Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for 'The Ranger's Last Testament'
Morning came quick to us, the sun shining through the canvas. The snow wasn't coming down anymore, the sky clear as could be! I woke up from my sleep, the nightmares having ceased. But as I woke up, the smell of cooking meat was filling the shelter, causing the others to wake up!
"Who's got bacon?" Knuckles asked, quickly sitting up. Eirik was whistling, frying up slices of cured pork belly on a cast iron pan.
"Quite a nose ye gat ther! Just gie it a feow minutes, an ye can help yourself te as much as ye'd like!" Eirik responded, cracking a few eggs next to the bacon.
"I actually understood that, and I loved every word of that sentence!" Knuckles exclaimed, quickly getting up and running over to the fire. As I stretched my arms, well, the one arm, Ruby was talking in her sleep.
"Johnny… just… keep going." She muttered, tossing, and turning. Part of me wondered what she was dreaming of. She still had the dreamcatcher necklace on, the necklace still intact. As she kept tossing and turning, her breathing was soon becoming more erratic!
"Ruby. Ruby!" I said, shaking her shoulder to wake her up. Ruby bolted awake, wiping sweat from her forehead. She was breathing heavily, looking around. The moment she saw me, she calmed down, controlling her breathing.
"Bad dream?" I asked.
"No. Not a bad dream. But… I don't want to talk about it." Ruby answered, quickly getting up. She quickly walked over to the fire, leaving me next to our packs.
"I guess I know what it's like to be Ruby." I commented, remembering my history of not wanting to talk about certain things.
After breakfast, we gathered what we had brought to the shelter, everyone filing out. I had rolled up the caribou pelt, carrying it under my arm. But as Ruby and I were following the others, Eirik grabbed my arm, stopping me.
"I'm sorry te stop ye frae leaving, but I hiv a request." Eirik said.
"Shoot." I responded, wanting to hear what he had to say.
"The pelt. May I hiv it? Ye see… ther's this lassie…" Eirik began to request.
"A girl? You're sweet on a girl?" I asked, not remembering him ever mentioning this.
"Aye. An… I wish te mak something frae the pelt for her. Something te tell her that… I love her." Eirik explained. Smiling, I handed him the caribou pelt, seeing the glow in his eyes.
"Good luck on your journey, my Viking brother." I said, bidding him farewell.
"An may the Gods watch oot ower yer battles, friend." Eirik returned, walking back into his shelter.
I began jogging, catching up with the others. As soon as I did, I could hear them talking about their next plans on our next location.
"You know, after all of this traveling, it would be nice to just go back home for a while. I miss Station Square. And Chili dogs!" Sonic lamented.
"Chili dogs aside, it would actually be nice to get back to familiar territory. Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure Eggman won't have any ideas to take the Master Emerald. Might need to reset the security back at the temple." Knuckles agreed.
"Sounds good. My vacation days are running thin." Rouge responded. We continued walking, eventually reaching the igloo we had been staying at for the week. As soon as we got inside, we began packing our things.
"Alright guys, we leave in about two hours. Make sure you have everything! If you leave something, don't expect for me to circle around for you to get it back!" Tails announced. As Ruby and I were packing our things, I could sense a tension. A very subtle feeling.
"Ruby… I need to ask you something." I said, folding my shirts.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"If you're having nightmares, you need to tell me. I can help you." I said.
Ruby shook her head, smiling.
"I didn't have any nightmares. I already told you this morning." Ruby said, putting her clothing into her pack.
"Ruby, you were sweating. In Holoska! You were breathing as if something was chasing you! You were telling me to 'keep going'! From what I got from that; it wasn't something good." I explained.
Ruby sighed, tightening the drawstring on her pack. She stood up, her hands on her hips.
"What, all because I happen to sweat a bit in my sleep and mention you, you think it's something bad?" Ruby asked, giving off a bit of attitude. I'm a bit embarrassed to mention it, but that fiery personality of hers, it was one of the reasons I liked her!
"Well… from what's been happening the past few days, it didn't seem too far-fetched." I argued. Ruby slightly nodded, stepping around in the room a bit.
"Listen, I'm telling you the truth. It was just a dream I had. Nothing bad, mind you. If I do have a nightmare, I will tell you! But right now, let's finish packing so we can get out of here!" Ruby explained, grabbing her pack.
3 Hours later:
"Guys, we have company!" Tails exclaimed, the radar on the console lighting up! In the mid-afternoon sky, a swarm of bee bots were circling the Tornado X, slowly closing in!
"Not again!" I exclaimed. But before I could get out of my seat, a panel of metal separated the plane into two compartments. Ruby and I were separated from the others, the plane beginning to separate! Suddenly, the back end of the plane ejected away from the others, sending us down towards the ground.
"OH SHIIIIT!" We yelled, feeling ourselves freefall! But as soon as we began the freefall, the section of aircraft we were in began transforming, turning into a smaller aircraft! The controls for the aircraft sprung from a compartment on Ruby's side, allowing her to take control. Taking control of the wheel, Ruby took us out of our freefall, soon gaining altitude!
"Ruby! John! You guys alright?" Tails asked over the communicator.
"Yeah, we're fine! What was that all about?!" Ruby asked, soon steering towards the circling swarm.
"Just a precaution I developed! Listen, we need you to start taking out some of the swarm so we can regain control! The aircraft you guys are in, the Tornado Y, is equipped with those disabling bullets! Start shooting at the swarm so we can regain control of our flight!" Tails explained, his communicator going silent.
As Ruby took control, arming the weapons systems, I tried to use the radio in the aircraft to keep a communication line with the others. Thank God Ruby had extensive training in piloting aircrafts! But instead of finding their signal, I found the signal for a radio station. It was playing 'Danger Zone' by Kenny Loggins. Ruby looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.
"I was trying to find Tails' signal." I responded. But instead of turning off the radio, Ruby continued with arming the system, letting it play as we headed for the swarm! Soon, we were circling the swarm, bullets raining down as we made our flight pattern, taking out the bee bots! As we were taking them out, the bee bots began latching themselves onto the Tornado X, drilling into the hull!
"Guys, they're penetrating the hull! We need more fire support!" Tails exclaimed over the communicator.
"Roger!" Ruby replied, flipping a few switches. Soon, a small missile exited from one of the wings, exploding in the middle of the swarm, releasing an EMP wave! The near entirety of the swarm fell out of the sky, the latched bee bots becoming disabled, still stuck to the hull.
"Nice one!" I reacted. As we continued flying, Tails contacted us again.
"Thanks, guys! I think that's it from Eggman! Looks like he didn't want to make an appearance after last time! Fly closer to us, and we'll reform the Tornado X!" Tails announced.
"Damn, Eggman must still be scared after what you tried to do to him! I hope that doesn't stop us from stopping him." Ruby exclaimed.
"We'll get him! I'm sure of it!" I responded. After flying over to the Tornado X, our aircraft fused back together, reforming the plane. Soon, Tails reset the course for the United Federation.
"You guys did great back there! But I have to ask, why was 'Danger Zone' playing in the background when I called you guys?" Tails asked.
"I was trying to use the radio to find your frequency, but I accidently found a radio station." I explained. Tails laughed a bit, the Tornado X regaining its speed. But as the Tornado X continued its flight path, a sudden bolt of lightning passed us on the left, no evidence of an electrical storm being near our location!
"Woah! What was that?!" Tails exclaimed, not knowing how that was possible! Suddenly, a bolt of what looked to be golden light passed by the Tornado X as well, following the same path as the lightning bolt! Tails saw a graph in the console of his plane, seeing the energy readings to be of something he had never seen before!
"Whatever it is, it's not chaos energy-related!" Tails said, not knowing what kind of threat this was! Suddenly, a large surge of energy rocked the Tornado X, Tails barely able to keep it stable!
Something landed on the right wing, electricity circulating around the aircraft! The color drained from Tails' face, seeing the threat! It looked to be an old man with long, white hair and a large beard. But instead of looking frail, he was rippling with muscle, his eyes illuminated with pure lightning! He was wearing a white toga with golden arm guards, almost as if Zeus himself was standing on the wing of the Tornado X!
"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, never seeing something like this before! Suddenly, the golden ray of light collided with the stranger, sending him soaring off of the wing! Replacing the figure was what looked like a hedgehog, except he stood a foot above us, wearing golden armor! On his back were wings, as white as light itself! He looked at us, before smirking and giving us a nod, quickly flying off of the wing after the being he collided with!
"Was… was that Isaac?" Amy questioned, recognizing the hedgehog. Tails shook his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts.
"If that was Isaac, then whoever that guy was, it's not someone we need to stick around!" Tails said, changing course to follow an alternate route back to the United Federation!
"Who's Isaac?" I asked, never before hearing that name before from them.
"We never told you about him? He's our friend! And he is very powerful! We haven't seen him since he was married to Sally. But if that was him, then it looks like he's been pretty busy!" Rouge explained.
"Wait, that name. Sally… are you talking about Queen Sally?" Ruby asked. The other's eyes widened, never before hearing Princess Sally referred to as Queen Sally!
"Queen? Damn, things must be really bad in the future if she had to take the throne!" Knuckles reacted.
"If Sally is queen, then who is king?" Rouge asked.
"King? There is no king. But I think she used to have a husband at one point. A Ranger, I think." I answered. The others became quiet, almost in a state of mourning reflection.
"Isaac's going to die?" Sonic questioned, never before thinking of such an outcome. Tails soon got them out of the area, but not before witnessing what looked to be multiple beings restraining the electrical being on the top of a large mountain!
"If Isaac's going to die… what does that mean for everyone else in the Kingdom of Acorn?" Amy wondered, not liking the possible outcomes.
"And if Isaac is dead in the future… who knows how many of our friends are going to die, too." Knuckles said.
"He won't! None of them will die! Not if we have anything to do with it!" Ruby responded.