Luigi, Young Link, Pichu, Falco, Yoshi, Mr. Game and Watch, Ness, and Peach.
Chapter 35: Sonic
Speed, it was something he lived for. Every day in his life he would run as fast as he could, each day trying to out run his previous records, each day he was trying to become faster. He didn't know why he was running, he only knew that he liked the feeling of the wind blowing upon him, trying to stop him from getting where he was going to. But, no matter how hard the wind tried to resist him, it was futile. It would never stop him from arriving at his destination. It was his reason to live, to prove that he was the fastest thing alive: Sonic the Hedgehog.
Currently he was rushing through an area of the world that was known for its violent electrical storms. But today was different, today it was much more violent. A coincidence, or an omen about the things to come. Constantly he was dodging each of the electrical discharges that were rushing towards him. This was one of the areas that he had hidden a Chaos Emerald, but now he needed it once again. Somewhere in the back of his head he made a comment on why they always hide the Chaos Emeralds after they use them, and that it's always easier to hide them than getting them back.
Three bolts of lightning rushed towards him however he dodged breathing deeply and continuing on. Eventually he got to the shrine where the Chaos Emerald was being held, in the eye of the storm. He breathed a sigh of relief that he would not longer have to dodge the constant lightning bolt attacks. It all seemed too good to be true, and it was. As he approached the shrine he found it empty.
The Pleiades was speeding towards the planet. Each of the Smashers onboard felt that they were ready for what ever was coming their way on this planet. But they couldn't have been more wrong in their life. "The Pleiades is picking up strange energy signals." Falco said. "They seem to be scattered across the planet, should we investigate the closest one?"
Ness closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the planet. "I can sense them... what ever they are, one thing is for sure this may be what Smithy is after on this planet. Their power is amazing..."
The Pleiades began to fly down into the atmosphere of the planet. Unfortunately for them they were descending in the part of the planet with violent electrical storms. Each shock seemed to shake the Pleiades and send each of the Smashers bouncing around the room. Even the ones who were wearing seatbelts were constantly being shaken.
"This is fun!" Young Link laughed. He was one of the few who weren't getting heavily bruised. It also probably helped that he was wearing a seatbelt and surprisingly rather liked roller coasters. Eventually the Pleiades crashed and slid across the ground. Once everyone had gotten over the shock they rushed into the cockpit to see what Falco was doing.
"Falco you could have killed us!" Yoshi shouted outraged.
"My head is spinning..." Luigi moaned.
But then they saw Falco was badly hurt. The lightning that hit the ship had surged through the controls and consequently through Falco. After a crash landing, Peach rushed towards Falco and began to heal him. Even though she had some experience working as a healer in the previous battle against Smithy, it wasn't enough. Luckily Dr. Mario had taught Peach several more healing techniques. With these techniques she was at least able to bring back Falco to consciousness.
"Ow..." Falco muttered.
Ness also rushed to Falco's side and began to heal him. In a span of five minutes Falco was back to normal. "Well... that certainly could have been more painful." Falco muttered. They got out of the Pleiades and began to inspect it. Although it was heavily damaged, the advanced system in the ship had all ready begun repairs. "This should take about a day for the Pleiades to be back in working condition. I guess the only thing we can do is explore this place..."
They looked around. They were in a baron wasteland as far as the eyes could see. Above them were storm clouds that were constantly discharging lightning. This forced Ness and Pichu to counter the lightning blots as they came down. Ness was leading them to the energy source. It wasn't long before they found a gem that was constantly getting hit by the lighting.
"But I thought lightning couldn't hit the same spot twice!" Pichu exclaimed.
"I thought lightning only hit the highest ground." Young Link muttered.
"This jewel is causing all of the lightning to be drawn to it." Ness replied. "This has to be what Smithy is after here!"
"This jewel is dangerous." Luigi whimpered.
"I agree. If we don't take it Smithy will get it but if we do the lightning will be drawn towards us." Mr. Game and Watch said.
Yoshi stood a few feet away from the jewel and began to summon an eggshell around it. After the eggshell was complete several lightning bolts rushed towards it and shattered the egg. "Even covered it still attracts lightning." Yoshi said. "Ness why don't you try using your psychic abilities to lift it up?"
Ness stood back and raised his arm. Slowly the jewel began to float up into the air. The lighting rushed towards it and hit it. Much to Ness' surprise he also felt the shock.
It hurts!
Ness fell onto the ground gasping for air. "What was that surge of power?" Young Link asked.
"Giygas." Ness replied. "That gem almost released him..."
"Who's Giygas?" Pichu asked curious.
"A monster." Ness replied. "He became so powerful that it destroyed his mind. My friends... we thought we destroyed him. But back when the Smashers were just known as the Twelve, before we had Master Hand as a mentor and instead he was an enemy I was kidnapped by a cult and they sealed Giygas inside of me. His power occasionally comes out but... we have been able to seal it away quickly and according to Dr. Mario there have been very few negative side effects. Unfortunately Giygas puts me at a constant risk. If the seal breaks, I may die."
"Such frightening power." Falco muttered. "Even if we were exposed to it for a second I could feel such insanity come over me... any more and who knows what might have happened."
"So trying to move this gem with these storms is pointless." Peach said. "We might as well just stay here... Does the Pleiades have anything that could protect us from electrical storms?"
Falco looked at Peach in disbelief that she was even asking the question. "Apparently it doesn't since we are stranded here until repairs are made..."
"So you stole it!" A voice shouted. "Give it back!"
Everyone looked around confused. Standing there was a blue hedgehog. "What are you talking about?" Falco said shifting himself into a fighting position.
"The Chaos Emerald! I guess I'm going to have to take it back by force!" Sonic said.
"Do you have a name Hedgehog?" Falco said.
"Its Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"Well then greetings Mr. Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog." Mr. Game and Watch said.
"Its just Sonic..." Ness tried to explain.
Falco delivered a roundhouse kick, however Sonic moved instantly out of the way. Quickly Falco drew his gun and began to shoot at Sonic, however Sonic was moving so fast he was able to dodge each and every attack. Eventually Sonic appeared in front of Falco and began to rapidly kick him. Falco took this opportunity to grab one of Sonic's feet and knock him to the ground. Sonic quickly turned into a ball and began to spin around very fast much like a buzz saw and rushed towards Falco. Falco quickly activated his reflector, which knocked back Sonic and temporarily stunned him.
"Should we stop them?" Ness wondered.
"Probably..." Pichu replied.
"Ah well they'll stop in a minute anyways." Ness said.
"How do you know that?" Pichu asked.
Sonic had quickly shaken off being stunned. He appeared behind Falco and jumped on top of him. Falco grabbed both of Sonic's legs and threw him onto the ground and Falco aimed his blaster at Sonic's head. Ness however just placed his hand on the blaster and pushed it away.
"If you two are done fighting each other, I suggest you get ready since we are going to be completely surrounded by robots in a few seconds." Ness said.
Much like Ness said several robots teleported in surrounding them. Everyone got prepared for the attack.
Quickly everyone wasted no time in disposing the robots. But they were a lot more numerous than they appeared. "That's enough!" A mechanical voice shouted. Suddenly the robots stopped attacking and the Smashers stopped defending themselves. Everyone looked around to see floating above them was a robot that looked a lot like Sonic. Metal Sonic.
"Sonic hand over the Chaos Emerald!" Metal Sonic ordered. "One robot was sent to retrieve the final Chaos Emerald and lost contact with base a few minutes before reaching the target. We determined that the robot was terminated before reaching the intended target."
"That's strange the Chaos Emerald was here when we got here." Falco said.
"The Robot was probably hit by lightning causing him to malfunction and then self-destruct!" Sonic said. "Anyways you can't have the Chaos Emerald!"
"I wasn't giving you much of a choice Sonic. What a shame, guess you will die a fool." Metal Sonic snapped his fingers and within the next moment all of the robots rushed towards them.
"Chaos Control!" Sonic shouted. Suddenly Sonic vanished and all of the robots exploded. When Sonic reappeared he just smiled. In his hands was the Chaos Emerald.
"How did he do that?" Luigi wondered.
"I just need to be near the emerald in order to activate Chaos Control. I took it back while I was in it." Sonic taunted.
"Obtain the emerald!" Metal Sonic ordered. More and more robots began to rush towards them. Yoshi began to throw eggs towards them causing them to explode, while Young Link slashed through them. Peach began to throw vegetables at them while Luigi was jumping on each of the robots, crushing them. Falco was shooting them causing them to self-destruct a few seconds later. Pichu used skull bash and ripped through them. Ness constantly unleashed several PK attacks causing the robots to implode. Sonic also began to cut through them. When they were done they were standing in a pile of scrap metal.
"You have sown the seeds of your own destruction." Metal Sonic laughed landing on the ground. Wires came from his body and rushed towards each of the scrap metal pieces. Metal Sonic began to get taller, and even gained a trench coat.
"I am now Neo Metal Sonic." Metal Sonic said. "Sonic, I've come to kill you and prove that I am the strongest!"
He held out his hand and energy bullets began to shoot towards Sonic. Sonic quickly avoided the attack. Mr. Game and Watch quickly jumped in front of the attack holding a bucket, absorbing the attack. After he absorbed three shots he sent it back towards Neo Metal Sonic. However the oil just dripped down Neo Metal Sonic. A few seconds later all of the oil was set on fire. Neo Metal Sonic quickly rushed for Mr. Game and Watch. However Falco kicked his reflector in front of Neo Metal Sonic. The unexpected surge of electricity temporarily interfered with Metal Sonic's circuits. A moment later he collapsed.
"Glad that's over." Sonic sighed.
"Don't count me out yet!" Neo Metal Sonic laughed getting back up. "I've scanned all of your data, I know everything about you now! You're even weaker than all of our data suggests."
Young Link quickly threw a bomb at Neo Metal Sonic. It exploded and blew him to bits. "Take that back! We aren't weak!" he shouted offended. However the metal scraps that were just made turned into a liquid and began to reform back into Neo Metal Sonic.
Falco began to scan Neo Metal Sonic. "He seems to be some sort of liquid metal!"
"So he is like the T-1000 right?" Pichu asked.
"Yeah sure." Falco replied. "Only, he isn't CGI."
Neo Metal Sonic's arm became like a sword. He rushed for Sonic. Young Link however jumped in the way and intercepted the attack with his sword. Electricity surged through Neo Metal Sonic, causing Young Link to be paralyzed and easily tossed aside. He flew towards Sonic. This time, Luigi blocked the attack with his shield. "So this is a Weapon of Heart!" Metal Sonic sent electricity though his body, however the shield repelled the attack. Sharp wires suddenly came out of Neo Metal Sonic and rushed towards Luigi, however before they could hit Luigi, his shield glowed and a barrier appeared around him. "Analyzed, an absolute defense!"
With Neo Metal Sonic distracted, Sonic rushed towards the robot and delivered a kick knocking him several feet back. Neo Metal Sonic turned towards the hedgehog.
"PK Fire Omega!" Ness shouted. The plume of fire rushed towards the robot and hit. This resulted in a large explosion melting him down. However it only took several seconds until Neo Metal Sonic regenerated. Neo Metal Sonic raised up his hands and began to fire energy bullets towards them. "PK Flash!" The green flash of light exploded and consumed and destroyed all of the bullets.
Neo Metal Sonic's eyes fixated on Ness. They began to scan him. "I'm positive, that you are the strongest Smasher here."
"I've been a Smasher the longest out of all of the people here." Ness replied. Luigi was about to interject and correct Ness, however he stopped himself knowing that it would draw attention to him. Ness summoned his Heart Bat and swung it. "I'm ready to fight you."
Neo Metal Sonic however just laughed. "It is pointless to try and fight. I have calculated that you will lose against me." Ness didn't take this comment lightly and sent a plume of fire rushing towards Neo Metal Sonic. He just swatted it away. "One against one, you have no chance of winning against me, not even you Sonic!"
"I'll admit that you have some new tricks, but you are still the same old tin can, and you will never be able to beat me!" Sonic replied.
Neo Metal Sonic just laughed. "I don't need to defeat you." Metal Sonic laughed. "I won't even lift a finger. I've found a way to destroy you all. And all I have to say is this: Chaos Control!"
A portal appeared in front of them. Slowly from the portal raised a robot that looked like a stuffed fox doll. It had two tails, and was based off of Sonic's friend, Miles "Tails" Prower. An aura of insanity covered it. The temperature began to drop. "Can you feel the sunshine?" As far as they could tell, it didn't seem to talk. It was just projected into their minds. All of them grabbed their heads and began to scream out in pain. "Does it brighten your day?"
"What's going on?" Sonic asked. "It wasn't like this before." Everything was beginning to go dark for everyone. They were being dragged into an abyss of despair. "We destroyed it!"
"You can't destroy it." Metal Sonic laughed. "Do you know why? It was stitched together with evil. And stuffed with hate. But despite its strength, Dr. Eggman didn't find it strong enough. So, he sealed Dark Gaia into it."
"This insanity." Ness muttered. He suddenly fell down to the ground. Suddenly Giygas' aura of insanity began to radiate off of Ness. The seal was once again breaking.
"Can you feel the sunshine?!"
"Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, can you feel the sunshine, Ness? Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, it hurts! I feel happy! Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, stop singing! Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, don't you feel that sometimes, you just need to run away? Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness!"
Ness couldn't tell what it was. But it was almost as though both the Tails Doll and Giygas' thoughts were merging into one and driving him further down into insanity. Ness forced himself up and summoned his first Weapon of Heart, the Heart Bat. He began to swing it and hit the Tails Doll, like it was a piñata. With every hit it seemed to relieve a bit of the pain. Eventually when the Tails Doll was nothing more than just fluff littering the landscape Ness began to break out into uncontrollable laughter.
The other Smashers were staring in shock at the crazed Ness not knowing what to do.
Neo Metal Sonic however used this to his advantage. "Chaos Control!" He said. The bright light consumed the Tails Doll and reconstructed it. Ness just looked at the Tails Doll and began to swing his Heart Bat again and again. With each swing the Tails Doll just floated out of the way to effortlessly avoid the attack. Suddenly the Heart Bat began to glow and emit a bright light. It changed from a normal baseball bat to a baseball bat with spikes and nails coming out of it.
"Whats going on?" Luigi wondered. "It didn't look like a level up."
"Maybe Giygas is affecting Ness." Peach replied. "And his Weapon of Heart changed to reflect that."
Ness' Weapon of Heart had entered Insanity Mode. This time the spikes and nails caught the Tails Doll and ripped the faberic. He once again began to smash the bat against the ground, ripping the Tails Doll into small peices.
"Much better." Ness laughed.
"Ness are you okay?" Pichu asked, having walked towards him. This however didn't end well. Ness swatted Pichu away with his arm sending him flying into everyone else.
"He's gone mad!" Falco shouted.
Young Link approached the crazed Ness. "Ness, stop!" He protested. "We are friends, right?" Ness swung his bat towards Young Link who just blocked with his sheild.
"He can't tell the difference between friend or foe." Peach muttered. "It looks like I have no choice: Super Smash: Peach Beam!" A Pink beam rushed from Princess Peach's hands and went towards Ness. The attack hit and caused him to suddenly fall down unconcious. Metal Sonic used this time to once again reconstruct the Tails Doll. Quickly they picked up Ness to make sure that the insanity didn't make him lose it again.
Suddenly Neo Metal Sonic turned into a liquid gathered together all of the scrap metal that was scattered across the ground.
"We have to get out of here!" Sonic shouted realizing that Neo Metal Sonic was going to do.
"Why?" Young Link asked.
"In a few minutes he is going to be completely different, and a lot stronger... He is about to undergo a transformation!"
"Then we should take him out now!" Falco said. He placed the scanner over his eye and rushed towards Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic however was one step ahead of them and had wrapped himself in a cocoon made out of the scrap metal on the ground and then quickly buried himself underneath the ground.
"All right... Now we run..." Falco said. Everyone seemed to agree and began to run away.
They had ran for quite a while, and now they were exhausted. Each of them collapsed onto the ground. Ness had also regained consciousness.
"Great..." Sonic said not at all amused. "Now we have to wait for Metal Sonic to finish changing shape... that could take awhile."
"How long will that take?" Falco wondered.
"Depends on how good the machine parts are, he is going through thousands of different customizations in order to get the best one and defeat us..."
"Then it looks like we better be ready for whatever comes our way."
At those words a gunshot was fired. Sonic was able to dodge it. Standing a few hundred meters away from them was another hedgehog, this one was black and red, he was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. "This never means anything good..." Sonic sighed.
"Chaos spear!" Shadow shouted. The next moment everyone was sent down to the ground in pain. Several spears made out of energy had struck them.
"Shadow what are you doing?" Sonic asked confused. Shadow appeared in front of Sonic and kicked him upwards. He had a blank look in his eyes, one of someone who had been hypnotized, and was constantly stuck in a trance. Suddenly front the sky two more people dropped down knocking Shadow down and restraining him. One was a two-tailed fox - Tails - the other was a red echidna with long dreadlocks - Knuckles.
"Wait is anyone else absolutely lost as to why people are showing up now?!" Pichu asked.
"I called them back when I first saw you guys." Sonic replied. "Before Metal Sonic showed up..."
"Sonic..." Shadow screamed out in agony. "Help me!"
"What's going on?" Luigi said confused.
Shadow threw Tails and Knuckles off him and rushed towards Sonic. "Give me that chaos emerald for Maria!" Shadow shouted.
"Shadow what are you talking about... she has been dead for fifty years!"
Shadow however didn't hear Sonic and just ran towards him eventually grabbing the chaos emerald. "Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted as the Chaos Emerald turned into energy and the next moment he brought that energy towards Sonic shocking him much like it was electricity. The emerald had gained back a solid form and he just began to hug the emerald tightly. "Maria is going to be okay..." He muttered. Tails rushed over to Sonic to check if he was okay. He was wounded but it was just enough to leave a couple of singe marks on Sonic.
"Shadow what's the meaning of this?" Knuckles shouted outraged.
Shadow didn't respond he was trapped in a constant state of illusion. Suddenly the ground began to shake. "Shadow I trust that you have the chaos emerald by now." Metal Sonic's voice rang out.
"Yes." Shadow replied. "Let us go heal Maria at the ARK." With that the ground began to crack and slowly rise. Underneath them was Metal Sonic. Young Link, Luigi, and Pichu all rushed to the edge to see what was going on, as they were about to turn around a giant metal dome surrounded everyone who was still inside. With not much of a choice they jumped down to the ground and saw the newly transformed Metal Sonic lifting the ground up. Pichu fired electricity at Metal Sonic however it did nothing. Young Link shot arrows however that also did nothing. Luigi fired several green fireballs however they also did nothing.
"Annoying pests!" Metal Sonic said as a beam of energy was shot towards them. They were able to avoid being hit by the attack however it hit the ground and the ground crumbled. They fell into the abyss of where the land used to be. With that Metal Sonic began to ascend into space.
"Ness what's going on out there?" Peach asked.
"We are being lifted into space." Ness replied uneasy.
Shadow suddenly stood up and looked around. "I see that useless hedgehog has brought you Smashers here." Shadow laughed. Everyone stared at him. "My name is Black Doom. And I'm controlling Shadow. Soon The Space Colony Ark will be in Dark Lord Smithy's hands. We can probably deliver a few of you Smashers as a gift."
"What's going on here?" Falco wondered.
"Black Doom has the ability to control Shadow..." Tails began to explain. "But I thought that the last time they met Shadow was able to overcome this weakness."
"Okay thats all I needed to know." Falco replied not really ready for pointless banter. Suddenly everything shook.
"Welcome to the Space Colony ARK." Black Doom laughed. "Metal Sonic has attached himself to the Space Colony Ark and has begun his next transformation to destroy you all!"
To be Continued...