WOWC - SV Chapter 3

The next morning, Sonic awoke to a massive headache. He groaned as he let his blurred vision settle on the cave ceiling, waiting for his eyesight to focus. He blinked a few times and tried to stand, only to fall back on his belly. The boy grumbled something under his breath, tried again, and was able to stand after a few wobbly steps. He yawned, stretched, and walked to the entrance of the cave and squinted at the bright morning light.

'Where am I?' he asked himself after having taken a look at his vast surroundings. The cobalt male was in a forest of some sort with mysterious new plants, animals, sights, sounds, and smells and all he wanted was to get away from there as soon as possible.

Then, Sonic saw his ship. At least, what was left of it, that is. When he reached out to pick up a piece of shrapnel, he stopped.

"What the - -," he gasped when he saw his hand (or should I say claws) for the first time. He gasped when he ran over to a nearby puddle and took a look at his reflection. He jumped up, staring at his arms in disbelief.

"No," he said, looking at the rest of his body.

"No, no," he said, hopping around on one foot as he held and looked at the other.

"No, no, no!" he said, pulling out a few loose cobalt quills, where her shorter, less sharp ones used to be.

"NO!" And then the male stopped in his tracks and saw that what used to be a short, stubby tail was suddenly some two six feet long and looked like it belonged to a snake.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Every bird and bird-like creature within a 3-mile radius immediately took to flight.

He ran around screaming like a mad man, or a mad whatever-he-is, when he suddenly realized something--where were his clothes!?

"Oh, my god!" he screamed, covering himself and sprinting back into his cave to see what he could make of what was left of his torn clothes. About five minutes later, the boy gave up. His shoes and gloves were torn beyond repair. But, for now, he couldn't worry about that. He walked over to a larger puddle of water and took a good, long look at himself, "What am I?"

It was at that moment that his stomach decided to growl.

"Can't find anything to eat just by sitting here," he admitted with a long, deep sigh, walking off into the unknown world. After about ten minutes or so, he decided it would be best to avoid eating since he had no idea what any of the plants and fruitage were (let alone whether they were poisonous or not) no matter how much his gut protested. The area seemed nice and peaceful as the teen made his way through the bush, careful to watch his step for any obstacles and fallen debris. Sonic seemed to enjoy the true beauty and nature and had also spent the past 30 minutes washing himself in a small stream underneath the tall trees as the planet's native birds chirped happily in the canopy above.

But, his day quickly took a turn for the worst when the next thing that happened was a net coming down on him.

"Got it! And this slave doesn't have a mark on it, either!"

"I told you I heard something out here, and it's not one of ours; it must be a Wild! Pull it in!"

Sonic turned at the sound of the voices, facing his two captors just as the faulty rope entangling him broke from his razor sharp quills as he was being pulled in. He fell onto his back and was to his feet in an instant, taking a few steps back as he glared at the two, apparently both males of the same species he was.

'Slave? A Wild? What are they talking about?' he thought as he took a fighting stance.

"What just happened? He broke the rope!" the slim silver male exclaimed angrily. The other male-tall dark blue, and muscular in build, merely sighed as he advanced on Sonic.

"Whoever you are, stay back and leave me alone!" the boy snarled, displaying his sharp teeth as he clenched his fists and caused his blue quills to rise – all a threatening display of pure instinct on the outside, while inside, he was scared to death.

"Huh, this Wild can speak and it has a sudden burst of courage, I see….We'll have to fix that," he sneered as he pulled something out of his pocket--a Taser. He gasped at the sight, causing his grin to grow wider.

"Oh, no you don't!" the other intervened. "The boss says that if we bring back another one tased like we did last time, he'll have our hides! He wants to examine them personally after we catch them. Besides, you caught the last slave! I'm catching this one!"

"As if! With that pathetic excuse of a net and your bad aim, what makes you think you'd catch it again!?"

"My aim is perfect, you dunce!" he growled.

"Whatever, Slate," the darker male shrugged and rolled his eyes. "It's not as if our job is any better working out here in the god-forsaken jungle, while the boss sits on his butt under the A/C all day and you're always losing every slave, Wild, and runaway we catch! Makes me think you want them to escape!"

"Shut up! This one's mine - - HEY!" the one called Slate cried out as Sonic decided to use their arguing to his advantage and had turned tail and run. He was fast, but not fast enough and could hear the two slave-hunters slicing their way through the foliage behind him with their machetes, not having a hard time spotting him since his cobalt scales blended in with the forest vegetation of her surroundings.

'What the world is going on here!? Slave hunters!? Chasing me, saying I'm a Wild and a slave!? WTF!? I'm nobody's slave!' Sonic screamed in his head. 'What is up with everyone chasing me!? First, the police back home, and now this!? I didn't do anything! I've gotta get out of here!' His 'newly advanced' muscles pumped and adrenaline swam through his veins as he ran onward.

It was at that moment that he came into a clearing; the blue male had unfortunately just entered what he presumed to be the slave hunter's campsite. Luckily, for him, no one was there--except for those whom he took to be slaves of every shape and size, men, women, and children chained up and in cages.

The camp was quiet; too quiet. No one had yet to say anything and Sonic couldn't force his own self to say a word. Truthfully, he wouldn't know what to say if he did. But, he quickly noticed something that they all had in common –their ears were folded backwards against their skulls, and not a one had looked up since he'd arrived to acknowledge his presence. They just kept their eyes glued to the ground. All seemed to be either in pain or so heavily drugged with something that they all looked spaced out, having lost all feeling in their nerves to even be able to feel pain. He saw that many had trouble breathing while having extremely tight collars clamped around their necks, getting them used to the feel of having a collar. Others, who bore collars, also donned deep scars and nasty bruises, both old and new wounds of brutal beatings and whippings, apparently slaves who'd escaped previous owners, only to be recaptured. Sonic's eyes went wide with fear and terror. This was a like a gruesome horror show stuck on the replay button. Then, the bushes parted as other members of the hunting party had returned, much to the azure's dismay.

Almost instantly, Sonic was grabbed by the arm from behind by one of the captors and the teen instinctively give him a roundhouse kick, throwing the guy to the ground. Sonic was dodging kicks and grabs that came at him left and right. How he was doing it? Your guess is as good as mine because he'd never fought a day in his life. But, the fight wasn't in his favor; there were just too many coming in all at once. When he saw an opening, he took it as a chance to bolt for the nearest escape route. He suddenly cried out when a burning and searing pain spread throughout his body, causing him to stumble and fall. He was immediately bound with shackles and a collar clamped to his throat, constricting his airway. He was able to twist his head to the side to see who it was that shocked him. The dark blue male, with Taser in hand, glared down at him. Sonic let out a low growl at him as his restraining continued. Then, Slate approached.

"The boss is gonna have fun with this one," he said to his partner as he looked down at the teenager, ending his sentence with a boot to the face.