Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Inked in flame ❯ Chapter the fifth: Revelation comes from sunlight ( Chapter 5 )

Hey. This is chapter five of Inked In Flame. This is an extra special chapter for three main reasons.
1. The story content is quite important (I won’t give you any spoilers here)
2. This is the very first chapter that has been made available for publication on my new laptop! This means that I can type faster than ever!
3. I have written it twice. This chapter was originally written to floppy disk on my really old home computer. Because the home computer has no USB port, and the laptop has no floppy drive, I have to write it out again. Bad news for me, but good news for you, since whenever I have to write something out again, I end up making it better than it was originally, in a hundred small ways. I would also like to ask all you readers a question: would you prefer to have a brilliant story that is slowly written, or a quickly written story that is not quite as polished? You can answer via review. Any review that is wholly an answer to my question, I won’t count as an actual review. Also, I would like to say thank you to these peeps: iamsomeone (Keep reading, I get better as I go along!), my co-writer, ScootTH, otherwise known as iammeliam (Thanks for the continued support and help with ideas!) Toasties (One baseball flavoured Sonic sports fic, coming right up! Would you like chips with that?) and all of the other fantastic peeps who have reviewed my fics, either in the past before they vanished, or now. I love you guys! I also thank all the people who have even read my fics. You guys are what make this all worthwhile. Ah…On with the show!

Chapter the fifth: Revelation comes from sunlight

The sun blinded them as it rose. Even they, some of the strongest of creatures, couldn’t keep this up any longer. The battle-red echidna raised his fist, then lowered it again, despairing. He barely had the strength to stand, never mind continue on with this all-consuming battle. A small consolation, however, was that is opponent was in the same state. The snowy tiger’s striped arms drooped listlessly. The fight had been long and fierce, and neither of them had anything left to give. However, the problem lay in that neither of them was willing to give up or admit his defeat. There were rocks strewn about the island, and pieces were missing from the turf. Even the shrine of the Master Emerald hadn’t escaped the carnage. Three of the sacred steps had been shattered, ad the pedestal had been rocked by tremors. A single thought flashed through the two warrior’s minds at the same moment. Finally. An equal. The tiger stood up, and now that the hostility had evaporated from his face, Knuckles saw that he looked noble and just. His paw was clutching an MP3 player, which hung from his chest like a medal. Miraculously, it had not been damaged in the melee.
“Well. You fight quite well. Anyone who can match me blow for blow has got to be good. Nice to meet you.” said the tiger, extending his paw. Knuckles took it, and rose to his feet.
“The name’s Jecht. Jecht the tiger.”

That same nightmare…Why me? Hang on…I’m…alive? He opened his eyes slowly, getting used to the light shining above him. Everything was fuzzy. This was happening far too often lately. A shadow appeared before his burred eyes.
“He’s awake!”
“Shh! Not too loud!”
“I think you owe me an apology now, young lady.”
“Um…Sorry! But if someone like you is here, he might…um…get a little nervous…”
“I understand. I’ll give him five minutes to wake up, then come back.” Footsteps thumped across the floor.
“Is that enough? I mean, he was unconscious and all…”
“Yeah. He might not look it, but he’s pretty tough for his age. He won’t need any longer.”
“Hmm. Well, if you say so…”
“He’s opening his eyes!”
Finally, the blurring ceased, and Tails looked up to see Cream standing over him, looking worried.
“Hey Cream. What happened?” he rasped. He clutched his throat. Spotting a glass of water on the bedside table, he reached for it, his hands falling just short. Making a tremendous effort, he sat up, and took the water, drinking it thirstily.
“Wow. He said he’d have a sore throat, and he was spot on. Maybe he isn’t as scary as he looks.” Vanilla said, looking at Tails with an almost motherly expression.
“Who? The doctor? Are we at hospital?” Tails asked.
“No. Doctor Cream wasn’t worried about your throat. She was more worried that you’d die! I’d never seen her so distressed! Luckily, that…uh…nice gentleman was here, and he knew what to do.” Vanilla said, a hint of a laugh creeping into her voice. Cream smiled. It was a heartfelt, joyful, relived gesture. Tails looked around the room, confirming his suspicions. He should have known straight away, seeing as the quilt was decorated with hand stitched patterns of chao and flowers. He was in Cream’s room.
“Yeah but…What happened? What about Chaotix? Ivory? The white fox? The blue fox? Tails asked, in an urgent tone.
“I’ll answer that.” an icy voice said from the door.
That same voice…Tails thought. The blue fox strode across the room to the bed. Tails felt his pulse rise, and his heart started to beat to an insanely fast rhythm.
“No need to panic kid. I ain’t gonna hurt ya. After all, you’re my mission. So, calm down already.” he said, his icy blue eyes glinting.
“W-wait… how did you know I was…”
“Scared? Hyperventilation, dilated pupils, fur gaining volume…All classic signs of great fear. We don’t know we’re doing it, which makes it all the more difficult to stop. Psychology 101, kid.” the blue fox responded.
“What did you mean when you called me your…mission?” Tails asked inquisitively.
“First, let me introduce myself. My name is Raze the Fox. Traveling mercenary. As of yesterday, I became your bodyguard. An anonymous client has promised to pay me handsomely should I protect you well.” Raze said, in a rather bored voice.
“Oh…” murmured Tails, thinking.
“Let’s get one thing straight. I’m a bodyguard, not a babysitter. If you get into a fight on your own accord, you take the heat. Got that?” Raze declared, in a fierce voice.
“Hm. But what happened? I was pretty sure I was going to die last night…” Tails pondered.
“I was the one who saved you. I’ve only ever-failed one job, kid, and that was way back when, and I wasn’t experienced. I don’t intend to fail again. So, it would have looked bad on my almost perfect record if I had let ‘Whitey Locks’ walk up and kill you, wouldn’t it? Rest assured, kid. That fox ain’t gonna bother you again. Oh yeah, why were you running to that lab?” Raze asked, almost provocatively.
“To get inside, where I had my laser!” Tails replied.
“What good would that have done you? You don’t even have the key for the lab!” Raze said, his voice turning slightly patronizing.
“Oh…I must have left it on the table!” Tails said sheepishly.
“Well, anyway, I felt that you might be a bit peeved if I smashed through the door, so I looked through your phone to see if I could find another place to put you. The first number that popped up was the number of a Ms. Cream, so I called it, and Vanilla picked it up. After engaging me in a fifteen minute rant about how no-one should call this late and why would you want to call Cream at this time of night anyway, she finally quietened down enough for me to point out that I, in fact, am not you. After explaining the situation, she agreed to meet me half way, stating that she didn’t want me to be anywhere near her child. I think I said something about not wanting to come anywhere near her child, and as far as I was concerned, her child was just one of a mass of useless idiots populating the world.” Raze said, keeping his voice level.
“Hey! You aren’t very nice!” Cream squeaked.
“Your point?” Raze asked.
“Well, well, its nice to be nice!” Cream stammered.
“Hmph. I know someone who’s just as naïve as you. At any rate, I met Vanilla at the half way point, where there was three people lying slumped around. Upon closer inspection, it was a bee, a chameleon and a crocodile. The chameleon had a broken leg, and the other two were lying in a puddle of their own blood.” Raze recounted.
“Yes. After I saw you slung over his shoulder, I explained that they were our friends, and he slung all three of them over his shoulder, just like that, and carried them all the way to the hospital. The doctor said that he was the strongest guy he’d ever seen, and that it shouldn’t be possible for a guy of his size to carry Vector, never mind Charmy, Espio and Tails. After dropping those three off at hospital, we went back home.” Vanilla explained kindly.
“Oh, and kid? I’d watch out for your little friend there. She has one hell of a slap.” Raze said, rubbing his cheek.
“I said sorry! Besides, I thought you were a burglar!” Cream squeaked, blushing slightly.
“Tch. I ain’t interested in the reason. ‘Sides, I was only joking. You slap hard, but it isn’t anything compared to what I’ve taken before, kid.” Raze said nonchalantly.
“Hm. ‘Kid’? Just how old are you, Mr. Raze?” Cream asked, showing her usual politeness.
“First off, never call me Mr.-it makes me sound like a pen pusher. Secondly, I am 25 years of age.” Raze said quietly, his blue eyes glinting.
“That makes sense. You look about that age, and you seem like you’ve seen it all.” Tails mused.
“Yeah, but…That makes you even older than Mother!” Cream pitched in.
“Cream! Are you saying I’m old?!?” Vanilla scolded indignantly. Raze walked to the end of the room and leant against the wall with an exasperated expression.
“Hoo boy. This is going to be harder than I thought if you believe people that easy, kid. I ain’t 25. I ain’t even half that. I’m 12.”
Around the room, three mouths hung open. Tails, Cream and Vanilla just couldn’t believe it. This fox, who had that been-there-done-that-got-the-t-shirt attitude, was only a couple of years older than Tails?
“Geez. Where did your childhood go in such a hurry?” Vanilla burst out. The room fell into an uneasy silence as Raze stopped leaning against the wall and walked over to Vanilla.
“I don’t need to be kid. I’m stronger than that. I’ve just been to a lot of places and seen a lot of stuff. And most of it wasn’t good.” Raze stated, his icy blue eyes glinting with a hint of menace. Luckily for Vanilla, who was a tad distressed at having a large, angry fox staring at her with what was definitely some form of malice, there came an interruption in the form of the door being flung open, and a tall, female hare in a tank top and trousers.
“Hah! I found you! Do you know what I went through to get here? I’ve been to every place you’ve been in the last twelve hours! You just had to traipse all the way through the city, into the mountains and back again, didn’t you? Jerk!” she said in a loud, annoyed voice.
“Nice to see you too, sunshine. You followed me all the way from the mountain, did you? It took you long enough. I could have done it in half the time. And did I not tell you that it isn’t particularly polite to barge into a total stranger’s house without knocking?” Raze admonished. The hare walked backwards, then knocked on the door, using all the sarcasm that she could muster.
“What the hell are you doing here, anyway?” she asked, still in the same annoyed tones.
“The kid with the orange fur is my next mission. I’m supposed to be his bodyguard.” Raze explained, completely unfazed by the hare’s apparent anger.
“Then, that means that he’s my mission too!” the hare declared, in a very resolute tone.
“First off, I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: you ain’t a mercenary. Secondly, I work alone. And thirdly…if you wanna be workin’ with the kid, you may as well introduce y’self.” Raze said, apparently resigned to the fact that the hare would try it whether he said so or not.
“Yay! My name is Ai! I take it that you’re this Tails guy that I heard you people talking about, huh? Don’t let Mr. Grumpy scare you. He’s just shy.” Ai told Tails in a low whisper. Raze gave an impatient snort, then resumed leaning against the wall. Cream looked at him and Ai and smiled. They knew each other so well, so they must have been friends. Cream was still surprised how quickly Ai had gone from yelling at Raze to speaking about him as if he were a child she was particularly fond of. Whatever happened, with theses two around, it was going to be interesting, Cream concluded.
“Tails, are you okay? Everyone is worried about you. I called Sonic, but he said he was busy. I did manage to get Amy to come round, and she said that Shadow was coming as well. She should be here by now. Tails, you can go to sleep if you want, you know.” Vanilla said to the lump in the bed which she assumed was Tails’ head.
“I kinda think he got fed up of waiting for your permission, Miss Vanilla…” Ai said. A snore came from the bed, which backed her point up. Tails had gone to sleep anyway. Unfortunately, he was to be woken up quickly by the sound of cursing from behind the door.
“Ah. That just might be Amy and Shadow. It’s not like Amy to curse so much…” Vanilla said, looking at Raze.
“What are you looking at me for? I don’t care if your crackpot pals swear.” he stated.
“He means that he’s heard much worse.” Ai explained apologetically.
“Hm. He doesn’t like me, does he?” Vanilla asked sadly.
“That fox doesn’t like anyone. If he’s ever felt any inclination of friendship towards his clients or any of their friends, he hasn’t shown it. I think he just likes to be alone, which means having people around bothers him.” Ai explained. Shortly after she said this, the door was flung open by Amy, who was dragging a rather annoyed Shadow by his tail.
“Hmph. Nice company you keep. So, what’s with the pink nutcase and her pet pincushion?” Raze asked in a challenging voice.
“Hey!” called Shadow, jumping to his feet. “I am NOT her pet! So, what’s your problem? Ah, you must be some street punk. You wanna see what I’m made of, huh? Well, let’s go!”
“Fine. But I ain’t cleaning the walls after we’re done.” Raze said, drawing his long, elegant claws.
“Shadow, Raze! You can’t fight now!” Cream squeaked, distressed about the obvious hostility brewing between the two animals.
“Tell me about it! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? LET ME TELL YOU WHAT TIME IT IS! IT IS FIVE O’ CLOCK IN THE BLEEDING MORNING! WHY DID YOU GET ME UP SO EARLY? I WAS HAVING THE BEST DREAM! I CAN‘T BE CHASING YOU AND TAILS AROUND THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING, CREAM!” Amy ranted.
“CRAM IT, PINKY!” Raze and Shadow shouted in unison. They then looked at each other with frank curiosity, but their expressions quickly changed to disgust.
“Hmph. I’m going to scout out the area. If I’m going to be working here, I at least want to know where everything is.” Raze stated, returning to his usual icy composure.
“Yeah, walk away!” Shadow called after him.
“Yeah. WALK, not skate. Skating is for gays and ballerinas.” Raze shot back as he walked out. Shadow skulked to the end of the room then sat down, in complete ignorance of everyone else. Ai rolled her eyes. Great, its only our first day here and he’s already made himself an enemy. Still, he was never the ‘caring and sharing’ type, she thought to herself. Cream looked on in a sad expression, whilst Amy just looked tired and irritable. Tails merely looked surprised that someone with enough dark wit and bad attitude to match Shadow had come along. Ai walked over to Cream.
“Don’t worry about those two. It’s just macho law.” she said to Cream knowingly.
“Macho law?”
“Yeah. The law that states that if two guys with the same attitude and social position stand next to each other, within a few seconds they’ll be trying to kick each other’s heads in. It’s a guy thing. Don’t worry about it.”
Cream looked puzzled, then shrugged. Tails sat up in the bed.
“Is that my new prototype laser barrel that those flowers are in, Cream?”

Runaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundSTOP! Sonic screeched to a halt. Why did this look so familiar.? He shrugged then started in motion again. A blue blur then sped off into the distance.

“You mean, THE Jecht the tiger? The same Jecht the tiger who went to Volco’s crater? The same one who beat Volco with his bare hands? The one who left a day later to go on a training journey? The same Jecht the tiger with the world’s worst sense of direction? That Jecht the tiger?” Knuckles asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, that’s me. The White Bolt! Why?”
“It’s been so long! It’s me, Knuckles! You know, the ‘Raging Red Meteor’? We worked on that special deathblow together! Remember?”
“I found you! I knew you lived somewhere around Station Square, but I wasn’t sure where, or in which direction… So, I found the centre of town and went south.”
“Uh, this is North of the town centre…” Knuckles said.
“Oh well. Almost right!”
“So, uh, Jecht… Why did you attack me?” Knuckles asked suspiciously.
“Uh…I can’t quite remember now.”
Knuckles face vaulted. Yep, this is Jecht all right. The tiger with the one-track mind of a rhino. Oh well! he thought. It was still great to see an old friend once in a while, especially in a world as chaotic as this.
“Oh, I remember! I thought you were a rapist, because I saw a thong in one of those shrubs…” Jecht said, slightly embarrassed.
“Grr! I swear Rouge is planting those!” Knuckles fumed.“Yeah, if you say so. Why don’t we catch up a little? And eat?”

Runaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaro undrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaround runaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrun aroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaro undrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaround runaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrun aroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaro undrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundSTOP! Sonic mopped his brow. This was exactly the same spot. Where was he and where was the exit? He sighed, then started running frantically again.

Rouge sighed, and swilled the last few dregs of her drink. She had spent all that time looking for the Master Emerald, and she had still failed. She had checked out every place she knew, all the places a normal thief would have gone, all the places she herself would have gone. Nothing. She sighed again and took out her wallet. Not even enough for another drink. Still maybe it was for the best. Another ‘Uncle Harry’ and she might not be able to fly home. She put her wallet away and stood up, wobbling a bit. She was just about to leave when a voice called out to her.
“Hey, beautiful. Going my way?”
She turned around, and saw a small, brown bird in a smart outfit walking towards her. Even from there, she could smell the booze on his breath.
!What’s the rush, gorgeous?” he crooned.
“Get away from me you-hic-twerp.” she said, slurring the words slightly.
“Let’s not be so hasty. I happen to be a skilled businessman, and I have great connections Don’t tell anyone, but I was a part of the gang that sole the world’s most powerful jewel!” the bird said smarmily.
“Don’t think so, twerp. The world’s most valuable jewel was stolen yesterday.” Rouge mocked.
“No joke, hone. We stole the Master Emerald! The boss says it’s the most powerful- and valuable- jewel in the world!”
Rouge started for a second, then smirked. Even in her half-drunken stupor, she knew that she could squeeze a lot of info out of this twerp.
“Oh! Well, that changes everything. I love a man with an eye for quality. So, handsome, what’s your name?” she asked, using all the feminine charm she could muster.
“Soots is the name. Soots T. Tern.” he said, with distinct pride. Rouge grinned. A prideful thief. This guy was asking for it. And she was going to give it to him.
“Oh. What a fantastic name! So, would a charmer like you want to come back to my place for…coffee?” Rouge asked, making sure to flutter her eyelashes.
“Wouldn’t I! Well, I can’t wait, so let’s go, shall we?” Soots replied, grinning. You like coffee, huh? What a pity. You just brought down your whole organization for it, she thought as she walked out.

Runaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundruna roundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunarou ndrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundr unaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundrunaroundSTOP!
“Grr! This is getting ridiculous! I hate it here! I’ll get out if it kills me! YOU HEAR ME, JERK? I HATE YOU!” Sonic screamed at no-one in particular. He had been running for what seemed like hours. With new found determination, he started running once again.

The hedgehog grimaced. This coffee was appalling. It was like dung warmed up. She sighed. For the world’s fastest hedgehog, he sure was late. Well, who cares? She could explore the city without him. She got up from her seat in the café. She had changed into her relaxation clothes, with only a light layer of chain mail underneath. She was slightly concerned at being so poorly armoured, but her chain mail had never let her down before. She walked down the street, looking at the many shops. Shoe shops, grocery shops, card shops…Was there nothing she couldn’t get from a shop? She walked a little further, but was interrupted by a scream of fear and pain. It had come from a back alley. As she peered into the gloom, a young thug, obviously scared out of his wits, ran from the alley. Seconds later, an old lady also emerged, looking shaken but grateful.
“Thank you for helping me get my purse back, young man!” she called into the gloom, then tottered off to her bingo appointment. As the hedgehog looked in, she saw a glint from a pair of eyes. She needed no introduction. She’d only ever seen one pair like them.
“Raze, is that you?” she called into the gloom.
“You…I trust that you’re well?” said the fox, walking out of the back alley.
“Uh, yeah. It isn’t like you to do community service…” she quipped.
“Community service? Oh, that. I was just giving an ignorant human his just desserts.” the fox said.
“Hm. I wonder? Anyway, I take it that you’re here for your mission?”
“Right. I’m scouting out the area, although from what I can tell, this is a town full of idiots. There’s some guy who just keeps running around the multi-storey car park. Well, I’ll be seeing you…” said the fox, melting into the darkness. The hedgehog walked on, until she saw the car park in question.
“I hate this stinking place! I HATE THE WORLD!”
She looked up just in time to see a person hurtling down toward her. It hit her at high speed, knocking her to the floor.
“Huh? I’m alive! And I’m out of that stinking pit!” it said from on top of her. She drummed her fingers she realised who it was.
“Sonic? GET YOUR BLUE, SPIKY LITTLE ASS OFF ME!” she shouted.
“Oh, you noticed!” he said cheekily, jumping away. She stood up and dusted herself off. He wasn’t bad looking, but he was a total idiot.
“Oh, hey. Sorry I as late, but I got lost in that big building. I can never find the way out. It’s the fifth time this week I’ve done that. So, how are you, er…”
“Eleanor.”
“Eleanor?” he asked.
“Annoyed, and lost. You fell on top of me, so I expect a first class tour now!” she said, shaking her mace, which had been tucked into her belt. Sonic sweatdropped. What had he gotten himself into this time?

I decided to cut some stuff out of this chapter, seeing as it was getting long and rambling-ish. I will, however, assure you that you haven’t missed out. It will be in the next chapter, which I shall proceed to write as soon as I’ve finished some of the chapters for my other fics. Until then, goodbye!