Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Inked in flame ❯ Chapter the fourth: Ivory, Soldier of the Arridian Guild ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Once again, for a few hours, I ditch my usual crazed writing style and continue to create a world. Or something. Anyway, time for you guys to read what I wrote in those hours.

Chapter the fourth: Ivory, Soldier of the Arridian Guild

Tails strolled down to the junk shop situated in Station Square plaza. He knew the route so well, he could find the shop with his eyes closed. He enjoyed the sunshine on his back, and greeted those he met. After he saved Station Square from Eggman’s missiles (Author’s note: This happened in Sonic Adventure, for those who didn’t know), he had grown to know many of the citizens and rarely walked down to the centre of town without greeting one of his pals. “Hey! Hey, Tails! Making another trip to the Junk Shop?” a voice cried, interrupting Tails’ thoughts.
“Sure am, Gerald!” replied Tails.
Gerald ran up to Tails from the bottom of the street. Gerald was a rat, but was one of the most trustworthy people Tails knew. He also had a great nose for parts, and was a rising mechanic. In fact, Gerald belonged to a small troupe of mechanics which called themselves the Grease Junkies.
“So, I take it that you’re making another upgrade to the Tornado?” Gerald enquired.
“Yeah. I need a one of those new X2000 motherboard parts. You know where to get one?”
“Yeah! I saw one in the junkshop only twenty minutes ago!” Gerald replied.
“Great! Looks like I’m headed to the right place then!” Tails laughed.
Gerald twitched his whiskers, and sniffed the air… What was that smell?
“I’ll see ya later then!” the fox said, breaking the rodent’s train of thought.
“Yeah, sure…Just be careful, alright?” Gerald mused. He was too late though. The fox had disappeared into the shop.

“Chao chao!”
Cream got up at her chao’s insistence, yawning as she woke. She had been so tired that she had taken a nap, and was only now waking up. She blinked and covered her ears to quiet the noise her chao was making. It seemed unlike Cheese to be making such a racket for no reason. What was the matter? Cream sat up and looked at Cheese, trying to detect the reasoning behind his distress.
“Cheese seems quite unhappy. I wonder why?” came the voice of Vanilla.
“Do you have any clue?” Cream quizzed.
“Hm. Well, it isn’t the weather. It’s a bright and sunny day. He has food in his bowl, and he’s used the toilet. It could be an earthquake, or…”
“What? What else could it be?” Cream asked, her voice rising to a higher pitch than regular as she grew slightly panicked.
“Well, do you remember how Cheese reacted when Chaos returned to the city?”
“Yes. He was too scared to go out, from the day that Chaos entered the city and Mr. Sonic beat him. We only found out that it was Chaos he was afraid of later when Mr. Sonic turned into Super Sonic and beat Chaos again. Then, when Chaos left the city, Cheese was alright. But, why would Cheese be afraid of the guardian god of the chao? And why would it be important?” Cream mused.
“Well, the reason that Cheese was afraid is because of the fact that chao have the natural ability to detect malevolent energy entering into the region in which they live. Mostly, it’s too small a sense to give them any concern, but if the energy is very malevolent, they tend to get frightened and seek shelter.” Vanilla explained.
Cream paced the length of her room a few times, then sat down on her plushy bed. She sank into it slightly, thinking deeply.
“So that means that another malevolent energy just entered the city! We might be in danger! We have to warn Tails, Amy and Mr. Sonic!” Cream exclaimed.
“Not yet, dear. We don’t know who this malevolence is aimed at. It might be that it isn’t aimed at us or our friends, or it may be that whoever it is, they are merely passing through. It might be that they mean no harm whatsoever. Some people are like that.”
“But, how could someone be that malevolent without realizing it?” Cream puzzled, scratching her head.
“Well, some people have hard lives. Bad things happen to them and they get sad, lonely, angry and lots of other bad feelings inside them without realizing it. They might not even act different than usual, because they bottle up all the anger. It really doesn’t do them any good.” Vanilla explained.
“Oh! So we want it to be that kind of person to be passing through…Cheese, please be quiet!” Cream snapped.
“Yes, that is a problem. We need to stop Cheese making such a racket…I have an idea!” Vanilla exclaimed, with an mischievous glint in her eye. Five minutes later, the chao was asleep, after its food ‘somehow’ got contaminated with knock-out drops.

The fox surveyed the scene before him. A mishmash of confused humans, most of them going about their daily business, some of them staring at him. Of course, that was to be expected. His fur, a deep, rich, subtle blue was very beautiful, but no good for camouflage. His muscles, although perfect for delivering a thrashing to his targets, made him stand out from in a crowd. His height made him a natural beacon. His eyes glinted in the sun. He observed the attires of the humans. Strange hats, khaki clothes…Yep, they were either explorers or archaeologists. Still, no point in just standing here, he thought. “Hey, Dr. Livingston. You know this guy?” He said, walking up to one of the humans, brandishing the picture.
“W-Who? Me? W-well, sometimes I s-see him going on that train over there…He did this m-morning.” The human stammered, obviously intimidated by the foxes’ huge muscles and teeth. Typical spineless human, the fox thought to himself.
“Yeah, you couldn’t inform me where that train goes, could you? If you’ve forgotten, I know a few ways to jog the memory…” the fox said, grinning. The human gulped. Whatever happened, he did NOT want this beast ‘jogging his memory’.
“S-Station Square! J-just leave me alone, alright?”
The fox frowned. Regardless of his mission, he didn’t want to trudge around a whole city just to find this kid.
“One last thing. Since you know this guy so well, you wouldn’t be able to tell me where he lives?”
The human, white as a sheet and shaking like a leaf by now, slowly raised a finger.
“Thank you for your…assistance.” The fox sneered. He stalked off, throwing the picture away behind him. A picture of a small, orange, two-tailed fox fluttered slowly to the ground.

Amy strolled morosely down the sidewalk. If Sonic hadn’t sent her those flowers, then who? Why would some unknown admirer be sending her, the girl renowned for chasing after Sonic, such a beautiful bouquet of flowers? Was this a trick, or a taunt? If so, who would want to play such a horrible joke on her? What if it wasn’t a trick, and some poor soul was really head over heels for her? Would she have to break his heart by turning him down? What if she was just reading too deeply into this? The thoughts swirled around her head. She sighed, then turned left. At a time like this, she really needed a good milkshake. She turned right, and entered Harry’s Little Drinks Shoppe.
“Hey Amy. Sonic let you down again? Here, have one on the house. You look like you need it!” Harry told her as she walked in.
“Thanks, Harry. It isn’t Sonic this time, though.” Amy said, sitting down on her usual stool and taking a sip of the newly poured milkshake.
“Well, isn’t that a change! Why don’t you tell me all about it?” Harry asked kindly.
Amy related her story to him. Harry raised his eyebrows a moment, then laughed heartily.
“That ain’t no problem! You had me worried there for a second! A pretty young woman like yourself is bound to get a few secret admirers now and again! Jes’ take it in your stride, and be proud you’re turning a few heads!” Harry advised.
Amy thought for a moment, then smiled.
“Thanks, Harry. I feel a lot better now. I’ll see you…well…”
“The next time that Sonic fella upsets ya. See you then!” shouted Harry, waving as Amy left the shop.

Charmy was worried. Vector and Espio still hadn’t gotten back. They said they were only going to the bathroom, but he thought that they had just ditched him and gone off to look on their own. This really sucks, he thought. There was something wrong in the air. Something bad was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon. As Charmy hovered, distracted, a stranger watched him from the shadows.
“Hiya, Charmy!”
Charmy did the bee equivalent of jumping five feet in the air, then hovered back down after seeing that the voice belonged to Tails.
“Hey Tails! You been at the junk shop again?” Charmy asked in a sing-song voice.
“Yeah. Eheh.”
Charmy looked at his friend, and knew that he too was remembering the incident that had changed Charmy’s life forever…

*Flashback*
“Hey Tails, this is safe, right?” The bee asked nervously.
“Yeah. Don’t worry. It isn’t permanent. Nothing will go wrong.” The fox replied soothingly. He walked to the wall, and flicked a switch. At once, all the lights in the lab blew out. The emerald glowed ominously. For one, agonizing moment, nothing happened. All was still. Then, a bright green glow came over the bee. He shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the roar emanating from the machine. The fox looked on, his mouth hanging open in astonishment. The bee’s body, now covered in a bright green glow. It began to change, to grow. The arms got longer, as did the legs. The head got larger, at the same time as the torso expanded and lengthened. For a moment, the wings drooped, unable to cope with such weight. That moment passed, and the wings grew to match the body. With a shuddering roar, the machine stopped. The green light slowly died away. The bee flew out from the machine, and the fox gaped in wonder. The bee looked down at himself, and smiled.
“Well, it worked. But you owe me a new shirt!” the bee chuckled.
Then, they were interrupted by a roar of anger and outrage. The door was torn open, wrenched from its hinges. He saw his prize. Before anyone could stop him, the enraged red assailant rushed to the machine, and destroyed it with one mighty punch. He caught the emerald as it flew through the air with the wreckage. Swiftly, fearing the worst, the fox flew over to the machine. One look told him all he needed to know. Things would never be the same again.

“Still thinking about that, aren’t you, Tails?” Charmy said quietly. The foxes eyes were focused on the ground.
“I still can’t get over it, Charmy. I robbed you of so much that day…”he said morosely.
“It was no-ones’ fault, Tails. It all happened too quickly.”
“Darn it, Charmy! Don’t you realize? I took four years of your life away! Four years that you’re never going to get back! I feel like such scum!” Tails shouted. As he shouted, a tear fell from his eye.
“Tails, look. So you made me age four years. So you can’t reverse the process. So what? I like being twelve. People look at me and they say, what a mature young man! I like all that. And besides, the important thing is, you owe me a shirt and four years’ worth of birthday presents and cards. Pay up!” Charmy said, laughing.
Tails looked up at him, and saw the bee was telling the truth. In his heart, Tails knew that Charmy was always going to have as much fun as possible, regardless of his age.
“Still, I learnt my lesson. I tried to mess around with nature, and you paid the price for my mistake. Where are Espio and Vector?” Tails asked.
“What, you aren’t going to pay me back? Just kidding. I think that Espio and Vector have ditched me. Wanna help me look for them?” the bee asked.
“Ha ha! It would be my pleasure!” Tails replied.

Hmph, how confusing, the hedgehog thought to herself. The tiger had left, leaving her alone in this mass of glaring lights and screeching machines. The sun shone down on her armor clad body, glinting off her chest plate. This was getting her nowhere. She needed to ask for directions. But who could she ask? She mopped her brow. This armor was hot. She made a mental note to change into her chain mail later.
“You all right? You look lost. Are you lost? I never get lost. I’ve traveled the world over. Well? Are you lost?”
Her thoughts were broken by the voice. She looked up, and saw it’s owner, a blue hedgehog. She looked at his face. Not bad, she thought. He looked a little scrawny though. Seemed a little annoying too. Still, not bad.
“What’s up? Don’t you want to speak to a nice guy like me? Or is it your tongue that you lost?” the hedgehog enquired.
“Um, yes, I am lost. I’m looking for my friend. You may have seen him. Big, white tiger, black stripes, wearing a martial arts uniform…”
“Hm. Nope. I think I’d have remembered if I had. Still, you going anywhere in particular?”
She looked at him. He seemed very keen to help, and was being very kind. Yep, he was one of the good ones.
“Well, to the exit might be nice…” she said.
“The exit? Well, sure, but…Even I like to spend a little time looking around when I visit places. Sure you don’t want me to show you around?” the hedgehog offered, hopefully.
“Well…I suppose so. Would you be able to show me round about…10 o’clock tomorrow? I’ll meet you at that café over there. Just before he left, my friend gave me these keys to a room in one of those high rise hotels. Hey, what are you looking at?” she asked, noticing that the hedgehog’s eyes were firmly fixed upon her buttocks.
“Uh, nothing. I, er…”
“Pervert! I’ll get you!” she shouted, deftly reaching under her armor and drawing her mace.
“Wait! It isn’t like that!” he said panicky. But, she wasn’t about to give up. She swung the mace, but missed as the hedgehog jumped out of the way and started walking backwards. She ran full pelt at him, but something was wrong. She was running, and he was walking, and yet he was getting away!
“Ahem. My card.” he said, throwing her a small card. She looked at it and stopped running. Upon it were imprinted the words
Sonic the Hedgehog, world‘s fastest hero.
“Hm. Bet you didn’t see that coming!” Sonic chuckled. His laughter was cut short, however, when a dark colored object rammed him from behind at high speed, sending him skywards. He landed heavily as the object stopped.
“SHADOW! WHAT THE…er, what do you think you’re doing?” Sonic checked himself.
“Are you handing out those cards again, Sonic? You know perfectly well I’m the fastest. Anyway, did you hear the news?” Shadow asked.
“All you wanted to do was talk? Why didn’t you call me with your phone?”
“Oh, that thing. The infernal machine doesn’t work anymore. I got it muddy one day, so I left it in a bucket of water to rinse. When I took it out, the mud had gone, but it stopped working.” Shadow said in an annoyed tone. Sonic merely face vaulted. He knew Shadow was at odds with current technology, but…
“Anyway, did you here? Apparently Rouge has been in a fury lately. It’s because Knuckles won’t give back her thong, and someone stole the Master Emerald and it wasn’t her.” Shadow said with a smirk.
“What? Knuckles has her thong as well? And he lost the master emerald? Wow, he is a sniffer, and boy, did he blow it! Speaking of news, did you happen to have anything to do with Amy’s…” Sonic finished abruptly. Shadow was gone, as was the armored hedgehog.

Knuckles sat alone on the island, meditating. Everything was happening too fast, and his life was once more imploding around him. Strange, dangerous presences were in the city. The Master Emerald had been stolen. Rouge had given him a ticking off. The person who stole the Emerald was so weak they didn’t give off energy, but still managed to effectively knock him out. He had failed at his duty. And what was more, was that the presences were closer, and more dangerous than ever. He had to protect them. Tails, Amy, Cream, Vanilla, even Sonic. They were all in danger from these dark and dangerous threats. Shadow wouldn’t need protecting. He was more than strong enough on his own. But he couldn’t be relied upon to protect anyone else. Suddenly, the echidna looked up. He had sensed a flash of energy. Strong energy. It had been there suddenly, and left as quickly as it came. Was this the reason he hadn’t sensed his attacker? Were there people out there who knew how to disguise their energy? At that moment, Knuckles heard a savage roar. A white tiger was bounding up to him.

Tails and Charmy looked around frantically for Vector and Espio. It was getting dark, and Charmy kept saying how something wasn’t right. Tails shivered, as a drop of liquid landed on his nose. To add to matters, it was raining. They turned a corner, neither of them wanting to hang around in this rain. Ever since the incident, Charmy found rain easier to cope with, but still didn’t like it. Tails also disliked the rain, as it soaked into his fur and left him cold and wet for ages. Turning another corner, they ducked, narrowly dodging a flying object, which was now embedded in the wall. They looked at it with horror.
“One of Espio’s throwing stars! They’re in trouble!” Charmy shouted. They looked in the direction of where the throwing star came from, and saw Vector struggling with a cat, which had fur of purest white, except in some places, where blood had stained the fur red. Vector was grappling with the cat, who was returning the grapple in earnest. Even with Vector’s immense strength, he was losing. The cat brought her leg back. She was dressed in dark clothing, like the shroud of a ninja with the stomach portion missing. Her claws jutted out from her foot, and she swung. Vector tried using his tail to deflect the blow, but he was far too slow. The cat smiled, and withdrew her claws from Vector’s stomach. Vector fell to the floor, gasping. He closed his eyes, and didn’t move. Charmy looked around, and spotted Espio lying at the foot of a wall. One of his legs was bent at a strange angle. Seeing him, Espio tried to get up, but screamed in pain and collapsed. Then, the cat threw her head back and laughed. It was real laughter too. She was finding this funny. As Tails looked on, the bee’s vision turned red. Charmy’s fury was uncontainable, and he charged forward at the cat. It was terrifyingly quick. Charmy fell, crashing into a wall as he fell, a deep red patch appearing at his chest. Tails knew he stood no chance against this beast of a cat. She looked at him, with frank curiosity.
“Poor child. What you have seen here will seal your fate. My name is Ivory, a sub commander of the Arridian guild. Remember that name as long as you live, child, for if I have my way you will be dead before morning.” exclaimed the cat.
At that moment, the world seemed to zone in on Tails. He did the only thing he could do. He ran. He had to get back, find help. Where were Shadow and knuckles when you needed them? He thought. His feet slipped in a puddle, and he fell, the rainwater soaking him to his core. He couldn’t fly in this weather. He spun around in horror, as he spotted and glint from an eye in the shadows. Out of the gloom came a white fox, bigger than Tails, with bigger muscles.
“Hello, child. I saw you chatting to that bee earlier. Did you guess that this would be your last day on earth?”
Tails scrambled to his feet, and dashed along. To his horror, the fox ran alongside him. Tails leapt away as the fox lunged forward, his claws extended. He missed by an inch and embedded his claws in the stone wall. Seizing the opportunity, Tails ran for his life. If this guy could puncture a brick wall, he hated to think what he could do to him. Tails snatched a glimpse backwards, and saw that the fox was already free and chasing. Tails turned the corner into main Station Square. The streets were deserted now, all apart from him and the mad fox. Tails ran to the train station, cursing his bad luck as he looked in the window and saw that the train wasn’t there. There was no time to wait for it either. Tails ducked aside, mere milliseconds before the fox’s claws flew forward and shattered the glass. Tails knew he only had one chance: his workshop, and the prototype laser. He ran along, exiting Station Square and running forward to the mountain paths that led to Mystic Ruins. It seemed like they were running along those paths for hours. Tails gasped and panted, running for all he was worth, losing energy all the time. Even the other fox was tiring. More than once, Tails’ foot slipped in the mud as the mountain paths seemed to turn to sludge at the rain’s touch. At least three times Tails avoided death, impalement upon those cruel claws, by no more than a whisker. It was night now, and both foxes stumbled and slipped, forcing their eyes to see the paths and their exhausted legs to run. Tails was in panic. He couldn’t go on much longer. If only Sonic were here! But Sonic wasn’t here, and Tails was all alone, running from an insane fox bent on killing him. He gave a gasp of surprise and sweet relief as he saw the familiar ruins come into view. Almost there, he thought desperately. He ran up the stairs to his workshop, the fox only steps behind him. He ran as fast as he could, but he tripped, falling against the wall of his workshop. He tried desperately to get to his feet. He managed to stand, but he had pushed himself too far. He couldn’t go on. The fox stepped into the moonlight, an ugly grin adorning his face.
“So near, and yet so far. I have to say, I’m impressed. But I’ll still have to kill you. So, any last wor…Huh?” the fox cut off.
He had been interrupted by a small thump, as a silhouetted figure jumped from the roof, and stood a little way from Tails. The figure stepped into the moonlight, his blue fur looking even more deadly in the ethereal glow. The blue fox stepped forward and looked at the white fox.
“Hey. You seen a fox around here? Short, orange fur, two tails…Well? Have you?” the blue figure said, his voice deep and low. The white fox pointed at Tails, and the blue fox looked at where he was pointing. Tails gasped, his heart going a mile a minute.
“Hm. Yep, that’s the one. Kid, it looks like you’re my next mission.” the blue fox said to Tails. He then smiled, showing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. His smile looked just like Shadow’s. He drew his claws, which were long, much longer than the white fox’s, and much sharper too. His huge muscles rippled in the moonlight. His long tail, sticking out of the back of his jeans, quivered and tensed. Never, in his life, had Tails been so sure he would die. Although the white fox was deadly, he might have been hurt by the laser. But this fox looked like he would just chew the laser up. Tails’ heart beated faster and faster. The blue fox and the white one were talking, but he couldn’t here the words. He was breathing so fast, he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Suddenly, the world tilted, and the black closed in. Tails was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Several hours later, the hare walked to the mountainside. She looked at the corpse on the ground, and the huge wound on it’s stomach that had caused it’s death. She looked down and said to herself aloud “He has been here.”

Wow. That was the longest chapter I have ever written, and, in my own opinion, one of the best. But, I have to end it there. So goodbye, but come back. And review. What will happen is anyone’s guess…