Zero the Hedgehog
Chapter 2: Once a Friend
"How did you get that?" Streak shouted out to Zero over all of the noise. It seemed that their appearance shocked everybody at Boom City. You'd think that citizens from a highly advanced time would be able to handle a situation like this, but no. They just watched.
Holding up the red Chaos Emerald to the skies, everybody saw Zero grin at the sight of the sunlight reflecting off of his jewel, brilliantly. "Oh, you mean this?" He asked Streak. "Apparently the Chaos Emeralds from Freedom came down to Earth somehow. It's a shame it took me almost a year to find out about this though. Or else Black Doom and I would have already destroyed this little planet by now."
"You wish!" Streak growled as he pounced into the air, towards Zero. He made a fist and pulled his arm back. Then, once he reached the heights of his rival, he charged at him and threw his arm forward to pound him in the face. However, Zero swiftly equaled out Streak's force as he, as well, aimed to punch at him. Their knuckles met as they both pushed all of their power against the other. "Grrr…" They both tried to outmatch the others force until Streak finally gave up and hopped over the black hedgehog. Once he did, he landed on the roof of the building, just across from Zero. "You still never answered my question. I now know that the seven, legendary, Chaos Emeralds are here. But where and how did you get that one?"
"I stole it from within that tall building near the entrance of the city. Apparently these humans located it and brought it to take care of. It was far too easy for me to take it from them, though." He answered Streak, turning around to face him.
"What do you mean?" Kitsune asked him from below, still on the ground. She and Flash had been listening to everything.
Still not taking his attention off of Streak, Zero smirked as he began talking again. "I mean: it was a fake. I searched every corner of that building, looking for the Chaos Emerald that was claimed to be there. When I found it, it was unprotected and completely unguarded. I simply took it to see what would happen. And what happened was a bunch of G.U.N. troopers stormed in. It seemed for a moment that, that was a real Chaos Emerald. Until I noticed nobody was shooting. I knew then, that they all knew, that it was a fake. The real one was at the very top within the mayor's room. He was gone for the day, so I discovered it in his office and escaped. I must have ditched them when I used Chaos Control to warp here. But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is I have the first Chaos Emerald. And as I said before, I'd be glad to fight you; with the Chaos Emerald, or without!" He roared, dashing as fast as he could, at Streak.
"What did Black Doom do to you?" Streak asked as he jumped out of the way and off the building. He then spin dashed down, next to Kitsune and Flash. "We need to get out of here." He said. "I don't know what I was thinking. This is the power of the Chaos Emerald we're going up against. If we fight now, we'll be toast!"
"But Streak," Flash said, stopping him. "We've waited almost a year for this. What was all of that practice for? To just run away once we finally got them in our hands?" He yelled at him. He then put his two hands on Streak's shoulders and brought his face up to his. "We've worked too hard for this! We're ready!" Flash yelled at him, once more. He then let go of Streak and made two fists as he shifted his body around to face Zero. "Are you coming?" He asked the spiky hero.
After a moment of thinking this through, Streak looked at Kitsune and opened his mouth for a second. He then built up the nerve to ask her, "What do you think?"
The orange fox simply closed her eyes, not answering. Zero was just tossing the Chaos Emerald up into the air and catching it, over and over again, waiting for them. Then, Kitsune spoke up, "I think we should work together and kick his butt." She said.
Streak smiled at her response. With confidence, he bent down a little bit, getting ready for a jump. "Fine, let's work together and bring Zero down!" He said with excitement. He, Kitsune, and Flash all jumped on top of the same building as Zero. Ready for anything, they where all prepared for Zero's worse. "Bring it on!" Streak drove him in.
"Let's go!" The black hedgehog said smoothly, running towards the three heroes at a rapid speed. They all dashed at each other, knowing that there was about to be a big clash. Finally, everyone met as Zero extended his leg forward to kick Streak in the stomach. He hit him extremely hard thanks to the push of his speed. However, Kitsune jumped in right after her friend was struck, and paled her enemy in the head with her foot. Zero flew backwards, aiming right for the closest building to them. Before he hit it, though, he landed on the wall and bounced off, back at them.
Next was Flash. After getting pumped up, he began to repeat one punch after the other, hoping to hit Zero. It was useless, though, since his adversary used Chaos Control to warp to a different location. Now, he was right behind Flash. "Three on one seems a bit unfair, don't you think?" He asked him with an evil-tone, smacking his hand against the back of the yellow echidna's neck. This instantly knocked him out. Streak and Kitsune had to watch their friend drop to the hard floor, right before their eyes. "Flash!" Kitsune called out to him. Zero just chuckled a bit, saying, "So I'll just even the odds."
Streak stood there, silently in shock. "Zero…" He said. "What have you become…" He then started to remember the old good times they used to have back on Freedom. It was just incredible to him how his best friend ever could become his most feared enemy, so quickly. "Black Doom, you horrible thing… I swear you'll pay for what you've done." He said to himself, finally regaining control over his body. "But now, I got to knock some sense into that beast you made Zero!" He roared, flying towards his rival with immense speed. "Streak, no!" Kitsune tried to stop him, knowing that something bad would happen to him, too.
"If stopping you means saving you, then I'm up for it, all the way!" The silver hedgehog said.
"Good luck with that." Zero smiled, also running extremely fast, towards Streak. In moments, they both spin dashed at each other. "No!" Kitsune screamed right before they hit.