Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega

All variations of Egglings © Blank the Nobody

Chapter Twenty Four

Apocalypse: Death

1 Hour after Black Egg Armageddon had started

I thought it would be the end, I really hoped it would be the end. In my head I thought that just because I'm the hero that I would always win, why . . . . do I have to be wrong?

An hour after the attack had begun, people and soldiers started to report Egglings attacks everywhere. The first two raids were only the beginning and now the Egglings were starting to pour it on. Gunfire and screaming filled the air as the Egglings attacked relentlessly. The atmosphere was filled with violence and the smell of blood, which combined into a horrible Armageddon-like surrounding. It didn't go unnoticed though and the generals and captains were starting to call the day the Black Egg Armageddon.

Soldiers hurried through the streets, their faces covered with sweat from both fatigue and fear. For most of them, it was their second or third time in battle, but for the rest, they were new faces taking part in an old war. The squad curved around a corner, and hid behind a foul smelling dumpster within an alleyway and looked around for any possible threats. A flock of Avians flew overhead without noticing the squadron, and the flying abominations let out their loud screeches.

"God! Fucking! Damnit!"

The soldiers looked ahead to see a large bus be throw through the air like a play toy. A loud, angry roar then filled the air as a red echidna skidded across the ground on his back. The angered echidna got back to his feet and stared at something that the squad of soldiers couldn't see. A small taxi was then thrown at the echidna, but he quickly responded by punching it to the side.

"Hurry up Sonic! Stop fucking around! I want to find Eggman already!" yelled Knuckles before running forward.

Shocked and awed at Knuckles actions, the soldiers just stood there, not saying a word to each other. Their commanding officer then broke the silence and ordered the group to continue with their mission. They knew that Knuckles was angry, they knew that he was bloodthirsty and the definitely knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to get in the Crimson Insanity's way. The squad then left Knuckles to fight whatever foe was in his way and they wished him the best of luck.

A large Juggernaut swung its large fists around him trying to hit a speedy blue blur that was constantly hitting it. Sonic's attacks were damaging the Juggernaut, but not enough to kill it. The azure hedgehog then bounced back and landed on his feet, a smirk on his face. He was just as anxious as Knuckles when it came to their search for Eggman and he wanted to get rid of any distraction in his way. Sonic then curled into his Spin Dash position and the blue ball began to rotate furiously, charging up his attack. Instead of launching himself forward, Knuckles came up behind him and punched Sonic forward at high speeds.

Sonic's revolving blue form smashed into the Juggernaut's abdomen with the power of a speeding freight train, making the Juggernaut stagger backwards, all of its ribs completely fractured and useless. The Juggernaut then fell on its back dead, its heart stabbed by one of its broken bone fragments. The azure hedgehog then landed on his feet and looked at the dead body. Before Eggman's transformation, he was used to destroying robots, but now he was killing monsters, creatures that used to be people at one point of time. Sonic looked forward at the road ahead of him. He didn't care that the Egglings used to be people, sacrifices had to be made in order to win the battle.

Knuckles walked up next to the hedgehog, the same insane smile on his face that seemed to mimic Eggman's smile. Normally Sonic would cringe at the sight, but he really didn't care. Sonic then looked around, trying to find any other Eggling that might get in their way and he quickly found that there was nobody else there left to distract him. The hedgehog and echidna looked at each other before nodding in recognition. The duo then sped off towards Twinkle Park, ready to battle the crazed doctor that had started everything.

Both of them were ready for a fight. One of them wanted revenge for a fallen friend. While the other wanted to end the armageddon. Sonic lead the way like the leader he was at the time. His mind set on the battle ahead of him. The hedgehog tried to envision the doctor, trying to imagine if the doctor had changed in any way. He then began to plan his attack, he pictured every attack, every possibility, but it didn't do him much because he wasn't much of a strategist. Instead, Sonic just hoped for the best, he hoped that today would be the end.

Things were different for Knuckles though. Instead of trying to plan, he just imagined himself beating the living hell out of Eggman. He was cocky, he was being foolish. Knuckles thought he was strong enough, that he didn't even question his strength. He had tested his power so many times, trained under the hardest conditions and fought the biggest and worst of enemies. Blinding himself with thoughts of victory was both a fool's act and yet one of the greatest things he had done so far. If he thought himself weaker then Eggman, then he would definitely lose, but if he envisioned himself as someone stronger then he might have a fighting chance. But it was a double sided blade. Even if he thought of himself highly, then his cockiness might take him over and make him lose the battle, which is something Knuckles didn't want. The echidna pushed the thoughts of failure to the back of his head and he pushed onwards.

The two of them rounded around another corner, the ruined remains of Twinkle Park ahead of them. At first they couldn't see anything, but they could feel a cold sensation crawling up both their spines. Sonic was scared, while Knuckles just let his own adrenaline flow freely through his body. The two then saw something odd sitting in the middle of the park and they gasped as they realized what it was.

Standing high in the middle of Twinkle Park was a large pile of Eggman's old robots, dead G.U.N. soldiers and destroyed tanks. On top of the mound stood a large, almost brutish man, with muscles ten times the size of a human muscle. The brute wore nothing but black skin tight pants that seemed to be made of some durable latex and the could see the long orange mustache protruding from the giant's face. The figure had its back turned to the two, but neither of them had to guess who it was. A large metal plate with some metal spine-like structure seemed to be integrated into the brute's back and two large vials of hideous black liquid seemed to jut out of the plate, like water feeders to a hamster cage.

"The dead robots symbolize my new hatred for mechanical slaves," started the hulking figure, in a low evil tone, as he continued to look away from the two. "The dead soldiers and ruined tanks," He then turned around to face the two, the same, gleaming white smile greeting them. "well, you can just say I got bored waiting for you to get here."

Sonic and Knuckles took fighting stances while Eggman seemed to take a step back in surprise. The doctor looked at Knuckles, his eyes still hidden behind the round glasses he always wore. Eggman took one step off the mound, the sound of metal crunching under his foot as he did.

"Knuckles, didn't expect you to be here," said Eggman in a shocked tone. "I should've made more arrangements," he said tapping the side of his chin, thinking. "Oh well, this will have to do."

Eggman seemed to disappear in a blur of motion. Afterimages of Eggman started to appear and disappear around the two as the doctor started to play mind games with them, making it look like he was there one second and gone the next. Knuckles, shocked by the astounding speed looked around trying to find the real doctor. Sonic didn't have to though. The hedgehog was used to tracing speed like his, and Sonic found it weird how Eggman's speed seemed to match his own. Eggman then stepped forward behind Sonic, his arm drawn back, ready for a punch and he shot it forward. Surprised by Eggman's speed, Sonic looked behind him, still too late to do anything about Eggman's attack. Luckily, he didn't need to.

Knuckles shoved Sonic aside and took his place before the attack could land. The echidna then drew his arm back and shot it forward at Eggman's fist. The immense power of Knuckles and Eggman's attacks hitting each other made a loud thunder-like sound enter the air before sending off a large sound wave, making dust and pebbles rattle and jump. Sonic looked at the sight, amazed that Knuckles punch was able to match Eggman's and vice versa. Knuckles smirked at the sight, he felt perfectly fine and the doctor looked a bit impressed.

"Someone's been training." cooed the doctor playfully as he continued to smile.

The echidna chuckled a bit. "Damn right," said Knuckles cockily. "besides, I've been looking forward to this for a looooooong time." he said maliciously.

Sonic -who had already gotten to his feet- curled into Spin Dash position and rammed into the side of Eggman's head, causing the hulking doctor to stagger to the side. The hedgehog then landed on his feet while Knuckles charged the doctor and launched a swift punch at his abdomen, which caused him to skid backwards from the impact of Knuckles', now steel hard, fist. The doctor skid backwards and crashed into an old carnival game stand, making the decayed wooden posts fall onto him in a loud crash.

Both of them watched as the doctor threw rotten pieces of wood off of him before getting up, there was a large piece of wood sticking out of the brute's side and Eggman clenched his teeth as he ripped it out. Sonic was starting to feel good. He had landed a few attacks and now Eggman was hurt, which was something he hadn't done in a long time. Knuckles on the other hand was starting to find things a bit strange. The echidna had fought Juggernauts twice as stronger than Eggman, is the doctor hiding something? Before Knuckles could ponder the question for much longer, the doctor started to laugh evilly as his smile got wider.

"I knew you two wouldn't disappoint me," said the doctor evilly as the black liquid held in the containers embedded in his back started to drain into his blood system. Sonic and Knuckles watched in horror as Eggman's wound started to heal and his muscles start to get bigger by the second. "That's why," he stood up, his body now fifteen feet tall and his muscles now twice as thick. "I had to take some precautions." His veins were filled with the vile liquid, making some of his veins visible and black. Some of the liquid seemed to burst out of his body, but instead of tracing downwards like blood, it moved and waved around like a living thing. The black liquid then seeped back into Eggman's body as the wound healed up.

Fear took over every single nerve in Sonic's body at the new Eggman. He didn't retreat though, he didn't fall to his knees in fear. No, Sonic was ready for this and in some weird way, he was expecting this. Knuckles chuckled at the transformed doctor and he began to stretch his arms in preparation for the battle ahead.

"Come on Sonic, we've got some work to do." said Knuckles manically before leaping forward at the insane doctor.

A loud helicopter flew over head, its five automated turret beating off a loud staccato of bullets at the Avians that flew around it. Tails maneuvered the large battle chopper through large flocks of Avians as they flew at him, trying to attack, while Cream continued to point and shoot the large turret that she commanded. Below them Amy and a handful of soldiers battled the normal Grunt Egglings to the best of their ability. The soldiers were entrenched in a large, round fountain that had no more water in it, but the large walls provided good cover, while Amy ran in the battlefield, swinging her hammer around at the Egglings that surrounded her.

Amy brought down her hammer onto an Eggling's skull with a bloody crack and she turned to find another target, an angry smirk on her face. She was angry once again and her she decided to unleash her rage onto the Egglings. Two Egglings leapt at her from behind, and in response, the pink hedgehog swerved around swiftly and swung her arm in a baseball bat swinging motion, smashing her hammer into both Egglings and sending them flying.

The ground then started to shake tremendously causing Amy to lose her balance. She fell to on her butt and started to look around, trying to find the cause of the tremors. Behind her a large Juggernaut charged at and once it had reached Amy it brought both of its arms above its head, ready to smash it down on the pink hedgehog. Amy put her arms in front of her, but she knew that even if she tried to block the attack it wouldn't do her much good.

Before the Juggernaut could release its attack, a black hedgehog jumped up in the air and smashed his foot into the large Egglings face. Shadow then performed a back flip before landing on the ground next to Amy as the brute fell on its side. The Ultimate Life-form seemed unchanged by battle and Amy wasn't the least bit surprised. She got to her feet and examined the ebony hedgehog standing next to her. Amy hadn't seen the black hedgehog in days and wondered if there was some physical evidence as to why. There were no injuries on his body, and he still wore that serious smirk, making the pink hedgehog think that it was probably a personal reason for the disappearance.

"Where's Sonic?" asked Shadow coldly, as the Juggernaut started to get back to its feet.

Amy brought her hammer up to her side, ready to fight. "He and Knuckles went to go find Eggman at Twinkle Park," she answered stoutly. "Why?"

"Because both of them are going to die." said Shadow normally, as if nothing was wrong. Shadow then raised his hand, palm facing the Juggernaut who was on his knees shaking the pain off. Amy was shocked at the ebony hedgehog's words, and yet he still continued to fight. "Chaos," Began Shadow, using the same words as always, as a bright light started to glow in his palm. The Juggernaut turned to face the hedgehog and angered look on its face. Instead of adding a yell or shout, Shadow just said the last words calmly and coldly. "Spear."

A medium sized bolt of energy shot out of his hand and smashed into the Juggernaut's face, frying its skull and brain instantly. The useless body then fell to its side, smoke coming off of its burnt and unrecognizable face. Amy, still shocked at Shadow's words grabbed the Ultimate Life-form's shoulder and turned him around.

"What do you mean they're going to die!?" she asked, her voice a mixture of nervousness, fear and anger.

Somewhere else, a couple miles away from Amy and Shadow, a large explosion sounded before a plume of black smoke rose up into the air. The explosion caused the ground to shake furiously, almost making Amy fall if Shadow hadn't caught her. Both the pink and the black hedgehog looked towards the directions of the explosion, a shocked expression on Amy face and a serious one on Shadow's.

"If that man has the power to take me on, then he definitely has the power to take on those two." said Shadow seriously as he watched the black plume dissipate into nothing. Shadow then turned to face Amy. "We've got to move, now." he said before dragging Amy off with her.

Knuckles stood up, his form trembling from the explosion. Behind him was a blown up gas tank, the source of the explosion. Blood was starting to seep out of his new wounds and the echidna was sweating profusely. Flames fluttered around him from the ignited gasoline and the echidna coughed up a gob of blood. He was injured badly and yet he didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to show weakness, not at that dire time. Eggman stood in front of him, untouched by the flames and attacks, the same smile on his face, mocking the tired Guardian. Sonic –who was just as injured as Knuckles- was thrown off by the explosion and the hero lay on his back next to Knuckles. The hedgehog was panting heavily, pain wracking the nerves all over his body.

"That can't be all," said Eggman a bit of shock in his voice. "You two must have some other plan to defeat me," he said walking forward.

Sonic forced himself up into a sitting position, pain stinging the back of his spine. The azure hero then got to his feet and helped Knuckles up. In truth they had no plan to begin with. They just rushed in with hopes of victory. Knuckles charged the doctor, still thinking that he was stronger and he launched a punch at Eggman's stomach. The doctor didn't move, he didn't even flinch at the attack. The Guardian looked up to see the doctor's malicious smile and for a split second, Knuckles was scared.

Eggman chuckled as he drew his foot back and drove it into Knuckles' abdomen, the force, cracking almost all of his ribs. The pain was immense and Knuckles screamed in pain as he skid backwards from the attack. Sonic watched as his friend slide to a stop and seeing the echidna in so much pain almost made the hedgehog shed a tear. Sonic looked at the doctor, Eggman's smile mocking the hero, this was failure and now the hedgehog finally got a good taste of it. He had failed his friends, the people, the entire world and now they would suffer. A tear finally escaped one of Sonic's eyes, tracing down his cheek and falling onto the concrete under him. He tried to stand up, but his body wouldn't let him, he tried to think one positive thought, but there was nothing but sadness. He was a failure, a complete and utter failure.

"No"

His body seemed to start working again and he got to his feet.

"I'm the hero."

He had finally rekindled his fighting spirit, his hope for a new day. Sonic looked at Eggman with a look filled with anger, seriousness and most of all, fighting spirit.

"Atta' boy, Sonic," said Eggman as he watched the hedgehog get up. "Muster up as much fighting spirit as you can, because I'm just going to smash it into pieces."

Sonic then charged the doctor at a speed that was almost invisible to the normal eye. The hedgehog jumped up, ready to smash his fist into Eggman's face. The azure hero could see the same, unbroken, insane smile on the doctor's face and Sonic felt a bit disturbed. A hand then shot out and Eggman seized the blue blur by the neck.

That was it, right there.

After the doctor had grabbed my neck, Knuckles tried to save me and failed and now both of my legs were under Eggman's boot. I could feel the pressure slowly start to weight down on my most precious of limbs.

I had lost too much blood and another attack would kill me

I had failed everyone.

Then he finally did it.

He broke both of my legs and my heart . . .

My heart stopped.

No miraculous revival.

No Chaos Emeralds that would transform me into my Super Form.

I was dead

Plain and simple

But that wasn't the end.

Oh no

My death is only the beginning.

"Get up," said a female voice that Sonic didn't recognize.

It wasn't Amy's voice and it definitely wasn't Cream's. Sonic wondered who it was but he found that he had his eyes closed. The azure hedgehog opened his eyes to find that he was standing upright. The pain he had felt only seconds ago was gone and the hedgehog just had to wonder why. Sonic looked around, finding that he was still in Twinkle Park, but there was something wrong. It was quiet, really quiet. Sonic looked behind him and he almost fell over from the sight.

He could see Eggman frozen in time, his foot right over a blue hedgehog's legs, his legs. Sonic wondered how he was in two places at the same time and yet for some odd reason it didn't bother him.

"Over here." said the same female voice.

Sonic turned around to find a figure cloaked in black standing behind him. The figure seemed to seep a horrible black aura and it held a scythe in one hand. Sonic could remember one person that looked like that and his spine shuddered at the thought.

"Am I . . ." Sonic gulped nervously as a bead of sweat traced down his forehead, "Dead?"

The Reaper giggled.

"Yup."

Still debating on some things in my head, but I'll tell you guys/gals later.

My poll is still open. The question in general is: Should I or should I not upload the story about my main OC character Blank Payj on fanfiction?

Another one of my stories is up. It's called 'Shadow's Redemption' a story of love, hate and action as Shadow tries to find Maria once more from the depths of the Underground. Basically the story to how Shadow met and became friends with Anubis.

Oh and the female Reaper is one of my OC's, teehee.

Please Review!