I'm late. Sorry. I have no excuse. Take the chapter.
Chapter 12: Everything Makes Sense…?
U9-b watched from the other side.
Nocny was in a cell. She thought she was stuck. She didn't know her full potential. She didn't know what she could do.
Shadow was in a cell. He knew he could get out. But there would be a fight. There would be casualties. He couldn't do that.
U9-b could do something. Should do something.
"Void," she said.
Her voice was flat in the emptiness.
"What?" he asked.
"You're brother's in danger," she said.
"I care nothing for him," Void sniffed.
"Say that all you will, but do you care for your niece?" U9-b asked.
Void paused and looked up.
"Do what you do best," U9-b ordered. "Cause chaos, and free Nocny."
Void nodded with a silly salute and disappeared.
I watched Shadow pace from one side of the cell to the other. He was planning a way out, hopefully. Everything would be fine, because Shadow was going to save us.
Then the wall exploded.
I blinked rapidly, trying to get the dust out of my eyes. When the smoke cleared, there was a pure white hedgehog looking suspiciously like Shadow standing in the hole. He was holding the white chaos emerald.
"Void," Shadow hissed, spitting the word out like something vile.
"Oh, c'mon, Shadow, I thought we left on better terms than that," the white hedgehog, Void, said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Why, Shadow never told you about me?" Void asked, seemingly betrayed. "I'm Void, your uncle!"
"I didn't know I had an uncle," I said, shocked.
"He's no brother of mine," Shadow growled.
"I'm hurt," Void said, and it sounded surprisingly honest. "Anyway, I thought you'd like to know that U9-b sent me."
"U9-b?" Shadow asked, eyes widening.
"Still hung up on your little girlfriend, huh?" Void asked. "But yes, her."
"Who's U9-b?" I asked.
"Man, Shadow, your kid knows nothing, does she?" Void asked.
"I told her what she needed to know," Shadow bit back.
"That's a lie," I muttered under my breath.
Except that everyone there had super hearing, so everyone heard me. Shadow deflated a little.
"What to know all the things Shadow never told you?" Void asked me.
"...Yes," I answered honestly.
"First things first, I gotta do this," Void said.
And he launched a chaos spear right at me. I barely dodged in time. He was good.
"Void!" Shadow shouted. "What are you doing?"
"As I'm told," Void said. "Unusual, I know, but, well, who am I to resist a lady?"
"You mean, U9-b?" Shadow asked, voice wavering.
"The one and only," Void answered, seeming to enjoy the conversation a great deal.
"No," Shadow said weakly. "She loves Noncy…"
"Yeah," Void said in a sudden burst of solemness. He looked him straight in the eye. "She does."
I was so confused, honestly. Which is definitely an excuse for why I wasn't expecting it when Void shot another chaos spear my way.
"This cell is too cramped," Void commented.
Then he blasted through the cell door.
In a sudden burst of inspiration, I decided that if he wanted to get out into the hall, I wouldn't let him. I flipped into a handstand and then back onto my feet, closing the distance between us, and shoved him back hard.
He stumbled back, growled, and lunged forward, sending both of us out of the cell.
Shadow didn't follow us. I guess he was having a crisis or something? You would've thought he's too old for those.
Anyway, Void was on top of me, aiming a chaos spear right at my throat.
I may have squeaked. Hey, I'm not used to life and death situations!
In a desperate attempt to save my life, I blurted, "Snorkels!"
"Snorkels?" Void asked in bewilderment.
I gave him a dumb smile, then flipped us over so that I was on top. One punch to the solar plexus later, I was booking it.
I ran through several identical hallways until I found the room where all the other cells were. Apparently Shadow and I had to be separated from the rest, which kinda makes sense. Ultimate LifeForms and all.
"Someone's trying to kill me!" I shouted.
"Can you destroy the panels? They'll unlock the cages," a yellow fox said.
"Who's chasing you?" Stacey asked.
"Some uncle I never knew I had," I answered, running up to her cage and ripping out the panel.
All of the older prisoners, probably the parents who had been kidnapped, raised their heads.
"You know him?" I asked, ripping out another panel. "His name's Void."
"Yeah, we know him alright," a red echidna said.
"I thought he was gone," Cream said.
"Seems like he's back," Sonic said.
"And trying to kill me," I reminded everyone, ripping out two more panels.
"Gooooooood evening!" Void said, teleporting into the doorway of the room.
"It's evening already?" I heard Stacey ask.
"Nice to see you again, Rouge," Void said, tipping an imaginary hat to the white bat.
"Void." Rouge rolled her eyes.
"Who wants to cause some chaos?" Void asked, raising his voice so that everyone could hear.
"Me! Me! Me me me!" Pepper exclaimed, jumping up and down with her hand in the air.
"I know it's not a good idea to trust strangers, but can you hold back all your friends for me while I take care of Nocny?" Void asked.
Pepper blinked a couple of times.
"Sure," she said.
Then she attacked, immediately going for the blue hedgehog.
Void looked at me and grinned. I screamed.
"What is going on in here?!" a shrill voice shouted.
Everyone turned to see the little girl from earlier.
"You better not be trying to escape!" she shrieked.
She slammed a surprisingly well hidden button on the wall, and robots started pouring out of hidden rooms.
"Eek!" Nebula squealed, forming a shield around herself.
Light from the shield shone on Stacey. Stacey's fur grew thicker, and she grew larger, and suddenly there was a werehog standing in the room.
"Neat," Stacey said.
"Oh, you're finally embracing it!" the pink hedgehog said.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" I screamed, now avoiding shots from not only Void, but also a dozen robots.
The battlefield was chaos. Robots everywhere, powers being used willy-nilly. Kids fresh from training and adults stuck in cages for months, all fighting.
I hated every moment of it, honestly.
At one point I landed on top of a robot the human girl was standing on.
She looked right at me and said, "They made you forget, but I'll get you back. We can be friends again."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Ivory," she answered.
The battle must have lasted for at least an hour. Near the end most of the robots were smoldering piles of junk and everyone was losing energy.
Void and I were facing off.
I knew I wouldn't win. I was weak from fighting, while he had somehow stayed mostly unscathed.
"Snorkels," I sighed.
He sent a chaos spear right at me. It hit me dead on.
And then something happened. It's impossible to describe.
An energy I was unfamiliar with, yet felt like I'd known for years, coursed through me. My entire body, from the tip of my ears to the ends of my toes, was tingling.
It was amazing.
I opened my eyes, for they had been closed, and realized I was floating.
Void was smiling like a maniac, for whatever reason.
"You," my voice echoed, and I turned to look at Ivory. "Why are you attacking us?"
"It's not my fault," she sniffed. "It's the Commander."
"Why," I repeated.
She burst into tears.
"All I wanted was a friend!" she sobbed. "I had you, but then they took you away! So I'm getting you back!"
I nodded. It made sense. Obviously, she had gone about it in the wrong way, but she hadn't known better. Now she did.
"Void," I said, turning to him.
"Mmhm?" he hummed.
"You did this on purpose. Whatever is happening to me, you planned," I said.
"Yep. You're using chaos energy, by the way," Void said. "Should have unlocked it for good now. Well, I'm gonna scram."
Void teleported away.
I closed my eyes again. I was tired. So very tired.
I blinked my eyes open slowly.
"Hi?" I asked, my voice cracking.
"Nocny!" Prism exclaimed. "You're awake!"
"Yeah…" I trailed off. "What happened?"
"Oh it was epic! You were all like flash and-"
"You can tell her all about it later, right now I need to talk with her," Shadow interrupted. "Alone."
Prism left the room and I sat up.
"Nocny, I'd like you to meet U9-b," Shadow said.
There was a girl standing next to Shadow. She had bunny ears, echidna quills, bat wings, and a fox tail. Which didn't surprise me, actually.
"Hello," I said.
She smiled at me.
Still planning to write the prequel! It's about U9-b and Void and how they get into the story.