A/N: I know it's been a while since I uploaded anything on this. Don't worry, I'm not done with it yet. Anyway, this one will be shorter than the last chapter I uploaded, but it's going to expand on the characters that are appearing in this chapter.
Anyway, Enjoy The Story
Mined Stone, Smelt Iron
03/29/2003
They walked around the Smelt Iron, where they saw Workers and machines digging up for iron, "So, where's the lead, anyway?" "According to my research, it should be somewhere underground."
"Are there any entrances like a mine or something?" "There is, but not all of them are going down." Tails pulled out a hand-held device from his backpack and scanned the area, "What is that?" Sticks asked him, "It's my Miles Electric. I used this when I created holograms when I was against those skunks."
"Holograms? I prefer Holo Copies." He smiled, "That's a great name." Tails compliment it.
"Not all of them?" Tails and Sticks heard Sonic talking to Yuu, "Yeah, some mines only in the mountain. Underground is dangerous when digging." Sonic nodded, "Right, we're on a floating island. Make sense."
"But..." She looked at her notebook, reviewing her search, "I think there's one underground mine I know of." Sonic nodded, "Great, show it." Yuu nodded as she showed them the mine.
As they walked to the mine, Sonic went to talk with Yami, "So, when did you become an Awakened?" He breathed to remember it, "I think it was around when I was eight years old. My memory had been fuzzy." "What, memory?" Yami realized what he said, "I'll tell you when we're alone. I don't want to worry our friends."
"Does she knows about it?" Sonic pointed to Yuu, "No, she hasn't." He sighed, "You can't hold on to that pain alone. Sometimes, you have to open your pain to your friends. They will get suspicions of you when you're acting odd." Yami thinks, "Maybe I'll open up to them when I have a chance." "This should be around- Oh, no."
Yami noticed it too, "What's wrong?" Sonic, Tails, and Sticks are confused by them, "It's them." "Who?" They looked in the direction and saw a female human with brown hair wearing a black uniform carrying guns and sides with two male humans.
One human has black and red hair wearing silver armor and carrying a shield. And the other is bald, wearing black armor and carrying a spike ball in one hand.
"The Heartbreakers. A group of Awakened that wanted to ruin any reputation of Awakened." The other group saw Sonic's group in front of them, "Well, I'll be. It's been a while, sis."
'Sis?' "Yes, it's been a while, Nancy." Yuu said in a disappointed tone, 'Something isn't right with them.' Sonic active his Emotion on Yuu. "So, you're bringing friends of yours and your boyfriend, huh?" Yuu gets mad at her, "Stay away."
[Name: Kelly 'Yuu' Passie
Relationship: Aqquitances
Emotion: Anger
Thought: 'I don't have time to play your games, hag!']
"Aw, what's wrong? Missing your mommy?" The guys laugh at the insult to her. "What's with this girl?" Tails whispered to Sonic, "I had no idea, but keep your guard up." He told them quietly, and they nodded.
"Keep her out of this!" Sonic saw Yuu's anger increasing, "Yuu, calm down." Yami told her, "We better go." "Aw, but we wanted to meet your new friends~" Sonic goes in front of Yuu and Yami, "I don't know what's going on both of you. But move away! We had our job to do."
Nancy walked towards them with a cocky smile, "Oh, you don't say~" Her eyes turned pink, and Sonic felt something in his head, 'W-What is this?!' He felt his body was in chains, "How about we handshake for forgiveness?"
She reached out her hand, "No, Sonic! Don't do it!" As his hand forced to shake hers, a message popped up.
[You learn a skill: Cold Mind (F+).
Cold Mind (F+): You will be able to immune a hypnotize but will feel a headache (or mind-breaking) if you stare at it for too long.]
He snapped out of it and quickly pulled his other hand away, 'What?' "Urgh!" Sonic breathing in the air as he gets a headache, 'He's immune to my skill. Impossible.' "Guys, let's walk passed them."
"Yeah." Sticks nodded on that. Tails helped Sonic walk, leaving the Heartbreakers behind, "Did he snap out of-" "Yeah." Nancy felt anger that her skill is immune to him.
Sonic's group stops by a local vendor for a break. Yuu came back with a drink, "Here, drink this." Sonic gets it from her hand and drinks it, "You looked like you have a headache after rejecting it. You're all right?" Tails asked him, "I don't know. But I think my head was about to explode if I stared at it for too long." "She used a skill on you?" Sticks question him.
"Yeah, she did." "I knew it." They're surprised to see Yuu know of it, "How do you know that?" "It's just a theory, but now we know it." Yami said himself, "You see. I wasn't the only one that Yuu had. There were others."
"There were more?" He nodded, "Every time Yuu wanted a friend, Nancy came in and took her away from them, never meeting them again." "What happened?" Yami looked at Sticks, "Her friends either bribed to betray her, disappeared, or were framed and sent into Sky Jail."
They weren't expecting it, "Wait, what about you?" "Don't worry. I have someone to protect me. He's an agent and a lawyer." "Mobian or human?" Sonic asked him, "I'm not allowed to say it." Sonic grumbles at this, 'Could that person be-? No way, he wouldn't!'
He drank the whole drink and threw it into the trash can, "That was a good drink." He saw the cup got in, "So, should we continue with that and ignore those medieval cosplays?"
Yuu smiled, "Yeah, you're right." "All right, then. Let's go." They continue walking to the mine as a group is following them.
Smelt Iron, Undercore
03/29/2003
As they walked into the mine, Tails turned on night vision on his goggles, while Yami took out his flashlight and turned it on.
"This seems darker than the last mine." "Well, not many people walked in here regularly." While walking, Sonic tries to do something, "Let's hope it works." He puts the Third Eye and Emotion in place, 'Now, fusion!'
[Skill Fusion: Active.]
As the process runs smoothly, the fusion stops, and the skills are separated. 'Eh? Didn't it work?' A window appeared beside him.
[Notice: Your level isn't high enough to fuse a fusion skill with another skill.]
'My level isn't high enough?' Sonic saw they were going down. He turned his attention to the direction before looking at the message, 'What level am I supposed to be in?'
[That information is classified.]
He was shocked to see it, 'Does this message appear, guys?' He asked them about his curiosity.
[They say yes.]
'So, that message always appeared, huh?' He decides to try to fusion other skills. He chooses Sonic Wind and Buzz Slash, 'Let's see if it works.' He activates it.
[Skill Fusion: Active.]
As the process began, it was a success. 'It works.' He saw the name and the description of the skill.
[You have created a skill: Wind Slash (A).
Wind Slash (A): The buzzsaw will now be faster and more powerful when active. However, it has a 34% chance of slashing objects into two. Consumption: 17 Mana.]
'Now that seems safe. Hold on, do I still have my Sonic Wind?!' He checked his Stats Window and saw Sonic Wind and Buzz Slash are still there. '-few- I almost panicked a bit there.'
"Hey, you're all right?" He saw Yami talking to him, "Oh, I'm fine." "Great, we seem to be hitting a roadblock." "A roadblock?" He looked at the front and saw Yuu stop walking, "Looks like the trail ends here."
Sonic checked his surroundings with his Third Eye, "Let's look around first." "Good idea." "Ok." Sticks checked the area to her right, Yami checked the walls with Yuu, and Tails used his goggles to spot anything suspicious.
Yami noticed that Sonic looked in the opposite direction, "You're all right, Sonic?" He shrugged it off, "Yeah, I'm fine." He ignored it for now and kept looking for anything suspicious.
While looking around, Sticks noticed something strange about one of the stones, 'This is weird.' As she touched it, she felt like a button. She pushed it down, and the cave began to shake. They saw a hidden passage leading underground, "Nice find, Sticks."
Sonic compliments her finding as they look at the passage, "Where do you think it leads?" Tails asked, "Maybe someone wanted to keep this a secret." Sonic smiled, "Let's head in."
"Wait, we're going in, now?" Yami asked, "Yup, we don't want anyone to get there first." He stated his reasoning, "I have to agree on this." Yuu said.
"All right. Let's be careful, everyone." They enter the passage, unknowingly the mysterious group is following them.
Undercore, Unknown Area
03/29/2003
As they walked down, they saw the walls in ruins. As they reached the floor, everything was pitch black no one could see, "Tails, do you see anything?" He used his goggles to active Night Vision, "It seems like an old research facility."
He saw a big room with mold and grass coming from the ground, "Are there any lights?" Sonic asked him as they followed Tails, "Well, this place seems more technology. So, yes." They could hear the floor crack as they walked, tiny rocks falling from above, and felt the grass they stepped on.
"Where are we going, Tails?" Sonic asked him, "We're looking for a map or a room that connects the power here." "-sigh- I wish we had Awakened that can brighten the area."
Suddenly, all the lights are on, brightening the room, "What just happened?" "Unknown people detected." 'Eh?' Then an old flying machine came and scanned them.
After the scan, it immediately speaks, "Welcome. The system had been expecting all of you." It communicates in a woman's voice but is robotic. 'Eh?' They were confused, "Who are you, exactly?" Tails asked him, "I'm MAIA. The AI that protects this facility." "Do you know all of us?"
"Yes, the system had been waiting for the chosen Awakened for centuries." They were surprised by this, "Centuries?! Then the Awakened exist in the past?!" "That's right. When the system has connected to the Awakened System, it chooses Awakened that are worthy."
Sonic took a breath, "So, is the system going to give us something?" It nodded, "Follow me." As they follow MAIA, Sonic walks up to the robot and tells her something, "MAIA, you already know, right?" He whispered to her about his finding.
The mysterious group finds them walking into a room, and they follow them. As they entered, they saw robots and drones surrounding them as the door closed behind, "You think that I haven't noticed you, Heartbreakers?"
The Heartbreakers were surprised to hear of this, "How did you know that it was us?" She said. Nancy was angry about this, "Oh, I already knew by the time we went underground." He recalled that his Third Eye detected three figures following them into the passage.
"You think you can win against us? Hah! Once we get out of here, we will tell the world of this discovery!" Sonic crossed his arms, "And how? By going up against us?" "You will regret saying that. Get them!"
Three of them immediately charged at Sonic's group, "We're going in. MAIA, don't kill them." She nodded, "I understand." She commands the robots to attack but not kill.
One man used his shield to deflect the attacks from the robots. Yami punched the guard with his right hand, "Was that an attack?" He asked cockily, but Tails attacked it with his Miles Cannon and didn't deflect.
"H-How?!" "Because the Negative Zone negates your skill." He uppercuts him with his left hand, and Tails assist him with his Spin Dash.
Sticks threw her Boomerang at Nancy, but she dodged it and tried to hit her with knives. Yuu came and threw a slime ball to Nancy. "What's that going to do?" As she dodged it, she felt her leg stuck. She saw the slime ball clinging to her leg, "G-Get it off!"
She saw the slime growing to her body, "N-No!" Suddenly a chain ball came and removed the grime, "Thanks!" He couldn't respond because Sonic came and punched him.
He used his Drifting Shoes to looked an opening. Once he saw it, Sonic used his new move on one of the guys, 'Wind Slash!' He kicks upwards, pushing him into the wall by the attack. He jumped and kicked the man on the head, knocking him out.
"No!" She turned and saw the other had out cold and surrounded by robots, "You're the last!" Yuu threw her slime ball, and it grew onto her body. "P-Please, I'm sorry! I won't tell anyone! I promise!" She pleaded as the slime grew to her chest, "Sorry, but you don't deserve an apology."
The slime grows to the head as it covers her mouth, "Mmphhff!" As it covered her entire head, she tried to get it off by shaking but couldn't. Sticks looked at Yuu, "When did you create that?" She looked away, "I don't want to remember it."
They saw Nancy trying to shake it off but began to lay down, "She's tired." "Yeah." MAIA came to them, "What should we do with them?" "Is there a machine that can erase their memories of this place?"
"There is, but why did you let them live?" "People will blame someone for their killing. And an organization will use that tactic to use it against us." Sonic told his reason, "Besides, we don't need to kill them to silence them." Maia nodded, "Very well, follow me."
They follow MAIA as the robots carry their bodies.
When they arrived, they saw the machine, "So, where are you putting them?" "Over there." The robots put their bodies by the circle, "Are you sure this will erase their memories?" He used the Third Eye on her, "I'm sure."
[She's telling the truth.]
"You're not lying to us, right?" "I'm not." The window appeared with the same message, "Why?" As he asked, the machine started to act. "Because I saw you took a situation that should have killed you. And even if you get too injured, you never give up on reaching it."
He saw the same message appear, "So, you don't want to lie to me, right?" "That's correct." As the machine is active, it begins to erase their memories of the hidden labyrinth, "Now, how are we supposed to transport them out without getting suspicious?"
"Used this." The robot gives Sonic a pouch, "What's this?" "An item that can travel anywhere you go." He opened the bag and found a ring, "A ring?" Tails was confused, "No, this is a Warp Ring. My Orphan Keeper told me about this."
"That's correct. How did you know the difference?" Sonic scratch his head, "This ring has more curve on the inside. So, I can tell the difference." He saw the machine finally erase their memories, "Looks like they won't remember it. Now, let's get the slime off her first." Yami nodded, "Right, I forgot." Yuu didn't like the idea, but she took it off anyway.
They begin to pull the slime piece by piece with the help of the robots. As they finally pulled out the slime, Sonic prepared the Warp Ring, "All right, that place should be good enough." "What place?"
Sonic threw the Warp Ring, revealed to be leading to Undercore, "I see. They will think that they get knocked out in the mine." Tails understand Sonic's plan, "Now, let's put them there."
They put them on the ground, making it look like they had been strucked out. Sonic immediately came as the warp closed, and the ring became normal. He grabbed the ring and saw the color become muted, "What happened to the Warp Ring?"
"It's recharging." He put the ring back in the pouch, "How long?" "Until tomorrow, then I can use it again." Sticks think of the Warp Rings, "How many rings are there in the pouch?" "About 24 of them."
MAIA came in, "Come. My creator wanted me to give you something." They follow MAIA to the designated room.
"Is your creator alive?" Tails asked her, "No, my creator passed away and trusted me to give the power to the worthy." Sonic remembers the stories he had been told in the orphanage, "So, he's an Owl Warrior?" "Correct."
"Sonic, did you meet an Owl Warrior?" Yami asked him, "Yeah, she was my guardian at the orphanage. She wanted to take a normal life after the battle." Sonic told everyone about her guardian, "Is she nice?" "Yeah, but once you get to her temper. Prayed for your soul."
Sonic's words left everyone (except MAIA) nervous. "There it is." Once they arrived, they saw a capsule with a handmark on it, "So, who was it that was worth?" Yuu asked MAIA for clarification, "He is." She pointed to Yami, "M-Me. But I'm only a misfortune boy."
"You don't remember the meaning of your name?" "My name?" He thought of his name and then realized the meaning, "What's the meaning of his name?" Sticks asked, "Wait, Namono Yami. It translates into-" "The One who becomes Darkness."
They were surprised by the meaning. "Are you doing it?" Sonic asked him, "You want me to do it?" He was confused by this, "That's your choice. Besides, every choice you make will make you something different."
He fist-bumps his chest, "Our choice made us who we are, no matter the complicated it is." Yami smiled at Sonic's word, "Yeah, thank you."
He walked toward the capsule and breathed, "Be careful." Yuu said. He put his hand into the handmark, activating it. It opened, and a swarm of darkness entered Yami's body, "Urgh!" "Yami!"
"DON'T! I can do this!" He continued holding on as more entered his body. Unknown to them, one of the darkness entered Sonic's body in the chest, "Ugh!" "Sonic!" Tails immediately went over to him, "What happened?"
"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" He told Yami, "All right!" As more darkness comes out, it starts to go to Yami's body. His body dispersed a little darkness as all of it had entered his body, "Yami, you're all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine."
He let go of the handmark and checked his body, 'Is there any different about me?' Suddenly, a message appeared.
[Congratulations, you have ranked up! Rank: F- S]
'S?! I haven't heard of that!' Another message appeared.
[God of Misfortune is interested in this.]
While Yami tries to understand what's going on, Sonic gets a message that emerges.
[You have obtained ? (S)]
'What is this skill? Is it because of what happened to my body?' He gets up, still feeling the pain in his body. "Sonic, careful! Your body just hit by that- uh, thing." MAIA then came to Sonic, "I apologize. I never thought that would happen."
"That's all right. You didn't know that would happen." Sonic looked at Yami, "I hate to do this. But I need to check it first." Yami nodded for understanding, "That's all right. You can check it."
As he used the Third Eye on Yami, he was shocked to see his stats, 'What?!'
[Stats Window
Name: Yami Namono
Rank Awakened: S
Level: 12
Skills: bad Luck (F-), Shield Mirror (S), Negative Zone (S), Premonition (E+), Shade of Fire (A-), Dark vision (C+), etc.
Strength: 37 Speed: 71 Intelligence: 43
Stamina: 231 Defense: 57 Luck: 0 Mana: 42]
"Yami, you saw your skills, right?" He nodded, "I did. I wasn't expecting to have it." Yami saw a window appear.
[A particular god has an interest in you.]
'Woah! What's going on?!' He saw the message on it.
[God of Tamers is offering you a skill.]
'A skill? What should I do?' He looked at Sonic, and he nodded. 'All right, I'll accept it.' He accepts the offer from the God of Tamers.
[You have gained a skill: Taming (A-).
Taming (A-): You will be able to tame any animals that will be stronger through a bond. But this skill won't work if the animals reject it or are immune if it's already tamed.]
'Taming, huh? I better use it wisely.' MAIA scanned Yami's body, "Your body seems to be running normally." "Yeah. So, what happened now?" MAIA looked at the robots, "I will self-destruct the facility." They were shocked to hear it, "Why?! Shouldn't this place still be in place?"
"My creator was afraid that the outsiders will find out if the structure stood. I'm sorry, but this is the only way." Tails looked at the robots, "Will they accept it, though?" She didn't answer Tails' question and shut down herself.
"MAIA!" Sonic came and looked at her, "Is she gone?" Sticks asked, "Maybe." Then they heard an explosion in the hallway. "We better leave." Yuu suggested, "But-" One of the robots came and nodded, "Wait, you're letting us leave?"
Yami felt guilty about leaving them, "I'm sorry." The robot was silent, not giving any answers. Sonic got a Warp Ring and threw it, "Guys! Come on!"
They immediately enter the warp, leaving the facility to explode.
South Island, Green Hill
03/29/2003
They arrived at the destination as the ring closed, and Sonic grabbed it, "Sonic, where did you send us?" Tails asked him, "We're in South Island." "Why here? Couldn't we just go to the Undercore?"
"And meet up with the Heartbreakers?" Sonic tells him the reason. They thought about it and would be suspicious if they encountered them in the Undercore.
"So, what should we do now?" Sticks asked them, "I guess the three of us need to head back. What about you two?" Yami and Yuu were nervous about saying, "Actually, we go with you guys."
"Eh? But, aren't you going back to your homes?" They shrugged it off, "I have some problem when I go back. People think that I experiment on something again." Yuu said.
"Same. I will be suspicious of my sudden power-up. So, I need to control it before heading back." He knows people will make rumors about him, "All right. You can come, try to behave yourselves, all right?"
Yuu nodded, "I'll try." "Same." Tails pulled out Miles Electric and called Nicole, "Hey, Tails. It's good that you called me. But, how did you guys end up on South Island?" Tails got nervous by Nicole, "How about we talked about it? But can we do it privately? We don't want anyone finding out about it."
"All right, I'll tell Sally about it. I'll be calling you for the meeting, all right?" "Got it." He called off the communication, "Looks like Nicole will be calling us for our meeting." "Great, let's go to a nearby town."
They nodded and went to a nearby town.
South Island, Sunset Valley
03/29/2003
In the town, Sally and Blaze (with Nicole inside the communicator) are walking, looking for Sonic's group, "I was wondering what they were doing for a few hours. I wonder why did he want us to meet in private?" "Maybe something important happened during the exploration?"
"Possibly." While walking around, they noticed Yuu signaling them in the alley, "That's the girl with Sonic. I'm sure of it." "Wait, where did you learn that?" Nicole felt proud of that, "From the database."
"You didn't hack into it, right?" She felt sweat from Sally, "Nicole..!" "All right, maybe I did. But I have to for my curiosity!" She sighed, "We need to talk about something after this." Nicole has to salute that, "Y-Yes, captain Sally."
They follow Yuu into the alley, where they find Sonic's group there. "Hey, guys. Sorry for this sudden meeting." Sonic said, "It's all right. We need some catch-up after the Royal Meeting yesterday."
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Tails felt to explain, "You see.." They explain what happened at the Undercore and what they discovered before everything destroy. "I see. No wonder your location has suddenly appeared on South Island." Sally crossed her arms, "So, MAIA is an AI that an Owl Warrior created over a century ago?"
Yami nodded, "That's what she told us." "So, she's gone, right?" "We were there, all right." Sticks said.
"I hate to interrupt, but something is in Miles Electric." "What?" He quickly pulled it out and checked his Miles Electric, "But everything looks-" Suddenly, the screen began to glitch, "What's wrong?" Sticks looked at the screen, "Something is in the system."
Then they heard a familiar voice from inside, "Hello, Tails." They were surprised by the person's voice, "M-MAIA?" "Yes, it's me."
"W-Wait, this is MAIA?!" "Yes, it's nice to meet you, Nicole." Sally immediately butts in, "Hold on, how do you know her name?!" "Her data came to mix with mine. Giving me the information and pranks she done to you."
They were silent by the bombshell, "Pranks? Nicole, what pranks did you cause?" They could hear Nicole's nervous voice, "Anyway, MAIA, how are you in there?" "I simply transport my consciousness to here." Yami sighed, "Why didn't you tell us?" "You didn't ask."
"So, you're going to be with us?" "Yeah, I could delete myself if you want." Sonic then rejects it, "N-No! We've gone that enough!"
Blaze fake coughs, "I want to ask something, MAIA." "Got it, give me the question." "Why did you choose him for the power?" Then MAIA answers her question, "The meaning of his name is the reason-" "No. I mean, other than that?" They were silent for a second and MAIA said, "I felt you could say the feeling that he chosen for the power. The first time I have visitors from the outside, I haven't felt this for a century."
"Emotions?" "Possibly." Sonic didn't think of it, "Maybe all the loneliness you felt, right?" MAIA didn't answer, "I'll take that as a yes."
"Right, could you guys keep it a secret?" Tails asked them, "Of course. This information could cause a frenzy in the world." They sigh with relief, "Thanks, guys." "Yeah, wanted to get something to eat?"
"Yeah, I'm starving." She smiled, "Well, let's go." Sonic smirked, "Stealing lines, eh?" "Who's line was that?" They went to a nearby food court for a meal.
A/N: If you don't know who MAIA is, she's a robot from Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric. I also gave context on the Warp Rings and how it's different from the regular rings. Yami will return soon for another chapter. As for Yuu, I'm using her character later.
Anyway, Thanks For Reading.