Sonic heroes

27; New chapter update. If you want more just review. This took me ages to write! Enjoy!


Disclaimer. I do not own Sonic or Godzilla! But Clave is mine.


The Jungle of Ashes

For hours they rested, gaining their breath and getting their bearings. Shadow seemed lest affected from the long journey as he sucked from his can of beer and thought quietly to himself. The sand beneath their feet was receding and replacing it with dry, course grass. Still, it was an improvement from just hot, suffocating sand.
“It’s a very dry season this year.” Shadow mumbled.
“Wha-?” Sonic cleared his thoughts after resting up against the tree. Now he wanted to keep moving. But what Shadow had said had caught his attention.
“This place seems too dry.” Shadow continued. “It is autumn, correct?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Then this should be the wet season. Odd isn’t it? This place being this dry.”
“But it’s a desert for crying out loud!”
“You misunderstand.” Shadow opened another can, “this place is too dry, even for this desert.”
“And? It’s not going to affect us. We just need to keep moving.” Sonic stood, dusted himself off and ate his fill.
Knuckles lazily rolled over onto his back. “We should go and cool off in the ocean. We need a little time to relax.”
“But you’ve just relaxed now!” Sonic said, “plus we have no time to relax. We have four days left!”
“And Sonic hates water.” Shadow added with a cruel notion in his voice.
“Yes, I hate water.” Sonic said as he performed a few stretches. “Now, let’s move out!”
Tails groggily sat up. “Can’t we just rest a little longer?”
“No!”
Knuckles noticed Shadow guzzling down his cans of beer. He wondered what it tasted like.
“Can I try some of that?” The echidna asked.
“Sure, why not? I have plenty, after all…” And he threw one to Knux.
“I don’t think you should try that, Red.” Sonic advised him, picking up his bag, “who knows what kind of stuff he puts into that liquid crap of his.”
Knuckles shrugged and took a big gulp from the small can. After a mere matter of seconds of swallowing it, Knux began to violently cough and splutter. “Water!” He cried, “by the emeralds it tastes so bad!” He ended up on the floor, having collapsed, still spluttering.
“Gee, I think you’ve just about killed him.” Sonic said, putting his hands on his hips.
“Yeah. Too bad it wasn’t you.” Shadow retorted.

Eggman had been working out in a gym club when the message came through that Sonic and his team had long since entered the jungle. Robotnik finished his exercising and contacted headquarters. Clave picked up on the other line.
“They are in the jungle now, Clave. I’m moving on to phase two of my plan. You know the drill.” The evil genius breathed down the line. The robot did not reply. He hung up the phone and with the powerful jet on his back; he flew out from the top opening of the base and headed towards the jungle.

They had now entered much of the jungle, as the foliage of trees grew denser. Sonic led the way as he read the map. “Why couldn’t we go around the jungle instead of through it?” Tails whined as all different sorts of bugs bit him.
“It would take too long if we went around it.” Sonic told him, “and through it is where we have to go. It’s what the map says.”
“Too bad.” Shadow was careful as his walked onwards, determined not to get his white trainers dirty.
Soon Knuckles cried out; “Grapes!”
They looked up to where he was pointing. A massive vine holding grapes hung above them, supported by trees and other vines.
“No time to eat guys.” Knuckles heard Sonic mutter, “it’s too dangerous if we stop for any reason.”
“Oh don’t worry!” Tails smiled, “I could just quickly fly up there to that tree and eat them!”
“Excuse me, but that is no tree from which they grow from.” Knux corrected him, “the proper term is vine and besides, I saw them first! So they’re mine!”
Sonic sighed and trudged onwards. Shadow followed suit after checking the former state of his shoes.

The jungle got thicker as they moved deeper and deeper into a world where strange flowers grew and mythical creatures dwelled. Tails became more and more reluctant to keep going. Knuckles had a fit whenever he heard a noise coming from the undergrowth. Shadow and Sonic just continued onwards, ignorant of any danger. And they began to notice how dry and brittle the jungle had become. It must not have rained there for months. Tails grew more worried. Something didn’t seem right. Perhaps they were walking straight into a trap. As those thoughts crossed his mind, a robot jumped out in front of them. They all jumped, utterly surprised.
“I should have known.” Sonic muttered.
“Why, what is it?” Asked Knuckles in his confusion.
“An Eggman robot. A badnik.”
“By the seven emeralds! It’s a dragon robot!”
The robot scanned them, made two steps forward.
“It’s pretty big for a badnik.” Tails cried, moving backwards.
Sonic quickly scrutinised the strange looking robot. It had huge, colored spikes crowning its head, shoulder spikes and a heavily armoured tail. It was huge to say the least as it reared up on its hind legs.
“Let’s get out of here!” Knuckles shouted, startled by the appearance of the creature.
“Not a chance and its in my way!” Sonic said, smiling.
“Bought time something interesting happened.” He heard Shadow vaguely mutter.
“Targets confirmed.” Said the robot. “I am Clave Mark IV.”
“Oh, I’m Sonic…” the hedgehog began, “and this is Shadow… Knuckles…”
“What is he doing?” Tails whispered.
“Hell if I know.” Knuckles replied.
The robot reared again and struck Sonic in the side with its lashing tail.
“He deserved that.” Shadow said.
“JUMP!” Tails heard Knux roar. Lasers hit the ground, right under their feet as they dashed out of the way. The grass that had been in contact from the attack at once burst into violent flame. The area was just so dry and Clave had known just what to do. It had all been planned.
“This ends now.” Shadow jumped and then commenced a spinning attack. He aimed straight for Clave. The dragon however, was swifter. It shot out lasers again and one hit Shadow’s shoe. The force knocked the black hedgehog sideways and into a bush.
“That’s it. You’ve really made me angry.” The echidna burst into action and charged at the enemy machine. It threw a powerful punch straight at it. He was stopped. The dragon countered with a punch of its own and caught Knuckles’ fist in its claws.
“What?” Knux couldn’t believe it. Nothing matched his strength. This robot couldn’t be that strong. Even Robotnik himself had been afraid to build such creations.
“Knuckles, the red one. You have been out done.” Its claws dug into Knux’s paw. He cried with rage. Sonic sprang from behind and hammered the robot with his homing attack. Still holding the echidna, it threw Knuckles into Sonic and they both flew into a tree.
“Such power…” Shadow groaned, recovering from his last attack.
Tails watched, mouth open. He knew he had to do something but on his own? And even Sonic was getting beaten? And with each attack, the jungle floor was becoming brighter from the luring colors of fire. Birds flocked to the sky, animals dashed past him. It was spreading, fast. They had to get out before it would be too late.
“Be gone!” Hissed Clave and he threw his claws into the ground, causing an earthquake. Shadow was launched off his feet. Trees fell, rocks crumbled. Tails took to the air. Knuckles and Sonic were lost in the smoke.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Sonic coughed, the smoke becoming so thick he could hardly make out what was in front of him.
“I know… but that thing….” Knuckles looked at his fist, smothered in blood.
Sonic saw it too but didn’t say anything. Instead he grabbed hold of Red’s good paw and tried to run through the blinding smoke.

“Fire! Fire!” Tails was shouting, hovering in the air. The heat was rancid. Shadow was just below him, limping away from the orange and yellow glow. Clave also disappeared into the smoke, still remaining a mystery to the team.
“Come, Tails.” Shadow called up to him, “we must find a way out.”
“But Sonic and Knuckles are still trapped in here somewhere!” Tails had to shout back over the crackling noise of the hungry flames.
“Good.” Shadow said simply and he ran using his skating trainers, vanishing into the developing smoke.
All of them headed away from the fire, continuing onwards to where the map told them to go. Ahead was supposed to be a great pond that would hopefully ward off the angry flames. Sonic reached there first, glad that the map was right. He tucked the paper away down his glove. He let go of Red.
“We’re safe… but the others…” the echidna started sadly but then he saw familiar shapes come out from the dense smoke. Shadow emerged, along with Tails.
“Guys!” Sonic breathed deeply, “never get split up again!”
“Sonic!” Tails leapt up and gave his friend a quick hug.
“Reunited!” Knuckles said happily. But their happy reunion was short lived. A tremendous roar rocked the very earth they stood on. Tails cowered, biting his gloves.
Shadow glanced behind him. “Guys, we have a massive Godzilla just behind us.”
“What?”
They spun round and came face to face with a giant monster that had risen from the great pond. Scales covered its whole body; huge diamond like spikes coated its arching back. Its black eyes stared down at the team.
“Do something! Do something!” Knuckles cried.
“Well don’t look at me!” Sonic said, “I just smash badniks!”
“And it’s been a really long day.” Sighed Shadow; “I need some beer.”
“What are we gonna do?” Tails wailed, “we’re trapped! The fire is right behind us and we’ve got that thing right in our way!”
The monster took a defying step out of the pond and let out a bellow of a roar. They covered their ears.
“Okay, so we fight it then, but what about that Clave robot?” Sonic said.
“Forget about him! Just deal with that first!” Knux said angrily, pointing with his bloodied fist at the roaring creature ready to crush them.
“You gonna help Shadow?” Sonic turned to his rival.
“Not until I’ve finished this beer.” He replied, taking a long sip from a can. Sonic grumbled.
“I can’t wait forever!” And Knuckles launched himself forward and went for the monster.
“This must be a death-trap sent by Robotnik!” Cried Tails.
“So, what’s new?” Shadow asked.
Sonic didn’t know how to get that high to attack such a creature, but the fire was pressing on their backs. They had to do something. Perhaps stun the creature? Then quickly make an escape.
Fortunately for the team, the mammoth creature was too slow to counter their attacks. Knuckles, with his agility, hit the creature as fast and hard as he could. Sonic, bouncing off from dying trees, tried to knock Godzilla over. Their attempts, however strong, were futile. Soon the fire was right on top of them and the monster was now striking heavily, trying to catch its prey off-guard. Shadow had at last finished his beer and decided to put an end to the team’s suffering. He froze the creature using his powers of time and magic. Sonic stopped in his tracks when the monster suddenly just stopped attacking and sat there.
“Quick, let’s get out of here!” Alerted Tails as he flew past him.
“What’s going on?” Knuckles cried.
“I stopped time for that monster.” Shadow quickly explained, “though it can only last for a few more seconds. He is too strong and I can’t hold him for much longer.”
“Then let’s get out of here.” Sonic raced away, shadow and Knuckles following as quickly as they could. They dashed past the pond and raced through the jungle. They could still hear the tormenting flames behind them; the roar of the monster as it fought against Shadow’s powers. They were too surprised and scared to stop. Nothing was on their minds except escape. They didn’t care where they were going, didn’t care about the directions of the map anymore. They just wanted to escape from the clutches of the jungle.
Soon, Sonic was first to burst out of the forlorn palm trees and enter a wild, yet calmer environment. There was nothing but greenery ahead of him, with lush hills and oak trees. It looked more like home, back at Knothole.
Tails landed beside him, out of breath. “Gee what a thrill that was! I never want to do that again!”
“Hopefully we won’t.” Sonic looked behind him. Shadow darted out of the bushes and stopped to a standstill.
“What a rush.” Was all he said.
“Still got the map?” Tails asked hopefully.
“Sure do.” Sonic checked and found it still safely tucked away in his glove.
“Hey, where’s Knuckles?” Tails looked behind him and did not see the red echidna anywhere.
“Red?” Sonic turned, didn’t see him. “I must have left him behind.” He cursed.
“Who cares.” Shadow said bitterly.
“I do!” Sonic snapped. “In the confusion I must have… we were too fast…”

27; Yay! End of that chapter! To be continued...