Elemental Light
Four days to save the world.
Basically, a pretty average day in Sonic the Hedgehog's life. In fact, the timescale involved was pretty generous by his usual standards. Apart from just one problem.
The first few bits had been pretty easy. There was some problem with the Chaos Emeralds, something to do with resonances and quantum shift... Sonic hadn't understood it, really. Tails had explained it all very earnestly, big blue eyes shining with intelligence and Sonic had smiled, picked up the gist of it from the words he knew and asked why Knuckles couldn't fix it. Tails didn't know, so off to Angel Island they had gone.
Knuckles had tried, as it turned out, and the keys to the probable solution had come from his meditation upon the Master Emerald and a talk with Tikal.
Four days, four ancient elements. Someone had to 'Touch the Heart of the Elements' and use that power to restore the balance.
"Piece of cake." Sonic had said with an irrepressible grin.
The first three had been a 'piece of cake'. Air was easy - he'd just sprinted up to Sky Sanctuary and run through the spiralling towers of that ancient ruin, careening so fast that the wind had almost sent him tumbling into the abyss below. He hadn't felt so much as a touch of fear, just the wind through his quills as he danced with the breeze. He was the Knight of the Wind and he knew his element at the deepest levels of his being.
Silvery-blue light had enveloped him, then, lifting him like he was nothing more than a leaf, cradling him in the power of air sending him spinning and dancing through the sky as he laughed with child-like delight until he settled to the ground again, blissfully happy.
One element down.
Fire had been almost as easy. Though it had raised far less pleasant memories.
Soleanna was still the same as it had been during has last trip here. Shivers had raced up his spine when he first saw the city, remembering something dark and dreadful that spoke without a mouth; something that everyone else had apparently forgotten. A history which had never happened - and his own death.
His fists had clenched as that fear crept quietly down every nerve, landing as a hard, cold knot in his belly. It had taken several deep breaths and almost all his willpower to move beyond that near-crippling memory-that-wasn't, but he had done it.
He had walked in to the Temple of Light and faced the Sacred Flame set in its niche.
Impossible as it was, the flame almost seemed to see him and it flared brighter, licking up the wall to leave soot-black marks across the marble, the crackle of its flames somehow growing louder in the empty temple, sounding almost like a frustrated roar.
Knowing how ridiculous it had to sound, he addressed the fire;
"You don't scare me, y'know." Sonic told it casually, "I've had fire inside my heart. Flames don't frighten me. Now, c'mon and hand it over."
Commandingly, Sonic held out a hand. The fire had died down slightly, like a feral dog submitting before its master.
Red/orange light then curled around his fingers, flickering and dancing across his palm, down his arm and across his body. It wrapped him in a shroud of incredible heat that didn't burn before fading away like the last glimpses of the setting sun.
Satisfied, he turned and exited the temple, heading towards his next target.
He rested for a while before heading out to Windmill Isle. The heady experience of absorbing the power of two elements had left him feeling light-headed and he figured that he had enough time to spare.
He ended up being glad of the rest, as Earth turned out to be a little more challenging.
Sonic had gone to where he first met Chip, the avatar of Light Gaia. Really, there had been many options he could have used to try and contact the power of Earth. There were several temples dedicated to light and dark Gaia and a few that were shrines to them both. But for some reason, Windmill Isle just... felt more right.
Some brief criss-crossing of the isle had brought him to the exact spot where he and Chip had met.
Sonic sat down on the grass - being closer to Earth felt like a good idea - his hand wrapped around the bracelet he wore, its green stone glinting in the sun - a gift from Chip, a reminder of their friendship.
"Chip..." he called. Nothing happened at first, and for a minute, Sonic thought he'd failed... and then the ground gave way under his feet.
Or at least it had seemed to. Distantly, he could still feel solid ground ender his sneakers, but every other sense screamed that he was being pulled down through the ground, into the soil, loose earth spilling into his mouth, mud weighing down his quills, grabbing his arms and pulling him down, down down...
'Chip would never hurt me!' that single thought cut through the terror. It wasn't real, it couldn't be real. Drawing steady breaths into his lungs again, he realised he was right. There was no malice in this... how else did you hug a friend when you were the avatar of the Earth?
The bracelet glowed brilliant green and the light spread out across his body like climbing vines, little flashes of paler green fizzed across his skin, curling around his fingers and quills like budding leaves.
"Thanks Chip." He smiled and headed towards his final destination.
Which is where the problem came in.
On a high clifftop above the sea just outside Emerald Coast, Sonic stood watching the ocean many feet below trying in vain to quell the very real terror that had his heart dancing like a metalhead in a moshpit in his chest.
Water. The final element. The last thing needed to restore the Chaos Emeralds and save the world. The one thing in the world capable of reducing him to irrational terror.
It was dusk, now. Tomorrow was the last day - he had been trying to fight down his fear of the roiling sea below since morning. He had even mad several abortive attempts to go into the water, both diving from this very cliff and wading in from the beach. Each time, he had ended up staggering back onto the beach, spluttering and coughing.
Sonic was fully aware that his friends would point out he had been in water many times and emerged just fine, they would no doubt wonder what made this so different.
It was different, though. Always before he had raced through (or on top of) the water as fast as possible, eager to reach the other side and the safety it represented, feeling the fear clutching at him the entire time.
Sonic wasn't stupid, he had quickly learned from his previous encounters that he had to master his fear before he could command the power of the elements. As he had with Earth and Fire, as he hadn't even needed to for Air.
He shivered as a cool evening breeze whipped across the clifftop, chilling his still-soaked fur. Darkness was starting to set in. He only had another day, and he was starting to despair of ever overcoming this terrible phobia.
"Afraid, Faker?" A cool voice spoke from the darkness creeping up on him now that the sun was sinking.
Sonic's head whipped around to see a red-and-black figure emerge from the shadows he'd been named for. "What business is it of yours, Stripes?" Sonic asked, stung by the comment and knowing it was the truth.
Shadow looked at him evenly, "A disturbance in the powers of Chaos, and you think I wouldn't be interested?" The dark hedgehog's voice was calm, but held the faintest edge of scorn.
"Great," Sonic scowled, "So go fix it then, Mr Ultimate Lifeform."
"You seem to have beaten me to it." Shadow replied, moving over to stand next to Sonic on the cliff edge.
"Not yet." Sonic said before he could stop himself.
"So what's stopping you?"
Sonic didn't reply, he just looked down at the waves below as they hurled themselves against the cliff-side, the red light of the setting sun staining them a bloody shade of red. "I can't..." his voice almost broke as the terror gripped him again. Fear not just of the waves smashing themselves to death on the rocks below, but fear of failing his friends, of failing the whole world.
Shadow moved closer, "Is it the rage that frightens you? All that power and fury, calm one minute, violent the next? That it can never be mastered, all you can do is just hold on, move with it and hope it doesn't destroy you?"
Sonic looked at him, surprise plain in his expression. 'How did you know..?' he wanted to ask, but he couldn't get his vocal chords to work.
Shadow's gaze turned back to the ocean, which was turning dark indigo now as night fell, distorted reflections of the first stars of evening playing across the foaming surface of the water.
"Doesn't it remind you of anything else, Faker?" Shadow's voice was gentle this time, "Power beyond mastery, beyond containment. I've seen you dance with that kind of power without fear or hesitation, so I ask you again. What's stopping you?"
Realisation hit him like a brick. He'd touched and held the power of fire, earth and air despite being well aware of the dangers in those respective elements. He'd seen with his own eyes the savagery of tornadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes. More than that, he'd held the power of Chaos itself, rode it like a bird on a thermal wind current without a single shiver of fear and Chaos was a power more terrible than any tsunami.
He smiled with sudden brilliance, calm easing his muscles and slowing his heartbeat.
"Thanks, Shadow," he said.
Then, he dove off the cliff.
Shadow watched as Sonic fell in a graceful arc into the water, cutting the surface with a faint splash. He nodded in satisfaction as he felt the balance of Chaos currents begin to shift, then he turned and skated back into the gathering night.
Sonic felt it when something approached him and he twisted in the water to see two brightly glowing green eyes and a glowing brain-like shape heading towards him. If he hadn't been expecting it he might have found it incredibly creepy.
The sea water was icy cold, but as Chaos approached him, he felt ripples of warm water surround him like a comforting embrace.
'Well done,' it seemed to say, though it lacked any kind of true voice, 'You passed the test.'
A sense of completion swept through Sonic, power surged through his veins, lifting him up out of the water and into the sky, glowing bright and golden like a wandering star. He danced with the elements, not truly controlling them, but part of them, channelling them but never mastering them.
Sonic soared into the atmosphere, closing his eyes and opening his heart to the elemental power running under his skin. He held out his hands, smiling as he felt the currents of power all around him, in the earth, in the sky, in every living thing on the planet below and surging through the ocean.
The currents moved to his command and he wove them like a tapestry. He started to move, feeling the energy flow out from his shoes trailing behind him like a streamer.
Wielding his newborn power, he fixed the balance, pouring power where there was little, siphoning off where there was too much.
Winds blew, water rippled, flames roared and earth rumbled in his wake. Everything in balance; but never gentle, never truly contained. As it should be.
Sonic landed on Angel Island in front of the Master Emerald shrine. The golden glow of his super form fading as his feet touched the ground. His friends had gathered there to watch and monitor - especially since it was the safest place, safe under the power of the Master. Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Rouge were standing in front of the Master Emerald shrine, and they were staring at him in something uncomfortably like awe.
Knuckles was the first to recover his voice, "What... what the hell just happened?"
Sonic shrugged and smiled, "I saved the world." he answered, "Nothing new there!" He laughed easily, "C'mon guys, I'm starved. Lets go find something to eat!"
He ushered them off, grateful they were too shocked to protest much. But as he moved off he turned back to glanced at the Emerald Shine and saw a transparent figure with glowing green eyes looking back at him. As he watched, one of the eyes slowly closed in a deliberate wink.
Sonic smiled.