Chapter 4#

---Chapter 4---
-New Mobotropolis Outskirts-

Soon, Slash and Krene had New Mobotropolis in their sights while running towards it and Slash became amazed at the glorious city.
“Whoa, it’s enormous!” said Slash.
“Let’s just hope that Nicole doesn’t lock us out.” said Krene.
“‘Nicole’?” asked Slash.
“What you’re looking at as entirely made out of nanites, and Nicole is the main computer that controls it all. Long story short, she can lock us out.” said Krene.
The two finally moved close enough to the walls of the city to be greeted by Nicole, who made a hologram of herself outside the walls.
“Hello, welcome to New Mobotropolis. I’m Nicole.” She said.
Krene stood in front of Slash as he shook Nicole’s hand.
“I’m Krene, and this is Slash.” Said Krene, showing Slash to Nicole.
Nicole’s eyes widened, and she looked surprised when she saw Slash, “Oh, I could have sworn that you were--..”
“Shadow the Hedgehog?” said Slash.
“Uh, yes…. May I ask what is it you’re doing here?” asked Nicole.
“We’re here to meet Sonic the Hedgehog. We need his help.” Said Krene.
“Well, that’s a usual case, welcome then. The door over there is open for you to enter.” Nicole said, pointing to a nearby door.
“Thanks.” Krene said.
“Sonic should be near the Castle.” Nicole said as she vanished.
Krene then quickly looked back to Slash, “Quick! Inside!” he said, running through the door.
Slash followed, and the two found themselves inside a beautiful park-like area.
Slash looked up and saw all the buildings and trees there were across the city, “Wow. What a place.” He said.
“Yeah, its pretty beautiful isn’t it? I’ve only been here twice before and it still gets better each visit. But there's no time for touring! We have to move!” Krene said as he headed for the castle and Slash followed.
Soon, they saw Sonic as they turned a corner near the Castle, and ran to speak with him. Sonic was with his best friends, Tails, Knuckles, and Sally as Krene and Slash approached.
“Sonic!” Krene shouted.
Sonic looked towards Krene, “Hi.” He said.
Krene walked up to Sonic and shook his hand, “Hi, I’m Krene the Hedgehog, and this is Slash the Hedgehog. We really need to talk to you.” Said Krene.
“Okay, what's the--…” Sonic’s eyes widened along with his friend’s when they all saw Slash, “…..Uh, I’m sorry, but do you know that you look exactly like a guy named…”
“Shadow the Hedgehog, yes, I’m aware. But there’s an explanation. I am Slash the Hedgehog.” Said Slash.
After they all got acquainted, Slash and Krene explained their situation to Sonic and Co. to which Sally spoke out.
“So, how do you want us to help?” she asked.
“I was hoping you could help us find a way to see what makes Slash’s energies tick, and maybe even find a way of restoring his memory, or getting him back to the Twilight Zone.” Said Krene.
Suddenly, Slash’s glowing red rings faded in brightness and color into normal, silver rings.
Slash looked at his wrists as did everyone else.
“What the? What just happened?” asked Slash, “Why did my rings just look like they powered out?”
“I was going to ask why those things were glowing so brightly. They must have been doing something.” Said Tails, pointing to the rings.
“Wait…Do you feel any different Slash?” asked Knuckles.
“Actually, yeah. I feel kind of rejuvenated for some reason. Why?” asked Slash.
“I just sensed a drop in energy and a rise in another from you right when your rings did that.” Said Knuckles.
“Okay, maybe we should go to Freedom HQ to have a further look at things Tails.” Said Sonic.
“Okay, lets head on over there now.” Tails said, as he turned around.
Slash and Krene followed along with Sonic and Co. as they exited the city to go back to Knothole.

-G.U.N. Base. Chamber of Silence-

The Twilight Console suddenly glowed again, and began to work, reopening the portal to the Twilight Zone. This time, from the portal, emerged two arms and hands of some sort of black water creature. The hands of the creature then dripped water onto the ground, and some sort of yellow golden energy swerved around it. Suddenly, another water-looking creature emerged from the dripped water of the first and stood up. This monster-looking creature stood up on its huge four legs, its eyes red, teeth sharp as knifes, and back spiked. Then, the creature looked back towards its creator and the hands pointed forward. Then, the monster took off running as the arms pulled back into the portal, and the Console stopped working again. As the portal closed, faint demonic laughter came from it.

-Freedom HQ. Brain Thrusters Room-

“Okay, it’s true.” Said Tails, after his scan was done, “Before you entered this Zone, some sort of alternate energy must have hit you and caused some of the other energies to become corrupted.”
Slash became happier, “Yes! So I do have a past.” He said.
“Also, the Twilight and Prime energies’ unbalanced mix and separate parts are the result of some sort of unfinished transformation process.” Said Tails.
“Transformation process? What do you mean?” asked Sonic.
“Well, if Slash is from the Twilight Zone, then there should be no Chaos energy among him. However, there is, which indicates that when Slash was entering our Zone, his Twilight Chaos energy was being replaced with Prime Chaos energy. However, this apparent transformation was stopped by Shadow when he hit Slash with the mix of Prime and Twilight energies at, apparently, the same time Slash was hit with the other unknown energy from the Twilight Zone. Resulting in the mix of energies and corrupted energy.” Said Tails.
“Well then why was Slash transforming in the first place?” asked Sally.
“G.U.N. had done some work with Twilight energy before, and they found that it was very fragile whenever it came in contact with Prime energy. I believe, from this all, that when an individual actually attempts to cross Zones, their state is so fragile, that their energy is replaced with the much more powerful Chaos energy. In other words, the individual undergoes a rebirth process so that they may actually survive being in our Zone. A process that Slash didn’t complete because he all these things stopping it, and that’s why he can’t remember anything that much.” Said Tails.
“So if I’m still half-Twilight, how is it I can still be stable here?” asked Slash.
“Aha! That’s when your rings come in!” said Tails, “You see, you were given a gift by the Chaos emeralds themselves, which are your rings. Which are actually, Stability Rings. The rings keep you in tact, and if you were to ever take them off you would die.”
Slash became surprised to hear what Tails just said, and stared at his rings.
“Also, when you begin to acquire an excessive amount of Chaos energy, the rings should start to slowly glow red until they reach a point where they’re very bright like they were before. This is them telling you that you are distorting the balance they are giving you with all the Chaos energy, and that you need to stop. Stress it too much and they might break, or you might faint, or fall into a coma of some sort. They were glowing brightly before from the events that took place during your rebirth.” Said Tails, “To which they eventually regained total balance after a certain amount of time. Which is why they dimmed out, you felt better, and Knuckles felt the shift between energies. They stopped using energy to secure you while your Chaos energy limit went up.”
“Wow, that really does explain everything!” said Krene.
Krene slowly looked to his side and looked disappointed, “I cant believe I just got schooled by an eleven year old…” he muttered to himself.
“So, how can I get my memory back?” asked Slash.
“You’re partly reborn now, so the only way to regain your memories from your ‘past life’, is to find them all out again. Which means that you need to go back to the Twilight Zone.” Said Tails.
Slash smiled, “Great. So how do I get back?” asked Slash.
Tails shrugged, “I don’t know. The Zone’s energies are far too fragile to just Chaos Control over there.”
Krene spoke out, “Actually, you’re right. But according to my data that I got from the messenger Beatle, G.U.N. created something called the Twilight Console to balance the energies so that they could open a portal.”
“Well where is it?” asked Sonic.
“It was left in the Chamber of Silence, where this whole thing broke down.” Said Krene.
“Well then we need to get it, and use it to get me back.” Said Slash.
“It’s not that simple. According to the data, we also need some Chaos Emeralds to work it. And since the experiment failed with four, we probably need about five.” Said Krene.
“Chaos Emeralds?” asked Slash.
“Powerful jewels that induce Chaos Energy. There are only seven of them in existence. And they’re never easy to get.” Said Knuckles.
Slash then became more upset, “..Great. Now what?” he asked.
“Wait… Knuckles! We can us you as an alternative to the Chaos Emeralds!” said Sonic, pointing at Knuckles while smiling.
Slash looked at the two, “What? How?” he asked.
“Knuckles is the guardian of the-“ Sally was interrupted by Slash.
“Erngth!” Slash said in pain as he held his head, closing his eyes and kneeling to the floor.
“Whoa! Are you okay?!” asked Sonic.
“Slash??” asked Krene.
“…Guardian…..you’re…..” Slash’s eyes then opened and he looked surprised, as if in realization, “…..You’re the Guardian of the jewel that controls all the emeralds.” Slash said as he stood up again, “You are apart of a bloodline known as the Brotherhood of Guardians, and you are the last of your kind. You have connections to the jewel, giving you almost the same powers as an emerald. Your father’s name is Locke.”
Everyone then stared at Slash as if he had three heads.
“H-….How did you…?” asked Knuckles.
“I-I-I……I remember all that….?” Said Slash.
“You must have known the Twilight Knuckles! And he must have the same history as the Prime. You must have known him well for him to tell you all that info.” Said Krene from behind Slash.
“…No…..I-I…..I remember…..I remember him being on top of the jewel…..” said Slash, looking down at the floor.
“Wait, you’re remembering images along with the info?” asked Sally.
“….Y-Yes…!” said Slash.
“Really?! Sweet! What do you remember?” asked Sonic.
“What do you see?” asked Krene.
“He…..He is close to the clouds….. Its raining, and I can see lightning, and hear thunder…... As if the storm was right over his head…….” Said Slash, now closing his eyes.
“What is he doing on the ‘jewel’?” asked Knuckles.
“……I’m not sure………………….H-H-He……..He looks…………….terrified.” said Slash.
Sonic and Co. then all said, “Huh?”, at the same time as they listened more closely to Slash.
“……He’s shouting……words that I cant make out…….he’s trying to use the jewel’s power………but it wont work…….he’s punching it, and throwing nothing but air from it……” said Slash.
“Sounds like he’s trying to fight something. Do you see anything else but him?” said Tails.
“…No…..……Wait…….he’s stopped………. now he’s just screaming… and pointing……….I can faintly hear the word “You” a couple of times………………….and now……he’s………..!..........he……” Slash’s closed eyes now shaped as if he was scared.
“Slash?... Are you okay?” asked Krene.
“What’s happening?” asked Sonic.
“…………….He’s……...he’s just purely mortified……..I can see him breaking a small tear…….and…..he’s looking up………………….!!!!!!” Slash suddenly jumped and almost fell as he hit Tails’ computer.
Sonic and Co. also got spooked as Slash did so.
“What?! What happened?!” they all asked.
Slash looked at everyone with an eerie face, as he struggled to tell them.
“He got hit with a huge blast of black energy coming from the right….. and he….he…..he fell off of what looks like a cliff…..and he just plummeted……lifeless….” said Slash.
Everyone looked astounded, completely speechless towards what Slash just said.
“I can faintly see the surroundings as he falls…………the world……….looks as if it’s lit…..on fire.” Said Slash.
“You remember…..my counterpart’s…death?” asked Knuckles.
“No….worse…..his murder….” Said Slash.
There was an eerie silence for a time until Sonic finally spoke out, sounding very serious.
“Well… It looks like we have a planet to save….Lets get that Console.” Said Sonic.