Chapter 37: Ambushed

S-M

"Mum?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Um, this is gonna sound really weird. But...do you think Sonic and the Herd are ... real? Like they're somewhere out there in the world?"

"That would be awesome if they were. But, who knows? Maybe one day, we might run into them."

"Yeah, that would be pretty cool."

...

I remembered that conversation too well. I was 14 years old at the time, and we were just returning home from a long day at school. Ever since then, I always had dreams about meeting my idols, especially Team Sonic. Sometimes we'd head out to Soleanna or Apotos and just ... have a great time, enjoying each other's company. Though I felt disappointed every time I woke up, I knew there was a slight chance that Sonic and the Herd were living among our society.

Anyways, back to our journey.

I was instantly jolted awake by several voices screaming. Frantically pulling myself up to my feet, I noticed that my friends and I were in a circular room with the halo of the sun plastered on the brown, murky walls. Elise, Tails and Shadow were repeatedly throwing themselves against the only exit which happened to be locked. Ellie, Peaches, Shira and the Herd were shouting fearfully about what their plan of attack was going to be. I sprinted up to the door and pushed my way through. Just one glance through the peephole was enough to send me into rage mode.

Outside. Sonic, Manny, Sid and Diego. A cold and foggy area with water rushing through a square surrounding the room we were stuck in. The man in the coat. Brutally assaulting them. NO!

With a mighty grunt, I kicked down our only exit and let out a cry of anger, lunging towards the man with my knife poised, ready to attack.

"MEGAN, NO!"

"KID, GET BACK! HE'S DANGEROUS!"

Guys, I know he's a threat. But, I'm not gonna let that stop me from finding out where he took my mother!

I ignored Elise and Shadow's screams. I plunged my knife deep into the man's shoulder three times as Sonic struggled to pull himself up to his feet. But then, something shocking happened. Our attacker grabbed my wrist and twisted it roughly, forcing me to drop my knife and scream painfully. He then pulled me towards him and delievered a severe blow to my stomach, sending me flying until my head hit the ground.

Argh, damn it!

"We meet once again, child." The man announced darkly, as he strolled over with his knife, intending to do something which seemed to be obvious. I quickly pulled myself up to my feet and aimed my pistol at him, placing my finger on the trigger.

"Where's my mother?" I demanded furiously, occasionally sending a concerned glance in Sonic and Manny's directions. "Tell me where she is!"

"Hmph," Our attacker scoffed, advancing slowly towards me. "Why should I tell you? You're just a pathetic child who deserves nothing in this world!"

Upon hearing those words, Sonic instantly stepped between us with his arms spread out. Sid and Diego also joined him, getting into their fighting stances in case the man decided to lunge towards me and do the worst. "For gods' sake," I hissed angrily. "ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

A moment of silence dawned on us. The man began to stroke his chin in thought. It was ... kinda like he was actually going to consider telling me where my sweet and loving mother was. But, no. I was wrong. Instead, he let out a menacing cackle and threw a sharp knife right at my left shoulder, forcing a loud scream out of me once it plunged into it. "AUGH!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Elise shouted from where she was, aiming her revolver at the man with a sneer.

I began firing bullets non-stop at our attacker, wincing due to the horrible pain I felt in my shoulder. At first, it seemed like they hit him. But, he just laughed again and pushed Sonic, Sid and Diego out of my way, strolling up to me and grabbing me by the neck. I swear, he was almost invincible!

And, that sucked.

He then roughly turned me round so that I was in a choke-hold and faced my friends with a trumiphant smirk. I squirmed in his grasp, desperate to break free and join the ones I held close to my heart. "Argh ... Ugh ... Get off me!"

"Now, I have your precious child," The man cackled, grinning when he saw Sonic and Manny send worried looks in my direction. "There's nothing you can do to save her," Our assilant continued, grabbing his own pistol and pressing it to my temple, sending cold chills running down my spine. "As she belongs to me."

Hearing this, I struggled even harder to break free whilst Sonic curled himself up into a ball and performed a spin dash on the man. Which unfortunatley failed, since he got sent flying back to the ground. "Sonic, NO!" I screamed in fright as I desperatley thought of a plan to escape.

"Chaos, dude! If you want her, then you're going to have to go through me!" The blue blur taunted as he pulled himself up to his feet. Meanwhile, I suddenly came up with an idea. Thinking fast, I grabbed the knife and tugged, clenching my teeth to prevent myself from screaming. With a mighty grunt, I turned round and stabbed our assilant in the shoulder. Once, twice, thrice. I didn't even stop until he fell lifeless on the cold floor.

After that, there was just thick silence. I struggled to calm myself down, due to the encounter we just had. Was the man ... waiting for us here all this time..? Or was he—?

"Megan," Elise asked, slowly walking up to me with concern lacing her tone. "Are you okay?"

Even though I wasn't, I forced a brave grin on my face to show that I was fine. "Yeah ... I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

Soon afterwards, we all gathered ourselves together and went through the large door waiting for us. I honestly didn't know where we were, but deep down, I had a feeling that we were going to encounter the next ghost a bit later. Cynthia and Jasper were out of the way, so that leaves ... four of them left.

This is going to be fun. Not.

QAN: Megan, you are one tough kid, you know that?

Anyways, the Heroes are now in the Water Prison, which leaves two more worlds left. So, I guess it's not long until everyone finally find out where Megan's mother is. Yaaay!

Feel free to leave a review and hope y'all are enjoying this so far! :)