Mossmask: Oy... x.x Once more, you've got Silvershadow471 to thank for this chapter. I dunno what it is about getting random reviews, but when someone reviews ages after I'd though people stopped caring/thinking about a story, I just feel like... I almost owe it to them to get a chapter up... -.-"
Again, sorry for the sudden change in writing style, that happens when you break soo long in between writing. I'm really trying to stop comma splicing so much. I mean, I knew I did it, but I never realized it was that bad! x.x
In any case, no authors note, no review replies, etc. Sorry, I just don't wanna waste time or space. Heerya go, Word Count: 2167
~Cya on the other side, Mossmask Out!
Scorch reached the doors of the command centre, and without losing any momentum, curled into a ball and slammed into them, straightening out and running down the hallway before they even had a chance to hit the floor. He looked around him, taking in his surroundings instantly as he moved further down the corridor, looking for anything that might lead him to Tails.
He passed a very nondescript door without a second thought, but then suddenly found himself skidding to a stop, needing to go back and check it. He stood it the hallway for a moment, confused, before he felt it again, and bolted back to the door.
He knocked a couple of times, and ran his hands along the edges, before stepping back and once more spin-dashing, tearing the door off it's hinges, and laughing loudly, absolutely loving this new move of his.
The door opened up to a stairwell, with concrete steps and metal walls, dotted every now and then with a landing and a thick metal door, large letters and numbers painted on indicating the floor level.
Scorch didn't even bother slowing down for most of these, the same feeling that had spurred him up the wall returning, just at the edges of his consciousness, instantly passing off door after door. The feeling, just in the back of his head, continued to grow stronger the closer he got, guiding him.
Scorch came to another landing. As soon as he reached the tops step, he knew this was it, this was where he was going. Without hesitation, he once again curled into a spin-dash. Apparently not growing tired of the move, and tore through the thick metal. He ricocheted once off the metal floor on the other side before coming to a stop and standing up.
His ears twitched as he quickly looked to either side of him. Something was off here, that was for sure... weren't there supposed to be alarms blaring? Hordes of robots chasing after him? Security measures of any kind...?
He glances up and spotted a wall mounted camera, the red light on top of it flashing dully every couple of seconds or so, indicating it was on. Stepping over to it, Scorch reached up and grabbed it.
The light flared a deep red the second before he made contact and the camera suddenly sparked, causing Scorch to cry out quickly, startled. Throwing the now dead camera across the hallway, Scorch glared at it for a moment before rubbing his now slightly burnt hands together and continuing to walk.
"Pfftt... stupid camera..." Scorch muttered to himself as he walked, coming to the end of the hallway, where he found a lift. He came to a stop and stared at the lift door for a moment. He couldn't just knock this door down, he had to actually use the lift.
Slowly, he reached out and pushed the red button beside the door. It lit up for a second, indicating the lift had been called, before going dark again. Scorch narrowed his eyes at the button before pushing it a couple more times. Nothing happened.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" He whined as he looked back at the lift.
Letting out a deep sigh, he jumped into the air, and started spinning against the lift doors, slowly pushing them open. Once inside, with too much momentum to stop in such a short distance, he smacked head first into the opposite wall, dropping to the floor.
The prostrate hedgehog simply stared up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what in the world he did to deserve this. "Nothing can just work easy for me, can it?"
"Nope."
Startled, Scorch shot up into a sitting position, suddenly finding himself pinned against the back wall of the lift by a familiar metallic arm. The robot it was attached to was all too familiar, too.
"Metal?" Scorch gasped, tugging at the robots arm, trying to loosen the grip. He'd known Metal would catch up to him, he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.
"You seem surprised." Metal responded dryly, holding the hedgehog up just high enough for his feet not to touch the ground.
Scorch didn't respond, focusing instead on what he could do to get out of this. He closed his eyes and tried to block out whatever Metal was saying to him, searching for the familiar feeling that had brought him this far.
He found it with ease, sitting there, waiting to be used. His eyes were still closed, and ignoring the robot, he nearly forgot he was even there. Slowly, he came to realize he was closer than he'd though. The room was right at the top of this lift, and along with it, whatever had been calling him. Whatever it was, he didn't know, but right now it was practically trying to force itself upon him, and he was only all too willing to accept it's help.
He kept his eyes closed, but he could feel a sudden tightness in his chest. It wasn't quite painful, but it definitely wasn't comfortable either. It was if there was some foreign force in his body, fighting with him for control. He quickly realized that it became less forceful if he relaxed, so he did just that and let whatever it was take over.
_ _ ^.^ page break ^.^ _ _
Metal didn't know what was going on. And he really didn't like not knowing what was going on. He'd had Scorch trapped, completely. And then the hedgehog had started glowing. Glowing Metal could deal with, but the hedgehog wasn't just glowing now. He was spinning like yo yo on crack. He broke Metals grip within seconds, and shredded through the lift. And Metal wasn't even sure if he'd noticed that he'd done it.
It was a moment before Metal could react, a moment he might not have taken had he been a regular robot. But Metal... he needed to take a moment to stare, first.
_ _ 11:48 _ _
"Waittaminute Sal, backup. So, you're sayin' that he" Sonic pointed at Scorch's holographic display, "is me?"
Sally had just finished explaining to Sonic the same thing she had told Bunnie. She had left out a few details, but nothing that would be important. Mostly just the stuff Sonic wouldn't understand anyway.
The squirrel nodded, biting her lip. "Well, not exactly... But in so many words, yes."
"How is that possible?" Sonic asked back. He believed it without question, he himself had had his own suspicions which weren't too far off the mark, but he was still having trouble coming to terms with how it could be the case.
"Well..." Sally began, sending a quick, awkward glance over at Bunnie. "When I was little, I knew this... I had..."
Bunnie was about to encourage her friend to continue, but Sonic got to it first, just a little less gently than Bunnie would have been. Though, his bluntness was, for once, probably a good thing.
"Come on Sal, spit it out! It's only me and Bunnie, and you know you can trust us. Scorch and Tails are the ones in trouble right now, so if this can help, then just say it already!"
Sally shot him a surprised look, whereas Bunnie opted for sending the hedgehog a quick glare.
Sonic stuck his tongue out at her as response, but Sally chose to ignore the both of them, and instead took Sonic's advice in just 'getting it out there' already.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I need to be quick about this now. When I was little, daddy and I would-"
"You can tell us the details later, Sal!" Sonic pressed, well aware of how quickly midnight was approaching, and not planning on wasting any more time than necessary getting to Tails.
Sally nodded again, and for once was appreciative rather than annoyed, at Sonic's bluntness.
"Right. When I was little, I met an echidna, yes, echidna, named Knuckles," she ignored Sonic's snickering at this point, "His father was the Guardian of Angel Island, and, well, you know how the legends go regarding the ancient echidnas,"
From the look on Sonic's face, he clearly didn't, but Bunnie did so Sally continued.
"He showed me the Master Emerald, and he told me about the Chaos Emeralds that kept the island in the sky." This probably would have merited more confusion had she been having this conversation with anyone else, but after Sonic and Sally's misadventure with the Time Stones floating islands were old news to the Freedom Fighters.
"Chaos Emeralds. Like the Chaos Energy y'all were tellin' me about earlier?"
"Yes, exactly like that. The Chaos Emerald's are able to control the Chaos Energy in anyone or anything, as long as it has a large enough of a Chaos reading. If you knew how to use it, you could manipulate the power of the Emeralds to do almost anything, but if you didn't, then the exact opposite could be said."
Sonic had too many questions he needed to ask now, but he settled on what he deemed the most urgent. He could question Sally more later. "And by 'anything', you mean...?"
"The main power of the Chaos Emeralds was- is, to manipulate time and space, but under extreme circumstances... theyhave the power to travel through dimensions, too."
Sonic and Bunnie both had too much on their minds now, and Sonic almost found himself wishing he hadn'tasked for the abridged version of events. His mind was quickly changed as a red glow lit up the horizon over the skies of Robotropolis.
_ _ 12:00 _ _
Scorch was in the power station within seconds. He turned immediately to the Emerald, eyes still closed, looking little aware of his surrounding. It was doubtful even that he was aware of himself, let alone the two other beings in the room with him.
The first of which was the small unconscious fox kit wired into the table, whom he had come here to save. The other though, remaining hidden up to this point, had gone rigid with shock the moment Scorch had entered the room. Now he stayed frozen, watching the hedgehog intently, waiting for the last possible moment to intervene.
_ _ ^.^ page break ^.^ _ _
Scorch had no idea what was going on. He'd been fighting Metal in the elevator one moment, and then... he'd felt the power. From the back of his mind, the same feeling that had brought him here, had completely overpowered him.
And now he was trying to focus, to take control again, but he couldn't. Every time he thought he came close, he'd lose it again. He was having rapid-fire flashes of memory thrown at him, too quick to make sense of. It wasn't like before when they helped him, or even just reminded him of something in particular. It was as if they were being thrown at him in a desperate attempt to keep him distracted.
It was working, too. He couldn't think through them, no matter how hard he tried. The sights and sounds racing through his head were impossible to ignore, but slowly, with so many pictures per second, they were beginning to piece together, to form a bigger picture.
_ _ ^.^ page break ^.^ _ _
The red hedgehog was glowing faintly, the dim light steadily growing as he neared the Emerald, sitting comfortably in a small glass chamber in the side of the generator. He reached for the shard.
Scorch's eyes snapped open briefly, for only a second. In that second, he had just enough time to see a large spiked fist shoving him roughly away from the machine. In the same moment, a blinding red light flared out from the generator.
_ _ 12:00 _ _
Mossmask: Please review guys, not 'cos I'm desperate or whiny, but 'cos it really just gets me to update quicker. And just 'cos I'm posting this doesn't mean I'm off hiatus, I just happened to get a few spare minutes here and there to write this, but I won't be able to get to sit down and do any major writing until at least the start of second semester.
We are nearing the end! Which means I'll be able to focus on my two other stories I'm waiting to post! (After this, I've decided I'm only going to have one WIPStory posted at a time, at least until I get more time to write or have a reliable schedule)
- - - - - - - - -
|~ Dashura |
- - - - - - - - -