I know this is late, but I've been busy lately!
Also I got that schedule figured out. You can find my estimated post dates for all my stories on my profile.
Also this chapter doesn't contain much action, it's pretty boring. But as you'll see from the cliffhanger at the end, the next chapter will be much more exciting.
Finally, I know some of you are excited to see a fight with ASURA, but I am terrible at writing fights and I already knew where I wanted this chapter to go, so there's only one little action scene with that. I'm sorry! I'll try my best to make more interesting fights with the titans, I promise!
Enjoy the chapter!
...
When Sonic awoke the next morning, his whole body ached. It felt like he'd either slept on a very large, uncomfortable, rock or under a bunch of smaller, equally uncomfortable, rocks. Maybe both.
It was the first theory that was correct. Last night, the group had settled down on a flat ruin near ASURA; planning on taking it down in the morning, heading to the portal to retrieve another key, and finding another set of emeralds.
Sometimes Sonic wondered if his entire life was a video game; where players were constantly collecting things!
The Blue Hedgehog groaned and stretched. "This gives a whole new meaning to rocking someone to slee..."
He stared into the empty, stone sockets above him.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
His friends woke with a start, and Silver crashed on his face (apparently the grey hedgehog involuntarily floats in the air when he's asleep). "Ow. What's wrong Sonic?"
"AAAAHHHH!" He screamed again as he shot to his feet and looked down at the bouncing rocks that had him and his friends surrounded.
"What are these things?" Blaze asked slowly; watching them with wide eyes.
"I have no idea." Sonic answered. "When I woke up, there were at least four or five standing on me."
Shadow carefully stood up, and the movement attracted all the creatures. They gazed up at the black hedgehog; making sounds that reminded Sonic of a pink, ball-shaped friend he'd met at an inter-dimensional fighting tournament.
Shadow froze, his ears twitching; then he knelt back down in front of the group of creatures like he was listening to them.
Sonic blinked, "Shadz, what are you..?"
"Koco."
"Koco?" Blaze repeated.
Shadow looked over. "You asked what they were. They claim to be called 'Koco.' They also seem harmless, so you can stop standing there like frightened chao."
"Wait, you can understand them?" Silver asked.
"I assume it's because of this thing." He held out his arm with the device on it. "It connects to Ancients tech, so maybe these Koco are also a product of their technological advances."
Blaze picked a Koco up and examined it. "I don't think they're machines. They seem to just be some weird rocks."
"Well, whatever they are, they're starting to get on my nerves." Sonic danced through the crowd of small creatures that had journeyed from Shadow to him.
Silver used his telekinesis to move a few of the Koco away from Sonic. They laughed as they spun in the air blissfully. The grey hedgehog smiled at the sight. "They're so cute."
"Cute, until we find out they're spies for The End." Sonic pointed out. He tried to take a step forward, only to trip over a particularly bouncy Koco.
"I seriously doubt they're spying on us, Sonic." Said Shadow. "I think The End can do that on his own."
"Yeah, you're probably right." The blue hedgehog sat down in the middle of the Koco crowd. "Sorry guys. I hope you can forgive me for accusing you."
The Koco, not even realizing they'd been accused, bobbed up and down around Sonic with giant smiles on their faces. He smiled back, "I'll take that as a yes."
Blaze set the Koco she'd been holding down. "We don't have time to worry about these...Koco, we need to gather the rest of the emeralds."
"Aw, lighten up, Blaze." Silver grinned as he bounced the Koco around with his telekinesis. They giggled as they floated up and down in the air. "I know finding the emeralds is important, but we don't even know where the rest are. We should explore a little before retrieving the key, that way we'll at least know where to go with it after."
"You just don't want to fight another robot." Shadow stated.
"Oh come on, Shadow. Look at that thing!" Sonic gestured towards ASURA. "I love bustin bots as much as the next hedgehog, but if that thing is willing to leave us alone, I don't see any reason to aggravate it."
"We need the gear it possesses in order to open the portal." Shadow argued.
"And then we need to find the key, find another vault, retrieve the emeralds, and repeat the whole cycle again." Sonic finished. "Seriously, why does my life feel like a video game? Betcha there's a boss after we collect all the emeralds."
The black hedgehog groaned at his rivals' childish thought.
"It wouldn't be a waste of time to explore the island." Silver assured Blaze and Shadow. "It would be to our advantage to scope the area, and figure out the best routes between portals and emeralds. And maybe we can figure out more about these islands well we're at it."
"Yeah!" Sonic agreed. "Let's take a day off and get our bearings. Yesterday was pretty crazy."
"What about your friends, Sonic?" Shadow asked.
The blue hedgehog's smile dropped. "I am worried the state Amy's in right now and Tails, but...what if we find him elsewhere on the island? Or what if we find a clue to helping Amy? This isn't just about stretching my legs and taking a break for a day."
The black hedgehog contemplated this for a moment, then shook his head and gave a dismissive wave. "Do whatever you want, I'm getting that gear."
"I'll join you." Blaze offered.
"Good idea! Sonic agreed. "We'll split up again, and pursue two missions at once. Come on, Silver!"
"Can we bring the Koco?" The grey hedgehog asked, still holding up the giggly rocks with his powers.
"Eh, why not? Let's go!" The blue hedgehog stretched then started running; not waiting to see if his friend was following.
Silver gathered all the Koco into a cyan bubble and levitated after the Blue Blur.
Shadow gazed after the pair. "This is a waste of time and energy."
"Maybe." Blaze admitted. "But who knows; they could find something useful."
...
"Hey Silver! I found a weird, armory robot; come check it out!"
The Grey Hedgehog looked concerned. "Sonic, I don't think another dangerous and ancient robot is gonna help Amy or Tails."
"Yeah, I know. But look at this thing!" Sonic gestured wildly at the frozen robot that was cowering underneath a blue and silver shell . "This has got to be one of the strangest robots I've ever seen, and I've fought a lot of Eggman robots."
"Focus Sonic. We don't want Shadow and Blaze to think we're wasting time out here."
"Right, Right. Okay, so where do we start? That tower looks safe enough." He added. "I mean, for a tower from this island anyway."
"I was thinking we'd follow them." Silver gestured to the Koco; who'd started wandering off towards a foresty area to the left.
"Yeah, that works to."
The hedgehog pair trailed the bouncy rocks down the slope and through the sparse brush; joined by more Koco along the way.
"I wonder where they're leading us." Sonic thought out loud.
He didn't even have to wait for Silver's response; as the answer to his question manifested itself in the Koco's destination. A stream flowing off the island and a landmass in the center on which had been built...
"Another vault!" The friends shouted; running towards the emerald container. They peered inside at the red Chaos and Sol emeralds suspended in their prison.
"I guess we need a key to get them out." Sonic sighed.
"I wouldn't worry." Silver encouraged. "Shadow and Blaze are on it."
...
Blaze ran up ASURA's arm in a blur; reaching the top a split second before Shadow. The pair launched a volley of fireballs and chaos spears at the spine piece holding the limb in place.
It exploded; throwing the mobians off their foe a second time. The arm landed with a crash only a few feet in front of them.
"One more." Blaze called; rushing in again. "I wish Sonic and Silver were here, we could use their help.
...
"Yeah, you're right. They can handle it." Sonic agreed.
"Ah, my Koco. I am overjoyed to see you safe and sound."
The hedgehogs turned to the sound of the voice, which happened to be another Koco. But this one was different.
It was bigger than the others, even bigger than them! It's face was mossy and the top of it's head looked a little like a gear.
"Uh..." Sonic approached the strange koco. "Hi."
"Oh! Hello. Are you the one's who brought my koco back?"
"Kinda." Silver answered.
"Then you have my deepest gratitude, young hedgehogs." The koco did a weird nod. "You may call me Elder Koco."
"Nice to meet you." Sonic greeted. "I'm Sonic, and this is my friend Silver."
The telekinetic hedgehog waved. "Hi."
"You have done me a great service in returning my koco to me. I've lost track of many, and they have no doubt wandered all over the island by now. If you happen to find any more of my charges, would you kindly return them to me as well?"
"Of course." Sonic quickly agreed.
"I thank you, young heroes. If there is ever anything I can do for you in return...Ah!" The elder koco paused as an idea occured to him. "Perhaps I could teach you some skills that would help you on this island; It's not a very safe place, you know."
"Oh, you think?" Sonic said sarcastically. "So, what kind of skills are we talking about? Think you could teach me that glowy trail thing Shadow does? Everytime I ask him about it, he tells me to mind my own business."
"Glowy trail? You must mean the cyloop."
"Probably. So how does it work?"
"Energy, hedgehogs." The koco explained. "You feel your well of energy inside yourself, and release some of that energy behind you as you move. Once you have looped around and connected one end to another, the energy will move toward the center and burst on impact. This is a cyloop."
"Whoa!" Sonic and Silver jinxed.
The Elder Koco smiled at their reactions. "I can see my explanation has you eager to attempt the cyloop for yourselves. There is a field across this stream that would be perfect for training with this technique."
"Across...there?" Sonic gulped, staring at the stream in terror.
"I can carry you across." Silver offered, lifting his friend up with his abilities and ferrying the both of them across the water.
"Thanks Silver." The blue hedgehog said; landing lightly on his feet. He then put his hands on his hips. "Time to show Shadow we can do anything he can. Let's get training!"
...
Later that afternoon...
"You know," Sonic panted. "I think Shadow deserves more credit than he gets. This is...surprisingly difficult."
"You were close that time." Silver encouraged; landing next to Sonic. "Just focus on your..."
"...well of energy. I know." Sonic finished in exasperation. "It's easy for you, you've been drawing from your telekinetic pool for years and mastered this move on your 5th try. I didn't even know I had a well of power till today."
"Well, if you want some time alone to figure this out, I can go check on Shadow and Blaze."
The blue hedgehog sighed. "We probably should've done that a while ago. Thanks, Silver."
"No problem." Silver took a few steps back towards the stream. "I'll be right..."
Something crashed into the grey hedgehog, sending him tumbling off the edge of the island.
"Silver!" Sonic cried. He took a fighting stance against the robot that had attacked. The spiky, black and red wheel circled around for another go; the orb in the center pulsing excitedly. "Come at me, you overgrown tire!"
The bot instantly obliged; rolling at speeds that matched the blue hedgehog it was aiming for. Shocked by this; Sonic didn't move fast enough to avoid the painful collision.
"I really hate these robots." He mumbled, peeling himself off the tree he'd crashed into. The robot came around for another go, and the blue hedgehog barely managed to stumble away this time. Instead of hitting it's intended target; the machine crashed into the tree and got one of it's spikes stuck.
Sonic watched as the wheel struggled to free itself. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be."
"Sonic!" The blue hedgehog turned to see Silver fly up over the edge of the island. "Are you okay."
"Yeah, I'm fine." He turned back to the robot. "But I'm not sure how much longer this guys gonna stay stuck."
As if on cue; the robot burst away from the tree and flew towards Silver again.
"Oh no you don't!" Sonic shouted, speeding at the wheel. He looped around it, intending to form a Sonic wind to blow the thing off it's feet. But the wind never came; instead the robot exploded suddenly, confusing Sonic.
"You did it Sonic!" Silver cheered, giving his friend a high-five.
"Uh, I did?" The Blue Blur asked, frowning. "Wait, it worked?!"
He started running around; trailing a blue glow behind him. "It's working! I guess I draw energy when I use the sonic wind, and it did this instead. Awesome!"
He kept making loops in the field; digging up plants as he does so. What he doesn't notice is the strange circle of brown plants that start glitching when he tears through them.
A flood of images assault Sonic's mind. "GAAAHHH!"
He can vaguely hear Silver shouting something in the distance, but everything's too muffled for him to make out any words. In his mind he can see a landmass; but it's incomplete. Why is it incomplete? And what are these other voices in his head? What's happening?
He blacked out.
...
Shadow jumped off the portal ruin, key in hand, and landed next to Blaze.
"That was...disorienting." She admitted. "Is that what the cities in your world look like?"
"Not exactly." Was the answer she got.
"Okay." The princess looked out across the landscape. "We should probably go find Sonic and Silver before they get into trouble."
"Too late for that." Shadow answered; pointing at Silver, who was flying towards them as fast as possible, and unconscious Sonic floating next to him."
"Oh my gosh!" Blaze cried, running over. "Silver, what happened?!"
"I don't know!" Silver landed in front of his friend. "He was running around and doing the cyloop," Shadow looks up in surprise. "And then he just passed out muttering nonsense."
"Like what?" Shadow asked urgently.
"Um, something about an incomplete map and voices in his head."
The black hedgehog quickly started messing with his watch then paused. "There's a map insignia missing on here."
"What does that mean?" Blaze asked.
Shadow looked up at a twitching Sonic. "It means I know what's wrong. And I also know how to help him."
...
Boom! Cliffhanger! Ha!
Check my profile tomorrow for the next estimated update date for this story!
Now the plot thickens, he he he.
Bye readers!
Next time on Journey Across Frontiers:
Shadow reveals even more secrets, Blaze learn cyloop, Silver collects another pair of emeralds, and Sonic wonders how the heck a robot can be so gigantic.