Falco nodded, he looked over to see how Sonic was managing with Marth. Things didn't look good. Sonic wore bruises from where he had taken hits. Several slices were cut into his chest and arms from where the sword had cut slightly into him. A shadowy-aura surrounded the wounds, inflicting damage if Sonic had tried to move. A light pink Pokemon shoved Sonic out of the way. "Back off! Aren't you weak enough?" Jigglypuff demanded, anger rising into her. No one would control her and get away with it. Even if it meant scaring the other's around her, sometimes things dropped to the level where she had to actually stand and fight with the others. "I'll try to fight off Marth. You go to Civ so she can check those wounds and tell you the proper caring for them..." Jiggly stated, trying to plan her words carefully so she wouldn't sound like some complete idiot. The time to act scared was over. If she didn't do something, if she stood back like she usually did, things could be at risk. She threw a glance back over at Diddy, who was still clinging to Falco's back in shock of what THESOURCE had done. THESOURCE had possessed Marth and herself, and pit them against Diddy to try and turn him into a clone. Thankfully, with Falco and Sonic's help; she had managed to be saved since she was one of the weaker fighters. Marth however, was much stronger with his blade and combat skills. It wouldn't be easy taking him down, and with Sonic having of had to deal with her; he was in no state to face Marth.
Sonic was about to object; but sadly he realized that what Jigglypuff said was probably correct. He'd rather be saved by a pink puffball then killed by some shadow-like substance that had somehow found its way into his wounds. "Alright..." He muttered darkly, pain filling his voice. He placed one arm behind his head to weaken the pain and force some of the substance out of his arm from the gash. He limped slowly over towards Civ and held his breath as she, Falco, and Olimar looked down at the key. "C-Civ?" He asked weakly, his normal smirk curving on his lips. "What should I do about these cuts?"
Civ's gaze was interrupted by the sound of Sonic's voice. She looked up and nearly fell back at the sight of the bleeding hedgehog in front of her. "What the hell happened to you?" She asked; scanning Sonic's arms and shaking her head in disdain at the shadowy-gashes all over him. Her ears folded down in alarm. "Falco, Olimar, one of you take the key and place it in the chest again. We'll have to bring it with us. What you have just found Olimar; is a very powerful object. It is called The Key of the Spell... It's able to unlock the gem I think THESOURCE is after. It's my fault for bringing it here... I didn't want anyone to steal it while I was away." She admits, turning back to Sonic. "Stay still Sonic, this may sting a bit." She mumbled, looking back at Jigglypuff. Surprisingly, the Pokemon seemed to be fending off for herself pretty well. Half of the cloth lining in Marth's cape had been ripped off. His sword was stained with blood and some sort of purple-like substance. Jigglypuff was panting heavily, but still planting hits across Marth's face. A wave of relief washed over Civ; maybe they'd actually have a chance against this.
Falco nodded, he bent down and handed the small key back to Kai. "You're the only one that can fit through the keyhole. Place that back into the chest." He ordered, dismissing the white Pikmin and then turning to Olimar. "Olimar, you watch him. When he's done bring the chest to me. I'm going to help Jigglypuff fight Marth." Falco turned away from Olimar and grabbed Diddy's arm. He dragged the ape off of his shoulder and placed him next to Civ and Sonic. "Diddy, you stay here. As long as you don't sit there and get yourself captured, you'll be fine." He hissed silently to himself. Falco nodded his thanks to Civ before running off to join Jigglypuff in the fight against Marth.
Civ watched as Olimar, Kai, and Falco left. She whipped back around to Sonic and examined his wounds. Civ pulled Diddy closer to her and Sonic so if anything tried to attack, it'd have to fight her first. Civ leaned over and positioned Sonic so she'd be able to heal his wounds without causing too much stinging. "If you know what's best for you, you won't move or scream." Civ said calmly, waving her paws over Sonic's arm. The palm of her hand glowed lightly; and the mixture of light and darkness filled the air. Light flowed into Sonic's wound while the darkness separated and faded back to the source of where it came from.
Sonic flinched, it was painful. He hadn't felt anything that had hurt worse since when Iblis had tried to kill him. "How can you expect me... Not... To scream? Or move?" He asked, forcing his jaws shut. He had to bite his own tongue to make the pain lessen. But even when he did that, it still felt like someone was stabbing into him with knives. "Are you almost done?" Sonic asked between bared teeth. "I don't know how long I can take much more of this without punching infants."
Civ stared up at Sonic and nearly facepalmed herself. "Just wait. Unless you want to die... I only have one more wound to heal anyway. Bear with me." Civ growled. A flash of light surrounding her paw again as she wove her hand over Sonic's remaining wound. Sonic winced as pain filled a patch on his stomach once more. The light could be seen separating itself from the darkness. The stinging sensation left Sonic almost as soon as it started. He still felt a little numb, but at least he wouldn't be taken over like he had before. At least that's what Sonic predicted. If the poison had been caused by clones; if left in, they'd turn into clones. Right? Either that... Or his next thought would be that he would've died. He hated to think what would've happened if Civ wouldn't of healed him. "Thanks." He spoke quietly, moving his arm to test if it was working right.
Civ shrugged. "Don't mention it. It's not like I had any other choice." She mumbled, an amused look growing on her face as a look of disappointment fell onto Sonic's. Civ looked around cautiously. "Speaking of which, where's Squirtle? Last time I looked, wasn't he with you?" Civ asked, shuddering a bit. She could barely imagine the small water Pokemon huddled up in a corner, being attacked by clones. And it would be all her fault for leaving the Pokemon alone. What would she say to Red when they made it back? Or if they even made it back. She honestly wasn't sure or not she'd survive this, despite her determination. Relief quickly came back to Civ as a small water Pokemon was seen huddled on the other side of the room, peeking out of its shell. "Hey Sonic, could you sneak over there and grab Squirtle real quick? I need to stay put and watch Diddy, and make sure Kai and Olimar don't accidentally drop the chest or something."
Sonic looked over at Kai and Olimar who seemed to be struggling to open the chest. How'd they open it in the first place? He thought to himself, standing and brushing himself off. Despite his wounds healing, he still felt a slight stinging from where they had been healed. Sighing to himself, he wondered how long the pain would continue on. "Again, thanks for healing me and everything, but when's the pain from being healed going to actually go away?" He whined, letting his most-injured arm flail down lifelessly by his side.
Civ stared at Sonic and let out a low growl. "Don't complain. You're lucky I even chose to heal you at all. Getting the energy to do stuff like that isn't exactly easy you know... It takes work and a lot of concentration. And as for the pain, I suggest you just wait. It's not going to last all your life, that's for sure. Just hurry up and get Squirtle like I told you to do, the poor Pokemon's probably scared out of its shell." Civ snapped, turning away from Sonic and fastening Diddy onto her back as she walked up to Kai and Olimar to assist them with the lock on the chest.
Sonic sighed to himself as Civ walked away. He guessed he'd just have to take her word for it. He got a good grip on the ground and turned to where Falco and Jigglypuff were fighting. Marth looked extremely tired, while Jigglypuff and Falco still fought strong with few injuries. There lucky I weakened him for them... How hard can a Prince be to fight? He thought to himself, clutching his own fists. Since he was healed, he was eager to run back in the fight and finish off Prince Marth with one last punch. However, the glare Civ turned gave him told him otherwise. He finally managed to obey Civ's orders by walking up to Squirtle and tapping lightly on the Pokemon's shell. "Uh, Squirtle. Nothing's going to hurt you. We got the clones under control... You can come out now." Sonic mumbled, rocking the shell slightly to try and get the turtle Pokemon to emerge from its hiding place.
Squirtle's two ocean-blue eyes opened up slowly. He scanned the area for any nearby danger, excluding Marth who looked to be under control by Falco and Jigglypuff. Cautiously, he pushed his head out of the opening in his shell and looked up at Sonic, retracting back a bit. "Squirtle...?" He asked, finally coming to a realization who the hedgehog was and lifting himself onto his hind legs. He glanced up at Sonic with a questioning look that asked. 'What's happened to you?' as he examined Sonic's dried wounds.
Sonic scratched the back of his head in response to Squirtle's questionable look. "Don't even mention it." He said darkly, holding out his arm for Squirtle to crawl onto his shoulder. "Come on, let's get the group together." He chimed, his disappointed tone turning inspired. "From what this SOURCE guy has done so far, I can't wait to face him in actual combat. I'll kick his ass like I usually do to everyone else who gets in my way!" He exclaimed, raising a fist in the air.
A small trickle of sweat formed on the side of Squirtle's head. For some reason, he doubted Sonic would act as spunky as he was now when the actual fight began. If they even managed to get that far. Without hesitating much longer, the small turtle Pokemon made his way up Sonic's arm and onto his shoulder. He calmed down a bit as he saw Marth lying on the ground, quickly turning into a shadow-like trophy.
"Wow... Just wow." Falco muttered, turning in astonishment at Jigglypuff, who was as bruised and scratched up as he was. "Jigglypuff. I didn't know you uh... Had the fighting spirit." He muttered, not sure of what else to say to the light pink Pokemon.
Jigglypuff just blinked her wide pale-blue pools innocently. "What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about." Jigglypuff sang happily, tapping Marth's trophy lightly and examining herself in a shattered piece of mirror that had broken during the fight. She noticed the small curl on the top of her head was a bit messy, and she straightened it out with one of her small pink hands until it was back into its normal curly state.
Falco just blinked at Jigglypuff. That whole scene had just scared him enough to give him nightmares, but he turned away from Jigglypuff and looked down at Prince Marth on the ground. "Uhh... Marth? You okay?" Falco asked, kicking the prince lightly with his right foot. He threw one last glance at Jigglypuff then realized he probably shouldn't mention to Marth that Jigglypuff had helped him get back to reality.
The prince clutched his head and sat upright. "Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" He asked groggily, looking down at his torn cape and then back at Falco who was covered in bruises. He sighed, angry at himself. "Don't tell me... I've been cloned? Or at least I was." He muttered, looking over the group. Everyone except Falco looked like they were occupied with one thing or the other, sighing to himself; Marth figured he must've caused trouble one way or the other. He turned away from Falco and looked around the room, worry washing through him as he couldn't spot his roommate. "Where's Fox?" He asked somewhat concerned.
Suddenly realizing that Fox should've been with Marth during the cloning, concern started to form in Falco's eyes. "I'm not sure." He admits, trying to shove his thoughts that Fox had been captured and killed to the back of his mind. His leader was strong; the pilot could take care of himself. "But knowing Fox, he should be fine." Falco added quickly, talking rather loudly so he wouldn't worry the others. "But more importantly, do you remember anything before THESOURCE took over you?"
Marth shook his head solely; he looked over at Civ, who was carrying a small golden chest. Kai was perched on her shoulder with Olimar and his pikmin following. Civ approached Falcon and Marth, Diddy still clinging onto her back. "Finally figured out how to lock the chest back." Civ commented, looking over Marth and nodding respectfully. "Glad to see you're back to normal. Got any wounds that need healing?" She asked, exhaustion showing in the small pups.
Marth shook his head quickly, besides his cape being ripped apart, he felt fine. "No thanks Civ, I'm fine." He replied, looking over at Squirtle and Sonic who were running over towards him to join the group. "It'd make a bit more sense to me if someone could explain what's happening." Marth suggested, resting his sword against his shoulder. He had just been taken over by a clone and uncloned in some random room with a group of random brawlers he didn't know very well. Besides Civ and Falco. Marth's aqua colored eyes focused on the chest Civ was holding. "And what's in that chest? I feel like I've missed out on a lot." Marth commented; getting a headache from all of the unexplainable events.
Civ chuckled nervously. "To make a long story short, Falco's bringing me to his Arwing. And the object in that chest is very powerful. It unlocks the object that THESOURCE may be after." Civ explained quickly. The confused look on Marth's face told her that the Prince hadn't understood a thing she just said. "If you aren't picking any of this up... I'm sure you'll be able to make some sense of it when we actually get back on track." Civ growled.
Falco nodded, catching the hint in Civ's tone. "Alright... Olimar, Sonic, Squirtle, Jigglypuff... We all ready to set off? We can't stay in this room forever. More clones will come." Falcon hinted, running his beak over his feathers.
"I'd say we're all set!" Sonic stated enthusiastically. "Let's get there as soon as possible. I want to kick some serious ass!" Sonic stated proudly.
Civ turned and shot Sonic a glare, then quickly turned away. "Alright... Since everyone's ready. Let's go!" Civ demanded, motioning with her tail for the others to follow her. The others caught her hint and followed her out the door of the empty, now bloodstained, room. Falco quickly took the lead, ready to guide Civ to his Arwing for whatever reason she needed it for.
'Alright... No holding back this time...' Falco told himself, clutching his fists at the thought of Fox, lying dead somewhere. 'I'm going to destroy this guy. And I don't' give a hell what anyone else says!'