Author's note: Wow, that Sk27 sure gives me some notable reviews. By the way, the e-mail address you gave me in the one review is a failure. Oh, well. On to the next chapter!
And that review I just got from Purifying Wind is a shocker. I honestly don't know how to respond to it.
-
Chapter 16: VS Skyler … sort of
-
Once I was back on the roof of the Tower of the Sky, I paused and looked around. Skyler had to be somewhere in the air, and I spotted him a distance away. "There you are!" I yelled, pointing my finger. A small cloud appeared in front of where I'd pointed.
It took me a moment to realize what I'd just done. Apparently when Skyler had swapped bodies with me, I'd ended up with his cloud-summoning ability. Figuring it would be pretty handy, I started running toward where I'd seen Skyler.
My new wolf tail got in front of my leg, however, and I ended up floored. "I wonder why Tails never trips like that," I said to myself as I got up. "On the other hand, maybe that's how he fell down the stairs last night."
Putting the thought away, I started jumping from cloud to cloud in pursuit of Skyler, who was flying along with hardly a care in the world. When he spotted me, he dove under the clouds and flew under them, but I got ahead of him and jumped on top of him.
The combined weight of Skyler and myself was harmful to our altitude, but he saved himself by gliding into the window of the Tower of the Sky. I grabbed the window ledge, climbed in, and followed him.
Skyler fled up the stairs, knowing he would be better off in the air than on the ground. I followed him, making sure my tail stayed behind me and didn't get in the way of my legs again. The chase led straight up to the top floor.
Once the both of us were at the top floor, I cornered Skyler near the ladder to the roof. "Return my body, and do it now," I commanded.
"Not yet," Skyler replied. "First, let's both have a little fun."
I knew what that meant.
Skyler made the first move and tried to rush me. I jumped over him, landed behind him, and kicked him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Approaching Skyler, I smirked at how easy this battle had turned out to be.
It was not quite as easy as I'd hoped. Skyler got up and shot a Flame Feather at me. I ducked, but it grazed the tip of my tail, setting it on fire. I noticed it just in time to get rid of the flames, and then turned my attention back to Skyler.
While I was distracted, though, Skyler had escaped to the roof. I dashed up the ladder and saw him, and he was shooting bluish-purple, turquoise, white, and orange feathers at me while hovering a few feet out of my reach. At least, it LOOKED like he was out of my reach.
I pointed, creating another cloud right beneath Skyler, and then used it as a platform to jump up and grab Skyler's leg, dragging him down to the ground.
THUD! For a moment, both of us lay on the roof of the tower. Skyler was the first to get up, and he grabbed the loose ends of my white scarf and tried to choke me, but I knocked him off by slapping his hands.
Feathers of all four colors scattered all over the ground as I knocked Skyler to the ground again. This time, I noticed that he was directly under the cloud I'd made to reach him earlier. I punctured the cloud with a purplish-blue feather, causing it to pour with rain.
Of course, Skyler was drenched. Furious, he tried to fly up above my head, but he was so water-logged, he couldn't get off the ground. Before he could dry himself out, I grabbed one of the Ice Feathers on the ground and applied it to his arm, freezing the water and encasing him in a layer of ice.
Skyler couldn't break free, so I thawed him with a Flame Feather. He struggled to get some words out: "I … I surrender. Okay, you can have your body back. I guess I'm more used to my own." He pointed to create a cloud, but nothing happened.
I laughed a little. "Not quite on the ball today, are you, Skyler? Allow me." I made a cloud right where Skyler had tried to make one. "On three, we both jump through the cloud," Skyler advised me. "One … two … THREE!"
As per Skyler's instructions, we both ball-jumped through the cloud, and I'm not sure whether or not we collided. When we landed, I checked myself to make sure I was back to normal. I was.
Skyler was back in his body, too. "Okay, now that that's done with … what was your reason for coming up here? Were you just exploring, or was it something else?"
"Something else," I replied. "I need a jar of blessed air."
"All the air up at this level is blessed," Skyler explained. "All you have to do is find a way to get a jar full of it."
I smirked. "No problem. I know just how to do that."
Rushing down the spiral stairs of the Tower of the Sky once again, I paused at one floor to retrieve an empty jar from a cabinet. From there, I took the window exit and glided down to the beach, where I reentered the Cave of Aqua.
Inside the Cave of Aqua, I dunked the jar underwater, let out all the air, and capped it before bringing it above water. I also said hi to W.T. while I was there.
It didn't take long for me to get back up to the roof of the Tower of the Sky, where I uncapped the jar and poured out all the water. As I did, I knew that the jar would refill with blessed air. I finished the job by wiping clear all the remaining water drops with a loose feather.
"Hey, nice job," Skyler remarked. "Go ahead, take it away." I climbed down the ladder and started back down the spiral staircase.
-
Sorry, no Quote of the Chapter this time. I gave you something else, though: a character profile for Skyler. It's longer than any two (maybe three) of Sk27's character profiles put together, so I bet he's a little jealous.
Skyler the Wolf
"Skyler, Skyler the Wolf, master of the clouds." That's how he introduces himself, and the title is apt. Skyler is a bluish-purple wolf with a long white scarf. His domain is the sky, and under few circumstances does he ever come down; you've got to come to him. He can roll, ball-jump and Spin Dash just like Sonic can. To boot, he has the ability to summon small clouds almost anywhere, which can then be used as stationary platforms or to release rain. He can even use one of his clouds to swap bodies with someone else, but he seldom does so. For a wolf, Skyler is rather kind, and likes to have fun. When his "fun" is at the expense of others, though, things can get, well … what's the adjective I'm looking for?