AN: Hey guys! I'm finally back with another chapter of Remnants of the Past. It took a while for me to come up with all the right twists, so I hope you appreciate it. *cough* There's a bit of dramatic irony near the end *cough*.
Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything of Sega, Sonic Team, Sonic '06, or other affiliated companies. The following characters are copyright of Nobel 6: Ghost, Samantha, Cynthia, Chameleon, Imperious. Thunder is copyright of gnat1. Music is copyright of respected owners. Please support all official releases.
Claimer: I claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.
Valhalla
August-20-1122
19:33 Mobius Time
[Now Playing: "The Story" by: 30 Seconds to Mars]
A great silence befell the time travelers when they had entered the Ragnarōk fortress. It was very much a mirror of Thor's Hall of the Fallen, and navigating it was quite easy for the war god. "Quite strange though," Thor muttered while he guided them. "Makes you wonder sometimes if Ragnarōk think that we're the ones attacking what they're trying to defend. Maybe we're the bad guys…?"
"Now's not the time for that kind of philosophy," Ghost said, giving a sigh as he looked about.
"Do you really think that the Sol Emerald will be in beacon power chamber?" Silver asked hopefully, running ahead in his own excitement. Another Sol Emerald found meant another step closer to Blaze for the young white hedgehog. "C'mon! Let's hurry!"
"Hold up, lad!" Thor said, giving a tired look as he ran after Silver. "We just won a war, after all."
Knuckles crossed his arms as he followed up with Tails, his eyes planted on Silver before the hedgehog turned round a corner. "I don't understand where that kid gets his energy from," the echidna mused with a grunt.
Tails shrugged and smiled. "You know, I think he's in love with Blaze. People do weird things when it comes to love," he said. Knuckles eyed the kit with an odd gaze, prompting Tails to blush and add, "Not that I would know. You know, that's just what I've heard."
"Sure Tails. Keep telling yourself that."
"No, I agree with Tails," Ghost said. Knuckles switched his gaze over to the towering blonde, raising his brow. "I mean, about when people do weird things for those they love. I think there's truth in that."
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "You're joking. You're just talking about that girl that Imperious has got locked up, aren't you?" he claimed, chuckling when Ghost turned away to hide a blush.
"What about you Knuckles?" Tails asked, a bit curious by this time. "Don't you have someone that you love and care about?"
He normally stoic echidna suddenly turned beet red in the cheeks and turned away. "Oh, um… About that…" he muttered.
"I do remember someone that you like," Tails instigated, poking Knuckles' side. "Wasn't it that Tikal girl? But isn't she thousands of years old? She's dead now. I didn't know you were into necrophilia!"
"Shut up Tails!" Knuckles demanded.
Tails chuckled and gave a leer. "Oh, you're right. She's trapped in the Master Emerald," he said, snickering. "So you're in love with a rock."
"I said shut up!"
"Hey, cut it out you two," Ghost ordered, his brows knitted in irritation. "We're almost to the power core, so we're going to need to investigate it, which means we can't have you two ninnies arguing over your squabbles."
Reluctantly, Knuckles looked back over to Tails and gave a firm nod. Tails only replied with a lighthearted hum. As they approached the entrance to the vast room, with intricate designs and veins carved into the walls, they were struck with surprise to find that they had not only snuffed out the large beam, but what was left of the energy was hardly even a kindling spark. A small, hardly sustained glow of blue energy was all that remained in the energy chamber.
Silver frowned, looking into the chamber through thick glass. "That… that can't be," he muttered. Everyone soon gathered behind him to check out the small energy source. Silver used his psychokinesis to remove the panes of glass, sending them shattering to the floor as he reached inside. When his hand met the energy source, all it did was fizzle in his hands and then die out. "Where's the emerald?"
"It was probably already taken," Thunder mused as he stepped forward and gazed at the glittery remnants of the energy. "I found it hard to believe that even the Chaos Superblast could neutralize that beam."
"My thoughts exactly," Ghost agreed, looking over to Thunder. "It's almost like it just conveniently gave out, just as we hit it."
Silver looked at the chamber, then down to his hands. "We're too late…" he muttered, falling to his knees. "I can't believe it."
Tails looked over to Knuckles, concern written in his expression, and the echidna sighed. Knuckles walked up and patted Silver's shoulder. "We were too late once. We'll just get them back for it," he said with a sigh.
Silver looked up to Knuckles, shaking his head clear of darker thoughts and giving a nod. "Right, we'll get it back," he said, affirming Knuckles' confidence and taking hold of the echidna's hand, standing up. "We should move on."
Thunder nodded, already having opened up a swirling gate. "We should."
[Stop Music]
^/\^|v\/v
~ ("The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without."—Dwight D. Eisenhower) ~
Syaoron the Fox presents
Following the Events of Sonic '06
Accompanied by Various Music and Themes
Remnants of the Past
Chapter 9
Cracking Defense
^/\^|v\/v
Unknown Location
September-25-2506
-:-
[Now Playing: "Lost in the Echo" by: Linkin Park]
The team of anachronisms was dropped into a new world in no time. They stood on a translucent walkway, observing the strange new world. Walls of what appeared to be numbers whizzed around them. Though they were confused by the white wall of numerals, Tails took a quick gaze at them and blinked. "It's a system of binary code," he analyzed, discerned in his words.
It was at that time when a red wall of binary code flew toward them and entrapped them in a wide, circular area. "Binary code, Tails?" Silver asked, looking around at the red wall. Suddenly, from the red wall, a great serpent materialized and gave a resounding roar. "I guess that makes this…"
"The firewall," Thunder finished for him, prepping himself for the battle. "This thing thinks we're a virus, and it wants us out."
The binary serpent raised its head and gave a great roar, spreading its wings and rising and circling around above them. "I don't suppose any of you is gifted in long range attacks?" Thunder suggested as they stared up at the serpent. The serpent's eyes suddenly began to glow with dark red, and the hue of its scales shifted to a deeper red as Thunder's voice hit it. It circled around faster, becoming nearly a blur before hurling down a bolt of electricity at the lion.
Luckily for him, only his clothing was slightly singed before Knuckles pulled him out of the way. "Watch yourself," Knuckles told him, glaring up at the serpent. "How are we gonna get that thing out of the sky?"
"I'm on it, Knuckles," Tails told him, giving a thumbs-up and whirling his tails around, flying up to the serpent and dodging the occasional bolt of lightning. It wasn't till he was face to face with the behemoth that the kit realized just how big it was. "Um… Guys, I'm not gonna be able to take this thing out myself!" he shouted to them.
Silver heard his plea and nodded, looking over to everyone else and using his psychokinesis to float up toward the serpent. "Tails, I'm gonna hold it down. I need you to hit it with everything you got!" Silver shouted to Tails, holding his hands out to the serpent and surrounding it in a pale green energy. Though the beast struggled Silver somehow managed to hold it back, though he winced in doing so.
Tails flew higher up, suddenly turning back down and dashing toward the serpent. "Hold it there Silver!" he shouted in response as he came upon it. At the very last moment, Tails flipped and struck a fierce kick to the serpent, sending it to the ground when Silver released it from his grasp.
The ground quaked when the monstrous serpent hit. Ghost had to stumble back from the immensity of it. Knuckles however remained unfazed. The echidna smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Let's get this party started!" he shouted, launching himself at beast and thrusting powerful punches at the joints of the serpent's wings before it had recovered. When he made contact, the joints shattered into fragments of light and the remainder of the wings disintegrated. "Maybe that will keep you from flying," Knuckles growled when the serpent finally found its footing.
The serpent glared at Knuckles and thrust a claw out, snagging Knuckles across the side and sending him flying. Ghost caught the echidna before he hit the ground, and he noticed Knuckles sporting a gash on his side. "You're gonna want to stay low for a bit," Ghost suggested as he took his Jericho pistol from its holster and began to fire on the dragon, chipping off bits of red light from it.
The serpent finally steadied itself, despite their weak attacks. It looked around at them and located the hedgehog that had held it down for a short time and opened its mouth. From the gaping serpent's mouth, a charge was held before blasting out a great white laser. Silver gasped a bit and focused his psychic energy, teleporting a short distance away just before he was hit. "Darn… It just doesn't quit," he grumbled, frustrated by the binary serpent.
"Well, we can't give up just yet," Tails told him, grunting a bit as he dodged a swipe from the serpent's massive tail. The kit lunged forward with a strike, flipping around and whipping the side of the serpent with his namesake. The serpent responded with only a leering glare before slashing at the kit with a blue glowing claw. Tails was incapable of dodging in time and only held his arms up to his face to block before being thrown back.
Ghost checked to see if Tails could get back up, but he only sighed as he bandaged up the kit's bloodied arms. "Tails is down!" he shouted over to Thunder, who had just run up and sliced at the serpent and sliced with his own set of feline claws.
"Tails and Knuckles? Darn, this isn't getting any better," Thunder growled, backing away as the serpent suddenly reeled and stood on its hind legs, giving a great roar to the sky. Just as suddenly as it had seemed most threatening, the data that composed the serpent suddenly began to implode and combine into a small ball of red light, which just as quickly dissipated. "Um… What was that?"
[Stop Music]
Thunder sighed and looked around, clasping his hands together. "Thank goodness, it's gone."
"It could be coming back any moment, though," responded Ghost, looking around and watching as the red data that had beleaguered them slowly dissipated.
"Are they gonna be okay?" Silver asked, levitating the unconscious bodies of their comrades.
Ghost looked back and examined the bodies with his pale blue eyes. "They should be fine. They were just beaten and bruised a little," he assured the young hedgehog, ruffling his spines. "They're just sleeping right now."
Silver gave a tired sigh, feeling his energy sapped from him as the adrenaline died down. His vision darkened and the green power he used to levitate their partners was faltering. Thunder took quick notice and dived to catch Knuckles, Tail being caught by Ghost. "Whoa there, Silver. Maybe you should take a break too," Thunder advised him, grunting a bit as he tried to hold up Knuckles.
"Thunder has a point, hedgehog," Ghost said as he heaved the kit over his shoulder. "You shouldn't overuse your powers. It'll get you in trouble one day."
Silver groaned a bit as he was forced to stop trying to focus his power. He only then realized the fatigue that fighting the massive serpent had caused him and he gave a sigh. "I guess I could use a break," he mumbled under his breath.
They wandered around the space for some time, wondering what it was they would be looking for. "So, do you think Tails was right about this world?" Silver asked, looking around and buzzing networks of code that lined the wall. "You think we're really inside a computer?"
"Well, you never really know exactly where you'll end up with this kinda travel," Thunder remarked, interested by the glowing lights of the new world. "You gotta remember that we did end up in the legendary Valhalla last time. Anything can happen." Thunder smiled as he reached up to fish his hands through a passing stream of numbers. The numbers dissolved as they went around his hand.
"Yes, I must say, you figured everything out quite quickly," a high-pitched voice suddenly spoke from the river of numbers. Thunder backed away in surprise, yelping as he bumped into Ghost. The three looked at the swirling pool of numbers, watching as it slowly formed, bit by bit, into a rather wise looking owl. "Good evening to you, sirs," the owl greeted them with a bow. They continued to stare at the creature, befuddled by its sudden appearance. "We are one of the five artificial intelligences that run the computer you currently reside in. You may call us Alpha."
"You're very… forward," Silver commented, pushing his hand forward. As he expected, it fazed right through the owl. "It's nice to meet you, Alpha," he said with mild curiosity toward the strange entity.
"We are sorry for the inconvenience with the firewall," Alpha noted, giving a shrug. "Your comrades appear to have fought well. We meant to stop it earlier, but once it gets out of hand, that kind of thing happens. You see, our security systems have been searching for an interloper that has recently infiltrated our systems."
"Recently?" Silver asked. "Maybe they've come here for the Sol Emerald!"
Alpha stopped in his walking and glanced back at Silver. "Sol Emerald? We have no such thing here. Whoever has come here looking for that will be sorely disappointed." When the owl noticed and processed the downcast look that Silver gave, Alpha looked forward again and began walking. "However, if you are convinced that an object of such unknown origin could have appeared and not been detected, then by all means, continue your search."
Silver almost immediately perked up. "So, you're saying there's a possibility that it's here?"
"That's exactly what we have just said, yes."
"Well, then what are we waiting for?"
Ghost rolled his eyes and gripped Silver by the head. "Don't go bounding off anywhere yet, Casanova," he taunted him. "You're forgetting the anomaly. Alf just told us—"
"We believe we requested you call us Alpha," the owl chimed in.
"Too bad, I'm going to call you Alf," Ghost remarked before looking back at Silver. "Alf just told us that there is an intruder. He's probably looking for the Sol Emerald too, and if that's so, then we can assume that Imperious sent him."
"Then that means that he could also be waiting to ambush us," Thunder mused. The lion glanced over to Alpha and nodded. "Where was the last place you detected the anomaly?"
"Sector fifteen, subunit A," Alpha uniformly answered. However, upon realizing that the newcomers hadn't any knowledge of the grid system, the owl's eyes lit up with a yellow glow. "Allow us to guide you there."
The AI owl flashed brightly and morphed into a small yellow wisp of light that shot off down the path. "I guess we follow him?" Silver asked, receiving a nod from the others before they ran off after it. "What do you think the intruder will be? Who do you think it'll be?"
"More than any of Imperious' simpletons or lackeys, that's for sure," Ghost said, grunting as he readjusted Tails on his shoulders. He watched as the blip of light always seemed to stay a certain distance from them. "It could be Chameleon, and that would mean bad news for us."
"Chameleon?" Silver asked. "You mean that one guy who beat you back in Valhalla?"
"He did not beat me," Ghost protested. "He called on some… ungodly power and used it against me. I'm willing to bet Imperious was helping him."
Thunder raised his brow, and bit his lip as he stacked up the odds. "So you're saying that going up against Chameleon…"
"Right; it's like fighting Imperious himself," Ghost affirmed, nodding with a growl. "And I don't want to deal with either of them right now."
However, upon arriving at the scene, there appeared to be no infiltrator anywhere in sight. "Are you sure this is where you last saw the intruder?" Silver asked the wisp as it transformed into an owl once more.
"We believe that this is the last place the anomaly existed, yes," Alpha said confidently. "If the intruder were looking for anything in particular though, this would not be the room for him to go."
"And what makes you say that?"
"Subunit A in sector fifteen is only used for storage files, and we have yet to store anything of great importance here," Alpha explained nonchalantly as a holographic screen appeared before him. He used his wing to brush through the files. "We will continue our search for the intruder. But for now, you and your allies must rest. The fight with the firewall must have been tiring."
Silver frowned and looked at Knuckles and Tails, still being held respectively by Thunder and Ghost. "Yes. It was."
Alpha curved his beak in a bright smile. "Then come," he instructed them. "We have extra storage lodgings in the Community Network. I'm sure your small stature won't take up much noticeable space."
Silver blinked and leaned over to Thunder. "Did he just insult us?" he asked the lion.
"I'm… pretty sure he did," Thunder muttered, blinking.
Alpha appeared not to hear them as he pointed to a collection of structures that appeared to be a large city. "That's the Community over there. We have a whole bunch of shared space that you can take up. You'll only be a few kilos out of our several terabytes, so you can reside in whichever apartment you wish," he told them as they passed into the city. The bounds of the towers seemed infinite at times, due to their immense height.
"So, we can take any one of these apartments?" Ghost questioned as they passed by a few buildings that appeared to be housing other data.
"Yes," Alpha said. "Now, we normally have temporary files and opened data stored in apartments, but I'm sure you can find your place somewhere in there. We don't really get travelers like you around here often. Never at all, actually. You can of course see now why our firewall attacked you."
"Well… when you put it that way, you make us sound like the bad guys," Silver mused as they entered a small apartment. They didn't even need to check in as the system recorded their entrance.
Well, in the essentiality of the situation… yes, you were the bad guys," Alpha responded, simulating a nervous chuckle. "Any unidentified file that enters the system with an unidentified origin is immediately marked as a threat. You don't appear to be bad though." When they arrived at the room and Tails and Knuckles had been settled on beds, Alpha gave a nod. "I suppose I should give you time to recuperate."
Ghost gave a short nod, signaling to the owl that it was time for him to depart. Ghost looked back over to the weary hedgehog resting on the ground and their two comrades who were deep in unconscious slumber. "We could all use a little rest."
^/\^|v\/v
Soleanna
Spetember-25-2506
12:20 Mobius Time
[Now Playing: "Skin to Bone" by: Linkin Park]
Today would be a long day for River Carton. He knew that when he walked into the normally drab office building and noticed a large crowd of reporters growing and bombarding Princess Elise. Most questions—though they were difficult for him to pick up through the mass confusion—dealt with the temporal anomalies that were occurring.
Over the past few days, whole cities that were just as they were one day were completely different. Something had changed in them, and scientists had determined that the time stream had been altered. With their limitations though, they could neither pinpoint when the change occurred nor what caused it. It was becoming a massive epidemic, and based on historical evidence as well as current trends in changes, the great city of Soleanna was the next target.
Princess Elise looked about, seeing over the sea of reporters and she noticed River. She beckoned to him, and River's immediate response was a nod. He swam through the rough seas, being budged and nudged all along the way, and he finally managed to get across and pull Elise away from all the madness. When they were in the staircase shaft, bolting the doors locked, they began their trek upward. "I'm sorry for all the trouble they gave you, Princess. I should have gotten here earlier," River apologized, shaking his head in disapproval of the rowdy reporters.
"Oh no, it wasn't your fault, Mr. Carton," Elise prompted him, sighing. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you… I'm still in fear of our national security, after all."
River gave a hearty laugh. "That's all? I assumed you were going to reprimand me or replace me," he joked, giving a cough to reestablish his business attitude. "But yes, we are keeping things in tiptop shape. We have every detector of temporal energy running hot, and we haven't seen anything happening in Soleanna yet."
Elise blew a sigh and nodded, feeling relief wash over her. "Thank you, Mr. Carton," she said with a nod. "Need a remind you of the impending threat?"
River only shook his head. "No ma'am. I understand the necessary precautions that need to be taken to avoid crisis, and we are working as hard as we can. We have discovered something rather interesting though."
"Interesting?" asked the princess.
"Oh yes; quite fascinating," River said. "We have been comparing the wavelengths of power that radiate from the locations of the temporal epidemics, and we've discovered that they are all very similar, if not exactly identical wavelengths."
Elise started suddenly, a bit surprised. "You're saying that these aren't random?" she asked.
"That's exactly what I am saying, your majesty," River confirmed, out of the stairwell and into one of the office corridors. "As a matter of fact, we discovered something else very interesting. The wavelengths of power emanating from the temporal epidemics match up perfectly with those from a Chaos Emerald."
Elise gasped a bit. "You're telling me that someone is jumping through time and causing this?" she asked. She looked away and sighed. Perhaps it is a good thing I sent Jack after them after all…
"Exactly, milady," River concluded. "We are doing whatever we can to stop anything else from happening, but considering that other living beings are causing this, we have no idea what could happen."
Elise gave a firm, solemn nod and turned away. "Thank you, Mr. Carton. I believe I have the information I came here for. I will no longer get in the way of your business."
"It was good seeing you again, your majesty."
Upon Elise's departure, he heard the wailings of the crowd on the first floor rise again. "Curses, Solaris," he muttered under his breath. "The Princess sure does have it tough these days."
He took up a cup of coffee that his secretary had prepared for him and finally sat down in his office. He looked at the name plate on his desk and smiled. It felt nice to be called the Head of State Defense. He did as he did every morning and dialed down to the computer lab. "Everything alright down there?" he asked. "Give me a diagnostics report."
"Sir, we appear to have multiple anomalies in the system."
River blinked and looked at the phone, wondering if he was hearing that correctly. "Multiple anomalies?" he asked, receiving an affirmative answer. "Well, are they of concern?"
"No sir. They don't appear to be engaging any tasks that could detriment the system as of yet."
River sighed and nodded. "That's good," he said as he hung up. "I would hate to see the defenses of the greatest city around crumble."
[Stop Music]