A Tale of Four Tails -- the Kitsumi Story
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Pause for legal documentation:
Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters are the copyrighted creations
of Service and Games (SEGA) Incorporated, Archie Comic Publications, DiC
Productions, and me, the author. Reproduction of this text is granted by the
author (me), so long as it is distributed in it's original form, and no sum
of currency is involved. Copyright (c) 1997, Jaye Pruis.
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On a cold winter night in the year 3235, an unusual silence hung in
the air of Knothole Village. It was almost deathly, save every few seconds
when a cricket brought it upon itself to let a loud chirp echo through,
momentarily breaking the monotony.
It was nights like this that Jaye Kitsumi hated the most.
Rising from her bed, she padded softly over to the window, tiptoeing
extra quietly when she passed Nara, her little sister by four years, who was
sleeping peacefully between the sheets. She stared out the window into the
endless expanse of darkness as a look of sorrow came over her face. Quiet
nights like this always reminded her of a time long past, a time that had a
devastating effect on both Jaye's and Nara's lives. Reminders of this always
saddened her greatly.
As Jaye remembered, she suddenly felt the warmth of someone joining
her by the window. She turned her head to see Nara looking at her. "Nara, do
you remember Mom and Dad?" she asked.
Nara nodded. "A little."
Jaye could see tears forming in her eyes, and knew that the thought
of their parents upsetted Nara, too. Jaye reached out and hugged her sister.
"I miss 'em a lot," Nara said, trying hard not to cry.
Jaye nodded in agreement, and squeezed Nara tighter. And slowly, her
mind drifted off...
***
The tiny village of Onyx was a peaceful place of about 875 citizens,
set in the outskirts of the capital city of Mobotropolis, yet far enough away
to be out of earshot of the inner-city noise (if there was any at all). It
was a town in which you knew most everyone and everyone knew you, and if you
were new to the village, you would soon meet about everyone in a matter of
days.
It was a friendly place, yes. Everyone that lived there loved the
sociablility of the neighbors. And the Kitsumis were no different.
The Kitsumi family was one of the most well-known families in the
village, due to the fact that Quentin Kitsumi, the only male in the entire
household, was the principal of the small school, which about a third of the
population attended. In addition to Quentin were his wife, Ellen, and their
two daughters, Jaye, at five years of age, and Nara, at only one year.
Anyway...
Quentin looked up from his paperwork when he heard the door slam. A
moment later, his wife Ellen walked into the room. "Hi," he greeted.
"Hello, honey," Ellen said, bending over and kissing him lightly on
the forehead. "And how was school?"
Quentin rolled his eyes. "You make me sound like I'M the student."
Ellen shrugged, and Quentin laughed.
Suddenly, a tiny brown fluffball sped into the room and landed on
Ellen's lap. "Hi, Mom!"
Ellen grinned and ruffled her daughter's blond hair. "Hello
to you too, Jaye."
"Hey, lil' Jayebird," Quentin said, using his pet name for his
daughter. He grabbed her up from her mother's lap and tossed her into the
air. Jaye squealed with delight, but instead of dropping down back into her
father's arms, she stayed up there, hovering.
"Hey!" Quentin retorted, crossing his arms. "No fair using tails."
Jaye grinned and smiled up at her four spinning tails, which were
twirling like helicopter propellers, keeping her aloft. The knowledge of the
gift of flight had been shared through countless generations of multiple-
tailed foxes. Ellen and Quentin had taught Jaye how to fly just a few weeks
before, and she loved to experiment with her new-found talent.
At that moment, Nara, Jaye's one-year-old sister crawled into the
room, looked up at her fox sibling, and gurgled in a happy greeting. Jaye
grinned, swooped down, and scooped Nara up, carrying her high above the floor
and hugging her. Nara giggled babyishly.
"Jaye, please, put Nara down before you drop her!" Ellen said
feverishly.
Jaye pouted. "Aw, come on, Mom, she has'ta get used to it up here!
In a few years, she's gonna learn how to fly, too!"
"Yes, sweetie, but I don't want her to be dropped on her head before
she learns how to catch herself in freefall! Now, come down. Please."
Reluctantly, Jaye slowly lowered to the ground and set Nara down
gently.
Suddenly, a small badger poked his head through the window. "Quentin,
Marone wants to see ya. He says it's urgent."
Ellen looked at Quentin. "What could that be about?"
"I don't know," Quentin replied. "I'll go see what he wants." With
that, he rushed out the door.
Quentin found Marone waiting nervously for him on the edge of town,
off and on checking his watch. Marone was a male black-furred rabbit, and
looked greatly relieved when Quentin showed. "What is it, Marone?" Quentin
asked.
Marone took Quentin by the arm. "C'mon, I have to show you something.
Up on the hill."
Quentin followed Marone up the side of the fairly large hill that was
the eastern boundary of the town. As he neared the top, he thought he
smelled the faint scent of smoke. But no, that couldn't be it. Mobotropolis
had many different pollution-preventors that cleared up smog and smoke before
it became part of the atmosphere.
But when Quentin reached the top of the hill, his gasp proved his
logic wrong. Before him stood the city of Mobotroplis, smoke rising up out of
the center. The castle was in ruins, a big hole smashed into the side of what
used to be the throne room, and above the city, a huge blimp slowly moved
through the air, spewing smog.
Marone pointed to the blimp. "It's headed this way," he said simply.
"What happened?!"
"I don't know, Quentin," Marone replied. "But it's trouble, I know
that much. If that thing makes it here..."
"Then Onyx is history," Quentin finished. "Marone, get your wife and
get out of town."
"But where do we go?" asked Marone.
"Head into the forest," Quentin replied. "We need to warn everyone
about this. Help me?"
Marone nodded, and they rushed off towards the center of town.
A scene of chaos met the two when they arrived. Dozens of robots with
grey metallic armor savagely rushed about and captured every person they
could get their iron hands on, and fired on the ones they couldn't with red
lasers. All around, screams and moans could be heard from terrified citizens
being carried off by the robots. Quentin ducked as a laser whizzed past his
head, and looked at Marone. "No time! Just get your wife and head for the
forest! Now!"
Marone hesitated for a moment, then ran off southward.
Quentin ran as fast as he could toward home, spinning his four tails
behind him to get more speed. He threw open the door and barged inside.
"Ellen!"
Ellen looked up and noticed his panic-stricken face. "What's wrong?"
"Hurry, we've got to get out of here! The village is under attack!"
"Dad!" cried Jaye, running into the room with Nara in her arms.
"Look outside!"
"I know, Jayebird. C'mon, we've gotta go. Now!"
Ellen and Jaye ran out the door, and Quentin followed, leaving the
door flapping in the wind.
Jaye ran with all her strength, holding Nara tightly against her
chest as she maneuvered through the unpaved streets towards the forest. As
she fled, she suddenly got the strange feeling of loneliness, and she stopped
and looked behind her.
Her parents weren't there. "Mom! Dad!" she yelled, racing around a
corner. Nothing. She called again, no answer.
Suddenly, she heard a not-so-familiar sound: her mother's scream. She
ran towards the sound, only to find her mother and father being chased by
the big robots. She started to call out to them when her father glanced her
way and shot her a look that plainly said, 'Be quiet!'. She quickly dove into
a nearby bush and huddled there, peeking out over the brush and hugging Nara
tightly.
"HALT, BY ORDER OF DR. ROBOTNIK," droned one of the 'bots as it gave
chase to the two foxes. Ellen's foot hit a sharp rock, and she tumbled to the
ground. "Ellen!" Quentin cried, stopping and going back to help her up. The
bots quickly descended onto them and towed them off toward the town center.
As they were carried away, Quentin mouthed a single word to Jaye.
"RUN". Jaye didn't know what to do. She was too scared to go out and risk
capture, yet she didn't want to stay here and watch helplessly as her parents
were dragged away. Finally, she burst out of the bush and ran northward,
looking back with watery eyes at her parents.
Not a bot saw Jaye's tiny figure as she sped through the village and
out into the safety of the Great Forest. After running for about five minutes
nonstop, she started to lose breath, and took to the skies to give her legs
a break. She flew straight up and perched on a high branch.
Then, she burst into tears.
***
Jaye watched from her window as a bird took flight, and wiped a tear
away from her cheek. With Nara clinging to her in a hug, she made her way
outside into Knothole, and walked down to the power ring pool.
Sitting by the edge of the pool, she dangled her feet over the ice
and thought more about her parents. She missed them just as much as Nara did,
if not more. And these quiet nights that always seemed to show their faces
didn't help, either.
As she remembered the quiet and fitful night she had endured on the
night of the coup, she looked around, and realized just how lucky she and
Nara were. They had a nice place to live, lots of good friends, and most
important, friends that wanted to defeat Snively just as much as they did.
At that moment, Jaye's mind was flooded with memories once more, but these
of a later time, when she was 14...
***
Jaye sighed as she looked out at Robotropolis from her perch on the
high branch, wondering if things would ever be back to what it was when she
was little. She was sick and tired of hiding out in the forest, only looking
on the smoggy city in hopes that _someone_ out there was fighting for the
dream of it being beautiful again.
But what could she and Nara do about it? Robotropolis was a huge
number too high for her to count, and they were only two. Letting out a long,
sad breath, she jumped from the branch and flew to the ground.
"Nara, wake up!" she whispered, nudging the fox out of dreamland.
"Wha- huh? Is it morning yet?"
"Nope, it's midnight. C'mon, let's go."
Nara groaned, but got up anyway, and followed Jaye.
A few minutes later, they emerged from the forest on the edge of
Robotropolis. Huddling behind a bush, they waited patiently for the
inevitable, which quickly arrived. The hovercraft came to a stop above the
clearing before their bush, opened it's doors, and then out flew pieces of
SWATbot armor, frayed wires, and other things considered by Robotnik to be
trash. To Jaye and Nara, they were treasures that could be used for just
about anything.
As the hovercraft's doors closed, Jaye and Nara emerged cautiously
from their hiding place and moved over to the junk pile, where they began
to scavenge through the materials for anything of use to them. Unfortunately,
luck was not with them that night, as the driver of the hovercraft took one
last look at the pile before speeding off, and spied them.
Jaye and Nara jumped in surprise as the craft's speakers blared,
"UNIDENTIFIED LIFE-FORMS; CAPTURE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!". The craft landed,
and seemingly hundreds of SWATbots spewed forth from the door and fired on
them.
"Nara! Run!" Jaye screamed, and they raced for the forest. But it
was to no avail, for the robots were already on top of them. No matter how
much they struggled, the SWATbots had them tightly in their grasp, and they
weren't getting free. Finally, panting and out of breath, Jaye and Nara
could struggle no more, and the robots lugged them into the craft's hold and
brought them off to Robotropolis.
---
Farther away, a hedgehog, squirrel, and rabbit slunk through the
darkness, heading for Robotropolis. "Sonic, we need to hurry if we're going
to get this done on schedule," said the squirrel.
Sonic Hedgehog nodded. "You got it, Sal!" he said, and he took ahold
of their wrists. "Juice time!" he yelled as his feet took off at supersonic
speed.
As he zoomed closer to the city, Sonic turned his head back toward
Sally. "What're we doin' again?"
Sally sighed. "We are going to the junk piles to look for any parts
that would be of use to us for building the de-roboticizer."
"I knew that," Sonic said as he doubled back and turned down a little
used street.
In no time at all, they were at the junk piles, and they dove into
a mound that looked promising. "Hey, Sally girl, what's this lil' ol' thing?"
asked Bunnie, holding up a jumble of wires and metal.
Sally studied it for a moment, and then took it and stuck it into her
backpack. "SWATbot circuit board. Could be useful."
Bunnie smiled, and once again disappeared under the surface of the
trash.
As Sonic rustled through his section of the garbage, his ears
suddenly perked up. He looked up above him. "Yikes!" he yelped and he dove
behind the junk pile so he couldn't be seen, and watched as a hovercraft sped
past. "Yo, Sal, where's that thing goin'?" he asked, pointing to the craft.
Sally looked up for a moment, and pulled out Nicole. "Nicole, list
all scheduled arrivals and departures for hovercrafts between 0000 and 0100
hours."
"Four entries qualify, Sally; three departures, one arrival."
"What's the arrival?"
Nicole hummed for a moment. "Prisoner Hovercraft 5B-871G4 arriving at
fortress from prison block."
Bunnie stared wide-eyed at Sally. "Oh, mah stars. Prisoners?"
Sally nodded. "Nicole, any information on it's cargo?"
"Two captives. ID scan results: Prisoner 1, female fox, name Jaye
Kitsumi. Prisoner 2, female fox, name Nara Kitsumi."
"Wha?" Sonic said, running over to Sally. "Nicole, say those names
again."
"Jaye Kitsumi, Nara Kitsumi."
Sonic stared at Nicole for a moment, not believing what the little
computer had just said. Then, with explosive suddenness, he snapped Nicole
back on Sally's boot, grabbed up Sally and Bunnie, and rocketed off toward
the fortress.
"Sonic, what are we going? Do you know them?" Sally yelled over the
wind that rushed past as she clung to his shoulder.
"Yeah, I know 'em."
"From where?"
Sonic looked back at her for a moment, and turned his head around
again before he could stray off-course. "Before Robuttnik took over, me an'
Uncle Chuck used to get away from the city-life by going to a little town on
the edge of Mobotropolis for the winter. Onyx Village. Ever heard of it?"
Sally thought for a moment, then said, "I think so."
"Well, anyway, Onyx was a past cool place for sleddin' in the winter,
had a huge hill on the east side that was steep and big enough for everybody.
Me an' Uncle Chuck had lots of friends there, and one of his best ones was a
guy named Quentin. He had two kids, Jaye and Nara. Jaye was my best friend in
Onyx."
Sally was silent for a moment as she took in information on a secret
side of him that she had never known about before. Finally, she just said one
word: "Oh."
Sonic smiled back at her. "Probably won't even remember me," he said,
smirking.
"I doubt that," she replied. "Who would forget a person like you?"
He smiled again as he maneuvered around yet another corner and dove
behind a garbage bin. Poking his head out over the top, he peered at the
hovercraft, which was slowly descending to the pavement. "C'mon, 'bot butts,
I don't have all night," he muttered as he looked at his watch.
---
Jaye jumped as the door to the hovercraft's hold slid open with a
metallic squeal, and two SWATbots marched inside and grabbed Jaye and Nara,
twisting their arms behind their backs as they pushed them out the door and
out into the smelly city of Robotropolis. Robotnik's fortress loomed in front
of them. "Let go, dang 'bot!" Jaye groaned as she twisted and wriggled and
tried to squirm out of the robot's grasp.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice called out, "Hey, bolt brains!"
The SWATbots twisted their heads in search of the mysterious visitor.
"No, metalheads, I'm over here!" the voice said. "Man, Robuttnik needs to
put in some new radars in you guys; the ones you have are shot!"
Finally, one of the SWATbots found wat it was looking for. "PRIORITY
ONE, HEDGEHOG ALERT! CAPTURE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!"
"Good bots, come an' get me," said the voice. The SWATbots released
Jaye and Nara and charged off around the hovercraft.
Jaye peeked around the hovercraft and watched as the 'bots gave
chase upon a familiar-looking blue blur which was racing around and around
the road and laughing at the 'bots' feeble attempts on shooting him down with
their lasers. She felt a tug on her arm, and turned to face Nara. "C'mon,
Jaye, let's get outta here!" Nara said urgently.
Jaye looked back at the blur, and adopted a sincere look of
determination. "Nara, stay here," she said, and she spun her tails and flew
off toward the 'bots and the blue blur.
---
Sonic grinned and beckoned to a SWATbot, who was pointing his finger
at the hedgehog and aiming it's laser.
Suddenly, without warning, a brown blur flew across from the
hovercraft and barreled into the 'bot, sending it sailing across the road. It
impacted with the grey brick wall of a factory,and burst into flames.
Sonic jumped, and stared for a moment at the tawny thing before
launching himself similarly at the other 'bot, sawing right through the metal
casing with a Sonic Spin. Then, he looked back at the blur and smiled.
"Thanks."
"I should be the one thanking you," Jaye replied, walking over to
where he stood. "You saved both mine and my sister's life."
She squinted a little, and it wasn't from the light (what light? this
is Robotropolis). "You look awfully familiar..."
At that moment, Sally's voice rang out, "Sonic! Come on, Robotnik has
just sent an army of SWATbots our way! Let's go!"
Without another word, Sonic grabbed ahold of Jaye's wrist and sped
over to the hovercraft. "Nara, grab on!" he said to the fox kit huddling
behind the door.
"How did you know my-"
Sonic didn't wait for her to finish the question, he just grasped her
wrist tightly and juiced toward the dumpster, where Sally and Bunnie were
waiting. "Need a ride, girls?" he said, grinning.
"If it isn't too much trouble," Sally replied. "Oh, and watch out for
those SWATbots about twenty feet ahead of you there."
"Yikes!" Sonic yelped as he rocketed off, speeding right through the
army of approaching robots.
When he got outside the city, Sonic slowed his pace to 200 mph, and
looked back at Sally. "Find anything else, Sal?"
She shook her head. "Robotnik was right about that stuff-- it _is_
junk."
Sonic nodded sadly, then turned his head the other direction. "You
cool back there, Jaye? You look a lil' green." He grinned.
Jaye shook her head. "I'm used to it," she said, and to prove her
point, she let go of Bunnie's shoulders and began to fly next to him, her
four tails spinning rapidly. Then, she said, "How did you know my name?"
Sonic skittered to a halt, making sure that his passengers didn't go
flying off in another direction, and looked at her. "You remember anything
before Robuttnik?"
"Yes," Jaye replied. Her expression changed to a look of sadness and
reminisce.
"How about a guy named Charles Hedgehog?"
"Yes, he was one of my father's friends. How did you know?"
Then, suddenly, she knew. Looking up at him, she said, "Sonic?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out."
She smiled, yet said nothing else, and Sonic took it as a cue to get
going again. Once they were traveling, Jaye murmured, "I knew you'd
show up sooner or later."
"Always cookin', Jaye. You know that."
"Yeah, yeah, what yer uncle always said. No wonder the snow always
melted when you went sledding," she kidded.
"Ha ha."
Jaye cast one eye down upon him, using the other to make sure she
didn't run into any trees or anything. "Your uncle was right, you know."
"Serious?"
"Sure-- except for the good lookin' part."
Sonic sighed and smacked one of her tails out of rotation. Jaye gave
a startled yelp and slowed down a bit, enough for Sonic to gain a
considerable distance on her. He laughed and stopped to wait for her.
Once she'd caught up, she retorted, "What was THAT for?!"
"Duh, Jaye," said Nara from the back of the chain of passengers.
"What do ya THINK it was for?"
Jaye knew when she was defeated, and she sighed to indicate her
surrender. "All right, all right, I give," she grumbled, yet there was still
a smirk on her face.
Sally suddenly came to a realization. "Sonic, you're not going to
take them to Knothole with us, are you?"
"Chill, Sal, it's cool," replied Sonic. "Jaye is not the type of
person who'd squeal to Robuttnik." He glanced Nara's direction with a sly
smile. "But I dunno about Nara. Let's leave 'er behind, just to be safe-"
"NO!" Nara squawked. "Whaddya think I am, anyway?! A-"
Jaye shushed her before she could go any further. He was only
kidding, and plus Jaye had the sneaky suspicion Nara would have said some
words she shouldn't even know if she hadn't stopped her.
They talked all the way back to Knothole.
***
"Hello? Mobius to Jaye, come in..."
Nara's voice snapped Jaye out of her daydreaming, and she woke to
find herself still by the power ring pool. She smiled down at Nara, who was
looking up at her still with a worried look on her face. "Don't worry; I'm
fine," she reassured, and Nara seemed to calm down at this.
As Jaye turned back to face the pool again, she caught a glimpse of
something rather peculiar: a blue blot standing at the top of a large hill,
looking down. What was Sonic doing up there at this time of night? Jaye
moved out of Nara's grip and stood, and after telling her sister she'd be
right back, she launched into the air with a small leap and ascended into
the sky, flying off toward the hill.
As she landed, she found that Sonic was actually waiting for her to
arrive, a strange-looking object at his feet. She looked closer, at the flat
wood surface and the curled up front end. "A sled?"
"Sure," he replied. "Hop on."
She smiled, realizing what he was getting at, and kneeled at the
front of the sled. She looked back at him, giving him the ready signal.
"Jelly an' jam time!" he yelled in a whisper as his feet revved up,
spraying snow out yards behind him. The sled started to move instantly,
lurching into motion and quickly reaching three-digit speeds. Just before
the sled tipped down the hill, Sonic hopped on the back, his task fulfilled,
and...
"WHEEEEEEEE!!!"
The sled practically sailed through the air as it hurtled down the
hill, which turned out to be much steeper than Sonic had anticipated. The
sled plunged almost at a vertical, so far off the surface of the ground that
it barely left a mark in the fresh snow.
"SNOWBANK!" Jaye yelled at the top of her lungs, and she closed her
eyes and took a deep breath, as did Sonic, just before they rammed head-on
into the humongus mound of white powder. The front end jammed into the
bottom of the pile, sending Jaye deep into the bank head first, while
catapulting Sonic clear over the drift and out of sight.
There was silence for a few moments, then the top of the mound
shifted a bit in one spot, just where Jaye emerged from inside. "Sonic?"
"Ouy. Over here."
She turned her head to see the hedgehog lying on his back. "I think
that was the biggest hill we've ever done," she concluded with some
satisfaction.
"What on Mobius was THAT?!"
They both turned their heads, this time to set upon a squirrel
running up to meet them. "What was what?" Jaye asked.
"What you just did!" Sally replied.
Sonic smiled at her. "Just gettin' back, Sal. Just gettin' back."
THE END
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