END OF HERO REVIEW REPLIES:
Hello, Spell of Dawn! Haha, yeah. Certainly. XD No worries! Reviews are always appreciated, but never required. Please never feel like you're obligated to review. :) Thanks! And haha, I don't blame you. The death and destruction in the Ruined Future Arc was certainly kinda addictive. XD I honestly have no idea how I do it. Yes, there will certainly be new OC's and whatnot in EotS. And don't worry! Yes, the heroes certainly get stronger, but with stronger forces of good come stronger forces of evil... It all balances out, I promise. :) Well, Cream isn't exactly dead, so there's still a clairvoyant in the group. However, that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see hints of the next story. Why? Well, she may have gained more control over her powers by now. But, then again, maybe she hasn't. I won't tell here. XD Well, even if it's not following a canon storyline, so long as Sonic characters are still in it, it will always still be a Sonic fanfic. That's why there are so many Sonic fics on this site that don't follow storylines from the games or shows, after all. :) Anyway, I'm happy you like it! Truly! That always makes me happy to hear. Until next time! :)
EOTS REVIEW REPLIES:
Hello, StarryMoon33! I knooooooow! X3 I do, too. They're sooo cute. :3
Hello, thatguy4643! *Dies with you* X3
Hello, NoOneExpectsDarkBrotherhood! I will, too, kinda. He's not my favorite enemy (I'm just not very into the whole "main bad guy is a mad scientist" thing, personally), but I will miss him in the end. Anyway, I must respectfully disagree with you about his involvement in Hero. Granted, yes, you're right in that he wasn't the biggest threat in the final arc of Hero. I'll give you that. However, that was the case is Sonic X, too, not just here. The Metarex were always destined to be a bigger enemy. However, beyond that, Ivo himself was certainly a huge threat in his own right. To name a few examples, he straight up killed more than eight of the heroes in the Ruined Future Arc, killed Sonic right before Sonic went into his Pure Hyper form, nearly killed everyone at the end of the SA2 Arc... In that last example, if not for Astral Babylon (not one of the heroes' powers), he would have won. So, in that sense, I don't think the characters are OP. Ivo couldn't beat them, no, but that doesn't mean they're unbeatable. That's the whole plot of this sequel: an enemy that certainly could beat them is the new threat. The stronger the forces of good, the stronger the forces of evil, after all. Neither will ever be truly unbeatable. I hope this all makes sense. ^-^" Oh, and don't worry. The new enemies did exist in a game, so they aren't totally made up. I've changed backstories and whatnot (which I've done with every other enemy so far, anyway), but otherwise they're technically canon. :)
~台風の目~
"A Path Forged"
~台風の目~
"What the hell are you doing?"
The young man started and looked up. "N-Nothing, sir," he said quietly, eyes wide with surprise.
"Exactly my point," the first speaker replied curtly, arms crossed as he frowned down at the younger male who was sitting in the dirt before him, utterly defeated in appearance. The setting sun beat down upon them, adding warmth to the approaching evening chill. The pair were very near the edge of a sheer cliff by the ocean, at the edge of a vast forest. The other people here were all still within the trees. "Why the hell are you doing nothing?"
"Because there is nothing more I can do," the young man said with a weak shrug, looking back down. His eyes seemed to gain a dangerous shine. "I fai-"
Blue eyes flashed. "Don't," he cut in harshly, causing the younger man to look up sharply in surprise. "Don't let yourself talk that way. Don't think that way. If you do, you'll regret it. If you begin to regret, you'll dull your future decisions and begin to let others make your choices for you. When you give up like that, all that's left for you then is to die."
"But sir," the young man protested weakly, "if I'd known what was going to happen I could have-"
"Next to no one can truly foretell the outcome of any particular event," he said simply, interrupting for a second time. "Each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision." He looked away to gaze up into the early evening sky for a long moment. When he spoke next, the harshness had left his tone. "Don't make the choice to give up here... or I can guarantee you'll regret it."
"But sir," the young man said again, "you always make it through these things alright. No matter what happens, you always win and keep everyone safe." He slowly looked away. "But, if I may be so bold to say, even during those few times when you don't, you never lose hope. I'm not like you. I can't do that."
The first speaker sighed heavily, his eyes closing to the sky. He searched himself for the words he needed in order to make the difference he knew this young man's life needed right now. "Look... I'm no different than you," he said quietly after a moment. "Not really. The only difference is that my decision comes from experience, and yours doesn't." My decision to not give up in spite of it all…
"But if I had just-" the young man started to say before he was cut off yet again.
"It's like I already told you. Whether I stick with my own decisions or believe in the decisions of the people that I trust... no one can predict how things will all turn out." His eyes opened and once more focused on the sky, the glowing orange orb that filled it. "All I can do, all anyone can do, is make my choice, whatever it is at any given moment, with no regrets." He turned and began walking away, tossing one last bit of advice back over his shoulder as he went. "The sooner you figure that out, the better."
"W-Where are you going, sir?" the young man called after him, seeming oddly startled by the sudden departure.
The answer should have been obvious… but he gave it, anyway. "Home. I've dealt with everything I needed to here." Without another word, he summoned up the necessary energy and, with a wispy, pure blue flash, he was gone.
~台風の目~
The landscape of this particular dream was dark, nothing but grays and blacks as far as the eye could see. The flat ground was nothing but dirt, save for the chunks of rocks that peppered the ground. The clearing he stood in was surrounded by a dark vortex of slowly twisting clouds. This wasn't the first dream of this sort that he'd had, nor did he think it would be the last, but this was the first time he'd seen someone recognizable in one such dream.
"Time is of the essence. You know this." The voice was both familiar and not. He'd never heard it before…and yet, somehow, it was almost as though he knew it.
He frowned slowly, his arms folding somewhat rebelliously over his chest as he met that gaze, a challenge in his expression as he stared into bright eyes that were so much like his own. "I will not," he muttered. "I refuse to follow in your footsteps."
The owner of those eyes canted his head slightly, as he himself so often did. He couldn't see this man clearly, save for minute details, like those eyes, but other resemblances were clear. He didn't want to believe it at all. "Is my path truly such a terrible one to tread upon?"
His eyes narrowed. "I forge my own path," he muttered.
"As you have always done," the other male acknowledged. "However, there is no harm in occasionally following the paths that others have themselves forged."
"I refuse," he repeated. "I want nothing to do with any of this."
"The time will come when you may not have a choice," the man replied solemnly. "The world needs leadership once more, if only until the storm has passed."
At this, his eyes narrowed again. "What storm?" he demanded. "What are you talking about?"
"Beware the stories of old," the man suddenly warned, "for in every legend there remains a measure of truth. Even myths leave bones."
His eyes narrowed again. 'What stories?' he wondered cautiously.
"The truths of one such story will come back to haunt you and all of those that you care for very soon," the man continued. "Your enemies will bring the world to its knees. It will be up to all of you to prevent those enemies from delivering the finishing blow when the end of everything seems near."
"What enemies?" he snapped. "Our enemies have long since died." In spite of his words, he feared he knew the answers to his own questions. If any of his past dreams from these last few weeks were at all true, then-
"Death is not permanent, my son," was the calm reply. He tensed at those words, more-so at the last two words than at the rest of them. It was times like these when he really, genuinely hated being able to see, hear, and otherwise communicate with the dead. "You know this." When he made no reply, if only because he had none, the man spoke again. "The world needs its leader, Kathal. Do not turn your back on it. You must not forsake the planet for the sake of your own ideals. Surely you of all people should know by know how insignificant one's ideals can be in the face of larger issues."
"'Ideals'?" he echoed quietly, his eyes narrowing yet further. He was now even more tense than before, if only because the name he'd just been called by was one that he hadn't heard in centuries. He no longer went by that name, but he had at one time, and hearing it again brought up many memories of his childhood. Some of those memories were best left buried.
"Your belief that high authority with great power is a terrible thing is understandable to a point," the man continued, "but not everyone turns out to be so horrible once they are put into such a position of power."
"I can name many who have done so," he replied between clenched teeth, "but I can name none who have not become corrupted by such power."
"You said yourself that you forge your own path," the man replied quietly. "There is nothing stopping you from doing so here. Become the leader that you have never seen. Be the one to end the cycle of corruption. Be the leader that the world will soon so desperately need."
A low growl emitted from him as he repeated what he'd said several minutes before, back when this conversation had first begun. "I refuse." With that, the dream shattered as he broke the connection, sending the unwelcome visitor back from whence it had come.
~台風の目~
1,424 words this time around. Hope you all enjoyed! Posted (at around three a.m.) 09-09-16.