distant horizons – ch. 3

This story takes place long after Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, and Robotnik. It is based off of the Cartoons universe. And now, I present Chapter 3 of Distant Horizons

If you haven't done so already, please read the Prologue and the previous chapters.

Morning came in the town Jon and Talia were staying in. Jon and Talia awoke early, Jon was eager to start their adventure.

"You awake Talia?" Jon said as he gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ummmmmm….." Talia said groggy, her eyes opened slowly and adjusted to the light in the room, "Good morning Jon."

"Mornin' Talia," Jon answered, "You ready to head out to get that jewel?"

"I'm ready!" Talia answered excitedly as she got up slowly and got dressed and put her boots on. She reached for her quiver which was lying in the corner by Jon's stuff, put it on her shoulder and took her bow. Jon got up and put his clothes and shoes on, and took his bag and put it on his shoulder. Jon and Talia left the room and went downstairs and were ready to leave out the door when the tiger called out to them.

"Wait! I have some gifts for you to help you on your journey," The tiger went into his room and brought out a bag of supplies, "I have for you some food, so you won't go hungry. I'm not sure what you foxes eat so I figured I was safe with apples."

"Thank you Tiger, we appreciate your gift," Jon replied.

"Oh no… it is I who should be thanking you for helping my daughter, cheers." The tiger answered. Jon and Talia left the house out the front door and proceeded out to the street. Jon took the jewel of four moons out of his pocket and studied where the arrow inside was pointing.

"We must head into that cave outside of town Talia," Jon said.

"Yayy, our first adventure," Talia replied excited, her ears were raised.

Jon and Talia walked together out of the town, as they reached the cave Jon stopped at the entrance. The cave entrance was quite large; it was created from a huge rock. The entrance was dark as the darkest night and there was a small glow coming in

"Hold it Talia, we don't know if there are any traps," Jon exclaimed, "Talia, can you create a flame to light the way?"

"I can try" Talia replied as she rubbed her hands together, then she pulled them apart and a fireball appeared in her hands. Jon took out a candle and used Talia's fireball to light it. Talia's fireball then disappeared.

"Thanks Talia," Jon answered. Talia face was blushing. She held onto Jon's arm for comfort.

"Hey Jon," Talia said, her ears lowered, "Can you protect me if there's any traps or monsters in here?"

"Sure Talia, I'll protect you," Jon turned to Talia and answered.

Talia looked up at Jon's face and smiled. She was so happy that someone would protect her like that. She has never had someone offer to protect her like that.

As they went deeper into the cave, they could hear a loud snoring noise.

"The jewel of four moons is pointing forward, wherever that noise is coming from is probably where the shard is." Jon answered.

"I'm scared" Talia replied, her fur bristled and she grabbed Jon's shoulder tightly.

"Stay calm Talia, and quiet, we foxes are masters at stealth and cunning," Jon whispered.

Slowly and quietly Jon and Talia crept deeper and deeper into the cave. As they descended lower into the cave, they spotted a giant mutant bat. He was quite large, larger than any regular bat, about twice the size as Jon. His fur was almost entirely black with some patches of red scattered across his body, presumably the work of the evil forces that affected the tiger girl. His body was unnaturally very muscular. He laid there at the end of the cave corridor, breathing and snoring deeply and loudly. In his hand was a glowing jewel. The jewel of four moons glowed brightly in its presence, the arrow inside pointed to the bat's jewel, meaning it was one of the pieces of the stone of alopex.

"Damn, this is gunna be tricky." Jon whispered to Talia.

As Talia approached Jon, she inadvertently kicked up a stone while she was walking. The stone hit the wall of the cave. The bat snorted a bit at the sound of the stone.

Jon and Talia stood there motionless, fur bristled and nerves on end for what was a second, but to them it seemed like an hour. Talia then let out a sigh of relief. That did it, as the bat awoke with a loud roar!

"Uh oh… We woke the bat." Talia said, scared completely out of her mind.

Jon went into a defensive fighting pose.

"You foxes have awoken me from my slumber, and thus you shall pay!" The mutant bat roared, as he swung at Talia, knocking her to the ground. The candle fell out of her hand onto the ground where it went out.

The bat laughed evilly as he swooped down and struck Jon hard to the ground. Jon slowly and painfully rose to his feet, only to be struck down again hard in his abdomen. Jon winced on the floor and screamed in agony.

The bat let out a loud high pitched screech.

"Look who's the blind one now!" The bat replied.

Jon could barely move, there were wounds in his stomach and on his shoulders.

"Talia are you ok?" Jon screamed out in the dark, his whole body ached, "Damnit… I can't fight someone I cannot see!"

The bat laughed again, and flapped his wings to create a blast of wind that sent Jon and Talia flying into the wall of the cave. Jon and Talia then fell down to the ground hard, only adding to Jon and Talia's injuries.

"Hmm, he only has an advantage in the dark, but what if he's in the light" Talia exclaimed as she used her pyrokinesis to launch a fireball at the bat, the bat dodged the fireball. However as the fireball hit the wall it remained there and illuminated the cave.

"AAARGH! Too bright" The bat yelled out.

"Look who's blind now" Jon replied, "(the chant, add in later)"

Suddenly a blue glow surrounded the bat.

"Woah, what's happening to me?" The bat yelled out, confused as to the transformation in himself that Jon initiated.

Then the black energy which littered the bats body flew off and scattered out of the cave, back to the darkness in which it came. The bat then fell to the floor unconscious his body shrank down to its original size. Jon got up barely; he was panting. His body ached just about everywhere.

"Are you alright?" Jon asked as he knelt down in front of the bat.

"Jon are u sure you should be that close?" Talia asked, she was still writhing in pain from the impact of hitting the wall.

"Its alright Talia, the evil has left him," Jon replied.

"What happened, who are you?" The bat opened his eyes slowly, "Those voices are gone…."

"What voices?" Jon asked curiously.

The bat looked at the jewel around his neck; he then ripped it off his neck and threw it on the floor.

"That jewel, ever since I found it, I started hearing these voices, they kept telling me to kill and destroy." The bat answered, he was somewhat out of it due to the strain the jewel and the evil spirit of Robotnik placed on his body.

"I'm terribly sorry for what I've done to you foxes," The bat replied.

"Don't worry about it," Jon answered, "You were under the influence of that jewel. You see that jewel is a shard of the stone of Alopex. It's a powerful jewel that can grant someone a lot of power but the power is neither good nor evil and both sides are able to use it."

The bat nodded. Talia's stomach rumbled.

"Come foxes, join me for dinner." The bat replied. "Stay at my place, you two look in no position to be going anywhere. It's the least I can do considering it was me who did this to you."

Talia whispered to Jon, and jon replied.

"Sure, we are very gracious of your hospitality."

The bat flew out of his cave, leaving Jon and Talia alone.

"Can we trust him Jon? After all he tried to kill us," Talia aksed.

Jon replied, "He wasn't himself then, the shard was clouding his judgment and feeding the evil within him, the evil that's inside all of us. Everyone is born with the same potential to do both good and evil. Some do more evil than good, but most do more good than evil. Lust and strong desires can turn good people evil though; certain power stones like the stone of alopex can also make these evil desires even worse.

Ten minutes later the bat returned with a feast, berries, nuts, rodents, and assorted leaves and plants.

"Dig in you two," The bat said happily.

Talia, hungrily began devouring the rodents, being alone in the wild for as long as she was, she ate in a very feral manner, which contrasted with Jon's eating style, he ate the berries and nuts slowly.

"Jon, why aren't you eating the rodents, they are so tasty?" Talia asked with her mouth full.

"I'm a vegetarian," Jon replied, "Besides, I like the fruits and nuts better.

After the feast, Talia and Jon had noticed that night had fallen already.

"We'll we must be off, thank you very much for your hospitality" Jon said politely as he got up and headed for the exit. Talia followed behind him.

"Wait!" The bat replied, he walked up to Jon Lupus and handed him the shard of the stone of alopex, "Take this! I never want to see it again!"

"My training in sorcery has made me immune to the effects of the stone, so it won't affect me, thanks again for the meal." Jon took the stone and placed it into his coat pocket.

"Don't worry about it, good luck on your journeys!" The bat shook Jon and Talia's hands. Jon and Talia proceeded out of the cave and off into the forest.