts and ideas not his own flying into his brain. He clasped his hands to his head, and shook it vigorously, but it had no effect. The alien mind pushed harder and harder against him, until finally, Josh closed his eyes, falling asleep.
***
Ray opened his eyes, waking up. Morning light was flooding into his apartment. He sat up and put on his white gloves, looking out the window. It was a beautiful morning. He looked over at the picture on his desk, and thought about going to see Mighty. It had been over a month since they’d last seen each other.
On second thought, it would be better if he let Mighty know he was coming before hand. Not to mention it was a pretty long flight to Starlight city, and he’d gotten in pretty late last night.
Eventually, he decided to go for a walk in the woods. Flying, it only took him about three minutes to reach the nearby forest. More of leaping from tree to tree than flying, the young squirrel felt at home among the branches. He was stopped suddenly though by a massive puff of smoke in front of him.
It knocked him off his current branch backwards to the ground. Looking up, he saw a blue tanuki about his own age, wearing a leaf shaped poncho. He seemed to be looking around at the leaves in the trees before picking a few of them off.
Ray smiled and flew up to the branch.
"Hey, Tricky!" he said, laughing. "What’s up?"
The raccoon-dog spun around, looking surprised, which was a rare enough thing for Tricky. "Hi, Ray!" he said, with his huge smile plastered on his face. "I thought you weren’t getting back until later today!"
"Well, I wasn’t supposed to, but I decided to fly late last night so I could get home," Ray explained, glad to see that smile again. He’d been away quite awhile, and had been starting to miss the mischievous raccoon-dog.
"That’s great," Tricky exclaimed.
"So what were you planning on doing today?" Ray asked him.
"Actually," the raccoon-like animal said, his smile growing sneakier, "I did have an idea for a good trick, and it’d be much easier to do with you helping out. Are you interested?"
Ray considered it. The last time he’d helped out with one of Tricky’s tricks, they’d both ended up scrubbing the green colouring out of their fur for a week. Then he smiled, not as widely as Tricky, of course, but a smile all the same. "I’m in."
A few of Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s robots were assembled outside the city. They were trying to be sneaky, but it was quite difficult to conceal a bunch of robots just outside a major city. There were five of them, all still shiny from right off the assembly line. No one was really concerned about them, because apparently a professional had been hired to deal with them. But Tricky had decided the day they’d arrived that professionals weren’t necessary. He’d had the plan in his head the moment they’d arrived, and now he would finally get to execute it.
The two friends waited just outside of the robot’s ‘secret’ camp until one of them wandered just out of sight of the others. Then it was a simple matter of Ray knocking it senseless, and Tricky to pull out a single leaf, and use its incredible potential.
The other robots didn’t take note as their comrade walked back into camp. Strange, they all seemed to be talking, almost as though they each had their own personality. Soon it became clear, however, that they were just discussing plans.
Finally, knowing his leaf would wear off soon, Tricky said aloud, "How many robots does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
The other robots stopped their actions and looked at him.
"Well I’m not sure," he continued, "but if you’re including this guy, it’ll take at least two!"
At the moment Tricky said this, Ray, who was about fifty meters up from the ground, released his heavy load. The robot they’d knocked out plummeted to the ground and smashed into a million pieces.
One landing and a puff of smoke later, and the two Mobians were standing in front of four very surprised robots.
"Shall we?" Tricky asked.
"Why not?" Ray responded.
Both lunged forward, knowing that their enemies stood no chance. But suddenly, both were stopped by a metallic hand grabbing each of them by the shoulder. They were pulled backwards and spun around, to face none other than Cyber-Tails. Both of his razor sharp tails were at either of their necks, and his blue viewers stared coldly at them.
"You are the two Mobians Tricky and Ray, affirmative?" he didn’t wait for an answer, continuing on "I have been ordered to capture you and bring you in to my master. Do not try it," the robotic creature said, looking at Ray who was about to take off, "or your friend will die."
They were caught. It was that simple. Another ten robots came out of the woods and hand-cuffed them so that Tricky couldn’t reach his the ground or any low hanging branches, and restricting Ray from moving his hands to a flying position. Just as the small party was about to leave for Robotropolis, Cyber-Tails’ viewers clouded over, and he spoke a few quiet words as though to the air. Finally, he looked up at them.
"I must go to Dr. Robotnik’s side at one. Escort them to the city and place them in the holding compound." With that, he took off into the sky, flying almost as fast as Sonic ran.
The robots started off in the same direction, more or less dragging their captives behind them. As they walked, Tricky looked over at Ray with a look that seemed to say "sorry", while still managing to keep that huge smile.
It was at that moment that someone walked out from behind a tree just ahead of the group. He looked familiar, Ray thought staring at him. It was a fox with blue fur, and spiky brown head fur. That hair reminded him of Chris’s, but he thought nothing of it. Chris was a human, anyways!
Then the fox spoke. "I demand that you release your prisoners this instant, or pay the price." That voice… it was Chris! But why was he a fox?
The lead robot stared at him. "Negative. Orders: Deliver captives to Robotropolis. You are but one. Move away or be considered an enemy."
The fox, whom Ray had officially labeled as Chris, looked up at the robot. "You’ve been warned."
In a surprising move, Chris ran between the robot’s legs and tripped it up with his tail. The machine fell down on its face and didn’t get up.
The other robots, aside from two guarding Ray and Tricky, ran forward to engage the fox. As soon as they were a little distance off, the two friends felt a slight breeze go by, and a black and red flash went by. The robot holding Ray went flying. The squirrel would have gone down with him too, if a strong gloved hand hadn’t grabbed him. He looked back to see Mighty standing behind him, and relief flooded through his body. A look of intense concentration flashed across the armadillo’s face as he pulled at the hand cuffs, and Ray’s hand cuffs snapped to pieces.
Wordlessly, Ray took off to help Chris with the rest of the robots while Mighty dealt with dispatching the other guard robot. The squirrel had to admit, he was impressed by Chris’s skill. He wasn’t fighting the robots, rather dodging and taunting to keep their attention away from Mighty.
There’s no way he can keep that up on his own! Ray thought, and flew down so that he was only a few inches above the ground. As he flew, Ray tripped one or two of the robots up, until he finally he reached Chris.
Though the fox had never performed the following move, Chris had seen Ray and Mighty do it countless times before. He reached out with one hand so that it clasped with Ray’s. In a split second, the two were in the air and heading towards Mighty and Tricky, both of whom were now ready for combat with two dismantled robots at their feet.
Chris and Ray landed next to them, so that the four Mobians now faced the twelve robots squarely.
"3 to 1 odds," Mighty pointed out the obvious. "I don’t like it."
"Oh," Tricky said, as though an idea had just occurred to him, "Well then why didn’t you say so at the beginning of this?"
He jumped up and grabbed on to a low hanging branch, ripping off a few leaves. It was at this moment that the robots charged. Tricky landed just in front of them and tossed the leaves he had just grabbed into the air.
There was a massive puff of smoke, and they disappeared, leaving the robots to charge through the space they had just occupied.
***
They appeared just outside of Emerald city, two feet above the ground. Tricky simply bounced up using his tail as a spring, but the others weren’t as lucky. They collapsed into a pile. When they finally managed to distangle themselves, they found the young raccoon-dog bent over double laughing. Tears of mirth flowed from his eyes for about two minutes before he calmed down. To tell the truth, Ray himself had to work hard to conceal his own laughter. Mighty did not see the comedy in the situation.
"Did you have to target the teleportation right there?!"
"Aww, common, that’s the farthest I’ve ever had to teleport before. We’re lucky that we aren’t ten feet underground!" said Tricky, unphased.
"That makes me feel so much better."
Ray looked over to their saviours. "So you guys were the professionals, huh?"
Chris shook his furry head. "No, that would be Mighty. He just let me tag along for the ride."
"Lucky thing too! There’s no way we would have rescued you without his help." Chris beamed with pride at the armadillo’s comment, his tail wagging with content.
"Oh yeah, by the way, what’s up with your new…" Ray searched for a word. "Look?"
Darkness flashed across the new fox’s eyes. "I’d rather not talk about it right now."
Ray and Tricky saw the pain in his look, and din’t press the question.
The four lay there silent for a moment, before Mighty said, "So, you guys gonna invite us to dinner or something as thanks for saving your lives?"
Tricky spoke very fast. "Sorry,RingsandTailswaitingformebackhome,g’bye!" Another puff of smoke went off, and he was gone.
After they were done coughing from the smoke, Ray spoke up. "Sure, I was thinking of going out for dinner tonight anyways. I haven’t got any food at my appartment right now. Come on, I’ll pay."
As they walked, they kept talking.
"Why don’t you move in with me finally? You’re too young to be living on your own."
"Yeah, Ray! There’s tons of room in Mighty’s house."
The squirrel shook his head. "No thanks, guys. I really like living on my own, and besides, I love this city. It’s nice and close to the forest, not to mention it’s pretty small, compared to Starlight at least."
Later, when the three of them were full and seated around a table in a nice restaurant, Ray looked at the other two seriously. "You guys, we’ve got trouble. Me and Tricky could’ve taken those four incompetents outside the city. Cyber-Tails was there."
At the sound of that name, Chris stood up abrubtly. "I’m sorry, please excuse me." It was obvious he was holding back emotion, and he walked away stiffly.
Mighty watched him go for a moment, then turned back to Ray. "You’re right. That robot is bad news for us. Before Robotnik was just an incompetent annoyance. Now, he’s getting dangerous."
Ray nodded. "We should talk to Sonic, and especially Tails later. We can’t let him go unnoticed."
"No arguments there. But for now, let’s just enjoy this. We never get to spend time together anymore." They smiled at each other, then Mighty raised his glass. "To old times."
Ray raised his glass as well. "To the best times," a sadness touched his voice. "The times we’ll never get back."
Mighty touched his glass to Ray’s. "Too true."
Ray sipped his glass of water. "Things seem to change too fast and too often, nowadays."
~fin~