The King of the Curruptians
"Are you not worrying at all?" Amy asked. The sun was overhead again, the Emeralds that they had were safely hidden by Shadow and Slayde.
"Rose, if I got worried every time someone threatened me, I'd probably have had a heart attack by now." Shadow replied, he obviously wasn't bothered by what The Collector had told him.
"When we making camp?" Slayde suddenly asked from the back. Shadow looked up to the sky. It was once again getting dark, the presence of the Curruptians had lightened, but not lifted. "You might not be worried, but that Curruptian wasn't messing round. They were collecting Chaos Emeralds for their King. Judging by what he said, I don't think that was the first one he found. Which means..."
"That we need to go and find this king?" Rage chipped in as he pulled along the cart.
"Yes, I have to agree. This 'King' of theirs might have more than one patrol out looking for these Emeralds. There could be multiple Emeralds heading to him right now." Shadow concurred. The walking group continued in silence for almost a half hour before Amy sighed and spoke.
"If you could take a stab in the dark. Which direction would you say it'd be in?" Amy asked no one, and yet everyone at the same time.
"That way." Shadow and Slayde both announced in unison. Both pointing to the North East.
"No such thing as coincidence?" Sonic announced echoing what was said the day before, leaning on the cart from the heat.
"You're seriously still too hot?" Amy asked. Sonic nodded to her, panting and sweating profusely. "I got used to it already." She finished, shrugging. Sonic gave her a heavy look.
"How?" He questioned in annoyance. Amy shrugged again, causing Sonic to sigh in exasperation before he stood up straight watching the others in front of him.
"You know Slayde. You've been carrying that rucksack and yet everything else you've put in the Chaos Closet." Amy pointed out. Everyone looked at her or Slayde. Rage and Sonic were looking at Amy, the rest at Slayde.
"What's one of those when it's at home?" Sonic questioned, panting. Amy smirked.
"It's just a place to store things. So yeah. Slayde. Care to explain?" Amy demanded. Slayde looked at the whole group looking at him.
"It's just something that Tails asked me to keep safe. Why you all looking at me as if I'm hiding something? Why don't we have a look inside this cart?" Slayde deterred as he tried to pull back the sheet of the cart. Rage grabbed his arm and growled at him as he got close. Shadow sighed at the front of the group.
"It's a good point. After that first attack, we should put all the cards out on the table. I know you're hiding three people in there. And I honestly don't know who the third one is." Shadow confessed. Slayde nodded and stuck his tongue out at Rage childishly.
"I thought you might have noticed. I was thinking of mentioning it after last time because, the longer they stay in there, the bigger the risk they will get hurt from only him protecting them." Slayde continued. Shadow looked to Rage who finally let go of Slayde's arm. A look of anger and defeat on his face. The curtain got pulled back by someone, presumably Alpha, who was in there.
"How long have you known?" The semi-recognisable voice of Alpha came from within the shadows of the carts sheets as he jumped out, a little bothered by the brightness, but seemingly fine with the heat.
"From the beginning." Shadow confirmed calmly. Prosha came out immediately afterwards, arms crossed and grumpy. It seemed like the heat was bothering her. Finally Noir came out, what he was, was obvious to everyone. He was half wearing one of the suits (so his chest was currently on display) that Rage, Alpha and Prosha had on, along with Slayde under his usual clothing. Most of the group instinctively moved away from him, whether from the copious amounts of scars or due to what he was, as he jumped down from the cart, avoiding getting too close to Slayde. Slayde and Shadow didn't move, and Sonic only did because he didn't want everyone to know he already knew. Whereas Rage moved himself between the three that just revealed themselves and Shadow with his arms stretched across as if protecting them all from him.
"Come now Rage, you can't stop all of them." Alpha commented. Rage looked to the three and then back to the rest of the group. Rage sighed and lowered his arms. Shadow gave Slayde a questioning look, and Slayde nodded.
"So about that sword Slayde?" Shadow asked as he turned and started walking, whatever silent conversation between Shadow and Slayde had taken place, it was as if nothing had happened.
"Ah yes, I did say I would explain that-" Slayde started, realisation dawned on Shadow's face as he cut him off.
"Speaking of explaining, you never did explain that pride thing." Shadow commented casually. Slayde shrugged.
"I said I'd tell you if you won, that was obviously a draw." Slayde commented cheekily, he was obviously joking.
"I'll show you draw." Shadow replied in a growl.
"Whoa, whoa! I was joking! Joking! I'll explain it all. Okay?" Slayde quickly saved, Shadow nodded quietly, making Slayde realise that Shadow was only playing as well. Slayde was starting to realise the extent of how much of an effect Amy's friendship was having on the Ultimate Life Form. The whole group had gone quiet listening to the two of them. "The sword first though. Okay?" Slayde asked. Shadow just nodded again. "And no interruptions!" He quickly mentioned looking at Rage. Rage just shrugged at him.
"Back when I was human I already knew a fair bit about Chaos from a previous life, enough to get by and be able to use it as a human anyway. The older I got the more I forgot this life but most the, um, teachings stayed, just in my subconscious of course. I could remember various things like how to wield a sword. When my parents finally discovered this, rich people who never had time for me, they allowed me to get my own swords crafted. I have two actually. A katana, and a wakizashi. The wakizashi is about half the size of my katana for two reasons. The first is that I can use it more discreetly and in small places. The second is I can dual wield the two quite efficiently.
"Now my parents were willing to pay anything for some reason. So what did I do? What any rational person would do. I went for the best. I visited not just any blacksmith. But an Echidnian blacksmith, requesting that he made the blade exactly how I wanted it and, as price wasn't on the problems list, he obliged. It took him a long time to make it the way I wanted it, as I got him to mixed in with the metal copious amounts of Chaos Crystals. Which is what causes the glittering in the moonlight. Because of the properties of the metal he managed to get so many of them in I almost got my parents telling me there was to be no more money spent, and they were billionaires. So you can imagine the ridiculous amounts of money involved. Anyway, about a year later, it was finally done, polished etc. Thanks to the metal, it will never have to be polished again as it will never dull nor break. And, well yeah, that's how I ended up with the best swords in the world." Slayde finished after a lengthy explanation that everyone stay quiet as requested through. Prosha and Noir were both sitting on the cart again. But since Rage was pulling it no one cared. It was his choice to have the extra weight.
"Pretty interesting. I take it you can store Energy within the sword?" Shadow followed through. Slayde nodded. Shadow put on his thinking face. "Then I may have to get one of my own..." Shadow trailed off. Slayde smirked.
"Oh no, I have a far better idea for you! It might be hard finding the correct Echidnian, but getting enough money together will be the hardest problem." Slayde replied. Shadow gave him a strange look but did not question him. Likely saving the conversation for when there were less prying ears.
"So about that pride thing?" Shadow questioned, though the two at the front turned their heads to a heated discussion that was going on in the back.
"Yes you do Sonic, I've already explained this." Terra was muttering to him angrily.
"Well I do not remember." Sonic replied in the same kind of hushed tone. Just about everyone was looking at the stationary pair now.
"I'm trying to train you here Sonic, there's more to this relationship than s-" She finally noticed everyone was watching the pair of them as she had raised her voice towards the end. "Um, hey guys." She commented as casually as she could manage, a slight crack in her voice betraying her embarrassment.
"Wow, so even Sonic knows. That's not humiliating at all." Shadow mumbled in irritation. His eyes narrow at the arguing pair.
"Hey! I know some things!" Sonic exclaimed, Slayde smirked.
"Emphasis on 'some'." Slayde teased. Half the group laughed, the rest smirked, even Shadow smirked, pulling him out of the annoyed mood he was falling into. Sonic just stood there glaring at Slayde, considering punching him in the face for effect.
"I'll explain then." Terra stated, walking to the front of the group. "A lot of people have misconceptions of Chaos. Many think that it has two types, good and evil, light and dark. Complete bullshit." She started. Her swearing caused all the people who were not paying proper attention to pay attention, she never swore. "Dark and light Chaos are not rudimentarily evil nor good within themselves. Evil has been known to use light and good has been known to use dark. The misconceptions stem from the type of moves within the two base Elements. Darks moves are generally more destructive and lights moves are generally more preserving. Take for example Chaos Blast and Chaos Explosion. One kills and destroys everything whereas the other only eradicates that which is a threat, though at the cost of far more energy.
"Now very few people can use both light and dark Chaos and even fewer can use them both properly. You may think that Shadow is good at using Dark Chaos but from what I've seen his Chaos Blast is pitiful. An echo of what I could produce, or even Sonic, who until recently has been trying to resist his true calling. However if I tried to use some light moves that Shadow can use with ease, I would not be able to. I can not use light Chaos at all, so at least most of you can use both. Amazingly two of you can use them almost equally. Even in my entire village filled with Chaos users only two were able to. The elder and the chief. Now, watch me." She finished for a pause after speaking in a tone that made it so clear that you would have your head snapped off if you tried to interrupt. She closed her eyes as her fur was covered with a black pelt, and when she opened her eyes they had changed to a deep sea sapphire blue. "If I'm correct." She started in a voice that sounded much more powerful and authoritative than before. Shadow could tell in awe that she was indeed higher in power than him, the level 3 Yellow he had sensed before when she was not in her super form unsuppressed and at the higher end of level nine, maybe even the lower end of level ten. Being born and raised in a village so radiated Chaos Energy obviously had its benefits. Not to mention the constant, rigorous training from the age of five. Plus Shadow realised he had no idea how old she was. True she looked in her mid twenties. But people with strong Chaos always indirectly slowed their body clocks. So she could be a fair bit older. Late thirties even. "None of you except Slayde and Sonic know why my eyes are this colour, rather than red like the average Mobian super form." Sonic protested in the back ground, but no one paid him any heed. Even the little ones on the cart we listening intently, as if she had some kind of special story telling ability. "Well that's down to the fact that light and dark are split into seven different parts, and those parts are spilt into a further seven. They are split into the seven deadly sins, and as such your eyes go the colour that your working sin is. Generally the one you feel the strongest tie to, but most people settle for rage or anger as it's the easiest to control and use as an incentive. However, this is the part that not many outside my village know. Each sin has an 'opposite' that uses the same colour, but I use the term opposite lightly. Each side has its positives and negatives." Slayde was nodding in agreement. Shadow dared a whisper.
"How do you know this exactly?" He asked as quietly as he could, not wanting anyone to notice the exchange.
"I visited their village and stayed there for a while." He whispered back simply, and then added. "A human who could use Chaos better than the average Mobian was most fascinating to them." Shadow nodded, mostly to himself. That finally explained how Slayde knew a lot about Chaos that he did not.
"The sins, in order of power, are Pride, Lust, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony and Rage. However as Rage is the easiest to control, many people who use higher ones can be easily overpowered." Terra concluded. Rage could be heard in the background laughing about the fact that he was named after a sin, but Prosha quickly told him to shut it before Terra got irritated. "The
respective opposites may not be what you expect though. They are Respect, Love, Wanting, Passion, Thoughtfulness, Control and Calm." Terra explained quietly, yet everyone could hear her clearly over the silence. "As not all of them are mutually exclusive of each other, like greed
and passion can go hand in hand despite passion being more about admiration than acquisition, it is sometimes possible for a person to use both the Sin and its counterpart in conjunction. This, however, is even rarer than people being able to use both light and dark. Though as no one at the village could do it, they were but myths, I am not even sure if it is possible to be honest." She concluded, her feet hovering approximately a foot above the ground making her the tallest save Rage.
"I guess I should explain the Seven bits after that?" Terra asked bemused at their attentive faces that started nodded. She noticed that Slayde was enjoying the explanation despite the prior knowledge, giving her a bit more confidence that she was not making herself look like a fool. "They are then broken down into Seven elements, they are the base elements of all that is Chaos. The first four everyone knows, fire, water, earth and air. The other three are harder to learn and tricky to master, ice (or simply freezing in general), electricity and the mind itself. The mind is the most powerful element. It gives stem to all the natural born abilities like telekinesis, or mixed with another element, pyrokenesis. Foreseers use it, healers use it." Terra informed them, looking to Amy as she mentioned healers.
"Theoretically anyone could use every element. In practice however, most people can use four at most. It takes time, effort and a lot of energy to maintain skill over each element. Even though theoretically someone could learn all seven it has never been done. The highest recorded was five and no more. I personally can only use three; fire, earth and mind. But my mastery of the Earth Element is beyond anyone else I've ever met. Anyone who wishes to challenge this is welcome to try of course." She concluded devilishly, glancing at some fearful faces and others with a smirk. She shrugged. "It's good you all know now. You never know when not knowing something can put you at a disadvantage." She finally finished as she powered down and went back to stand with Sonic. The strange air vanished and suddenly everyone found that they could talk again without feeling awkward. Of course that resulted in too much noise in one spot.
"Glad you know that know." Slayde told Shadow as he moved a bit further from the group from the noise that was being generated. It was a small group but everyone had some good lungs on them. "I didn't really know how to explain it properly but Terra has a knack for it."
"Yes she does. Do you know how that is? The ability to tell that... 'Story' for lack of a better word was uncannily good." Shadow questioned, Slayde shrugged.
"I presume it is because her father was the chief of the village and her mother the seeress. So she's one of the most important people in the tribe simply from that. The title of chief is normally inherited... Though can be challenged, I guess she would be the only survivor from that family line so she would have both titles, despite her inability to actually 'see'." Slayde theorised. Shadow nodded in agreement. It was a sound theory.
"The sun has almost left this area." Shadow motioned towards the horizon where only half the sun was visible. Slayde looked over as well.
"That explanation was quite lengthy." Slayde agreed to Shadow's unspoken thought. The two looked at each other for a few seconds.
"Who are you?" Shadow asked out of the blue, taking Slayde by surprise. Slayde just looked at him blankly. "I feel like I know you. Like I should trust you, and that's not something I do easily. Yet it keeps happening with you. Also Rose. I don't understand why I expect your judgement to be as well thought out as my own." Slayde sighed before sitting. The sun had just about set now, a semi-circle on the horizon, Slayde looked back to the standing Shadow.
"I don't know Shadow. Every moment we spend, more of my human life wastes away. Soon enough I won't remember that, the past before it is far beyond my reach." Slayde told him. "You should probably get back to the rest. They might not admit it, but they look at you as the leader. If you need me, however, I'll be right here." Slayde finished before sighing and closing his eyes in a way that looked like he was deep in thought. Shadow decided against disturbing the Hedgehog despite the other questions he wanted to press to him. Slowly he walked back to camp. Considering what Slayde might have been to him. He recalled documents detailing his escape from the ARK from an average escape pod. One that had to be launched by another. When he hit the ground, he was apparently not apprehended until a couple of months after. Was it during that period he had met Slayde, before Slayde himself was trapped within a human skin? And how was Slayde trapped in a human skin? Did they kill him? His spirit attaching to something that he had already set up? Or did they force him within a human body to do tests and such? Before his trail of questions had stopped he found he was standing in the middle of a bunch of tents.
"We sort of have a problem with the tents... There's a load more of us now." Rage announced as soon as he was within a normal Mobians earshot. Shadow rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I'll let Prosha have my place. I don't really need a tent anyway." The usually quiet Ebony mentioned. If it wasn't for the fact that Amy was her only friend Shadow probably wouldn't have let her come.
"Well Terra and Sonic are obviously together." Shadow told them in a level voice, realising that Sonic and Terra were nowhere to be seen and that, on closer inspection, their tent was pitched further away from the other. He rolled his eyes, obviously Sonic was getting a bit more used to the heat. "Rage, you can share with Alpha I'm sure." Shadow didn't quite ask. Rage nodded anyway. "As for you." He started as he looked at the young Curruptian. He knew that himself and Slayde were probably the only two adults who would share with him, as even Rage and Alpha only seemed to put up with him because Prosha had told them to do so, though on second thought Rage did seem to like him, yet Alpha would probably only go in with Rage. It amused him how someone as small as that commanded the two of them. Shadow still had a major trust issue though, and didn't want to sleep nearby anyone he didn't trust. Limiting him greatly. "Here kid." He mentioned as he threw the tent, that had just appeared in his hands at a thought, lightly into his arms. "I'll stay in with Slayde. If you don't know how to set up it, ask Prosha to tell Rage to do it for you." Shadow told the young fox boy.
"Thanks." Noir told him as he walked off in the wrong direction. Shadow just rolled his eyes and went back towards Slayde, it only took him a few seconds and the camp was in view as the sun dropped beneath the world and shrouded the desert in darkness. Shadow looked at the stationary Slayde for a few seconds before sitting behind to him, back to him so he could see the camp, then he also closed his eyes.
"I presume you sorted out the tent problem?" Slayde asked, slight amusement in his voice. Shadow smirked.
"I did, seems we're sharing a tent." Shadow replied, Slayde didn't reply for a couple of seconds.
"I see." He replied simply. The two of them sat in silence for a long time, neither minding the dark, the cold nor the lack of any sound once the others had fallen to sleep. The moon shone above them, not quite full but bright enough for everything to be visible. It could have been minutes, or hours that they simply sat there. But something had to happen eventually.
"So what do you make of this King?" Shadow eventually asked, the two of them had small amounts of dew forming on their fur, morning had to be approaching.
"I would say that The Collector was as strong as Sonic. So I guess he could be only a little stronger then that or he could genuinely be stronger than us." Slayde replied, finally having opened his eyes. The two of them still didn't move, almost back to back they would both have had to turn almost 180 just to look at one another. Slayde simply watched the stars and the very faint orange haze he could see slightly to the left of him marking the suns nearing arrival. The arrival of a new day. Shadow chuckled slightly.
"So you think you're stronger than Sonic?" Shadow asked, bemused. Slayde also laughed.
"I know I'm stronger than Sonic. It isn't a question." Slayde replied quite seriously underneath the laughter. Shadow had stopped and gone to a mere smirk, Slayde couldn't see this but he could tell from the atmosphere. "He has more natural gift for controlling Chaos than I do. But effort can beat natural skill if enough effort is put in. As you know I'm sure."
"Not personally, but I do know what you mean. Natural skill plus effort is a good combination for myself... Seems Amy has more natural skill that I presumed." Shadow hinted. Slayde didn't move, but in his eyes you could tell he was nodding internally.
"Yes, she does. She can heal people, being able to do that is a rare gift indeed! Beaten of course only by the ability to 'see'. An ability she seems to be showing the base qualities of." Slayde speculated. Now it was Shadow's turn to unmovingly nod within his own mind.
"It's concerning me, not just that, but how fast she's progressing within Chaos herself. She reminds me of what little I remember of my own progress. I presume that you may have progressed in a similar way, I get that feel." Shadow concluded. Slayde shrugged, the lack of movement round them allowing Shadow to be able to feel the movement in the air.
"Maybe. I can't quite remember. All I know is that I had a little brother who looked up to me, even if he was better than me at some things." Slayde told him, Shadow's ears perked up in interest. "Though I can't even remember his name, let alone his face." Slayde sighed miserably. The sun was almost upon them.
"That's interesting. I've often wondered what it would be like to have a brother, all I can remember is Maria." Shadow informed him. This interested Slayde in turn.
"Yes, well I can't remember any parents at all. So I presume we were orphans. Wonder what he's doing now, if he's even alive still, whether he became as strong as me... It must have been a long time." Slayde trailed off. The two of them were silent for almost half an hour until the first rays of sunlight peaked over the sandy hills. Morning was here. "I guess we should move back to the camp?" Slayde broke the silence with an unarguable point. Shadow sighed and stood slowly, his joints creaking slightly from the hours of sitting almost completely still.
"Are you going to be okay with no sleep?" Shadow asked out of what sounded like curiosity, but what may have also been concern, as he walked in front of the still stationary Slayde. Bumping into the King of the Curruptians with one of his best fighters not at 100% might not end well. Shadow held his hand out to help Slayde up. Slayde smiled slightly and took it.
"I've gone longer without sleep. I'm sure I'll be fine." Slayde replied as he shook off, most the dew that had formed already evaporating from the sun. "Good talking with you though. I'd been hell of bored without someone to keep me company." Slayde told him merrily as the two walked back to the camp. Ebony was sat on the cart, completely motionless (at least the two of them were breathing.) Everyone else seemed to still be sleeping.
"Erm Ebony?" Shadow muttered. The Mobian like robot didn't respond.
"I think she's in some kind of power save mode..." Slayde whispered to Shadow. Shadow shrugged and progressed to waking everyone else up. She must have started moving at some point because when he returned her and Slayde were in a full blown conversation about Chaos and how the Elements worked.
"So the sky is basically a whole load of the air Element. Plants are a mixture of water and earth. Though learning sub Elements can only be done after mastering the two or even three base Elements first. I would presume there would be some kind of ultimate move for someone who mastered all seven, but I seriously doubt anyone will be able to do that. Most people literally have blocks on certain Elements. I can't even tap into the mind portion. It's a side of Chaos that completely defies me now. And yet- Hey Shadow!" Slayde cut off as soon as he saw Shadow coming. "We're just talking about the Elemental Chaos, care to join?" Slayde questioned. Shadow looked back to the group who seemed to be being deliberately slow in getting out their tents. He shrugged.
"I suppose." He told the two of them as he stood beside Slayde.
"It seems some people can tap into the Elements without even meaning to. Like Sonic made up his own move 'Sonic wind' with his seemingly natural ability with the wind Element. I'm guessing Terra got her name from using the Earth Element before she could even talk." Slayde speculated. "But anyway. I'm wondering whether this King will know anything about this. Maybe his mastery of a couple of the Elements is what makes him so much better than the rest of them?"
"Could be." Shadow started. "Or he could simply be a slight bit better than this guy you beat. Considering if you hadn't had that stupid suit on you wouldn't have won right in the first few seconds, I'm sure I can defeat this king with no problems."
"Hey if it wasn't for this suit I would have struggled to keep up with you. It's unfair that you and Sonic got a boost from being in that room with the Emeralds for so long and I didn't. I don't know. Hopefully it's simply still to come." Slayde finished as he crossed his fingers. The scar on his hand was visible.
"What are those for?" Shadow questioned. Slayde looked at him confused until he turned his hand and looked.
"These are just to make conducting the Elements that I can use easier." Slayde told him casually, the rest of the group had arrived and they had to stop talking.
"Where we headed then?" Sonic asked, looking into the distance. Most of the group looked to Shadow except for Rage, who was loading the cart; Slayde, who already knew where they were going; and Terra, who had already guessed where they were going.
"We're heading to their King." Shadow announced, there were some faces pulled whether they be irritation, laziness or fear from Noir. "We need to check to see if there are any Emeralds there." Shadow informed them all. "So we will be going."
"But how do we know what direction to take?" Ebony questioned, a couple of the group looked like they agreed. Shadow sighed.
"Well me and Slayde both think that it's in same direction, and there's no such thing as coincidence so it will be in that direction. Not to mention we know the general direction that the two with the carts were travelling in. So we can base it off that as well. Judging by the fact that they go in similar directions... Well you do the math." Shadow finished. He pulled out his map and jotted a few things down on it before he started walking, everyone else following in suit. Sonic still looked hot, but not quite as badly as he did before. It was unusual how the blue blur could withstand his own body temperature being high, and how he could withstand the cold of space and yet he couldn't take a little heat.
"Do we have to go there?" Noir spoke up. A couple of them looked at him in sympathy.
"We do indeed." Shadow confirmed in a level voice. He was back to the calm collected old Shadow. Seemingly he only was going to make a tiny crack his shell round certain people. "I want us ready to leave in five. Faster if possible."
A couple minutes later everything was ready, the supplies gathered, the fire doused. Without further to do the group set off in almost complete silence, only speaking when they had to. It seemed they had a long walk ahead of them and none wanted to expend more energy than necessary. The King of the Curruptians seemed like too much of a threat to anyone weaker than Sonic, and that atmosphere flowed into the rest of them as well. The sun had gotten well past mid day by the time someone spoke.
"I think I see something." Slayde uttered, causing most of the group to jump. Shadow looked in the same direction as him, squinting.
"You're right. It looks like some kind of building. A tower maybe." Shadow commented, looking carefully. "We must be getting close." He finished. "How are we doing for supplies incidentally Rage?" Shadow asked the Hedgehog as he pulled the cart along with the two kids in.
"We're not doing too bad for supplies, but if you think we'll be going for longer than a week or so we might have to consider finding somewhere to stock up." Rage replied readily. He had obviously been thinking about it prior to Shadow's asking. Shadow looked like he was deep in thought as they walked, as such no one bothered the dark Hedgehog.
"What sort of place do you think the Curruptians will be in?" Slayde questioned Shadow, Shadow merely shrugged.
"It could be nothing but open desert, it could be a thriving city. I guess we'll find out when we get there." Shadow replied, Noir moved forwards.
"It's a city all right." He started, looking quite frightened by the fact that they were within range of the massive place. "Ruined pillars of earth. Made by the king himself as rumour tells us, it's based on an ancient city that was made long ago, as is our system, our culture. If we weren't born, or created with an in born sense to obey, I doubt many would take it, but as it is. I was the exception, a rarity and a freak." It was the most anyone had heard him speak, and everyone was looking at him. "I would say try and sneak in, but it's likely they know you're coming."
"I made sure that none would be able to go back and tell them." Slayde commented casually as they continued walking. Noir stayed silent.
"One got away from me though. Dammit." Shadow suddenly announced. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I was pretty badly injured…" He told them.
"Well then we can assume that they know we're on our way." Slayde commented casually. "So is there any point in actually trying to sneak in? We know that their king wants to fight Shadow, and if Shadow wins then he'll gain kingship, or at least I think that's how their system works, it's based on strength after all."
"If Shadow wins?" Shadow questioned with a look that could paralyse a lesser Mobian.
"You know what I mean." Slayde retorted coolly. "So we just go to the door and issue a challenge to the king. I doubt he'd be able to refuse." Slayde commented as he shrugged.
"I guess that seems like a simple plan, but at the same time, it seems too simple." Shadow replied before turning to Noir. "What do you think?"
"Slayde's right, but you shouldn't do it. The King's so strong, too strong." Noir told him quietly, Shadow just smirked.
"Well now I really want to fight him." Shadow stated proudly. Amy rolled her eyes at him and he caught it. "What Rose?"
"Typical you, someone gives you a warning and you just take it as a challenge." Amy told him, Shadow just shrugged. Slayde, however, laughed.
"I'm just the same, I knew you were already itching to fight him, so my plan was made with that in mind." Slayde told him, Shadow couldn't help but smirk to him.
"Thanks." Shadow commented. Amy sighed, but beyond that everyone else just carried on walking. More buildings were coming into view and they would be at the city in mere minutes.
"Okay, so I've been thinking." Slayde started, but Sonic quickly interrupted.
"Be careful not to hurt yourself." He told him in mock concern, no one paid him any attention due to how close they were to the city however. No one was in the mood.
"If I go first, declare Shadow's challenge and see how they react we'll know if we're going to have to fight to get to the king or not. Because Shadow best not fight until we make it there." Slayde suggested. Shadow nodded mutely, he was too busy thinking up battle strategies to give a proper reply. Slayde started walking faster than the others, he clicked his fingers and out of nowhere a heavy looking hood and cloak appeared which he quickly adorned, hood down. By the time he had made it to the city, he was out of earshot of all the normal Mobians of the group. Slayde could hear whispering about him, mumbles about 'The Collector' so he spoke in a loud voice.
"I have brought Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form, to challenge his Majesty. Does anyone wish to dispute this with me?" Slayde announced, the entrance to the city remained quiet. It was just how Slayde had pictured it, like what a medieval city would have looked. Wooden and sandstone houses, the place looked like it was made from the desert itself. "You there." He called at one of the soldiers standing guard that looked particularly fast. The soldier looked at his comrades on either side of him to see them all looking at him. "You plan on keeping me waiting?" Slayde questioned in a cold tone. The guard, a dirty blue Hedgehog, ran up to Slayde quickly before kneeling in front of him. Slayde was not disappointed with his speed.
"Yes sir?" The guard asked calmly. Slayde took in a deep breath and exhaled.
"I need you to run ahead and inform the king, along with all the guards along the way. Although I doubt they'd disturb us walking, I would rather them be forewarned." Slayde told him, the soldier quickly stood up and bowed.
"I'll get right on it Sir." He replied as he zoomed off, a slow speed to what most of their group could have achieved but, he ran fast enough.
"Hey Slayde, what's happening?" Amy called as they all walked underneath the gateway. All of them were visually on guard for any form of attack, but they relaxed as soon as they saw Slayde standing there without a guard up.
"We're going straight towards the Colosseum." Slayde replied before looking at another one of the soldiers, a dirty red Echidna. "Hey you, get over here." Slayde announced to him.
"Yes Sir?" The soldier asked. Slayde rolled his eyes as he put his hood up.
"Guide us to the Colosseum." Slayde ordered before sinking into the back of the group, making himself as unnoticeable as possible. The soldier merely started walking as the rest of the group followed. Shadow lagged behind a bit so that Slayde would catch up with him, the two were at the back of the group.
"That was a rather interesting conversation Slayde." Shadow told him, Slayde shrugged which was hard to see through his cloak. "And why the disguise."
"You've already guessed why I talked to them like that Shadow, and I'm wearing this because I do not want the king to see me. The pull of this... Corruption, is strange. I do not know if I'd be able to resist challenging him for his place myself. It'd be better for you to do it." Slayde told him. Shadow nodded as he went back to his thoughts, slowly making his way back to the front of the group as they walked. They were walking for what must have been about an hour before the soldier finally spoke.
"So you're challenging our king." He asked Shadow casually, Shadow looked at him and analysed him for a second.
"Yes, I am. You remind me of someone I knew once." Shadow replied, the Echidna looked shocked.
"I do? I'm new here, maybe you knew me before I died and changed?" The Echidna asked, puzzled.
"You died?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah, anyone who dies comes here, it does not matter where or if their body survives. We simply get reborn as this race. If one of our own dies, they come back too. Though they get reborn as children, so they're always weak again, though stronger ones are always born with stronger natural abilities." The Echidna told him. "I'm actually quite strong though. I'm climbing ranks pretty fast, not many people get guard duty, it's the least boring thing to do when there are no plans of attacking anyone."
"Thanks for clearing that up for me." Shadow stated, he glanced to Sonic, but Sonic seemed far too busy to notice the conversation. "Do you remember anything from before you died?" Shadow questioned.
"Just one thing. A blue Hedgehog leaning over me on a battlefield. Apparently everyone remembers their last second, but it's why I made friends with that guy your... Um, the other Hedgehog sent away." The Echidna told him, Shadow nodded.
"Do not repeat this to anyone else in this group." Shadow told him in a voice that was not to be messed with. The Echidna shrugged.
"Sure thing. It's common knowledge to us anyway." The Echidna told him as they stopped walking. "And we're here." He motioned the ridiculously tall, circular building in front of him that spanned further than the eye could see either way. "This is the challengers entrance, good luck." He told him. "You can take one of your friends in with you, but the rest have to stay with me and go to the observers platform." The Echidna told him. Shadow glanced at Slayde for a split second and they exchanged looks before anyone had even noticed them looking at one another before Shadow stopped his eyes on Amy.
"Come on then Rose." Shadow motioned as he walked through the small archway. Amy followed immediately behind, as soon as they were out of earshot of the others she spoke.
"Why did you pick me and not someone else who might have been able to help you work out a plan?" She asked him sincerely. Shadow looked to her as they walked.
"I'd rather be with you." He told her simply before quickly adding on. "I've already thought up enough battle strategies." Amy looked at him for a few second before frowning.
"You're not taking this seriously enough Shadow." She told him icily. Shadow just laughed.
"I'm taking it seriously enough Rose, do not worry." Shadow replied as the made it to a door which Shadow immediately opened and held open for Amy before entering himself.
It was a bit of a boring room with a lot of weapons and other various tools. Seemed like a lot of their training probably went on in this 'Coliseum' of theirs.
"Wonder if the others are in the stands yet?" Amy asked no one in particular. Suddenly a large door was opening, allowing a lot of the light of day to shine in. The roar of a crowd could be heard. Shadow quickly walked into the light to find himself in such a big stadium he could not even compare it to anything he's seen before. Eight Mobians in strange robes were round the edges, looking as if they were already working on the circle. There was a solitary figure standing right in the middle, a crown adorning his head, strange 'kingly' robes on his shoulders, beyond that he was unclothed. A grey, almost black wolf. Likely coloured as such merely from the corruption.
"Welcome." He spoke, yet his voice was mysteriously projected to everyone in the Coliseum as the resulting up cry was astounding. Shadow's eyes scanned the crowds before spotting familiar blue along with many other known colours. He paused to wonder where the cart was, but realised he had more pressing matters on his hands.
"Amy, they're all up there, go and join them." He quickly told her as he pointed. Amy ran and jumped at full speed, causing the audience to fall silent for a second before cheering at her. Even from the extreme distance Shadow could see her blushing.
"I challenge you." The king started, before changing his mannerism entirely to one of someone much more calculating. "The Royals against the ultimate life form in a battle to the death. Do you accept?" The king asked.
"I do." Shadow replied immediately.
"'Dammit Shadow.'" could be heard from Terra as the blue circle appeared. Shadow looked at her in surprise. "Sorry, just relaying because Slayde asked me to. He said 'that you should not have accepted because the royals means more than just him and he's looking for insurance.'" Shadow nodded, he knew this already. He was after a challenge.
"Then let us begin." The king announced before jumping at Shadow at breakneck speeds, already having powered into super form, his fur now completely black, eyes red. Shadow had to quickly unleash his as he blocked the Kings punch, causing the sandstone ground to crack underneath him. Shadow quickly unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks which were, to his utmost surprised, all blocked and parried. The king managed to land a kick right in Shadow's stomach causing him to fly backwards slightly. The King went on the offensive, throwing so many punches and kicks Shadow did not manage to block all of them. By the time he had backed off, Shadow was panting, scuffs all over his arms and legs. "Is this really all you have? How disappointing." The King taunted, Shadow was not disheartened however and quickly launched a Chaos Spear at him before managing to connect a kick to his head. The King flinched violently but managed to grab Shadow and throw him into the ground, hard. Shadow laid in a small imprint of himself for a couple of seconds before he got up, shaking his head and jumping out of it.
"This is not good." Slayde muttered to the others. "Shadow is not quite as strong as he is. In fact he's probably three levels beneath him." The group looked at him in concern. The two of them were inside the ring. There was nothing they could do about it now. Unless...
Shadow jumped at the King again, trying to kick him, the King merely dodged and caught him round the neck. Shadow started trying to pull his arms away unsuccessfully, the beating they had took from defending himself having weakened them. Suddenly a cloaked figure appeared between them, blasting the King away in gigantic gush of wind. Shadow fell to the ground as the King spun out of control. Slayde pulled down his hood to show himself in super form.
"Dammit Shadow, that took most my energy." He told him, Shadow was breathing heavily, he did not need to breath, but the pressure that had been put on his windpipe was so much that his neck was about to crack.
"And who are you?" The king asked as casually as he could, anger still evident in his voice despite. "Oh I see. You're my collector, one of the Royals. Well you're bound to fight on my side now anyway." The King informed him, clicking his fingers another Curruptian joined the ring. "Meet The Strategist." It was a light brown Wolf, and although the fur was tainted slightly it was still very light, like the corruption had not touched the wolf that much. The Wolf wore some heavy black/brown robes, only the Strategist's head and oddly long brown hair was visible. The Wolf had one grey eye and one brown eye.
"Rage! Get your ass down here!" Slayde suddenly shouted. Rage looked surprised but suddenly teleported in right next to Slayde. "You know that if you'd have just come instead of me then you might have been able to help Shadow beat him without me having to come in." The King however looked indignant.
"How on Mobius is he in here?!" Finally losing it slightly before settling himself back down in a few moments.
"You said you challenged The Ultimate Life Form, you never specified which one." Slayde stated simply. "Did you think The Doctor made him just to be average? He made him to be the new Ultimate Life Form."
"I see, well it's still three against two, so-" Slayde cut the king off.
"On that topic, as one on the side of the challenge issuers I hereby allow one extra fighter to fight on the side of the ultimate lifeforms to be picked by them and call this a one verses one tournament style three verses three challenge." Slayde announced quickly. "And I declare Shadow as my opponent." Slayde mentioned as he smirked. Suddenly the perfect circle was cut into three with Slayde and Shadow in one, Rage and The Strategist in the other, and The King standing by himself in the last, scowling.
"How did you do that?" He muttered angrily, unable to get past the wall separating them to try and kill him.
"There's probably a lot of things that you do not know about Chaos that she does." Slayde told him as he pointed at Terra. Shadow looked to see where he was pointing to, yet could barely move.
"I can absorb my opponents energy if I wish." The King suddenly told him. "A few more seconds and you would just have been an empty shell." He taunted Shadow, Slayde nodded as if it made sense now. Someone who could do that would be able to progress easier than most.
"I choose Terra." Shadow announced in a quiet voice. The crowd were silent, most of them had no idea about what was happening. Terra however stood up, punching her fist into her other hand.
"Fuck yeah." She announced as Sonic tried to grab her to stop her going. "Hey, I'm still stronger than you, do not make me beat you up first. I need some action." Sonic quickly let go of her as she jumped down and landed in the third of the circle that the King was in.
"Great, well this is going to boring." The King muttered.
"Think what you will sweety, but I'm looking forward to this fight." Terra told him as she crunched some of her knuckles. The King jumped at her, but she had already powered up into her dark super form and blocked his initial attack with ease. He set his feet back on the ground a couple of meters away.
"Maybe this will be more fun than I thought." The King commented before Terra jumped at him, laying into him with a flurry of kicks and punches that he could not defend properly, the last kick caught the side of his face and knocked him over. He caught himself before he hit the ground and spun round, stopping any further attacks from coming, but Terra was not attacking, she was just watching him with a smirk. The King pulled the robes off his shoulders and leapt at her once more, punches even faster and harder now without that dragging him down. Terra blocked them all before they started to become too much, she quickly did a back flip to get out of range, but as she landed he managed to get a kick on her, with no resistance in the air she went flying until she forced herself to stop, quickly flying up into the air.
"You do realise that you have no chance against me right?" Terra asked him, straight into his mind. Despite his usually calm demeanour he was genuinely shook by this sudden thing. Terra threw a chunk of the floor at him without so much as looking at it. It stopped in it's tracks as it was about to hit him however.
"Did you not hear the stories? I built this city myself." He taunted as several pieces of earth went flying towards Terra, she stopped them all. "Okay, I'm impressed." He told her as all of it dropped to the ground, crumbling. The earth and sand swirled round Terra, blotting her out of vision before she suddenly came out shooting at the king with her right arm covered in a strong piece of rock, she punched him in the side of the head, but unfortunately he had managed to slow it down enough that it only grazed him. She quickly released the earth, allowing her to move fast enough to punch him in the gut with her left hand. He coughed before trying to seize Terra's neck with his hands. He succeeded. Quickly he pulled her into a headlock and place one of his hands on her throat, Terra quickly pulled, but when it was obvious she was not going to get out easily she quickly placed one of her hands on his forehead.
"You want a battle of natural talents then bring it on." Terra told him into his mind again before he suddenly found that he could not quiet remember what he was doing, or why he was doing it. He looked down to the women in his arm. Knowing that he must be doing what he was doing for a reason, and he trusted himself. Yet suddenly he found himself seeing things that he had no recollection of, it took him a second to realise it was his life from before he had been reborn, Terra felt his grip loosen as he hand fell away from her throat. In a matter of seconds she had shown him every disturbing and scary thing that not only he had ever seen, but that everyone she had ever touched minds with had ever seen. Then when she hit Shadow's memories she felt his pain, and then Sonic's. Then she hit Slayde's. In a second she saw all three of his lives played out like a movie. The King let her go, finally succumbing to all that she had shown him, yet she knew that would not be enough to deter someone like his for long, she needed more. Suddenly she found herself tapping into her mothers DNA. She saw brutal murders conducted by a woman she had once known and would know again. She saw Shadow finally finding out all of his Origins, she saw the Chaos Lords, and their masters, and then their master. She saw a Hedgehog that looked like Shadow, only he was evil and then she saw the one given the power over time and space. Then she saw angels and demons, and then. She collapsed, not being able to take anymore. The King just stood there, blinking before collapsing himself, yet his body lay still, his mind killing itself over everything it had just seen. She rose again, holding her head. All that she had just seen had already faded from her mind. Yet she looked to Shadow and Slayde knowingly, knowing something more than they did. The two of them had not moved during the entire battle, Slayde was kneeling with Shadow's head resting on his legs, Terra turned to see how Rage was doing.
Rage watched Terra jump into the part of the arena next to him before he looked back to his opponent, not even sure if he could win. The Strategist smiled at him, but not in the nice way. In the 'I'm going to kill you now' way. Rage smirked back. The Wolf did not move however, and simply spent time watching his every move, his every breath. Rage was content to just stand there all day, however, as he never was fond of fighting and so that was all they did. For ages he just stood there, crossing his arms after a few minutes while the Strategist watched him and analysed him.
"Are you going to do anything, or are you just going to stand there?" Rage asked, glancing over to see how Terra was doing. The King was just throwing rocks at her with his mind, no biggy. Rage sweat dropped, glad he was not against him. He turned back. The Strategist still had not moved.
"I could say the same to you." Was the reply. "I never attack first." The Wolf informed him.
"I see." He mumbled. Not really sure where this was going. "You might be waiting a while then." Rage told the Wolf. They just stood still and watched each other. He shrugged and sat down, glancing back to Terra to see her grazing the King with a fist made of earth. He could almost feel his ears flattening at the sheer power the two of them were putting out. He turned back to the Strategist. To see no one there.
"Are you seriously not going to go first?" A voice came from behind as the Wolf asked him, he did not even flinch and just shrugged.
"I do not like fighting." Rage told the Wolf. "I love watching it, but I do not really like doing fighting myself."
"How about this then. We'll play rock paper scissors, and if I win you attack me first. But if you win I forfeit." The Wolf told him, he laughed.
"Yeah, sure." He finally agreed after he finished. The Strategist smirked, the Wolf had never lost in rock paper scissors.
"Okay then, we'll." Suddenly the Kings robe-cape type thing bumped into Rage, the Wolf took note of it. "We'll put our hands under that and then move it away on the count of three." Rage just nodded as he picked it up in his left and put his right underneath. The Wolf did the same thing. Okay, so he's got a soft personality, so he'll probably go with paper. The Wolf started to shift the right hand to scissors then stopped. No, he'll expect me to think that. He'll go rock, but that would make me go paper so he'll go scissors. So if I go rock and he does we'll have another go, if he goes scissors however... The Wolf looked up to him. He thinks he is so smart, but I've got him. The Wolf balled the hand under the cloak into a fist just as he said three. And there was his hand in paper, and the Wolf's in rock. The Strategist froze for a second. "You did not even move your hand from how it was when you were leaning on it on the ground did you?" Rage was asked in frustration.
"Nah, could not be bothered." He told the Wolf calmly as he looked over to Terra who had just looked over to him. The frustration was almost explosive on the wolf's face.
"Did you two just do what I think you did?" Terra asked him directly into his mind. Rage turned and smirked at her.
"I forfeit." The Wolf announced to the crowd in irritation. Rage looked back to grin, but the Wolf was no where in sight, he looked to his left to see that the Wolf had been teleported outside the ring with a foul look and laughed. The wall dividing Terra and Rage vanished.
"Well then Shadow, looks like you're going to have to kill me." Slayde commented casually. Shadow sat up, finally having enough energy to start moving round again.
"Or you could just forfeit?" Shadow laughed quietly. Slayde shrugged, could not hurt to try.
"I forfeit!" He shouted. There was noise from the crowd, but besides that nothing happened. "Thought as much."
"Yet it was so easy for Rage to win his." Shadow commented, finally about to stand again.
"Yes, that's a first for me, I must say." Terra commented from the other side of one of the walls. Rage walked up to the wall also, neither of them could get in.
"So what you going to do?" He asked. "We're all trapped in here until you two decide what you're doing."
"Do you think a knock out will work?" Slayde asked, hopefully.
"It was a fight to the death." Terra commented. "I do not quite understand how Rage got away with what he did. Rock paper scissors obviously is some kind of ancient decider."
"Well we could do that?" Slayde commented. "But I guess it would not really work if I won." He countered himself. "Well all you have to do is stop my heart." Slayde commented casually. Shadow rolled his eyes at him.
"Because it's that simple." Shadow replied. "Surely if neither side wishes to fight this damn thing should just make itself disappear?"
"Not that simple Shadow." Terra commented. "It's binding, you know that." Shadow sighed.
"Yes I know, does not mean I have to be happy about it." Shadow commented before looking behind him to see Slayde running round in circles behind him. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Trying to use up the rest of my energy. I used most of it on that guy pushing him away." Slayde replied, Shadow just watched him for a few seconds, as did the other two.
"And then what?" Shadow asked. Slayde shrugged, he was moving too fast to see it properly, but thankfully Shadow was recovering. "I would have thought that you would have started restoring it by now."
"I've been trying to block it because I knew it would come to something like this as soon as I made it into the ring." Slayde replied before he started teleporting with Chaos Control so erratically it was impossible to see him, after a half a minute of it he collapsed to the ground next to Shadow. "There we go. Utterly exhausted." Slayde told him. Shadow looked down at him and sat down next to him.
"I guess we could try and arm wrestle?" Shadow questioned in a voice which had a tone like he was asking himself if he really just said that. Slayde sat up as fast as he could, which was pretty slow for him.
"Yeah sure, can not hurt to try." Slayde replied before he shuffle towards Shadow. They took one another hands. "Three, two and one." Slayde counted down. He knew he'd have to try and use his full strength else it would not have a hope of working. The two just sat there, arm's quivering slightly from the sheer effort of keeping each other right in the middle, but Shadow was hurt, and his arm shifted slightly. Slayde was winning by a tiny margin. Yet Shadow managed to slowly push it back to the middle again, and it kept going. Obviously Slayde had used up so much energy he just could not continue with the effort. Slowly his hand got closer to the ground, closer and closer until finally he was a mere inch away. But he was not giving up, he knew he could not. Putting one last effort into it he managed to push Shadow's arm back up again by a full quarter of the distance before his arm just suddenly gave way, causing a crack and a hand shaped mark in the ground.
"Looks like you win Shadow." Slayde commented casually. The blue of the circle started to dissipate. Yet for the most part the crowd was angry. Only one of the battles was interesting and it ended in a way they did not understand. They had jumped onto the field of sand and stone and were making their way towards the participants. Suddenly a whirlwind surrounded the ground, causing the crowd to stop in their tracks. Lightning could be seen rotating within it and all of the crowd stopped save a couple of Curruptians that ran in anyway, Terra was too busy staring at the whirlwind which was not hurting them at all. She had no idea who had conjured it. Yet its energy signature seemed familiar.
"Is that you Noir?" Terra asked him directly into his head, the whirlwind flickered a second from the surprise of having someone speaking in his head. "That's all the answer I needed, thanks a lot. You can stop now." She quickly walked over to Rage while the whirlwind slowly dispersed. "Lend me some of your energy Rage?" Terra asked. Rage just put his hand on hers and she instantly felt the flow of energy into her. She almost jumped back in shock at the ease in which he did it. Not to mention how much he gave her in that short time. "Erm thanks." Terra commented.
"No problem." He replied, amused at her reaction.
"You might have been able to beat that Wolf you know." Terra commented. Rage shrugged. "Having this light energy in me is weird though. It feels so wrong."
"Oops, sorry. I tried to give you only dark energy." Rage apologised, Terra shook her head.
"It's fine, my body will just naturally convert it anyway." Terra reassured. "Go give them a bit too if you've got enough." She told him.
"Still got plenty." Rage reassured back. Terra once again looked at him in surprise.
"You're much stronger than you act." She announced. Rage simply shrugged as he walked over to the other two. She looked to the crowds who had just come back in view, the couple that had run inside the whirlwind were sitting down, head spinning from having ran in circles. "Well then my people." Terra spoke in a magnified voice like the former King. "Seems you're all mine now. Bring me the Chaos Emerald, or you shall regret it." She told them all. They all started scrambling back, some of them leaving through the Colosseum exits. The Wolf suddenly appeared in front of Terra.
"There you go." The Wolf told her as the Emerald was passed into her hand. "Not many actually knew where it was hidden."
"Erm thanks. I did not catch you name. Your real one I mean." Terra asked as she examined the Emerald, it was deep sea blue. The Wolf just looked at her blankly for a second.
"Erm, it's Natani." The Wolf told her. "It was my name before I became one of these. Though I never died, I was one of the ones who simply spent too long out of cover. As such it does not have as strong a hold on me, if any. I was just strong enough to join them as I had no where else to go."
"I'm leaving you in charge of the Curruptians, do what you see fit with them." Terra informed the Wolf as she walked towards the rest of her group, Shadow Slayde and Rage had all already gone. Within moments they were all together again, there was barely anyone left in the stadium.
"So now we have three. You sure this is the only one they have?" Alpha asked, talking to the main group for the first time in a while.
"I'm sure, there's none more in the city." Shadow told them all. He pulled out the green Emerald, and Slayde pulled out his yellow one. "With the three of them one of you three should be able to teleport us out the city." Shadow told them as he looked at Sonic, Rage and Terra. Terra held up the deep sea blue one, immediately shouting out the magic words.
"Chaos!" She started, but just as she did someone grabbed Rage on the shoulder.
"I'm not letting you go that easily." Muttered the voice in his ear.
"Control!" Finished Terra, not noticing the small exchange that had just gone on. They were all outside the city, the group stood there for a second before the one's that did not hear what their new addition said to Rage suddenly jumped. This included Terra.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Amy was the first to shout. The wolf, Natani, shrugged.
"I'm coming with you." Natani told them simply. Half the group started to protest.
"You know I'm way to tired for us to argue this out right now. If everyone wants to just shut up and we can put it down to a vote." Shadow came out with, causing the whole group to be silent immediately.
"So you guys do not let the strongest be the leader, huh?" Natani commented casually.
"Comments like that probably will not help you." Rage muttered to the Wolf. "I vote the wolf stays." He announced, shrugging.
"I swear as time goes on you take life less and less seriously." Slayde commented to Rage. "I agree with Rage, stay."
"I'd rather not have someone like 'it' round. No offense Noir, you're different." Alpha stated quite indignantly.
"I'll try not to take offense, but I vote Natani stays..." Noir mentioned. "If I get a vote that is."
"Yeah you do, but Prosha does not." Rage commented. Prosha glared at him but did not argue for once, though only because before she had a chance Shadow cut across.
"The kid gets a vote too." He stated tiredly. Prosha stuck her tongue out at Rage.
"I vote stay." She told the group while nodding.
"That's four to stay and one to leave." Slayde commented.
"I feel awkward enough with one round. So I vote no." Amy replied, quite timid compared to her usual self. She obviously did not like upsetting anyone.
"I vote with Amy." Ebony voted quietly, not everyone heard her but the two that were adding the totals up did so it did not matter.
"I'd rather not have a second one round. Sorry." Sonic commented, looking a bit sad with himself.
"After becoming their King it's probably a bit hypocritical to say this, but I'd rather Natani not come." Terra announced, more looking like she was agreeing with Sonic than anything else.
"Well then, looks like you've got a bit of a decider on your hands Shadow." Slayde commented. "You can either damn the poor Wolf to the city where Natani does not really belong, again, or you can cause a stalemate." Most of them looked at him oddly, except Terra, Shadow and Rage.
"I heard that conversation too. I vote that the Wolf is allowed to stay. But where does that leave us?" Shadow commented lightly. The sun was starting to get dark and they needed to set up camp.
"I know! We can do rock paper scissors again." Rage commented. No one threw up any objections.
"Yeah, go ahead then. Slayde, get the tent out." Shadow replied as he walked off to go set up his tent. Slayde suddenly made the cart appear out of thin air.
"Okay, traditional this time." Rage held his hand up ready.
"You're not getting me with the same trick twice." Natani commented.
"I used a trick?" Rage asked, Natani just ignored him.
"One." Natani started.
"Two." Rage continued.
"Three!" They both yelled at the same time. Rage had his hand on paper and Natani's hand was on rock.
"You have to be kidding me." Natani commented in anger. Losing once was annoying, twice was just infuriating. The Wolf started to walk off.
"Hey, where are you going?" Rage asked. Natani turned back round.
"I lost, I'm going back to the city?" The Wolf asked in a flimsy statement.
"I won, so I get to decide that you stay." Rage commented smugly, a proud look on his face. Slayde burst out laughing.
"You crafty bastard, there was no way you could lose!" He managed to say in between breaths. Most of the group looked annoyed, but there was not much that they could do about it.
"We'll share a tent? Alpha can go in with Noir seeing as how he does not mind him anymore." Rage commented. Natani blushed slightly.
"Yeah, that should not be a problem." Natani told him.
"Great, I'll go get everyone's tents." He told them.
Within half an hour everyone's tents were up and ready, even Shadow and Slayde had gone inside theirs. Rage got in first, Natani followed after a few moments. Rage had already stripped to just his boxers as he laid there, daydreaming about something. Natani just laid down fully dressed and turned away from him. Rage shrugged and followed suit. It did not take them long to fall to sleep. Within minutes everyone was asleep, except Alpha whom had appointed himself as watchman without asking anyone. He'd wake up Rage in about four hours, make him go on guard duty just out of spite.
Four hours later Alpha stretched and walked over to Rage's tent, slowly undoing the zip so he would not wake up. He froze at what he saw, Rage had his arm over Natani, and their mouths were extremely close. He quickly did the zip back up.
"I never realised Rage swung that way... And I shared a tent with him." Alpha commented as he shuddered. Suddenly there was a voice behind him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Natani asked in a harsh whisper.
"I do not know, what am I doing?" Rage asked, confused, having just been spun round on the spot.
"Never mind, do not come near me again." Natani told him before they went silent. Alpha took his opportunity and opened the zip again to find a confused looking Rage and an angry Natani at opposite ends of the tent.
"Um, your turn for watch Rage." Alpha told him awkwardly before quickly rushing to his tent. Rage sighed but got out the tent without protest, zipping it up behind him without a word.
Four more hours later, the sun looked as if it was just about to get on the horizon. Rage quickly headed back to the tent to get his clothes on before anyone else got up. Yet as he opened the zip he felt as if something was wrong. He was not disappointed, there was Natani laying on her back. She had boobs all of a sudden.
"Erm Natani?" Rage whispered so as not to wake up anyone else. She opened her eyes slowly.
"What is it?" She asked, looking down her eyes widened. "The bandages! Do not you dare tell anyone about this."
"Okay, but why?" Rage asked the obvious question. Yet rustling was heard from not too far away.
"Sometime when we're alone. I'll tell you, now shh." Natani told him quickly.
Rage simply nodded before grabbing his clothes and putting them on outside. This was something entirely new to him.