PoC: Ah yes feeling muuuuuch better now! But…yeah I'm still late with this, aren't I?
Metal: Well last I checked you failed to update MY fic, and now coddle my copy by giving him an even bigger lead on my plot. Not to mention you had the gall to go read and review other stories, but still had nooo time for mine. Have you no shame?
PoC: First off, I thought you didn't like your fic? Secondly, I've got to enjoy reading other people's work once in a while. On a third and final note, how the hell do you know what I've been doing with my spare time?
Metal: Because there's no-
Silver: Nowhere to ruuuuuun baby!~ Nowhere to hiiiiiide!~
PoC and Metal: 0_o CHAPTER START!
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Intrigue and the Final Stone
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How horrible it was, having to wall one's own mind off just get away from some witch's invasive thoughts, or so Knuckles whined whist at last getting his bearings and heading out. It had taken much longer than he expected as morning had already crept above the horizon and beamed against his back. Being exposed and out in the open was very unlike the professional criminal to do even without mentioning the kind of area he was in. Anyone from common street thugs to high 'class' hit-men would each be more than willing to take shot at his head, given hefty price on it. Heedless of these mounting dangers and blatant threats, the echidna didn't feel driven to conceal himself. He had already wasted so much time meditating that he would likely have to beg his boss to get a cut of the pay now.
"No different from the other dead-end deals I've gotten mixed up with." He rationalized, attempting to convince himself how much it was worth to him. If not for the money, then at least he could use this job to teach that brat Sonic a lesson for crossing him. When did that little punk learn how to fight so well? Weirder than that, why was he trying to make friends with a known crook? It was odd to say the least, not mention his bewildered attitude when things went far south. Once again caught thinking these thoughts, Knuckles could've sworn he'd been mistaken about the hedgehog's identity, though this was impossible considering very few of those prickly-pears are blue and answer to the name of 'Sonic'. Hadn't he wondered all this before? Was it worth dwelling on for the second time?
No... He felt better off not knowing, for simpicity's sake. Simple was how he liked things anyway.
"Ah well it doesn't matter. I'll be staining that cobalt hue a shade of dark red soon. Now's not the time, but as soon as this job's through…" He thought to himself upon finding the hideout's entrance.
This time, however, it was strange. The place didn't feel quite so…deserted anymore. Something in the echidna's spine tingled the longer he surveyed the unhallowed threshold. True, he was no coward, but these shaded halls could give anyone the sensation of impending danger. Descending into the darkened mouth this place called an entryway alone took some level of boldness, with the dank smell and trick-of-light shadows especially. Naturally Knuckles could forgive a rotten stink or three, but did the place have to be so…quiet? Though he had never admitted it openly, the echidna was more relaxed when he had those two loud-mouthed morons to sneak up on. Their arguments or 'talks' as Maasawd called them were a beacon to follow in these hellish catacombs.
"Setting a trap for me maybe? We'll see how long that lasts…" Knuckles stopped and listened, hoping to get some kind of feedback. Nothing came, but the sensation of distress still permeated the air. Stepping even deeper in, the ex-tribesman had a new…something fill his mind. It was like a smell, but didn't have an odor. Similar to a sound, but his ears couldn't pinpoint it. All he could describe it as was a feeling, or maybe an embodiment of control, manipulation, and corruption. The guttural pit inside him worsened with each step he took. Soon enough, Knuckles had arrived at a T-shaped junction. Knowing he could find his way from here was the least of his concerns, for now the sensation of the 'presence' was quite unfortunately coming from the same path he had to take.
Gulping softy, a nervous reaction he'd not experienced in years, the not-so-tough-now echidna clenched his hand into a fist…
…and leapt around the corner.
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*Aboard the flying agency*
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Sonic didn't know how long he'd been sitting where he was. Wherever the next emerald was it must've been far out of the way and across some of the nastiest terrain, this he gathered from his back-view vantage point and the more than bumpy ride. This wasn't a good time to worry or get antsy about where he was or what he was doing; still time had begun to eat away at his calm composure. The unsettlingly rugged flight was not doing anything to help this either.
"I've got to get inside." He resolved, hoping he might be able to get some head-clearing conversation out of his fox-allies. However, as soon as the hero took a single move towards the door, his body was jostled and tossed like a rag-doll into the crumbling ground below. This would've been no harm, no foul had he not also…fallen into a newly formed chasm.
Grabbing hold of the brittle ground, the hedgehog strained and struggled to avoid falling into the dark depths below.
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*Tactichaos' POV*
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Espio was sure that if his upset stomach didn't kill him, Vector's driving was certainly going to do the trick. Admittedly the wasteland looked extremely treacherous to navigate, but that hardly made up for all the darting and weaving the mad crocodile called 'evasive maneuvers'.
"If you actually WANT us to crash and burn while getting sucked into a crevasse, then by all means keep hitting every rock you see! I'm starting to think this how you get off." The assassin icily remarked about his boss's poor house-driving skills. This really made matters no better as Vector turned to say something back, but in doing so took his eyes off a rock with an extremely jagged base.
"Every good captain goes down with his ship!" Charmy screeched in their ears whilst falling to the floor, effectively dodging one of Vector's haymaker swings (whether the bee saw the blow coming or not remains a mystery to this day). Espio did his best to snag the wheel and pull them back on course. Due to deficient warning and time to react, the chameleon was only able to salvage the ship with some heavy damage. The three were instantly thrown from the pilot seat and sent tumbling downstairs. The pile up ended with Espio crushed beneath Vector while Charmy danced on top of the other two, seemingly pleased as punch over the near-death encounter.
They were not alone for long as someone from underneath a pile of covers, rolled up rather mummy-style, made a furious effort to pull himself free from the cloth-made prison. The figure soon after was revealed to be a very red-faced and genuinely pissed off vulpine. Tails confronted the group with a grim scowl, leaving them to all reply with falsely innocent grins.
"What…the heck…are you guys…DOING?" Tails snarled at the three, placing even Espio in some shock "What are you taking a joyride or something? Can't you idiots at least drive smoothly?" these words were about as foul as a mild-mannered person like Tails would use, but his tone was clearly saying 'I'm about ten seconds away from kicking you all from here to the next island'.
"Must've woken him out of his beauty sleep." Espio growled, summoning enough strength to heave off the other two. It came to the ex-ninja's attention that not everybody was present and accounted for. The missing two hadn't come to see what all the noise was, but that wouldn't matter so long as everyone was indoors at the time of impact.
"Sonic! Where is Sonic?" Tails gasped out of nowhere, looking around frantically before heading off to other parts of the house in a flash. Returning not seconds later, the fox still wore the same face of worry as he asked again "Where is Sonic? Have any of you seen him?"
To his dismay, all three shook their heads. This led the prodigy to smack his own head in stupidity as he recalled that his blue buddy had been out on the porch when he last saw him. Fearing the worst, the fox dashed out the front door with Espio not too far behind.
"SONIC!" Tails shouted out to the open sky. Failing to wait a millisecond for a reply, the fox took to the skies in search of the blue blur. The ex-ninja didn't stop him, but couldn't understand his sudden shift in temperament. Espio had of course seen the vulpine stressed and/or freaked out in the past; however this was something else entirely. Shrugging it off temporarily, he got busy scouring the scorched landscape, which was a perilous task thanks to all the gaps popping up with each step he took. Being a stealth-obsessed assassin, Espio was annoyed with how his lightest motion still caused multiple knife-edged cracks to pop up.
"This…is going to be tricky." He sighed, hoping this risk was even worth the trouble.
Meanwhile, Tails' sky-view wasn't offering much better luck. Each and every plain of this parched region looked identical to the next, leaving the vulpine disoriented from all his spinning's and turning's. Also proving troublesome was his inability to land and rest. Most of the unstable earth had been displaced enough to make any move on the surface potentially deadly. Finally alighting on a somewhat secure rock gave the fox some much needed rest, but it presented another issue in his head regarding the terrain itself. Even if they should find Sonic, which he was more than determined to do, how would they be able to get the agency up and in the air before treacherous area gave way right out from underneath them? Wasn't everybody still trapped inside the quarters; thinking it to be a safe haven?
Tails hadn't noticed how sweaty his gloved palms had become. The tension of not seeing Sonic and the chance of losing the rest of his comrades was doing murder on his concentration.
"Focus focus…" he tried to tell himself "He can't be far from here! Come on, think! There must be a way to…" he sudden gasped in eureka. Wasn't Sonic in charge of the Chaos Emeralds? Then that would mean he could use his scanner to locate them both! It was a pity the hedgehog had removed his ear-piece when they went aboard the ship or Tails could've located him sooner via a distress call (something that had aided him in finding Vector's team).
Flipping open his always-worn pack and nabbing the portable scanner out, the fox eagerly fired up the device. Within mere seconds results were shown on the small screen…
"No! NO! This isn't right!" he shouted at the reading. It had located indeed all the emeralds in the vicinity, but they were still back in the room Sonic had been given, the room he had checked not minutes before, with only one signal looking slightly off from the others, but still located aboard the ship.
Tails cringed bitterly at the stupid machine. There was no gratefulness in his heart that Sonic hadn't dropped the emeralds in one of the chasms, or happiness that most of his team was still intact. He finished cursing the scanner and instead focused on manually locating his best friend.
A mere minute later…still nothing came and nothing could be seen for miles around. Unwilling to face any 'facts' that couldn't be proven, Tails kept on his stubborn mission towards located the lost hedgehog.
Then out of the mocking silence came a soft beeping. Tails tilted his chin in the scanner's direction without much interest. It must've just caught the emerald they were searching for, but it still couldn't find Sonic. Mule-headedly, the fox continued to ignore the beeping until the sheer volume and redundancy was about to make his head explode.
"I get it already! Just SHUT UP!" he snarled at his creation, but then, as his eye struck the read-out, he had a double-take. The emerald they were after was more east of this position last he checked, so why was this signal coming from…the north?
Gazing up then down then up again, the vulpine shouted out at blasted off full-steam for the great hole to the north. Unbeknownst to him a spectral figure appeared in the place the fox once hovered.
"My…he is certainly more difficult than I remember him being. But I can see his devotion hasn't changed in the slightest." The figure smiled warmly and faded into the endless sky.
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*With Sonic*
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Forced to choose what he hated most about this second world, Sonic would've hands down said that it had to be the life-threatening madness that without fail came after his bouts of homesickness.
Forgetting all that right now, the hedgehog was busy trying to quell a rising concern of his. What really scared him this time was not the possible fall; it was chance that he would drop the emerald he was carrying. How stupid he felt himself to bring it along for mental comfort knowing very well how important it might end up being to their success.
"Tikal… Ugh… Can you somehow get away on your own?" he asked the gem. It shimmered dimly with hopelessness, which the hedgehog took as a no. It occurred to him already that Tikal would be losing a part of herself if the emerald was lost, making his ascent that much more important.
Reaching higher he clamped his grip on a small stone that appeared just solid enough to support his weight. Checking to his left he could see no other possible hand-hold, so to compromise the hero stiffened his fingers and dug into the fragile earth. As he did so though, the rock he had placed his trust in slipped and crumbled out of the chasm's wall. In a last ditch effort, Sonic smashed most of his forearm into the hole he'd made, praying it wouldn't let him slip or crush his arm flat.
With next to no plans left, the hero pulled out the emerald once again. Looking boldly into its semi translucent surface he said "I'm going to toss you up to the top. Tails and the others will be able to find you with their emerald-tracking gizmos." The stone shone with furious light, as if protesting his every word. Thinking of only her security the sapphire hedgehog leaned his arm back and chucked the gem out of the great maw.
"Good…" he sighed contentedly "I know those guys will find you. As for me? Well…" he noticed the dirt and rock shift aggressively, cutting his arm badly enough that he had to withdraw it slightly "Heh… I'll be fine…" he sighed, straining to keep his grip up as long as possible.
"Yeah dang right you'll be fine." A voice addressed him with strong reassurance, traced with smidgen of irritation "Because I'm not going to let you do anything stupid this time." Sonic arched his head around to see Tails kick off the chasm side, freeing the hero as painlessly as possible "Don't try doing something like that again. You may be a big hero in your world, but here you're still my brother and responsibility."
Sonic grinned and shrugged casually "Aw…come on, I wasn't doing anything crazy. I knew you were going to catch me before I fell." Tails rolled his eyes clearly giving off his 'do you expect me to believe that crap?' smirk, making the two heroes burst into laughter in spite of this being their hundredth close shave this week.
Flying up to the surface at last, Sonic was reunited with the Chaos Emerald, which flashed rapidly as if scolding his carelessness. Tails hadn't taken notice of this, for he had stumbled upon something far more interesting, well for him anyway. Eventually getting the blur's attention both walked up to a small purple head sticking out of the ground. Given how much excitement they'd just had, both the fox and hedgehog struggled to not smile at how silly their endangered ally looked.
"I'm sure you gentlemen are under a lot of stress… But if it's all right with you I'd rather not spend the rest of this day STUCK IN THIS &%$ING HOLE!" the foiled Espio spat angrily, but was hiddenly thankful for the quick rescue.
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*A few minutes later *
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It was tough work carrying the two back, Sonic had noticed this but was turned down any offer to run on his own. It must've really bothered Tails a lot having almost lost him a second time. Sure, Sonic was willing to do anything to keep his bud alive, but there seemed to be more than that bothering the older vulpine. Sonic made a mental note to talk to him about it whenever they had a moment of peace.
Utterly exhausted, the fox collapsed on the porch as soon as he set the pair of comrades down. Sonic reached over to help his friend of course. He was, however, beaten to it when Espio hoisted the fox up first. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the chameleon in surprise, but let him do his thing. The cobalt hero knew someone like this Espio didn't take favors or helping others lightly.
"In addition to what's bugging him, I've got to ask Tails what the heck happened between him and our ninja friend." He chuckled and headed in after them.
Their greeting was a little wilder than expected as Charmy smashed headlong into the hedgehog with delirious elation. More peculiar than that, the bee was waving, hugging, and even kissing an emerald Sonic didn't exactly recognize.
"Looky! Looky! Looky! A SUPER SHINY! Isn't it pretty? Isn't it awesome? Can I keep it? I promise to feed it, take for walks, get it house-trained-" The hedgehog stayed completely bewildered 'til Vector's voice shrieked above the young mobian's insane gibberish.
"CHAAAAARMY! What did we just have a talk about?" the crocodile crossed his arms like a scolding mother, causing the bee to sorrowfully relinquish the emerald to Sonic. Sitting up from the sudden tackle, the hero was now sure he didn't remember seeing this emerald ever before.
"Pretty cool eh?" the head of the team shouted proudly "After we smashed into that big ol' rock I had to go outside and make some quick repairs and adjustments. So anyways, I checked the underside of our rig, and I find this baby embedded in the woodworks!" the reptile put a hand his hip in a very foolish pose after his explanation.
Tails, though still tired, quickly scanned it and confirmed the jewel to be the real deal. It was odd to have their search come to such an un-climactic end; however, no one was about to complain, for now it was time to enact the final phase of their plan: Divide into teams and rescue Rouge. Sonic had a little nervousness considering it, but he couldn't deny how pumped he was to get the mission underway.
"Good work Vector, but for now this one needs rest." Espio said and placed Tails on the couch he'd been confined to earlier "I can see you might be both brave and stupid Miles, but I respect those that aid me, even if under…humiliating circumstances." For that careless remark, the ex-ninja was asked to explain how Tails found him buried up to his head after the fox had rescued Sonic. The group had a good laugh, but shockingly Espio wasn't put off as he normally would be by the insulting senario.
"Oh while I'm at it, I know something else too. Something very, ahem, interesting." He grinned evilly at his cunning rival "I wonder, Tails, why you weren't worried about where Amethyst was? She was missing this whole time, wasn't she?" The rest of the group blinked and realized that it was true; they still hadn't located the vixen. Tails, on the other hand, widened his eyes in a 'you wouldn't dare' manner.
But the chameleon didn't have to say another word. Instead, the vixen herself rose up rubbed her eyes…strangely from the same pile of sheets Tails had been using earlier.
"Hey guys, did I miss anything?" she asked genuinely.
It took a moment for everything to fall into place. Once it had though, Vector collapsed to the floor, laughing until tears started to build in his eyes. Sonic scratched his quills in confusion until the point hit him like a sucker-punch. He then, in a state of mortified fear, raced to the bathroom with all the speed he possessed. Charmy didn't understand thankfully, though he still felt compelled to dance to the tune of Vector's guffaws. Espio gave a cruel sideways glance, signifying he'd gotten the last laugh. Amethyst meanwhile rightly denied their disturbing assumptions, but found her words to be wasted on the generally pig-headed group.
The bed-bound fox resigned to covering his face up with one of his tails while saying "I hate you… I really freaking hate all of you…"
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End of Chapter Twenty-six
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No comments from me this time. Not on my lateness, not on my just-started-semester, nothing. Ah dang it, I just commented didn't I? XD It's only right of me to say that for all of you who liked the eating contest last chap, you can thank Dark Fox Tailz for that idea.
DanceDream: And this, my dear lady, is where OCC-ness is good. In character Silver is cool, but his odd-duck side is where the funnies are. Yep poor Amy's mom…no daughter, no safe neighborhood, no name…WHAT'S THIS WORLD COMING TO? *Exhales* Okay, I'm calm XD. I'm very glad you liked it. Yep that's why the name "Rash decisions" those choices were adopted with our heroes not really in their right mind, but hey maybe it'll all work out (heh-heh but you can't trust PoC can you XD). I don't know if you're in school or not, but if, like me, you are I hope it's going well for you and I wish us both luck!
Ghostkid33: Heh let's just hope she doesn't have some piko-piko treatment waiting for her young'un. Welp, Amy's got to get involved somehow XD. Haha I know, I love making Espio proud and tough, but still a bungling member of Team Chao-err I mean "Tactichaos" XD You're more than welcome for the B-day shout!
Serenity: Yeah but he's doing better than before that is for sure. I'll get back to Amy and the others next chap. Hope you liked this one as well! Oh and uhh sorry for how late Rise is. I'll do my best to get it out by tomorrow at the latest. I suck I know :(
Infamousplot: As usual, review whenever you've got the time!
Kindra Mckleen: Indeed that might've been too predictable on my part, but hey she needs to get involved somehow. Maria and Amy are coming back next chap so I'll get more into their tie in soon. I liked that idea too, that's why I offer credit to the user that gave it to me. I don't often take ideas, but that one really fit, and I'm glad you agree :).
knight of the windZ10Z: Glad you liked it! Yup Sonic only made it worse with the 'pat on the back' thing XD. Ame is your typical girl stuck around a bunch of guys. In the end though, nobody walked away unscathed! It took a while to get this last emerald part in. I wanted it to be something of a mirror of the first emerald as finding is actually really easy, and Tails ends trying to save Sonic this time. Next comes the teams and rescue! Let the first climax begin!
Sierra Zanimalini14: The eating contest wasn't my idea exactly as stated in the notes above, but I'm still happy you liked it. Keep up the fine work with your fics too!
Super Shadix 520: I didn't get much of chance to describe this last area, but it basically is a rotting waste land with almost desert-like qualities. Overall, I like this place the least (Ivory Mountains were my personal favorite). Still, I hope I did well enough on it. All seven is for the second climax, and thus not for some time.
Sparkling-nexis137: I thank you for your loyal support! Yes I tried to keep her out of one chap just so the guys could have some antics to themselves (sans the last prank on poor Tails). I aim to please everyone!
prowerboy: I don't know if I got a review from you or not, but if I did and I missed it sorry and hope you enjoy this chap!
Dark Fox Tailz: They have a complex past that's for sure. I'll likely include more Tails vs. Espio clashes next chapter.
Until next time!