"Sonic, wake up!" Sally shouted into the Hedgehog's ear.
There laid Sonic in his own bed, in a cold sweat, moaning and writhing in his bedsheets. Sally sat next to him in a nearby chair under a window filled with the mid-morning sunlight, watching Sonic in disbelief. What had come over him?
"SONIC!" Sally yelled louder, shaking him by the shoulders.
Sonic woke up with a start, blinking, a bead of sweat dripping from his face. It took him a few seconds for his mind to register where he was. Gradually, his breathing slowed down to normal. Sensing another person present, he slowly moved his head until his gaze met Sally's. Seeing her sitting there, he fell backwards out of his bed with a frightened yell. He got up and ran screaming out the door.
Sally stared after him in utter disbelief. She shook her head and mumbled, "He should really lay offa those chili dogs."
Sally returned to her hut and picked up Nicole from her nightstand. With that, she walked out of the hut and over to the center of Knothole, where a few of the Freedom Fighters were talking in hushed voices. Upon seeing Sally, they all ran up to her with looks of confusion and concern. Rotor spoke up.
"Sally, we just saw Sonic running off into the woods like a mad Hedgehog!" he said with a worried look on his face.
"I know, Rotor," Sally replied with a puzzled expression. "I don't know what's gotten into him! He must've had a nightmare."
Suddenly, off in the distance they heard the deafening discharge of a shotgun, followed by a roar of pain and anger.
"That sounded like Jazz!" Sally exclaimed, the group gazing off into the direction of where the noise had come from.
Some moments later, Jazz appeared from out of the forest, one paw holding his lower arm, the other paw holding a very outraged Sonic.
"Lemme go! Let me go!!" Sonic yelled, struggling to get away from Jazz's iron grip. Jazz looked down and growled at Sonic, stopping his yelling almost instantly. Jazz seethed with pain as a small trickle of blood ran down his arm from where his paw held it. He flung Sonic down on the ground in front of Sally and the small group of Freedom Fighters.
"Hold down that damn Hedgehog!" Jazz ordered to the other Freedom Fighters. They did so without question.
"Jazz! What happened?" Sally asked in a concerned voice.
"Oh, nothing! This little blue puffball just tried to kill me, that's all!" Jazz replied. "As if killing me were possible," he added with a pained snicker.
"What?" Sally asked in disbelief. "Why would Sonic do that?"
"How would I know that?" Jazz answered, glaring at Sonic. "I was over in the Great Meadow, when Sonic appeared out of nowhere. He took one look at me and gasped, like I was some sort of ghost or somethin'! He said something like, 'YOU were one who did all this to Knothole!' and then he picked up my shotgun laying nearby and fired it at me! The gun was too heavy for him, luckily, 'cause he just barely grazed my arm."
"How did you catch him?" Sally inquired further.
Jazz smirked and replied, "The kick from my shotgun threw him twenty feet back into a tree and knocked him out. That's when I picked him up and took him back here."
Jazz sat down, rolling up the sleeve of his brown guncoat so as not to get it stained with blood, his metallic upper arm gleaming in the bright sunlight.
Sally got up, went into her hut, and returned with bandages. She doctored his arm quickly, and then turned to Sonic to question him.
"Sonic," she said, "what's wrong with you?"
Recognizing the voice, Sonic looked over in the direction of Sally. Seeing her, he gasped, "Sal! When did you get back? I thought you were history!" With that, Sonic broke down, holding his head in his hands.
"Sonic, what in the world are you talking about?" Sally asked in a very puzzled voice.
Sonic looked next to where Sally was sitting, and saw Nicole. "N—Nicole! I thought you were destroyed!"
Nicole replied, "Negative, Sonic. My systems are all functioning."
Sonic shook his head in disbelief, looking around at the Freedom Fighters surrounding him. "Where did all of you go last night?" he asked, beginning to shake a little.
All of the Freedom Fighters stared at him and replied, "What?"
Rotor answered, "Sonic, we didn't go anywhere last night!"
Sonic said, "But I checked all of the huts during the storm last night. No one was there! Sally was gone, and Nicole was destroyed! I saw a cloaked figure, and I followed him into the Great Meadow! And that's where, that's where I saw, I saw—" Sonic stopped, pointing at Jazz.
Jazz looked incredulously at the Hedgehog and blinked. After a moment's silence, the Panther finally replied in a disgusted voice, "He's gone mad!" He paused to eye the Hedgehog suspiciously, then continued. "There wasn't any storm last night, Sonic! It was one of the clearest nights we've had in Knothole for weeks! Furthermore, everyone was in Knothole. I was over in the Panthers' Den with Epoch and Enigma!"
"It's true," came a voice from behind them. There stood Epoch, Enigma following close behind. "He stayed in the Den with us last light. He never went out." Epoch eyed Jazz over, seeing the bandage. "What happened, bro'? Get a little careless with your shotgun?"
Jazz growled. "Very funny. I'll explain later."
Bunnie, who had watched the whole commotion from a distance, spoke up. "Uh, 'scuse me y'all, but I saw somethin' last night that might be of some help."
Sally perked up at this. "What did you see, Bunnie?"
"Well, ah was sittin' up late last night 'bout two o'clock, and ah saw some shadowy thang goin' off toward the Great Meadow."
"There! You see? I'm not crazy. I didn't make all of that up," Sonic said, relieved, still shaking slightly.
"Then explain the part about the storm and Sally and Nicole and Knothole and ME," Jazz retorted, thoroughly unconvinced.
Sonic thought for a few moments, then replied reluctantly, "I don't know. I—really don't know. It was real, though, I tell you. I know it was."
With that, Sonic got up and returned to his hut, shaking his head in utter confusion. Meanwhile, Princess Sally beckoned to the group, and they all gathered around for a meeting. Sally addressed the Freedom Fighters.
"Well, I'm sure you're all wondering what's happened to Sonic just as much as I am. Absolutely none of this makes any sense to me. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Jazz spoke up and said simply, "I think he's finally cracked."
Epoch elbowed Jazz, and said, "No, there's got to be more to all of this. It's possible that all those things could have happened, but how, I don't know. Both Sonic and Bunnie said they saw a shadowy figure, and Sonic claims it was Jazz. I know it couldn't have been Jazz." He paused shortly, then finished. "Quite honestly, I don't know what to think of it."
A few Freedom Fighters nodded and mumbled in agreement.
"Well, if something really did happen last night, I sure don't like the sound of it," Jazz said in a low voice.
"Neither do I," Sally replied.
* * *
It was the early afternoon, and Jazz was in his favorite place: sitting under a tree nearby the ring pool, enjoying the coolness of the shade. He relaxed, leaned back, and closed his eyes, deep in thought about what had occurred earlier that day, still completely baffled. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as a familiar voice from behind greeted him with enthusiasm.
"Hi-ya, Jazz!"
Without opening his eyes, a smile spread across Jazz's face as he replied, "Hi-ya, Tails."
With that, Tails jumped out in front of Jazz and sat down. "So, you heard about Sonic, I assume?" he asked innocently.
Jazz opened his eyes, chuckled, and replied, "What do you think? I was one of the first ones to find out about it. And I found out very painfully, I might add," he said, showing his bandaged arm to Tails.
"How'd ya' get that?" Tails asked.
"For lack of a better explanation, let's just say that Sonic mistook me for someone else," Jazz replied.
"Who did he think you were?"
"You certainly are full of questions today, aren't you!" Jazz said with a chuckle, reaching over and ruffling the orange tuft of hair on the head of the Kitsune. "Well, we don't know who, or what."
With that, Jazz skipped a stone across the pool and sighed. Tails moved to the rim of the pool and watched his reflection, his two tails swinging behind him slowly. Jazz leaned back and closed his eyes once again. They both sat without saying a word for quite some time, until the silence was broken by an unfamiliar voice close by.
"Good day, sirs," said the stranger.
Tails, taken completely by surprise, fell head-first into the ring pool with a loud splash.
Jazz opened one eye and perked his ears up at such a formal greeting. "Sir? I haven't been called that in awhile," he commented to himself, turning around to meet the stranger's gaze.
The stranger did not crack a smile. "Do you know where I might find Her Majesty, the Princess Sally Acorn?"
"Why do you ask?" queried Jazz, eyeing the stranger suspiciously.
"I have journeyed long and far in search of her. I must talk to her," he replied in a worried tone.
"Tails, you wanna go tell Princess Sally she has a visitor?" Jazz asked.
The soaked Kitsune had managed to climb out and was shaking himself dry. "Sure thing, Jazzie."
With that, Tails flew off into the air back towards the square.
"And don't call me 'Jazzie'!!" the Panther yelled after him angrily.
Tails touched down at Knothole Square, where Sally was still sitting with her computer, Nicole.
"Aunt Sally!" cried Tails, "there's a visitor here who has come a long way just to speak with you. He says it's very important!"
Sally was caught off guard, and looked up, startled. "Oh he has, has he? Okay." With that, she laid down Nicole and followed him back to the ring pool, where Jazz and the stranger were.
Jazz sat silently and observed the stranger with a poker face. He was wearing tattered garments, and held a long walking stick in one hand. Of particular interest to Jazz was the large, blood-red crystal that hung from a necklace around the stranger's neck.
The princess and Tails approached.
Sally looked at the stranger quickly, then replied, "I am the Princess Sally Acorn of whom you wish to speak."
The stranger bowed and replied, "At last I have found you! I have been in search of you to warn you of the future. You will soon be in great danger."
"What do you mean?" Sally asked with concern.
"Well, Your Majesty, Doctor Robotnik has an ace up his sleeve, and he's about to play it."
With that, Jazz broke his stoic silence and laughed, saying, "And when exactly doesn't Robotnik have an ace up his sleeve?"
At that moment, Sonic appeared behind them, walking along side the ring pool, his head down. Looking up at the small group, he looked with suspicion at the stranger. Slowly moving his gaze over to the Panther, Sonic's eyes widened at Jazz, who was snarling menacingly at him. As expected, the Hedgehog quickly turned on his heels and retreated back towards the center of Knothole at a brisk pace.
Sally whirled around and said, "Sonic! I'm glad you're here. Tell him about your dreams last night. This might be interesting."
Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and reluctantly turned around back towards the group. He approached them cautiously, keeping a large distance between him and Jazz. Sonic then retold his nightmare to the stranger in vivid detail, not leaving out one single part. When he had finished, instead of showing surprise towards the dream, the stranger just slowly nodded his head knowingly.
"Just as I had thought," the stranger replied after a long pause. "Yes, he works very quickly indeed. Soon they will be fulfilled."
"Who and what?" Sonic asked, puzzled.
"Dr. Robotnik and the three prophecies."
"What three prophecies?" both Sonic and Sally asked at the same time.
"The three prophecies in your dream, Sonic. The prophecy of Princess Sally's disappearance, Nicole's demise, and Knothole's destruction," the stranger replied.
Sonic looked astounded, and replied, "Is that what my dream meant?"
The stranger nodded slowly. "It lies upon all your hands to stop Robotnik's plan," the stranger said to them.
"What plan?" Jazz asked, intrigued at what the stranger said.
"That I do not know. The future will hold the answers," the stranger replied. With those parting words, he disappeared.
"What a strange person!" Jazz remarked, leaning his back on the tree and going back into deep thought.
Sonic and Sally were still looking in the direction of where the stranger had been standing, their mouths half-open with unfinished questions.
Finally Sonic spoke. "Who was that guy?"
Sally shook her head slowly, then replied, "I don't know, Sonic."
"Well you realize, Sal, that the future doesn't look so hot for us, huh?" Sonic said, tearing away his gaze from where the stranger had disappeared and looking over at Sally to meet her downcast expression.
"Yes, Sonic, I know. From now on, we must be extra cautious. Apparently we aren't even close to being safe in Knothole anymore," Sally replied sadly.
* * *
"Well, did you want to come over and stay at the Den again?" Epoch and Enigma asked Jazz, looking around at the darkening sky.
"Thanks, you two, but you know I won't. You two belong together, and the Den is where you belong. I still turn to stone at night, remember? I'll just be at my regular place, in the center of Knothole. Goodnight," Jazz replied.
"Goodnight, Jazz," Epoch and Enigma said, turning back to the Den.
With that, Jazz stood in the center of Knothole, on which he and his brother had arrived no more than a year ago, and reverted back to stone.
* * *
No one was awake that night. No one was aware of a figure lurking in the shadows of the huts of Knothole. No one heard the silent cries for help. No one, that is, except for Epoch and Jazz Panther.
Jazz awakened, and Epoch ran out of the Den, meeting him at the square at the same time.
"You were called too, huh?" asked Epoch.
"Yup, and I think I know just who it is," Jazz replied.
Both Panthers, with their cat-like stealth, ran over to the hut where the silent cry for help had come. It was Sally's. They opened the door just in time to see a shadow dart away, a black tail following behind it. Both Panthers looked around, seeing nothing. Suddenly, they spotted something huddled in the back corner of the hut. Cautiously, the two Panthers walked over to where the figure was. It was Sally.
She got up slowly, seeing Epoch and Jazz, their eyes blazing with electricity. She embraced them both, shivering with cold and fright. The light died from the two Panthers' eyes as Jazz removed his guncoat and placed it over her shoulders, and Epoch pulled over a chair for her. She sat down, and the two brothers waited patiently for her to speak. She finally did.
"It was him. It was the one Sonic saw. Now I understand," Sally said, shaking her head and blinking.
"How do you know that?" both Panthers asked her at the same time.
"Because," Sally replied, raising her head slowly, looking directly into Jazz's eyes, "he looked exactly like you, Jazz."
* * *
"Well?!" Robotnik demanded impatiently, whirling around to meet the cringing figure in the doorway.
Hanging his head and shaking it slowly, he replied, "No, I'm sorry."
"I don't look kindly on incompetent employees!" Robotnik shouted angrily, slamming his fist down onto a control panel.
"I promise, next time I won't fail!" the figure replied, cringing even more.
"See that you don't! See that you don't," Robotnik growled, turning his back to him and clenching a threatening fist. |
