S: Hi there!
...why are you all looking at me like that...? Stop it, it's creepy. I updated, didn't I?
So yeah, here's me with a random collection of words for you to read. Please, enjoy.
His opponent was flung backwards in a cloak of vicious lightning, impacting hard into a building at the opposite end of the flooded street with a muted boom. He did not scream. The complaints of disturbed water rang through the air as violated stone crashed all around. Without waiting for the dust to settle, Shadow started to run forward to finish off the blue hedgehog, or more likely confirm his demise.
But he didn't get more than two steps before an overwhelming feeling of weakness coursed through him. The water dragged at his legs, forcing him to his knees as his lungs decided to demand his full attention. The Ultimate Life Form's hands splashed into the murky water, trying to prevent his collapse as he retched. All his energy had just left him, how could this happen? Shadow became acutely aware of his limbs running dry of the life giving chaos energy, and he shuddered from the deathly cold. Mere freezing sewer water was nothing compared to this… this… emptiness.
The rings on his wrists and ankles began to glow, puncturing the sodden grey mist and filling his eyes with yellow brightness. Warmth embraced his body again, filling his bloodstream and pouring into his heart and brain. Shadow breathed again, a long, quiet sound, the grey tendrils of his expended breath visible in the dank environment once more.
He slowly returned to his feet, breathing in and out with cautious patience, eyeing the end of the street. Water swirled noisily around his feet, providing a constant tickling feeling as it moved his fur. His red eyes darted around in suspicion, and his ears pricked. Nothing seemed to have changed. The silhouettes of the crumbling ruins were still there in the fog, a collapsed tree lay off to the left forlornly, the air was still thick in his throat with wet dust… the only difference was that the blue hedgehog wasn't with him any more.
He did not scream…
Why?
Shadow's eyes widened in a sudden horrific realization. His back spines shivered invisibly as he stood rooted to the spot, as if someone was watching him from behind. His hands balled into fists as he tried to sense the presence of something that had remained constant for so long that he had stopped noticing it.
The giant green jewel was gone.
His features blurred as he swept round, running back to where he'd left the gem. Despite its malicious intentions towards him, the mere act of resisting its power had given him parts of his memory back. Feeling panic build up inside his chest, the black hedgehog threw his head around the alley, searching for the telltale green glow.
No!
He must have his memory back! The yearning for his past life welled up like a boiling geyser, and Shadow ran around the alley, uselessly tapping at the walls as if the emerald had melted into the stone.
Wait, wait…calm down. It can't be far.
It couldn't move by itself, so obviously someone had taken it while he was busy with that disgusting blue creature. And everything leaves a trail, especially giant glowing gems of phenomenal power.
After a few moments, a watcher high above could have seen, if they were looking carefully, a crimson blur scything through the flooded city. It was determinedly forging towards the distant mountains, straight as an arrow, and just as deadly.
The pianist drew back his fingers dramatically, the white glove fabric stretching with the dextrous tension. Surrounded by an air of righteous glee, he thrust down a long forefinger onto a pertinent key. It made a lustrous beeping noise that massaged his ears gently. Another finger of the same hand was pressed into another musical key. A different tone this time, but just as melodic, resounded around the room.
Robotnik sighed, his brown moustache blowing in the current. There was something so relaxing about typing on a keyboard that you made with your own hands. Different images flashed up on the black screen with every press of the keyboard, showing him all the parts of his ship, and the surrounding area. Information about the island, as well as the status of the Death Egg, flowed into the vast memory banks like a raindrop in the sea, joining its brethren in its natural place.
The difference being that the scientist could examine every single raindrop he wished with the press, the oh so simple press, of a key. The wonders of his genius astonished him at times.
The repairs were going well, which was excellent news. His enormous child was capable of flight once more, even if the rebuilding of the structure was not quite completed. Green diagrams indicated that there was an unsightly gash on the lower part of the ship, but fortunately this area was easily repairable in space, and would not hinder the vessel's capabilities to any significant extent.
The engines were completed, waiting for the burst of power to bring them to life. Robotnik smiled, his teeth gleaming a lifeless emerald from the readouts. Now he just had to wait for one of his 'allies' to bring him some colourful stones to infuse much-needed life into the metallic bulk. Satisfied of his Badniks' progress with the Death Egg, he tapped out another tune of binary code to show him how well the bat and the echidna were doing.
Robotnik shifted in his seat as he looked closely at the patterns. Chaos energy was like ripples in a pond; if there were too many sources, all you could see was a mess. The blue eyes, shielded by dark glass, moved around the screen in a slow but steady stare. His fingers drummed on the desk, an unusually natural noise amidst the humming of computerised hearts.
There was one strong signal near the Sandopolis desert, moving at a slow pace. A quick check confirmed that this one was the tagged bat, most likely carrying the Master Emerald, and returning to the space station. Excellent.
His grin died as he saw another strong signal moving to intercept the first one. This one must be the echidna, but why would he…
Of course. If he had multiple Chaos Emeralds, then he would be able to tell, just as Robotnik had done, that there was another strong signal. And by a simple process of deduction would know that it was the Master Emerald… which he had sworn to guard.
The human grunted. This was beginning to get more complicated than he had expected. As he looked at the two readings, he noticed a far weaker one coming from the ancient city. What had the inscriptions called it…? Ah yes, Marble Garden.
Well if no one was going to collect that emerald then his Badniks might as well…
What?!
Suddenly the glasses were less than an inch from the screen, his white face a mask of horror. The Badniks in the room skittered at their master's sudden movement, but he paid them no heed.
No… he couldn't possibly have…
Robotnik slammed down his hand on the keyboard, and the screen replayed the last moments of a Badnik arriving in the Marble Garden Zone. A spiky ball.
A blue spiky ball.
Ramming straight into it.
Like millions… and millions… of other Badniks before.
Robotnik's free hand clenched into a tight fist, strangling the air. His face reddened and he stood up sharply, throwing the chair across the room to clatter against the far wall. The Badniks shrank back fearfully as the looming man straightened like the wrath of a titan. He stared with such loathing at the image on the screen that it was a miracle the poor device didn't burst into flames.
As he spoke, it penetrated every inch of the room, smothering the metal construction in hatred that only the last human on a planet could ever accomplish.
"Why… won't… he… DIE…"
The proud head turned from side to side, surveying the dry and dusty room. Once this place would have been imposing, filled with valuable artefacts, weapons of all kinds, trophies from war and battle. His eyebrows fell slightly as he sighed. He would have loved to see this chamber in its glory days. His imagination filled the ancient place with golden walls, sunlight shining through strategic windows to illuminate the interior, and most importantly of all, other members of his kind standing with him.
Knuckles remembered why he didn't like the Sandopolis pyramid chambers. But he couldn't afford to be daydreaming now; the Master Emerald was close. He could feel it, feel its cries for him to be by its side. His expression returned to its determined scowl, and he ran forwards into the next chamber, dreadlocks swinging behind him.
As his heavy footfalls echoed through the next room, he jumped. As he sailed over the floor, he wasn't surprised to see it yawn open with a loud creak, exposing the abyss beneath, tipped with bloody spikes. He landed effortlessly at the opposite doorway, and the floor closed up sulkily, denied fresh meat. Knuckles ignored the trap, and hurried onwards.
The next room seemed pretty much like the last one. But instead of jumping, the Guardian crouched instead, pounding along the stone floor in a stoop. Arrows snapped across overhead like moving jaws, seeking to snag those that believed this room was indeed exactly the same as the previous. As the wooden death stopped whistling, Knuckles ran on into an unmarked corridor, the same shade of dull yellow as the rest of the pyramid.
The red echidna swerved around a moving saw as if it was a park bench, and leaned his head to one side to avoid a spiked pendulum. Knuckles smiled when he recalled that most of the blood on the pendulum was on the side that swung back, and marvelled at the stupidity of some treasure hunters that had evidently forgotten that elementary fact about swinging objects.
The hard boots echoed around him as he stepped into a vast cavern. This cavern was the power room, for lack of a better term, to describe roaring sand slides. They stretched off into the dark distance, the yellow substance falling into oblivion on either side, ready to power some suitably murderous gadget before being recycled back into the slides again. Across a narrow bridge lay the door, and the echidna walked onto it without the slightest hesitation, patiently walking across the gap.
It was only wide enough to support one person, but then again, only one person had ever needed to use it. Knuckles was the only one who had stepped here for hundreds of years, and he could see his own footprints from years past staining the thick layer of dust. Some footprints were smaller and more closely spaced than the others, those of an exploring child. The Guardian regarded them thoughtfully for a moment.
And in this moment of thought, a dark red blur shot out of the passageway behind him, and without any decrease in speed, knocked him out of the way. It was gone again in less than a second.
Then gravity realised what had happened, and Knuckles disappeared to join the ever-rolling sands.
S: Well I hope that was mildly entertaining. I suppose I can now optimistically declare this story 'not on hold anymore'. I plan to get an update put up every fortnight at least, and so... I guess I'll see you then.
Thanks for reading!
