Chapter 14: It's Not Him!
Ray managed to safely, and successfully escape from Theotrin before he could get to him. However, it turns out that the portal closed by itself, and not by Ray closing it. He walks around in an unrealistic, black dimension. Taking footsteps in the black water as he walks around, he sees Sally hanging from a large, wooden pole in the room. He quickly rushes over to her, seeing that she's still unconscious as he tries to get her down from the pole. However, she isn't moving at all, which surprises Ray tremendously.
"But how? There's nothing holding her up." He says to himself disappointed, as a dark voice chuckles pride fully in the dimension, startling Ray.
"Looks like you fell into my trap, KIDDO!" Theotrin's disembodied voice shouts, laughing hysterically as a black hand comes out of nowhere and is about to grab Ray.
"What is that?!" Ray shouts shocked, as it's about to grab him. Fortunately, a kunai flies right into it, dispersing its energy as it hits Sally's pole and sticks to it. "Huh? Who was that?" Ray asks, wondering who threw the kunai. Suddenly, a purple aura is seen walking out of nowhere, as it gets even brighter by each step it takes towards Ray. The figure then finally emerges, surprising Ray as he smiles in relief.
"It's just me Ray." Espio says, being the ninja who threw the kunai in the first place. Ray begins to ask a question, but is forced to not ask it when more black hands start emerging.
"I don't think now is the best time to be asking questions." Espio explains, preparing to battle the other black hands that just emerged. However, a giant, long bolt of blue electricity comes and blasts right through the hands, dispersing them into the air as they become absolutely nothing.
"Hey! That was…" Ray tries saying, before a large, black crocodile appears before them.
"What the?" Espio says, surprised to see someone like that in front of himself.
"Who are you?" Ray asks on guard, as the crocodile only smiles in response.
Meanwhile, Theotrin takes the glowing white orb in the palm of his hand and launches it towards Kyousuke and Vector. Kyousuke quickly pulls out his chokuto and spins around, while at the same time, Vector manages to grab the orb and prevent it from flying into the wall using his immense strength. Kyousuke charges up his chokuto with electrical, radiant energy, attracting the orb to the sword. He then blasts the orb back at Theotrin at an even higher speed as Theotrin is unable to resist it. He gets easily blown back by the orb, sliding across the ground on his back as the orb bounces off him and blows a hole in the wall behind him. The hole leads to where Sally is, as Sonic sees her inside.
"Now's my chance!" Sonic says, quickly speeding into the portal as Mighty notices and runs after him.
"SONIC!" Knuckles shouts, running into the portal as well before Theotrin tries to shut it. Kyousuke sees Alisa and Dayton still in the room, not wanting them in the room though.
"GO!" Kyousuke yells towards Dayton and Alisa, who are unsure about this. "We can handle this. They will need all the help they can get." Kyousuke confidently tells them, as Alisa then tries to fly into the portal.
"Heh, good luck." Theotrin says pitifully, as he attempts to close it even faster until Dayton punches him in the face with a rock covered hand.
"Have fun losing your last game!" Dayton says insultingly, as he then jumps into the portal after Alisa manages to get into it.
"NOOO!" Theotrin screams, closing the portal quickly as he then angrily punches the floor. He gets up and turns around, only to be confused by seeing Kyousuke and Vector just standing there, waiting for Theotrin to do something.
"Ah, so you do have a death wish." Theotrin says satisfyingly, as Vector only starts to laugh out of amusement in response.
"The Chaotix aren't gonna go down that easy you fool!" Vector says insultingly, as he fist bumps with Kyousuke. Theotrin only gets irritated by this, creating a large orb of white light in his hand again, except this time; he compresses the energy to create more pressure, resulting in a bigger explosion like Kyousuke did with Shavecke.
"However, before I do kill you, I want to ask you something Kyousuke." Theotrin says, surprising Kyousuke as he slowly puts his hand back next to his waist. He eyes Theotrin skeptically, while also glaring at him in the process.
"Yeah, and what would you want to ask me, huh, after trying to kill me at least a million times?" Kyousuke says sternly, as Theotrin only chuckles in response.
"You know that we both were under the same pressure as children." Theotrin brings up, as Kyousuke continues to glare at him in contempt. Theotrin just bringing up the thought of his past already started getting to him, putting him on edge as Theotrin continues.
"Why did you leave me to live a pathetic life with those two?" Theotrin asks, not moving a single part of his body while asking it.
Kyousuke then gets hit with memories, as he remembers the time when they were kids. Simple enough, Theotrin wanted to get revenge on everyone for hating him, but Kyousuke had a different point-of-view. He didn't want revenge; he only wanted people to love him for whom he was. They both stood across from each other, staring each other in the eyes, as Theotrin reaches out to Kyousuke.
"How can you be so persistent? They hate you! They don't want anything to do with us, nothing!" Theotrin says, swinging his hand away in anger as Kyousuke only continues to look him in the eyes.
"They think of us reptiles as nothing but SCORN!" Theotrin says angrily, as the young Kyousuke stares at the ground in disappointment, thinking about how true it is, and how wrong Theotrin is being.
"That's an unfounded belief Theotrin. I don't know what their point in saying that would be, but I don't care anymore." Kyousuke responds calmly, as he starts to walk away, not wanting to deal with it anymore. Theotrin interrupts, being persistent as he is, asking Kyousuke another question.
"Why are you so different? You're not like most of us. You still choose to not get revenge over this, I don't understand! Why…why are you so enigmatic?!" Theotrin shouts angrily, demanding answers while being both confused and surprised. Kyousuke then stops in his tracks, taking a moment to respond back, sighing in sorrow before responding.
"Haven't you noticed that crocodiles are not the same as other reptiles?" Kyousuke asks Theotrin, shocking him that Kyousuke has already found out his mobian nature, being a crocodile. "I don't even know why we are related to mobians that don't even live here, but I can say that being one to fall under hatred so easily is never a wise choice." Kyousuke explains, as Theotrin gives up hope, starting to walk away in disappointment.
"Then do that if that's what you want." Theotrin says bitterly, as Kyousuke continues walking away without making any comebacks. "Snakes and crocodiles never did get along very well in the first place anyway." Theotrin says bitterly, as he starts to run away from Kyousuke. Suddenly, a massive explosion occurs were Theotrin would be, but Theotrin can't be heard screaming. Kyousuke instantly turns around, standing in shock as he sees the trees behind him in flames. He instantly rushes over to the flames, screaming for Theotrin while looking around for him.
"What the HELL?!" Kyousuke shouts shocked, as he then sees black ink steaming in the air.
This is what triggers Kyousuke's horror, causing him to widen his eyes, reflecting the past as he does the same in the present, looking at Theotrin in pure horror and remorse.
"You…got infected, didn't you?" Kyousuke asks, inflicted with pure horror itself as Theotrin only stands there like a doll, as if we wanted to be attacked. Vector looks at Kyousuke in confusion, as he notices something really weird happening between them.
"What are you talking about?" Vector asks confused; as Kyousuke goes on to explain the deadly curse of this creature.
"These creatures infect elementals that don't understand their point in living. They attack them while they are still young because elementals are nowhere near as strong then as they would be at my age. They overtake their bodies and minds, changing the way they look in the process. However, they can also make elementals do things so horrible and devastating; it'll make you not notice them being infected, just like I was fooled so easily." Kyousuke explains upsettingly, as Vector starts to feel somewhat remorseful for Theotrin. Theotrin then starts to tremble in pain, as he grabs his head in pain while still holding the orb.
"Help me…" A whisper calls out, as Kyousuke widens his eyes in shock, witnessing Theotrin's skin ripple, as if it's mutating.
"We have to finish this now!" Kyousuke says nervously, starting to charge an electrical ball like he did with Shavecke, as he prepares to use it on Theotirn.
"I need your help Vector." Kyousuke asks, as Vector starts to charge the electrical ball with green flames. The ball then turns into a green ball with electrical sparks, covered in green flames that orbit the ball. However, Kyousuke is disappointed with the results, as Theotrin is aiming the white orb towards them. "Dammit! This isn't enough power! We need more energy!" Kyousuke shouts angrily, as Vector tries to put more effort into the ball, only to not have any results returned. All of the sudden, a chaos spear flies into the ball, majorly increasing its size to that of a basketball, as Kyousuke looks to where it came from. Shadow is then seen, still alive! He is shaking in pain as he used a large amount of energy from the chaos spear, as he then falls face-flat onto the floor.
"Alright then! Let's do this!" Kyousuke says confidently, as Vector and Kyousuke look at Theotrin, who is struggling to deal with the pain while holding the orb out even farther towards Kyousuke and Vector. They both run up to Theotrin, as they surprisingly then split ways afterwards. Vector takes full control of the massive energy ball and lunges it into the white orb, causing a massive reaction as they both collide and explode upon each other, creating a white portal in the process. Kyousuke then grabs Theotrin and starts pulling, as he splits into two entities. "Come on! Set yourself free!" Kyousuke screams, as Theotrin struggles to escape the infectious entity, as Vector then comes and tugs on Kyousuke. They manage to pull Theotrin out, as the infectious entity screams a hideous, high-pitched scream while being sucked into the collision of the orb and energy ball. Theotrin is also thrown back a bit as he rolls across the ground, stopping like a dead doll as Kyousuke and Vector run up to Theotrin on the floor. They stand above him, looking at him and his now returned to normal features. He still has that green elemental skin with the white glowing eyes, but now looks more human and less alien. With hair that spikes up in the front, he lies there on the ground, living his last moments as Kyousuke kneels over him.
"So, it really wasn't you then, was it?" Kyousuke asks remorsefully, as Theotrin barely turns his head towards Kyousuke, staring at him in nothing but guilt.
"I'm sorry about this Kyousuke. I was weak, and I caused you all this trouble." He says apologetically in a quiet, stressed out voice as Kyousuke shakes his head.
"I'm not going to blame you for something you didn't do. I never have, and I never will." Kyousuke says forgivingly, as Theotrin's eyes show relief and happiness.
"Well, my time is up. I'm done for." Theotrin says in his dying breath, as Kyousuke starts looking at him upsettingly.
"I never did tell you though, that elementals who find mobians of the same species are to be a special bond of some sort." Theotrin says in his dying breath again, surprising both Vector and Kyousuke as they look at each other for a minute, before staring back at Theotrin before he dies.
"Love is luxury that reptiles normally can't afford." Are Theotrin's last words, as he finally passes away. His body decomposes into white particles, flying in the air as Kyousuke passes his hand through them. They fade into the air and disappear, marking the end of Theotrin, as Kyousuke slowly gets up while closing his eyes.
"You ok?" Vector asks, as Kyousuke opens his eyes, finished with his silent grieving over Theotrin's death.
"Yeah, let's just get out of here." Kyousuke says, as Vector smiles and they prepare to leave, walking over to Shadow to pick him up. However, the white portal returns, as two black infectious hands fly out and grab Kyousuke and Vector.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Kyousuke screams in horror, literally taking his chokuto and thowing it violently at the hand that's grabbing Vector, cutting it in half as it screams a hideous noise before dissipating into black particles. The other hand, however, still is holding on to Kyousuke, as he is screaming for survival. The hand starts trying to infect Kyousuke, as he continues to scream in agony and even starts wailing tears in hopes of survival.
"NOOO! NOO! FUCK NOO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kyousuke screams in terror, as the hand starts pulling him inside while still trying to infect him. Vector ferociously punches the hands arm into the ground, as it lets go of Kyousuke and Vector angrily yells at it.
"YOU REALLY CROSSED THE LINE NOW! I'M GONNA RIP YOU TO SHREDS!" Vector screams angrily, upset that Kyousuke was dying in the grasp of that infectious hand. He angrily rips the hand out of the portal, ripping it apart as the hand screams hideously again, dying and killing off the last of the infectious hand species. The portal finally closes, as Vector drops the hand that he ripped off, as it disperses into more black particles. Kyousuke is lying on the ground, moving in panic and curling up as he's shaking traumatically from the extensively short experience.
"Sh… .shi…iii.. .t…t..t" Kyousuke says in trauma, as he barely manages to get a glimpse of Vector. Vector's shaking in adrenaline, as he is so pissed off, that it is shocking to see him in this state of anger.
"V…v…ect…t…tor…r." Kyousuke says, still in trauma as Vector then rushes over to him in horror. He stands there, wide-eyed in terror as he sees Kyousuke shaking uncontrollably, like a child who's been scared half-to-death, so bad that it has scarred the child for life. Vector picks up the traumatized elemental, as he scrambles all over Vector in horror, trying to get a grip on him as Vector calms him down by holding him gently.
"Hey, it's over now. You're not gonna die." Vector says comfortingly, as Kyousuke is still shaking, starting to pass out from the trauma. Vector then walks over and picks up Shadow, who is still alive. Shadow looks at Vector sadly, who is surprised to see Shadow acting like this.
"I saw all of it." Shadow says remorsefully, still severely weakened as Vector looks at him completely surprised. "Poor kid." Shadow says sadly, as he is too weak from the Katana to walk by himself. With that, Vector walks out of the area, leaving behind Kyousuke's chokuto that shattered to pieces, ready to announce that they both, including Shadow, saved the world.