Crystallis' Secret - A MAT2K1 special
Chapter 3 - A Royal Pain
By Ashura Hedgehog

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All characters shown here are owned by their respective owners. Now, we all
knew that, yes?

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It had been a few days since the group had found the first gem, and
frankly, they didn't know what to do next! At the moment, the group had
decided to stop inside a forest, near a stream, to rest and rethink their
search.

"Well, this isn't doing us diddly SQUAT!" Mike said, relaxing on a tree.

"Tell us about it!" Sara said. "I mean that Guardian woman just
abandoned us after we got that first gem." She, then, noticed that Merc was
working on something. "Hey, Merc. What are you doing over there?"

"Who? Me? Oh, I'm just seeing if I can modify this Dragon Radar I found
awhile back." Merc said, toying with the device.

"Where the heck did you get that, Mercky?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, I found it in that box we've had for awhile." Merc said, referring
to the 'Box of Miscellanious Stuff' they found a while back. "I'd figured that
with this we can find the other six gems like we can find the Dragonballs!"

"Spiffy!" Sonic said. "I wonder when those girls are gonna get back
here?"

"Who knows, Sonikku?" Ashura said. "You know how girls are."

"Yeah, and stop calling me Sonikku!" Sonic said.

"Should I call you Sonny-boy?" Ashura said.

"Not funny!" Sonic said.

"HEWWO!" Amy Rose said, skipping out of the forest, Seiyuka and the
other girls, along with the bots, right behind. Amy jumped on Sonic's back.
"Miss me?"

"Yeah, I missed ya...." Sonic grumbled, hiding the fact that he DID miss
her.

"Nature. Who NEEDS it?!" Crow said, pine needles and leaves in his
joints

"Oh, shaddap, Crow T. Hentai!" TOM said. "It was nice! You should be
happy!"

"Don't mind him, TOM. You know how he is!" Tom said.

"Hey, Ashura!" Crystallis said, walking over to her boyfriend. "Look at
what I found!" She showed him a rose. Yet, it was one he, or anyone else, seen
before. It had both rainbow petals and a rainbow stem.

"Where did you find this, Cryst?" Ashura asked, taking the rose.

"I found this in a field near a castle!" she said. "You can have it, if
you want it."

"Thanks, Crysty." Ashura said. "I just wish I could give you
something...well, with the exception of my heart and my love." Crystallis just
smiled at him.

"I don't need anything, Ashy." she said. "YOU are my gift." Ashura began
turning red.

"And you are mine." he said, leaning in to kiss her.

"EVERYONE FREEZE!" A voice said. Everyone turned to see a bunch of
hedgehogs on horseback.

"What the hell?" Mike said, is surprise.

"All of you are under arrest!" one of the hedgehogs said.

"For WHAT, praytell?" Amy said.

"For picking a rose from the royal garden!" another said.

"Hmph. Looks like we're gonna hafta put our kiss on hold." Ashura
whispered to Crystallis. He, then, walked up to the riders. "Hey, look, we're
sorry and...." He was cut off when one of them fired a small arrow at his arm.
"OW! You sonuvaaaaaaaaaaaa.........." Before he could finish, he collapsed to
the ground.

"::GASP!:: What did you do to him?!" Crystallis said, running up to
her knocked out boyfriend.

"Only a sedative. He'll be out for a few hours." Another said. Just
then, Sonic went airborne and used his Homing Attack on the person who
attacked Ashura.

"Look, I don't care what you did, NO ONE attacks my pal!" Sonic said.
He went airborne again and prepared to curl up again, but, before he could, he
was nailed by a set of sedative arrows. He landed on the ground, knocked out
cold.

"I advice you to desist in your futile attacks." a hedgehog said. Merc,
not listening, prepared his Apocalypse Beam, but, he, too, was nailed by an
arrow. "Will you listen now?" The group didn't have a choice. They knew that
it would be futile to continue. They all rose their hands in the air. All of
a sudden, two of the soldiers fired an arrow at Amy and Crystallis.

"What the hell was that for?" Tom shouted.

"It is none of your concern. Follow us." another hedgehog said. With
that, the group followed the hedgehog, the five sedated heros on the horses.
At the castle, three of the hedgehogs led the group into the prision.
Strangely, they didn't take Amy or Crystallis there.

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"Sires, the ladies you wanted have arrived and in their rooms." a
hedgehog said to two other hedgehogs. Both were dressed like in royal garbs
resembling what was worn by King Matt, the person who "tortures" Ashura's
pals, Jerrod the Lone Outlaw and Jim the Talking Penguin. One hedgehog had
green quills, the other had gray.

"Ah, great!" The green hedgehog said. "And their friends?"

"In the prison, and stripped of any weaponry." he said.

"Great. Great. You may leave now." the gray hedgehog said. With that,
the hedgehog left. "Well, Alexander, our dream of having an heir may come true
at last."

"That is true, Ryuin." Alexander said. "Now, let us see our brides to
be." With that, the two left to go to the girls' room.

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"Ooooaaaahhhh....." Amy moaned as she began to stir from her slumber.
She looked around and saw she was in a very elegant room. "Where am I?" She
looked down at what she was wearing. It wasn't her normal red dress, yet a
very regal red dress, jewels decorating it. On her head was a gold tiara.
"What in the world?!"

"Ah, I see you're awake!" a voice said. Amy turned to see Ryuin standing
in the doorway.

"Who are you, what am I doing here, and where's SONIC?!" Amy said.

"I am Ryuin, your future husband. You're in my and my brother's castle,
and this "Sonic" is in prison, where he'll never bother you again." he said.

""Husband"?!" Amy said, surprised. "If I'm gonna marry anyone, it's
gonna be Sonic!" Ryuin walked over to her and placed a hand on her cheek.

"I'm the only one you're marrying, my sweet." Ryuin said, leaning in for
a kiss. Before he could, she smashed him into the wall with her Piko Piko
Hammer.

"RELEASE MY FRIENDS AND LET ME GO RIGHT NOW, OR I'M SMASHING YOU INTO A
PULP!" Amy shouted, slamming the door to her room.

"Feisty one, but she will not get her wish. At 6 tonight, she will be
mine." Ryuin said, walking away and wiping away some blood. A few seconds
later, Alexander came flying out of his room, Crystallis's cries coming from
her room. Ryuin looked in and saw an angry Crystallis standing there, the top
of her dress unbuttoned. As she slammed her door, Ryuin shook his head. "Just
can't wait, could you?"

"I couldn't help it, brother." Alexander said. "She was just there, so
innocent."

"It's against our code to violate someone like that." Ryuin said. "Be
patient, my brother."

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"LET ME OUT, GOD DAMMIT!" Ashura said, slamming into the cell door with
his shoulder. Everyone was in different cells, each with a cellmate.

"Face it, dude." Sonic said. "We're stuck." Ashura collapsed to the
ground, clutching his shoulder.

"I've got to get out and save Crysty!" Ashura said, near tears. Sonic
knew how he felt. He wanted to save Amy, but, without his shoes, running was
out of the question.

"This is such a....a....what's that word, Seiyuka?" Ayeka asked her
cellmate.

"A pisser, sis. A pisser." Seiyuka said. "I just wish there was a way to
get outta here."

"RRRRRAARRGH!" Merc shouted. He was chained up, as to not be able to use
his attacks. The chains were from a mysterious, unbreakable metal. "WHEN I GET
OUT, I'M GONNA EXTERMINATE THAT RODENT!!!" Angel sighed.

"Merc, I worry about you sometimes." Angel said.

"There's gotta be a way to get out!" Mike said.

"Well, what is it, MacGuyver?!" Crow and Tom said.

"Oh, shut up!" Mike said.

"Frankly, I would like to hear it." TOM said.

"Argh! If only Ayeka didn't have my armor capsule!" Ashura said.

"That Wing ZERO deal?" Ayeka said. "I gave it back to you!"

"WHAT?!" Ashura said.

"Yeah! It should be in your pocket in your shoe." Ayeka said. Taking off
his shoes, he began searching the pockets until he found the capsule.

"YES!" Ashura shouted. He pushed the button on it and activated it. The
"boom" of the activation caught the attention of one of the guards.

"HEY! What's going on?" he said, looking inside the hedgehog's cell.
Inside, he saw the Wing ZERO armor and Sonic standing there. "Wh-wh-what's
g-g-g-going on?!"

"THIS!" Ashura shouted, pulling out the double-barrel buster gun and
firing at the door, destroying it and killing the guard. Sonic dashed out and
retreived the weapons as Ashura destroyed the doors to the other's cells
and freed Merc from his chains. "Everyone ready?"

"You betcha!" they shouted. With that, the group raced out of the
prison. As they ran through the prison, the guards attempted to attack the
group with the arrows. Ashura's armor deflected the attacks as Sonic, Merc and
TOM attacked the guards.

"OUTTA OUR WAY!" Merc shouted, slashing the guards to salami.

"We must keep them at bay! The wedding must go on!" A guard said.

"WEDDING?!?!" Sonic and Ashura shouted in shock.

"Guys, can you hold these guys off?" Ashura asked.

"Yeah, we can handle it!" Sara said.

"Be careful, you two." Seiyuka said. With that, Sonic raced off, Ashura
flying right behind him.

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At the castle's main hall, the wedding was going on. Different citizens
were in the chairs. A preacher was presiding the wedding. Both Crystallis and
Amy were being held as the wedding progress and were forced to say their "I
do"s.

"If there is anyone who disagrees to these two being together, speak now
or forever hold your peace." the preacher said. At that moment, the doors
blew up, the guards knocked across the floor.

"WE DISAGREE!" the hedgehogs said. Everyone turned to see Sonic and
Ashura walking towards the four.

"SONIC! ASHURA!" the girls shouted.

"Shut up! Their voices don't count! Continue it!" Alexander said.

"Very well, then. By the powers vested in me...."

"We said, WE DISAGREE!" Ashura shouted, blasting the ceiling. A piece of
it fell on the preacher. The two hedgehog princes turned to the two.

"How DARE you interrupt our wedding!" Ryuin said, his gray quills
spreading in anger.

"YOUR wedding?!" Sonic said. "Look, buddy. Those two are OURS, not
YOURS! Capeesh?" Ryuin responded with a left hook to his jaw.

"We shall fight to keep our brides-to-be!" Ryuin said.

"No prob." Sonic said, grinning. "I'll have you down in a Sonic Second!"

"Do you agree to that, armored one?" Alexander said, unsheathing his
sword. Ashura nodded, got out of his armor, retracted it and got out his
Deathscythe Hell scythe.

"Let's do this!" Ashura said. With that, the four began fighting. The
brothers took the lead in the fight, Ryuin unleashing a flurry of punches
while Alexander did an overhead slash. Sonic dodged the punches and retaliated
with his own attacks, while Ashura blocked the slash with the staff part of
the scythe.

"Not bad, red one." Alexander said, before getting clobbered with a
swing of his scythe, the blade deactivated. Ashura, then began getting the
upper hand on Alexander.

"You can forget even getting near my girlfriend!" Ashura said. Alexander
growled and regained the upper hand on Ashura. Meanwhile, Sonic and Ryuin were
duking it out like a pair of Z Warriors.

"Man, you're good!" Sonic said, his fists and feet a blur.

"Thank you, hedgehog. But, I am the best!" Ryuin said, kicking Sonic
in the stomach. Sonic flipped up after landing on the ground and growled at
Ryuin.

"I hate to tell you this, bro, but _I_ am gonna kick you across the
planet!" Sonic said, his Light Speed attatchments appearing on the heels of
his shoes. All of a sudden, he began glowing, gathering energy as he did.

"What's going on?!" Ryuin said. He was surprised.

"READY....!" Sonic shouted as he finished gathering energy. Ryuin gasped
at that. "GO!!!" With that, Sonic curled up into a ball and flew at the grey
hedgehog, slamming into him and sending him flying out of the castle and over
the horizon. "That's what you get for messin' with my pals!" The speedster,
then, looked over to Amy, who was running over to him.

"Oh, SONIC!" Amy said, giving him a bear hug. "I knew you wouldn't
lose!"

"Thanks, Amez!" Sonic said, ruffling up her hair. She let out a small
giggle. All of a sudden, a bunch of hedgehog soldiers surrounded them. "Woah!"

"You'll be punished for you treachery!" the soldiers said in unison.

"Uh, Sonic?" Amy said, scared.

"Don't worry, Amy, I'll protect ya!" Sonic said. Back at the other
fight, Ashura and Alexander were at a stalemate, both pushing each other with
their weapons.

"Face it, boy! You're finished!" Alexander said.

"DON'T CALL ME BOY, YOU BRAT!" Ashura shouted back. He shoved him away,
then smacked him in the head with his scythe, swinging it like a bat. Ashura
looked at the collapsed body, blood coming from the part of the head where he
smacked him at. "Did...did I kill him?" As he approached him, he examined
the downed body, not knowing it was not only alive, but had unsheathed a small
knife. As he got closer, Alexander's eyes snapped open, and he stabbed Ashura
in the leg, causing the poor hero to collapse to the floor.

"HA! Didn't think that I was THAT sneaky, yes?" Alexander said, standing
up.

"Damn. My leg...." Ashura growled, attempting to stand up. The pain was
too much and he collapsed to the ground.

"Now, you die and Crystallis will be MINE!!!" Alexander said, lifting
up his sword.

"NO! STOP!!!" Crystallis shouted, coming between the two.

"Crystallis! Get out of the way!" Alexander said.

"No! I won't let you hurt the one person I love." Crystallis said. She
threw her arms open as to prevent him from advancing.

"Tell me this: What has he given to you? I can give you ANYTHING!!
Riches beyond your wildest dreams! Land as far as the eye can see! Anything
you can imagine, I can give!" Alexander said. "And what has he given you?"

"His heart and soul." Crystallis said. "He loves me, and I love him. He
doesn't need to give me anything. Just being there is good enough for me! He
has the kindest soul in the world. He has a heart that can forgive and forget!
He CARES for his friends! What do you have? You have the world. I don't want
the world! I want someone who loves me. You never loved me. All you wanted me
for was your own purposes." As she said that, Ashura began crying silently.

'I knew it. She does love me.' Ashura thought, smiling.

"That's absurd!" Alexander said. "I can love you! I love EVERYONE in my
kingdom!"

"If you loved me, you would have heeded our wishes. You would have let
me and my friends go, and you DIDN'T!" Crystallis said. "All you care for was
yourself. You probably would have killed me after your first child, if
possible." Alexander looked dumbfounded at her.

"Th-th-that's not true!" Alexander muttered. He, then looked at her with
hate in his eyes. "If I can't have Crystallis, THEN NO ONE WILL!" He brought
his sword up and began to bring it down, until Ashura pulled the knife out of
his leg and stabbed it into Alexander's heart, killing him before he even hit
the floor.

"No one....threatens my friends.....or loved ones!" Ashura said,
fighting off the pain. Crystallis helped Ashura to his feet. "You okay,
Cryst?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Crystallis said, wiping the tears from his face. He
gave her small kiss on the lips. "And that was for...?"

"Because of what you said." Ashura said. As Crystallis looked down to
blush, she noticed something on the body of Alexander.

"Hey, what's this?" She said. She crouched down and saw what it was.
"It's another one of the gems!" She picked it up and looked at it.

"I know someone who might need this!" Ashura said, looking at Sonic and
Amy, who were holding back the soldiers. He took the gem and tossed it to the
blue hedgehog. "SONIC! CATCH!"

"What?" Sonic said. He looked and saw the incoming gem. He caught it
and, almost instantly, began getting electrocuted. Amy and the soldiers
stepped back as that happened. Amy's look of shock went into one of joy as she
saw the hedgehog turn gold and his quills stick up. "Hehehehehehehehee......"

"What's going on here?!" A soldier said, in shock.

"You're about to find out." Amy said. At that, Sonic slowly lifted his
head, his eyes closed. Then, all of a sudden, he snapped his eyes open,
reveiling that they were red.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Super Sonic!" he said. He stood up and began
hovering off the ground. Just this made the soldiers scatter. As they left,
the others arrived, slightly brused, but they made it out okay.

"Hey, what's going on?" Tom asked. He had an arrow through his dome.

"I see those two won in the end!" Crow said, noticing the four hedgehogs
together.

"Way to go, you two!" Merc said. As the four walked towards, he noticed
Ashura's leg drenched in blood. "Holy shit! Dude, what happened to you leg?!"

"Let's just say, I was being heroic!" Ashura said.

"C'mon, let's get outta here and get bandaged up." Seiyuka said.

"Hmm....hey, guys! Let me try something!" Sonic said. The group gathered
around as Sonic held out the gem and shouted "CHAOS....CONTROL!" With that,
the entire group was teleported far away.

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"OW! SHIT! THAT HURTS!" Ashura shouted. As soon as they pulled out of
the castle, the group had set up camp inside another forest. As soon as that
happened, they began repairing the injuries caused in the battle. Ashura,
unforunantly, had the worst of the injuries.

"Calm down, Ashy!" Seiyuka said, as she was putting on the bandages.

"But, it HURTS!" Ashura whined. Sure, he was brave, but there were times
where he cried like a baby. Crystallis was laughing her head off at what was
going on. "Some girlfriend you are."

"I'm....HAHAHAHAHA....sorry, Ashura! BWAHAHAHAHA! It's just that.....
HAHAHAHAHA....I find it so funny!" she said, between laughs. As Seiyuka
finished patching up Ashura, the hedgehog stood up and left the room in a
huff. She watched him go and sighed. "Ashura, I'm sorry."

"Sure, you are...." Ashura muttered.

"I am!" Crystallis said.

"I don't like it when people hurt my feelings." Ashura said.

"I did?" Crystallis said. She blinked a couple of times and sighed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Ashura didn't budge. "I said I'm sorry! Why
won't you listen?" Ashura just walked away. "ASHURRRRRRA!" Ashura stopped and
turned around.

"You mean it?" Ashura said. She nodded. She looked like she was about to
cry. 'Great, I hurt HER feelings'. Ashura sighed and walked over to her.
"I'm sorry. It's just that....whenever someone makes fun of me like that, I
tend to turn stubborn." Now, it was her turn to be stubborn. She turned
around, crossed her arms across her chest, and gave a big "Hmph". Ashura
sighed and reached into his shoe pocket, pulling out the rose she gave him
earlier. "Will this do for an apology?" He displayed the rose over her
shoulder. Seeing it, she got a surprised look.

"Ashura, why are you giving me this?" she asked.

"You deserve this more than I do, Crysty." Ashura said. Crystallis
blinked a few times, took the rose and dropped it on the ground, stomping it.
"Crystallis?" When she looked up and smiled at him.

"Ashura. I told you once. I don't need gifts to prove that you love me."
Crystallis said. She walked over to Ashura, kissed him on his lips and held
it, Ashura returning the kiss. The two wrapped their arms around each other
and held that kiss, unknowingly being filmed by Crow and Tom to show off to
others.

"Here's to hoping they start removing clothes!" Crow whispered.

"For once, I agree with ya, buddy." Tom whispered.

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[Talk about LUCK!] Metal said. They were in the most unfortunant spot.
Before Ashura and the others made their escape, Metal Sonic, Gero and Yugi were
captured and thrown into the prison.

"Damn our luck." Gero muttered, struggling in his chains. All three were
bound in chains.

"Don't worry, boys. Yugi is on the scene!" Yugi said, struggling in her
chains. She was locked up tighter than the robots.

"::sigh:: Metal, how friggen long has it been since she last said that?"
Gero said.

[Three hours, twenty minutes and forty five seconds ago.] Metal said.
With that, the two let out an collective sigh.

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Near the hero's house, the mysterious figure that had been following them
had once again watched over the house.

"Well, it seems that two of the gems have been found. Perhaps, just
perhaps, this planet has a chance to survive. Most who have arrived here never
even FOUND the rest of the emeralds." he said. Just then, a winged creature
appeared by him.

"Master, why do you watch over these beings from Earth?" it said.

"Because, my winged companion, they may be this planet's last hope." he
said. The creature looked at him oddly.

"Sire, what do you mean? Is our home threatened?" it said.

"If they die, then the evil being will finally win this planet forever."
he said. "If they survive and destroy the evil one, then this planet is free
forever. Luckly, there are four of their friends who are here who will change
the tide of battle. But, for some reason, they are wild cards."

"Wild cards, master?" the creature asked. "What do you mean?"

"Three of them have aggressive natures, the fourth has a second self to
her." he said.

"Hmm....that is bad...." the creature said.

"Only time will tell before we know the full extent of the four." the person
said. And with that, the two left.

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TO BE CONTINUED.....

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
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Whew! Three down, and many more to go! This story, when finished will change
this group forever, and it may happen in more ways that one. If you've read this
and have NO idea why many of the people are here, read my Mystery Anime Theater
2001 series to learn the whole story.

As always, read and review
Ashura Hedgehog