Chapter 12 – Backtrack
I froze to the spot as Klim stumbled though the door and fell to the ground with a thud. In my peripheral vision I could see Jynx, equally shock by the look of things, staring too. If any moment had lasted forever it was this one. The image forever engraved itself on my brain and at no point in the future did I forget it. I acted but it seemed clumsy and hurried. With one leap I landed next to Klim and crumpled to the floor next to him. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
"Klim? KLIM?! Wake up!"
"Lynx…I can't do anything in this state. My healing powers can't do anything for him. There's only one thing that can." said Jynx quickly joining me by Klim.
"The green emerald!" I said quickly looking at him.
I grabbed his shoulder and shook him hard.
"Where is it?! Where is the green emerald?!" I yelled at him.
"Three rooms over on the right." replied Jynx.
I was on my feet before Jynx had finished. Racing down the corridor I counted three rooms and charged the door. I almost fell over as the door gave way easily and I tumbled into the room. Sat on two of pillars were the yellow and green emeralds. Running up the green one, I picked it up and fled the room. I raced back to the room to find that Jynx had hoisted Klim onto the table top. I activated the emerald before I had even made it through the door. The room flashed green for a second before I focused its energy on Klim. His body began to glow but it wasn't enough. All the other times I had healed someone it had been immediately after they had been hurt. Who knows how long it took Klim to stagger back here. I gritted my teeth as I raced across the room towards him. The emerald glowed slightly more and the glow around Klim increased too. I tensed my body and with a small whimper forced my entire strength into the emerald. The whole room suddenly lit up in a massive flash. Klim's body flashed green and he started to stir. I relaxed slightly as I came to a rest next to him. I took a deep breath.
"That looked exerting." said Jynx slightly concerned.
"You have no idea." I replied as I looked at Klim.
He was stirring now but hadn't woken up.
"Well he looks ok now." stated Jynx.
"Yeah. He really was beaten up by…"
I stopped my eyes going wide.
"What?" asked Jynx.
"If Klim is like this, what's Klime like?" I said.
Jynx seemed to catch on as his face fell too. We looked at each other for a moment and then both ran from the room. It didn't take us long to make it to the room Klim and Klime had been fighting in. They skidded to a halt and entered the room. Klime was lying on the floor in the middle of the room. Jynx raced past me and collapsed next to him. He wasn't as badly injured at Klim but he certainly needed help. I drew the chaos emerald again and launched its energy across the room. Klime's body glowed and he stirred. Jynx gave him a shake and slowly he woke up.
"Huh?" he said as he slowly raised an arm to rub his head.
"Klime! Thank god you're alright!" cried Jynx.
I didn't hear if they said anything else as I ran from the room back to the room we had left Klim in. I ran in to find him still lying on the table, covered in blood and breathing lightly. I picked him up and raced from the room, nearly colliding with Klime and Jynx as I did.
"Lynx follow me." said Jynx as he spun to the side and ran down a corridor. Jynx took a room to the side and I followed him in. A number of beds lined the walls and Jynx motioned for to one of them. I quickly put Klim down and stood back. Jynx swept over him and started to tend a few of his wounds.
"Allow me." I said taking out the green emerald again.
Not so full of panic now I slowly fed the energy into Klim. He started to glow and his wounds slowly healed. A few moments later he stirred and moaned slightly and then finally opened his eyes.
"Gods Klim. I'm glad you're ok." I sighed lowering the emerald, "Thought I might have been too late at one point."
"Good to have you back." said Jynx holding out his hand to help Klim up.
Klim took it and stood up. He glanced around for a moment obviously getting his bearings.
"That was a bit too brutal for my liking." he said.
"Yeah I got a bit carried away." admitted Klime stepping out from behind Jynx, "Sorry."
"Hey it's alright." smiled Klim.
I could have sworn time slowed down as I reached over, grabbed Klim by the shoulders and shook him several times.
"Alright?!" I cried, "You almost died!"
"Oh relax Lynx." replied Klim pulling himself away, "I'm not about to throw in the towel just yet."
"Well both Klim and I owe you an apology." said Jynx taking out the yellow emerald and handing it to Klim, "How about a big feast?"
"Sounds fabulous but we can't." replied Klim as we walked from the room, "Our friend Kat is still out there and I couldn't eat while he's helping Sonic. We have to go."
"Well you seem righteous enough." replied Jynx, "I think the chaos emerald will be safe with you."
I smiled as I watched Klim and Jynx walk off. Jynx certainly was like me. Thoughtful, caring and understanding.
"Yes he's a great guy." said Klime walking up beside me.
I turned to look at him. He looked slightly nervous talking to me and I understood why. If I hadn't been able to get to Klim in time I don't know what I would have done to him. That was my weak point I guess, my temper was absolutely terrible if it got out of control.
"He sure is. So like me. How'd you meet him?" I asked.
"Well I rather not talk about it. The time before I became his friend was a bit dark for me and I still have nightmares about it. I think that's why I kinda snapped at you two when you first arrived. I hate anything that could disrupt my life." he replied.
I nodded. I could understand that I guess, made perfect sense.
"Well ok then no problem." I replied.
"I thought you'd be mad." said Klime.
"Well I am a bit. But in the end it was a mistake and you are forgiven."
Klime seemed to breath a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad. I don't know what came over me." he said.
"Like I said, forget it. I've made mistakes too you know."
Klime smiled at me. Only having seen him in battle so far the expression made me laugh slightly.
"What you laughing at?" asked Klime.
"Oh nothing." I smiled giving him a nudge on the arm.
"So what's this emerald you got like then?"
"Oh that. It's the purple one. Hold the power of wind inside it."
"One thing I've been puzzling over Klime. If Jynx gives that emerald to Klim won't this place stop floating?"
"Heh, not quite." laughed Klime.
"What you mean?" I asked slightly puzzled.
"This place doesn't actually float. It's held up by a number of pillars but Jynx has used his magic to make them invisible to it look like this place is floating."
"I see." I groaned as the magic of the situation seemed to fade away.
Klime laughed.
"Well I've got stuff to do Lynx. I'm sure I'll see you later at some point."
"Yeah maybe. Cya Klime."
We exchanged a nod and then Klime walked off humming to himself. I turned away and looked up the stairs Klim and Jynx had gone up. What I saw made me jump. Klim was tearing down them towards me and it was obviously he wasn't going to stop. I quickly spun to the side and avoided him. Good thing I have good reflexes I thought to myself.
"Ready?" he beamed.
"Yes. Come on, we got no more time to waste." I replied.
"Totally agree." he said and darted off.
What gotten into him I though as I raced after him. I was just glad I had my tails to propel me otherwise keeping up with him would have been hard. It didn't take long to get outside and we were once again standing on the mountain top looking down at the valley below. The wind was no longer blowing and a thought crossed my mind.
"Yo Klim. How about we take a shortcut…via air?" I said smugly spinning my tails and taking off slightly.
"Sure thing." replied Klim as he grabbed my arm.
I spun my tails slightly faster and soon we had taken off and were slowly heading down the mountain.
"You know this emerald Lynx…" started Klim.
"Yeah I know it. Klime explained it to me. That things got the element of wind in it." I said still fixing my eyes on a far distant reference point.
"Wind huh." I heard Klim mutter, "Think I'll give us a boost."
Boost?! Give us a BOOST?! He wasn't going to do what I though he was…
"Klim! Wai….!" I started.
It was too late though. The purple emerald Klim had just drawn activated and almost instantly an incredible wind strung up around us. I felt it rustle through my tails as our speed increased two fold in a matter of seconds.
"Whaaaaa!" I cried trying to keep my tails in formation.
"Awesome!" cried Klim.
Why that little….oooh! With my free arm I reached over and gave Klim a good hard whack across the head. I then turned my attention to flying. I needed to concentrate on staying in the air at this speed not him. Within minutes the peaks of the Frosty Mountains had passed beneath us as had the grasslands we had fought Robotnik in. I heard Klim laugh as we passed over them, I knew what he had just seem. Rage Mountain and Aqua Isle were next up as we headed along the coast.
"We've done so much since we arrived." said Klim.
"Yeah." I replied still concentrating.
Soon even the Desert of Doom and those cursed sandworms had been left behind. I started to feel more confident flying at this speed as we cleared the desert. It was hard but once you got the hang of it, it wasn't too difficult. The jungle we had met Kat in was next and my thought slowly slipped onto him. Hope he's alright I thought to myself as finally our target came into view. A small house came into view and suddenly there was a flash. The wind died away and I looked down to see Klim holding the emerald again. I gently landed in front of the house and let go of Klim.
"I'll say this Klim. That was fun but next time….warn me before you do it!" I said with a bit of irritism in my voice.
Klim just laughed and walked over to the house. All the light were out and it didn't look as inviting as it did before.
"Looks like no-one's home." said Klim.
"Yeah. Maybe getting the emerald is taking longer than we though it would?" I replied raising an eyebrow.
Much much longer, we've been away for days I thought. Klim walked over to the door and opened it. Suddenly he stopped.
"Drop your weapons and surrender!" said a very familiar voice.
"Oh god. Not that damn chao again!" I whined.
Klim appeared to be having none of it.
"A makes you think a little pipsqueak like you can tell me what to do?" he replied.
"This spear." came the reply.
Suddenly Klim took a swipe to the side and charged into the house.
"Attack!" came a cry.
"Oh just brilliant Klim." I groaned as the door slammed shut.
I looked to the side and spotted a window. I didn't want to break a window but I had no choice. I ran forwards and took a flying leap at the window feet first. It shattered in a second and to my surprise my feet connected with an attacking chaos head and sent it sailing across the room where it hit the opposite wall and fell to the floor.
"What kept you?" asked Klim blocking an attack.
"You know me. Had to plan my dramatic entrance!" I shouted drawing my sword.
Although they had attacked us I wasn't the kind of person to go about killing chao! Using the blade of my sword I blocked several attacks and then swung the side of my sword round, using a bit like a club at the annoying little blobs. Three swipes sent three of them sailing in every direction. I looked over at Klim who really looked liked like he was enjoying himself. Just then he drew out the purple emerald and his spear glowed. He started to spin his staff like as fan blade…and like a fan blade the spinning generated a huge wind inside the house. I shut my eyes to keep various light articles that had taken off out of my eyes. As I felt the wind die down I opened them. Klim was looking pleased and all the chao were out of it.
"Very nice." I commented.
"Yeah but I'm worried. Were are Sonic and Tails? More to the point where's Kat? We didn't see any of them on the way over."
"Ah don't worry. He's stronger than ever and is bound to show up somewhere. Remember the last time he disappeared?" I replied licking my lips, "Fancy a coffee?"
Klim gave me a rather odd look and then nodded. Heh I thought to myself as I made my way into the kitchen.