CHAPTER 11: ANOTHER THING COMING
"All I have to do is get all the knights swords? Sounds easy enough. Already been doing that." Sonic explained.
"Yes, that's it." Nimue nodded. "The swords you collected are sacred, and along with Caliburn, will temporarily dispel all of the Scabbard's powers." -Wait a second what. Temporarily? But it's all the powers. Nice trade-off, I guess.-
"Temporarily?" Sonic asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Nimue sighed. "The Scabbard is very powerful, even passively. The four sacred swords barely beat it, during it's initial power surge. However, the Scabbard's passive power is stronger, and will eventually break free of the sacred swords' spells. It can be done again, however."
Shrugging at the minor change, Sonic spoke. "I guess I'll have to grab it fast. Anyway, the last knight, Percival, anything I should know?"
"Well, she's the Knight of the Grail, for starters." Caliburn began. "She's as strong as she is noble, and she's got a fiery temper. She's been known to be forgiving to those of pity crimes, but she has a cruel sense of justice to all murderers. Harsh... but fair."
"Sounds like fun." Sonic snorted.
Caliburn scoffed. "Fun? One false move and it's off with your head!"
"Whatever. Still gonna be fun." Sonic shrugged. He grabbed Caliburn, and began walking toward the parked dragon. "Thanks for the tip, Nimue."
"Fare thee well, brave knight, Chosen One of Caliburn..." Nimue said as the knight staggered away. She hadn't noticed the wound was that serious until then. "Wait."
"What?" Sonic grunted. The adrenaline and other pains had masked his thigh wound for a long time, and now that all the distractions are gone, he feels the leg pain much more now, and it hurts when he walks.
Nimue took a vial, bent down by the edge of the walkway, and put it under the lake water. She then got up, put a cork on it, and handed it to Sonic.
"This water will help your leg get better. Just pour it on your wound and let it dry." She said with a smile.
"Oh god, thanks!" Sonic cheered as he took the holy water gleefully. He immediately got onto the ground and poured it on his wound. It stung, for a moment, but he felt the pain start sizzling away. In a moment's notice, the wound was healed. Sonic chuckled as he got up. "You have no idea how much I needed that."
"Well, it'd be a shame if you failed because of a sloppy performance, because of that wound. I wouldn't want that." Nimue explained.
"Yeah," Sonic nodded, taking her hand and shaking it. "Thanks again." Dropping her hand and about to leave, he froze a moment and spoke again. "Hey, uh..."
"Yes?"
"Can I leave my dragon here? I wrapped the chain around a tree, and if it deroots the tree it'll be too busy crying to do anything. Can't really have dragons in the city."
"... Sure."
"Again, thanks." Sonic said, at last turning around and speeding off, Caliburn in hand, to the Blacksmith's shop.
…
Sonic walked in to see the blacksmith eating with the hired hands. Sonic stretched his arms.
"Wellllll," Sonic said aloud, arching his back, and popping his back loudly. "Oh, that felt good. Smithy, did you fix up that armor already?"
The two tailed fox mumbled over his shoulder while eating some bread. "Yes. It's right there, in the corner."
Sonic turned his attention to the set of armor in the corner. It was a different kind of armor than he had expected. It was like a platebody, on top, but on the stomach, the plate metal stopped, lightly covering what looked like a dragon scale design. The legs had a similar design; plate legs, but it turns into metal dragon scales around the joints. The boots were no different.
"I normally paint the armor, but since I usually do this work for knights who fight under a flag and colors and stuff," the black smith paused to swallow his bread. "And since you don't belong to a king, and I'm not sure if you wanted it blue, so I left it unpainted."
Sonic took another glance at the armor. He then noticed the helmet. The visor was black, as if it were glass.
"What's this?" The warrior asked.
The Blacksmith turned around to look at what he was asking about, and returned to his food. "A visor I made from the excess onyx you gave me. It's thin enough to see through without much trouble, but it's thick enough to take a slash. I think it's worth less protection than a metal visor, because with your speed, I'm sure you blocked plenty of attacks so far."
Sonic sprung a satisfied smile."Alright. Now, tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will be fighting Percival, knight of the grail. She just happens to be located," he spoke as the smile turned into a frown that read 'are you kidding me', "in the middle of a ring of fire surrounded by a lava filled molten mine. Protection from enemy knights, are the least of my worries. Instead of traversing through an easily lethal and potentially fragile landscape, I chose that I will fly over it."
The blacksmith rose his voice. "What?"
"Dude what." Said Al through a mouthful of ham.
"You heard me. Okay, I'm not sure if you know this, but heat rises. Heat rises because hot stuff expands. The air down there is literally right next to lava, so it's definitely going to spread out and have some upward force to it. However I can't just fly with that. I need wings. I need wings. Lightweight wings made of paper and wood, so it can be lifted by the heat waves."
The fox was struck yet again. He was clever, and he had known a lot about everything he knew of, but he would have never thought of this. Upon instinct, he took a napkin off the table, and began to fold it. In a few moments, he had made a glider, and tossed it into the fire place. It flew remarkably high, then it fell into the fire on it's back.
"Clever..." the fox stated. "I'll work on that after I finish."
"Make five."
"Five?"
"FIVE?" The rest of the table shouted in unison as they suddenly rose, all of them tipping their chairs over in the process.
"Yes five. You're all coming along." Sonic answered, crossing his arms.
The mercenaries rejoiced. Al lifted Degroot onto his shoulder as they pumped their fists. Rachel and Saxton didn't celebrate as much as their two drunken friends did, however. Rachel pulled her chair up, while Saxton, unknowing that he'd knocked his chair over, sat down on nothing and fell backward. Rachel giggled, and Saxton quickly fixed the chair and sat in it, resting his head on his hand facing the other way from his group to hide his slight embarrassment.
All the while the four were happily surprised, the fox sat, staring at them, blankly. The fox quickly went back to eating and grumbled. -... What's his problem?-
After dinner was finished and the mercenaries had went to bed, Sonic got to laying on the ground, trying to get some sleep. He couldn't sleep well, because Smithy was cutting pieces for the gliders. He remained still and quiet, regardless.
There was knocking on the door. Tails stopped what he was doing, and checked the door. With a smile on his face, he opened it to show a rabbit girl, 2 years younger than him, smiling. -Cream. I take it that's his girlfriend. Why am I not surprised. Hey, where's Cheese? Wait a second Cream, Cheese, CREAM AND CHEESE OH MY GOD THEY TASTE HORRIBLE TOGETHER-
"Hi Leon!" The rabbit giggled with her hands behind her back. -Smithy's name is Leon? Leon? NOW I'M SURPRISED. I am barely containing myself right now.- "Whatcha doin'?" -GOT AN UNCONTROLLABLE URGE AND I WANNA SCREAM AND SHOUT IT-
"Work." Leon the Blacksmith answered lowly. -I can't see it either, man. I can see Knuckles as Gawain, and Blaze as Percival –heck Percival sounds like a girl's name anyway–, but I can't see Tails being called Leon. WHY ISN'T HIS NAME MILES FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.- He invited her in with his hand and she came in, and closed the door behind her.
"What kinda work?"
"Work work. Building things for that guy sleeping on the rug." Leon said as he pointed to Sonic. "If you want to be more specific, Emily, building things I had never thought could be built." -Ok, so Cream is Emily. Easier to see happening than fucking LEON, but still weird.-
Emily let out an "ooh" in interest. "Like?"
Leon's arms dropped to his sides, and his tails flopped to the ground. "A fucking flying machine. Five of them."
There was a moment of silence, but then with a yelp, the rabbit hugged the fox.
"Not for us."
Leon pushed her off lightly, and saw a disappointed look.
"Oh..." she said saddened.
-HOLD THE FUCK UP ONE SECOND. Okay, let's get our bearings here. I say he's gonna build flying machines for everyone in the room BUT him, he didn't act as surprised as everyone else, kinda disappointed and jealous. Now, when he tells Cream AKA his girlfriend AKA Emily that he's building flying machines, she goes ballistic, but when he says "not for us", she's shocked. WHAT'S THE DEAL. Can they NOT... oh snap.
THEY CAN'T FLY.-
"I know, I know, but it's more gliding than flying. It needs heat to get higher."
-All this time I was under the assumption that he could fly, but had no need to. I didn't know he wanted to fly. I would think the same for her, too.-
She put her arms down to her sides for a moment, her eyes trailing off, but then she spoke again. "You can make more, right?"
-And I just denied them of what they wanted... Damn...-
"I have to make five by tomorrow. If it's that quick to make, I'll see what I can do."
Leon and Emily began to talk about things in their lives. Leon's parents should be back in two weeks, or so he says. Emily's Chao, Riley, had been taken away by underworld soldiers. -Again with the TERRIBLE NAMING. I blame these medieval age parents. Anyway, note to self, save Riley.- After minutes of talking, Emily was about to leave. Before she did, Leon stopped her.
"Hey," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to look at him. "I'll fly you away. Someday."
-I feel like an asshole. AN ASSHOLE I DID NOT MEAN TO BE.-
Emily finally left, and Leon closed the door. He sat back in the table, slammed his elbow on the table, and rested his head in his hand.
"Wish I could fly like a superman..." Leon said softly, before getting back to work.
-Oh my god is he singing Superman? Oh hey lookit that I'm falling asleep.-