Thanks to Darkrose826 for reviewing! You get a…*awesome drum roll* box of cookies, and a Kuro plushie that barks!
Disclaimer: Seriously, do I have to do this? I do not own any Sonic characters that may appear in this story, but I do own Brook, Strike and the jackal. I just realised, I made a small mistake on one of the chapters….FAIL.
Chapter 9: Brook the fox
*Theme song plays*
Shadow and Hikari stared at the random fox, who had jumped out the bushes.
"Who are you?" Shadow asked.
"That's none of your business!" the fox shouted.
She came closer to them, still waving her staff.
"All those who trespass here must be taught a lesson!" she snarled.
"We're sorry! We didn't know this was your territory!" Hikari said in shock, as the fox came closer.
"Yeah, right!"
The fox charged forward, and Shadow shot a Chaos spear at her. She twitched her ears, and then stepped out of the way.
"You're going to have to do better than that!"
The fox charged at Shadow, who jumped out of the way.
"Look, honestly! We're just passing though this part of the forest!" he tried to explain, dodging the swings of the staff.
"I don't believe you!"
Shadow grabbed the fox, and forced her down to the ground.
"Will you please, SHUT UP!" he yelled. The fox stopped struggling.
"Strike! Come and help me!" she called. A medium sized velociraptor came scrambling out of the bushes, and kicked Shadow into a tree. Shadow laid there, stunned, then he jumped up.
"Ok, what the FUDGE is that thing?" he asked, looking at the reptile.
"Strike! Get him!" the fox shouted. Strike rushed at Shadow, who quickly got his Chaos emerald out.
"Chaos Control!" he said, disappearing. The fox tilted her head, and twitched her ears.
"How strange…I can't sense him…" she muttered.
Hikari, finally over her fright, grabbed her frying pan, and prepared to leap into battle, when Shadow appeared next to her.
"I have had enough of this!" he cried, summoning a very large Chaos spear and flinging it at the shocked fox. Hikari cringed and looked away, expecting to hear screams and burning fur. What actually happened, the fox rolled out of the way.
"I see. You are a Chaos Controller. I thought I'd sensed your aura before…Shadow." the fox got up.
"You know my name? Who are you?" Shadow growled. The fox grinned.
"I'm Brook! Otherwise known as the 'Blind Hermit' or 'Runs with Raptors'." The fox offered a hand to Hikari, who shook it. Immediately, the poor teen found her hand being yanked and felt.
"Oh…your aura…it's very fiery, and it seems to burn with hot passion and loyalty towards your friends." Brook dropped Hikari's hand, and went to Shadow, who sweatdropped as his hand was grabbed as well.
"W-what is this?" Brook leapt back in confusion.
"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.
"Your aura…is the same, but it's like…I don't know! Like you've been to the sprit world!" Brook shouted.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but fine."
Strike wandered up to Brook, and hissed quietly in her ear.
"Yeah, you're right…we should get out of here." Brook picked up her staff, and motioned to Hikari and Shadow that they should follow. They went after her.
Brook led them to a camp, hidden among some trees. As they walked into the camp, Hikari dropped her frying pan, and Shadow got into his fighting pose. For in front of them, were five velociraptors, sitting around a campfire. One of them got up, and walked over to Brook.
"This is them? Hunters?" he asked, staring at Hikari. Brook shook her head.
"No. These are friends. So don't eat them, ok?"
The velociraptor bobbed his head, and walked away. Hikari turned to Shadow, with a puzzled expression on her face. Shadow just shrugged. Brook led them over to the campfire, and they sat down.
"OK, now we're in safe territory. So, what are you guys doing here?" Brook asked.
"I'm Hikari. We're travelling to Station Square." Hikari answered.
"Well, I can lead you guys there if you want. The forest's not safe anymore, that's why I attacked you two."
"What do you mean, it's not safe?"
"There's been loads of bounty hunters camping out here. I don't know why they're here, but they've killed Blue and Fang. They shot them…" Brook explained.
"Oh…so what's this aura thing, anyway?" Hikari asked.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm as blind as a bat. I cannot see a thing. But I can see people's auras, and I can fight with my staff."
"Wait….Maria told me to look out for a blind fox…I wonder if Brook's her?" Hikari thought to herself. Brook turned to Shadow.
"But….you've been missing for three years. I led you up the mountain with that other guy, and then you just disappeared…People came here, looking for you, but then rumours spread around the city that you were killed by GUN." Brook muttered, looking worried.
"I came here?" Shadow pondered for a minute.
"Yeah, you did…with that guy….oh, what was his name? He was annoying, and he had a habit of calling you faker….Sonny? Sonic? Yeah, I think Sonic was his name."
"Sonic? That name…sounds familiar…" Shadow trailed off, spacing out again.
"Did you lose your memory or something?" Brook asked. Shadow nodded.
"I can't remember much…all I know is, a girl gave me back the memory of how I died, and then I woke up in Hikari's house."
"Hmmm….I think you need the Chaos emeralds."
"I know that, but we're looking for another one."
Brook thought for a moment.
"I know where you can get a Chaos emerald, but the problem is, the bounty hunters are still around, and the Chaos emerald is in some ruins said to be filled with traps."
"We'll go."
Meanwhile, on the mountain, Paul was with Lucas and some more soldiers. They had gotten across the lake, and were nearly on the boundary of the forest.
"When I get my hands on that hedgehog…." Paul thought darkly to himself.
In the forest, a light brown wild rat was foraging around in some grass. Oddly enough, the rat was wearing a small orange bandana. It sniffed the ground, and burrowed around. In the bushes, a gang of bounty hunters were watching. One of them turned to the leader.
"Is that it? We came all this way to look for a freaking rat?" he whispered.
"Appearances are deceiving." the leader said. They slowly crept out of the bushes, and walked towards the rat, which suddenly turned into a wild jackal, and snarled at them.
"Come with us….we have cookies…" one of the hunters offered. The jackal looked at him with a 'WTF' expression on its face, and then it ran off.
"Great. Just freaking great." another hunter grumbled.
"We'll have to go and find this Brook, if we ever want to catch that jackal." the leader said. They nodded, and walked off.
