Normal POV

???

Aura could see and feel nothing but the black and empty void that he's come to know over the years.

He couldn't move or say anything, as if he was a toy left behind by a child.

He thought back to everything he had and lost over the years, leaving questions in his mind.

How did all of this happen?

Where did it all go wrong?

Is everything his fault?

Aura felt a cold and wet feeling across his forehead, triggering his nerves to wake up.

His eyes opened to see himself in a small bed with the covers pulled over him.

But the first thing he actually saw was the face of a young female rabbit with cream fur, accompanied by a small blue Chao.

She looks at him with a happy expression. "How are you feeling mister?"

Aura tries to get up, but the rabbit forces him down.

She shook her head. "You can't get up, you're still hurt."

Aura tells her while feeling his head. "I have to go, my friends are in trouble."

The rabbit tells him as her Chao hands Aura a pillow. "Then me and Cheese can go help them while you stay here."

The Chao smiles and responds with her. "Chao Chao Chao."

Aura sighs. "If only it were that easy, young one."

Soon an adult rabbit that looked like an older version of the young rabbit walks in with a glass of water.

She looks at her daughter. "Cream, you shouldn't be bothering our guest, he needs to rest."

Cream looks down. "Sorry mom, I just wanted to help him."

The mother rabbit pets her head. "You have helped him a lot by finding him. Just let me handle the rest while you and Cheese play."

Cream smiles and nods. "Yes mom. Let's go Cheese."

Cheese flies away next to her as the pair leave the room.

The mother rabbit hands Aura the glass of water. "Are you feeling alright?"

Aura nods. "I am, and thank you for your hospitality."

The mother smiles. "It's no problem at all, mister. My daughter found you on the riverside and had to help."

Aura looks in the direction Cream went. "You raised her well. How long have I been here?"

The adult rabbit answered his question. "Since yesterday, though we don't know how long you've been in the water."

Aura just looks down, realizing a lot probably happened since his supposed death at the River Village.

Vanilla then speaks up. "My name is Vanilla."

Aura looks at her and returns a small smile. "My name is Aura."

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Normal POV

Factory ruins in Chun nan

Death Streak arrives to the last source of the anomaly's presence, finding nothing but the remains of the demolished building.

He could've sworn he felt something else there, but it must already have left by now.

He free runs across a few trees for several miles until he came across a downed helicopter.

His scans show several DNA samples across it, but one signature stood out from the rest.

Every time he scanned it, the results showed "Unknown Sample" over and over.

He spots a group of footprints across what used to be a muddy ground, going east from the scene.

He quickly realized his target left for Adabat and chooses to hurry to the direction of the footprints.

Suddenly, his radar picked up an incredibly weak energy signature matching the target emitting from an entirely different country.

Death Streak sighs. "Adabat, we'll meet again some other day. I've got business elsewhere."

He runs off to a new destination,  hot on the trail and not intent on losing it.

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Normal POV (3 days later)

Cream's Home

Aura had been in bed for several hours even after waking up, focused mainly on recovery from his fall.

No matter how hard he tried to, his emotions continued to haunt him with what happened before he got here.

His friend betrayed him.

Another friend has been driven to madness.

His mentor has been killed.

And finally, his home is burned and demolished to the ground.

Everything is gone, and he was separated from Blaze while he was at it.

He couldn't believe how naive and foolish he was to think he could just use his powers to make things better.

Because of his reckless actions, he had lost everything held dear to him again.

He was often asking himself why he needed to exist?

What purpose does the universe have for accepting him?

He already lost his life in another multiverse, so why bring him to this one?

His train of thought was interrupted when he felt something was off.

Aura changed into his new form and focused in on his sixth sense, searching beyond the trees outside the house.

He could feel the presence of cold emotions emanating from 10 miles away.

The blue canine put two and two together and figured out that someone was hunting him, despite the fact that the world thought he was dead.

He was immediately worried, not for himself, but for Cream and her mother.

If this bounty hunter of sorts found out he was at Cream's home, his hosts would be in danger.

Aura gets up from bed and slips out through the window, hurrying to the direction of the aura he sensed.

Ten minutes later...

Aura arrives at the area he felt it, knowing the enemy was around him somewhere.

Tension was already building up as it was utter silence in the trees and bushes, as if all animals left to avoid the next confrontation.

When he took the next step, his ear flicked upon hearing something.

Aura had no time to react as a net trap shot out from the bushes and stuck him to a massive stone.

He struggles to break free from it, but the net reattached to the rock as if it was magnetized to it.

Aura looks to see his captor walk out of the bushes, which was an armored mercenary carrying multiple weapons.

The mercenary looks at him. "So my target is a Mobian? You definitely look different, though I don't see what all the fuss is about."

The blue canine glares at him. "Who are you? And who sent you?"

The well armed figure shrugs off his questions. "Sorry Fido, but it's not part of the deal to say my client's name out in the open, he'll lose his mind if he finds out someone knew."

Aura continues to struggle as the mercenary pulls out a tranquilizer dart.

He approaches the canine slowly. "As for me, the world calls me Death Streak. And you.....are about to be added to my kill count."

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Normal POV (Meanwhile)

Bottom of the mountain in the Forbidden Valley

Blaze and Espio secretly follow Lord Rai and his guards as they meet up with their supposed allies.

The old master reaches an old puma wearing an old war uniform, his only protection being two armed Mobian soldiers.

The puma finally speaks up. "Lord Rai, I am pleased to see your tactics result in minimal casualties. But I will not let you burn up my resources without a reason to come here."

Lord Rai looks at him with a smug expression. "You will not be disappointed, Commander Trailing. This will be exactly what you need to wipe out all of the civilized human race."

The puma, now identified as the commander, glares at him. "And what about our agents that came from Adabat? What if they find out we burned their country to the ground and rat us out?"

Lord Rai slides open a cave. "I have sent someone to deal with them."

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Normal POV

Adabat Embassy in South Island

The secret spies that worked for the Fallen were in hiding here when they heard about the Hidden Valley being destroyed.

They are given the warnings of an attack when they suddenly hear yelling and shooting coming from outside.

Rounds of bullets are going off, getting quieter each minute until there's no sound left.

Dead silence followed, the individuals inside sweating in paralyzing fear at the outside threat coming.

The door bursts open as two guards are tossed in front of the people.

Standing at the entrance is Suzuki, his eyes lifeless and staring emotionlessly at them all.

The people stay paralyzed as he walks over to them, thinking it was a hostage situation.

The young man suddenly pushes his blade straight through one of them, dropping their quickly lifeless body to the floor.

All of them ran down the hallways, trying to find the emergency exit.

Suzuki cuts them down left and right as they either trip or go the wrong way.

He also throws shurikens at them, either taking them out instantly or sticking them to the walls and floor.

After a while, only one remains, trying to get the emergency exit open.

Upon opening it, he saw that the way was still blocked, but was with flaming debris this time.

Suzuki slowly approaches towards him, intending to end the man.

The man tries to reach for a phone for help, but Suzuki throws a shuriken that impales his hand to the wall.

Suzuki yells at him. "Where is she?!"

The man's pupils shrunk down. "W-Who?"

Suzuki hits the wall next to him. "Where is the girl?!"

The man shivers in fear. "I-I don't k-know....please.....spare me...."

Suzuki raises his blade. "I am through with mercy..."

The man yells for only a second before it was immediately cut short, life completely absent from the embassy.

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Normal POV

Cave in Forbidden Valley

Lord Rai led the team through the caverns of the mountain, the only light being lanterns to guide them through the pitch black atmosphere.

They eventually reach a massive chamber filled with long rows that were carved onto the ground deep enough to hold whatever was standing in them.

Lord Rai lights a large bowl up, setting off a chain reaction that lights up torches in the rest of the room.

It revealed row after row of metal statues of warriors, each either armed with a weapon, riding a horse or holding a shield.

Commander Trailing looks at him. "You brought us all the way out here for old statues? This was a waste of my time and resources."

Lord Rai chuckles in amusement. "These are no mere statues. These are.....the vessels that hold the warriors of Mobius's past. Each one left behind by generations of emperors."

The puma raised an eyebrow in questioning. "What kind of power could possibly come from these vessels?"

The old man looks at him with a sinister grin.

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Lord Rai's narration

Long ago, before the time Ki came as the new head of the Fuji Clan, there was a ruler called Emperor Toshido.

He ruled most of Adabat and Chun nan with a military dominance, striking fear into his enemies.

Toshido had planned on conquering Shamar after getting an impressive stretch of victories across the eastern world, but he had a problem.

Most of the generation he had commanded over the years had grown old and were nearing their final days for some of them.

The emperor had no patience for the newer generation, knowing it would take him too long to get them all ready for his next invasion.

So to preserve his current army, he had all of his best warriors who died immediately have all organs and other things removed from their bodies, and then covered them in a special metal of his creation.

He had planned to get a magic wielder to put a spell that would make them live, but he fled to Shamar to avoid capture.

To make matters worse for him, rebellions has arisen in all territories that he had conquered.

While Chun nan was going to be these statue's locations, he had lost his control quickly there.

Adabat was barely an option either, once the Hoshido region managed to get the Fuji Clan on their side.

He died before he could see them brought before the palace, not knowing they were intercepted by the Fuji Clan, who brought them here to hide.....for all eternity.

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Normal POV

Caverns under Forbidden Valley

Lord Rai focuses dark auras into the various statues all over the room, continuously going until he dropped to the floor from spending his energy.

The all of statues eyes glowed dark purple and slowly moved from their positions, getting into a battalion formation.

Commander Trailing strokes his chin. "Quite entertaining, but can they actually fight?"

Lord Rai stands up. "Shoot them and see."

One of the armed Mobians fired a few rounds into one of the statues.

The statues aren't affected at all, not even a dent or hole in them.

The Mobian soldier is surprised and backs away, causing Lord Rai to chuckle at this.

The old man then points at a pillar, as if giving it a command.

The statue aims at it and fires a dark purple energy sphere at the pillar, destroying it and several miles of stone behind it.

Commander Trailing and his guards looked on with unbelievable shock.

Lord Rai then smirks ahead at the rest of the statues. "And this......is only the beginning."

He the old master walks forward. "First the Field Village......tomorrow the world."

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Normal POV (back to Aura)

Unknown location in a forest

Aura was about to get the needle planted into his flesh, when he managed to get a way out.

He broke one of the restraints quickly and took out Anzen before it could reattach.

In one swift motion, he cut the rock behind him in two, freeing him from the net.

Death Streak isn't surprised, but reacts reflexively and pulls out two dual machine gun pistols. "Not so fast, Old Yeller. I doubt your kind can block something faster than bullets."

Aura drops a smoke bomb and runs off to try and lose him, but Death Streak was on his tail, firing rounds in his direction.

The blue canine narrowly dodged them and jumps into the treetops, shots hitting near his feet constantly, almost making him lose balance.

Death Streak plans ahead and shoots a branch down from Aura's path, causing him to fall down.

Aura throws a shuriken, but the mercenary just deflects it with a quick swing of a katana.

The blue ninja backs away from him, unsure if it would be wise to use his powers against him.

Who was he kidding? His powers was the reason he was in this mess in the first place!

Aura goes to strike him with Anzen, but Death Streak blocks and goes for a strike with a second katana.

Aura barely dodges it, feeling a bit of fur get cut off from his torso.

Death Streak seemed to be aware that his opponent was just recently trying to heal injuries, so he was letting Aura go on the offensive to make mistakes.

The blue canine knew he was going to have to mix up his strategy for this one.

He throws a smoke bomb, causing Death Streak to instinctively look for where he went, leaving his fake chase as an opening for shurikens to the back.

Death Streak swings blades where he thought they would come from, but hit nothing but air, instead finding out that Aura was on a tree branch.

Aura jumps down, looking like he's going to strike, but fakes it out for a bunch of smoke bombs to the face.

Death Streak coughs as he wanders around blind, trying to regain his senses.

This leaves him open to a big trip by Anzen to the legs, making Death Streak tumble down a hill and crash into a tree face first.

The blue ninja jumps at him again, but this time fakes a smoke bomb attack for a strike to the face, causing the mercenary to crash into the tree again, making it fall on him.

Before Death Streak could recover, Aura takes his katanas away and throws them up, to which they get stuck high into the thick wood on top of another tree.

He quickly discards away the mercenary's dual machine guns too, assuring he had no ranged weapons that could be quickly drawn.

Before Aura could celebrate his victory, he hears and sees an explosion that some smoke was rising beyond the horizon.

He points Anzen at Death Streak. "You. What is that place off in the distance?"

Death Streak groans from under the tree. "It's the Adabat Embassy for the United Federation. They chose the location here in South Island to have a more peaceful environment."

The canine asks him. "Who could be attacking there?"

Death Streak shrugs. "Don't know, but I heard some shady group does some secret espionage missions from there. Someone's probably trying to cover their tracks."

Aura puts together what he knows.

The Fallen were still in the Forbidden Valley for all he knew, so they wouldn't waste energy from it just to get rid of some loose ends on the other side of the world.

The Fuji Clan was all gone now, so none of them could be there eliminating Fallen allies.

That just leaves.....

Aura gasps in fear. "Suzuki...."

He dashes off, leaving Death Streak to be stuck under several pounds of timber.

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Normal POV

A dirt road 10 miles from Green Hill

Aura spots a ride heading towards the direction of the smoke.

As he looks closer, he spots Yua driving it to his surprise.

He ran after it, trying to keep up with it so he could get in.

He jumps off from his high spot above the car, landing narrowly on the back of it.

Using Anzen, he quietly pries the trunk open and gets in, closing it behind before Yua sees it.

Yua was going to take Aura directly to Suzuki...

...and a battle may begin to his utter horror.

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Hope this is a good story so far.

Feel free to ask questions about this chapter.

I'll see you in the next page!