SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Tomo the Chameleon © Kiba Sniper.
Chapter Sixty-One: Without A Future
The scene opens to the castle dimension of the Dark Rulers. Three days had passed since the final confrontation between Nazo and the Heroes in Westopolis. The remaining six members of the Dark Rulers were gathered in their former leader's throne room; Mephiles sat in the throne as second-in-command with Shira at his side. They surrounded the board that was produced by their former leader; Nazo and Shadow's figures were turned to dust. Erazor held the dust that once belong to Nazo's figure and slowly allowed it to slip through his fingers onto the floor.
"I never thought I would see the day that Lord Nazo dies." Erazor stated.
"I always figured he was the strongest in the world." Shira said sadly. "Maybe in the whole universe."
"He was." Dark Sonic said coldly. "And still is, as long as we follow accordance to the plan."
"How long do we have?" Mephiles questioned
"I didn't some research." Tomo informed. "The Winter Solstice won't arrive for another two weeks."
"That means we'll have plenty of time for fun." Nack grinned pervertedly, looking to Tomo.
"I did not sleep with you!!" Tomo exclaimed.
"We have it on video." Erazor said, holding up the video camera. Tomo glared at the dark djinn and performed a familiar series of hand signs. She ejected a massive fireball to burn Erazor, camera and all. "Never mind."
"You got burned!" Nack joked lamely.
"You're next, weasel!" Tomo flared.
"Can we focus on the priority at hand?" Mephiles interrupted. "We have completed most of the preparations for Project: Hellzone, as commanded by Lord Nazo. But we are missing one essential piece if this plan is to succeed."
"Should would retrieve it, my love?" Shira asked, leaning to Mephiles' shoulder.
"No, let's leave it to our special agent." Mephiles chuckled. "For now, there's one relationship I wish to end."
Mephiles reached out to the board, where he picked up the figure of his most hated enemy; the only one who could ever stop him.
"PSYCHIC SCREW!!"
The scene alters to Casinopolis. At first, it started out with Silver, Blaze, and Howl looking for Gemini to cheer Amy up. Since Rector was away on a mission, they needed family support. Silver is a descendent, so he doesn't count. Kumori suffered after losing Shadow, but handle the pain better. Unfortunately, they ran into one of Eggman's robots. It was an eight-legged machine that resembled a silver spider. Silver used his psychic powers to knock it back into a building, but the Egg-Spider merely shrugged it off and scuttled back towards Silver. It raised its pincers to strike, but was halted when two whirlwinds made contact; one of fire and one of wind. The two thrusted the spider back and diminished to reveal Howl and Blaze.
"Persistent little bug, isn't he?" Howl commented as the Egg-Spider stood up. "Now what?"
"How do you expect me to know?" Silver asked.
"You are the leader." Blaze stated.
With Sonic and Shadow dead, Silver was next in line as leader of the Sonic Heroes. The only downside was that he was inexperienced in leading a team. Silver and Blaze alone were easy enough, but a team built a lot of pressure on the young hedgehog. Before he even had time to reply, the Egg-Spider slammed its leg between them. The trio of heroes were thrown in opposite directions, but the Egg-Spider directed its pincers to Blaze. A piece of concrete had landed on the pyro cat's leg, rendering her unable to save herself. The Egg-Spider raised its pincers for the finishing blow when a light-blue aura surrounded it.
"No one hurts Blaze and gets away with it!" Silver yelled angrily.
Silver used his psychic powers to force the Egg-Spider's limbs in separate directions until it was ripped to pieces. With the machine out of the way, Silver used his powers to lift the concrete off his girlfriend and kneeled to her side.
"Are you ok?" Silver asked kindly.
"Just a sprain." Blaze said, wincing slightly. "As long as we complete our mission."
"A friend comes before a mission." Howl stated, sniffing at the air occasionally. "Besides, our mission is a failure. I've been searching for Gemini's scent since we got here. He was here a few days ago, but he's not anymore."
"That's perfect." Blaze said sarcastically. "We went through all the trouble for nothing."
"Well, at least he got some exercise." Silver said cheerfully; Blaze burned his head quills. "Right, not funny."
Silver placed Blaze's arm over his shoulder and began to carry her back to base with Howl at their side. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light could be seen from the corner of their eyes, intriguing them. When the looked over, they could see a dome of white light enveloping the city.
"What is it?" Howl asked fearfully. "Is that Chaos Control?"
"That's impossible!" Silver exclaimed. "All the Chaos Emeralds are gone!"
"Whatever it is, it's headed straight for us!" Blaze stated.
The three heroes tried to make a run for it, but the light was too fast for them to escape. The last thing Silver could see was the light pulling Blaze and Howl away from him before he was forced to shield his eyes from the piercing light.
The light finally died down and Silver slowly started to regain his senses.
"Man, what was that all about." Silver said, rubbing his eyes vigorously. "Howl, Blaze, are you ok." He received no response from his love or ally. "Howl, Blaze, what's wrong?"
When Silver's eyes came back into focus, he couldn't find Howl or Blaze. In fact, he couldn't even find Casinopolis. The first thing he saw when his sight returned was the destruction that lay before him. The buildings were crumpled, the skies were clouded by eternal dark skies, and the atmosphere was more heated than usual. Silver didn't know why, but this destroyed city seemed eerily familiar to him; as if he had been here before.
"Where am I?" Silver questioned.
"Silver!" The grey hedgehog that was mentioned turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Just then, Blaze jumped in front of him. "Silver, where were you? I've been looking all over the city for you."
"Blaze, what happened?" Silver asked fearfully. "What happened to Casinopolis?"
"Casinopolis?" Blaze repeated strangely. "What are you talking about? This is Crisis City."
"Crisis City?!" Silver mentally exclaimed. "That's why it seems so familiar; because I was born here. But if the future is changed, how can this city still exist?"
"Are you ok, Silver?" Blaze asked worried, noticing her friend's strange reaction.
"Blaze, how did this happen?" Silver questioned fearfully. "Where are Howl, Knuckles, and Emerl?"
"Howl? Knuckles? Emerl?" Blaze responded questioningly. "I've never heard of any of those names. As for what happened, I think you would know better than anyone. It's because of the Flames of Disaster, Iblis, that our world is like this."
"Iblis!?" Silver shouted in surprise. "But that's impossible! Iblis was...
All of a sudden, the ground beneath then began to tremble. Blaze quickly jumped off the ruined structure of the buildings to reach the remains of a highway. Silver used his levitation powers to follow behind her. The moment they touched ground, the Earth cracked open and a monstrous beast emerged from below. It was a demon made from lava and molten rock, an enemy Silver once believed to be gone. Iblis, the Flames of Disaster.
"You were saying?" Blaze grimaced.
"This is not good." Silver commented.
Iblis roared and brought down its molten claw on the heroic duo. Both futuristic warriors jumped in opposite directions to avoid the initial attack. Once blaze landed, she formed a large fireball in her palms and launched it to Iblis' head. Unfortunately, the fireball was a mere ember compared to Iblis' molten body. The Flames of Disaster turned its attention to Blaze and released a swarm of molten rocks from his body. Blaze stepped backwards, accidentally tripping on a piece of slag. Blaze held her arms in defense when the molten rocks suddenly stopped in midair. It was then our beloved psychic hedgehog jumped to be protection.
"Think you could have timed that any closer." Blaze glared.
"Your welcome." Silver said sarcastically before turning to Iblis. "Hey, I think you dropped something!"
Silver hurtled the molten rock back at its creator, but the lava beast merely absorbed it into its body. Iblis turned its monstrous head to the grey hedgehog, but found that he was nowhere to be found. It was only after it felt a sudden weight on top that Iblis realized his enemy was on his head. Iblis tried to reach for the hedgehog, but Silver slammed his hand down and released a psychic charge through the beast's body. Iblis roared in pain, realizing that it couldn't win, and disappeared into the lava river below. Silver jumped back to the highway; Blaze joined him, and watch his greatest fear leaving before his eyes.
"Silver?" Blaze said worriedly.
"How is this possible?" Silver mentally questioned. "I was sure I sealed Iblis in my body. But if that's true..." Silver placed his hand to his chest near his heart. "...why can't I feel the deathly flames anymore?"
"Silver, what's wrong." Blaze asked.
"This isn't right." Silver stated. "Everything is all wrong. This city shouldn't exist, the skies should be blue, and there should be people walking happily through the streets. I can't understand where this could have gone wrong."
"Silver, you're starting to scare me." Blaze said.
"I'm kinda scared myself." Silver said seriously. "Blaze, I need to know everything that's happened."
And so, Blaze went on to explain everything that happened over the past two hundred years. As Silver predicted, it all started two hundred years back in the city of Soleanna, where Iblis first became known to the world. Silver knew this was a lie since he found out that the Iblis they fought was a fake made by Mephiles. Some aspects derived from the previous timeline, depicting Sonic and Shadow's deaths before Iblis took control.
"And that's everything." Blaze finished.
"I can't believe everything went back to the way it was before." Silver groaned. "I thought I had changed the future for the better."
"I think I've been patient long enough." Blaze glared; Silver flinched. "I want to know what's going on with you."
"Ok, but it may take a while." Silver forewarned.
Now was Silver's turn to explain all the occurrences of his lifetime. He started off from the battle against Iblis to the defeat of Solaris. He explained the temporal reset and that only he, Metal, and Mephiles could remember; Silver left out the romantic relationship between him and Blaze. His story soon came to the subject of the Dark War, as many refer it, between the Heroes, Eggman, and the Dark Rulers. When he reached the subject of Marine and Blaze being a princess, the pyro cat seemed slightly embarrassed. He went on to Sonic and Shadow's deaths, Nazo's defeat, the destruction of the Chaos and Sol Emeralds until he reached the present.
"And then there was this great flash of light." Silver concluded. "And when I woke up, I found myself here."
"Wow, that's some story." Blaze said amazed. "But if time reset, how can you remember?
"When Mephiles sent us back in time, his powers merged with mine." Silver explained. "According to him, that incident allowed us to exist outside of time. Not only that, we also share a mental connection to one another."
"That's all very interesting." Blaze said thoughtfully. "But if we've already met Mephiles, why don't I remember him?"
"You don't remember Mephiles?" Silver questioned. He took a moment of thought before he realized something. "Now I understand! The reason you don't remember him is because we haven't met him yet. This was the day we first saw him."
"If that's true, then where is he?" Blaze asked.
"Funny, you should ask that."
AT the sound of the voice, the duo turned and saw a black arrow head for them. On the reaction, Silver threw his hands out and created a barrier of psychic energy to block it. When the attack was over, Silver dropped the barrier to reveal their attacker. The grey hedgehog shocked to find not only one Mephiles, but two of them. One was the crystallized hedgehog that Silver came to know and the other resembled a grey Shadow with no mouth.
"Ok, you failed to mention there were two of them." Blaze said sarcastically.
"I don't remember two." Silver shrugged. "So what's the deal with you and the other guy, Mephiles?"
"This is the one you failed to defeat?" 'Shadow' chuckled.
"Beware his power." Mephiles said to his other. "He is more dangerous than he appears."
"What's going on, Mephiles." Silver questioned seriously. "Why is Iblis back? Why is the world as it is?"
"I actually glad you asked, Silver." Mephiles said delightfully. "Looking back, I began to wonder where I went wrong. How could my plan to reign as Solaris have failed? Then I realized something. In history, many great warlords bring about their own downfall. I brought my downfall by sending you back to the past. So, using my gifts, I decided to correct that mistake."
"By preventing us from ever meeting." Blaze realized.
"Precisely." 'Shadow' nodded.
"Without our meeting, Sonic and Shadow stood no chance against our creation." Mephiles said, referring to the fake Iblis. "Though you are not affected by the timeline, despite your ancestor's deaths, we have more than enough power to fix that."
"What do you mean?" Silver asked cautiously.
Neither Mephiles' answered, only laughing at that grey hedgehog's concerned look. Both Mephiles moved together and suddenly began to merge on contact. Silver and Blaze stepped back, awaiting what beast would emerge from the ooze. The ooze took the shape of a large purple lizard with crystallized spines, a lashing tail, and green demonic eyes.
"And I thought Mephiles couldn't get any uglier." Silver said in disgust.
"I am no longer Mephiles." The lizard said. "I am Mephisto."
"Watch out!" Blaze shouted.
Just as Blaze cried out, Mephisto crawled on all four legs and released a storm of crystals from his spine. Blaze quickly dived on Silver, pulling him down from the range of fire. Silver was about to thank her, but never had the chance when Mephisto ran up and kicked her across the ruined streets into a brick wall. Mephisto raised his upper legs and started threw them down on his eternal enemy. Acting by instinct, Silver threw up a barrier around himself and defended against the attack. Mephisto was angered and started pounding away at the barrier with all four legs and his tail. The barrier was barely able to defend against two legs and the tail was a powerful force all on its own. Silver could feel the barrier beginning to give way, but luckily, Mephisto was thrown off by a jet of fire. Silver dropped his barrier, panting, as Blaze ran to his side.
"Silver, are you all right?" Blaze asked concern.
"I've...been better." Silver wheezed, weakly pushing himself up. "This is insane. Mephiles' attacks are more uncoordinated like they usually are. It's as if he loses all control of himself when he goes into battle."
"You are partially correct." Mephisto stated knowingly. "As Mephiles, I am able to keep my blood lust in check. But as Mephisto, I have no control over my rages. When I fight, I must kill for blood."
"Yeah, that's a pleasant image." Blaze said sarcastically.
"Is she always this sarcastic?" Mephisto asked randomly.
"Afraid so." Silver said gloomily.
AT Silver's distraction, Mephisto thrust his tail forward at the grey hedgehog. A crystal tip formed at the end, creating the same effect as a dagger. It was only until the tail was right in front of him did Silver realize that Mephisto attacked. Mephisto struck. Silver gasped in horror, but not for himself. At his moment of weakness, Blaze wrapped her body protectively around Silver and allowed the crystal to strike her back. Mephisto growled that his target wasn't hit, but was satisfied when he noticed blood leaking onto his tail. Mephisto recalled his tail and began to lick the blood off pleasurably. Blaze dropped, but Silver caught her and held her comfortingly in his arms.
"Blaze..." Silver whispered sadly.
"Looks like it's up to you again, Silver." Blaze grinned weakly.
"No, I can help you." Silver shook. "There has to be something I can do."
"We both know there's nothing you can do to help." Blaze said. "All you can do is protect this world."
"But I can't do it alone." Silver moaned. "I can't lose you for a third time."
"You'll never lose me, Silver." Blaze stated. "If you can fix this, I'll come back again. You just need to..."
But Blaze could not finish the sentence as her last breath was taken from her. Death had once again claimed another hero to add to his collection. Knowing Iblis was no longer trapped inside of him, Silver allowed himself to cry. He moaned over Blaze's body and held her close, wanting to saver the warmth she had. Unfortunately, Mephisto had finished his meal and was looking for desert.
"I'm still hungry." Mephisto growled. "Come satisfy me, Silver.
Silver glared at the beast that killed his love; anger flowing through every vein in his body. The grey hedgehog gently set the body of Blaze to the ground and moved closer to face his enemy. Sensing a chance to strike, Mephisto once again attacked with his pointed tail. But Silver, fueled by anger, grasped the crystallized end before it could ever pierce him. Mephisto tried to tug his tail back, but the grey hedgehog would release. Suddenly, Silver enclosed his hand, crushing the crystal and dispersing the ooze from its place. Mephisto roared in pain and recalled the remains of his tail.
"What have you done?!" Mephisto yelled.
"I feel...invincible." Silver thought. "I feel I can do anything. Even Chaos Control."
"You'll pay for that you impudent rat!" Mephisto proclaimed.
Mephisto started swinging his upper legs in such random motions that it couldn't be seen where they were going. But as Mephisto made his way to Silver, the grey hedgehog was suddenly surrounded but a visible light-blue aura. Mephisto was already over him and swung his powerful legs down, but Silver had already beat him to the punch.
"CHAOS CONTROL!!" Silver exclaimed.
--One Hour Earlier--
The original crystal Mephiles was watching the battle between Silver and Blaze against his brother, Iblis. The hedgehog and cat seemed to be defending themselves greatly. As he looked down to the streets, he could see his past self watching the battle as well. Everything was going as planned.
"Now for the next phase of my plan." Mephiles muttered.
Mephiles moved to the edge, planning to jump, when a sudden flash of light appeared from behind. He turned around and found himself faced with a white vortex: a time portal. Unexpectedly, Silver jumped out and grasped Mephiles by the throat. Silver pinned his archenemy to the ground, just as his past self defeated the Flames of Disaster.
"Didn't expect me, did you?" Silver grinned.
"Why do you always have to spoil the fun?" Mephiles said monotone.
"Did you forget who my family is?" Silver chuckled.
"By discovering the truth of course."
As Silver looked back to the battle field, he could see the Mephiles disguised as Shadow speaking to Blaze and his past self. The current Mephiles struggled under Silver's pressure, but the grey hedgehog refused to release. He continued to watch until eh past Mephiles had used his temporal powers to send the three of them back in time. After the trio had disappeared, a sudden flash of light emerged from their departing point. When the light died down, Silver and Mephiles once again found themselves in Casinopolis.
"Looks like your plan failed, Mephiles." Silver smirked. "I win this time."
"Who said my plan failed?" Mephiles sniggered.
Silver stared at him with a confused look until he heard a metal clicking from behind. When Silver looked back, he found Nack standing directly behind him with his pistol pointed at his forehead. To prevent Silver from using any of his psychic abilities, Mephiles suddenly broke free and grasped the hedgehog by his head, sending a wave of black chaos. Silver squirmed and tried to fight back, but that ended up being his last mistake. Nack pulled the trigger.
"Where could he have gone?" Blaze asked.
Howl and Blaze were searching the streets of Casinopolis, looking for the grey hedgehog that disappeared momentarily.
"It's odd." Howl said seriously. "After that burst of light appeared, I've completely lost his scent. But now it seems his scent has returned, but it's much weaker than before."
"Does that mean he's far away?" Blaze asked hopefully.
"I think that..."
All of a sudden, Silver dropped down from the sky and slammed to the roof of a car. The duo gasped in fright and looked up to find Mephiles and Nack standing over a building above them. Blaze, enraged at the pain they caused her love, launched a fireball from her palms at the two. Unfortunately, Mephiles conjured an orb of purple energy and disappeared alongside Nack before the flames hit.
"Grr, when I get my hands on them." Blaze seethed.
"I think we have worse matters to attend to." Howl said solemnly.
We better take him back to the base to heal his injuries." Blaze stated.
"Unfortunately, we cannot." Howl said softly; Blaze stared. "I wondered why Silver's scent seemed so weak, even after being so close. Then I realized it was being blocked...by decay."
"Decay?" Blaze repeated. "What does that mean?"
"Silver has joined Sonic and Shadow." Howl said bluntly.
Blaze's heart went cold at that statement. The pyro cat shook her head, refusing to believe a word coming from the wolf's mouth and ran to help Silver. But the moment she touched him, she knew something was wrong. Slowly, she turned the grey hedgehog around and gasped in fright. Silver's eyes were blank and a small hole pierced his skull.
"Silver." Blaze whispered softly. "Silver, wake up, this isn't funny. Silver? Silver? Silver!!"
Blaze finally broke down and Howl bowed in respect. This was the cold truth: The last of the golden trio was dead.
The scene alters to the castle of the Dark Rulers, where Mephiles once again sat at his master's throne. Nack was celebrating in his own way by asking Tomo for a date. So far he ended up burned three times, dropped from the castle roof twice, and had a hundred shuriken piercing his body. He doesn't know when to give up. Mephiles idea of celebrating was watching Silver's figure turn to dust, signifying his death. He was enjoying himself until Shira walked through the door.
"Your agent is here." Shira stated.
"Send him in." Mephiles ordered.
Shira nodded and stepped aside to let another figure enter the room. Though, unexpectedly, is wasn't a monster of Nazo's but the infamous Metal Sonic. Metal stood across from the crystallized hedgehog, keeping his distance in case of betrayal. Shira looked as if she wanted to help, but Mephiles waved her off. The Shira nodded again and closed the door behind her.
"What do you want?" Metal asked coldly.
"I believe you know what." Mephiles replied. "I want the status on the mission I assigned you."
"I have my best operative on it." Metal stated. "You will have your prize soon enough."
"I hope your son is powerful enough to handle such a mission." Mephiles said wickedly. "The Winter Solstice is only a couple weeks away and we need to set everything up before the time comes."
"Emerl will complete his mission!" Metal shouted; sparks radiating from his claws. "You just better keep you end of the deal."
"I am a demon of my word." Mephiles said. "If you want to see you wife again, you best not fail."
Metal clutched his claws intensely, accidentally releasing sparks to the walls. After calming down a bit, the mechanical hedgehog turned and left the dark being. All the pieces were coming together. With the main threats eliminated, there was nothing that could stop the ultimate takeover: The Day of Red Skies.
Dark days are only soon to come. What will the heroes do without their leaders? Will Emerl complete his hidden mission? And what is 'The Day of Red Skies'? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes!
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