Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Stage is Set ❯ Plans are Made ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't think I've done one of these in a whie. I own Roland, Chaos, Zane, and Jinn. Another author on FF.Net, Celestial the Hedgird, owns Keenan.

LEGEND:

'...' = thinking

"..." = talking

[...] = communicating with spirit

{...} = communicating with Fin

Chapter Eight: Plans Are Made

[So, his name's Jinn, huh?] I asked.

"Hey!" he called out. "You looking for Amy and the others?" I nodded. "Okay, then, follow me!" He began to run towards the forest bordering the camp.

I ran after him, trying to keep him in view, but being the Warrior of Wind, he had above average mobility. While I had only a little better than what I had in my real form. I lost track of him, stopping to look around. "Hey, where'd you go you little bugger?!"

"Back here!"

I turned around, and was picked up by him. He was now flying above the trees, carrying me towards a small clearing. He descended, and I broke out of his grip and landed on soft grass. "Ya know, you could've warned me..."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" he said with a laugh. He began to walk back into the trees. "C'mon, it's not that much further."

I followed him, and this time it was easier because he wasn't running. He stopped and began looking at one of the trees. He began to pound on it's trunk, over and over again. But rather than give off a quiet thunk, the sound that came off of it was like metal. "What the?" I said as the tree lifted up and rolled to one side. Jinn jumped down the hole, and I followed seconds later. I fell down maybe five feet, and I saw Jinn land nimbly on a stone floor. I, however, lost my balance when I landed, causing me to fall flat on my face. "Oww," I said, rubbing my nose.

"Hehehe, you alright?" Jinn asked, walking over to me.

He extended his hand, which I smacked away. I stood up, my pride being the only injured thing. "I'm fine." He began to walk down a hallway, peeking his head into different rooms. I looked around, taking an interest in the carving of this cave. The walls were smooth, and there were fancy designs near the ceiling. "This tunnel looks like it took a long time to carve out," I mumbled to myself.

"Aha! There you guys are!" I heard Jinn say. I quickly looked towards him, seeing him enter a room. I walked in after him, seeing the "Sonic Heroes." "You guys were right, that was him. And I brought him back!"

I looked around the room, seeing who was here. There was Team Rose, Team Chaotix (minus Espio), and Rouge. They looked at me, relieved to see that I was alright. "Umm...sorry that I had to leave at the last minute. In my world, my mom noticed that I didn't come home, so I had to leave. And I'm sorry that I was gone for a whole week."

At my last remark, all of them began looking at me weird. Rouge finally spoke up, "Umm, you were only gone for two days."

"Huh?!" I said. I had definately spent a week back in my world.

[Hmm...] Zane said. [I think that this is the work of Eggman's emerald.]

[Huh? How do you know?]

[Well, when we first got here, the times were still synchronized. But that emerald must be doing some freaky stuff to this world. We'll need to fix this soon, or else this realm will collapse upon itself.]

"WHAT?!" I yelled. Everyone began to look at me strange, so I told them of what Zane just informed me.

"Is that even possible?!" Amy asked.

"What do we do?" Cream wondered.

"Well, we need to get the Dark Emerald out of here," Jinn said. "I mean, that's what's causing all of this, right?"

"Oh, you know, none of us ever caught your name," Rouge said.

"Oh, my names Ky-I mean, Jinn Darkheart, Elemental Warrior of the Wind!"

'Ky?' I thought. 'No, it couldn't be...Could it?' "Hey," I said to him. "Detransform into your normal form." He did, and he took the form of my little brother, Kyle Moore.

"Sorry I had to keep it a secret from you, Tim," he said. "But Jinn said that I oughtta wait until you've seen how well I can fight before you make the judgement of whether I should fight or not. And you know that you need my strength."

'Great,' I thought. 'Just what I need...Why does it have to be him, of all people?'

[But he's right, you know,] Zane said. [You do need the help.]

[So?! That doesn't mean I have to like it.] I began to pout.

"Well, now that we know how to solve the problem, how do we fix it?" Rouge asked.

"Well, there are entrances to this place that not even Eggbelly knows of," Vector said. "And thanks to Charmy, we know where they are."

"How did the runt get past the robot guards?" I asked.

"RUNT?!" he yelled. "I'LL SHOW YOU RUNT!!"

He flew at me, aiming his stinger right for my face. He was nearly there when I gabbed it and stopped him in mid-air. "Hey, hey, hey, take it easy," I said. "I call all small things runts."

"Either that or midget," Kyle added.

"Well, to answer your question," Vector said, getting back to business, "his body size is so small that he's not of any concern to the robots. Their sensors are supposed to pick up anything Amy's heighth and taller. And, getting back to the secret entrances, I think that this one is near where they're holding Shadow. So I propose that we get in there and get him out first. And I believe that you are able to use Chaos Control?" he said, looking at me.

"Uh-huh," I said, nodding.

"Well, catch," he said, throwing me a jewel shard.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Apparently it's a shard of the fake Chaos Emerald that Tails made during the ARK incident," Rouge said. "I felt the energy emenating from it near the camp, so I picked it up, instantly recognizing the color."

"So, will I be able to Chaos Control with this thing?" I asked, doubtful.

"Yeah, at least for short distances," Vector confirmed.

"Alright, it looks like we're ready to crack Eggman wide open!" I said. "C'mon, let's get going!"

"Wait," Rouge said, her ears perking up. "I hear something heading this way, through the ground..."

"Is it Knuckles?" Amy asked.

"No, it's not," I said. "Whatever it is, they're warping through the ground, and I don't think Knux has that kind of experience."

"Then what-" Cream began, before a bright light enveloped the room, causing all of us to shield our eyes.

After the light died down, a familiar looking black-furred animal stood in front of us.

"Hey, it's Shadow!" Amy exclaimed. She began to walk to him.

"Amy, get away from him!" I said. "Whoever that is, it's not Shadow."

"HAHAHAHA!! You are right, human, I am not Shadow! I am the one that will destroy you all for what you've done to my brother!! You will now feel the...uh..oh, yeah...You will now feel the wrath of Keenan!" he said, pounding his fist over his chest. Keenan was very similar to Shadow, but there were definately differences. Keenan was easily twice the size of Shadow, and his arms were large and muscular. His eyes and his stripes were a dark shade of yellow. "Eggman told me that you all are responsible for treating Shadow like he was inferior to you, so I will now aveng him and take back the pride of the Ultimate Life Form!"

"Heh, you can try!" I said. "But, listen to what I have to say, Eggman is Shadow's true-"

"Shut up!! I will not allow you to trick me! All of you will pay for what you've done to my brother!" He let out a...I'd call it a roar, and he leapt at me. I jumped over him, kicking him in the back of the head. He flew through the wall behind us, but then he stood and leapt at me again. I was caought off guard, and he tackled me through a wall. He grabbed me and threw me up throught the ceiling. I went through the roof, and he jumped up after me, slamming me down on the ground. We were outside of the tunnel, and he began ripping a tree trunk out of it's roots. I stood up, a little woozy after the beating I just took, when he swung the tree at me, knocking me through several more trees.

I was able to stand up, although a little shaky, and I focused fire around my fists and feet. I ran at Keenan, jumping over the tree as he swung it at me again, bringing my fist down on his head. He just stood there, and the smacked me away with his large right arm. I rolled across the ground, getting back into my fighting stance, and i looked at him.

"Hahahahaha! You are such a weak and pa...pa...pa......" he said, stuttering on the last word.

I relaxed from my stance. Looking at him, i said, "Uh, pathetic?"

"Yeah, that's right! You are such a weak and pathetic creature. You won't even be able to defeat a prototype!"

[Um, if this is any help to "the greatest fighter alive," I think I see a weak spot on this guy,] Zane said.

[I'm listening,] I said.

[Take advantage of this guys stupidity. I wouldn't be surprised if he was as dumb as you.]

[I'll deal with you later,] I said, and then to Keenan, "Hey, Keenan! Look over there, I see a monkey!"

"A monkey?! Where?!"

'This guy really is stupid,' I thought. I began charging a super fireball, putting a lot of what I had into this blast. "Oh, it looks like you missed it. But that's okay, I have something else!"

"What is it?" he asked turning around. I shot the blast at him, catching him off guard. "Chaos Fissure!!" he yelled.

The blast exploded, engulfing many of the trees. "Yeah, I got him! I am the greatest fighter alive!"

"Now here's your present!"

I looked up, seeing Keenan dropping down above me. He clasped his hands together, hitting me over the head. I crashed back down into the tunnel, him jumping down after me. I stood up again, ready to lose consciousness at any moment. I then felt some of my power returning to me. I wondered how, when I noticed something sticking out of my side. 'What the?' I picked it out of my arm, taking a good look at it. It was the shard of the Chaos Emerald. Then I got an idea. I jumped at Keenan, grabbing his arm and yelling, "Chaos Control!" I warped us up through the hole, up into the air. I exited the warp, smashing a flame-encased fist into his head. He smashed into the ground, and I made fire flare up around my body. I began to heat the air around me, hoping that my plan worked. It obviously did, as I stayed suspended in the air. I pushed some fire energy behind me, aiming straight for Keenan. He stood up and caught me, my momentum pushing him back. I heated the air more, my fire aura turning from a bright red to a blueish color. The heat soon became too hot for him, as he took his hands off of my aura, which I then focused to fly off of my body and engulf him. "Still think that I'm a weak and pathetic human?" I taunted. Rocks began to fly upwards, crashing through the fire, eventually putting it out.

"Yes, I do," he said, sending the rocks at me. I once again crashed through the ground into the tunnel, where I collapsed. I was still able to fight, but I would need back up. 'Where are the others?' I thought. As if on cue, the others entered the room that I landed in.

"Where the hell were you guys?!" I yelled.

"We were evacuating the civilians that took refuge here," Jinn said. (My little brother transformed back into him, just to let you guys know.)

"Do you give up?!" Keenan demanded.

"Stop it right now!!" Cream yelled. She walked out of the group, heading towards Keenan. "Who do you think you are?! We are Shadow's friends! We didn't treat him as an inferior, we treated him as an equal! Now stop this fighting, Eggman's our true enemy!" As if to help prove her point, the rabbit flicked Keenan on the nose.

Keenan took a few steps back, holding his nose. After a few moments, he walked back to Cream, picking herup. He began to inspect her carefully. (Don't get any ideas, ya pervs!) Then he tossed her up, catching her in a death grip of a hug, shouting out, "BUNNY!!!"

"I think I found another weakness," I mumbled.

"Rouge walked up to Keenan, tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, big guy, ya wanna loosen up on her before her head pops off?"

Keenan looked around the room, as if waking up from a nap. He looked at the small animal that he was holding, then dropped it. Cream landed on the ground, gasping for air. "Uhh, little bunny girl, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Cream nodded, then looked up and said, "It's alright, you're forgiven."

"Is what you told me true?" he asked. "Is Eggman the real bad guy?"

"Yeah," I said. "He's the one that imprisoned Shadow. We're planning on rescuing him. Wanna help?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He probably also sealed the rest of my brothers and sisters, too. They must be still on ARK. But he brought me here because of my stupidity. That's the reason I'm a prototype. If I was smarter, I would have been the project they would have stopped with."

"So, how many more Shadows do we got running around here, anyways?" A figure appeared over the whole, and then jumped down into the hole. It was Sonic, followed by Tails, Espio, and Knuckles.

"SONIC!!" Amy yelled, running towards the famous blue hero. She gave him a big hug, slightly crying.

"Hey, Ames, settle down," he said, returning the hug. "I'm fine, see?"

"I'm just so happy! I thought that Eggman might've gotten you!"

They got serious again, and Sonic looked around the room. "Hey, Zane, good to see you again. The same to all of you. But it seems like there's two new faces that I haven't seen before."

"Oh, uh...This is my little brother, Jinn, and that," I said, pointing to Keenan," is one of Shadow's brothers, Keenan."

"Well, I'm glad that we have a few more powerful allies to help us," he said.

"So, d'you got some type of plan, Sonic?" Rouge asked.

"Well, there's two things that we can do. One: We can go for an all out raid on Eggman's HQ, or two: We could go in the sneaky way and destroy it from the inside-out."

"Remember, we still have to save Shadow," Rouge reminded him.

"Yeah, I know," he said. Then he turned to me. "And now we have the Master Emerald with us, so we can put the plan into action!"

"Great!" I said, a grin forming on my face. 'Things are finally looking up for us.' "Alright, let's take a vote for how we enter the headquarters..."

END CHAPTER EIGHT

A/N: Alright, after this, I, the author, will no longer be hosting the author notes. Instead, Zane will. And if you wanna flame my story, go right ahead. I accept them. But he probably won't. He'll probably try to unleash all types of hell onto you. But, other than that, you people are safe from me. But reviews are welcome. I like reviews. Flames are fun to read too. The way people try to insult you over the internet, it's funny. Well, goodbye everyone.