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Sonic
23. Diamonda Mask by NetRaptor1 [Reviews - 0]
0) window.location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value">ChaptersStory Index1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 56. Chapter 67. Chapter 78. Chapter 89. Chapter 910. Chapter 1011. Chapter 1112. Chapter 1213. Chapter 1314. Chapter 14
Chapter 13
...You can never save yourself!
-Plumb, Late Great Planet Earth
__________________________________
I looked at the smoking city again, and then at the humans. I saw one of the youngest ones was holding Chimera. He was alert, ignoring their fondling hands, focused on the smoke rising from the city. Chimera was not biting? How odd.
I set Zinc aside and climbed to my feet, clutching my wounded arm to my chest, and walked toward the Ghost. I wanted to see for myself if Kita was gone. I drifted past Knuckles, who barked, "Where are you going?" Catch her, Sonic, she's in too much pain to listen."
Sonic grabbed my good arm. I looked at him. "I just want to look for Kita. That's all. Just try to see her."
Knuckles walked up. "Zephyer, no. I don't want you going near that thing."
"Aw, let her, Knux," said Sonic. "She's the only other person who can use the helmet like Tails. Maybe she could see Kita."
"That's why I don't want her in there," said Knuckles. "She might take off by accident, and I don't trust her right now."
Annoyance cut through the fog in my brain, and the world snapped into focus. "What did you say?"
Sonic and Knuckles looked guilty, as if they thought I had gone deaf.
"I just want to look, you blockheads! I couldn't fly that thing if I wanted to!"
"Yeah you could," said Knuckles. "Zeff, don't go in there. Kita's probably dead." That was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it as soon as he had said it. I marched up to the Ghost and climbed in before they could stop me. I could hear Knuckles yelling at me, but I didn't care.
I crawled three-legged into the narrow cockpit and lay down in the seat, positioning my arm so as not to hurt it, and pulled on the helmet.
The sensation of having two bodies returned, but this body was humming and alive, rain plinking on its skin, ready to leap free of the ground and soar among the clouds. It was more real than my own body, which was wracked with pain and discomfort. I turned the Ghost's eyes outward. I looked through the eyes of the other Ghosts, wrecked and otherwise, but Kita was not within view of any of them. Of course not--I had to follow her by the thing in her back. For reference I looked at our collection of rescued slaves. Instead of humans, I saw a collection of colors and numbers--the raw chaos power capsule in each of them. It was like stumbling across a searchlight, and the vividness of the colors dazzled me. Kita should be easy to find if her gadget was that bright. I turned the ship's eyes outward again, looking for a bright light.
It was nearly beyond my perception. As I focused on it, I realized she was in an aircraft. They were taking her away. I strained to see the ship more clearly, because I suspected Devan Shell was in it. It came into focus, sharp and distant--a Ghost-like ship meant for passengers, three times the size of my fighter-Ghost.
I sped toward it, and it was not until I looked down that I realized I was in the air. Flying. How long had I been flying? I panicked and lost my focus on Kita's chaos capsule. I forced myself to take deep breaths. If taking off had been so easy, then landing must be equally as easy.
As I flew over Diamonda, I heard that sound again--the keen, sharp harmony a bell-tone, amplified and echoed until it blotted out all other sound. It hurt my ears and made my eyes water. What was it? I wanted to rip the helmet off and crash the Ghost, if that would make it stop. I didn't make the connection until I passed over a dense clump of yellow crystals, and the sound nearly split my head. Then the sound diminished as I left the yellow clump behind. The crystals were making the sound.
The second I made the connection, I realized that that was the reason I couldn't reach the Ghost Kita was in. Once a Ghost was outside of Diamonda, the machine's telepathy stopped working. I had figured out why the Shellizaas had colonized the crystals.
The ship was closer now, and I sensed the presence of another pilot. I felt his mind groping for my own, questioning who I was.
Escort, I thought, marveling at my own detachment. Perhaps it was because I was distanced from my real body by pain. The Shellizaa-mind acknowledged me as an escort, but it was puzzled and suspicious.
I glided alongside the large ship and looked at Kita's capsule. She was in the center of the ship. If only I could speak to her! But she would have to wear the helmet.
The Shellizaa mind eavesdropped on my thoughts, and it screamed, It's Jazz! Jazz is in that Ghost!
I'm not Jazz, I thought, but the passenger plane banked away from me and turned back toward Diamonda. I swooped after it, blinking my real eyes as rain blinded the eyes of the Ghost. Come back here, I thought grimly. My ship was faster than theirs was, and I dove in circles around it, like a swallow attacking a crow. If only I had a weapon!
There was the stun beam, of course. I activated it with a thought and directed it at the big ship. Maybe if I shone it through the ship's eyes, I could stun the pilot.
The pilot read my thoughts, and I read his. He retaliated by directing his own stun beam at me. I shied away and flew straight up, avoiding the beam's sweep. "A gun, a gun, my kingdom for a gun," I muttered aloud. I flew in a loop and dove back toward the big ship, the music of the crystals beating on my ears. How could the turtle stand it?
I read his mind and discovered that turtle pilots had things like earmuffs built into the helmets. Because the helmet did not fit me, the earmuffs did not cover my ears, and I was exposed to the impact of the crystal vibrations. He laughed at me. Enraged, I dove at his ship, shining my beam on the "eyes" in the top. He dove toward the crystals, and the sound increased until I thought my head would explode. It wasn't fair, I couldn't get as close to the crystals as he could!
A hand closed on me. For an instant I was held powerless in a grip like iron that kept my mind from moving--it was like I had gone blind inside and out. Then the grip relaxed, and there was the dragon, all fire and fury. He had recognized me. I could see him flying behind me, bat wings pumping.
Stop that ship, but don't destroy it, I thought. There was no reply, but he sped up and flew after the passenger ship. I banked aside to give him plenty of room, and watched.
The turtle pilot panicked when he saw the dragon coming, but his ship could not maneuver the way mine could. He dove, but the dragon simply flew over his ship, plucked it out of the air in its claws, and dropped to the ground.
From above, Diamonda looked like a bed of nails, all reaching up to impale me. But they were further apart than they looked, and I landed among orange crystals, remembering at the last second to extend my landing gear. I hit the ground with a bump that jarred my arm and tore me away from the Ghost. I lay there for a few moments in the cockpit until the pain subsided, then peered out of the Ghost's eyes. I sensed the dragon was nearby, although it was outside my range of vision.
Open the ship but don't hurt the passengers, I thought. I looked through the eyes of the passenger-Ghost, and for an instant I looked up at the dragon from between its claws. Then its claws punctured the hull and peeled it open like a sardine can.
I returned to myself with an effort and pulled off the helmet, cutting off the overpowering noise of the crystals. Kita wouldn't know where to run, and she certainly wouldn't make for a Ghost. I crawled to the exit hole and climbed out of my ship.
My body felt heavy and slow compared to the Ghost's, and my arm shrieked with silent pain. I moved through it and looked around for the dragon. It was down the street with the laid-open ship in its claws, watching me. The turtle pilot had fled--I saw him running down the street--and Devan Shell was pulled inside his shell. Kita was still sitting in a seat, staring up at the dragon, her white face reflecting the intense green of its scales. Rain poured down on everything, glazing the dragon's body and running in tiny rivers along the street.
"Kita!" I called. She looked at me, then scrambled out of the ruined craft. She half-flew to me, only touching the ground every third step. She flung her arms around my neck and clung to me, trembling. I held my wounded arm aside and hugged her with the other. "It'll be all right now. Come with me to my Ghost over here--"
She released me and looked at the Ghost. "No," she whispered. "Not one of those, please."
The dragon, sensing it had done what I wanted, flung the ruined ship aside and leaped skyward again, nearly flattening us with the wind from its wings. I led Kita toward my Ghost--she was clinging to me as if I was a life preserver. "Where did the dragon come from?" she asked.
"He was in a cage," I replied, calculating how much space she would take up inside the aircraft.
"You mean that's Sulfire?" she gasped, eyes widening. "No wonder he's gone nuts! They were always doing stuff to him!"
All I cared about was leaving. Kita was dragging her feet the closer we came to the waiting plane. I tugged her along, trying to ignore the stabs of pain in my arm. We were under one of its square wings when a bullet hole appeared in the side of the Ghost. I looked at it for a second and wondered if my own metal could withstand bullets of that caliber. Then Kita said, "That's the fuel tank, isn't it?"
We sprinted away from the Ghost as more bullets thunked into the plane's metal. I glimpsed Devan Shell standing amid the wreckage of his own ship with a gun, then we turned a corner and he was lost from sight. I cursed him under my breath, and did so even more vehemently when there was an explosion. "Why did he have to do that?"
Kita looked at me. Her shock was passing, and I could see the old calculating glint in her eyes.
"We're near the west side," she said. "We could run for it. Your friends are on the west side, right?"
"Yes," I replied, thinking of chasing the passenger Ghost back across the city, and fuming over the loss of my ship. "How close are we?"
"Less than a mile, I think," said Kita, gazing at the crystals around us. "Are you okay? Your hand is bleeding."
"It hurts like heck, but I'll live," I said, in no mood to be pitied. "Let's go before Shell finds us."
We set off at a jog, Kita holding my good hand and peering about for danger. There were a few Shellizaas here and there, running from place to place with guns in hand, and craning their skinny necks to look for the dragon. They paid no attention to us. I wondered if Sonic would be able to find us, and with a start recalled Jazz. He had not been at camp with Sonic and Knuckles. Where was he? Getting reinforcements? Looking for Devan Shell?
We zigzagged down the geometric streets, the odors of chemicals mingling with rain. The ground was warm and steaming, and the crystals around us glistened, almost as if they were growing.
I was unaware of our danger until a bullet sparked off the ground at my feet, and the report of a pistol echoed along the street. We looked back and saw Devan Shell galloping after us, trying to aim his pistol and run at the same time. "De ja vu," I muttered. "What's he chasing us for?"
"I'm his most valuable slave," panted Kita. "I have the best ability of all of them. But I don't want to fly anymore, I want to go home!"
Another bullet whined past us. I knew how hard it was to hit anything while running, but he might get lucky. "How close are we?" I gasped as we turned a corner. "Not far," said Kita. Then she screamed, and so did I. Something hit the pavement to our right that exploded in a ball of fire. But wait--Devan had a pistol! I looked over my shoulder and glimpsed Jazz Jackrabbit catching up to Devan from behind, firing his T-D-1 as he went. Shell whirled to face him, and we turned a corner and they were out of sight.
"Jazz!" I grinned. "Thank heaven for him!"
"Jazz?" said Kita. She pressed a hand to her side, so we slowed to a walk. "So that was Jazz! Devan's always trying to kill him."
"Why?" I panted. The rain was falling harder than ever, and lightning licked through the sky above us.
"Not sure," said my human companion. "They just hate each other. I think Devan tried to--"
A dull boom that was not thunder echoed across Diamonda. Kita released my hand and leaped into the air. As she did she pulled the two silk flags out of her belt and used them to balance. She twirled upward and landed on top of a crystal as lightly as a bird, her flags settling around her as the rain soaked them. There was another boom, and the ground under my feet vibrated.
Kita dove back to me and thrust her flags inside her trousers. "The dragon's hitting the dam with its tail." Her eyes filled with tears. "Do you think we'll die?"
"No, silly," I said. "We're close to the edge, you said so yourself. Once we get to high ground we'll be fine."
Still, the idea of the dam breaking filled me with dread. I had seen the deep, clear lake behind the dam, and I had read about how terrible floods were. I hoped Jazz got out.
We hurried on, an echidna and a young human, listening to the thunderous blows of the dragon's tail on the cement dam. The ground began to rise, but the end of the city was out of sight. The crystals remained large and dense, not thinning as they should near the edge. I was slipping back into a mist of pain as my racing heart pumped fresh blood into my crushed arm.
The inevitable came far too quickly. There was a final boom, then a great rushing of water. "It's broken," I said, feeling despair at what I had to say next. "Fly ahead and get to high ground. No sense in me slowing you down."
Kita released my hand and ran ahead a few steps, then looked back and hesitated.
"Go on!" I said.
Instead she ran back to me and took my hand again. "No, we'll make it together," she said. "I can't just leave you out here."
"Thanks," I said, feeling better, although I knew I shouldn't drag her down. I was tiring, and we were a long way from the edge of the city. The roar of the unleashed water filled the city, echoing off the crystals. I imagined the hot water crashing through the crystals, snapping them off and washing away the Shellizaas. We probably had two minutes.
This must have occurred to Kita, for she said, "Hold on tight, I'm going to try to lift you." She gripped my good arm and jumped into the air. We rose off the ground a few feet, and she whisked me down the street. She wasn't as fast as Sonic, but it was a lot faster than I could run. I gripped her hands as rainwater ran down my arm and into my face, chilling my metal. My hurt arm was a throbbing presence I tried to ignore. Kita wouldn't be able to carry me for long--she was tiring already.
"Take me up to the top of a crystal," I panted.
She strained to lift me, and we soared over the top of a low crystal grove. It felt weird to be floating along without wings or machinery. I wished I could do it.
She hoisted me to the top of a twenty-foot crystal and had to stop and rest there. The top was angled, wet, and slick as ice. I lay spread-eagled, trying to keep from slipping off. The roar of water grew louder. I lifted my head and saw the first wave, white with foam, sweeping over and around the crystals, consuming everything in its path. Kita saw it, too, grabbed my arm and shot straight up in the air.
The wave passed under us, breaking against the sides of crystals too thick to snap. As Kita took off westward, fighting to hold me up, I looked at the water and measured it with my eyes. It wasn't deep enough, compared to the lake behind the dam. I looked up and saw the dam over the tops of the crystals. It had a large hole in it, which was spurting water like a firehose, but it had not yet broken. The real flood hadn't begun.
"Hurry Kita, hurry," I grunted. Her arms were slippery with water, and my metal fingers couldn't get traction.
"I'm hurrying," she gasped. "You're so heavy!"
Despite her best efforts, we began to descend toward the angry water. "No, no, keep us up!" I cried.
"I can't," she panted, half-sobbing. "You're too heavy, I have to rest--"
Perhaps two hundred feet ahead of us was the side of the valley, and I could see our grove of trees on the edge, tiny and unreal through the rain. Figures moved to and fro on the valley rim, but I couldn't see who they were through the rain and the water in my eyes. The crystals around us were submerged, and there was nowhere for Kita to stop. She was sinking rapidly, panting and crying, trying to carry me and failing.
Her hands began to slip on my metal. I tried to grab better hold, but her bare arms were slick with rain, and so was my metal. "Don't let go!" I said, clinging to her.
"I can't, you're slipping," she said, looking down at me through her wet hair and sobbing. "Zephyer, I can't make it!"
I was only holding on to her with my good hand. I slid down her arm and clasped her hand in mine. She clung to me and forced herself forward, trying to close the gap between us and the bank.
Abruptly her hands, weakened by too little food and too much exertion, lost hold. My hand slipped, and we screamed as I fell, spinning, and hit the water with a splash.
It was hot and tasted like mud. The current was incredible and it sucked me along, slamming me into debris and standing crystals. The breath left my body in explosions of bubbles. I could not think, I could not swim, I could only exist in the few seconds I had left.
I was swept between two crystals that formed a V, and stuck there as the water roared over me. I tried feebly to crawl up them, but I was wedged in, ten feet under water--I could see the surface--I cried for air, my head was ringing, I wanted to inhale, I had to inhale, there was nothing in my lungs--
I could not help it. I took a breath of water. I coughed. I took another breath--the pain was horrible, and then--
The roar of the water faded and I was drifted somewhere where there was no pain. It was a place where I was glad to go, for it meant leaving the world and its troubles forever. But between it and me stood a hedgehog and an echidna. They were calling my name. I wanted to go on into peace and rest, but they had me and would not let me go. They were calling my name.
I was moving upwards now, and there awaited pain and discomfort, but I was powerless to resist, for my time had not yet come. They were dragging me through blue, rippling light and roaring, roaring as if the world were passing away. They were still calling my name.
Then I was coughing, coughing until I thought my stomach would split. Water was coming up in mouthfuls, and I could hardly draw enough breath to cough some more. All I could taste was a stinging chemical that scorched my mouth and windpipe. My body screamed with pain, but my arm was the worst. I wanted to cry, but I could only cough. Somebody was sobbing nearby, and there was the sound of rain.
0) window.location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value">ChaptersStory Index1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 56. Chapter 67. Chapter 78. Chapter 89. Chapter 910. Chapter 1011. Chapter 1112. Chapter 1213. Chapter 1314. Chapter 14
NetRaptor.org is in no way affiliated with Sega or its associates. All stories contained here are the exclusive property of their authors, and netraptor.org claims no ownership of said stories. This script created by Rebecca Smallwood and is availible at
Chapter 13
...You can never save yourself!
-Plumb, Late Great Planet Earth
__________________________________
I looked at the smoking city again, and then at the humans. I saw one of the youngest ones was holding Chimera. He was alert, ignoring their fondling hands, focused on the smoke rising from the city. Chimera was not biting? How odd.
I set Zinc aside and climbed to my feet, clutching my wounded arm to my chest, and walked toward the Ghost. I wanted to see for myself if Kita was gone. I drifted past Knuckles, who barked, "Where are you going?" Catch her, Sonic, she's in too much pain to listen."
Sonic grabbed my good arm. I looked at him. "I just want to look for Kita. That's all. Just try to see her."
Knuckles walked up. "Zephyer, no. I don't want you going near that thing."
"Aw, let her, Knux," said Sonic. "She's the only other person who can use the helmet like Tails. Maybe she could see Kita."
"That's why I don't want her in there," said Knuckles. "She might take off by accident, and I don't trust her right now."
Annoyance cut through the fog in my brain, and the world snapped into focus. "What did you say?"
Sonic and Knuckles looked guilty, as if they thought I had gone deaf.
"I just want to look, you blockheads! I couldn't fly that thing if I wanted to!"
"Yeah you could," said Knuckles. "Zeff, don't go in there. Kita's probably dead." That was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it as soon as he had said it. I marched up to the Ghost and climbed in before they could stop me. I could hear Knuckles yelling at me, but I didn't care.
I crawled three-legged into the narrow cockpit and lay down in the seat, positioning my arm so as not to hurt it, and pulled on the helmet.
The sensation of having two bodies returned, but this body was humming and alive, rain plinking on its skin, ready to leap free of the ground and soar among the clouds. It was more real than my own body, which was wracked with pain and discomfort. I turned the Ghost's eyes outward. I looked through the eyes of the other Ghosts, wrecked and otherwise, but Kita was not within view of any of them. Of course not--I had to follow her by the thing in her back. For reference I looked at our collection of rescued slaves. Instead of humans, I saw a collection of colors and numbers--the raw chaos power capsule in each of them. It was like stumbling across a searchlight, and the vividness of the colors dazzled me. Kita should be easy to find if her gadget was that bright. I turned the ship's eyes outward again, looking for a bright light.
It was nearly beyond my perception. As I focused on it, I realized she was in an aircraft. They were taking her away. I strained to see the ship more clearly, because I suspected Devan Shell was in it. It came into focus, sharp and distant--a Ghost-like ship meant for passengers, three times the size of my fighter-Ghost.
I sped toward it, and it was not until I looked down that I realized I was in the air. Flying. How long had I been flying? I panicked and lost my focus on Kita's chaos capsule. I forced myself to take deep breaths. If taking off had been so easy, then landing must be equally as easy.
As I flew over Diamonda, I heard that sound again--the keen, sharp harmony a bell-tone, amplified and echoed until it blotted out all other sound. It hurt my ears and made my eyes water. What was it? I wanted to rip the helmet off and crash the Ghost, if that would make it stop. I didn't make the connection until I passed over a dense clump of yellow crystals, and the sound nearly split my head. Then the sound diminished as I left the yellow clump behind. The crystals were making the sound.
The second I made the connection, I realized that that was the reason I couldn't reach the Ghost Kita was in. Once a Ghost was outside of Diamonda, the machine's telepathy stopped working. I had figured out why the Shellizaas had colonized the crystals.
The ship was closer now, and I sensed the presence of another pilot. I felt his mind groping for my own, questioning who I was.
Escort, I thought, marveling at my own detachment. Perhaps it was because I was distanced from my real body by pain. The Shellizaa-mind acknowledged me as an escort, but it was puzzled and suspicious.
I glided alongside the large ship and looked at Kita's capsule. She was in the center of the ship. If only I could speak to her! But she would have to wear the helmet.
The Shellizaa mind eavesdropped on my thoughts, and it screamed, It's Jazz! Jazz is in that Ghost!
I'm not Jazz, I thought, but the passenger plane banked away from me and turned back toward Diamonda. I swooped after it, blinking my real eyes as rain blinded the eyes of the Ghost. Come back here, I thought grimly. My ship was faster than theirs was, and I dove in circles around it, like a swallow attacking a crow. If only I had a weapon!
There was the stun beam, of course. I activated it with a thought and directed it at the big ship. Maybe if I shone it through the ship's eyes, I could stun the pilot.
The pilot read my thoughts, and I read his. He retaliated by directing his own stun beam at me. I shied away and flew straight up, avoiding the beam's sweep. "A gun, a gun, my kingdom for a gun," I muttered aloud. I flew in a loop and dove back toward the big ship, the music of the crystals beating on my ears. How could the turtle stand it?
I read his mind and discovered that turtle pilots had things like earmuffs built into the helmets. Because the helmet did not fit me, the earmuffs did not cover my ears, and I was exposed to the impact of the crystal vibrations. He laughed at me. Enraged, I dove at his ship, shining my beam on the "eyes" in the top. He dove toward the crystals, and the sound increased until I thought my head would explode. It wasn't fair, I couldn't get as close to the crystals as he could!
A hand closed on me. For an instant I was held powerless in a grip like iron that kept my mind from moving--it was like I had gone blind inside and out. Then the grip relaxed, and there was the dragon, all fire and fury. He had recognized me. I could see him flying behind me, bat wings pumping.
Stop that ship, but don't destroy it, I thought. There was no reply, but he sped up and flew after the passenger ship. I banked aside to give him plenty of room, and watched.
The turtle pilot panicked when he saw the dragon coming, but his ship could not maneuver the way mine could. He dove, but the dragon simply flew over his ship, plucked it out of the air in its claws, and dropped to the ground.
From above, Diamonda looked like a bed of nails, all reaching up to impale me. But they were further apart than they looked, and I landed among orange crystals, remembering at the last second to extend my landing gear. I hit the ground with a bump that jarred my arm and tore me away from the Ghost. I lay there for a few moments in the cockpit until the pain subsided, then peered out of the Ghost's eyes. I sensed the dragon was nearby, although it was outside my range of vision.
Open the ship but don't hurt the passengers, I thought. I looked through the eyes of the passenger-Ghost, and for an instant I looked up at the dragon from between its claws. Then its claws punctured the hull and peeled it open like a sardine can.
I returned to myself with an effort and pulled off the helmet, cutting off the overpowering noise of the crystals. Kita wouldn't know where to run, and she certainly wouldn't make for a Ghost. I crawled to the exit hole and climbed out of my ship.
My body felt heavy and slow compared to the Ghost's, and my arm shrieked with silent pain. I moved through it and looked around for the dragon. It was down the street with the laid-open ship in its claws, watching me. The turtle pilot had fled--I saw him running down the street--and Devan Shell was pulled inside his shell. Kita was still sitting in a seat, staring up at the dragon, her white face reflecting the intense green of its scales. Rain poured down on everything, glazing the dragon's body and running in tiny rivers along the street.
"Kita!" I called. She looked at me, then scrambled out of the ruined craft. She half-flew to me, only touching the ground every third step. She flung her arms around my neck and clung to me, trembling. I held my wounded arm aside and hugged her with the other. "It'll be all right now. Come with me to my Ghost over here--"
She released me and looked at the Ghost. "No," she whispered. "Not one of those, please."
The dragon, sensing it had done what I wanted, flung the ruined ship aside and leaped skyward again, nearly flattening us with the wind from its wings. I led Kita toward my Ghost--she was clinging to me as if I was a life preserver. "Where did the dragon come from?" she asked.
"He was in a cage," I replied, calculating how much space she would take up inside the aircraft.
"You mean that's Sulfire?" she gasped, eyes widening. "No wonder he's gone nuts! They were always doing stuff to him!"
All I cared about was leaving. Kita was dragging her feet the closer we came to the waiting plane. I tugged her along, trying to ignore the stabs of pain in my arm. We were under one of its square wings when a bullet hole appeared in the side of the Ghost. I looked at it for a second and wondered if my own metal could withstand bullets of that caliber. Then Kita said, "That's the fuel tank, isn't it?"
We sprinted away from the Ghost as more bullets thunked into the plane's metal. I glimpsed Devan Shell standing amid the wreckage of his own ship with a gun, then we turned a corner and he was lost from sight. I cursed him under my breath, and did so even more vehemently when there was an explosion. "Why did he have to do that?"
Kita looked at me. Her shock was passing, and I could see the old calculating glint in her eyes.
"We're near the west side," she said. "We could run for it. Your friends are on the west side, right?"
"Yes," I replied, thinking of chasing the passenger Ghost back across the city, and fuming over the loss of my ship. "How close are we?"
"Less than a mile, I think," said Kita, gazing at the crystals around us. "Are you okay? Your hand is bleeding."
"It hurts like heck, but I'll live," I said, in no mood to be pitied. "Let's go before Shell finds us."
We set off at a jog, Kita holding my good hand and peering about for danger. There were a few Shellizaas here and there, running from place to place with guns in hand, and craning their skinny necks to look for the dragon. They paid no attention to us. I wondered if Sonic would be able to find us, and with a start recalled Jazz. He had not been at camp with Sonic and Knuckles. Where was he? Getting reinforcements? Looking for Devan Shell?
We zigzagged down the geometric streets, the odors of chemicals mingling with rain. The ground was warm and steaming, and the crystals around us glistened, almost as if they were growing.
I was unaware of our danger until a bullet sparked off the ground at my feet, and the report of a pistol echoed along the street. We looked back and saw Devan Shell galloping after us, trying to aim his pistol and run at the same time. "De ja vu," I muttered. "What's he chasing us for?"
"I'm his most valuable slave," panted Kita. "I have the best ability of all of them. But I don't want to fly anymore, I want to go home!"
Another bullet whined past us. I knew how hard it was to hit anything while running, but he might get lucky. "How close are we?" I gasped as we turned a corner. "Not far," said Kita. Then she screamed, and so did I. Something hit the pavement to our right that exploded in a ball of fire. But wait--Devan had a pistol! I looked over my shoulder and glimpsed Jazz Jackrabbit catching up to Devan from behind, firing his T-D-1 as he went. Shell whirled to face him, and we turned a corner and they were out of sight.
"Jazz!" I grinned. "Thank heaven for him!"
"Jazz?" said Kita. She pressed a hand to her side, so we slowed to a walk. "So that was Jazz! Devan's always trying to kill him."
"Why?" I panted. The rain was falling harder than ever, and lightning licked through the sky above us.
"Not sure," said my human companion. "They just hate each other. I think Devan tried to--"
A dull boom that was not thunder echoed across Diamonda. Kita released my hand and leaped into the air. As she did she pulled the two silk flags out of her belt and used them to balance. She twirled upward and landed on top of a crystal as lightly as a bird, her flags settling around her as the rain soaked them. There was another boom, and the ground under my feet vibrated.
Kita dove back to me and thrust her flags inside her trousers. "The dragon's hitting the dam with its tail." Her eyes filled with tears. "Do you think we'll die?"
"No, silly," I said. "We're close to the edge, you said so yourself. Once we get to high ground we'll be fine."
Still, the idea of the dam breaking filled me with dread. I had seen the deep, clear lake behind the dam, and I had read about how terrible floods were. I hoped Jazz got out.
We hurried on, an echidna and a young human, listening to the thunderous blows of the dragon's tail on the cement dam. The ground began to rise, but the end of the city was out of sight. The crystals remained large and dense, not thinning as they should near the edge. I was slipping back into a mist of pain as my racing heart pumped fresh blood into my crushed arm.
The inevitable came far too quickly. There was a final boom, then a great rushing of water. "It's broken," I said, feeling despair at what I had to say next. "Fly ahead and get to high ground. No sense in me slowing you down."
Kita released my hand and ran ahead a few steps, then looked back and hesitated.
"Go on!" I said.
Instead she ran back to me and took my hand again. "No, we'll make it together," she said. "I can't just leave you out here."
"Thanks," I said, feeling better, although I knew I shouldn't drag her down. I was tiring, and we were a long way from the edge of the city. The roar of the unleashed water filled the city, echoing off the crystals. I imagined the hot water crashing through the crystals, snapping them off and washing away the Shellizaas. We probably had two minutes.
This must have occurred to Kita, for she said, "Hold on tight, I'm going to try to lift you." She gripped my good arm and jumped into the air. We rose off the ground a few feet, and she whisked me down the street. She wasn't as fast as Sonic, but it was a lot faster than I could run. I gripped her hands as rainwater ran down my arm and into my face, chilling my metal. My hurt arm was a throbbing presence I tried to ignore. Kita wouldn't be able to carry me for long--she was tiring already.
"Take me up to the top of a crystal," I panted.
She strained to lift me, and we soared over the top of a low crystal grove. It felt weird to be floating along without wings or machinery. I wished I could do it.
She hoisted me to the top of a twenty-foot crystal and had to stop and rest there. The top was angled, wet, and slick as ice. I lay spread-eagled, trying to keep from slipping off. The roar of water grew louder. I lifted my head and saw the first wave, white with foam, sweeping over and around the crystals, consuming everything in its path. Kita saw it, too, grabbed my arm and shot straight up in the air.
The wave passed under us, breaking against the sides of crystals too thick to snap. As Kita took off westward, fighting to hold me up, I looked at the water and measured it with my eyes. It wasn't deep enough, compared to the lake behind the dam. I looked up and saw the dam over the tops of the crystals. It had a large hole in it, which was spurting water like a firehose, but it had not yet broken. The real flood hadn't begun.
"Hurry Kita, hurry," I grunted. Her arms were slippery with water, and my metal fingers couldn't get traction.
"I'm hurrying," she gasped. "You're so heavy!"
Despite her best efforts, we began to descend toward the angry water. "No, no, keep us up!" I cried.
"I can't," she panted, half-sobbing. "You're too heavy, I have to rest--"
Perhaps two hundred feet ahead of us was the side of the valley, and I could see our grove of trees on the edge, tiny and unreal through the rain. Figures moved to and fro on the valley rim, but I couldn't see who they were through the rain and the water in my eyes. The crystals around us were submerged, and there was nowhere for Kita to stop. She was sinking rapidly, panting and crying, trying to carry me and failing.
Her hands began to slip on my metal. I tried to grab better hold, but her bare arms were slick with rain, and so was my metal. "Don't let go!" I said, clinging to her.
"I can't, you're slipping," she said, looking down at me through her wet hair and sobbing. "Zephyer, I can't make it!"
I was only holding on to her with my good hand. I slid down her arm and clasped her hand in mine. She clung to me and forced herself forward, trying to close the gap between us and the bank.
Abruptly her hands, weakened by too little food and too much exertion, lost hold. My hand slipped, and we screamed as I fell, spinning, and hit the water with a splash.
It was hot and tasted like mud. The current was incredible and it sucked me along, slamming me into debris and standing crystals. The breath left my body in explosions of bubbles. I could not think, I could not swim, I could only exist in the few seconds I had left.
I was swept between two crystals that formed a V, and stuck there as the water roared over me. I tried feebly to crawl up them, but I was wedged in, ten feet under water--I could see the surface--I cried for air, my head was ringing, I wanted to inhale, I had to inhale, there was nothing in my lungs--
I could not help it. I took a breath of water. I coughed. I took another breath--the pain was horrible, and then--
The roar of the water faded and I was drifted somewhere where there was no pain. It was a place where I was glad to go, for it meant leaving the world and its troubles forever. But between it and me stood a hedgehog and an echidna. They were calling my name. I wanted to go on into peace and rest, but they had me and would not let me go. They were calling my name.
I was moving upwards now, and there awaited pain and discomfort, but I was powerless to resist, for my time had not yet come. They were dragging me through blue, rippling light and roaring, roaring as if the world were passing away. They were still calling my name.
Then I was coughing, coughing until I thought my stomach would split. Water was coming up in mouthfuls, and I could hardly draw enough breath to cough some more. All I could taste was a stinging chemical that scorched my mouth and windpipe. My body screamed with pain, but my arm was the worst. I wanted to cry, but I could only cough. Somebody was sobbing nearby, and there was the sound of rain.
0) window.location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value">ChaptersStory Index1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 56. Chapter 67. Chapter 78. Chapter 89. Chapter 910. Chapter 1011. Chapter 1112. Chapter 1213. Chapter 1314. Chapter 14
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