Chapter 9
Tails's Tall Tale and the Conclusion
"Move your butt over, you're squishing me!" Jack snapped at Barby.
"Well, at least I don't have Rum breath!" Barbossa replied.
"Well, it's a good thing I don't have a humungous hat that keeps bumping you!" Jack retorted. The two guys and Jack the monkey had been trapped in the snow cavern for over an hour and were getting restless.
"You insufferable idiot." Jack muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"Insufferable idiot!" Jack said louder.
"Wacko!" Barbossa replied.
"Butt-face." Jack retorted.
"Child!" Barbossa replied
"Drunkard!" snapped Jack.
"She-male!" Barbossa said
"Scraggly beard!" Jack spat.
"Stupid-head!" Barbossa said childishly.
"Boat-Jacker!" Jack said angrily.
"Ugly-face." Barbossa yelled.
"You're ugly!"
Barbossa was silent.
"Ha, ha, you ran out of things to say!"
"At least I don't sing about a stupid jar of dirt." Barbossa muttered, turning away from Jack with his arms crossed.
"WHAT! I LOVE MY JAR OF DIRT!"
"It's a stupid jar with stupid dirt in it!"
"At least I don't have an annoying pet monkey that I treat like a prince!"
"Hhhhhh!" Barbossa put his hands over the monkey's ears. "That is not for his ears to hear."
"I hate you!" Jack yelled.
"I hate you more!" Barbossa replied.
"I am NEVER speaking to you again."
"Fine!"
"Fine!" They turned away from each other with their arms crossed and fell silent.
After a few seconds Jack said, "Hey?"
"I thought you weren't speaking to me."
"I am now. Do you hear that?"
"I don't hear anything."
"Exactly. The blizzard stopped!" Barbossa crawled over to the entrance and tried to push the snow off of it. "It's frozen over."
"Step aside, Barby!" Jack crawled in front of him with his pistol and fired a hole through the snow. He randomly shot holes everywhere in the entrance, blasting cold air through the cavern.
"Now, on the count of 3, we push the snow." They put their hands on the barricaded door. "1…2…3!" They pushed the snow with all their might and it cleared away. The monkey squeaked with joy and ran up the fallen snow. The two guys trudged up after him. They found themselves in almost knee-deep snow.
"It'll be impossible to find your friend in this mess!" Barby groaned. "Their tracks would all be covered by the snow."
"I could try calling Tails on my video watch." said Jack. "Tails?" Jack called into the watch, "Can you hear me buddy?"
"The watch is beeping but he won't answer!" Jack sounded worried. "If anything happened to the little guy, Sonic would never forgive me!"
Meanwhile, about a mile away, the little fox lay helpless and unconscious at the bottom of a snow trench. His watch beeped continuously but yet he did not move.
"Tails!" Jack called one more time. He gave up. "C'mon Barby, we have to find him!" He took off, practically running through the snow.
"Tails!" Jack called, "Tails!"
Soon they were both calling the little fox's name. Their feet and legs were numbed over and they were freezing cold, but they would not stop looking for the little fox. Jack was practically crying.
"He's so young!" he wailed, "How could I be so stupid and let them take him! Tails! Tails!"
"Jack, chill, we'll find him." Barbossa grabbed his shoulder. "Chill." he said calmly.
"Tails!" Jack exclaimed. No response.
"Tails!" Barby called. There was still no response.
"Tails! Answer me!"This time, they were answered by a groan.
"Tails!" Jack yelped in terror. He could see the small shape lying at the bottom of a trench. Jack ran and slid down the side. He bolted over to the fox and started shaking him violently. "Tails! Tails! Can you hear me? No, no please no!"
Tails let out a muffled groan. "He's alive!" Jack picked up the soaking wet fox. "Barby, gimme your jacket!"
"Why mine?"
"It's black, it'll absorb more heat." Barby reluctantly took off his jacket so he was standing in just his vest and thermal pirate shirt and tossed it down to Jack, who caught it and wrapped the soggy fox in it. His tails and ears drooped and he did not open his eyes. "Let's go!" Barbossa helped Jack get up the trench and they took off toward the warmer climate that was the tropical land. They were instantly attacked by sunlight. Jack set Tails on the warm sand and shook him again. "Wake up!" Jack yelped, "Wake up!" Just then Mario, Sonic and Knuckles appeared.
"What's going on?" Mario asked.
"OH MY GOD!" Sonic yelped, "Tails!" he ran over to his friend and began to shake him. "Tails! He's not moving, why won't he move?!" Sonic looked at Mario with fear.
"Move, move!" Mario yelped. He ran over to Tails and bent over him. Mario lightly touched him. "He's suffering from shock and slight hypothermia."
"What!?" Sonic yelped, "No!"
"Eh, what's-a goin' on here?" said Luigi suddenly appearing.
"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." almost at once everyone appeared.
"Tails has hypothermia!" Sonic yelped, panting.
"Chill, chill." said Mario.
"Are you kidding? I've raised this kid since I was 12 years old and you're telling me now to "chill?" This kid is like my little brother!" Sonic snapped. Everyone was taken aback, they weren't used to seeing Sonic like this.
"Look, right now," Mario said, raising his voice, "We have to focus on keeping him warm." Sonic put Tails in his lap and everyone took turns wrapping their jackets and vests around the frail fox. Suddenly, all heat vanished from his body and his heart stopped.
"He's losing a life!" Mario exclaimed. They watched in terror as the little fox broke out into a series of spasms.
Tails opened his eyes and looked around, he was lying on a cloud. He was alone. Suddenly, a women's huge face appeared in front of him.
"Who-who are you?"
"I am the Great Spirit of Mushroomland, Rosalina." Tails thought a minute then he realized what she meant.
"No, don't take me away!" he yelped, "You can't make me leave my friends just yet!"
She laughed a booming laugh, "Have no fear, child, you've lost a life, nothing more. Soon you'll be back in the real world." She then touched him lightly on the shoulder. He felt a piercing pain, he grew cold and colors swirled around him and the world turned black once more.
Tails opened his eyes; all his friends were crowded around him. Through his blurry gaze, he could see Sonic's worried face. He moved.
"Wh-what ha-aa- achooo-happened." he sniffed.
"Oh thank God." sighed Jack.
"You alright pal?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah." he replied, "But please, someone, get this stuff off of me, I'm getting hot." One by one they removed layer after layer until he was just wrapped in Barbossa's jacket. Sonic helped him stand, then got up and wrapped his arm around Tails' shoulders. One by one, the garments were returned and put back on by their owners.
"So what happened?" Tails asked.
"You were kidnapped by Scratch and Grounder while we were trying to rescue Barby here. We went to come after you but were stalled by a blizzard. When it let up we went looking for you and found you half-frozen in a gully. We brought you here and now you're fine." said Jack, briefly explaining the events.
"Oh." said Tails. Silence.
"Well on the bright side," said Silver, "We're all alright, now all that's left to do is find the girls."
"SONIC!" a voice cut in to their thoughts . They turned around. Amy ran up and hugged Sonic, who staggered.
"Actually, I think they found us." said Sonic with effort, as if Amy was squeezing the living heck out of him. "Let off Amy."
"Rouge!" Shadow exclaimed. He ran over to her and kissed her. Rouge blushed.
"Uhh…."
"Blaze! My eternal flame!" Silver exclaimed running over and kissing and hugging the purple cat.
"Tikal." Knuckles smiled. The girl ran over and hugged him.
"Daisy, Peach!" The Mario bros ran over and kissed their girlfriends.
Jack looked around, "Hey, where's Angelica?"
"Jack!" she ran from behind him and back hugged him. He staggered and turned around.
"Just a little trick Amy taught me." she smiled.
"That's not as good as this." Jack swung her around and kissed her. Meanwhile, Will and Elizabeth stared into each other's eyes. "Oh Will, I thought for sure you were gone from me forever." A small tear slid down her cheek. She then looked at Norrington who was standing away from the group looking at the ground.
"Excuse me one minute Will." she walked over to him. "James?"
He turned.
"You know you can't keep up this moping around forever."
"Moping, I'm not moping."
"Oh? Well I guess I don't have to cheer you up then." she started to walk away.
"No, wait, maybe I was a little sad."
"That's what I thought." she walked back over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks for saving me Norri." she started to walk away, then turned around and did a heart with her hands and with one last smile, walked back to Will. James smiled after her.
"What a great day." he sighed.
The End
