(AN: Well, here we are, the last chapter of A Deal or No Deal, thank you to everybody for reading so far and keeping up with this... incredibly long fic, it means a lot! I'm not gonna keep you any further, I'll say what I wanna say at the end of the fic, so let the story commence!)
It was 7am.
When everyone woke up, they all had one thing in mind.
"Today's the day…"
After a wordless breakfast, and checking on Omega to see if he was good (which he was), the group all headed out to the Mystic Ruins, ready for their final challenge: Eggman himself, and whatever U.B. is.
Upon reaching Station Square, they saw that there were still a lot of people roaming the streets, but not as many as there would normally be.
"You think they would have evacuated…" Charmy commented.
"It's like the delivery boy told me; they rely on us to help them," Vector muttered to himself.
Surprisingly, the train station was still up and running. When Vector had asked the woman next to him and everyone else, she said: "Trains don't stop running until the city officials say so,"
After getting on board, Vector took note of the grey sky, and Eggman's airship, which had gotten closer than it had been the previous night when he had seen Espio.
Espio….
Thinking about what had happened last night made Vector's heart feel pang of remorse. Would Espio even be okay when he got on the airship? Would he even see him again in the first place?
The crocodile knew to keep his head up; he hadn't collected the seven Chaos Emeralds for nothing after all. What would be better was that he could finally confess how he felt, so he no longer had to keep it in.
"That is… IF he feels the same…" Vector thought.
The train stopped at the Mystic Ruins finally, and Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega got up from their seats, and out of the train.
"Let's head to your workshop, Tails," Sonic said.
"I know that, Sonic, I mean where else would the Tornado be?" The two tailed fox said in reply.
Sonic stuck his tongue out as the group finally went up the steps to Tails' workshop, going into the garage. It was then that everyone saw that the Tornado had more seats now.
"I also upgraded this last night as well!" Tails proudly stated.
"That's nice Tails, but… how long did you stay up?" Rouge asked.
"5 am… but hey, I got it all done, right?"
The crocodile, bee, blue, black, and pink hedgehog, echidna, and bat looked rather worried as they saw heavy bangs under Tails' eyes.
"You really should sleep after we kick some Eggman butt, pal," Sonic said.
"I should… but, we have important things besides sleep!"
Tails pressed the button to open up his garage as everyone got onto a seat. Sonic got onto the wings as Vector got onto the seat closest to where Tails was.
"Everyone strapped in?"
A large amount of 'yup's' or 'yes's' were said in reply. Everyone looked forward as Tails pulled the throttle of the Tornado up.
"Then we're ready for takeoff!"
The blades of the Tornado began to spin as the plane slowly began to move forward. Vector slightly squinted his eyes.
"Espio… we're comin' fer ya, buddy…" He said.
Then, the Tornado took off.
As the Tornado reached closer and closer to Eggman's ship, packs and packs of smaller ships began coming towards the Tornado. They began to shoot beams at the airplane, but Tails was able to maneuver the Tornado just in time. Sonic yelped as he was almost thrown out of the plane.
"Sonic! Are you okay?!" Tails yelled out.
"I'm fine, pal!" He replied.
"I knew Eggman would do something like this! Fortunately however, I came prepared!"
Tails flipped a few switches on the control panel as small turret guns popped up in front of everybody (Except Omega).
"Use these to attack incoming ships! We need to down all of them! Omega, you can use your arm cannon to blast them!"
"Affirmative, fox child," Omega replied.
"Look! Coming in from the right!" Amy yelled. Everyone moved their turret right and began to shoot away at the various ships advancing towards them. They all exploded as Tails began to fly upwards. More and more ships came their way as everyone went about on shooting them down.
"Hey, Vector! Look what I can do!" Charmy exclaimed. He aimed his turret and shot two ships in less than 10 seconds.
"Wow, look at yeh! Yer doin' good, kid!" The large green reptile said in response. Charmy grinned.
"Shadow, to your left!" Rouge yelled as Shadow began to shoot at four ships coming their way.
"Tails, dodge!" The ultimate life form said. The two tailed fox nodded as he began to wobble the ship.
"Hey, get some more ships down!" Sonic called out. "They're coming after me!"
"I got you, Sonic!" Knuckles replied. He shot down more ships as Tails went through a cloud, high above Eggman's airship.
"Is it just me, or did the sky get darker?" Vector commented.
"Yeah… it did!" Amy replied.
"Foreshadowing, I bet…" Shadow added.
More and more ships continued to make their way, rushing towards the Tornado. Yet, they were shot down each time.
Tails took a slight detour around the right side of Eggman's airship as more ships advanced. Once again, they were being shot down by the group as Tails moved the Tornado to the left.
"There's a lot of cannons still around!" Tails said as he dodged a large beam. "We'll need to destroy each one before we can land safely!"
"Alright then, let's do it to it!" Sonic replied.
"Hmm… all this fighting going on outside, a familiar airplane… this can only mean one thing…" Dr. Eggman mused from the main pilot room.
"We're going to be nuked? OH NO, I CAN'T DIE! I'M TOO YOUNG!" Cubot tragically said.
"NO YOU IDIOT!" The doctor yelled in response. "The Chaotix and their friends have arrived… finally… they brought me what I wish…"
Orbot and Cubot watched as Dr. Eggman moved towards a pillar with a bowl on it. The bowl contained the ball shaped object with red markings that he had kept in the fish tank. He looked down at it and pressed a button, causing the pillar, and the bowl with it, to go into the floor.
"Finally, your time for awakening has come… U.B…"
Espio looked up as he heard the countless explosions coming from outside. He buried his head into his legs, hoping that Vector hadn't been on one of those planes.
"Please… hurry, Vector…" Espio muttered, starting to feel himself break.
"Those are the two main cannons on the front of the ship!" Tails said. "Now, it's time to take out the remaining few by where we should land!"
Sure enough, there were four white cannons pointed directly at the Tornado. They began to shoot missiles that Omega shot down.
"Rouge, Shadow, now is your chance," Omega said. The two members of Team Dark pointed their turrets at the cannons. Two of the cannons exploded as Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy shot their turrets at the remaining two cannons. Just as one exploded, another began to charge up.
"TAILS! WATCH OUT!" Vector called out. Tails perked up and quickly did a barrel roll, narrowly dodging a large blue laser. The bee popped out from where he was hiding and began to shoot at the last remaining cannon. It exploded as the two tailed fox put a fist in the air.
"Alright, we did it!" He said. "Now we can head down!"
Vector's heart beat intensely as Tails maneuvered the Tornado down. He safely landed the plane as everyone got off.
"Nice thinking with those turrets, Tails!" Knuckles complimented.
"Eh heh, thanks, Knuckles. I knew we'd need them," Tails replied, blushing.
"You remember our plan?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah," replied Vector, nodding.
"There's something I have to give you."
Sonic handed Vector a shiny gold ring.
"If things go bad, and I mean real bad, when I'm super, just give me this. You understand, right?" The blue blur asked. The large green reptile nodded.
"Hey, hedgehog, this is no time for good luck charms," Shadow said, turned around. "Let's get going."
"We're comin'!" Vector replied. Charmy buzzed up to his guardian.
"Charmy, give me the Chaos Emeralds," Vector requested.
"On it!" The bee replied. One by one, he handed him the blue, green, purple, red, light blue, white, and yellow Chaos Emerald.
After joining along with everyone, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega walked along the airship. Amy held her hammer tightly as Knuckles seemed to be ready to attack.
Just then, Dr. Eggman popped up in his Eggmobile, along with Orbot and Cubot.
"Why hello, Chaotix and friends!" He said. "It's so nice to see you!"
"Cut it out with the nice talk, Eggman!" Vector yelled. "We got whacha want! Now hand 'im over!"
"Ah yes, the chameleon, Espio. Don't worry, he's still alive. Just a little… beaten down from acting disrespectful…"
Vector growled as his brow furrowed.
"So, the Chaos Emeralds?"
The crocodile held them out.
"Oh, how splendid! You did get them all! Well, as a part of the deal…"
Eggman pressed a button on the control panel of the Eggmobile, which revealed a key. He held it out in front of Vector.
"This is the key to Espio's cell, after you've given me what I want, it's all yours."
Swallowing, Vector walked up to the evil doctor, still holding the Chaos Emeralds. His tail swished in a certain way to signal Sonic to get ready.
With everyone hoping that the plan would go right, Vector seemed like he was going to give the Emeralds to Eggman.
However, just before he could let them drop in his hands, Vector moved his head and yelled "NOW SONIC!"
The blue hedgehog speeded off, but before he could even reach the Emeralds, Eggman swiped Sonic and Vector away with a large metal object that came from underneath the Eggmobile.
"SONIC! VECTOR!" Charmy, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy yelled. Everyone, including Team Dark, rushed over to check on the two downed mobians.
"I'm okay…" Sonic said.
"S-Same here…" Vector added, holding his shoulder. Everyone looked up at Eggman, who was now laughing hardly.
"DID YOU FOOLS SERIOUSLY BELIEVE YOU COULD FAKE ME OUT? TOO BAD!" He said. Dr. Eggman took a look at the key before throwing it overboard. Vector held his arm out as his jaw dropped.
"No… NO! DAMN YOU EGGMAN!" Vector snarled, smashing his fist onto the ground. "I'LL KILL YEH, I'LL KILL YEH!"
It took everyone's strength to not let the crocodile come after the evil doctor.
"Finally… they're all mine, all seven Chaos Emeralds… my plan for the end has come!"
Eggman pressed another button as the same pillar he had in his quarters earlier now emerged. Everyone looked at it confused.
"What is that?" Rouge asked.
"This… this is the start of your downfall! The end as we know it! Look and see the great powers of the Chaos Emeralds, U.B…. your time for awakening has come!"
"That's U.B.? Looks pathetic Eggman, it's just a ball," Sonic said.
"No, this is no ball, hedgehog," Eggman spat. "Arise, successor of evil!"
Eggman crashed all seven Chaos Emeralds into the ball as electricity busted from each one, hovering over the ball. It opened up, revealing an embryo. The embryo thrashed about as it began to scream. However, as it did, dark energy burst everywhere. The group held their arms over their faces.
"Do you feel that?" Vector asked.
"Darkness, pure darkness," Shadow replied.
"I feel chills up my spine…" Charmy commented, shivering.
Suddenly, the clouds around them began to turn a dark purple, and black lightning filled the sky as a result of U.B.'s will of dark energy. While it seemed like it only affected where the airship was, the worst part was that the clouds of dark energy were spreading fast.
As the citizens of Station Square walked along the streets, the area became completely dark. Everyone looked up at the sky and pointed at the dark purple skies. Some began to panic and ran away in fear, while other's stayed put, simply wondering what was happening.
Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla were in their backyard, planting vegetables. Surprisingly, where they were was quite sunny.
The little rabbit hummed a tune as she watered the lilies with her watering can (green with a pink flower on it), Cheese helping out. Meanwhile, Vanilla planted a few carrots.
"Add some water to the carrots, will you dear?"
"Yes, mommy!"
Cream happily watered the newly planted carrots and smiled at her mother.
Just then, the sky began to darken.
"That's strange… the weatherman said it was going to be partly cloudy today…" Vanilla said.
It was when the two looked up that they saw the dark purple clouds.
"Look mommy! I think a very bad storm is coming!" Cream said. Cheese looked up at the sky with curiosity.
Vanilla on the other hand, looked terrified. She simply knew by the color of the clouds that this was not normal. The adult rabbit bit her lip as she felt a dark aura coming from the sky.
"Mommy?" Cream asked.
"Cream, we need to get inside, now." Vanilla sharply said.
"What?"
"NOW!"
Vanilla grabbed her daughter and held her tightly as she ran into her house, allowing Cheese access before shutting the door and locking it.
Big and Froggy sat by their usual fishing spot, waiting for new catches. So far, only two fishes were caught, and the large purple cat wanted there to be a sufficient amount for him to eat.
After throwing his line into the pond, Froggy croaked as the sky began to darken. Big looked up at the dark purple sky, emotionless.
"It looks like the sky's angry today…" he said.
The Babylon Rogues were training for their next EX-World Grand Prix. Jet, Wave, and Storm did one last lap around the Cliffside they were training at before stopping to take a break.
"That's one good lap, Rouges! We need to keep this up! After this break, let's do another lap!" Jet said. Storm nodded in response as Wave noticed the sky getting dark.
"You might wanna scratch that idea, it looks like it's going to rain," she said. However, when the Rogues properly looked up at the sky, they saw dark purple clouds advancing quickly towards them.
"Boss! Those clouds look weird!" Storm said. As they got closer, Jet began to look at them with fear in his eyes.
"Jet?" Wave asked. "What's the matter?"
The hawk could feel the dark aura emanating from the sky in the same way Vanilla did.
"I don't like how that sky looks, not one bit. It's nowhere near normal," He said.
"Now that you mention it, when has the sky gotten purple like this?" The swallow mused.
Jet looked sharply at his teammates. "Wave, Storm, we need to get out of here, NOW!"
"Huh? Jet, what about practice?"
"When I mean now, I mean NOW! Practice can wait another day, Wave! Right now, we need to hightail out of here, pronto!"
Jet kicked the ground and began to speed off on his Extreme Gear as Wave followed. Storm clumsily followed behind the two.
"B-Boss! Wait up!"
Ranger Ken sat with his son in their front yard, watching the sky and feeling the breeze. His wife was hanging up clothing for it to dry.
"I'm sorry we couldn't go on that picnic, sport," Ranger Ken said.
"It's okay, dad. You told me about what Sonic and his friends are going to do about that Dr. Eggman, so all's going to be good," His son replied, smiling at him. The ranger smiled in response, caressing his son's head.
It was then that the sky began to darken as the three looked up. Ranger Ken sat up and looked at the sky in shock, positioning his hat.
"Chaos all mighty… it's worse than I thought…" he muttered.
"Ken? What's going on?" His wife asked.
"Honey, you and Michael need to hide inside right now."
"W-What? What about you?!"
"I'll be fine, get me my shotgun from the closet."
"Your shotgun?"
"I think hell's going to break loose."
As the dark energy subsided from where U.B. was, the group could see that the once embryo took on a new form.
This new form looked like a human fetus, only it had a large head, the wings of a demon, and a long red tail. It crawled from the pillar and onto the floor, gurgling.
"What… IS THAT THING?!" Amy screamed, holding her mouth.
"This 'thing' is the definition of evil, the thing that will help me achieve my goal, destroying Mobius! My magnum opus if you will!" Dr. Eggman yelled. "This is U.B… the Ultimate Being!"
"So that's what U.B. stands for… the Ultimate Being…" Vector said to himself.
"It simply looks like an ugly child," Rouge said.
"Don't underestimate this creature, Rouge. I can sense that it is nothing like anything we've faced," Shadow said.
"Now, my child… attack them!" Eggman yelled, pointing to the group. He laughed as he moved the Eggmobile aside, Orbot and Cubot watching from the window.
"Hey, Orbot! Popcorn's ready!" The yellow robot said.
"Ooh! I think I'll need it! This is going to be one interesting fight…" Orbot replied.
"You better share," Eggman coldly stated.
Vector growled as he looked at the Ultimate Being. "Thing, it's just yeh and the rest of us. One is gonna have to survive,"
The Ultimate Being got up from the floor and began to hover as everyone held their ground.
"That's what we're gonna find out! C'mon guys! Let's do this fer Mobius and fer Espio!"
As Vector ran up to the Ultimate Being, trying to punch it, it swished its tail, causing everyone to be flung back. It held its stomach in and let out a burst of energy, only hurting everyone more. Amy tried to attack with her Piko Piko Hammer, but found that it didn't affect the Ultimate Being.
"What?! How is this not getting hurt?" She asked.
"Amy, let me go next," Shadow said. The ultimate life form looked at the Ultimate Being before attempting to kick it in the face. However, Shadow was knocked back without any time to react.
Knuckles proceeded to run up to the Ultimate Being, before being knocked back by one of its bursts of energy. Sonic and Tails simply stayed back.
"Argh! There's no way we can beat this thing!" Rouge said.
It was then that Charmy positioned his stinger at the Ultimate Being, firing a sting shot at its arm. Surprisingly, the Ultimate Being yelped as it seemed to have been hurt.
"Let me take care of this," Omega said. He positioned his arm cannon and shot five consecutive rounds of bullets, each of them hitting the Ultimate Being as it yelped in pain once again. It held its arms close to its chest again.
"Guys, get out of the way!" Vector yelled as everyone flung themselves back as the Ultimate Being shot out another burst of energy.
"Charmy, Omega! Get another attack in!" Tails said.
"Alright, I will!" The bee replied.
"Affirmative," The robot added.
The bee shot another stinger at the Ultimate Being as Omega once again, shot five consecutive rounds at it. Holding in its arms once again, everyone stepped back as another burst of energy spread out around the Ultimate Being.
"Let's see if this'll end it!" Charmy said as he shot out another stinger. Omega shot the Ultimate Being from there.
The creature fell to the ground and held its arm out. All of a sudden, the Ultimate Being spontaneously combusted. Its entire body on fire, it did nothing to try to put the flames out.
"Pff, that's it, Eggman?" Sonic asked. "Your Ultimate Being was bested by us!"
"You believe that? Don't come to conclusions you don't know the answer to, hedgehog!" Eggman spat.
All of sudden, the Ultimate Being began to shine white as it seemed to have exploded. Everyone covered their eyes to shield them from the blast, but when they opened them once again, they were horrified at what they saw.
The Ultimate Being had not died, but instead, taken on a new form. This new form was entirely white, larger and taller with red eyes, a set of branch like arms under its regular arms, a tentacle on its back, and legs above the ones it already has. However, it was who this new form looked like that caused everyone, especially Vector, to freeze up.
It had taken the form of Espio.
"W-What is this?! Is this thing growing?!" Shadow questioned.
"Ah ha ha ha! You catch on, ultimate life form!" Eggman said. "The Ultimate Being will continue to grow until it reaches its final stage, where it will be so powerful, nothing, and I mean NOTHING will destroy it! Go, kill them all!"
The Espio-form of the Ultimate Being began to float as Vector could only look at it with fear and sadness.
"Vector, listen to me! That's not the real Espio! The Ultimate Being has simply taken on his look!" Sonic said. "Pull yourself… VECTOR! MOVE!"
The crocodile saw that the Ultimate Being its hands together as it shot out a periwinkle ball of energy directly at him. Vector dodged just in time as it shot out another two. He looked at the Ultimate Being with anger.
"Hey… how's 'bout a little present?"
Vector breathed a fireball that hit the Ultimate Being directly.
"Someone, distract him fer me!" He said.
"I'll take care of that!" Rouge replied. She flew up to the Ultimate Being and took out one of her jewels, beginning to taunt the being of evil.
Meanwhile, Vector took out a piece of gum and blew one of his signature bubbles as he floated into the air. Going above the Ultimate Being, he slammed his fist into its head before being smacked away by it.
"At least I got somethin'…" He muttered to himself.
Omega held up both of his arm cannons as he shot out a barrage of bullets. Each of them went through the Ultimate Being as Sonic used his homing attack skill on it, crashing into it.
"This bug you? It should!" The blue blur added.
As Sonic returned back to where his friends where, the Ultimate Being began to charge up for more of the periwinkle colored balls of energy. However, Amy stepped up in front of everyone, holding her Piko Piko Hammer tightly.
"Not my friends you scum," Amy spat out. Tails was surprised to see this new side of the pink hedgehog.
"Amy?" He asked.
"Tails, I'll protect each and every one of you. Don't worry," Amy replied.
The Ultimate Being shot its balls of energy as Amy reflected each one back at the Ultimate Being. She ran up, and jumping high into the air, smashed her hammer onto the head of the being of darkness.
Coming down to the floor, Amy smirked. "I'm ready for more!"
"Action gal, aren't we?" Knuckles asked. The red echidna was caught off guard for a brief moment as the Ultimate Being tried to clamp its branch like arms on his head. However, Knuckles pushed the two apart as far as he could using all his strength.
"You don't know who I am, do you?" He breathed out to the Ultimate Being. He began to push the arms farther apart as the red-eyed impersonation of Espio, portrayed by the Ultimate Being, blankly looked at Knuckles. With a grunt, he pushed farther apart as Knuckles knew he dislocated the branch-like arms when he heard the CRUNCH noise.
"Ah ha! Gotcha!"
But the outcome was different. The Ultimate Being detached itself from the branch like arms, which turned out to be wings. It floated above the Ultimate Being as it crawled around the floor on all fours.
"Ahh!" Rouge cried out, flying upwards to avoid any confrontation with whatever it was trying to do.
"Listen! We need to attack both the wings and the Ultimate Being itself!" Shadow yelled out.
"Ok! Charmy, Rouge, and I should take care of the wings while the rest of you focus on the Ultimate Being!" Tails replied. The three flight type mobians flew into the air as cord connecting the wings began to shoot out the balls of energy the Ultimate Being had been shooting out earlier, only in a much rapid succession.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, Shadow and Omega shot bullet after bullet at the crawling Ultimate Being as it stay still. Its body began to glow as a peculiar color emanated from its forehead.
"Huh?" Vector said. He soon caught on as to what the Ultimate Being was doing. "OH, CHAOS! EVERYONE, GET OUTTA THE WAY!"
The Ultimate Being lifted its tail and burst out a large beam of purple energy. Knuckles could feel himself get hurt by one of the balls of electricity that the wings were shooting out.
"Damn, this thing never wants to stop!" The red echidna said. "How are you three coming along?"
"I've stung the wings a few times! Tails and Rouge are just looking for the perfect moment to strike!" Charmy replied.
As he said that, the group was taken off guard by the Ultimate Being shooting out another beam, this time, moving it back and forth. Vector, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow screamed as they were flung back. Omega fell on his front, immediately getting up.
"I… I will not be bested once again," The robot said. He positioned his arm cannon and proceeded to shoot a hefty number of bullets at the Ultimate Being.
"Tails, now!" Rouge said as the two attacked. Rouge kicked the wings upwards as Tails used his tail attack to cut the wings in half. The Ultimate Being screamed as what was left of its wings fell to the ground.
"Now to take care of this ugly mug!" The white bat said.
The Ultimate Being, now seeing itself at a disadvantage, began to crawl away from the group. Vector smirked in response.
"Not so tough are ya?" He mocked.
Seconds later, another beam of energy was shot from the Ultimate Being's tail, which everyone dodged.
Dr. Eggman began to thrash in the Eggmobile. "Go! Do something! I command you to kill them!"
The Ultimate Being's eyes narrowed as it lunged forward as Vector, bringing the crocodile down to the ground. He attempted to push him off with all his strength, moving his head from side to side as the Ultimate Being tried to clamp its sharp teeth on the crocodile.
Vector kicked the Ultimate Being in the stomach as it went flying back. Amy used this opportunity to attack using her hammer. With the strongest swing she could muster, the pink hedgehog swung her Piko Piko Hammer, causing the Ultimate Being to crash onto the outer walls of the airship.
Running up to it, the group saw that the Espio form of the Ultimate Being, much like its last form, spontaneously combusted.
"Hopefully this is it!" Vector said.
However, it showed no signs of stopping.
Everything went quiet as the sound of a heartbeat was the only thing that audible. Eggman's goggles lowered as a wide, evil looking grin appeared on his face.
"Yes… open your heart to unleash even greater evil onto this world…" He said.
The Ultimate Being suddenly was lifted into the air as it shined bright. Everyone covered their eyes once again, and uncovered them to see that the Ultimate Being had undergone a third transformation.
This time, it looked less like Espio and more like an alien hybrid, it stood tall and muscular, with two blue tentacles protruding from its back. It now had glowing green eyes, and its tail was now much thicker.
The group could only look on in horror as the beast in front of them refused to die.
"This… this is the mature being?!" Vector asked.
"You have that right, Vector! With the Ultimate Being slowly evolving more, all you can do is waste your energy. Attack them, Ultimate Being!" Dr. Eggman said.
The Ultimate Being slowly moved around the group as green electricity jolted out from its body. It looked at Vector and rushed towards him, attacking with its elbow, and then crashing down with its fist. Vector yelped as he was brought to the ground as a result of each hit.
"VECTOR!" Charmy cried out. Before the bee could help, Shadow grabbed the back of his jacket.
"Kid, it's too dangerous! That thing will kill you in an instant!" He said. Charmy looked with sadness in his eyes as Vector tried to get up, and eventually did.
Holding his fists, he punched twice at the Ultimate Being's chest as he flew away to the corner of the airship.
"Guys, arentcha gonna help?!"
"Vector's right! We're all in this together!" Amy said. She, along with everyone else joined the crocodile.
The Ultimate Being held its hands together, and lifted its tail as it began to charge up a pinkish-purple aura of energy. It shot out a barrage of royal purple balls of energy, each hitting the group and sending them back.
"We're not gonna be this thing's punching bag anymore!" Sonic growled. He sped up to the Ultimate Being and attacked in the air. He finished his move off with a homing attack.
Falling back to the ground, the Ultimate Being concentrated its attention on Sonic, and attempted to attack him. However, the blue blur dodged each attempted hit.
Using this chance, Omega held out his arm cannon and began to shoot a multitude of bullets, far more than before. He had eventually ceased his fire after the Ultimate Being began to block the bullets using some sort of kinetic field.
"Guys, I have an idea!" Vector called out. "We need to combine our attacks all at once!"
"How are we going to do that?" Rouge asked.
"Just follow after me! All ya need to do is surround the Ultimate Being!"
Everyone nodded as the group circled around the demonic creature. The Ultimate Being looked around for a brief moment before a white circle formed around its body, pulling its arms close to its chest. It began to glow as it prepared an attack.
"NOW'S THE PERFECT TIME!" Vector yelled.
Immediately, Omega began to shoot at the Ultimate Being as everyone jumped into the air, and attacked in their own separate ways. Vector and Knuckles, with their fists, Shadow and Rouge, with their elbows, Sonic, curled into a ball, Amy with her Piko Piko Hammer, Charmy with his stinger, and Tails with his tails attack.
The eight landed back on the ground as the Ultimate Being stood still. It then began to tumble on the ground, standing on its legs. Everyone (sans Omega) was breathing heavily at this point, tired from all the fighting they've done.
"Is it over?" Knuckles panted.
Just then, a horrid screeching noise was audible as everyone (but Omega again) covered their ears. The Ultimate Being's body began to become filled with boils as is skin began to turn blue and scaly, almost watery in a sense. Its hands became long fins as a horrid squishing noise was made as it happened. It grew another set of arms as blood oozed out from where the arms grew, its color a sickly green. Its face no contained no details; it instead looked like a worm. Amy covered her mouth and closer her eyes as she sounded like she was going to throw up.
"Amy…" Rouge said in a worried tone. She could understand why the pink hedgehog was reacting this way, seeing this thing transform in front of their eyes was disgusting.
Of course, the Ultimate Being wasn't finished with its transformation. Its tail now longer, its entire body became translucent. And finally, where its chest was, a large heart was visible, which connected to all the visible nerves on the Ultimate Being.
"Hey, Tails… is it me or does the Ultimate Being look a bit like… Chaos?" Sonic asked.
"Now that you mention it…" Tails mused, seeing the features on the Ultimate Being. "Yeah, you're kinda right,"
The group now looked up as the Ultimate Being now overshadowed them, Eggman flew next to it and laughed.
"It's still growing!" Vector said. He squinted his eyes more closely. "No… It's… evolving…"
"Evolving? Then, you mean?" Tails asked.
Vector nodded his head.
"Oh ho ho ho ho! You may have defeated the first three forms of the Ultimate Being, but! This is the true form! Behold its power! Watch as your untimely deaths have arrived! NOW, ATTACK!" Eggman yelled.
The Ultimate Being launched out nine spherical objects towards the group. Not knowing what to do, each of them launched a red beam at someone. The first to get hit was Charmy, who was flung back. Vector could hear him crying because of the pain and got angry.
"DAMN YEH, NOT MAH LIL' BUDDY!" He yelled. He ran up and attacked the creature, but saw as his hand went through the body of the Ultimate Being. The crocodile looked up and saw that all the objects surrounded him. He was blasted away and landed a few feet from where he was.
This went on until everyone was down. Omega attempted to put on a fight, but to no avail.
"Bullets are not doing enough damage, switching to laser cannon mode," He said. Just before Omega could fire a beam, he was blasted away as well.
Everyone now lay on the floor, groaning in pain as it only seemed to get sharper.
Eggman flew towards everyone and laughed.
"Finally! Your days of defeating me have ended!" He exclaimed. "And not only will you die, but that chameleon as well! I have no need for him after all!"
He then snickered. "And not only will you lot endure pain and suffering at the hands of the Ultimate Being, but so will Mobius as a whole!"
Tails lifted himself from the ground. "It's… it's no use… Eggman's taken things so far…"
"Not far, fox boy! This is revenge for every little time Sonic and his pathetic friends have ruined one of my plans!"
Vector moaned in pain, not being able to do anything.
"E-Espio… I'm… sorry…. I failed you… I let you down for not being strong enough…" He thought. A tear rolled down his cheek as he shut his eyes. "Now… I'll never see you again…"
"Finally, the last stage before your death! Ultimate Being, lay your eggs onto Mobius!"
The Ultimate Being attached itself to Eggman's airship as it began to drop transparent turquoise colored eggs from the sky. Many of them were being shot down at an alarming rate.
The people of Mobius screamed as the eggs were hitting the ground, hatching into large bug like creatures. Many attempted to run away as the creatures went after everything in sight.
Ranger Ken pointed his shotgun and shot one of the creatures as one tried to attack his arm. He punched it then shot it.
"Ken!" His wife called out from inside the house, shielding their son's eyes.
"Honey, stay inside! I'm going to protect you and our boy, even if I die trying!"
His wife's eyes filled with tears as the ranger continued to fire at many of the creatures.
"Damn… they just never quit appearing, do they?" He mumbled. "Vector and his friends… I hope they're killing whatever's causing these things to appear."
Back on the airship, everyone continued to lay still as the Ultimate Being stopped laying its eggs.
"Finally… now, kill the-"
Before Eggman could finish, Sonic slowly got up, seeming to limp.
"Oh, the blue blur himself wishes to face the Ultimate Being?" Eggman said.
"Yes, I've had enough Eggman. We're not going to stay here and watch Mobius become a wasteland for this thing's eggs. I'm going to kill it in a different way," Sonic said.
"How so?"
Sonic smirked and walked over to the seven Chaos Emeralds, which were on the floor.
"What?! No… how did they get there?!"
"I think your little beast dropped them."
"N-NO! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!"
Sonic felt himself float in the air as the Chaos Emeralds began to spin around him. He held his arms close to his chest as the Emeralds spun faster.
A golden light shined brightly as everyone covered their eyes. Vector looked up to see that Sonic was now a golden yellow, his eyes red, and was floating. This meant one thing: Sonic transformed into Super Sonic.
Super Sonic looked behind him at his friends.
"Vector, I'll take care of the Ultimate Being from here. You go on ahead and find Espio. As for everyone else, you all should return to the surface and destroy all the eggs this thing laid all over Mobius," he said. Everyone nodded as they got up, somehow feeling better now that Sonic did his super transformation.
"Vector, take this!" Tails said, throwing him a small object. The crocodile saw that it was a walkie-talkie. "Call us and we'll get you and Espio, once you rescue him!" He then called out: "Be careful, Sonic!"
"Yeah, same!" Amy and Knuckles added as they, along with Charmy and Team Dark, headed back to the Tornado. The plane took off as Vector looked at Super Sonic.
"Yer gonna be alright?" he said.
"I'll be fine," The now golden hedgehog said, looking at the Ultimate Being. "Now go!"
Vector nodded as he ran past the creature.
"They're getting away! Oh, never mind! He can rescue that chameleon for all I care! Ultimate Being, destroy Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Super Sonic grit his teeth. "HERE I COME, YOU EVIL DEMON HAG!"
Vector panted heavily as he ran around the ship, looking for where Espio was.
"ESPIO! ESPIO, WHERE ARE YA?!" The crocodile called out. He looked around frantically as he took a turn to the left.
"ESPIO?!"
It was then that he heard a voice.
"Vector?! VECTOR, IS THAT YOU?!"
It was none other than Espio.
The large green reptile ran to the left and headed into a narrow hallway with cells in them. Looking to the left, he found who he was looking for. Espio looked miserable, more skinner, afraid, and weaker than he normally looked.
"Dun worry, Espio, Imma getcha out!" Vector said. Remembering what he did during the fake Eggman case, Vector punched the bars of the cell as it burst open. Once it did, Espio ran into Vector's arms.
"V-Vector… I thought you never would have come…" Espio said in an emotional tone. Vector consoled his crush.
"Shh… it's okay, Espio… I'm here to getcha out now… I was worried so bad fer ya too…"
The leader of the Chaotix looked down at the fuchsia reptile. "I know there's some things we should talk about, but now's not the best time, we need to get outta here!"
"I agree, let's leave," Espio replied. Vector grabbed Espio's hand and led him down the how, frantically looking for an exit.
"Damn… ya think they would have emergency exits or somethin' of that likeness…" Vector muttered. The two reptiles went up a flight of stairs and looked down at the fight Sonic and the Ultimate Being was having. From the looks of it, Super Sonic seemed to be getting weaker as more and more hits were being landed on him.
"Vector, Sonic's in trouble!" Espio said.
It was then that he remembered what Sonic gave him; the gold ring.
"If things go bad, and I mean real bad, when I'm super, just give me this. You understand, right?"
Vector ran over to the glass and punched it, causing it to shatter. Super Sonic glided backwards as he looked up.
"Sonic, take this!"
The crocodile shot the ring at Super Sonic as he collected it with ease.
"Oh no you don't!" Eggman said. Super Sonic lunged forward as the Eggmobile, causing it to go through the Ultimate Being, damaging it, then flying backwards far away.
"NOOOOOOOOoooo I'll get you next time, Sonic!..." Eggman echoed as the Eggmobile went soaring through the sky, far away from the airship.
"It looks like we're blasting off… that's a really dated jokeeee!" Orbot and Cubot yelled along with Dr. Eggman.
"Yeah, good job!" Vector complimented, giving a thumbs up.
"Vector, we have no time! We need to escape!" Espio said, tugging on Vector's arm.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, we shouldda taken focus on ourselves first. But Sonic is our friend, and he's super important in defeating that thing."
"I understand. Still, we need to go!"
"Alrighty, alrighty,"
Vector ran across the room and through the door.
MEANWHILE
Super Sonic continued his fight with the Ultimate Being. He was seeing now that the creature was dangerously low on stamina.
"Ready for more?" Super Sonic asked in a cocky tone.
Before the Ultimate Being could attack, Super Sonic charged all the energy he had stored up and used his Super Sonic Missile ability, shooting right through the heart of the Ultimate Being. It completely detached from the body and flew down from the airship.
Super Sonic watched as the Ultimate Being began to flail intensely, the same squishing noise being audible. One of its fins began to expand before tearing off completely, liquidly puke yellow colored blood spilling out onto the floor. The second fin came off entirely as well as the first one.
It continued to flail as its skin began to completely detach. The once blueish skin now turned yellow as the Ultimate Being backed into a corner. The lower half of its body came apart and entirely melted upon hitting the floor. With one last attempt of levitating, the Ultimate Being fell to the ground as its skin melted, leaving nothing behind but a skull and the upper half of a spinal cord.
Sonic smirked as finally, the threat of the Ultimate Being was now over.
"Now, time to wreck this place!"
"Espio, I think I found an emergency exit!" Vector exclaimed. The two were now panting from all the running they did. However, they knew they had to keep running.
Just before Vector could open the door, an explosion shook the entire ship, causing Vector and Espio to tumble to the floor. The crocodile found himself on top of the chameleon. The two stared at each other for a brief while, blushing slightly. Vector immediately got himself off from Espio.
"U-Um, er…. I…" Vector stammered. "S-Sorry 'bout that, Espio. I just sorta fell on ya because of that explosion and uh-"
"It's fine," The fuchsia reptile responded.
"Still, what the heck was that?"
Vector's walkie-talkie crackled to life as he pulled it out.
"V-Ve..tor… Vector, can you hear me?" Tails said.
"Loud and clear, what's goin' on?" Vector asked.
"The airship just exploded! You and Espio need to get out of there, now!"
"Eggman didn't come back, did he?"
"No, it's Super Sonic! He's destroying the ship so it doesn't do any harm!"
Vector froze. "Wait, he'd destroy it knowing we're still on board?!"
"My guess is as good as yours. Anyway, get off from the airship and we'll meet you on the surface!"
"Gotcha."
Vector kicked down the emergency exit in front of them as it got sucked up by the wind. Opening the emergency parachute window, the large green reptile saw that there was only one parachute.
"What are we going to do now, Vector?"
Without saying a word, Vector put on the backpack containing the parachute and grabbed Espio as he jumped off from the airship. The two went flying down as more and more of the airship exploded.
Vector continued to hold Espio tightly, not wanting to let go despite his aching muscles wanting to. He had decided to open the parachute, which opened up without an issue. The two reptiles were now descending to the surface at a slow pace, so Vector thought this would be the ideal opportunity to tell everything to Espio.
"Espio…" Vector began. "I dun think ya know how much it means to me to see yeh again."
"The same here… I was losing hope day after day," Espio replied.
"Well, I'm here now…"
Espio softly smiled in response as Vector looked embarrassed. "Now it's time…" He thought.
"Espio… y'know… throughout this entire adventure, I've been real adamant on savin' yeh, but… as I collected more and more Chaos Emeralds… I began to feel… strange."
"How so?"
"I worried 'bout ya so much that everyone else was worried about me, yer all I can think 'bout."
"Me?"
"Yeah… especially after I realized something…"
Espio's heart fluttered up. "Is he going to say what I think he's going to say?" he thought.
"Espio, d'ya promise ya aren't gonna be mad at me if I say what I wanna say? I dunno how yeh'd take it…"
"Take what?"
"Espio… I… I love you."
Vector turned away from the chameleon, not wanting to look at him in the face. The ninja chuckled as he held Vector's face, moving it to face him.
"So, you took my advice," he said. "Still, it's best not to assume certain things."
"Whaddya mean?"
Espio got closer to Vector, eyelids lowering.
"Because I feel the same."
Before the leader of the Chaotix could respond, Espio wrapped his arms around Vector's neck and kissed him right then and there. Vector's eyes widened as he slowly returned the kiss.
From until they reached the surface, Vector and Espio kissed.
When the two finally got back to land, they immediately headed over to Station Square, where it seemed many eggs still remained. Yet, Charmy, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Team Dark was doing a good job exterminating all of them.
The two reptiles could see that Super Sonic returned to the surface to meet with the rest of his friends. Vector nodded to the golden hedgehog as he sent out a large burst of energy, disintegrating each egg, both hatched and unhatched. Sonic felt himself getting weaker as he shot away the Chaos Emeralds (but not before grabbing the yellow one), turning back to normal.
The dark purple sky finally subdued as the sky appeared to be clear now. All the citizens of Mobius came out from where they were hiding to look at the result of the attack. However, they began to clap and cheer for the heroes. Everyone smiled (sans Team Dark) and wave, and Vector and Espio looked at each other from a brief glimpse and smirked.
After moving to a quieter location, Sonic handed Shadow the Chaos Emerald he had.
"Here you are, edgehog," he said, tossing it to him. "One Chaos Emerald for you as a reward for helping us,"
"Thanks, I guess… our work here is done. Rouge, Omega, let's return to G.U.N."
"Gotcha."
"Affirmative."
Team Dark walked away as the Chaotix, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy watched them go.
"There they go…" Tails said. "You know, it's kind of a shame, I was getting used to them."
"I think we all were," Sonic said. "Anyway, we're really glad to see you back, Espio. You aren't hurt or anything, are you?"
"No, I am okay. I promise," Espio replied.
"Well, with you all cuddled up against Vector, I can see you're not," The blue hedgehog chuckled. Espio chuckled as he gave a smooch to Vector's cheek, catching everyone off guard.
"Whoa! Did you just?"
"I sure did."
"So, you guys are an item now?" Knuckles asked.
"Yuppers!" Vector replied.
"And when did that happen?"
"Just not too long ago."
"I see… it looks like it'll take me time to comprehend that… still though, you guys are happy with each other."
"I'll say!" Amy added, holding her hands. "Because you two make such a cute couple!"
Vector and Espio chuckled. "Well, ya know what they say," The crocodile said.
"I can tell you one thing: my knight in shining armor arrived to me on that airship," Espio joked. Everyone laughed in response.
"That explains why you were worried sick about Espio! I get it now!" Tails said.
"Yeah bud, love's a crazy thing, lemme tell you," Sonic said, poking the two tailed fox.
"And speaking of love, Sonic, since this is the end of our adventure, give me a kiss for a job well done!" Amy said, holding out her arms. Sonic retracted, looking paranoid.
"See, Tails? Case in point! I'll catch you guys later!"
Sonic sped off as Amy went after him. "Don't leave me, Sonic! That's not fair!" She called out.
"Well, time to return to Angel Island. That Master Emerald isn't guarding itself you know," Knuckles said.
"I can take you there," Tails said. "Besides, this adventure gave me a ton of ideas for future inventions! I'll probably be cooped up in my workshop all night!"
"Nerd," Knuckles stuck his tongue out at the fox. "Anyway, we're going now. See you guys soon."
The Chaotix waved as Vector put Espio down on the floor.
"So, you guys are serious right? You're in love?" Charmy said. The two reptiles nodded.
"Ew, don't try to get your lovey-dovey cooties on me, it still counts even if it is you two, Vector and Espio!"
Crocodile and chameleon laughed, reminding themselves that Charmy was still a child, and didn't comprehend romance.
"Alright, if that's what you wish, we'll try not to get you 'cooties', Charmy," Espio said.
"Good! Other than that, I'm happy you guys are together! Does this mean you guys are my parents?" Charmy asked. Vector and Espio looked at each other.
"If ya wanna see it that way, sure," Vector said.
"Yay! Parents! Parents!" Charmy buzzed around the two reptiles. "Hey, if you guys are my parents, we should have a celebration for saving Espio and Mobius! We should go out for ice cream!"
"Heh, yeh better be thankful I grabbed all those rings in the temples. Hopefully there's still SOME place that's open," Vector said.
"Yay! Come on, Espio!"
Espio slyly grinned as he held Vector's hand, and Charmy held Espio's arm, the now united Chaotix members going off to Station Square to enjoy time together. It wouldn't just be the three however, something new would arise for Vector and Espio in the future, and they knew it to be positive.
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A WEEK LATER
"Hey Tails, I gotta ask… what WAS the Ultimate Being?"
"The Ultimate Being? Truth of the matter is, Sonic, I tried to find something about this Ultimate Being, but nothing…"
"Yeah but… it's strange. How did it take on the form of Espio, not to mention, look human like Egghead?"
"It could be a result of the two's DNA mixing."
"So, you're saying the Ultimate Being was created by Egghead with stuff from Espio?"
"We may never know. One thing for sure, it doesn't match up with anything here on Mobius, so that means…"
"It came from somewhere else, and Eggman modified it."
FIN
(AN 2: So, here we are, another Vecpio fic finished! Thank you to everybody who's faved, followed, and most of all, reviewed this story so far! I had a real fun time writing this (even if it was longer than I'd normally write), and really do have it on high regard! Now, that ending may seem like its setting up for a sequel, but to ruin those plans, no, I am not writing a sequel to this story.
So what's next?
I have ONE Vecpio fic in the works, that won't be posted until the summer. The only thing I'm going to say is, on June 26th, 2016, let's return to Mobius U, shall we?
As for anything else, well, the next thing I have planned actually is a Jetorm (Jet/Storm) AU I wrote a while back, that I wanted to post onto here. Other than that, I've been thinking about tackling other fandoms too, but hey, only time will tell.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed A Deal or No Deal, and I'll see you next fic...)
