The Writer's Freedom Project, IHeartSonAmy, Jacklethekitsune, Mike Prower the Fox, Alyssacookie, I White Raven I, ultimateCCC, SpiraHedgehog, poka, SoNiCrOxMaIsOx, Moonstone the Wolf, Crails123: Congratz, you are all famous now.
And sorry guys, this chapter was supposed to be up yesterday, but I used this "action" chapter as an excuse to watch some Sonic X to get "inspired" and I ended up just watching the show and not writing at all. Ha. Oh well, you guys don't care. Let's get on with it, shall we?
"But silverdawn, I think you're forgetting something..."
SHADZ! Oh yes, it's a chapter that ends in a five, isn't it?
"I'M NOT SHADOW!"
...Oh! Ohmygosh... Sonic, I'm so sorry! It's not the first time you two have been mistaken - BUT you're here! *squeals*
"Hey, take it easy, I already have a girlfriend!"
I KNOW!
*sighs* "Fangirls. You learn to love them."
But hey, Sonic, do you know where Shadow is?
"Like I care what that faker is doing!"
Hmph. Well...I kinda need to add him again. But anyway, what are you doing out here besides prolonging my story and making my readers want to kill me for adding all these notes?
"Well, I've noticed you've been having some convos with my faker, though it looks like you've changed them..."
Someone told me script format is illegal. Who knew?
"Oh, okay, but I saw you talking with him and I just thought you might wanna talk with the real thing!"
Never to be outdone, huh? Well, thanks for the chat, Sonic, but all you're doing is ruining the mood here. This is supposed to be a serious and somber chapter!
"Two words: comic relief. I don't do serious, now c'mon!"
Well thanks, but I have to get back to the story now.
"No prob. Didn't I do better than Shadz, though?"
Much. For the record, I'm on your side: he's the true faker. I don't get why Shadow has so many fans, you're so much cooler than he is...
For those of you wondering about Shadow's whereabouts, ya got me. Anyway, take a deep breath, remember that Silver and Blaze are about to be split up, shift moods, and hang on tight...
...xxx...
Chapter 25: To End All Battles
...xxx...
Two blue, skinny, furry legs draped over the wing of the X-Tornado kicked back and forth as aimlessly and fruitlessly as a pendulum, mimicking their owner's scattered yet repeated thoughts. Sonic, as well as the others, were all being oddly quiet and harboring their own thoughts of the coming mission. It was strange: why had Tails insisted that only Silver and Blaze know about whatever the problem was? What was the deal with this strange energy spike? And most importantly: why did it have to be underwater? Seriously - the whole water gag was getting old. Fast.
A whisper caused Sonic to snap his head in that direction; Amy was telling Cream something. The pink hedgehog turned to her boyfriend and smiled softly, warming his heart, but not enough to prompt him to return the favor. No, normally stuff didn't bother Sonic...but there was something about Tails' tenseness that scared the chili dogs out of him. Out of all of his friends, Tails was by far the most emotionally stable, besides perhaps Blaze. Tails had always been one of Sonic's few anchors, the others being Amy and Knucklehead, and to see how he'd acted the past week had been...frightening to say the least.
An impatient sigh escaped his lips, and Sonic jumped down, his sneaker-clad feet creating an echo and startling everybody. But they didn't look, as Sonic's impatience was to be expected.
"Are you going to go ask-" Amy started, but Sonic merely shook his head.
"No, whatever it is is a big deal," the cobalt hero replied. "Though I do wish he would have told us, too."
Amy walked away from Cream and over to him. "Sonic...do you think he's telling them they can't go back?" she whispered and took his hands.
Sonic squeezed them. "Who knows." Anything, he added silently and wryly.
His obviously distracted, bothered expression twinged Amy's heart. Where was the "Look out, here I come" Sonic? He must know something.
Sonic saw her slightly hurt expression, and kicked himself. Amy knew him too well; she could see right through him no matter what. He permitted a smile to play at his lips, for her sake as well as his own.
"Ames," he said softly and pulled her into a hug. "You worried?"
She rested her hands right under his back quills and stroked his fur. "Never, when I'm with you."
Ah. Not only did Amy know him too well, she also knew exactly what he needed.
The door of the hangar snapped open to reveal Tails and Blaze, in deep conversation, trailed by an obviously distraught Silver. Sonic pulled from Amy's embrace to face them, but kept his arm around her delicate waist.
The fox and cat came to a halt in front of their teammates, but Silver, who was looking at the ground, ran right into Blaze. She turned to smile at him and took his hand. Silver accepted but refused to meet anyone's eyes, lest they see how bloodshot his were.
"Well?" Knuckles said.
"We think we might know what the energy spike is," Tails said, and looked to Blaze.
"There's no time," the cat insisted. "I'll explain on the way."
"Alright, everyone load up the X-Tornado," Tails said, but walked over to his girl. "Cream...I want you to stay here, okay?"
The rabbit's chocolate brown eyes stared back at him. "Why, Tails?"
"It's going to be dangerous," he said matter-of-factly. "And...I really don't want anything to happen to you."
She nodded slowly and then gave Tails a hug. "Okay. I'll be cheering all of you on from back here."
"Keep your wrist comm on," he whispered into her long ears. "I...might send you something."
Cream turned her head to find his lips, and Tails blushed at the unexpected kiss, but tried to fight off the feeling that probably everyone in the room was watching him, so he could enjoy it. After about a minute, Cream pulled away and said, "Be careful, Tails."
"I will, Cream," he promised and then winked at her before using his tails to float into the pilot's seat in front of Amy.
Tails turned to receive the trademark thumbs up from Sonic, who was perched on the side wing, and then announced, "Alright, everyone hold on!" and guided the X-Tornado into the sky.
"It's called the Jeweled Scepter," Blaze informed everyone over the plane's intercom once they had reached a good altitude. "Legend has it that it is the key to unlocking the Power of the Stars, which is the very power that keeps both worlds in balance. Before this I wasn't sure of it's existence, but I never believed in parallel dimensions before this either. I now realize that it has to exist, to keep both worlds in balance."
"Wait, you're saying it controls the very fabric of space-time?" Rouge asked, visions of a gorgeous scepter dancing in her head. "Is that like what the Chaos Emeralds do?"
"Yes," Blaze continued. "But much more powerful."
"More powerful than the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked.
"More so than both sets of Emeralds combined," Blaze said and tried not to look down at the ocean they were now flying over.
"Dang..." Knuckles muttered. "So are you sure that's what this is?"
Blaze shrugged. "It's a theory. Legend also says that it can be used to either destroy both dimensions or..." she turned to look at Silver, who'd been staring at her the whole time. "Merge them."
Finally, Silver's expression changed from that dull, lifeless, defeated one to...mildly curious.
"Merge them?" Amy asked.
"Yes, to create a whole new world."
Tails frowned. He saw so many things wrong with that, physics wise. But...why not let her dream that there was some way she could stay with her Silver?
"Let's hope that's what it is..." Sonic said and clung to the wing of the X-Tornado for dear life, hoping Tails didn't make any sudden movements and drop him into the ocean depths...
...xxx...
"Eggman, it appears both dimensions are exactly 37 hours from being completely in line and freezing time completely."
"I'm fully aware of that, Nega," his counterpart said with twinge of annoyance. "And I know that once I-we get ahold of the scepter, we can change that."
The evil scientist didn't move. Eggman was a fool. Even his slip of the tongue was done foolishly. Why, if he'd wanted to send a message, he could have done it more...subtly.
But Nega...he was no fool. A little mad...certainly, but no fool. He had every intention of making both of these worlds completely at his mercy, one way or another. If that meant destroying them...so be it. At least they wouldn't belong to someone else. At least they wouldn't belong to this other foolish doctor posing as an evil genius. Things like tact, strategy... Eggman couldn't even define those words. A true genius knows that the way to taking over was not going over the top with ridiculous robots (although there was a time and place for that, surely), but by being more subtle, being more... invasive. See your subject squirm, confuse them with politeness, win them over with words. Slowness was key, but Eggman was too busy trying to catch up with that blue speed demon to even think about slowness...But Nega? Nega had all the time in the world, watching his own world crumble from the inside. His time would come. In much less than 37 hours.
"Dr. Eggman..."
Blast, it was one of those idiotic robots he had created to "help" him. What was his name? Bozo?
"What is it, Bocoe?"
Close enough.
"The Egg Floater has come exactly over the spot where the Jeweled Scepter is resting on the bottom of the ocean."
Eggman cackled. "Excellent. Soon...complete and ultimate power will be in my hands, and both worlds will be mine. Let down the retrival claw, Bocoe."
So, now he wasn't even trying to hide it. No matter, the doctor would be out of his way soon enough. You're forgetting our new world will only be big enough for one of us, Eggman...
"Dr. Eggman..."
Ugh, another one of his completely useless machines. Amazingly enough, this one was even a cry baby. Only this fool could make a robot that had enough personality defects to be able to shed tears...
"What is it Bokkun?" Eggman sighed.
"Uh..." as if on cue, the little flying robot started sobbing.
"Ugh, get out of my sight you uselss-"
"But...but....they're here!" Bokkun wailed and pointed to a surveillance monitor.
"What? The X-Tornado? How does that rotten hedgehog always find out my plans? Argh...Decoe! I want that hedgehog blasted out of the sky and into the ocean, do you hear me?"
"Right away, doctor."
So, this third one wasn't completely useless. No matter, once again. Everything was still going according to plan...
...xxx...
A huge, swirling vortex in the sky was the first thing most of the crew noticed, not the ocean. The dark arms of the swirling vortex swallowed up the otherwise calm sky, and certainly stole attention.
That must be where the dimensions are starting to overlap, Tails mused. I wonder...if they merge, than how much will really be changed? What about both sets of Emeralds? All that energy certainly can't co-exist in one world...
He focused his attention away from the swirls and back down to the ocean. They were certainly getting closer to the energy spike, and the ocean-
"Sonic!" Tails suddenly yelled, breaking everyone out of their thoughts of merging two dimensions. "Look, there's Eggman!"
The blue hedgehog peeked over the wing of the X-Tornado down at the huge, floating, egg-shaped ship, with that gaudy, ugly mustached face painted on one side. Oh great.
"And he's right over the place where the energy spike is coming from!"
"Looks like Egghead had the same idea," Sonic said with a sigh. "Bring her down, Tails, and let's land on that hunk of junk."
"Alright, get ready everyone!" the pilot informed his crew.
They all braced themselves, and mildly gasped as lasers were suddenly being hurled in their direction from the Egg Floater. Tails veered his plane off course, trying to dodge them, and looked for a break in the action to start to fire back. He managed to get a few shots in, but wasn't sure how many actually hit the Egg Floater. Trying to keep his focus, Tails guided the X-Tornado toward the ship. Although if this volley kept up, he wasn't sure there would be a place to land it. An airship around the size of the X-Tornado being ejected from the massive Egg Floater and zooming right for them sure didn't help either.
"Tails, be careful, Sonic's clinging on for dear life!" Amy reminded Tails from behind him.
The fox took a quick glance at his buddy, who was indeed looking down with mild fright at the ocean and gripping the wing like it was his only hope. Well, crap. But what could he do?
"TAILS!"
It was too late.
BANG!
The airship slammed into the X-Tornado broadside and cracked the famous plane almost in half, crashing it's inhabitants into the other wall of their compartments. Tails cursed himself for being distracted and, trying not to panic, searched for his eject button.
"Everybody out!" he commanded immediately, knowing that it was only a matter of time before a fire started.
"Where do you want us to go?" Knuckles yelled.
Tails was about to yell jump, but he was cut off by, "SONIC!" and a desperate pink hedgehog was the first to follow his orders, diving after her hydrophobic boyfriend into the ocean.
Ohgosh ohgosh ohgosh waterwaterwater...
Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the submerging impact. "AMY!" he yelled, letting his fear get the best of him. He heard her scream his name again, but knew that he would hit the water first, since he'd fallen as soon as that airship hit the X-Tornado. But that was about as organized as his thoughts were, the others were just...waterwaterwater...
...xxx...
Knuckles and Rouge were the next to jump out, clinging to each other as they abandoned ship, as Tails was trying to salvage any of the X-Tornado that he could and put it into it's emergency, floating state. And the other two?
"Silver you have to save them..."
What? Blaze. She...was talking. Was anything really happening now? Did a plane really hit them, and they had to get out? Everything, since that knowledge, was processing so slowly through Silver's mind...but he knew that it was actually going fast. He...had to react, catch up...save them? Who? Did it matter? Oh, if Blaze was in trouble...if it was the last thing he did, Silver would save her.
"Silver."
Blaze. Those lovely golden eyes, eyes that would soon only be in his memory...they looked so determined. How could she keep her head in these situations? After everything they now knew...she still kept that same look. And he loved it...too much. It was just too much...
"I know, Silver...but there's still a chance. Everyone's falling...you have to save them...you have to hang on and be strong for me, Silver...I always knew you could do that. For me."
For her? Yes, he'd do anything. For her.
"Save us, Silver..."
He was falling. What? Air was rushing through his quills, suddenly. Had he been pushed out of the X-Tornado? Silver looked down and saw all of his friends plunging for the depths of the ocean, their stunning variety of colors and the rush of air jolting him back to reality. He could save them all, he realized. As if by instinct, Silver raised his hands, as much as he could while being tugged down by gravity, and sent a psychic shield to freeze everyone in their positions, but not so much that Blaze couldn't turn to give him the smile that made every ounce of effort worth it.
...xxx...
Waterwaterwater-
Stop.
Huh?
Sonic blinked. He was, quite literally, poised only a few feet above the ocean, and his beloved sneakers didn't have so much as a drop on them. Though they were bathed in some sort of teal energy.
Silver.
Remind me to thank you later, man...
Sonic glanced upwards and saw a very relieved looking Amy, Knuckles and Rouge holding each other, yet frozen, and higher up, Blaze and Silver. Wait, where was-
SPLASH!
The cracked X-Tornado made it's rather noisy and wet appearance, displacing huge waves of water and getting Sonic soaked after all. He growled, but found in this state, he couldn't so much as shake off the water weighing down his quills.
Silver. Remind me to kill you later, for not freezing the plane as well.
The silver hedgehog, however, was oblivious to Sonic's wishy-washy thoughts and guided all of them onto the now floating, but still broken X-Tornado. A very soaked fox suddenly jumped out from the water with his tails twirling, spraying the rest of them.
"Sorry," he muttered and came to sit next to them on the floating wreckage of the plane.
"For what?" Knuckles said and wrapped his arm around a shivering Rouge. "You just saved all of us."
Blaze cleared her throat, and they all turned to look at Silver, who still couldn't meet anyone's eyes.
"Oh, my bad. Silver, yer the man."
The hedgehog merely kept his eyes on the Egg Floater.
"Whaddya we do now?" Tails asked Sonic, but the cerulean hedgehog was already reaching into his back quills.
All he said was, "It's time," and revealed the 7 brilliant Chaos Emeralds cradled in his gloved hands.
Silver turned to look at those blasted Emeralds, the source of all his problems, and wanted to vomit. But what could he do? They, right now, were the only weapons that they had against the Eggmans and the Jeweled Scepter. He, like Blaze did, would just have to suck it up and use them. For everybody. For her.
He levitated himself and Sonic up, watching the Chaos Emeralds circle around both of them, before creating a blinding light and an immense power flooded Silver's body. He let the Chaos Powers in, let them transform him into Super Silver, that entity which he didn't want...but would use.
His fur now a pale yellow and his eyes now blood red (but not from his tears this time), Silver opened them to see Sonic staring at him, their appearance eerily similar.
"Ya ready?" Super Sonic asked him, clenching his fists.
Silver nodded and turned to Burning Blaze. Oh man...she looked ready to do some damage, as always, with bright red flames licking up and down her body. Her fur might be pink now, but her eyes...they were still golden, still lovely, still determined, and still...Blaze's eyes. They were his strength.
"Let's go," Silver said, but when he turned to Sonic, saw the super hedgehog was floating back down to their friends.
Amy. Her emerald green eyes had seen the whole thing, had watched Sonic in wonder. That transformation never ceased to fascinate her, make her heart warm. Sonic just looked so...capable at that point, and so...so...there wasn't a word to say how good looking he was now, with his golden fur, his unruly quills pointing up, Chaos Energy floating around him... The golden hedgehog sported a huge grin as he floated down to greet her.
"Sonic..."
"I know, Ames," he said, and pressed his lips against hers before she could say anything else.
Whoa.
The electrifying energy almost sent Amy flying backwards, but Sonic was holding her too close for anything to happen. Amy leaned deeper into his energy-soaked lips, the kiss exciting her and giving her more of a thrill than usual. Shocks of intense pleasure ran from her lips all the way down her spine. Sonic, we really need to do this more often. That was, if they made it out of this...
Sonic pulled away from the kiss and met her eyes with his red ones. "Don't worry, Amy...we're gonna win like always. No crying while I'm gone, okay?"
She just smiled, and Sonic kissed Amy once again before releasing her and turning to Tails. "Take good care of her, buddy." The fox nodded solemnly, and Sonic flew up to join Silver and Blaze to face the Eggmans, barely hearing his girlfriend squeal, "He's SO dreamy!" and fall backwards in ecstasy.
...xxx...
"BOCOE! I WANT THAT JEWELED SCEPTER NOW!" Eggman yelled furiously, very conscious of Super Sonic, Super Silver, and Burning Blaze about to attack the Egg Floater any second.
"Yes, Doctor, but we're having a bit of a problem with the retrival claw-"
"I don't care!" The doctor pushed his robot out of the way, realizing he was probably going to have to do all of this himself. His monitors were showing...what? The claw was-
"That's right, Eggman."
As fast as he'd moved in his life, Eggman's head snapped toward Nega. What? How in the world -
"Ah yes, you really are too kind, doctor, letting me know all about your secret robots and machines. But..." Nega sneered. "You should have known this new world will be only big enough for one evil, maniacal genius."
All the blood drained from Eggman's face. Was that really the jeweled scepter in his hands? No...it was a hologram. A fake. He was bluffing. Surely.
As if on cue, Nega pushed a button, and the whole ship shook, sending the doctor flying into the wall. The Egg Floater was in the process of transforming, just like Nega had always planned. Why, he surely must be the most ingenius man to have ever lived, to be able to hide this function from Eggman himself. Then again, Eggman was a fool, after all.
The Egg Floater had transformed into a large, humanoid Super Bot, leaving Eggman and his three "trusty" robots in just their small hovercraft. Eggman Nega cackled evilly and placed the Jeweled Scepter into the energy source of the Super Bot.
"I must thank you once again for letting me use all of your machine parts, doctor," Nega sneered again as he climbed into the control seat. "Ta ta, now. I'll make you one of my very loyal subjects."
Cackling like a mad man, Nega made his way for the growing-by-the-minute void, eagerly anticipating and planning his rule as the new king of the two realms.
...xxx...
"Oh snap..."
It seemed like an enormous understatement. Super Sonic, floating a hundred or so feet above the ocean, watched the Egg Floater go through an enormous transformation, twisting and spurting out amazing metallic parts, completed in a machine that looked scarily like Eggman Nega himself. A little full of ourself, are we?
"What just happened?" Super Silver asked, turning to Burning Blaze.
She veiled her eyes. "We've lost."
"I don't think so," Super Sonic said and furrowed his brow in determination. "They may have the Scepter, but we're not giving up!"
"Sonic..."
The hedgehog turned to the cat, who continued, "I respect you, but this may be over our heads."
He snorted. "Nothin' is over my head, Blaze. Now ya gonna help me, or not?"
She didn't have time to answer, as a rushing of air filled the silence of the sky. The Super Bot zoomed through the air, heading right straight for the dimensional void, the swirling vortex accepting him with open arms.
"NO!" Super Sonic yelled, and was about to zoom after it, but first took a desperate look down at his friends, aware that this might be the last time he'd see them. He was desperately glad for his improved eyesight just then, as he could clearly see Knuckles and Rouge, the two that got on his nerves occasionally and that he often teased about getting together but never thought they would, holding each other. And there was Tails, his lil bro, his oldest and best friend. And then there was...
Her pink figure stood out like a beacon to Sonic, and once again he thanked his eyesight, as he could make out every one of her perfect, pretty features: her lovely pink quills, her button nose, her gorgeous green eyes, her smooth lips, her girlish figure...yes, this was his girlfriend. His Amy. He'd give it all away, to save her, at the very least. She was what propelled him into battle this time. She...truly symbolized home to him, and everything that was worth fighting for.
"I love you, Amy!" He yelled, and then fighting the inexplicable tears, zoomed off into the dimensional void, to save not just one world, but two.
And following after the brave, determined, somewhat reckless hedgehog into the battle that would end all battles, were a flaming cat and a psychic hedgehog, bent on saving not just one heart, but two...