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"He'll be alright." Shelby said, feeling Garin's forehead. "He's just wiped out. He just needs a few hours of rest then he should be alright."
"That's the first bit of good news I've heard since we got here." Jacques said.
"Tell me about it." Shelby agreed.
"Well, with Garin back, we should be fine." Talaka said.
"Either way, I'm still sending a search party to look for the others." Jacques said.
"Well I'm going." Shelby said.
"What do you mean?" Manic asked.
"Topaz is out there somewhere, I've just gotta find her. She's my best friend, I just can't leave her out there, she'd do the same for me." Shelby said.
It was clear that she was upset about her best friend's disappearance and it was even more clear that she wasn't going to give up until she found her.
"Very well then." Jacques said.
"Let us go too!" Manic said. "Sonic's our brother, we can't just leave him out there!"
"Please let us go!" Sonia said.
"Understood, you may go as well." Jacques said with a nod.
"I'm going too." Double D said. "Ed and Eddy are my best friends, they may need medical help."
"I'm going if he's going!" Tune said.
"I'm going too!" Nova said.
"Rolf is not about to let golden one out of his sights." The blue goat said.
"Count me in!" Nazz said.
"And if she's going, I'm going!" Kevin snapped.
"CHOA!" Plank cried.
"And if Plank's going then I'm going too!" Johnny said.
"I'm going I want to look for Sonic too!" Tails said.
Jacques looked at them all. They all had the spirits of true fighters.
"Very well then." He said.
They smiled and looked at each other.
"Don't worry, we WILL find them!" Shelby said.
"I know you will." He said.
Soon the group was headed out into the jungle, ready to search for their missing friends, siblings, or in Kevin's case, enemies, namely Eddy.
"SONIC!" Sonia, Manic and Tails cried.
"TOPAZ!" Shelby called.
"ED! EDDY!" The Peach Creek kids cried. Well…most of them.
"I don't see why you guys are so worked up about finding them." Kevin said.
"Then why'd you come along?" Shelby asked.
"Because Nazz wanted to come along." He said.
"Then you should just head back to camp." She growled.
"Why would I?" Kevin asked.
"Kevin, can I talk to you, in private?" Nazz asked, wrapping her arms around his.
Not giving him a chance to answer, the yellow hedgehog pulled him behind a bush.
"What's going on back there?" Manic asked after a minute.
All he got was a bunch of shrugs.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Nazz's voice cried out.
She came running out of the bush, a terribly serious look on her face.
"What happened in there?" Manic asked.
"KEVIN KNOCKED SONIC OVER BOARD!" Nazz cried.
"WHAT?!"
They turned to see Kevin come out from behind the bush.
"Kevin! Did you knock Sonic over board?" Sonia demanded.
"Yeah, so what? He was taking up too much room." He shrugged.
"YOU IDIOT!" Half of the mobians cried.
"HE'S THE FIRST IN LINE FOR THETHRONE!" Manic yelled, jumping onto Kevin, grabbed his chest fur, and started shaking him.
"Yeah Kevin, that was low." Johnny argeed.
"CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA, CHOA!" Plank cried.
"Whoa, language." Shelby said.
"What'd he say?" Sonia asked.
"I'd say but I'd have to cuss to do so." Shelby said.
"What's the deal with you guys?" Kevin asked. "You two can replace him."
"You can't replace a life." Shelby said pointing.
"So what? He and Dorky were taking up too much space." Kevin snapped.
"YOU KNOCKED EDDY OVER BOARD TOO?!" Sonia cried.
"Yeah, so what? He's a-"
Before Kevin could finish, Nazz punched him square in the jaw! It took everyone, Kevin especially, by surprise but what she said next really surprised them!
"KEVIN, THERE'S ONLY ONE DORK ON THIS ENTIRE ISLAND! I HAPPEN TO BE LOOKING AT HIM AND QUITE FRANKLY, I CAN'T STAND HIM!"
"Nazz, don't stand up for those dorks!" Kevin said, still too scared to get up.
"THEY'RE NOT DORKS! INFACT, RIGHT NOW, I'M STARTING TO THINK THAT YOU'RE THE DORK! NOW UNLESS YOU HELP US FIND THEM I SUGGEST YOU GO BACK TO CAMP AND STAY THERE!"
There was a moment of silence and they watched as Kevin slowly rose to his feet, took a few steps back, and turned into a full sprint back to camp.
"Figures." Manic snarled. "C'mon, lets' find our friends WITHOUT him."
"I'm with you." Sonia said and followed her little brother.
The others followed the green hedgehog they were ALL in a bad mood. Kevin might have killed their friends it was enough for them to just explode.
"Listen guys, I'm sorry you had to see me blow up like that." Nazz said.
"It's cool, I probably would have done the same thing." Shelby said, trying to cheer her up.
Nazz just gave her a queer look but Shelby gave her a cocky grin, a wink, and, a thumbs up making Nazz crak a weak smile.
"HELP!"
Everyone looked straight ahead, where the voice came from.
"TOPAZ!" Shelby cried.
They all charged through the bush that separated them and gasped at what they saw. There was a short bridge over some running water that lead to the ocean on both sides and standing in the middle of the bridge, the flame creatures all around them were the missing crewmembers!
"SONIC!" Sonia and Manic cried.
"Guys! You're alive!" Sonic said in reply as the flames continued to circle them.
"Yeah but you guys may not be in a few minutes if we don't do something soon!" Sonia said.
"Topaz, try the Topaz Twister!" Shelby suggested.
"Got it!" The young fox said and began twirling around. "TOPAZ TWISTER!"
Topaz seemed to become a bright orange twister, slowly pulling the flames closer.
"This isn't working!" Topaz called from the twister and stopped spinning.
"Double D! HELP!" Ed and Eddy cried.
"What can I do?" He asked in panic.
"You guys HAVE got to get out of here!" Shadow snapped.
"But what about you?" Topaz asked.
"Forget me and save yourselves!" He snapped.
He then grabbed Ed, Eddy, Sonic, and Topaz and threw them over the ring of flame right at the others. He then ran in the other direction, jumped from the ring and into the jungle on the other side, the flames still chasing him.
"Shadow!" Shelby called.
More flames suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Don't you know it's rude to cut in when someone is talking?" Shelby scold, it.
Not even giving it a second, Shelby started running around it, putting out its fire.
"Come on! Shadow may need our help!" Sonic said.
"Dude, I'm right with ya!" Shelby said.
"And don't think that you're leaving me behind!" Topaz said.
"Count us in!" Manic and Sonia said.
"Hey, I'm not going to let him get himself killed." Nazz said.
"Rolf shall not let him out of Rolf's sights." He growled.
"We're in." Eddy said, pointing to Double D and Ed.
"I'm going." Nova said.
"We're going too!" Tails and Tune said.
"Looks like everyone is going." Sonic said. "Okay lets' hurry and get over there already."
"Dude, I was there yesterday." Shelby joked and was off in a flash and the others followed quickly.
When they finally did spot the flames, they were circling a tree.
"Shadow must be up there." Sonic said.
"It must have been his only escape." Double D said.
"Then let's get those fire heads away from him." Nazz said.
"Easy girl." Shelby said. "This is fire we're playing with."
"We're gonna have to be careful." Nova said.
"I have an idea." Shelby said. "Think you're up to it, Sonic?"
"Is water wet, is dirt dirty, does lightning fork, is the grass green, is the sky blue, do bears hibernate?" He asked.
"Boy, that was a mouthful." Shelby said.
" Just GO!" Sonia snapped.
"We're going, we're going." Sonic said.
"Just do what I do and try to keep up." Shelby told him.
"They don't call me Sonic for nothing." The prince said.
"Then follow me!" Shelby said and charged towards the tree.
They watched for a minute as to what she was doing. She was running around the tree and flames.
"Ah, now I get it." Sonic said. "This is gonna be fun."
He too then started running around the tree.
"What are they doing?" Nazz asked.
"Simple." Sonia said. "Fire needs air to burn, and they're creating a cyclone which will suck the air out of it, thus putting them out."
"Oh yeah, now I get it." Nazz said.
"It is indeed an interesting plan." Double D admitted.
They watched, as the flames became weaker ad weaker until they were finally out and then finally stopped.
"Now THAT was sweet!" Sonic said, giving her a high five.
"It was nothing." Shelby said.
They then looked up into the tree.
"SHADOW! YOU CAN COME DOWN NOW! THE FLAMES ARE GONE!" Shelby called up.
The black hedgehog grabbed onto the trunk of the tree and slid down.
"You alright?" Shelby asked.
"I'm fine." He said.
"That's good news." Sonic said.
"We have even better news." Shelby said. "Everyone else is at camp! Everyone made it out alright!"
"Whoa! If that isn't a miracle I don't know what is." Sonic said.
"Come on you guys! They're gonna start worrying if we don't get back to camp!" Nazz said.
"We're comin'." Shelby said.
Shadow suddenly sank to his knees.
"Shadow! Are you alright?" Shelby asked.
"Just brushed my leg against those flames when I jumped over them, I'll be fine." He growled.
Shelby then looked at his injured leg.
"You can't walk with THAT! Look at it, it's twice the size of my fist!" Shelby said. "Sonic, help me get him back to camp."
"On it." Sonic said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
That sound made, them all freeze in their tracks.
"What was that?" Sonic asked.
At LEAST fifty of the flame creatures appeared and were approaching the three hedgehogs.
"Sonic, take Shadow and get out of here." Shelby told him.
"But what about you?" Sonic asked.
"I'll stay here and keep 'em busy while you and the others make a run for it." She said.
"WHAT?! You can't take all of those things on by yourself!" Sonic said.
"I'll be fine, just go!" She snapped.
"But-"
"GO!"
Sonic knew that there was no way to convince her into leaving so he did what he was told. Shadow, on the other had, had other ideas. He was struggling, trying to make Sonic drop him. He wanted to fight too but Sonic held strong. Sonic pulled him to others and they could Shelby dodging the flames.
"We have to go." Topaz said.
"But what about Shelby?" Shadow demanded.
"She'll be alright! She's faced even worse then THAT before!" The young fox said. "Now lets' go!"
Double D headed back for camp first with the others following close behind. Sonic was struggling with Shadow, trying to pull him but he refused. He tried pulling against him, as long as e could see Shelby he'd try to get away and help her fight. After a few seconds, the fight was covered with jungle leafs and Shadow couldn't see then any more.
"SHELBY!" He cried.
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Well, that's the end of this chapter. How'd you like it? Now the real question is will Shelby survive and why was Shadow so into trying to help her? Anyone care to take a guess? Anyways, please R&R.