Chapter 24 - Making deals

We all step in the Tornado 4, and go home. We finally did it, Summers is back to normal. He's not really happy though. He killed a lot of hedgehogs. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. He can't remember everything, but he remembers a lot from what he did. And he just doesn't know how to apologize. He's very silent, and not interested in meeting any of the new people right now.

Once we're in Evolutia, he decides to take a walk with his sister. To talk and stuff... I think. I'll just leave him, I shouldn't ask him for help anytime soon. Seria, Robotnik, Tails and Lexer were discussing something. They ask me to join them.

Me: "What's this about?"

Seria: "We need to ask you something."

Me: "Fire away."

Seria: "Should we search for Malicious, and take care of him for once and for all?"

Me: "Take care of The Malicious? Why're you asking me?"

Robotnik: "You're the one who knows his power the best."

Me: "It's true, we can easily take care of him. But... I think we should leave him be."

Lexer: "Why!"

Me: "Because he'll be at the Life Dome fighting tournament anyway."

Seria: "And why would you want that?"

Me: "To fight. That's all."

Tails: "You realize you can't beat him, right?"

Me: "I have a chance if I train hard for the remaining time."

Lexer: "I don't think we should 've asked you."

Me: "Then you shouldn't have. It's up to you what you want to do with him. I won't stop you, but I won't help you either."

Robotnik: "Okay, we won't do anything for now. But if he wins the tournament, we will gang up on him."

Me: "No, I won't allow that. Either you'll get him before the tournament, or you don't."

Seria: "Why are you so stubborn?"

Me: "If he wins, we have no right to stop him. Don't worry, i'll beat him for sure."

Seria: "... ... ..."

And with that, I take my leave. I gave Summers enough time to talk some with his sister. I have a few questions for him. Regulus and Overdrive have questions for him too, so they accompany me. While searching, we have a conversation.

Regulus: "What did you discuss?"

Me: "Nothing special."

Regulus: "Okay."

Overdrive: "So what are we going to do now? We have to do something not to get bored right?"

Me: "Weren't we already signed up for the tournament? So we're going to train until then."

Overdrive: "But after that?"

Me: "I don't know. I'm planning to stay here in this world."

Overdrive: "What about The Malicious?"

Me: "Don't worry about him."

Regulus: "I think i'll try to find a way to get home."

Overdrive: "You miss your family and all? Yeah, I guess I should find a way to get home then too."

Regulus: "What about you Hero? Why do you want to stay? You have no one to return to?"

Me: "I have... but... I just don't know... not exactly. Half of me says I should stay here, while the other half says I should go home. So i'll stay, until I have a definite answer. Who knows, there might be no way back."

Regulus: "Yeah..."

Me: "Don't let that discourage you. Just keep on searching until you find it or die."

After a few hours we still haven't found anything. Where the hell could they have gone? What we did found was... Bass Shadnik. Actually, he found us. "Hey, it's you! Tell me where Summers is, now! I know you returned him back to normal already. Speak up!" He does get his information fast. But couldn't he find out we're searching for him ourselves too, because he's been stalking us for 30 minutes already. "Fool! We don't know, we're looking for him too." He grabs his sword, and points it at me. "Should I make that scar I left on your head a little bigger this time?" A weird looking bullet hits him as he said that. Looked like an electric ball. He falls forward on his knees. "Are you hedgehogs okay?" Blaze asks. "Yeah, we're fine. It's 4 against 1 now Bass. Still wanna fight?" Bass stands up, and puts his sword on his back. "I'll fight you some other time. Right now, I have to find Summers." He throws a smoke bomb. After the smoke disappears, he's gone. I'm sure Summers can take him. No need to worry. I look at the guy that helped us. He doesn't have any fur, and his skin looked really weird. He wears a coat to hide most of it. His expression says he has good intentions though. "What's your name, stranger?" Regulus asks him. "I'm Ryoukusho Guy." We didn't really hear it correctly. "Ryouwhatguy?" Regulus asks now. "Ryou-kusho Guy. Just call me Ryou, to prevent any confusion. I have to go now, Regulus. I'll see you guys some other time." Ryou makes his leave. After he disappeared in the crowd, we realize something. "How did he know my name?" Regulus asks us. "I dunno. We'll just ask it next time we see him." Overdrive responds. It's been many hours, so we're going back to Tails 's lab now. Maybe Jody and Summers are back already.

On the way back, we encounter Blaze. "Hey, what took you guys so long?" He was searching for us. "Dear brother, so what did you do all this time?" The voice came from above. A hedgehog was standing on a house. He looks like water, especially with his spikes changing form too. "Aquis! What? you're here to make fun of me? I won't lose to you, never!" Blaze responds.

Aquis: "Huh, you're as hotheaded as always. I'm here to check up on you. To see how you've progressed, little brother."

Blaze: "And how do you plan to do that?"

Aquis: "There's a tournament to be held in this city. I expect to see you there."

Blaze: "Idiot, i'm way stronger than you!"

Aquis: "Strength is not everything. I'll show you. Don't disappoint me."

Aquis leaves. So he's Blaze's brother. "Why didn't you tell us you had a brother, Blaze?" Regulus asks him. He doesn't respond. I can nearly see him overheat. Probably just a case of rivalry with his brother, that he just couldn't defeat. "Hey Blaze, you'll beat him for sure this time." He calms down and looks at me. Then he scratches his head. "Yeah, i'll be sure to beat him this time! ... ... ... Did I tell ya I couldn't beat him? How did ya know?" I said a bit too much, I think. "Ah... it's kind of obvious, him being your brother and all. He called you little brother, so how much older is he?" He sighs. "He's nearly 1 year older." I thought they were twins, actually. I hope he realizes that he's probably much stronger than his brother was at the same age. After a short walk we're back at the lab. Summers and Jody are back, so we searched for nothing.

Me: "Summers, I gotta ask you something. You did a lot of bad things when you turned evil. What are you going to do now?"

Summers: "I have some things to take care of. Things involving The Malicious. After that, there's only one thing I can do. Help the hedgehogs of this world until I am unable to."

Me: "That's good. I have an idea that could spread some good reputation for you around. It should make things a lot easier for you."

Summers: "You mean the tournament? I was already planning that."

Jody: "And i'm entering too! You still owe me a match, Hero."

Me: "I do? Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about that. I'm gonna check how the twin sisters are doing now."

Jody: "You might not want to disturb them."

Me: "It can't be that bad."

Summers: "I hope you make it back alive."

I wonder what that is all about? Anyway, upon entering the room that they're in...

Rosey: "Untie me! I'm your sister!"

Lilly: "No, I won't."

Rosey: "I promise i'll be good!"

Lilly: "That's what you said the first time too! And then you beat me up!"

Rosey: "Come on, I need to move around a bit! I've been tied up for a whole day already!"

Lilly: "No."

Rosey: "Stupid sister..."

That goes on for a while. After some time, I suggest something. I'm letting them make a deal with each other. They fight it out in the tournament. The winner decides what the loser must do, but they can't kill them. They both agree. After that, I untie Rosey, and escort her out of the lab. "Thanks!" She says, before taking her leave. Her sister heard that. "She said thanks?" She asks. I turn to her, but still leave the door open. "What's so strange about that?" She turns around, and looks down. "She never said thanks, ever since then. Ever since" She's interrupted. "Hey, Hero! Hows things goin'?" I turn around. It's Sonic. "Things are okay. You might want to come inside. Tails and Amy are there." His expression widens, and his mouth drops open. "Are you serious!" He quickly runs inside, past us. "Where are they?" He asks. "They're in the back of the lab. It's easy to see. He runs quickly to that part. "So what were you" Someone bumps me in the back of my head. I turn myself around. So he's here too? "I saw Sonic go inside. Lead me to him." Shadows says. "Wasn't I your enemy?" I ask. "Only that fiery friend of yours. Now take me to Sonic!" Jody slaps Shadow. "Didn't you learn any manners. Ask us politely." Shadow stares her in her eyes. "Maria... Okay then. Will you take me to Sonic?" Jody's looking strange at him. Hah, she's probably wondering why he called her Maria. She should 've played Sonic Adventure 2, which she couldn't have... "As long as you don't attack my friend Blaze." He agrees not to attack him while he's there. I leave him alone with Sonic who's making plans with Amy, Tails, Knuckles and Robotnik to get back to their world. Shadow had a hard time getting into the discussion, but he managed to persuade Sonic to enter the tournament. With my help, of course.

Sonic and Shadow also stay at the lab. Shadow doesn't attack Blaze. He wants to take care of him in the tournament. Things seems rather peaceful right now. And like this, the remaining time passes to. All of us trained very hard, and many learned new abilities and tricks. They keep most of it a secret though. Not much longer to the tournament. Today is the big day. It starts. For a period of 2 months, strong hedgehogs fight for the title of the strongest.

Am I up to the challenge? Hell yeah!

End of chapter

New characters

Name: Ryoukusho "Ryou" Guy
Age: 25
Gamefaqs member name: BubblewrapGuy
Color: Green with a red patch of fur on his chest.
Spike style: Spiky, with each spine growing so long it touches his leg.
Others: Wears a long light-brown trenchcoat, a light-brown hat, and black boots. His right arm is an arm cannon, often wears a bamboo staff in his left hand to do some minor magic.
Side: Neutral
Time in Hedgehog Mania world: About 18 years before he gets introduced into the story
First appearance: Chapter 19
Role: A guy that desperately wants to win the Evolutia Life Dome tournament
Personality: A very friendly guy and a real gentlemen. When he's excited he tends to forget his manners though. He's not good in co-operating with others, but helps in whatever way he sees fit. People with good manipulative skills can make him do what they want though.
Backround: He was tranfered to the Hedgehog Mania world when he was 12. On his 15th he managed to work his way into MI2. While working for the MI2, a secret government organization, he got most of his skin eaten away by parasites when on a mission. His right arm also got eaten, and he barely survived. He was 22 back then, and was one of the 3 legendary secret agents for the government. Only he is alive to this day. MI2 scientists used the same kind of parasites to replace his skin. Doesn't look as good as normal skin and there's no fur except for a red patch on his chest, but at least it's a replacement. This skin is much harder to destroy or cut too. His right arm has been replaced by an arm cannon, which is linked directly to his brain. He wants to join the tournament, because the winner can get nearly everything he or she desires. He wants a special material, that makes it seem like he's a hedgehog again. Fur and all. And he wants to get rid of his arm cannon too, and that's also something that the special material can do.
Special power: His arm cannon is attached to his brain which now generates a lot more electricity than normal, and he uses the arm cannon to fire electromagnetic bullets, shooting them too much gives him a headache and may kill him if not careful.

Status growth:
Power: 10/10
Battle speed: 6/10
Endurance: 9/10
Melee fighting: 5/10
Strategy: 9/10
Running speed: 7/10

Name: Aquis Krezne
Age: 20
Gamefaqs member name: Fictional character that Magitek111 made.
Color: He is a watery sort of color
Spike style: The spike style never stays the same,it changes every few seconds. It's rather short though.
Others: Light-blue and white sneakers
Side: Neutral
Time in Hedgehog Mania world: About 2 years before his brother Blaze gets introduced into the story
First appearance: Chapter 24
Role: Brother of Blaze
Personality: While Blaze is hot-headed and firey, Aquis is cool,calm and collected, but he won't say no to a good fight. He likes to annoy his younger brother too.
Backround: When he got into the Hedgehog Mania world, he had absolutely no idea what to do. So he did what he has always done. Follow his little brother around and get in his way. And that's all he has done in the time that he's in the Hedgehog Mania world.
Special powers: Aquis has control over water,ice and steam. He can also create a blade from ice, but barely uses it because it drains a lot of energy.

Status growth:
Power: 6/10
Battle speed: 9/10
Endurance: 7/10
Melee fighting: 8/10
Strategy: 8/10
Running speed: 8/10