Chapter 4: What You Think, or Feel is Right?
Once Saura and Sonic returned to the HQ, they noticed Silver isn't present and there is a female bat looking through some notes. According to Knuckles, that was Rouge, the same one who helped find Sonic. When Knuckles, Rouge, Vector, Espio, Charmy, and Amy came to gather around Sonic, Saura backed away from the group so they can see the blue hedgehog. Luckily for her, the doors from the room were opened; quietly, she steps out of the room away from view and leans to the wall to calm down from the recent mission.
"Hey Sonic, what gave you the idea to use Eggman's own weapons to blow up the factory?" Saura suddenly hears Vector ask. She flinches a bit and quietly steps further away from the crowd but listens to the group's conversation.
"Oh no, it wasn't my idea," Sonic admits to the group. "It was the rookie's idea and boy was it a good one," he added. Saura smiles a bit to Sonic for giver her credit but stops when she hears Knuckles gasp.
"Wait, you got the rookie to talk to you?" Knuckles asks the blue hedgehog. From the sound of Knuckles's voice, he seemed excited. She wonders why that is?
"No, no she just mentioned all the weapons in the room and kept making explosion like movements with her hands," Sonic replies quickly. Saura then hears the blue hedgehog sigh. "Still, I do wish you would speak sometime buddy," she hears Sonic add. "Buddy?" she then hears him call out. Noticing she's about to giggle since she realizes she isn't in the room with him or the others, she covers her mouth while she smiles sadly. Perhaps, she will speak to Sonic and everyone else one day once the war is over. Before she let Sonic and the others see her, Saura quickly and quietly leaves to the cafeteria; she could use something to eat right now.
When Saura arrived, she quickly got a plain hot dog and an apple. After that, she walks out. The wolf doesn't like sitting at a table with another due to… past experiences. So, she goes to her room and eats there by herself. She doesn't mind it. Even before she joined the resistance, she had mostly been on her own… unless you count her parents. But recently, they died during Eggman's conquer. Tears start to form and roll down the wolf's cheeks. She quickly wipes them away and continues to eat her food until they are consumed.
Once the hot dog and apple are no longer in sight, Saura sighs as she wipes away more tears. All the training and two missions she's been doing had not made her realize how lonely she really is. Yes, she has Knuckles, but he is the commander of the resistance. His friends need him more than her. And then there's Sonic. True, he called her partner and they've both done an excellent job at the factory, but that's just one time. Saura doesn't know what he really thinks of her. She shakes her head and gets up. Perhaps, she should go for a walk outside for a bit to clear her head. She thinks Knuckles won't mind as long as the enemy doesn't see her. And besides, the training room is occupied with new recruits.
Before she leaves, Saura grabs a little cloth towel in case she starts crying. She can't use her gloves all the time to cover her tears or injuries in case if she runs into danger. The wolf also gets her Lightning Wispon in case if she does run into any enemies. She goes out of HQ and starts walking.
The walk Saura took has lead her all around Green Hill and then into the jungle. She looks up at the sky and notices its already night time. Time can fly by when you try to focus on other things. The wolf figures she should return to HQ. Knuckles will question where she has been; and, she still doesn't want to speak to him nor anyone yet… not until she is confident that they won't make fun of her voice. She suddenly flinches.
"Saura, I keep telling you. No one wants to hear your voice! It's disgusting!"
Saura frowns as she heard the voice. She feels that voice has a point... Back when she was little, she would be picked on a lot whenever she spoke. And when she tried to get help... The wolf shakes her head to ignore that thought. She'll question rather or not if she can trust them after the war is over.
Speaking of questioning, Saura realized she hadn't heard anything from the resistance. True she isn't in danger, but she would still hear something if the other side is in danger. The wolf looks around for her communicator and is shocked to not see it armed with her! Where could it be?! Saura knows for sure she didn't drop it. The last time she had it was when she and Sonic-… oh, right. Sonic had never returned her communicator to her while they were at the pyramid. So that means, the wolf is all alone!
Suddenly, Saura feels the ground shaking which caused her to hang on to a tree. Questioning what's happening, the wolf looks around and listens in case someone is coming. Hearing movements, she hides in the tree as she looks at the direction of the movement. Saura sees a huge snake hissing at the sky. Curious, she looks at the sky and sees something glowing red. No! Someone is glowing red! Saura shivers as she hears a glitching like sound! It's him! The masked figure she saw in the city two months ago! The enemy of the resistance!
The masked figure watches the huge snake and makes a hmph noise. "Pathetic vermin. You have no idea who you're up against," it says to the snake in a dark, sinister voice. The masked figure charges at the large reptile, but the snake charges at the figure with its mouth wide open like it's going to eat the figure! It came close, but the masked figure dodges the snake. However, the masked figure did receive a scratch on its leg from the snake's teeth. The snake then used its tail to knock the masked figure away from it. The masked figure crashed to the ground with a groan. It tries getting back up, but only ends up back to the ground as the red glow disappears.
Saura gasps as she watches the fight. If this snake can finish off the masked figure, then the resistance will have an advantage against the Eggman Empire! They can defeat Eggman more easily! She should head back to the resistance and let everyone know the good news!... Then why does she feel like that's the wrong thing to do? Saura also has this feeling like she should save the masked figure. But, why? If she helps the figure, then she helps the enemy. The wolf grips the branch more. She has no idea on what to do. Should she follow what she thinks or feels is right? She remembers her mother always tell her she should do what she believes is right and she'll be fine. Her father has told her the same thing, but she can't let the resistance down… Saura then sees the snake about to charge after the masked figure.
Finally decided on her decision, Saura jumps out of the tree and uses her grabbling hook to have it attach to the snake and brings herself close to it. And with her wispon, the lightning whip smacks the snake at the nostril. The snake makes a hiss like pain noise as Saura releases her grabbling hook from it. It looks to Saura with anger as it gets ready to attack. But then, Saura uses the wispon to fight back with the lightning whip. Seeing the lightning whip seems to scare the snake as it retreats deeper in the jungle.
Saura deep breaths in relief as she watches the snake leaving with a smile. She did it; she fought off something all by herself! But the moment was gone when Saura looks back to the masked figure. The happy moment went instantly back to fear. She hides behind a tree as she watches him… or it. When the figure has not moved, she stops hiding a bit and watches cautiously. Could the figure be dead? Was Saura too late to save it? As she continues to watch, the wolf sees the figure had still not moved. She looks around for something she can use to try and wake it up. The wolf finds a stick and picks it up. Saura walks up to the figure and pokes it a few times with the stick and hides again behind a different tree that is closer to the masked figure.
When nothing happened, the fear in Saura subsides a bit as she stops hiding. Throwing the stick away, she walks closer to see if the masked figure is breathing. It appears to be breathing; however, it's having a hard time. Maybe if she removes that mask, it'll make breathing much easier… but, what if it wakes up when she removes it? It could be waiting for the perfect moment to attack! Saura suddenly shakes her head as she remembers Sonic's words from before:
"Don't be scared."
Saura shakes her head. Sonic is right; she shouldn't be scared. She needs to be brave. Slowly and shakily, Saura places her hands on the figure's mask. When it didn't respond, she pulls the mask off the figure.
Once the mask is off the figure, Saura was able to see both eyes are closed and there is a white scar like shape over its right eye. No, it's not an it. It's a male! Now that she got a good look at him, this figure is a male, black jackal with a white scarf, hair, and tip of his tail! Saura then notices the jackal deep breathing a bit. Did the snake poison him? The wolf looks at the jackal's face closely. He doesn't look like he's poisoned. But just to be safe, Saura looks at the scratch on the jackal's leg. Yes, there is a scratch; however, it is not enough to make him bleed. So, what could be wrong? Saura removes her gloves from her hands so, she can place her hand on the jackal's forehead to check his temperature. When she did, the jackal groans in pain as he unconsciously moves his head away. Saura flinches until she realizes when he didn't wake up. Why would he move away?... unless there could be a bruise? Saura remembers the cloth she has in case but will need to put cold water in it first. She sees a river close by and goes to it.
While Saura went to the river, the jackal starts to regain conscious. He opens his right blue eye and left yellow eye to observe his surroundings. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself. The last thing he remembered was when he was attacking a huge snake in the jungle. He then realizes his mask is off! He growls quietly; someone is here with him! Is it the doctor? No, he's in the Mystic Jungle, outside of a lab. He then sees someone, a female blond wolf leaning towards a river. He narrows his eyes a bit until he sees her standing up and about to turn around. Quickly, he closes his eyes and acts unconscious, so he can lure her to him.
Once Saura got the cloth wet and gives it a squeeze so it's not dripping all over, she walks back to the jackal and places the cloth on his forehead. She smiles a bit and sits on her knees as she watches the jackal and places her gloves back on. She then looks at a red triangle like gem on his chest. The sound from before is still present and it seems to be coming from the gem! Curiously, Saura tries to reach out to touch the gem.
Suddenly, a black, gloved clawed hand grabs Saura's wrist, the same one she was about to use to touch the gem. Now panicked, Saura tries to get her hand out of the jackal's grasp, but that only caused the jackal to tighten his grip. Saura shivers in fear as she whimpers a bit from the pain. The wolf soon sees the jackal open up his eyes and is glaring at her. "How dare you see me as weak," the jackal says in a less sinister, but still dark voice. He looks at the wolf and sees some recognition from her eyes. Why does he feel like he knows those eyes?
Of course, the jackal saw those same eyes at the city two months ago! "I remember you," he states. Feeling the female wolf shivering more, the jackal evil smirks. "You ran from me before," he added. "You survived then, but now you're choosing to throw it away now, huh," he mocks with some confusion, but dark chuckles. He holds out his other hand as it glows red. "This will be good bye," he says once more.
Saura whimpers and shivers more as tears are in her eyes. She shuts them tight as she braces herself for her doom. Why did she help him? Why did she save this jackal when she knew this would happen? The wolf suddenly hears something fall to the ground between her and the jackal. Since she hadn't felt anything from the jackal, she opens her eyes to see what fell. It was the cloth she placed on the jackal's forehead.
The jackal noticed the cloth that had fallen and stopped the glowing on his hand. Did this wolf save him from that snake? Noticing something hanging around the wolf's neck, he grabs it and uses it to pull the female wolf closer to him causing the female to yelp a bit. They are so close; their foreheads are almost touching. The jackal feels the wolf shiver more at the close contact. "Who are you and why did you save me?" he asks the wolf in a demanding tone. The jackal notices the wolf whimpering and shivering more but is not speaking. The jackal growls at this; however, he takes a deep breath to stop himself. When he did, he got a whiff of the wolf's scent. It was… alluring to him. It tops over the smells of fear he plants to all of his victims! How did she-
Saura, out of fear, suddenly pushes the jackal away from her. Thanks to this while unaware of a snap sound thanks to the gem on the jackal's chest, the jackal released his hold on the wolf's wrist. Once she's free and on her feet, Saura quickly grabs her wispon and runs into the jungle to get to Green Hill. That way when she gets to Green Hill, she can return to HQ.
The jackal groans a bit from the push. Realizing who pushed him, the jackal growls. He gets up and looks around for the blond wolf, but he sees she is already gone from sight. "Damn it," he growls out in anger. He must find her and make her pay for humiliating him. The jackal then realizes he is holding something in his hand. He looks at it and sees it's the white crescent moon shape necklace he grabbed earlier to pull the wolf closer. The chain must have broken off during her attempt to escape. The jackal noticed some letters printed on the moon and reads it. Afterwards, he smirks and lets out a dark chuckle. "Well, well. What a lovely name," he says out loud. He grips the necklace tighter, but not enough to crush it. The jackal gathers the cloth to secure the necklace from breaking. He soon grabs his mask to put it back on his face. The mask covers his entire face except for his left eye, but has his left sclera red. He looks at the direction where he thinks the wolf ran as he starts floating in the air with red aura around him. "I will find you. And when I do, I will make sure you can't escape from me, Saura," he vows. The jackal then flies off to leave the jungle and back to his base.
Author's note:
Dun dun duuuuuun! Our little "friend" has met Saura and he knows her name! I know some of you guys are wondering: what's going on here and why isn't Sonic and Silver meeting the two there? According to the world map, the Mystic Jungle is a huge area. And I had to try and measure at least how much land it contains. Yes, Sonic forces me to measure! Plus, when you look at the stages for the game, they are actually a little far from each other a bit. So I figured our "friend," after he fled from Sonic, was trying to head back to the base, but got caught up by the same snake that tried to eat Sonic. And as Tails mentions how Green Hill looks almost the same, despite the sand even though it happened six months ago, I assumed the enemies weren't around at that time when Saura started her walk and then they came along once they figured out Sonic was near by in the jungle. Anyways, thank you all for reading! See you next time! :)