CHAPTER 6

I was home! It had all been a dream! But,... there was something curled up in a small furry ball beside me,.... I swished the covers off the lump!
"Rrrrrrrrrrrr?" it was only my cat. The cat stretched, and yawned, before going out the door of my bedroom. I tried telling everyone I knew about the interesting dream I had had that night, but when it comes to me, I'm either ignored ( when telling dream stories ), ignored after mentioning the word "Sonic" (for he is an addiction of mine ), someone changes the subject, and begins to talk about another anime series by the name of X (which I know nothing about, so I just sit there for 2 hours while other people talk about it), or (in my friends case): "Write it down, I'll read it later". Stories usually come better from my mouth, but because this one is soooooooo... long, and I respect my friends opinions, I thought of it a better idea to write it down anyway. The day passed normally...boring. I talked with my friends (we had a good time), I got yelled at by teachers for staring into space, good grades, bad grades, lunch, homework, dinner, 3 hours of watching TV, reading 1984, writing on the computer, and finally, going to bed once more. That's just about how every day of mine goes by. I had thought of the dream I had had the night before, very interesting, but very unlikely to occur again. My dreams are usually scattered everywhere, and are fun, but make little sense. I thought of all this as I closed my eyes, and drifted to sleep....

LIGHT!! Light hit me in the eyes! I got annoyed. It was probably a careless family member.
"Can't you see I'm trying to get some sleep here!!!" I shouted, annoyed. "Why are you in here anyway Robert?!?!"
"Who's Robert?!"
I jumped! A voice belonging to no family member of mine had groaned this into my ear! My eyes blinked, tiredly.There was someone looking down at me, a blue hedgehog.
"You again?" I asked.
"Yes, me again." He answered."Who did you think I was? The queen of England?!"
"What's up with the light?"
"It's morning again!"
"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!! I JUST SHUT MY EYES!!!"
"No kidding kid. It's morn all right."
"Well, am I dreaming in this world or my own? Cause let me tell you, I'm not doing labor work in both! I have to sleep sometime... don't I?"
"What are you talking about?!? You've been lying there for hours, you looked exhausted! Knuckles loud snoring didn't even wake you up! ...And let me tell you, that's tired!"
"But I was awake!!"
"Nooo...your awake right now!"
I put my hand over my eyes, and rubbed them, using the thumb and first finger.

"I don't believe this,...."
"What don't you believe?"
"Is this place real? Or is the other place real? When I dream here, I'm there,...and, when I dream there I'm here!!! Is there no end to how tiring this is?!?!?"
Sonic patted himself down, just to make sure he was there, as a living, breathing, counterpart at this comment. He stretched his skin a little, it snapped back, (in a cartoon way).
"Seems real to me,..." he said, puzzled at my comments. "All this thinking is making me hungry... Want some breakfast?"
"But I just had dinner!!"
He looked at me puzzled, again. "Look kid, I don't know if your on pills or something,....but whatever it is, you'd better stop it! Your getting your dreams mixed up with reality!"
Hew walked into the kitchen, getting ready to repair breakfast. I, (surprised that Sonic would say such a thing), got up (dragging the blanket with me). In the prosses of doing this, I uncovered Tails, who moaned, and began to search for the blanket with his hand... unsuccessful, for he was half asleep, and not opening his eyes to do this.
"O. K.,...look. I don't know if it makes any sense here, but this is the world of dreams and light, is it not?"
"Well yeah,..." said Sonic as he began to collect some ingredients for breakfast.
"Well then,... if this is the real world, how come it holds that title?!?"
Sonic paused for a second before returning to his work.

"I don't know,... just for the sake of it? It's a nice name to call a place like this....."
"Oh.....forget it. So? What's for breakfast?"
"Mash!!!"
"Mash? What's that? It sounds disgusting!!!"
Sonic's feelings were hurt. He gave me a sad face.
"Oh for goodness sakes! I just said it was a bad name! Not that it was a bad food!"
"Sob! I...it's the only thing I know how to cook........SOB!!!!!..........WWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sonic went into a crying fit, bellowing at the top of his lungs, and (in the prosses) waking everyone else up.
"SNORT!!" Knuckles gave an unpleasant grunt before saying:

"O. K.....Who insulted the mash? We go over this every morning Tails!!! Sheesh! Can't a guy get some sleep around here?!?!?"
"I didn't insult Sonic's cooking Knuckles! It was the new kid!"
"YOU!!!"
Knuckles stormed out of his bed, enraged. He took a hold of my shirt, and roughly tugged it until his face was close to mine. He murmured strictly: "I'm about this close (he pinched his thumb and hand so that they were almost touching), to tossing you out of the house. If you don't like what we serve here, then tough! You can take it somewhere else kid!"

He tossed me down. He was powerful, and his push sent me hard to the floor. He then walked over to Sonic, gave him a friendly pat on the back, and went back to bed. Sonic (trying to calm down) went to the window, and stopped crying almost immediately. He gave a small gasp, and signaled me and Tails to come and see. The window overlooked the valley of Angorf, and the border of the woods. But, standing in the valley, on a hill was a creature I had never seen before. It was a bird. A huge, beautiful, bird, about the same height as the dragon I had seen earlier, about 250 feet high.

The bird was gorgeous, and white. It was so bright in the sun, that it seemed to give off it's own glow, and was currently dancing in the sun's rays.
"What is that?!?" I asked in an awe voice.
"Well, you know Clucose? The king of nightmares?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah..."
"Well, that's Illum. The King of the dream world. He takes the form of a giant, white crane."
"OOOHHHH........." Tails gasped in awe.

The crane continued to dance in the rays of light, as he twirled on the two, black, stick legs that looked like shadows in the sun. He spotted us, looking at him through the window of the hut. He began to walk tord the window with interest. My feelings soon switched from happiness, to fright! As the giant bird got closer, the ground began to shake under it's weight for every footstep it took! And, it had been true, I hadn't had a lot of good experiences with giant beings in my past dreams. Either, I would almost get stepped on, or I would enter the persons body, or get swallowed....

Sonic and Tails backed away from the window, but I was too scared to move. I could see the crane almost trampling the entire underbrush of the forest with every step taken. Knuckles was clearly up now. for the shivering of the Earth had made him fall from his hammock.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?" he yelled as the footsteps got closer.
"ITS ILLUM!" yelled Sonic back through the thunder of the Earth.

The crane approached the window, and lied it's head on the branch supporting the hut. Their were immediate gasps, and screams from below. The weight of the bird was tipping the tree!! The hut groaned as the branch went sideways, taking the hut for a slant ride. I quickly scurried to a hammock, and grabbed on for dear life!!! Needless to say, a chain started and everyone grabbed each others feet, Knuckles on mine, Sonic on Knuckles, and Tails, (who was hanging on to his beloved Chao doll with one hand), hung on to one of Sonic's feet with the other.

The cupboards facing the opposite wall jerked open, and pots fell, helplessly out the now open front door. Along with the pots, came Sonic's "mash", a table, several chairs, and irreplaceable trophies and photographs.
"ALL RIGHT!!! ALL RIGHT! GOOD MORNING TO YOU TO!!!" yelled Sonic, hoping this would make the crane disappear.
But the crane wouldn't leave. It wanted something in the household.

The crane managed to wiggle the tip of it's beak, playfully, into the front door of the hut. It snapped the beak, affectionately, as if waiting to be handed something. Of course, this began to rip the house apart.
"NO!!!!! NOT MY HOUSE!!! NOT MY BEAUTIFUL HOME!!!" screamed Sonic, but it was to late. The entire outside layer of the house ripped off, hammock, kitchen, and all, and we all fell to our death!

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THE END! Wasn't that a great story?!?
Huh? HUH'!?....... ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT!!! So we didn't fall to our death!

What really happened was this:

There was a window right next to the hammock, and as the house fell, I let go of the hammock, and we all went right through the window and grabbed on to a tree branch, as the house fell past us! After this occurred, we were right back where we had started again. A dangling rope, over a crane's mouth.
"WOO!!! NICE CATCH!!!" yelled Sonic from below. The crane now saw us, in pure view, and had found what it had been searching for...me.

The crane took me by the shirt collar, and shook the rest of "the rope" on a large branch. I was being dangled, while going up....up.... toward the clouds! I covered my eyes (my one fear, one weakness, is vertigo).

"DON'T MOVE!!! STAY RIGHT THERE! TAILS AND I ARE COMING UP TO GET YOU DOWN!!!" yelled Sonic.

The crane tossed me into the the air!!!

"This is it!!! I'm going to die! GOODBYE WORLD!!!!!!" I thought But,... I didn't die. I fell a short distance on to something smooth and hollow. I opened an eye I was on yellow ground. "Whaaa?!?!"
Two holes were the only things covering this ground. I crawled over to them. Each was about the size of a head, and wind was slowly, but strongly going in and out...in and out.... two large black eyes were staring at me on a cotton white base connected to the yellow ground.

Tails and Sonic landed here, farther away from me. Tails ran toward me.
"MOLLY! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?!?" He yelled.
Sonic ran too. (except of course faster). We stood there, grateful that no one was dead. So grateful, in fact, that Tails wasn't looking where he put his...uh...tails. One of the tails got sucked into one of the holes on the surface.

"FWOMP!"

The huge black eyes grew smaller.

"TAILS!!! HURRY!!! GET IT OUT!!! GET IT OUT!!!" yelled Sonic quickly waving his arms frantically.

"I CANT!!! IT'S STUCK!"

Tails began to tug at his stuck tail. Sonic soon ran in front of him to lend a hand. They both tugged, and tugged, but the thing wouldn't budge and, they were was paying so much attention to this, that they didn't notice that his other tail was rubbing against the other hole, slowly...slowly.
"AAAHHH.....AHHHH......"

"HURRY!!! HURRY!!!"

"I CANT!!! IT'S STUCK!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.............WWWWWWAAAAACCCCCCHHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!"
Mucus flew everywhere from the holes!!!

"WAP!!" Slapping the gooey tail on to Sonic's face. Sonic's ears drooped in disgust, as the gooey tail slid down his face slowly...

"All right.... I think that's enough fun for one day...." he mumbled under his breath.

I thought to myself, "Why do these things keep happening to me?"

The crane shook his head, vigorously, shaking off the aftermath of the sneeze. Tails, and Sonic went flying, but I clung on, with all the strength I had left. The crane once again concentrated with all of it's sight on me. It made a strange gesture, as if telling me to come closer to one of the eyes. I did, the crane seemed pleased. It took a good look at me, and me at it.. I got very close to the eye, and the crane closed it, so that it wouldn't get damaged. I then saw what had been driving the thing so crazy so that, it had danced about, and come to the tree so willingly. There, on the eyelid was a small needle, jammed into it from some sort of thorn patch, or something of the such. I (careful not to fall), plucked the thing out of the eyelid, and scratched the place where it had been stuck. The crane relaxed, at this, and made a small gurgling sound in the throught. The world began to fall, and I realized that the crane was now lowering his body.

He sat on his belly,calm now. I could see the animated figures coming out of their hiding places around the tree and look up at us. Sonic floated down gently, for he had grabbed on to Tail's feet at the last minute, who had proceeded to fly him down to the ground. Knuckles had also made it to the bottom of the tree somehow.

The crane was now spoiled, and seemed to want me to scratch the eyelid some more. I began to, once again, scratch and rub the eyelid. The crane, lowered it's neck in relaxation. The eyelid was purple, and rough, and the itching, and scratching, seemed to go on forever. The creatures went back to their homes, grateful that the danger was over. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles approached the grand head of the crane. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, covered in the stickiness of the mucus, while looking up at me scratching the eye.

"ALL RIGHT!! ALL RIGHT!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" he yelled up to me.

The crane gave him a threatening look, that seemed to say,

"You take the kid away, and I'll eat you whole!!"

Sonic backed away, and ran, fast back to the tree.

When I had begun to scratch the crane's eye, little did I know that I would be with the giant all day. After the crane was satisfied with the eye he let me down by having me slide off his beak. I waved a farewell. It was lunch time, and I was hungry. The crane gave a whimper. It was trying to tell me something. I stared at one of it's black eyes blankly... and then, it hit me! I called for Sonic his good ears heard me, and he sped over.

"WHAT?!?"

"The crane wants you to retrieve some stuff."

"How would you know?"
"I just do, OK? He says he wants a bucket of water, a sponge, a rake, saw, a brush broom, and a pack of sardines."
"What are you going to do?! Bath him?!"
"I don't know....he just wants it for some reason."
"EEE!!!!!!" the crane squawked.
"He also says to......bring me some lunch???"
"Riiiiight........"
Sonic sped away and brought back the supplies 3 seconds later.
"Your highness..." he said, sarcastically, as he handed me 5 rice cakes neatly wrapped in a leaf. "Hey!! Thanks!!"
He sped away, annoyed, and climbed the tree, where Tails and Knuckles were enjoying some rice cakes as well, that had been donated by the neighbors.
"The king has taken a liking toward her..." said Knuckles through a full mouth.
"Mph..." Sonic was displeased.
"OHHH....... ..just be thankful your not her. God knows what she's going to have to do to him next...."

Meanwhile, I sat. peacefully eating the rice cakes. Illum gave a moan. I opened the large can of sardines, and cupped them in my shirt.

"Don't eat me now, OK?"

The crane bowed it"s head into the shirt, and began to nibble gently at the almost microscopic fish, compared to the rest of the body. The large beak pushed me down, and the bird swallowed the fish in one swoop. I quickly finished my own lunch, and waited for more instructions from the crane. The crane preened it's self, and a large loose feather came out of the preening spot, and floated to the Earth. The crane then took me by the collar and laid me on his back. The white, fluff, of feathers surrounded me. The neck went back down, and handed me the rake. I (not exactly knowing what I was doing) began to rake the cranes backside. The
crane shivered with delight.

"OH! I see! You want me to rake of the loose feathers on your back! Is that right?"

The crane gave another affectionate gurgle. And so, the next 3 hours I spent raking feathers into a nice neat pile on one part of the crane. When through, the crane signaled me to stick one of the feathers up his nose. I placed a single feather in, and ran. The crane dug his head into the pile I had created.

"AAAAHHH......WACHOOOOOO!!!!!!" The crane sneezed again, sending the feathers all over the place.

He then quickly grabbed me and turned away from the tree. He flapped his magnificent wings, creating a large wind, and the feathers flew off and over the horizon.

His beak was now durty with mucus again. He tossed me, and had me land on the beak once more. He then tossed up the bucket of water, sponge, and the brush broom. Surprisingly, he was a very good cetch, and not one drop of the water spilled. He wanted me to clean his beak! I moaned from muscle pain, but did it without question, for the last thing I wanted to happen, was to get eaten again. After an hour and a half of cleaning the beak, The bird coughed, and sent the soapy water that had fallen into the nose out in a spray. He put his head back, and I slid down his long neck, like a slide. Illum then placed me on the ground, and handed me the saw.

"What the heck do you want me to do with this?!?" I asked, impatiently.

The crane stood on it's hinds, shaking the Earth as it did so. He then lowered his neck, all the way down to his feet, and tapped his long nails with his beak. He then, looked at me with begging eyes.

"OOOOHHHHHHH......................." I groaned.

I then spent the next 2 hours sawing off, and clipping his nails. On the second to last one, I collapsed from exhaustion. The crane looked down in surprise! It was early night time now, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon. The crane took a step back, and nudged the small limp figure with it's beak. I couldn't move though, my muscles had become stiff. I couldn't even bend my legs. The crane tipped me over so that my face was toward the sky.

"She has worked so hard.....maybe even too hard....."
It sounds like insanity, but, I thought I could hear what the 250 foot colossus was thinking.

"I will now pay you for your services, kind stranger. For you are the only one who helped me, and didn't run when I was in pain."
I saw the beak of Ilium begin to glow. A small sphere of light was forming on the end of it. He bent down, and something entered inside of me, it felt like a snake, slithering throughout my body.

"Take this, and use it wisely. You will know what it is in three days."

The crane then stood up, sucked in a lot of air, and gave a huge screech. He then took me by the collar again, and placed me on his back. He wandered to the tree, and searched for a branch to put me on.

He found the branch that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were on. They were all huddled together asleep. Sonic opened an eye, halfway, not fully awake.

"Take good care of this girl. She is special not only physically, but in the heart as well."
Illum took me and placed me down next to Sonic, who, placed his head on my lap for a pillow. I (very slowly) moved my hand to Sonic's ear, and scratched him there. He smiled, and his right foot began to tap.

"Farewell kind stranger. We will see each other again."

"By....." I mumbled. The crane spread it's wings, and took off. I soon fell asleep in the darkness of the night, calm, and peaceful.

All of a sudden though, a buzzer sounded. I woke up. stiff and sore.

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OH!!! I hope you guys love this chapter!!! It's my pride and joy, and (truthfully), it's my most favorite one that I've written so far....

I've decided to add something new. I've started to have the seiries of continueing dreams again, and so, if you guys want me to ask Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Inuyasha, or anyone elts a question, state your question in a review, and I will ask the charectors in my dreams the question, and put them up (and the answers), at the end of the next chapter, and beond!

HAPPY READING!!!!

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I do not own Sonic, Inuyasha, Tails, Knuckles, or X (X, X 1999...however you say it)

Illum is my baby! MINE! (Grabs an Illum doll out of nowhere, and begins to, very immaturely, suck thumb)
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NEXT CHAPTER: The Training Begins......