Judgment chapter 21

Darius looked up to the sky. Deep inside of him, he felt that something was not right, and slowly getting worse. He pushed the feelings aside, and took a look at his surroundings.

Despite how far north they were, the local flora was very heavy and green. He already hated it, though at the same time felt oddly attracted to it. The sky was very hard to see though the thick trees. However, this only meant that it would be dark, something which suited Darius just fine.

"We need to head north a few hundred yards. The cave entrance should be there," said Sabina, looking at the little tracker/communicator that she held in her hand.

"Then let's go," said Darius, hiding what was on his mind. Sabina, still holding the tracker in one hand, continued forwards. They continued in silence. After a few minutes, Darius suddenly stopped, his ears perked up. Sabina listened closely, wondering what he was hearing. However, it was very quiet. No birds were singing, no insects were making any noise, and there were no storm clouds on the horizon.

"What do you hear?" she asked. He shushed her, and continued to listening around, turning his head. His eyes were moving around, looking for something. "I don't hear anything."

"I know," he said, his ears twitching now.

"Then what do you hear?" she asked.

"Nothing." Sabina looked at the ebony and crimson fox, wondering what he was hearing. Then it occurred to her. Nothing meant nothing. Forests weren't silent. But there was no sound coming from this one. Her face widened with surprise and fear. Darius saw this, and shook his head. "If there is something here that is to be feared, it is us. The animals that should live here will try to avoid us. Though this doesn't explain why there are no insects. We aren't that far north, and it IS summer." Sabina nodded. The ebony and crimson fox continued walking, with the snow-white fox close behind.

For the next hour, both foxes continued walking, listening for what should be there. Sabina occasionally called out direction changes to Darius. She was getting worried about him. He seemed unusually tense, ready to attack whatever got in his way. She didn't blame him, as she was getting tense herself.

Secretly, she felt safer when she was close behind him. She tired to say fairly close to him at all times, sure that he could beat whatever came in their path.

Eventually, the cave entrance came into view.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Darius, his voice somewhere in-between surprise, shock, fear, curiosity, and amusement.

There were several skeletons laying around by the cave entrance, most of which had been mutilated. Not thinking, Sabina moved even closer to Darius, and actually pressing herself against him lightly. She was horrified by the site, yet simultaneously intrigued. Darius walked over to one of the skeletons. It was gripping some kind of weapon, which was impaled though it's skull. Darius grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of the skull. The hand that was holding onto the weapon fell apart, and the skull shattered. Sabina gasped at this.

"I think this one might have been an echidna," said Darius, kneeling down beside the skeleton.

"What happened here?" asked Sabina, approaching the bodies.

"I don't know," said Darius, his eyes now focused on the weapon. "I do know that they've been here for over a hundred years, undisturbed." The fox remained silent for a few seconds, his eyes shifting from the weapon to the other skeletons. "I'm not sure…but I think they killed each other."

"There were at least eight of them, probably nine. I can't tell. Some of the bodies have been horribly ruined," said Sabina, sticking close to Darius. She was scarred, and he knew it. The ebony and crimson fox looked at the weapon for a while. Then, he stood up.

"I'm not sure which, but this was either a spear or a lance…or possibly and odd sword," said Darius. The sun was going down, and it was getting dark. The ebony and crimson fox dropped the weapon and started heading into the cave.

"Are we seriously going in there? It's almost night," asked Sabina, visibly freaking out.

"You can stay if you like," he said, pausing. In all reality, he wasn't going to stray to far from the other fox. He knew that it would be a bad idea.

"But, we don't know what's in there. We could get lost," she protested.

"And just how would waiting for day help?"

"I…I don't know," she said, admitting defeat and walking into the cave behind Darius. She turned on several flashlights. She had two attached to her head, one attached to her pants, and one in her hands. She clipped one to Darius' trench coat. He didn't seem to like it, though didn't argue.

After walking in a few feet, the air temperature dropped like a rock almost twenty degrees. It felt like there was a gentle breeze flowing though the cave, though the air was very still and calm. Sabina reached out and grabbed Darius' arm. He looked at her. Upon seeing her face, he smiled, not arguing. She was terrified. It was insanely creepy in there. Every sound they made echoed loudly. Off in the distance, they could hear the sound of water dripping. The very faint sounds a large amount of water running could be heard, way off in the distance.

The lights that she had brought weren't helping as much as she had hoped. The cave seemed to swallow the light, making it useless. After walking for a few minutes, she was still terrified. Suddenly, she felt something pulling on her backpack. She screamed. Darius turned around, ready to kill. Sabina stood still as a statue, shaking violently. Darius walked behind her.

"Your backpack got stuck on a rock formation," he said, unhooking the backpack. She looked at him, to scarred to move. An odd feeling arose in him. Acting on it, he set his left hand on her shoulder. "Look," he said, his voice very calm and relaxing. "If anything tries to ambush us, you'll be fine. I don't think that there is anything living here, except maybe some lesser bats. I don't think that there are many insects here. Just calm down, ok?" Her eyes meant his. There were a few tears apparent in the snow-white fox's eyes, though she brushed them away. He took the tracker/communicator away from her, and looked at it. He realized that he didn't know how to read it. "Where to?"

"Umm…straight that way," she said, pointing in the direction that they were going in. Darius nodded, and waited for her to follow before setting off.

The next half-hour was uneventful. They walked around in the cave, getting deeper and deeper as the time passed. Eventually, they came to a large pit. The sound of a water fall made it hard to hear much. Deep inside the caves, everything echoed.

Sabina walked over the edge and looked down. She couldn't see the bottom of the pit. Her light disappeared. She looked at Darius, unsure of what to do. When she saw him, she ducked her head. The ebony and crimson fox launched a large fireball down into the pit. The fireball did as it was intended. The could see what was down there, though only for a brief couple of seconds. It wasn't much. Darius launched another fireball in the direction of the sound of the water. It flew for a few seconds before hitting a wall and going out. Sabina looked at the other fox, starting to freak out again.

To her surprise, he stepped out onto a small path that led down the outside of the pit. Gathering up all her courage, she followed him. The path was less than a foot wide, and very slippery. She walked down it slowly, hugging the wall for her life. Darius, on the other hand, actually jumped into the air, and rode the down the path sideways, using his feet like roller-skates. There was very little friction on the path. Sabina decide not to follow though.

After fifteen minutes of wall hugging, she reached the bottom. Darius was waiting there for her, his face serious. He turned around, pointing to something. Her eyes followed his gaze. The place where they had just come from was at least fifty feet above them. The air down here was somewhat cooler that the air where they had came from. The sound of the water was getting close to a roar.

The snow-white fox didn't make a sound as her jaw dropped. There where hundreds of skeletons in a large pile, all of them mutilated in some way. She turned her head back to Darius, who was walking towards something. The narrow beams of light that she had to work with were getting annoying. She reached around into her backpack, and got out a wide-beam light. She turned it on.

Up ahead a few feet, Darius was looking down a corridor in the wall. She walked over to him, and looked down as well.

"That's where we have to go," she said, confirming his thoughts. He walked off into the cave. He felt her hand on his shoulder. She wasn't about to get to far away from the other fox.

Soon after they entered, they came to a huge open room. The sound of the waterfall turned into a deafening roar. Sabina looked up, her lights being absorbed by the darkness. She couldn't see. Seemingly reading her mind, Darius threw a fireball.

"Damn," he said, not very loudly. She was just close enough to see his lips move, though didn't know what he was saying. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

"The emerald should be just over there," she said, pointing. The two foxes walked off in the direction that Sabina had indicated. They walked until Sabina suddenly stopped, looking at the device in her hand. Darius looked at her.

"Where is the Emerald?" he asked.

"Wha?" she said, a confused look on her face. "According to this, we're…500 feet above it." Darius looked at her confused.

"It must have been washed into whatever river flows though here. Now, It's probably setting at the bottom somewhere." He looked at the waterfall. "This is going to take a while."

The two foxes looked around for a while, finally finding a path out of the massive cavern that they were in. They continued walking for several hours, talking a little. Finally, they came to a dip in the already descending path that they were on. Darius paused when they got to the dip, suspecting something. However, nothing was there to ambush them. He walked into the dip, ready to attack. However, there was nothing there. He motioned for Sabina to follow. She did, looking at the tracker that she was holding.

"Oh no," she said, freezing. Darius looked at her, ready to kill something. "It just occurred to me…we haven't been marking a path out. Darius looked up at her.

"Oh well," he said, not worried. The snow-white fox knew that she shouldn't be worried either, though she was.

"How are we going to get out? What if we run out of food?"

"You'll only make the problem worse by thinking about it," said Darius, coming to another steep drop. He looked down. "Bingo." Sabina walked over, looking down. The white Chaos Emerald was wedged in between a couple of rocks, emitting a gently pulsing light.

The two foxes walked down a path that looked like it had been carved out of the wall. Darius walked though the water that was built up on the floor. It was a few inches deep, though not much. He grabbed the Emerald, smiling.

"I got it, Sab," he said, using an odd shortened version of her name. He continued looking at, feeling some power coming from it. But he also felt some power being drawn from it. "Sabina?" he asked, looking around.

The snow-white fox's face was frozen in fear. Her jaw was slowly falling. Shaking very badly, she raised her arm up, pointing at something above Darius. Her movements were very jerky. Darius turned around, backing up at the same time.

Something hit him, knocking him into a wall. A wave of pain pulsed though his body. He quickly stood up, his light ruined. Not thinking to much about it, he slid the Chaos Emerald into a pocked on his coat. He felt energy building up inside of his body. Without warning, fire erupted from both of his hands. The threw fireballs in the direction that the impact had come from.

"What the FUCK IS THAT!?" he yelled, seeing some kind of creature before him. It's body was rising almost ten feet out of the water. The creature's head was on a long, arched neck, and was moving towards Darius. It had several eyes, all of which were open. It had no pupils. Sabina was already above them, shining some light down on the creature. It's mouth wasn't visible. Several huge tentacles-like arms were rising up out of the water. It's head came closer to Darius, allowing him to see the snout-like nose it had. Its head was feet from his, and slowly getting closer. "Well this is a shitty place to die."

Darius jumped back, causing the creature to strike at him. Its head hit the wall where he had been just a few seconds before with enough force seriously hurt the fox. Darius ran up the path.

Sabina was standing up at the top, looking down, helpless. Darius ran past her, grabbing her and pulling her along. She ran with him. "What is that thing?" she yelled, running.

"Do you SERIOUSLY think I know?" yelled the ebony and crimson fox back, stopping. He fired off several fireballs, which seemed to cause the creature pain. It stopped coming up, seemingly stuck. Darius concentrated, then let loose a huge wave of fire. He wanted to kill that thing. However, he knew better than to fight a fight that he could not win.

Several hours later

Sabina emerged from the cave, exhausted. Darius emerged soon after. They look at each other, then around.

"This is not where we went in," said the snow-white fox.

"Who cares? We're out. Tails can lock into our signal when he comes back to get us. How long where we in there?" Sabina looked at a watch she had. Her face widened with surprise.

"Almost nine hours. It didn't feel that long at all. I wonder why," she said, looking at the stars.

"Come on," said Darius. "We need to find a place to sleep and cook some food. I'm getting hungry."

"Me too," said Sabina.

The two foxes walked away from the cave entrance, not having any particular place in mind. After an hour, they came to a large body of water. It wasn't the sea, but it was pretty big. Much to Sabina's surprise, Darius started taking off his clothes. He stopped when all he had on was a pair of shorts he had on under his pants. He looked at her, smiling. His face was so much different that it normally was.

"Care for a swim" he asked. By chance, she had brought something to swim in. She nodded her head, then walked off into the bushes to change.

Darius waded out into the cool water. It felt incredibly refreshing after having been in that cave for so long. He stretched, then laid down in the water. Sabina soon joined him, looking more stunning than ever in her white bikini, though Darius wasn't sure how. She too laid down in the water, letting out a sigh. It felt good to relax.

The moon was casting an eerie glow out on the water. Darius enjoyed it, though his hunger was getting the better of him. He got out of the water, walking over to the backpack to see what kind of food she had brought with her. She got out of the water a few seconds later. Darius stared at her, mesmerized by her beauty. The moonlight made her fur look spectacular, and somehow brought out her already impressive figure even more. Darius was amazed with the way she carried herself. She was the most graceful creature that he had ever seen, of that he was sure. Her two tails, which were already starting to get bushy from drying out, were hovering a few inches above the ground, the tips pointed away from her. The angles of the tips was perfectly opposite each other.

Time stopped. Before he knew what had happened, she was less than a couple of feet away from him. She was also frozen. Their eyes locked. Both of the foxes were fighting off the urge to embrace each other.

Sabina stared into the ebony and crimson fox's eyes, mesmerized. When he suddenly lunged forward, she hadn't been expecting it. He slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. He quickly got up, running off towards the water. She rolled over, confused.

Her eyes locked onto the large creature rising up out of the water. It was the thing that had been down inside the cave.

Darius felt the energy build up inside of him. The familiar tingle of the red aura that now surrounded his body was relaxing, even in the face of combat. He ran out onto the water, not realizing that he was walking on it. The creature's head turned his direction, then went flying. Darius jumped, spinning his body as though there were a pole running though his chest. He landed, all of his speed still up. After a quick 180, he concentrated. The water under him started to collect a huge amount of energy.

The ebony and crimson fox jumped into the air, propelled by the power of the red aura. Under the water, the energy contracted, resulting in a huge explosion. As he reached the apex of his fall, Darius focused all the energy in his body at the creature. The energy started to collect as he hovered.

Sabina watched from the beach, if it could be called that. A blinding white light erupted from Darius, which was focused at the creature. All of the water around the point of impact was flash-boiled. Darius hovered for a few more seconds, the started to fall, though not very fast. Below him, the water filled the hole that had been created by the energy burst. It was very loud, sounding almost like the explosion that had occurred under the water.

Somewhat close to the beach, Darius slipped below the water. He came back up, and started swimming towards the beach. Once there, Sabina helped him out of the water. He was tired, and allowed the help.

She gave him something to eat, though he wasn't sure what. Either way, it tasted good. After eating, he looked back out to the water to make sure that the creature hadn't come back. To his relief, it didn't. He felt her draping something over him. He realized that it was his trench coat. He felt his eyes close.

When Darius awoke, Sabina was cooking something. He sat up, confused. He couldn't remember the past night.

"Good morning," she said. He looked at her, her eyes focusing on her. She was still wearing her bikini.

"Umm….hi," he said, sitting up. He quickly came to his senses. "Have you called Tails or Shadow yet?"

"I tired Shadow and Tails both, but didn't get anything," replied Sabina, some worry in her voice.

"What about Vanilla?" asked Darius, now standing. He was trying to remember the night before. Sabina nodded her head. Darius picked up the transmitter, and pressed the call button. After a few minuets, he got a response.

"Hello!?" came the voice from the other end.

"Cream? What's wrong?" asked Darius, easily picking out the distress in the young rabbits voice.

"Some one attacked. Mother's hurt. I'm -static- but -static- and -static- hurt. Please help me!"

"We'll be there as soon as we can," said Darius looking up to Sabina. The communicator died. "We need to go. Now."

"Ok," said Sabina, throwing her things into the backpack.

Darius looked up at the sky. It looked like it was about to start storming.