Adventures of Ash HIkari Vol. 1: True Beginnings

Chapter 5: Twist of Fate

After a while, I got used to going back to school and see my friends; my grades are good, I became class valedictorian, I went to fun school events, and I also became class president. During after school hours and recess, I showed off some of the skills I'm aware of now to everyone, and they accepted me for what I was now. Things were looking up for me, up until one day; I was walking home from school just when a group of bots chased after me. They had very weird symbols, so I'd started to run away from them, but they'd caught up. I took off immediately and so did they, I couldn't shake them. One of them got a hold of me; all of a sudden, my right arm transformed into a basic arm cannon. I used it to blast off the robot, it fell to the ground while the rest of them tried to grab me. I blasted all of them and flew the rest of the way home. As I landed, Alicia & Calvin rushed outside to check on me, "Are you ok sweetie?! Why do you have scratches on your shoulder?! Did something happen!?" I retracted the arm cannon back into my right arm, "Some bots tried to grab me, so I- blasted them away... with- a- my arm cannon..." Both Alicia & Calvin hugged me, "We're so glad that you're ok. And we're very proud of you for defending yourself!" They took me inside and turned on the house's security system so none of those bots buddies could get me. 

At night, I was sound asleep, but multiple nightmares kept me from dreaming of my future. Just then, I heard a window breaking from downstairs, Alicia and I rushed towards the noise and discovered that both Dr. Eggman & Dr. Wily had broke in with their own bots with them. "Ivo... Albert... why would you break into our home?! I thought you both wanted to help me bring back my daughter!" They both disagreed, "Heavens no Alicia, we helped you so we could take her and use her for our evil purposes." "That arm cannon of yours was installed by us... we didn't want a useless servant bot, we wanted a weapon!" Alicia grabbed me by the arm and took us down into the basement, then she uncovered what looked like a portal. "Ash... listen to me... you have to go. I'll hold them off, just go!" She put on a locket around my neck and handed me my backpack, "I've already packed your backpack, all you have to do is leave-" Suddenly, one of Wily's bots lunged at Alicia, she defended me, but lost her left arm in the process. "Mom! Are you ok!?" Alicia looked at me, then kissed me on the forehead, "Goodbye... my little sugar bolt..." She pushed me into the portal before it closed, I landed in a grassy field, grasping on the locket. Tears filled my eyes, I couldn't believe that my own mom would abandon me, but I knew it was to keep me away from those evil scientists clutches. 

I stood up and dust myself off, I looked around wondering about the way the rocks were. They had this sort of- checkered pattern... and straight ahead of me was a formation of a loop de loop. I walked around and noticed a pond nearby, I knelt down and decided to use the water to ease the pain of a scrape on my knee when I landed. I jumped back a little after noticing my reflection; my ears were now a part of my hair, my nose turned black, I had a muzzle, I now had a small tail, and backspines the same color as my hair, my legs were also the same color as my hair, but- my hair now turned into fur. What even happened to me?! Is this one of my abilities?! Is this- another dimension?! I picked up my backpack and only put one strap on my shoulder then continued exploring. After some time, I came across some sort of lab, so I carefully investigated. I peeked through a window and noticed a blue hedgehog and a fox with- two tails?! They were both some kind of anthropomorphic bipedal animals... I've never seen those before. I looped around the lab again to the main entrance then nervously knocked on the door. The blue bipedal hedgehog opened it, "Uh- who are you? Are ya new here?" The fox joined him, "Hey, look, she has a scrape on her knee, we'd better help her." He nodded, "Come on in! We'll tend to that scrape of yours!" 

They assisted me onto a couch then one of them stayed with me while the other got a first aid kit. "So, what's your name? My name is Sonic, Sonic The Hedgehog." I nervously answered, "Um- I'm- my name is Ashley, but I'd prefer to be called Ash." He smirked, "Nice to meet ya Ash! I can see that you're a hedgehog, isn't that what you are?" I nervously answered again, "I- I guess so... but- I'm actually- a robot... that now looks like a hedgehog right now..." Sonic's friend, Tails, rushed over with the first aid kit, and briefly observed me. "I've never seen a robot like this one! She's that convincing of a hedgehog that literally no one will know that she's even a robot until she tells someone!" Sonic calmed him down, "Slow down there pal, what if Ash is secretly one of Eggman's bots? She could be one of his super advanced ones he's been tinkering with lately." Tails checked both of my shoulders looking for the Eggman logo, "There's no Eggman logo on her Sonic, that means she's friendly!" Sonic carefully looked himself, "You're right, apparently she's just lost." Tails then tended to the scrape on my knee, and I carefully stood up not minding the bandage wrapped around the scrape. 

"Thanks for your help! I could really use somewhere to stay while I'm here in your world." Tails' tails twitched in excitement, "My dimension theory was right!! Sonic, Ash is from another dimension! No wonder why she's saying 'your world', she's referring that Green Hill is a different place. It's not just here, it's our version of the world she knows." Sonic scratched his head in confusion, "So... where are ya from anyways Ash?" I thought about it for a moment, "I guess- I'm from Japan in my dimension. Back home, a part of the population has special powers that they were born with. My parents call them quirks, and it's only a slight chance of someone being born with one." They were both super confused, "If you'd like Ash, you can stay here in my lab. I don't mind having some company here." I'd felt a bit better, "Thank you Tails! At least I'll know that Sonic will keep Dr. Eggman away from me, right?" Sonic smirked again, "No prob, I'll keep that egghead from laying one finger on ya!" That night, I looked up at the stars, they seem the same just like the ones back home, but the breeze felt a bit different. I walked back inside Tails' lab so I could get some sleep, while Sonic was sleeping on the roof since he promised to keep me safe. I layed down on the couch then fell softly asleep, thinking about what great things I'll see in this world. 

All of a sudden, I found myself waking up in Eggman's laboratory; it was all made of metal, I was strapped down on a repair table with wires connected to my head. "Gh! I- I can't break these straps! What do you want with me Eggman!?" He'd approacehd me from the shadows, "Ah, I see that you're awake. Now you will be able to feel the pain while I take away all of those useless emotions and replace them with anger and rage. You'll even get a little personal Eggman upgrade from yours truly, but enough explaining, time to make you- my own!" He pulled a switch and I was massively shocked by a high amount of energy, I screamed in pain, but everything soon went completely dark. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a bed which appeared to be in a spare room which I was possibly taken to. I'd slowly got out of the bed and looked at my reflection in a mirror in the corner of the room; my hair was a very dark black with dark red streaks, my eyes were red, I still had the same body frame, and my usual clothes were replaced with some kind of uniform. I pulled up one of the sleeves noticing the Eggman logo forged onto my right shoulder. Two older robots walked into my room; one of them was a girl while the other was a boy, "Dr. Eggman would like to speak with you, follow us." I followed them into Dr. Eggman's main laboratory area, he was waiting for me with a robotic hedgehog that looked like Sonic. "Thank you Mecha & Adam, you may now go wait outside. Metal Sonic, please accompany our guest and make sure she doesn't escape." Metal walked over to me and gripped one of his hands onto my arm. "I'm thrilled that you've finally woken up, you have an assignment today. I want you to gather some animals for me so I can power my robots. Understand, A.S.H?" The first words that I responded with was, "Y- yes... never! I'll never obey you!" Eggman snapped his fingers ordering Metal to scratch me on the cheek then toss me down, "If you don't obey my orders, Metal Sonic won't hesitate to turn you into scrap metal." I stood up, "Yes Dr. Eggman, I'll go gather the animals for your robots."