Heyo! This round of reviews from the previous chapter made me grin wide ^.^ Especially JoanMystique and Brandon the Lynx!
So, this chapter is dedicated to you guys (:
Amy and Cream followed Elise downstairs the next morning, all in their pajamas (the previous night consisted of a quick run home to pack and come back); she said that she had something to show them. The stairs ended in a dark room.
Elise flicked the switch. One by one, the lights came on in rows. They were standing in what appeared to be an empty room with a metal, shiny floor and glassy white walls. Then within seconds, more glassy white walls rose from the floor, along with tables, all full of weaponry; these weapons included all types of guns, archery, and yes. Even ninja stuff; Amy wondered if Espio would be in heaven if he was there with them. In the corner, there was a family crescent in bright red neon lights. Amy guessed that it was Elise's family crescent.
Amy and Cream's mouths dropped, and Elise slowly turned her head in their direction.
"You...own all of this?" Amy asked.
Elise blushed. "My father had this all built. Remember, just in case. But he knew that the guards were the ones who most likely used them." Elise slowly walked over to a table that was less crowdy, and Amy and Cream followed suit. On the table was a white, gold, and purple trunk, and it had her name on it in cursive, printed in pure gold. She unlocked it and opened it. "But..." she sighed, reaching into it, "there was one thing...that really caught my curiosity...what I'm best at..." She pulled out dual swords from their holsters, holding them out at arms length; the silver metal reflected off her face, shining in her eyes as she held the strong handles, which were metallic purple and had golden engravings on the front side. The same ancient letters, which were her name, were engraved on the swords.
"Swordsmanship?"
Elise nodded, looking over at her friends. "Yes. Swordsmanship."
Elise turned around, and Amy and Cream backed away as the princess extended them. They watched as she did a few moves, oh so graceful as she twisted and twirled her swords a few times around herself as she leaned from side to side in a semi-crouch; her gaze was intense. Wherever her swords went, her eyes went. She even did a few basics, lunging at the air, turning around and practically flying before slicing the air as she came down.
The other two clapped, and Elise smiled.
"You're amazing, Elise," Amy said. "Truely amazing."
SH
Back in her vest, dress, and wedges with her hair in place, Amy came downstairs; she had just finished taking a shower. She ran into Tails at the bottom.
"Hey, Tails. Sonic awake yet?" she asked.
Tails snickered. "Nope. Still sleep."
"Well, he needs to get up! We all have to leave in an hour!" Amy walked in the den, as fast as she could with her wedges on, and approached Sonic's sleeping form on the couch. For a second, she admired how adorable he looked, but then brushed it off quickly. She was about to open her mouth to yell and snap at him, but something stopped her dead in her tracks.
Sonic moved.
"No..." he murmured in his sleep, eyebrows scrunched down. "No...no!"
"Sonic?" Amy was now worried, not sure what to do. Was he having a nightmare? Oh God, he was!
"No...don't touch her..." Sonic's voice rose as his nightmare got worse. "No! NO!"
"Sonic!" Amy dropped to her knees in front of him just as he tossed and turned, his front now facing her. She gripped his shoulder and shook him. "Sonic, wake up!"
Sonic's outbursts, pants, and painful cries caused Tails and Cream to come in the room, standing in the corner and unnocticed.
"What's wrong with Mr. Sonic?" Cream whispered worriedly.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll wake up soon," Tails replied, pulling her into his side. He too, though, had a worried look on his face; knowing from experience, it was highly likely that Amy was somewhere in that nightmare.
Sonic whimpered. A few shakes from Amy later, he woke with a start, as well as yelling, "NO!" while gripping the source of someone's touch. His eyes were wild as he looked everywhere, until he met a familiar pair of frightened, emerald green eyes. Then his wide eyes looked down at her hand, which was currently being squished by his, and he loosed his grip; if he hurt her, he began rubbing her hand just in case.
"Oh..." Sonic sighed, his fast heartbeat now trying to slow down again. He looked back at Amy. She wasn't hurt. All the blood. All the...bodies. Gone. Still half awake, he didn't recall moving, but one minute he sighed, "Oh, Amy..." and the next, he was pulling her into his arms and hugging her. "I thought I lost ya..."
Amy gasped in surprise, frozen in place, her arms limp against him.
"Sonic?"
Chris's voice brought Sonic back to reality, and he released a blushing Amy before blushing himself. "Heh..." Sonic turned his head and found Chris coming in through the front door. "Hey, Chris, what's up?"
"We're leaving for Station Square in about fifty minutes!" he informed. "I summoned my jet. It can hold all of us."
"Oh, alright." Sonic nodded. "Sounds good.
"So, can you get up?"
"I think so..." Sonic began to sit up, feeling stiff, and flexed his arms and back. "Agh!" He smiled, much to everyone's relief. "Much better." He got to his feet. "I think I'm gonna take a quick run to test the waters here."
He lifted a leg to start, but only to be stopped by a hand on his chest.
"Now wait a minute, Sonic," Amy said, placing her free hand on her hip, eyes narrowing. She pointed towards the stairs. "You march your blue butt upstairs and take a shower!"
"But I just wanna-"
"NOW!"
"I'm going!" Sonic left Amy's side, sighing in relief when he escaped her grumpy gaze. Was she mad because he hugged her? Oh Chaos, he shouldn't have done that. No, no, no.
Because if for some strange reason she was mad at him, he better hope that he could still run at the speed of light.
SH
Elise came outside nervously, and the others turned to face her. She had her hair in a low side-ponytail, her bangs that varied in length hovering over her eyes. She wore a white tube bow shirt that had a sweetheart bust, tucked in a high-waisted light purple skirt with a zipper line going up it and a bow tied to a open-knitted white belt that came with another bow (the two bows connected, which gave it a nice look). Her shoes were strappy golden sandals, and the color matched her eyeshadow-which was light purple and golden specks, and her lips had a nice purpleish tint-not too much of course.
And on her back was her dual sword holster, which was the same metallic purple color as her sword handles.
"Do I look okay?" she asked as everyone stared at her. "I...I...wanted to look normal."
"You look great!" Amy and Cream said in the unison, and the males in the group smiled and nodded, Chris more dopey.
Elise sighed in relief. "Good."
"Alright, guys," said Sonic. "Let's go!"
"Is everyone meeting at the park?" Maria questioned, she and Tikal walking through the city.
"I believe so, yes," said Tikal. "Station Square has two main parks-there's Twinkle Park, which is more like an amusement park to me-and then the ordinary, regular park. Lots of grass and open space and trees. I heard that's where they celebrated Sonic's birthday once."
Maria nodded. "Okay."
They took made a turn, heading in the woods. This area wasn't as dense as other places, so they navigated pretty easily. They made up small talk, up until Tikal mentioned the team name.
"What do you think, Maria? You're the leader..." Tikal smiled at her.
"Oh, I don't know..." Maria said. "I don't feel like the leader-you should lead."
"Nah, I'd rather follow you," Tikal said. "Besides, the Speed Types are most likely the leader. Sonic's the leader, and Amy's the leader in her team too."
"What about Team Chaotix and Team Dark? Vector's the leader I think, although I don't think Sally likes that much." Maria giggled, and Tikal smiled. "And on Shadow's team, no one's really the leader, although I think Shadow is more of the leader."
Tikal shrugged.
Maria thought for a bit. "Hmm...how about-?"
Before Maria could finish, five Eggbots-simple and red, marching back and forth as soon as they appeared. They saw them and charged with their swords, some had guns and started to fire. The two jumped out of the way; Shadow told Maria about these-they were pretty easy to defeat, but you can't be too careful about them. If they had a shield, you had to use some type of force of wind, or tornado. Maria learned a method, similar to Espio's "Leaf Swirl", except she doesn't turn invisible and she calls it "Angel Swirl", and instead of leaves at the bottom, it was an angelic glow.
Tikal looked at Maria, standing slightly behind her; they were in Speed Formation. Maria Home Attacked each robot, and with Tikal's assistance, the Eggbots exploded. As soon as they were gone, ten more appeared.
"Tikal!" Maria called, signaling Power Formation.
"Got it!" Tikal shot her arrows repeatedly at all of them, and each Eggbot then took more to defeat. When Maria was close enough, she Home Attacked to finish them off.
Ten down. Defeated.
This time, five flying Eggbots appeared.
Aaaaand five more to go.
"What are we gonna do?" Maria said. "We can't reach them!"
"We need one more person..." Tikal murmured, aiming her bow up.
There was a bright green aura around the vines around the trees; as if acting by themselves, they swung off the tree and slapped at the flying Eggbots. Once they wrapped around the machinery and tightened their grip, the Eggbots exploded.
At the time, something else green came in their vision, riding on the vines like she was Tarzan. She did a flip, hanging on the vines that just hung from up above, and landed smoothly on her feet. She turned and faced the two; she looked about their age and had messy-but strangely pretty-green long hair, with a few leaves in there. Her skin was very pale, almost white, and her eyes were a bright blue; she wore a leafy two piece that she made herself, her bare abdomen dainted with some dirt here and there, and her feet were bare.
And she had a tale. A hedgehog tale.
"Need some help?" she said with a friendly smile just as ten more flying Eggbots appeared.
"The only way for us to defeat these is by using Thunder Shoot!" Maria said to Tikal, and the two looked at the green jungle girl. "Excuse me, miss, but do you have any flying abilities at all?"
The girl just smiled and started to rise into the air. "Grab onto my legs!"
Maria hopped up and gripped her legs, and Tikal grabbed Maria's.
"I won't let you down!" the girl said once they were in Flying Formation. She flung Maria at the Eggbots with a little grunt, then Tikal's; Maria and Tikal turned to balls, Home Attacking and circling around the Eggbots, then came back under her. They could see the Eggbots' life source was down to 1. The girl repeated this, and the Eggbots were finally defeated.
And then, in an unspoken agreement, the three shifted to Power Formation.
"Thanks for the assistance!" Maria thanked her.
"Yes, we really appreciate it," Tikal said.
"Anything to help friends." The girl replied, holding her arms behind her back and leaned up on her toes. "My name is Cosmo. What's your name?"
"I'm Tikal, and this is Maria," Tikal introduced.
"Nice to meet you both." Cosmo smiled.
"Wait..." Maria took a step closer to Cosmo. "You wouldn't happen to be Cosmo the Seedrian, would you?"
"Why yes, but...I'm identifying myself as a hybrid-a seedrian and a hedgehog. See my tail?" She turned around, wagging it, and Tikal giggled at that.
"You were resurrected, weren't you?" Maria asked, and Cosmo's eyes widened.
"How did you-?"
"Because I went through the same thing you did. My guardian angel told me about you before she let me see a friend of mine; I was human before, but when he and I touched hands, I became this." Maria gestured towards herself. "That's because he's a hedgehog."
"Oh..." Cosmo nodded, then she smiled.
"How did you get back?" Maria asked.
"Through a plant," Cosmo explained. "It was an ordinary plant, sticking up from the ground. The leaves sprouted and opened, and now here I am! I have been in the wildlife for some time now, discovering my new powers. At first I could only communicate with plants, but now I can fly and can use plantlife under my will."
"Botanokinesis..." Tikal realized, and Cosmo nodded again. "Well, Cosmo, we could use your help. We're going on a Sonic Heroes mission, and we're meeting up with our friends at the park."
Cosmo's eyes widened yet again at the mention of Sonic. That's all she needed to know. Because where Sonic was, there was also more of her friends!
"In Sonic Heroes, you have a Speed Type, a Power Type, and a Fly Type," Maria continued. "I am a Speed Type and Tikal here is a Power Type. Our team is incomplete. Would you like to join us?"
"Of course!" Cosmo clapped. "I would love to help!"
The three girls cheered.
"I have come up with the name now!" Maria said, and the girls stopped jummping. She smiled, putting her hand in the middle. "Team Angel."
Tikal placed her hand over Maria's with a smile. "Team Angel."
Cosmo, happy that she made new friends and were about to reunite with her old ones, placed her hand on the top. "Team Angel."
They rose their arms in the air after the count of three, yelling out their team name with pride. Cosmo and Tikal began to leave when Maria stopped them.
"Wait!"
Cosmo and Tikal stopped in their tracks.
"Is there something wrong?" Cosmo asked.
"Yes!" Maria stepped closer to her, with a little amused look, looking Cosmo up and down. "We need to get you something else to wear."
SH
"Hey, look!" Sonic pointed as he saw three figures emerge from the hill. "There's Maria and Tikal now!"
Shadow turned at the mention of Maria's name, feeling relief wash through him.
"Wait...who's that with them?" Amy asked, now standing between the two hedgehogs. The other teams crained their heads to look, and Tails walked closer when he saw green.
Cosmo had gone through a nice makeover, courtesy of Maria and Tikal. She now wore a tube top that showed an inch of her stomach; it had a thin layer, slightly puffy, with an earthly design that consisted of green, brown, and smaller yellow areas. Also she wore shorts that stopped mid-thigh, with a belt that matched her shirt, and bronze wedged sandals. As for jewelry, she wore a brown beaded necklace made of natural elements, and her hair looked a lot better; straightened and curled in swirls at the ends. And her makeup matched too; a light amount.
"Is that...?"
"Hi, everyone!" Cosmo waved, nearly racing down the hill with Maria and Tikal right behind her-but they took their time.
"C-Cosmo?" Tails stammered, rubbing his eyes. When she was closer to the group, still running at a brisk pace, his whole face brightened. "COSMO!"
Cosmo looked at the sound of Tails' voice, deeper than she remembered, and her face lit up too.
"TAILS!"
Tails reached her, pulling her in for a hug, and swung her around in a circle. He nearly burst into tears. She was here. She was really here!
And it wasn't long before Cosmo saw not only yellow, but pink, blue, orange, red, and a combination of black and red come into her vision. Amy and Cream were balling, which made Cosmo sob happily, and Charmy even hugged her while letting his tears flow freely.
After the crying stopped, Sonic got everyone's attention.
"Alright, everybody! We've finally come full circle!" he said. "First stop is Seaside Hill!" There were confident cries around him, and he grinned. "Since we're leaving based on difficulty..." He looked around until he spotted the first team. "Team Angel, you guys are up first!"
Reunion! Yay xD
As from a quote in the Sonic Wiki on the Cosmo page:
"Cosmo shares similar qualities with both Maria Robotnik and Tikal the Echidna. Both Maria and Tikal sacrificed themselves to save their friends/beliefs and are pacifists, but know how to fight when necessary."
Funny how that came into play ;D
As for the team, go Team Angel! New one! Whoo! I guess their difficulty level would be Easy, Team Rose upped their rank to normal like Team Sonic, then the more difficult ranks are for Team Dark and Team Chaotix.
Our little adventure starts in the next chapter!