Sonic Unleashed Chapter 23

Sonic Unleashed Chapter 23


Tails set the chaos emerald down on the shrine and it started to glow bright yellow.
“Wow…” he exclaimed.

“Ready, Sonic?” asked Vitality, cheerfully.
“Sure, I guess…” Sonic wasn’t very confident. What could he possibly do that didn’t involve his eyesight?

“Hey, Vitality…” asked Frostbite, sniffing the air. “You smell good. Is that…lemon…?”
“Sure is! I love to put it on during special occasions.” She answered.
Frostbite nodded his head. “I…thought so…” he said with a warm smile.
“Why lemon?” wondered Tails. “I’ve never heard of a perfume with a lemon scent.”
“Really???” exclaimed Vitality. “Lemon perfume is very popular around here.”

Then, the emerald blinked. Vitality looked closely into it and gasped. She suddenly became very serious.
“Tails! Frostbite! I need you both for a minute!”
“What for?” they wondered.

“Sonic! You stay here! I’ll give you the ability to see for now, so if you hear or see anything, come running to us ok?”
“Uh…ok?” answered Sonic as color returned to his eyes. He could see again, but his eyes were yellow, not green, because of Vitality’s influence on his sight.

Sonic then saw what Vitality looked like. She looked just like the girl in his dream only a little older and had a yellow outfit and a lavender scarf.

Vitality turned to the wall behind the shrine and it opened, revealing another hallway when she did signs with her hands. Then, she reached into her scarf and pulled out what looked like a yellow, crystal necklace that was already hanging around her neck.

She motioned at Tails and Frostbite to follow her.

“Wait! What’s going on?!” cried Sonic.
“There’s an intruder!” Vitality replied as she held her necklace to her neck. The necklace started to glow bright yellow, just like the chaos emerald was.

“I’m calling Remedy, Intensity, and Lenity to help…hmm…that’s weird…Lenity and Intensity aren’t responding…but Remedy says she’s on her way!”

Vitality ran into the hallway, with Tails and Frostbite following behind her.
Sonic stayed, deep in thought.

“I wonder who the intruder is…and…why does Vitality look like the same girl that appeared in my dream…? Are they really the same person???”

~<>~

“*Sigh* Why did Espio have to run off like that???” pondered Rouge as she strolled through the city.

She then stopped, somebody was in her way. It was Mitsuke, who was sitting in the center of the sidewalk, thinking to herself.
“Hey!” hollered Rouge with an angry tone. “You can’t just sleep in the center of the road! People are trying to walk here!”
Mitsuke slowly opened her eyes and looked up at her, but didn’t respond. Finally, she spoke.
“…Walk around me then…”

“WHAT?! You’re the one who has to move!”
Mitsuke stood up and turned her back. “Well then, pardon me.” She replied, becoming very condescending. She walked away.

She stopped and turned to see Rouge again.
“…You’re a treasure hunter…” she said.
“Huh? How can you tell?!”

“I, myself, am a fellow treasure hunter. I’m on the search for some special gems right now. What about you?”
Rouge smiled, but then frowned and crossed her arms. “I WOULD be hunting for some emeralds myself, if I wasn’t stuck searching for my friends.” She answered.
“I see. Do you mind if I tag along then?” Mitsuke asked, staring at the sunset.

“Well, I’m NOT looking for them right now…do YOU mind if I tag along with you? We could work together to find something valuable.”
“Hmm…Sure…”

Rouge walked up to her and smiled.
“But…” started Mitsuke. “Can I …trust you? …Can we be friends…?”
“Of course! My double- crossing days are OVER! That’s for sure!” answered Rouge. “My name is Rouge the Bat, and you?”

“I’m … Mitsuke…just Mitsuke.”
“Okay then, let’s see if we can find something worth stealing at the jewelry store.”
Rouge flapped her wings and took off into the air.

Before Mitsuke followed her, she thought to herself, “Please Rouge…please don’t betray me…my friend…

~<>~

Sonic pulled his fist in front of him and closed his eyes tight, trying to focus.
He tightened his fist and groaned. “Dang it…how did I do it before…?”

Sonic was trying to build up the same kind of energy that he had unleashed when he was fighting Mitsuke that morning.
“When I used that power…it was like…I already knew how to control it…and…what is was…but now I can’t draw it out…what exactly did I do…?”

He was still waiting for Vitality and the others to return, but he hadn’t heard a single thing since they left an hour ago. He was a werehog now, because it was nighttime.

Sonic took the yellow emerald into his hands and looked at his reflection, but that just made him mad, because he was sick of seeing a werehog looking back at him, and threw the emerald at the wall that Vitality opened up before.
The wall suddenly opened again once the emerald hit the ground.

He slowly entered the hallway…it looked almost all singed like the hallway caught on fire not too long ago.
“I hope nothing went wrong!” thought Sonic.

As he walked through the hallway, he stopped, for he came across another aura gate, one supposedly created by Nightmare or Mitsuke.
“Oh no! Those two are here! I’d better be careful!”
Sonic entered without hesitation, almost happy that he’ll come out the other end, normal again.

He fell to his stomach as he fell out the opposite side of the gate, and to his expatiations, he was normal, gloves and all! But, to his surprise, he was in a whole another room, filled with smoke and fire…and blood was splattered across the walls!

Sonic gasped and looked around, hoping to find an explanation for all of this.

He glanced to his right and saw Anaid, on the ground, trying to get up.
“ANAID!!!” he cried, running over to her.
He kneeled down next to her and helped her to her knees.
Anaid rested her head on Sonics’ chest for support.

“Anaid! Are you ok?!” Sonic asked.
Anaid coughed and looked up at her dearest friend. “S…Sonic…it’s horrible…she…she…!”
“She, what??? What’s going on here?!”
But, Anaid faded away and became unconscious.

“Anaid?! ANAID!! Wake up!”

“…Quit shouting…she’s fine…” interrupted a low voice, emerging from the black smoke.
It wasn’t Nightmare, because it was a feminine voice.

A female silhouette rose from the smoke a stood in front of Sonic.
Sonic stood up and smiled.
“Intensity? Phew! You’re okay! …Where’s Vitality and the others?”
Intensity snickered. “They’re fine…for now.”

The smoke cleared completely and Sonic grew pale at what he saw behind Intensity.
He saw Vitality…Remedy…Tails and Frostbite…unconscious on the ground…
“Intensity…they…you…WHY?!”

Right when Sonic spat out that last word, his quills rose up. He was shocked, confused, and angry all at the same time.
“Hmm…I can feel your power growing in strength…your curse feeds off this darkness…”

It was that moment when it hit Sonic.
Intensity…was…

“YOU’RE Nightmare!” he shouted, even MORE outraged than before.
“Surprised?” she asked. “I was only pretending to be a male…to FOOL everyone! Including those foolish guardians who claimed me as their sister…”

“And…don’t forget me…” said Lenity, behind her.
“L…Lenity?! N…Not you too!!!” cried Sonic, still mad at them both.
“Oh yes, I’m Nightmare’s right- hand woman…Mitsuke…well…she’s no longer second in control.” Lenity said as she gave off an evil laugh.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!!! NOO!!! I JUST CAN’T!!!”
A dark aura surrounded Sonic as his quills rose even more. His fur became black.
“Lenity!”
“Right!”

Lenity twirled around once and chanted, “Purifying Fragrance!”
A green and yellow arrow fired at Sonic and shot him clear to the other side of the room.
When he hit the wall, he returned to normal and was released from the darkness.

Sonic groaned and tried to stand again.
“Save your energy, Sonic! You’ll need it for out fight.” Intensity almost sounded like she didn’t want Sonic to turn into his Dark form, but why?
“Wh…what???” Sonic asked weakly, holding the part where the arrow hit him.

“Lenity, let’s show him how strong our power REALLY is!”
“Yes…” Lenity nodded, but then she reached up and whispered into Nightmare’s ear.
“Promise you’ll fight fair???”
“Fine…” she answered, sounding arrogant.

“Draw you weapon, Sonic, and FIGHT!!” Nightmare charged right at Sonic, wielding her flaming sword, which was NOW surrounded by an evil aura, along with fire.

“No…no! This…This can’t be HAPPENING!!! NO!!!”