Sky: Next chapter! I'd like to thank Celestial for taking the time for looking at this beforehand… Apparently, I've been doing dialogue wrong with commas. She wasn't able to finish, and I still don't think I've done it right, but I tried. I hope it's all good! I know it will be confusing, but that is how I intended it to be! The next chapter (if you can't figure out it yet) should explainthe story and help make things clear!Enjoy!
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Death…
Death has many shapes… A skeleton in a dark black cloak. A scythe, gleaming with power, at his side. So much has been learned, but no one has escaped the cloaked figure. No matter the power you have, no matter the technology you have, you can never escape Death.
No matter how fast you run. Death will find you.
Some say they're brave… Say they're not afraid of Death.
They're liars.
All are afraid of this cloaked being. What will happen after? Will you go to Heaven? Will you go to Hell? Will you simply rot in the dirt? Or will you spend eternity in nothingness? None can answer this. None, but Death himself. He will tell you that answer, with a swing of his weapon. Do you wish to know?
No. No one should know… No living being should know these answers… But they will try anyway. They will try, and they will fail. Death will tell them the answers before they can find it themselves.
He will take all those that go against him. If they are evil, if they are good, it does not matter. Do not try to fight him. Do not try to run from him.
Please… Just one more chance…
Tails continued to sob, his tears staining the grass under him.
Death will spare no one. No one… He… He shouldn't have… Why did… Why did he try to go against Death? He was always pulling miracles; he was always surviving any attack… But now… He's dead? From something as simple as a fist?
"You'll never bother her again." The crimson echidna stood over a blue body. The sunset was nearly down, and it cast a dark shadow over the echidna. There… In the shadows, behind that disgusting echidna…
Was Death.
Sonic tried too hard… Sonic put in too much energy… Sonic thought he could outrun Death. No… He could not. Death had found them. He took the shape of a red echidna this time. Blood spattered across his fists. Did he smile as he had done this? Did he enjoy it?
There was no way to be sure. Death had no face for any living being to see. Sonic had tried… Sonic had tried his best… But Death took him. Took him away…
"Why Knuckles?" Tails shot up, screaming louder than he thought possible. "How could you do that to him? Why would you take him away from me?"
Would Death ever answer this question? Would he ever answer these questions? When will all of these questions stop? Why don't we know all of this? No matter how intelligent we are, we can never know.
"I will kill you too." Knuckles turned his back to the fox. "If you get in my way."
No one can stand up to Death… Not even Sonic the Hedgehog. The most courageous being on earth. He was afraid. He was afraid of the immortal skeleton cloaked in black as its blade crashed down upon his body.
"Leave." Knuckles ordered. "Leave now."
Tails shook his head, tears never stopping, never leaving.
The echidna turned to face him. Death was not one to give warnings. Should we heed these warnings? Or should we stand up to Death? The one who took away Sonic the Hedgehog.
Wrapped in black, he took Sonic the Hedgehog away. Too strong was this being to ever be beaten. Too black to ever see the answers.
Tails returned the glare to Death. "I… I will get my revenge." He said. "I will find the answers…And, I will destroy you, Knuckles."
"Try. You will fail." The echidna replied.
The kitsune ran. He ran back to his plane. He would not run away anymore after this. He would not run away from Death any longer. He will avenge Sonic the Hedgehog. Stand up to anything. Even Death himself if he had to.
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Yes… The power was mine again. All of this glorious power… The power of the ancients, the power of destruction, infused into my metal circuitry. I had it all planned out… I'm called the God of Deception for a reason.
"Now, go out and reawaken me, Deception." Chaos bellowed through the now pitch black void. "If you ever need more power… There is two more…." His words floated through the air. "Wrath, I want you to find them. Understand?"
Emerl growled, curling his hands into a fist. "My name is Emerl."
"I asked you a question!" The voice boomed, lightning flashing.
Emerl let his head fall down. 'It's not like they even miss me.' I heard him think to himself. After a long pause of uncertainty he finally brought his head back up. "Understood."
I chuckled; already my plans were becoming too perfect. No one would stop me this time. "I'll get us out of this damned hell hole," I said with a hint of arrogance.
Looking gloomy, Emerl slowly turned his head to me, his jade eyes seeming to have lost their luster. "How is that?" he asked, but didn't sound as if he would care whether I answered him or not. I almost felt upset that I couldn't show facial expressions. For if I could, a grin would be placed on my face. Without another word, I held out a sparkling silver claw in front of the robot's face. In a swift movement, I suddenly spread out each sharp spike of a finger, and tore down directly through the fabric of this dimension.
Emerl did not care.
I felt disappointed that I couldn't shock him in this state. The rift in the dimension showed planet Earth on the other side, a dark starry night with grassy plains lined all around. "Come, Wrath, but be wary, that Guardian is sure to still be there."
"Emerl. My name is Emerl." He said, walking through the small rift sullenly. His incompetence was beginning to show, and I grew irritated as I stepped through the rift with him.
My feet clicked against the stone of the shrine outside the Master Emerald, and I could even feel the wind's breeze against my metal exterior. Emerl remained motionless, his shoulders slumped, despite the fact he had wanted to leave that horrid place so badly not long ago. "Hey, who's there?" A gruff voice entered my ears.
"It's that fool of a guardian…" I said in a hush. "Let's get out of here…" I grabbed Emerl's arm forcefully, and flew into the night, turning into nothing more then a shadow of a tiny bush.
"Must be my imagination…" I heard him say, his words carried off into the wind as I traveled at high speeds through the night.
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"Just where the hell are you taking me?" Shadow growled as Emerl dragged him through a strange darkness.
Something was wrong. Where was his happiness? One thing that Shadow admired about Emerl was his ability to be happy, even in knowing the truth of his past and purpose. Something… Shadow still wasn't used to yet. "There is one more we must get."
The black hedgehog was swimming in his thoughts, unable to even ask what Emerl was talking about. Once the dark tunnel was finally gone, Shadow found himself under the shining sun on Angel Island. "What are we doing here?" He asked, looking at the endless plain of grass.
"There." He raised a brown hand and extended a finger out into the distance. Far out, Shadow could see the glimmer of something shining under the sun. The… Master Emerald? "We're going there. Inside again."
"Again?" Shadow had no time to for an answer as Emerl sped off across the jade sea, whipping about at the wind's will. It was almost hard to keep up with the robot as he sped across so quickly. He definitely didn't get weaker over his time of absence.
"Knuckles." Emerl suddenly said.
Shadow looked to the side and saw a flash of crimson. In an instinctive reflex, he jumped to the side, just avoiding a powerful punch that dented the ground beneath his feet where he stood. "Knuckles? What are you doing?" The black hedgehog blurted out.
His face was filled with rage, the stone shrine behind him. "There have been too many strange things going on with the Master Emerald! I have been a fool to have let it be so open. No more. I don't care who you are, no one will come near it!"
Emerl's eyes met Shadow's as if to say 'I told you, you have been betrayed.'
"Knuckles, what is wrong with you?" Shadow took a step back, Knuckle's violet eyes were burning, and his chest was heaving. "You know who I am!"
The echidna gritted his teeth. "I told you, I don't care! Ever since I let Metal…" He looked away, unable to finish his sentence, obviously ashamed of himself. "Not even you Emerl."
"Knuckles." Emerl raised a hand to him. "You will let us pass."
Taking a fighting stance, he said in a dark tone, "No. No one will ever pass by me again."
Shadow was unsure of what to do. Did he dare turn on his friends? But… If these were his friends… Why would they attack him?
He took a step back as Emerl charged forward.
"So this is how you treat me after how long I've been gone?" Emerl suddenly screamed, his emotions lost. "You forgot about me too? You Knuckles?" He began to attack and attack, punches faster then lightning. "You were my fighting partner! You and I were fighting partners! Why did you throw me away? Why did you forget about me?"
Shadow could only watch, still, he could not figure out what to do. Shadow could only watch as Knuckles guard was torn through by the insane robot. He watched as Knuckles tried to fight back, but his punches were merely blocked as if they were nothing. And he watched as Emerl sent him down into the dirt with a kick across the face.
"Try to forget me now." Emerl whispered in a demonic tone.
Was he making the right choice? Weren't these people his friends? As he looked at the struggling echidna in the dirt, he grew even more uncertain. "They attacked you, Shadow." Emerl looked down upon the animal, like he was nothing more than that. An animal. "They aren't your friends. They forgot about you. They forgot about me." He turned his head away now. "We're nothing but weapons to them."
"Emerl…" Shadow started. "I don't know… Maybe…"
"There is no maybe!" He shouted. "There is a yes or no. You want to see Maria again don't you?"
"Yes, but-."
"They don't care about us anymore, Shadow." His eyes seemed to show sadness. "Please, Shadow..."
It was true… They didn't care. He didn't want to argue or fight it anymore. There was no point. All he wanted was Maria. "Yes, I'll come."
"Good." He brought me up the steps of the shrine to the Master Emerald. "Be careful… Here we go."
"What?... What are you doing?" Shadow asked.
"You'll see."
Emerl put his hand on the Master Emerald and it began to glow. "The servers are… the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power, and power is enriched by the heart." He paused. "Show me your power or I shall not obey, I will become Gizoid conqueror of all, under my leader, Chaos."
Shadow's eyes widened as the glow suddenly engulfed the two.
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A girl lay in the grass, the sun shining, warming her fur. The wind blew a small breeze, caressing her face gently, whispering a light lullaby into her ears. Birds sang a sweet song, and she probably rested there for hours. She didn't care.
Who knew she could ever be so happy? Who knew she really could? It was already months ago, but she would never forget it either way. The day that changed her life… She found herself blushing just thinking about how joyful she was actually feeling.
Knowing her face was turning red, she turned her head to the grass, feeling the watching eyes of the birds. This tingling feeling… It was wonderful. It tickled her cheeks, and even made her let out a slight giggle.
She sighed and looked up at the bright blue sky. Beautiful…
A dark shadow soon covered her warm sun.
"Oh ho…" An old scratchy voice entered into the girl's conscience. "I finally have you now!"
With a gasp, the female shot up in a battle position. "Eggman!" She yelled, a smirk coming across her face. "Don't you ever give up?"
"Not this time!" The white mustached genius proclaimed, his robot towering over her. "I'll finally get you!"
She crossed her arms. "Eggman…"
"Now hand them over!" He roared, getting straight to the point.
"You say that every time, and every time you get the same answer." She growled. "No."
Eggman smiled. "Of course, you always say no… But you see… I've learned something from my past trip." His four-legged weapon hulked about, towering over the female dangerously. "You need more than just a huge weapon to do the job…"
The girl tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"You need an entire army as well!" He roared insanely, throwing his hand into the air. The girl took a step back in surprise.
There, past the grass and in the dense forest, she saw something stir. First one… Two… Three… Six… Ten… Twenty… All of the pale white robots were stepping out from behind the trees! Each one was nothing more than a round and fat piece of scrap, but each still had a weapon. Including the giant that stood in front of her. Eggman had really outdone himself this time.
"Surrender now and I promise I won't harm you!" Eggman laughed.
She began to feel slightly anxious now. But she couldn't let that mad scientist have them! No matter what. "I won't."
Eggman smirked. "As I thought. Charge!" He commanded. "Fire the rockets! We'll kill her today!"
The female's head shot up, only to see a guided Eggman missile headed straight for her! With a grunt, she jumped to the side in a violet blur, but was too late by a millisecond off. The explosion knocked her off her feet, and she toppled down into the soft grass, face first. Trying to get back up, she saw the glimmer of a sword flash from one of the robots.
There was only time for a gasp, as she rolled out of the way, a sword cutting into the ground, exactly where she was only moments ago. She pushed herself back up on her feet, and ran up the stone steps of the shrine, her possessions tucked away in her clothes. This was going to be harder than she thought.
As she took a battle stance, seeing the army and the giant silver machine in the middle of it all, another shine caught in the back of her eye. The giant green rectangular gem was glowing radically! What was it doing? "What's the matter? Getting scared?" Eggman taunted, his forces coming closer.
"Wh-what is?... What is it doing?" She turned her back on the forces to look at the gem. The light became blinding, and eventually, somehow engulfed her. As the cool light over took her body, she only had a few moments to hope everything would be all right.
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"There we go…" Emerl snapped his fingers. "Hold on… wait… now! We got her!"
Shadow tried to keep his cool, but inside this Master Emerald, he could only feel cold sweat drip down his neck. Why he was so afraid, he didn't know. Perhaps it was the fact he was suddenly standing on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean, with some giant crescent moon that seemed to follow him in the night sky. Or maybe it was just the whispers of people's thoughts. Either way… He didn't like it here.
A flash of light, like a supernova, floated over the iceberg. "Come to us!" Emerl held out his hands. After the light was gone, Shadow took his hands away from his eyes and saw the next one related to Chaos. It was a girl.
Her fur was a light purple, and a ruby was placed exactly in the middle of her forehead. She was obviously a cat once Shadow saw her ears and tail. She lay unconscious in Emerl's arms. "Who is that?"
"The last one." Emerl whispered. "Now wake up..."
As if by command, her eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing two bright yellow eyes. "Wh-what?..." She voiced out, her head probably spinning. "Where am I?..." Her body tensed up and she jumped out of the robot's arms. "Where is Eggman Nega? What did you do to me? Where are my Sol Emeralds?"
Emerl put his hands up as a sign of peace. "Don't worry, miss. Would you please tell us your name?"
She put a hand to her head, feeling the strange sensation of the Master Emerald realm as Shadow was. "I don't see why…" She groaned, falling down to her knees. "Blaze. Blaze is my name."
Emerl held out a hand to her. "Yeah, this place really messes with you living-beings. It even affects us robots sometimes, but don't worry, I think a pretty girl like you can handle it, right Blaze?"
"Why am I here?" She asked.
"You're going to help us reawaken Chaos." Emerl said casually. "Tell me…" He seemed to go into a focused state, like he was reading her mind. "Do you know Sonic the Hedgehog?"
Blaze nodded, awkwardly standing back up, but sweat began to form on her body as she trembled. "Sonic… Sonic and Cream… They're my best friends. They've helped me so much."
Shadow said nothing, feeling out of breath.
"Oh?" Emerl nodded. "I guess you wouldn't help us try to kill him and all of his friends then right?"
Blaze's golden eyes suddenly lit up with fire. "No! I would never do that!"
"Ah, but you will." Emerl turned serious. "You're under my command from now on. To make sure you listen, I'll erase all your memories of him."
Blaze lost her fire, turning more into fear. "No! You can't do that! They're… They're all I have!"
This wasn't right. Shadow knew it.
Don't take Sonic away…
Don't take Cream away…
Please…
Those were Blaze's thoughts. Shadow could hear them loud and clear. "Emerl…" Shadow started, breathing heavily. "Don't do that to the girl… Let's just leave her out of this."
Emerl's eyes pierced into red ones now. "Sonic will betray her just as he did me and you, Shadow. She will be alone without us. We will be the only friends she has."
Shadow once again, didn't know what to do. Was this all worth it? To see Maria?
"Take me back home, right now!" Blaze ordered, her knees shaking.
In a flash, Emerl was in front of Blaze. "You are with us now. Give up your memories, Blaze." He put his hand on her head.
"No!" She cried, pushing him away, and running in the opposite direction. Blaze saw the end of the iceberg, and the never ending ocean. She was trapped here over these dark waters. Emerl was right behind her, she had no choice!
Blaze jumped off the block of ice, and prepared for the dive in the ocean. But… Her feet never went under the surface. She stood directly on the water, as if it were frozen solid beneath her feet. "You can't run away from me."
Despite his words, she charged off across the ocean, looking behind to see the deserted ice. "I know this place much better than you." His voice echoed. Blaze turned her head to see Emerl standing right in front of her!
"Get away from me!" She roared, running in another direction away from her. It was futile. Emerl was there too. Wherever she ran, that robot would stand directly in her path. Shadow watched the cat, as she began to gain the attributes of a trapped animal.
Finally Blaze stopped, knowing she couldn't escape him. "Give up, Blaze. It's all over." She wouldn't give up that easy.
In the cat's hands, Shadow saw something amazing happen. Fire began to boil and bubble up into a perfect sphere at her command. "I'm not giving up!" She screamed, throwing the fire ball straight at Emerl's face.
Useless.
With the simple movement of tilting his neck, the ball flew past, leaving Blaze's arm open. Giving her no time to retaliate, he grabbed that arm in a firm grip. "Please don't struggle. Please don't." Emerl sounded as if he were about to cry. "It's for your own good, you have to believe me!"
It didn't matter, she struggled anyway. "It isn't! Let go of me you hunk of scrap!"
Emerl placed a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry. You won't remember him anymore. Chaos has given me my orders." His hand began to glow. "I'll try to help you be happy afterwards, Blaze. You have my promise."
Shadow could feel his heart breaking just watching the poor cat struggle to keep her memories. Just as he was, she would not remember her past either. "Don't do this to me!" she cried, tears nearly ready to form.
"I'm sorry." He whispered once again, and his hand grew brighter and brighter, swallowing the cat's entire body.
Shadow could hear her whispers now, almost screams.
Stop! Don't take them away from me!
Just like that. They were gone. She fell down unconscious to the hard ocean surface, with Emerl's hand outstretched hand over her body. "I'm sorry."
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"What's up, Mamma Rouge?" Emerl said with a tilted head. "You look like you saw a ghost!"
Rouge indeed had a look of shock on her face. Shadow must have just been lucky, that's all. She could have sworn she saw him smirking though. "Oh…" Her face turned red all over and she shook her head around strangely. "It's nothing!"
"You really have to try to keep your cool, Rouge," Shadow said while taking a mouthful of marshmallow ice cream.
Cream nodded, almost losing her balance on Emerl's shoulders. "Yes, Miss Rouge! Shadow and Emerl will keep us safe, there's nothing to be afraid of!"
The robot's eyes brightened and he nuzzled against Cream's fur. "That's right; I won't let anything happen to you, Cream…"
Rouge shook the whole thing off and took a bite into her desert. There was no need to ponder over it. Nothing more then a strange coincidence. "Hey, so where are you guys headed next?" Shadow asked curiously.
The pallid bat gave a friendly smile. "Well to tell you the truth, I didn't plan on falling asleep at the mall, so now I'm not to sure." She looked at the wide mall, now getting an orange glow from the sun setting outside. "We should probably head home, I'm sorry we couldn't hang out more."
Shadow frowned.
"That's okay," he started, "Emerl and I were just about to leave anyways."
Cream pouted. "Aww, I wanted to stay with Emerl longer!" He put her down on the tile, with her arms crossed unhappily.
Rouge dropped the rest of her mostly unfinished ice cream in the trash bin nearby and took Cream's hand. "We'll see them later, sweetie. Bye, Shadow! Bye, Emerl!" she waved happily.
"Bye, Rouge! Bye, Cream!" Emerl turned around with Shadow and walked opposite ways.
Rouge let out a sigh of relief, feeling the two's presence slowly disappear as they set a distance between themselves. Sure, she was ecstatic Emerl was back, but there was just something strange between those two. What were they hiding?
Rouge's thoughts were interrupted by a constant poking at her side. "Um… Miss Rouge?"
Feeling aggravated, she swerved her head to face the girl's rather quickly, letting out a rude, "What?"
Cream timidly pointed to an ordinary wall. "Miss Rouge, why is that wall shaking?"
"What are you talking about?" The spy took a look at it. "It's not-." She stopped in mid-sentence, noticing that the pictures on the large wall were indeed trembling. Not to mention that, but the ground also was beginning to shake. It continued to get louder and louder until… "Look out!" Rouge screamed throwing herself down on the tile with Cream.
The wall in front of them soon exploded in an instant, dust and pieces flying through the air, forcing the two to gag for air. Rouge was the first to shoot her head up into the air, seeing a large gaping hole had been made where the wall once stood. The edges were completely scorched, and still smoldering.
Standing in all the debris, was a dark figure, no taller than Sonic. Her purple fur was bristling with anger, and her hands were glowing with an orange fire-like energy. "You there!" she roared, pointing a finger at Rouge. "Prepare to die!"
Rouge didn't even have time to brush the dust off her shoulders, standing up to her feet in a battle position. "Just who the hell do you think you are anyways?"
Cream shot up, trembling in fear. Even in all the chaos, she still managed to answer the question. "Blaze? Is that you?"
The cat nodded, yellow eyes flaring. "That is correct, but how did you know my name?"
Cream let out a bright smile. "It's me, Blaze! Cream!"
Stepping forward through her hole, she let out a malicious smirk. "I don't know any 'Cream' sorry." She put her glare on Rouge. "I know only my orders. I'm to kill you two now."
The small girl gasped and choked back on a few tears. Rouge stepped in front of Cream defensively. "Stop right there, you lunatic!" She roared.
"I don't take orders from sniveling maggots." Blaze continued to step forward, her hands growing with the fire energy.
"Rouge!" Shadow screamed, tackling down the cat out of nowhere.
"Shadow!" She screamed, squirming to get free. "What are you doing?"
Emerl stepped heroically next to Rouge. "We heard the explosion and came running back!" he said.
The fire energy had lost is luster as Blaze thrashed about. "You traitors! What are you doing?"
Traitors?
Emerl curled his hand into a fist. "I'll never let you hurt them!"
This Blaze girl had obviously had enough. She threw Shadow off her body in a fury, and gathered the flames to her hands again. "We have to destroy them!" she roared.
"Sorry, it's not gonna happen." Shadow landed on his feet, crossing his arms with a cocky flair. Emerl immediately kicked her in the side of the head, sending her to fly farther away. "Come on; let's get out of here, Rouge!" Shadow ran off ahead.
Emerl dashed forward and picked up Cream on his shoulders, running behind Shadow. Rouge put one foot in front of the other and began to catch up soon after. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you before, Rouge," Shadow said sternly.
There was no time to reply, she heard a battle cry come from behind, only to see that Blaze was right on their tails, yellow eyes looking just like bright flames under the orange sun.
A moment later, they reached the entrance to the mall, and they blew through the glass doors in an instant, Blaze still catching up as the chase continued down the streets.
"I'll slow her down!" Shadow yelled, turning around for a brief moment. He aimed his palm at the girl, and let out a loud grunt. By his command, a green energy escaped, and shot into the girl's chest, directly on target. Such nice aim as such fast speeds!
Blaze toppled back against the pavement, giving the others time to cut across a corner and hopefully lose her. Cream held tight onto Emerl's head as they passed dark alley ways to confuse their pursuer. When they reached a street, Rouge stopped in her tracks. "There's Sonic's house!" She pointed quickly, the house sitting just a few minutes away.
Shadow's face went pale for a moment, and he stopped right away, along with Emerl. "No, we have to get to your house, Rouge!"
What? Sonic would be right there! "Are you insane? That cat is right behind us, we need to get to Sonic! My house is much farther away!"
"Trust me!" Shadow yelled, feeling there was no time to waste. "Come, Rouge!" He blasted off in the opposite direction with Emerl right behind.
Trust him?...
Of course, he just risked his life to save her! Rouge had to trust Shadow; he knew what he was doing. She flew off after, leaving Sonic's house in the sunset.