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Chapter 4

Questions Remain

Hero Manor

Third Person P.O.V.

As the dusk turned into night the darkness lead it. Mac, Sonic, and everyone else besides Amy and Cream came back from another mission. Tails was looking over papers that were given to him from Mac. Mac had a valiant smile on his face while Natalie and Knuckles looked annoyed, Sonic had a relaxed face on, and Tails had an empty look on his face as he read the papers. They walked towards their home and Mac took out the key to the door and put it into the hole and opened the door.

"Hello everyone! We're back!" Said Mac in a happy tone, Amy and Cream were sitting in the living room and Mac went in there to see them. Knuckles went up to him and hit him in the back of the head. Mac rubbed the injured area and asked, "Hey! What you did that for?!" Natalie went up to him still annoyed and looked at him and said,

"Because you sent us all the way across the city just to help a cat out of a tree!"

"Well it's our job to help no matter how stupid. I made a vow to help the big and the small." Mac said back. Natalie stayed silent and sat next to Amy on the couch. Amy talked to her as Tails came to Mac and gave back the papers.

"These attack patterns are great but I believe there are a few flaws." Said Tails,

"What do you mean?" Responded Mac,

"Well after reading it I found out that all of the tactics are offensive, where's the defense?"

"Hmmmm… Well I never thought of any defense strategies. But then again a great offense is a great defense right?"

"Not these. In fact even a hawk could counter these attacks."

"Then I guess I still need more work." Said Mac, he sighed and he sat down on a sofa and started thinking.

"Here's something I wondered Mac. When did you decided to start a team of heroes." Said Tails,

"Well I decided when I was thirteen back when I first came to Earth. I started to save the lives of people in New York and it felt great. But I relies that I can't do it alone and I even once believed that there were other heroes like me out there like me." Mac looked at the ceiling and was still thinking, "I want to bring hope for everyone who thinks life is hopeless. But I have people telling me it's just a kid's dream but I still believed." Tails looked like he was about to say something until he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Wonder \who that could be at this time of night." Said Natalie, Mac went to the double doors in the foyer and opened it.

"Hel-" Mac's polite greeting was interrupted by a scared feeling he had. He got it from just opening the door and he felt like darkness just penetrated his home. His eerie feeling increased by looking at the dark man in a trench coat, the man's trench coat was a dark grey color and a hat was also on which covered most of the head, and the only thing that could be seen were his eerie white eyes. He looked at Mac angrily and Mac felt like taking out his sword but his hands wouldn't move for him. The man in the trench coat approached closer and he moved his trench coat down a little to talk.

"Well Mac, it's been a while since we have seen each other." He said with deep creepy voice.

"What are you talking about? I never met you in my life!" Mac responded in an enraged voice,

"It seems your memory of what happened hasn't made it back to you. But maybe if I provoke you then it might help you regain your memory of how you were created." Mac stepped out of his home and walked towards him.

"I don't know how I was created but I know I was created to deal with guys like you."

"Oh you think that," he paused for a moment, "but haven't you ever thought you might be wrong?"

"Wrong?"

"Maybe fighting you again would bring something back!" His trench coat and hat turned darker and he became a dark purple silhouette with white eyes. He jumped back quickly and brought out two spears. One was red and decorated with an insignia shaped like fire and at the very end was an orb filled with a rushing flame and had three sharp points like a devil's spear. The other was dark and purple and decorated with a skull insignia and had only one point that had spikes surrounding it with a dark energy flowing out of each spike.

"These are the weapons of darkness," he shows the red one, "rage is a source of all power and flows with darkness to make the darkness stronger," he shows the purple one next, "and darkness which is the energy released from rage and with both comes pure darkness." Mac makes his sword appear and he holds it without his shield, the man in the trench coat laughed a bit and said slightly, "That weapon…" and he stopped and stands for a while and Mac was ready to attack and the man finally said, "Your foolish…"

Mac's P.O.V.

I was irritated with this guy so I rushed towards him and swung my sword but he jumped out of the way and disappeared into the dark sky. "You can't run from me forever!" I shouted,

"Your right I should attack directly!" He came out of no where right behind me and swung his red spear towards me! I blocked with my sword and we started to push each other and he was stronger than me and was pushing me back! I looked behind him to see Natalie, Amy, Cream, and Tails looking out the door. I didn't want them to interfere. For a strange reason I felt angrier being pushed by his red spear.

"Feel the rage Mac and you'll see what you were really made for." Said the dark figure, but instead I took over and pushed him back until he swung his purple spear. I blocked that too and he kept pushing me back and the rage got bigger and I didn't know what I was feeling. I started to sweat from the pressure.

"Yes Mac, let that anger become darkness!"

"NO!" I screamed and I swung my sword horizontally to knock him to the ground and I attempted to finish him for good by jumping towards him and pointed my sword down but he rolled out of the way. My sword was stuck in the ground and I tried to take it out but the dark figure started slashing each of his spears on my back continuously! I was now sweating in pain and my heart was racing but I got a hold of my sword, pulled it out, and rolled around him and to stab him in his back! He fell for a moment with nothing to say but he slashed towards me, aiming at my face but he stopped but I wondered why. The attack was a distraction, as his red spear was directly in front of my face, his other spear tripped me! I was once again on the ground but I didn't let that stop me. I got up and slashed again towards him and he blocked it but I kept slashing and he kept blocking. Blocking both his spears was hard until I found a weakness, I dropped my sword and grabbed both of his spears and while he was still holding it I swung him behind me. He was down and his spears were on the ground, I picked up my sword and started slashing and all I heard from him were grunts of pain. I finished it off with a stab and he disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the street. He started chanting something,

"Darkness is within everyone… let it appear into my power!" His spears were glowing the color it was and was spinning around the dark man. 'What's happening' I thought. I was mesmerized by the spears. He was floating in the air and glowed along with the spears and once he fell he rushed towards and I blocked causing us to push each other once again but he was stronger. Over powering him seemed impossible and it was. I fell as he was about to finish me I got back up and swung my sword as quickly as I could. He blocked and was once again pushing me back but this time I quickly let go and rapidly swung back at his spear but it wouldn't budge him.

Tails' P.O.V.

"We have to help!" I said scared.

"We can't. Its Mac's fight not ours and he wouldn't like it if we interfered." Replied Natalie, but I know what I could do. I needed Sonic's help though. So I rushed to Sonic and asked,

"Sonic I need to see that Chaos Emerald you found before we got here."

"For what?" He asked and I quickly told him.

"Mac's fighting someone outside and he needs more power!" Sonic nodded and he gave me the green emerald, and I stared at it and then ran to the door. I threw the emerald towards him and yelled, "Mac catch!" I hope he catches it and I hope it helps.

Mac's P.O.V.

I kept swinging and my heart was racing extremely fast until I heard Tails yelled and I looked up to see an emerald and I caught it. For a moment it was like time has stopped and everything was still and I wondered what I was suppose to do with the emerald. The emerald glowed and as I held it in my hand I felt like putting this on my sword and I did. Then suddenly time started moving again and this time I swung hard at the spears to knock it out of his hand. The spears landed on the ground with the points stuck it in the ground. I slashed the man over and over again and each time he stepped back. Finally I hit him so hard that he fell on the ground. I jumped back and finished him by jumping towards him and stabbed him in the air and he made a slight grunt. I pulled my sword up and he stand back up and said,

"Darkness cannot be destroyed by power. But only by light, yet light only chases away darkness until it comes back later. Darkness is invincible." I was breathing hard and he stepped towards me slowly while I stepped back. "You merely defeated me with strength and power but power resides in darkness. Your not light, you were meant for darkness."

"Shut up!" I shouted, and he merely held his hand out and time stopped again. A flash was seen and we were teleported into another world.

Unknown World: The Dimension of Darkness

Third Person P.O.V

Mac opened his eyes and saw a dark sky that was constantly waving. He looked down and jumped surprisingly to see that he was standing in water but not just any water. The small round orb he was standing on looked exactly like earth and where the water was on earth was real water. Mac felt like he was standing on a floating globe and he was wondering where he was. His wandering mind was interrupted from a shadow appearing on the land that looked like North America and the shadow was on where New York would be. The shadow then lifted upwards to form the dark figure in the trench coat.

"This is where you'll be defeated. This is where you'll rely what you were meant to become." Said the dark figure,

"How will you do that?" Mac responded. He merely nodded and he pointed behind me and in the water appeared a bigger shadow and came out of was a shadowy beast. It rises from the waters and it was a huge beast that had spikes on its back and on its elbows. It had four angry red eyes on its head and three tails that were pointed but it had no mouth. The dark man jumped on top of the beast's head and said,

"Fetch." Mac grabbed his sword and started running away from the beast until it jumped to cause an earthquake which mad Mac fell. The beast grabbed Mac and stared at him, Mac was struggling to get out but the beast through Mac into the air.

Mac's P.O.V.

I didn't know what to do. My body felt lifeless in the air and I couldn't control it. I was thinking and not paying attention. What was my true purpose? I looked down to see the globe and where the beast is. The beast was about to fire a weird looking beam and I could be finished by it. I have to fight it, quickly!

"If you think I'll go down that easily, then you're wrong!" I shouted and the beam first formed into a ball before shooting but I have to stop it. I started by flying towards the beam as quickly as I can, I was starting to heat up, I felt like an asteroid flying towards earth. I crashed directly into the beam's ball and caused the beam to explode. Smoke covered everything but as it cleared I could see I was on the beast's head and the dark man took out one of his spears. When attempting to hit me I jumped over him and did a quick slash but he disappeared into the shadow and the beast was about to grab me! I jumped and swung my sword extremely hard at the beast's head and it fell off the globe. The earth turned red and the beasts hand appeared on the water and his other hand came after. Its red eyes appeared and it tried to slam its hand onto me but I rolled out of the way but the beast was crafty. It tried to fire its shadow beam again but I swung my sword like a bat at its head and it landed on the other side of the globe, the beast was down. I aimed at its head and started to swing my sword rapidly to take care of it for good!

"You did well Mac but let's see if your friends think so too." Said the dark man's voice, and the beast disintegrated into five different shadows. The shadows take form, and I couldn't believe what I saw.

Third Person P.O.V

Mac's eyes were frozen from the fact that the shadows turned into his friends. Natalie, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy each one was a shadow and had angry red eyes.

"I… I can't hurt my frie-" Mac stopped for a moment and he thought, "these aren't my friends." The dark man's voice started,

"Are you sure? They look like your friends. This is the future Mac, your friends will betray you, your nothing to them, and you're just a bump on their road of life."

"NO! Shut up who ever you are! I know who my friends are!" Responded Mac in an enraged voice,

"Oh? Are you sure?" The man's voice paused then he laughed for a moment and stopped. First of the shadows to attack was Natalie who turned her bow into a sword and rapidly attack Mac. Mac dodged the attacks and didn't want to hurt her but the shadow kicked below him then above Mac. She turned her sword back into a bow and shot three arrows at Mac. As Mac dodged them Sonic ran around him and turned into a ball and attempted to hit Mac but Mac jumped over him. The Tails shadow tripped Mac with its tails and it turned its glove into an arm cannon and fired a dark energy ball. Mac swung his sword quickly to hit the ball back and it hit the shadow. As the shadow Tails gets shocked in pain Mac thought it was the real Tails and a tear was about to form until shadow Knuckles punched with speed at Mac who was quickly jumping back to dodge it then was hit by one of Natalie's kicks and landed on the ground. Shadow Amy swung her hammer as if it was a golf club and Mac was sent flying. The shadow forms started to move slowly towards Mac, yet Mac himself was looking at his sword with grief and deeply whispered,

"Sorry…" Mac swiftly swung his sword at the shadows, shadow Tails shot another beam and Mac once again hit it back and as shadow Tails was paralyzed Mac hit the shadow with his sword and the arrow that shadow Natalie shop was grabbed by Mac and he threw it at shadow Knuckles who was stunned by the arrow. Mac stabbed shadow Natalie in her arm while shadow Amy was about to hit Mac again, Mac swiftly ran around her and appeared behind shadow Amy and took the hammer out of her hand and swung it vertically on her head. Shadow Sonic appeared in front of him, they stared at each other for a while and shadow Sonic ran fast towards Mac and Mac did the same towards Sonic, as they ran past each other Mac swung his sword when he was next to shadow Sonic. They both made it past each other but shadow Sonic fell in pain and Mac felt grief in his heart and almost dropped a tear. "There are you happy now? This is what you wanted me to do. Now bring me back home!" Yelled Mac in the air,

"You don't know what you want. You don't know what just happened. I'll send you home, but you'll know everything soon… enough." The dark man's voice stopped and the shadows disappear and the globe turned dark purple and Mac was alone. A flash of light appeared and Mac was back in the street in front of the mansion. Rain fell from the sky and the noise of the thunder sounded sad and deep, Mac looks in the air and wondered about his forgotten past, Tails and Natalie came by him and then Amy and finally Sonic.

"What happened?" Asked Mac, Tails looked at him with a sad face and Natalie answered,

"You disappeared, and for a moment… everything felt sad and dark. Just like that man you met…" Sonic closed his eyes and finally said,

"Were you fighting him? Because it felt… like you were hurting us."

"Sorry…" Mac said and whispered, "Again…" Tails looked in the air and looked at the mansion with Amy and Cream inside looking worried.

"It felt like darkness had covered the earth… first it felt fine, then everyone felt a little upset and angry and after that there was only grief and sadness…" Said Tails in a sad voice.

"Then it wasn't another world… it was this world…" Said Mac remembering the world he fought in. Everyone looked at him questionable and Mac walked inside with a sad face and thought for a moment and a tear finally fell from his face.

To be continued…

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