Chapter 6 - To the cold north

It's been 3 days since we started to stay at the inn. Summers is showing signs of being able to wake up at any time. It's early in the evening, and i'm walking outside alone. It's already dark. I'm going to the Life Dome. I need to buy some maps and traveling gear. Life Dome is like a giant mall, but with a huge arena inside of it too. All major events take place there.

About an hour later, i'm on my way back to the inn while carrying a heavy load. It's pretty heavy to carry the gear of 5 persons. Luckily, it's all in one big back pack. Everyone can carry their own stuff, once we're leaving. I hoped that everything would go flawlessly, but... The worst will always happen to me. A red hedgehog keeps staring at me. And he seems to be mad, although I can't possibly know about what. When I pass him by he proceeds to walk next to me. His spikes are the same as Sonic, and he has a scar on his left eye, his eyes are still intact though. "So, you're from another world?" He asks. I respond by looking him into the eyes. "If you join me, I shall spare your life once I take over this planet. What do you say?" What the! He can't be? "Whoever you are, my answer is no. I have no interest in ruling the planet." He jumps on a roof. "Huh, you most certainly have guts. I can see your spirit in your eyes. I am The Malicious. Remember it well, for you shall serve me soon. I will let you go for now, there is no place for you to run." He gets blasted by a beam of light out of nowhere, it continues on for several seconds. After the blast he's still undamaged. "Heh pathetic! You won't escape me either Summers. Your dark side shall awaken soon." Then he disappears. I look to the one responsible for the blast of light. It's Summers, yeah. He finally awoke. He did do an unnecessary thing though. Regulus and Blaze are there too.

Me: "So, you're Summers?"

Summers: "Summers the Hedgehog, to be exactly."

Regulus: "We figured it took you too long, so... yeah, you get it, right?"

Me: "Yeah, since I will need you guys. This equipment is heavy! Each of you will carry your own share.

All of them: "OO"

Me: "I still have to carry 2 persons worth of equipment. Don't whine, you wimps."

Blaze mumbles something to himself. "Bastard..." The others don't hear it, but I do. I decided not to respond on it. He already seemed to be a hotheaded person. It'd be best if I won't anger him too much. I am more worried about what The Malicious said. I'm sure my spirit will be strong enough to defy his will. But... what about Summers? His dark side shall soon awaken? I'll ask him later about it in private.

That night Blaze, Regulus and Overdrive are all asleep. Summers walks outside, so I decide to follow him. It's a good moment to talk to him too. Once outside...

Me: "So, what's the deal with you? Are you really on my side, or are you on the side of The Malicious?"

Summers: "I am a good guy. I really am. But... there's something inside me. I can't explain. It's eating me slowly away."

Me: "Your dark side?"

Summers: "I... don't know. I only know it's bad, it must be. It feels really awful."

Me: "Don't worry about it. If you think about it too much, it will really eat you away."

I went to my room to sleep after that. Summers stayed outside for a while, to think about things for a bit. I don't know when he returned, I was already asleep by that time. He was in his room when I woke up though. Right now we've just started our journey to the north.

After 6 days of travel, we finally arrive in the village. It got gradually colder, the more we traveled north. In the middle of the village, there's a cabin. We hear yells from it, and decide to check it out. There's someone inside. The strange hedgehog we heard about? "Help me, i'll make you something good! I'm Lexer, and they've locked me up for no good reason." It said. "Why should we believe you?" Regulus responded. "I have 2 fox tails, okay! That's it! That's why they locked me up! Come on! Free me!" He seemed to have it cold. "Okay, we'll free you." I said.

Overdrive: "Man, are you out of your mind! What if he eats us or something!"

Summers: "What have you been smoking pal?"

Me: "Regulus, just bust that cabin."

Regulus: "Okay. If anyone will be eaten, you will be eaten first."

Summers: "Where's Blaze?"

Blaze stands in the distance. "He won't eat me!" Heh, some friends they are. Their fighting skills are good, but they act like children most of the time. Regulus punches open the cabin with ease. His power went up a lot with little training. I wonder how good I got with the little training I did? The guy we freed steps out of the cage. He has grey fur and... What the hell? A Tails hedgehog?

End of chapter

New character

Name: Summers the Hedgehog (real name Jamie Summers)
Age: 21
Gamefaqs member name: UltimateSummers
Colors: Black head, Orange fur
Spike style: Same as Sonic
Others: Yellow pants, black-brown mountain shoes
Side: Good
Time in Hedgehog Mania world: About 17 years when he gets introduced in the story
First appearance: Chapter 5
Role: Good guy with great evil power within.
Personality: A very wise hedgehog. He has a bit of a temper, especially when it involves his sister, and he's quite arrogant. He's got a bit of a passion to fight, and the evil within him confuses him a bit, influencing his actions. Due to this, he has a bit of a hard time controlling his emotions too, making it quite easy for him to lose his control.
Backround: He was only 4 when he was transported to the Hedgehog Mania world, so he doesn't remember anything about his life as a human. His sister Jody was only 1 then. They were raised in a mysterious village, and trained to fight and defend themselves. The villagers knew, for some reaons, that they needed the skills. But they were thaught to never use them, unless it's really necessary. 5 Years ago, The Malicious came to the village. He had a short stay there, and learned about the special powers that Jamie has, and the evil he has within him. Because of that, he wanted to take Jamie with him. The villagers couldn't allow that, and The Malicious ended up wiping nearly all of them away. Two female villagers escaped, in two different directions. One of them had Jamie, while the other one had Jody. Both of the ladies died shortly after. Jamie then started his quest for more power to defeat The Malicious. He also started referring to himself as Summers the Hedgehog, trying to get red of the name Jamie. He doesn't really like it. He decided to run from The Malicious until he was powerful enough to face him head on. He was wrong in estimating the power of The Malicious, and got captured.
Special power: Powerful energy based attacks (Heaven Cannon Big bullet of energy - Wave Motion Beam Beam of energy)

Status growth:
Power: 8/10
Battle speed: 10/10
Endurance: 8/10
Melee fighting: 6/10
Strategy: 5/10
Running speed: 9/10

Name: Blaze Krezne
Age: 19
Gamefaqs member name: Magitek111
Colors: Fire red, orange and darkblue
Spike style: Some of the ones near the front stick up, and the rest are like Sonics.
Others: White-blue-red SOAP shoes.
Side: Mostly good, but is easily manipulated
Time in Hedgehog Mania world: About 2 years before he gets introduced into the story
First appearance: Chapter 5
Role: Good guy that does some stupid stuff everyone once in a while. He's a hero, though not very well known.
Personality: Is hotheaded, so one can easily anger him. A bit of a macho guy, and he's quite easy to manipulate too. But nevertheless, he really enjoys doing good things.
Backround: He always wanted to become a hero. As a human in his own world, that was kind of hard to do. Playing a hero can easily lead to getting arrested. But when he got into the Hedgehog Mania world, he could finally realize his dream! Heroes were needed there, and with his new powers he could easily become one. So that's what he did. His brother Aquis opposed that, and always got in his way. Blaze did mostly small deeds... but he did get some fame because of it. He's not nearly as well known as the bad guy who's known as The Malicious though. But once he beats him, he'll be the most famous hero of them all.
Special power: Able to manipulate and and create flames and fire

Status growth:
Power: 7/10
Battle speed: 8/10
Endurance: 9/10
Melee fighting: 6/10
Strategy: 8/10
Running speed: 8/10