Episode 58: A Mirror Darkly
The Blue Typhoon slowly advanced into the atmosphere of a green planet, going slowly and cautiously.
"Tails! Two figures are escaping with a Chaos Emerald!" Chris announced. Sure enough, two dots appeared in the atmosphere.
"Zoom in the view." Tails ordered. The view screen zoomed several time, until the two dots were clear; a tall gray Metarex and a much smaller brown one. The smaller one resembled a baboon and was holding a blue Chaos Emerald.
"Metarex!" Amy stated.
"Time for the Sonic Driver," Knuckles suggested. Everyone else agreed.
"Wait a second, hold on! What's going on here?" Chris said. Everyone was staring at the view screen.
On the screen, two massive blue blasts of energy, looking similar to Tsali's Dark Chaos Spears except much larger in size, appeared out of thin space and impacted the Metarex. Both Metarex were vaporized and blew up in an instant. The green crystal and Chaos Emerald floated for a second, then slowly collapsed towards the planet.
"The Planet Egg was saved! And we also now can find another Chaos Emerald!... But what was that?" Cosmo asked. Everyone else just shook their heads.
"Whoa, look at this Tails!" Chris said, pointing to the view screen. Out of nowhere, billions of small blue particles were floating in space all around the ship. "I'm detecting massive Chaos Energy readings everywhere around us. And my sensors also detect someone out above this planet, but there's nobody here..."
At that moment, all the blue particles started moving towards a single small place, many kilometers in front of the Blue Typhoon. All the blue particles formed and started to take a shape, forming a bright blue light in space, and without warning, the light had disappeared; a figure was floating in its place.
"Who the hell... Zoom in on that figure!" Tails ordered, and the camera feed on the picture zoomed in, revealing the figure in more clarity; a fox of some kind drifting in the void.
"Tsali?" Cosmo suggested.
"No, I don't..." Tails started to say, when he was cut off by the figure starting to move. The figure held one of its hands up, and a massive blue sphere appeared all around it. The bridge was nearly blinded by a surging blue light.
"What's happening?" Sonic asked.
"I have no clue..." Knuckles replied.
The light faded, and when it did, the figure was gone. In its place, a massive blue lance of energy streaked towards the ship at light-speed.
A horrid grinding noise rocked the Typhoon and it quivered violently. The alarms wailed everywhere on the ship. A large message came to the main screen; "DANGER"
"What was that?" Chris yelled over the alarms.
"That Chaos attack sliced right through the hull and nearly destroyed our engines. We got breaches in nearly all sections. We gotta land before the bulkheads fail. Chris, prepare the ship for landing!" Tails yelled.
"Roger!" Chris said, and unfolded the landing gear as the ship started to plunge towards the planet. "At least our landing gear is still intact!"
"C'mon baby, hold together!"Tails muttered to himself as the warship began to glow red with atmospheric friction.
...
"Robotnik, we're detecting a cloud of debris and Dark Chaos Energy readings near this planet."
"Dark Chaos Energy, eh?" The mad scientist grinned, "I think I know someone who likes to use Dark Chaos Energy..."
"Uhhh... you're talking about Tsali, right?"
"No, I'm talking about Bozo the clown," Eggman immediately smacked the robot across the back of the head, "Of course I'm talking about Tsali!"
"Geez, sorry."
The picture showed a bright-red glow in the world's lower atmosphere. And upon closer inspection of the picture, Eggman realized it was the Blue Typhoon.
"It seems that the war go here before we did!" Eggman exclaimed from the bridge of the Crimson Egg. "And if there's Dark Chaos Energy, then that traitor Tsali is here too. Decoe, Becoe, follow that ship! The Chaos Emeralds will be mine, and Tsali will pay for his treachery!"
...
"What's our situation?" Chris asked.
"It'll take about a day to repair if we use all of our repair droids overtime," Tails replied.
"We have droids on this ship?" Knuckles asked with a shocked face.
"Yeah," Tails nodded, "Just to make it a little easier on us for any emergencies."
"Cool! Now we don't have to do it," Sonic replied with a huge cheesy grin. Everyone else sighed and sweat dropped.
"Well anyway, we should split up; one group will get the Chaos Emerald, one will find the Planet Egg and make sure it's safe. I don't know if that... creature who attacked us is Tsali, but I don't think we should take any chances.," Tails suggested.
"Good idea Tails. Me and Sonic should go and find the Chaos Emerald in the X-Tornado. Don't worry, Sonic's a good pilot," Knuckles said.
"I'll stay beind the ship to speed up those repairs," Chris said.
"Then that leaves me, Cosmo, Amy, and Cream," Tails said, with a sweat drop.
"Sorry Tails, but looks like you got the girls today," Sonic and Knuckles grinned. The young fox just stood there blankly.
"Oh, fine," Amy said, "We can work with Tails, right?"
Tails just shrugged his shoulders as Knuckles and Sonic giggled like they were playing an amazing prank on him. Sonic and Knuckles ran to the hanger, and Tails opened the unloading hatch of the ship.
"Well, let's get going," Tails said, "Might as well make the most of this."
Amy's ears perked up. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
...
Tails, Amy, Cosmo, and Cream started their trek in the jungle. The air was sweet with the aroma of hundreds of wild and tropical flowers.
"So, Cosmo, do you think that we'll be able to find the Planet Egg?" Amy asked, knowing how insecure and naive Cosmo was and how much she needed reassurance.
"Oh yes, I think so," Cosmo replied with a smile.
"That's great," Cream added with a big smile.
"Do any of you guys have any clue where the Planet Egg is?" Tails asked. All of them shook their heads.
"We should get moving... Hey, wait a sec...?" Amy said, pointing towards an area of the jungle. A blue light was coming from it.
"What's that?" Cosmo asked.
"Let's check it out," Tails suggested, and they all advanced towards the light.
As the other walked away, Cosmo stopped as she noticed a glint in in the dirt, under several layers of vines and shrub. She immediately recognized it, and her heart leapt with joy.
"The Chaos Emerald!" She gasped. "Tails, Amy! I found the Chaos Emerald!"
No response.
"Tails? Cream?" She called out louder than before, "Amy!"
Nothing but wind and eerie silence answered her. Without them, she didn't know where to go or what to do. The ground hid any tracks they made. She was alone.
"Where are you?"
She heard rustling around her. Movement. Something watched her in the darkness. Cosmo turned and spun, trying to get a glimpse of anything.
"Tails? Is that you?"
And then, hell broke loose. Her brain burned from the inside out, and Cosmo screamed in horror. She grasped her head, shaking it in a desperate attempt to dull the agony in her mind. Tears streamed down her face. The pain gnawed into her very soul, taking her breath away as she slumped to the dirt. He vision slowly blurred and began to black out.
And just a quickly as it came, the pain was gone.
Cosmo heard a voice.
Come.
"Who are you?" She asked aloud, "What do you want with me?"
See.
The voice spoke again. It felt sinister, even terrible, but Cosmo felt drawn to it nonetheless. She got to her feet, brushed off her skirt, and followed it. Soon enough, she soon found an unusual sight.
Trees began to glow blue, and then they began to shrivel into black stumps. Tendrils of energy snaked along the ground, disintegrating the shrubs and grass in its path.
Cosmo heard even more rustling around her.
"What's happening... TAILS! AMY!" She called out, fearful for her safety.
The Seedrian turned to yell again - and ended up nearly walking straight into figure standing directly in front of her.
A fox with two tails. It levitated above the ground, but it was not Tsali. She knew it wasn't, because not even Tsali projected such ambient terror around it. It's body glowed with a strange blue aura. It had no pupils nor shoes, its whole form coursing with dark power. Whispers echoed through the trees.
The creature held out its hand, and Cosmo heard the voice.
Emerald.
The pain returned, burning horror surging through her mind and body anew. She loudly cried as her legs gave out from underneath her. Unconsciously, without her control, she held out the Chaos Emerald closer and closer to the creature. She couldn't control her own body.
Cosmo cried, pulling away from the influence of the abomination at the last second. She held the Emerald as close to her as she could and closed her eyes, ready for the worst.
"COSMO!" Amy flew from the trees, her Piko-Piko Hammer in hand. With a heavy ground-shattering slam, the figure melted into a puddle of energized blue goop. and a blinding flash.
"Are you okay?" Cream helped the Seedrian to her feet.
"I think I'm alright."
"What the heck was that thing?" Amy turned to Tails, expecting the genius of the group to know.
"I don't know Amy!" He replied, "I've never seen it before."
"Well whatever it was, it's gone now," Amy put her hammer away, "And it looks like you got a Chaos Emerald while we were gone!"
"Good thing that creature didn't take it. Let's just get back to the Typhoon before anything else shows up," Tails took off with the girls close behind.
...
The heroes finally made it back to the Blue Typhoon, panting wildly. To their surprise, Sonic and Knuckles were already there, having parked the X-Tornado onto the flight deck.
"Hey guys! Boy, am I glad to see you," Tails said. This earned Sonic yet another maul from Amy when she saw her cobalt hero.
"I was wondering why that signal was moving closer to the ship." Knuckles held up.
"What's the matter?" Sonic asked.
"Cosmo found the Chaos Emerald, but she got attacked by something," Tails explained, "It looked like the same creature that damaged the ship. It's been leaving Dark Chaos Energy all over the place. I hope Chris repaired the scanners."
"Yeah he said the repairs were already done. We should be ready to go. I just thing it's odd wedidn't see a Planet Egg anywhere."
Cosmo held her hands to a nearby tree and closed her eyes. "I can feel them. The trees are sad. They know something is wrong."
"So it is missing. But where could that Planet Egg be? Those Metarex weren't carrying it..." Knuckles stroked his chin.
And then, without warning, a shadow fell upon the jungle and caught everyone's attention. A confused tangle of mechanical limbs and tentacles snaked from the trees.
"Nyeyeyheheheh!" The heroes could recognize that laugh in their sleep, "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
The top of the Egg Mobile opened up and revealed the grinning mug of Dr. Eggman. And sitting next to him in the cockpit was a green crystal with a minature galaxy inside.
"Looks like you didn't stay down for long!" Sonic smiled.
"Nyeheheheh! I knew I would find you here," The Doctor cackled, "Hand over the Chaos Emerald Sonic, or I'll just have to take this Planet Egg for myself!"
Knuckles facepalmed, "You just don't give up."
"We'll deal with him," Amy raised her hammer.
The Egg Mobile's robotic limbs sliced through the undergrowth, tearing through trees and vines alike. Sonic deftly dodged and soared onto one of the claws. Knuckles smashed and punched his way through the mechanical limbs that went for him.
The figure that had encountered our heroes in space levitated through a clearing in the jungle.
Floating towards a nearby tree, it spread Dark Chaos Energy in its most pure form. The trees withered and perished, their life forces sucked clean from their trunks and transformed by the corruption. Veins of dark power crept through the jungle, spreading decay and woe where it went.
"I... what!" Eggman growled in rage, "Give me back my Planet Egg you two-tailed freak!"
The Egg Mobile attacked with all of its weaponry and limbs. Just as they got close, they began to malfunction, rusting and corroding from Dark Chaos Energy until they were shattered and fell uselessly to the ground.
The fox held the crystal with an unseen force, the artifact beginning to glow ever brighter. Then, the crystal began to crack like glass.
Sonic got an urgent message from the Blue Typhoon on his communicator. It was Chris.
"What's happening Chris?"
"You guys gotta get back to the ship right now!"
"Why?"
"That Planet Egg is becoming dangerously unstable from all the Dark Chaos Energy affecting it! It could rupture itself and explode at any moment," Chris explained as fast as he could, "If we're anywhere near it, we're all done for!"
"That doesn't sound good," Knuckles stated the obvious.
"What?" Cosmo gasped, "But if the Planet Egg..."
"There's no time!" Sonic turned around, "Everyone back on the Typhoon, we're getting outta here now!"
Cream didn't need to be told twice. They immediately fled up the Typhoon's loading ramp. But Cosmo didn't follow them, instead running towards the Planet Egg. Sonic zoomed in front of her. "Where are you going? We need to get out of here."
"Not without the Planet Egg!"
"We can argue about this later Cosmo!" Knuckles glared.
...
Eggman was so caught up in trying to get the Planet Egg back that he didn't even notice that his foes left until the Blue Typhoon's engines started up.
"Where are you going? SONIC!" Robotnik screamed to the sky at the top of his lungs. "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"
The Blue Typhoon rose, it's engines blowing Eggman to the ground and sending a cloud of plant life flying at him. He pounded the ground with his fist in anguish; he knew he had lost again, thanks to that meddling blue rodent.
Eggman looked forlornly upon his damaged transport. "Now what am I supposed to do?"
Then he heard rustling in the distance, and an eerie blue glow began to pierce through the trees around him.
It was still there, sitting only a few feet away. The Planet Egg. And it was still intact, with no fox or hedgehog in sight. Eggman's heart leapt with joy.
"Yes! I've won this time Sonic! The Planet Egg is mine, for the Eggman Empire!" Eggman dragged himself through the grass, "He's not gonna get away with this! When I get off this rock, I'll make sure..."
He reached out to take it in his hands.
And then a foot stepped on it. The dark fox picked up the crystal in its hands and stared down with malevolent curiosity upon him. Eggman froze in terror, whispers of unspeakable depravity and madness beginning to flood his tiny head. He couldn't look away no matter how much he wanted to.
It began to glow more and more. The cracks in the crystal shell grew larger and larger. Sparks of untold power seeped through, corrupting and defiling the Planet Egg as it began to expand.
"NO-"
The Planet Egg shattered.
...
The Blue Typhoon exited the planet's atmosphere at full speed.
And then, the ship lurched. Everyone on the bridge was thrown forward like a collection of rag dolls from the sheer force. Knuckles was tossed straight from his chair and went splat on the bridge window. The whole ship began to glow cobalt.
"Now what's going on?" Sonic quickly got to his feet, helping Amy and Cosmo back up.
"Look."
An massive blue explosion, many times the size of even the most powerful nuclear weapon, decimated the planet's surface. Behemoth waves of rippling blue swept over the planet, vaporizing all in its path and leaving nothing but a scarred blackened wasteland in its wake. The once-lush world was set aflame, it surface covered in a rippling and pulsating inferno. The blast was so massive that even in the upper orbit, the force shook the Typhoon violently.
"Oh my god..." Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed.
"No..." Cosmo started to lightly cry at the image of the devastated planet. Amy went over to comfort her with a very strong hug. Cream couldn't take her eyes from the sight, completely stunned by the destruction.
"That Planet Egg just exploded," Tails also stared in awe and horror, "All that power..."
"How did this even happen?" Knuckles yelled, enraged at their failure.
"I don't know! The Typhoon's scanners started picking up crazy amounts of Dark Chaos Energy coming from that Egg," Chris held his head in his hands. "Then it started breaking apart."
"Well, at least we didn't lose our Chaos Emerald," Sonic assured, "And we all got out okay."
"That's all you have to say Sonic?" Knuckles crossed his arms, "We just watched an entire planet die right in front of us!"
Sonic looked like he was about to strangle the echidna. "I can see that, you know. I'm not blind. And I'm way more angry than you that this happened!"
"Knock it off you guys, it wasn't our fault," Chris defended his friend.
"What about Eggman?" Amy glared.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "He'll be back. It's not easy to crack that egg."
...
"Doctor, are you all right?" Becoe helped his creator to his feet.
"Yes I'm alright, you bolt brain!" The mad scientist shook the debris and tree splinters off his completely shredded clothes.
"The Crimson Egg's shield saved your life," Decoe said, "A masterpiece of engineering! If it weren't for that, you would've been vaporized!"
Bokkun looked about the devastation. No trees, plants, water, mountains, or even sky remained. The dark fox had leveled everything, and locked the world a perpetual night, for there was no more sky to keep back the dangers of space. Oxygen levels dropped dangerously. The wind howled as if the area had been devastated by a nuke, clouds rock and dust flew through the air.
"Something reacted violently with the Planet Egg..." Eggman began to cough and wheeze, "... an explosion of Dark Chaos Energy."
The fat doctor shivered and cartoonishly gasped for air. He took off up the Crimson's loading ramp and shut it behind him after his robots were also aboard. His robot companions wren't affected, but Eggman struggled his way up back to the bridge and sank exhausted into his flying chair.
"Look at this doctor. The energy readings are off the scale!"
"I know that. Pure Dark Chaos Energy isn't good. It's radioactive, corrosive, mutagenic... the list goes on," He explained, "I tried harnessing it years ago, but it's much harder to do than it sounds."
"Well there's nothing left here! I wanna get out of here, it gives me the creeps," Bokkun begged.
"Oh shut up and stop your whining. We'll get those Chaos Emeralds from that hedgehog yet!" Eggman began to start the engines on his ship.