Chapter 14
Now that everybody's quests and problems were solved, and with Chaos gone, the Egg Carrier ruined, and Eggman's base destroyed, it seemed like everything was starting to return back to normal. Sonic was relaxing on a hill. His eyes were closed and he laid down on the soft grass. The gentle breeze was very soothing, as were the distant sounds of nature. After yawning and stretching briefly, he opened his eyes and gazed at the bright blue sky, and the grass was almost glowing in the sunlight.
"Those past few days were crazy, but they were a lot of fun as well," Sonic said. "Then again, what could be more fun than whipping that rotten egg's butt, just like the good old days, when everything was simple?"
Before he could close his eyes and drift off to sleep again, he heard a voice from above.
"Hey, Sonic!" Sonic opened his eyes to find Tails flying high above him.
"Yo, Tails!" Sonic greeted. "It's been a while since I've last seen you! What's up?"
"Well," Tails replied gleefully, "You won't believe what I just did. I saved Station Square all by myself not once, but twice!"
"You're kidding, right? That's amazing!" Sonic couldn't believe it, but he knew that Tails would never lie to him about something like that. "You seem to be developing into a great hero yourself, buddy. I'd better watch out or I might be ranked number two!"
"How about you, Sonic?" Tails asked.
"Well, after you kicked Eggman's butt," Sonic laughed, "I sort of finished him off and kicked some Ro-butt-nik. You could say it's been a great day for us heroes."
"The only bad thing is that I lost my plane," Tails frowned.
Seeing the look on his best friend's face, Sonic began to feel sorry for him, but he suddenly remembered something.
"Tails, I just remembered," Sonic began, "I think that big cat fellow escaped off the Egg Carrier in your plane."
"Do you mean Big?" Tails asked.
"How do you know him?" Sonic wondered.
"I met him in the forest a while ago," Tails replied. "He helped me after Eggman shot us out of the sky while we battled the Egg Carrier for the first time. Maybe he still has the Tornado II!"
"There's only one way to find out," Sonic grinned. "I'm pretty sure that for a laid-back guy who likes fishing, he probably lives somewhere in the forest. Come on, Tails, let's pay him a little visit."
The duo began to search for Big on foot, not noticing the dark storm clouds that were slowly begging to roll in and block the sunny sky.
Meanwhile, Big was taking a well-deserved break of his own after several days of chasing and fishing for Froggy. Big sat on the ground next to a stream with his Power Rod dipped into the water. Froggy, finally back to his old self and free of invaders, sat beside Big and eagerly waited to see what Big would catch next.
"It's good to see you back to normal," Big purred. "I'm glad it was that watery creature and not you that was doing those weird things."
Ribbit, Froggy responded.
"We'll catch our lunch very soon, Froggy," Big said. "Until then, let's just sit back, relax, and enjoy." He then noticed the dark storm clouds beginning to roll in. "It looks like a storm's coming. We'd better get to shelter fast."
Not too far away from Big's hut, the Tornado II laid near the stream. It crash-landed in this spot after Big and Froggy flew off the Egg Carrier, and its fuselage was heavily damaged. However, one thing remained perfectly intact, and that was the red chaos emerald that resided in the control panel. For a split-second, it shimmered.
On Angel Island, Knuckles was guarding the Master Emerald, just as he used to before his misadventure. The six chaos emeralds were placed around it, resonating with the soft green light generated by the Master Emerald. Knuckles saw the storm clouds rolling in and then he grew suspicious.
"This can't be an ordinary thunderstorm," he thought.
Rain began to pelt down onto the island, but not before something caught the echidna's attention. A blinding light flashed behind him, and he turned around. As he looked at the Master Emerald more closely, he saw what looked like lightning flashing within the Master Emerald itself.
Before Knuckles could question what this strange occurrence was, the unthinkable happened. Angel Island shook and began to fall a second time, roaring and rumbling as it rapidly descended through the clouds. It crashed into the ocean in the exact same spot as last time, and a massive tidal wave radiated out from all sides of the island. Knuckles was flung down to the ground, rendered completely unconscious.
Meanwhile, Eggman was riding in his Eggmobile through the forest, still recovering from his earlier defeats. He didn't pay any attention to the oncoming storm.
"Blast that stupid Sonic," Eggman growled. "He will pay for all of this. I may be down for the count now, but I will recover sooner than later. Sonic and his stupid little friends had better watch their backs."
Continuing down his path, he noticed a strange puddle of water on the ground, and it began to move straight towards the doctor, who was instantly horrorstruck.
"Chaos!" he screamed, and then everything went black.
Back on Angel Island, Knuckles woke up and rose to his feet.
"Man, I must have passed out," Knuckles groaned, scratching his head. "How could this have happened? The Master Emerald is at full power! Maybe those chaos emeralds that I brought back with me have something to do with this problem. I'd better find and warn the others!"
Knuckles gathered the six chaos emeralds and stowed them in his brown sack. He proceeded to leave Angel Island, with the sack clutched in his hand. Soon, he was running through the forest, trying to find Sonic and Tails. He eventually paused, seeing Eggman lying unconscious on the ground in front of him.
"Eggman?" Knuckles wondered. "W-what happened here?" Knuckles began to examine him, but he never noticed that the strange puddle of water was right behind him...
Sonic and Tails felt the vibrations from Angel Island's second fall, and they ran through the forest. They felt that it was a bigger priority to check on Knuckles than to search for the Tornado II. Before long, they came across Knuckles and Eggman, who were both out cold on the ground. The puddle was gone as well.
"Whoa!" Sonic gasped. "What the heck happened here?"
Tails walked up to Eggman to inspect him while Knuckles awoke and rose to his feet, groaning.
"Sonic, uhhh... sorry!" Knuckles said in a fearful tone.
"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Sonic sorrowed as he bent down to make sure he was okay. "And what is Eggman doing here?"
"Sonic, it was Chaos," Knuckles said. "He's still alive."
"What?!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed in disbelief.
Eggman slowly began to wake up. Sonic turned to the doctor and demanded answers.
"Hey, look who's finally awake," Sonic said sarcastically. "What happened here?"
"Chaos turned against me," Eggman growled. "That's what's going on. That freak wants to use the power of the chaos emeralds all for itself. He was using me to serve his own desires, and it looks like he'll succeed."
"I'm afraid he's right, Sonic," Knuckles dismayed. "After Chaos ambushed me, he stole all six of my chaos emeralds."
Eggman picked himself up off the ground and got to his feet. Right on cue, Decoe and Bocoe appeared in the Eggmobile and wrapped a steel cable around the doctor.
"All right, Bocoe, start reeling him up," Decoe said.
"I can't! The winch is jammed!" Bocoe cried.
Decoe came up with an idea. "Let's try pulling him up ourselves!"
"No way!" Bocoe objected. "All of that weight will burn out our motors!"
"Don't just leave me hanging here like a giant salami!" Eggman growled.
"Try not to get agitated, Doctor!" Decoe warned. "The cable could break!"
"Just relax and enjoy the ride," Bocoe said just before they took off, with a screaming Eggman hanging below.
"Sonic," Knuckles said. "Chaos is a fearsome beast. The more emeralds he is fed, the stronger he gets. Remember how tough he was to fight with six emeralds inside him? He was a split-second away from killing you. If he gets a hold of the seventh emerald, we're all done for!"
"No worries, Knux," Sonic said. "Tails and I already know where the last emerald is. It's just a matter of beating Chaos to it."
Sonic had a plan formed, but before he and Tails could set it into motion, the mysterious red light appeared and headed straight for Sonic. For a moment, all Sonic could see was white, but the light quickly faded away to reveal the burning Master Emerald shrine once again. This time, something big was happening. Pachacamac and his clan of warriors were about to launch their attack on the shrine. They had come to claim the power of all seven chaos emeralds as well as the Master Emerald for themselves. However, the shrine's only line of defense, composed of Tikal and the Chao, fiercely stood their ground.
"Get out of our way!" Pachacamac demanded. "Can't you see that this is our holy moment of glory?"
"No way!" Tikal screamed. "I won't let you!"
"Did you hear what I said, Tikal?" her father roared.
"I will not obey no matter what you say, Father," Tikal argued. "You're putting all of us, including you, in serious danger! Please stop, or you'll regret your decision forever!"
"I told you," Pachacamac lectured, "that the seven emeralds are the key to our power! We need this power to claim superiority over our enemies. You, Tikal, are a part of this clan. If you continue to serve as an obstacle for us, you'll be betraying your own people!"
"Father, listen to yourself!" Tikal cried. "You're the one betraying our own people! You have to understand that what you are doing is causing nothing but pain and suffering! Greed is our enemy, you know. Once it starts, you will always want more! We can still stop this before it's too late! Please, Father, I'm begging you!"
Pachacamac has had enough of this. He was going to continue with his plan, regardless of the severe consequences that would follow.
"Bah!" he rejected. "I don't listen to the words of a child! Our clan has spoken, and we're going to seize those emeralds, and no one will stop us, not even you! Warriors, attack!"
Pachacamac held his spear forward and the other echidnas charged like angry bulls, right on his command. Tikal screamed as the warriors barreled towards her and sent her flying through the air before she brutally hit the ground. The helpless Chao let out little cries of pain as they were knocked aside too. The water flowing from the shrine rippled aggressively in response to the cries of the little creatures.
Pachacamac then raced forward to join the others, intentionally trampling over his own daughter in the process. The echidnas reached the top of the steps just as the seven chaos emeralds floated above the Master Emerald and revolved around it, glowing with an immense amount of energy. The air crackled with boundless power as the echidnas feasted their eyes on their ultimate prize. Pachacamac moved to the front of the group with his heart pounding in excitement. However, his excitement, as well as the others', soon came to a halt. A puddle of water slid out from underneath the Master Emerald, morphing into Chaos 0. The echidnas had neither seen nor heard of this creature until now.
Pachacamac gasped, completely stricken with terror. "Auugghh! It's a monster!"
Chaos 0 was very angry, and he prepared to attack. He spread his arms out and the light from both the chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald grew brighter and brighter as the monster absorbed their energy. Pachacamac, as well as the other echidnas, were succumbed to unimaginable terror as a mighty wave of blinding light shot out in every direction from the shrine's altar.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Once the light cleared, all of the echidnas were gone, as well as Chaos 0 and the seven emeralds. The Master Emerald, as well as all of the destruction caused by the tribe's attack, was all that was left. Sonic witnessed the entire event with his own two eyes, unable to say a word. He then saw Tikal lying injured on the ground and ran to her aid.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sonic asked her.
"I think so," Tikal replied as she slowly opened her eyes. She mournfully looked at the destruction that her tribe brought upon her sacred home.
"Oh my gosh," Tikal gasped. "No! No! Nooo!"
Everything that Tikal worshipped for and held dear to her heart was now in ruins. Chaos had transformed into what looked like a horrifying leviathan, inflicting his wrath in the most terrible ways imaginable. He let out a mournful and shrilling roar.
Tikal had nothing left for her to do in this cruel world, so she chose to take one final and drastic course of action. She raced up the stairs to the Master Emerald. The hedgehog was curious about what she was going to do, and he walked up the stairs, standing just behind her at the top of the shrine.
"There is nothing left," she said to the Master Emerald. "I have to put an end to all of this pain and suffering!"
"Tikal," Sonic asked. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
Tikal turned around and faced Sonic, putting her hands together in a prayer-like fashion. "Listen closely," she said before turning back to the Master Emerald. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the Chaos. I finally understand what the Great Emerald has been trying to tell me. The seven emeralds take what is in our hearts and turn them into power. But if the heart that wields the emerald is full of anger and hate, then that power will do nothing but bring mayhem and destruction to the world! This one emerald is the master that controls that power! Oh, please, you must stop Chaos!"
The Master Emerald responded to Tikal's pleas, and Tikal opened her arms as the large gem unleashed a massive wave of power that blanketed the entire area. Tikal slowly faded away before disappearing into the bright light. This was almost too much for Sonic to handle, but he was quickly brought back to the forest, staring into the eyes of Tails.
"Wake up, Sonic!" Tails cried.
"Tails?" Sonic blinked. "Was I standing here the whole time?"
"Yeah, you were certainly conked out," Tails said. "You had this blank look on your face. Knuckles had already left to track down Chaos, so let's go find the last emerald. It should still be inside the Tornado II!"
"Let's get cracking!" Sonic grinned and the duo quickly sped off.
In almost no time, Sonic and Tails reached the wreckage of the Tornado II. The red chaos emerald was intact and clearly visible in the control panel.
"Perfect," Sonic said. "Now let's just grab that emerald and get out of here."
"My plane," Tails cried. "It's a total wreck!"
"You can fix it later, bud," Sonic told him. "We don't have a single moment to lose."
Tails ran towards his beloved machine and got his hands on the glittering jewel. Suddenly, a small cyclone of water formed around himself and the plane.
"Tails!" Sonic yelled. "Get away from there now!"
Tails jumped back in fright, dropping the emerald in the process. The water began to swirl around the plane and it shot upwards, forming a massive spinning tower of water. Chaos was trying to grab the last emerald for himself, but Sonic wasn't about to let that happen.
"Oh, no you don't, you big drip!" Sonic yelled as he bravely jumped up into the roaring tornado, trying to grab the red jewel as it flew upward, spinning around. The forceful swirls of the twister gradually overpowered Sonic, who was launched into the air. He safely landed on his feet just as a fissure opened up, splitting the ground in two. Sonic and Tails could only watch helplessly as both the watery tower and the last chaos emerald disappeared into it. The fissure then closed and sealed itself. Tails fell to his knees while Sonic hung his head and remained as still as a rock. Their nightmares had come true. Chaos now possessed all seven emeralds.
"What are we gonna do, Sonic?" Tails asked him.
Sonic said nothing, but the tension in his face implied that he was prepared to fight Chaos to the bitter end.