Chapter 15: Chaos Cries

April 28th, 1205BC. Echidna capital of the Mystic Lands.

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Ironic. To think that the very heart of pre-Chaos Echidna civilisation would be one of the safest places on Earth for an outsider such as I to visit. They are a noble people under the rule of Naira the Echidna, valuing skills of art equally to the skills of war. Truly, this great civilisation could've lasted beyond the age it culminated within, if only if had been spared the greed and corruption of Naira's son: Pachacamac.

It is very interesting to note, that in spite of the fact that the ancient echidnas built their capital city around the site of the Emerald Altar, they have no knowledge of the origin or nature of the precious stones. They are not aware of the subtle effect that the Emeralds' presence has had on their development across the generations, and they do not understand the catastrophic potential presented before them. The barrier surrounding the Altar was created by the previous civilisation that held their power. It seems nothing remains in this time period as evidence of their existence, beyond the Emeralds themselves.

As I said, this is a safe place. The echidnas were more than happy to offer temporary shelter to a wanderer, especially after recieving that lovely silver trinket I prepared for this occasion. It's synthetic silver alloy, but as expected, these people can't tell the difference.

I've been here about a day so far. Long enough to pick up on the local gossip. It's convenient that this city and its people will be all but annihilated in a few years time, leaving no witnesses around to tell of my presence. Ah, except for Tikal, of course. I've seen the girl. I would say she's about eight years old at this time. I would worry about her, but I already know quite well from history which specific memories she chose to share with Sonic, Knuckles and their allies. I'll be long gone before the first of those events begins.

This should be another brief trip, provided all the data gathered from my previous escapades proves accurate. Tomorrow, it will be three years since Pachacamac's wife passed away. He will attend the grand feast, and at some point he will apply a considerable dose of poison to his mother's meal. None the wiser, she will depart afterwards to visit her dear secret friend at the Emerald Altar. I don't know how long it will take for her to expire. That poison was meant for hunting, not for ravaging an intelligent echidna's constitution. Regardless, at some point before dawn she will die at the steps of the Emerald Altar. It will give her chao friend the motivation to finally attempt to draw complete affinity from all seven Emeralds, in order to amplify the natural healing powers of chao kind. The attempt to save Naira will fail, but Chaos will be born.

Timing will be of the essence. I need to sample Chaos's form before the transformation is complete. Studying contemporary chao have given me the reason to believe that the creature will first enter its cocoon stage, as during normal chao's maturity process. Extracting a usable sample at that stage is likely the best way.

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious

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There was a beautiful red sunset that evening.

Naira was an orange-furred echidna, like her granddaughter, who'd inherited a great deal of her looks. With that expression of benign intelligence, she could pass for an older adult version of Tikal in a heartbeat.

The chief's confident steps lead her towards and straight through the invisible barrier that surrounded the shrine located beyond the tunnel that ran from the capital city. She knew that the barrier was created by the sacred fountain that surrounded the Controller. Oil canisters and flaming arrows would be all that was necessary to destroy the barrier, which was why no one could ever know the truth. Even her son had begun to hunger for the power of the Seven Chaos. Naira wished she had not taught him the secrets of the shrine, but he had shown such great promise before that tragic day when his wife passed away. Now, all of Naira's hopes rested with her granddaughter; Tikal.

Most of the chao living around the shrine were asleep at this hour, except for one. A chao with a darker than average shade of blue ran up to the echidna, making happy noises.

"My dear Blossom. So good to see you," said Naira, picking up the chao.

A fair distance away, Dr. Pretorious adjusted the button for the receptor lodged in his ear. Did she just call the future destroyer of the world...Blossom?

Chao have no gender. Or they have both. Impossible to be certain, with the biological make-up of the chao being unlike any other creature on Earth. Their closest living relative, according to modern chaologists, was the jellyfish, and yet their entire anatomy was still worlds apart. What little could be ascertained was that any chao could mate with any chao, suggesting that they were hermaphrodites. The reason it was a suggestion rather than a fact, was that no one could manage to find any specific gender traits whatsover. Measuring hormones wouldn't work, because chao didn't have any. Checking chromosomes wouldn't work, because, again, chao didn't have any. By all reason, the chao species shouldn't exist, yet it did - all over the world.

The question Pretorious was asking himself was this: Did Naira know more or less than modern chaologists? Could it be that Chaos the God of Destruction...was female? Hmmm. If a chao could adopt any trait whatsoever, then why not gender as well? They might start out completely neutral, but they always adapted to their owner and environment over time.

Dr. Pretorious set that train of thought aside. He had more important things to consider right now, like how soon the Echidna Chief would be showing signs of her impending death.

"Tikal is showing greater promise than my reckless son ever did. Very soon, I may bring her here to meet you, Blossom. I am certain that already today she would be able to pass through the barrier, but although physically able, she still needs to gain maturity and understanding so that she can truly appreciate the importance and fragility of this holy place."

"Chao!"

"Yes, of course. I've been teaching her the poem we came up with since she was born. When the time comes, it will help her communicate with the Controller. She may not realise that the power to exert direct control over the precious Emeralds already lies within her, within all of our people. I have worked so hard to teach them to look inside themselves for answers, yet now I fear that all my work will be undone once my son rises to power."

"Chao?"

"I don't know. I suspect his spirit died along with his wife that day. Since then he has become obsessed with the teachings of war. He plots to invade our neighbours and steal their lands. As leader of our people, I should strip away his power and banish him to where he can do no harm. Yet...he is still my son."

"Chao...Naja."

"Do not worry, Blossom. I would never... I... I feel odd."

That took less time than Pretorious had expected. That poison was only meant for paralyzing prey, not killing it outright and filling its meat with foul taint. Pachacamac must've used an absolutely excessive amount.

The next surprise was how very long it took for Cha- Blossom to realise what she could do. Over fifteen minutes, the chao spent hovering over her patron's still body, weeping and shouting. Rather sad. By the time the chao climbed the Master Emerald and let the power of the seven surrounding Emeralds flow into her gelatinous body, Naira had already gone where no amount of healing could restore her.

Pretorious turned the dial for the zoom function of his glasses up another notch. Was it...? Yes! Blossom had just entered a cocoon. Time was of the essence!

The raccoon got out from behind the big rock and ran as fast as he could across the grass plain toward the Emerald Altar. His method of getting through the invisible barrier was very tasteless, even in his own opinion. He picked up Naira's body and carried her over his shoulder, forcing his way through as the barrier opened for her. Then he as carefully as possible rolled the body back to where it had lain.

Dr. Pretorious examined the cocoon situated atop the Master Emerald for a moment, before pulling out a syringe. Very carefully he pushed the needle through membrane, and pulled on the syringe until its container filled with clear blue substance.

Perfect! One sample of pure untainted Chaos to match his piece of the negatively corrupted Chaos. It should do the trick when the time came.

"Hold, Pretorious!" said an all too familiar voice.

The raccoon turned away from the Master Emerald to see, yes once again, his nemesis and her young father mucking around where they had no business being.

Dr. Pretorious sighed while he put away the second sample. "I thought I was finally rid of you two," he said. "I suppose I should've known better."

"You're not getting away this time," said Silver, rushing forward only to get thrown back as soon as he hit the invisible barrier.

"Damn, of course. How the hell did you get through?" Pia asked defiantly.

"That's my little secret," Pretorious answered. "I doubt you 'heroes' would ever figure it out, but since I obviously can't trust you two to know your own good and stay out of my way, I'm going to throw you a bone. October 2nd, 2051BC, Glyphic Canyon. That's where and when you'll find me next. It's a time period history knows absolutely nothing about, except... Well. I wouldn't want to give too much away as I've done far too often, but you may want to ask yourselves if the name 'Gizoid' sounds familiar."

Before Silver or Pia could stop him, Pretorious activated his time portal once again, and disappeared.

"We can't possibly trust him, can we?" said Silver, cautiously prodding the barrier with his foot.

"I don't know. He would't just send us to some random point in time just to get rid of us," said Pia thoughtfully. "If I know Dr. Pretorious, he's given us the real time-space location we need, but of course he's got some trick up his sleeve for once we arrive. He likes to play games with his enemies, and he likes to watch it happen. He'll be there, I'm sure of it."

"If you say so... Does 'Gizoid' mean anything to you? It sounds kinda familiar, but I can't remember where it's from."

"Ancient battle droid recovered and rebuilt by professor Gerald Robotnik. Estimated to be about four thousand years old at the time of recovery. Put in storage until recovered by Dr. Eggman, who subsequently lost the robot to Sonic and his friends. Powered by Chaos Emeralds, programmed to automatically replicate combat skills, knowledge and personality fragments. Ancient master program activated upon giving the robot all seven Chaos Emeralds. The Gizoid nearly destroyed the world, but Sonic stopped it at the last second. As far as I can remember, anyway."

"Wow. So, that means Pretorious has gone to the time period when that battle droid was built. He must be after somthing that its creators had."

"Yes, and I think we're going to be heading into greater danger than we've seen so far. What Pretorious said is true; almost nothing is known about that ancient civilisation, but if they could build something like the Gizoid, they must've had amazing technology and possession of the Chaos Emeralds."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that these if these people got their hands on our time travel technology, they might actually be able to understand and reproduce it. About the only thing known for sure about these people is that they were destroyed by their own creations. If we're not careful, their civilisation won't be the only one bumped back to the stone age."

"No pressure, huh?"

"None."

-

After the other time travellers had gone, a little girl emerged from the tunnel leading to the Altar.

"Grandmother?" said Tikal.

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In the next chapter:
- A much, MUCH longer episode. Way longer than one single chapter, anyway.
- Pretorious, Pia and Silver find themselves in the land of the Gi.
- Gizoid. Plural..