*phew* WAY sorry about this guys. A lot of personal issues have been getting in the way, plus a new Halloween countdown I've been working on anyways. (Which is going to end up being a week late because of BUGS. AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGG-)
Well, I'm not gonna keep you waiting any longer. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Silver and the Quest for the Chaos Emeralds Chapter 4!
Last time, Silver got his ass handed to him by an improved Metal Sonic. However, thanks with the help of Shadow, Rouge, and Omega, Silver is patched up...somewhat. Rouge and Omega are currently taking him to Grayley City, a city full of other anthropomorphic creatures that is only somewhat out of the way of Silver's goal, the first Chaos Emerald.
Also, Omega has rockets on his back. Why not? He IS a robot. Robots just aren't complete without rockets.
Well, Grayley City wasn't too much of a trek. Well, for Rouge and Omega, I'm sure. For me, it was painful, agonizing, and frustrating the entire way.
To be perfectly blunt, my time from the plains to Grayley wasn't exactly awesome.
With incredibly limited bandaging done by Rouge I was in a lot of pain. She did alright, for someone who only had those bandages to work with, presumably little to no medical expertise, and while Omega was on the move to get us all away from a blue metal spiky move copying letter opener of death. I was impressed, quite honestly.
Once we got to Grayley, I felt like passing out for two reasons. One, severe blood loss and excruciating pain. Two, Grayley's...a weird city. In the center of Grayley is a very large, very difficult to climb mountain, with the top just barely being covered by the clouds. This wouldn't be a problem except Grayley, being a naturally large city as it is, CIRCLES THE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN. We were going to spend a REAL good amount of time getting to that hospital. The worst part? Grayley is a peaceful, non-violent city. Which means weapons were a no go. Which means that Omega's rockets are a no go.
Omega's rockets being banned + large mountain encircling city + dying me = me seeing my life before my eyes and cursing the entire way.
You know, it's kind of funny. Most of my life before I got sent to the past is actually...kinda fuzzy. I picture me fighting Nega Eggman just fine, but the other stuff is a bit...phased out. Maybe because I can't remember it too well? Which is weird, because I was able to recall these things just fine earlier. I remember stuff like the Mobian Currency Epidemic, the Second Great Universal War, and the invention of the Sonic Boom Cannon, a cannon made to produce and shoot out air faster than the speed of sound.
Sonic said he wants one of those now. Typical Sonic.
GAH! I really gotta stop thinking about that stuff. Anyways, Rouge and Omega spent time asking for directions to the hospital in the quickest way possible. Eventually, we got stopped by this one guy. He was...odd. He was dressed in a brown cotton jacket with a hood and various pockets, a black shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers. Jeez, guy, lay off the black for a bit, you might send the Gothic Gestapo to collect ya. I would give you a detail of his face, but his hood was up the entire time. It was a really big hood too. Must be a large protruding forehead or something.
"I hear you guys are looking for a hospital." The stranger said. His voice carried a sense of mystery, as if he experienced danger somewhere before but also had tranquility within him. I also noticed tears around his clothes, along with scars underneath them. He's been through stuff, I can tell. Those scars run deep.
Wait, those scars run deep? Are they healed? Oh god, they don't look healed. What if I don't end up finding a hospital because of this? Then I'll die and Nega will take over the world and Sonic will be too slow and Blaze will be used to set the world aflame and then Eggman will steal Sonic's shoes and stick him in a labyrinth where he's really slow and-
"Head about 10 feet that way," the stranger said, pointing to his right, "and you'll find one of the local hospitals. They're normally not too busy, since not a lot of people challenge the mountain anyways." ...oh. Well...um...never mind then.
"Thanks, hon." Rouge said. "Omega, you heard the man! Thataway, as fast as possible!" Omega simply nodded and rushed me towards the hospital.
Now I could go into some grand story about how they immediately rushed me in, how I was panting near death, and how my life barely scraped by. I COULD, and I could also say that the only way I could beat Sonic in a race was by rubbing headlight fluid all over my body.
Yeah, no.
Thing is, being in a hospital is boring. They rushed me in, attached me to these machines, asked me thousands of questions, this honestly felt like days. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was.
By the time the doctors left, I was feeling well enough to speak fluently and not in...short...dramatic...pauses. So I called in Rouge and Omega, assuming they were still there.
Well, Rouge was. She came into the room alone, carrying a sense of relief that I was okay. "Where's Omega?" I asked.
"I sent him to go help out Shadow. I wasn't sure if the fight between Metal Sonic and him was going well, since Shadow's not responding to my communicator. Either that, or GUN managed to give us something useless. Again." Rouge said, looking at the communicator. That's something I forgot to mention. Shadow, Rouge, and Omega all work for GUN. Which is weird, I thought the commander of GUN hated them. Well, both he and the President originally gave only Shadow a position in GUN, but through requests via Shadow, Rouge and Omega joined the party as well.
"Ah. Well, I guess that's good for him. Metal Sonic has gotten WAY tougher than from what I've heard." I said.
"Yeah, it's weird. Last time I fought him, he was a giant dragon like thing. Even then, he didn't seem THAT tough to take down. He was able to destroy you into the ground."
Yeah...thanks Rouge. I think the scar on my neck and the pain in my side speak loud enough though.
"So, what exactly WERE you doing out in those plains anyways?" Rouge asked. Well, I didn't see a reason to keep it a secret. I told her about how I was collecting the Chaos Emeralds so Tails could build a machine to send me back to my time. I told her everything that had happened in my relatively short journey.
"Hmm...Nega Eggman, huh? Sonic told me about him once. Well, you're in a race to get the Chaos Emeralds then. There's no way you're going to be able to get the Emeralds in time in your current condition." Rouge stated. I wish I could argue this, but... I can't. While I'm good at defense with my telekinesis, healing isn't something I've been good at. At most, I MIGHT be able to fix the scar on my neck. Which at most, feels like a bee sting.
"Perhaps I can help." Someone said, walking in. It was the stranger from earlier, the one that had pointed out where the hospital was. "I came in to check to see if you were alright. That being said...are you alright?"
Rouge explained my situation towards him. I didn't really see much, seeing as how he was hooded the entire time. All I saw from him was simple nods. Then, after Rouge finished the story, he took his hood off.
Finally I was able to get a good look at his face. He was a hedgehog, easy to tell by the quills. What was weird was that he had one in the front of his head as well. That explained the large hood. On his quills was designs similar to Shadow. His skin was jet black, but the Shadow-like marks on his quills were green. His eyes were sky blue, and he had two strings of hair sticking out of his front quill.
"Well, now that you've seen my face, I guess I should tell you my name. Call me Alot. Alot Ianuk." Alot stuck his hand out to Rouge to shake it...she did. What, you expected a different reaction? Rouge is NICE, people, NOTHING MORE.
"Well, she's right on the bulls-eye, facing Nega Eggman and getting those Emeralds is going to be impossible with that little bump on your side." Alot explained. "However, I have a remedy that should help. There's a dojo near this city. Surrounding the dojo are trees that bear fruit with incredibly quick healing substances that should take care of your little problem within a day's worth."
"That...that's great! Where's the fruit?" I asked excitedly. Yes, a way to continue my quest!
"That's the problem." Alot walked over to the window and pointed at the mountain. Oh no...don't tell me..."It's on the top of that."
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
"Fortunately, I've climbed to the top of this mountain before. That, and your lady friend here can fly as well. Assuming she can keep up, we can get you the fruit in a day's worth, so long as we only take one break." Alot explained once more.
"A break? I was hoping for some exercise and go through the thing in one go! Of course I can keep up!" Rouge exclaimed.
Alot looked her dead in the eye, serious. "We're taking a break when we get to the top. Understand?"
Rouge stood there, completely shocked. "Okay, jeez kid, calm down. I was just kidding."
Alot then looked at me with the same expression he held earlier. "And you, Silver, right? I want to come with you. Grayley isn't doing much for me, and I've been getting rusty."
"No." I immediately said. "Rouge explained my story earlier, and you already know the answer. I don't want to get too attached to anyone so I can go into my time with no chance of looking back."
"Then if that's the case..." Alot looked at me with a dark expression. "I'm not getting the fruit for you."
"WHAT?!" I looked at him, kinda hurt. All just to come with me? Is he crazy?
"That's fine. I can get up that mountain, get the fruit, and get back down here easy." Rouge said, snidely.
"Hmph. It's not just any fruit you have to pick, ya know. Half the fruit on those trees are actually filled with a deadly poison. Pick the wrong one, and your friend dies. Or..." Alot looked at me again. "You can take me on your journey, and I can go with your bat friend and make SURE we get the right fruit. Trust me, I'm hard to attach to. So, what do ya say? Do we have a deal?"
That...that... "You swindling bastard." I sighed. Well, he said he was hard to attach to. I guess I have to agree to his terms if I want to get to the future. "Alright. It's a deal. Rouge, do you think you head with him to get the fruit from the tree?"
"It's not a problem at all, Silvey." Rouge looked at me with a smile. Yes. I get it. You like to flirt Rouge. More important situation here.
Alot was already at the door. "Alright then. Let's get going. The sooner we do this, the sooner we help Silver get to the future. We'll get you patched up, don't worry." Alot looked at Rouge. "Let's get to Grayley Summit and back in a days worth! It'll be a new record for me!"
WOOOOO! Finally got an OC out! This'll be the first of the multiple OC's that you'll see in my story. This one I've had in my head for a while. His description will be on my profile sometime soon, so you can get a good grasp of who he is.
With that said, I'm glad I got this chapter out. I should probably note something too. Sometimes during the story, there will be moments where I will temporarily break away from the main character (in this case, Silver) and show things from a side character's point of view. I will let everyone know who's POV the next chapter will be. In this case, it'll be from both Rouge's and Alot's POV, them occasionally switching every now and then. There will also only be one side character POV chapter, or as I like to call it, "Side Character Intervention," so you won't be here for 10 chapters.
With all that said, I'm the Silver Keyblade, and dear GOD how was I able to actually get this done? Seriously, this can NOT happen again.
Take care.