SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Note: In an unexpected twist, the poll ended in a three way tie. So i have taken the liberty of being the tie breaker. The winning chapter is: Fire Returns. Enjoy.
Tomo © Kiba Sniper
Chapter Forty-Nine: Blaze of Glory
The scene opens up to the beautiful oasis of Emerald Beach. Team Virtex had decided to spend the day upon Marine's suggestion. They didn't have anything better to do since Sonic and Shadow were repairing their house. A word of advice, never piss off Rector Rose, especially when you burn his money. Early that morning, Silver had joined them. It was around noon and most of Team Virtex was done for the day. But Rector, Howl, and Raine could only watch as Marine and Silver sat on the sand and stared out into the open ocean.
"How long have they been like that?" Howl asked.
"They've been out there since this morning." Raine replied. "What do you think is wrong with them?"
"It was one month ago that I found Marine out on this very beach." Rector said. "Maybe something happened here."
Rector had no idea how close his answer was. As Marine and Silver stared out into the ocean, only one person kept popping into their minds: Blaze the Cat. They had both suffered a terrible loss that day a month ago. Silver and Blaze, both in super forms, fought against the time rogue, Future Mecha Shadow in Blaze's dimension. After the battle, Silver and Marine were sent back to this dimension, while Blaze was thrown back into hers. That day, Silver lost the love of his life and Marine lost her best friend.
"How do you think she's doing, mate?" Marine asked sadly.
"Who know?" Silver said monotone. "I feel so helpless. It seems that no matter how close we are, we can't get all the Chaos Emeralds. Maybe we're not destined to see Blaze again."
"I don't believe that, mate." Marine stated. The raccoon reached down her shirt and pulled out the blue Sol Emerald she wore as a necklace. "The emerald found its way here. Maybe Blaze can, too."
"The Sol Emerald has the unlimited powers of space." Silver mentioned. "But still, what is the emerald doing here if it's supposed to be guarded by Blaze?"
"Who knows, Mate?" Marine said. "Who knows?"
The scene alters to the dreary dimension of the Dark Ruler's castle. The castle that was normally quiet was now pierced by roars of earsplitting screams. Black Doom floated outside of Nazo's room where he saw Nazo and Mephiles through the doorway. Nazo had healed his chest and face and was now rebuilding his shoulder while Mephiles provided the energy. Nazo felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and ran his fist through Mephiles' head.
"Glad I'm not him." Black Doom looked to his left and found Tomo the Chameleon. "What are you up to?"
"I could ask you the same." Black Doom replied coldly.
"I came to tell Lord Nazo about another Sol Emerald." Tomo said calmly. "After losing his arm and three of the Chaos Emeralds, he could do with a bit of good news. But with all things considered, I think I'll wait."
"A Sol Emerald, you say." Black Doom chuckled. "Come, Chameleon. Let's have a little talk."
Of all the Dark Ruler's, Black Doom was the least trusted by the other members. They didn't have a reason, but it felt natural to be cautious around him. After a moment, Tomo followed the alien overlord into the gathering chamber of the castle. The board which Nazo used to keep track of the battle was already out. Like all the members, Tomo knew the figurines that represented everyone moved on their own; Tikal's was recently added. Like in a game of chess, Tomo noticed that Black Doom's figurine was farther from the rest of the Rulers.
"So, tell me." Black Doom said, hiding the board behind his body. "Where is this Sol Emerald?"
"Why should I tell you?" Tomo questioned suspiciously.
"Lord Nazo is too weak to obtain it himself." Black Doom said logically. "Erazor is currently dealing with a situation is the Arabian Nights, Mephiles is healing Nazo, Shira is too weak, and Nack is useless."
"Fine, I get it." Tomo sighed. "The emerald is with Team Virtex at Emerald Beach."
"Then I shall take the liberty of retrieving it." Black Doom said.
"I have to warn you." Tomo smirked. "Silver is with them."
"Not a problem." Black Doom said. "I have the perfect body for this situation."
The scene returns to Emerald Beach. Silver and Marine had finally picked themselves up after two hours of self pity and had rejoined Team Virtex. Howl was calmly meditating, Raine was experimenting on her medicine, and Recter just fell asleep. Marine thought it would be fun to poke him awake. But the minute she poked him with a stick, Rector grasped it and snapped it in half.
"I get really cranky when I don't get my sleep." Rector mumbled.
"It's true." Raine said. "I had to heal Howl for two days after he woke up Rector."
"Well, we're done here." Silver said sorrowfully. "I should be heading back to the base."
"And we better get back to make sure Sonic and Shadow have finished rebuilding our home." Rector growled.
"But before you do, mind handing over that Sol Emerald."
The four heroes turned shot around behind them, just seconds to avoid being shot by a blinding purple beam. They quickly jump to their feet and found Black Doom floating above the sand with a horde of Black Arm warriors surrounding him. Each of the warriors held a long purple blade in hand as they stepped side for their master.
"Black Doom." Silver sneered. "Figures you would show your ugly, three-eyed mug to ruin this."
"Best watch that temper of yours." Black Doom chuckled.
"What do you want?" Howl asked, looking cautiously between the alien hordes.
"I do hate repeating myself." Black Doom sighed. "Hand over the Sol Emerald and we'll be on our way."
"No!" Marine exclaimed, clasping the blue emerald in her hand. "It's mine, so get your own, mate!"
"If you refuse to hand it over, we'll just have to take it by force." Black Doom stated. "Black Arms, attack!"
"Bring it!" Rector grinned.
With a wave of his ashen hand, Black Doom sent out his mass of Black Arm warriors. Rector, being the most eager for a challenge, was of course the first one to jump in. He flipped over one of the warriors, grasped it by its shoulders and threw it towards another. The red hedgehog jabbed one warrior in the face while backfisting another warrior behind him. Howl was dodging left and right between three warrior's swords. The trio of aliens lifted their swords again, but by the time they reached up, it was too late. Howl grabbed his sword, holding it backwards, and swung around at blinding speed. As he sheathed his sword, the top halves of the aliens fell over. Over with Raine, the white butterfly was weaving in and out between the mass of Black Arms. Along the way, she was secretly pouring red powder at their feet. Once she was out of the hive, she tossed a lighter at the powder. A second later, the powder blew up with the Black Arms along with it.
"Strewth! That was awesome!" Marine cheered. She started throwing her fist around like she was fight. "Yeah, give him a left! And another left! No, you're other left!"
"Once I'm finished with you, there will be nothing left."
"Crikey!" Marine screamed as Black Doom floated behind her. "You're more ugly up close."
"I've had enough of your insolence." Black Doom growled. He held out his black hand to her. "Surrender the Sol Emerald and I might be persuaded to let you live."
"You just have one problem." Silver jumped between Marine and the alien overlord. "You'll have to get past me."
"I was hoping you would say that." Black Doom said sinisterly. "For just the occasion, I've picked just the body to handle this."
Silver ignored the last comment and jumped straight at Black Doom. He gathered a large amount of psychic energy around his fist and sent it crashing into the alien overlord's face. From the stories Shadow had told him, the real Black Doom was a one-eyed alien octopus and the body he had crushed was a fake. But, hey, Silver felt better. Unexpectedly, a fist shot out of the puppets chest and slammed into Silver's face, landing next to Marine.
"You ok, mate?" Marine asked.
"I'm fine." Silver groaned. "Wonder what that freak show has this time."
Silver pulled himself up to his feet as Rector and the rest of the team joined at his side. They watched as the rest of Black Doom's shell broke away to reveal his newest body. Surprisingly enough, it took the shape of a human, which, as everyone knew, was Black Doom's most hated species. He looked like a middle-aged with black hair and red highlights wearing Black Doom's original brown robe. But the creepiest part was that the human Black Doom had three gleaming red eyes.
"Now that's the freakiest thing I've ever seen." Raine stated.
"Oh, things will only get worse." Black Doom chuckled. "You have yet to discover the power behind this body."
"You don't look so tough." Rector said amusingly.
The red hedgehog ran forward with his fist tightened at the new Black Doom. But the new overlord merely swatted him away, sending him crashing in the middle of the ocean. Howl grasped the handle of his sword and growled lightly, feeling threatened at Black Doom's presence.
"Any other takers?" Black Doom smirked.
"Silver, take Marine and go." Howl commanded.
"Forget it." Silver refused. "I haven't had my chance in the action."
"That's exactly why we want you to leave." Howl said. "If you heard him, Black Doom said he picked that body out for the reason of fighting you. Obviously it has some kind of power to repel your powers. Just take Marine and leave."
"But I..." Silver muttered.
"Just go!" Howl roared.
But unfortunately, Silver was too stubborn to run away; he must have inherited it from Amy. Realizing he wasn't going anywhere, Howl and Raine jumped in front to block his way to Black Doom. Rector swam back and flopped on the sand, completely drained. Howl pulled out his sword and held it in its usual stance: backwards. He charged forward to the human Black Doom and spun around like a tornado. But when he stopped spinning, Black Doom was gone.
"What the?" Howl asked confused. "Where did he...?"
"Looking for someone?"
Howl looked to his right and was stunned to find that Black Doom was standing weightlessly at the tip of his sword. Howl growled, muttering something about polishing the filth off. In one swift motion, Howl spun around in another circle, puling Black Doom of his sword and striking him. But unfortunately, the overlord somehow blocked the steel weapon with his forearm. Black Doom grasped the blade, ignoring the edge cutting into his hand. He, with unexpected strength, forced the hilt of the blade into Howl chest. The grey wolf gasped momentarily before falling back and passing out.
"Howl!" Raine cried.
"Such a frivolous waste." Black Doom said, throwing the sword near Howl's head. "And I had hoped for a better challenge."
"Why you?!" Raine seethed. "You stay away from him!"
"Or else what?" Black Doom said in a bored manner.
Raine, feeling nothing but anger towards the overlord, charged head forward at him. There was only one problem: she was a weakling. Raine kicked her foot at Black Doom's face, only leaving a red mark from where her shoe it. Black Doom lifted his hand and swatted her away into the ocean like Rector. He held out his hand, preparing to kill the girl once he caught sight of her. But the problem was; he couldn't see her. Raine's ocean blue wings completely camouflaged her in the water. Black Doom looked irritated as he searched up and down the water, finding not even a trace of the bug. All of a sudden, a think cloud of silver powder jumped out of the water and covered Black Doom. Black Doom hunched over as Raine pulled herself out of the water.
"What have you done to me?" Black Doom questioned
"It's a fresh batch of stomach virus I made this morning." Raine said proudly. "It's my own special recipe; it has no cure."
"That would have work, if not for one problem." Black Doom chuckled malevolently. He slowly straightened up, not at all what Raine would have expected. "I am not affected by common diseases as you pathetic life forms."
"But that was my best batch." Raine moaned.
"And it failed." Black Doom said as he held out his hand. "Farewell."
Five small clouds formed around Black Doom's body. Suddenly, five meteors emerged from the clouds and aimed for Raine. Raine looked horrified until Silver jumped out in front of her. He quickly created a barrier of psychic energy that shielded them from the barrage of meteors. When the assault ended, Silver lowered the shield so he could have a clear view of Black Doom.
"So, it has come down to this." Black Doom stated. "Just the two of us in a final clash."
"Don't forget about me." Marine piped.
"I have no time to deal with a little girl." Black Doom waved.
"Little girl?!" Marine screamed. If there was anything that insulted Marine more, it was calling her a little girl. "I am Marine Aqua the Raccoon! I am the greatest adventurer in all of the Sol Kingdom!"
"I think he heard you." Silver said, rubbing his aching ears.
"Just stay out of our way." Black Doom said. "Why don't you just run along and play like a good little girl."
"That was the final straw for Marine. The feisty raccoon roared in anger and started swinging her hands around as she charged at Black Doom. Silver tried to call her back, but Marine was too far lost in her own world. Instead of swatting her away like the rest of her team, Black Doom held his hand out, stopping her in her tracks. Marine continued to struggle, despite the fact that she was running in the same place. Black Doom sighed and merely flicked his finger to her forehead to knock her back.
"Are you quite done yet?" Black Doom questioned. "I have other matters to attend to."
"What's the hurry, Doom?" Silver called.
Black Doom looked over to his side, where he found Silver with a mass of psychic energy around his hand. Silver thrust the hand forward, creating a sphere of psychic energy. Where normal villains would feel threatened by the attack, Black Doom didn't even twitch the slightest. The psychic sphere made contact and exploded around Black Doom. Just when Silver thought he had defeated the alien overlord, the human Black Doom burst from the cloud of sand and slammed his fist into Silver's face. Silver tumbled back slightly and groaned as Marine helped his sit up.
"Is that truly your best shot?" Black Doom chuckled humorlessly. "You put up as much of a fight as that little girl."
"I'm not a little girl!" Marine screamed.
"But how?" Silver asked. "I put a quarter of my energy into that attack. There's no way you should have survived that."
"Haven't you wondered why I had donned the guise of this filthy creature?" Black Doom question. "To explain it all, I had 'acquired' this body from a human called Pein. Apparently, this body has the power to absorb energy, including mental energy."
"So...all along..." Silver stammered.
"You never stood a chance." Black Doom finished. He chuckled cruelly as he walked loser to the grey hedgehog, his palm held open for the finish. "I could say it was a pleasure knowing you, but that would be a lie."
"Hold it, mister!" Marine shouted as she jumped in front of Silver. "Ya want to get to him; you'll have to go through me."
"For a minute there, I thought there was going to be a challenge." Black Doom said.
Despite Marine's best attempts to make herself intimidating, there was no scaring the alien overlord. Black Doom held out his human palm and started gathering a mass of black chaos energy into the shape of an orb. Marine didn't know why, but as Black Doom walked closer, Marine suddenly felt herself unknowingly lifting her hand. She opened her palm and a bright green orb suddenly shot from it. Black Doom was surprised by the attack and didn't react in time to block it. The orb hit the alien overlord in the chest and sent him flying backwards into the sand.
"How did you do that?" Silver asked in awe.
"Dunno, mate." Marine said, examining her hand in wonderment.
"That must have been the attack Mephiles had warned me about." Black Doom thought as he pulled himself to his feet. "But that was no energy attack. This body would have absorbed it if it was. There's something different about her."
"That looked it hurt, huh?" Silver smirked. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave now."
"Not a chance." Black Doom said. "Just because it work once, doesn't mean it will happen again."
"Then this'll show ya." Marine grinned, throwing her palm out. Unfortunately, nothing happened. "Uh oh."
Black Doom saw this as a perfect opportunity. He kicked off the ground and dove directly at the fallen duo. Silver tried to conjure a barrier to protect them, but that was before he realized Black Doom would absorb it. Black Doom spun around and slammed his heel into Silver's face while pushing Marine away with his hand. Silver was thrown down the beach, where Raine was healing Rector and Howl. Marine was tossed one way, while her Sol Emerald was thrown another.
"Hey, that's mine!" Marine shouted.
"You seem to think I care." Black Doom said. "With this emerald, I will be one step closer to dethroning 'Lord' Nazo."
Marine tried to race her way to the Sol Emerald, but Black Doom held out his hand to form a barrier between them. With no distractions left, Black Doom reached down to grab the emerald. But in a stunning turn of events, a great ball of fire suddenly fell from the sky and crashed down on the Sol Emerald.
"What is this?!" Black Doom exclaimed.
"As Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, I will not allow you to lay a hand upon them."
The sudden sound of the voice gave Silver the strength to stand up and run towards the spot. He stopped near Marine, who looked close to tears. As the fire began to die down, they saw that the blue Sol Emerald was in the hands of a familiar feline. Her fur was bright pink, her jacket and the tip of her tail become red, the cuffs of her gloves and shoes were engulfed in pink flames, and beautiful flowing hair.
"Blaze!" Silver and Marine cried simultaneously.
"Burning Blaze to be exact." Blaze smiled.
"You think I can be defeated by some parlor trick?!" Black Doom roared.
"No, but I think this should do the job." Blaze grinned.
Blaze reeled back her hand and formed a large fireball in her open palm. In one swift motion, Blaze hurled the ball at the alien overlord. normally, Black Doom would have dodged it easily. But the moment the fire escaped from Blaze's hand, it rapidly started to increase in size. Soon, it was the size of a two story building. Realizing he stood no chance, the real Black Doom burst from the back of the human body as it was engulfed in flames.
"This is the end, you filthy cretins!" Black Doom shouted before vanishing in a flash of light.
"Well, that was fun." Blaze said as she returned to her normal form. She grabbed her hair and pulled it into a pony tail, enclosing it in a red ring. She turned to the group; Team Virtex was now awake. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."
"Blaze!" Marine shouted joyfully.
The wild raccoon jumped into Blaze's arms as the feline started swinging her around playfully. Blaze laughed as she set Marine down, who looked like she was ready to throw up. Rector, Howl, and Raine welcomed Blaze back to their world. But what Blaze noticed the most was that Silver was the only one who didn't greet her. Silver remained rooted to his spot, not believing what he was seeing. Blaze smirked and walked over to the confused hedgehog.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" Blaze asked playfully.
"I am, it's just...how do I know this is real?" Silver asked.
"I was hoping you would say that." Blaze smiled brightly.
Blaze quickly grasped the sides of Silver's head pulled him closer. Their faces came together and kissed with unbridled passion. It was then Silver realized that it wasn't a dream. No dream had even felt this good. As they separated, Silver found his voice and said.
"Welcome home, Blaze."
"Glad to be home, Silver." Blaze whispered. She let go of Silver, causing him to fall on his face, and tossed the blue Sol Emerald to Marine. "I believe this belongs to you. I think you and the rest of your family will take good care of it."
"Thanks, Blaze." Marine said happily. "By the way, how did you get back anyway?"
"I don't know." Blaze said confused. "I've been searching for a long time to return to this dimension, but found nothing. Then all of a sudden, the keystone on my forehead started glowing. Next thing in knew, I was in super form and on this beach."
"I bet the Sol Emeralds called you back." Silver suggested. "Just like when they called you back to your dimension."
"That sounds about right." Blaze nodded. "By the way, I saw what you did to Black Doom, Marine. Very impressive."
"Yeah, but I don't know how I did it." Marine said. "Do you know?"
"I haven't the slightest clue." Blaze shook her head.
"I guess we'll have to find out sooner or later." Howl said.
They all nodded in agreement and figured they'll find out about the secret of Marine's powers eventually. The sun was beginning to set across the horizon and the heroes decided to take this opportunity to watch it. Silver and Blaze grasped their hands together, knowing this time there will be nothing to separate them.
The scene alters to a ship somewhere out in the Caribbean Sea. Thorn Rose was standing and the bow of the ship, staring unblinkingly out across the vast sea. Just then, Gale the Hedgehog walked out with a small bottle in his hand. He sat down and leaned against the edge of the ship, taking a swig of the bottle, and glancing at Thorn.
"You've been like that for a while." Gale stated. "Anything wrong?"
"Nothing wrong, Captain." Thorn replied. "But I have felt something strange."
"Care to elaborate?" Gale tempted.
"For a while now, I've been feeling a strange power." Thorn explained. "It's somewhat different, but very similar to my own powers."
"So you think there's another sorcerer out there?" Gale asked, taking another swig.
"A sorceress by the feel of it." Thorn said. "And a very young one at that. Probably no older than eight or nine years. It's very rare to see anyone with magical prowess at such a young age. I didn't discover my powers until I was thirteen. But judging by the lack of use, this girl isn't in full control of her powers. If I find her, maybe I could teach her."
"Do you know what she looks like?" Gale asked.
"No, but I do have a name." Thorn replied. "Marine the Raccoon."
Welcome back, Blaze the Cat! Will Thorn find Marine and teacher her to control her magic? Will Black Doom usurp the God of Darkness? Is Sonic and Shadow done rebuilding the house? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes!
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