Chapter 2 is up, hopefully more interesting than Chapter 1.
Thank you Lord Kelvin for reviewing.
No, I still do not own any of the Sonic Universes, characters, rights, or merchandise besides a couple games for Gamecube. I do, however, own an OC or two; see my profile for more detailed descriptions as they begin to pop up (3 in this chapter).
Chapter 2, "Seven Days to the Wolves"
"Impossible…" Amy breathed.
"You guys?!" All three screamed and spun around to see a scared little Bokkun causing all cute loving fangirls to go "SQUEEE!"
"Y-you?!" Sonic stammered, then became nervous for another reason. "Are you gonna blow us up again?!"
"No!" Bokkun pouted indignantly. Then, he began sobbing, then full-blown crying. Amy glares for a moment before her maternal instincts kicked in, and she began to gently hug him. "Wah… waaaah!" He in turn sobbed into her chest.
"There, there," she whispered. "It's gonna be okay…"
"Ames?" Sonic asked, staring.
"Shhh…" For once, she was ignoring Sonic. "What happened?"
"E-Eggman-sama was captured! And those idiots got turned to stone protecting him! Waaah!"
"Wha-what?!" Sonic stared at this confirmation of their fears.
"They seriously got turned to stone?" Tails' tone mirrored Sonic's.
"Eggman-sama knew you idiots would come running to an SOS, so he had me wait for you… And I don't know what happened to Eggman-sama! Waaaah!"
"There, there…" Amy was now stroking the little black head. "Don't cry…"
Sonic couldn't say anything, but his expression was steadily growing more serious.
"Sonic?" Tails pleaded to his older brother. "What're we gonna do?"
Sonic suddenly became his usual self. "I guess we go save Eggyolk!"
"Re-really?" A small smile finally crept onto his face.
"Well, we came all this way, anyway…" Sonic continued, rubbing his nose.
"Alright!" Bokkun flew up, and then away. "Save him, idio~t!" And was gone.
"Whew…" Sonic sighed. "What a way to thank someone…"
"He's just a child, Sonic," Amy told him.
"Amy," Sonic began.
"Yes, Sonic?" Amy asks as sweetly as possible.
"Stay here."
"Huh?!" No more sweetness. "No way!"
Sonic just continued, as if uninterrupted. "Whatever this is, it turned those guys to stone, after wrecking Eggyolk's ship. It's too dangerous for you."
"No way!" Amy cried, stamping her foot. "I'm going too!"
"No! It's too dangerous!"
"I'm the one with the first aid kit!" Amy plucked self-same kit from the ground, brandishing it for emphasis.
Sonic promptly took it. "And now I have it."
"I didn't come all this way to do nothing!"
"That's before we knew how dangerous it is! Stay here!"
"Even if you go without me, I'll just follow you," Amy stated proudly.
"Uhmmm…" Tails tried to stand between them, twiddling his fingers.
"What?!" Both shouted, now much bigger than him.
"Eep!" He in turn seemed to shrink. "Amy can ride with me in the cyclone… It'll probably be safer, anyway…" He was shaking in his shoes as both glared him down.
"…Fine," both growled, and went ahead of him.
Those two would be a scary couple… Tails thought to himself. And thus he followed, and thus they found a note left by Bokkun:
'Follow the underground route and save Eggman-same, idiots!' The note promptly exploded. But, sure enough, they found a recently disturbed opening in the Grecian ruins, leading down below. It just screamed, Go back, idiots. So, of course, they did not. Sonic led them down in the dark, Cyclone close behind and in walker mode. It was dark, in Ancient Greek ruin décor, lit with the occasional flickering oil lamp. And yet nobody asked why. It's as if everybody expected ancient ruins to stay lit for millennia. Note: The ruins at Corfu are dated to c. 600 B.C. Even though the underground area looked even older than the above, and the lamps were lit, there was no clear sign saying You're going to die, and the only sounds were those of Sonic and the Cyclone's footsteps.
"Creepy…" Amy muttered.
"Yeah," Tails whispered back. They turned a corner into a wider room, lit more brightly than the halls before. It appeared empty, save for the classical ruin décor. There was a door across from them, which they quickly headed for. There was some type of diamond in the floor, corners spreading all the way to the doors and just screaming, Evil seal! Sonic tapped the center as he goes, with nothing happening. Tails followed quickly, clanking straight for the next door. When he got to the very center, the inscription lit up and the Cyclone froze! "Losing all power!" Tails cried. "Readings from the feet are vanishing?!"
"Tails, it's turning to stone!" Sonic called. "Bail out NOW!"
"That can't be!" Tails was still fiddling with his precious controls. "Move, Cyclone, MOVE!"
"Tails, YOU MOVE!" Amy shouted, fiddling with her seatbelt. With no other option, she smacked him out with her piko piko hammer. Sonic grabbed her and pulled her out as the whole thing turned to stone. "Sonic!"
Sonic landed, holding her bridal-style. "You okay, Ames?"
"Yeah!" She smiled, grabbing him in her patent-pending death hug. "Thanks!"
"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to hug me all the time." He set her down, so that she finally, and begrudgingly, let go. "Tails, you okay?"
He clearly wasn't. "They-the Cyclone-it… it's stone! The turned my baby to stone! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"
"Calm down, Tails." Amy was trying her best to turn the dial down from 11. "It's gonna be okay…" And, suddenly, three trap doors opened, one per hero/heroine, complete with screaming. "Soniiiiiiiiiic!"
"What the-?!"
Tails just screamed as they fell down twisting and turning stone slides in a ridiculous manner. Cutting to the ant farm view, one could watch them passing each other and tumbling about and performing loop-de-loops and narrowly avoiding hilarious jack-in-the-boxes on the walls and passing each other as they forked this way and that ever downward. It was very fun to watch, as several noted here and there.
Meanwhile, the camera cut to the still-granite Cyclone as the wall smashed down, breaking it into so many pieces and revealing an in-tact green Chaos Emerald. A hooded figure emerged from the darkness to claim it, instantly melting back into the shadows.
"Waaah!" Sonic finally fell through the ceiling onto the hard floor of a new room. "Ouch!" He rolled into a sitting position, rubbed his head, and looked up. "Huh?" The only pathway was filled with spiked walls, pendulum blades, fire, arrows, and various other cliché and in-game obstacles. It looked very intimidating. "Huh."
Ten seconds later, he was on the other end of the corridor as the whole thing fell apart. "Nice try, guys." And thus he kept walking down the creepy Greek hell.
"Soni~ic!" A familiar, terrified voice cried.
"Tails?" He ran forward, taking a turn that found Tails running past him. He looked at where the little fox had come from, to find the most cliché boulder ever coming right at him! Sonic ran before it, scooped up Tails, and ran faster. The boulder followed them downhill, uphill, through several forks, and even through several more loop-de-loops. Sonic finally looked out at the hopefully laughing audience. "Stubborn, isn't it?"
"AAAH!" constituted Tails' opinion. Finally, they came to another empty room, and Sonic stepped to the side as the boulder, doomed from the start, continued in a straight line.
"Hah!" Sonic gloated as it slowed to a stop. And broke apart. "In your face, bou-WHAT THE?!" In the boulder, standing straight and lopsided, was a familiar figure. "DR. EGGMAN?!" Granite. "How?!"
"What IS this place?!" Tails added, looking everywhere for something. Anything besides yet another ancient ruin of a basement. Sonic had set him down, and they soon saw that this room wasn't quite like the others. There was a balcony and stair leading down from it and along the far wall, and from it emerged a figure that may have been seen before.
"And just who're you supposed to be?!" Sonic challenged.
"I am Stheno," a female voice replied. She pushed back the hood just far enough to reveal a beautiful Grecian face with stone gray eyes and lips perhaps painted coppery red. She glanced upward, and Sonic's eyes moved to follow.
As a tarnished silver light shone almost from where they'd come, and a beam hit tails solidly in the back. He stumbled forward, eyes wide.
"Tails!" Sonic called. Before he could catch him, Tails straightened on his own. Another female voice laughed, from the same direction as the light. "And who're you?!"
"I am Stheno's sister, Euryale." Her face was somewhat softer than Stheno's, but it was like comparing Trenchpolt to Maleficent. Both wore a coppery red smirk and a look of clear superiority. The excitement in their eyes grows as granite creeps up Tails' feet. Both guys are clearly horrified.
"Sonic!" Tails called, voice rising an octave.
"Tails!" Sonic's voice was panicked, but soon gave way to rage. "Stop this now!"
"I'm sorry," Stheno said innocently. "I can't."
"And neither can I." Euryale's innocence sounded, sickeningly, more convincing.
Neither seemed to care, either. Tears had formed in Tails' eyes, and Sonic couldn't do a thing as it creeped up Tails' torso like a slime mold.
"Sonic… Sonic, look!" He was pointing at the ceiling of all places. There, Sonic could see three chaos emeralds in a triangle formation, shining brightly. "That green one was powering the Cyclone… It wasn't turned to stone…"
"That's great, Tails, but it's not gonna help us—"
"Beat 'em for me, okay?" The granite was still climbing, halfway up his torso.
"Tails, you're gonna be okay!" Sonic insisted, clearly knowing it wouldn't be the case.
"Beat 'em…" Tails insisted before the granite cut off his breathing.
"Tails!" Sonic couldn't do a thing! "Tails!"
Tails mouthed one word. Son-nic… Then, he was fully stone, smiling blamelessly at Sonic, with pure terror barely… just not hidden.
"TAILS!!!" Sonic screamed.
"Oops," Euryale chirped. "Did I do that?"
"No, sister," Stheno corrected her. "I think it was a team effort. We had to thank him for the third chaos emerald somehow…"
"You-you little..! You, stupid, damn..!"
"That's quite rude, you know," Euryale told him.
"Agreed," Stheno nodded, careful of her hood. "After all, if it weren't for that third one, we'd be stuck alchemizing metal into mineral."
"Yes, yes… After all, we were losing our powers for such a long time. Full rejuvenation took three."
"But now, we're back at full strength, thanks to those lovely emeralds." The green one fell to the ground, hovering before a seething, trembling Sonic.
"You can have this one to remember him, if you'd like," Euryale offered.
"Ah, yes, of course," Stheno agreed. "It was originally from your world, was it not?"
"We're at full power now, and don't need it anymore."
"Thank you for bringing it to us, all three of you." Stheno loved watching mortals tremble…
Sonic's ear twitched on a certain word.
"Your friend, the girl, is still here somewhere…" Euryale mused.
"Perhaps you'd like to find her."
"Before we do?" they both finished.
"Yeah, right…" Sonic growled. "I'm killing you both right now." He was so close to Dark Sonic, Werehog, whatev. He may have morphed into Scourge for all the anger he was building.
"Oh dear…" Stheno tapped he chin thoughtfully.
"That's not good."
"HYAAAAAA!!!!" And thus Sonic's full-scale attack began.
Meanwhile, Amy had fallen through ANOTHER trap door. Unlike the last one, she slid gently into a room far less ruined and far more beautiful than upstairs. She guessed that it was upstairs. Her sense of direction had taken a beating today. "Where am I now..?" she groaned and sighed. "I'll never find Sonic at this rate…"
"I can take you to him, actually."
"Huh?" Amy's eyes fell on a shadow that stepped from a shadow. Perhaps a black cat, Mobian like her, with eyes like tarnished blue and a black wardrobe mixing Ancient Greece and Ninjutsu. See my profile for full description. Her eyes never left Amy's as she closed the gap to three feet. "Who are you?" Amy was wary, hand itching for her hammer.
"I am Shara," she answered in a creepy calm voice. "a black leopard. Now that the enemy is fully revived, we must hurry."
"The enemy?"
"The enemy who turned Dr. Robotnik, his minions, and your friend Tails to stone."
"Tails?!" Amy screamed. She covered her mouth, eyes wide. "They couldn't have! That's a lie!"
"It's not; my condolences." Her gaze softened as much as her reply. "Now, Sonic is fighting them."
"Sonic is..?" A horrible thought crossed Amy's mind. "Does he know?"
"He was there, and could do nothing."
Amy felt a sick chill sweep through her body, settling in her spine and chest. Sonic…
"He is fighting now, with blind rage. The enemy has regained full power using the chaos emeralds, and will want to test it on him. That is why they haven't—"
"Sonic will defeat them!" Amy declared. "He'll make them pay for what they've done!!!" She was near tears and she knew it, just thinking about Tails.
"Do you even understand who 'they' are?" Shara already knew the answer.
Amy fought for her calm before speaking. "Will you tell me?"
Shara nodded. "They are the Gorgon sisters Stheno and Euryale. Ancient, ageless monsters too cruel to be called human, despite their faces."
"'Gorgons'?" The word was new to Amy.
"Ancient beings, thousands of years old. The ability to turn all to stone with a flick of their power, manipulation of mortals with a little more. Sonic succumbed to rage with their slightest provocation."
"Don't you DARE insult my Sonic!" Amy shouted.
"I'm not. I'm explaining their powers."
"And how exactly do you know all this anyway?" 'Shara' wasn't exactly being endearing, let alone trustworthy. She was worse than Shadow!
"I am bound to this temple to guard them until they escape and a living female helps me to resurrect."
"'Resurrect'?" That just sounded creepy.
"Yes. I can help you, if you help me escape the seal. The enemy placed this one during their own sealing."
"How long have you been here?"
"Three thousand years."
"TH-THREE THOUSAND YEARS?!"
"Give or take. It's been a long time since I've seen Mobius."
"You're from.. our world?"
"In ancient times for you. I was summoned by my mistress, the goddess Artemis, who has been at war with these two since they began using their powers against nature. I fought them before, and sealed them with what became my life force by their power. My soul has bound them since."
"Whoa…" Amy softened just a little bit, although Shara clearly didn't want sympathy. "And you can help us now?"
"Yes, and I can also restore your friend."
"REALLY?!"
"In time," she nodded. "Once I have fully resurrected and regained my own power."
Amy turned fully serious. "If you can do that, I'll help you resurrect."
"Good. Thank you, that's what is necessary."
"What do I do?" Amy suddenly wondered what she'd gotten herself into.
Shara motioned the circular seal that went wall to wall. "Drop 13 drops of blood in the center, please, and place both hands on either side."
"That's creepy…"
"It's resurrection," Shara replied, dead-pan.
As the girls discussed blood rituals, Sonic was becoming all the more enraged at the fact that he couldn't hurt these two! When he managed a hit, it was like punching Mt. Rushmore! And he didn't even know what Mt. Rushmore was! And they kept talking to each other, as if to them, feigning perfect innocence!
"Come, now, is that all?" Euryale asked. "Didn't he want to avenge those below?" Yes, they were both somehow hovering above a very enraged Sonic.
"I thought so, too, Euryale… But perhaps he doesn't, if he's not even trying to hurt us?"
This was not helping Sonic's current rage. The battle continued on and on, but Sonic was losing to exhaustion. It didn't help that he not only couldn't hurt them, but he hadn't even knocked off their stupid hoods! How was he supposed to avenge Tails? It had been his last request, dammit!
"Sonic!" Amy called from just beyond the shadows of the door.
"Amy..?" Sonic turned back to the way he'd come. "Amy, get out of here, now!"
"I'm not leaving you, Sonic," she replied firmly. "Not after what happened to… Tails!" She had finally seen him with her own eyes, and felt that same sick chill. This time, it made residence in her stomach as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. "Tails…" she choked in a small voice. "…no…" Tears threaten to fall.
"Amy, I…" Sonic's rage fell out through his feet. He almost expects her to start yelling that it was all his fault; why hadn't he protected Tails, like he was supposed to? He deserved to be chewed out, he knew. He'd failed in ways that couldn't be fixed.
Amy sniffled, then saw that look on Sonic's face. "Sonic…" He looked like he was about to break… "Sonic, it wasn't your fault… It was those stupid Gorgon sisters there, they're the ones who did this!"
"Amy..!"
"Hm?" Stheno's interest was piqued. "How'd you know that we're Gorgons?"
Amy barely paused to consider. "From your ugly faces!"
"Oh, you little brat..!" Euryale breathed. She fired a beam right at Amy, and Sonic's usual interception was blocked by Stheno.
"AMY!!!" he screamed. Amy raised her arms for all the good it would do, only for a shimmering blue shield to block the blow. Amy's eyes widened, momentarily surprised. "Amy!" Sonic shoved past a momentarily surprised Stheno as Amy recovered, looking down at her hands. Her right hand in particular, whose glove is hiding a bandage over the index finger. It had actually worked..! "Amy!" She looked up as Sonic grabbed her shoulders; he looked shocked, concerned, perhaps amazed. "You-you're okay?! How?!"
"Sonic…" How could Amy explain this?
"My fault, although it was her choice." A black feline was emerging from the shadows beyond Amy's door.
"Who-Who are you?!" Sonic stared down this newcomer.
"Sonic, this is—"
"Euryale, it's the kitty." Stheno had resumed both her flight and superior air.
"Little Amy resurrected the kitty."
"Amy what?" Sonic looked back down at her with an expression of dumbfoundedness/ 'what did you do?'
"Sonic," Amy continued, "This is Shara. She's the guardian sealing Stheno and Euryale, those Gorgon sisters. She's done it as a soul for 3,000 years, and to help us she needed a living girl to resurrect her, so I did."
"You what?! How could you possibly—?!"
Shara stepped in for Amy's sake. "Amy shared her blood and lifeforce with me."
Sonic opened his mouth to voice his outrage, and Amy put up her hand. Her right one. Especially her index finger.
"Nothing more than a pinprick," Amy assured him.
"Thirteen drops and nothing she can't recover," Shara elaborated. "So now we are bound to a degree and she is protected from Gorgon stonework as I am—"
"Bound?!"
"Nothing unreasonable," Shara replied. "Sisterhood if even that. She will be fine, and is safer here than you."
"Finally, some good news," Sonic sighed.
"Good news?" Stheno mirrored.
"Oh dear, sister, we're slipping."
"So it seems." Stheno then fired a blast right at Sonic!
"Sonic!" Amy gasped, whirling around and taking the blast with her shield. "Phew…"
"…Thanks, Amy…" Sonic didn't seem sure how this worked.
"Sure thing!" Amy beamed. "However I can help!"
"He has a sweet girlfriend," Euryale anime-smiled.
"Agreed," Stheno beamed. "How lucky he is."
"She's not my girlfriend!" Sonic yelled for the… not even counting, okay?
"Methinks the hedgehog doth protest too much." The Mediterranean monster put on a convincing English accent.
"I find myself in perfect agreement, sister." Stheno didn't bother with accents. They had some kind of ancient accent as it was. "But now, we can't make a target of her…"
"That's quite the annoyance… And she even revived the kitty while she was at it."
"We'll need to make sure she suffers in a different way."
"Agreed," Euryale beamed. "She's become the bigger pain." Meanwhile as they blabber…
"Sonic, we'd best retreat," Shara murmured.
"What?! No way!" His whisper didn't count as a whisper.
"I'm not even fully alive, yet," Shara explained. "The shield doesn't have full power, either. Once my power returns, I'll be able to reverse the Gorgon petrification."
"You will?!"
"Yes," Shara nodded. Amy nodded as well, for emphasis. "It is one of the gifts I have been given as their countermeasure. So for now we should pull back, since you're not able to hurt them, anyway."
That last comment smarted. "Fine, but I'm taking Tails with us."
Shara crossed her arms. "What good would that do?"
Sonic quickly searched for an excuse. "If I leave him here, they might break him or something. I'm not letting that happen."
Shara shook her head. "Don't risk it. Now, the shield is only good while Amy and I are extremely close. We're practically joined at the hip until I fully resurrect."
"And how long until that happens?"
"One week. At least two more until I can reverse—"
"That's it; be right back."
"Sonic—!" Amy shouted, but he'd already taken off. And was promptly hit with a beam five feet from Tails.
"Guaaaah!" He froze where he stood, barely keeping his balance.
"SONIC!!!" Amy screamed. She ran forward, tears forming before she'd even taken her first step.
"Dammit," Shara breathed, keeping the distance small. Even then, her eyes were on the Gorgons, and she still had yet to lose her calm. Amy had already reached Sonic, whose feet had already petrified.
"Sonic! Sonic!" Amy was crying uncontrollably, hands now on his shoulders, trembling.
"Ames, it's okay." Sonic forced himself to sound surer than he felt. AKA sure at all. He took her shoulders in turn. "It was my fault on this one. Don't worry; get Shara's strength up so you guys can fix this mess, okay? Get help, too; Knuckles or someone, don't try it on your own."
"Sonic…" Amy saw that it was up to his legs. "I won't leave you! I can't!"
"It's okay, Ames. It's up to you guys, while I'm stuck here." Dammit, it hurts so much..!
"Sonic, you're in pain, aren't you?!" She hugged him, crying and trembling. "I'm so sorry!" She couldn't stop crying, she couldn't.
"Amy, it's not your fault." It was at his torso. He stroked her back gently, then pushed her back, forcing himself to look strong as always.
"Sonic..! I can't let this happen to you—" He cut her off with a kiss on the lips. Her eyes widened, her cheeks burned, it was the one thing she'd always wanted, and she slipped into it. The granite reached his chest, and he broke off the kiss unable to breathe. Amy's eyes showed fresh will. "I will save you. I promise."
Sonic gave her a wink to say, I know you will, and she kissed him once more on the cheek as he finished petrifying. Amy couldn't look at his face then. Her knees buckled, her heart raced, and she broke down against the lifeless granite, sobbing into what was once… She sobbed all the louder.
"Sonic… sonic… Sooonii~ic!!!" Her sobs became full wails as she stood there, trembling, clutching the stone before her.
End of Chapter 2
Well, is this one any better? I know chapter one seemed kinda half-assed, and I apologize since I hate being a hypocrite. I've got up to page fifty-something on paper, so these should come out quickly between Mom's Home Improvement spree. This will also probably be the longest chapter, but I'm hopeful. I already know, but do you think that Amy will rise to the challenge or just keep sobbing at the loss of her hero? I apologize for the romance; it seemed appropriate. Anywhoo, Chapter three up by tomorrow, fortune willing!
Read and review, please!
