Sonic the Hedgehog: Blood Pact
Copyright info: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other character used in this story. If I did, though, you can bet there'd be a super cool Sonic game with SatAM characters for the Wii (and since they already used "Sonic Heroes", I'd call it "Sonic Legendz".)
Author's Note: Finally found a paragraph border I think will accept. Hopefully it'll work and I can go back and edit it into the other chapters to help their flow.
Continuity info: This takes place in the Archie comic's continuity immediately after the infamous #134("Say You Will", featuring what Dan Drazen aptly titled "the slap heard 'round the fandom" and Sonic and Sally splitting up…again…). Everything that happened after that issue is disregarded. The events depicted in this story act as a substitute for the events that take place at this point in the comics.
Where once was light
Now darkness falls
Where once was love
Love is no more
Don't say goodbye
Don't say I didn't try
-"Gollum's Song", Emiliana Torrini
Chapter Seven: The Storm
By Blue Eyes Shining Dragon
"We're here."
Geoffrey's words brought everyone to attention. Though Sonic's signal still had not re-appeared on the tracker, the small group had managed to make their way to the hedgehog's last known position. Rain slowly began to fall upon the hovercraft as it landed, the skies now pitch black with storm clouds. "Touching down in the middle of a rainstorm..." Knuckles groaned over the hiss of the opening door, "that's generally considered a good sign, right?"
His sarcasm did not go unnoticed as everyone rose and moved to the exit. "Keep your cool, Knux. We're not gonna let a little rain stop us, right?" Julie-Su comforted even as her hand instinctively lowered to the holster of her laser rifle.
One by one, the group walked out onto the grassy plains where they had landed. No sooner had the last of the group set foot on ground did three more figures join them there, leaping off the hovercraft roof. With grace and speed, the Arachne assumed crouched positions at the head of the team. "Hey guys!" Tails greeted the three spiders.
"Greetings, Miles." they answered as one.
"So," Geoffrey walked up to the trio as he posed his question, "we're looking for some sort of temple, right?" When they all nodded at once, the skunk mentally noted his annoyance at their synchronized behavior before pressing on ahead. "Then let's get going. We should be right on top of where Sonic was last, so with luck he'll lead us right to where we're going."
"We are near."
"We can feel his dark presence."
"We must hurry."
With those words, the three ninjas seemed to vanish as they leapt into the air, each bounding off in a separate direction, leaving an exasperated Geoffrey standing in front of where they had once been. "Well," he groaned, resting his forehead in his hand, "so much for keeping an eye on them..."
"Forget them," Knuckles said. "We'll look for Sonic on our own!" Pounding his fists together to emphasize his point, the guardian than dashed off through the grassy fields. "Well, are you guys coming or what?" he shouted back at his comrades after getting a good distance ahead of them.
Rotor, Hershey, and Tails heeded the call, each moving on ahead to join the red echidna. After a bit of hesitation, Geoffrey soon followed as well. Julie-Su, however, was less sure. As much as she wanted to be happy to see that old spark in her soul-mate again, a spark that had been absent for the past year, it worried her as well. Even as she pushed such concerns aside to join up with the group, she whispered to herself, "Don't do anything stupid, Knux..."
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Amodeus had felt anger before, but never in his hundred years of life had it ever felt this intense. A potent tinge of fear and panic to it, the shaman's rage threatened to overwhelm him, but he knew how to keep such feelings in check. Looking down at the limp form of the blue hedgehog who was the source of his current anger made that a more difficult thing to do than it would have been normally, however. Flat on the cold, dank floor of the temple's lower-most sanctum, a desolate, wet cave where the only light was the faint glow of a lone torch that flickered close to non-existence, Sonic looked close to death. Indeed, Amodeus knew there was a good chance he might very well stop being close to death after the severe punishment he had received. "So be it," he mused. "To make a mistake such as his is to invite death upon yourself."
"AMODEUS!!!"
The shriek of his master's voice rang in his mind like an explosion, causing Amodeus to gasp in pain and clutch his head to make the throbbing stop. "What...what is it, My Lord...?" he panted, down on his knees.
"SHE'S ESCAPED!!! THE CHILD OF THE SOURCE HAS ESCAPED!!!"
A pained choking sound escaped Amodeus' throat as the forceful thought battered his mind again, a small trickle of blood slowly crawling down from his nose. "That...that's not possible, Master..." the shaman wheezed, only to be further assaulted as Daxis roared back, "DO NOT QUESTION ME, SHAMAN!!! FIND HER, AND BRING HER TO ME!!! NOW!!!"
The Walker's rage was like a thousand hammers slamming down on the frail old goat at once, but Amodeus knew he could not delay in locating the Child, or else it would only get worse. "As...as you wish, My Lord..." he managed to cough out, slowly rising to his feet with the support of his staff. "E..Enpo...Os We A..Aym Ssap..." the words struggled to escape his mouth, but once they had, Amodeus placed his hand upon the nearest wall of the cave and slowly passed through it as if it were liquid. When his journey ended, Amodeus emerged not on the other side of the wall, but instead the main hall of the temple. Once his body had fully emerged onto the floor, the goat began desperately attempting to conceive a plan to find his target. "There is only one way the Child could have escaped," he thought in frustration, "and that is if she somehow realized the bond she shares with Daxis gives her the same power we of the Order possess to move through the Temple...she could be anywhere by now, even back outside, if she has fully grasped that power."
Fortunately, the goat knew that was a big enough "if" that there was a very good chance she was still inside the temple. The question was where, and Amodeus did not know how to obtain the answer. The temple had so many floors and rooms, and any one could be accessed from the other. "In short," he contemplated, "she could be anywhere. That means the best way to look for her..." Closing his one good eye in concentration, the goat held his staff out in front of him. "...is not to look for her at all..."
The sinister red glow that always accompanied the strong invocation of Daxis' dark powers began to emanate from the staff, slowly wrapping around Amodeus like a serpent closing in on its prey. Amodeus was hesitant to use this power, for he knew it would drain him to the point where he would be unable to defend himself. This along with the knowledge that the Order's enemies now had free access to the temple gave the shaman pause, but ultimately he knew it was for the best. This was the most effective way to find the Child of the Source, and time was of the absolute essence. Doing his best to take comfort in the knowledge that Lilith was even then at work preparing the temple's defenses and that, if he should die, it was all for the good of the great Daxis, the aged goat whispered slowly, "D'nahs...Hecar Tou D'na Kese..."
Slowly, the shaman floated off the ground until he was half-way to the very roof of the chamber. From here, Amodeus knew the spell would be its most effective. It was the last thought he had before the red glow that had wrapped itself around him exploded forth, now taking the shape of thousands of ethereal "arms" that moved across the chamber as if controlled by some demonic beast possessed with a horrid bloodlust. Wherever a single arm crossed, Amodeus, eyes still closed, instantly "saw" everything it touched. As the arms began to expand, moving through the chamber's walls in every direction, the goat's mind was flooded with sights and sounds that came with such speed and intensity that a normal creature would have been overwhelmed; Amodeus, however, had used this power enough times to have steeled himself properly, and so he picked through the flood of images to find what he sought. "The Child..." he mentally commanded. "Find the Child of the Source..."
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The outer hall of the temple of Daxis would not seem to be an important place, being a drab stone hallway, its age shown by the vines and moss that grew out of every corner, as well as the fallen pillars that littered its path. To Lilith, however, it was a place of deep significance. It was the first part of the sanctum she had ever seen, it was where Sonic's transformation into a member of the Order had begun, and now, it was where the defense of her life-long home would begin. As guilty as she felt for leaving Sonic to Amodeus' most-likely non-existent mercy, Lilith knew that a choice between the hedgehog or the safety of the Order was not a choice at all. At the end of the day, all of them-Lilith, Sonic, even Amodeus himself-were expendable if it meant preserving the Order and its mission. That was what the bat told herself as she nipped her thumb along one of her fangs, drawing blood with which she hastily drew a strange symbol upon the wall, a single short line from which a curved line emerged on either side of its top. "With this blood, which I have promised to our Order and our Lord..." she spoke. "Nummos Het Daboro!"
With those words, a frightening black mist began to seep out of the wall where the symbol had dried. "Come forth, Daboro, Children of Silence! The Order of Daxis invokes your aid!" Lilith commanded the smoke dramatically, more for her own comfort than anything else. The bat had used many dark powers before, but tapping into the volatile Zone of Silence was a risk even for her.
The smoke seemed to obey, though Lilith knew it was only a coincidence, whirling around and creating small charcoal twisters across the hallway. When the smoke dissipated, a horde of grey lizards stood in its place. The creatures came in various shapes and sizes, but all bore shared traits: grey, scaly skin, ridged backs, bird-like snouts, razor fangs and claws, small horns on the back of their heads, and blood-red eyes. At first, the whole horde seemed confused, but realization quickly dawned upon them. One, a particularly tall and muscular one, approached Lilith after a moment and spoke in a gravelly hiss, "Why have you summoned us here?"
Lilith was unfazed despite the beast's face being mere inches from her own, the force of its voice enough to create a small wind that ruffled her fur. Immediately, she responded, "You are the Daboro, are you not?" When the creature nodded its approval, Lilith resumed, "Then you must know that thousands of years ago, when the Order of Daxis was first formed, our leader traveled into the Zone of Silence, your home, and made a deal with your master Feist: in exchange for your servitude, when Lord Daxis is freed, you and your kind would be allowed free travel from the Zone of Silence into this world."
The Daboro snorted derisively. "An old fairy tale," he chided, "told to give our kind false hope for the future."
"Yet here you are." Lilith spoke firmly. "I have summoned you here because the Order needs your help: we are on the cusp of victory, but we fear our enemies plan to attack us. During the Ritual's completion, we will need you to protect our Temple from outside forces."
Rolling its claws across the floor in thought, the Daboro slitted its eyes menacingly at the bat. Turning away from her then, it issued a series of growls and roars. When the other Daboro responded with similar noises, Lilith could only assume this was their native form of communication. The Daboro to whom she had been speaking, presumably the leader, faced Lilith again. "Very well," he said, "we will follow you...but you would be wise not to anger us."
It was a warning Lilith knew to heed: the Daboro could return to the Zone of Silence at any time they wished, as was part of their pact, and so the temple would be stripped of a vital line of defense. Though not particularly strategic in battle, the Daboro were strong enough to pose a threat, and their sheer numbers could often compensate for their lack of cunning. "Since we're all agreed," Lilith spoke up after taking in the leader's answer, "you will remain in here. Anyone wishing to enter or exit the temple must pass through here first. If you see anyone other than myself, an elderly goat, or a blue hedgehog come through here, kill them on sight. Understood?"
The Daboro all nodded at once. "Good. Then I have business of my own to attend to."
With that, Lilith dashed off at incredible speed. "Hang on, Blue...I'm coming..."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"I love you, Sonic the Hedgehog..."
The words echoed across a pitch black sky, under which a very bewildered blue hedgehog stood upon a blank, white landscape that stretched on as far as he could see. It was her voice that spoke to him, Sonic knew, and it infuriated him to no end that there was such a sense of intimacy in its tone. They had only met a day ago, when he had snuck into Knothole to make her his prisoner, so how did she know his name? Why would she ever speak to him in such a voice? Questions numbering in the thousands had become associated with her in the hedgehog's mind, and it was driving him insane. "Who are you?" he screamed back into the emptiness, unsure if he even expected an answer, "Who are you to me?"
"No one..." came the dark sky's echo of an answer, only this time it was not the Child of the Source that spoke. It was Lilith. "She's no one..."
"But that's not true!" Sonic responded, surprising himself.
Still Lilith's voice continued as if he had not spoken at all, "...and there's no need to worry about no one, now is there?"
Suddenly the defiance with which he had answered before left Sonic, to his confusion. The words suddenly seemed to make an eerie sort of sense...maybe it was better to just leave it be; if the Child of the Source was not "no one" then, he could make her no one by shutting her out. "Yeah..." Sonic said then, confusion slowly giving way to acceptance. "No one..." Slowly, his gaze began to turn downward...
"Sometimes, I think I'd go crazy if you weren't here..."
...only to snap right back up as the Princess' voice spoke.
Yet it was no longer an empty sky he looked up to see, though it seemed that way at first. Once his eyes had been given a chance to adjust, Sonic slowly came to see a brief glint of light that had not been there before, barely illuminating the rocky wall of a cave. His whole body felt like lead, unresponsive and heavy. Remembering the torturous punishment Amodeus had administered upon him, Sonic quickly understood why. "The old man really did a number on me..." he bemoaned in his mind, finding it a struggle just to squirm around on the floor.
Though it was a mind-numbingly painful effort to do so, the hedgehog ultimately forced himself to stand. Immediately leaning against the cave wall lest he promptly fall over, Sonic now found himself with time to do something he normally avoided at all costs: think about what to do next. The shame he felt for endangering the Order told him to simply stay and wait until Amodeus came to free him. However, Sonic now also found himself agonized over the fate of the Princess: how did she know about him? With the Blood Pact initialized, the hedgehog knew the chance to learn the answer to that question was slipping away with each second that passed. The hedgehog racked his brain for a solution that would satisfy both imperatives, but none came, leaving Sonic to stand there in thought, slowly recuperating. Before too long, however, an event occurred to clear his confusion. Tendrils of crimson energy swept through the cave, sliding across every stone as if in search. "Well, well..." Sonic chuckled, recognizing Amodeus' spell. "Only one reason I can think of he'd use a spell like that..."
Realizing the implication of the energy even as it receded out of the room, passing over him along the way, Sonic at last arrived at the answer he was looking for. In his current condition, Sonic knew attempting to execute this half-cocked plan were slim to none. "Still, when's that ever stopped me before?"
The ache that tormented his body having cooled to the point of being bearable, the hedgehog spoke the words of the Order's ancient language to merge into the cave wall. "I can find the Princess, get her to tell me what I want to know and even insure our enemy won't do a thing to harm us all at once," his mind had schemed. "After all, if those spiders are working for the Source of All, they'd never do anything to endanger its Child..."
Still, even as headstrong as he was, Sonic knew that finding the Princess would be no easy task. Or rather, it would not have been if she had not been the first thing he saw when he emerged from his journey.
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When Sally had escaped the altar, she quickly came to understand why she had done so, for only one reason could explain it: whatever power Amodeus and his followers had in this place, some of it rested inside her as well through the bond she shared with Daxis. When the squirrel had approached the wall of the sanctuary in hopes of escape, she also came to realize she could not remember the words Lilith had spoken when they had traveled through the prison cell where all this insanity had started. Worse still, she could not even conceive as to how the Order controlled their ability, and so the princess had been forced to trust to luck. She had to hope that force of will, not words or gestures, controlled the power, and that somehow she would find a way to choose her destination. On that first count, she had been correct.
To Sally's distress, however, the experience of traveling through the temple bore no resemblance to what she had expected. Rather than a simple step forward, it had been like walking into the midst of a monstrous current, sweeping along any who were unprepared for it. Lilith's guidance had kept her safe before, but now that Sally was on her own, she had no such protection, and had been caught completely off guard. The squirrel's mind was too gripped with fear to try and guess how long she was trapped in that strange place, but however long it had been, eventually the journey ended. The squirrel had been violently thrust out of the current, landing face first in a new location, a part of the temple she had not yet seen. It was here, in a narrow hallway illuminated not by torch lights but the glowing crystals that formed its walls, that Sally found herself now. Disoriented but still determined, the princess slowly rose to her feet and attempted to collect herself. "One thing is for sure," she muttered out loud, "I do not plan to do that again any time soon."
Walking through the hall on unsure feet, Sally gritted herself. Though she had no idea where she was going, the squirrel had every intent on getting out of the place now that the chance was available. "But I don't plan to leave alone..." she thought.
As if on cue, it was that moment that Sally saw the very person she had been thinking of emerge from the crystalline wall to her left. "Sonic..." she uttered in surprise; of all the things she had been expecting to happen next, running into the hedgehog so soon was not one of them.
It took a moment for the sight of the young squirrel to register in his mind, but once it did, Sonic's reaction was similar. "Well, well..." he laughed, "this is a pleasant surprise."
Looking the hedgehog over, Sally immediately saw his haggard stance and heaving breath; he was in no condition to fight, though the tone of his voice suggested he was preparing to. "As usual..." she thought to herself, a brief image of the Sonic she knew flickering across her mind with his usual cocky grin.
"I wouldn't suggest fighting me right now," Sally said with false confidence; she was not exactly in fighting shape herself. "The narrow space gives me the advantage; you won't be able to rush me like you did before." Though the princess contemplated advising Sonic about his injuries, she knew the hedgehog well enough to know such words would only incite him further rather than give him reason to back down. As it was, she knew her warning would most likely be taken as a challenge, but she had to say something to try and dissuade Sonic from battle, and it was all she could think of.
Sure enough, the hedgehog simply laughed again and cracked his knuckles. "Princess," he said, his lips curling into the same animalistic grin he had held in their last battle, "that sounds like an invitation to me!"
There was less than a second between the end of the sentence and the first throw of Sonic's fist. Dodging out of the way with an exasperated groan, Sally quickly closed the gap between them, laying a series of well-placed punches into Sonic's exposed stomach. Just as she had warned, the lack of space gave Sally a clear-cut advantage over Sonic: his close range combat skills, while serviceable, were heavily reliant on his ability to utilize a speedy retreat so that he could come back again from a different angle. No such option existed in the hallway's narrow confines, and so the hedgehog was forced to take Sally's attack full-on. Knocking Sonic unconscious her goal, Sally followed up with a harsh uppercut, knocking Sonic clear off his feet and right into the crystal wall from which he had emerged. Beginning to slump to the ground, the hedgehog pressed his hands to the wall to keep himself on his feet. "You hit like a girl..." he coughed sarcastically, though his fatigue was evident.
"You take your punches like a baby," Sally retorted, instinctively inserting a playful tone to her voice without meaning to.
It did not go unnoticed by Sonic, who gave a dark laugh as he raised his fists again, preparing for another strike. "Talking to me like that...like we're old friends or something..." he said, locking his intense gaze directly upon Sally's eyes. "Calling me by name...why do you do that?"
Sally wanted to answer, even though she feared it would do little good; in this state, it seemed unlikely Sonic would believe her. Still the squirrel could see from his eyes the hedgehog wanted answers, and was willing to fight her to get them. What harm could it do to try? "Sonic..." she started, prompting a snarl from the frustrated speedster. "Have you really forgotten?"
The speedster was stoic, his only response a tightening of his stance. "Please," he growled, "elaborate."
"These people...they've done something to you, altered your memories somehow..." Sally said, doing her best to control the whirlpool of emotions building up inside of her. "You aren't a part of this Order. You're a Freedom Fighter from Knothole Village, one of the best there is, and you...you're my..."
Sally had to pause at that. The end of her answer was not as clear to her as it should have been, and the memory of the rift that had begun to form between her and Sonic before all this insanity had started reared its ugly head in her heart. For a moment, the princess was silent. It was a conflict that had been hard enough to contemplate before; in the midst of her escape, it was even more upsetting. Pushing the feelings of melancholy that threatened to overtake her to the back of her mind, Sally finished with a slight quiver, "...you're my friend. My best friend." The last part had been tacked on to placate the unease Sally felt in the pit of her heart.
The squirrel did not know what to expect from Sonic in response. His powerful stare had broken, and he had placed his hands back down to his sides. Sally could see the gears turning in the hedgehog's mind as he contemplated the information he had just been given. When that train of thought at last reached its conclusion, it showed bright as day on Sonic's face, leaving Sally in anxious anticipation over what he would do next. A brief burst of hope arose in her when the hedgehog smiled, only to be crushed when Sonic burst out in derisive laughter. "HA HA HA...Oh, oh man...oh man, that's just...that's too rich!!!" he chortled, fighting to breathe while wiping a tear from his eye. "You...you had me going with that 'brainwashing' stuff, but...hoo hoo...'best friends'...with you?" Hand clutched to his sides, the hedgehog seemed to have completely forgotten everything around him but his own amusement. "Never! Not in a million years!!! Oh...oh, I think I'm gonna throw up! Hee hee HA HA HA!!!"
"He's not himself." That was the rationalization Sally offered herself to soften the blow of the cruel laughter that echoed in her ears. "Sonic would never say such things if he were in his right mind..."
Welling up the strength to speak aloud, she placed both hands on his shoulders, causing the hedgehog to stop laughing but doing nothing to wipe the amused grin he now held on his face. "Is it that hard to believe?" she asked, a slight quiver in her voice.
"That I could ever feel anything for a controlling, vindictive ball-and-chain like you besides disgust?" Sonic retorted, a barely repressed second wave of giggling threatening to overwhelm him. "Yeah, Princess. Yeah it is."
"He's not himself," Sally tried to assure herself again. Yet the harder she tried to believe it, the more phony it felt. His voice...for the first time since the change in Sonic had occurred, it sounded like his own again. All traces of the implacable darkness that had poisoned it up until now were gone, and though the princess tried to convince herself it was not so, it felt like his words were those of the Sonic she knew. Backing away from him, Sally felt tears well up in her eyes. "Aw..." Sonic chided, "did I hurt your pwetty widdle feewings?" Before Sally could answer, the hedgehog had placed a fist straight into her gut, taking advantage of her momentary distraction. "And to think, I was worried you might actually have had something interesting to tell me..." he sighed as if bored.
Doubling over from the blow, Sally crumpled to the ground, short on breath and arms wrapped around her stomach. Kneeling over the fallen princess, Sonic's grin finally faded. Seeing her like that...so vulnerable...it almost made him want to apologize for his charade. In truth, the squirrel's words had affected him more than he dared to admit. Sonic knew it was fully in the Order's capability to do something like what the princess had spoken of. More importantly, her voice...there had been a sincerity in it deeper than any other Sonic could remember, even more than when Lilith had told him how much she cared for him when they were younger. "But it's not true," he had told himself. "It couldn't possibly be true."
So he had done the only thing he could think to do: he had laughed. When the opportunity presented itself, he had attacked. Now he had his answers, and his hostage as well. "Everything's fine," he assured himself. "She's lying. Trying to trick you. That's what she's been doing the whole time. That's the only explanation that makes sense."
The princess' own explanation made sense as well, but Sonic knew it could not possibly have been true. He could never care for someone like her, could he? "Yet here I am," his mind groused, "worrying about her safety when I should be dragging her back to the sanctuary."
Slowly, the hedgehog's hand descended to the scruff of her neck. However, before it could reach its destination, his arm was grabbed. The princess was still awake! "A squirrel playing possum, huh?" he grunted, trying to free his arm from the grip that held it. "That's a new one!"
Sally did not say anything. She simply pulled the hedgehog down, sending a fist into his oncoming face. Once Sonic had tumbled away from her, she rose to her feet. Looking up at her, Sonic saw a frightening emptiness in her eyes. It glared down at him as Sally looked him over. The tips of her fur held a familiar but faint red glow to them, confusing the hedgehog greatly. "How...how can she use that kind of power?"
The red quickly faded, and the emptiness in Sally's eyes was replaced by a heartbreaking grief. For a moment, neither one moved. Despite his own tumultuous feelings, Sonic gritted his teeth and tried to rise again, only to slip and fall. Looking at him sadly, Sally's tears slowly came down the sides of her face. "Goodbye..." she whispered.
Without another word, the young girl ran off, leaving Sonic alone with his own confusions to deal with. "Goodbye..." he muttered weakly as he watched her disappear into the seemingly endless hallway.
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The rain was coming down harder and harder as the Freedom Fighters continued their trek across the field, Knuckles in the lead screaming his lungs out to overcome the noise of the thunder that had started booming not too long ago. "Sonic!!!" he roared, "Show your face, ya big blue coward!!!"
Tails flew in frustrated circles above the group. Fearful of the ever-worsening storm, Geoffrey had ordered him to stay close, forbidding him to leave his sight. Though the fox believed he would be a better asset if he could take a bird's eye's view of the field, Geoffrey had been insistent, and Tails ultimately did not wish to abuse the skunk's good will to even have him there in the first place. Still, the longer the team went with no sign of Sonic, Sally, or even the Arachne who had broken off from them at the beginning of the search, the more difficult it became for the boy to stay in place. Time, as the Arachne had told him, was of the essence; if the two-tailed youngster wanted to see his family return safely, he knew he had to find them soon. When an excited yelp came from below, both Tails and Knuckles stopped what they were doing and rejoined the group.
"What is it?" they asked in unison, both extremely excited.
"It's Sonic!" Rotor exclaimed with equal exuberance. "His signal's back on the radar!"
Knuckles pushed past the others until he was face to face with the walrus, leaving Julie-Su feeling her worry creep up a notch. "Where is he?" the guardian asked.
A little nervous at the echidna's proximity, Rotor pointed westward. "This way," he said.
"Let's move, people!" Geoffrey ordered, taking the lead.
Eventually, the group came upon a domed building, small and covered in vines. Ducking into it for shelter from the storm, the group found themselves in a simple little room, a single painting of Mobius the only thing adorning any of its walls. "Where to now, Rotor?" Hershey asked, shaking the water out of her fur.
Even as Geoffrey's ears flattened in slight embarrassment at his wife, Rotor looked at his tracker in complete confusion. "Nowhere..." he said. "According to the tracker, this is where Sonic is."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Knuckles shouted in frustration. "We're here, and he obviously isn't!" With an exasperated shout, Knuckles pounded his fist into the nearest wall.
Approaching him nervously, Julie-Su spoke to him, "Are you OK, Knux? You've been really tense since we took off from Knothole..."
Though he appreciated her concern, Knuckles' anger tainted his answer. "I'm fine. Just gotta find that little blue pest is all..." he growled.
"We can help with that." Three familiar voices came at once.
At the entrance to the building, the Arachne stood in the same crouch with which they had departed earlier. "And where have you been?" Geoffrey asked sternly.
"Two of us explored the other sides of the field."
"One of us stayed with you to track your movements."
"When you found the hedgehog, we reunited to come help."
Confused at the way the spiders did not specify which of them had performed which task, Geoffrey waved it off and said, "Help us how?"
The middle ninja showed his bloody kunai. "We hold the blood of the Order," they spoke at once. "It is the key to entrance into the temple on which we now stand."
"This is the temple?" Julie-Su asked, deciding to give Knuckles his space for the time being. "Talk about your fixer-uppers..."
"Please...link hands." the three spiders instructed.
When the Arachne did just that, the others followed suit. All were slightly unsure what the point was, but knew it was at least worth a try. The Arachne then linked one of their hands to Tails', who stood at the outside of the group. The middle spider then placed the tip of the kunai upon the painting of Mobius. "Enpo Os We Aym Ssap!" the three ninjas spoke at once.
One by one, to the Freedom Fighters' surprise, the spiders seemed to melt into the painting. Tails followed, and soon the whole group had entered where it was seemingly impossible to do so. When they emerged on the other side, they found themselves in an ancient torch-lit corridor. "Ohhh..." Julie-Su exclaimed as she tried to shake off the vertigo she felt after her strange trip. "So this is the temple."
The others were similarly disoriented, though the Arachne seemed fine. It was quickly shocked out of their systems, however, when an angry growl echoed across the hall. "Who goes there?" it spoke.
Soon enough, a frightening grey monster had approached them from out of the darkness that lay ahead. "Ah," it spoke in understanding once its crimson eyes settled on the group. "Fresh meat!!!" the beast shouted behind it.
Thousands of grunts and snarls responded, slowly approaching from the depths of the corridor.
"Well...crap..." Geoffrey muttered as he locked an arrow into his trusty crossbow.
To Be Continued...