Lord of Darkness, Chapter 5

                                     LORD OF DARKNESS

Samus Aran © Nintendo

Chapter Five: Learning About Power

- Rio Salaz -

The scene shifts towards Rio Salaz. This was where an ambush happened not too long ago, when a new figure named Iriama appeared and tried to take Larcen's necklace for unknown reasons, but thanks to the help of Kyla Vonstar, she prevented it from happening, even though she had little understanding of what really happened her.

Inside the Saloon, we could see our five heroes, including Kyla, discussing about the events about what just happened.

"So these guys in dark robes attacked you?" Kyla asked.

"Yeah." Louise nodded. "We had no idea this would happen."

"Tell me about it." Kera said with her arms crossed. "I was the first one to notice it."

"They were going to attack us, but we managed to fight them off, thankfully." Marisa said, with a hint of relief in her voice.

"Good thing, too." Samson added with a nod.

"But what really concerned me was that shark. For some reason, he wanted to take Larcen's necklace, but he didn't know why." Louise said, in thought about what she remembered. "It was really strange."

"Hmm..." Marisa hummed to herself. "Do you think him and those druids may have been bandits?"

"I doubt it." Kera shook her head. "They didn't really seem interested in money."

"Then why?" Marisa asked herself.

"Who knows?" Samson shrugged. "Personally, this stuff about druids with dark magic and stealing necklaces makes no sense."

Louise closed her eyes while thinking about the situation. It didn't really seem to make any sense to her about why druids would come to a quiet ghost town like this, where only our heroes lived here, and no one else. She had heard of druids in the past, and how dangerous their dark magic can be.

Marisa noticed the look on her Mom's face. "Mom? Is something the matter?"

Louise opened her eyes and looked at her daughter. "No. Nothing's wrong. It's just..."

"Just what?" Kyla wondered.

"Those druids." Louise said. "It's not like them to appear in daylight."

"What do you mean?" Samson asked.

"Druids possess the power of dark magic and they only learn the ways of the dark arts, and sometimes, sacrifice. They always live in dark places, never coming out in the day, like bats or other creatures that hate the light. As a sage, I should know this." Louise explained. "I had heard that druids no longer existed anymore, but I guess I was wrong."

"So, why would they appear in daylight now?" Marisa wondered.

"Maybe it was because of that shark." Samson thought.

"I don't know about that." Kera replied. "That shark wasn't really a good leader to those druids."

"Your right." Louise nodded. "He's probably working for someone else."

Marisa agreed as well. She turned to Larcen, who hadn't said a word after that attack happened. "Larcen, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Larcen finally replied. "But I still wonder why he would my necklace."

"Is it special to you?" Kyla asked him.

"Yes." Larcen showed her his green necklace. "My mother gave this to me a little after she passed away. She said to me to always think of her whenever I this. She also said that this has special powers that will onl kick in whenever I'm in a fight."

Louise rubbed her chin in thought. "This might be a stretch, but do you think that shark knew about your necklace's powers?"

Larcen raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I don't know. If he did, then that would be a surprise."

Kyla examined the necklace closely. From the look in her eyes, it looked like something she had seen before. "That's strange."

"What is it, Kyla?" Marisa asked.

"That necklace. It looks similar to something that I have." Kyla replied.

Louise raised an eyebrow. "Something you have?"

Kyla nodded, as she pulled out something from her short pocket. The item was revealed to be a purple necklace. "This is what I'm talking about."

Larcen's eyes widened at that moment. "That necklace. It looks just like mine! Only it's a different color, though."

"I didn't notice it a first, but after getting a closer look at it, I realized that this necklace looked just like Larcen's own."

Louise had a concerned look on her face. "May I see that, Kyla?"

"Sure." Kyla replied, as she carefully handed the necklace over to Louise.

The older woman examined the necklace, looking at every piece on the jewelry. "Where did you get this?"

"I bought it at a Pawn Shop in Future City." Kyla answered. "After I helped my parents out, I decided to go out and do some shopping. So I went to a Pawn Shop, and I saw this beautiful necklace out on display." Kyla looked at her necklace again. "I didn't think that this necklace would look the same like Larcen's."

"If that other necklace also has powers, then there must be a reason for this." Kera said, but she wasn't sure.

"We may need to find someone who knows about this stuff more than we do." Louise thought. "Someone who knows about these necklaces."

That's when an idea struck into Kyla's head. "I got it!"

"You do?" Samson raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Kyla nodded. "I was at Soleanna earlier today, and someone asked me something about my necklace. I wasn't sure what it was about, since I wasn't a jewelry expert. But they said that there was someone at Soleanna who were experts on jewelry."

"Really?" Louise's eyes perked up.

"Mm-hm." Kyla nodded again. "And since we're talking about it, I was thinking that maybe we could all go together."

Marisa smiled at that idea. "Sure. I would love to go."

"That sounds like an idea to me." Louise smiled as well.

"I'll go, too." Kera added. "Maybe I'll find something useful there."

"What about you, Samson?" Larcen asked.

"No thanks, amigo." Samson shook his head. "I'll stay here and cook up a special dinner. I think you'll like it."

"Well, all right." Marisa said. "When do we leave?"

"We can go right now, if you want." Kyla suggested.

"Sure." Louise nodded. "Let's go."

Without wasting time, Louise, Larcen, Marisa, Kera, and Kyla got up from their seats and made their way outside the Saloon, leaving Samson by himself.

"Now then..." Samson said to himself, as he rubbed his hands together while a grin appeared on his face. "It's time to start cooking!"


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- Chaotix Detective Agency -

The scene shifts towards the Chaotix Detective Agency, as we see Charmy buzzing around the room, Espio stood next to wall, staying silent as usual, while Vector was sitting in a chair. Next to them, was a bed, that consisted of the orange suit humanoid, whom was still sleeping.

"I wonder how long it will be before it wakes up?" Vector wondered.

"You have to give it time, Vector." Espio told him. "It will awaken itself, eventually."

"But we've been waiting for an hour." Vector groaned in complaint. He looked up to see Charmy buzzing himself around, being his usual self. "Stop doing that, Charmy! Buzzing around like that won't help."

Charmy stopped himself as he looked down at the green crocodile. "Aw, but Vector, I'm bored!"

"Then go do something else." Vector told him.

"Like what?" Charmy asked.

"Like go watch something good on TV." Vector replied.

"But there's nothing on!" Charmy replied.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Vector slapped his head, forgetting about earlier.

Espio continued to stay silent until he heard movement coming from the bed. "Guys, look."

Vector and Charmy heard what Espio said and looked at the bed. They could see the orange humanoid figure sitting itself up. The humanoid rubbed it's mask head for a moment until it turned it's head at Vector.

The leader of the Chaotix got up from his seat and smiled, as he moved in closer towards the humanoids face. "Hey there! How are you feeling?"

The humanoid immediately narrowed it's eyes inside it's mask, as it jumped up, and shoved Vector to a wall. The humanoid had it's arm cannon pointed at Vector's throat.

"W-wait!" Vector shouted. "D-don't shoot!"

"Peace!" Espio held out a a hand. "We are not here to harm you."

"Yeah. We're here to help you!" Charmy said with a smile.

The humanoid looked at each of the Chaotix. These things could talk, but then again, it didn't really surprise the humanoid. These guys didn't really look harmful, so slowly, it lowered it's arm cannon away from Vector, and slowly sat back down on the bed. Vector let out a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"That was close." Vector said with relief. "I thought for a moment I was done for." He then turned his attention back to the humanoid. "So, uh, we'd like to ask you something...sir."

The humanoid glared at Vector again, as it used it's arms to pull off it's mask, revealing it to be a woman, whom had straight blond hair and blue eyes. And from the expression on her face, she was not happy. "Did you just call me 'sir'?"

Vector's mouth was opened in shock. "Your a woman?"

"Whoa!" Charmy was taken back this. "I didn't see that coming!"

"Me neither." Espio said, a little shocked as well.

"I-I'm sorry!" Vector apologized to her. "I didn't know!"

The female continued to glare at Vector before calming down. "So, where am I?"

Vector smiled again. "You are at the Chaotix Detective Agency!"

The female raised an eyebrow. "Detective Agency?"

"Yep!" Charmy appeared in front of her. "And we're the Chaotix!"

"Boys, it's time we introduce ourselves." Vector told them, as they each got into a different pose. "I'm Vector, the leader of the Chaotix."

"My name is Charmy!" The bee waved at her witha smile. "Pleased to meet you!"

"And I'm Espio." The purple chameleon introduced. "I'm quiet like a rock and swift as the wind."

"So, who are you?" Vector asked.

The female looked at them oddly before answering. "My name is Samus Aran. And I am bounty hunter."

Espio raised an eyebrow. "A bounty hunter?"

"Yes." Samus replied. "And I'm looking for something."

"Something? Like what?" Charmy asked.

"You wouldn't understand." Samus said to him. "It's pretty complicating."

Espio had an idea on what Samus meant by looking for something. He went over to the desk, and picked up a piece of paper, before joining bak with the others. "Is it because of this?"

Samus took the paper from Espio and looked at it. The paper showed the claw marks and feet that were made at the Dusty Desert. "Where did you get this?"

"We picked it up at the TV station in Station Square." Espio answered. "They said that they are giving out a reward to the person who can discover it's origins."

"Ah, so you must be here for the reward too, right?" Vector asked with dollar signs in his eyes.

"Uh...no." Samus replied slowly. "But I know what made this."

"You do?" Charmy asked.

"Yes." Samus paused for a moment. "Meta Ridley."

"Meta who?" Vector was confused.

"Meta Ridley." Samus replied. "That's what made these marks."

"Do you know what it looks like?" Espio questioned.

"If I had a picture with me, I would show you it, but since I don't have one, then no." Samus answered. "But I did find something else."

"What did you find?" Charmy asked.

Samus looked around. But she realized what had happened. "Shoot! I must have left it back at the desert!"

"You mean this?" Vector asked, as he pulled out a green Chaos Emerald. Samus' eyes widened.

"That's it!" Samus pointed. She went to grab it, but Vector pulled it away from her. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Give me that!"

"Sorry, but we know about this thing than you do." Vector told her. "Where did you get this?"

Samus was able to calm down again before continuing. "I found it. At some sort of base. It was filled with robots and there was one of them that was being controlled by some man with a large mustache."

The Chaotix's eyes widened at that moment. "Dr. Eggman!"

"Wait..." Samus raised an eyebrow. "You know this man?"

"More times than we could count." Vector moaned a little.

"He's a scientific genius who's rumored to have an IQ of 300. He loves to builds robots and wants to take over the world by building robots. It would be a place called Eggmanland." Espio explained.

"Sounds bad." Samus thought.

"That mean-old doctor." Charmy tightened his fists. "He just doesn't learn when to give up!"

"Have you guys encountered this man before?" Samus asked.

"No, but Sonic has." Vector answered.

"Sonic? Who's that?" Samus asked again.

Vector grinned. "Sonic is the fastest hedgehog in the world! And he's the one who's beaten Dr. Eggman so many times, even though Eggman always comes back for more."

"Sonic, eh?" Samus placed a hand on her chin. Perhaps there was more to this world than meets the eye.

"Listen Samus, you say that your searching for this Meta-Ridley." Espio said. "You probably can't find it on your own, and since we know more about this world than you do, we can work together and find this creature."

Samus wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not. Normally she would work alone, but Espio brought up a point. She had no knowledge of this world, and Meta Ridley could be anywhere at this point. After a long momentof thinking, she nodded her head. "OK. Let's work together."

Vector grinned again. "All right, then!' The green crocodile pulled out the Chaos Emerald again. "And with the help of this, we can possibly locate the remaining Chaos Emeralds too."

"Really?" Samus wondered.

"Oh sure!" Vector replied. "These emeralds attract to each other like magnets, so we'll be able to find these things in no time!"

"So what do we do now?" Charmy asked.

"Everyone, put your right hand in the middle." Vector told them, as he put out his arm.

Charmy did the same by putting his hand on top of Vector's, Espio did the same too by placing it on top of Charmy's., but Samus didn't. Vector looked at her.

"Come on, Samus. We can't do this without you." Vector said to her.

Samus sighed a little as she put out her arm and placed it next her hand on top of Espio's gloved hand.

"All right, guys." Vector began. "We all have a big case on our hands. So let's not waste anymore time. We got ourselves a Meta Ridley to find, and possibly the Chaos Emeralds!"