Roleplay:Reincarnated Ancient Martial Arts(Completed)

This is currently a private roleplay created by XxZekeKnightxX. This roleplay crosses over concepts from the Star Wars franchise into the Sonic universe.

Forms
The forms of combat used in this roleplay are based upon the forms of lightsaber combat from Star Wars. Here are the seven original forms that are used, as well as some notable practitioners form the Star Wars franchise.
 * Form I: Shii-Cho (typically a training form) - Kit Fisto
 * Form II: Makashi - Count Dooku
 * Form III: Soresu - Obi-Wan Kenobi (episodes II-IV)
 * Form IV: Ataru - Yoda
 * Form V: Shien/Djem So - Anakin Skywalker
 * Form VI: Niman - Starkiller (clone)
 * Form VII: Juyo/Vaapad - Darth Maul (Juyo) / Mace Windu (Vaapad)

Synopsis
An old enemy arises from supposed death, armed with knowledge of old martial arts. It's a time of settling old scores, and change of heart. This enemy comes to defeat two beings, one being is Surge the Hedgehog. The purpose, to prove himself against all, in particular, the perpetraitor of hijacking his previous plan, his other target.

Users
XxZekeKnightxX

GurahkWeavile

Characters
Note: Perferred form in parentheses. Forms do not apply to the women currently in this list.

Heroes

 * Surge the Hedgehog (Ataru)
 * Shine the Hedgehog (Soresu)
 * Siren the Hedgehog (Djem So)
 * Fetalia the Dark
 * Brittney the Bat
 * Karen Prower
 * Starburst the Cat (Djem So)

Anti-Heroes

 * Drake the Hedgebat (Juyo)
 * Maya the Echidna
 * Carnage the Hedgecat (Makashi)
 * Jack the Hedgecoon (Niman)
 * Coffee the Dark Seedrian

Villains

 * Julius the Black Murderer (N/A)
 * Nazo the Hedgehog (Vaapad)

Chapter I: An Old Enemy, Reborn
A black and purple hedgehog-cat hybrid blasted through the alien-like floor. He seemed to be very divided yet cunning. He appeared to have expected this outcome. The being chuckled sinisterly.

"I...am back!" he said. He went to a damaged companel. "Now... What have I missed before this thing went bust?" He opened a bulkhead and tinkered with the circuitry, and making it operational one last time. He then went back through the logs to see the Black Arms launching their assult on the world, the revived Devil Doom leading the charge, but also shown another, very different alien. He glared at this being, as if he knew him too well. As if the being was the last person that the black hedgecat wanted to see. He watched the rest of the record, seeing a yellow being battling and killing the revived Devil Doom and a purple being battling the strange alien. The companel sparked and shut down for the last time. "Surge... Drake... Julius..." He slammed his fists on the controls. "Julius! That traitor! That swindler!! He'll pay for his meddling... I expected Surge to defeat Devil Doom, but that, THAT!" He growled with extreme indignation. "He will pay... And I, once Freeze the Hedgecat, now reborn as Carnage the Hedgecat, make a plan to do just that!"

Many months later, Carnage stood in a destroyed alien balcony, the room that it used to give way to, now only gave way to the dark grey sky. Carnage appeared to be waiting for someone. "Drake should be here soon..." he remarked, holding a designed pole with a node on one end.

He soon saw a strange ship flying to him in the distance. The ship landed near him and out of it came his half-brother Drake the Hedgebat, wielding a similar pole but with two nodes at each end. "You called?"

"Yes, I did," Carnage replied. "I have a proposition for you. Something you would be very interested in."

"I'm listening..." said Drake.

"We have a common enemy," said Carnage, "I think we should unite once more to destroy Julius, together. Interested?"

Drake thought it over for a minute. He hated Julius with a passion and wanted him finished for good. But he wanted to be the one to kill him. But on the other hand, he could use another folly to do his dirty work for him. "Fine. But remember, I kill Julius. You just wear him down so I can finish him off! Got it?"

Carnage smiled with a sense of pure satisfaction. "It might not work out that way exactly, but I do promise you the final blow. I hate to admit this, but he is able to best us where we are at are greatest. That bugs me." He put his hand on Drake's shoulder. "You saw him hijack my plan. He swindled me. He used me as a pawn. I won't let that slide. That's why I need your help. I might be the smartest, but I nowhere have the capacity to match him in battle. You do. And besides..." His face turned dark with extreme hatred. "That traitor killed my family too. We'll get our revenge, together. With my knowledge and your strength, we can match him and beat him. Part of why I sent that thing along with the message." He held up his pole, and ignited it, emmiting a green laser that extended just a little longer than a meter long. "I call it the Chaosblade. It runs on an Emerald Shard. The color of the shard determines the color of the blade. I appropriately added the same color shards as your stripes to your doubleblade."

Drake simply smirked in delight. "As long as I can take down both Julius and Shine...I don't care about this world one bit..."

Carnage smirked in delight as well. "And Surge is mine to destroy." He took out a book with a red Roman numeral seven on it, and hands it to Drake. "I highly reccomend you look at this. It's a style of swordsmanship intended to be used by powerful Black Arms practitioners using these kind of weapons. Julius no doubt would be quite skilled in one of these. Appropriately, there are seven in total, and have colors of the Chaos Emeralds on top of it. I managed to find that, Form VII, the Ferocity form. It should go well with your doubleblade. I've aquired one for myself, Form II, the Contention form. Let's test these things against Surge and Shine. I think they'll be very surprised by these weapons. But, we're not going to kill them just yet. Our primary target is Julius. I want to string them along."

Drake chuickled and laughed in satisfaction. He now believed he was more powerful than ever. Carnage smirked, believing he was smarter than ever before.

"Shall we scare Surge and Shine?" he asked.

"Sure!" said Drake.

"Remember, we're only scaring them. When it's time to leave, it's time to leave. Okay?" Carnage asked.

"Fine!" said Drake. Carnage nodded in acknowledgement.

"Let's go, I'm certain that they'll be unprepared for us," Carnage said.

Drake laughed as he ran to his ship. Carnage did likewise. Elsewhere, Surge and Siren were training with similar sword-like weapons. Surge using an electrical version, Siren using a vibrating version.

"Surely you can do better bro!" taunted Surge.

"You've tempted me!" Siren shot back, and gave Surge a powerful barrage of strikes. Surge was barely able to avoid and prarry the attacks. Shine was just watching intently and lazyly. He didn't see a point in using these, because he had psychokinesis, so he thought they were a waste of time.

"Well, I'm done for today," Surge admitted.

"Shine!" called Siren, "C'mon, let's spar!"

"Man, why do we even use these?" he asked. "I have psychokinesis. I don't need these things!"

"We can use the same argument bro," Surge replied, "Remember, these swords run on our powers. Part of it is respecting that Tails went through the trouble of making these things for us, the other is just learning new things. This might save your life, you did take the most defensive of the forms."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." said Shine, not even caring.

"You know," Siren said, "Tails did say that these forms came from some alien race... And there are seven of these forms... Wonder if sombody else got ahold of one of the others we don't have?"

"I have a strange feeling that if someone did, they wouldn't be benevolent," remarked Surge.

"I bet Drake would use this type of power...." said Shine.

"But I doubt he'd be smart enough to even know where to get such power," Surge commented.

"Funny you should say that....." said a voice nearby. Surge was taken aback by the voice.

"Speak of the devil," Surge said with disdain, "the barbarian's here."

Drake indeed teleported nearby as a ship commandeered by Carnage landed nearby. Carnage walked out of the ship sinisterly, as if having a devious plan for his prey. Surge glared at the two of them.

"Oh if it isn't the two cold-hearted jerks!" Surge exclaimed with extreme disdain, "What is it now?" Carnage smirked as he walked up to Surge.

"I see that you're tired... even better," Carnage cooed, as he whipped out and activated his green-bladed Chaosblade, catching Surge off-guard thus scoring deavastating blows. Surge screamed in pain as he attempted to fight back with his Electrosword. A brief moment of swordplay commenced, until Carnage quickly gained the upper hand and kicked Surge in the face. Surge for a moment was disoriented and was forced to power down his Electrosword, which Carnage sliced the blade portion in half, rendering it useless. Then Carnage slashed at Surge a couple more times, leaving red slashes on his arms and legs. He laughed subsuquently as Surge fell to the ground, defeated.

"NO!!" Siren yelled in shock. Drake and Shine were fighting too, but were evenly matched. Siren charged at Carnage, in an overwhelming fury. Relentless in attacking, Siren had forced Carnage onto the defensive, Carnage barely being able to hold his own against Siren's pressing assault, until Siren knocked the blade out of Carnage's hands, being able to narrowly escape by teleporting back to the ship.

"Drake! We've done enough! Let's get moving, we must prepare for our real target!" Carnage shouted as he returned into the ship and started it up.

"Right!" said Drake. "It's time for Julius to die!" Carnage had the ship take off, and fly away, almost in a triumphant manner. Surge groaned at the pain of his wounds while Siren glared at the ship as it left.

Chapter II: The Chaosblade
"Man, I hate those guys..." said Shine. Siren then turned to Shine.

"Never mind them, Surge is hurt!" Siren pointed out. Shine nodded and ran to tend to his half-brother. Surge groaned in pain.

"What was that blade...? Arh!" Surge rhetorically asked.

"Same blade that we've got..." said Shine. Siren picked up the hilt that Carnage dropped, and gave it to Shine.

"You think Tails should look at this?" he asked innocently.

"No, I think we should keep it as a souvinear." said Shine, with sarcasm. "Of course we should have him take a look at it!"

"Then let's get Surge to Karen's! We can kill two birds with one stone, yes?" Siren suggested. Surge groaned again in pain.

"Yeah!" said Shine. Siren found Surge and picked him up.

"Lead the way bro," he said. Shine smirked and dashed off to Tails's workshop. Siren: hobbled after him, barely keeping up with Shine. At Tails's workshop, Tails was busy working on something.

"Yo, Prower! Open the damn door!" Shine knocked hard on his door. Karen sighed and asnwered.

"Oh, hi guys!" she greeted. Siren peeked out from behind Shine, holding the wounded Surge. Karen saw him and was in a love trance. "Hiiii Sireeenn....."

"Hey..." he said, somewhat confused how to deliver to her what had just transpired seeing her as she was.

"Yo! Eyes off his junk and eyes on my bro!" said Shine, snapping her out of her mini-trance. "Where's your dad?"

"He's in the garage." said Karen. "Why, do you have something for him?"

"Yeah. We found Drake and Carnage have their own Chaosblades." explained Shine. Karen gasped at this. Siren nodded.

"Carnage wreaked Surge..." he said gloomily. Karen had to refrain from swearing. "He needs help!" he insisted, "And we have something for your dad to look at."

"What is it?" she asked. Shine then pulled out Carnage's chaosblade and gave it to her. She then nodded and ran down the stairs to find her father.

"Dad! Shine and the gang found something ya may wanna check out!" she hollared. Tails turned to her and noticed the pole.

"Let me take a look then," he said. Karen gave her dad the Chaosblade. He took it and did some examinations.

"Incredible..." he gawked, "It's a much more powerful version of the Vibro- Electro- and Psychoswords that I made for the gang... It uses Chaos energy to create the blade, while I had to make the blade portion..."

Everyone gasped at this.

"I'm going to have to tinker with this for a while," he said.

"How could Carnage have done that?" askled Shine.

"Carnage is as smart as Drake is strong," croaked Surge.

"So how did Drake get a doubleblade?" Shine asked.

"Maybe Carnage gave it to him," croaked Surge in reply.

"Is a double blade even possible?" asked Karen.

"Yes," Tails replied, "Make two of these and weld them together by the bottoms, or have a locking mechanism."

"Drake's always finding a way to make me look like crap." said Shine. "He's platying dirty again!"

"I doubt Drake would've been able to create something like this," Tails pointed out, "I think Surge is correct here, if Carnage is as smart as he claims he is."

"Damn him!" cussed Karen. This shocked everyone, even herself.

"...Karen, just take care of your beau's hurt brother," Tails said, "Shine, you can go with them if you want. I want Siren to stay here."

"Drake is so dead for this!" said Shine.

"Perhaps the goal was to get you guys all worked up," suggested Tails.

"Well it worked!" said Shine. "But we're ready now!" Tails looked at him in disbelief.

"Really?" he asked, "I don't think so with your brother hurt as he is."

"Well I'm not waiting!" shouted Shine as he ran out of the house with his Psychosword. However, Siren grabs Shine on the shoulder.

"Are you really going to leave us behind?" Siren asked with an edge.

"You can't just challenge them right away!" Tails shouted, "You're at a severe technological and numerical disadvantage!"

"Carnage just proved how our blades fail compared to theirs," Siren added.

"Well, then Dr. Light, I don't suppose you have got anything better!" said Shine.

"On the contrary, I do," Tails said sternly, "I can make some "Chaosblades" by using this one as a template. Siren is in luck, he's got something like this as inheritance from his father." He went to the closet and rummaged through it to come out with a small black rectangular box.

"What's that dad?" asked Karen.

"Siren's inheritance from his father," Tails replied, and opened the box to Siren, revealing a similar pole with a rounded tab at the node, and handgrips along the bottom half of the pole. Siren took the pole and ignited it, shining out a red blade. Karen looked at him and stared. Surge, being in too much pain to notice, groaned again.

"Save your strength, man!" said Shine.

"It'd help if I got some, oh I don't know," Surge croaked very sarcastically, "medical attention?! What am I, chopped liver?!"

Ironically enough, Brittney waltzed right in a sexy nurse outfit that gave everyone in the room (save for Karen of course) nosebleeds and boners. Brittney giggled at their reactions. "I heard that someone asked for an appointment today...." Surge had a mixed reaction, and groaned again in pain.

"Aww, don't worry baby...." said Brittney. "You'll be all better when I'm done...." Surge looked at her and nodded. Brittney started to heal him, doing some occasional sex teases for him when she was pretending not to look. Surge enjoyed the teases, feeling treated well and smirked. After half-an-hour, Brittney finished and smirked. "You feel better babe?"

"Yeah..." he replied.

"Glad I could help!" said Brittney. Surge smiled as he sat up.

"Tails, could ya make us blades like that too?" Shine asked. Tails smirked as he brought out a hilt, the bottom half of it is silver wiht bumps around the bottom, and the other half is black as a handgrip, with a copper container-like object directly underneath a wide cased node, and handed it to Shine.

"Here's yours," Tails said, "I used the shard that was in the blade you found, it's green. Surge's is going to be done soon."

"Sweet!" Shine took it and started to test it out. It was working like a charm. Siren heard Shine's blade and turned to Shine.

"Wanna test these babies out?" Siren asked.

"Fuck yeah, mother fucker!" said Shine.

"Let's go!" Siren shouted and takes Shine's arm, wanting Shine to lead him. He lead his brother outside to a large field so they could train. Siren turned to his brother.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I was born ready!" said Shine. Siren jumped over to the side and activated his Chaosblade. Shine did the same thing. Siren took the offensive first, delivering powerful and unrelenting strikes. Shine did his best to block and dodge them all. Siren continued his assult, not even hinting on slowing down.

"Not bad bro!" said Shine. "But I'm better!" Shine gave him a deep slash, hoping it would work and hurt hard. However, Siren blocked the attack and counterattacked with a strong overhead slam. Shine got hit pretty hard. Siren pointed his Chaosblade at his fallen brother's head, signalling victory.

"You were saying?" cooed Siren. Shine just grunted in frustation and congradulated his own brother. Siren smiled and helped Shine up. "This stuff is awesome! I wonder how Surge is going to fair?"

"Right now, I think he's more focused on fucking his girlfriend." laughed Shine.

"Probably," agreed Siren and laughed. Oddly enough, they were right. Brittney was still in her nurse's outfit and teasing Surge. Surge smirked and slipped his hand under her skirt, looking at her suggestively.

"You naughty boy." she smirked back.

"I learned from you babe," he laughed. Brittney giggled as she rubbed his pants. Surge couldn't help but squeeze her butt. The nurse-bat moaned in great pleasure. Surge pulled gently on her butt, wanting her to be closer to him.

Brittney smirks and "accidentally" tripped and landed right on him. Surge smirked also and held her in his embrace. Brittney gave out small moans. Surge rubbed her back, enjoying her moaning. She started to giggle. He then kisses her. Brittney kissed back with passion. Surge then held her tight against himself. She gave out small moans of pleasure once more. Surge gently rubbed her butt again, which made her smirk and moan louder. Tails peeked in and chuckled.

"Dad, let them screw in peace." said Karen, reasonably.

"Right... You can bring Siren in," Tails said in a suggestive tone and smirked. Karen blushed a lot, but ran outside to find Siren, who was asleep on the porch, bored of beating Shine countless times. She took this opportunity to glomp him and pull her panties down. Siren awoke instantly and freaked out.

"Wh-Who are you?!" he shouted, being unable to see her.

"Relax, baby." said Karen as she took his pants off. "It's just me." Siren relaxed upon hearing her voice.

"Okay, but please Karen, let me know it's you before you get all over me, can't see, remember?" Siren said.

"Sorry." Karen apoligized. Siren smiled and held her tightly.

"It's okay," he said. Karen kissed him right on the lips. Siren kissed her back. She moaned lightly in pleasure.

Meanwhile, back with Drake and Carnage, Carnage introduced another familiy member that was coming along. Carnage hoping that Drake wouldn't go crazy over this.

"Okay, who are we waiting for exactly?" asked Drake. As Carnage was about to answer, an black and orange hedgehog-racoon hybrid suddenly jumped out at them.

"Hiya Carnage!!" he shouted with a little too much excitement.

"...Him," Carnage replied to Drake, "Drake, this is Jack, son of Shadow and Marine the Racoon. Jack, this is Drake, son of Shadow and Rouge the Bat." Jack seemed to be overjoyed to meet Drake, and gave Drake a tackling hug.

"Hi Drake!!" he shouted, quite a bit like a child.

"Jack's got a very creative brain," Carnage commented, "As strange as he is, he makes just as strange contraptions, what's stranger, most of them work."

"Hmph." Drake shrugged it off, as if saying it didn't seem to matter at all.

"Let me put it in more understandable terms," Carnage explained, "he could wipe the floor with you in a way you wouldn't even think existed." This is where Drake started to lose his temper.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

"You're the strongest, but that doesn't mean you're invincible," Carnage explained, "Brute force isn't the only way to win battles. I've been trying to teach you that for a while now."

"You think I don't know that?!" exclaimed Drake. "I have smarts as well. But I've been using you to do the thinking for me. Thought you'd be smart enough to figure that out!"

"Excuse me," Carnage said in an almost annoyed tone, "Using me? When you think you're stalking the tiger, it is actually stalking you. But we'll argue about that another day. We have bigger fish to fry."

"Whatever!' Drake scoffed. Carnage looked at his half-brother disapprovingly.

"Anyways," Carnage continued, "I have formed a plan to find Julius. We're going to lure him to us. He thinks he can swindle me all he likes, so he'll believe what I have to say."

"What do you suggest?" asked Drake.

"I make another offer that would entice him," explained Carnage, "Then, when the moment is right, you and Jack will ambush him." Drake smirked and chuckled. He liked this idea a lot.

Chapter III: The Failed Ambush
Carnage was waiting in a rather enclosed space for a certain target. There are various places around Carnage where beings can hide, but also offered privacy. Carnage patiently drummed his fingers. He soon saw a strange space vessel coming through. But it wasn't from Julius, nor was it from the Black Arms. Carnage scowled upon seeing this. He expected Julius himself to arrive just as he did before. He began to debate in his mind about what his next course of action should be.

The jet landed and out stood one of his siblings' rivals, Shine. He smirked, in sheer cockyness. Carnage rapidly calculated this. He didn't have any clue why his sibling's rival would be here, especially since he didn't give any information to Shine, only to Julius.

"What are you doing here?" he spat with disdain, giving a hand signal behind his back for his siblings to retreat, a different person arrived.

"Here for some payback, that's what!" said Shine. Drake walked out upon hearing his rival's voice.

"Hmph. Want another beating, eh?" said Drake, smug as ever. Carnage just laughed.

"Fine," Carnage said insidiously, "But the difference this time..." he pulled out two curved Chaosblade hilts for each hand, "You are outnumbered, and quite possibly outmatched." Jack also walked out, holding two straight Chaosblade hilts backwards in each hand. Drake took out his Chaosblade as well.

Shine smirked and chuckled. Drake got suspicious. Why would Shine be so calm at this time? It didn't take him long to realize this. "Wait....How did you--" Before he could even finished, Shine surprised Carnage and Jack by pulling out his Chaosblade. "That stupid fox...." said Drake, "He reverse-engenirred our Chaosblades to work for them!"

"Nevermind that," Carnage said, finally calculating everything together, "If you give a RPG to a complete idiot, he's not going to be effective anyhow. Cycle through, let's show him the true meaning of fear, brothers!" Jack couldn't help but cackle very evily. "Let's send him crying to his mother!!" Carnage putting extreme emphasis on the word 'mother'.

"Bring it on!" said Shine, cockily. Carnage simple smirked.

"Fine," he said as he activated his Chaosblades, and pointed one at Shine, "Attack, my brothers!" Jack jumped at the chance to attack, and activated his Chaosblades.

"Haiyah!" Jack shouted as he charged at Shine, and began to slash him. Shine blocked him with ease though. Jack didn't give up, as he used his relaxed and unorthodox bladework to try to out-think Shine. Shine tried to block as best he could, but then got cheap-shotted from behind by Drake. Carnage also began to cheap-shoot Shine on his arms and legs.

"Ugh! Cowards!" said Shine. Carnage laughed at his statement and kicked him down as he laughed at him. Shine felt like he was done, but wasn't ready to give up. He used his psychokinesis to get back up and slashes more at them. However, they were able to block his attacks. Carnage laughed even more.

"Your anger has unbalanced you, that's not what heroes do, is it?" Carnage taunted.

"Only cowards try and cheapshot someone who's outnumbered...." Shine taunted back. "I hate to see who your girlfriends are...." Carnage chuckled at this taunting.

"You'd be surprised," Carnage said, "You would be surprised, boy. An unfortunate change of plans has only further prepared us for our true battle. But you'll never know what that is." Jack crossed his Chaosblades around Shine's neck from behind, ensuring no escape. Carnage shot a Chaos Spear to knock Shine's Chaosblade from his hand. "Drake, you may kill him now."

Drake chuckled, but soon he saw two more ships in the distance. "Dammit!"

"Don't mind them," Carnage said soothingly, "Kill him now, we'll deal with them later."

"You do realize that's Surge and Siren in those ships, right?" asked Drake. Carnage was about to snap at him, but decided against it.

"It doesn't matter," Carnage said, "Killing Shine will demoralize them, make it much easier for us to kill them."

As Drake decided to follow his brother's orders, he looked down and noticed that Shine had disappeared. This surprised them all. Carnage quickly calculated a solution.

"Let's return to base," he said, "There's no harm in letting Shine go, he doesn't know anything about our plan."

"What plan is that?!" Shine charged at them from above and slashed them all, when they were off-guard. Carnage growled at him in disdain.

"None of your damned business!" he snapped. Shine smirked with cockyness as his brothers arrived.

"Whaddya think you're doing in a place like this, Carnage?!" Surge demanded.

"And what're you planning to do with Shine?!" Siren demanded. Carnage growled at them with extreme disdain.

"Bros, retreat, they're not important right now," Carnage growled, "And we don't have the time to deal with them now."

"You guys just can't win a fair fight can you?" said Shine. Carnage now was fed up with annoyances.

"For once, you're not important in one of our plans!" Carnage snapped.

"What are these, 'plans' then?" Surge probed.

"None of your business!" Carnage snapped again, "We have bigger fish to fry than you! And you people would agree! Now if you'll excuse us, gentlemen, we must be going." Without anymore stalling, Drake teleported away. Likewise, Jack and Carnage also teleported away.

"Heh...typical bad guy cliche: running away from a fair fight!" said Shine. Surge and Siren weren't as convinced.

"Carnage is never that angry," Surge pointed out.

"My brothers don't like to run from challenges..." Siren also pointed out, "Something big is up."

"Maybe they missed Maya stripteasing...." Shine joked. Surge smacked Shine upside the back of his head in irritation.

"It has to be something pretty damn important to pass up kicking our asses," Surge inferred.

"Hey, I was joking okay?!" said Shine.

"Shine, get your head outta the gutter for once," Surge said, "What's more important to Drake than defeating you? Doesn't he hate someone more than he hates you?"

"What's more important?" Shine repeated. "So obvious, Maya! He loves her to death....but..."

"What would make him pass up killing you?" Surge restated, "Didn't he mention earlier... a Julius?"

"Julius?!" Shine exclaimed.

"Know him?" Surge asked.

"Remember that guy that used us all to get his way, revive the Black Arms, and kill Carnage and Drake?" asked Shine. "That's him!" Surge was taken aback by this.

"Carnage probably didn't take it well that he was used," Surge reasoned, "...He'd want revenge..."

"It's not just that...." said Shine. "Drake's family was killed by Julius....and therefore, so was half of Carnage's and....whoever the other guy was..."

"Sounds like Carnage..." Surge began, "...would definately want to kill Julius, and he has Drake to help him."

"No, it's the other way around." said Shine.

"Actually," Siren chimed in, "it's both ways." Shine looked at him confused.

"They both have similar reasons to call upon each other to kill a common enemy," Siren explained, "I think they think they're using each other, but they really can't use each other if they're both using each other. That's just called cooperation. Carnage can admit this, but Drake can't. They need each other. That's why they can't betray each other. As much as Drake might want to."

"I bet once Carnage isn't useful anymore, he'll turn on him." said Shine. "Drake is known to do just that!"

"That's the thing," Siren pointed out, "Carnage won't. Drake would make up a reason to turn on Carnage, and Carnage knows damn well that Drake would betray him, and is always on guard if he has unexpected entries." Shine still wasn't too sure about that.

"So apparently their real target is Julius..." Surge recapped, "Help them?"

"Yeah, they'll probably break apart anyway." said Shine.

Chapter IV: Unlikely Alliance
Carnage is throwing many miscellaneous items in a storage room around the room in a rage, as if he failed to comply with an order. Jack looked inside, worried about his brother.

"You okay...?" Jack asked innocently.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Carnage screamed, and he threw another item towards the door. Jack quickly ran from the door. Drake wasn't too fazed, but was pretty pissed that their rivals now matched them in strength. Jack nervously approached Drake. "...D-Do you know why Carnage is angry...?"

"Our enemies got lucky...." said Drake. "That's the only explaination I can think of...." Jack looked back at Carnage, very worried about him, as he continues to have his tantrum in the storage room. Drake didn't seem impressed. Carnage finally came out, exhausted of his anger. He simply looked at his brothers, and walked off down another hall. Jack seemed very troubled by Carnage's behavior.

"Got any ideas now, Einstein?" asked Drake. Carnage simply ignored him. Jack retreated to another room, fearful of the tension between Drake and Carange.

"Hmph!" Drake wasn't impressed at how cowardly Jack was. Jack on the other hand, started to have mixed feelings about Drake.

"We aren't getting anywhere just standing here." said Drake. Jack decided to take some shots at Drake, and see how he liked it.

"Got a plan?" he asked condecendingly, "I'm sure Carnage would love to hear all about it."

"Ambush the Black Arms once they're off-guard..." said Drake. "Got any better ideas?" Jack fell silent.

"I'll take that as a no." said Drake. Just then, a familiar voice broke out.

"Want some help getting the job done before you kill each other, barbarian?" he asked. Drake turned to see Team NeoRose. He was less friendly with them.

"Haven't you assholes ever heard of knocking?!" he asked angrily. "What do you want anyway?!'

"We did knock," Surge replied comicaly, "The door was open. Anyways, exactly what I said. Help you kill Julius before you and Carnage kill each other."

"Thanks but no thanks." said Drake rudely. "Now get lost!" Carnage was walking back in just then and glared at Drake incredulously.

"There's strength in numbers," he said with venom in his voice, then whispered in his ear, "We can always betray them for easy killings when we're done." Drake was reluctant to this, but eventually smirked. They could use them while they were useful.

"Okay, fine." Drake growled. "You got a deal! But if you try anything, your asses are dead!"

"You never change, do you Drake?" Shine smirked.

"No, he doesn't," Carnage answered Shine's question, "We can agree on that."

"Indeed," Surge concurred, "Barbarian responds to nuicences like an animal, killing the nuicience." Carnage couldn't help but chuckle. Drake wasn't fazed by their pranks. He knew that once they were no longer useful, he would kill them all in a swift move. Carnage, however, knew very well Drake had the capability to betray him. He was so aware of this, he would get very paranoid if he has surprise visits.

"Right, let's get moving," Carnage suddenly getting serious, picking up on Drake's silence, which gave Carnage the idea that Drake's betrayal would be soon.

"So what's the plan, dickwads?" Drake asked.

Keep up that shit I might kill you myself... Carnage thought, getting agitated by Drake's tone combined with his paranoia of Drake's potential betrayal, "I'll see to it if there's some 'back doors' to Julius's fortress. I'll go in to explain a juicy deal for him, while you guys go through the air vents and at my signal, you come crashing down and attack."

"Soumnd like a plan!" said Shine. Carnage nodded and immediately ran off to obtain the necessary information. Surge took notice of Carnage's rapidness, but decided to ignore it for the moment. Drake simply teleported away. Jack peeked out, seemingly scared out of his wits.

"Hey! Your bros just dumped ya!" Shine laughed. Jack didn't seem shocked at all, rather, he seemed that he should have expected such acts. He looked down slightly in a mix of disappointment, confusion, and sadness. Surge picked up on this and gently nudged Shine, attempting to direct closer attention to Jack. Shine looked at him and grew some sympathy for him.

"They're always like this..." Jack said quietly, as if having negative reminecience, "I get caught in the middle of it all, and I don't know anything...neither of them have me in the loop...yet Carnage adores me like a diamond, while Drake kicks me around like a lump of coal..." He turned away, in deep confusion, almost in questioning of who he is. Surge tried to absorb what was just said, while Siren seemed to understand it somehow.

"Well that's Drake for ya..." said Shine.

"To his own brothers..." Jack added sadly. Shine looked down quietly. Jack turned and walked away sadly, and Surge looked after him in sympathy. Siren, had a rather angry demeanor after Jack left.

"...That stupid hybrid..." Siren mumbled, "...Thinking he's the 'ultimate' when he's not even fully hedgehog like his father, who is the ultimate..."

"Oh you don't know the half of it..." said Shine. Surge touched Shine's shoulder to get his attention.

"I think he means that..." Surge began, "...by breed, he is stronger than Drake will ever be. Quite a funny thought, isn't it?" Shine just laughed.

"Just funny, huh?" Siren shot a look of disdain, "Drake isn't 'all that and a bag of chips'. Sooner or later I'm going to show him just that..." Surge just stared as his blind brother, as if he almost believes what he is hearing. Shine was smarter than that.

"Well, we can't deny that he can hold his own against him..." Surge reasoned, "Maybe he'll get his chance to prove his theory. Let's jet guys." Shine nodded and ran off. Surge and Siren ran off with Shine.

Carnage, having just finished giving the decoy appitizer to Julius, now sent a message to a king in another dimension, for reasons unknownst to anyone but himself.

Chapter V: To Take Down a Murderer
Carnage awaits to be seen by Julius in his lair, as the air ducts above him were clogged by his allies ready to strike Julius at the signal. At last, Julius appeared. What none of them knew, however, was that Julius had anticipated this ambush.

"Hello, partner," Carnage began, hiding any sort of deception, though very aware that Drake wouldn't be able to contain himself for too long, but still speak about the phony plan as if nothing was going to happen at all.

"Carnage the Hedgecat, was it?" Julius asked.

"Yes," Carnage replied, "My contingincy plan in case the last plot fell through, which it did."

Julius gave a sign of delight and victory. He needed to make Carnage think he was oblivious to his knowledge of the plan. However, to Carnage didn't care if Julius knew or not, he was already a few steps ahead of him in the case that he did have knowledge of the plan.

"However....you are aware that your enslavement to Nazo would jeopardize your life, correct?" asked Julius. Carnage had mixed feelings to the question, but retained his composure, and even laughed at the question.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Carnage laughed, whipping his tail playfully, signalling to the others it is time to attack.

"As a matter of fact....I do...." said Julius. Carnage only laughed even more.

"Now you're sounding dumb!" Carnage laughed as the others broke in from the ceiling, Chaosblades drawn, to attack Julius. Carnage took out his Chaosblade. "Direct orders from Nazo. You have betrayed him for hijacking the plan for yourself, and therefore, you must be eliminated!"

Julius was extremely calm and laughed manaiaclly. "Oh you are such a fool, Carnage! Did you honestly think this ambush would faze me?!"

"No, I didn't think this would faze you," Carnage said, almost equally if not more calmly, as the walls are busted out and specialized Gizoid robots, familiar only to Carnage and Julius, rush in with their Chaosblades drawn. Then, a cyan hedgehog walked in, behind Julius. "But I bet Nazo, would."

Julius was awaiting him. "Attempting to foil my plans again, eh?" said Julius. Nazo chuckled at this.

"No," Nazo coldly replied, "Succeeding to foil your plans, and bringing about your punishment."

"Carnage..." Surge breathed.

"Fool..." smirked Julius. "I have these fools in the palm of my hand.....all you need do is just touch into their hearts and find that which they hold dear....and use them to your advantage,..." Nazo scoffed.

"You have forgotten your place, Julius," Nazo shot back, "You've also forgotten that it was I who taught you just that. But now using them is worthless. Your little "army" of Black Arms has just been slaughtered like animals, as now you will be slaughtered, like a rebellious little animal you are!" In an instant, Nazo had Julius by the neck with an outstretched arm, choking him.

Julius was not actually expecting this, but smirked and snapped his fingers and in an instant, Fetalia showed up, tied up by an electrical chain and attached to a portable torture device. Then Brittney appeared the same way. And then Karen. Then Jane. Then Maya. And finally Coffee. Julius was clearly trying to use them to try and get Teams NeoRose and Shadow to work for him and overthrow Nazo. But now that that was out of the question, he was left with one more option: to destroy them.

"If I die....I will die holding this switch on and at full power...my device will destroy those pathetic excuses of....prostitutes!" Julius smirked. "You wouldn't like that....would you Carnage?" Carnage, caught completely off-guard, froze in place, frantically trying to calculate a new strategy, but he knew that he still had an ace in the hole, that was able to destroy Drake, Julius, and Nazo. The problem was, it was going to take a while to arrive. Surge, Siren, and Jack, got the idea of saving their girls.

"You are one sick bastard!" Drake snarled angrily at his nemesis. Julius, while running out of air, laughed menacingly, believing he had won. He was about to throw the switch. Nazo, however, had other ideas, by using his free hand to crush Julius's hand that was holding the switch, essentially prying it away from his grasp, rendering Julius unable to throw the switch.

"Your games don't faze me," Nazo snarled. "You are powerless against me!" He then crushed Julius's neck. "I know your every move and you know it! And now you will pay the price for trying to challenge that!"

"I can....still use my mental powers.....to finish them!" Julius threatened. He knew that final victory was close. Nazo finally had enough of Julius's seemingly empty threats. He took out his Chaosblade and put it to Julius's chest.

"Try me," Nazo snarled, "And then you won't even be able to think the next second later, which you at least need a minute to do what you want to do."

"Foolish one, I have Carnage in my backpocket." said Julius. "He would not dare let that scum of a girl die....and if I die, so does she....which means he has a choice to make...." Nazo snarled once again.

"He's not supposed to have a girlfirend," Nazo growled, "He's not to have any sort of attatchment to challenge me, in addition, you wouldn't dare to use a dead-man's switch, that's too selfless, and you're anything but selfless. Also, neither of you were given any sort of choice at any point in time. So, you're bluffing!" Before Carnage or Julius could do anything, Nazo activated his Chaosblade, the red blade impaling the Black Murderer. Carnage felt as if life itself was slipping from him.

Julius could barely breathe as he slowly spoke. he could barely reach for the remote to at last trigger the device. "No.....I'm....not...." he whispered as he activated it before passing out.....or perhaps dying. The girls were electrocuted with dark energy harshly. The pain was excrusiating and who knew how long they would last like this? Nazo did not care for the girls, as he ripped his Chaosblade out of Julius's limp body, and threw it aside. He glared at Carnage and started for him.

"So, you have forgotten your place just as Julius had," he said coldly. Carnage backed up as Nazo advanced, with the feeling that he was about to lose everything. "Therefore, your usefulness has also ended." Nazo declared.

"You....you were working for this Earthworm all along?!" asked Drake, a bit surprised.

"If I didn't the same massacre Julius did to your family he would've done to mine!" Carnage retorted, "I had no choice!"

"That's correct, Carnage," Nazo stated coldly, "I'm first going to beat you until you can't move, then kill your mother, then your sister, slowly and painfully, and I'll make you watch. I'm going to make you hear every scream, see every blood drop, you are going to wish you were never even born!"

"You....stop....AAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Jane was still crying in agony and pain. Carnage knew he was about to die, he reached out to his brother with one last critical bit of information.

"Drake..." Carnage said, panaickingly, "...You should know...that Nazo was behind...Julius's massacre of your..." He couldn't finish the statement, but believed that Drake would finish it in his mind. However, Nazo had no qualms with revealing it.

"I had Julius murder your family so I could use it as a device to aquire Carnage," Nazo stated to Drake, as if it meant nothing to him. Drake's eyes widened in disbelief then closed in sorrow. His teeth gritted as he could hear Maya's screams of torment grow louder. He was reminded of the horrible memories of Julius killing those he held dear. Most of all his mother. While he did not realize it, Drake's skin was growing darker and an evil aura was surrounding him. When he opened his eyes, the pupils and irises were gone. He had turned into Dark Drake.

Chapter VI: The Underlying Evil
Nazo wasn't fazed by the transformation and continued for Carnage, "Now, if you'll excuse me," Nazo said coldly, not even caring enough to even think about how Drake felt about the news, "I have some business to attend to." Jack, having heard everything, was crying bitterly. He had found out everything, and was deeply hurt by what both Drake and Carnage had gone through.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!!!" screamed Dark Drake. Nazo became irritated by Drake, and turned to him.

"Do you want to plead for your brother's life?" Nazo challenged coldly, "So be it. Trial by combat it is!" Carnage took this opportunity to split in two, his Inferno and Blizzard forms in an attempt to attack Nazo. However, Nazo grabbed hold of Blizzard Carnage, and somehow absorbed him, causing Inferno Nazo to return to normal. Nazo shot an ball of energy at Carnage, sending him flying. "Your brother wishes to plead for your life. I suggest you take it. Hmph."

"I don't care about him!!" shouted Drake. "I want revenge....for the murder of my mother I admired and loved!!" Nazo chuckled at his words.

"I could care less about your mother," Nazo stated dismissively, "And with you being so power-obsessed, I would think you'd forget about your family, and fall in love with power. That is all you ever wanted, isn't it?"

Dark Drake grew even more enraged. Taking out and activating his Chaosblade, he charged at Nazo and slashed menacingly. Nazo however, was able to calmly deflect Drake's attacks and counter with his own slashing, utilizing Drake's aggression to his advantage. Shine ran over to the girls to see if he could free them. Surge was desprately trying to knock out the devices, but he was having little success.

"Come on, we gotta hurry!" Shine shouted.

"If I could hurry I would!" Surge fired back, trying to knock out the device on Maya with his electrokinesis. The device had short-circuited, but Maya was out cold and unconscious. Surge used his Chaosblade to cut her free, and laid her down gently. He then tried to do the same thing for Brittney. Brittney fell down hard and panting hard. Surge hugged her tightly, as Jack remained paralyzed, staring at Dark Drake and Nazo dueling, and seeing a knocked out, drained Carnage.

Coffee's louder screams of pain was what knocked him out of it. Jack saw no option but to hold her and take the pain also, as Surge came in to finish the last device on Coffee, and cut her free. Coffee fell right onto Jack as the girls tried to catch their breath. Some of them were on the verge of near death. One such case was Maya. Jack held onto Coffee tightly, as Siren was holding Karen, both boys shutting themselves away from the things around them. Surge took note of Maya's condition, and paced, trying to come up with a solution.

"C'mon bro!" Surge frantically called out to Shine, "Help me out here! We're the only ones that can save these girls that are ready to see our Maker!"

"You got any ideas?!" asked Shine.

"Do you?!" Surge retorted, "Because we need some!"

"Well, if we can keep Maya alive, we may be able to cure the rest of the girls." said Shine.

"Right, how can we do that?" asked Surge. Maya was slowly dying as she tried to crawl to where Dark Drake and Nazo were dueling. The two were still equally matched. Surge took no time to hear his brother's answer upon seeing Maya crawling to Drake, and immediately went to her. "Don't, it's too dangerous Maya."

"Drake....I must....help Drake...." she whispered. Surge sighed.

"Maya, Drake needs to work this out by himself," he said, "It's very personal to him." Nazo and Drake's duel was reaching a fever pitch. Maya still wanted to help, but Surge was interferring. Nazo saw a hole in Drake's defense, and exploited it with a contentous strike, cutting off his arm, slicing his upper arm in half, and followed up with an energy blast to send him flying towards the unconcious Carnage. Drake screamed in unimaginable pain as Maya looked on, horrified. Surge also looked on, pitying his former enemy. Nazo stood straight, panting as if he's just finished exricising, holding the blade relaxedly.

"Your father, never told you about his battle with Julius, did he?" Nazo cunningly asked. Drake growled menacingly. "Your father fought him but underestimated him, and is probably dead due to that mistake." He continued, "Julius reported that your father said that he loved your mother as much as you loved her." He paused, "I see much of your father in you, and thus bound for a similar fate."

Drake's eyes widened, shocked. Maya looked on, saddened. Surge couldn't help but agree with the cyan hedgehog's words. They did fall in line wtih what he already knew after all. Just then, a red cat walked in, tossing away one of Nazo's Gizoids. Nazo turned to him, surprised actually.

"Who are you?" Nazo demanded.

"I am Starburst, Starburst the Cat," the cat introduced himself, "otherwise known as the King of Plyrus or the Galactic Legend." Nazo grimaced at his appearence. Shine looked at the newcomer. He couldn't help but feel he's met him before.

"I was hoping to deal with you later, Starburst," Nazo spat with dismay.

"Word gets around," Starburst said dismissively.

"No matter, fight me," Nazo challenged. Starburst took out and activated his Chaosblade. Nazo charged him, and an intense duel began. Maya tried to crawl over to Drake. Surge decided to carry her over to her wounded boyfriend. Drake was growling in immense pain. Surge decided to lay Maya next to Drake and leave them alone, having quite a bit to ponder. Maya hugged him tightly and started to cry, believing she may be losing him soon.

Chapter VII: Escape
"Okay bro..." Surge said to Shine, "what's next? How can we get them all out of here?'

"Well I got some of the Sol Emeralds, so we can use Chaos Control to split!" said Shine. Surge nodded.

"How many can you take?" Surge asked.

"I can take a few per emerald, but I can only hope we can warp to a hospital in time." said Shine.

"Does Drake have any to spare?" inquired Surge.

"Just.....leave me here..." said Drake, weakly.

"No Drake! I'm not leaving you!" said Maya.

"Maya.....I have to see.....my mom....tell her--"

Tell me what? a feminine voice erupted in Drake's mind.

"M-Mom....?" Drake questioned.

Yes... the voice replied, but I'm not happy with you...

"Mom....I tried....I couldn't--"

I don't like what you did with yourself after my death, she interupted him, ''You're becoming arrogant, like your father... If he died, he died trying to save me, you're about to die for trying to kill someone. You're strong, Drake, but only physically strong if you keep going down this path, a path that your father was tempted to go down by Black Doom, keep going, and you're going to lose more than your arm.''

"Mom....I thought you were better than this." said Drake. "Sucking up to my worthless dad....I loved you mom! When Julius killed you, I lost everything! EVERYTHING!!"

I thought you were stronger than to fall into a spiral of arrogance and narccism, she retorted, ''I thought you'd take in what I've taught you, what your father taught you. You call your father worthless, he's still your father, and we both loved you. When I died, I hoped you would step up and protect what's left. I was wrong.''

"What was there left?!" he exclaimed. "You were all I respected, because you knew your place and you're all I deemed useful in the family! But....you died....and I was left with nothing!"

There you go again with your narccism... she sighed, ''Always thinking about who's "useful" to you, can you really say that you're better than that Nazo creature? You both are acting virtually the same way, using and abusing those who are "useful", and killing them off when their "usefulness" ends. You're no better than him, and if you call your father weak and worthless, you're only insulting yourself.''

"No!" shouted Drake. "I'm nothing like him! He murdered you and tried to do the same to Maya! I had to get even, but a cheap lucky shot cost me an arm!"

Getting even is never possible, she said sadly, ''the scars are still there, the damage has already been done, not even his death will heal those scars. You are becoming exactly like him, and only Maya is keeping you from becoming like him. Is she "useful"? I guess you'll kill her when her "usefulness" expires.''

"You're wrong, mom!" said Drake. "She'll never become useless like dad and our family! She's always been useful to me! And always will! I......I love her...."

''Let's see how long that holds up... she sighed, you seem so ready to die, what about her?''

"What do you mean?" he asked.

You're dense as well... she sighed yet again,'' she loves you too, Drake. Isn't she a reason to live? Someone to protect? Or is she just "useful", and doesn't matter if you leave her behind to morn your death?'' Drake remained silent. He had no idea how to cope with what his mother was telling him. ''If you love her, you'd fight for her. If you don't, then die.''

"I fight for her everyday....and she fights for me. But I can't tell her...if I do, I'd be nothing but a weakling. No different than dad was...." She chuckled.

Silly... she giggled, ''by allowing that fear of being called a weakling keep you from telling her, actually makes you weak. If your father were "strong" like you, you would never had been born. Have you just told me that you're weaker than your rivals?''

"What?! Are you saying That I'm as weak and worthless as Shine?!"

Teehee, big boy's too scared to tell his crush how he feels about her~! she giggled, Your father had the hardest time telling me how he felt about me for the first time, he was working at it so hard it was cute!

Drake smirked, smugly at his mother. "So....does that make me a cutie too? Or at least hot?"

You are cutie Drake, and Maya will think so too, just tell her. she replied, You'll find that it takes a lot of strength and courage to do that simple little thing, and you won't regret it either.

"Why would she even be intrested in me anyway?" he asked. "Actually....why wouldn't she be? I'm the strongest hybrid in existance....not to mention have the hottest mother ever...." She giggled even more.

Somebody you know actually might've asked your very first question, she said, ''and thank you big boy. Teehee!'' Drake just smirked as he looked up in confusion of the first part. ''Oh nothing. Also, have more faith in your brothers, Carnage and Jack.''

"If you can be happy with that...." said Drake.

I have a feeling they can give you a good prosthetic arm, she said, ''and don't kick them around so much, Jack's confused by you and Carnage's arguments, and you kind of made Carnage paranoid above anything else. That is, if he's not already dead...''

"Right....but I'll only do it, because you asked me..." said Drake.

What would really make me happy, big boy, she continued, and wrapped her arms around him, ''is to use your strength to protect this world, like what your father did, except better! Also...that Surge guy... I'd like you to apologize to him for helping in ruining his life, you didn't like it when Julius ruined yours, it's insane to press it upon somebody else. Please big boy, would you for your mama?''

"Just for you, mom...." said Drake as he kissed her. She giggled and kissed him back.

I'll come back sometimes to help you, she said, I'll know when my baby needs help.

"I love you, mom...." said Drake.

I love you too, Drake. she said, as the sound of a rushing wind took her away. The next instant, Surge and Shine were running up to them.

"C'mon Drake," Surge said, with obvious conflict in his voice, "let's get outta here."

"Right....." said Drake. "Need a little help...." Surge nodded, and warped him and Maya to a hospital.

Chapter VIII: Recovery
The wounded girls are in different rooms recovering from their injuries, and Drake was given a stump for his arm so as to not have the tissue become infected. Carnage was still out cold, unable to tell if he's still alive or not. Surge had fallen asleep in his chair, Jack and Siren feeling extremely depressed and angry respectively.

Maya didn't really care about her wpounds. All she had cared about was Drake. He had lost an arm and part of his spirit and pride was broken. She was afraid she would completely lose him altogether. She was actually breaking down and crying all over her bed. Surge had awoken upon hearing Maya crying, and went to her, worried.

"Maya?" he asked, not wishing to disturb her but also wanted to help her. She looked up to see Surge and actually cried in his arms, hugging tightly. Surge also held her tightly to comfort her. "He'll be okay..." he said, trying to soothe her feelings.

"What....what if he dies?" asked Maya. "His arm...gone....what can I do..?"

"If Carnage lives," Surge answered, "he could give Drake a new arm... He is smart like that..."

Maya was still unsure. She was almost getting the feeling that she was one day going to lose Drake. And although she was fully aware that Surge liked her, she couldn't turn on Drake. But she didn't know how long it would be before Drake would be gone. So she didn't stop crying.

"...Maybe it took losing his arm," Surge suggested, "to turn himself around..."

Maya stopped crying for a bit. "......Huh?"

"You know how he is sometimes," he continued, "all Mr. Power-Hungry, maybe he'll rethink that now..."

"Surge.....there was always some good in him...." she said. "I always knew it. But he was too proud to show it...."

"Maybe he will show it now," Surge suggested, "to break his pride down enough to have some humility..."

Maya wanted to change the subject. "Surge....I need to say something to you."

"What is it?"

"I am not oblivious to your affection for me." she said. "You are kind of cute....but understand that my heart belongs to Drake and Drake alone." Surge chuckled.

"I got that," he said, "I care about you enough to let you have what makes you happy. So what if it isn't me? So what if it's one of the men that ruined my life? I'll still be here to comfort you."

"Just keep your hands off her tits, if ya know what's good for ya!" said a voice behind him.

"Like I'd do anything she wouldn't want me to," Surge called back behind him, knowing who it was. Maya looked over his shoulder and saw Drake smiling at them. Maya shoved Surge away and glomped Drake happily.

"Easy, Maya!" Drake groaned. "I have one arm."

"Oh....sorry...." said Maya, as she backed off.

"Um..." Surge said, "I'll leave you alone..." and started to leave the room.

"Maya....I need to tell you something...." said Drake.

"What...what is it?" asked Maya.

"Ever....ever since I met you...I saw something in you...." he said. "Something...intresting....I felt something weird....something I didn't feel since my family was murdered. At first, I ignored it and didn't bother me. But it kept egging me on, I heard voices in my head....I found out what it was, but couldn't say it...."

Maya was blushing, obviously trying to put the peices together. "Are you saying that--"

"Yes Maya." Drajke cut her off. "I love you....always have....always will...."

"Oh Drake...." Maya was teary-eyed. At long last, her dream of being hooked with Drake had come true. "I love you too! I ahve since we first met!" Afterall that, they embrace and shared a passionate kiss. They wanted to take it further, but had to wait, considering Drake was without one arm. Surge noticed this from behind him, and he smiled.

"He finally had the guts to say it," Surge muttered, "took him to lose his arm to do it." He walke away, with a tear in his eye, not because he couldn't have Maya, but because he became torn over his feelings towards Drake.

Shine, on the other hand, smirked and took a picture of this. He was obviously planning to show this throughpout the world, in an attempt to shatter Drake's pride and reputation. Surge noticed his brother, and swiped the camera using his electrokinesis.

"Dude, that's not right," Surge said, "are you 16 or 13? Drake finally found the balls to tell his crush how he feels. Don't screw with that."

"Ironically, yes. I am 16...." Shine smirked. Surge sighed.

"Act like your age, then," Surge said sternly, "Just be happy for him will ya?"

"I'm not...." said Shine. "I'm worried for Maya..."

"She wants him, he somehow makes her happy," Surge continued to speak sternly, "Who are we to get in the way of what she wants? If we really care about her, we'll let her have what makes her happy. We'll help her out when it's needed, and not before."

"Big problem, dude: I don't have a crush on her." said Shine.

"So?" Surge said, "Leave them alone dude, would you like it if Drake took a snapshot of you and Fetty doing it? Probably not."

"I don't think Drake would really care if he saw me fuck Fetty." said Shine. Surge sighed, and walked away, finding it pointless to argue with his brother any further. Coffee was just trying to limp out of the emergency room. Jack rushed in and hugged her tightly.

"Ack!! Jacky...!!" Coffee cringed in pain.

"A-Are you okay...?" Jack asked worried.

"Still a bit weak,...." said Coffee.

"I have you now baby..." Jack said comfortingly and held her.

"Thanks Jack...." said Coffee. Jack smiled and kissed her, which she returned.

"Carnage hasn't woken up yet, and Drake's lost an arm..." Jack said, depressed.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Coffee said. Jack hugged her tightly.

"I hope so..." he said, and cried into her shoulder. Coffee did her best to comfort him. He held her tight to try to calm himself down.

"Can I get some coffee to cheer you up?" she suggested. Jack nodded. Coffee, feeling better, ran off to gather some coffee. Jack ran after her. Coffee didn't notice him as she went to Dunkin' Donuts. Jack tapped her shoulder to let her know he was with her.

"Oh! Jack!" she said.

"Just had to follow you baby..." he said and put an arm around her. Coffee smiled and ordered two Iced Coffee's. Jack smiled and rested his head on her shoulder. Coffee smiles and handed him his coffee. Jack drank his coffee, and sighed. Coffee started to drink hers too.

"Wonder if things with me, Carnage, and Drake would start to get better?" Jack wondered.

"I dunno...." Coffee mumbled. Jack drank more of his coffee., as did Coffee. Meanwhile, Carnage still hasn't woken up yet from Nazo's heartless assult. It is undetermined if he had even survived the attack. Jane was both crying and playing with herself in her sleep. Brittney was getting concerned. Suddenly, Carnage made soft, forced grunting noise. He still seemed to be in dibilitating pain. Brittney ran over to him. Carnage was able to fight through and manage to wheeze something out.

"Mom..." he wheezed, then exhaled in a burst, breathing heavily to fight for conciousness. Brittney tried her best to wake him up. He coughed hard. "H-Huh...?" he wheezed.

"You okay, Carnage?" asked Brittney. Carnage shook his head.

"He...he took my cryokinesis..." Carnage said, defeated.

"At least you're okay...." said Brittney. "Jane's in bad shape..."

"...Give her to me..." Carnage said, still woozy. Brittney nodded and lead him to Jane's room, where she was panting hard. Carnage wrapped his arms around Jane, and kissed her cheek. Jane slowly opened her eyes and saw Carnage. "Am I...in heaven now....?"

"No," Carnage said, "you're still here." and held her tight. Jane hugged back tighter. Carnage cried while holding Jane, for a number of reasons.

"What's wrong, Carny?" Jane asked.

"...Nazo stole my cryokinesis... And, now I don't know what to do..." Carnage replied, sadly and desprately, "I wanna see my mother too... I still feel dirty from him..."

"I'd like to meet your mom too." said Jane. "I wonder if she's as hot as mine...." Carnage picked her up bridal style, and ran away with her, to the portal that led to his mother's dimension.

Chapter IX: Redemption
Carnage, holding Jane, walked into the castle with a defeated and drained demeanor, looking for his mother. Jane was amazed at the set up of the amazing palace.

"Yes..." Carnage said, "I am a prince...just like Surge..."

"You're a prince?!" Jane exclaimed.

"Yes," Carnage said indifferently, "my mother's the queen here... Surge's father is the king here..."

"Wow.....I didn't you you were that cool!" said Jane.

"Heh..."

Jane flew right in the doors as a purple hedgecat stared at her rear end, getting aroused. "Damn, that is one hot ass!" he said.

"Glad you like that ass, brought it myself," Carnage said to the purple hedgecat half sarcastically, half indifferently, "I need to see Mom..."

"Ice?!" exclaimed Burn. "Is that really you, bro?!"

"Not so much with any ice now..." Carnage replied, "but yes..."

The hedgecat looked sternly at his own briother and got in a fighting stance. "So...come back to finish what ya started huh?! Good...cuz I got a load of payback right here for ya!" A purple flame appeared in his hands, signaling his pyrokinetic powers.

"No bro, you don't understand..." Carnage said, turning to the side, "...I was being used by Nazo to fulfil his damn plans, and if I didn't, you, Mom, Ember, would all be dead. I have come for redemption, I finally have freed myself from him."

"Tch! You seriously expect me to believe that?!" Burn growled. "You're nothing but a selfish asshole, Ice! You always have been!"

"I don't expect you to believe anything," Carnage said with much indifference, "if that means I die here, then so be it." Burn charged in a flaming purple blur. Carnage, seemingly accepting death, turned and fell into Burn's attack, sending Carnage flying into the ceiling. He made no attempt to fight back or recover. Burn furiously punched and kicked him all around the place. Carnage made no attempt to defend himself. He was prepared to die, after all, he felt he deserved to die.

"C'mon!" Burn said as he slammed him to the ground. "Fight back!" Carnage looked at him weakly.

"There's no point..." he said, "I'll be dead no matter what happens."

"Fight back!" Burn shouted.

"Why should I?" Carnage asked, "It's not going to change anything."

"Gimme your best shot! C'mon!!" Burn kept egging him on. Carnage didn't fall for Burn's taunting. Instead, he looked away.

"I just got my cryokinesis stolen, Drake's lost one of his arms, to Nazo," Carnage stated, "but none of that matters now. Just kill me."

Burn was completely dumbfounded at him. He couldn't believe what he had heard. Nazo had turned on his own servant. Burn didn't know what to think now, so he hesitated.

"I wasn't allowed to have a girlfriend, Nazo didn't want any sort of influence to spur me into rebellion," Carnage continued, "I'd rather still be stuck in that upper room, performing alchemy..."

Burn didn't look at him with mistrust or hatred. Instead, he looked sad and pitied. He pitied his own brother and knew he was telling the truth somehow. He couldn't be mad at him after hearing that. Carnage then broke down and cried. Burn dashed down and hugged his brother.

"Ice, I'm sorry...." said Burn.

"It's fine..." Carnage said, "I did what I had to do to keep you all alive... Please, forgive me..."

"I guess I can't be too mad at ya...." said Burn.

"...Can I see Mom now?" Carnage asked, "I'm certain that she had a birth name for me... I need it to separate myself completely from Nazo..."

"You will soon." said Burn. "First, I want ya to meet someone. Actually a couple of someones." A red cat approached Burn and Carnage.

"If I'm on that list, Burn," he said, "You can cross me off, I helped him in getting free from Nazo. Nasty guy was tough to fight."

"Well, maybe you were just too slow, Starburst." Burn sneered. Starburst chuckled.

"Took a while to get there," Starburst said, and hoisted the battered Carnage up. "That, and my duel with him was a long one."

"Then why was he too chicken to fight me, huh?" Burn asked sarcastically.

"Dude, you were a no show," Starburst answered satirically, "Let's just get this boy introduced, shall we?"

"Right. Ice, this is Starburst." said Burn. "He's Ember's new fiancee."

"If you didn't get the message, we've already met," Starburst laughed, "Next!"