(I'm tired…Why am I typing this so early in the morning…? Okay, it's only 8 right now, but so what?
Last time on In the Dark, Sonic and his friends successfully got the answers they needed as to why Sonic is fighting to keep his control over his anger and his mind. Dr. Eggman did indeed have something to do with it, but not in the way he'd hoped originally. Now, the three friends want to find a way to rid Sonic of Dark, the entity that's been terrorizing him, and they may have found their first lead; the Light Stones. Sonic, thinking he knows where they are, will lead them. What will the heroes find in the caves? Will it be a trap? Read on to find out more about their next adventure, or go back to Chapter 6 – The Ugly Truth to find out more about what's been happening to our hedgehog hero!
Several hours later….BACK TO TYPING.)
A few minutes later, I ran in front of Sally and Amy, who were riding on hover scooters behind me, across town toward the Great Forest. When we reached the ruined Knothole village, Sally spoke.
"You came through here?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, looking over my shoulder at her. "It's home to me."
Sally frowned a little, looking around at what had been the original Freedom Fighters headquarters. We'd hid from Robotnik for many years here, but it was never meant to last. I frowned and looked ahead again.
It took us a while to find the spot, since I had pretty much been lost when I found it, but eventually, we found our way to the bluffs. I looked around at the scenery, more beautiful in the daytime than night, when the sunlight seemed to make the tree leaves gleam and the clouds created shadows on the treetops. In the distance was a range of mountains and foothills, rolling across the horizon, hazy and pale green. I could sit here and listen to the birds all day and forget all my problems if I wanted to. But I have a mission to complete.
I looked to my right, and sure enough there was the cave I'd seen when I came here to calm myself. The glow was harder to see with the sunlight, but it was definitely there, seeming to flicker and dance on the cave.
Sally followed my gaze. "In there?" she asked.
"Yeah. Can't you see the glow?" I said.
"Yeah."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Amy chimed in. "Let's go!"
I nodded and headed toward the entrance.
"Wait!" Sally called. "We don't know what's in there!"
"Only one way to find out!" I called back, and disappeared into the cave.
It was larger than I thought. In fact, it was more like a tunnel. The glow came from far off, and I started toward it. No sooner had I gone ten steps when a slab of rock I stepped on pushed down like a button and an array of stone spikes shot out of the walls. I jumped back just in time.
"Whoa, nice welcome," I murmured. Using my Dark powers, I blasted the maze of spikes and cleared a path for us to go through. I looked back at the girls, who were just inside the cave, and smiled. "C'mon!" I said, and jogged down the tunnel.
Once we were past the spikes, I stepped cautiously, watching the ground for more "buttons of doom."
"Heads up!" Amy shouted. I looked up and stepped back just as an ax swung from the ceiling down, just an inch above the ground, and continued swinging like a pendulum.
"Close shave," I smirked. This is how I know I'm myself; making jokes in the face of danger.
I timed it, and when the pendulum-ax was near one of the walls, I raced past, stopping just before another one swung down. I did the same for the next three axes that swung down, just millimeters from my nose. Sally did what I did, hopping through them, while Amy daringly stood in front of them and used her hammer to smash them into the wall, where they stuck. Once we had rejoined, I gave them a thumbs up.
"Nice going, guys," I smirked before continuing on. The glow was nearby and brighter than ever. I suspected at least two more obstacles.
I didn't have to go far to find out the next one. The floor seemed to lurch out from under me and I fell…almost. I grabbed the edge of the floor and looked down as a few stones I'd kicked up fell down into a seemingly bottomless pit, eventually landing with a soft plop in what I could only assume was water.
"Sonic!" the girls cried.
"I'm alright!" I called, my voice echoing in the pit. Sally offered her hand and I grabbed it, pulling myself up.
"Okay, that was too close for comfort," I said, brushing dust off my legs. "It seems like someone doesn't want us here."
"Really, what told you that?" Sally said sarcastically.
I smirked and pretended not to notice the sarcasm. "Well, the traps of imminent death, and that skeleton." I pointed to a skeleton in between the axes that had a neat cut in the front of the skull.
Amy shuddered. "Let's get out of here," she said. "This place is creepy."
"I told you, you didn't have to come," I reminded her. "You can head back if you want."
"N-no, I wanna come!" she corrected herself.
"Alright then," I said, turning back to the pit, which was several meters across. "Easy," I said, cracking my knuckles. I backed up and then took a running start at the pit, leaping over it in a single bound when I reached the edge. I cleared it easily and grabbed a chain that was hanging on the wall and tossed it to the girls. Unfortunately, that triggered the next trap. Small squares in the wall opened up and arrows and knives shot out at all sides. While Sally and Amy swung over the pit, I raced past through the trap, too fast for the weapons to hit me. Amy ran next, and I shot small energy blasts out of my palm to keep away any arrows or knives that came too close to her. Sally simply replaced the chain on the hook where it had been hanging and the squares closed up, the ground littered with the weapons.
"Well, if it's that easy," Amy scoffed. I smirked.
"What was the point of all that?" I asked, picking up an arrow at my feet.
"Do you have to make a joke out of everything?" Sally asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Yes, yes I do," I said, jabbing the arrow tip into the wall. I then turned around to see where we had ended up.
The tunnel opened up into a large cavern, a glowing orange stone sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. Torches lined the walls of the room, intensifying the glow we'd seen earlier, their light dancing on the walls. Without hesitation, I walked toward the Light Stone.
"Wait," Sally said. "It could be another trap."
"We made it past those, didn't we?" I said. When I neared the stone, a cage slammed down around the perimeter of the room, separating me from Amy and Sally.
"Please," I scoffed. "What's this for?" I smiled to myself and reached for the stone.
As soon as I touched it, I felt momentarily frozen in place. The stone glowed brighter and a strange black smoke flew out of my chest, knocking me backwards and changing me back to normal. The smoke raced around the room, extinguishing the torches and eventually pooled in front of me, taking the shape of my Dark form with glowing white eyes. He wasn't completely solid; the edges of his body were foggy and mingled with his aura.
"Oh," I said. "That's what the cage is for." I jumped to my feet and almost immediately sped toward Dark, fist pulled back, prepared for a punch.
Dark, indifferent, simply put his hand out in front of him and blasted me in the chest, sending my flying backwards, smashing through one of the cage's thick bars and into the wall next to the entrance to the room. I winced and stood shakily.
"What was…that?" I asked.
"I'm not just going to let you beat me to death," he said in a deeper version of my voice, though harder, like mine was like when I was in any form that gave me power. "I doubt you'd want to do that anyway, considering I'm you. Remember what the doctor said. You destroy me, you destroy yourself."
I growled, knowing he was right. But if I couldn't get rid of him, I could weaken him. I ran at full speed toward him and was able to sweep his feet out from under him. He fell, and I pulled my foot back to kick him, but when it got near him, Dark grabbed my ankle and flung me into the wall again. I wiped away the blood that trickled down from my mouth and stood again.
"What about you?" I said. "You can't kill me either, or weaken me. Where would that leave you if you, in some unknown universe, took control of me?"
Dark laughed. "You think I can't heal myself? If I take control I'll have no problem using the Chaos Emeralds to heal my body and boost my power. In fact, that's one of my goals; turning the Emeralds and Chaos in my favor. I may not be able to kill you, but I can certainly do damage, and that will make it so much easier to control you."
I growled. "You think it's just gonna be that easy?" I once again charged at him and, this time, slammed him into the wall, pinning him by his forearms.
"Oh, trust me," he said with a smirk. "This is nothing." He kicked me backwards and off of him, but I back flipped to my feet before I could go too far. Hardly before my feet were flat on the ground, I went into my Sonic-spin and spin-dashed into him, but I hardly did any damage and bounced back to my feet. Finally, Dark went on the offensive and lunged at me. I threw him aside before the punch he was about to throw could hit me, and he was thrown in between two of the cage bars. Almost immediately he recovered and charged at me again, but this time I grabbed one of his fists and he grabbed mine. We were in a stalemate, struggling to 1UP the other.
"So, you think you can beat me, eh?" I said through clenched teeth.
"I don't think I can, I know I can," Dark replied, grinning darkly. "I'm a far more advanced version of you."
"You think so, huh? Don't underestimate us normal types."
He smirked and freed his fist from my hand and placed it on my stomach. My eyes widened, realizing what he was going to do, but it was too late to react. He blasted me backwards, smashing me through another bar and into the wall, creating a good sized crater. Blood streamed down my side where his energy blast severed my skin, creating a large gash in my side. I groaned and cupped my hands over the wound, my own blood quickly staining my gloves.
"Sonic, no!" Amy cried, and in a flash whipped out her hammer and used it to break the bars that separated her and Sally from our arena. Sally ran to my aid while Amy charged at Dark, prepared to swing, and Dark calmly put his hand out in front of him and blasted her. She used her mallet like a bat and hit the blast back at him, where it hit him in almost the exact same place where his blast hit me. His eyes widened as black blood dripped onto the floor.
"Impossible…" he whispered just before Amy swung again, sending him flying into the wall, making the rocks crumble around him. He grunted and dissipated into black smoke and flew towards me.
"Crap, not again," I murmured, tensing. Dark flew back into me through my wound, causing me to cry out in pain. I clenched my teeth as sweat trickled down my face and coughed, black and crimson blood splattering the floor.
"C'mon, we need to get you to the hospital," Sally said calmly, placing her hand on mine.
"N-No," I said in a strained voice. "Just…get me home."
Sally shook her head and mumbled something about stubbornness and helped me to my feet. I grimaced and leaned on her for support, my mind now addled. Together, Sally and Amy helped me walk down the tunnel, the scattered remains of activated traps around us. No sooner did we get outside that I passed out, too exhausted to go another step.
(That was a tough battle. So much for the Light Stone. But maybe it'll come in handy later on. (?) Stay tuned for the next exciting attachment to In the Dark, hopefully coming tomorrow. My parents want me to put together a PowerPoint with all the photos from my vacation last week, and I have a LOT of photos, so I'm going to be working on that today and tomorrow and some chores. Being home alone during the summer is apparently a lot more complicated than it should be.
Anyway, review what you think so far and what you think should happen in the next chapter, and so on and so forth! I consider and appreciate all ideas, and will give credit to those who give me them!
Bye for now!)
~SonicTheHedgehog-Nerd