Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Red Star in the Darkness ❯ Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When I had turned around to see what the red echidna was talking about, I saw the dark cloud that surrounded me before starting to take shape. The being that appeared from the fog was the most horrific sight I had ever seen. But as I took a closer look at this horrific creature, I soon figured out that the being standing before the five of us was none other than the mad sorcerer himself: Ixis Naugus.

Most of Ixis' body was human, but a portion of it almost looked like a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong. His right hand was like that of a human's, but his other hand was like that of a huge lobster-like claw ready to snap shut at any moment. When I took a look at his face, well...let me tell you this: it was so ugly, that it could have made any one of Hollywood's famous monsters jealous, with its huge sharp horn on his forehead and bat-like ears to top it off. His clothes, his cape, boots and gloves were all colored in black, like the night. His white beard was so long that it touched the floor and was evidence that could make him appear as a very old senior citizen.

When Ixis' form finally appeared in front of me, I saw him grinning like a killer shark and that was when he started to laugh with a low evil cackle. At first, it was a small laugh, but then grew to a loud echo as it traveled across the entire old storage building as if it came from within a huge abandoned cave. As the crazed laughter continued to echo throughout the huge storage building, I had finally started to ask the mad sorcerer with a curious expression on my face, "What makes you laugh, Ixis? What is it that you find so amusing, sorcerer?"

As soon as the crazed laughter began to die down a bit, Ixis started to say to me along with an evil ugly smile on his face, "Ha ha ha! I can't help it! Shadow the Hedgehog fought hard in order to keep me from controlling his mind and body, but he has failed miserably! A mere being like himself wasn't a able to break free from my mind controlling spell. But when a mere young human like yourself has succeeded in braking free from that spell....Ha ha ha! I can't stop laughing!"

As the crazed wizard started howling with laughter again, Sonic and his three friends came to my side. That was when the blue hedgehog said to Ixis, "Are you out of your mind, Hornhead? What is so damn funny to you?"

That was when Tails added, "And what do you mean by what you said about Miguel before, Ixis?"

The dark warlock continued to laugh madly like the roar of a lion. He suddenly stopped his crazed laughter and began to respond in a calm voice. "Ha ha ha. The human boy, who is known to you four fools as Miguel, is a much more powerful being than any of us knew he ever was. You see, when I fought the boy before while inside your friend Shadow's body, he endured the force of my assault much more than I had ever anticipated, with even double the capacity.

"Then, from the moment that he released the black rodent's mind from my control and put the Star Sword down on the ground in order to help his friend, I took the opportunity to try to control the human boy when he had let his guard down. In order to prove that my theory was correct, I had to give the boy one of my most powerful mind controlling spells which I had used before. But, just when I thought that I had gained control over his mind and body, he somehow managed to brake through my spell and released himself from its grasp. That was when I realized that Miguel would make the perfect General for my new world order, the very moment that he broke and released himself from that spell."

I was just about to say something when Shadow stepped in front of me and said to Ixis, "Ha! Is that what you think, you horn-headed freak? What makes you believe that Miguel would agree to help you conquer this world, sorcerer?"

Ixis answered slyly, "You see my foolish rodent, I found out that, once given the proper incentive, Miguel would be left with no choice but to follow every single one of my commands."

That was when I started to pick up the Star Sword from the cracked cement ground. I then held onto its handle with both of my hands, pointed its silver blade towards Ixis, and said to him, "What in the world do you mean by that, Ixis?"

Ixis gave a small cackle after I had asked the question. He then said menacely, "Ha ha ha ha ha!! I'm talking about the beautiful young human girl that you managed to save from my wrath before, mortal! The human, known to both you and this world, as both Michelle and the hero Sailor Neptune. Both you and I know that I have the power to back up my threats and I know that you don't have the heart to do anything that could endanger the lives of any of your friends. Especially when you have a friend who is as lovely and beautiful as your precious Michelle, wouldn't you agree, Miguel?"

I started to build up a certain anger and hatred for the sorcerer as he continued talking with his menacing old voice. "I mean, the Quickster and his three friends were able to dodge and withstand the power of my assault, but what about Michelle and her band of Sailor Soldiers? She and her two friends Uranus and Pluto, barely stood a chance for after I launched the power of Shadow's Chaos Spear which knocked them onto the ground hardly breathing. So what chance do you think Michelle and her friends have once they stand up to a being powered by the full energy of three Chaos Emeralds? Would you dare to put your precious Michelle or any of her friends at the risk of my assault, hmm?"

"Is that a threat that you just made you horned freak!?" I had shouted to the sorcerer as I was starting to get steamed at him for the threatening me.

"What did it sound like to you, Miguel?" said Ixis, amused at my building anger. "Hee, hee, hee! I could demonstrate my power on Michelle if you really want to see what I could do to her, mortal."

"Why you!!" I had shouted to the sorcerer as I held onto the Star Sword's handle even harder than I had done before and pointed its silver blade towards him. The hatred burning inside of me began to grow larger than it had before. It was like nothing that I had ever felt or experienced before in my life. Something inside of me wanted me to stab Ixis with that sword's blade and make him suffer for making that threat.

But just before I had the chance to even charge at Ixis with the Star Sword, Sonic stopped me by standing in front of me and said (as he was trying to push me away from the sorcerer). "Whoa! Easy there, Miguel! You don't want to lose your temper and do something rash! That's exactly what Ixis wants you to do."

"Sonic's right, Miguel," Shadow started to speak to me as he joined Sonic in pushing me away Ixis. "Ixis just wants you to lose your cool by saying those terrible threats and if you let him make you crack like that, then you'll fall right into his trap. Trust me, you don't want to lose your cool to this horned freak and do what I tried to do with Ixis. I've made the same mistake by letting Ixis get to me and have to fight him by myself so Sonic and the others could escape with the four Chaos Emeralds. I won't let what had happened to me happen to you too, so don't let Ixis…."

Shadow's words were then cut off by the mad sorcerer's menacing voice as I was trying to calm down a bit. Ixis started to give off another low and evil laugh as he said to the two hedgehogs, "I suggest that you two rodents keep out of Miguel's way, or otherwise I'll give your human friend even more to worry about! Hee hee hee!"

"What do you mean by that, sorcerer?" I heard Knuckles say in a serious tone of voice. I turned my head around and saw that the red echidna was getting ready for any attack Ixis might try to unleash. He held his two white knuckled gloves up like a boxer getting ready for his first match of the night.

I turned my full attention back towards Ixis as soon as I heard his soft evil laughter again as he was saying to Knuckles, "What I mean, you red rodent is…this!!"

That was when I saw Ixis lift his human hand towards the red echidna. Then, all of a sudden, Knuckles was surrounded by a strange energy that took the shape of a glass spherical dome. When the magical dome imprisoned and encased Knuckles in its grasp, I saw that the ward kept the echidna from moving any parts of his body so that he wouldn't make any unnecessary moves. The echidna just stood there, not moving a single inch of his body, that would be considered a sign of life.

I immediately turned all my attention back towards Ixis, angrier than what I had felt towards the sorcerer. "What in the world did you do to Knuckles, you horn-headed freak?!" I shouted at Ixis while I kept pointing the Star Sword's silver blade towards his shadow and old form.

"Calm yourself, boy," said Ixis as he once again gave me another one of his wicked and ugly smirks on his face. "I just simply placed the Dome of Stillness spell on the echidna so that he wouldn't be able to move from where he stands or use any of his special powers to attack me. I also used that spell on the echidna in order to show you what I'm capable of and show you what happens when you try to oppose me, boy."

Ixis then made his ugly smirk even wider than it had been before which now looked like a shark grinning at its prey, and he started to give out one of his soft evil laughs again that was as cold as an icy tundra. "Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee! So, what will it be, mortal?" he began to say to me, "Are you willing to obey my every command and help me conquer this planet or do I have to conjure up another spell that's far worse than what the echidna's going through right now?"

At that moment, my mind was filled with so much hatred and anger towards the sorcerer that I didn't know what to do. I had so much rage inside of me that my mind couldn't think of anything that would stop Ixis from conquering this world with the seven Chaos Emeralds, without the risk of him harming Knuckles or any of my friends in the process.

Before I had the chance to do anything rash, I heard the voice of the young two-tailed fox calling out to me, which calmed me down a bit. "Take it easy, Miguel," Tails said with concern in his young voice, "There's a way to stop Ixis from conquering this planet without taking anymore hostages, but in order to..."

"Silence, you two-tailed rodent!" boomed Ixis' voice as it echoed throughout the entire basketball gym sized building. Tails didn't say anything after that. "Don't try to interfere with the boy's decision, fox," Ixis had said to him, "or otherwise you will be joining the echidna in the dome for all eternity. So I suggest that you keep your voice silent until you are spoken to and that goes the same for the Quickster and his twin brother, too."

When Ixis finished talking to Tails, he turned his full attention toward me and asked, "So what is you answer to my question, human boy? If you still haven't come to a decision, you realize what I'll do to your echidna friend if you refuse. I'm only going to give you a moment to think about your decision and if you don't give me an answer soon, the echidna will be the one to pay the price for your lack of timing."

After Ixis has finished talking, the entire storage building fell silent, not a single sound was made by even a mouse. `Damn! What am I going to do?' I thought to myself as I struggled to calm myself from the anger I was feeling at that moment. `That horn-head rip-off of Freddy Krueger just took Knuckles as a hostage by placing him in a spell and now he is threatening to unleash a something that could be far worse than the spell that he's caught in now if I don't agree to follow his orders. The only way to save this entire planet without hurting anybody is to have a plan. But in order to do that, I'll have to calm down in order to think clearly. So...' That was when I started to close my eyes and took in deep breaths trying to calm down.

I continued to take in deep calm breaths with both my eyes closed while trying to forget every threat and deed that Ixis had done until the angry feeling from within me was gone. When the anger inside of me finally disappeared, I started to think to myself with my newly refreshed mind, `(Sigh) Alright, now to think of a way to free Knuckles from Ixis' spell without him knowing that I'm going to strike. If I try to use a direct attack on him, Ixis wouldn't hesitate to cast any deadly spell that would harm Knuckles anymore than he is now. My only chance to stop Ixis from harming Knuckles and from taking Michelle or anybody else hostage is to launch an assault that could render him harmless and defenseless to cast any spells. But in order to launch that attack without him knowing about it, I'll have to...'

My thoughts were soon interrupted by the voice of Ixis Naugus and by the sound of his voice, which was starting to grow impatient. "Have you finally come to a decision, Mortal? I grow weary of waiting for you to make up your mind! You'd better give me your answer this instant if you want the echidna to live!" Ixis' voice sounded like it was trying to hold back any anger that it might have in it.

`Uh oh, sounds to me that Ixis means business,' I thought, minds' voice sounding as calm as it can be. `I'd better give him my answer now before he starts to lose his cool. I just hope that this plan of my works, `cause if it doesn't, then this entire planet could be in danger. So even if I get caught in one of Ixis' spells, Knuckles would be set free and rejoin Sonic, Tails, and Shadow is planning a way to be able to counter attack. Well, here it goes.'

Just when the sorcerer was about to lose his patience and cast another spell on Knuckles that was far worst than what he was stuck in now, I immediately started to responded to Ixis by saying, "Alright sorcerer, you win! I'll do as you wish and be your servant. But only under one condition: that you release Knuckles from your spell and leave him, Michelle, and all of the others alone. Once that's done, I'm at your service."