When we last left off, Null had been separated back into Zero, Shadow, and Espio after touching the master emerald. Now they stand side by side, ready to fight for the emeralds. Who will win? I don't even know yet.
"Fools, we were doing fine until we used the emeralds to awaken the true edge," Shadow said, crossing his arms and glaring.
"Heh kid, nothing personal, but I'll be taking those emeralds!" Zero shouted.
Espio ran toward the emeralds as the two argued and reached for them, only to be stopped by a blast from Zero's buster. Espio turned to glare at the others, thinking how he could take them out easily. But really, why did he need the emeralds? To become the most powerful entity in the universe. That was it, the motivation Espio needed.
He pulled out his shurikens and stood at the ready, facing the other two. Adrenaline pumped through his body, getting him ready for action. Zero and Shadow pulled out their weapons as well. This was it, the battle for the emeralds. The battle of the edgelords.
Shadow ran along, shooting bullets at both of them with twin AK-47s. Espio easily dodged them while Zero blocked them with a shield. Jumping out of the way, Espio did a backflip and spun around, throwing 34 shurikens at various locations around them. Zero dodged them easily, but Shadow was hit by a single on.
He reached down and touched his arm, feeling the scratch that now decorated his skin. Moving his fingers away, a drop of blood dripped down from the wound. He clenched his fist and grunted, pulling out his secret katana.
"NO MORE TRICKS, NO MORE GAMES. WE END THIS NOW." Shadow shouted.
Espio smirked and pulled out his shurikens, extending the blades so they looked more like daggers. Zero grunted and pulled out his z saber, its plasma blade scorging with power as it erupted from its holster. Every nerve in Espios body became active. Shadow stood at the ready.
Espio ran along the edge of the temple throwing a barrage of shurikens at the two, which were all easily dodged by both of them. He jumped up and pulled out his dagger shurikens, jumping toward Shadow. Shadow tilted his katana and blocked the attack. Espio brought the other dagger around and slashed at Shadow but he had already seen this happening and pushed the other blade away as he brought his katana around to block the other attack.
Zero jumped toward Espio and slashed at him with his z saber. Espio did a backflip to dodged the attack and Zero fell down to the ground, only to be sliced by Shadow, who was ready. Zero's arm was torn off as sparks flew out of him. Zero smirked and jumped back.
Shadow pulled out another katana to counter the twin blades of Espio, but now Shadow had the advantage. He ran toward Espio at a high speed and slashed at him with the blades. Espio blocked all of his attacks as they slowly backed up. Espio looked behind him briefly to see they were at the edge of the temple. Below them stood a 50 foot wall of pure stone with trees growing over it. Espio had reached his end.
Shadow smirked and brought his blades to each side of him, ready to chop Espio in half. The blades came toward each other as Espio did a backflip off of the temple and threw a shuriken, landing on it and flying back toward the temple. He landed near Zero and dodged a swipe from his saber. The heat from the plasma blade could be felt from the close dodge.
Shadow grunted and ran at Espio once again, slashing the Chameleon relentlessly. Espio blocked each one and jumped up, kicking off of Shadows head. In mid air he turned around and threw shurikens at the hedgehog. Shadow saw this coming and hit all of them out of the air with his katana.
Shadow then ran toward Espio once more, restlessly slashing with his hot metal blades in the summer sun. Espio dodged and jumped to the side, throwing another shuriken at the black hedgehog. Shadow bent over backwards and dodged the shuriken as it flew over him. He smirked, impressed with his own skills, and ran toward Espio with a grimace on his face, swiping his blade at the chameleon. It made contact.
With Zero.
"We cannot allow this man to take the chaos emeralds, Espio. Let me relay my memories to you so you can finally understand," Zero said with a katana through his chest.
Espio shook slightly as hundred of gigabytes of memories flooded into him.
Zero had been searching for the emeralds in order to defeat the evil known as Hitler, but what he didn't realize was that Hitler wasn't the ultimate evil. The cult of Hitler merely wanted a way to defeat the darkness, and thus resurrected a previous host of the darkness. Someone who has felt the darkness within them before would know more about how to defeat them. Zero had realized this as soon as he saw the city of Berlin. Nothing evil was there anymore. The horrors of Hitler's campaign in World War II were not done by Hitler himself, but by the darkness.
Zero realized this too late though, but when he met with the president as Null, he knew that they shared a common enemy. Two sides fighting to destroy the same thing that they believed the other carried. But one thing didn't add up. Why did the prophecy in the Japanese temple show Cory defeating Hitler if was destined to defeat the darkness?
Shadow would give the emeralds to the president, who would then use them to destroy the wrong enemy. This was all going according to the darkness's plan. He would use the two warring nations to destroy each other and then he would strike, effectively giving him complete control over the Earth. Not even Kek could defeat him then.
Shadow could not be allowed to get the emeralds. Zero knew this. Now he would need to work together with Espio, even if it meant letting Espio get the emeralds. A heavenly choir sang from the sky as silence fell over the temple. Espio shouted, but his cries and pleas went unheard from the others. Time seemed to slow as he ran to stop Zero, but he knew he was already too late.
Zero dashed at shadow, he knew what he had to do. He jumped onto the black hedgehogs back and began charging up. The charge went higher and higher until he began to glow red. Heat waves emanated from the robot as he began to explode. Zero looked at Espio and winked. That wink.
Back in Neo Arcadia, in the other dimension, before Zero was on a different side, Espio and Zero walked through the gardens of the capitol building.
"What are your dreams, Shadow?" Zero asked, using Espios old name.
Espio thought hard, "I was made to serve our leader, X."
"So your entire life is connected to the existence of another? What would happen if X were to be killed, would you find another to serve?"
"We are all made for one purpose, and we cannot change who we are."
Zero looked to a tree, seeing caterpillars crawling along a leaf, "Why? Why can we not change our destinies?"
"Well, they are our destinies, you can't change them, it's fate."
One of the caterpillars began hanging upside down and making a chrysalis, "I think we can change our destinies to whatever we want, the only one stopping us is ourself. Sure, you can go down a path and think you are bound to, but what is stopping you from abandoning that path and going another way?"
Espio scoffed, "I am loyal to X."
Five months later, X begins to change, with martial law taking over the city. His mission to protect the humans turns into him enslaving them. With little rights, they cannot be hurt, and cannot hurt themselves. Zero abandoned Neo Arcadia, finding an old bunker to enter sleep mode for many years. Those many years pass and a neo arcadia resistance force finds the slumbering Zero and takes him in as one of their own. His body had changed while sleeping, and he was barely recognizable.
Zero conquered the henchmen of X, finally coming face to face with Espio. The time had come where they had to fight.
"You know, Shadow, we are one in the same. We both aspired to help X with his paradise, we both had unwavering commitment to the cause. The only difference between us is the fact that one of us is blind to how that cause has changed. You can be loyal, loyalty is good, but when the thing you are loyal to changes, well that's how you differentiate loyalty and slavery."
"Enough talk, traitor. Allow me to show you why a lost legend should remain lost."
The two fought, with Zero coming out on top. Espio screamed with fury and charged at Zero, attempting to suicide bomb them both into the afterlife. Zero escaped and left behind an Espio who was thought to be dead. Was Espio just a pawn in X's big game of chess to enslave the world? Everything seemed clearer now. He could shape his own destiny, and he could become whatever he wanted…
Back in the present, Zero winked as he suicide bombed himself, taking Shadow with him. The top of the temple crumbled, destroying half the top and obscuring Espio's view of the carnage. He closed his eyes, thinking back to his rivalry with Zero. He finally understood his point of view, but it was too late now.
"Ah, he's better off dead..." Espio said as he looked down to the bricks he stood on. Drops of water fell at his feet, staining the grey bricks dark wherever they landed. Espio began to cry.
He sniffed and looked up. Before him was the master emerald. Was his quest finally finished? He grabbed the large emerald and reached for it. Suddenly, the seven emeralds appeared around it and began to spin. A golden light fell upon the precious stone and Espio had to look away as it was blinding. As the light died away, Espio saw the emeralds had fused into a single golden emerald. The ultimate emerald.
Espio grabbed the stone and began to walk away from the temple, finding Tails waiting for him. He began thinking back to what Zero had said all those years ago. He looked at a tree and caught sight of a butterfly exiting it's chrysalis. Maybe people could change. Maybe destiny wasn't in complete control of anyone. Who was Espio? Who would Espio become? Where did his loyalties lie? Were they loyalties or slavery? Only time would tell.