Chapter 17 - Nemesis

Revanant runs straight at me, and throws a straight punch. I dodge it, and jump backward. Immediately after that Overdrive and Regulus grab her, and Lexer grabs some gun from between his tails. He holds it against the struggling Revenant, and pulls the trigger. Revanant gets shocked and falls to the unconscious to the ground. So Lexer keeps junk between his tails? Oh well, it's good junk at least. "Hehe, if you 2 don't leave us alone, we'll do the same to you." Of course, there's no way they'd give in that easily. "What we do, Zero?" Jackal asks. "Boss should have Summers here soon enough. We'll hold them off until then." Jackal grabs a stone and throws it against Lexers gun. There's nothing wrong with the outside of the gun, but Lexer shakes it and it appears that the insides is scrambled. "Ah... damn!" Jackal runs at his target, Lexer, slipping past both Overdrive and Regulus with his speed. I can't get to Lexer in time either. A few inches before he reaches Lexer, he gets hit by a red hedgehog. He has the same color as me, and his spikes are in nearly the same way. Jackal is knocked out too. "Thank you, Hero!" Lexer says. "Yeah, don't mention it." Is what the red hedgehog says. Lexer takes a better look. "You're not Hero." Big eyes the red hedgehog gets all of a sudden. "What! I save your life and you don't even give me a thanks, you bratty little fox!" His way of talking seems quite familiar right now. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Thanks for saving me. I'm not a fox, you know. Who are you, by the way?" He looks at Lexer. "You're not Tails? I could swear you were, Tails is the only fox with 2 Tails." By now, Zero heads back into the building. They don't notice.

Lexer: "No, i'm not. So... who are you?"

Knuckles: "My name is Knuckles, and there is nothing I can't do."

Regulus: "You're Knuckles! But you... you don't look like him!

Overdrive: "Ah, he does. You've been around Hero so much, you didn't notice it when he did appear."

Knuckles: "Who's this Hero you're talking about?"

Me: "Hello there, dear brother."

He turns around. "What! But you can't be... my brother. Can you!" He's actually buying it? "Regulus: "Why didn't you say that Knuckles was your brother?" Regulus asks. "Yeah, yeah!" Overdrive says after that. Ah... they're... shouldn't they know by now I'm not his brother? "I'm not his brother. I was just joking, because he looks so much like me." Knuckles punches me. Not hard, but he did punch me. "Don't fool me again!" I may end up dead if I do, so... I probably shouldn't. Behind Knuckles I see someone falling very fast, shortly after Knuckles falls down to the floor. It was Zero. He jumped from the roof, to give Knuckles a hard blow in his back. Then he backs off for some distance because he was standing between all of us. "Heh, you fools. You should relax when your enemies are still around." He looks away, because he seems to see something far away. Regulus punches him while he's distracted. I look where he was looking, and I see 2 hedgehogs running. After a few seconds, I see who they are. Solar and Blaze. But... there's someone behind them too. He's taking his time chasing them. I can't see who it is. Suddenly... "Here he comes. Prepare yourself, Hero." I look to the top of the building, because that's where the voice came from. And just as I suspected, The Malicious is standing on it. After him saying that, it must be Summers. But I can't fight him yet. I tell Regulus to grab Knuckles, and say that he and Lexer should run away. Overdrive and I will do something else. We gotta get Solar and Blaze away from there. We all do what I said. Just when I started running, The Malicious jumps down and blocks my path. He doesn't say anything. He just smiles, and then steps out of the way. So he's thinking I will fight Summers? Nah, I won't. Maybe just a bit, to get Solar and Blaze away. In mere seconds we're running right next to Solar and Blaze. "Hey Hero, ready to fight?" Blaze asks. "No way! What the hell were you thinking!" A big airplane flies by. It's blue, it's... the Tornado? No, it's not. This ones much bigger. It shoots a missile at Summers, who doesn't move at all after being hit, like he's stopped in time. Summers gets picked up by the plane, and then we get picked up too.

Inside the plane it looks even bigger. I look at Summers. He looks kind of freaky, with those bright white lines. I notice that Regulus and Lexer are there too, together with Knuckles. Then, a light-brown hedgehog, with a bit of white fur on his face, and also two tails walks in. The tops of the tails are white. His spikes point forward. So... this is probably Tails. "Are you okay?" He asks. "Yeah, i'm fine."

Tails: "I'm Tails, pleased to meet you all."

Lexer: "Tails? Really!"

Tails: "Hey, you have 2 tails too! So you must be... another Tails!"

Lexer: "Yes, I am."

Me: "No, you're not. You're Lexer Adario, remember?"

Lexer: "I changed my name!"

Overdrive: "So... what did you do to Summers?"

Tails: "I used the power of a chaos emerald to stun him. I don't know how long he'll be stunned. A few days at most."

Overdrive: "And what's the minimum."

Tails: "He can wake up any moment."

Regulus: "You're crazy, you know that?"

Lexer: "No, he's not!"

Tails: "Your friend is right. I'm not crazy. I always have a backup plan."

He grabs a remote control from between his Tails. He presses on of the buttons on it, and some kind of energy field forms around Summers. "There, that should do it. Even if he wakes up, he won't be able to do anything." It's good that Knuckles and Tails are here... but how does Tails know about Summers? "Hey Tails. I've been wondering... how do you know about Summers?" In the meantime, Knuckles gets up. "What happened?" Tails proceeds to explain what happened to him, preventing me from getting my answer. Doesn't he want to say it... or is this simply like he always is? Either way, i'll ask it again later. Solar and Blaze have been awfully quiet. They're sitting on a bench. I join them.

Blaze: "Hey, Hero. We're sorry we helped The Malicious."

Me: "Don't worry about it. He's good in manipulating people."

Solar: "So what are we going to do now?"

Me: "Find a way to get Summers back to normal. But I don't think i'd be of much help. I'll leave this to Tails and Lexer. They're the smartest ones around here."

Solar and Blaze: "Okay..."

They're a bit down, it seems. But they'll get over it soon enough. "Hey Tails, come and take a look at this." A voice from the cockpit sounded. I didn't think that there was still someone else here. That voice is very familiar. I just can't remember who. I decide to go into the cockpit too. Tails doesn't complain about it. We both come in... it's Dr. Robotnik! "Hey, ah... isn't he your enemy?" Tails wants to say something, but Robotnik interrupts him. "How can I have my empire, when the whole world is destroyed?" He does have a point. "Okay, I get it." I go back to the others, without saying who it was. I said they should take a look themselves. Of course, the few who knew Dr. Robotnik from the games, came out with a very surprised look on their face.

After a few hours, we land in a city. I don't know this one, but it seems to be as big as Evolutia. I have to help Tails to carry Summers to his lab. Summers is really heavy right now, though I don't know why. While nearly everyone is making themselves at home, in the house section of the lab, Lexer and I decide to hang around Tails for a bit longer. I still need to know how he knows this much about Summers. So I ask him about it, right after Summers has been put in a place where he won't break free from. "Hey Tails. You still haven't told me how you got the information about Summers?"

Tails: "A lady named Seria told me about it. She wanted me to help you too."

Me: "So... is she here?"

Tails: "She had to go on a mission. But after that mission she said she'd come here."

Me: "I hope it won't take her too long."

Tails: "Do you happen to know a pink hedgehog, in a red dress?"

Me: "There are so many around here. But if you're talking about one named Amy Rose, then yes."

Tails: "Do you know where she is?"

Me: "Of course. She's in Karodo, together with the sister of Summers."

Tails: "That's on the other end of the world!"

Lexer: "You mean we traveled nearly halfway through the world in mere hours!"

Tails: "Is there something strange about it? I know a guy who can travel around the world at least twice as fast. His name is"

Lexer: "Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Tails: "You know him too?"

Lexer: "He's somewhere in this world. And Shadow too!"

Tails: "Can you tell me where they are?"

Lexer: "I don't know. I've only seen them once. And searching Shadow would not be a good idea."

Tails: "Why not?"

Me: "Because he declared us his enemies."

Tails: "Ohw... I'm sure Sonic will show up soon enough. First we'll go to Karodo in the Tornado 3!"

So that's the name... couldn't he come up with something better? Like the Thunderbolt? Ah well, it's his ship. Only Lexer, me and Tails go. The rest stays... together with Dr. Robotnik. They're playing card games and they can't beat Dr. Robotnik. Anyway, it takes 4 hours to get there. It's already getting dark by the time we arrive. We knock on Amy's door, and Jody opens it. She's not hurt anymore, and she ditched her ponytail and wears other clothes. Now she wears her hair... or spikes... whatever... loose. Her blue jeans have been replaced by black trousers, covered by a blue skirt. And she wears a blue tank top too. And then there's the 2 golden bracelets too. She doesn't become angry at all when she sees me. So at least that's taken care of. Now we all go in. Amy wears a blue dress, instead of the red one she used to wear. Must be some... girly thing. After some talk, they agree to pack their stuff and come to Tails lab in that big city, of which I still don't know the name of. I should ask it's name... The city is named Triak (Try-yek). Then Tails goes off to explain numerous of useless bits of information about it. And after that about his inventions! Even Lexer is annoyed by it! The useless junk coming out of his idols mouth. Luckily, after about 60 minutes, Jody puts a halt to it by slapping him in the face. It's not hard... but at least Tails knows he should stop wasting time now. And thanks to that, it will be very late by the time we get back. And we must get back today, otherwise Summers might do something unexpected.

We get onto the ship, and take off. About another 30 minutes have passed already since we left Amy's house. I decide to get a drink. I open the refrigerator... and SOMEONE IS IN IT! What the hell! That's that guy I fought. That... what's his name again? Oh yeah, Bass Shadnik. I take a jump backward, and he gets out. This time he has a shield and a damaged broadsword. Jody and Amy also get into the room to get something to drink. Too bad the fridge is empty. Bass took all... I think.

Bass: "Hah, you didn't expect me to be here, did you?"

Me: "What you say?"

Bass: "All your base are belong to me!"

Amy: "Cut that crap out! I hate it!"

Amy knows it? Strange... but there's no time to think about it. Bass runs at me, and tries to slash me with his sword. I can barely dodge it. Most of it. My forehead gets cut by the point, leaving a scar. There's not much blood coming out of the wound, but it did hit me. Amy throws her Pico Pico Hammer for me to use. It's pretty light. 30 Minutes pass with us fighting. Again, neither one is giving in. But the force of his blows has nearly worn me out. They're much more powerful then mine. Just when he's about to give his final blow, I see Tails sneaking behind him, and he gets shocked. "I was wondering what was taking you so long. So who is this guy?" Tails asks. "That guy beat me up! We should throw him out of the plane right now!" Seems Jody focused her anger on Bass, instead of me. "We should just tie him up. This guy wants to capture Summers. So he might know a way to do it." Tails agrees with me. All of us get some sleep before we arrive at Triak.

When we're there, Bass gets thrown into the same place as Summers. That bastard nearly killed me. Tails and Lexer do the research, while Amy and I go to bed after relaxing a bit. Jody keeps staring at her brother. The others were already asleep when we arrived.

I'm lying in my bed now... but I can't sleep. Everyone has their own room, by the way. Hours have passed already. I can't help but thinking about what special power I have. Then it shot into my head! When I fought Summers, he was clearly superior. But I could read him easily, and that made it seem I was about as good. Even so... his superiority would have taken me down much sooner if it wasn't for my ability. I'm not exactly sure about it... but I think I can drain the opponents energy, and use it myself. Now I only have to figure out... how I do it. I'd have to try it out. It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes for me to get asleep now...

In the morning, loud noises wake me. Everyone is panicking. Summers is gone! He wasn't even supposed to be able to move. He was being held by the power of a chaos emerald! But still, he escaped? Bass is gone too. Regulus, who's listening to the radio, picks up something odd. Summers is roaming the city, blowing up many buildings! He doesn't hurt anyone though. In about an hour, we finally find him. I try numerous times to drain his energy... but to no success. Well, it does have some success. But he has too much energy for me to handle. Bass, who's trying to capture him, can't hurt him either. Hours pass with us trying to stop him. The chaos emerald powered rockets of Tails don't work anymore. Solars Windmill Shuriken can't even scratch his skin. The flames of Blaze don't hurt him at all, and Regulus his strength doesn't either. Not even Jodies call reach out to him. All of us get repelled, time and time again. By now, my whole body really hurts. Constantly draining his energy, and wasting it away doesn't help at all. He just gets new energy. But what's his source? After several minutes, he goes into an idle state. Not moving, doing nothing. But he put up a very strong forcefield. None of use can even get near him now. Tails reads an enormous energy reading from Summers, and it's only building up rapidly. He picks up whoever he can with the Tornado 3 and flies away as far as possible. Shortly after, a huge explosion wipes away the whole city of Triad. Nearly everyone had evacuated the city already. But there were probably some others who were still there. I gotta do something about this. I gotta find some way to stop him. The plane is carrying about 100 animals right now. It can't stay in the air too much longer. So in about 15 to 30 minutes... we'll be grounded.

End of chapter

New characters

Name: Miles "Tails" Prower
Age: 9
Spike style: Much like his old fur style
Color: Brown colored, white belly and white tips
Other: A hedgehog with 2 fox tails
This character needs no further introduction

Name: Knuckles the Echidna
Age: 17
Spike style: Much like that of Hero Red (he changed his style after he got into the Hedgehog Mania world)
Less flame-like
Color: Red
Other: Is a bit more muscled than Hero Red
This character needs no further introduction

Name: Dr. Ivo Robotnik (also known as Eggman)
Age: Unknown
Spike style: Short spikes
Color: Black and red
Other: A bit fat, for a hedgehog
This character needs no further introduction