(Welcome to chapter 14! God, this story is getting long! Thanks for all of the reviews! You guys are the only thing (besides my free will) spurring me to finish this story. Is spurring a word? Anyways, you guys have really helped me out a lot! Oh, and Komodo, what did you mean in your review? I'd also like to say that this is the end of Kyra's stay in the castle. I'd like to thank Kyra the Hedgehog for allowing me to use her in my story. Well, in the immortal words of me and my friend, "Snickerdoodle!")
-nightmare-
A plane crash lay in the middle of a dead forest, the flames had cleared out the area of any trees and were doused by the heavy rain. A cat was trapped among the rubble, coughing harshly among the thick clouds of smoke and ash. A gust of wind blew lifting leaves into the air and whirling them around in a graceful dance.
The cat reached through a hole in the rubble, her arm was the only thing that could fit through. She brushed her dirty brown hair out of her face and picked a stick up off of the ground.
She began to etch something illegible on the wing of the plane. The runes scratch into the wing would make no since to me or you, like some made-up language.
A gust of wind blew more ash and leaves into the small space trapping the cat in a harsh fit of coughing.
She continued to etch the strange runes on the wing of the plane, until the small space she could write on was filled.
The cat rubbed ash from he eyes and shook it from her hair, engulfing her in a dark cloud. She gave one last series of coughs and collapsed on the ash below her.
-nightmare end-
Tails bolted up from the nightmare breathing hard and damp with sweat. He closed his eyes and reduced his breathing back to a normal rate trying to remember the details of the dream.
There was a cat stuck in… an accident. A huge accident. She was… trapped among the rubble… suffocating on ash and smoke. She wrote something… on the rubble, but it made no since. It was just a heap of gibberish to him. It must've been important, or she wouldn't have wrote it. She was… sick, or dying. The ash was overpowering her, she was going to die.
Tails shook his head and thought "No, It was just a dream. That plane crash… Susie and Star-la were the only survivors." He looked around the ballroom, passing over the two spare cots pulled out for Star-la and Susie, and resting his eyes on Rouge and Amy's empty bunks.
If his premonition was right, it wouldn't be long before Drake had Cream, Kyra, and now Susie and Star-la.
The one thing that had been itching at his mind since he overheard the conversation between Lucius,
Veronica, and Drake was "What will happen after Drake is done with the girls? Will he then go after the boys? And why attack the girls first? Does he only feed on females and then just plain out kill males?
Tails rested his head on his pillow. "That dream was just another nightmare, no matter how real it seemed." he thought.
As he drifted back to sleep, the last thought that popped into his head was "Or was it?"
-nightmare-
Cream was walking along the edge of the lake, leaving footprints behind her in the wet sand. The waters were dark and murky. You couldn't see anything a foot below the surface of the lake. The sun shone bright overhead making the surface of the lake shimmer beautifully.
After walking for a while, Cream came up to the high cliff she had seen the day before. Feeling a lot more energetic, she confidently pushed herself of the ground getting caught in a gust of wind. Flapping her enormous ears, she soon came to a higher part of the cliff, but now, tall trees were in the way keeping her from flying farther. She could probably fly above the trees, but she thought it would be better if she just walked.
The top of the cliff was rather mossy and covered with small bogs and swamps. No sunlight shone through the dense trees, making it near impossible to see anything. As she walked along, she saw a large rock she could probably climb to see where she was.
She searched the rock for handholds and slowly, but surely scaled the large rock. When she got to the top and looked out, she couldn't see anything but forest for miles and miles.
"That's odd, I've only been walking for an hour or two." said Cream.
Another strange thing was that the trees seemed to move, as if flowing in a breeze, yet she couldn't feel any wind at all.
As she climbed down the rock, Cream noticed a pink figure walking into a clump of trees not too far away.
"Amy!" cried Cream.
The pink figure didn't seem to have heard.
"Amy, it's me, Cream! We've been looking all over for you!" she said racing after her.
"We've been so worried, Tails said that you and Rouge were kidnapped by Drake and-" the words escaped Creams mouth as she found herself in a small clearing with a bog in the center.
"Amy?" whispered Cream frightfully.
In the blink of an eye, Amy appeared sitting next to the edge of the bog, staring at the murky waters.
Cream walked up to her and reached her hand out to touch her shoulder. As soon as she did, she felt a stabbing pain in her head. All the events that had happened before Drake had put her to sleep, before he made her forget flashed before her eyes. Also, unfamiliar events from the eyes of Amy. Being lured by Drake, how he tortured her mind and slit her wrist with a blade to suck the blood. How she had been controlled by means of a voodoo doll with a piece of her hair melted into the wax doll.
The icy grip tortured her brain, giving her the pain of her head being split in two.
She tried to release herself, but it was like she was chained to the spot. She could only struggle.
She let out a horrific scream as she broke away from the bond.
-nightmare end-
Cream woke with a start, the pain from her dream still stinging her head. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she put her hand on her aching head. She felt something warm on her head though. She looked at her hand and saw it covered with blood. "It…really…happened." she whispered as she fainted at the sight of her own blood.
Tails awoke the next morning still thinking about his dream. He wasn't sure if he should tell anybody about the girl. He was sure that it wasn't real, but he was still a bit troubled by it. He would just have to check out the crash site later in order to prove to himself it was just a nightmare. As he left for breakfast, he didn't notice that Cream's bed was empty or that there were drops of blood on her pillow.
Lucius and Veronica were at breakfast that day (to Tails' surprise) and seemed bright and happy. He could tell why. It was a bright day outside, and everything was almost completely dry save a few puddles here and there.
As he began to eat, he noticed Kyra was gone. He guessed her time here was over and she had headed home. She already had stayed longer than planned because of the rain delay.
Amy and Rouge were still gone, and Tails now realized that Cream wasn't here either.
Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles were all huddled together talking about something and pointing at a piece of paper Shadow was holding. Tails moved slowly towards the group to listen to what they were saying.
"-we need to go there now. This cliff probably is our only obstacle to get to the girls. It's the only place we haven't checked." said Sonic.
"We can't go today though, it's the festival and there will be all kinds of crud going on. Lucius and Veronica will expect us to be there." said Shadow.
"Well, we could send somebody while we are competing and everybody is paying attention to the events." said Knuckles.
"But who isn't competing?" asked Sonic.
"I'm not." answered Tails.
Everybody looked at Tails.
"I'm not competing or anything and I can slip by unnoticed." added Tails.
Knuckles looked at Sonic and Sonic nodded.
"Alright, but you'll need to bring some stuff along." said Sonic.
"Like what?"
"Like us." said Star-la. Star-la and Susie appeared behind Shadow.
"We aren't going to sit back and relax while you have all of the fun. We're helping." said Star-la.
"But-" started Tails.
"Even if it means having to fight, we'll go." said Susie.
There was nothing but silence for a minute, then Tails sighed.
"Ok, but I'm warning you it's dangerous."
"Well I don't care. Susie?"
"Me neither."
"Ok, like I said, you'll need to bring some stuff with you."
"Like my old air necklace." said Knuckles.
"And Rouge's treasure scope." said Shadow.
"Where'd you get that?" asked Tails.
"Her stuff was still here, so we just grabbed it." said Sonic.
"You'll also need this camera, so you can get proof of anything we'll need." said Shadow handing him a digital camera.
"When should I go?" asked Tails.
"When we start actually competing. There will be a lot of people there from the town, so you should be able to slip through the crowd." said Shadow.
"Do you know when the actual festival starts?" asked Tails.
"There were fliers all over town saying it started this afternoon." said Shadow.
"That reminds me, Knuckles, did you ever go into town?" asked Tails.
"No, but if we don't solve our problem soon, I will." said Knuckles.
"What problem?" asked Sonic, Susie, Star-la, and Shadow together.
Tails and Knuckles explained everything about Drake and how Tails really got his amnesia. They also explained everything they had found out and Tails explained the conversation he had heard between Lucius, Drake, and Veronica.
By time the had finished, everybody was finished with breakfast and the only people left in there were Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Star-la, Susie, and Shadow.
"So this is more serious than we thought." said Shadow when Tails and Knuckles were finished.
"There's more weird stuff here then just ghosts." said Sonic.
"This place is haunted?" asked Susie,
"Yeah, REALLY haunted."
"Like Myrtle Plantation?" asked Star-la.
"What's that?" asked Knuckles.
"It's an old plantation in Louisiana. It's the most haunted place in the United States." said Tails.
"Yeah, well this is the most haunted place in Europe practically." said Knuckles.
"Haunted or not, this place is still dangerous and we NEED to do this, or we are in trouble."
"Wait a second, you only have ONE air necklace, what happens if we run into… an underwater cave or something?" asked Star-la.
"Then Tails goes on alone I guess." said Sonic.
Just then the door opened and Drake walked in.
"Why, hello. I hope you all are ready for the festival competition. I am unbeatable when it comes to treasure hunting." he said in his usual silky voice.
"Yeah, well not for long." replied Knuckles.
"This WILL be an interesting festival then." he answered in a yet more silky voice.
That afternoon, people from the town started arriving at the castle. Slowly, the grounds started to fill up with people, both poor and seemingly rich. Men and woman were stretching and preparing for the coming events.
Sonic and Shadow kept on throwing each other death glares as they watched their pathetic competition. Knuckles just laughed at the guys carrying around metal detectors and magnets with hope they would assist them in the treasure hunt. Drake was watching from a stone bench in the front garden with some amusement.
There was a large banquet table being set up on the edge of the festival with elegant foods and luscious deserts.
At about 1:00, Lucius and Veronica sat down at a large table with a megaphone and two sheets of paper. Lucius cleared his voice and announced in the megaphone "All people wishing to sign up for the race or treasure hunt please sign up at the front table."
Sonic and Shadow were the first competitors to sign up. This dampened the spirits of some people, but others still joined.
Too bad they didn't run at their full speed, or they would be the only contestants.
Knuckles and Drake signed up right away, people lined up behind them carrying metal detectors and magnets. Rich people lined up carrying odd gadgets and gizmos flashing and blinking.
Within a few minutes, the lines disappeared and Lucius began once again to talk into his megaphone "We will start with our race. The race will go through the castle were we have put down tape lines. The first to emerge from the castle wins!"
Tails began to creep through the large crowd of people towards the path to the lake. He managed to slip through completely unnoticed by anybody that would really care. He made his way to the path where he met Susie and Star-la.
"Ready?" asked Tails.
"Only if you are." replied Star-la.
They cautiously went down the path towards the lake when….
"Why, what are you doing away from the festival?" asked Drake.
"Ahhh! Drake, I didn't see you there!" said Tails.
"Why, didn't you hear? We have people patrolling this place, we found some trespassers on neighboring lands, so we closed down the lake suspecting burglars. We also have the castle guarded, so come back to the festival, the race is nearly over." he said pushing them back towards the crowd.
There was a loud cheer from the crowd as Lucius yelled "And the winner is…"
(Yay, that was a fun chapter to write. Hope you like it, hope I'm not rushing, hope the story doesn't suck, hope you all berate me endlessly. BYE!)