S. Chensu: Yo- Mysteriously disappears
Luff: Me first this time! Clears throat Yo people, another episode up for your viewing pleasure. This episode sees the group go to Egypt but something happens to interrupt their search. And Eggman gets more than a mention too! We're also introducing two characters who will be important later on.
S. Chensu: Storms in Luffffffffffff, you're going to get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luff: Uh oh, time to run! Hey Shadow, I need to borrow your shoes!
Shadow: Don't even think about it!
Luff: Trips up Shadow and takes off shoes He he, she'll never be able to catch me now! Sniffs the air before swooning and fainting.
S. Chensu: Yuk, what is that smell? Gingerly smells Shadow's shoes Shadow, what do you do? Put cheese in them deliberately or something?
Shadow: No!
S. Chensu: Oh well, seeing as Luff's fainted, I'll have to read the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters (Sonic team, in case you didn't have a clue) and this episode's specialties are Banjo and Kazooie, Jinxy, Old Grabba, Sandybutt (owned by Rareware, boohoo, gone to Microsoft) and Mewtwo (owned by Nintendo)
HoweverWe do own: Zelgan and Gelest, Kikuyu (the planet, not the name. That came from an African tribe) and the story.
Luff: Sits up slowly Ugh, what happened?
S. Chensu: You made the mistake of sniffing Shadow's shoes.
Luff: Oh yeah, now I remember! Looks around and sees him There you are, just you wait until I get you!
Shadow: Can I have my shoes back please?
Luff: Oh yeah, of course Hands them over then realises what she's done as Shadow skates off. St, come here you bd!!!!!!! Runs after Shadow.
S. Chensu: Sighs It's probably better to leave them two alone for the moment… Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy the continuing saga of the downright silly!
P.S. This episode will have a couple of swearwords but they have been beeped out for your benefit.
Episode three: The continuing saga of the downright sillyThe group knew they were nearing Egypt when they ran into a sandstorm.
"Arrrgh!" They screamed as they were battered and scraped to the ground. Luckily Tails had the sense to turn the Tornado around so they could shelter against it on the earth. They quickly did this and for the next few minutes, a conversation was shouted between them.
"Sandstorms around here can last for days, maybe we should go back to the ARK!" Knuckles commented, loudly of course.
"We can't get out of the sandstorm now, it's too strong. We might crash into something." Tails argued. Sonic squinted and looked around.
"By the looks of things, there's not much to crash into anyway!"
"How can you say that? Besides, you probably can't see anything!" Rouge accused. Before a fight could start Knuckles crawled in between them.
"Stop it you two! It's dying down now, can't you tell?" And true to his word, the wind was slowing down and five minutes later it had stopped completely. Everyone stood up and shook sand off themselves.
"Quick let's go and find this Banjo and Kazooie before another one starts!" Tails said and they jumped back in the Tornado.
After wandering around, they found the Giza pyramids. Knuckles was the first to jump out and he looked up in awe. Rouge stood beside him.
"They are quite magnificent. What is that there?" She asked, pointing to a statue of a cat lying down with a woman's head.
"That's the Great Sphinx. The lion's body symbolises royal power while the head is meant to represent the king. It was also considered to be a manifestation of their sun god Ra." He explained. Rouge seemed to suddenly realise something and she looked around.
"Something's wrong… I thought Egypt was really hot but it seems quite cool." Knuckles looked up at the sky.
"And so it is. That must mean that it will be nighttime soon. We had better find somewhere to stay the night. It may be really hot during the day but it's freezing cold at night." The others hurried over to them.
"Did you say it's going to get cold? We had better spread out to cover the area quicker." Sonic suggested.
They quickly split up and Knuckles walked over to the Sphinx and looked around it. After that he stood at the front of it, looking at its face. The Sphinx stared back and blinked.
"What? Statues can't blink, I had better have a look." He climbed up the statue and stood on its nose.
"Hello small red thing. What are you doing here?" It asked in a deep voice.
"Um…we're looking for Banjo and Kazooie. Are you actually speaking or is it my imagination? After all, it is a statue." Knuckles was very confused.
"Oh you won't find them now, it's too late for them to be wandering around. I'm not a statue, my name is Jinxy." He explained.
"Do you know where we can stay for the night?" Knuckles asked.
"If you want to see Banjo and Kazooie then you had better stay with me for the night. They usually come and see me in the morning, in case I have any useful information." Jinxy looked down and Knuckles did so too. A door in between Jinxy's paws opened.
"Thank you Jinxy. I will be back in a minute, I have to find the others first." Knuckles jumped down and soon found the others standing by the Tornado. "I didn't find Banjo and Kazooie but I did find a friend of theirs who said we could stay in him for the night."
"Did you just say 'in him'?" Rouge asked.
"Yes. He's the Sphinx I showed you earlier." Knuckles explained. The others followed him, Tails controlling the Tornado, to Jinxy. They entered the statue and torches lit up before the door closed.
"You can sleep on the flying carpets and there are already blankets etc. on them. Don't go down the other end, whatever you do. Old Grabba lives there and he's never in a good mood. If you look around somewhere, there should be some food for you." Jinxy said.
"Food, that reminds me, I'm really hungry. We had better go and look for it." Tails commented.
The room was quite small so they didn't take long to get around it, avoiding Old Grabba. They couldn't find it though so they stood in the middle of the room.
"There's only one place left to look but Jinxy told us not to go there." Tails said, looking nervously at where Old Grabba was meant to be. Knuckles walked slowly forward and soon saw the food.
"Oh no, the food is right where Old Grabba is. Well Sonic you know what to do." He said cheerfully.
"What? Why do I have to get it?" He complained.
"As the fastest hedgehog, you should be able to run there and back again before it even realises what hit him." Sonic sighed.
"All right, I get the point. You're getting me back for what I did to you at Eggman's secret base. Just be prepared to catch food." And with that, he crept forward until he heard a rumbling sound.
"Who dares disturb Old Grabba from his sleep?" A huge hand rose out of the sand and started chasing Sonic. There were some very near misses and Rouge squealed,
"I can't bear to look, he's going to get hurt!" She hid her face on Knuckles' shoulder; causing Knuckles went a lovely maroon colour.
"Don't worry Rouge, he's going to be fine. You've never seen him in action before. He's as fast as Shadow." He patted her back comfortingly and she stared up at him. He stared at Sonic to avoid her gaze and pointed. "Look here comes the food now." Tails meanwhile was looking at this scene with glee.
Just a few more days left hopefully. He saw the food too and ran forward to catch it. Knuckles and Rouge helped too and soon Sonic came dashing back. He turned back and saw Old Grabba shake his fist at them before sinking into the sand.
"Phew, I'm glad that's over. At least it's worked up an appetite." Sonic walked over to the others who were looking at the food.
They had laid it down on the floor and were deciding what they could eat. It was mainly a variety of nuts, fruit and vegetables including dates, figs, tomatoes, bananas and potatoes. There was sheep and goat meat too and several bottles of water. They seemed to be talking about the potatoes and meat.
"I think we should cook them because we might get a stomach bug if we don't." Rouge argued.
"But how are we going to cook them?" Knuckles asked. Tails suddenly had an idea.
"I've just realised something." He ran to the Tornado and came back carrying a box. He put it on the floor and took out a portable cooker. "I knew it was lying around somewhere. There you go, problem solved." He set it up and found a pot and some matches. He took the potatoes and put them in with some water.
"Where did that come from?" Sonic asked.
"It's something I carry around, just in case. Anyone want to light it?" Rouge held out her hand and Tails passed the matches. She struck one and Tails quickly turned the gas on as she lit it.
"I don't suppose you have a frying pan and spatula too?" Rouge asked.
"I think I do, I'll just have a look." He walked over to the Tornado again and rummaged around. A lot of clanking and banging was heard and Tails came back with not just cooking utensils but plates, knives and forks too. The others had looks of disbelief on their face as they stared at Tails. "What?" He asked and they busied themselves.
"I'll do the cooking, you lot probably don't know a thing about food." Rouge volunteered.
"I don't know much about food but I do know what to do with it." Sonic said.
"Yeah…eat it!" Knuckles added and they were met with a glare from Rouge.
"You can have a look at these flying carpets while you're waiting then." They shrugged their shoulders and climbed onto the lowest one.
"Whoa!" They both shouted as the carpet rose into the air. It made a strange noise too, which spooked them out. It stopped and they breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly it fell back down again.
"Arrrgh!" They screamed as they were brought crashing down towards the ground. The carpet stopped just a few inches from the floor and they got off quickly.
"Are you two ok?" Tails asked and they nodded their heads faintly. Rouge by now was frying slices of meat and the others put out plates for the food to go on.
Soon they were eating and everything was going fine until Rouge asked,
"Can you me pass a banana please Knuckles?" He ripped one off from the bunch and passed it to her. She took it and as she did so, their hands touched. For a few moments Knuckles didn't realise what was happening and when he did, he went a blood red colour. He snatched his hand back and stared down in embarrassment.
"Are you ok Knuckles? You've gone a really strange colour…" Sonic commented. Knuckles didn't say anything so he shrugged his shoulders and finished eating. When everything had been cleared away, they turned to the problem of the flying carpets.
"I'm not going on one of them again, we nearly got killed last time!" Sonic said hysterically. With the help of Tails though, Rouge managed to persuade him to go up.
"All right, I'm going, I'm going! But if I get hurt, it's your fault!"
"Ok, whatever you want." Rouge replied and Sonic reluctantly got onto the first one. The others got onto the carpets and got into their 'beds'. Nobody really wanted to talk so silence fell on the room as they tried to get to sleep.
Knuckles, Tails and Rouge woke up in the morning to the sound of Sonic falling off the carpet. Despite this, he remained asleep (snoring loudly) for several more minutes until he woke up and felt the pain of his fall.
"Oh st! My ae really hurts!" He stood up and noticed a girl standing in front of him, looking disapprovingly at him (her name is Luff).
"Sonic, watch your language!" She scolded before disappearing. To cheer Sonic up, Rouge joked,
"Ah, shall I kiss it better?" Tails was retching behind her back at Knuckles who grinned. All Sonic did was go a strange purple colour (his attempt at blushing) and Rouge laughed. Now that everyone was awake, they got out of bed (apart from Sonic, who was rubbing his butt) and ate a breakfast of bananas. Knuckles obviously still had the memory of last night because he kept away from the bunch.
They were just cleaning up when the door opened and in walked a bear wearing yellow shorts and a red bird.
"We know who you are, and we suppose you know who we are. But I'll tell you anyway. I'm Banjo and this is Kazooie." The bear said. "We heard that you were looking for something."
"Yes we're looking for a friend of ours. He's a hedgehog called Shadow." Sonic explained.
"By any chance, is he black?" Kazooie asked.
"Yes he is, have you seen him then?" Tails asked hopefully.
"No, but his name told me all I needed to know. Only someone who's desperate calls himself Shadow."
"He didn't call himself Shadow, he was code named…I mean he was born Shadow." Sonic explained. Kazooie looked thoughtful at his words.
"Code named eh? That means that you're from the military. I don't know Banjo, I don't want to get involved with any more of their messes."
"You misunderstand us. We're not from the military, he just happened to be involved with them, that's all. He doesn't like them though." Rouge explained.
"Come on Kazooie, we may as well help them, we don't have anything else to do." Banjo tried to persuade her.
"Ok then, we'll look around the desert and you can go on a tour if you want. Anyone interested in pyramids?" Kazooie asked.
"Yeah me, why?" Knuckles was puzzled.
"Because unfortunately, there are none here!" She exclaimed but at Knuckles' blank look she held her head in her wing. "It's called sarcasm." She added hopefully. "Oh forget about it."
"Don't worry Kazooie, I understood…I think." Banjo pondered what she had said.
"I'm surrounded by idiots." She announced.
"Now you know how I feel." A voice resonated throughout the Earth from the computer in the sky.
They exited Jinxy and Banjo and Kazooie led the group to the largest pyramid.
"This is King Sandybutt's pyramid but he doesn't usually like people going in it. Just ignore him if he threatens you, he's a mummy that's ready to fall to pieces." Kazooie explained. She entered the door and they heard a voice.
"Who dares enter King Sandybutt's pyramid?"
"Oh shut up, you old fogy!" Kazooie retorted. She turned to the group. "You should be all right now but sometimes he'll send out some ghost mummies." She exited the pyramid and now they stood there on their own.
"Come on Knuckles, you can lead the way seeing as you wanted to go here in the first place." Rouge said and he walked forward looking around nervously. Occasionally the others heard him mutter the words 'ghosts' and 'scared'.
"Knuckles, you're not afraid of ghosts are you?" Rouge asked. Knuckles responded by whimpering and shaking his head.
"Are you sure?" Asked Tails, puzzled by his behaviour. Another whimper was heard and a nod of his head was seen. Sonic by this time was getting annoyed with him.
"Look, Knuckles just tell us the truth! Are you scared of ghosts or not?" Once more, a little whimper erupted from Knuckles' throat and he nodded his head. Everyone laughed at him and he turned around angrily.
"It's not funny you know!" And he stormed off before anyone could stop him.
He turned the corner and suddenly had an idea. He waited for the others to walk past, looking for him.
"I didn't realise he was so sensitive or I wouldn't have asked him about it." Rouge said worryingly.
"I hope he hasn't done anything stupid, he doesn't always think when he's angry." Sonic added. When they weren't looking, Knuckles crept behind them.
"ARRRGH!" He shouted and the others jumped around. Knuckles fell to the ground in laughter, rolling around. When the others didn't say anything though, he stopped and sat up. Their mouths were open and their eyes were popping out. "Guys, it was just me. You can stop doing that now…guys?" Tails pointed behind Knuckles and he looked round slowly. There was a white, shimmering mist, which looked like a person.
"Ooohhhhh!" It said and Knuckles jumped up. He ran away screaming his head off, waving his hands above his head. The image disappeared and the others grew panicky.
"He's actually run off this time! What if that thing hurts him?" Rouge wailed.
"Or he hurts himself in his panic?" Tails added.
"Calm down you two. I'll go and find him, it may be that he tried to hide around the corner." And with that Sonic ran off. Rouge and Tails crept towards each other and walked down the tunnel.
Meanwhile Knuckles had come to a stop and had sunk to the ground. After a few moments, his breathing had returned to normal and he realised what he had done.
"What have I done? Rouge is going to think I'm a right wimp now." He stood up. "Well, the least I can do is find the others." He looked around before walking back the way he came. It wasn't long before he found Rouge and Tails cowering against each other. When she saw him, she ran up and hugged him, causing him to go a lovely shade of cinnabar.
"You're all right, thank goodness!" She let go of him and thought for a moment. "Hang on a minute, didn't you see Sonic?"
"No, why?" He asked, puzzled.
"Well it's just that he went looking for you and went the same way you came. I don't think he would have missed you on purpose." Knuckles frowned.
"We had better go on a bit and see if we can find him." They walked together through the tunnel and ten minutes later, they found Sonic. He seemed rather absent minded and Knuckles asked, "Are you ok Sonic, you missed me completely." Sonic looked at him and they stared at each other. There's something wrong with him. There was a steely glint to Sonic's eyes but suddenly, he shook his head and smiled.
"Had you worried there didn't I? I wonder how I missed you?" He thought for a moment but then smiled again.
Something's wrong, I had better keep an eye on him. Knuckles thought.
They quickly exited the pyramid and were met by Banjo and Kazooie.
"Did you find him?" Rouge asked and they shook their heads.
"We're sorry. But if you ever go to Japan, you can talk to Marth and Roy. Hope you enjoyed the pyramids." Banjo said.
"Yeah, it was great." Sonic said quickly.
"If Sandybutt caused you any problems, I'll peck his butt personally for you." Kazooie promised.
"Don't worry about it, he didn't cause any problems." Tails reassured. "But I do wonder if there is anything else in there because we saw…ouch, Sonic, why did you do that?" Tails exclaimed, rubbing his arm where he had just been punched.
"Nevermind Tails, that never happened ok?" Sonic said threateningly. Everyone stared at him but he just ignored them.
"Well, we'd better get going. Thank you for looking for us and say goodbye to Jinxy for me." Knuckles said before turning away with the others following him. They found the Tornado and set off for the ARK. As they flew up Sonic suddenly announced.
"Can we quickly stop there Tails please, I think I left something there." He was pointing to Meteor Herd and Tails did as he said, frowning at the others.
They landed on the crater filled planet and Sonic jumped out.
"Knuckles, can you come with me please?" He asked. Knuckles followed him as he set off quickly.
Why is he doing this? Knuckles thought to himself as he walked behind Sonic.
"Tails, I'm really worried, I think we should follow Sonic and Knuckles." Rouge jumped out and set off after them.
"Wait for me Rouge!" Tails called out and he ran after her. When he caught up with her, she was standing by a big tower made up of different levels. "Did they go up there?" Tails asked, pointing to the tower. Rouge didn't reply though and Tails nudged her. "Are you ok?" She shook her head and turned to him.
"Yeah, it's just that last time I was here, something happened and sometimes I wish…"
"You wish what?" Tails asked.
"Nothing…nothing." She replied hastily but by now Tails was interested.
"Hang on a minute…Knuckles has been here before too. I don't suppose it had anything to do with him did it?" At the mention of Knuckles, Rouge went pink.
"Why do you assume that?" But at Tails' look she sighed. "Yes it did have something to do with him but I don't want to talk about it ok? Anyway, they went up there. I think I should go up and you stay here, in case they come back." She flew upwards and Tails wandered over to the tower to wait for someone to appear.
I wonder if Tails knows about my feelings? Rouge thought. Nah, he's only young, he can't know anything about love, or can he? She sighed and landed at the top of the tower. She looked down and saw Knuckles and Sonic standing just where she and Knuckles had stood a few days ago…
"Sonic slow down a bit, I can't go as fast as you." Knuckles gasped as he saw Sonic climbing the tower. He didn't reply though so he set himself to the task of getting to the top. He was surprised when Sonic stopped half way up on a beam… Oh no, I was here with Rouge a few days ago. Why did he have to stop there? Just the memory of what had happened made him blush and he made sure that his face had returned to its normal colour before lifting himself up onto the beam.
Sonic was looking down but he didn't seem to be searching for anything. Knuckles stood next to him and looked down as well.
"Is it down there?" Knuckles asked and Sonic nodded his head. He stared at Knuckles. There's something different about his eyes, they're a different colour… He thought. "Aren't you going to get it then?" He asked aloud.
"I want you to get it." Sonic replied stiffly.
"Why me? Why do I have to get it?" Knuckles asked, exasperated. Sonic's eyes narrowed.
"You're going to get it or I'll force you to." He snarled. Knuckles backed away a couple of steps but then stood in a fighting pose.
"Just you try." He threatened and before he knew it Sonic ran for him.
He jumped up and Sonic missed him but he then grabbed him by his waist. Sonic threw him downwards and started to home attack him. He crashed into a wall with a sickening crunch. He slid down onto a platform and groaned. Everywhere hurt and every time he blinked, he found it hard to open his eyes again. Before he could get up though he saw Sonic using his Magic Gloves and he shrunk until he was three inches tall. Yet again he was slammed against the wall with another sickening crunch. He grew to his normal size and as Sonic did another homing attack, Knuckles threw his fist forward and managed to punch Sonic right over his eye. This startled Sonic and he had enough time to slash him across the face before he started blacking out from the pain. The pain was so bad that his brain started to go fuzzy as well as his sight. The last thing he saw was him falling towards the lava at the bottom when he shut his eyes…
"KKNNUUCCKKLLEESS!" Rouge screamed and immediately set off to save him. She shot down like a bullet and caught him just as he was going to be singed by deadly lava. She whizzed back up and placed him on the beam. She faced Sonic and before he could even blink, she had kicked him right in the crotch.
"ARRRGH!" He bent over double and in the corner of her eye; she saw something appear behind him. It looked like a person but it had a tail and cat like face. It was purple and Rouge suddenly felt something enter her mind.
"You stay out of my mind you bd!" She screamed. She slapped it hard across the face and it flew away, after crying out in annoyance. She suddenly remembered Knuckles and Sonic and bent down to them.
Knuckles' legs and right arm were stuck out at odd angles and Sonic had a black eye and three deep slashes across his face. He was holding his crotch and groaning in pain but Knuckles had been knocked unconscious. She then saw a light and in front of her stood a girl.
She wore stone coloured (with a hint of yellow) big flares with a split up the front of the leg. She had black stiletto boots and a strappy top. The top was purple with a Celtic design in the middle and a die-dyed effect at the bottom. She had brown hair, which was twisted up and attached with a grip. She smiled when she saw Rouge and her face was full of friendliness.
"Hello Rouge, I'm Zelgan and I'm going to help your friends but I'll have to put you to sleep. I have already put them to sleep as you can see." And true to her word, Sonic had stopped groaning and was lying still along with Knuckles. "Good bye for now." Her voice was calm and Rouge allowed herself to fall asleep and she laid her head on Knuckles' chest. "Come on Gelest, I will need your help too. I can't carry the three of them on my own." She called out and from a level above appeared another girl.
She also had brown hair but unlike Zelgan's, it was long and flowing. She wore a pale blue strapless corset type top and a long straight blue skirt. She wore nothing on her feet and because of this she walked on the front of them. Her most remarkable feature though was her dove like wings, which stretched a metre on either side of her.
"Shall I tell the fox that his friends are all fast asleep because they've just attacked each other?" She asked sarcastically.
"No, just tell him to bring his machine up so he can take one of them. My powers won't allow me to take two and I should take the echidna, seeing the condition he's in." She replied seriously.
"So he's an echidna? That's funny because I thought he was a Rastafarian or something like that." She was met with a glare from Zelgan. "I'll just go now shall I?" She flew away quickly and landed on the ground near Tails.
"Who are you? What's happened to Sonic and Knuckles? And Rouge for that matter." He asked. She held up a hand in a placid manner.
"Calm down. Your friends are not too badly hurt but my sister has put them to sleep and we need you to transport one of them to our house." He got back into the Tornado and followed her up the tower to the beam.
When he saw the three of them lying there he shouted out angrily,
"What have you done to my friends? And why are those two lying like that?" He had just noticed Rouge and Knuckles and they looked so sweet that he calmed down a bit.
"Duh, she's in love with him. Can you take her please? My sister is taking the Rast- I mean the echidna and I'm taking blue spiky guy here." Gelest explained.
"Although this seems a bit sudden we will tell you more when we've sorted out your friends." Zelgan continued and suddenly, Knuckles floated into the air.
"What's happening to him?" Tails cried out alarmed.
"Ssh, you have to let her concentrate. She has psychic powers and because of the way he's in, we won't risk carrying him. Come on, we had better go." Gelest picked up Rouge and placed her in the Tornado before taking Sonic. She launched into the sky and Tails followed, feeling very confused.
When he first saw the planet, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was completely covered in forest and beaches around the small seas. As he got closer, he saw a large mansion and they landed in the back garden.
"Wait here with her for a few minutes please. We have to find beds for your two friends here." Gelest announced before she and Zelgan disappeared into the house. Tails sat on the top of his seat and soon, Rouge was stirring.
"Where am I? What's happening?" She asked as she sat up.
"We're on a planet of some sort and at the moment two people are making sure that Knuckles and Sonic are ok." Tails answered.
"Two people? I only saw one, but then I was falling asleep so-" She gasped and went pink. "Tails, you didn't see us when we were asleep did you?" She asked.
"Of course I did! Why?" But of course he already knew why.
"It was a complete accident, I was asleep, I must have just fallen on him by accident." She laughed nervously.
"Don't worry, I won't tell him about your 'little accident' if you want." He smiled and Rouge breathed a sigh of relief.
Soon Gelest and Zelgan came back and now they looked different as Gelest's wings had disappeared and they were now wearing t-shirts and jeans.
"You can see your friends later if you want but I think we have some explaining to do." Zelgan said before turning back to the house. Tails and Rouge shrugged their shoulders and followed them in.
They walked down a corridor and entered the kitchen. They sat down at the table and Zelgan talked while Gelest rummaged through the cupboards, looking for food.
"I'm Zelgan and this-" She nudged Gelest who was trying to decide between having orange juice or milk. She looked up and smiled. "This is Gelest. We help people who've been hurt and I am trying to stop Mewtwo."
"Who's Mewtwo?" Tails asked.
"He's a pokémon who has psychic powers and likes to take over people's minds. This is what happened to Sonic and that's why he was acting strangely."
"Oh stop it with the depressing stuff already. If I was them I would be really hungry. Do you want something to eat?" She asked, holding a plate made up of sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and a packet of crisps. "You can have some of my lunch if you want, it might be just a bit too much for me." She added.
"How can you think of food at a time like this? I'm sure you're more concerned your friends aren't you?" Zelgan said, trying to persuade them.
"Of course we are but I wouldn't say no to something." Tails replied as he took a sandwich and Rouge took an apple. Zelgan scowled.
"Oh let them have something. They won't be able to see their friends for at least the next four or five hours. After all, Rastafarian guy is knocked out and blue thing should rest." Gelest argued.
"What's a Rastafarian? And a few hours? Are you sure we can't see them sooner?" Tails asked.
"Nevermind about the Rastafarian, he's not really. Don't you worry, the hours will fly by. Do you have to call anyone?" Zelgan asked.
"Yes actually. We'd better tell Eggman, this might affect him." Rouge told Tails. Tails took out his communicator and turned it on.
"Eggman, this is Tails. There's been an accident up here. Knuckles and Sonic have been injured. At the moment we're at a place where they're being looked after."
"This is news indeed! Where are you then? I assume you're not on Earth." He replied.
"We're on…"
"Kikuyu." Gelest hissed.
"We're on a planet called Kikuyu. I just thought you needed to know about this. So then, how's the house going?" Tails asked, changing the subject.
"Hmm…things are moving slowly at the moment. This legal stuff does take a long time. At the moment I'm sorting out bank statements so I can prove I have the money for the house. I think I had better come up there after all, I don't have much to do now, it's all the bank and solicitors stuff now. Where did you say this place is?" Eggman asked.
"It's a planet that hangs over Australia. It's hard to miss. Over and out." Tails put the communicator away and leaned back.
"Are you sure we can't see them now?" He asked.
"Bit enthusiastic aren't you?" Gelest raised an eyebrow.
"Well…I wanted…" Tails turned his eyes to Rouge and pointed at her slightly but Gelest decided to play stupid.
"You wanted what?" She asked and Tails sighed, rolling his eyes.
"It's a bit embarrassing…can I talk to you outside?" He asked.
"Of course you can, come with me." She stood up and Tails followed her. When he was outside she folded her arms and attempted to look serious. "Are you trying to set people up? I don't like the sound of that…"
"I know, I shouldn't interfere, but they were made for each other. It's so obvious they like each other, they're just too shy to admit it that's all."
"I was going to say that that will involve love and if there's one thing I despise, it's love." She interrupted.
"Oh no, they won't suddenly go all sickly on each other. This is a new part of the plan I've just added. Why don't you like love?" He added. Instead of answering though, she grew defensive.
"No reason, we always hate the things we want the most eh?" She changed the subject quickly. "So what does seeing him early mean then?"
"Well I'm hoping that she'll be so worried that she'll tell him her feelings. I don't suppose there's a way you can spy on them is there?" He asked hopefully.
"Yes but I'm not doing it. That's just plain rude. If you want though…" She added, seeing his crestfallen face. "I can check to see if they tell each other anything important. I'm good with emotions like that." She opened the kitchen door. "I suppose you can see him then. Would you like to see Rastafarian?" She asked Rouge and she jumped up enthusiastically.
"Yes please…if that's all right with you." She looked down nervously.
"Of course it is. Come right this way. Zelgan, tell me if this Eggman person comes please." And with that, she walked out of the kitchen before Zelgan could protest.
They walked along the corridor and up a flight of stairs. She stopped at the first two doors.
"Blue thing is on the left, and Rastafarian guy is on the right." She pushed the doors opened and Tails went in quickly, shutting the door. He peeked through the keyhole and when Rouge had gone in, he left the room.
Rouge entered the room and gasped at the state of Knuckles. He looked half dead. Suddenly overcome by emotion, Rouge started crying.
"Oh what has Sonic done? I know it's not his fault but…if only I had been there, if only I had insisted on going with him." She cried out. She paced the floor in thought. I shouldn't tell him about my feelings. The man always asks the girl out. But I've never felt this way about anyone before. We'll see… She sat down on a seat and waited.
She was hoping he would wake up but after five minutes of not even a twitch she stood up. She walked to him and leant over. She quickly hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. She felt guilty but then she said aloud,
"This may be the only chance I get to kiss him. I suppose I had better go now." She left the room and when she saw Tails and Gelest, Gelest had her eyes covered.
"Now all we have to do is wait for her." But Gelest was puzzled.
"You're not even going to see your best friend? Is them two getting together more important than a friend?"
"No, of course I care. It's just that…I'm afraid." He whispered.
"Afraid of what? Oh I see, you don't want to see how he's been injured." She smiled comfortingly.
"Yes, but how did you know that? And how did you know he was my best friend?" Now Tails was puzzled.
"I can…I can read people's auras. Now you can understand why I can tell people's feelings. Umm…this may sound stupid but can you not tell anyone this, not even your friends? I'm a bit sensitive about it." She concluded.
"Of course not. Can you tell me one thing though? How come you and Zelgan live on this planet all by yourselves?" He knew he had hit a sensitive spot by the way Gelest looked.
"Let's just say that I was treated very badly where I used to live. Some people are not very understanding about appearances. Maybe you can understand too." She stared at him and he realised what she meant.
"Oh you mean my tails? I used to be teased too but Sonic taught me how I can use them and now I can fly when others cannot. You should consider yourself lucky, not many people have your gift."
"You mean my curse… Anyway, I wasn't even going to tell you this. Do not whatever you do tell my sister, she'll have a heart attack when she finds out I've been this close to tears." She said holding her finger and thumb an inch apart. He could see she was telling the truth as she blinked rapidly.
The door opened and Rouge walked out. Gelest covered her eyes with her hand.
"Are you ok Gelest?" Rouge asked.
"Yeah, she just feels a bit dizzy that's all. Shall we go back down now?" Tails asked and together they walked down the stairs. They entered the kitchen and who else should be sitting there than Eggman.
"I got here as soon as I could. How are they doing?" He asked.
"Let's just say that Knuckles won't be going anywhere for a while." Rouge replied and Tails realised he didn't know about Sonic, causing him to panic.
"Sonic is…" He stumbled but Gelest rescued him.
"It's ok Tails, I know this is hard for you. He mainly has injuries to his face but don't you worry, they'll heal soon." She put her arm around his shoulder. He smiled and when no one was looking, he winked at her. Zelgan stood up.
"I know something we can do to pass the time. Shall we go for a walk in the garden?" She suggested and Gelest smiled.
"Yeah it's so big it takes about two or three hours just to do the small path. Well, I'm up for it, anyone else going?" She stood up and put the plate in the sink.
"We may as well, seeing as Sonic and Knuckles won't be up for several hours." Eggman said and they walked out of the kitchen with Tails and Rouge at the end.
The garden turned out to be made up of different zones, which had many types of plants in them. The part they walked in was made up of oaks and beech trees. As they went the three of them told Gelest and Zelgan about what they were doing.
"So then, how on earth did you end up at Meteor Herd?" Zelgan asked.
"We were on the way back from Egypt when Sonic said he wanted to go there. We went and well…you know the rest." Rouge explained.
"But why were you in Egypt? And when did Sonic start acting strangely?" Zelgan persisted.
"We were looking for a friend and I suppose he started acting weird after Knuckles ran off." Rouge said.
"I think you should tell us the whole story, otherwise we'll never understand." Gelest said.
So they did. Right from the beginning when Shadow had fallen to Earth to Sonic telling them about him wanting to go to Meteor Herd. They didn't explain anything that happened before that though.
"I understand now. So you're looking for your friend Shadow. How did you say you met him?" Gelest asked.
"We just helped him that's all and it kind of built up from there." Tails lied. Gelest looked scornful.
"Please don't lie, its very pathetic of you. You of all people should know that Tails." She scolded.
"I'm sorry but if we tried to explain the truth, it would take us even longer." Tails apologised. "Maybe if you told me about yourself then you could try to understand."
"Shall we go for a private walk then?" She said and they walked off, leaving everyone else very confused.
"I don't believe it! I think someone has finally managed to get her to open up." Zelgan exclaimed.
"Right, if I'm going to be doing explaining, I don't want any interruptions ok? I can usually make my conversation flow better then." Gelest said. Tails nodded his head and she took a deep breath.
"It started, well from the beginning I think. As soon as I was aware of my surroundings, I knew what was happening to me. I found out that I had been created so that scientists could try out experiments on me. Many of them didn't work; I still have the scars, physically and mentally. But their main aim was to see how much pain I could go through. Then the real research started. It seemed that they wanted to see if they could create an angel. The whole works, but the most important thing was the wings. I spent months incubated while they injected animal DNA into me to see what would happen. They succeeded of course. Do you know what they did to celebrate? They drank champagne while they watched me, the pain I went through.
"Now you being clever know that spines are not equipped to take on a pair of wings. My shoulder blades grew deformed but that didn't matter to them. As long as they succeeded and got their money, I was just a toy to them. While all of this was happening, I made friends with one of the scientist's daughter. Her name was Zelgan and even now we are friends. She had psychic powers but she never told anyone because she knew they would do exactly the same thing to her. When the experiments had finished for a period, they let me out and told her to keep me company.
"They were the happiest times for me. She treated me like an equal, a person. She didn't care about my deformed back, where others might have done. She taught me how to improve my spirituality and in the end I became good at reading auras. She told me stories of the places she had been to on Earth when her mum was travelling. I soon became fascinated with Earth and as time went by, I hoped I would soon be able to travel too.
"My dream was shattered though when the scientists restarted their testing. They now wanted to see whether I could fly or not. It took a lot of time getting used to flapping them and watching how birds fly, so I could copy them. They didn't seem to understand though, they just grew angry with me when I was tired, which happened often. By now I was about ten and I started to want to be normal.
"Zelgan of course helped me. She was amazing with clothes and she fashioned a costume I could wear, which you saw me wearing earlier today. In the end I suppose the anger just built up. I never liked fighting; the things I was told by Zelgan put me off it. But even she grew fed up. She wanted to go back to her home and see her friends but the way things were going, it would be some time.
"Things came to a head when the scientists came in and brandished a scalpel, like a mad doctor. They wanted to operate on me and seemed to enjoy telling me I might be paralysed for the rest of my life. Zelgan, I found out, had actually been creating a plan for us two to escape. I didn't know though at the time and I nearly got killed because of it. I never knew that in space, there is no air and so as I ran around I crashed into one of the windows and cracked it. Luckily Zelgan had the sense to find a space shuttle and as I was sucked out, she rescued me. Because of the lack of air I was very weak but she took me to Kikuyu where I rested.
"We found out that this place had been deserted for some time and so we took it over. We didn't realise that the thing that destroyed the people was still here. We soon discovered it, Mewtwo, and Zelgan managed to hurt him badly. He disappeared and since then, we've helped people who have been affected by him, including you.
"That's most of my life I've just told you about. Don't tell the others about this, although they may want to know. So now I've finished, what is this about Shadow?" She asked. She seemed pleased to have got all of her secrets off her chest and smiled in relief.
"Well Shadow was a project to create the ultimate life form on the space colony ARK. When the government suspected that Professor Gerald had created a weapon of mass destruction, they shut down the colony and everyone died. I think Shadow feels very bitter about most people and for a while we fought against him but something happened and he sacrificed himself to stop the world from being destroyed." Tails explained and Gelest looked thoughtful.
"Shadow eh? And the ARK? I think I've heard about them. I remember the scientists whispering about them. They never said what happened but everyone knew about it and hoped it would never happen again." Gelest said. They turned a corner and saw Eggman, Rouge and Zelgan walking towards them. Gelest stopped suddenly and closed her eyes.
"Got to run. I've just remembered something I have to do, see you later." She said and she ran off. Zelgan looked puzzled.
"What was all that about?" She directed her question at Tails but he just shrugged his shoulders.
Knuckles' eyes flickered and opened. As he was sitting up he could feel all of his bruises.
"Ugh, I feel like a ton of bricks has landed on me." He groaned. Suddenly he heard a voice.
"That's because you have a lot of bruising from that attack." It pointed out. He saw standing in front of him a teenager (Gelest) with brown hair who was obviously a nurse. He looked down and saw two large white lumps near the end of the bed where his legs were meant to be!
"What are those?" He asked suspiciously.
"Oh, they're your legs." She replied offhandedly.
"What, I've broken both my legs?" He was trying desperately hard to remember what had happened but failing miserably.
"And you broke your arm as well." She added brightly. He held up his arms and saw that the right one was in cast too.
"Arrrgh!" He shouted and nearly toppled out of the bed. "Do I have any more injuries?"
"Oh yes, you have a big, permanent scar running across your left cheek." She seemed to be enjoying the pain he was in.
"What!?" He felt his face with his left hand and the girl started laughing.
"I was only joking. It's just the arm and two legs."
"But how did this happen? Everything seems fuzzy."
"And that's probably a good thing. From where I was standing, it looked pretty nasty. To explain it simply though," She counted the steps on her fingers. "Spiky thing got angry, he attacked you and you got injured."
"What? He attacked me? Oh wait 'til I see him, I'll show him a thing or two." He clenched his fists in anger but grimaced and relaxed.
"You won't be going anywhere in your condition. And strictly speaking you did start the argument." Knuckles frowned.
"I did?"
"Absolutely typical! You just happen to forget how it all started." She looked disbelieving.
"Actually, I've forgotten most of what has happened." The girl shrugged her shoulders.
"Ok then. I have to go now and remember not to tell anyone that I was here ok?" She asked.
"Why not?" A look of realisation appeared on his face. "You're not a nurse are you?"
"How long did it take you to work that one out? Zelgan doesn't trust me near anyone even slightly injured in case I hurt them even more. Well goodbye Rastafarian, we'll meet again soon." She walked out of the room.
"I think you can all see him now. Just try not to excite him or anything ok?" Gelest had just appeared and told them about Knuckles but Zelgan scowled.
"Gelest, I hope you didn't go and try to wake him up?"
"Of course not, he was already awake. It was extremely funny though when he saw his mangled body." She grinned but stopped when she saw Zelgan's look. "Oh Zelgan, I had to. It was just too irresistible." Zelgan turned to the others.
"Sorry about this but Gelest isn't allowed to see anyone before me. She usually makes them go insane by telling them that they're going to die or something like that."
"But I didn't tell him that, I just said he had permanent scarring and that his friend attacked him." Gelest said, trying to act innocent. "All right, I'll go and get him and bring him down to the kitchen." She walked off and the others followed her.
The group headed to the kitchen while Gelest went to get Knuckles. She opened the door and Knuckles sat up.
"What are you doing in here?" He asked.
"That's very rude. You don't have to worry about not telling the others you've never seen me because they already know. I didn't tell you about spiky guy attacking you ok? Strictly speaking he did but he was under someone's control." She took a wheelchair from a cupboard and helped him into it. She took a lift down the stairs and wheeled him into the kitchen.
"Knuckles, you're all right! I'm so glad to see you!" Rouge exclaimed and Gelest squinted. He smiled shyly.
"Yeah, just a bit sore that's all." He replied.
"Just a bit sore, you've broken both your legs and an arm! How can you be just a bit sore?" Gelest exclaimed. Tails stood up.
"Can I go and see Sonic please?" He asked and left the room when Zelgan nodded.
He walked up the stairs and entered the room to see Sonic looking very panicky.
"Thank goodness you're here Tails, something's happened. I seem to be in a bed when I distinctly remember us being in the pyramid about half a minute ago." He was very puzzled and Tails sat on the edge of his bed.
"Ok, I think I have some explaining to do…" And he explained exactly what happened except he skipped out on the details of what damage Sonic had done to Knuckles.
"So you're saying something took over my brain and it made me attack Knuckles?" Tails nodded his head. "What did I do to him? And what's happened to me?" Tails realised what Sonic actually looked like and blinked several times. He had a huge black eye and three gashes across his face.
"Knuckles isn't too bad and he even managed to do some damage to you." He said lightly.
"What sort of damage?" Sonic asked.
"A black eye and three lovely scratches across your face." Tails admitted.
"My face has been damaged? I hope it's not permanent! Wait 'til I see that Knuckles, he won't know what's hit him!" Sonic threatened.
"Well to be honest, he didn't. He assumed it was you but he must have thought you couldn't have been acting your normal self." Tails explained.
"Tails, that's not what I mean and you know it! I think we should go and find the others so I can deal with Knuckles." He kneaded his fist into his hand and walked out of the room with Tails following him.
"Sonic don't hurt him, you don't know the damage you actually did to him!" Sonic stopped by the half open door and Tails grabbed his arm. "Sonic I wasn't telling the truth! Knuckles has…"
But he never finished his sentence as Sonic burst in and stopped in shock, staring at Knuckles.
"See what I mean?" Tails said and Sonic sank down into a seat.
"Tails you never told me…oh my God, what have I done?" He looked disbelieving.
"Let's see, you broke both my legs and my arm." Knuckles said while looking at his afore mentioned limbs. He looked at Sonic and smiled. "I still managed to do a bit of damage though, eh?" Sonic looked at a mirror hanging on the wall and winced.
"I can see. I'm glad I wasn't aware of what I was doing because it must have been pretty painful." Sonic laughed but Gelest suddenly gasped.
"Zelgan, don't tell me you didn't tell them about the effects of injuries?" Zelgan looked sheepish.
"You two, although you couldn't feel the pain then you usually feel it after a few hours…"
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"Let's see, how many hours has it been since you were both attacked?" Gelest looked at her watch. "Six hours! Well, the pain should be coming about…"
"ARRRGH!" Knuckles and Sonic screamed at the same time.
"Now." Gelest concluded. They were clutching various bits of their bodies but Sonic was most disturbed by the pain in his crotch.
"Why does my crotch really hurt?"
"I forgot about that! I kicked you there when you tired to attack me!" Rouge tried to sound like it was nothing but failed. Knuckles seemed to be worse off because he could only grab things with one arm and having three broken limbs, he was trying to grab all three at once.
"I think it's time for the painkillers." Gelest said and took out several bottles of pills from the cupboards. "Here we go, the bottles for broken limbs, black eyes, gashes and damaged crotches." She split the pills up and amazingly enough Sonic had more.
"Damaged crotches take a lot of painkillers." Zelgan said as an explanation and she plus Gelest helped them to swallow them.
After a few more minutes of wincing they both breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad that's over. We still have to find Shadow though so we'd better go now." Sonic said and he stood up but Gelest pushed him back into his seat.
"You may not feel the pain but it's still there. You should at least stay for the night and he should stay here for two or three more days." She pointed to Knuckles. Sonic sighed in exasperation.
"But we have to find him soon or he might be dead."
"From what I've heard, if he's going to die anytime over the next day then he should have died already. He's made of stronger stuff than you realise." Gelest said wisely. When the others looked puzzled though, she shrugged her shoulders and laughed uneasily.
Zelgan made dinner and after that had finished everyone was so tired that they went to bed.
The next morning had arrived and while everyone was having breakfast, they discussed what they were going to do.
"Well I need to get back to the solicitors because I'll probably have to sign more papers." Eggman said.
"We could go to Japan and look for Shadow and Knuckles can just wander around there." Sonic said but Zelgan shook her head.
"He has to stay here. If he goes back to Earth now, then there's not much I can do for him and he'll be in those casts for at least two months."
"Two months? I can't stay in a wheelchair for two months!" Knuckles complained.
"Of course you can't. But if you stay here for another two days then I can treat you properly and you can take off the casts then." Zelgan explained.
"Ok then, I'll stay. So are you three going down to Japan then?" He asked. Tails was trying to signal to Gelest and she finally understood what he wanted to do.
"I think that one of you should stay here with Knuckles. Me and Zelgan are out most days so he'll be pretty lonely." She suggested. Sonic unwittingly, managed to help them out.
"Why don't you stay here Rouge? It's Tails that wants to go to Japan and I'll look after him. I'm sure you don't want to spend the next few days with an ten year old eh?" She seemed to like the idea too.
"Ok I'll stay. You don't mind do you Knuckles?" He shook his head and Gelest noticed there was a glimmer of hope in his aura.
"Well now that's sorted out, we had better get going. I'm going for a fly to the beach. See you later." She took off her t-shirt and underneath was a bikini. She picked up a beach bag and flew away out of the window.
"We had better get going too." Eggman said. Zelgan stood up and showed them where their machines had been stored for the night.
Rouge and Knuckles watched as they flew away, wondering what was going to happen. Zelgan came back a moment later and told them to follow her.
"We'll start repairing your bones straight away." She said and they followed her to a room with a dentist's chair and several sharp instruments. Knuckles gulped hard and Zelgan smiled.
"Don't worry about the chair. It's just that I find it easier to mend bones when your legs are in front of you. The instruments are a little thing that Gelest added to try and scare people. Can you get him into the chair please?" She asked Rouge and she did so. Zelgan stood beside Knuckles placed her hands on both his legs.
"Right, I'm going to place a force field around the bones so they stay together. I can only do a little at a time though so your arm will have to wait until tomorrow." She closed her eyes and a light surrounded her hands. The light seeped into the casts and slowly his legs glowed too. The light from both her hands and his legs then faded and Zelgan opened her eyes.
"Phew, that was a bit tiring. I'm just going to have some sleep now ok?" She yawned and left the room.
"What shall we do now?" Rouge asked.
"I saw a lake yesterday that looked interesting. Maybe we could have a look at it." Knuckles suggested.
"That sounds like a great idea." She helped him into the wheelchair and they found the garden. They set off for the path that led to the lake and were soon talking about various things…
S. Chensu: Episode three done and things are heating up! Well not really, we've still got a long way to go until we've got to the end.
Luff: But it is good so stick with it. Seeing as we've written some of this already (at least half of it), we will be updating regularly.
S. Chensu: Hmm, I can't think of anything else to say… Apart from I don't want any complaints telling me that I've got the meaning of the Sphinx wrong because that is what the Egyptians believed. I looked it up in a big book and all.
Luff: You might be thinking of the Greek Sphinx, which is a bit different.
S. Chensu: I don't think there's anything else so please read and review!
Luff: And any flames will be used to add to Knuckles' long list of injuries.
Knuckles: Pokes head through side of screen Did you just say you wanted to burn me too?
Luff: Of course not, what do you take me for?
Knuckles: A sadist.
Luff: How rude!
S. Chensu Stands in between them Anyway, you should probably leave now but review before you do!
Luff: Yes, or Knuckles gets it!
Knuckles: Argh! Runs off side of screen, Luff chasing him with lit match in hand