Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Marines Journey - The SHODAN crisis ❯ Chapter 12: The Log and the falling of Knothole ( Chapter 13 )

The Marine's Journey

Chap. 12 - The Log and the falling of Knothole.

By: Piccard

Tis me again, I know I'm not giving you a chance to recover, but this is a log chapter, so there may not be as much detail as usual. The 6-time `No glancing' holder knows that much.

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Disclaimer: Is that word beginning with D that no-one really pays any attention to! I only own characters you don't recognise from anywhere and a Gamecube with the best collection of games you've ever seen!

My blade thirsts? Well I'll make some cuts in the fic then! (Get it? No? Oh please yourselves!)

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After another 15 minutes, Dark Piccard had been introduced to everyone and suffered numerous blows at the same time before Piccard was telling him where things were before they were interrupted. "Piccard," They both turned to see Tails looking panicked. "It's nearly time for lunch, and Rogue insists that she's cooking!" Before Piccard could respond, he found that he was being spoken for. "Perhaps I can give her some pointers? I've always been a good chef." "Dark, you can cook?" "I didn't have your magic so I had to learn." Tails took Dark Piccard to the kitchen as Piccard walked to the holodeck. "This is getting weirder and weirder." He said as he reached the door. "Might as well carry on with Archery Training!" He said to himself as he went in to the familiar holo green fields.

Everyone was everyone else coming to terms with having Dark Piccard in the mansion. "Ah don't trust eem!" "Calm down Antoine! We saw him in the park and he was completely different to the one you saw beat Piccard shitless the other day, right Doc?" The Doctor turned, "It was as if he was a different person." "I wonder is Dark's as good a fighter as Piccard." "Geoffery, Piccard and Dark are polar opposites. Piccard favours tactics over power, and Dark favours power over tactics." As they were talking, Rogue and Dark Piccard were in the kitchen. Rogue in her usual outfit, and Dark Piccard with a frilly pink apron on. "Is this my style?" "It suits you!" Dark Piccard let out a groan as he blushed. Being shadowed and due to the fact that his helmet was on the counter his blush was not unnoticed, causing Rogue to giggle. "What's so funny?" "The contrast on your face, that's what!"

Piccard meanwhile was lying against the same tree he was before with Amy. The only difference now was that he was lying there feeling content and with a smile on his face. He reached to a compartment in his armour and pulled out a pad. "Might as well before I'm interrupted."

/\/** Personal log - ID 42534

Author - Marine Commander Piccard Arrowsmith

Subject - Happiness and Mystery

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A lot has changed since my last log and I have noticed a number of things. The main one being that I have, with the Doctor's help, finally come to realise my own feelings. I am in love with a young Pink hedgehog by the name of Amy Rose. She's very sweet and somehow carries a massive hammer god knows where. However, I do have one complaint, what her and a white bat known as Rogue did to me this morning. I won't go into detail, but let's just say that my wrist got a break for once! But apart from that, she's really nice to be around.

I also found out that my Dark side, whom I thought I killed after the two month fight on board the Poledes, was behind the attacks in a confrontation at the Station Square Mall. All be it for the fact that I nearly died, he did fight very well. I did get thrashed though I will admit it. But now, I am beginning to feel that he will be a very loyal ally, due to a meeting I had with him before I recorded this log. I saw a side of him that I never knew existed. He has my emotions, my feelings, and most surprisingly of all, my sense of loyalty. He created a Cyberdemon by the name of Cybos, who also managed to escape from wherever the hell they were hiding, but they seem to have no memory of where they were.

The only thing I am unsure of is who is behind the attacks now? I overheard Dark Side mention a `bitch of an A.I.' to Cybos, implying that it's female, and I overheard the Spider Mastermind talk about the `Machine Mother' This has me very worried, as it sounds to me like the one that was reported to have gone rogue on Citadel Station in 2072, and was then re-reported as to have been seen, and destroyed, again onboard the UNN Von Braun in 2114. She pulled this life resurrection trick before, and I have a sickening feeling that she's done it again. If indeed she has, she will seek out the one with the power to aid her. But I digress.

Overall, life here is very enjoyable, I look forward to the next few days and I will have to be careful if Amy and Rogue try and get me in bed again. I may have been against it, but I never said I didn't enjoy it!!! I am 17 with an 18th birthday coming up exactly one week from today. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

End of log.

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Piccard put the pad in his pocket and stood up again; grabbing his bow and a set of arrows he made for the targets. He was aiming when he heard the door open. A pair of hands wrapped around his waist as he fired. He turned to see Amy looking up at him, he smiled to her as he took another arrow out of his quiver and aimed it. Without even looking he let it fly, and got a bulls eye. "Nice shot." "Thanks." He looked over at the targets again, noticed their distance and got a sly thought in his mind. "Amy, want to make a bet?" "Sure." Piccard pointed to the targets. "I bet you that I can hit all three of them using only three arrows and NO magic!" Amy's eyes widened at this "You'll never make it!" "If I win, I, erm, I'll think of something in time, okay?" Amy raised an eyebrow, "Fine, and if I win, you have to take me out to dinner." "Okay!"

Piccard took three arrows from his quiver and rotated his bow so that he was holding it sideways on. Instead of one arrow at a time, He placed all three arrows in position at once and pulled the bowstring back. "Are you mad or do you deliberately want to lose?" "Watch this." Piccard aimed the bow along the centre arrow, knowing full well that if that one were aligned, then the other two would be as well. When he got the aim right, he let go, and as predicted, the arrows all hit their marks. Amy looked on astounded at the face that he did that so easily, and disappointed at the fact she wouldn't get the dinner. `Poor girl, looks like she had her heart set on a night out. Well, why not?' "Amy?" She looked up at him. "What night do you want to go out?" Her expression changed to one of happiness as she hugged him again, but Piccard's blue armour provided more protection than his green one did. "How about next Thursday, one week from today?" "That's fine." Amy started to skip out, obviously overjoyed. "Oh, I came up to say that lunch will be ready in a few minutes." She added as she left. Piccard picked up his things and turned off the holodeck. "If only she knew what else was happening next Thursday." He added as he entered his room and took off his armour. He picked up his uniform, "The hole mended nicely, magic really is handy sometimes!" He said out loud as he slipped on his uniform and added the gold pips and green stripe to his lapels. "Better complete the uniform." He said as he took out a small bundle. Carefully unwrapping it, he took out a gold badge with the Starfleet emblem and pinned it on his uniform. "Perfect! I know I don't need to dress up, but I feel like it!" He said to himself as he walked out.

A certain A.I. was checking over scans at this time. "This is the biggest source of Dilithium on the planet?" "Affirmative!" The A.I. looked over the scans. "Identify region!" "Region identified as the Floating Island, the Dilithium source acts as a form of power for the island. Without it, we predict that the island will fall." The A.I. smirked at this. "Is there anyone near who might try to stop us?" "An outpost identified as Knothole has been observed and will be under the floating island in 1 hour. If they notice that anything is wrong, there is a 79% chance that they will notice and act." "Then we should pay this `Knothole' a visit within the hour!" "Shall I prepare a team?" The A.I. grinned, "No Xerxes, activate the gateway, the traitors were weak, I will show no quarter!"

Piccard meanwhile was walking down the stairs and turning into the dining room when he noticed Sally picking up her phone. Ignoring it, he sat down between Amy and Anaetheron. "What's on?" "Ask the chef!" Piccard turned and immediately burst into side-splitting laughter, for his dark side was still wearing his apron. "Dark, need I ask?" "Say what you will, but I think it makes me look rather sexy." Dark then stuck a feeble pose, causing Piccard to lose it completely. Before he could ask what was on, Sally came running into the room, and collided with Sonic after running straight through the doctor. "That was Elias, He says Knothole's under attack from the Demon's he saw on the news." Dark Piccard looked up, "Isn't that the place in the forest?" "Yea, how do you know." "We scanned it before, it seemed unimportant, but why attack it now?" Piccard turned, "Dark, I can't teleport us all that far, can you open a portal for us?" "Of course." Dark drew his staff and created a portal, "This will take us to the middle of Knothole village." He turned to Piccard, "Any weapons or armour?" "I'll cope fine in the uniform. Besides, I have my sword." "Right, anyone who wants to go, follow me!" Therefore everyone filed through.

They appeared next to a well and were horrified by the sight that greeted them. Everything was either crushed or on fire. Many bodies of Anthropomorphic creatures greatly outnumbered those of demons. A cry for help was heard, and Piccard turned to see several creatures against a tree, trapped by an Arachnotron and a Hell Knight. "Anaetheron, I advise you stay back." Piccard said as he took a close look. He recognised the walrus as Rotor, swinging a wrench as hard as he could to faze the Hell Knight. He also saw another squirrel, a mongoose and what appeared to be a polecat, Piccard wasn't so sure. But one thing he was sure of was that he couldn't get there in time as he saw Rotor thrown back and the Arachnotron in a position ready to fire. As the spider fired a plasma volley, he heard the mongoose scream. Piccard threw his sword to the ground and started waving his hands and chanting, Dark Piccard on the other hand was covering his Light side and the girls from by the portal, so he could keep it open for the survivors. He saw what his light side was doing and smirked under his helmet. "They'll be in for a shock when they see what he's doing."

The small group were huddled together as the plasma fire neared, but then fizzled out when it hit some kind of barrier. The demons looked confused, but were suddenly alert as a blur delivered a flying kick to the Hell Knight's head, sending it flying into the forest. The Arachnotron turned to see Piccard standing ready with his sword. "You!" "Yep! I am Piccard, remember it, because it's the name of your doom!" Piccard yelled as he ran forward. A volley of plasma fire flew towards him, and he began chanting again. The shots rebounded off a barrier, which the small group recognised as the one that saved them. The plasma fire stopped as Piccard closed in and was greeted by a round kick to the chest that sent him flying. Looking up, he saw another plasma volley heading his way. He couldn't cast his barrier in time, so he grabbed his sword and used it to vault into the plasma fire, and by twisting his body in the air, he managed to evade most of the shots, a few caught him, but magic fixed the stinging. The spider charged, but a blue flash caused him to stop when he saw Piccard wasn't there any more. A warcry from above caused their attentions as the spider looked up to see Piccard flying towards him, sword pointing down. Piccard saw his dark side was watching him, so he smirked and put on a skeletal voice. "In the Lich King's name!" He shouted as the blade plunged through the creatures brain. Piccard turned and shouted. "That's how you quote it Dark, get the speech right depending on the race!" Dark Piccard responded with a thumbs up before he resumed beating the two revenants he was working on before. He turned and walked to the group he rescued. "I am Piccard Arrowsmith, a marine fighting for peace!" He announced before the squirrel spoke up, "I'm prince Elias Acorn." "Sally's brother?" "Yup!" he said while shaking hands. Rotor spoke up, "Nice to see you again Piccard. How's things?" "Going very well thanks Rotor!" Rotor gestured towards the two girls. "This is Mina, and this is Hershey." Both girls said their hello's before Piccard took charge. "Nice to meet you, now I need you to do something. See that portal?" He pointed to the one his Dark side, Shadow, Knuckles and Sonic were barricading from a procession of Demon's. "I want you all to run through it, it will take you to Sonic's mansion. Go now and don't look back!" Piccard heard a roar from the forest. "I'm going that way. Don't follow, go through the portal." He held his sword ready and walked through the trees. The group ran as fast as they could, but were stopped a pair of imps. They raised their arms, but were stopped as two bolts passed straight through their heads. The group looked to see a bald man in a uniform similar to the one Piccard was wearing, but with blue trim, and the skunk with a laser pistol. "Geoffery!" "Not now Hershey, get out of danger!" They ran through the portal as Elias noticed that the marine in black looked just like the one that saved them.

Dark Piccard at this point was starting to get bored, so he dropped his sword and drew his chaingun. "Eat lead!" He shouted as he let rip. "Wonder how my light side's getting on." "If there's one thing I know about him mate, he'll be just alright." A massive explosion was heard as the group saw Piccard flying through the air with blast marks on his uniform. He impacted with a tree with a large crunch and shouted. "Everyone through the portal! They're using Cyberdemon's!" Piccard's shout was greeted with several rockets flying through the air from the monstrosities. Dark got the boys and the girls through, and The Doctor got Anaetheron, Cybos and himself through. Dark saw Piccard wasn't moving and turned to him. "You're staying?" "I'll clean up here, just go!" "I won't leave you!" "DAMMNIT!" I said GO!" Piccard shouted as he pushed his Dark side through the closing portal. When the portal vanished Piccard noticed that were too many Demons for it to be a transporter. "Are they using the gateway Dark warned me about?" He wondered as he dodged rockets and fireballs left, right and centre. "For every one that I kill, two pop up. Fighting's useless!" He sheathed his sword and cupped his hands. "I'll have to destroy the gateway, and everything around!" His hands and uniform glowed white as a small whitely charge floated through the air and settled over the well. As the portal re-appeared behind him, he yelled "Matter Implosion!" The charge exploded and the blast expanded. "Reminds me of the Poledes exploding!" Piccard thought as a rocket caught him square in the chest and threw him back through the portal, causing him to black out.

When he re-opened his eyes, he noticed that it was dark outside. Sitting up, he noticed that he had healed nicely, and that his uniform was on the chair next to him. He looked under the bed sheets to see that he was still, thankfully, wearing his boxers. "He's awake!" He heard a female voice cry. `Sound's like Cream." Piccard thought as he heard people sitting around him. "How long was I out?" "Three days!" Piccard's eyes widened at this. Now noticing that the Holodeck had been converted into the Poledes Medi-bay. He saw his dark side glaring at him. "NEVER do that again!" Piccard scowled, "Dark, I was the only one who had the power to close the gateway. It was based on your psionics after all. If you tried, you would have only increased it's power!" His dark side Hmphed, before nudged in the ribs by Tails, "No matter though, What's important is that you're awake." He added. Piccard smiled. "You can get carried away sometimes Dark!" "And you rarely take these sorts of risks light!"

Piccard shook his head as he stood up and stumbled over. Anaetheron managed to grab him before he hit the floor. "You alright?" "I just need to rest a while." He said as Anaetheron helped him to his room. Dark Piccard merely looked on, "Dark?" He turned to see Amy, "Is Piccard normally like this?" "Surprisingly No! It's normally me who's the risk taker and my Light side likes to keep things safe. I can't understand why he did it, but he has changed a lot since he came to this planet. On the Poledes, he was the quiet type, kept to himself, and hated to get involved with anything, especially after they discovered he knew magic. But here, he's everything he wasn't." Amy sighed as she went downstairs.

Anaetheron had just started running Piccard a bath as Piccard was lying on his bed. "Why'd you do it?" Anaetheron asked from the doorway, Piccard looked over, "I had a sense of duty to close that gateway, if I didn't, we'd be in a lot of trouble." Anaetheron raised his eyelids. "Look, do what you like, but do you know how hard these past few days have been on Amy?" "Being magical I do, I spent the last three days with Tom and Jon in the spirit realm, and after hearing the lecture, I had to watch all the pain that Amy was enduring over the last three days." Piccard's eyes started to water, but he managed to control it. "I don't want her to be unhappy, but I can't give up my duty. If I do, then Dark would be the only one who could take over, but even he couldn't do this alone." Anaetheron smiled, but as a Hell Knight, it appeared more like a smirk. "I understand you had your own reason's for doing what you did, but I won't hold it against you." Piccard smiled as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. "Now comes the tricky bit!" Anaetheron thought as he walked out.

He went downstairs and found Rogue and Amy sitting at the table. "You will be pleased to know that Piccard is standing and is currently having a bath." Amy seemed overjoyed to hear this. "Let's go to say welcome back." She said as her and Rogue ran up the stairs as fast as they could. `Something's up, she must be planning something!' Anaetheron thought as he took one of the synthetic bottles from the cabinet and downed it in one gulp. "Doesn't taste that bad to me!" He thought.

Amy and Rogue were sitting on Amy's bed talking about what they would do. "I'm not upset, I'm sure he had reason's for what he did." "I know and I believe you Amy, now what are you planning?" Amy leaned in and told Rogue her plan. Piccard meanwhile was just lying in his bath soaking in the water. He was so engrossed in thoughts that he didn't notice the door open and two figures sneak in. `Wonder how I can make this up to Amy?' Piccard thought to himself. Then he felt something grab a hold of him under the water. "What the. Oh hello. What are you planning this time?" The girls smiled as Piccard got out and let the water out. He turned for the towel when he noticed Amy was standing there with it. "Can I dry you?" "Do I really have a choice?" So Amy started her drying, all the while Piccard wondering what they were planning. Suddenly, he shuddered as Amy got a firm hold of him again. "This is how pleased I am to see you back on your feet." She said to him as she did the same as she did that morning. This time however, when it got to the point that Piccard was twitching, Amy stopped and started to walk out, leaving Piccard very pissed. "What are you doing?" "Leaving you on the border of happiness, where I have been the past three days!"

Both girls laughed and left. Piccard scowled as he left the bathroom and picked up the blue armour that was sitting on the bed, slipping it on, he noticed his ocarina sitting on the edge of the bed. "Has it really been three days? Certainly feels like it!" He picked up his ocarina and began to play

The same tranquil song he had played in the holodeck. After a few minutes, it sounded like he was playing in stereo, so he opened his eyes and was shocked to see his dark side on the bed next to him with his ocarina. "I never knew you knew that tune." Dark smirked, "There's lots of things about me you don't know!" "You're not mad at what I did then?" "You had you reasons." Was all Dark said before the two started playing again.

I hope this one's alright, it took me a while to type. Well how was it, Good, Bad, Worse than England are at cricket? Please review, or I shall regard you as the ENEMY and you MUST BE DESTROYED!

Piccard, signing off after three days!