Chapter 6 - Trinity Triple Crisis
The trio stood together as they looked at the black hedgehog that stood before them. Both the hedgehog and the others didn't seem to want to make a move, lest it seemed hostile and a fight broke out. It was Caracal who seemed to realize the standstill wasn't helping and spoke up first.
"Listen, we aren't here to make trouble. Our group is only looking for refuge in the Underground Zone from Sonic's forces that have been following us."
At the same time as Caracal spoke, Solar leaned toward JP in a whisper.
"Is it me, or does that guy just scream 'I'm Emo!'?"
"I had that same vibe…" JP whispered back with a smile, "Wonder who he is though…"
The hedgehog laughed slightly at this plea as he crossed his arms. It was obvious why the three of them had come, and more so with the sense of another four in the area making there way toward them. But the sense of chaos energy mixed in with various elements provided that these people would be a threat to the peace the Underground stood for.
"Too bad Cat, as long as I stand here you will not be allowed to disrupt the peace of Underground; nor shall I allow you to draw Sonic's forces to this sanctuary. Yoru! Shawn!"
At the call of two names, two people came out of nowhere beside the black hedgehog. The first one looked like a hedgebat hybrid, red in color with his quills pulled back with a black bandana around the top one and wearing a black scarf and shoes to match. The other was female hedgehog with purple hair that reached down to her shoulder and a few clips that pointed out in front of her shoulders while the rest were kept behind. The red T-shirt and black pants seemed to match up well as the color of her sneakers matched the color of her eyes: a deep aqua-marine blue.
"You called us Shadow?" the two said in unison as they landed looking at the group in question that stood before them. The forest rarely had outsiders they had met so they stood slightly amazed that outsiders even existed.
"Yes… We have intruders to deal with in a hurry. According to them, they're leading others here as we speak, including the true enemy," Shadow replied to them crossing his arms. Taking in that he was glad enough to take two other with him when he heard of the disturbance as sending them into a broken up fight would be easier for everyone to manage.
However Caracal still wasn't ready to jump to battle while Solar and JP had already gotten into a battle stance. The name that the black hedgehog was just ringing in his head as he had heard it in the past till it finally came to him.
"Wait, Shadow? As in Shadow the Hedgehog who was said to have been killed 4 years ago in the final uprising Shadow?" the cat said slowly moving into a stance though slowly since he was still trying to stall for time. The hedgehog gave no word of reply but a slight look and gesture that would make the other think yes.
"Who cares? I'm calling dibs on that hedgebat. I can just sense the burning power he's got and I'm in the mood to cool off some fire hide," JP said cracking his knuckles a bit as he motioned for the other to follow him as he jumped off the vines they were on and down below to the ground. With the two quickly gone, Caracal sighed as Shadow nodded his head as well.
"Follow me cat. We'll have our battle this way."
"I guess fighting is the only way. Solar, take this one,"- Caracal said bypassing the girl without a backwards glance as Solar had his jaw dropped.
"Do wha?" the blue echidna said in such a low voice no one could have heard it.
-"I'll handle the leader I guess since he wants it like this so badly."
The girl looked back as he watched the two leave to a clearing before turning back toward Solar who was now turning pale and shivering slightly.
"So it's just you and me now. You better not think you can go easy on me just because I'm a girl or you're in for a world of pain," the female hedgehog said readying herself for battle with a bit of a stretch before settling into a battle position. During the time, Solar's mind was going haywire.
'Okay, stay cool Solar… no reason for her to suspect that you're already ready to piss yourself cause you're too afraid to get near her before the fight even began cause you're,'- but at that same time while he was thinking, the words 'world of pain' had just entered his thought process from what Yoru had said.
"Well, are you gonna get ready or is this like ladies first or some,"- Yoru asked looking slightly puzzled at the fact that Solar looked almost stone white now.
At once a scream of pure terror issued from Solar that could be heard all throughout the forest as it echoed within it while Yoru looked completely confused at the sudden sense of fear that she could feel from Solar.
From the clearing, Caracal sighed as his mind finally reminded him of what he was stupidly saying less than half an hour ago.
"Bollocks… I forgot he was afraid of girls."
"Best pay attention cat!"
Caracal turned his head back from looking behind him just in time to see Shadow's foot flying into his face. He rose his hands up into a cross to block the kick and then broke away, forcing Shadow to slide back as he did as well. As he skidded to a halt, he dropped to his knees.
"Gah, I don't have time to lose to you. I'm gonna protect my friends and your emo looking self isn't going to stop me," Caracal said before shaking his head a bit. Did he really just say that Shadow looked emo out loud was all he could think while his hands continued to gather energy.
"That little quip is gonna cost you a lot since I'm gonna help you let your friends down hard," the black hedgehog said as his eyes narrowed while his own hands began to glow yellow and red.
"CHAOS…"-
"Not so fast Shadow! Sun Rise!" Caracal called out finalizing his charge. The ground below Shadow exploded in an array of light as the sunlight Caracal had been charging erupted from the ground, sending Shadow flying up with it. The hedgehog was flipping out of control in the air as the red cat smiled while watching him.
"And then comes the drop for critical damage," he thought while cursing Blade's influence in his mind as Shadow began to fall while the light faded. However, Shadow had already regained his composure as he feel and quickly straightened out his flipping, his own attack still ready though it had been slightly disturbed by Caracal.
"– SPEAR!"
From Shadow's hand, many jagged arrows of yellow light began to shoot out of his hand as he landed. The arrows themselves didn't travel straight and instead began to wildly fly at the cat, though the speed was so great that Caracal was too confused by the time they had all decided to converge on him and was easily blasted back.
"Ha ha ha, please… please tell me this isn't all you can do and that you want to beat me with that type of level," Shadow said laughing as Caracal slowly got back up to his feet unsteadily as he struggled to get his body to stand still.
The sudden movement of the attack was on a different scale than Caracal had been used to, though he had slightly expected as much since he knew chaos energy was almost completely unbound of restrictions and that this hedgehog had a strong connection to its power.
'Okay… So time has not taken its toll on him… guess that means holding back is stupid,' the cat thought as he closed his eyes before his body finally stopped shaking. He opened his eyes again as they flashed yellow for a second, while his left arm began to glow again.
"Alright, let's continue then. Sun Burn!"
"Not good enough, Chaos Lance!"
From high above the area, a lone hedgehog floated lazily as he watched the three battle s separate. The thought of how much he could torment the three groups was still racing in his mind as he flipped in a circle, letting the multitude of spiked quills bounce behind him on his back which hit the back of his red shirt.
"So many entered the forest, yet who shall have the most fun of all? Plenty of fun, I'll watch them run, we're going to have a ball. Hee hee hee hee…"
The dark blue hedgehog floated down, stepping and dancing on his toes as he touched the ground, never actually standing on his own two feet. The fight between Caracal and Shadow was raging right below him, to his left, the JP and the hedgebat were still falling to the forest floor, and further away than any of them Solar was currently running and screaming like mad as Yoru chased him. The hedgehog shifted his sleeves a bit which reached right down to his arms as he watched them all from a save distance.
'Now the only question is which group will be first to have some trouble stirred up?' he thought as a new explosion from Shadow's attack had just been deflected by one of Caracal's. With that, the hedgehog began to hover down toward JP's battle that had just started to kick off.
'Let's go with the safer fight… those two might kill me.'
With that thought, his body began to slowly fall into a black void with the shadows as he merged with them. As the body vanished, another hedgehog, black in color with quills that spiked back in three angles and colored blood red at the tips had stopped just where he had vanished. His red shirt and black pants blew in the wind as he tried to catch his breath.
"Dammit… he keeps getting away. Boss ain't gonna like this. Damn Trinity, he better not lose that stone."
The ground quaked as JP hit the ground just as Shawn had done the same, though the quake only echoed once as Shawn's landing had been soft.
"HAVE AT YOU!" they both cried out at the same time as both dashed up and countered one another with a mid air kick before breaking away. JP kicked back hitting the ground to deliver a left hook, landing it right at the hedgebat's head and forcing him to fall back a few feet back before rising up slowly.
"Ready for more?" JP asked as he pulled his arm back to stretch a bit, already fully ready for a nice match up. His mind did try to note that he had just had a fight with the Sonic droids but at the same time he noted back that droids weren't exactly fun to break anymore.
The hedgebat however held up his hand as he got up to motion for a ceasefire. By the looks of it, he was still shaking from the last punch. "Hey, can't we talk this over? I really don't want to fight you. I actually really hate fighting."
JP stayed back in his pose thinking about it for a bit before giving him his answer to prove that he had a slightly one track mind.
"Sorry, but gonna have to decline. We got to get to the Underground and that means I got to beat you."
Shawn shook his head as he held unhappily. He really, REALLY hated fighting, mainly cause he didn't like inflicting or feeling pain at all. "I'll let you win! I'll convince them to let you in! You aren't evil or something so it'd be okay… I think."
"You really don't want to fight… I'm still in the mood right now though. Don't think of this as a fight kid, just think of it as a… a spar. Yeah!" JP said thinking fast as his pulled his hands back and began to gather energy into them. A swirling vortex of water began to form with his cupped hands as he continued to charge his energy.
"You're just looking for a reason to fight!" the hedgebat said as his eyes began to contract with a slight sense of fear. Instinctively he pulled back both his hands to his side as he began to ready some type of counter, but then quickly canceled it as he realized it was too late and went for a dodge.
"Hydro Gush!" JP called out as he thrusted his hands forward at Shawn, sending a low stream of water at the hedgebat that had about as much force as a firehose. However his aim was off as Shawn took flight and sent a kick down at JP's back before he could react. The hedgehog rolled forward twice before kicking himself back up while holding his back a bit.
"See? Just fight like that and we'll be done soon enough. I don't plan on dragging this out anyway. Just like I said, a spar," JP said smiling as he held up one hand and gathered energy again just as Shawn slightly nodded realize talk now was pointless and began to do the same.
From above a slight shift of the trees forced the two to look away from what they were doing, only to see that the area was still calm and deserted except for the two of them. They looked back at each other slightly worried that they could be being watched and stalled as they waited to see if something else would happen.
It was from within the shadows the big tree nearest to them that Trinity floated, still hidden from view as he watched the two finally fire and block the others attacks, causing steam to rise into the air from constant heat and water evaporating.
"Hee hee hee hee… These two are so wrapped up in battle, they won't even know why their brains will rattle. The shadow of mind is dangerous place, let's see if who will win in this type of a race," the hedgehog said snickering as the two charged up once again to attack the other.
"HEAT BEAM!"
"HYDRO GUSH!"
The two attacks collided with each other and began to keep the other at bay, forcing more steam and smoke to form as neither held back their power to stop the other, though both had fired with the intention to simply deflect the other. Trinity simply laughed as a small ball of energy began to swirl in his hand.
"Now, MIND BREAK!" the blue quilled hedgehog said firing the swirl of energy at JP, as both attacks died out from a lack of energy. The think smoke made it impossible to see what had fired, who had fired it, or where it had come from. With that, JP went flying back to the ground dazed as Shawn tried to figure out what had happened.
"Wha-what's going on?!" Shawn said in a panic as he flailed his arms, trying to clear out the smoke even a little. As it cleared, he could make out a thin line that was JP on the ground while Trinity rose back up into the shadows.
"Nothing good for you, and that is just too true."
JP shook his head dazed as the smoke finally began to clear up. His eyes flashed a sick shade of dark blue before returning to their normal as he sat up. His vision blurred as he looked at Shawn, yet even as he tried to focus his vision, someone else was seen within his mind's eye.
"Blade?!"
"I do not like the sound of that… Whatever you just called me," Shawn said becoming confused already. He stepped back a bit as JP continued to try and get the blurriness out of his eyes, knowing full well something was going bad. Even as the hedgebat talked, his words were no longer reaching JP.
"Hey are you okay?"
The only thing that reached the ears of the hedgehog though were words of insults from the voice of JP. Ahead of him stood a mirage like image of Blade ahead of him, now fully solid and masking Shawn's presense.
"Stupid Water Demon, I told you so many times to repent in the past didn't I? Now the tides you are so fond of have turned and left you behind," The voice of Blade said from the illusion as JP finally got up, his vision no longer mess up to his mind. However his anger was already rising from what he had heard.
"Shut up! I told you enough times you can't repent a power you were born with or given you dot loving idiot," JP sniped back feeling bitter as he held his head a bit, his eyes flashing once again. He stepped back a few steps as Shawn continued to grow more and more confused.
"Who are you talking to?! I'm right here!" Shawn called out but his voice was drowned out by a senseless ringing within the black hedgehog's ears.
"Whatever… If you're here, then you can help me search for that hedgebat I was just having a battle with," JP said, his mind completely blocking out Shawn's words of current position. The Blade that he could see however had a different agenda in mind as he continued to taunt his own ally.
"Nya ha ha ha. Don't wanna. You shall repent now or face divine retribution you demon," the Blade illusion said as his hand began to flare up slightly with a smoking heat.
JP's temple twitched again as he bent his head down, heavily trying to suppress his anger. Shawn was becoming more and more aware of the danger that he was in when JP raised his head again, a look of pure hatred in his face as his eyes flashed blue once again. He slowly began to gather his own energy to his palm as JP spoke out again while walking forward.
"You know what? Forget the hedgebat, I'm fine kicking your ass all around this forest at this point. Let's go!" he called out taking off head first and at full sprint at Shawn.
"Stay back! Magma blast!" Shawn yelled out as he panicked and released his attack directly at the charging JP.
"True divine power will be that that cleanses you JP! Pyro blast!" Blade's voice called out as the illusion became real within Shawn's own strike. The fireball hit JP's full body hard and sent him skidding back in pain as he watched Shawn run for his life, Blade's voice taunting him in his mind.
"Fires bring salvation JP!"
As the fireball died out with a slow aura of water encased JP, he dashed after Shawn, now completely enraged, his powers becoming unstable. He roared out in anger as he followed after Shawn, "You're dead when I catch you Blade. You're gonna be in so much pain that you'll have wished you were dead before I caught you and then I really WILL be a demon!"
"Run Shawn! Run and don't stop! Gotta get help on this one!" Shawn said running at full sprint back to the Underground. This fight just went from a normal loss to a death if caught and he still couldn't understand how it had happened.
Elsewhere at the same time….
Solar stood behind a tree panting as he tried to regain his breath. Running nonstop after having to run with Ty was beginning to take its toll on him as he slid to the side to see if his pursuer was still behind him. Seeing no one he sighed a breath of relieve as he slid to the ground and closed his eyes.
"Are you really just gonna keep running? I thought all outlanders were supposed to be strong and courageous."
Solar's eyes shot open. Directly in front of him with less than a foot from his face was the face of the young female hedgehog who was staring at him unhappily with her aquamarine blue eyes. Cold sweat began to fall behind the echidna's back as he scrambled to his feet and took off running again, the girl right behind him.
"For the love of Chaos, how long do you plan on just running away from me? I mean, it's not like we have even started fighting," the girl called out as she followed Solar higher above the treetops on a large vine Solar had just jumped onto and taken up.
"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Solar yelled out as he looked back in panic and saw her still behind him, quickly turned about face with his hand out.
"Ta-taiyoukou ball! Wait no!" Solar said as he fired an orb of sunlight at his pursuer. The energy was completely unstable as he had tried to stop himself from firing, fire it in a different direction, and lower the energy from his fire.
Yoru on the other hand, was not so reluctant to hold back and quickly stopped as siphons and wisps of an unknown energy began to form in front of her before firing directly at Solar's weak projectile and himself. "That's not gonna work. Spirit… Cutter!"
The form of the energy took that of a something like the end of an axe, cutting right through Solar's attack and splitting it in half before hitting Solar back in the chest who was in his mind actually happy his attack had failed for his momentary fear had done something he had hated. Yet he didn't have time to stay happy as Yoru was already charging him at this point.
"W-wait! I didn't m-mean to at-at-attack!"
"Yeah right. You probably planned this all from the start. Take this!" Yoru said as she reached in front of Solar and launched an uppercut, sending the echidna flying into the air before she chased him and sent a scissor kick to drop him back down. Solar landed with a dull thud and bounced off the support vine they were on as Yoru landed, falling back down toward the forest ground.
"Well, at the very least… I'm getting…. away from her," Solar said stuttering as he continually bashed into branches and leaves as he fell. From the shadows, Trinity watched laughing as the blue echidna hit tree after tree. He pulled out a gray stone, a type of square carved out gem that was shining with a small purple and black aura, and held it up as he slowly chased Solar's falling body.
"The nasty girl as forced your fall, but use this on her and she'll be forced to crawl. Don't lose it now it's my only one, but after this battle you'll all be done. Mind break," the hedgehog chuckled as he released the stone to crash down after the falling Solar. He then took off as he watched the purple hedgehog begin her descent to Solar's falling body. "Bye bye…"
With a horrible thud Solar's body hit the floor of the forest, the only cushion being the small amount of leaves that littered the ground. He winced as he tried to ignore the pain from the fall, feeling that his body was still intact somehow. As he opened his eyes so that he could take a look around, the stone fell down and landed right below Solar's stomach, forcing him to curl up in pain.
"I don't know what hit me… But whatever it was… May have stopped my ability to ever have kids… Owwww…."
End of chapter
