Chapter Fourteen – Defiance
By the time the children awoke, their father had gone, along with his long black coat. There was outright panic. Sukko had been in a very bad way, the previous day, on the verge of dying, and with him gone, it was utterly terrifying. All four children ran around the main house on Angel Island and the surrounding area, desperately looking for their father. Their panic caused such commotion, that it woke absolutely everyone up.
Shadow and Rouge came running, followed closely by Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Zooey with Amber. All four of the Sorcerer's children was calling for him like crazy.
"Dad?" They cried. "Dad?" They whimpered. But Rouge frowned.
"Hey, what's going on?" She stammered, but Sapphire just rounded on her. She growled.
"It's Dad, he's gone." She spat. But everyone went absolutely white. But Rouge just gulped, as all the parents just looked at each other.
"You don't mean.." She stuttered, but Sapphire just rolled her eyes and grinned.
"No. He's missing. We're just found him physically gone from his bed this morning." She smiled, but Max ran past her having searched one side of the island to Super-Speed search the other. He heaved.
"Yep. He's done a runner." He panted, before disappearing again, with a super-speed roar. But Knuckles just blinked in astonishment. He gasped.
"But I checked him myself yesterday. He was at death's door." He stammered, but the Sorcerer's children just all giggled at him. Jade grinned.
"You don't know our Dad that well." She smiled. But Crystal smiled, holding out her hands ahead of her, concentrating hard. Beautifully white wisps of light exploded from them in all directions, her eyes glowing a stunning silver. She heaved. "Because a Blue Hedgehog never dies, he chooses to leave. Uncle Sonic did, believing it was the right thing to do, and it was. The world is significantly more prosperous without him, then it ever would have been with. Dad's not going anywhere, yet." She smiled, and then she gritted her teeth, concentrating hard. Finally, she smirked. "Got him. Dad's still on Angel Island." She beamed, feeling his lifeforce. Suddenly, Max was back, having overheard the conversation, speeding to a halt. He heaved in relief.
"Oh good. At least, this isn't a wild goose chase, and he's not on the planet below." He sighed, utter relived. "The chances of us finding him down there, were pretty much zero." He growled. "But it still doesn't make the King of Stealth any easier to find." He heaved. "How did Uncle Sonic deal with this?" He frowned. But Sapphire just hissed, gritting her teeth.
"If this is a wind up by Dad, I'll kill him." He hissed, but then she smiled. "But the story I heard was that no matter where Dad hid, Uncle Sonic always find him." She giggled, but Max rounded on his sister.
"Well, I'm sorry, Saffie, but I'm not that good." He hissed. But Crystal just giggled, dissipating her Chaos Powers.
"No." She grinned. "It was because you didn't share a Psychic Link with him." She smiled. Suddenly, her three other siblings just stared at her, and all of the go very white. They deeply shudder. Sapphire just gulped.
"I know Dad's Telepathic, but that's ridiculous. To have him permanently inside your head." She gasped. All of the children, including Crystal, go very quiet, desperately shaking their head.
Er, no thank you.
Suddenly, and without warning, the ground completely gives way, and Angel Island just disappears beneath their feet, it plummeting to the vast ocean below. Everyone was left screaming, hovering in mid air, as the island fell, until after several minutes, they land with an enormous bang, onto the almighty waves below. There was crashing and smashing everywhere, as anything not tied down was thrown about. Everyone was completely knocked off their feet and winded, but thankfully, no one was injured.
Very disorientated, it took a few minutes for everyone to find their bearings again. Everyone gets up heaving. The ocean could be seen over the edges of Angel Island, as it now bobbed up and down with the extremely strong waves. Max and Sapphire looked at each other.
"What just happened?" They said together, but suddenly, Knuckles and Rouge desperately look at each other. Both go extremely white as there was only one reason why Angel Island would suddenly fall from the sky. The removal of the Master Emerald from the alter. If it wasn't one of them, then who? Knuckles gasped.
"The alter, the Master Emerald's gone." He spat, throughly unimpressed. But just as he was about the run straight for it, they suddenly heard something on the wind. Beautiful and clear, the most stunning singing voice they had ever heard. Deep, male, and melodious. It was in absolutely pitch perfect, and superbly in tune, the operatic aria being sung, was done flawlessly. Everyone just stopped and listened. Rouge blinked.
"Whoa. That's incredible." She gasped, very impressed. But Sapphire just swore.
"No, it is a friggin' wind up." She heaved, pointing in the direction of the incredible singing voice. "Because that's Dad." She spat, throughly unimpressed. Everyone just blinked in utter astonishment. But Rouge just gulped.
"But Big Blue couldn't sing like that." But Sapphire just giggled.
"Nope. They're opposites, remember, so Uncle Sonic was a guitarist. A good one." She grinned. But Tails suddenly piped up. He beamed.
"Hey, I've heard him play, when I was very young. I remember he was really good." He bounced, but Sapphire and Max just looked at each other, and giggled. Max rounded in him.
"Yeah, but I bet you never heard him speed play a banjo." He grinned. As suddenly, both twins disappeared into the scrubland and towards the alter of the Master Emerald, Max leaving everyone far behind. Their younger sisters, just giggled and went straight after them, to everyone else just staring at each other.
A banjo?
Regardless, everyone was quickly running after them, towards the beautiful singing voice of Sukko The Hedgehog, getting louder and louder. But Knuckles was fuming, as he growled hard, while running.
"What's he done to the Master Emerald? I swear if he's..." He hissed, letting the sentence hang, but Jade who was running level with them, just giggled.
"No, Dad hasn't done anything. That's not his style. He's properly just sat on it." She smiled, and everyone just blinked.
And he was.
Simply sat atop of the Master Emerald, the mighty Sorcerer lounged, back in his long, black coat, a large mug of tea in his hand, singing his heart out. Several people were often found singing, sat on top of the mighty green gemstone. The sight wasn't that unusual except the fact that the Master Emerald and all seven Chaos Emeralds that surrounded it, atop their individual pillars, were completely and utterly dead.
No life, no soul, nothing.
No light shone from the alter, and the Master Emerald had stopped turning. It was dull, grey and utterly devoid of life. It just sat there ice cold and foreboding, Knuckles gulped, desperately wondering what had happened to it. But seeing it like this, he now wasn't surprised Angel Island had just fallen out of the sky.
Sukko completely ignored the suddenly influx of people to the base of the alter, as he was just enjoying himself far too much. Max howled with laughter, but Sapphire just lost her temper with him.
"Dad, move." She spat, as everyone just surrounded her in utter bewilderment. Not only was the mighty Sorcerer absolutely fine, but he was now being a total git. But Jade and Crystal just giggled, Sukko just smirked in utter defiance. He stopped singing, drank from his tea and looked at her.
"Why?" He sniggered. But Sapphire just exploded at him.
"Because, Dad, you've knocked out the power of the Chaos and Master Emeralds." She spat. Then panting, she turned to the others to explain herself. "You see, Chaos Sorcery is so incredibly powerful in it's own right, that it physically can't be further enhanced by external Power Stones. The Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, and even the Sol Emeralds do absolutely nothing for either me or Dad, no matter what we do." She explained. "All a Sorcerer has to do is simply just touch a Power Stone of any kind and it will immediately loose it's glow, becoming cold and dormant, extremely dull, with no life or soul at all. But don't worry, it's only temporary, once Dad moves." She hissed, turning back to him. "The Chaos and Master Emeralds will go back to normal as if nothing happened." She added.
But Sukko just giggled, just raising his tea, signalling cheers, and visible shrugged.
"What?" He defended. "I didn't know that." He smirked, on purposely winding up his eldest daughter even more. She just exploded, running up the alter after him. She screamed.
"Lair, lair, tail on fire." She growled. Of course, Sukko knew. He'd taught that to her. But what she'd spat that at him, it was just too good to miss. His eyes suddenly glowed and out of nowhere, the base of the back of Sapphire's three-quarter black coat, suddenly exploded in huge bright blue flames. It caused her to stop, immediately scream and then ditch the garment. She wasn't happy, panting, looking at her father, who was now behaving appallingly badly. Sukko could be this way, it just didn't happen very often. His bad behaviour normally came out in the bedroom, as he'd slept around a lot but even the Sorcerer had to admit, his children weren't old enough to know that. He smirked.
"What?" He spat. "Your idea." He giggled. "Look, I'd seen Rouge singing up here, so I thought I'd have a go." He shrugged. But Sapphire just heaved, looking at the Bat. She heaved.
"Yes, but she's not a ruthlessly powerful Sorcerer, who Chaos Sorcery is so strong that it can knock out the power of both the Master and Chaos Emeralds." She growled.
But Sukko's eyes just narrowed, as his temper just flared. That hit a nerve as his eldest daughter had, very much, just crossed the line. He obviously knew that. But to be told it, in such a way, was very disrespectful. Time to put his eldest daughter in her place.
Literally.
His temper just exploded, and his dark form took hold, as immediately a deep purple aura surrounded his entire body, his quills turning upwards, his eyes vanished. All around him and the Master Emerald alter, large black clouds appeared, rolling in out of nowhere, as deep thunder rumbled across the sky as giant pale blue lightning strikes landed. Over a hundred, which caused everyone to scream. They were fake, illusions, but with Sukko, that didn't matter, they were real. Now all four of his children whimpered with fear, as Sapphire gulped and hard. She was in trouble and she knew it. But she stood her ground rather then fleeing. It was actually better.
The Sorcerer, then got up and stands atop the mighty Master Emerald, and then without a moment's thought, all the while still holding his tea, he just steps of the edge of the enormous green gemstone and takes to the air. Activating his Super-Flight, he gentle glided though the air, lightning still falling all around him, as people back away as he lands on the alter steps, directly in front of Sapphire. Everyone stared. Yes, he could fly. Still growling, he looks nose to nose with his daughter, and hissed at her and hard. He growled.
"Sapphire. I'm the best there is." He leered, extremely coldly. Sapphire nodded vigorously, as her father just holds up his free hand and with a single snap of a finger, both the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, immediately spring back to life, instantly returning to normal as though nothing had even happened. Suddenly, there was rumbling beneath them, as Angel Island return to the sky again.
Suddenly, all the Magic vanished, the lightning strikes disappeared, and Sukko returned to normal, incredibly fast. Drinking his tea, he absentminded looked skywards. He smirked.
"Hey, Echidna. What's up with the weather? I didn't know we were expecting a storm today." He giggled, and with Knuckles just blinking at him, the Sorcerer just wonders down from the alter and off into the trees and was gone. Sapphire just exploded with relief now that her father was finally out of sight. She sighed and hard.
"I hate him so much." She spat but Max just rounded on her, offended. He hissed.
"Hey, no you don't." He growled. He knew that wasn't true. Sapphire genuinely loved her father, no matter how badly he wound her up. Looking at her twin brother, finally she nodded, but she heaved, looking at the others.
"You know, that's how you can tell a true born Phronshentico. That temper." She hissed, indicating her father. "We all have it." She added, of which all the other children nodded. But Sapphire sighed. "It's the curse of our family. But if you think Dad's is bad, then Uncle Sonic's was far worse. Truthfully, he never lost it often, but when he did. Wow, you ran away, very fast. Even though Uncle Sonic never actually hurt anyone, the pure darkness was just frightening. He could maintain that temper for hours, causing even my Dad to falter." She gulped, but then she giggled. "I know Dad has an extremely short fuse, but he also has a very short dispersal. He can't maintain it. Their opposites, remember. Just stand your ground against him. He'll break before you will, just hold your nerve." She added. Everyone nodded, they had all seen Sonic's temper before. But Sapphire growled. "But I just don't understand. How does Dad do what he does? I have Chaos Sorcery as well, and I have only mastered five techniques. Dad has eight and had mastered them all by the time he was just fifteen. How can I even compare?" She cried. But Max rounded on her. He heaved.
"Because you can't. Dad and Uncle Sonic were in a league entirely their own. Only a Blue Hedgehog can pack that much Chaos Power under the hood." He spat, to several people nodding in agreement. "They didn't win the war against Eggman by chance." He hissed. "They were that good." He added, but then he cried. "But there is such a thing as too much power. I'm learning that now. You feel like you can't match, Dad." He sniffed. Sapphire shook her head. But Max deeply sighed. "Well, I have the opposite problem. With Uncle Sonic, whom I've inherited my abilities from, I out power him. Literally, in everything. I'm faster the him, stronger then him, can do moves in ways he never even have dreamed of, and yet he's still the Hero and I'm not. There is significantly more to it then pure Chaos Power alone, it's ultimately down what you do with it that counts. As to what, I don't know, but I think you have to dig your own path with your powers. For the longest time, I wasn't sure how I'm going to match Uncle Sonic's incredibly heroic reputation out there, on Mobius, helping people, until I decided I'm not going to bother, because I can't. I'm Max, not the nephew of the Hero of Mobius. Stop trying to be something your not, Sapphire. Your not Dad, and never will be. You have Chaos Sorcery, do something useful with it." He spat. "When I realised that I was something entirely different to Uncle Sonic, I stopped the comparisons. Now, I'm so much better for it." He admitted.
Sonic was the Blue Blur, Max was the Berry Boy. His Uncle the King of Speed and Max, the King of the Hyperblast. Max may have been much more powerful, but Sonic would always be the Hero of Mobius, and intensely proud the Purple Hedgehog was too. Sonic still officially held the Mobius Land Speed Record, on paper, despite Max being much faster. But the Purple Hedgehog had never formally challenged him for it, and now decided he wasn't going to. Sonic The Hedgehog was the King of Speed. The Hero and should forever stay that way. Max walked away from his twin sister, as Sapphire just heaved.
"Ok, fine, but like what? What job can Chaos Sorcery do, without getting caught? I can't go into medicine because I can't heal, Crystal can, and she's training to be a nurse." She shrugged, indicating her sister, who nodded proudly. But Jade just bounced.
"I got the Orbing. Just that, but I'm researching into starting my own business in instantaneous deliveries via teleportation. There's been a lot of interest so far." She giggled. But Max sighed.
"Er, at the moment, I just want to travel and help out wherever I can. Uncle Sonic told be endless stories about this planet, before he died, places of which I've never seen." He gulped, shifting slightly embarrassed. He wasn't actually as well travelled at his Uncle. He enjoyed the helping out part far too much. But then he growled, rounded on Sapphire again. "I suspect Dad will be going back to the hospital again, despite everything, but what are you going to do? You can't go back prancing about being an all powerful Sorcerer, which you clearly are not, in that stupid coat of yours." He hissed, which was still smouldering on the floor of the Master Emerald alter. Max scowled. "Ditch it. You're not Dad." He spat, and with they he just sped away, taking his two younger sisters with him, back to the main house on Angel Island.
Sapphire just stood there in floods of tears. She had no idea. Max was exactly right. She wasn't her father, but what was she? She just didn't know. As everyone moved away from the alter, and back home again, Tails was left standing alone, next to Sapphire, just staring at her hands. She looked at him.
"Can I help you?" She stammered, politely, a perfect reflection of her father. She knew of Tails, but never actually met him before. But Tails gulped.
"You have Magic?" He asked, she nodded. Suddenly, Tails got very excited. "You said you'd mastered five techniques. What are they?" He desperately wondered. Sapphire blinked at him. She gulped.
"Er, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Force-Field Generation, Pyrokinesis, and Conjuring." He heaved. "Nowhere near was powerful as my Dad, though." She sniffed. Tails nodded. No one could get even close to Sukko's level of Chaos Power, except, maybe, Sonic himself. Sapphire sighed. "There are hints of Illusions, on the horizon, but I'm not there yet." She admitted. But Tails jumped for joy. He grinned.
"And let me guess, all specialising in very delicate work." He bounced. Sapphire's eyes widened, staring right at the Fox. She gasped.
"Er, yes, how did you know?" She stammered. But Tails just grinned.
"Your a girl, call it a hunch. Small hands." He giggled. "Hey, do you want a job?" He announced. "I'm in desperate need of an assistant in my newly expanded Workshop, and your skills are exactly what I need. Do you want to be an engineer?" He asked. But Sapphire just gulped.
"Me? An engineer?" She stuttered. But Tails nodded.
"Sure, and I have a feeling you'll excel at it and quickly. You think in exactly the right way. I take it you got top marks at school." He beamed, Sapphire again nodded, only finishing several months ago, but then Tails deeply sighed. "But to be honest, I have been horrendously missing a Hedgehog in my Workshop." He admitted. But Sapphire giggled.
"Uncle Sonic?" She smiled. Tails nodded, locking the female with a broad smile. He grinned.
"And I'd be honoured if his niece would come and join me." He beamed, holding out a hand for her. Suddenly, Sapphire's cheeks went scarlet. She giggled and took the hand. She nodded, accepting the job offer, Tails put his arm around her shoulder and took her home, and to a new life as an engineer. She never wore the black coat again.