6.
In the beginning, there was pure Chaos… The energies that filled our world used to be spread freely… Therefore, Life and Nature had the respect they deserved…
Then… The Overlanders came.
They're species should have died a couple of millenniums earlier in that earthquake… Their only existence was unconceivable and blaspheme toward Nature itself!
Their time should have ended… But they were alive, none the less. That was the further prove of the endless possibilities that Life is engulfed with…
They stayed hidden under the soil for so long… Only to come out and pretend to be the rightful rulers of this planet… They didn't have the rights to claim such thing! This was our time… This was the time of the Mobiankind!
And so… The war started.
The Overlanders didn't care about Nature or Chaos… They only blindly believed in Order and absolute Control! Their lust for power brought only misery and demise to our lands…
They denied everything that was sacred for us…
The humans believed that everything had a sense… And that sense was for them to dominate as much as they could!
We couldn't allow this madness… That's why we did what we did…
The ultimate Blasphemy!
To obtain control over Chaos… In order to defeat Order and conserve our Freedom…
Three Mobians had been selected for this seemingly impossible mission…
Myself, Pachacamac, from the echidna race...
Jules the hedgehog...
And, from the Kitsune's race… Merlin Prower.
We knew that, if possessing that unimaginable power would have been possible, we were the ones who could achieve it… We were Chosen by Nature, after all.
We also knew where to find the source that would have give us the strength we needed…
Angel Island… The one place in which all the world's energies are conveyed…
The mystic reign of the Master Emerald, the God of Chaos...
My people casually found the island in the middle of the Emerald Ocean… Partially hidden by the fog… They built the sacred Hidden Palace and all those traps around it in order to better protect it…
You should know by now about them… Since you've made it so far, current Chosen One.
Right before leaving our homes for the island… We met her…
She was a unique being… Different from any life form I've ever seen…She wasn't a Mobian… And she wasn't even an animal…
She had long silver leaf like hair… And soft peach skin… She hadn't a nose… And she wore a gown made of petals…
She said she came from the Emerald Hill Zone and that she was the only one of her kind… The first ever sentient plant… Born from the mysterious "Kitsune's Mate", of which the Hill was full of…
She told us that she felt she had to come here… That Nature itself chose her… She seemed convinced of it… And her amazing powers didn't betray her words.
She could communicate with plants and manipulate the vegetation.
Her name was…
Gaia Earthia… The Seedrian.
We accepted her in our group.
She was so beautiful and solar… So full of Life yet, so full of doubts…
That was probably the reason of why Merlin fell for her… And why she loved him back.
Knowing the legend about the Kitsune's evolution and the role of a certain plant in it… I found their love to be rather appropriate…
Knuckles was mouth agape… Everything was so familiar, too familiar. Two youngsters in love, a fox named Prower and… A plant girl.
This couldn't definitely be a coincidence.
The giant head of Pachacamac continued his amazing tale.
We spent several years on the island, desperately trying to encase some of the Master Emerald's energy inside those 7 empty shells we brought with us…
We feared the immense power of the God gem, that's why we didn't choose to use it against the humans in the first place… We opted, instead, for the idea of taking figments of his energy and encased them inside the selected jewels we had…
That would have allowed us to better control the element without risking a disfiguring death… Or so we thought…
For the time being, however, we had another problem at hands… We weren't capable to summon the required energy from the giant emerald!
We tried everything… Ancient litanies… Baffling magical spells… Nothing worked!
We were starting to lose hope, when… He came in our aid.
A human…
A traitor of his own kind… Who was rejected because of his believes about the possibility of manipulating chaos energy.
A brilliant scientist by the name of…
Gerald Robotnik.
In hearing that cursed name, Knuckles's own spine shivered in horror.
"ROBOTNIK!!!" He yelled, his features showed both rage and irrational fear.
"Indeed… The good old doctor's family has ancient origins. Gerald was the patriarch… It all started with him." The ghostly Fang confirmed. "Hush, now… Here comes the best part." It added.
The echidna stood in silence while the head proceeded with the story.
He brought his technology to help our cause… He said that he only had scientific interests about our task…
Earthia, however, had a different opinion… She could see inside this Overlander's very soul… She could see his true interests.
She tried to warn us… But we didn't listen… And it was already too late to change things.
We trusted the human… We were desperate.
We've been so foolish!
He used a peculiar machine… A machine built specifically for absorbing chaos energy.
We didn't think it could have been possible… But apparently, the human's technology was capable of doing such thing …
Gerald built his device on the Master Emerald and the machine started draining the energy from the jewel and transferred it into the selected 7 shells…
It actually worked… Our magic didn't have any effect but a lifeless piece of machinery did!
And then… It happened.
Gerald did the unthinkable… Before any of us could do anything, he put himself into the machine while it was still absorbing the powers of the emerald!
He laughed.
He laughed like the fool he was… He said that he was going to achieve the ultimate power and become a God…
Instead, all he achieved… Has been his ultimate demise.
The energy was too much for the machine to handle… It exploded… With the screaming Overlander inside of it.
When the dust was settled… A figure was standing where the cursed device used to be.
It was an horrible creature… And, by the looks of it, it was very ancient.
He said that thanks to the foolish human's efforts and the burst of energy that was generated from the explosion, he's been finally freed from his prison…
He claimed to be a God… A Devil… Even the Author of Fate itself!
One thing was certain… He had the powers to back up his words.
Our combined strength wasn't enough to stop him… His powers seemed unlimited… He could bend reality at his own image!
He could control Chaos itself! A being like him shouldn't exist… How could that be possible!!?
We've been all defeated… Except her.
I was still conscious when it happened… And, unfortunately, so was Merlin.
The seven gems did manage to collect enough energy from the Master Emerald… And all of them were encircling the body of Earthia.
Even that creature seemed puzzled.
With the Chaos Emerald's powers, the Seedrian was able to open an inter-dimensional portal…
The ancient demon was sucked in it… And Earthia sealed the portal for good.
Unfortunately, that operation required a lot of power… More than the emeralds themselves… It required, the Seedrian's own life force.
That was the price she paid for saving us all… That was the price we paid for our ignorance…
She died quietly in Merlin's hands… She was happy that he survived…
My Kitsune friend cried his eyes out…
In the end, we reached our goal…
But at what price!
The echidna by the name of his knuckles, looked more astounded than ever.
"Playing with the fabric of time and space… Is definitely not a healthy thing. She paid the price…" Fang quietly muttered.
It's red traveler adopted a sore look.
"This is all disgusting… How can humans be so low?"
"Don't generalize, Knuckles… They aren't all the same. Good and Evil are nothing more than relative concepts." It added. "By the way… Wanna know what that machine was?" It asked.
Knuckles nodded.
"It was just a prototype… Of what it would have become, several millenniums later… A machine capable of using chaos energy to turn people into something different…" It said while smiling mischievously.
"… The Roboticizer." The echidna concluded the sentence for the ghost.
"Yes… But that's another story. Let's focus on this one… Shall we?"
The both of them resumed their viewing. The head of Pachacamac was about to start the last part of his tale.
Before his defeat and imprisonment, the creature yelled a prophecy.
"Foolish mortals! You can't hope to stop me… I'm the predestined ruler of this world, as the Ancient Walkers stated… I shall create Order over Chaos and annihilate all the undeserving lesser beings! Hear me out, oh cursed Mobians and plant like creature… For I predict that, several millenniums from now, your direct descendants will cause my liberation… When the three vessels of Intelligence, Strength and Speed, along with the Iblis Trigger, will appear into this world and battle for the prized Chaos Emeralds... I shall return! MY NAME IS IXIS NAUGUS!!! I am your Iblis!!!"
This is what he said, word for word… We didn't believe him, of course… No one has a predetermined fate… But we feared him, anyway.
We didn't want to run any risk… He said that our descendants will free him… It was clearly referred to of all us… Even Earthia.
We didn't want to run any risk… We had to ensure to vanquish at least one of the terms in Naugus's prophecy.
That's why… We came back to Emerald Hill and… We… Killed all the plants.
Gaia Earthia was the only one of her kind and she said she was born from the "Kitsune's Mate"…
I still feel sick to this very day… Merlin was the one who took it the worst…
And that's not all!
We learned how to use the emeralds and with their great power within our grasp, we became unstoppable!
We used our new found energy to raise Angel Island from the ocean and hidden it above the clouds… No one else would have been able to found it, unless, of course, a being like us.
We could control Chaos itself… We were like Gods… We've been too blind for noticing that this intoxicating power was slowly draining our life forces…
We were slowly dieing and there wasn't anything we could do about it… We used it too much… We relied too much on that energy…
We were addicted… And death was the price.
I can't say we didn't deserve it.
Listen me well, oh Chosen by Nature…
Whatever you do…
While on this island, do NOT engage battle with your peers… And do NOT use any of the Chaos Emeralds, either… The amount of energy that a conflict like this would generate could very well be enough to broke the seal Earthia created!
Ixis Naugus mustn't be freed!
Protect this world… Even if it doesn't deserve it.
With that said, Pachacamac the echidna disappeared through the fluxes of time, once again.
Everything was quite clear in Knuckles's head. The burdening weight of Knowledge had finally reached him… That, indeed, was the truth about the emeralds' genesis and the origin of the so-called Anti-Chaos.
For the first time since the beginning of this mess, the young echidna warrior had successfully realized his true role in all of this absurd plot… And his friends' as well.
He spoke.
"So… I'm the Vessel of Strength, Sonic is the one of Speed and, logically, Tails is the Intelligence… And that Void character is the Trigger, right?" He said while staring at his spectral companion as if expecting a confirmation.
Fang nodded.
"You three are the direct descendants of the original mages while Cosmo and his son are Earthia's prodigies… Even if all the "Kitsune's mates" in Emerald Hill Zone have been extinguished… Nature still found a way… Even if it took all those millenniums." It said.
"But… This negates everything you've been blabbering for two hours or so!!"
Fang seemed puzzled by this.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… Naugus's prophecy that turns out to be true… My and my friends' roles… That Merlin guy and his love for Earthia that is so damn similar to what Cosmo and Tails shared… All of this can't be coincidental! It seems to me that everything has already been decided.. That concepts like "Life is Chaos" and "A world of endless possibilities" are totally wrong and… WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SMIRKING AT ME!!!?" Cried the irate and utterly confused Dante.
Fang was, indeed, smirking. Knuckles was overcomplicating things, again… He was still too linked with his inner desire to find a precise reason in everything. It was a thing that Mobians learned from the humans… A thing that truly bothered a person like Fang, who lived all his life creating and recreating himself just like chaos energies do.
The specter fixed it's ectoplasm canvas hat on his vanishing head, before finally answering the doubtful traveler's question… In it's own way.
"Say… Knuckles, do you wanna know the history behind this scars?" It said while showing him it's infamous belly cuts.
Knuckles sighed. He clearly was not about to receive a straight answer...
"Yes… I wanna know the history behind the scars." He reluctantly said.
"I was just bored…" The phantom's straight response.
Knuckles rolled his cerulean eyes.
"Yeah… Sure."
He then looked the specter in the eyes. It was dead serious… No pun intended.
The dreadlocked warrior was speechless. Fang found the words for him.
"See, my friend? Sometimes the best explanations are the simplest…" It wisely uttered.
"What does that supposed to mean?"
"You will understand, eventually… Leave and Learn, Knuckles, Leave. And. Learn."
The echidna's confused expression hadn't changed.
"Well… I guess my time in this world has ran out." Suddenly stated the ghostly "Virgil". "I think that I'm gonna possess some unfortunate soul and make it kill it's own family… Or maybe I'm going to turn Buddhist and reincarnate myself into a Nepalese Chipmunk… Who knows? I'll just… Improvise!" Fang was now grinning madly, it's namesake tooth was perfectly visible… He glanced it's echidna companion in the eye and ultimately added: "When you'll see the Stars again, think of your Virgil… Farewell, oh Dante."
And then, the chaotic enigma once known as Fang the Sniper, disappeared right into the same place he first came from… Nothingness.
The baffled "Dante" of this journey just stared at the spot in which his peculiar guide used to be, before it's final departure… A hint of sadness and sympathy was visible in his facial features.
"I will… Thank you." He simply said before heading toward the exit… Willing to see the Stars again.
Knothole Village. The Morgue.
Maximillian Acorn should have been the happiest person in the world…
He managed to frame Geoffrey St. John and Antoine Depardieu for war crimes and kick them out of the Mobian Council's lodge. He's been able to found two immediate substitutes to put on their seats… Among all, he now had the key that could very well guarantee the final victory over the feared Eggman Empire… Not to mention taking back his rightful city. Ultimately, the ominous Roboticizer machines were currently unable to work…
Yet, Maximillian Acorn was NOT happy. The reason for his condition was lying on a stretcher right in front of his standing figure…
In this eternal rest, Sir Charles Hedgehog looked so serene. His robotizied corpse has been severely damaged and therefore, it was irreparable…
It's better this way. The chipmunk thought. He was a living being… When living beings die, they cannot be repaired... Only machines can.
He put an hand on his old friend's head and quietly muttered:
"Thanks for the help, old buddy."
Not a great farewell line… But emotional as well.
Mobian Council's War Room.
"So… You're back at your old occupation…"
Sally Acorn sighed.
"Yes… I had too. I'm sorry, Tails. I wish I could stay at home with you but…"
"But you're needed here, Sally." Interrupted her adopted son. "Your place is in the council, along side your father and… That Bunny Rabbot person… Gee, I still can't believe she had that chip for all this time!"
Sally smiled.
"Neither I… This has been the fastest exchange of ruling powers in the history of Mobius!"
Tails chuckled a little… Then he went serious.
"When we're going to attack?" He asked.
The squirrel lady took a deep breath. She knew he would have asked this question and she feared it with every fiber of her body… Even with the plants of Robotropolis's defense systems in their solid grasps, a direct assault at the city's outskirts with all the available military forces in their and G.U.N.'s arsenal, was still a daring and potentially backstabbing action… Many would have died and others would have been crippled for life!
She was a politician and an excellent strategist… But before any of these things, she was a mother that loved his only son with all her might and that was desperately trying to protect him from any harm…
She also realized that Tails was not a child… He may looked like one, he may happened to be under aged, but after everything he had endured in his almost 9 years of age, the war against Eggman, the Freedom Fighters, the death of his parents… Cosmo… And the fact that he was more intelligent than all the adult people Sally knew, combined… The vulpine was anything but a child.
He may secretely desired to be a normal 9 years old kid, he may desperately wanted to be cuddled and loved and have fun just like any kid should have… But the problem was, he was first of all a soldier, a fighter that had no afraid to put his life on the line in order to protect others' lives…
For this reason… Sally Acorn, the mother Sally Acorn not the cold blooded politician, hated herself for what she was about to say.
"Tails… We will attack at dawn… But you're not coming."
The distant coldness of her tone was the thing that surprised the fox the most… That and the effective meaning of her phrase.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT!!!?" The youthful kit cried in utter disbelief.
"I've talked to my father and… Although he's not agree with me… He would support my decision, anyway… I'm sorry."
She tried to caress Tails's three banged furry head but the vulpine put himself out of his mother's reach.
"Tails…" She began.
The two-tailed disappointed warrior looked down at his shoes, his features were visibly shaking and his fists were clenched tightly. He then raised his head and stared at the chipmunk girl with watery eyes.
Enraged, watery eyes.
She felt all of his hate in that lethal glare… And it broke her heart.
Her son hated her.
"Tails… Please… Talk to me." She begged.
There was only one thing worse than his angry gaze and it was his silence… His unnerving, judging silence.
Sally was on the verge of tears. Her voice trembled.
"T-Tails, hun… I l-love y-you…" She tried to say through her sobbing hiccups.
He didn't mutter a single word, he just turned his back to her and slowly exited the hut… Almost tiptoeing in the process as if ready to explode in any second.
Sally Acorn, the loving mother who just did what she thought was the best for her son… Found herself alone and desperate…
And without a son.
She cried her eyes out.
Somewhere around Knothole.
He was running… It's what he does best, after all. He had that reputation and that lifestyle… It didn't matter the recent or past events that troubled his life… He wasn't the type of hedgehog who lived in the past, he would have always look ahead of him…
And right now, his enhanced mechanical eyes captivated the un-mistakable silhouette of a very appreciable member of the opposite sex.
"Subject: Chick! Priority One: Engage and seduce… Way past!" He jokingly said with his momentarily adopted robotic voice, right before darting toward his target's direction.
Bunny Rabbot set on a solitary rock in the middle of a daisy field… One of the few in the Great Forest.
It has been a very twisting day for the simple southern girl… First, she apprehended of his long time savior's dead and his legacy… Then she discovered to be the unwilling possessor of a microchip that could determine the result of the entire war… And finally, she's been named an honorary member of the Mobian Council itself!
That was a little too much for her. She wasn't the commanding type, she was just a sweet little girl with three robotizied appendages and expert fighting skills… Definitely not a politician.
She felt awkward and over all scared. She wished for her best friend and leader, Tikal, to be there for support…
She caressed her broken ear in a worried manner… Not noticing that someone found it extremely sexy.
"Ehi there, hot stuff! What are ya doing out here? Making the little animals to faint with your stunning beauty?" A sudden male voice stated.
She quickly turned her head to see her unexpected visitor.
It was a cobalt blue hedgehog with long downward head and back quills… And, to her surprise, he had a mechanical arm.
"Mmmh… Who are ya, sugahog?" Said the Rabbit in a very polite and, of course, sexy way.
To the robotic hedgehog's point of view, Bunny Rabbot was The Female.
She had a slender physic with all the curves in the right place and rather generous breasts… All covered by a pink top that matched her beautiful violet eyes… And then, there were those mechanical appendages, her left arm and two legs. The hedgehog was entirely robotizied therefore he didn't even noticed or mind about the defecting limbs.
Ultimately… That cute nickname she used, "Sugahog", almost made him jump on clichéd fluffy clouds in the sky.
"Hello?" Asked again the Robian of his dreams.
Sonic's face was locked in the proverbial "I love you - marry me" expression… A very dumb expression, indeed.
Suddenly, Sonic's brain kicked in and resumed it's proper functionality.
"Uh… OH! Who am I? I'm ehrrrrrr…" For the first time in his illustrious mondo cool hero career, Sonic was failing in the one thing he did best beside running… His introduction!
Luckily for him, Bunny didn't need to know his name for recognize him.
She used to dream about him… He was exactly how she remembered him to be.
The blue prince with quills.
Her face went bright. She put her natural hand on her own mouth in amazement. She started staring at him… And he stared her back.
The lightning has stroke again.
Love at first sight… Something that has always defied Rationality. Something that happens without a reason.
Love is Chaos… I think we can ALL agree about this.
Slowly but gingerly, the half-robot Robian Rabbot rabbit (that's a good tongue twist), approached the seemingly frozen hedgehog. They were now, nose to nose.
She spoke first.
"Hya… M-ma name's B-Bunny Rabbot… What's yours, sugahog?" She timidly asked.
The male blinked and muttered back.
"I'm uuuuh… Sonic." He answered.
They stood in silence for a while, trapped in each other's eyes. After a few minutes of sacral contemplation, the blue prince now known as "Sir Runs-A-Lot" decided to broke the silence.
"Say… Wanna go for a run?"
"Sure."
And the two lover birds, or lover rodents if you will, darted toward the heart of the forest without hesitation.
And for the rest of the day, Bunny completely forgot about her problems.
Mystic Ruins. F.F. base.
The purple chameleon better known as Espio or "Silent Bob" as Sonic used to call him, was holding in his hand a random piece of paper that a certain two-tailed youth he knew, left on the living room's couch.
By looking into his facial features, one could say that what was written on that note, didn't please him at all.
Me and Amy have gone to South Island. No time to explain.
Tails.
Needless to say, the lethal ninja had a bad feeling about the whole situation… He couldn't know it but his feeling had already proved to be true.
The silent warrior has been quite busy over the last few weeks… The so-called "Chaosdamned Emeralds' Fever" as Knuckles dubbed it, didn't spare the poor reptile, who decided to start a quest of his own… Failing miserably.
There definitely wasn't any Chaos Emerald in the various jewels shops he had "visited"… There were lots of cops, though.
Right now, he just wanted to relax and enjoy the rest of the day in absolute silence.
In the exact same second his rear end reached the comfortable sofa… A sadly familiar, obnoxious, loud and girly voice found it's scrapping way through the chameleon hearing system.
Amy Rose entered the base, more dancing, happy and disgracefully joyful than ever.
"HI ESPIO!!!" She cried. "This has been the best day of my life!"
She then started singing some incomprehensible songs about love and other stuff.
A particularly distressed Espio seriously considered hara-kiri for a few minutes.
"Oh! By the way, if you're looking for Sonic and Tails… I guess they're in Knothole, now!" She managed to say through the lyrics.
The reptile's head stood up right in great interest, probably asking himself "why the hell did they go to Knothole of all places… Perhaps, I'm missing something important."
Without a second thought, he grabbed the spaced out pink hedgehog's hand and rushed out from the base along with the now screaming girl.
Somewhere.
"Are you sure it will work?" Preoccupation was perceivable in her feline yellow eyes.
"This plan can't fail… All we have to do is fight them. The raw energy that our encounter will generate is going to cause the seal's break down and release my master."
Her companion, on the other hand, was the portrait of self-confidence.
She was still doubtful about this whole thing… Most of all, she didn't like the idea of fighting her old comrades.
The black eyed boy noticed her discomfort and decided to do something about it.
"Blaze…" He started while tenderly caressing her cheek. "… Do you trust me?" He said while showing a reassuring smile.
She sighed and grabbed his hand… It never bothered her the strange form of his appendages… She liked them, just the way she not so secretely liked him.
"Void, it's not that I don't trust you… I would entrust my own life to you and I've already done it before… It's your 'father' I don't trust. What do you really know about him?" She asked.
The plant boy thought about this for a minute or so… It was a very good question.
"The only thing I know is that he's the one who took me under his wing when no one else's would do." He quietly answered.
"Some one else would have… But I guess we'll never know it, right?" She wisely replied.
Naturally, he knew what the blazing princess was talking about… Or better, who.
"Blaze, for the umpteenth time… Miles "Tails" Prower is NOT my father!" He muttered in annoyance.
She crossed her arms and stared at him with her legendary creepy "cat glare". Even the teen Seedrian wasn't immune at her judging gaze.
"Don't look at me like that! He can't be my father! It doesn't matter if he loved my mother and planted her seed, allowing my birth… It doesn't even matter if we happen to have some similarities like… Like this red / white sneakers I'm wearing!" He declared while pointing his three-fingered hands at his shoes. "He cannot be my father, Blaze… He's younger than me, for Chaos' Sake!"
At this, Blaze put on a smirk.
"I wouldn't be so sure… By the looks of it, he's the mature one… And you, the childish one." She giggled.
"EHI! I'M NOT CHILDISH!!!" He yelled while stomping his feet on the ground.
The cat girl chuckled within herself.
Yep. They're definitely similar… She thought.
"Have I interrupted anything?" Said a foreign voice.
Both Void and Blaze turned to see their third comrade holding a white emerald in his hand.
"So… You've find the last Chaos Emerald, Shadow." Void resumed his seriousness.
The black and red hedgehog grinned.
"Indeed I have… Among other things." His mind wandered on a certain tender moment he and the pink hedgehog have shared, right before bringing her back to the base.
Void put on a face.
"I don't want to know." He simply said.
He then made a rapid calculation in his head.
"Let's see… With this one, we currently got four emeralds, Sonic and Tails have two and, for what Naugus told me, Knuckles have one as well... That means that all the pieces are in place! We shall begin…"
"How do we start?" Asked a genuinely curious Blaze.
The bushy-haired plant boy smiled.
"By launching the challenge, of course!" He solemnly uttered.
"Whatever… You're daddy still have to maintain his end of the bargain!" Shadow reminded him.
And I will, Shadow… Don't you worry about that! Ixis Naugus always keeps his promises…
Eheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh…