Alright guys, here's what I have for Chapter 9, it isn't final yet since I still have to think of a Negative Zone monster to make, but other than that it's pretty much done.
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“What you got so far Tails?” Sonic asked.
“Well…I managed to gather some info by analyzing the image of Zero’s fossi – uh shell. By the looks of it, he was in hibernation for hundreds, maybe thousands of years! And on that judgment…and don’t tell Shadow I did this, but I hacked into the A.R.K.’s data mainframe and looked into the possible alien races Zero could’ve been born from.” Tails explained.
“And? What’d you find?” Blaze asked. “I think he’s an Iosian.” Tails quickly clicked the keys on his keyboard, and a rotating image of what looked like Zero popped up onto the screen. “That’s repulsive.” Blaze said. “The word I’d use is gross.” Sonic joked.
“What do you think Ames? What would you call that creepy eyeball?” Sonic asked. Amy didn’t reply, for whatever reason the pink hedgehog wasn’t really in the mood to talk. “You ok?” he asked.
“Sure Sonic, just peachy.” She pasted on a fake smile and nodded reassuringly, which Sonic decided to accept for the moment.
“So that’s what the monster that took Mr. Sonic’s body REALLY looks like?” Cream asked, obviously growing slightly squeamish from the image.
“Well that’s just a general image, from what I’ve found, there were more varieties than that.” Tails replied.
“Anything on Amy’s suggestion?” Sonic asked. “That I can’t tell without further analysis of Zero’s true anatomy, or at the very least actually getting our hands on his shell and getting a direct look at it. With this image I can figure out what he is through the A.R.K. archives, and what his race looked like, but nothing on how to actually destroy him.” Tails replied.
“So that means we’ll have to take him down while he has Sonic’s body.”
Houdini commented. “That should be a lot of fun for a certain knucklehead we all know and love, eh Knux?” Sonic snickered. But Knuckles was busy holding his hands over the Master Emerald he had taken the liberty of moving from the shrine to the workshop, still in shock over the fact that he had possibly found another one of his kind.
“What? Knuckles is in his own little world too?” Sonic sighed. “He’s been that way ever since we left his island. He mentioned something about an echidna girl.” Blaze replied. Amy’s ears perked up at this. “Did you say an echidna girl?” she asked.
“Yes…Tikal was the name, if I recall correctly.” Blaze said. Sonic, Tails, and Amy exchanged glances at each other before staring at the guardian who was still mindlessly running his spiked hands over the glowing rock. “No wonder he’s like that, do you think Tikal is actually alive?” Amy asked.
“I’d like to know what changed that made the Master Emerald suddenly react the way Cream described it. If Tikal really IS in there, why didn’t she do something all those other times the emerald was in danger?” Tails wondered.
“Maybe she was testing Knuckles’ guardian skills.” Sonic snickered.
“Sonic, don’t be insensitive!” Amy scolded. “Come on Ames, I’m just teasing. You don’t mind, right Knux?” Sonic asked. Knuckles just growled lowly and shot an icy glare at the blue hedgehog, before going back to tenderly running his hands over the emerald.
“Geez, chill out.” Sonic scoffed. “I feel I must agree with Amy on this matter. Many times have I felt alone in the world because there was no one else around to relate to me, however in Knuckles’ case it’s more severe…if what you told me is true and he IS the last living echidna, having another of his species suddenly make herself known would be quite shocking to him.” Blaze explained.
“Alright, so let’s bust up the Master Emerald and let her out! That’s how it worked last time right?” Sonic suggested. “Don’t touch it!” Knuckles roared. Everyone in the room was caught off guard by the sudden outburst of the fuming echidna.
“I swear to you Sonic, if you even lay one grimy mitt on this emerald, I’ll knock your block off and ground it into paste!”
Even Sonic didn’t have a snarky comeback; the echidna was acting extremely out of character.
He had always been protective of the Master Emerald, and on a couple of occasions had battled Sonic because of it, but only when Eggman had fooled him into believing that Sonic was out to steal it, this time there was no deception, just pure rage. “I’m sorry Knuckles.” Sonic managed to say.
Knuckles growled again, and looked at the emerald once more; closing his eyes as if to absorb its warm energy and try to calm his tormented soul.
“Mr. Knuckles…” Cream whispered. “Let’s just leave him alone, he’ll be ok after a little while.” Amy suggested.
“Fine…you know what I just noticed? Shadow isn’t back yet, and neither are Dash and his buddies.” Sonic said. “Yeah that is weird, I called them and they didn’t respond.” Tails replied. “You suppose they’re in some sort of trouble?” Houdini asked.
“Well Shadow did mention that communication would be difficult where they were going, maybe the Negative Zone gives off a certain frequency that blocks incoming radio signals.” Tails suggested. “So how are we supposed to know if they need help?” Cream asked.
“I guess we don’t. All we can do is to try and get a little rest; it is getting late after all.” Tails said. “Yeah…I am getting kind of sleepy.” the young rabbit rubbed at her eyes tiredly, which gained some sympathy from Amy and Blaze. “Tails, do you have a guestroom somewhere?” Amy whispered. “Yeah, I’ll take her there.” Tails replied.
“Come on Cream, I’ll take you to the guestroom where you can get some sleep.” Tails gently pushed the already half asleep rabbit towards the guestroom, with Cream involuntarily resting her head on his shoulder. The fatigue from the day’s activities caught up to her suddenly, and she was quickly losing awareness of her actions.
Tails didn’t mind though, he was glad to be able to help his blissfully innocent friend find peace and comfort after all they had gone through that day, especially her close run-in with death. And somehow, he was actually enjoying the innocent contact they were sharing, it made his heart beat in a way that…it hadn’t in a long time.
Walking into the door of the guestroom, Tails helped the tired rabbit into the already made up bed, that was honestly much too big for her tiny body, not that she would complain, at least she had space to get comfortable. Cheese flew under the covers and joined the young rabbit girl, who was already snoozing comfortably.
“G’night Cream.” Tails whispered. The fox boy smiled and turned off the lights, walking past a certain flower pot on the way back, he sighed and got his mind back on track, he couldn’t be distracted now, he had to be like Sonic, no looking back.
“Amy, can you call Vanilla and tell her that Cream’s gonna stay here where we know it’s safe?” Tails asked. “Sure thing.” Amy walked over to the phone and dialed the Rabbit household, leaving the others to continue planning. “So, what’s the plan Tails?” Sonic asked.
“The first thing I wanna do is find a way to get in contact with Shadow and the others. It would make sense that Shadow would ignore us if that is the case, cause, you know, he IS Shadow. But we can’t know for sure until we actually DO get in contact with them.” Tails explained.
Just then, Amy walked up again. “Well we don’t have to worry about Vanilla. Turns out she called Vector and the Chaotix…well…mostly Vector…anyways she’s ok with Cream staying here.” she explained, “So, what’s the plan?”
“Nothing yet, but what I’d REALLY like to do is find a way to contact Shadow.” Tails replied. “Well why not try and contact Dash? He has a communicator too.” Amy suggested. “Great idea! Good thinking Amy!” Tails complimented. The young fox hurried to his computer and started typing in an attempt to discern exactly what frequency Dash’s wrist communicator was set to.
“While Tails attempts to contact your new friend, I think I will go and take a lookout position. We do have Knuckles’ Master Emerald here, so it couldn’t do any harm.” Blaze said. “Alright then, I’ll take your spot in a couple of hours.” Sonic replied.
“If you don’t mind, could I join you?” Houdini asked. “I suppose.” Blaze sighed. Blaze and Houdini walked out of the workshop and hopped onto the roof, keeping a vigilant watch for danger.
When they left, Amy quietly giggled to herself, but Sonic managed to catch it. “What’s so funny?” he asked. “Just the thought, Sonic the Hedgehog STANDING STILL on guard duty.” she laughed. “Oh so you think I can’t handle it huh?” Sonic asked playfully.
“I don’t THINK, I KNOW you can’t. After about five minutes you’ll be begging for someone to take your place so you can run around.” Amy replied. “Yeah right! Have a little faith in my willpower; I can control my need for speed.” Sonic insisted, crossing his arms playfully.
“Fine, whatever.” she giggled. After a yawn and a stretch from Amy, Sonic decided some sleep was in order for the young pink hedgehog. “Well, we have a long day tomorrow, emerald hunting, monster chasing, why don’t ya get some sleep yourself?” Sonic suggested.
“Yeah, I think I will…can you do me a favor though?” Amy asked, suddenly very timid in her approach. “Uh sure, what is it?” the blue hedgehog replied.
“Wake me up when it’s your turn for lookout duty, I don’t want you to have to be all alone out there.” Amy said, her eyes practically begging for the answer she wanted.
Sonic was taken aback by the request. If he said no, Amy would probably be really upset with him, and confidentially he never liked that. But on the other hand, if he said yes, what would it look like to anyone else who saw them? Or worse, what danger would he be bringing her into?
Before he could reply, he noticed that Amy had gotten considerably closer to him, and he was starting to feel a rush of nervous energy well up inside him. “You run now, you’re dead later.” he tried to internally tell his restless feet. “It could be dangerous, what if Eggman or Metal Sonic, or even Zero shows up?” Sonic asked, maybe she would be dissuaded by the potential danger.
“So what if they show up? I’d rather be there to help then be inside while you took them on alone; I wouldn’t be able to stand it if…” Amy stopped herself, her emotions were beginning to get the better of her, she remembered the sight of Sonic unconscious after Tails accidently put him into a deadly coma after the split from Zero, how despaired and sad she was, seeing her everything so vulnerable and weak.
She had wanted him to just wake up so she could see his bright, emerald
green eyes again, his cocky grin…what brought her to actually try and kiss him awake? She already knew what she felt for him ran deeper than a fan girl crush, but did HE know that was the case? Should she try and tell him?
Seeing Amy begin to get swept up in her emotions hurt him, he never liked seeing any of his friends cry, for some reason though Amy’s tears stuck out the most in his mind. Why was that? He was the kind of person who would do just about anything to make his friends feel safe and secure, his own life would mean nothing if he had failed to protect one of his friends, but maybe that need to see them, to see HER safe was what made him always triumph.
He had always fought for the greater good so that his friends could see another day, but he couldn’t help but wonder why this time he felt so different about only HER. “Hey, Ames?” his voice made her turn back to him, she was shocked at how timid he looked, she had only seen him like that a few times before. Shyly, Sonic took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze, his hedgehog heart starting to pound.
“If you want…I’ll wake you up. I could use a little company.” Sonic smiled at her, not the usual sideways grin he wore, but a sincere, tender smile he rarely ever used. Amy beamed and smiled at him, which lifted Sonic’s spirits and gave him a boost of confidence. Seeing her made happy was enough to make his heart swell with pride.
“Thank you Sonic.” Amy was thrilled not only because he said yes, but because he was still gently holding her hand. “No prob.” he let go of her hand and took off outside, getting a minute to recollect himself.
“You sure know how to get to him.” Knuckles snickered. “Oh, go back to petting that dumb rock!” Amy replied. Knuckles growled and did just that.
“So, how many of these emeralds do you have?” Kurai asked, admiring the yellow gem Shadow had allowed him to hold. “So far just that one. But with any luck we’ll soon find the rest, whether they’re here in this world or not.” Shadow replied. “Oh I do hope I’ll be of some assistance to you, and at the same time I do hope you’ll be of assistance to me.” Kurai said.
“This guy is way too weird.” Crash whispered. “Reminds me of you.” Dash joked. “Hey!” Crash jabbed at his friend, provoking them both to laugh. “Could you two act professional? Look at Shadow, nothing’s stopping him from finding…hey I feel a cold spot!” Ashley looked around, and there in a dead, leafless tree, a green glowing gem shined.
Ashley jumped up into the tree and held up the gem victoriously.
“Nice find Ash!” Dash cheered. Ashley playfully curtsied and hopped out of the tree to walk back to the others. “Ahh yes, splendid.” Kurai commented, “So would I be correct in assuming that you still have five more to find?”
“You would not. Dr. Eggman has two of them as well.” Shadow replied. “Who is this Dr. Eggman?” Kurai asked. “You just don’t know how to shut up do you?” Shadow grumbled, letting his irritation show. “Well you know the old saying, if you don’t ask questions you don’t get any answers.” Kurai replied.
“Then talk to the tagalongs, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to answer whatever questions you have.” Shadow moved on ahead of the wolf, who turned to face the three other hedgehogs. “Well your leader says I should talk to you now. Can YOU tell me who Dr. Eggman is?” Kurai asked.
“He’s this psycho guy who wants to take over the world!” Crash exclaimed. Dash and Ashley sweat-dropped at the younger hedgehog’s outburst, however Kurai was very interested. “I see you took charge. I like you my friend; you have a certain attitude that appeals to me.” Kurai said.
“Whoa wait a second dude, I’m straight I don’t have ANY interest in…” Dash bonked the cyan hedgehog on the head before he could finish his sentence. “Ow! What was that for?” Crash asked. “That’s not what he meant you idiot!” Dash replied.
“Indeed.” Kurai said rather shocked, “I assure you my intentions are not so vulgar.” Kurai turned around to walk back over to Shadow. “Nice going Crash, now we can’t find out what he REALLY wants.” Dash growled. “Well geez I was just trying to help!” Crash replied.
“Knock it off, both of you. I’m sure Shadow can handle this.” Ashley hissed. Upon hearing that, Dash picked up the pace and tried to avoid the purple girl, he was simply sick and tired of hearing her talk about Shadow the Hedgehog.
“Well, this is the location of my problem.” Kurai said.
They had been led to a large clearing, where there were dead trees and dark bushes and rocks surrounding them. But there was also something else about the place.
“Hey, it’s FREEZING here!” Ashley exclaimed. Looking around, the group spotted three emeralds all sitting in a pile.
“Hey! The rest of the emeralds!” Dash exclaimed. “I’ll get ‘em!” Crash ran to snag the emeralds, but Shadow sensed that something was wrong.
“Hold on a second!” he yelled. But it was too late, Crash had grabbed the emeralds and was about to walk over to them, when a (insert monster hereiujhu) jumped at Crash, making him drop the emeralds and fall down. The monster then swooped down and scratched Crash’s arm before flying back towards Kurai, who was now laughing evilly.
Dash and Ashley ran to their friend while Shadow just growled at Kurai. “Hey Crash, come on man, get up!” Dash exclaimed. When Dash reached over to Crash’s form, his entire body changed for a moment before changing back. “What the?” Dash gasped. “What did that thing do to our friend?” Ashley screamed.
“Nothing lethal I assure you. I merely asked for your help and you’ve just provided it. You see the Negative Zone’s atmosphere has rather interesting germs that change the biological structure of creatures when cell damage occurs. Your friend here will now help me study this phenomenon.” Kurai explained.
“Over my dead body!” Dash’s temper was flaring now, and the black and blue hedgehog readied a blast of ice…except what he fired was anything but ice. “Huh?”
Kurai leaped out of the way growling. “So you’re an ice elemental in the regular world.” he grumbled. Dash looked at his smoking hands in horror, “What’s happening to me?” he asked. “Nothing you idiot! The zone reverses everything remember? Your ice powers are fire here!” Shadow growled.
“I warned you wolf, now you’ll suffer for your trickery!” Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at the wolf, who merely leaped out of the way and fired a freezing blast of icy wind. “Wait a second, if he’s ice…and I’m fire…” Dash got himself warmed up, quite literally at this point, and launched a furious blast of flame that shocked even himself.
“I can see that you’re going to be a pain in this battle, so now I must get serious…” Kurai turned towards Shadow, “Ultimate life form, here are the enormous forces you’ll be facing!” Kurai’s eyes began glowing, and the entire area surrounding them suddenly turned ice cold.
“Let’s go!” Shadow grabbed the emeralds and took off. “But wait! What about…” Dash clenched his fists and faced Kurai. “Tell me how to change him back!” Dash’s hands ignited and crackled with flames, but the wolf simply chuckled softly.
“There is no known way to reverse the process, that’s why I need your friend here. You have the emeralds you were looking for, is it not sufficient payment for a test subject?” Kurai asked. “I don’t care about any dumb rocks; I just want my friend back!” Dash slung his now brown friend over his shoulder, “Ash, let’s bolt!” Dash took off running with the purple girl not far behind.
Kurai just laughed softly to himself. “Fools. Get them my pet.” Kurai pointed off into the distance where the trio was slowly disappearing over the horizon. The monster chased after them, shooting balls of ice out of its mouth. “Ashley, cover me!” Dash yelled. “But…I can’t here! Shadow, help us!” Ashley cried.
Shadow ignored the cries of the girl and merely picked up the pace. “Geez he’s such a…Ashley catch!” Dash frustratingly heaved Crash into the air for the strong girl hedgehog to catch and run with. Then using his reversed powers, Dash set up a wall of flame to block off the creature and take off running.
But the creature wasn’t stopped for long, and began to gain on them. “Hurry up already!” Shadow opened the portal and zoomed out. “Come on Ashley, we’re almost there!” Dash encouraged. Just before they reached the portal, Ashley tripped and Crash went flying forward, just outside the portal that was slowly shrinking. “Shadow, help us out!” Dash yelled.
Dash’s cry fell on non-existent ears, Shadow was long gone and heading for Tails’ workshop. “Still think he’s all that?” Dash growled, “Look out!” Dash pulled Ashley up and away from the monster before it could slash at her as well. “That thing nails us and we’ll wind up like Crash!” Ashley exclaimed.
“Not on my watch…go! Get out of here!” Dash yelled. “But Dasher, what about you?” Ashley asked worriedly. “Forget about me, just make you sure YOU get out alive!” Dash roared. Ashley looked back and forth for a few moments, but eventually obeyed and dove through the portal.
“Alright you…let’s see you take this!” Dash charged all his energy into one powerful burst of flame, that managed to temporarily stun the monster, but also severely weakened himself as well.
“Alright Crash, it’s now or never.” Dash panted. Dash pumped his legs as hard as he could and dragged his friend towards the portal that was now just about ready to close.
“You can’t leave now. Not while you have my specimen.” Kurai grabbed Crash from Dash’s already weak grip, and wound up a punch that knocked Dash through the portal. “Fools.” he chuckled. Dash quickly got up and rushed for the Negative Zone portal, but when he dove for it, he merely fell flat on his face, on real world dirt. “He got him…he got Crash…Shadow LET him have Crash!” Dash growled.
Dash hurried to the portal entrance and tried to generate enough power to open the portal again, but his weakened condition practically forbade him to exert any sort of energy. “I can’t. I don’t have enough power…but I know who does…and he’s gonna get it!” Dash clenched his fists and took off running for Tails’ workshop, if he couldn’t get his friend back on his own, he would grab Shadow by the throat and force him to open the portal even if he died trying.
“Hang on buddy, I’m coming for you.”
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Pretty rough huh gang? And Crash, you got your wish. The FCs got more of the spotlight this time. I told you I had a plan, and I do. And look at that, Crash's "mutation" plays perfectly into Crash's old design turning into his new design. See how I did that there? Have faith in ol' EP.
And now Dash has a personal bone to pick with Shadow, leaving his friends behind, how could he? Well you'll see what I have planned, so be ready!