HERE'S HOW IT WORKS…
"-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!" Sonic shouted, finishing his sentence. It was the strangest thing ever. They were flying through space at supersonic speed. "YEE-HA!" Freezie yelled in excitement. "GET ME OFF THIS THING!!!" Mighty yelled. "Question: How are we breathing in space?" DJ asked. There was a pause, and everyone began gasping for air. "You- 'gasp' moron! 'Gasp' We wouldn't have 'choke' noticed if you 'erk' had kept quiet!" Grim managed to say. Sonic, while gasping for air looked over at Enigma and noticed he was in some kind of suspended state, thus not needing to breath. Then there was a flash, and when they opened their eyes, they were on firm ground, wobbling and unable to walk. Enigma began to walk away from them, and said, "Showing weakness before we even begin. 'Hmph!' Pitiful." They looked at their surroundings and were shocked. The sky was orange, with three bright suns. The ground was black dirt, and not far from them was a huge arch with strange writing on it. Beyond the arch was a wide, gray structure.
"Wadaya think that writing says?" Ray asked. "It reads, 'If you cannot read this arch, you shall die after passing through it'," Enigma said as he walked under it. They paused there for a moment, trying to process the statement in their heads. "Uhhh…who wants to go first?" Morph asked. "He's just trying to scare us!" Vector stated. "What if he isn't though?" Another pause. "Grab DJ and throw him through. He's expendable," Grim suggested as he grabbed DJ. "What? HEY!" DJ yelled as Grim threw him through. He stood there for a moment, then began to seem sick. "G-Guys…I…I feel weird…I-I think I'm gonna blow up! AHHHH!" DJ yelled as he grabbed his head. They all cringed as he screamed, until he began laughing. "HA! You all suck so much! I got you suckers good!" They growled in frustration as Grim gave chase. "What was that BS about dying, Enigma? You tryin' to scare us off?" Bunnie asked. "I told you what it said. Therefore you could read it. If you are going to die, it will be in the ring," Enigma said as he walked toward the gray structure. "He needs a nickname. How about Cuddles?" Freezie suggested.
They walked toward the structure, but stopped in front of a tiny black creature. It was small and round, with blue eyes and a friendly grin. "Aww…it's so cute," Amy said as she went to pet it. Sally grabbed her and pulled her back, scolding Amy. "Don't touch that thing! It could have rabies!" "C'mon Sal! It looks harmless!" DJ said as he knelt next to it and began to pet it. "Hey there, widdle guy, coochie-coochie-" 'CHOMP!' It widened its smile to reveal it's sharp teeth and bit DJ's hand. DJ said nothing and held his hand before him with the black creature attached to it. He turned to the other competitors from Mobius and said, "If my hand wasn't covered by super-tough armor, I'd be screaming in pain right now." Those who had come from Mobius that didn't know DJ before hand gathered the same opinion of him as the others had…he was an idiot. Enigma yanked the creature off of DJ's hand and cast it away. "You obviously know nothing about this place. These creatures are the Dark Chao. They are evil creatures that will eat you alive. Now, you may continue to waste your time here and get eaten, but I am going to the tournament. The sooner we start, the sooner I can destroy you fools and kill Chaose."
They entered the structure and stood inside a huge open arena. It was a large white-tiled square, surrounded by black dirt. Beyond that were the stands. Apparently there would be observers. In front of the stands was an elaborate black throne.
They would have taken a little more time to gather their surroundings, but they found themselves surrounded by dark chao. "Is this a good thing?" Tails asked. "I dunno," Rotor replied. One of the chao walked up to Rotor, who cringed at the thought of getting eaten, and said, "Welcome to the world of death and decay, we hope you all enjoy your stay!" There was a pause of silence. "O-Kay…" Sonic said. "Indeed. What is this?" a kangaroo asked. "This is where you all will fight, I'll show you where you sleep tonight!" "Must you speak in rhyme?" Grim asked, becoming irritated. "It is fun to speak in rhyme, and make sure you have a miserable time!" "Well if it makes you feel good, it works," Rouge replied. "Come, come, one and all, we must go to the banquet hall!"
They began to follow the dark chao to the banquet hall, exiting the arena and entering the building next to it. Inside, there was a large room, elaborately decorated with tapestries. There were three long tables that stretched across the long room, at which the new arrivers were seated. Enigma refused to sit, and remained standing with his arms crossed and his head lowered. "Man, this Chaose guy sure is classy," Morph said as he looked around the room, observing the fine silverware before them. "Why thank you," a deep voice said.
Everyone looked up, most in fear, but Enigma looked in anticipation. From behind a door a figure stepped out of the shadows. Sonic was shocked at how much he resembled Chaos. Chaose was much like Chaos, accept he was much more muscular, a dark blue, and much less deformed than Chaos. Chaos' stubby fingers were replaced by defined hands and fingers, and his tall head was well rounded off. It was like a cross between an echidna and Chaos. As for his attire, he wore red sweatpants, black shoes, and a white armored chest plate and jagged shoulder pads, lined with gold. He wore a black helmet that covered all but one large area around his eyes. On the sides and on top were silver, jagged spikes that shot out and upwards, and his mouth was covered by a red mouthpiece. His very appearance was as frightening as Enigma's, if not more. Those who were younger than the others were scared out of their minds, and their shaking showed it.
"As you have probably guesses, I am the mighty Chaose. Welcome, honored guests, to the fighter's banquet! Tonight, you shall dine in my company, and tomorrow, the Chaose Tournament shall begin! But for now, let us feast!" he clapped his hands and several dark chao came out with trays of food which they placed on the tables. No one felt comfortable, accept for Chaose himself. They were dining with a being that wished to destroy their very world. Chaose sat down at an elaborate seat at the head of the middle table. He pulled the top of his tray and revealed a chaos emerald. They watched in astonishment as he inhaled, the glowing green light left the emerald, and it was left black. He ate emerald energy! He then glanced up at Enigma, who had not taken his eyes off of Chaose since he had joined them. "You must be the Walker's fighter. Enigma, I believe. Come and join us. You must be famished after your training," Chaose said. Enigma merely turned around and said, "I won't dine with you. Your very presence sickens me," as he left the room. The other fighters from Mobius watched him leave, then went to eating.
What surprised them the most was that Chaose was acting as if he had no resentment of them at all. He asked them questions about Mobius, Reluctantly, they conversed with him, afraid of what might happen if they didn't. "Ah! It all sounds so pleasant. How I will enjoy destroying it." That sentence silenced them. Shadow could tell by the look in Chaose's eyes that he was smiling. He was instilling the fear he wanted to see. Shadow tried not to seem afraid, but it was difficult. After all, he had watched Chaose consume the power of an emerald like how one sips their drink. No, Shadow wasn't afraid.
Just nervous.
Chaose explained to them how the tournament would work. It would extend over several days. The next day would be the preliminaries, which would expel the weaker fighters. The next day will be the main day of fighting, where most would be disqualified. The next would be the semi-finals, and the fourth day would be the final match. Dinner concluded, and they were escorted out of the dining hall by the same dark chao. It took them to another building, where they would spend the night. "Better get some sleep tonight, Cause tomorrow you have to fight!" it said as it left them. "I'm gonna barbecue that little-" "Calm down, Grim," Sally said. "HOLY COW!" DJ yelled as he opened the door to his room. They all looked inside to see Todd's bedroom. The one in their mansion, on Mobius, in another dimension. "My room! My CD's! My magazines!" DJ said happily as he pulled some magazines out from under his bed. Sally looked at him suspiciously and asked, "What magazines are-" "MINE!" DJ spat, clutching the magazines to his chest, "I mean…guy magazines. Guy magazines that…girls wouldn't be interested in unless they were…curv-ed." The girls all gave him a look of disgust. "Perv," Julie-Su said. "Hey! I get it for the reading material! I mean, listen to this! This one wanted to be an accountant…and look where she is now!" Rouge looked at the other guys, who quickly looked elsewhere. "You boys are not to enter this room, or we'll throttle you!" Sally threatened. "Okay…" Cap said with a nervous smile, trying to seem innocent. "Let's look around. There's gotta be more to this place," Sonic said as he led them down the hall.
Many of the others went to bed, but our heroes explored the large 'hotel' until they reached a balcony. They stepped out onto it and looked up at the stars, and the four moons. "This is crazy," Mighty said. "Yeah, brutha," Vector replied. In front of them was a small patch of trees that, unlike everything else, were alive. A few feet from the trees was a beach, with ivory sand and dark water. On that beach was a shadowy figure sitting with his legs crossed and his back to them. They looked closer to see that it was Enigma, although they couldn't make out any details. From there he looked like a black figure. "What's he up to?" Vipes asked. "Let's wait and see." They watched for a minute or two as he just sat there, and would look over at one of the trees every so often. Finally, he got up and walked over to one of the trees. On the tree were several fruits. Slowly, he moved his hand up to his mask and pulled it off, his back still to them. He reached up and pulled off a fruit and held it for a minute, then took a bite. They observed as he paused, then fell to his knees. At first, they thought the fruit had made him ill. To their surprise, they saw light from the moon reflecting off of a teardrop that had fallen from his eye as they heard him shudder. He crushed what was left of the fruit in his hand and placed his metal mask back on. He then walked back to the same spot on the beach and sat back down in the same position.
"What was all that about?" Amy asked as they went towards their rooms. "I don't know. Maybe we've been looking at him all wrong. Maybe we should talk with him. Get him to work with us," Sally suggested. "OOOO! We could have a tea party!" Grim said with big twinkly eyes and a high-pitched voice, "And we can prance around with fairies, and unicorns, and pretty pony princesses, and sugarplums," he continued, prancing/frolicking around them, "and how about NO!" he said in his regular voice again. He then saw that the girls were staring at him with raised brows and the guys were staring at him with expressions of horror. "Uhhh…sorry." "You said…pretty pony p-p-princesses…" Freezie stuttered in astonishment and shock, "Never again." "Look! What happens in Mordor stays in Mordor," DJ said. They all nodded in agreement and expelled the memory from their minds.
They all decided it would be best to turn in and went into their rooms. Tomorrow was the first day of fighting, and they would need rest. After she showered, Julie-Su laid down in her bed and sighed. She looked up on her dresser and saw her most prized possessions: 'her' hat, and his journal. She picked up the journal and began to read it again. She had already read it several times, but she found that she had to read some of it every night. It was all she had left of him. She couldn't get over the fact that he had cared about her so much. He really saw something in her. Something she hadn't seen in herself. After she read a few entries and poems, she placed it back on her dresser and turned off her lamp. She then closed her eyes, hoping she would see him again in a dream, as she often did.
"Uhhhh…." "Get up! You're wasting precious time!" "Uhhhh- 'cough'" "Now we're coughing up blood, eh? I don't see why the Walkers chose you! You can't even beat an old man like me! How do you intend to defeat Chaose?!?! You are worthless and useless! A waste of life!" "SHUT UP OLD MAN!!!" "Fool." "AHHH!" "'Sigh' That is enough for today. You can barely stand now." "So…I can sleep?" "Sleep? Oh no. Sleep is a luxury you must earn." "What???" "Don't take my beating you into unconsciousness personally." "Are you-ahhh! Agh! UHHHHHhhhhhhhh…." 'Thud!' "You will learn…Enigma."
Another unpleasant slumber. Enigma stood from the position he had taken the night before, sitting upright with his legs and arms crossed as he slept. His days were long and tiresome, and his nights tainted with horrid memories of his training. Soon, however, it would pay off, and perhaps he could return to the life the Walkers had taken him from. The Walkers…He growled in anger as he thought of them. They had taken him from everything he had for this tournament. He hated them with every fiber of his being, and everything that he was. He stood up and headed towards the arena, the wind blowing his dreadlocks and his ponytail.
Julie-Su opened her eyes and was instantly heartbroken. The dream was over. He was gone again. She looked to see that she had been kissing her pillow, and his nose had been one of the four corners. She threw the pillow away and silently wept, as she did on most mornings after waking up. Would her pain ever cease? Probably not. She got dressed, placed her hat on her head and exited her room to meet the others. They had decided to meet at seven, since the fighting would begin at nine. Everyone got together and headed towards the banquet hall, where they were served breakfast. "Everyone but Cuddles is here," Freezie pointed out, as he noticed Enigma was the only one missing. Some other fighters were already there when they arrived, and the others came after them. "Who cares," Espio sighed as he began to eat.
After they ate they went to the arena to see Enigma standing beside the ring, as still as a statue. "He is waaaaay too creepy," Sonic commented. After all the fighters had gathered, Chaose emerged and stood in front of his black throne. "You will see over on the wall that the matches have already been chosen," he said. They looked at the chart and were instantly shocked. "Wait a sec!!! We're matched up against each other!!!" F.C. shouted in surprise. "Yes. I have no fighters of my own for you to contend with. You must battle each other. This tournament will be the hardest thing you will ever have to do in your life. You may be pitted against your best friend and perhaps even have to kill him to win. The winner will be the champion of the planet, and will have the honor of fighting me! This is the Chaose Tournament! Let the fighting begin!!!"
Author's Note: Yet another cliffhanger from your good friend, KnuxfanEO. So? Waddaya think? Questions? Comments? Hope you like Enigma and Chaose, because I do. Anyway, I hate to leave you hanging like this, but Junior year becons. High School really sucks. However, I will finds time to keep you satisfied. But for now, you'll just have to wait and see what will happen. Be prepeared for awesome match ups, laughs, and more about the mysterious Enigma. L8r!