Sonic in Between.
Author's Note: Here's part four! I hope it's okay.
Until thing, I hope you do enjoy the rest of the story.
Summary of Story 5-Part 4: Reaching the cave where the Dragon has held the kidnapped villagers, Sonic must face the trial that puts his courage, strength and compassion to the real test, while facing the reality that he failed Nimue's. Yet not all as it seems.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Sonic's Camelot Adventure-Part 4.
As if saving the trapped people wasn't difficult enough, facing the Black Knight's Army who appeared blocking the entrance of the cave made things more frustrating. But luckily Sonic was fast and swift enough to take care of them. He also managed to find the entrance itself which was huge, big enough to fit the dragon. The blue hedgehog made his way inside while taking precautions in case the dragon would show up.
The deeper Sonic and Caliburn went inside, the darker it became and obviously more spooky as well. Luckily the duo noticed glowing crystals all over the place, from top to bottom and on the walls which gave out a blue-topaz light.
"Whoa..." Sonic murmured in awe. "This place is cool. Creepy, but cool."
"I myself find it to be unsettling." Caliburn admitted, before adding firmly. "Do not lower your guard. The dragon and the Underworld army are no doubt here."
"Right." The blue hedgehog nodded.
It wasn't long before they found themselves in a giant cavern with huge stone pillars, stalagmites, stalactites, different coloured crystals everywhere, mushrooms that grew here and there, and tiny holes in the ceiling that let in sunlight shine through. Needless to say, the teenager and the talking sword were amazed by this amazing place, but quickly focused on locating the kidnapped villagers while keeping an eye out on the dragon.
Suddenly, there was a deep, low and monstrous breathing that made Sonic softly gasp, freezing in his tracks as his eyes widened in the growing nervousness.
"Do you hear that?" He whispered nervously, looking around for the source of the giant breathing.
"Indeed. I fear it's the dragon." Caliburn whispered back, glancing around.
"That was my first guess." Sonic admitted. He looked around once more and gasped silently in horror as he spotted the aforementioned giant beast...far too close by. About ten feet away was a massive dragon, five times bigger than the one that guarded the area where he and Arthur found Caliburn.
It appeared to be sleeping, but Sonic didn't want to take his chances. He grabbed Caliburn before silently but quickly hid behind a pillar, leaning against it and just in time as well. The dragon gave a big yawn, sleepily opening one eye as though hearing something, but when it saw no one, the beast simply closed it once more and went back to his slumber.
"Man...this thing's bigger than the last one." The blue hedgehog whispered so softly that it was difficult to hear properly.
"We must find the villagers without awakening it." Caliburn whispered in return.
"No need to tell me twice." The fifteen year old replied with a shrug.
With that thought in mind, Sonic tip-toed from his hiding place and passing the slumbering monstrous beast as silently as possible with Caliburn floating close to him. An occasional snort from the dragon made the teenager and the Sacred Sword freeze up, before relaxing a little when they realized that the dragon wasn't waking up yet. They continued to sneak their way through the cavern until they heard a little boy's sobbing close by. Pausing in their steps, the duo shared a glance before following the source of the voice and when they peered around the corner, they found the villagers all huddled up in fear and despair, obviously believing they were doomed to be trapped by the monster that kidnapped them.
Among them was a little boy no older than five years old, and he was clearly frightened to the core despite being comforted by his mother. The blue hedgehog's heart ached for the poor kid.
"Is everyone alright?" He whispered, getting their attention. Almost all of them nearly exclaimed loudly at the sight someone actually here to rescue them.
"It's a brave kni-" One man almost exclaimed.
"Shh!" Sonic quickly shushed, looking over his shoulder and felt some sense of relief when the dragon didn't wake up, before turning back to the people. "Keep it down, or the dragon will wake up. I'm here to get you out, but I need you to be quiet and follow me, okay?"
The villagers, realizing that he was right, all nodded as the mother of the boy tried to get him to calm down, which the hero of Mobius wished he could comfort him but now wasn't the time. Gesturing the people to follow him as silently as possible, Sonic lead the villagers out as slowly, softly and patiently as possible. Many of them were nervous to be this close to the dragon the moment they began passing it and at the teenager's hand signals to make them stop and go, froze when it snorted as many of them feared it would wake up, felt relief when it didn't and kept at it until they were nearing the exit.
"We're almost there, everyone. Not far now." Sonic whispered, feeling relief that they were almost out as it had been slower to leave than it was to enter and he was glad that he already took care of the Black Knight's Army, or else things would've been worse.
Unfortunately, just as almost everyone was out of the cave, one of the villagers, who resembled to Vector, failed to hold in the urge to sneeze and when he did...it was loud.
"ACHOOO!" The crocodile sneezed so loudly that it echoed through the entire cave, and towards the area where the Dragon was sleeping and as bad luck would have it, it woke the beast up as it snapped it's eyes open, it's slits shrinking in disturbance and, with the lack of people whimpering or crying, it knew that it's prey have escaped.
Sonic and everyone else froze with gasps, before turning to the Vector-look-alike who shrugged sheepishly, and muttered apologetically. "Sorry. I couldn't hold it in anymore."
'Oh, great! Now the dragon's gonna wake up for sure.' The blue hedgehog thought, both grumbling and beginning to panic as he knew that they weren't going to get out of this one as easily as he thought.
As predicted, the dragon's mighty roar could be heard from where he and the villagers came from, and the sound of it's wings flapping came along with it. The people began to panic and scream while Sonic gasped softly, narrowing his eyes as he knew what had to be done.
"Everybody, run! Get outta here! Get as far away from the mountain and to safety as possible! I'll handle the dragon!" Sonic ordered, grabbing hold of Caliburn and stepped aside while the villagers, frightened out of their minds while worried for their heroic knight that came to their rescue, decided to obey and ran as fast as they could. The blue hedgehog stayed to make sure everyone was out when he and the talking sword(and Arthur) heard a young scream and looked to see, to their shock, a lavender hedgehog girl tripped and fell onto the ground.
While Sonic saw that she was a mirror image of Staria "Star" Amantha, Sun's close friend(or girlfriend), he knew that she wasn't, but looked up to see that the dragon was already catching up and made to swoop down and recapture her as well as the other villagers.
"Sonic-!" Caliburn warned.
"Way ahead of you!" Sonic interrupted, dashing quickly to scoop up the hedgehog girl into his arms and back to the entrance before gently putting her down outside. "You alright?"
"I-I think so. Thank you, Sir Knight." The Star-Look-Alike nodded, trembling a little in fright.
"It's what I do. Now go! It's too dangerous here!" The fifteen year old instructed.
The hedgehog girl nodded, and ran to join the rest of the villagers who made their escape, while Sonic turned his attention back to the giant monster who landed on the ground with a thud as he was making his way back in to confront it. He held a tight grip on Caliburn, glaring at the dragon who was at least five times bigger than the one he first fought before, and it roared before swiping it's tail at him. The blue hedgehog was faster and dashed away to avoid in getting hit before he used it's distraction to jump and attack it on the side. It did little to no effect as he was then forced back once more before the dragon could grab him.
His opponent then breathed out fire which forced Sonic to run out of the way, hiding behind stone pillars then ran along and around it to the very top as an idea formed. Remembering how he defeated the last dragon, the cobalt hero avoided the dragon's attempts of using it's tail, claws and deadly flames to kill him, and yelped when it attempted to engulf him with it's wide opened jaws though the dragon did make holes on the pillar in each random spot as he ran up.
"Sonic! Are you alright?" Arthur asked, worriedly.
"Never better, your majesty." Sonic replied quickly, reaching the top and glared down at the dragon who was rising it's head to glare at him. But he left it no time to even open it's mouth as he jumped and performed his Sword Spin, hitting the horn on top of it's head as he thought it was where the weak spot was.
Thankfully it worked as the dragon roared in agony before attempting to toss Sonic off, but the blue hedgehog attempted to keep his balance and attacked the horn again as quickly and hard as possible before it became too dangerous. He then ran down along it's back and avoided it's claws while he surfed the rest of the way, surprised that it had no spikes sticking out. As he did, Sonic stabbed his sword along it's back and he and his companions were further surprised that it was working, the skin had become softer and thickness of darkness began spewing out from it's body.
"I think attacking the horn makes it's skin weaker!" Sonic realized, leaping up when the tail came into view and blocked it by clashing with Caliburn to repel the attack and Spin Dashed to the ground, running out of the way and out of view to hide behind one of the rocks just as the giant monster turned to find and attack him again.
"I think you're right. We need to keep attacking it until it is destroyed." Caliburn whispered in agreement.
Sonic nodded, before quickly dashing around up to another pillar in the same strategy as before and even hit the claws and tail which did more damage than the last time and the dragon was roaring in agony. This distracted the giant monster enough for the blue hedgehog to make it to the top and attacked the horn with full force. With a battle cry, Sonic used all his might to swing his sword and sliced the horn in half, shattering it. The dragon let out a growling scream which forced the cobalt teenager to leap off and landed on the ground before turning back as the giant beast then fell with a mighty thud, and like all of the monsters before it, vanished into nothing.
"Heh. Did it." Sonic said, smirking in victory, panting a little but was quite pleased that he managed to handle it without the need of going for his previous crazy plan earlier. "I'm surprised this dragon was easier to handle than the last one."
"As am I. You succeeded, Sonic. The people are free and safe now." The imprisoned King agreed.
The blue hedgehog chuckled sheepishly, scratching the top of his head. "Hey, when there are people in trouble, I'll always be there to help them."
Their conversation was cut short when Sonic and his companions heard a sudden crumbling sound. Alarmed, the blue hedgehog and the Sacred Sword turned to the first piller which collapsed. At first they thought the whole cave was about to come down, but were surprised that it just crumbled away and as the light from the entrance and the ceiling shone onto the ground, it strangely lit up in gold and a few other certain colours. Puzzled and curious, Sonic and Caliburn shared a glance before approaching the hole carefully. and were stunned in awe to find it was full of gold and jewels, and other kinds of rare items.
Sonic whistled.
"The dragon's treasure." Caliburn murmured.
"Well, that's one way to hide the hidden treasure. Would've thought the dragon would be that clever?" The blue hedgehog remarked.
"It must be because it used it's dark magic to hide it from intruders." Arthur surmised. "But, we cannot take it for ourselves."
"Indeed. Yet, what shall we do with it?" The Sacred Sword agreed.
Sonic thought of the same thing before smirked and snapped his fingers, saying. "I have an idea."
Five minutes later...
Sonic had gathered the treasure and handed them all out to all of the villagers once he met up with them. Needless to say, they were all stunned by his act of kindness and bravery and strength for saving them, defeating the horrible dragon and now was handing out it's treasure to every single one of them.
"There you go. That's the last bag." The blue hedgehog handed out the last bag full of the dragon's treasure to a man who took it gratefully.
"Thank you so much, Sir Knight. You are very brave, strong and generous." The villager said happily and gratefully.
The cobalt hero chuckled, "It was nothing."
To his and the others' surprise, the Star-look-alike handed out a bag to him and said, "We would like you to take a bag for yourself, Sir Knight. In appreciation for saving us."
Sonic was a bit surprised, before smiling and shook his head, gently pushing it back to the lavender hedgehog as he explained to the confused villagers. "No thanks. I don't need any treasure. Your appreciation is more than enough."
"Are you sure?" The hedgehog girl asked.
"Yep." The blue hedgehog nodded. "I gotta go. There are other people waiting for me."
The villagers thanked Sonic once more before he and the talking sword bid farewell for the blue hedgehog to find the little girl again and tell her of the good news and take her home. As the blue hedgehog and the Sacred Sword made their way back to the forest, as it was getting late and, to their dismay, it was already dusk, which meant one thing for Sonic as he lowered his gaze to the ground, feeling guilty as while he was successful in saving the villagers and did good deeds in the last three days...
He failed Nimue's test.
'Guess I'm not worthy of a true knight after all. I did my best, but...it wasn't enough. I'm sorry, Nimue. I just...I couldn't leave those people to die.' Sonic thought to himself, meaning that he would have to find another way to save King Arthur now...even it meant he would never be able to go home and despite what the Lady of the Lake told him days before, he knew that without the full protection, he was in danger of becoming the Black Knight's replacement.
"The appointed time has passed." Caliburn stated in disappointment.
"Yeah, don't remind me." Sonic grumbled, rubbing his right arm just above the gauntlet. Yes, he still believed in doing the right thing, and he was still himself. The fact that he failed the tests meant that not even the gauntlet was going to protect him from the scabbard once he touched it. It was a price to pay, and if he had to, then he will take the punishment for his failure.
"You did what you could, Sir Sonic." Arthur reassured, yet his voice sounded full of regret as he too knew what this meant. "I only wish that you were fully protected from the scabbard."
The fifteen year old sighed, scratching the top of his head. "It's okay. If I have to end up being turned into like the Black Knight, then could you do me a favor and end me if that happens?"
"What!?" The King exclaimed in shock.
"Are you mad!?" Caliburn demanded, bouncing a bit in shock.
"What choice do I have? I failed Nimue's test, and I don't want history to repeat itself once we figure out another way to save King Arthur's body. If I have to be cursed by the scabbard, then you guys have to destroy me before I become corrupted! I won't take the risk of what's going on happening again, even if it means I have to die." Sonic pointed out, tears beginning to form that he tried to will back. "I don't care what happens to me. If it means I'll never be able to go home again, then fine. As long as everybody in both worlds are safe, then that's more than enough."
He looked away from Caliburn to prevent the sword from seeing him begin to shed tears which the blue hedgehog wiped away. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I tried, but I wasn't fast enough. I'm the worst knight in the world."
Sighing to calm down, Sonic then said. "But that won't stop me from saving you and protecting you. One way or another, you will return to normal. I promise!"
"Sir Sonic..." Arthur murmured softly.
Caliburn could only gaze at the young hero who, while having succeeded in saving many people and passing at least two of the tests in three days, failed to pass all of them and had already come to accept the grim future yet still vowed to keep going, even at the cost of his life and freedom. The Sacred Sword felt guilty for failing his wielder and stared at the chosen one with sympathy.
"Well, better go tell Nimue the bad news. At least I made an effort." Sonic softly declared, bracing himself for Nimue's major disappointment, her possible terrifying anger for him failing and deem him unworthy as a knight. He could only hope that she wouldn't do anything horrible to him before he, the King and the sword would leave the lake for good in order to find another way to save King Arthur.
The group was about to continue when they spotted the little girl from earlier and stopped in their tracks, surprised to see her having come all this way from where Sonic found her.
"You've been waiting here the whole time?" Sonic blinked, and when she nodded, he sheepishly replied. "Sorry about that. Good news, everyone's safe."
"Thank you." The little girl replied gratefully, before saying apologetically. "And...Sorry for tricking you."
"Huh?" The blue hedgehog blinked as he and his companions were confused by this statement.
They then gasped in shock as a blue magical aura surrounded the child and right before their very eyes, she was gone. In her place was none other than the lady of the lake who smiled softly at them.
"Nimue!?" Sonic exclaimed, further in shock and wondering what was going on. Had his self-proclaimed girlfriend's counterpart been watching him by disguising herself as a little helpless girl all this time? Horror then filled up his chest and senses as he realized that while he did do the right thing and he was glad that Nimue had directed him to the mountain, she must have realized of his failure to pass his other tests.
'Oh no...! Could she have been testing me even further all this time?' Sonic thought. He gulped and tried to explain, "N-Nimue, I-I..."
"It's alright. Don't worry." The pink hedgehog replied, approaching him.
"Huh?" The hero of Mobius murmured, as the Lady of the Lake gently held his hands into her own, and he couldn't help but blush again, briefly seeing Amy in Nimue's place which made no sense at all.
"You have shown courage, strength, and compassion." Nimue continued, proud of the teenager's accomplishments and pure heart.
Stunned as this wasn't what he was expecting, a sense of hope filled up his heart as he saw the truth in her jade green eyes, Sonic began to realize what this meant, but asked just in case. "Then...?"
Nimue nodded proudly. "I shall show you how to blunt the power of Excalibur's scabbard, because you are a true knight."
'...I passed?' The blue hedgehog thought, thinking that this was some sort of dream or illusion, one that he would wake up disappointed that this wasn't real. But the soft touch from Nimue's hands which she stepped back a little to give him space for his mind to register this, confirmed that this was indeed the reality of the situation.
All thoughts of failing the tests were swept away like the wind, replaced by the sheer relief and accomplishment for having passed all along due to both the tests as well as his desire to help helped him all along and that Nimue had secretly helped him on his way. Which meant that not only he was safe from the scabbard's darkness, but he was worthy of learning the secrets on how to stop the Black Knight once and for all.
"Yes!" Sonic cheered with a smirk.
"Congratulations, Sonic. This is a surprise." Caliburn said, smiling with feeling. "Are you feeling better?"
The blue hedgehog nodded happily, very relieved.
"I knew you could it, Sir Sonic. I am so relieved and proud of you." King Arthur added happily, making Sonic chuckle in slight embarrassment.
Nimue smiled happily before stating. "Let us return to the lake. Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain are waiting."
"Lead the way, Lady Nimue." Sonic replied, bowing gratefully.
A while later after returning to the lake and reuniting with both Lancelot and Gawain, who had completed their own tasks and were greatly surprised that Sonic had passed the tests, and the red echidna was even more stunned that Nimue was actually the little girl that the blue hedgehog vowed to help, the Lady of the Lake explained to the five of them how to counterattack and fend off the darkness.
"I see. So I have to free all the Knights of the Round table and burrow their sacred swords?" Sonic guessed correctly, while Gawain and Lancelot brought out their aforementioned weapons in surprise.
"Yes. The three sacred swords combined with your Caliburn should disspell the power of immortality that protects the Black Knight and free King Arthur and his body." Nimue confirmed.
"Forgive me for my question, Lady Nimue, but can Sonic really defeat Lady Percival?" Gawain questioned, skeptically.
"I beaten you and Lancelot fair and square, didn't I?" The aforementioned hedgehog shrugged, and while he knew he had to be careful, he was confident that he can do this.
"You underestimate Lady Percival, Apprentice." Lancelot warned darkly, glaring at the younger hedgehog.
"Sir Lancelot is right." Caliburn agreed. "The remaining knight, Percival, is the Knight of the Grail. She is as strong as she is noble. One mistake could be your last."
Sonic shrugged. "Hey, come on! Isn't about time you gave me a little credit? Don't you worry. I've got one of the great sacred swords."
"Of course...it's about time you figured that out." The Sacred Sword sighed.
"I'm going to make this look easy, and free her." The hero of Mobius declared, before carefully patting his sword on the back of the hilt. "Besides, I've gotten pretty used to you too."
"That is exactly what I told you not to do." Caliburn sighed.
"Do be careful, Sir Sonic. Percival is unlike you've ever face." Arthur cautioned.
"I'll be careful." Sonic promised.
"Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain. Meet us at the bottom of where Lady Percival will be once Sir Sonic and I have freed her from the Black Knight's spell." The King then ordered two of his knights who bowed before the imprisoned young ruler trapped within the shrunken sword within Sonic's necklace.
"Yes, sire." The black hedgehog and the red echidna responded obediently.
"I'll keep the king safe. I promise." The blue hedgehog vowed, before he and Caliburn gave the other three a farewell and then raced off to find Pervical and save her once and for all, now that they were once step closer in saving King Arthur and the world.
Nimue nodded, as she muttered to the blue hedgehog. "Fare thee well brave knight, chosen one of Caliburn."
Yet as Sonic and Caliburn sped off to find Pervical while Lancelot and Gawain would wait until their fellow knight was found, little did they, Nimue, King Arthur and even Merlina knew, that the Black Knight was waiting in the lurking darkness, possessing the King's body...
With a ghostly image of a man with an ugly mustache and evil grin, wearing a black robe appearing at the heart of Camelot castle.
To be Continued!
A/N: Finally managed to get this done, but I think we're maybe two or three more chapters until the Camelot Arc is done and we can go back to the one or two-shot stories within Sonic In Between. Sorry for the long wait, but I was kind of stuck until now.
See you later!