Hm, no reviews for the last chapter. Whatever, I just hope you guys are enjoying it. Thanks for all the favs and alerts though.
I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure.
Normal POV
The group entered the large cavern beneath the surface where the volcano raged. One Chaos Emerald had come with little to no trouble, but it seemed the second would come with even less of a struggle, at least they hoped it would. As they exited the dark tunnel that provided them entry, the found that their path ended and were met with a large pool of magma in the chamber. A light blue glow shone from beyond their footing, only inches away.
"There is it," said Tails, pointing to the cyan Chaos Emerald.
"I'll get it," said Azure, flying over to the Emerald.
As she reached out with her hand to grasp the Emerald, Shadow noticed the bubbles brewing just below her. He narrowed his eyes as the bubbles got louder and more frenzied. His eyes widened in shock as he stepped forward. "Don't touch it!" he shouted.
"Huh?" Azure turned to look at Shadow in confusion, almost touching the Emerald. All of a sudden, she felt an enormous heat envelop her. "Ah!" She pushed her wings as hard as she could to get away from the fire swirling up from the magma below and around the Emerald. Her dragon skin protected her from the intense flames, but they did singe her clothes. In her haste, she roughly fell back onto the slab just as Shadow ran out in front of her with his arms ready for a fight. "What is that thing?" she cried out as Sonic and Tails helped her back into her feet.
"Yeah, now we're talking! This is gonna be fun!" exclaimed Sonic.
"He's kidding right?" asked Azure in shock and fear.
"Unfortunately no. The bigger they are, the most excited he gets," said Tails.
"Whatever it is, it's going down. We need that Chaos Emerald if we want to get back to our time. The rest of you stay back. We'll handle this," said Shadow.
"Are you crazy?" cried Knuckles, as the fire worm dove back into the magma and resurfaced several feet away. "As good as the two of you are when you're working together, the last time I checked, neither of you are exactly fire proof."
"Knuckles is right. You won't be able to do much damage if you can't even get to him," added Tails.
"Any ideas, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"Well, Azure and I can provide air support and get you close enough for an attack. You and Shadow are the only ones who can't fly, so you're at a disadvantage."
"It's our best shot," added Knuckles.
"It's not what I normally prefer, but we don't have much of a choice," said Shadow.
"All right, let's do it! We're counting on you two to get us in close!" said Sonic, giving Tails a thumbs up.
"You up for this?" Shadow asked Azure.
Azure looked at him and hesitated to answer. Never in a million years had she thought she'd be fighting a giant fire snake in a cavern filled with magma. If there was one thing that she knew about herself, it was that she couldn't gather the courage to face such a ferocious and powerful creature. But something was different now. It was the way Shadow looked at her, which wasn't all too different from how he looked in general. Maybe it wasn't necessarily the way Shadow looked at her, but rather the feeling she got when she looked at him. Whenever Azure looked at Shadow, she felt so full of ambition and strength, like she could do anything. Perhaps being around a person capable of such bravery and power instilled the same feeling in her. Azure pushed all her hesitant and fearful feelings to the back of her mind and answered with a determined nod, "Absolutely."
"Incoming!" shouted Tails, as the worm launched a rain of flaming boulders towards them. They took to the air – Tails carrying Sonic and Azure carrying Shadow – and hovered high above the worm as it let out a piercing roar.
"Let's get it while it's distracted!" cried Sonic. Tails, Azure and Knuckles swooped towards the worm.
As they got closer, Shadow narrowed his eyes as he spotted a bright green spot on the worm's head. "Look! There, on it's head: that green eye."
"What about it?" asked Azure.
"It's not as heavily armored like the rest of its body and it's brightly colored. It could be the weak spot," Shadow said, pointing to the bright green eye on the worm's forehead.
"It's worth a shot! Get us in as close as you can," said Sonic. Tails and Azure flew in just close enough for Sonic and Shadow to launch a homing attack directly at the worm's green eye. They jumped off just as Tails and Azure flew back around to pick them up. The worm roared out and dove into the magma. It swam around with its head barely poking out of the surface.
"Damn it, that thing's smarter than we give it credit for," said Shadow, holding Azure's hand tightly as they hovered over the pool of magma.
"It's learning. So long as it stays submerged, we can't get to it without getting too close to the magma. We have to find a way to draw it out long enough to hit it again," said Tails, spinning his two tails while holding onto Sonic tightly.
"But how are we supposed to do that?" asked Knuckles, as they landed on a high platform over the magma. They watched as the worm swam through the magma, sinking beneath the surface a few times, only leaving its eyes and horn exposed.
Azure scanned the area along with the others, in hopes of finding something to get the worm's attention. All of a sudden, Azure spotted floating purple spheres a few feet away from the worm on a few wayward platforms. "Over there!" she cried, pointing to them.
"I'm not sure purple balls are gonna help us, Azure," said Sonic. "Nice try though," he said, patting her back.
"No, when you touch those, they light up. Before I met up with you guys, I got stuck in this dark room and they lit up when I touched them. We can use them to get its attention and Sonic and Shadow can finish it off!"
"Haha, I like it! Nice going, kid!" Sonic exclaimed, slapping Azure on the back a little harder than he intended.
She coughed slightly and regained her balance before rubbing her arm nervously, "Uh, thanks."
"Knuckles, think you can get the light show working?" asked Sonic.
"I'm on it," Knuckles replied, punching his fist confidently.
"Get the orbs lit and get out of there fast. Sonic and I can take it from there," said Shadow.
Knuckles leapt off the ledge towards the platforms with the purple orbs. He punched the orbs and they lit up with a bright purple-pink light. Knuckles climbed up the wall that joined to the platform and glided to a safe distance just as the worm dove out of the magma towards the lights. The horns on its head worked against it as its head got stuck tight in the platform with the rest of it's body sticking of the magma. It waved its tail frantically, trying to break free from the platform, but it was no use.
"Now!" cried Sonic. Azure and Tails dove towards the worm's head as Sonic and Shadow leapt forward in a double homing attack, hitting the worm's green eye dead center, shattering the green eye into pieces. The worm reared its head back in pain, breaking free of the platform just as Azure and Tails returned to pick Sonic and Shadow up again. It cried out in pain before falling into the magma with a loud flop.
They regrouped at a higher ledge and waited a few seconds after the entire body sank into the magma. "D-did you get it? Is it dead?" asked Tails.
"I hope so," said Sonic, narrowing his eyes at the magma, as if he were waiting for the worm to jump out very much alive. His suspicions were put to rest when the cyan Chaos Emerald floated out of the magma and towards them. "All right! The Chaos Emerald, now we can get back to our own time… Right?" he asked, turning to Shadow.
"If my theory is correct, it should work," he said, pulling out his green Chaos Emerald. "You ready?"
"I was born ready, Shadow," said Sonic.
They stepped forward, facing each other before holding out their hands with the Chaos Emeralds and shouted in unison, "Chaos control!" Nothing happened for a few seconds before a blue and white swirling portal appeared beside them.
"It worked!" exclaimed Azure.
"All right, let's go guys!" cried Sonic, as he jumped into the portal followed by Tails and Knuckles.
Azure was the next to go. She hovered in front of the portal and turned to look at Shadow before flying in, not taking her eyes off him. Shadow was about to follow her when he heard something behind him. He turned his head sharply and saw a thick inky smoke alongside a small flame. The smoke disappeared as Mephiles suddenly formed from the smoke, turning his head to Shadow and giving him an eerie look.
In this mild distraction, Shadow felt the Chaos Emerald slip from his hands and fall into the portal. "Damn it," he whispered, trying to reach out and grab the Emerald. He looked at the portal and back at Mephiles before dashing off to pursue the creature as the portal closed behind him.
A blue and white swirling portal opened in the New City of Soleanna. Azure fell out of the portal and landed on the pavement on her stomach while a green Chaos Emerald bounced to a stop beside her. "Ow…" Azure groaned and picked herself up off the pavement, dusting herself off. She saw the Chaos Emerald from the corner of her eye and dashed over to it.
"The Chaos Emerald? But I thought Shadow had that." She turned to look at the portal, waiting for Shadow to appear, but it simply closed up and disappeared. She quickly pressed into the communicator in her ear. "Shadow? Shadow? Come in! Can you hear me?" she asked frantically. "I'm not picking anything up. Even if Shadow came out somewhere else, I should still be able to reach him. Oh no, what if he's still stuck in the future? But why didn't he come back with us?" she cried, her face in shock. She paced back and forth, grasping her head while trying to calm herself down and think.
"I have to help him! But he's 200 years in the future! I can't just wait around. Shadow needs help now!" Azure cried, grabbing her head frantically. "Wait! Omega!" she cried, remembering when she and Shadow spotted the inactive robot in the future. "That's it! He can get to Shadow now and help." She pressed into her communicator and patched into GUN HQ.
"Hello? This is agent Azure."
"Agent Azure, this is GUN HQ. We read you," replied an agent.
"I need to get in contact with E-123 Omega immediately!" she cried. Normally, Azure wasn't this forceful, but the matter was urgent.
"Roger that. Omega is currently available and near your location. We'll send orders and have him meet you at a rendezvous point in the forest just off from your location."
"Thank you, Azure out." With as much strength she could summon in her wings, she made a b-line for the Soleanna forest with the green Chaos Emerald wrapped tightly in her grip. As she got closer to the lake within the forest, she spotted something bright red and flew down to get closer. Once she saw that it was Omega, she landed as quickly as she could, almost tripping as she got to the ground.
"Omega!" she cried, panting in exhaustion.
Omega turned to face her. "Agent Azure the Dragon," he said.
"Y-you know me?" she asked, surprised.
"Affirmative. I have reviewed your files. You can generate and expel lightning and electrical energy. I look forward to seeing you destroy things," he said.
"Oh um, thanks! But that can wait! Shadow needs your help!"
"Shadow? What is the situation?"
"Well, the Scepter of Darkness I was sent to retrieve from Eggman's base contained some dark entity that sent Shadow and I 200 years into the future. We managed to find a way to make it back, but I don't think Shadow made it. I think he's still stuck in the future."
"Situation understood. What would you like me to do?"
"I need you to take this Chaos Emerald and wait until the future becomes the present. I'm worried Shadow might run into Mephiles again and he'll need a Chaos Emerald. You're the only one who can do this Omega," she said, pleading, holding out the Chaos Emerald.
Omega reached out and took the Emerald, placing it inside a compartment in his body. "System reactivation countdown initiated. Backup source and spare magazines secured. Command priority changed. New mission: Shadow support. External access no longer permitted."
"Thank you, Omega. I'm counting on you!" Azure said with a smile. Omega turned and said nothing before walking away, presumably to shut down. "…I wonder what kind of magazines Omega reads…"
This is one of the reasons I found translating a video game into fanfiction content. Namely, turning gameplay content into a well written story format. I think I did a pretty good job though and I hope you guys liked it.
I'm trying to wrap up this fic as quickly as I can right now because I have two sequels planned and a crossover comic set after that. The prospective release date for the comic is Fall-Winter of 2013, so both I and my partner Zacnichols123 are hoping to finish up our fanfics and start the comic to release it on time.
