Mystic Ruins

Tails' Laboratory

Lumis holds up his newly-formed claws. "My last resort…is to take what's mine by force!" He lunges at Knuckles, prepared to strike.

"Halt!" A yellow blur strikes Lumis from the side, knocking him to the ground. Chaos the Hedgehog lands in a crouch, and quickly rises to his feet.

Lumis gets up as well. "So, finally feeling talkative, are you? You and all the rest of the Lords were fools to be so ill-prepared. But you're too late." Lumis throws his normal arm once again at Knuckles, and it instantly reverts to its semi-liquid form, allowing it to reach halfway across the room. Knuckles is surprised enough to loosen his grip, and the Master Emerald is snatched from his hands.

Knuckles is quickly prepared to fight back. "Get your hands off my Emerald!" He dives straight towards the gem itself.

As Lumis' outstretched hand returns to him, he states calmly, "Chaos Shield." A bright yellow barrier forms around him, and Knuckles bounces off with a thud. "Can't have you breaking my power source, now can we?" With the barrier still up, he begins to absorb the power of the Emerald, breathing a sigh as the energy courses through him. Beginning with the shoulder of the great clawed hand, his entire body begins to transform similarly, removing all traces of cloth or skin, replaced by the flat surfaces and sharp corners of a gem-like exterior. When the transformation is complete, he is left with no recognizable face, but only a stubby crystal-like structure protruding from his shoulders.

The moment the shield goes down, Sonic goes in for a spin attack. The new Lumis effortlessly catches the spinning ball in one hand, and throws it back at Chaos, in the middle of preparing an attack of his own. The two are sent flying into a table, smashing it completely.

Knuckles starts to get back up for another attack, but Lumis points the palm of a hand at him. "Stay down, runt." Knuckles sprints out of the way just in time to avoid the massive beam of light that Lumis fires from his hand. He continues to pursue Knuckles with the beam, carving a swath of destruction in his wake. As Knuckles makes it to a wall, he kicks off of it, diving at Lumis at a much higher speed. "Nah ah ah." Lumis merely lifts the Emerald higher into the air, and Knuckles misses his mark entirely, crashing into the wall on the other side. Lumis takes a moment to look around at the destruction he has caused. "Well, this has been fun, but I really must be on my way. Chaos Control." He disappears in a flash of light.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 0, Episode 23

Dawn of Chaos, Part 4: Order and Chaos

Written by ChaosProjectAuthor

Tails and Amy run into the room. "Sonic, you can't trust Lumis, he–…" Tails trails off as he gets a good look at the room. Sonic, Chaos, and Knuckles are still rising to their feet, looking bruised and clutching their heads. Destroyed furniture, damaged walls, and a still-smoking line of black carved across the floor serve as marks of the brief battle that had just occurred. "I…guess you know that already. Heh heh."

Amy questions, "So what happened? Where did he go?"

Knuckles is the first to answer. "He got away. With my Emerald." Amy gasps.

Tails responds, "So we should go after him, right?"

Sonic answers, "We have no idea where he might've gone. What we need is a solid plan, but we don't even know half of what's going on yet."

Chaos declares, "I…can help." All eyes turn to him. "Let me…help you." He extends a hand towards Sonic. Hesitantly, Sonic takes the hand with his own. Chaos starts to pull it closer to himself, and finally places it onto the gem on his own chest.

Sonic's eyes go wide as his mind is assaulted by a thousand separate thoughts at once, each senseless on its own, yet somehow together making enough sense to– "Ah!" Sonic backs off suddenly, startled and bewildered.

Amy asks, "What is it, what did he do?"

Sonic holds a hand up. "It's okay, I'm fine. I think…I understand."

Knuckles jabs back sarcastically, "Well, care to enlighten the rest of us?"

Sonic clutches his head again, but nods slowly. "Most of what Lumis said was true…except about the wrong person. The one who the Lords of Chaos sent to help me…was you." He looks up at Chaos, who nods back. "Except that…you were never supposed to have a body. You were supposed to be a thing, a tool I could use, one that calls to me and responds only to me, so that I could have access to Chaos powers without needing to have a Chaos Emerald."

Tails cheers, "Yes! I knew it was a good idea!" He quiets down as he realizes that Amy and Knuckles are glaring at him. "Sorry…"

Sonic continues, "Something from your realm can only exist in ours in the form of a gem, that's what the Lords of Chaos said to me last time. And that's all you were supposed to be. But, Tails' experiment did something you weren't expecting, and suddenly you were awake, with a consciousness completely different from anything you'd ever experienced before. Your brain was completely scrambled, but you remembered one thing. Another consciousness went with you. And it had to be stopped. But…I don't think I understand…what does 'the Outlaw' actually mean?"

Chaos nods slowly. "Over ten millennia ago, the one you know as Lumis was another Lord of Chaos, just as I." Everyone looks at him with surprise at the use of the complete sentence. "Contact with the Controller's mind has assisted my organization of thought. As I was saying, it is natural for the Lords of Chaos to explore all perspectives of a single debate. However, there was one who nearly always concluded in a position against the rest. His positions grew more and more extreme, until he grew tired of being ceaselessly in the minority. So he took a physical form in your realm, just as he has now, and attempted to convince the Controller of that time to perform the Ritual of Illumination. He acted against our collective will, and nearly succeeded in utterly destroying the Balance. He was thwarted, and after all the time he thought he had been ignored, it was deemed a fitting punishment to truly silence him. It seems he has been waiting for his chance to escape ever since. And when I was sent here, he found it."

Everyone goes silent for a long while. Finally, Knuckles speaks. "Great story and all, but we have a crisis on our hands here. Since you're so mighty and all-knowing, what do you think we should do?"

Chaos thinks for a moment. "The Outlaw requires the Chaos Emeralds in order to perform the Ritual. So, the logical course of action is to gather the rest before he gets the chance."

Sonic nods. "A good old-fashioned Emerald hunt, eh? Tails, ya think you can dust off the old tracker?"

Tails gives him a smile. "You got it." He turns and runs out of the room.

Knuckles objects, "Wait, we're going after the Chaos Emeralds? What about the Master Emerald!?"

Chaos responds, "The Master Emerald may be powerful, dangerous in the wrong hands, but there is little that the Outlaw can do with it for the time being. You must understand, the Chaos Emeralds are a priority."

"No, you don't understand! I've devoted my life to protecting that thing, I need to find it as soon as possible!"

"I know all about your role as Guardian, Knuckles the Echidna." Chaos leans in towards Knuckles, and whispers quietly, "I also know that isn't your real name."

"What!?" Knuckles looks around frantically, but sees that no one heard. He says quietly back, "Are you trying to blackmail me or something?"

Chaos answers back in a normal tone of voice, "Not at all. I merely mean to say that I know who you are, and I know that you can assist us in this endeavor. I know that you wish to pursue the Outlaw, but that would be unwise at this time. You've just seen how the last battle went. If that was so bad, you'd hardly last a minute going after him on your own. And I would call that an optimistic estimate. So, do you intend to assist us?"

Knuckles grumbles, "Fine…"

Sonic interjects, "Everyone friends now?"

Amy, silent for quite some time, responds, "Actually, I don't really–"

Sonic ignores her. "Good. We want to do this efficiently, so that means splitting into teams. I'll go with Chaos. Amy, you go with Knuckles. And Tails…" He looks up to Tails, who has just re-entered the room, holding a familiar device. "…you stay here and coordinate."

"What!? No way! I'm going with you, I'm not staying here!"

"Tails, this is important. We need to get this done fast, and we can't do that unless you keep us organized. Besides, I won't be alone. Chaos will have my back."

"But…" Tails looks over at Chaos, who gives him a reassuring, if somewhat forced, smile. "Okay…"

"Alright, then catch us up. You getting any readings?"

"I'll need to hook it up to a Chaos Emerald first."

"Right." Sonic pulls out the purple Emerald, and hands it over to Tails, who inserts it into a slot on the device.

The device lights up, and Tails looks it over for a moment before pointing to two blips that have appeared on its screen. "Getting two nearby readings, one to the south, and one a bit farther north."

Sonic nods. "Alright. Knuckles, Amy, you head south. We'll go north."

Tails adds, "We'll definitely need to keep in touch." He pulls out a handful of communicators, and hands one to Sonic. "Here's something to replace the last one. Try not to break it this time." Sonic doesn't laugh at the joke as Tails continues to hand out the devices to the other three. "These Chaos Communicators will let us keep instantaneous contact, no matter where, or when, we are."

While Tails speaks, Chaos looks at the device curiously. Sonic taps him on the shoulder, and demonstrates how to fasten it to the ear. "Intriguing…" He does the same, then taps on it a few times to ensure that it's working.

Sonic steps forward. "We've wasted enough time here. Is everyone ready to go?"

Tails, Amy, and Knuckles all cheer, "Yeah!"

"Chaos?"

"I will remain by your side."

"Then let's go!" Sonic runs out, and Chaos follows behind him.

Knuckles prepares to leave as well, but Tails stops him. "Knuckles…do you think it's…weird, that Sonic is putting so much trust in this guy? After what just happened with Lumis? He's acting like he's known him all his life."

"Well…didn't he catch you up on the whole Controller thing? In a way, Sonic sort of has known him all his life. And then some."

Amy adds, "I trusted Chaos before, and that goes double now. I've watched him save Sonic's life. He really does care."

Tails sighs. "Okay…. You two should get going."

Knuckles nods in farewell before turning to leave. "We're out."

Amy continues, "Be back soon."

Tails waves them off. "Good luck."

—–—

Dr. Eggman twirls the yellow Chaos Emerald around in one hand. In the opposite, he holds a duller version of the same gem. "Is the analysis complete?"

Orbot answers, "Yes, sir. It's a fully functional, fake Chaos Emerald. Data collected from the wreckage of the plane indicates that it can be used as a power source without concern."

"Can it be duplicated?"

"I believe so, sir."

"So, the fox boy really did it? I suppose I'm impressed. Remind me to thank him when I use it to take over the world! Ah ha ha ha ha!" Eggman's evil laugh is interrupted as Lumis appears in a flash of light. Eggman glares at him for a moment. "Ah, you're that ugly fellow from before, hm? Lumis, was it? Back to be captured again?"

"I am Lumis the Shining. And I highly advise against taking any such action towards me." He waves around a few claws. "For your own sake. I am here to make a deal."

"A deal, eh? And what exactly do you have to offer to me?"

"My goal is to perform a certain Ritual which would shift the Balance of the world. However, one can not merely remove one side of the balance. There must be an anchor point, in which all of the dark energies of the planet must concentrate. Typically, this would be one of the Chaos Emeralds. I can grant that energy to you. Practically unlimited power at your fingertips. Sound enticing?"

"My, such a large improvisation on an already abnormal ritual? Are you sure you can handle it?"

"And how exactly do you know about the current status of the Ritual?"

"Oh, never mind that. I have my ways."

"Well, my abilities are not in question. What I require from you in exchange are two things. Assist me in finding the remaining Chaos Emeralds. And produce as many false Emeralds as you are capable of."

"And why should I trust a word you say? If you can betray the rodent, why can't you betray me?"

"Perhaps you would care for some…collateral?" Lumis produces the Master Emerald.

"Yes, that will do quite nicely. Lumis, I think this is the start of a beautiful evil partnership."

"I don't know if I'd use the word 'beautiful'." He mutters more quietly, "Or 'evil', for that matter." He continues in a normal tone, "But I certainly believe that we can help each other. So, let us begin."

—–—

Sonic speeds through the dense jungle. Chaos follows at a surprising pace, though he seems to be slowly falling behind. Sonic looks over his shoulder and notices this, and slows down enough to let them run side-by-side. He comments, "You're pretty fast. I'm impressed."

"What did you expect? This body has been formed primarily based on your own genetic code, Controller."

"What about the parts that aren't?"

Chaos almost unconsciously seems to run a hand down one of his spikes as he runs. "It is a shame that there are so many things about this world that I will never understand. I cannot answer your question."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Chaos thinks for a moment. "That…brings me to another question, if I might ask?"

"Ask away."

"Very well. At what point shall I destroy this body and return to my intended form?"

Sonic skids to a halt. "What!?"

Chaos stops to match. "If I might make a suggestion, we should begin immediately, so that you might be prepared should the next battle come sooner than expected."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Shall I rephrase the–"

"No, no, no no no. I am not going to let you kill yourself, do you hear me?"

"Well, 'kill' is not quite the correct word to describe the process. I would still exist, inside of this…" He taps the gem on his chest. "Moonstone. I can assure you that it can be done quite painlessly, for the sake of properly granting you the tool you were originally intended to have."

Sonic closes his eyes for a moment. Then he puts a hand on the shoulder of the other hedgehog. "Chaos…if there really is another battle coming…what do you think I'd rather have? A tool in my hand? Or a partner by my side?"

Chaos ponders for a moment while Sonic takes his hand back. "Hmm…intriguing. Well…" Mimicking Sonic's gesture, he puts a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "I wish you to know that, regardless of my form, I will do everything in my power to protect you."

Sonic seems surprised at the touch at first. But after a moment, his demeanor changes somehow. He stares at Chaos with a look in his eyes never seen there before. And for a moment, the two simply look at each other, the teenage hedgehog with no real family, and the ancient deity who has watched over him his entire life. Until a buzz comes in their communicators.

"Tails to Sonic and Chaos. It looks like you two have stopped, is everything alright?"

Sonic answers back, "Yeah, Tails. Everything's fine."

"Well, then get moving. We can't afford to waste any time."

Chaos looks past the trees to nearly-set sun. "It's alright, Miles. The Outlaw will not come out at night. It is his weakness. You have already seen his general aversion to darkness."

Sonic mutters, "You could've mentioned that before…"

Tails responds, "Even if that's true, we shouldn't take any chances. It won't be easy, finding four Emeralds in one night."

"He's right, Chaos. Let's move." Chaos nods in agreement, and the two take off again.

—–—

Amy and Knuckles make their way over and around a rocky cliffside, leading off into a desert area. Every few moments, they look to each other in an awkward silence. After quite some time of this, Knuckles finally breaks the silence. "So…umm…how are things going with Sonic?"

"Really? That's what you're going to ask me? Not, 'How was your day, Amy?' or 'What have you been up to this year, Amy?' No? It had to be 'How are things going with Sonic?' I do have a life outside of Sonic, you know."

"Geez, sorry I asked." They continue on in silence for a little while longer. "So…how was your day, Amy?"

"Hmph."

Knuckles quiets down for a while longer. Suddenly, he blurts out, "Why is Sonic the only person on the planet who actually likes me!?"

"Well maybe it's because you're a big knucklehead who only cares about himself! Just like Sonic!" She covers her mouth as she realizes what she just said.

"Do you…really think that about him?"

"Well…no…but…." She shakes her head. "Sometimes, it just feels that way. He's been going off on all of these solo adventures, and even if we are there, it seems like he'd rather us not."

"He's been trying to change that. That's what he told me this morning."

"So what if he is? He still hasn't spoken a word to me all year before today. He didn't even invite me to his Birthday party. I've been trying to give him the space that he needs, but it seems like he's noticing me even less!"

"If it's any consolation…you know, if something ever happened you, he wouldn't hesitate to rescue you. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he couldn't."

"So he only cares about me when it's convenient for him? That still sounds pretty selfish."

"But that doesn't change how you feel about him, does it?" After a moment, she shakes her head. "And what about me?"

"Knuckles, you know I didn't mean that."

"Oh? Then what did you mean?"

"It's just…you spend all day, every day, sitting alone on an island with a giant rock as your only companion. And whenever you aren't, it's because you're out here doing something to protect it. You're never really nice to anyone, just single-mindedly going after whatever it is you're doing so that you can go back to sitting alone with your rock. If people don't like you, it's because you never act like you like anyone else."

Knuckles sighs as he ponders that. "Thanks…for being honest with me."

She smiles. "It's what I do."

He thinks on the topic of honesty a while longer. "And…what if I told you…that my name…" He seems to struggle with even those words, and eventually just shakes his head. "Nevermind." He looks off into the desert. "We should be getting close to the Emerald now."

—–—

Sonic's large shoe sloshes into the muck of the swamp, as he trudges through the thick liquid. "I think–" He stops as he accidentally splashes himself with the filthy liquid. He continues, "I think I might have found the one thing I hate more than water." He struggles with every step. "Muck water."

As Chaos moves alongside him, he runs some of the stuff through his hands. "It's composed primarily of decomposing plant material. It harbors no ill will towards you. Nor does regular water, for that matter."

"Yeah? Tell that to the hundred and one times I've almost drowned."

Chaos looks at him curiously. "I fail to understand how speaking to an event which has already occurred is possible, let alone what it might accomplish."

"Nevermind. It's just an expression." Suddenly, Chaos stops. "What's up?"

"The Emerald. It is near." He points to the top of a rotting tree some distance away, out of which a faint blue glow emerges.

"There it is!" Sonic seems prepared to run for it, but appears to think better of charging through the muck at the last moment. He starts trudging slowly in that direction instead, careful not to get splashed again.

Chaos still doesn't move. "There's something else. A…presence."

Sonic calls back as he trudges forward, "What's that?"

"It feels…Light. It can't be…"

"You're gonna have to speak up!"

"Get down!" Chaos dives at Sonic, sending them both splashing into the swamp, just in time to avoid the beam of light energy that slices through the spots they had just been standing in, spraying them even further.

The voice of Lumis calls out, "Aren't you supposed to be the fast one, Controller?"

Sonic climbs back to his feet, covered in the muck, coughing some out and wiping more from his eyes. But he finally gets a good look at their attacker. Lumis still resembles his crystalline form, but has become interspersed with machinery, giving him the appearance of a cyborg. Most importantly, the cyan Chaos Emerald has been attached to a slot in the machinery on the chest. Sonic lets out another cough. "So…you aren't so afraid of the dark after all? Looks like someone…" He shoots a glare at Chaos. "…exaggerated a bit about you."

Chaos gets back to his feet as well. "He appears to have been augmented with some sort of cybernetic technology."

Sonic clenches his fist. "Eggman."

Lumis lets out a laugh. "I've learned much since last time I arrived in this world. How to choose the winning side of a battle, for example. It seems you aren't even competent enough to find a single Emerald in the time that we've found two. Soon to be four."

Sonic says quietly to Chaos, "I don't think he knows that the Emerald's right there behind him. I'm gonna distract him, you go for the Emerald once he's gone." Without giving him a chance to answer, Sonic shouts at Lumis, "Hey, metalhead! Wanna see just how 'competent' I am!?" Sonic dashes at Lumis as if to attack, and Lumis prepares to block. But Sonic takes a sharp turn at the last moment, ending up on Lumis' left, where he stops to pose and waggle his finger. "Then try to keep up." Chaos stares at Sonic with curiosity as he takes off, Lumis close behind him.

Sonic sidesteps another energy beam as he runs. "Still think I'm not fast enough?" He dodges again. Then he reaches for his communicator. "Knuckles, Amy, Lumis is here. It sounds like he might be after your Emerald too. Be ready for a fight." He turns a sharp corner to avoid yet another beam.

—–—

"Just what are you getting at?" Knuckles glares at Amy skeptically, apparently in the middle of a new conversation.

Amy shrugs. "We've been wandering around this desert for hours. If you really were such a great treasure hunter, wouldn't we have found it by now?"

"Hey, why don't you try finding something so small in such a big wasteland?" He stops to think. "The fact that we haven't even seen a glow from it yet tells me that it must be buried underground somewhere. But I can't just go digging through the whole desert hoping to find it." He taps his communicator. "Tails, are you sure you can't get us any closer?" He waits for an answer. "Tails?"

Amy taps him on the shoulder. "Knuckles…I see a glow…but I don't think it's the Chaos Emerald…" She points up in the air, to a faint yellow glimmer which rapidly glows brighter.

Sonic's voice comes in over the communicator. "Knuckles, Amy, Lumis is here. It sounds like he might be after your Emerald too. Be ready for a fight." At that moment, Lumis crashes to the ground, cracking through rock and throwing up a massive cloud of dust, and creating a huge crater.

Knuckles coughs through the dust. "Looks like he's here too! How is there two of him!?"

As the dust clears, Lumis, green Emerald in mechanical chest and red one in clawed hand, seems almost happy to explain. "There's no more of me than there was before. However, my new partner has been kind enough to outfit my lesser parts with some…power enhancers. Allowing me to speak through them. Among other things." The apparently-fake Lumis holds up his empty claws. "I really have no use for you two. So I'll be on my way." He fires his beam of energy in arc to cut them both down, but they both dive out of the way in time. While they're on the ground, he soars right back up into the air.

"He's getting away!"

Amy looks to Knuckles quickly. "Throw me."

"What!?"

"Do it!" Somewhat reluctantly, Knuckles grabs Amy by the arm, and throws her upwards with tremendous strength. She readies her hammer for a swing as she flies towards the fleeing Lumis. But her ascent slows quickly, and Lumis starts to gain ground again, laughing at her failure. "Oh no you don't!" In desperation, she flings her hammer at him. It impacts his shoulder, dislodging machinery and exposing a liquid core. But he still flies away unhindered, as Amy starts to fall.

—–—

"He's gone, we lost the Emerald."

Sonic answers back to Knuckles, "That's alright, I've still got him here."

Lumis' voice calls out, "Oh, you have me, do you?" Sonic skids to a stop as he realizes that Lumis is no longer following him. "Because I believe it is I…who has you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tell me…have you heard from the fox boy recently?"

Sonic freezes up. "No…"

"No matter. I've distracted you here for long enough. My work is done." Just like the other one, Lumis takes off straight into the air at high speed, far beyond Sonic's reach.

Sonic, hands trembling, reaches for his communicator. "Tails…? Tails, can you hear me…? Tails? Tails, respond! Respond!" He's already taken off running. "Tails, please, answer me!"

—–—

Tails backs away, one step at a time, from yet another mechanized Lumis clone, which appears to have crashed in straight through the wall. His communicator lies on the floor, out of which Sonic's muffled shouts can be faintly heard. Lumis points his claws at the trembling fox. "Do the right thing, boy. Hand over the Emerald." Tails takes another step back. "It would be against my nature to harm an innocent child such as yourself. But that doesn't mean I won't. You're the smart one, aren't you? Make the smart choice. Or you won't be the only one to go through unnecessary suffering."

To be continued…