Ch 15: A Grand Cross Battle
Kaida is mourning over her grandfather's sudden death. She is building a casket out of some long reeds. It took about an hour to make. It is decorated with all sorts of wild flowers and plants. There is a small raft that it lays on. Tails, Shadow, and Ace are taking the entire thing to the shore. May put some candles on the casket. It is still very dark outside. The casket is slowly put onto the dark shoreline and pushed gently into the water. Everyone has their heads down while the casket is floating away. Then they look out to sea. The candlelight is glimmering in the ocean. It is pretty far away now.
"Guys?" Kaida said softly. "Can I have some alonetime?"
"But..." May was about to continue.
"Let's leave her be for now, It's the least we can do." Shadow said. Shadow was the first to leave. Then May left with Tails holding her head. Ace just runs down the beach. Kaida sits on the beach and stares at the light from the candles until it is out of sight.
"I miss him, he was always strong and wise." May is huddled up in a ball. Tails puts his hand on her back.
"Everyone is destined to die someday, it is inevitable for all living things. I pity all of you. I will always live, I was created to be ageless. It is something Gerald Robotnik called the fountain of youth. Not a real fountain, but some kind of genetic splice that keeps you young. I was the first test dummy for it too. Then he tried to use it on a human, that was meant for Maria, but...it was the day of the attack." Shadow closed his eyes and became motionless.
They all fell asleep in an hour. The sun was rising now and Tails woke up. He quietly walked over to the beach. Kaida was still looking out to sea.
"Kaida?" Tails asked. "I'm sorry."
"For what, it wasn't your fault." She looked at him.
"If I hadn't come here in the first place, none of this would have happened. I should've known Eggman was up to something. I could've stopped Sonic from using the Emeralds. But I was too stupid. Sonic wouldn't have turned into that monster. All those innocent people would still be alive." Tails wiped his eyes because he was crying.
"Stop it Tails, It wasn't your fault. You did what you thought was right. You have a good heart, that's nothing to be ashamed of. You didn't know this would all happen. But you are the only one that has the power to stop this once and for all!"
"Your right, I was just being stupid. I promise I will get the old Sonic back and End this war!" Tails ran back to the Tornado. He looked over to where Ace's plane is. It's gone.
"Huh? Where did he go?" Tails jumped in the plane and found his box of parts. It is a tiny steel cube with a screen on the front and a hole on top. He turned it on and the screen showed a list of words. They had icons of boxes next to them. There are many boxes with no names on them. The only names are Junk, Secret, Metal parts, Plastic parts, Electronics, and Tools.
"Hey, what do you have there?" Tails jumped and the box flew in the air. May caught it.
"You startled me, I thought you were still asleep." Tails saw that she was holding the cube. "That thing turns ordinary things that you can touch into data for easy transport. It not that great."
"You made this, this is better than great, I've never heard of something that could do that." May is still looking at it. She tosses it back to Tails. He pushed a button on it and a huge cardboard box appeared. It is the size of a big t.v. box. It was marked as TOOLS. Tails jumped inside and grabbed a soddering tool, a screw driver, a metal cutting laser, and some pliers. The box vanished and another one appeared. It was labeled Metal parts. After about 15 minutes Tails has all the parts he needs.
"Wow, what are you gonna make?" May is peering over his shoulder.
"A rader that will detect elemental disturbances. In other words it will find the remaining shards. It will take me an hour to build it. Go tell the others." May ran back to the campsite and saw that everyone was awake.
"Hey guys, Tails will need an hour to build a shard tracker so we can get the remaining shards." May just smiled and sat down.
"Okay, but have you seen Ace anywhere?" Shadow asked.
"He left last night after the farewell." Shadow looked at her very angry like.
"Oh crap, Why didn't you tell me last night. He's probably going to fight the army for revenge!" Shadow left instantly.
"Uh-oh, I should've caught him."
Shadow is running at top speed looking for a plane flying around anywhere. He looks like a black blur to anybody that might see him. Ace is almost out of sight, but Shadow barely sees him and goes in his direction.
"I will kill them for doing this. All the stress killed Master Zuyen." Ace is going at least 243mph. but Shadow is already under him. Shadow is thinking of a way to reach him.
'That stupid fox, does he even realise what he's doing.' Shadow sees an island with a slope that goes pretty high. He does a spin dash on the water and zooms off to the island. He goes on the island and is shot right into the sky. He comes out of his ball and is still rising. He sees the jet almost ahead of him. He charges up a huge beam attack and rockets right towards the jet. He lands on the roof.
"What the heck was that?" Ace looks out the side windows. Shadow breacks the right window and drops in.
"Turn around, NOW!" Shadow looks really mad.
"Screw you, I'm not turning around now!" Shadow just punches him in the face and knocks him out. He pulls him out of the driver seat and takes over. He flies back to the island, But there is someone following them. It is far back enough to not be seen.
"Finally, I'm done." Tails holds up his tiny radar. It looks like a GBA SP, but is way more advanced. The screen is circular and displays a grid(it is blue with black lines). Tails rushes back to camp, on his way he hears some gunfire heading this way. "Holy hell, that is Ace, he's on fire!" The plane blows up into tiny pieces. Then a jet comes down to the beach and lands. Shadow arrives at the same time with Ace in his arms. He sets him down.
"Tails, get your sword, it's one of the Grand Cross warriors. I'll hold him off." Shadow is ready for battle. Tails runs back to camp.
"Guys hide somewhere, we got company. Take Ace with you." They go deeper into the forest. Tails grabs his sword and light flashes and the other two shards are on small chains on the handle of the sword. "Cool." He runs back to the beach and sees Shadow just standing in front of somebody. It is another armored hedgehog. The armor is all high tech, just like that girl from before.
"There you are..." Says a deep voice. "You really are just a boy. I thought that King Cinos was joking. You are quite impressive. You've caused some damage to our robots. At least over 10 million dollars worth. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of the Grand Cross Warriors, the name's Falcner. You wont need to know it because your gonna die." Falcner pulls out a small peice of metal. It generates a long shiny blade that has energy flowing around it. It is a purplely color. His armor is slightly different than the girls armor. The helmet covers the top/middle spine all the way back. There is a long blade that is attached to the helmet and bends back with his head. All the other pieces are the same except for the chest. It has three long plates on the lower half, one in front and one on each side. The top part looks like the front of a gundam(copyright to bandai). The tech cloth is red in color. He charges at Tails. He get a good whack at him and knocks him down. Shadow kicks him in the head and steals Falcner's sword.
"Your pathetic, ha!" Shadow is laughing at him. But the sword shocks him and he drops it. "Damn it!"
"Thats what you think." Falcner pick up his sword and slashes at Shadow, but he dissapears.
"Icefuse!" Tails comes at Falcner from above with an ice slash. It freezes his whole left side. He breaks free and punches Tails. He launches a horde of missiles behind him. Shadow is dodging them with ease. One almost hits him. The missiles come back at Shadow. He starts speeding off. "What the-"
"Those missiles will keep chasing your friend until they make contact, I hope he dies like the rat he is." Falcner jumps in the air and hovers with his jet boots. Tails does the super jump and flies right past him. "How can you fl-. Oh I get it...your tails let you fly." They are now at the same height in the sky. Tails charges up the ice energy in his sword for a final attack. The sword becomes made of icy wind completely. Tails flies right towards him.
"You think your ice trick can stop me? I'll just break out like last time." Falcner just stands there waiting to be hit. The icy blade wind goes through him and he is completly forzen. He breaks out in a minute, but Shadow appears right in front of him. Then he vanishes. The missile barrage hits Falcner. At least twenty missiles were in that attack. He falls to the ground and hits the sand. After the smoke clears Falcner is just standing there. His armor is badly damaged and sparking/smoking. "You will pay for this, I'll get my revenge Tails." He teleports away with the jet.
"Good job Tails, its a good thing you froze him so I could lead the missiles right to him. Find the others, we're leaving." Shadow runs to the Tornado 3 and sits down. Tails runs to the forest and calls everyone back to the plane. "So, where is the closest shard."
"Lemme check." Tails turns on the radar and looks. "The next one is 34 miles to the east, it is the lightning shard. Okay lets go." Tails and May get in the Tornado 3. He drives back to the beach to transform. Shadow jumps on the back and stands where Sonic usually stands. Kaida is in the hovercar with Ace. He is still knocked out. Now they are headed for another island. This one is covered with rocky cliffs and it is raining only on this island. There is a really long and skinny cliff that has an ancient lighthouse on it. At the top is something shiny. The light is purple. Tails pushes a button and the tornado is changing again. The wings form an X and then retract into the body. A glass covering comes onto the cockpit. The propeller retract and a small glass dome coveres the hole. Instead of a jet underneath, the propeller comes out of the back. Then they dive underwater. They then resurface instantly. The glass lifts up.
"Wow, its a sub and a boat." May looks around she sees that Shadow is with Kaida.
"Next time you do that, WARN ME first." Shadow is looking at Tails.
"Sorry...I forgot you were there, heh heh." Tails stops at the edge of the cliff. A metal arm comes out and grabs a rock to hang onto. Kaida is just gonna wait in the car. "May, you come with me."
"I'm coming too." Shadow jumps on the shore.
"No, you stay here with Kaida and Ace." Tails grabs May and flies to the top of the cliff. They start walking when May grabs his arm.
"Uh...Tails, I have to tell you something." May looks like she's about to cry. "I...kinda...looked at your journal on your computer."
"Is that all, I don't care if you read it, go ahead." Tails took off his compu-watch and handed it to her. "Read all you want, besides, I made the entries that are secret hidden."
They continue walking down a wet dirt path. The rain gets harder as they approach the old lighthouse tower. Tails opens the door and they enter. "I'm soaked, my shirt is completely stuck to my body. Turn around while I shake my shirt out, please." May is finished now and they look around. The place is very old and dusty. There is a huge spiral staircase on the wall of the tower. It is made of stone and has no railing. "It doesn't look very safe, I'll just fly up it." Tails grabs May and starts flying up, but he hits an electrical barrier and falls to the ground. He lands on top of May. He pushes himself up and is face to face with May. He quickly gets up. He is blushing alot.
"Lets pretend that never happened, k?" May is a little pink also.
"Well...I guess we walk." Tails and May start the long and slow walk up the stairs. The purple light is still shining at the top.