Ray woke up when he heard a mild explosion next to his bed. He sat up, blinking and looking around in alarm, wondering if the apocalypse had indeed come.
"Hey, Ray," said a strange blue raccoon dog creature standing next to him.
"Oh," Ray muttered, lying back down, "hey, Tricky."
Tricky blinked. "Is that it? When I used to do this you’d literally jump up a few feet in the air!"
"Sorry, I guess I’m just getting used to you appearing at random moments in a puff of smoke and a bang reminiscent of a small sized explosion."
"Meh," Tricky shrugged, "I guess it is getting a bit old. Maybe if I were to add in some flames or something…"
"NO!" Ray yelled, on instinct almost, "The insurance against fire on this place keeps going up every time you try something involving flames."
"Fair enough," Tricky said, inclining his head to him.
"So," the young flying squirrel muttered, pulling on a pair of blue shoes, "why is it that you’ve come here at," he checked the clock, "nine in the morning on a Saturday morning?"
"Oh, yeah, well Rings isn’t feeling so good lately, and Tails and I don’t really get along that well, so I was wondering if I could stay here for a week or so?"
"Sure, why not?" Ray told him, cracking his knuckles as he pulled on a pair of white gloves. "Just so long as you keep the pranks on the low. I doubt my neighbours would like any of your usual stuff around here."
"Naturally," Tricky told him, sweeping down into a bow and crossing his fingers behind his back. "I promise to be the roll-model of good behaviour."
"So long as you keep that promise. And as long as you don’t wake me up before twelve on a weekend."
"Course not! What kind of monster do you think I am!?"
"The monster who managed to dye my fur green for a week, who managed to destroy Tails’ plane TWICE, who managed to nearly get us killed by Robotnik’s robots, who -"
"Anything you say like that will sound bad."
Ray rolled his eyes and pulled on the blue jacket he wore sometimes. "Whatever you say. Oh, I’ve got to go pick up some groceries and pick up my mail. Just don’t trash the place while I’m out."
"Never. Well I’ll probably be out when you get back, too, so don’t worry about me."
"I don’t," Ray informed him, prying open his window, "I worry about the person or place you’re going to."
With that, he jumped out the window of his fifth floor apartment, and flew off into the sky with his jacket flapping in the wind behind him.
***
Tricky let him wake up at, thankfully, 12:05 the following day. Ray got up and rubbed the fur under his eyes, blinking quickly to let his eyes adjust to the light. His friend hadn’t been there the night before, just like he’d said he wouldn’t, so Ray had simply made himself supper and gone to sleep.
The squirrel got up and walked into the washroom, turning on the shower up to a warm temperature. It was then that he stubbed his toe on one of the eight large cardboard boxes on his floor. He reached down and held it for a second, cursing under his breath, then crouched down to look at them, and checked the label on the side. Inside these eight boxes was… toothpaste!?
"Oh, good morning Ray," Tricky said, walking by the open bathroom door. "Beautiful day, isn’t it?"
"Yeah, of course. Would you mind me asking why there’s about a ton of toothpaste in here?"
Tricky’s eyes flicked around the room, a signal which Ray had learned meant he was making something up. "Well, I need a lot of toothpaste to keep my beautiful smile in order!" and he flashed one of his trademark, overly huge smiles.
Ray blinked. "You’ve got to be kidding me. Is that seriously the best you can do?"
"It’s the truth though! You should see how much we spend on toothpaste in a week! It’s nuts!"
"Fine, Tricky, but remember you promised, and- What’s that sound?" Ray asked. There was a strange wurring noise coming from just outside the bathroom.
"Oh, that, well," Tricky began, "that’s just something I’m borrowing from Tails’ work shop-"
"With permission?" Ray asked, having heard these sort of stories all too often.
"Uuhhh…" he looked at the ground. "Yes?"
"Do you actually expect me to bel-" Ray stopped suddenly, turning to look at the calendar as a thought hit him. "It’s the eighteenth."
"Yeah," Tricky said slowly, "So what?"
"Uh, n-nothing, I’ve just got to go for a little while…" There was a distracted look in his eyes as he stared at the calendar, turning the shower off.
"Is everything alright?" his friend asked him, actually looking concerned now.
"Yes, I’ll be back after dinner probably, so you can make yourself something, right?"
"Sure," Tricky said, still concerned. "Are you sure you’re alright?"
"Positive," Ray said, jumping out the window once again.
***
Ray landed about twenty minutes later in a small clearing in the forest just outside of Emerald City. He was actually quite deep into the forest, much deeper than usual hikers and campers cared to go, at least. As he touched down he looked around at the clearing and smiled, despite the tears welling up in his eyes. It was nice to be back home, for this one time a year he came here. Nice to visit again.
He gazed around at the tops of the tall trees, wondering, as always did when he came here, how long they’d stood for. His gaze slowly wandered down until it reached the two mounds on the ground there, with a large flat rock in-between them.
Ray knelt down in front of them, letting the tears flow now. It had been eight years, and he still hadn’t gotten over it. He’d never told anyone about his family, or where he came from, aside from Mighty, of course. He liked the idea of being somewhat mysterious in origin. In fact, he hardly even thought of the night it had happened. Now, however, that he was back at the place where it all happened, he couldn’t help but remember everything that had happened on that fateful night.
"Ray, it’s getting late, come back in honey!"
"I’m coming, Mom," Ray yelled back to his mother from just outside the clearing they inhabited. He wore a pair of red runners with a white strip across them, and his tail was quite flat and straight. He walked back towards the cabin he and his parents inhabited deep within the woods, which they were both sitting and talking inside of. His father was just taking off his blue jacket from coming back from his job in Emerald City, not that far away.
"Oh, hello dear," Ray’s mother said to his father when he walked in. "Any more news?"
"There’ve been a few more attacks. It keeps getting more and more violent, what with that darned Ivo Robotnik inventing more and more of those robots."
"None near here, are there?" she asked, concerned.
"No, none of them are even close to Emerald City yet," he said, sitting down, "but we can’t rely on that forever. He’ll get to us, just see if he doesn’t."
Ray was used to these reports. His father and mother spoke of them all the time, about this Ivo Robotnik person, about robots, about attacks, but he didn’t really understand it. All he knew was that he didn’t like him, because he was being mean to people.
"Well how was your day?" Ray’s father asked, changing the subject.
"It was really fun, dad! Mom was helping me learn how to fly!" Ray exclaimed.
"Was she!? How did you do?"
"He’s a natural," Ray’s mother said, putting some plates out on the table. "He actually managed to stay airborne for half a minute before he came down."
"Aww, cummon, it wasn’t that big a deal," Ray said modestly, his cheeks glowing red.
"Not that big a deal!?" Ray’s father exclaimed in surprise, "When I was starting flying I could barely get a few feet off the ground. That’s amazing!"
Ray grinned with pride. He’d only been learning for about a week, and truth be told, he was a natural. He’d heard his parents talking about how good he was when they thought he was asleep, and it had really helped his low self esteem when it came to flight. He’d expected to simply be able to lift off and fly, he didn’t know of the amount of patience and practice it took.
Ray smiled again as he remembered the experience of learning to fly. Looking back, he realised how good he really was. Most flying squirrels his age couldn’t do sustained long distance flight, and he took pride in his abilities. He stood slowly, walking over to the small patch of rotten leaves at one end of the clearing. Years ago, these had been nice and soft leaves that he’d practiced over with his mother. They, like everything else in the clearing, had been slowly destroyed by time and lack of use or care. Really, it was his responsibility to keep this place nice, but he couldn’t bring himself to stay here. He fell back into remembering that night, and sat down with his back to a tall oak.
Later that night, after supper, Ray lay in bed, thinking of all the new things happening in his life. He loved this ability to fly, and the incredible pride his parents had in him. He was incredibly happy right now, though, because his mother had told him before going to bed that tomorrow they would fly to Emerald City together, the first time he’d ever gone!
Slowly, his eyes drooped downwards and closed, and he fell asleep with these happy thoughts in his head.
He had only been awake for a moment, it seemed to him, when he was shaken awake by his mother.
"Ray, you have to get up, we’re leaving."
"Wha… Mom, what’s going on?" Ray muttered, blinking his eyes as he sat up.
"Nothing," she said nervously, her eyes flicking around, "We’ve just decided to go to Emerald City a bit earlier than planned."
"But mom, it’s three in the morning!"
"Well, we’re leaving now, and if you don’t want to get to see the city, then you don’t have to come."
Ray got up, grumbling to himself. He pulled on his shoes and gloves, then followed behind his mother as she left the cabin. Ray saw his father standing in the middle of their clearing and looking around nervously.
"You two had better get going," he said to his wife, trying to keep Ray from hearing.
"You’re coming with us too!"
"No, I’m not. If we all go they’ll catch up to us. You two go and get to the city, I’ll hold them off as long as I can."
The two looked each other in the eyes for a moment, and a silent realisation passed between them. They kissed for a moment, before breaking away and letting Ray come over.
"Dad, what’s going on?" Ray asked, afraid.
"Nothing, it’s alright. Oh, I’ve got something for you!" his father said, then pulled off his blue jacket and handed it to Ray. "You take care of that now, it’s for good luck."
Ray nodded, pulling the jacket on. It was far too big; it reached down past his knees and he had to roll up the sleeves many times so that his hands showed.
"Now you and mom are going to my apartment in the city that I use for work sometimes. I’ll meet you there in the morning, okay?"
"Yes," Ray said, still not understanding the gravity of the situation.
Ray and his mother turned away from his father, and lifted off, heading towards Emerald City. It was the last time Ray would see his father alive.
Thinking of this moment, Ray looked over to the mound on the left, the one which held his father. He walked over to it, unconsciously patting his jacket, which fit now, as he went. He kneeled down in front of it, then continued his reflections.
They flew for about ten minutes in silence, with Ray holding to his mother’s hand so that she could help him with the flight. He found it easy for the most part; the wind was at his back, so he was moving fast, and without much effort. Ray had noticed how strange his parents were acting, but didn’t think anything of it, instead just trusting that they were telling the truth.
He didn’t actually expect anything until a strange flying thing rose out of the trees in front of them.
"Hold. Upon orders of Dr Ivo Robotnik, you are to be escorted back to headquarters."
They stopped moving. Ray’s mother seemed stunned for a second, then said out the side of her muzzle, "When he comes at me, I want you to fly and escape. I don’t care what happens, just go. Do you promise?"
Ray nodded. He didn’t know why, but this strange metal creature scared him more than anything he had ever encountered.
"Good," she said, then turned back to the robot. "We will not obey you!"
"Then you and your child shall die." There was no malice in the voice, no hate, no cruelty, just someone simply saying the facts. Then he charged.
"GO, Ray!" his mother yelled, then she charged forwards as well. Ray didn’t need to be told twice. He started flying as fast as he could to get away the strange creature. Within half a minute, the sounds of the two behind him fighting had died away, and he stopped, turning back to look.
"Target sighted, proceeding to attack."
Two more of the winged creatures were suddenly in front of him, and Ray acted more on instinct than on common thought. He flew straight up then to the side, and the two followed him.
"Target is fleeing, requesting permission to fire."
They obviously got permission, because both began firing off shots from guns attached to them. Bullets whizzed by Ray, missing him by a hair. He could hear their angry rasp as they went by, and it only drew him to new heights of speed as another round was fired. Ray once again only just survived, this time by throwing himself out downwards.
Ray was getting tired though, and he knew he couldn’t keep this up. He needed somewhere to land, and fast. Then his salvation came to him. Of course! The forest! Though he’d never been to the city, Ray knew this forest like the back of his hand. He dived down amongst the branches, hoping they wouldn’t follow.
He was almost lucky, for only one of the flying machines followed him. So Ray relied on his agility now, dodging up over and down under branches, and swerving around trees or sometimes even through trees that had holes through them.
After a minute, he looked back, to find he’d lost the robot. He touched down on a tree branch quite high up, breathing deep with exertion. This flying stuff was hard! He lay back against the tree with his legs out straight on the branch, wondering what had happened to his mother. She can’t have lost the fight, if those things were so stupid he could escape from one that easily.
"Surrender yourself or be destroyed."
Ray turned to the left, seeing the robot he thought he’d lost beside him, with its gun pointed straight at him. Ray didn’t know what was going on, but he did know one thing, and he made it clear to the robot: "I’ll never surrender to you!"
"Then you will die," that same voice. And it fired.
The next few moments were so fast he never even registered them. The guns fired sending a massive hail of bullets at him. Then, his mother flew in from the right, hitting him from the side and off the branch. One bullet grazed his arm-
Ray rubbed the scar that was concealed under his fur then, remembering the pain all too well.
-and then he was falling through space with his mother beside him. He felt his mother reach over and grab him (her grip much weaker than normal, he noticed), then pulled him over to her, and she was underneath him. Then they hit the ground, and there was silence.
The robot zoomed down just overtop of them observing them for a moment, then sped off. "Subjects terminated. Returning to base."
Ray woke the following morning, wondering why he wasn’t in bed. He looked down and saw his mother, apparently asleep. He sat up and got off of her, then he remembered what had happened. He checked her, and his heart stopped.
There several bullet holes in her yellow fur, the blood staining her fur red. He shook her, seeing if she would wake, but stopped when he found that she was cold.
"M-mom?" he asked, then burst into tears. He was young, but he knew that she was dead, and that she wouldn’t come back. "Mom… please, cummon."
He stopped finally, lowering his head. Then something flashed through his head. Dad! He grabbed his mother and tried to pull her along with him, but she was too heavy. He remembered his mom telling him that he could carry heavier things when he flew. Was it true though?
He held her again, and lifted off, finding her much lighter. Without thinking, he took off, heading towards the clearing as fast as he could with his mother in his arms.
Ray landed in the clearing, and was sick. There were pieces of robots everywhere, and the cabin, his home, had been burned to the ground.
"Dad! Dad, can you here me!?" But in his heart, Ray already knew what he would find.
He found it when he approached the remains of the cabin, and saw a leg sticking out from a piece of fallen debris. Ray ran to the place and tried to lift the debris. It was actually quite small, but he was young and not very strong. He managed to get it up about ten centimetres, then managed to pull the broken body out from under it with his feet. There was no mistaking he was dead.
He let the piece of his old home fall to the ground, and then he knelt beside his parents, burying his face in his hands and crying for over four hours.
Ray stood there, in the same position as he had all those years ago, crying once again. It had taken him over four days to dig the graves and to find a stone. Then it had taken him another two to make the flight to Emerald City, seeing as he didn’t know where it even was. He took off again now, leaving the clearing behind and heading back towards the city. It was much faster now, because he knew the way and he could fly much faster. Landing on the outskirts, he remembered the day he’d arrived, as though it were yesterday.
Ray knew that if it had been any other situation, he would have been amazed by the city, its roads and cars and tall steel buildings and people and so much else… but not right now. He was still numb with shock and grief, and he was tired, hungry and used up, mentally and physically. He stumbled into the city, unaware of the people staring at the dirty young squirrel in an overly-huge blue jacket. It didn’t matter to him.
His parents had told him of the location of the apartment long ago, so he followed their instructions until he reached the tall building, and walked inside.
He stepped up to the counter, and said to the man at the front desk, "My father had an apartment here, and I was wondering if I could get a key?"
"Got ID, kid?" the man said, not even looking up.
"No, I don’t actually," he said, not knowing what ID was.
"Then ye can’t have a key!"
Ray was speechless. "But I-"
"Look kid, no ID, no key, it’s simple, so go away!"
"I’ve been flying for two days to get here, and now you’re just going to send me away because I haven’t got an ID!?"
"I’m sorry kid, but for all I know, you could be a thief trying to take everything from the poor guy who owns that apartment."
Ray was about to explode on this guy, when someone walked in the front door. "RAY!?"
He spun around to find his best friend Mighty the Armadillo and his father Bill in the doorway. For the first time in almost a week, Ray smiled.
"Ray, what are you doing here, where are your parents?" Bill asked as they walked up.
His smile faded. "Th-they’re dead, sir."
No one spoke for a moment, and even the man behind the front desk looked up at him.
Mighty broke the silence. "How?"
"I-it was a f-f-few nights ago, they woke me up. Dad stayed behind t-to fight them, and-" he got that far before he broke out in tears anew.
Mighty reached over and hugged his friend. "It’s alright Ray, it’s alright," he kept repeating, while Ray sobbed into his shoulder.
While Ray was crying and Mighty was comforting him, Bill had a word or two with the man behind the desk. Then he turned to the two and said, "Well, I’ve got you a key, why don’t you come upstairs to your father’s apartment and we’ll get you something to eat."
Once they’d eaten something, what Ray couldn’t remember, he just remembered eating like there was no tomorrow, Bill made an offer.
"Ray, if you want, you could come and live with us. I mean, there’s lots of room at our house, and you’re a bit young to be living on your own…"
Ray shook his head. "Thanks, but no. I just really feel like I need to be alone for a while, at least until I can deal with this. I think I’ll be fine here, on my own for now. Maybe just for a week or two."
And a week or two had turned into a month, a month into a year, and one year into eight. Mighty and Bill had stayed and lived with him there for a week, and Bill had generously paid for his needs until Ray was old enough to get a job. According to Mighty nowadays, the offer to come and live at his home was still open, and though sometimes Ray seriously considered it, he knew he’d never leave his home.
He was now outside the apartment building. He walked in, waving slightly to the man at the front desk. Now that they knew each other, he was actually quite nice. Ray guessed that he would have acted the same if a dirty young squirrel in too-big clothes had wandered in and asked for a key.
He walked into his apartment, and closed the door behind him, feeling tired but still satisfied. He wondered what Tricky was doi-
"HIT THE DECK!" the afore mentioned raccoon-dog screamed, jumping at Ray and tackling him to the ground.
"Tricky, why is there a cannon in my apartment?"
"I wanted to see if I could make a toothpaste cannon! It would make brushing my teeth take le-"
"IS THAT CANNON LIT!?"
"Um."
The cannon fired.
***
A few hours, a visit from the police, a long shower and an expert in toothpaste removal (yes, they exist) later, and Ray and Tricky sat outside the apartment building.
"So," Tricky started pathetically, "who knew that toothpaste could cause so much damage when placed in Tails’ compressor and then fired from a cannon at high speed inside a regularly sized cannon?"
"It almost seems as though it’s normal when you say it like that."
Tricky regarded his friend for a moment, then decided that Ray was not angry with him. "So how long did they say that it’ll take to repair the apartment."
"’bout a month," Ray muttered, looking up at the top floor window which had been blown open.
Tricky whistled. "Where are you going to stay?"
"I was thinking of just spending it off adventuring on my own, you know, flying around for a while. My parents said that it was normal for squirrels about this age to go for a solo cross country flying tour."
"Speaking of which," Tricky said, remembering something, "am I ever going to get to meet your parents?"
Ray was quiet, and then he simply shook his head. "Well, I guess I should get going."
"What, you’re leaving now?"
"No time like the present," he stood up, dusting himself off. "I’ll see you around."
With those words, he launched into the air and left the city, with no plans in his head and no idea where he was going. He loved this feeling, just flying for the exhileration and for the feel of the moment. He smiled and laughed, then left the city behind him, flying with the wind.