Chapter 11 - The Dragonslayers

The Tornado purred northwards, holding a course for the Knothole airstrip. Amy and Mecha had not spoken much over the course of the flight, for the Tornado's engine noise made conversation difficult.

Amy was slumped in the front seat, watching the controls that she was not allowed to touch, and brooding on the trouble she would be in once she got home. The wind roared over the Tornado's closed canopy, and the sky was an endless deepening blue outside.

Behind her, in the passenger seat, Mecha was seated sideways so that the three spikes on the back of his head would not tear the upholstery. Aleda lay dozing in his lap, and he gazed out the window without moving, his mind busy with the deep philosophical questions that he loved to wrestle with. But he was still semi-alert, and thus when an enormous silvery creature appeared in the distance, flying toward them, he stiffened and sat up. "Tornado," he barked at the computer. "Identify nine o' clock contact!"

Mecha's own scanners swept the object in a tenth of a millisecond and identified it as a dragon. Estimated weight: five tons. Estimated length: fifty feet, with an equal or lesser wingspan.

Amy sat up and looked as the Tornado replied, "Incoming contact identified as a dragon. Observation: its current trajectory intercepts our course in five point three minutes."

"Evasive maneuvers!" said Mecha. He had no experience with dragons, but he had read about them, including how they had all but wiped themselves out in the Chaos Wars. A tiny biplane stood zero chance of surviving a combat with a beast that size.

"A dragon?" exclaimed Amy. "But we're almost to the Great Forest! We don't have dragons!" She broke off in a squeak as the Tornado banked sharply, sweeping in a circle to carry them back southward. She and Mecha braced themselves against the sides of the cockpit and strained to see out of the windows. The dragon continued to fly northeast, ignoring them.

Suddenly there was a green sparkle of light near the dragon's nose, and a small winged creature appeared in midair. It flailed and dropped, but it startled the dragon, which pulled up in its flight, then glided in a tight circle to investigate. The winged creature resumed its midair balance and flew back up toward the dragon.

Then the Tornado was flying south, and Amy and Mecha couldn't see anymore. "Tornado," said Mecha, "resume original course, but alter it enough to pass within a mile of the dragon. Something has attacked it." He was afraid that he knew who it was, but he needed a better look ...

"Affirmative, Mecha," said the Tornado, turning again. The dragon came into view of the windows. They saw it shoot a comet of red flame at its tiny assailant. The winged creature vanished in a green flash and reappeared behind the dragon, safe for the moment. Both creatures glided in a circle, the dragon trying to get a clear shot and the tiny creature staying out of range.

"Is that Slasher?" said Amy, her nose pressed to the glass. Mecha felt a cold feeling, like seasickness, in the pit of his stomach. That winged raptor whom he had once held captive, who had once engaged in his philosophical debates, was dancing with death.

"Scans indicate that Sonic Hedgehog is riding on Slasher's back," announced the Tornado.

"Sonic's out there?" squealed Amy. "Why's he doing that?"

"Unknown," said the Tornado. "Observation: the dragon's course is in direct line with Knothole village. Theory: he is defending Knothole?"

Mecha and Amy looked at each other. Even though they both despised Sonic for different reasons, they both had to admire him for this.

"Tornado," said Amy, "let's help them!"

At the same time, Mecha said through the network, "Interface with my processor, Tornado. I will assist your computations."

The Tornado obeyed, and uploaded its data to Mecha's nanite brain. Instantly Mecha saw through the plane's eyes, felt the throb of its engine, and knew that its fuel was dangerously low.

On the plane's nose, the blue-lit pupils darkened to red.

"Chaos Wind!" Sonic yelled.

A cyclone of wind struck the dragon and whirled him around and away, his wings crumpling around his body. He plummeted three hundred feet, then snapped his wings open, stabilized and beat his way up toward them again, roaring and snarling. The liquid chemical that was secreted by glands in his throat was dripping from his lower jaw, and the sharp scent of it came to Sonic and Slasher on the wind.

Slasher dropped a wing and spiraled away from Drasyre. He was so fast! He was far stronger than Slasher was in the air. The only reason that they had survived this long was because Sonic kept teleporting them. Sonic rode flat to her neck like a jockey, one arm wrapped around her neck, the other clutching his green Chaos Emerald. He had hooked his feet through the harness strapped around Slasher's chest, and it had kept him from falling off twice already.

Drasyre was above them now, his wings blotting out the sky like a vast black tent. Sonic and Slasher looked up just as the wings closed and the dragon dove at them, jaws open.

"Chaos Control!" Sonic screamed.

The world froze as time stopped, and the dragon halted in midair. Slasher dove under him, banked and used her momentum to rocket herself up in the air again, this time behind Drasyre. "I'm going in!" she yelled to Sonic, who tightened his hold.

Slasher dove at the dragon and extended both sickle-claws on her hind feet. She struck the membrane of his right wing and raked across it with her full weight and momentum behind it. The skin was tougher than she thought, and while she tore through the scales and deep into the flesh, she did not puncture it as she had hoped.

She had barely cleared his wing when time started again. Drasyre's dive continued, but his injured wing flailed and clipped Slasher a powerful blow.

Stunned, she tumbled over and over in the air. She was falling, but she didn't know what direction was up. The world was a crazy blur of light and color, and the dragon was close by, somewhere--she sensed him, but couldn't see--she tried to open her wings, but the wind tore at them--

Sonic cried, "Chaos Relocate!"

In the blink of an eye they were a thousand feet from the ground. The wind changed at this altitude, and Slasher's wings caught the air and balanced. The dragon peered around for them, flying in a circle far below them. "That was close," panted Slasher. Her head was still spinning.

"Yeah," gasped Sonic. "What's that noise?" They looked around and saw a blue biplane flying toward them. "Hey, the Tornado!" said Sonic.

At that point Drasyre saw them and breathed a jet of fire at them. Slasher flipped sideways and dropped at an angle to avoid it. Sonic lost his hold and yelped, but was held on Slasher's back by his feet stuck through the harness straps. "Slash, I dropped the emerald!" Sonic yelled in her ear.

Slasher saw it twinkling as it fell down, down, down, finally disappearing into the long grass of the meadow below them. They could find it again, but that would take time, and the dragon would roast them long before that.

He flapped toward them, reeking of power, his chaos aura wild with it. Flecks of blood flew off his damaged wing, and he was angrier than ever. Slasher turned away in a dive, and he closed his wings and dove after her, forearms outstretched. She aimed her flight at a tall tree, then at the last second she swerved around it and beat her way skyward. Behind them Drasyre ploughed through the tree as if it weren't there, breaking the top half of it to splinters.

He was gaining and Slasher was tiring. She was gasping for breath, and her muscles burned. Her wings felt like rubber. She needed to rest, but the dragon had no intention of letting her escape. In desperation she wheeled around and dove underneath him, wings nearly closed. Drasyre swiped at them and missed, lashed with his spiked tail and caught her wing.

Slasher flipped over in midair, freefell sixty feet, then managed to open her wings wide enough to catch herself in a glide. Her right wing was twisted and sprained, and she was shocked to see that half the feathers were gone. "Slash!" Sonic yelled, and she looked up to see that Drasyre had flipped over and was swooping toward them, grinning.

Slasher was too close to the ground to dive out of the way, and her wing wasn't strong enough to lift her any higher. So she did the only sensible thing--she folded her wings and dropped into the grass.

At the same second there were two metallic whooshing sounds that Slasher subconsciously identified as a dangerous sound. She ducked. A fraction of a second later there was a crash and boom, and Drasyre howled.

The Tornado swept overhead. It had fired two chaos rockets, which hit Drasyre in the hollow of his wing, and just behind his left foreleg. Bleeding and burning, the dragon plunged from the sky like a silver meteor and crashed into the trees, felling many and cracking many others.

Then there was silence.

Slasher dropped flat on her belly and panted like a steam engine. Sonic disentangled himself from her harness and jumped to the ground. "I gotta find my emerald," he exclaimed, and dashed away.
The Tornado vanished northward, and the silence and stillness seemed heavy and unnatural after the motion and noise of a moment ago. Slasher closed her eyes and waited for Sonic to return.

The Tornado landed on the Knothole airstrip, its eyes cycling back to blue as Mecha disconnected himself from the computer. Tails met them as the canopy opened, arms folded.

"Hello Tails," said the Tornado.

"You are in SO much trouble," Tails told it. "You let Amy steal you."

"I am sorry, Tails," said the machine, its eyes dimming.

Amy climbed out of the cockpit. She and Tails looked at each other, then pointedly looked the other way. Amy opened the rear flap and let Mecha descend to the pavement.

"Mecha!" Tails exclaimed, lighting up. He ran to the android and almost threw his arms around him, but checked himself and shook Mecha's hand instead.

Mecha almost smiled. "Hello, Tails."

"What're you doing here?" asked Tails, already wondering what his semi-friend would think of his workshop.

Mecha's scarlet eyes moved from Tails and swept the village, then the sky. "Is Princess Sally still the administrator of Knothole?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I must speak to her. Lead me to her, please."

Sally emerged from her hut as they approached, her mouth set in a tight line. She saw Tails and Mecha and froze, mouth falling open. The sight of Metal Sonic walking so casually through Knothole village was a nightmare image held from the Freedom Fighter years, when Mecha would have liked nothing better than to gut them all. But, Sally reminded herself, times had changed. Knothole was no longer at war, and Mecha had unofficially declared a truce. He simply wasn't interested in fighting anymore.

She forced a smile and walked forward, making herself remember how Mecha had fought on their side on Deimos Island. She shook his hand and said, "Hello Mecha. Thank you for escorting Amy home."

"My pleasure," said Mecha with a nod. "However, I have an issue that I must discuss with you."

Sally raised her eyebrows and nodded.

Mecha pointed at the southern sky. "On our flight in, we witnessed the hedgehog and Slasher the velociraptor in combat with a five-ton silver dragon. I utilized the Tornado's missile system to disable the dragon, but I doubt that it is dead. It was flying toward Knothole when the hedgehog and Slasher intercepted it."

Sally nodded. She had watched the whole encounter with her Chaos tracker, but the tracker was top-secret and she would not speak of it here. "I was afraid of this. What do you suggest that we do?"

Mecha looked down at Aleda, whom he carried in the crook of one arm. They gazed at each other in silence for several seconds, communicating with their radio link, then Mecha turned to Sally. "There are several ways of slaying or subduing a dragon, but first I would like to know why the dragon is interested in Knothole."

Sally told him.

Spark came to himself on his hands and knees in a deep hollow under the trunk of a fallen tree. His nose was full of the scent of damp earth and crushed ferns, and there was blood in his mouth. Gingerly he touched his face and discovered an oozing gash in his lower lip. How long had he been running through the woods, out of his mind? His head still burned with fever, and his eyes ached. But the voices in his head were silent. He checked the sky. Almost evening. He had been out of it for maybe forty-five minutes.

He crawled out of the hollow, shaking, and had to lean against the tree in order to stand up. He was drained, exhausted, and had lost his knife. He didn't even know where he was, but he guessed that he was still in the Great Forest somewhere. He looked around, trying to spot a landmark, and froze.

Beyond the tree, behind Spark, was a swath of fallen trees, their trunks and branches snapped and splintered. In the midst of the destruction lay a mountain of silver scales, coiled limbs, and leathery wings. Closest of all was its head; a reptilian head with jaws large enough to swallow a car. They were slightly open, exposing long white teeth. The dragon's closest eye was half-open and heavily glazed. It looked dead.

Drasyre.

The subject of Spark's fears and dread lay before him, terrible even in defeat. As Spark's eyes adjusted to the dragon's size, he saw a jagged, bleeding wound on the dragon's left side. It had been burned and partly cauterized, and smelled like roasted meat. Drasyre's left wing had also been burned and damaged, and was curled tightly against his body by reflex.

"He's dead," Spark whispered aloud. "Somebody shot him down!" He wanted to venture closer and touch those shiny scales on Drasyre's snout, but didn't quite dare. The dragon who had hunted him--dead! Spark felt a rush of pride, as if he had killed Drasyre himself, instead of having awakened next to him. He wished he had a camera, or some way of obtaining evidence of the dead dragon that he could carry home ...

Drasyre's pupil narrowed to a slit.

Spark shrank back, and slipped into the hollow under the tree again. The dragon inhaled and moaned, and there was a good deal of crashing and rustling as he pulled his feet under him. Then his horned head reared into sight, blue eyes searching the trees. His nostrils worked, and he gnashed his teeth.

Then Drasyre met Spark's eyes.

Spark scrambled backward, out of the hollow, and ran for his life as Drasyre's claws slashed down, tearing trough the tree trunk and sinking into the soil beneath. Drasyre roared, "I have you, thief!"

Spark fled, and Drasyre pursued.

Sonic and an exhausted Slasher teleported back to Knothole. Sonic's emerald was grass-stained, but unharmed by its long fall. "Go tell Sally," said Slasher, wearily leaning against a fencepost. "I have to find Spark and warn him." Sonic nodded and darted away, and Slasher turned and plodded into the trees, wings hanging half-open.

Sonic saw Sally talking to Mecha, and suddenly felt uneasy, almost jealous. Mecha, his enemy, was standing in the midst of Sonic's haven, talking to Sonic's fiancé. With an effort Sonic forced back these emotions. They needed Mecha's brain for this, and Sonic would have to choke down his pride.

Sonic walked up to them. Sally's eyes lit up, but Mecha's face took on an icy, masked expression. "Hi Sal, hi Mecha," said Sonic. He made as though to shake Mecha's hand, thought better of it and waved instead.

Mecha did not move an inch. "Hello hedgehog," he growled. "I see that you survived your encounter with the dragon."

"Sure did," said Sonic, looking his robotic double in the eye. "Came back to report in. The dragon's dead, though."

"Highly improbable," said Mecha. "I struck the dragon with two Chaos missiles. While capable of dealing damage, they could not kill an animal that size."

"Well, I'm glad you're such an expert," said Sonic.

"Sonic," said Sally, giving him a pointed look that warned him to hold his tongue. Sonic turned his head and stared across the village.

"There are several ways of killing a dragon," said Mecha. "Most of these involve a sharp object to the heart or belly, but some have been killed by wounds to the head and eyes. I do not recommend these techniques, however, as they have a ninety-eight percent casualty rate."

"What do you recommend, then?" snapped Sonic.

Mecha gazed at him coldly. "I recommend luring the dragon into a trap where you will apply a sharp metal object to its vitals."

"You'd know, huh?" said Sonic. "Seeing as killing is your profession."

"Sonic, stop it," exclaimed Sally.

Sonic whirled and stomped away toward his hut.

Mecha watched him go, his free hand curled into claws. "I should not have come here," he whispered.

"Nonsense," said Sally. "Sonic is just ... over-sensitive. What do you think we should do to--"

A distant roar echoed through the forest. Seconds later a flock of terrified birds exploded out of the trees overhead, flying north. Sally, Mecha and Aleda watched them, then stared into the southern sky.

"He lives," said Mecha quietly. "And we haven't much time."

Spark ran blindly through the woods, dodging trees, leaping logs and rocks, not caring where he ran as long as it was away from the dragon. Drasyre lumbered behind him, snorting and growling, tearing a path through the forest growth and burning his way through the tangled patches. Spark dared not look back, but his ears told him all he needed to know--Drasyre would eat him alive.

In reality, Drasyre was badly wounded. He could not touch his left foreleg to the ground, and rapid movement and tree limbs had torn his injuries open wider. He was in pain that was rapidly approaching agony. It made him even angrier at the thief, and even more determined to catch him and rip him apart.

Drasyre roared, hoping to intimidate his prey into freezing. Spark only sped up, wishing that he had Sonic's running ability. His breath caught in his throat, and his fur was damp with sweat. His diseased body could not stand much more of this. Soon he would collapse, and Drasyre would eat him.

The trees opened into a wide natural clearing, and Spark stumbled into it. At the same time something moved at the far end, and he saw Slasher standing there, staring past him with her mouth open in horror. He ran toward her, and she crouched and turned, presenting her back to him. Spark flung himself onto her back, gripping a wing joint with his mechanical hand as she wheeled and ran.

"Slash," he panted, "we gotta get out of here!"

"I know," she replied through clenched teeth. "We're working on it."

Sonic closeted himself in his hut and called Knuckles on his communicator. When the echidna picked up, Sonic said, "Heya Knux. Would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Depends on the favor," said Knuckles.

"Pretty simple," said Sonic. "Could I borrow your sword?"

Knuckles was silent a long moment. "The Emerald Sword, Sonic? But it controls you."

"I gotta slay a dragon, here," said Sonic, trying not to sound terrified and sounding angry instead. "I want to lower Mecha's forecasted casualty rate as much as I can."

Knuckles hesitated, then said, "All right, then. I'll teleport out in a few minutes."

"And have Talon bring Max," said Sonic. "We're gonna need some healing around here before this is through."

There was a moment of silence, then Knuckles said slowly, "I'll have to talk to Zephyer about that, Sonic."

"Okay," said Sonic. "Meet you at the teleporter." He clicked off the com and hung it up, feeling sick to his stomach and very frightened. Try as he might, Sonic simply was not in control of the situation, and it seemed that all his decisions that day had gone astray.

Knuckles hung up his own communicator and looked over his shoulder. Zephyer and Talon were seated at the kitchen table, watching him. They had heard every word.

"Well?" he said.

Zephyer looked at Talon, then at her husband. "Talon's a better healer than Max, Knux. But if you take him, I don't want him near the fighting."

"I'll stay in Knothole!" Talon exclaimed, eyes lighting up. He might get to see a real live dragon!

Knuckles looked at his frail adopted son, and thought of a gigantic set of claws cleaving him in two. "I want you to stay near the teleporter. If anything happens, I want you to jump back home immediately. Understand?"

Talon nodded.

Knuckles walked off into the house and returned a few minutes later with a long box like a coffin. He opened it and pulled out the Emerald Sword in its sheath, wrapped carefully in burlap. Beneath it lay a suit of armor, made by the ancient echidnas for the Guardian. Knuckles put this on, and donned his shovelclaws. Then he hugged Zephyer and Talon, hefted the Emerald Sword, and walked out toward the Knothole-bound teleporter. Talon jogged beside him, nervous and excited.

Shadow lifted his head.

The black hedgehog was curled up on the floor of Nick's apartment, Nox cradled in his arms. The chao was huddled against him, whimpering, a throbbing knot on his head where he had collided with the chair. Shadow was doing his best to comfort Nox and atone for harming him, resting the back of his cold metal hand against Nox's head to ease the pain.

But this was interrupted as Mekion said, "Well well. Perhaps I shall let this transmission through."

"What?" said Shadow.

Mekion spoke slowly, relishing the news. "Metal Sonic is facing a dragon, and requests our aid."

"A what?" exclaimed Shadow aloud, sitting up. "Open the channel, Mekion!"

A window opened in Shadow's head, allowing Mecha's voice through. "Shadow? Can you hear me?"

"Yes," said Shadow through the network in his head. "Are you in danger?"

"Possibly," Mecha replied. He described the situation, ending with the business of slaying a dragon, and how little chance the villagers actually had. Mekion and Shadow both listened closely.

When he finished, Shadow asked, "You require my assistance, correct?"

"Yes," said Mecha. "Not only for myself ... for all these people. They cannot defend themselves, and we must fight for them."

Somewhere deep down, this resonated with Shadow's heart. He wanted to be a defender, not a destroyer. He wanted to save lives, not take them. But at the same time, Mekion whispered, "It is not your affair. If they meddle with dragons, they deserve the consequences." Why should Shadow bother to save people from their own messes?

He addressed Mecha. "No. Let them fend for themselves. Sonic, at least, is capable of killing a dragon."

Mecha said nothing for a long moment. "You will not assist us?"

"No," said Shadow and Mekion together.

"Very well," said Mecha, and ended the transmission.

Shadow gazed down at Nox. "I'm not going."

Nox only looked at him, an injured look in his eyes.

Shadow frowned. "It's none of my business. I don't care if they live or die. I don't care!"

Nox only continued to look at him.

Shadow got up and left Nox on the floor, and stalked into the kitchen. Like Sonic, he felt an agony of indecision. To help? Or not? He lifted his orange Chaos Emerald off the kitchen counter and gazed at it. "I don't care," he whispered to himself. But the desire to help battled with Mekion's logical arguments.

"I don't have to do anything," he murmured. "I'll just watch."

Drasyre halted, huffing, holding his left foreleg off the ground. The dragonkin whom he had battled had taken his prey and escaped, and Drasyre was hurting and tired. He couldn't move as fast as he used to, and the pain was clouding his judgement. In addition, his chaos supercharge had worn off, leaving him feeling ill.

He turned his head and licked the wound above his foreleg. There were leaves and twigs in it, each paining him like a needle stabbing the flesh. He carefully licked the wound clean, then uncurled his damaged wing. It hurt terribly, and the broken bones ground together as he moved it. Moaning in his throat, he folded it against his side again. He had better see a doctor or he might never fly again. Maybe Vector was right. Vigilante justice was too much work. But he was looking forward to killing the green hedgehog! Eh, maybe later. Right now was savagely thirsty. Between blood loss and using every drop of fire-chemical in his throat, as well as burning with the heat that this caused, he was dehydrated almost to the point of death.

The silver dragon raised his head and sniffed. There was water nearby. Limping badly, he set off to find it.

When Knuckles arrived in Knothole with the Emerald Sword, he and Sonic organized a dragon-hunting party.

Knuckles had arrived wearing the Guardian armor. Made of gold and emerald ore, it clothed him from head to toe in rock-solid protection that amplified his chaos field and his attunement with the Master Emerald. He had never used it away from the Floating Island, though, so he wasn't sure how well it would work.

Sonic took the Emerald Sword, a Mobian broadsword with a blade made of green stone as clear as glass. Set in the hilt was a fragment of the Eighth Chaos Emerald. Like Spark's fragment, it amplified the evil in the user. Sonic was particularly susceptible to it because of his extensive exposure to chaos power. But in a battle, there was no better weapon.

Mecha went with them because of his combat skill and knowledge, although neither he nor Sonic were happy about this. Sonic chaos-controlled them to the spot where Drasyre had fallen from the sky. There was a great flattened space of broken and fallen trees, but no dragon. His trail was easy to follow, however; it was fifteen feet wide and in some places still on fire. Blood spattered the ground.

"Good grief," muttered Knuckles as they hurried along. "Look how much blood this thing's lost. It'll be dead before we find it."

"I wish I knew where Spark was," said Sonic, jogging along in the lead. "It's too quiet out here."

"Perhaps the dragon already found him?" suggested Mecha.

Sonic shot him a poisonous look. "Don't even say that."

Mecha looked away from Sonic, jaw clenched, struggling to control his temper.

The dragon's trail twisted and turned, but for the most part it led northwest. Here and there they found Spark's footprints, showing that the dragon had followed him.

They came to a clearing, and suddenly the odd two-and-a-half toed tracks of Slasher intercepted Spark's. His prints vanished, and her prints led off west, spaced wide apart and deep, showing how fast she had been running.

It was growing dark by this time, and they were following the tracks by the green light of Sonic's sword. Mecha had the keenest eyes of the three, but he hung back, unwilling to communicate with Sonic in any way. Knuckles stood beside them, as armored as a tank, watching the ground and reading the footprints. Sonic led the way, holding out his sword, eyes roaming the trees, expecting to see the dragon at any moment.

The dragon's tracks pursued Slasher's for a while, then turned and led northeast. The trail faded and shrank, for the dragon moved slower and with more caution. Now they followed a small trail with only occasional footprints, and portions of flattened brush. "He's not chasing them anymore," said Knuckles. "What's he doing?"

"No idea," said Sonic. He glanced at Mecha. "What do you think?"

The dusk had reduced Mecha to a shadowy blotch with a startling pair of glowing red eyes. "The dragon is weary," said Mecha. "I have little knowledge of dragon psychology, but due to loss of blood and the length of time that he has been active, I surmise that perhaps he is thirsty."

Knuckles and Sonic looked at each other. The nearest body of water in this area of the woods was the stream-fed pond outside of Knothole. The dragon was headed straight towards it.

In fact, Drasyre had already reached the pond. He waded out into it, dipped his chin and gulped down the refreshing coolness. His senses told him that he was near a small town, but he didn't care. Sometimes a dragon had to quench his fires, and Drasyre was doing just that.

He lifted his head and sighed, puffing a jet of steam into the cool evening air. As the air cleared, he saw a person standing on the far bank of the pool, watching him.

Drasyre stood perfectly still, the water rippling around his legs and belly, nostrils working. It was not the thief. It was a young Mobian, scarcely more than a cub, watching him as if entranced. Slowly the cub raised a hand and waved.

"Hello," growled Drasyre.

"Hi," said the youngster in a small voice. "Are ... are you Drasyre, sir?"

"Yes," rumbled the dragon. The child was no threat, so he dipped his jaws in the water and drank some more.

"I'm Talon," said the child. He watched Drasyre drink, marveling. In the twilight, the dragon looked mythical and ghostly, as if he might disappear in a mist. Talon ventured, "Are you here to kill us, sir?"

Drasyre lifted his head, letting the cool water trickle down his throat, and exhaled another lungful of steam. "No," he said. "I am here for justice. The thief who wronged me shall be slain and no one else."

"Oh," said Talon, thinking of the dragonslayers who were out in the woods at that moment. He watched the dragon in a combination of fear and wonder. He had never seen a real dragon before, and it seemed a shame that Drasyre had to die. "Um, sir," he said, "if the thief could repay you in some way ... would you still kill him?"

Drasyre lifted his head and studied Talon. "Repay me?"

Talon nodded.

Drasyre snapped at his own reflection in the water. "By running from me, the thief has negated any other atonement for his crime."

Talon glanced over his shoulder into the woods, and shivered. "But ... what if he stopped running, sir?"

Drasyre lowered his head and gazed at Talon. This child was not alone. He sniffed, but the breeze was carrying away the scent of whoever lurked back there in the darkening trees. Then Drasyre looked at the wound on his side, and reconsidered his thirst for revenge. If the thief stopped running, then Drasyre was willing to negotiate a suitable punishment for the theft. After all, the stolen Chaos Emerald was clutched in Drasyre's right claw.

"If the thief stopped running," said Drasyre, "I would be merciful and let him live. But he still must be punished."

Two other figures stepped out of the woods behind Talon. One was the six-limbed dragonkin, and the other: the thief himself.

Drasyre snarled in recognition. "I should burn you where you stand, thief."

The hedgehog nodded. He was trembling like a leaf. "My name is Spark. Please, lord Drasyre, don't kill me. I'm ill, and I hoped that the Chaos Emerald could cure me."

Talon looked at Spark in sudden understanding and excitement.

Drasyre snorted and waded forward, deeper into the pond. "You are ill and I am injured. Why did you run from me?"

"Because ..." Spark hesitated. "Because, well, you're a dragon."

Drasyre reached the shallows of the pond on their side, and stood with his head and shoulders rearing out of the water. Talon and Slasher backed away, leaving Spark facing the dragon.

"And you thought that running from a dragon was the safest thing, hm?" said Drasyre. Spark nodded. Drasyre glared down at him with his cold blue eyes. "Justice shall be served. But because you sought me out, rather than running, I shall relax your sentence. Now you shall--"

At that moment a terrible thing happened.

There was a flash of light, and Sonic, Knuckles and Mecha appeared out of nowhere on the bank of the pond. Seeing his brother and the dragon face to face, Sonic assumed that Drasyre was going to eat Spark at any second.

"Nooo!" Sonic yelled, darting forward, sword outstretched. He accelerated to eighty miles an hour in the space of a second, and hit Drasyre in the chest, sword-first. The blade sliced through sinew and bone, seeking the heart, but missed and pierced both lungs instead.

The force of the impact knocked Drasyre backwards into the water. The water closed over his head, and the breath left Drasyre's body in a huge bubble. He clawed and flailed, but the deadly pain in his chest had paralyzed his forelegs. He beat and twisted his tail, and managed to turn over and lift his head out of the water. But that was no help. He could feel the air, taste it on his tongue, but he could not inhale it.

"What a horrible way to die," he thought as he collapsed on his side on the bank.

Spark and Sonic were bellowing at each other, Spark at Sonic for attacking Drasyre just when they were working things out, and Sonic in indignation for being yelled at when he thought he was protecting Spark. Slasher tried to interrupt them, found that she couldn't, and knocked them both flat with a blow from her tail. "Sonic!" she barked. "Give Talon your Chaos Emerald!"

Sonic got up and tossed Talon the gem. Talon sprinted to the dying dragon and tugged at the hilt of the sword protruding from his chest, but he wasn't strong enough to budge it.

Then Mecha was there. The android wrapped both hands around the hilt and wrenched it out of the dragon's chest. The blade emerged, bloody and disappointed, and the wound bled dark down the silver scales.

Talon rested one hand on Drasyre's chest, and felt the dragon's whole body in distress, laboring to draw air into the punctured lungs and failing. "Drasyre sir," he said, "it's okay. Hold still."

The dragon somehow obeyed, quivering.

Talon closed his eyes and pulled power from the glittering gem in his hand. A burst of warm power flowed through him into the dragon, seeking out and mending the torn lungs, the severed muscles. Drasyre lifted his head and coughed, then drew in a painful, ratting breath. His right forepaw came down dangerously close to Talon, but Talon didn't notice. His eyes were closed, focused on keeping the healing transfer active as long as he could. The dragon was so big that he needed a lot of power to mend.

Knuckles couldn't stand it. He had watched his friends use chaos power before, and had used it himself. But Talon was his adopted son, and Knuckles couldn't handle the sight of Talon, so small and vulnerable, using such a big power within the arms of a dragon. He ran forward and stood behind Talon, placing both hands on his shoulders. "I'm here, Tal," said Knuckles. "Keep going, you're doing fine." Talon had faltered at Knuckles's touch, but regained his concentration and kept working, as his chao had showed him.

Drasyre propped himself up on both forelegs, stretched out his neck and coughed some more. His lungs were clearing, and the terrible deep pain was receding. But he was aware that he must keep perfectly still. He needed the child's healing, and had to take care not to harm him. He extended his broken wing and felt the comforting healing warmth touch it.

"Lower your wing," said a voice.

Drasyre saw Spark standing there. Drasyre lowered his wing within the hedgehog's grasp, and Spark said, "Let me straighten the bones or they'll heal crooked. This might hurt."

'Might hurt' was an understatement. Spark pulled the fragile bones in the dragon's wing out straight, and Drasyre barely kept from biting him in half from the pain. But instantly following the pain came the soothing touch of healing. The flesh and muscles rebuilt themselves, and the pain shrank and vanished.

Spark held the wing's bones in place, and as it healed, he felt the gentle warmth flow into him, as well. It filled his entire body with peace, mending his infected cells and sweeping them away. He felt better than he had in years; then his stomach contracted, and he dropped to all fours and threw up. But what came up was a black, tarry substance--the poison itself, which the healing power had drawn from his body. He stood up again, wiping his mouth, and found that he was strong again. No more weakness or sickness, no more infection. He wasn't even afraid of Drasyre anymore. He felt as if he could take off and fly.

Sonic and Mecha watched all this, speechless. Slasher stood back a short distance, also watching, but wary. She was afraid of what might happen once everyone was well.

But she need not have worried. Talon released Drasyre and slumped backward into Knuckles's arms. Knuckles lifted the young anteater and carried him away from the dragon, back toward the village. As he passed Sonic, Mecha and Slasher, he paused a moment. In his arms, Talon was asleep with a smile on his face. Knuckles handed the green Chaos Emerald to Sonic. "I'm taking Talon home. He's done enough. Make sure nobody ticks off the dragon, all right?" They all nodded, and Knuckles walked off.

Spark walked around and stood in front of Drasyre. The dragon lowered his head to match Spark's eye level, and they spoke in low voices.

Sonic walked off a little ways, picked up the Emerald Sword from where Mecha had flung it, and cleaned off the blood in the pond. Mecha watched him, arms folded. "Well hedgehog, it seems that you got to be a dragonslayer after all."

Sonic looked over his shoulder. "So what does that make you?"

Mecha looked at Drasyre and Spark. "I am not certain," he said quietly. "You see Spark there. I remember when he was very young, and lost. I ... pitied him." Mecha remembered the Mobitropolis coup clearly. He had been a young robot then, scarcely six months out of the laboratory, just beginning to learn about the world. Feeling pity for someone had been new and alien to him. Mecha had not even known what pity was, but he kept the young hedgehog from extermination and the roboticizer. Looking back on it, Mecha realized that even then he had been lonely and sought companionship wherever he could. He sighed.

Spark turned and walked up to them, grinning. "Guess what my punishment is."

"You have to polish his treasure for a year," said Sonic.

"Nope!" said Spark. "I have to take him on a tour of Mobius so he can find things to expand his treasure trove."

Mecha looked up at the dragon. "Do you plan to become a thief, yourself?"

"No," said Drasyre, also grinning. "I plan to buy it with the gold already in my horde. That was why I transformed myself. To walk anonymously among you Mobians."

"Some punishment," said Sonic. "You should have eaten him. By the way, sorry about, ah ..." He gestured to his chest.

Drasyre shook his head. "You are forgiven. Due to the nobility of young Talon, no permanent harm was done."

Drasyre lifted the mud-caked claw that was still curled around the white Chaos Emerald. He held it out at arm's length, and tendrils of light wrapped around his body. They pulled back into the emerald, and he shrank once more into a dog with silver fur.

"Now I can greet your people without terrifying them," said Drasyre, stroking the emerald.

Spark thumped him on the back. "Come on, then!"

The group walked up the path toward Knothole, laughing and talking. Only Mecha hung back. In the darkness under the trees he had glimpsed a single red eye, and he walked slowly toward it. "Shadow?" he called softly.

"Hello Mecha," came the hedgehog's low, husky voice. "I came, did I not?"

"Yes," said Mecha. "Why did you not help?"

"My help was not needed," said Shadow, stepping out of the trees. The starlight gleamed on his metal left side. "I watched, and that is all. Now I have business elsewhere."

Mecha gazed at him, feeling the pity that he had felt for Spark so long ago. "Continue to fight Mekion, Shadow. It is your only chance."

Shadow looked down. "Yes. But sometimes I wonder if perhaps he is right after all."

Mecha shook his head. "He is insane. He will drive you mad if you let him."

"Yes." Shadow turned away. "I must go now. We will meet again, perhaps."

"Perhaps," said Mecha.

Shadow teleported in a flash and a gust of wind, and Mecha flinched. "Ah, Shadow," he said to the darkness. "If only I could tell you what Mekion truly is."

He hunched his shoulders and walked off along the outskirts of the village, where Aleda awaited him at the road leading south. He would be miles away by dawn.