Disclaimer: The characters portrayed here are trademarked characters that belong to Archie comics and Sega.
Nicolas taped another tabloid clipping to his pegboard. Maybe the answer would come if he stared long enough. Before, he had never been interested in what some would call the paranormal, and what others would call paranoid fantasies. However, after that day with Tim or that video game character lookalike who claimed to be Tim had pushed just the button that Tim would always push, that little condescending remark about Nicolas' favourite pop sub culture character, he’d changed his ways.
That day Nicolas had found a couple lowlifes, who would beat up their own mother for a buck, Nicolas had never been physically powerful, but he knew how to use words, but he was hardly a judge of character. The news paper reported two beat up men in alleyway the next morning, right where the Mighty (that was the character) look alike had run them into the ground. Turns out both men wanted for armed robbery. They would have likely killed Nicolas after they were done beating up Tim (Nicolas wasn't a murderer after all, he just wanted to shut that arrogant, holier than thou, face of Tim's). Nicolas realised that he should have been grateful.
Of course Nicolas never got the chance, Tim had up and vanished, just like everyone else who had turned into a video game avatar copyrighted by Sega. Everyone in Tim's circle had been changed by the unknown force, and had vanished soon after. Nicolas didn't know where they had all gone, and he didn't like not knowing. Of course the major news networks didn't even bother to report it. The tabloids did of course, where did they get those photos?
Because Nicolas wore glasses, everyone assumed him to be a geek, when he said he wasn't a geek fiercely to his class mate's faces, they said 'geek are smart, so if you're not smart, you must be stupid!' And so he was crowned. His fictional reputation as an idiot proceeded him after all; he was the new sensation. He tried fighting back, and lost those fights, and history is written by the victors, so he gained a rep as a bully (with his frame?). People would believe anything. Well, if he solved this mystery, then no one would be able to call him stupid anymore.
He had picked up every bit of information that he could find, any connection the missing people seemed to have. At first it seemed it was anyone Tim knew, but there were a few cases of complete strangers to Tim changing and vanishing. Nicolas didn't have a clue how many had up and vanished without someone seeing them. People vanished all the time. The police would take a report of living, breathing, humanoid animals seriously in a million years.
There seemed to be at least one underlying theme he’d discovered with some research; each of them had an affinity for a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog games, or at least the games in general with a passion.
The obvious answer was Sega, but a little too obvious. Why kidnap people? Heck, why change people THEN kidnap them? The few people he’d managed to pull information out of (much like teeth) said the person had gone through some gateway that looked like a rainbow swirl lollypop. But even Nicolas was sceptical of that.
"Are you going to stare at that wall of yours all day Nic'?" His sister, Marian, younger than him only by a year but athletic and a half, and often giving him advice he didn't take, and regretted (who took advice from their little sister?). "If you're going to go crazy, at least can your delusions be a bit more interesting? I like those comics too but aren't you taking things a bit too far?"
Nicolas wasn't in the mood. "Say something useful, help me, or go play with your dolls."
"You!" Marian snapped back.
"Go ahead and say it." After the taunts Nic got at school, his sister's insults were weak.
"You know I threw those things out years ago! You want something useful? Wake up back to reality before you do something me, and dad will all regret!"
"If you took five minutes to look at what I've found, you'd see I'm getting towards the truth!"
"Yea right! You don't have the courage to do anything dangerous or daring!" Nicolas was also too scared of parental punishment to ever retaliate against his younger sibling, something she abused to no end. "You're too scared to fight your own fights, and you're too scared to admit you've been wasting your time for six months!"
"I just got tired of losing." Was Nicolas' only response to that. "And you're just too stubborn to admit that I might just be right!"
"Come on, those pictures on your wall? They're clipped from some screen shots and pasted on some photos!"
"Hardly." Nicolas retorted. "There isn't a computer on the planet that can create an image with lighting reflecting off surfaces hitting another surface."
"Maybe five minutes ago." She spat.
"You really think a tabloid could afford a computer that powerful to sell some cheap rags?" That shut her up.
Marian took the most self-dignified means of saying she had no retort without actually saying she was wrong. "Whatever!" She marched out. "Go crazy and jump out a window for all I care!"
Nicolas was surprised she didn't slam the door. But she was right. In her own way, maybe he should take a breather. Shutting off the computer and yelling to his family that he was going out without even having to see their faces, Nicolas marched out of the old style wooden house his family called home in the older part of town. As he walked down towards his favourite thinking spot (the bookstore) he tried to think of anything besides this Sonic Syndrome as it had been nick named by the tabloids. Of course, we know what they say about not thinking about elephants too right?
It has to be true, it's just got to be true, and there are just too many consistencies. Heck, it's not just the reports themselves, but the photo images all came from different sources. And the people who gave the information have nothing in common. They couldn't make up all this stuff together. Plus, I KNOW what I saw.
Nicolas was so engrossed in thought that almost bumped right into the wood door of the city's local bookshop. Glad for the fact he hadn't broken his glasses Nicolas pushed on the door and walked up to the information desk.
"Hey Kate."
"Hey Nicolas."
"Anything new in the True Crime Stories section?"
"We got a used copy of In Cold Blood."
"Got it, read it, hated it."
"Anything else?"
"Al-capon's Gold and Where To Find It."
"Read that one too."
"Any good?"
"Yea except for the typos, bad grammar, and bogus maps and all the facts taken directly from movies."
"How about, Tall tales of an Angst ridden detective that can use bullet time?"
"Read it, let's just say I'd thought I'd reached the maximum amount of amount of pain a book could cause me, until I saw that one."
"There is one more," she said, holding up a new, shiny looking book titled UFO-R.
"Never seen that one, I'll give it a quick check and let you know." he replied.
Nicholas took the book and walked over to a table, he read the first few pages and the book seemed good. Unfortunately, he had to use the bathroom. Putting the book down, he stood up and walked over to it. As he approached the door another customer wandered out and nearly knocked Nicholas over. He was walking in such a way as to obscure his face. He may have said something if it weren’t for something else he had to take care of at that moment. He walked into the bathroom and took care of business. When he walked over to the sink to wash his hands, he noticed a hat sitting on the counter That's odd. When he dried his hands, he looked the hat over, it was an Australian hat and to his shock and surprise, it was full of money! Nicholas immediately assumed the other person had accidentally left the hat there. He had no idea why it was full of money but didn't want the law on him for theft, so he tried to find the man. He ran out of the bathroom looking for him only to discover he wasn’t anywhere in the store.
"Hey Kate, did you see a strange looking guy leave the bathroom? I think he left something behind," he asked.
Kate giggled. "Left something behind indeed."
Nicholas rolled his eyes "that wasn’t what I meant."
"Sorry; he went into the mystery isle," Kate answered. She walked with Nicholas into that isle, only to find that no one was there.
"That's weird, no one's left the store. I don't see him anywhere else. Where could he have gone?"
"Maybe he beamed out," Nicholas mumbled.
"Maybe what?" Kate asked.
"Oh, nothing, he probably left, maybe you just didn't see him or maybe he went back for his hat."
Nick headed back to the bathroom to see if the stranger was there; he wasn’t. The hat was still there however, money and all. Nicholas walked over to it and took the money out. No ID, no way to find him, Hmmm, there's a few hundred dollars here. Maybe I should give it to the police. Acting under forces he couldn’t explain, Nicholas put the hat on and experienced a slight dizzy spell. Or maybe, I could just keep it, Finders keepers, losers’ weepers. Where that thought came from, Nicholas didn't know, although the rather devious nature of it disturbed him far less then it should have. In fact, the hat now felt like his, as though he were naked without it. Damn guy, what was he doing with my hat anyway? Oh well, at least I got his money as 'compensation' for that theft. Nicholas knew those thoughts were alien yet somehow they felt natural, just as much a part of him as his own thoughts. If it weren’t for the fact his entire body felt itchy and warm and the fact the sink seemed to be getting taller, he might have further dwelled on it. Oh great, there was something in it that I'm allergic too. Nicholas scratched at his arms, only to see that the light hair on them seemed to not only be turning purple but growing far thicker and finer.
"Hey, what the hell?" he said out loud, not caring if anyone heard him. Now even his face was itching! The light beard he had, (if one could call it that) expanded into a full beard, although not his usual hair colour. It was coming in the same almost fur like texture of the rest of his body! Nicholas was about to run out to get help when he felt another wave of dizziness. Now, this fur felt perfectly normal, a new part of his body that was a part of him. Oh, he knew the way it used to be, but this new way felt much better, and looked a lot better to boot. His nose and mouth pushed out into a pointy snout as the white fur on his jaw grew out into tufts.
I knew it all along, just wait until I tell Marian about this, now I can *show* her I was right. Ohhh just wait until Mighty gets a load of me like this.
It occurred to him that he was thinking of Tim's Mobian and not human form. Oddly, it didn't bother him. Tim's human form felt obsolete his Mobian one proper. As his ears grew out into points the room seemed to grow taller in sprits. Nicholas threw his clothes off, all of them; he didn't need them anymore. His human morality complained slightly, but he dismissed it, finding it amusing that he could get away with walking around like this. If the law complained, well, he was an outlaw, he couldn’t go following the law now could he? He was so busy looking at his white belly that he didn't notice his clothes forming into a belt, gloves and boots. A tingle at the base of his spine preceded a new weight behind him; he turned to see his tail forming, it was long, skinny and purple furred; Now he was complete (aside from the few basic items of clothing he wore besides his hat that was). Fortunately for him, he found them to his left on the floor. He didn't care where they came from or about the fact they were on a bathroom floor. He just put them on and grinned. He felt different somehow, he remembered being Nicholas, but he also remembered being Nack, or Fang as he preferred to be called. Now, he knew the truth, although, that seemed almost irrelevant compared to all of the capers and thefts he potentially could get involved in. He wondered how his cousins were doing without him around and hoped they hadn’t let the manor go totally to hell. He walked towards the bathroom door and opened it. Just as he stepped through a bright light momentarily stunned him. When he regained his composure, he found himself at the main doors of weasel manor, or at least what was left of it; He was finally home.
* * *
There was a knock on the door, Marian was reading a nondescript comic and didn't respond. Her father answered the knocking two minutes later and shouted that it was for her. Marian resigned to not being able to finish her rereading of the comic at the moment and walked down stairs to the entryway. There standing in the doorway steps was the counter girl, Kate wasn't it? Damn the girl looked pale. She picked up graphic novels at Kate's bookstore that the comic shops wouldn't carry (too adult was the lame excuse they used). She knew Nicolas hung out there as well, they never could get away from each other. After some formal introductions Kate asked if she and Marian could speak alone. Marian was wondering why the lass was making a house call now, after all this time. Once in her room, Kate burst out in fearful sobs that she had been holding back.
"Marian it's horrible! I would have gone to the police but I knew Nicolas would just get into trouble if I did."
"Maybe some trouble would do him good."
"You don't understand! He's gone to condemned building with a group of crazies hang out, he was babbling about video games or something."
"Idiot . . ." He may have been a moron, but he was still her brother. Logically the thing to do WOULD be to call the police, or at least her father, but she felt a wave of confidence and concern, and maybe, a bit of guilt? Maybe if she had listened and looked she would have been able to convince him he was lost in a fantasy world. "Okay, lead the way."
"You got it." She said, as Marian briskly walked out the door, Kate smiled slightly, darkly.
Five minutes ago at the book store, Kate checked the clock and saw it was time for the daily dusting of the classics everyone wants to have read but no one wants to read. Having another of the store hands take the counter for a minute, she went into the back closet, surprised to find a new push broom and apron, maid style, waiting for her inside. So the boss had finally thrown out that rotting broom and had bought her a fresh one along with a little 'sorry gift to boot' well, better sooner than later.
Putting on the apron and grasping the push broom in both hands, she began the monotone task of sweeping the floor. Foreword, back, foreword, back, move foreword five feet, foreword, back, move foreword five feet, in a never ending cycle. Her mind totally focused on the task for efficiency; it was illogical to think about other things not related to her given task at the moment. Foreword, back, foreword, back, move foreword five feet, foreword, back, move foreword five feet. She carried her task without hesitation or distracting thoughts. It was so easy, so simple. She knew master would be please with its efficiency, and allow it to continue its service. The faceless, bulky maid bot detected some glitches with it's two green scanner orb 'eyes' for a second but dismissed them, and went back to it's task of cleaning the many hall ways and storage lockers of Eggman's primary base. The droid itself was a slightly more self-aware version of the harmless non-combat maid droids used on the doomed Egg Carrier. Why let a good design go to waste as they say.
Marian was a week from getting her driver's license so Kate had driven. The place was old, and the lights were out, well it daytime so that was to be expected, but for Marian it was still creepy. The two got cautiously out of the car, making their way up the old steps, somehow not creaking as they marched.
When they reached the main door, Kate took her wrist and showed her an Australian style hat. "Here put this on, all of those crazies were hats like this inside, they're too stupid not to realise you're not one of them." Kate explained.
"What about you?" Marian asked idly.
"You can just say I'm a new recruit, these people are so gullible they'll believe anything," Kate said.
Marian took the hat, and for some reason felt the need to look it over for booby traps. However, something else wasn't right. "Where did you get this? I didn't see you come out of the car with it."
"You just weren't paying attention."
"No, seriously, I didn't see you with it when you came-"
"Oh whatever." Kate said, but something about her voice startled Marian for a moment, it sounded empty and ... masculine? Kate took the hat and plopped it neatly on Marian's waiting head.
Marian shivered; Kate didn't remove her hand. Marian found her body was frozen. She couldn't move, she was helpless. Kate's fingers felt like dry ice through the hat. Kate was crushing her into the ground as she saw herself now looking at Kate's chest, now stomach; What? A million ants crawled up her body, biting her all the way. Her jeans and panties feel to her legs, exposing her from the waist down, vulgar by tradition with her being female, but she had always been a bit of a tom-boy. Her lower cloths melted and formed into brown boots with holding knives and what not. Her fine muscular legs thinned out, but retained their strength; you didn't survive in her family by being weak. Her violet fur shivered at the cold touch of the human in front of her. Her ears twitched at the back of her head. This stupid Overlander better not ruin her hat with her hands! The sleeves of her shirt broke off and travelled down her arms changing into brown gloves. What remained of her shirt split in two, the lower half gaining mass as it turned into a tool belt and loaded gun holster. The upper one turned into a top: truly barely and tightly containing her womanhood.
"Let me go you fucking over sized fur less banana eater!" Her long snout snapped at the human. Her eyes narrowed from their impressive size to almost slits in her rag. Her tail was as stiff as the rest of her or she would have spring boarded right into and through this overlander's chest cavity! She'd sink her fangs into his freak's throat if she could!
The wretched human tossed her through the manor's double doors and the world blinked white for a split second from the impact on her head. When she got up, the stupid hairless monkey was gone. "Yea you better run!" She cursed.
"Look what the Overlander dropped in." She knew that voice anywhere.
"Nick!" She swore springing up to face her brother.
"It's FANG!" He said right back at her, their snouts almost touching.
Nacolette couldn’t pass this up. "Oh come on . . ." She smirked. "We all know Nic-Nac is cuter." Her brother hated cute, so did she, but that was beside the point.
"Agh! Don't pretend you liking working together now sis!"
"Hey! You came back here the same as me I take it." She said still in control of herself.
"Yea . . . Cause if you came back without me around, you'd sell it off to the first Termites that came by!"
"Hey! I only sold them a few floor boards!"
"You should have just shot them and taken their money stupid!"
"Don't call me stupid!"
"I'll call ya what I like little sister!"
"By ten minutes!"
"Still there!"
"Give me a break!"
"Leg or arm!" Nick sneered.
"Go ahead and try!" Nac got into a fighting stance.
However before the pair could re-enact a scene from a semi-popular horror game involving antique cameras and cultish rituals, they heard another brawl break out further in the out. The two looked at each other blankly, and walked, not run, to the source of the noise. Inside the least used room in the mansion -the Library- they found several almost fully dressed male Mobian weasels tearing and biting into each other, one brown, one grey, one red; Rob, Loot, Pilfer; The hillbilly cousins of the thieves duo. From the looks of the house (which was even MORE apart than when the pair had 'gone away') the three hadn't been doing so hot with the brains of the group gone. Nick aimed for the mass of fighting crooks. Nac stopped him (those rugs were still good, and blood was almost impossible to get out) and Nick shot a few revolver shots into the ceiling instead, ruining the almost still good mattress on the next floor and sending a couple pieces of plaster downwards. It stopped the three idiots from trying to kill each other too.
In a world where bullets were banned, one would think Nac would be concerned about ammo. However, when your family used to be a wealthy long line of weapon dealers for the kingdom's military, that was, before that stupid taboo on such weapons was put into place. Said taboo was enacted because of the accidental death of one faceless prince. When you knew where to hide things before such a taboo was officially in effect, you didn't worry about such things.
"Nic!" Rob croaked.
"Nac!" Loot continued.
"Ghosts!" Pilfer screamed.
Nick got within range in a second and waked him on the upside of the head. "Moron! If I was dead could I do that?"
The three shook their heads. "Now what's going on here!" Nac hissed.
"We sorte . . ." Loot fidgeted. "Ran outta food."
Nac slapped her forehead. "you guys are sad! Can't you do anything yourselves?"
"Hey!" Rob protested. "How do we even KNOW you're the real twins?"
"You stupid, empty headed, three headed chicken in another life!"
Three looked at each other. "It's them."
"So you idiots can't even rob a farm or a grocery store on your own?" Nac still couldn't believe this.
"Er, it's just all the last couple raids didn't turn out so well and-"
"You forgot that you could steal food instead of stealing money to get food didn't you."
"Hey!" Rob snapped. "I'm not stupid!"
"Lying a good trait for a weasel but it's wasted on another weasel!" Nick scolded.
"How about we get some food out of you!" Pilfer said to Nic and Nack, and Pilfer was KO'd by Loot and Rob a moment later.
Nick grabbed a vase and dumped the decades old water on Pilfer's face. "Now get up! Do the hover bikes still have fuel?"
"One's empty, Two had half a tank left, three and four about a quarter."
"You fool didn't lose any our weapons I hope."
"HEY! We'd NEVER DO THAT!" Loot was honestly insulted by that comment; their weapons were perhaps the one sacred thing these criminals had. "And yea, we've been keeping ammo made."
"So you're not completely useless on your own." Nac commented, checking the ammo on her gun before putting it back. "Come on, let's bring home breakfast, lunch and dinner."
There was banging on their giant front door. "OPEN IN THE NAME OF THE EGGMAN EMPIRE!" Boomed an artificial voice.
The trio hid, the pair just shrugged, if Eggman wanted them dead, his robot wouldn't have knocked.
Nick cracked open the door, "Yea, -WHAO!" Fang drew his weapon automatically, a rotor blade tried to cut through it, but Nack stopped it with the thicker grip of the gun, holding it by the barrel. Then Nick stopped when it saw it wasn't that freak fox, it was one of Eggman's bots all right.
"If you are quiet done." Said the robot fox. "Master Doctor Robotnik the Great, Brilliant, and Handsome, has an offer for you genetically inbred garbage." The weasel family had been called much worse in each of their lives. "He needs some flesh and blood work hands, and some people who'd never turn on him for the enemy's side. You all fit the criteria."
"What's in it for us?" Nick asked.
"You get all the best toys, shots at all the best trinkets in your off hours, free room and board, and you get to kill the hedgehog and all his friends if the chance present itself."
The twins looked at each other for a few seconds and Nac smiled, with those fangs, it wasn't a pretty sight. "Where do we sign up? All Hail the Eggman Empire!"
"Why did you bring THEM back? They were idiots to the end!" Eggman moaned.
The figure made a self satisfied smile. "Not this time, these two, are different from the originals, just like Cyber Tails is from the Tails Doll. They're smarter, more vicious, more determined, less weak willed and yet more willing to follow men like you dear doctor. In shot, they're improved. Believe me when I say it, this surprise will prove lethal for your enemies . . . "
Fin?