Chapter 3-9: Camp Everfree Part 1: Welcome to Camp Everfree!
Rage found himself in a strange place. It was as if he was back home. He looks around before seeing a figure. "Icezer?" He asks himself before running full speed to the figure.
Suddenly Rage stopped as the figure who was clearly his brother turned. However when he turned Rage was met with a starling sight. Icezer's eyes were not there. Instead a red bloody emptiness replaced his gaze. "I-Icezer what...what happened to you?" Rage asks.
"Where were you Rage? We needed you!" He cries in a high-toned scratchy voice. Startled Rage took a few steps back.
"I-Icezer what's wrong with you?!" Rage asks stuttering. He was not met with an answer as Icezer leaps. Next thing Rage knew he shot up out of his bed screaming.
It had been another nightmare. Rage rubs his head and looks to the clock. "Another one..." he sighs getting out of bed.
The last few days the nightmares had been better but now they had returned for some reason. Of course he had no clue what was causing them.
Rage gets into the shower and cleans up. In a little more than an hour he and his friends were going to Camp Everfree for a school trip.
He thought about it some. He was happy. A time away from the normal commotion. Away from magic, the supernatural and super powerful dark beings trying to take over the worlds. A well deserved break from it all. Not to mention in the woods.
Having grown up on Angel Island Rage loved the forest. He spent a lot of time in the forest region of Angel Island. Hanging around in trees, even jumping from tree to tree as a training method. He decided he'd find a tree close to Sunset's tent or cabin or whatever they put them in and rest in it. Or a few others depending on the time of day.
Rage exits the shower and puts his clothes on. His outfit was more or less the same except he was wearing the shirt that they had been given for the trip to wear. He also was not wearing his normal jacket. Rage grabs his bag and hoists it over his shoulder and checks the time on his watch. He had about ten minutes until the bus would pick him up. After a quick stretch Rage walks out and turns the corner to reach his bus stop where Sunset was standing.
"Rage!" She says giving him a hug.
"Morning Sunset." Rage says.
"Ready to spend a week at Camp Everfree?" Sunset asks.
"As ready as I can be I guess." Rage says shrugging.
"What's wrong Rage?" Sunset asks. "You seem out of it."
"Is it really that noticeable? Rage questions her. She replies with a nod. "Oh well... it's the nightmares..." Rage sighs "They just came back and I don't know why..."
"Well it's not like we knew what caused them to begin with." Sunset replies in a snarky voice.
"Which doesn't help any." Rage sighs. "I just hope being out in nature will soothe me. Its been far too long since I have been out of the cityscape."
"An escape from the city?" Sonic asks walking up. "Yeah that's what we all need." He smiles "A little R&R by the lakeside... it will be great. What about you Rage? What do you plan to do?" Sonic asks as the bus arrives.
They get on and take seats towards the back of the bus. "Well one thing for sure is I am going to find a tree and hang out in its lower branches like I used to back when I lived on Angel Island. Hopefully being back out in the forest will help with the nightmares."
"You're still having them?" Sonic asks surprised. Rage nods in response and Sonic shakes his head. "Damn man, I am sorry to hear that. I wish we could just snap our fingers and they would magically go away or something."
"Thanks Sonic." Rage smiles. "As nice as that would be we'd want to know what has been causing them first. Otherwise they may just come back some day even if we use magic."
"Hmm good point." Sonic says. "Eh either way this vacation will get us away from things like magic, chaos, super powerful dark being that want to destroy the world and that sort of thing." he chuckles.
"Agreed." Rage says looking at the highway go by.
"Attention students." Principal Celestia says getting their attention. "We will be arriving at Camp Everfree soon. I was going to let you know that my sister Vice Principal Luna and I went to this very camp when we were young. So I expect everyone's best out there."
"Anyways." Sonic looks at Rage "What was your nightmare about this time?"
"Well..." Rage sighs as he recalls what had happened. "I was back home and my brother was there...I..I don't remember much after I met up with him..."
"You don't think it was one of those prophetic dreams of something? You know like the one we shared before the whole issue with Shadows old friends." Sonic asks.
"No. If it was Chaotix would have been there...this was just a nightmare." Rage answers.
"Oh..." Sonic says "Sorry man."
"Don't worry about it." Rage says "There isn't much you can do about it anyways."
"You know Rage you say that a lot..." Sonic grumps. "One of these days you're going to say that to me and I do end up doing something about it. When that day comes I'll be sure to say I told you so."
"You do that." Rage chuckles.
"Hey Twilight have you ever been out in the forest before?" Sunset asks a spaced out Twilight. She didn't answer. "Twilight?" She asks again. Once again she didn't respond so Rage nudged her. Twilight jolts back to life and looks at him.
"Huh sorry what?" She asks.
"It's not like you to space out like that Twi what's wrong?" Sunset asks.
"Oh nothing!" She responds almost too suddenly. "Everything's fine. I am all good! No worries about Midnight come back here nuh uh!"
"Twilight..." Sonic says giving her a glare. "What's this about Midnight Sparkle?"
"I...I..." Twilight sighs. "I have been worried that she's going to come back...she's a part of me and all..."
"Twilight she's only a part of you if you let her be a part of you." Sunset says.
"Which is why I won't use magic again! She might take over! Magic...it's so dangerous...so powerful!" Twilight shakes.
"I know what you mean..." Rage sighs "The temptations all of that power can bring forth..."
"What are you goin' on about now Rage?" Applejack asks.
"It's rather simple really." Rage says. "Twilight is worried about what happened the last time she used magic. Rightfully so too. I know where she is coming from. Chaos is similar to Magic in that way."
"You know some researchers back on Mobius believe Chaos to be a form of Magic." Sonic says.
"Is that so?" Rage asks. "Well I can see why. To some I guess it could be."
"Ya'll are just too much sometimes..." Applejack says.
"That's nice and all but what does that have to do with magic?" Twilight asks.
"I'll explain it later." Rage says. "Honestly I think we can all agree that we'd like to take this week as a chance to get away from magic and all of that crazy stuff."
"Agreed." Rarity says. "I want to take this week to make new designs for clothes based off of camp!"
"I am going to hit the archery range!" Rainbow cheers.
"I am going to bake all the s'mores!" Pinkie shouts.
"Wow you guys are going to be busy...I just want to spend time with the animals..." Fluttershy says smiling.
Finally after about an hour or so of riding the bus stops on the edge of the camp grounds. The group files off and were met by two people a little older than they were. One was a female with bright red hair she was wearing a white shirt and a scarf over some jeans. The other was a guy with leaf green hair and a red shirt.
"Welcome to Camp Everfree!" the girl says. "I am Gloriossa Daisy and this is my brother Timber Spruce."
The eccentric director began explaining things about the camp as Twilight spaced off into a daydream. Once again she began to worry about her magic. It wasn't until she was nudged by Sunset again that she snapped out of it. "Twilight you okay?" She asks.
"Yeah I am fine." Twilight replies.
"No you're not..." Rage sighs. "You were daydream worrying about Midnight Sparkle again."
"What? How did...how did you know?" Twilight asks.
"Well..." Rage says rubbing his head. "I can't quite explain it but when you trailed off there was some strange energy you were emitting, emotional but also similar to magic... Anyways it was strong enough that even without meaning too I was able to dip into your mind."
"You can read minds?" Rebecca asks surprised. "Since when? Is it new?"
"I didn't know you could do it." XL adds.
"No it's nothing new." Rage says. "I learned to read minds and even learned how to enter people's subconscious and dreams. I don't use it much since to be honest it's kind of rude when you think about it. Intruding on others thoughts? Talk about invasion of privacy."
"Strange...what CAN'T you do?" XL asks.
"Die." Rage says.
"You can't die?!" Sonic exclaims "You're immortal?!"
"HA ha ha!" Rage laughs "No, I am not immortal that was a lie. I can die. There are a lot of things I can't do I mean I can't draw, I can't survive underwater without a transformation and a lot of other things."
"Dang you actually got me there..." Sonic huffs. "Well played."
"You're not that hard to fool Sonic." Rage smiles.
"What?!" Sonic exclaims "I am not!"
"Suuuure." XL chuckles. "Sonic you have to be the most gullible one of us all."
"Sh-shut up!" Sonic says.
"Alright, alright that's enough." Celestia says walking up to the group "Why don't you guys go get to your tents now."
"Yes Principal Celestia." they all say picking their gear up.
"Oh and Rage do you have a moment?" She asks.
"Sure what is it?" Rage asks as she leads him away from the group.
"Those emeralds of yours...the Chaos Emeralds did you bring them with you?" She asks.
"No, why?" Rage asks.
"Well I don't want some crazy magical mishap around here so I wanted to see if you had access to any of your powers." Celestia sighs. "This camp is important to my sister and I so I want if at all possible to keep things like magic away from here."
"I always have access to my powers Principal Celestia. However I can control them unlike the girls though...they don't even seem to know that they have powers...I'd like things to stay that way but...I just can't put my finger on it but there is something I don't like about this area of the woods..." Rage sighs.
"What do you mean?" Celestia asks.
"Well it's probably nothing. Just I grew up on a place known as Angel Island and I lived in the forest area of it. So I guess being back in a forest after so many years and it not being the one I grew up in just feels a little weird." Rage theorizes.
"Alright but I want to be clear, there is to be no use of those powers got it?" Celestia requests.
"Principal Celestia, as long as there is not an emergency I have no plans to use any of my powers. I mean it's not like someone corrupted by magic is going to cause issues out here. Even if that happened what would they do encase us in vines?" Rage jokes.
"Alright." Celestia chuckles a little. "Just be careful." she leaves him with before dismissing him.
Rage nods and then looks at the card he was given. He was with XL in a tent. Rage walks to the boys tents and finds XL. "Yo Rage!" he calls waving as Rage walks up.
"Hey XL how's the arm treating you?" Rage asks.
"Great! I had no idea you were so good with robotics." XL says.
"Uh actually thank Tails, not me." Rage says rubbing the back of his head. "I just did what he taught me."
"Oh well anyways it works great." he says.
"Good." Rage smiles. "If you have any issues or need it fixed again please let Sunset or myself know."
"Will do." XL says "Say do you know who my tent partner is?"
"You're looking at him." Rage chuckles putting his gear down on the vacant bed.
"Really?" He asks. "Cool!"
"Yeah." Rage agrees unpacking a few things and applying some bug spray. "What are you going to do?"
"Me?" XL asks. "I am planning to go down to the lake, wanna come?"
"In a while I have a few things I need to do first." Rage answers sitting on his bed.
"Oh okay." XL says leaving "see you later Rage." he says.
Rage waits a few minutes then closes his eyes and lays down allowing sleep to engulf him once more.
To Be Continued