As the morning came, things seemed normal and peaceful for the Freedom Fighters: no attacks, no alerts, nothing seemed amiss. Logan obviously used this free time to train of course, and did so in the training room of Freedom HQ, focusing on weight lifting, and was currently bench pressing 1000 lbs with ease. He was very relaxed, not a thing had disturbed him and allowed him to just concentrate, however that concentration was about to be interrupted.
Suddenly, the Mangham felt an energy unlike anything he had ever felt before, something strong enough to send a chill down his spine. There wasn't anything good or positive about this energy, no, quite the opposite, nothing but pure evil and negativity. He'd only ever felt something like this once, that little voice inside his head during his transformation into his Dark Form, that maniacal voice that made his very soul feel rotten to the core.
Merely thinking about it brought back all the horrid and painful memories he had because of that horrible power, and even scarred him to a degree that caused him to launch the weight across the room and smash straight into and through the nearest wall. He sat up and began rubbing his eyes, trying to forget what he had just seen, at the same time the young Amy Rose came walking through the door.
Amy:"Logan are you alright? I heard a massive bang, before that weight came crashing through the wall and into the kitchen. I think Antoine nearly fainted"
Logan:"I'm fine…it's…it's nothing. I threw the weight because I…I got…scarred…" he explained as he stood to his feet.
Amy:"You? Scarred? I didn't think the two words could be put in the same sentence! What caused you to be scarred?"
Logan:"I just…I felt something…familiar to say the least…it felt…it felt…"
Amy:"Felt like what?" she asked as he turned to face her.
Logan:"Evil" he merely put.
Just then, an alert started to sound throughout the entire base, leading the group to all rush to the lab and investigate what was going on. Once everyone had arrived, Rotor and Tails immidiently got at the keyboards of the massive computer, and began to analyse what was going on.
Sonic:"What's happening?"
Rotor:"There seems to be some strange Chaos Energy signatures coming from a different zone. It's like something's trying to get into our zone, but is incapable of doing so for whatever reason"
Tails:"After a bit of analysis, I've found this energy is coming from the End Zone"
Xiro:"Cobran must be trying to use whatever he can to get through, despite knowing its hopeless in the first place. His energy seems to have grown stronger too"
Logan:"Wait a minute, his energy doesn't feel the same. Yes it's more powerful, but it's also more…evil…almost like my energy when I was in the Dark Form"
Sally:"You don't think he has a transformation like that do you?"
Logan:"No, this is something completely different…"
Bunnie:"So how do we stop 'em?"
Logan:"I could go in and try to detain him, perhaps he'll stop trying to escape after the battles over, but it might be difficult. His energy seems to be level with mine, so the battle could drag on for a while. Send me in on my own, and close the way back. I'll try my best to defeat him, but if I fail, you guys come in after me!"
Rotor:"I'll ready the star posts!" he shouted as he ran out the room.
Logan (in his head):"Somehow Cobran's managed to raise his level of strength in such a short period of time, and in doing so has made his energy more evil and negative. Though despite what it's become, it wasn't the energy I felt before, though both energies feel very familiar…there's something else going on, and it looks like I'll have to get to the bottom of it myself!"
After about 20 minutes, the star posts were set up and charged ready to go. Upon Rotor pressing a few buttons at the small command post of the machine, the Star Posts activated and created a small color changing portal in between them. The Mangham lined himself up with it, before dashing towards the portal and diving through it, with the portal closing itself after he entered. Tails and Rotor then entered a few codes into the computer, activating an energy scanner for the Zone, allowing them to be able to read the energy's coming from the End Zone and be able to build an image off it for them to see what was happening.
Tails:"Alright, links been established, Logan's in the zone"
Sally:"Alright keep it up so we can find out what happens!"
Upon landing in the endless void of darkness, the hybrid rolled across the un-seeable floor for a few meters before leaping to his feet. He watched as the portal close behind him, before taking a look around this new area, and realized that Cobran really wasn't kidding. There was nothing here but a massive black void that stretched far beyond the eye could see, and despite having no form of light in the entire empty void, he could still see himself perfectly fine.
This of course brought the same question he had earlier to his head: if there is nothing in this entire Zone, then how was it that Cobran received such a great power boost in such little time? He didn't know, but he was going to find out and stop him. As he tried to look for Aindrea's energy, it was a bit difficult considering the strange energy this Zone seemed to give off, but after locating his old friend's energy, it seemed very close, like it was behind him, and getting closer by the second.
Suddenly, Logan's eyes shot open before he leant back far enough to dodge Cobran, as he came flying from behind and tried to double punch the Mangham, with his fists literally skimming his fellow hybrids nose. Logan then grabbed Aindrea's legs in each of his hands, before preforming his mentors trademark Dragon Throw, and spun his old comrade round a few times before throwing him flying across the void for a few meters, with Cobran quickly managing to get control of himself again and land on his two feet.
Cobran:"Nice to see you Logan!"
Logan:"Cut the crap Cobran, I know about your new power!"
Cobran:"What? That tiny little boost I got? That was nothing!"
Logan:"No it wasn't! You're on a whole new level now, the same as me! How did you do it?!"
Cobran:"Like you said, that's for me to know and for you to not find out!"
Logan:"Funny. Guess I'll just have to beat it out of you!" he shouted as he took his fighting stance.
Cobran:"I'd like to see you try!" he responded as he also took his stance.
Just then, Logan noticed something as his old friend took his fighting stance, and that was the flashing of his eyes. They didn't just flash any color, they flashed that same strange color he remembered seeing Aindrea's eyes did when they fought in their Super Forms a week ago (or seven years ago in Logan's case), and that itself reminded him of the other times he'd seen Cobran with those eyes, as well as everyone else he'd seen. Now the hybrid knew that there really was something more sinister going on behind everything, and Cobran was now part of it.
The Mangham clenched his fists tighter, before he and Aindrea each dashed at each other at incredible speeds, before throwing their right fists out upon reaching on another, colliding with a massive bang that somehow created small grey cracks in the invisible floor below them. The two then attacked with their left fists and collided once again, causing the small cracks to grow slightly, right before the two pulled both their fists back before smacking them into each other, making the cracks grow even larger before the two began pushing against one another's double fists in order to gain an advantage over the other.
After seeing that neither of them were getting anywhere, they each tried attacking with a head-butt to the other, only to force them to back off from one another due to the collision. Upon gaining eye contact with each other once again, Cobran teleported towards his opponent and dealt a right hook across Logan's face, before attacking with a fury of punches off the same hand, only for his old friend to recover in time to block each and every strike with a combination of downwards and rising blocks.
After around 50 punches in about 15 seconds, the Mangham right side kicked Aindrea in the stomach, pushing him a few feet away while causing him to bend down and wince from the pain, giving Logan just the opportunity he needed to preform and land a butterfly kick off his left leg right to the back of Cobrans head, before swiftly following up with an axe kick off the other leg, forcing his old comrades head straight into the ground, along with the rest of his body.
Aindrea quickly got back on his feet and tackled the Mangham to the ground, however right as he did so, Logan managed to get his feet underneath Cobran and throw him off behind him. The hybrid managed to stop himself mid-air before firing off multiple energy blasts towards his old comrade, however Logan managed to deflect all of them away from him before teleporting behind Cobran. He then swung his right leg out in a roundhouse kick and attempted to strike Aindrea to the neck from behind, but his target sensed him and turned around in time to stop the attack with a well-timed assistant block off his left arm.
The Freedom Fighter then tried attacking with the same kick off the opposite leg, only for the former Harthillian to counter with the same block, and so a small skirmish ensued of the same actions over and over again for a about 10 seconds, until eventually the Mangham realized he was getting nowhere and back flipped away from his opponent while keeping himself hovered in the air a few meters away from Aindrea, who smiled in response as his old comrade grinded his teeth together in anger, though his expression soon changed to one of confusion when the Mangham began to chuckle.
Logan:"We both know this isn't our full power, so why don't we stop wasting time and get serious already?!"
Cobran:"I thought you'd never ask!"
Both warriors channeled their latent energy throughout their body in order to increase their power, and in doing so, began their transformation at the same time they began yelling at the top of their voices, said yells lasting as long as their ascension. Both hybrids were engulfed into the same golden light that activated their transformation, and all throughout the void of darkness that was the End Zone, the two looked like two lone stars in the night sky, battling against each other. As the light subsided, the two warriors were revealed and now stood in their Super Forms, glaring at each other while preparing themselves in their heads for their incoming fight.
Then, the two disappeared from sight, before reappearing right next to each other, now with their right legs slammed against each other in roundhouse kicks, both kicks preformed with excellent execution and technique. They each followed up the attack with a right punch that collided with the others, right before they exploded into a skirmish of punches and kicks, every attack countering each other and caused neither side to inflict damage to the other.
Not matter what the other tried, be it a punch, kick, pressure point strike, the other would attack with a similar attack that would counter the others and prevent them from causing any pain to the other. As their skirmish continued, they began to speed up and increase the power of their attacks, managing to each throw around 20 attacks in the space of 10 seconds, with the resulting power output from each attack causing small cracks in the ground below them to slowly grow more and more.
Finally, after going at it for around 5 minutes, the two each charged an energy blast in their left hand, before slamming it into the others energy attack, the resulting small explosion managing to gain enough power to push the two warriors away from each other by a good distance, with the cracks in the ground now stretching around nearly 100 meters far and wide. Seeing an opening, Logan rushed at Cobran, wrapped his arms around his fellow hybrids waist, and tackled him up into the air, attempting to take him up into the air for as far as possible. However in doing so, Aindrea himself saw an opening for himself to inflict pain on the Mangham, and began channeling his Chaos Energy for one of his favorite moves.
After reaching around 250 feet in the air, Cobran yelled at the top of his voice "CHAOS BLAST!" right before the red dome of Chaos Energy expanded and exploded out of him, sending Logan flying upon making contact with him, and grew to be around 20 feet tall and wide before subsiding seconds later. The Mangham touched down on the ground in moments, creating slight cracks in the ground with his impact, and upon looking back up to spot his opponent, he decided his next move was to instead leap backwards out the way, right as Aindrea came crashing down from above and slammed his left fist into the ground where his old comrade landed, causing the previously small cracks to become a small crater around 5 feet deep.
Seconds after, Cobran flew up out of the crater and leapt at his old friend, with Logan retaliating against his fellow hybrids previous attacks and landed a powerful right hook across Aindrea's face, strong enough to send him flying across the area before the Mangham gave chase after him. It wasn't long before the Freedom Fighter caught up with the former Harthillian, and landed a left elbow strike to his old comrade's abdomen while he was in mid-flight, sending him straight into the floor and creating a small crater that caused him to just fit into the ground on impact.
Upon reaching a higher point in the sky, the Mangham followed up his assault by firing off multiple energy blasts and Chaos Spears into Aindrea's crater, a large cloud of smoke being created as the attacks hit and exploded upon contact with the downed hybrid, growing more and more as another attack was added to the mix. After around 100 of each energy attack, Logan halted his blasts and awaited to see what was left of Cobran after the smoke cleared, however he wouldn't have to wait apparently, as his old comrade, now with a few burns and bruises on his person, exploded up out of the smoke and engaged in another skirmish of punches and kicks with his former ally.
Though this skirmish only lasted 2 minutes, all throughout it was as intense as the climax of the previous skirmish, and finished when the two warriors each landed a right jab to the others stomach, once again forcing the two to back off one another, and allowed them to catch their breath for a moment before going back to glaring at one another, and in their glare, it was almost as if they decided on their next attacks together.
Cobran put both his hands together and generated a bright light in-between them, before speaking the words "Demon fists" and his hands were surrounded by a black fire, all at the same time as Logan spoke the incantation "Chaos Fists" and his hands became surrounded in a strange energy like green fire.
The two then teleported towards one another, and left punched each other in the stomach upon meeting, right before they exploded into a skirmish of pure punches, once again with each attack and strike countering each other, all the while they began flying all over the End Zone as they battled it out with their fists.
They soon began teleporting all over the place and did their skirmish in quick bursts, before they teleported and moved onto another location in the sky and did another short burst. Logan eventually grew tired of it, and managed to land a powerful left punch straight to Cobrans nose with enough strength to nearly break it, but instead just caused him to have a massive nose bleed. Aindrea then returned the favour by following up with a left punch straight to the Mangham's stomach having enough force to almost break his ribs, but instead only caused him to throw up a small bit of blood.
Both warriors then managed to strike each other across the face with a right punch, sending each of them flying to the floor as the energy around their fists subsided, though didn't stop them from each using their hands to push themselves up onto their feet upon making contact with the ground. The Mangham quickly cupped his hands down by his right side and charged up a Kamehameha, before throwing his hands forward and firing off the famous energy beam the same size as himself, directly at Aindrea, who managed to dodge it just in the nick of time as the beam soared out in the endless void, and caused an explosion as strong and big as 30 tons of explosives.
Cobran slammed his hands together similar to praying, before opening them and creating a Dark Death Ball the same size as himself, and then firing it off towards Logan, who, when it was seconds from hitting him, threw his right leg up in a front kick that sent the attack flying into the non-existent sky before detonating in a similar explosion that the Kamehameha caused. Having both used one of their greatest and final moves, the two knew the fight was coming to a close, and it was time to end it with another one of their techniques.
The two slowly began walking towards one another as they prepared their own attacks. Aindrea grabbed hold of his right wrist with his left hand as something started to glow in his hand, before he threw his arm out by the side and a blackish red energy blade formed out of his hand. This was none other than his Demon Blade, the same move he used against the same opponent he faced now when they first duelled in Super Form. As the two drew closer, he dragged the blade across the un-see able floor, carving a long thin line across the area he allowed it to touch.
As the Mangham walked towards his opponent, he clenched his right fist tight as a bright light blue ball of energy, similar to his Kamehameha, surrounded it and began to grow in power. This was the hybrids own take on his mentors famous move, The Dragon Fist, where instead of unleashing a Golden Dragon that engulfs and annihilates his opponent, he performed a signal strike on his enemy that inflicted a huge amount of damage, right before a beam of the same colored energy that resembled a dragon, was unleashed and engulfed his opponent before pretty much destroying them with the overwhelming power it held.
The two each realized their attacks were ready, and so began to speed up their walk slightly, before their quick walk turned into a light jog, then a full jog, then a sprint, then a full out run before the two warriors feet left the floor and they began to soar across the battlefield on route to one another. Both yelled at the top of their voices as they closed in one another, while at the same time Logan readied his fist to attack, and Cobran raised his blade across his chest like he was doing a salute. The two got closer and closer, before finally they were in reach of one another, and both yelled out the names of their attacks as they unleashed them against one another.
Cobran:"DEMON BLADE!" he yelled as he slashed his sword downwards at the Mangham.
Logan:"DRAGON FIST!" he roared as he threw his fist out at Aindrea.
Suddenly, everything turned darker than it already was in the Zone, and the two fighters disappeared from sight as they unleashed their moves. A massive blackish red beam/wave of energy was seen clashing with a ball of light blue energy through the darkness, neither side gaining an advantage, before a bright white light was unleashed from between the two attacks and everything returned to normal.
The two fighters, still holding their attacks out from when they had unleashed them, passed by one another and skidded across the floor for a few meters, never turning to face one another whilst also never dropping their arms from unleashing their moves. The winner of the bout was still unclear, and it looked like the two were taking time to process the effect of the others attack.
Suddenly, one of the fighters dropped their attacks, symbolising they were the one to lose the duel, and that loser was none other than Cobran. The former Harthillian dropped his guard as the strike to his chest took effect, right before a beam of light blue energy around 7 foot tall appeared from nowhere and engulfed both hybrids. As the Mangham kept his fist raised out from his attack and stood their unscathed, Cobran felt the full power unleashed from the attack all over his body making him feel like he was burning into non-existence.
Moments later, another harmless explosion of white light was unleashed and engulfed the two, before seconds later it subsided along with the beam of energy, leaving the hybrid that had lost the fight standing there simply gawking after the pain he just experienced. Aindrea dropped to his knees whilst simultaneously reverting back to his normal form and throwing up some blood, before he rolled over and fell onto his back, his eyes widened and bloodshot from the pain that made him feel close to deaths embrace.
As Logan finally dropped his fist from pure exhaustion, and stood up straight whilst also reverting back to his normal form, he looked back at his old comrade and smirked knowing that Cobran was defeated and won't cause more trouble, and from satisfaction that he'd had a great fight. However, his smile soon faded as Aindrea's own attack took effect on him, and he coughed up the slightest bit of blood whilst grabbing hold of the massive cut across his GI shirt and chest, and falling to his knees while trying to cope with the pain. Though that wasn't all his former ally had managed to do, as the Mangham moved his right arm over to his left side, he grabbed hold of the area where his left arm usually was, only to find that Cobran had sliced it off with his attack.
In order to stop himself bleeding out, Logan grabbed hold of where his arm had been sliced off, and slowly managed to stand to his feet while trying to make sure he didn't throw up from the new pain he was experiencing. As he began walking away to wherever he was thinking to go, he stopped himself in his tracks upon hearing his rival laugh, and turned back to face his downed opponent, who seemed to be laughing at his old friends pain while trying to put off his own in order to do so.
He was going to go over and just knock him out so there wasn't any chance of him getting back up and attempting a rematch, but stopped himself upon realizing he was in too much of a state to do anything for a while, and because he heard his Comm Device begin to go off. He had worn the device since the beginning of the fight, but hadn't used it because the Zone kept interrupting the connection and wouldn't allow him or his friends to use it, though it seemed they had finally fixed the problem.
Sally (over Comm):"Logan! Logan are you there?!"
Logan:"Yeah…I'm here…just…" he managed to get out as he cracked his neck.
Sally (over Comm):"Oh thank god! Listen, somethings starting to affect the Star Posts, there's an unusual energy in the End Zone that's affecting them. We can only open them up one more time until we can adapt the posts to that energy, so we need to get you out of there!"
Logan:"That's…fine by me" he started as he looked back at Aindrea, who had now passed out from his pain "The fights over now…where's the portal?"
Sally:"It should be appearing near to you now! We'll see you on the other side!" she explained before the call ended.
Just then, Logan heard a strange whirring sound, before a portal as big as himself appeared out of thin air, just a few meters away from him. The Mangham slowly started making his way towards it, making sure to keep hold of his arm so he didn't lose any more blood, and right as he was a few steps from entering it, he stopped in place from the sound of his old comrade's laughter. The Freedom Fighter turned back around to face his old comrade, so that he could hear everything his downed opponent could possibly have to say to him.
Cobran:"Hehe…you know Logan…I didn't get that power…on my own…there is something bigger going on…something powerful…something evil…and beyond anything we could ever comprehend…you know all too well what I'm talking about…you've had your suspicions for a while now…years probably…about there being something more…to everything that has ever happened throughout the years…someone behind the scenes…making it all happen…you know…that whoever it is…is coming…they will strike soon…and what they have planned…will burn you to ashes…"
The Mangham stood there for a few moments, taking in the gravity of his old friends words and what they meant to him, before finally, he turned his back to Cobran whilst saying "…I'll be ready…" before he began walking through the portal and followed with the lines "…and I'll win…" finishing right as he disappeared through the portal, and it went along with him. Aindrea dropped his head to the floor as a sinister smirk came across his face, at the same time his eyes flashed that horrible color once again, and he responded to his rivals words despite knowing he probably wouldn't be heard.
"…No you won't…"
As Logan limped through the portal and it closed behind him, the Freedom Fighter's immidiently noticed his entrance, and Antoine, Nicole and Sonic rushed over to the Mangham as he almost collapsed from the built of pain of his fight, before they slowly set him down on the operating table of the lab. Rotor quickly rushed over with the special medical kit of the lab, and began work on stopping the hybrid from bleeding out, all the while Sonic, Amy and Nicole stayed by his side while the others got to work on the Star Posts.
Rotor:"Don't you worry Logan, I'll stop the bleeding and do what I can to repair the wound"
Logan:"Thanks Rote…too bad you can't regrow my arm…"
Nicole:"Can't you use Chaos Heal on yourself?"
Logan:"I could…but it puts a lot of stress on my body…kind of ironic seen as how it's used to heal things…I can repair the minor injuries I got like the bruises and such…but re-growing limbs takes a lot more energy…so I'll have to wait a few days in order to have the level of strength and energy needed to do it…but until then…it's a good thing I'm right handed…"
Amy:"Well I'm glad you're okay, you had us all worried when your energies disappeared off the screen! They vanished right as your Dragon Fist clashed with his Demon Blade"
Sonic:"Yeah, we thought we might have lost you for a minute there!"
Logan:"Heh, it's gonna take a lot more than Cobran…to take me out…" he spoke out loud, before he began thinking about what his rival had said to him before "(in his head) Yeah, it will take a lot more…like what Cobran said was coming…that someone that was going to finally beat me…will I really be that powerless against him? Or was he bluffing to try and scare me? I guess I'll just have to find out…"
Meanwhile, deep within Mobius' core, stood the mysterious unknown figure from before that gifted Aindrea his power. Before the figure sat a strange red energy ball, and inside said ball, was the outline of a figure curled up in a ball, almost like it was holding him inside like a prison. The figure stepped closer to it and placed his right hand on it for a few seconds, and removed his hand after a he witnessed a small light begin to shine through the ball, one that was a blackish/purplish color.
That same light started to spread through and around the ball, before the black part of said light begin to move in such a way that it formed a massive letter before the figure, and that was the letter 'M'. The letter glowed white instead of black for a moment, before the entire ball shattered to pieces and the figure inside fell to the floor and landed on his knees gasping for air, revealing what his true looks were in the process.
This 'prisoner' was no mere Mobian, in fact he looked quite the opposite. His entire skin was red, from his toes to his knees was all black, and his thighs were also mostly black but seemed to have several red lines going from his knees and up his thighs, though from the ends of his thighs and to his hips was all black. Covering his abs and chest was a black marking which also sported a black line going up along his neck and lead into his black muzzle.
From his shoulders to his wrists were strange black tattoos that looked like they were from some extraordinary and foreign country, or perhaps even from another planet. Despite his fingers which were still red, his hands were all black, and had two claws leading out from them. He had red messy quills with black lines down them in a similar style to Shadow the Hedgehog and Xiro. As he looked up to the man who had freed him, the figure was able to get a good look at the 'prisoners' eyes, which were in fact black sclera'd with red irises and black pupils.
Unknown:"Rise, Kilutro" he spoke to the prisoner, who upon hearing his apparent name, quickly rose to his feet in order to appease to the figures wishes.
Kilutro:"My lord…I didn't think I would be awakened so early…" he commented in a cold and demonic voice.
Unknown:"You have gained enough power in order to fulfil the very reason I created you, and I do hope you remember that reason…"
Kilutro:"Of course I do…" he responded as he raised his right hand and clenched it, forming a black aura around his fist "To Kill Logan Mangham!"
And finally Chapter 27 is complete. Sorry this one took so long to get uploaded. I've been very busy all week with school work as well as trying to get some of the final designs finished for all my characters. In about a week or so (might be longer), I will be getting my Deviantart account so that you guys can see my characters. But besides all that I got the chapter finished and things are starting to get a bit more interesting. Logan finally knows that there's something sinister going on behind everything and he's getting closer to discovering the truth! But will this sinister force destroy him before he can figure it all out? The answer to these and more questions will be answered next time on Mobius Z! I'll see you in the next chapter!
