The Five Heroes

by Phantom Shadow

Chapter 3: Sightings

The five of them continued to walk in the same direction as the sun beat down upon them mercilessly. They didn’t know how long they were walking or how far they had gone since they started, but there was one thing all of them were absolutely sure of: no matter how far they went or how long they traveled, there wasn’t a single sign of anyone around.

Sonic looked ahead of the group at the horizon, trying to see if there was anything out there, anything that could help them even to protect them from the heat of the sun. Unfortunately, there was nothing, not even a hill on the horizon.

As they continued to walk, Kim kept a close look on the horizons on either side of them, doing the same as the anthropomorphic blue hedgehog. However, her findings of anything were just as unsuccessful as his were.

“I hate to be so negative,” she said aloud to the others, “But I’m getting the feeling that this is nothing but a waste of time. There’s nothing out here, no one and nothing that can help us.”

Sonic turned to the red-haired girl and said, “I think you’re right, but we have no other options right now, so we have to make do with what we can.”

“We can’t keep doing this much longer,” said Twilight, “If we don’t find anything soon, we’ll surely die of dehydration or starvation!”

Mew flew down from his position and rested on the lavender unicorn’s back. When he did, he let out a soft moaning sound and began rubbing his stomach with his tiny arms, signifying that he was hungry.

“Well between that and the sun,” said Sonic as he looked up at the sky, “I’d say we have a major problem on our hands.”

“What do you mean ‘the sun’?” asked Sailor Moon, “What’s wrong with the sun?”

Letting out a sigh and hanging his head, Sonic said, “It hasn’t moved since we got here.”

It was at that moment that all of them looked up at the sun, or at least, in its central direction. No one really noticed it before, but now that it was said, they all realized that the sun was in the same spot as it was when they first awoke in this barren wasteland.

Diverting her attention from the sky to the others, Kim asked, “Okay, so what are our options?”

Twilight looked at her and said, “Right now, we only have two. It’s either we keep wandering into this sandy world until we keel over or we stop right here and wait until we keel over. Either way, we’re dead.”

“That’s reassuring,” said Sonic as he rolled his eyes, “I know that our predicament doesn’t look good right now, but dwelling on the negative isn’t going to help us at all. Right now, the best thing we can do is hope that there is some way out of here. If that means we keep going forward, then that’s what we’ll do. Just sitting around, waiting to die is counterproductive.”

“Sonic’s right,” said Kim, “The only things we can do is push forward and pray we find someone or something that can help.”

Not waiting for a response, Kim began walking forward, clutching her stomach as she did; the pain from her wound was still there, even though she was really good at not showing it. Nodding his head, Sonic began to follow her, the others following suit when he did.

It wasn’t long before he caught up with her, slowing his pace when he did. He saw that she was in pain, clutching her wound on her stomach with her free hand. “Are you alright?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I’m fine,” she said as she looked at him, “It just stings a little.”

“I know the feeling,” he said, looking down at the scrapes on his arm, “Are you sure you’ll be able to walk? You seem to be struggling quite a bit.”

“I said I’m fine, thanks,” she said, directing her attention away from him.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders and looked ahead of him, continuing to keep an eye out for anything useful. As he walked, he heard the sounds of the wind rustling the sand beneath his feet. He looked down to see the sand was shifting to his left, moving with the small breeze that blew by.

Trailing behind the group, Sailor Moon limped along, trying her best to keep up with the group. When she had dived out of the way from Sonic earlier, it had taken its toll on her already injured leg, making the pain that was already there much worse than before. After several moments of limping, she stopped walking and began rubbing her leg, hoping that what she was doing was enough to keep her going. She looked down at the wounds on her right leg, the deep scrapes that went from her knee down into her high boots. The boot itself was also shredded, meaning that whatever did it to her tore right through the material her boot was made of and into her skin.

Sailor Moon looked ahead of her, seeing that the others were still walking, but at a slow pace. Deciding that she would be able to catch up with them in no time, she looked at her right leg and began lowering the boot to her ankle. When she did, she saw that the wounds were pretty deep and very nasty looking. Trying her best not to get sick from the sight, she raised her boot up to her knee and stood up. Then, she began to walk again, still limping as she did, but not as much as before; resting her leg must have been enough to ease the pain down, she figured. However, as she stood up, she looked to her left to see if there was anything out there, mostly on impulse, since she had a feeling that nothing was out there. When she did, she froze where she stood at what she thought she saw there, her heart starting to beat faster and faster with each passing second.

She didn’t know if what she saw was real or not, but she found herself staring at a dark silhouette on the horizon. From where Sailor Moon was standing, it looked like a person standing there, a dark hood on its head and some sort of device in its hands. She stood there in fear, staring at the figure that was on the horizon.

It’s just a mirage, she told herself. It’s just the heat and the sun playing tricks on me, that’s all. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

However, her fear went through the roof as she saw the figure beginning to walk. It didn’t head in their direction, nor did it turn away from them. Instead it walked along side of them, like it was watching them, following their every move.

Not knowing if what she was seeing was true, she began walking toward the others, all the while, not taking her eyes off the figure; if it was a mirage, she had a feeling it would vanish the moment she turned away from it.

Her mind kept telling her to run, to scream, to get the attention of the others so they can see what she was seeing. However, fear in her body and the dryness in her throat prevented anything from coming out. The only thing she could do at that moment was walk faster, hoping that she was going fast enough to catch up with the others.

Sailor Moon limped as best as she could, praying that she’d catch up with the others soon. While she moved, she never lost track of the figure, which appeared to still be following them. It wasn’t moving fast nor was it moving too slow; it moved at the speed they were going, its hooded head locked on their position as if it were staring right at them.

“Guys...” she managed to choke out. However, it was nothing more than a quiet whisper as the fear prevented her from making the decibels any louder than that.

Just relax, she thought. Just keep your eyes on it and get to the others. Nothing bad is going to happen. Nothing bad is going to-

She couldn’t even finish her thought when she saw the figure raise its device in the air, holding it high above its head. She couldn’t even begin to speculate what was happening when she turned away from it and began running at full force to the others. Somewhere in between, she must have let out an ear shattering shriek because when she run towards the others, she could vaguely make out their shocked and surprised faces before she collided into them.

It all happened so suddenly for the blonde-haired school girl. One minute she was running towards them, scream out to them in a voice that she herself couldn’t hear. The next, she found herself airborne, having tripped over the lavender mare that she didn’t even see when she ran. Finally, she felt her whole body ache in pain as she landed directly on Sonic and Kim, knocking them both to the ground. When she regained whatever composure she could, she saw that the only one that wasn’t affected by her sudden charging was Mew, who flew down from the sky and hovered over her, investigating her, as if to check if she was alright.

“What the...” began Sonic, as he struggled to his feet, wreathing in pain, “What the heck just happened?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” cried Sailor Moon, as she rolled on her stomach and pushed herself to her feet. When she did, she looked in the direction where the figure was standing. However, tears began streaming down her face when she saw that it was no longer there.

Before she could say anything, she felt a hand push against her right shoulder, redirecting her attention to the others that were there. Sailor Moon saw that Kim had pushed her to face her and held her arms in place, looking at her in the eyes.

“What happened?” she asked her, not taking her eyes off her. Her voice was a mix of annoyance and concern. It was like she was mad at her for colliding with them but more worried as to what drove her to do so in the first place.

Blinking some excess tears from her eyes, Sailor Moon said, “I...I saw something...on the horizon...”

Twilight approached them, pain coursing through her back as she did and asked, “Do you mind explaining what you’re problem is?”

Sailor Moon turned her head away as tears continued to stream down her face. Seeing this, Kim released her arms, allowing her to use her hands to wipe them away. The annoyance in her face was gone, and in its place was genuine concern; something bad must have happened to drive her to tears, she figured.

The blonde girl fell to her knees, covering her eyes with her heads and trying her best to suppress her sobbing. When she did, Kim looked at Sonic, who simply shrugged his shoulders at her. She looked at Mew, who simply cocked his head to one side in confusion. Then, she looked at Twilight, who also had a look of concern on her face. Then, she knelt down beside her and began rubbing her back, hoping it would comfort her.

“It’s okay,” she said softly, “It’s okay, Sailor Moon. Just tell us what you saw, okay?”

Sailor Moon looked up at her, wiping the tears from her eyes again. “There was something out there. It was tall, dark, and had something in its hands.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Sonic as he knelt beside them, “You mean you saw a person out there?”

“I don’t know if it was a person,” she said, breathing heavily, “It looked like a person but it had a hood on and some sort of stick in its hands. I tried to tell you guys, but I knew if I turned away, it would have vanished. Then I saw it raise its stick in the air, like it was going to attack us or something, so I ran to you guys. When I turned to see if it was still there, it was gone. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” said Twilight, “What else did you see?”

“It was all a blur,” she said, her sobbing calmed to a soft whimper, “But it looked like it was following us. It was walking alongside of us, from a distance, but with us.”

Sonic looked out to the direction where Sailor Moon had indicated. When he did, he saw nothing but sand and sky. He turned his attention back to her and sighed.

“Well, it looks like we should head in that direction then,” he said as he crossed his arms, “If what you say is true, then maybe we can find footprints or something.”

Sailor Moon looked up at him with surprise mixed with a small twinge of happiness. “You...you believe me?”

He let out a sigh and began to walk. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Kim helped Sailor Moon to her feet, making sure she was able to stand. When she did, she saw that she was still able to walk, even though she was still limping. When Kim saw that she was able to move, she turned to Sonic and saw that he was already some distance ahead of them.

“Hey, hedgehog!” she called out to him, “You wanna slow down so we can keep up?”

Sonic let out a sigh and stopped walking. He turned to them and crossed his arms, his eyebrows furrowed. As he watched them slowly catching up to him, he tapped his foot impatiently.

Twilight saw this and rolled her eyes. “Sorry if we’re not going fast enough for you,” she said sarcastically.

“Well, excuse me for wanting to find a way to get out of here faster than you’re pace,” he shot back at her.

“Hey, leave her alone,” said Kim, “We all just had a ‘head-on’ collision with Sailor Moon. Some of us are in a little bit of pain. Can you blame us if we need a little time to recuperate?”

“Whatever,” said Sonic, “Can we just get there as fast as we can please? I want to get out of here.”

“Keep your skin on,” said Kim, “We’ll get there when we get there.”

It wasn’t long before the others caught up with Sonic, who was standing there with an annoyed look on his face. When they did, the five of them started walking again, heading in the direction that Sailor Moon had claimed to have seen the figure.

As they walked, Twilight looked at the blonde girl and asked, “You said it was holding something in its hands, right?”

Sailor Moon nodded in response.

“Well, what did it look like?”

“It looked like a stick of some kind.” she explained.

“And you said it held it over its head?” asked Kim, getting in the conversation.

“Yes, it looked like it was pointing it to the sky, as far as it could go,” Sailor Moon said, “Almost like it was...”

Before she could finish her sentence, she saw that Sonic had stopped walking. He was frozen where he stood, his head pointing to the sky. When the others walked in front of him, they saw his eyes were wide and his pupils were nearly pinpoints.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Kim, raising an eyebrow at him.

Slowly, he pointed to the sky, not averting his gaze. When the others looked in the direction he was point, they all found themselves staring at the sky in the same manner. There, they saw that something was forming in the sky. It was a deep purple and white color that seemed to swirl in the sky, like water that was going down a drain hole. It slowly began turning and turning, heading inward at the center.

All of them stared at it in silence as it slowly swirled faster and faster.

Finally, Kim asked in a soft voice, “What is that thing?”

“I think,” said Sonic, as he slowly began backing away, “Whatever it was that you saw...it was summoning someone.”

Before anyone could question the blue hedgehog, there was a loud boom that echoed across the sky. It was so loud that it caused all of them to cover their ears and shut their eyes tightly. After a few seconds of this, they all looked at the sky again.

When they did, the purple and white swirl wasn’t there anymore but its place was something they had never seen before that froze them all in an instant.