Chappie Numero Tres up. Have fun, and REVIEW.
Love Struck
Chapter 3
Knuckles, Tails, and Tikal were searching for Charmy on a trail that had run cold.
"Where did he go?!" Knuckles yelled angrily. "He was right! Here! How could he have gotten away?!"
"I don't know!" Tails squeaked, frightened. He knew better than to get on Knuckles' bad side when he was in a rage like this, but in truth, he had no idea how Charmy could have gotten away so suddenly.
"Well where do you think he went?!"
"I don't know!" Tails squeaked again. He cowered behind his two namesakes, wrapping them in front of him and clinging to them.
"Knuckles, calm down!" said Tikal. "Charmy probably went back to Amy's house to shoot more people."
"Right!" yelled Knuckles, calming immediately. "We go to Amy's house!" He grinned to himself. "This is cool! I get to play the hero now that the blue hedgehog's out of the way! Okay, since this is sort of a war, I get to be the general! Tikal, you can be my deputy."
"What about me?" said the yellow fox.
"You're gonna be my servant, unless you start getting good ideas like Tikal," said Knuckles. "Okay, here's the plan: we're going to burst into Amy's house and cause a lot of commotion. Then, we're going to capture anyone who's gotten shot, and any of Charmy's accomplices, and Charmy himself! We'll give no mercy!"
"What!?" said Tikal. "We're going to capture people!?"
"Yup." Knuckles chuckled to himself and cracked his knuckles. "All's fair in love and war, and this is both."
Tails timidly raised his hand. "I have a question. What if Charmy's not there?"
"DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A SERVANT, FOX, 'CAUSE YOU'RE HEADED IN THAT DIRECTION!!!" yelled Knuckles.
"N-no!" Tails whimpered, hiding behind his tails and muttering, "Sonic was a much leader than you...."
"Sonic's not here right now!" fumed Knuckles. "You are all so impossible! Except for Tikal! So I guess only you're being impossible. Anyway, we're wasting precious time! We have to go capture Charmy!" He pulled a net out of nowhere and stomped off in the direction he thought Amy's house was.
Tails gulped. "Kn-Knuckles?" he said, hardly daring to speak. "A-Amy's h-house is th-that way."
Knuckles immediately stopped and turned around. "I knew that."
As he passed Tails he patted him on the head. "Keep this up, and you could be a sergeant, Tails!"
Soon they arrived at Amy's house. "Everyone got the plan down?" Knuckles said. Tails and Tikal nodded. "Good. Okay, when I give the signal, we charge inside!"
"What's the signal?" asked Tails.
"Hmm," said Knuckles. "That's a good question. I don't know, maybe... no... how about...." He thought for a couple seconds. "Aha! I know! When I shout 'go', we go in!"
"That's genius," said Tails, who wanted to be a sergeant so he decided to stay on Knuckles' good side.
"Ready... GO!!" yelled Knuckles, and they charged into the house.
Outside, Charmy flew down from his hiding place without a sound, chuckling evilly. "Mwee hee, I'm the genius here!" he said to himself. It was obvious they'd go inside the house to look for him – why not stay on the outside?
He flew over to the partially opened living room window. Perfect. He cocked an arrow and positioned himself, watching the chaos unfolding inside. Who should his next victim be...? Oh, this was so much fun!
Charmy finally decided on his target with a smug grin on his face. He pulled back on the bowstring and released, and the arrow flew through the air....
Inside the house, chaos was unfolding – as Charmy had so rightly thought – with Knuckles brandishing a net and running around yelling like a maniac, and everyone staring at him like he was a maniac.
"Charmy!! Where's Charmy?!" he yelled, fiery determination in his purple eyes.
"Charmy?" said Vector. "He left a while back. Are you okay?"
"He has love arrows!" yelled Knuckles. "Love arrows, I say! And he's shooting people with them!"
Espio looked at Knuckles like he had just said aliens were attacking. "The echidna is delusional. I have never heard anything more nonsensical."
Jet was getting rather irritated with the noise, and turned up the volume on his iPod even higher.
"Have you seen Charmy?" Tails asked Big, who shook his head. The fox was interrogating everyone for any traces of the manic bee, with so far no leads.
"Hey, Marine?" he asked, walking over to the raccoon who was still doing her strange arts and crafts. She glared at him angrily and threw a pom-pom at him, causing him to fall down.
"Mind yourself, mate, interruptin' an artist durin' 'er work!"
"Sorry," Tails muttered, getting up and going over to Rouge. "Hey, um... Rouge? Have you seen Charmy?"
"Charmy? No."
"Oh," Tails said, disappointed. "We've been looking for him because he has these love arrows and he's shooting people with them."
"Love arrows?" the bat said, her large ears perked in interest. Mmm, love arrows, how fascinating. If they worked, that is, they would certainly be of use to her.... No doubt fetch a good price, too....
"Love arrows," Tails said bitterly. "We don't know how to reverse them, and if we don't find out, the effects could be permanent."
Rouge was about to answer, but her sensitive bat ears heard a nearly silent whoosh of air as an arrow arced its way through space at a speed to match our favorite blue hedgehog. She didn't even have time to turn around, as the arrow struck her back and she fell, like the others before her.
"Rouge...?" asked Tails hesitantly, and then he saw the love arrow. "Oh no," he muttered in horror. "Oh no!"
His heart pounding like a drum, he ran to Knuckles.... Rouge.... Why Rouge....
"Knuckles! Knuckles!" Tails panted, grabbing onto the sleeve of Knuckles' jacket to get his attention. "Rouge! It's Rouge! She- she got hit by a love arrow; quickly Knuckles!" And once again, why Rouge?! Tails was terrified; she would catch up to him soon, and he didn't even want to know what she would do to him.
"A love arrow?!" Knuckles yelped. "Charmy! That imbecile! God, where is he?!"
Tails had completely forgotten Charmy with the terrifying event of Rouge being physically attracted to him. He did the quick calculation; if he was right there, and Rouge there, and she got hit in the back.... His eyes trailed in the direction of the arrow's path and he almost gasped aloud, flooded with new panic. "That window!"
With an almighty echidna-roar, Knuckles barreled to the window, smashing aside anything and anyone in his way. Tails tried to run after him, but felt something grab his twin tails to prevent his progress.
"Hey, there, cutie...." said an amatory voice that made his blood run cold.
"Agghh! No! Rouge- ack! Get off me!" Tails yelled, the most frightened fox in the world as Rouge pulled him closer to her.
Rouge made a scolding sound. "Are you really going to act like that? Or is this... too much heat for you?"
"Please let go of me!" Tails yelled, trying to squirm out of a position nothing less than erotic. "Knuckles! Help!!" He prayed the echidna would be sapient enough to listen to him, for once, just this time.
"Calling for help?" Rouge purred, wrapping his tails around her voluptuously. "No one can help you now.... You're under my complete mercy...."
Tails was utterly terrified by Rouge's concupiscence, even more than he had been before. Too terrified, even, to try and call for any more help from Knuckles. Why Rouge, why him?! Of all the other females, why Rouge, who was ten years older than him and whose lust would traumatize him for life?! He almost collapsed out of sheer terror, but then heard a voice, a voice he clung to like a small raft in a raging ocean storm.
"Ms. Rouge?" the voice asked, and Tails had never been so relieved to hear Cream's high-pitched voice. "What are you doing with Tails?"
"Ah... nothing," said the bat, releasing Tails, because apparently, Rouge had enough sense while being under the influence of one of the strongest opiates ever to not let Cream see too much. She gave Tails a coy wink and flew off, possibly to wait until the young coney was gone.
"Th-th-thanks, Cream," stuttered Tails, so shaken up by his encounter with the white bat he could hardly get the words out.
She gave him a warm smile. "It's no problem! You looked like you were struggling with her. I was just trying to help you out. Now, don't you have to go catch up with Knuckles?"
"What? Oh yeah!" The fox gave Cream a shy smile. "Thanks... again."
She bowed her head, beaming with happiness. "You're welcome!" She raised her head and looked around. "Now, where did Cheese go...?"
"I'll tell you if I find him!" Tails called, darting off and weaving through the crowd of people, dearly, dearly hoping that bat wasn't following him.
It wasn't long for Tails to find Knuckles. "Did you find Charmy?" he asked.
"No," growled the red echidna. "That stupid bee is as elusive as that blue spikeball."
"Well, in that case," started Tails, "you could've come help me from that horrible white bat that was harassing me-"
"Agh! Oh yeah! Rouge is shot too!" Knuckles slammed his fist into the coffee table in anger. "And with that bee playing sniper at the window, who knows who else he could've shot?!"
"Have you found Charmy yet?" asked Tikal, approaching Knuckles after searching for any clues.
Knuckles looked too irritated to answer, so Tails said, "We sorta found him.... He was close by, but he got away."
"Did he shoot anyone?" Tikal said with a gasp.
"Yeah, Rouge, but we're not sure if there's anyone else."
"Rouge?" asked Tikal. "I'm sorry for whoever was with her when she got shot."
Tails gave the echidna a strange look, and Tikal knew immediately what he meant. "Ohh. I'm sorry for y-"
She got interrupted as the very air flickered beside her and Espio appeared so suddenly it made her jump. "I have come for you, my love," he said in a dreamy voice, and Knuckles performed the mother-of-all facepalms.
"Agghh! That damn bee even shot one of his own coworkers!" Knuckles yelled, kicking a chair. "God! Now we have another freakin' person shot!" In his anger, he tore the arrow out of one of Espio's back spikes and snapped it in half like a pencil. They were all momentarily distracted, even the chameleon, by the sight of tiny hearts floating skyward from where the arrow broke.
Tikal looked at the hearts curiously. "Isn't that odd."
"Hey, what do you think is in those arrows that causes love anyhow?" Tails wondered aloud.
"I don't care!!" yelled Knuckles. "I just want to know how to stop it!"
"You cannot stop love," Espio said suddenly. "It is like the sunrise, or the winter, or destiny, perhaps; impossible to delay or prevent, something you can only sit back and watch unfold before your eyes."
General staring from everyone present, unsure of where the profound-ness had come from.
"Knuckles," Vector addressed the echidna as he strode over to them. "Gotta talk to you, man. First Charmy goes missing, now Espio's gone all strange. What's up?"
"Well," said Tikal, "Charmy has these Cupid love arrows and he's gone maniacally insane with power over them, and so he's shooting random people to get them together, but we're trying to stop him, but it's been difficult so far because he's tricky to catch up to and knows how to hide and escape, yet he's managed to shoot several people along the way, including Sonic with Blaze, Blaze with Silver, Rouge with Tails, and Espio with me, and we're going to see if there's any way we can stop him before it's too late, and we also need to cure the shot people, and we need to confiscate those arrows."
"That makes sense," said Vector.
"Wanna help us?" said Tails. "We're considering it a war. Knuckles is the general and Tikal's the deputy, and if I'm good I might be able to be a sergeant."
"I'll help," said Vector, "on one condition."
"Anything," said Knuckles. Well, we do need all the help we can get to catch this bug, he thought. And he'd be useful; he understands Charmy's motives.
Vector gave him a big, toothy, crocodilian smile. "I get to be the general."
"WHAT?!" yelled Knuckles. "Ack- you- no!"
"Knuckles we really need him to help us!" begged Tails.
Knuckles glared at him, and Tikal – for Tails' benefit – added, "You want to capture Charmy, don't you?"
The red echidna sighed and then glanced at Vector. "Fine. You can be the... the..." he swallowed, "...general."
"Awesome," said Vector, and Knuckles glowered at him. "Let's go catch that bee. But what do we do with Espio?"
They looked at the chameleon, who was staring lovingly at Tikal. He appeared to be more reserved and self-contained than the other love arrow victims, but he was still under the love arrow's influence and could cause problems for the others.
"Hey, I could watch him!" said Cream, who had thought she might be needed and was listening in on the conversation. "He'll be safe here with me while you guys find Charmy!"
Knuckles looked doubtful. "Well... okay. Just keep an eye on him, alright?"
She nodded in agreement and took the chameleon's hand. "Come on Espio. We'll make sure Charmy doesn't show up here."
"Charmy?" he said vaguely. "What about Tikal?"
"She... um... has some things she needs to do. You have to stay here, with me."
The magenta chameleon nodded vacantly and followed Cream.
"So, guys!" Vector was obviously excited. "Where do we look first?"
"Aren't you the general now?" grumbled Knuckles.
"Then I vote I let my deputy decide! Where to, Tikal?"
The tan echidna closed her eyes in thought and then opened them. "Silver, Amy, Sonic, and Blaze! He might've gone to them!"
"Okay! So we head to Silver, Amy, Sonic, and Blaze!" said Vector.
They headed outside and saw Marine squeezing Cheese tightly. The chao was making choking sounds and frantically trying to escape his raccoon tormentor.
"Oy there, Cheese! Don't try to 'scape, mate!" Marine yelled, fondling the chao.
"Chao! Chao chao chao chao chao!" he yelped, looking desperately at Tikal.
"He said, help! Something came over Marine and now she's madly in love with me!" said Tikal.
Knuckles closed his eyes and growled. "Charmy."
"We're on the right track," said Vector.
Cheese emitted a high-pitched squeal; Marine was curling up with him and he was getting squashed. "Chao chao! Chao chao chao chao!"
"We'll help you as best as we can," assured Tikal. "Hey... um... Marine?" she asked her.
Marine was stroking the chao's small, pink, miniscule-feathered wings. "What is it, mate?"
Tikal had no idea what to say to get the odd raccoon to release Cheese. "Um, could you please let go of Cheese?" she said, brilliantly.
Marine gave Tikal an annoyed look. "What do you think, mate?"
Tikal looked at Knuckles and shrugged helplessly.
"At least Charmy has a sense of humor," Vector said dubiously. "Marine and a chao. Uh-huh. And, heh heh, Rouge and Tails." He chuckled to himself. "Maybe Cheese can give you some tips, Tails."
Even Knuckles snickered. Tails looked at him tearfully. "Rouge and I together isn't funny."
"I was... laughing at Marine and Cheese," the echidna said, trying to keep a straight face. "By the way, I'm just wondering: if your kid inherits your two tails, will it fly using them... or its bat wings?"
Vector roared with laughter, and Tails lowered his ears embarrassedly. "How will you get on a sleeping schedule, Tails, what with her being nocturnal and all?" the crocodile said, giving the fox a spiteful grin.
"You should give her a Chaos Emerald as a present!" said Knuckles.
"She'd probably ask you to marry her!"
The echidna and crocodile laughed maliciously and the fox looked like he wanted to shrink into his tails.
"Guys, we really should get going," he said quietly, but only Tikal, standing next to him, heard him through Vector and Knuckles' laughing.
Tikal could see tears beginning to fill the fox's eyes, and she stood forward to defend him.
"Stop laughing at Tails!" she said fiercely. "It's not his fault at all Rouge likes him now; it's all Charmy's, and we should be working on finding him instead poking fun at Tails! If it had been one of you two, we wouldn't be laughing at you!"
Tails gave Tikal a look of gratitude, and Vector and Knuckles stopped laughing. "Look... if Rouge was in love with me, I'd be making the most of it," Vector said, but he and Knuckles exchanged sheepish glances.
"Yeah... uh, let's get going, then," said Knuckles, his muzzle turning as red as his quills.
"Chao?" Cheese asked Cream nervously.
"Don't worry, Cheese," said Tikal. "Just hang on for a little while. We're going to find Charmy and get him to find out how to reverse this. Then we'll help you."
Cheese looked relieved. "Chao ch-" he said, getting cut off as Marine squeezed him and snuggled him.
"Should we tell Cream where Cheese is?" Tails asked Tikal.
"As soon as we help him," Tikal said. She gave the rest of the group a small nod, and the headed off, hoping they could get to Amy and Silver before Charmy did.
"Hey," Knuckles said, breaking the silence, "do you think those love arrows can be used after they've already hit someone?"
Tails thought for a moment. "Yeah. It's not like whatever's on them goes away. Why do you ask?"
"I was... just wondering," muttered Knuckles, and the rest of their short walk was in silence until they saw the distant sight of the rest of their small troop.
"Thank goodness you're here," said Silver, approaching them. The afternoon was wearing on, and in the glowing eaves as the sun began its occidental decent, his snowy fur looked eerie, half bathed in light and half shrouded in darkness.
"Has Charmy come?" asked Knuckles immediately.
Silver gave him a grim smile. "Yes. He tried to shoot me." He held out his arm and Tikal gasped aloud at the short, jagged cut running up his forearm. "When I psychokinetically deflected the arrow, he became a bit... hostile, shall we say. He tried to sting me." He shook his arm and the sleeve of his shirt fell over the cut blocking it from view. "I take it you haven't seen much of him either?"
"Sadly," said Tikal, still staring with horror at his arm. "We haven't seen him at all but he's shot Rouge and Espio and Marine. We headed here looking for him."
"I'm afraid he's not here anymore," said Silver, "and we haven't figured out how to cure... these two yet either." He gestured sadly to Blaze and Sonic.
"I hope it doesn't end up being permanent," said Tails miserably.
"Permanent?" Sonic said. He looked as though the word had caused him to suddenly remember something. He closed his eyes pensively, thinking hard, and finally recited,
"The sin of love
"The worst of crimes,
"Be careful of
"Receding time;
"Past midnight
"Your time no more
"The sin of love
"Forever more."
Everyone stared at Sonic oddly. "Where did that come from?" asked Vector.
Sonic looked just as confused as everyone else. "I... don't know."
"Do you have any idea what it means, Tails?" asked Knuckles. The young fox slowly shook his head.
Amy gazed off into the distance, mulling over the short verse.
"Past midnight, your time no more...." she whispered, and she knew, suddenly, what it meant, the awful realization; not wanting to believe it, but knowing she must.
"We have until midnight," she said quietly, yet everyone heard her. "That's what it means. After midnight, Sonic and the others... they'll stay that way... f-for...." She couldn't bring herself to say the rest, and tears silently sprung to her jade eyes.
"L-look," Knuckles said, though there was an edge to his voice, "just because Sonic said this random poem he's never even heard before doesn't mean...."
He faltered at the look Amy was giving him. "Yes, it does," she whispered. "He knows. We have to find a way to save them. Or...."
"Else." Amy turned and was surprised to see it was the crimson echidna that had finished her sentence. She felt a heart wrenching tug of sadness in her chest. Sonic, forever madly in love with someone else, while she stood on the sidelines; hoping for the day when emerald eyes would meet jade, hoping for the day that would never come.
"We have to go back to my house," Amy said finally. "If we're all there, Charmy will come eventually."
Without another word she stood from where she was kneeling on the ground, took Blaze's hand in hers, and walked away, gently leading the lavender cat who willingly followed. Exchanging glances, the others followed suit, and then turned to follow their new unofficial leader, wherever she may decide to go.