Sonic: Fall to Darkness
Chapter 12
The Super Emeralds
"SUPER EMERALDS?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?!" An infuriated Shadow the Hedgehog was in Knuckles face, inquiring about the latest spectacle they had beheld. "If you'd told us about the Super Emeralds before, we could have won!" Sonic sat in a hunch on a rock near the temple, his beloved Amy Rose at his side, trying to comfort him. Sonic slowly looked up to Shadow, his eyes reflecting a deep sorrow, but his face expressionless.
"We swore to ourselves that we'd never let that power escape again…" Shadows expression calmed as he turned to Sonic inquisitively.
"What do you mean by 'again'?"
Knuckles slowly closed his eyes as his vision blurred into a flashback, a memory of when they first came across such power. "It all started back when Eggman first landed on Angel Island…. When me and Sonic first met. As Sonic and I regathered the Chaos Emeralds, Eggmans technology slowly advanced, soon making machines that me and Sonic together at the time couldn't defeat. Eventually, when Sonic and I brought the Chaos Emeralds to the altar, we came across the scriptures containing the Chaos Chant. As I recited it, the Master Emerald split its power between them and created the Super Emeralds."
Tails turned toward them and continued the tale. "When we discovered what kind of power they held, we used them to defeat Eggman. But soon after, natural disasters struck around the world, because there was no Master Emerald to control their power." Shadow simply stared, finally starting to acknowledge why they hadn't told him. Sonic looked back up and overt to Shadow, seeing the end of the story in the back of his head, as if it were yesterday.
"As soon as we realized what they were doing to the Earth, we recreated the Master Emerald and sealed that power away. We hoped it had been for good…" Sonic looked back to the ground, hunched over and deep into a depression. He had just lost to someone because they were too fast for him. Faster than the one who had called himself the fastest thing alive. Amy held Sonic tight, deeply worried about her beloved. Shadow finally understood what they were up against.
"So if we don't stop him soon enough, the whole world is going to fall apart?" Knuckles simply looked Shadow in the eyes and nodded, more serious than he's ever been. He witnessed their power himself, so he knew exactly what they were up against. Shadow looked back to Sonic and seemed to have a glimmer of acceptance in his eyes.
"Well Sonic? You're the only one of us who can really beat this thing, so what are you just sitting around for?" Sonic just closed his eyes and shook his head as Amy held on tighter, trying to understand how he felt.
"I don't have what it takes to beat him… I couldn't before… and I cant now.." Sonic slowly stood up and walked away, his head hanging in self pity as he turned his back on his friends and his lover. Amy held out her hand to try and stop him, but kept silent when she saw the look in his eyes. She had never seen him like this before, and feared that there was nothing she could do. Sonic just kept walking as the others watched the one who had brought them all together walk the path of self destruction, not run, but walk. The Sonic they knew was gone. And no amount of fighting could bring him back this time.
