Sonic: Vines of Sorrow Ch. 11
"So," Lucas said, "This is what you have become Lee?"
"That is correct," the green Gizoid said, "We are now more machines than animals."
"So," Sonic said, "What happened?"
"It all started long ago," Dark Sapling said, "Our race, the Nocturnus, had tried to live in harmony with the Seedrians on the planet Greengate, ever since we were taken from Mobius to their planet by an ancient event that occurred more than four thousand years ago. It was said that, before the event, the neo-animals and humans all lived on one planet. However, our ancestors have fought to expand their power. We would have seized complete control, had it not been for the Echidna Clan. They tried to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, with the result of awakening Chaos, the guardian of the Chao. Once Chaos had seen the creatures pushed aside by the clan, it grew furious. Absorbing the power of the Chaos Emeralds, it grew into a monster. However, a weapon on our side, the first Gizoid, stood up to it and absorbed the Chaos Emeralds power as well. There are two parts to the power of the emeralds. First, the positive energy, in which the user uses them as an act of defense for his or herself and the people he or she cares about, channeled by positive emotions: Courage, love, trust. Then there is the negative energy, in which the user uses them as a means of offense for their own reasons, channeled by negative emotions: Hatred, sadness, grief. However, while Chaos absorbed the negative energy by means of hatred and vengeance towards the Echidna Clan, the Gizoid absorbed the positive energy by default. Machines can access the power of the Chaos Emeralds prematurely. Once the Gizoid defeated Chaos, it absorbed the negative energy. However, since Chaos had been able to feel emotion, the negative energy overpowered the positive energy and transformed the positive energy into negative energy. When an event that causes one half of the energy to convert the other half of energy to the same form, the Chaos Emeralds become Super Emeralds and the power output is increased while requiring less energy from the user. Chaos was said to have been sealed away in the Master Emerald by a young, orange echidna. However, the Gizoid found the emerald and used it to increase the energy of the Super Emeralds even further. Unfortunately, the power could not be contained, and it accidentally created Chaos Control. It has not been said where the people that were affected had gone off to, but it is said that a fraction of the Nocturnus Clan had been transported to the planet Greengate: my ancestors."
"Wait," Dr. Eggman spoke up, "My grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, discovered a Gizoid. It was found on Earth, a planet dominated by humans, yet connected to this planet. In his journal, he stated that the Gizoid was approximately four thousand years old. He had also modified the Gizoid to have a soul, modeled after the personality of his daughter, Maria, and gave it the ability to learn emotions to contain his destructive power."
"That explains the connection between the two planets, Mobius and Earth," Tails said.
"And the soul that Emerl has," Cream said.
"And that explains the writing that we found on that computer in the pod in Holoska," Tails continued, "It was the language that the Seedrians used, though a different dialect."
"Shall I continue?" Dark Sapling said.
"Why certainly," Cream said.
"The Nocturnus and the Seedrians have lived together on the planet in peace. However it wasn't to last forever. One day, our latest ruler grew greedy. He wanted the power of the whole planet under his grasp. To do this, he launched an attack on the Seedrian capital. All those who wished not to join him were to be dismembered from the clan. Ruby, Aqua and I were three of them. The Seedrians have won the war. Afterwards, the Nocturnus was banished to seek out a different planet to inhabit, however Sapphire, Aqua and I were not allowed to join the Nocturnus on their quest. Instead, we wondered across the galaxy alone, eventually finding ourselves on planet Marmolim. The inhabitants were an interesting race. They have harnessed the power to use charms to tell fortunes and cast love spells. Years have passed and we lived happily with the Marmolmians, but my heart ached from missing my friends and Greengate. I decided to travel there one day, but one of the fortune tellers told me that all I will find there is sorrow. This only furthered my curiosity. Ruby, Aqua and I flew off to planet Greengate, but when we arrived, all we saw was the result of destruction. Burned trees, buildings in ruin, nothing seemed to survive. I came across a building that held a hologram of Earthia. It told the story of how a menace had come to invade the planet. The Seedrians attempted to combat the invaders, but to no avail. The Thorndrigans wanted to stay and fight the enemy to the bitter end while the Petali wanted to leave the planet, knowing that there was no hope of winning the war, and find somewhere else in the galaxy to settle. The two ideals had divided the Seedrians, even my closest friends, Lucas and Earthia, have fought amongst themselves when Earthia found out that Lucas was willing to sacrifice the life supporting Planet Egg of Greengate to increase the power of the soldiers and win the war. In the end, the Thorndrigans stayed to fight and the Petali left, destroying their planet with an arsenal of weapons after their departure, destroying the invaders as well as most of the Thorndrigans, leaving only Lucas and four others to survive. Lucas became Dark Oak and he and the remaining Thorndrigans became the Metarex, and they planned to conquer the universe and remake it so that the inhabitants were only Seedrians and plants. After hearing the story, I felt a giant wave of grief run over me. It was bad enough that I was separated from my once good friends, but to see them become torn apart by their beliefs and to see the devastation that was brought onto my home planet fueled my sadness. Ruby and Aqua felt it much the same way. Then, that sadness turned to anger and hatred towards Lucas, Earthia, and the invaders. I realized what I had to do. The Nocturnus, the latest ruler, the invaders, they all desired power. And Lucas and Earthia had different ideals, which were revealed in the war against the invaders: Lucas desired to sacrifice the life of the planet to save the Seedrians, while Earthia desired to save the Seedrians without further costs. And I was sure that, even if one race existed in the universe, as long as we had these desires, people will continue to have reason to fight, but if we didn't have these desires, if we all were to follow one ideal and care about nothing else, not even ourselves, there would be no conflict, no wars; everything in perfect harmony. Among the carnage, I found just one small sapling, alone. I took the small plant and began to construct a plan to perfect the galaxy. Fate was with me as I discovered an old space vessel, the one we are standing in here, with a small group of Gizoids inside: the future residence of the entire galaxy. I had modified the vessel to harness the power of the small sapling that grows in the heart of the ship. I had also constructed the Gizoids so that they run on the souls of life forms, without presenting any emotion. Ruby, Aqua, and I gave our souls to these Gizoids and set out for our conquest as Hera, Andromeda, and Dark Sapling, programmed only to eliminate all emotion. We had also come across some allies who supported our beliefs, but their loss of emotion was the reward for their cooperation. Some of them helped create more Gizoids, so that we could have an army."
"I have to say," Sonic said, "That sounds like a pretty boring galaxy you're setting out to create."
"Since we wouldn't be feeling emotions," Dark Sapling stated, "It would not matter to us."
"But there would be no good emotions," Cream said, "No Joy, no laughter, no love."
"A sacrifice to rid the negative emotions," Lee said, "Adding to that, the 'love' your two-tailed friend has for you is fake."
The shock shook Tails and Cream.
"I've been meaning to tell you," Cosmo said.
Everyone looked at the greenghost.
"I can see it as well," Lee said, "And I recognize the formula. It is the infamous Love Spell from Marmolim."
"But how?" Amy said, "The effect only worked on Tails and Cosmo."
"I heard an old Marmolimian story," Lee said, "It has been said that if one of the effected people dies, the spell will seek out another romantic connection for the still living half. If there is another person with romantic feelings for the effected person and the two people make physical contact, the love spell will establish the romantic connection between those two individuals. While the rabbit's love for the fox is pure and true, the feelings the fox has are nothing more than a farce."
"No… no… NO!" Tails screamed as a wave of grief raced through his body.
He fell to his knees and started to cry.
"It can't be…" he said as the vines that took hold of him started to drain his energy, "I thought… I might have… a second chance… at… love."
The fox dropped to the floor.
Cream felt her strength being drained as well as she witnessed yet another tragedy occurring before her eyes.
"TAILS!" she screamed.
Their friends looked in anger at the three Gizoids in front of them.
"There is no point in fighting," Dark Sapling said, "Your friend is having the last of his life energy drained."
"I won't let this happen," Cosmo yelled.
"But it already is beginning," the green Gizoid said, "And you will join him soon. You will be a part of the system, living in a society without any needs or desires. You will be programmed to do specific tasks that will further advance this society. We will all be a perfect society, because we will not attach ourselves to anything remotely of value. We will have no families, no friends. We will have nothing."
The last sentence echoed in Cosmo's mind before she let out a scream that the whole planet would have heard.
"DARK… SAPLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"
The trio of Gizoids walked off with the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald hovering behind them.
The three Gizoids entered into a room located in the chest of the giant ship. That was where the sapling, now a blossom tree, was stored. Dark Sapling stood right in front of it with Hera at his right and Andromeda at his left. The Chaos Emeralds surrounded them in a circle with the Master Emerald hovering overhead. Dark Sapling placed the potted plant in front of him, took out the resident that it held, and placed it right next to the tree. He held up his hand. The plant glowed and floated up to the trunk of the tree, merging with it. The pink blossoms that were on the blossom tree turned dark and an eerie aura surrounded it.
"Now," Dark Sapling announced to his colleagues, "it is time that we purged the inhabitants of this world of their emotions."
The Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald began to glow. The Chaos Emeralds flashed and grew in size, now Super Emeralds. Wires shot out of the walls and attached themselves to the three Gizoids and the emeralds.
"It is time to awaken, Metal Mover," Dark Sapling announced.
The ship began to stand upright as a dragon. Waves of Chaos Energy radiated from it, ready to sap the life energy of any and all of the residence of the planet.
In the belly of the giant, Sonic and the crew fought with all their might against the wires that were draining them of their energy, but it was no use. With the tragedy that they have witnessed, they could not fight back. Cream, in particular, had it worse. First Emerl, then Cosmo, and now, right before her eyes, someone that she began to see as more than a friend have all left her. Her body quickly went into a coma, where she found herself covered in a big blanket of darkness. She closed her eyes and waited to be reborn along with all those she lost as mindless droids. For a while all seemed quiet.
"Don't ever give up, my daughter," a voice said.
Cream opened her eyes. There, standing right before her in the darkness, was a tall, black and yellow rabbit. He looked just like the rabbit that she saw in the photos at home.
"Father?" Cream said.
Author's Note: It is finally here. Also, please don't flame me for the Love Spell twist (although I know you will anyway).