The Second Emerald
The crew had been walking for several days, quite surprised to find that they were to be walking across a desert, where the sun still shone. No platoons from the mobile resistance, nor Aragot were sent here anymore as whenever any were they never returned. None of them were overly fond of the idea of walking over the desert of death, but because several of the bases round Aragot had been destroyed by one group of the mobile resistance the closest ones were across this desert, and none of them could be bothered to walk the long way round which included boggy or mountainous terrain on either side anyway. Despite the fact that the ones on the way to the desert had been destroyed both Shadow and Slayde had voiced their opinion on how it seemed unusual that none of them had been rebuilt.
"I think we should probably set up camp, it's getting dark and I'd rather not risk it for the ones who can't see very well in the dark. There seems to be some unsavoury creatures that come out when the sun goes down." Shadow commanded.
"Come on Shadow, we have enough light to carry on at least one more mile, and if we let the ones who are prone to the heat in the cart we can run and get even further." Slayde chipped in. Rage turned round.
"No, it's far too full for anyone to ride in." He snapped. Slayde backed down.
"Okay, okay. Just saying... But yeah Shadow. We can go a little longer, surely?" Slayde asked. The ebony and crimson Hedgehog gave him a look that basically told him not to argue. "I have a bad feeling about this place though." Slayde told him as he waved his finger round in a circle to indicate the general area before he clicked his fingers and a bagged tent appeared. They all had been given a tent each, save Sonic and Terra whom shared. Unfortunately one of them got wreaked upon the first time they put one up, so Amy and Ebony also volunteered to share. Slayde quickly set up his tent while the others were still getting theirs out. He had put tents up before in his human life, so he knew how to put one up and cursed himself for being too far ahead and them breaking one without him. After that he showed them all how to put it up without breaking it.
"Something definitely feels weird. Yet familiar." Rage commented as he pulled everyone's tent out of the wagon and passed it to them. Shadow too had clicked his fingers and made his appear.
"I expect it from him. As he never shuts up." Shadow commented as he pointed at Slayde who pulled an innocent look and pointed to himself mouthing 'me?'. "But from you as well?" He asked Rage. Rage just shrugged.
"Something has felt odd ever since we got in this desert, it just didn't bother me all that much until now." Rage replied, shrugging. Shadow looked deeply into him with his crimson orbs. Rage stood his ground.
"Fine then, I shall keep watch tonight." He announced as he quickly set up his tent only slightly slower than Slayde, being an extremely fast learner. Slayde shrugged, he doubted he would get any better than that. He sat down on a small rock that came out of the sand. Finally he realised why Shadow had picked this spot for camp, there were a few flat rocks for people to sit on.
"God it's hot." Sonic commented as he sat down on the rock near him, leaving Terra to finish the tent while glaring at the back of his head. "How on earth are you guys coping with it?" Sonic asked them all. Most of them just shrugged, Amy however sat down next to him in the same state.
"I honestly wish I knew too." She commented as Slayde just shrugged.
"We're just quick adapters! Ask Terra how she does it." Slayde motioned as he stood to go and help her put up her and Sonic's tent. "No one steal my place." He called back as he moved between Ebony and Terra trying to help them both.
"Terra?" Sonic called. She peaked out of the tent with an irritated look on her face.
"What?" She asked bluntly, clearly annoyed with him for leaving her to do the tent alone.
"How are you coping with the heat?" Sonic questioned her. She just gave him an irritated look before going back into the tent. "Okay, thanks. That was a good answer." Sonic commented sarcastically. Terra came back out of the tent again after a few seconds.
"I was born and raised in a country where this kind of heat is only slightly hotter than the norm. At least it's windier here." She informed him. "Night time was much warmer however." She told him as she shivered. "The tent's ready."
"Thanks to me!" Slayde announced as he popped round the corner. He looked to the group and stopped in his tracks. "Rage..." He started, Rage looked at him and blinked.
"What?" He asked innocently. Slayde glared at him.
"Move off my rock before I make you." Slayde threatened, Rage just pulled one of his shoes off in reply. Slayde started walking slowly towards Rage as Rage just ignored him.
"No fighting you two." Shadow told them as he came from the other side of the cart. Slayde looked at him and frowned in annoyance. "And he did say that was his rock Rage. You guys do use the shotgun rule right?" Shadow added as he went inside his tent. Slayde smirked smugly at Rage who slowly stood up and sat next to Sonic. Slayde sat back in his previous place. Shadow came back out of the tent and sat down next to Slayde. Putting something down on a rock in front of him. Slayde peaked over Shadow's shoulder. He was fairly certain he'd sit here to use that very rock as a table. That was why he wanted this rock, and he was right to want it. Shadow smoothed the map out slowly. The sun was getting fainter, only a small amount of light was left. "We've got a rough map that's been drawn up by people who have spent a lot of time out of the city walls. This whole area is blank, well yellow, however because no one has crossed it successfully. According to Tails there is an Emerald somewhere in this desert... Of course, there's no way to pin point it exactly, but it's here. I can feel it." Shadow told them all, the whole group was nodding.
"To me the Emerald presence seems... Masked. It's that thing I've been feeling all this time that's dampening it. I think you'd have found it by now otherwise Shadow." Slayde offered. Shadow glared at him.
"And what big bad presence could live in this desert? I doubt that there are many at all that could cope in this place for even days, let alone weeks or months." Shadow retorted. Slayde shrugged.
"I don't know, but it feels familiar to those that attacked us. Those corrupted at the gates." Slayde replied. A slight wind blew the cart and the group as it changed its direction from heading North to heading East. "Tell me that's normal?" Slayde added.
"That just a coincidence." Sonic offered. Shadow shook his head.
"There's no such thing as coincidence." He told him, looking round carefully. "Maybe you were right Slayde, we should have moved a little further. Now you've mentioned it, I can feel it as well. My senses have been dulled too much by that damn shield." Shadow finally agreed.
"Then I'll keep watch with you. We don't want them catching us unaware if they know we're here." Slayde replied. Shadow nodded.
"Everyone in your tents. Don't make a sound." Shadow told them all before grabbing Sonic's arm. "You go in my tent." Shadow told him. Sonic gave him a questioning look. "You know why." He told him in irritation.
"Dude, it's way too hot for that." Sonic replied before ripping his arm out of Shadow's grip and heading into his and Terra's tent before zipping it behind him.
"If I hear a peep from that tent I'm dragging him out myself. Pheromones could attract them here. Not to mention the God damn noise." Shadow told Slayde in irritation.
"Rather you than me my friend, I don't want to see that at all." Slayde replied as he grinned. Shadow felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Can I stay as well. It's way too hot in that tent." Amy asked him. Shadow looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"You know full well that the temperature will plummet soon. Then you'll be too cold." Shadow replied. "Being in your tent will keep you warm." Shadow replied. Amy gave him an irritated look.
"You'll find I can deal with cold a great deal better than heat thank you." Amy retorted, Shadow looked at her sternly for a few seconds, unsure as to what the best course of action would be. Slayde, who had snuck behind her started nodding vigorously causing Shadow to look at him questioningly. Amy turned and he had stopped nodding, moving to clean his claws before he was seen. Amy turned back to Shadow. "Well?" She asked. Slayde mouthed.
'Let her or she won't shut up about it.' In the background behind her. Shadow frowned.
"Fine, but you go in if you get too cold." Shadow warned her. Amy nodded happily. There was to be no camp fire tonight due to the possible threat, but the clear sky and full moon would make everything visible as soon as the sun set anyway.
"Oops, though I was meaning to speak to Shadow alone." Slayde mumbled, seemingly to himself. Shadow could hear it though. Amy looked over to him.
"What was that?" Amy asked him. Slayde shrugged and she gave him a dirty look. Shadow looked deep in thought.
"If it's about the Emerald you already have, Rose can know." He told him, Slayde smirked and pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald from his quills.
"Perceptive as always Shadow." Slayde replied as the Emerald glowed slightly, as if calling out to one of its brothers or sisters. Slayde quickly looked to Shadow. "How close would you say the other Emerald is?"
"I'm unsure, but it's moving. As it does the feeling is getting slowly clearer." Shadow answered slowly, closing his eyes and feeling it out.
"Which means that it's getting closer." Slayde commented rather awkwardly. Shadow's eyes snapped open.
"Correct." He confirmed immediately. Amy looked at Shadow unsure.
"That's not a good thing is it?" Amy asked half rhetorically, already knowing the answer. Slayde shook his head. Shadow was staring off into the west, making Slayde look.
"That looks like a rather normal dust cloud." Slayde commented sarcastically.
"And it's moving pretty damn fast." Shadow replied to his statement as Amy squinted and blinked in the general direction that they were looking in.
"I don't see anything." Amy announced to them both. Slayde looked at her.
"That doesn't mean nothing is there. Wake everyone up. Or just get them out of the tents. Tell Rage to try and keep the cart hidden." He told her anxiously. "It might just be nothing, but as the saying goes 'it's better to be safe'." Amy quickly ran to the tents while Slayde and Shadow both watched the distance. Quite quickly the dust cloud grew and became visible to the rest as they got out their tents. Rage quickly grabbed the cart and moved it behind one of the larger sand dunes, the roof was slightly visible to the group but not by much, as he shouted over the sandy hill.
"I'll stay back here and keep an eye on it." Could be heard as the others finished getting ready. Sonic was sitting on one of the rocks in a hot sweat still but the rest of them were standing. Just as the cloud of dust was mere meters away, the sun fell behind the world and shrouded the desert in cold and darkness. Suddenly there was a gushing wind as sand got blown up into everyone's faces. If the sudden change hadn't already blinded them then the dust would have. That is of course the theory if you're a normal Mobian.
"They're here!" Shadow shouted out as he could see several shadowy shapes within the dust. He found that four of them were trying to jab him with something sharp he could only presume were spears. He expertly dodged them all before pulling one out of one of their hands. "And they have weapons!" He called as he knocked over the one who he had stolen the spear off by hitting him in the face with it.
"I think we noticed that!" Slayde shouted as a clang of metal was heard to the entire group. Semi soft cutting noises were heard all over as well as scuffling and blows coming to one another. Everyone was fighting, but most of them couldn't see that well. "Sonic duck!" Slayde shouted as another soft 'thock' was heard followed by two things falling to the ground, the first notably louder than the other. The attacking group suddenly retreated, presumably to regroup.
"Everyone okay?" Shadow shouted as he coughed. There was a lot of sand in the air. The sound of choking filled the air as Amy, Sonic and Terra couldn't cope with the amount of sand in the air. Slayde started running in circles, causing a draft big enough to clear the sand.
"Yeah, no one's missing. I think I got three of them." Slayde replied as he looked to the three piles of sand then out to the distance. The dust cloud fleeing in the opposite direction. "Should we go after them?" He asked, looking to Shadow.
"No. We can't afford to split up in case they attack again." Shadow replied as he brushed sand out of his fur in irritation. He looked over to the dune Rage had hidden behind. "Rage, you can come out now." Shadow called as he brushed sand from the inside of his ears. After a moments silence Shadow stopped and looked at the dune. "Rage?" Shadow questioned as Slayde walked behind it.
"Shadow!" Slayde shouted out in what sounded like frustration and worry. Shadow quickly came round the corner to find Rage unconscious and the cart nowhere in sight.
"Damn it!" Shadow cursed as he slammed his fist into the dune, causing part of it to collapse. Whilst Slayde used Chaos to pour water onto Rage to wake him up. He sat up quickly, looking round wildly before he slapped his hand to his face and laid back down. He swore.
"A couple came from behind and got the jump on me." Rage muttered angrily. Slayde sighed.
"Guess we got to go get them. They couldn't have gone too far." Slayde commented before he started running in the direction the enemies left in. Shadow nodded to Amy who followed behind him immediately. Rage tried to stand, but fell from a dizzy spell.
"Sonic, think you can look after things here?" Shadow asked. Sonic nodded to him, Shadow smirked and pulled himself ready to run when Rage grabbed his arm. Shadow looked down to him, his eyes burning with anger.
"We need that cart. Please get it back." Rage begged Shadow. Shadow looked at him with a slight suspicion, but nodded as the black and blue hedgehog dropped his arm, he looked slightly concussed. Shadow ran in a stream of sand after the other two. After half a minute he caught up with the two of them. They were getting close to the dust cloud that was bigger than it was before. Slayde clicked his fingers and his sword appeared in his hands. Shadow finally noticed the sword for what it looked like. He had only seen it in the heat of battle before and because of that fact, he hadn't paid it much attention. To simply say sword wouldn't be precisely right. It was a katana, fairly simple in look with an almost pitch black blade that, despite its shade, sparkled like a thousand diamonds were embedded within it from the moonlight. The handle bore no guard and the grip was also simple, woody-black leather bound round presumably the same metal the blade was made of as anything lesser would be too weak. Shadow felt slightly awed, a rare thing for him.
"Just how did you acquire that sword?" Shadow questioned, voice steady despite the speed they were going at and the rarely felt emotion in his heart. Slayde didn't turn back to answer, he just kept running.
"Now really isn't the time Shadow. Ask me that as soon as we've dealt with these jokers." Slayde replied. Shadow looked up intently and realised they were practically on top of their attackers.
Slayde flung himself into the sand storm before the other two, followed immediately by Shadow then finally Amy. For a few seconds it was hectic. Amy could see no one through the cloud of dust, yet the Curruptians moved as if there was no sand there. Luckily they weren't the only ones.
"Amy, duck!" Shadow shouted. A foot flying over her head as she did so. The sound of clanging could be heard, the dust cloud was starting to settle as the group has forced the Curruptians to slow down. Despite this however some of them were pulling away with the cart. Now that they had adjusted to the light it was easy to see that they had two carts. Theirs and another one that looked like it was falling to pieces. Shadow was quick to assume that it must have been their own cart, holding the Emerald that he was sure he sensed off in the distance. He heard Slayde laughing off in the distance, but paid no heed to it. There were too many enemies to deal with and not enough of them to cover all sides. He found Amy at his back. She was short of breath and he could tell it was from the sand that was still settling as the carts continued being pulled without their guard. The laughter of Slayde faded, meaning that Slayde must have been following them. Shadow would just have to concentrate on this battle and attempt to rely on Slayde, as much as he hated relying on other people the other Hedgehog was pretty good with that sword.
"I can see a bit better now Shadow, I should be fine." Amy told him with a slight edge of shortness of breath. The dust cloud was obviously still getting to her lungs, but if her eyes were able to see through it then the next part should be easy.
"Then you take that side and I'll take this side." Shadow told her. When they had first entered the dust cloud he had counted about fifty enemies. Now he could only see about twenty five. So he was sure that Amy had the lesser amount. He darted forwards, moving too fast for them to register. By the time they had started moving he had already snapped the neck of two of them. He spun a kick round, his instinct warning him someone was attacking from behind. His foot collided with the wood of a spear, sending it flying out of the attackers hand and through the neck of a nearby Curruptian. He slid forward, quickly dispatching of this one by snapping his neck before doing a back flip and landing behind two Curruptians that had charged while he was distracted, a quick Chaos Spear to each of their faces as they turned quickly finished off another two of the original twenty five leaving nineteen left in a matter of five seconds. Shadow took in a deep breath. Most of the sand had settled now, even a normal person would be able to see well in this moonlight. His eyes scanned the ten in front of him. Shadow vanished in a flash of green before appearing between two of the Curruptians behind him. He pulled their spear out their hands and threw them swiftly into two opposite him before grabbing the backs of their heads as they turned and smashing their faces into each other so hard that it knocked the both of them out, noses streaming blood. Turning on his hover shoes he quickly jumped far higher than usual, allowing him to avoid several spears that were thrown at him. Cussing followed from all those who had missed and five now unarmed Curruptians charged forwards to where Shadow was about to land. Shadow prepared himself quickly, kicking one of the spears that stuck into the ground pointing directly up across. It hit two of the Curruptians in the chest sideways, winding them. He landed badly and lost his balance as the three others managed to close in on him and a small brawl started, and finished just as fast as Shadow kicked one in the face, breaking his neck, while using his arms to snap a different ones head round, he landed on his front, arms already caught his fall his pushed himself back up again. A single one was left standing there when he got back to his feet, so fast it had been that the two he had winded earlier only just came to him holding their presumably broken ribs with one hand. Shadow grinned, he had been starting to miss this kind of battle. He loosed another Chaos Spear at the one unwounded one as he jumped at the other two, another two unarmed coming in from the circle to help the survivors out as the armed ones attempted to move into his blind spots. He punched the two injured ones in the ribs, causing them further pain before grabbing the both of them by the face, picking them up and slamming them down into the sand so fast it didn't have time to soften their landing in the slightest, cracking the back of their heads open and, rendering them unconscious and bleeding to death. He didn't get a seconds break before a spear came flying at him from behind, Shadow barely moved out of the way in time, the sharp point of the spear grazing his shoulder, cutting his t-shirt and causing him to bleed the amount that might seem like a bad wound to anyone normal. Shadow knew that kind of damage was just superficial on him however as he watched the thrown spear hit a Curruptian square in the chest. He spun, expecting the Curruptian who had just missed to charge, instead however he found another spear inches away from him which he used his lightening reactions to catch before spinning on the spot again to stab one, two, three Curruptians before it got stuck in one of their messed up bodies. There was only one left attempting to use hand to hand combat with him now who attempted to back away from Shadow before tripping over one of his dead comrades backwards and hitting himself on the back of the head with the wooden end of an upturned spear, dazing him but not knocking him unconscious. Shadow was about to finish the job when two spears were stabbed at him at the same time, one of them going through his shoulder and the other one missing by a thread. Shadow growled loudly in pain before he pulled up his right arm and grabbed the spear that had missed spinning it so fast it was not visible into the side of the head of the one that hit him, the shaft of the spear shattering on impact, killing the Curruptian instantly. He looked round, dropping the broken spear and, holding both his hands up in defence, noting that his right arm didn't even move. The spear had lodged itself right through an important nerve. Shadow cussed. This wound wasn't quite as superficial, but at least it wasn't lethal. His previous wound on his shoulder had already healed, Shadow's breathing had become a little heavier from the pain as blood stained his t-shirt from the currently filled hole in the middle of his shoulder. He looked at the four that were remaining standing before glancing at the one that was on the floor, so dazed that cartoon stars were all but flying round his head. Only one of the four remained armed. While the other three that were standing were attempting to come up with some kind of strategy. Presumably they were going to try and get on his right side now that he could no longer defend himself properly. That is of course if you factor out Shadow's abnormally strong legs anyway. Shadow moved into a defensive position, going on the offensive with just the one hand was practically suicide. Although he knew he probably would have tried going offensive if it wasn't for that one person who was armed. He immediately knew his target.
Shadow gave a quick glance down to the bleeding mess that was his shoulder. He was surprised by how close it was to the top of his lungs and he thanked the Gods that it hadn't burst his lung. Blood in a lung was never fun, even if you had little to no need to breath. The Curruptian on the floor had finally stood up, he was walking with a slight wobble, but besides that seemed mostly okay. Shadow started charging energy in himself, as the others were yet to move. "Chaos..." He muttered under his breath, saying the move always did boost its power. The five Curruptians all heard him and three of them dashed at him too fast from him to finish using the move. He felt the energy ebb away as the three attacked, being too relentless from him to do more than defend with just one hand. The three suddenly split as a spear from the other came shooting towards him. Shadow didn't have enough time to react, and without thinking a word popped into his head. Although he had never heard of the move before it was worth a shot, his instincts never lied to him. "Boost." He finished both his arms shooting up and stopping the spear from hitting him, he pulled it out the Curruptians hands with his right hand, punching him in the face with his left hand before using the spear to skewer two Curruptians at the same time. He held both his arms up in defence at the remaining three, the one he just punch recovering still. Shadow jumped at him, twisting his neck and finished him off. He pulled up both arms again, noting that only one of them came up again. Whatever move he had just used had worn off, likely because he would need to practice it to be able to use it longer. He knew he would have to discuss it with Slayde later. As much as he hated to admit it, the Hedgehog knew more Chaos moves than him, even if Shadow was far better at using them and his energy efficiently. The two left looked round at all their dead allies before unexpectedly turning and running. Shadow quickly threw several Chaos Spears at them, one of them fell to the ground (presumable the one who hit his head), but the other one carried on running. Shadow looked to his shoulder before falling to his knees. He had lost too much blood to chase after him. He grimaced as he looked at the spear protruding from his shoulder. Grabbing the spear right beneath the point for leverage he clenched his teeth before he pulled it out in one decisive movement. He quickly pulled off his t-shirt as the blood flow slowly weakened and tore it into the longest strip he could manage with a single hand before using his home made bandage to stem the blood flow as much as possible. Not doing that good of a job on himself with only one hand he sighed, taking solace in the fact that it should have healed in several hours anyway. He slowly stood, turning to Rose. She had come out her fight in a much better way than him, but she seemed to be struggling in her final hand to hand combat. Shadow watched intently as the obviously tired Rose slowly got the upper hand and finally finished him off by knocking him out. Shadow through that it was sweet how she refused to kill anything sentient, but it wasn't always practical. When she collapsed, panting, he gave her a small smile as she looked at him before he started walking towards some of the Curruptians he had simple knocked out as they were waking up. He pulled one of the many spears that had missed out of the ground and began systematically checking that they were all dead if their neck hadn't been broken by stabbing them through that very same place. By the time he had finished with what was on his side he only had one spear left to go and take care of what Rose hadn't killed. He quickly finished them all off, ignoring Amy's futile and tired objections.
"Rose, I know you don't like it but if it makes you feel any better they are barely even people anymore. Robotnik took care of that." Shadow told her, she pulled a face that was mixed with disapproval, anger and sadness.
"Unfortunately, I guess you're right." Amy replied reluctantly. Killing wasn't something she'd ever be fond of. "I only fought ten and yet I struggled on that last fight Shadow. I was too tired. I need to get stronger."
"Don't worry about it Rose, all in due time, it was very dusty. You'll get stronger and one day, who knows? You'll surpass me!" Shadow joked. Amy just looked at him, almost shocked.
"Did you just make a joke Shadow?" Amy asked, shock visible on her face, but obvious amusement laying behind her eyes. Shadow shrugged.
"Yeah, I think I just did." Shadow replied, sounding just as shocked himself. He was starting to find it too easy to relax round Rose, and it was scaring him. For the first time he felt that emotion since falling to Mobius while his super form left him. Fear.
"Wait, where's Slayde?" Amy questioned. Shadow looked over towards the direction he knew that they went, too worn out to follow.
Slayde was closing in so he stopped his maniacal laughter, not even sure what he was laughing about in the first place, it was probably the adrenaline. He wasn't completely sure how big the force that went with the carts was. But he had counted round fifty when they first hit the cloud, they killed about 10 on the initial attack before having to split into two groups. He was certain that Shadow managed to distract twenty five-ish of them, but Rose was too far to see how many she had, all he knew was that it was more than five. Which would leave him with a maximum of twelve including the two that must have been pulling the carts and a minimum of three as he doubted whoever the leader of the group was would have left the carts unguarded to fight the other two. He took in a deep breath as he made it to the dust cloud, knowing that he wouldn't be able to breathe properly when he made it inside. Luckily he seemed to be able to hold his breath for a long time, though he had never tried to time himself he was sure it was over five minutes. Just as he caught up with the cart, four of them jumped off, two had the usual spears, but the other two had swords. Slayde was forced to slow down from the appearance of fighters, but not before he took off one of the spear wielders heads. The carts started pulling ahead as the three kept up his pace, one of them tried to thrust him through with the sword, which he quickly parried before running his blade up along the sword, Slayde's katana hit the guard on the Curruptian swords handle, making the Curruptian grin before he realised that Slayde's blade sliced right through it and then his arm right after, forcing him to move his other hand out the way and dodge before he lost both his hands. The other sword wielding Curruptian let down a massive over head swing right at Slayde who heard it moving through the air. He blocked the swing with the blunt side of his katana, causing the Curruptians sword to crack where the impact was, Slayde kicked him in the chest, knocking him back before answering with a swing of his own aimed at the Curruptians neck. The Curruptian lifted his sword to block it just in time, but due to the fissure left on his blade it simple snapped into multiple pieces, barely slowing Slayde's attack which cut clean through his neck. Slayde's instincts suddenly kicked in and he quickly dodged with a Chaos Control. Putting him to the back of the group as they came to a complete stand still, allowing him to see that the spear had been stabbed into where he was just seconds ago. He clicked his fingers and a large knife that looked just a like a miniature version of his katana appeared in his right hand, left still took up by his katana. Before the Curruptian had even realised Slayde had teleported out of the way Slayde had thrown the knife expertly through his head the last one collapsed. Slayde breathed a sigh of relief as he looked behind him for the one he had merely injured before he suddenly heard some more footsteps near him. The Curruptian missing his right hand was running at him with his own knife in his left. Slayde smirked, clearly he knew nothing of Chaos Closet. Slayde went to summon his weapon back before deciding against it and swinging his katana which was surprisingly well blocked. The Curruptian blatantly had some skill with a knife. Maybe he had trained with that before he was forced onto the sword? Slayde was unsure. A blade shooting towards his head snapped him out of his thoughts. He dodged and knocked his wrist the blade, trying to cut off his other hand, luckily for the Curruptian he managed to pull back in time and backed off for a second. Slayde dared a quick glance at the trail the carts had left. It had all but faded, and as soon as the dust settled it would disappear before he could follow. Slayde swore.
"I'm sorry, I was enjoying this." Slayde started as he swung the katana towards the neck of the last remaining Curruptian. The Curruptian pulled Slayde's weapon up to block, grinning, just for it to vanish before Slayde katana took off his head. "But I just haven't got the time." He finished as the two pieces of body fell to the ground. He looked to the trail and started running faster than he had ever run. He had to catch them up before they found reinforcements. Else he was screwed.
It only took two minutes for him to catch up. He assumed that the four that went to slow him down were helping pull the carts before and that was the only reason they were going so fast. Someone standing on top of one of the carts noticed him and turned round. The carts slowed down to a complete stop as he approached and a Curruptian (with the other two flanking either shoulder in a triangle) that was dressed better, as he had clothes instead of rags, stepped behind the carts so he was facing Slayde who had just stopped ten or some meters away. Short enough a distance for Slayde to leap in a second if need be. Slayde actually took in what type of Mobian he was due to the dressage, a dark grey Wolf with green eyes.
"I'm impressed and disappointed." The well dressed Curruptian started in a deep, slow voice that had an edge that made him sound like he was permanently sneering, Slayde just stayed still and watched him intently. Ready to strike. "I'm impressed that you and your friends managed to take down fifty of my men. You even took down my second and third in command." He paused, as if for effect.
The two with the swords, Slayde registered silently, not making a movement, not even breathing. The Curruptian seemed disappointed with Slayde's reaction, or lack thereof.
"And disappointed because they lost to such weaklings." He concluded tauntingly. Slayde continued not to move, refusing to so much as blink at the insult. The Curruptians eyes narrowed. "I'm glad that you followed alone. I can feel that you have an Emerald on you, his highness is so desperate to regain them after that blundering renegade lost the six we collected you see." Slayde finally moved, slightly surprised at the Curruptians words.
"You have a king?" Slayde questioned. The well dressed Curruptian smirked.
"Ah, finally a reaction. Yes we have a king. I am in his royal guard. Third strongest in all the land, The Collector, the kings third in command and acquirer of rare and valuable gems. We have even recovered a single time stone. So I am looking for those too." The Collector informed Slayde. Slayde nodded silently. If the time stones were recoverable that would be a way to stop all this mess from have ever happening in the first place without consequence. "Now then." He clicked his fingers and the two ran to either side of Slayde, about fifty meters from each other. "With Chaos as my witness; I challenge you, sword wielding Hedgehog, to a one on one dual. To the death. Anything goes but Chaos Control. Do you accept the challenge?"
"I do." Slayde replied simply and calmly. Holding his sword in his left hand only. Suddenly a blue ellipse appeared on the ground the furthest points where either Curruptian was as soon the ellipse was made however they quickly made their way back to the carts and began pulling them at the same sort of pace a walking horse might. The making of the ellipse blatantly caused them to become fatigued.
"Don't even try to escape the fighting ring to go after them or-" The Collector started, but Slayde cut him off.
"I know what this is. We doing this or what?" Slayde started bluntly. The Collector smiled.
"Then on the count of three. One." He started lazily.
"Two." Slayde continued. The Collector smiled at him with a mixture of amusement and maliciousness.
"Three!" They both shouted at the same time, jumping at each other with shocking speed. Slayde swung his sword at The Collector, but he managed to duck beneath it and give Slayde a quick hit to the gut. Slayde quickly stumbled backwards to prevent himself from being hit off guard. He managed to hit Slayde's wrist however, making Slayde fumble the blade before managing to knee him in the side. Slayde gripped his katana with both hands. This fight was actually going to be a challenge.
The two of them paused. Staring intently at each other. "Chaos Spear." Slayde suddenly shouted, flying a Spear in The Collectors direction before leaping at him again. He dodged the spear and didn't quite predict the double attack right, wide eyed because he knew what the sword could do, there was a flash of yellow light as Slayde brought down his blade that caused it to go flying out his hand and outside the arena. Slayde looked to it, knowing that he could retrieve it, if only the damn barrier hadn't been put up that was. Looking back he realised what the flash was. The Collector had powered up into super form. It looked odd to Slayde, who had only seen the super forms of Echidna's and Hedgehogs. Yet there he was. Pale yellow, almost cream, fur shining with power; his eyes now red. Slayde did the other thing he could, he also powered up fur turning a silvery-gold, eyes turning purple. The ellipse suddenly expanded itself, getting ten times as big in a single second as the two of them hovered just above the ground. "Bring it on then." Slayde told him calmly.
"What the hell is going on over there." Shadow commented as a flash of blue light up the horizon in the distance. The rest of the group had caught them up right after Shadow had finished bandaging himself and he was now fully healed because Rose recovered enough to use Chaos Heal on his wound to make the outside skin stop any external bleeding. She couldn't however restore the blood he had lost, so he still felt absolutely drained compared to normal. Rage was leaning on Sonic's shoulders (Sonic still disliked the guy, but since meeting Terra he had softened up to him considerably) as they walked, still too weak to continue. He carried on telling them that one of them had drained all of his Chaos Energy, one that was apparently well dressed unlike all of the other members of that team. Shadow knew it must have been the leader, but he had only heard of someone draining someone else's energy once... and that was with a Chaos Emerald. It was possible that the person in question had been born with that as a special ability. As special gifts in Mobians were quite common. Though not normally quite as showy as Shadow's and Sonic's natural born speed, or Knuckles' natural born strength. They were often more subtle, like Tails' incredible intelligence.
"I don't know, but I can't sense Slayde anymore." Sonic stated in a slight panic. Shadow took a deep breath.
"Can you sense the other one?" Shadow asked, annoyed that he had to rely on someone else because of his weakened sense. Sonic stared intently at the spot the light was coming from for a few seconds, Shadow looked at him irritated. If it were him he'd have been able to check this ten times by now.
"No." Terra answered instead of Sonic. Sonic gave her an irritated look. "Sorry honey, you were taking too long."
"Oh damn." Shadow muttered. Half the group stopped to stare at Shadow for a moment before realising everyone else was still walking. "I think they're entered a death match. We've got to hurry. I want to see this." He finished as he walked faster. Terra looked at him with surprise, where as Sonic got excitable.
"Me and Terra could quickly run up and help him!" He exclaimed, looking to Ebony for her to carry Rage instead. It wasn't Shadow who replied, but Terra.
"You can't, that blue thing is basically a cage. No one but the challenged can enter, and another or anything in there that isn't gets thrown out. It's an ability that takes at least two people plus the two fighters. The none fighters cast it round the fighters to prevent interference and it's normally done for honour. Why Slayde's doing one I have no idea." Terra explained. Shadow nodded but otherwise remained quiet in his walking, his energy too low to waste it on talking.
"So why are we headed there?" Sonic asked rather bluntly. Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Don't you want those Emeralds?" He questioned, breathing heavy for Shadow. The blue light flashed and then notably widened. "Hurry!"
"Bring it on then." Slayde told him calmly. The Collector just smirked at him before they both darted at each other at blinding speeds, each of them smashing fist into face with a clap of thunder. Both flew backwards from the impact, Slayde stopped after a second but The Collector went all the way to the wall of the arena and smashed into it. It was harder than anything natural could be as it didn't budge a millimetre. The Collector growled before closing the quarter kilometre distance between them in a second. Slayde had his knife in his left hand. Looking at it, it was a bit too big to be a knife yet not quite big enough to be a sword, it was just a slight bit shorter than half the size of his katana which made it so that the handle was almost perfectly the size for his hand, it almost looked as if his aura was including the blade. He was holding it down like a dagger, sharp edge on the outside, ready to stab at a seconds notice. He lunged, stabbing the dagger like object right at The Collectors face. The Collector smirked, and held up his weak hand to block it and prove a point. The knife went straight through his hand causing him to yank his hand away in agony, which was a bad move because he practically caused his hand to be sliced in half. Slayde was relentless, and didn't give him time to recover as he slashed at the Curruptian, causing multiple small scratches up and down his body before The Collector could get away. Yet as The Collector jumped back, Slayde grabbed what remained of The Collectors fingers, fully pulling away what would have possibly been fixable for the mutant race to fix. The Collector growled, his feral instincts taking over for a second as his Chaos levels surged. He moved faster than Slayde could react and blasted him with a move that Slayde hadn't used for a long time.
"Chaos Lance." He screamed, the force of it took Slayde to the side of the area and slammed him against it with raw energy pouring out. By the time The Collector had regained control of his body and mind he was panting with the Energy expenditure. The smoke of the powerful beam cleared to reveal Slayde floating there, various cuts and bruises all over his body, also panting. All of his clothes were destroyed in the power of the blast, revealing the weight suit he had been given.
"Right. Now you've done it." Slayde told him, out of breath. The Collector to a breath laughed at him.
"You're as out of it as I am! What on earth do you think you have up your sleeve?" He taunted. Slayde looked at him calmly and relaxed his body.
"Disable weight suit." He muttered calmly. He breathed in deeply and smirked. "That's better." He told him, no shortness of breath at all. "I've had that thing on ten times gravity this whole time. Not only has it been weighing me down, but draining my energy to do so!" Slayde explained to the gob smacked Curruptian. Slayde rushed at him. The speed difference was frightening as he slashed off his unwounded arm and went for the finishing blow.
"Wait!" The Collector shouted. Slayde paused, knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything to resist even if he did leave him to live ask for his final requests. "Allow me one moment to speak to your friends. Then finish me off... If the blood loss doesn't beat you there." He added as his super form forced itself off, luckily there were only a couple metres from the ground so the Curruptian landed just fine. Slayde looked over to Shadow just outside the arena and nodded once. The Collector walked swiftly, Slayde right behind him, to Shadow. "Hello Shadow. My title is The Collector and my king wished to duel with you. To prove that he is the ultimate life. For he is stronger than any of you." He finished as he fell to his knees. Shadow just rolled his eyes. "Finish me." He said calmly to Slayde. Slayde walked up to him slowly holding his blade the other way.
"No!" Shouted Rose. Slayde looked up to her and paused, blade aloft.
"Rose, he's going to die of blood loss, this'll be much faster and less painful. Besides, unless one of us dies, this thing won't ever go away." Slayde indicated the translucent blue wall. With that Slayde stabbed him in the back of the neck and took the final blow as Rose buried her head in Shadow's chest fur. All the killing was really getting to her. The blue ellipse faded out. Slayde quickly laid out the dead Curruptian, arms over his chest and closed his eyes. "No place to bury him, so don't get too close." Slayde told them all. Everyone but Amy took a couple steps back.
"What you going to do?" She asked, Shadow grabbed her and pulled her back into the way she was when Slayde finished him off, but with his arms round her this time, presumably to keep her there, but Slayde suspected another reason too.
"Chaos Inferno." Mighty flames leapt from Slayde's hands, cremating the body and turning some of the surrounding sand to glass. "Right! Carriages to save!" He announced before running in the direction he saw them leave. Seconds later he realised he was being followed, a quick glance told him it was Sonic. He gave Sonic a quick nod to make sure he knew he was there and continued running. A minute of following the obvious trail later it started to fade, but lucky just as it got almost impossible to see, a small dust cloud was visible on the horizon. They obviously had recovered at least some of their energy. Slayde and Sonic kept up the pace and soon enough they caught up with them. The two Curruptians started begging for their lives the second they saw Slayde. Just as Slayde was about to kill them Sonic objected.
"Slayde they're unarmed and not even fighting back." Sonic told him, Slayde looked to Sonic, the he looked back at them with a mixture of hatred and annoyance.
"If you swear on your lives you will not go and alert the king of our presence in these lands. Then I shall let you go." Slayde told them as he pointed his katana at the both of them in turn.
"I swear!" They both stuttered as fast as they could before they both back away slowly, going in a sprint as soon as they were about 15 metres away. Running in a completely different direction to where they were originally going, or where they had come from.
"Let's get the carts back to the others." Slayde muttered. Sonic didn't reply. "Sonic?"
"You might want to see this Slayde." Sonic's voice came from the front of their cart. Slayde sighed and came round, to find four people standing there rather than one. One was the little one known as Prosha, the other was the taller one known as Alpha. The last one was a Curruptian fox. He was a black fox with a white muzzle and white belly fur, stitches were all over the visible part of his body and one big one was over the left side of his face, going over his eyelid. His eyes were light blue but left half of half of his left eye was red, coinciding perfectly with the stitch on his face.
Yet he had a friendly look in his eyes compared to any of the others.
"Well aren't you an interesting thing." Slayde commented, looking at him. He looked back petrified.
"Don't you dare huwt him or I'll tell Rage!" Prosha exclaimed. Slayde ignored her.
"Your body got caught up in the corruption like many others, but your mind was never took over by it, well. Not enough for you to lose yourself. Am I right?" Slayde questioned. The Fox boy nodded. "You got a name?"
"Noir, sir." Noir replied, an edge of fear on his voice. Likely because he'd seen the way Slayde had treat other Curruptians.
"I won't hurt you." Slayde told him. The fox didn't seem to ease up at all.
"You're scaring him!" Prosha shouted at him, Slayde barely paid her any notice.
"Sonic, I think we should tell this to the others when the time is right, rather than as soon as we get back. That way you can decide whether you want the others to know you know or not." Slayde requested. "Maybe get Rage to tell them. Now it's obvious why he's so protective of the cart." Slayde finished as he rooted inside of the Curruptians cart. Nothing of interest was in there, but Slayde did find a Chaos Emerald. "Shadow's going to be in a good mood when we get back." Slayde mentioned.
"Why?" Sonic asked. Slayde popped his head out and grinned.
"Green Chaos Emerald." He told him as he held it out for him to see. "You four help me get any food they have in here, you never know when we next need to stock up, or where we'll get the chance." He told them as he put all the food to the front. Several minutes later they were putting the three back in the cart. Sonic was round the front and Noir went in last. Just before Noir got inside however Slayde quickly pulled Noir aside while they couldn't see.
"Why are you scared of me in particular?" Slayde asked hurriedly. Wanting to get him inside before anyone noticed.
"Because you're The Collector." Noir muttered in fear. Slayde lifted him into the cart.
"Don't tell anyone." Slayde commanded as he closed the flap.