"What do you mean you won't come with us?" Cory shouted.
They were at Chris's apartment, attempting to convince him to come on their southern adventure. The place smelled repulsive, the walls were covered in mysterious liquids, and the floor was damp. Roaches crawled around, infesting every corner. Cory didn't seem to mind.
"I can't come I need to finish my new sonichu comic!" Chris shouted back, not angry but as if he couldn't control the volume in his voice.
"That can wait, we need you to train Newt in the arts of the samurai!"
Chris scratched his neckbeard, "What skills does he have?"
"Pretty much any skill imaginable, I haven't seen him not be able to do anything."
This caught Chris's attention. Newt seemed to be some sort of demigod. Could the collective conscience of Silver and Newt have formed a new entity, as if it was a mind birthed from two minds. If Newt's mind was also Silver's mind, who was Newt now? Newt knew everything about his life as Silver, but also knew everything about his life as Newt. Newt was a loser who lived in the White House, Silver was a hedgehog who fought for his friends. It appeared as if the separation from his past memory had turned him into a hybrid of the two consciences.
Of course, these aren't Chris's thoughts because Chris is a worthless idiot.
"I'll do it for Japan!" Chris shouted, people on the street turned to him and glared. Cory decided not to tell him that Japan had been nonexistent since the 80s. They walked to the bus ship and got onto it.
From the outside it still looked like a piece of junk. The paint was peeling and rust covered large sections of it, but the inside looked entirely different now that the president had ordered a full remodel of it. The front was run by a computer who Cory named "Espio" after their long lost friend Espio. The computer navigated and gave answers to complex problems, he also had a British accent. A driver could take over via a manual overdrive function implemented into the control panel. One side of the bus was filled with seats and beds made with only the finest materials. On the other side there were fridges and other necessary appliances for cooking and any other activity that you do while travelling. The president had also installed a bathroom into the back of the bus, but it was just a hole in the floor that emptied into the outside.
"Hello, master Cory, how are you doing?" Espio said as they walked in.
"I'm doing fine I just got Chris and we're ready to go back to DC."
"Very well, setting course for Washington DC, tracking optimal flight path, redirecting other aircrafts to avoid our own flight path, engaging stealth mode, ready to take off."
"G-go ahead Espio," Cory said, getting nervous for no reason.
Thrusters extended from the bottom and shot the bus upwards. When they reached a good altitude, the bus turned and aimed straight toward DC. Another thruster extended out of the back of the bus, it's chrome finish shining in the sun, even though it was invisible to the common man. It suddenly bolted forward at an incredible speed, heading for DC.
Newt emerged from the bathroom and looked curiously at Chris. The last time they had met the gang was tracking down a chaos emerald that was in area 51. Before that, Chris has coached them in the art of finding boyfriend free girls, only to go on a drug trip soon after meeting. Since then, Chris had put on over 200 pounds in weight and now had a full grown beard on his neck. Grease covered every inch of his pasty skin. He was the epitome of American beauty.
"So, when will my samurai training begin, man?" Newt asked.
"Soon, you will need long hair first, though."
Newt looked in the mirror. His hair was currently shoulder length, looking at Cory he realised he had the shortest out of all of them. Cory had long, back length auburn locks and even Chris had knee length hair. Newt had been outclassed and was now worthless in most ways.
"I must first track down a Japanese katana from within the white house, man, senpai." Newt said, using the japanese term for master to appropriately label Chris. Newt was well versed in Japanese.
Luckily, the bus ship landed in the white house lawn just as he said that. Many Japanese relics were held within the confines of the white house. Now is a good time to thoroughly explain the Japanese- American war. Japanese culture had grown exponentially in power since the mid 60s. By the 80s it had grown into a force that could crack the moon in half if it was left uncontained. If this power fell into the wrong hands, according the the US government, it could be the end of the world. Seven bombers were sent over to Japan who made a deal with the Japanese government to save the world. Key elements of Japanese culture were preserved and taken back to the US, including the body of the final president of Japan, which is said to lay in a tomb in Idaho. After this, the bombers let loose all of hell as they nuked the entirety of Japan. Though the fedora of myths was able to protect one monastery. This was the cause of the total annihilation of Japan. Of course, this was all covered up in order to preserve Japanese culture in the United States so some of its power could be retained.
Many of the artifacts recovered from Japan were still located in the White House, or so the rumor went. Somewhere within the corridors and secret passages sat an armory of swords that were recovered from Japan. It is said that out of all of these there is one that is the blade of the true samurai. This blade has powers over fire, but only can be wielded by one with a fiery spirit.
As the bus landed, Newt jumped out and ran toward the White House door with his arms behind him, eager to find the Japanese vault and recover the sword of the true samurai. He began by looking in the basement. This is where the technology labs were held where top secret projects were worked on, but these projects were high level top secret projects. Lower level projects with even darker undertones were apparently underneath the basement. John, a scientist who Newt thought was his friend, was working today.
"Hey John, how's it going, man?"
"Shut up and leave me to my work."
"What are you working on, man?"
John sighed, "If you must know, I'm currently working on a way to bring back the internet after Cory Baxter destroyed it. Ever since your special force of Japanese loving losers showed up, the president has had us fixing all your mistakes. We have grown to greatly despise you. No offense."
"N-none taken," Newt said, holding back his tears, "u-um how do I get to the Japanese vault, man?"
"If I show you will you stop bothering me?"
"Yes, man."
"You didn't hear anything from me." He walked over to a wall with a few computers on it. On one was complicated equations for fusion reactions. After typing in around 20 passcodes, a clearance window popped up and John typed in 'newt.' Suddenly, Newt was teleported a million miles below the surface into a darker lab. He appeared to be alone within this area, it was Sunday and most scientists were at home or whatever.
Many projects lined the walls, each seemed to be related to testing humans. One listed out a substance that could greatly increase plant growth within an underground facility, though it infected humans and turned them into plant like creatures. Another seemed to be a psychological test where subliminal messages were sent through wavelengths over an intercom. They all appeared to be related to underground facilities, but what where were they? Next to these were plans to move people to some sort of oil rig base off the coast of San Francisco.
Newt, being more competent as a protagonist than Cory, was intrigued by these discoveries. There were hundreds of these experiment plans all displayed as advertisements. Looking out into the darkness of the underground warehouse, Newt could make out what appeared to be thousands of them. Why was the government planning human experiments in underground facilities?
Newt continued onwards past the displays and found himself at a large, cog-shaped door. Nearby was a lever, which Newt pulled in order to open the door. He poked his head inside the chamber and looked around. It was incredibly dark inside the room. The floor was made entirely of metal, controls for the door and other computers sat idly along the sides of the wall. Everything had a new metallic shine to it.
As Newt entered, he went over to the computers on the wall. The program that ran on them appeared to be written by a company named 'VT.' This was some sort of vault for containing humans. After reading the description of the project, Newt backed away slowly. How would the government send people to these vaults? He knew nothing good would come out of searching through this, so he ran out, arms behind his back, and tried to locate the Japanese vault. He ran past many prototype vaults, but none appeared to hold anything.
After running for what felt like hours, Newt found the end of the warehouse. He ran straight into the wall and fell over, dizzy. As he came to, he realised that what he ran into was not only a wall, but a wall decorated with Japanese characters. Newt sat awestruck as he walked along the wall, reading the tales of the ancient Japanese and their fall in the 1980s. In order to protect the world from the power of Japanese culture, this vault was to be sealed indefinitely. Newt turned and found himself facing a large vault door, similar to the others in this secret lab, but this one had the number 3333 on it. There wasn't anything nearby to open it, but Newt already knew how to open it.
He opened his mouth, and shouted the ten commandments in perfect Japanese. The words flowed past his tongue with the power of Japanese pride, each one growing in decibels. The symbols on the wall began to shine around the door, glowing a bright blue that lit up the vault door. The echos became one as Newt's voice traveled around the warehouse, the unintended melody of the words flowing as if they were a divine river. A glowing blue crane swooped down with such precise movement that it appeared to be heavenly. It cawed as it flew right toward the vault door, merging with it as the door glowed the brightest blue imaginable. The door dissolved into dust and blew around Newt as the nearly hundred year air from the vault joined with modern air, as if a long lost couple was reunited.
Newt walked through the door, being startled as the lights turned on in the vault. A static sound played over the intercom as he began walking toward the control console he spotted nearby. As he walked toward the console, a voice began to speak over the intercom.
"Welcome, young one. You have discovered the vault of the Japanese. We, as a people, live here in spirit, thriving on the pride the people in America have toward Japanese culture. You must prove yourself worthy, though, in order to get to this untapped power. Step through the next door, if you wish to face your fears and prove yourself worthy."
Newt was taken aback by the voice, but quickly recovered and put on a brave face. He would have to have courage in order to face these trials. He walked through the door, holding his head up high. The first room was very bright, along the edges sat pictures of Blaze, Newt's long lost love. A door opened along the side of the wall, Newt held his fists out at the ready.
Out of the door stepped Blaze, living and breathing. It was a miracle of nature and science. It looked as if she had never been hurt at all.
"Silver, I've been looking for you forever! Before I died, I transfered my soul back to my original dimension and became alive again."
Newt was ecstatic, maybe he could reawaken his Silver form if blaze was able to regenerate. Hope began to fill Newt as he gazed upon Blaze, but then his heart fell. What if this was a test? How could he ever know? Ever since her death, Newt had longed to see her face again, but now that she stood before him, he knew that he needed to give up on his impossible dreams.
"No, man, you aren't real."
Blaze held out her hand, "Yes I am, come with me and we can make you Silver again."
"No. I will not go with you, man."
Heartbroken, Newt walked onward past her, walking through the next door into the next trial. This room was also brightly lit. Along the walls were pictures of Silver. Voices whispered as if they were inside Newt's head. The message was simple, but used against Newt it rendered the boy powerless. "You are Silver."
Newt was reminded of his past life, who he was and who he was supposed to be. Newt was a failure. Forced into exile, he left behind his memories of his old life to live in happiness, but as he began to remember the life he once lived, the monsters of a life greater than his own became true. He couldn't even live up to his past accomplishments. Newt fell to the ground as the voices became louder, reminding him of his failures and his life of greatness in the other dimension. Then it fell upon Newt.
"I am not Silver." Newt shouted. Instantly the demon voices went away. It dawned upon Newt that he was no longer Silver. He was Newt now and forever. Nothing could possibly change that now. He looked down upon his hands, looking through the lenses that now engulfed his palms. He used to be Silver, he used to be a Hedgehog, and at one time he was both human and hedgehog, but now he was just Newt. He let go of his past, looking toward the future with courage. His hand began to glow, and as he turned it he saw the triforce of courage over his hand.
All of the images instantly cracked, and a door appeared at the end of the room. He walked through the door with pride, finding himself in a large underground warehouse filled with Japanese buildings. Flags flew over the streets of the empty village, each house contained thousands of Japanese relics. The Japanese vault.
Newt walked straight to the temple on the hill, knowing from his knowledge of Japanese culture that the armory was inside. He walked through the doors and saw millions of swords littering the walls. At the end of the hall sat a pedestal with a sword in it. The sword was a strong metallic color. The hilt was a dark blue, curving upwards in a jagged shape. Newt knew the sword well. It was the master sword. Japanese culture was contained within the triforce, the master sword was the sword of the true samurai. Subliminal messages in video games had been empowering the youth of America with the power of Japanese culture, though only a little.
Newt grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled, but nothing happened. He needed this blade, it was his only hope in becoming a samurai. A single phrase went through his head many times. Use your hands. Newt looked down on his hands and closed his eyes with courage. The triforce on his hand glowed as he put them on top of each other, lining up the holes in his hands. He put them down upon the handle of the sword, breaking the lenses within his hands as they passed through the handle. Time seemed to stop as Newt pulled out the blade, holding it up high above his head.
"Well done, child. I will now tell you who I am. I am the last president of Japan. I worked with the president to preserve the culture of Japan while also limiting its power. Today, I am long dead, buried within the confines of Iowa. Find my tomb and bring this sword to it, and I shall grant you the power you seek and the wisdom you already know."
Newt looked down on his sword, he needed to get to Iowa, not Idaho. Looking into the blade, Newt saw his hair grow to the middle of his back. He was becoming a samurai. A light engulfed Newt as he was teleported back into the bus ship, right next to Cory and Chris.
"Welcome back." Chris shouted.
"Thanks, man. I found the true samurai sword," Newt said, holding his newly acquired sword up, "I have also been given a mission that I must take alone."
Cory turned to Chris, "Well, now that Newt is fully trained as a samurai, we won't need you so you can go back."
Chris walked away sadly, regretfully going back to his sonichu comic book.
"Cory, you are my best friend, man. You'll find allies in the south, I know it. Hopefully I'll get to the Alamo before the battle, goodbye, man."
This was the hardest part of Cory's life. Newt had always been with Cory as long as their journey had gone. Nothing could separate the duo as they battled the darkness. But now, as the sun set and as the sky turned a bright orange. Within the shadow the the white house, two friends parted ways. With a hope to one day fight together again, they turn their backs on each other, but inside they are just as much friends as they always were before.
"We'll meet again, man. I know it." Newt whispered to himself. The screen freezes as Cory is walking into his bus, the bright orange sky appearing behind him as he turned and looked at Newt's departing figure, a transparent image of his face appearing over the image.
As our three heroes, Null, Cory, and Newt, go their separate ways, each facing their own demons, a darkness grows around the world. Because war, war never changes.