SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Tomo belongs to Kiba Sniper
Chapter Forty-Two: The beginning
After hearing Tikal's promise to reveal the secret of Nazo and the emeralds, the other heroes were eager. But Tikal told them that they wouldn't tell until Sonic and Shadow were healed. Sonic tried countless times to prove that he was fine, only to fall on his face three seconds later. After three days, Sonic and Shadow were finally released.
"Finally, I thought you were gonna be in there forever!" Vector exclaimed.
"Not like we wanted to be there." Shadow said.
"Please excuse him." Espio said. "Vector was never one for patience."
"Yeah, let's not forget that laundry incident." Jet smirked.
"You wanna go, birdbrain!" Vector yelled; his fist raised.
Bring it, crockpot!" Jet yelled
That was the final straw. Vector body slammed Jet, who retaliated by kicking. The others tried to separate them, but got hit and soon joined in the fight. They only stopped when Knuckles walked into the room. He stared at the unusual pileup before saying.
"Tikal wants us in the presence of the Master Emerald."
Not bothering to ask questions, the group separated and followed Knuckles through the door. They walked past Tails workshop and into the storage room which contained treasures of their previous adventures. Their only emerald rested in its container while the Master Emerald rested in the center of the room where Tikal and Chaos waited. Chaos gestured the heroes to gather around and sat down.
"Before we begin, there is something you must know about the Master Emerald." Tikal said. "You see, the Master Emerald is not from this world or even this dimension."
"What?!" The heroes exclaimed.
"Then where did it come from?" Storm asked.
"Chaos has told me it come from his home world, Parasiden" Tikal said.
"Where's Parsiden?" Sonic asked.
"It's a world that's long been dead." Tikal said sadly. "It's also where our story begins."
As she broke, she rounded off to Chaos, who nodded. Chaos turned to the Master Emerald and waved his hand to it. The massive green gem suddenly dispersed several smaller strings of energy. The strings swept and pierced the heroes through their foreheads. They didn't feel pain, but felt the room vanished in a wave of black.
Their senses returned to them as the heroes found themselves in a place far from where they were. They were standing in a green field filled with a beautiful arrangement of flowers and trees not found on Earth. Not far from the, the Master Emerald levitated in the air, barely touching the grass.
"Where are we?" Charmy asked.
"This is Parasiden in Chaos' memory." Tikal explained
"Hey! There he is!" A heated voice called.
"Quick, Heat, don't let him get away!" A younger voice said.
The heroes looked to the direction of the voice. They saw a chao happily flying across the plain being followed by the creature called Heat. Heat looked almost exactly like chaos, but his body was made entirely of fire. The turned around and stuck its tongue out playfully at him, not realizing it was running into a tree. The chaos flopped while Heat shook his head.
"You really now how to cause trouble, don't you, cheese?" Heat said amusingly.
"Cheese?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Is that..." Cream whispered.
"Yes, Cream." Tikal answered. "That chaos is the same one you're holding."
Cream looked between the two chao's. It was hard to believe they were the same one. Their attention was redirected when two new creatures appeared. The first was instantly recognized as Chaos, but the second was new to them. The new creature looked exactly like the other two, but was composed of lightning and spoke in a female voice.
"I can't believe you two got outsmarted by a chao." The lightning creature said.
"You're one to talk, Lightra." Chaos said amusingly. "Remind me, who was it that let him have candy fruit in the first place."
"That's beside the point." Lightra said embarrassingly. "The point is, we are supposed to be waiting for Eise."
"Obsiden's coming, too" Heat stated. "But you will probably be too busy cuddling Eise to notice."
Chaos and Heat let out a hysterical laugh and high-five each other; taking pleasure in Lightra's flustered expression. Suddenly, the atmosphere fell surprisingly cold and a dome of earth emerged from the Earth. The dome fell curled back into the Erath, leaving two new creatures where it used to stand. Both creatures were similar to the others, but one was made of solid ice, Eise, and the other was made from black, polished rock, Obsiden. The first trio ran over to the Master Emerald and saluted to the newcomers as they stepped forward.
"It's good to see you again." Eise said. "Especially you, Lightra."
Lightra giggled shyly; Chaos and Heat looked disgusted.
"You can flirt with your woman later, Eise." Obsiden said disgruntled. "Wasn't there something you wanted to say?"
"Too true, Obsiden." Eise said; he turned his gaze to the other three. "As you all know, when the Master unleashed his plans, the people in our world have been dying."
"But Aero defeated the Master and we began to rebuild our world." Chaos stated.
"We have been trying to rebuild the world for three years with no success." Obsiden pointed "No matter how much is restored, there is nothing that can reverse to the curse the Master has already released.
"So the only solution is to escape this dying world and settle ourselves in a new home." Eise continued.
"But what about the survivors remaining on this world?" Heat asked.
"They're fate is already decided." Obsiden replied.
"You can't do this!" Chaos exclaimed. "Even if you were able to escape this world, how would you survive? Your powers will be useless if the Master Emerald is not on the same world."
"That's why we intend to bring it with us." Eise said; the heroes looked shocked. "This is your chance to join us. Come with us and we will continue to thrive together."
"Forget it!" Heat shouted.
"I was afraid it would come to this." Eise shook his head. "I am sorry, but if you will not join us, then you must die."
Obsiden lifted his foot and stomped it on the ground, transforming the grassy plain to a barren wasteland. The time for talk was over. Heat irrationally charges headfirst at the traitors; a whip a flame forming in his claw. But Obsiden merely waved it off. But the wave was actually to summon a pillar of earth that slammed into Heat's chin, flopping him backwards. Obsiden waved his waved his hand again, raising the ground beneath his and Eise's feet. The ground below the Master Emerald also rose, setting across themselves. Obsiden waved again, connecting a bridge between them and the Master Emerald.
"This is almost too easy." Obsiden stated.
"Don't worry, those three aren't ones to give up." Eise said.
Like Eise said, the three heroes jumped between the two pillars and shot up to land on the bridge in front of them.
"You three don't know when to quit, do you?" Obsiden said.
"Quit was never a part of our vocabulary." Chaos said.
"I'm sure we can find some way to change that." Eise said.
Obsiden raised his claws and slam them down on the bridge. The stone bridge was shattered and the three heroes fell through. But Chaos swung his arm around and stretched it out to reach the top of the pillar. While Chaos pulled himself up, Eise jumped off after the other two. Chaos pulled himself over the edge, bowed at Obsiden's feet.
"Are you ready to admit defeat?" Obsiden asked.
"Never." Chaos hissed.
Obsiden raised his claw to stab Chaos, but the water god flipped over his head seconds before he struck. Chaos rebounded back at Obsiden with his claws extended and sharpened. Obsiden waved his claw again, summoning a wall of rock to block Chaos. Chaos kicked back when the wall suddenly gained spikes. Chaos crouched lowly with a savage expression as Obsiden lowered the wall.
"You don't stand a chance against me." Obsiden stated. "I was one of the original Guardians. My knowledge of battle vastly surpasses yours."
"You'd be surprised." Chaos sniggered.
Chaos shot forward for a second wave. Meanwhile, Eise and Heat were caught in a conflict with Lightra standing on the sidelines. Heat, his claws aflame, thrust his knuckles at Eise's head, but the ice god was much faster then he appeared. Twice, Eise was able to deal a blow at Heat before ducking away. Lightra occasionally helped by throwing lighting bolts at Eise, but purposely missed. Even in the midst of battle, she still had feelings for Eise.
"Lightra, stop messing around!" Heat shouted. "He's a traitor!"
"I know." Lightra said softly. "Eise, forgive me."
She raised her claw and shot a well aimed lightning bolt at Eise's leg. The leg shattered on contact, which made him lose concentration of the battle. Heat drove his claw to Eise's head, melting half his face in the process. Eise was thrown back to the pillar. Eise groaned lightly trying to restore his missing parts. Heat slammed his claws together, forming a massive fireball between them.
"Time to turn up the heat!" Heat roared.
"That was terrible." Lightra groaned.
Heat lifted the fireball over his head and thrust it towards Eise. But the ice god held out his claw and ejected a cold mist from his palm. The mist and the fireball collided, creating a large haze. Heat and Lightra waited out the haze apprehensively, but when it cleared, Eise was gone.
"Where'd he go?" Heat asked.
"Look out!" Lightra suddenly screamed.
Lightra pointed up and Heat looked at the direction of her claw. A storm of icicles dived at them. Acting fast, Heat and Lightra made a run for it, but they were already caught before they could take another step. Lightra got lucky; none of the icicles came within ten feet of her. But Heat received the worst of it. Heat was lying the ground with six icicles sticking out of his back before his body temperature melted them away.
"Heat." Lightra whispered.
She attempted to reach out to the when an explosion came from the battle scene between Chaos and Obsiden. Chaos was seen flying off the pillar and crash landing in the ground half a mile away.
"Ok, that didn't work." Chaos groaned.
"Chaos, are you ok!" Lightra called out.
"He is for now." Lightra shot around to face Obsiden. "I must admit, he is more powerful then I give him credit for." He pointed to his shoulder, which had a substantial crack in it. "His last attack actually managed to pierce my body."
"You won't win!" Lightra exclaimed. "Somehow, someway, we'll stop you!"
"I do not see that coming true." Obsiden chuckled.
"I do!"
Obsiden turned his head over and was caught off guard when Heat came charging. With a sword of flame conjured in his claw, Heat skipped off the ground and dived at the rock god. Within a foot of Obsiden's face, Heat swung around his sword raised. Suddenly, he was halted in midair. Eise captured him by the back of his head and suspended him in midair.
"Let – me – go!" Heat demanded.
"No." Eise replied. "You have proven to be too much of an annoyance to be allowed to live."
"No!!" Lightra cried
But it was too late. In an instant, Heat's entire was frozen in ice in Eise's claw. Eise closed his claw, shattering Heat's head with the rest of his body following. Obsiden looked pleased, but Lightra appeared distraught.
"How could you?" Lightra whispered.
"I did it for you, for us." Eise said, slightly mournful. "I did it because I love you, just as you love me."
"I fell in love with a man who's wanted to protect our home." Lightra said coldly. "Not you."
"Well, that's too bad." Obsiden said pleasingly. "Then I guess there's no point in keeping her alive, is there, Eise?"
"No." Eise said sorrowfully
"Ugh, who knew rock could be so hard." Chaos groaned.
Chaos was limping back to the battlefield; his leg was slipping from him. But when he returned back to battle, he was not ready for the sight he saw. The Master Emerald was brought back down to the ground with Eise and Obsiden leveled to it. The shattered remains of Heat were strewed across the ground and Lightra was lying on the ground with a spear of rock stabbed through her chest. Chaos, forgetting his own wound, trotted to kneel next to his friend.
"Lightra!" Chaos cried; lifting her head into his hands. "Lightra, please be alive!"
"I'm – sorry, Chaos." Lightra said weakly.
"Don't talk. I'll try to pull it out." Chaos said desperately. Chaos reached at tried to pull out the spear, but to no avail. "It won't budge."
"Chaos – you're the only one left to stop them." Lightra said. "I couldn't stop Eise. I still love him."
And with her last dying breath, Lightra reached out to touch Chaos before falling limp. At that one silent moment, Chaos did something he hadn't done since Tikal's near death: he cried.
"They'll pay." Chaos growled. "I swear they'll pay!"
Chaos left the remains and charged towards the traitors. Eise took notice of Chaos oncoming attack and waved his claw to the ground. A sheet of ice escaped from his palm and turned the ground into solid ice. Chaos slipped and started sliding towards them until Eise raised his claw to call a dome to cover him.
"Finally, we can leave this hell for good." Obsiden said. He reached out to touch the Master Emerald, but was stopped when Eise grabbed him. Eise froze his arm before tearing it off. "Augh! What are you doing!"
"What I was intending to do." Eise said snidely. "You didn't think I was taking the Master Emerald to keep my powers. Oh no, I was planning to drain it's power to make me the most powerful force in the universe!"
"But what about our plan?" Obsiden asked fearfully.
"You played your part, but now it's over." Eise chuckled. "Good bye, Obsiden."
Meanwhile, Chaos was kicking at the ice wall of the dome to bust it down, but had no success. Then he remembered that ice was just frozen water. Chaos melded with the ice and phased through it. He escaped just in time to witness Eise's final betrayal. Eise grasped Obsiden by the face, freezing his entire body. He closed his claw to give him a death similar to Heat's. He was mad! He betrayed his friends, his lover, and now his partner. Was their no end to his onslaught?
"How could you do all this, brother?" Chaos asked.
"We are not brothers!" Eise stated. "We were never related by blood!"
"I know." Chaos said sadly. "But I've always looked to you as a brother. Aero, he was you brother. He gave his life to seal that monster away. Are really going to let his sacrifice be in vain.
"What you call sacrifice, I call cowardice." Eise said coldly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must complete my destiny.
Eise turned away from Chaos and placed both claws on the Master Emerald. The massive emerald expelled a surge of green chaos that enveloped transformed Eise. His frozen body turned completely organic and grew in silver fur. He gained five quills pointing upwards, two shape spines sticking out of his back, and wore gloves and shoe that completely matched his fur color.
"Eise?" Chaos asked nervously.
"Not anymore." Eise said. "From now on, I will be going by my true name: Nazo."
Nazo tested out his new powers by zooming past Chaos and slamming his fist into his gut. Chaos was thrown clear across the wasteland, but was kicked to the sky by Nazo before he touched the ground. Nazo reappeared overheard and kicked Chaos to the ground. Chaos landed in front of the Master Emerald when Nazo touched down a few feet away.
"As you can see, my powers have progressed beyond imagination." Nazo smirked. "And this isn't even my full power."
"What?!" Chaos exclaimed.
"This is only ten percent." Nazo explained. "Allow me to show you my one hundred percent power!"
Nazo's power began to grow furiously; a terrible red aura surrounded him. Nazo fur started to turn and his quills grew longer.
"I can't win alone." Chaos stated hopelessly. "If only there was someway to defeat him." Like it was listening, the Master Emerald ejected an aura into its Chaos' hands. The aura transformed into a white chrome sword with runes on the side that translated 'Master'. "Aero's sword, I understand."
Nazo was already halfway through his Hell Form and pushed his powers far beyond normal. Chaos lifted the sword, staggering slightly because of its weight, and ran at Nazo. Nazo was near completion of his transformation when he felt the sword run through his chest. Nazo reverted to his standard form while Chaos called out.
"MASTER SEAL!!"
A brilliant light escaped the sword, throwing Chaos back. The sword evaporated and formed seven rings around Nazo's neck, legs, arms, and spines. The rings tightened, releasing a wave of pain throughout Nazo's body.
"What have you done!" Nazo screamed.
"I ended it." Chaos panted.
"This isn't over!" Nazo yelled. "I will return and you will die!"
The rings literally tore Nazo to pieces and sucked him inside. Seven small explosions erupted from the rings, causing Chaos to go temporally blind. When the light vanished, the rings were replace by seven colored gems: the chaos emeralds. Before Chaos could even ponder what happened, he collapsed and everything went black.
"Excuse me. Are you ok?" He heard a young female ask.
When Chaos woke up, he was no longer on Parasiden. Instead, he was in a flowery field on Earth. He looked up to find a six year-old Tikal looming over him. Cheese was floating overhead with a worried expression.
"Are you ok?" Tikal asked. Chaos replied, but Tikal didn't seem to understand him. "Uh...can you repeat that?"
Chaos shook his head; he knew this wasn't getting anywhere. Then, the Master Emerald, which followed Chaos along with the chaos emeralds, ejected another strand of energy. The strand form around Tikal's head to form the golden tiara she wore now.
"What's this?" Tikal asked curiously.
"Like I would know." Chaos replied. Tikal seemed startled as she jumped back. "What?"
"Y-you talked." Tikal stated.
"You can understand me?" Chaos asked Tikal nodded. "Then listen, I need help. Help me find a place to protect these emeralds"
"I will." Tikal nodded. "My name is Tikal."
"I am Chaos." Chaos introduced.
"And as they say, the rest is history." Tikal said.
The Heroes were thrust out of the memories and landed back on the ground; Knuckles fell on his face.
"So that's how the emeralds were created." Sonic said. "Nazo made them."
"No." Tikal shook her head. "Nazo didn't create the chaos emeralds, he is the emeralds. That's way he knows more about them then anyone else. It's because he and the emeralds are the same."
"Wait a minute." Shadow interjected. "Then if we kill Nazo, does that mean the chaos emeralds will die with him."
No one had thought of that concept. They looked with concern towards Tikal, who, to their turmoil, nodded her head. They were at a loss. If they killed Nazo, they would lose the items that made them powerful in the first place. But if Nazo remained alive, he would destroy the world and everyone in it. The heroes remained silent before Silver stood up.
"Then it's for the best." Silver said. The heroes looked at him with shocked expressions. "The power of the chaos emeralds is too great for mere mortals. If I had to chose between life and power, I would choose life."
"But if the emeralds are gone, Blaze will never come back and you'll never get home." Tails said.
"If that is the price I have to pay, then so be it." Silver said seriously.
The heroes' spirits were uplifted by Silver's speech. He was right, they didn't need power to be heroes. Most of them don't even have any powers. With their priorities set, the heroes returned to their rooms to rest for the next day. But Tikal seemed concerned. She stared back at Chaos with and apprehensive looked that was familiar to him.
"Don't you think we should have told Sonic?" Tikal asked. "About who he truly is?"
"Sonic will know the truth when the time comes." Chaos replied. "He has enough trouble without that information."
Meanwhile, the scene changes to the dimension of the Dark Rulers. Nazo sat at his throne with a stoic expression. He couldn't stop think about that battle. When he looked into Sonic's eyes, they felt so familiar. Without realizing it until now, Nazo felt something cold rolling down the side of his face. The touched it and held it in his palm to see.
"A tear..." Nazo thought. "Am I...crying?"
But Nazo dissolved the tear when he felt the presence of others; he didn't want to show weakness. He turned in his throne and was surprise to find all the members of the Dark Rulers present.
"Lord Nazo, we wish to speak to you." Erazor said.
"What of?" Nazo asked.
"You've been keeping a secret from us!" Tomo exclaimed.
"Yeah, we have been chasing Metal everywhere and you never told us why!" Nack shouted.
"My reasons are to myself." Nazo said coldly.
"Haven't we proven ourselves loyal to you, my lord?" Shira asked.
"She's right, we deserve an answer." Mephiles said.
He looked between the six rulers with pride. Never before had they ever united together. If he could get them to act the same way on their missions, they would be unstoppable. But there was only one way of doing it: telling the truth.
"Very well." Nazo said. "As you recall, I battle Metal Sonic before in Megalo Station, I having the upper hand. Then somehow, he stole something that could change the tide of this war."
"And what is that?" Black Doom questioned.
"My memories."
The piece of the puzzle come together. How did Metal obtain Nazo's memories? And what secret is Chaos keeping from Sonic? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes!
Don't miss my next story: Origin of Chaos
Please, read and review.