AN: It has taken a long time, but yes! I am still alive and kicking! Here's the next chapter guys. Extra cookie points if you point out the Meme reference.
Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Sonic Team, Sonic, or Sonic '06. The following characters are property of Nobel Six: Chameleon, Imperious, Ghost, Samantha. The following character is property of Gnat1: Thunder
Claimer: I claim and own this plot and any characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.
Valhalla
August-20-1122
9:09 Mobius Time
[Now Playing: "Hypnotize" by: System of a Down]
Loud huffing sounded; a figures feet pounding against the land of his thoughts. He ran, not knowing quite where he was going yet. He had little control, only knowing that he was running away rather than toward; escaping as opposed to racing. The kit took a glance behind him, his breathing unsteady and his heart pumping. He felt the blood pound in his ears, creating an almost white noise. He could still hear a cutting, deep voice penetrate all his thoughts.
"Seed of destruction, realize your place."
Tails gasped, feeling himself suddenly trip in the darkness. He stumbled onto his hands and feet when he suddenly saw something begin to break through the ground. The kitsune rolled away as massive, thorny vines sprouted from the ground. In the middle of the bundle of vines was a voluptuous, dark green bulb. Though fast as he ran, propelling himself to higher speeds with his rotating tails, he was unable to escape the ensnaring vines. Restrained at the limbs, the kit was suspended in the air. All the while, the sharp thorns dug into his skin and left a pain in all his limbs that lingered.
"Why do you run from your fate? Where does it get you?"
Red, slitted eyes materialized in front of the kit, glaring him down and sending a shiver down his spine. He could only wait there as the eyes circle him; blood began to pour down his body from the thorns.
"You think your friends will help you?" the voice questioned him. Tails could now realize that the source of the voice was that of the eyes. "They think the same of you that everyone else does. You're worthless; a detriment to the team; a dirty mutant with no real purpose in society than to be freak."
Tails felt a lump in his throat. He didn't trust the voice, and he wouldn't let him eat at his thoughts. "That's not true…" he groaned, biting into his lip from the pain. "They wouldn't do that to me."
"Grow up!" The kitsune felt a fist in his gut that he couldn't see, feeling himself cough a bit. He gasped, groaning as his stomach reeled from the pain. "This is the real world, child. People don't careabout you. They care about what they can get from you."
"That's not true!"
"Believe me child; I have been in your position before." Tails looked up into the alluring eyes, frowning a bit. "I too have been dejected for whom I am, but I am worshiped for what I can do."
Tails gave a sigh, trying to discern his feelings. "What does any of this have to do with me?" he questioned, giving the voice a bit more leeway.
A deep, almost evil laugh pierced the darkness. "You may have yet to realize your purpose, kit. Believe me though; I have my eyes on you," it said. "There is no point in running from what is to be your fate. Come and join the destruction."
All at once, Tails noticed a light from below and he glanced down. Panic washed over him when he noticed that a harshly burning fire of red and orange colors raged from below.
"Come join me, kitsune."
Tails screamed when he felt the fire reach him.
"Accept your fate."
He began to black out from the pain and fear as he jerked around. The pain was minor only to his fear as he shook intensely, begging for release.
"Realize that you are mine."
[Stop Music]
^/\^|v\/v
~ ("Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin."—Aesop) ~
Syaoron the Fox presents
Following the Events of Sonic '06
Accompanied by Various Music and Themes
Remnants of the Past
Chapter 8
Seed
^/\^|v\/v
After the foreboding dream had passed over, Tails awoke with a start and a cold sweat. His heart pounded in his chest and he made sure to check over his body to make sure it really was just a dream. So real… he shakily thought as he looked over to his side to see that Silver was kneeling right beside him. "You had us all startled for a while, Tails," he said with a chuckle. "You were rolling around and moaning for a while. Had a bad dream?"
Tails blankly nodded as he looked around, noticing that everyone was gather around him. "Yeah; just a bad dream," he assured them, though it seemed to be more of an attempt to calm himself.
"My new comrades; is your friend feeling under the weather?" Thor said while approaching with a gaudy gait. He knelt beside Tails, offering a hand to the youngling. "Come child. Surely you have more resilience in your younger years than us old men do?" Tails only smiled, a repressed chuckle escaping his lips at the wolf's speech. Without more words, the kit grasped Thor's paw and stood up slowly. Thor's eyebrows furrowed, as if concentrating on something otherworldly; it left him with a vacant stare. "Bad dreams are omens here. I'd take heed to prevent your dream from becoming a reality."
Another solemn nod from the fox. "Uh… yeah; thanks."
"Mister Almighty here gave us a tour of the fortress while you were out," Knuckles said as he walked a fair distance away. He looked back—having expected to be followed—and he beckoned to them. "Well? Are you coming?"
This prompted Tails to follow, hanging right behind his heels like a well-whipped dog. The others followed short after. Knuckles led them through the corridors of the great stone fortress, which Thor boasted most heavily about. He spoke much of the great castle's thick, impenetrable walls; of its grand spires and the lookout roof. It was there that Knuckles was leading them.
When they had breached beyond the walls of the castle and onto the rooftop, they all once again took in the vast, ravaged battlefield. A dull brown slated the plain of dirt and spires of rock jutted out randomly, as if they had been sprinkled like pebbles by a child's hand. The strange, floating rocks remained still, gyrating around their center as they floated amid the dust.
"What a weird place," Silver mused. His gaze wasn't fixed much on the scenery, nor was it on any of the floating rocks; no, his attention was drawn to the blue beacon in the distance, and the equally large fortress; lined with grooves embedded with Lapis Lazuli: a fine, blue crystal that made up the exterior design for the fortress.
Thor nodded and patted Silver's shoulder. "I see you have spotted the base of our enemies," he said, heaving a great sigh. "We have suppressed the Ragnarōk for many years now, but it almost seems as though they have become stronger; something our diviners have not seen. We believe they are receiving help from beyond this plane. Have you any information on our distant enemy?"
As the anachronistic travelers gazed out, unto the field, a new spectacle began to unfold. Crystalline, blue creatures exited the gates of the opposing fortress; which they assumed to be Ragnarōk. However, yet more forces arrived from a gaping black gorge in the sky: black creatures covered head to toe in iron armor. They appeared reptilian, but they're constantly rippling form seemed to suggest that they were apparitions of energy.
"I have a good idea," Ghost remarked as he gave Silver a pat on the back. He turned and walked away, the others looking off in his direction.
"Where's he going off to?" Thor asked, a bit confused by what had transpired. The wolf god watched as the unfamiliar human walked into the castle, his feet pounding against the stone as if with a purpose.
Thunder gave a firm nod and turned back to see the amassing enemy. "He's going to gather the soldiers," he said, as though he knew exactly what was going on. "He needs to fight."
^/\^|v\/v
Marching sounded from outside the fortress that belonged to Thor and his men. The blue-armored Ragnarōk creatures approached with gauntlets of cold, beryl steel over their alien hands; a sharp, broad long sword in their possession. Fighting alongside the Ragnarōk were black, draconic creatures that amassed from the dark abyss in the sky; their forms masked by the suits of armor they wore.
From among the combined forces, a lone chameleon dressed in a black body suit and sporting all sorts of metal weapons stepped forward. He snapped a small amplifier onto the collar of the body suit and he spoke with a booming voice. "We know you're in there!" he said. "Come out now and surrender your Sol Emeralds to us, and we will leave for now. Resistance is futile! All your base are belong to us!"
Within the castle, Chameleon's voice echoed throughout the halls. Tails grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms. "He didn't say it right," he mumbled, receiving a quick slap on the back. "Hey, what was that for Knuckles?"
The echidna in question pointed the kit back toward the gates of the fortress. "Focus, kid," he ordered. "The enemy is not going to sit there while you give them a grammar lesson. We have to lead these guys into battle, remember?"
Tails took a nervous glance behind him, and at the hundreds, if not thousands, of men that had gathered before them; men that were brought by means of the Valkyrie into this world—the way that was meant to be. Tails realized now that they had arrived in this world by an unnatural method: via a space-time distortion itinerary. He looked forward, back at the gates as they slowly opened up.
[Now Playing: "Master of Puppets" by: Metallica]
The vast Ragnarōk army lay before them, causing mouths to gape open at the mere sight of its might. Thor's army quivered with nervousness; they shook with excitement; they gripped their weapons shakily, yet firmly. A grim grimace rode on Ghost's face as he stepped forward. "I thought I might find you here, Chameleon."
The addressed reptilian ninja blinked his eyes to focus on the blue-eyed human that had stepped forward. He remembered his gruff voice and the tattered trench coat with a smirk. "You haven't changed a bit, Jonathon."
Silence crossed them as wind blew between the two armies. Chameleon breathed a hefty breath before cracking his knuckles. "Yes, you're still the same love struck, vengeful fool I saw on the day I kidnapped that girl," he taunted the human. He could see a new fire quelling within Ghost and he gave a victorious smirk. "What was her name…? Samantha I believe it was?"
The blonde-haired rebel snapped in his animosity; his rage flaring and boiling over. Ghost reached into the pockets of his trench coat and snagged a few throwing knives. With great skill, he shot the daggers off at Chameleon, though the reptile only rolled to the side and dodged them, as if having seen them coming. The knives instead struck targets behind the intended one, downing several with ease. It was with this that the bonds of silence were severed and both sides charged at each other.
Even as Silver led his platoon uneasily into war, they seemed to take more charge of themselves than he did of them. "I knew I wasn't meant to command," he muttered to himself as he chucked stones at the Ragnarōk. A quick glance over to the sidelines though, and he noticed that Ghost and Chameleon were exchanging fists in a one-on-one situation. "Shouldn't we go help him?"
Thunder answered after lunging at one of the shady soldiers sent by Imperious, having eradicated the smoky warrior. "Nah, John has a score to settle," he said, patting the futuristic hedgehog on the back and advising him not to get in the way. "Besides, John can handle himself."
And handle himself he did; Ghost had drawn a small stiletto from his leg holster to combat Chameleon's kunai. The two clashed together, struggling to gain the upper hand as they jumped back and forth, slashing at each other with their daggers. Ghost grasped Chameleon's wrist when he had been stabbed at, twisting Chameleon's arm so he could plant a fierce kick into the reptile's ribs.
Ghost dug another throwing knife out of his trench coat and flicked it at Chameleon, forcing the ninja to roll to the side. He's gotten better, Chameleon mused before throwing one of his own kunai to deflect an incoming dagger.
When he looked over to see where Ghost had gone, he couldn't find his opponent and he swished his head about, looking for where he had gone. It was only when a shadow was cast over him that he looked up to find Ghost diving down at him, about to plant a knife in his skull. As fast as he could react, Chameleon back-flipped and shot his leg up in hopes of catching Ghost in the chin. He was only off by a mere mark, unarming Ghost of his knife with the kick.
Ghost gave a groan as he flipped to land correctly, catching himself with his hands and seeing Chameleon smirk, flipping around the human's stiletto in his hands. "You've gotten better, John," said Chameleon; a dark chuckle rising from his lungs. "But not good enough."
In the moment of his small talk, Chameleon felt a stab of pain in his shoulder. He gasped, jumping back and looking down at the dagger lodged in him. The very same stiletto that he was carrying moments ago was covered in a mysterious blue glow. He looked up to find Ghost's eyes and hands emanating the same aura. "Y-you! But how?" Chameleon shouted in disbelief. "I thought only the hedgehog possessed those capabilities."
Chameleon gave another gasp when the bloody knife was tugged out of him and returned to the hand of its master. Ghost gave a smirk as he saw the blood and he returned the glare to his ninja enemy. "Yes, Silver is the only one of us who uses psychokinesis. However, you failed to take my own powers into account," the blond-haired human said with almost a heroic tone. "I have the ability to copy other abilities." Even if it's only for a limited time, he thought to himself. He knew that he'd only last one more use before he had to recopy Silver's powers.
Chameleon grunted to himself, knowing that if he didn't end this soon, he'd face a battle he wouldn't win. As his soldiers fell all around him, the reptilian ninja kept himself aware that beating Ghost wouldn't win the war. It was with great dishonor that closed his eyes and focused. Master, he spoke in his mind, as if hoping someone would hear him. Give me the strength to stop my enemy, at least for this time.
As Chameleon gave his prayers, Ghost kept himself focused on retaining his copied powers, raising a vast array of knives into the air by means of this psychokinesis. He had them all pointed directly at his enemy. "You… You took her from me!" he accused Chameleon in his pent up anger. "If you think I'll let you off, you're dead wrong!" With deadly accuracy and deadly speed, the knives were cast directly at Chameleon, nearing him and ready to slice the reptile into shreds.
"I have heard your plea, Dovahkiin. Now, unleash my fury on them and let them know fear!"
"Fus Ro Dah!" Chameleon suddenly shouted, his eyes glinting with a piercing red sheen as he let out an explosive force from his lips with his powerful Voice. The knives couldn't even touch him as they were blasted away with the bone shattering force.
Ghost widened his eyes, raising his arms as the fierce shockwave pushed him back. "What is this?!" he shouted, groaning as he tried to peer through the dust. When it settled, the human could see Chameleon with his lips shimmering like fire.
Chameleon's fierce glare was followed by another loud Shout, "Yol Toor Shul!" This time, an inferno seemed to erupt from his throat. Blasts of fire were fired directly at the unsuspecting human, who only managed to save himself by blocking his face with the fire resistant trench coat.
Where did all this sudden power come from? Ghost wondered as he rolled to the side, dodging the waves of heat and fury that flew by him. He felt the oxygen snuffed from the air as the balls of flame whizzed by him.
"Wuld Nah Kest!"
In the instant of having heard the Shout, a breeze wisped by Ghost and a laceration across his chest came soon after. Ghost barely registered the speed as he whipped his head around, noticing that Chameleon had sped right past him.
Even though the tables were balanced, even turned when Ghost noticed that all of Chameleons wounds were healed, it ended abruptly when the reptilian ninja repeated his Shout and vanished away. Ghost wondered for a moment if the reptile would come back, and he clenched his fists in regret knowing that he wouldn't. He was brought back to the world when his shoulder was grasped. "Get your head in the game, man!" Thunder reprimanded him.
The human gave a blink and looked around, remembering the war that was still going on. "Oh yeah, right," he groaned as he fell back behind friendly lines to recuperate.
"So, how did your sparring match go Spook?" Knuckles joked, even getting a laugh out of Ghost himself. However, as soon as he quieted, the blue eyed human's expression turned downtrodden. "I guess it didn't go so well," the echidna muttered while standing up slowly.
Silver patted Ghosts shoulder, gesturing back to the orange fortress. "C'mon. Tail has an idea for how we can get rid of Ragnarōk," he assured his partner while they all retreated back behind the walls of the fort.
"And this idea would be what?" Ghost questioned when they were finally to safety, hoping that the army on the other side would be able to handle themselves.
Tails seemed to have no concerns however as he strode along the hall, coming to the stairwell. "We plan to divert some power from the beacon to take out the Ragnarōk beacon," he said as he reached into his tail fur for his yellow Chaos Emerald. "I have the yellow emerald. Thunder has his white one, Knuckles always carries his around, and we have the white Sol emerald. We plan to use our knowledge and experience of chaos energy and the emeralds to divert the energy and take out their beacon."
Of course, Ghost was skeptical of the concept. "What would taking out the beacon do?"
"The Ragnarōk are creatures that spawn from the energy of the beacon," Tails said. "I discovered that when I fought them; that their numbers just kept increasing and increasing at will. We'll be overrun if we don't cut out their power source."
Ghost didn't question any further when they reached the pinnacle, standing under the awesome might of the huge pillar of energy. It forced Tails to squint his eyes to even look at it. "Alright everyone; get to your positions!" he ordered as he began to funnel energy from the beacon into his Chaos emerald. When they had all gathered in front of the beam, they focused their energies. The four emeralds themselves began to float in the presence of the energy. As energy gathered, the gems of power began to spin around in a sort of circle, soon becoming a ring of blinding light. With a nod to all the others, the chaos controllers shouted out, "Chaos Superblast!"
When the energy was simultaneously released during the shout, a huge amount of energy poured out of the orange beacon and funneled out as a laser beam, striking the blue beam of the opposing fortress. With a massive explosion and a wink of light, the blue beacon was snuffed out, as was the Ragnarōk army.
Thor looked upon the Ragnarōk army as they fell. The blue veins running through their armor ran dry before the mythical army crashed to the ground in ashes and smoke. Thor heaved his massive war hammer into the sky and gave a mighty smirk. "We have won this day, comrades!" he shouted, arousing a cheer from his men. "We have defeated our enemy and saved Valhalla forever more!"
As the crowd of Valhalla soldiers cheered in revelation, Tails grumbled under his breath, breathing hard from having used all the energy to cast the laser. "We did all the work," he bitterly muttered.
He hence received a reprehensive slap on the back from his red echidna companion. "Not all the work, kiddo," he reminded him. "They held off Ragnarōk so that we could have the time to work our magic. It was a team effort."
Tails gave a soft sigh and nodded. "Well, yes… I suppose you're right."
Silver was quiet however, sitting on the edge of the fortress' pinnacle and looking on toward the horizon. Many thoughts ran through his head, and he was shocked from his thoughts when he felt a hand ruffle his head. "Hey, what's the matter? Got something on your mind?"
The white hedgehog looked up to spot the green lion that sat down next to him. "I've got a lot on my mind, Thunder."
"Then speak it."
Silver gave a sigh. "I get this feeling that there had to be a Sol Emerald somewhere. I thought it was powering Ragnarōk's fortress for sure."
"So?" asked Thunder, still not quite understanding what Silver was getting at. "Perhaps a Sol Emerald isn't here after all?"
"No, that can't be right. The Sol Emerald I had has been reacting every time I point it toward the Ragnarōk fortress."
Thunder blinked a bit and crossed his arms. "Maybe you're reading into this too much," he suggested. "If it wasn't powering Ragnarōk, then where is it now?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
[Stop Music]
^/\^|v\/v
Castle Usha
September-24-2506
18:15 Mobius Time
Imperious held within his hands the object of his enemy's greatest desire. The very object that they had tried to keep from them, he had still managed to obtain. He held the small, blue gem; so pristinely cut, as if designed by the Ancient Walkers themselves. He smirked, holding it between his claws, watching how its light somehow lit up the dank darkness of his castle. "Very nice work, Chameleon. You have done very well and proven yourself yet again."
Even with the praise that he had received, Imperious could see how rundown his protégé was. Imperious lifted the corners of his lips and stepped down from his throne. The pentagram on his chest glowed intensely before initiating a form of arcane magic, shrinking the mighty dragon to a size that was less intimidating. With this, he approached his student. "What seems to be bothering you, Chameleon?" he asked, hanging his arm over the reptile's shoulder casually, as a friend would do. "You must be tired. Using the Thu'um takes a lot out of you at full power."
Chameleon only shook his head. "I shouldn't need to call on you for your power. That's the same as doing nothing myself," he muttered. "Are you sure that you're right about me? That I am all you say I am?"
Imperious only chuckled at the ninja's lack of self-assurance. With that he returned to his throne, regaining his oppressive girth. "Return to your dwelling, Chameleon. You need rest," he commanded. "And remember: I would not have any other ever take your place."
This high praise seemed to enlighten Chameleon, and he soon left. As soon as he was out of the hall, Imperious sat down on his throne, breathing out a smoky sigh. The grey clouds streamed through his nostrils as he pondered his young student. Even with my help, he had excellent control over the Voice. His Thu'um has a powerful potential… he thought, giving a smirk with his toothy maw. "Yes, Chameleon; you truly must be the Dovahkiin."