Declaimer: I still don't own Sonic Adventure 2© or any other Sonic related characters and logos, they belong to their respected owners.
Storyline, plot, Tarosamo the Echidna©, Slice the Bat©, Danny©, Black Light©, and Kamakani Zuberi©are mine. You cannot use any of these characters without my permission, not that you would want to use them, anyway.
Author's Note: I would like to give a sincere apology to everyone who's been waiting for this. Life's been taking its tow on me…anyways, enough excuses, it's out now, so, please enjoy!
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Blood of the Demon
By SapphireWhiteTigress
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Chapter IV – Darkness
Two weeks later was when things started to really get bad. Knuckles and Tarosamo have been on constant alert throughout day and night but got no sign of any potential threat. It was peaceful and quiet when it started to happen. Clear skies and calm winds, those thoughts were deceiving.
Knuckles decided to rest for a little while and ended up under the cool shade of a tall tree when something fell out and hit him on the head. He jumped and was ready to fight, but what he saw made him stop cold. Instead of something threatening, he saw something even more frightening. He saw the body of a cold, stiff, and very dead animal.
A squirrel.
Knuckles eyes widen as he noticed that the once earthly green grass started to turn a horrifying gray color. All around him the flowers were withering, the grass was browning, the small forest animals dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap.
He looked all around him as the abnormity occurred.
"What the hell's going on here?" A voice said behind him.
Knuckles turned around to see Rouge and Tarosamo making their way towards him. Knuckles clenched his fist, anger boiling in his eyes. Once the two were standing next to the red echidna, Knuckles gave an angry growl.
"I don't know who's responsible for this happening, but when I find him…" He trailed off, too angry for words.
Tarosamo stood in silence, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I may know who's responsible for this."
Knuckles glaring eyes bored into Tarosamo's. "Who!"
The other echidna didn't even flinch. "Kamakani. His powers can also drain the earth of its energy. All he needs to do is focus his powers on an object with low spiritual power and death can befall it."
Both of his comrades looked at him. "Why didn't you tell us that earlier?" Knuckles roared.
Tarosamo looked sheepish, but only for a moment. "You never asked."
Knuckles sighed in exasperation. Rouge chose that moment to point something out that was in the sky. "Wait, I think I see something," she said and spread her wings to get a closer look.
Before Knuckles could stop her, she was already high in the air. "Rouge!"
Rouge cautiously approached the figure, keeping her distance. "Hey! You there, are you the one responsible for this?"
The figure was clothed in a black cloak, making it very hard to see him as dark clouds started to form around them. His head was tilted downwards. At first, Rouge thought he hadn't heard her and was going to make him feel her wrath, when his head suddenly snapped up and Rouge was staring into large, red, emotionless eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat and she felt as if someone had placed their hands around her small neck, forcing the air from her lungs.
Rouge grabbed around her throat, trying to force the air back into her aching lungs. She started to feel dizzy and faint, until she slowly lost consciousness and went limp in the air. With a flick of his wrist, Rouge's body went flying through the air and towards the cold, dead, earth below.
Knuckles eyes widen in terror as he watched Rouge's body fall from the sky. He tried to run to catch her, but his feet seem to be rooted into the ground. He growled in frustration and looked down at his unmoving feet, and realized that his feet were, indeed, rooted to the ground.
He grinded his teeth and tried to pull his feet from the ground, but there was no such luck. He watched helplessly as Rouge fell from the sky towards the dead earth around them.
Tarosamo, seemingly unfazed, quickly ran towards the falling bat and caught her before she could hit the ground. She remained lifeless in his arms.
"Rouge?" He gently lied her down on the ground and checked for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found one. He looked up towards the figure only to find him directly above he's current position.
A silent, chilling wind blew through the air, rustling the dead trees and grass. The dark figure smirked at the echidna. "Tarosamo," It was one word, one name, which held so much meaning for the intruder.
Tarosamo shuddered at hearing his name come from the mouth of that emotionless beast. He knew that this day was going to come, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. He hadn't a clue on what to do. The brave and never failing Tarosamo was at a lost.
"I see that you remember me. How could you forget? I'm the one that raised you," Kamakani Zuberi chuckled.
Knuckles watched the exchanged in silence, being that there was nothing he could do with his feet rooted to the ground as they were. He wanted to rush over to his wife to make sure she was okay. He growled in frustration. He just knew meeting Tarosamo was going to post a few questionable problems.
"So, Tarosamo, are you ready to cooperate and come home?" Kamakani extended a hand towards Tarosamo as it emitted a low red glow. He slowly descended down to the ground, his hand stayed pointedly at the Echidna. "I don't believe that I leave any room for discussion, because if you do not follow my orders…" He moved his hand, the red glow growing in size, towards the unconscious bat. "…You know what will happen, don't you Tarosamo?"
Tarosamo didn't want to admit it to himself, but he knew that this beast in front of him wasn't the type to play games. If he wanted something, he'll get it at all costs, even if that cost was the cost of another's life. Tarosamo wasn't going to stand there and let Rouge, or Knuckles for that matter, fall prey to the demon that stood before him.
Tarosamo gave a sigh of resignation before standing to his full height and surrendering. "As you wish,"
An unearthly large grin spread itself across the ugly face of the monster. "Great, I knew you'll see it my way, Tarosamo." Kamakani lowered the threat of his hand.
Knuckles eyes widen in disbelief. Tarosamo just gave up without a fight and willingly turned himself over to that bastard! "Tarosamo, what do you think you're doing! Once my feet get free, you better run, lizard, I'll rip you from head to toe!"
Kamakani laughed a thunderous laugh at the pathetic attempts to free himself. "You're very amusing, Knuckles. Don't worry. I'll come back for you." He grinned, wave his right claw, and both Tarosamo and the demon were gone.
Instantly, the sky cleared up and the grass and trees regain their glorious lush green color. Knuckles feet were finally free and he fell into a heap on the ground. His breath came out in short gasps.
Once he regained some composure, he immediately ran to his wife's fallen side. "Rouge? Rouge, get up!" He gently shook her but she remained still. "Rouge…?" Knuckles felt a burning sensation in his eyes and everything was blurring. He angrily wiped at his eyes. It's been forever since the last time he shed a tear, and now…He gently picked up the limp form of his wife. He knew she wasn't dead, not yet, but it still hurt all the same. Why wouldn't she wake up?
He took her back to their small home and placed her softly on their bed. "Rouge…" He gently spoke her name. He needed to get her to a hospital and fast. He sighed. He knew he should've listened to Sonic and gotten that phone installed…
He looked around for some idea of what to do. He couldn't risk taking her with him, just in case her condition worsens and he sure as hell couldn't leave her here all by herself. Where was Sonic when he needed him?
He looked to the overgrown gem, which was the Master Emerald, and remembered the adventures he recently had because of that thing. Sometimes he wasn't sure if it was a curse or a blessing. A blessing mainly because if it wasn't for that valuable rock, he would've never met all the friends he has today.
But, all in all, it has caused him a lot of trouble in the past and sometimes he often wished he was never 'chosen' to protect such a thing. Now, once more, the life of the woman he loved was at risk. He didn't blame the Master Emerald for this one, because it seemed that the emerald, for once, did not take part in this…event.
He slowly stood up from kneeing in front of the bed where his wife now rested. She had no visible signs of any injuries and for once, she looked to be at peace. He was afraid now. Every afraid. He ran a glove hand over her cheek in hope that it might coaxed her to wake. No such luck. He took a deep breath, and whispered in a voice that was so small that you would have to be standing directly under him to hear it. "Hold on, Rouge…I'll do whatever I can to save you…" With that said, he gave the fallen bat one last glance before quickly dashing out of the room, in hopes to find some help.
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She was alone and cold. And…the pain…it hurt all over. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, and it even hurt to think. Where was she? She would've glanced around, but her eyes wouldn't open. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't will her eyes to open. And she couldn't move. Her limbs were paralyzed. She wanted to cry out, either from pain or frustration, she wasn't too sure.
Just than, an extremely soft voice reached her ears. 'Hold on, Rouge…I'll do whatever I can to save you…'
That voice…
It was unmistakably Knuckles!
Knuckles…
Than memories started to flood back into her mind. She remembered having the breath forced from her lungs as she slowly lost consciousness. Her last thought before she passed out was…
Knuckles…
'Knuckles…I'm…I'm sorry…' She wasn't sure why she was apologizing, but she felt as if she needed to do so. She prayed that he could feel it with his heart. Maybe she was sorry that she couldn't be there for him, or maybe she was sorry for all the hardships she gave the echidna, but whatever the reason, she knew she just had to tell him, with her heart, that she was sorry.
Suddenly, a chill wind swept passed her and she shivered. Finally, she was able to open her eyes, but what greeted her wasn't what she expected. She wasn't on Angel Island anymore, but standing on an ocean. She blinked her tired eyes. How was it possible that she would be standing on an ocean and not fall in?
She took in her surroundings and the only thing that she could see was blue skies and an even bluer ocean. She was confused. "Where…am I?" Her voice echoed around her as if she were in a cave. This further confused her.
The wind carried on, strongly blowing in one direction. It pushed her; nudge her, as if to follow. Having no other choice, she started in the direction of the wind. For miles, she couldn't see anything but the crystal blue ocean. She felt silly, really, walking on top of an ocean that seemed to be made of glass, but yet, it was wavering with the calm breeze. No water splashed her and she wasn't sure to be grateful or even more freaked out.
She wanted to fly and give her feet a rest, but she soon found out that flying was a bad idea, because for some unknown reason, her wings would burst with pain at the slightest twitch. She would only sigh and continued her long journey into the unknown.
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A Sad Note from SapphireWhiteTigress
To all who actually liked this fic:
I hate to say this but…I'm discontinuing Blood of the Demon. It's not because of you, the readers, since you all been very nice to me, but mainly because I can't get into the 'groove' of things anymore.
I enjoyed writing the fic for the most part, but I lack ideas on it…I don't even think it's possible to 'switch the story over' to anyone, because…nobody knows Tarosamo as I do. huggles him And I hate out-of-character characters, even if they are fan-characters…
Anyways, to sum it all up, I'm quitting with the "Emerald Quest" trilogy (it was gonna be a trilogy), which turned out to be just Emerald Quest and a half. Sad, I know…sighs
