-Chapter XX- Not-so-Swiftsword
-Southwest of Nsanity Isle
-26 First Seed
-6:30 A.M.
-Nicholas
"Ho!" Tails cried out happily.
"Do you see anything yet, Cap'n?" Sonic asked from the bow of the ferry.
"Not a thing yet!" I called back as I looked through a small spyglass. I smiled, it was refreshing to find something lighthearted, after all the hell I had been through.
"Cap'n?" I heard Saria say.
"Yes, my co-captain?"
"Do we still have any food?"
I removed the spyglass, and looked at her. "Well...no. However! Sterwalt said the next stop has a lot of food."
"All right, good." she looked up to where Tails was in the crow's nest. "Hey Tails!"
He looked down to where we were, "hey Saria!"
"I still don't get why you guys are playing around." Amy said.
"I still don't get why you are here." Saria retorted as she walked by her. I couldn't help but laugh because of this.
"Because I couldn't just let Sonic go all alone with all of you!"
"And I just came along because I thought it'd be fun." Cream added with a smile. She was a quiet rabbit, very close to her chao friend, Cheese.
"Ho!" Tails called out into the salty sea air, "oh Cap'n, my Cap'n!"
I looked up to him, "yes, my salty sea dog?"
"I think I see something out in the distance!"
I peered through my spyglass. It was true, I could see the faded form of what appeared to be a small tropical-like land formation. "That must be the last stop before America Sterwalt spoke of." I said.
"So, does that mean land?" Knuckles asked, behind me.
"Yep." I said with a smile. "Hey Sonic!" I called to the bow. "How are you holding up?"
He turned to me, and gave a thumbs up. "Not bad, still wish we could've done without the water, but, ya know. Things happen, right?"
"And you, Rayman?" I called to him, also at the bow of the ship just behind Sonic, looking over the boat and watching as the water went by.
He looked at me, and gave an uplifting smile. "V..." he seemed to struggle.
Sonic looked back over his shoulder, "you've got it."
"Verrry...god!"
"Close enough." Sonic said with an assuring smile.
"Huh?" I walked up the two.
"Oh, I've been trying to teach Rayman a bit of English."
"I really hate English. It's so confusing." Rayman commented.
"Rayman, please."
He sighed. "English...no god."
"Good." Sonic corrected.
"Good." Rayman repeated.
"So anyway." I said, turning back to Sterwalt at the wheel. I returned to my perch on a stack of large, wooden crates. "Land, mate."
"So to Nsanity Isle we have reached." he said in a hardy voice.
"Will it be much longer to America?" Saria asked as she joined me next to my stack of boxes.
"Not at all, this should be our last stop before we reach South Carolina. From there apparently you'll have some men to meet you."
"Ooh, sounds important." Amy said from where her and Cream sat on their picnic blanket.
"Very important." Knuckles said. "I'm kind of excited, actually. It's been awhile since we've done anything fun, huh Sonic?"
"Are you kidding? This will be one heck of a step forward! Maybe we'll fight people smarter than Eggman." he said with his usual cocky smile and happy voice.
"That won't be very hard." said Amy. We all laughed.
As we neared the shores of Nsanity Island, Sterwalt had us do a variety of quick jobs for us to do to slow down and dock. And when we were on the island, Sonic was gone in a flash, yelling "finally, land! I'm just gonna stretch my legs a little, be back in a bit!" and he was off.
"Hey, Nick!" I heard Saria call. I turned to her, and she gestured for me to follow her, "come on, let's find something to eat." and so I was close behind her as we delved into the heavy forest.
Again, my sword wasn't willing to cut the vegetation, that of a more tropical nature when compared to Emerald Hills', for whatever reason, but Saria made quick work of it with her dagger. Halfway through the forest, we found a pair of tall trees with bark and tree trunks similar to palm trees. Only, instead of coconuts, there were bright-orange fruit at the top, looking very much like mangoes, but much larger. "Well, we found some, now how do we get to it?" I asked. I looked up and down the tree, thinking of a way to get up to the top. "Here, hand me your dagger."
She looked at me like I was possibly crazy, "why?"
"Let me see it, I want to try something."
"All right, here." she said, reluctantly handing me the small, shining silver dagger with a black grip.
I stuck Max's dagger into the tree first, effectively keeping it in place. I put my weight on it, watching as it didn't move or jiggle. I planted my feet back on the ground, and removed the blade with ease. "Haha! I think I've got it!"
"Nick, be careful." Saria said sternly.
"I will, I will." I stuck her dagger into the tree, pulled myself up, planted Max's dagger higher up, and pulled out Saria's as I pulled myself up higher. I repeated this until I reached the top where the limbs reach out. I struggled, but after a moment or two of figuring out what to do once I was at the fruit, I held on to Saria's dagger, still firm in it's place, and reached out to take one of the large fruit. However, when I did, I lost my grip on the dagger and fell, only able to take one of the fruits with me. I landed on the ground with a thud, and though I didn't hear any cracks or breaking, my back was in excruciating pain. I moaned quietly to myself, and looked up so that my vision was upside-down and saw Saria, sitting on the ground with two in her hands. "How the hell did you get those?!"
She held up a finger, indicating for me to give her a moment as she wiped the juice from her lips. "I climbed." I gave her a look of confusion, and she smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Watch." she said simply as she took her bow, bent it, and removed the wire from it. She used this to wrap around my tree, walked up the tree, and used the wire to keep her on the tree. She continued this until she reached where our daggers were and held the wire with one hand as she used the other to replace her own dagger and held Max's with clenched teeth. She then grabbed some of the fruits, and dropped them down for me to grab. When she returned, she gave me back Max's knife, which I secretly wiped away the small traces of saliva on the back of my tunic as I thanked her.
"Psst!" I heard.
"What was that?" Saria asked.
I saw Sonic behind her, gesturing for us to follow. I started towards him, beckoning for her to follow. "What is it?" I asked.
"Check this out." he said quietly, moving slowly through the brush to a small clearing I could just barely make out through the woods.
"Who are they?"
"I dunno, I just came across them talking about something."
"Come on, Crash!" I heard a feminine voice beg. "Please? Maybe they can help us too!"
"Ohh...I don't really want to..." I heard another voice say. I assumed this was Crash.
"Crash, please!"
"You guys hearing this?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah..." Saria said beneath her breath. "I wonder what he's saying."
I looked at her, "you can't understand them?"
"The girl I can, but not the other one."
I turned to Sonic, "same here." he said.
"Great." I said.
"What?" Saria asked.
"We may have another Rayman situation on our hands."
"Of course we do."
"Hmm...come on, let's see if we can get closer." Sonic said.
We sneaked through the brush to see if we could be able to hear better, finding a way to get at least a little bit closer. I put slight niches into the trees with my knife we passed by, causing Sonic to give me a confused look. "So that we might be able to find our way back if we get lost." I explained.
We passed around to what appeared to be a thatched house made of stone, and used it for cover. First Sonic, then me, then Saria. I decided to go on and hid behind a nearby tree. I went down on my belly so that I was flat on the ground, crawling my way through the dirt and plants. When I was satisfied with where I was, I was actually considerably close to them, and I could see what they were now. They looked almost like...bandicoots, only more human-like.
"What the hell?" I asked myself quietly as I tried to focus on something that was in Crash's hands. A flyer, perhaps.
"What the-?" I heard from behind me.
I closed my eyes in anger, "shit." I said in a whisper.
"Who the heck are you?" the voice said again, as its source lifted me from my spot with a single hand to his face, and looked me over.
"What's wrong, Crunch?" I heard the female ask.
"Look what I found here." he said, not exactly happy.