Chapter 22: Chaos Controlled (Part One)

June 21, 1050590BC. Unnamed land-mass.

By this time the crater was so overgrown by thick jungle that it could only be recognised from a vantage point hundreds of miles above. At the very heart of the scar the size of a small country, was a freshly dug pit, with wooden planks and tools scattered around like at an excavation site. At the bottom of the pit was a polished surface of meteorite rock, with a small hole cut in its surface, revealing an emerald green indentation beneath the rough outer layer.

Dr Pretorious climbed down the wooden ladder into the pit. He'd changed back into his regular clothes as soon as he arrived. His decision to leave his clothes as well as the keys to unlocking the power of the Core behind at the earliest possibility was a good one. A shame that his decision to double back and confront his nemesis and her father when they arrived in the world of the Gi hadn't worked out as well. Oh well. In a little while it wouldn't matter anymore.

The energised shard of the Core, the tail of Chaos, the sample of the pre-Chaos chao, and the Control Rod used by the Gi technicians to stabilise the energy output of the Chaos Emeralds. The four keys sat on the wooden shelf next to the ladder, right where Pretorious had left them.

Time to begin.

-

The twilight painted ominious reds and scarlet across the sky, as Silver and Pia ran as fast as they could down the hillside towards the heart of the crater. They'd lost a lot of time due to that miss-jump in the middle of the ocean. After calculating the location of Glyphic Canyon over a million years in the past, they managed to get the destination right. It was still one heck of a sprint after Pia spotted the highly historically-inaccurate tools and equipment scattered around the hole in in the distance.

-

Pretorious knelt down beside the indentation and poured out the fluid extracted from the chao Blossom into the gap. He then inserted the piece of meteorite rock charged with Master Emerald energy into the indentation. It fitted perfectly.

Dr. Pretorious nearly lost his balance as the meteorite suddenly shifted violently in the soil, at the same time becoming bathed in a flourescent green glow. Once the meteorite had twisted to what it apparently considered the right way, the whole massive rock started to rise out of the pit, carrying the the raccoon, who'd fallen on his butt while trying to make sure he didn't lose hold of the canister or the rod.

Still too far away, the heroes in hot pursuit watched the speck of powerful green light rise up from the ground ahead.

Once it'd stabilised, floating just a little too high up, Dr. Pretorious stood up carefully. He only had his pinky finger to spare, since he wouldn't let go of the canister containing Chaos's tail or the Control Rod, but he was able to test the functions of the Gi device. Yes, it was certainly reading the radiation from the Chaos Core. No sense in waiting, then.

Dr. Pretorious stuck the rod under his arm, then in one quick movement twisted the lid off the canister, and emptied the contents into his open mouth. He made no effort to diguise his grimaces as he swallowed the gelatinous substance.

"Ergh...salty," said Pretorious. "Now, let's see if I can have an ounce of your powers without succumbing to your will, dear Chaos."

Silver and Pia were close enough to hear the screaming. They looked at each other, then accellerated.

Pretorious caught the rod before it rolled over the edge of the meterorite. "That was a close call," he said. "Was it really necessary to be that uncooperative, Chaos? Surely our ultimate goals do not differ that much? You wanted revenge against a world that did not appreciate the sacred value of your kind. I want the same, but I know better than to bother with petty retaliations when I can simply change the world to my liking. I'll even let chao live peacefully, as a favour. Ugh-GRAAAAARGH!! Gah! Now that's enough of that. I have more important things to worry about than what a dismembered water-elemental thinks."

Humming a happy little tune, Pretorious fiddled with the buttons on the Control Rod. Underneath him, the emenations of the Chaos Core shifted and refocused obedientaly. Dr. Pretorious wasn't satisfied with each adjustment until it achieved the maximum energy output possible.

By that time, he spotted the hedgehog and the cat. It was easy, since Silver had just lifted a very large dinosaur out of his path. Dr. Pretorious sighed, and settled down to wait for the two to arrive.

"Would you like a moment to catch your breath?" he said eventually.

"You're...huff...g-going down th-this time, Pre-gah...Pretorious!" Pia exclaimed between breaths.

"I would like to. I am rather high up here. Why the Chaos Core insists on defying gravity is one thing I do not fully comprehend."

"Th-that's the Chaos Core?" Silver asked.

Dr. Pretorious chuckled. "Yes, this is the Chaos Core. The metorite composed of 94 Chaos Ore. Almost all of its power is gone now. You should have seen it in its prime, when it struck Earth and released the fantastic power that changed our planet forever. Its radiation spread across the globe, being absorbed by the native creatures across the generations. The mammals, the reptiles, the insects, even the plants were affected. For many of the ancient creatures of Earth, the power became natural. It changed them, forcing their evolution along new paths. Do you understand what I'm saying? If this meteorite had not hit Earth, animaloids such as we would not exist."

"The Chaos Emeralds," Pretorious continued, "have the power to touch that energy that was deposited within each being on Earth when the greater part of the Chaos Core was torn apart during atmospheric entry, about two million years before today. If you had time to properly look around this young Earth, you'd see that the first animaloids are already gathering into primitive societies. Humans will come later. The first true hominids developed a natural immunity to Chaos radiation. Strange, and a tragic loss for their kind. Their potential will remain untapped."

"What are you going to do with that big rock?" Pia asked, preparing fireballs in her open hands.

"Surely it's obvious by now?" Pretorious answered, rolling his eyes. "I will absorb the remaining power of the Chaos Core. The energy from the Master Emerald in 2110 AD was enough to channel the dormant power of the meteorite. The chao liquid from 1205 BC patched the connection between the seperated fragment of the meteorite and the metorite itself, repairing the damage to the Chaos Core and binding its power to the chao that would be Chaos. The Control Rod from 2051 BC let me manually alter the energy levels of the Chaos Core, raising them to maximum. Finally, the tail of Chaos recovered from the year two thousand and...something AD let's me do...THIS!"

Silver and Pia were thrown backwards as the Chaos Core exploded before their very eyes. The green blast grew to consume them, but then somehow reversed and got drawn into the burning green sillhuette of Dr. Pretorious.

"AheeheeheeHEEHEEHEEHEEEEE!!!"

After the haze cleared, Silver pushed the big blackened chunk of meteorite off himself and Pia, then looked up to see the raccon floating at the heart of a green inferno of energy. His eyes didn't have pupils anymore...

"Oh, dear. I'm naked," said Pretorious, examining his new form. "Well, hardly anymore naked than you, Silver, but it's the principle of the thing. Is it just me, or does my voice sound odd?"

"What have you done to yourself?" Pia asked, glaring at the overpowered villain.

"Maybe I wouldn't have a reputation for going on too much if people didn't ask me the same questions over and over? Like I said, I've absorbed the power of the Chaos Core. The fact that I can apparently fly now should really be evidence of the fact. Nevermind the showy glowy green fur. To be honest, this isn't quite what I had in mind. I think a test is in order."

Pretorious pointed at the nearest mountain, and watched as the tip of it got cleaved in half.

"God-like power. Handy. A bonus, but hardly what I'm after. Total power over time and space, is what I'm really interested in. Sufficient to hide away the civilisation of the Gi outside of time while the destruction of the eighth Emerald destroys most of the world as they know it. But wait... Oh dear, will the Gi even exist with the Chaos Core in this state of disrepair? I may have to write a new history from scratch. At least there'll be room for a brand new god now. The future looks bright as ever, my friends!"

Pretorious vanished. He didn't return.

Silver and pia stared at the spot where the villain had been for a while.

"We go after him, right?" said Silver.

"We couldn't catch him while he was an ordinary raccoon with no special powers at all. What the heck are we supposed to do now tha he can topple mountains and stuff?"

Silver walked over to the scattered chunks of meteorite. They were all black like they'd been seared. Even the crystaline interior was drained of colour, just like...

-

Silver held the black Emerald over his head and closed his eyes in concentration. Blaze's face lit up as she watched the Chaos Emerald regain a healthy blue glow.

"How did you do that?" she said.

"I just believed that I could," Silver answered simply.

-

That had worked, then, but this was a little bit more of a challenge than one single Chaos Emerald. Wait, what was he saying? The chunks of rock comprised the substance of all the Chaos Emeralds AND the Master Emerald. Pretorious was a psychopath - there was no way he could touch even one fraction of the positive energy of the Emeralds. He had to be riding on pure negative power. That meant this had to work. Except...

Do I really have what it takes to achieve a Super form, Silver asked himself.

Pia stepped forward. "Silver, I've got an idea," she said. "The Chaos Core is all of the Emeralds at once, and should have the same properties, meaning positive energy and negative energy. Our friendly nut-job can't touch the good stuff, so it's still here for the taking. Think happy thoughts or whatever it takes. We've got one chance to stop Pretorious and restore the Chaos Core, or we'll be facing a timeline where the Chaos Emeralds never existed and an omnipotent psychopath steered history only they way he liked it."

Silver was sure he thought of that solution first. Maybe he needed to voice his thoughts more?

"Right!"

The two heroes stepped into the centre of the meteorite debris...

Silver knew his motivation: I'm going to stop Pretorious, save history, and make sure Pia gets the life she deserves. This time, I'll be there for her!

Pia knew hers. It was less cheesy, but certainly enough to give her the determination she needed.

The flash of golden light was visible from afar...

-

In the next chapter:
- Super Silver and Pia versus Pretorious. Final showdown.
- Battle spanning history, forth and back.
- Winner take All.