*With Silver, twenty minutes earlier, in Blaze's kingdom*
"These demands are unreasonable and complete blasphemy," The pyrokinetic princess stated, pushing a piece of paper across the table to a black-furred male cat. "The bill will have none of these additions in it."
Silver stood in a corner of a small meeting room where Blaze and a strange black cat sat across from each other at a metal table on silk chairs. The ceiling had gold strips hammered into different patterns to make it more decorative and various plants and paintings were strung about. A large window that overlooked the front gate was behind the black cat.
"Your Highness, I'm afraid that if our requests are not taken seriously and are given a spot on the issue, my faction will rebel," The other feline stated, narrowing his eyes. "It seems like you don't want a peaceful solution."
Blaze stood up and glared at the cat. "Listen, Malkovich, the only reason I haven't had you arrested for conspiracy, for treason and for threatening a royal family member is because my father, before his death, ordered for you to remain on the council for life. If it was up to me, you'd have been exiled and banished many years ago. Now, if you'd like, I could demote you to the council rank of my personal boot licker! Does that sound nice?"
Malkovich stood up and slammed his fist into the table. "You better tread carefully, Your Majesty. I'm more important than you believe. Things have changed some while you were away. You think you can come back here after being away for ten years and boss people around again?"
The cat spit on the ground.
"It's YOU who are not worthy to lick MY boots. Change the bill, Blaze, or consequences will follow."
The pyrokinetic's eyes flashed with anger. "Silver?"
"Mmm?" The hedgehog mumbled, stepping forward.
"Show Malkovich out of my palace, if you will."
"Got it," The telekinetic yawned, opening the window behind the angered cat and tossing him out of it, sending the screaming Malkovich tumbling into the courtyard.
"A little excessive," Blaze stated.
"Not in my opinion."
"What am I going to do?" The purple hero sighed as she slumped back in her chair. "There is no way any of these demands are appearing on the bill; that'd throw the rest of my kingdom into an uproar! If something doesn't change, we're gonna have a violent outburst."
Silver awkwardly swayed from side to side, fiddling with his hands. "You wanna think about it over cheeseburgers?"
*With Shadow, one day later, in their over-watch position*
"Anything?" Rouge yawned.
"No…" The Ultimate Life Form sighed, slumping his head forward and banging it on the window a little too hard, cracking the glass. "Wha—? NO!"
The dark hero got up from his chair and examined the window pane.
"Now we can't see anything. Fantastic…" Shadow muttered packing up the surveillance equipment. "Get up. We're moving to a different location."
"Can't we just shatter the glass?" The bat asked. "I'm tired."
"You, being an ex-thief, should know that breaking the window would potentially alert anyone down there of our position, and the deal may be called off," The hedgehog stated, looking back at Rouge and raising an eyebrow. "Now, follow me."
The female hero sighed, stood up and shuffled over to where her comrade waited.
"Keep quiet. That means no talking about Knuckles or anything on our way down," Shadow added.
"Whatever."
The two started down the stairs.
Besides, she and that echidna is the last thing I wanna talk about… The Ultimate Life Form thought.
*With Sonic, in the tundra, one day earlier, real time*
In no time, the worms were finished wrapping the Blue Blur's arm in a makeshift cast with their silk, and had given him some more to take for the road.
"Now all ya have to do is get outa here! Or you could stay! We don't get a lot of visitors…" The bug exclaimed.
"Because of you!" A voice squealed from the mob of worms.
"Shut it, Tony!" The little insect shot. "Anyway, you sounded like you were in a hurry, so we won't keep ya! Just climb up the walls."
"Uh, can't you guys just make a ladder for me to climb up or something?" Sonic asked.
"We're bugs. We're not magicians," The little worm squeaked, hopping off of Sonic's knee to the cave floor below. "You must rise from the pit! Few do it without our silk, but it is the only way! Our silk will get tangled on the rocks and strangle you if you use it! That is why you must climb without it! Go!"
"Wait, how many people fall down here, anyway? Has this happened before?"
"GO!"
Sonic shrugged, nodded and jumped in the air, grabbing onto a ledge and hoisting himself up. Hopping off the wall and grabbing onto the next crevice, he gingerly used his broken arm to help him move to the left, flipping off the wall and landing on another ledge. Below him, the worms began to chant in their high voices.
"Deshi deshi basara basara! Deshi deshi basara basara!" The bugs called over and over again.
(AN: Arabic for "He rises." Anyone get the little joke/reference I'm making here? I mean, forget that worms that speak perfect English also know an Arabic chant from nowhere. Just go with it. If you got the reference, I like ya even more than I already do)
Sonic winced and grabbed his injured arm, holding it for a minute until the pain went away before taking a step forward, leaping off the ledge, jumping from wall to wall up the hole until he finally reached the top ledge. Hoisting himself up, he got on the rock and pulled himself out of the hole he'd fallen in to. Below him, tiny cheers could be heard as the bugs danced around with glee.
"Yay!"
"Yippee!"
"Whee!"
"Haha! Yay b—OW! Dang it, Tony!"
The hedgehog smiled to himself before taking one last look at his surroundings and tapping his earpiece. "Tails? I'm back. Got the silk. Where am I heading to next?"
"Sonic! Hey. You were gone for a while. Uh…" The fox crackled. "Next location is…pff…um…Ah! Here! You need to go to the Di-Kai Mountains. A specific liquid needs to be extracted from a plant there, but there might be one obstacle in your way."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"There's only one left in the whole dimension. Rigging up a portal would take days, which we don't have. You're gonna have to find that plant fast!" Tails exclaimed. "Hmm. These records were updated two years ago. For all we know, it's extinct."
"Tryin' to stay positive here, buddy. Tough to do that when you're saying stuff like that!" The Fastest Thing Alive sighed, scratching his head. "Is knucklehead there?"
"Knuckles? I sent him out to find an ingredient that would be fairly easy for him to get. If anything comes this way, the security systems of the HQ will blow it away. Don't worry."
"Yeah, only the things that attacked Amy and I couldn't be killed very easily."
"Yeah…There's that."
The blue hero shook his head. "I'm heading to the mountains now. I'll let ya know if I run into any issues."
There ya go. Action-packed chapter is what's next up!
Sorry for the delays. Spring is my busy season, so posting may be a little sporadic.
Remember to leave a review (and also tell me if you got my reference or not lol)
More to come…