I'm glad a certain someone's interest was piqued. Sorry that my updates are slow since I'm doing Nanowrimo. Please Review. I do not own anything except the plot and OC characters.
Chapter 9: The Sand is Rising
The massive glass tornado shattered and Sonic tumbled out as he collapsed to his knees.
"Chris? What's happening to him?" thought the hedgehog as he stared at his friend.
"Something that will get him killed." His dark side was back again.
"You again." Sonic hated the fact his dark side seemed to become its own seperate person who could speak to him.
"I told you. We're the same person. I was about to let loose when White Lily interfered." He was going to throw another retort when he realized what he just said.
"White Lily? What does she have to do with this?" The fact that White Lily was involved worried him.
"Everything. I guess I'll have to sit this one out. How boring." The hedgehog could feel the darkness fading and he didn't have all his answers yet.
"Wait." He desperately reached out to grab his other half, but it slipped through his grasp.
Dark Sonic was gone and he felt somehow hollow.
"I won't let you hurt my friends anymore." spoke Chris unwavering.
"What are you going to do?" said the first twin.
"You're a measly human." spoke the second twin.
"This." The boy had raised his arm with the bracelet to be perpendicular to his body.
A red glow emitted from his hand and he fired a fireball at Des. It struck her shoulder effectively melting the metal. She shrieked in pain as her arm was severed from the rest of her body.
"Des! How dare you hurt my sister." Ert turned from her sister to Chris charged with anger.
She caused a sand tornado to surround him, but it solidified into glass.
"Fool. Now you can't get out." The twin let out a laugh.
She stopped laughing when she saw the glass melt and the boy stepped out unharmed.
"Impossible. You were trapped." She fidgeted in place as she waited for him to make the next move.
"True. Sand, wind, and fire together make glass, but if the temperature gets too high, it'll be impossible for it to retain its shape and melt the glass." he said as he took a step towards her.
"So what. You still can't beat us. We're among the highest ranking Metarex commanders. This terrain is the best suited for our skills." She moved forward undetered by what just happened.
"But it's weak against many different kinds of elements. Fire or water on their own can defeat your combined sand and wind. Fire makes it molten while water would turn it muddy." He was slowly approaching her position and she seemed hesitant to do anything.
Her hands tightened and shook as she looked between her sister lying on the ground to Chris.
"So what. I can still do this." She angled her arm as if to throw something at him, but the sand didn't move.
"What?" The boy was hit by a blast of wind and catapulted into the air.
"You're right about sand and wind not being effective against you, but wind itself is enough to beat you." Vents opened up in her plams causing the air around them to whip violently.
"Chris." The crew that were able got to their feet and moved to help him.
The twin raised her hand to fire another blast of wind when a chain pulled her arm away from Chris as he was saved by the girl rabbit and chao. The echidna raised his golden knuckles and smashed it into her leg crushing it while she was distracted by the chain. The Metarex collapsed onto her good knee when the girl hedgehog struck Ert in the face knocking her into the ground.
"Sonic." Sonic looked to the source and saw the two-tailed fox throw him a ring.
"Thanks." He caught the ring and spun at the Metarex.
The hedgehog went through the Metarex's chest and pieces flew all over the place.
"Ert! NO!" Des had gotten to her feet and grabbed her arm.
Sonic popped out of the ground and crawled out spitting sand.
"That's one down." he said as he hurried to his friend's side.
The Metarex hurried to her fallen twin's side and shook her.
"Ert. Ert. You can't leave me." She frantically looked for signs of life, but found none.
The crew surrounded the Metarex except for the boy and Tails who sat on the sidelines.
"Now return the chaos emerald and planet egg." demanded Cosmo's daughter.
"How dare you." Des didn't hear a single thing she said.
"It's your own fault. You destroyed this world's inhabitants." spoke Amy.
"How dare you do this to my sister! I'll make you pay." said the Metarex.
Des reached into her twin's chest and pulled out the small orb that represented their status as Metarex out of her chest.
"We'll beat you together." she said as she raised it above her head.
She slammed the sphere into her chest and a sandstorm whipped up surrounding everything in sand. A sandstorm that threatened to bury all of them.
"Ah! What's with this storm?" The girl hedgehog held her dress down in an attempt to keep it from lifting up.
"This sandstorm is unnatural. It can't possibly be this big." said the two-tailed fox as he clinged to the ship.
"I can't see." The plant girl shielded her eyes with her hands as she desperately tried to see through the sand and wind.
"Where are you? I'm scared." Cream cowered on the ground hoping for the storm to stop.
"Choo." Cheese was being thrown around by the wind.
"Des! Show yourself." Knuckles held his fists up searching for the Metarex.
"I'm right here."
Twin tails struck him in the chest and he slammed into one of his friends.
"You'll pay for that Metarex." The echidna turned around prepared to pummel the figure in the face.
"I'm not a Metarex." The hedgehog tried to back away from Knuckles.
A claw separated them and the echidna was flung into the air.
"Knuckles!" Sonic felt something pinch his lower back and struggled against the grip.
Instead, it tightened and threatened to break the hedgehog in two.
"Sonic. Amy. Cheese. Knuckles. Tails. Chris. I can't see you." The girl rabbit took a step forward when she was by struck by a tail and was lifted into the air.
"Cream." Amy swerved to the sound of her screams.
The girl hedgehog was struck down from behind and felt something pressing on her back. When the storm cleared, a spaceship sized scorpion towered over them. In its claws were Amy and Knuckles while Starlight and Cream were wrapped in its tails. Sonic was gripped in its maw while Cream tried to provide some aid to him.
"This is for what you did to Ert." Des tightened her grip on all of them and they cried out in pain.
"Oh no. This is bad. We'll need the Sonic Power Cannon." Chris got to his feet and signaled to Tails.
"But Sonic's caught." The two-tailed fox looked towards Des and anxiously back to the boy.
"Don't worry. I'll save him. Get the cannon ready." Chris answered and made his way to the Metarex.
"Okay Chris." Tails gave one quick glance at the scene before looking towards the Blue Typhoon.
The two-tailed fox hurried into the ship as the boy dragged himself closer to the Des.
"Hahaha! Pathetic. What can you do in your condition? Not only are you a human, but the continual use of the chaos crystal egg will kill you." said the Metarex as she stood confident and unafraid.
"That may be true, but you've left yourself wide open." Chris kept his pace unhindered.
"How's that?" The Metarex seemed curious at what made him so confident.
"Your claws, tails, and maw are completely occupied. You can't defend yourself without releasing my friends." The boy smirked as the Metarex scanned each said part.
"That's what you think." spoke Des as a column of sand erupted from where Chris stood.
"Chris." The crew stopped their struggles and watched in horror.
"You're wrong about that. Not only does the chaos emerald and planet egg give me more power, but the crystal hearts of this world provide me god-like abilities. I'm invincible!" said the Metarex.
"Crystal hearts? What is she talking about?" thought the hedgehog as he stared down at Des.
"Are they like the chaos emeralds?" The echidna thought as he remembered that the Metarex still had the chaos emerald.
"She better stop ranting or else." thought girl hedgehog as she fought to hit her.
"This Metarex is strong." The girl rabbit thought as she reached out to the chao.
"This is bad. The combination of all three objects may be impossible to beat. Even if we used the Sonic Power Cannon, he may not be able to beat the Metarex." thought Cosmo's daughter as she watched everyone's reaction.
Tails plopped into his seat as he checked the ship's readings.
"This is bad. Even with the power up, it doesn't look like we have enough power to fire the Sonic Power Cannon." The two-tailed fox sought out ways to gain more power.
Tails displayed what was happening on the screen and realized the boy was in trouble.
"Oh no. They need me." The two-tailed fox aimed the lasers at Des ready to fire.
Suddenly, the column of sand shifted into glass and shattered. Chris held a bloodied shoulder and nearly collapsed to his knees.
"It appears the effects are finally getting to you. Let's end this shall we." The Metarex released Amy, Cream, Knuckles, and the plant girl as she charged towards the boy.
"Watch out Chris." The echidna got to his feet, but wasn't fast enough to stop what happened next.
Chris didn't move and Des struck him sending him into the air.
"Chris!" The crew could only watch as their friend soared through the sky sending red droplets at them.
As his body was drawn back to the ground, the biy positioned his arm with the bracelet to face palm ward toward the Metarex. A blast of fire hit Des in the neck forcing her to release Sonic.
"How dare you brat." The Metarex stamped the ground as the hedgehog jumped to safety.
Sand wrapped itself around Chris as he landed and tightened.
"I'm coming Chris. Shovel Claws." Knuckles charged towards his trapped friend ignoring Des.
The echidna pulled out his claws and removed some of the seand. The first couple of strikes were relatively easy; however, with each new strike, the sand seemed harder. Soon his shovel claws couldn't penetrate the sand.
"What's with this sand?" Knuckles backed off trying to access the situation.
A burst of sand covered the echidna and entombed him.
"Knuckles." The girl hedgehog ran up to the Metarex with a plan in mind.
Amy raised her piko hammer and smashed it into Des's side. It shattered on impact and she clutched her hands to her chest. The sand at her feet softened and she was pulled under.
"Amy. We'll save you." The girl rabbit got Cheese's attention as the chao rushed towards her.
Cream flapped her ears as Cheese grabbed her around the waist. They took into the air and reached out to the girl hedgehog. Their hands were only fingertips away when a blast of sand from the Metarex hit them and sent them flying into the Blue Typhoon. The sand hardened and pinned them to the ship's hull as the ship slowly sank into the ground. Starlight had wrapped her chain around one of the wings and mustered all her strength to keep it from sinking, but failed and found herself also being pulled down.
"Is this quicksand?" said Tails aloud as he looked to the ship's systems for some answers.
The two-tailed fox did some quick scans and they confirmed his assumptions.
"How's this happening?" Tails had the picture of the Blue Typhoon on the main screen covering the battle.
The two-tailed fox did more searching and found abnormally high energy readings emitting from Des.
"These readings. It can't be. The energy levels are almost identical to our final battle with the Metarex kings. How is she getting so much power?" Tails looked back to scene and felt a chill crawl up his spine looking at her.
"This is bad. Everyone is stuck and I don't know if I can beat the Metarex without the Sonic Power Cannon. The effects of the pills already wore off. Should I take another one?" Sonic thought as he surveyed the entire area.
"You can not take more than once a day and you need to let your body rest a few days in between intervals. Your body needs time to cope with these pills. Failure to do so will cause unpleasant effects." The white haried woman's words seemed to echo in his mind.
"No. I'll just have to beat the Metarex on my own." thought the hedgehog as he shook the idea of taking another pill out of his head.
"What's the matter hedgehog? Ready to admit defeat?" spoke the Metarex as she focused her full attention on him.
The Metarex leader flashed in Sonic's as he prepared himself.
"No way. I need to find out the truth." the hedgehog declared as he waited for her reaction.
"Truth about what? The truth that you are a liar and traitor?" Des laughed as if what he said must have been some kind of joke.
"What is with you Metarex and riddles?" Sonic wanted to prod her into attacking.
"They're not riddles. They just seem like it to you." The Metarex seemed unfazed by his own seemingly uncaring mood.
"So they're basically riddles." The hedgehog could tell she was ready to pounce.
"Say what you want. It doesn't matter either way." Des disappeared and reappeared behind him as she shot a blast of wind.
Sonic hit the sand and struggled to get up again.