Author's note:
Hello everyone! Sorry for not updating in a while. Summer semester is going quicker than I expected. It will take me some time to update because of that AND we are actually all caught up on what I've finished updating so far. Don't worry, I'll still continue to update this story; but once I finish this story, I will be taking a break before coming back to one of my other fanfics here. Anyways, talk about some unexpected stuff a bit in this chapter. ^^; I won't explain much, you'll have to figure that out on your own as you all read. ;)
shout-outs (or review replies):
Bajy - Thank you :) And I wonder what else Saura will find out about Infinite. *thinking* yup, but now it seems there are other things going on. I wonder how if Sonic and his friends will be in good terms with this new relationship.
Thanks for reading and PLEASE review
Chapter 21: Close to Death
Saura continues to run and jump through the halls. Whenever she would see quick turns to different hallways, she would take that route. She may not be able to outrun Infinite, but there is still a chance to trick him. Not to mention, she also saw something that had managed to crack her mind, even if she doesn't realize it. Any way to lose the jackal and escape the other figure is fine with her! She continues to run even when robots are in her way! She would use her Lightning Wispon to take them out. Saura kept going and zigging through each hallway she sees until she bumps into someone. "Ow," she hears someone say. Saura, while rubbing her head, looks to see who she ran into. Unknown to her, it was Knuckles along with Silver and Amy!
"Saura," Silver calls out in surprise. Once the white hedgehog lands gently to the ground, he goes to Saura and helps her up while Amy did the same for Knuckles. "Thank goodness we found you," he says to the wolf with a smile. As he helps the wolf up, he notices tears in her eyes. Silver shows a look of concern. "Hey, are you okay?" he asks.
Saura remains where she is, shivering from the recent event. What's going on? Why is she only seeing darkness? The wolf noticed someone in front of her along with a muffled voice. Who is that and why is it trying to speak to her?
Knuckles noticed the way Saura is staring at him, Amy and Silver. Just the way the wolf is staring has him tensed. Saura's eyes are wide open, but shrunk back in complete terror with tears in her eyes and looked like she lost some color on her. The echidna grabs a hold of the wolf and shakes her. "Rookie, get a hold of yourself," he tries to call out Saura.
Saura then snaps out of her trances as she looks at the figure shaking her a bit. It was Knuckles! And right beside the echidna are Silver and Amy! The wolf flinches as she quickly wipes the tears off her eyes as she looks to Silver, Amy, and Knuckles with a smile to hide her pain as she shakes her head to show she's alright. Amy frowns when she sees this. The pink hedgehog can tell the wolf is hiding something. "If there is something bothering you, you can tell us. We won't get mad," Amy reassures Saura.
Saura, once again, continues to smile and shake her head. If she were to speak, she would start crying and she has no time for that. Not when there are others around her. She has to be strong for her friends until this war is over!
"You're worthless and weak!"
Saura flinches when she hears her uncle's voice! No, she can't let him get to her even if she already submitted to his words... "Guys, this is Sonic! I found Infinite, but the way he's acting right now is making it hard to get the ruby's power source," Sonic says through Silver's communicator as a glitch noise is heard.
Saura shivers when Sonic mentions Infinite. Silver gets out his communicator to answer the blue hedgehog as he watches the group. "Sonic, be careful and do what you can to get to it. In the meantime, Knuckles, Amy, and I had found Saura and we're going to evacuate the fortress," he says through the communicator.
"Great job guys! The sooner you guys get out of there-" was all Sonic said before he was interrupted. Everyone hears Infinite scream out "What" and appears to be fighting the blue hedgehog. The group continues to hear the other side fighting with each other.
After some groans and fights, Amy, Silver, Knuckles, and Saura hear the glitch noise closer to the communicator. Saura shivers as she heard the glitch noise. It means Infinite is near Sonic! "Where are they?" Infinite's voice was heard through the communicator. The wolf shivers more when she heard the jackal. Infinite sounds mad and determined when he asked. "Tell me where they are," he commanded.
Amy seems to be really worried for Sonic since she took Silver's communicator and ignores his complaint. "Sonic?" she calls out to Sonic through the communicator! "Sonic, are you okay?" she tries to call out again!
The group hear growling coming from the communicator. "Tell me where they are now," they hear Infinite command. "Where are they?... Where is she?... I must get to her," he added.
Silver, Amy, Knuckles, and Saura start to hear more fighting along with the glitching noise get further away. "Guys get out of here with Saura! And whatever you do, do not let Infinite find her! I'll distract him as much as I can and look for the power source," Sonic says through the communicator!
Knuckles nodded as he grabs Silver's communicator from Amy. "You got it Sonic," he says through the communicator. Silver has a hold on Saura's arm while Knuckles did the same for Amy's arm.
"Wait, we have to go back and help Sonic," Amy complains as she gets out of Knuckles's grip. She lost Sonic once and she doesn't want to lose him again.
Suddenly, the group hears something like an engine. The two hedgehogs, echidna, and wolf look around to find the source; but then, a metal hand grabs Amy! The pink hedgehog lets out a scream as the white hedgehog, red echidna, and blond wolf turn to see who grabbed her. It's Dr. Eggman in one of his giant robot inventions with no legs but has hands! The human lets out an evil laugh. "Capturing you is just too easy every time," he says to Amy. His voice appears the be coming from the robot since it's hard to see the human. While Amy yells at Eggman to put her down, the human controls his robot to look at a different direction and flies off.
Thinking fast, Saura uses her grabbling hook to grab on to Eggman's robot and it drags her to the robot until she manages to grab on to it herself. "Saura, Amy," Silver shouts to the female wolf and female hedgehog!
"Come on, lets go after them," Knuckles says to Silver as he chases Eggman. Silver nods and flies after Eggman.
Sonic was shocked when he sees Infinite without his mask. He mocks at the jackal but was attacked immediately. By then, he contacted the others to let them know he found Infinite. He's relieved to hear Knuckles and his team had found Saura, but that only triggered Infinite's anger more for he had attacked the blue hedgehog while demanding to know where the group is at. Once Sonic warns Knuckles and his group about Infinite, he fights the jackal. "Let's finish this Infinite," he says while using a homing attack.
Infinite dodges Sonic's attack and growls at the blue hedgehog. He has no time to fight. He needs to find Saura! He somehow lost sight of the wolf when she kept running through different hallways. When he arrives at a practice battle arena, he ran into Sonic alone. "I have no time for you! Now, tell me where your friends are going with Saura," he commands.
"Somewhere far from you, that's for sure," Sonic replies as he proceeds to attack Infinite again. The jackal growls as he continues fighting Sonic. The two continued their fight in the arena after some time. Sonic appears to be a bit worn out, but he can't give up!
Just then, an evil laughter was heard. "Not so fast you blue nuisance," a voice was heard. Soon, a huge robot comes out from one of the halls. The robot looks like on of the Death Egg robots in the city except this one is hovering with no legs. The robot opens its head to reveal Dr. Eggman! The human presses a button and the robot lifts one of its hands to show Amy in its grasp. "I wouldn't move if I were you, or you'll never see your girlfriend again," he threatens Sonic. Sonic notices Eggman wasn't joking around when the robot squeezes Amy a bit tighter as the pink hedgehog screams a bit from the pain. Sonic glares as the human evil laughs. Eggman turns to Infinite. "Now Infinite, destroy Sonic," he commands the jackal.
Infinite glares madly at Eggman. As he told Sonic, he wants to search for Saura first. However, it seems he won't be leaving until he obliterates the blue hedgehog. The jackal glares down at Sonic. Just one huge blast at the hedgehog and victory is his! So, Infinite has both of his clawed hands together to start creating one of his powerful attacks. "Farewell hedgehog," he says to Sonic.
Before Infinite could launch his attack, a lightning whip cuts the hand holding Amy! Seeing Amy falling, Sonic took this chance to charge towards the pink hedgehog and catches her. "Amy are you alright?" he asks. For a reply, Sonic was hugged by Amy along with her mentioning he would rescue her.
Knuckles and Silver arrive just as Amy was hugging Sonic. The white hedgehog used his telekinesis to have the attack Infinite made directed towards him. Unfortunately, the jackal dodges the attack. "Sonic, what's going on here?" the echidna asked.
"Nothing you guys really missed," Sonic replies as he puts Amy down. "By the way, thanks for the save. If you guys hadn't made that attack at Eggman, I'd be a goner," he added with a smile.
Silver and Knuckles showed a confused look. "Sonic, we didn't do any attack on Eggman," Silver says with a confused look. Now Sonic and Amy had a look confused look.
While everyone looked around in confusion, Saura was barely hanging on to the arm she attacked. She used her Lightning Wispon to take out the hand holding on to Amy to save the pink hedgehog. Out of instinct, the wolf climbs to the top of the arm for safety. However, that allows Eggman to see her! "Why you annoying wolf," he shouts! Eggman uses his robot to attack Saura by smacking her off his robot. Saura couldn't dodge in time and takes the attack.
Sonic and his friends hear a yelp and turned to the source. They see Saura being flown across until she crashed to the wall. Once Saura is on the ground, Sonic and his friends went to her with shock and worried expressions. "Saura," Silver called out to the wolf!
Infinite, the moment he saw Saura, looked shocked as he watches the wolf slam to the wall and then to the ground. "Oh no," he mumbles quietly as he watches the wolf with worry. He wants to go over there and see if Saura is okay. He really does; he loves her after all. But Sonic and his friends are already surrounding her.
"Rookie! Rookie get up," Knuckles calls out to Saura with worry! He hears the wolf groan a bit as she starts trying to get up. The echidna sees she managed to get on her hands and knees, so he decides to help her up the rest of the way. "You alright?" he asks Saura.
Saura didn't say a word as she tries to keep herself up. Once she knows for sure she is balanced, the wolf looks to Knuckles and nods. Amy frowns as she looks at Saura's eyes and sees a lot of emotions, but one caught her attention the most, heartbroken. The pink hedgehog stands in front of the wolf and gently places her hands on the wolf's shoulders. "Hey, did… did something happen?" she asks gently. Amy watches Saura flinch but shakes her head. She frowns at this. "It's okay, you can tell us," Amy added.
Saura continues to shake her head. If she were to tell the group what happened and that she is in love with the enemy, they would definitely question her a lot. The wolf takes a quick look towards Infinite and noticed he's looking at her too. When her eyes made contact with the jackal's, Saura immediately looks away from him and the rest of the group as the sad emotions returned. "Enough of this pep talk," everyone hears Eggman shouting!
The group look up to Eggman and noticed the human has the robot's broken hand had transformed to a saw. The robot then starts lowering it closer to the group as it activates! "Guys, get back," Silver warns the group! The white hedgehog uses his telekinesis to lift everyone and himself away from the saw to dodge it. Once he got the group and himself away from the saw and on to the ground, he stops using his powers.
Infinite wanted to float down there and save Saura from the human's wrath, but that white hedgehog beat him to it. He started to grow jealous on Sonic and his friends for they are able to get close to Saura. The jackal then noticed the group is about to head in to one of the hall entrances. Growling, Infinite uses the Phantom Ruby to quickly get to the space between that entrance and the group. He then launches red spheres at everyone. The jackal didn't want to throw one at Saura; so for the sphere he threw at the wolf, he makes it hit the ground instead of towards he, that way he can catch her and talk to her.
Saura dodges the red spheres with the group along with the saw hand Eggman's robot tried to use. As she dodged, she suddenly picks up another sound aside from her friends, Infinite's glitching noise, and the robot, cracking. It's almost like something fragile, like glass, is about to break. The wolf looks around to find anything that could be close to shattering. She didn't see anything… until she looked down. The floor is starting to crack! There also appears to be water underneath it! Why hadn't she noticed it before?! Saura then noticed how spread apart the group is! She needs to warn everyone about the floor!... But the thought of speaking out loud gets her nervous- No, she can't let that get to her! She must not be scared and start speaking up! "Guys, th-the floor is glass! A-and there is water u-underneath it," she shouts to the group!
Silver, Knuckles, and Amy look to Saura with shock for it's the first time they are hearing her. Sonic looks down to the floor and noticed the cracks! Now he realizes that this arena is a trap for everyone but mostly for him! "Quick, everyone get to one of the exits," he says to his group! Sonic quickly grabs Amy since she was the closest and jumps to the far-left hall.
Knuckles had got the far-right hall and Silver landed in the hall near Knuckles. Saura starts running to one of the empty halls, but Infinite soon blocked her path. The wolf turned around to find another path, but the jackal blocks her from that as well. "Finally," he mumbles out. Infinite looks to Saura as he floats down until his feet touches the floor and starts walking to her. The wolf shivers as she backs away. Noticing a few other openings, Saura came up with a plan. She runs back the halls but was stopped again by the jackal. The wolf then uses her grabbling hook towards the far-right hall. Suddenly, Eggman's robot used its hand to block Saura which had her got close to it! Seeing the hand about to grab her, the wolf gets on the robot's arm to dodge.
Dr. Eggman glares at Saura as he uses his robot to activate its saw again to attack her. Thinking about her safety, Saura moves closer to the hand to dodge the saw, but the saw suddenly cuts through the arm of the robot which has her and the arm start to fall. Saura yelps and then yells a bit in fear as she falls to the floor- No, to the water! As soon as the half-sliced arm lands, the floor started to shatter! The wolf tries to get off of the arm, but she had already fell in. "SAURA," the three hedgehogs shouted! Silver quickly used his telekinesis to grab the fallen arm and throws it at Eggman.
Unfortunately, Saura had already let go of the arm while keeping a tight hold on her wispon. She looks around for the surface while holding her breath until she noticed Sonic and Amy. The wolf quickly swims to the two hedgehogs; but then, she accidentally bumps into the glass. This caused her to lose some air a bit. She starts banging on to the glass when she secures her wispon to her arm. Saura sees Sonic and Amy looking down when she got her attention. However, the wolf couldn't hold her breath any longer!
Infinite watched when he sees Saura used her grabbling hook to get away but then stopped by Eggman. Why couldn't that wolf stay still?! He's trying to talk to her! He starts floating again to go after her. And then, the foolish human had sliced his robot's other arm, causing it and Saura to fall and shatter the spot of glass where the broken hand and Saura were on as the three hedgehogs shouted for Saura and the echidna stared in shock. The jackal stared in shock and horror. "No," he mumbled as the Phantom Ruby on his chest starts glowing. Infinite sees Silver use his powers to move the arm off Saura, but the wolf had used the water to escape from the missing robotic part. If she doesn't get out of the water soon, the wolf will drown! "No," he mumbles again, but a little bit louder. He can't lose someone important to him again! The jackal had already lost his squad… he can't lose her too! He must save her! Infinite sees Saura trying to get Sonic and Amy's attention, but the wolf then couldn't hold her breath any longer! "NOOOO," he shouts as he charges and kicks the floor with all of his strength as the Phantom Ruby glows brighter!
Amy heard Infinite shout when she saw Saura below her and Sonic. She looks towards the jackal but sees a bright light pierce through the glass floor and into the water. Realizing he's going after the wolf, the pink hedgehog gets out her trusty hammer to try smash the floor. However, she soon noticed Saura had lost conscious and is starting to sink until Infinite catches her as the Phantom Ruby continues to glow. "Oh no," she says in shock! "Guys, we need to ge-" The pink hedgehog stops when another hole was made at the far end because of Infinite. The jackal soon quickly comes out of the newly opened floor while holding Saura.
Amy, Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver watched with surprise! Infinite rescued Saura; but why?! Why would the jackal help the wolf? The group soon noticed Eggman turning his attention towards them. Sonic glares at the human for he needs to stop him and his robot from causing anymore damage. So, the blue hedgehog starts fighting with the human and his robot. In the meantime, Amy, Silver, and Knuckles decided to go after Infinite to save Saura. The pink hedgehog also watches the jackal and wolf. She's curious on why the jackal wanted to help the wolf.
Once Infinite is out of the water, he looks to Saura. "Saura, are you alright?" he asks the wolf. There was no response which increased the jackal's worry. He looks to the wolf and sees her unconscious. "Saura," he tries to call out to the wolf as he shakes her to wake her up. Suddenly, Infinite hears someone after him. He turns and sees Knuckles about to punch him! The jackal quickly dodges the echidna and growls while holding Saura close.
"You put her down," Knuckles commanded at Infinite. Hearing the jackal's growl grow, Knuckles glares at the jackal and tries to punch him. But to the echidna's surprise, Infinite dodges the echidna with great speed and kicks him away. Knuckles groans in pain from the hit as he growls back.
Amy watched Infinite closely and is surprised with his behavior. The way he's holding Saura is almost like he's protecting her instead of hurting her. Did Saura do something to Infinite that made him behave this way? The pink hedgehog looked at the wolf, but noticed she is still unconscious. This is bad, especially since she had just come out of the water. As much as Amy hates the idea of Infinite being good, there is one thing he and her and her friends have a common goal: Saura's safety and health. "Wait," she shouts as she got between Knuckles and Infinite! The jackal and echidna look at the pink hedgehog in confusion, but Infinite still glares. The glare deepens when Amy turns and walks to the jackal. Amy flinches a bit but continues to walk to Infinite despite Knuckles and Silver telling her to stop. Amy got closer until she hears the jackal growling. Remembering the common goal, she tries to remain calm. "How is Saura? Is she okay?" she asks Infinite.
Infinite stops his growls and glare when Amy asks about Saura. He looks to Saura and frowns when he sees the wolf is still unconscious. He shakes her a bit to try and wake her up but with no success. The jackal notices the pink hedgehog walking closer to him. This caused him to growl as he shields Saura from Amy. "Back off," he threatens as red aura surrounds him.
Amy stops and shivers at Infinite's threat. She can see how serious the jackal is thanks to the red aura around him. "Please, we're worried about Saura as much as you do. But, we need to make sure she's breathing first in order to know if she's alright since she's lost conscious. There could be some water in her lungs that is blocking her from breathing," she says to Infinite.
Infinite now stops his growls to look at Saura with extreme concern! If the wolf isn't breathing and dies, there is no way he can forgive himself. He places Saura down and checks to see if she is alive. The jackal is so focused on the wolf, he wasn't paying attention when Amy got closer. Infinite winces after looking over Saura. The wolf's heart is still beating a bit, but she's not breathing! "Come on Saura," he mumbles in fear. This pain, it's almost as bad when he was in the cell room with the wolf. The jackal suddenly noticed how close Amy is to him and Saura, causing him to growl at the pink hedgehog.
"Oh no, she's not breathing," Amy says mostly to herself with worry. She looks to Infinite despite him growling at her. "I need your help. We must perform CPR on her, so we can get the water out of her. That way, it will help her breath again," she says to the jackal. Noticing the glare still present on Infinite's face, Amy sighs a bit. "You breath into her mouth to give her air. In the meantime, I'll pump her chest to get the water out of her-" was all the pink hedgehog said since Infinite used the Phantom Ruby to shove her away from him and Saura. Silver quickly catches Amy. The pink hedgehog looks to Infinite with a glare but sees him pumping the wolf's chest. She watches the jackal with surprise at his actions and his expression, fear. Amy watches with worry and concern.
Infinite kept pumping Saura's chest. He knows about the whole CPR trick, but he needs to get the water out of her first. After some time on pumping her chest, the wolf suddenly opened her eyes wide and turns around as she spits out some water. The jackal flinches as he watches Saura spit out some water and starts coughing in the process. "Saura?" he calls out to the wolf gently with worry as he rubs her back.
Saura continues to cough a bit until it finally settles down as she deep breaths from the lack of oxygen. The wolf then feels someone rubbing her back. Curiously, she looks and noticed it was Infinite! She stares at the jackal with surprise. She thought about speaking to him, but she remembered the last time she spoke to him. Before she had a chance to turn away, Saura was soon hugged by Infinite. This caused her to blush a bit; however, that quickly faded when she feels the jackal shaking. Now worried, the wolf gently hugs Infinite back and pats him to help calm him down.
Amy watches Infinite's actions with shock. That jackal seems to really care about Saura. She wonders if they really did meet before the war; and if so, how close were they? Close… Amy then looks to the way Saura and Infinite are hugging each other. It almost looked like they are… Amy gasps in shock loudly as she gets out of Silver's hold. A smile slowly makes way on the pink hedgehog's face as a bit of excitement starts to build in. "Oh my gosh," she says out loud that startles everyone, including Sonic and Eggman. "You two are in love," she says in pure excitement! Amy watched to the jackal and wolf flinch as a blush appear on both of their faces. Infinite instantly moves a bit away from Saura, but he came back to Saura when he remembered the damage Saura took a bit ago and how she almost… died. "That is so adorable," the pink hedgehog added!
Silver and Knuckles stood there looking shocked and disbelief with Sonic. There is no way the enemy is in love, nor being in love with someone who is on their side. Eggman did the same but starts evil laughing. "Don't think such idiotic nonsense," the doctor says while laughing. "Infinite can't feel such useless emotions! His only purpose is to make you all yield to the Eggman Empire," he shouts. The human then lets out an evil smirk at Sonic and his friends. "Just watch," he added. Eggman then turned towards Infinite. "Infinite, destroy the wolf," he commanded the jackal!