this chapter's got a lot of blood in it, so... you have been warned
Sonic stared at Chip's bloody hand with shock in his eyes. He grabbed his hand and examined it, then pulled his other hand away from his bandage-covered chest, which was also soaked with newly revealed blood. He gasped as he pulled down Chip's bandages which revealed the cuts he had given him, only once again dripping blood. Not to mention he had a new small cut going over the ones he already had pumping out loads of the red liquid.
"Wh-what? But... how..?" Sonic questioned, lightly wiping his fingers through the blood.
"S-Sonic.. what happened?" Chip asked, obviously freaked out. Sonic pressed his hand against Chip's chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding which made the fairy wince. The blood smeared onto his hand and continued to flow out of the multiple cuts.
"I... I don't know..." Sonic answered reluctantly, saddened that he had no idea what was going on. He pulled the bandages off Chip and formed them all together into one pile of cloth. He pressed it against Chip's chest and placed his small, bloody hand on top of it, keeping all of it in place. "Keep pressing that against your chest, ok?"
Chip nodded and did what he was told, but winced in pain as he pressed down harder. "That stings, Sonic!" he whimper with pain. Sonic got up off the stone ground and picked Chip up, placing him up on his quilled back. He grabbed Chip's free hand and wrapped it around his neck tightly so the fairy wouldn't fall off.
"Hang on tight Chip, ok?" Chip nodded, small, scared tears slightly forming in his eyes. He was truly becoming scared – he didn't even know what exactly what was going on! Had his strange dream played a part in the issue? Was that creature more than just a figment of his imagination? Was his nightmare becoming... real? He gasped in sharply and clutched on tighter to the pile of bandages and onto Sonic's fur. Chip glanced out past Sonic's shoulder with frightened eyes and realized how different the experience on this stage would be compared to the others. Not only would they have to make sure to avoid the usual obstacles, they also had to keep an eye out for any traces of the village's elder whom Chip had honestly completely forgotten about. And Sonic would have to constantly make sure the fairy was still alive, which would probably slow their progress down immensely. The thought of it made Chip hug tighter onto Sonic's back and whisper out an inaudible 'I'm sorry, Sonic...' to him.
Sonic began walking out of the building and onto a large wall that went on for what looked like miles. Peeking over Sonic's shoulder, Chip wasn't able to see the end of the long, windy wall. Though, he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind as Sonic began running a fast pace down the path. Though going quite fast, it still took a while for them to get to the end of the path, which was partly broken off, leaving a wide ditch as an obstacle. Sonic quickly placed his hand over Chip's and clutched it tighter to his shaggy fur so he wouldn't fall off as the werehog got down on all fours and jumped across the ditch. Landing safely, Sonic ran up to a similar building as before which had two different paths – through it, or on top of it. Sonic bit his lip lightly as he jumped up for the top path and swung himself up using a nob. Thankfully, the top path seemed to lead to the same place as the bottom, and by the looks of it, it was very possible that they had just avoided a brawl with the nightmares. Sonic was admittedly quite grateful for that, as he didn't think Chip could survive for that long without his aid. He still wondered what exactly had happened to him...
Jumping down, he spotted a turnable lever like the one he had used in Spagonia to ruin the villagers' clock tower (he couldn't help but wonder if they had ever fixed that). He turned over to a pulled up bridge, then back at the lever. Approaching it, Sonic put his hands on the lever and started turning it clockwise. As expected, the bridge slowly dropped down to the next building, level enough for Sonic to walk across. He did so, and as he entered the building, he was greeted by the sight of a new looking enemy – large, fan-like robots with stubby arms and legs, probably put there by Eggman. Curious, Sonic walked to the edge of the path, which was also broken off, and got ready to jump to the next broken part of the wall that continued in front of him. Expectantly though, the fan robot in front of him raised its arms and the propellers in its center began to rotate at a quick pace. It blew a strong wind towards the two of them, and Sonic was pushed back. As soon as he felt Chip's grip tighten greatly onto him, he turned back and grabbed hold of a box that he had unwisely passed and threw it at the fan. On impact, the fan stumbled back and fell to the ground, and Sonic took the opportunity to jump over and pick it up. Raising it above his head, he quickly tossed over to the next fan, who was about ready to blow the two of them off the cliff. Once down, Sonic jumped over and picked up the dazed and dented robot and chucked it off the cliff. He turned to the path in front of him – still the long wall that went on seemingly forever, but this section was greatly damaged. Sonic began to wonder what exactly had happened to it – the great earthquake that split the world apart was his first choice, but the large architecture looked pretty old – it could've just broken apart with time. He ignored the matter and continued on the remaining pieces of the wall until he reached another large break in it, one that he couldn't jump over no matter how hard he tried.
Thankfully a couple of the harmless bats appeared, leading the way across. Sonic grabbed onto one and clung on tightly, then swung himself over to the next. Though, the constant swaying movement didn't seem to work too good for Chip.
"Sonic... I don't feel too good-" Before Sonic could reply, he felt one of the fairy's hands let go of his fur, and his other hand's grip tighten even more. He felt Chip's small legs also attempting to grip onto him as his tiny body turned to the left. Sonic heard him wretch and throw up over the faraway ground, which made him frown a little. Chip's other grip returned, but it was weakened.
"Chip – I appreciate you trying to keep that stuff off of me, but if you're gonna kill yourself over it, don't bother – I won't mind," Sonic informed him as he swung over to solid ground. It was then that the werehog noticed that Chip didn't have any remnants of his stomach contents coating his mouth – his lips were bright red, and the liquid he had just hurled up was dripping down his chin. He had just puked blood. Sonic gasped and he quickly picked Chip off his back and examined him. The fairy was still bleeding terribly, and the bandages he had used as a tourniquet was now completely soaked in blood. He also noticed that Chip was breathing rather heavily, and somehow Sonic knew it wasn't from just throwing up. He moved his small hand away from his chest, which wasn't just covered with blood, but the cuts were starting to turn black as if something had infected him. Apparently Chip was also just noticing this for the first time, and gasped at the sight.
"Sonic..." he whimpered. After some broken gasps, he spoke again – a question that was looming over his mind like a giant raincloud.
"Am I gonna die?"
He looked like he was about to burst into tears, and Sonic didn't blame him – the kid looked like he was about to die of blood loss, and now he had something wrong going on inside of his body – and neither of them had the slightest idea of what had even happened! Though, Sonic was sure about something. "No," he replied with a determined voice. "Not on my watch, you're not!"
Placing Chip back up onto his back, Sonic got down in a running stance and began to sprint ahead at quite a fast pace – nowhere near his regular speed, but Sonic had no time to think about that. Though, as he looked ahead, he spotted a blockade in his path, preventing him from going forward any longer. He slowed his running and looked around. "Huh? Where's the pa- AUAAAHHH!"
The ground beneath him collapsed – apparently a very old, worn out, bamboo bridge – and the two fell to the ground. Sonic didn't feel Chip's grip on him anymore as he collided with the hard ground and felt a searing pain go through his arm. He opened his eyes after just realizing they were shut, and almost immediately clutched his arm in pain. As he clenched onto it, he spotted a broken piece of bamboo near him that had apparently cut his arm. But he quickly pushed his pain away as he realized what could've happened to Chip. Hurriedly, he got up off the ground (and soon noticed a minor but manageable cut on his left leg) and looked around. "Chip?"
He spotted the fairy sitting on his knees, one hand on the ground to keep him stable, the other clutching onto his chest. Quickly, Sonic rushed over to him and inspected any damage he might've taken from the fall. He had a bruise on his arm, most likely from impacting the hard ground, and he seemed to be bleeding even more than before. He moved Chip's hand away from his chest and examined it quickly – apparently a broken piece of bamboo had cut through him as well, but right across his already bleeding chest. And the black from his cuts seemed to be morphing into veins, and at a quite fast rate at that. Chip's bundle of bandages was nowhere to be seen – Sonic just guessed that he had lost them in the fall. Forced, shaky breaths escaped Chip's mouth as he winced in pain, tears forming in his eyes.
"Oh Chip..." The fairy looked so damaged, so broken. Like he was going to die in only a matter of minutes. The thought quickly shoved Sonic into gear and he picked the dying creature up and placed him on his back, where he held on weakly. As soon as Sonic started running towards a barrel of water placed on top of a rock, Chip clenched his eyes shut in both pain and worry. His arms shakily held onto the werehog, but he was becoming too weak to get a better grip on him. Sonic grabbed hold onto the barrel and walked over to the fire that blocked his path. Chip watched with blurry eyes as he threw the water onto the fire, creating a way past. Ahead lied a sheer rock cliff, and the only way over to the next area was a couple of poles that hung above the ditch the broken bridge ahead created. Chip immediately clutched on as tight as he could onto Sonic's fur, and tilted his head away from his shoulder. Expectantly, as soon as Sonic started swinging on them, he felt another surge of blood run up his throat and escape his mouth. He gagged and spitted the horrible tasting liquid out.
Sonic walked over to the wall to his left and jumped onto the platforms jotting out of it. Chip clutched on tightly, a small fear of falling looming in his mind, but was soon jutted out as Sonic topped another large rock and was faced with the sight that the two of them hadn't seen in a while -
Nightmares.
Dinos emerged from the ground first, then wizards, then the harmful pink bats. Chip was suddenly pulled off of Sonic's back by Sonic himself and was placed atop of a platform jutting out from the wall in front of them. Though, as soon as he was away from harm, he spotted one of the dinos opening its rather wide mouth and jumped onto Sonic, biting onto his softened quills. He watched as he pulled it off him, and tossed it into a wizard, which surprisingly didn't warp away in time. Though, Chip noticed Sonic clutch his right arm in pain after wards, and just noticed that there was blood coming out of it. He reluctantly watched Sonic get pummeled by all the dinos, then whacked on the head with the wizards' staffs. The bat creatures were shooting bright pink balls of energy at him, which Sonic just barely had enough time to dodge. Though there hadn't been very many throughout the area, the nightmares seemed to be more... violent than before. Chip first just guessed it was because they were getting farther into their journey, but soon realized the Dark Gaia spawn weren't nearly as fierce earlier in the night. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and he doubled over in pain. He clenched his eyes shut, and clutched his chest, his nails digging right into his cuts. He felt the black veins stiffen and spread throughout his body, and he could feel his chest getting tighter. Chip began to feel lightheaded, like blood wasn't getting to his brain, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Like something was compressing against his lungs.
'Time's running out, Light,' he heard someone say. Chip immediately recognized it as the demonic voice of the creature from his dream, and quickly raised his head up to look around. Though, he saw nothing, and heard Sonic's shouts of pain in the distance. 'He's getting weaker,' the creature's voice rang out again. He looked around again, but again saw nothing. Chip then looked down at Sonic, who was seemingly being trampled by the nightmares below. 'They'll all kill him...' Chip raised his hands to his ears, trying to block out the creature's voice.
"N-no..." he whimpered. It could've just been his imagination, but Chip could've sworn he could hear a clock ticking loudly in the distance, its 'dongs' getting louder and slower as he felt his heart race.
'The clock's ticking...' Chip clutched his head, attempting to block it all out, but nothing seemed to work. 'The poison's already gotten to your heart...' Chip began to whimper louder than anticipated. He clenched his eyes shut. The ticking was drowning out any other sound he heard, and he eventually lost the sound of Sonic's yells coming to his ears. Though, he could make out one last thing the creature had murmured to him.
'You will die!'
"No... no, no, no- AAUHH!" Chip collapsed, his hands both clasping his head as he screamed. He fell down to the floor accidentally, down to the fight that wasn't seeming to end. That line repeated in his head over and over, blocking out any other sound that was entering his ears. He managed to make out Sonic shouting out his name, but just couldn't reply or even see what was happening right in front of him. Chip could seemingly hear his heart beating, and could hear nearby crashes and cracks of something. As he raised his ears, he heard no more screeching or roaring of the nightmares, but heard Sonic call out his name again in worry, this time he could hear it much more clearly.
"Chip? Chip!" Sonic picked him up into his arms, and Chip couldn't stop himself from yelling out gibberish even he couldn't understand. His voice was high with fear, and he realized he was wasting the little breath he had left. His gibberish was soon reduced to just heavy breathing and whimpering, but he couldn't help but clutch onto Sonic's body as tight as he could, as if it would save his life. He felt Sonic moving again, as the werehog was probably determined to get the two to safety. His hand held Chip close to him as the fairy felt him jump a couple times to go up, but he still didn't dare open his eyes. He heard Sonic say something about being near the end, but he still didn't look out for the exit. He heard nightmares emerge from the ground and he felt something whizz past them, but surprisingly Sonic didn't put Chip down and fight them. Instead he continued to jump from platform to platform until he heard a rumbling – much bigger than what the regular nightmares made.
"Oh no – no, no, no—no! Chip, get off me! Now!" he heard Sonic yell with large amounts of worry in his voice. But before he could open his eyes and see what he was so frantic about, he heard Sonic scream in pain and he was suddenly thrown off of him. Chip's eyes darted open as he hit the ground and skidded to the edge. He slipped off, but held onto the ledge as tight as he could. Unfortunately his grip wasn't that great, and he could feel himself slipping off. He tried to kick himself up with his feet, but they kept slipping. He spotted Sonic lying on the ground struggling to get up, obviously in a lot of pain. As soon as he was up, he ran over to Chip and pulled him up, then ran right towards the nightmare he had been shouting about – it was a titan, and Sonic had a pretty bad experience with the last titan that he had faced, so Chip wasn't too surprised that Sonic would have problems against this one.
Chip watched worriedly as Sonic threw himself into the titan, only to be swatted back by its giant wooden club. He landed on his stomach, and apparently was having a hard time getting up. Chip wanted desperately to try and help him, but he didn't feel like he really could in his current state. Thankfully though, Sonic got back up and charged right at the titan again. He landed a few hits on it before it slammed its fist onto him, leaving him lying on the ground in agony. "S-Sonic!" The werehog didn't respond, or move for that matter. Chip's ears drooped as he feared the worst. Was Sonic unconscious? ...Dead? His thoughts were interrupted as he spotted Sonic getting up weakly, a serious tone of emotion plastered on his face. It looked like he was angry, but somehow Chip knew that wasn't the case.
It was pure determination.
Sonic stood on his feet, legs quaking in pain. He stood in a fighting stance, then wiped a small dribble of blood falling from the corner of his mouth. The titan raised its club, but before it could swing, Sonic jumped up, swung his unharmed arm back, and punched the titan right in the face, dazing it. He grabbed its horns and swung his spiky feet right into its face, then jumped over its head, his grip on its horns still tight. As he fell behind it, Sonic kept his grip on the titan's horns, and with all the strength left in him, he swung it forward with him, slamming it down to the ground hard. The titan didn't move after wards, and it soon evaporated into that purple gas that both of them secretly loved to see. Sonic collapsed to his hands and knees in pain. Chip wanted to go over to him and ask him if he was alright, but felt as if he couldn't even move and felt another surge of blood escaping his mouth. He spit it out, and coughed weakly, which grabbed Sonic's attention. He got up and hobbled over to him, picking the fairy up off the ground.
"Are... are you ok?" Sonic questioned, obviously worried.
"I... I don't think so..." Chip answered, his voice much weaker than before. Sonic apparently took notice, and and immediately started running as fast as he possibly could over to the exit. A large colorful temple, probably leading to something important, stood in the way of their path, but before Sonic went any further, he picked something off the ground – the tablet fragment, which Chip had forgotten about. He coughed up another surge of blood and sputtered violently, struggling to get air back into his lungs. "Sonic..." he wheezed out. "I... I can't breathe..." Chip clutched his bleeding chest in pain, which felt much tighter than before. He glanced down at his cuts, which were now completely black and stained bright red. The black veins had completely spread across his chest, and he could feel his heart slowing. He guessed Sonic had taken notice of his problems, as the werehog quickly swung him onto his quilled back and pushed the doors of the temple open. Inside was a large arena with four large platforms surrounding a small, shallow pond. Something glinted in the middle of it, and Sonic quickly took the chance to swing himself down to see what it was. Upon coming in contact with the ground, Chip was nearly flung off of Sonic's back as he skidded to a stop right in front of the pond. In the center was an old aged man holding a shining green object that looked like it was made from the same material as Chip's necklace lying unconscious. Sonic immediately ran right over to the edge of the pond, but suddenly skidded to a halt as something large flew over his head. He looked up after unconsciously ducking down and spotted something that he was in no way, shape, or form ready to face.
A large flaming bird, most likely a phoenix, perched itself onto the edge of one of the platforms. It faced the three and gave out a loud, ear piercing screech which made both Sonic and Chip raise a hand to their ears. Though, Sonic's blood stained hand soon fell to the cut on his arm, which he clenched tightly in pain. Thinking quickly, he ran over to the man in the center of the pond and picked him up in his arms. He immediately began running over to the edge of the arena after he spotted the phoenix lunging off the platform and flying straight towards them. Though, the werehog didn't have enough time to reach the edge as he felt the bird's flames approaching and eventually singing his fur. Before he knew it, he heard Chip shout out something and weakly jumped off his back in fear. Then he felt severe burning and began to see the red orange flames engulfing his body.
The bird had lit him on fire.
Sonic dropped the man to the ground unconsciously and began screaming out in agony as the flames burned off his fur and singed his skin. "oh- AHH! AH GOD! AAUAAHH!" He darted over to the pool and dived right in, then rolled around in the cooling water until the flames and some of his fur were completely gone. He lay there for a few seconds until he spotted the phoenix again flying in the air not too far away from him. The bird stopped and stared at him for a second, then swung its large tail out, sending some of its flaming feathers out towards Sonic. The werehog quickly got out of the water and started dashing away on all fours, eventually hiding behind one of the platforms. But as soon as he peeked out to see if it was safe to go out, he heard something break and felt water drip onto his head. Curious, he grabbed onto the ledge of the platform and looked over it, and spotted some broken pot pieces with water leaking out of it. Sonic looked over to the other platforms, and spotted the same on each – the remaining three all had a large white jar containing water on top of them, and suddenly, an idea sparked in Sonic's mind. Though, he had only spotted four jars, and it seemed like his avoidance technique had just gotten one broken. It seemed as if he had three chances and three chances only to get this right.
Sonic quickly spotted the phoenix flying above the arena, waiting for him to come out. Thinking fast, he got down on all fours and started dashing as quickly as he could over to the nearest platform. Once he reached it, he climbed up on top of it and grabbed the jar, raising it above his head. As expected, the phoenix darted right over to him like a firework in the sky, lighting up the area as it spiraled down towards him. Sonic's grip on the jar tightened, and he soon found himself biting his lip, hoping desperately to get his aim right. As soon as the phoenix was a close enough distance to him, Sonic closed his eyes and threw the jar at the bird, soon expected to be lighted on fire again. Though surprisingly, he heard the splash of water and the jar break, and he heard the phoenix screech loudly. Opening one of his eyes, he saw nothing flaming before him, but instead a purple phoenix retreating from him, a bunch of its feathers falling off from being burned.
"It... it worked!" Sonic retorted to himself. His plan had been successful – the phoenix was now unarmed, and the werehog could now try to attack it without the fear of being burned. He watched closely as the bird flew back over to the platform he was just at and perched onto it, looking like it was trying to regain strength. Sonic quickly took the chance to jump off and race over to the platform the bird was on and ran right under it. He swatted his arms at its legs like he would at any other regular enemy, then stepped back a little. He lunged forward at it, swinging a powerful punch right at it, and as he landed, Sonic punched the bird's stomach hard, making it fall to the ground. He landed over to the ground, and couldn't help but howl in victory as he realized his plan had worked.
But before he could actually rejoice, he heard the phoenix screech again, and he slowly turned back to his foe with a bit of doubt in his eyes. The phoenix was back up in the air again, and spun rapidly in circles, creating a strong wind that pushed Sonic far away from it. As he looked up again, he spotted the phoenix, only engulfed in flames once more. Sonic's mouth went agape as the bird threw its head back and threw multiple flaming feathers in his directions rapidly. Quickly as he possibly could, he attempted to run away from them, but they all caught up to him and eventually hit him in the side as he was running, once again coating him with fire. He let out another pain-filled scream, then dived right back into the two inch deep pool to put out the fire with the flame covered feathers still tailing him. Some hit him, which he quickly put out, while the other feathers landed in the water. He pulled out the rather sharp feathers sticking out of his body, leaving small sprouts of blood where the feathers used to be. He quickly rolled back and forth in the water, attempting to clean off the soot and blood before the phoenix attacked again, then got up and ran towards the next platform and climbed up. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Chip a far distance away pulling the unconscious man over to the edge of the arena and out of harms way. The fairy looked over to him with a worried glance, then looked away, gazing at something else. Sonic glanced over to what Chip was looking at, and noticed the phoenix was again charging right at him. Quickly, he grabbed the jar he was right next to and tossed it right at the bird as it was approaching. It did the trick, and the phoenix was once again out of flames. The bird turned back to go the nearest platform, but Sonic took the chance to jump right on its back and started to punch its back and neck as hard as he could. Once looking like it couldn't take much more damage, Sonic jumped up and grabbed hold of the phoenix's neck and slammed his spiked feet down into its skin, hard, knocking it down back to the ground. The impact made Sonic fly right off, but he landed on the ground with a smirk of determination on his face. He was close to winning this battle – he could tell, the phoenix was getting weaker each time he attacked it.
He knew what he had to do to win – just repeat the pattern he had made (without getting attacked again, of course), then deliver a final blow to knock the oversized bird out completely. Smirking with confidence, Sonic quickly dashed out of the way before the phoenix could throw its razor sharp blazing feathers at him, and soon came to a stop as the bird suddenly slammed down onto the ground, creating a rather big shockwave of fire. Sonic quickly jumped over it though, avoiding it completely, then continued over to the last platform. As soon as he reached it, he jumped onto the lower step and pulled himself up to the jar, which he quickly grabbed and carefully aimed at the phoenix as it started to charge right at him again.
"Nighty-night, birdie.." Sonic smirked with a somewhat... evil tone of voice. As the bird rapidly approached him, he got ready to toss the last jar right at it. But he nearly dropped the vase as a familiar shriek of agony filled the air, catching his attention.
"AAAAAUUUHHH!"
"Chip?" Sonic had almost forgotten about the fairy's life-threatening problems. He looked over to him, and gasped at what he saw. Chip was lying on his back, clutching his chest in agony. He looked like he was struggling, but then he remembered. 'I can't breathe...' was what the last thing he had said to him. And that rather loud scream of his appeared to have wasted what little breath he had left. Sonic mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the fairy so easily, but soon realized he hadn't been burned or even bumped into by the phoenix. He turned to the large bird again, who seemed to have stopped in the air, and slowly cocked his head towards where the scream had come from with a low growl escaping its throat. It was glaring right at Chip with an evil look in its eye. Sonic quickly realized what the flaming bird was planning to do.
"No..." he whispered with fearful eyes. But fear soon turned into realization as he realized that if that phoenix attacked, Chip would surely die tonight. And Sonic wouldn't allow that to happen. He had made a promise to the fairy earlier in the night that he wasn't going to let him die as long as he, himself was still kicking. And though Chip wasn't fully conscious when he had said it, Sonic was still determined to keep that promise. Steadily, he tightened his grip on the vase he had been holding back and raised it back up above his head and kept his aim keen. "Not while I'm still alive!" he growled out with a voice cold as ice. As soon as the phoenix started moving towards Chip and the man with him, Sonic jumped up in the air and tossed the vase right at it, putting its fire out and stopping it in its tracks. The bird screeched loudly, and Sonic kicked himself into gear and jumped onto its back, repeating the same process as before and punched the bird as hard as he could until it was severely weakened. Then, he climbed up the bird's neck and grabbed onto its horns, then jumped down, horns still in grasp. With all the strength he had left in him, Sonic swung the phoenix forward as hard as he could, making it slam against the hard ground.
The werehog landed on the ground safely, then collapsed to his hands and knees. He breathed heavily, then looked over towards Chip and the man, who had seemed to regain consciousness without him knowing. Sonic got up slowly, then hobbled over to the two. As he approached, the man turned to him with worried eyes.
"You ok?" Sonic questioned, picking the dying Chip up in his arms.
"I'm fine – but your friend's not doing so well," the man answered. He gazed over at Chip, who was still struggling to breathe and spasming out in pain. Sonic hugged him closer, as if it would do something for him.
"I.. I know..." he choked out, biting his lip.
"If we do not act now, he'll surely die." The phrase Sonic did not want to hear. He turned to the man with worry.
"How much time do you think he has left?"
There was a pause before the man, whom Sonic had just realized was the village's elder, spoke again.
"Not much. He'll either die from the poison, blood loss, or suffocation if you do not get him help now," he answered. It was then Sonic realized that the man was a doctor – he remembered that the girl from the village had said he was a well known medical doctor, and that all his medicines had worked. A glimmer of hope sparked in his heart, but soon died out when he realized the man more than likely didn't have any ailments on him, or at least anything that would help the fairy. Perhaps Sonic couldn't keep his promise to Chip after all...
Sonic bit his quivering lip hard before looking around for any sign of hope, and soon spotted the large doors of the Temple of Gaia just across the arena. He honestly wasn't quite up for going in and placing the Chaos Emerald into it, but his mind slowly changed as he noticed that Chip was holding onto that green shining gem that the man had closely, getting some of his blood on it. Suddenly, the large gemstone shone brightly, and Sonic heard the temple doors open in the background. He was about to question it, but decided not to as Chip dropped the stone right back to the ground, a strained look on his face. Sonic turned to the man once again and spoke.
"Can you... can you watch that bird for me and make sure he doesn't get up again?" Sonic wanted desperately to ask him to attempt save Chip, or at least buy him some time, but he already knew there was nothing he could do. He clutched the fairy tighter to his chest as the man nodded, then got up and ran as fast as he possibly could on two legs over to the temple. He grabbed a branch hanging over the large gap in between the arena and the temple and swung himself over. He reached it, and immediately ran right into it, pulling one of the Chaos Emeralds out. As he reached the pedestal, he layed a hand out onto it, waiting for the column inside it to rise out. But... nothing happened, and the whole temple stayed silent.
"Huh..?" Sonic walked around the pedestal, laying his hand on different sections, but alas, nothing happened. "Why won't it rise up?" he asked himself. His heart was crumbling – his friend was dying right in front of his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it, and now he wasn't able to restore one the Chaos Emeralds to restore the planet. His head lowered in sorrow. Though, he felt something move against his chest. He opened his eyes and glanced downward, and spotted Chip attempting to get on top of the pedestal, using all the strength he had left to push himself up. He got up and sat on his knees, his hands laying beside him to stabilize himself. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, whispering something Sonic couldn't understand or really even hear for that matter. The fairy's gem necklace shined brightly, and before they knew it, the inner column rose up.
Sonic's mouth went agape, but he payed no mind to it as he slowly put the Chaos Emerald atop of the column hole and put a hand onto Chip's back, who looked like he was about to fall to the ground, dead. He closed his eyes as he didn't dare witness the Emerald gain back its power – it was too painful for him. Perhaps he could save the world after all, but there was next to no hope for Chip... He heard the Emerald emit a ring of light around it, then he heard Chip gasp in deeply, as if it were his last breath. Sonic slowly opened his glassy eyes to look at the fairy, and almost fell over in shock at what he saw. Strange green streams of light entered and exited his body, making him hold onto the column for support and gasp inward constantly. Something seemed to be happening to him, but Sonic couldn't for the life of him tell what it was.
"Ch-Chip?" he shouted out in worry. The fairy didn't respond as the streams of light kept going through him. After a few seconds that seemed like forever though, the lights disappeared, and Chip collapsed to the ground. "...Chip?" Sonic picked the fairy up after hearing no response and looked at him with worry. He wasn't awake anymore, but all of his injuries seemed to have disappeared. The black veins weren't there anymore, neither were his multiple cuts – not even the scratch on his wing! All of them were gone. Though, the fairy stayed unresponsive. Cautiously, Sonic raised Chip up to his ear, laying it onto his chest and listened closely for any indication that he was still alive. Though, his heart slowly broke when he heard nothing – not his heart beating, not any breathing, broken or steady -
Nothing.
Sonic's grasp on Chip tightened, and he could feel a sense of failure creeping up into him. "I'm so sorry, Chip..." he whispered with a broken voice. He lied his forehead against the fairy's chest, nearly breaking into tears. He realized he had unintentionally broken his promise to Chip, and that his flaw had gotten him killed. He stood there for a while, unsure of what to do. But then, something – a small movement – broke his thoughts. Sonic felt something move against his forehead. He opened his eyes and lied a couple fingers onto Chip's chest, which he soon realized was now moving up and down again. He put the fairy's chest right up to his ear again, and a small smile suddenly grew on his face when he heard a heartbeat. His breathing was surprisingly steady, not broken, not strained. Though Chip's breathing was quite heavy, but Sonic just dismissed it as regaining his lost breath.
Though, Sonic's attention turned to the bright red Chaos Emerald in the air, then around the temple. Had both of them healed the fairy? And why didn't it heal him? But he quickly pushed that latter thought aside as he realized that Chip had needed it more, and that he could handle the injuries himself. He hugged Chip close, but soon fell to the ground when he felt the ground below him moving. Of course – he had completely forgotten about restoring the continent. Sonic lied on the ground for a while with Chip safely in his arms until it was steady enough to walk again. As soon as he could, he got up and walked out of the temple and swung himself over the gap and onto the arena again. He raced over to the man, but was suddenly stopped by a huge and rather colorful and bright bird perching itself onto one of the platforms. Sonic shook his head to clear his mind – he had just witnessed Chip practically coming back to life; that couldn't of been happening too!
...Could it?
Sonic spotted the village elder walking up to him. "The moment the temple lit up, the beast woke up!" he informed. Sonic stepped forward towards him. "It appears he's come back to his senses."
Sonic considered the possibilities of that bird being possessed by Dark Gaia just like all the other people he had seen. It certainly made sense – why else would the phoenix have tried to kill both him and Chip? "I see..." he finally stated. He walked forward towards the bird. "So... your job is to guard the Chaos Emerald temple, am I right?"
The phoenix screeched loudly in response. "You must've gone berserk when the Emeralds lost their power..." he pondered aloud. Sonic looked up at the bird with a smirk. "Well then – I'm glad I could help you out."
The phoenix seemingly nodded, then rose itself off the platform, and flew over to the top of the temple. Sonic waved, then turned back to the elder, who was closely examining Chip.
"How is he?" he questioned.
"He's... alive..." Sonic answered, actually quite shocked about it, himself. The two started to walk out of the arena and over to the actual exit, talking about everything that seemed important. Apparently the elder's name was Zonshen, and he had gone missing because the village's treasure – the large green gemstone – had rolled off during the earthquake, and he had pursued after it, but had gotten lost. He appeared to be quite surprised that their treasure was actually the key to the Temple of Gaia there. Then Sonic got onto the topic of Chip, and their main reason for looking for the elder. He explained how they had heard that Zonshen's ailments always worked, and how Chip had a rather bad case of amnesia, and that they wanted the elder to help him. Sonic explained the brief summary of the dream Chip had given him, and how he had mysteriously started bleeding right after it. He explained the actual journey they were on, and about the previous places they had gone. As they returned, Zonshen had apologized for the trouble he had put the two through (though, Sonic explained they would have to go through that even if he wasn't missing) and offered to create a treatment, or possibly a cure, for Chip's amnesia in return for their help. Sonic was quick to agree, and was becoming quite mad at himself for believing the man wasn't worth their time – though, he knew they probably would come for him eventually.
They arrived back in the village around dawn or so – Sonic honestly lost track of time from all the traveling. But apparently they had made a lot of noise coming back in, as the two kids from earlier came out of their house and practically tackled their grandfather down to the ground from excitement from seeing him for the first time in a long time. After minutes of rejoicing their grandfather's return, they eventually started thanking Sonic gratefully for returning him. Though the girl, Yilin, soon looked like she was about to break down in tears as soon as she spotted the unconscious, bloodied fairy laying in his arms.
"Whu- What happened to Chip?" she questioned. Sonic first started to wonder why she would be so worried for Chip, but then remembered the conversation they had. Chip had been the one to promise to get their grandfather back, and he had kept that promise, so it'd only be natural for her to worry for him.
"Don't worry – he's just fine," he smiled solemnly. He then turned to Zonshen. "You think you can check over him for me just in case?"
Zonshen nodded, then Sonic turned back to the kids. "Ok guys – I have a very important job for you. I want you to watch over Chip while I'm gone. Feed him, keep him safe, comfort him if he needs it. You think you can do that for me?" Sonic offered. The two kids nodded. The werehog smiled, then cautiously handed Chip over to Yilin. "I'll be back, ok? Thank you so much.." Sonic lightly patted Yilin's head, then turned around to Zonshen, who handed him something he needed. The sun tablet – something he was glad to see.
Though, he still wondered what it would be like without Chip by his side.
i said it had a lot of blood. i'm already almost done with the 12th chapter, so hopefully i should upload it sometime soon.
please review!