(back at main story)

Ch 7: The Sacred Sword

Tails, May, and Ace are in awe at what just happened. Ace snapped out of it and ran over to the female fox. She was wearing a battle kimono. It was red with a dragon pattern all over it. Her fur is gray-silver. "Hey Kaida, are you all right?",said Ace,"What happened here anyway?"

"I'm fine, lets get outta here and head to my dojo, It's not safe here."she said. Ace motioned Tails and May to follow. They all ran down a small dirt path into some woods. The dirt was soft and there were small patches of grass poking through the ground. May was following on her hoverboard with the old fox. Tails stopped because he saw something in the trees. He only saw it for a brief moment.

"Hey Tails, hurry up, you don't want to be left behind." Ace was way up ahead on the path where he was waiting.

"Sorry, I just thought I saw something." Tails ran with his tails spinning like a propeller and caught up fast. After about a mile of walking they came up to a huge stairway made of stone. They couldn't even see the top through the thick woods. They started climbing the stairs. Tails looked back and saw the old man was having a really hard time. He ran down to the old man and lifted him into the air. He got him up to a ledge that was halfway up the stairs. Tails let him down. "Thank...you." said the old man. The old man sat on a bench nearby. Tails looked down the stairs and saw the rest of the group just about where he was. "Heh, what took ya?"

"Ha Ha...very funny."said Ace. Kaida smacked Ace in the head. "What'd I do?"

"Thank you, Tails, that was a nice thing you did for him. That man is my grandfather, he was once a great swordsman back in his day. C'mon we only have a little more to go." Kaida went over to her grandpa and sat next to him. Ace sat on another bench across from Kaida. May set her board on the ground and sat on it. She stared up at the sky. It is a bright sunny day with no clouds. Tails went over to May and got the shard back from her. He sat on the bench next to Ace. Tails looked closely at the shard and saw a tiny light inside of it.

"Huh...that's interesting." Tails was mumbling to himself.

"Hey Tails, what do you got there,"said Ace. He grabbed the tiny crystal from Tails. Ace looked at it and gasped. "It's...it's...one of the element crystal shards from the legend!"

"What did you say?", said May, Kaida, and her grandpa. They rushed over to Ace. Tails wondered what they were all going on about.

"What are the element crystals?", Tails asked.

"They are from a legend of a great hero that saved the world over 1000 years ago." Kaida now had the gem shard. "Tails, where did you find this."

"Oh...I found it in a crater." He then explained his whole story to her.

"That is very interesting." said Kaida. She gave Tails the crystal back. "Since you found it you can keep it." She went back over to her grandfather and helped him through the other stairs. They all are on the top now. There is a big old Japanese looking shrine. It has four floors. Kaida was chanting something and a seal was blocking the stairway.

"Wow, Kaida I didn't know you could use magic." Tails went over to it and touched it. It sent him flying back and he crashed into a bush. "Owww...damn it. Stupid seal." They all rushed over to see if he was all right. Tails was fine except for the bruise on his arm. He got up instantly. Tails saw a path leading away from the shrine. "Hey, where does that path lead?"

"That leads to the legendary sword. But there are beasts that roam the woods at night and it's getting late." It was already getting dark outside. They all went in the dojo and sat in the classroom. Kaida was about to explain the legend. the room was lit by hanging paper lanterns. "About 1200 years ago the world was at war between the only three nations. There were the humans on the western continents. The foxes from this archipelago of the central ocean. And the hedgehogs and echidnas from the eastern continent. The war lasted 199 years and almost destroyed the planet. Then the crystals were formed by 9 sages from our archipelago. They made them in the elements of fire, water, wind, earth, ice, steel, rock, light, and darkness. They gave all these crystals to the hero. Except for the dark crystal. It was hidden away because of the evil it contained. The hero stopped the war within one year. The foxes were the victors of the war and the world became peaceful."

Tails was sleeping in one of the guest rooms. It was a cool summers night. There was a full moon outside and the light shined into his room. The red gem was in his hand and it suddenly began to shine with a bright red glow. It started to heat up rapidly. It started to burn Tails' glove. "AH...HOLY CRAP...hothothot." Tails dropped the shard and threw off his glove. The pad of his hand was really hot. Some of the stray furs were singed. Kaida opened the door and ran inside.

"What happened, are you okay?" She looked at the glove on the floor. It was still smoking. "How did that happen?"

"The shard burned my hand." Kaida grabbed his arm and took him into the kitchen. Tails went over to the sink and put the cold water on. His hand steamed and then cooled down. "Ahhh...that's better", he wispered. He went back to his room grabbed his glove and it was as good as new. "Huh?"

"I fixed it with my magic, it is now resistant to fire. The other glove also is fire resistant." Kaida left and went back to bed. Tails put the gem on the dresser that was made of steel. He went back to bed.

The next morning every one was in the dining room eating breakfast. Tails didn't tell the others what had happened last night. "Why did that robot attack you guys?"Ace said.

"I don't know but lets not worry about that now, I'm gonna show tails the sword today," said Kaida.

"What was all the noise about?" Asked May. She looked at Tails.

"What noise?" Tails and the others left the dojo and waited at the path for May.

"Tails, I'm gonna wait here okay." Ace decided to stay at the dojo with gramps. Kaida released the seal to the path. They came across a sword that was in a stone that was shaped like a hexagon from the top. It was an average looking sword. It was a katana based long sword. Tails went over to it and tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. He tried again except he was flying while he pulled at it. He lost grip and flew straight up like a rocket. He floated down and grumbled.

"I guess you aren't the one, Tails." said May.

Back at the dojo Ace was holding the shard when all of a sudden it glowed and shot out of his hands. "What the hell?"

The gem flew right into Tails' hand. "Whoa, it came from nowhere!"

"Tails, try pulling the sword out again!"yelled Kaida. Once again Tails touched the sword, but this time it started to glow and he pulled it out of the stone. "Wow, did it!"

"Way to go Tails!"cheered May. Tails ran back to the dojo and showed Ace and gramps.

Meanwhile in a very dark and creepy castle on an island at the other end of the ocean. A group of elite hedgehog warriors in high tech armor were kneeled down at a thrown. There are five of them altogether. "Did you get the sword General Black?", asked a sinister voice.

"No sir, My attack robot was destroyed. We have the last moments of the robots memory on tape." He put the tape in a projector. It showed the robot talking to Tails and firing at him. Then the hooded figure appeared and finished the robot with a kick and a beam.

"I see, destroy whoever did that and while your at it kill all those other people also." The person in the thrown is hard to see because of the dark room. It is the shillouette of a hedgehog with huge bat wings and glowing red eyes. (Hope you can guess who it is, because I won't tell you)

"Yes King Cinos." With that they all left the room.

"That fox should not get the sword or it will be more work for me."