The Bounty Hunter
Hunter's eyes slowly opened after the bright flash in Robotnik's base, and he got up and looked around. Immediately, he came to the conclusion that he, Sonic, and Annet were obviously not in the base any longer. From what he could tell, they were now in a dense forest of some sort, with unusual energy emanating from all directions.
Very quickly, he ran over and shook his two companions roughly to wake them up. Annet's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him. "Hunter?" she asked, "Where are we?"
"Dunno," Hunter said, helping her to her feet, "some sort of forest, but do you feel that energy?"
"Yeah," Annet replied, "it feels so…soothing…"
"This is probably a peaceful forest," Hunter guessed, "I wonder if there's a town nearby."
"Then what're we waitin' here for?" Sonic asked, stretching his legs, "I say we find a town pronto, so we can find out where the heck this is."
Hunter nodded, and the three of them went off in hopes of finding a town.
Soon, though, Hunter noticed something in some bushes. "You two see that?"
"Yeah," Annet said, "think we should check it out?"
Sonic and Hunter both nodded, and Annet started to move in slowly. She moved the branches aside, and her eyed widened when she saw what it was. She stood up, and seemed to pray shortly.
"What is it?" Hunter asked.
"Some poor soul got lost in this forest it looks like," Annet replied, showing Hunter and Sonic what she'd found.
It appeared to be the skeletal remains of a humanoid, dressed in what remained of a suit of armor. A sword and shield lay next to the body; most likely this person had fallen in battle here, and was picked clean by scavengers.
"Think we should bury him?" Hunter asked.
"I think so," Annet said.
"I can probably dig a grave if I run in place fast enough," Sonic added.
Hunter nodded. "Good. You go look for a good spot."
Sonic then ran off at blazing speeds, as Hunter and Annet waited.
"Wonder who he was," Hunter said, "and what killed him."
"Me too," Annet replied, "but it's all the more reason to get out of this forest."
Soon, the two heard something. When they looked, they'd see that the skeleton was starting to reassemble itself in a standing position, holding its sword and shield, and entering a fighter's stance upon fully reforming.
"Uh-oh," Annet said.
"Not good," Hunter added, as the two prepared their weapons. Annet threw her boomerang, only for the skeleton to deflect it with its shield.
However, it had left itself open for Hunter to strike it in the side with his sword, causing it to nearly lose balance, and left it wide open for Annet to hit it with a fireball as Hunter ducked out of the way.
The force of the fireball caused the skeleton to break apart again, bones and armor going everywhere.
"Guess burying him's outta the question," Hunter said.
"Yeah," Annet replied.
However, it appeared to be too early to relax, as the bones and armor once again started to fly towards each other, the skeleton once again reforming perfectly. This time, they could clearly see what appeared to be red embers in the otherwise empty eye sockets, as it ran at Annet, swinging at her. She was barely able to avoid it when it moved into another swing, this time cutting a few strands of hair free as she backflipped.
"That was too close," she said, as she felt a sting on her cheek as blood became visible.
"Looks like we gotta take out that skull," Hunter said, with Annet nodding.
"You keep him busy," Annet said, "I'll try to blow him apart again."
Hunter came at the skeleton, sword in hand. The two managed to match each other blow-for-blow as Annet was gathering energy for her spell. However, when she fired, the skeleton was able to dodge at the last second, causing the fireball to hit Hunter, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a tree.
"Oh no!" Annet cried after hitting Hunter, starting to run to him, but being blocked by their foe, who knocked her off her feet with its shield, and then prepared to finish her off.
However, in the nick of time, a rapidly-spinning blue object struck it, causing it to break apart again. Acting quickly, Annet shot a fireball at the skull, destroying it. As she did, the bones, armor, sword, and shield all poofed in a dark cloud.
Sonic broke his spinning attack, and landed next to Annet, helping her get to her feet. "You two alright?"
"I think so," Annet said, "Oh no! Hunter!"
Soon, Hunter got back up and brushed himself off. His clothes looked a little singed, but otherwise he was fine. "You need to work on your aim," he said, smirking.
Annet giggled a bit. "Don't worry. I will."
Soon, though, they could hear footsteps, as more of the skeletons were starting to come to life.
"I think we should split," Sonic said.
"Duly noted." Hunter replied.
"Right behind you," Annet added, as the three of them fled, towards what they hoped was a town.
Meanwhile, a young girl was running around frantically. She had blue eyes, long black hair, and was dressed in a school uniform.
"Sakura!" she called out, "Where are you!"
She was very worried. Sakura hadn't arrived where they were supposed to meet before school that morning, and her brother said she never came home after school the previous afternoon, so he was out searching for her as well.
Soon, though, the girl stopped, thinking she heard someone call her name.
"Tomoyo," someone whispered nearby, "over here!"
The girl slowly walked over, and saw that the teenage Sakura was the one calling for her.
"Do I know you?" she asked, unable to recognize her friend, and a little frightened.
"It's me," Sakura replied, "I'm Sakura. A witch turned me into a teenager."
Tomoyo looked at her. She could tell it was still Sakura's voice she was hearing, but when she looked into Sakura's eyes, she knew.
"Oh, Sakura!" she cried happily, hugging her best friend tightly, "I just knew you were safe, I just knew it!"
Sakura was very startled by the sudden hug, but smiled. "Thanks. Now, can you let me breathe?"
"Sorry," Tomoyo said, letting go, "Do you know anything about the witch that did this?"
"Her name's Pandora," Sakura said, "she can drain the youth from young maidens in order to stay young forever, but…"
"But what?" Tomoyo asked, getting the picture of an evil witch that goes about kidnapping little girls and turning them into old hags to stay beautiful forever.
"…She drained mine by accident," Sakura said, "she seems like she regretted doing so. She said she needed a pure-hearted girl in order to undo the spell that made her like that, and I ran. She might need to sacrifice me in order to do it."
Then, the two heard footsteps, as Pandora arrived.
"You never let me explain beyond that," she said, "if I had intended to sacrifice you, then why would I promise to return you to your proper age?"
"Y-you may have only said what I wanted to hear so I wouldn't run off," Sakura replied, "I heard that's something people will do with their captives to keep them from escaping."
Pandora just looked sad hearing Sakura say that. "I meant it," she said, "I promise that if you help me, I'll be able to restore you."
"I'm sorry," Sakura said, "I want to believe you, really, but I don't think I can."
Pandora sighed. "I was hoping you'd come willingly," she said, "but I guess I have no choice…"
She pulled out the powder again, but before she could hold it to her mouth, Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's hand and ran off, heading towards the edge of town, near a railyard. Pandora put the powder away and gave chase.
Meanwhile, in said railyard, a young woman was training, running along the tracks, jumping over and between traincars, and swinging from crane cables.
She had long brown hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in a dark blue leotard underneath a pale blue summer jacket of the, with a high collar, and white stripes down the sides of the sleeves. She was also wearing a pair of tennis shoes.
After a short time, she walked over to her gym bag, having placed it near a water tower so she wouldn't lose track of it, and sat down, pulling out an energy bar and unwrapping it. As far as she was concerned, the railyard made a perfect obstacle course for her, with a variety of things to avoid, and the flexibility of thinking up new routes each time she went through.
However, soon she heard someone running towards her. She could see it was two girls, one looking around 10, the other around 16.
"Hey, hey," she said, "where's the fire?"
"T-there's a w-witch after us…" the older girl said, obviously out of breath at this point.
"Calm down," the young woman said, "here, both of you drink this."
With that, she pulled out two bottles of water and handed them to the girls.
"Thank you," the younger girl replied as they both began to drink.
"What was that about a witch?" the woman asked, "What does she look like?"
"Black hair, green eyes," the older girl said, "looks like she's around 20 years old."
"I'll keep an eye out while you two rest," the woman replied, "my name's Jennifer, by the way."
"I'm Sakura," the older girl replied, "and this is Tomoyo. It's nice to meet you, Jennifer"
Jennifer nodded, and went off to look for the witch the two girls had told her about, climbing into a box car in order to change into her gear.
Meanwhile, Pandora finally caught up to the two of them, and was panting, completely out of breath. "Please," she said, "I need your help, Sakura. My life depends on it."
"It does?" Sakura asked, surprised by this sudden revelation.
Pandora nodded. "The curse on me, that caused me to drain your youth, is also causing me to age more quickly than normal people. I can keep myself alive draining youth, or with a special potion to hold back the accelerated aging. But I need a pure-hearted girl in order to completely undo the curse, because a lock of hair from one will allow me to break it if cut off in a ritual"
"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Sakura asked.
"Because you ran off before I got the chance," Pandora replied, with Sakura feeling a bit sheepish afterwards.
"Hang on," Sakura said, "let me introduce you to my best friend, Tomoyo."
"Hi," Tomoyo said, "so you're that witch?"
"'Witch' is the wrong word," Pandora said, "More accurately, I'm a sorceress."
However, soon, Pandora sensed something. "Both of you grab onto my cloak, and don't let go."
"Why?" Tomoyo asked.
"Just trust me!" Pandora said, as the girls obeyed.
And soon, a portal opened around Pandora, swallowing the three of them, with Sakura and Tomoyo screaming in fear.
Hearing that, Jennifer ran out, having only managed to change into her boots before she heard that, the boots being black and zipperless, stopping just below the knee. However, all she saw was the portal closing.
"Oh no!" she said, "They could end up anywhere." She began to look for anything that might be useful in reopening the portal so she could follow, running all around the yard.
Eventually, though, she found something interesting. It appeared to be a large red gemstone, glowing brilliantly with some strange power.
"A Chaos Emerald? Here?" Jennifer asked herself as she picked it up. Thinking quickly, she ran back to where the portal had been with the Emerald, thinking she could open it back up if she hurried.
She held the Emerald up, and it began to glow even brighter, as the portal reopened in front of Jennifer, just as she'd hoped. Without hesitation, she jumped into it, hoping to find the girls…
Note: The character Jennifer actually belongs to Mega Man Model T101, who allowed me to use her in this.
