The Chaos Emeralds.
It is a thing of immeasurable power. It grants joy to the suffering, victory to those on the verge of defeat, life to the dead...shining like a star in the hands of it's wielder, it possesses the power to turn one's thoughts into reality. It makes the impossible possible. Men honor it and worship what it can do. People believe it to be a gift from God.
Yet what is required to make it...
Is the work of the Devil.
Episode Twenty:
ヨナとクジラ：闇にとらわれた！
Jonah and the Whale: Trapped in the Darkness!
"Where is he...WHERE IS HE?" The Biolizard snarled furiously, his eyes pulsing with horrifying rage, slamming it's fists into the ground. It was stomping around in something of a childish rampage, but the terrifying anger and sheer size alone..
"...I know we said we'd fight this thing...but...I'm kinda up for running like a coward, if that's alright with you guys."
"I wouldn't fault you for it." King admitted nervously. "That thing is like Godzilla on steroids."
"Well, they've killed Godzilla before, right?" Tails asked as the little koala bear of Marine's sat atop his head.
"Well unless you can magic a 50 ton hyper death cannon from Japan's ministry of defense, I think we'll have to think of something else." King mumbled.
"We work with ELEMENTS, not time/space stuff. They go a different path." Sonic sighed. "You know, I didn't mind the prospect of spending my life going from town to town helping others. Or becoming a "hog of the military", defending the people. Magic has a price, that's the one thing all those who practice it have to remember..."
"But sometimes it seems the price is too high." King said softly. "As the saying goes, everything worth doing is hard."
"Does it have to be SCARY?" Tails added as the Biolizard slammed one fist into a tree, knocking down a row of them.
"Hey, you don't like the way the world works, take it up with God." King laughed.
"No way! The last time we did, he took my arms and legs!" Sonic snapped.
A snap of twigs. King whipped around, holding his scimitar up. Tails and Sonic turned to look at the thing in the distance. "Who's there?" Sonic whispered, the bushes shaking as a hulking form began to emerge from the dark recesses of...
A small wild squirrel stepped out of the bushes.
"PHEW." They all said, breathing a sigh of relief. Then King suddenly noticed something.
"...it's eyes." He said quickly.
The eyes. Pulsing red. Inhuman. Unnatural. They all frowned darkly as the squirrel began to chuckle, and then laugh coldly, high and unnatural, a mechanical ring to it's peals. "HA-HA-HA-HA! Quick on the uptake, aren't you! HEY! IGNORANCE!"
The Biolizard turned around, blinking stupidly. "Huh? Racism?" He called out.
"One of the Golems?" Tails asked.
"Well, well, well. Long time no see, bubblebutt!" The squirrel announced as it's body elongated and expanded, it's 'fur' dissolving into harsh metal as claws extended and a metal frame was made clear...
Now, before their eyes, stood Metal Sonic.
And Sonic immediately ran towards him, fist flying. "Who's...A...FATTY-FATTY-TWO-BY-FOUR-CAN'T-FIT-THROUGH-THE-KITCHEN-DOOR?" He snarled angrily, his fist BARELY missing Metal Sonic, who scrambled back a few feet.
"What? I'm just here to take Ignorance back, and I didn't say anything about a kitchen door, bubblebutt-"
"FIVE TIMES!" Sonic snapped.
"...huh?"
"Three times at the laboratory! TWICE just now you've called me "BUBBLEBUTT"!" Sonic roared out, jabbing his thumb at his chest, his eyes narrowed, teeth bared as King and Tails looked at each other, nervously sweatdropping.
"...you...kept track." Metal Sonic remarked sitting on a tree limb and making it creak, sounding scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. "...I don't know whether to applaud your excellent memory or suggest you see a psychiatrist."
King frowned slightly, looking at the ground where Metal had been standing, then at the tree limb. Hmm...
The Bio-Lizard walked up behind Metal, looking furiously at the group. "I was gonna get Shadow! SQUISH HIM! CRUSH HIM! SKIN 'EM ALIIIIVE!" He roared.
"Not that I wouldn't find it amusing for you to do that in front of his friends as they beg "oh please, please no"..." Metal Sonic commented, imitating somebody begging for help, one hand sprayed across his head. "God, you organics are so...stupidly sentimental." He sighed. "Point is, you can't go eatin' up or squishing or skinning Shadow. He's an important sacrifice, remember?"
"But-but-but..." The Bio-Lizard whined, stomping up and down. "That's not FAAAAIIIIR!" It said, crying.
"God, what a BABY." Metal Sonic mumbled.
"Well, well, well INDEED." King remarked. "You seem...different...than that one. Tell me...how many souls were used to weld that hulking metal doll you're walking around in together, golem?"
At the mention of the phrase "hulking metal doll", Metal Sonic's eyes narrowed into harsh red slits, his fists clenching slightly. Had he a face, he would have scowled.
"You're the dust-eater that crossed swords with Cruelty, eh?"
"DUST-EATER? I'll have you know I'm prince of Soleanna! I am King, who will be heir-"
"Ignorance. You up for a dish of snake? It tastes like chicken."
"No I DON'T. I taste like snaaaaaaaake!" King protested as he ran off, with Ignorance stomping after him.
"...should we help him out?" Sonic wondered out loud.
"...it appears as though the Golems can't honestly HURT us. I've got an idea." Tails told Sonic quietly. "Castling. When the rook and king switch places on the chess board."
Sonic grinned and the ring on his right wrist glittered. A huge burst of wind shot forth from his outstretched hand, sweeping through the forest and picking King up, tossing him back their way as Sonic and Tails leapt up through the air.
"Tag." Sonic said, tapping King on the shoulder as they flew towards the surprised Bio-Lizard, with King quickly shifting his weight, landing expertly on the ground before Metal Sonic, who blinked in surprise.
"Well that was...annoying." The robot said.
"You'll find this annoying too." King said, quickly slicing at the ground with his scimitar, dirt and mud getting in the robot's optic sensors, covering it up.
"GAH, YOU LITTLE!" It snarled. Unfortunately, switching to infared wasn't so easy because a moment later King kicked him square in the chest, knocking him back through the air. "You...YOU PIECE OF TRASH! I eat organics like you for BREAKFAST!" Metal Sonic hissed, wiping his eyes free of dirt.
"You eat pieces of trash for breakfast?"
"...GRRR..."
"You have no MOUTH."
"I'm going to squish you into a meat paddy and feed you to your girlfriend." Metal Sonic promised, making a gesture of squishing something in his palm.
"You mock the forces that you can't understand. DON'T LOOK DOWN ON MY KIND..." King hissed, holding his scimitar up. "YOU TRASH."
...
...
...
... One vote for "Tuna Casserole". Another vote for "Tuna Casserole". ANOTHER vote for "Tuna Casserole".
"Sorry, dad. Tonight's dinner has been voted off the table." Cream informed Dr. Eggman as Cheese the Chao and Vanilla held up pieces of paper with the words "Tuna Casserole" on them.
"Ha-ha-ha." Dr. Eggman said, rolling his eyes as he tucked his napkin into his pocket. "It's nice to be able to get together again as a family." He told Vanilla, who nodded in a polite, civil fashion. "Fine, I guess I won't make tuna casserole anymore."
"I, uh...have...a little something I made for you." Cheese nervously spoke up, rubbing the back of his head with his stubby little "hands". "It was hard to hold the pencil, but I did it! I made a poem!"
"Oh, really?" Dr. Eggman inquired. "I'd love to hear it." He said as Cream and Vanilla turned to look at Cheese the Chao, who cleared his throat before he began to read.
"My father's hands and eyes so soft,
His love it keeps our souls aloft,
For all within autocracy,
Give praise to his divinity,
And I'll one day walk the path like he,
To uphold justice, liberty.
His kindness grew in leaps and bounds,
You feel it in the sky and ground,
His smiling eyes gaze o'er our land,
O'er every woman, child and man,
And as I feel him take my hand,
I squeeze it tenderly.
He gently tucks me into bed,
And bids me rest my sleeping head,
His gentle nature seems so strong,
I pray he'll guide me all life long,
Upholding right and punishing wrong,
And one day this poem will be song
And I'll be just as he...
With hands so soft and gentle."
"Oh, it was beautiful." Vanilla said tenderly, nodding.
"That was such a wonderful poem." Cream complimented. "You sure have daddy's personality spot-on!"
"I'm glad you liked it." Cheese said.
"I didn't like it. I LOVED it." Dr. Eggman said happily. "You know I'm always here to hear you out. You're a source of absolute joy, Cheese, for all of us."
Cheese nervously blushed. "Awww, thank you, daddy." He said. "I wish half the population was nice as you. The world would be a better place!"
MEANWHILE, NOT THAT FAR AWAY...
"Ah, if only more people had the skills and training I'd had as a little dibbun." King said wistfully, slicing and slashing with his scimitar, dancing around Metal Sonic. "The world would be a better place!
"I can make the world a better place if you'll just STAND STILL!" Metal Sonic snapped, lunging at him with his claws, but missing. "Hmm. Not bad for a naïve fool!"
"Thanks for the compliment." King remarked, his sword cutting into Metal Sonic's side and...sticking.
Uhoh.
"You organics might be brave, but you sure are easy to trick." Metal Sonic commented, one arm elongating out, transforming into a thick, powerful serpent made of metal, with beady red eyes gleaming. It wrapped itself around King's neck, hissing as King frowned. "Ha! This is a trick you can't imitate. How ironic, being killed off by one of your own kind...and don't bother trying to "speak" to it in your native tongue, it's mindless."
King's golden eyes narrowed darkly as Metal Sonic held up his claws, the scimitar falling to the ground. "So, what shall it be? Bitten to death? Strangulation? Decapitation?" He wondered.
"How about "Snakes have a unique bone structure and can bend their bodies"?" King remarked, one arm twisting and hitting the "joint" of Metal Sonic's arm with a harsh CHA-THRACK, making the "snake" around his neck get disconnected as it dissolved away and King leapt back. "For somebody who enjoys mocking organics, you don't know much about them." He added, kicking the scimitar.
SCHA-SLICE! It struck through Metal Sonic's leg and cleaved it off, and the robot fell to the ground, gasping in pain as King pulled the scimitar back up, stepping back and holding it in a threatening manner. He noticed there was a loud THA-THOOOM sound as Metal Sonic fell. How...odd. Could it be?
"You...little..." Metal Sonic snarled, his arm and leg slowly regrowing before King's eyes. "That was a dirty trick...you sure know a lot of them..."
"I thought somebody like you would APPRECIATE dirty tricks." King commented. "I wish to fight fair, but I doubt you'd do the same for me." He held the scimitar up. "I've been in training since I was old enough to hold a knife. I'm skilled in the art of war. Come quietly and I will not harm you anymore. I prefer to be kind."
"Don't...you...look...down...on...ME!" Metal Sonic snarled. "You stupid organic!"
Meanwhile, The Biolizard found itself surrounded on two sides by Sonic and Tails. "What the?"
Who promptly clapped their hands, making a large hole in the ground appear below the Biolizard, who fell all the way down.
"What's that, Lassie? Timmy's stuck in a well?" Sonic wisecracked as he folded his arms, grinning...
CLOMP!-CLOMP!-CLOMP!
The Biolizard clawed it's way back to the top, turning on Sonic. "I SAW THAT EPISODE." He said, frowning.
"Eep." Sonic said as the thing snorted in his face, blowing him back.
"You should be lucky I'm not allowed to eat you! Outta the way!" The thing demanded.
"How about NO!" Sonic snapped, rising off the ground, his body glowing gold as lightning crackled around him. He raced forward, fist held high, punching the thing back. But a moment later, it's tail shot out, and it slammed Sonic and Tails through the air, and they landed with a THA-THUMPA near King.
"Oya-oya! Watch where you're landing, we're in the middle of-" King began, turning his head.
He then ducked just in time to avoid a slash from Metal Sonic, cutting through the robot's stomach. He calmly held the scimitar up, aiming for the thing's head as it lay on the ground and-
Transformed into Elise's tear-filled form. King's eyes widened, a horrified expression on his face as "Elise" sneered, a completely alien feature to her face. "Only "human", alright." Metal Sonic said coldly. "IGNORANCE, NOW!"
The Bio-Lizard turned on King, mouth opening up as Sonic rushed forward to grab him out of the way, and Metal Sonic realized his folly. He couldn't let Ignorance swallow up the bubblebutt! He reached out...
"SONIIIIIIC!" Tails screamed.
A loud roar. Suddenly Sonic felt something...it was like his hands were being covered in dark, bloody, rusted metal gunk, somebody was pouring burning hot salt into an open wound on his body, and he screamed and screamed in pain, screamed for-
...
...
...
...One leg of Metal Sonic was left behind. A large hole in the ground where they'd been. One outstretched paw/hand of Tails vanished.
But beyond that...Sonic the Hedgehog, King the Serpent and Metal Sonic the Golem...were gone.
"...no." Tails whispered, tears brimming in his eyes as he looked over at the closing segmented mouth of the Biolizard, who nervously grinned.
"I...oops. I...swallowed..." He murmured.
"YOU BIG JERK!" Tails screamed, bashing the thing on the head with his fist over and over. "BRING-HIM-BACK! BRING-HIM-BACK!"
"I can't, I swallowed." The Bio-Lizard said lamely. "...I..." He nervously bit his lip. "Oh, our designer's gonna be maaaaaaad." He mumbled.
"No...no..." Tails murmured, slowly hovering down to the ground.
And then he began to scream.
...
...
...
... "The neighborhood will get suspicious if I've got lights on all over the place. Especially considering there's a curfew in effect." Dr. Thorndyke informed Elise as she lay in his bed. "For now, you sleep here and I'll take the couch."
"I...I have to go help him, I...I need to help him." Elise murmured, sitting up in the bed.
"What can you do in your condition? Think this over." Dr. Thorndyke said firmly. "You need your rest."
"..." Elise bit her lip, feeling the spot where her arm had one been, tears brimming in her eyes as she flopped to the bed, weeping openly.
Meanwhile, Shadow had just hung up the phone, turning to Rouge. "Let's go-"
"Go where?" Thorndyke inquired, entering the room a moment later.
"I thought it was time I paid a visit to the dear old doctor and make a housecall of my own." Shadow informed him, eyes narrowed. "I have a date with Eggman, and I'm sure it'll be a date to DIE for."
"Your wounds haven't healed yet and you're already looking for trouble?"
"The head of our government could be a golem. I cannot let that slide. Besides..." Shadow folded his arms. "Think about it. We just left a bunch of young idiots on the battlefield. They might not have a prayer...but I know Sonic will give his all." He frowned slightly. "...I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't try my hardest with this either."
"Yes." Rouge insisted. "We have to set good examples as adults. But you know..." Rouge laughed slightly. "If Sonic found out you're treating him like a kid, he'd kick your ass."
"I'm just paving the way forward. And besides, I..." Shadow bit his lip, thinking of Mighty's proud face. "...there are other reasons too."
...
...
...
... "Hmm." Shadow looked up at the enormous tunnel that led up to the main headquarters of the autocrat's central office. "Is this a stairway to Heaven or the steps into Hell, I wonder? Rouge-"
"I'm NOT staying behind."
"What?" Shadow said, whipping his head around as the night air chilled him to the bone. "Fine, I'll ORDER you to stay. I don't want you to put yourself in harms way."
"You're not going to win this argument, sir." She insisted with a bit of a grin. "I'm stubborn. I learned from the best."
"...ah." Shadow smiled slightly. "I promise. I'll be right back." He insisted, heading up the tunnel.
"Very well, Shadow. Give 'em hell!" Rouge called out.
Soon Shadow was sitting in a chair across from a green-feathered, curly-haired, yellow-beaked bird by the name of General Speedy Kukku. "You're Colonel Shadow, correct?" Kukku inquired, rubbing his chin. "Why haven't you reported in to these headquarters sooner? You spend so much time at your own station."
"I'm sorry, sir. I've been so busy since I was first transferred here." Shadow said, saluting. "I'm sorry that now, late at night, is the only time I'm able to come in."
"Ah, it's really not a big deal. Tell me, how's Vanilla doing? I've heard there's been talk she and Dr. Eggman wish to patch things up with each other."
"She's as spirited as always sir." Shadow informed him.
Checkmate.
"Darn. That's twelve times in a row I've lost to you." Shadow mumbled, shaking his head as Vanilla leaned back in her chair.
"Yes, but you were very close. Once you were sure you had won, you blew it. You didn't finish strongly, you see. You need to learn to be a bit more...ruthless. You're too much like Speedy."
"Speedy?" Shadow inquired, looking confused.
"General Kukku. He took over after his father's post after his father died. He's too...sentimental. Back in the war, he was always looking over his wounded men on his own, he got so concerned whenever they were hurt. He always spread his forces to thin because of that."
Shadow raised an invisible eyebrow.
"He's been riding on his daddy's coattails for years."
"WHAT? That old hag!" Speedy snapped. "I got this position because of my concern for my men, not because of my father! That...that...WIIIIITCH!" He snarled, slamming his fists into his desks. "I-oh...uh...er..." He nervously gulped.
"It's alright. He told me that if you did get irritated by this, you were still a just man, and I could depend on you."
"Heh. She can read people like a book, can't she?" Speedy said cheerfully, motioning for Shadow to follow after him. The two headed down the hallway, with Speedy leading Shadow. "We should make it in time for the meeting with the other Generals. Tell me...have you gotten used to Central, yet?"
"Unfortunately, no. I try to feel like I'm doing good for the people, but..." Shadow mumbled.
"True, true. You need to pay attention to the word on the street, not ALL of it is drivel." Speedy admitted as they approached a double set of doors.
"I've heard that Omega is keeping a bear as a pet, Sonic the Hedgehog's gained two pounds in as many days, immortal beings have popped out of nowhere...even that our autocrat is a GOLEM." Shadow said solemnly.
Speedy's head whipped over in Shadow's direction. Then the two began to laugh madly. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That's...actually not funny." Speedy sighed. "You didn't pick up any of Vanilla's sense of humor, did you?"
"...no."
"Too bad. But like I said, most of it's just mindless drivel." Speedy commented, pushing the door before that open. "But that last one sounds interesting. It's a funny joke, let's talk about it over...tea."
The door was pushed open, and Shadow came face to face with various Generals who were all sitting down, eating tea...and who looked as though...they'd been expecting him. Shadow felt a chill run through his body.
"Here, tell that funny joke again." Speedy asked calmly. "The one about Dr. Eggman being a Golem."
Shadow looked like he wanted to say something, but though his mouth opened slightly...nothing came out. Until he heard a voice speak up.
"Is something wrong, Colonel Shadow?"
Shadow the Hedgehog turned his head to see Dr. Eggman stepping into the room from a doorway at the end of the meeting hall. "If I WERE a Golem, what is the issue? Do you...have a problem...with that?" He inquired.
So THAT'S it. Shadow thought to himself, fists clenching. Mighty...you said that the military was in trouble, but that wasn't entirely it...it wasn't the military that was in danger...it was the military that IS the danger...looks like those truly were...the steps down to Hell...
Elsewhere, Sonic the Hedgehog awoke...
And found himself floating in a sea of blood, the skull of a human whacking him on the head as a small current pulled it along. Gasping in horror, he quickly shot to his feet, looking around, gazing at the sight of ruins scattered among piles of bones, the scrapped remains of several robots and buildings...and the blood...
Blood everywhere with a sky of black mixed with dark purple clouds, that seemed to be in a perpetual storm...the air was hot and humid like it was moments away from a thunderstorm, a salty-iron taste choking the taste buds...what was this Hell? What was going on?
"TAAAAAILS? KIIIIING?" Sonic yelled out. "GUYS? You out there?"
He waded through the blood, continuing to call out. "Hello? HELLOOO?"
"Oh, there you are! Sorry, was hard to smell you what with all this...YEEEEECHHHH." King was off in the distance, holding up a small torch he'd made from a bone and a wrapped up-ripped-off piece of his robe. "This place is disgusting. Look at all this blood." His face scrunched up as he walked over to Sonic. "See, this is why I'm glad I'm a vegetarian. Think about all the poor cows and chickens and pigs that have to get ground up into blood froth by the Mcdonalds indust-"
"King, please, I'm having a hard enough time trying to keep my lunch down with the smell alone." Sonic begged, holding one hand over his stomach, the other over his mouth. "And at least I know it's you, with the whole "vegetarian bit"."
"But how do I know you're not imitating Sonic, you metallic fake?" King remarked coldly. Then he grinned. "...tubbaguts."
"WHO YOU CALLIN' TUBBAGUTS?" Sonic yelled, leaping through the air, punching and kicking only to have King block all the strikes with one hand.
"Yes, that's definitely you, alright." King mused. "But where is this place? I know we were swallowed by the Bio-Lizard...look. See?" He pointed over to the side at a large pile of rubble. "That's the house we were in...and there's trees all around...and these fires, they're probably all the work of Shadow from when he tried to turn that huge monster into a deep-fried dish..."
"This is that thing's belly? But...how can it be this big?" Sonic murmured. Suddenly he saw something deposited nearby, floating in the water, soaked in blood...a familiar paw.
"Is that..." King began.
"It's just Tails's hand...the doll his soul is bonded to's hand. This means he wasn't totally swallowed." Sonic said with a sigh of relief, clinging to the hand.
"I do not suppose that he could perhaps, perform the Heimlich upon the Bio-Lizard?" King mused with a sad laugh.
"I don't think there's a hospital with a big enough pump to get us out of here." Sonic laughed.
Then an idea came to him and he began to speak very loudly. "BOY, I SURE WOULD BE SURPRISED IF I SUDDENLY DEVELOPED TELEKINETIC POWERS! YEAH, IT SURE WOULD BE A SURPRISE IF THAT HAPPENED!"
If there were any crickets in the belly of the beast, they would have started chirping on the spot.
"...life is full of surprises, but never when you need one." Sonic mumbled hatefully.
"Are you there, God?" King prayed. "It's me, King. Hey, listen, could you do me a favor?..."
TEN MINUTES LATER...
"This place is filled with skeletons and buildings." Sonic muttered as they continued walking around the belly of the Bio-Lizard. "...and TV sets for some reason." He mumbled, looking over at the wrecked remains of a plasma TV. "Why do you think that, whenever something doesn't work, his first response is to eat it?"
"I don't suppose you could...I dunno...make an exit out of here like you tried to make a well from before?" King mused.
"...actually that's not a bad idea. I mean, there IS some Earth of some kind beneath all this blood..." Sonic mused, clenching one fist as a loud "WHOOM" echoed through the air, and a circular hole appeared before them. "Okay, here, one moment..." He snapped his fingers and a a small chunk of rock floated up into the air from beneath the bloody sea. "Now we toss it in and wait."
He tossed the rock into the "well" he'd created and they strained over, listening intently.
...
...
...
... "...I didn't...hear it...hit bottom...did you?" Sonic mumbled nervously, slowly turning his head to look at King, who was nervously shaking.
"...no." The snake squeaked out.
"...a wall!" Sonic suddenly shouted.
"Yes, yes!" King said, practically screaming in hysteria. "No matter how big this space may be, if we keep running, eventually we'll each the edge, and then we'll find an exit!"
"Yeah, an exit!"
"EXIT!"
"AAAAAAAAAAA!" They both ran off screaming in one direction, howling like madmen.
Elsewhere, in someplace that WASN'T in somebody else's stomach...
Marine plopped down in front of the small fire that Nack the Weasel had built up in an alley as Omega sat near a trash can some distance away, a big, sorrowful expression on her face. "I couldn't find poor Johnny anywhere." She moaned. "What could have happened to him?"
"You sure he didn't get eaten by a stray dog?" Nack remarked, raising a non-existent eyebrow as he held a marshmallow over the fire.
"...stray..." Marine mumbled.
She promptly began to cry so hard that her tears produced a "sprinkler" effect, shooting everywhere and dousing out the fire. "AAA! I was kidding! KIDDING!" Nack insisted.
Marine wiped her eyes as best she could, sniffling a bit. "I hafta find him. Tabby's smaller than the average koala...and Yakin Shīru can't quite..." She sighed. "It couldn't help 'em. And least of all MY people's arts. My family, the Aussie's, we might all get cool nautical names, but none of us have any real political power...we can't do much for others."
"Is that why you wanted to help out that koala?" Nack inquired.
Marine looked up at him.
"Back when I first joined the military, I wanted to...well...show that I could have enough power to make a difference somewhere. Was that what you wanted? To make a difference to someone? Or to something?" Nack asked, sounding slightly...introspective.
"...perhaps at first I did it out of sympathy, but then...then Tabby became a part of my family. Then he made a difference to ME just as I did to him. I know if he could speak, that's what he'd say." She laughed a bit. "Strewth, Tabby's the only reason I was able tah CROSS that desert!"
"You crossed it for a silly reason. I mean, immortality?" Nack remarked, rolling his eyes.
"I GOTTA get it." Marine said solemnly. "If I don't bring it back to the Metatron, gain his trust, my people are gonna get turned into vegemite for whatever ruling family takes power! Especially if that SNAKE gets it!" She moaned, hanging her head. "And I HATE vegemite!"
"...you know...there's...not too many police out around this time of night." Omega said quietly, standing up and moving out of the alley. "Are you coming?"
"...oh, you're...helping me..." Marine beamed. "BONZAH! Oh, thank you, thank you, mate!" She said happily. "You're one hell of a bloke!"
"His own people were wiped out in a campaign some years back." Nack whispered to her as Omega turned the alley. "I think that's why he sympathizes with the survival of your family. You're both, in a sense, the "best hope of your kind"..."
...
...
...
... "I...don't...know...how long...we...can keep walking..." Sonic moaned as he and King kept walking.
"...we've been at this for what feels like HOURS..." King mumbled, holding his head in one hand. "...and there's...no sign...of an exit...and I'm so HUNGRY..."
"We get out of this...I'll buy you...your own salad bar..." Sonic promised.
"I...can't...walk...anymore..." King mumbled. "Go on." He insisted, leaning against a long pillar. "Go on without me...I'll...I'll be fine...I'm...really..."
Sonic groaned. "Don't tell me you're giving up."
"I won't tell you, but you'll figure it out eventually...if only I had something to eat..."
"Don't...you keep...green tea...in your robes?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, but I've no wa-" King's eyes widened.
Soon the two of them were sitting on a big, circular slab that had probably once been a mighty column, sipping some green tea while King cooked the belt he had which strapped his scimitar in place for them to eat on a fire Sonic had made. "Heh. Rotisserie style." He mused. "I guess I should consider myself lucky I didn't through this leather belt away. I would have gotten rid of it, but it was a gift from my grandmother, and I didn't have the heart to tell her I was a vegetarian."
The snake then nervously cut through the belt, handing Sonic a piece, and the two began eating up. "...I'm...sorry." He managed to mumble out. "This happened because you were seeking to help me."
"Ah, compared to what my teacher Tikal put me and my brother through, this is kid's stuff." Sonic insisted proudly, swallowing down his "meal". "I just wish I knew where this place is."
"...you're about to get your chance to ask somebody who might know." King whispered softly, his eyes turning to slits. "HE'S coming."
Sonic turned to look in the direction King was looking at, seeing Metal Sonic approach them. "Oh, you. You know, I was hoping maybe as you fell in, your necks would have broken. A 'bot can dream, can't it?"
"Do you know the way out?" King snapped. "I just had to eat half a leather belt for dinner. I'm in no mood for your snarky comments."
"There IS no way out." Metal Sonic said, holding it's head in one hand, sitting nearby, shaking it's head. "To think, you dragged even ME into this...don't you organics ever think things through? Trying to protect your friend, all sweet and noble and look what you do."
"This is really that big lug's belly?" Sonic inquired, frowning slightly. "What IS this place exactly."
"This is his stomach, and yet not his stomach...do you remember what you felt when you got sucked in?" Metal Sonic inquired. "...you should...you felt it before..."
Sonic's eyes widened. "...wait...could it be...this place is where I met Chaos...the Doorway to the Truth!" He whispered. "...but...but THIS doorway didn't lead me to that white area with the enormous stone door..."
"So the real place is a white abyss of some kind? Interesting." Metal Sonic inquired. "You see...Ignorance...was created by our designer, our father. He was trying to recreate the Doorway...trying to reach Chaos directly. Well...he didn't...succeed." Metal Sonic shrugged. "What can you expect, though? Ignorance is one of the sins that are tied to Faith, to Magic and to Science. Ignorance at what little power you might have, or ignorance of the laws that Magic centers around. In his ignorance he sought to act as God, and...failed."
"Your father has enough power to create a Doorway to the Truth? A defective one, true, but still..." King mumbled, looking both horrified and interested. He would want to shake this being's hand...and then stick him like a pig.
"This is something of a limbo...the imprint of his memories from where he was first born weren't enough to fully recreate the doorway, so he made something that wasn't too useful. And now we're stuck here...all we can do is wait...trapped in the darkness...rotting and rusting away..." Metal Sonic murmured.
"...that...that can't be true!" Sonic snarled.
"No...exit?" King mumbled, his body shaking slightly, one hand gripping the top of his head, claws digging in.
"Wait...if I die..." Sonic murmured, his pupils dilating, a horrified look coming onto his features as a coldness gripped his heart, slowly squeezing. "If I die...what is Tails going to do? I promised him we'd get back to normal together..."
He furiously turned on Metal Sonic. "Damn it...just who the hell is your creator anyhow? What kind of sick monster makes something like THIS?" He hissed, gesturing around at the bloody sea. "Is it Eggman?"
"Cruelty? Nah, he's just another Golem."
Sonic suddenly had a revelation and his eyes narrowed. "If the autocrat of the Eggman Empire is a Golem, then are you things behind the Shanazaran Campaign?"
Metal Sonic began to snigger madly, laughing. "Ha-ha-ha...HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Ohhh, I had such fun there! Do you remember the trigger that started the uprising?" He inquired, placing his claws together, an unmistakable look of amusement in his soulless red eyes.
"Yes, a Shanazaran child was murdered in the streets. They practically needed tweezers to pick up the pieces from what I heard." Sonic said, looking disgusted that Metal Sonic thought the campaign was "fun". "The military insisted it was a horrible accident but nobody on their side bought it."
"They shouldn't have. I'm the one who did it." Metal Sonic said proudly.
King's eyes widened, then narrowed in disgust. Sonic's fists clenched, an incomprehensible look upon his features as his body quivered with a mixture of dawning horror and fury.
"The civil war flared up right before my eyes all from just a few good punches." Metal Sonic flexed his claws, looking positively radiant. Had he a tongue, Sonic was sure he would have licked his lips.
Sonic was silent.
"Oh, and the officer that I impersonated? You wanna know what's funny? He was actually AGAINST military intervention in the region!" Metal Sonic went on. "And best of all, he got court-martialed for what he did, and EXECUTED because he couldn't give a decent alibi! Oh, you organics are so easy to manipulate!" He held his hands up. "You all dance so well for your puppet-masters, don't you?"
"So YOU'RE the one who shot that innocent child...YOU'RE the one who caused the Civil War that created a killer of metallurgists...who killed two innocent doctors and made an orphan out of my childhood friend...who turned state alchemists into killers and got innocent Shanazaran citizens slaughtered like dogs in the street..." Sonic muttered, tightly clenching his fist, a golden glow beginning to form around him.
Metal Sonic let out a harsh laugh.
"YOUUUU!" Sonic screamed furiously, his fist slamming into Metal Sonic's face, a golden sheen surrounding him as lightning crackled over his body.
SHUDDA-THWOOOM!
The blow would normally have been enough to break through the robot's cheek...at least, that's how it SHOULD have been. But Sonic was suddenly aware that the robot was not even flinching...just coldly staring at him.
"...you...little...RAT." It whispered. "You wanna fight? Fine..." He stepped back over and over, going some distance away from Sonic and King, his body pulsing. I'll show you something interesting...as a souvenir of hell!"
"Did you see his footprints when we were fighting in the forest? Or how he bent that tree branch he was standing on?" King whispered to Sonic.
"...I DID see the tree branch. Why?"
"His weight...it's not normal. That form we're used to seeing him in, I think it's a fake...I think his true form is much, much bigger...and we're about to see it right now..."
Before their eyes was a towering, hulking figure that seemed even larger than the Bio-Lizard. It had a draconic, metal-armored body with long spikes running down it's back, and a tank-esque form beneath a muscular torso, with a serpentine tail lashing back and forth. It's mouth was filled with more fangs than a shark, and it had a long, black visor slit with a single reptilian-esque red eye glaring out at them all, and a large chaos emerald clearly embedded in it's "stomach" region.
The tail itself was also spiked and rather segmented, made up of metal armor as the rest of the beast, and the thing had enormous, thick claws that were longer than trees on it's left hand, with a large, crab-like claw/cannon on the right. Several long, thick tubes hung down from the "tank" region, and most horrifying of all, the armor...
The armor was seemingly keeping in PEOPLE, made up of thousands of screaming and sobbing and laughing faces all indented into the metal, all trying to desperately crawl out to freedom. How many souls were trapped in there?
"How could you possibly call this thing a "person created from a Chaos Emerald"?" King murmured in horror, golden eyes widening in terror.
SEASON THREE ENDING CREDITS!
(Amy is sitting outside the house on the roof, watching the clouds slowly pass overhead)
Meguri megutte mo mata koko de aitai
hagurenai youni kono te wo tsunagunda...
(Amy sits up slightly, looking at a cloud that looks an awful lot like Sonic, grinning slightly at it and blowing it a kiss.)
Asahi ga noboru made katari atta ne
yuuhi ga shizumu made tsunaida te
kou yatte asu mo asatte mo tomo ni
ayumou hikari to kage!
(Now Tiara and Amy are passing around a photo album that shows embarrassing photographs of Sonic and Tails doing silly things like shooting underwear at each other, rolling around in the mud and playing with their food, laughing at the pictures.
Samishige ni mitsumeru machi no naka de
nukumori wa hitori ja mitsukara nakute
ai ga konna ni tsuyosa ni naru koto
shittanda kimi ni deaete hajimete!
(Elise is sitting in her room, taking out a small photograph of her and King and David all together at a carnival, with King holding up a large stuffed bear that he won Elise, the young dibbun grinning broadly in front of the camera.)
Meguri megutte mo mata kimi ni aitai
hagurenai youni kono te wo tsunagunda
hitori ja nemurenai yume wa mirenai kara
donna fuan mo todokanai tokoro e...
(Marine lies back on a hill, looking up at the stars, pulling out a small drawing of her "perfect man", giving it a kiss and grinning broadly at it as her pet Koala pokes it's head out over her.)
Hoshi mo nai yoru mo terashi tsuzukeyou...
(Sonic, Tails and King all sit together, passing around a photo album of their own...all of collected shots of the GIRLS doing embarrassing things. They all laugh it up.)
Doko made mo yukeru kimi to nara
hitori ja arukenai michi mo futari nara
hana uta utai nagara arukerunda
kimi ga ireba shiawase...