The Echo

by Gnat1

Last minute escapades, traveling through places perfect for speed. It was a pattern that echoed throughout his life. It all seems too convenient, in which it is. Sonic's fondest memories are crumbling before his very eyes. As Sonic and Tails try to stop the surrounding madness, they learn a dark secret Mobius has kept hidden for decades. A secret they're better off not knowing.

6. Battle of the Ancients

A/N: Alright, LETS GETTIT STARTED!

Thunder: Naw, lets forget about this fic, I'd rather write the next one.

Gnat1: No way!

Cloak: Yeah, bro. This fic shall continue!

Thunder: Can I write it then?

Gnat1: ...Why?

Thunder: idk, I'm bored.

Gnat1: Then go play wii with Cloak.

Cloak: Naw, we just did that. Could we order a pizza?

Gnat1: Yeah, whatever. Just let me write!

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN A SQUAT! Well, ok, I do own the plot. Sonic
and Co. are property of SEGA, Bolt property of HyperTomboi429.

-Chapter 6: Battle of the Ancients-

Time: Unknown

Location: Mystic Ruins

Tails' eyes slowly opened. He blinked before shutting them again. He
felt tired, and bruised. Again, he opened his eyes, seeing a
stone-made ceiling. It was brown, but with a reddish tint to it. He
made the effort to sit up, succeeding, but causing severe pain at his
sides. He winced as he took in his surroundings. He was in a small
room, laying in a bed. A door at his left led into what appeared to be
a larger room, while the door he was facing showed a magnificant view
of a giant temple. The room he was in seemed to be an apartment,
grouped into a chain of similar apartments surrounding this
"villiage". At the base of the temple, dozens of purple echidna's
walked about, either visiting with others or heading in a specific
direction.

Tails thought for a moment. He had been here before, hadn't he? Yes,
back when Robotnick had Chaos on his side. That was a LONG time ago.
He remembered being warped to this villiage once, after he chased
Big's pet frog down Sand Hill. He sighed, remembering back. He had
come a long way since then, had he not? That was back when he saved
Station Square from a missle launched by Robotnick. He smiled to
himself, as more fond memories flowed through his mind.

"Ah, your awake."

Tails jumped, being interrupted from his thoughts. He turned his head
to the door at his left, and found an old echidna staring back at him.

Like the other tribal echidnas, he had purple fur, with white rings
around his spines. Beads of green and brown hung from a few of his
spines, in a tribal manner. What made him stand out from the other
echidnas, however, was the large tattoo of the yellow chaos emerald on
his head. That, and the long, white beard that hung from his chin,
obviously, he was an older echidna.

"No worries, son. I'm a friend." the old echidna said. "Miss Tikal
brought you here, asked me to tend to you. You were pretty torn up.
Lucky I can use Chaos Heal"

Tails could only nod, still confused. "What... What happened? Why am I here?"

"Angel Island fell, from what Tikal told me. She said you got smashed
by a tree. I've seen some of your battles with Echo. He is not an
enemy to take lightly" came the answer.

Tails thought for a minute, memory of the recent battle slowly coming
back to him. He fixed his gaze on the echidna.

"...Who are you?"

The echidna looked up at this question. He wasn't looking at anything
directly, as if trying to think.

"I am known by many names..." He began slowly. "And yet... I was never
born with one. I am a time traveler, appearing young in your future,
and old in the past. I go back and forth like that" he chuckled. "I've
gone through so many time lines throughout my life, that I hardly
remember my own. I spent my younger years in your future, and before
that, I took some time way back, before you or the blue hero were
born. I then returned here, to my original timeline. Because of my
confusing travels, I became known by my fellow tribal members as
something that could suit me best." he then looked at Tails in the
eye.

"I am Paradox. Paradox the Echidna."

VvVvVvVvVvVvV

Time: 6:04 PM

Location: Egg Carrier Mark II

"Was that necessary, sir?" Snively asked his uncle. "I mean... I
understand sending in the two Metal Sonics, and the Tails Doll, but
did we really need the Titan?"

"We need every last bit of help we can get, Snively" Robotnick
answered, looking up from a control panel. "Echo is a serious enemy.
Very serious..."

"But... Sonic already has tons of help." Snively stated. "Those
mobians, Silver and Blaze, have arrived along with the Freedom
Fighters. To top it off, they've got Chaos, and... and Bolt!"

Robotnick winced at the mention of that name. "All the more reason,
Snively. None of them can be harmed..."

"TITAN METAL SONIC'S SIZE IS GREATER THAN THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!
HE DESTROYS EVERYTHING JUST BY STANDING THERE!" Snively shouted.

"You haven't seen Echo's maximum power, have you Snively?" Robotnick
nearly growled. "I've sent our best robots, because I know Sonic can't
beat him on his own. I HAVE seen his maximum power."

VvVvVvVvVvV

Time: 6:05 PM

Location: Angel Island, outside Mystic Ruins

Sonic growled as more of the earth-made soldiers closed in on him. He
was glad for the extra help supplied by his friends, Robotnick, and
the Freedom Fighters, but somehow he knew that wouldn't be enough. But
that didn't matter. He had to fight.

With a battle cry, he spindashed in a spiral direction, ripping apart soil,
along with the earthly soldiers. He then backhanded one, knocking it
down. Another grabbed his arm. Sonic sighed and flipped himself up
on to the creature's shoulder, then furiously kicked its head, causing
it to crumble to the ground.

Knuckles shredded through his opponents easily. He then grabbed
one, and spun it around, causing it to fly towards Silver Sonic.
Silver Sonic caught it with ease, then quickly zipped around, slamming
the creature into its fellow soldiers.

Shadow had to rely on speed, as he still wasn't able to recharge or
recover the chaos emerald. He quietly shot around, dealing hard blows
to the soil-made warriors. After a few homing attacks, he managed to
clear a small area free from the monsters.

Bolt waited patiently until she was surrounded, then would shove her
hands into the ground, causing it to light up with electricity. Jets
of energy flew out of the ground, eliminating everything within a ten
foot radius. Good thing she was at a safe distance from the others.
Silver and Blaze jumped down next to her.

"Glad you guys could make it." Bolt said as she sank into the earth,
only to reappear behind a group of opponents. She destroyed them almost instantly.

"Yeah, well, we would never miss a 'friendly gathering'" Silver
replied with a bit of humor as he slammed two of the creatures
together, via telekinesis.

"How many of these are there?" Blaze asked as she fried a group of enemies.

"We're not even across the bridge yet!" Sally Acorn shouted as she led
Antoine and Rotor by. She pointed to the bridge, where thousands more
of the monsters were crossing to the smaller island. It was only getting more difficult, even with the extra back up.

Amy had also arrived, along with Vector, Espio, and Charmy. The four
of them managed to take out dozens of monsters, courtesy of a certain
hammer, large crocodile teeth, ninja stars, and one VERY ticked off
bee.

Metal Sonic was blasting numerous opponents with his arm blaster,
while Tails Doll stood at his side, sporting a twenty-gauge shotgun.
Titan Metal Sonic smashed enemies by the hundreds as he slammed his
gigantic hands to the ground. Silver Sonic was busy helping Knuckles.

Sonic turned to Chaos. "Lets go for the big guy." he said with a grin.
Chaos nodded, and the two raced over toward Echo.

Echo growled as he watched the battle taking place. With hesitation,
he turned to the location of Silver, Blaze, and Bolt battling
constantly appearing warriors. Watching them have a difficult time
could only make him smile. But when one of them used their powers, he
could only frown. "So... there IS a connection... It was so obvious,
to." he sighed, and began making his way over to the three.

Suddenly, a blue flash slammed him to the ground. This was followed by
a long blue arm grabbing him, whipping him around, then throwing him
into a tree. Echo growled as he stood up, healed from a sudden chaos
radiation from his body. After dusting himself off, he looked up to
see Sonic and Chaos approaching him.

"This is silly, Echo. Stop this at once." Chaos said in a calm but clear voice.

"Dude, having a bunch of dirt-made zombie... things will NOT help
you!" Sonic growled, but sporting a slight grin on his face.

Echo looked up and hissed, "Oh, I think it will."

As the words left him, he turned his gaze to a mountain in the
distance. Sonic recognized this as Red Mountain, a location he once
chased Robotnick through when Amy had been captured. This mountain,
unfortunately, was Echo's goal, as it began to morph into a giant,
apocalyptic creature with just a thought from the salamander.

"STOP THIS!" Sonic shouted, punching Echo in the center of his eyes.
Echo shook the daze out of his head, then gave the hedgehog a solid
glare. "Fool. It has already begun."

VvVvVvVvVvV

"Echo began like an average mobian." Paradox said while Tails rested
on the bed. His wounds had been brutal, and even chaos energy wasn't
working as fast as he hoped.

"It was not until after years of training himself did he finally reach
a conscious with the Chaos Emeralds." Paradox continued. Tails jumped
at this.

"...What... What do you mean by 'A Conscious'?" he asked.

Paradox turned from the view of the altar and faced the kit. "You
never knew?". The question gave Tails a shot of nervousness.

"What do you mean?"

"It was considered impossible by most of our ancestors. It is actually
very possible. The only known beings able to grant themselves such a
conscience were Enerjaks. Echo, however, shattered this theory with
ease. Reaching a conscious with the emeralds is really quite simple."
He then left to filled a small watering can from a faucet in the other
room. After he returned, he gently sprinkled water over a nearby palm plant. When
finished, he set the can down, and faced the fox.

"But it is also very, very dangerous." he said, giving Tails a solid stare.

"Well, yeah. I can see that." was Tails' reply, as he remembered the
run in at Emerald Coast.

"Not in a physical way, actually." Paradox had a serious look set on
his face. "More in a mental way."

Tails was silent, in thought, then lifted an eyebrow. "...Are you
trying to say-"

"It drove him to insanity." Paradox finished for him. " After, his
powers were achieved, and improved after years of practice, things
began to kick in. You see, use of chaos energy for a massive amount of
time will leave a permanent dent on your mind forever. You will begin
to crave destruction. After all, they weren't named 'Chaos Emeralds'
without good reason. Echo's creativity seemed to merge with his wants
of destroying nearly everything. Just about all of the
locations you and the blue one have travelled through were just little
'Practice Areas' for Echo. He morphed the enviroment into loops,
turns, jumps, and just about everything else. His first creation,
Green Hill Zone, was then offered to Robotnick. He was curious about
the doctor, and hoped to learn his intentions, in which he succeeded.
He observed Robotnick's evil ways, and his first defeat. Being
defeated at the hands of a mobian filled him with wonder, and he
secretly observed all of you from then on, suiting the enviroment for
your liking. He wanted to get everyone used to the constant echo of
racetrack-like landscapes, and build enough confidence in all of
you... so that when the day came when he would attack, it would feel
different, and unnatural, by the way he morphs the landscapes now."

This caused a thought to rise in Tails' mind. "Where did you fit into
all this?" he asked.

Paradox sighed. "In my younger years, I helped Echo. He offered good
payment, and I foolishly agreed. I would have been in your future in
those years." his eyes then adopted a look of concern, as he said in a
serious, almost hurt voice. "If you ever run into me, stop me. That's
what happened when I was younger. I was stopped by you, along with a
group of criminals. Be sure to stop me, or else another paradox will
form."

Tails sighed, twiddling his thumbs. "Was there anything else I should
know about?" he asked after a long silence. Paradox looked up.

"Yes." he replied as he gazed at the view of the altar. "There are
many like Echo. He couldn't contain all his power, just in one body.
He... he spread it out, amongst three mobians. Beware of them, for
although they have not yet mastered their powers..." he turned and
gave Tails a clear look in the eye. "...They are very, very dangerous,
and they pretend to be your friends."

VvVvVvV

[Music Playing: Open Your Heart Perfect Chaos Remix, By Crush 40]

Monstrous. That was the only way it could be described. Never before
had Sonic seen a creature this big. Not even Titan Metal Sonic could
be compared to this.

"Whoa... I never fought a whole level before." Sonic gulped.

The monster let out a tremendous roar and smashed a hand, with a width
of a half mile, into the ground. Trees soared through the air as if
they were dust. Sonic revved up and shot towards it. The distance
between him and the monster was so far apart that he'd have to run a
good distance through the jungle. He flew past objects, watching them
go by as a blur. He passed over the bridge connecting the altar to the
rest of the island, then quickly ducked under the gateway that opens
the path toward Red Mountain. He took a quick breath before breaking
the sound barrier, flying through the jungle and swiftly dodging
through tree roots, brush, and tall growing plants. He approached the
creature's leg in the center of a wide valley.

"Dang it, this thing's huge!" He said to himself. Shadow and the two
Metal Sonic's came at his side.

"Listen, faker." Shadow growled as he stared at the creature. "The
four of us will need to have enough speed to charge up its leg. While
running up the creature's body, look for an opening. Enter it, and
eliminate everything you see."

Sonic nodded. "Sounds reasonable enough."

With that, Sonic, Shadow, Metal Sonic, and Silver Sonic crouched to
the ground, then launched forward. They rocketed at speeds Sonic had
only reached a few times before, and made it to the monster's
humongous foot. They leaped up, then shot up it's leg. Sonic recognized
it all instantly. The falling walkways, the twisted bridges, the
skull-shaped rocks that spit fire out, and the dangling remains of a
zipline all came back to Sonic. It was like taking a step back in
time, just before Perfect Chaos had destroyed Station Square. Of
course, the fact that the entire mountain now wanted to kill him was
forcing him to forget those memories.

"OPENING FOUND." Silver Sonic said, pointing a metallic finger at the
entrance to a cavern inside the creature. Silver Sonic, accompanied by
the other three hedgehogs, entered the cavern. The inside was basically long
dirt paths, lava rivers, and the remains of an old jailhouse. Metal
Sonic instantly took to blasting the walls while Shadow shot multiple
chaos spears. Sonic and Silver Sonic rolled into balls and shot across
the dark walls of Red Mountain. Already, the monster's center stomach
area began falling apart. Shadow waited for the others to be a safe
distance away before removing his inhibitor rings, unleashing several
Chaos Blasts. Sonic sped through with Silver Sonic, running deeper
into the creature. They found a tunnel leading upwards, and decided
against their better knowledge to run up it. The passage continued
upwards, until the duo blindly ran into an opening, and over a vast
pit. They screamed as they plummeted into the dark abyss, only to
realize that they were in a volcano. Tremors sounded as the whole
creature began shaking apart. A burst of hot air shot up, taking the
hedgehogs along with it. The rocketed upwards at supersonic speeds,
until the night sky became visible through a distant opening. They
shot out of it and flew through the air. Silver Sonic instantly ran
his scanners while in mid-air. Apparently, the earthquake they had
started had shaken the creature up so much that it could no longer
move properly. They also must have just erupted from it's head.

That could only mean they were two miles over Angel Island.

Sonic gasped as his eyes shot downward, realizing how high they were.
He covered his eyes, preparing for a lethal impact.

Instead, they were caught by a large, metallic hand. Silver Sonic
glanced up to see that Titan Metal Sonic had grabbed them just as they
burst out of the geyser, saving them from a painful landing.

"T-Thanks." Sonic stuttered at the robot, nervous from their
near-fall. The robot growled and shoved his hand through the giant
monster that once was Red Mountain. With another growl, he ripped the
mountain to pieces. He then turned, carrying Sonic and Metal Sonic
with him, and made his way to the rest of the battle.

VvVvVvV

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Shadow shouted over the rumbling of the cavern.
Huge boulders were crumbling and falling near them, threatening to
slam into either of them.

"LETS GET OUT OF HERE!" Shadow shouted again. Metal Sonic nodded
quickly. Shadow was about to use Chaos Control, when he realized that
he didn't have his Chaos Emerald. He swore under his breath as he
motioned for Metal Sonic to follow him. The two began zipping through
passages, navigating their way out. Large falling rocks barely missed
them as they tried to pick up their speed. Finally, the opening came
into view. They dived through just before it collapsed. This lead to
another problem: They were now falling a great distance from the
ground. They both tried to stay calm as they gained speed, plummeting
even faster now. Luckily, they were over a lake, and slammed into the
water surface. A bruised Shadow slowly floated back up, while Metal
Sonic just then remembered that he had rockets equiped. They turned to
see the monster crumble, while Titan Metal Sonic was leaving their
eyesight.

VvVvVvV

"He's just going to create more of those if we don't do something!"
Bolt shouted to Blaze.

"We can't do much about it now, its all I can to hold these off!" The
lavender cat responded as she lit more creatures on fire.

Bolt took a minute to think. "Do you think you can hold a few more
off?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah, go for it." Blaze grunted as she flung around, slamming her
fist into another one of the monsters.

Instantly, Bolt sank into the earth, and moved silently underground
until she came behind Echo. With lightning speed, she morphed out of
the ground, and launched herself at Echo, only to be hit by a wave of
earth.

"You seriously thought that would work?" he growled. Sally then joined
Bolt's side, along with Rotor and Knuckles.

"Everyone else is fighting off the dirt-zombies" Sally said under her
breath. "The four of us can take him."

As soon as the words escaped her lips, Knuckles had leapt at the
salamander, delivering a blurring fury of hard punches. Rotor then
slammed him in between his massive arms, but Echo shot a spike out
from the ground, instantly knocking Rotor off balance. Bolt spun
herself around, propelling herself in the air, and connecting Echo's
head with her foot. The salamander fell to the ground, and Sally
approached him.

"My focus can't be lost that easily..." he hissed, as he quickly
jumped up and levitated into the air. Sally delivered a fast kick,
causing him to drop slightly.

Rotor saw an opportunity. As soon as his eye noticed Echo's drop, he
grabbed Bolt.

"Think fast." was all he had to say, before flinging the hedgehog into
the air. Bolt caught on instantly, and gathered a heavy amount of
electricity. As soon as she was in touching distance of Echo, she
jolted all of her electricity into him, causing him to lose all his
focus. Both came crashing to the ground. Bolt shakily stood up to find that all of the monsters had collapsed.

Was it finally over?

[Music stops]

"HHHHHRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!" Echo shrieked as he flung himself back to
his feet. A strange, green aura surrounded his orange, slimy skin. The
aura increased it's intensity as he raised his hand.

"I will kill you all, fools, starting with you two." he hissed in a
lethal tone as he pointed his hand toward Chaos and Tikal. Both were
standing in front of where the last emerald was. Echo's aura grew to a
max brightness, as he screamed three fatal words:

"ULTIMATE CHAOS SPEAR!"

A huge beam of energy erupted from his body, morphing into a laser and
streaming towards the two at near light speed. Chaos and Tikal
instantly shifted to spirit form, not suffering any harm. The beam
shot down, and hit the Master Emerald spot. Instead of frying it,
however, it was absorbed.

"Oh, oh no. Oh no, no, no, NO!" Knuckles exclaimed, his red fur becoming pale.

"What's happening?" Silver asked anxiously.

"T-That spot, thats where the Master Emerald sits... and where it's
constant supply of Chaos Energy is absorbed." The echidna replied
nervously. "That Chaos Energy... is what keeps this island in the
sky."

"Oh, snap." Rotor gulped.

"Hang on, guys." Sally growled, while grabbing hold of a rock jutting
out of the ground. "We're in for a wild ride."

Echo only smiled sadistically.

Everyone grabbed hold of the nearest, firm rock or tree they could
find as Angel Island launched into the air.

VvVvVvV

"What the-" Snively exclaimed as he watched the island take off.

"KEEP AN EYE ON IT!" Robotnick shouted furiously. He grabbed the
ship's controls and shot it forward in mad pursuit of the island.

VvVvVvV

"WHAT... IS GOING ON?" Sonic yelled as Titan Metal Sonic fell to the
ground, due to the sudden jolt upwards. Sonic and Metal Sonic, who
were still in the Titan's hand, had been tossed over to the lake by
the force of the wind, right where Shadow and Silver Sonic were.

Unable to speak, Shadow could only nod at the other two Mobians as the
wind whipped every word out of their mouth's. The wind continued on,
as the four managed to snag onto vines of a nearby tree, violently
spinning around by the force of the air. Eventually, the wind was put
to a halt, but it felt as if it was declining in altitude, as if the
island was falling. This caused all of their vines to fling upward,
leaving them barely hanging on. Sonic himself was about to slip off,
when suddenly, it jerked to a stop. The vines flung downward, as the
mobians crashed into the lake below once again.

"*cough* Ugh, I HATE WATER!" Sonic shouted angrily. Silver Sonic stood
next to him, his robotics self-cleaning itself of any debris from the
lake. Metal Sonic helped Shadow climb out from the lake. The black
hedgehog glanced up, and his eyes widened.

"What the hec?!" he nearly shouted.

Directly in front of them, ripping out from the lush, green grass, was
a skyscraper. Lights shone from the windows, some fizzing out due to
the massive pressure of the island. An advertisement for "Chaos Soda"
loosely hung off of it.

"Wha... what happened?" Sonic asked in wonder. Silver Sonic turned to
their left, and prepared to take off.

"FOLLOW ME. WE SHALL FIND OUT." he said before taking off.

Sonic glanced at Shadow, shrugged, then followed his silver
counterpart. Shadow and Metal Sonic joined him soon after.

They again rushed through the jungle, past the remains of the Titan,
and out through the gate to where Red Mountain once was.

Instead of finding the familiar bridge, they found ripped peices of
wood, the altar crashed against the side of a mountain on the island,
and their friends scattered everywhere. None of the fellow Mobians
were in good shape. They all appeared to be in a state of exhaustion,
confusion, and shock. But that wasn't what concerned the four
hedgehogs the most. Before them, off the edge of Angel Island, was a
large array of city lights. Skyscrapers had slammed into the island's
side, and advertisements hung everywhere. G.U.N. choppers and robots
seemed to come out of nowhere, patrolling the area, along with a
chopper from some news reporters. A familiar, red, iron bridge
stretched before them, as part of an obvious highway. Sonic groaned
while Shadow and the Metal Sonics stared in shock.

Angel Island had crashed on top of Radical Highway.

A/N: OK, so I'm going to be using some music and themes during the
most epic fight scenes. Some of you may reconize this as a method used
by Syaoron the Fox.

Now about the chapter: AH HAHAHAHA! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! This was by
far the most epic chapter yet. It took soooooooooo long to write, not
because of it's length, but because of all the ideas I mushed into it.
Whew, thats the first time I wrote about Angel Island slamming into Radical Highway, or Sonic taking on an entire level (Red Mountain) XD

I'm somewhat satisfied with this one, unless there's a problem I
missed (if there is, plz inform me). Please review, and mention any
possible things I can improve on.

Seeyuz!

-Gnat1