A/N: Here's another chapter of Once More! Hope you guys are liking it so far and I do apologize that it's taking a bit long to introduce the plot of the summary, I'm just getting some things out of the way before we can proceed to the awesome stuff! Here, we can see the action developing and some characters making their appearances! WOO! Without further ado, I present to you, Act II!
Reviews will be so much appreciated!
~ Bye bye!
**Note: Aside from Sonic X, Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Generations, Sonic Riders, and Sonic Boom; the author does not have previous personal knowledge of the locations and few characters and only rely on quick information sources (Wiki, Sonic communities, etc.) Readers discretion is advised.
II
Act II : Part I
~ Speed of Sound ~
Black and blue streaks zipped through the spacious green fields that stretched beyond the edge of the bay, where the Mobian hedgehog had met with the Shadow impersonator. Just approximately a minute ago, the copy had proposed a race to Sonic that the other can't simply refuse. The unknown creature had told the other that if he wins the race then no harm will come upon the speedster and to his world; however, if he loses, then he will bring the apocalypse upon this land. The azure hedgehog grimaced at the thought of having to deal with something so serious all of a sudden, but in this case, he really doesn't have a choice. He just hoped that the other was not serious about the whole destroying the entire planet thing, and this was all just a sick joke being played on him by someone (*coughShadowcough*).
In the mean time, they continued to blaze through the plains, leaving nothing but whirlwind of dirt and strong gust at their wake; both seemed to be evenly matched at their speed and endurance. Sonic had suspected from the start of their contest that this wouldn't be an easy victory, but for those who knew the blue hedgehog, he's not one to give up without a fight. Of course, the other being wasn't going to let the hedgehog have the win conveniently. As they sped down the path of their unknown destination, they appeared to be clashing head to head in their breaking neck velocity. Their sonic booms thundered like a clap of lightning in the background. It was indeed an incredulous sight to behold as they dashed through the grass fields that were now slowly transforming into sandy dunes and hard, rocky grounds. The change of their course were noticed by the pair, but that wasn't enough to falter them from their feet and concentration.
As time passed by, both of them were still going strong, their momentum seemingly unbreakable. The stranger found this rather fascinating that the Mobian creature weren't as pathetic and weak that he had assumed he would be in the first place. An expectant look began to form in his face, yet his crimson gaze still held that solid firmness, his mouth set in a tight line. They were signs that he shouldn't be taken so lightly. At this point, Sonic knew better than to underestimate this opponent.
"Looks like you're more than what I initially thought, Sonic…" the golden eyed creature spoke, keeping his gape straight ahead. His tone was complacent enough, but the next part made Sonic swivel his attention to him as he ran, "But, you are only a living, feeble creature that requires rest and energy… Sooner or later, you will tire out and collapse! You will let this world down, or so I would make you!"
Sonic gritted his teeth at the harsh comment, yet he can't risk to say anything. It's true that no matter how determined he was to beat this sucker down in speed and endurance, his body can only go so further. Unlike Shadow, who was engineered to tolerate hunger and tiredness for a longer period of time, Sonic meanwhile can only last so long due to his natural body's needs. If he were to quip back to him and waste his oxygen, that would likely result into a devastating loss for him. Not to mention, he would be also the cause of the world's end. For the meantime, he remained silent, yet he had expressed his disgust and determination in his face as he pushed his legs to its limit, eventually reaching mach 2 speed.
To a naked eye, both were like ribbons of ultramarine and ebony colours as they reached their top speed. With the impersonator achieving only a level below Sonic's mach 2, their differences began to show little by little as they passed the final bar of their set finish line. Knowing this is the last stretch of their competition, the being afforded a swift glance to Sonic, recognizing his tenacity in his features. Inwardly, he applauded the hedgehog for his willpower and strength. Yet, he wouldn't just let him up because of that. With him being only an arm's distance away from the hedgehog, he grabbed the speedster's attention by raising his voice, loud enough to only echo within the sound barrier of which they created from their extreme agility.
"Heh, you're not all that bad, but you have not seen my true powers yet…" the other started as Sonic peered through his peripheral vision with a tiny frown. "I'm not going to get serious with you, but I think I've seen enough of your potential to be a worthy… adversary."
Does this guy ever stop talking? I still seriously regret that I've mistaken him from Shadow, but this guy is a nut case compared to him!These kind of thoughts filled the hero's mind as he observed the other with a light scowl. But really… How the hell can he easily catch up to me at this rate?! He's as fast as me and Shadow! And that's saying something… In any case, I better win this so I could get answers from him. — But come to think of it… Where is the finish line—?
"You're probably thinking where Dr. Eggman's base is, right?" His foe interrupted the trail of his thoughts again. A jeering smirk crossed his lips as he continued, "... That scientist has an emerald, that I assure of you, but he's currently hiding and I don't know where he is."
What?!
"I will tell you more if you manage to defeat me." He turned forward and jerked his head to the open cliff space that would lead them to a canyon. "Whoever gets to the canyon first wins."
This jerk..! He's this close getting his face spin dashed!
-x-
A few more kilometres left before they reach their goal, their surroundings were nothing but a blur and dirt. Sonic and this unidentified enemy were still raring, both demonstrating their willpower to cross the finish line. The canyon loomed before them as they accelerated as if there's no tomorrow. Which is more than likely fitting of a metaphor to what the hedgehog is competing for anyway.
The blue blur noticed that his speed is being matched and panicked a little, doubt and worry filling his head. What if he doesn't win this race? His veins continued to pump adrenaline as his mixed emotions influenced his heart rate and movement, giving him a quick boost of speed at the last minute. Emerald orbs focused on the prize ahead of him, setting his lips into a thin line, ignoring the small voices in his head that attempted to put him down.
Get yourself together! You're not going to be easily beaten by this impostor! I'm Sonic, the fastest thing alive in this world! He gripped his fists tightly as he pushed himself forward despite the starting strain in his legs. Just a few more meters!
Right at that moment, one quick step is all it took for him to launch himself in the air. He lurched forward, curling himself into that familiar looking cobalt blue ball. The shape rotated almost like an uncontrollable sphere before it landed back to the ground, effectively passing the surprised black creature and dashed the remaining distance in a flash.
Once he crossed the invisible line, he rapidly bounced back to his feet and whirled back to the other with a smug expression.
"Ha! I win! Now it's time for you to answer my que— Huh?!" Where did he go?!
With a confused stare, he glanced around his surroundings, in hope that he had not missed him or anything. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight. After a frantic search around the windy area, he shook his head once before pondering quietly. "What the heck… Huh?"
His attention caught a glowing gem lying before his feet. How the hell did he fail to not notice that? He picked it up casually and turned it over in his gloved hand, his thoughts racing like always to make sense of what's going on. "So, he had an emerald with him, huh." A grin spread across his face as he clenched the emerald tightly, "Heh, it's only right that I win something…" But, his self-satisfaction soon diminished when he recalled something about the potential start of an apocalypse mentioned by his opponent earlier.
Right when he decided to trek back to the city to possibly discuss this encounter with them, the emerald began to shimmer before it flashed a blinding light, causing the blue hedgehog to cover his eyes with his other arm. He still held on to the gem in his grasp automatically, grunting in surprise at being caught off guard. When it was all over, he glanced back to his hand and saw that it had attached itself to Sonic's left wrist like a steel sterling bracelet.
"What the.." Sonic attempted to remove it from his limb but to no avail. Frowning a little, he debated his next course of action and decided to go back to his friends and try to contact a particular hotheaded echidna who's expert at the powers of the Chaos Emeralds. With a deep sigh, the blue speedster instantly bolted his way towards the countryside, checking the destination in his head.
Next stop, Tails' workshop.
-x-
Act II : Part II
~ Grim News ~
Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge had made their way to one of the GUN headquarters in the city later in the day. Shadow had barely caught any sleep after the nightmare last night, but it didn't hindered him from his basic and usual routine. It was one of the wondrous things of being a bio-engineered hedgehog, where you can go on without eating or sleeping for days. For Rouge, the bat stayed with the ultimate life-form and kept an eye on him in case the other decided to change his mind on attending in the meeting. Much to his dislike being observed closely, Shadow didn't have choice but to comply since.
As they treaded the familiar path heading to one of the tallest building in downtown, they spotted that it was almost deserted. There are some people roaming about, but both anthromorphs had assumed initially that the roads should be at least filled with honking cars and disgruntled adults making their way home or going to their afternoon shifts.
The two looked over to each other, similar thoughts crossing their minds, before they hurried their pace to the looming structure ahead. They entered the lobby and were greeted by a multitude of black suited men, armed with assorted guns and equipments appropriate for containment and defensive measures.
It took a moment to get over their short shock before they maneuvered their way to the front of the crowd. Once they made it, they found themselves face to face with the current head of the GUN, Commander Daniels, and a handful of bodyguards and his personal assistants. They appeared to be busy talking among themselves before one of the people took notice of the arrival of the pair.
"Sir, Shadow and Rouge have arrived," one of the female brown-haired assistants alerted the Commander before she scribbled to her clipboard. The Commander, a man that seemed to be in his fifties with a muscular build and ash grey short combed-back hair, turned to the duo and nodded at their direction, acknowledging their presence. He turned back to the group conversing with him and ushered them away after barking an order to organize the waiting men behind them.
The two closed the distance between them and the commander, turning to them again. "Glad that you could make it, Rouge." He turned to the black artificial hedgehog and nodded at him also, "You too, Shadow. You chose the good time to attend today's meeting."
"What's going on, Commander?" Rouge asked as she peered around them, seeing people hurrying to their designated positions and preparing for departure.
The leader gave out a deep sigh, "Big things, Rouge, dear. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury to discuss the matter in details; however, long story short, Westopolis and Soleanna are in a code red emergency alert. We received news that something abnormal is causing huge tremors in their land and wrecking havoc in the overland territories."
"What?!" Rouge exclaimed in disbelief while Shadow remained composed, though he rose a curious eye ridge.
The leader just shook his head gravely, deeply expressing his sympathy for the terror going outside their own metropolis. "We don't know what's causing this peculiar phenomenon, but there's one thing that we are sure of…"
Rouge and Shadow gazed at the Commander in serious anticipation.
"We received a distress signal from the harbour which confirmed our suspicion. The tremors will hit our city and most likely cause some damages, but if we act soon-"
As if on cue, the ground shook beneath them. The shaking was powerful enough to topple anyone who was caught off guard by the motion, but it wasn't enough to cause any collateral damage. Yet. It lasted for a minute before things settled back down, but it still stirred enough discomfort and stress, both to the people within the building and outside.
The ultimate life-form stepped up and flickered a quick glance around them before he spoke, "What's the plan now?" I see, so that's why there's not a lot of people out in the streets right now.Theymust have issued a temporary evacuation order beforehand.
"I've already issued a command to mobilize the military personnels in the city, and my assistants are just going over the orders that I've handed with the army," the Commander informed, "They will be ready to deploy to the pointed position to where we managed to locate the epicentre of the distress signals."
They both nodded at this confirmation. The pair looked to one another, figuring out their appropriate jobs in a quick moment. With their minds already attuned to one another, thanks to their numerous co-missions, they ultimately decided what they're going to do.
The female GUN spy-slash-gem huntress cocked a whimsical smirk to the obviously distressed faction leader of the organization. "I'll go ahead and scout the area first for any clues and enemies. It's better if we are more than prepared of what's to come." She then made a notion to Shadow, her tone serious yet playful at the same time, "I would also contact our friends for help, if we needed it. They might have a good idea as to what we're dealing with anyway."
Shadow bobbed his head once in affirmation then peered back to the now bewildered commander. "I'll help out in the front lines and scout ahead after Rouge on land. There might be some enemies already that had infiltrated the coastlines. I'll deal with them quickly." If they're not already taken care of by a certain annoying blue faker that I know of…
The Commander responded both to their initiation with a firm huff and saluted, as the duo backtracked and exited the scene. Rouge beat her wings powerfully and took off without any hesitation. Shadow swayed back and dashed out of everyone's sight in the speed of sound, his skates blazing a golden light against the pavement, making them appear like a flash of golden neon laser to a human eye.
After they left, the commander silently wished both of them good luck on their respective missions.
-x-
For the time being, in the other side of the Mobius landscape, located within a dilapidated shed that housed several complex technology, completely setting a major contrast to the exterior interface of the house and its interior designs; the sudden quakes were also felt at the country side. A particular fair-furred two-tailed fox was concurrently working on his beloved plane machine, but was disrupted by the small upheaval of the ground. It caught him in surprise as his tools toppled from their placements.
In an instinct, the cerulean-eyed fox stood in a defensive stance, anticipating for an ambush or some sort. When nothing else happened after a brief minute, he straightened his posture and took a gander around his fallen apparatus. Sighing at the mess that the quake left, he grumbled under his breath and started to set them up again, wondering what was that all about.
That was really weird… This place doesn't ever get any earthquakes since it doesn't lie near to a fault line.. I wonder what had caused it? Shrugging the curious thoughts away, he casually went back to his business, adjusting and re-attuning his greatest piece yet; Tornado. However...
Unbeknownst to the two tailed creature, a strange golden glow began to illuminate at the sea horizon outside his miniature seaside lab, and that the seism earlier was an indication of an upcoming horrifying event…
-x-
Somewhere above the ocean, a mountainous island was seen to be elevated from the water surface level a hundred meters high by a special force energized by the crowning massive gem located in the centre of the island. The Angel Island, home to the lone survivor of the Echidna clan, appeared to be in its usual rest and solemn peace…
Until the natural breeze suddenly grew violent and slowly shifted into a raging cyclone that wrapped around the island like an invisible, powerful veil. The change didn't escape the keen senses of the tenant living there, however.
Violet orbs moved to the east direction where it picked up the brilliant light flashing at the edge of the dawning magenta sunset skies. The owner of those eyes frowned slightly at the sight he was beholding before him.
"I got a bad feeling about this…" The red echidna seemed to contemplate for a second before he turned away from the view, while his spines whipped back at the passing malevolent wind. He was positioned atop the altar where the Master Emerald lies in eerie amity, like always. As long as he could remember and after the passing of his last relative who had protected the emerald before him, he had always watched over the gem as the last guardian from the Echidna clan. There were often times when he leaves it alone for a short while and depart the island whenever his friends are in trouble, so he's not as secluded like before when there was only him and the jewel. After meeting a certain blue hedgehog and a yellow genius kit, he's not alone anymore and had allowed his mind and heart to be open and honest to the world outside his island. But, of course, despite all of that; he has not forgotten his duty as the protector of the precious jewel.
Going back to the present, he thought of descending from the island and meet up with his allies as to what was happening, but he knew better than to leave the master emerald alone in this possible dire circumstance. He peered at his left wrist, where there was an attached device that appeared to be a communicator.
If things go awry, Tails would albeit contact me immediately anyways… He thought to himself as he took another glimpse to the horizon.
Yet, he was taken by surprise again when his vision blurs and became light-headed. There was a warm sensation at the tip of his gloved hands, the heat spreading to his arms then his entire torso. It was an all-too-familiar feeling for him, when the Master Emerald is creating a link to his inner spirit sanctum. During at these times, the jewel's powers would let him connect with the unknown force of the Chaos and sometimes gives him a branch of its powers; and every so often, it would let the echidna foresee the future.
As he felt himself being overwhelmed by the Chaos energy, his mind being muddled by the sheer intensity of its power, he began to see flashes of vivid imagery in his open mind.
And those pictures were depicted appalling situations where his friends are either crying for help or injured beyond aid. Among those frightful flickers, the one that stood out the most was his lifetime rival and old friend, Sonic. He was standing on top of heaps of blurred bodies of defeated enemies. It wouldn't come off as shocking to the guardian being that he had seen the hedgehog win so many battles against formidable opponents, but if it weren't for the extreme showcase of blood and the odd calm, bizarre look carved in his face like a crazed murderer, his mouth wouldn't be gaping open in shock and his purple eyes wide in silent horror.
The revelation ends right there when Sonic appears to be looking dead straight to the guardian, leaving the echidna shivering in anxiety and his heart palpitating against his chest like a dual rotor. Truth be told, he has never seen the blue hero like that before. He found it unbelievable, but he's aware that the jewel doesn't lie. Unless…
The Emerald does predict the future correctly, but it only shows the potential outcomes in the future… So,that means… There's a way to stop that from happening!
With a frustrated release of breath, he took off from the top of the altar and descended from the staircase in one fluid gliding motion. Once he landed back down to the dirt, he began his journey back down to the earth below his island. As he ran through the thick weald that surrounded the ancient altar that held the giant emerald for ages, he started to ponder about the vision he had received from the Master Emerald and the weird atmosphere in the air, as if something would drastically happened in one fell swoop. So many questions clogged his mind, jumbling his thoughts all over, yet he managed to concentrate on what matters the most.
And that would be the intense feeling of this world's impending doom…
-x-
END OF ACT II
A/N: How did you like it so far? I'm planning to add another part for the next Act, but that would mean taking a long time to write it. Sigh. Well~ As long as I'm inspired, I will do my best to upload them as fast as I can! Thanks for reading and don't forget to review and follow if you're interested in reading the story so you won't miss any updates!
Thanks again for reading!
