Looking down and seeing the 'X's in my shoulder was a shock. They weren't just slightly sticking out of my shoulders; the weapons were poking out the front and the back of them. To see all the blood dripping from them wasn't exactly appealing, either.
When Slade's kid appeared everyone turned their attention from me to her. I was left laying on the ground as an array of explosions and weapons sliced through the air, making me feel guilty that I couldn't in some way help.
I tried to lean on one of my elbows, getting a better view of what was going on, and learned that it had some serious problem. It didn't move easily, and when I put pressure on it, I cried out, gaining Robin and Raven's attention. A flash of guilt ran through me as they got knocked away by the kid, who looked at me with a dangerous look in her eyes.
"I have to get out there..." I muttered to myself. I slowly crawled to a wall, hoisting myself up with my good arm. I stopped there, my breathing heavy, as I looked down at my shoulders. The second they came out, I would start to bleed heavily. A glance at the battle outside, though, made me grip one of the Xs and yank it out.
I writhed as it ripped through my muscles, gritting my teeth. They were all fighting, even Robin, who looked to be in terrible shape. I couldn't make them worry about me by screaming in pain. I looked down hesitantly as blood bubbled from my shoulder to the ground. I looked away and gagged. Ironically, the sight of the stuff always made me queezy. No matter how many times I saw it in battles, it was just gross and almost unnatural.
I yanked the other X out, putting pressure onto the wounds with my hands. I laid my head back, closing my eyes. I couldn't remember being so tired before. After I kept my eyes closed as long as I dared, I turned my head to watch the battle. Robin was struggling to get up, and Beast Boy was unconscious on the ground. I pushed myself up to my feet, leaning against the wall. My knees quickly gave out, and I landed on my elbow, cringing with pain. "What am I going to do...?" I muttered, getting back to my feet. This time, I was able to hold myself up, though it was still hard with how weak I felt.
For a while, I stayed as I was, watching the battle. I watched as Robin took his time getting to his knees, but Slade's kid suddenly turned her attention to him. I jumped up into the air and spun into her, falling onto my back next to Robin. "What the heck are you doing!" Robin shouted. "You're going to kill yourself."
I turned my head and smiled at him. "If that's what happens, I'll be glad knowing I helped destroy some evil first. But I still have some energy left." I got up to my knees, preparing to jump up and spin if it was necessary.
Slade's kid glared at me, and I noticed that it had been a while since I had seen Raven. She had been fighting originally, but now she was gone. I hoped she wasn't down for the count.
After a few more moments of staring me down, Slade's kid morphed into Starfire, shooting at me with the green, glowing shots of energy. I threw an arm up to shield my face, crying out as they struck it. There were a few burn marks on my arm, but at least they hadn't landed on my face.
Behind Slade's kid, I noticed that the sky behind her was beginning to change, turning into a fiery red. Robin looked back at me, then at the sky. "What's going on?" I asked. "That isn't normal."
"No kidding," Robin said, getting to his feet. He came over to me and helped me to my feet. "This is... bizarre."
"It certainly seems out of the ordinary, almost as if Raven's father was rising again," Starfire added.
I frowned. "Robin has a father? Who rose? That sounds evil."
"Raven's father is a god," Robin explained. "A slightly evil god."
"Slightly?" Beast Boy replied, slowly rising from the pavement. The side of his head had a large bruise, but other than that, he looked okay. "More like, very."
Robin glanced at him, then at Slade's kid. "Now is not the time."
I put my hands on my shoulders, the pain still in them. I gritted my teeth through the pain in my elbow, slowly lowering that arm. "So where's Slade?" I asked. "He's around here somewhere, isn't he? Hiding in the dark?"
We all looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Tails and Cyborg were out finding the last of the Chaos Emeralds, but I was sensing that something was still wrong. It wasn't just that they were taking a long time; why was Slade's kid even here? Was she trying to delay something? I had a feeling she wasn't just trying to be annoying.
Slade's kid rose to her knees and stared at us. "You put too much faith in your friends, and worry too little of your enemies."
"Cool story, but what does that have to do with anything that's going on right now?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"Did you really think that you would win?" Slade's kid laughed. "You did, didn't you? You actually thought you were going to stop Slade from being able to find the items he needs?"
Suddenly, it dawned on me. Slowly, I turned to Robin, who turned the second my eyes saw his. His communicator was beeping, but I had a feeling that whoever was on the other end was not answering; worse, that it was my best friend. "Raven! Starfire!" Robin shouted. "Track down Tails and Cyborg!"
Without another second, Raven and Starfire disappeared. I was surprised to notice that panic wasn't rising in my chest, trying to blow me up. Instead I felt eerily calm, as if the world wasn't actually about to end. Instead of actually asking questions fueled by panic and a desire to save the world, I turned to Slade's kid and asked, "what's your name?"
She looked taken aback, frowning as she stared at me. "Why would you ask such a pointless and stupid question?"
I blinked. "I'm not actually... sure."
She scoffed, staring at me as if trying to read my mind. I stayed where I was, not looking at her but staring at a spot on the ground, my eyes glued to it. Robin seemed stuck in the same sort of trance as well; he was barely moving. "My real name is nothing special. It's Anne."
Finally, I forced myself to look up at her. "You're right. That's pretty normal."
I closed my eyes and sighed, then stretched my hands into the sky. Slowly, the world was coming back, and I tried to feel the panic of the situation, trying to feel something normal. "Robin, keep in touch with Raven and Starfire."
Robin's head snapped up, and he broke out of the trance as well. "R-right. It shouldn't take them long to find a trail of the two."
I nodded at him, then looked at Beast Boy. "Think you can find Slade?" I asked.
Beast Boy turned his gaze from me to Robin, questioning my authority. I wasn't the boss, after all, just an alien that had well overstayed his welcome. "I can see what's going on," Beast Boy suggested.
"Hold it," Anne said. "You're sorely mistaken if you think I'm going to just sit by and let you even try and stop my father."
I nodded at Beast Boy, who took off into the air in the form of a small, green bird. "And you're sorely mistaken if you think I'm just going to sit by while your dad takes over the world."
She frowned, letting her hands curl up into fists. "You are nothing. You may think you're so cool or whatever, but you're an arrogant idiot who is going to get him and his friends killed."
I almost felt relieved to feel anger; I had begun to think I was incapable of any sort of emotion any more. I shrugged. "Sure, call me arrogant. Sure, sometimes I'm an idiot. I don't always think things through. And sometimes I'm both of those things at the same time. But after all of the crap I've been through the past couple of weeks, I'm not going to let it end with some dork in an orange mask ruling the world."
"You're more cocky than ever!" Anne shouted with a smile on her face, then lunged toward me. I kicked her forward, but she came back, knocking my feet out from under me. Quickly, I jumped up and away a few steps, not willing to wait to see what she would do. I ran around in jagged lines, watching her eyes lose their ability to keep up with my speed. Then, when she was looking the complete other way, I jumped onto the shade over the patio of the pizza place and waited. She looked from side to side, a scowl forming on her face. "You may be fast, hedgehog, but are you smart?"
It seems like I'm smarter than you at the moment, I thought, watching her movement. She still failed to look up. But right as I was about to jump from the shade and pin her to the ground, she disappeared. It wasn't as if she ran away or flew into the air, she just simply vanished. I peeked my head over the shade, looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found.
Then, as I should have expected, she appeared over me, grabbing my bad arm and throwing me onto my back on the street. My back arched instinctively and my arm seemed to scream. A shadow came over my face. "I guess you're not that smart."
"How did you do that...?" I asked, propping myself up with my arm. "That wasn't something you could do before."
Before she answered, she grabbed my wrist, lifting me into the air and throwing her knee into my gut. She let me fall onto my stomach, then grabbed my other arm and twisted it back. I watched as fresh blood leaked out of the gash in my shoulder. All of this she did with an eerie expressionless gaze.
"You said it yourself," Anne said, whispering into my ear. I felt my body convulse slightly with a chill. "The Chaos Emeralds grant wishes."
My stomach dropped. It had never occurred to me that anyone on this world would be able to figure out the power of the Chaos Emeralds. "You're lying," I spat. "You can't use the Chaos Emeralds."
"Don't be an idiot, Sonic," Anne chuckled. "I can use any power that you can use."
I smiled. "I bet there's something I can do that you can't, actually."
"Now who's the liar?" Anne asked.
Finally, Robin came back and knocked Slade's kid off of my back. "Sorry, Sonic, I was-"
I held my hand up to stop him. "It's fine, really. We all have our moments. We just need to keep her at bay until we learn who has the Chaos Emeralds."
"And waste precious time?" Robin frowned. "It will be too late by the time we learn the answer."
"Trust me, Robin," I said with a smile that must have made him nervous. He looked unsure, to say the least. "I've still got a secret weapon you'll be stoked to see."
Robin rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for this. We have to find out what's-"
I took a step backwards in shock as I saw something suddenly form in the middle of Robin's gut. He gasped, coughing up bits of red that splattered across the sidewalk. It looked suspiciously like his bo-staff was going through his stomach. Slade's kid was standing behind Robin, a look of frenzy dancing across her eyes. She had stabbed Robin with his own weapon.