Chapter 36: Jasper Gein

M-E

Why am I only discovering this now...?

I didn't have any brothers or sisters in my family, whereas I did have one cousin. Yet, I was thinking that ... Megan and I could wind up seeing each other as family. The thought was rather frightening but when I first met her back in my kingdom, I thought she was a really sweet young girl who seemed a little shy upon meeting someone new.

But then, I left her behind and got greeted by a painful death...

I remembered listening to the teenager tell me about her severe condition and how looking up to her heroes helped her through the troublesome life she suffered. I never got the opportunity to idolise someone like that ... You might say, until I met Sonic nine years ago. Truth be told, I just saw him as a close friend who was there to assist me through tough times.

That's what they're for... And I'm grateful to have met him, Tails, Amy and the others...

"Hey, there they are!"

"Oh, thank goodness they're okay!"

Upon hearing Sid and Ellie's excited voices, my heart practically jumped out of my chest with joy when my two friends returned. Megan immediately ran over to Peaches and Louis who greeted her with cheerful smiles and hopeful questions.

"Did you tell him..?" The teenage mammoth asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I did. Everything's alright now..." The young girl repiled, with relief clearly written all over her features.

"Oh good." Louis breathed, smiling with relief. "At least you've got it off your chest now."

Meanwhile, Sonic decided to talk to me for a while, which I didn't mind at all. But what suprised me was that Tails and Shadow had found themselves trapped in the otherworlds too. Poor guys... They didn't deserve to be in this mess, neither did everyone else.

"Elise?!" The seventeen year old fox gasped, letting his jaw drop in shock.

Shadow was just as shocked. "Aren't you... Dead? We heard the news report saying that you were, Elise. We thought you'd be in the afterlife now."

I sighed sadly, giving them friendly smiles as I did so. "Yes, I am dead. I will explain why I'm here but first, it's great to see you two again."

"Yeah." and "You too." were their repiles. I understood that they were shocked still, but I knew at some point the fox and hedgehog would eventually become comfortable around me. Just like how my two closest friends were.

Speaking of, the blue blur went to check on Megan who was hanging out with Peaches and Louis, whilst I talked with Tails and Shadow. I heard them mentioning something about Sid giving them ... communication watches? Yes, those were watches.

"Hey Sonic," Megan began, handing him a spare watch after she wrapped her own one around her wrist. "Sid discovered a whole bunch of these in the forest earlier, so I suggest we all wear one. Just so, you know.., we can keep each other updated."

My blue friend immediately took it and wrapped it around his wrist, giving both her and the sloth appreciative grins. "Ah, cool. Thanks kid."

"Anytime."

I looked on at the four and smiled. Although deep down, I kind of wished that I didn't leave Megan behind back in Crisis City to be killed by the man. I wasn't ... sure what was going to happen if we all made it out. Would I remain in heaven forever with Maria and Cybil, or ... Maybe, there could be a slight chance that the three of us could come back like our deaths never occurred. We could live happily with our friends..

Who knows? Something could actually happen.

...

E-S

After regrouping with Elise and the Herd, we all decided to head towards an area which was COMPLETELY surrounded by holy candles and four massive rocks dotted here and there. Unfortunatley, Megan's radio was blurring with static which told us one thing; a threat was on the loose. Can anyone guess what it is...?

Yep, that's right. The next freaky ghost. And from what I heard, his name is Jasper Gein.

His fiery-orange glow stood out from the darkish-gloomy sky as he floated in one spot; glaring furiously down at us. His green shirt and blue jeans were torn and shredded, but what made it worse was the fact that his skin was burnt severely. I guessed that he must have been set on fire by someone.

Just like with the female ghost back in the subway station, we all prepared ourselves as he decided to float down gripping his weapon tightly.

Bring it on!

Megan was the first to jump into action. She whipped out her pistol and began firing bullets into him. Elise also began pulling the trigger on her revolver, just managing to hit the ghost with two. Jasper fell back slightly with a groan, but he was still going strong.

"Argh..." Diego growled as he bared his fangs furiously. "This better be good than last time!"

"Don't remind me!" Sid shouted, scurrying behind Manny for cover.

Taking matters into my own hands, I curled up into a ball and performed a spin dash on our assailant, letting out a grunt as I finished. As she presumably was close to running out, Megan grabbed her hunting rifle and continued pumping bullets, followed by Elise and Shadow performing the same action with their firearms.

But suddenly, things got serious when Jasper grabbed Megan roughly and held her wrists in a threatening way when she struggled to escape. Fire was beginning to slowly snake up the kid's arms, forcing a loud piercing scream out of her.

"Megan!" I cried as I rushed forward, performing a series of homing attacks on Jasper, eventually forcing him to let go. She fell back onto the grass and quickly began doing all she could to get the fire out.

"There's no time for that!" Shadow yelled, with concern lacing his tone. "Keep shooting!"

"Roger!" My young friend shouted as she pulled herself up, grabbing her firearm and whacking the ghost again and again with it.

Unfortunatley. the same thing was happening to me when Jasper grabbed both my wrists, forcing me to scream loudly in pain and agony.

With a yell of rage, Megan jumped onto the ghost's back and plunged a knife deep into his back three times. She then whipped out her shotgun, blasting several bullets before grabbing the next sword that I assumed the Herd found before.

"Don't give up, guys!" Tails shouted as he assisted me and Elise in our fight. He flew up towards Jasper and used his signature tails to attack him. I knew that this was the first ghost that he and Shadow had seen, since they arrived not long ago. But deep down, I felt like ... there were more waiting for us.

Our asssliant decided to float away for a while, probably to regain some his energy. Megan wasn't going to let him as she sprinted after him with Elise and I in tow.

"GET BACK HERE!" She roared furiously, pumping more and more bullets from her shotgun into him.

"Hey YOU!" I shouted at Jasper, tauntingly. "Don't you want to have a little fun with us?!"

As if to answer my question, the ghost turned round and delivered a severe blow to Elise by whacking her with his weapon. She fell to the ground with a groan of pain, struggling to pull herself back up. "Argh..!"

I noticed what happened and immediately scooped her up into my arms, running to a nearby spot for her safety. "You're welcome." I quickly said as I sprinted back to help Megan in fighting Jasper. Manny and Diego had also jumped in to help with Buck stabbing the ghost several times with his knife.

"Keep going!" The weasel screamed as he continued the action. "Not long now!"

We didn't know how long we were there, defending ourselves against our threat. Unfortunatley, both Megan and I gained more wounds on our chests and abdomen. But it turns out, Buck was right. We didn't have that long until the chance was there to finish the ghost off. Eventually, Jasper fell to the ground, just like how our previous assailant did before. Taking the opportunity, my young friend grabbed the sword and plunged it deep into him with a mighty grunt. His flames died as he remained there, gurgling as he struggled to free himself.

"Is everyone okay?!" Manny asked with concern, after a long moment of silence.

There were positive answers lingering between Ellie, Peaches, Shira and the others. Although ... Bad news, Megan wasn't doing so well and neither was I. The two of us were staggering here and there in desperate attempts to prevent ourselves from falling down.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Elise cried as she ran over to assist us. "Manny, we gotta help these two!"

"Oh no, not again!" Flynn yelled with concern lacing his tone. "Let's get back to the orphanage, quickly!"

But just as we took our first few steps, I collasped to the ground, realising that darkness was taking over my vision as I fell unconscious. Breathing heavily and lightly wheezing, I adjusted my gaze to Megan with worry washing over me. She was lying on the grass too and in much worse shape than I was.

"Guys..." The girl winced painfully as she whispered that one word.

Without hesitation, I reached out to grab her hand and looking at all of my friends who were struck with fear. The last thing we both heard were our names being screamed out before our eyes drifted down, letting the pitch black darkness take over.

No, I promised my friends I'd help them! Chaos, they better be alright...