Tails was carrying Elias and Amy, sometimes checking on Crystal as she blasted herself over to the floating island to make sure she was okay.
Each time he checked, Crystal would reply: "I'm okay, but Silver isn't."
Sometimes, Egg Pawns with wings (What the heck? growled Elias as he blasted an Egg Pawn with a two-barrel gun) would attack them, but it wasn't a true hinderance.
White skies didn't interest Crystal, so all she really did as she tended to Silver's deep wounds was look for other places she could revisit sometime.
There was The Great Wasteland, now even more of a wasteland, the Thinner Sea, mostly dried up now, New Mobotropolis, and Soleanna, but other than that the landscape was completely white, with some blots of paint coloring in the area and making grass grow.
Just as Crystal was nearly to Portal, her former home, a large, flying creature knocked her out of the sky with a swift kick.
"Waugh!" cried Crystal.
As a small rock hit Silver's head, his eyes fluttered a portion open.
"Whum..." he stuttered, barely conscious.
Somehow, his hands weakly came up, and blasted the creature out of the sky.
It fell, crying in horror at its imminent demise.
"That must have... been... Jet the Hawk... legionized..." whispered Silver. "I recognize that cry..."
Crystal stroked his chest fur, blinking back tears.
"Silver... we'll get you healed as soon as possible..." she said, trying to soothe him.
Silver weakly smiled.
"I.. wish I never accused Antoine, tried to kill Rotor, and accuse Sonic...I caused so much damage trying to heal a lot of damage... yet I was right in the end, disabling Mecha Sally before the Genesis Wave ate away the world and sent me back to my world... and I remember the agony of Copy Bot Mega-Man capturing me in a roboticizer bubble..." whispered Silver, remembering recent events from the climax of the Second Robotnik War.
"But you survived. The powers of the Timestones kept you at age 14, and now you are a timeless hedgehog. I will age from a mere 13 (Wow, Frost is smaller yet older than me, thought Crystal) to age 16, then age 20 and so on... and you'll remain 14. Still... I wish there was more to our relationship than loving each other for being oddballs that have no place in this jumbled world..." replied Crystal.
As they fell through the sky like a large boulder, they gazed at each other, Silver barely gripping his life and Crystal desperately looking for a way to escape their deaths.
The ground became closer... and closer... and closer...
"I... love you... Silver..." choked Crystal, her tears welling up in her throat.
"Me... too... ungh..." mumbled Silver, clearly on the brink of death from the damage his own serpent caused.
"Try to use psychokinesis!" cried Crystal, now scrabbling for anything. An orange wisp, some odd way to use Chaos Control to get back up...
The ground was nearly close... Crystal shut her eyes, waiting for the grand impact and the ascension to the Land of the Dead..
Tails, Elias and Amy were scrabbling overhead, despite knowing well that it was too late.
Death was so close, when she was so young...
"Frost... You were so strong... Now you will never know what happened to me..."
Suddenly, a blue light surrounded her, and they hovered for a moment.
"You.. used it..." whispered Crystal, full of utter amazement. She hadn't expected Silver to have enough energy despite feeding his powers about 200 Rings, yet he hung on long enough to concentrate enough energy...
As they rose up to get on Angel Island, Silver looked very weak, nearly in the grasp of Death. Any moment now, his soul would leave, and they would plummet even faster to the ground...
"You pothead.. you're stronger than I thought." said Crystal, gleefully gripping Silver tighter. His gloves were up, shaking but still commanding the energies of psychokinesis.
"What? Did you think I'm as weak as the twerp Sonic?" teased Silver weakly, his eyes closing and psychokinesis getting weaker. Crystal made a face when she saw the severity of Silver's wounds. The fur around them was tainted purple by the blood drying, and the slashes on his skin didn't help, either. Elias had done a lot of damage with just a few swift attacks.
If the other Grandmasters were more powerful...
No, thought Crystal, shaking her head. With enough hope, they had hope of winning.
The psychokinesis wasn't lifting them as fast as Crystal needed anymore, and Silver's heartbeat was slowing down. If she didn't get back up and got Knuckles back to normal soon, Silver would for sure perish.
Some of the wires in her leg felt loose, so she didn't dare try to command it or risk an explosion.
"Silver, Crystal! I'll come down and fix her leg ASAP, no worries!" cried Miles from high above.
The funky noise of Miles's tails moving comforted Crystal a bit, but not much. Tails had to hurry, else Silver would be too weak to use psychokinesis and they would plummet too fast for Miles to follow and fix her leg quickly.
As Miles came into view, getting closer and closer, Silver got weaker and weaker.
Just when she thought it was all over, that Silver couldn't hold on anymore, Miles swiftly came down with Elias and Amy still in tow, and even more swiftly mended her leg.
Blasting off once more, Crystal attached a wire to Silver's shoulder to check his status with her bionic arm.
"I am sorry, Crystal, but I have to remind you, he is on death's doorstep. My programming analyzes that Silver is at least 95% dead right now, and will be very hard to retrieve from this form of stasis." replied her computer. It was Nicole, uploaded into her arm when she was legionized because Shadow thought she had much potential. Of course, it was against Nicole's free will, but Shadow had Rotor and Tails lock Nicole in there so that she was essentially Crystal's slave. Pyro had reprogrammed Nicole so she was no longer bound to Crystal, but that didn't mean Nicole was still stuck in her arm.
A gleaming tear rolled down her cheek, not wanting to be reminded that.
To prove Nicole's statement that Silver had fallen into stasis to try to buy time, Silver's eyes were closed and his heartbeat very slow. Everyone knew fairly well that he was in a deep sleep and was almost guaranteed not to survive.
Coming up to Angel Island, Crystal saw that most of it was colored in, just small portions blank. Unfortunately, one blank spot was the Master Emerald.
Just as they arrived on the grass, a large fist punched Crystal, blasting her and the limp body of Silver into a mountain.
"The pothead is in serious condition, I see." purred a voice. "Well, then I'll let you join Mr. Pothead!"
Knuckles came into view, half of his face metal. His gloves were completely metal, reminiscent of Mecha Knuckles, and some of his dreadlocks had mechanical enhancements, Dark Legion-like.
Julie-Su followed him, restored to her mindless-minion status, or at least how she was intended to be as a teenager.
Last of all... oh my Aurora. Lara-Su was there, with roboticized arms and bionic dreadlocks. She glared at Crystal icily, which reminded Crystal of Frost's infamous frosty glare.
"It is time I killed you, sister." growled Lara-Su.
"Not so fast, big sis, because this time I have allies." replied Crystal.
Putting the cold body of Silver behind some rocks and praying he would survive their inevitable scuffle, she climbed out of her dent and snapped her fingers.
Miles, Elias and Amy leaped out, and pounced at the three legionized echidnas.
"So, the Grandmaster Elias has turned his back on the Shadow Legion. How pathetic. I guess I have an authorized reason to slay the scum now, I guess." growled Knuckles.
Julie-Su reached for her two-barrel gun, and smiled.
"It will be fun to disable and legionize a fellow echidna. It felt bad to be endangered." purred Julie-Su, not herself at all. "I'm sure Hershey would agree."
"Wait, they also have Hershey?" said Amy, her eyebrows leaping up in surprise.
Crystal felt like doing the same, as Hershey was a strong cat. She escaped annihilation in Somerca despite breaking the heart of St. Geoffrey, and was a strong cat. If she were now a legion cyborg...
Crystal had no time to think this over or even worry about Silver's status, as Lara-Su leapt at her and did a Spin Dash.
Barely dodging, Crystal smacked Lara-Su on the back and sent her flying.
Surprisingly, Crystal actually took out her knucklaws and smacked Lara-Su hard as the echidna recovered. Despite it being difficult to take out her metal knucklaws, Crystal still managed to unsheath her claws for the first time in about 10 years.
The others weren't so lucky, though. Elias was fending off Knuckles, trying to avoid Chaos Control and punches like a hunted fox, and Tails was doing the same. Amy Rose was attacking Julie-Su, but despite 30 years Julie-Su was still a match for the hammer-wielding hedgehog.
"Ha! Brains always beats brawn, Tails-and-Knuckles mutant!" taunted Julie-Su, her eyes cold and cynical.
"Beats me why you are such a meanie, pants-hater." growled Amy, her hammers hitting Julie-Su harmlessly, sometimes not even hitting.
As Crystal tried to attack Lara-Su, Lara-Su found a weak spot and kicked it.
Crystal stumbled, her belly full of pain.
"Ha! I'll kick that again and again until I can finally get a chance to capture this scum!" snarled Lara-Su.
Just when Crystal was running out of hope, she remembered the Chaos Emeralds.
"No, you won't. Thunder Arrow!"
Green bursts of light hit Lara-Su, blasting her into Knuckles. Together, daugther and father tumbled over Angel Island.
"Miles! Fly over and break their chips! I need to restore Master Emerald!" cried Crystal. "I have no idea how the Master Emerald works when it is inactive, but somehow it retains its powers!"
Miles nodded, and down.
"Elias and Rose, hold off Lara-Su so I can summon enough paint!"
"Who put you in charge?" grumbled Elias, but he still charged towards the legionized echidna.
As she ran over the Master Emerald, she checked on Silver. He was still very badly injured, but still alive. Patting his chest fur, Crystal moved on to restore the Emerald quickly.
"Unum e puberulus." she muttered. It was gibberish, yes, but she managed to put enough power in the words to summon a paint bucket.
"O powers of color, restore the energy to the Master of all emeralds! I command you!" exclaimed Crystal.
The paint swirled out, as if a strong gale were carrying it, and started to wrap around the emerald.
Sweat poured down Crystal's forehead, and she resisted the urge to give up. The effort in restoring the Master Emerald was large, and so she needed to concentrate.
Slowly, the emerald was tainted green, and glowed with energy.
"The servers are the seven Chaos...the controller unifies the Chaos... nngh... chaos is power enriched by the heart..."
Crystal said the rest quietly, and it seemed to work.
Master Emerald shimmered with power, ready to help out.
Lara-Su glared at the emerald.
"Grrr... Grandmaster Knuckles and Kommissar Julie-Su, we must get the emerald for Shadow the Hedgehog!" growled Lara-Su, barely fending off Tails's attacks.
Suddenly, Knuckles glided right back up, with Julie-Su in tow.
"Daughter, we are no longer under his command." said Knuckles, his face as stern as ever.
Lara-Su's eyes widened, but Crystal cut off her thoughts by tapping into the Chaos Force.
"Neo Walkers... please... restore the Guardian to her former self!"
Lara-Su gripped her forehead, grimacing at the apparent pain filling her body.
"You will never win, rebel... Shadow will prevail! Augh!"
A blast of green Chaos fire greeted her, and ripped at her fur. When the fire ceased, she was kneeling, groaning.
"Nnhgh..."
"Lara-Su, get up! We need to tend to Silver!" exclaimed Crystal.
As the others hurried over to Silver's body, Lara-Su lifted herself up.
"Gnngh... I think I'll go find my four Chaos Emeralds..." she muttered.
Silver lay on the Master Emerald, his eyes half-open and his wounds cleaned and patched up. The cyan and gray Chaos Emeralds lay in their notches on the dial, thrumming with energy.
Two roses were laid on his belly, put there by Crystal. It was a nice decoration, but reminded everyone of his bad state.
The four Echidnas kneeled near the Master Emerald, eyes closed and hands raised.
"Lara-Su, do you have the others?" asked Crystal.
Lara-Su nodded.
"Somehow, the Shadow Legion didn't find them. It will do us good for reviving our good ally."
The green, white, yellow and red chaos emeralds floated up, and were placed on their respective notches.
"Great Master Emerald.. we wish to see our wonderful ally awake again. Let him be with us, for all of us.. Let Silver awaken, and restore him to full glory!" cried Knuckles, Julie-Su, Crystal and Lara-Su in unison.
Nothing happened.
Then, a green light surrounded Silver, lifting up his body and starting to heal his wounds, the scars slowly closing in.
The six Chaos Emeralds they had at their command floated up too, and green sparks came out Master Emerald.
The others watched, their faces as grim as stone.
Silver groaned as colored energies came out of the emeralds, zapping him.
All of the continuous zaps grew stronger and stronger... until Silver was nearly screaming in pain.
Crystal's face was dotted with concern, but she was too concerned with keeping the emerald in one piece to be concerned about Silver's level of pain.
Slamming down onto the Master Emerald, Silver's hands and feet seemed to be glued to the crystal. The powerful zaps coursed through his body, restoring everything and giving him more blood.
"Unngh..." groaned Silver.
"Silver is only 50% dead now, and is getting better." beeped Nicole, unaware that nobody could hear her.
The various scars and wounds on his white pelt closed in, and his fur started to taint yellow, then blinding white. Silver's fur started to sparkle.
"Master Emerald! Use your infinite resevoir of power to keep this island afloat while giving Silver more power!" cried Crystal.
"What! You can't do that just for one Mobian! That's insane, the emerald will be guaranteed to shatter!" screamed Knuckles.
"Its already happening. I did not need to command it."
Silver rose up, fur glowing.
"Numerous thanks, Crystal, I appreciate the notion. But did you have to make me hyper?" said Silver.
Crystal rose up.
"Hyp-Oh. Are you sure that staying Hyper with just six normal emeralds and the Master Emerald won't take too much from you?" asked Crystal.
Silver raised his glove.
"Well, it was your idea, so don't ask me."
Everyone gazed at the rainbow fur of Silver in wonder, then rushed over to him to hand him some rings.
"Woah, woah everyone! I'm okay! I don't consume as many rings as Hyper Sonic or Hyper Shadow would because I'm not using it for much!" exclaimed Silver.
"Well, Silver, lets make the best of that. Could you possibly fly us over to the Shadow Legion's base so we can restore the others to normal?" said Crystal.
"With pleasure, Crystal."
Bonus Content: Silver Images
Great job Amy! And here's another story I wrote:
ReplyDeleteWillow’s Compass
Part 1
Willow stood and gaped at Liza. “You want me to do it?” The tiny fox was just an ordinary jammer. No rares, no fame, nothing. “Why not you, or another alpha?”
“I’m asking myself the same question,” muttered Liza. She raised her voice. “But if Greely says it has to be you, it must be so.”
Willow had been called to Liza’s bamboo hut and Liza had explained the whole situation. Greely thought there was a new land somewhere east of Jamaa Township. He had used his magic to see who should go and look and, to his own surprise, discovered it had to be Willow. She had to go alone to find this mysterious land. She was to start out right after her meeting with Liza.
Liza took Willow to Coral Canyons to visit Cosmo. Cosmo had brought all her supplies. “Here’s a big supply of food. Oh, and some herbs. I included a handbook on how to use them. And here’s a…” Cosmo kept listing items until Willow felt herself nodding off. Was all this really necessary?
“Cosmo!” Liza’s sharp retort jerked Willow back to awareness. “We don’t have all day you know. Willow’s supposed to be leaving soon!”
“Alright, alright,” muttered Cosmo, distracted as he searched through the basket. “Let me just check that… Oh no!” The anxious koala broke off.
“What’s wrong?” Willow shouted, frightened that the koala was hurt, or something.
“I forgot the compass,” cried Cosmo, acting like the whole world revolved around the compass. “I have to go get it!”
Willow rolled her eyes as Cosmo dashed back to get the compass. Why do I need a compass anyway? She thought. If I’m going east, I only need to go over the bridge, right?
Just then, Cosmo came back holding a strange compass that Willow had never seen anything like.
It looked like it was pure gold. On the back, a phantom was engraved in it. Its eyes seemed to follow her, and Willow shuddered, deciding that she would never use the compass, whatever Cosmo said.
Last of all, Liza explained to Willow what to do at the new land. “Other jammers will be able to enter as soon as the first jammer who arrives, which is you, claims it from whatever other beings are living there and-“
“Beings?” Willow said, confused.
Liza and Cosmo exchanged a quick glance. “I meant, um, until it is ensured that it is safe for everyone.”
Willow narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say anything.
“Why don’t we just start you on your way right now? All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine yourself in the new land.”
Willow closed her eyes and imagined herself in a jungle. She waited and waited, but she didn’t feel anything. She opened her eyes. “Liza, it’s not work-“She broke in astonishment.
She was in the jungle that she had imagined. She was underneath a huge leaf. Everything looked just how she had imagined. There was only one difference.
The whole place was invaded by phantoms.
Part 2
DeleteWillow started panicking, wondering if they had seen her, when she realized that she was under a bush. She sighed with relief.
Then Willow remembered that this was the new land. What was it that Liza had said? “Other jammers will be able to enter as soon as the first jammer to enter, which is you, claims the land from whatever other beings are living there.”
Willow thought back to the quick glance that Liza had exchanged with Cosmo. Have they known about them all along? Willow thought. Then she shuddered. What other dangers lay in store for me that the alphas know about, yet failed to prepare me for?
Willow searched through her bag for something that would help her. She pulled out a huge book. It was entitled Handbook for Journeys to New Lands. Willow snorted with amusement. Boy, that Cosmo sure was paranoid!
Willow flipped through the book. Sure enough, she found a page all about phantoms. She scanned it eagerly for something useful.
“Phantom lore… How to train a phantom… Ah, here it is. Defeating phantoms.” Willow intently read the paragraph. It read:
To kill a phantom, you must take a weapon and cover it with purified water. If you hit your target, the water will smother the phantom’s shocks and because the water is purified, it will melt the phantom’s evilness and he will either die or become tame.
Willow closed the book. That’s what she had to do. She rummaged through her basket and managed to find a bow and arrow and some purified water.
Willow was ready. Then she froze. If she shot one phantom, wouldn’t they all come and investigate? If she just had a teleporter, she could change spots before they had time to get her. She figured there was probably one in the bag, and was proved correct.
Now, she dipped an arrow in the purified water, took aim, and fired at a nearby phantom. It hit her target square on, and he melted into ashes. All the phantoms started coming towards her, so she used the teleporter to get to another side of the clearing. Then she took aim and fired again, moving a second after.
She repeated that countless times, until all the phantoms were gone. Ashes covered the clearing. Willow decided that the ashes might have medicinal uses and collected them.
Afterwards, she decided to explore one of the buildings. Inside one building, ancient scrolls and books filled the shelves.
Part 3 (the last part)
Delete“You have gone far, Willow, but I won’t let you go farther.”
Willow jumped and turned around. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the dim light, stood a phantom, taller than the rest. His one eye sparkled like a diamond. The sparks coming from his tentacles seemed stronger and sharper. It was the Phantom King.
Willow instinctively dipped an arrow in the purified water and fired. It hit him, and bounced right off. Willow was confused. Hadn’t she done what the book said?
Quickly, she opened the book and flipped to the page she had been on. Underneath the section she had read, the book said this:
Warning: This does not work on the Phantom King. All it does is make him stronger. To defeat the Phantom King, you must sacrifice yourself.
Feeling sick, Willow closed the book. Did she really care enough about Jamaa that she would sacrifice herself to save them?
Willow thought of her den, the innocent jammers in the lands, the fun parties, everything that made Jamaa unique. Then she re-imagined it being infiltrated by the Phantom King, the most powerful one of all. Willow flinched. She couldn’t let that happen.
Suddenly, she noticed she was shaking. She remembered the compass Cosmo had given her. She had a feeling she was supposed to use it.
She took it out of her bag and looked up at the Phantom King. As calmly as possible, she spoke to him. “You want to stop me. But I won’t let you, because I am going to stop myself first.” Raising her voice, she went on. “I, Willow, sacrifice myself to save Jamaa and defeat the Phantom King.
At first, nothing happened. Then, Willow yelped with pain. It felt like phantoms were stinging her from all sides. She looked at the Phantom King, who was writhing on the ground, seemingly going through the sane ordeal. Willow held the compass tightly. Even though I won’t come back, they can still remember me.
And she cracked open the compass. From inside, a magical powder seemed to spill out over the floor. It formed in the shape of a compass. Satisfied at last, Willow closed her eyes, stopped struggling, and let whatever lay in store for her take her.
Willow’s body was never discovered, and it is the alpha’s theory that the Phantom King captured her and took her to Phantom Land. But, of course, that doesn’t explain the phantom ashes, or the mysterious compass engraved in the floor.
Others have their own story. They believe that Willow’s body dissolved into the ground, but her spirit remains, floating around what is now known as the Chamber. They think that when you see a flicker of candlelight, or feel wind when the windows aren’t open, it’s just Willow’s way of saying hi.
One thing is for sure. Willow, and the Phantom King, were never seen again.
BTW, a sequel is coming.
ReplyDeleteAgain, Tallstar, woah! You keep on writing all this stuff, and its hard for me to keep up! I appreciate the stories, but could you please slow down so I can work on the other stories? Thanks!
ReplyDelete