//------------------------------// // The Best Laid Traps... // Story: Worlds Apart: The Chosen of the Prognosticus // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Sonic stood on top of a mountain, looking over the land of Narnia. He threw his head back and took in a deep breath, grinning. “Now, this is more like it!” He performed a few leg stretches and took off in a run to the north, leaving nothing but a blue streak behind him. Nobody but other Narnians had seen him since he arrived. ~~~ “Hags were servants of the White Witch of old,” Caspian explained to the other heroes as they huddled in his tent over a map of the forest, examining the places where the Hag had struck. “They are wrinkly, despicable creatures who are steeped in the dark magics. I have met many creatures of many races, and most of them have at least some redeeming qualities. I’ve met gentle giants, wise dragons, and even giant spiders with a passion for weaving blankets for children. I have never known a Hag to be anything other than vile, despicable, and malevolent.” “Is there any sort of pattern to their capabilities?” Data asked. Caspian shook his head. “Each Hag has a different set of spells. This particular one seems to specialize in stealth and obfuscation, as well as imprisonment spells. The particulars are hard to obtain since those who get the closest get captured.” “Is there any preference for the kinds of creatures she takes?” Caspian nodded. “Never the same creature twice—but always creatures deeply connected with the magic of the world. The only human taken was a wizard. The dwarf was a young runesmith.” “In my world, that would mean she wanted their power,” Twilight suggested. “Unfortunately, we cannot assume that.” Caspian traced his finger over the map. “If she wanted raw power, with her skills she could likely feed off dryads or centaurs for as much as she could possibly want. Dryads are quite common in this area, and yet she only took one.” “Perhaps she wishes to collect different species?” Data suggested. “I myself was once captured by a man who simply wanted me in his collection of unique artifacts.” “Despicable.” Caspian shook his head. “I am glad you escaped, Commander.” “Unfortunately, recollections of that event will not be helpful, since we are not the ones captured—we are looking for the prison.” “And it doesn’t quite line up,” Cosmo said. “If she just wanted one of everything, why focus on creatures with magic? And why not take all of us, instead of just Tippi?” “Too many questions, not enough answers,” Toph muttered. “We should go out there and do some hunting ourselves!” “That is exactly what I plan to do.” Caspian rolled up the map and tucked it away. “Today we will set out, as the chosen of the prophecy, to seek the lost. We will not go far, for we will need to return before night falls, but it should be enough to give us something to work with.” “Then let’s go already!” Toph jumped out of the tent. ~~~ The only thing of interest they found that day was a feast happening in the middle of the woods. Several talking animals had joined together and were using a massive toadstool as a table where they laid fruit, vegetables, herbs, and a few pieces of well-cooked meat. Badgers, wolves, squirrels, a moose, and a pair of cats were laughing and cheering at their celebration. “Hey!” Toph shouted, drawing their attention. “What are you so happy about!? There’s a Hag on the loose!” “Yes, yes,” one of the cats said. “And we were sad and panicked before—she hasn’t taken a cat yet, after all! But Aslan has just appeared!” “Quite,” the moose said in a low, droning voice. “He reminded us that we do not need to worry. He will not turn his back on us.” Toph stared at them, slack-jawed. “Seriously? Your friends have been taken, you might be taken, and you’re just… enjoying yourselves?” “Well, we could grieve, I suppose,” a badger said. “But it’s not like they’re dead, just captured.” “It must be dreadful where they are,” a cat admitted. “But they will not be there forever, and it’ll make a great story to tell once all this is over!” Toph held out her hands in exasperation. “How do you know it’ll all be over!?” “How do we?” Cosmo asked Toph. “Because… because we’re the heroes, that’s why. Prophecy and… whatever.” “And is Aslan not their hero of certain other prophecies?” “They still shouldn’t be… ugh, this is hopeless.” Toph threw her hands into the air and turned her back on the animals. “Quite the companion you have, Your Highness,” the moose addressed Caspian. “Eustace was worse,” Caspian chuckled. “Much worse. She’ll come around, with time.” He approached his animal subjects, gesturing at the meal. “May I?” “By all means.” He swiped three apples, juggled them in the air for a moment, and bit down on the third one in a swift motion. “You know, I wish I had the luxury of relaxation like you do. To just sit and be… content, sure everything will turn out right.” “It is the burden of the King,” the moose reminded him. “You must trust in Aslan, but you must also lead as best you can.” Caspian took another bite of the apple. “Quite.” “Oh, oh, My King!” A little lizard skittered across the table to him. “We’ve found a mysterious green door by the lamp post! What should we do with it?” “Ah yes…” Caspian turned to his new friends. “It is a door to another world.” “You’re all welcome to go through it, if you wish,” Twilight said. “We always welcome visitors.” An eagle flapped his wings. “That sounds delightful! Why, I think I’ll fly over there right now.” He took to the skies, heading directly for the lamp post. “Hmph,” the badger muttered. “Bailing out on lunch. You should always finish your meal, I say.” “Then let us dine together,” Caspian declared. “Come, sit. There is not much else we can do today.” Twilight and Cosmo joined the animals at the dinner table, while Data remained standing. “My friend, do you not eat?” Caspian asked Data. “I do not need to, I am an android.” “You are missing out on one of the pleasures of life, my friend.” “I am aware. One day, perhaps, I will be able to join you and appreciate a delicious meal. For now, that is impossible.” Caspian smiled. “You are such a fascinating man.” “He really is,” Twilight added. “Hey, Data! How about you explain to everyone what warp speeds are?” Data nodded. “It will take some time to explain the concept to a pre-industrial society.” “Oi!” A cat bristled. “Try us, chalk-face!” “Rude,” the moose chided half-heartedly. Data nodded to himself. “Very well. In my universe, light has a speed…” Far away from the table, Toph sat in a tree, sensing their party in full. She scowled. “This entire world is stupid.” ~~~ That night, they returned to Caspian’s camp to get some sleep. “Data to Enterprise,” Data said, ready to give his report. “...Enterprise, come in.” There was no response on the channel. Data tapped his communicator. “Data to Flipside.” “Mmm?” Iroh answered. “Data, is that you?” “Yes, Iroh. I have lost contact with the Enterprise. It occurs to me that they may be out of range—can you try contacting them from your end?” “All right. Merlon, do… whatever it is he asked for.” There was a moment of silence that Data waited patiently through, examining the not-quite-stars in the night sky. “Merlon says he can’t reach them either.” “Then alert Starfleet that we have lost contact with the Enterprise.” Data looked to the stars. “And request from all available parties extra personnel for an advanced search party. We have made no progress in finding Tippi, I believe it is time to resort to more drastic measures.” “I’ll get right on that,” Iroh said. After a pause, he spoke again. “Data, how are you doing?” Data cocked his head. “Thank you for asking, Iroh, but I do not feel stress or unease.” “But you do feel uncertainty. You do not know if your friends are okay or not.” “Yes, it does occupy a fair amount of my processing time. But it does not make me feel ‘bad,’ as you would describe it. I ‘feel’ the same as always.” “You have more life than you give yourself credit for, Data. Next time you return, we should have tea.” “If time allows, I shall endeavor to keep that appointment. Although I will not be able to consume the beverage.” “Endeavor to keep… consume the beverage...” Iroh chuckled from the other side of the line. “Good night, Data.” “Good night, Iroh.” ~~~ “Still nothing from the Enterprise?” Twilight asked Data. “Nothing.” “Well… I hope they’re all right.” Putting on a determined expression, Twilight walked out from her group of chosen heroes and stood tall, addressing the large collection of people in front of the green door. There were several dozen talking animals, Starfleet officers, Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, a handful of Mobians, and several other helpers. “Listen up, Everyone! Tippi—the Pixl near and dear to my heart and precious to this mission to end the Void—has been captured by a Hag! I won’t go into details since you’ve all presumably been briefed already, but I want you to understand. She means a lot to me and the rest of my friends. We aren’t just looking for her because we need her—we’re also looking for her because she’s our friend.” There were a few nods from most people in the crowd, though the Romulans and Cardassians didn’t seem sold on this logic. Twilight forged on anyway. “It is very likely the Hag will try to capture any one of you, assuming she doesn’t have something like you already. For this reason, you should always carry a Starfleet pin for communication. We’ll know immediately if you are being attacked, and the transporter tower—” she gestured at a large metal pole with a hexagonal base set up a few meters from the lamp post, “—will automatically transport a security team to your location, ready to take on the Hag. We will be going through this entire forest systematically, and you should never be alone. Everyone should also be equipped with a tricorder set to analyze vis—magic—levels, so you will not be blind if the Hag comes near you. Do not hassle the denizens of the forest if you can help it, but be thorough. If any of the natives cause you any trouble, come find Caspian or another Narnia native to talk for you. Okay?” A chorus of “yes, ma’am!” erupted from them. Twilight smiled. “Then get out there—let’s find her!” Everyone spread out and began searching every nook and cranny. Twilight beamed. “You know, I think this might work. There’s no way she can hide from the combined efforts of all of us. We’re going to cover every square inch of this forest and there’s nothing she can do about it.” ~~~ Two days later, seven members of the search party had been captured, two of the security officers had been launched into comas, and a squirrel had lost all of his hair because one of Twilight’s spells misfired. The Hag had even somehow stolen one of the hovercars the Starfleet officers had started using. “Okay…” Twilight breathed, sitting down at the table in Caspian’s tent. “This isn’t working. We need a plan B.” Twilight turned to Caspian. “Do we have any highly magical creatures the Hag hasn’t taken yet?” “I’ve been warning all pixies to steer clear of the entire forest,” Caspian offered. “Good. Put out a call for a volunteer.” Toph perked up. “Are we using someone as bait?” “Yes.” Twilight pressed her wings together. “Yes we are.” For the first time in a while, Toph’s face grew into a wide grin. “Awesome!” ~~~ As Sonic was running through a forest, he realized that there was an arrow on the ground that glowed a soft blue. The moment he approached it, it disappeared, but another arrow appeared just on the edge of his vision. “Heh, looks like someone wants to play a game!” Sonic increased his speed, attempting to go faster than the arrows could appear, but they never let him. If he moved faster, the arrow he approached vanished faster and the new one was up in the blink of an eye. Sonic zipped through line of trees after line of trees, grin widening the entire time. “Looks like someone’s got the spunk I need!” It didn’t even occur to him that this might be a trap, like almost anyone else would have the moment he followed the first mysterious blue arrow that had no right to be in the middle of a forest. “I’m gonna get to the end of this, just you watch me…” At the end of it, a single pixie fluttered through the forest air. She was a small thing, able to sit on most flowers without breaking them. From a distance, one could mistake her for a cherry blossom, but there were no cherry blossoms in this forest so she stood out like a sore thumb. This was the whole plan; there was no way the Hag was going to be able to resist. To add to the illusion, they’d even had Locus—that was the fairy’s name—get yelled at by a few search party members for not having a partner and that she should get out of the forest. Locus was an excellent actor, pretending to be defiant and fly deeper into the forest despite their warnings. Twilight and company were following her, inside a soundproof magic bubble that kept them invisible. It would have been an immense drain on Twilight’s energy reserves had Eggman not provided them with an entire bucket full of the replica chaos emeralds. For a spell with this low of an energy output, their chaotic nature did not destabilize it, so she could keep it up indefinitely. “I don’t know…” Cosmo said, frowning. “This isn’t going to work.” “We’ve got to try,” Twilight said. “Plus, the moment anything touches Locus, all those traps I laid on her are going to lash out. The Hag will be stuck in time, ice, vines, tentacles, chains, and will have her energy sapped out of her so she can barely walk.” “Maybe she can sense the magic?” Cosmo suggested. “That’ll just make her want Locus more.” “We hope.” “...Yes. We hope.” “I still think we’re going about this all wrong…” Cosmo shook her head. “Then what’s your big idea, Grassy?” Toph asked. “I don’t know. Not this.” “If only Aslan were here...” Caspian said. Toph folded her arms. “Yeah, well, the Enterprise hasn’t reported back and we haven’t gotten any new stories about him showing up, so that’s bunk.” “You seem hostile, Toph,” Data said. “May I ask why?” “It’s been four days and I have no idea where Tippi is! I want to punch this Hag in the face and watch her nose break…” “Toph…” Twilight said, shaking her head. “This isn’t helping anyone.” “Shh!” Caspian hissed. “I hear something.” “We’re in a soundproof bubble, she can’t hear us!” Toph shouted, louder than she really had to. “But I can’t hear her. Quiet.” Toph folded her arms, but she did quiet down. That is, until she actually determined what the sound was. “Wait… that’s Sonic.” “Sonic?” Caspian asked. “A fast friend of mine,” Cosmo said. “He’s running in random zig-zags…” Toph shook her head. “He’s probably just bored. Ran around the entire world, nothing left to see.” “Already?” Cosmo put a hand to her chin. “He is fast, but I didn’t think he was that fast…” “Yeah, a—” Toph stopped short. “Oh no, he’s gon—” It was too late. By the time Toph noticed Sonic had changed direction directly to them, he was basically on top of them. He skimmed Locus with his hair, activating all of her defensive spells. Sonic was frozen in time, encased in chains lined with tentacles, surrounded by a golden barrier, and sunk into the ground, a block of ice forming around him. “...Ponyfeathers,” Twilight cursed, dropping the invisibility bubble and running to Sonic. “Let’s get him out…” She had to cast several spells to undo all the nonsense she had trapped him in, prompting several magic sparks and beams to fly off in random directions. Eventually, she managed to pull Sonic out of the super-prison, though she broke out into a heavy sweat through the exertion. “Wh… what hit me?” Sonic asked, shakily getting to his legs. “You triggered a trap made for the Hag,” Cosmo said. “She’s been stealing magical creatures and… well, Locus was the bait.” “I was just following the arrows,” Sonic muttered, shakily standing to his legs. “Arrows?” Twilight paled. “Oh no…” “Hah!” The Hag shouted, trapping Locus in a golden, glowing bottle. “Fools! The lot of you!” She cackled, jumping away. Twilight fired a laser, Toph threw a rock, and Caspian lunged forward with his sword. Every last one of them was too slow. Sonic, however, was not. Even weakened and drained, he had enough for a burst of speed. He grabbed hold of the golden jar… and was dragged with Locus through the Hag’s magic portal. With a loud thud, he fell to the ground of some kind of cave. “Ugh…” The Hag lassoed him with a magic rope, tying his arms and legs together. “I usually don’t get two at once, but I won’t complain… Especially since you also had this with you…” In her free hand, she lifted up a bucket of the replica chaos emeralds. “Absolutely amazing artifacts…” Sonic struggled, but the more he did so the tighter the ropes got. He was far too weak to try a spin attack or anything of the sort—he was trapped just like the rest of her victims. “I wonder what kind of trap they’ll try next,” the Hag cackled. “The fools always try another one. It really is quite a lot of fun turning it against them every time!”