SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Disclaimer: Tomo belongs to Kiba Sniper.
Chapter Thirty-One: A New Face
The sun rose to approach the next day. The day after that whole baby episode. After their little babysitting trouble, Tails and Cream took the Tornado III and are currently hiding out somewhere in southern Africa. The suns bright rays glared through the window of Sonic and Shadow's room, giving a certain blue hero a rude awakening. Sonic groaned and pulled the sheets over his head. His head was pulsing fiercely. What did he do last night?
"Ugh...what happened?" Sonic groaned. "I feel like I got run over a stampede."
His head still throbbing, Sonic reluctantly pulled himself out of bed. Looking over at his roommate, the blur could tell his dark counterpart was also feeling the same way. Sonic left his room and forced himself down the hall towards the kitchen. Along the way, a human walked past like he lived here.
"Hi." The human said.
"Hi." Sonic replied. It took a moment for Sonic to register what had happened. Once his head was on straight, Sonic ran back to his room and shook Shadow awake, shouting. "Shadow! Get up! We have a major problem!"
"God, shut up." Shadow moaned; his head equally painful. He sat up holding his head. "Man, I haven't felt this terrible since I got drunk in Rio. The next morning was kind of strange though."
"What'd ya mean?" Sonic asked.
"I woke up in a hotel room with Kumori and – OH MY GOD!" Shadow suddenly yelled.
"I'm not even going to ask." Sonic said with a shudder. "Look, there's this..."
"OH MY GOD!" Shadow cut in.
"Can you shut up for...?"
"OH MY GOD!"
"Shut up!" Sonic exclaimed; slapping his hand over Shadow's mouth. "There's someone in here and I have no idea who he is."
"Then why don't you hit the 'intruder alarm' button?" Shadow question; pointing to the red button on the wall.
"I didn't know we had that." Sonic said stupidly.
Shadow rolled his eyes and ran over to the button. The human that had been casually sitting in the living jumped up when the alarm blared through the base. Out of nowhere, Sonic flies by using his homing attack. Surprisingly, the human dropped down to the floor and kicks upward to force Sonic back a bit.
"Did expect that." Sonic grinned. "I think I like this guy."
"So you're Sonic, huh?" The human said excitingly. "I've been waiting for this."
The human moved into a fight position and Sonic did the same. At the moment, Sonic was able to get a better look at the intruder. He was a sixteen year-old boy with flaming red hair. He wore a purple Asian gi, black fingerless gloves, a red sash, and black shoes with red lines. The human waved his hand to challenge Sonic when suddenly.
"I got him!" Storm screamed.
"Don't let him get away!" Knuckles yelled.
The human looked back to find the muscle of the team make a dive at him. The boy swiftly landed on his hands and shot his feet upwards. They made contact with Knuckles and Storm's chins and shoved them to the wall. While still on his hands, the human flipped around to avoid five bright yellow arrows before jumping back to his feet.
"Watch where you're aiming those thing!" The human complained. "You could really hurt someone."
"Then I promise I won't miss next time." Shadow said as he dropped from the ceiling suddenly. But the boy grabbed him by the wrist and swung him around towards the wall. Shadow bounced off and onto the ground. "How can he move like that?"
"Hey, shad, got any suggestions?" Sonic asked.
"Like how to kick his butt?" Storm asked; pulling his beak from out of the wall.
"I know a way." The boys said. "How bout lunch?"
"Huh?" All the heroes said simultaneously.
"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything since yesterday." The boy said sheepishly. "Got anything left?"
Greatly confused at the intruder's sudden change in attitude, the group led the boy into the kitchen. Thankfully, Amy still had some food left over after yesterday's awkward experience. The boy literally inhaled everything on the table; nearly taking Storm's hand went he tried to grab a roll.
"Uh...if you are gonna finish anything soon." Shadow started up. "Who are you?"
"Me?" The boy said; swallowing five pounds of food. "The names Rai."
"Ok Rai, how did you get here anyway?" Knuckles asked suspiciously.
"Actually, that was the easy part." Rai said; drinking three gallons of soda. "All I really did was brake into the G.U.N. command center, hack into their secret files, locate you, disable your security system, and now I'm eating your food."
"That was easy?" Storm questioned; his mouth in gape
"It was a good hour." Rai muttered.
"Just answer one more question." Shadow said sternly. "Why are you here in the first place?"
"I'm here for Sonic." Rai said.
"I knew it!" Knuckles exclaimed; jumping out of his chair and grabbing Rai by the scruff of his gi. "He's working for Eggman or the Dark Rulers!"
"No! I swear I'm not!" Rai shouted instinctively.
"Then why would you want Sonic?" Knuckles asked; holding his spiked fist to Rai's face. "And you better think of a good excuse."
"It's a well know fact that Sonic arch-enemy is Eggman, right?" Rai asked. Everyone nodded. "I was hoping that if I find Sonic, he would lead me straight to Eggman."
"Why would you go after Eggman?" Storm asked. "Does he owe you money or something?"
"Not exactly." Rai said. "You see it – would you mind letting me go?"
Knuckles was hesitant for a moment, but let Rai go regardless with a loud 'Hmph!'
"Thank you." Rai said, mending his neckline. "You see, when I was a year old, Eggman used me for an experiment."
"That's low, even for Eggman." Sonic muttered.
"Believe me, it wasn't Eggman's idea." Rai suddenly said defensively. "It was the idea of his partner, Naga."
"Naga?" Shadow repeated. "As in Naga the Snake?"
"You know him, Shadow?" Knuckles asked.
"When I was working for Eggman, I read some of his old files. Naga was once considered a genius at genetic experimentation." Shadow explained. "He was regarded as the most brilliant scientist of his time until he was requested for arrest."
"Why? What'd he do?" Storm asked.
"No one knows for sure, but all that was known was that he committed a crime against Queen Aleena." Shadow continued.
"Did something happen to my mom?" Sonic asked mentally; feeling worried.
"So what happened to him?" Storm asked.
"That's the thing." Shadow said. "Fifteen years ago, he just dropped from sight and no one has seen him since."
"Naga performed an experiment on me with Eggman's help." Rai stated. "They had plans to create the very first super human and they were successful. They created me."
"You?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah. The experiment made me faster, stronger, and more agile then any normal human." Rai explained.
"You have proven to be difficult to catch." Shadow admitted bitterly.
"So you want to find Eggman for revenge?" Sonic asked.
"Not exactly." Rai said. "You see, Eggman is actually..." Suddenly, the alarm went off. "Well, so much for that."
A video screen popped out of the wall and the appeared on screen.
"Heroes, we have a situation." The commander said.
"When do we not?" Knuckles said sarcastically.
"It appears that the chaos clone, Violet, is rampaging across Central City with an army of black clones." The commander informed. "We need you to go and take care of them."
"We're on it!" Shadow proclaimed. "Heroes, let's move!"
The four quickly jumped out of their seat and ran out of the base, leaving Rai with the commander. It was only then the commander finally took notice of Rai's presence.
"Hey, I know you." The commander said. "Aren't you the boy who...?"
"Well, would you look at the time?" Rai said nervously; pointing to his imaginary watch. "Sorry, but I got to go."
And with that, Rai raced off after the heroes.
Central City, still somehow recovering from the Black Arms invasion and the destruction caused by the ARK, was under serious attack. Violet and a large number of Black Clones stampeded across the city streets in a military march. And with a swing of her claw, the clones scattered. Most of them climbed along the reforming buildings, attempting to rip out the supporting structure. Others were cluttered along the streets, attempting to capture as many prisoners as possible.
"Ah, what a wonderful day." Violet said abnormally lighthearted. "I can't believe Eggman actually gave us a day off. The chaos, the destruction, nothing could ruin today." Suddenly, a number of yellow arrows destroyed the clones on the buildings. Violet groaned. "Except for that."
Just down the street, The four heroes stood lined up and Rai bringing up the rear.
"Cool. Evil clones." Rai said.
"No, not cool." Shadow said. "Listen, just stay back and stay out of trouble.
"Aw, you're no fun." Rai pouted.
"Hey, losers, what took you so long?" Violet mocked.
"Storm wanted to stop for sandwiches." Knuckles said.
"Speaking of which, I'm hungry." Storm said and ran off.
"Uh...why is he a part of your team?" Violet asked.
"He's big." Sonic said lazily.
"Oh, that makes sense." Violet said. "Anyway, Black Clones, attack!"
The Black clones reacted to their orders and pounced. Rai stepped back as Sonic curled into his ball form and created an upwards spin dash. His spin dash sliced across two clone's chest before uncurling in midair. A black clone back on the ground stretched its arm out, grabbed Sonic's ankle, and forced him back to the ground, landing on his face.
"Yeah, that hurt." Sonic's muffled voice said.
Sonic swung around as the clone holding him moved in for the kill. He would have attempted to hit it, but three more clones came along and grabbed the rest of his limbs. A fifth clone moved in close; shifting its claw into the form of a blade. Just as the clones raise its blade, Sonic stretched his open hand up as far as possible to gather an amount of blue chaos, performing his signature technique.
"SONIC WIND!" Sonic yelled.
The blue sphere broke into several razor blades that sliced all the clones clean. Meanwhile, Knuckles was pile-driving one black clone into the ground and back fists another that snuck up behind him. But unknown to him, one of the clones learned to dissolve and form a puddle below him. The clones reformed and gave a strong upper cut to his chin. Meanwhile, Storm was sitting at a sandwich shop with a large sub presented to him.
"Yay! Food!" Storm cheered. Suddenly, Knuckles fell through the roof and squashed his sandwich. "NOOOOOOOOOOO! Why couldn't have been me?!" He grabbed Knuckles by his neck. "You! You did this to him!"
"It wasn't me!" Knuckles panicked. "It was them! They did it!" He motioned his hand towards the black clones, whom had just walked into the shop.
"REVENGE!!!" Storm screamed.
At the sight of the enraged, muscle-bound Albatross, the clones scurried for their lives. Meanwhile, Shadow was glowing red with chaos energy and relinquished his most powerful attack.
"CHAOS BLAST!!!"
A nova of red erupted from Shadow body and exploded onto the city streets. The entire black clone army that surrounded him was obliterated and Rai was clutching the ground as to make sure he didn't fly off. But Violet remained unmoving.
"So, you've got some impressive moves." Violet complimented as the eruption faded away. "But you're not the only one with skills."
Violet slapped her claws together and separated them slightly. An orb of purple chaos energy began to form and expand until it was too big to hold between her claws. A sudden ripping sound emerged from Violet. The colored clone shot her head up as the lower part of her face ripped open into the form of a mouth. Violet placed the orb to her mouth and forcefully shoved it down her throat.
"I've always wondered how they ate." Sonic said as he, Knuckles, and Storm rejoined their leader.
Violet fell down to her hands and knees as she gave a violent lurch forward. The orb inside her was begging for release and succeeded when Violet opened her mouth. The orb shot out like a cannon, incinerating the street and everything near it. Shadow swiftly grabbed his friends and called out.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
In a flash of light, the anthros were pulled safely out of harms way when they reappeared atop one of the buildings.
"Whoa that was close." Sonic said.
"Hey! What about me?!"
The heroes looked down and remembered they forgot Rai, who was in the path of the attack.
"Rai!" Sonic yelled.
"Too late!" Shadow exclaimed
The blast exploded as it landed its target. The aftershock of the impact shook the entire city, collapsing a few unstable structures. When the blast died down, all that was left was a cloud of dust and Violet looking proud at herself. Her mouth was gone, but the grinning expression was present when she turned to the heroes' direction.
"Who's next?" Violet chuckled.
They growled and clenched their fists. They may have only just known Rai, but even he didn't deserve what she did. For a moment, a dark aura presented itself around Sonic. Sonic's eyes disappeared for a moment when suddenly...
"Hey, watch it! You could hurt someone!"
Sonic returned to his normal state. He was sure that was Rai's voice. Heroes and villains alike searched up and down the streets for the source. Sure enough everyone's eyes were draw to the dust cloud and up. Rai was alive and seemingly unharmed. the only strange thing was...
"He's flying?" Sonic questioned; utterly surprised.
"He's flying?" Violet said; equally surprised.
It was true. No one knew how, but Rai was actually hovering twenty feet above the ground. Rai smirked at the shocked expression before floating down to land several yards away in front of Violet.
"Surprised? I thought you would." Rai grinned widely. "I was too when I found out. But it's not over yet. I have one more trick up my sleeve." Rai brought his hands together and draw them to his side chanting "KA-ME-HA-ME!" a sphere of blue energy formed from between his hands. "HA!"
Rai thrust his palms forward to expel a mass of blue energy. Violet could not move as she was still dumbstruck by Rai's sudden abilities. Rai's attack passed through Violet's chest, creating a large gaping hole. The attack faded and Rai returned to his normal stance. Violet tried to restore the hole in her chest, but she was too weak to even shift her body.
"Y-you win thi-is r-round." Violet said shakily." But, t-there's always...next time."
Violet dissolved into a puddle and escaped through the sewer drains. Later that day, the heroes regrouped back at the entrance of their base. After a long discussion, the heroes decided to make Rai an official member of the team. But Rai turned them down, saying he has something else to do. Rai flipped a small backpack, which was provided to him by the heroes, over his shoulder and gave one last look at his new friends.
You sure you don't want to join?" Storm asked.
"Yeah, we could use someone like you." Sonic said.
"Sorry, but I need to do something before I can join you." Rai said. He looked his shoulder and smiled. "But if you need someone to save your butts, I'll be there."
"Wise guy." Knuckles muttered.
"We have also placed a communicator inside your bag." Shadow informed. "If we see Eggman, we'll let you know."
"Thanks." Rai smiled.
Rai held out his hand to shake and Sonic took it. But as they shook hands, Rai noticed something no one else did. Two small holes on the side of Sonic's neck that were nearly invisible. Rai was hesitant to let go of Sonic, but did reluctantly did so. The strange boy took off to the sky, but not before giving one last glance at Sonic.
"So he's been marked, too." Rai thought; feeling the two holes on his own neck. "Naga...Wherever you are, I'll find you."
The scene changes to a faraway mountain range. Deep inside the mountain, a base was hidden inside with Naga the Snake at the center. Naga was working on a new experiment provided to him by Orochimaru when a slight hissing sound reached him. He turned towards the door as it cracked open to reveal a cobra slithering inside. The cobra slithered up to Naga's feet before wrapping itself around his body.
"What newsss do you bring me, Nagini?" Naga asked the snake.
"هناك مشكلة" The snake spoke in a female voice. It sounded only like hissing, but to Naga, it was plain English.
"Trouble? What trouble?" Naga asked.
"الطفل قد عاد" Nagini spoke in her tongue. "واخشي انه قد يكون خطرا"
"Nagini, there isss nothing to worry about." Naga said reassuringly. "So the boy hasss returned. He's ssstill too young to defeat me. But there may be a problem." Naga's expression deepened. "If he tellsss Sonic the truth, it could ruin my new exxxperiment."
"ماذا تفعلون" Nagini asked.
"That is an excellent idea." Naga chuckled. "Kai! I require your asssistanccce!"
The door opened wider as Naga's oldest servant, Kai, walked in. Kai had changed considerably since the murder of Raine's parents. Kai was sixteen and three feet taller. His blue hair reached down his back and restrained by two metal rings. He wore violet sleeveless shirt with a black jacket, black slacks, grey shoes and gloves, and a red scarf. The creepy thing was that the scarf was dyed by the blood of all the people he killed. He, like Sonic and Rai, had two holes in the side of his neck. He walked up to Naga and kneeled before him.
"What is it, my lord?" Kai said humbly.
"Kai, you are my mossst valuable servant." Naga hissed. "And for that, I have a misssion for you."
"Anything, my lord." Kai said.
"Keep and eye on Rai." Naga commanded. "If he triesss anything funny, kill him."
"As you wish, my lord." Kai said.
The scene changes to the Egg-Carrier III, which floated high above the Atlantic. Eggman and Mecha were in the control room when Violet stumbled in, too weak to stand.
"Violet, what happened to you?" Eggman asked worrisome.
"I...Just barely...survived...a battle." Violet panted.
"Did the heroes do this?" Mecha asked.
No. Someone...named Rai." Violet informed.
Eggman seemed to twitch at the name, but no one noticed.
"Mecha, take her to the rejuvenation chamber.
Mecha nodded and picked up his weakened comrade. When they exited the room, Eggman turned to face out the window. Something was on his mind. Something joyful and scared at the same time.
"Rai...you're still alive."
A new face brings a new friend. What does Rai know about Naga and Sonic? And what does Eggman know about Rai? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes.
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