Tales of Soleanna by K.M. Carroll

Story 10: Unfeasible

The Soleanna Archive lay in the oldest section of the city. It was a three-story building of traditional yellow stone, all engraved arches and pillars, and a glass dome rose in the center of the building. As Shadow walked inside, the late afternoon sunlight streamed in through the dome, casting a slab of sunlight across three stories of bookshelves.

Shadow tasted aging paper on the back of his tongue, and made a face. "Nox, I'm looking for someone old and very smart."

On his shoulder, Nox said, "Intelligence isn't something I can feel. Um, let's see."

Shadow glanced at Nox's shining eyes on his shoulder as the chao turned his head, feeling the area with his empathetic sense. "There's a couple of people in the next room. They mostly feel tired. I think they want to go home. There's one person upstairs, but he's too far away for me to feel much."

Shadow jogged up the staircase that spiraled up the inside of the dome. "I need Reginald Dover. The archeologist said he'd be here somewhere."

"I can't feel people's names," said Nox. "Good thing Rouge and Omega stayed outside. Omega couldn't handle these stairs."

"He could with his jet, but he'd set fire to the books," said Shadow.

The black hedgehog arrived on the top floor. Nox pointed at a half-open door at the end of the landing. Shadow skated to it, halted and knocked.

"Come in," said a male voice.

Shadow stepped inside. It was study the size of a small house, its walls lined with books. The floor held a desk, three armchairs, two reading lamps, and an old human with white hair and spectacles. The human looked over his spectacles at Shadow and waved a hand. "Come in, please. What might I do for you?"

Shadow walked up to the desk. Why must human furniture be a fraction too large for a Mobian to use properly? The desk's top was at Shadow's eye level, making him stand on tiptoe to see over it. "Are you Reginald Dover?"

"I am," said the human.

"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. I need information."

Reginald turned in his chair. "Come over here, where we can see each other."

Shadow circled the desk and stood before Reginald. "The king of Soleanna used to carry a scepter. It was made of glass and metal, and had wings on the top."

"Oh yes," said Reginald. "It was lost in the Kingdom Valley disaster."

"I need to know where it came from," Shadow said. "What it was made of. Everything you have."

Reginald rose from his chair, joints creaking. "Let me see what I can do for you."

Half an hour later, Shadow emerged from the Archive with a paper clutched in one hand. Rouge and Omega sat on the bottom step, and rose to their feet as Shadow clattered down the steps. "Did you get it?" said Rouge.

Shadow handed her the paper. Rouge skimmed the handwritten notes. "Scepter was crafted by an artisan in the twelfth century, believed to be named Androwan Hu. It was passed down from ruler to ruler throughout the Solarian dynasty until the human incursion of the late thirtieth century. They adopted the customs and religion of the Solarians and renamed the country Soleanna..."

Shadow was walking away. Rouge and Omega hurried after him. "How does this help us?" said Rouge. "The scepter was incredibly ancient. There's no way we can rebuild it."

Shadow held up his orange chaos emerald and kept walking.

Rouge ran up to walk beside him. "You're going to time travel again?"

Shadow nodded once.

Rouge sighed. "Can we go this time?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Then where are we going?"

The black hedgehog gazed at the horizon. "To the site believed to be Androwan's shop."

Robotnik's immense airship floated in the air above the Soleanna palace. As Robotnik's hovercraft flew down to the palace to take the Princess, a distant red dot flew up to the airship.

"It's another Egg Carrier," muttered Robo Knux. Well, heck, he knew exactly where to hide. He poured an extra burst of power into his jets and launched himself up over the sky deck. From there it was a simple matter of finding the rear maintenance hatch, carving it open with his claws, and dropping inside the ship.

The restraining shell had taken its time about unlocking his jets again. Robo Knux had to wait around and watch Robotnik escort Elise into his ship, covering the guards with a nasty-looking quad-barrel blaster. Robo Knux had pointed out to the shell five times that Elise was in danger before it relented. Stupid thing. It didn't even give him the benefit of a good argument, the way Mekion did with Shadow.

Robo Knux swept the ship with a scan, careful not to answer the main ship's wireless query. He'd been flagged as an enemy in Robotnik's computers years ago. The ship's layout was the same. The Hot Shelter had been converted into bomb storage, though. Bombs might be a trifle lighter than the million gallons of saltwater Robotnik had carried for Chaos's use. What a laugh that fiasco had been.

Deep in the ship was Robo Knux's favorite hangout, a room beneath four swinging counterweights and an open network uplink. He'd hidden there and tormented Metal Sonic for hours, because Metal Sonic could never figure out where he was.

"Psst."

Robo Knux halted and doubled back. Something moved in a darkened doorway. He stalked toward it, brandishing his claws, and scanning.

No way. Not possible.

Sonic grinned and tapped his finger to his lips. "Shh. I'm not here yet."

Robo Knux pointed at him. "I saw you. You were freaking out down at the castle."

Sonic checked his watch. "Yep. I am. In half an hour I'm trashing this joint. Wanna help?"

Robo Knux's green eyes brightened a hundred watts. "Heck yes!"

Silver and Blaze watched Robotnik's ship soar away from Soleanna, filling the sky like a steel cloud. Silver sighed and folded his arms. "You think he's got the Princess again?"

Blaze nodded. "He's been pretty single-minded about it. And knowing what we know about her ..."

Silver clenched his fists. "She's Iblis's prison. And Iblis must not be freed." He waved a hand at Blaze, levitated her and himself a few feet off the ground, and propelled them toward the ship.

Blaze pointed. "It's probably heading for his base in Kingdom Valley. Just head him off."

Silver switched directions and floated them above the treetops. As they flew, a hail of objects fell from the ship's underside, sparkling in the sun's last rays. Robots. As they disappeared behind the trees, the noise of gunfire reached them on the wind.

Blaze shielded her eyes and squinted. "I think they're attacking someone."

"It's got to be either Sonic or Shadow," said Silver. "Or both."

Blaze shot Silver a mischievous grin he hadn't seen in days. "We could go help." She flicked two fingers and orange fire danced above them.

Silver changed course again, trying to hide a grin. "Don't set the trees on fire."

"If I do, it'll be your fault."

Sonic pounded along the road in the airship's wake, arms pumping and feet flying. He saw the robots dropping for him, and tensed. His spines stiffened, ready to tear through metal at high velocities, and he grinned.

The first five robots swooped toward him, and Sonic introduced them to a high-speed spindash that burst them like balloons of metal shrapnel.

So many robots dropped that Sonic actually slowed down to attack them all. No matter how many he mowed down, more appeared. The airship slowly pulled away. Curse Robotnik! He knew exactly what he was doing!

Suddenly a sheet of flame flashed across the road, burning through fifty robots at once. As it faded, their blackened hulks collapsed into the road. Sonic skidded to a halt and stared, mouth hanging open. "What was that, a flamethrower?"

Blaze and Silver walked out of the trees, each holding up a hand. Silver's hand glowed with his telekinesis power, while Blaze's hand swirled with orange fire. Her eyes were fixed and expressionless. She cupped her hands and hurled more fire at an oncoming robot squadron. Silver grabbed the fire with his telekinesis and accelerated it. The additional oxygen fanned the fire into a wall of flame that torched the robots.

Sonic gaped.

Silver flashed Sonic a grin. "Thought you could use the help."

"Uh, yeah, uh, thanks." Sonic pointed at the airship. "We've got to move."

"We're right behind you," Silver said.

Sonic sprinted away down the road. A glance over his shoulder revealed Silver and Blaze flying after him, surrounded by Silver's telekinesis field. As long as they were using it to help, Sonic didn't mind. He slowed down enough for them to catch up. "So why are you guys helping me?"

"We have a shared interest," called Silver. "Saving Elise."

Sonic shot a look at Silver and Blaze. "First you show up and pound me, then you throw pieces of train at Shadow, now you're cooking robots. Just, wha?"

Silver shot a look at Blaze, who smirked. "Uh, Sonic, you know the whole Iblis Trigger thing..."

"Yeah, I kind of got updated on that when we visited your time and saw Mephiles send you guys here."

Blaze pointed at Sonic. "I saw you! Out in the hallway!"

Silver's two spines stiffened. "How is that possible?"

"Buttnik shipped us off with some experimental time travel device. We ran around your ruined city and saw that lava dude and stuff. Mephiles called me the Iblis Trigger and went on about how I let Iblis loose. I still don't see how I'm going to do that, by the way."

"Iblis is imprisoned inside of Elise," said Silver.

Sonic nearly tripped over his own feet. "Say what?"

"Time travel," said Silver. "Shadow and I went back and saw it all. Mephiles and Iblis are pieces of Solaris. Mephiles was sealed into a scepter and Iblis is locked inside of Elise. That's why Robotnik wants her."

Sonic pressed his hands to his temples. "Wait, wait, hold it! That lava monster is inside her? How does that work?"

"Iblis wasn't fully manifested," said Silver. "His soul was trapped inside hers with the chaos emerald. I don't know how it worked."

"I'm gonna have to ask Knux about that," Sonic muttered. "Weirdness. So, I was already going to rescue her because she's the princess, but now we have to rescue her to keep Iblis from Triggering? Uh, should I be the one doing this?"

Silver gave him a sideways look. "Maybe not, come to think of it."

Overhead, the airship's engines throttled down to a rumble, and something rattled. They looked up to see fire and debris spurt out of the starboard engine.

"Elise!" Sonic yelled. "No!" He whipped out his green chaos emerald, but the entire ship exploded into flame and began a slow sideways spiral, nose tilting downward.

Sonic, Silver and Blaze stopped and stared. The ship plunged downward into the hills, flames rolling off it like long red ribbons, until it hit the ground and erupted in a fireball that swept half the sky, then all was covered in black smoke.

Silver tapped Sonic on the shoulder. As Sonic turned, eyes wide and glassy, Silver pressed the white chaos emerald into his hand. "Here. Go back in time and save her."

Sonic blinked down at it, then smiled and handed it back. "It's all right, I've got the green one. You guys need all the help you can get. Maybe you could seal away Iblis in your time."

Silver's mouth fell open and he glanced at Blaze. "You think that could work?"

Blaze shrugged. "It's worth a try."

Sonic slapped Silver's shoulder. "I'll save Elise. You guys go save your time. If I keep Iblis from triggering, then your future will change anyway. Good luck!" He raised the green chaos emerald and vanished.

Silver turned to Blaze. "Do you think we could really seal away Iblis in our time?"

"You said he was only partially manifested," said Blaze. "In our time, he's been fully manifested for a long time."

"I could beat him to a pulp," said Silver, eyes unfocusing. "Maybe I could find his core. Catch him at his lowest point, then seal him."

Half of Blaze's mouth curled in a smile. "Your optimism is inspiring. Come on, let's try it."

Outside of Soleanna to the east lay a rolling woodland. Long ago there had been a town there, and foundations were still visible among tree roots. Fruit trees grew wild among the oaks and beeches, descendants of the orchards left behind by the inhabitants. But years ago the people had moved to the more fertile soil up north and west, leaving their old homes to crumble to dust.

Shadow, Omega and Rouge appeared out of nowhere in a grassy clearing where a house had once stood. Shadow gripped a scepter in one hand, identical to the one he'd broken.

"That was interesting," said Rouge. "I thought he was going to set his dogs on you."

"Androwan wasn't the most trusting of smiths," said Shadow, lifting the scepter with a smile. "But even he can be persuaded." He shot a glance at Rouge and Omega, Nox clinging to his shoulder. "Let's find Mephiles."

Shadow skated out of the clearing and ducked into the trees. Rouge fluttered after him, and Omega ignited his jet and flew over the treetops.

As the forest's edge, Rouge found Shadow standing with the scepter in one hand and the orange chaos emerald in the other. He stood perfectly still, eyes closed. Rouge folded her wings and waited. Shadow's sensitivity to chaos power amazed her. It was how he'd paid Androwan for the scepter-by charging a vessel with fifteen Chaos Spears. Apparently such a feat was unheard of in Androwan's time.

"He's close," murmured Shadow. "He's moving toward us."

"Shadow," said Omega. "I must speak to you."

Shadow dropped his arms and turned. "Now what?"

"I am over two hundred years old," said Omega. "When Rouge first summoned me from GUN, they had loaded me with an artificial intelligence patterned after Nox's personality."

Nox clapped his paws. "I knew it! He does talk just like me!"

"Wait," Shadow said, holding up a hand. "That was two hundred years ago. What's changed?"

Omega's red eyes winked out for a moment. "While I was in stasis, awaiting the point in time in which I was to assist you, I was hacked by a third party."

Shadow's organic eye widened.

"The creature Mephiles bypassed all of my system lockouts. He commanded me to hunt down and capture you. I subdued you and placed you in the stasis chamber, where you reside two hundred years from now. Then he allowed me to resume stasis. I regret my actions, but I lack the means to reverse them."

Shadow turned his back and folded his arms. "So you betrayed me."

"Not of my own volition," said Omega. "Understand. Mephiles hacked me with the entity called Mekion."

Shadow's fists clenched. "Mekion still finds ways to plague me." He lifted his head and gazed at the setting sun. "Well, no more."

Rouge walked up to Shadow and laid a hand on his living shoulder. "Shadow, I just wanted you to know ... even if the whole world turned against you, I'll still be your friend."

The black hedgehog gave her a long look. For a moment Shadow's perpetual haughty smirk was gone, and Rouge saw the young black hedgehog who had watched his world crumble with the death of a human girl.

"That means a lot to me," said Shadow. He looked away, and the hardness returned to his eyes and mouth. "Now it's time for payback. Mephiles, show yourself."

The setting sun vanished and sudden night covered the world. A hedgehog-like figure outlined in blue crystals rose out of the ground, its eyes glowing red and green. One hand glowed red and the other glowed purple. "Hello again, Shadow. As you can see, you're already too late to stop me. Or are you ready to join me?"

"Where'd he get those chaos emeralds?" Rouge whispered.

Shadow shrugged. "I'm going to beat your face into the black slime from whence it came."

Mephiles's arms drooped to his sides. He hung in midair, slouched forward as if the emeralds in his hands weighed heavily on his manufactured body. "You could have ruled the world at my side, Shadow."

"Don't bother lying anymore," said Shadow. "You don't want to rule anything. You lust for destruction. You're trying to pump up Iblis until he destroys every living thing on Mobius."

"Sadly, you lack the truth," said Mephiles. "But it is too late. I have already won." He swooped at Shadow, and Shadow held up the scepter.

Mephiles dissolved into black smoke, and the scepter vacuumed it up. The scepter floated in midair for a moment, then lightning crackled out of it. Shadow and Rouge shielded their eyes.

The scepter's fragments plinked to the ground and a whirlwind of darkness rose out of it. "When I absorbed your shadow, I absorbed your power, too," said Mephiles. "Capture me once, shame on you, capture me twice, shame on me." The swirling darkness resolved into Mephiles's crystalline face and glowing eyes, still turning in midair. "And now you shall die."

A wave of dark energy struck Shadow, Rouge and Omega, hurling them backward into the trees. Rouge slammed into Omega's arm and stars exploded across her vision. She shook her head and scrambled to her feet. Shadow was already up, crouched between her and Mephiles.

Mephiles raised the chaos emeralds in the air, and chaos power pulsed from both gems. As it flowed outward, copies of Mephiles appeared. Hundreds, thousands of crystal hedgehogs surrounded them, lighting the night with their red and green eyes.

Shadow laughed and turned his back on them all. He unclipped one gold bracelet, then the other, and let them fall to the grass. "I choose my own future, demon. And no one, especially not you, is going to scare me into a path I don't care to tread." He gripped the orange emerald in his fist and held it out to Rouge and Omega. They clasped their hands around his. Nox gripped Shadow's shoulder a little tighter.

Shadow looked at Rouge and Omega for a second, and smiled. Then he bellowed, "Chaos blast!"

Cleansing flames roared skyward.