Chapter Thirteen - The Final Battle
If only that were what had actually happened. Just as Kira and Sonic were about to commemorate their victory, the ground began shaking violently.
"Oh come on! Now what?! Can't we ever just win and have that be the end of it?!" Sonic yelled as they tried to keep their footing.
"Sonic look!" Tails yelled. They turned to see, rising from the canyon behind them, a huge hulking monolith of a Death Egg Robot crossed with the Egg Dragoon. It was an enormous beast of a machine, with six tentacle like arms, a sleek black outer frame, and red lights covering it. At its center was a shielded core holding something inside it and at its head, piloting the whole thing was Dr. Eggman.
"GOTCHA! You insignificant fools! The fortress reactor was simply a decoy!" He said, laughing maniacally. "A true winner keeps his trump card hidden until the very end!"
"Sonic what's going on?!" Vector called over the radio. "There aren't less enemies, there's more of them!"
"What?! That's impossible!" Tails said.
"Vector's unfortunately right, confirmed sightings indicate Shadow, Zavok, Chaos, and Metal. Even Infinite. Thousands of them." Rouge said.
"How can there be so many of them? We weakened the Phantom Ruby's power source!" Kira said. Sonic turned to face Eggman's monstrosity with a steely glare.
"What have you done?" He questioned, voice dark and grim.
"Oh nothing really. I merely incorporated the Phantom Ruby into this Death Egg Dragoon!" He said, cackling evily.
"But that would mean that the Phantom Ruby no longer has a vulnerable energy source." Tails said. "Its...its an invulnerable ruby..."
"Very good deduction, Tails." He said, twiddling his mustache. "This Death Egg Dragoon has...NO! I have surpassed even Infinite in power to become the complete and ultimate form! You all will be crushed by this Death Egg Dragoon powered by the Phantom Ruby, and in the end everything will still be exactly as I planned!" He laughed and activated the ruby, sending out a large shockwave that very nearly toppled the heroes.
"Your plan will end like every single one of your plans have: with you sitting in a pile of busted robot parts crying and wondering how you managed to fuck up so badly!" Sonic declared. "Let's get him." They charged off into battle while the other dealt with the clones on the ground. "Tails, you and the other me find a way to crack that thing's shielding. I've got a good hunch he's keeping the Phantom Ruby in there." Tails nodded and he and the other Sonic got into position. "This is it, no turning back. We can do this." Kira nodded.
"I know we can." She said. Once Tails and the other Sonic managed to smash through the holo-shield, Kira used her drill to damage the rest of it enough to crack the outer shield and it seemed like that was enough to decommission it, as it say uselessly in the air once powered down. However just as everyone was about to rejoice they heard a low thumping noise. The Death Egg Dragoon's center began pulsing, the glass from its center shield scattering about as something started busting its way free. Kira and both Sonics watched in horror as the thumping suddenly stopped, and then some sort of six armed, white spider dragon bot broke its way free like something out of a monster movie. It screeched loudly as the sky became black and blocky, similar to Null Space. It fired lasers and rockets at them from its many arms and it took a lot of well placed dodging and jumping to even get close enough to damage it.
Still, the three of them dished out a world of hurt on the mysterious robot. It wasn't long before they had damaged it enough to expose its core.
"Lets finish this." Sonic said. He joined hands with his other self and with Kira and the three of them faced down the robot. "Past, present and future, there's nothing the three of of can't do. Victory is ours for the taking!" An overwhelming torrent of energy swirled around them as they rocketed toward the robot, smashing clean through its core and shattering the blackened sky, causing it to blow up. Sonic held Kira as the three of them landed safely in the canyon below.
On the battlefield the illusions all dissipated as shards of the shattered Phantom Ruby rained down like shooting stars. At first there was stunned silence before an uproarious cheering ripped through the ranks of the resistance.
"We did it...We won!" Knuckles said triumphantly. "I knew we'd do it!" Everyone rejoiced and he swept Rouge up in a spontaneous kiss, overwhelmed with sheer joy. Silver hugged Amy as he levitated off the ground in happiness. Bev hugged Myke who surprisingly hugged her back. The two were so incredibly proud of their friend. Soldiers were helping each other and cheering in celebration.
Near the tower, Tails met the victorious trio on their way back from battle.
"You guys did it!" He said, hugging all three of them. "There's no trace of the Phantom Ruby left."
"We couldn't have done it without your help too, Tails." Sonic said. "I couldn't have done it without all of you."
"Oh wait, without the Phantom Ruby doesn't that mean..." Kira trailed off as they all looked at the other Sonic. The others joined them as the other Sonic began to fade away.
"Right...Guess this is goodbye, Sonic. Get home safely." Tails said, hugging him tightly. He smiled and gave everyone a thumbs up. He started disappearing in a shower of blue sparkles, but managed to hold his fist out to Tails. They bumped fists and he waved them off before he completely disappeared. Tails felt a bit more empty inside but he was glad Sonic was going back to his home dimension and even still he had his Sonic back.
"Don't worry, Tails. We'll see him again, I know it." Sonic said, patting the fox's shoulder. "He's me after all. Alright everyone, time to start cleaning up the mess Eggman left behind. And I don't just mean those illusions he made up for us either. There's a lot of people that got their lives turned upside down because of this, they need our help as well." The others all nodded in agreement. "C'mon, lets go home." They all headed back to base and while everything looked bleak the future ahead looked very bright and that gave Kira an idea. The next few days were spent clearing out the remaining Egg Pawns and other robots in the city and drafting up plans to clean up and start rebuilding the ruins in Sunset Heights and Park Avenue as well as running rescue missions. One day Kira was congregating in the planning room with the others and as she stared at the huge display screen, deep in thought.
She was interrupted when Knuckles entered the room. He looked a lot less tense than he had a few days ago, everyone did in fact.
"Finally. An end to this endless war. Everyone can go home and rest." He said with a happy sigh. "There's no need for the resistance anymore."
"Hang on now, there's still a lot to do." Silver protested.
"Yeah, there is and we're just getting started as far as the rebuilding effort is concerned, but as far as the resistance goes that's one thing we don't have to do." Tails said. "If we work together there's nothing we can't do."
"Actually, Knuckles. I think this is the end of the line for me." Kira spoke up. A mere week ago she wouldn't dared have opened her mouth without bring spoken to first but now she felt confident enough to speak for herself.
"What, you're leaving us?" He asked. "There's others that need your help."
"I know, but I feel like the best way for me to help is to actually get out there." She said. "I can't sit on the sidelines all my life after all."
"Okay, if that's how you feel then I won't stop you."
"Man, when I first saw you stumbling around here, shaking like a leaf I had no idea you'd actually see this through to the end." Vector said, patting her on the back. "I've changed my mind about you."
"I always knew you'd come through for us, rookie. Well, actually I guess you're not a rookie anymore are you?" Rouge said. "You did great out there, and unlike some people you didn't wait until the last minute to join the battle." She giggled and winked at Omega who playfully, at least for a robot, pointed his arm canon at her making Shadow shake his head at his teammates.
"Just because the war is over and you're leaving doesn't mean we won't be friends." Tails said to her. "If you need anything don't hesitate to call us for help. After all, one person can't fix the world all on their own. We all have to help out and do our parts. Don't be a stranger, Kira."
"I won't, promise. I'll see you guys around." She said, taking off.
"Y'know, if I didn't know any better I'd say she reminds me of Sonic." Amy said. Tails smiled, he could definitely see how she saw that. Sonic meanwhile was standing on the outskirts of the city, looking out at the ocean while the sun was setting. He had stuck around long enough. Tails was safe, things were going well and he was starting to get restless. It was time for him to move on.
"Hey, stranger." He turned and smiled when he saw Kira walking over to him. She looked so much more confident and happy and it made his heart beat just a bit faster.
"Hey. You taking off too?" He asked, getting a nod in response. "I was thinking the same thing."
"I wanna thank you, Sonic. For everything." She said, blushing a bit. "I'm glad to have met you."
"I'm glad we met too. You're really something." He said. "You're gonna keep going forward no matter what, right?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna keep going." There was a bit of comfortable silence between them before Kira hugged him tightly. "Seriously, thank you. I never would have made it through this if you didn't believe in me." Sonic hugged her back and smiled.
"Hey, you believed in yourself too. I can't take all the credit." He said softly. She let him go and smiled brightly. "Y'know, you and I aren't all that different. I hope to see you around, buddy." They fist bumped and Kira waved him off as he ran out of the city. She took a deep breath and smiled. Gazing out at the horzion, the world was hers to explore. And damn it, she was going to explore it all.