Rainbow Valley Respite

[Gerald Robotnik]

[You know, seriously. What happened to the Heal kit Gerald gave Chadin/Gail? I just remembered. o_o]

Gerald didn’t divert his gaze whenever Gail looked towards him. Looking as though he’d been running from hell itself, he looked at Gail and then back over to Chadin. He couldn’t tell, but he felt as thought all the events that happened had sucked his soul right from under him. Even if he was conscious, he felt lifeless inside. It could have been the trauma from the shock, but he was sure it had more to do with the inevitable guilt-train and revelations he’d had. Add some betrayal to the mix, and it’d help it all to lead down to the drainpipe of depression. Even now as he looked relatively barren, his mind was going over all the mistakes of his life right to the big ones he’d currently figured out.

But, as he looked over towards the deer, he still couldn’t help but feel concern. He might have almost killed him, but Gerald was a lot like a dog. You could kick him, but one second later it was like he forgot it.

“…where’s my heal kit?” Gerald let out slowly, sounding as though he’d just got out of bed. “What happened to it? Why haven’t you used it to help him yet?”

[Chadin]

[yeah... Gail or Jii should have that kit]

Gail's pressing seemed to finally break me out of that surreal limbo as my eyes slowly and weakly peeled themselves open. With my senses still numbed by the exhaustion, at first all I could see was a hazy field of green an sky blow slowly passing in front of my vision. Gail's call drew my gaze over to him but he was largely just a blurry mass of grey that I could just barely distinguish until my vision cleared. My hearing wasn't much better. all I heard at first from Gail was muffled warble until it at last cleared up enough for me to make out what he was saying.

"G-Gail? Ohhhh.... I feel like I got hit by a freight train..." I groaned out as I looked up at him with heavily lidded eyes. "Oh wait... I did. Or, Robotnik's machine anyway at least." I added with a faint chuckle that I immediately cringed in pain from now that the adrenaline in my body had worn off and I was now accurately aware of all the trauma my body endured in the fight.

As I became more aware of my surroundings, I finally noticed that I was being carried. By a pair of chameleons. In Ninja outfits. It also finally registered that Gail, Gerald, Jii, Anu and Sonic was also here. If not for their presence and the fact they didn't seem to concerned put me at ease enough to figure that perhaps these ninja's aren't enemies to avoid my ears shooting up in alarm. Still, I was no less curious. Nngh, what happened? Where are we?"

[Espio]

As Espio listened to Sonic's story, the fact he was overun by alien invaders struck a chord. In his timeline the same event happened with a supposedly diffrent group of invaders. "Intriguing....my timeline was also plagued by alien invaders, but between you, me and several others we drove them off from the various cities. You even assisted in taking down their flagship.", he explained. "What if alternate realities in addition to timelines have merged into one? This is most troubling..."

Soon they came to the perimiter of the village, the strange field of energy surrounding it visable now. Gerald began to pipe up around here as another group of ninja approached from the other side of the barrier. This pair was garbed in a light blue, wearing a large hat atop their heads that resembled a shield. Various markings adorened the hat, as the pair formed a series of handsigns. "Their going to tear open a hole in the rift between the village and the outside world shortly. When the opening appears, simply run through." For the moment, he paid little mind to the others, letting them sort out the others coming to as part of the barrier gave way, allowing entrance to the village. The two ninja keeping the pathway open were clearly under strain as they maintained a pose facing the entrance; they wouldn't keep it open for long.

The group escorting the others went through first, carring Gerald and Chadin over to the other side, Espio watching the others with his arms crossed.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji and Anu had tuned out the conversation. It made little sense to them anyways.

Upon arriving at the village, neither of them were sure what to make of it. Still, when the opening was made, they knew they couldn't dawdle. Ji made a running jump and glided through it, with Anu following.

[Gail Strafer]

[For some reason, I feel this song would be appropriate for this scene. What do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WfQ8Yf8_d8 ]

As Gerald returned Gail's glances, he still felt somewhat puzzled as how Gerald still looked very confused ever since they'd left Robotnik's camp. The professor certainly didn't look like somebody who'd just cold-heartedly betrayed his friends. If anything he looked more like a lost kid. What had happened inside that ship? The wolf started to believe that it may not have been Gerald's doing at all, but maybe Robotnik did something to his mind while in captivity. And maybe the effects were wearing off. It would explain Gerald's state.

Finally, Gail got a positive response out of Chadin. His eyebrows raised at Chadin mentioning he'd been run over by Robotnik's death machine, but all the same returned the chuckle. And then the deer asked about where they were. Gail couldn't believe he was about to say this to Chadin, but...

"You won't believe this. We've been saved by ninjas. Ninjas! And they're taking us to their secret ninja village! How awesome is that?!"

Despite the situation the wolf briefly looked as if he were ten years old again as he smiled excitedly at the deer.

Quote:“What happened to it? Why haven’t you used it to help him yet?”

Gail blinked, and then felt into his pockets. Sure enough, he still had one. But since this was Gerald doing the talking, Gail wondered if he should use it. However, he recalled these had done their intended purpose on the beach, so surely there wouldn't be any harm. But it added more to the wolf's confusion as he squeezed the knob and the healing green energy covered Chadin. Suddenly he'd tried to kill off the deer, and now he wanted to save him. How the heck did THAT work?

Finally, they reached the barrier, and the two ninjas with the strange hats temporarily lowered it for them. As they went through with the stretchers first, Gail called out to Chadin again.

"See you on the other side!"

Once they were done, Gail would hop through himself and rejoin his fallen friend's side.

[Sonic]

“I certainly don’t have an answer.” Sonic answered back, before making his way through.

On the other side, Sonic had gotten something of a funny idea. If Espio was right, he wondered if Nel was around anywhere. After all, Sonic was here. And so was old man Robotnik, and his even older man. He started to imagine what Nel’s face would look like if he heard the news. He could just imagine the sour look on his face; or even laughing historically out of disbelief. But he knew for sure he’d been having a field day if he knew.

But his attention turned to the present situation as he looked over towards Gerald. He’d heard a little of the conversation; and he could have sworn he heard a voice that was somewhat familiar to him. He walked over towards the stretcher Gerald was on, looking down on him. He didn’t know what to make of everything; someone was lying here, and he wasn’t sure who. But he was going to find out somehow.

“So you’re awake. How’re you feeling?” He asked, like he was asking a general question.

[Gerald Robotnik]

Gerald was practically cursing in his mind. ‘Why aren’t they using it!?’ He thought in exclamation, ‘Were they just stubborn to not use it because it came from him?!? Like, he somehow tampered with it to hurt someone when he was with that Manic the entire time?!’ He couldn’t understand that after they betrayed him they wouldn’t exploit the things he gave them. If they were paranoid that somehow he could have done something to the machine, then they were being incredible foolish!

But as laid there, the blue hedgehog came walking beside him. He’d recognized him slightly, but he didn’t know why. He wasn’t with the group before, how did he get here?

Quote:“So you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

He didn’t really want to answer. He wasn’t taking the hedgehog’s kindness…well, kindly. Gerald breathed in deep, and when he closed his eyes he sighed it all out.

“ They’ve got one of my Heal Units,” He started off quietly. “ Please tell them to use it to help him. I don’t really give a damn if you all think I’m trying to kill you now. That’s not a good enough reason to keep his healing process down. Anyways, I wouldn’t had a way to tamper with it.”

It might have been strange to plead instead of answering the hedgehog’s questions, but the way he saw it the hedgehog didn’t have much of a right to know how he felt.

[Chadin]

"Ninja's?" I groaned. Good grief, what next? When was this crazy day going to end? I mean, bad enough Gail is acting like hyperactive cub set loose in a fun house, but he was actually RIGHT! A quick glance around me proved that fact. I felt way too exhausted to mentally process all this; even with the healing unit slowly restoring my abused body to full health again. So much has happened in such a short time that I was simply at my mental capacity right now. What I badly needed was rest. A chance to sort out my thoughts and all these conflicting emotions in the wake of my battle with Robotnik.

Especially about Gerald. I could plainly hear him talking. Not hard with hearing like mine. But up until now, I'd mostly just ignored it, feeling terribly conflicted about him right now. On the one hand, he betrayed me and tried to drown me in the same water entity he'd given me while telling it to protect me. Then afterward, he acted completely surprised when I pulled my knife on him. Now... now he was practically demanding they use the healing unit Gail was using on me to help me. Heck, Gerald even sounds more like the Gerald I met on the road to Knothole instead of the cold, remorseless entity I heard over the bulldozers loud speaker.

Nothing made sense here.

It's all just too much. Life was simpler when I was just a junior member of the MFF. We were the good guys, Robotnik was the bad guy. He does bad, we stop him; end of story. Now, ever since I was betrayed... everything was just so darn complicated...

The worst of it all though is... who would ever be able to understand what I'm going through? What I've lived through? The painful, honest answer is: no one. I'm all alone now. None of my former team mates are here, or for all I know even alive anymore. I've been betrayed, twice; so who can I rely on? Myself? Doubtful. I was the one who charged headlong into Robotnik's base by myself; and I very nearly got myself killed for it. I suppose the fact I came out of that fight alive and won should be a source of pride and accomplishment, but it felt like such a razor thin victory that I hardly believe I could handily pull it off again. I can fight, sure, but I'm no Sonic the Hedgehog. He can make such a harrowing act look easy. Me? I'm lucky came out of that last fight as well as I did.

While my inner monologue was playing out, I became a lot more quiet and withdrawn. I glanced over at Gerald a couple times with a confused, but thoughtful gaze as I mused over his recent behavior. Eventually though, I couldn't stand the headache from this crush of emotion and mental strain. I rolled over onto my side, facing away from Gerald in a vain, futile attempt to put off the inevitable confrontation.

[Espio]

With everone through, Espio finally crossed over, the pair of barrier ninjas letting out an exausted sigh as they lowered their arms in unison, the barrier closing over the space again. They both bowed to Espio, and made their way off to a nearby hut. "This village is what you would call...lost space. It's an area thats supposed to be here...and yet isn't entirely here in reality. It's a little hard to explain...", Espio said as he took point in front of the others. With the group inside the village proper, layer upon layer of ninjutsu used to hide the village would unravel. The area took on a much more lively appearance. Buildings and walkways were lit by various lamps and dim lights, children and adults alike walking about from shop to shop most of them in ninja garb like Espio himself. A few heads turned in the groups direction, though seeing Espio they paid them little mind and continued on.

The sun was beginning to set as Espio lead them to a rather large building, the village's lounge. It was roughly three stories tall, the roof covered with large, broad tree leaves and windows located on various parts of the building. He soon came to a pair of double doors, the reptile pointing inside. "I've arranged for a space where you all can rest and plan out what we should do from here while the others are treated. I'm sure you all would like to get those shards out of the doctor's hands as much as myself.", he said making clear he planned on sticking around with them.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji and Anu paused at the doors, then proceeded in.

(Ji) "The atmosphere of this place is unlike anything I've seen before... and yet..."
(Anu) "You really shouldn't think out loud like that, Your Highness."