SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Chapter Seventy-Three: A Distant Memory
The scene opens to a hazardous mountain region in the northern regions of China. Only a week had passed by since the threat of Dark Gaia was extinguished and Black Doom departed from the galaxy. But while few of the heroes found it hard to believe Sonic's story, they found it even harder to believe that he and Nazo worked together. But at the moment, the Gaia's were no longer of any importance. Shadow the Hedgehog was racing through the charred forest of Du Weldenvarden with his girlfriend, Kumori the Hedgehog.
"And Eggman's base is supposed to be way out here?" Kumori questioned suspiciously. "I though the G.U.N. reports said that Eggman's carrier was last seen somewhere in Mongolia."
"The Mongolian border isn't exactly far from here." Shadow replied agitatedly. "According to our anonymous tip-off, Eggman placed a decoy station in Mongolia to throw off his trail. He's hiding somewhere in the heart of this forest."
"But how could he know that Eggman made a decoy?" Kumori grimaced. "And what about the dragons? The villagers said that their guardian was killed by a giant purple dragon about a week ago. That was at the same time as the Dark Gaia incident."
"A purple dragon?" Shadow repeated tauntingly. "Don't tell me you believe in that fairy tale, too. For one thing, there is no such thing as a dragon. And even if there was one, would you really believe one to be purple?"
"But what about what Sonic said?" Kumori asked hopefully. "He said he met a dragon before..."
"Sonic also said he could turn into a werewolf at night." Shadow interjected rudely. "There is no such thing as magic, dragons, spirits, mystical gods, and werewolves. Those are all just tall tales of fiction."
Kumori gave a loud groan at her lover's unyielding personality. As to be expected, Shadow only believed in science and logic and openly refused to acknowledge the existence of magic. He even made numerous arguments to explain the logical reason for the Chaos Emerald and his revival, even when the real answers were obvious. But Kumori was the exact opposite of him. She believed that fate and destiny existed and believed magic was the source of all life in the universe. Naturally, this led to quite a few spats between the couple until they finally agreed to follow their own belief. But as of now, the dark hedgehogs finally breeched the forest edge and found the intended target.
"Oh my, such frightening dragons." Shadow said sarcastically.
"Shut up." Kumori mumbled.
Breaking free of the tangled thorns, Shadow and Kumori found themselves in a circler platform made of pure white stone. A glistening lake took its place in the center of the area with a flock of water lilies forming circles around a tiny green island. At the end of the white platform, two statues of colored stone resembling dragons took their place in front of an ancient temple. The dragon on the left was blue with a face of sincerity, but the dragon on the right was red stone and showed pure ferocity. While Kumori marveled at the untouched sanctuary, Shadow made his way to the temple doors.
"Hmm..." Shadow hummed, tracing his hands across the wall. "It seems to be locked from the outside, but I don't see why Eggman would leave an opportunity for someone to enter untouched."
"You know, this place reminds me of the temple from Sonic's story." Kumori commented, looking very eager at the thought. "Hey, maybe we'll finally get to meet those baby dragons he told us about. I would definitely love to see Spyro."
Sonic was never good at keeping secrets.
"Let's focus on reality for a moment." Shadow sighed irritably. "Our only priority should be..."
With his acute sense of hearing, the Ultimate Life-Form caught something crackling through the dead trees. Kumori seemed to have caught on as well when he noticed her hands clutched hard in anticipation. A long period of silence follow for what seemed like hours, only to be broken by a soft snap of a twig. Suddenly the dark twins jumped into the air as a storm of yellow knives shot through the tress and into the ground where they once stood. But as they landed on the heads of the dragon statues, Shadow instantly recognize this as a mistake. The yellow daggers imbedded in the stone platform ignited with electricity, creating a web flow through the concrete. Not even Shadow could move faster than lightning and was struck blindly through the stone before falling to the ground – Kumori joined him shortly.
"Oh...I know I'm going to feel that tomorrow." Kumori groaned.
"What the hell happened?" Shadow snarled, shaking off his loose paralysis. "When I get my hand on..."
"You'll do what?" A soft, cool voice interjected. "Strike me down with your Chaos Energy?"
Staggering to his feet, the dark hedgehog glared at his attacker as he emerged from behind one of the black trees. For one quick moment, Shadow thought he was meeting with Rai after their previous encounter. But as he did a double-take, he remembered that Rai's hair was spiked and flaming, while his attacker had long ocean-blue hair reaching down his back. Kai was twisting a crimson-red dagger between his hands, unconsciously cutting himself. As he did so, Shadow noticed that no blood escaped from his wounds – he was not human.
"Hey!" Kumori snapped furiously. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"It's strange, isn't it?" Kai said monotonously, watching the blade cut his skin interestingly. "The only way one can learn that they truly exist is by the pain they feel. By immunity to pain only proves my nonexistence."
"Uh...hello?" Kumori called, snapping her finger to gain attention. "We're kinda in the middle of something here. So, whatever you have against us, you'll just have to wait until we take down Eggman." She cracked her knuckles. "Then I will deal with you personally."
"Eggman never resided within this area." Kai stated coldly.
"What?" Shadow questioned.
"It was I who sent that false piece of information." Kai explained. "It was I that specifically requested you to search the temple sanctuary, Shadow the Hedgehog. And after so many years of waiting, we finally meet."
"Why are you interested in me?" Shadow glowered.
"I have heard so many stories of you from my grandmother." Kai stated as he drew a handful of daggers from his pouch. "But I have a hard time believing any of them until I witness it for myself. I challenge you, Shadow the Hedgehog."
"Listen here, pal." Kumori nagged angrily. "Just because you caught us with that cheap shot doesn't mean..."
Before she could bring herself to finish, Kai appeared before her and kicked at her neck in barely a few seconds. Any normal person would have died from such a strike, but Kumori was just sent flying backwards into the lake.
"Kumori!" Shadow exclaimed fearfully.
It was a well known fact that Kumori shared the same weakness as Sonic: both hedgehogs couldn't swim. As the Ultimate Life-Form struggled to regain his footing, he was slashed across the back by the blue-haired human. Shadow grunted in pain, but did not allow himself to be distracted by anything other than Kumori. Even as Kai tossed two of his daggers into the hedgehog's spine, that did not stop him from jumping headfirst into the water. He was fortunate that Kumori's failed attempts to swim were keeping her up long enough to prevent her from falling into the unseen bottom below. Shadow grabbed his lover by the wrist, where he pulled her through the surface of the reflective waters and carried her back onto the platform.
"Kumori..." Shadow panted, surprisingly tired. "Are you...all right?"
"Yeah, I'm ok." Kumori stated cheerfully. "It'll take a lot more than – Shadow, you're hurt!"
"It's...It's nothing." Shadow proclaimed, wincing slightly.
"There's something not right about these." Kumori said suspiciously. Apologizing beforehand, she ripped the twin daggers from Shadow's spine, noticing a green liquid escaping the edges. "This looks a lot like..."
"Basilisk venom." Kai answered coldly. "I was fortunate to come across a Basilisk fang floating in the waters near Eat Island."
"Ugh...It looks like..." Shadow grunted painfully. "Hybrid...wasn't thorough...enough."
"Under normal conditions, the venom would kill a mortal within seconds." Kai explained. "But because of your unusual existence, your life will be prolonged, but you will suffer greatly. You must be grateful to Black Doom."
"How did you..." Shadow struggled, but couldn't finish.
"My grandmother knew things about you no one else knew." Kai proclaimed degradedly. "For as long as I've known her, she has always talked highly of your and Kumori. The admiration was sickening, which is why I never stayed for too long."
"I don't really give a damn about you grandma!" Kumori screamed furiously, jumping after the heartless human. "You better heal my Shadow right now!"
Kai made no remake about her instinctive nature, but jumped backwards as Kumori brought down her foot over him. The vile Nobody flipped backward in midair onto a dead tree branch, which unexpectedly gave out under his weight. Upon that consequence, the raven-haired hedgehog jumped at Kai and landed a serious blow to his chest. The heartless warrior was shot through the forest, smashing his way through five trees before colliding with an uprooted trunk. Though his head was pounding terribly, Kai could not feel the pain of the attack – he had nothing to feel with. Ignoring this fact, Kai pulled out twin silver daggers and crossed them in front to block a hailing kick from the dark beauty. At this opportune moment, Kai grabbed the hedgehog by her ankle and twisted it around. Kumori cried out from the sudden pain and fell backward without anything to keep her standing. Unfortunately, before she could even touch the ground, Kai kicked her in the stomach to send the hedgehog twisting back to the platform.
"Kumori..." Shadow strained pleadingly. "Are you....are you....ok?"
"I'm fine." Kumori answered, shaking her head lightly. "I just need to..."
"Get down!!" Shadow yelled suddenly.
"Huh?" Kumori replied confused.
And before she could recognize his warning, a storm of multi-color daggers flew past the wilted tress into Kumori's back. For each color of the dagger, a different torture was executed. Red daggers were for burning, white daggers for freezing, yellow for shocking, and so on. With so much power concentrated into one place, it was a miracle that she did not die on the spot. Though his vision was blurred, Shadow could see the faint outline of his beloved falling forward onto the white stone, hopefully unconscious. Emerging from the withered forest, Kai kneeled to his prey with a silver dagger in hand.
"Wait..." Shadow croaked. Even Kai could not hide his amazement as the dark hedgehog pushed himself to his knees. "Please...leave Kumori out of this. It's me you want, isn't it?"
"My original intention was to test your limits." Kai stated stoically "But it would appear that the limitations of your power have dwindled greatly compared to my grandmother's stories. You have become soft after fifty years of exile."
"Then why?" Shadow questioned.
"Because I want to see the true power of the Ultimate Life-Form." Kai said impassively, drawing the dagger close to Kumori's throat. "And to do so, I must remove the one object blocking that power."
"Don't – you – touch her!!" Shadow roared venomously.
Much to Kai's astonishment, a vicious red glow began to rise from the ebony hedgehog, darken their environment. And by the bloody light reflecting off the statues, Kai felt that the dragons might have been alive once more. Out of the corner of his eyes, the blue-haired Nobody noticed a trickle green liquid dripping from his right leg – the Basilisk venom had been pushed out.
"That's interesting." Kai commented.
"You haven't seen anything yet." Shadow grinned menacingly. "Chaos Boost!!"
To those who don't remember, Chaos Boost is a special trait made by Shadow to increase one's abilities by five times. This also included speed, which allowed him to move just as fast as Sonic. With a wicked grin on his face, the scarlet hedgehog ripped across the platform and thrusted his fist at Kai, shattering the ground around them. But as the effects of Chaos Boost died down, it took a quick moment for Shadow to realize that he had missed Kai. The silent assassin in question was standing at the edge of the forest, looking relatively unconcerned of the event that took place.
"You're pretty fast." Shadow acknowledged. "I don't think anyone has escaped Chaos Boost since Sonic."
"He and I are closer than you may realize." Kai informed mysteriously. "Then again, we are not so different ourselves."
"Look who's talking." Shadow glared, pulling back his hand. "Chaos Spear!"
Upon his command, several arrows of yellow energy formed from the air, striking Kai with surprising speed. The blue-haired Nobody seemed to have been expecting the attack as he jumped backwards before the words even left Shadow's lip. But as he landed, the smoke create by the colliding attacks provided the perfect camouflage for Shadow to release a secret swarm of spears. Quick on the reaction, the heartless assassin pulled a three-pronged dagger from his pouch, which he used to absorb the shots. But as amazing as it was to believe, this was also a part of Shadow's plan. Under the cover of the Chaos Spears, the Ultimate Life-Form jabbed his fist into Kai's torso, sending the nonexistent fighter flailing backwards. Because of Shadow's superior strength, Kai was not only forced through the dark roots of the forest, but also smashed through a collection of stones in his path. Perhaps by instinct, the Nobody warrior sat up and groaned in false pain. And before he could return himself back to the battle, Shadow appeared over him and grabbed the man by his collar.
"Hmm...so this is the power of the Ultimate Life-Form." Kai said monotonously. "I have to say that I am not impressed."
"You will remain silent." Shadow growled, pushing Kai into the rocks. "If you dare touch a single hair on Kumori ever again, I swear that I will rip out your heart and burn it to ash."
"Unfortunately, that would be impossible." Kai chuckled amusingly. "But there was one thing my grandmother was right about you: you care too much for the safety of others. That will lead you to your downfall."
"Just who exactly has been telling you this?" Shadow questioned seriously.
"You mean you don't know?" Kai said superiorly. "My grandmother is Maria Robotnik, Granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik, also known as your creator."
"You're lying!" Shadow roared angrily. He had tried to forget Maria and Gerald since the Black Arms invasion and hearing her name from an unknown killer did not help. "I was Maria die on the ARK fifty years ago! How could she survive?!"
It's true." Kai acknowledged. "The real Maria died fifty years ago and that drove Prof. Gerald to the brink of insanity. Desperate to bring his granddaughter back, Prof. Gerald used the plans from the Black Arms to create a perfect clone from a lock of her hair. Unfortunately, the clone also inherited her thoughts and personality."
"What do you mean?" Shadow questioned, unintentionally releasing his grip.
"Maria was mortified of her existence." Kai explained. "She was the replica of someone who was dead. To go against nature is considered the most horrible crime possible. And so, she abandoned her grandfather and spent the rest of her life passing off as another face. And since no one besides the people aboard the ARK knew Maria existed, she was able to hide away in peace."
"I can't believe it." Shadow whispered softly. "Al this time...I thought she was dead."
"There are times when one forgets their heart." Kai said sagely. "And sometimes, it's for the best."
Shadow was so lost in his own thoughts that he failed to notice Kai reaching for something in his jacket. The Nobody assassin emerged with a small black sphere, which erupted into a flash of light when smacked against the ground. The Ultimate Life-Form guarded his eye momentarily and looked back – Kai had gone missing. Shadow did not following him and instead went back to console Kumori. Their lead had been a dead end and the day had been wasted. But still....there was one good thing that had occurred today. Meanwhile, Naga the Snake was patiently sitting on a large rock, look very displeased. A moment later, Kai dropped from the branches of the trees, slowly kneeling to his master.
"Did you enjoy your trip, Kai?" Naga hissed venomously.
"My lord..." Kai answered hesitantly. "I didn't realize that you had followed."
"Nothing escapes my gaze, Kai." Naga glared. He pushed himself to his feet and began walking in a circle around his subordinate. "Leaving the base without permission, risking exposure to our existence, and going against my orders by confronting the hedgehog. For such disrespect, I should kill you right now."
"Forgive me, my lord." Kai pleaded. "I promise, it won't happen again."
"I can assure you that it won't." Naga snapped angrily. "You will remain in you room and only leave under my command. Any attempt to defy me will result in cruel punishment."
"I understand, my lord." Kai nodded.
"But it wasn't a complete loss." Naga grinned, much to Kai's confusion. "One benefit came out of this."
As Kai returned to his feet, Naga went back to the rock and pulled out something hidden behind it. Held within the grasp of the snake's hands was the severed head of an emerald dragon.
The scene changes to a coastal region somewhere outside Station Square the next day. After returning to heal Kumori's wounds, the twin experiments began planning for their meeting. After much research, they arrived on a small beach house nestled near one of the most renowned Chaos Gardens. The Ultimate Life-Form looked nervous as he raised his hand to the door, but did not knock.
"Come on, Shadow." Kumori said encouragingly. "You can do it."
"I'm not sure about this?" Shadow said nervously.
"Come on, you've faced Nazo, remember." Kumori stated pointedly. "If you can do that, then this should be a breeze."
While looking uncertain, the ebony hedgehog rapped his knuckles of the door, just enough for anyone inside to hear. After waiting for a minute, they door creaked open with an elderly woman standing at the threshold. Despite the grey hair wrapped in a bun and the minute glasses, there was no mistaking who this woman was. As she adjusted her glasses for a better look, the elderly woman began to smile down upon the creatures.
"Oh, it's been such a long time, Shadow." The woman said happily. "It is also great to see you as well, Kumori."
"Maria..." Shadow whispered softly. Failing to resist, a lone tear escaped from the corner of his eyes.
"My, you two haven't aged a day." Maria laughed.
"And you..." Kumori said, trying to look for the right word. "Well, you've changed a lot."
"Have I?" Maria asked wisely. "Or have I just improved?"
"So much has changed, Maria." Shadow said, smiling for the first time in a long while. "There is so much we have to tell you."
"And I have some stories of my own." Maria nodded pleasingly, stepping aside to let them him. "Why don't we talk about it over some coffee and cherry pie. I just finished baking it."
"You always knew my weakness, Maria." Kumori said hungrily as she licked her lips.
As Kumori rampaged into the kitchen, Shadow began to wonder who she loved more: him or cherry pie. Maria seemed to wonder the same thing and laughed with her oldest friend. After so many years, Shadow had lived on in life with an empty hole in his heart. And now, that void was filled.
Those we love always return, just not in the way we expect them. What does Naga have planned for the deceased dragon? Will Kai seek out Shadow once more? And what was the connection he meant between him and Sonic? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes!
Please, read and review.