Twilight Romance
A Sonic X Kari Fanfic
Written by: The_Doctor


[Disclaimer: Sonic is Sega’s character, fools. Kari is Akuma’s. Also! I realise that not everyone will like this pairing because Kari is seemingly fated to end up with Fluke, and Sonic with Wendy. But as Akuma said, if this has to be like SonicXShadow of the Akuma universe, then so be it. I just ask you to be open minded. Alsol! As the great OMA says... "Flaming this will not make you feel special in your pants!" So... Enjoy! Maybe you'll laugh, maybe you'll cry... Or maybe you'll just flame me. Its all the same to me!]

[Note: This takes place around three months after the Undertakers defeat.]

Chapter 1: Hero to Zero.

“Let me get this straight… You’re dumping me… Again!?” 

Sonic stood in the throne room of Bowsers castle, and stood with his arms crossed and his left foot tapping impatiently as he listened to the Wendy Kooper explain her reasons for calling him there today.

“I’m sorry Sonic, I truly am… but there’s nothing I can do. I have duties to this kingdom, responsibilities… and with your care free attitude-“
Sonic cursed and turned to walk away.

“You don’t need to force lies down my throat… Princess…” He snapped, and stopped to take one last look at her.

“All the girls I have either had feelings for, or had stalked me, have turned against me because of my attitude towards them… My carefree attitude, my ego… the list goes on... But with you I wanted to make it work, and I truly did try, I mean… how many nights did I spend helping you take care of your fathers kingdom when him and your brothers were busy? I always regarded you as my number one priority… But guess what? That’s not enough for you!”

Wendy opened her mouth to reply, but Sonic cut her off.

“What’s the real reason Wendy? Why are you ending this again…”

Tears formed in her eyes, and she looked at Sonic with deep regret before explaining;

“I just… have responsibilities-.”

Sonic turned away, and began to run home. Turning away from the girl he had cared for.

***

“Kari… For the love of all fighting Gods… Can you give it a rest? Please?”

Akuma was lying on his couch, relaxing after another hard days worth of training and was desperately trying to avoid another confrontation with Kari, especially since he was not in shape after the vigorous exercise Lita had just put him through.

“No Gouki! No more distractions! I’ve surpassed you, and I want to defeat you in fair combat once and for-.”

Akuma sighed, and sat up shaking his head.

“Not gonna happen. Its my week off… cant you find some other poor soul to challenge?”

“No! As my rival you are the only one worthy of my skills-.”

Akuma raised his hand, and she stopped talking and scowled angrily as Akuma began to talk.

“Look… Kari, do you remember fighting the Undertaker?” 

“Off course I do, imbecile…”

Akuma sighed again, and then added; “Do you remember who defeated him?”

Kari suddenly thought back to their battle with they’re most powerful opponent ever and suddenly remembered the way they were each tossed aside like flies before Sonic finally mustered the energy to defeat him, cutting the Undertaker in half by absorbing the Chaos Energy he had acquired.

As she thought, Akuma watched patiently and waited for the realisation to dawn on her.

“Are you saying that Sonics stronger than us two?” She asked finally, but was interrupted suddenly as Akuma grinned with amusement..

“Please, Sonic was just lucky with the Undertaker… But it does raise an interesting idea…”

Kari raised an eyebrow, and frowned.

“Why don’t you fight Sonic? He’s around the same strength as us two… except he has to advance three forms instead of two to be full strength. Surely he’d be as good a challenge as me, I mean… fight the guy who defeated the big bad guy who defeated you!” He suggested, and finally laid back once again in an attempt to rest.

Kari looked at her rival for a second, and suddenly asked; “Why would I waste time with that imbecile? You’re my rival, Gouki. He’s just an annoyance…”

Akuma nodded, and then added; “True, but I’ve fought him… And he even defeated me… Something you’ve never done-“

Kari’s energy levels spiked suddenly, but Akuma kept talking.

“Also! The Undertaker defeated me, and made you say “I quit”… But Sonic was defeated by his love for Wendy. The one weakness in the battle he had, he had no choice but to accept defeat.”

Kari’s anger rose, as Akuma kept talking;

“And then there was when we all battled the Undertaker together… I was knocked out, and you were trying your best before you got stabbed. Then Sonic comes in, saves your life and even heals you! If ya think about it logically… you owe Sonic a lot… But it’s ok to be afraid of him-”

Kari exploded with energy, and Akuma’s house shook violently as the red hedgehog tried to keep his things in order. After a few minutes however, Kari managed to calm down enough to look at Akuma with scorn and finally reply.

“I. Am. Not. Afraid. Of. Him. He’s just an idiot! Why on earth would he EVER challenge me? I mean, he hardly ever challenges you anymore….”

The doors suddenly slammed open, and a blue blur flashed through and skidded to a halt in front of the two bickering hedgehogs.

“Oh, speak of the devil…” Muttered Akuma, and thudded onto the sofa once again.

Sonics glanced at Akuma, his hair bristled with Chaos Energy and his face was a mix of rage and sadness as he stood at the borderline of his normal, and Super form.

“Women!” He cried and kicked Akuma’s table across the room, which shattered as it hit the wall.

Akuma paused, raised his hand and said calmly; “I used to put stuff on that, man…”

Sonic glared at him, and then at Kari who glared back.

After a while, Sonic started to explain what had happened at Wendy’s and as he stood in the centre of the room cursing and shouting loudly, Akuma listened interested at the sudden situation that was before him.

Suddenly though, Sonic glared at Akuma and ordered loudly;

“Akuma! I’m making a challenge to you! You! Me! One week from-“

“Not gonna happen.” Akuma cut over him, and sighed loudly before adding; “I’ve already told Kari I’m fighting nobody this week if I can help it… If you want, Lita can book you in for sometime next week… Or-”

Sonic swore loudly, and sat down on a separate couch. His fur bristled and finally calmed down as he sighed loudly.

“I can’t believe she dumped me…” He explained sadly, but before Akuma could console him, Kari jumped in;

“How many girls is that now?” She asked, crossing her arms, a frustrated look about her.

Sonics eyes shone angrily, and he looked at her with sudden anger.

“Get lost Kari, I cant be bothered to deal with you-“

“DEAL with me? You couldn’t deal a pack of cards!”

Sonic stood up, his fur again bristled and he clutched the second Emerald TJ made him, the same emerald that could make him go Super, Hyper or Doma with minimal effort.

“Do I need to remind you who defeated the Undertaker!?” He argued, and in a flash his fur turned gold and he slowly levitated from the ground. “If you want a repeat performance, just try me!”

Kari growled, an energetic aura formed around her, and she also floated up to meet him before saying;

“You. Me. One week from now. Akuma’s the referee. Winner faces Akuma straight after. Unless your scared…” She rose her fist, but Sonic blocked it and the two were thrust into separate walls as the energy difference kicked in.

Super Sonics eyes flashed with this surprising turn of events, and rested on the ground and transformed back to his normal form. After a moment, he glanced at Akuma who looked as perplexed as he felt, and finally replied.

“… I accept. One condition though. No witnesses, lets keep this private.”

“Agreed.”

Sonic again looked at Akuma, and when he got no response he took off at high speed from the room, causing the doors to slam shut as he left.

After a moment, Akuma stood up and tapped the shaking Kari on the shoulder. She turned and smacked his hand, hard, and the rage on her face was as clear as day.

Akuma scratched his head, confused, and asked; “Care to explain? I thought you said you wouldn’t-“

Kari snarled and turned to leave.

“He needs someone to beat the crap out of him… and it looks like I’m the one whose gotta do it. But remember, after him… your next!”

The door again slammed shut as she left, and Akuma scratched his head before shrugging and sitting on the couch once more.

A moment late, and the door slammed open once again, and from it charged Subrosian who looked at Akuma with confidence and cried;

“Akuma! I’m making a challenge to you!”

The Red Hedgehog groaned, and closed his eyes and covered his ears.

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Chapter 2:
Training methods.


“So can ya help me out?”

It had been two days since Kari had made her challenge, and during those two days Sonic had trained hour after hour in order to hone his chaos abilities, and was now focusing more on mental training, which now brought him to his old partner, Tails’, house

“I don’t know… I’m not sure Metroid Tails, Super Amy… or even WarVeemon would be a worthy challenge for you. Even if you were in your normal form, your experience is greater than ours.”

Sonic scratched his head, and then asked suddenly;

“Has TJ got any machines-?”

Tails laughed, and replied; “Off course he has, just go downstairs and ask him.”

Sonic nodded, and smiled; “Thanks buddy. I owe ya one.”

Tails rolled his eyes, then with a look of concern he asked;

“Hey, Sonic? What’s this about? You’re acting like you’re preparing for a battle…”

Sonic frowned, muttered thanks, and walked down the stairs to the basement, leaving a confused Tails behind him.

***

“Yo! TJ?” Sonic called as he opened the door to the basement, and yelped in surprise as WarVeemon charged and attempted to punch Sonic, who dodged and spun around the Digimon. Hitting it eight times before it crumpled on the floor, groaning in pain

“Seriously, when you have you EVER won a fight?” Sonic asked before kicking the fallen Digimon.

A sudden voice caught him of guard, and he turned and looked straight into the angry eyes of TJ Prower.

“What on earth were you playing at? And HOW MANY TIMES have I TOLD you to press the buzzer before you enter. He always attacks anyone who enters otherwise… Except Mum, Dad and Jenny…”

Sonic grinned, and looked at the pile of scrap on the ground once again.

“No offence TJ… But you need a better security system.”

TJ paused for a second, then turned back to his computer.

“Is there a reason why you’re here? Or are you just looking to break some more of my-.”

“Jesus… Let it go already, and yes. I do need something. Have you got anything that can simulate a fight between me and… oh, lets say… Kari?”

TJ turned around slowly, his eyebrow raised.

“…Any reason?”

Sonic shrugged, “A few, but if you cant-.”

The super computer buzzed to life, and on the screen appeared two small chibi models of Sonic and Kari, each sporting there own pros and cons. After a few moments, TJ pressed a button and the two chibis suddenly glanced at each other before engaging in a series of random battles, in several different locations.

After a few minutes, TJ switched off the screen and looked at Sonic with an amused expression on his face before stating;

“Off course, this is only a simulation… There will be a few alterations, maybe even a lot, with things like free will getting in the way, which would be a large program with your model “Mr. Unpredictable”… And plus you two were only fighting at your maximum the whole time… I’m still programming the endurance models-“

Sonic raised his hand, signalling TJ to stop.

“It was fine, I was just curious really on who would win, but it didn’t seem like either of us was getting an upper hand…”

“Well, that was only 11 minutes of footage, truth be told the idea of you and Kari fighting never crossed my mind until you brought it up… Besides, I always thought that Kari was always after Akuma, not you-“

“TJ? You talk to much…” Sonic explained with a grin, and calmly walked from the basement.

***

Sweat poured from Kari’s forehead as she continued to throw energy blast after energy blast around the training chamber she had rented from “Capsule Corp” for that week. Needless to say Vegeta wasn’t happy until Kari Raging Demon’d him into the next year…

As the energy blasts circled the compartment, she dodged each of them and finally threw two smaller ones to counter- but the blasts failed, and she was struck in the chest hard, causing her to groan and curse as she crashed through the wall and onto the hard rocky ground where she lived.

After training under 500 times the planets normal gravity for two days, it pained Kari to say she needed a small break, and limped into her house and collected a small glass of water.

As she drunk, she remembered her encounter with Sonic two days ago, and smashed the glass in her hand as she remembered the way he had spoken to her.

Rage boiling, she tightened the bandages around her knuckles, and decided to do some meditation exercises to calm her senses.

After a few hours, she got to her feat and turned to dispose of the remains of the Capsule Corp training compartment which still remained on the front of her house- but found a grey fox blocking her way. A love struck look on his face.

“Hi Kari-“ Fluke started, but was interrupted as the pink hedgehog pushed past him and blasted the capsule remains into dust.

“What do you want Fluke.” She snapped, walking back into her home with a frustrated look about her.

“I was just passing by (“You liar.” Muttered Kari, annoyed.) And I remember Akuma telling me he had rejected to fight you again. So, I naturally feel concerned and thought I’d stop by.”

Kari glared at him for a moment, then exclaimed; “I’m fine. Get lost,” before opening the front door and waiting patiently.

After a moment, Fluke said; “Yea, so I’m gonna take off…” And begun to walk away.

The door slammed shut, and Fluke sighed happily and sprinted away. Certain he had made a good impression.

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Chapter 3:
The Night Before.


It would be an understatement for Sonic to say he was nervous.

Granted, he had defeated Akuma… Heck! He had even defeated The Undertaker! But Kari…

Kari had something the others don’t. Rage. And lots of it…

And whilst he had seen rage (and fought) pure rage before, such as with Perfect Chaos and Metal Sonic, Kari seemed to transfer the anger she always felt, whether it was towards Akuma or any other living thing on the planet, to a form of energy.

Sonic had seen it before, whenever Kari needed a sort of power up she would always seem to grow more furious at her opponent.

Sonic lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to sleep. He sighed, and glanced at the alarm clock (which read 3:45) and he groaned and thudded the pillow.

Sonic had never been so prepared for a battle in his life, but at the same time he felt a small amount of fear in the bottom of his stomach.

Kari was strong, yes, but if she grew stronger with the amount of rage she consumed… Sonics constant taunts and unpredictable attacks COULD push her over the edge.

He sighed, and getting up he decided to go for a quick run.

Slipping on a jacket, he opened the balcony door and leapt onto the hard ground before taking off at high speeds.

As he ran, he dodged numerous obstacles and performed a few dazzling tricks before skidding to a halt beside Never Lake.

He walked around the edge of the water, and smiled softly at the adventures he had been given the past few years… Ever since Akuma had arrived he was always being out done either by power, or intelligence. Needless to say, he had solved both problems and was arguably smarter than Akuma… And had even defeated Akuma in combat (although the after effects did not do well for her reputation).

The one person Sonic had never, ever, considered getting on the wrong side of was Kari. Her knowledge and strength was beyond anything he knew, and her commitment was incredible.

Picking up a stone and throwing it across the lake, he smiled and made a silent vow to make this match as interesting as possible, and give Kari a challenge she would never forget…

Even if it meant upgrading his insurance in the morning.

***

Kari was dreaming, unlike Sonic she had no trouble getting sleep before a competition.

She was alone, in a dark abyss, the ground decorated like that of an old Roman Stadium, and she stood ready.

Suddenly, the Undertaker appeared from the shadows, and looked at her with scorn.

“You owe him.” He said coldly, and from nowhere two objects hit the ground beside her.

One was a large blade, covered in blood.

The other was her lifeless body, a large puncture in her chest.

Kari frowned, and looked at the Undertaker- But he was gone, vanished into the abyss.

A scream came from behind her, and Doma Sonic charged and she saw a scene from three months before.

The Undertaker held the blade within her stomach, and Doma Sonic crashed into him, screaming; “YOUR STILL SO PREDICTABLE!”

As the Undertaker, caught by surprise, fell back, Sonic held out his hand and a light aura caught Kari. Causing the wound on her stomach to close, but before Sonic could check to see if she was ok, the Undertaker grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the battle.

Kari continued to watch, and she turned away- But Akuma was blocking her path. Already in Chaos Shin, he looked at her with an amused expression and said tauntingly;

“I can’t believe you lost so quickly! You must have the worst luck in the world… I mean, Sonic still had enough energy to defeat me!”

Kari cursed angrily, and punched at Akuma hard- But fell through a large shadow and landed on the ground.

A spot light hit her, and as she looked about she noticed from one direction Akuma, from another The Undertaker and from the last… Sonic.

As they drew closer, Kari growled angrily and then screamed in rage. A dark black aura formed around her, and she charged at the three figures. Smashing each of them into dust with a single punch before floating above the stadium and-

***

Kari snapped awake, sweat poured from her forehead and she opened her hand to blast the non-existent opposing force.

She growled, and checked her alarm clock (which read 7:55) and got to her feat.

“Three hours…” She muttered.

***

Akuma awoke and groaned as he checked the WWE calendar on the side of his bed.

“Aw Damnit… I gotta watch two nutcases beat the crap out of each other… And then I gotta fight the winner!”

After a moment, he thudded back onto the pillow and covered his head with a pillow as Lita walked in with his morning schedule.

“Three hours till your… Super Secret Match… thing, Akuma!” She said brightly, and closed the door as the red hedgehog muttered something before getting up, stretching and glancing at the sunny sky.

"What a beautifull day for someone to get there ass kicked..." He muttered.

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Chapter 4:
Sonic Vs. Kari


Sonic was at the secluded location thirty minutes before the match was due to start, and spent the time stretching and warming up, before he noticed the arrival of Akuma, who dropped from the sky, sighed, and approached him.

“Morning,” He muttered, but before Sonic could answer Akuma interrupted; “Are you sure about this? You shoulda challenged Kari back at my house to fight that day, if I know her, and believe me I trained with her for months, she’s gonna have no hesitation in beating you… Hard! And that’s BEFORE she makes you quit… She wont let you fight as normal Sonic like I did… She’ll just want to end it-”

Sonic grinned, and back flipped onto a large cross on the ground, and begun to jog on the spot.

“You don’t think I haven’t got a plan?” He asked, pretending his feelings were hurt.

“I know you don’t. You’re Mr. Unpredictable.”

“Off course, but that doesn’t mean I don’t prepare a few things before the match starts… Believe me, I know just how to take the lead in this fight!”

“Is that so?” Asked Kari, slowly gliding onto the opposite side of the stadium. Her eyes were focused, and she glared at Akuma before performing her own warm ups.

After a few minutes, Akuma called the two competitors to the centre of the stadium and looked at them in turn.

“Right. As much as I think that is gonna affect us in a very peculiar way… The rules are simple; No killing, you kill you lose. First one to fall unconscious loses. If you say you quit, you lose. That’s it. Any questions Sonic-?”

“We’ve done this before!” Sonic snapped, causing Akuma to chuckle and finally hover above the two.

“Ready?” He asked, watching the two fighters get into position. Kari stood in her usual fighting pose, her eyes burning into Sonic trying to achieve some sense of intimidation, whilst Sonic had both his hands open and a large grin on his face.

“FIGHT!” Akuma commanded, and Kari leapt from her spot, dashed across the stadium towards her opponent.

As she drew nearer however, Sonics smirk grew, he ducked to his left spun his leg through the air and his body exploded with Chaos Energy as Super Sonic emerged, his foot finally connecting with Kari’s stomach, the shock catching her off guard and ending with her rolling across the stadium ground, cursing as she went.

Akuma’s eyes were wide with shock as Kari eventually got back to her feat and glared at Super Sonic with rage plastered over her face.

Super Sonic however, crossed his arms and grinned.

“I knew you would come at me with everything you’ve got right away, hoping for a quick finish… But you forgot one thing Kari!” Super Sonic began to hover, and a bright yellow shield emerged around his body. “I’m the faster thing alive!”

Kari growled, and begun to levitate as well, then opened her hand and fired a small purple blast at the yellow hedgehog, who dodged and teleported across the field and emerging right behind her, but before he could attack, Kari twisted through the air and elbowed Super Sonic in the stomach, before grabbing his chest and throwing him into the air.

“You talk to much! This is a battle!” She cried, and blasted up at him, past Akuma who narrowly dodged the rampaging female hedgehog.

“Holy cow!” Akuma cried, and quickly blasted up after the two fighters.

When he reached the sky, Kari and Super Sonic were trading blows, and he watched intuitively as Kari grabbed Sonics arm before twisting him twice through the air, but before she could throw him, Sonic reversed it and using his Sonic Launcher technique smashed her into the ground below.

“Sonic!” Akuma cried, the shock in his voice amusing the yellow hedgehog greatly.

Before he could respond though, a purple blast emerged from below him, and he was forced to block and take the whole thing as the Shinku Hadouken hit, hard.

When the light was gone, the burns on his arms and legs faded due to his yellow shield, but the pain lingered and he glanced around the sky for Kari.

He waited, and then felt a flaming fist collide with his chest and Kari faded into view a second later.

“Get… away from me!” He cried, and a bright blue energy blast erupted from his hands, and Kari flew through the air, her skin also burning from the energy, but she landed upright and glared at him.

Super Sonic breathed heavily, but he was forced to gasp as Kari’ lowered her arms and begun to transform into hers, and Akuma’s, Shin form.

The shock was gone, and the thrill was back as Super Sonic focused on the Chaos Emerald.

Feeling the change, Super Sonic begun to transform, and the silver stars glowed around him as the colours of Hyper started to form around his body.

Akuma watched, his interest in the match was great, and he asked;

“So is the warm up round over?”

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Chapter 5:
Moments.

The two titanic warriors matched each other blow for blow, and it was only after a cataclysmic surge of energy broke them apart, that Shin Kari realised there were pretty much even.

Hyper Sonic breathed heavily, wiping the blood that dripped from his lip, and watching the opposing warrior. Waiting for the next move.

Shin Kari however, clutched the burns on her arm after Hyper Sonic had spin dashed her with such force that her sleeve had ripped to shreds, and the spines had begun to tear into her skin before she threw her opponent off her.

Both were breathing heavily, and after a moment Hyper Sonic crossed his arms and shouted down to the red hedgehog that watched with keen interest.

“How long have we been going at this?” He asked, the calmness in the voice made Kari twitch with rage, and her hands shook angrily.

After a moment, Akuma called back “About an hour!” and floated up to there level.

“I’m surprised you’ve both still got a lot of energy.” Commented Akuma, as Hyper Sonic laughed and in an almost relaxed state begun to float on his back.

“Yea, I can go for hours… But I don’t know, Kari seems to be getting a bit sloppy.”

The pink hedgehogs eyes flashed into a look of angered shock, and from her lips erupted a low growl that was just loud enough to hear.

“Still, I still have a few tricks left, and she wont be able to catch up once I go Doma, THAT I can guarantee Akuma. She’s just too weak-.”

“SHUT UP!” Cried Kari, her hands erupted a bright red blast that flew at the two hedgehogs, and whilst Sonic ducked and rolled through the sky, Akuma shielded his face and had no choice but to take the blast.

As the smoke cleared, Kari was still shaking angrily, and looked about the sky for Sonic, whilst Akuma erupted frustratingly; “Seriously, WHY do I always get burned!?”

She ignored his comments, and as she rotated fully through the air, her eyes never lost focus and continued their search for her opponent.

CRASH! Hyper Sonic smashed straight into Kari’s back, causing her to spiral through the air and swear angrily as she steadied herself, before getting hit again from below and being thrust upwards, and once again into her opponents waiting arm, which caught Kari by the scruff of her shirt.

“Anger only gets you so far Kari.” Explained Hyper Sonic, his face showed pity; whilst his eyes showed he was slowly running out of energy.

She threw her arm at him, but Hyper Sonic dodged just in time, and gripped the arm as hard as he could, whilst his other hand grabbed her other arm.

Kari growled, and snapped with shocking anger, “Well!? Aren’t you going to finish this fight?”

Akuma watched, his arms crossed, the burns on his body slowly healing from the chaotic blast that Kari had fired, and he waited patiently for Sonic to deliver the final blow.

After a moment however, Sonic loosened his grip and Kari’s growl stopped and her look transformed into something of a “What the hell do you think your doing?” expression, to which Sonic answered, “Its no fun if we don’t give it our all, and we still have Doma and Chaos Shin.”

“So? This is a battle! As a warrior I can accept defeat-“

Sonic laughed, and he replied; “But Kari, I’m a hero.”

He completely let go of her arms, and for a second their eyes met. A second. Nothing more.

Suddenly, Kari’s instincts kicked in once again, and with terrible force she smashed her leg into the glowing hedgehogs stomach, sending him flying through the air.

“You had your chance and you blew it, imbecile!” She explained, shaking her arms angrily and glaring at the falling hedgehog who finally righted himself and rubbed the bruise on his chest, trying to catch his breath.

Akuma was stunned about what had just happened, but he kept his distance. Not wanting to be on the end of another blast.

“Well, if you’re considering giving it your all… I’ll be up there!” Hyper Sonic cried, and he sped into the sky, gripping TJ’s Chaos Emerald and focusing on the energy within it. 

The stars circled his body, covering him, and, before Kari lost sight as he continued to rise, gaining new spines before a complete new look.

Doma Sonic exploded into light, and the hedgehogs new form took the moment to rest as Kari floated coldly upwards.

Akuma drifted next to her, and asked; “Are you still fighting?”

“Off course I am you dolt! I was just focusing!”

Akuma shrugged, and transformed his fur into the red and black spines of Shin Akuma, before flying higher into the sky and into the realm of space.

As she watched him go, she glanced again at Sonic and a deep rage burned inside her.

After a moment, Kari’s fur became a deep red and her spines grew to new lengths before she glanced her eyes at Doma Sonic, resting in the sky above her.

“Your finished!” She screamed, and her speed rocketed forward and her fists closed as the attack began once again. 

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Chapter 6:
Victor.


Doma Sonic dodged the blows, his speed and agility holding out.

His face was in an expression of fear, as every blow was getting closer and closer, and he had to duck and roll to the side several times, trying to achieve some space, before he was back on the defensive once again.

Suddenly, Chaos Shin Kari threw her arms back, swung them over her head once and opened the palms of her hands as a blast erupted and covered the area Sonic was floating in, causing the hedgehog to spiral through the air, his flesh burning under the intensity of the blast.

He righted himself, and as Kari dashed towards him in an attempt to finish her attack, screaming furiously. 

Doma Sonic gasped, ducked under her outstretched arm, and fired his own blast of energy straight into her stomach, and managed to force her higher into the atmosphere.

She groaned, as she finally broke away, and growled at Doma Sonic, who rubbed his arms and shook of the pain before vanishing in a shadow of speed.

He clashed into her from the side, but she blocked and grabbed his arm before spiralling him through the air three times and then kicking him down to the ground several miles away.

Shin Akuma followed Doma Sonic, who covered his face as the ground came nearer, but at the last moment out stretched his arms and landed straight onto the palms of his hands and stood in a clean handstand position.

He was about to flip over, when Chaos Shin Kari kicked his arms from beneath him, spun through the air and kicked him into the ground, causing a large crater to explode and the stadium shatter.

Doma Sonic bounced back, but in mid flight was dragon punched across the arm and chest, causing him to lose balance and leave himself open to a Shin Hadouken, which left him panting on the ground.

He lifted his head up, and a rage, which matched Kari’s, was clear in his eyes.

He floated on the spot, and several orbs of energy began to circle him, and Kari watched, fascinated by this sudden new move.

When he was complete, Sonic stood proud and exclaimed as his quills burned with a lighter black; “Ancient Light. Ready?”

But before she could answer, Sonic flashed across the stadium faster than he had ever moved in his life, and even faster than Akuma and Kari could see!

Kari felt punches and kicks, and tried to defend herself, but the blows kept coming and she knew she had to escape, as the whirlwind of blows continued.

She blasted into the sky, trying to recover her energy, but Doma Sonics attack paused as he eyed the pink hedgehog, and in a split second he was attacking her once again in mid air.

Akuma watched as Sonic continued his assault, and before long he could barely see Kari, as the speed in which he attacked was greater than anything he’d seen before. 

He suddenly saw Kari, her face was covered and her body bruised horribly, and gasped as Sonic unleashed a sudden blast of energy into her back, before he flipped away and crouched in the air, a confidant look on his face.

Chaos Shin Kari lowered her arms, but she didn’t look at Doma Sonic, who raised his eyebrows as she slowly turned to him. Her eyes were closed, and for a second he was worried.

“Kari?” He asked, concern in his voice, and he floated over to her, but when her eyes flashed open and the rage that burned in there hit a maximum, he tried to fly backwards, but glanced at Akuma, who gasped as Kari pulled back her fist and hit Doma Sonic across the face, hard, causing blood to explode from his lip.

His eyes were blank, and for a second he thought he was dead, but when the second blow hit him across the other side of his face, he knew he was still alive.

She continued to hit him, the blows coming faster and harder each time, and soon Kari was screaming, furious as she hit him into the ground, the blows hitting a maximum as she kneeled over Doma Sonic, who had no choice but to feel the pain.

Kari’s knuckles split, but she screamed through the pain, and continued her attack, as Sonics fur started to fade from Doma, to Hyper, to Super once again.

Akuma watched, he tried to call out and stop the match, but he couldn’t find his voice.

Kari was still screaming, and she pulled back her hand for one last punch-

Super Sonics eyes flashed, and he opened his hands at the last moment, unleashing his final level of strength and returning Doma, still lying on the ground and glancing up at his assailant.

With a last blast of energy, he hit Kari with the Raging Demon, and he felt himself shift and attack her with everything he had, before he finally stopped, crouched on his knees, and transformed back to normal Sonic, less than an arms length away from Kari.

Kari, meanwhile, was still kneeling in the spot she had been a second before the attack, and Akuma was unsure of what to do next.

Both hedgehogs looked like hell, both were bleeding immensely, and both seemed at a level of anger, sadness, and finally defeat…

Akuma landed between them both, his fur back to normal, and he glanced at Sonic who still remained crouched, and then at Kari, who also remained kneeling.

Suddenly, a groan paused from her lips, and she turned to face Sonic, who looked at her, pain in his eyes.

They both looked hurt, and both looked furious, perhaps at each other, but more likely at themselves.

Akuma waited for the final words, but none were spoken.

Kari and Sonic seemed to not breath, and sat looking at each other, psyching each other out, before Kari, with great reluctance, gave in and landed on the ground, hard, her eyes closed.

Sonic clutched his arm, and finally collapsed as well, both hedgehogs unconscious after the titanic battle they had just engaged in.

“Sonic… wins.” Cried Akuma, shock in his voice, and ran to the two hedgehogs sides, checking their pulses fearfully.

The battle was over.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7
Aftermath.


Sonics eye flickered open, and all he could see was white. For a second he thought he was dead, but as his vision shifted to focus he saw the white sheets and various nurses standing around him, taking notes and checking the monitors surrounding him.

“…Morning?” He asked groggily, and they gasped loudly, causing his ears to flicker with the sudden noise.

One of the nurses checked his monitor, and explained calmly; “It’s a good thing we got you here when we did, Mr. Sonic. You and that girl were pretty banged up after the car accident…”

“Car accident-.” Sonic started, but when he noticed Akuma sitting across the room, shaking his head, a large grin on his face, he nodded and said; “YEA! Car accident. That’s what happened all right… 

The nurses shrugged, none the wiser and continued to check the blue hedgehog who sighed and continued to relax, before asking;

“Where is Kari anyway?”

The nurses parted and left, and Akuma pointed to his right.

Sure enough, in the bed next to him lay a seriously frustrated Kari, there were bandages covering her arms and forehead, and several band-aids on her face.

It was clear by the way she looked at Sonic that she was not amused.

“I told you!” She snapped at Akuma, and attempted to stand, “I’M FINE! Now let me outta-“

Akuma sighed, and explained for what seemed like the eighth time; “The doctor said you have to stay in over night. Just to let the bones heal. So that means your going nowhere”

“Screw the doctor! I’m fine!”

Sonic rolled his eyes, and said bravely; “Yea, you sound back to normal… For a second I thought you’d wake up all emo and not act like yourself until you reclaimed your title… or whatever.”

Kari flashed a warning gaze at him, but he shrugged it off (much to her displeasure) before asking; “So, when did you wake up?”

“Two hours ago.” Explained Akuma, and then added; “You’ve both been out since yesterday though. I told the doctors you were testing out a new vehicle when you ran of the road. It was really difficult because everyone knows you Sonic, and I had a real hard time explaining Kari… Because she’s got a bit of a reputation as well.”

Sonic nodded, and then said thanks before glancing at Kari once again who shrugged, seemingly board, and then glared back at Sonic with a look of hatred.

“Did you know you could win?” She asked coldly, taking Sonic aback almost immediately.

Akuma whistled loudly, and pointed to the door.

“Look! Cake! I’ll get you guys some!” Before bolting from the room as fast as he could, seemingly wanting to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

After a moment, Sonic turned back to Kari and replied; “Well, I had a plan… But it’s not like I planned every single move.... That last attack you did almost finished me off.”

Kari growled; “It was to slow… I should’ve hit you faster.”

Sonic laughed, “Well! You didn’t! So I get to face Akuma when I’m-“

Kari nodded a “no” and snapped her gaze to the window.

“Gouki said he wont battle either of us.”

For a second, Sonic was confused, but after a moment he looked at the pink hedgehog and asked; “Hey, when I was attacking you with my Ancient Light… The only reason I backed of was because I swear to God I saw tears and-“

“LIAR!” Kari screamed, and her fur transformed into a dark pink and the quills on her head extended violently, before a black aura surrounded them.

Sonic shrunk into his blanket, and he glanced about in search of help as Kari’s breathing rose, then slowed as she finally relaxed again, the aura disappeared and then there was nothing but a heavy breathing Kari, staring in shock at the blue hedgehog.

For a moment, neither said anything, and it was only after Akuma reappeared with a slice of cake each that the silence was broken.

“Gotta say guys, one of the best battles I’d ever seen. Especially at the end… Your final moves were REALLY something!”

Sonic smiled appreciatively, and Kari glared at Akuma with a look off “Get out, your boring me,” before looking at Sonic with interest.

“You’ve changed a lot.” She muttered, then added; “When I met you, you were a total idiot… and now your, well, less of an idiot.”

Sonic paused, then said confused; “Thanks? I guess?” Before adding enthusiastically; “Hey! Does this mean you hold me in the same league as Akuma now-“

“Not in a billion years.” She exclaimed, and turned to face the hospital windows. Glancing at the outside world and wishing for freedom.

She couldn’t wait to leave the next day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8:
Takers Blade.


It was three weeks later, and Sonic and Kari were once again at one hundred percent health, and both were full of energy and couldn’t wait to burn it of.

Sonic was seen either travelling the world, visiting his favourite sites and seeing the friends he had neglected to call whilst he was in hospital.

Kari meanwhile, went straight back to training and blanked out everyone who tried to contact her, which lead Akuma sending Sonic; feeling the two needed a chance to talk about the battle.

When Sonic skidded to a halt outside Kari’s door, he knocked on the door, and ducked as a powerful force opened it and the cliffs straight behind him, causing them to shatter.

Standing up, brushing the debris from his arms and smiled at the shaking figure, which stood in the doorway.

Kari growled, her hair was a mess and her normal shoton uniform had been replaced with more casual clothes, and new fresh bandages had replaced the old ones covering her arms and legs.

“…Did I wake you?” Sonic asked, scratching his head and suppressing the urge to laugh.

“GET! LOST!” Kari snapped, and slammed the door and turned back into her house, but found an unwelcome guest sitting on the sofa, reading through the various warrior books.

The room was dark, but Sonic could plainly see Kari leap and try to grab hold of him, trying to throw him out, but Sonic was to fast and easily slipped from her reach, casually dodging her every attempt to catch him.

After a while, Kari stopped and frowned at him. Her arms relaxed, but she didn’t unclench her fists.

“What do you want…?” She asked, picking up the broken table that had shattered in the struggle.

“Believe it or not,” Sonic answered, dashing through the room and fixing any problems he noticed before standing in front of the pink hedgehog again, “I came to check and see how you were. You’ve been blanking everyone lately, and your wounds haven’t healed as well… Have you been training again?”

Kari shrugged, and replied; “Nothing serious, got hit by a rock slide after I vented of some stress… I survived, so I can fight another day. Big deal…”

Sonic rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you ever… ya know, RELAXED?”

This new word seemed lost to Kari, and she paced about the room and glared at him.

“I need to keep my strength up, otherwise Akuma will be stronger-“

Sonic cut across, laughing.

“Please! I beat Akuma, I beat you, and I beat the Undertaker! By all rights, you should be training to defeat me!”

Kari suddenly turned to him, and pointed accusingly; “Why did you save my life?”

“What? When we fought the Undertaker? Do you not GET this Hero thing?” He exclaimed, crossing his arms and watching her stare at him, confusion in her eyes.

“The Undertaker had defeated me, I was out of the fight. And yet… You knocked him away, and healed me! Even though it gave Taker a chance to learn a new heal move!”

“Two things, One. We won. Two. I saved your life, your complaining why?”

“So why did you save my life?” She asked again, anger seemed to have disappeared for a moment, and was replaced with a look of confusion.

Sonic thought for a moment, then asked; “Why the sudden interest?”

It was Kari’s turn to be speechless, and she thought back to her dreams. Sonic continued to knock back the Undertaker, but it always seemed so hopeless… and that blade. Where did that blade go? It couldn’t have fallen out…

She glanced at Sonic, and said firmly. “Get out. And tell Akuma I’ll be seeing him tomorrow, we need to discuss our match…”

Sonic shrugged, and calmly left the house.

Meanwhile, Kari sat back on the sofa, and continued to think about that sword… The scar where it had stabbed her still remained, Sonic didn’t have enough time to fully heal her, but where had it gone?

Moving to her wardrobe, her shoton uniform stood proudly and she quickly changed before making plans to return to the battlefield the next day.

She would solve this mystery.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9:
Remember.


“You and Kari see to be getting along…” Muttered Akuma, watching one of his original fighting DVD’s alongside Knuckles, who looked at Sonic with a confused look on his face.

Sonic frowned, and relaxed into the sofa, his eyes lingered from the screen.

“What are you basing that on?” He asked, kicking up his feat with the sudden uncomfortable tension in the room.

“Eh, it’s like how animes go… The guy goes with the girl he has the least chemistry with. Vegeta and Bulma, Ash and Misty, InuYasha and Kagome…”

Sonic laughed and added; “Yea, and there was a time when people thought me and Shadow would go well together… Besides, if your logic is true Akuma, you’d be more likely to end up with Kari.”

Akuma opened his hand, and explained; “But I’m with Lita.”

Sonic paused, then continued; “Fine! But what about Fluke? She hates him!”

“But he likes her. What happened with Mina and you, she liked you… and you ended up with Sally, and she ended up with someone else.”

“Wait, are we saying that Sonic and Kari are dating? Or that anime shows have no logic at all…” Knuckles asked, scratching his head, confused.

“It’s nothing Knux, just a hypothetical situation…” Akuma muttered, his gaze returning to the television screen.

“But you said Sonic and Kari were getting along. That means they’ve been spending time together-“

“Knux? Shut up.” Sonic muttered, and closed his eyes as he listened to the raging battle on the television.

***

Kari frowned at the battlefield, which was once a proud cave, and the first step towards her father, and masters, training dojo several years ago.

Now it was the place of one of the greatest battles she’d ever been a part off.

She remembered how Doma Sonic and Chaos Shin Akuma and herself fought the Undertaker as a team, as heroes, in a last ditch attempt to stop him gathering the emeralds.

But due to a blunder on Sonics behalf, Taker acquired the final emeralds, and became his ultimate form.

Despite there individual and team efforts, the three had exhausted all there energy on a Team Blast, but because of Sonic and his heroism when he Chaos Healed her, Taker learned the greatest healing technique powered by the emeralds, and healed himself throughout there greatest move.

The result? Three super warriors, powerless, and facing the greatest villain to ever exist. More powerful than the legends themselves.

Kari still couldn’t believe how Sonic attacked Taker, using him like a living Chaos Emerald, and once again became Doma before attacking Taker with everything he had.

The Undertaker was dead, but Kari still had the feeling it was a loss.

The warriors had failed, and Sonic had become the great hero he had always wanted to be once again.

Now, as she looked at the battlefield, she felt nothing.

The soil was clean, no doubt an effect Sonics heroism and use of the light chaos energy.

A sudden gust of wind hit, and dust flew at her, causing her to breath in the soil and cough at the intrusion.

“Son of a…” She muttered, and took another look around the area.

“I don’t see how this was supposed to help. Maybe it was just a spirit sword again… The guy did have a thing for soul techniques…” She thought, trying to make sense of the situation.

She sighed, and turned to fly away. Feeling as if the trip was for nothing.

Footsteps behind her caught her attention, and she groaned as the thought of Fluke trying to impress her entered her head.

She turned, ready to snap at him, but was stopped. Her eyes glanced over the body of the same individual she had just been thinking about, the creature she had never defeated.

“Hello Kari. Long time no see.”

The Undertaker smiled.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10:
Hush.

“I suppose you have some questions about my alleged reanimation?” The Undertaker asked, his voice was calm and unnervingly cold.

“Your dead. Sonic ripped right through you-“

“If I could survive your team blast, why would being slashed by a hyperactive hedgehog defeat me?”

Kari frowned, and glared at Taker before asking; “So, why were you hiding for so long?”

Taker grinned, and begun to walk towards her- But was stopped by several bolts of energy, each blasting a thin line in front of her.

“Fair enough. Keep me at a distance. Anyway, after Sonics attack I used the Chaos Energy he was giving off to create another Undertaker copy, and then Chaos Control away. Thus, giving me time to grow in strength in secret AND learn more about you and your friends. So you see, I was never dead… I was just resting.”

“You make it sound as if you staged the whole thing just to go on vacation.” Kari muttered as her fists clenched.

“Indeed, and you wont believe the things I have learned from your battle with Son-“

Kari opened her hands, and screamed “Hadouken!” before a large purple blast flew at Taker, who calmly side stepped it and resumed his train of thought.

“-Ic. Such as, when you get to a certain point, your rage over powers you and this… Sudden strength explodes. Much like how must villains fight.” He added, an amused tone in his voice.

“I am not a-“

“No interrupting.”

The blast erupted from his fingertips, and thin strands of energy cut into her skin, causing minor wounds but enough to distract her from the secondary attack.

The collision with her face should have thrown her some distance, but Taker grabbed Kari’s shoe, and smashed her into the ground and rested his foot on her chest, keeping her still.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you. Then again, if I were you… I’d join me.”

Kari’s eyes widened angrily, but Taker laughed and then added; “Just kidding. Don’t you hate it when villains say that? If your gonna recruit someone, go for someone who you KNOW will join you.”

He kicked her in the side, causing Kari to role and hit a large rock and groan, before continuing;

“Come on. This is the part where you try to stop me and I beat the hell out of you.”

“No…” Growled Kari, “It’s not that part.”

Chaos Shin exploded, and she leapt at Taker who ducked and dodged every blow she threw.

“I thought you were fast.”

CRACK! The blow to her stomach winded Kari, and she attempted to back flip away, but Taker hit her in the stomach twice in mid flip, and blasted her away from him.

Kari hit the ground, rolled twice, and got up. Bruises were forming already, and the battle had yet to start.

She kept her eyes on him, but as she blinked, he vanished and grabbed her by the neck from behind.

“I would so easily snap your neck… And this time Chaos Heal wouldn’t save you.”

Kari twisted, and using the energy Chaos Shin gave her, dashed into the sky, trying to out fly him.

“Damnit! He’s stronger than last time, but so am-“

Taker wrapped his arms around her, and whispered into her ear; “This is a move I never got to try out, but with the Chaos Heal it will work for me and suck for you.”

They dropped from the sky, and Taker began to glow a dark red, and he screamed as they neared the rushing ground; “KAMIKAZE!”

The explosion rocked the city, and as the Undertaker leapt from the battlefield, he surveyed the damage and clutched the bleeding pink hedgehog by the scruff of her shirt. Watching her bleed with a look of satisfaction.

“Wake up. I’m not finished yet.”

***

“THIS JUST IN!”

“Ah for the love of! Nobody interrupts wrestling-“

“’Kuma, put the damn chair down…” Muttered Sonic, and was forced to watch with amusement as Akuma obeyed, cursing at the newscaster.

“We are not sure what’s going on, and from what can be seen there is very little damage to the area. But the pink hedgehog known as Kari Hedgehog, has apparently lost her mind. Kari, seen her, (a file photo emerged, and Knuckles laughed at the rage on Kari’s face) seems to be attacking random objects, and talking to someone unseen. Also, she appears to be throwing herself around and wounding herself severely. Just moments ago, she dropped from the sky and when we next got a shot of her, she was bleeding and trying to escape from something. We ask if anyone has any-“

Sonic turned of the TV, and laid back.

“Clearly Kari has lost her mind and is now fighting random… landscapes.” He explained in a matter of fact tone.

Akuma frowned, and smacked the blue hedgehog over the head before turning the TV back on.

“-seems to be that the opponent she is fighting is the Undertaker. The Undertaker was recently destroyed by Sonic the Hedgehog a few months ago, and if he has acquired a form of invisibility then-“

Sonic looked at Akuma, the serious looks on there faces made Knuckles frown and ask; “So, were not gonna watch the rest of that video?”

“If the Taker is invisible, it would explain why Kari is acting so strangely…” Sonic muttered, and got to his feat. “I’m gonna check it out, what do ya think Akuma?”

“I think if you don’t get your ass over there, Kari won’t have much time left!”

Sonic glanced at the screen, and watched Kari continuously try and escape, but continue to be either knocking into the ground or into the air.

“In five seconds your gonna see me on that screen.” He explained, and leaping into Super Sonic he teleported from the room, and into battle. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11:
Hero.


Super Sonic materialised just outside of the battlefield where Kari had been seen. The area was smoking, rocks were shattered, and large craters were scattered in no real pattern.

“Kari!?” He cried, calling out over the terrain, his voice echoed and bounced with the wind.

Three explosions suddenly caught his attention, perhaps as an answer, and he looked down to see Kari firing blindly at… Nothing.

Glancing at where her aim was targeted at, he landed in the spot, dodging a few blasts before Kari noticed his intrusion.

His fur turned blue, and he waited as Kari shook with rage and glared past him.

“What are you doing!?” She snapped, and opened her hands to fire a Hadouken, but Sonic didn’t move.

“What am I doing? You’re the one getting beaten by something invisible!”

Kari’s eyes widened, but were quickly replaced by rage, and she continued;

“But I can see him. You must not be looking hard enough-“

“Kari… After our battle, when I went round your house, you seem very secluded and alone. Did you just… make up seeing Taker? Make up the invisibility-“

“HE’S REAL!” She cried, and leapt at him angrily, but Sonic jumped into a buzz saw spin attack, and flew over her before landing at her side.

“Kari! Logic! If I can’t see him, why can you?”

This caught Kari off guard, and Sonic watched her step back, looking at the wounds on her body with fear, and then suddenly look to her side and gaze at something that wasn’t there.

<Kari’s POV>

The Undertaker watched her, his eyes lingering at her fear, and he loved its taste.

He walked past her, her ears pricked up at the sudden movement, and her eyes watched him whilst her body faced Sonic.

Sonic stood with his arms crossed, frowning, and waiting for a response.

The Undertaker, almost mockingly, walked up to Sonic casually strolled around him, waving his hand in front of Sonics face, and clicking his fingers. Sonic didn’t even react, and continued to have his eyes burn into Kari.

Suddenly, Taker raised his arm and was about to bring it down on Sonics head-

Kari attacked, screaming.

<Sonic’s POV>

The attack came out of nowhere, and Sonic instinctively, especially after the years of training, ducked to his side, transformed Super and threw his own charged blast back.

It hit Kari square in the stomach, and tore away at her shirt.

Sonics gasp caused Kari to look, and the scar on her chest where the Undertaker had stabbed her glowed a dark red.

He looked at her, she looked at him.

For a second, there was a pause, but was broken when Kari’s face was launched backwards, and she shouted angrily as something held her, and threw her through the air at him.

Sonic caught the pink hedgehog, but she suddenly became heavy, and her chest lurched and something continued to attack her in his arms.

Sonic was at a loss, he tried running with Kari, but the attack just continued.

Kari screamed, angrily, and a long thin gash slashed down her right arm, blood leaked and Sonic shouted his fur exploded into his Doma form.

“Kari!” He cried, and she looked at him, confusion on her face as he laid his hands on her head and muttered; “Chaos Coma…”

Kari fell unconscious, and she slowly stopped squirming in his arms, after a moment he rested her on the ground.

“Chaos Energy.” He muttered, and looked around for the nearest town.

“Wait here,” He told the sleeping Kari, and leapt into the air and took off at Super Sonic speed.

“I’m gonna need some help…”

***

“So, Kari believes she’s battling the Undertaker. But he’s not really there. And you think it’s the scar from the stab she got back in the final battle, and something to do with chaos energy… Right?” Asked Shadow, sitting beside Knuckles who looked equally confused.

“In a nutshell. Yea. Right now she’s unconscious and nothings happening, so it leads me to believe the attack is in her mind… Soooo… I was hoping you knew anyway to get into someone’s mind?”

Shadow leaned back, and looked at Knuckles. The two shared a special bond with the Chaos Emeralds, thus knew exactly what to do.

“Ok. You put her into a coma, so she’s gonna be inside her head right now in some sort of… Astral Form. What WE need to do, is use the Master Emerald and enter her mind in our own Astral forms. When we get there, we should be able to fight the “Undertaker” along with Kari.” Explained Knuckles, tirelessly, and then got to his feat. “For this to work, bring her to the Emerald chamber, I’ll do the rest.”

Knuckles left the room, leaving Shadow and Sonic alone to talk.

“Whats this about?” Asked Shadow immediately.

“It’s about being a hero and doing the right-“

“Bull. If its to do with the Undertaker, why didn’t Akuma get-“

“Akuma’s a warrior. This is a job for a hero.” Explained Sonic, and chaos controlled away in a flash of green, leaving an amused Shadow to make his own way after Knuckles.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12:
Dream Warriors.


“So, how does the work? Do we just stand around her and get pulled in, or-.”

“Nope. That’s about it.” Explained Knuckles, placing Kari atop the Master Emerald and positioned himself so that he had easy access to the emerald.

“Wow. That’s horribly lame.” Muttered Sonic, resting against the yellow Super Emerald, which made his fur bristle.

“What did you expect? The Echidnas had no originality… For them it was go in, do the job, get out.” Added Shadow, throwing and catching his green chaos emerald, and waiting for this mission to start.

“…HORRIBLY. LAME.”

“You don’t have to come ya’know. Me and Shadow should be able to deal with this.”

Sonic stood up, and reached out his hand to touch the emerald.

“Nah, if its, as you say, an “Astral” version of Taker then when we get in there we’ll also be astrals. And I assume we can die, right?”

Knuckles nodded, and Shadow added with a grin; “If we see some guy with a red and green sweater and razor fingers, I’m out.”

Sonic rolled his eyes.

A few moments later, and Knuckles finally began the incantation that would send them inside Kari’s mind.

“The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power. The heart enriches power. The servers are the one who unifies the chaos. Take us inside this girls mind!”

There was a flash, and the three fighters fell from the pedestal and felt themselves begin to drift to sleep.

***

Sonic awoke beside Shadow and Knuckles, and as he shook his head in order to recover, he noticed his energy levels had increased.

Glancing down, he noticed he was now in his Doma Sonic form, whilst Shadow and Knuckles rested as Super.

“Er, Knux? We appear to be glowing.” Explained Shadow, floating on the spot with an amused expression on his face.

“Yea. We were transported into Kari by use of the Master Emerald, clearly its gonna have some energy powered into us.”

“Some more than others…” Muttered Sonic, and begun to observe their surroundings.

Kari’s mind was exactly how he pictured it. Large pillars, hazardous drops, several flaming areas he expected was her temper… And right in the centre was a stadium. The walls stretched a million miles high, and the doorway was larger than anything they’d seen. As Sonic looked, he noticed it resembled that of the old Roman temples, except the statues of Kari reminded him why they were here.

“I bet you guys fifty bucks Taker and Kari are inside that stadium.” He said, pointing.

A sudden explosion, and shouts of rage made them all glance at each other and begin flying as fast as there chaos forms would allow them.

“TOLD YA SO!” Cried Doma Sonic, and using his speed to his advantage arrived first inside the battlefield.

He was expecting to see Kari in Chaos Shin, fighting a the astral form of the Undertaker, the two at even levels.

What he got was a large shadow with demonic red eyes, towering over the unconscious body of Kari, and just about to slash at her with a weapon it drew from its very stomach.

Before he knew it, Sonic was charging at the creature, smashing into it with everything he had, causing it to scatter and reform as a shadowy form of the Undertaker.

Sonic landed beside Kari, and rested his hands on her. Focusing on the chaos energy that flew within him, he channelled it into the pink hedgehog.

The Undertaker begun to move towards the pair, but Shadow and Knuckles, both charged Super, smashed into it, engaging its view to change and fight back.

Shadow begun by trading blows, and leading it into the air, whilst Knuckles flew in and attacked at moments where its defence was down.

Kari groaned as the Chaos Heal ended, and awoke to look at Doma Sonic, who smiled happily.

“That’s twice I’ve saved your life.”

This caught her off guard, and she grudgingly got to her feet and looked at him.

“This is my battle-“

“PLEASE! In that field you were nearly begging me to help you!”

She looked away, and quickly replied; “You were ticking me off, plus you made me think I was crazy. ”

“Sure Kari...”

He leapt into the air, spiralling through the sky at the Shadow Taker.

“Chaos Spear!” Cried Shadow, firing several bolts of lightning at the shadow, who dodged each and leapt at the hedgehog.

Knuckles arrived from below, but passed straight through and spiralled away as Taker glanced at the falling Echidna.

“Hey! Faker!”

Both Shadow and the Undertaker glanced at him, both with a frustrated expression on there face.

Doma Sonic grinned, and opened his palms.

“You’re a product of Chaos Energy, and the wound caused by the Undertaker. And just like the Undertaker, you’re royally screwed!”

Kari appeared at his side, and opened her own palms and also begun charging up, her pink aura glowed lightly.

“Hit him with everything you’ve got.” She ordered, and Shadow and Knuckles appeared besides her, placing their hands outside the aura and placing their energy within her.

With the sudden gain of energy, Kari’s fur glowed brightly and her Chaos Shin formed erupted and the energy forming in her hands exploded with life.

Shadow and Knuckles faded, their super forms gone, and appeared beside the Master Emerald, which glowed a bright grin under the strain of Sonics Doma form.

Meanwhile, back in Kari’s mind, the two hedgehogs held the two blasts above their head, whilst Shadow Taker looked at them, a confused expression on its face.

His hands erupted, and two dark blasts erupted from its chest, and attacked the two hedgehogs.

“Go!” Cried Sonic caught by surprise, and the two hedgehogs fired there own blasts, which collided with the shadows, which kept the two even without effort.

“He’s every bit as strong as Taker was!” Cried Sonic over the roar of the explosions.

“Yea! He must have some chaos energy within him from when Taker stabbed me!”

Sonics head clicked with this new information, and he looked at her excitedly; “Wait! You’ve had chaos energy inside you all this time!?”

She nodded, and poured more energy into her attack, which shifted slightly, but not for long.

“Do you trust me?” He asked suddenly, and looked at her with sudden seriousness, which made her blink with surprise.

After a moment, she nodded and said; “Whats the plan?”

Doma Sonic brought one hand away from his blast, and the sudden shift of power caused him to groan under the strain, sweat poured from his forehead, and he placed one hand onto Kari’s.

She looked at him, and he nodded, and she suddenly felt chaos energy flood inside her.

Doma Sonic vanished, as did Hyper Sonic, but Super Sonic remained as Kari took all the energy, and released it.

Taker howled as the energy collided with his blast, shattering the energy, shattering the blast, and completely engulfing him.

The scream echoed throughout Kari’s mind, and the two hedgehogs fell from the sky, landing onto the stadium ground.

After a moment, they looked at the surroundings, and remains of the shadow Taker hit the ground, and disappeared into dust.

“Oh yea. We got him.” Grinned Sonic, and looked at Kari happily.

“What was that?” She asked, frowning.

“Lets just say he felt the effects of the Sonic Boom. Again. Except this time, I acted as the Chaos Energy and you absorbed it.”

“So, it was another one of those works or we’re screwed ideas?”

Sonic nodded, and Kari rolled her eyes.

“For future reference, I didn’t need your help.”

Sonic nodded, and added; “For future reference, ignore everything you say.”

She growled, and then looked at the hand that the yellow hedgehog still held.

“Oh sorry.” Muttered Sonic, and he faded from Kari’s mind amazingly fast, faster than usual, and faster than she expected..

Kari wasn’t sure, but she swore she saw the slightest speck of pink emerge onto Sonics cheeks before he vanished.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 13:
Crystal Clear.


Shadow said his farewells, and teleported inside the Master Emerald, just as Sonic leapt from within it, shaking his head as if he had just done something incredibly stupid.

A few moments later, and Kari awoke. The wounds she had received during her fight earlier were gone, and the scar on her chest had just as incredibly vanished.

Knuckles, who was now satisfied that everything was back to normal, ordered Sonic and Kari to leave (he soon took it back, as Kari glared at him), and locked the doors to the chamber.

“Well! In normal hero meets damsel in distress situations this would normally be where I get my reward!” Sonic said, before winking and walked with Kari as they begun there journey off the island.

“That was certainly fun! You certainly know how to play the Damsel In Distress card well…”

Kari growled at him, and he chuckled.

“It’s been pretty common though…” He said, his arms resting over his head. “You and me, either working together or against each other…”

Kari sighed, her frustrations growing, and she asked; “What is your sudden fascination with me?”

Sonic laughed harder this time, and he said with a wink; “Nothing personal babe, but crazy psycho bi- I mean. What are you talking about?”

“You helped me fight the Undertaker with Akuma, and saved my life. We battle, and you check to make sure I’m ok afterwards. I fight Takers shadow, or astral, or whatever… And you go out of you way to help me.”

“Do you not get this hero stuff?” He asked, scratching his head with a confused expression.

“Your heroic ways are mysterious to me, and you mostly took charge in the final confrontation with Taker."

He winked again, “A heroic leader? You flatter me!”

She sighed, and asked; “Another thing, there were other ways to transfer your energy into me in that battle. What made you opt for the hand holding technique… thing?”

Sonic shrugged this time, and said with a bit of hesitation; “All the cool heroes do it?”

She growled at his response, and he added; “Fine. It just seemed fitting. There, happy?”

“Ecstatic.” She muttered, and Sonic laughed.

“Was that sarcasm? Wow, that’s a first!”

“Don’t make me hurt you.”

“You hafta catch me first!” He blasted past her, his blue form spiralling through the Hidden Palace Zone, and as he leapt and ducked through various hoops, Kari had no choice but to smirk at the stupidity of his actions.

“Is that a smile?” He asked, skidding to a halt in front of her, posing ridiculously.

“No. Smiles are pointless. A sarcastic smirk however-“

“BORING!” He flashed around her, and she had the distinct impression he was doing something he shouldn’t be.

When he stopped, he held up a jewel he had plucked from the ground (No doubt something Rouge had left behind) and Kari was shocked to see her hair looked completely different, and she grabbed the Hedgehog by the throat.

“What was the point in THAT!?” She snapped, the rage on her face was clearer than anything Sonic had seen all day.

“…It’s called fun? Ya know, that thing you do when you don’t train!”

“Funs a distraction.” She growled, and removed the twisted headband from her hair.

“What are you? A robot?”

“What are you!? A child!?” She snapped back, and she blasted into the sky, and flew away before he could even think about going after her.

After a moment, Sonic kicked the jewel that lay on the ground.

“Your welcome.” He muttered.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14:
Sonic’s Guilt.


“So after we beat Taker down, Kari gets frustrated and flies off, and after I’ve tried to be nice and all that…” Sonic finished, leaning against Akuma’s wall as the red hedgehog sat with Lita, listening intuitively. 

After a moment, he raised the question; “So what else is new?”

Sonic thumped to the floor, and sighed loudly; “Whats with that girl, ‘Kuma. You’ve known her longer than I have, so why does she always act-“

Akuma stood up, Lita frowned and he smiled at her, then he said to Sonic calmly; “You’re guess would be as good as mine. When I first met Kari she beat the hell out of me, Bruce and Cage, and she didn’t hold back.

“Bah, I wonder what her parents thought of her…”

This made Akuma laugh, and Lita chipped in; “Yeah, considering Kari’s father was her teacher… I’m sure he found it fine.”

It took Sonic a second to process this information, and once it clicked he asked; “…So that explains why you and Kari are rivals… You trained under the same guy, and you overtook her and he left her for last, and she has to defeat you to regain her respect?”

Akuma sighed, scratched behind his ear, and added; “Well, there’s more to it than that…”

Sonic raised an eyebrow, and sat down on the opposing sofa and put up his feat; “Whats up? Why does nobody ever talk about Kari’s past?”

“Because nobody asks, now shut up.” Akuma snapped, and then grinned before beginning;

“Near the end if mine and Kari’s training with Master Tai, he called us together for a tournament that ended with me and Kari in the final round. After a long exhausting battle, I finally won and Tai told me that he would teach me the super moves, such as the Shinku Hadouken and the Raging Demon. After many months, I had learned them all and was just about to let Kari take her turn… But then Lord Noble arrived, killed Tai, and I avenged his death. When I told Kari though, her shocked silence said it all, and when she told me we would fight again, I knew that she meant it. The rage in her voice said it all.”

“So, Kari’ is only trying to fight you because you avenged her father, and she wants to claim the honour you have of beating Noble, for herself?”

Akuma shrugged, “You could guess all night, but I have no idea. All I know is, after Kari’s father died she changed into the compulsive warrior you see every day.”

Sonic scratched his head, shocked at this news, and asked; “Do you think that if she beats you, she’ll give up the warrior lifestyle?”

Akuma leaned back; “Kari’s already defeated Lord Noble when he was resurrected by Death, Sonic… She avenged her father, I doubt she’ll give up the lifestyle if she wins against me.”

“One more thing,” Sonic asked, and Akuma nodded in acceptance; “You said her shocked silence said it all, what does that mean?”

“Well… And this is only a theory, but I believe that at that moment, Kari truly changed. She could have let her emotions get the better of her, but she kept them bottled up and has done so for a long time. She’s got more arrogant, and stronger, and is probably one of the only fighters who uses rage to her advantage, and does it well. And needless to say Sonic, all the current defeats she’s faced lately cannot be good for her…”

“Are you saying-“

“I’m not saying it’s your fault. But I am saying that lately, Kari keeps losing, and you keep winning.”

Sonic breathed out heavily at this, and he knew Akuma was right. With everything that had happened lately, it seemed that the two did keep coming to blows, whether as partners or enemies, and Sonic still seemed to win by either helping Kari, defeating her enemy, defeating her, or giving her the extra boost that ended the battle she couldn’t win by herself. Sonic had always thought that this was because he was the hero, and as a hero he always gave the extra boost, but he had never thought about how Kari saw it.

“Do you think she’s angry?” He asked, his voice slightly quieter than normal.

“Kari’s always angry, but I think at the moment she is just starting to feel the start of something new,” And with a deep breath, Akuma said confidently; “I think she feels helpless, you keep saving her. Kari doesn’t want to be saved Sonic; you keep trying to help but your making it worse. I’m sorry, but it’s what’s happening…”

This was a blow to Sonic, and the room certainly felt smaller as he sat there, feeling Akuma’s eyes burn into him, and he knew he had to leave, there was nothing for it, he had to leave, he had to run, he had to escape the guilt.

And he knew, no matter what, he had to free Kari. Free the emotion and guilt she had kept hidden for so long, the rage at the one who killed her father, the grief that she wasn’t there to at least see his final happy moments, the happiness of knowing he was at least doing something he loved, and that his last thoughts was of her, and finally… The love she felt for him, and the love she still felt.

He jumped to his feat, and looked at Akuma and Lita, and the red hedgehog looked back, his eyes wide.

“Your not-“

“I am.”

The door exploded open, and Sonic was gone before Akuma could try and stop him, his dust cloud leading into the quiet evening, an Akuma had no choice but to relent and relax back in his chair with Lita.

After a moment, he grinned and said to Lita; “Always the hero.”

***

Kari half expected it to be Fluke, and she knew that if it was she was going to have a long battle trying to get the fox to leave her alone.

Thinking against it, she tried to ignore the rattle at the door, and only got to her feat as it got louder and louder, and she finally relented when it came to her that it may be important, not that it would matter to her.

Getting to her feat, and slowly walking to the door, hoping the fox would leave before she opened it and offered her his hand in marriage, or something stupid like that.

“Alright Fluke!” She snapped, and pulled the door open roughly, but was taken aback when she saw Sonic standing there, arms at his side and staring at her with an expression that sent a chill down her spine.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” She snapped, holding the hair band on her head, “If you’re gonna try and mess with my-“

“No. I’m not.” He cut across, and Kari lowered her arm, and crossed her own arms, crossing them and tapping her foot impatiently.

“Well? What the hell do you want then!?” She asked again, glaring at him, but his expression didn’t change.

“I’m just here, to say I’m sorry, and that I wont let you down.”

Kari pondered this for a moment, and before she could reply, Sonic pulled her into a tight hug, and held her there for a moment, before he was gone faster than she had ever expected.

“What the heck was that about?” She asked nobody, and re-entered her home, trying to understand what had happened and Sonics sudden affection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15:
The Other Two


Sonic leapt and ducked through the forest, every branch he nearly misses was like a challenge, and the thrill of moving faster than the speed of sound when at any moment he could be smacked in the face was an amazing rush.

His mission though was an important one, he had one job and that was to find out as much about Kari’s life, before she met Akuma.

He knew the red hedgehog meant well, but he was a hero, and as a hero he never gave up.

Detective work was never his game, his job was to run and smash as many robots as possible before Eggman came down and the two engaged in a battle to the death. Now though…

Now was a different time for heroes, villains were getting stronger, competent even… And Sonic knew that the Undertaker was powerful, but as history showed… There were always things more powerful.

He cringed as a branch whipped at his cheek; it was to thin to notice at his speed, and as blood seeped from the wound he realised it was becoming a distraction, so he leapt above the trees and hopped along the top, glancing at the city he was trying to get to.

He ducked, and his Super form exploded across him as he flew through the air and landed in the city, right outside a building with the words; “WST” was painted across a large banner, next to it was a picture of two fighters, one with wheels for his lower body and the upper body of an Echidna, the other however was a hedgehog with clothing similar to the Trinity girl who occasionally hung out with Akuma.

He pushed open the doors, and walked inside with a serious look on his face.

***

“Kari? The crazy psychotic Kari that Bruce fought back in the first tournament?” Asked Cage, resting his feet up on a large table as Sonic sat opposite him, glancing about the room.

“Yes. Kari, ya know… Kari and Akuma? Master Tai’s daughter?” He said sternly.

“Oooooh! Akuma and Kari! Yea, we trained with them under Master Tai. He was a good guy, such a shame he died… Still, ‘Kuma got him in the end!”

Bruce nodded; “True, still, training with Akuma was fun. He was a bit naïve sometimes… A bit foolish, like the first day he arrived, Tai made us attack Kari, and he just rang along behind us, I don’t know what he was thinking! Hah! That was fun…”

“Did you win?” Sonic asked, wondering if Kari was weak back then as well.

“Off course not, she kicked our asses in less than a minute!” Cage laughed, and got to his feat.

Sonic rolled his eyes, “So, wait, are you saying that Kari had trained long before you guys got there?”

“Seemed like it, still… Cage here had a bit of an obsession with her, and Akuma kept denying it, but I had no interest whatsoever.”

Cage hit Bruce over the head, and exclaimed; “If I remembered correctly, you thought Kari was cute!” He laughed, and swung round back onto the sofa with a soda, but was hit on the head by Bruce who snapped; “Yea, and you wanted to ask her out!”

Sonic laughed as the two continued swapping insults at each other, before asking; “Did Kari, or Tai for that matter, ever talk about there lives before they started training you?”

Bruce shrugged, “Not really, but there was this one time in the middle of the night, I remember cause we’d just returned from a Light Fight, as we called it.”

“And that is?” Sonic asked, eager to hear what pains Akuma had to go to.

“Basically, you charge up the Hadouken for as long as possible and Tai watches, the last one still charging after the others have run out of energy gets a decent meal. Anyway, one night after the Light show we were walking back to our huts to rest up for the next day, and Bruce and me noticed Tai and Kari talking to this person in a cloak, Akuma was nearby, and when we asked him what they said he just shrugged and said it was none of our business. It must off been important because the next day Tai and Kari were gone, leaving us to train ourselves.”

Sonic thought on this for a moment, and then wondered aloud; “Do you think this figure was someone related to the two?”

Cage nodded, and chipped in; “Oh yea! Akuma also told me that the guy was clearly female.”

“And why did Akuma tell you that and not me?”

“Because, you asked what they were saying. I asked if it was a chick. I made the right choice, but in either case, Tai and Kari told us straight away on the first day that there was to be no excuses, and there was to be no time of. So it must have been something incredibly important if he had to go back on his word…”

“And what about Kari?” Asked Sonic, thinking he might be reaching a breakthrough.

“Well… Let me put it this way…” Said Bruce coldly, “Kari was mean when we arrived, and she wasn’t hateful, just mean. But when they returned, something big must of happened… Because she wasn’t the same… She was violent, picking up the pace with us, and she specifically hated Akuma, he was always so quiet and she always suspected that he thought he was better than her.”

“After the trip Kari changed?” Sonic asked, trying to clarify.

Bruce and Cage looked at each other, then back at the blue hedgehog, and said at the same time:

“Hell yea, we’ll tell ya all about it...”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16:
Kari’s Anger.


“YOU OWE MY FATHER!” Screamed Kari, her arms thrashing madly, trying to grab the red hedgehog who stood watching as Sub, the Mysterious Ninja, and Fluke held her back with great difficulty.

“Kari, listen, I’m not gonna fight you!” He said, trying to console her, but she screamed back; “I’M TIRED OF WAITING!”

With that, she twisted and punched Subrosian hard across the cheek, making the armadillo fly across the room and hit the wall, hard.

She turned to face the Mysterious Ninja, who drew his sword with great skill, but was caught off guard by the Hadouken to the gut. As close as he was, he had no chance dodging.

Finally, she turned to Fluke, who flinched and released the pink hedgehog that finally turned to Akuma-

A blow to the side of her face made Kari’s eyes widen in pure shock, Chaos Shin Akuma landed past her, rage burning through him.

He turned to face her, and his quills returned to that of normal Akuma before he crossed his arms as Kari got to her feet, blood dripping from her nose.

“You’re a coward, Gouki!” She snapped, wiping her nose and glaring at him.

“No Kari! You’re the coward!” He accused, pointing at her, his finger shaking with rage. “You don’t give a damn about anyone! You just want to fight, fight and win.”

“You’re no different-“

“Oh but I am. The last time I had a battle was when we fought Taker, since then I’ve trained to combat any future threats, to become a better warrior.”

“You’re no warrior! You’re just like Sonic, a pathetic HERO!”

“And this hero saved your life twice.”

Sonic entered the room, leaning at the unconscious Subrosian’s side, checking to see if he was breathing.

“What are you doing here…?” Kari snapped, shaking with anger at the sudden intrusion from the one person she did not want to see.

“Just spent the day talking to Bruce and Cage… Good guys, Cage is a bit nutty… But I’m sure you two knew that.”

Sonic now stood opposite Akuma, with Kari standing in the middle, glancing from one to the other.

“So what is this, a team up!?” She asked, but Sonic only laughed and took a step towards her.

“There’s more to life than fighting Kari, I was actually coming over to ask Akuma a few question about this mysterious cloaked women… But I guess it can wait.”

This caught Kari off guard, and she glared at Akuma with pure hatred.

“You bastard!” She screamed, and leapt at the red hedgehog, who was ready to block the attack, but Sonic dived in front of Kari, grabbed her wrist before turning Doma and Chaos Controlling them both far away.

Akuma stood still, before looking around the room and proclaiming; “I need a new rival…”

***

Kari growled at Doma Sonic, who held her tightly and ordered; “I’ll let you go, if you CALM down!!!”

After a moment of struggling, she finally relented and Sonic calmly let go of her arms.

For a moment, neither said anything.

“Right, now what the hell was that about?” Asked Sonic, his quills relaxing as his blue form once again took over and he landed beside Kari.

At first Kari didn’t answer, and just preceded to glance at the area they stood in.

There were on the top of what appeared to be a large mountain, wind and snow continued effortlessly battering the two, but neither felt the cold.

“I lost my patience.” She finally said, and leapt from the mountaintop, skidding across the snow and far away from the blue hedgehog.

“Oh HELL no!” Sonic snapped, and in a matter of seconds was grinding along the snow, ice and rock after the pink hedgehog, the wind was getting stronger, and soon his teeth were chattering madly, but his goal was clear.

Kari turned in mid air, and for a second Sonic swore that she was beyond furious, she looked… blank.

Transforming Super, he chaos controlled several times along the mountain, landing nearer and nearer the pink hedgehog, but when he was within distance she grabbed him by his arms, and fell sideways.

The shock caused Sonic to lose grip on his emerald, which became lost in the storm of snow and ice that followed the pair, and as they fell, Sonic shouted at Kari furiously; “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?”

She didn’t answer; instead she threw him far from her, attempting to lose him- But Sonic gripped her arm, and the two fell into a cave of ice, sliding along the floor and crashing into the wall.

“Ah god damn…” He complained, before skating towards Kari and grabbed her angrily-, which proved to be a big mistake, as she drew back her fist and punched him hard across the face.

He grabbed the second punch, and he could see that the fire behind Kari’s eyes was gone, she was… Trying to hurt him!

She pulled back her free hand for a final hit, but Sonic also grabbed it, and with all his strength he managed to bring Kari to her knees.

“What is going on!?” He asked, confused at this sudden… weak Kari.

“You took my pride… I always thought that that was the one thing I could always keep… But you stole it…”

She pushed him away, but her strength was limited and it was only then that Sonic saw the wounds across her arms.

“Kari, what happened-“

She started to walk towards him, but looked through him.

He raised his arms, thinking of an attack, but instead Kari opened her arms and hugged him tightly.

His face flushed 
der Fox leapt after him, shouting angrily.

“Well, that was certainly fun. I come round Akuma’s to tell you what I’d heard from Bruce and Cage, I end up teleporting a duplicate of you to this cave where, coincidently, Thunder Fox and Ryu are waiting for me. After your duplicate kisses me, I find out it was all a trap and end up battling without the use of a chaos emerald, then you arrive and we kick there asses until Ryu goes all wacko with my emerald and keeps me distracted by threatening to make me into a demon, which distracted you for some reason. Oh! And then I get shot in the leg and have to crawl towards my emerald and cast Chaos Heal on myself, only to find you let those three go. Did I miss anything?” Asked Sonic, his arms crossed and his wounds healed as he threw the emerald into the air, catching it every time it fell slightly.

“That Sasami girl kissed you?” Kari asked, her voice in a strangely lighter tone than usual, which shocked the blue hedgehog, who answered with a wink;

“Well, to be fair she looked like you.”

Kari glared at him, and said strongly; “If you want me to tear of your arms, I will.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17:
Captive.

“The Mages of the who-ha?” Sonic repeated, glancing at the three teenaged warriors he had heard about for some time (mostly by Sub), but never seen (Except before Tails’ wedding).

“Kaminari!” Snapped Evil Ryu, his hands glowing as the three Medallions around his neck glowed brightly.

“Oh. Now THAT’S low!” Sonic exclaimed sarcastically, “You use my “Families” medallions against me? How LOW can you get!”

“SILENCE!” Snapped Sasami, and she raised her hand to hit him with, but Thunder Fox grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“We don’t want to hurt him just yet, first we want to torture him…”

“Torture without hurting me? I stand corrected… THAT’S low!” He muttered, grinning still.

Evil Ryu approached him, the medallions glowed, and he said’ “So, on a scale of 1 to 10… Hero… How pissed were you when you realised it wasn’t really Kari?”

Sonic laughed, and flicked Evil Ryu’s nose confidently before saying; “Why would I care if it was Kari? Personally, I’m glad it wasn’t her… Mostly because of that kiss, I imagine Kari would be more feminine-“

Sasami threw a blast of lightning, which collided with Sonics leg and caused a large gash to appear across it. Sonic fell to his knees, and pressed a hand against the gash in order to stop the bleeding.

“Well, that’s just great. That’s my RUNNING leg…” He frowned at the three before saying; “I hope you’re very proud of yourselves. You’ve hurt little ole me…”

“Do you think of this as a joke!? We’re here to kill you!” Snapped Sasami, charging up another blast but was stopped as Evil Ryu held out his hand.

“He’s clearly stalling, he’s trying to get us angry so we’ll make a mistake and he can take back his emerald.”

Sonic wobbled to his feat, and proclaimed brightly; “Holy cow you guys ARE smarter than the average bear!”

Thunder Fox punched him in the gut, and the hedgehog doubled over, groaning.

“Whatever happened to torture before wounding?” He asked, sarcasm was still in his voice.

“You’ve forced us to get angry, that is a bad idea.” Exclaimed Evil Ryu, rage boiling in his voice.

“Do you know else is a bad idea?” He asked, getting back to his feat and facing Evil Ryu confidently.

“Whats that blue hedgehog…”

“Despite my hatred of it, that jewel is mine!” He snapped, and grabbed the guitar shaped medallion from around Evil Ryu’s neck, activating the guitar and shooting at the roof cave and causing the iced spikes to drop and smash about them.

“You’ll never hear me say this again! Gotta Juice!”

He started grinding along the ice towards the exit, three explosions in front of him caused the blue hedgehog to leap over a large gap in the ice.

“FREEZE!” Snapped Thunder Fox, and Sonics arms and legged locked together and he floated back to the three teenagers, the guitar in his hands turning back into a medallion and floating around Evil Ryu’s head.

“You are a fool…” He muttered, and Sonic answered; “You should read some of the comics I’ve been in…”

A blow to his face by Sasami brought his attention to her, and he said brightly; “Hello sweetheart, what can I do for you today?”

Another hit to his stomach by Thunder Fox made him groan louder, and he muttered finally; “Ok, see, this is starting to hurt slightly…”

“You just wait hedgehog, when I activate the powers of these medallions (“What are you gonna do? Sing to me?”) and then use the power of TJ’s Chaos Emerald, you’ll get what’s coming to you…”

“Good idea, I see no problem with it- Wait, yes I do.”

“And that is?”

Sonic grinned; “Well, you’re “Kari” attacked Akuma, Subrosian, Fluke and the Mysterious Ninja. There gonna be wondering about what’s going on, by now I bet they’ve even found Kari, and we haven’t exactly been quiet…”

“Nobody can find you, hedgehog. We made sure of that.”

Sonic laughed this time, and it took several punches to make him stop.

“All I’m gonna say is, my “Guitar Gun” has many settings. One of my favourite is something called “Flare”.”

Thunder Fox glanced about; sure enough in the roof was several normal bullet holes and one extra large one that definitely didn’t look good.

“I think he’s serious.” He exclaimed, sweat poured from his head despite the cold conditions.

“Bah, let them come. I’ve been dieing for a rematch with Fluke, with Doma Orochi Ryu I will be unstoppable!”

Sonic rolled his eyes, then grinned as his eyes caught something in the shadows.

“Hey guys? What made you decide to use Kari?” He asked, smiling extremely happily.

“She’s hateful, angry, and easy for us to copy. I guess you knew that about your girl-“

“If your last word was gonna be “Girlfriend”, I would stop right there.”

“Or what!?” Snapped Sasami, morphing back into Kari and walking up to the blue hedgehog who floated in the air.

“In case you haven’t noticed, you can’t move!”

“And in case you can’t see, allow me to welcome-“

Kari exploded from the shadows, her energy levels were high and she smashed her right fist into Sasami’s gut, who hit the wall of the cave and fell to her knees.

“See? I TOLD you guys she was a hateful bi-“

“Nice of you to show!” Sonic shouted happily, but Kari merely answered; “I’m here to get revenge on these people who believe they can copy me and my fathers fighting style.”

Sonic smiled at her, and she turned away from him, glancing at the three warriors that surrounded her.

Sasami and Thunder Fox glowed as focused their energy, whilst Evil Ryu focused on the power of the Medallions and became Orochi Ryu once again.

“Hey Kari, quit now and I’ll give you another kiss.”

She growled, and glanced at Sonic who said; “He’s got my emerald, if he tries to use it be carefull!”

Kari looked back at the three, and grinned; “I wont even need Chaos Shin,” and with that she leapt into battle.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 18:
Negative Chaos.


Sasami was the first to attack, opening her hands and unleashing her own Hadouken at the pink hedgehog, who ducked and slid on the ice, completely dodging the attack.

She threw her fist forward, but her opponent leapt into the air, clutching the ice and sliding upwards on her hands, laughing at Kari who frowned and faced Thunder Fox, who had attempted to Raging Demon her whilst her back was turned.

“No way!” She snapped, and a Shinku Hadouken hit the fox, sending him sliding into an ice wall.

Kari finally rounded back to Sasami, whose hand opened and unleashed a pink blast that swirled into a punch, catching Kari’s cheek but failed to throw her off balance.

Kari blinked, and her hands begun to flame as she grabbed Sasami, who froze with fear and was spun through the air and smashed into the ground in a sea of flames.

When the Pyro Throw ended, Kari finally faced the last of the Kaminari warriors, and crossed her arms confidently.

“If you think I’m going down so easy, you’ll be sadly mistaken. I’m not sick anymore.”

Evil Ryu clutched the jewels, and he lifted off the ground as his Orochi form took hold.

“True, but I’ve mastered the full power of this form. I may not even need to use Sonic’s emerald…”

“HEY! Jackass!” Sonic snapped, smirking as he dropped to the ground and faced Ryu.

“How did-“ He asked, eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

“Please, I’m Sonic. I just vibrated my molecules at Super Speed and fazed through your little… prison thing, I would’ve done it sooner but it (shockingly) took some time.”

Orochi Ryu grinned, and looked at the two hedgehogs that were ready to face him.

Sonic glanced to his side, and noticed the Double Raging Demon that Sasami and Thunder Fox were about to unleash on the unsuspecting Kari, and in a mad rush used his trademark Spin Attack, and bounced from one to the other.

“I’ll take the pawns, you take the king!” He ordered, Kari nodded and opened her hands.

“Kame Hame! HA!” The blast erupted from her open palms, and hurtled towards the overpowered fox, who sidestepped and recoiled it with a simple wave of his fist.

“My turn!” He grinned, and dashed throughout the cave, circling the pink hedgehog.

Meanwhile, Sonic skidded and dived as his two assailants fired several small blasts at him, trying to catch the hyperactive hedgehog and render him incapable of movement.

As he ran, Sonic focused his energy, and light trails of blue covered his shoes and body, and he skidded to a halt.

“Ready?” He asked, and dashed towards them as they opened their hands in a Hadouken.

“GO!”

He fazed through the blasts, his blue energy shield protecting him as he collided into Sasami, and then Thunder Fox, surrounding the two in a whirlwind of punches and kicks.

They blasted madly; trying to avoid his attacks, but found that the hedgehog was to fast, and after a few moments the two warriors were forced to stand back to back and try and block as many attacks as possible.

Sonic, meanwhile, was swirling around at amazing speed, the ice caused problems because of the friction, but his focus was primarily on the pair, and his blows continued as he watched them feebly try to defend themselves.

Thunder Fox blasted the ground suddenly, and the shock threw Sonic off course and straight into an ice wall, the blow knocking him onto his side and his damaged leg begun to bleed again, just as Sasami charged a blast overhead.

Across the cave, Kari and Orochi Ryu traded blows at full force, the pink hedgehog staying level with the fox’s power, whilst it was clear the Ryu was having trouble keeping up.

“Having fun?” She asked, and Orochi Ryu screamed and lunged at her, but Kari slid to the side and watched the fox hit the ground.

“Is that a no?” She commented, and as she opened her fist to finish her opponent, Ryu leapt, his arms crackling with lightning, and he blasted the ground beneath the hedgehog, and the force of lightning through her off her feat and crashing into the wall, but the lightning followed, crashing into her again.

“Tell me Kari. How much does that sting?” He commented, and approached the fallen warrior; burns along her arms toasted and Evil Ryu brushed the frizzled hair out of her face.

“Ya know, I bet this will wake you up…” And his lips connected with hers, causing the pink hedgehogs eyes to flare and her Chaos Shin form to erupt, flames sprouting causing the ice to break and crackle and the cave to slowly fall.

“Never. EVER. Touch me again!” She commanded, and the roof of the cave exploded, causing sunlight and heat to re-enter and the warriors within to glance at the flaming pink hedgehog.

“Well Kari. It seems you’ve finally shown your true power… As will I!” The chaos emerald glowed in his hand, and his Orochi form began to shake madly. His eyes formed into a dark cyclone, and he roared as flames erupted across his body.

Kari frowned as the wind crashed into her, but her energy held her level with the overpowered fox.

Sonic meanwhile, glanced at Sasami who looked at there leader with an amused smile on his face, and then at Sonic who rolled his eyes and said; “Do you really expect this to work?”

“No-one is stronger than Doma Orochi Ryu!” She snapped back, and floated down to his level, but Sonic laughed.

“You think that’s Doma? Clearly you’ve never heard of the Anti Super…”

Thunder Fox approached and asked, his hands glowing; “What are you talking about!?”

“Remember that Super form I had in the British Sonic comic? Yea, well, Chaos Emeralds powered that. Negative Chaos Emeralds, and after I learned to control them… Well, no issues. But Mister “Oh my I’m so powerful” Ryu over there, well… He’s either going to burn out, or go amazingly powerful and try to kill all of us. Including you two.”

Sasami glanced at Orochi Ryu, dark red lines were slowly replacing his eyes and his fur crackled and burned with energy, and Kari was slowly being pushed back against the force of his power.

An explosion of dark energy followed, and Sonic shielded his face as the brunt of the explosion hit, the energy burned around him and his own fur crackled and caused his spikes to stand erect and his Super form to explode into life.

“Nice, a charge up from the Positive side.” He muttered, and he floated around to Kari who glanced at him confused.

“Whats the situation here?” She asked, watching the tornado of energy burn with new life and finally fade.

“If we’re lucky, he’s burned out… If we’re not, he’s gone ultra super powerful. Oh! And he’s probably invincible.”

“Keeping the myth that Chaos Energy is invincible?” She asked sarcastically, and Super Sonic nodded as she asked; “How do we stop it?”

“Keep him distracted till the Emerald runs outta juice? And knowing TJ’s inventions that may take a while…”

“Great. Whats the plan then?”

Super Sonic frowned, and faced the figure that glanced at the two hedgehogs, laughing madly.

“We kick as much ass as humanly possible.”

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Chapter 19:
The Demon of Chaos


Demonic Ryu faced the two hedgehogs, his eyes glowed a dark red and his fur moved like water, rippling under his immense power.

Super Sonic and Chaos Shin Kari floated and glared at the fox, which had succeeded in absorbing the negative energy of the emerald, and unleashing the very demon that Sonic himself had been a part of many years ago.

“Any weaknesses?” Asked Kari, floating into a strong stance as Super Sonic floated just to the side of her, in his own stance.

“To be honest, he’s never been defeated. Usually just… contained.”

Laughter caught their attention, and the two fighters glanced at there opponent who rose into the sky and caused two orbs of energy to crackle in his hands.

“Everything must come to dust.” He snarled, and the blasts erupted madly, slowly, hauntingly, moving towards the two hedgehogs that leapt forward with confidence.

Super Sonic lunged forward, opening his hands and trying to combat the orb with his own blasts, but something racked through him, and he was thrown through the air, causing Kari to glance and use her own energy to stop him falling to far.

“Crap!” Cried Sonic, his fur shaking madly and his quills shivered under the energy.

As he held onto Kari, the pink hedgehog glanced at the blasts and got ready to throw her own, but the world suddenly inverted and Time froze suddenly, leaving the attacks and the cackling Ryu suspended.

“What was that for? I could have stopped it!” Snapped Kari, but Sonic grabbed her arms and looked at her, fear shook through him.

“When I hit it, the negative energy transferred into me, and for a second I felt that old Super demon resurface!”

“What does that mean?” She asked, glancing at there opponent, who twitched and looked at them grinning.

“Time can’t stop me.”

Demonic Ryu laughed loudly, and the inverted world shattered and time restarted suddenly, causing Sonic to groan under the strain of negative energy and his quills to erupt again.

“If I take in to much Kari, I might-“

“Shut up! You’re the hero. Remember? Mr. Unpredictable! You know this demon better than anyone, you take him down!”

Sonic shivered, and shook his head slowly; “I cant, if I do I might… I might kill-.”

Demonic Ryu laughed again, and floated towards the two, the strain caused Sonic to groan and shake incredibly.

“Your pain is delicious Sonic, far superior than just hitting you… I think I’ll just stand here, let you take in the energy, and watch as you kill the girl you-“

A blast collided with his back, and the demonic fox turned and faced Sasami and Thunder Fox, who looked at their partner with loathing.

“We agreed to share the power.” Snapped Thunder Fox, and leapt forward with a Raging Demon, but was deflected by a bolt of lightning that cut through his chest, causing him to spiral backwards next to Sasami who fired several mini hadoukens, but each were carefully deflected away by the blue fox, who yawned at there attempts.

“Your attempts are feeble, as you clearly have no idea of the power I hold within me. By focusing on the negative emerald I not only take control of the Orochi Ryu form, but I also-“

“You talk to much!” Sonic cried, kicking Demonic Ryu hard in the back and tackling him far into the mountains before Chaos Controlling away and shaking in mid-air.

“Damn that did NOT feel good.” He complained, his quills waving angrily and sweat pouring from his head.

A sudden explosion caught Kari’s attention and Sonic said with fear in his eyes; “There’s no chance that that’s just a really angry tourist, right?”

The blast that connected with his stomach sent him screaming through the air, and for a split second his eyes transformed into red streaks but we’re suddenly replaced by his old green ones, and when he hit the ground he felt his Super form shatter and his body collapse with exhaustion.

Chaos Shin Kari landed beside him, and she shook him gently.

“Hey, idiot. Wake up.” She ordered sternly, and he groaned and slowly got to his feat, smiling at the pink hedgehog that held onto his arm, keeping him upright while he caught his breath,.

“We can’t keep meeting like this-“ He started, but a second later he lurched back, Kari’s grip holding him upright as, and blood spurted from the side of his chest as a blast collided straight though him.

For a second neither said anything, and they each glanced at the glowing fox who glared down at his two opponents with a wide grin on his face.

“Well, son of a gun…” Sonic muttered, smiling at Kari who looked at him strangely, and the blue hedgehog realised what is was. Shock.

“Ah it’s cool, just kick his ass for me.” He grinned, and collapsed onto one of his knees, groaning painfully but still smiling, his face going slightly blue.

“I’ll be back in a sec. Don’t you dare go anywhere, or I’ll kick your-“

Sonic laughed and sighed; “I’ll be fine, just take him out.”

Kari glared at him, and then turned back at the floating fox that laughed at the expression of anger on her face.

“Tell me, Kari. How much did that hurt him?” He asked, and cackled loudly, causing the frustrated hedgehog to shake with rage and finally leap into the air faster than she had ever done in her life. Her hand was outstretched and she taunted as she grabbed hold of the shocked fox; “How do you kill a demon? With a bigger demon!”

The flashes in the sky caught Sonic’s attention, and he watched as his blue chaos emerald fell to the ground from the stars, and he watched with an amused expression as Kari clutched the blue fox, who growled at her angrily.

“You fool! I still have my Orochi form, this changes nothing-“

“True, but you’d still be no match and whilst I don’t have a problem beating punks like you into the ground, I’ve decided to let you go and allow your friends that privilege. Oh, and one more thing…” She drew back her hand and punched the fox across the nose before shouting; “Cheap shots are cowardly, now get out of my site.”

“This isn’t over.” Snapped Ryu, and as he faded into the ground Sasami and Thunder Fox leapt after him, shouting angrily.

“Well, that was certainly fun. I come round Akuma’s to tell you what I’d heard from Bruce and Cage, I end up teleporting a duplicate of you to this cave where, coincidently, Thunder Fox and Ryu are waiting for me. After your duplicate kisses me, I find out it was all a trap and end up battling without the use of a chaos emerald, then you arrive and we kick there asses until Ryu goes all wacko with my emerald and keeps me distracted by threatening to make me into a demon, which distracted you for some reason. Oh! And then I get shot in the leg and have to crawl towards my emerald and cast Chaos Heal on myself, only to find you let those three go. Did I miss anything?” Asked Sonic, his arms crossed and his wounds healed as he threw the emerald into the air, catching it every time it fell slightly.

“That Sasami girl kissed you?” Kari asked, her voice in a strangely lighter tone than usual, which shocked the blue hedgehog, who answered with a wink;

“Well, to be fair she looked like you.”

Kari glared at him, and said strongly; “If you want me to tear of your arms, I will.”

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Chapter 20:
Halloween: Part 1


It was several months later, and on a certain night a certain change came over the civilians off this universe.

An occasion unlike any other was happening, as, like the last few years, Akuma the Hedgehog was holding ANOTHER party.

And this time, there was a special theme…

***

“Couples!?” Snapped Sonic, tapping his foot and crossing his arms, glaring at the smirking red hedgehog. “What does romance gotta do with the most haunting day off the year!”

Akuma sighed, and got to his feat before approaching the calendar and crossing another day off.

“Tails and Amy, Tikal and Shadow, me and Lita… We’re all up for it!” He grinned, and Sonic crossed his arms and leapt onto the sofa.

“Yea, but you’ve all got someone! Wendy is completely ignoring me…”

Akuma shrugged; “Why don’t ya find someone else? You’re the big, bad, brave hero… remember? Gotta have THOUSANDS off girls lining up for ya!” Akuma said with a grin, and Sonic smirked.

“Yea, I guess… but lately, I’ve not been interested…”

At this, Akuma scratched his head and asked; “So… You WANT a date for the “ball” so to speak, but you also don’t wanna take one of the thousands off fan girls you have?”

Sonic paused for a second, thinking this information over and added with an amused grin; “Well, if you put it like that… But in either case, I’ve been really distracted lately.”

Akuma crossed his arms, and with a sympathetic grin added; “Hey, how about this… We make it a masked “ball” so to speak, so you could be with someone!”

Sonic jumped to his feat, and shook Akuma’s hand with a grin, shouted; “Thanks!” and took off at top speed.

Akuma spun around, the speed Sonic was going at surprising him, and he thought to himself when he finally slowed down; “Moron forgot it was Halloween… everyone will already be wearing masks…”

***

At that very moment, hundreds of miles away, at a certain home off a certain pink hedgehog, a blue fox approaches the door with hope in his heart.

He knocks on the door twice, but automatically expects no answer.

Instead, he gently turns the doorknob and enters Kari’s house, where the pink hedgehog is holding her Halloween costume and standing in front off a large mirror.

“Sweet costume, Kari!” Fluke explained, as Kari whirled around with anger and screamed; “If I don’t answer the door, it means I don’t want to talk!” She explained, looking back at the large mirror and then turning away, throwing the costume on the sofa.

“Sorry, but I-“

“But nothing Fluke! If you’d come in ten seconds later, I would be beating you to death right now!” She snapped, and her quills began to shake, causing the fox to cower whilst his sword, Soul Edge, glowed.

“Kari, I’m-“

She didn’t look at him, and he sighed and made his way to the door, placing his card on the nightstand and closing the door behind him.

Kari heaved a sigh, and the sound off the ringing phone grabbed her attention.

“What?” She asked, picking it up and exclaiming rudely, and the calming voice off a certain blue hedgehog greeted her ears.

“Geeze, from the way you said that it’s almost as if your trying TOO hard to be nice.”

Kari frowned, and her lip curled into a smirk as she answered; “Watch yourself, you still owe me for saving your life!”

On the other line, Sonic stood tapping his foot and grinning.

“Yea, about that! I’m gonna make it up to ya tomorrow at the Halloween party, if your going.”

Kari frowned, Akuma’s parties were always a disappointment since the red hedgehog refused to fight her straight away, and thus had to spend the night making small talk (“Go. Away.”) too various other guests.

“Pray tell hedgehog, how are you going to make it up to me at the party?” She asked, curiosity in her voice.

“Funny thing is, you won’t know that it’s me. I’ll be wearing a mask, as will everyone else.”

Kari sighed, rolled her eyes and finally added; “Fine. I was planning on going anyway, figured I’d ambush Akuma…”

“Cool. See ya there, and bring a mask.” He reminded, and hung up as Kari placed the phone down calmly, looking at her costume and thinking about what the hedgehog could possibly want.

***

Thousands of miles away, in the land of Transylvania, a coffin stirred, twitched, and a figure exploded from it, fangs bared and wings flowing angrily.

“A thousand years… and this night I am free… Free to take my revenge, to raise the dead and transform this planet into my domain!”

A cape fluttered over him, and he transformed into a purple and black hedgehog, and exploded from the castle roof, spiralling through the night air and watching the aura of the sun disappear, and as it did he blasted across the sky faster than any creature alive, smirking as he followed the sun, teeth bared and snarling; “I need fresh blood…”

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Chapter 21:
Halloween: Part 2


Lita attached the last banner, gently floating to the ground and admiring it with a smile, Akuma meanwhile fired small portions of energy at various bits of cloth, making them singe and burn, giving them a more scary effect.

“Happy Halloween.” He muttered, reading the sign aloud as Lita smiled, and he added; “Well, can’t say it doesn’t make a statement.”

She punched him in the arm and he pretended to recoil before turning and announcing that he was just about to put on his costume.

“What are you going as this year?” Lita asked, walking alongside him.

“Tough choice, I was considering Ivo again… but this year I might try something that’s actually to do with horror.”

“…Another wrestler?”

He grinned, and tapped his nose a few times before dashing in a blast of energy to his home, leaving Lita in a cloud of dust.

She smiled.

***

“Hmm… What a delicious evening… Whoever invented this night must have done so for me…”

The hedgehog bared its teeth, and landed with incredible silence within a large group of people, each wearing there own costumes.

He could feel the anticipation they all shared, and he licked his lips as he noticed a suitable prey.

A female fox all by herself. Ripe.

He approached her, hauntingly slow, and before she could protest he took her in his arms and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Seconds later, a scream was heard and the drained body of the girl landed within the centre of the students, who jumped back in surprise as the shadow flew over them, snarling and hissing as it moved its way to the next party.

“…Batman?” Asked one student, and was punched in the arm, hard.

***

The cemetery was cold and lifeless as the bat-hog entered, his lips dripped with moist blood, and he whipped his mouth and shivered as a rush travelled down his spine.

“So long since I’ve had a fresh meal…” He snarled, and opened the small jar that he held in his hands, and dipped his fingers into the cooled blood.

“The blood of a virgin to make my reunion complete…” He snarled, and lifted the jar over his head before chanting words long lost, yet there meaning was clear.

“Klatu… Verata… Natu!” He snapped, and the blood spiralled and disappeared, a small portion scattering to each grave and loud groans were heard moments later.

“Rise my warriors of past lives. Bring me the blood of a true warrior and I’ll reward you with your souls once again… and then we will cast the day into eternal night…”

The groans grew louder, and hundreds off cracks were heard, before corpses, some fresh and some rotted, rose from the ground and snarled before each turning there head and sniffing.

The bat-hog pointed and snarled; “Go forth and bring me the blood I need…” and he raised his hands, and three large coffins exploded in front off him, each with a silver “6” on the front.

“These men will lead you, the greatest mass murderers off all time… You will find and then feed, they will capture and kill… Go forth!”

The un-dead began their march, and after a while the first coffin opened and a man, horribly burned, wearing a red and green sweater, a fedora, and on his right hand an impressive display of finger razors that twitched and screeched alongside the edge off the coffin, before the figure stepped out and approached his master.

“Nothing like a power nap.” He snarled, and the sky crackled as the second coffin opened, and following him was another man, this one however wore a large hockey mask and old dirty clothes, and in his hand he carried a large machete and gazed at the two figures before calmly waiting, tilting his head.

Finally, the third coffin opened and the final man followed, a white mask with an emotionless face and almost ginger like hair, and in his hands was a large butcher knife. He breathed heavily, and Freddy rose his claws and muttered; “Happy Halloween, bitch…”

Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers followed the un-dead almost hauntingly slow, as their master rested his head against a large gravestone, and his body returned to that off a human with wings.

“Soon…” He snarled, and returned back to his previous form.

***

Sonic adjusted the red mask on his face, and glanced at the mirror and threw back his cape and cackled loudly, the pretend fangs in his mouth looking impressive and he nodded.

“Great! Now the final part…” He closed his eyes, and his Doma form exploded, and his quills became a dark black and purple, the cape floated gently and flowed against his energy, making him look more eerie, and he nodded with a grin.

“Sweet, and I’ve still got three minutes to get too the party!” 

He floated on the spot, threw his cloak across his face and laughed maniacally before teleporting in a flash off green, his laughter echoing and scaring several kids who ran from his house out of fear.

***

Akuma cackled as he entered the hall to the laughter off various guests, and he took a bow and grinned before posing and drawing a small gun, pulled the trigger and large note with the word “BANG!” exploded from it.

“The Joker?” Asked Lita, approaching him dressed like Harley Quinn, and Akuma grinned and laughed, mocking that off the original Jokers.

A split second later, a flash of green and Sonic and Kari landed, and Akuma drew back his hands and cried; “BATMAN!?” as he gazed at Sonic, forcing the two to laugh and shake hands.

“Nice mask.” Sonic added, and Akuma nodded.

“It’s something TJ made, looks like a crossover between me and the Joker, and acts like a normal face. Even blinking!”

Kari frowned, and Sonic added with a smirk; “As you can see, Kari decided to come dressed as Scarface… Odd, I never thought of carry as a cosplayer…”

Akuma laughed, and Lita added; “It’s a nice costume Kari. Did you bring any little friends?”

Kari growled, and muttered that she was going to get some punch whilst Sonic and Akuma stood by the wall and begun talking.

“So! You and Kari, eh?”

“Banish the thought ‘Kuma…” Snapped Sonic with a frown and then a smirk before adding, “Good party, I see everyone wore masks and are still with the people they are meant to be with…”

“And I see you brought Kari instead of a date!”

Sonic frowned. “Yea, well, she saved my life so I thought I said I’d make it up to her at the party.”

“…Any idea how?”

“Not a clue.” Sonic answered, resting his head against the wall and glancing as the lights flickered and a familiar drum and keyboard played, followed by a guitar.

“…You didn’t.” He looked at Akuma, horrified.

“We needed scary music, and they were all I could find on short notice…”

Up on stage, the Sonic Underground played their usually upbeat songs about truth and justice, making the crowd groan and scream, cheering Akuma who nodded.

“Heh, looks like its gonna be a great party!” He said over the music.

It was at that exact moment that the un-dead arrived. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 22:
Halloween: Part 3


“Man… You guys are UGLY! U! G! L-“

A snarl, and a throw off the table at the black and purple hedgehog made Sonic extend his arm, smashing the table with ease and adding with shock; “Son of a-!”

“Hey!” Snapped Akuma, appearing in front off the group off zombies as they snarled and snapped at him, and he extended his caster blade and cocked the trigger, waiting for the first one to take a step forward.

“This is my party, and if I wanted to hire someone to raise the dead I woulda asked THEM (He motioned to the Sonic Underground) TO sing at the local cemetery!”

One lunged, its teeth barred and was inches away from his arm when Akuma flicked his wrist casually, snapping the zombies head, detaching it from its shoulders, and the rest snarled and roared, charging into the room to the horror of the screaming partiers.

Punches and kicks were thrown, as the hundreds of heroes and warriors leapt into battle. Screams off attacks and methods off escaping were heard, and every few seconds there was the horrifying yelp of pain.

Sonic stood back to back with Kari, surprised that so many of the zombies had made its way around the hall they had booked so easily, they seemed to breaking in everywhere!

“This wasn’t your clever idea to make up for me saving you, right?” She asked, throwing a small blast at hole that a zombie was trying to march through.

“If it puts us on even terms… Sure!” Sonic replied, crouching and spinning through another un-dead monster.

Across the hall, Shadow was attempting to get any innocent bystanders from the hall, using his energy to teleport them safely to TJ’s lab.

He jumped and kicked another zombie through a wall, and turned to face the next- but instead was forced to duck a large machete and role to the side.

“Hockey seasons over!” He snapped as Jason raised his machete again, but was instead attacked by a buzz saw technique that threw him backwards for a second.

Shadow bounced back, and opened his hands and cried; “Chaos Spear!” Aiming at the masked maniacs head, but failed to separate it, and was instead grabbed from behind by a zombie, who clamped his teeth down onto his arm and chewing noisily.

His scream echoed, and Sonic whirled around and his fists crackled before throwing a large portion of energy at Jason, completely engulfing him with its onslaught and then charged and destroyed the zombie in one punch.

“TJ can make an antidote! Just hang in their Shad!” Sonic added, and turned but was grabbed by Jason madly, and curled into a powerful buzz spin before escaping.

“No normal human could survive that!” Snapped Sonic, standing on the banister and waiting for Jason to charge again- But two more explosions grabbed his attention, and two more men entered the room, one brandishing a large knife and the other a hand full of razors.

“What, can’t a guy be fashionably late?” Asked Freddy, lunging his claws at the nearby Lita- But was defended by Akuma who blocked with his Caster Blade and fired a single shot straight into Freddy’s chest, scattering him into thousands off pieces which swiftly reformed with the smoke.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones-“

“Thanks for the tip!” Snapped Kari, spinning through the air clutching Michael with one arm and threw him, hard, into the Dream Demon who screamed and cursed, throwing Michael from him.

“You imbecile! Go for the girl, she’s the weakest-“

Kari exploded with a scream, her costume tearing and her normal warrior attire finally being released (“She was gonna challenge me wasn’t she…” Muttered Akuma.), and she crashed into Freddy, throwing him from the building and into the sky.

“Follow her example!” Snapped Sonic, his Doma form glowing still, and he spin dashed into Jason’s stomach, throwing Jason after Kari.

“Sure, I get the small one… “Snapped Akuma, hurricane kicking Michael and lazily following.

“What about the zombies-“ Snapped Tails in his Metroid Tails uniform, but his answer was realised as the un-dead monsters slowly began to make there way after the three hedgehogs, groaning loudly.

“… Lets hope TJ can get an antidote ready soon…” Snapped Knuckles, standing beside Shadow who groaned and held his arm whilst Tikal cried on his shoulder.

***

“Welcome to my nightmare-“ Snapped Freddy, but Kari kicking him in the stomach and her hands began to roast with a bright flame.

“I’ll show ya nightmares!” She snapped, and grabbed his shirt before covering him in the flames- But a blade lashed out and slashed her arm, cutting it deep much to her surprise.

“Why does every bitch that tries to kill me ALWAYS go for fire!?” Freddy demanded to know, his arms stretching and wrapping around her, wrapping her like a parcel.

“AIR MAIL!” Came a voice, and Freddy turned to see the Hockey Mask killer Jason crash into him, releasing Kari and the two mass murderers hit the ground as Sonic floated to Kari’s side.

“You ok?” He asked, holding her arm as she shook her head for a second, then looked at Sonic with a frown.

“Your in Doma and your still having trouble winning?”

“This guy takes a beating and kinda… heals two seconds later!”

Almost randomly, the third murderer flew past them lazily, and Akuma floated beside them, frowning.

“First Halloween party that has been interrupted… Lets break this tradition!” He snapped, spinning the sword in his left hand and aiming it, but Sonic dashed in, crashing into Freddy who grew an extra razor glove in his other hand.

“So, I’m assuming you got the voice and the others got the looks?” Snapped Sonic, grinning and getting ready to attack.

“If you see what’s under those masks you want be saying that.” Replied Freddy, who drew back his blades and waited with a sneer.

Akuma sighed, “Idiot!” He snapped, and dashed at Jason before sliding the blade into his chest, and firing the bullets madly, screaming with rage as Jason lurched as the bullets exploded within him.

Kari sighed, and approached Michael as her fur exploded and she became Shin.

“Lets not waste full power…” She snapped, and Michael extended his blade and lunged- But Kari caught it with one hand, and drove it into Michael’s chest and then kicking him back.

“Why do I get the lazy one!?” She cried, glancing at Akuma who was forced to duck and roll as Jason swung the blade with lightning speed, and then at Sonic who grinded up Freddy’s extended arms and kicked him across the face.

A sudden gasp erupted as her arm tingled, and she felt something clamp down on the wound that dribbled blood.

As her eyes travelled along her arm, she noticed the black and purple hedgehog, feasting on her wound and grinning.

“Delicious, you will make a perfect bride.”

And with those words, they disappeared in a shadow and into the night, without the other two hedgehogs even realising a difference.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 23:
Halloween: Part 4


Sonic skidded across backwards and stood back to back with Akuma, who held his caster gun and spun it before it disappeared back in its holster, and was shrunk (thanks to TJ’s technology) to a more suitable size.

“Out of ammo?” Asked Sonic, his Doma form glowing brightly as Krueger approached him, blades twinkling in the nightlight.

Akuma nodded no, and from another holster drew his Caster Bazooka and took aim at Jason, who continued his treacherous march, machete raised.

“Fire in the hole!” Akuma cried, and Sonic felt himself tense as the blast fired, he even had to shield his eyes from the light whilst Akuma looked through the visor.

When the dust settled Akuma lowered the bazooka, and it disappeared back into the holster and the two hedgehogs focused their attention on the Dream Master who grinned and flicked his claws.

“You fools, I am ETERNAL!” Freddy snapped, and lunged at the two hedgehogs who prepared for the assault- But the Dream Demon disappeared in a black shadow, along with Jason’s twitching body, and the two hedgehogs relaxed there guard.

“…Was that Kari?” Asked Akuma, removing his costume and stretching his limbs.

“Nah, maybe he ran out off energy?” Sonic suggested, his Doma form remaining and his cape blowing gently.

“What energy? He had no magic, no power… He was just… there… And speaking of Kari!” Akuma snapped, glancing about madly. “Where is she?”

Sonic followed his gaze, and his eyes widened with fear.

“Shoot! Did the pasty face guy get her!?” His hands trembled with rage, and Akuma smiled for a split second then added;

“That guy was no way near powerful, or fast enough, to take Kari. No… Someone else must hav