Light Consorting with Shadows (Collab)
Everything happened so quickly, that Sonic hardly had time to fit into his armor. His ears pricked in alarm when he heard a startling scream outside. With his speed, he was out of the palace. Sonic had expected to see Doom, and perhaps some soldiers that he assigned, but, to his surprise… he saw these blueish gray creatures emerging in what appeared to be thin air. He saw Lancelot already fighting against three of them near the gate. After spin-dashing one of the creatures into the side of the palace, he searched his surroundings, looking for Amy, and their teenage daughter. Hoping perhaps they were inside the palace… Would the palace even be safe anymore? He was attacked by three smaller creatures, before Percival defended the King. Sonic quietly nodded, grateful for her speedy save. One by one, he and Percival kept knocking the intruders down, the pair finally catching a break when reuniting with Lancelot. Under the dark hedgehog’s helmet, their gazes met. Whatever was spoken between them earlier that morning, was put aside. They had more concerning matters at hand. “I think Amy and Rory are still inside the castle. Help them get to the bunkers with the others.” Without another word, his best knight obeyed and in haste made his way to the castle.
The evasion seemed to have come to a stand still, and all of the knights gathered around the King. “Make sure that the bunkers are heavily guarded. Gawain? Check to make sure no one is still in their homes. Percival? I want you to take your spot at the north tower.” Sonic had a feeling that this wasn’t gonna be the last time they’ll see these alien-like beings. His eyes darted in the direction of his family exiting the castle. The royal family made their way out of the gate, and made haste to their safe haven. Sonic stopped at the entrance to their temporary underground home. As Sonic, and the queen spoke quietly, the king kept an eye on Lancelot and Aurora near the entrance of the stone perimeter around them. Amy got his attention, when she squeezed his hand. Worried in her jade eyes, but she trusted her king fully. Of course, as always, Sonic told her to wait for him. They embraced tightly, as if afraid to let the other one go.
Aurora lingered with her father…The king reached out his arm to hug his daughter farewell, but the princess remained still with her lips pursed.
“You need to get to safety with your mother.”
“But I can help!” she pleaded, clasping her hands.
“No,” Sonic stated simply. “War is no place for a princess.”
Tears welled up in the pink hedgehog’s eyes. “Then what is my place? My purpose? Isn’t it to serve the people–the land I love? How can I be expected to watch you and everyone in our kingdom risk your lives while I sit idly by?”
Sonic attempted to look away, an attempt to hide his emotions just as his armor shielded his body, but his daughter reached up and held his face in his hands. She turned him back to look her in the eye.
“I can fight,” she urged. “Lancelot has been training me for this. Please, let me fight with you and the other knights. Let me protect our kingdom. I can do this.”
The king grimaced at the mention of Lancelot’s name on his daughter’s lips, but there was truth to her words. Aurora had been training with the best of his knights, which would make her plenty capable in battle. Still, Sonic wouldn’t allow himself to sacrifice his daughter so easily. He would only allow Aurora to fight if it were the very last resort.
He placed his hands firmly on Aurora’s shoulders. Brows furrowed, he gave her a weak smile. There was a sense of sadness behind his emerald eyes and for a moment she was no longer speaking with ‘a king,’ but with her father. “I know you’re strong enough… And that’s why I need you to go with your mother. Keep her safe. For me?”
It wasn’t what she had asked for, but it was a step in the right direction. Soon enough, she’d be able to prove herself.
“I will,” Aurora nodded weakly. She quickly hugged her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning on her heel and sprinting off to the safe haven.
As he watched Aurora join her mother, and slowly leave his sight. He started to truly realize something. His daughter was no longer his baby girl, anymore. As any parent, it pained him to realize this. However, Sonic couldn’t be more proud of her for standing her ground for their kingdom.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t dwell on his pride for his now young-adult daughter. More creatures were coming from all around them, not hesitating a moment to attack. Flying creatures even hovered above them, occasionally attacking them when one was distracted with their “siblings” that fought on the ground.
It felt like hundreds of these alien’s kept coming from out of nowhere, while they held a handful from the perimeter surrounding the bunker where the townspeople were huddled together in safety, more and more climbed the stone walls and attacked the archers, and the knights that were ordered to help were on their tail and tossed over like a rag, not standing a chance.
Everything froze. All the creatures suddenly dropped.
Doom had made his arrival. Both Sonic and Lancelot could feel him; and the chaos energy that surged through him.
“How disappointing, my son.” Doom spat at the ground, and slowly approached the two hedgehogs. His eyes narrowed coldly from the King to Lancelot. “Together we could have ruled this land, instead, you choose to die to defend his throne?” His crimson eyes darted toward Sonic.
Lancelot scowled, “indeed.” Rage was still fresh towards his estranged father, after the event that took place only days ago.
Doom scoffed, “so be it. If my army doesn’t destroy you… “ He grabbed Lancelot by the collar, “I will destroy you. After I kill your King.” Before Lancelot could attack him, he was gone. A dark cloud taking his place near his opponents.
Lancelot glanced back at the royal highness, Sonic’s emerald gaze scanned their surroundings. “We need to get those Chaos Emeralds back, Lancelot.” The king never looked at him, staying focused on the view of his palace standing on the hill. Perhaps, Doom would be waiting for them there. Doom’s mission was crystal clear. Now that Doom was out of sight, slowly his army became alive. Perhaps he had paralyzed them like he had done to Sonic, and the others the other day? Before Lancelot could even turn around to withdraw his sword, and decapitate his opponent, Sonic grabbed the Knight by the arm, and was pulled away from the battle. “I have an idea.”
Five lanky creatures discovered them just a few feet away, Lancelot and Sonic quickly took care of them, soon they all lay lifeless at their feet.
Lancelot took this chance to remove his helmet, and wipe his sweaty brow. “What’s your idea, sire?” Although he trusted Sonic with his life, he was always known for not making plans, or at least taking them seriously. All of a sudden, the king swung a fist. Lancelot was taken off guard, stumbling back.
It wasn’t rare that the two hedgehogs would spar from time to time, but in the heat of a battle? “C’mon, hit me.” Perhaps, the king was starting to lose his mind. When the knight didn’t hit him, Sonic attacked him again. “You don’t usually hesitate like this, Sir Lancelot.” Sonic laughed, and dodged Lancelot aiming for him.
“This fight is not with you, my King-”
“... But if we could use our wits to fool him.” Sonic stopped the brawl between them, his hands on the knight’s shoulders. “We can get the Chaos Emeralds back.”
Lancelot blinked at him, “we could win this.” Sonic grinned from ear to ear, and then looked over the knight’s shoulders back at the battle. They both mutually agreed to help the other knights fend off a large number of aliens, before they would carry out their plan.
Several feet away, it seemed like a larger number were attacking the stone perimeter that protected the sanctuary underground. Sir Percival, Gawain, and several other armored guards were attacking their opponents from all around them, swords piercing the chests of these aliens, or arrows aimed at their heads before they could even climb all the way to the top of the perimeter. Meanwhile, some of these creatures were near the entrance that was quite hidden from the naked eye. Guards that held their place on the top of the tower soon jumped down to block their attempt of a break-in.
When Lancelot, and the King felt like they would never be able to head back to the palace - when a bulky alien creature suddenly started to charge toward them, Lancelot took this chance, and muttered an apology to his king, as he although very hesitant, hitting him below the armor just inches from his groin. Sonic had been hurt several times before in his past life, especially any friendly compact with his faithful knight. He was almost numb to the pain, but had to admit it hurt like hell when Lancelot’s fist made contact. Lancelot whispered something into Sonic’s ear, and he immediately played along and fell to his knees. While Lancelot, lifted a hand toward the Alien. “Halt. Take me to your master. ” To his surprise, the creature actually froze in place. It grunted, and then glared at the “injured” King, before stomping ahead, leading them in the direction of the palace; perhaps they had assumed right that Doom was waiting for them in the throne room.
What a coward, Lancelot thought. He worried slightly that this plan wouldn’t even work. What was the next step if they had tricked Doom? How would he win the Chaos Emeralds back? He had a feeling that he would have to do the planning from there.
Instead of familiar, and friendly faces at the gate… stood two more aliens that were much taller than the alien that led them in this direction. Much easier to knock out, quite frankly. Lancelot noted. But, he resisted; they didn’t need to draw unnecessary attention.
Soon, the gates opened, and they stepped inside. More of Doom’s army were scattered here and there, snarling, and some of the smaller creatures even snapped at Sonic’s feet. Which, he just kicked off. From behind, the bulky alien shoved at Sonic, and snarled a warning.
When they finally reached the stone steps leading into the palace, the king started trying to get out of Lancelot’s grasp. Almost catching the knight off guard. They had to keep the act going. Sonic proceeded to fight against his grasp as they approached the throne room. As expected, Doom was sitting in Sonic’s seat.
Sonic, remember to burn that chair after we win this. The king noted, disgusted that Doom’s rear-end was in his chair.
One of the alien-soldiers approached Doom, and kneeled. If he spoke to Doom, neither of them heard it, or could understand it. Lancelot proceeded with the plan, and hurled the King towards his estranged father.
Sonic grunted as if the fall knocked the wind out of him. The alien quickly jerked aside, and allowed Doom to step down towards the King. His brow rising in disbelief. “Finally, did you come to your senses?” Doom leaned down to take off Sonic’s helmet, and tossed it aside. Sonic proceeded to play defeated, and weak.
Lancelot panicked slightly, and stepped forward. “Wait, Father…” The knight almost puked when he even used that word to describe such an evil being. “Mustn’t you end him this quickly?” He trailed off in thought, trying to find the words without giving them away, and costing both of their lives. “Shall we let him suffer by seeing his kingdom fall, before you end his life?”
Doom hesitated, quite intrigued with his son’s plan.
“Together. You and I. Like you wanted.” Lancelot could have sworn that Doom’s eyes beamed in excitement. If he could hold such an emotion.
Doom cackled loudly, his laughter echoing throughout the palace. “Brilliant.” The dark hedgehog turned to one of his soldiers, “take him to the cell.” Doom also advised them to heavily guard the cell Sonic would be in.
“I’ll take him.” Lancelot offered. He honestly wasn’t sure whether Sonic would actually be killed on the way to the cell. He couldn’t have that. Thankfully, Doom didn’t question his son. The soldiers lingered back, while Lancelot picked Sonic up and “dragged” him towards the prison. It has honestly been awhile since Lancelot actually walked down these stairs, Sonic hardly liked to lock anyone up. Unless, they had been guilty of murder. When they reached an empty, and dusty cell, they both waited to make sure they hadn’t been followed.
Sonic was grinning from ear to ear. “Way to go. Boy, you even had me fooled for a moment there.”
Lancelot hushed him. “I’m not sure about this, sire. What’s next?”
The king shrugged, “I didn’t think we would get this far, Lancelot.” Sonic lowered his voice, “don’t look at me like that,” Sonic’s voice got high-pitched under Lancelot’s gaze, “… I did bring this.” Hidden in his quills was a familiar Chaos Emerald, although it lacked its appeal like the real one. They could use it to their advantage. Or at least… Sonic could easily escape when he needed to. Perhaps, he could even use this one to find the Chaos Emerald that Doom had taken.
Lancelot shook his head. “Let’s pray to the gods it’ll work. I’ll figure out how to coax the Chaos Emeralds out of his grasp.” Sonic beamed, and gave him a thumbs up. “Now, get in your cell.” The knight encouraged, slightly too amused with the situation than he actually should be. Lancelot watched the King hesitate, but Sonic trusted him. He wouldn’t be here too long. Lancelot was worried though. What if Sonic was caught with the fake Chaos emerald? What if fooling Doom won’t be as easy as they had hoped. They got this far… so, they couldn’t back away now.
The knight felt Doom’s eyes on him, as he returned upstairs. He expected the older hedgehog to speak, but he was silent. “Ahem. What happens now?” Lancelot searched their surroundings. Taking notice of the damage inside the palace. If they win this, they have a lot of work to do. The knight cursed himself for not getting rid of Doom quicker. He also hated that he was away from Aurora, and the rest of the citizens that were safe in their fort. Or, at least for the time being. How long would it take before they break through? Doom’s soldiers were persistent. Too many lives were at risk. Lancelot felt like he shouldn’t linger much longer, but what of Sonic? Their plan?