Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Inked in flame ❯ Chapter the whatevereth-Glory, Vengeance or Death ( Chapter 10 )

Okay. I’m gonna give up this Chapter the …enth thing because I kinda forgot what chapter I was on. Due to new ideas that keep spawning within my deranged cranium, I’m now going to get my ass in gear finishing I.I.F. This is because…Hey, I left the oven on. To our sponsors!

Gal: We quit!
Guy: Yeah! There’s no pay, and the few panty raids that I’ve been on were all failures!
Gal: I can’t remember my name!
Guy: I’ve lost my brain cell! Help me find it!
Gal: The coffee machine is broken!
Guy: The director keeps frisking me!
Gal: And we’ve acquired a big, fat, round stalker!
Guy: He paints the grass green!
Gal: He keeps filming me in the kitchen!
Guy: Arnold’s gay, pass it on!
Arnold: Her second name is Buttskinsky. HER NAME HAS BUTT IN IT!
Eggman: My fridge isn’t full!
Eggman’s mother: All my panties keep disappearing!
TheVulpineHero1: Hey, why are you guys shouting at the vending machine? DO I HAVE TO GET THE WHIPS OUT? HUH?Guy: Not again!
TheVulpineHero1: SHUT THE HELL UP, BEFORE I GET OUT THE PHSYCHIATRY MANUAL!
Gal: NO! STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD!
TheVulpineHero1: GET A LIFE! GET SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT!
Eggman: NO! NOT A LIFE! ANYTHING BUT THAT!
TheVulpineHero1: I DON’T KNOW YOU! GET OUT OF MY MIND!
Arnold: ARRGHH!
TheVulpineHero1: GET A JOB!
Eggman’s mother: I have a job!
TheVulpineHero1: WALNUTS TO YOU, BIDDY! YOU HAVE NO WORTH, IMPORTANCE OR BEARING! Now, anyone want a cuppa?

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Glory, Vengeance or Death

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“Raze…What’ s going on? You look so serious…” Tails asked, feeling worried. Although he said that Raze seemed serious, what he really meant was that the fox was radiating aggression. The plants seemed to sway across in order to avoid him. He brought an instant aura of pure malice to the house. Cream walked in, and almost dropped the glass she was holding. Now she realised just what Cheese was so afraid of.
“Good. I’m done playing. It’s game over now. This is the end. I’m going to take out
that git now, otherwise he’ll hang over me for the rest of my life. There is no other option.” Raze growled.
“Hey, Raze, if this is about earlier, I’m sorry, ok?” Ai said, trying to calm the storming fox.
“Ai? Tell that to someone who cares. I’m done babysitting you. Being around you makes me weak, and my strength is more important to me than keeping watch over a wayward hare.” Raze said, in one of his very fiercest voices. Ai seemed to shrivel backwards in front of their very eyes. Even Knuckles and Jecht were completely speechless at the amount of anger that Raze was under the influence of.
“Raze? What’s going on? What’s with the gauntlets and boots?” Tails asked timidly. With every passing second, he felt a dwelling feeling of ruin rise within him. It seemed like an instinct, ingrained deep into each and every nerve in Tails’ body. It was like a call to war.
“This is the gear that my father died in. This is the gear that my grandfather died in. This is the gear that my great-grandfather died in. Every male in my family died wearing these gloves and these boots. I’ll die in them too. It might be years away, or it might be today. I don’t care any more. I just want Arid dead. I’d give everything for that. I did. Now, I’ll kill him even if I have to give up myself.” Raze rumbled. His eyes danced with the fire of pure rage, and his taut muscles became even more tense. No one doubted his intention or determination.
“Raze…You can’t do this!” Ai wailed.
“Who are you to tell me anything? You’re nothing! A speck in the grand scheme of life! Only those with strength can change things. I intend to spend my last minutes picking pieces of Arid from my teeth.” Raze shouted. As he spoke, he lashed out at the wall, knocking a huge chunk of it away.
“Raze…I’ve only known you for a short while, but I know that your emotions are only plainly visible when they’re at an extreme. They are now. You…I admire you. If you’ll fight, I’ll fight with you. If you die, the world has lost one of the best it will ever have. But, if you die, I’ll damn well finish the battle. Count me in.” Jecht said, rising.
“Me too! If this is enough to screw even you up, it needs to stop right now!” Knuckles shouted.
“Raze…I can’t fight with you. I’m too weak, and even if I did, who would protect Cream? But, I’m on your side. I can feel the call…” Tails said. Cream simply burst into tears, and hugged Tails for his speech.
“Raze…If I make you weak, then now is the time to compensate for it. I’ll fight, now and forever.” Ai said quietly.
“Then…It’s time. I’ll settle this now. Arid…You killed me. Now, I’ll return the favour!” Raze shouted.
“But…Where exactly would Arid be hiding anyway?” Jecht asked.
“Same place he always did. Follow me.” Raze said, a little of his cold demeanour returning. The flames still danced within his deep blue eyes as he an from the house.

“So, Sonic. Where do we go from here?” Eleanor asked.
“Wherever we want to. The world is our playground. We can go and do whatever we want.” Sonic whispered into her ear.
“Oooo! That sounds…promising. Maybe we should go somewhere…private.” she whispered back.
They walked from the hospital (Sonic had made the an extremely fast recovery, despite almost having a heart attack) and picked up some ice creams, which were of course covered with strawberry sauce.
They walked into the road, and at once were almost hit by a fast moving Shadow, who was pulling an exhilarated Amy.
“Hey Shadow, what the hell are you doing dragging Amy around?” Sonic asked.
“What are you doing dragging around that poor woman? Amy’s gonna kill her!” Shadow asked.
“For your information, fairy, this is actually my girlfriend. And if Amy wants to kill her, she’s gonna have to go through me!” Sonic shouted, making sure to put emphasis on ‘fairy’.
“For YOUR information, I’m not going to kill anyone. And, more importantly, MY Shadow is no fairy!” Amy replied.
“Y-your…? Shadow?” Sonic asked weakly.
“Uh…Well, Amy kind of gave up on you…And, I’ve kinda…well…y’know…wanted to get close to her. We’re…an item.” Shadow replied hesitantly.
“Oh. My. God.” Sonic said, his jaw physically hitting the ground, partly through surprise, and partly because Amy had just hit him over the head.

“Arid? Tell me. What is your real plan? I know that you killed my parents, but I’m not strong like Raze. What is your secret…?” Ivory asked.
“You are aware that if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you…right?” the fox asked.
“Yes…But me, you and Raze…since when do we care about death? We’re trained professionals…not meant to fear or cry…aren’t we?” Ivory probed.
“Yes. We are weapons, spawned by this world and its sins. Raze, you and I are what they have made us. I intend to change that. I will change them to fit us. I will show them what they have wrought. I would ask you to help, but you are not of the same calibre…” Arid said calmly.
“Why…What do you mean?” Ivory asked.
“I and Raze are…special. We are the last of our kinds, throwbacks from an ancient era…we are different, but we are each the last of our races. Those races were two of the most powerful, and we have inherited their power. It’s such a shame…After Raze and I, that power will be gone.” Arid said quietly.
“You…This can’t be…is this…” Ivory gasped.
A large crash interrupted them. A flurry of screams, some of rage and some of fear, echoed through the area.
“Speak of the devil…Well, I’m afraid this is it. He’ll be angry now, but I want him at his best. I don’t want to disgrace him. You would have been such a good soldier…” Arid said, smiling.

The comrades ran backwards, even Raze retreating at the tide of Arridian Guild soldiers. Raze had warned them that the Guild probably knew that they were coming. What he hadn’t anticipated was them blowing up their own base door. Stunned by the explosion, they had had to go backwards, into the streets.
They reached a junction between backstreets, and went in different directions. Raze went one direction, whilst Knuckles and Jecht went in another. Ai, using her long legs to keep ahead, had sprinted off into the distance. Tails and Cream went down an alley, and ran into a dead end. Tails’ mind worked a mile a minute, calculating odds and strategies in every second. He knew that the Arridian Guild was strong. He knew that there were many of them. All of the team’s major muscle was in other places. The Arridian Guild would probably split up, taking all directions at once. If they were smart, they would concentrate their forces upon Raze, the potent and enraged threat. This left them with a smaller portion of the Guild to fight in an enclosed space. As he thought this, he heard shouts, and footsteps echoing the alleyway. They’d be here soon. There was no way they could win. They needed help.
“SOOOOOONNNIIIIICCCC!” Tails yelled. There was a long pause. He shouted again. No response. Tails’ heart sunk. Of all the times when he had needed his hero, this was the time he chose not to show up.
“Tails, I’m scared. I can’t fight without Cheese. Plus, we don’t even have any Chaos Emeralds…” Cream whimpered, confirming what Tails already knew.
“Chaos Emeralds…We haven’t seen them in months. I wonder…” Tails murmured. But there was time to muse thoughts. They were surrounded.
“Cream? Stay behind me.” Tails growled, his fur ruffling.
“I know this is silly, but you sounded so much like Raze then…I guess all foxes have a natural fighting instinct. Fine. I’m gonna stick with you.” Cream smiled.
Tails felt the same sickened feeling that always crept on him when he fought. This time, it was dulled by a sense of duty. He growled, and leapt into the oncoming fray.

Knuckles sweated. They were encircled by the group, and there was no escape. The Guild had learned to be cautious the hard way, as the first few waves had been careless, and fallen easily to the thrashing fists and rending claws of the echidna-tiger duo. The tiger was hyperventilating, having taken a few blows in the scuffle.
“Jecht? We’re gonna die, aren’t we?” Knuckles asked, calmly.
“No. If we die, all the world’s warriors will grieve at having never faced us. We have stories to make, and legends to inspire. To battle!” roared the tiger.
Within seconds, the tiger had leapt into the wall of soldiers, berserk with rage and fighting spirit. Knuckles was astounded by the tiger’s dedication. Dodging a charging soldier, he smashed his fist into the head of the attacker, crumpling him like a cheap can of cola.
The tiger was taking hits left right and centre, but soldiers were flying outwards in the same fashion. Taking down another two soldiers with heavy blows of his fists, Knuckles marvelled at the true power of the tiger, and the fact that it had never had the chance to be used. Knowing that there were worse allies to have in a fight, Knuckles smiled and rejoined the mass of violence with renewed vigor.

Ai was scared. A large part of the main force had been dispatched after her, and more were joining the march. She felt her breath running out., and her legs failing beneath her. There was nothing more she could do. Her legs collapsed. As she gathered her breath, listening to the increasingly loud footsteps behind her. As she listened, she heard the grating sound of a cage being dragged across the cobbled alleyway around thee corner. Then, less than five seconds later, she heard a huge roar and a screech that almost blew her head off.
“DAMMIT! Let me out of this GOD-DAMN cage!” she heard a strangely serpent-like voice yell. Using plenty of effort, she ran up to the corner and peeked around it.
“D…Damn! Is that what I think it is?” Ai gasped.
There, standing well over six feet tall, covered in battle-red scales, with huge, leathery wings, was a dragon. It thrashed its whip-like tail, smashing it against the edges of the cage. Its teeth glinted like diamonds, and its claws were like the deadly, glinting talons of a giant falcon. As it breathed, its scale-clad chest rose and fell slowly, and with each breathe, it expelled a small cloud of smoke. As she watched, the Arridian Guild cronies tried once again to pick up the cage. The dragon thrashed its tail again, knocking them to the ground. Even though the dragon was sprightly and thin, it still had powerful muscles.
“DAMMMIT! Why don’t you scrubs learn that I am not going anywhere with you sickos!” the dragon yelled.
Taking a deep breathe, she turned the corner, taking the Guilders by surprise. She plunged her foot into the nearest one, knocking him senseless. Taking the advantage, the dragon whipped its tail through the bars of the cage, hitting a Guilder straight in the chest. Hearing the crunch that signalled broken ribs, Ai jumped into the air, then brought her feet arching forwards to meet the face of a third assailant. The two Gilders left quickly drew weapons, and smirked as they heard the footstep of the crowd drawing nearer. Knowing that she only had a limited time in which to move, she smashed the lock of the cage. The dragon smirked, then let out a huge, terrifying roar. The Guilders ran to meet the crowd.
“Hmph. Why did you free me?” the dragon asked.
“Firstly, cause it’s not sporting to take hostages, which proves that the damn Aridian Guild is just as bad as Raze says it is. Secondly, the colour scheme of that cage was SO wrong against your scales. Thirdly, do I look like I can take that crowd that’s going to come around the corner within the next two minutes on my own?” Ai grinned.
“Tch. Guess I’ll help ya. Name’s Hadrian. Is that ‘Raze’ guy your boyfriend?” the dragon asked.
“Yeah, right! You just have to see him to know he’ll never be tamed!” Ai laughed. There was no more time for laughter, however, because the crowd of Guilders had rounded the corner. Hadrian, knowing his advantages, drew a deep breath and blew. The crowd backed away a couple of steps. Then, two small jets of smoke came from Hadrian’s mouth, as the fire died in his throat. A wave of laughter went through the mob, and it drew closer menacingly. Even with his mouth still wide open, a small smirk formed on Hadrian’s face. A second later, a huge burst of flame issued from his scaled lips, and the air was filled with the scent of burning bodies.

“Cream, are you okay?” Tails asked. The mob had regrouped after finding that the fox wasn’t quite so helpless as he appeared. However, Tails still wasn’t experienced at fighting, and had taken several injuries. One of his legs was strained, making it painful to move. Cream whimpered at seeing her friend in such pain.
“Tails, your leg…I know I don’t have a band aid, but I could kiss it better…” Cream joked.
“Hah…I don’t think that that’s going to work…at least not from a scientific point of view…” Tails gasped.
Sitting down, his heart fell as he took in the situation. There were still many Guilders. There was only one of him, and he was injured. The chances of the others coming weren’t exactly brilliant, seeing as they would have had to deal with far more than he had. Cream was defenceless without Cheese, and he couldn’t just let her get hurt.
“Cream? Fly away. Now. I can’t- my leg’ll stop me from taking off. GO!” Tails shouted.
“No! I can’t leave you for dead! Tails, we have to make it out, together! We’ll make it through this…and when it’s over, we’ll go to the park! We’ll get through this…” Cream sobbed, losing hope as she comprehended the situation.
“Wh…What? What is that?” Tails gasped. The mob of Guilders had come back, but this time, there was a giant amongst them. Upon thee giant’s back was a cannon that could have destroyed the Tornado if it hit. Tails gasped, almost crying, as he realised that he truly stood no chance. The cannon began charging a ball of energy, locked on to its target. A deathly silence fell upon the mob, as they waited for the boom.
“S’okay, Tails. I’ll take care of this!” came a familiar voice.
“MR. SONIC!” Cream shrieked. The blue hedgehog landed next to Tails, and curled up into a blue sphere. Rotating faster and faster, smoke started streaming off him. He was almost going as fast as before…
“But this time…I won’t miss!” the hedgehog shouted, his voice drowned out by the rotation. Releasing the ground, he once more flew through the air. Then, suddenly, the world stopped moving. He opened his eyes, and saw Tails upside down, struggling to get to his feet, with Cream telling him to lay down. There was a humming sound coming from behind his curled body. The, it hit him. He had lodged himself in the barrel of the cannon. Feeling a convergence of force from behind him. he realised his mistake. When the cannon went off, he would come flying out of the barrel, straight towards Tails and Cream. Instead of being their rescuer, he would be their demise!
Feeling the force intensify, he knew that the firing would come soon.
“Forgive me…” he whispered.
Then, an incredibly loud sound came from behind him. A rush of air escaped from the barrel. There was a short moment of pain, then he exploded from the barrel with incredible velocity. Closing his eyes he felt himself spinning and hurtling towards his friends. Then, there was a huge clanging sound, and suddenly, he was rocketing away in the opposite direction. Then, there came an impact of spine against bodies. Opening his eyes, he crawled from the mass of bodies that was the shattered remains of the mob. He saw Eleanor standing with her back to him, hunched over, protecting Tails and Cream.
“Tch. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle it!’ Wasn’t that what you said? Guess if you’d have handled it, Tails and Cream would have been reduced to a splat by now!” she laughed.
“Wh? But how?” Sonic gasped.
“My spines. I can flatten them, and they become stronger than my armour. I used it to beat Chaos. Still, you hit hard. I think you might have knocked a spine or two out of place…But, anyway, are you alright?” she asked.
“Fine, babe.”
“Mr. Sonic, why are you calling Ms. Eleanor ‘babe’?”
“Err…”

“Rem ind me again why I’m here, heading towards a huge crowd of my former organization who seem to be out for blood.” Soots asked in a sarcastic manner.
“Because I said so! And if you disagree with it, I’ll show you the true meaning of ‘coffee’!” Rouge threatened.
“Gulp! Okay, I’m movin’!” the bird said.
“Good. Besides, this ain’t your organization anymore. What happened? Something about a couple of um finding you in that alley, then kicking your head in?” Rouge asked.
“Tch. Slime balls. There’s no excuse for it.” the bird swore.
“Shh! Get down, it’s the police!” Rouge whispered.
“Why are you running from the police anyway?” Soots asked, smiling.
“I kinda busted out of their jail cell and knocked out a few dozen of them. Now I’m a wanted agent! Once all this is over, I’ll lay low. But, for now, I want to show those Aridian Guild punks what happens to people who steal MY emerald!” Rouge shouted.
“Shh! Quiet! Do the math! There must be a couple hundred of them, and there’s two of us! Geez, I woulda thought I’d have been the bird brain…”
“What was that?”
“Nothing!”

Backing away, Knuckles felt the concrete wall behind him. His heart sank. He and Jecht had finally run out of energy, and they couldn’t back away anymore. There was a solid wall of Arridian Guild soldiers blockading the alley. They couldn’t get through.
“Knux? We’re gonna hurt, ain’t we?” Jecht asked.
“Hurt? It won’t hurt all that much. I expect that they’ll kill us before the pain really begins.” the echidna replied, his voice listless and void of hope or spirit.
“God-dammit. I really thought we could take them. But, there’s just so many…It’s like fighting a thousand wasps…They might be weak, but if they sting us enough, they’ll win.” the tiger replied.
Suddenly, an explosion cleared the air. One of the crowd fell, and the thousands of heads in the crowd looked upwards to the rooftops.
“Tch. If it were Sonic or that the fuzz-ball, I would have expected them to get cornered. But you two? I’m surprised.” Shadow’s voice rang out from the roof. Reloading the gun, he fired again, scattering the crowd.
Seizing the opportunity, the two martial artists leapt into action. Taking down several Guilders with their first attacks, they were pleased to see that the crowd was now suitably panicked. Shadow had leapt down, and was using his air skates to brilliant effect, burning the faces of those who came near, them finishing them off with a shot of the gun. Suddenly, bodies came falling through the air, hit by a pink tornado. From that, Knuckles gathered that Amy had joined the fight.
“Hey. You know what? I like my chances!” the tiger laughed.

“Whoa! Leave some for me!” Ai laughed.
“Yeah, right! This is for the cage, jerks!” Hadrian yelled. The alleyway was littered with burnt bodies, and bodies that had been taken down by the dragon’s whip-like tail. She had only taken down a few of the soldiers, but the battle was almost over. Swinging her foot, she crushed a Guilder’s face against the wall. Leaping high into the air, she then dive-bombed the mob, scattering the Guilders. Hadrian started lobbing fireballs into the crowd in complete abandon, hoping to hit. Three out of four times, it was a direct hit, the unlucky victim screaming, dropping and rolling in a vain attempt to put out the fire that was destroying them. Laughing, the dragon saw that the battle was all but won. It was only a matter of time.

Sonic gasped for breathe. They had fought off wave after wave after wave of Guilders. It had seemed like a never-ending tide of enemies. He, Eleanor and Tails were completely exhausted. But, all of a sudden, the waves had just stopped coming. He heard some shouts of pain and surprise, and, dragging himself to his feet, set off to investigate. Cream, Tails and Eleanor followed in his wake. They met Knuckles, Jecht, Shadow and Amy as they walked from the alley. By unspoken word, they all knew that now wasn’t the time for talking. The screams raged on. Cream squealed and flinched if anything moved, and Tails had to comfort her. They saw Ai looking down an alley with a dragon at her side. She turned to them, and they saw that her face was wet with tears and numb with shock. She walked to them, saying nothing. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The shock drowned out her voice. The dragon turned away in fear. Walking ahead, Tails looked down the alley. Cream followed him. Within seconds, Tails had covered her eyes. There came a heavy, menacing tread on the alley floor. It was Raze. He walked past, saying nothing. His coat was stained with blood, and his furious eyes bore no compassion. The alley from which he had emerged looked like a butcher’s alley. It was stained a deep, undying red- the colour of fading life. There were several Guilders lying dead in a heap, all dispatched by having a set of claws rammed through their gut. Broken bodies, lying as twisted as rag dolls, littered the alley, their limbs bent in places they weren’t supposed to bend, their faces contorted in agony and rage. Guilders lucky enough to be left alive were moaning, screaming in pain. Some who were alive wouldn’t stay that way for much longer. It was a massacre. Eleanor bowed her head. She had always known that the fox was scary, but to have done all this, on his own? It was unreal. Amy had almost vomited with shock. Shadow comforted her, although even he was appalled by this horrendous sight. He had killed before, but never this much, and never this brutally.
“W…Who is that guy?” Hadrian asked.
“That would be the guy I told you about.” Ai replied sadly.
Hadrian gasped in astonishment that such a small, innocent hare could have been connected with this mass murderer.
“The sad thing is…he’s a nice guy really.” Ai said to no one in particular.
No one in particular believed her.

Raze marched on, his face set in grim determination. He marched straight up to the doors of the Guild’s headquarters, which were hidden in a secret passage under Station Square Station. The others followed him, in an uncomfortable, and at times fearful silence. He looked at the newly repaired door, and smiled. He knocked once. Twice. Three times. Then, he drew his arm back, and sent it straight through the door. He pulled backwards, ripping the door from its hinges. He tossed it casually over his shoulder, as if it were nothing more than a plank of wood. He laughed, and entered the Guild. The battle had begun.

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Geez. It took me ages and ages and ages and ages, but I finally finished that chapter. My inspiration has been running low as of late…At any rate, for all those people wishing the downfall of I.I.F, it’s tooo laate. We’re so close to the ending now! For all my readers, reviewers, friends, worshippers (not too sure about that one), fans (not too sure about that one either, although the people who review me are great, though I doubt any of them are ‘fans’) claimer (you know who you are) and general associates, I wish a big, general, all round ‘WHOOP’! (Possibly a ‘WHOOP WHOOP’, but let’s not get carried away). To those who have reviewed, can you review again? Please? I value your input. I won’t threaten you, as other authors on other sites reportedly do *cough*, but I will say that with reviews, comes inspiration. And with inspiration, comes karaoke. Thank you, and have a merry life.