Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are copyright SEGA Enterprises, LTD. and Archie Comics Publications. Nights and related characters are copyright SEGA Enterprises LTD. Delphine, Dimitria, and related characters are copyright Delphine Kiminsu. All the V'Pirians and V'Pury are copyright Delphine Kiminsu. It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. --Woody Allen Red Silk Part Five Peril --Delphine Kiminsu Earth New York: Thendara, June 28, 8:38 PM EST Sally, Sonic, Ali, and Marco all fell through the ceiling and onto the floor. "This is much better than I counted on!" Peter shouted. He aimed the rocket canon at the four Freedom Fighters. "All righty then. What should I do with you?" "You ain't gonna do nothin' with us, because we're outa here!" Sonic jumped up and turned, only to see thousands of SACCbots blocking off every possible escape. Sonic turned back to Peter, looking scared and confused. "Wh-what was I-I saying?" "You said that you were gonna sit right back down and stay there." Peter said. Sonic tried to nod, and flopped back down. Sally put a hand on his arm. He was shaking. "Now, where was I.... Oh yeah, I was deciding what I should do with you." He grinned evilly. Suddenly his eyes widened. "I have an idea." He beckoned to Snively and Reala, who came over and listened to what he said. They both nodded and smiled. "This outa be fun." "Are you okay?" "Whatda you care?" Delphine snapped at Knuckles. He looked down, painfully. Then he snapped his neck back up and put a hand to his back. Delphine turned away to look for Jared. She saw him half buried in debris. She ran over and lifted some of the stuff off of him. He groaned and pushed the rest off. "Owwwwww," he moaned. "Are you okay?" Delphine asked, kneeling down next to him. "My head hurts...." "Is anything broken?" Delphine asked worridly. "I'm not sure. I don't think so." Jared tried to stand up, but slipped. "Hold on. Everything...." Just then thirty V'pirians, including the Master and Aknar, crashed down. "IS GOING TO HELL!" Jared finished for her. "Ohhh SHIT!" Knuckles yelled. "Well well, what have we got here?" The Master said with an evil laugh. "Uuuuuhhhh .... three people whom are leaving right now!" Delphine yelled. She helped Jared up and they started to back away. Knuckles followed suit. "I don't think so." Knuckles whirled around at the voice and instinctively put up his fists. More V'pirians. He slowly lowered his arms. "Not only has the house been brought down, but now the guests have arrived," Jared said grimly. "Oh, this is WONderful. This must be the worst day of my life." "And the last." Aknar said. Delphine slowly turned. They were surrounded. "Perfect." Nights, Dimitria and Lisa heard both crashes. "What was that?!" Lisa exclaimed. "Sonic.... Del...." Dimitria murmured. "We should go see what happened." Nights said. "Good idea. I'll...." "Dimitria, you come with me, Nights, you go find Delphine and the others." Nights nodded and flew off. "What...." "C'mon." Lisa said, and ran off in the other direction. Dimitria glared at her angrily, then followed. Nights almost ran into one of the V'pirian guards. He gasped and stopped suddenly. The guard whirled around and faced Nights. "What--?! ARRRG!" The V'pirian leapt at Nights. Nights quickly flew up and out of the way. "Ha ha." Nights grinned. The guard scowled. "Get down and come fight me." The guard grinned. "Or are you chicken?" "No, just not stupid." "RAAAAAAH!" The guard, enraged, jumped up at Nights and grabbed his ankle. "YEEH!" The two crashed to the ground. "HAAAAH!" The guard picked up a rock and tried to smash it against Nights. Nights rolled away. He got up and hovered just above the ground. "I am going to KILL YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!" "Do you have to scream? It is rather annoying." Nights said, without a trace of smile. The guard leapt at him. Nights flew upward and the guard hit his head against the wall. Nights made sure he was okay, then silently flew into the room. he thought. Nights hid behind a fallen piece of cement and looked around. Delphine, Knuckles and Jared were surrounded by.... "V'pirians," Knuckles growled. "Exactly." The Master said. He leisurely walked around them. Jared tightened his fists. Delphine's mind was racing. Her heart was thumping like crazy. She was beginning to get scared. "Now, what should I do with you.... I know! I could turn you three into V'pirians! Makes things much more interesting!" He grabbed onto Delphine's arm. "LET GO!" She tugged away. The Master took the dagger out of her sheath and swiped it across her hand. "AHHH!" Jared picked up a large piece of cement and smashed it on the Masters head. He let go of Delphine and turned. "oh shit . . . ." The Master picked him up by his neck. "I guess one less V'pirian is okay," he growled. Jared struggled. "Damnit!" Delphine kicked him in the shin. He dropped Jared and fell back. Jared gasped. Delphine knelt beside him, holding her hand. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine, I'm fine." He coughed. "Not for long," Aknar said. I'm going tAAAAAAAHHH!" He was knocked over. Delphine and Jared quickly got up. "Nights!" "Yeah, it is pretty late...." "Let's get outa here!" "Come on!" Nights said. They fought their way through the V'pirians, but there were just too many. Delphine slipped and a V'pirian was on her in an instant. "NO!" The others all said at the same time. Knuckles was closest. He knocked the V'pirian away and beat it to a bloody pulp. Delphine got up. She looked at Knuckles. "C'mon, before more come!" Nights called out. They followed him out of the room. "Bring her," Peter said. A SACCbot picked Sally up. "No! Don't touch her!" Sonic jumped up. Another 'bot shot him with a laser. He fell to the floor. "Sonic!" Sally yelled. Sonic painfully looked up. Ali knelt beside him. "Leave her alone," he managed to say before he passed out. "NO!" Dimitria and Lisa arrived at the hole and looked down. They saw Sonic and the others. "I wonder what WHOA!" Lisa slipped and fell. Dimitra grabbed her ankle. "Hold on! I've got you! Don't move!" she whispered. Lisa sighed with relief. Dimitria slowly pulled her up. "Are you okay?" Lisa just shivered. They would have been fine. If the floor hadn't collapsed. "AHHHHHHHH!" "NOOOOOOOO!" They landed, then were covered in debris. "Oh look, more guests!" Peter said cheerfully. Dimitria moaned. "Over.... h. ...ere. ..." Nights gasped out. "Whoa," Knuckles breathed out. "Man," Jared said. Delphine wrapped her hand up in a piece of cloth. "Well? What're we waiting for? Let's go help them!" "How? Don't you think we should have a plan?" Nights asked. "Why would we want to do that?!" Nights gave her a look. Delphine spotted a chain hanging down the hole. "Here," she said, picking it up and handing it to Jared. He saw what she was saying and nodded. Delphine, Nights, and Knuckles flew/glided down while Jared swung. Nights took down five robots with his drill-dash; Delphine took down three, Knuckles took down four, and Jared took down Peter himself. "WHAAAAAA?!" Peter said as he was flung backwards. Jared tried to flip but fell flat on his back. "Ouch." He jumped back up and faced Peter who was also getting up. Jared leapt at Peter and pinned him to the floor. He looked over at the prisoners. Sonic, Ali, Marco, Dimitria, Lisa..... "All right asshole, where's the princess?!" he shouted. Peter just grinned. "You'll never find her." Jared banged Peter's head against the ground. "WHERE IS SHE?!" In the background, Knuckles, Delphine and Nights were fighting the 'bots. "I don't know," Peter said calmly. "YES YOU DO!!" "What is your problem? She'll be fine as soon as we find the silk...." "That won't be necessary." Peter looked up at Reala. Nights was fighting his way through the 'bots to get at him. "Why not?" Peter asked. Reala picked Jared up and threw him off of Peter. "AAAAHHHH!!" Jared landed on his back and didn't move. "We'll just have THEM find it for us." "I don't think so." Nights dashed into Reala. They started fighting. Peter quickly got up, picked up a laser gun, and jogged over to Jared. "This is bad." "No kidding." Delphine and Knuckles were fighting off the SACCbots as best they could, but there were only two of them, and thousands of 'bots. Marco, Dimitra and Lisa quickly jumped in and helped them. "It's about time!" Knuckles shouted. "Yeah, well, we wouldn't have bothered if Delphine wasn't here," Marco said. "Speak for yourself!" Dimitria and Lisa said at the same time. Ali carried Sonic away from the fighting. He slowly woke up. "Ow." He rubbed his head. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine-- where's Sal?!" "They still have her." "NO!" Sonic jumped up and ran right into a SACCbot. He trashed it and joined in the fight. But something was wrong. He looked around. He kept fighting. Peter stood next to Jared, who was slowly trying to get up. Peter cocked the gun. Jared looked up at him. "Who ARE you?!" "What? Don't you remember your own brother? Peter?" "WHAT?!" Jared's eyes widened. Then they narrowed again. "No. You're lying." "Why would I lie?" "Because you're the one who started this whole mess." "Not really; it was Snively. But I'm not lying." Peter looked at him. He lowered the gun. "That's why I want to make you an offer." "No. Whatever it is, no." "I don't want to kill my own BROTHER!" "Why? You'd kill all the rest of them." "That's because they would kill me!" "SO WOULD I!" "No you wouldn't." "How would you know?" "Because I've been watching you.... I know everything about you." "Freak." "Was it MY fault that OUR parents made a mistake? Was it MY fault that they weren't watching me? It wasn't MY fault that that guy took me! They should have been PAYING ATTENTION!!" Jared stared at him. "I want you to join me.... then we can both rule the dimension!" "I thought I already said no." "If you don't, then I'll have to kill you." "Go ahead." Jared gulped. "Have it your way." Peter raised the gun. Jared kicked his ankles. "AHH!" Peter fell. Jared got up and threw the gun. Peter rolled backwards and stood up. They glared at each other. "I guess I'll just have to kill you with my bare hands." "You can try." They leapt at each other. Sonic heard an engine behind him. He swirled around in time to see Brass punching him. "AAAH!" Sonic fell back, then jumped back up and spin-dashed at the 'bot. Brass shot a laser at Sonic. Sonic retaliated by spinning at the 'bot. They went at each other back and forth like that for some time. Then Brass rocketed down a hallway. Sonic followed close behind. Nights and Reala had been going at it a long time, drill-dashing each other, paralooping each other, and relatively getting on each others nerves. Nights para-looped Reala again. Reala didn't have the energy to catch himself and fell to the floor. Nights hovered above him. "Had enough?" "Yeah, right." Reala jumped up, grabbed Nights by the ankle, and tried to throw him. Nights kicked him. Reala flew up and dashed into Nights. Nights was about to retaliate when he hit the wall. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" "ASSHOLE!" "GET OFF OF ME!" "LEGGO OF MY ARM!" "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!" Jared pushed Peter off and got back up. Peter jumped up and faced Jared. "I am going to beat the shit outa YOU!" "Not." Jared picked up a crowbar. Peter backed away. "Now, wait a minute...." Peter tripped. "Shit." The Watcher's Spot No Date, No Time The Watcher watched what was going on through the monitor. It was no longer angry. It was FURIOUS. Earth New York: Thendara, June 28, 10:33 PM EST Sonic followed Brass through twists and turns. Brass kept firing back at Sonic, although he never stopped. Sonic kept following him, unable to catch him but never giving up. Brass shot at the ceiling. Sonic narrowly missed being buried in debris. Brass shot around a corner. Sonic went around. He couldn't see the robot. "Where--?" Sonic looked around, confused. He put his hands on his knees, catching his breath. He looked down the corridor. Doors where lined up all the way, almost next to each other. "Great." Nights fell to the floor. He rubbed his head and moaned. Reala landed right in front of him. Nights looked up. Reala was holding a large rock. Nights tried to get up. Reala kicked him. Nights groaned. "I finally get rid of you." Reala said. He dropped the rock. Delphine saw Reala drop the rock. She saw Nights droop. She saw Reala pick Nights up by the neck. Her eyes narrowed. "I've had enough of this shit." She flipped over the 'bot she was fighting, rolled underneath another one, and barreled through a third. She ran, leaped, and flew right into Reala. "AAAAHHHH!!" Reala dropped Nights and fell back. Delphine landed on her feet. Reala glared at her. She glared back while taking Nights' pulse. She sighed with relief and stood up at the same time Reala did. They glared at each other. Nights moaned and opened his eyes. He sat up and looked between them. He slowly stood up. "Leave her alone, Reala." "I can take care of myself; Don't worry." "Delphine...." "I'll get rid of BOTH of you then!" "I THINK not!" Delphine kicked him in the chest. Reala jumped back. Nights drill-dashed into him. Reala rolled backwards and flew up. Nights flew up after him. Delphine watched them. "Oh boy...." "Help!" Sonic started. That voice sounded like.... "SALLY!" "Help!" she said again. Sonic heard it, faintly. Sonic desperately went down the hall, checking each door. Some had windows, some were solid. Some were locked, and some where not. Half an hour later, there were only two doors left. He tried the one on the left side. It was solid, but unlocked; he opened it. Nothing. He turned to the last door, paranoid, tired, and panicking. He walked over to it and looked through the small window. Inside he saw Brass. The 'bot was holding a crowbar. He also saw Sally. She was tied up. "SALLY!! SAAAALLLLYYYYY!!!!" Sonic desperately pulled at the door. It wouldn't open. He started crying. "LEAVE HER ALONE!!" He pushed against the door. He rammed into the door. Nothing worked. He spun into the door. He made a few marks, but he couldn't get through it. He knelt down against the door and sobbed. He started banging against the door. "LET HER GO!!!!" He banged his body against the door. Suddenly he heard her scream. He stopped. "S-s- s-s-sally?" He sniffed. Then he stood up and looked through the window again. Sally was lying down and tears were silently sliding down her cheek. "Sally? Sally? SALLY!!" She screamed again. Sonic started ramming the door again. Then he stopped and looked around. Another crowbar. He picked it up and banged it against the doorknob. Soon it came off. He pushed against the door. It opened easily. Sonic spun into Brass. Brass fell back. Sonic walked over to Sally. He was still holding the crowbar. She saw it and her eyes went wide. "NO LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Sonic saw what she was staring at and threw it away. Then he knelt down beside her and began to untie her. "Sally it's okay it's me," he said. Sally sniffed. Her arm was bleeding. When he had finished untieing her, she flung her other arm around him and sobbed against his chest. He hugged her back. She drooped a little. Sonic looked at her. "What'd he do to you?" he whispered. Sally just sniffed. He held her. "I wanna go home. I'm sick of this. Let's just leave and let the damned Earth fight off these bastards on their own." Sonic picked her up. "We're going home. Now." He walked out of the room and down the hall. Back in the room, Brass got up. "Systems at 75%.... 87%.... 94%.... 100%. Systems fully operational." Brass' eyes glowed red. "Come out come out wherever you are." Sonic stopped. Just around the corner the fighting was taking place. He put Sally down carefully. "Just stay here. We're going to get out of here ASAP." She nodded and wiped her tears away. He looked down at her sympathetically, then walked around the corner. Something was wrong.... Ali was there, Dimitria was there, Marco and Lisa and Knuckles were there, Delphine and Nights were there.... Where was Jared? Sonic looked around. The other human was gone as well. "Oh boy. Something BAD is going to happen. I know it." Sonic leapt into the SACCbots and started to fight. Jared pinned Peter to the ground. He was breathing heavily and spoke through his teeth. He raised the crowbar. "Okay.... you.... bastard.... I'm.... going.... to.... kill.... you." Peter struggled. "Jared.... no.... please!" "Bastard." Jared was about to hit him when a SACCbot shot him. Peter looked over at the robot. "You are getting the very best EVERYTHING when we get back!!" Jared moaned but didn't move. Peter stood up and walked over. He took the crowbar out of Jared's hand. He looked at it. Then he threw it as far as he could. "Leave him there. He won't live long." Knuckles was flung against a wall by a SACCbot. He jumped up and punched the thing. It's head exploded. "Whoa! Geeze, I hate these things," Knuckles said as he protected himself from the bits and pieces of metal. He looked over his shoulder and saw Peter and a SACCbot walking away from something. He jogged over, carefully dodging blasts from the SACCbots. He knelt beside Jared. "Great. Juuuuuuuuuust great." He sighed. He sighed and sat down. "What to do, what to do." He sighed and closed his eyes. "You've changed, Knux. You're turning into a softy." He carefully moved Jared out of the open. "I'm going to hate myself for this." He jogged back over to the fighting. Delphine and Nights were taking turns attacking Reala. He dodged a lot, but got hit a lot too. Delphine had decided to stay in the air and blast him with energy, while Nights para-looped and drill-dashed. Reala wouldn't give up. He dashed into Nights. Nights was tired and sore and couldn't catch himself. "BASTARD!" Delphine threw a low power energy ball at Reala. Reala screamed and fell, landing next to Nights. Nights sat up and rubbed his head. Delphine landed in front of him. "What's you do?" Nights asked. "I shot him.... it wasn't high power, so he should be okay." She frowned. "I think." "You think?" Nights looked at her skeptically. "I don't know; we've been dragging this on for awhile. I think he may have been to tired to handle it...." She shook her head. Nights frowned. Then he stood up. After a minute, Delphine said "Should we do something about him?" Nights looked at her. "Yeah. I've got to bring him back. I can't leave someone like him here." Nights sighed. "All right. I'll help you." "Oooooooooooooowwwww," Jared moaned. He sat up and rubbed his head. Then he looked around. "Where's...." He heard a shout and looked up. Then he ducked. Sonic had been fighting a SACCbot. He had just destroyed it and was about to help Dimitria with one of the more annoying ones when he felt someone grab him by the throat and throw him through the air. That's how he ended up landing next to Jared. "What the?!" "Ow...." Sonic moaned. Jared stood up. "Are you all right?!" "I'm fine." Sonic stood up. "Not anymore." They looked up. Brass was hovering there. "I shoulda known." Brass clicked and whirred, and then he had a bomb in his hands. "Ooh boy," Sonic said under his breath. Jared slowly knelt down and picked up a metal bar. Brass armed the bomb. "Batter's up," Jared whispered. Brass prepared to throw the bomb. Sonic started to back away. Jared gripped the metal bar and took a batters' stance. "Nice knowing you." Brass threw the bomb. "DUCK!" Sonic went down. Jared hit the bomb with everything he had. It flew back and hit Brass. Then it exploded. Sally watched all of this. She leaned back and sighed. Suddenly the wall disappeared and she fell through it. She screamed as she slid down the metal slide. "Oof!" She stood up and looked around. It was dark and all she could see was a red glow. She gasped. "Could it be?" she asked the air. She walked over to it and looked at it. The glow was coming from a small red cloth. "I found it," she whispered. "I FOUND IT!!" Peter ran down the hall. "GET BACK HERE!!" A blast of green energy rocketed into the wall next to him. He gasped. "Stupid.... crazy.... Mobian!" "You are going to die!" Delphine screamed at him. Peter looked back for a split second. "She's gaining on me!" He looked around for an escape. He couldn't find anything. "No.... no...." Delphine tackled him. "Okay jerk. You've got one chance. Where is it?" "Wh-wh-where's what?" "The thing that brought you here!" Peter gulped. "It doesn't work." "Yeah, sure. Give it to me." "It doesn't work! I swear!" "I DON'T CARE! GIVE IT TO ME!" Peter shakily took it out of his pocket and gave it to her. She looked at it. "There, are you happy?!" "How does it work?" "It doesn't." Delphine glared at him. "For the sake of argument, let's say it DOES. How would I work it?" Peter suddenly got a brilliant idea. "Press the red button." "This one?" "Yes." Delphine pressed it. Sparks flew out. She threw it and jumped back. Peter jumped up. "HA!" "Bastard!" "Naughty potty language!" "I'll show you naughty!" Delphine threw a blast and Peter was flung into a wall. He fell, rubbed his head and moaned. Delphine picked the mechanism up. It had stopped sparking. She looked at the different buttons. One was red, one was green, one was purple, and one was blue. The purple and green ones where glowing; the others were not. She turned it around. There was nothing on the back but the panel. She didn't bother to open it; she wasn't in the mood to fool with wires. She walked over to Peter. He stared up at her. "Okay; I'll ask you one more time. How. Does. It. Work?" "I'm not going to tell you! I'm NEVER going to tell you!" Delphine put the mechanism in her pocket, unsheathed her dagger, pinned him to the floor and put the tip of it to his neck. "If you value your life you will enlighten me." "Okay! Just let me up." "I'll let you up AFTER you tell me." Peter stared at her. "Okay. The blue button takes you to Earth- which is why it's not lit. The red one takes you to V'pury- the place where the V'pirians came from. I don't know why it's not working. The green one takes you to Mobius, and the purple one takes you to the Dream World. That's all it does. Now let me go!" "You're telling the truth?" "Yes!" Delphine started to get up, then thought of something. "One more thing." "What?" "What's you name?" "Peter." Delphine looked at him. "Okay. Peter. A deal's a deal." She frowned. "Lucky." Then she jumped up and flew back the way they had come. Sally slowly crawled back up the air duct. She was tired and having trouble climbing. The bones in her arm were cracked, and she knew that she couldn't do much more without breaking it. She stopped to take a rest, and looked at the silk. "This is it. This is the thing that caused all this trouble." She shook her head. "It probably doesn't even do anything." Right then it started glowing extremely bright. She stared at it. There was a flash of bright red light. Then all was quiet. Knuckles ducked. The SACCbot that was about to shoot him kicked instead. Knuckles groaned when he landed. "I can't do this anymore...." The same 'bot stood in front of him and aimed the rocket- cannon at him. Knuckles stared. "Hang on!" The next thing he knew, the 'bot was gone in a flash of blue. He grinned. "You all right?" Knuckles looked up at Jared. "Uh.... yeah." Jared helped him up. "Look, about what happened earlier...." Knuckles shook his head. "Forget it. If she likes you better...." He looked away. "Then she likes you better." He shrugged. Then he leaped into the SACCbots and started fighting. Jared watched for a moment, then did the same. They looked at each other. "That's what he said?" "That's what he said." "Do you believe him?" "Do we have any other choice?" "No." Nights sighed. Delphine pressed the purple button. "Are you going to go with him?" She asked as the portal opened. "No. I'm just going to drop him in and hope he lands in the Nightopian prison." Nights flew up and threw Reala through the portal. "GOOD RIDDANCE!" "Amen." Ali looked at the SACCbot. The SACCbot looked at her. Then it fired. "NOO! ALIIIIIIII!!!!" Marco caught her as she fell. "Ali?" She looked up at him. "Oh please, no." He didn't see the SACCbot raise its' rocket cannon. Dimitria did. She focused on a central point. The 'bot exploded. Marco looked behind him, then looked at a battered Dimitria. "How....?" She shook her head. "Don't ask. It's much too complicated." Marco looked at her. "Whatever." He was about to say something else when a flash of red light temporarily blinded them. When it was gone, they looked up. The SACCbots were gone. Sally was standing there, a piece of silk in her hand and a red glow emitting from her. "Sal?" She didn't answer. She just looked at him. The look on her face was answer enough. "How'd you...." "When'd you...." "Where'd you...." "Where's Delphine and Nights? And that human?" Sally said. She sounded normal. Dimitria looked around. "I-- don't know!" They had seen it too, and were walking back to where it had happened. Peter was watching them. He took a rocket canon and shot at the wall next to them. Delphine screamed. Then Nights took her by the arms and flew them both out of the way. "Thanks," she breathed. "Your welcome." He looked at the wall, then in the direction the shot had come from. He saw Peter. "Uh, Delphine? We have unwanted company...." She looked up. "YOU!" She ran at him and tackled him. "Wait! We had a deal!" "That deal was for then.... this is now!" Peter swallowed. "What are you going to do?" "Take you back to Mobius to have you tried for crimes against the kingdom!" "But.... but.... I didn't mean it! Honest! I was just helping Snively! He said that you guys were the bad guys!" Delphine stared at him. "Seriously?" Peter almost smiled. "Seriously." Delphine narrowed her eyes. "Then why don't I believe you?" Peter gulped. "Because you are a stupid human that thinks ANIMALS are right!" Delphine looked up. Nights whirled at the voice. "They're only animals by YOUR terms. YOU'RE the animal!" "How dare you compare me with the scum of our planet! If only you were smart enough to see the true reality! It was OUR planet! They took it away from us!" Delphine jumped up. "THEY didn't do anything! It was evolution, damnit!" Peter slowly stood up behind her. "But the planet was OURS! THEY HAD NO RIGHT!!" "THE PLANET DOESN'T BELONG TO ANYBODY!" Peter quickly put one hand around her waist and the other around her neck. "It does now." "Good work." Snively took out some rope. "Hold her still while I tie her up. "Let me go! NIGHTS!" At that second Nights dashed into Snively. Delphine elbowed Peter. He let her go. They both fell. Nights helped her up. "I guess I owe you double, huh?" "You don't owe me anything." He smiled at her. She smiled back. "What should we do with these two?" "Let's leave 'em here. Snively can't do anything without the 'bots and neither can Peter. Let's go." "All right." They walked down the hall toward their destination. Both of them forgot about the portal opener. Oops. Peter stood up and watched them go. "Well then. I guess they won't be needing this." Peter picked it up from the ground next to him. "Sniv?" Snively groaned. "I'm up." They both stood up. "I'd just like to know one thing. How do they plan on getting home?" They walked around the corner and saw Sally. They stared. "There they are!" Dimitria yelled. Everyone walked over except for Sally. She stayed where she was. "What happened?" "Where were you?" "Are you okay?" "(Geeze I feel like I'm in Hollywood) We're fine!" Delphine said quickly. "What happened to Sal?" "She found the silk." "She had a close encounter with a can of red paint and some glow worms." Everyone stared at Jared. "What? What'd I say?" "She found it?" "Yeah. I don't know what she did, but she found it." Sonic looked at her. Delphine looked at him. He nodded. She pushed past everyone and walked over to Sally. "Sally? What happened?" "I found the Red Silk. *I* did!" "I knew that-- I mean HOW did you find it?" "What, you think I found it by chance? You think it was an accident?!" "No...." A flash of red light. Delphine was lying on the ground. "I KNEW WHERE IT WAS! *I* FOUND IT!" "Jeezum crow! Sally, you've gone mental!" "YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!" "Why would I be jealous?" Delphine tried to speak calmly. "BECAUSE I FOUND IT AND YOU DIDN'T!" "Sal, I'm not jealous. I don't care who found it; I just want to get the hell outa here." "Would you leave me here if you had to leave and you couldn't find me? You would, wouldn't you!" "No! Of course not! Why would I do a thing like that?!" "YOU WOULD!" Sally clapped her hands. A flash of lightening came down and hit Delphine. "AAHHHHH!!!" "Holy shit she's gonna kill 'er." Jared ran at Sally and tackled her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "That's enough for today, Psycho Sally." Jared took the silk out of her hands and threw it. It didn't go very far. Then he stood up and looked down at her. "What.... huh?" She said before she fell unconscious. "Oh shit." "WHAT'D YOU DO TO HER?!" Sonic screamed. Jared whirled around. "I didn't do anything!" "Then WHY is she UNCONSCIOUS?!" "I DON'T KNOW!" "OH REALLY?!" Sonic ran at him. Jared jumped sideways and put his foot out. Sonic tripped and went flying. He jumped right back up when he landed and glared at Jared. Jared glared back. "You wanna make somethin' outa it? FINE!" They tackled each other and fists went flying. "WAIT A MINUTE!" Knuckles pried them apart. They glared at each other. Jared had a bloody lip and his shirt was ripped. Sonic had a black eye and a bloody nose. Knuckles looked at Sonic. "He didn't do anything!" "It was the silk." Dimitria said. Everyone stared at her. She walked over to Delphine and knelt beside her. Knuckles looked back at Sonic. "Are you gonna be good?" "Shutup asshole." "Closest thing I'm gonna get to a yes," Knuckles muttered. He walked over to Delphine. Jared followed. Sonic glared at both of them. He rubbed his nose. Then he walked over to Sally and knelt beside her. Nights was already there. "She'll be fine. I think it's just the stress." "You think?" "I'm not a physician. I'm not sure." He shook his head. "Damn silk." "No kidding." Nights stood up and flew over to where everyone else had gone. "Del?" Dimitria called again. Delphine still didn't answer. "Stupid piece of shit silk. We came all the way here and did all this shit and this is what happened." Knuckles muttered. "Stupid shit!" He smashed his fist against the concrete ground. Jared was about to agree when he thought of something. "Hey, guys? Where's Lisa?" Dimitria looked around. "I don't know. The last time I saw her was when this whole thing started. I haven't seen her since!" "On man." Jared stood up and looked around. "Great. Like we need this." "Right now we need a miracle. Lisa is missing, Delphine, Sally and Ali are unconscious, and we're all stuck here unless we find Peter and get that portal opener!" "That can be taken care of." Knuckles said. "What?!" Lisa followed Peter and Snively. They were going around collecting what was left of their robot army. She picked up a laser that they had missed. She aimed for Snively's head. Then she fired. "AHH!!" Snively fell forward. Peter stared. The shot hadn't hit his head, but his upper back. "Oh well," Lisa muttered. She began to run. Time, Place, and Date unknown Somewhere someone said, ^The Ancient Walkers are going to kill me.^ Earth, The U. S. A., New York, Thendara, June 29, 12:50 AM EST "GET BACK HERE!" Peter shouted. He picked up a rocket cannon and fired. "Oh man." It was about to hit her when Lisa disappeared. "What the?!" The Watcher's Spot No Date, No Time Lisa looked around wildly. "Where am I?" ^In my spot.^ Lisa looked up. She saw a glowing form of energy. "Who are you?" ^Right now? The Watcher of the Fifth Dimension.^ "Oh." She stared. "The WHAT?" ^Never mind. I'll explain later. Right now you're probably wondering why I brought you here.^ "Um, well, yeah." ^I brought you here because I think you're the only person who could possibly understand what I'm going to tell you.^ "Me?" she squeaked. "But.... I hardly even know what's going on! Why don't you pick someone else? Maybe someone from Mobius or something?" ^No. Nobody there would understand as well as you will-- except one person, but now is not the time to tell him. You will have to tell him.^ "O-okay." ^Good. Now, listen to me....^ Earth New York: Thendara, June 29, 12:55 AM EST "What?!" Dimtria said again. Knuckles grinned. "You heard me." Jared stared at them. "I'm going to go find Lisa." He started to walk off. "No, wait!" Dimitria yelled. Jared stopped. "I'LL go." "Nuh-uh. You're the only intelligent one left!" Dimitria grinned. "Oh, well, if you put it that way...." They grinned at each other. Then Jared went off to find her. The Watcher's Spot No Date, No Time "So that's it?" ^That's it.^ "Okay. After I tell him, then what?" ^If he accepts, then he and I will switch places immediately.^ "Oh." She stared at it. "Can I go back now?" ^Of course.^ In a flash, Lisa was back to where she had disappeared from before. Earth New York: Thendara, June 29, 1:00 AM EST "Lisa! LISA!!" Lisa looked around at the voice. "Jared?" Jared saw her. "Lisa!" He sighed in relief. "Are you all right?" "I think so...." Jared walked up to her. "What happened?" "I don't know." She looked at him. He looked down at her. He put his arms around her. "Don't worry. Everything'll be okay." "Really?" "Yes." He kissed her. She kissed him back. She started crying. "What?" "I want to leave! I hate this! I don't want to be here!" "Neither do I.... but we can leave as soon as we get back to the others. C'mon." "Where is he?" "Chill out-- he'll come back. they both will." "I'm not worried that they won't come back, I'm just worried about how many pieces it'll be in!" "Dimi. . . ." "What?" Knuckles grinned and pointed behind her. She turned and saw Jared and Lisa. She sighed in relief. "There you are." "Can we PLEASE go now?" Sonic asked. He had picked Sally up ad was standing by the exit with Nights, tapping his foot. "Yes, we can DEFINITELY...." "Ooooooooooooooow," Ali moaned. She blinked. Marco propped her head up. "Are you okay?" "I.... think so...." She moaned again. Dimitria walked over to her. "Can you walk?" "Yes." Ali slowly stood up. "Okay. Good." Dimitria turned. "Let's get out of here before something ELSE happens." Knuckles picked up Delphine. Sonic walked out. Everyone followed. "I don't like this." "Oh, stop complaining." "Shut up, Marco." "I wasn't complaining-- I was stating a fact. I don't like this. At all." Nights said. "None of us do," Dimitria said. there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her face. "What was that?" Lisa demanded. "What was what?" They heard a creak. "That!" "I don't...." "Well, maybe we should show you." Acknar appeared in front of them, followed by the Master. "Not this again." "Relax. There's only tw. . . ." Just then fifty or so V'pirians appeared all around them. "Never mind." Peter and Snively arrived upon the place where Nights and Delphine had left the portal- opener. Peter picked it up and smiled. "Just what I always wanted. And it's not even my birthday." End of Part 5 To be continued....