Well, for some that do not know, I had terrible/good weeks this months which included a bad wedding, winning a softball tournament, and writers' block. Ask me and I'll spill.
Characters (C) Respective Owners
Ch. 12: Battle on Angel Island
With three Arks of the Cosmos on our side, and one on theirs, there was only one left. I kept the Master Ark, the yellow one, in hand because I was most experienced with it; Jet had the green one that controlled him last time with the power of darkness; Rodrigo has the red one wrapped around his twisted wrist. Finally, I just obtained the blue Ark from my deceased friend that lives in a well, Vector.
The last one left was the purple Ark. I could only wonder where we would find the last one. Make a guess on where it is, I dare you. Atlantica? China? Taiwan? Heh, I'd even guess very top of the North Pole in Santa Claus' house!
Team Dynamite returned me home to the Babylon Rogues, where Wave was flipping out and screaming at me. Top of her lungs, making my attenae bleed. Well, metaphorically speaking, she did. Bark explained the whole ordeal to the Babylon Rogues while I dried off. Bean and Nack kept bugging Jet on selling the Arks on the black market. It left with them with black eyes, courtesy of Storm.
Speaking of Storm, he was the first one to ask me where Stream was.
No one spoke. Team Dynamite and I exchanged glances. Tomo shoved me towards him, whispering that since I was like his little brother, I had to tell him. I glared back at the four bounty hunters, while they just whistled harmlessly.
"What's with you four?" Kiba asked, appearing in the doorway. "Making a child talk for you. Shameful."
"Shut it, woman!" Nack shouted, pointing a finger at him. Tomo smacked him over the head. "What did I do?"
I flew towards Storm. Feeling like I would throw-up, I muttered, "Stream defected over to Rodrigo..."
"What?" Storm asked, cocking his head.
"Stream's gone to Rodrigo's side," I repeated, louder than the first.
Silence. Cold, unforgiving silence. Storm's eyes bulged, gaping. The other Babylon Rogues just stared on in shock. Wave had one of her hands over her beak, trying to hold her surprise inside. The albatross backed up a few steps, smiling in disbelief. He was shaking his head slowly, side to side and repeat.
"N-no way, Charmy," he finally said, voice quivering. "Th-that's just..."
"Storm, I'm telling you the truth," I interpoded, grabbing his large hand. My head was hanging down by my chest.
"...I have to be alone for little while," he murmured, snatching his hand away. Adjusting his poncho (ROFL), he shoved his hands into his jacket pocket. Jet tried to get his attention, but Wave ordered him to stay back.
I never saw Storm look so distraught. He looked ready to just commit suicide. Stream would pay dearly for forcing my friend into this minor depression. Heck, I wold make sure of it!
Team Dynamite slowly made their way to the door, until Kiba threw one of her arrows at Bean. It went straight under his armpit and stabbed into the airship's door. Thank God we docked earlier. The panda wrapped an arm around Bean's neck, demanding why her boyfriend was acting so angsty. Bean, face starting to turn purple, tried to speak, but all that came out were garbles. Kiba finally released him, allowing them to leave. She rushed past us and into Storm's room.
Jet stared down at his past. Miserable for his best friend's loss, he sighed. Slamming his eyes shut, he made a vow to exact revenge on that accursed girl. Ordering Wave and I to follow him into his office, he told us to get our Extreme Gear. Wave and I exchanged confused and worried looks and instantly obeyed.
Lounging leisurely in his leather chair, Jet tapped his fingers on his wooden desk. We got him a new one after he went berserk during the Shadow Jet incident and threw it out the window.
"Why did you call us in here, Jet? What's wrong?" Wave asked, concern for her boyfriend wracking his voice.
Oblivious to the question, Jet's gaze was more afixated on the clouds outside. Finishing drumming his fingers on his desk, Jet sighed deeply. "Charmy, Wave, we're going to Angel Island. We're going to have some more help from some old friends of yours." He pointed at me.
"Me? What? Wait, do you mean...?" My breathe caught in my throat. "Mighty and Ray?"
He nodded.
"Ya-hoo!" I cried, backflipping several times. I haven't seen those two in a few weeks! They were supposed to be referees in the Ex. World Grand Prix, but apparantly because Knuckles had to go to face Storm, he left Mighty and Ray in charge of guarding his precious gem. Wish I could've saw them because maybe they could've saved Sonic from death.
Wave grabbed me by my wings in one fluent motion. The swallow shook her head with a smirk at my childish behavior. "Calm down or we won't go. In fact, we'll just tie you to a tree."
"Again?"
"Yes, again."
Ignore that. I'm not even going to get into the tree business. It was just enough to make me simmer down. Sitting on Jet's desk, I asked when we were going.
Jet stood and hitched his thumb to the door, saying we would leave immediately. Following our leader outside, we flew up and headed directly towards Angel Island. I lagged behind while Jet and Wave talked sweet nothings to each other. Jet was continously scratching his head, making me smirk to myself.
Nothing his green Ark on wrist, I studied my yellow master Ark. It seemed so harmless, so completely natural. The Ark was ordinairy, like a metal bracelet. Glaring at it, I childishly made a face at it, only to be reflected back at me. And the sun just desired to screw me in some way, so it shined its non-glorious light in my sensitive eyes. Wincing in pain, I bit the Ark, growling like a mad dog.
"What are you doing?" Wave asked, stopping with Jet by her side.
"Uh, nothing?" I sheepishly replied, hiding my hands in my jacket pocket.
"Riiight, whatever." Turning around, Jet pointed a finger up at a landmass in the sky. "Thar she blows! Angel Island up north!"
"...Idiot," Wave muttered, zooming past him with me chuckling right behind her. She ignored Jet's complains as he followed.
Angel Island flourished with beauty. Trees, bushes, small animals like Chao all around. Chao Gardens actually resided back on the floating masterpiece to reintiate the past around four thousand years ago when Tikal and Chaos lived. Well, Tikal was revived with Chaos, but that doesn't matter. She now lives on the island as another guardian.
Making our way past the mushroom zones, I distictively remembered that it was around here that I was captured by Eggman for the first time. It was here that I met Knuckles, Espio, and Mighty. Along with the evil Hyper Metal Sonic. This Metal Sonic was the second Metal Sonic created by Eggman when the first one was destroyed by Sonic when he first met Amy.
We stumbled upon the shrine. Frivolous Chao danced and played around in a nearby lake. Tikal sat by the waterbed, feeding a chao a fruit. Ray was right behind her, patting a red chao with two spikes on its head. Mighty and Knuckles were on top the shrine; Knuckles sleeping by the Master Emerald; Mighty sitting on the emerald.
Calling out the them, Mighty leaped off the shrine and landed on the first step. He embraced me tightly, nearly cracking my back in half. I gave a little gasp, trying to hug him back. Ray dragged his friend off me, noticing my breathless face. He greeted us, waving at the birds behind me. Tikal woke up Knuckles, who rolled, ever-so-slightly, and fell all the way down those shrine steps.
"Coool," Jet said, watching Knuckles' crumpled form twitch.
The echidna in question, struggled to his feet as Mighty dragged him up. He groaned, rubbing his head. Immediately, he snapped to attention, ran up the steps, and checked up on the Master Emerald. Feeling it around, he catiously inspected it for any damages or if any pieces dispersed. Relieved, he wiped sweat off his brow and casually walked back to us.
"You are completely stupid," Wave quipped, patting Knuckles' shoulder.
"Shut up!" Knuckles shouted, which was completely irrevelvant to me. "Why are you guys even here?" He was still disturbed over the loss of Sonic.
"We didn't ride all this way to witness your ugly mug! We came here to ask Mighty and Ray something," Jet explained, glaring at Master Emerald guardian.
Ray's ears twitched at the mention of his name. Gaining confidence in himself made him lose his stuttering problems, or was it me making fun of him whenever I came here? I dunno, honestly. "What do you need of us?" he asked, his bushy tail starting to unravel.
"Well, we were wondering if we could have your skills to locate the last Ark of the Cosmos," Jet explained, making Wave and I stare at him.
Mighty paused, stared down at my Ark, than Jet's Ark, and replied, "What's an Ark of the Cosmos?"
SMACK. Wave retreated her wrench back into her vest pouch. Mighty held his head, rubbing a forming bruise. Scratching the inside of his Shrek-like ear, the armadillo merely smiled at her. He acted as though the wound didn't affect him.
"That wasn't really nice. Kind young ladies shouldn't harm people," he stated simply. His grin was as wide as the Master Emerald.
Flinching wasn't easy for Wave. No one had ever recovered from her evil wrench attack so quickly. Grumbling angrily to herself, she glared meekly at Mighty. However, she soon found herself flushed when Mighty started to pat her head.
"I'm sorry for making you upset, Wave," Mighty apologized, sincerity vivid in his tone. His grin never wavered, but grew larger. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Wave blushed, but than she noticed that Jet was twitching. It was obvious he was jealous, but Mighty paid no mind. The hawk swiped out his bansho fans and aimed one at Mighty. Mighty merely poked at it, observing how soft the feathers are. Jet snarled at him, instantly regretting his proposal.
Ray stepped between the two. The same as two years ago, Ray always avoided and prevented violence. Just like his best friend Mighty. The timid twelve-year-old glanced over to Mighty with fear illuminating in his eyes.
Giving his friend a weary grin, he asked Jet to calm down. Peacefully, he gently took the fans away from him and placed them on the shrine. He took out Gears and adjusted them next to his fans.
Glaring at Jet, I wondered why he was such a jerk to Mighty. Only because he was trying to calm Wave down? Now that is pure envy. We followed them over to Tikal. The echidna princess greeted us, holding a grey chao with a horn on its head. Releasing the chao to frolic with a few other chao, she called on someone called Chaos to look after the chao.
A thick puddle slithered over to her. Taking the shape of a still liquified body with beady greenish-black eyes and a glowing brain, it came to my attention that this was Chaos Zero, a mutated chao protecter and the god of destruction. He couldn't speak, but gathered the other chao, and they followed him to the other side of the shrine.
"So, just what exactly does Rodrigo want with the Arks this time?" Knuckles asked when Tikal and Chaos were gone to play with the chao.
"Apparantly, he wants to turn our world into a spaceship to take over Babylon," I explained. "He's gonna use the Arks' gravity power to lift up the world and invade, or something like that."
"Well, we have to stop him then!" Jet exclaimed since I never told them what happened.
"But he found some minions' help, right?" Knuckles smartly deducted, strangly enough.
I nodded. "How'd you know, Knuckles?"
Knuckles guided us back up to the Master Emerald, telling us the emerald allowed him and the others to see the commotion on Babylon Garden. The leading emerald was glowing brighter than before. Chaos slithered back up to us in puddle form before returning to normal. Knuckles and Chaos placed their hands on the green gem, muttering something in their last language of the echidnas. Shining so brightly that it burned my eyes and could've caused anyone with poor eyesight blindness, the emerald suddenly flashed us a vision on the surface. It was of Rodrigo and myself. He was holding me, bruised and unconsious in one arm with a swarm of what appeared to be bird demons in the background. Rodrigo held me high in the air before shouting something in the Babylonian language and stabbing me with the kunai knife Espio gave me. The vision ended soon after.
Mighty looked horrified at the emerald. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Without warning, he enveloped me in a hug that probably broke my back. Having tears pour from his eyes, he shouted, "You poor little bee! I shall protect from this demon!"
"Um, he's not a demon; he's a evil spirit," Wave explained with a sour expression. "and my ancestor."
Chaos glanced over to Wave and gently patted her head before walking down the steps. However before he got to the fourth step, Jet blow a large gust of wind with his fans and blow the god into a tree. Chaos Zero was now a large gush of water that was twitching. Wave felt her doorag, cringing as water started to drip down her face.
A feminine voice behind us began to laugh brutishly. Turning around revealed herself as Stream. Thunder stood behind her. On his jacket read the word SARGE, his new alias. Sarge had his arms crossed over his chest whilst Stream had herself on Rodrigo's Ark of the Cosmos.
"It's quite funny how you're going to be the sacrifice in Lord Rodrigo's plan!" Stream howled with laughter.
"Stream, why?" Wave asked, desperately trying to air off the water in her doorag.
"Why? Wave, out of all the Rogues, I thought you were the one with the most common sense. Appears that you're just stupid like your little boy toy there."
SNAP. If I knew anything it would be two things: Never call Jet little and to never insult Wave's intelligence in any manner possible. Wave brandished her wrench while Jet prepared his fans. Believing they were looking for a dirty fight, Wave conjured a few hidden bombs up in her hand.
However, Stream lifted her Ark, shouting, "Gravity Control!" The gravity around the two suddenly dropped down on us heavily, making it hard to breathe as our faces were slammed into the ground.
Sarge sauntered over to us, seemingly unaffected by the sudden change in gravity. He snatched Jet's wrist, claiming his green Ark. Grabbing my petite body, I chomped down on his hand as he started for my Ark. The exiled wolf cried out with pain, throwing me into the Master Emerald.
"CHARMY, GET THE MASTER EMERALD!" Knuckles screamed hysterically.
I snatched the giant emerald before it had a chance to break apart into pieces. Believe me, you wouldn't want to know what Knuckles would do/say if his precious Master Emerald was broken, again. Snarling, Sarge rushed at me using his newly-acquired power over gravity. Countering with my Ark, I blasted a Gravity Beam at him.
While researching the Arks, Wave discovered that the Arks could use much more powerful techiniques then just Gravity Control and Gravity Dive. One such as Gravity Beam which was a move where the user blast a stream of gravity against an opponent. More to be discovered, however.
Anyway, Sarge and I were locked in a battle with the Gravity Beams. He was shoving me back with every advancing step. He was just too strong for me, so I called off the attack and flew out of the way wearily. The beam blasted against a tree that landed on top of the chaos' river. The chao mourned for their loss.
"Ow, annoying pest!" Stream shouted as the grey chao with a horn bit onto her arm. She swatted it away with her powerful arm. However, the chao kept coming back for more as it tried to pry the Ark away from Stream. "S-stop it, you darn brat!" The chao cried out as Stream started to strangle it.
Tikal rushed up to her and snatched the chao away. She was in tears. "Please, I'm begging you, don't hurt these people anymore!"
The albatross girl paused, pretending to think. "Sorry, mole, but I can't."
"Can't? You mean you won't!"
"Uh, duh?"
Finally at the end of her rope, Tikal raised her right hand. "Forgive me, please. God's Lightning!" From the heavens above came a solitary streak of orange lightning that struck Stream hard. She screamed aloud and faltered down. Tikal winced, suddenly asking for even more forgiveness.
With Stream down, the gravity returned to normal. Mighty dashed up to Sarge and lifted him with one hand. Grunting with effort, the powerhouse armadillo simply tossed Sarge into the alter. He was on Sarge in seconds with an onslaught of punches. Having no time to retaliate, Sarge managed to pull up a defense with his arms covering his face, but left his chest wide open. Mighty smirked, nailing Sarge in the stomach area. Sarge wheezed for a split second, but snatched Mighty's arm and punched him in the face. Mighty just acted as though it didn't affect him. Being the strongest thing alive, Mighty was pretty much immune to physical attacks like punches or bullets from his hard shell. Rubbing his chin, Mighty grinned broadly and kicked Sarge in the face. Free from the wolf's grasp, Mighty launched himself onto him and picked him up once more and tossed him down the steps of the shrine.
Sarge groaned, holding his chest in pain. That armadillo could seriously stomp someone when he ticked him off! Hacking up a tiny about of blood, Sarge faced Mighty again whom leaped from the steps and landed in front of the wolf with a fighting position at ready. Sarge activated his Ark once more, sending out a Gravity Beam until Ray leaped onto his back and covered his eyes. Mighty lunged at Sarge, dodging the beam and swiped his Ark.
"Fool!" Stream shrieked, punching Tikal in the face as she dashed to Sarge. However, Wave snatched her by her dredlocked ponytail and she tripped backwards into Wave's fist.
"Never talk to me like that! I'm not stupid, like a certain albatross girl," Wave snorted, raising her wrench.
Stream gulped, remembering the time where Wave brutily smashed her wrench over her brother's face. With a quick flick of her wrist, Wave smashed her wrench down on Stream's face, rendering her unconsious. She mumbled stuff in her brain-dead world.
Feeling a bit useless in the situation, I flew down to Stream and stole her Ark. The two Arks on my wrist glowed brightly, as did the one on Sarge's wrist. They were reacting to each other, like they do whenever one was near. Smiling at my accomplishment, I gazed into each Ark, watching my reflection in their dimming lights.
Sarge sighed to himself, completely disgusted at Stream's failure. Flinching, he noticed he was surronded by everyone, including the little chao. Now, Sarge was against picking on chao; it just wasn't in his nature to attack those harmless blobs.
Finally being of use, Jet swirled his fans and created a large gust of wind that blasted into Sarge, sending him into the alter's steps. However, Sarge conjured up a bolt of lightning from his hand and aimed it at Mighty. Mighty was blasted back into the river where the chaos played. He coughed out water, trying to unclog his ears.
"What are you doing, Sarge?" a voice behind them commanded.
Sarge cringed, turning around. Behind him was a burnt orange falcon with a gold, crooked beak. The falcon had aqua eyes with a simple brown trenchcoat and knee-high black boots. His accesories included a small blue opal embedded into his forehead. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, there was a small green ruby crusted onto Sarge's forehead. On Stream's forehead was a bright pink diamond.
"Lord Rodrigo orders you and Stream back to his headquarters on Babylon Garden," he quipped coldly, his tone monotone. "He says that because you have lost his Ark, you shall be dire consquences. On the lighter side, I managed to steal this." He raised his left wrist, revealing the final blue Ark of the Cosmos.
"Hey!" I shouted. "That's Sonic's!"
His eyes wavered onto me. "So you were the one that slayed Lord Rodrigo. An honor. I wish I had the time to test your abilities, but I'm afraid I've come to collect these two screw-ups."
Sarge growled. "It's Stream's fault for losing Jet's Ark."
"I don't really care. You should've been able to intervene."
Mighty stood, attempting to vainly shake himself dry. The chaos laughed, forgetting the danger they were in as Mighty splashed water onto them. The falcon paused, staring down at the armadillo. A red chao with bird wings approached him, flying up to him. The falcon gently petted him before setting him back with Tikal.
Tikal smiled at him. "You don't seem bad. What's your name?"
"I am Cannon," he said, slinging Stream over his shoulder. "Come along, Sarge." '
The wolf hesistated before obediatenly following. Grumbling insults to himself, he glanced over his shoulder at us and frowned. Cannon raised his hand and shouted something in the Babylonian language. In an instant, they vanished.
I glanced at the the chao that adored Cannon. It burst into tears in Tikal's arms as she tried to subdue it. Sniffling, the bird-like creature hovered back over to its friends and resumed playing by the shrine. Tikal sighed deeply, wishing for that chao's happiness to return.
"That Cannon fellow," Ray started, rubbing a forming bruise from where Sarge threw him off. "he seemed...nice?"
"That would be the word to describe that falcon," Wave agreed, nodding her head. She twirled her wrench in her hand. "I'm just glad I got to smack Stream around for that betrayal!"
"And for putting Storm through that little depression episode," Jet added, resting his head in her shoulder. Sighing, he snuggled into her neck, tired.
"Cuuuute," Tikal cooed as she threw a tiny beach ball to the other chao.
Wave blushed, waving her hand in disgrace at Tikal's baby voice. "Oh, just shut up."
"Cannon, I'm pretty sure that we'll have to fight each other..." I thought, staring at the smoke he left behind.
--
Next: Cannon
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