The Chaos Games

Night watch was something I was used to. Homemade coffee fueled my brain, though we didn't have any in the middle of the forest. Although most nights were quiet, that wasn't the case while Surge was yelling below me. Shed often make crude remarks such as, "I'll give you a piece of my mind!" or, "when I break free, so help me!" Though none of this mattered, as I kept myself in a tree with my rifle so I'd have a vantage point. It was extremely calming to hear the sounds of the forest and cackling of the campfire a few meters away. Though, now it felt empty. I heard a springy sound suddenly from below me, it was Tangle. "Yo!" She grappled up onto the tree and shot her way up. "You doing okay, hun? You've been up here for a few hours now." My wife often worried that I stayed up too late. Someone had to run the business. "I'm doing fine. You should get some rest. We need you at your best." She flipped up onto the branch. "Aw, c'mon! You know that I can't sleep without my fluffbuddy! Snuggles are what really keep me at my best!" I was speechless. She loves physical contact, which I usually help her with. It makes sense though, I love being held by her too. "Well fine, just stay up here for as long as you like." She let out an adorable grin before lunging at me with a hug. "You're lucky you're so damn cute." A sound mimicking gagging came from just below the tree. "Gross, get a room, you two!" Surge was making a strange face. "Oh, bite me," Tangle replied. "...you're just jealous you don't get any hugs." Surge seemed offended. Though, it wouldn't take much. "I do! Kit gives me lots of hugs!" "Bedtime stories and thank-you's don't count." Tangle smirked smugly at the tenrec for a moment. "Just shut up, alright? I just don't usually like contact." Me and Tangle chuckled for a moment. I've never seen Surge so flustered over anything, not even losing to me in our last spar. "We could untie you, y'know. You'd just have to promise to be nice from now on." She went silent from Tangle's proposal. "Yeah yeah, I'll be good, fist-tailed freak." Though that comment angered me beyond relief, she seemed more tame. "That's a... step in the right direction... I guess?" Just as Tangle was about to move, the ropes binding Surge snapped with ease. "Ah... that feels so much better!" She stretched with a groan, jumping to her feat. "You could do that the whole time? Why didn't you do that earlier?" She, of course, left me perplexed and wanting answers. Her behavior was sporadic, to say the least. "I'm not one to pick a fight I know for sure I can't win. I knew you all would kill me in an instant!" Tangle shrugged. "We wouldn't kill ya... just beat you up and stick you to a tree again." She laughed at the thought of a fight. Tangle shrugged as she got right back to snuggling. Her face was buried in my shoulder divot. "Say, hun?" Tangle started. "What do you think will happen to the shop while we're here?" Business wasn't ever the first thing on her mind. This question was pretty shocking. "Well, it'll be fine. We still own the building, so odds are, it's still there." She burried her face deeper into my shoulder. Surge was just relaxing while staying active. I, however, still had my job to do. Nothing was out of the ordinary, not for hours. My vision was blurring as Tangle's snoring lured me off to sleep. Suddenly, I heard the roar of thunder with a flash of light blinding my vision completely. "Look out!" Before I could react, before i could process, Surge shoved me and Tangle off the branch. "Hey, what gives! I thought you said you'd be... fine..." She couldn't even finish her sentence. The sight we were seeing was too shocking. Surge was held on a golden energy spear. On the other end of the weapon was Silver. At least, he seemed to be him anyway. He had a gold shining masquerade mask. Glowing gold unlike anything the Chaos emeralds did. His eyes were blood red, with the white turning to black. "Shame..." he echoed. "...you'd think that she'd be a bit smarter than to just jump in the way. No matter," He shifted the spear to the side, sliding Surge off its end and into a tree. "...I'll deal with you next." His voice felt sinister, primal. It was Silver, but somehow not. I readied my weapon, almost able to pull the trigger. Something was stopping me. A primal, innate struggle rose from the back of my soul. "That voice you seem to hear? It's the voice of fear." He floated down and landed before us. He had a sinister grin strung across his face. "I have killed millions before you, I will kill millions more. I have taken more vessels than this one, and I will take many more!" Silver balled a fist and rose it up, testing his coordination. "I was going to control Knuckles again, but this one seemed more... promising." "What's going on...? You can't be serious, right," I asked. My friend attacked us, obviously I had questions. Tangle, although shocked as I was, moved when I didn't. Grabbing my wrist, she dashed towards the cabin. Although he was fast, we made it before he could catch up, I think he let us. Honestly it seemed like he was hunting prey. We woke the others with a shout. Many of them stayed sound asleep. The ones to come to our aid were Knuckles, Nicole, and Sonic. "What's the problem?!" Sonic ran out, concerned. When he saw Silver's current form he had a cocky grin. "Well then! How's your head, 'Ener-jagoff?'" "Great," Knuckles exclaimed. "...this guy was tough when he took over me! I don't know if you'll be able to beat him this time, dude..." "Come on, knucklehead," he replied. "I've beaten Enerjak before, I'll just have to do it again!" The duo immediately rushed toward him, attempting to attack him. Tangle rushed over to Nicole, frantically explaining what happened while I stuttered to get words out. "Show me where she is, I might be able to help." She came with us to the position we were attacked at, barely avoiding the brawl. "How bad does it look, doc?" She laughed. "A hole through my chest can't be that bad." "On the contrary, I'm not sure I can heal this." Nicole kept it going. She had an expression that read 'I can't do it'. "It did damage to the basic cellular structure in your body, so I won't be able to patch where the spear hit!" Surge turned to me with a disappointed face. "I never got to apologize, by the way." She always looked at me with disdain. Understandably, we never got along since our initial fight. "I did so many horrible things to you and your wisps." She reached out her hand. "I know that in another life, we probably could've been friends...!" I grabbed her hand, panicked. "Dont say that. We can still be friends! Me and you, we can go do something fun!" I desperately tried to find the words to say. In truth, I admired her resolve. She was always headstrong, even when the world was against her. Tears fell down Surge's face as she closed her eyes, as her body went limp. Holding her hand, I felt her life fade away. Her blood stained my cloak, ironically where she burnt me our last fight. Before I knew it, I was crying over her. I was crying for the one I once called my enemy. "Whisper, I'm sorry." Tangle held me tightly, comforting the loss I'd not even experienced. I made up my mind. I would see to it that the one who killed her never saw the light of day again. We said our goodbyes to Surge, looking through what could have been in my head. The walk back to the fight was filled with a seething anger. I was ready to burst. In a few minutes, we were entering the heated battle zone. So far, it was a stalemate. Silver was holding his own against Sonic and Knuckles, but his defense seemed to dampen. They were winning! Knuckles and Sonic both attacked him from both sides, him only blocking Knuckles' attack. Sonic was rightfully able to get a punch square in Silver’s jaw. Shockingly, almost as if fate had a sick sense of humor, the spear grew another end and impaled Sonic in the abdomen. Blood spilled to the ground. Knuckles was knocked back. Everyone was in clear, uninterrupted shock. What was only a few seconds for us... it felt dark. For a moment, it was silent. Nicole broke the stillness with a scream with intensity I hadn't heard since the zombot invasion when I lost Tangle. The heat of her anger was felt with radiating warmth. The next second, she had already gotten close and personal, punching a hole straight through Silver's chest. "Holy shit...!" Tangle and I were speechless. As suddenly it began, it was suddenly over.