SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Knight of the Night Sky, Adventure in full swing and with every chapter brings in more excitement. Well here comes more action!
[Non-Administrated Planet # 97 "Earth"]
[Uminari City, Japan: Midori-ya Cafe]
[Time: 6:30 am]
[BGM: "A Brief Respite" Dissidia: Final Fantasy]
The beginning of a soon-to-be busy day was met with a quiet morning as the Takamachi family gathered in the kitchen and dining room for breakfast and morning tea. In addition, Hayate Yagami, Reinforce Eins and the Admiral Lindy Harlaown, all three of whom stayed over after their lengthy debrief from the night before, also
"Ohayo" Nanoha greeted her mother as she walked in, dressed in her pink pajama outfit that felt soft against her skin, fully awake because in comparison to when she and her family usually wake up, this was considered sleeping in.
"Ohayo, Nanoha-chan" Momoko greeted her youngest daughter with a smile; she was dressed no differently yet aside from an apron for cooking. "I already have tea made for you and breakfast should be up in five minutes."
"Arigatou" the young human-girl-turned-cyborg smiled back as she sat down at her seat at the family table, across from her was her father, whom she smiled warmly at.
"Ohayo, Nanoha-chan" Shiro paused from his tea to return the smile with a warm, fatherly one of his own, "Sleep well?"
"I had another nightmare about Metal…" Nanoha shivered at the mere mention of the robot that almost killed her. Despite how well she's recovered physically and mentally; the mental trauma from her attack was still there and it gave her nightmares when it was mentioned; she shook off the shiver and put on the best, cute smile she can pull off, "Other than that I'm fine; it was nice to be able to sleep knowing I don't have to be so dishonest anymore."
"I'm sure you were surprised to find out that we already knew about your condition even after you told us and apologized about keeping it away from us." Momoko said as she started to serve breakfast all around, making sure to give a little bit more to Nanoha and the wheel-chair-bound Hayate, "I'm sorry that we kept that from you."
"It was just surprising, that's all." Nanoha said as she politely and slowly started to dig in. The meal of the morning was an omelette with a side of toast.
"Anyways…" Lindy changed the subject, "I assume we're all ready to meet the press? From what I was informed of by Admiral Crowbel, the media will arrive at about 1000 according to the Japanese clock. I explained to you all everything about what they'd ask, so let's be sure to answer their questions the best we can!"
"Hai!" The others present agreed.
[OP: "Eternal Blaze" Mizuki Nana]
Sonic: Knight of the Night Sky
Chapter 37
Rise of the Egg Carrier
[Station Square: Outside Casinopolis]
[Time: 0700 am]
[No BGM]
The effects of the sleeping gas long gone, the trio of Sonic, Alicia and Fate were awoken by the sounds of discussion and such as they were checked over of injuries by Shamal and Arf of the Yellow; in addition, from the medical staff of the sub-division, Yuuno Scrya was called down to help check for injuries and mend them if there were any.
"Oh…" Sonic shook his head to fight off a headache; dazed, dehydrated and tired, the hedgehog felt a bit out of place, "Wha…?"
"Take it easy, Sonic-kun. You, Alicia-chan and Fate-chan were unconscious all night." Shamal softly placed her hand upon the hedgehog's forehead to check for a fever, "Your temperature's fine. No obvious injuries. Breakfast is served at a table nearby."
"Eh?!" Now the hedgehog was nervous, last he checked, most of what Shamal cooked wasn't too edible.
"Vita-chan cooked it." The medic pouted a bit, "Mou.. I'm not that bad."
The hedgehog went over to a table nearby with Alicia and Fate. Vita was already waiting for them; the Iron Knight had her usual knight garb, which was a red Gothic Lolita-style dress with black frills and yellow ribbons, a large red hat with plush rabbit heads, and black and red boots. Also with her were Alisa and Suzuka; the dirty-blonde held a particular stone that looked similar to the key that opened Windy Valley.
[BGM: "Miscasting" Nanoha A's]
"Vita?" Sonic asked as he sat down, "What are you doing here? Why are Alisa-san and Suzuka-san with you?"
"Orders have changed." The iron knight replied, "Now eat. All three of you"
"Hai!" The trio did just that, while their breakfast sandwiches weren't anything like the omelets the Takamachi residence had, Vita's cooking proved better than Shamal's at the least.
"While you three were sleeping." The loli-knight explained, "The Admiral pulled Quint from my team to help deal with the pressers scheduled to arrive today."
"Why are you here then?" Alicia asked, "I thought you were with Red Team getting the emerald shards."
"Red mutt detected a few shards in the mountain region." Vita replied, "I'm here because these two are due for another lesson on barrier magic and the differences between the two types, and since we already know that Baldy Nosehair's more interested in the Chaos Emeralds than the Master Emerald shards Signum figured that your team sees more action. And-"
"You're bored in other words." Sonic summarized
"Oy!" The iron knight huffed in annoyance, "All of the other reasons apply too!"
"Alright, alright." Fate sighed, "Where are we going?"
"Fox boy detected a Chaos Emerald reading from one of the mountains in the Mystic Ruins." Vita answered, "We checked up and the only way to the zone of interest is through a gate that had the same mark as this stone thing."
"Ano… If it matches then you can just put the key in to open the gate" the hedgehog noted as he finished up the quick breakfast, "Why did you come back to get us instead of going in and getting the emerald?"
"Because the bakas from GUN tried arresting you three again" Vita frowned in half-frustration half-annoyance, "They just don't know when to quit. Eisen and I scared them off though."
"Arigatou" Fate politely said, "Hopefully that's the last we see of them"
The trio stood up, their respective Knight Garb and Barrier Jackets active and devices either in hand or sheathed like the hedgehog's was. Vita and her companions took this as a sign that they were ready to get going. It didn't take too long for them to arrive at the Train Station in Station Square.
[Station Square Express Train to Mystic Ruins]
"Hope you brought your coats, Alisa-san, Suzuka-san." Sonic said as they boarded the train to the Mystic Ruins, "I think Tails' computer mentioned something about that zone having the name "Ice Cap", and is prone to snow-flurries and avalanches."
"We'll be fine." Suzuka smiled politely, "Thanks for your concern."
Vita shook her head and gazed around at some of the newspaper articles that the train had posted along the walls from the printed press. One photo cover of the Station Square Times from the morning post caught her attention; so she grabbed a copy and read the article. If she wasn't already enough from having to deal with GUN, the tabloid she just gazed over made her even more annoyed.
'OY! Blue boy! Take a look!' Vita mentally shouted to the blue hedgehog and shoved the paper just short of his face to allow him to read it.
The tabloid's cover showed a picture of Vita when she defended Sonic from the rabid fans at Casinopolis; while the photo itself didn't look too scandalous, the headline made the scandal known with the big bold text read out, "Love in the air? Sonic has a girlfriend?!"
' "This young little cutie was seen fending off a wave of fans with a hammer, her voice was loud and vicious in her defense when she declared that if they wanted to ambush her little "blue boy" then they answer to her. That was her claim to the feelings of the young hedgehog, despite the fact that Sonic was already accompanied by two cute, lovely twins. If that wasn't enough to send a little message then what happened afterwards helped to confirm this experienced reporter's ideas. The cute hug they shared had the beautiful scent of romance in the air"' Sonic read out and also sent to the others via telepathy, 'Eh?! They think Vita and I are d-dating?!'
'Blue boy and me?! DATING?! ARE THEY KIDDING?!' Vita almost shouted out loud, but kept it in the mental channel; which gave the others a bit of a daze by the loudness, 'Oy!'
'Well you gotta admit that picture does make you two look cute together.' Alicia Testarossa observed, her tone and expression couldn't display her amusement enough.
'Not helping Alicia-onee-chan' Fate sighed as her amused expression matched Alicia's 'Hayate and the others will enjoy hearing about this.'
'Oy!' Vita angrily huffed, though the blush on her face didn't help her own cause too much 'Urusai! We have a job to do.'
Just as she said that the train arrived at the Mystic Ruins Station. The Hedgehog and Iron Knight "Cute Couple" were the first to exit with Alicia, Fate, Reinforce Zwei, Alisa and Suzuka in tow. The citizens were all too polite to let them all go out first, with some of the women and teenage girls on board admiring the cute atmosphere of love and affection they saw from the group; some were heard giggling, much to Vita's annoyance.
[Mystic Ruins: Red Mountain]
[BGM: "Red Mountain" Sonic Adventure]
Being two mages short of their usual roster didn't deter the Red Team from their objective of locating the Master Emerald shards. With Quint helping to prep the Takamachi residence for the upcoming interviews and Vita "babysitting" the trainees Alisa and Suzuka; Signum, Knuckles, Chrono and Megane still were able to press on and with the little resistance aside from the usual variety of Egg mechs.
Knuckles was actually a bit glad for the absence of the Loli-knight from his team, albeit the only reason was because he wouldn't hear the end of Vita's lectures about jinxes, because sure enough, the echidna found himself digging through the ground for pieces of the Master Emerald. He was thankful to remember one of the most important rules about treasure hunting: "Never go anywhere without a shovel". His Shovel Claws, which fitted perfectly over his mitts, had helped him plenty of times in treasure hunting before and their trustworthy durability despite the long time he's had them were impressive to say the least.
'Knuckles' Signum asked over the mental channels, 'Any sign of the shards yet?'
'Hold on one second' the echidna asked and let out a roar of "Ora! Ora! Ora!" and drilled into the ground over one particular spot, when he emerged seconds later, he had in his hands one of the missing shards, 'Found one!'
'Two more to go' The swordswoman nodded; in all truthfulness, she could understand Vita's willingness to personally give the trainees the barrier lessons; long hours of treasure hunting for shards were beginning to become a boredom for her, 'Hope the Iron Knight's having fun.'
'Oy, it sure beats sitting around talking to some guys in suits' Knuckles noted.
'Ugh! I hate press interviews!' Megane huffed, 'Being a summoner is rare enough, but when they start asking me questions about Lu; that's when it gets personal.'
'I've heard that some of the media reporters have said nasty stuff about that' Chrono added with a frown, 'When Admiral Crowbel arranged for your transfer to this unit, she put her foot down on the rumors.'
'I thank her for that…' The woman sighed. All of a sudden a green glow caught her eye; when she checked she found the second Emerald shard in the area, 'Found another shard!'
'One more to go' Knuckles noted, 'Thanks for your help Megane'
'Bonus points for politeness, Knuckles-kun' The summoner chuckled a bit; when she was transferred to the Red Team, she and Quint were both charged with making sure that the echidna was not only kept out of trouble, but also learning proper, civilized etiquette.
With two shards secured, the team continued their efforts to finish the hunt; in usual cases of their hunts it was the last shard that was the hardest to find.
[Mystic Ruins: Ice Cap]
[BGM: "Ice Cap 1" Sonic Adventure]
A sunny, but cold environment greeted Sonic, Alicia, Fate, along with Iron Knight Vita and the trainees Alisa and Suzuka; all of them in a vicious chase with Eggman's to the Chaos Emerald that was detected in the mountain zone. They already ran into the almost too predictable welcoming committee with an ambush of E-07 Ice-Balls. The robots themselves were small and spherical while piloting a larger mech that was able to spray an icy cloud.
"Well Alisa-san, Suzuka-san. These robots will be a good example for the first type of barrier that I can show." Sonic said as held his sword passively; he smirked when the E-07s attempted to spray him with a cloud of frost that was guaranteed to freeze him where he stood. Calmly as ever, the hedgehog said only one word, "Aura"
"Panzergeist!" Freiewind confirmed, the device's master made a quick motion and held the sword with the base of the hilt at his chest and the tip pointed up. A brief flash of blue light shimmered about him for a split-second before he returned the device to a passive grip at his side. His eyes closed as a fierce light-blue aura engulfed his whole body; the frost cloud attempted to swallow him whole, but it literally was deflected by the aura; the clouds then dispersed with nothing to keep them up.
"Eh?" Alisa blinked, "How the?!"
"It's a field-type spell, Panzergeist, one of the three types of defensive shielding spells." The Iron Knight lectured as she crushed the Ice-Ball mechs flat with Graf Eisen; it did feel good to destroy a mech again, "It's one of the more advanced types, it can consume a lot of mana if you're trying to multi-task with it. Blue boy has some trouble with this one still when trying to mix it in with attacking. In situations like this when he's just using it to protect himself, then there won't be nearly as much mana drain."
"It's still just one of the types" Sonic added as the group pressed on through the caves of the Ice Cap, "The other two types are just as important; so it's highly recommended that you learn the three and be able to determine which spell fits a situation.
Through the caves they went in search for the Emerald, along the way while navigating the rocky ledges in one cave they saw a large cat apparently ice fishing; Alicia looked through her memory of the recent developments and recognized the identity of the cat.
"Sonic-kun" The girl pointed out the cat, "That's Big, he's apparently looking for his frog friend named "Kaeru-kun", Reinforce Eins-san said that she had a word with him when he turned up in Station Square looking for the frog."
"And he's doing it by ice fishing?" the hedgehog quirked an eyebrow, "Wait.. didn't Eins-san say that this frog was probably holding a Chaos Emerald?"
Just as the hedgehog asked that, Big got a huge hit from his fishing rod, and after a lengthy battle of pulling and reeling, he pulled out the frog he was looking for from the frozen water, "Kaeru-kun!" he cried in joy as he held up the frog for all to see. Mouths were agape from the humans and hedgehog when they saw that the frog did indeed have a peculiar looking tail.
"Wow… Eins was right." Vita blinked, "He does have a tail"
Before the teams could do anything or contemplate securing the frog, it jumped from the hands of its best friend and hopped off. Big ran off in pursuit, his cries of "Wait, Kaeru-kun!" were heard from the cavern; which had its entrance collapsed after the cat ran through.
"Shimatta!" Vita cursed and banged her hand against the icy wall, "Lost one emerald."
"There's still the other one detected at the end of these mountains" Fate noted, "The signals still strong according to Bardiche"
"We'll settle for that one then" The Iron Knight huffed, her irritability was only growing with each setback to her objective, "Come on!"
The teams made their way out of the ice cavern and found themselves overlooking a mountain region that had a fresh cap of snow along the mountains.
"Be careful" Vita warned, "I heard some rumblings of the GUN using this area to test-fire cannons; they're doing two jobs there. The testing of prototype weapons and assisting with avalanche control."
"Avalanche control?" Sonic asked
"Hai" The iron knight pulled out a small brochure that had an insignia of a snowflake on it, "The area we're on is a ski resort that uses this mountain, we happen to be in the "Expert" region, which also happens to be closed sometimes for avalanche controls."
"Please don't tell me that today they have it closed for that reason." Alisa shivered
A loud boom that sounded like it came from a cannon was heard. From the cannon fire came a medium-sized shell that impacted an overhead mound of snowpack and initiated a small avalanche from a few miles above them. With an increasing pace, the snow crumbled down in the avalanche, and unfortunately, the mages were soon to be in the path of the snow.
"Guess that answers your question" Suzuka said a bit nervously, "Uh… Is it safe to say that barrier spells won't stop this?"
"Hai…" Sonic and Vita nodded and spoke at the same time; mouths agape and they were quite surprised
"So the best thing to do here is run?" Alicia asked.
"Hai…" the two again nodded and simultaneously spoke; still in shock
Fate quickly shouted to get her friends' attention as to what she found. The Artificial Mage found a wooden gate that acted as an entrance to this area from the actual resort. Deciding to put their own safety above a risk of the destruction of public property, the mages managed to chop the wooden gate into three makeshift longboards. Sonic and Vita took the first one; Alicia and Fate sat on the second; and Alisa and Suzuka had the third.
[Uminari City: Midori-ya Café]
[No BGM]
While the other mages were off to their tasks, Quint Nakajima, usually of the Red Team, assisted the Takamachi residence in prepping for the media interviews. Within an hour of her own arrival, the first wave of interviewing reporters showed up; true to the preset orders they were in casual, civilian clothes in order to keep from suspicions of the high-school and middle-school aged girls that usually bought sweats and drinks from the café.
The first interview happened behind closed doors with Reinforce Eins and Quint Nakajima outside to stand guard. Hayate helped to cover Nanoha's shift while she was in the middle of the interviews.
During one of the first few interviews something caught the attention of the Unison Device. She frowned and narrowed her eyes as she gazed out the window.
"Something wrong?" Quint asked
"Go inside and tell them that I'm going fishing." Eins requested; she didn't stick around to see Quint narrow her eyes and knock on the door loudly before entering and giving the message. Before the interviews were started, all of the reporters and family members that were part of the interviews were told a series of code-words. The one that Reinforce said, "going fishing" was the term they used for "a spy is trying to listen in, stop all classified discussion, I'll deal with them"
[BGM: "Fly in the Freedom" Sonic Adventure 2]
With all silence and stealth Reinforce walked out of the café's front entrance. The silver-haired woman took a soft leap up to the rooftop of the café and narrowed her eyes as the source of her suspicion was revealed. She saw the white, female anthropomorphic bat dressed in a black jumpsuit with a pink heart-shaped breastplate that revealed her bust that was rather large for a 17-year old girl; long, white high-heeled boots with a heart at the end just at the bat's knee; her gloves were long and smooth-looking, reaching just up to her elbows. The bat-girl had long black wings and make-up beautifully adorning her face. Despite the rather eye-appealing display, Reinforce Eins was unfazed as she quietly approached the bat.
"Another agent from GUN, I assume?" Eins asked almost casually as she held the bat in a chain-binding spell, completely surprising the teen.
"H-how did you?" The girl started to say, but then realized the position she was in and what the woman asked of her. With a shake of her head she, tried to act as casual as she could, it helped little that her expression and body language displayed some form of calmness, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't try to lie to me." Reinforce's glare was stone cold, almost glaring deep into the bat's soul, "You were obviously attempting to spy on the café. Why else would you be here?"
"I'm a treasure hunter" the bat casually replied, "The name's Rouge the Bat. I go all around the world looking for the most beautiful treasures and take them."
"And what led your so-called "hunt" to the roof of a family café?" Eins asked as she started to smirk, she'd like to see the seductive bat talk her way out of the bind she was in, "Obviously even I could tell there were no jewels here."
"A highly-skilled treasure huntress like myself knows better than to reveal my secret sources." Rouge smirked in rising confidence, "It would give me far too much competition."
"Competition led you to this roof? Last I checked you were the only one I found here." Reinforce retorted, "And I wouldn't put past the GUN to overlook the idea of certain jewels to be "missing" as payment for your services."
Rouge's confidence started to waver and she started to question her own reasons for her "task". 'Just who is this woman? She's tougher than anyone I've faced. Even the women I talked to buy my story, but this one's poking holes everywhere!'
"Reinforce-san?" Miyuki asked as she joined the two on the rooftop, "What did you find?"
"Just a small fish" Eins replied, "Working for the GUN, her objective was to spy on us."
"Is she bugged?" Miyuki asked
Reinforce nodded and shoved her hand into the cleavage gap of the bat, ignoring the late-teen's cries of "Let go!" "Hands off!" and "Not so rough!". Her fingers grasped and pulled out a small bug device.
"Hai" The unison device confirmed and then closed her fist fiercely to shatter the bug in her hand, "Not anymore though"
"Check her ears too." The daughter and ninja-in-training of the Takamachi residence informed, "If she's bugged, then she has an earwig too."
The silver-haired woman nodded; with her grip on the bat's breastplate holding on strong, she searched the bat's left ear for the mentioned earwig; though she struck out on the left ear, the right was more promising. With a smirk, Reinforce pulled out the earwig from Rouge's ear and stepped on it. She released the bat from her grip and clapped her hands metaphorically to remove dust, "Problem solved"
"W-well.. I n-never!" Rouge padded and adjusted her outfit to fit more properly, she had no issue with the other women in her presence, "I have never felt so violated in my whole life. Just because you're so jealous of my looks doesn't mean you can just go around touching me so personally with those hands."
"Don't flatter yourself." Eins retorted and dismissed the bindings, "Now go on; run along to your friends and report. Tell them the little fish I throw back into the sea"
The bat let out a defiant growl, but quickly retracted it and backed down as she felt the familiar glare that Reinforce brought down on her intimidated her and shook her to the bone. Taking the better valor of wisdom; the bat began to flap her wings and fly off.
'Defeated..' Rouge thought with a scowl, 'I can't believe it I was detected like that! How did they even know I was with GUN?! Rather what the heck did she capture me with… I'm definitely reporting this to them… but I'm not sure if this sort of work is worth all the jewels they can think of if I have to deal with her again'
[Mystic Ruins: Ice Cap: Snow-Capped mountains]
[BGM: "Ice Cap 3" Sonic Adventure (snowboarding theme)]
Any other time and the four young mages along with magic knights Vita and Sonic probably would have probably enjoyed riding the snow on the mountains of the Ice Cap, but after a close call with the avalanche there wasn't much enjoyment, only necessity.
Thankfully the pairs on the boards were able to easily navigate the tough courses and natural terrain on their sleds. Through a couple of twists, turns and jumps they went until they came to a clearing; where another ambush was waiting for them.
Egg-mechs shaped like falcons descended down on the wide open clearing and started to drop bombs on their location.
"Shimatta" The hedgehog cursed, held out his left hand to defend against the bombs with the defensive belkan shield spell "Panzerschild".
"That would be the Shield type of defensive spells" Vita explained as she quickly sent a volley of her iron bolt "Schwalbefliegen" spell at the falcons, "The most basic type of defensive spells. Basic, but reliable"
The trainees, Alisa and Suzuka, absorbed the Iron Knight's lecture and watched as her spell took out the wave of robots that besieged their position. From there it was smooth sailing to the bottom of the trail, where the green Chaos Emerald was in the middle of some of the snow.
"Add another emerald to our count" Sonic said as he picked up the gem, "Well at least we get something out of that little snow-ride."
"Let's get out of here before GUN notices. There's a rendezvous point in the Mystic Ruins for us and the Reds when we complete our own task." Vita said as she and the others helped to create a tactical snow-bank that surrounded them and also cover their Dimension Transfer off the mountain.
[Mystic Ruins]
[BGM: "Mystic Ruin" Sonic Adventure]
Sonic, Alicia, Fate, Vita, Alisa and Suzuka, with their chaos emerald secured from Ice Cap, met up with Knuckles, Signum, Megane and Chrono at the designated rendezvous point in the ruins to discuss the updates to their objectives and how much progress they made. The location for the meeting was outdoors nearby a fresh spring and waterfall. Nearby the spring was a huge pond with lily-pads, ideal for fishing tourists that often enjoyed the appearance of the pond.
"Oy, Sonic!" Knuckles grinned in greeting of his long time best friend and part-time rival, "Glad to see you again."
"Knuckles, Signum-san" Sonic nodded in return
"How are you three feeling?" Signum asked in regards to the condition of the blue team's trio, concerned that there could be any possible side effects from the knock-out gas they were exposed to, "Last night you were out cold."
"We're fine" Fate answered, "The medics checked us out after we woke up"
"We managed to secure another Chaos Emerald" the hedgehog revealed both emeralds, the first one was the same that they acquired in Windy Valley, "When Eggman attacked he only got away with one of them. Now we have two again"
"He used the emeralds to power up this beast he calls "Chaos"." The swordswoman observed, "According to some of the research I read up on while we were waiting for your group, Chaos is supposedly an ageless god of an ancient culture. I read something about it being sealed because of the safety of the culture."
"You said it was there when the Master Emerald shattered, right?" the hedgehog asked, "Could it be possible that it was sealed in the Emerald and when it broke out, that's what caused the emerald to shatter?"
"Maybe" Megane nodded, "We also heard back on a couple of inquiries that Reinforce made in regards to Chaos. Its origins should be depicted in stone tablets, but the tablets themselves were stolen days ago from a museum in Station Square. GUN never did find the culprit."
[BGM: "Theme of Dr EGGMAN" Sonic Adventure]
"And they won't if I have any say in that matter. I prefer to perform my evil deeds without being locked in prison thank you very much." Eggman's voice surprised the groups as he suddenly dropped down in his egg-mobile, "I thought I might have missed an Emerald when I ambushed Sonic last night. And oh look you brought another one too."
"Like I'm going to let you have the- ugh!" The hedgehog started to say with his device-blade drawn but suddenly found himself the target of a powerful surprise arm sweep from behind. While he managed to keep a hold on his blade, the emeralds were knocked out of his hands well before he was sent into the wall; the force of his impact made a pretty decent sized dent in the rocky wall, "Kuh!"
"Sonic!" all of the mages/mage knights cried in surprise and quickly checked on the hedgehog in concern.
"I'm fine" Sonic winced as he slowly got to a kneeling position, "Just caught by surprise… But, the Emeralds!"
As Sonic recovered from the surprise attack with the assistance of the others; the culprit of the attack was revealed to be none other than Chaos 2, the beast roared with a powerful presence; it looked as healthy and vicious as ever. Its master laughed in pure satisfaction over the power that his beast held.
"Well done, Chaos!" Eggman smirked, "I could tell you've been waiting for that shot of payback. You'll get more of that soon. Now go pick up those emeralds as a reward and incentive for future servitude"
The beast non-verbally nodded and turned itself into a puddle and absorbed the two emeralds, not only doubling its emerald count, but also changing its shape drastically. Its form changed from a humanoid-like creature to that of a huge shark-like one with razor-like fins.
"Just like the stone tablets predicted" The genius scientist laughed, "With every emerald, the strength increases, now make those insects pay for disrupting our plans!"
Chaos 4 roared as it dove into the pond, soon pursued by Sonic and the others. Devices drawn and everything, the team overlooked the beast that waited for any brave fool to try and claim the emeralds back from it.
"Grr... I'm gonna fry that thing" Sonic growled as he started to draw Freiewind from its sheathe to wield it, his efforts were stopped quickly by Signum, who held her hand over him in a stopping motion, "Oy, Signum-san, I wanna fight that thing!"
"No" The swordswoman gave a serious rejection, "You already took a beating when it caught you by surprise, the last thing any of us want is for you to get a concussion from another hit like that."
"Besides, look at situation" Vita pointed out the fact that the Chaos beast was under water and the only way to fight it was on the lily-pads, "It's underwater, so if any of us tried to attack from the air it would simply just dive down. Our best bet is to use those pads, but there's not enough for all of us and they aren't sturdy. Signum, Knuckles, myself and the enforcer will deal with it"
"So what am I supposed to do while you guys go fight it?" the hedgehog asked in annoyance.
"Lecture" Signum replied, "Help Megane and your teammates explain our tactics and such."
"Don't worry, Sonic" Knuckles smirked, "We'll have that thing eating dirt in no time"
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Sonic watched as Chrono, Knuckles, Vita and Signum engaged the Chaos shark from the lily-pads.
[BOSS: Chaos 4]
[BGM: "Chaos" Sonic Adventure]
The beast attacked the Iron Knight first by lashing out its left razor fin at her. Vita frowned at Chaos 4's overly straightforward attacked and protected herself with a red barrier spell that coated the front half of her body in a barrier-like shield. The iron knight then forced the beast back with a burst of her barrier.
The stun the burst made provided a good enough distraction for her to hit the head with Eisen in its default-mallet form. She frowned as the beast burst into pieces only for the four lights from the emeralds it absorbed to begin regenerating it from the attack.
"Panzerhindernis" Sonic observed from the sidelines, "The Ancient Belkan knight's equivalent to the third type of protection spells, the barrier."
"What's the difference between them?" Suzuka asked, "Is any of them better than the others?"
"Some are more advanced, but they are in no way actually superior to them." Fate answered, "Each defensive spell has its own differences from the other types."
"Barriers take the hit and gave us the opportunity to knock physical foes back and counter" Alicia added further, "Shielding repels the hits and the field-type protects our bodies. Knowing and determining which spell to use in defense isn't the only thing you should learn in defense."
"You gotta learn to stand your ground with the barrier in place otherwise it'll do no good." Sonic noted, "Also dodge when you can"
Both heiresses nodded and continued to watch as Chaos 4 regenerated its body with the emeralds' power. In a fit of rage and defiance the shark-like beast flipped and made several lily-pads bounce to force any of the mages off so it can attack from the water. Chrono leapt from the pad he was on, which was about to eject him, and onto another pad which was unaffected by the beast's attack.
"Blaze Cannon" S2U, Chrono's device, chimed and from the head of the staff-form, the teen Enforcer unleashed a powerful jet of blue flame upon the beast; beheading it when the head was vulnerable. It didn't defeat the beast, but when Chaos 4 regenerated, it appeared much more sluggish and vulnerable.
Knuckles took a particular advantage of that and coated himself in a Panzergeist field before diving into the water like a drill. His momentum carried him into the center point of the beast and forced it out of the pond.
"You're up Signum" The echidna passed a metaphorical baton to his team leader.
The swordswoman nodded, gazed up at the airborne beast and sheathed Laevatein in its saya, "Laevatein!"
"Schlangeform" The device loaded one cartridge in as its master redrew it from the saya, the blade split into a snake-like whip form and coated itself in a purple flame. The power of the device could be felt from all who saw the battle.
"Hiryu.." Signum readied the hilt, "Issen!" and lashed out the bladed-whip; with Chaos 4 well within the long range of the attack, it was quickly binded by the whip, stabbed by the blades and the flames from both the device and the mana proved too much and literally crushed the water-beast to a point where it couldn't regenerate.
[Boss Clear]
[BGM: "Round Clear" Sonic Adventure]
The swordswoman sighed as her device returned to its schwertform and was sheathed in its saya by her again. With the Chaos threat neutralized for the moment, Signum turned her attention to its master.
"Don't think you've won yet." Eggman growled and pushed a button on his Egg-Mobile, "For now this is a tactical retreat, but let me show you my finest creation yet before I leave."
On cue, a large shadow clouded the view of the clear-blue sky. Everyone looked up and with the exception of Eggman, was all shocked. A huge armored aircraft with a white, red, yellow and black hull descended down on the group's location. Palmtrees were rumbling and shaking in the harsh breeze as the mad scientist laughed in pride. The ship fired down a light-green beam on the puddle that was Chaos 4. Within seconds the puddle disappeared into the beam up onto the ship.
"Behold! The Egg Carrier!" Eggman pointed with pride to his massive ship
[Ending: "Spiritual Garden" Tamura Yukari]
[End of Chapter 37]
Author's Notes: Well well, Rouge got introduced so early. An interesting development is coming up next.
Translations: Panzerschild (Tank Shield in german)
Panzerhindernis (Tank barrier in german)
Pamzergeist (Tank Spirit.. i think in german)
Hiryu Issen (Flying Dragon Flash)