Thorns of Chaos: Chapter 10 ~ Moving Onward
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Dr. Westgrove blinked nervously at Sonic’s fading blur. “Shouldn’t one of you go after him?” Knuckles shook his head and replied, “That showoff can go off and get himself killed for all I ca-”
Rouge quickly clamped the hot-headed echidna’s mouth shut before he worsened the mood again. “No, Doctor, we shouldn’t. Like my friend here,” she said with a glare at said echidna, “Sonic can’t really be reasoned with when angry. He’ll go blow off steam by chasing down Eggman. If we’re lucky, he’ll do his usual amount of damage - a LOT - and a bit more before being sent back to us in a heap. We should try to figure out a plan in the meantime, as you suggested. First things first, though. We should change venue.”
With that, Rouge released Knuckles, who took a huge inhale to yell, but was swiftly silenced by a Chao glare, followed by a scathing rant. As he humorously tried to come up with a response to Cheese, Rouge walked over to Tails and kissed his forehead, whispering, “Listen to me, Miles. Don’t let this get to you. You are ten times the creator that old man could ever be, and we’re going to beat him, just like we always do. You’ve got to stay positive, okay?”
Before she could continue, the kit growled bitterly, “Why the hell do you care, Rouge? You’ve never shown any concern for me unless it was to screw me over later. Why the sudden change in tune, huh? You did, after all, help me with Emerl just to nab him later on. And you showed absolutely no concern over your robot teammate in the last EX World Grand Prix. Yeah, it was Metal Sonic all along, but that’s beside the point. You don’t give a crap about anyone but yourself at the end of the day.” As Tails quietly, yet viciously continued his rant, he lifted his head slightly and looked her right in the eye. “Well? What’s your angle this time, huh? I’m completely vulnerable right now, so how come a calculating manipulator like you isn’t trying to take advantage of this situation? Answer me, Rouge. Why should I trust you?”
Rouge felt a chill down her back and an ache in her heart as her ears fell. The knowledge that Tails was allowing his despair and anger to speak for him did not make his words hurt any less. She wanted so desperately to tell him who he reminded her of so much…but alas, she was not ready to go that far, not yet. Fighting a few tears that threatened to fall, she answered, “I…I care because I can’t not care. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s all I can say right now. As for why you should trust me, I suppose, as you’ve so intelligently stated, I don’t have the right to answer that. However, I am giving you my word as an agent of the United Federation, and as your friend, that I am on your side, and will do everything in my power to make sure that Dr. Eggman pays for what he’s done.” With a straight face she finished, “You can choose to believe that if you want.”
If her answer surprised or otherwise got through to him, Tails didn’t show it, instead breaking eye contact with her, followed by a curt, “If you say so.” Rouge sighed inwardly as she turned to the rest of the room’s occupants. “I think we should get moving, guys.” Everyone nodded and said their goodbyes to Tails: Knuckles swore to give Eggman a special Knuckle Slam in his honor, Cream kissed his cheek and promised she’d stop by tomorrow (with Cheese nodding in agreement), Gemerl surprised the fox with a spoken statement - “Get…well…” – which reminded Tails who enabled the ex-Gizoid with the return of his vocal capabilities (which needed some fine-tuning) - and Vanilla gently, though sternly, told him to focus his energy on getting better and to follow Dr. Westgrove’s instructions. The kit nodded in assent and thanked them all for coming.
He also made Shadow promise two things: to find Sonic and to "never do that weird thing" he did to Amy in front of him again.
The rabbit nodded with a look of determination on her cute face, ready to help her dear friend any way she could. “Yes, ma’am!” She then turned to her mother and politely asked, “Mama, can we stay in Soleanna a little while longer like Miss Rouge requested? I want to help out and…I don’t want to leave Tails alone and sad like that…” Vanilla smiled warmly at her daughter’s kindness and said, “Of course, dear. We’ll stay for as long as he does.” Cream beamed as she bowed in thanks, while Cheese did a little dance. Gemerl was silent.
Smiling in approval, Rouge then turned to Knuckles. “You and I are going back to Angel Island. My hunter’s intuition tells me that the Doctor might make another play for the Master Emerald, so we’ll need to safeguard it. And don’t even try to argue with me. This is too important, and you will not face a possible ambush on your own. I’m not about to let anyone else get hurt, especially yo-” Rouge quickly stopped herself before she said too much, “especially with so much at stake. Are we clear?”
Knuckles folded his arms in annoyance, but understood the urgency of the situation. “Fine, but not only will I have my eye on you, when we get there, we do things MY way.” The bat glared at his stubbornness, but agreed.
Turning to Shadow, she was about to say something, but her surrogate brother interrupted. “I know what you’re going to suggest, and the answer is no. My place is with Amy,” he gestured towards the unusually quiet hedgehog on his arm, “resuming her training. With the Doctor making strikes such as this, I want to be sure that all her bed rest hasn’t degraded her abilities.” At that, said hedgehog spoke up, “Actually, Shadow, I, um, need to head back home first.” The Ultimate Lifeform glanced at her incredulously and asked, “Again? What the hell for?”
“Well, we’ll need supplies for training, anyway. Besides…” she glared at him with embarrassment, “I need to change clothes.” The black hedgehog glared back. “I’m sure what you have on is fine for the moment.” Amy shook her head fiercely, her mortification growing. “No, Shadow. I. Need. To. Change.”
Vanilla and Rouge caught on to her meaning immediately and blushed, as did Shadow, after a few moments. Cream, Cheese and Knuckles, however, were confused. Gemerl was silent. Clearing his throat, Shadow replied, “Yes, very well. I’ll warp you back to Central City so you can, er, prepare.” Quickly turning back to Rouge he said, “It seems I’ll have some time to myself after all, Rouge. What did you have in mind?”
The agent folded her own arms beneath her generous breasts and gave him a look of unflinching disapproval – ‘Yeah, I’ll bet. I hope she REALLY lets you have it later…’ – before saying, “I need you to contact the Commander, put G.U.N. on high alert. It’s high time they resumed their own hunt for the Doctor, which should keep him busy and get us off his radar for a while. Also, if you run into Omega, let me know immediately.” Shadow nodded and, with Amy in tow, promptly dispersed via Chaos Control.
With that, everyone had their assignments and left to carry them out.
Chapter 10: You just read it.
Chapter 11: fav.me/d8cbrha
Time to ditch the drama and get back to the action.
*sigh* FINALLY. Figuring out exactly how to get them out of the hospital was a pain, on top of everything else that has been going on with me. But, that's been settled, and I can finally move things along.
Get (a load of) this: I've actually got a few chapters - as well as the final scene - visualized in my head. Now it's a matter of working my way there. All I'll say is that Amy fans are gonna be hyped.
As always, thank you for your patronage and patience. There should be smoother progression from this point on.
(Oh, and if you're having trouble understanding what Amy was trying to say here, then I suggest re-reading the last chapter and then talking to someone who won't be weirded out about discussing the female body. I'm sure as heck not gonna spell it out for you, and you'd better not in the comments.)
