Reality Shock

Chapter 13

"Let's do this."

Sonic and Shadow were surrounded by a white aura as the seven Chaos Emeralds were ripped from their places, coming to a halt in a circle around them.

The Emeralds started rotating around Sonic and Shadow, as their aura grew brighter. The Emeralds spun faster and faster, as the pair started glowing.

There was a blinding flash of light, and Sonic and Shadow had disappeared. In their place was a pair of glowing, floating hedgehogs. The one on the left was silver, with red eyes and stripes on its spines. The other one was gold, and also had red eyes.

Super Sonic and Super/Hyper Shadow had arrived. (I personally prefer Hyper Shadow, because his normal form was supposedly based on the super form of an ancient hedgehog, but I'll use super for the sake of avoiding an argument.)

They nodded to each other and, in perfect synchronization, shouted "CHAOS CONTROL!" and warped outside the station.

I wish there was something I could do to help them...

I sighed, and walked over to Knuckles, who was standing next to the Master Emerald. "So now what?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Why are you asking me?"

"The Master Emerald tells me you know more than you're telling."

"It can talk?" I asked, feeling a little nervous.

Knuckles shook his head. "It doesn't actually talk, it's more like it broadcasts it's emotions to me, and I can tell what it's trying to say from that."

"Can I try?" I asked.

He nodded. "Sure. It's pretty simple actually. All you need to do is touch it"

"Okay, here goes..." I knelt down, closed my eyes, and placed my hand on the side of the M.E.

"So. You have finally returned, Ashura."

I opened my eyes and looked at Knuckles. "Did you say something?" He shook his head. I shrugged, and closed my eyes again.

"You are the one destined to bring balance to the multiverse." In my mind's eye, I could see a large room with walls of emerald. In the center of the room was a plain stone alter. I felt a pulling sensation as my consciousness entered to this room

Multiverse?

"The collection of worlds and dimensions that make up existence."

Did that voice just read my mind?

"In this place, thoughts and ideas are all that exist. Communication is achieved by telepathy."

I see... So who are you?

"I am the Controller, or as you call me, the Master Emerald."

Why am I here?

"I brought you here because I have something for you."

What is it?

"Proceed to the altar, and take what you find."

I walked up to it, finding it took a lot of concentration to move in this place. On top of the altar was a perfectly smooth orb, the same color as my fur. I picked it up and it was absorbed into my hands.

Now what?

"You can now perform the same feat the other two of your kind just did."

You mean I can go super?

"Yes. But your transformation is different. You can change regardless of rings and whether or not you have the Chaos Emeralds."

Alright! I'm invincible!

The M.E. chuckled, or at least it sounded like a chuckle.

"Not quite. While you don't have the same requirements as the others, there are limitations."

Such as?

"The transformation only lasts for a few minutes, and you can only bring it on in a time of great peril."

Okay, but I can still use the other method right?

"Yes, but the Emeralds have been growing harder to restrain as of late. You would do best to avoid using them until I can correct this. You should go back now."

But-

"Don't worry, time in this realm moves faster than the material world. Only a few seconds have passed in reality. Now go!"

Thank you for your help.

I felt myself be reconnected with my body. I opened my eyes and stood up.

"So did you feel anything?" Asked Knuckles.

I considered telling him the truth, but I figured he wouldn't understand. "Nope, Nothing." I lied. I'm sure this qualifies as perilous enough.

I focused hard, looking deep inside for my new ability. I soon found it, and activated it. Almost immediately, I felt an immense power flowing through my veins. The power erupted outwards, strengthening and protecting my body and turning my fur a deep shiny emerald. "I'm going to go help Sonic!" I said, my voice echoing slightly.

Time to see what I can do.

I drew a small amount of energy from the Master Emerald and shouted "CHAOS CONTROL!"

-----------------------

When I emerged from the void, I was in space outside the ARK. It was there that I got my first glimpse of the Finalhazard. The Finalhazard looked just like the Biolizard, except one of its front legs was missing and its tail was merged with the barrel of the Eclipse Cannon.

Sonic was charging fist first into the Finalhazard's head, and Shadow was peppering it with rapid-fire Chaos Spears. None of them had noticed me yet, so I decided to get in a sneak attack.

I started the motions for Heaven's Light, but instead of firing the beam, I formed another ball in my left hand. I held both my hands in front of me, touching the surfaces of the orbs together. They rapidly combined into one large ball, turning red in the process.

"HOLY BARRAGE!"

I pulled my hands back to my sides and thrust them forward at the ball. Instead of shooting forward, it shattered into thousands of shards which flashed briefly before flying off and homing in on the Finalhazard. The shards exploded on impact, doing surprisingly little damage for the size of the explosions. The Finalhazard roared in anger.

"What was that?" came Sonic's voice.

I used my boots to fly over towards Sonic. "Don't worry! Your backup is here!"

"Ashura? What're you doing here?"

"No time! Aim for the red swelling area. That's its weak point."

Sonic didn't reply. He was too busy avoiding a laser beam aimed at him. He flew at a swollen spot and when he was within striking distance, he dashed into it with enough speed to create after-images. The Finalhazard roared again, this time in pain.

The swelling collapsed back into the Finalhazard's body, only to reappear in another spot on the other side. Shadow fired a Chaos Spear into that one.

The swelling reappeared on the Finalhazard's head. "I got it!" I yelled. I flew straight at the Finalhazard's head, tackling the bump as hard as I could. It receded, and I was knocked away by a laser blast.

"Is it getting hot out here, or is it just me?" I looked down at the Earth and saw that we were beginning to enter its atmosphere!

I heard a loud roar from behind me followed by a series of explosions. It seemed that while my back had been turned, Sonic and Shadow had teamed up and struck the final blow. By now, we were going at high speed through the planet's atmosphere, and the Finalhazard's corpse was being incinerated by the intense heat.

Sonic and Shadow flew at the ARK and Chaos Controlled it back into orbit.

Shadow then started falling.

"Shadow!"

Now's my chance to change something for the better!

I propelled myself towards Shadow, intending to catch him and bring him back onto the station. Before I was able to reach him, I felt my power weaken.

"Not now!"

I put on a burst of speed and was able to catch up with Shadow. I heard him mutter the name Maria as I grabbed his wrist. I channeled as much of the energy of my rapidly diminishing Super form into one final attack. If this didn't work, we'd be hedgehog pancakes for sure.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A/N: This was the last chapter before the finale. If you want to find out what happens, be sure to read it! Sorry for the cliffhanger. I just wanted to build up the suspense.

'Til next chapter!