Sonic and The Chaos Kingdom
Ch. 3
By: Cutegirlmayra (This is my kingdom come. Lol! Anyway, I had forgotten the next plot point of this story 0-0; so I had to read it again xD just the last chapter is all I needed. I was growing worried, reading through it and STILL NOT KNOWING where I was going with it… and then by a great miracle I had written where Tails was, and remembered a little more of what I wanted to do xD Anyway~ This should be exciting! Bet you never had that before though, have you? An author who forgot her plot? Lol! I mean, I remembered the MAIN PLOT but where I was heading with the beginning… anyway, I got it back, no worries~ I know 'kind of' what to write now :D)
Frustrated beyond belief, Sonic kicked his door and moved over to the balcony, leaning over it, and looking around to find out what was happening. "What king sits and does nothing in the mist of a beginning war!?" he cried out, mostly to himself, as he just couldn't stand being confined. "…That's it." He looked up, seeing the guards up there, and quickly took a vase from his room.
"Yo-whoo?"
"Hmm?"
WA-BANG!
"Sorrrr-y!"
"Ohhh…"
Sonic jumped up on the roof, after hitting the guard out with the vase, and began tripping, kicking, and flipping other guards over his shoulder and down as they charged him, not wanting him to leave.
"Sorry, gentlemen! But I'm not one to stay still and remain silent!" he blasted through them with his super speed and came up to the castle gardens, part of the palace's splendid appeal. The place looked to be a Castle of medieval times fused and morphed with Palace like qualities. Maybe they were the one in the same? But either way, he wasn't in Arabia…
"Men! Stop the king! He could hurt himself!" A guard called out, as they quickly jumped from the roofs to try and secure him again.
"Pfft, hurt myself?! Do you guys even know who I am?" Sonic scoffed at them, and then smirked, seeing men coming from both sides of him as he stood up, spread his arms out, and spun off the roof.
"You're highness!" the guards clashed together, and then quickly adjusted their helmets and selves to look over the edge of the roof. "…Where did he..?"
Sonic had grabbed a tree branch, holding it down as he kept it from swinging up a moment to look back at the guards, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm Sonic! Sonic The Hedgehog!" He let the branch swing himself up and spin dashed through the guards like bowling pins, knocking them down as he used the momentum to bounce and spin into the gutters.
The gutters acted like a pin-ball machine, each turn bounced or hit him off into another corner or rail he skid on, still in ball form, as he even moved through rooms.
One was the maid compartments that he spun into as women shrieked and threw pieces of clothing up in the air, and he spun through another window where old counsel men's papers flew everywhere as they shouted out, "Gracious!" or "Beg your pardon!?".
Sonic's spin ball rolled finally into the stables of the knight's horses, as he jumped on one of them, and pulled out his royal robe and put it around his neck, having it stored in his quills for safe keeping.
"Alright, now which horse is mine…" he rubbed his hands together, as he now had the pick of the herd. "Emm…" he held a finger to his mouth and tapped it, looking around and examining the different horses, as he walked with a confident bounce in his step.
Then, a horse reared it's legs up, as Sonic turned around to look at whatever was causing a fuss.
A stable boy was trying to get a hold of a wild stallion it seemed. Just coming into the stable. "C-calm down, Wind Rider!" the boy exclaimed, trying to get a hold of the horse. "I-I know this is your first time away from your family… but you mustn't be afraid!"
"Yes, you mustn't." Sonic walked over to the boy, and smiled at the new horse. "Is this my new horse or a new knights' horse?"
"Ah! M-M-My king!" The poor stable boy looked like he might have a heart attack as he panicked and let the horse go, falling to his knees.
Luckily, the horse just fussed by flinging his head around, and hitting the ground with his front leg, banging his hoof down in defiance.
Sonic liked the look of the horse, "He seems spirited." He grinned, seeing the horse was a Blue Roan Gypsy Vanner, with a silver grey coat that faded into deep dark black on its legs and head, even its mane was black. Its hooves had a bit of hair on them though, and it's large and bulky stature make him a beautiful but powerful force to be reckoned with.
Sonic walked up and took the rope the boy was holding, "Quit kneeling, it's embarrassing." Sonic stated, reaching to try and pet the horse as it reared, showing a faint white mark that strangely resembled three spikes and a odd, almost smudged, oval circle.
Sonic smiled even more, as the black hair covered the mark.
"I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship… Wind Rider." He beamed, petting the horse as it finally settled down a bit, but was still jumpy.
"T-this is your horse, sir. And a thousand apologies. But didn't you know? The King of... well, I don't really know where, sir… but it was a birthday present! So I've heard…" he stated shyly getting up.
"Perfect! Then I won't feel guilty about stealing it then." Sonic grabbed a saddle and threw it on the stallion, as it looked ticked at it being on him.
"B-but sir! He's a tough one to handle! Perhaps, Storm Raider..?"
"Nope! I like this one!"
"Guards! Search the grounds! The King has escaped!"
Sonic and the stable boy turned to see the guards rushing outside.
"Sir? Are you running away?" The stable boy turned back to Sonic, looking heartbroken in a way.
Sonic hopped on the horse, knowing he couldn't run that far and have enough stamina to fight if necessary. He was hoping it was necessary. Having quickly gotten everything he needed on the saddle, he looked down at the boy, frowning. "Well, don't make it sound so new." He stated, and tried not to let the boy's sad tone bother him. He grinned, trying to be more a hero than a king, "I'll be back. I promise, kiddo." He winked. "Until then-HYAH!"
The horse reared, having it seemed as much energy to bolt as Sonic did, as it began to dash off.
"Sir! The door's aren't open yet!" The stable boy rushed to the exit as Sonic had another plan.
"No need!" he grabbed a hay fork and held it like a lance, aiming…
He launched it into the lever that pulled the board that held the door closed opened and as the door began to slowly open Wind Rider shoved it open with his head, shaking off the little pain it dealt him.
"YAAA-WHOO!" Sonic cheered, as the large wooden gates with lines of bolted iron began to slowly close. "Woah-woah-woah, come on!" he tried to get the horse to move faster, "Live up to your name, Rider!" he cried out, as the horse suddenly ducked his head down, a thing only wild horses really knew, which showed that this horse was foreign and trained later on in it's life.
It's speed increased and it just barely made it through the small crack of the gate.
"The king has escaped!"
"Ye-ha!" Sonic threw his head back, lifting a hand back and just letting the horse do its thing. "Now that's riding the wind!" he cried out, and headed toward where he knew the territory lines were.
"Okay, now Sonic, I'm gonna sneak the key to the door under and kick it to you, okay?" Amy whispered through the Royal Chambers doors, as she looked around, not seeing any guards, and dropped the key down. "Opps." She whispered, smiling, and turned around, leaning against the door.
She kicked the key back, "Opps!" she smirked, rolling her eyes and then pressed herself again the door. "Did you get it!?" she whispered, but didn't hear anything back. "Sonic?"
"The king is no where to be found!" "I heard he escaped on horseback!" "Does he seriously plan on fighting Shadow's forces?!" "Our land is doomed if he is slain!"
"…that lousy-!" She hit the door, "That was my only key!" she groaned out, whining a bit at how she lost her way into his room, but quickly ran off. "Why didn't you take me with you…" she slightly cried a little bit, wishing she could run away with him too…
Tails hurried to shove the Chaos Emeralds into a satchel bag and quickly looked to the Master Emerald. "…Forgive me." He sadly stated, as he knew he couldn't take it. It was too big and heavy, after all, for just little old him and his horse.
He threw the back over his shoulder, and mounted his horse, adjusting himself. "Come on, Tornado! Let's go! Ha!"
Tornado took off, a beautiful girl palomino horse with the longest hair to date, both on her tail and mane. White and a pretty page yellow, she had a streak of white on her muzzle and ran with powerful but pretty strides.
Tails made his way to the battlefield, looking for Knuckles and dodging canon fire as he ducked a few times to be extra safe. "Where's General Knuckles?" he pulled his horse back, making Tornado whine and trot in a circle.
"Over the trenches! Down farther!" the man pointed farther down the line, as a robot started firing canons that flamed with fire. They exploded upon impact of the ground, right some of the men fighting above the trenches. "What kind of magic is this!?" The man stated, not knowing what to do.
"That's no magic!" Tails took something small and round out of his bag, and pulled something out from it, before throwing it over the field.
The object landed as the robot stared at it, watching it roll before it exploded and the robot burst into flames.
The men gawked as Tails grinned, his horse a little spooked though, moving back slightly and jumping a bit from the blast. "That's technology!" Tails glared, having seen his father's work stolen from right under his nose!
He continued to move forward though, but was bent on continuing his father's work in weaponry. What he threw there was what his father called a grenade, but Tails perfected the design, allowing it to be smaller and able to be thrown farther distances, instead of using a catapult to launch it afar.
Tails finally got a glimpse of red, and grinned, "Knuckles!" he jumped down from his horse, as Tornado, having a motherly sense of love for Tails, maternally turned back and lowered her head, sniffing him.
"Tails! Well, fancy meeting you here!" Knuckles kid, seeing Tails handing a grenade to him. "What's this?"
"A grenade!"
"I thought you said you hadn't tested your father's late works yet?"
Tails pulled the device out from it again and threw it, destroying more approaching robots. "Who said I wasn't testing it now?" Tails stated, looking to Knuckles who just shrugged and copied him.
"Consider it tested. What are you doing here? You should be back with the king." Knuckles looked slightly upset, only looking at Tails for a moment, and keeping his head firmly looking forward, as his men spiked and slashed the robots apart, but those grenades' were really what Knuckles needed to dent that armor of theirs…
"I had to make a choice, and I chose my Lead Strategist title." Tails stated, and looked at the odds and started judging the proceedings of the battle. "How many men?"
"I HAD 12,000" he admitted.
"And?" Tails continued.
"…Well, I was late. I took some back up of about 3,000."
"So you have..?" Tails waited for a reply.
"…" Knuckles looked at him, and shifted in his spot. "Last recorded we had 7,000 or so…"
Tails's eyes widened. "And how many of our foes?"
"All our scouts are dead, Tails." Knuckles stated this with not only respect for his fallen men, but with grim anger too. "This is the worst we've ever had it… Shadow picked the best time to get us. The day after we pulled back to celebrate and protect the new king. DANG IT! They didn't even give us time to train Sonic to get out here!" He slammed his fist into the ground, and watched it fall apart, as Tails stared at it for a moment.
"…Knuckles… do that again." Tails stated.
"…You mean... this?" Knuckles punched the ground again, harder this time.
"…How fast did your men dig these trenches?" he asked.
"In a hurry, there not very good, if you stand up, they'll cover maybe your waist AT BEST, heh." Knuckles spat out some sand in his mouth.
"…How many?" he asked again, looking serious this time.
Knuckles saw Tails's face, and grinned, "I know that face, I knew your father for a short time, but whenever he had a brilliant, life saving idea, he made that face." Knuckles looked down, and then around, before turning back to Tails. "300. I can spare 300."
"Great." Tails held up his hand to the side, "We're gonna build some tunnels." He grinned.
Knuckles laughed and grinned right back, "It's nice to have you around, Mr. Prower!" Knuckles slammed his hand into Tails, and rushed to the left side to tell the men of there plan.
"Always a pleasure doing business with you, General!" Tails quickly got up and headed right. "You! On your knees! We're digging till we hit dirt!" Tails quickly got down and started just throwing dirt behind him.
With distractions still fighting the front maybe fourth line by now, Knuckles's men worked like crazy to dig the tunnels, as they were cautioned not to dig up…just… quite … yet.
Sonic rode through the battle lines, seeing the city falling to pieces and the robots terrorizing and stomping over dead soldiers and their fallen allies.
Robot pieces were scattered around with broken motionless bodies that were still upright, but wires cut and oil drained to remain stationary while the other robots just walked past them, firing canons off as they walked.
Sonic looked a bit frightened, having never seen metal beast before… Neither had his horse apparently, as it didn't like being pulled back, wanting to run.
"Come on, boy. There's no fear in war…" who was Sonic kidding, there was plenty of it to go around. "Let's go." He kept his cool and headed for the beach, having heard that Knuckles was pinned against the ocean toward the floating Islands. The only way to them was a large stretch land, beneath it, was an ancient bridge system that kept the land upright, reaching all the way to the very island.
It was the only way up there… and it was safely guarded by the Chaos Kingdom's army.
Until now.
Shadow looked down upon his balcony, and noticed the long red robe flying in the wind down below. In shock, he gripped the railing and tried to see better. "It can't be…" he flipped his own kingly purple cape and began walking into the tower's room, picking up his crown, and setting it on the opposite ear of where the Chaos Kingdom wore their crowns, and quickly moved down.
Eggman was relaxing, having a simulated sun, made of a huge lamp, giving him a tan before he saw Shadow come quickly down, looking in a hurry as he got up, snapped his finger, and got two robots to put his own robes on him. "Is there a problem? You seem to be in a hurry for something." The lamp was turned off and he quickly tried to follow after Shadow.
"I need a horse." Shadow stated, and looked at his swords, picking the one with a prototype gun embedded into the metal of the blade, able to be clicked from the handle. He drew it and looked it over, swishing it and practicing with it, judging it's weight and slid it into it's sheath.
"…You look as though you're planning on making an introduction!" Eggman grabbed Shadow, threateningly holding him up by the scruff of his neck. "Why are you daring to give them that honor?! We're winning!" he suddenly let him go, his whole scary threat act fading as he grinned from ear to ear and threw his arms up a little flamboyantly on 'we're winning!'.
"Are we?" Shadow was used to Eggman's treatment over him, and didn't even make a statement about it, but only got what he needed and quickly headed out.
"Look, you! There's no possible way on EARTH they'd let that good for nothing KING out on the battlefield!" Eggman pointed a finger and threatened Shadow with each step he took toward him, going back to his former act before-
"SIR, WE HAVE AN ISSUE."
"What?" Eggman turned around. "What issue?! A moment ago you said everything was going to plan!? Well, my plan, but still! It's perfectly unavoidable, their army is going to be backed up in a corner and DIE."
"YES… IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE FACT THAT OUR TROOPS ARE STUCK IN SAND PITS, THEN MAYBE YOU ARE CORRECT, ADVISOR EGGMAN." The robot responded.
"…Sand pits?" Eggman and Shadow both looked up to the room above them and quickly ran up the stairs, though, Eggman was taking too long to get up there.
"What in blue blazes is-!?..." Eggman gawked at the sight.
Outside the long platformed balcony walk was the battlefield… where a Tails's plan of the 'collapsing tunnel system' was already in effect.
All the men had to do was dig tunnels just below the sandy surface, and then collapse them when safely out, to have the robots fall and get stuck on their backs, or since the robots are too heavy, not be able to get out of the sand trap, since they couldn't get their huge metal foots on good footing to even hoist them out.
"WE DID IT!" Tails jumped in joy, seeing the robots unable to compute as men jumped in to stab them, hitting oil tanks or cutting wires when they finally did break through their metal exterior.
Some robots exploded, having the other robots around them get hit by the backfire and explode as well.
The men cheered, the battle had been won, for no robot could cross the ground now that there were so many sand tombs.
"Haha! Way to go, Tails!" Knuckles got Tails in an arm lock and proceed to give him a little brotherly noogie.
Suddenly…
A robot tried to step on its fallen comrades body, to maybe get over the sand trap.
The men stopped cheering.
"…Heh, heh…" Eggman grinned again, rolling his shoulders back and twitching his mustache slightly, adjusting his royal advisor's collar and patting Shadow's shoulder. "See? Still winning." Eggman hummed a cheery song as he moved on back down stairs to relax. Shadow wasn't convinced, and watched on, looking for what he thought he saw earlier…
The robots all followed after the first, as Knuckles released Tails from his hold on him. "Taaaillls!" Knuckles started running back, "Fall back! Protect the land bridge! Now!" the men, now fearful for their lives, began to fall back. "Darn it, men! Hold on to your courage, we've taken out most their fleet!"
"General! It takes five men to take down one, and three end up losing their lives!" A solder called to Knuckles as he continued to run but looked down to the ground, heartbroken at that sad fact.
Back when he was a barbarian, he acted just like those machines… walking on his fallen comrades to victory, only caring about his own fate.
He longed to live a carefree life one day, without war to worry about, but always was being questioned about his honor to his people, and had to keep fighting.
When the Chaos Emeralds, but most specifically the Master Emerald, purged his heart of all wrong doing, he saw the good of the world and the wrong of his own life… and quickly switched sides, just like how his heart had changed, so had his way of thinking… and life.
Now, to lose even one man broke his heart, and he wouldn't have his men drawn in fear and die in vane.
"We must stick together!" He cried out, "Let no man die without honor in the end! Honor shall win! Honor for Kingdom and Family! Honor!"
"Honor!" the men shouted back, and regrouped, gathering around the land bridge.
"ORDERS IN. DO NOT FIRE AT LAND BRIDGE. MUST KEEP INTACKED. PROCEED TO LASER WAREFARE." The first Robot who crossed the sand trap stated, as three behind him switched their canon arms and put away their canon shoulder guns… before drawing forth laser swords, pink in color from the heat that it was making to produce them from their data core. "STRIKE THE ARMY, LEAVE ONLY THE GENERAL AND STRAGESTIC ALIVE FOR TORTURE."
Tails gulped, and looked to Knuckles.
Knuckles looked to Tails's horse, and grabbed her reins. "You need to head back to Sonic, let him know what's happening." He walked out of position, the head of his men, and handed Tails his horses reins.
"W-what?! I can't leave you now, you may-!" Tails was in the pits of sorrow, thinking of leaving Knuckles and these men to ultimately…
Knuckles shook his head. "There's about 130 of them left or so.. we trenched about 700 Tails… 700 who killed half my men. Thanks to you, we may be able to protect what we can of Angel Island."
"…Knuckles.." Tails took his satchel out and let him peer inside.
Knuckles's eyes widened, but the real treasure of his life was still…"The Master Emerald!?" he asked, eyes alight, as he held Tails's shoulders.
"…No." he shook his head. "It's still there. I couldn't move it, its too big."
"…Oh." Knuckles's face turned to disappointment, before deep anger as he took out his battle axe, and glared at the robots, holding it up to them. "There's no way I'm letting these filthy metal scums who don't even have a life touch MY EMERALD."
Tails felt Tornado shift, she was getting a little spooked and wondering what was too happen now.
"Go… I cannot leave my men." Knuckles didn't turn around, but only motioned his head slightly to the side, to let Tails know he was addressing him. "I have to fight for the sake of the Master Emerald, these men's lives, and for king and country."
"…Be careful,.. Knuckles.." Tails mounted his horse, and gave one last pity look to the island, and then looked bravely to Knuckles. "Don't let them cross that bridge!" he shouted out, and raced back to the castle.
"…Heh, yeah." Knuckles tilted his helmet down. "Alright, let's do this men." He took his place in front of his last remaining fourth line, down to less than they had before… He rolled his shoulders, and waited.
The robots marched up to a line, and also waited…
"…On my command…" Knuckles held his position, as his men also marched up with their swords, ready for charge.
One solder looked around at the line of robots and heard the power of their fire swords, as he didn't really know what else to call them, and sweat dripped down his forehead, as he breathed heavily through an open mouth.
Knuckles nudged him in the side, and gave him a friendly and reassuring grin. "Charge!" he commanded, and the solder nodded, as the rest of them charged onward, ready to fight till their last breath.
Knuckles dove in with a powerful hit and swing, leaving the first robot to wobble backwards as Knuckles tore it's chest armor off and slashed through the cords, leaving sparks and oil to fly out everywhere as it went down, trying to swing his laser sword arm at him, but Knuckles maneuvered out of the way with a backwards flip and landed soundly to the ground.
"If I can take out a robot with only a few hits, so can you!" he held up his oiled axe, as the men held up their swords and cheered. Rule one of being a general, motivate your team, no matter what.
Suddenly, Knuckles heard metal click behind him and turned around, a blue blur bounced on each robot, knocking them like dominos in a line as the 130 began to fall sideways, unable to get up.
"What on earth…?" Knuckles watched the bouncing blue ball until it landed, and a red robe flared behind him.
"…It… It can't be!"
"Knuckles! I FOUND SONIC!" Tails shouted, racing back to him as Sonic's horse's reins were in Tails's other hand.
"…The king is here?" the men looked to one another, astonished.
Sonic straightened up from his landing, still having his back toward the men, and pulled down on his gloves. "Heh, missed me, gentlemen?" Sonic turned around, showing off his signature smile and thumbs up.
The men cheered even louder, making Knuckles slightly jealous but he just smiled and walked up to Sonic.
"What do you think you're doing here? Aren't you a little too green to be out here?" Knuckles kid around, moving a hand to him as if gesturing for him to explain himself.
Sonic shrugged, looking like he was just here to have fun. "Last I checked, I was a brilliant blue." He grinned, and offered Knuckles his hand. "What do you say, General? Ready to take orders from a king again? Or are we still gonna have to fight?" he was referring to all the times Knuckles had to keep him in the castle walls, as Knuckles figured he'd escaped because he wasn't there to confront him like usual.
Knuckles scratched his head and weighed the possibly, looking over at the domino crushed army of Shadow's and looking back at Sonic, before cracking a lost cause smile and shaking his hand. "Alright, but you need to be careful. I can't lose you, or they're won't be a kingdom to go home too. Right, men?" he back at his small excuse for an army.
"Yes, sir!" they shouted out.
"Good. Sonic, these are what we have left."
"…left?" Sonic looked at the men, seeing the small number of them. "But what about-?"
"Gone." Knuckles stated, and looked down and adjusted his gloves. "We don't look back till after the battle, and even after that… you just try not to let it get to you." he stated, walking forward. "Alright men!" he clapped, "Guard the king! I need three of you to go and get reinforcements, take Tails with you."
"What!? I have to leave again?" Tails looked upset.
"Don't argue, and leave that horse here." Knuckles commanded, as Tails let the reins on Sonic's horse go and sadly had to start racing away with the other three.
"Alright, we charge." Knuckles stated, getting on his own horse as Sonic followed his lead. "Men, get a … oh yeah, nevermind." Knuckles scowled, realizing the men's horses were probably killed too. "Well, let's get'em." Knuckles didn't look that motivated anymore, but definitely knew he had to now take back the city with only a small amount of man power.
"Keep some men back here." Sonic stated, and looked behind him. "500 or so should stay by the bridge! Work it out amongst yourselves!" he called back, as the men looked to each other, confused by his request. "… Did I say something wrong?" Sonic looked to Knuckles, who rolled his eyes.
"You don't give suggestions, Sonic. You give orders." Knuckles turned around, "Alright, quit your squabbling! 700 stay behind, in the back!" he cried out, as the men obeyed immediately.
"…How do they know that's 700?" Sonic asked, a little impressed and interested at the way an army worked.
"Best guess." Knuckles started to move on after stating that, as Sonic smiled and slightly chuckled. "Don't laugh, war isn't funny, hedgehog…"
Sonic quit laughing and looked like he felt bad about being scolded, but didn't bother to fight with Knuckles on the matter. They started to slowly move around the sand traps, and even had to climb over a few, which they're horses could do with ease, as Shadow took his own horse and halted the army from moving forward, riding out, alone…
"…Is that?" Sonic leaned forward on his horse, trying for a better look.
"…Hmph, yeah… that's the prince, alright." Knuckles spat on the ground, not liking him one bit. "He's probably interested in you, your highness." Knuckles mocked, looking over to Sonic, as he smiled and raced on. "Wait, wha- SONIC! GET BACK HERE YOU DUMB MORON!"
Sonic stopped a few mere distances away from Shadow, but enough space to still have him in ear shot. "Heellooo!" he shouted, grinning. "I've read all about you!"
"..." Shadow stared at him, a serious expression the whole while, as his deep black obsidian horse, stacked with layers of pure black metal armor, grunted and shifted in it's spot.
"Uh.. haha, not a fan, to be honest." Sonic lowered his head, shaking it a bit, making a joke of the whole situation. "But I must say, I pictured you taller!" he raised his head, giving off a cheeky grin as Shadow glared and 'tck'd a bit out the side of his mouth, as his horse reared a little back, but not all the way up.
"You're nothing like your father… but you remind me a lot of one of your ancestors…" Shadow finally spoke back.
"Ah! He speaks!" Sonic looked giddy, like a kid, not knowing any better. "Was he this handsome." He flashed him one of his best smiles.
"…he was a fool, I killed him on our first encounter. It went a little something like this.."
Sonic lost his grin.
"Not much of a ah… Social man, are you?" Sonic tried to keep up the friendly act, but his face suddenly turned serious. "You've killed many of my family…"
"…They usually had an heir before they faced me… you're the youngest king I've fought to date." Shadow stated, lifting his head a little higher. "I'm almost impressed."
Sonic bowed his head slightly, "Thank you!"
"You misunderstand,… I'm impressed by your idiocy."
"….Oh." Sonic looked away. "How so? I'll be the youngest king to defeat you. I'd say that'd make one heck of an ending to a hundred year old legend."
"Yes,.. thanks for ending it so willingly." Shadow mocked, "Let me explain. Without an heir to the throne, I'll be able to sweep your land in a matter of days."
"Really? Not seconds?" Sonic was only playing around, but the cruel reality started taking its toil on Sonic's demeanor.
Shadow closed his eyes, and smiled. Looking up he seemed to continue to mock Sonic's behavior. "It will only take seconds to start invading… Once I destroy you in a matter of a moment." He drew his sword from its sheath. "You are the last of the Chaos Kingdom Blood Line… and today, Sonic The Hedgehog, you meet the Prince of Conquest."
"..Conquest?"
"For a new legend will be made this day! A legend where I, Shadow the immortal prince, takes over and claims the Chaos Kingdom!" His horse reared up as he charged.
"Over my dead body!" Sonic drew his sword, and his horse began to charge as well.
"That's what I intend to make sure of!" Shadow clenched his teeth, lowering his sword and firing a gun shot.
The shot let out a smoke, as Sonic saw the smoke from afar and quickly saw a small canon ball hit the ground beside him, as his horse lifted his front legs and shook it's head, being spooked by it and halting in place.
"Hmph, it would be too simple!" Shadow muttered to himself, and right before their horses met, he put his sword down and lifted up his foot, hitting Sonic off his horse.
"Offph!" Sonic hit the ground hard, as his horse trampled the ground slightly, uneasy and unsettled by not knowing what was happening.
Shadow jumped off his horse and held his sword to his side, "Get up! This is, by far, the worst battle I've ever encountered of a KING." He swung his sword at Sonic, who rolled to dodge as he took out his own sword, and held it with both hands.
Shadow looked down at his hands, and looked up. "What are you..? A babe?" he asked, and hit the sword lightly. "Hold your sword like a man! With one hand!"
"Err..!" Sonic Felt insulted, "Don't tell me what to do!" He charged forward, as Shadow expertly dodged him and clanged his sword with his own.
"Eggman was right… you are too inexperienced… this was the best time to attack." Shadow thought a moment. "You're father makes you seem like a an ant compared to him."
"Grr.. SHUT UP!" Sonic launched another attack, hitting his sword against his and swinging as much as he could with what he knew.
He had trained long and hard before, and as a kid, dreamed of the day he would triumph over the legendary immortal prince… but being here now….
"Auh!" He was flung away by Shadow's expertise.
"Hmph, you are merely a boy." He ran into him with his blade, and then tripped Sonic as he fell and placed his blade to near his face.
Sonic breathed heavily, as Shadow let out a huff from his noise.
"This battle is shameful, insulting, and just plain boring…" he glared at Sonic, and then looked away. "a hundred generations and this was their fate? A overly confident child who can't even hold a sword with one hand?"
Sonic grinned, "Heh."
Shadow suddenly began very confused, his eyes widening.
"Or maybe that's what I wanted you to think." Sonic spun his legs up, hitting Shadow's sword away as it was now in his hand.
"What on earth..!?" Shadow was disarmed! "What kind of offensive move was that?!"
"I call it, dancing!" Sonic grinned, "And it's not a tactical move to say the least!" he then rushed over to his sword, using his super speed, and held both swords to Shadow, as he slowly moved back.
"I was deceived… you are more clever than you let on…" Shadow narrowed his eyes, but smiled. "I truly am impressed."
"Heheh! Good!" Sonic responded, and motioned to Shadow's horse. "Now, slap your horse's butt back to the city."
"..I beg your pardon?" Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"Send your horse away. I'm taking you back as a prison of the Chaos Kingdom." Sonic grinned.
"…Did he say what I think he just said?" Knuckles gaped, in all the legends of old, no king had ever CAPTURED the prince and put him as a prisoner before. "YOU FOOL! HE'S KILLED YOUR FAMILY FOR CENTURIES! KILL HIM!"
"What's the fun in that?" Sonic responded, as Shadow looked even more intrigued at his thinking. "Nah, I'm gonna make him stand trial."
"A trail?"
"A TRAIL!?"
"Yep! And we'll go over all his crimes, so he can hear each of my ancestors names… and each of the men he's murdered in cold blood… and then… then he'll hear his sentence." Sonic's tone suddenly turned cold and serious, as he suddenly held himself differently.
The look on Sonic's face stopped Shadow, as he looked down and closed his eyes, grinning. "Now I see your family in your face." He stated, and looked up, seeming more and more interested by this new king. "You are indeed an... particular kind of king… but it's nice to see the gene pool has changed. You're family didn't produce just cowards yet."
That last insult was too much, as Sonic's eyes widened and rage built in him. He clamped down his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he went for an attack. "AGHH!"
Shadow skillfully dodged, and grabbed his sword back by hitting Sonic's shoulder and then stomping his hand down to the ground.
Moving himself back toward his horse, he smiled. "Until we meet again, King.. Soinc." He jumped on his horse and rode back, as Knuckles started hollering something at Sonic, as he got up and looked behind and followed Shadow with his eyes.
"Man…" he held his arm and rubbed it slightly, before hearing Knuckles more clearly.
"-BOTS. HE WAS STALLING FOR HIS ROBOTS!" Knuckles yelled, as Sonic looked up, seeing a herd of them flying across the sky toward Angel Island.
"Wha…the…" Sonic had never seen ANYTHING but birds fly in the sky, and he slowly moved backwards in his shock, watching the robots suddenly fly back with a huge green emerald, one he recognized was the Master Emerald. "Oh no!" he exclaimed, before being scooped up by Knuckles as they raced back, his horse falling the other as instinct told it too run with the herd.
Sonic returned to the castle, as Knuckles pushed him inside and lifted his head off from the ground. "ARE YOU INSANE!? HE COULD OF KILLED YOU! And then where would we be?! Without my Master Emerald and without MY KING!" he let him go and walked on, before turning around and pointing an accusing finger at him. "What were you thinking.. are you for real!? Heh, I can't believe this.. you thought you could just take down a century old prince?! Whose very life centers around killing your family and their armies!?" Knuckles was completely in an uproar, as Tails rushed into the room.
"Sonic! You're okay! Knuckles!"
"YOU IMBESIBLE!"
"Ah… Knuckles."
Tails lowered his eyelids in disappointment, remembering how Knuckles was and what he usually did, speak loudly.
"I was trying to save the day." Sonic stated, getting up and feeling pretty beaten up by Knuckles's words, and feeling the pain of what Shadow did to him today, not just on his body… but on his honor and family's honor as well.
"Really? Is that what you were doing? Cause all I saw was some kid getting beat up on the playgrounds sandlot!" Knuckles spat out another insult, and took his helmet off and threw it on the ground, "DANG IT! They now have the Master Emerald! Just think of what they could do with it's power! They'll pollute her!" he kicked his helmet like a football as it went flying and ricocheted off the wall and hit a guard who was standing in his assigned position. A guard had to run up and take his place, not even bothering to move the body.
"Next time, when you lead an army, lead it. You left us cold turkey, Sonic! What king does that! You were selfish, overly confident, and stupid today! That's not how you're father would of lead!"
"Yeah? Well maybe I'm not my father!" Sonic got up, yelling right back at Knuckles. "And don't you forget that I took out a line of robots! I saved your men, huh? All you guys!" Sonic turned around, now addressing the men, before turning back to Knuckles. He opened his arms, as if desperate for some praise. "Huh? Isn't that good?"
Knuckles looked away, "Not good enough." He stated, and walked on, as his men followed him, giving glances to Sonic before following their beloved General.
"..I.. I just want one moment… one praise, Tails. Come on." Sonic looked exhausted, turning to Tails as he just stared at him, and looked down.
"..I'm glad you weren't killed, Sonic. I'm glad you all came back… but you have to remember that so many men died today…" Tails tried to say something but couldn't restrain himself from the cold truth.
"…But?" Sonic looked hurt, seeing as Tails couldn't even find something to praise him with.
"Well… rushing out to challenge the prince was suicide!" Tails shouted out, as Sonic just shook his head and held his hand out to him, not wanting him to come near him. "Sonic!"
"Just… just leave me alone, Tails…"
"I know you wanted to help but-"
"BUT! BUT, BUT, BUT!" Sonic finally lost it, stomping on the ground and throwing his robe off, tossing his crown as he left the room, walking angrily away.
Amy rushed up to Sonic, smiling and hugging him as he walked by the hall she just came from. "Oh, Sonic! You're okay!" she cried out, "I'm so glad you're alive!"
Sonic didn't have the energy to pull her away right away, and just looked sadly down at her. "Yeah… a great miracle." He looked away.
Amy pulled back, her smile fading as she moved his face back to look at her. "What's wrong?"
"…I…I can't do anything right!" he moved her hand away and pushed her off of him, moving on. "I just wanted to help… why can't they see that!" he vented, but didn't want to hurt Amy for no reason.
"…But… didn't you win?" Amy asked, as Sonic looked at her over his shoulder, and then sadly to the ground.
"Apparently not." He stated, and scratched his head before holding it with his hand. "Apparently… I'm nothing like my father.." he was being to slightly choke up, looking up and feeling himself loose his cool.
"..Sonic?"
"Leave me be." He walked on.
"…Sonic!"
"I SAID LEAVE ME!" he screamed back and ran quickly away.
Sonic found one of his old hiding spots when he was a kid, and just hung his head down, holding his legs up against him on the ground, as he heard the door squeak open, and Vanilla lower her head down after adjusting her dress to be able to kneel down to him behind the large open dresser cabinet. Shaped to be a large square, it was easy for him to just slide in and curl up there…
"You're wrong, Vanilla… I'll never be a good king." He stated, looking away from her. "I'll just be a child… a stupid… stupid child."
"…Sonic." She started, her voice calm and easy to hear her motherly love in it. "Come here… there's no shame in saving those men. You may have lost the Master Emerald, but you can retrieve it once more."
"Am I the first king to loose it…" his voice was low, but Vanilla could hear what was to come.
"…Sonic-"
"AM I THE FIRST?!" he looked up, glaring at her to answer him, breathing hard.
"…I wouldn't think so." She lightly let out, as his eyes turned more gently, and he held back his tears as he came out.
"Vanilla… I didn't mean to-… I-"
"I know." She embraced him, as he just let himself fall into her arms. "I know…"
In that moment, Sonic wished his mother was still alive. He could hear her speaking words of wisdom and throwing a joke in there to make him laugh.
She would of given him what he needed… Something more than praise… she would of given him comfort. Comfort that… that he could be a good king.
"Mistakes happen."
Sonic woke up, his eyes blinked a bit at the morning light as Amy knelt beside his bed, looking sadly toward him, and he could still see the scars she must of carried from being yelled directly at yesterday.
"..Amy..?" he felt bad, already matching the voice to the blurry image from the sun and just waking up to the light, trying to adjust his eyes to it, he rubbed them.
"I think you did wonderfully." She stated, and looked back up at him, and tilted her head into a closed-eyed smile. "I think you scared the prince, impressed your men, and saved many, many lives. But all things come at a cost, and sometimes… that's all people can see. Is what they've lost, not what they've gained." She moved a little closer and placed a delicate hand on his own, as he slightly leaned up, looking down at her hand, and then back at her.
"You've gained experience today. You're no longer a fool." She continued. "You know what you have to do to be a good king,… and you know what your people expect of you. It's up to you now on what to do." She removed her hand and got up, holding her arm which just happened to be the hand that was holding her retrieved key to his bedroom's door.
"…Where did you..?" he saw the key and looked confused at it.
"…Do you want to grow up and be king, Sonic?"
Sonic suddenly had a flashback but quickly shook it off.
"What?"
"…Sorry for waking you up. Vanilla said I might be able to help you, so she wanted me to tell you while no one else would know we've spoken. Goodni-Ah! I mean, day." She smiled and walked out the door.
"H..Hey wait."
She had already closed the door.
"…ugh."
He leaned back and let his arm come over his head, falling back to his pillow as he turned to the side, looking out the window where his balcony was and seeing the sunrise. He closed his eyes and thought about it…
"…Yeah.." he muttered, looking down. "I think I do." He looked back up toward the sun.
Then, he got up and let the sun's rays hit his frame and stated more seriously,
"I will be a good king."
Sonic seems determined to succeed, but Eggman now has the Master Emerald! The whole kingdom depends on the blessings of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds! With the Chaos Emeralds still in the safety of the Chaos Kingdom, what will befall of this legend? And will Sonic… ever prove his worth?