SONIC UNLEASHED
Gyrax the Cat © SupergamerGreg79
Note: All words in parenthesis ( ) are translations
Chapter Two: It's all Greek To Me, Night
Things could not have been any stranger in the life of Sonic the Hedgehog. He faced shadow demons, mechanical doppelgangers, and time-collapsing gods. But turning into a werehog during the night was an entirely new concept for him. Thankfully, Sonic was able to regain his normal form during the day. Not long after, the blue blur encountered Chip, the amnesiac pup, and Gyrax, the Greek Guardian. At the moment, Sonic's new friend was leading him through the wondrous town of Apotos to an ancient church in the higher levels.
"Whoa, this is huge!" Chip exclaimed; Sonic and Gyrax covered his ears.
"(I'm glad you appreciate it.)" Gyrax grumbled. "(This is the sacred shrine of Apotos. It's the oldest monument in town.)" He turned to his blue friend. "(If any place has information on the Chaos Emeralds, it's this place.)"
"(Then let's have a look.)" Sonic suggested in Greek.
Gyrax nodded and stepped forward to open the entrance to the shrine. Once inside, the two newcomers stared in awe of the sight before them. The walls of the shrine were pure white, several paths that led to other parts of the shrine, and a giant stone bell hanging by the arches over the center of the room. Despite it nearly being dusk, the shrine was brighter than the day.
"Whoa, nice place ya got here." Sonics smirked.
"(This is the ancient shrine referred to as the Gaia Gate.)" Gyrax explained. "(It is said to be the home of the ancient spirits that worshiped the Great Gaia. But after hearing your story, I suppose it was the Black Arms that created this temple.)"
"This must be how they sealed Dark Gaia in the first place." Sonic said interestingly. "This place is incredible."
"And it's so warm." Chip said, yawing slight. "I could almost..."
A moment later, he dropped to the floor, out like a light. Sonic shook his head, laughing slightly, and picked up the tiny pup before hanging over his shoulder. As this happened, Gyrax walked over to the end of the shrine, where a small pedestal was waiting. Sonic followed him and noticed something resting over the pedestal. It looked like a golden two-pronged key, but only half of one. Gyrax bowed his head before picking up the piece.
"(What's that?)" Sonic asked.
"(My family was chosen as the Guardians of the shrine.)" Gyrax explained. "(Since I was young, I knew I would become the new Guardian of the Apotos shrine. It was no mere coincidence that I found you.)"
"(What do you mean?)" Sonic questioned confused.
"(An ancient prophecy foretells of a coming disaster.)" Gyrax explained. "(The balance of light and darkness will be disrupted and the planet will drift towards destruction. But legend also tells of two mighty warriors, both of light and darkness, will appear to restore that balance. These two brave souls are referred to as the Gaia Warriors.)"
"(So you think I'm one of those Gaia warriors?)" Sonic asked; Gyrax nodded. "(And what about Chip? Is he one of them?)"
"(Not much of the warrior's descriptions were mentioned in the prophecy.)" Gyrax stated. "(But we have come to believe that both warriors are from the hedgehog species. So as you can see, you are clearly an obvious choice.)"
"(Why am I not surprised?)" Sonic said sarcastically. "(First Knuckles' ancestors predicted my battle against Eggman and now I find out I'm some kind of Gaia Warrior. Sometime, I feel like I'm getting Punk'd.)"
"(I'm sure you're used to it.)" Gyrax sniggered. He placed the golden key half into Sonic's hands, much to the hedgehog's confusion. "(This is half of a Planet Key. It will allow you to reach the inner sanctuary of the Gaia Gate's, where you will be able to restore the powers of the Chaos Emeralds.)"
"(Hold up!)" Sonic shouted surprisingly, nearly waking Chip. "(You knew how to restore the Chaos Emeralds this whole time?!)"
"(I had to make sure I could trust you.)" Gyrax stated. "(Only the Guardians of the Gaia Gates have true knowledge of the Planet Keys. Unfortunately, there is no sanctuary within this shrine to help.)"
"(That bites.)" Sonic moaned.
"(Yes, it does.)" Gyrax sniggered. He glanced out the window, watching as the sun slowly set over the horizon. "(It will be dark soon. We should head back to my hut. This city is peaceful during the day, but that's a different story during the night.)"
Sonic, though eager to hear more, reluctantly followed Gyrax out of the shrine and into the darkened streets. The hustle and bustle of the town had been extinguished as a majority of the population was in their homes. After forcefully waking the slumbering pup, Chip was floating alongside his new friends. They were hoping that the nap had awakened some sleeping memory, but had no such luck.
"Hmm, I still don't remember anything." Chip said sadly. "I don't think there's a person in this town that knows who I am."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Sonic said nonchalantly. "Maybe you're memory will come back on its own."
"Ya think so?" Chip asked hopefully.
"Hey, it worked for Shadow." Sonic grinned.
Though he had no idea who Shadow was, Chip was happy all the same. While the flying pooch floated freely around Sonic's head, much to his annoyance, Gyrax looked towards the sunset. As the sun disappeared, the lights of the town flashed on. Everything changed after that. All of a sudden, Sonic dropped to his knees, clutching his heart in pain.
"Sonic?" Chip asked worried.
"(Get back!)" Gyrax yelled, drawing his shield and pole-arm.
Without warning, Sonic resumed the same transformation he had experienced on the Black Comet; it was just as painful as the last time. Next thing they knew, Gyrax and Chip were face-to-face with Sonic the Werehog.
"Whoa, Mr. Monster Man is back." Chip said excitedly.
"I told you not to call me that!!" Sonic yelled furiously. His anger was back and had increased by tenfold after reliving a previous memory of the mutt. "You cost me everything I had for that damn ice cream!!"
"(Calm down, Sonic!)" Gyrax advised. "(You can't let you anger take control!)"
"Oh yeah!" Sonic screamed. "Watch me!"
The werehog raised his massive fists over his head and slammed them toward our heroes. Gyrax quickly tossed Chip to the side while he rolled towards the opposite end. While Sonic was more focused on Chip, he failed to notice the Greek feline appear behind him. Quickly tossing his shield away, Gyrax pressed palm on the back of Sonic's head. Gyrax closed his grip over the werehog's to make sure he didn't move.
"I have never seen such rage before." Gyrax thought; a calming blue aura appeared around his palm. "There is only one way to end this. Tranquil Art: Mind Clearing Technique!"
The aura around Gyrax's hand began to spread and forcefully dug into Sonic's mind. After a moment of struggling, the furious werehog slowly started to calm down. Soon enough, all of Sonic's anger was temporarily forgotten.
"Whoa, what happened?" Sonic asked slurring.
"(I think we've already figured out that you transform during the night.) Gyrax said, panting lightly. The technique had spiritually weakened him. "(But this form also seems to draw out some unearthed rage inside of you.)"
"(Black Doom did say this was a Negative Form.)" Sonic replied, staring at his beastly palms. (My Super Form is called my Positive Form. I can use it with positive emotions such as love and happiness.)" Sonic smiled, thinking of a certain pink hedgehog. "(But the negative form must use negative emotions such as anger and rage.)"
"(I think we should keep that in mind.)" Gyrax chuckled.
"Sonic?!" Chip exclaimed. He flew over to the duo with a worried expression. "Sonic, are you ok?"
"I'm...fine." Sonic groaned, trying his best not to kill the dog. "I just need some anger management classes." He sniggered for a moment. "Maybe I should join up with Knuckles sometime."
"Sonic!" Chip cried, irritating the edgy werehog. "Sonic, look at that!"
"What is it now?" Sonic growled.
The trio discovered they were actually back to the entrance of the town, close to the ice cream cart from earlier that day. The happy-go-lucky ice cream vendor was now sobbing his eyes out in a hopeless manner. Gyrax found this unusual since he knew this man for a while and had never seen him in such a state.
"It's hopeless." The vendor sobbed. "The whole planet is falling apart, we're doomed."
"Hey, mister, are you all right?" Chip asked softly. "Come on, don't cry. Uhh...ice cream!" He took a cone that was similar to the one Sonic bought earlier. The werehog requested for Gyrax to hold him back, which he obliged. "How about some of this super-tasty stuff?"
"What good is ice cream at a time like this?!" The vendor exclaimed.
The vendor whacked Chip across the face, sending him fluttering into the air. Chip was able to catch himself in midair, but dropped the ice cream cone in mid-flight. Sonic reached out for the cone and, surprisingly, caught it. Much to everyone's amazement, Sonic's arm had stretched to unbelievable lengths and caught the cone with ease. Sonic was slightly disturbed by this since it reminded him of Naga's abilties.
"(Whoa, didn't see that coming.)" Gyrax commented.
"S-Sonic?" Chip said amazingly. "Your arm just stretched."
"That's weird..." Sonic said interestingly. He stretched his arm again and replaced the ice cream cone back on the stand. "But it could come in handy in the long run."
"And to make things worse, I have another freak to deal with." The vendor whined. "When will this end?"
"What did you call me?" Sonic snarled, but Gyrax cut him off.
"(You said you saw another freak like my friend here.)" Gyrax pointed to Sonic; a red vein appeared on the werehog's forehead. (Do you recall what he looked like?)"
"W-well." The vendor sniffed. "He looked like some kinda ice sculpture except with those big green eyes."
"Hmm...That sound's familiar." Sonic said thoughtfully.
"(Do you remember where he went?" Gyrax continued.
"Well, he sai-AHH!" The Vendor screamed
The trio jumped back in surprise as the vendor scurried down the street, screaming his head off. They stare in confusion for a moment before a new scent appeared in Sonic's super-sensitive nose. Without warning, the werehog swung his claw around, ripping the creature behind him in half. Gyrax and Chip turned just in time as the creature was vanquished and more of the same creatures began to emerge. They were blue, eel-looking creatures with masculine bodies and spores of darkness hanging over their heads. From this point, they will be referred to as Nightmares.
"(Uh...You didn't happen to leave anything out of your story, did you?)" Gyrax questioned, drawing his weapons.
"They must have been created when Black Doom called Dark Gaia." Sonic analyzed, moving his arms into an attack position. "Whatever the case, they're in our way. Let's get ready to rumble!"
"I'll be cheering for you guys." Chip said. A moment later, he zipped down the street. "Way over here!"
"(Heart of a lion, that one.)" Gyrax sweat-dropped.
"(Welcome to my world.)" Sonic replied.
The Nightmares screeched an unearthly cry, temporarily knocking out the heroes hearing, before charging in for battle. While a majority of the Nightmares charged in a straight line, Sonic and Gyrax swiftly sidestepped. As they did, Gyrax grabbed the werehog's arm and stretched it out to form a tether. The Nightmare fell for the trap so badly that it is almost too embarrassing to write in this story. The keyword is almost. Sonic clotheslined the troupe of Nightmares before recalling his arm back into its proper place.
"That too easy." Sonic sniggered; a nightmare jumped on his back. "Like I said: too easy!"
Sonic reached over his back and grasped the Nightmare by it's head before slamming the shadow beast into the ground. Before he could react, five Nightmares jumped onto his palm to pin it to the ground. Sonic threatened to use his other claw, but found the same situation going on from both sides. While Sonic struggled to reclaim his hands, a single Nightmare charged down the middle with it's claws extended. Sonic never found out how, but the werehog gathered all his strength into his arms and lifted them off the ground, Nightmares and all. The charging Nightmare saw this and skidded to a halt before trying to run away. Unfortunately, Sonic had already sandwiched it between the other ten, crushing them into oblivion.
"I think I'm starting to like this." Sonic smirked, admiring his dominate power. "(Hey, Gyrax, how's it going?)
"(Not much better over here.)" Gyrax grunted, cutting across another Nightmare.
Gyrax had lost his shield in the middle of the fight, leaving him at a disadvantage. All he had left to rely on was his pole-arm and spiritual strength. As a group of Nightmares jumped overhead, Gyrax focused his energy into his feet. Just as the shadow beast dropped in, Gyrax released the stored energy and jumped over fifty feet into the air to avoid the attack. He thought he had escaped his enemies, but they were very persistent. After letting their target escape once, the Nightmares followed him into the air.
"(They just don't know when to give in)" Gyrax glared.
He quickly found himself surrounded by over twenty Nightmares while temporarily floating in midair. As they slowly began to descend, the Nightmares went on the offensive. As a pair charged from behind, Gyrax twirled his pole-arm around and cut through them without looking. A similar situation occurred when five Nightmares attacked at once; the end result left them headless. It became painfully clear that Gyrax had complete advantage in the air as he cut through three more Nightmares. In their last desperate attempt, the surviving Nightmares huddled together with Gyrax caught in between. Just when it seemed over, the Guardian feline manipulated his spiritual energy into his pole-arm, commanding it by thought. They Pole-arm cut through every obstacle until its master was free and safely landed on the ground.
"(That was awesome!)" Sonic praised. "(Where'd ya learn to do that?)"
"(A true warrior never reveals his secrets.)" Gyrax smirked; Sonic growled.
"That was amazing!" Chip cheered; the duo jumped slightly due to his sudden appearance. "We sure showed them."
"We?" Sonic sneered.
"Glad I could help." Chip nodded.
Sonic was about ready to maul the tiny pup, but Gyrax used his pole-arm to hold the werehog back. Needless to say, it wasn't easy. All of a sudden, they ground began to shake violently, knocking the heroes off balance. While trying to stand up, it was only moments later before the heroes noticed a black hole suddenly appearing in street. They watched in amazement as a massive creature began to crawl out of the hole. It was a shadow beast similar to the Nightmares, but was much more masculine, contained one red eye, and carried a large weapon.
"As if things couldn't get any worse." Sonic muttered.
"Yeah...I think I left the meter running." Chip excused, trying to run away. Sonic caught him by his tiny wings. "Or not."
"(So, any bright ideas?)" Gyrax questioned.
"(We'll just have to do what we can.)" Sonic growled, attempting to intimidate his opponent. "(We kill it or die trying.)"
"(That's what I was afraid of.)" Gyrax muttered, positioning himself for attack.
The dark giant raised its weapon and roared before charging ahead. The heroes readied themselves for battle, but soon found that it was unnecessary. Unexpectedly, a spike of ice emerged from under the street and stabbed the creature through the chest. The heroes were caught by surprise at the sudden action, failing to watch the creature disappear into the darkness. They wondered who had conjured the icy weapon, but that was answered soon enough. A figure began to emerge from the ice spike and presented himself to the heroes. He looked almost exactly like Chaos, only he was made of ice instead of water. Sonic suddenly remembered where he had seen this person from.
"Nazo!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Sonic." Nazo sighed. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"
"I could be asking you the same question." Sonic sneered.
"I was looking for the Chaos and Sol Emerald until I felt a disturbance." Nazo explained. "I felt the presence of my emerald in this town when I noticed that they had been drained of their positive energies. Because of this incident, I was severally drained of my powers." He stared at his cold hands. "And to make matters worse, once it turned night, I was forced into my previous Guardian Form."
"Look's like Black Doom's little experiment did more than I thought." Sonic stated.
"Black Doom?!" Nazo said...calmly? Nazo wanted to yell his head off, but something was preventing him from being angry or spiteful. He touched his chest. "I knew that traitor had something to do with it. Now, because of him, I've lost all my powers over the darkness. I can't feel anything but pure light radiating from my body."
"(Then you must be the other Gaia Warrior.)" Gyrax stated.
"The what?" Nazo questioned, surprisingly able to understand him.
"(Please, tell me your joking.)" Sonic pleaded.
"(I do not lie about this.)" Gyrax said sternly. "(It is no coincidence that this has happened. During the night, you are a beast of the darkness and he is a being of the light. And during the day, you are complete opposites. This only proves that you two are the destined Gaia Warriors.)"
"Not that this isn't interesting, but how does this help us?" Nazo questioned.
"(There is a man in Paris called Professor Pickle)." Gyrax explained. "(Rumor has it that he has it that he studied the ancient Gaia Gates and the secrets of Dark Gaia. If that is true, then he could be a great help in this.)"
"Paris, huh?" Sonic nodded. "On normal occasions, that would be a walk in the park. But with the Earth the way it is, there is no way we could make it."
"What do we do now, Sonic?" Chip asked.
"Allow me to answer that, my little friend." A familiar voice called.
At the sound of the voice, the group looked to the sky, where they found Dr. Eggman gently floating downwards on his signature Egg-mobile. Sonic growled at the man; he didn't truly hate Eggman, but he did find the scientist annoying at times. And knowing his relation to Naga didn't really help in the situation.
"Ah, Sonic and Nazo." Eggman said cheerfully. "I just love the new looks. Very festive."
"What do you want, Eggman?" Nazo questioned.
"I was escaping from Shadow at the time the planet had split apart." Eggman explained. "Even a genius like myself knows that this is under no ordinary conditions. With the planet falling apart, it will only be a matter of days before all life as we know it is wiped out."
"Get to the point, Eggman." Sonic snarled.
"Patients, my big, blue friend." Eggman waved. "I know we haven't been on the best of terms, but right now, the Earth needs us. Though we don't like it, we have no choice but to help each other."
"(He is right.)" Gyrax nodded. "(Only when the Gaia Warriors unite can the Earth be saved.)"
"And how are you going to help us?" Nazo questioned.
"With my superior intellect, I have developed a moderate teleportation device into this vehicle." Eggman boasted, patting the Egg-mobile. "Yes, this baby will take us anywhere in the world at a moments notice."
"(What about you?)" Sonic asked, turning to Gyrax. "(Are you coming?)"
"(I am afraid I cannot.)" Gyrax shook. "(It is my duty as Guardian to watch over this town. And there are most likely more of Dark Gaia's spawn roaming around. But remember, I have granted you the use of the Planet Key. The fate of the world rests with you, Sonic the Hedgehog.)"
"We'll miss you, Gyrax." Sonic said in English.
"Bye-bye." Chip waved. "We'll remember to write."
"Hurry up already!" Eggman said impatiently. "We haven't got all night!"
This time, it was Nazo and Chip having to stop the werehog from killing the well-rounded scientist. Gyrax sweat-dropped at the sight. Did he really entrust them with the planet's only hope? Whether it was a mistake or not, Gyrax had no time to take it back. With a press of a button, Eggman activated the teleportation device and the group of the most unpredictable saviors was gone in a flash of light.
A new twist enters the fold? Can Sonic and Nazo fulfill their roles as the Gaia Warriors? Will they learn to control their new froms? And can our unlikely group of heroes prevent from killing each other? Find out on the next Sonic Unleashed!
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