I really like this chapter! It is a break up of 3 different parts of the story-Knuckles and them, Sonic, and Shoca. I would put in some sort of break but it never shows up in the text so I stopped trying. Have a good week, I'll see you later.
Chapter 8: Pyramids in the Dark
Sonic the Hedgehog had been running all day. Searching for Shoca Lief was proving much more difficult then he had thought. At first the path had been clear, a straight line of burnt trees and grass. Later on though, the trail ended. This, Sonic thought, must have been where Shoca had returned to normal. From there, tracking her had gotten harder.
Something that scared him was the wide trail he sometimes found. The grass was trampled and pounded into the ground. He knew it had to be GUN with its heavy robots. It did seem like they were having difficulty too, and that reassured him a little.
He was also thinking of Tails and everyone else. Knuckles had invited them to his place on the floating island. Oh how much he would give to not have to track this lost experiment and be hanging out with them! But someone had to find her, and it wasn't going to be GUN.
It was at this time that night was setting in. After hitting a stand-still, Sonic had found the trail again. The trees were getting thinner and the soil looser. Sonic realized that Shoca was fleeing into the desert. Great…
He kept running until the dark set in. Sonic could no longer see Shoca's trail, but he could see the edge of the forest. To the south of where he was, the trees ended and the desert started.
In the protection of a large maple tree Sonic stopped.
"There's no sense in going any further," he said out-loud to himself. I last saw GUN an hour ago and they looked like they were finished and going to pack up. There won't be any protection out there, so I think I'll stay right here for tonight.
Regretting that he hadn't brought any supplies, Sonic proceeded to curl up under the tree. The wide tree broke most of the fall wind, but not all of it. Sonic shivered and curled up tighter. He eventually flew asleep thinking of that day with the meadows and oak.
Knuckles's bachelor pad wasn't made to house five people. So trying to find a place for everyone to sleep was causing mayhem.
"Amy!" yelled Tails. "I called this spot!"
The spot in question was a small section of the inflatable mattress that covered the living room floor.
Knuckles had chivalrously given the injured Rouge his own bed and taken his lazy boy instead. Cream had elected to sleep on the small couch that occupied one of the walls in Knuckles crowded living room. This left Amy and Tails to duke it out for the mattress.
"Ehh," said Amy from under the covers.
Amy was spread across the full size mattress, covering up Tails's portion.
"Amy please move," Tails pleaded.
"Uh."
"Err, Amy!" said Tails. He grabbed the blanket and flipped Amy onto her side; then plopped down before Amy could reclaim his spot.
"Nice Tails," Knuckles yawned. He had just emerged from his room where he and Cream had helped to situate Rouge. She had been extremely picky about where they put her wrapped up leg.
Cream went to the couch and was instantly asleep. Knuckles sat in his recliner and cocked back the lever. With a loud 'creak', the chair flew back and rebounded to a comfortable position.
"Goodnight," He said as he reached over and turned off the light.
Shoca Lief had been traveling for a long time. She was lost, tired, cold, and confused. She couldn't remember why she'd run away, but it had something to do with the blue hedgehog though.
She remembered that after waking up something bad was happening. Soon though, her fear had turned to rage and she lost all memory.
The next thing in her mind was running, no, flying away. When she'd stopped flying, she realized she was lost. Shoca had cried for the fox, Tails, her parent and caregiver; the furry fox that she could cuddle with and feel safe. But Tails wasn't there, and she kept walking because she figured that she would reach him eventually.
It was now night and the desert was cold. It was like an endless sheet of dark blue and black. Shoca didn't like it.
After shivering for several minutes, her body had started to produce sparks, little orange sparks from her midsection. They were warm and lit up the darkness. She liked them.
Shoca Lief kept walking and soon saw a shape rise in the distance. It stood out against the star lit sky, triangular and ominous. Shoca was frightened, but she recognized that she needed a warm place to sleep if she wanted to live. She sped up and started to run.
It took her 10 minutes to reach her destination. When she saw the pyramid up close her heart sped up. This increase didn't make her any warmer though. The sparks had ceased and her teeth were chattering in a feeble effort to warm her cold body.
The experiment started to look for an entrance to this strange house. She walked around the first long side and saw a light. She could hear metallic noises, like something at work building something. There was a loud crash and then a voice.
She crept closer, afraid of what might be there. There was a doorway with light pouring from it. She could feel the warmth and longed to be inside.
Feeling more daring, she edged into the light. She saw a humanoid robot searching through a bucket of tools. Every now and then it found a bad one and hurled it into the distance, all the while muttering to itself.
Shoca Lief sat down and watched it, as it temporarily interested her more then her search for warmth.
The robot must have found an undesirable tool because it tossed it out. As it did, it saw Shoca.
The robot jumped back in fright and dropped the bucket. As it tried to run back inside it tripped over a large rock and fell flat on its face. Shoca found this amusing and laughed.
Tyroy stood back up and stared at Shoca Lief. What is this? She was the first living being he'd ever seen beside his master. He came closer and started to examine Shoca. She didn't protest but in turn observed Tyroy.
Tyroy had picked up Shoca and was holding her. He could detect large amount of energy coming from her. She seemed harmless, plus she was a simple creature in a cold environment, she needed warmth. He took her inside the pyramid base.
"What did you find this time?" asked Dr. Robotnik.
He was in his sleeping robes, and quite angry at being disrupted from his 'beauty' sleep.
"I believe that this will interest you sir, I found it outside while---"
"Well what is it?" the eggman shouted.
"This!" Tyroy said and produced Shoca Lief from behind his back.
Shoca stared at Robotnik and tilted her head to one side. She smiled and pointed at Robotnik's ridiculous mustache.
"What is this?" asked Tyroy's master. He looked at the young adult chao and wondered if he needed to re-screw Tyroy's Infertech chip.
"Well," started Tyroy, but he stopped as Shoca Lief started to giggle and bounce in his hands. "Uh, well…"
"Get that thing out of my sight!"
"But sir," the robot pleaded.
Just then another robot came into the room.
"Can I be of service?" it asked Dr. Robotnik.
"Yes, remove Tyroy and his 'pet'," he answered.
"Yes sir."
The robot took hold of Tyroy and started to force him out of the room.
Shoca Lief didn't like her friend being pushed around!
She narrowed her eyes and focused on the robot. It stopped in its tracks and stood struggling against her powers.
"What…?" said Robotnik as he looked on.
Shoca shifted her eyes and the robot flew across the room. When it rose and tried to move Tyroy again, she got down from Tyroy and touched the robot. A current of blue electricity came from her touch and flowed over the offender. The robot short-circuited and the sizzled into a heap of melting metal.
Both the doctor and his creation stared at her. She looked from one to the other with innocent eyes.
"Well, that's it sir," Tyroy said.
"Intriguing," said the doctor as he pulled on his orange mustache. "Take it to the testing chamber!"
Once in the testing chamber, they put several wires onto Shoca. She was hesitatin at first, but Tyroy reassured her, and Shoca Lief trusted him.
First they ran a series of standard test that told them the make-up of Shoca (including her gender), then a couple special tests. Finally they ran Robotnik's newest test, the 'chaos test'.
When Dr. Robotnik read the chaos test results he realized exactly what Shoca Lief was. The power of chaos in this small creature…amazing. This is it, my chance to take over the world!
"Bring this creature to my sleeping quarters where I can keep my eye on it. Set up a bed for it and make sure she has everything she needs. Tomorrow we start planning," he told Tyroy.
The robot headed to get the supplies while Robotnik held Shoca in his arms. In his softest voice he told her how adorable she was and how 'good ol'Robotnik' was going to look after her.
Shoca Lief took in every word.