SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Chapter Twenty-Three: Life Before
The scene opens to the home of the famous mercenaries, Team Virtex. We see Raine making more medical wonders inside her room. But while she was distracted, the white butterfly accidentally mixed to ingredients and created a miniature explosion. Raine was blown out of her room and into the hall, covered in soot.
"Guess that wasn't right." Raine laughed while dusting herself off. "Recter and Howl have something big planned, I just know it! Maybe I could take one little peek."
Raine flapped her little wings and stealthily flew down the hall. Recter had told Raine to wait in her room, but he should know kids don't listen. Down the hall she saw a door open and distinctly heard Recter and Howl arguing over something. Worried, Raine moved in closer and peeked through the crack.
"I'm telling you, no!" Recter yelled. "I don't want that brat here!"
"Be reasonable." Howl said calmly. "It is a special day."
"I don't care! I don't want that little runt in our home!" Recter exclaimed.
"Who are they talking about?" Raine wondered.
"Look, the little tyke is annoying, but..." Howl was cut off.
"Annoying is an understatement." Recter retorted. "That insect has got to be the biggest pest in the world."
"They're talking about me. But why?" Raine thought sadly. "Well, if they don't want me, then fine!"
Raine opened the window and flew far away from home. But back inside the home, Raine didn't realize was that what she heard was a big misunderstanding. Apparently, Recter and Howl were not alone. Sonic and Amy had come to join the two and were helping set up decorations as requested.
"Come on, big brother. Charmy's not that bad." Amy said.
"I don't know, Amy. The kid could be trouble." Sonic chuckled. Amy slapped him over the head. "What did I do?"
"That's not the problem." Howl stated. "The problem is that Recter is being overprotective again."
"I am not!" Recter retorted. "I am just concerned."
"Come, bro, what's the worse that can happen?" Sonic asked as he slung his arm over the hedgehogs shoulder. Recter growled, forcing Sonic to pull away. "I'll...just go get the others."
"Fine. And...Bring Charmy with you." Recter groaned.
"Gotcha!" Sonic said before he ran off.
"Everything is set up. Get Raine and tell her its ready." Howl said to Recter.
"Yeah, yeah." Recter shrugged. Recter walked out into the hallway towards Raine's room. As he came closer to Raine's room, he noticed the layer of smoke emerging from inside. "Raine, did you blow up you room again?" As the hedgehog stepped into the room, he noticed that Raine was nowhere to be seen. "Howl's not going to like this."
Raine was aimlessly wandering the streets of Station Square. Raine felt insecure without having Recter and Howl around to comfort her. Just then, a loud rolling thunder erupted from the dark clouds. Raine looked up just as the rain began pouring down on her.
"Great. This is just great." Raine said sarcastically.
Raine quickly to shelter under on of the outdoor fruit stand tents. Just then, a faint rumble reached her antenna. Raine was hungry and she hadn't eaten in hours. Raine's eyes wandered to a juicy delicious apple that stood on the stand next to her. Raine's mouth water and she slowly reached out for it. She knew this was wrong, but she was hungry. She grabbed it and tried to eat until.
"Hey! You have to pay for that!" the merchant yelled. Raine tried to make a getaway, but the merchant grabbed her by her antenna. "Think you can steal from my shop! You'll pay for that!"
But while the merchant was yelling, Raine reached into her jacket to pull out a vial of black liquid and splashed it into the merchant's eyes. The merchant screamed in pain and accidentally released Raine. The white butterfly took this opportunity to escape, but not before grabbing an arm full of apples.
"Wow! I haven't done that in a long time." Raine smiled. She grabs one of the apples and takes a huge bite out of it. "Good thing I have experience or I never could have done that."
Raine aimlessly flew across to the other side of the town and reached an abandoned area. While she wandered in, she failed to see the police tape strewn across the lamp posts. Raine, not paying attention, accidentally bumped her head into a building wall. Raine said rubbing her head. Raine looked up to find an old pharmacy that brought back a lot of painful memories.
"Mommy, Daddy." Rain sobbed.
---Flashback---
A one year-old Raine was crawling on the floor and started tugging at her mother's coat. Her mother was a beautiful pink butterfly, while her father was a black butterfly. Both of them wore labs coats, making them easily distinguished as scientists. The pink butterfly looked down and smiled at her baby. The mother lifted Raine and held her to the air.
"How is my little girl doing?" The mother nuzzled Raine's nose. Raine giggled happily. "Do you want to help mommy?"
"Don't get too close." The father said. "Some of these experiments are unstable."
"Why do you perform experiments when you're a pharmacist?" the mother asked.
"Just trying to keep things interesting." The father smirked.
The mother set Raine back on the floor and went back downstairs to work at the store. Later that day, Raine's father had finished working on a medicine that he believes would remove paralysis. He looked down to see Raine smiling up to him
"Hey, honey. How are you?" The father playfully asked. Just then, Raine's mother walked back upstairs. "How were things today?"
"Uh...things were fine." The mother responded nervously. "Honey...we have a visitor."
"Really? Who?" The father asked.
Raine's mother nervously shot a glance back before moving to allow their guests' in. the first was a ten year-old human boy with shoulder length blue hair. He wore simple black slacks, white shirt, and a black vest. Behind him was a green viper wearing a purple, sleeveless gi, white belt, and purple sandals. The viper looked sick as half of his body was grey.
"It's so niccce to meet you." The snake hissed. "My name is Naga. And thisss is my companion, Kai."
"I've heard of you." Raine's father growled. "You're that insane scientist who experimented on Queen Aleena's son."
"I prefer the term, evil geniusss." Naga sniggered.
"What do you want?" Raine's father asked while stealthily hiding Raine under the desk.
"I hear you have developed a way to rid the effects of paralysisss." Naga said seriously. "As you may have noticcced, my entire left half has been completely paralyzed. I want that medicine and I want it now!"
Raine's father glanced at the red vial stand on his desk. Kai saw this and also stared at the red vial. Both people make a quick jump for the vial and it looked like Raine's father would win. But suddenly, the vial disappeared from sight. Raine's father looked back to see Kai standing next to Naga with the red vial in hand.
"But how?" Raine's father asked.
"My experimentsss didn't end with Aleena'sss son." Naga stated. "Now, Kai. The vial, please."
Kai removed cork from the vial and placed the bottle in Naga's mouth. Naga greedily drank the liquid right down to the last drop. Suddenly, Naga started screaming in pain. Naga's skin started to crawl backwards until he shed it completely. Naga now stood tall and the grey skin had completely disappeared.
"Now thisss is niccce." Naga grinned. "Now that I am healed, you are no longer needed."
Before anyone could realize it, Naga extended his neck across the room. Naga opened his jaw wide and stabbed Raine's father with his fang. Raine's mother gasped in shock. That was the last sound she ever made. Kai came up behind her and cut her throat with a knife he had in his pocket.
"That was entertaining." Naga laughed. "Now, let'sss make sure there is no witnessesss."
Naga turned and walked down the stairs followed by Kai. When the coast was clear, Raine crawled out of her hiding spot and toward her dead parents. Raine nudge them, thinking they were sleeping. But being a child prodigy, Raine easily understood what happened. Raine just spent the rest of the night there, crying.
---End Flashback---
Raine found herself in the same room where her parents were murdered before her eyes. Police investigated for months, but they never found Naga or his assistant. Raine's eyes wandered the room and came to a stop on an empty vial on the floor. It was the vial Naga drank to restore himself. Raine picked up the bottle and held it close to her heart, being her father's last creation.
"I thought you would be here." Raine looked to the door to see Recter leaning against the edge. "You miss them, don't you?"
"Go away!" Raine exclaimed. "I don't want to talk to you!"
"What's with you?" Recter asked as he moved closer. "This isn't like you."
"Why would you care? I am just a pest, right?" Raine sobbed.
"Oh, so you heard that." Recter sympathized. Recter picked up Raine and held her close. "Raine, I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Charmy."
"Charmy?" Raine questioned.
"Of course. You know how annoying he can be." Recter chuckled.
"But...well, you got a point there." Raine laughed.
"Come on. Let's go home." Recter said. Recter carried Raine in his arms and walked out of the building, but not before allowing Raine one last glance of her former home. During their walk home, Recter asked. "Raine, why would you think I was talking about you?"
"You were talking about an annoying insect." Raine said.
"And that makes you think I'm talking about you." Recter laughed. "Raine, I would never say anything like that. Don't you remember when we first met?"
---Flashback---
The scene changes to a week after the Metal Overlord incident. The local street merchants were preparing their products. But as one merchant looked away, a figure flew by and swiped a pile of fruit. The thief was Raine, only she was wearing ragged clothing. It looked like she would get away with it until.
"Not so fast, you." The merchant came from nowhere and grabbed Raine by her antenna. "If you want some fruit, you have to pay for it."
"But I don't have money." Raine said.
"Then I'll be taking that." The merchant said as he reached for the fruit.
Raine tugged her stolen fruit out of his reach while reaching into her tattered cloths. Before he could realize it, Raine swung around and threw a black liquid into the merchants face. The merchant screamed in pain, which gave Raine a chance to fly away. Raine zipped down to street with a mischievous smirk. All seemed well until the young girl bumped into someone and fell to the ground. Raine rubbed her head and looked up to see Recter and Howl.
"We don't do well with thieves." Recter said. "Even little ones."
Recter attempted to reach for Raine, but the young butterfly pulled back. Raine quickly reached into her cloths and pulled out a vial of purple powder. Raine threw the powder to the ground and created a smoke screen for which Raine escaped in.
"What was that?" Howl said in a coughing fit.
"I don't know." Recter replied coughing. When the smoke cleared, they found that Raine was nowhere to be seen. "Howl, where is she?"
Howl lifted his nose into the air to track her scent. With over a hundred scents on the street, it was difficult to trace just one. Finally, he could smell Raine not too far from their position.
"This way!" Howl exclaimed.
Recter followed Howl as he quickly raced down the street. Meanwhile, Raine was flying through an alleyway with the stolen fruit. Raine laughed as she successfully made her escape. Or so she thought. Just as she was about to take a bite out of her stolen apple, a sword flew out of nowhere and stuck the apple to the wall. The butterfly looked over to see Howl staring down at her.
"That wasn't very nice." Howl said. Raine reached into her clothes for another vial, but was stopped when Recter grabbed her wrist. "So what shall we do with...?"
Howl suddenly stopped and dropped his sword to the ground. Howl dropped to his knees while clutching his heart. Recter quickly saw this and ran to his friend's side, completely forgetting Raine. Raine could have escaped, but she was too worried about Howl's condition.
"Howl? What's wrong?" Recter panicked.
"I...don't...know." Howl's breathing became heavy. "It...my heart."
"What do we do? What do we do?" Recter was completely freaking out.
"Oh, move over!" Raine shouted forcefully as she pushed Recter aside. Raine set Howl on the ground and started listening to Howl's heart. "It sound's like that he's suffering from a heartworm. Most common in canines."
"How do you know this?" Recter asked.
"My parents were doctors." Raine stated. Raine reached into her clothing and pulled a vial of pink liquid. "Drink this. It will help."
Howl looked doubtful for a moment. Howl looked to his friend as if asking whether to trust her or not. Recter, figuring they had nothing to lose, nodded yes. Howl willingly drank the liquid that Raine gave him. Howl felt something moving inside his chest and crawled up to his throat. Howl flipped over and spit out the heartworm.
"Ok, that was gross." Recter said disgusted.
"I...I owe you my life." Howl said to Raine.
"It was nothing. I was just happy to help." Raine smiled.
"Man, you're parents must be proud." Recter said. Raine remained silent and held her head down. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know."
"It's ok. I'm sure they would be." Raine said with a genuine smile.
"If it makes you feel better, my parents were killed too." Recter said.
"Really?" Raine asked.
"Yeah. Some filthy serpent named Naga killed them." Recter said, catching Raine by surprise. "My sister and I were just lucky enough to escape."
"Naga killed my parents too." Raine said sadly.
Recter and Howl looked sadly at the poor child. Her parents were dead and she was forced to steal food. Recter wouldn't allow such a thing to continue.
"Do you have a place to stay?" Recter asked. Raine shook her head no. "You won't be able to say that anymore." Raine looked confused. "I want you to come stay with us. We could use someone like you on the team. What's your name?"
"Raine."
"Raine, welcome to Team Virtex." Recter said. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
---End Flashback---
Recter was carrying Raine back to their home and stopped at the front door. Recter opened the door and walked inside. Once inside, Raine jumped out of his arm and floated in midair.
"I've kept my promise so far, but you are making it difficult." Recter said.
"I'm sorry." Raine apologized.
"Normally, I would be mad." Recter grinned. "But let's wait after the party."
"Party?" Raine asked.
Recter walked down the hall with Raine following behind. The two reached the door to Recter's office and flung it wide open. Inside, Howl and the entire Sonic Heroes team were waiting in a fabulously decorated room. The heroes quickly caught sight of the two and suddenly shouted.
"Surprise! Happy Birthday, Raine!
"You...you guys remembered." Raine said with tears of joy.
"These are for you." Charmy said as he held a bundle of roses to Raine.
"Hey! That's mine!" Sonic shouted.
"What was that?" Recter glared at the blue hedgehog.
"Uh...I mean...they are mine that I gave to Charmy to give to Raine." Sonic said nervously.
In reality, Sonic ran halfway around the world and handpicked those roses from a secret spot only he knows. He was planning to give them to Amy. But with her brother present, he didn't say a thing. Sonic growled at the annoying bee, who only replied by sticking his tongue out. Raine took the rose and kissed Charmy on the cheek, whom proceeds to faint on the floor. Raine giggled for a moment before turning back to Recter.
"Thank you...big brother." Raine said.
"Anytime, sis." Recter smiled.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!" Vector shouted.
The party was a real hit with everyone. They had a piñata shaped like Eggman and Silver beat the hell out of it. Even after it was already down. Tails gave Raine an invention of his to better organize her medicines. Raine hugged him and Storm had to hold Cream back from killing her. Man, she really is like Amy. Later, they enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake that Amy made. Most of which ended up on Espio's face. But as everyone enjoyed the party, Recter leaned against the wall and continually stared at Sonic. Howl walked over to the wall to confront him.
"So where did you find Raine?" Howl asked.
"The same place where Naga killed her parents." Recter said seriously.
"Tell me, is Naga the reason why you don't trust Sonic?" Howl asked.
"Everyone knows Naga experimented on the son of Queen Aleena, which both know is Sonic." Recter informed. "He is the byproduct of Naga's experimentations."
"But we don't even know what the experiment was." Howl interjected.
"But I intend to find out." Recter said sternly. "Until then, let's keep an eye on our little blue friend."
Howl did not understand how could be so untrusting to the world's greatest hero, but he didn't ask why. Both Recter and Raine had bad experiences with the mysterious snake. And now the answer to Naga was within Sonic himself, even if he didn't realize it.
Meanwhile, at the Egg-Carrier III. All the villains aboard the ship were gathered around their latest project. After weeks of waiting, it had seemed that the day had finally arrived. The reconstruction of Metal Sonic's soldiers was at last finished.
"So the day arrives." Eggman sniggered.
"Shall we wake them up?" Violet asked playfully.
"Yes. Lets." Metal chuckled.
Metal placed his hands against the vats of ooze and released and electrical surge within them. The mechs finally woke up and burst from their containers. The first one was a red mech with five tendrils draping down its head, a crest moon shape on its chest, two large claws on each hand, and red and yellow feet that looked like shoes.
Mech Name: Metal Knuckles
The second container opened to reveal a green mech with five contoured spikes on the back of its head, three spikes to act as tail feathers, red and black feet that looked like boots, and a pair of metal claws
Mech Name: Metal Jet
The third container opened to reveal a purple mech with a yellow horn, a whip-like tail, violet and black feet that looked like shoes, and a pair of metal claws on its hands.
Mech name: Metal Espio
"Amazing aren't they?" Metal said.
"Uh...Metal." Mecha called Metal's attention.
Mecha pointed to the last container, which was still unopened. Inside was a pink mech with three curved spikes on its forehead, five tendrils hanging from its head, a pair of metal claws, wore a metal dress shaped like Amy's, and red feet shaped like boots.
Mech Name: Metal Amy
"What's wrong with her?" Mecha asked.
"I don't know." Metal answered. Amy's mechanical looked back and forth around the base until its glowing eyes locked on Metal Sonic. Metal Amy's eyes changed into hearts, which Metal noticed. "Uh oh."
Metal Amy burst from her container and knocked Metal Sonic to the floor. Metal tried to get up, but noticed Metal Amy was still holding on to him.
"Let go!" Metal commanded.
"Not a chance! Now you're mine!" Metal Amy said mischievously.
"Uh...Someone help me!" Metal screamed.
"Sorry, Metal. Your project, your problem." Eggman laughed.
Soon, all the villains were laughing at Metal's predicament. But as Metal tried to break free from his insane creation, the failed to notice a figure standing at the computer and slip away into the darkness. The only thing revealed of its identity was a pair of red eyes and a low hiss.
New secrets begin to unravel. Who is Naga? How is he involved with Sonic? And what does Metal have planned for his squadron? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes.