The Dark Rise of Lyric
Prologue
Somewhere on a forgotten island 1.000 years ago
A champion of the Ancients stood tall as he looked up at his fellow Ancient named Lyric. Lyric was a snake cyborg of the Ancients who was being entombed in a special prison for his crimes against his people and for his insidious desires. The champion of the Ancients made sure Lyric's cybernetics were in lockdown so he wouldn't attempt to escape. "This is a mockery!" Lyric hissed as robots and guards of the Ancients kept him in the middle of the tomb. "No! You're a mockery of our people Lyric. You took an oath to protect and uphold the ideals of the Ancients and to master coexistence with nature, machine and other races as we all have." The champion of the Ancients said to the green serpent. Lyric could feel a freezing pain as a metallic alloy was starting to cover his body. "You all should've killed me when you had the chance, being entombed for a millennia will only make my desires burn fiercely!" Lyric hissed as his tail was freezing in place.
The champion of the Ancients looked up at Lyric and shook his head for a moment. "It's not our way to wish death upon others. The Crystals drove you to such madness my old friend." Lyric glared at the champion of the Ancients. "Your way is flawed! Do you honestly think that this tomb can hold me for more than a millennia?" Lyric said to his former friend with anger in his eyes. "Even if you escape, I know that without a doubt the future is in good capable hands." The champion said with a grin on his face. Lyric narrowed his eyes as his torso was freezing up. "Oh I swear Mach that I'll escape from this tomb! And when I do I'll execute my revenge upon Sonic! And then I'll wipe out your entire clan before eliminating all organic life. This I swear." Lyric said as he felt a jolt of pain from the freezing and was soon turned into a statue. However the Ancients installed devices in his tomb, which could release him if such a time was ever truly needed.
Bygone Island Present Day!
Team Sonic and Amy Rose were enjoying a fun time at Tails new workshop he installed on the island. The workshop was made in a big wooden building that their new friend Cliff hadn't used much (even though it was given to him by Green's parents). The property came complete with an airstrip which allowed them to use the Tornado, until a couple days ago the group and their friends and family on the island enjoyed the peace and quiet of the relatively quiet island. However the terrible evil scientist Dr. Eggman had set up a research installation years ago and transformed it into a lair for his evil plans at taking over the world. Dr. Eggman was stealthy with his operations on the island which was all part of a project he called Project Ancients, a project made for the purpose of recovering, utilizing and weaponing the technologies of one of the last forgotten civilizations known simply as the Ancients.
The last time Team Sonic and their friends encountered the evil doctor he brought in some newer versions of old Badnik robots and recovered a robotic champion of the Ancients called Metal Mach! Metal Mach is a very unusual robot because it looks exactly like Metal Sonic, but stands taller and faster! The existence of a robot that resembles the infamous robotic replica of Sonic the Hedgehog has raised tons of questions with seemingly no answers in sight. Sonic was hurt badly in his fight with Metal Mach, but was patched up by Doc Ginger and now he finds himself wearing some bandages and sports tape while trying to keep his hair the way it normally is.
Using the Miles Electric, the heroes have kept in touch with their friends and family back home in Mobotropolis on Westside Island. After having a nice video chat with his parents and Uncle Chuck, Sonic started to rest at Tails Workshop, but then something big happened! "Who could be calling at this hour?" He sarcastically said as he picked up the Miles Electric which was a multipurpose handheld device, it was more or less a small computer. "Sonic! Come in Sonic!" A familiar voice said. Sonic was hardly awake when he answered the call. "Green? What's going on?" The blue hedgehog asked his cousin. "Dr. Eggman is at it again! He's on the island where Cliff and his excavation team are. I contacted Cliff on the A.V.A and was shocked to see Dr. Eggman stealing more relics from the Ancients." Green said as he hastily tried to explain what was going on.
Sonic fully woke up when he heard the name Dr. Eggman. Sonic knew that whenever trouble was going on, that he had to take the heroes calling and save the day, especially with Dr. Eggman in the picture. "I'll gather up the guys and get there A.S.A.P." Sonic said as he got the rest of his team and Amy. Sonic asked Green why he couldn't get to Cliff, and Green explained it was because he and his team were far away from Cliff's Excavation Site and couldn't make it as quickly as Sonic and his team could. Tails got the team in the Tornado and put it on auto-pilot when they reached the island where Dr. Eggman was making his move.
Dr. Eggman was grinning as he watched his Badniks work. "That's right! Work harder my robot slaves!" Dr. Eggman said with a chuckle to his Badniks. But then he saw small yellow bombs, a Piko Piko Hammer, the sound of punching and finally a blue streak zooming by. "Sonic?!" He said in surprise. "You bet Eggman, I'm back and better than ever!" Sonic said as he and his friends grinned while getting ready to face Dr. Eggman. Dr. Eggman looked scared he then got into his Egg Mobile and made a run for it. "After him!" Knuckles shouted as the heroes took off. Amy took out the Miles Electric and sent a message to Green quickly. "Green! We're heading to one of the highways of the Ancients while in pursuit of Dr. Eggman! We'll send you the coordinates the site where his Badniks were shipping relics!" And with that Amy ended her message and joined the rest of her friends while in pursuit of Dr. Eggman.
Chapter 1
Lyric Awakens!
For several minutes Dr. Eggman flew his Egg Mobile while attempting to escape from Amy and Team Sonic. The heroes felt fast while running on one of the old highways built by the Ancients. "Why must you ruin my plans Sonic? I'm use to Green getting in the way, but now I have to deal with you and your little band of freaks." Dr. Eggman said as he accelerated his Egg Mobile. "Well with my old nemesis gone, I had to get a new one. You know how they just come and go in less than a year these days, nothing like the long lasting old ones." Sonic said sarcastically as he and Tails took a right in a fork in the road. Amy and Knuckles went left and were hoping they could get the drop on Dr. Eggman. "I know what you mean, but for me it's just a matter of what nemesis I pick and choose from." Dr. Eggman then turned his Egg Mobile around and was flying backwards. "And now it's time for my surprise attack or simply my ambush!" Dr. Eggman said as he pushed a button, then Metal Mach came roaring behind the heroes.
"Not Metal Mach again!" Knuckles said as the heroes paths joined back together. Metal Mach then punched the ground of the blueish highway which made reddish burning crystals emerge from the highway. The heroes jumped over the crystals and grabbed Rings. "You know, you have to admire how the Ancients perfected summoning Rings and making energy crystals. And I want all the Rings for myself!" Dr. Eggman said as he fired missiles at the team. He was bent on getting them, he even destroyed a road before they split up again. Metal Mach looked at Knuckles and Amy as they escaped him, he then looked at Dr. Eggman. "Well what are you waiting for? After them!" He ordered, and the robot followed his orders. He then shot at a turning point in the highway, and Tails and Sonic crashed into each other and landed in a small clearing. Dr. Eggman pushed a button, and then a bunch of bronze colored robots activated and came out of the trees and other nearby flora. "I found many operating robots created by the Ancients. It took me forever to figure out how to take control of all of them so I can take over the islands. And now my legion of Destruction Troops shall destroy you all!" Dr. Eggman said as he ordered the robots to attack before flying away in his Egg Mobile.
Sonic and Tails fought fiercely against the Destruction Troops. "I've never seen these kinds of robots in action before." Sonic said as he kicked and punched one of the Destruction Troops. "These robots are tough next to any of the Badniks we're use to fighting." Tails said as he tossed several small bombs at the robots and blew them up. "At least we know they can break apart! We might actually get some use from these parts." Tails said as he destroyed another Destruction Troop. Sonic then used a Spin Dash on the last Destruction Troop and then the robot went flying into a wall which broke. The crumbled wall revealed a big and beautiful forest. "Now this is more like it." Sonic said as he and Tails walked out of the clearing.
The two ran and flew across the forest and saw many ruins from the Ancients in the distant. They found blue glowing crowns as they explored, they soon met up with Knuckles and Amy at the entrance to a rather large structure built by the Ancients. "Nice to see you guys again." Sonic said to the hedgehog and echidna. "What happened to Metal?" Tails asked as he thought about the Metal Mach robot. Knuckles scratched his head, "we lost him in the highway. Let's hope he doesn't come back." The red echidna said as he thought about all the trouble that robot created by the Ancients could do.
The four friends looked at two giant doors at the entrance of the structure built by the Ancients. Sonic noticed that a handprint based lock was at the base of the door, he looked at his right hand and then at the lock and tilted his head left and right as he got a good look at it. (Could it be?) He thought as he attempted to put his hand on the handprint lock. But then Amy suddenly stopped him, "don't touch it Sonic! I don't know why… But I have a very bad feeling about this place." She said with concern. Knuckles blinked as he got a good look at the door, he then pointed at carvings of figures on the doors. "Hey guys, look at those carvings!" Everyone looked at them and walked back a bit in surprise. "T-These ancient carvings look just like Sonic and Tails… But how is that possible?" Amy said as she saw the carvings. They looked exactly like Sonic while he was wearing sports tape and had on his scarf and had his hair out of place. And the carving looked exactly like Tails with his new mechanic gloves and goggles, it was baffling that there were so many similarities.
Then all of a sudden without warning Destruction Troops dropped in. But this time there were silver colored robots. Amy and Knuckles asked about the robots and Tails quickly explained what he knew on them in terms they could understand. The four friends quickly took out the squad of Destruction Troops and witnessed some of the dormant troops that were deployed got reactivated by snake like robots. They smiled and were glad the robots were gone, but then suddenly more robots appeared. "These guys are stronger than Badniks, and they just don't give up like SWATbots." Tails said as he saw more troops drop in. This time golden Destruction Troops dropped in, the group counted ten, then twenty and soon fifty. Sonic didn't like the look of this, he knew they could take on the Destruction Troops but more and more kept dropping in. He attempted to open the doors to the ancient tomb but Amy quickly said, "Sonic! Don't open that door, we can take these guys!" She said with deep concern.
Sonic turned back towards his friends and was about to join them, but then Metal Mach appeared. He stepped towards Sonic's friends and then suddenly jumped into the air and crashed in front of them with a shock wave based attack, the three Mobians went flying into Sonic. Metal Mach's purple eyes glowed as he moved his right fist out of the ground where he hit it when he made the shock wave. He then locked his sights on Sonic and his friends. (Target is in close proximity to the tomb of the Last Ancient. He must be stopped!) Metal Mach thought to himself as he looked at the group for a few seconds before using his hands and radio transmissions to order the Destruction Troops to attack. Sonic then opened up the door and got himself and his friends into the tomb Metal Mach walked slowly towards the entrance and Sonic was ready to face the ancient robot. But the doors closed and kept the automatons outside but trapped the Mobians inside. (Target has entered the tomb. Attempting to open the doors.) Metal Mach thought as it pressed his robotic hand against the handprint door lock but it failed to open. So it punched the lock hard and attempted to entrap the heroes in the tomb. (The Last Ancient must not escape or all organic life is doomed.) The robot thought to himself as Dr. Eggman in his Egg Mobile arrived.
Dr. Eggman looked at the entire series of events from above. "Just as I thought." He said as he lightly brushed his right mustache with his right hand. Though the question was, what exactly was Dr. Eggman thinking about? As he and the Destruction Troops stood at the tomb entrance in order to see what happened next, a dark figure overlooked what happened. (That young fool did enter the tomb as I feared.) The being thought to himself as he walked away from the ledge he was on.
Inside of the tomb Sonic and Amy took doorways down on right side of the tomb and Tails and Knuckles took doorways on the left side. Oddly enough the pathways they took were ideal for them to pass through it was almost as if the pathways were built for them specifically. But how could that be possible? They gathered up Rings, Robot Parts and Crowns as they explored the tomb, they followed the pathways to giant mechanisms that made beams of light from a crystal point towards what looked like a giant statue. They also had to use a lot of Bounce Pads which were similar to the giant Springs found throughout the Zones of Mobius. "This whole place is… Odd…" Tails said to Knuckles. "I know what you mean these red crystals I can climb on are placed in… Areas ideal for helping me escape from this place." Knuckles said as they both entered into tubes that dropped them at the area to activate the light beams on their side of the tomb. Amy was having quite a time jumping, "we can hardly do a double jump… But man am I glad my sister Amelia gave me special boots to make me jump higher and run faster." Amy said to Sonic as she jumped high with what would be called a Triple Jump. (Of course Nazo helped unlock my true speed and I've been running faster.) Amy thought to herself as she remembered that she became about as fast as Tails. The hedgehog and echidna got the beams aligned. "Guys… I noticed that the beams turned towards the center of the tomb, I thought it was meant to point towards a way out?" Knuckles said before they met up.
The group met up at the center of the tomb, they slowly walked towards the statue and noticed an exit and deactivated Destruction Troops. Suddenly the light hit the statue, and then electricity surged through the statue, and then a giant snake that looked like a Mobian was released from the metal alloy that made him appear as a statue. He looked like a cyborg wearing a bulky suit that covered his torso, he had on a helmet that was helping him breath right, and he had two robotic arms and the tri-claw fingers of the hands were trapped in some kind of golden orb with blue glowing symbols. There was also a tri-claw on the end of his tail. The serpent took in a deep breath, electricity was visible as it helped reanimate him, and he floated up with some kind of anti-gravity system built into his reddish armor suit. He then opened green reptilian eyes that almost matched his scales in color. He looked at Sonic and then narrowed his eyes in anger, "you!" Upon saying that Sonic pointed at himself, "you and I have unfinished business Sonic the Hedgehog!" The serpent said with an angry hiss.
Sonic got warmed up for a fight, "I don't know what you're talking about. But based on my experience, I'm guessing it's a bad thing." The serpent responded with an angered hiss and looked ready to strike. Sonic then did a Spin Dash and then jumped into the air and was about to use a Homing Attack, but the serpent dodged and let the orb on his tri-claw hands take the force of the attack. Upon hitting the orb Sonic was shocked and then sent flying backwards, the serpent then controlled four harnesses and made an electric ring that captured the four friends. The serpent grinned in satisfaction at his handy work, "a thousand years later and you're still predictable heir of Mach." This surprised Sonic and his friends, they had no idea who this serpent was and yet the serpent seemed to know Sonic and called him an heir to Mach whom as far as they knew was a warrior of the Ancients. "What's he talking about? And how does he know your name Sonic?" Knuckles asked. Sonic blinked in disbelief, he remembered everything that happened to the tiniest of details perfectly, and he was having trouble wrapping his head around the reality of what happened when he attempted to fight the serpent. "I don't know…" Was all he could say to his friendly rival, he then said. "He dodged my Homing Attack… Nothing has dodged my Homing Attack before…" Shortly after saying those words, the serpent pushed a button on his chest and then the Destruction Troops in the tomb reactivated. "Rise my warriors! We have a planet to destroy." He then looked at Sonic and grinned evilly. "Now let's see what a thousand years in prison will do to you in this tomb." The serpent then looked at the exit, raised a tri-claw and fired a powerful green energy beam without fail he then fled from the tomb.
After briefly recapping what just happened, Tails undid the beam by tampering with the device in front of him and noticed yellow energy glowed as he touched the device. Once he deactivated it the group dropped to the ground and took down the few Destruction Troops in the tomb. Tails then quickly reconfigured the devices into devices used by the Ancients called Enerbeam Gauntlets they noticed a statue of what looked like an armored hedgehog. Soon more Destruction Troops appeared, some of them were flying and the team used their new Enerbeams to grab ahold of the flying Destruction Troops and throw them into a wall. The robots broke open a pathway that the group could use their Enerbeams to travel along. They wondered why all of these things were going on, they soon made their escape but were encountered by the serpent.
The serpent shot lasers at them, "I am Lyric! And I feel like my old self again!" He said as he hissed in triumph and then used systems similar to the Enerbeams to lift rocks and broken pillars and throw them as the team traveled on a highway. "There's more fight in you than I thought." The heroes were very confused by how the serpent seemed to know Sonic. As the group traveled along the highway, the serpent caused boulders to fall and when they hit the highway the heroes got sent flying into the skies and would crash land at the edge of the area where Cliff had his excavation site, thanks to the Rings they collected they'd be safe upon impact.
The serpent floated as he thought over what just happened. "I've calibrated my systems to keep up with you as you run like the weakling you are Sonic. Mach should've warned you that the tomb of Lyric the Last of the Ancients would be the beginning of your end." The serpent hissed in evil delight. "I must return to my lair, for there is much work to be done." He said as he flew off towards an unknown location.
Quite a series of events, but who is this Lyric the Last of the Ancients and how does he know Sonic?! Why did he call Sonic an heir of Mach? And just who is this stranger who saw what transpired at the entrance of Lyric's Tomb? Find out as the adventures continue!