By
Sakura Courage Solo
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Chapter 10
"The Sands of Time"
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"It's about time we caught you, Sakura. Such a naughty young girl you are."
Dr. Robotnik gloated as he walked about, a slight spring in his step as he watched the restrained form of Sakura, who was clamped to a tall, metal column in the Doctor's lab with metal reastraints. The girl struggled, snarling in a wolfish manner as she glared at Robotnik with her angry, aqua green eyes.
"At least tell me what it is you want with me, Thunderbutt..."
She seethed, the rotund doctor grunting a bit at her name-calling.
"Silence, girl. I made you, and I can break you."
He said, Sakura's eyes widening a bit in sudden surprise.
"Made me... ? Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Robotnik chortled at her stuttered words and replied,
"It means, my dear girl, that I am your true Biological father."
Sakura's eyes were wide with pure terror now, not wanting to believe him, but just the thought of it made her scream.
-
Manic sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily as sweat saturated his fur and sheets.
"Whoa... what a nightmare..."
He murmured to himself, wiping the perspiration from his face as he thought over the evil dream.
"Robotnik, Sakura's Dad... how freaky is that, man? But... could it be true... ? After all, there... aren't many humans around... ah, what'm I sayin'? Saku's too cool to be related to Robutt-head..."
The Green Hedgehog chuckled to himself in thought, but something deep down told him that the dream meant something. He spoke with Sonia about it first thing the next morning, before Sonic and Sakura were up.
"You think Sakura may be Robotnik's daughter...?"
The pink quilled Hedgehog asked, sounding unconvinced. Manic sighed heavily and replied,
"I can't help the way I felt about that nightmare, Sis..."
Sonia blinked, Manic's last sentence reminding her of something, and she had a thought.
"Manic, ever since you had that encounter with that Nightmare robot that Dr. Robotnik made, you have had dreams about a few things that later really happened... "
"Come to think, you're right..."
"Manic, I think that when that robot started to hypnotize you but didn't finish, it opened up a part of your mind that was dormant, or maybe sparked more activity in your brain, and that's why your seeing these things before they happen!"
Manic's eyes widened.
"Sis, are you sayin'... I'm psychic?"
"More or less. I mean, you did see Sakura getting shot in a dream before it happened. Well, it didn't happen, but it would have if you hadn't stopped it."
Sonia continued to name off several other things that her little Brother had seen before they happened, Manic just sort of standing there in a bit of shock as she spoke. Finally, Sonia put a hand on his shoulder.
"Manic, let's not breathe a word to Sakura about that nightmare last night, okay? No telling what she'd do if she thought that were a possibility."
"Right, don't worry, Sis. If Sakura finds out, it won't be from me."
"Good... the bad thing is though, it makes sense. Mom adopted her with no idea of who her real parents were or where she came from, and Robotnik and Sakura ARE both human..."
"Yeah... I hope that nightmare just stays a nightmare, Sis."
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Later that afternoon, Manic and Sonia hadn't breathed a word about the possible vision to Sakura, or even Sonic for that matter, said Blue Hedgehog driving the van down a dirt road in a wide open, grassy plain as Sonia sat next to him with a map. Manic and Sakura sat in the back seat, trying to subdue one another on Zoids:Battle Legends on the Gamecube. At the moment, Sakura's Konig Wolf was giving Manic's Gun Sniper the beatdown while Sonic and Sonia argued over directions.
"I'm telling you Sonic, we should have made a right three turns ago!"
"Yeah, well I didn't hear you telling me that!"
"Sonic Hedgehog, YOU are in serious need of an attitude adjustment!"
"Oh, and I suppose YOU'RE gonna give it to me?"
The argument between the two got louder and more agressive as they rode along, Manic and Sakura totally oblivious to them. Sonic and Sonia looke dready to brawl with one another physically, but then... Sonia suddenly trailed off in her sentence, staring out the windshield. Sonic blinked in surprise and followed her gaze, wonder what could have silenced her so suddenly. His jaw dropped.
Up ahead, over a large lake, hung what looked like a small planet very close to the water's surface. Many different terrains were visible on the planet, such as mountains, icelands, even an area that looked like a city.
"Sis... what IS that?"
Sonic whispered in awe, Sonia regaining her composure, but replying just as quietly,
"I think it's the Little Planet... on the first day of every year, it appears very close to Mobius over Never Lake."
By now, things had gotten too silent, and oddly enough, Sakura and Manic noticed the silence more than the noise and came to the front of the Van to see what was going on. Needless to say, they became rather silent themselves.
That's when Sonia noticed something; a huge chain leading from a nearby mountain and to the Little Planet, tethering it down. She gasped.
"Oh my gosh, someone's got the planet tethered down!"
She pointed to the huge chain, everyone looking in surprise. Sakura let out a growl and said,
"Whaddya wanna bet this is Thunderbutt's doing?"
"But why would he wanna string down a planet like that?"
Manic asked, scratching his head a bit. Sonia thought a minute before replying,
"The Time Stones..."
"Time Stones?"
Sonic questioned, his Sister nodding as she continued.
"Yes... the Time Stones are, in their own way, like the Chaos Emeralds, except they control time itself! That's why when the Little Planet appears over Never Lake, it's said that the planet experiences time storms, where the past, present and all possible futures may show up!"
"Freakish... well, we'd best get on that planet and see what Egghead's up to."
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Some time later, after camouflaging the van and climbing up along the huge chain that held the Little Planet in place, the four found themselves setting foot down in the zone that, from the ground below, had appeared to be a city, but now it was clear that it was a very odd but bright zone made up of random, colourful shaped bumpers and flippers. It looked almost like an overgrown Pinball machine.
"Whoa, never seen a Zone like this before..."
Manic commented, Sakura taking a couple of snapshots with her Digital Camera as she replied,
"Telling me... Dad mentioned a Zone like this once. I think he called it Collision Chaos..."
"Aptly named..."
Sonic said with a smirk.
"Come on, let's try and find these Time Stones before Robotnik does!"
"Should we split up? We'd cover more ground that way, and have a better chance of finding the Time Stones."
Sakura suggested, Sonia grunting a little at the fact that she didn't like the idea and saying,
"Yeah, we would, but we'll be safer sticking together. This planet is probably covered by Robotnik's 'bots and traps by now, so we should watch each others' backs."
"Yeah, Sonia's probably right..."
Sonic agreed. It was then that an odd wind picked up, the four getting a feeling something big was about to happen...
It did.
The Zone suddenly started to shift and change all around them, almost as if it were becoming an entirely new Zone.
"Wh-what's going on?"
Sakura asked in surprise, Sonia feeling the ground shift under her feet as she yelled,
"It must be a Time Storm! Everyone, hold on!"
Suddenly, there was a bright flash that blinded everyone. They all let out a yell of surprise, and then there was silence.
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"Ugh, what the heck happened?"
Sonic wondered aloud as he and Sonia awoke, the two groaning from the experience and slowly sitting up. Sonia rubbed her temples and replied,
"A Time Storm, that's what happened..."
"Great..."
Sonic complained as he stood up, emerald eyes searching the area. It was still Collision Chaos Zone, but it was... a bit more complex, shiny and futuristic looking.
"I'm guessing we ended up in the future or something... hey, where're Manic and Sakura?"
"Oh, no! We must've been seperated in the Time Storm!"
"Well then, we gotta find 'em! They'd still be in this Zone, right?"
"Maybe..."
"Whaddya mean MAYBE?"
"That was a bad Time Storm, Sonic. Even if they are in Collision Chaos, they could be in any time frame! Past, Present or Future!"
"So then how do we find them?"
"That's just it, Sonic... we may not be able to."
The Blue Hedgehog just stood there, emotions a mixture of disbelief, fear and feeling useless.
"But..."
Sonia began, Sonic looking up at her with a bit of hope.
"But... ?"
He prompted, his Sister continuing,
"But maybe if we could find one of the Time Stones, then we could surf all the time periods until we found them!"
"Sis, you're a genius!"
"Yeah, but we have to find a Time Stone first, Sonic."
"Well then, let's start looking!"
-
"Whoa, what a wild ride..."
Manic stated as he regained conciousness, Sakura sitting nearby and rubbing her forehead.
"Sis, you okay?"
"Considering we just got tossed, tumbled and everything else imaginable through what was probably one of those Time Storms Sonia mentioned? Fine..."
The two stood up and dusted themselves off, taking a look at their surroundings; a very old and beaten-up looking Collision Chaos Zone.
"... Manic?"
"Yeah, Saku?"
"... we're doomed, aren't we?"
"Probably."
The two sighed exasperatedly, Sakura then putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh, well. Come on, let's try and find Sonic and Sonia..."
"Yeah, they can't be too far away..."
Manic agreed, the two starting to walk forward. After a while though, Sakura stopped, her Brother looking up at her with concern. He knew that look in her eyes.
"What's wrong, Saku? You sense someone?"
"I do, but... I don't recognize the life force. It feels evil though..."
The Green Hedgehog blinked his crystal blue eyes, wondering who thios new enemy was.
He was about to get his answer.
There was suddenly an unusual, short but somewhat powerful rush of wind, and out of seemingly nowhere, a woman appeard before them. Manic's jaw dropped as he observed her; she looked almost exactly like Sakura, except her long hair was black with a red streak down the middle and her eyes were a deep blood red. Her body was clothed by a tight, black leather, sleeveless shirt, black leather pants and white boots, gold bangle bracelets on her wrists and, to their surprise, a Chaos Emerald hanging at her neck like a pendant.
The woman smirked softly at them, a look of pure bloodthirst in her eyes as she said,
"So, you two are here looking for the Time Stones? Sorry to say it, but you won't get far."
"And why not?"
Sakura asked with a wolf-like snarl, Manic starting to become leery of both the women and backing away a bit, sensing a catfight.
"Because I'm here to stop you."
The woman said, Sakura going into a fighting stance.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!"
"Bring it on, girly. I'm supposed to bring you in alive, but... I don't think the Doctor would mind if I roughed you up a bit first."
"Had a feeling you were working for Thunderbutt..."
With that, the two quickly leapt in at each other, Sakura delivering a hard punch to the woman's jaw, but receiving a hard knee bash to the stomach. Manic could only stand back and watch them fight, knowing that if he tried to get in on that, he was probably only signing his own death warrant.
The brawl seemingly became more fierce by the minute, both of them seemingly very evenly matched... in fact, Manic took notice to the fact that their moves were almost the same each other's. They both grabbed each others' long locks of hair at that moment and tried to throw each other down. That failed miserably, as one could guess, and they both ended up shoving the other off to get distance for another attack.
The woman smirked devilishly at this point, the Chaos Emerald she wore as a pendant glowing a bit just before she swiped her hand through the air in front of her, forming a blade of Chaos Energy and sending it Sakura's way. The blonde leapt out of the way, but the Chaos Blade made such an impact in the ground that it exploded, and Sakura was sent flying from the force.
Manic decided to step in now that they were apart, calling out how drumkit from his pendant and starting to drum as hard as he could. Needless to say, an earthquake began, and the woman found herself struggling to keep her balance as the ground starting breaking up all around her.
Sakura didn't want in on that, and after getting up from her fall, stood behind Manic as the earthquake continued.
The woman growled, having had quite enough of this as she held up her hands, forming a huge ball of Chaos Energy and throwing it in Manic and Sakura's direction. Neither of them had time to get out of the way and were blasted back, the entire ground below them crumbling. Their enemy smirked as she watched them tumble through the debris of the destroyed ground, and the two soon hit a once underground recess of water below.
Manic was nearly knocked out by the sheer impact of hitting the water, but managed to hold onto conciousness. Sakura however wasn't so lucky, having been hit in the head by a piece of falling debris and knocked out cold as a milkshake. Manic reached for her, fearing she would drown if he didn't do something, but then, the water began to move, pulling him away from her. He glanced back over his shoulder to see the water moving into a huge pipe made of translucent materials and reinforced with metal braces.
Manic swam against the sudden, hard current and tried to reach his sister, but the force was too strong. He did the only thing he could do and held his breath as he was pulled in, Sakura soon being sucked in behind him.
The torrent of the water seemingly became stronger, and they were shot through several labyrinth-like twists and turns in the pipes, until finally the torrent seemed to calm. Manic wasn't going to be able to hold his breath much longer. He got his bearings and looked to his side, seeing Sakura floating unconcious and limp, her face pale. Her Brother quickly grabbed her wrist and looked up, seeing what looked like an exit from the pipes above them. He didn't heasitate to swim upward, fast as his legs would swim, and soon, he finally broke the surface.
He took a few deep breathes of air to repay oxygen debt, then swam over to a bank of stone flooring nearby. He quickly pulled Sakura up onto the stone tiles and pressed an ear against her chest. She wasn't breathing, and he couldn't hear a heartbeat.
"No... come on Sis, don't die on me now!"
He put his hands together and began pressing down on her chest to pump the water out of her lungs. A good bit came up, and after a few presses, he breathed some air into her lungs, then started pumping again.
"Sakura! If you can hear me, start breathing! It's not your time yet! Please Sakura, we need you!"
He called to her loudly. After a few minutes, nothing happened, and it seemed hopeless, but Manic wasn't going to give up. He kept trying, and finally, Sakura coughed up enough water to fill a fish tank. Manic gently pulled her up into his arms and said,
"That's right, Sis. Breathe..."
Sakura opened her eyes slowly and whispered hoarsely,
"M-Manic? Wha-what happened?"
"I'll explain later... right now, try to rest and get yourself back together..."
The girl nodded slowly, taking slow and deep breaths now. Manic stroked her hair gently to help calm her down after her near death experience.
He began glancing around, wondering where they were now. It looked like a whole other Zone, and a water-based one obviously. It looked sort of like a huge, ancient stone temple of some sort that had been flooded for quite a long time now, what with moss growing on the huge, carved, white stone pillars. It, in a way, reminded Manic of the Labyrinth Zone back on planet Mobius, but... far FAR bigger, and much more articulated. He even wondered if maybe the same people had built this Zone, since some of the carvings in the pillars and walls of raccoon and hawk faces looked similar.
"Wonder what Zone this is... bet Sonia would know."
He muttered to himself, then hearing soft footsteps coming their way. His ears quirked a bit and he turned his head to look, freezing upon seeing Sleet and Dingo standing there.
The Wolf gave that annoying chuckle of his and said,
"You are in Tidal Tempest Zone, my friend... but not for long. You're heading straight to the Roboticizer."
Manic picked Sakura's weak body up and backed away, wondering what he should do. His pendant hadn't enough charge for him to use his drum kit, but he had no other weapons either. He was trapped.
-
"Sonic... do you get the feeling something bad is happening?"
Sonia asked, her Brother nodding in response.
"Yeah, I do... I hope Sakura and Manic are all right..."
"Me too..."
The two were still in Collision Chaos Zone, and had fortunately run into no more Time Storms, but they also still hadn't found a Time Stone. Things were looking grim; No Siblings and no Time Stones.
That's when an odd glow from one of the rusted, metal structures ahead caught Sonic's eye. The glow was a soft but bright yellow, the blue Hedgehog not hesitating to go to it. Sonia blinked and followed him, wondering what he'd found.
Sonic stopped at the structure and reached in, having to squeeze his hand through pretty tightly to get it in, but he meneged. His Sister watched in anticipation, and moments later, Sonic pulled a Time Stone from the metallic rubble.
"It's a Time Stone! We finally found one!"
Sonia exclaimed in excitement, her Brother smirking proudly and nodding as he said,
"Yeah, now let's use this thing to find Sakura and Manic!"
Suddenly, the yellow Time Stone began to glow brighter in Sonic's hands. Sonia blinked and asked,
"Sonic, are you doing that?"
"No, it's doing it on it's own!"
The light was suddenly blinding, like that of the Time Storm, and when it faded, Sonic and Sonia found themselves in the middle of Mobodoon.
"Mobodoon? But how did we end up here?"
Sonic asked, his Emerald eyes darting around in wonder. Sonia was making observations as well and replied,
"Sonic, look at it... it's bigger, more advanced and even more beautiful than it was before! and look!"
Sonia pointed to a huge palace in the center of the City. Sonic's jaw dropped a bit.
"Sis... do you think... we're in the future?"
The pink quilled Hedgehog only nodded in silent response, but wondered just why the Time Stone had happened to bring them here. Then...
"Sonic? Sonia?"
A familiar voice questioned from behind. The two smiled and quickly turned to the voice to see Manic standing there, but... he looked older; he was taller and more slender, wearing tall red boots and a black vest with flames embroidered onto it, his drum medallion still hanging at his neck though. One of his eyes was closed with a scar over it as well.
Next to him stood Vanilla, Manic's arm around her shoulders affectionately, but there was one thing different; something that made Sonic and Sonia's jaws drop...
Her stomach was large and round.
She was pregnant.
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End Chapter 10
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Yes, yes, I know it's been forever since I updated this story, but the idea for the already up and completed fanfic called "Before the ARK" got in the way, as well as College and other life issues. This chapter does however instigate a trilogy in the story, and so tomorrow, I will post for you chapter 11, and on Friday, chapter 12. Hope you enjoy! Please review!