Chapter 7

Past Phantoms

Espio looked back and towards his right and saw the stream below and where he had been. "I came a long way.", he commented as he continued up. He looked around and saw the top of something to his left. He stopped when he reached the very top, he saw more of that something as he continued looking left. It appeared to be part of something unnatural, he thought. He went towards it and saw something he'd never seen before.

"What's this?", Espio said in wonder. 'Wait a second, this looks like the same structure that I saw before when I entered the Mystic Ruins!', he remembered. "What's going on?", he said in confusion. As he looked around, he saw some Echidna; "Knuckles!?", he shouted but wasn't heard due to the wind that was blowing over the cliffs and the sound of drums. "Two Knuckles!?", he said to himself in complete astonishment as he witnessed a second Echidna that also appeared to look like Knuckles. "This is getting too weird.", Espio said as he watched the two Echidnas interact. He continued watching as they walked towards the steps of what appeared to be a shrine or a temple. There were even more Echidnas gathered around there that were playing on some drums. "More Knuckles!? Okay, I need to figure out what's going on right now!", Espio said, then looked for a way to get down into the area. He saw some trees that he thought he could use to get down with, so he got a running start; but before he jumped, he heard a loud yell coming from somewhere below to his right in the distance, followed by the sound of many feet stepping together in sync.

Espio skidded to a stop and looked towards his right as he saw the strange beings from before marching in. 'What!?', Espio thought as he watched completely unsure of the situation. The armored beings were led by the same one Espio had seen in that room beneath Mystic Ruins. 'What's going on around here?', Espio questioned himself in thought as he saw the beings stop and as he remembered the seeing the leader insert his staff into that platform and hearing that noise. 'Could that have been the Phantom Ruby?', Espio thought. The leader of the chrome-armored beings turned around and began speaking in the same unfamiliar tongue as before, then he turned and pointed towards the structure in the middle of the area that Espio saw the top of earlier; Espio knew things were getting serious, but he couldn't hear what was being said, so he backed up and got a running start.

Espio jumped up and grabbed a hold of a tree's branch and quickly made his way down to the tan, tiled brick. He stuck near a wall to his left and peaked around the corner. He still couldn't understand what the leader of the beings with chrome armor was saying, he activated his camouflage and got under some kind of pavilion. He was only several yards away and could hear the leader speaking in that unknown tongue as before; "[We, the Phantoms, will rule over this land! The Knuckles Clan shall fall this day and our victory will bring us prosperity and a new life that we will call ours. Now go! Trample over the Knuckles Clan And take what they have!]" 'I don't know what he's saying!', Espio thought as he watched. The army of chrome-armored beings [Phantom Troops] began to run past their leader [the Phantom Emperor] and headed for that structure that looked like the one from the Mystic Ruins but in better condition. As he watched them charge, Espio moved to the left to see ahead of them and noticed that a bunch of Echidnas gathered at the bottom of the steps. They set down their drums and charged towards the Phantom Troops; both, clashing.

Both sides fought with punches, staffs, and weapons of their own kind, but the Echidnas were no match for the Phantom Troops. The attacks from the Echidnas did no damage to them, in fact, their attacks didn't even make them flinch. The Echidnas were losing, but there was nothing Espio could do, nor did he know what to do. He could only watch as the red Echidnas were beaten and slaughtered by the Phantoms. The blood of the Echidnas pooled about the ancient grounds as they were killed; while at the top of the stairs, stood a girl Echidna, watching.

She looked similar to Knuckles, but her fur was orange and she was clothed in a dress and garments. She appeared to be praying as some Chao were gathered around her. 'This must be the Knuckles Clan!', as Espio realized the girl as being Tikal. At the bottom of the stairs, another Echidna stood, but he had a darker fur color and had a spear. He watched as his kind was murdered, their blood pooled and it reached his feet. He fell to his knees and dipped his hands in the blood, he brought his hands to his face and wept before he smeared the blood on his face. 'He must be chief Pachacamac, leader of Knuckles Clan.', Espio thought. After a moment, he got up and charged at the Phantoms, but they stood in wait. He tried to use his spear to attack, but one of the Phantom Troops grabbed the tip of his spear and crushed it in their hand. The dark red Echidna fell to his knees in horror and two of the Phantom Troops grabbed him and dragged him to the Phantom Emperor; meanwhile, Tikal ran down the steps quickly.

She ran by the Phantoms as fast as she could, with the other Phantom Troops turning their attention to her, but the Phantom Emperor lifted his hand as to suggest (a) "no, let her be", so they ignored her. The Phantom Emperor then took his staff and held it up, the strange ruby-colored gem in the staff glowed and made a noise as the staff transformed into a hooked spear. The Phantom Emperor held out his weapon at an angle and turned to the side quickly as his arm went upward at a diagonal; blood began to trickle down onto the staff as it collected below on the tiled brick, staining it crimson.

The head of Chief Pachacamac was speared at the top of the staff, his headless body was released and fell to the ground, as blood was pooling in front of it and around it. The Phantom Emperor then turned his attention to the direction that Tikal had run and floated that way, with his army following behind. Espio also followed, but he kept his distance. They would all enter a narrow entrance and reach a closed-off area, which was blocked by a boulder; behind it would be a very mystical sight.

The Phantom Emperor put his hand on the boulder, and in seconds, without applying any force, the boulder began to crack as light blue hues of light escaped the cracks. The boulder turned into dust that collected on the ground. A pathway was revealed, leading to some kind of altar. The Phantoms made their way to it, Espio tagging along behind. Once he made it passed the narrow passage, he went right and then around the Phantoms to get to the altar, where he saw Tikal, the seven Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald. 'I need to do something!', Espio thought. Tikal was saying something near the Master Emerald. "The servers are the 7 Chaos. Chaos is power... Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.", she chanted. "Hmm.", Espio quietly said as he wondered. He watched as the Master Emerald slightly glowed. All the Chao around the altar were heading to Tikal as they shook with fear; The Phantoms were approaching, but the waters around the Altar started to stir.

The Phantoms stopped at the Altar of the Emeralds and held the staff up, as Tikal turned around and saw her father's head on the end of the staff. "Noooooooo!", she screamed as she fell to her knees and cried. The many Chao were huddled behind her as she cried, they all had worried faces. The Phantom Emperor lowered his staff and pulled the head off and tossed towards the Altar as it rolled to the bottom of the steps, leaving a bloody trail behind it. It stopped rolling when it reached the bottom step, but Tikal could not look, for she was too horrified. Within a few seconds, the entire area shook and there in front of the altar appeared a creature of water.

'That's Chaos!', Espio remembered. Chaos lowered itself into a puddle and moved towards the Phantoms and then he reformed, but the Phantom Emperor's staff released a pulse of energy that caused a fire to rise up in front of him. Chaos backed up but then stretched out its arms around the wall of fire and grabbed the emperor, but his cloak reacted to the threat and electricity surged around the Phantom Emperor and shocked Chaos. He was temporarily paralyzed, long enough for the dark emperor to telekinetically push him away, where Chaos flew back and splashed against the side of the altar. It reformed into a puddle and met the emperor again. Chaos spun around like a drill and flung itself at the powerful being, but missed as Chaos landed and looked around, seeing that the Phantom Emperor had somehow gotten behind him. Chaos formed into a single puddle again and slipped by the emperor, heading towards the Altar of the Emeralds. Chaos reformed and then stretched out its arms to retrieve two Chaos Emeralds. Chaos absorbed them as one moved to its left hand and the moved to its right hand, causing Chaos to transform into Chaos 2! Chaos 2 made its way to the Phantom Emperor as everyone else watched, except Tikal, because she was crying; all the while, Espio knew that if he tried to help, he would get destroyed, so he just watched and hoped that Chaos would win.

The powerful emperor hovered towards Chaos 2 with one hand out as he leaned slightly forward. Chaos 2 threw both of its arms at the emperor and finally got a hit in. The emperor hovered back but quickly recovered. Chaos 2 decided to continue attacking, so it swung its massive arms at him but the emperor was quite agile, as he jumped and flipped over both, without slowing down, then hovered to Chaos 2. His staff transformed into a golden sword which he held out as he gained speed and sliced through the bottom of Chaos 2, but Chaos 2 reformed soon after. Chaos turned around and turned into a ball of chaotic water and bounced around the emperor as the Phantom Emperor waited with his blade readied. Chaos 2 bounced up high and was above the Phantom leader, but as it came down, the emperor hovered back and sliced through Chaos 2 again! Chaos 2 reformed again; it realized that if it wanted to defeat this threat, it would need more than just two Chaos Emerald.

Chaos 2 formed back into a puddle and moved to the altar and reformed, grabbing five more Emeralds and then absorbed them. They arranged into a hexagon shape, with one being in the middle, inside of Chaos 2 and it started to transform. Tikal realized what was happening and quickly gathered the Chao and ran to her left, to get out of the way. As Chaos was transforming, it destroyed the top of the altar as it grew, then it moved to the left and flung itself off the cliff, into the water far below. The Phantom Emperor watched as he witnessed an enormous beast of legend emerge from the depths of the stream below to his left.

Perfect Chaos appeared, completely enraged at the Phantoms. It lashed out a tentacle at the Phantom Troops, as it swept them away to the side. Espio moved on top some stones nearby to not get hit, then he watched. The Phantom Emperor floated with no expression before moving to the edge of the cliff. He held up his sword and the ruby glowed again, then transformed the sword into a Wispon-like weapon. He threw his hand down to his side as the weapon released an electrical whip. Perfect Chaos roared and a beam charged in its mouth. Before it could look at the Phantom Emperor, the Phantom leader threw his right hand up, the electrical whip uncoiled and extended as it sliced through Perfect Chaos without any trouble. Magenta hues rose from Perfect Chaos as the beam that was charging in its mouth faded away and ceased. The beast roared as it appeared to be melting after the electrical whip had sliced through its brain! Perfect Chaos screeched and shook violently, and in moments Perfect Chaos exploded as water and blood dispersed in all directions. The Chaos Emeralds dropped into the stream and were carried away by the current.

Espio and Tikal watched in fear, as Perfect Chaos was defeated by a single attack from the Phantom Emperor. She was so stricken with fear, she could not move. The Phantom Emperor turned to her and his weapon transformed back into a staff. He hovered toward her as she crouched in fear, the young Chaos cowering behind her. "Please, stop! We have done nothing to deserve this!", Tikal shouted in desperation, but the Phantom leader had no response. He held his staff out to his side and swung it forward at her, it struck the side of Tikal's head and knocked her out. All of the little Chao ran in fear, trying to escape, but with the swipe of his staff, the Emperor froze them in place, along with Tikal. The Phantom Emperor then levitated those he froze and sent them off the cliff. The frozen Chao and frozen Tikal spun as they fell and then splashed into the stream, floating away.

Espio was powerless alone and could only watch as he stayed camouflage. 'What am I going to do?', he thought as he sat on the boulder near a wall. He felt so ashamed and weak as he watched as the Phantom Troops had gotten back up and followed the leader back to the other area with the temple, as Espio quietly followed behind. The Phantom Emperor took to the stairs and ascended them before turning around and looking out at the land that he now ruled. "[The Knuckles tribe has fallen! We are victorious!]", he spoke out to his fellow Phantoms. They all cheered in an organized fashion and then the leader started giving out orders to build and modify certain aspects of the area. '[Soon all will be fulfilled.]', the Phantom Emperor thought to himself.