The Future Freedom Fighters
Disaster Strikes
Chapter 1: An Unrestful Summer
With another school year down in the books The Freedom Fighters were looking forward to their vacation. After a year of grueling training, fighting evil, and mounds of school work few deserved it more than these six. Darkness and Jani-cha came out of the school building with everyone and sheared off toward the parking lot. "Nothing like a good summer vacation to let off some steam. No school for three whole months, yes!" Darkness was ecstatic; he was so ready for peace so he could just enjoy being a kid again. Jani-cha was a bit more realistic. "For someone who narrowly escaped death you sure sound carefree. Shouldn't you be on your guard?" Darkness chuckled. "Come on Jani-cha, its summer, relax. Besides what could be out there that I can beat? Nazo was probably the worst thing that could happen anyway." Jani-cha didn't look convinced. "Now I'm really worried." With that Darkness started his car and drove off. The next day Darkness went around the city gathering up his friends. They had decided earlier that they would start the summer off at Emerald Coast. So with sunblock, an umbrella, and other beach related necessities Darkness and his friends were ready for fun in the sun.
When they arrived at the beach it was already packed with mobians and humans alike. Eventually they found a spot and set up their things. The girls went to the changing booths and came back in two piece bathing suits and strap sandals. Darkness wasn't feeling up to swimming so he put on some shades, laid down on his beach towel and eventually fell asleep. Telecose ran past him and went right for the waves. Jani-cha was beaming. Maybe Darkness was right, there was nothing to worry about. She sighed in happiness. "Nothing could ruin this first day of vacation." Samantha giggled and nodded. "I couldn't agree more. We have got to come here more often." Jani-cha looked back at her. "Hold on there. The beach is nice yes, but there is so much more we can do. Still what are we standing around here for? Let's hit the water!" That's just what they did both of them laughing without a care in the world.
Meanwhile Telecose was out quite far treading water. He wasn't too worried about the depth though. Worst case scenario he'd just use his psychokinesis to levitate himself out. While he was floating he noticed what appeared to be a brown hedgehog hovering maybe ten to twenty feet in the air. The mysterious being raised his arm and his hand glowed with a blue light. "Hey, who is…?" Telecose started but was cut short because at that moment he was swept up bay a massive tsunami. Telecose screamed as he fell and landed next to Darkness who woke up when he heard screaming. A shadow fell over the beach and Darkness looked up and saw the massive wave. He gasped and was frozen in shock. Jani-cha was just as scared but she still had her voice. "Hey, Darkness, Do something!" Darkness snapped out of his stupor and pulled out his chaos emerald. Using the Chao Control he was able to get his friends and most of the people to safety but of course he couldn't save everyone.
When they got back to the city they went straight to the Freedom Fighter building and that's when Darkness started ranting. Now who could blame him? He was annoyed by the fact that Telecose had told him that it wasn't random because he saw someone trigger it, he was so ready to just relax, and to top it off he was upset that he couldn't save everyone that was on that beach. Jani-cha was trying to calm the raging hedgehog with little success. Telecose was ready to knock Darkness out to shut him up until he caught Samantha glaring at him and shaking her head. Finally Darkness had calmed down enough to speak civilly. Darkness took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, I would just like to have peace. Is it too much to ask for to be free for the summer, not fighting for our lives and saving the world?" Telecose rolled his eyes. Sure Darkness was right but let's face it, nothing that happens here is normal anymore. "I agree that every time we save the planet from destruction it's in jeopardy five seconds later, but right now you need to calm down so we can figure out who and where this guy is." Suddenly the ground began to shake. It felt like a huge earthquake. It looks like he's making a house call. Darkness yelled over the shaking.
Chapter 2: Outmatched
Darkness and his friends rushed outside and not far from the HQ building was the same brown hedgehog Telecose saw at the coast. After confirming it was him Darkness transformed into his second level of super and launched himself at his opponent. The brown hedgehog turned his blue eyed gaze on the ticked off teen and dropped into a fighting stance. Darkness started off with a fast punch but to his surprise his foe had dodged it and was nowhere to be seen. Darkness looked around franticly searching for him. "What speed, he's faster than Sonic." Darkness thought to himself. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Owen cry out "Darkness, look above you!" He did so and a huge bolder was falling towards him. Darkness reacted quickly and back flipped out of the way then he fired his Chaos Cannon at the brown furred assailant but once again he dodged and launched a massive amount of fire the hit Darkness square in the back. Darkness screamed in pain until finally the fire receded and he passed out, reverting to his base form.
Owen was the next one to fight this enemy. "I'll do him in!" He exclaimed at he jumped into the air and went super. He increased the speed of his charge and drew back his fist as he closed in but fast as he was his opponent was faster. Before Owen could throw a punch he was kicked hard in the chin and then took a bolder to the chest. Owen went with a new tactic. He flew at him again but this time he circled around him creating a cyclone. The brown hedgehog sighed and walked to the edge of the cyclone, grabbed Owen and electrocuted him thus forcing him out of his super form. With the blue teen unconscious the assailant threw him on the ground and turned to Telecose. Telecose was sweating bullets after seeing two of his friends given hell by this guy but he had no choice. Making up his mind he used his thrice ascended form and took a fighting stance. The brown warrior didn't look impressed, if anything he looked bored. Telecose attacked but his fist was stopped like it was nothing. The enemy spun him around and tossed his into the air. Telecose righted himself and fired his Physic Cannon at his opponent but like Darkness and Owen he missed and then he was zapped by a powerful lightning attack and he fell to the ground dazed. While he was stunned the brown hedgehog picked him up by his neck and gave him a good punch to the face and dropped him.
The girls couldn't believe what they were seeing. All three boys, who were the strongest ones there, were picked apart like they were nothing. They screamed in horror when the assailant turned to look at them. His stare was cold and emotionless, his face unreadable, he radiated a cold evil the chilled them to their bones. He slowly approached the frightened teenaged girls. "S – Stay back you monster! I'm w – warning you!" Jani – cha said trying to sound fearless but failing miserably. The hedgehog disregarded the threat and continued walking until he was a foot away. He then spoke in a deep voice. "I'm not going to hurt you, nor am I going to finish off your friends. Well, at least not yet. This little scuffle was just a warning, a sample if you will of what's to come. If you and your little friends value your lives then you should stay out of my way." Samantha stood. "You said you weren't going to kill us yet. What did you mean by that?" The brown hedgehog cracked a small almost invisible smile. "Oh don't worry, I'll be back to kill you soon enough. Until then remember that I, Disaster the Hedgehog, am not to be trifled with. Tata ladies" and with that he vanished in a flash of fire. Darkness and the boys groaned as they regained consciousness. The girls treated their wounds and filled them in one what transpired while they were out. Darkness stood up and with a blank look on his face walked away leaving everyone confused at his actions.
Chapter 3: The Ultimate Legend
Night had fallen and no one had seen Darkness at all since his departure that afternoon after the fight. Seeing that everyone was tired Telecose volunteered to go look for him. Samantha tried to get him to stay but Telecose would have none of it. "He's my friend Samantha. Even though we've had our differences he's still my friend, and I need to find the dork before he does something stupid." Samantha had no argument for that so she let him go. Angie said she'd monitor him while he was out searching for their wayward leader. Telecose nodded and headed out into the night. "He'd better find Darkness before someone else does. Or there will be hell to pay." Jani – cha said with a scowl. Samantha put her hand on her echidna friend's shoulder. "Don't worry Jani –cha, Telecose will find him. Besides I don't think Disaster would call attention to himself just yet so he won't go looking for your boyfriend." Jani –cha sighed. She knew how Darkness could get. He was probably taking this loss really hard.
Telecose had been searching for Darkness for hours. I was almost midnight and there was no sign of him. He was about to give up when he saw something glint in the moonlight. That thing was on of Darkness's inhibitor rings. Telecose looked up and there he was, standing by himself on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Without a second thought Telecose flew up to the cliff and landed behind his black furred rival. "Hey Darkness, are you alright? You kind of bailed on us after the girls filled us in about our new friend." Darkness didn't say anything right away. Telecose waited patiently for a response. After a bit Darkness finally spoke. "Don't worry Tel, I'm fine. I'm just thinking." Telecose frowned. He didn't like the tone of Darkness's voice. He sounded eerily calm when he's usually concerned about protecting everyone when he's faced with a situation like this. Wanting to know what was up Telecose probed further. "Thinking about what?" Darkness continued looking ahead as he spoke. "My dad told me about a legend that speaks of a mobian that wielded incredible power. It goes like this; a Super Mobian at level four once used the chaos emeralds to transcend his previous limits. It worked and he achieved a level beyond that of a Super Mobian four." Telecose's eyes widened. "You mean he became a Hyper Mobian?" Darkness shook his head slightly. "No, beyond that even, he became what is known as an Ultimate Mobian." Telecose was shocked. Was such a power even achievable, did it even exist? "Where are you going with this Darkness?" Darkness finally turned to face him. "Disaster is unlike any opponent we've ever faced. If we are to survive then one of us has to reach that level or the planet and countless others are doomed to be destroyed if we don't end it here." Telecose became concerned for his friend. "Darkness you said it yourself, it's a legend! There may not be a level beyond Hyper Mobian." Darkness didn't waver. He looked like he would do it or die trying. "Look Tel, I'll try fighting him with my fourth form first since I didn't get the chance to do so the first time. If I fail then you and the others need to buy me time to use the emeralds, got it." Telecose wasn't one hundred percent sure but he nodded. "Got it, but Darkness you'll need to train and train hard so your body can withstand that kind of a power increase." Darkness smiled. "Way ahead of you Tel, way ahead of you."
Darkness and Telecose trained day after day pushing themselves past their limits. They spared, withstood fifty thousand times gravity at minimum, and worked themselves to the point of collapse. Darkness knew that if he couldn't do it Telecose could. One of them had to. The stakes were too high for them to fail. Two weeks of training and suffering through extreme circumstances later Darkness and Telecose finished their training only to find that they weren't the only ones getting stronger. Jani –cha and Owen were locked in combat and had just collided in midair with Owen's foot against Jani –cha's fist. The usually reserved Samantha was fighting Angie. Angie wasn't doing too well so she decided to stick with mechanics. With all this preparation there was only one thing they lacked, they needed the seven chaos emeralds.
Chapter 4: The Emerald Radar
Darkness and Jani –cha were in the rec – room of Freedom HQ. They were trying to come up with a strategy to use that didn't involve potential death, but they couldn't come up with one. Potential death came with the territory of being a Freedom Fighter. "We need the chaos emeralds to win. Remember, I've only got one of them." Darkness pointed out. Jani – cha frowned. "You mean that in the two weeks we've been training nobody tried to find the key to achieving the power we need to beat Disaster" "That seems to be the case." Darkness deadpanned. Jani – cha face palmed. "Well that's just fan – freaking – tastic. How are we supposed to find the emeralds fast enough before things get worse?" At that point their wrist communicators went off. Darkness answered it and Angie was the one who contacted them. "Hey guys." She said cheerfully. "I need you two in the lab right away. I've got something you'll want to see." Before either of them could ask any questions Angie ended the call. Darkness and Jani –cha looked at each other, shrugged and headed for Angie's lab.
Darkness removed one of his gloves and placed his hand on the scanner, punched in a code and did a retina scan. "I still don't know why she insisted on having so many security measures put on the lab door when I barley have a locking mechanism on the door to my room here." Jani –cha said with annoyance. Darkness looked back at her as he finished the retina scan. "Well this is where we keep all of our advanced technology also the, Freedom Mainframe's main connection is hooked up in here. We need to keep this place as secure as possible." "I guess that's true, but seriously three security locks? That's insanity, it's like she's a mad scientist from those lame late night movies that our parents watch." Darkness chuckled at his girlfriend's frustration as the steel door slid open. Angie ran up to the couple and pulled them inside as the lab door slammed home. "Great, you guys are here; finally, it took you long enough." Darkness looked at the clock. "Um Ange you contacted us three minutes ago." Angie blew off the comment because she was already at her workbench. She then picked something up and hid it behind her back as she wore a wide grin. "Feast your eyes on my latest invention The Emerald Radar!" The radar itself was about the size and shape of a pocket watch. It was white with two small buttons above the green radar screen and a plunger like button on the top. Angie continued explaining her new toy to them still wearing her grin. "This special radar locks on to the emerald's unique energy signal to lead you right to them!" Darkness and Jani – cha grew grins of their own. "Angie you've done it again!" Jani – cha said happily. Darkness nodded in agreement. "This will make finding the emeralds a walk in the park." Angie handed the radar to the black and red teen. Darkness pushed the button on the top and the screen flickered to life. Darkness smiled. "Let's find those emeralds!"
Chapter 5: Emerald Hunting
Angie conveniently made more than one radar, so they split into teams in order to find the gems faster. Darkness and Telecose were paired together and were searching the badlands of Mobius. The sun beat down on the two hedgehogs as they honed in on the emerald. "Ok we're right on top of it. It's got to be buried around here somewhere." Darkness said as he knelt down and began digging. Telecose followed his lead. "It's a good thing we're a burrowing species." Telecose joked earning a chuckle from his black furred friend. Darkness's hand hit something hard and he unearthed the red chaos emerald. "Yes, found it!" Darkness exclaimed.
In the snowy mountains of the Mobius Mountain Range Jani – cha and Samantha we're looking high and low for the emerald in the freezing conditions. Samantha shivered. "Brrrr. Hey Jani – cha, have you found it yet?" She looked up at her friend who was digging into the side of the mountain with a shovel claw like her dad's but built to suit her spiked fists. Jani – cha poked her head out of the hole she had been digging and smiled. "Samantha, girl we are on a roll, look!" With that she pulled out the cyan chaos emerald. Samantha whooped. "Yes! This is going great!" Jani – cha nodded as she climbed down and walked up to her friend. "I hope the others are having as much luck as we are." Samantha began to stifle laughter. Jani –cha tilted her head a bit. "What's so funny?" She asked. Samantha got control of her giggles and pointed. "Jani – cha you look awful." Jani – cha looked at herself and found she was covered in dirt and mud form digging into the mountainside. "Yikes, I need a shower like nobody's business." She said with a frown while Samantha began laughing again.
Owen and Angie were in the forest located on Angle Island. Angie flew above the tress searching the canopies while Owen ran through the forest overgrowth using the radar. He stopped abruptly and called up to Angie. "Hey, hold up!" Angie flew down a bit. "What is it Owen? Did you find it?" He nodded. "Yeah the radar says it's in the trees in this area." Angie looked around and saw something sparkle in the tree off to her right. "I see it!" she exclaimed as she flew into the tree's branches and disappeared from sight. Owen waited a few minutes until his patience wore thin. "Did you find it Ange?" Her head popped back into view. She smiled at the blue boy's impatience. "Don't worry Owen." She giggled and held up the grey chaos emerald. "I found it." She began to climb down the tree when she slipped and began to fall. Owen reacted quickly and caught her easily. "Woah, carful Angie that was close."
Meanwhile shadow was rooting through a bush in the grasslands. Sonic had come with him and had runoff to search for the emerald the only way he knew how. "Run around randomly until you find it" which wasn't the best method but Sonic will be Sonic. Shadow chuckled to himself at the thought and continued to root through his bush until he pulled out the yellow chaos emerald. Just the sonic ran up and he had the purple emerald in his hands. "Hey Shadow, I found it!" Shadow grunted. "Good, I have found one as well. If I'm right then there is only one left to locate." Sonic nodded and Shadow stood. "Let's return. My son is probably waiting for us." Shadow said. Sonic nodded. "You have the floor Shadow old buddy." Sonic said with a grin. Shadow scowled at him. "I grow tired of telling you this faker. NEVER CALL ME BUDDY!" Shadow yelled. Sonic shrank back as Shadow warped them back to the Freedom HQ building.
Speaking of the home base Darkness and Telecose were walking back when the radar started beeping at them. Telecose looked at his friend who pulled out the radar. "What the hell? Darkness what's wrong with that thing?" Telecose asked. Darkness pushed the top button and the beeping stopped and indicated that an emerald wan nearby. Darkness and Telecose looked at each other and followed the radar. To their surprise and embarrassment they found a chaos emerald in the backyard training area of the HQ. Darkness picked up the blue chaos emerald and smiled triumphantly. "Yes, that's the last one. With the green emerald I already had that makes seven." Telecose got a determined and confident look on his face. "Now, Disaster is finished!" He thought to himself.
Chapter 6: Super Darkness Four vs Disaster
Darkness walked into the lab and meet up with his friends along with Sonic and his father. They gave him the emeralds and then a deafening silence befell the room. Darkness broke it after a while. "So, are you all ready?" Telecose nodded. "It's do or die now man. Whichever one I end up being in the end then so be it." Owen spoke up. "It's up to us now. I'm ready to face death." Samantha looked frightened but who could blame her. "I guess there's no way around it. We need to finish this." Angie knew she didn't stand a chance. "I'll only get in the way so I'll monitor you guys from here." "I'm the guardian of Angel Island, but now I have to be the guardian of Mobius. I'm ready to fight back." Jani – cha said with determination. Shadow looked at his boy and realized how much he's grown. "Son, I know you can do this. I'm proud of you. Now go and give me something else to make me proud." Darkness nodded and hugged his dad. Sonic said something similar to Owen before he and Shadow left. Darkness didn't want to wait in the city for Disaster. If he did there was a chance civilians would be caught in the crossfire and he didn't want to risk it. So in the end they went to wait in the mountains.
After an hour Darkness spotted a tornado heading for a small village at the base of the mountains. Telecose looked at Darkness as he stood. Darkness looked straight ahead. "Looks like the party's started." With that he flew towards the tornado and transformed into his fourth form mid – flight. Disaster was enjoying his latest calamity until he noticed a golden light in the sky that seemed to be getting closer. "Who is that?" He asked himself. He then heard a yell. "Take this you fiend!" the voice yelled. And Disaster was hit with a potent energy blast originating from the glowing light in the sky. The attacker reveled himself to be Darkness and he flew in delivering a solid kick to Disaster's chest. Before Darkness could continue his assault Disaster caught him with the exact same move. Darkness and his opponent took to the air and traded blows back and forth. They fought at speeds that could only be followed by a highly trained eye. Suddenly Darkness was kicked further into the sky and Disaster landed. Darkness was about to land himself but the ground began to shake and Disaster's aura was flaring wildly as red energy formed in both his hands. He brought them together and hit Darkness with a beam made of flames causing the teen to scream in agony. Darkness regressed to his base form and landed hard on the ground. He struggled to get to his feet but the best he could do was push himself onto his hands and knees. "Hey Telecose, any day now would be great!" Telecose got the hint, transformed into his second form, rallied his friends, and rushed to their leader's aid.
Chapter 7: Living Legend
Before Disaster could deliver the final blow Telecose landed in front of him. "Why waste your time fighting him when you can fight us?" He said motioning to the rest of the team. Disaster scoffed. "You fools, if you're all so eager to die..." He raised a hand into the air and flicked his wrist. "All you had to do was ask!" He finished as meteors fell from the sky. Telecose was hit in the head by one. Samantha was barely able to dodge them while Jani –cha punched the ones that came at her into nothing. Owen used his superior speed to evade and flip over the space rocks. Disaster didn't stop there though. In fact he made them suffer. "You pathetic children are the famous Freedom Fighters?" He said while sweeping Telecose up in a tornado eventually flinging him into a mountainside. "You must be kidding me." He said with disbelief as he buried Owen in a rockslide. He hit Samantha with a powerful lightning attack and made a pun. "It's shocking how weak you all are." He continued to torture them until he finally got to Jani – cha who was the only one left standing. "I told you I'd eventually kill you." He said with a sinister tone. With a maniacal smile he made one of the mountains into a volcano, and then he caused it to erupt. He controlled the lava and made it head straight for Jani – cha who could do nothing but watch as the molten rock headed for her from above while Disaster let out crazed laughter.
While all this was happening Darkness had recovered and went Super Mobian Four. He then made the chaos emeralds revolve around him as he absorbed their energy. With a yell and an explosion of raw power he began to transform. His fur turned purple while his highlights and chest fur remained the same. The quills on his back extended and turned upward as his muscles tripled in size making him look bulkier. His eyes turned a brilliant gild and his eyelids were obsidian black. Darkness had become an Ultimate Mobian. With his transformation finished Ultimate Darkness flew towards the battlefield and with no damage punched the lava that was bearing down on his girlfriend. Disaster was shocked as he didn't recognize this warrior. "What the hell? Who is…" he was cut off by Jani –cha who immediately recognized her savior. "Darkness!" she exclaimed. Disaster couldn't believe it. He had beaten this cretin before so how could he be putting out this much energy? "Wha – what the hell are you?" Disaster stuttered out. Darkness's scowl didn't waver. "You mean you don't know? I am the hope of the universe and it sworn protector. I am the answer to all beings everywhere in agony who cry out for help. I am the legend incarnate. I am Darkness the Hedgehog, and I… am an ULTIMATE MOBIAN!" with that scream Darkness's power level went through the roof and his aura grew in size. The planet itself was shaking from the sheer magnitude of the power output. "Now it's time I put you down, permanently! This ends here and now!" Darkness cupped his hands behind him and readied the Kamehameha Wave. Disaster wasn't about to let this kid off him just like that. He began to charge an equally powerful lightning attack. Darkness screamed and unleashed a massive Kamehameha Wave big enough to wipe out a continent. Disaster fired his counter attack at the same time. The bolt of lightning was huge, just as big as Darkness's Kamehameha. The attacks collided, neither one budging an inch. They had entered a stalemate, both of them trying to match power for power. Disaster upped his attack and it slowly began to push back the Kamehameha. "I'll KILL you!" Disaster screamed. Darkness smirked. "Not likely. I won't allow you to live; we finish this here you monster. Prepare to die Disaster the Hedgehog!" With that Darkness furrowed his brow and screamed with effort putting all the energy into his beam making it double in size easily dwarfing Disasters lighting attack. The Kamehameha struck Disaster and he let out a scream worthy of death. His body began to disintegrate until all that was left was the echoes of his blood curdling screams.
As the dust cleared the fallen teen heroes began to regain consciousness and pick themselves up off the ground. Half of the mountain range had been blown away and all that remained was a huge valley carved into the earth by the energy beams from the two super warriors. At the tip of the valley was Darkness with his normal black fur lying face down and passed out. Jani – cha ran over to her unconscious boyfriend fearing the worst. "Darkness, Darkness, please wake up, Darkness please!" She cried franticly while shaking the unresponsive hedgehog. Just as she was about to give up hope she heard Darkness coughing. She lifted her head up as Darkness opened his eyes a bit. "Darkness are you alright?" Jani – cha asked quietly as she cradled his head in her arms. Darkness coughed a bit more, and then smiled at the echidna girl. "Don't worry Jani –cha. What could be out there that I can't beat?" Jani – cha's eyes filled with tears. "Oh Darkness, thank goodness you're okay." Jani – cha and Telecose were able to get Darkness to the hospital to have his wounds properly treated as well as theirs, and soon enough they were at peak form. Darkness looked around at his teammates and friends realizing how truly blessed he was. "Alright everyone, I know we were just sent through hell and back but there is still one thing left to do." Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. Darkness smiled with a twinkle in his ruby red eyes. "We still have a summer vacation to enjoy!" Everyone cheered and soon enough their summer picked up right where they had left off and this time there was no stopping it.
Chapter 7: The Proposal
One year has passed and most of the populace has recovered from the damage that Disaster caused. Miles had retired from the Freedom Fighters and was now a professor at New Mobotropolis University. One would argue that it was a role he was meant to play. Life finally had some normalcy to it even though when you're a Freedom Fighter normal is a point of view. Normal for Darkness was finishing his last year of high school and Standing with his girlfriend on a bridge after a wonderful evening date, which is exactly what he is doing right now. However the night wasn't over yet, Darkness still had one more trick up his sleeve. Jani – cha looked out at the night sky and sighed contently. It was a cloudless night filled with stars and finished with a crescent moon in the sky. She thought it was absolutely beautiful. "Nothing could make this night anymore perfect." She said aloud. Darkness smiled softly. "Actually, I can think of one thing." Jani – cha turned to look at him and her purple eyes locked on to his red ones. "Jani – cha…" Darkness started. He then reached behind his back and pulled out a small black velvet box. Jani – cha gasped as Darkness fell to one knee. He opened the box and inside was a gold wedding band with a large center diamond with two smaller rubies on each side. "Will you marry me?" Darkness asked with love clear in his voice. Jani – cha could barely speak. She found her voice a moment later when she registered what was happening. She fell to her knees with tears in her eyes. "Yes, yes Darkness I will!" Darkness sild the ring on her finger and their lips connected in a passionate kiss. This was the happiest moment of their lives.
The End