Sonic Chronicles: The Series

"According to my locater, Rock is somewhere in the Mystic Ruins. Our only problem is that GUN has blocked off the way." Wing said.
"Then how do we rescue Rock?" Charyb asked.
"Well GUN soldiers can't fly, we'll just use the Super Hurricane MK III and fly over."
"Wing, is there anything you can't figure out." Scylla asked.
"Maybe." Wing joked.
------------------------
"Well we're here, we've just gotta head south and we're good to go." Wing said.
"There might be a problem with that." Geisy said. "Look at that fog."
"That's not fog, it's poisonous gas." wing said.
"Even gizoids can't get through that, how will we get across." Scylla asked.
"I don't know, if we only had someone that could get us through who isn't effected." Wing said.
"Wait, I hear something coming, brace yourselves." Geisy warned.
Everyone went into a battle stance, but they dropped it when they saw Viral walking through the gas.
"Hey guys." Viral greeted.
"Viral, did you just walk through that poison gas unharmed?" Wing stuttered.
"My body is Nocturnus remodelized with our own tech to be acid proof, it's not effected by that type of stuff." Divince explained.
"Then you can help us through, we're trying to save Rock, but the gas is too deadly for us to go through." Geisy explained.
"I can just carry you all over it, I can lift a lot of weight with this armor." Divince said.
Divince picked up all 4 of them and flew to where Rock's signal was.
"Alright, we've found Rock's location, now we've just gotta save him. We need to stand on guard from here." Wing explained.
The 5 entered to see a dark temple with little light inside, there were Hlur everywhere, but they had all fallen asleep. "We need to be quiet, if they hear us they'll swarm us." Geisy whispered.
The 5 tiptoed past the Hlur, they thought they had been caught once, but it was just a reflex. Soon they got near a room where they heard what sounded like bars being bended. This caused the Hlur to wake up. "Oh snap." Wing said. The Hlur all charged at them until.
"FIST BULLET!" Rock shouted as a giant energy wave shaped like a fist struck down all the Hlur.
"Rock." Viral said.
"Luckily you finally came, I had to wait before I could break myself out, I just learned that they haven't only recreated the heartless in Blur's shape, but the Nobodies and Unbirths as well." Rock explained.
"So we've also gotta face Nlurs and Ulur as well, right?" Scylla asked.
"Exactamungo." Rock said.
*BEEP, BEEP* "We may wanna leave, I think we just set off the alarm." Charyb said.

The sky, in it’s nightly dark-blue shade, spread across the entire earth, ordained in the white lights of billions of stars. But Luxrb had no amusement of a beautiful night sky; he saw only blackness, with a few small white specks. He sat on his throne slumped as he stared out into the dim atmosphere of space. As his mind drifted off, someone walked behind his door. Luxrb raised his hand, signaling him to stop. Luxrb then turned his levitating throne towards him and spoke.
“What is it Sky?” Luxrb asked. Sky then replied to Luxrb’s question.
“Well, I have bad news.” Sky announced. Luxrb turned his throne away.
“Well, what would be the bad news, my friend?” Luxrb questioned again. Sky started to get a little nervous, for the reaction of Luxrb towards the bad news would be very, very unpleasant.
“Well, um, someone is coming here.” Luxrb’s eyes opened and his ears perked up in surprise and somewhat anger.
“What?” Luxrb growled in a deep, low voice. Though his voice was very dim, Sky could still see the rage in Luxrb’s tone.
“Yes, and he/she is on the move right now.” Luxrb then sighed, relaxed, and a little happy. He then stood up from his seat and turned to Sky.
Luxrb growled with an evil sneer for a while, how could anyone find his hideout? The only ones who knew were him, Sky and Steel. But then something made his ear perk up and twitch. He turned around and saw…nothing. He walked over to that space, looking for the thing that made his senses flinch. He sniffed and smelled something very, dusty. He followed the scent across his room. Luxrb followed it to the corner of his room, where he looked on the floor to see…nothing. Then, behind him, crept up a mist of haze. Luxrb looked behind but at that same second, the mist consumed his arms and legs, forcing them to become immobile. Luxrb, gritting his teeth together, struggled and strained against the strong mist that held him in place. Out of his squirming, he heard a female voice laugh in the room. The chuckle echoed and he shouted out.
“Who are you, show yourself!” Luxrb ordered to the ominous laughter. Silence filled the room, and then a voice responded to Luxrb’s anger.
“Relax darling. You do not remember me?” Suddenly, some of the dust moved away from him and started to form into a being, a hedgehog being. Soon after, the entity finally became visible. It was a green hedgehog that looked like Geisy, she wore the same attire only it was Black where it was White and the heart was grey and broken in half, she had spiked wristbands and Geisy's sneakers in a inverted color.
“You…?” Luxrb was surprised to see this gal appear in-front of him. But his surprised look changed to that of an impressed one. “I see your finally free from your robotics…whatever your name is now.” Luxrb smiled.
“It's Dahlia, you can’t expect someone like me to just disappear, did you darling?” Dahlia asked with a sarcastic tone.
“Well since I was left in a black space, and no one came to help me, I guess you could say I did.” Luxrb responded with a hint of anger. Dahlia laughed in her deep, evil voice and moved over to Luxrb.
“Well, I guess I could make up for that darling.” She then kissed Luxrb right on the lips. Luxrb’s eyes first widened, but then they started to close as he took in the kiss. Luxrb smiled. “Alright, I forgive you.” Dahlia grinned.
“Well, I have my first contribution to this team right here.” Dahlia pulled out the Red Dark Emerald. Luxrb’s eyes widened as he gazed upon the powerful glowing gem. He never figured that Dahlia could get in with a Dark Emerald without being detected. But then again, Dahlia has never failed to surprise Luxrb yet. He took the emerald and held it in his hands. After two minutes of emerald watching, Luxrb nodded and put the gem away and turned back to Dahlia.
“Glad to see you back here Dahlia, my dear.” Luxrb said. After he spoke, Sky came barging in the room like wildfire.
“Luxrb, I followed the intruder. He/She's somewhere inside the…castle.” Sky said as he saw Dahlia. “Um, am I interrupting something, Luxrb?” Suddenly, Steel appeared behind the demon and looked inside the room seeing the scene. He chuckled and then spoke to Sky in a joking tone.
“Seems our master was just about to get busy, huh Sky?” Steel chuckled, elbowing Sky’s shoulder lightly.
“I think you’re right Steel. Something definitely was about to go on here.” Luxrb and Dahlia both blushed madly red, but their facial expressions did not change.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Back inside of the home of the Blur Team, a loud ringing sound filled the living room of the building. The phone was humming it’s tune melodically, and Geisy walked in from the outside to answer it’s rings. The red hedgehog came in and picked up the receiver and put it up to her ear. “Hello?” She asked.
“Hello, Geisy?” A voice on the other side of the line responded. Geisy then smiled with a gleeful feeling.
“Ryan, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you for a while. How are things?” Geisy asked in a cheerful tone. She threw herself on the couch and laid on it upside down (I'm serious, Blur's personality is rubbing off on her.) as she took part in conversation with her friend, On the other line, was Ryan Charles Diulus, the hedgehog who had his life ruined by Apocalypse. He stood next to a pillar in what seemed to be an airport, with a suitcase at his feet.
“Nothing much, Geisy. Same old, same old here. But things have gotten better for me, since the whole world saw my fight Apocalypse, the secret of what he did was blown out and I've been able to return home again. Though I make a living from fighting now.” He said, trying to hide a small giggle. But Geisy still heard the small chuckle.
“What’s so funny Ryan?” Geisy asked in question. Ryan then burst out with excitement.
“Hope you’re in for a visit, because my sister and I are moving over!” Geisy screamed with excitement.
“That’s awesome, when are you going to be here?”
“In about 5 hours, our flights been delayed do to something, but we’ll still be there. How’s the purple protagonist doing?”
“Blur’s fine. But we’ve get a little thing to take care off. You don’t need to worry about it. Anyway, can’t wait to see you and meet Heather.”
“Thanks, Heather’s becoming a little aggravated because of waiting so long, it her anxiety. Hold on for a second.”
“Why was the flight delayed, I paid a good seventy bucks to go to Future City by tomorrow early! But now because of some idiot accidently forgetting to fuel the stupid plane because they were an idiot, that’s not going to happen!” Heather ranted on. But then she shrunk as an even louder shout overcame her.
“HEATHER, LEAVE THE GUY ALONE! SO THE FLIGHT WAS DELAYED, BE HAPPY THAT IT WASN’T CANCELED!” Ryan shrieked right in Heather's ear.
“Sorry about that, Heather was acting up.” Geisy laughed on the other line and smiled. “On our way here we ran into someone by the name of Vec and Esper.” Geisy then gasped and held her hand over her mouth in surprise.
“You saw the other members of Team Chaotix Jr that were seen killed, alive?” Geisy asked in hopes of a yes.
“Yep, it seems Eclipse and Journey brought them back to life since you saved the entire universe. They came up to me looking for Flight 203, which happens to be the same plane Heather and I are heading to. So all of us are coming together.” Geisy on the other line was gasping and panting with excitement.
“Glee and Rain will be so happy to see them again.” Geisy said. Geisy put the phone back up to her ear and spoke back to Ryan. “Okay, I can’t wait to see you all, bye.”
“Bye Geisy. Oh, and say Hi to Blur for me please.” Ryan requested. Geisy nodded though Ryan could see it.
“I will. Goodbye.” Geisy placed the phone back on the receiver and ran back outside to speak to her friends about it. The first one she ran into was her boyfriend, Blur, who was standing outside watching the red sunset descend. She tapped on his shoulder and he turned around swiftly.
“What is it, Geisy?” The purple hedgehog asked. Geisy burst out the news.
“Ryan and Heather are coming over, tomorrow! And Vec and Esper are coming with them!” Geisy shouted out with excitement.
“That is great! This is awesome! When’d you get the call?” Blur asked. Geisy replied with ‘a few minutes ago.’
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
“So let me get this straight Luxrb. You mean to tell me that this girl was one of you're creations back before you became Omega Metal. But, she had fallen in battle and you repaired her just like you made me and fixed up Steel. But you became more than friends?” Luxrb, who was sitting on his throne, slumped, nodded. Dahlia, who was leaning against the wall with her gloved arms crossed, spoke.
“Nothing’s changed.” Sky gave Dahlia a dirty look. He didn’t trust her knowing who she was back when he was still Mecha, for failing to defeat their adversaries. Falling in love with the leader of the Luxrb Gang didn’t mean that she could just muscle her way inside the group.
“Would you mind leaving us alone for a minute?” Sky ordered. Dahlia simply shrugged and walked out the room quietly. “How could you let her inside our headquarters Luxrb, I figured you were more intelligent then that!” Sky boasted at the black hedgehog.
“Well, I trust her mr. Sky the cowardly hedgehog who usually wets his pants. It’s thanks to her that the Red Dark Emerald is in our position after Steel lost it.” Luxrb said.
“THAT’S NOT THE POINT LUXRB!” Sky roared over Luxrb’s ranting. Luxrb stared up at his friend with question and a little irritation. He never liked to be talked back or talked over. “This girl is a pathetic weakling since her robot days and she’s using the emerald and your past affections as a way to get to you. She’s nothing but a sneaking, lying, sleuth who looks like a freaking loser.” Luxrb’s emotions couldn’t take the verbal abuse to his girl anymore. He charged out of his seat, gripped Sky by the neck, and pinned him against the wall…hard. Luxrb’s eyes weren’t normal red anymore, thy morphed to a crimson tint, and their gaze pierced through Sky, who stared in fear at Luxrb’s anger.
“If you ever…call Dahlia a loser…ever again, I’LL DESTROY YOU!” Luxrb’s fists started to glow with a black and violet shade, signifying his seriousness. Sky looked down at Luxrb and nodded swiftly. Luxrb then put him back down on the ground. “Good…we will not have this discussion again. “ Luxrb said solemnly with a dark and deathly tone. He then turned around and walked out of the room, while Sky stared at him walk away. Steel came over from leaning on the wall and spoke to the cowardly hedgehog.
“You almost got your rear kicked by Luxrb, man. He must really care about that broad. I don’t care if she's never had strong junk in her battle trunk, I’m not complaining.” Steel then left the room, leaving Sky to sit in fear of the moment he endured.

"Challenge you?" Blur asked.
"Think of it as a test, just because Apocalypse is gone doesn't mean the hardest part has ended in you're journey. You will face me and my group, the Higher Powers in a battle." Eclipse said.
-----3 days later-----
“So, anyone got any bright idea?” Jasmine asked.
“Running.” Light answered. “Running sounds good right now.”
“Heart of a lion, he has.” Jac said sarcastically.
“Running is not an option.” Strawberry said seriously. “We have no choice but to stand and fight.”
“But we don’t stand a chance against them.” Rain said worried.
"Plus Leur couldn't beat Eclipse." Aura said.
“We know that.” Rock muttered and said. “If we run away, we don't deserve to be called heroes. We have to fight him.”
“Ah, such sentiment.”
Rock turned at the sound and jumped in surprise when Eclipse stood near him. Counteracting his fear, Rock thrusted his fist at the God. Unfortunately, Rock didn’t even have time to hit before he was thrown backwards to his friends. When he looked back, he found Mata Nui standing between them and Eclipse.
“That could have gone over better.” Alexis commented.
“What’d ya except?” Arceus said. “We’re the greatest!”
“Allow me to elaborate before they are defeated.” Eclipse said. He walked past his group and spoke to the Heroes. “You’re all probably wondering what is happening at the moment.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Kumori nodded.
“You see, as the universe grew, my job became harder without Journey's help, so I choose 7 powerful beings to have power almost equal to mine, though I've been forced to get rid of 3 because of their actions, but the Higher Powers are no pushover still.”
“What are you getting at?” Glee questioned suspiciously.
“Those 4 behind me are almost as powerful as I am.” Eclipse said.
“Shall we proceed, master?” Fanglongmon asked hopefully.
“Yes and make it quick.” Eclipse instructed. “I wish to create a new world by tonight.”
“Let the fun begin.” Arceus said.
“This is bad.” Ebon commented.
The god and heroes jumped at once and one of the greatest battles in history had begun. Fanglongmon went up against the members of Team Chaotix Jr. Fanglongmon held out his claw and called up his own version of the Chaos Spear. Unfortunately, with no way to defend himself, Glee awaited the impact. Thankfully, a large green orb shot out of nowhere and obliterated the barrage of black arrows. Glee took a peek and looked over to Rain; her hand glowing brightly.
Fanglongmon kicked off the ground and held his claw out towards the rascally butterfly. Rain tried to use her magic again, but she was still in experienced and failed. As Fanglongmon came close, a string suddenly wrapped around his wrist and halted his attack. Fanglongmon looked back and saw Esper holding him back with a thread. Taking advantage of Fanglongmon’ distraction, Vec jumped in front and nailed the ultimate digimon to the face. Fanglongmon was tossed across the field.
“D*** you, parasites.” Fanglongmon cursed.
“Hey, watch it!” Vec shouted as he and Esper covered Rain and Glee’s ears. “There are children present.”
“Whatcha say?!” Rain screamed.
Not far from them, Mata Nui faced off against Team Rock and Strawberry. Rock bashed his fists together and summoned his fire. Mata Nui unsheathed his razor bladed arm and buried it into the ground, tossing a pile of dirt to fly into Rock’s eyes. Without knowing where to aim, Rock shot his fist bullets randomly in the air. Unfortunately, one nearly severed Wing’s tail.
“Hey, watch it!” Wing yelled, dipping his tail into the lake. “I only have one of those!”
“I can't see!” Rock shouted.
“Rock, look out!” Alexis cried.
All of a sudden, Mata Nui swooped down from behind and struck Rock across his back. Strawberry tried to run to his aid, but Mata Nui blocked her way. As he raised his weapon over her head, he suddenly felt the full force of an unknown attack to his face. Mata Nui slid across the ground and glared. The attack returned to Alexis and turned out to be only Lucky. Just from the attack, Mata Nui knew Alexis was a long distance fighter. Mata Nui grinned and turned his body to a cloud of smoke. Alexis and Lucky looked scared and confused before Mata Nui reappeared behind them. Before they could realize where he was, Mata Nui brought down his weapon. Unexpectedly, Wing jumped in front of the attack and allowed it to cut into his shoulder. Upon feeling the blood splatter across her cheek, Alexis turned and gasped.
“Wing.” Alexis said horridly.
“You fool.” Mata Nui sniggered. “What reason would you have for surrendering your life?"
“I swear, if you hurt her...” Wing said lowly; his eyes becoming red. “I’ll kill you!”
In an unexpected twist, Wing caught Mata Nui in his telekinesis and sent him flying. Meanwhile, Exodia was off fighting his own way. The dark counterpart found himself pitted against the Rector, Ebon, Rave and Jasmine. Jasmine activated her jet pack and jumped up to unleash a barrage of fatal kicks. Unfortunately, Exodia avoided them without much effort. After relentlessly attacking, Jasmine finally slipped up. As the girl’s foot nicked his cheek, Exodia grabbed her by the ankle and threw her aside. Luckily, Ebon caught her before she could hit a nearby tree.
“Are you all right?” Ebon asked, setting Jasmine down.
“I won’t until we win.” Jasmine glared.
“Ah, get over it.” Exodia sighed.
“Bonzai!” Rave screamed.
Exodia looked up and saw the Rave dive-bombing him with his lighter and explosion potion. All Exodia really needed to do was reach up and grab him. He pulled the youngling and held him upside-down in front of him.
“If you’re going to surprise someone, do it quietly.” Exodia advised.
“Great work, Rave.” Rector said. “Leave the rest to us.”
Without even realizing it, Rave’s distraction allowed Rector to sneak up behind Exodia. Before Exodia could react, Rector wrapped his strong arms around Exodia to contain him. This allowed a chance for Rave to escape, but not before using the explosion potion on Exodia. With the trap set, Ebon jumped forward and sliced him down the middle with Excalibur.
“Yay! We did it!” Rave cheered.
“Don’t count on it.” Ebon said doubtfully.
The soon saw the two halves of his body moving. Exodia had survived the attack and regenerated his body back together soon after.
“You’ll pay for that.” Exodia said menacingly.
Arceus was left to fight Team Rose and Jac. Kumori was the first to stand up against him and jumped into the air for a spinning kick. Arceus lifted his foreleg and blocked the attack with minimal effort. Realizing how strong he was, Kumori rebounded off the ground and aimed for his legs. Unfortunately, Arceus jumped up and avoid the attack completely. Taking the opportunity, Arceus released a dark shockwave from his golden cross wheel. The force sent Kumori sliding backwards to her friends as Arceus landed.
“Kumori, are you ok?” Geisy asked her sister.
“I can’t move my legs.” Kumori groaned painfully. "Something in his attack must have knocked out the nerves in my legs.”
"And that was only a small fraction of what I can do.” Arceus boasted.
“Then I should have no problem against you.” Jac said confidently. “I have two different nerves.”
“We shall assist you.” Aura said as she and Geisy stood beside him.
“Such cooperation and understanding.” Arceus smirked.
Jac took the opportunity to transform into a puddle of Nexus and vanishing. Following his lead, Geisy and Aura charged forward in revenge for their comrade. Arceus was finally brought back to reality and ducked just in time to avoid an attack from Geisy’s foot to his head. Arceus, kicked out for Geisy’s face. But before he could connect, Aura dived forward in a tornado of aura. Arceus recalled his led and jumped backwards away from the females. But as he landed, a blur of nexus suddenly covered his body. He soon found it to be Jac when he appeared on his back.
“Looks like your in a little bind.” Jac joked.
“And you seem to be under the impression that this can stop me.” Arceus said calmly.
“Well, that’s what my friends think.” Jac said, referring to Geisy and Aura, who were attacking.
“You fools underestimate me.” Arceus smirked.
As Aura and Geisy attacked with the best of their abilities, Arceus was suddenly surrounded in a yellow aura. All of a sudden, a surge of lightning erupted from Arceus’ body, throwing all his opponents away from him. Geisy and Aura were hit in their chests and tossed against the forest trees. Jac, who received the worst of the attack, was tossed across the ground and KO’d.
“Could this get any worse.” Geisy groaned.
“It already has.” Arceus said, looming over the females.
Arceus, held Aura by her ponytail, and slammed into the walls of the lair.
“Aura, you have to fight back!” Swift yelled. (I should mention he, Mach and Blur are trapped outside the room because Eclipse knew this would make the battle to easy for the heroes)
“I can’t.” Aura replied weakly. “He’s too strong.”
“Aura, think about it.” Swift said. “If Scourge brought you into this world when he can go super, then so can you.”
“Wait, you’re right.” Aura realized.
Aura brought her hand together in prayer, much to the confusion of Arceus. Suddenly, Aura turned Gold.
“This can’t be good.” Arceus commented.
“You got that right.” Aura smirked.
Aura floated off the ground and dived at the qilin beast. In an act of defense, Arceus held out his front legs and released a wave of lightning. Aura smirked at his futile attempt as the lighting bounced off the aura that surrounded her. Aura clapped her hands together and released a beam of aura. Arceus raised his front legs in defense, but the force of the attack sent him flying. A moment later, the rest of the heroes joined in.
“I guess it’s true what they say.” Eclipse glared. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” Eclipse said before ripping his robe off showing he wore a black shirt with the Spore symbol on it and grey pants. “You must think you stand a chance, don’t you?”
“We have Super Forms and you’re by yourself.” Kumori pointed. “You can’t win.”
“Oh no?” Eclipse said. “If you remember correctly, I have only used one of my two forms: standard. Now feel my Ultimate Form!”
Eclipse held out his hands and began to transform. The heroes tried to stop him, but the force of the energies sent them skyrocketing backwards. When the change was complete, Eclipse exploded in a mighty blast of power that tossed aside everything within five miles. In the aftermath of the transformation, the heroes began to pull themselves together.
“Is everyone all right.” Rock asked worried.
“I think so.” Jasmine replied painfully.
“Everyone’s present and accounted for.” Geisy informed. “So, what happened to Eclipse?”
“I think we’re about to find out.” Aura stated.
A massive cloud of dust arose from the spot where Eclipse once stood. They couldn’t see anything, but everyone on the island could feel a cold wave flowing through them. Finally, the dust began to part and the heroes could see Eclipse at his full power. His body hadn't changed.
“The power the Nocturnes managed to learn from my form has now been revealed. In my ultimate form I am unbeatable.” Eclipse said, turning his attention to the heroes. “For the last moments of this fight, you may refer to me as Ultimate Eclipse.”
“Eh, he doesn’t look so tough.” Scylla said confidently. “I bet we can take him.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I agree with you.” Charyb smirked.
“That’s right.” Eclipse grinned. “Head to your defeat.”
Scylla and Charyb shot off the ground and charged at the transformed god. Both super formed heroes reeled back their weaponed fists with their signature attacks and sent them rocketing into Eclipse’s face. Their attacks connected perfectly, but something was wrong. This was guessed for two reason: 1) Eclipse didn’t even flinch, 2) He was smiling. Eclipse held his open palms to the heroes and unleashed a powerful blast of chaos to blow them away. The heroes crashed and formed craters near their friends.
“Well, that’s it.” Jac said hopelessly. “We’re done for.”
“We can’t give up now.” Strawberry said. “There must be a way to stop him.”
“But there isn’t.” Eclipse said as he landed a few feet away. “Don’t you get it: I am invincible. I was the one who created the universe.” He started walking closer. “Something you’ve failed to understand.”
A large amount of red chaos began to form at in Eclipse’s palm and held it in the direction of the heroes. They would try to run, but realized Eclipse would chase them down in the end. This battle was over.
“CHAOS TORNADO!!”
“CHAOS SWARM!!”
“CHAOS SHOT!!”
Eclipse turned at the sound of these voices and found three attacks head for him. Eclipse pushed away the blast of energy and blocked the battalion of arrows with his forearm, but the last attack hit him in the chest. Eclipse was painfully thrown back and crashed into wall. Unfortunately, Eclipse exploded from the rubble. Eclipse looked over in the direction of the attack and gasped at what he saw. Blur, Mach and Swift were now in the battle.
“How did you get in here?” Eclipse questioned.
“We just took the same way you did.” Swift grinned, pointing to the hole in the ceiling from the Apocalypse battle.
“I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T FIX THAT!” Eclipse exclaimed. “You think you’re enough to stop me?” Eclipse chuckled.
“No, but this might.” Blur grinned.
Eclipse stared at the trio in confusion as they slowly crouched into fighting positions. All of a sudden, Eclipse could feel a strong clutter of positive energies radiating from their bodies. A moment later, the trio exploded in a warm ray of light. The light's effects seemed to have healing powers for the heroes as all their wounds began to vanish. Eclipse stared into the light and could not believe what he had witnesses.
“You’ve mastered the Super Forms, I've seen you use them freely, but this is something different.” Eclipse muttered frightfully.
“Get ready Eclipse!” Blur proclaimed. “We’ll show you power isn’t determined on who you are!”

“That’s a laugh.” Eclipse chuckled. “Just because you three have mastered the Super Form, you think you can defeat me? What makes you think you can defeat me by yourselves?”
“But we’re not fight by ourselves.” Mach stated.
“Is that so?” Eclipse grinned. He held out his hands and a hundred stems of light from his palms. The Higher Powers were amazingly healed. “Tell me, what army do you have to defeat mine?”
While the heroes were off guard, Eclipse suddenly zipped in front of them and swung his leg downwards. Luckily, the trio had also mastered Chaos Control in the Super Forms and vanished before the attack hit. Eclipse was deeply amazed at how far the three had come over the short period of time. Mach dropped the Chaos Control and appeared at Eclipse’s left side. He jabbed his knee into the god, but Eclipse blocked it with his forearm. Amazingly, Eclipse’s skin burned on contact and dropped his guard. This gave Mach the perfect chance to flip backwards in mid-air and slammed his foot into Eclipse’s chin.
“So, you’ve learned to use Chaos energies to act as a shield.” Eclipse glared. “But it won’t do you much good.”
“Yeah, while you’re at it, you might want to watch out for the wall.” Mach grinned.
“What wall?” Eclipse questioned.
All of a sudden, a brick wall flew out of nowhere and slammed Eclipse to the ground. The God of the universe burst through it with ease and stared over to Wing.
“That wall.” Swift smirked.
“Oh, That's really...” Eclipse seethed.
“Coming through!!” Blur screamed.
Eclipse looked to the sky and witnesses a golden meteor aimed for him. Eclipse flipped backwards and barely avoid the attack before it slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater. Before Eclipse even touched the ground, Blur zoomed out of the crater and threw a lethal kick to Eclipse’s head. Unfortunately, he blocked it with one arm and grabbed his ankle with the other hand. Eclipse spun Blur around in circles and released him towards Swift. Fortunately, Wing used his psychic powers to stop him before he got to close.
“Thanks for the save, Wing.”
“I must admit, even in my Ultimate Form, you three still prove to be a worthy match.” Eclipse complimented.
“And this is only the beginning.” Mach stated.
Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes were left to deal with the other members of the Higher Powers. Having faced them already, the Blur Team proved themselves well against them. Fanglongmon was progressing against the heroes. As the ultimate digimon kicked Wing away, Geisy came from behind and swung her fist. Unfortunately, Fanglongmon knew she was coming and held out his hand to stop it in midair. With some added pressure, Fanglongmon pushed Geisy back. The red hedgehog tried to stand, but Fanglongmon suddenly stood over her and grasped her by the throat.
Suddenly two energy beams shot from the sky towards Fanglongmon, but he easily bended them away. He released Geisy and both fighters looked up from where the attack came from. Egghog floated near them in his trusty Egg-Mobile.
“Egghog?” Geisy questioned surprisingly.
“Hello, Geisy.” Eggman greeted. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”
“What are you doing here, Egghog? You died before Apocalypse lost the first time” Fanglongmon glared.
“Oh, well thanks to that rift my dad’s back and young again.” Nega said. “I was thinking; why not pay a visit?”
“Then that will be your final mistake.” Fanglongmon stated, holding out his palm. “Get ready to die, Egghog.”
“Not gonna happen!” A voice yelled.
Fanglongmon barely had time to look over before Atoma dived in and kicked him across the face. Fanglongmon tumbled across the ground before pushing himself up with his hands. At that moment, Atoma swung his leg around to trip him up, but he had already flipped over him. Realizing his position, Atoma swung his fist backwards, but Fanglongmon caught him. The Fanglongmon twisted Atoma’s arm around until it was stretched behind his back. Just as Fanglongmon reeled back his fist for the finishing blow, Atoma warped away. Taking his opportunity, Atoma got ready for his signature attack.
“ATOMIC SHOT!!” Atoma roared.
Luxrb thrusted his fists forward and unleashed a vortex at Fanglongmon. Being so close, Fanglongmon had no time to avoid it and was sent rocketing over the wall and trapped by rubble.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Bukon laughed
At this time, Mata Nui was also joining in the fight. He had defeated Team Chaotix Jr with weak effort, but the mercenaries just wouldn’t stay down. Hoping to end it all, Mata Nui unsheathed his blade and dived for Glee. Just as he swung his weapon down, a blur of green jumped in front and cut him off. It was only a moment later when Mata Nui realized that Sky had appeared and was holding him back with his telekinesis.
“Get in line, pal.” Sky said. “You’ve got us to deal with.”
“What do you mean ‘us’?” Mata Nui questioned.
“Us!” Another voice yelled.
Mata Nui glanced over his shoulder, only to receive a fist to the face that sent him thrashing across the ground. Mata Nui sat up and found that Dahlia had joined his comrade. She jumped and dived at him with his fist held forward, but he flipped backwards into the air. Sky kicked off his allies back and boosted into the air towards Mata Nui. Sky threw a Psychic Screw, but the Mata Nui miraculously flipped in midair and kicked Sky over the head. Just when he thought he won, a series of hands covered Mata Nui’s body and bound him. Mata Nui looked down to the ground, where he found Steel.
“BUNGEE PUNCH!” Steel called out.
Steel grabbed two trees and bungeed himself with his fist out forward and Mata Nui was caught in the attack.
“Well, that takes care of that.” Sky said.
“Don’t you think that was a little too easy for an immortal?” Steel asked suspiciously.
“No, why?” Dahlia asked.
“That’s why.” Steel pointed.
The other followed his movements and noticed a cloud of black smoke emerging from the ground. A moment later, the smoke took the form of Mata Nui, who remained unharmed by the technique. He growled furiously and swung his razor blade at the trio. But before his weapon could connect, Viral suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked it with his forearm.
“You filthy mechanical rat!” Mata Nui yelled. “I’m gonna turn you into scrap metal!”
“Unfortunately, you won’t be doing much of anything.” Luxrb stated. “CHAOS TORNADO!!”
Sensing his own defeat, Mata Nui had no choice, but to retreat. Meanwhile, Exodia was finishing up some matters with another group. He maintained a firm grasp of Aura’s head, forcing an attempting to crush it. Aura cried out as the pain became more intense.
“That’s right, scream for mercy.” Exodia said darkly. “Let Swift know of your agony.”
“I...won’t...give you...the satisfactory.” Aura grunted painfully.
“Then I will have to force it out of you.” Exodia said pleasurably.
“Put her down!” A voice called.
Unintentionally, Exodia released Aura at the sound of the voice and looked over. The being he could see was Scylla, just as he was ready to fire a Pyro sphere. Not wanting to take chances, Exodia held out his hans and unleashed a wave of Chaos Spears. Scylla wasn't ready for the attack and was an easy target. But suddenly, a water barrier formed around him, protecting him from the attack. Exodia appeared confused until Charyb and Light jumped into play.
“So, the brothers use team work.” Exodia said coldly. “It will be better to know that you will fall together.”
“Oh yeah.” Light said angrily. “Nocturnus.”
“And where might I find the cowards?” Exodia questioned.
“Why don’t you try looking up?” Charyb pointed.
Exodia followed her directions and stared into the sky, much to his regret. Because he was shot by Nocturne High Praetorian. Exodia tried to make a run for it, but Nocturne Velite appeared and shot him with a Stasis Grenade.
“This will teach you to mess with us.” Scylla said.
Nocturne Triarius came behind and tossed Exodia straight into the air. With his arms free, Exodia tried to conjure an orb for escape. But he wouldn’t get that luxury. Triarius made to balls in his hands and shot lasers at him. Exodia, who was too late with the spell, was struck and met the same fate as Fanglongmon.
“4 down, 1 uber powerful left.” Triarius said.
The battle finally shifts over to Perfect Eclipse and the Golden Trio. Despite Eclipse’s new power level, Blur and the others seemed to be on an even playing field with him. But this only worked if they were fighting together. Eclipse tried countless times to separate them in order to gain the advantage. But every time he tried, the others would be there to make the save. After two hours of fighting, Eclipse healed any in juried he obtained while the Blazer triplets were heavy beaten and bruised.
“Had enough yet?” Eclipse grinned.
“Nah, we’re just getting warmed up.” Blur panted.
“We are?” Swift asked; Mach slapped him over the head. “I mean, of course we are.”
“If that’s true, then why not face me now?” Eclipse challenged.
“There’s no way we can beat him like this.” Blur whispered to his friends.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Swift questioned.
“I think it’s time for a Legend, if you know what I mean.” Mach smirked.
“Having a nice time?” Eclipse questioned.
The 3 shot apart when they realized Eclipse was standing between them. He held out his hands and released a burst of red chaos at Blur and Mach. With two of his threats out of the way, Eclipse made a direct shot to Swift. The he hedgehog formed a protective barrier around himself when Eclipse shot a multitude of punches at him. Thanks to his Super Form, Swift was able to keep the barrier for quite a while. But the hedgehog was stressed to its limit at keeping the barrier for so long. Finally, one of Eclipse’s punches broke through and shattered the barrier to pieces. The hit shot at Swift’s stomach, causing the hero to fly over with his brothers. Eclipse turned around and prepared a blast.
“Oh, I love the sound of defeat.” Eclipse said.
“Don’t think you’ll have time to listen anymore.” Swift grinned.
“And for what reason would that be?” Eclipse questioned.
“FU-SI-ON-HA!!”
Just the sound of the words was enough to instill fear. Eclipse jumped off and soared back into the sky, where he witnessed the 3 doing a fusion dance. Eclipse tried to stop it by throwing a sphere of chaos in their direction, but he was too late. By the time the attack reached, it was obliterated by a rainbow version of Eclipse with Green eyes, the one that stopped Darkrion, Legend.
“Hey, Eclipse.” Legend greeted nonchalantly. “Ya missed me.”
“Like a root canal.” Eclipse growled.
“Aw, that hurts, Eclipse.” Legend laughed. “And I thought we were friends.”
“Well, ‘friend’ why don’t you do me a favor – LOSE!!” Eclipse screamed.
Eclipse held out both hands and unleashed an insane barrage of over a million Chaos Spears. Many of them scattered and swerved and others conjoined together to surround the hedgehog. But despite being surrounded by certain death, Legend merely grinned at the attack. For some odd reason, Legend started spinning in place as the powers of Eclipse’s attack started to overcome him. Eclipse smiled at himself, feeling superior over Legend. But that was quickly ended when Legend burst out of the large dust cloud created and slammed his fist into Eclipse’s gut. The God of the whole universe gasped momentarily before swinging his hand back. Eclipse missed, but wouldn’t give up so easily. Legend kept dodging Eclipse’s attack as if to toy him, all while secretly planting a multicolored ball of light in Eclipse’s back. Dodging Eclipse soon got bored with running and kneed Eclipse in the chin, forcing him backwards.
“Is that really all you can do?” Eclipse said. “Cheap shots and running.”
“Eh, I thought it would last.” Legend shrugged. “Anyway, it’s over now.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Just this.” Legend smirked. Legend held out his open palm to Eclipse, which confused the evil overlord. Eclipse read Legend’s main and stared in horror as Legend closed his fist. “TRIPLE BREAKER!!”
All of a sudden, a brilliant light exploded in Eclipse’s back, forcing him out of the sky. Eclipse was left as a crumpled heap on the ground, trying desperately to pull himself up. When he realized what had happened, he found himself surrounded by everyone. Legend floated down to join his friends. Knowing he couldn’t win, Eclipse reverted to his normal form.
“I guess you’ve won.” Eclipse proclaimed
With the challenge over, the heroes could finally relax. Blur, Mach and Swift split apart and as their girlfriends jumped on them. They were soon joined by the rest of the group, who were equally happy.
“Ok, ok, give us room to breath.” Swift laughed.
“It’s just so hard to believe you beat him.” Aura whispered; she slapped Swift’s across the face. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“So, what happens now?” Rock asked.
“Well we go back to facing Luxrb.” Mach explained.
“Does that mean we have to have this kind of fight again?” Kumori asked worried.
“Nah.” Blur shook. “I’m sure Luxrb can’t reach that level of power when he’s technically me now.”
“How can we know this is real?” Geisy asked.
“Like this.” Blur grinned.
In an unexpected move, Blur grabbed Geisy close and pulled her into a deep and loving kiss. Rector wanted so very much to pummel Blur into submission, but knew that he couldn’t interfere. Mach and Swift soon followed Blur’s example and returned their affections to their loved ones. As all heroes were entranced in this happy moment, they remained unaware of a secret watcher above them. The watcher wore a black suit as thick as skin with black and silver boots, black gloves, and silver rings around his wrist. He also wore large black helmet with plated quills, green visors, and a neon green symbol. Of everyone there, he seemed more interested in the nocturnes; and Charyb, Light and Scylla.
“Enjoy your peace while you can.” The unknown said. “Soon, you will feel the wrath of Morph once again.”
------------------------------------------
The scene shifts to the dimension of Eclipse. After an antagonizing loss, the group of was forced into medical recovery. Eclipse, against his better judgment, allowed everyone to remain members of the Higher Powers until they lived out their purpose. Currently, the God was making his way down to the lower levels of the castle, ignoring the pain in his back. Eclipse stopped at the bottom of the stair and reached a black door with a large red gem in the center. Eclipse had forbidden anyone from entering this room and no one was dumb enough to go against his wishes.
“I request an audience.” Eclipse said.
“An audience is requested as well dad” Another voice replied.
The black door opened wide, allowing Eclipse to enter before it closed behind him. The room was practically empty with the exception of two white thrones. Eclipse took his seat in the closest one and stared at the one opposite of him, which was also occupied by someone that looked like him only with twice the bangs and black on the tips of his quils and bangs.
“So, I see you’ve lost.” He spoke.
“I really didn’t expect to win Solstice.” Eclipse grinned. “It looks like I’ll be working undertime.”
“Why did you need to talk with me?” Solstice asked.
“While we heal, we need someone to watch the Blur Team.” Eclipse explained. “They possess qualities that amaze me.”

"Our plan was pure genius." Egghog said.
"Who would have thought using anthro's as batteries." Nega chuckled.
"And you three are going to be are first test subjects." They both said.
"Help!" Selih screamed.
"Get us out of here!" Rosie yelled.
"Well I hope you don't mind, but I have an itch on my back." Geisy started, soon she broke out of th armor encasing her body. "And I need to scratch it!"
"She broke free!" Nega panted.
"Not to worry, the others didn't." Egghog said. "Selihpem, Rosie, what is your mission?"
"To destroy the Blur Team." They shouted.
'Not if I have anything to say about it.' Geisy thought running back to the base.
"Don't let that hedgepig get away!" Egghog shouted.
"IT'S HEDGE-HOG!" Geisy shouted.
"Activating warp orb." Selihpem said.
"CHAOS TORNADO!" Geisy shouted striking Selihpem before he completed the orb which would prevent him from getting his exact destination.
'That should keep him away for a bit.' Geisy thought.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" Geisy shouted.
-----------------
"And that's what happened." Geisy explained.
"We can't leave this machine running, we have to make sure it's destroyed, and to make sure they never get this idea again, I'll make a device that will prevent the idea from coming into their minds again." Tech said.
"We'll try to free Selihpem and Rosie while your at it. Come on team lets go." Blur ordered.
-----------------
"So old Eggy's back in business, I guess I'll have to teach him no one will eliminate Blur except me." Luxrb said.
Meanwhile in a different part of the lair Dalia was secretly watching Luxrb as he chuckled to himself. 'Don't worry, I'll make sure you and Metal are seperated, Devlin.' Dahlia thought.
-----------------
"There's got to be someway to counter that thought from re-entering their minds again, but that's like a perminent amnesia...of course, if I create a program that will recallibrate some of their brains, that thought will be permanently wipped out." Tech said.
-----------------
"Destroy the Blur Team!" Rosie shouted.
"I DON'T THINK SO! STRE-WHOA!" Rock shouted before being pulled back by Wing.
"We can't attack these robots, are friends are in them." Wing said.
"Then how do we keep them from attacking us?" Rock asked.
"I'll go ahead and destroy the machine, that should set them free." Blur said.
"I know where it is, follow me." Geisy ordered.
"Okay, lets go." Blur said.
"You will not interfere!" Selihpem shouted disappearing.
Soon the 2 got to the machine, but Selihpem appeared through his warp orb and blocked them.
"You shall not interfere!" Selihpem shouted.
"This is bad." Geisy said.
"Not for long." The 3 turned to see Tech crash through the wall with his plane the Hyper Tornado.
"Was that suppsed to stop me?" Selihpem asked.
"No, just distract you while the others break the machine." Tech said. Selihpem turned to see Blur and Geisy standing by the now broken machine, Selihpem just stood their before the robotic body broke off.
"Finally I'm free." Selihpem sighed.
"Now to end this idea for good." Tech said before he pushed a button on a controller that sent out a strange wave that covered all of Egghog's base. "3, 2, 1."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Egghog screamed.
"Well that's one bad egg in the trash." Blur joked.
Everyone just stood there before bursting into laughter.
"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!" Egghog screamed.

You what?" Rock asked.
"After much careful thought, I've come to the conclusion that I can't run the Blur Team by myself." Blur repeated.
"So what does that mean?" Wing asked.
"I'm going to put up a competition and the winner of it will become a second leader for the Blur Team." Blur explained.
"I guess I'm going to become second leader." Swift said.
"You? I'll become the second leader." Mach yelled.
"I'll be the second leader." Jac shouted.
"Me!" Viral screamed.
"No I will!" Tech sneered.
"I think this is going to be a nightmare." Blur said to himself.
"You think?" Geisy asked.
Suddenly the alarm went off and the commander appeared on screen. "What is it commander?" Blur asked.
"The Luxrb Gang is attacking Station Square, hurry and stop them." The commander explained.
"Alright, Blur Team, move out." Blur ordered.
"These disgusting humans are all the same, weak and defenseless. It's like I say, those who are weak deserve to die/be destroyed." Luxrb said.
"I think I wet my pants again." Sky said.
"SKY!" Luxrb, Steel and Dahlia said.
"I see you have a chicken in that coop." Mach said.
Luxrb and his gang turned around to see the Blur Team.
"I guess you decided to show up, for your death." Luxrb said.
"I recognize Steel, but who are those other 2?" Rock said reffering to Sky and Dahlia.
"I'm Sky, the dark Wing, who occasionally wets his pants." Sky introduced.
"And I'm Dahlia, the dark Geisy, and Luxrb's girlfriend." dalia introduced.
"You have a girlfriend?" Blur said.
"OH SHUT YOU FAKER! I'M GONNA..." Luxrb was suddenly interrupted by a beam attack from Blur in his Super Form.
"How'd you like that one?" Blur asked.
Luxrb suddenly started laughing as he unknowingly had a strange black mist coming out of him. "What is that stuff?" Steel asked.
Soon the black mist went into Blur's eyes causing Blur to scream in pain. "Blur!" Geisy screamed. When Blur opened his eyes again, they looked like they were hypnotic.
"Okay, maybe that wasn't a good thing." Luxrb said.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blur cackled.
"I think that black stuff was some of Luxrb's evil, it's driving Blur insane." Wing explained.
"I'll stop him." Swift said.
"Me too." Mach said.
Thee two went super and flew after Blur, but when they got close to Blur, he fired a Chaos Tornado that was stronger than ever sending them back down in their normal forms.
"He's too powerful." Swift said strugggling to breath.
"Run while you still can." Mach gasped.
But before anyone could run, Blur warped behind them, the others started to run except for Geisy.
"Geisy get away from him, he's out of control." Rector ordered. But Geisy just stood there as Blur started to charge torwards her.
"Geisy!" Everyone shouted. Just when it looked like Geisy would be struck, Blur suddenly stopped as Geisy hugged him.
"Geisy?" Blur said.
"I'm here Blur." Geisy said. Blur suddenly turned back into his normal form.
"What?" Luxrb screamed.
'I knew she could do it.' Dahlia thought. 'I just hope you can escape Metal's grasp Devlin.'
--------------------------
"I've made my decision." Blur said.
"What? But we didn't even do the competition." Wing stated.
"I think ones action today saved us all, that's why I've decided that the second leader will be...Geisy." Blur said.
"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted.
"Me?" Geisy asked.
"If Geisy hadn't did what she did today, I would still be out of control from Luxrb's evil and I would've probably killed you all." Blur explained.
"I agree with Blur on this, I think that's deserving enough of the title." Wing said.
"I'm fine with it." Rock said.
"Same here." Kumori said.
"Then it's settled, starting today, me and Geisy will be in charge of the Blur Team."

Pleasantly, a week had gone by and neither Eggman or Luxrb has made any attempt for an attack on the Heroes, and the one thing no one expected was Blur’s proposal to Geisy, they were going to get married on Valentines day. To celebrate the momentary peace, Ryan had decided to spend the day at Emerald Coast. It was Ryan who suggested it for 1) enjoying some fun in the sun and 2) hoping to see the girls in bikinis. But they had decided to wear their regular cloths, much to Ryan’s disappointment. Wing and Tech were developing an automated sand castle with an actual working garage.
“Hey, Scylla, why don’t you take a quick dip in the water?” Charyb suggested.
“Give up, Charyb. It’ll be years before you see anything.” Scylla said.
“What are you saying?” Charyb questioned.
“I’m a Pyrokinetic and non-swimming robot. Those two don’t really work well with salt water.” Scylla said.
“I’m sure we can do something about that.” Wing smirked.
Concentrating around Scylla, Wing used his telekinetic powers to levitate his body into the air.
“No, don’t even think about it!” Scylla shouted. “You put me down right now!”
“Whatever you say.” Wing chuckled.
As agreed, Wing dropped Scylla...straight into the ocean. Scylla sputtered and waved his arms like he was drowning when he realized it was only two feet deep. Wing laughed his butt off until he realized Scylla was standing over him; a roar of flames in the background. Wingr, not wanting to be roasted, shot straight down the sand as Scylla released a wave of Pyro spheres in his wake.
“Dose it now!” Egghog shouted. Everyone looked to see Egghog and Nega with a flaming machine, they threw into the sand to put the flame out.
“That’s a laugh.” Luxrb said as he and his team walked by, though soon the machine was hit by a wave and then the area had suddenly became darker. Dark clouds floated over the beach, blocking the sun from view.
“Uh...guys? Is that normal?” Leon asked worried.
“Did you know there was supposed to be a storm?” Mach asked.
“Impossible.” Blur replied. “It was supposed to be clear for the next two days.”
“Then what’s that?!” Geisy screamed.
One of the storm clouds formed into a funnel and crashed into ocean; sucking everything within a five mile radius. Glee, easily the lightest, was picked up by the sudden storm. The others tried to save him when they realized they were being picked up as well as Egghog, Nega and Luxrb’s crew. The three groups were sucked inside and lifted beyond the clouds.
---------------------------------------
“Do you think he’s all right?”
“I hope so. Oh, why did I try to burn him?”
“Because you’re just hot headed.” Wing joked as he regained consciousness. Scylla prepared a Pyro sphere at him. “Sorry, that was a terrible pun.”
“I wonder where we are.” Rosie said out loud.
“I don't think we’re in Future City anymore.” Wing said.
“Or Emerald Coast.” Glee stated. “Where do you think about this place, Rain?” She didn’t answer. “Rain?”
“This place...” Rain thought. “...It can’t be. I...think I know this place.”
“Where are we?” Jac asked.
“I think we’re...” Rain started.
Suddenly, a loud motorized sound filled the air. The team searched up and down the beach, but found nothing that would create the sound. Suddenly, a motorized boat soared out of the forest for no reason at all and smashes into the heroes. The boat was destroyed and the heroes were buried under the wreckage.
“Why on Earth would there be a boat in a forest!” Tech exclaimed.
“Ow, my head.” Hammer groaned.
Rain; being forced in an awkward angle, took a while to get out of the wreckage when she heard a voice, a voice she knew.
“Whoops, maybe I should have checked the brake fluid.” said a female.
There she found a hedgehog girl sitting on the sand. She had white fur with eyes and bangs. She wore a pink dress with blue markings, pink headband with a flower on it, white gloves, and pink boots. The hedgehog groaned and rubbed her head until she noticed Rain. The two remained silent, never leaving each others gaze until.
“E-Emra?” Blaze whispered in disbelief.
“Rain?” The girl known as Emra also whispered.
“Rain, I can’t believe you’re back! I missed you! You look different.” Emra said. Rain pulled out a mirror and noticed her changes. “Where have you been?”
“Who’s the girl?” wing asked.
“This an old friend of mine, her name’s Emra.”
“Hi.” Emra greeted.
“And Emra, this is my best friend, Glee.” Rain introduced.
Emra stepped up to him and began to inspect bee. She looked up and down and said. “Nice catch.”
“Wha?” Glee said awkwardly.
“Emra, I need to ask you something very important. Is this Southern Island?” Rain asked.
“Yep.” Emra said cheerfully.
“Where’s Southern Island?” Tails asked.
“It’s an island in the southern hemisphere of...in Antarctica.” Rain said silently, but they heard.
“Antarctica!” Wing exclaimed.
“Since when has Antarctica had people living on it?” Blur asked.
“5000 years.” Emra explained.
“5000!!” Everyone yelled in surprise.
“Uh guys, you look…different.” Rain said. Everyone else had brought out mirrors and screamed at the sight of their new looks for the first time.
---------------------------------------
“So the machine had a side effect on us.” A voice said. “This could work out nicely.”
“So let me get this straight.” Silver said. “You lived here until your parents moved to Future City to open a pharmacy, but were killed by Naja the snake and then you wandered the streets until we found you.”
“Yep.” Rain said.
“So why did your parents decide to leave?” Silver asked.
“We were targeted by Naja much earlier, so they thought moving would save us, but that didn’t happen. Emra, I had to leave.” Rain apologized.
“Aw, no trouble!” Emra shouted cheerfully. “At least you’re back now! It’s been quite now that everyone is gone thanks to Naja”
“Yeah, but we won’t be for long.” Blaze said sadly. “Right now, we need to get back to Future City.”
“While you do that, you won’t mind if I take this off your hands.” A voice said.
Suddenly, a violent gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked Emra down on her back. Everyone jumped to their feet while the gust started to make a break for it. Wing threw his hand forward and created a barrier, which the gust slammed into and revealed its true face. He was a green robot with a torpedo head and a shark face.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” The robot shark snarled.
“And who are you supposed to be?” Silver asked.
“I’m Johnny, the fastest thing alive.”
“Hate to burst your bubble, but I’m the fastest thing alive.” Blur said.
Roaring flames formed around Flash’s fists as he charged forward. Flash spun into the air and formed into a tornado of fire. Johnny, realizing that Wing’s barrier was still up, kicked up off the invisible wall and flipped over Flash, causing him to smack into the barrier. Johnny laughed as Flash sprawled against Wing’s barrier when he noticed his feet were incased by giant red fist. Johnny was suddenly thrown against the sandy ground. Johnny growled While Rock was grinning madly.
“You may be fast, but the hands are faster.” Rock smirked.
“Oh yeah?” Johnny challenged.
Johnny jumped to his feet and shot forward at Rock. But the white hedgehog waved it off like it was nothing. But when he came within feet of him, Johnny smacked into an invisible barrier.
“You think he would have figured that out by now.” Wing said amusingly.
“Aw, shut up.” Johnny said.
Johnny pried his face from Wing’s barrier and growled when he felt a rusty sensation from his backside. He looked back to find Rev, ginning madly, pointing at his rear. He looked down to find his rear end was now on fire. Johnny screamed and everyone laughed their hearts out as Johnny dragged his butt across the ground. Realizing the sand was only making it worse, Johnny ran off toward the beach, screaming his head off.
“That was classic!” Flash laughed; wiping tears from his face. “Watch out!”
A fist flew out of nowhere taking some strange gem with it. The fist flew over and reattached to its owner. The owner was a robot that was being controlled by Egghog and Nega.
“Looky here!” Egghog proclaimed. “I, egghog, have successfully obtained the Permafrost Snowflake!”
“Permafrost?” Rev questioned.
“Ice you can’t melt.” Tech explained.
“Oh!” Rev said.
“The zodiac pedestal.” Rain muttered. “We have to get to it before they do!”
Without taking a moment to rest, Rain jumped up and ran back to the beach.
“This should be fun.” Luxrb chuckled.

Twenty miles west they traveled and the heroes have yet to find this ‘Zodiac Pedestal’. Good thing Emra had a boat because it was at the sea somewhere. Emra was at the helm, whistling randomly. Flash was hanging over the side; he had just discovered he had sea sickness. Rain, on the other hand, had not moved from the bow since the start of the journey. She looked out to the open water, hoping to see land soon. Glee took one glance to her before he walked up to Emra.
“Hey, what’s up with Rain?” Glee asked.
“I don’t really know.” Emra said honestly.
“Then do you at least know what the Zodiac Pedestal is?” Glee asked.
“Rain told me once, but I didn’t really understand.” Emra said curiously. “What, she didn’t tell you? I thought she would have told you something about it.”
“I thought so, too.” Glee said. He stared longingly at Rain. “But ever since we showed up here, I’m starting to doubt our relationship.”
“Don’t do that!” Emra cried; she let go of the wheel, causing it to jerk slightly to the right. Emra realized this and regained control of the ship. “Sorry.”
“Keep an eye on where we’re going.” Delight said as she pulled Flash back in.
“Ok.” Emra said before rounding to Glee. “Glee, you shouldn’t doubt what you and Rain have.”
“But there’s so much she hasn’t told me.” Glee said insecurely. “So many secrets she’s kept from me.”
“That shouldn’t matter!” Emra exclaimed. “Do you love her?”
“Yes.” Glee answered.
“Does she love you?” Emra asked.
“Maybe.” Glee answered.
“Then that should be enough.” Emra stated. “As long as you care for each other, you know everything about each other.”
“Wow, Emra, that was very insightful.” Silver said impressed.
“Thanks. Want a taco?” Emra said; pulling a taco out of thin air.
“Where’d you get that?” Silver questioned.
“Hey, who took my Jalapeno taco?” Flash asked.
“Stop!” Rain screamed; she raised her hand to signal Emra.
“What’s up?” Emra asked.
“The cave.” Rain muttered. “What happened to the cave?”
Struggling a little, Glee pulled himself up to the side of the ship. Glee could see why Rain was concerned. They were in the ocean, miles away from civilization, and the supposed cave was nowhere to be found.
“Oh, you meant ‘that’ cave.” Emra said. Blur and Mach looked curiously at her; Leon was sick from the sudden stop. “I forgot to tell you. One years ago, it sorta sunk...”
“That would explain why Egghog has a bot.” Geisy stated.
“But if the cave is at the bottom of the sea, how do we get to the Zodiac Pedestal?” Kumori asked.
“Already taken care of.” Emra stated cheerfully. The others looked hopeful. “After the cave sank, some of my friends found a way to bring it back.”
“How do we do it?” Rain asked.
“First we need to find the island. I’ll take us there.” Emra said.
Emra anchored the ship on a nearby deserted island. The crew jumped ship and Flash even kissed the ground. Emra walked the team up the side of the hill where they found a small alter with multiple holes punctured in it and a pile of small stones stacked on top.
“Is this it?” Vec asked.
“Yep!” Emra cheered.
“So how does it work?” Esper asked.
“Hmm...I forgot.” Emra stated. Everyone face faulted. Emra pondered curiously as she leaned against the alter. “Was I supposed to get something first or maybe...”
But while Emra leaned into the alter, it somehow moved forward. Emra fell to the ground and the every one of the stones miraculously fell inside the holes. Suddenly, the island started rattling out of control.
“That can’t be good!” Ryan exclaimed.
“Earthquake!!” Heather screamed.
During all this, Wing saw something beginning to rise out of the water not far from them. It definitely looked like an opening to a cave. It held a circular stone entrance covered in algae and coral most likely obtained from the years of being at the bottom of the ocean. Once it had fully risen, the shaking island had clamed.
“What is that?” Rachael asked.
“We found it!” Emra cheered eagerly.
“Egghog is in there along with the Zodiac Pedestal.” Rain stated. “I must stop him before he destroys the balance.”
“Before we go, don’t you think we should know what we’re looking for?” Tech asked.
“There’s no time for that!” Rain growled. Rev trembled behind Aura. “We have to stop him before he gets the Pedestal!”
“You’re not going to tell us?” Glee questioned seriously. Rain ignored him and walked away. “Does that mean you don’t trust us?”
Rain instantly stopped at the word and turned back, looking slightly hurt. Rain sighed heavily.
“The Zodiac Pedestal is legendary object created before recorded history.” Blaze explained. “No one knows where it came from or how it was created, only that it held terrible powers. For you see, whoever controls it controls the Zodiac 12.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Aura asked.
“I didn’t want to push my burden on you.” Rain said sadly.
“Aw, don’t be a steckybeak, Rain.” Emra said happily.
“What’s a steckybeak?” Rock asked; Wing shrugged.
“We’re all friends.” Glee stated. “We’ll always be there for you.”
“T-thank you.” Rain stammered embarrassingly.
Her spirits held high, Rain could stand pridefully alongside her friends. The crew made their way back to the ship; Tails resumed his position on the side. Emra quickly took the helm and wheeled it back around towards Coral Cave. They soon departed, and entered the cave mouth. The most fascinating sight awaited them inside the cave. The walls of the cave, from top to bottom, were covered in jewels of every shape, size, and type.
“Whoa! This could be a good hiding place for the Trinity Emeralds.” Tails said in awe.
“I bet I’d have a better view up here.” Maine said as she climbed up the jeweled wall.
“Emra, be careful.” Blaze said like a mother to her child.
“Don’t worry!” Emra called down. “There ain’t nothing I – AHH!”
Emra grabbed a large ruby and fell through the wall. The others could hear Emra’s body tumble on the other side of the wall and hit the ground with a loud thud. They pressed their ears along to the side and sighed in relief when they heard Emra mumble something about ‘red rocks’.
“Emra, are you ok?!” Silver shouted.
“OMG! You have to see this!” Emra called back.
There, they found a circular pedestal in the center that had 12 pictures; Rector recognized the pictures of Gemini and Cancer.
“The Zodiac Pedestal!” Rain exclaimed.
“But where’s Eggy?” Rev asked as he searched the area.
“Be looking for me?!”
Everyone moved back as a fist flew past them and back to a robot, who was now standing in front of the pedestal with Johnny.
“Hello there zeroes.” Egghog greeted. “It warms me heart to see you witness my moment of triumph.”
“As if.” Leon said in spite. “The only thing you triumph in is having a fat stomache.”
"He's got you there.” Johnny sniggered. Nega bashed him over the head. “Ow!”
“What do you plan to do, anyway?” Rain questioned.
“You wanna know?” Egghog said. “You won’t live long enough to find out. Johnny, join me so that we may rid ourselves of these pests.”
“Uh-uh! No way! I still have the burns on my butt from last time! Your own your own pal!” Johnny exclaimed as he turned and zoomed down the cave. “Later!”
“You coward!” Egghog screamed.
“Looks like it’s just us.” Wing smirked.
“Very well.” Egghog said surprisingly energetic. “Allow me to show you the power of the Egghog empire!”
The robot held his arms forward and shot out both its fists like rockets. Sonic and Geisy rolled away while the others dropped to the floor. The rocket fists went through the walls as Wing charged forward at Egghog with his hands glowing bright. He was only a foot away when one of the fist jumped out of the floor and slammed into Wing’s jaw. Wing fell on his back, as Egghog reattached his arm. Rain jumped from the back and tried to kick him when the other fist caught her leg and threw her to the wall before reattaching itself.
“Had enough?” Nega asked.
Egghog launched his left fist forward to Rock, but the white hedgehog already beat him to it. Rock held his hand forward, stopping Egghog’s fist in midair with a giant fist of his own. Rock clasped his fist and the fake one crushed it into a useless scrap.
“Hey! I need that!” Egghog cried.
“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Blur grinned.
Egghog was furious and he had a way of expressing it. Egghog threw his head back and shot it forward to eject a jet of flame from his mouth. Blur was not expecting this, but reacted to it in time to roll away. Egghog, reeled his head back again and shot the flames once more. This time Blur had no chance of escape. Just when Blur seemed doomed to death, Flash jumped in and took the hit.
“That’s the end of him.” Nega stated. Suddenly, he noticed Blur chuckling.
“You just made a big mistake.” Silver grinned.
True to Blur’s words, the flames that engulfed Flash was being redirected and Flash remained unharmed. Flash recalled Egghog’s fire into his hands above his head to form a gigantic fireball. Flash unleashed his fire and hit him square in the chest. Egghog’s robot’s chest was blown wide open and thrown back to the Zodiac Pedestal.
“Whoa! That was amazing!” Emra cheered.
“This isn’t over.” Egghog groaned as he stood. He quickly grabbed the Zodiac Pedestal and raised over his head. “With the Zodiac Pedestal, I cannot lose!”
“No! Don’t!” Rain exclaimed
Egghog twirled the pedestal over his head and slammed it to the ground. A few silent seconds passed; everyone waiting for something to happen. But noting did.
“Uh...is this thing working right?” Egghog asked. Egghog slammed it again, but still nothing happened. “Why isn’t this confounded thing working?!”
“Isn’t something supposed to happen?” Glee asked bewildered.
“Maybe he did something wrong.” Rain said, equally confused.
Egghog slammed the Zodiac Pedestal like a raving monkey, but nothing happened except him breaking it into dust. Taking this momentary distraction, Tech reached into the backpack he had with him and pulled out a set of gold rings. He threw the rings and exploded on Egghog, knocking him to the wall.
Soon the others returned to the ship and headed back to Future City. But back in the cave, Johnny heard the commotion end and returned to check up on the fight. imagine his surprise when he found nothing.
“What happened?” Johnny asked. While Johnny inspected the remains of the room, a low, ferocious chuckle echoed against the cave walls. “What was that?”
Johnny jumped to his feet and prepared to fight for his life. Too bad it ended shortly after a fist knocked off his head.

“Where are we?” Blur asked.
“I think it’s a hospital.” Wing said.
“How’d we end up in a hospital?” Rock asked.
“Well maybe we can ask that thing.” Geisy said pointing to a robot that looked like Multis behind them.
“Ain’t no one hurting the doc.” The robot said. Grabbing Blur.
“No Additor, they aren’t enemies.” Said a random voice, thy soon saw the figure looked like Egghog only way thinner.
“You sure?” Additor asked.
“Positive, Burst isn’t Purple.” The Egghog look alike said.
“Sorry, I’m colorblind and can only see Green.” Additor explained.
“Thanks, uh…” Blur said.
“I am Egghog Kintobor.” Kintobor said. “Shall I explain outside? It’s such a lovely day.”
-----------------------------
Back on Earth, the Nocturnes and Viral were the only ones who hadn’t been transported to Urth. “Have you been able to reach them yet?” Viral asked.
“Not yet, it’s impossible to find them immediately even with the Trinity Emeralds supporting the search machine.” Velite said.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Triarius opened the door to find Steel, Sky and Dahlia. “NOT YOU 3!” Triarius yelled.
“No need to get feisty, we are here to make an alliance.” Dahlia explained.
“Why should we believe anything you say?” High Praetorian asked.
“We need to free our true friend from Metal.” Steel said.
“True friend?” Viral asked.
“You remember the Shadow clone incident before you defeated Apocalypse? There were two Shadow Blurs, the one that could talk was Metal, the one that couldn’t was are friend, Metal killed him in the past and turned as into robots, we all fell to your team until the Shadow Clone incident brought are friend, Devlin, back, but Metal managed to absorb him and every other shadow clone making him take Devlin’s body. We need to separate Metal from Devlin, but he’s to powerful for us to do. So we need you to help us, we aren’t truly evil, Luxrb/Metal forces us.” Sky explained.
“We accept, no we need to find our friends first.” Velite said.
“Allow me.” Sky said.
------------------------------
“It seems you’ve been pulled into our world, the anti verse, you are on planet Urth, where everything is backwards. In this world, you are criminals that have never been stopped.” Kintobor explained.
“They must of brought us here.” Blur said.
“I guess they wanted to remove the greatest hero team in existence.” Geisy said.
“If you head to their base you can probably return home, but they’re very dangerous.” Kintobor warned.
“We took out God’s heartless, I think we can live through this.” Blur said. ‘But I’ve never faced myself on equal terms. Dash didn’t know my moves, Leon and Mach didn’t have my moves, and Luxrb never finished his battle with me.’
“You don’t have to look far.” Everyone turned around the see a Red hedgehog that wore black leather.
“Oh no, it’s Burst of the Buster Bregade.” Kintobor said.
“So this is my goody two shoe twin. Your peace making makes me vomit.” Burst said.
“Why not tell that to your ex-girlfriend?” Blur taunted.
“What? How’d you know?” Burst yelled.
“This is the opposite of our world, which means you not even the Buster Brigade’s leader.” Blur taunted.
“I could be leader if I wanted to.” Burst shouted.
“I bet your younger brother is better than you.” Blur taunted again.
“That was my weak spot.” Burst said making Burst faint.
“That seemed too easy.” Geisy said.
“We finally found you guys.” The team looked behind them to see the Nocturnes and Viral by a portal. “Took us forever to find you, now let’s get back.” Viral ordered.
“Will we have to worry about being sent here again?” Blur asked.
“They only sent you here by my globe posts, they were made for only one use, I’m sure you’ll never have to worry about the Buster Brigade again unless they come to your world.”
“Thanks for the help Kintobor.” Wing said.
“Your welcome.” Kintobor said.
------------------------------------
“You were beaten that easily?”
“It wasn’t my fault, he used the knowledge of the being the anti world and used it against me.” Burst explained.
“Well you better do better if we ever make it to their world.”
“As you wish, master Cloud, leader of the Buster Brigade, the Anti-Wing.” Burst said.

Blur twitching nervously and pacing around the hall. All the male heroes were watching Blur pace around and becoming quickly annoyed.
“Oh man, this is big. No, not big, this is huge!” Blur exclaimed.
“Calm down, Blur. You’re gonna wear a hole in the floor.” Rock joked.
“Do you think he'll go through the earth?” Scylla asked.
“Let’s hope not.” Rector chuckled.
“How can you be laughing at a time like this?” Blur exclaimed.
Mach had enough. The red hedgehog walked up to Blur and punched him straight across the face.
“Get a hold of yourself.” Mach ordered. “Is this really how a hero would act?”
“But...”
“No buts!” Mach cut him off. “Listen, we all know you’re worried, but there is no reason to be. Whatever you do, we know it’s the right choice.”
Blur’s nervous attitude suddenly disappeared. Just then, Rev entered the hall.
“Hey, everyone, Geisy’s ready.” Rev said.
“Well, better hurry up. You can’t miss your own wedding.” Mach joked.
"Har, har Mach. Har, har." Blur said.
-------------------
Everyone in church got quiet, waiting for the bride to be. Soon Geisy walked in, she walk towards Blur as she made it to him, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
"Geisy the first time I met you I never liked you but all the wrong things I've done to you...well its because I didn't want anything to happen to you, I don't want to lose you...your the one that keeps me going and the one I love...I love you Geisy." Blur said.
"Blur I have loved you since I was young, and now I'm standing here with you I couldn't never had loved you. Blur I love you with all my heart and soul." Geisy said.
Once everything was done they soon were now man and wife.
---------------
"Now things are going to get intresting." Luxrb said.
"I don't think so!" Luxrb turned to see his team with angry looks on their faces.
"Why are you loking at me like that?" Luxrb asked.
"Games over Metal, we're taking you out of Devlin forever." Steel shouted.
Sky used his telekinesis and trapped Luxrb in his place while Dahlia forced him down further with her Chaos Tornado, Steel put on a special robotic hand hand put inside of Luxrb pulling out what looked lke Metal's head.
"Uhh...did anyone get the license plate of that car?" Devlin said.
"Your plans are over Metal." Steel said.
"Actually, you just pushed them forward! Mecha!" Metal shouted. Suddenly Mecha appeared next to Sky.
"Aaaaaah!" Sky screamed before wetting his pants.
"Now that I have returned to my robotic form, I have returned to my full power." Metal cackled.

A few years after the separation of Metal and Devlin, Dahlia reveled to everyone that she was pregnant. She gave birth to the black hedgehog named Cruise. Blur and Geisy were expecting their own child sometime soon. Everything was perfect in Future City.
“CHAOS BLAST!!” Metal screamed.
Well...two out of three ain’t bad. An explosion of red chaos erupted in the center of Future City and three figures were seen jumping away from the blast. The proud warriors were Swift, Blur, and Mach. As the red energy blast faded, Metal, and Mecha could be seen staring down at our heroes from across the city.
“Why didn’t anyone mention he would be so tough?” Mach whined.
“If you were Mach you would remember.” Swift joked.
“No need to get snippy with me.” Mach said.
“Can we focus here?” Blur asked. “We’re in the middle of a battle here!”
“As you can see, my lord...” Mecha spoke to Metal. “The Blazer triplets’ unity has dwindled severely. They would rather fight with each other than their enemies.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Metal cackled loudly. “They were pathetic before and they are pathetic now! A few years has changed nothing in this world!”
“Hey, you better take that back.” Blur warned.
“Or else what?” Metal questioned.
It wasn’t long before Swift answered that question. While everyone else was busy in their conversation, Swift performed Chaos Control and appeared behind Metal. Swift swung his leg around to his head, but Mecha grasped his ankle before he could hit. At that same moment, Metal swung around and delivered a powerful blow to Swift’s chest. If that was anyone else, they would have died on contact. Instead, Swift was thrown back down the street and landed back safely.
“Is that truly the best you can do?” Metal smirked.
“Says you.” Swift growled.
“Yes, says me.” Metal smirked. “What are you going to do about it?”
“CHAOS INVASION!!”
Metal shot around at the sound of the voice, only to receive Mach’s signature attack to the chest. Metal was tossed down the street, which was the perfect opportunity for Swift to attack. He ran towards the flying robot and slid under him with his hands held up. A moment later, Swift released a Chaos Burst through Metal’s body and sent the dark robot crashing through a nearby building.
“Lord Metal!” Mecha cried.
“Hey, don’t forget me.” Blur called.
Mecha raised his forearm in defense as Blur swung his leg overhead. Mecha swung his claw at him, but the purple hedgehog flipped backwards in midair to avoid it. Once Blur landed, Mecha held out his claw and conjured a black version of the Chaos Lance. Acting fast, Blur used a Chaos Tornado to keep it under his control. Blur commanded the black arrow to swing around and return to its creator. Mecha reflected the attack away, but let himself open for Blur’s attack.
“Nice shot.” Mach grinned.
“You just got lucky.” The trio turned around to find Metal floating behind them. “But the next time, you won’t have such luck.”
“Whatever.” Mach shrugged. “Just run away like you always do.”
“You best watch yourself.” Metal warned. “Things are only going to get much worse.”
And with that, Metal and Mecha vanished in a portal of darkness.
“I really think it’s a bad idea to tick them off, Mach.” Swift stated.
“Don’t tell me the great Swift is scared.” Mach sniggered.
“You wanna go, bro!” Swift growled.
“Took ya long enough to ask.” Mach grinned.
And like everyday for the past year, Mach and Swift were at each others throats. And as usual, Blur was always the peace keeper. Just then, a loud beeping sound could be heard. Mach and Swift finally settled down as Blur pulled out his holo-phone. Blur opened it and revealed a holographic image of Charyb and Scylla.
“What’s up, you two?” Blur asked.
“I hope we’re not bothering you.” Scylla said.
“Nothing much.” Blur grinned. “Just the usual.”
“If that’s the case, I feel that you must know...” Charyb said calmly before screaming. “Geisy has gone into labor! Wing and Alexis are taking her to the hospital right now!”
“I’m coming, Geisy!” Blur yelled.
“We better follow him before he gets himself hurt.” Swift smirked.
Mach and Swift followed their brother across the city, preventing any accidents that happened along the way. While our heroes left to witness the birth of the next generation, a mysterious shadow loomed over the battle grounds. He walked down the empty streets and kneeled down next to a pool of blood. The whole street was covered from the blood and oil of the fighters, but this man only seemed interested in the blood. He took a needle to the small puddle of red and gathered as much as he could; a superior grin etched across his face.
-------------------------------------
--One Year Later--
After nearly destroying the hospital, Geisy gave birth to the brave hedgehog named Blitz. Currently, all the heroes were enjoying a nice picnic outside of town. Blur and Geisy were watching as Blitz was playing with Cruise. Dahlia and Devlin were watching the peaceful skies, Mach and Kumori were talking about Mach’s promotion to G.U.N. Commander, and Swift was sleeping in a tree. Everything was peaceful until Blitz started crying. He apparently tried to walk like Cruise, but fell.
“It’s ok, Blitz.” Geisy said softly, picking up and Blitz and cuddling him; Blitz giggled. “That’s right, Mama is here.”
“You sure know how to handle kids, Geisy.” Devlin complimented.
“It’s all about the maternal instincts.” Dahlia giggled.
“Hey, that reminds me.” Swift yawned, turning to Mach and Kumori. “I remember that Dash and Aura had a kid in the future they named Shun. What happened to him since Dash is gone now?”
“He disappeared and was replaced by a kid you and Aura had named Fury.” Kumori informed.
“But until then in this time, we have all the time in the world to enjoy this relaxing peace.” Blur sighed.
“I’m think I’m starting to miss Apocalypse.” Swift said; the others laughed
-------------------------------------
The scene shifts to an unknown island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The island was quite small, but managed to support a large factory-looking tower. Inside the tower was a high-tech lab with Nocturne gadgets and gizmos. The tower was occupied mostly by scientists who were performing research for the benefit of the world. The large G.U.N. logo on the front of the tower clearly signified them as the Guardian Units of Nations military research team. While most of the scientists were performing all kinds of experiments, a handful of the researchers were standing in the heart of the lab.
“After a year of research, we are finally ready to begin.” An spider researcher stated.
“But, sir.” A female human researcher interrupted. “He hasn’t even had a chance to wake up. If he is injected at this early stage...”
“I’m aware of what will happen.” The Spider glared. “But you do remember what will happen if we don’t do this Sarah.”
The human known as Sarah was a redheaded female in her mid-twenties. She seemed fragile compared to the rest of her colleagues. Sarah averted her gaze from the spider and looked into the tank that stood next to her. The tank was filled to the brim with a mysterious gold liquid, completely engulfing the creature within. The creature looked nothing more that a newborn white hedgehog. It was weak and tired, shivering from the touch of the liquid. Wires were needled into its frail body and the only thing keeping it alive was a small breathing mask. The baby hedgehog was barely able to open its Golden eyes and the first face it saw was Sarah. Suddenly, it began to cry.
“Please, this has to stop.” Sarah pleaded. “He’s only a baby.”
“He is no child yet.” The spider stated firmly. “He is currently a byproduct of science and research.”
“But...”
“Sarah!” The spider yelled. “We shall follow through with the procedure as planned! He won't live without it!” The spider turned to one of his collages. “Begin the test run.”
The researcher nodded and began tapping a series of random buttons on the computer. All of a sudden, a surge of electricity began flowing through the needles and electrocuted the tiny hedgehog inside the tank. Though its voice couldn’t be heard, Sarah could only imagine how painful its screams sounded.
“Please, you're hurting him.” Sarah pleaded.
“And you seem to think that he’ll live if we stop.” The spider said.
The female researcher wanted nothing more than to help, but knew she couldn’t do anything against her colleagues. Just when the little hedgehog seemed ready to give, something unexpected happen. Somehow, the flow of the electricity was repelled and thrown back into the computer. The computer exploded, sending most of the researchers scrambling. At the same time, the needles attached to the hedgehog were thrown off and smashed into the glass of the tank. When all the chaos had subsided, the researchers moved out from their hiding places and stepped closer to the destroyed tank. The baby hedgehog was sitting inside the remains of the tank, staring curiously at his surroundings.
“That was unexpected, but sufficient.” The spider said satisfying, moving closer to the child. “Let’s see what else you can do.” As the spider held his hand forward, the baby hedgehog suddenly started crying.
“Stop it! You’re scaring him!” Sarah shouted.
The female researcher picked up the small hedgehog and held her protectively in her arms. As Sarah began to rock him in her arms, the baby hedgehog yawned and slowly drifted to sleep in her arms. The spider stared at the two with intrigue.
“What are you doing?” The Spider questioned.
“Rocking him to sleep.” Sarah smiled. “It’s a natural movement for inducing sleep into a child.”
“That is no normal child.” The spider. “That is the perfect creation. We forged it from the blood of Mach, Swift and Blur, the Blazer triplets aka the Golden Trio. With it, we have an opportunity to create the true Perfect Life-Form unlike Mr Robotnik.”
“That’s true, but he is still a child.” Sarah reasoned. “We can perform your little experiments when he is ready.”
“But we have a deadline...”
“When he is ready!” Sarah said firmly.
With Sarah’s determination, there was no point in arguing with her. Knowing she had won, Sarah held the baby hedgehog close and walked out of the room. Once Sarah was out of sight, the spider finally let loose with his emotions. He ripped his lab coat apart and sprouted four extra arms from his torso. The spider grasped the wrecked computer and ripped it from the wall before throwing it to the other side of the room.
“This isn’t over, Sarah.” The spider growled “I will possess the Ultimate Creature. Even if I have to kill you in the process.”

--One Year Later--
Not much progress has been made of the little hedgehog, much to the spider’s agitation. Sarah had been caring and treated the little creature like it was her own child. She played with him, fed him, and everything else a mother would do. The spider had been watching the two as the year went by, hoping to see any form of power like it displayed when the child was released. But no such incident has happened. As of now, the spider was sitting in his personal chamber, speaking to a mysterious figure via holo-phone. The figure’s face was covered by shadow, but could seen being held by a robot due to his short size.
“Any progress of yet.” The figure questioned.
“None so far.” The Spider answered hesitantly. “But I am still working on it.”
“You had an entire year for your research!” The figure screeched. “My father’s empire has provided the extra needed technology you needed to complete your assignment! And our ally was generous enough to build the designs necessary for the operation! So why have you not done as you promised arachnid?!”
“It’s not my fault!” The spider panicked. “It’s my colleague, Sarah! She insists on keeping that child as it is! She treats the experiment as her own child!”
“And you failed to obtain it from her?” The figure questioned.
“Please mister, I couldn't...” The spider pleaded.
“I will accept no more excuses you arachnid!” The figure yelled firmly. “If you don’t succeed on making even a little bit of progress by tomorrow, then from this point on, Project: Genesis is permanently over!”
With the final words spoke, the connection from the holo-phone was broken. The spider sat there it total darkness to allow the truth to sink in. All his careful planning and research had all gone to waste. It was all Sarah’s fault. In a fit of rage, the spider crushed the holo-phone in his claws.
---------------------------------------------
The scene shifts to the higher levels of the tower. Sarah and the baby hedgehog were sitting in a large comforting room with four glass windows that showed the horizon. The little hedgehog watched happily as the sun began to rise over the lapping seas. He held out his hands as if to grab it but failed, which made Sarah laugh at his playfulness.
“You really love the sun rise, don’t you?” Sarah smiled. The hedgehog looked to his adoptive mother and nodded, as if he understood her. “You are a smart one aren’t you? I bet you’ll be the smartest little hedgehog ever.”
“M-mommy.” The child said.
“W-what did you say?” Sarah asked in surprise.
“Mommy.” The child repeated happily.
“Oh, you learned your first word!” Sarah exclaimed happily. “You are growing up so fast.” Sarah smiled down at the child who she had come to know as her own son. She reached to her pocket and puller out a circular golden locket. The child stared in confusion as Sarah placed it around his neck. “This is a gift from me. Inside this locket, you will find something that will always remind you of me.”
“Mommy?” The child questioned.
“I won’t always be around forever.” Sarah sighed.
“How right you are.”
Sarah quickly grabbed the baby hedgehog and stood up as the spider entered the room. The spider did not seem pleased to see the pair; the crushed holo-phone was still in his hand. He dropped the item and smashed it under his foot as he proceeded closer. Sarah held the child protectively and stepped backwards towards the windows.
“What do you want?” Sarah questioned seriously.
“I have merely come to thank you.” The spider said manically. “Because of you, our operation may soon be cut off. And all our funds will be terminated and I will be forced into maintenance once again. But I will not give up without a fight.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“It’s because of that creature that my life has been screwed!” The spider roared; the baby hedgehog began crying again. “I am going to make sure I have my revenge before I lose everything by getting rid of it!”
“You can’t!” Sarah cried. “He’s only a baby!”
“I let you off long enough, Sarah!” The spider screamed; his multiple arms extended again. “Now you and that abomination will die!”
The spider jumped at his former colleague, but the female researcher rolled away with the hedgehog child. Sarah tried to make a run for the door, but the spider grasped a hold of the ceiling and crawled along it. Just as Sarah was about to reach the door, the spider crawled over it to block them off. A blade appeared in the palm of the spider and swiped it in the direction of the hedgehog child. Just as it was an inch from the child’s face, Sarah suddenly turned and took the hit to the back. Sarah gasped and fell to her knees; she gently placed the hedgehog on the floor.
“Mommy?” The hedgehog baby asked.
“Please, don’t let this change anything.” Sarah smiled weakly. “Never forget who you are...my brave...little...boy.”
As the last words left her, Sarah toppled over the floor, dead. A normal child would have though she was just playing and try to shake her awake. But with his heightened intelligence, it didn’t take long for the hedgehog to figure out what was happened. Sarah, the woman he came to love as a mother, was dead. The hedgehog child sobbed quietly as the Spider loomed overhead.
“Such a feeble creature.” The spider stated coldly. “Crying over the remains of a loved one. And to think, you were supposed to be the Perfect Ultimate Life-Form. Now I see you for what you truly are: A genetic freak!”
The spider raised his claw and swiped it down at the hedgehog’s head. All of a sudden, a surge of electricity burst from the walls and slammed into the spiders chest, throwing him to the wall. As the spider stood up, he could not believe what was happening. The electricity gathered around the hedgehog’s body and he began to age right before his very eyes. The hedgehog eventually reached the age of fifteen and stopped. With a grim expression on his face, the hedgehog turned his attention to the spider, which he grew to hate.
“Just what are you?” The spider questioned in fear.
“That’s an easy question to answer.” The hedgehog spoke, holding out his hand to the spider. “I’m your killer.”
Suddenly, a surge of electricity escaped from the hedgehog’s hand and eradicated the spider into nothing with such force that would make Metal jealous. But even with the spider dead, the hedgehog was not satisfied. The hedgehog held out his palm and directed a concentrated beam of electricity through the door. The enormous explosion created from the attack caught everyone’s attention and called the security force. Several G.U.N. soldiers stood ready for anything and were caught by surprise when the hedgehog walked out from the cloud of smoke.
“Isn’t that the experiment?” One soldier asked.
“I don’t know!” The leader shouted. “Just kill it!”
With that command, the soldiers unleashed an endless barrage of lasers at the hedgehog. Unfortunately, the experiment created a barrier of electricity that bound all the lasers away from him.
On command, the hedgehog released a storm of lightning from his palm and stabbed each soldier in the chest with exact precision. While all the scientists in the tower tried to escape, the hedgehog was not ready to give them that luxury. The hedgehog held out his index finger and shot a single bolt of electricity. The tiny bolt slithered past the floors until it reached its main target: the reactor. The bolt shot through the reactor and created a cataclysmic explosion within the tower. The nuclear blast could be seen for miles, but there was no one around to witness it. When the explosion has faded away, all living creatures and tower were dead. All except for one. Hybrid sat in the center of the wreckage, holding the dead body of his beloved mother.
“Mother, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” The hedgehog whispered. “But I swear I will make the world a peaceful place, just as you wanted it to be. And if I am to do that, I must extinguish those who wish to destroy that peace.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear.”
The hedgehog swerved his head around and found two figures floating behind him in flying mobiles. Egghog and Egghog Nega.
“Who are you?” The hedgehog questioned.
“We are the ones who allowed you to exist.” Egghog said. “It was through my empires technology that they were able to create your body and powers.”
“And it was through my designs that they were able to create your heart and soul.” Nega stated. “In laymen’s terms, we are your true creators.”
“Why exactly are you telling me this?” The hedgehog questioned.
“Because we know of your suffering.” Egghog claimed. “We both have suffered losses and endured a vast amount of torture in our lifetimes. Alone, we could do nothing. But together, we can change the world to the way it’s supposed to be: under our rule.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?” The hedgehog glared.
“Do you have a reason not to?” Nega chuckled; the hedgehog stared down at the body of his mother. “My furry little friend, we are all you have left. We are your only family now. Join us and you will never have to suffer this heart wrenching pain ever again.”
The hedgehog took a minute to think over the two figure’s words. His mother was dead, his only home was gone, and he had killed everyone he ever knew. The hedgehog sighed and shot a bolt of lighting from his fist to the ground. The bolt formed a small hole large enough to fit one person. The hedgehog lifted his mother closer to the hole and gently set her down. After burying and preying for his mother’s spirit, the hedgehog stared out into the open ocean. There was a whole world out there like the spider, everyone wanting to destroy the peace he sought to create. His choice had been made.
“These loathsome life-forms waste their gift of life.” The hedgehog stated darkly. “They are too caught up in their own affairs that they do not value the lives of others.” The hedgehog clutched his fist; sparks surrounded the hand. “I will show them their mistake. The world will suffer the wrath of...Hybrid!”

The scene returns to the present day near the Blur Team base. At the time, Wing and Tech were in the airfield behind the base with the Hyper Tornado. For once, the two mechanics weren’t arguing and were loading the Hyper Tornado with a number of inventions. While they were loading an extremely overweight gadget, Alexis and Geisy walked out. At the sight of Alexis, Wing dropped the gadget, which crushed Tech below.
“Hey, whatcha guys doing?” Geisy asked.
“Dying.” Tech groaned under the gadget. “A little help here.” Geisy grabbed the large gadget and threw it away with ease. Tech stood up and glared at Wing. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Why are you two packing all your things into the Hyper Tornado?” Alexis asked curiously.
“Wing and I got invited to a big event.” Tech explained with an air of superiority. “It’s a gathering of the greatest minds in the world. Naturally, I was selected personally; Wing’s just coming along for the ride.”
“Hey, I'm smarter than you!” Wing snapped.
“So, how long are you going to be gone?” Geisy questioned.
“The invite didn’t give a specific date, but we could be gone for quite a while.” Tech informed.
“Then we might not see each other for a long time.” Alexis said sadly; she waved her puppy-dog eyes to Wing. “How about one last kiss from my knight in shining armor.”
“I’m not wearing armor.” Wing joked.
Alexis crossed her arms and glared at the grey-purple hedgehog. Once they were finished packing, Wing and Tech departed into the sky towards the eastern direction.
---One Hour Later---
After a wasting away an entire hour, the Hyper Tornado was currently flying over the rushing Techs of the Pacific Ocean. The trip was exhausting and very cramped due to the number of inventions they brought. Tech would usually pass the time by inspecting Wing’s creations and pointed out their flaws. But once Tech reached the subject of the Super Hurricane, Wing finally lost and jumped in back to fight Tech. Fortunately, the fight didn’t last long when they realized that they were about to crash and Wing regained control of the plane.
“Geez, aren’t we there yet?” Tech groaned.
“The directions were very clear on the location.” Wing said. “We should be within a few minutes.”
“Who in their right mind would host a show in the middle of the Pacific?” Tech moaned.
“How should I – look, we’re here!” Wing exclaimed.
“It’s about time.” Tech sneered.
Wing rolled his eyes and directed the ship down for a landing. Where they were headed was not a place they would want to be if they knew the truth. It was a small island; the same island where Hybrid was born. A large black castle was perched in the center of the island and bared a striking resemblance to the Dark Ruler’s caste. As Wing landed the Hyper Tornado near the landing sight provided near the docks, three shadowed figures were watching the arrival of the guests.
“These are the greatest minds in the world.” Future Egghog snorted. “How pathetic. As if they could compare to my genius.”
“Your ‘genius’ is what landed you in Hell in the first place.” Future Nega said; he turned to the last shadow. “I expect you’ll take care of them, Hybrid.”
“It will be my pleasure.” Hybrid grinned.
Back with Wing and Tech, the two grabbed as many of their gadgets as they could carry and made their way towards the entrance of the castle. The door to the inside was made of red crystal and the edges were covered in an array of jewels. The door opened by its own accord and allowed the two heroes to pass through. Inside the castle: the floors with made from pure marble and the walls were made of pure white stone. To the left, they could see a long winding staircase that led to the rest of the castle. Several scientists and researchers were scattered around the entrance hall, wondering what they were doing.
“Boy, the owner of this place sure knows how to live it up.” Tech whistled impressively.
“There are so many people here.” Wing said nervously. “I wonder if we’re even suitable for this.”
“Aw, chin up, Wing, my furry little friend.” A familiar voice said.
Tech and Wing slowly craned their heads over their shoulders and found Dr. Egghog standing behind them.
“Egghog, what are you doing here!” Wing questioned seriously.
“Most presumably the same as you.” Egghog said. “I was invited to this gathering of the greatest minds in the world. Hah! I, Dr. Egghog, was guaranteed entry to this glorious event. While Nega was under the age group being only 2.”
“Yeah, what a surprise?” Tech muttered sarcastically.
“Though something stems my curiosity.” Egghog said; he appeared slightly worried. “Who would go to the trouble of sending invitations around the world just for a select few people?”
“Allow me to answer that question.” A new voice called.
The voice echoed across the entrance hall and enticed everyone’s interest. Everyone turned to the archway near the staircase as a new contender arrived. Hybrid had made his appearance for the first time, but had change since he was born due to the age progression as his quills were more bed headed and his pupils were red because of the tripled amount of chaos energy. He wore white gloves, a blue shirt with tiger stripes and a shark’s mouth on it, black jeans with several blood stains and torn areas, and the Speed shoes from SC: TDB with the colors inverted. He still wore the dented locket he inherited from Sarah around his neck. Hybrid walked to the end of the entrance hall and grinned at his audience.
“Welcome, great minds of the world.” Hybrid greeted. “It is my distinguished honor to welcome you to this momentous occasion.”
“Who are you?!” Wing shouted.
“My name is of no importance.” Hybrid replied. “I have organized this little event for one purpose: survival of the fittest.”
“Survival?” Egghog repeated.
“That’s correct.” Hybrid grinned madly. “Below this castle, I have set up a labyrinth of traps and puzzles. If your intelligence proves worth enough, you will survive the trials. If not, you are doomed to death.”
“That is ridiculous!” Egghog exclaimed. “There is no way we will agree to those terms!”
“Whoever said you had a choice.” Hybrid smirked.
The white hedgehog held out his hand and released a current of electricity to the floor. Suddenly, the floor split in half and revealed a trapdoor beneath the group of scientists. Wing grabbed hold of Tech and Egghog with his psychokinesis before they could fall in. Though unfortunately, Hybrid came prepared for this outcome. With a simple twitch of his hand, Hybrid struck Wing in the back with a single bolt of electricity. With their only suspension knocked out, the trio fell through the trap door to the corridors below. The trap door snapped shut and resumed its regular appearance.
“This should be fun.” Hybrid grinned.

The scene changes to the most memorable region in the world: Green Hill Zone. It was at this time that the famous Blur Journey Blazer was charging through the grassy plains. It had been only a day since Blur had married Geisy and he could not have been anymore happy than he was now. Of course, that meant Rector would be keeping a closer eye on him. Blur stopped around a cliff side at the edge of the zone and gazed out to the open ocean beyond.
“Man, being active all the time really takes it out of someone.” Blur sighed. He fell on his back and watched as the clouds went by.
The purple hedgehog stared into the open skies and felt calm for the first time in years. The last time he ever felt so calm was when he first told Geisy he loved her. But just when things seemed peaceful, Blur suddenly curled into his ball form and rolled backwards. At the same time, the ground erupted from the point where Blur was resting. Blur uncurled himself and stared face-to-face at his attack. It was purple mech that resembled much of a rabbit with the exception of its blood red eyes.
“You’re too slow, pal.” Blur grinned.
“Blur Journey Blazer.” The mech spoke. “I have been given the authority to hunt you down and destroy you.”
“Ok.” Blur smirked. “But you would think that Egg-butt would come up with something more original.”
“I have no allegiance to him.” The mech stated.
“Then who are you working for?” Blur questioned.
“You won’t have long enough to worry about.” The mech said.
The purple mech dived forward and thrusted its fist at Blur’s head. Blur grinned and easily sidestepped to watch the mech smash the rock behind him. The mech glared and swiped its foot around for the purple hedgehog, but Blur easily ducked underneath him. Given the opportunity, Blur curled into his ball form and directed a powerful Spin Dash to its chest. The rabbit mech went flying across the plain, but flipped in midair and landed back on its feet. But before it could even have a moment to calculate its next move, Blur was already hanging over its head in the air. Blur learned a few tricks from his fight against Apocalypse and Yggdrasil. Curling into his ball form, Blur made a beeline for the purple mech. Moments before he hit; Blur uncurled and slammed his heel at the mech’s head, sending the robot face-faulting into the ground.
“Had enough yet?” Blur said arrogantly.
“But I have barely begun to fight.” The mech stated.
“Yeah, I think you better stay down.” Blur said, patting the mech head. “You don’t want to get broken, do you?”
“You cursed rat.” The mech growled.
As the mech raised its head, Blur noticed its eyes glowing neon purple. All of a sudden, the rabbit mech vanished and reappeared behind Blur. The mech twisted its legs around and slammed its foot to the side of the hedgehog’s face. As Blur tumbled across the grassy field, the rabbit mech zipped in front of the blue hedgehog and kneed him in the chest. The force of the impact sent Blur rocketing to the sky, but not a moment too long. A few second later, the rabbit mech appeared over the hedgehog and repeated his earlier attack. Just as Blur bounced off the ground, the mech dropped and slammed its knee into Blur’s back, pushing him further into the ground.
“I think this has gone on long enough.” The mech said. “Just surrender while you still have your life.”
“No way.” Blur smirked, without an injury. “This is getting fun.”
“You have an unusual sense in entertainment.” Mech stated.
“Eh, you get used to it.” Blur shrugged. “Besides, I’m not even done yet.”
“I have you trapped under two hundred pounds of pressure.” The mech informed. “What could you possibly do in this situation?”
“Watch and learn.” Blur grinned.
Blur closed his eyes in concentration and exploded in a flash of light. The next thing the mech knew, its neck was being crushed by the hand of Super Blur. The golden hero pushed the mech off his back and sent it skyrocketing across the zone. While the rabbit mech hovered over the ground, Super Blur appeared in its path with his hand held out. A sphere of blue chaos appeared in his palm as Super Blur performed his signature attack.
“CHAOS TORNADO!!” Blur called out.
The golden hedgehog slammed the tornado of chaos at the mechs head, which exploded the moment it came in contact. The mech’s body followed shortly in its wake and was ripped to shreds. With the threat defeat, Blur powered down to his normal form.
“Well, that was almost fun.” Blur shrugged. A piece of paper landed on his nose. He removed the paper and began to read it. “What’s this?”
Congratulations, warrior.
You have survived my test and are invited to a grand event: The Ultimate Universe Tournament. Warriors from all across the world will contend for the ultimate prize: the new seven Chaos Emeralds. If you wish to attend this momentous occasion, this will act as your personal invitation. Fighters are allowed to bring as many friends as they desire, but they will not be allowed to participate. The ferry to East Island will depart at 5:00 at Station Square. I will anticipate your participation
Sincerely,
Anonymous
“A big round-up, huh?” Blur grinned before turning serious. “This sounds like something Metal or Egghog would be interested in. If they get the Chaos Emeralds, who knows what they could do. Looks like I’m headed for East Island.”
-------------------------------------------
In the heart of Central City, most of the large city was still recovering from its most recent attack. Unfortunately, the repairs didn’t last long as a purple nuclear blast destroyed everything within a mile. When the blast faded away, Jac could be seen sitting on the remains of a red dragon mech. He was reading the same invitation Blur received.
“The seven Chaos Emeralds.” Jac muttered. “All right, Anonymous. You got my attention."
-------------------------------------------
The scene changes to the central plaza of Soleanna. Devlin was sitting at the outdoor café. Sitting next to him was the headless remains of a green snake mech. Mark was serving him as he read his own invitation.
“So, ya gonna enter?” Mark asked.
“Like I have a choice.” Devlin said seriously.
------------------------------------------
The scene transfers to the peaceful landscape of Angel Island. Since the Master Emerald had been destroyed, Angel Island was once again a water island. After finishing the reconstruction of the alter, Divince tossed the remains of a blue ox mech over the edge and into the ocean. He pulled out the invitation he received from the mech.
“Chaos Emeralds again.” Viral said. “Something isn’t right about this ‘Anonymous’ person.”
--------------------------------------------
The scene alters to the high towers in London. Due to the midnight sky, no one was aware of the battle that occurred at the top of Big Ben. Gemini and his clone were sitting at the edge of the clock tower with the broken pieces of a white tiger mech resting behind them. They were reading their own invitation.
“The greatest in the universe, huh?” Gemini #1 smirked.
“Maybe Rector will respect us more if we win.” Gemini #2 commented.
“Let’s hope so.” Gemini #1 sighed sadly.
-------------------------------------------
The scene changes to the wide outback of Australia. The kangaroos of the outback were enjoying their time at the watering hole with a new friend joining them. Mystic was relaxing against a curved tree as the remains of pink pig mech was dangling from the branches. After reading his invitation, Doru was scanning through his database.
“Weird.” Mystic muttered. “I can’t find anything on this Hybrid guy in the archives. This oughta be interesting.”
------------Quezzie Dimension--------------
The scene arrives deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle. All was peaceful for a while until a brown monkey mech crashed into the ground. The mech was covered in massive dents and was shut down almost instantly. In the branches of the trees, the victor of the battle was reading his invitation. It was none other then Kazuki Fujiwara.
“Cool tournament thingy!” Kazuki screamed cheerfully. “I hope there’s free food.”
-----------Blizzard Dimension--------------
The scene changes to the desert ruins close to Babylon Garden. If you were there, you would notice a massive cloud of dust arising from the ruins a moment later. As the dust cleared, the remains of a red rooster mech appeared to be smashed into the ground. The victor of the battle stood over the mech, reading her invitation. She was Blizzard the Fox.
“The Chaos Emeralds.” Blizzard said. “Sounds intresting.”
--------------------------------------------
The scene changes to the South American plain in central Brazil. Floating in one of the Village Rivers was the head of a destroyed grey rat mech with the body following behind. Sitting at the edge of the river was the victor of the battle. Ryan Charles Diulus.
“A tournament, eh.” Ryan smirked. “I feel sorry for the sucker who goes up against me.”
--------------------------------------------
The scene alters to the wide mountain range near the Himalayas. Upon closer inspection, one could see a green sheep mech hanging from one of the peaks with a dozen energy arrows piercing its chest. The owner of those arrows sat near another peak, reading her own invitation. It was Ryan’s sister Heather.
“Heh! Just what I was hoping for.” Heather smirked.
--------------------------------------------
The scene alters to the coastal plains of the Japanese Coast. A pile of rocks was formed together as a makeshift grave with the head of a green dog mech lying at the top. After reading his invitation, the victor of the battle started running to Future City, the fighter was none other then Prefect Scylla.
“In the wrong hands, the Chaos Emeralds could be dangerous.” Scylla whispered.
--------------------------------------------
The scene alters to the restless streets of Night Babylon. High atop one of the city towers, a black lizard mech was pierced by one of the towers needle points. Sitting below the destroyed mech was its assailant. Prefect Charyb. After reading the invitation, he held a thinking look on his face.
“The Chaos Emeralds, eh.” Charyb said. “Better make sure they don’t get into the wrong hands.”
--------------------------------------------
The scene shifts to the shores of Emerald Coast. Buried under a pile of sand was a red shark mech that was soaked to its circuits. The one who defeated the mech was sitting in the sand while reading the invitation. It was Cancer the Crab.
“A tournament...with others.” Cancer said nervously. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
--------------------------------------------
The scene changes to the forgotten city of Metropolis, Egghog’s former hideout. The mech had already been defeated, but the victor was lying on the ground from a surprise attack of an unknown shadow.
“What are you doing?” The fighter asked.
“I need this invitation.” The shadow explained. “My master has a better use for the Chaos Emeralds.”
“I know who you are.” The fighter groaned. “And when I tell everyone, you’re in for a world of trouble.”
“But you won’t be able to tell anyone.” The shadow grinned. The dark figure held out his hand and began to gather a usual amount of yellow chaos into his open palm. He took pleasure and the man’s fear before unleashing his attack. “CHAOS LANCE!!”
--------------------------------------------
The scene shifts to a battle ship with Metal’s face on it, which was floating over the Caribbean Sea. All of a sudden, the ruins of a Silver doe mech dropped from the sky and sank to the bottom of the sea. Metal Blur and the rest of the Egg-Carrier crew stood near the edge, watching the mech sink with enjoyment. At the time, Metal was reading his own personal invitation.
“Interesting.” Metal said thoughtfully. “The event is taking place on East Island.”
“Hey, that’s where Egghog went to, isn’t it?” Mecha asked.
“You are correct.” Metal nodded.
--------------------------------------------
The scene finally shifts back to East Island. Hybrid was leaning against the wall of the entrance hall, apparently waiting for something. He wait came to a close when the door across from him opened with Wing, Tech, and Egghog trudging through. Once they realized they were back at the entrance hall, they all fell to the ground in relief.
“I...can’t believe...were alive.” Tech panted.
“Where are the others?” Wing questioned.
“They’re dead.” Hybrid responded malevolently. “They were unworthy of completing their tasks and paid with their lives. I have to say, my favorite part was when the scientist from India gouged his own eyes out.”
“You’re sick.” Egghog growled.
The trio of minds was able to get back to their feet, but it didn’t last long. A moment later, several gizoids jumped from the ceiling and captured them before they could even move. The three struggled, but the gizoids chopped them in the neck, effectively knocking them out.
“You know what to do with them.” Hybrid commanded. “Be sure that everything goes exactly as I planed. And be sure to tell Morph that an invitation has been extended to him as well.”
The gizoids nodded and dragged Wing, Tech, and Egghog back into the shadows. Hybrid turned back towards the winding staircase and took it all the way to the top of the castle. Once he reached the top floor of the castle, the mixed hedgehog stopped in front of pure black door. The door didn’t contain a knob, but one wasn’t needed. Unexpectedly, Hybrid walked through the door and entered a dark room with three white chairs. As Hybrid took the closest seat, his mysterious creators arrived and took their places next to him.
“How is our plan moving so far?” Future Egghog questioned.
“All is as expected.” Hybrid said pleasingly. “As we had predicted: Wing, Tech, and Dr. Egghog are the only ones were intelligent enough to defeat the traps I personally set up.” He turned to the second figure. “And what of the mechs?”
“All fifteen mechs are permanently offline.” Future Nega said happily. “That means all the chosen fighters have passed their tests and the invitations have been sent. Within a day, this castle will be filled with super powerful warriors from around the universe.”
“And once they arrive, our plans are set in motion.” Hybrid said darkly.

The scene opens out into the wide ocean of the Pacific. As stated by Hybrid’s invitation, fighters from all around the world gathered at central city to await the extremely large cruise ship to East Island. At the bow of the ship, Jac, Devlin, and Viral watched the open ocean in wonder; the rest of the Blur Team were with them.
“Whoa, this guy must be loaded.” Vec said, drool dripping from his mouth. “This Hybrid guy is gonna be my new best friend.”
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable with this guy.” Viral said seriously. “There’s something not right about him.”
“Aw, Viral.” Multis complained. “Why do you have to be such a downer?”
“He’s has a point.” Jac stated. “Egghog was revived and the Chaos Emeralds were absorbed into the element guardians of New Elemarious. Making copies of them is impossible. Even for Wing and Tech and Egghog.”
“Speaking of whom, where is Blur?” Devlin asked.
“Coming through!”
The heroes barely had time to move before a purple blur zipped past the group. Blur felt uncomfortable on a large boat surrounded by water and was running off all his frustrations. This quickly annoyed the passengers as the blur zipped past them every five minutes. As Blur came around for the next lap, Geisy suddenly jumped and dragged her husband down to the floor.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Blur questioned.
“What is with you, Blur?” Geisy asked sternly. “Can’t you go five seconds without running?”
“Running is my thing.” Blur said. “I’m not called the ‘Fastest Thing Alive’ because I like to sit around.”
“His head would probably explode if he did.” Kumori sniggered; the heroes laughed at his expense.
“Ha, ha.” Blur said sarcastically. “That was so funny, I forgot to laugh.”
“I thought if was hilarious.” A familiar voice said.
Blur’s eyes twitch at the voice and slowly craned his head over his shoulder. To his eternal regret, he found Rector with Ebon and Rave. Ebon was staring out into the open ocean, looking calm and collected as usual. As Rector stepped closer to the team, Blur quickly jumped behind Geisy for protection.
“Big brother, what are you doing here?” Geisy asked curiously.
“We’re here to see the tournament.” Rector explained. “We didn’t get an invitation, but a friend of ours was kind enough to invite us.”
“I didn’t invite him.” Blur stated; he looked to the rest of his team. “What about you guys?”
“Don’t look at me.” Viral shook.
“I’m not taking the blame.” Devlin said.
“I was thinking about it.” Jac smirked. “But since you're my best friend, I let you off.”
“Then who invited him?” Blur asked.
“Hey, guys! Glad you could make it!”
The heroes and the mercenaries looked over to find a familiar face stepped in between them. Mystic, one of the Blur team’s members, walked up to his friends and greeted them with praise. Since the Nocturnus had never met him before, they had no idea who the newcomer was.
“I see you guys made it all right.” Mystic smiled.
“Thanks for inviting us.” Rave said gratefully.
“Hey, we’re buds, right?” Mystic smirked.
“Who are you?” High Praetorian asked Mystic.
“Oh, you guys must be the new guys!” Mystic exclaimed happily. “The name’s Mystic Nightus Shiner! You probably heard of my dad, Furion, # 2 of the 7 powers!”
“Never heard of him!” The Nocturne replied; Mystic facefaulted.
“Aw, come on!” Mystic screamed. “What does it take to get a little recognition around here?!”
“I think he’s lost it.” Delight said.
“Well, maybe you could help me find it.” Mystic said temptingly to Delight.
If there is one thing you should never do, it’s hit on another man’s girl. Unfortunately, Mystic learned that the hard way. Using his fire powers, Flash launched him across the ship. Fortunately, Mystic landed on something that dissolved the impact. Shaking his head slightly, Mystic noticed two people standing over him.
One was a red tiger with black stripes and white chest fur. He wore blue fingerless gloves, white shoes with blue outlines, and a silver backpack. The second was a silver wolf with white chest fur and a diamond spot on his forehead. He wore white glove with blue triangular patches and blue/black shoes with a red rectangle patches. Both creatures stared at Mystic like he was about to die.
“Hey, who are you guys?” Mystic asked.
“My name is Vash.” The wolf said worried. “And this is Alan. Eh...might I suggest you get up.”
“How come?” Mystic questioned.
“Because Ryan’s gonna kill you!” Alan screamed.
Mystic stared at the tiny tiger like he was nuts before he realized what he landed on. Looking down, Mystic could find a red hedgehog lying under him with a pissed off expression. If he could, Mystic would probably guess that this boy was Ryan.
“Oh boy.” Mystic muttered.
“GET OFF!!” Ryan screamed furiously.
Mystic, screaming like a girl, shot away as the enraged hedgehog chased him to the other side of the ship. Back with the heroes, they could hear Mystic coming back. As he moved closer to her target, Ryan readied his fists and jumped at Mystic. But just moments before he could kill him, Mystic was saved by two duplicate hedgehogs. Gemini and his clone were holding Ryan back just enough to put some distance between him and Mystic. Vash and Alan arrived on the scene and tried to calm him down.
“Just breathe, Ryan.” Vash advised.
“You just can’t stay out of trouble, can ya?” Gemini smirked, pulling his clone back.
“Gemini!” Geisy screamed.
“Easy, Geisy.” Gemini laughed. Judging by Rector’s facial expression, he was not too pleased to see him. “H-hey, Rector.”
“What are you doing here?” Rector said venomously; Gemini flinched.
“I got invited to the tournament.” Gemini explained nervously.
“They’ll let anyone join this thing.” Rector huffed. “If I were you, I would drop out of the contest right now. You’ll only turn this tournament into a disgrace.”
“Rector, come on!” Gemini pleaded. “Can’t you just forgive and forget!”
“I will never forgive what you did to us!” Rector yelled. “And I will never forget!”
“HE ONLY DROOLED ON YOU BY MISTAKE!” Kika screamed.
“That was quite the reunion.” Ebon commented.
“G-Geisy?” A timid voice said.
Geisy leaned backwards to get a good look of the person who was talking to them. They saw a crab. She was escorted by another figure that was unfamiliar to them. He was a yellow hedgehog with black highlights on his pointed quills. He wore simple white gloves, blue shoes with golden straps, and a golden lightning pendent. The girl appeared shy, but once she walked closer to the females, she seemed more confident.
“I’m glad to see you again.” The crab smiled.
“Cancer!” Geisy cried.
“Yep it is.” The yellow hedgehog smirked. “If it wasn’t for him, I would still be locked up by that mob.” He held out his hand. “The name’s Strike the Hedgehog.”
“I’m Blur.” Blur said proudly, shaking Strike’s hand. “I bet you’re eager to face me.”
“I ain't fighting.” Strike stated. “Cancer is.”
“He is?” Blur said in disbelief.
“I...kinda got stronger since last time.” Cancer said. “I just hope I do well against the others.”
“I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” Tsunami said supportively.
“You certainly got my vote.” A new voice called.
At the sound of the voice, the group turned their heads to the upper levels of the ship. A level above them, they found Ryan’s sister with another character.
“Who are you two?” Velite questioned.
“The name’s Heather.” Heather responded. “And this is my buddy, Matty.”
“It’s Mathias.” Mathias said irritantly.
“What are you doing up there?” Cream asked curiously.
“Just a little practicing.” Heather grinned. “Wanna watch?”
“This I gotta see.” Jac smirked.
As Heather prepared, Cancer decided to leave with Strike; the group understood. Mathias opened his book and started chanting. To the heroes’ surprise, small objects began floating around them and spiraling into the air. Heather swiftly readied her bow and shot an arrow in a split second; she nailed a dime in the center. Blur whistled impressively at Heather’s skill. She was nailing every little target with the same skill of accuracy. But once she released her last arrow, a ball of water flung out of nowhere and split the arrow in half.
“Hey!” Glee shouted. “What happened?”
“Someone decided to spoil our little party.” Esper frowned.
“A party?” A new voice chuckled. “Is that what this is? I thought it was a tournament.”
“Very funny, Charyb!” Multis stated.
“Please don’t tell me it’s Prefect Charyb.” Gemini sighed.
“Affirmative!” Multis exclaimed.
“I hope the others aren’t like him.” Geisy said
“Whatcha talking about, bub?” A male voice asked suddenly.
The heroes jumped for a moment, looking up and down the deck. When they realized the voice didn’t come from the deck, they looked up and found their lucky winner. They spotted someone who looked like Tails, only Red where it was yellow, black where it was white and with 4 tails.
“Kazuki!” Jac screamed.
“Guess this isn’t only our dimension they called.” Strawberry snorted.
“You seem rather excited.” Heather said.
“I am.” Kazuki nodded. “And there’s someone else I ran into while I was here.”
A fox jumped out of the corner. “This is Blizzard the Fox.”
Soon the cat that stole his invitation from the true victor pushed Kazuki into the wall and held him there.
“Hey, get out of the way!” Kazuki yelled.
“It would be best to save your energy for the tournament.” The cat advised. “If you were caught fighting, there’s a chance you might be expelled from the tournament. If that happens, you’ll never obtain the Chaos Emeralds.”
"Get off him." Jac said before punching him, but soon he and the figure felt a burning where they made contact.
“Uh...what just happened?” Blur asked confused.
“Something we need to learn more about.” Jac stated still wincing from the burn.
“Maybe you should see a doctor about that.” A new voice suggested.
The group looked back to find a new friend amongst the group. He was the first human they had seen aboard the ship and the only one they had ever seen with clear white hair.
“Who are you?” Blue questioned.
“I’m Michael White.” White announced. “But everyone calls me White.”
“So, White, are you joining in the tournament, too?” Charyb asked.
“Not me.” White shook. “That would be my friend.”
“Who?” Rev asked.
“That would be me.” Scylla said.
Rev turned, but instantly regretted it a moment later. It turned out a snake was on his foot. At the sight of the green serpent, Rev started sneezing like crazy.
“Is he ok?” Blur asked.
“Yeah, this is a normal thing.” Rock stated. “Rev’s allergic to snakes.”
“Since when?” Mystic asked.
“I’m not sure.” Rock shrugged. “But I believe it has to do with Naja.”
A familiar group of voices could be heard coming from the side. it didn’t take long before Metal arrived with Mecha, and Space.
“Look everyone.” Mecha taunted. “A pack of rodents in their natural habitats.”
“Bug off, Metal.” Tsunami growled. “We’ve already had enough trouble without you swarming around.”
“I’m gonna take a guess and say that Metal received the invitation.” Esper glared.
“He did, but I came for my own reasons.” Nega sighed, leaning over the side railings. “My dad received an invitation for something about a genius gathering.”
“Hey, Wing and Tech received the same letter.” Alexis noted.
“That only helps further my theory.” Metal said. “You see, Egghog never returned after his invitation was received. I’m to guess that they never returned.” The heroes nodded. “According to the invitation, the location was on East Island; the same island that we are headed to.”
“Then you think it’s some kind of trap?” Viral questioned.
“It’s a possibility.” Mecha nodded.
“Well, you best think it over soon.” Light advised. “Because the island’s coming up.”
All the passengers aboard the ship looked out to vast sea and could spot the large castle of East Island in the distance. Over an hour later, the ship arrived at the docks of the island and the passengers departed. Three messengers, all wearing red robes, arrived at the docks to greet the contenders. But they were not the kind to be expected.
“Tech!” Rosie cried.
“Wing!” Alexis cheered
“Dad!” Nega shouted.
The 3 stood across the fighters with expressionless faces; they didn’t appear affected by their friend’s shouts.
“Welcome to East Island.” Tech said monotone.
“We hope you enjoy your stay.” Wing said monotone.
“Please, follow us to our master.” Egghog said monotone.
As the trio of geniuses walked up the steps towards the castle, the remainder that knew them stared in confusion. It was odd to hear them speak in such a way, but hearing Egghog submit to a master was down-right unusual. Reluctantly, the heroes followed the rest of the group. After climbing what seemed like a million sets of stairs, the crowd stopped short in front of the red crystal door engraved with jewels.
“Now that is impressive.” Vector said amazingly.
“The must be like a million jewels here.” Charmy said.
There was a sudden thud and everyone to look back. Jasmine was lying on the ground; her eyes blank. Rave floated down next to her and checked her pulse.
“It’s ok!” Rave called. “She’s just suffering a minor concussion!”
"I wonder how Rouge would react to that." Rock chuckled.
Making sure to pick up Jasmine, the group followed the expressionless trio into the castle. Standing at the end of the entrance hall was Hybrid, who looked eager for company. Once everyone was inside, Hybrid signaled for everyone’s attention. The group stopped talking amongst each other for a moment to listen to what he had to say.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Ultimate World Tournament!” Hybrid announced, gazing out to his audience. “Hmm. It looks like one of our contestants is missing.”
“I'm over here genius.” A male voice requested.
Everyone looked to the side as a new figure emerged from the shadows. His entire body was covered, so no one knew who he was. He wore a black suit that was thick as skin with black and silver boots, black gloves, and silver rings around his wrist. He also wore large black helmet with plated quills, green visors, and a neon green symbol. Despite the attracted attention, the newcomer walked nonchalantly into his own place in the crowd.
“Morph, glad you could make it.” Hybrid said cheerfully. “Now that everyone is here, we can begin. Normally, I’m supposed to start off with some long boring speech, but why don’t we get down to the basics. This castle will act as your home during the tournament. There will be rooms provided and food will be served at whim. In return for these accommodations, I implore you that you do not trespass in the basement.” He spoke in an eerie voice. “Some doors are meant to stay closed.”
The sudden change in tone sent chill down many of the fighter’s spines; Hybrid was serious. Once he knew everyone understood, Hybrid waved his hand behind him. A large television screen dropped from the ceiling and turned on without a word. There were sixteen symbols on the screen and two boxes underneath the symbols.
“Everyone has been given a symbol to represent them.” Hybrid explained. “This screen will randomly choose the fighters for all matches. The symbols chosen are as followed.”

---------------------------------------
1. (Blur: Blue hedgehog symbol) 2. (Jac: Red alien symbol) 3. (Devlin: Black hedgehog symbol) 4. (Metal: Robot hedgehog symbol)
5. (Viral: Nocturne Blade symbol) 6. (Gemini: Brown Constellation symbol) 7. (Mystic: Yin Yang symbol) 8. (Cancer: Blue Rain symbol)
9. (Ryan: Red Pencil symbol) 10. (Blizzard: White alien symbol) 11. (Kazuki: Black alien symbol) 12. (Charyb: Blue gizoid eye symbol)
13. (Rogue assailant: circle outline symbol) 14. (Scylla: Red gizoid eye symbol) 15. (Heather: Bow/arrow symbol) 16. (Morph: Green neon symbol)

The scene opens up to a far-off plain near the center of Australia. As expected, there were many different species of animals that roamed and grazed off the land; none of them were anthro. As a family of kangaroos drank near a watering hole, they were unaware of a lurking predator gazing from a safe distance. The savage beast crouched low in the high grass, edging closer to its prey. When it was close enough, a ravenous tiger lurched from its place. Just as it neared its prey, it was suddenly tackled to the ground by a blur; the family of kangaroos fled. The tiger swatted and clawed at its attacker until it snapped its neck, effectively killing it.

“Well, that was boring. I thought he would have put up a better challenge.” The figure said.

The figure crouched down to the dead tiger, revealing himself to be Yin. No one had seen or heard from the hedgehog since he left with Master Blade. After Apocalypse was defeated, Blade saw Blade disappear from existence and he was now able to wield Masamune without any problems since Xabled went with him and Ebon wielded Excalibur, he kept the suit for some reason no one knew about, Yin went back to his usual life. But one day, Yin felt himself compelled by an unknown force to head to Future City. Being away from civilization for so long, he was unaware of the tournament being held at East Island.

“Stan?” A new voice called. “Stan, did ya find anything?”

The sound of the voice brought Yin back to his senses. Being in distance territory, it was very unusual to see anyone else roaming the plains. As a precaution, Yin climbed to the top of a tree and hid in the bushes of leaves. He could see the grass moving below and watch the unknown figure step out into the open. Yin found it very suspicious for a snake to be wandering the Australian plains.

“Hey, Stan, what’s with...?” The snake found himself looking down at the body of the tiger Yin killed. If there was one thing Yin didn’t expect him to do, it’s cry. “NO!! Stan, why?! Who could have done this to you?! Stan!!”

‘You named that thing?’ Yin thought.

The snake’s unseeable ear perked up at the sound and attracted his attention.

“Gotcha!” Venom exclaimed.

The snake pressed a button on a strange watch he had and created a blue laser sword. The agitated snake jumped up and swung the sword around, barely missing Yin by an inch. As Venom landed, Yin jumped back to the ground; the tree toppled over.

“And just who are you?” Yin sighed.

“I am Venom Novak Snake.” Venom stated. “Son of the great Serpent Novak Snake.”

“Never heard of him.” Yin said.

“Look, just tell me who you are so I can kill you.” Venom asked.

“The name’s Yin.” Yin introduced. “Why do you want to kill me?”

“You killed Stan.” Venom said, pointing to the dead tiger.

“How was I supposed to know he was yours?” Yin shrugged.

“Hiss!” Venom yelled.

“Ok, admit that was really pathetic.” Yin sniggered.

“I know.” Venom said sadly.

In Venom’s moment of distraction, Yin brought out Masamune. As Yin charged at the snake, Venom pressed another button on his watch to release a laser net which Yin dodged. Venom released another laser net from his watch. Yin simply cut through it and transformed Masamune into a whip of darkness and caught both halves and threw them back at Venom, but the snake dodged it.

“You know, there are two things I hate.” Yin #2 said angrily. “Losing and fish.”

“Fish?” Venom repeated.

“I have an allergy to fish, ok?!” Yin exclaimed.

Venom broke out in fits of laughter, which pissed Yin off. Yin jumped at the snake and swung Masamune. Venom pressed a button on his watch and created a laser shield around his arm and sent Yin flying back. Venom intended to finish the fight until something caught his eyes. Yin dropped something when he tripped and Yin picked it up.

“This is...” Venom muttered. “Hey, where did you get this from?!”

“Huh?” Win questioned. He looked to Venom and saw him holding a communicator. “Hey, give that back! That was given to me by a friend of mine!”

“This is a Blur Team communicator, isn’t it?” Venom asked lowly, handing the communicator back.

“Yeah, it is.” Yin said cautiously, taking the medal. “How did you know?”

“Because I’m a friend of Vec.” Venom stated. “Maybe we should talk some other place.”

"How come?" Yin asked.

The two took another look at their surroundings and found that they were surrounded by a pack of leopards.

"That's why." Venom said.

Later that night, Venom and Yin were gathered around a fire that Venom made. Yin, who, for some reason, brought frying pan, was cooking the leftover meat from the leopards. Venom was crying over the grave of Stan the Tiger; Yin sweat-dropped.

“You done yet?” Yin asked as Venom walked back.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Venom said cheerfully. “So, any idea when food will be done?”

“I don’t know.” Yin shrugged. “I usually have to find all my meals.”

“Sound’s like your poor.” Venom smirked.

“No.” Yin grinned. “I’ve just lived most of my life at a dojo training with the legendary swordsman Blade, I’ve been on my own since he disappeared after Apocalypse’s defeat. The sword I use here is the legendary Masamune, it once cursed me until Blade’s nobody vanished and it truly chose me”

“Nice.” Venom laughed.

“I know; my friend holds it twin, Excalibur.” Yin said. “Say, I noticed that watch of yours during the fight. Where’d you get it from?”

“My dad gave it to me.” Venom said pleasingly, staring at his watch. “It was his greatest invention. He taught me all the designs and schematics so that I could one day use it. This watch can do everything from scanners to weapons. The only thing it can’t do is tell time, hence my second watch.”

“It can’t tell time?” Yin asked.

“There was no more room for the clock.” Venom explained.

“I’ve visited Megalo City once, but none of their technology is as advanced as that.” Yin stated. “Where did your dad get the parts to make something like that?”

“I think he made it from Nocturne tech.” Venom said insecurely. “My dad never told me anything other than how to work this watch.”

Hey, I was just wondering.” Yin spoke up. “If your Vec’s cousin, why hasn’t he ever mentioned you.”

“He probably still hasn’t forgiven me.” Venom said. “Rector and I haven’t talked to each other in seven years.”

“How come.” Yin asked curiously.

“It was his fault that my father died.” Venom sneered.

“What happened?” Venom asked.

“Back then, I was just a young boy.” Yin explained. “The chaotix Jr came to help my family because some group of creatures came to take one of my dad’s newest inventions, soon one of them threatened my father, he made an agreement that if Vec gave him/her/it my dad’s machine he would let him live, I told him not to because I knew he could stop him, but Vec didn’t listen, the creature got the machine, but still killed my father, after that I bit the creature to his death, and I sent Vec into the hospital in anger. I soon learned he was Dino Grong, a minion of Naja”

“Naja...” Yin said. “I know I heard that name from somewhere.”

Venom starts tinkering with his watch and pulls up a screen with the familiar venomous snake. “Here he is. Naja the Snake was once a scientist that once worked for the king of South Island. Years later, he was sentenced to execution for planned crimes against the new queen and her newborn son.” Venom turns off his watch. “It says he escaped, but nothing else is known.”

“I wouldn’t expect anyone to know.” Yin said. “Naja hasn’t been around long enough for anyone to know.”

“What do you mean?” Venom asked.

“Well, he...”

“We wouldn’t want you to spoil everything would we?”

The sound of the voice sent trembles down Yin’s spine. Venom jumped to his feet at the sound, only to find himself thrown back down by a green fist. Yin sat there and watched as the fist retreated to the shadows and the master behind the assault emerged. Naja the Snake hissed in malevolence at Yin’s cowardice and walked behind him, kneeling to his level.

“I see you haven’t forgotten.” Naja hissed.

“What do you want from me?” Yin growled. “What more could you possibly take?”

“You can’t escape your past.” Naja hissed. “You cannot tell me you do not miss that lust you once held.”

“I’m not like that anymore.” Yin glared.

“Then prove it.” Naja challenged.

On the reaction, Yin twisted his body around and took a wild slash to the center. Unfortunately, Naja used his stretching abilities to move his chest out of the way.

“MEGA LASER!!”

Naja’s eyes widened at the sound and shot around in time to see massive red laser headed in his direction. On the reaction, Naja bowed his head and lowed himself into the ground below, effortlessly avoiding the attack. Naja’s head burst from the ground and gazed in the direction the attack originated. He found Venom and looked surprisingly pleased.

“It can’t be him.” Naja hissed, pulling himself from the ground. “Is that you, Serpent? No, you’re not Serpent.” Naja hissed. “You just merely his son possessing the Novak.”

“The Novak?” Venom repeated.

“That watch you wear around your wrist.” Naja answered. “Serpent named it after himself.”

“You sure know a lot about the watch.” Venom said cautiously.

“Of course I know about it.” Naja said. “I’m the one who helped him designed it.”

“You what?!” Venom exclaimed.

“That’s right.” Naja cackled. “That why I had my minion to go kill your father even at the death of his own.”

The new information dealt a hard blow to Venom’s heart. Taking pride in his work, Naja thrust his foot forward and kicked Venom in the chest ten feet away. As Naja retracted his leg, he held both his arms high to block Masamune.

“You dare to challenge me?” Naja said angrily. “Have you forgotten who it was that taught you to fight? You should be down on your bended knee, thanking me for saving you from an empty life.”

“You were never a father to me.” Yin sneered.

“I know well enough.” Naja whispered close to his ear. “MetalX is waiting.”

Before either Yin could ask who MetalX was, Naja suddenly gripped his head. Just when victory seemed so close, Naja was suddenly forced to release them. Venom had picked himself up and tackled Naja in the chest.

“You filthy reptile!” Naja yelled.

“I don’t know what happened between you and my dad.” Venom said seriously. “But I won’t let you escape.”

“Do you intend to defeat me with that Mega Laser of yours?” Naja laughed. “At the speed it moves, I will be long gone by then.”

“Then this should raise the stakes.”

Before Naja even had a chance to react, Masamune came up behind him as a whip and forced his hands behind his back before they were tied as a knot with his tail.

“MEGA LASER!!” Venom shouted.

And with a single switch, Venom once again released the massive red beam from his watch. Naja, now panicking, increased his struggle to break free from the grip. He managed to take back one of his arms, but by the time he could use it, the beam had already shot through his chest. Naja’s dead body fell backwards and slammed into the ground; his eyes rolled back to his head.

“At least we took care of him.” Venom said. “Although, I did have some questions for him about my dad.”

“Then you should ask him next time.” Yin grimaced.

Venom turned his head in confusion; Yin rolled his eyes and moved closer to Naja’s dead body. He reached for the vipers face and rips off the skin. Venom looked ready to hurl until he noticed something wrong. Instead of internal organs, there was a crash dummy wearing the snake's skin.

“Ok, what’s up?” Venom questioned. “Why aren’t we looking at fake body instead of a dead snake?”

“Naja never took the chances to show his real face.” Yin explained. “He would always send something disguised as him to fool others.”

“So, now what?” Venom asked.

“I don’t know about you, but I have a strange feeling I need to head to future city.” Yin said.

“Well, that’s where I was heading.” Venom said.

The two stare at one another for a moment before slamming their fists together as a sign of friendship. But before Yin had even taken his tenth step, he could here crying coming from behind. He turned around and saw Venom sobbing over Stan’s grave.

“Stan! Why?!” Venom cried.

Yin sweat-dropped.

“Now, let’s see who’s up first.” Hybrid smirked.
With a wave of his hands, the mixed hedgehog activated the randomizer. The symbols flew across the screen, leaving everyone eager with anticipation. Everyone was a nervous wreck, wondering who they were going to be facing. They all met the contestants and didn’t feel too confident with their chances. Soon the randomizer slowed down and two symbols landed in circles.
“Are the lucky winners are...” Hybrid announced. The randomizer slowly came to a stop of two different symbols. The first was a Bow/arrow symbol; the second was a black alien symbol.
“The first match: Heather vs. Kazuki!” Hybrid announced.
“All right!” Kazuki cheered, performing back flips in midair. “This is the best day ever!”
“You haven’t even been here five minutes and you’re all ready starting fights.” Mathias smirked.
“I guess that why things work, Matty.” Heather said confidently; Mathias grew irritated at the nickname.
“Now if you’ll follow me...” Hybrid called to the competitors. “I will show you to the battle field.”
“Blur, don’t you think it’s weird he looks like you me and Leon?” Mach whispered.
“Let’s just play along for now.” Blur whispered back.
After waving the screen away, Hybrid stepped down from the platform and made his way to the winding stairway on the left side of the room. Due to the excitement, Kazuki and Heather plowed their way through the rest of the crowd and stampeded after Hybrid. The rest of the crowd stared at the overexcited females before reluctantly following too. As Hybrid led them around the staircase, the others had vague idea of how big the castle was. There were over fifty staircases; some of which appeared to be closed off.
“Where do all these stairs lead to?” Raine asked curiously.
“Most of the rooms in the castle have been renovated for housing.” Hybrid explained. “There are thirteen floors above ground and twelve floors below ground. Each stairway leads to a different part section of the castle.” He looked over his shoulder towards the group. “Basement floors 1-10 are accessible to the public, but the last two are off-limits.”
“How come?” Charyb asked suspiciously.
“Like I said before...” Hybrid said coldly. “Some doors are meant to stay closed.”
Once again, a cold chill spread across the competitors spines. Even Jac felt it strange that Hybrid was able to create a chill in the atmosphere. The only time he felt such a chill was when there was great evil around. Something was not right with this hedgehog. After walking a few flights of stairs, Hybrid stopped the group at the seventh floor. They were faced with a steel door, which Hybrid opened with a spark of electricity from his palm. As the others followed Hybrid inside, they stared in awe at the marvel before them. It was a small room, but it contained a futuristic steel platform with a massive blue bubble hanging overhead.
“What is that?” Strike questioned.
“This is a matter transporter.” Hybrid explained. “I developed it with the assistance of Egghog, Tech, and Wing. We created it specifically to only activate to my powers. Once someone stands on the platform, I can transport them, molecule by molecule, to any location in the world. I can also use it to transport someone back to this location.”
“There isn’t a chance someone could lose a limb, is there?” Space questioned.
“There have been a number of accidents during the testing.” Hybrid said sheepishly; the crowd backed away from the transporter. “Don’t worry, we’ve worried out all the kinks and its perfectly safe.”
“So, what’s the bubble for?” Venus asked curiously.
“That ‘bubble’ is a syringe viewing portal.” Hybrid stated. “We can use it to watch the battles wherever they take place." He turned to face the crowd. "Now for the rules: there are none. You are allowed to use every trick in the book. The only way to lose is to give up, lose consciousness, or if you're about to die.”
“About to die?” Blizzard repeated.
“I’ve modified the transporter.” Hybrid said. “It will bring back a person moments before any chance of dying.” He turned to speak with Heather and Kazuki. “Once you arrive at the destination, the match will officially begin.”
Both walked up to the platform and stood under the gigantic bubble. Kazuki glanced eagerly to Heather, who stared back with equal confidence. Once they were in place, Hybrid held out his hands and released a surge of electricity from his palms directed at the platform. With the needed power, seven colored lasers sprung from the platform and shot into the bubble above. It was only a moment later before a white laser dropped from the bubble and engulfed the two fighters in its ray. When the light faded, both had vanished.
-------------------------------------------
---South Korea---
The scene alters to an ancient temple that was long forgotten in the mountains of South Korea. The walls were crumbled, the tiles of the roofs were falling, and most of the temples structure was unstable. All was quite with only a few rats to occupy the abandoned temple. Suddenly, a white beam of light dropped from the sky and transported Heather and Kazuki to the courtyard.
“Ok, now that was cool!” Kazuki said happily. Without warning, a single arrow flew across the air and barely slipped past Kazuki’s shoulder. The surprised fox reached for his cheek and touched blood. “Hey, what was that for?!”
“We’ve having a fight, aren’t we?” Heather said smug; her bow held out. “I was just getting the party started.”
“But I wasn’t ready!” Kazuki whined. “That isn’t fair!”
“All’s fair in love and battles.” Heather recited.
The two warriors stared at one another, awaiting any sight of movement from their opponent. After two minute, neither opponent had moved an inch, but Kazuki looked ready to burst. He wasn’t the most patient type. Suddenly, the wind picked up and a single leaf floated between them. In one instant, Heather swiftly reached back for her quiver, but Kazuki acted by bouncing off Heather’s head. As the fox flipped through the air, Heather swiftly shot two arrows in under a second. Fortunately, Kazuki landed on the roof and the arrows bounced off the tiles.
“They always have to make it difficult.” Heather sighed.
Using a nearby column, Heather made her way to the roof. Once she landed, she quickly pulled out her bow and a set of arrows. But to her surprise, the rooftop was completely clear. Heather walked across with her bow held ready and looked down from the edge.
“Where has he...?” Heather trailed off.
“Coming through!”
Heather barely had time to turn before Kazuki dropped from the sky and kicked her across the face. This action caused Heather to accidentally toss her bow across the roof and slipped over the edge. Reacting fast, the female archer grasped the edge before plummeting to her doom. Heather struggled to pull herself back up, but Kazuki stood over her with his feet resting on the archer’s hands.
“You know, most people would duck when they are being attacked.” Kazuki stated.
“And most people would be silent when attacking someone.” Heather grunted.
“Silent...” Kazuki said thoughtfully. “Wow, I never thought of that.”
“Clearly.” Heather muttered.
Kazuki scratched his head continuously, unknown to Heather’s actions. While he was distracted, Heather secretly removed her right gauntlet without Kazuki knowing. Slowly, she reached into her sash and pulled out a hidden dagger. As she raised it over her head, Kazuki finally noticed what Heather was doing and flipped back before she could stab him. Taking this chance, Heather quickly pulled herself up and made a dash for her bow. Just as Kazuki landed, Heather grabbed her bow, skidded across the roof, and released three sets of arrows in a second. Thankfully, Kazuki was able to bend his way around the arrows.
“Man, he’s good.” Heather thought, releasing another set of arrows. “He’s the first person ever to dodge any of my shots.”
“Yike!” Kazuki screamed; he dodged through another row of arrows.
“IS HE MOCKING ME!” Heather exclaimed. “That doesn’t it! No more mister nice hedgehog...I mean, misses.”
With an irritated expression, Heather reached for her quiver and pulled out another arrow. But this one was different from the others; it was blue and the arrowhead was made of crystal. Kazuki noticed the strange new arrow. Heather released the shot, which was aimed for his hand. Kazuki effortlessly pushed off his hand and escaped the arrow, but when he landed back to his feet, he suddenly slipped and streaked across the roof to stop below Heather. Looking for an explanation, Kazuki gazed over his shoulder and noticed the whole roof covered in ice.
“Uh...what was that?” Kazuki asked confused.
“That was just a taste of my ice arrow.” Heather grinned, reach back for another arrow. This time, it was a red arrow with a charcoal arrowhead. Suddenly, the head ignited. “Now have a little of my flame arrow.”
As Heather pulled back on the string, Kazuki used his tails as a spring to slide away before the shot hit. With some difficulty, Kazuki managed to get back to his feet. Growing further annoyed with the fox, Heather pulled out a set of flame arrows and shot them across the rooftop. Kazuki was able to use the ice as an advantage and skated his way around the arrows. Many of his dodges were close calls and a few of them managed to singe his fur. But while Kazuki wasn’t looking, Heather skated behind him and pulled her bow against her throat. Kazuki struggled to break free from Heather’s hold, but she would let go.
“You better hope you get sent back son.” Heather growled.
“Can’t...breathe...” Kazuki said hoarsely. “Losing...oxygen. Must...find...pickles.”
“Find pickles? He’s delirious.” Heather commented. Just when it looked over, both could hear a cracking sound coming below their feet. They looked down momentarily when they noticed the ice below was starting to break away. “You know, looking back, firing a set of flame arrows on an icy rooftop wasn’t the best idea.”
“Ya think!” Kazuki croaked.
The rooftop finally collapsed, dropping both fighters inside the sanctuary of the temple. With the addition of the newly destroyed rubble on the floor, the inner palace was actually more restored than the outside of the temple. It was dark, but a giant golden statue could be seen at the end of the long room. Back with our fighters, Heather pushed away the large boulder that fell on top of her, miraculously escaping injury.
“That’ll be a pain in the tail.” Heather groaned.
“Come on, get off!” Kazuki screeched.
Looking back at her opponent, Kazuki could be struggling with an extra large boulder that was pinned on his tails. This was too good of a chance to pass up. Pushing away the rubble, Heather picked up her bow and reached into her quiver. This time, it was a yellow with a chrome tip. As Kazuki tried to pull his tails out, his attention was quickly altered to the arrow inches away from her face. To make things worse, the arrow was surrounded by an electric field.
“You wouldn’t hit an unarmed boy, would you?” Kazuki asked innocently.
“Sorry, that’s the way the world works.” Heather said proudly.
With an expression of victory on her face, Heather pulled back her arrow and aimed precisely between Kazuki’s eyes. Just as she was ready to release, something unexpected happened. A fragment of the ceiling broke of and slammed over Heather. There was a quick flash before the fragment crashed, meaning Heather was sent back.
“That was anticlimactic.” Kazuki commented.
A moment later, Kazuki vanished in a flash of light.

---East Island---
When Kazuki opened his eyes again, she was relieved to find that his tails were safe from harm. Heather was sitting on the platform, banging her fists in frustration. The other fighters who had been watching were clapping at their returning champions with the of the Metal Squadron.
“Winner: Kazuki Fujiwara!” Hybrid announced; the crowd cheered. “Kazuki will be moving on to the next round of the tournament!”
“Are you all right, Heather.” Mathias asked, crouching to his friend.
“I lost.” Heather complained. “I was careless and lost disgracefully.”
“Don’t say that.” Kazuki said kindly. “You were great out there. Most of the time, I thought you were going to kill me. If the roof didn’t fall on you, I would have lost.”
Heather couldn’t help it; she fell backward and laughed her head off. Even Mathias couldn’t help grinning. Egghog walked up to the blue hedgehog and helped her back to her feet. Heather staggered, but was able to balance herself enough to stand. Egghog looked to his master, who nodded, and led Heather and Mathias out of the room.
“While their injuries are being treated, let us move on to the second round.” Hybrid said.
Once everyone had calmed down from the excitement, Hybrid waved his hand to the back wall. The same large television screen from the entrance hall dropped from the ceiling and showed the randomizer again. And with a snap from the mixed hedgehog’s finger, the machine activated again. The tension was high as they knew their opponents would be more enticed from the first match. After two minutes, the randomizer stopped on two symbols. One was a red pencil symbol; the other was a blue gizoid eye symbol.
“The second match: Ryan vs. Charyb!”
“A little sooner than I expected, but just as good.” Ryan said confidently.
“Don’t take things lightly, Ryan.” Vash advised. “If he was good enough to compete, he’s definitely stronger than he looks.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Ryan waved.
“He never listens, does he?” Vash asked his younger friend.
“Nope.” Alan replied.
Ryan greeted Charyb with a look that said she already won. Charyb returned this with a angry look, which Ryan instantly recoiled from. With Hybrid using his powers to activate the transporter, Ryan and Charyb vanished in a beam of white light.
----------------------------------------------
---Serbia---
The scene changes to a deep forest range in the northern area of Serbia. By the looks of the trees and plant life, the forest had remained undisturbed for years. That was until two weeks before the tournament took place. A large clearing was formed in the center of the forest with most of surrounding trees toppled over just recently and several vines were strewn across the forest floor. A few moments later, Ryan and Charyb appeared in the clear in a flash of light; the hedgehog looked sickly green.
“Teleportation...” Ryan groaned. “Definitely not one of my favorite ways to travel.”
“Suck it up, aren’t you the author.” Charyb said.
“SHUT UP CHARYB!” Ryan yelled; his sickness forgotten.
“And you have the anger boosting problems of Autism, Anxiety and ADHD.” Charyb sniggered. “Man, you are just full of problems, aren’t ya?”
“That’s it!” Ryan screeched. “You are so dead, gizoid!”
“Perfect.” Charyb thought. “He’s angry now. This will make things much easier for me.”
Without warning, Ryan jumped head forward with claws of darkness. He swiped them across Charyb’s head, but the gizoid effortlessly ducked below and swung his leg around his feet. Ryan tripped over, but managed to catch himself and flipped backwards to his feet. Unfortunately, Charyb decided to improvise a little. He grabbed a vine from the ground and wrapped it around Ryan’s left leg before he could make a proper landing. Just as he set his foot down, Charyb twisted his right arm backward and trapped it with the same vine. Ryan struggled to keep his balance with his leg and arm constricting each other. Charyb sniggered at his performance.
“Not funny.” Ryan sneered.
“It’s pretty funny from my point of view.” Charyb chuckled.
“You won’t be laughing much longer.” Ryan said confidently.
“And what makes you think that?” Charyb questioned.
Ryan grunted in pain as he forced his arm backwards further so that he could get a grip on the vine. Suddenly, he created an aura around his palm. The vine snapped and Ryan was free from Charyb’s trap. Charyb watched in amazement as Ryan manipulated the form of the aura around his hands into a feral claw.
“Now that’s interesting.” Charyb commented.
“You haven’t seen anything yet. This is why you shouldn’t make fun of me.” Ryan glared.
In an expected turn of events, Ryan grasped Charyb’s wrist and twisted the situation around. Now Charyb’s face was being plowed to the ground and Ryan was trying to push his bladed hand into his back. Charyb tried her best not to give Ryan the satisfaction of knowing he was in pain. While Ryan retained one hand to keep him pinned, the hedgehog pulled out a katana strapped to his back. Charyb pushed himself to look over his shoulder and found the weapon nearing his head. In a desperate attempt for freedom, Charyb twisted his hand around towards him. It may have been tough, but it was enough for him to release a Aqua sphere at Ryan’s face. At the last second, Ryan moved his katana in front of the bolt, forcing him to release it. With the enemy distracted, Charyb pushed Ryan off and jumped away from him.
“Well, that’s too bad.” Ryan said, pulling out a second katana. “Now it looks like I’m gonna have to get serious.”
Charyb could tell that he was at a disadvantage. Ryan has barely taken any real damage during the fight. Seeing this, Charyb prepared his blade; it was the best he could do at the moment. Sensing his weakness, Ryan swung his katana around and cut one of the trees from its trunk. Once on the ground, Ryan kicked the tree and watched it roll towards Charyb. Using whatever strength he could, Charyb cut the tree straight down the middle to avoid collision. Unfortunately, the moment he cut through, a series of dark kunai shot out of nowhere and stabbed at multiple parts of his armor. Charyb was barely able to draw enough strength to stand; his energy had run out.
“Look’s like you’re out of mojo.” Ryan smirked, leaning against a nearby tree. “Are you ready to surrender yet?”
“Not a chance.” Charyb chuckled. “I’m not giving up until I win.”
“That seems a bit contradictory.” Ryan commented.
A vein appeared on Charyb’s forehead. Charyb charge forward with his blade held out. Unfortunately, before he could even reach him, a vine sprung up around his feet and suspended him upside-down from one of the trees.
“What the?” Charyb questioned.
“You like it.” Ryan said. “I made it earlier when you were hopping around. I wasn’t planning on using it, but it’s always better to think ahead.”
“I hate you.” Charyb muttered.
“Get in line.” Ryan said.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ryan pulled back his katana and swung in around for the finishing blow. Even if he would survive the battle, Charyb’s mind would not allow him to lose to this guy. Suddenly as his plate eye opened and his blade released from his hand, Charyb held his palms to the vine and shot a blast of water. The vine snapped just seconds before Ryan could reach his target. This provided the opening Charyb needed. Charyb shot a spike of water directly at Ryan’s heart. Seconds before Charyb could hit, Ryan vanished in a quick flash.
“ALRIGHT!” Charyb cheered.
-------------------------------------------------
---East Island---
The moment Charyb arrived back on the island, he was greeted with a roar of applause; everyone was happy to see Charyb out of the running. But a few seconds later, Charyb suddenly fell back in exhaustion. He nearly hit the ground before Light caught him.
“So, did I win?” Charyb groaned.
“You won, all right.” Light nodded.
“Winner: Prefect Charyb!” Hybrid announced; the crowd cheered for the weakened gizoid. “Charyb will be moving on to the next round with Kazuki.
Charyb was enjoying the attention when they heard a low growling sound. Armand and Ryan both looked over to Ryan. His facial appearance didn’t look like he was angry, but the growl from his mouth proved other wise. Tech walked up to the platform and assisted Charyb out the door to the infirmary. Wing offered his assistance, but Ryan pushed him away and made his way towards the door.
“So much for the great Ryan Dark Emerald.” Mach taunted.
Ryan ignored the jeers he was receiving and slammed the door as he exited. Ryan watched as Charyb was taken to the higher levels of the castle before heading back down. After trudging seven flights of stairs, Ryan found himself back at the entrance hall.
“This is Ryan calling Command.” Ryan said into the communicator. “I have just lost the first round of the tournament.”
“Good work, Ryan.” A voice spoke back. “Phase one of you mission is complete. Now you can proceed with phase two.”
“I need to take a while before I can move on.” Ryan stated. “I had to pull my punches back in the fight. Do you know how hard it was to lose on purpose?”
“We don’t want to attract attention to ourselves.” The voice said. “Remember, you are working undercover. Not even Agent Mach and Agent Jasmine know about your mission.”
“I know, I know.” Ryan sighed. “I think I might have a lead. This ‘Hybrid’ person is constantly avoiding the subject of the basement floors. I believe that’s where he’s keeping the Chaos Emeralds since that fiasco the happened before round one, and whatever he is using them for.”
“Check it out as swift and quietly as you can.” The voice said.
With that last bit, Ryan cut off the connection. Making sure he wasn’t seen, Ryan replaces the communicator in his pocket and makes his way back to the seventh floor. They have most likely started the third round. But as Ryan made his way back up, he remained unaware of the gizoid that was watching him.

The competition was tense with the completion of two round of the Ultimate World Tournament. Despite all odds, Kazuki and Charyb had advanced to the next round. Ryan had dropped from sight after losing his match.
“Now let’s move on to the next round, shall we?” Hybrid said placidly.
Once he gained everyone’s attention, the mixed hedgehog waved his hand along the randomizer screen. The crowd watched eagerly as their symbols were flying across the board, not knowing where it would stop. Shade appeared to be losing her patience with the contest. She tapped her foot repeatedly and looked in Knuckles’ direction every few minutes. The guardian echidna noticed this and felt a bit edgy around her. Finally, the randomizer stopped and Blur looked ready to feint. The first was a blue hedgehog symbol; the other was a red gizoid eye symbol.
“The fifth match: Blur vs. Scylla!” Hybrid announced.
“You’re kidding...right?” Scylla asked.
-------------------------------------------
---Italy---
The scene alters to a familiar ruined coliseum in the middle of peaceful Italy. Since it was night time, most tourists were sent away, which made it better for our arriving competitors. Blur and Scylla both appeared in a flash of light; Blur falling on his face. The blue hedgehog pulled his head out of the dusty ground in the center of the coliseum and scanned his surroundings.
“Ok, where are we?” Blur questioned.
“It looks like the famous Roman Coliseum.” Scylla informed. “During the times when the Romans were on the verge of conquest, they would fight here for sport and competition. In my opinion, this would be a suitable place for a battle.” Scylla stopped for a moment when he realized that Blur was on the other side of the Coliseum. “Why do I think that’s bad?”
Clapping his hands together, Scylla summoned up a Pyro Tornado to strike down upon the blue hedgehog. But Blur had a natural affinity with tornado based attacks and stood against the force. Surprised by this, Scylla's eye opened up and he released his blade before stamped his foot again to create a fissure full of fire below Blur’s feet. The attack caught him off guard, but Blur managed to bounce off the walls and jump back into the fight. Just as Blur landed back on the ground, a raging fireball was headed for his head. Acting fast, Blur summoned his signature technique into his hand.
“CHAOS TORNADO!!” Blur called out.
The blue hedgehog collided his attack with the fireball, canceling the attack due to equal strength. As the smoke from the flames cleared, Blur and Scylla stared at one another from each end of the stadium; both looked excited from the battle.
“Hey, you’re not bad.” Blur complimented...slightly.
“And you’re pretty good for a cocky leader.” Scylla sniggered. “But just because you got lucky doesn’t mean you’ll win.”
“That wasn’t luck.” Blur smirked. “That was pure skill.”
“We’ll see about that.” Scylla hissed.
As Scylla clapped his hands together, Blur prepared for anything that would happen. But before Scylla could attack, he felt a sudden pain in his chest. Then fell to his knees.
“Scylla!” Blur cried.
“I knew I hadn’t perfected that attack yet.” Scylla said weakly. "Ouch."
And with that said, Scylla collapsed to the ground. Since he had lost consciousness, Scylla vanished in a flash of light with Blur following shortly behind.
-------------------------------------------
---East Island---
“Winner: Blur Journey Blazer!” Hybrid announced. “Blur shall move on to the next round!”
When Blur looked up, he found himself back at the castle. But unlike the other matches, there was no praise or applause given to him. Everyone was muttering to each other, wondering what happened. Looking to his side, the blue hedgehog could find Scylla still collapsed on the ground. Blur kneeled to his new friend’s side as White, Charyb, and Rave ran up to them.
“What happened to him?” Blur asked fearfully.
“His circuit got disconnected.” Charyb said. “I knew it was a bad idea for him to use his Fire Fissure attack without perfecting it.”
Charyb grabbed Scylla’s arms to help lift him up. With the exception of Morph and the Metal Squadron, everyone was worried for Scylla. As they followed Wing out the door, Ryan finally showed up after his long disappearance. He stared at Scylla’s weakened form before the door closed.
“Did I miss anything?” Ryan questioned.
“Not much.” Hybrid shrugged. “Now let’s put everything behind us and continue on to the next match.”

Deciding to worry about Scylla later, the crowd returned their attention back to the randomizer. Hybrid waved his hands and sent the symbols flying across the screen. After a few minutes of waiting, the screen slowly came to a halt on two symbols. The first was a red alien symbol; the next was a circle outline symbol.
“The sixth match: Jac vs. Rogue Assilant!” Hybrid announced.
“Good luck.” Ryan said tauntingly.
“I don’t need it.” Jac glared.
The rogue assilant rolled his eyes and followed the red hedgehog up to the platform. Gazing down to his opponent’s hand, Jac noticed a small black cloth covering his hand. Hybrid used his powers to activate the transporter with both fighters disappearing in a flash of light.
------------------------------------------------
---Denmark---
The scene shifts to one of the more pleasant beaches in the island country of Denmark. Thankfully due to the winter season, most tourists didn’t go to the beach to enjoy some fun in the sun. After a few moments of peace, a white laser shot from the sky and landed on the sandy shore. When the light faded, Jac and Mercury were found facing against one another.
“Nice place.” Rouge Assilant said nonchalantly. “Now if it wasn’t for the cold, I wouldn't mind living here.”
“I guess you aren’t the brains of your group, Nameless.” Jac said superiorly.
“I have a brain!” Rogue Assilant exclaimed. “I just let Mars take all the credit. And I have a name, it’s Mercury”
“So he’s the one in charge of your group.” Jac smirked; a vein appeared on Mercury’s forehead. “But that’s beside the point. I want answers and you can give them to me.” He held out his burnt hand. “Why did my hand burn when we touched?”
“Heh! Wouldn’t you like to know?” Mercury grinned.
“Yes, I would.” Jac said darkly.
Without warning, Jac zipped up to Mercury and raised his foot over the grey cat's head. Acting fast, Mercury twirled around and blocked Jac’s foot with his own. The sudden contact emitted red sparks, caused pain for both fighters. Though under extreme pain, Jac managed to pull himself back and break contact between them. Staring at his leg, Jac noticed a bright red mark from where they touched. He quickly noticed the same mark on Mercury’s leg.
“This is insane.” Jac thought. “How am I supposed to fight someone when I can’t touch them? Close-combat is definitely out of the question. Looks like I’ll have to rely on long-range.”
“Ok, maybe I should have listened to Mars.” Mercury said, wincing from his mark. “If I can’t touch the guy, then that means punching and kicking is out. Well, at least I’ll get some target practice in.”
Both fighters slowly started to adapt to the pain and moved into a combat position. Without Mercury knowing, Jac secretly gathered a collective amount of purple chaos into his right palm. Without taking his eyes off the cat, Jac slowly molded the energy into the shape of a large arrow. Everything was ready. Both warriors glared at one another with no motion of attack coming from either of them. The silence was finally broken single leaf broke from one of the trees and gently landed on the ground. Almost instantly, both oppositions jumped back and attack.
“NEXUS FIRE ARROW!!” Jac called out.
“CHAOS LANCE!!” Mercury yelled.
Jac tossed the flaming purple arrow at his opponent, but Mercury somehow released a red version of the same attack. Both energy attacks collided and created a massive energy blast that sent both opponents stumbling backwards. Mercury quickly rebound from this and waited for Jac to appear from the smokescreen. But as the black smog faded from the air, Mercury found that Jac had vanished from sight.
“Uh...I didn’t vaporize him, did I?” Mercury scratched his head confused. “If I did, the boss is gonna pay me a huge bonus!”
“Sorry to spoil your happy mood.” Jac apologized sarcastically.
Jac released the Nexus Warp and appeared in front of Mercury, causing him to jump back suddenly. Mercury attempt to attack, but his jump accidentally tripped a trap that Jac created. A strong vine suddenly constricted around Mercury’s feet and dragged him upside-down on a tree. This wouldn’t have been a problem if more vines didn’t suddenly appear and strangled his entire body into place. Struggle as he might, Mercury could not break free.
“Ok, this could have gone better.” Mercury said amusingly. “You really know how to set a trap, big bro.”
“Don’t call me that.” Jac commanded. “I will not fall to your level.”
“But why not.” Mercury smirked. “I thought you would happy of hearing your little brother praising you.”
“Little brother?” Jac repeated confused; he slammed his fist near Mercury’s head. “What the hell are you talking about?! Why are you calling me that?!”
“I call you that because it’s true.” Mercury stated. “We are both brothers, created from the same father.”
“Nexus.” Jac said lowly.
“Exactly.” Mercury responded. “After you separated, Nexus has been secretly working on the next Nexus Trigger. Of course, with out the old man...”
“Dad!” Jac growled.
“Yeah, him.” Mercury shrugged. “Without him, Nexus didn’t have the designs to create another one. So he had to work from scratch. Mars was the first of his experiments, but he couldn’t run fast or use Nexus like you. His next experiment was Venus, but she couldn't nexus. I was the final product.”
“You’re not so final now.” Jac said, spinning Mercury in his trap. “Why have you come here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Mercury said coldly. “Our master wants the Chaos Emeralds. Once he has them all, he’ll be the ultimate force in the universe! And with us at his side!”
“Is that what this is about?” Jac glared. “World domination? Then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from one of Nexus’ flunkies. All you desire is conquest.”
“Well...I don’t really care about ruling the world.” Mercury said honestly. “Personally, I just want to have a good time. You know, travel the world and see new sights.”
“Then why are you working for Nexus?” Jac questioned.
“What choice do we have?” Mercury said sadly. “He created us, so he controls us. I’ve seen what’s done to Mars when he slips up. If I don’t do as I’m told, he’ll destroy all of us.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” Jac said seriously. “I was once under his control, but I managed to break free. It was because I had something stronger than Nexus: a purpose.”
“A purpose?” Mercury repeated.
“I realized that Nexus doesn’t control my destiny, I do.” Jac Continued. “If you can take hold of your own fate, you can change your own destiny.” Jac smiled. “Blur taught me that.”
“I...I guess your right.” Mercury realized. “Hey, if you can change your destiny, I shouldn’t have any problem at all.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jac smirked. “You can start changing your future by telling me where Nexus is hiding and what he is planning”
“Sure thing.” Mercury nodded; his head was suddenly turning red. “But first, can you let me down for a minute. I think the blood’s rushing to my head.” He gained a distant look. “Hey, when have there been two of you?”
Jac shook his head, but subsequently tosses a Nexus Wave to the vines. The action releases Mercury, but allows him to drop on his head. Though still dazed, Mercury slowly moved back to his feet. Just as Jac was about to ask about Nexus, the hedgehog was forced to his knees by a sudden throbbing sensation in his head.
“Jac, what’s wrong?” Mercury asked concerned.
“I would suggest you be more worried about yourself.” A familiar voice echoed.
Mercury’s spine was struck cold at the sound of the voice. Though he knew he would regret it, the grey cat slowly turned around in its direction. The moment he did, a pitch-black hand wrapped around his neck, slowly cutting off the circulation. Mercury soon found himself being lifted off the ground by none other than Nexus himself.
“Uh, Nexus.” Mercury said fearfully. “W-what are you doing here?”
“The moment I knew you would face Jac, I made haste to intervene.” Nexus explained. “I knew your soft heart would lead you to betraying me. I decided to make extra precautions for when you do.”
“How...did you know?” Jac grunted with pain.
“Mars was kind enough to inform me.” Nexus said malevolently. “Unlike some ungrateful cretins, he knows where his loyalty lies.” The alien overlord raised his hand to Mercury’s head. “Because you are my greatest creation, I will not kill you. But to keep my secrets, I will erase your memories of everything involving the Black Arms.”
The dark hedgehog released a surge of red electricity from his palms and forced it into Mercury’s cranium. The pain was so intense that Mercury lost consciousness within seconds. After rejecting all the needed memories, Nexus released the grey cat who disappeared in a flash of light. With Mercury gone, Jac was also starting to be transported back.
“NEXUS WARP!!” Jac called.
The black hedgehog froze time temporarily, which also stopped the transportation sequence. Since Nexus was the first to discover Chaos Control, he obviously used it to keep track of Jac.
“I see you wanted some time alone, Jac.” Nexus said sinisterly. “Have you chosen to finally surrender?”
“I just wanted to make a promise.” Jac stated.
“A promise?” Nexus repeated confused.
“I swear, no matter where you hide, I’ll find you.” Jac said solemnly. “And when I do, I’ll make you pay for all the people you have harmed” He clutched his fist in anger. “Chase, Chriswana, and dad; I will avenge them.”
“Such bold words.” Nexus said darkly. “Let’s see if you can keep them. Argus will get his rule.”
‘Argus, I better tell Blur about this when we finish up here.’ With everything said, Jac released the Nexus Warp and vanished in a flash of light.
---------------------------------------------
---East Island---
“Winner: Jac Nexeon Blazestep!” Hybrid announced. “Jac shall move on to the next round!”
As the light faded from Jac’s vision, he once again found himself at the castle with the rest of the competition. Knowing that Jac had won, The Blur Team cheered for their leader’s victory over Mercury. Speaking of whom, the grey cat was still unconscious at Jac’s feet. Just as he bent over to help him, someone suddenly jumped onto the platform and pushed him away. She quickly snatched Mercury and held him close, Jac guessed this was Venus.
“What did you do to him?!” Venus screamed furiously.
“What did I do?!” Jac growled. “I had nothing to do with this! If anyone was at fault, it was Nexus!”
“Nexus?!” Strawberry exclaimed; Kazuki jumped at the name. “Where is he?!”
“You didn’t see what happen?” Jac questioned.
“There was some unexpected interference.” Hybrid stated. “We were watching your battle when a spike of energy shorted out the viewing portal.” He looked to the bubble above and back to the crowd. “The spike is gone, so the portal should be working properly again.”
“What did Nexus want?” Venus asked fearfully.
“Mercury was going to tell me about his whereabouts.” Jac explained. “But before he could, that freak showed up and erased his memories. I was too weak to stop him.” Jac eyes scanned the large crowd in front of him. "where’s Mars?”
“That red wolf guy?” Raxos shrugged. “He left a while ago.”
“It was his fault Nexus found us.” Jac sneered; clutching his fist in rage. “When I find the mutt, I’ll make him wish he was never created.” Sparks began to emerge from his fist. “No one messes with JacQuez Nexeon Blazestep.”
After taking a minute to control himself, Jac sighed and lifted Mercury onto his shoulders. Wave came back only to walk back out with Jac and Venus following her out.
“While they are taken care of, let’s move to the next round.” Hybrid suggested.
Scanning over the remaining contestants, Hybrid took notice that nearly half the crowd was gone. The tournament was becoming more fierce with each round. Everything was going perfectly. With a wave of his hand, Hybrid once again activated the randomizer behind him. The crowd was becoming more eager to see their friends fight, but the fighters themselves were getting impatient. After a few short minutes, the randomizer slowly stopped. But when they revealed their symbols, the brown constellation symbol and the yin yang symbol, two good friends were forced to make an impossible choice.
“Oh no...” Mystic muttered.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Gemini groaned.
“The fifth match: Gemini vs. Mystic!” Hybrid announced.

The first rounds of the Ultimate World Tournament were drawing to a close. So far, four matches have passed with a surprising winner from each round. But as we move to the fifth round, two close friends are forced to face off against one another. The symbols representing Gemini and Mystic flashed across the randomizer screen, much to the heroes’ dismay.
“Oh no...” Mystic muttered.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Gemini groaned.
“The fifth match: Gemini vs. Mystic!” Hybrid announced.
“Of all the people in the world, why did I have to fight him?” Gemini moaned.
“Aw, I’m sure you’ll do just fine, Gemini.” Geisy said encouragingly.
“Not likely.” Rector said darkly; Gemini looked away to prevent seeing his cousin’s glare. “Mystic is the son of Furion. That scum doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Rector, why do you have to be so...” Kika growled.
“Let it go, Kika.” Gemini sighed. “Let him think what he wants.”
As Gemini walked towards the platform, Rector sneered and turned his back to him. He was confident that Mystic would win. In the meanwhile, the others were showing their support for their friend.
“Are you going to be ok?” Ebon asked concerned.
“Of course he'll be ok!” Rain exclaimed; Mystic covered his ears. “He’ll kick that hedgy’s butt into next week!”
“At least you'll have a cheering section.” Mach muttered to Mystic.
“And luckily I won’t be able to hear it.” Mystic grinned.
Mystic was a bit disappointed that Rector didn’t come to support him, but he brushed it off. As he walked on the platform, Gemini and Mystic glanced at one another with different expressions. Mystic looked worried, but Gemini looked...confident. Maybe he wouldn’t have a hard time after all. Hybrid used his electrical powers to activate the platform and both fighters vanished into the white beam.
-----------------------------------------------
---Kenya---
The scene shifts to one of the ancient village ruins of central Kenya. By the looks of the scattered equipment, the village had been under some recent excavation. Luckily, all the workers had gone home for the holidays, which meant no one noticed the white beam dropping in front of the village. As the beam faded, Gemini and Mystic stared in wonder of their surroundings.
“This is a nice place.” Mystic said sarcastically. “A city of rocks. Yeah, that’s very original.”
“Any idea where we are?” Gemini asked.
“Apparently, this is the Ruins of Gedi.” Mystic informed. “This was mostly used as a trader’s route from Venice to China. This place has been declared a nation landmark in Kenya."
“I’d really hate to destroy a famous landmark, but I have no intentions of losing.” Gemini smirked, moving into a fighters stance.
“W-wait! You’re actually serious!” Mystic shouted in surprise. “I can't fight you!”
“And why not?” Gemini questioned.
“Cause you’re my friend.” Mystic stated.
“And that is exactly why you must fight.” Gemini said, leaving the hedgehog confused. “Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends; most people were afraid of me. But you were different. You accepted me for who I was despite my fall into the darkness.” The hedgehog looked to his friend with sincere happiness. “In all reality, you have become my best friend. And as my best friend, I ask you not to hold back.”
Mystic looked dumbstruck at Gemini’s speech, slowing processing the information. After a while, Mystic returned his friends smile with a hint of pride in his eyes.
“Ok, you asked for it.” Mystic said arrogantly. “But just because were friends doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Gemini said.
Mystic forged two metal swords into his hands. Since Gemini could replicate himself, he decided to play it safe. As the purple hedgehog jumped ahead towards Gemini, he activated his replication power to split into two. Mystic had predicted this and stabbed his sword into the ground a few inches from the Gemini’s. As both clones threw simultaneous punches, Mystic used his swords as a base and flipped over their heads. Caught off guard by sudden tactic, Gemini had no time to counteract as Mystic stamped his foot into each of the clone's heads. One Gemini skidded across the ground, while the other was sent flying through the stone walls.
“You seem to have improved.” Gemini said impressed. “Because I’m pretty sure you couldn’t do that before.”
“I after I received the invite, the rest of the team trained me till I dropped.” Mystic said, pulling his swords out of the ground. “That little trick I learned from Magnet.”
“Well, it’s gonna take a lot more than that to beat me.” Gemini said confidently.
Mystic stood ready with energy swords in any case that Gemini would try something funny. Gemini ran forward towards his friend and slid between his legs as the hedgehog swung his energy blades around. Seeking the opportunity, Gemini jumped up and kicked Mystic in the back of the head. This action sent the hedgehog flying near the walls, losing his energy blades in the process. Mystic flipped around in midair and bounced off the wall before touching ground again. From this outlook, Gemini was defiantly the more skilled fighter, but Mystic always had a few tricks up his sleeve. Unfortunately, as Mystic tried to attack, a gloved hand burst from the wall and grabbed his wrist.
“What the?” Mystic questioned
“There’s no way I’m gonna give up an easy win.” Gemini #2 said.
“Who says it’s going to be easy.” Mystic said menacingly. “I can still win.”
“I highly doubt that.” Gemini #1 smirked. “But since you are my friend, I’ll give you one minute to start running before I hunt you down.”
“One minute?” Mystic repeated.
“Actually, it’s more like fifty seconds.” Gemini #2 stated.
Mystic didn’t need to be told twice. Without a second thought, he ran back into the village and trudged deep into the assorted ruins. Once reaching into the heart of the village, Mystic skidded slightly and jumped into the nearest hut. Mystic leaned against the wall in anxiety and slumped closer to the ground with his hands on his head.
“Aw man what do I do now?” Mystic groaned.
Mystic stuck his head out slightly, suspecting that Gemini might be tricking him. But no one within hearing range could be seen in the abandoned village. Mystic needed to think of a way to overcome Gemini without depending on his armor. Looking between the ruins and the scattered tools on the ground, it wasn’t long before Mystic hatched a plan. Meanwhile, both Gemini’s were patiently waiting for time to run out.
“*yawn*.” Gemini #2 shrugged. “I think it’s time we go look for our friend.”
Gemini #1 nodded and trekked into the village ruins along side his clone. Once inside, both hedgehogs went their separate ways around the ruins. Since they shared the same sight, both Gemini’s had no fear of losing track of the other. But as they walked deeper into the village, they found it to be surprisingly quite and Mystic had not made his move yet. This left the clones on edge. And after twelve minutes of endless searching, both hedgehogs walked back to the heart of the village with disappointed expressions on their faces.
“I’m guessing you didn’t find him.” Gemini #2 stated.
“We share the same eyes, you should know that.” Gemini #1 glared.
“No need to get all huffy with me.” Gemini #2 grunted. “I’m just trying to help.”
“Sorry, I’m just worried.” Gemini #1 sighed. “We’ve searched the whole place and haven’t found a single trace of Mystic. I’m beginning to think he really did leave the village.” Both hedgehogs bowed their heads in concentration. Suddenly, a feint cracking sound could be heard.
“What was what?” Gemini #2 asked.
His answer came sooner than expected. The ground suddenly collapsed under the hedgehogs to reveal a massive sinkhole. Gemini #1 used the debris as support to jump back to safety, but Gemini #2 was not as fortunate. He fell at the bottom of the hole as a wave of debris crashed over him. Luckily, a second before he was crushed, the clone vanished in a flash of white light.
“At least he’s safe.” Gemini muttered before shouting. “Quick thinking, Mystic! Never expected you to pull off something like that!”
“You’ll be amazed at what you can do with the tools lying around!” Mystic called back.
“It was a good idea to use your environment, but...” Gemini smirked. Reaching for a stone on the ground, Gemini flung it to the nearest wall. The wall collapsed on contact to reveal a disgruntled Mystic. “Not very smart to reveal you location.”
“Good, because I’m done hiding.” Mystic said, moving into an intimidating fighter’s stance. “I’ve been waiting to try this for a long time.”
Unexpectedly, Mystic thrusted out his fist in a fast pace that Gemini could barely follow. Gemini narrowly dodged the fist, but watched as it smashed through the wall behind him. The double hedgehog moved fast to not be caught in the flurry of flying fists that Mystic sent over and over again. As Gemini ducked from one of his fists, the dark hedgehog saw an opening in his stance. Taking his chances, Gemini dropped on his back and kicked at both of Mystic’s knees, forcing them to buckle under pressure. While the hedgehog hunched over his weakened appendages, Gemini quickly jumped to the top of the church building that stood over them.
“That was a low blow!” Mystic exclaimed.
“Like Hybrid said, there are no rules.” Gemini smirked.
“You are so smug.” Mystic chuckled, standing to his feet again. “Then why don’t you come down and fight me like a man?”
“I’m no fool.” Gemini stated.
“Huh?” Mystic questioned.
“You’re not the only one who can use the environment.” Gemini grinned.
Gathering all his strength into his right fist, Gemini brought it down in the center of the roof. The force of the attack was enough to crush the church into fragments, toppling over the young hedgehog. Since his knees were still weak, Mystic had no chance of running as the ruins collapsed over him. Once the dust had settled, Gemini dropped from the sky and landed in front of Mystic, who was half buried under a ton of rubble.
“Wow, you’re defiantly stronger than I give you credit for.” Gemini commented, reeling back his fist. “Unfortunately, this is the part where I win.”
Gemini, brimming with confidence, thrusted the fist towards Mystic’s head. Just then, Mystic’s hand suddenly shot up and caught the fist, much to Gemini’s surprise.
“Now it’s over.” Mystic smirked.
With a strong tug from the hedgehog, Gemini was pulled forward towards his opponent. Mystic gathered any strength he had left and thrusted his palm towards Gemini’s throat. Just seconds before the attack landed, Gemini disappeared in a flash of light. Knowing he had won, Mystic fell back with a sigh of relief before being transported back to the castle.
-----------------------------------------------------------
---East Island---
When Mystic found himself in the sanctuary of the castle, he was greeted by a deafening applause. The Blur Team made up the majority with Rain being the loudest of them all. Mystic’s legs were still a little wobbly, but the hedgehog was able enough to walk towards his team.
“You were great out there, mate!” Rain exclaimed.
“Uh...thanks.” Mystic groaned.
Both heroes laughed with everyone joining in. Everyone except Rector. Noticing his stern glare, Gemini halted his laughter momentarily and stared back at him. After all he did, did Rector still not respect him? What did he need to do to gain acknowledgment from this stubborn rodent? But just when Gemini began to lose all hope, Rector suddenly smiled at him.
“You did...adequate, Gemini.” Rector said lowly.
It might not have been much, but it was enough for Gemini.
“Now if I can have your attention, we’re about to select the next match-up.” Hybrid said.

Everyone quieted down after the announcement and awaited the mixed hedgehog to begin his selection. There were only six fighters left and most of them were becoming impatient. Shade was the most agitated of them all, becoming tired of waiting for her match. With a wave of his hand, Hybrid activated the randomizer behind him. After taking a few moments, the randomizer began to slow and stopped on two symbols. The first was a black hedgehog symbol and second was a white alien symbol.
“The sixth match: Devlin vs. Blizzard!” Hybrid announced.
“Look’s like it’s your time to shine.” Dahlia smiled, kissing her boyfriend’s cheek. “Good luck, Devlin.”
“I’ll try my best.” Devlin said.
“You better do more than that!” Steel said threateningly. “If you lose, I’ll swat you into oblivion!”
With a hint of fright in his expression, Devlin backed away. Hybrid activated the platform and both warriors vanished in a beam of white light.
---------------------------------------------------
---Scotland---
The scene shifts to the windy highlands of Scotland. We shift over to one of the more ancestral castle rooted near the shores of the loch. Judging by the decorative items around the castle, it formerly belonged to a clan of barbarians before their time. Just then, the white beam dropped from the cloudy sky and transported the chosen warriors on the outer walls of the castle. Both warriors glanced at one another before jumping away. As they prepared themselves for battle, rain began to fall from the sky.
“Aw, you’re kidding me.” Blizzard groaned. “I hate the rain.”
“Is someone afraid of getting a little wet?” Devlin smirked.
“Do not compare me to a mangy feline.” Blizzard said. “Weather it be rain, sleet, or snow, I will never stop till I deliver.”
“Isn’t that the postal motto?” Devlin questioned.
“I’m trying to monologue here!!” Blizzard exclaimed irritably.
“Like it matters.” Devlin said arrogantly. “Whatever you do, I’ll always see it coming.” Irritated at Devlin’s proclamation, Blizzard formed harp icicles on her hands. “Whoa, did see that coming.”
“Didn’t think ya would.” Blizzard smirked.
The fox rushed forward with her ice daggers held in front, swiping away as she moved closer. Devlin ran up the wall just before Blizzard sliced away at his chest. As the hedgehog stuck to the wall, he noticed a small rip in his shirt.
“He didn’t even touch me.” Devlin thought. “Maybe those fans can extend their range father with each swing. That would explain why he’s so reckless with his attacks.”
“Hey, black boy!” Blizzard shouted for Devlin’s attention. “Ya coming down or what?!”
“No thanks!” Devlin smiled playfully. “I kinda like the view up here!”
“Then how am I supposed to fight you?” Blizzard questioned.
“You could try dodging.” Devlin suggested.
“Huh?” Blizzard questioned confused.
Raising his hands to one of the towers, Devlin ripped the monument from off castle. Devlin motioned his actions to rip the roof off the tower and separate all the bricks at once. With a wave of his hands, Devlin unleashed a barrage of falling bricks mixed in the falling rain. Acting fast, Blizzard jumped from the wall as the bombardment destroyed the section she once stood at. As Devlin redirected his assault, Blizzard bounced between the castle towers and slowly made her way towards the hedgehog. As the tornado of bricks made their way to her direction, Blizzard acted fast and dived into the nearest window. The bricks followed her, but Devlin doubt they landed any hits.
“She’s a crafty one, I’ll give him that.” Devlin said, floating near the window. As he searched the room, the black hedgehog was unable to find Blizzard. “Where’d she go?”
“Coming at ya!” Blizzard yelled.
As Devlin looked over, he was surprised to find Blizzard walking along the ways with her ice daggers reeled out. Devlin floated back into the air as Blizzard moved closer, but that proved to be futile. Blizzard glowed momentarily before she disappeared. Devlin was caught off guard by this tactic and hopelessly searched all visible areas of the castle. Unfortunately, Blizzard appeared over Devlin’s head and sliced her ice daggers across the hedgehog’s back. Devlin gave a cry of pain and dropped one hundred feet from the sky. Using whatever power he had left, Devlin was able to cushion his landing before dropped on his back.
“Yeah, that’s gonna hurt in the morning.” Devlin moaned.
“Did ya like that little trick?” Blizzard grinned wickedly, landing softly on the ground.
“What did you do?” Devlin questioned. “Just what that technique you used.”
“It’s called Ice warp.” Blizzard explained. “As long as I can move anywhere, I can’t lose. You can beat something you can’t see.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Devlin said confidently. “I have more than enough experience.”
“You are a persistent little hedgehog.” Blizzard commented.
“I get it from Blur.” Devlin chuckled.
Drawing out her ice daggers again, Blizzard jumped forward and swung her daggers in every possible direction. Devlin tried his best to dodge them, but the injury on his back wore him down. He overcame a fraction of the blows, but a majority of them cut across his fur and skin, leaving the hedgehog battered and beaten. In a desperate attempt, Devlin formed a compressed sphere of energy and thrusted it at his opponent. Unfortunately, Blizzard once again used her teleportation technique to disappear. When she appeared again, he cut across Devlin’s chest, forcing the hedgehog to the ground on his back. While still in pain from his recent assault, Blizzard stomped her foot on Devlin’s chest to intensify it.
“Just give up already.” Blizzard pleaded. “I don’t want this to go farther than it has to.”
“Not a chance.” Devlin grunted. Blizzard swung her ice daggers down to finish the match. But just before the fox could nail the blow, something unexpected happen. A random brick fell from the sky and smacked Blizzard’s head. The fox looked dazed for a moment before falling backwards, losing consciousness. Since she was unconscious, she technically lost the match and was transported back to the castle.
“Whoa, didn't see that coming.” Devlin commented.
A moment later, he vanished in a flash of light.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---East Island---
The moment Devlin stepped on the platform; the Blur Team unleashed a wave of cheers for their fellow hedgehog. Dahlia ran up to her boyfriend and embraced him, only to release him once he cried out in pain. Blizzard was still unconscious next to him, but the Devlin felt sad that she lost in such a way. Of course, Morph thought it was hilarious.
“That was the greatest moment ever!” Morph roared with laughter. “Did you see the look on her face?!”
At that moment, Egghog walked back in after delivering others to the medical chamber. He groaned when he realized he had to walk all the way back down again. He waved his hand as to direct them to follow. Dahlia decided to go with Devlin, holding him steady in case he might fall. As Hybrid looked across the room, only four fighters remained. The ending was coming to an end.
“Why don’t we see who’s up next.” Hybrid smirked.

The scene opens to a highly industrial city somewhere hidden in a far away land. An endless sea of storm clouds covered the skies of the city, drowning its inhabitants in an endless downpour. We shift to one of the larger towers in the city, where a young woman appeared to be waiting near an opening to the tower. She had short blue hair and wore a black cloak with red clouds; she took great pride in the paper rose in her hair. The woman remained motionless, watching as the rain continued to drizzle over her home. She then turned slowly around as a shadowed figure approached her from behind.
“Arrived early, have you?” The woman spoke.
“It is always a pleasure to see you, Konan.” The figure said sarcastically. “But now is not the time for pleasantries. I must speak to ‘him’ at once. I have a rather urgent need for a fresh supply.”
“What we provide is not simple to obtain.” Konan said darkly. “If you wish to obtain what you desire, you must first offer up payment.”
“I was expecting you to say that.” The dark figure chuckled.
The figure snapped his fingers to call one of his servants out of the shadows. Surprising, one of the Black Arm soldiers stepped forward with a silver case in its claws. The Black Soldier kneeled before Konan and presented her with the items inside the case. It was filled to the brim with stacks of money that would seem impossible to obtain in such a short time. Konan looked over the money with a sharp eye, checking to see its authenticity. Pleased with the payment, Konan closed the case and took it from the Black Soldier.
“Right this way, Nexus.” Konan commanded.
The nexus overlord nodded and floated behind Konan up the steps of the tower. With every step that was taken, Nexus could receive a better view of the city below. Though hidden from the world, this city was one of the most advanced industries in the world, only beaten by Megalo City. Finally, they reached the highest point of the tower and walked out to a small open area. Standing over the edge of the area, in the middle of the rain, was a man who wore the same cloak as Konan. Nexus moved to make his presence know, but it was not required.
“Back again, Nexus?” The man questioned.
“I should have known I couldn’t fool you.” Nexus said lightly.
“He has come to obtain more of our stock.” Konan informed.
“How many has he paid for?” The man questioned.
“Seven.” Konan answered shortly.
“Then go prepare his shipment, Konan." The man commanded.
The blue-haired woman nodded and walked back into the tower, happy to get out of the rain. As Konan exited the area, the man turned to present himself to Nexus. The man stepped down from his ledge and approached Nexus.
“I hope you can provide me with some necessary weapons, Atlas.” Nexus said.
“What happened to the ones I gave you two weeks ago?” Atlas questioned. “Ever since we met in The Land of Snow, you have become rather dependant on the weapons I offer. You best consider yourself grateful that I would allow it.”
“But I do provide the funds for your little organization, so you can’t complain.” Nexus retorted. “Rather, I would not need these if it wasn’t for those meddlesome heroes stopping me from bringing back, E.V.I.L Craft1.”
“E.V.I.L. craft 1?” Atlas repeated. “Apocalypse’s first creation that was sealed into a small caged dimension?”
“Yes.” Nexus nodded.
--------------------------------------------
The scene alters to the border of the village. With quick precision and stealth, Journey bound over the outer walls and landed silently in the village streets. Unfortunately, his brother, Eclipse, was not so lucky and fell into an empty trash can. Journey groaned.
“Can you be any more unlucky?” Journey chuckled.
“Excuse me.” Eclipse groaned, pulling out of the can. “We can't all be lucky.”
“Quiet.” Journey said. Eclipse nodded slowly. “Anyway, Giga said Nexus was hiding somewhere in this village. Let’s find him and get out as soon as possible.”
“Afraid of a little rain?” Eclipse asked.
“Do you know what this place is?!” Journey exclaimed frightfully. “This is the Twilight Cage. This is the home village of races on Earth that became so powerful they were pulled into this dimension. The Kron, N’rrgal, Zoah, Voxai and Nocturnus. From what I saw, each races leader, except for the Nocturnes tribe which has lost their leader, and they’re all members of the Blur Team. One wrong move and we’re history.”
“You kidding....right?” Eclipse asked nervously; Journey gave no reply. “Aw man, you’re serious! I don’t care what happens to you! There is no way I’m risking my neck!”
Eclipse tried to run, but his brother grabbed his tail.
“Giga gave us a mission.” Journey said, snapping Eclipse’s tail back.
For the next two hours, Journey and Eclipse went from place-to-place, asking for any information of Nexus. From what it seemed, no one had ever heard of him.
“Well, that was a waste of time.” Eclipse groaned. “I mean, what was the point of that if no one knew who he was?”
“We really shouldn’t have expected Nexus to actually show himself.” Journey said. “He wants to make sure that no one finds him, so he can revive E.V.I.L. craft 1.”
“And he’s doing a good job at it.” Eclipse said. “Ah, we better get back. This mission is a failure.”
“Giga is going to be angry.” Journey said.
“When is he not angry?” Eclipse joked.
Journey placed his hand over his mouth in an attempt not to laugh. But just as the two walked towards the exit, Eclipse suddenly raised his hand to halt them; Journey could feel it too. They could faintly hear silent footsteps coming from the pipes above. Eclipse reached into his cloak to pull out a white key shaped weapon, the Oathkeeper and Journey summoned a black key shaped weapon, the Oblivion.
“Ya ready?” Eclipse smirked.
“Have you forgotten who I am?” Journey replied.
At once, Eclipse twisted around and shot a beam from his keybblade towards the pipes. The beam bounced off the pipes, but it was enough to draw out their spy. Journey took in a deep breath and huffed out a gigantic ball of black flames. Since the figure was in mid-flight, it was impossible to avoid the attack. But to their surprise, the figure stretched his body to an unimaginable length and pulled swiftly out of the fireballs path. As the ball of flame exploded into a nearby building, the shadowed figure dropped into the plaza and few feet away from the dark duo. The figure revealed himself to be none other than a N’rrgal, only he was a dark green, like when the oil had gotten into the N'rrgal spawning pools.
“My, that wasss an imprrresssive attack.” The N’rrgal complimented coolly. “Judging by that marvelous display. I am to guess that you are Eclipse and Journey.”
“Yeah, what of it.” Journey asked.
“Who are you, anyway?” Eclipse questioned.
“My name isss Ssspallaxxx.” Spallax introduced. “And that would be my parrrtnerrr, Grrrunssst.”
“Who?” Eclipse questioned.
“Believe I he’s referring to me.” A cold voice answered.
Looking back, the two confronted with a Kron, the one known as Grunst. The kron swiftly shot his boulder for Eclipse’s forehead. But at the last minute, Journey tossed the Oblivion to deflect the attack. Eclipse sighed in relief, but it didn’t last long. Spallax reached over from the other side of the plaza and dragged him backwards by his heels. Journey attempted to help him, but Grunst jumped forward with his fists raised above his head. Reacting fast, Journey blocked the fists with the Oblivion.
“Persistent you are.” Grunst said emotionlessly.
“We’ve always been taught as gods to never to give up.” Journey groaned, pushing all his weight towards the fists.
“I won’t matter.” Grunst stated. “Within minutes, you’ll be dead.”
“Which is plenty of time to turn this around.” Journey said confidently.
Journey shifted his weight and sidestepped away to allow Grunst to pass by him. With Grunst’s back to him, Journey flung the Oblivion for his head. Suddenly, Grunst vanished from sight as the Oblivion passed by and reappeared in front of the god.
“Faster you’ll have to be.” Grunst stated.
“Darn.” Journey said.
Meanwhile, Spallax dragged Eclipse with his mouth and slammed him into the fountain. The force sent Eclipse bursting through the pipes and impacting the stone wall behind it. Eclipse slowly stood up, cracking his sore back, when he noticed Spallax’s head moving closer. The tainted N’rrgal went for Eclipse’s face, but he dropped to the floor at the last minute. With this open opportunity, Eclipse prepared a beam and aimed for Spallax’s head vein. He nailed a direct hit and Spallax dropped dead, head and body.
“Heh! He wasn’t so tough!” Eclipse boasted.
“I can only wonderrr who you arrre talking about.” A voice hissed.
Eclipse shot around with a look of fear in his eyes. He had a right to be afraid as Spallax burst through the wall behind him and grasped him by his throat.
"What just happened?!” Eclipse exclaimed
“You like it?” Spallax said, reaching for the face of his clones. He sucked to reveal N’rrgal sweat. "It’sss a little trrrick I made.” Eclipse tried for his Oathkeeper again, but the N’rrgal saw this and quickly knocked it out of his hand. “Ssshouldn’t play with sssworrrdsss. Sssomeone might get hurrrt.”
“I’ll show you!” Eclipse screamed, flailing his arms and feet. “Let me down so I can bop you upside the head!”
“Asss amusssing as that sssoundsss,” Spallax chuckled. “I would rrratherrr sssee you sssuffocate.”
With that said, Spallax closed his grip around his throat. Eclipse slowing started to lose oxygen. Just as Spallax was about to finish the job, Journey’s Oblivion cut across the air. The sudden attack was enough to force Spallax to release Eclipse's throat. With a menacing glare, Spallax shot his head over to the battle with the other god and his apprentice. Journey swung the Oblivion in random directions. Grunst suddenly appeared and cut across Journey’s back before vanishing again.
“Where are you?!” Journey questioned, swinging away with his keyblade. “Show your face!!”
“You I believe aren’t calm and collected, supposed to be.” Grunst’s voice echoed. “Were if you to truly this realize.”
“Don’t talk down to me.” Journey growled.
“No.” Grunst replied, appearing suddenly behind Journey.
Grunst held Journey’s throat. At this range, Journey couldn’t defend himself. So he stomped oh Grunst’s foot. This was the first time Journey had ever resorted to using his foot. Grunst shot his boulder at Journey and flung him across the plaza. Fortunately, Journey clinged to the wall before crashing.
“Annoying you are.” Grunst glared. “More irksome you are possibly than me.”
“I’ll accept that as a compliment.” Journey grinned. “Now allow me to return the gesture!”
Journey held his breath and kept his mouth tightly closed. When he finally opened his mouth, a harsh jet of water spewed forward. Under normal conditions, this wouldn’t have seemed so bad. But to a Kron, the water was stronger than it looked. Acting fast, Grunst zipped across the plaza, watching as the water tore through the metal pipes.
“Doubt even I Spallax come up could with powerful attack as that one.” Grunst commented.
“I just knew you would approve.” Journey taunted, jumping overhead with his leg held out. Unfortunately, Grunst raised his forearms to block. “Oh, are you kidding me?”
“Learn you should I one not to be tampered with.” Grunst said, pushing him away.
“If I had a dollar for every time I heard that.” Journey muttered.

Back with Eclipse and Spallax, Eclipse wasn’t fending for himself very well. Every time Eclipse would try to recall the Oathkeeper, Spallax would always find someway to cut him off. Eclipse’s latest attempt was to jump off one of the pipes and dive for his weapon. Unfortunately, the tainted N’rrgal extended his mouth and grasped Eclipse by his ankle, tossing him to the side.
“Asss much asss I enjoy a good chassse, you really need to die.” Spallax said annoyed. “I have otherrr thingsss to deal with besssidesss handling gods.”
“Like getting a facelift?” Eclipse sniggered.
“That about tearrrsss it.” Spallax said calmly.
While currently panicking under the pressure, Eclipse seemingly noticed that his Oathkeeper was somehow closer to them. It must have moved during Journey’s fight. As Spallax swiped his head down, Eclipse grabbed the Oathkeeper and fired the beam Spallax’s face. Because of the closeness, Spallax was barely able to move his head in time; the beam swiped across his cheek. With the N’rrgal momentarily distracted, Eclipse pulled his Oathkeeper at Spallax’s chest.
“You missserrrable hog!” Spallax screeched.
“Tough luck.” Eclipse smirked. “But we all have to go sometime.”
“Heads up!” Journey screamed.
Without warning, Journey collided with Eclipse and smacked into the wall with a loud thud.
“All right are you?” Grunst asked.
“I am fine, Grrrunssst.” Spallax stated. “But we’ve wasssted enough time with thessse two. Clearly, they will not lead usss to Nexusss or any of hisss Black Arrrmsss technology.”
“So that’s what this is about.” Journey glared.
“Genius we have with us.” Grunst said sarcastically.
“I can sssee that.” Spallax hissed. “What you have to underrrssstand isss that the Black Arrrmsss arrre of the grrreatessst sssocietiesss in the univerrrssse. Next to the Nocturrrnusss, Black Arrrmsss technology isss the mossst advanced in the univerrrssse.”
“Why do you need their technology?” Eclipse questioned. “You’re starting to sound like that greedy pirate. If only Queen N'rrgal and Krag were here to straighten this mess.”
“The queen isss alive?” Spallax questioned surprisingly.
“Thought I Foreman Krag dead was.” Grunst said.
“Wow, what a nice bed-time story.” A new young voice said.
The group of four swerved their heads around for the source of the voice. Since most of the plaza was covered in large pipes, the voices could have easily echoed from across the city. As they scanned their surroundings, a 2nd voice began to chuckle.
“(I think you spooked them.)”
“Sorry.”
“Where you at?” Grunst questioned.
“Well, since you asked so nicely...”
A moment later, everything was silent. The sudden halt in noise left everyone on edge, trying to predict where their anonymous watchers. Suddenly, a loud swirling sound could be heard swinging around the plaza; Spallax dropped down. Grunst looked confused until a black chain suddenly swung from nowhere. The chain wrapped around his body and pinned him to a nearby pipe. Spallax hissed menacingly as the assailant dropped from the rooftops and made himself known. It was Commander Syrax of the Zoah.
“Who arrre you Zoah ssscum?” Spallax hissed.
“Oh, don’t mind me.” Syrax waved. “I just decided to drop in.”
“Boo!! Get off the stage!” Eclipse shouted.
“Everyone’s a critic.” Syrax moaned.
While Syrax was distracted by the verbal assault, Spallax stealthily slithered his head closer to the race his kind hated. With the warrior’s neck close, Spallax stretched his mouth forward. But before he could strike, he suddenly found his body stiff and cold. He turned his head and stare down at his body. The N’rrgal’s entire body was frozen from head to toe. His piercing yellow eyes were now a furious red when he noticed the figure standing next to his frozen body. It was a red Voxai with strange diamond markings on his head.
“(Hmm, still not good enough.)” Thelxe shook. “(I could never make it as good as Thebes.)”
“Who arrre you?” Spallax hissed.
“(Oh, sorry about that.)” Thelxe said nonchalantly. “(I am Thelxe.)” He pointed to Syrax. “And that’s Syrax.”
“You sssaid you werrre frrriendsss with Rrraxosss, corrrrrrect?” Spallax questioned; Syrax nodded. “Then give me a rrreassson why we ssshouldn’t kill you rrright now Zoah ssscum.”
“For one thing, you and you’re friend trapped.” Syrax pointed.
"(Listen, I have a proposition for you.)” Thelxe said calmly. “(We can either leave you here for someone to kill you...or we can set you free and discuss this like rational men.)”
Spallax and Grunst glanced at one another. Both men knew that in their currently situation, they were in no position to be making threats. With a great sigh, Spallax nodded; his neck was cramped because of his stiff neck. Seeing their reluctant acceptance, Thelxe freed Spallax from his frozen state. Syrax walked over to Grunst, both fighters glaring at one another, and retracted the black chain. Sensing that everyone was calm again, Journey and Eclipse slowly pulled back to their feet. All six warriors gathered near the destroyed fountain, everyone sharing a moment of silence.
“So...” Eclipse said awkwardly, turning to Thelxe and his apprentice. “What are you guys here for?”
“(We heard rumors of a tentacle that regularly visits every place of the Twilight cage.)” Thelxe stated. “(We think it might be Argus.)”
“It’s possssssibly Nexusss.” Spallax hissed.
“Then we were wrong.” Syrax sighed. “We’ll never leave this prison.”
“(I’m sorry.)” Thelxe said apologetically.
“No, it was Argus alright, WHY DID APOCALYPSE MAKE THAT THING!? Argus would be the strongest creature in the universe by now.” Journey shouted.
There was a moment of silence between the six, all respecting Journey’s shouting. But the moment didn’t last long as a bolt of lightning suddenly crashed inside the circle of warriors. The sudden explosion forced the six fighters to jump away. As they did, six more bolts of lightning dropped the sky, all aimed for each individual.
Spallax twisted his stretchable body to avoid the bolt. Grunst absorbed the energy. Thelxe flew out of the way. Syrax blocked it with his shield. Journey and Eclipse didn’t have to avoid it. As the six warriors landed, they could faintly see a misshapen shadow in the cloud of dust. All warriors prepared for battle.
“What was that?” Grunst questioned
“It’s him.” Journey said frightfully.As the dust cloud began to settle, in the sky a giant figure could be seen, it was some dark purple squid with a shark head, a prickling mane surrounding his face, a long lizard tail, and spikes covering his entire body.
“It’s been a while, Journey.” The creature said.
“Argus.” Journey muttered. Everyone gasped in shock seeing the creature that imprisoned them in the Twilight cage.
“You shall experience true pain.” Argus stated.
“I don’t think so! ULTIMATE CHAOS CONTROL!” Journey shouted as everything in the twilight cage except Argus disappeared.
“NOOOOOO! I may have lost the positive dimension’s of these 5 races, but I can still get the negative.” Argus said.

Back on Earth, everyone was minding their own business when not one, not two, not four, but six tremors as a few saw the six craters of the world being filled up as each of the planetoids from the Twilight cage landed in them. Meanwhile the group of six fell from the sky before landing on East Island.
“Looks like we’re back on Earth.” Eclipse said. He soon noticed Journey wasn’t with them. “Hey, where’s Journey?”
“Underneath you!” Journey screamed from under Eclipse.
“Good be to home again.” Grunst said.
“It is isn’t it?” Someone said as a tentacle dropped from the sky.
“Oh no, not him.” Eclipse said.
“Argus.” Journey said.
“Heh.” Syrax sniggered. “That’s still a dumb name.”
“Syrax common isn’t either.” Grunst stated.
Syrax ran forward at the tentacle of Argus. Argus followed the warrior’s movements across the plaza and did nothing as Syrax dropped overhead with his cannon raised. But just as Syrax’s was about to fire, a wave of electricity shot the warrior across the plaza. Grunst couldn’t hide the state of surprise on his expression. Groaning loudly, Syrax tried to push himself back up. Unfortunately, Argus appeared before him and placed his tentacle on the warrior’s chest, releasing a surge of electricity. Syrax cried out in pain as the wave of electricity struck him. Just when Argus was ready to finish the job, he released Syrax in order to the Oblivion from stabbing him from behind. When he looked back, Grunst had already rushed Syrax to safety.
“T-thanks.” Syrax said gratefully.
“Don’t mention it...” Grunst said. “...Ever.”
“(Syrax, you and Grunst try to run for safety while Spallax and I fend him off.)” Thelxe instructed before looking over Journey and Eclipse. “(And take them with you. They are obviously in no condition to fight.)”
“You command not me.” Grunst glared.
“Do what he saysss, Grrrunssst.” Spallax hissed.
Grunst wondered what reason Spallax would have to retreat, but refrained from asking. Eclipse, powered by fear, gained the strength of ten men and scrambled to the roof while carrying Journey over his head. Argus made direct movement to follow them, but stepped back when a sucker motioned past his tentacle. Even though he couldn’t see, Argus was able to move past Spallax’s energy suck as the N’rrgal was soaring across the plaza. Seeing an opening in Spallax’s defenses, Argus held out his tentacle and began to gather a culmination of electricity in his palm. But before he could strike, Thelxe zoomed in with knocked Argus’s tentacle away, sending the electric bolt flying across the sky. Thelxe used his psychic waves again, but Argus had already moved across the plaza before he could hit.
“Do not interfere.” Argus instructed. “I do not have any quarrel with you. I merely seek to punish my master.”
“(But violence is not the answer.)” Thelxe stated calmly. “(Perhaps you could try coming to an agreement of some sort.)”
“That isss jussst sssad.” Spallax shook. "Prrreaching to a hopelessssss caussse. Why wassste ourrr time in agrrreement when otherrrsss arrre bound to break theirrr worrrdsss?” Spallax hissed angrily.
“What he speaks of is true.” Argus stated. “A once innocent promise grows to be nothing more than a false testament. Only through pain can one learn to grow and see the truth in a field of lies. That is how I have come to become the only god in a world of infants.”
“(With what you say, you consider yourself to be higher than the gods.)” Thelxe said.
“You are a one of this planet’s powerful races.” Argus continued. “But I, living in the Twilight Cage Journey made for eternity, have grown from a normal creation into something greater...into a God. And as a God, what I think and what I say becomes the law of a God.”
“You do not underrrssstand what it meansss to be a God.” Spallax hissed furiously. “How could you underrrssstand what trrruly liesss beyond thisss univerrrssse?”
“Things I could not comprehend as a simple man are clear to me now.” Argus said. “With endless pain I have evolved beyond any breed of life.”
“(And what exactly do you have planned with your ‘godly’ powers?)” Thelxe questioned.
“Though we exist on this universe, it is still in a state of infancy.” Argus said lowly. “To help it grow, I will force it to evolve through pain just as I have. And then, this world will become truly perfect.”
“And you plan to ssstarrrt anotherrr warrr to do it. That’sss why when one of usss conquerrred the planet you took usss away to ssstarrrt anotherrr warrr.” Spallax hissed. “That isss why you have been needing that infection, Nexusss. You sssell him the weaponsss and he brrringsss the dessstrrruction.”
“(And Journey knows about this because heas trapped inside of the one that created you, but you did not listen to him.)” Thelxe continued. “(That is why you wish for his death.)”
“We must all grow in time.” Argus said.
Suddenly, a series of electrified bolts escaped from Argus’ palms and showered over his enemies. Thelxe called a sheild to protect them. Unfortunately, Thelxe had only realized it was a trap when Argus moved behind the shield covered in electricity. Surprisingly enough, it was Spallax who came to his rescue. The N’rrgal coiled himself around Argus’s body and slammed him into the ground. Taking the opportunity, Thelxeshot a psychic wave, Argus released a barrier of electricity. The barrier not only protected him, but it expanded and enveloped Thelxe and Spallax within it. Argus stood up and inspected his recent kill, but was surprised by the fact that they were not Thelxe or Spallax. It was N’rrgal sweat.
“This will prove to be more difficult than I thought.” Argus said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The scene shifts to the other side of the village as Spallax and Thelxe were jumping across the rooftops in a hasty retreat. At that moment, Grunst and Syrax arrived to assist their masters; Eclipse was still carrying Journey as he followed them.
“I never knew he was so heavy.” Eclipse panted. Journey snapped out of his trance after hearing Eclipse’s claim and slapped him senseless. “I mean I’m not very fit.”
“It’s good to have you back.” Syrax sniggered.
“Whatever.” Journey said. “Anything happen while I was out.”
“(Spallax and I confronted Argus.)” Thelxe informed. “(As expected, he is far more powerful than we could have imagined. We were barely able to hold our own against him.)”
“Of course you didn’t stand a chance against Argus.” Journey said seriously. “Argus is one of the most powerful beings in this world. Even Apocalypse would tremble at his presence.”
“You sounds like him admire.” Grunst said.
“I’m just being realistic.” Journey countered. “Argus has never been defeated in a battle. He even killed the legendary Viranzo and everyone that was connected to him.”
“Since you seem to know a lot about this guy.” Spallax sneered. “Why don’t you inform us of what we are dealing with?”
“Actually, this is the first time I’ve ever seen him.” Journey said sheepishly; the others groaned. “But I do remember that Argus is purposely creating war to further his plan. Argus is also in possessing of a legendary Twiligan.”
“The Twiligan?” Spallax repeated.
“Know you of it?” Grunst asked.
“I’ve done prrreviousss rrresssearrrch when worrrking with the Queen.” Spallax explained. “The Twiligan isss the mossst powerful of all Twilight. It was firrrssst dissscoverrred by the Precursors. Legend has it that whoeverrr possssssessssssesss the Twiligan will be able to perrrforrrm any technique imaginable and contrrrol the fourrrteen naturrral elementsss, the ssseven elemevilsss, and the sssix sssemi-elementsss.”
“(That’s strange.)” Thelxe said thoughtfully. “(If he has control over them all, why is he only using lightning?)”
“I don’t know, but I think we have bigger problems.” Eclipse said.
The other five stared at him strangely as he pulled out his Oathkeeper. Suddenly, Eclipse spun around on his heel and fired at a nearby shop below. The beam ricocheted off the wall, effectively frightening the paper bird near the window sill. The group watched as the paper bird took to the sky and was headed back to the direction of the plaza.
“We’ve been found out.” Syrax said. “Any moment now, Argus will realize where we are.”
“And what we are supposed to do when gets here he?” Grunst questioned.
“I might have an idea.” Journey said.
Ten minutes later, Argus’ tentacle came down and landed in the central shopping district where Thelxe and the others were found. The shoppers scattered and screamed once Argus had arrived; they dived into any place considered safe. With the use of his Twiligan, Argus scanned the area for any signs of his prey. So far, all he could see was the energies of the locals; not a trace of any abnormal energy.
“They must be concealing their energies.” Argus muttered. “No doubt the work of the Voxai. Where are you hiding?”
“Hide do not I from a opponent feeble.”
Argus stared into the air when he noticed Grunst falling over him. The Kron sent his boulder aimed for Argus. Argus did not show fear, but released several bolts from his body to reflect it. As Grunst landed, Argus released an electrified wave of energy into the ground. Just as it was about to connect, Syrax shot into the ground in front of Grunst and it absorbed the attack.
“Thanks.” Grunst said.
“Heh! Now we’re even.” Syrax sniggered.
“You believe a few children would be enough to defeat me?” Argus said.
“Hey, who are you calling children?” Syrax exclaimed. “I’m eighteen for your information!”
While they were distracted, Argus glanced to the clouds above. In that instant, two large bolt of lighting escaped and charged downwards towards their targets. Barely noticing this, Grunst grabbed Syrax and dragged the armored warrior into an alley. It may have saved them from the attack, but it now left both warriors at a dead end. And to make matters worse, Argus was in the path which served as their only escape. He held out his hand for an attack, but was stopped when he felt something clinginh against his arm. Argus searched around the street and found Eclipse on a nearby rooftop with his Oathkeeper raised.
“Dang, this thing’s jammed.” Eclipse cursed.
“Allow me to assist you in unjamming.”
“Hey, thanks.” Eclipse said. Unfortunately, he discovered the one who offered help was Argus, who was standing straight behind him. “Why don’t I ever get a break?”
Argus raised his hand, which was covered in a mass of electricity, and stabbed it forward at him. Thankfully, Eclipse fell back and it actually saved his life. While Eclipse collided with the ground, Argus ripped away at the building, destroying the support that lifted the place up. Eclipse groaned as he sat up, not noticing the collapsing building falling over him. Fortunately, Grunst appeared from nowhere and dragged him down the street.
“Think he’s finish?” Eclipse asked hopefully.
“I doubt it.” Syrax answered.
As the dust cloud began to fade from the ruins, Argus could be seen without as much as a scratch. The trio gathered their weapons as Argus slowly made his way towards them. No one made any sudden movements in any case that Argus would find a way to counteract them. Argus stopped a few yards away from them. Syrax and Grunst remained cool under the pressure, but Eclipse was shaking from head-to-toe. Because of his nasty trigger finger, Eclipse accidentally shot a beam without warning. Suddenly, a powerful force of electricity culminated around Argus’ body. The beam rebounded off the electric field. Argus raised his arm to the sky, sending every volt in his body into the clouds. The trio looked on in wonderment.
“What do you think he’s up to now?” Syrax asked.
“All after been we’ve today through, ask do you even have to?” Grunst replied sarcastically.
“You have been deemed unworthy by your performance.” Argus said judgmentally. “You’re abilities in battle have been unacceptable in the face of a god. As such, you shall be punished in the most prominent way.”
“I don’t like where this is going.” Eclipse said.
“Experience true pain!” Argus exclaimed.
With everything said, Argus brought down his arm. This action created a cataclysmic reaction in the clouds and ripped the sky open. The trio looked up in fear, with the exception of Grunst, when they noticed a gigantic sphere of electrical energy. In one ravage move, the sphere shot itself down to Earth. Just when the battle looked finish, a sword flew from a nearby tower and cut into the center of the sphere. The sudden attack ripped the sphere in two and Argus recalled the electricity back into his body. While the trio celebrated the survival, Argus noticed found the object that destroyed his attack cut into one of the pipelines. It was a key shaped sword, but Argus’s Twiligan noticed a powerful aura surrounding it.
“That sword is empowered with chaos energy.” Argus thought. “Only someone exceptionally skilled could perform a technique that can cancel out nature manipulated techniques. Someone like Journey.”
Argus activated his Twiligan and once more and searched the tower where the Oathkeeper appeared. As his eyes focused, he didn’t find the dark god, but discovered a hole in the ground large enough for him to fit through. By the time he had discovered where the tunnel led to, it was too late. Journey suddenly burst from the ground.
“Violent Water Wave!” Journey called
Journey held his breath before expelling the water through his mouth. Argus raised his arm in defense as a powerful jet of pressurized water ripped across his body. Once drained of his attack, Journey flipped backwards to join his allies recalling the Oblivion.
“That’s it?” Syrax asked disappointed. “You just splashed him with water.”
“Everything happens for a reason.” Journey smirked.
“Reason that would be?” Grunst questioned monotone.
“Just wait for it.” Journey said proudly.
Back to Argus, he lowered his arms and revealed the damages caused by Journey. Argus’ arm had shribbled up. While the four warriors prepared themselves for battle, Argus stared at his arm, watching feeble sparks flying dying out from his arm.
“You knew water was the only thing that could short out my electrical abilities.” Argus stated.
“He did?” Eclipse asked, looking to his brother. “How’d ya know?”
“It made sense.” Journey explained. “Before we fought Spallax, it was raining. But after we tried to escape from Argus, it suddenly stopped. My guess is that he can control the rain and forced it to stop so that it wouldn’t interact with his abilities.”
“You’re a smart little god.” A familiar voice hissed.
Suddenly, a green sucker smashed through the walls of a nearby shop and clutched Argus by his arm. A moment later, Spallax jumped into the open before coiling his arms to constrict Argus. Thelxe suddenly appeared in front him. Argus returned the look with an empty expression.
“Do you show pity towards me?” Argus questioned.
“(I am going to give you a choice.)” Thelxe said. “(You can surrender this battle and live another day or you can let yourself die.)”
Argus only answered by pulling his shribbled arm back into the sky. “Looks like he’s gone for now. But he will return.” Journey said.
“So what do we do now?” Eclipse asked.
“You return to Giga, while I and the others head over to the Blur Team base.” Journey explained.