AN: Alright! Another chapter up! For those of you who wanted nother plot twist, you're about to get it!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Sega, Archie, or Yu-Gi-Oh! Disturbed, Hunter, and Shifter are all owned by Nobel 6
Claimer: I own this plot, and all OCs not affiliated with Nobel 6
Transmitter Base; Southeastern Peninsula
July-16-4286
22:15 Mobius Time
[Now Playing: "Nothing Else Matters" by: Metallica]
Shifter was nudged awake by Seraph a couple hours later. He rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself onto his knees, clutching his head as it pounded with a severe headache.
When he looked up to Seraph, his eyes were full of malcontent, glaring down at his wolf form. He tapped his foot eagerly, saying, "You have a lot of explaining to do."
Shifter groaned as he sat up, noticing that Disturbed and Fiona sat down as well as Seraph, forming a circle. He sighed as he leaned his head back, letting the memories began to flow... "The echidna who helped us out is my worst enemy; archenemy, if you will."
Seraph raised a calculating eyebrow at him, almost as if he were seeing right through him. "And he helped you out… why?"
Fiona swore she caught the sign of tears in his eyes before he wiped them. "Let me start from the beginning…"
[FLASHBACK]
"Back in the day, I was part of the Guardian Union Nations, or GUN."
A burning building… how typical. He thought as he starred at the blazing building. Skeptically glancing at it, he determined that the best course of action would be to douse it all.
Changing his form, he became an ice based entity, his every wolf-like feature now crystalized in solid ice. His eye gleamed with grey as he reached his hand out, as if pretending to hold the burning building in his grasp.
Shifter then clutched his fist closed and shouted, "ABSOLUTE ZERO!"
The building was immediately frozen in its place. Fire, though seeming impossible, was crystalized as every atom was frozen in time.
With the threat nullified, he casually strode into the frozen building, searching for any survivors.
He frowned as he realized that he had arrived late, with some of the bodies already burnt to a crisp. Most of the dead Mobians were no longer recognizable in their charred remains. He turned from some of the brittle remains of what was once a dachshund to find a shivering lavender furred fox curled into a ball.
He smiled lightly at her as he reverted to his normal wolf form and picked her up. Immediately, the vixen began to subconsciously snuggle up to him. He could feel the redness seep into his cheeks as she buried her muzzle in his chest.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he began to walk out of the frozen building; slowly, so as not to wake her.
"Her name was Auriel. We became fast friends, and before you knew it, we were in a steady relationship."
Many months after Auriel was saved from the burning building, they could be found sitting under great oak in the spring, cuddling and simply enjoying the day with one another. Shifter breathed through his nose, smelling the sweet smells from the flower beds around.
"It sure us a nice day, isn't it Metatron?" Auriel asked, laying her tail over Shifter's chest. It was a sure sign of their relationship that he had given her his real name.
He sighed, glancing over into her azure eyes for a short time before pulling her closer to him. "It really is, Auriel."
He looked at the nearby street, with people walking to and fro. He couldn't quite understand why none of them could have his carefree life. He had a substantial income, a girlfriend who also happened to be in GUN –also earning a similar substantial income –and all the time in the world.
"Maybe they're just not as luck as you and I." Auriel whispered, using her telepathy to finish his thought.
Shifter chuckled at her comment. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he rhetorically asked.
"Only about a thousand times!" She replied joyfully. He could feel her enthusiasm all the time, in every word she said, and in every movement she made.
"That reminds me, Metatron." She muttered while reaching into her tail fur for an object. When she found it, she brought her hand up to Shifter and offered the trinket inside to him. "I want you to have this."
He looked at the necklace, awed by its bizarre design. It was a thick gold thread, intertwined with a thinner copper chain-link. Emblazoned in silver on the necklace were the words: Diligere Semper.
'Love you forever'… He deciphered from the silver letters while give a faint smile. "I love you too, Auriel."
They looked each other in the eye for a few silent moments before Shifter pulled her in for a kiss.
"My life was wonderful; I had everything I ever wanted. Then… he came."
Their mission was simple, yet difficult. The two were to infiltrate an enemy compound and destroy an echidna by the name of Thanatos, more commonly known as the Hunter.
Infiltration was simple, as the guard was minimal, and their mission had gone smoothly till Hunter had learned of their presence. Now, they were running down a dank hall, chasing the shadow of a dangerous, intercontinental villain.
"Alright Auriel, I've got an idea." Shifter said when they came to a fork in the hallway. "You take the left, and I'll go right."
Though not much of an idea, the lavender fox nodded to him with a smile, diverging into the left path. Shifter realized too late that his hall came to a dead end, and his beloved was alone with the monstrosity that was their target.
Distraught with fear, he ran the other way, dashing around the corner and looking for any sign of her when he heard her distinctive shriek. "Auriel!" He called out to her, hoping she would respond. When he received no reply, he pushed himself harder to find her.
Rounding a corner, he saw her chained to a nearby wall, with scathes and lacerations covering her body. A pool of blood formed as the red liquid dripped from her shredded skin.
Right next to her was the metal platted echidna, going for another slash with his metallic claws, tearing more flesh and blood from her body. Climactically, he struck again, this time hitting her heart. She gasped once more before her eyes rolled into her head and she hung limp from the chains.
With a shout of anguish, Shifter charged at Hunter, holding aloft an item he rarely pulled out. The object was a white Sol emerald, one of the cross-dimensional sisters of the Chaos emeralds, with the ability to bend the fabric of space.
How he had acquired it was irrelevant to him as he shone it in front of him and a strange vortex appeared behind Hunter. The portal was outlined with various patterns and alien designs, drawing in the metal echidna with fierce gusts.
Hunter managed to cling to a piece of metal while the void continued to suck him in. Immune to its effects, Shifter strode over to him.
"My name is Metatron Arch." He stated solemnly, glaring at Hunter all the while. "You killed my wife, Hunter. Prepare to die."
Hunter simply huffed, giving the concept that he was smirking behind his metal mask. "No need for formalities, fool." He declared. "I am Thanatos, and this will not be the last you've seen of me!"
With that, the metal echidna released his death grip on the fraying metal and was lost in the void.
[END FLASHBACK]
"… And that's how I met him." Shifter finished, leaving Fiona and Tails biting back tears while Disturbed sighed in empathy.
With the sob story finished, Seraph checked on the operating computer and stretched a smirk across his face. "Whatever his motive is, he was courteous enough to complete the hacking, which means half of the robot army has been completely immobilized." The twin-tailed fox cleared up while returning to his comrades.
Disturbed gave a toothy grin and batted his palm with his fist. "Then, it's about time we give the Freedom Fighters some well-deserved back-up."
[Stop Music]
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
~ ("We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone" –Ronald Reagan) ~
[Now Playing: "Eruption" by: Van Halen]
…Syaoron the Fox presents…
…Using Material from Archie and Sega…
…As Well as Various Music and Themes…
RESURGENCE
Chapter 10
Unalienable Assistance
[Stop Music]
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Knothole
July-17-4286
8:36 Mobius Time
"Wait… what are you trying to tell me, Sally?"
Early in the morning, the head Freedom Fighters had gathered for a meeting in Sally's cottage. Of those present were Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette, Sonic, Rotor Walrus, and the recently recovered St. John.
When John had been discovered in the empty coffin they had made in honor of Tails, there was an outrage in the village for the desecration of the young martyr. Of course, after word was given in his defense, protestors in Tails' favor stopped their ranting at the disliked skunk.
"I'm telling you exactly what I'm seeing." Sally retorted, studying the holographic display intently. "The number of radio frequencies crossing through Robotropolis has decreased, and the robots are dropping like flies!"
Antoine looked over it skeptically, rubbing his chin in thought. "But, how ees zis possible? Why vould Robotnik's robots start exploding?"
Sonic smirked briefly and gave a sad smile. "It was Seraph." He stated confidently, "It just had to be."
"It doesn't matter how this happened." John said, furrowing his brow at the graph. "What matters is that we take advantage of this lull in activity."
Sally nodded while she gave them glances of affirmation. "This is the very opening we've been waiting for. One final skirmish and we can finally end Robotnik's reign!"
"YEAH!" they resounded, walking out the doors of the cottage and toward Robotropolis…
Toward victory.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Robotropolis
July-17-4286
12:15 Mobius Time
Even in midday, the entirety of Robotropolis was darkened by the seemingly perpetual smog clouds. As the Freedom Fighters snuck through the city, they thought carefully over their plan. The hope was that they could infiltrate with minimal resistance and capture Robotnik without errors.
It was for this purpose that Sonic was starting to wonder why they had brought Antoine with them. He liked the coyote, but he was so timid that it was ridiculous.
As they crawled through the air ducts, they tried keeping calm during all situations. For Sonic, the pace of movement was agonizingly slow, and it was only more sluggish when they stopped whenever a SWAT bot patrol moved beneath them.
But all the slow movement was making it worthwhile. So far, there wasn't a peep of their presence.
It was then that Antoine tempted fate and ruined the mission. He pawed over a small grate in the duct that was known for falling out from beneath them. Antoine had been told this several times, so you'd think he'd skip over it, right?
The clumsy coyote put weight on the grate and immediately fell through, in front of a conveniently present SWAT bot patrol. "So much for a keeping everything quiet!" Sonic shouted as he jumped down the grate and spin dashed through the robots.
Almost instantly, red lights pulsated overhead and alerted the entire base of their existence.
[Now playing: "Hundreds of Thousands" by: Tony MacAlpine"]
As robots streamed in from all over, the remaining Freedom Fighters dropped from the duct in an organized fashion. "Nice going Antoine." Rotor scolded him sarcastically while fending off robots with his Tactical Machine Pistol. With the thirty-round extended magazine, it created the effect of a miniature assault rifle as hollow-point rounds ripped through the wires and mechanisms of the swarming SWAT bots.
"Eet ees not of my faults!" Antoine shouted in defense while cowering behind the tubby walrus. "The grate just slipped, and…"
"Enough with your complaining, 'toine!" Sonic shouted. He spotted a bot about to swing for his head and he rolled to the side before carving straight through it with a spin dash. "I don't want to deal with your complaining right now!"
Nodding meekly, Antoine drew a silver rapier that was kept at his side and made his best attempt to start dicing up robots. Though shaking in his boots, he found that his constant training with the thin sword had paid off, as the SWAT bots fell to pieces with his every swish and stab.
Antoine was too busy gloating over his newfound courage to notice the robot that was aiming its laser at him from behind. Thankfully, Sally came in the nick of time, whipping a kick around before the bot could bring its bearings to the coyote's head.
"Pay attention Antoine!" She yelled at him as she began weaving in and out of laser fire. "This is a war zone; not a college graduation sermon."
Once again, Antoine became red in the face and continued to focus harder on the robots, if only to please Sally.
Bunnie was having a ball, pummeling robots with an iron fist… both literally and figuratively. "Y'all 're gonna have ta make up for Antoine's lollygagging." She ordered while launching herself forward, planting her steel foot in the nearest available robot. When she landed however, she was unaware a robot aiming its laser and firing at her.
The result of the laser was a bleeding wound in her left arm. She grimaced at the pain and fell back behind a bunch of pipes, letting the others take them for a while.
Sally noticed her friends wound and she growled angrily, elbowing a nearby bot. She then grabbed its wrist and contorted it the other way before kicking it off into other bots, causing a mass chain explosion.
Red lights whizzed by, some almost hitting them as they rushed for cover. "Fall back! Fall back!" Sally ordered, waving her arm back to signal to them over the laser fire. She was beginning to run back before she tripped over some excess shrapnel. Falling forward, she rolled over and on to her back, scrawling away from an overhead robot.
In defeat, she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped her death would be quick. She heard gun fire, something clanging on the floor, and she reopened her eyes.
The robot in front over had fallen over, oil leaking from its side. She then heard a soft whirring, like helicopter blades, and a figure floated down in front of her.
"It's not like you to be so scared, princess."
Sally widened her eyes at the voice, staring at him with utmost respect. "Seraph?"
He nodded and lent his hand to lift her up. "The one and only!" he spoke confidently while keeping his eyes on the robots. Drawing his pistols, he fired off several rounds into the sea of enemies as Fiona, Disturbed, and Shifter dropped down from the ceiling above.
"What did I tell you about starting without us, Seraph?" Disturbed asked rhetorically, while slashing back and forth with his diamond knife.
Seraph simply shrugged as he watched the reptilian tear his way through SWAT bots that stood in his path. "I don't know… something about not doing that." He answered, letting his nonchalant voice drip from his tongue as he continued to shred the bots around him with bullets.
Fiona chuckled lightly and was loading the chambers of her Python Revolver, closing the cylinder when they were all full. "You two need to focus on the task at hand." She ordered playfully while popping up from behind cover and filling the bots with lead, ending the last of them.
[Stop Music]
The halls were silent and littered with metal shrapnel as they came out from their hiding. Sonic gave a skeptical glance to Seraph and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Saving you, of course." Shifter retorted. "We were the ones who took out the real broadcasting station."
"I'm assuming you know the objective?" Sally pondered aloud, to which Fiona nodded. Sally grinned, seeing how their odds of winning had just increased, and they progressed to the control room.
The door to the room was in sight when they figured something was wrong. It was becoming too easy. Even Robotnik would have certainly had some kind of personal guard, but no bot was in sight. Sally gulped, hoping that it wouldn't be a surprise attack or ambush waiting for them.
What was waiting for them was much more unexpected.
They walked in to find Robotnik being hung by the neck on the ceiling. He was suspended on a wire and his blood drenched body dripped with the liquid, pooling below him. The fat man's body was covered in rips and tears, having been mutilated in the most brutal of ways.
"Wha-what is this?" Sally shouted at the sight of the tortured body. She could never have imagined who could've brought this upon the man.
"That would be my work."
Sitting in the throne of Robotnik was a cloaked figure that Seraph recognized immediately. "Director, sir? What are you doing here?"
The Director clicked his tongue as he stood and reached for his hood. "Let's dispense of these formalities, Seraph." He said while pulling his cloak off and revealing a black hedgehog with red streaking down his spines. His eyes were red and his chest was emblazoned with a giant XX.
"I am the last of Alpha Squad, and the leader of this operation." He declared himself. "I am number twenty: Judgment. I am Robotnik's murderer! I am Shadow the Hedgehog!
"Now Seraph, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Shadow said. "You can come willingly, or this will break out into a fight."
"What's going on Director?" Disturbed shouted. "Why the harsh demands?"
"It's not your place to ask, Disturbed!" He retorted maliciously.
Seraph thought quietly for a moment and starred at the hedgehog he had known as the Director. Why would he be doing this? Why didn't he do this on his own a long time ago?
It was then that Seraph came to a conclusion. "It was never your motive to kill Robotnik, was it?"
Shadow smirked and began clapping sarcastically. "Very good Seraph! My motive is much greater than just Robotnik. World Domination was what I seek, and you have all been my tools to get it!"
Seraph began to glare at him and got into a fighting stance. "I don't know why you're doing this Shadow, but I won't even give you a chance until I get some answers!"
Shadow nodded understandingly. "Then, it seems I must drag you back to base!"
[Now Playing: "I Am All of Me" by: Crush 40]
Shadow held a small jewel aloft and smirked. "I don't suppose you've ever seen a Chaos Emerald, have you?"
They didn't know how to respond to the question, and were too late to realize the jewel's purpose. Shadow clenched the jewel and shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!"
It was over within seconds.
Within the second that the bright flash of light had allowed, Shadow had managed to knock out all of the Freedom Fighters. Fiona seemed to sweat a little at the brutality and began to back away. "That kind of speed is impossible!"
"Not when you're me, young Fiona." Shadow claimed before shouting, "CHAOS CONTROL!" once more.
From Shadow's perspective, everything moved in slow motion. He saw Disturbed and Shifter attempting to charge at him, and he made that a fatal mistake for them. He lunged at their slowly moving bodies and struck a couple of quick punches and kicks in just the right spots.
He then snapped his fingers and time returned to normal, sending Shifter and Disturbed flying in the other direction. He looked at Seraph and Fiona's dumbfounded faces with glee and spoke, "Chaos emeralds allow the user to manipulate time and space, giving me the ability to slow time down for you."
Then, without the use of Chaos Control, Shadow rushed at Fiona in an attempt to catch her off-guard, but was unexpectedly kicked off his course.
He glared daggers at Seraph who was standing guard over Fiona, and he decided to keep his focus on the fox. "I'm sorry it has to be this way Seraph, but I must have world order!"
Shadow then rushed at him and struck a chain of combinations which were equally blocked by Seraph. Continuing this, Seraph finally spotted a hole in Shadow's defense and utilized it, striking a punch to his abdomen before following with several more punches and a round kick, sending Shadow into the wall.
"It's clear that I've underestimated you." Shadow muttered before smirking. "This will be more fun than I thought!"
Seraph then rushed him again and flipped, attempting to perform an axe kick. The kick was swiftly blocked by Shadow, who then countered with an uppercut. Whilst in midair, Seraph managed to grab the arm and he pivoted around it, launching a kick to the back of his left leg and causing him to buckle.
Shadow growled angrily and took his arm, twisted him to the ground, and kicked him into the wall. Seraph groaned as he used the wall for support to stand up, and gave Shadow a weary glare. "I don't know what drives you to world domination, Shadow, but I'm going to stop you!"
Shadow sighed again and gave him a momentary look of sadness before covering it in a veil of anger. "You don't understand anything, Seraph!"
Shadow charged at him again and pounded his fist into Seraph's stomach before he could put up a block. He then began striking several combinations of punches and kicks, all the while keeping him trapped on the wall.
He backed off a little while later, letting Seraph cough the blood out of his lungs.
Raising his hand, Shadow then raised his hand and beams of light began forming above him. "CHAOS SPEAR!" he shouted, launching the beams of light at Seraph and causing several small explosions.
Bloodied and rattled, Seraph lent against the wall for support, clinging to whatever consciousness he had left.
It wasn't long before Shadow began to walk up to him, about to perform his ultimatum, before Fiona came up from behind and kicked him in the back of the head.
Shadow glared as he held the back of his reeling head, starring at the red fox with malice in mind. "None of you understand anything. There are so many lives at stake, and you are so blind!"
Fiona simply held her ground in front of Seraph, refusing to move. "Maybe we are blind, but that doesn't give you the right to take over the world." She replied, somewhat afraid of the hedgehog that stood before her.
"You worthless wench!" Shadow yelled at her before charging at her with a fist.
She shut her eyes, awaiting the punch, but it never came. Instead, Seraph stood in front of her, having caught Shadow's punch with his shaky hand. Shadow smirked once more, gazing at Seraph with an odd expression. "Still standing, huh? You're so much more like me than I anticipated."
What's that supposed to mean? The twin tailed fox thought as they stood in a lull of silence.
"Fine then; if you want to be difficult, so be it." Shadow said, turning around and walking away all the while. "All the robots in Robotropolis are disabled, and I want you to return here in three days Seraph, or I will find you, and I'll have hell crawling at my heels."
Seraph lasted only long enough to see Shadow disappear in a flash of light before darkness tugged at his vision and he fell unconscious.