UlTrRa SiK pRoDuCtIoNs pReSeNtZ:
Epilogue
By: UlTrAa ShAdDow
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Sega's characters….but I'd be a very happy guy if I did!
-Wow, there was just an explosion of reviews! Cool. Heh, it looks like you guys enjoyed Scythe's reviews-answers! He's something else, huh? Well originally I was planning to have this chapter up quicker but then it happened.
-Alicestar brought it over. She brought over Naurto Clash of the ninjas 2. If you've played that game then you know how addictive it is. If anyone's curious I play as my main man Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Allygurl's whipped and is a Sasuke junkie so I'm usually Naruto and Sakura.
-(More A/N ranting) And can you believe it!? Sasuke with Sharigan is 100,000 credit and Nine-tailed Naruto is only 3500?! What kinda load of crap is that! He's the main character!! After I post this up, I'm gonna go play some Sonic Riders. I'm fairly good with Rouge and Amy but I'm unbeatable with Shadow. Enough with my rantings, enjoy the fresh, lemon-scented chapter!
---
"Hey!" McCloud blinked when he realized that some other voice than Julie's answered him. Glaring at him from Julie's lap was a cutesy, small white hedgehog with large blue eyes. She crawled off of Julie and went to stand toe to toe with the blond scientist.
"I said leave my mama alone, you bad man!" Ceres puffed, standing with her arms akimbo. This caused the blond scientist to arch an eyebrow, " 'Mama'?"
"Why are you being so mean?"
With a sweeping hand, Julie ushered a frowning Ceres off elsewhere, "Don't worry about the bad man, Ceres. It's just that no one told him he was special when he was little. Now why don't you make us a cup of hot chocolate? And don't be stingy with the whip cream."
Ceres shot Jake one last glare, which somehow ended up being more adorable than scary, and left gingerly. Jake didn't waste a single second before he attacked a thought that had been haunting him now. He looked down at Julie, "'Mama'?"
---
-Epilogue-
Hyoretsuzan : "Ice Burst Stab"
The topic of Achilles still hadn't leaked to the curious ears of the children. The adults still had them locked outside and were still arguing amongst each other. Flash was pacing back and forth, creating a ditch for himself. Maria, who was straight bored out of her mind was trying to do anything to keep her mind off of the adults: complaining, kicking the dirt, spitting into anthills, even mocking Flash and Sol.
Sol himself was sitting in the grass, currently trying to ignore Maria who was mimicking both his posture and his attitude. He closed his eyes and sighed (Maria copied him a second later) as he tried to keep himself from dying of boredom or from strangling Maria.
For a brief second he forgot his temper and glared at her jadedly. How could she be so…relaxed, so normal about being around him after all that they went through? Was Maria pretending that their kiss never happened? Or what about the bath time incident? Or maybe Maria really did forget about it because she was an idiot.
Or…
Sol winced, maybe he meant nothing to her. Maria was, by most standards, a very pretty girl. She could probably open a warehouse with the amount of guys after her. And if it wasn't her face that attracted men, then it was that hardcore, built, buxom goddess-like figure she was blessed with. And if it wasn't her fair face and great bod that brought guys knocking at her door, then it was certainly her fiery spirit.
The fired-furred guardian held his breath; maybe Maria had had so many guys before, so compared to them he was a joke! Very few people came around Angel Island, let alone girls his age. Sol knew that he was graceless socially and he was naturally quiet and observant by nature.
Maria walked over to Flash and began to strike up a conversation. The guardian felt the pit of his stomach drop, and a familiar thought that had run through his mind time and time again surfaced; why couldn't he be more like Sonic Flash Hedgehog?
Unlike him, his blue friend knew how to joke and knew how to charm like no tomorrow. And although Sol barely left Angel Island, he knew about Flash's popularity with both boys and girls alike. Oh yes, Sol knew very well that girls would fall at Flash's feet just to have him cast a glance in their direction. Was…would Maria become one of those girls?
Flash smiled perfectly as Maria broke into a full out laugh at whatever their conversation was about. For some reason that made Sol just the teeniest bit…irritated? Vexed? Bothered? Well, it bothered him because somehow, just somehow Sol knew that both he, and the star wide receiver were gunning for the same girl. How would he be able to compete against prince Charming?
"Maria!!"
"Huh?" Both Maria and Flash looked up as Sunny came rushing out of the front door crying. Crying. The stoic Sunny never cried if she could help it. But tonight, for some reason her tears were pouring down her face. The yellow hedgehog glomped onto Maria and cried, "Whoa! Whoa! What's the problem Sunny?"
"How did you get inside the house!?" Flash exclaimed, "They locked all the doors and the windows to keep us out!"
"Flash, do you mind? She's crying here!"
"Um…oh yeah…"
"I just snuck in…through the back," Sunny sniffed as secretly, Flash bookmarked that, "And…and whatever the adults aren't telling us…it's bad. Really bad. So bad that mom and dad are having a heated fight over it."
"But don't uncle Scythe and aunt Daisy fight all the time though?"
"Yeah, but this time it's really bad. They always speak to each other after fights, but this time they're not…" Sunny hiccupped, "What if they hate each other?!"
Flash smiled slightly, "Hey, its going to be alright. My parents had a really bad fight once to you know."
Round silver eyes stared at him, "…Really?"
The blue hedgehog chuckled slightly, "Yeah. Both my parents have powerful personalities, so when they bump heads its awful! But the one time that I can recall when they fought…oh man! I thought that was the worst day ever."
The azure wide receiver smoothly transitioned them into a tale, or a memory he recalled about a time when he saw his parents fighting, it was one of the few times that he saw them both furious at each other.
His normally cheery mother was yelling heatedly at his father, who had the brightest smile in the world. He remembered that night, it ugly; raining and storming terribly; it seemed as if the entire world had turned against them.
Flash as a child no more than seven summers, had been awakened by their arguing. When he first came downstairs rubbing his bleary, tired eyes, he was just about to ask what the commotion was. He froze, looking on in horror at the display.
His mother, whose green eyes were alit with a hellish fury, was screaming and throwing various objects at his dad. Her aim was purposefully terrible as she shrieked worse than any possessed banshee. She was barking accusingly at his Sonic, who, although was heated, just stared at her sternly, not saying a word out against her.
His hands were balled into fists, firmly planted at his sides. Although he didn't speak a single word, all the hostility he presented was evident in his green eyes, which seemed to be a few shades darker than normal.
Flash wanted to rush over to his parents and tell them to stop, but he was too horrified. He slowly slinked back to his room, feeling very ill to his stomach. The small hedgehog wrapped his blankets over his head and covered his ears with his hands.
Maria looked up at Flash, eyes wide with curiosity; she had never known such a story, "So how did that end?" Flash smiled warmly, "Well, the next time I saw them, they were back together in their own bedroom. Vaguely I can recall them apologizing to each other."
Maria raised both eyebrows as Sol gave an arch smile. Flash glanced between his two friends and made a noise between a snort and a laugh, "Oh give me a break! The door was closed; I was not going in there!!"
The others burst out laughing, even Flash himself smiled. Sunny seemed to miss the implication as she frowned. The yellow hedgehog looked up at Flash, "So everyone's parents have their days then, huh?"
Sol smiled, "Everyone's parents have their disputes."
Maria gasped, "Even yours!? Aunt and uncle get along together so well! But seriously, they have arguments!?"
"Of course they do. Well, maybe not as flamboyantly as Flash's parents. They don't yell but they certainly sound mad and speak in ancient echidna. I can tell whenever they have a quarrel; father's always outside smashing away at some boulder and mother's usually talking to the Master Emerald. Once I saw her breaking boulders!!"
This time, Flash joined Maria and Sunny in laughter. Sunny sniffled and wiped her nose, "Really? I--I always thought it was just my parents. They always do it."
She wiped her eyes dry, "Well I feel stupid now; crying over something like this."
Flash put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Hey now squirt, it's all right for you to care about your parents."
Sunny looked away and smirked, "Well…I suppose…"
Maria looked away as dialogue between Flash and Sunny continued. Her smile faded away slightly when she realized that she didn't have a story of her own to contribute. Vaguely, she wondered if anyone else noticed too.
Before she could ponder on how life would be like with two parents, Sol suddenly stood up from his comfy spot on the ground and began to stroll off. The violet-eyed bat blinked, "Yo! Sol, where ya goin'?"
The claret echidna waved a hand, but kept going without looking back, "Don't worry, I won't be long. I just want to clear my head a bit, that's all."
Flash and Maria exchanged glances knowing that this was one of the times that Sol wished for solitude. Stirring up the wrath of Sol was not the thing either of them waned to do. He was equable and cool, yes, but when he was infuriated, it was like the seventh gate of hell was unlocked. Sol was downright terrifying to be around when he was incensed.
Once he was sure that he was out of eyesight of the others, Sol gazed off into the sky. Contemplation played upon his stern features as the ideas of the previous conversation still swirled within his noggin. Family. The failed guardian closed his eyes and pictured his mother and father.
He could recall how much they both loved him, each in their own different way. As a kid no taller than his mother's waist, Sol used to remember how his mother used to sneak him food. Sol chuckled slightly as he recalled a scene from his past
---
It was a celebration for his father's birthday and as so, Knuckles wanted a homemade chocolate cake. Generally the stubborn guardian detested sweets, but if Tikal was making something, then Knuckles would eat it without a second thought.
The sweet aroma of baking cake, puddings, and meringues brought a straggling little Sol into the kitchen. His mommy was making all sort of goodies: cakes, cookies, pies, soufflés, crèmes, puddings, and flans, for his daddy's birthday. It was just too torturous to smell all of those sweet scents…and wait until after dinner before he could eat them!
Sol scampered over to his mom with the intention to get a taste of something! "Momma!" a five-year old Sol tugged roughly at the hem of his mother's skirt, "Momma!!"
The echidna heiress gasped as her young son tugged at the fabric of her skirt. She removed his hands gingerly as her face rouged a bit; if he had yanked any harder, he would have pulled the skirt right to her ankles!
"What is it Sollie?" Tikal asked, gazing down at the frowning child.
"Momma, I want some sweets! Can I please have something to eat? All those sweet smells are driving me crazy!"
Tikal giggled and smiled down at the mini version of her husband. The boy looked back at her with bright aquamarine irises that mirrored her own, "You know, daddy doesn't want you to have anything until after dinner or you might spoil your appetite."
"I won't! I won't!" the mini guardian promised, "Now please can I try something?"
Tikal gazed skyward exaggeratedly so that the little echidna knew she was considering his offer, "Well…"
"Please momma! Please!! I'll make sure daddy gives you that massage he promised you!"
Aquamarine eyes sparkled, "Deal!"
The echidna princess tittered; she was going to give him something anyways, just for being so darn cute, but a massage sweetened the deal! "Okay then Sol, wanna try some of the chocolate cake momma's making?"
Sol nodded his head excitedly, "Good, then open wide and say ah!"
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Sol opened his mouth as wide as possible, receiving a laugh from his mommy.
Tikal, who had been mixing the batter together, removed the large spoon from the thick, sweet batter and spoon-fed Sol. Most of the batter ended up getting all over his face, but the boy was still thrilled.
"Mmmm! It's so good momma! Daddy's gonna like your cake! And your cakes are always the best momma!"
The princess smiled brightly, "…I hope so. And do you know what else is the best?"
"What mama?"
"You are." Tikal bent down and kissed one of Sol's chocolate-smeared cheeks.
"Eww! I just got a kiss from a girl!!" The echidna wiped the kiss away, although he feigned disgust, Sol was still pleased.
"Oh? And you think kisses are gross?" Tikal arched an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips, "Well then we must fix that! Because you are a handsome young man and some day girls will like you!"
"Eww!" Sol exclaimed with childish glee.
"And girls will chase you!" Tikal called out as she began to run after her son, who was play-screaming, "And girls will want to hug you! And kiss you! Like this!"
"Gross! Stop it mama!" Sol laughed as his mom, who held him in a hug, kissed him.
"And they'll want to kiss you again, and again, and again!" The echidna giggled as his mother showered him with kisses.
---
Where his mom was sweet and caring, his dad was stern, yet protective. He showed his love in different ways than his mother…
---
Sol knew his daddy was strong; he could crush boulders with his bare hands and if he punched the ground, he could make it shake! The little echidna watched as his father was busy training and his workout consisted of: jogging, sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, kicks, punches, the works. Sol watched from behind the shrubs. Hiding himself was something they had worked out this week in Sol's guardian training.
He watched as his father threw super-fast jabs and kicks at an invisible foe. The little red echidna continued with his camouflage in the bushes; his dad was so strong and someday, Sol was going to be just as great as he is!
Knuckles on the other hand sweat-dropped; he had known Sol had been spying on him ever since his son 'hid' within the bushes. This was their first week in Sol's guardian training, and Knuckles had taught him to sneak up upon foes. And it looked like Sol had tried to camouflage himself as well, but he overlooked one thing…
He chose to hide in dark green bushes…but his fur was a bright, striking red color.
…Good job, Sol.
But if the bright red in a blur of green wasn't a big enough give away, Knuckles had also heard all the noises Sol was making. Every now and then he would hear an 'ouch!' or an 'owwie!'; Sol must have been getting stuck by those leaves and branches.
Before Knuckles could burst out laughing, Sol suddenly rose from his hiding spot. He pointed toward his dad who was watching him silently, "You!"
"?" Knuckles arched an eyebrow.
"Strong guardian, I challenge you to a fight!" Sol proclaimed, pointing his digit at Knuckles in what was supposed to be a challenging manner.
'Great,' Knuckles thought to himself, 'Here we go again…'
With a high-pitched war cry, Sol leapt out of the bushes and charged straight at his dad. Knuckles covered his mouth in an attempt to hold back laughter; Sol's 'war cry' sounded more like a demented, demon-possessed goat.
The little echidna ran to his father, who was standing perfectly at ease, and Sol lashed out with a roundhouse. Knuckles blocked the kick single-handedly and watched as Sol spun around to pummel him with his 'fists of fury'.
"Feel my wrath, guardian!" Sol cried, striking his father's stomach with rather quick punches for a five-year older. But to an adult, it did no more than tickle Knuckles' stomach.
"…" Knuckles just watched him wordlessly.
"Submit yet? O guardian? O wise one? O honored one? O chosen one!?" Sol called out, "O--ugh!"
Knuckles flicked his son's nose and sent him crashing into the dirt. Sol glanced back at Knuckles who smirked at him, "Sorry, but there will be no submission."
"You are a worthy foe," Sol mumbled through his throbbing nose.
The red guardian strolled over until he squatted before his little son. Knuckles patted his son's head, "A true guardian never submits. It's their duty to guard the emerald with their life. And you know what, Sol? You've got the determination to make a great guardian."
The boy's eyes lit up, "You…you think so daddy?"
Knuckles smiled, "I know so. Now stand to your feet so we can begin your next training session. We're going to play tag…and you're it!"
---
The grown, eighteen-year old Sol stood staring at the starry sky. He lowered his head and clenched a fist; this whole Chaos fiasco occurred because he wasn't strong enough. All that training, sweat, blood and tears wasn't enough to win him his guardianship.
In fact, it was because of his failure that his mom was abducted and Chaos was too powerful. Sol gazed at the red earth beneath him as his mind danced within turmoil, 'My dad's been miserable and my mother's been suffering because of me. I don't care what it takes…'
A beige echidna with bright turquoise and a sparkling tiara smiled, "And do you know what else is the best? You are."
'I'm going to make everything right again and…'
A fire-furred echidna with strong, dark violet eyes beamed, "A true guardian never submits. It's their duty to guard the emerald with their life. And you know what, Sol? You've got the determination to make a great guardian."
'…and I'm going to beat Chaos. Just like I should have the first time! Father, mother, I won't let you down twice!'
---
Sonic sat outside, gazing at the fading skyline; it was the time of day where the sky held four different colors melting into each other: blue faded into gold, as gold melded into pink, as pink pooled into a fiery red-magenta.
The blue hero's other half stepped out of the stone house to find her Sonic, "…Sonic?" She walked over to him where his eyes were still studying the sky. She sighed before she stepped beside him, "Is…is Julie really going to awaken him?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Do we really have the options to be picky?" Sonic asked, "I mean, you were there; Chaos manhandled each of us without a drop of sweat on his bushy brows.
The rosette hedgehog looked away reluctantly. She had seen the way Chaos danced right through the usually formidable force of heroes. Amy glanced up at Sonic, "Is…is…he going to be safe around?"
The blue wonder scratched his head, "Well, Jules says that his cognitive thinking is finally finished…Whatever that means…"
"Sonic," Amy groaned, "That means he's completely sane now. Before he was only seventy-five percent done! Remember!?"
Sonic blinked, "…Oh yeah!"
Under her breath, Amy muttered something about Sonic being lucky that he was hot or else. The azure one snapped to attention, "…What was that?"
"Hm? Oh nothing," Amy touched his head and laughed when his blue ears flicked. The blue hedgehog grinned licentiously, "Wanna see what happens when you touch me somewhere else?"
The rose hedgehog laughed even harder, which only further motivated Sonic's antics. The hero curled a stray arm around Amy's waist and pulled her closer. He didn't fail to notice the cherry-coated blush upon her face.
"S-sonic," Amy gulped, "S-stop that…", oh crap, what was he doing? He knew she wasn't immune to his charm!
"Stop what?" Sonic purred, clearly having no intention of stopping, "You mean doing something…like this?"
The blue hero tilted Amy's head and licked the side of her face.
"Ah!" Her green eyes went wide as her face exploded with a flurry of crimson, "S-sonic!"
He smirked at her heightened blush and the way she was tried to hide her pleasure, "S-sonic…stop..puh-please?"
If he kept this up, then she was surely going to melt. For some reason Sonic had the power to know exactly what to do to her and where to touch to make her weak in the knees. When Sonic was born, he must have come equipped in this world with a 'How to make Amy Rose hot and bothered' manual.
The owner of this said book glanced over at her devilishly, "Well Amykins, I can't now. I mean, you know how I feel when you beg. It's like asking a kid not to push the red button. And I really wanna push your buttons."
He smelt the crook of her neck and sighed, "Amykins…you smell so good."
Before the blue hero felt himself loosing all control over the reigns of his emotions, a black and crimson hedgehog burst through the front door and marched past them. The intrusion on the intimate moment would have been embarrassing, but Shadow seemed not to have noticed them.
He headed into the deep forest before he disappeared out of sight completely. Amy and Sonic exchanged glances; they both knew what this was about. Julie Robotnik was going to bring back the creature who had murdered Rouge.
Achilles.
---
Julie appeared looking rather sullen, like she had been lacking a whole lot of sleep. Beside her was the stoic Jake, Scythe, Daisy, Tails, Ceres, and Knuckles. Somehow Sonic understood that Shadow wouldn't want to be around for this.
Scythe narrowed his eyes; so they were really going to do this? They were really going there to bring back his twisted, younger 'brother.' The charcoal and silver hedgehog sneered; they weren't brothers by blood, make no mistake about that. Ever since Achilles was created, Eggman had pitted the two of them against each other.
The black hedgehog felt a hand interweave into his. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Daisy glancing at him sympathetically. Her small hand squeezed his, letting him know of her support. Sonic turned to glance at the pink hedgehog behind himself.
"Amy," there was no pet name; he was going all-business now, " I have to teleport the others to the Sahara base. Are you coming?"
The cherry-pink hedgehog smiled slightly, "No. Someone has to watch over Shadow and the kids. Go already, you're just making a scene!"
Tails handed his long-time hero the jade-green emerald Shadow had once been holding onto. Sonic glanced at it stoically before he gave the two-word summon that made them all vanish in a blitz of green light.
Once her friends were out of site, Amy strolled out of the house and traced the steps that Shadow had walked seconds earlier. She walked through the lush green jungle, treaded through the muddy grounds until she found her destination.
The pinkette hedgehog slowly scaled a tree, making sure to step over and avoid branches that snapped under her weight. With one last grunt, she heaved herself onto a branch and crawled up the twisting bark. After wiping away sweat, she glanced beside her.
Sitting to her left was a black and crimson hedgehog who sat with his knees pulled to his chest and his ears were pressed against his skull. The hedgehog's dark eyes were uncharacteristically round, sad claret eyes. At the moment he looked more like a downtrodden child than an ultimate being.
Amy frowned, "…Oh Shadow…"
Then she went to make her way next to him. The pink hedgehog wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Neither of them exchanged words; it wasn't necessary to. They just sat in the silence of each other's company. One was suffering and the other was healing.
---
Sol waited until the later moments of night before he made his move. His fur was a heavy shade of wine, and his eyes were the color of a clouded ocean. He slowly crept away from his home that was no longer a home; with his mom gone and his zombie-like dad, it really wasn't the same place.
Just as he went to head away from the Master Emerald shrine, he paused. Was there someone up at the top of the hallowed shrine? The young echidna forgot his old plans and ran toward the shrine.
Once he reached the bottom of the stone stairwell, he glanced up and saw a familiar young echidna; he was truly flabbergasted, "M-mother!?" The beige echidna at the top of the shrine glanced down at him passively, "Try going up a little further in your ancestry, son. I am your great-grandmother. Tikal is still with Turrok."
Sol paused the closed his eyes. Meda pointed her walking staff at him, "Why? What do you intend to accomplish, young blood? What giving you out at such an hour?"
"I…I want to save my mother," Sol glanced at the gravel near his feet, knowing how utterly foolish his wish sounded to such a great elder.
"When you first fought Chaos, you could not beat him, and now that he has taken some of the Master Emerald's power, he is flawless. Relinquish your quest," Meda replied, gauging him closely.
She thought she heard Sol mumble something; the elder narrowed her eyes and glared, "Speak up, young blood."
"I said…I…I don't care!" Sol roared, "I'd rather die than sit here and do nothing! I'm young but I'm not useless, I may have failed…but that doesn't mean that I'm a failure!" he barked, vision becoming blurred with more than his rising rage.
After witnessing her great grandson's outburst, just the slightest traces of a smirk appeared upon her young face. Meda traveled her way down the stone steps until she was standing before him. Sol froze; she looked so much like his mother that it was daunting. Except Meda's turquoise orbs were much sharper and stern, as if she had the ability to look right through you. Her stony gaze lightened just a bit.
This boy was still a child despite his height and his built physique, "If you wish to try, I cannot stop you . It is the true will of a guardian; you must obtain your objective even if you must walk through fire and water to achieve it."
In a rare gesture of warmth, Meda closed her eyes and bent forward. Ocean-blue eyes widened as Sol felt his great grandmother's lips lightly press upon his forehead. She had given him a quick kiss. But before she pulled away, she whispered to him, "…And not all quests are to be journeyed alone, my son. Tell me, what else do you sense?"
Sol paused for a moment before he realized what she was talking about. Vaguely, he could sense two other presences. His great grandmother pulled away from him with a smirk and headed up to the top of the shrine.
The red echidna cursed under his breath before he ran a hand through his disheveled quills. His blue eyes narrowed in slight annoyance, "…Okay you two, you can come out now. I know you're there…idiots."
Then a voice sounded from the shrubbery behind him, "H-how did you know we were here!?"
Sol smirked darkly, "Because you just notified me."
"…Thanks a lot Maria," Flash, along with Rouge Maria, popped up from their hiding places within the bushes. Sol's amused expression quickly disappeared though, "…Were you stalking me!?"
"Sol," Flash deadpanned, "It's three in the freakin' morning and you left with that I'm-gonna-kick-someone's-ass look in your eyes. You better believe we followed you out here."
Sol glared at them both, but just a wee bit stronger at Flash Hedgehog; why did those two always seem to be together? "Just leave me alone. This is something I have to take care of myself."
"If you're going to take down Chaos, then you're crazy! However…" Maria smirked, looking as if she was about to make a paramount, important statement, "If we all go to fight Chaos, then we're crazies!"
"…" Sol and Flash exchanged confused looks.
"Did you…?"
"Yeah…I'm completely lost too with that one."
"…Seriously, and Maria has said some dumb things before…"
The albino bat's face exploded into a shade as nearly as dark as Sol's crimson fur. Both males glanced at her amused; it was always fun to tease Maria for three good reasons: a) she always managed to say something dumb b) she had a short temper c) Maria was cute.
"Look! We just need to go together, okay!?"
"Maria the genius is right about something though," Flash said turning to face Sol, "If you do want to face off against Chaos, then you're going to need our help."
Before Sol could protest, Maria appeared before him. She gave him a big, purple, puppy-eyed stare that could make the toughest stones melt, "Please Sol…let us come with you and help put Chaos out."
Sol closed his eyes and groaned. He opened one eye, looked at Maria again, then closed it again. He groaned a second timed. He knew he was screwed with those big, sparkly violet eyes.
---
Everyone stood around in the red room. The only sounds being emitted in the room where the mechanical whirls of machinery, bleeps, and low hums. Scythe and Daisy stood near each other as Knuckles, Sonic and Tails were clumped together. Julie, Jake, and Ceres were in one group.
Sonic sucked in wind; this was really happening, wasn't it? They were really going to see the golden terror reawakened. The blue hero glanced over at Knuckles. What was going through his mind? Was he worried too?
"Well, let's hurry up and not try to draw this out all day," Jake said, "Or are we going to throw this guy a parade?"
"The jerk is right about something," Knuckles replied, "Let's just get this done with."
Julie nodded her head and bit her lip. She slowly walked over to the large capsule that indeed contained the completed project Achilles. Mutely, Julie slowly traced her hand over the capsule; this was something that her father had created and his hands had probably been here too.
Eggman may have been a terrible man, but he too had dreams. He invested his dreams in creating a perfect killer: a creature that had not only the perfect calculator brain, but was the perfect athlete. An unstoppable creature with flawless speed and strength.
The ginger-haired girl glanced at herself in one-way mirror. Eggman created a monster but hopefully with Achilles' second coming, Julie had corrected her father's mistake. She closed her eyes for a brief second. She was mentally apologizing to Shadow, to Maria and even to Rouge herself.
The others watched the Robotnik girl lucidly. For a second Tails didn't think that she was going to actually open the capsule, but then he saw Julie's fingers slowly curl around a lever and tug. Once the lever was released, the initiation of Achilles' release began.
The sounds of snaps and unfastening joints resonated through the laboratory in sickly echoes. With one last whine the capsule clicked, signaling its opening. A hiss sprayed from the capsule as it slowly opened. The crowd watched the capsule slowly reveal its occupant; a sleeping, golden hedgehog.
"Mama," Ceres gasped, "Look! There's a sleeping boy in there…"
'Damn it, this is really happening!' Sonic grimaced slightly as he met a familiar face of his past, 'We're really standing here, watching this guy come back to life. Aww crap, I really don't like this…'
With the unbolting of his capsule, the eyes of the gold hedgehog slowly fluttered open. He gazed at the world with blue eyes. With a groan, the gold hedgehog sat forward. His face was grim as if he had just woken up from a chain of nightmares.
The crowd met him with dour features on their faces. Wordlessly Daisy groped for Scythe's hand and he accepted it without any seconds thoughts. The usually animated Julie Robotnik was quite somber, "…Welcome back Achilles."
This aforementioned hedgehog, fur of goldenrod color and eyes bluish, was Achilles, Eggman's last creation. Unlike his predecessor, Scythe, he was completely organic; no metal and no robotic functions made him operate, Achilles was one hundred percent flesh, blood, bones, and cells.
Achilles woke up feeling as if he had been roused from a terrible fear, a nightmare. His mind was hazy, but a couple of faces within the crowd did seem familiar to him. First was a royal blue hedgehog whose face was rather familiar to him. For some reason his mind registered the name Sonic with this hedgehog.
Did I…fight him?
Next an even meaner-looking echidna was beside this Sonic. Thoughts of fighting, fists, and knuckles came to mind with this guy. The young fox beside the echidna wasn't familiar at all. Achilles blinked when he glanced at the black and silver hedgehog; was he related to him? Achilles' brother? That tie went to this black hedgehog.
When Achilles laid his eyes upon the yellow hedgehog, he could remember her perfectly. She's…she's pseudo sister. Pseudo because we're not related, but yet we both have yellow fur…When he first met her she was smaller and wore pigtails. Achilles grabbed his head and grimaced; suddenly everything hit him all at once like a collapsed dam. His memory hit him in a vicious tidal wave when he was most vulnerable and at his weakest.
"R-rouge…" he gasped.
Sonic blinked back at him in surprise. So he does remember, huh? The blue hero took a step toward him but quickly backtracked when Achilles vomited up a dull, clear liquid. This had been his food sustaining him all those years.
"Need a bib?" that scorn came from his silver-eyed brother. Achilles tried to talk but only succeeded in spewing out the contents of his stomach. For a moment Daisy's bright eyes darkened.
"…So this is the great fiend we couldn't have stopped eighteen years ago?" Knuckles statement was emotionless, yet it was piqued with an underlying spite. Sonic glanced at Julie, "…This was a mistake, Jules. You should have destroyed him when you had the chance."
Daisy lowered her head and bit her bottom lip. It was disheartening to see Achilles, the fierce opponent left as nothing more than a weakling who couldn't even contain the contents of his stomach. So, he'd my b-brother-in-law now, huh? Does Scythe still see him as his brother?
"Yeah Robotnik, you should have finished him. And sent this creep where he belongs," Scythe sneered as his silver irises faded into ebony.
Just the sight of Achilles made Scythe painfully aware of his vulnerability. Scythe was built, created as this guy's prototype. He was the error where Achilles was perfection. Isn't it funny how life worked? Here Scythe's supposed superior lay, kneeling at his feet while hacking his lungs up.
"I…I'm sorry," his voice was hoarse but everyone in the room heard it. The only three people who seemed to have been stirred by his words were Sonic, Tails, and Daisy. At the sound of Achilles' confession, the blue wonder's eyebrows barely raised, Tails frowned and Daisy gasped.
"Sorry…" he coughed out before he bowed his head, "…For…for everything…"
But Julie didn't seem to care every much for his thoughts. She strolled up before him and stood no more than two feet from him. Achilles blinked at the sight of heeled boots then slowly elevated his gaze until he was staring at a blank-faced woman. Do I know…her? Did I hurt her too?
"… Later I'll explain why you've been awakened, because it definitely wasn't by choice. I'll debrief you of the situation when you collect yourself and aren't a sniveling, weepy pile of nothing." The ginger-haired woman said, and with nothing else to talk about, she retrieved Ceres, turned and left.
The quiet Jake McCloud observed Achilles for a brief second longer before he tailed Julie. Knuckles grunted and left as Sonic followed suit. Tails shook his head sadly before turning and following his idol out. Scythe made his way to the door before he realized that Daisy wasn't beside him.
He glanced over and saw Daisy kneeling beside his brother. Daisy tipped his face upward, studying his face intently. She tried to ignore the round, deep blues that stare back at her reproachfully, "…Are you sorry?" she asked quietly, "And please tell me the truth."
The sorrow that passed through his eyes left her feeling unsettled and almost sympathetic, "…Yes." Scythe sneered as he felt a wild surge of jealously burn through his systems, "Daisy, get the hell away from that psycho!"
The yellow hedgehog helped Achilles to his feet, missing the stunned look the golden hedgehog threw her direction. Daisy pulled away from him and for the briefest second gave him a smile. Afterwards she spun on her heel and walked over out past Scythe.
He allowed Daisy to exit first so he had time to give his sibling a good, long 'go to hell and take a wrong turn' stare. Once Scythe was sure Achilles got the message, he turned and followed his wife. The gold hedgehog coughed before he released a discontented groan, "…Great, I'm already a crowd favorite."
---
"I think I may have lost a best friend, Ceres."
"Shadow doesn't hate you, mama."
"You think so?"
"Uh-huh! And besides, I still like you!"
Jake found Julie outside, gazing off into the cream-colored sands. The redhead was seated at the ostentatious opening to Eggman's grand base. The serious scientist glared, wondering just how someone could stand this crazy weather.
The temperature had transformed from being sweltering hot to being ferociously cold; the Sahara dessert was a two-faced monster. McCloud narrowed his eyes; the cherry-haired girl was all alone and now was a good time as any to approach her.
"Robotnik," Jake said in his normal cool voice.
"…Yes?" Julie didn't bother turning around, only one person called her by her last name.
McCloud seemed bothered as his features curled up into a sneer, "Look at me when I'm talking to you."
"Hey!" McCloud blinked when he realized that some other voice than Julie's answered him. Glaring at him from Julie's lap was a cutesy, small white hedgehog with large blue eyes. She crawled off of Julie and went to stand toe to toe with the blond scientist.
"I said leave my mama alone, you bad man!" Ceres puffed, standing with her arms akimbo. This caused the blond scientist to arch an eyebrow, " 'Mama'?"
"Why are you being so mean?"
With a sweeping hand, Julie ushered a frowning Ceres off elsewhere, "Don't worry about the bad man, Ceres. It's just that no one told him he was special when he was little. Now why don't you make us a cup of hot chocolate? And don't be stingy with the whip cream."
Ceres shot Jake one last glare, which somehow ended up being more adorable than scary, and left gingerly. Jake didn't waste a single second before he attacked a thought that had been haunting him now. He looked down at Julie, "'Mama'?"
Julie growled and crossed her arms, "What the hell is your problem!?"
For the first time since she had interacted with the severe scientist, Jake smiled. It was a grin albeit a smirk, but it was still another emotion on his face than a sneer or a scowl, "This 'mama' thing, did you order that hedgehog to call you that?"
"No," Julie replied, "She just called me that by instinct. A term of endearment, you know?"
"Hmm."
"What?"
The blue-eyed scientist smiled at her, although it seemed more artic than warm, "So what is it with you? You created that cute little hedgehog as a companion? As a helpless slave to follow out your own selfish will?"
Robotnik looked as if he has slapped her, "No! She's my best friend. In fact Ceres volunteered to be my lab assistant. I'm not an ass like you!"
Jake chuckled darkly, "Am I finally getting under you skin, Miss Robotnik?"
"I really don't need this right now Jake," Julie hissed, "Shadow and the others probably hate me to the core right now and I really don't feel like getting into it with you. Let's continue our catfight on another day."
"I don't give two shits about you and your emotional qualms," Jake said, looking even more pleasant than before, "I just find it interesting that your twisted, gnarled tree of a family have certain patterns. All you Robotniks enjoy creating little soldiers for you purposes. All your creations are your little puppets. And you have Ceres' strings twisted around your pretty little fingers."
"That's not true," Julie whispered.
"Let's see now…" Jake said with false thoughtfulness, "Let's just review your family history: Gerald Robotnik created Shadow…Ivo Robotnik created Metal Sonic, Scythe, and Achilles..."
"That's not true!" Julie hissed through her teeth.
"Oh yes and then there's you," Jake smiled at her forebodingly, "You continue that cycle nicely; you created cute little Ceres to carry out your evil ways. Just like great granddaddy and daddy, you're going to try and take over the world, aren't you Julie?"
"I'm not like them!" Julie screamed, "Shut up!"
"So," Jake breathed in a wintry whisper, "When are you going to mate and bring in your own little devil spawn to continue your evil cycle? It's only a matter of time before you must create the next Robotnik heir to take over the world. So tell me, just who do you have in mind for the---"
Julie interrupted his icy speech with immaculate timing. She planted a good slap across his face. Julie glared at him balefully; Shadow was pissed off at her, Chaos was reeking havoc, and here the tight-ass Jake McCloud had the nerve to be asking about her intimate life!? He had gone too far.
Jake slowly turned to face Julie who glared at him with an equal amount of venom. That shot to his jaw she had sent had actually hurt! And it cleared away his false, condescending jollity. Any type of mirth the boy had earlier wiped away from his face. He was icy stolid again with his chiseled features drawn in a wintry blankness, "…When this is all over Robotnik, I'm going to finish all this and kill you."
Shock veiled her face, "What!?"
"I will be the executioner of the Robotnik bloodline," he acted as if he hadn't heard her. He draped toward her in a deathly, phantom-like mannerism, "From Ivo Robotnik to his father then Gerald Robontik and even his father; all they've done is unleashed terror upon this planet. All of them have been evil, insane driven men. Their minds were far too great like their insanity."
Julie stepped away from Jake as he approached, icy blue eyes scorching, "So I'm going to do the world a favor and wipe out the complete Robotnik bloodline. Your people are an evil, devious breed. The very blood running through your veins is toxic."
Julie stopped backing away from him and glared at him fearlessly, "You back the hell away from me Jake McCloud, or I swear I'll--"
The redhead made a motion to reach for her handheld laser pistol from the holster on her leg, but in one fluid motion, Jake snatched her wrist quickly with smooth yet swift reflexes. He applied pressure easily and twisted her slender wrist excruciatingly. With a fierce calm, he watched as the girl dropped to her knees from the pain.
The laser pistol in the process of their struggle had dropped and was right beside her knee. As she made to grab the weapon with her free hand, Jake kicked the gun away and twisted her arm even further. This time Julie winced, baring her perfect white teeth.
"Submissive," Jake said with a sub-zero precision, "Your family has done nothing but wreck lives for generations and honestly, I shall take it upon myself to see that you don't get your chance at it. That's why I'm going to kill you."
Then he released his grasp and tossed her to the floor, "However, currently you are useful. So until then, you shall be allowed to have a pulse." Jake turned with the wind catching his trench coat and he walked off, the coat trailing after him in a heroic manner. Julie rose to her feet and stared after him with an unshakable calm; there was no point in staying on the ground.
And even though her hand was throbbing with pain, she wasn't going to cradle it; that bastard wouldn't get the sweet satisfaction of seeing her in pain. That night Julie made a resolution, she wasn't going to loose to Jake McCloud. And on that same night, come hell or high water, Jake McCloud was resolved to do everything in his power to break Julie Robotnik.
---
"Are you sure Chaos is over here?"
"It has to be! Remember? He resurrected that really spooky castle!"
Piercing the night sky in a cryptic arch was the towering ancient castle. The stone structure stood against the sky and resonated with a mysterious darkness. Maria shuddered at the thought of near being near that Chaos creep again.
Having those golden, eerie amber eyes upon her was way too freaky. But at least she wouldn't be alone; she'd have Flash and Sol to help her take him down. She'd finally prove herself to everyone and show that she was strong.
Sol was valiantly trudging ahead, gazing at the ancient castle stonily; Maria knew not to mess with him when he was like this. She figured he was probably more than ready to spill Chaos' blood. The white bat shivered slightly; why did Sol decide to pursue vengeance on such a cold night. Couldn't he have done it yesterday when it was nice and mild.
But the red guardian had been trained brutally; regardless of the weather, come scorching heat or arctic cold, it didn't faze him. Sol walked through the icy night as if it wasn't on his mind. Flash on the other hand was freezing. Even his customary green hoodie didn't fight the cold as well as he liked.
"Frick its cold out here," Flash mumbled under his breath, he could see his breath swirling it thick puffs before his eyes, "Hey Maria, are you cold?"
"Y-yeah," Maria smiled as she looked at him, "Are you cold too?"
Flash smiled, "F-freezing my blue ass off."
"It wasn't t-this cuh-cold earlier," Rouge Maria said, "Where did all the h-heat d-disappear to?"
"Hold on a sec," Flash placed a hand on Maria's cheek.
She flushed at the contact, "You're freezing cold. Here, if you huddle closer to me, then we'll get warmer."
Rouge Maria stepped closer to Flash but the only response she got was him blinking his deep green eyes, "Um, you're still too far away from me. We need to actually be touching to get warmer. You know, uh, have contact." Flash turned his head at the last second to avoid his rouging face from being seen.
The albino bat felt her face darken with blush, "Um…um…o-okay."
They both stepped closer to each other and Flash wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked in bated silence. Maria, to clear her head, tried to take a deep breath but it ended up backfiring. Greatly. She was near enough to get a good whiff of Flash's mild cologne. She had to fight her best to muffle a moan, but she wasn't above giving a dreamy look.
'Umm, he smells so delicious…Yes, Flash es muy delicioso. Hehe, I wonder how he tast--oh crap, oh crap! Stop those bad thoughts!'
Maria put her head against his chest and sighed contently. Flash glanced at Maria before looking away; she was completely pressed up against him. The famed wide received wasn't sure if she was doing it intentionally, but it was turning him inside-out.
'Oh crap, she's practically crushed against me. Is she doing this on purpose!? She doesn't seem like the type of girl be all over a guy…crap, I bet she can hear my heart beating. She's doing this intentionally, I know she's trying to get a rise out of me…and it's working!'
With another sigh, Maria curled closer to Flash as she placed an arm around him. The taller blue hedgehog was an oasis of heat in this ridiculously cold night! And he smelt heavenly too. For a brief second Flash glanced down at Maria. Her eyelashes fluttered before a pair of amethyst irises were revealed.
She met his glaze then smiled at him sweetly. Flash returned her warm gaze easily. Sol, who happened to glance back at his friends looked, turned away, then quickly looked at them again. He was annoyed to see both Maria and Flash huddled together. Those two were practically all over each other. Smothering one another, 'What the hell!? He has his hands all over her. Does she like that?'
Flash took his eyes off of Maria and glanced up to meet Sol. He swore that for half a second the blue-eyed echidna shot him an arctic glare. Flash had enough sense about him to realize that it had to do something with him being snuggled up with Maria.
The blue hedgehog frowned at Sol's glare, 'Well…if he doesn't like it. Then I'd like to see him pry me off.'
"Is there a problem?" Flash asked with a cool, yet wintry tone.
"What do you think? You have your hands all over her, you bastard!"
Maria finally was brought to attention, "…What?"
"What's with you!?" Flash hissed, " We're bundled up out here. It's cold."
"Cold my ass. So tell me, Flash," Sol growled, spinning completely to face him, "Are you going to grope her any further?"
"What!?" Maria squeaked, pulling away from the blue hedgehog and glancing back and forth between her friends.
"Okay," Flash deadpanned, "You've gone too far now."
"I've gone too far?" Sol asked with mock surprise, "Clearly I haven't yet, because I haven't even put my hands on her yet!"
"Oh really?" Flash asked, his narrowed eyes a dark shade of emerald, "That's why I saw you forcing your tongue down her throat.
Maria burst aflame with color as Sol flushed before he growled deeply, masking his embarrassment fairly well, "Well then. We're even."
'Wasn't our original reason for coming here to take care of Chaos!? But then he has to go and take it somewhere else…' Flash thought, as his fist clenched. But this bad blood between them had been churning between them for awhile now. This bad blood between them had been in each other's veins for so long that they were starting to become poisoned. They were slowly…could it be true? That they were starting to detest each other?
Suddenly Flash smirked, "So, we both knew it'd come to this eventually, huh?"
"…" Sol glared at him but didn't voice else wise.
"What the hell are you two doing?" Maria yelled, glancing between her two friends, "This is stupid!"
Before she knew it, Sol started rushing towards the two of them. Maria gasped, "Flash! We have to stop him!"
But when she looked behind herself, she saw Flash coming right for Flash. Maria froze as she watched her two friends beginning to duke it out. Her blood went cold; no…this can't be…it's it's just like my nightmare with the knights!
Maria felt a rush of emotions, most of them being near the spectrum of fear and horror. Hey eyes went wide with horror as she clutched her head; no! No! No! Stop this! Please stop this! I can't take this!!
The white bat rushed forward to stop their fight. She was trying to pull them apart as tears rimmed her eyes. Tomboys don't cry, but then again their best friends don't try to beat the life out of each other either.
"No! Stop it! Stop this right now!!"
---
Chaos stood near the edge of the island watching the waves lap at the nearby islands below. The tyrant was busy still fuming with his bout with Tikal. He growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose; that stupid, choosy woman! Shouldn't she know greatness when it stood two feet before her?
He really had no intention to harm Tikal. No, he wouldn't want to strike her or he might find himself with an ugly-faced wife. But it would certainly teach her some respect. Turrok shook his head and frowned deeper; great now he was hearing voices in his head.
And why would that stupid girl like Knuckles so much? Perhaps it was the effeminate way he wore his long, womanly quills? If the ancient echidna civilization was still prevalent today, there would be no way that peasant would be able to marry, let alone even look at the princess.
"Am I really so disturbed by that woman that I beginning to hear voices?" Chaos muttered to himself angrily.
Just as he was about to curse Tikal, Pachachamac, Meda, and all relatives of the echidna princess, he paused. This time he was sure that the voice wasn't something he had heard within his own head.
"No! Stop it! Stop this right now!!"
---
Maria was grabbing, pushing and pulling, just trying anything to get the two boys apart, but they seemed adamant about their fight. Flash threw a blow and slugged the red echidna across his face. Sol checked his face for blood before he snarled and returned the hit with interest.
Flash hit the ground and grimaced as he lay on his stomach. It was just a hard fact of life but Sol was stronger, much stronger than he was. Sol was a trained guardian and his blows were major. The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes as he clamored to his feet; Sol may be stronger, but he'd be damned if he gave up!
"Stop this! You stop this right now!" Maria clutched Sol's shoulders, "You got him, allright? Enough is enough!" Just as Maria slipped her fingers upon his arms, Sol's eyes went blank and he moved away from her. The white bat looked slightly hurt; did he move away from her purposely, "…Sol?"
"Do I mean that little to you?" he asked stolidly.
"What?" Maria whispered.
"Did…did that kiss mean anything to you? Or was it just another way to fill the time?"
"No! It did mean something to me! I…I…I don't play with people's emotions! Especially yours!" Maria cried.
The white bat, for one of the few times, felt nervous standing before Sol. The blank gaze within his eyes, and the cool, impassive expression on his face…This was how he was like when she first came to Angel Island.
'No…please don't shut me out Sol…please don't do this…'
The blue hedgehog slowly staggered to his feet, huffing as if he had finished running a marathon. Damn that punch hurt! He blinked, then blinked twice when he saw how close Maria was to Sol. She was staring at him with a dreamy, girlie expression as if she was about to kiss her hero or something.
The blue hedgehog sneered; oh yeah, she'd kiss her hero allright...over his dead, festering body!
With a roar, Flash sprung forward and head-butted Sol. The crimson echidna fell over, sprung up to his feet and charged at Flash. Maria managed to spin behind Flash just in the knick of time to avoid being tackled. Flash parried his attack and sent blow for blow back at Sol.
Maria wrapped her arms around Flash in an attempt to stop him, "Flash, please stop! I know you'll listen to me. Stop this! Please!" This seemed to have had its desired effect as Flash turned to look at her. The violence that once swarmed his jade eyes was gone when he turned to look at her, "Maria…"
Out of the corner of his eyes, Flash noticed Sol had swung a left hook his direction. Flash narrowed his eyes and spun out of the way to avoid the blow. But the wide receiver forgot to consider one factor in his calculations: Maria. By spinning to avoid the blow, he incidentally spun her directly into harm's way.
Flash noticed his mistake a split second before it was too late as did Sol. The guardian's fist connected with Maria's face and sent her sprawling to the floor. Both teen males looked on in horror as she felt the ground with a violent thump.
"Oh shit…" Sol whispered.
"Maria…Maria!!" Flash ran over to his friend and took a knee, "Say something. Are you okay?"
The blue hedgehog shook Maria as she groaned in pain. She turned to look at Flash and blinked at him in stupor. Flash paled as he stared at her face. Sol had connected fairly well with her nose and it was sprouting blood profusely. Sol stared in horror at her face; how could he have hurt her so badly? That was meant for Flash.
"Maria, I'm so sorry…" Sol said, slowly starting to approach her.
The white bat glanced over at him and tried to speak, but it only ended up bringing more pain. Flash combed Maria's wispy bangs out of her face as he assessed the injury. Just as he was about to say something else to the white bat he paused when he heard laughter.
Both Sol and Flash spun around to see Chaos standing no more than ten feet away from them. Flash looked appalled as Sol looked murderous. The orange echidna seemed perfectly at ease with them.
The red echidna froze, he had honestly forgotten about Chaos after his little struggle with Flash. Chaos had brought himself to their front door. Turrok smiled darkly, "Well what do we have here? A failure, and an inferior hedgehog. If I am not mistaken, you fools were headed in my direction. I am not sure whether such actions are bold or foolish."
Seeing the powerful echidna in person was starting to make Flash rethink their previous decision. Their parents couldn't stop this guy, so what really made them think they could? Right now, Chaos looked to be at the top of his game.
Turrok deflected his gaze from Sol at the sound of a cough. His amber eyes slowly trailed from the echidna, to the hedgehog and then to the bleeding girl. Chaos' smile disappeared; that girl was the same white bat who had tried to take him on earlier. If he called correctly she had a nice amount of Chaotic energy.
"Hmm," Chaos narrowed his eyes scrupulously as he began to descend upon Maria's position. However, before he could get anywhere near her, Sol crossed his path. Chaos smirked as Sol glared at him balefully, "Your first battle is with me."
"Ah, I see that you are a glutton for punishment," Chaos smiled darkly, "Now what are you really trying to accomplish with this? Do you wish to cry like a girl? Again?"
"I'm going to save my mother," Sol said through clenched teeth, "And I don't care if anyone thinks I'm too weak to do it…because I'm going to prove you all wrong! Even if I have to walk through fire and water to achieve it!!"
With a roar Sol shot off at Chaos. Burning energy flared up around the young echidna in a bright shade of tangerine. He punched, kicked, and pounded away at Turrok with every ounce of strength he had. But Chaos dodged, ducked and parried his strikes like they were nothing. Turrok only laughed at Sol's offensive attempts.
"Better, much better. Indeed you have grown since our last fight. You fight like you really want to do me harm, you fight with much more hunger. But you're still nowhere near close to defeating me," Chaos grinned.
After derisive laughter, Chaos growled before he returned his own blow into Sol's stomach. The young blood gasped before he dropped to his knees. The ocher echidna sent two more powerful blows into Sol's gut before he stopped to admire his handiwork. Chaos smiled in mild satisfaction at the small red line that dripped from Sol's mouth.
Sol coughed fitfully, spraying crimson from his lips. Chaos stooped to his knees to be level with the suffering youth. He grabbed a fistful of Sol's quills and yanked them until Sol came towards him. Sol slowly opened one aquamarine eye before he opened the other.
"You…" Chaos said, poking Sol in the chest with his index finger, "Do not have enough vengeance, not enough hate to destroy me. You wouldn't give your life to defeat me and that is why you shall never defeat me. Isn't that right pathetic one?"
Flash grimaced at the scene and turned to help Maria up, "Come on Maria, we gotta get outta here and get help." Maria made a muffled noise of protest and Flash turned to look at her, "We're not going to abandoning him for long, Superstar. We need to get help and we need to get you outta here."
"I…I…hate you," Sol hissed as he bared his teeth, "I have more than enough anger to fuel my hatred of you!"
"No pathetic one. Your hatred isn't strong enough yet," Chaos smiled, "You wouldn't sell you soul to defeat me. That is how strong your thirst for vengeance must be."
In a blitz Chaos disappeared, dropping his death-grip on Sol and then reappeared behind Flash and Maria. The blue hedgehog tried to hit Chaos with a kick, but Flash only ended up being flung to the floor some five feet away.
The amber echidna glanced at the white bat with a dark glint in his eyes and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Turrok narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the hyperventilating bat, 'So, this is the bat with high Chaotic energy? This creature is no more than a mere girl.'
Despite the blood running down her face, Chaos did take the time to notice that she was quite attractive. Turrok wondered is Sol felt the same way about this stupid girl, "Pathetic one. Do you see this girl? Would you be willing to exchange her life for mine? Do you hate me that much? That you would be willing to exchange my life for hers?"
Sol went pale at the sight of a struggling Maria within the confines of Turrok. The amber-eyed echidna narrowed his eyes, "No…see, you are far too weak. And because of your weakness, I shall help you. I shall give you yet another reason why you shall hate me. I have stripped you of your guardianship and I have taken your mother for my own pleasures and yet you do not have enough hate? Oh your weakness is laughable!"
Turrok glanced around; now let's see, how should I make the boy hate me even more? Crushing the girl is always a fine option, suffocating her is another choice…but…Amber eyes glanced to the side. He glanced over at the deep drop over the sea. They were pretty close to the edge of island. Suddenly an idea came to Chaos.
He walked to the side and left Maria dangle over the edge. She winced and whimpered in pain; the only thing saving her from being dropped over the side of the island were Chaos' hands around her neck.
Sol's eyes widened, "No…don't…don't do it!"
"And now look at you," Chaos narrowed his eyes in disgust, "You grovel and beg? Just what type of guardian grovels!?"
Chaos squeezed Maria's neck, eliciting a slight cry from her and Sol jumped to his feet, "Pathetic one. You need more motivation, you need more hate. If you ever plan on defeating me, you shall need more anger! And you must loose these useless attachments!"
Turrok narrowed his eyes before he released his hold on Maria. Sol gasped before he rushed forward, "Maria!!"
Sol rushed to the spot where Chaos stood, in an attempt to see if he could help Maria. However, while Sol was rushing to aid his friend, he completely forgot about Chaos. Turrok narrowed his amber eyes before he hand his hand glow green with his stolen power of the Master emerlard.
He jarred Sol in the stomach once more. The echidna youth's eyes went wide before they rolled back into his head and he collapsed. Chaos smirked at the unconscious boy in his arms then glared at Flash.
"You! Inferior hedgehog! Boy, I shall only share you this once. And go and tell your pathetic friends about this night! The batgirl has been tossed off of the island, probably to either drown or have her face broken and I shall kidnap this boy. Now run!"
Flash glanced at the cliff, at Sol, then at Chaos before he took off. His inherited supersonic speed got him out of there in no time flat. Chaos looked down at Sol and smiled licentiously; so now I have the pathetic one? He smiled even deeper when another thought crossed his mind.
Just what in the world would Tikal be willing to do to keep her son from harm? As Chaos turned and headed back to his resurrected castle, he suddenly had an image of Tikal crying and kneeling at his feet.
Oh yes, this boy was the key to her undoing.
-To be continued!
-Woo! That was a long chapter! Haha, wow, it looks like Scythe answered the reviews and did what he does best: pissed people off! Well this time I'll have the cute Daisy answer the reviews. Go get 'em Shortcake!
Daisy: Okay! I hope Scythe hasn't screwed up too badly. He's such a pain some times!
Lil' Halo: Hey! Hello there! Cool! I'm so glad you like Epilogue! (squeals) 'Kay, keep on readin'! It's so awesome to receive such positive reviews! (giggles) See you later!
Mystery001: Hey there Mystery001! Wow, this is such an awesome review! (Looks terrified) Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Achilles IS back! Aah! Th-thanks for you review!
SexyShadowGirl: Hellooooo there SexyShadowGirl! Whoa, what a long review! Yahoo! Who doesn't love long reviews!? (Looks afraid again) Y-yeah, Achilles IS really, really strong! He was able to beat almost like everyone! (Sighs) Oh no…I really hope Scythe didn't make an ass of himself when he did those reviews…What? HE DID!? (Looks ten times more embarrassed) When I'm done with this, he is in SO much trouble! But yah, Ultrra did read your Satin Princess Review! He was on cloud nine! Haha! Thank you for the review!
#17: Hello #17! (groans) Yeah, Scythe DID make an ass out of himself! I swear, he could start a fight with a pope! Haha, oh! Omega has flamethrows!? My goodness? What is he!? Like a freakin' one man army!? (Laughs nervously) This Omega character sounds like someone I don't wanna mess with! 'Kay, thanks for the review!
Xowdash: Hey Xowdash! Wow, try saying that ten times fast! Thanks for the reviews and the support! Keep reading and reviewing, yeah? (Winks)
Shadowsole: Aloha Shadowsole! Or should I say Shadow of the sole…Gosh, that's really deep! (Smiles) Cool! Ha! I see I really need to punish Scythe (Cracks Knuckles) He really lets his mouth get him into trouble!
Shadougexx: You got it!
Frostbyte64: Hey Frostbye64! Hehe…yeah…woo! Achilles (Looks scared) But who know where things will go now that Achilles is awake. He's really REALLY strong so maybe we'll be able to defeat that jerk Chaos! 'Kay, thanks for the review!
