Enter The Game

[Deleted]

^_^

[doublemxx]

Chapter 21
Purity

“Becky, how much further? We’ve been walking for ages!!” The young wolf whined.
“Don’t worry Shelly. It’s not that far now. It can’t be!” Becky smiled at Michelle.
“Can we at least take a break? My feet hurt….” Michelle asked.
“We have to keep going Shelly….” Becky froze mid-sentence as she looked at her friend.
She drooped her ears and tails and gave Becky a puppy-dog look.
“Ugh… cheap shot…” She smiled. “You know I can’t say no to you when you do that.”
Michelle smiled.
“I know.” She said, as she sat down on the grass. “That’s why I did it.” She stuck her tongue out at her tauntingly.
“Alright, but we have to get going again soon.” Becky remained standing and looked around. In the distance she could see large mountains and glaciers that seemed to just rise up out of nowhere.
“We’re close to her….. I can’t believe she would do this to us….” She thought to herself. “These guys are supposed to be the best… There’s no way we can take her alone.” She closed her eyes and thought for several moments.
“Becky?” Michelle looked up, “You ok?”
“Hmm?” Becky re-opened her eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine…. But I’ll be better when we get there. C’mon”
“Awww…” Michelle started to give Becky her puppy-dog look again. The hedgehog shook her head laughing.
“Not gonna work this time.” Becky smiled, “Let’s go… Besides, the quicker we get there, the quicker you can rest.”
The duo set off in the direction of the icy mountains, but Becky was constantly made sure she was aware of anything out of place.

“Carl…. Are you ok there?”
It had been 14 hours since Carl had had any contact with any Freedom Fighter, and finally he would get some news.
“I’m here Sonic, what’s up?” Carl joyfully replied.
“We’re almost at the Volcano…. Where are you?” Sonic asked.
“Well, I’m uh…..in Ice Ridge….somewhere…” He said, puzzled.
“Well, be careful alright?” Sonic told him.
“Don’t worry about me; just concentrate on getting that Emerald.”
“Got it, speak to ya soon.” Sonic replied.
Carl sighed.
“Carl… What’s wrong?” Natasha asked.
“Hmm? Oh…It’s nothing…..unless…” Carl grinned.
“Unless….what?” Natasha wondered.
“Can you take control for a little while?”
“Sure.” Natasha’s virtual column appeared and she took control of WOLF.
“Alright then.” Carl smiled and leapt out of WOLF.
“Carl, what are you doing?” Natasha looked horrified.
“I’m right here,” Carl appeared at her left side. “I thought it would be good to stretch my legs a little.” He smiled at Natasha.
“You’re just as bad as Sonic.” She smiled.
“Yeah, I know….” Carl shouted as he pulled away from WOLF to its left and raced up an icy ramp before leaping into the air.
“WOOOOOOOOOO!” Carl yelled as he flipped around in the air before landing….almost…perfectly on the ground. He lost his balance and went sliding over on the ice.
“Ow….” He exclaimed as he hit a small bank of snow.
Carl laughed as he managed to get himself out of the bank before getting up and tearing off after WOLF.
“Enjoying yourself Carl?” Natasha asked when he finally caught up with WOLF.
“Yeah…sorta.” He laughed as he retook control of WOLF.
“We’re nearing the edge of Ice Ridge, so we’re getting closer to the forest.” She informed him.
20 minutes later, he hit lush green grass. It was a pleasant change from all the ice he had put up with for most of the journey.
“I didn’t know that Ice Ridge took up so much of Mobius.” He said.
“It takes up a lot of the planet, but the way we came took us through most of it.” She smiled. “Don’t worry, maybe you will get to see the rest of the places you know.”
“I hope so.” Carl said disappointed.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Becky were still pounding the grass in direction of the icy wastes. Suddenly, Becky stopped dead and Michelle walked into the back of her.
“Becky? What is it?” She asked.
“I don’t know….. But whatever it is….. It’s coming this way.”
In the distance, they could see a trail of leaves and dust being thrown backwards into the air behind a moving vehicle.
“Maybe they can help us?” Michelle said, taking off her shoes and wiggling her toes around to get some feeling back into them.
“Maybe… But we can’t be too careful.” Becky said, her hands were hovering over her set of blades.
“If they can help us….. I hope they will.” Becky thought to herself.
“What do we do?” Michelle asked.
“Wave it down!” Becky shouted.
The two girls began frantically waving their arms around in the air, facing the moving vehicle.
“They’re slowing down!” Michelle cried.
“Excellent.” Becky smiled.
“Hey, you two alright?” Carl asked as he stepped down from WOLF.
“Thank you for stopping.” Michelle smiled.
“No problem ma’am.” Carl said politely.
Michelle giggled.
“So…what are you two doing all the way out here?” Carl asked.
Becky moved her hands slightly away from her blades, but ensured she was ready if this guy did something stupid.
“Yeah, sorry… I guess we should have explained.” She said sheepishly, “My name is Becky…”
“And I’m Michelle,” Michelle piped up.
“Yeah…anyway…. We were wondering if you could give us a ride.”
“Well, that depends where you’re both headed.” Carl told them, “I’m kind of in the middle of something…” He trailed off as Becky drew her blades and prepared to strike. “Whoa… What the?” Carl exclaimed as Becky forced him against WOLF with a blade against his neck.
“Then please, be so kind as to tell me what the hell could be more important than this!” She snarled.
“Oh, I don’t know….maybe finding a Chaos Emerald to stop some psychotic echidna who’s decided to take one of my friends hostage.” Carl yelled, generating a fire sword.
”Wait….. Echidna?” Michelle looked shocked….. “Becky….it couldn’t be….”
“Her…Her name wouldn’t be Hannah would it?” Becky kept her blade at Carl’s neck but her voice seemed a lot friendlier than it had done 4 seconds ago.
“Y…Yeah… But how do you?” Carl started.
“She….she used to be with us… But then she just… went crazy during a mission…..” Michelle looked down at the ground. “You see, Becky, Hannah and I….we were a team…. Team Purity.”
“The greatest group of Freedom Fighters…. Second only to THE Freedom Fighters.” Becky explained, still with her blade to Carl’s neck.
“Like me then.” Carl said, trying to force Becky away, but she moved the knife even closer to his flesh.
“What do you mean… “Like you?”” Becky asked.
“I am a Freedom Fighter.” Carl said.
“How can we be so sure?” Becky snarled, still holding her position.
“I don’t know….” Carl snapped…. “I don’t know how I could prove it to you, but you’re going to have to trust me if you want my help right?”
Becky moved away from him slowly.
“You had better be telling the truth kid….. Because if not, I’ll see to it personally that you feel pain.” She didn’t stop watching him. She knew she would have to be careful around him.
“Don’t worry… I won’t” Carl said, withdrawing his blade.
“So, you’ll help us.” Michelle asked.
“I don’t see why not…. As long as you don’t mind taking a small detour back towards the forest…. I need that Emerald….”
“Let’s not waste any time.” Becky said. “It will be dark soon, and if you’re looking to get through that forest during the night… Then you must be as crazy as me.” Becky smiled slightly.
“Everybody get in WOLF.” Carl said, pointing to it.
Michelle put her shoes back on and Becky hopped into WOLF.
“Let’s move!” Carl started up WOLF and tore off towards the forest.
“Carl to any available Freedom Fighter.” Carl spoke into his communicator as Becky made herself comfortable in the seat next to him. Michelle was falling asleep in the back seat, but jumped when Carl spoke.
“Tails here. What’s goin’ on?”
“Oh, not much. I’ve managed to pick up a couple of ladies who know Hannah.” He said.
“What?” Tails exclaimed. “Where?”
“A couple of hours away from the forest…” Carl spoke quieter as he noticed Michelle had curled up in the back and drifted to sleep.
“Alright… Well get your Emerald first, then get back to the base.”
“Shadow to all Freedom Fighters, we have our Emerald.” Shadows voice interrupted.
“Great work you two.” Tails exclaimed happily, “Get back to the base using Chaos Control… we need someone back there now….”
“I’m on it Tails.” Shadow said….. “CHAOS…..”
The line went dead…..
“Tails?”
Silence….
“Carl to any Freedom Fighter….”
Still nothing.
“What is it?” Becky asked.
“I don’t know…. The comm link is down.” Carl frantically tried to get his communicator working by turning it off and back on… But nothing happened.
“Must be because of this…” Becky pointed upwards as Carl suddenly noticed he was surrounded by huge mountains.
“Argh… I don’t need this…”
“Look on the bright side Carl…. At least we’re closer to the forest right?”
“I guess so.” Carl said.
He looked back at Michelle…. Sound asleep.
“How long have you two been travelling?” Carl asked.
“Several days now.” Becky explained.
“How the heck did you managed to find yourself all the way out here?”
“When Hannah went berserk, she left us out here and just flew off.” Becky looked around the hills. Night was closing in fast and Carl activated the lights on WOLF. “I’ve never seen her like that…. She just…flipped.”
“What happened?”
“We….don’t know… One minute she was fine, and the next….” She broke off.
”It’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it you know….” Carl said comfortingly, “You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“I have never… wanted to turn against my friend…..” Becky said in a low voice, “But something just happened to her…. And I don’t know what. If I have to fight her…. I will.”
“I understand.” Carl nodded.
Silence fell between them.
“You not getting any rest?” Carl asked.
“I may do in a while.” She said, “But don’t get any ideas….” She said warningly, taking out her blade again, “I meant what I said…. If you try anything….”
“I know.” He smiled slightly, “Don’t worry about it, you get some rest if you want.”
“Do me a favour.” Becky put her hand on the dashboard as she made herself more comfortable to sleep. “Wake me when you get to the forest.”
“I will.” Carl nodded, as Becky turned away and closed her eyes. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Carl.” Becky said.
“This is going to be some journey…” Becky thought to herself.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 22
Challenge of The Guardian

“Carl?”
“What’s wrong Tails?” Katy asked. She was holding a steady course towards Hydrocity.
“Carl must be out in the hills.” Tails said, “I can’t get hold of him on my communicator.”
“He’ll be OK.” Katy smiled, “He knows what he’s doing.”
She landed down next to a huge lake in the middle of a set of mountains.
“This is it?” Katy asked.
“Not quite…..” Tails pressed a few buttons and the cockpit dropped out of the bottom and dived into the water.
“This is cool.” Katy exclaimed. “Now let’s find this Emerald!”

“Becky……. Becky…… BECKY!!!!!” Carl shook Becky awake only to be greeted by her blade against his chest.
“Sorry Carl…. It’s a force of habit” She sheathed her blade and hopped out of WOLF. “Shelly? We gotta go girl.” She shook Michelle awake and she stretched and yawned.
“Aww... why did you have to wake me?” She whined.
“Would you like to stay here?” Becky asked.
“No…” Michelle said.
“There ya go then.” Becky smiled. “Lead on Carl.”
Carl darted into the forest as Becky and Michelle followed him closely.
“Carl… you do know where we’re going right?” Michelle asked.
“Sure I do…. I’ve done this loads of times.” He replied.
They leapt over huge gaps in the forest floor, completely unaware that they were being watched.
“So….. He has finally arrived…..” Tak stood above them in a high tree. “He shall find what he seeks soon enough…. And I shall be ready.” He leapt down and ran off into the dense forest.
“Carl….” Becky stopped.
“What is it?” Carl came to a halt.
Becky looked around at where Tak had been standing.
“Er… Nothing…. I thought I saw something up there.”
She pointed at the place where Tak had stood.
“There’s nothing there….. Let’s go… The quicker we get to the Emerald, the quicker we can get back to the base.”
Becky looked back at the spot, but carried on running with Carl and Michelle.

Scarlet and Hannah were still watching for Carl on Ice Ridge.
“How long?” Scarlet asked.
Hannah checked her timer.
“A little over 21 hours.” She said.
“Why did we have to come out this early?” Scarlet asked.
“In case he came back earlier.” Hannah said firmly. “We only get one chance with this, and I don’t want to miss it.”
She pulled out her green Chaos Emerald.
“He will need to be out very early to catch me out.” She sneered.

“There it is!!!” Katy exclaimed.
In the distance, a bright blue light shone like a beacon through the murky waters.
“Excellent, now all we need to do is grab it, get it in here and get back to the base.” Tails cried happily.
Using a robotic arm, Tails expertly managed to grab at the blue Chaos Emerald and pull it into the cargo area.
“Katy, we need to get back to the surface. We need to tell everyone we have the Emerald.”
“We’d better get moving then!” Katy turned around the sub and charged back the way she came, back towards the open area where they had entered the cold depths of Hydrocity.

“Hey Carl… is that it?” Michelle asked, pointing out a silver light in the distance surrounded by fiery torches.
“That’s it Michelle.” Carl said, before he ran off towards it.
Becky and Michelle followed him into the clearing where the Emerald was set up.
“Here goes nothing….” Carl said as he reached out to grab the Emerald. His hands passed straight through it and huge, thick vines surrounded the clearing.
“It’s a trap!” Becky exclaimed, drawing her blades. “You set us up!” She snarled.
“No…. I didn’t!” Carl protested, but Becky slammed into him and put his blade against his neck again while pinning him to the ground.
“You will pay for this.” She raised her blade into the air and brought it down towards his neck, but Michelle screamed and she stopped, inches away from his flesh.
“What the?” Carl gasped.
Some of the vines had sprung out for the wall and grabbed Michelle, dragging her body into it. More and more vines ensnared her body and drew her in, until only her head was visible.
“Help me!” She cried.
“I’m coming Shelly!” Becky ran over to her, dropping her blades and began tugging her free from the vines, but they dragged her in too.
“Carl… I swear… you are mine….” Becky snarled.
“Carl WATCH OUT!!!” Michelle screamed.
Carl turned around just in time to see a thick vine grab him and draw him into the wall.
Laughter filled the air as a mysterious figure leapt into the centre.
“If you want the Emerald…… you must fight me.” He snarled.
He looked around the circle of vines until he saw Carl, struggling to break free.
“You…… I wish to fight you.” He pointed at him.
“Why me.”
“I have heard of your skills…. And I wish to put them to the test.”
The vines released Carl and he was thrown into the centre of the ring.
“And so there are no distractions….” He snapped his fingers and vines covered Becky and Michelle’s mouths, silencing them.
“Let them go NOW!” Carl roared.
“I’m afraid; you must defeat me…..”
“Just who do you think you are?” Carl snapped.
“My name is Tak… I am the guardian of the forest. And I have challenged you…”
“Bring it on……” Carl took up a fighting stance and drew a fiery sword.
“Think logically my friend.” Tak spoke calmly. “Fire and grass? I don’t think they mix well”
Carl growled as he withdrew his sword.
“Much better,” He sneered, “Now let’s fight.”
Tak launched a ferocious kick at Carl which sent him reeling to the ground.
“Oh dear…. It seems I may have over-estimated you.” He smirked.
“I need that Emerald….” Carl gasped for air. “Why do I have to fight you?”
He leapt out of the way of Tak’s attack and kicked him down.
“Simple, he who can defeat me, is truly worthy of carrying the sacred Emerald.”
Carl leapt at Tak but missed as Tak fly tackled him in the stomach, sending him backwards into the vine wall.
“MMMPPHH” Becky tried to speak, but the vine restricted her voice. She nodded over to her discarded blades.
”Thanks Becky.” He ran over and grabbed the blades and prepared himself to truly fight.
“Your weaponry doesn’t scare me human….” He spat. “I can easily take you down.”
“He has some strong will.” Tak thought, “Let’s hope I get the outcome that I want to see.”
Carl charged at Tak and slashed at him with the blades, narrowly missing him, but Tak grabbed Carl’s leg and swung him into the wall again.
“I really expected better of you Carl….. I honestly thought that someone with your training would be able to take me on and win…”
“How…..” He began.
“How do I know of your training?” He asked mockingly, “Easy, I have my sources.”
Carl ran at Tak again and leapt into the air and slammed him down with his metal boots.
“Hey this non-verbal thing works!” Carl exclaimed as he took off into the air as Tak recovered, but Carl slammed him down again with his boots. “What was that you were saying guardian?”
As Carl launched himself back into the air, he noticed that Tak had disappeared. Carl landed next to the crater and inspected it. Tak had dug a hole under the ground.
“Ha ha ha ha ha.” Tak’s laughter rang out over the clearing. “You fool. You thought THAT would get rid of me?”
Becky and Michelle looked around the clearing for the source of the voice from their positions in the wall.
“MMMMMM!!!!” Michelle groaned; her eyes wide with fear.
“What?” Carl spun round, only to be kicked in the face by Tak.
“I guess you weren’t fast enough my friend.” Tak laughed.
“Speed has nothing to do with how you fight” Carl said, recovering from the blow, “It’s about how you fight with what you have.”
Carl lunged at Tak with Becky’s blades and managed to cut his arm open. Crimson blood spattered onto the floor, contrasting with the green grass.
“Lucky shot kid, but that’s the last move you will make.”
Carl dodged Tak’s furious attacking and slashed at him again, striking his chest.
“NO!” He yelled.
“CARL! WATCH OUT!!” Becky screamed at him, the vine blocking her mouth had moved in order for the vines to ensnare Carl’s legs.
“You see Carl… While you may not use your power against me here, I can use mine to my advantage.”
“Advantage…..” Carl thought. “THAT’S IT! He reached for his good luck charm. “CHAOS CONTROL!!”
Carl vanished in a silvery light.
“What the?” Tak spun round, looking for Carl. “Excellent….. His skills are superior to my own…. He won’t go down easily” He thought to himself.
“You see Tak… While I may not use my special ability… There are other ways that I can take you down.”
Carl’s voice echoed all around the clearing, like Tak’s had done moments before.
“This is not over yet Carl!” Tak called, “Face me and finish what you started!”
Carl landed right behind him.
“With pleasure.” He whispered, before kicking Tak onto the vine wall.
“Y…..You win….” He groaned.
“Release my friends….NOW!” Carl commanded.
Tak clicked his fingers and the vines relinquished their grip on Michelle and Becky.
“This is not over Carl…. I wish to face you again in the future.” Tak said, standing up.
“You can count on it.”
Tak vanished into the shadows, leaving behind the silver Chaos Emerald.
“Carl…That was amazing!” Michelle cried.
“Well… I…heh.” Carl smiled. “Oh…Becky… Thank you.” Carl handed Becky back her blades before he reached down and grabbed the Emerald.
“No problem. I’m sorry I jumped on you earlier….”
“Don’t worry… It’s instinct.” Carl said, smiling. “You ready to go back?”
Michelle and Becky nodded.
“Hold onto me.” Carl said. Becky and Michelle each grabbed one of Carl’s arms. “Here we go, CHAOS CONTROL!”
Using the Chaos Emeralds power, Carl warped Becky, Michelle and himself back to WOLF.
“Ow…..” Michelle clutched her head, “That hurt.”
“Sorry Michelle…” Carl said, “I should have warned you.”
Carl walked back to WOLF and jumped in. “All aboard… Next stop, Freedom Fighter HQ.”
The girls both jumped in as Carl started up WOLF.
Daylight began filtering over the hills as the trio set off back towards the HQ. When he was back within range of communication Carl contacted Tails.
“You got you Emerald? That’s great!” Tails exclaimed.
“You’re the only one left to get back here buddy, “Sonic told him, “I know you wont be back for several hours, so just be careful ok?”
“I will Sonic.” Carl nodded firmly.
“Hey Carl… there’s something that’s been on my mind since we left the forest….” Becky spoke quietly because, once again, Michelle had dropped off to sleep. “How come you fought to save us… even though you hardly know us?”
“I’m a Freedom Fighter… just because I don’t know you, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help you.”
“Thank you Carl.” Becky smiled.
“Don’t mention it.” He returned the smile, “Are you going to get your head down again? We still have a long way to go.”
“Nah, I’ll be ok… Besides, I’ll keep you company for a while.” Becky laughed.

Becky and Carl talked and talked for hours, learning whatever they could about one another. When Michelle woke up, Carl offered them some food which he had bought with him and they all got talking and singing when Carl put on his music.
Night started falling again, just as Carl hit the Central Ice Ridge area.
“We’re almost there.” Carl announced, “Just a couple more hours and we’ll….” Carl stopped mid-sentence, as WOLF flew out of control. Something had just hit the side of it.
As Carl pulled it to a stop, he got out and inspected the damage
“Nothing there….” Carl told the girls. “What the hell was that?”
“Perhaps I could explain that.” An all-too-familiar voice spoke from within an eerie green light.
“You.” Carl snarled.

[Deleted]

Meh good work and close enough on his fighting style... He still has his vectorlets you know (He only lost his sword)

[doublemxx]

Chapter 23
Frozen Battle

“That’s right,” Hannah smirked, “It was worth the wait just to get you here Carl.”
Huge lights appeared from nowhere and lit up the large glacier.
“It was worth the long wait to get you here Carl.”
”Hannah!” Michelle cried.
“No!” Carl cried, “Don’t get involved!”
“Natasha…can you hear me? Get Becky and Michelle back to HQ now!” He thought.
“I’m on it.” Natasha appeared at the pilot seat of WOLF and drove off, but Becky leapt out as WOLF began to move off.
“Michelle, you’ll be OK!” She cried after the speeding vehicle. “Don’t worry about us!”
Michelle just sat there waving frantically.
“Don’t……” She cried, as she vanished into the distance.
“I’m sorry Michelle…. I don’t want you to get hurt…..”
“Becky? What are you doing?” Carl asked angrily. “This is between me and her.”
“Don’t you remember…? She betrayed us… I’m not going to let her get away with it…”
Carl nodded firmly as Becky took her place next to Carl, wielding her blades.
“Well, well, well….” Hannah seemed unimpressed, “Becky …. I didn’t think I’d see you again any time soon.”
“Think again.” Becky snarled.
“We’re going to take you down together…. Two on one….”
“If that’s how you want to play it..” Hannah smirked. She had something planned… Both Carl and Becky could tell.. They just didn’t know what.
“Take this!” Becky launched herself at Hannah and tried to slash at her with her blades, but she missed narrowly and was sent sprawling across the ice.
“You’re mine Hannah!” Carl cried as he leapt at Hannah, but again she moved out of the way.
“You are pathetic.” Hannah laughed, “I can see this is going to be easier that I thought.”
Becky got up and charged at Hannah again, but she moved out of the way at a blinding pace and kicked Becky in the back.
“Hannah… We’re going to end this….” Carl shouted, “I won’t let you hurt anybody else.”
“Why?” Hannah smirked, “You don’t want another victim like Natasha?” She smiled evilly as he saw Carl’s head lower slightly, “Yes…. It does get you all wound up doesn’t it? Knowing that I was able to take away someone that meant so much to you with very little effort.”
“This…….ends….NOW!” Carl screamed, lunging at Hannah with a fiery sword. He managed to make a long burn mark along her stolen Battle Suit but that didn’t stop her.
You see Carl. I have the power to make you do whatever I want.” Hannah nodded slightly, “All I have to do…. Is make sure that I rip whatever emotion you have left in you…”
“That… That isn’t true!” Carl’s head fell into his hands.
“Carl! Don’t listen to her… She’s messing with your head!” Becky slammed into Hannah and took her to the floor, before she kicked her off and punched her in the gut.
“Becky!” Carl shouted, as he watched her body arc into the air and land back on the ground with a sickening thud. “Hannah…. You….will NEVER take me!”
“We’ll see about that.” She smirked, “I think it’s time I tested how strong your will to fight actually is.” She pulled out her Emerald and started charging its power into her body. “Chaos Freeze!”
Becky’s body was enveloped in an intense green light; seconds later; she was trapped inside a large green crystal.
“Let me out of here!” Becky screamed, banging on the walls.
“Becky!” Carl ran over to the crystal and began slamming into it with his metal fists and boots.
Hannah began laughing, “You won’t get her out of there…. It’s fused with Chaos Energy. You can’t free her... unless I do it... Which won’t happen any time soon.”
“Release….her…NOW!” Carl roared.
“That’s it…. Get mad with me, now we fight.” Hannah laughed, “For you life…..and hers…”
Hannah snapped her fingers and water started filling up the bottom of the crystal.
“NO!” Carl cried.
“Don’t worry about me… Take her down now!” Becky nodded.
As the water slowly crept up Becky’s’ legs, she started climbing up the crystal; trying to keep as high as possible.
“I have had enough of you Hannah. You know something? I thought it was bad enough me having to face people just like you back home… But you see… I’m not some pushover you can bend to your will.” Carl jumped into the air and started flying. His new non verbal command module was working perfectly.
“We’ll see in due time won’t we? Either you defeat me… or your new friend drowns.”
Carl drew out his Emerald and used it’s power to slow down time.
“I think I just bought myself a little time.” He smirked; charging at Hannah’s slowed down body. Before she could react, he kicked and punched her several times. Carl returned time back to normal and watched as Hannah fell to the ground.
“Becky… you ok?” He looked over at the crystal. The water was almost half-way up it. He had to work quickly.
“Speeding up a bit might help.” Becky said sarcastically.
“I am trying….”
Becky’s eyes widened and she pointed behind him.
“Carl! Behind you!” Becky screamed.
“Wha?” Something extremely painful shot through his neck and he collapsed onto the ground.
“I see you’ve met my Shock Collar.” Hannah smirked. She placed a foot firmly on Carl’s chest as he put his hands to his neck and felt a thick collar around it.
“I wouldn’t try to remove it if I were you.” She said, holding a small black box, “Who knows when, my finger might slip.” She pressed a button and pain seared through his body.
“This….is not…over…” Carl panted.
He swung his leg up and kicked her back, making her drop the control. Which he quickly slammed his fist onto, shattering it.
“No!” Hannah screamed. “You’re mine!”
She drew her sharp blade and slashed at him with it, but Carl rolled out of the way quickly before jumping back to his feet and facing Hannah.
“Take this!” His eyes grew fiery, but another shock of energy sent him to his knees.
“Did I forget to mention? The collar automatically activates when you try to use any of your powers.” She slammed him against the wall and pressed her blade close to his neck.
“Finish me…. If that’s what it takes then finish me.” Carl said firmly.
“You and I both know I can’t do that.” Hannah shook her head, “But I can do this.”
She raised her arm, as she did before and Carl’s legs froze solid.
“No… HANNAH STOP THIS!” Becky screamed.
“You stay out of this!” Hannah snarled, before turning back to Carl. Her face was so close to Carl’s that he could hear everything she was saying under her breath.
“I’m not going to kill you.” She whispered, “Not yet… I think I’ll have a little fun with you first…. If you survive… Then maybe I will have to kill you directly after all.”
She stopped the ice around his neck and leaned even closer to him. Her lips started glowing a vivid blue as she whispered into his ear “Goodbye Carl.”
Carl tried to speak but the second her lips touched his, his mouth froze solid. She continued kissing him until his head was completely encased in ice.
“It’s a shame… I wouldn’t have minded continuing this for longer.” She smiled evilly at Carl’s lifeless body, completely encased in a block of ice. “At least you can’t cause me any trouble if you are frozen solid.”
“What shall we do with her?” Scarlet asked, pointing at Becky. The water had almost reached her neck.
“I don’t think you would mind coming along with me” She smirked. She raised her hand again and froze the water.
“See you” Hannah laughed.
“Yeah… IN HELL!” Becky shouted as the rest of the crystal filled with ice.
“Scarlet… lets get these two to their new… accommodation.” Hannah said.
Scarlet pushed the large crystal towards Carl and the two of them stood in between the frozen bodies.
“CHAOS CONTROL!” Hannah shouted, and they all vanished in a green light.


“Who are you?” Sonic demanded. The young wolf looked ready to burst into tears.
“Who are you?” Sonic asked again.
“M….. My name is Michelle.” Michelle stammered.
“How did you get Carls’ vehicle? And where is he?” He demanded.
“He... He and Becky... T…They… They’re fighting Hannah….”
“HANNAH?” Tails gasped. “She can’t have known.”
“She does…. And by now she probably has them both captive.” Shadow said gravely.
“What do we do Sonic?” Knuckles asked, “It’s not like we can just go up to her castle and say “Hi Hannah, can we have our friends back?””
“We could… but we’d get ripped to shreds.” Tails pointed out.
“This needs careful planning.” Sonic nodded.
“What do we tell Katy?” Spyke asked.
“What is there to tell her?” Shadow told him. “She cannot know the truth… If she knew, that... She would try and go after Hannah herself, and we’re already two Freedom Fighters down!”
“Like I said.. This will need careful planning. We can’t leave ourselves open at all.” Sonic said gravely.
”But what about Carl?... And Becky?” Michelle asked.
“We’ll just have to hope they’re ok. There’s nothing we can do for now.” Spyke said.
“In the meantime, we’ll kit you out… If you’re willing to help us?” Tails asked.
“I’ll help…. I want to get my friend back… And I want to help Carl.. He helped us so it’s only right.” Michelle nodded.
“Then let’s get started.” Tails said happily. He was glad he could put his technical expertise to use again.
They all left the hangar except for Sonic.
“Carl… I don’t know what you managed to get yourself into buddy…. But you’ll be ok…. I know you will.”
With that, he left the hangar following everybody else.

“No…..” Natasha gasped as she saw Carl being pushed into place in the centre of the room.
“That’s right Natasha.. I thought you would want a front row seat to your friends torture.” She gave Natasha a spiteful smile before turning Carl’s icy body onto his back.
She raised her hand and made a table appear out of the floor, before lifting Carl’s body onto it.
“After all… You two are his friends.” Hannah looked over at Scarlet who was placing the green crystal next to Natasha. “It wouldn’t be fair if you weren’t here to see it.”
“Everything is ready Hannah!” Scarlet announced.
Hannah released Becky from her crystal but left her encased in ice.
“Ready?” Hannah looked at Scarlet who nodded firmly.
Hannah unfroze Becky’s body and the two of them quickly grabbed her arms and put them in icy chains.
“HANNAH!” Becky yelled, “Let me go!”
“You and I both know that isn’t going to happen Becky… not yet at least.. I thought you might want to watch the show too.” She smirked.
Becky looked over at the table and saw Carl’s body.
“What are you going to do to him?” She demanded.
“You will see.” She smirked again before walking back over to Carl, leaving Becky to try and break free of her binds.
Hannah slowly unfroze Carl, making sure that his hands and feet remained frozen, rendering his body near-immobile.
“Welcome to the world of the living….. for now.” She laughed evilly.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 24
Excruciating

“You can’t do this Hannah! Natasha shouted.
“Watch me….” She smirked. She pulled out the thin chains from her belt and attached them to her fingers. Becky, Natasha and Carl watched as the chains began getting longer and longer, being manipulated by Hannah. The sharp blades on the ends of the chains looked extremely deadly and Carl tried to break free of his icy bonds.
“Let…me….go…” He grunted, desperate to get away from her.
“That isn’t going to happen I’m afraid”, She snarled, “At least until I get what I want.”
“And just what is it that you want?” Natasha asked.
“Complete and utter control of the Chaos Emeralds… What else?”
“I might have known…” Carl nodded.
“Well, I have two of the seven Emeralds now… I’m getting there slowly, but if your friends are as smart as they look, then they will make things easier for me by giving me the four that they have.”
“And just what makes you thin they will give them to you?” Becky snarled.
“This does.” She smiled evilly. She moved one of her Snake Chains against Carl’s Battle Suit and its blade sank into it. The chain ran all the way down it, ripping it off Carl’s body, leaving him wearing the t-shirt and shorts he had worn back on Earth.
“That is just the beginning.” Hannah smirked as she watched Carl struggle even more to break free. “Things are about to get even more interesting. Now Scarlet.”
Scarlet ran over to the panel in the wall and pressed a button. The screen next to it displayed Hannah, Carl, Becky and Natasha in the room.
“Attention Freedom Fighters…… I know you can hear me…”

“What the?” Sonic looked at the screen in the main hall… Hannah’s face had just appeared on it.
“Hannah!” Tails looked up from his plan sheet and the other Freedom Fighters ran into the room.
“CARL!” Katy cried as she saw him bound to the table.
“Grrr... Hannah! What do you want?” Sonic demanded.
“Oh… I don’t want you to do anything except watch.” She smiled evilly before turning towards Carl. “You see…. There is a difference between our kind and yours.” She said to Carl, “We have a certain amount of endurance, while you don’t.”
She pointed one of the Snake Chains at Carl’s chest before making its blade sink a little way into Carl’s skin. Carl screamed in pain.
“You see.” She sneered.
“HANNAH NO!!!!” Natasha screamed,
“I’m only just getting started.” She moved another Chain over Carl’s leg and sank it into his flesh. “Again, Carl yelled in pain.
“How does it feel Sonic?” She smirked, “To see one of your friends so helpless.” She laughed evilly. “You have 2 days Sonic. Every hour that those Emeralds you have aren’t in my possession… Well...”
She commanded another one of her chains to make the cut on Carl’s chest increase in size. Blood trickled from his wounds as he lay with tears rolling down his face and freezing on the table.
“Two days Sonic…. Then your friend dies.” She then cut the connection.
“C…..C….Carl…” Katy stammered. “He….” She couldn’t finish her sentence; she just fled from the room.
“Katy!” Sonic called after her.
“Let me…” Shadow said firmly before following her.
“That does it…” Tails said angrily, “We have to move quicker now.”
“Tails… if we rush then we may fail and all will be lost.” Spyke nodded, “We must move quick, but we must still maintain our efficiency.”
“Spyke is right, “Knuckles added, “We still need to work hard, but we need to pick up the pace a little.”
“Let’s do it.” Tails nodded.
“Yeah!” Michelle piped up.

“Katy?” Shadow knocked on her door, but wasn’t getting a reply. “Katy... Please... I only wish to help you.”
The door slid open. Katy was sat on her bed with her Battle Suit glowing gently.
“Why….Why would she take him?” Katy choked.
“Because she knows how much he means to our operation, Simple as that.”
“So we’re going to give her the Emeralds right?” She asked.
“No…..” Shadow paused. “Even though Carl, Natasha and Becky’s lives are in danger, we cannot sacrifice the Emeralds… She would kill them all the second she had her hands on them.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” She shouted, “Just sit here….making plans…Waiting for her to contact us again? What’s next Shadow? Her telling us she decided to kill him now?”
“Katy… Please calm down... I know how you feel…” He looked away from her.
“How can you?” She was still shouting.
“Maria…..” Shadow said simply.
“Maria?”
“Maria was my only true friend….. And when the military boarded the Space Colony Ark… they killed her…..”
“And Carl knows about that too?” She asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past him…. He knows many things about our world. None of us know how far his knowledge extends.”
“Shadow….I’m sorry.”
“Do not apologise… It is a natural reaction to what you are going through.” Shadow stood up, “Are you coming?”
Katy shook her head, “I need to be alone for a while.”
“I understand.”
Shadow left the room and returned to the hall.
“Katy won’t be joining us for a while.” He announced.
“I was afraid this would happen.” Sonic said gravely,
“It is only an understandable reaction Sonic.” Spyke said, “We should allow her some time to herself.”
“I know…” Sonic nodded, “Hey Amy… Maybe you could go and talk to her in a little while?”
“I can try….” Amy smiled weakly.
“Good, the only thing we can do now is get moving quickly... We have to get Carl, Natasha and Becky back as soon as we can.”

“You wouldn’t…..” Becky gasped… “You said yourself you couldn’t kill him.”
“If I can’t get things one way… I’ll have to go about it another way.” She smirked, before turning to face Carl’s bleeding body. “I hope you don’t bleed to death before the next transmission.” She smiled, before leaving the room with Scarlet.
“Carl….are you ok?” Natasha asked.
“I’m….in…so much….pain…” He whimpered.
“Fight it Carl.” Becky said firmly. “You have to fight the pain… If Hannah sees that she’s getting the better of you, she’ll think she’s won!”
Carl nodded slowly. Tears streaming down his face again. “It…hurts so… bad...” He moaned. “And…. I’m…..s…..so cold…..”
“Carl… listen to me.” Natasha said soothingly, “Don’t let her think she’s won…. Fight through the pain OK? We’ll be out of here soon….”
Carl lay on the table, shivering and his cuts bleeding slowly. The flow of blood was slowing down but his cuts were still slowly oozing blood out, staining the remains of his t-shirt a deep crimson. Carl tried to lift his head to get a better look at his wounds but because of his hands and legs being immobile, he couldn’t lift his head far enough to see his chest wound.
“Hey….you….two...” He winced… “Does… Does it look...bad?”
“Well….” Becky started.
“T…T….Tell me the truth...”
“It does look pretty bad Carl….” She said quietly, “They look very deep.”
“Thanks Becky….” He lay back down and gave a weak smile. “Oh great….”
“What? What is it?” Natasha asked.
“My nose itches.” He laughed slightly. Natasha and Becky looked at each other and just burst out laughing.

“Katy?” Amy knocked on the door. “Can I come in?”
The door opened and Katy sat up on her bed.
“What’s wrong Amy?” She asked.
“I thought you could use some company for a while.” She smiled.
“Thanks Amy” She smiled weakly.
They sat in silence for a moment before Katy turned and faced Amy.
“Amy…. What are we doing to help Carl?”
“Well… We’re still planning how to help him… and Natasha and Becky….”
“I understand why we’re planning everything, but isn’t there any way we can get to him now? Can’t Sonic and Shadow use Chaos Control?”
Amy shook her head. “Hannah has managed to block anybody from getting into her castle using Chaos Control… Only she can do it.”
“Great…” Katy sighed sarcastically.
“Katy… Carl is strong.” Amy said softly, “He won’t die as long as he knows we’re coming for him.”
“How do you know?” Katy enquired, “For all we know, he… He could be… dead…”
“No he isn’t.” Amy said firmly, “Hannah won’t kill him until she has the Emeralds. She was bluffing when she said she would kill him in two days. She has to have been.”
“I guess you’re right… She needs those Emeralds for whatever it is she needs them for. At least we know he’s safe until she gets those Emeralds.”
“There ya go.” Amy smiled. “You ready to come back down?”
Katy nodded. “Let’s go.” She smiled weakly.

“Carl? What’s wrong?” Natasha asked worriedly. His breathing had increased over the past hour.
“Hard… to breathe…” He said breathily, “So…..cold…”
His body was slowly turning blue from the extreme cold. If someone didn’t do something… He would be dead in mere hours.
“Becky, we have to do something….” Natasha looked extremely worried, “If we don’t he’s going to die.”
“There’s nothing we can do. He has one of those collars on, which means that even if he did have his Battle Suit… He couldn’t generate any fire to keep him warm.” She said gravely.
“Hang in there Carl…” Natasha thought to herself, “You’ve got to hold on.”

“Alright… We have our plan.” Sonic smiled, “We have to attack Hannah’s Castle as soon as Hannah finishes her next transmission. That way, we have an hour before she knows we’re gone.”
“How are we going to get there that fast?” Spyke asked, “It took Carl several hours to get to the Castle area in WOLF.”
“I’ve thought of that.” Tails nodded from in the corner. “Because we can’t get to Hannah’s Castle with Chaos Control, we have to use Chaos Control to slow down time to get us there fast enough.”
“And that means we can still use the power of the Emeralds to get there quick without Hannah knowing we are coming.” Katy said happily. “But wait...” He face fell slightly, “If we can do that to get there… can’t she do that to get here?”
“She won’t leave her Castle until she knows she has the Emeralds.” Shadow nodded.
“Alright, we have to get Michelle suited up NOW Tails!” Sonic commanded, “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“Got ya Sonic.” Tails grabbed Michelle’s arm and ran out of the hangar to his workshop.
“Attention Freedom Fighters.” Hannah was sending another transmission.

“Attention Freedom Fighters” She repeated, “It’s been one hour. And I still see no Emeralds here, except for these two.” She held up the green and silver Emeralds. “So it’s time we let Carl have a bit more…. “fun”” She smirked as she emphasised the word “fun”. “See how he is suffering from the cold?”
The screen showed Carl on the table. His body was shaking almost non-stop.
“Let him go Hannah!” Sonic demanded.
“I don’t think so my friend, “She glared at Sonic, “I’m running the show here, and it isn’t over until I say it’s over.”
She moved over towards Carl.
“You listen to me now Sonic. You have just 53 hours to get me my Emeralds. Every hour from now, I will push Carl to the brink of his pain threshold”
“Don’t do this Hannah.” Katy screamed at the monitor.
“And why would I listen to you?” Hannah stared at Katy. “You see, there are certain rules which you have to abide by in situations like this. The bad girl asks for something, you give it to her… or the hostage goes bye-bye.”
“Tell that to John McClane” Carl thought to himself”
“Tell that to Sonic.” Natasha thought.
“Try telling me that.” Becky thought.
“So Sonic, you have a little under 53 hours.” Hannah grinned demonically, “But I have talked for long enough, it’s time to start the show.”
“You are sick Hannah.” Carl breathed.
“Not as sick as you’re gonna be.” She snarled into his ear. “Chaos HEAL!”
“What?” Everybody cried in unison.
The silver and green energies from the two Emeralds flowed into Carl’s body, making his temperature rise again and his wounds to heal. Carl’s body began shaking violently as it had done before but the shaking stopped sooner than the last time.
“You see…. I don’t like to work on a used canvas.” She sneered, pulling out another Snake Chain and ripping Carl’s chest open again.
“AAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!” Carl screamed, writhing in pain.
“You evil…..” Natasha started shaking in anger.
“Leave him alone!” Katy cried.
“Hannah….. ple….. sto……” Carl’s words weren’t able to form properly. His brain was overloaded with pain signals.
“What was that?” Hannah smiled evilly. “Don’t stop? Ok… you’re the one who suffers.”
She pulled out a small vial filled with a black liquid. She placed one of the blades of her Chains into it before whipping it out and dripping the liquid onto his body. The blade then sank deep into his flesh.
The scream that emitted from Carl’s mouth forced everybody to cover their ears.
“Hannah, what the hell is that stuff?” Natasha demanded.
“This is something I made…. Just a little “enhancer” for the pain.” She smirked evilly. “Next time Sonic… I won’t be so forgiving.” The screen went blank.
“How can someone…. Take so much pleasure from hurting others?” Spyke thought to himself. “She is pure evil…. I sense her power…. It will take more than we have to defeat her fully.”
“That’s it…” Sonic looked down at his feet shaking, “We move now. “Knuckles, get Tails and Michelle ready to go now. Everybody else, get ready to get our friends back.”
Knuckles ran from the room as fast as he could, racing up the stairs to Tails Workshop.
“Tails, we gotta move!” He called. “Whoa…” As he looked inside, he saw Michelles body swirling around inside a glass cylinder, giggling away happily.
“Now?” Tails enquired, “All right. Michelle, let’s go.”
Michelle’s Battle Suit was still glowing a vibrant purple colour, with its greyish-white circuitry lines pulsating with energy.
“Awww… I was having fun.” She smiled playfully.
“There’s no time… I’ve never seen Sonic like this before…” Knuckles sighed,
“Alright then, let’s go!” Michelle said confidently.
The trio ran down to the hangar again and found Sonic and Spyke bending over WOLF’s control panel.
“This should work now.” Spyke announced.
“Michelle!” Sonic exclaimed, “Get in quickly!”
Michelle hesitated for a second. “I….I can’t” she said quietly, “It belongs to Carl….”
“He will understand.” Spyke nodded slowly.
“Spyke is right Michelle, we have no time to sort you out with a vehicle right now….” Tails said.
“Alright.” Michelle nodded. She hopped into WOLF and Sonic started up the engine.
“Everybody line up in front of this.” Tails pointed to a large arch in front of one of the side exits of the hangar. “This will slow down time to all of us that pass through it for an hour…” He paused for a moment. “It will be an hour to us, but to the normal time length it will be about 30 minutes.”
“Cutting it by half….” Katy nodded, “That should be enough time right?”
“We hope so.” Knuckles nodded.
“Everybody through the gate!” Sonic announced, leaping onto the wing of the Tornado closely followed by Shadow.. Tails grabbed the control stick and taxied the Tornado through the gate. The second it was under the gate, the Tornado blasted off extremely quickly. As Katy, Knuckles and Spyke went through the gate in PHOENIX, they flew into the air closely following the Tornado.
Michelle and Amy were left in WOLF.
“You ready Michelle?” Amy asked.
“Let’s go!” Michelle cried before she sent WOLF through the Chaos Gate.
“Becky…. Please be ok…” She thought to herself, “We’re coming for all of you. Just hold on.”

[doublemxx]

No comments??/ heh heh

Chapter 25
Torture

“You’re sick Hannah!” Becky screamed, “How can you do this!”
“Easy.” She smiled, “Just like that.”
She pointed at Carl’s body. His wounds were slowly bleeding and the black liquid was seeping out of his wound along with the blood, making it look even worse.
“Unless I get the Emeralds in the next hour, then I’ll keep doing this…. But who says I’m going to heal him each time?” She sneered.
“You’ll only kill him faster.” Natasha pointed out, “Then you won’t get the Emeralds.”
“I’ll get them. You see, I have other plans that I haven’t even started putting into use yet.” She sneered, “See you in an hour.”
With that, she left the room, leaving Natasha and Becky just watching Carl’s body. Since she had used the black fluid, he had barely moved.
“Carl?... Are you…..OK?” Natasha asked.
Nothing. He didn’t move… or say anything.
“Carl?” She asked again.
“Y…..Yeah…” He said very weakly. “I’m…..still… here.”
“Carl….. What the hell has she done to you?” Becky gasped.
Carl’s t-shirt was now almost non existent, but what was left was now either stained with red blood or blood and the black liquid. A very long wound etched across his chest and a small, deep cut next to it, oozing black liquid.
“I….I want….to end it…” He breathed, “I want…..it…..to end…”
“She can’t get away with this.” Becky growled.
“She is…. And there’s nothing we can do about it either.” Natasha sat down in her prison, “We have to hope that the others are coming…..”
“Yeah.” Becky nodded.
Carl’s breathing became more rapid again.
“We have to help him.” Natasha was worried, “He WILL die unless we do something.”
“What can we do?” Becky asked.
“Hope for the best…. Right now it’s all we can do.” She said gravely. “We just have to hope he doesn’t die before everybody else makes a move.”

“How much further?” Katy asked.
“We’ve still got about an hour to go… but don’t forget… in 30 minutes the effects of the Chaos Gate will be negated!” Tails told her over the communicator.
“Which means we have to move fast!” Sonic nodded. “When the effect wears off, time will be back to normal and we’ll only have about 30 minutes before Hannah realises we’re not there anymore.”
“Sonic… we have a small problem.” Knuckles’ worried voice informed. “It seems that we’re losing the effect of the Chaos Gate sooner than we thought”
“WHAT?” Sonic shouted. He looked around. Sure enough, the world was moving much faster than it had been. “Tails?”
“I.. I don’t know what went wrong, maybe Hannah’s Chaos shielding works on slowing time down too!”
“Grrr….” Sonic growled, “We should have thought she would have seen this coming.”
“What do we do? There’s no way we can get to him in time….” Spyke asked.
“I am sorry Carl… I have failed you.” He thought.
“It’s not over ‘til it’s over,” Michelle said boldly. “We have to at least try.”
Everybody was silent for a few moments.
“Michelle is right.” Katy said calmly, “If we give up, then we’ll lose all three of them.”
“We’d better floor it then,” Sonic announced.
The Tornado and PHOENIX flew higher into the sky as WOLF started gaining even more speed to get to the Castle in time…. They all knew that if they didn’t, they would lose one… if not more of their friends.

“C….. C…. Can’t…. breathe…” Carl stammered. “H…Help me…..”
Carl’s body was shaking violently. The freezing air, and the ice underneath him was slowly forcing into a hypothermic state. His chest was still spewing out the combination of the black liquid and blood.
“That liquid….” Becky thought aloud, “I don’t think it was just a pain enhancer….”
“What do you mean?” Natasha asked.
“I mean…. I think that liquid…. Is keeping his wounds open.”
“What?” Natasha gasped, “He’ll bleed to death!”
“I know.” Her voice was choked slightly.
They were silent for a few seconds.
“If he dies…” Natasha started but fell silent. “I…If he dies, then whatever effort the others are putting in right now will be completely wasted.”
“Well… not completely.” Becky interjected.
“Well… yeah…. I meant for him.” Natasha said.
“I know.” Becky forced herself to smile slightly. “But there’s something not right.”
“What’s that?” Natasha asked.
“Well…. If Hannah had intended on keeping Carl alive for two whole days, then why is she driving him to death now?”
Natasha shook her head. “Beats me.”
“That’s the one thing I can’t place though… Everything else makes sense.”
“How…..did you… get here?” Carl suddenly asked.
“Carl? What do you mean?” Becky asked worried.
“Sonic….. he’s in the corner.” Carl said with a small glint of hope in his eye. “We knew…. That you were coming.” He stammered breathily.
Becky and Natasha looked where Carl was talking to. There was no-one there.
“He… He’s hallucinating?” Natasha gasped, “Becky… He… He’s getting worse!”
“CARL!!” Becky screamed. “WAKE UP YOU MORON!”
“I’m not… asleep Becky..... Don't be silly…. I… don’t need sleep.” Carl giggled crazily. “I can stay…. Awake all day and…. All night and I wont be tired.… Isn’t that…” He stopped and let out a sickening scream.
“HANNAH!!!” Natasha roared.
The door opened and Hannah strode in, smirking evilly.
“Somebody call me?” She smiled.
“What….the hell… is that liquid?” Natasha snarled.
“That would be a little something Scarlet and I came up with. When the liquid enters the bloodstream, it follows it to the brain and releases its chemicals into it. These chemicals cause the brain to malfunction, such as… hallucination and delayed blood clotting.” She smirked. “Which would explain why your little friend is still bleeding, but that can be easily fixed.”
She pulled out the two Emeralds and used Chaos Heal on Carl again. His body shook violently as the energy flowed through him and back out into the air. The wounds vanished, and his skin looked as though there had been no wounds at all.
“There.” Hannah said, “You see? I’m not all bad… But bad enough.”
“How long until the next torture session? Scarlet asked.

“10 minutes left!” Tails shouted down his communicator. “Sonic we’re not going to make it!”
Even though the Castle was in sight, they weren’t going to get there before Hannah started contacting the Freedom Fighters base.
“How long?” Spyke asked gravely.
“About 15 minutes… There’s no time left.” Tails sighed.
“We can’t just give up!!” Katy cried.
“Who said anything about giving up?” Sonic smiled.
He and Shadow leapt off the Tornado.
“Get there as fast as you can. We’re going to stall Hannah.” Shadow informed.
Sonic and Shadow blazed off into the distance towards Hannah’s Castle, leaving small fiery trails behind them.
“Sonic…. I trust you have a plan?” Shadow asked.
“Of course not.” Sonic laughed.
“I was afraid you would say that.” Shadow groaned.

“Time’s up.” Hannah smirked evilly. “It’s time for Round 3 Carl.”
She went into the corner and activated the screen.
“Attention Freedom Fighters.” She announced. There was no reply. “Attention Freedom Fighters!” She said again. Nothing. “They’re coming…” She smirked.
“What are we gonna do?” Scarlet asked.
“It seems our little friends wanted a front row seat, so that’s what we’ll give them.”
Hannah walked over to Carl and placed her hand over his mouth, freezing it shut.
“We wouldn’t want you to give the game away now would we?” She turned to face Natasha and Becky. “And as for you two….” She walked over to Natasha and froze the outside of her crystal prison with a thicker layer of ice, making it soundproof. She then walked over to Becky and encased her whole body inside an icy crystal. Her chains released and she fell to the bottom. Becky began banging on the walls, but she couldn’t be heard. Hannah had made it soundproof, like Natasha’s.
“If they want a battle….. Then who am I to deny that?” She sneered.
Hannah strode out of the room, closely followed by Scarlet as they both made their way into the entrance.

Sonic and Shadow blazed their way to the front of the castle and spun through the door easily. They walked into the entrance and looked around.
“No-one here.” Shadow observed.
“Weird,” Sonic said, “The way Hannah made it seem… there would be a lot more here.”
“There’s more than you think.” Hannah sneered from the shadows, stepping forwards.
“Hannah…..” Sonic growled, “Where’s Carl?”
“You’ll see.” She smirked.

[Deleted]

oh man this is such a good sotry. i'm sorry i din't comment on it before. Hey carl do you midn i i create a charcter to put into this stroy. Well to be hoenst i areayd got a charcter drawn jsut don't knwo where to put him.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 26
Fight For Freedom

“If you want to see your friends, I suggest you hand over your Chaos Emeralds.” Hannah demanded.
“Tough luck Hannah; we don’t have them.” Sonic snapped.
“Oh, come now Sonic…” Hannah smiled, “You honestly expect me to believe that you just decided to come out here to pay me a visit?”
“No…” Sonic laughed, “We came to kick your butt!”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen…” Hannah laughed as she pulled out her Emeralds. “Let’s see who will win now.”
Sonic and Shadow braced themselves. They knew this fight wasn’t going to be easy, at least until the others arrived to help out.
“Bring it on Hannah.” Sonic said, launching himself at Hannah. Hannah immediately leapt out of the way and kicked Sonic in the back, sending him across the room and slamming him into the icy wall.

Shadow charged at Hannah and punched her in the back, but she managed to recover and retaliated with a vicious kick to his chest.
“I would have expected better from you two.” Hannah smirked, “But then, these kinds of fights are what I’m best at.”
“What’s that?” Unfair fights?” Sonic said as he brought himself back to his feet.
“People like you never learn do they?” Hannah shook her head, “You never know when to quit.”
“We’re Freedom Fighters… “Quit” isn’t in our dictionary.” Sonic laughed.
“Time you got a newer version.” Hannah snarled before kicking Sonic in the chest and pinning him to the ground with her foot. Shadow leapt in to attack Hannah, but Scarlet intervened and sent Shadow to the ground. “Let’s see now…” Hannah smirked, “I have five of you now…. My, my…. My collection is growing fast.”
Suddenly, a loud explosion blasted open the doors as all the other Freedom Fighters burst into the entrance.
“Reinforcements?” Hannah sighed, “Oh no… Whatever shall I do?” She groaned sarcastically. “You’re little party guests don’t frighten me Sonic.”
“What? There was a party and no-one invited us?” Knuckles slammed his fist into his other hand and cracked his knuckles. “I’m surprised at you Sonic.” He laughed.
“Enough jokes Knucklehead.” Sonic shouted. He kicked Hannah’s leg and forced her to the ground. Sonic dashed over to Shadow and helped him to subdue Scarlet by kicking her into the wall. They then both ran over to the others.
“What kept you?” Sonic asked.
“This place has no parking…” Tails laughed.
“Where’s Carl?” Katy asked.
“And Becky!” Michelle piped up.
“And we cannot forget Natasha.” Spyke nodded.
“Where are they Hannah?” Sonic demanded.
“You think that because you have backup now that I will tell you everything?” Think again. CHAOS CONTROL!!” She vanished within a silver and green light, taking Scarlet with her.
“So…. Does this mean we have to find them ourselves?” Katy asked.
“Wait…. Do you hear that?” Spyke asked.
Everybody listened.
“I…. I don’t hear anything Spyke.” Sonic said confused.
“Me neither.” Katy shook her head.
“Listen carefully.” He said.
Everybody listened once again. They could hear a muffled crying noise.
“C’mon! This way!” Sonic shouted, as he pointed in the direction of the noise.
Everybody charged down several corridors as the noise grew steadily louder.
“Sonic kicked down a door along the corridor and looked inside. The noise seemed to be in the room, but there was nothing there.
“Where is that coming from?” He thought.
“AAAARRRRRGHHHH!!!!! SONIIIIIIIIICCCCCC!!!!” The voice cried.
“Isn’t…that…” Katy started.
“It’s Carl.” Spyke said simply.
“He’s still alive….” He thought. “Excellent.”
“He has to be through there!” Michelle pointed to a small door leading off into another room.
They slowly approached the door. Sonic leaned around the door and looked inside. He saw Carl bound to the table.
“He’s in there” He whispered.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Tails whispered back.
“Nothing.” Sonic replied, “Let’s go!”
Everybody forced their way through the door but were met by Hannah’s menacing voice.
“One more step…. And he dies.”
Hannah was stood over Carl with long, seeping cuts all over his body. She had unfrozen his mouth… She had wanted them to hear his cries to lure them there. One of Hannah’s Snake Chains was aimed at his neck, ready to strike on her command.
“S…S….S… Sonic….” Carl stammered, smiling weakly, “You… You all came!”
“Yeah, we came…. But it looks like you still like getting yourself into trouble.”
“I mean it Sonic…. Whether you have the Emeralds or not, I WILL kill him.” Hannah snarled.
Knuckles started shaking angrily.
“What’s the point in killing him?” He demanded.
“Since when did anybody need a point to kill someone?” She sneered.
“Just let him go!” Katy pleaded, “Please!”
“Let them all go.” Shadow snarled.
“You seem to forget who is in control here.” Hannah spat, “I think you’ll find that I am the one who has a blade to your precious friends’ neck.” She pushed the blade closer to his neck. “So if I were you, I would back off.”
Everybody took a small step back.
“That’s better.” She smirked, “It would be a shame if something was to accidentally happen to him, wouldn’t it Sonic?”
“It won’t be an accident Hannah.” Sonic replied.
“That’s right….” She smiled evilly. “Your little friend will die unless you hand over any Emeralds you have.”
“Any Emeralds?” Sonic thought.
“Alright Hannah.” Sonic said downheartedly, “You win.” He sighed and turned around to face all the others. “Give her the Emeralds guys…” He winked at them as he pulled out his blue Emerald, but ensured he looked straight at Tails, who had the fake green Emerald. If he got that out, then they would all be done for.
After a few seconds, the collection of fake Emeralds was handed to Hannah, who took them from Sonic greedily.
“You fools…. You honestly thought I would let him go? Good luck trying to free him.”
She used the power of her two real Emeralds to Chaos Control out of the castle.
“What is she up to?” Sonic thought.
“Carl... you alright?” Sonic rushed over to him.
“What.. do you think?” He smiled, “I got… a load of cuts over…. My body….. and you want… to know if I’m alright??” He paused… “Yeah, I’ve been better.”
Sonic laughed slightly. “We’re gonna get you out of here kid… Don’t worry.”
“But she…. She has the Emeralds…” Carl stammered.
“Don’t worry…” He smiled.
Carl looked at him and he understood what was going on.
“How are we going to get him out?” Knuckles asked, “That ice isn’t going to be broken easily.”
“There is one thing...” Tails mumbled.
“What is it Tails?” Katy asked.
“We could use one of these on it…” He held up a small explosive in his hand.
“But….wont that hurt him?” Katy’s eyes widened.
“It might…. But not much.” Tails head fell slightly, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t a very good idea.”
“Do it…” Carl moaned, “Do it…. And get… us out…”
“Are you sure?” Spyke asked. “He is strong…” He thought. “But how strong?”
“Do it.” Carl said firmly.
Tails bent down and attached the explosive to the bottom of the icy table.
“Everybody back!!” Tails cried. Everybody ran out of the door. “Ready Carl?” He shouted.
“GO!” Carl shouted and closed his eyes tightly.
There was a loud explosion and smoke billowed out of the doorway.
“CARL!” Katy cried.
They all ran back into the room and saw that Carl was lying on the floor, completely free from his icy binds.
“IT WORKED!” Sonic cried.
Carl didn’t move but they distinctly heard him laughing slightly.
Amy ran forward and grabbed him. “Where are the others?” She asked.
“In….in there….” He said, slowly pointing at the two crystals on the walls.
“Time for another explosion?” Tails asked.
“Do it!” Sonic nodded.
“Wait!” Carl cried weakly, “They need to know what we’re doing….”
“He’s right…” Knuckles said. “We can’t blow it up without them knowing… we might hurt them.”
“What do we do?” Amy asked.
“You… you can’t tell them….” Carl winced as he tried to pull himself to his feet. “Hannah… she made them… soundproof.”
“So now what??” Sonic asked.
"Stand back." Spyke announced as he moved towards the two crystals.
"Spyke?" Sonic asked nervously.
Spyke's hands moved into four different hand positions, each one he chanted an animal name, "Bird, tiger, sheep, horse!" with the last hand position in place Spyke drew in a deep breath and shouted something in Japanese. No sooner had he said that and breathed out then two pillars of fire snaked their way out of his mouth, the fronts of the pillars resembled that of dragons as they slammed into the two ice crystals.
“Woah….” Tails gasped in awe.
Natasha and Becky pressed themselves against the opposite sides of their prisons as the fire slowly melted the ice. It took several minutes, but they were finally free.
“Thank you so much Spyke!” Natasha cried as she leapt out of the remains.
“Thanks.” Becky said.
“BECKY!!!” Michelle cried as she ran over to her friend.
“Hey, I’m alright.” Becky smiled.
“Carl?” Natasha looked over at Carl, the cuts on his body still bleeding. He smiled at Natasha before collapsing to the ground.
“CARL!” Sonic ran over to his limp body and picked it up. “Everybody, back to the base NOW! We need to heal him with the real Emeralds!”
Everybody ran as fast as they could back to the vehicles. Natasha and Becky joined Michelle in WOLF as they laid Carl’s body on the back seat. Sonic, Shadow and Spyke leapt onto the wings of the Tornado as Tails once again piloted. Katy, Amy, Rouge and Knuckles all leapt into PHOENIX as they all began their race back to the base.
“Real Emeralds…” Hannah smirked from the roof of the castle. “My plan is coming together nicely.”
“But if you knew these Emeralds were fake… why did you let them get away?” Scarlet protested, “We just did all that for nothing!”
“Not quite.” Hannah smiled, pulling out her two real Emeralds. “We did manage to get a small consolation prize.”
“So what next?” Scarlet asked.
“We wait for two hours… that should give them enough time to get back, have Carl healed and for me to start the next stage.”
“What about me?” Scarlet asked.
“You need to stay and fix the computer damage in that room… We need to have full security by nightfall.”
“Got it.” Scarlet leapt down from the roof and re-entered the castle.
“All in good time Carl… All in good time.”
Hannah watched as the collection of vehicles disappeared over the horizon. She was not happy about losing Carl this time around… But she would ensure she did not make the same mistake twice.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 27
Chained To Fate

“C’mon Carl… wake up…” Natasha gently shook his body.
“Michelle, can we get this thing to move any faster?” Becky asked urgently, “He’s really bad.”
“His body is really cold…” Natasha thought, “How could he withstand it?”
“I’m trying….” Michelle said.
They had only been on the road for 20 minutes and there was still a long way to go but Carl still had not woken up.
“How’s he looking Michelle?” Sonic asked over the communicator.
“You’re asking the wrong person Sonic.” Michelle said quietly. “You’d better talk to Natasha.”
Michelle took her communicator out of her ear and passed it to Natasha.
“Sonic?” Natasha asked.
“How’s he doin’?” Sonic repeated.
“He... He won’t wake up… And his body is really cold... He’s still bleeding too...” Her voice seemed worried and urgent at the same time. “Sonic… we can’t lose him.”
“I know…” He sighed, “But there’s not a lot we can do until we get back to the base!”
“There has to be something we can do!” Natasha cried.
“Just try and keep him warm! He’ll develop hyperthermia if we don’t” Sonic urgently replied. “Like you said…. We can’t lose him.”
“Got it.”
“What did he say?” Michelle asked.
“We have to find a way to keep him warm or else he’ll develop hyperthermia.”
“How the hell do we keep him warm?” Becky cried, “We have nothing!”
“Move him into the front!” Michelle said, “I got an idea!”
Becky leapt into the back slowly transferred Carl’s body into the front.
“Now what?” Becky asked.
“You’ll see.” Michelle winked at her. She wrapped her three tails around as much of his body as possible. “It might not be much, but it’s all we can do for now.”
“Great idea Shelly!” Becky smiled.
“It should keep him warm until we get out of Ice Ridge.” Natasha said happily, “Then his temperature should start to rise to normal again!”
“Great!” Michelle cried.
“You sure you’ll be able to keep your tails like that?” Becky asked.
“I think so.” Michelle nodded.
“I can’t believe someone would do something like this….” Natasha said quietly.
“He helped us out, so why shouldn’t I?” Michelle started.
“No… I meant Hannah… How could she do this…?”
Natasha looked at one of the cuts that etched its way along his front, barely visible through Michelle’s fluffy tails.
“And to think she used to help us….” Becky sighed.
“What? You know her?” Natasha gasped.
“We were all part of a small team of Freedom Fighters…” Becky explained.
“Just the three of you?” Natasha asked.
“That’s right.” Michelle nodded. “Just Hannah, Becky and me.”
Natasha stayed silent for a few moments.
“So what do you intend to do now?” She asked.
“We’re going to help you until we know exactly why Hannah has turned against us…” Becky nodded.
“I’m sure Sonic and the others will be able to help you find out what’s going on.” Natasha smiled.
“I hope so…. This is one thing we can’t do alone… She is too powerful.” Becky looked at Carl’s limp body. “If she can do that without even trying… I dread to think what she can do when she’s serious.”
Everybody went silent. The thought of Hannah being able to do worse than this to a person haunted their minds.
“Hey, you guys ok?” Sonic asked.
The Tornado flew over them and Sonic looked down at them.
“Yeah… We’re.. ok..” Natasha stammered slightly.
“How’s Carl looking?” Spyke asked.
“He’s slightly warmer now thanks to Michelle.” Natasha nodded, “But I’m not sure how long until he bleeds to death.”
“We’re not far now…” Shadow said solemnly, “He has to hang on.”
In the distance, they could see the greenery of the Freedom Fighter base area.
“Great!” Michelle cried. She put her foot right down to the floor and sped off a little more. Within ten minutes they reached the green, making a very pleasant change to all the blue, white and grey of Ice Ridge.
“Hold on Carl….” Natasha whispered into his ear, “We’re almost back.”
“Why won’t he wake up?” Becky thought, “What the hell did Hannah do to him?”

Another ten minutes passed and Becky caught her first glimpse of the complex. To everyone else, it was a welcome sight to see their home once again.
“Alright, I’m opening the hatch, as soon as you get in Michelle; put Carl’s body next to where we stored the Emeralds.” Tails announced.
“Got it!” Michelle cried.
WOLF streaked into the hangar and screeched to a halt mere inches away from the wall.
“Quick!” Becky shouted.
She moved Michelle’s tails out of the way and picked up Carl’s body gently before lying him down in front of the Chaos Emeralds.
The Tornado and PHOENIX followed close behind them and everybody got out and rushed over to Carl and the Chaos Emeralds.
“C’mon Shadow!” Katy cried.
Shadow grabbed the four Emeralds and placed them around Carl.
“Here we go… CHAOS HEAL!” All the Emeralds started glowing and surging with energy as small bolts of lightning erupted between the Emeralds and Carl’s body. The lightning wrapped itself around his body and started giving off and intense white light, forcing everybody to shield their eyes. Carl’s eyes suddenly flickered open and he let out a piercing scream. Everybody watched as the light subsided and his wounds started closing up as thought they were being invisibly stitched back together.
“That is unbelievable.” Becky gasped.
His body began to shake violently, but several seconds later it stopped.
“I noticed something.” Katy said, “The more Emeralds there are, the shorter time it takes for Carl’s body to stop shaking!”
“That is correct.” Shadow replied, “The more Emeralds there are, the more power there is for use in Chaos Powers.”
“Carl… are you alright?” Natasha asked.
“I…. I think so.” He replied weakly.
“He should be fine in a moment.” Rouge said, “Remember what Shadow said, He’ll be weak for a moment then he’ll be ok.”
“Michelle.” Carl said, “I need to thank you for helping keep me warm.”
“You….you knew?” Michelle gasped.
“I couldn’t move or talk… I don’t know why…”
“It could have been from the blood loss.” Spyke announced.
“More than likely.” Sonic nodded, “But while we’re up here, we’ll get you checked out.”
Tails produced a medi-pack out from the Tornado and started scanning him with a small object.
“What does that do?” Carl asked.
“It checks whether everything is normal.” Tails explained, “We took a sample from you when you first got here so we check your DNA now against your DNA then.”
“So… what’s the verdict?” Carl asked nervously.
“You’re fine!” Tails looked surprised.
“What is it?” Carl asked.
“No... No it’s nothing…”
“C’mon Tails,. You can tell me.”
“I expected something to be wrong…..” Tails looked down at his feet, “I expected Hannah to have done something permanent to you.”
“Do you want to know something Tails?” Carl smiled, “I did too…”
“What?” Natasha looked horrified.
“After what she did to me, I was expecting something to be really wrong with me.”
Carl stopped and swallowed the lump which had come into his throat.
“I was er…. Hoping that there would be nothing wrong.. but somehow I knew there would be something wrong.”
“But Carl…there’s nothing wrong with you!” Natasha cried.
“I know…. But I don’t feel the same.”
“Give it some time Carl… You’ll be back to your old self.” Sonic smiled at him.
“I know…” Carl sighed. “Hey, you guys don’t mind if I have a little while to myself do ya?”
Sonic knelt down next to him and smiled. “If you didn’t want some time alone, I would have ordered it. After what you’ve been through you can do whatever you want until tomorrow.”
“Thank you Sonic.” Carl nodded.
Carl got to his feet steadily and started walking back to his room slowly. He wanted to just go to sleep and forget about what had happened… But he knew that he couldn’t.
“This isn’t turning out how I thought it would….” He thought, “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt….”

“Hey.” A voice called from behind him. It was Becky.
“Hey.” Carl said quietly.
“Look kid…. Carl...” She corrected herself, “I needed to talk to you.”
“About what?” Carl asked.
“I know you’re beating yourself up about what happened with me, but it isn’t your fault.”
“I can’t help but feel guilty.”
“Hey, who’s idea was it to jump in and start helping you out?” Becky asked.
“Yours.”
“There you go then!”
“Thanks Becky.” Carl smiled.
“No problem Carl.” Becky said, “

“Hannah, the computer is back online. All the Freedom Fighters have returned. It seems that the boy has been healed.” Scarlet announced.
“Excellent.” Hannah smiled, “It’s time to move. Scarlet, lower the Chaos Shield until I get back. I will need to get there and back quickly.”
“Alright,” She replied, “I’ll go do that now.”
Scarlet ran over to the newly repaired computer and began typing commands onto it.
“The Shield is down, you are free to use all Chaos Powers now.”
“Perfect.” Hannah snarled, “Where is that boy?”
Scarlet punched in a few more commands and displayed a map
“Here… but… Becky is with him!”
“Grr… No matter….” Hannah growled as she vanished in the green light of Chaos Control.

“Carl…. Are you still down about this?” Becky enquired.
Since their conversation, Carl hadn’t said a lot.
“Nah… it’s not that… I just…. I miss a few things from back home…..”
“Such as?”
“Nah, you’ll find it silly.” Carl smiled.
“C’mon, tell me!” Becky said.
“Alright, I guess I miss my keyboard and my…”
“Keyboard?” Becky asked, “You… play keyboard?”
“Well… I try to. I’m learning a lot of new songs.”
“I hope you can play the Funeral March.” A voice cried maliciously.
“What the?” Carl spun round and saw Hannah materialise out of thin air next to him. Her Snake Chains poised over his body. Before he could move, the Chains struck his body, sending a small spray of blood over the wall.
“Carl!” Becky cried.
Becky leapt towards Hannah but her Emerald suddenly let out a surge of energy that surrounded Hannah, protecting her.
“Nice try.” She sneered.
Carl was screaming out in so much pain, he hadn’t felt anything like this before. It was unreal. Blood splattered all around the walls as Hannah’s attacks became more vicious, ripping into him again and again, showing no mercy.
“And now it’s time for the finale.” Hannah smirked.
She sank two of her chains into his body and raised him into the air, suspending him in place.
“This is what you get for messing with me!” She roared.
Hannah plunged one of her Chains deep into his chest and Carl immediately coughed up blood.
“My work here is done.” Hannah snarled, “Maybe I’ll see you around some time…or maybe not”
She vanished again, along with her chains, finally allowing Carl’s body to fall to the floor. Becky instantly ran over to him and held his body in her arms.
“Carl….” She whispered.
“I…. I’m glad….. You’re OK.” He smiled weakly before coughing up even more blood.
“No…. Carl…” Becky seemed paralyzed. She couldn’t bring herself to leave him to fetch the others.
“I guess… I’m not cut out….. to do this…..” Carl groaned.
“Shhh….” Becky whispered, “Save your strength.”
“What’s the use?” He whimpered, “I’m as good as dead.”
“Don’t talk like that!” Becky said, “You’ll be fine.”
“No…I....” Carl started but he fell limp in her arms.
“Carl….” She shook his body. “CARL!!!!” She held his body closer to him. “C’mon… wake up!”
He didn’t move. Blood was pouring from every single wound on his body and trickling from his mouth. For several minutes she just held him in her arms, the blood dripping down her body. Every part of her was willing him to come back… But she knew he was gone.
“Becky…. to any Freedom Fighter…” She finally summoned the mental strength to call for help.
“Becky?” Sonic asked, “What is it?”
“It’s Carl… he… he…… He’s dead…..” She cried. Her arms tightened around Carl’s body, hugging him closer to her own body.
“I’m so sorry Carl…” She thought, “I couldn’t protect you.”
“What?” Sonic shouted, “Where are you?”
“Near to his room….” She said quietly.
“We’re coming… Hold on.”

It took mere seconds, but to Becky it had taken them several hours to reach them both. Sonic stood there for a moment and took it all in.
“Who… Who did this?” He gasped, but he already knew the answer.
“Hannah…. She.. She used Chaos Control to get here….”
Katy tried to push her way forward through the group of Freedom Fighters.
“KATY NO!” Sonic shouted, “Get away!”
Shadow grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“NO! I want to see him!” She cried.
She broke free of Shadow’s grip and forced her way through the group. The second she saw Carl’s body in Becky’s arms she did not move a muscle.
“Carl?” She stared at his body and tears began to fill her eyes. “No….”
“Katy… I’m sorry…” Sonic put a hand on her shoulder, “Hannah…. She killed him….”
“I’m afraid it gets worse…” Shadow said from the back.
“How could it possibly get worse?” Katy screamed angrily.
“Katy…. Has to leave us…”
“What do you mean?” Sonic asked.
“When we brought you both here, you were linked together by the same Chaos Control. Unfortunately, because Carl is…. No longer with us… The link between you has broken, which means that in 30 minutes, we have to send you back to Earth with no recollection of what has happened. Also, because Carl has died… there will be no trace of him back on Earth…. I’m sorry Katy… but when you return to Earth... It will be as though Carl never existed.”
“No….” She sobbed… “I don’t want to forget about him! There has to be a way to get him back.”
“Even if there is…. You would still have to leave because the link has been broken.” Shadow shook his head. “I’m sorry Katy.”
Becky released Carl’s body and took a few steps backwards.
“Maybe it would be best if we left you alone for a few moments to say goodbye.” Sonic said calmly.
Katy nodded, still staring at Carl’s body.
“Let’s go.” Sonic whispered.
Katy knelt down over his body.
“Carl.. I…” She started. “I…. I don’t want to forget you…” She sobbed. “I don’t want to leave…”
She lay over his body, crying. “Please… Carl… Come back…” She thought to herself. “I’m not sure if you can hear me… but please… Come back.”
Carl’s body lay motionless on the floor, blood still trickling out from his many wounds.
“I... I’m sorry Carl.” Katy thought, “I’m sorry I won’t remember you when we meet again….”
She stood up and took one last look at Carl’s body before turning away.
“Goodbye Carl.” She sobbed.
She walked around the corner and spotted everyone talking between themselves, but they instantly stopped when they saw Katy.
“Are… you OK?” Sonic asked.
Katy nodded slightly.
“Alright….. Meet us in the hangar in 5 minutes.” Sonic said.
Katy walked off slowly.

Outside, Katy was lying down on a mound of grass, staring up at the clouds.
“This place…. It seemed so unreal when I started out…. It’s going to just be forgotten….”
“You ready to go Katy?” Came a voice from behind her. She sat up and turned around to find Tails standing a few feet away from her..
“I….” She started.
“We know it’s hard Katy…but we have no choice.” He said quietly.
They both walked back into the hangar. The Chaos Gate had been moved and was connected to a weird machine. The centre of the gate was glowing a vivid yellow.
All the Freedom Fighters were crowded around the Gate.
“Katy… we cannot thank you enough for the help you gave us.” Sonic announced, “However, due to the fact that Carl has gone, you must return back to Earth.”
Katy nodded slowly and approached the gate.
“We’re gonna miss ya Katy.” Tails said.
“All of us.” Spyke said, with a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get to spend more time with you.” Amy shook her head.
“I’m gonna miss you all.” Katy said, “Even though I won’t remember you.”
“It’s time.” Shadow said.
Sonic and Shadow lead her to the very edge of the Gate. She turned around and waved to the others.
“Katy… I’m sorry you have to leave like this” Sonic whispered.
“It’s ok.” Katy smiled weakly. “If I have to go, then so be it.”
Sonic and Shadow both hugged her gently before she walked into the yellow centre of the Gate and vanished from Mobius.
“That’s it….” Sonic said wearily, “She’s gone…. And we’re down two Freedom Fighters…. We’re right back where we started.”

[doublemxx]

Chapter 28
The Way Of The Challengers

“Carl… Wake up…”
The voice boomed loudly across the cloud ridden land. Floors of green-coloured marble extended as far as the eye could see with small blue jewels twinkling on the ground and walls every few feet. Carl’s lifeless body lay on the ground.
“Wake up Carl!” The voice boomed again.
“Ugh….. What….the?” Carl groaned. He opened his eyes slowly.
He looked around slowly, taking in all of his surroundings.
“You have GOT to be kidding me….” Carl thought.
“Carl, you have been summoned here to await the Three Challengers.” The voice informed.
“Who… Who are you?” Carl demanded.
A group of clouds began to converge and emit points of light every few seconds. They parted to reveal a white hedgehog with long spines and six majestic angel wings. His piercing blue eyes seemed to be penetrating into his head and reading his very thoughts.
“I am Kane.” He announced, “I am the Guardian of this Sanctuary.”
“S….Sanctuary?” Carl stammered as he looked around. The clouds, the bright blue sky, the walls and floor…. He knew this place. “Kane… where are we?”
“We are high above the planet.” Kane said, “Welcome to the Sanctuary of the Sky.”
“Kane… who are the Three Challengers?” Carl asked.
“So many questions.” Kane nodded, “It is only to be expected.”
“I’m sorry, “Carl said.
“There is no need for your apology,” Kane said slowly, “You are new to this place and therefore have many questions which need answers.”
Carl nodded slowly and got to his feet.
“The Three Challengers are only to be summoned when someone with a noble heart is forced to die.” Kane explained, leading him towards a small house. “You were forced to die at the hands of evil and now you have been called here to await the Challengers.”
“What happens when the Challengers arrive?” Carl asked.
“The Challengers will be set different challenges by me. These Challenges will reflect the Challenger attempting the Challenge. All Challengers must successfully complete their designated Challenge, or your spirit will be forced to die.”
“So…. I am a spirit?” Carl asked nervously.
“I am afraid so.” Kane nodded.
“So…I… really did die….” Carl swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Again you are correct.”
Kane pushed open the door to the house and stood in front of a computer in the corner.
“We now must contact the Three Challengers. I must ask you to wait outside as I do this.” Kane gestured towards the open door. Carl left the house, closed the door and took in his surroundings.
“I don’t believe that I…. I’m dead.” Carl said out loud.
He looked around at all the clouds amidst the perfect blue sky. “Sky Sanctuary…. It seems fitting I suppose.”

“Attention Freedom Fighters of Planet Mobius.” A voice boomed across the hangar and everybody turned to face the screen.
“Who are you?” Sonic demanded.
“There is little time Sonic The Hedgehog.” Kane announced.
“Wha? How do you know my name?” Sonic stammered, taken aback that a complete stranger knew him.
“As I said, there is little time. I must be brief.” Kane brought up a large display which covered the majority of the screen. It showed the Planet Mobius and the Sky Sanctuary. “I am unsure if you know of this place, this is the Sanctuary of the Sky. Recently, I acquired someone who is of great importance to your cause. A human by the name of Carl.”
“Carl?” Becky snarled, “Carl is dead you heartless….”
“Calm yourself Becky.” Kane spoke calmly, “I am aware of young Carl’s situation and that is why I have contacted you. There is a way to return his spirit to his body, by the Way of the Three Challengers.”
“The Way of The Challengers?” Knuckles asked, “I thought that was just a legend!”
“That is not true Knuckles; The Way Of The Challengers is completely true.” Kane informed.
“So wait… How do we get Carl back?” Michelle asked.
“I require three of you to become the Three Challengers. You will need to complete one Challenge each in order to complete the ritual which will reunite Carl’s spirit with his body.”
“Who’s going?” Spyke asked.
“I am….” Becky said instantly. “I want to go and help save him.”
“I’ll go too.” Sonic announced, “Who else is coming?”
“Michelle is.” Becky said firmly, “This will give us a chance for you to see how well we work.”
“The Three Challengers have been decided.” Kane announced, “The ritual will commence in one hour. I shall transport you here in precisely one hour.”
The screen went blank and Kane’s booming voice echoed slightly around the hangar.
“He’s still alive…” Spyke thought to himself with a smile, “I knew he wouldn’t go down so easily.”
“I don’t believe it!” Becky cried, “He’s still alive!”
“All right!” Sonic shouted, “We have to move quickly! Becky, you and Tails need to go to the workshop and get fitted for your Battle Suit. Natasha, when we have left Tails will fit you for your new Battle Suit.”
“Sonic... I need to speak to you alone first.” Becky shouted back.
“Alright then, let’s go.” Sonic took Becky aside and started talking to her quietly.
“I don’t believe it!” Amy squealed, “He’s alive!”
“Not quite,” Knuckles said, “If the Three Challengers fail, then Carl will truly die.”
“Then we know what we have to do then.” Michelle nodded confidently. “We…don’t…fail.”
“Michelle is right.” Spyke announced, “They won’t fail… They haven’t let us down yet.”
“Alright, we have a new plan!” Sonic announced as Becky left with Tails. “Everybody listen to me!”


“You may re-enter.” Kane boomed outside. Carl hadn’t heard him. Carl merely continued staring into the endless blue sky.
“It’s beautiful.” Carl said dreamily. “I’ve never seen a sky like this before.”
“The Challengers have been summoned.” Kane informed, “They will be here in one hour.”
“So now what happens?” Carl asked, still staring.
”You may do what you wish.” Kane informed him. “I will take you to the lake. That is where the first Challenge shall take place.”
“Thank you Kane.” Carl nodded.

Thirty minutes passed as Kane and Carl trekked across the clouds towards a sparkling blue lake. The sunlight bounced off the surface and reflected off in all directions.
“It’s amazing!” Carl exclaimed.
“This is one of the most sacred places in the Sanctuary.” Kane announced, “Water is the giver of life and therefore extremely precious.”
“I can understand that.” Carl nodded, “Plant life and animal life will die without water.”
“However, there is no plant life here. This lake serves as a constant reminder that nothing should ever be taken for granted.”
“You know some pretty powerful stuff Kane… You know that?”
“Thank you young one.” Kane said, impressed at the compliment.

“Everything is set how you wanted it Sonic!” Becky exclaimed. Her new blue and red Battle Suit was glowing intensely at her excitement.
“Great!” Sonic smiled. “We’re almost ready. There’s just one thing I need to do.” His face suddenly lost its smile as he ran off.
“Where’s he going?” Becky asked Shadow.
“He volunteered himself to be the one that fetches Carl’s body.” Shadow sighed.
“I see.” Becky nodded.
“You will succeed.” Shadow said.
“What?” Becky asked, she had only been half-listening. Her mind was elsewhere.
“You, Sonic and Michelle will succeed in returning Carl.” Shadow repeated.
“I’m glad you show faith in us Shadow.” Becky sighed.
“I have to… Carl is very important. Although we have the information we first needed, Carl has become a very valuable member to our group.”
They we interrupted by Sonic slowly walking over to the hangar door, carrying Carl’s body. The flow of blood had stopped, but the visible blood was still dripping slowly onto the floor. Everybody stopped what they were doing as they saw Sonic cross the room. All of Carl’s wounds were extremely deep, but the fatal wound was what took everybody by surprise. The wound was so deep that it had penetrated all the way through Carl’s chest and out the other side.
“How… How could someone… Do something like that?” Michelle gasped.
“Hannah… wouldn’t do something like this.” Becky shook her head.
“She has…” Sonic nodded, “And I think, that given the chance she would have done this earlier.”
“What do…?” Knuckles stopped mid-sentence. A large cloud had descended into the room and lifted Sonic, Becky, Michelle and Carl’s body onto it.
“It’s time.” Spyke said loudly, “This is it.”
“Good luck you guys!” Tails called.
The cloud emitted an intensely bright light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. When the light subsided, the cloud had vanished, along with Becky, Sonic, Michelle and Carl’s body.

“Carl… The time has come to meet the Challengers.” Kane announced.
“Kane…. I feel really scared.” Carl said, “What if they fail?”
“You will change your mind when you see them.” Kane smiled.
He led Carl to the opposite side of the lake, where a large cloud was forming a few feet above the ground. Four figures dropped out of the cloud.
“This…. I don’t believe it!” Carl exclaimed.
“CARL!” Michelle cried and ran over to hug him, but fell straight through him, alarming both Michelle and Carl.
“Wh… What?” Carl stammered.
“Remember, you are a spirit now.” Kane said.
Carl composed himself slightly, but was still nervous. What if they did fail? He would die… never able to return…And what about Katy? He’d never see her again.
“These are the Challengers?” Carl asked.
“You’d better believe it kid.” Becky smiled.
“We’re gonna save ya and then take ya back home!” Michelle smiled.
“You guys… I don’t know what to say!” Carl smiled. He looked over at the other figure lying on the ground and he let out a cry, it was the first time he had seen his body.
“She really laid into you kid.” Becky said, walking over to him.
“Y…Yeah.” Carl stammered.
“The First Challenge is about to begin. The Challenge requires an immense amount of speed.” Kane informed, “Carl, as Challenge Leader, you are to pick who is to be given the Challenge.”
“Sonic.” Carl said firmly.
“Sonic The Hedgehog, please step to the edge of the lake.” Kane boomed, “The Challenge is about to begin.”
The centre of the lake began bubbling and foaming as a bright ball of light rose out of it. The light swirled around in the air for a few seconds before it shot straight into Carl’s body.
“Carl!” Sonic shouted.
“He is fine.” Kane assured him, “The Challenge is about to be given.”
Carl stood up and began to speak, not with his own voice, but with a voice much deeper than his own.
“Sonic The Hedgehog, your Challenge is as follows.” ‘Carl’ announced, “You are renowned for your speed and this will help you with your Challenge. In three minutes, you must race to the exact opposite side of the Sanctuary, marked with a blue flag and return the flag here.”
“Too easy!” Sonic laughed.
“You may begin in 3…2…1…”
Sonic blazed into the distance as the ball of light left Carl’s body and sank into the lake once more.
Sonic tore across the clouds and reached the flag in a very short time and lifted it out of the ground. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and was beginning to fall apart!
“And there was me thinking this would be easy!” Sonic laughed. He leapt over a huge crack in the ground and continued running, with the ground collapsing behind him.
Mere moments later, he reached the lake and took a flying leap over it, landing expertly on the other side and slamming the flag into the ground.
The huge crack retreated, leaving the ground as it was before the Challenge.
“Congratulations Sonic!” Kane boomed, “You have passed your Challenge.”
“Like there was any doubt.” Sonic nodded confidently.
“The next Challenge will be a test of agility.” Kane announced.
“Becky... I think you’d better take this one.” Carl nodded.
Becky nodded and stepped forwards. The lake bubbled and frothed again as a second ball of light dived towards Carl’s body.
“Oh no… not again….” Carl moaned as the light entered his body. His voice was changed again, this time slightly higher than his usual voice.
“Becky, your Challenge will require you to dodge certain obstacles. The obstacles will become much harder to dodge as time passes. You have three minutes. If you are hit by obstacles 3 times, your Challenge will be declared as failed.” ‘Carl’ announced.
“Dodging objects?” Becky smiled, “Puh-lease.”
A long marble bridge extended across the length of the lake. Every few meters, a small electric blue gem rose up out of the base of the bridge and remained suspended in the air.
“When you reach the centre of the bridge, it will start to move. The obstacles will appear at the end of the bridge and move towards you as the bridge moves. ‘Carl’ explained, “When you are ready to begin the Challenge, please step to the centre of the bridge.”
Becky nodded and stepped onto the bridge before walking to the centre.
“Becky, your Challenge begins in 5 seconds.”
As ‘Carl’ counted down, Becky braced herself as she felt the bridge move underneath her feet.
“GO!” ‘Carl’ shouted. The light ball ejected itself from Carl and sank below the water once more.
“Ugh… I gotta get used to this…..” He groaned.
“Go Becky go!!!” Michelle cried.
The first obstacle appeared on the bridge, a low wall which Becky vaulted over with ease.
“C’mon Becky!” Carl screamed.
More and more obstacles appeared along the bridge. Low walls, columns, statues and holes in the bridge made things difficult for Becky.
“This is too easy.” Becky laughed before promptly tripping over one of the walls.
“That is one mistake.” Kane boomed.
“Becky…concentrate!” Sonic shouted.
“I am!” Becky snarled.
Becky looked ahead. There were three obstacles spread across the bridge, leaving a small gap between one of the obstacles and the edge of the bridge.
“No!” Becky gasped.
She tried to edge her way next to the obstacles but she fell off the bridge. She vanished as she hit the water and re-materialised on the bridge.
“That is your second mistake…. One more and your Challenge will fail.” Kane announced.
With just 30 seconds left, the bridge began to speed up. Becky was barely keeping the pace of the bridge, let alone trying to dodge the obstacles.
“This is... too much….” Becky gasped, struggling for air.
“Only a few seconds left Becky, you can do it!” Michelle screamed.
“GO BECKY!” Carl shouted.
Becky made one final push of strength and dodged the final few obstacles.
“Your Challenge has ended Becky” Kane boomed finally, “You have passed… barely.”
“It doesn’t matter Becky, you passed.” Carl nodded.
“And now, we must move on to the final Challenge.” Kane boomed.
A brighter light shot out of the lake and entered Carl’s body.
“Michelle…. Your Challenger is as follows.” Carl’s voice seemed to be normal, except it was much louder. “Revisit the past and face it head on.”
“What does that mean?” Sonic asked.
“I don’t know…” Michelle shrugged.
“Observe…” ‘Carl’ raised his hand into the air and drew a long sword of pure energy from the Battle Suit. He leapt high into the air and slammed the sword into the ground, causing a huge point of light to erupt from the ground and engulf everybody.
When the light subsided they found themselves on a rocky plain, surrounded by fiery torches. It was night-time and the stars littered the sky.
“Michelle… what is this place?” Sonic asked.
“Beats me.” Michelle shook her head.
“Michelle… Face your past.” ‘Carl’ boomed as the light left his body and vanished.
“So... what’s going on?” Carl asked as his voice restored to normal.
“We… don’t know.” Becky shrugged.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled and cracked into a wide pit, about 20 feet deep; sending Michelle and Carl down into it.
“Are you two alright?” Sonic called.
“I’m fine.” Michelle smiled, “I landed on something soft.”
“That would be me…..” Carl’s muffled voice came from underneath Michelle’s tails. “That’s the second time that’s happened.”
Michelle got off Carl and helped him to his feet.
“What the heck is that?” Becky cried, pointing into the sky at a bright light which was accelerating towards the pit.
“Ah…hell…” Carl exclaimed as it burst into the pit, sending a huge pillar of smoke out.
“Carl? … Shelly?” Becky called. “You two alright?”
“Well… this is new…” Michelle’s voice rose from out of the pit.
As the smoke cleared, Becky and Sonic gasped as Michelle’s clothing had changed. Her Battle Suit had been exchanged for a purple tribal outfit, decked with yellow stripes and crescent shapes.
“Where’s Carl?” Becky asked urgently.
“I’m right here…. Unfortunately.” Carl’s voice moaned.
They looked down into the pit but could not find the source of Carl’s voice.
“Where?” Sonic asked.
“Down here….” Carl sighed.
As they looked again, they saw a cage, containing Carl.
“How the heck did you get in there?”
“This is part of the trial.” Kane boomed from above them. “Now… Michelle, you are hereby sentenced to fight to the death.”
“WHAT?” Becky screamed... NO!”
“This is the Way Of The Challengers… No interference is allowed or the Challenge will be deemed Failed.”
Becky stood at the edge of the pit, shaking with anger.
“Your opponent.” Kane gestured towards the pit as a point of light grew out of the ground and took form in front of Michelle.
She gasped as she recognised the figure.
“Y…..You!” She stammered.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 29
Face The Past

“That’s right…” The figure spoke harshly.
The light had transformed into a black wolf, with green markings on her hair and tail. Her clothing was similar to that of Michelle’s except the mysterious wolfs’ were brown, with deep brown markings. A thin red scar ran down her right eye.
“K….Kanika!” Michelle exclaimed.
“Surprised to see me, freak?” She mocked.
“You haven’t changed one bit…..” Michelle said quietly.
“Your Challenge begins now….” Kane boomed.
“Good.” Kanika snarled as she leapt viciously into Michelle and kicked her onto the cage.
“Michelle!” Carl cried worriedly, “You ok?”
“Yeah.” She winced as she leapt back to her feet. “I’m fine.”
“Who the heck is that?” Carl asked as Michelle leapt out of the way of another of Kanika’s attacks.
“I used to call her my friend.” Michelle explained, “But then she turned on my when I got older because of my ‘birth genetic mutation’. We’ve fought several times before….”
“Well that ‘birth genetic mutation’ helped save my life… well…before Hannah killed me…. Go for it Michelle.” Carl nodded.
“But this is the last time we fight,” Kanika cried coldly, “This…ends….now…..”
She leapt at Michelle once again, but Michelle leapt out of the way extremely fast and slashed at Kanika using her claws.
“YEAH!” Becky cried, “Show her your training!”
“Training?” Sonic asked.
“Yeah, she had some ninja training from Espio while back. I think this will give her a little bit of an advantage.” Becky explained.
Carl couldn’t do anything but watch as the two wolves lunge at each other, attempting to slash each other with equally sharp claws.
“It seems that you have improved slightly.” Kanika breathed heavily, “But that won’t help you.”
Kanika launched herself straight at Michelle and sank her teeth into Michelle’s arm. Michelle let out a piercing scream as Kanika’s grip tightened around her arm. She desperately kicked at Kanika’s torso, but she couldn’t shake her off. She then slashed at Kanika’s back using her free arm, causing her to stagger backwards, releasing Michelle. Blood splattered from Kanika’s mouth onto her tribal dress but she paid no attention to it.
“Michelle… Are you alright?” Carl gasped as he looked at the wound.
“I’m…fine.” She winced, but it was clear that she wasn’t.
“Awwww…. What’s the matter?” Kanika taunted, “Does the wittle baby want her mommy?” She laughed coldly and Carl and Becky collectively shook with rage. Michelle hung her head slightly and stayed very quiet.
“I seem to have touched a nerve.” Kanika laughed again.
Michelle streaked forward, barely visible from the purple blur she had become and landed a blow to Kanika’s neck.
“I seem to have hit your neck.” Michelle smirked.
“You’ll pay for this.” Kanika snarled as she recovered before lunging once more towards Michelle. “Face it… you can’t win.”
“DON’T LISTEN TO HER!” Carl shouted, “YOU CAN DO IT!”
Michelle dodged the attack and Kanika spun round in the air, landing back on her feet.
“Who’s this creep” Kanika laughed, “Your boyfriend?”
“Kill her… before I do….” Becky snarled.
“You cannot interfere or the Challenge will fail.” Kane reminded.
“Yeah, c’mon ya little freak…. Just try it.”
Michelle made another swipe for Kanika, but she was too quick for her, grabbing her arm tightly.
“Nobody messes with me.” Kanika snarled.
Michelle struggled against Kanika and broke free before her claws came anywhere near her, but Kanika kicked her to the ground near to Carl, slamming her head onto the cage. She didn’t move.
“C’mon Michelle…. Get up…” Carl shouted.
“I don’t think she will.” Kanika smiled triumphantly, “And to think…I thought I would have had a challenge from this three-tailed freak.”
“Uh….oh…” Becky shook her head.
“What?” Sonic asked.
Becky just pointed to Michelle’s body. A faint growling was emitting from her. Her eyes snapped open and became completely green with no pupil while the black tips of her ears and tails turned white.
“Becky… what the heck is going on?” Carl asked, slowly moving away from Michelle, pressing himself against the opposite side of the cage.
“Shelly… is going Berserk.”
“Berserk… doesn’t exactly sound friendly to me.” Carl shouted up nervously.
“That’s because it’s not….” Becky shook her head again.
Michelle stood up slowly and began speaking in a rasping, hissing voice very unlike her own.
“You...die…NOW.”
Berserk lunged for Kanika and grabbed her arms sinking her claws deep into them.
“You think this is going to stop me?” Kanika laughed with a small amount of fear was in her eyes, but she was doing her best to conceal it.
Kanika head-butted Berserk in the face, forcing her to stumble back slightly, giving Kanika time to free herself from Berserk’s grip.
Berserk grabbed at Kanika again but she barely had time to leap back defensively.
“Why do I have to be the one locked in a cage near to two fighting wolves?” Carl shouted before quickly flattening himself to the floor as Michelle threw Kanika on top of the cage.
Michelle pinned Kanika down to the bars of the cage as Kanika began to try and free herself from Berserk Michelle’s vice-like grip.
“It is YOU who will be taking you last breath…” She snarled.
Berserk raised her sharp claws into the air, the blood on them shining in the moonlight. She forced them down into Kanika’s shoulder and bit down hard on her throat. Berserk then pulled away, ripping her throat out and killing her instantly.
“It is done.” Kane boomed. “All Challenges have been completed and Carl’s spirit can be restored to his body.”
A piercing light filled the area. When it subsided, the four of them were back beside the lake.
“Carl’s spirit will now be restored.” Kane announced.
“Awesome!” Carl exclaimed.
“I’m going back!” He thought happily.
“The light which gives you life.” Kane boomed, “The water which sustains life… The Sanctuary that protects life…The three Challenges met… Restore life back to this vessel! ENERVATE!” He shouted.
An intense light dragged Carl’s spirit and body together, fusing them into one,
“It is done.” Kane nodded. “The spirit and body have become one.”
The light died and Carl’s body was completely healed.
His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air. It took him to that moment to realise that he hadn’t actually needed to breathe as a spirit.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Becky cried.
“Yeah, and I couldn’t have done it without you guys.” He smiled.
“No problem buddy.” Sonic nodded.
“Thanks Becky.” Carl smiled.
“No problem kid.” She laughed.
“And thanks Michelle.” Carl went over to her to hug her but Michelle batted at his arms.
“What the?” He began.
“Don’t worry kid.” Becky said, “She’ll be back to herself in a few moments.
Michelle’s fur and eyes changed back to normal moments later and she blinked a couple of times.
“I did it!” She smiled.
Carl laughed and hugged her tightly.
“Thank you Michelle.” He smiled.
“You’re welcome.” She returned the smile.
“Uh…Carl?” Becky giggled, “How long do you plan on running around in your underwear?”
“Wha?” Carl looked down and immediately realised that since his Battle Suit had been ripped from him, all he was wearing was a pair of shorts.
“Ah…” Carl blushed deeply.
“Don’t worry buddy.” Sonic laughed, “Tails will sort you out with a new Suit as soon as we get back.”
“Now it is time for you to return.” Kane announced, snapping his fingers so a cloud appeared beneath their feet. “I must warn you. If you die again Carl, you will return to the Sanctuary, but there will be no way for your body to return.”
Carl nodded.
“Farewell.” Kane boomed as the cloud swept them back down towards the planet surface.

“They’ve been gone for ages.” Rouge sighed, looking worried.
“They won’t fail…. I know they won’t” Spyke nodded confidently.
There was a loud knocking at the hangar door, making everybody jump.
Tails opened the door and a young panda stood there.
“Is… Is this the Freedom Fighter headquarters?” He asked.
“Sure is.” Tails smiled.
“Sign me up.” The panda nodded, “I want to help you guys… oh, and girls.” He said, noticing Natasha, Rouge and Amy.
“OK, but who are you?”
“My name is Danny.” He explained. “I have been travelling for weeks trying to find this place.”
“Well, now you’re here, we’ll get you kitted out and you can help us any way you can.”
“Perfect.” Danny nodded.
“Why so eager?” Shadow asked.
“Shadow!” Tails said, “A new member comes here and all you can do is criticise the fact!”
“I meant no offence, but I am intrigued.”
“Sounds fair.” Danny smiled, “I just want to help take out evil…. Since my parents were murdered, it’s kinda become my thing.”
Everybody was silent for a few moments.
“I apologise.” Shadow nodded, “It was rude of me to pry into your past.”
“Ah, don’t worry.” Danny nodded, “You weren’t to know.”
A cloud suddenly descended into the hangar and deposited everybody riding it onto the floor with a resounding thud.
“You’re back!” Tails shouted.
“Yeah… and we bought a friend with us too.” Sonic smiled as Carl stood up and looked around.
“Hey guys… guess who’s back from the dead?” He smiled.
“CARL!” Everybody ran towards him.
“You’re ok!” Natasha smiled.
“Yeah, I’m as good as new.” He nodded.
“I’m so glad you’re ok.” Amy said, hugging him tightly.
“Hey, hey… I wasn’t gone that long was I?” He laughed, “Wait…. Where’s Katy?”
Everybody fell silent again.
“Carl….. I think you should sit down.” Shadow said.
“W….What’s happened?” Carl suddenly stopped smiling.
“Katy… has returned to Earth.” Shadow explained, “When you died, you broke the link between the two of you and your home planet. Katy was forced to return, or else she would be trapped on this planet forever.”
“It would have been wrong of us to keep her here buddy.” Sonic nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Carl said nothing. He just collapsed to his knees and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
“I’m afraid, that you will not be able to return either…. Since you broke the link, it was instantly severed for you the second you died. All traces of your life were removed from Earth about thirty minutes after Katy returned.” Shadow shook his head slowly, “You are with us until the bitter end I’m afraid.”
“K….Katy’s gone… and I can never see her again?” He stammered.
“Dude, I know it’s hard to take in.” Sonic started.
“Sonic…..” Carl shook his head with tears in his eyes. “I’m… I’m…”
He said no more. He just ran out of the room.
“Did I…. miss something?” Danny asked.

[doublemxx]

Chapter 30
Running High

“Someone’s gotta go after him…” Amy insisted.
“I think it would be best if he had some time alone.” Shadow nodded.
“I agree with Shadow.” Spyke said.
“In the mean time, we need to get Danny acquainted with everyone and fitted for his Battle Suit.” Tails said brightly, trying to lift the mood.

Several rooms away, Carl was huddled in the corner of a large room, tears streaming down his reddened face.
“Why me…. Why does everything happen to me?” He cried. “The one good thing in my life gets ripped away by HER…”
He slammed his fist against the wall, causing several Flickies to fly away from the roof.
“She caused this...” He shouted, “Was it even worth coming back?”
“Yes it was.” A voice spoke from the door. As the figure stepped into the light, Carl found it was Becky who had spoken.
“What would you know?” He cried angrily, “Katy was the best thing that happened to my life, and then Hannah takes it away in thirty seconds.”
“Carl… I know it’s hard… but we are all here for you… Shelly, Sonic, Shadow, Amy… even me!” Becky smiled at him.
“Sometimes…” Carl said, “I would dream about this world being real… That Sonic and everybody was real. But I never…EVER thought that they would come true.”
He turned to face Becky properly.
“And then when I found out that it had been real all along… I was so happy and even happier when I realised that Katy was here too. Then Hannah just waves her Chains and takes her away from me forever.”
“Carl I…”
“Becky… I’m never gonna see her again…” He cried, before burying his head back into his hands.
She placed her arm around him.
“It’s better if he lets it all out.” She thought to herself.
“Now you listen to me right now.” She said, “There are people who need you right now… I know what Hannah did was terrible, and not even I can forgive her for what she did to you, me and Shelly. But we all need you…”
“I never… I never got a chance to say goodbye to her.” He sobbed.
“I know.” Becky nodded.
Carl continued crying for what seemed like hours. His heart was torn in two. Part of him was happy that he was alive again, but the other wished he had never come back at all. Eventually he stopped crying. He had no more tears left to cry.
“You feel better now?”
Carl simply nodded. His thoughts were still on Katy.
“Alright then, let’s go back to the others.”
Becky got up first and helped Carl to his feet.
“You should really get some new clothes.” Becky laughed, noticing that Carl was still in his shorts.
Carl managed a watery smiled before following her out of the room.

“So that’s everybody…. Wait… where did Becky go?” Tails looked around, suddenly realising that there was one person short.
“She went off after Carl a while ago.” Michelle nodded.
“At least someone did.” Rouge sighed.
“Alright then Danny… Tails will take you up to his workshop and get you sorted with a Battle Suit, and then we’ll go from there.” Sonic announced.
“Sonic, I can’t thank you for letting me join you.” Danny beamed.
“We’re going to need all the help we can get.” Spyke said, “Hannah took Carl once… If she knew he was back… We can guarantee she’ll try it again.”
There was another loud knock at the door. Tails opened it once again and Tak stood there.
“I am looking for Carl.” He said.
“You!” Michelle cried. “You’re that guy that Carl fought in the forest.”
”And the one that helped me get through it.” Danny nodded.
“You are both correct, however I was promised a re-match…”
“This…isn’t the best time to be asking for something like that…” Sonic said, “Carl is in no fit state to be fighting.”
“Sonic….it’s ok.”
Carl and Becky re-entered the hangar. Carl’s face was still red but he had calmed down slightly.
“Carl... No… I don’t want you to do this…” Sonic said.
“I’m sorry Sonic… But a promise is a promise.” Carl nodded.
“Carl, I will understand if you do not wish to fight me.” Tak began.
“We’re doing this….” Carl said firmly.
“Outside, if you don’t mind.” Tails sighed.

Tak and Carl went outside, followed by everyone else. They weren’t likely to miss this.
“Carl… at least get a new Battle Suit first!” Rouge urged, “You could get hurt.”
“I can’t get any more hurt than I am right now.” Carl said with a note of anger in his voice.
“Here will be fine.” Tak said as they reached a flat area of grassland, a few feet away from the complex.
“Here Carl…” Becky handed him her blades but he shook his head.
“Thank you, but I’m doing this my way.”
“First to fall loses.” Tak announced.
“Fine by me.” Carl nodded.
“Alright.” Tak threw down his vectorlets and brought himself into a fighting stance.
“Carl… be careful.” Becky thought.
Tak lunged straight at Carl and kicked him fiercely in the chest, causing him to stagger back a few inches, but he recovered and swung his fist at Tak. Tak dodged the punch easily and came back at him with another fierce kick in the gut.
“Stop this now!” Michelle cried.
“Shelly, I’m fine.” Carl gasped lungfuls of cold, crisp air before leaping out of the way of Tak’s next barrage of punches and kicks. Carl tried to kick Tak in the back, but he swung around, grabbed his leg and swung him down to the ground. Carl managed to punch the ground with his fist and launch himself back into the air enough to bring himself to his knees, allowing him to continue.
He got to his feet and staggered forwards and punched Tak in the chest, sending him backwards a little way, but he sent an almighty kick to Carl’s face and sent him sprawling to then ground, ending the fight.
“Congratulations.” Carl breathed.
“Are you alright?” Tak bent down and helped him up.
“I’m… ok.” He said.
“You fought well.” Tak encouraged.
“I suppose.” Carl sighed.
“It was an unfair fight.” Tak smiled.
Carl shook his head.
“This is what I truly am…” Carl nodded. “A mere human.”
“Carl… don’t say things like that!” Michelle stepped forwards and put her hand on his shoulder. “You fought as best as you could.”
Carl said nothing but shook Tak’s hand slightly.
“Ta’kaya, maybe we could come to a small agreement.” Sonic smiled, with a flicker of an idea in his emerald eyes.
“What do you have in mind Sonic?” The guardian asked.
“I don’t think that this is the right place.” He said, “Come back to the hideout and we’ll discuss it further.”
“C’mon you two.” Tails smiled at Danny and Carl, “We need to get you a Battle Suit each.”
Carl slowly followed Tails back to the base, all the time thinking about Katy… It would be hard to let go of something this big.

“So what was your idea?”
Everyone except Tails, Carl and Danny were congregated in the main hall, sat around a long table.
“My idea is simple.” Sonic nodded, “We need to expand.. Hannah is taking over one little bit at a time.”
“How do I fit into this?” Ta’kaya asked.
“Simple… We build a small outpost in the forest. Hannah won’t be expecting us to do anything, so this is the perfect time!”
“My skills may be advanced Sonic, but not even I could do this alone, I would need help.”
“Maybe…” Spyke said, “Maybe we could send one of us to help out… Until the outpost is built and functional!”
“Nice idea… Bit who’s gonna go?” Knuckles nodded, “I can’t go… it is my duty to protect the Master Emerald.”
“We need Tails for the technical side… Carl can’t go because Hannah thinks he is dead…” Amy said.
“What about me?” Natasha asked, “I could go and help him out.”
“Great idea, but what about Carl? He might still need you!” Rouge nodded.
“After what I saw, he should do fine.” Natasha smiled.
“Alright… but only if you are sure.”
“Then it’s settled. Natasha, you go with Ta’kaya and help him build the outpost.. I’ll get Tails to get some communication equipment for the outpost and then we can set to work. Danny should be back up here soon, so we can get him to help us out.” Sonic smiled.
“How do you know Danny will be back first?” Becky asked.
“I told Tails to sort Carl out last.” He said. “He needs to pick something up from his room.” He smiled and nodded towards the door.
Becky smiled back at Sonic before racing out of the room.

“Alright Carl, your turn.”
Tails poked his head around the door of his workshop, wearing a small set of welder’s goggles.
“Where’s Dan?” Carl asked.
“He went out the other way.” Tails smiled.
Carl got up from the floor and entered Tails workshop.
“Luckily, we had your original Battle Suit data kept on file, so all I have to do is reconfigure your Assistant data.”
”How come?” Carl asked.
“When your Battle Suit was destroyed, the link between it and your mind was severed, so we have to re-establish the link.”
”I see.” Carl nodded.
Tails connected the two wires to Carl’s head and began inputting the data as he had done the last time.
“Hey… Tails?”
“Yeah…”
“What happens… if your Assistant changes?” Carl asked, looking at what appeared to be Becky.
“It means that in the time since I first activated your Assistant, that you have a stronger link with your new Assistant’s counterpart than you do with your old one.”
“I have a stronger link with Becky?” He thought.
“Well, you’re all set.” Tails smiled, handing him his new Battle Suit inside a plastic casing and removing the wires from his head. “Why don’t you go back to your room and put it on?”
“Sure.” Carl nodded. “Thanks Tails.”
“Don’t worry about it.”

“Hey guys, this is very cool!” Danny exclaimed, showing off his new black and red Battle Suit.
“No problem.” Sonic laughed, “It will give you slightly more enhanced abilities whenever you wear it.”
“Even better.” Danny smiled, “So what do we do now?”
“Well… First of all we need to wait for Carl and Becky to get back, then we’ll help Natasha and Ta’kaya get ready to build the outpost and finally, we’ll make a plan to stop Hannah.”
“Sounds like a full day.” Danny laughed.
“It is… So you’d better be up for it.” Shadow nodded.
“You’d better believe I’m ready.” Danny beamed.

Carl wandered back to his room slowly, shivering slightly in darker areas of the corridors. As he turned a corner he arrived back at his own room. He stopped before he entered, looking at Katy’s room. He shook his head slowly and walked into his room. As he raised his head up he took a small jump backwards in surprise.
His room had completely changed! It was an almost exact replica of his own room from Earth, except it was a lot bigger than it had been.
“Wha… Wha… What the?” He stammered, almost dropping his Battle Suit.
“I don’t know what happened… Someone suggested to Sonic that you were missing a few things… And seeing as how we found a way to bring you back, Sonic decided to go ahead with it.” Becky’s voice came from behind him.
“Becky… you did this?” Carl asked.
“No... I suggested it to Sonic and he seemed to like the idea too.” She smiled.
“I… I don’t know what to say.” He said. “But I know what I want to do… Hold this for me please.” He asked, handing her his Battle Suit. She took it from him with a confused look on her face.
“What?” She asked.
“THIS!” He shouted, taking a running jump into the room and landing on his bed, bouncing slightly. All the sadness he had felt seemed to melt away. Finally he was in the most familiar surroundings he knew the most out of anything on the planet.
Becky just stood in the doorway laughing.
“You’d better put this on and come back down.” She continued laughing, holding out his Battle Suit.
Carl leapt off the bed and went back over to Becky, taking the Battle Suit from her and she closed the door behind her as she walked out.
Carl went back over to his bed and took the Battle Suit from its casing. He lifted it out but something was different about it, it felt like a liquid instead of its original plastic feel.
“What the hell Tails? He thought.
He shrugged it off and put it on. It felt strange at first but he got used to it. It felt a lot more comfortable than his other Battle Suit.
“C’mon Carl!” Becky called through the door. “We don’t have all day you know.”
“I’m coming!” He shouted.
He ran towards the door, opened it and took one last look at his room before he closed it behind him.

[Deleted]

hmmm more comfortable and a stronger link with his assistant. Should get interesting