In my defense, I was occupied punching the crap out of other Minecraft players during this last few months...
If Shadow thought the flesh version of Perfect Rasgnarök was large, it was nothing compared to this beast. Godzilla would piss itself and run for the hills at the sight of this monstrosity.
The soul Rasgnarök, or rather it's dominating halve, Rasgnarrok, was shaped like a massive, dark-furred snake, bearing the familiar oval head it's previous incarnations always bore. The creature had small, pointed ears, a trait it seemed to keep from its host; the pair of truck-thick stag horns that grew just behind the hearing organs were, however, a complete mystery. They gave Rasgnarrok a even more frightening appearance, and the large, globulous eyes that shone like a million suns added to it. The beast was as massive as Perfect Rasgnarök, and Shadow could only see the upper part of the body, the neck and head section of the mighty serpent.
A serpent that was looking down on him like he was nothing more than a useless, annoying bug just waiting to be squashed.
Rasgnarrok's molten eyes bore in the Ultimate Lifeform's in a furious manner, something expected from the great dragon. The beast looked absolutely enraged; ready to rush down to the black and crimson hedgehog, pick his small body with it's needle-like jagged teeth and savagely bite hard enough to sever him in half just to squash against the ground whatever life was left inside him.
Seconds passed as the large black dragon's displeased glare shifted from Shadow to the battered fiend laying at the petrified bio-engineered hedgehog's feet.
"You failed to kill him." Rasgnarrok acknowledged with a rumble, golden eyes narrowing into thin slits. The beast pulled itself further out of the hole, exposing more dark fur and, to Shadow's surprise, a pair of skinny, but strong legs similar to a asiatic dragon's, though this one would never give good luck.
At his master's notice the possessed Sonic lowered his ears pitifully, something Shadow never saw him do before. Beckoned by the his dominating halve the Blue Blur tried to stand up. His attempts were meet with failure. His body was too injured to heal and Shadow, who was standing right next to his defeated form, was absolutely glowing with Chaos energy, making his mere presence painful for the formerly blue furred hedgehog. Hands and knees giving away, he slumped down on the smokey ground, eyes closing and muscles relaxing as consciousness slowly slipped away from his clawed hands.
Rasgnarök looked down at his other half with distaste evident in his golden eyes, obviously not liking the weak little show the other put on.
"Pathetic."
One massive, clawed paw rose slowly, black fur glistening under the mysterious globs of light.
SMACK!
Never would the Ultimate Lifeform forget the way his entranced rival was just tossed by Rasgnarök paw. It was the most frighteningly simple thing he had ever seen in the long spawn of his immortal life. It was similar of how a little child would throw a broken doll he had no further use for, to discard what wasn't needed, to crush it under piles of garbage until it was never seen again.
Most importantly, it made Shadow suddenly realized how small and insignificant he was. Here, he had no Chaos Emeralds to back him up, and he was already too injured to provide a good fight. What he was doing was suicide, and that was all too clear for him.
In front of his very eyes, Sonic was literally flung away by the gigantic serpent, the blackened hero never making one single cry as he violently impacted one of the crystal towers. The crystalline formation shattered upon impact, collapsing around and atop the mangled, defeated body. The large black wings, which already sported some serious damage, were so destroyed and damaged they looked like some useless flesh bags of black fur.
As maniacal laughter echoed behind him, Shadow rushed toward the partly buried hero, fearing the worst for his younger rival. He quickly reached the pile of crystal remains, his rocket shoes carrying him to the site as fast as he could. His heart thundered loudly in his chest as he dashed over the pile, trying to reach the unmoving mass of black fur, desperate to know of the blue one was alright, desperate to know he hadn't failed the youngster, Tails, hell, everyone he knew had was counting on him to end this nightmare; and here he was, completely helpless and utterly useless.
Throwing some of the dark mineral away, his bloodied hands reached for a peach arm. Injured fingers wrapped themselves around the skinny limb and Shadow pulled, as hard as he could, pulling out the unconscious heap of fur out of the rubbles. The Ultimate Lifeform carefully set the formerly azure one down and quickly proceeded shaking the living daylights out of the motionless body.
"Faker! Wake up you damn imbecile!" No matter how much he shook the Blue Blur by the shoulders, he still remained there on the ground. Limp. Dead. Useless. Broken. Black blood leaked out of the massive wounds from the battles against the black GUN agent and the sudden, unexpected attack from the dominating halve.
Loud stomps echoed behind him, alerting him that Rasgnarrok was marching toward them. The thought that the massive snake was nearing closer, eyes glowing with the desire to destroy all that existed, was making Shadow's heart thump faster, strained by the fact the more than powerful being was right behind him, scrutinizing his every move with those shiny golden eyes of his. He panicked, hand rising high before coming down abruptly, slapping the unconscious, black furred Sonic across a pale muzzle out of desperation.
"Get up and fight that damn snake! What happened to that annoying willpower you always possessed!? Uh?! Aren't you supposedly invincible?! Answer me you idiotic hedgehog!" A loud chuckle resonated behind him as the one that caused all of this destruction neared his head closer.
"You cannot help him, Shadow. He is not going to wake up anytime soon." Rasgnarrok rumbled, pleased by the current events. "What a weakling. I feel ashamed of being his other soul half. Never before have I seen something so pathetic...but 'pathetic' is one of the many words that can describe my pet." The beast arched his neck downwards, massive red tongue trailing over glistening, needle-like teeth dripping with saliva as it's nostrils were just inches away from the hedgehog's back.
"Give it up now, pest. You may be powerful in your realm, but you are far from being a match against me. I am the World Eater. My very destiny is to bathe the universe in my fire. Not even Odin himself is a match for me. I am absolute power!"
Shadow turned his head slowly, red eyes flaring as he glanced with no apparent fear into the deep gold orbs. His face was split by a dark smirk and he chuckled, his expression become as somber and menacing as his grin. He may not be as strong as the deity, but Rasgnarrok was underestimating him. With one powerful, quick movement he was up on his feet, Chaos energy charging in his gloved hands.
"The mortals don't call me Ultimate Lifeform for nothing, nuisance."
Rasgnarrok's golden eyes widened for a fraction of seconds, not expecting such a bold and straightforward reply, before the large orbs narrowed threateningly. The darkly colored creature hissed at the insult, the long neck arching upward as the godly draconian rose to it's sturdy back legs, resting the gigantic mass of flesh and bones on it's massive, thick tail that twitched, unsettled, behind his body. Blowing out a roar strong enough to destroy mountains (and momentarily taking away Shadow's ability to hear), Rasgnarrok suddenly deployed a pair of gigantic wings akin to his perfected physical form.
"Very well, worm. Let's see how good the Ultimate Lifeform is against the God of Apocalypse this time."
Shadow cursed inwardly as the dragon unexpectedly lunged down toward him, maws open and glowing with the fire escalating his throat. Backing away, he grabbed the unconscious, pathetically limp form that was Sonic and pulled up, dragging the hedgehog on the shoulder that was the least damaged.
He looked up to find the monster's jaws seconds away from him. "Fuck." Shadow jumped out of the way just in time, letting Rasgnarrok eat a mouthful of stone instead of the hedgehog it wanted to devour so dearly.
The Ultimate Lifeform landed in a crouched position several feet away from the beast, ruby red eyes narrowed in concentration. He quickly dropped his unconscious rival in a rough manner (the former azure hero was already too banged up, dropping him was not going to make a difference). Standing up, Chaos energy still blazing around his hands, he rose them above his head and yelled out his trademark command:
"Chaos Spear!"
Rasgnarrok rose his head in time to avoid the barrage of glowing projectiles; the beast's nostrils twitched in displeasure, with obvious distaste for that dreaded energy. Roaring at the black and red speedster, the dark dragon dropped itself back on all four, eyes blazing with rage. Rasgnarrok opened his maw and showered his smaller opponent in fire, but the Ultimate Lifeform jumped once again out of the reach of the fire.
Rasgnarrok was fuming.
"Stand still you insolent animal!"
"Make me bitch."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A small fire crackled in the fireplace. The room was cozy, with peach walls full of bookshelves and metal pieces laying there and there. On a pale brown sofa, a young figure sat, a thick cyan wool blanket hugging his torso, peach arms wrapped around himself in a effort to warm up faster.
Sonic sat on the couch, eyelids falling halfway over emerald orbs as he watched a young cub of a fox play near the fire with electronic part. The kitsune was building a small machine, sometimes taking out the pieces from one of the parts that lay all around him and stitching them to his newest creation. A hot mug of coco lay near the yellow fox, untouched. Silence floated in the room.
The burning, crackling fire brought a warm atmosphere to the room, and more importantly, to the sapphire that sat on the small couch. The azure one looked ready to sleep...but he was troubled. Very troubled. It was nagging his very insides, tearing at his stomach with claws made of steel.
The room was so silent...so calm...but...why did he have the feeling something horrible was about to happen...?
Then, out of the abyss of secrets and pain, a voice sang out melodically. It echoed out in the room, soft and calm and serene and beautiful to the troubled hero. The soft words went into him, calming his aching soul, putting his fears and worries to rest, momentarily quieting, chaining down the monster residing in his chest:
"Nothing bad is going to happen. Just relax...sleep dear one..." It coiled further around his right arm, golden eyes glowing, scales of a abyssal black shade glistening under the light of the windows. Sonic slowly looked down to his limb, confused but strangely serene about what he was seeing. A snake.
A large, heavy snake with a hide as black as the night, resembling those anacondas he and Tails often watched in the nature channels. It was coiled around his arm, just staring into his emerald green eyes, small pink tongue occasionally coming out to taste the air around it. It rose to the sleepy hedgehog's ear level, whispering.
It hissed quietly, the creature's melodic voice echoing in the room in a somewhat soft manner:
"Why don't you sleep for a while? You look tired..." The reptile's words rang true, and Sonic found himself wanting to do just that. His eyelids closed slowly, darkening his vision...
Suddenly, a voice on his left snapped:
"Wake up, oaf! Don't let him have his way. What you are feeling is happening right now...and it is all your fault, Sonic." The monster in his chest was at it again, clawing at the bars of it's cell to escape. It had been awakened by the second voice, and Sonic's eyes opened half-way again. He turned his quilled head to the left, toward the second person.
Strangely, it did not surprise him to find a second snake.
This one was of the same shinning midnight black, but it's eyes shone like Sonic's emerald green and more...open than the golden-eyed counterpart. Like the other, larger snake, it rested around his arm, preventing it from falling on the wooden floor. It's head was at the same level of the nearly slumbering Blue Blur's eyes, the emerald orbs locked together with equally leaf green iris.
The first snake, the one with the more reserved look, narrowed it's eyes in distaste. It undulated down to the blue hedgehog's eye level, the cold scales scratching again his cheek as it did so.
"Nonesense." It growled aggressively at it's counterpart. It then looked back at Sonic, the creature going back to a more calm and collected voice. "You are tired. Sleep, hedgehog."
Sonic squinted, confused by the sudden change...and...where was he? The azure one tried to remember, but as soon as he did, his memories became foggy and he couldn't recall anything...
Not knowing of his confusion, Green Eyes scoffed. The dark hided reptile coiled itself tighter on Sonic's arm, making the blue one wince in pain. He was starting to hate the snake with the green eyes. At least the other didn't hurt him...
"You have to wake up. This is just a illusion...a dream!" The larger reptile with the glistening golden eyes growled, wedging it's body against Sonic's chest before snapping it's jaws near the other reptile's muzzle. The teeth of the beast were large and deformed, nearly straight and sharp as needles, and unlike a normal snake, there were a lot of them.
Strangely, those teeth seemed familiar to the blue hero...a image came forth...a large face...the head of some beast...with glimmering teeth ready to carve out a piece of his flesh...
To Sonic surprise, Green Eyes wasn't fazed by the golden eyed snake's actions. The creature pushed on, looking up as at the Blue Blur. It snarled at him, showing off it's two enormous fangs that were so unlike the other's.
"You need to wake up now. Shadow is no match for Rasgnarrok. He and everyone else are going to die if you don't do something." Green Eyes pressed on, more urgently than before, and Sonic caught it giving a furtive glance at the other snake, which looked enraged but trying to cover it up with a fake, serene smile. But that only revealed the large teeth...
"Don't think about it Sonic. He is just blabbering. C'mon...let's sleep shall we?"
...who was Rasgnarrok...and...Shadow...?
Ignoring the golden eyed snake, Sonic shifted his attention back to the smaller snake. He stared at it, confused, trying to remember...but there that only resulted in a headache...
Green Eyes looked at him, reassurance in the creature's gaze.
"Press on. Keep searching. It will come out. You can do it..."
He did just that, fighting against the pain...Rasgnarrok...where did he heard that...another image came to view...a beast...tall enough to touch the sky...other images suddenly...a hedgehog...with red eyes...fighting against it...losing...
"Don't listen to him!"
"You're almost there...you need to wake up!" The smaller snake pushed on, emerald eyes blazing.
Rasgnarrok...who...his eyes suddenly went wide.
The room went still. Tails stopped moving as he was reaching for a screwdriver. The flames in the fireplace suddenly stopped moving. Everything...just froze. Like a shattered illusion.
"Rasgnarrok." The green eyed snake continued in a dark tone.
It clicked.
The image became so clear it was almost painful. Rasgnarrok. His other half. The creature that he, Sonic the Hedgehog, had submitted to. The so called God of Apocalypse...the one that was destroying everything he cared about...! At that he slowly rose for his seat, the golden eyed snake falling off his arm with a loud hiss of surprise.
Sonic turned his head around, looking back at the green snake, who was firmly coiled around his left arm. It stared right back, gaze serious and dark like the sky when it was about to rain.
"I'm awake. What now?" The Blue Blur asked it, giving the frozen illusion of Tails a quick, sad glance. Oh how much he wanted to hug his little brother...
The snake shook it's head.
"No, you're not awake. Not the real you, at least." The reptile declared gravely, with a impatient undertone. The other snake, the one that seemed to represent Rasgnarrok, howled out in rage at that statement, snarling at the duo:
"Shut up, the lot of you! Stop being such a fool and get back in your seat! Let me destroy this world and all others that exist, you pest! Stop being a thorn at my side, you insolent little-"
Sonic had enough of the scaled bastard.
"Stop it...STOP IT!" At his shout the room exploded in crimson flames; to his horror, Tails vanished, along with the room itself. The golden eyed snake let out a high pitched scream of agony as it was doused it the hot, red fire. The carpet, the chimney, the walls, the couches, they all were destroyed by the flames...until nothing was left.
He, along with the green eyes snake, was standing in pitch black darkness, the flames burning bright and loud around him, lighting the azure hedgehog's face but unable to banish the darkness.
The green eyes snake chuckled lightly, loosening up a bit.
"Never thought you could do it, hedgehog."
'...hedgehog...it called me hedgehog...'
A grin emerged.
"Funny how you calm me a hedgehog, yet we both know what I am." Sonic smiled at the creature, who grinned right back.
"Yes. It is very funny. You may look like a regular mortal hedgehog on the outside, but...I can see the beast trying to claw its way out. One day, that skin of yours will peel of and you open unleash your wings for the first time in hundreds of years. You will ascent to the heaven, your mere roar would destroy worlds." The snake whispered, eyes shinning and scales glimmering under the light of the fires.
It's blue companion frowned.
"Hundreds of years? Thats not right. I'm just a hedgehog that survived birth by obtaining the eight Tear, the only one that wasn't tainted by rage." He explained, feeling a bit awkward as he degraded himself like that. But it was true, he was just a regular mobian, with super speed yes but still a regular, everyday mobian...
The snake narrowed its eyes at this.
"A simple, blue hedgehog? Sonic...do you remember the Solaris incident?" The creature asked, taking the azure one off guard.
"Uh...yes?"
"Mephiles and Iblis were halves of eachother, right?"
"...what are you getting at?"
"One was the mind and one was the power. Solaris was powered by Iblis, and Mephiles was it's conscience, even if Iblis developed one. Technically, Mephiles was Solaris and Iblis was just the power core."
Sonic's eyes flew wide.
"No...you don't mean..."
And to clear the whole mystery the dark scaled snake dropped the bombshell:
"Basing on that situation...and with the knowledge that Rasgnarrok is far stronger than yourself...you are the real Rasgnarök."
Silence. Absolute silence. Sonic stared, face drawing to blank, at the small creature which had the gall to actually say he, Sonic the Hedgehog, protector of Mobius and anyone else in need, was in fact a murderous, blood thirsty fiend capable of destroying worlds. That was not possible. This was too much for him. It was impossible. He...he couldn't be the Rasgnarök, he couldn't be the World Eater! He could not be that disgusting three-headed demon that was trying to destroy Station Square in a bling rage!
This whole thing...the stress...it was too much for the blue hedgehog. He felt his knees weaken considerably before they completely gave away, control failing the blue one. The remaining snake slithered off his arm and was dropped on the cold, black floor with next to no noise. This had to be a joke. A sick, twisted joke at that; it couldn't be true...Slowly, laugher echoed out throughout the flaming, dark dimension, insane, sarcastic laughter that came from none other than Sonic the Hedgehog himself.
"Hahahahahahahaha! What a twisted joke! Haha! That is the most stupid thing I've ever heard! You-"
SMACK.
The serpent's tail made a resounding slam as it made contact with the blue hedgehog's, snapping the hero head to the right, a red hue threading on the light peach fuzz. For a moment there was complete silence for a extent; the flames still burned strong around them, but the duo went dreadfully silent, the snake from anger and the hedgehog from shock.
The serpent then spoke, it's voice growing old and wise and more serious than ever before:
"It is not a lie, Sonic. It is the absolute truth. And for you to wake up, to become the real you, you need to accept it. You need to regain what was lost. You are already fused with Rasgnarrok...you only need to use that to take over. He is weak without you...he can't even use half of his powers..." The creature slithered closer to his, emerald eyes blazing, scaled nose coming up to nearly touch the blue hedgehog's in a almost kissing fashion.
At the simple, cold feel of the reptilian nose, something awoke inside Sonic; the monster in his chest roared, clawing its way up his throat with nothing holding it back. Pain blossomed for the blue hedgehog devil; his head, limbs, heart and chest burned with pain unlike anything he ever faced before. With a loud, agonized scream he dropped on his stomach, spasming and screaming and crying out in pain.
"GRAAAAHHHH! STOP IT! STOP IT!" The sapphire hero wailed as raw pain exploded inside his mind, tearing apart the foundations of everything he believed in. He screamed like a dying animal as the pain multiplied tenfold, bringing with it burning memories he never remembered being there before. It was like a invisible gate was slammed open, ripped off it's hinges and unable to stop the flashes from overloading the poor azure's mind.
His back swelled up before tearing open; glowing, shiny black blood was spewing out of the wound. Two boney formations vaguely resembling a pair of skinless bat wings emerged through it. Sonic wailed at the sheer agony, as the burning desire to kill, to destroy, to dominate took over his very soul. Snapping his head up to the black sky he roared.
His roar, his scream of pure, utter rage made the very world the corrupted Tears had created to seal away the sane part of him tremble. In his hands, he felt the fabric of this fake dimension shrivel and struggle to contain him, but it couldn't. It could not stop him.
Fur as black as night, eyes as gold as the sun, the newly awakened being rose to his three toed feet. The creature's elongated tail twitched in excitement. The serpent had disappeared. Nothing could stop him now. The being looked up, to the sky of this deranged world, grinning in a fashion similar to his former blue self.
The real, the true Rasgnarök roared, the god's shrill, unholy scream tearing the dimension apart; cracks and holes spread all around the dark world, and the fully awakened beast lunged for one of them. The glowing creature grasped the edges of the crack and pulled, hands glowing black with energy, tearing it further open, as was his power to manipulate the very atoms that created the universe. It screamed again, high pitched with anger, rage to have been not only encaged by its own, insane halve, but by the sheer death the cowardliness of its former leader caused.
It dove into the space tear, tearing apart all the locked doors and defenses his soul halve had placed to restrain him, in case he fully awoken.
But it was pointless.
Nothing could stop a enraged dragon.
Shit is going to go down next chapter...don't you guys agree?
hehehehehe! We only have two chapters left guys!