Me again!! Here's the last installment of the 'Lengthened Shadows'
series.. up next, Julie-su's first solo story (from what I've seen)
One question though.. should it be called 'Guiding lights', or
'Thicker than Blood'? I can't decide, so lemme know.
Enjoy, and please review.
ALL CHARS BELONG TO (does anyone even read this?!?) SEGA OR ARCHIE
~Rebecky-mo~
Legthened Shadows, part three: Soul Search
[Two year old Julie-su watched in horror as the giant piece of
medical equipment fell on her mother; she had no time to move, only
time for her mouth to open in a silent scream, before the deafening
crash echoed in the steel room, soon followed by the only witnesses
screams. "Mommmmeeeeeee!!!" The small echinda raced to the site,
trying desperatly to free her mother from the shorted-out debris, tears
running down her soft peach muzzle "Please mom, don't go...!!"]
[Floren-ca, Mari-su's friend and assistant ran into the room
through the metal doors, as her fears of the crashing noise were
justified "MARI!! Oh, Gods!!!" She quickly grabbed Julie-su and
pulled away the reluctant child away "Julie-su! Don't, you can't help
her now."] Julie-su's body gave in and sobbed uncontrollably as her
other 'mother' picked her up and hugged her, trying to keep herself
calm for the child's sake. Julie looked up at the roof by the beams,
trying to stop crying, as something in the rafters caught her eye...]
[Suddenly, Julie-su was pulled from Floren-ca's comforting
arms, and strapped to a cold table, brilliant white lights blinding
her. Then the machine shadowed the lights as it descended onto her
skull; "Floren-ca, Simon...DADDDEEEEE!!"]
Knuckles awoke with a start, almost jumping out of his position
at the strange dream; the only thing preventing him from doing so was a
slightly heavy mass on his chest and shoulder. He realized he wasn't
in a warm bed in his den, but rather covered in a blanket on a cold,
marble statue of his distant uncle, Dimitri, Julie-su asleep on him.
*How long have we been asleep?* From the moon in the cloudy
sky, it was at least midnight, if not later. Again he looked down
at the sleeping beauty; her cheeks still had the streak marks of
the tears she'd shed. She had cried for what seemed an hour, and he
didn't dare stop her; from what he knew, he had a feeling this was
the first true emotion she'd shown in a very long time.
He began thinking of the nightmare he just experienced, *Or
was it really mine? Could I have been witnessing Julie's memories?*
As if on cue, Julie-su began to shake, her face growing tense as
her own personal horror movie continued to play in her mind. Slowly,
so as not to wake her, her rubbed her upper arm to relax her, which
occured after a few moments.
If what little Kommisar said to her upset her this much,
she must have considered the thought of her being evil before; if
only he could make her believe him, it felt like he'd been stabbed
as each tear of sorrow had fallen...
"My, isn't this cozy." The guardain heard a soft ^Bamf^ noise
as Archimedes the fire ant appeared in a puff of smoke "Not one word,
Archy" Knux sighed, fighting his blush; he'd hoped Archy wouldn't have
come out here to check on them, it was just too damn awkward.
"Actually, I didn't" The tiny ant replied, reading Knux's
thoughts, "We need you; there's been a jailbreak at E.S.T HQ."
"WHA-?!?" Knux clamped a glove over his mouth to quiet himself
"What? When?!?" he hissed. The ant jumped to his shoulder, "Just about
two hour's ago. It happened too fast for Haven to step in, so all
Legionaire's in the building escaped. The rest of the Chaotix have
already gathered there."
"All Legionaire's...including Kommisar." Knuckles regained
his usual serious look "Listen, I can't right now; I can't get up
because Julie's still asleep, and.."
"No, I'm not.." a tired, hoarse voice interrupted him as
Julie-su moved away from his shoulder. One look at where she was
was enough for her to mutter "So much for it being a dream. What's
this about Kommisar?" Archimedes gave her the quick relay, and
without a word, he transported them to the scene of the crime...
********
"Man, this place is totally slagged!" Vector yelled as he
took in the scene. A huge hole had been blasted into the section
leading to the cells, bricks and concrete strewn everywhere. The
cell doors were torn off the hinges, and water pipes spewed thier
contents onto the floor.
Mighty the Armadillo groaned and covered his ears as he
spoke to Espio "How can he be so loud in the middle of the night?"
The violet chameleon shook his head in response, "We should invest in
a volume dial like the one for his walkman, but he's right, this place
has definitly looked better. Knux!!"
The three unlikely friends turned to see Archy's trademark
puff of smoke, revealing it's passengers "So, what have you heard
so far, guys?" Julie-su asked, surveying the scene with emotionless
eyes. Knux watched her and sighed inwardly; that brick wall inside
her had gone up again, but damage had definitly been done.
"Nothing yet. We're waiting for the Constable to show up."
Espio explained. As he said this, Remington's lieutentant entered the
room "He won't be coming, Chaotix. He's been taken to the hospital
for slight injuries recieved during the attack."
The entire group seemed in shock until Knux finally spoke
"Is it serious?" The older echinda shook his head "Minor bumps and
bruises, but they wanted to be sure; anyways, I suppose you'd like the
info on tonight's break-in?" As he watched the guardian nod, he
continued:
"Roughly two hours ago, hole was blasted into the south
wall by a small Legionaire ship, that was incredibly silent and
cloaked; we never saw it coming, until they attacked. There were
some serious injures to some prisoners and guards, including the
Constable who was speaking to one of the Legionaire's. In the
abruptness of the attack, we had no time to retaliate, and it seemed
they weren't there to fight; simply to pick up thier men. After that,
The ship reclaoked itself, and disappeared into the air."
"That's it??" Knuckles raised an eyebrow, "Boom, bust out,
then book it?" The entire crew was stumped, save Julie-su, who took
out her eye visor; this did make sense, ship break-in's only occured
if...
The lieutenant sighed "For now, yes. Right a the moment,
we're making sure our men are safe, and that no other prisoners
escape. We can't do anything about it until the morning light,
so you five might as well go home; I'll stay here and report if
we need you before then."
"Hmf! Wake us up just to send us back" Mighty groaned,
exhasted. He hadn't wanted to get up in the first place, but he
thought there was a bigger reason to get up than to hear what
he already knew.
"Relax, Mighty; " Archy warned "it's been a long night for all
of us. I'll transport you three back to your homes." The Chaotix
circled around the fire ant, then Vector looked over to Knux "Comin',
dude? It's the only way to travel!" Knux smirked and shook his head.
"Nah, I'm gonna go my own way; I need the air." He watched as the
Chaotix disappeared, then walked with Julie-su, who'd stuffed her
visor away, out the doors.
"You gonna be okay, Julie?" Knux asked. "All this with
Kommisar.." Julie-su gave her best reassuring smile and nodded
"Yeah, just need some rest." He gave her one last unsure look, then
placed his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll get her back, then
you can do what you have to." He took off into the night air as Julie
took out her Sky Board and headed for her own apartment.
She arrived within minutes, and saw a very strange surprise
waiting for her. Attached to her door was a piece of paper, a red rose
imprinted in one of the corners:
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. IF YOU WANT TO STOP THE DARKNESS,
WE ARE WITH YOU, IF YOU FOLLOW US...
Julie just stared at the letter for a moment; she had no clue
what the first sentance meant to her, but the second part...*IF YOU
FOLLOW US* She knew what had to be done, and once again, she knew
she had to do this by herself. She opened the door to her apartment,
and began to prepare...
********
"I can't believe we didn't pick up the ship on radar!!"
Spectre growled from beneath his cloak, hiding his white ring
"Thier technology is getting more advanced each time we face them!!"
"Even if we had, we had no time to intercept them." Locke,
Knuckles' father, replied, doing his best to sound calm, even
though he was as mad as his grandfather. Archimedes once again
returned to Haven "I saw nothing unusual at the E.S.T" he explained,
"but the Chaotix and I will return come morning, and.."
"Seems one of them won't wait." Sabre mused, looking at one
of the moniters. "Julie-su is making her way to the edge of the
island." That bit of news broke Locke's serenity "WHAT?!? Why is she
still out?" He knew of her trouble with Kommisar due to Sojourner's
report, but this...?
Archy sighed and spoke "I'll try and figure that out." With a
puff of smoke he disappeared once again, thinking , *Kids thier age
never seem to have curfews anymore...*
********
Julie-su stood at the edge of the island, making sure she had
the necessities for her journey; *Food, clothes, ammunition..*
"ARCHY?!?!" The fire ant poofed onto her backpack "Now where do you think
you're going?! We agreed we'd all search the island when morning came,
and now you're.."
"They're not on the island, Archimedes." Julie replied,
placing her visor back over her eye. "They've left." Her voice was
sure and steady, sunning the ant for a moment "Left? How do you..?"
She placed the backpack onto her shoulders as Archy hopped
into her open palm. "The Legion could have performed the standard
ground attack on the E.S.T base, but they chose the ship attack due
to the plan. Air assualts are only done to free prisoners for one
reason; they don't intend on staying on-island. I picked up the
ship's energy frequency at the Headquarters, but wasn't sure until
now why they used it."
Archimedes crossed all four of his 'arms' and glared "Makes
sense, I must admit; well, we'll wait until morning, then..."
"I'm going ALONE, Archy."
"And why is that? You'll need the rest of us to tackle them."
She sighed "Archy, I gotta do this by myself without outside
interference. This may be the only way for me to decide what role I'm
meant to play in life, and I can't let the Chaotix be in danger
because of me." Julie-su could see the hesitance in the ant's eyes, so
continued "Listen, you're always on Knux's back, telling him his past
connects directly to his future, his destiny--I want that..I need it."
Archimedes threw up his hands "The boy's right; you ARE
impossible to argue with! Just be careful, alright? I believe the
others would like to have you around a while longer; they've
gotten rather attached." Julie-su smiled, and gave him a peck
on the cheek, "Thank you, Archy." She whispered, placing him
on a boulder. "Tell the guys I'll be back..if I think I can."
The fire-ant watched as the confused echinda took of into
the night air, disappearing into the dark, "I hope you find what
you seek, young one." he whispered as he himself left in a puff
of smoke. "Because the rest of us can't tell you who you are,
even if we know the truth"....
(Whee! Done!! ^^ I so happy! Well, hoped ya liked, and if ya
didn't read the top, I need help with the title for the solo;)
'Guiding Lights' or 'Stonger Than Blood??' ? Review and lemme know!!
series.. up next, Julie-su's first solo story (from what I've seen)
One question though.. should it be called 'Guiding lights', or
'Thicker than Blood'? I can't decide, so lemme know.
Enjoy, and please review.
ALL CHARS BELONG TO (does anyone even read this?!?) SEGA OR ARCHIE
~Rebecky-mo~
Legthened Shadows, part three: Soul Search
[Two year old Julie-su watched in horror as the giant piece of
medical equipment fell on her mother; she had no time to move, only
time for her mouth to open in a silent scream, before the deafening
crash echoed in the steel room, soon followed by the only witnesses
screams. "Mommmmeeeeeee!!!" The small echinda raced to the site,
trying desperatly to free her mother from the shorted-out debris, tears
running down her soft peach muzzle "Please mom, don't go...!!"]
[Floren-ca, Mari-su's friend and assistant ran into the room
through the metal doors, as her fears of the crashing noise were
justified "MARI!! Oh, Gods!!!" She quickly grabbed Julie-su and
pulled away the reluctant child away "Julie-su! Don't, you can't help
her now."] Julie-su's body gave in and sobbed uncontrollably as her
other 'mother' picked her up and hugged her, trying to keep herself
calm for the child's sake. Julie looked up at the roof by the beams,
trying to stop crying, as something in the rafters caught her eye...]
[Suddenly, Julie-su was pulled from Floren-ca's comforting
arms, and strapped to a cold table, brilliant white lights blinding
her. Then the machine shadowed the lights as it descended onto her
skull; "Floren-ca, Simon...DADDDEEEEE!!"]
Knuckles awoke with a start, almost jumping out of his position
at the strange dream; the only thing preventing him from doing so was a
slightly heavy mass on his chest and shoulder. He realized he wasn't
in a warm bed in his den, but rather covered in a blanket on a cold,
marble statue of his distant uncle, Dimitri, Julie-su asleep on him.
*How long have we been asleep?* From the moon in the cloudy
sky, it was at least midnight, if not later. Again he looked down
at the sleeping beauty; her cheeks still had the streak marks of
the tears she'd shed. She had cried for what seemed an hour, and he
didn't dare stop her; from what he knew, he had a feeling this was
the first true emotion she'd shown in a very long time.
He began thinking of the nightmare he just experienced, *Or
was it really mine? Could I have been witnessing Julie's memories?*
As if on cue, Julie-su began to shake, her face growing tense as
her own personal horror movie continued to play in her mind. Slowly,
so as not to wake her, her rubbed her upper arm to relax her, which
occured after a few moments.
If what little Kommisar said to her upset her this much,
she must have considered the thought of her being evil before; if
only he could make her believe him, it felt like he'd been stabbed
as each tear of sorrow had fallen...
"My, isn't this cozy." The guardain heard a soft ^Bamf^ noise
as Archimedes the fire ant appeared in a puff of smoke "Not one word,
Archy" Knux sighed, fighting his blush; he'd hoped Archy wouldn't have
come out here to check on them, it was just too damn awkward.
"Actually, I didn't" The tiny ant replied, reading Knux's
thoughts, "We need you; there's been a jailbreak at E.S.T HQ."
"WHA-?!?" Knux clamped a glove over his mouth to quiet himself
"What? When?!?" he hissed. The ant jumped to his shoulder, "Just about
two hour's ago. It happened too fast for Haven to step in, so all
Legionaire's in the building escaped. The rest of the Chaotix have
already gathered there."
"All Legionaire's...including Kommisar." Knuckles regained
his usual serious look "Listen, I can't right now; I can't get up
because Julie's still asleep, and.."
"No, I'm not.." a tired, hoarse voice interrupted him as
Julie-su moved away from his shoulder. One look at where she was
was enough for her to mutter "So much for it being a dream. What's
this about Kommisar?" Archimedes gave her the quick relay, and
without a word, he transported them to the scene of the crime...
********
"Man, this place is totally slagged!" Vector yelled as he
took in the scene. A huge hole had been blasted into the section
leading to the cells, bricks and concrete strewn everywhere. The
cell doors were torn off the hinges, and water pipes spewed thier
contents onto the floor.
Mighty the Armadillo groaned and covered his ears as he
spoke to Espio "How can he be so loud in the middle of the night?"
The violet chameleon shook his head in response, "We should invest in
a volume dial like the one for his walkman, but he's right, this place
has definitly looked better. Knux!!"
The three unlikely friends turned to see Archy's trademark
puff of smoke, revealing it's passengers "So, what have you heard
so far, guys?" Julie-su asked, surveying the scene with emotionless
eyes. Knux watched her and sighed inwardly; that brick wall inside
her had gone up again, but damage had definitly been done.
"Nothing yet. We're waiting for the Constable to show up."
Espio explained. As he said this, Remington's lieutentant entered the
room "He won't be coming, Chaotix. He's been taken to the hospital
for slight injuries recieved during the attack."
The entire group seemed in shock until Knux finally spoke
"Is it serious?" The older echinda shook his head "Minor bumps and
bruises, but they wanted to be sure; anyways, I suppose you'd like the
info on tonight's break-in?" As he watched the guardian nod, he
continued:
"Roughly two hours ago, hole was blasted into the south
wall by a small Legionaire ship, that was incredibly silent and
cloaked; we never saw it coming, until they attacked. There were
some serious injures to some prisoners and guards, including the
Constable who was speaking to one of the Legionaire's. In the
abruptness of the attack, we had no time to retaliate, and it seemed
they weren't there to fight; simply to pick up thier men. After that,
The ship reclaoked itself, and disappeared into the air."
"That's it??" Knuckles raised an eyebrow, "Boom, bust out,
then book it?" The entire crew was stumped, save Julie-su, who took
out her eye visor; this did make sense, ship break-in's only occured
if...
The lieutenant sighed "For now, yes. Right a the moment,
we're making sure our men are safe, and that no other prisoners
escape. We can't do anything about it until the morning light,
so you five might as well go home; I'll stay here and report if
we need you before then."
"Hmf! Wake us up just to send us back" Mighty groaned,
exhasted. He hadn't wanted to get up in the first place, but he
thought there was a bigger reason to get up than to hear what
he already knew.
"Relax, Mighty; " Archy warned "it's been a long night for all
of us. I'll transport you three back to your homes." The Chaotix
circled around the fire ant, then Vector looked over to Knux "Comin',
dude? It's the only way to travel!" Knux smirked and shook his head.
"Nah, I'm gonna go my own way; I need the air." He watched as the
Chaotix disappeared, then walked with Julie-su, who'd stuffed her
visor away, out the doors.
"You gonna be okay, Julie?" Knux asked. "All this with
Kommisar.." Julie-su gave her best reassuring smile and nodded
"Yeah, just need some rest." He gave her one last unsure look, then
placed his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll get her back, then
you can do what you have to." He took off into the night air as Julie
took out her Sky Board and headed for her own apartment.
She arrived within minutes, and saw a very strange surprise
waiting for her. Attached to her door was a piece of paper, a red rose
imprinted in one of the corners:
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. IF YOU WANT TO STOP THE DARKNESS,
WE ARE WITH YOU, IF YOU FOLLOW US...
Julie just stared at the letter for a moment; she had no clue
what the first sentance meant to her, but the second part...*IF YOU
FOLLOW US* She knew what had to be done, and once again, she knew
she had to do this by herself. She opened the door to her apartment,
and began to prepare...
********
"I can't believe we didn't pick up the ship on radar!!"
Spectre growled from beneath his cloak, hiding his white ring
"Thier technology is getting more advanced each time we face them!!"
"Even if we had, we had no time to intercept them." Locke,
Knuckles' father, replied, doing his best to sound calm, even
though he was as mad as his grandfather. Archimedes once again
returned to Haven "I saw nothing unusual at the E.S.T" he explained,
"but the Chaotix and I will return come morning, and.."
"Seems one of them won't wait." Sabre mused, looking at one
of the moniters. "Julie-su is making her way to the edge of the
island." That bit of news broke Locke's serenity "WHAT?!? Why is she
still out?" He knew of her trouble with Kommisar due to Sojourner's
report, but this...?
Archy sighed and spoke "I'll try and figure that out." With a
puff of smoke he disappeared once again, thinking , *Kids thier age
never seem to have curfews anymore...*
********
Julie-su stood at the edge of the island, making sure she had
the necessities for her journey; *Food, clothes, ammunition..*
"ARCHY?!?!" The fire ant poofed onto her backpack "Now where do you think
you're going?! We agreed we'd all search the island when morning came,
and now you're.."
"They're not on the island, Archimedes." Julie replied,
placing her visor back over her eye. "They've left." Her voice was
sure and steady, sunning the ant for a moment "Left? How do you..?"
She placed the backpack onto her shoulders as Archy hopped
into her open palm. "The Legion could have performed the standard
ground attack on the E.S.T base, but they chose the ship attack due
to the plan. Air assualts are only done to free prisoners for one
reason; they don't intend on staying on-island. I picked up the
ship's energy frequency at the Headquarters, but wasn't sure until
now why they used it."
Archimedes crossed all four of his 'arms' and glared "Makes
sense, I must admit; well, we'll wait until morning, then..."
"I'm going ALONE, Archy."
"And why is that? You'll need the rest of us to tackle them."
She sighed "Archy, I gotta do this by myself without outside
interference. This may be the only way for me to decide what role I'm
meant to play in life, and I can't let the Chaotix be in danger
because of me." Julie-su could see the hesitance in the ant's eyes, so
continued "Listen, you're always on Knux's back, telling him his past
connects directly to his future, his destiny--I want that..I need it."
Archimedes threw up his hands "The boy's right; you ARE
impossible to argue with! Just be careful, alright? I believe the
others would like to have you around a while longer; they've
gotten rather attached." Julie-su smiled, and gave him a peck
on the cheek, "Thank you, Archy." She whispered, placing him
on a boulder. "Tell the guys I'll be back..if I think I can."
The fire-ant watched as the confused echinda took of into
the night air, disappearing into the dark, "I hope you find what
you seek, young one." he whispered as he himself left in a puff
of smoke. "Because the rest of us can't tell you who you are,
even if we know the truth"....
(Whee! Done!! ^^ I so happy! Well, hoped ya liked, and if ya
didn't read the top, I need help with the title for the solo;)
'Guiding Lights' or 'Stonger Than Blood??' ? Review and lemme know!!