Monster Hunt (pt. 1)

“Monster Hunt” pt. 1 (Volume 7, Story 16)

     Knuckles and Kate were having a quiet day on Angel Island, guarding the Master Emerald together. It was peaceful on the island. No sign of Eggman’s robots, Bowser’s minions, or any other enemies coming to mess around with them. The two could hear the birds chirping and felt a cool breeze from the wind.

    “It sure is nice today,” said Kate.

    “Yeah. It is,” said Knuckles.

    He gave her a smile and held her hand. As he did, he looked down and look at her engagement ring. They still hadn’t told many of their friends about their engagement.

    “Who else knows besides Hadrian, Mevia, and Magnus?” asked Knuckles.

    “Magnus told Ellegaard, and the Blaze Rods found out to,” said Kate. “Aiden found out on his own, and he told Maya and Gill. They promised to keep it secret.”

    There was a pause between the two.

    “We need to tell the others soon… It’s been a while since I proposed to you. We can’t keep hiding this,” said Knuckles.

    “I know. But we can’t let our rivals find out…” said Kate.

    There was another pause between the two.

    “We should tell the others now, Knux,” said Kate.

    Knuckles sighed.

    “You’re right. You’ll be by my side when we go tell them?” he said

    “Of course,” said Kate, smiling.

    Knuckles smiled back. He stood up and gave his hand to Kate. She took it and he helped her stand up. Holding hands, the two started to head out, ready to tell their friends.

    Over at the Mushroom Kingdom, things were pretty calm. No sign of Bowser or Eggman, so things were peaceful for the moment.

    Mario and Peach were taking a peaceful stroll in the castle together.

    “Sure is a nice day today,” said Mario.

    “I agree, Mario,” said Peach. “It’s so peaceful right now. Like no problems can take place.”

    Mario nodded his head in agreement, but they suddenly heard a person running over to them, frantically calling out “Princess!”

    Mario and Princess Peach turned around. A Toad was coming up to them.

    “Princess, there’s a group of Mobians waiting at the castle entrance, and they look kind of scary!” said Toad.

    “Are they friends of ours?” asked Peach.

    “No! They aren’t familiar!” said Toad.

    Mario and Peach rushed downstairs to meet with these Mobians. When they arrived they could see that these five Mobains were dressed up in some strange- looking gear. Two of them were wolves, one was a fox, one was a cat, and the last one was a chameleon.

    “Can we help you?” Peach asked them.

    One of the wolves, who must’ve been the leader, stepped forward.

    “Yes you can. You see, my team and I are what we call monster hunters. We track down bad creatures that aren’t friendly like anything in this world, and we eliminate them,” said the leader.

    “There are no monsters here, and if you’re going to be prejudice towards my Toads, I will not tolerate this,” said Peach firmly.

    “Relax princess. We’re not after any Toads. We are after a Nightmare,” said the leader.

    Mario and Peach formed confused looks.

    “Nightmare? As in the Dark King’s army?” said Mario.

    “Yes,” said the leader.

    “That can’t be true. The Nightmares are all dead. The Three Heroes killed them all. I know that because I’m one of the Three Heroes,” said Mario.

    “Well, we were informed by Princess Sally Acorn of Knothole that there is actually a Nightmare. And one of them is one of the Three Heroes: the Dreamer of Peace herself. Katelyn Staples,” said the leader.

    Mario and Peach formed shocked looks, standing in silence.

    ‘Wait... this is a joke, right?! Sally must’ve set this up to try to screw Kate over! It can’t be real! Maybe… she sent Scourge to that lab to try to find some sort of false evidence so she could lie to these guys!’ Mario thought.

    Peach couldn’t bring herself to respond to the leader, so Mario stepped forward.

    “I’m sorry, but you’ve gotten this all wrong. Kate is not a Nightmare. She’s a human, and even if she was a Nightmare, she couldn’t live because she would’ve died in sunlight like a Nightmare. She’s been out in the day hundreds of times, so she would’ve been long gone. I’m sorry, but this is a misunderstanding,” said Mario.

    The leader shook his head.

    “No Mister Mario. I’m afraid that you’ve gotten this wrong. Your friend is really a Nightmare, and we have no choice but to track her down and eliminate her. She is a threat to our world,” said the leader.

    “You’re not listening to me! Kate is not a Nightmare!” said Mario angrily.

    He looked over and did his best not to gasp. He saw that Knuckles and Kate were walking over to the castle right now. They must’ve spotted the commotion going on, because they were starting to hurry over to the castle.

    “I’m sorry, but we are just doing our job. Where is the Dreamer girl?” said the leader.

    Peach noticed that Knuckles and Kate were coming over, so she reacted before Mario did.

    “She’s inside the castle! Come on! I’ll take you to her!” said Peach.

    She quickly rushed over and led the five Mobians to the gates. Mario looked at her, and Peach winked at him to signal to rush over to Kate and warn her. Mario watched as the princess brought in their unexpected guests inside the castle. Once they were inside, Mario rushed over to Kate and Knuckles.

    “Mario, what’s going on?” asked Knuckles.

    “No time! Kate, you have to get out of here!” said Mario.

    “What? Why?” said Kate.

    “I’ll explain on the way!” said Mario.

    He grabbed Kate’s arm and started to lead her away.

    “Guys, wait for me!” said Knuckles.

    A short while later, the three arrived at the tree house. Once they arrived, Mario called up Sonic, and the blue hedgehog came rushing over.

    “What’s going on?” asked Sonic. “Is there an emergency?”

    “There’s a group of Mobians hunting down Kate. Sally gave them this lie that Kate is a Nightmare, and now they’re going to track her down and kill her,” said Mario.

    “What?! Are they serious?! I’m not a Nightmare! I’m a human! And I killed the Dark King! I’m not a monster!” said Kate.

    “I know, but they wouldn’t listen to me. And it won’t be long before they know that you’re hiding somewhere like here,” said Mario.

    “I can’t believe that Sally would throw a lie like that to these guys!” said Sonic angrily.

    “I think that’s why she sent Scourge to find that lab, Sonic. She must’ve wanted to find some sort of false evidence on Kate being a Nightmare so she could have an excuse to have someone go after her,” said Mario.

    “Of course Sally would do something like this. She wants me dead so badly…” said Kate.

    “Guess my parents were right about having to be careful of Knothole…” said Sonic.

    “Obviously!” said Knuckles sarcastically.

    “No. Mom and dad told me that recently, Sally was told that her brother will be king of Knothole. After she was denied the crown of her kingdom, Sally begged my parents to approve of her and I getting married, to be the next king and queen of Mobotropolis,” said Sonic.

    “You’re parents aren’t stupid enough to do that. Your mom said that Sonia’s the best out of you, her, and Manic to be the next leader, and they’re allowing her to marry whoever she wants to for love when she’s ready for marriage. All this will happen when she’s old enough and prepared,” said Knuckles.

    Sonic nodded his head.

    “Yeah. Mom and dad aren’t stupid. They know that Sally only wants to marry me to take me away from everyone. And now so that she has a kingdom to rule…” said Sonic. “She’s been more hostile since she got told no crown title on her own kingdom…”

    “Makes sense that she’d go this far to try to kill me. Having someone else come after me like I’m a target sounds like her…” said Kate.

    “What are we going to do?” said Knuckles. “A group of hitmen are going after my future wife!”

    He suddenly became quiet. After finding out this mess, Knuckles and Kate didn’t get to share their good news. Knuckles was worried that he just spilled the beans, and at the worst time to announce it.

    Luckily, Sonic and Mario only snickered a bit.

    “You said it again…” Sonic said.

    Knuckles facedpalmed, but he secretly felt relieved. The future wife joke was still going on, and at least it covered up his good news. Now wasn’t the time to announce that he and Kate were finally engaged.

    “Guys, no time to be making fun of him! A group of naïve hitmen want to kill me!” said Kate.

    “We gotta hide you somewhere, at least until they finally get the point that you’re not a Nightmare and prove to them that Sally’s lying,” said Sonic.

    “And we better think fast, because I think they’re coming this way!” said Mario.

    “What?!” said Knuckles.

    Mario was looking out the window, and he saw the five Mobians coming over to the tree house. Since they weren’t evil, they could get through the barrier protecting the tree house.

    “They figured out peach was lying, and must’ve figured that this is where we’d take you, Kate!” said Mario.

    “Kate, take this!” said Sonic.

    He handed her a Chaos Emerald.

    “Teleport out of here and somewhere else! And Knuckles, go with her! Keep our sister safe! We’ll stall as much as we can!” said Sonic.

    He and Mario rushed downstairs. Kate held Knuckles hand and used Chaos Control to teleport the two of them somewhere else. Mario and Sonic headed downstairs and calmly opened the door after they heard the monster hunters knock on the door.

    “Hi. How can we help you?” Sonic asked, sounding casual.

    “Where is the Nightmare?” asked the leader. He looked annoyed as he spoke.

    “Nightmare? What nightmare? How can you be hunting a bad dream?” said Sonic. “I’m so confused.”

    Knuckles and Kate teleported to Apotos, which was pretty far from the tree house unless one would take a warp pipe short cut. When they arrived, they started to walk through the streets, looking for Hadrian and Mevia.

    “I doubt they know about the universes, so maybe we can hide at Hadrian and Mevia’s place for just a bit. I don’t want to stay overnight, because I don’t want to endanger them,” said Kate.

    “I agree. Let’s just find them first and see if they’ll let us hide for a bit,” said Knuckles.

    The two searched for Hadrian and Mevia, doing their best to look as calm and casual as they walked. No one was staring, which made it a bit relaxing for them.

    Eventually, they spotted Hadrian walking with his Luxio Kari. They were outside of one of the stores, and Kari was giving Hadrian a sad look.

    “Kari, I told you you could’ve had a treat if you behaved last night when Otto and Harper came to visit. But you didn’t. No treat today, understood?” he told Kari.

    Kari only made a sad noise.

    “Nice try, but the puppy dog eyes don’t work on me. Maybe if you behave later, I’ll play tug-of-war with you. Just promise not to get sparky happy,” said Hadrian.

    Kari made another noise, probably to say, “Okay.”

    “Hadrian!” Knuckles called out.

    Hadrian and Kari turned to face Knuckles and Kate. Kari made a happy noise, while Hadrian smiled.

    “Knuckles! Kate!” he said.

    He and Kari walked up to the couple.

    “Back again, huh? If you like visiting me and Mevia so much, you should just move to Apotos. We could be neighbors,” he joked, smiling as he spoke.

    Knuckles and Kate smiled, but their smiles slowly faded.

    “Anyway, what brings you two by?” said Hadrian.

    “Uh… okay if we go back to your house to talk first?” said Kate.

    Hadrian nodded his head and said, “Sure.”

    Hadrian and Kari led Knuckles and Kate through the streets and to the outskirts of the town. They headed down a path until they reached Hadrian and Mevia’s house. Mevia wasn’t in sight, so she must’ve been inside. As they walked up to the front door, the group could smell something sweet coming from inside the house.

    “Mevia must be baking right now. She found this cookbook with all sorts of recipes and has taken cooking and baking. She really enjoys it,” said Hadrian.

    He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. After opening the door, he walked Knuckles and Kate in. he shut the door behind him once everyone was inside.

    “Mevia, I’m home! And we have a couple guests!” he called out.

    Mevia stepped out of the kitchen. She was wearing a light blue apron, which had flower on it. She rolled up her sleeves and had flour on her hands. When she saw Knuckles and Kate she smiled.

    “Hi guys!” she greeted them.

    “Hi Mevia,” said Kate, smiling slightly.

    “This is quite unexpected, but good thing I’m baking a cake. We can all share,” she said. “I just put it in the oven. It’ll be done soon. Can I get you two a beverage while you wait?”

    “No thanks,” said Knuckles.

    Hadrian and Mevia walked Knuckles and Kate over to the living room. The four sat down in chairs, while Kari played with a couple of her toys on the floor.

    “So… what brings you by?” asked Hadrian.

    Knuckles and Kate were quiet for a minute, before explaining the situation. When they were done telling the two Old Builders what was going on, Hadrian and Mevia were shocked.

    “We shouldn’t stay here long. We don’t want to put you in danger. We just had to teleport away, and I figured it would be safe to stay here since they probably don’t know about the universes,” said Kate.

    “You can hide here as long as you need to. You’re our friends, and we want to help you out as much as we can,” said Mevia.

    “You sure? I don’t want to put you in danger…” said Kate.

    “We’ll take the risk for a friend,” said Hadrian. “We know you’d do the same for us.”

    Kate smiled slightly.

    Suddenly, Knuckles heard his phone go off. He pulled it out and saw that it was a text message from Sonic.

    “Who is it?” asked Hadrian.

    “Sonic. He said that he’s been following those guys all day, and they are looking for Kate. He says they’re coming to Apotos,” said Knuckles.

    “What?!” said Kate.

    “Do they know that you’re hiding here?” asked Mevia.

    “Maybe they’re just going to ask anyone if they’ve seen me,” said Kate. “But I need to get out of here! I’m sorry!”

    She got up from her seat.

    “Wait Kate, we want to help you!” said Mevia.

    “I appreciate the help, but I can’t put you in danger,” said Kate.

    “We know, so we think we have an idea on where you can go and hide,” said Hadrian. “But… maybe it’s best if Knuckles doesn’t hear where we suggest.”

    Knuckles gave them a worried look.

    “I want to go with her. Kate is my fiance, and I want to protect her,” said Knuckles.

    “We know, but with where we think she can hide, it might be best that you don’t go there. To protect the existence of the universes and their connection,” said Hadrian.

    Knuckles figured that he had an idea on what Hadrian and suggesting. He sighed sadly and walked up to Kate.

    “Wherever you go, stay safe. Text me later to let me know that you’re somewhere safe,” he told her.

    “Don’t worry. I will,” said Kate

    Knuckles gently gave Kate a quick kiss and then headed out of the house. Once the door opened and shut, Kate faced Hadrian and Mevia.

    “You want me to hide in the Minecraft Universe, right?” said Kate.

    Hadrian nodded his head. He handed her his copy of the book that would help her go to the Minecraft Universe.

    “You’ll be in a whole other universe. Whether you go to Otto, Harper, Ground City, or even the new order, we have confidence that you’ll be safer in our home universe,” said Hadrian.

    “And you didn’t want Knuckles to know so that he doesn’t know where I choose to go. For his safety,” said Kate.

    “And don’t tell us where you go in our universe. Just promise us that you’ll be safe,” said Mevia.

    Kate smiled sadly at her friends. She pulled them into a hug. Hadrian and Mevia returned the hug. After a while, they all let go, smiling sadly at each other.

    “I’ll see you guys soon…” she whispered.

    “Be safe, Kate,” said Hadrian.

    “We’ll see you when this whole thing is over with,” said Mevia.

    Kate nodded her head she opened the book, and the portal opened up. She jumped in alone, ready to find a place to hide in the Minecraft Universe.

    Nightfall had arrived in the Minecraft Universe. Over at Beacontown, everyone was closing up shop and getting ready to turn in for the night.

    Lukas and M. Jesse were walking through the streets together, returning to the temple.

    “I’ve been thinking about writing a story about our group,” said Lukas. “Maybe like an autobiography, but still sharing all of our adventures.”

    “Is that why you were keeping that diary back during the portal hopping journey that my sister told me about?” asked M. Jesse.

    “Maybe, and it’s a journal, not a diary!” said Lukas.

    M. Jesse chuckled and said, “I know, dude. I’m just messing with you.”

    Lukas sighed and said, “I just get irritated when people call it a diary…”

    “I know Lukas. I know,” said M. Jesse.

    Lukas only fell silent. He scratched the back of his head nervously.

    “You alright?” asked M. Jesse. “I’m sorry if I upset you with teasing you about your journal…”

    “No. No. It’s fine. At least unlike Ivor, you apologize for making fun of me. I’m fine,” said Lukas.

    “If you say so,” said M. Jesse, shrugging his shoulders.

    The two continued to head to the temple. As they did, they saw a few people wave at them and call out their names and “Hello!” Lukas and M. Jesse politely waved hello back at their fans.

    “Still feels kinda weird to get used to people getting excited when I show up,” said M. Jesse.

    “You’ll get used to it. Me and the rest of our group have gotten used to it since we’ve dealt with it longer,” said Lukas.

    “I hope so. Petra and I hate it when people think that we’re a couple. It’s like they forget that Olivia’s my girlfriend and Petra is Axel’s girlfriend…” said M. Jesse.

    “I hear you. Some people get upset when they see me hanging out with someone else other than your sister. Guess it’s how crazy the shipper fans are,” said Lukas.

    “Shipper fans?” asked M. Jesse.

    “Fans who ship an idol of theirs with someone in particular. It is a little weird, but everyone has their opinions. Your sister and I don’t mind, as long as the hyper ones don’t go crazy and start a fan war,” said Lukas.

    “Ah… I see your point,” said M. Jesse.

    The two reached the temple and entered. They headed inside and met up with Petra, Axel, Olivia, F. Jesse, Reuben, Ivor, and Harper. Everyone was gathered together for dinner.

    “Hey guys. Just in time. I finished cooking dinner,” said F. Jesse.

    “Sweet,” said M. Jesse.

    “Need a hand with setting the table?” asked Lukas.

    “We’ve got it,” said Petra.

    The new order headed over to the kitchen, but before they could sit down, they heard a knock from the front door.

    “Who on earth has the decency to knock during dinner time?” Ivor complained.

    “I know right? It’s irritating when someone knocks on your door or calls your phone number while you just want to eat dinner,” said Harper.

    “I’ll get it,” said Olivia.

    She headed out to the front door while everyone else finished setting the table. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see that Kate was waiting outside. She looked worried.

    “Kate? What is it? What’s wrong? Why are you here?” asked Olivia.

    Kate looked at her with a concerned look.

    “It’s… a long story…” said Kate.

    To be continued…