Chapter 21 - The Next Guardian Issue #21

Ekyt set off. He really wasn't sure what to think. He just knew that he had to get this right.

First stop, Vesuvious. This would take stealth. Rather than the caverns, he took the direct root. Since the volcano was inactive, he could go in normally.

He threw the grappling hook. It took a couple of tries, but he hooked in on a piece of rock. He gave the rope and experimental tug, then began the climb. Don't look down…

He made it over the top and scrambled to an edge. The dragons were all asleep, minus two sentrys. He moved to a lower ledge. Then another. Finally he was close enough to…

The ledge crumbled and Ekyt fell. THUD! He coughed and dusted himself off. A fiery blast hit next to him. He was eye to eye with a dragon. “Easy, I'm just here for a nose ring. See?” he held out the paper from the king carefully. The dragon let loose a powerful roar. All the dragons came flying in, forming a circle. Crap, this isn't going too good…”

“What's the commotion,” asked Glint, the leader. “Human sir. I say we singe him.” One dragon sentry snorted a flame just inches short of Ekyt. He didn't flinch. Glint circled the human. He took the paper from the guard and read it.

“A ring? Well, there are two ways to get a ring. The first one is to slay one of us in combat…” “No way! I'm not killing an innocent dragon.” Ekyt said flatly. The old dragon smiled. “I can see you are pure of heart. So, the second way is your other option. You must retrieve a ring from the pond the appear at, and let us fashion it into a black singe ring.” The old dragon leaned on his staff, awaiting an answer. “I'll do it.” Ekyt said. “You have just an hour to retrieve it. Best of luck.”

“Would you like a ride, Ekyt?” Dulcy asked. “No thanks Dulcy. I'm forbidden to ask for help.” The dragon gave a sly grin. “I asked you!” she said. Ekyt raised an eyebrow, then returned the grin. “Sure. That I can do.”

One short dragon ride later, Ekyt was at the pond. A ring should pop up…

With a “sploosh,” a ring came forward. Ekyt grabbed the ring and hung from a tree limb. Until the branch got cut.

Ekyt let go and landed on the other side of the pond. He turned to face the assailant. It was more robots. “lovely.” He snarled.

They fired as he dodged behind a rock. He had left Dulcy a distance back. He regretted that now. He leaned out of the rock and threw his staff. It knocked the guns from their metal hands. He sprang out from the rock and threw a vicious kick. He used that as propulsion to the other swatbot. He reached into it's sensors and yanked out whatever he could reach. The swatbot ran into the pond with it's vision impaired. “Bedtime for bonzo!” exclaimed Ekyt as he turned to the other metal moron. It shot and struck his already injured shoulder. Can't use the power ring this time. He thought.

He ducked the second shot and rolled at the swatbot's feet. He used his staff that he had retrieved and swept it's legs before jamming the stick into the optical sensor. He used that to fling it into the pond, where it sparked. Ekyt took that as a warning and dove for cover. It exploded. Most of it missed but a flying bolt struck him just below the eye. He shook it off and headed back to Dulcy. Time for the ride back to the volcano.



Sonic and Knuckles



Sonic dove as Knuckles came gliding down. He used the momentum for a Sonic spin that caught the echidna.

“Good work, rad red!” Sonic said as he helped Knuckled up. “You too.” Said Knuckles, massaging his back. “Neat move at the end.”

They decided to get some water from a spring nearby. “Hey, Knux, d'you think that kid will do it.” Knuckles gave Sonic a look. “Sure. He's tough. He's been trained by the best, too.” Knuckles pointed at himself. Sonic chuckled and said “Its just not right. What did he do wrong. I think something's up.” Knuckles nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but what.”

Sonic shrugged. “Dunno. But we better check it out. Starting with your high council.” Normally, Knuckles would've taken offense to this, but his father had been acting weird.

“Allright.” Sonic gave a thumbs up. “Race Ya!” Knuckles just rolled his eyes.

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