Just to let you know, my laptop is in the shop and it is getting fixed, but because my hard drive has kafuffled up, there is a 99.9% chance that all my documents will be wiped, which makes me sad. So I have decided that I will re-write chapter 26 (technically 25) because I really feel guilt about making you guys wait. Anyways, I introduce to you chapter 25/26!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic!
The Many Shades Of Cream.
Chapter 25: It Ends Now.
Cream groaned as she opened her eyes, the familiar scent of blood drifted to her nose and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from spewing her guts. Her vision was blurred and she felt so sleepy, she just wanted to go back to sleep, but someone found it necessary to keep on shaking her, trying to stop her from going back to sleep.
"Stay with me Cream!" a voice yelled, this voice was somewhat familiar to her, but she was too tired to place her finger on it, and instead, she pushed the person's face away from her, who was inconsiderately yelling in her sensitive ears.
"Five more minutes momma." She slurred, grabbing onto the figures soft fur and snuggling the arms that held her. The figure chuckled quietly, and sighed in relief.
"You gave us quite a scare Cream," the figure told her quietly, seemingly relieved that she was at least healthy enough to speak.
"Hey, that's my name." Cream mused, as her eyelids slowly began to close and her breathing soon enough became slow and heavy.
"That's right Cream, go to sleep."
That was the last thing she heard before the realm of sleep once again reclaimed her consciousness.
...
"So what exactly happened?" a female voice whispered to the male that stood beside her as she tended to the patience wounds.
The male scratched the back of his neck; embarrassment could be seen clearly upon his features, "I'm not too sure, my memories are a little fuzzy. One minute, I couldn't get to Cream, and the next minute, I was right besides her."
"What happened to Dark Oak?" the female asked slowly, shuddering as she mentioned the Materex's name.
"Beats me, dude was long gone when I got to her." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
The female sighed sadly as she turned to face the male, "And the chaos emeralds?"
"It was weird, they were just floating around Cream, so I just grabbed 'em and gave 'em to Tails when I got back."
"It was quiet a scary sigh," the female mused, her voice thick, "To see you and Cream covered in blood." A single tear fell from the female's emerald green eyes.
Cream suddenly gasped in pain as she sat up, her eyes wide with fear, and before the female could even turn round to see if she was alright, the male was besides the bed, staring intently at the rabbit.
The first thing Cream noticed was that she was in the hospital wing. Her eyes traced the room and she soon spotted the familiar faces of Sonic and Amy; Amy was at the end of Creams bed and Sonic was just beside her, holding his breath in anticipation.
"W-what happened?" Cream asked in a hoarse voice.
"You don't remember?" Amy whispered.
Cream shook her head, but images suddenly flashed in her mind. Getting captured, seeing her old memories, Dark Oak, almost dying, Cosmo...
Cream yelped in surprise, she chucked off the covers and was about to get out of the bed, but Sonic stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pushing her back down into a sitting position.
"Hey take it easy, you need to rest." Sonic said to her.
"But-!" Cream started but Amy cut her off.
"Sonic's right Cream, you got badly hurt."
Cream sighed in defeat, but then took notice of the many bandages that covered her body, from her legs all the way up to her head, she felt like a mummy about to be buried. Also, on top of all that, she had a killer headache.
"We were so worried Cream." Amy said, in a motherly tone.
"I know," Cream said with a said sigh, she couldn't help but feel this was all her fault.
Sonic looked between the two girls. There was only one thing Sonic hated above everything else (other than Eggman and evil of course), awkward silence. Clearing his throat, Sonic began to speak.
"Welp, the important thing is, is that you're okay Cream," Sonic said, flashing her one of his famous smiles and thumbs up.
"I guess so." Cream said with a small shrug of the shoulders.
The ship suddenly began to shake, and Amy launched herself at Sonic, who had grabbed hold of Cream. Sonic sat there holding the two protectively and it was over in a matter of minutes.
Once he deemed it safe, Sonic stood back up and let go of the two. Turning to Amy, he spoke in a serious voice,
"We better go."
Amy nodded and turned to Cream.
"Stay here." She ordered, and all the rabbit could do was nod, still in shock after that powerful quake struck the ship. Amy gave her a small smile and gently kissed the top of her bandaged head.
"Be safe."
And with that the two hedgehogs ran out of the room, leaving Cream alone.
...
Tails let a moan of pain as he stood back up. Clutching his shoulder, he sat back in his captain chair and began shooting some missiles at the creature on the water planet, which seemed ineffective as it caused no damage whatsoever to the seemingly invisible creature. You'd think it would be easier now there was only one of them but it seemed to be much harder to defeat than before. For example, the strength of the single Materex had improved greatly, and if it wasn't for the upgrades Tails had made on the shields in his spare time, they would've been blown into oblivion.
"The missiles are completely useless against it!" Tails growled in aggravation.
"What do you suggest we do?" Eggman's image asked from the large screen, as Knuckles was once again thrown back by the giant creature.
"It must have a weakness!" Knuckles yelled, as Shadow was also flung back by the large Materex.
"What about the Master Emerald?" Cheese asked innocently as he floated besides Tails.
"No way!" Knuckles snapped.
"It couldn't hurt to try." Sonic said, as he jumped on the wing of Amy's plane, standing besides Rouge.
"I don't know Sonic." Tails replied.
"Huh?" Sonic said in confusion.
"Remember what happened last time? The Master Emerald was shattered into pieces and now that Dark Oak is stronger, who knows what will happen." Tails explained.
"Yeah, but there were more forces to resist last time, if we strike Dark Oak with its entire power boom! The odds are in our favour!" exclaimed Rouge.
Tails considered this for a moment.
"She's right Tails, if all the energy is focused on Dark Oak, then that's gotta be able to deal at least some damage." Chris informed the fox, who seemed to be in deep thought.
Tails suddenly snapped out of his thought and nodded his head.
"It's our only option." He said simply.
...
"No! I will not do it again" Knuckles exclaimed, struggling against Rouge's and Amy's grip. He may be strong but even he could not get away from the powerful females.
"Sorry Knucks, but we got no choice," Rouge said through gritted teeth pulling him along the hallway.
"Yeah, you can always fix it afterwards." Amy aid happily.
"One cannot simply 'fix' the most powerful object in the universe." Knuckles stated as a matter-of-factly.
"Well you are the guardian of it." Rouge argued back.
"Yeah!" Amy exclaimed in agreement, "If anyone can fix it then you can!"
"You gotta have more faith it," Rouge told him as they came to a stop at the Master Emerald shrine, "Aaaannnd you gotta have more faith in yourself." She informed him, poking him in the stomach.
"Chaos is the power enriched by the heart." Amy said, nodding as she did so.
"Fine," Knuckles said breaking free of their grip and standing in front of the Master Emerald, "This better work." He grumbled.
"We believe in you Knuckles!" Amy chirped as Rouge nodded in agreement.
Knuckles nodded at them both, before turning his attention back to the Master Emerald as he began to chant, with his arms outstretched.
"Oh great and powerful Master Emerald, hear me now..."
...
"Damn." Shadow whispered to himself, as he was thrown back at the Blue Typhoon. He landed with a loud thump and he rubbed his back where the hard metal had hit him and knocked the win out of him.
"Come on Shadzy! I thought you could do better than that!" Sonic called out to him arrogantly as he was lucky enough to avoid the weird liquid that was shot at them both.
"Shut it, faker." Shadow said with a growl, as he stood up and shook his quills ridding them of the metal rubble.
His competitive nature taking over, Shadow launched himself into a triple spin at Dark Oak, and hit him square in the face. He actually managed to do some damage as the creature roared in pain and Shadow was lucky enough this time to avoid the strange looking liquid that was shot out of it's mouth, that was coincidentally (or not) aimed only at Shadow.
"Adda boy!" Sonic proclaimed happily, patting the ebony hedgehog on the back, who was at the moment in super Shadow form making him gold, earning a glare from Shadow, and Sonic stopped almost instantly and held his hands up in the air and gave him a nervous smile.
"Hehe" Sonic chuckled, with a hint of fear hidden in it depths.
Shadow growled in response and if looks could kill, we would be mourning poor Sonic the Hedgehog by now.
The two hedgehogs were about to resume attacking Dark Oak again, when a powerful beam shot out at the giant Materex, sending the two hedgehogs flying back into the X Tornado take off road. Shadow was the first to stand up, and he pulled the blue (at the moment who was gold) hedgehog to his feet roughly by grabbing onto his arm.
The two watched as the green energy beam attacked Dark Oak, who was roaring in pain. For what seemed like hours, Dark Oak was destroyed and Sonic began to cheer in celebration, including Cheese and Chris, but Eggman and Tails watched intently, not quite believing they had won yet, at least not that easily.
Shadow seemed to be on the same as he shook the ecstatic Sonic roughly and pointed to the planet as the smoke began to clear. In its place stood a shell like planet, very much alike the one the gang had seen when they fought the Materex the first time which seemed like decades ago, except this time it was a dark grey in colour unlike the brown it was the first time, it seemed to signify that it was much more powerful than before.
"Your courage is admirable, but your naivety in believing you could defeat the all powerful Materex is what will be the cause of your own demise!" Dark Oak's voice boomed, sending shivers down the Mobian's backs.
...
Amy rubbed her eyes as she sat back up in attempt to clear her fuzzy vision. One minute she and Rouge were watching the Master Emerald glow with almighty power while Knuckles was reciting a old chant, and the next, Bam! All three of them were knocked unconscious.
Amy turned to the source of the noise when she heard someone groan and soon spotted Rouge sitting up and rubbing her head.
"You okay?" Amy asked as she crawled over to her and checked for any signs of damage.
"I'm fine just a little dizzy," Rouge sitting up and shaking her head, before noticing they were missing a party member, "Where's Knuckles?" This was one of the rare times when Rouge said his full name and she only did this when she worried about him, even though she always denied she worried about the hot headed echidna.
Before Amy could respond, they heard a groan. Looking over, they spotted Knuckles lying beside the, now in pieces, Master Emerald. The quickly ran to his side and checked to see if he was alright.
"Knuckles?" Amy questioned, placing her hand against his forehead. When she deemed his temperature was normal, she then proceeded to check his pulse rate by placing two fingers upon his wrist.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Knuckles said, gently whacking her hands away and sitting up. A look of horror crossed his face when his eyes fell upon the remains of the Master Emerald.
"Not again!" He exclaimed, before he continued, "I don't understand why all the bad things happen to me! First I was almost made into a pancake when one of the stupid damn Materex almost fell on me, had it not have been for Shadow. Then I couldn't even break down a stupid door! And now this! The poor Master Emerald! It's happened not once, but twice! Twice dammit! Now I'm going to be known as the guardian who couldn't even look after the most precious, not to mention, powerful damn object in the whole frickin' universe! There's only a few words to describe and sum me up. Worst. Guardian. Ever."
Before Knuckles could continue ranting about how he is a failure in life. A voice interrupted him,
"Your courage is admirable, but your naivety in believing you could defeat the all powerful Materex is what will be the cause of your own demise!" Dark Oak's voice boomed, sending shivers down the Mobian's backs.
"This is just not my day!" he exclaimed in frustration, as the other two Mobians pulled him to his feet and dragged him out of the room, heading for the control room as Knuckles continued his rant.
...
"Huh?" Cream murmured as she woke up, "Who's there?"
...
"Oh no." Tails said, a look of shock upon his features as Knuckles, Amy and Rouge arrived back into the room.
"What is it Tails?" Amy asked with a worried tone.
"The chaos emeralds power, it's all been drained again." Tails said, putting his head in his hands and groaning in distress.
"How?" Vector asked, the chaotix had recently arrived to help with the battle.
"I don't know." Tails muffled reply came.
"Where are they?" Knuckles asked who by now had finished sulking.
"Sonic left them on the bridge after he and Shadow turned super, Dark Oak must have taken them and drained all of their power," Tails explained, "I suspect Dark Oak just chucked them back, considering they're now useless."
"Is there a way to power them up again?" Chris's image asked.
"Bring them to my ship." Eggman's image stated, causing everyone to turn to him, "I think I know what to do."
"I'll go get them." Amy said, and before anyone could protest, she was already out of the room.
...
Hello Cream, a voice spoke.
"Cosmo?" Cream questioned.
No
"Then who?" Cream asked.
The voice let out a soft chuckle, I can't believe you've already forgotten me, Cream
"But-?" Realisation suddenly dawned as Cream's eyes widened in shock.
"E-Emerl?" she whispered.
Yes
"How is this possible?" Cream asked her voice hardly above a whisper.
I've been here the whole time
"Wha?" Okay, now she was even more confused.
Oh come on Cream, you should have figured it out by now.
"Where are you?" Cream asked, looking around the room.
I'm in your heart
"In my...heart." Cream stuttered, gently touching her heart.
Would you prefer it if you could see me?
"Very much. Yes." Cream replied.
An image of Emerl suddenly appeared in the centre of the room, it was fuzzy, but it was definitely there.
"Emerl!" Cream exclaimed happily, running to hug him, but instead, she went through him, and landed on the floor with a "Oomph"
Emerl scratched the back of his neck.
Hehe, should have warned you about that.
Cream nodded in agreement, and stood back up.
"Why can't I hug you?" she asked him with a pout.
I'm only an image
"Oh." Cream murmured.
Indeed, oh
"So... what's going on?" Cream asked.
Do you remember when you had a vision?
"Yes..." Cream answered, not quite sure where this was going.
Well you don't think that was a coincidence, do you?
"I'm not following you," Cream said.
Emerl sighed,
Honestly, I think you've been around Knuckles far too much
"Just continue." Cream instructed, crossing her arms and huffing in annoyance.
Yes, I see you've been influenced by his impatient manor too; Emerl chuckled, but stopped when Cream glared at him.
Very well, you see I have the ability to see the future
Cream gasped, "So you're physic?"
Psychic Cream, honestly you're as bad as Knuckles. But yes I am indeed psychic. And because of this, I gave you the ability for a couple of minutes to see the future, as a helping hand.
"Why didn't you show me the whole future? It would've been much easier for me." Cream whined.
But that would be cheating and you wouldn't have learnt anything throughout this journey. Besides, if I did show you the whole future, think about how that would affect the space time continuum, the results would have been disastrous. Also, not everything is set in stone.
Cream sighed, but agreed, "True."
Anyway, your friend Cosmo told me...
"You know Cosmo?!" Cream exclaimed happily.
Oh yes, she is a very good friend of mine. Now where was I? Oh yes. Cosmo told me that you must be the one to defeat Dark Oak
"How do I do that?" Cream asked.
You must seek out the seven chaos emeralds.
"But, I haven't seen them since I was on Dark Oak's ship!" Cream exclaimed in distress.
Do not threat. The chaos emeralds are all located on the bridge.
Cream nodded and gestured for him to continue.
But be warned Cream, when you get there the chaos emeralds are going to be acting very... strangely. Do not be put off by this just believe in your heart that you can do it and your heart will not let you down.
"Will you come with me?" Cream asked.
Emerl stepped forward so that he was standing right in front of Cream,
You may not see me Cream, but I'll always be right here, Emerl then pointed to her heart and in a flash of bright light, he disappeared.
"I will not let you down, Emerl." Cream said clutching her heart before running out of the room and heading for the bridge.
...
Cream panted heavily as she arrived at the bridge, walking forward she soon spotted the seven chaos emeralds lying down on the floor. But something was strange about them; they did not hold the familiar glow that always made Cream feel warm inside, instead, they were dark and made her feel cold inside.
She ran forward and kneeled down next to them. How was she supposed to fix them? She soon became panicked and began hyperventilating, but then she remembered what Emerl had told her. She had to believe herself.
Without even realizing what she was doing, Cream closed her eyes in concentration, and placed her hands on them.
"Chaos is the power enriched by the heart." She mumbled over and over, as if reciting a spell.
The chaos emeralds suddenly regained their warming glow and Cream also began to glow gold. Her ears stood up as if she hanging upside down, and when she opened her eyes, they were not the familiar chocolate brown; instead they were bright orange in colour. Her dress and shoes turned bright turquoise as her body began to glow brighter and brighter.
"Cream?" a voice whispered from behind her. Cream turned around and spotted Amy standing there, absolutely gobsmacked and lost for words. Cream could remember herself in that same position, almost a year ago.
Cream flashed her, a dazzling, not to mention, confident smile.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked, as a tear streaked down her cheek.
"Don't worry Amy; it is up to me now." Cream replied as Amy took a couple of steps forward.
"No!" Amy yelled as she grabbed hold of Creams hand who was preparing to leave.
Cream turned back and said, with so much confidence in her voice, "Trust me, I can do this." And with that she broke free of Amy's hold and flew out into space.
"Cream!" Amy yelled, as tears fell by the gallons now.
"Cream!" Sonic exclaimed as she flew past him and Shadow, "What are you doing?!"
"It is my turn to be the hero." She replied.
"Wait!" he yelled out to her, but before he could fly forward, she put up a shield blocking him from getting to her.
The effect of the 7 chaos emeralds sent a strong warmth through her body and made her feel powerful. So this is what it feels like to be super she mused to herself.
Turning round to face the enemy, a challenging smile crossed Cream's lips as she prepared to attack.
"So you have finally come?" Dark Oaks voice boomed.
"Yes." She responded simply.
"And you really think you can stop me?"
"No," she said before continuing, "I know I can."
"Oh really?"
Cream nodded in response, smirk still firmly in place.
Dark Oak let out a loud evil laugh.
"A child thinks that she has the power to stop me?!"
"I may be a child," she began, "but there's more than one side to me."
"Oh?"
Cream began to focus on forming a large ball of energy in her hands, ignoring the taunts and jeers from Dark Oak, her eyes closed in concentration as she continued to chant over and over again, "Chaos is the power enriched by the heart."
When she opened her eyes again, a large ball of gold and turquoise energy had formed in her hands and Dark Oak had failed to notice.
"I guess you could say," Cream said, before letting out a loud joyous laugh that jingled like bells throughout space, "There are many shades of cream!"
Before Dark Oak could even respond, Cream could hear her heart beating slow as everything went in slow motion, but she couldn't give now. Letting out a battle cry, Cream threw the ball of energy at Dark Oak, one thought going through her mind as she did so.
Am I going to survive this?
Cliffhanger! Mwahahahahahahahahaha! Very long chapter! ZOMG! My hands hurt and I'm hyper! Mwahahahahaha! Please, oh, please, oh, please, oh, P-L-E-A-S-E! Review! The more reviews I get, the quicker I update!
Love Ya!
Mwah!