Science centers around explaining how the world works in terms that all can find common.
Faith is about explaining WHY the world works in terms one cannot ignore.
The two are rarely compatible. And Magic's foundation is found in faith. The elements of the world, the manipulation of time and space, the healing of any and all wounds, these are possible with magic, as long as you remember...
All magic has a price.
Nothing...is free...
Episode Twenty-Eight
守備と攻撃災害の炎に対して
Defense and Offense against the Flames of Disaster!
"One question I must know first...you are really...State Metallurgist?" Bark the Polar Bear inquired, looking down at Sonic, scratching his head as Sonic sipped on some hot cocoa with Tails, served up by a one-horned being in one of the stylish armored uniforms of the Nocturne Army. They'd all decided to head inside the main base. "What are you, 12?"
"What are you, president of the Coca Cola bear fanclub?" Sonic sniggered.
BUDDA-BOMPF! Sonic's head was comically flattened by Bark as he held up one strong, muscular arm, grinning at Tails. "That is something I picked up from my homeland." He explained.
"Speaking of "picking up", you really ARE lucky we found you when we did, or you would have been drowned like rats in a bucket of cream." Shade the Echidna announced, entering the room, arms folded as she looked Sonic and Tails over, Sonic's head popping back into place. "But what I want to know is what you're doing up here anyhow. Don't think I've forgotten the fact that you're a bloody DOLL!" She told Tails.
"Nobody's going to forget, trust me." Tails mumbled.
"I doubt you're here to take in the sights, our rocket pad is very boring and we haven't sent any ships into space for ten months!"
Sonic turned to Tails. Tails looked back at Shade. "Can you, uh, excuse us for a moment?" He requested.
Shade and the others stepped back a few feet.
"Uh...a bit more?" Tails asked.
They promptly walked off screen. "How's THIS?" Shade yelled.
"Good, good." Tails called back, turning to Sonic once again. "Okay, we'd better stick to the "trying to get our original forms back" story. We don't want to give too much away or Amy could be in real trouble."
Sonic turned around to face Shade and the others. "Okay, you can come back on screen now!"
They promptly did, with Sonic holding up a hand. "But what we're about to tell you is really, really secretive. We can't let just ANYBODY know about it. It's the kind of thing you could get court-martialed AND excommunicated for!"
"Ah, don't worry about that." Shade insisted, waving her hand dismissively in the air. "All of us have secrets we're keeping." She told the two brothers, gesturing with her head at the armored captain near her and Bark the Polar Bear. "Like I said, my uncle Dimitri was so ashamed of me he laid down and died!"
"I am Russian dissident myself." Bark explained, taking off his cap and putting it over his heart, tears beginning to brim in his big eyes. "I can still hear the cries of the wounded and dying...as my country...burned...to ground!"
"...okaaaaaay..." Sonic remarked, scratching his head.
"Trust me, I've done things that have made the priests GASP in their confessional, so..." Shade added. "Lord knows, Irish men are pale, but after I'M done on Sundays in that little booth..."
"...uhhhhh...suddenly I don't feel so well." Tails murmured, putting down his hot cocoa.
"By the way, it's 10 gold rings for the hot cocoa." The officer added.
"WHAT? Are you kidding?" Sonic exclaimed. "It tasted like bad battery acid!"
"...how do you know what GOOD battery acid tastes like?" The officer wanted to know, giving Sonic a look with his helmeted head.
"...fine, fine." Tails dug into his pockets, pulling out twenty small gold rings and handing them to the officer. "Now then, about our little secret." He said, beginning all over again. "The whole thing all goes back to when me and my brother here were very little. Our mother was getting very, very sick. And then...one day..."
...
...
...
... "And so, that's why we headed up here, to Nocturne." Tails finished.
"...I see." Shade murmured, sitting in a chair with her other two head officers standing near. "That IS interesting. This explains your brother's appearance as well." She added. "You can put those rings back on, I don't mind." She said, nodding at them.
Tails slipped his illusionary rings back onto his body, once more turning into a normal-enough-looking two-tailed fox as Shade folded her arms. "I think I've learned enough about you now."
"So you'll help us? Thanks, we're always glad-" Sonic began happily.
"YOU TWO ARE FRIGGIN' MORONS." Shade snapped.
Sonic and Tails's face blanched, two large sweatdrops appearing on them as Shade's eyes narrowed. "Do you have ANY idea how many innocent people could have been hurt in your stupid, selfish schemes to get back your bodies, which you only lost because you were too stupid to think about the consequences? Not only that, you put your own friends in danger as well! You're reckless, immature, remarkably idiotic, and I ought to launch my foot straight up your ass!" She snapped.
Sonic and Tails lowered their heads as Shade then dusted herself off. "HOWEVER, that strange art you mentioned, that foreign thing from Soleanna. That intrigues me. So I'll tell you what. You're free to look for that raccoon you're trying to track down. But I want you to help me gain information on Yakin Shīru. We're ALWAYS looking for new advances in the art of war."
"Art of WAR?" Tails exclaimed. "But Yakin Shīru is meant for medicine, healing wounds and the like! To even THINK about using it for the purposes of warmongering is-"
Shade tossed him a glaring, baleful glare. "THAT'S the wrong answer."
"..." Tails shut back up.
"It's a technique not found in this country. I want it. ESPECIALLY considering the fact that we have to worry about the Zoan who are always seeking to spill out into Nocturne, and then into Mobius. Don't you forget that it's people like US who risk our lives every day just to make sure people like YOU can do stupid things like, say, TRYING TO BRING YOUR DEAD MOM BACK TO LIFE!" She snarled.
Sonic and Tails blinked a few times, looking clearly upset. Sonic's fist clenched tightly.
"You metallurgists like to say that magic has a price. But there are plenty of things you can get for free if you're willing to use unorthodox methods. If you ask me, you should take that saying of yours and just throw it in the corner." Shade went on.
"How the hell would YOU know, you probably couldn't conjure up a fire big enough to cook a meatball...even IF you used magic!" Sonic snapped back at her.
SWHISH!
CHING!
Shade had launched herself at Sonic, but he'd blocked her rapier with his ringed wrist and grinned at her. Shade frowned slightly, then laughed, stepping back. "Not bad, not bad! You know what...I've decided you get to stay. But on one condition." She added. "You're going to be put to work."
"Work?"
"If you don't work, then you don't eat." Shade said calmly, leaving the room with Bark.
"...now I'm starting to think back to teacher." Tails said with a sad laugh.
As Shade and Bark walked down the hallway together, Bark spoke up. "That was low of you, making that crack about their dead mother. Want to comment on their dead puppy next?"
"I know, I know. It was the wrong answer. But they seem used to scenes of carnage and low blows." Shade insisted. "But there's something else that I picked up on..." She added quietly. "...they still have a secret they can't tell us."
Meanwhile, not very far away...
"What sort of work are you going to make us do?" Sonic wanted to know, trailing behind the armored captain.
The man was silent. He didn't say a word.
"Something's "off" with you." Sonic said. "I think I can hear metal joints creaking every time you walk, and that "horn" atop your head's not natural. I don't think you're a rhino, you'd be a WHOLE lot bigger. So what are you?"
"...alright." The man said, sighing as snapped his fingers. Instantly, he transformed into a robotic being with light blue eyes and, sure enough, an orangeish horn atop his head. He had brown hands, a mechanical body, and "boot"-like feet, with a tan/brown form. Turning around, he calmly opened up his chest compartment...revealing a life ring.
"A Shanazaran." Tails gasped.
"My name is Emerl. I'm a Gizoid. My specialty is in adapting to my surroundings and in growing stronger and stronger. I only survived what occurred in Shanazar because I'd disguised myself as an officer here in Nocturne, where I heard the strongest warriors made their home, defending Mobius from bloodthirsty Zoan." He explained. "I had PLANNED on coming back home and teaching my people all the new techniques I'd learned, only to hear that my home had been blown to shreds..."
He glared slightly at Sonic and Tails. "By people like you." He said. "Mobian."
"A Shanazaran killed the mother and father of our best friend and he also tries to kill us on regular basis." Sonic snapped right back.
Emerl was quiet for a few moments. Then his attitude changed, becoming positively pleasant. "Yes, I was hoping for that kind of reaction." He admitted. "I mean, REALLY. All I get is "Oh, I'm soooo sorry" from everyone I talk to about where I come from. I wanted to hear something new." He told them.
"You were WAITING for a snappy comeback?" Tails asked.
"Yes. I've gotten fed up with pity for my kind."
"Well, Shanazarans have tried to kill me, kidnap me, and befriend me as well. I think I've got a better relationship with your people than most of my kind." Sonic said with a shrug. "Just how I rooooollll."
"I like you." Emerl said, nodding firmly. "I appreciate you talking to me as an equal." He said, leading them into the next room. "You're just like Shade. I was here when the Campaign started...and she spoke to me about what was going on over in Shanazar. You can imagine I was..." Emerl hesitated. "...not...calm...about what they were doing."
"Did you snap at her for being a "dog of the military" or something?" Tails wanted to know.
"Oh, I was tempted to punch her headbanded head off." Emerl admitted. "I felt that she only wanted me around to parade me like a prize for a little while. But then she had a talk with me. She told me that it didn't matter where I came from. It didn't matter what I'd done. This was a land that was about the utter defense of Mobius. There's no room for something as "stupid" she said, as "discrimination". There exists no word such as "race" here in Nocturne. We are all soldiers who must follow their leader in the defense of the people."
"Wow, that was...really inspiring." Tails admitted.
"And then I asked her "What if the blood within me boils and I HAVE to strike out at you, who represents the military that slaughtered my people"." Emerl added. "Do you know what she said?"
"Let me guess. She challenged you to a fight?" Sonic asked.
"No, she beat the SHIT out of me and told me if I ever wanted to fight again OVER "something so retarded", the next time, she'd break my legs." Emerl said nervously.
SFX: Jaws Theme
Sonic and Tails pictured a horribly laughing, snarling Shade giving a beat-down to Emerl as he sobbed "Uncle-Uncle" over and over and shuddered on the spot.
Finally, they'd reached an enormous overlook that was stationed by the rocket pad. "This place is all about power. Those who don't have power won't survive in this world, and they must use their power for only the best of reasons." Emerl explained. "Everyone here has unique talents, unique powers. Be you black, white, man, woman, or something in between, it doesn't matter. If you've got anything to give you an edge, you'd best put it to use here. Do that, and you'll do just fine."
CHA-THOOMK!
A large glob of SOMETHING fell off the top of the rocket and almost hit Sonic and Tails, who looked up, seeing a part of the rocket's hull had actually fallen clear off. Another inch further...
"I see you have the edge of "good luck" going for you." Emerl said cheerily. "See? You're already getting the hang of it!" He pointed up at the rocket. "That's your job. You'll be helping Mr. Heavy with fixing the hull on this rocket. Because we're at the highest point in all of Mobius, the cold air tends to screw around with our technology and resources. Fix it."
Heavy waved down at them. "Heyyyy!" He called out.
"Well, this shouldn't take too long." Sonic said, shrugging as he slowly rose up in the air, his body turning a golden/yellow sheen. "Watch...and be...AMAZED, Emerl. You want power?"
He clenched his fist, his eyes flashing red. "I'll show you my power!"
...
...
...
... "You were awfully late." The white wolf muttered, folding his arms as his team leaned back against the wall. "We had to kidnap her without you. What was the holdup?"
"Well, I ran into this nice guy..."
"He ran into Shadow the Hedgehog. That famous Colonel, the Burning Metallurgist. He's trying to learn how to manipulate the element of Chaos from the woman we've just captured!" The brown-furred, jacket-wearing dog explained calmly. "I was trailing him the whole time!"
"You ain't "caught" me yet!" Tikal growled as she struggled with the enormous ape that was trying to pin her down. A quick pipe to the back of the head, though, shut her up once more.
"That won't keep her down long, she keeps waking up. Don't we have any money for some sedatives?" A lynx mumbled.
"Drago SPENT it all on "personal things"." The ape muttered. "In other words, porn."
"Shut iiiiit!" The white wolf snarled as the ape lifted the unconscious Tikal onto his shoulder. "Our orders are to make sure that nobody interferes with us delivering Tikal Nuahatl to Grand Designer Void. Our commanding officer under Void will deal with Shadow."
"But why hasn't he shown himself? We've been in town all day. He should have made his presence known." The hawk remarked.
"Oh don't worry, he'll show." Iblis insisted calmly. "...they'll see. They will ALL see...just how powerful he truly is..."
Meanwhile, Shadow the Hedgehog was sitting with Pahachamac, Tikal's father, outside of her home. The two were munching away on some apples as Shadow tried to use one hand to spark some chaos.
"HMMM!" Shadow grunted, a momentary spark of reddish/orange light appearing above his snapped fingers before fading. He grunted again...another spark. But still, nothing beyond that. "I'm still so far away from learning what I need." He said softly. "I need to practice harder."
"It's good that you wish to better yourself and don't blame others for your own failures. That trait is becoming uncommon." Pahachamac insisted. "I think you've got the potential to be an excellent student. Unlike that moron, Rad."
THUDDA-BOOOOOOOM!
"Uh...everything's alright! Really!" Rad shouted from inside the house as the smoke alarm went off.
"...I'll get this." Tikal's long-suffering father moaned, entering the room as Shadow noticed something burning off in the distance...
Something big...and bright...
A fire? In the city?
He quickly ran off in its direction, rushing as fast as he could, rushing through the alleys as people ran from the burning region of the city in fear.
But when he got there, he didn't find fires...so much as an enormous, immense monster. It seemed to be made of pulsing magma, with a strong, powerful-looking body that had spikes jutting out from it's shoulders, and going up and down it's legs. There was a long tail that swept back and forth slightly, with ram's horns curling down by the side of it's lava-filled mouth, with three tiny green eyes that had slit black pupils.
It looked down at Shadow, eyes focusing in on him intently. And then it spoke in a guttural, growling tone.
"Shadow the Hedgehog...surrender now...or Tikal Nuahatl will die."
"What?" Shadow gasped.
"Take a look." It said, opening up it's mouth to reveal Tikal's paralyzed form trapped in a large cage of crystal. She was, frankly, lucky that his body temperature hadn't fried her! Or that he hadn't SWALLOWED.
"You...what the hell are you?" Shadow growled.
"You really don't got any choice. You don't dare attack me...you don't even dare defend yourself from me. Do that...and she could get hurt. Nobody wants THAT, now do they? Heh-heh-heh." The enormous beast sniggered.
"You COWARD, hiding behind a hostage!" Shadow snarled.
"Heh. How little you know me." The beast said softly. "I'm hardly above killing you too if you misbehave...I s'pose a lesson's in order. Spare the rod and you spoil the child..."
...
...
...
..."This is Research and Development." Heavy explained, gesturing below at an enormous control room filled to the brim with technologically-advanced rockets. There were several dozen armored suits similar to the ones that most of the Nocturne soldiers wore, and one man was testing out what appeared to be some kind of crab-claw-shaped gauntlet. He aimted it at a target and an enormous, pulsing laser blast was launched out, blowing his target into pieces.
"Oooooh." Tails exclaimed. "This is so coooooool! I've GOTTA get a closer look!" Tails said, quickly bounding over the railing, immediately "geeking out" and speaking with every single scientist in the R&D department. "This is amazing!"
"He's like a kid at Christmas." Heavy laughed as Tails held up a small pen, pressing a button on the end, making a large cloud of acidic dust shoot out the tip at a target. "This is the second lowest level of Nocturne's base. The entire place was actually built over the remains of what was probably an abandoned space station."
"Abandoned space station?" Sonic asked, looking confused.
"Oh yes, they had one wing of the station built, it's become the foundation of Nocturne. But they never built the rest of it, apparently. Nothing else is here." Heavy added as Tails flew back up to Sonic and Heavy, showing off a snazzy-looking new belt. He pressed a button on the belt and a small boxing glove shot out, smacking Heavy in the gut.
"Let's...move...on..." Heavy gasped out.
They continued down the hallway, finally reaching what the robot had been discussing. There, poking up from the ground, was a doorway attached to a hallway that no doubt led into a wing of a space station. There were strange hieroglyphs upon the doorway, and people were milling about, doing work on power tubes.
"This is the lowest level. Those tubes are the fort's lifelines, you could say. It's nice and warm down here AND it's got a dozen or so generators." Heavy said as Tails examined the hieroglyphs on the doorway.
"How very intriguing! Wow, this is really-" Suddenly he stiffened up. "...do you...hear that?" He asked Sonic.
Sonic blinked, scratching his head.
"Over here." Tails said, motioning for him to come over to the pipe. Sonic walked over, putting his ear to the doorway that Tails was listening at.
"...somebody's walking through." Sonic gasped out.
Everyone in the room immediately whipped their head in the direction of the door, people's helmets coming off as they too heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps tap-tap-tapping. A moment later...it burst out from the doorway.
"AH-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh, how ironic fate can be." The being before them laughed in a faint, echoey tone. It was a crystalline hedgehog with a bright red pair of eyes and a reptilian green pupil in each one. He had no real "feet" save for crystal-like stubs, and even his quills ended in strange, glowing, purple/blue crystals. His hands were clawed nails, and most disturbing of all was his lack of a nose and mouth.
His eyes. As Sonic and Tails looked at his eyes, they saw the sclera were made up of a steady, tiny string of ones and zeroes. He was a Golem!
"What the heck?" Sonic exclaimed.
"What the HECK!" Shade exclaimed to Bark and Emerl. "Bean the Dynamite? Why should we let him come here? His own FAMILY disowned him! At least I still visit my aunt's grave every year!"
"He was seriously wounded on what was described as a train accident. At least, that's the official story. The unofficial story, as told to me by a conductor, was that a robot with the symbol "Omega" on it's shoulders force fed him his fist several times over after catching him off-guard." Emerl said with a hint of pride in his countryman.
"Such a tragedy." Shade remarked, sniggering. "How'd he even get out of prison? He's supposed to-"
"He was released on our glorious leader's orders and our local hospital is requesting help from us." Emerl insisted.
"Request is not something I am particularly proud to take, but we had best take it all of same." Bark said calmly.
BREEEEEEEE! BREEEEEEEEE!
"What the?" Shade shot up from her desk as a guard burst into her room. "What's going on? Is there an intruder in the base?"
"Somebody came in from the space station entrance!"
"The WHAT?"
"Could they have already found out that we're planning on striking back at them?" Tails thought to himself.
"I must say, I expected somebody a little more...more." The being before them said, looking Sonic and Tails over. "Ah well, I came to perform a certain action and it's quite done. No need to linger here anymore."
"You...didn't come...to spy on us?" Tails asked.
"Spy on YOU? Why would I waste my time with you?" The being snapped. "Mephiles the Dark has better things to do with his time than speak with an overgrown plushie and his blowharded brother." He told them. "Now, I feel like taking the scenic route out of here. Just point me in the direction of the exit and I promise I'll only injure the bare minimum." Mephiles said calmly.
"You...don't know about us?" Sonic asked. This WAS odd. "You mean that Void didn't talk to you?"
"You know Void?" Mephiles gave Sonic a look. "Well. That IS interesting." The strange being mused, rubbing his chin.
"How are you able to talk without a mouth?" Sonic remarked.
"It's magic. I don't have to explain it." Mephiles said nonchalantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got places to go, things to do. The work of a zealot is never done. So much to do, so little time..." Mephiles said, looking around the room. "So much to do, so little time, so much to do so little time..." He sang out, waving his hands in the air. Because, you know, nothing says "evil" like Jazz Hands.
"...this guy's not exactly "all there" is he?" Sonic whispered to Tails.
"FISH FILLET?" Mephiles snarled, grabbing a "McDonalds" bag out of a lieutenant's hand. "IT IS THE DEVIL'S WORK!:" He snarled, shaking the man over and over. "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!"
"...no. No, he's not." Tails whispered back.
"How in Hell are you knowing strange crystal shaking thing?" Bark snapped, waving his fist in the air as he stood in a nearby doorway, ready to flatten BOTH their heads this time. "Are you spies?"
"We're not spies!" Sonic insisted. "And we don't know him-oh CRAP!" Sonic exclaimed, noticing that Mephiles was taking the elevator up to the development level. "Hey, wait! Get back here!"
Soon the entire base was on alert, people rushing into the development level, arming themselves and readying for the oncoming strange hedgehog to come into the room. It wasn't long before he found himself there, looking at a large blockade of men who were pointing various odd weapons at him. "...are you trying to pick a fight with one of the most powerful beings on the planet?" Mephiles asked, looking clearly amused.
"Yes." Shade said, suddenly pointing a bazooka at his head, appearing from behind him. "Make one move and you'll find yourself missing a head."
"...heh." Mephiles whipped around, his foot slamming into Shade. "Know your PLACE." He snapped, grabbing ahold of the bazooka, a clear sneer on his mouthless-face breaking the thing over his leg as he walked towards Shade.
Shade held up a pistol a moment later, aimed right at his head, but he snatched it out of her hand, examining it. "Colt 45. Semiautomatic." He promptly crushed it in one hand. "PLAY-DOH."
"All noncombatants, withdraw immediately!" Shade yelled out as people ran for their lives. "I'll deal with this. EMERL!"
"Hello, uggo." Emerl said, suddenly appearing a moment later, a golden glow surrounding him as Mephiles turned his head...
Too late. A harsh, powerful punch knocked him back through the air, his head exploding into a fine shower of crystalline dust. Shade stood up, dusting herself off as the others in the room cheered, jumping up and down. "We might not have a woodshed here, but somebody was due for a whuppin'." Shade said calmly.
Unfortunately, the cheering stopped abruptly as the body slowly rose back up, tiny crystals slowly merging together from the neck and rising higher and higher...gradually reforming the head of Mephiles the Dark.
"I'm impressed." Shade admitted. "I thought that would have killed you."
"You're all annoying me." Mephiles snarled, holding up his hand, a swirling, greenish energy spike beginning to form. "Okay, you foolish little woman, it's your turn. And when you die...your men will hope no more." He laughed coldly, tossing the spike straight at Shade...
THA-WOOOOOSH!
A burst of lightning made it explode in midair as Sonic lowered his fist, grinning as he and Tails stood defiantly atop several large crates. "Not so fast." He announced.
Shade looked them over. "I imagine you know a few things about that disturbingly resilient beast?"
"Normal firearms won't work on that thing. No matter how many times you try to kill him he won't die!" Sonic insisted.
"This time I want you to be HONEST with me!" Shade snapped at him. "What is that thing? What's it doing here? Who is it working for? Does it know you?"
"I can't tell you, I can't tell you, I can't tell you, and probably not!" Sonic said.
"Why CAN'T you tell me?"
"We can't say THAT either!" Tails shouted.
"Take a GUESS." Sonic muttered.
"...are you on our side?" Shade asked.
"Yes." Sonic and Tails answered.
"You might be a bitch, but I don't want to see you or anybody else here die because of that thing." Sonic said calmly.
"...that...was the right answer." Shade said softly. "Can you stop it?"
Sonic clenched his fist, slamming it into his palm as he and Tails faced it down. "Can, nothing. We WILL."
"You may TRY." Mephiles laughed.
