Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are copyright SEGA Enterprises LTD. and/or Archie Comic Publications. Delphine and related characters are copyright Delphine Kiminsu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand. --George Elliot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Running Part 2: Friends Parted --Delphine Kiminsu Who the hell?" "Sorry mate. But you're crossing territory that you shouldn't." Geoffrey St. John walked onto the path. Knuckles groaned. "Not YOU again." "Who're you?" "Geoffrey St. John, former leader of His Majesty's Secret Service." "Former?" "His Majesty is lost forever and his daughter might as well be." Geoffrey grimaced. "The Service fell apart." "Then what's the reason for stopping us?" "Two things. Habit, and..." Geoffrey pulled something out of his pack. "This." Jared looked at it questioningly. "Do you know what this is?" "An ostrich egg?" "It's too big to be an ostrich egg," Knuckles murmered. "First time I've heard you say something intelligent." Geoffrey let the egg fall out of his hand. It smashed into the ground... ...and didn't break. "Do you really want to see what hatches out of that egg? I have. You don't." "We can take it." Knuckles and Jared walked past Geoffrey. "Fine by me. They won't be hungry for awhile. They'll leave me alone." "Then what's your problem?" Geoffrey sighed. "Be careful," he murmered. Delphine slammed into the ground. Comet was by her side instantly. "Del?! Del!" Delphine blinked. She slowly looked around. She was pretty sure Comet was standing over her, but she wasn't entirely sure. "Ah..." She slowly brought her hand to her head. Comet pulled her up into a sitting position. "Del?! Are you all right? What happened? How--" Delphine ignored her and tried to make sense of the world again. That stupid monkey had pushed her out of the tree... "DEL!!" "Comet, shut up. You're giving me a headache-- Well, a bigger one." "Sorry. I just worry about you." "Thanks, mom." Comet laughed. "I've been shot, blown up, beaten up, knocked out, almost turned into a robot, fallen into a coma, and plenty of other things. I fall out of a tree and you spaz out. Sheesh." Delphine grinned and stood up. Comet looked up into the tree. She didn't see any broken branches. "How'd you fall?" "I was pushed." Delphine brushed herself off and looked up. "Excuse me a moment." She flew up to where she had been before. The monkey was still there. And it was staring at her. "How are you doing that?" Delphine ignored the question and punched him. He fell back into the tree and rubbed his nose. Delphine landed and nodded to Comet. "Let's go." "What's with that guy?" "He's permanently constipated," Knuckles muttered. Jared looked at him. "Whatever." They walked on in silence for over an hour. Until something very loud broke the silence. "What , the hell, was that?" "One of Geoff's monsters? No, wait, the boogie man." Something large stepped ito their view. "No. It's bigger." Knuckles looked up at what Jared was looking at. "Holy--" "You know, that looks a lot like a--" "Dinosaur." "Yeah." "Oh boy." It roared at them, almost knocking them both off their feet. "Uhh..." "I think we'd better walk away. Slowly." Jared nodded and they did so. The dino watched them curiously, cocking its head. "It's still watching us." "Then maybe we should run." "Good idea." They ran. It growled in confusion, then went after them. Knuckles dived into a small cave and pulled Jared in after him. The dinosaur went right past. Jared looked out nervously. "We'd better get out of this section of the forest before something faster comes after us." Knuckles nodded. They started walking again. "You know something? I don't like this place." "Ditto on that," Delphine said. "But there's not much we can do about it." "Who says?" Delphine looked at Comet. "We could always bomb the place." Delphine laughed and Comet grinned. "No, I don't think that'll work." "Aw, why not?" Delphine shook her head. "Comet, you're messed up." "Thank you, thank you." She bowed. Delphine rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you talked me into bringing you with me." "I can. You see, I know mind control." "Oh really?" "Really. You're not bringing me out of your own free will. I'm making you bring me." "Well, now that you've told me that, I'm out of your control. So go home." Comet smiled and nudged Delphine. "Sorry, you can't get rid of me." "I noticed!" "You know, you really need to swit--" "Shh!" Delphine quieted her friend and slowly looked around. "What is it?" Comet whispered. "We're being watched." Another twig snapped, closer this time. Suddenly, a large gorilla jumped out of the bushes and growled at them. "What the heck?!" "Looks like a gorilla to me." "Del..." The gorilla jumped towards them. Delphine blasted it, and it fell to the ground. Someone started clapping. "Very good, very good indeed." Delphine whirled. A tall, ragged clothed fortiesh man stood in front of her. "Who the hell are you?" "The Keeper of this jungle." "The Keeper? Aw crud." "Yes. I noticed your power when you entered." "Del, what's--" "Shut up, Comet." "You can help me Keep this jungle." "I already have a job." "And what would that be?" "Finding a SAFE place to live." "This jungle is safe." "For you and your animals. Not for visitors." "But you won't BE a visitor." "I'll be a prisoner." "Only if you don't agree willingly." Delphine closed her mind to all but one other. *Comet, listen. When I jump on you, take off as fast as you can. This is BAD news. You don't want to know what a Keeper can and will do* *Okay. I'm ready* "Well?" Delphine jumped on Comet and Comet flew off. "YOU CAN'T GET AWAY THAT EASILY!" "The hell we can't!" The trees around them started moving. "Comet, fly higher. MUCH higher." Jared and Knuckles entered a more tropical part of the forest. "This place looks more like jungle than forest to me," Knuckles said. "I know... wierd." They looked around. The jungle seemed... abandoned. There weren't any animals at all. "What's with this place? Where's all the wildlife?" "Uh... at a convention?" "Who knows... what was that?" Someone had screamed. A vine flew up and wrapped aroud Comet's leg. She screamed. "GET IT OFF!" Delphine yanked out her dagger, reached down, and sliced the vine. It slipped off of Comet's ankle and fell. "How are we going to get away? He CONTROLS the place." "I know, I know. Just fly faster." Knuckles and Jared looked up. "Is that them?" "I don't know, are we that lucky?" "I hope so." "LOOK OUT!" A tree crashed down on the spot that Knuckles had been standing on seconds after he leaped out of the way. "What the hell just happened?" "A tree came out of nowhere and almost turned you into a pancake." "I think we'd better hurry up and catch up with Del." "I'm with you on that." They ran towards them. "DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!" Vines had wrapped around Comet and were pulling her down. Delphine was cutting them as fast as she could. "I'M TRYING!" She blasted the ground below them with her strongest energy blast, causing a small earthquake. Jared and Knuckles were knocked off their feet. Delphine still didn't see them. The vines receeded. Comet took off as fast as she could, almost losing Delphine in the process. Comet rushed past the jungle and they were soon far out of sight. Jared stood up. "Great! They're gone again!" "Perfect." Knuckles stood and looked around. "And she almost killed us in the process." "Yeah." Jared brushed himself off, then ran in the direction Comet had gone, with Knuckles right behind him. Several days later. "Figures. We get out of a jungle and come to a desert." "I think someone's working against us. I really do." "Del?" "Yeah?" "It's getting dark. I need to rest. Let's find a place to stop." "All right. First tree we find." "Thanks." "Or we could find a cave in those cliffs over there," she pointed. "Or... yes, that sounds like a good idea." Comet headed for the cliffs. "Yes, this is a swell idea. We have no supplies, and now we're walking through the desert. We have no idea where they are. They're going at least 10mph faster than us. They have no idea we're following us. You think they're going to wait up?" "Look, Comet has to rest soon. They'll settle down somewhere. A desert isn't exactly crawling with places to stop. We'll find them." "Or die of heat exhaustion." "Do you want to give up? Because I certainly won't stop you." "You wanted me to come." "Because you know this planet better than I do and you're tougher than I am. If you didn't want to come then why did you?" "I did want to come. Delphine is out here by herself. I don't care what she or anyone else says, she's not invincible. I know that for a fact." He sighed. "We're going to need to find a place to stop, too. Hopefully we're right behind them. For all we know they're not even going in the same direction anymore. But..." He looked up ahead. We'll look around from that hill up there." The two climbed the steep hill, slipping in the sand. When they got to the top, they both saw a small oasis far off to the east. Even farther behind it were some cliffs. "I guess that's what we got." "Yup." The headed for the oasis. Delphine climbed off of Comet and into the cave. Comet stepped into the cave and collapsed. "Ohhhh. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm sore. I'm--" "Comet." She stopped and looked up. Delphine was holding an apple. "You want this or what?" She nodded vigorously, and Delphine put it in front of her with a grin. Then she sat down next to her, took out a sandwhich, and started eating it. "Del?" "Yeah?" "Does this look like a good place?" "No. We're in the middle of a desert. And we still haven't found out who or what lives here. And I don't want to find out, either." "Shame. There might be someone living over there." Comet gestured to the oasis in the distance. "I don't think that they'll be anyone there. I figure this desert is deserted anyway. But if it's not, do you really wanna deal with something that's tough enough to live here?" "Well, no." "So we should move on in the morning." "Right." Delphine looked over at Comet. She was asleep. Delphine took out her journal and a pen, and wrote about what little had happened that day. When she was done, she put the journal and pen away and took out her father's journal. She had only read the first entry; long but boring. It had been about his trek from the human sanctuary to the Acorn Kingdom. He was sick of the war. The humans were slowly losing, so he was going to speed up the proccess. He didn't care what happened to them, just as long as the killing stopped. He had a wife and daughter to protect, for goodness sake. Delphine smiled slightly and opened the journal to the next entry. 26.6.22 My second day in the Kingdom of Acorn. Things are going surprisingly well; another of my kind, Julian something or other, has already joined. So that's why we were losing. Oh well, now I'm not a part of them. I feel slightly selfish; I know I'm on the winning side, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I need to go get my wife, Selena, and bring her here-- if she will come. I know not what she will think of me; I hope her feelings of the war are what I think they are. She is still in the sanctuary with my new-born daughter. I don't even know what her name is yet. But I will, soon. Tomorrow, I will take one of Acorn's hover-crafts and swiftly go back. It shouldn't take more than a day, when walking would take over a week. She will no doubt be surprised to see me again so soon. I told her I was going on a long journey. And that journey is not over. But I will not continue until she is a part of it. Today I almost knocked over the Queen. Imagine her surprise when I apologized! These creatures think humans are stupid, iggnorant, and rude. Some of us are. Perhaps most of us. But not all. 26.6.24 Selena has agreed to come! My love, my life, my other half, is coming with me. I was so happy I cried. I'm not sure I've stopped! I have discovered my daughter's name. Delphine. What a beautiful name! Delphine Kiminsu. I shall shout the name from the tallest moutain! But, unfortunatly, there is no time for that. I must return to the Kingdom In time for the initial attack. I must keep my wife and daughter inside the castle to protect them. I do not know what will happen to any humans outside the castle. "Indeed," Delphine murmered. She put the journal back in her bag, and took out Sally's. She spent the rest of the night reading it. Comet awoke to the smell of burning paper. She blinked and looked around. Delphine was sitting in the middle of the cave, in front of a fire. She was slowly ripping the pages out of a small pink book. Delphine had all the knowledge she needed. She had spent over an hour deciding what she should do with the book; at first she wanted to shove it in Sonic's face, but she had decided that this would be her last favor to her ex-best friend. King Acorn had NOT been thrown into the void... he had walked in. And almost taken his daughter with her, had she not escaped. Julian Ivo Robotnik had insisted that it was nothing more than a "vacation from the king's life". Too late Acorn realized that it was a trick, and he was and always will be, in the void. "Poor Sal," Delphine murmered as she absently threw pages into the fire. "She kept it in to the grave... no one else should know." "Del?" Delphine looked up with a start. "What are you doing? Why are you burning that?" Comet asked. "That is the one thing I can't share with you," Delphine told her friend. Comet cocked her head. "All right Del... I'm going to go stretch my wings. See you in a minute." Comet found her way out of the cave and flew off. Delphine sighed and kept burning it. About an hour later, Delphine and Comet flew off. An hour after that, Jared and Knuckles went after them. Several weeks later. Comet crash-landed into a snowbank. She and Delphine pulled themselves out of the snow and looked around desperatly for shelter from the blizzard. *DEL WHADA WE DO?!* *I DON'T KNOW!* Delphine shivered and pulled her coat tighter. Comet blocked the wind, but seconds later it changed direction. She was shivering herself, anyway. *WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS SNOWSTORM!* *I KNOW!* *FAST!* *I KNOW!* Something bumped against Delphine, knocking her over. She fell on her face in the quickly piling snow, then quickly pushed herself up, sputtering. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Her cry was quickly lost in the wind. Comet never heard her. *COMET!* No answer. Something was wrong. *Comet? COMET!!* "COMET! COMET!" Delphine looked around. She couldn't see anything, though it didn't help that Comet was white. She felt around, afraid her friend had collapsed into the snow and hit her head. Delphine stood up, and realized Comet was gone. And she felt very, very alone. To be continued...