Hey Everybody! Here's Chapter 7 which is also alittle long. They Freedom Fighters have their first physical fight with….And Knuckles and Roxanne-Li have a talk. Enjoy and PLZ R&R!
Chapter 7: The story of….
Spying on the Chaotix, Rouge and Roxanne-Li through what appeared to be a large mirror, the figure frowned as the mirror showed each of them conversing almost happily with one another. Taking a sip of red wine the figure waved his hand over the mirror making the image fade away.
"This is taking me longer than I expected." The figure sat in the dark on what looked like a throne. "I should have all three chaos jewels by now." He thinks about the situation. "Many should be bowing at me feet now." Sitting the glass down, he continued thinking about what the mirror had showed him. "I should've known that the guardian and his friends would cause me trouble." He stands with his arms crossed. "Well, they will find out quick enough….I'm through playing. The Emerald will be in my possession by sun-down today." The figure chuckles leaping into the air and disappearing. –Yes! Everything will be as it was and for their interference, the guardian and his pesky friends will not live to see it…My new and glorious empire that shall rise here on Angel Island.-
Meanwhile….
The Chaotix, along with a not too happy Rouge, made it their prerogative to crash at Knuckles' den. Shadow stood leaning against a the wall near the entrance of the den as the others sat at the table. The Chaotix seemed curious about the new echidna who, according to Knuckles, just seemed to appear out of no where.
"I'm from a place called Shady Oasis." She explained. She noticed the blank expressions from the others and thought for a second. "It's about a good 70 miles or so south of Sandopolis in the heart of the desert. Thanks to a nameless hedgehog—who's name I will not say—I'm stuck here and I have no idea how to get home." Roxanne answered causing Shadow to glare at her. After talking for a bit Knuckles began to explain the situation that has recently shown itself.
"So you trying to tell us that this strange dude appears out of no where and starts talkin' all this mumbo jumbo about stealing your Emerald." Vector asked. Roxanne listened silently. –I've been meaning to ask about the Chaos Emerald…But…I wonder if they can tell me what I want to know.- Roxanne sighs in deep thought.
"Something like that." Knuckles leaned back into his chair with a sigh. "He went into all this stuff about stealing the Chaos Jewels. I don't even know what he meant by that—." Roxanne gasped.
"You mean to tell me that you know about the Chaos Emerald but not about the other Chaos Jewels." Roxanne asked. Rouge looked at her as if she said the most outrageous thing.
"Well of course Knuckles would know about the Master Emerald. He is its Guardian—." Roxanne could have fallen over but she didn't. Instead, her gaze shifted to the red Echidna.
"You mean to tell me that YOU are a guardian?" Roxanne-Li squeaked.
"Uh…Yeah?" Knuckles replies slightly confused.-Why is she so surprised that I'm a guardian.- he thinks to himself. –Duh Rox! That's why he had a cow when you went to touch the Emerald.- It all made sense and when she looked around the room, she noticed the attention she drew to herself and blushed slightly.
"Well you seem to know about these Chaos Jewels. Why don't you tell us what you know." Rouge says as she leaned back in her chair close to Knuckles. Knuckles frowned slightly at the bat-girl but turned his attentions back to Roxanne. Roxanne's eyes narrowed briefly at Rouge who just smirked back. Roxanne didn't like being put on the spot like that.
"Do you know about the Chaos Jewels?" Espio asked. Roxanne nodded.
"I know a little. There is a legend that I use to hear from those in my clan during my childhood." Roxanne-Li started. She had the attention of everyone in the room. Even Shadow paid her some mind as the echidna began her tale. "Many years ago, the power of Chaos threatened the most well-developed advancement of knowledge Mobius had yet to seen in its time. It's power was secured into one enormous jewel known by most as the Jewel of Chaos. Many sought its uses for various purposes and even more have met their deaths trying to seek out its power; however one almost succeeded. The figure dominated all for generations casting a corrupted evil over all and an even darker oppression over Chaos causing Chaos to rebel and its vast amount of power to detonate and destroy all things around it. The all powerful jewel shattered into 3 large shards and disseminated themselves around the planet, each shard landing near 3 warring Echidna clans." Roxanne looked at Knuckles before continuing. "One shard, the emerald of Chaos, was discovered in the southern tropical region. Another shard, the ruby of Chaos, was discovered in the western desert region and the diamond of Chaos was discovered in the icy snow-capped region of the north…And the mysterious dictator was cursed, left to wander between the living and the dead, longing for the power of Chaos once and the three warring Echidna clans retreated from one another wielding the 3 shards of Chaos within their clans achieving greatness including the defying of gravity with the floating of the Echidna capital city, the magical uses for abundant resources in the deserts and the climate control in the tundra. Many generations passed and the current guardians keep their watchful eyes on their Chaos jewel keeping them from the prying eyes thieves and out of reach of evil that constantly threatens to abuse Chaos' powers." Roxanne noticed the expressions on everyone's face. "That's the legend word from word if I recall correctly." She stands. "Who's to say that 'dude' yall ran into was that dictator. Very few know about the Chaos Jewels so it would make sense." Roxanne-Li concluded.
"But you said it was a legend." Shadow said drawing attention to himself. He had been awfully quiet.
"I did." Roxanne answered.
"You don't know for sure." Rouge said accusingly.
"I never said I knew for sure." Roxanne replied with a shrug.
"Well, I don't know about you guys," Knuckles starts. "But I'm not about to let anything happen to my Emerald." Knuckles stands also. "If there is one way to find out about who that guy was, it's by waiting near the temple where the Master Emerald is." He thought about when he was gliding back toward his den and he saw the X-Tornado.
–Those two don't know how to get to my den so that's probably where they are headin.-
"Yeah! C'mon everybody. Let's head to the Temple." Vector says. Knuckles smiled at his friends.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Charmy piped in.
"No need to rush." Rouge says as she noticed she was the last to stand. "I'm sure whatever this new enemy has plan, we can handle it." She assured.
"We don't need to take that risk." Knuckles says. "Let's go." The others followed him out of his den toward the temple leaving Roxanne-Li and Rouge. Roxanne simply looks at the bat-girl but soon found herself running after the others.
"This better not be a waist of my time which I could be spending with Knuckles." Rouge growled lowly to herself as she took off after the others…..
At the Temple…
"Where is that Knuckle-head?" Sonic fumed slightly to himself.
"He should be here soon." Tails says. "He never stays away from the master Emerald long. We've been here for—."
"Sonic! Tails!" Knuckles' voice cut Tails mid-sentence as he turned around facing the red echidna as well as the crowd with him.
"Hey Everybody!" Sonic greeted the Chaotix
"Hey Knuckles! We have the Emeralds." Tails said happily. Shadow stepped forward with a smirk on his face.
"Well well, if it isn't the Faker!" Sonic nearly fell over at the sight of the Shadow.
"Shadow?!"
"Aren't you suppose to be dead?" Tails asked.
"Obviously not." He replied to the younger Tails. "I'm just full of surprises—." A loud explosion cut Shadow off as a beam of black light whizzed pass him.
"You know nothing about surprises hedgehog." The familiar voice mused. Floating above the group was a figure heavily cloaked in black. Knuckles clenched his fist.
"You!"
"Well hello guardian. We meet again." Rouge elevated herself off of the ground to be air-leveled with the cloaked figure so she could get a better look but the two didn't stay up long. The figure landed a few feet away from the group.
"Are you the one that ruining my little vacation time here?" Rouge asked as she landed beside Knuckles. He ignored her question.
"Who are you?!" Sonic called. The figure chuckled.
"My name? You can call me…Kurios." He paused taking off the hood that hid most of his face. Everyone look on anxious to see who he was and what he looked like; however, the large wolverine-like furri was not what they expected. The silver-furred Kurios smirked, his sharp teeth peeking through the wicked smile and his golden-colored eyes starting back almost mockingly. "Now," he turned his attentions to Knuckles who frowned back. "Guardian of the Emerald of Chaos, I want that Jewel. We can do this one of two ways." Kurios' hand clenched into a fist glowing in a blue flame. "Hand over that Emerald and I might let you and your friends live." Kurios threatened.
"Why do you want MY Emerald." Knuckles asked.
"So my Utopia can be as it once was…" he starts. "Everything was fine until off the war broke out between the countries on Mobius. It threw off the balance of control I had over Chaos." His eyes narrowed at Knuckles and Roxanne-Li "You echidnas could never stay away from one battling against each other for the writes of power. I blame you echidnas for everything that has happened." Kurios fumed hatefully at Knuckles and Roxanne-Li.
"Get over yourself! Do you honestly think that I'm just gonna fall over and let you have the Master Emerald? Don't make me laugh." Knuckles says.
"Yeah we've all been through hell keeping this Emerald out of the hands of evil to just give it to the likes of you." Sonic added. Kurios' eyes closed and he chuckled..
"So stubborn that echidna is…No matter you fools…Have it your way." He murmured icily. The others didn't have time to react as what looked like blue lightning hurtled toward them. Rouge took to the sky as the others scattered in different directions to avoid the lightning. Roxanne-Li drew her quarter-staff as she lunged at Kurios. Swing after swing missed the speedy Kurios as he always went within inches of avoiding the fiery echidna's attacks. "My my…" he starts. "One as beautiful as yourself. Should not be fighting. I would hate to have to hurt you." Kurios says. Faking an attack, Roxanne-Li appeared behind Kurios striking him in the back with her quarter-staff knocking him down.
"Thanks but I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself." She jabbed the pole into the ground to kill Kurios but the wolverine seem to banish before her eyes. No one could close to Kurios without being struck by the lightning, not even Espio in his camouflage mode. He, like the others were held at bay by Kurios who seemed to have not been even breaking a sweat. Sonic and Shadow seemed lunged at the wolverine skillfully able to land a few hits with their super speed. Everyone seemed to be throwing everything at once. Vector fought with his loud music while by his side Espio fought skillfully with his ninja attacks. Rouge landed one kick but as she went for another, she was flung aside carelessly by the irate Kurios. Nothing seemed to be working!
"Get'em from behind and I'll take him in the front!" Sonic called moments before the two split up.
"Got it!" The two hedgehogs attack in unison. Just as they were about to attack Kurios held his hand out freezing Sonic and Shadow in place.
"Wha-What's going on." Shadow struggled to move but he couldn't.
"I'm stuck!" Sonic says.
"Seems I snagged me two hedgehogs." Kurios mused evilly. "What to do what to do?" he didn't have time to consider as what looked like an arrow of flames whizzed passed him breaking his concentration and his hold on the two hedgehogs. He gasped slightly taken aback. Everyone was! Standing not too far off from where Sonic, Shadow and Kurios were was Roxanne-Li holding what appeared to be a bow made completely of red light and flames. Her shirt were torn revealing the under shirt she had on.
"I won't miss next time so I wouldn't think twice if I were you." Roxanne-Li says as she hurled what looked like a large red ball of flames at Kurios. Just before it hit him, he held up his hand to block the flames however Roxanne' attack broke his shield singeing his hands. Kurios gasped as he looked at his now injured hands. –That power…It's familiar.- his eyes narrowed as he thought the Roxanne-Li looked familiar. –Ah yes! The power of the Chaos Ruby! That girl is a guardian.-
"I have no time to play games with you." He held his hands out over the ground. The others felt the ground shake beneath their feet. "Emerald of Chaos!!" Kurios yelled. "Come to my hands!!" Not too far off in the temple. The Master Emerald lost it's green glow as it now glowed in the same blue lightning that Kurios attacked the others with. Breaking through the old stone walls of the temple, the large Master Emerald seemed to hurl itself Kurios. "Yes!! You're mine! Jewel number one in my possession!" he laughed sinisterly.
"The Master Emerald!!" Knuckles clenched his fist as Kurios floated into the air.
"Oh no you don'!! If I can't have the Master Emerald then you can't either!" Rouge flew at high speeds in the direction of Kurios but a large force field kept her from getting to close.
"Come back here!!"
"Fools! All of you! You all will regret ever fighting me. Once the other two jewels are in my possession, this whole world will crumble at my feet starting with you all!!" Kurios' laughed menacingly as he disappears. Knuckles growls frustrated.
"Now what!" Shadow says frustrated.
"We follow him!" Sonic declared.
"What are you taking about? We don't even know where he is." Charmy says sitting on Vector's shoulder.
"If he's after the Jewels of Chaos like he said then there is only two places he'll go." Roxanne-Li starts.
"And you know where these places are?" Rouge says.
"I know where one is…" Roxanne-Li says. "No doubt his next place…" –I cannot let Kurios get ahold of my Ruby. I cannot fail my clan that way.- "I see it will take all of us together to take on Kurios." She notes then looks at Shadow. –He's the only one who can get me back home.-
"So what do we do now?" Tails asked. Shadow looks at the sky noticing the setting sun.
"Well, we can't do anything until tomorrow. We will regroup tomorrow and discuss what's gonna be done." Knuckles says…..
Later that night…
Everyone had gone their separate ways. Sonic and Tails had set up a camp not too far off from Knuckles' den. Rouge had flew back to Station Square giving up on having some alone time with Knuckles. The Chaotix went back to Rainbow valley where their office was and Shadow and Roxanne-Li were around Knuckles den….
With the Chaotix…
"Did you see the moves Roxanne had. Boy! I wish I can find me a girl like that." Vector says as she propped his feet up on the desk.
"Oh stop it Vector! We don't even know for sure if there is something going on between them or not!" Charmy scolds lightly.
"Yeah! No need to jump to conclusions Vector!" Espio added. " You know how wrong you can be sometimes." Vector frowned.
"We'll see." Vector says. "I'm gonna be the one who finds out and when I do, you two will be eating your words." Vector guaranteed….
At Knuckle's Den….
Knuckles noticed that Roxanne was not in his den. –She still hadn't came inside yet.- Knuckles found himself walking out of his den as he looked outside. Not to far from the den Roxanne-Li lay on her back outside looking up at the stars. Roxanne-Li heard someone approach from behind her and didn't bother to turn around for she knew who it was. The tattered over-shirt she had on earlier was gone and all she had was a tight fitting tube top that revealed part of the crescent moon that was on her chest.
"It's a little chilly out here don'tcha think?" Knuckles sat beside her on the grass.
"It feels good to me. I love to sit outside at night." She replies softly as she sat up holding herself up on her arms. "I do this often back home." She looks at him and he nods.
"You know? I watched you fight Kurios today and I have to ask…" Knuckles started. Roxanne-Li knew what he was about to ask.
"What kind of power that was I used against Kurios?" Roxanne-Li held out her palm in front of her as her hand started glowing a soft red color. "It's the power of the Chaos Ruby." She replied letting the glow die. Knuckles nearly fell over. "Kinda ironic don'tcha think?" she chuckled.
"…You're a Guardian?" he asked.
"You're very smart ya know." She laughed playfully. "Yes Knuckles. I'm the 10th generation guardian of the Ruby of Chaos." She replies.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Knuckles asked. Roxanne-Li sighed.
"Didn't you hear me when I told you the legend earlier?"
"Yeah…But it was a 'legend.'" Knuckles answered.
"True, but the part about the three warring Echidna clans was anything but a myth. Have you not been told the story about the wars fought between our clans when you were a child?" she asked curiously. Knuckles is silent.
"…I've never heard any folklore about my echidna clan. I've been alone for as long as I can remember." Knuckles responded. Roxanne instantly felt bad about the question.
"I'm sorry Knuckles….I didn't mean to bring up your childhood—."
"No it's ok. You didn't know." He smiles. "My childhood wasn't the worst. Training was hard, but I had my dad around." He really didn't want to talk about this, but consequently there were on the topic, so they might as well. "What about you." He inquired curiously. "What was your childhood like?" Roxanne sighed softly catching Knuckles' attention.
"Not all that different from yours it sounds like." She started with a smile. "When I was little, my father, who was the present guardian of the Chaos Ruby, told me that I would the first female guardian of the Chaos Ruby so of course my standards were much higher than any other guardian before my time. I trained hard with my father and had few friends but it wasn't so bad." She went to tell him about other things that went on growing up in the desert; however, listening to her talk, he noticed that Roxanne-Li had avoided something and he would inquire about it.
"What about your mother Roxanne?" he asked. She is silent before answering.
"My…my mother died when I was just a couple of days old." She says. Knuckles kicked himself –How stupid!- "I don't know much about her but," she paused smiling lightly. "…I remember that she had the sweetest voice…." She says softly. There was a brief moment of silence between the two before Roxanne continued. "But on to other things." Roxanne's voice grew serious. "I have to return home. I do not want that Kurios getting his hands on my Ruby." She says. Knuckles nodded. "So many would suffer if he did."
"That is why I'm gonna Chaos Control all of us back to Shady Oasis. I got a bone to pick with that Kurios." Shadow says as he approached the two echidnas who were sitting on the grass.
"Shadow!"
"You sure you wanna do that. I mean that's how we got here the first time. I don't want to end up somewhere I don't know while Kurios steals my Ruby." Roxanne says. Shadow shakes his head.
"Nothing should happen since Kurios is gone. He shouldn't be affecting the Chaos emerald's power. I should be able to teleport us there." Shadow explained.
"Worth a shot." Knuckles says. Roxanne smiled at Knuckles.
"Alright!" Roxanne says. "Tomorrow, we all head to Shady Oasis!" Roxanne professed…..
Well, that's all for chapter 7. Next in Chapter 8, everyone arrives and are greeted by the surprised Echidna clan. How will everyone react? I'm gonna try to update soon. PLZ R&R and Thanx!
Jahagjiana