Love In The Open: Infinity Rising
Chapter 13: Stronger Stuff
The crew eventually landed in an abandoned airfield in Spagnoia. It was already the first
night, so even though that the crew still had plenty of time after Infinite's challenge, they
figured that now wouldn't be a bad time to land. Blaze walked over to the podium with
confidence and authority.
Sonic noticed his friend's nervous gait as well and wondered what that could have meant.
"So, we're going to let everyone's time on the
ship be their own. We'll need to wake the crew early enough to find out when Professor
Pickle's university opens and find clues about the Hyluind Deserts and the Propheteers and
then we'll make a plan from there." Blaze said before departing the main hangar. The rest of
the team quickly broke off to do their own thing while Sonic, Gazelle and Blaze stayed in the
main hangar. "Sonic, I want to speak to Gazelle alone for a bit. Is that ok?" Blaze asked.
Gazelle could tell that Sonic could be a little stressed; but before she could intervene,
Sonic shrugged off whatever notion of worry and backed away. "Sure. I'm probably going to
need to catch a few z's anyway." Sonic then turned to wave goodnight to his friends. "'Night
'Zelle. 'Night Blaze." He said. Gazelle waved goodnight to her friend, while Blaze on the other
hand, motioned Gazelle to follow her. The two then proceeded to the cockpit. "Have you
thought of proposing to him yet?" Blaze asked. Gazelle giggled a little bit, then nodded. "Yes,
I'm very much looking forward to it. How are you and Judy getting along?" Gazelle asked. She
wondered how Blaze would handle one of her best friends getting married, and not to her.
"Honestly, I couldn't be any happier for Silver." she said, optimistically. "I just haven't had to
much of a chance to know Judy as well as everyone else here. I might catch up with her while
we're on this adventure."
Meanwhile…
Sonic was leaning outside his hangar, listening in on Gazelle and Blaze's conversation. It
wasn't that he didn't trust anybody quite yet. But after what Infinite had shown him, it would
most likely very well be that his friends would start to leave him. Sonic attempted to replay his
conversations with the reality-manipulating villain in his head. He then decided against that
and decided to remain focused on the conversation at hand. "I think that you'll like Judy."
Sonic heard Gazelle say to Blaze, "She's a bit like Sonic with the confidence and the
optimism, but also with the golden heart to boot." "Golden heart, yes. Confidence and
optimism? Not at the moment." Sonic thought internally. "Yes, about Sonic…" Blaze said with
concern. Gazelle looked at Blaze in worry. Sonic knew that he needed to keep those
hedgehog ears wide open this time. "What about him?" Gazelle asked, wondering if Blaze
was worried about the chances of the mission being completed. Blaze cleared her throat,
"Well, it seems that discomfort and failure; really scatter your kind around in different
directions…" "What are you saying? That Sonic has divided Zootopia?" Gazelle asked. "Not
him," Blaze replied, "His failure. I read Tails's personal entry from Worlds Beyond, and it
seems like everything is correlating with what Vector was saying about him no longer being a
relevant figure in Mobius." Gazelle pondered Blaze's findings for a moment, "So what? Tails is
an analytics genius. He uses his sense of logic and research to figure this out.
He's supposed to base his findings off of that. What does that have to do with anything?"
Gazelle said, increasing in sharpness. "I'm sorry, Blaze." she said, looking down at the floor of
the ship. Blaze sympathetically put her paws on top of her friend's shoulders. She can see
why she seemed to be very protective of Sonic's reputation and dignity amongst other things.
Because Gazelle was a lover. Not just a lover in the sense of being a romantic or an
infatuation, but someone who puts their own reputation on the line for those around her, but
more importantly; those she cares about. That passion and willingness to be self-sacrificial,
grew immensely when she first met Sonic, and saw what he did for her; even when she didn't
always need it or deserve it. "It's alright. I can see that you're very defensive of your friend
right now," Blaze forgivingly responded, "but you can't just ignore what we faced either. Plus,
Infinite is playing us right into his hands; so right now, our focus should be on getting to
Professor Pickle and getting to the first scroll." Gazelle nodded at Blaze, "Understood. I will
not let anyone on this ship down." She then turned to leave, but then Blaze called out to her.
"Gazelle!" she called out quietly. Gazelle then turned around slowly, being attentive to what
Blaze had to say this time. "I just want to reiterate this to you; I am happy for you and Sonic,
but what I wanted to tell you is that Sonic, to the people of Mobius and Zootopia, not
necessarily to us, is merely a pawn. We've been used to him winning all the time, but now; he
lost. And we're all in a moment of processing that. They've been used to peace for so long
that they've taken it for granted, and now, the Mobians are at the point where they would hand
Sonic on a platter to Infinite in order to save their world." Neither of them knew that Sonic was
leaning against the door, still listening in on their conversation with nervousness settling
heavily on his mind and an earthquake steadily going on in his heart. "And would you?" Sonic
heard Gazelle ask cautiously. Tensions mounted, then skyrocketed, then paused. Forget
knives, a needle will more than do to cut this tension, even though poor Sonic's morale was
hanging on by a thread. Finally… "I would do anything to protect my people. Anything!"
Blaze started, "Including sacrificing Sonic?" Gazelle asked, with a slight break in her voice, as
if she was hoping along with Sonic, even though she didn't know where he was. Blaze then
cleared her throat, "If it comes to that, then yes. That's what has to happen." Sonic then
quietly tip-toed away, having heard more than enough of that conversation to last a lifetime.
A few minutes later…
"And so, as you can see; all of the…" Professor Pickle's words only halfway met Sonic when
the crew finally met him at Spagnoia University. While he was paying attention to what the
professor told everyone; his head wasn't completely in the game. And thanks to practically
more of a prophecy than a prediction from Infinite, and Blaze practically confirming said
information, Sonic needed to keep his cards close to his face for this adventure. One slip of
the rug could mean the difference between the resemblance of who he was in the moment
and who they would need. If, he was needed at all. While Gazelle felt similar emotions, the
reasoning behind them were as different as the pearly white moon and the tangerine sunrise.
Gazelle knew that she needed to be focused on the mission, for the greater good of not only
the Mobians and Zootopians; but for the entire universe which would be at stake. However,
she couldn't help but feel awful for the trials and tribulations her beloved would be about to
face. Still, she determined that no matter what the cost, the two would weather the storms of
life together; regardless of the cost or the sacrifice. All the while remaining steel-nerved and
laser-focused on the universally strenuous mission at hand.
"Ok, anything we'd need to know about Gundaman Tunnels, Professor?" Judy asked, eager
to start the adventure. "Heh-heh-heh," the old professor laughed joyfully, beaming with pride.
"So excited for an adventure. I haven't ever seen anybody that enthusiastic since I have in my
younger days." Sonic looked at the professor in confusion, "Uh, what about the time Tails,
Chip and I saved the world from Dark Gaia?" he asked. Hoping that what he thought was
happening, wasn't happening. "Hm?!" the professor asked, scratching his chin as if to try and
recollect the memory from his vast databank of archived memory. "Oh yes, I do remember
that amazing adventure." the professor finally remembered. Sonic mentally sighed in relief
although his calm, cool outward demeanor refused to betray him in this scenario. "Now then,
the pyramids themselves are a bit more of a tourist trap than they were around 5,000 years
ago when they were first built; the good news is, the first orb shoud still prove tricky to find."
"And how is that good news, exactly?" Blaze asked, suspiciously. The professor chuckled, "I
was talking about good news for Judy." he clarified. "The good news, for everyone else," he
continued, "is that the university is who owns the touring company, so I'll tell them to shut the
tour down for maintenance." Sonic raised his hand, about to ask the professor a question; but
was beaten to the punch by Silver. "Wouldn't your tourists find it suspicious that the pyramids
would be closed for a while?" Gazelle walked over to Silver and nudged him. "I believe Sonic
had something he wanted to ask first." she informed him. Silver then turned his gaze to Sonic.
"Oh. Sorry, Sonic. What were you trying to ask?" he asked, somewhat apologetically even
though he knew that he wasn't trying to be rude. Sonic just shrugged his shoulders. "You
actually beat me to it, Silver." he replied. "Oh." Silver responded despondently, not meaning to
be rude.
Professor Pickle then
cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention. "The tourists wouldn't really mind if it was
shut down for a week; that's how long you guys would need to find it before Infinite showed
up, right?" the professor asked. Everybody then nodded in agreement. "Well, what are
we waiting for?" Sonic asked everybody, back in his confident, authoritative demeanor, "Time
to put up, shut up and wrap up this quest!" he called out to his allies. Luckily, this time,
everyone did pay attention and thumbs-uped, saluted and were ready to roll.
A few hours later… in the Gundaman Tunnels…
A tourist trap, the Gundaman Tunnels were designed to be. The path Sonic lead everybody
down, was not. After discovering that one particular path was different from the rest of them;
he knew that that was the correct path to lead everyone down in order to find the first of
the Infinity Scrolls. The path was long, winding and narrow; with just enough space for
everyone to fit in and walk through. "A-a-any word on how l-l-l-long this path g-g-g-goes?!"
Judy asked, with her teeth chattering; but her toughness and determination unaltered.
The path they were walking down gradually got colder
as they went deeper; and while the path also was getting well lit enough for Sonic to put out
his torch and the path eventually became wide enough for everyone to finally get some
breathing room, the path also became increasingly wet. As if they were walking inside a lost
cavern. "What's the matter, Hopps? Afraid of being a bunny-cicle?" Sonic asked, in a teasing
manner. Judy ignored the comment and marched on right behind Silver. "'Afraid of being a
bunnycicle?'" Judy mockingly asked Sonic's question to herself and Silver. "What? What's
that, Judy?" Silver asked, his train of thought being broken. Judy then realized that she forgot,
because she had bigger ears, she could hear better than Silver in this situation. Silver then
turned to notice Judy still trucking on behind him, even as the temperature kept dropping
down to about -20 degrees. He smiled at her. Impressed that amongst all of the
super-powered Mobians such as Sonic, Blaze and himself; she was proving that she can
more than merely "keep up" with them, but if he had to, he would take her along his side
against anyone and everyone. Yes, Judy Hopps is one of a kind, Silver could attest to that.
Still, as he was proud and impressed with her, he still wanted his fiance to be in a favorable
state of well being. In spite of his own struggle with the cold, he turned to her with a smile.
"H-h-h-h-ey." he greeted, attempting to boost Judy's morale. Judy perked up her ears to catch
Silver's greeting and while her eyes seemed almost frozen shut now, she still waved at Silver.
"H-h-h-h-h…" Judy couldn't even finish the reply as she started to collapse face-first. Luckily
for her, Silver turned to catch her. He then cradled his love and used any and all telekinetic
power he had to radiate himself to keep his bunny warm. Luckily for him, Sonic finally stopped
the crew at what seemed to be a cavern door. "Back up, everyone! And when I say go, run
as fast as you can towards the opening and slide down!" Sonic ordered. Everybody
complied, despite the obvious confusion behind why they would need to slide, until Sonic
had enough room to spin-dash a hole through the marble door. With that as their que,
everyone ran like racehorses fueled by atomic energy and dashed through the door. Because
Silver was carrying Judy however, he was slowed down somewhat until he realized that the
door was regenerating itself closed, as if the pieces of the door were recollecting themselves.
Thinking fast, Silver tossed Judy through the door with all the strength he had left; knowing
that someone on Team Sonic would catch her on the way down and warm her up again. As
the door finally materialized; Silver sat down in the ice-cold tunnel alone. Energy wasted, he
sat near the door. Content that Judy was safe; but not seeing any way out of his own peril.
"I-i-i-i-'ts… n-n-n-n-n-no… us-s-s-s-s-se." Silver gasped, before collapsing at the
marble door.
Sometimes the best way to make an impact in this community is to make
everyone miss you while you're gone; so that they'll appreciate you more when you're back.
;-) ;-) ;-)
Yep, that's right, I'm ba-a-a-ack. :-D :-D :-D
And no, I haven't forgotten this story. I was actually stuck
for a (long) while with how to convey certain parts of this chapter or what I really wanted to do
with it.
Anyhow, shoutout to everyone who's patiently waited for this awesome story to be updated.
You are all appreciated for sticking with me through this process; even while I had other
stories to flesh out and while I was stuck in a dry spell for this story for a while. I want to thank
you all so much for your continued investment and support in not just this story, but all of my
stories. I hope that you all continue to enjoy reading these stories; as much as I enjoy writing
them. Next time; Team Sonic ventures on through the Gundaman Tunnels, and Judy struggles
with yet another sacrifice from Silver.
(This one being a little more permanent; depending on your votes on a poll on my
profile page. ;-) )
See you all next time, and as always…
Keep Loving, Keep Edifying and Keeeeeeeeep LoveandEdifying! :-D :-D :-D
See ya!