Violet Dreams

Part II

Chapter 50: The Conqueror, Part I

"Power is not a means, it is an end"

Location: Station Square

Concrete and rock jumped away from both Sonic and Shadow as they collided with the streets, sending a tremor throughout the area. However, the heroes with three of the Emeralds quickly raced towards the crater the impact had created, and eased the duo out to heal them with the gems Their wounds faded, leaving nothing but dried blood on their bodies, restoring some hope in their victory.

Yet, something didn't quite feel right.

The group turned their shocked expressions towards the shining beacon of power residing at the helm of Polaris. A tidal wave of light suddenly engulfed the city, blinding everyone. For a moment, time seemed to come to a stand still, but, then the flash died out, revealing a dark, twisting sky around them. In the distance, the Nocturnus Citadel looming hauntingly caught the heroes attention. All at once, a single thought crossed their minds...

They weren't on Earth.

"I never thought we'd see this place again," Sonic mumbled irritably, turning his attention towards Tails. "So...what's the plan now, bro?"

Managing to do away with his worried expression, Tails turned to the group, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "Right now, we have to find the Emeralds scattered across the city. Galaxy somehow tapped into the power of the Emeralds from atop of Polaris and teleported us here...until we find them...well, to put it bluntly...all hope is lost! Galaxy, under no circumstances, is allowed to get his hands on the Emeralds!"

Knuckles smirked, and stretched his arms to ready himself for battle. "Then so be it. The Chaotix and I will go get half of the Emeralds, while Tails, Rouge, Amy and Cream get the other half."

"Sonic...Shadow..., you two gotta go stop Galaxy! He's not going to just sit by and watch us rip the red carpet from under him!" Amy exclaimed. "The fate of Station Square...no, the world is in your hands right now. But, I know you can handle it, Sonic...that's why you're my hero after all!"

The blue hero's eyes grew wide, realizing all the entrusting gazes that had set on him from the others.

With a gentle sigh, Sonic closed his eyes to calm his nerves. Everything leading up to this moment had felt like a dream. Yet, here he was in this hell hole that he had hoped to never see again in his life. Somehow, life seemed to sucker punch him when he least expected it, and he had begun to grow weary of the unpredictable life he had acquired.

Although, all the battles they had fought leading up to this moment, Sonic knew they were to prepare him somehow. He didn't know what force laid the trials out for him, or if it was simply just coincidence – but even so, he knew it was his duty to protect everyone. Regardless of anything that came his way. He was a hero, after all. At least, that's what everyone saw him as.

His eyelids fluttered open revealing two, confident green eyes. He looked over his comrades, knowing full well that they had entrusted to him their own fates. Looking to Shadow next, Sonic grinned and spun around to face Polaris, who had started charging a devestating attack at it's maw, ready to obliterate what was left of the city.

"Ready to do this, Shadow?" Sonic said, giving a thumbs up to the others. "We'll see you guys in a jiffy."

Shadow nodded, and although hesitant, he took his place beside the blue hero. In his hand, a brilliant Chaos Spear had chirped to life, dancing madly in his palm. Noticing the attack, Sonic dashed ahead, with Shadow in tow.

Behind them, the remaining heroes went their separate ways.

"Let's head back to the top," Shadow suggested, unleashing his attack upon a group of unfortunate Dusk pawns in front of them. The creatures screeched dangerously, their black blood staining the ground as the heroes dashed past the massacre. "If we can limit his use of that ...monster, then we can focus our power on Galaxy. Besides, the sooner we get out of range from that thing, the easier it'll be to kill that mad man!"

"Sounds good!"

The blue hero quickly jumped to the left, avoiding the gargantuan claw of Polaris. The hand smashed into the ground, ripping apart a chunk of the city, sending it spiralling off further into the Twilight Cage. The twins quickly jumped up onto the hand, only to face a larger Dusk beast, it's hammer-like arms crashing down in front of them.

Acting quickly, Sonic grasped Shadow's wrist and swung him towards the creature. A dazzling blade of energy emerged from the Ultimate Lifeform's hand in the process, turning his speeding form into a blinding arrow of power. In the blink of an eye he pierced through the creature, cutting it in half as though it were no sturdier than scrap paper. Shadow emerged on the other side in a flurry of the beast's particle like DNA, while Sonic launched further up the arm, evading the monsters rising from Polaris to stop him.

"Focus on reaching Galaxy, I'm going to hold these things off to make it easier for you to reach the top," Shadow ordered, sending a Chaos Spear hurtling through a group of four beasts, slaughtering them.

"Don't get too reckless while I'm gone!" Sonic remarked with a wink, and sped off towards his destination.

With an annoyed grumble, Shadow ducked beneath another mallet aimed at his head. His crimson eyes darted up to meet the Dusk beast's own, however something about his were vastly different. Though the creature displayed nothing but coldness and killer instinct...Shadow's were of terrifying murderous intent. After all, he had a promise to uphold to the one person he loved more than anyone. And under no circumstances would he allow himself to break it.

The beast belted out, the mouth on it's stomach opening to unleash a beam of light from the depths of it's body. Shadow jumped back with ease, the attacking skimming his shoulder in the process.

"Damn you," Shadow murmured, clutching the wound with his hand to help stop the bleeding.

With another horrific screech, the behemoth lunged forward, both it's arms raised high above it's head and ready to flatten Shadow with one swing. The dark hedgehog quickly swung his arm upwards, igniting a blade of Chaos Energy from his wrist in the process. A flicker of golden light shot up through the beast's arms, ripping them off in a bloody display of power. Before the severed appendages had a chance to hit the ground, Shadow had already shot forwards, tearing through the beast and ultimately cutting it in half. The creature screamed, and then disappeared like it's brethren.

Shadow glanced up the arm of Polaris, noticing Sonic had nearly made it to the top. With a gentle sigh of relief, Shadow tapped into the lingering powers of the Chaos Emeralds and disappeared in the light of Chaos Control to meet his comrade (as much as he hated to acknowledge Sonic as such) at the top.

First, Sonic arrived, though he wasted no time at all to strike and jumped at Galaxy with a powerful, churning sphere of energy cupped in his hand. His eyes displayed only resolve, and he was determined to end the battle with one attack in that very moment.

"Check mate, scumbag!" Sonic roared, thrusting his arm out towards the cat. The orb suddenly expanded at a terrific pace, becoming more than five times its original size before landing against Galaxy.

The orb spun out of control, becoming a comet of blue energy as it swirled and devoured Galaxy in a vortex of power. Sonic grinned and jumped backwards out of the wind and smoke, landing beside Shadow.

"Looks like you were a bit late, Shadow! I've already went and finished his sorry ass!"

Galaxy snickered devilishly from within the debris, throwing his arms to his sides. The debris quickly dispersed, revealing the Dusk soldier's alarming metamorphosis he had undergone from the power of Polaris. Both the heroes seemed to gasp in shock at the transformation, each taking a step back to ready themselves for whatever may come next.

"Looks like you spoke too soon, moron," Shadow quipped snidely.

"You two are quickly becoming an annoyance to me..." Galaxy seethed, his eyes now dark as night, with only a golden pupil to distinguish them from his tainted fur. His body was also entirely black, save for the gems on his gloves, and the white markings on his chest, that upon closer inspection, resembled Polaris itself - though a much more serpentine form. Another striking feature that the heroes noticed, were the unusually large, white spines protruding from Galaxy's back, each embedded with one of the Twilight Keys.

"Shucks...then I guess all my efforts from earlier were no good!" Sonic quipped playfully, despite the demonic appearance of the cat.

Turning his ferocious gaze over to Shadow, the cat noticed his terrified expression, and grinned madly at the sight. "What's the matter, Shadow? Has my new form got you scared? Hmm?!"

"Don't listen to him," Sonic retorted quickly, setting a hand on his comrades shoulder. "We got this!"

"No need to console me, faker." Shadow flexed his hand, a surge of energy racing down his bicep to create another Chaos Spear. "I was simply taken back by his ugly appearance! I guess that's the price to pay for power!"

Enraged, and now clearly insane, Galaxy howled angrily and dashed towards the heroes, ripping free from the many white tendrils that had been attached to his back. The tentacles flopped to the ground, but quickly dissolved into the ground. Meanwhile, Galaxy had snatched Sonic by the throat, and threw him into the rock throne from the base Charmy was killed in.

"Ack!" Sonic yelped, spitting up a mouthful of blood.

The chair broke apart from the blue hero tumbling into it, rock and debris obscuring his form. Shadow, however took his partner's downfall as his opening and attacked, plunging the Chaos Spear through the Dusk agent's chest. Upon contact, the spear erupted, searing a hole through Galaxy's chest.

Shadow pulled his hand out of the former royal soldier, and kicked him back. The dark hedgehog grunted, watching as the cat simply sunk into the ground, his blood evaporating into the air.

"How...?" The Ultimate whispered to himself in confusion, attempting to form a strategy.

Suddenly Sonic broke through the rubble, his fist clenched and reeled back in preparation to attack. Galaxy had only just rematerialized when Sonic jolted his fist against the cat's face, sending him hurtling off of Polaris and into the streets of Station Square.

Several buildings toppled to the ground, burying the cat in a mountain of rubble, creating his grave.

Drawing in huge breaths, Sonic sighed and leaned over the edge of Polaris, attempting to get a glance of their enemy.

"Y'know...something tells me this still isn't over..." Sonic murmured, breaking the unusual, and first moment of silence they had since they arrived. "Looks like Polaris really settles down when Galaxy isn't near it. Do you think he managed to fully tame it's power?"

"Could be," Shadow replied, standing at the edge of the monster's head as well. "I'm starting to think there's a connection between Galaxy's new form and Polaris."

"The theory is gonna have to wait..." Sonic said with wide eyes, pointing to the fallen buildings that had now began to quiver. "I guess he has a lot more fight left in 'im than we thought."

"No doubt, he's harnessing the power of a God for Chaos' sake!" Shadow scowled, yanking Sonic away as he jumped out of the path of a spear of dark energy.

The attack collided with what was left of the throne, vaporizing into dust. Sonic yelped to himself, clutching his body, clearly intimidated. However, the dark hedgehog frowned, noticing the striking similarities the attack had to his own Chaos Spear.

"Jeez, that coulda been me..." he whimpered in relief. "Thanks, Shadow. I owe you one!"

"Then I'll take what you owe me right now...go and distract Galaxy for me, I need to test something."

"What?!" Sonic bellowed with disbelief, his jaw dropping. "You've got to be kidding me, right?! Why do I have to be the one to go toe-to-toe with that maniac?!You're the Ultimate Life Form, why can't you do it!"

Narrowing his eyes, Sonic poked his finger against Shadow's chest accusingly. "Or are you just afraid?"

Shadow growled, and cracked Sonic on the head with his fist. "Shut up, idiot! There's something I need to make sure. And since you're not smart enough to deduce a proper strategy, that means you have to be the guinea pig while I come up with one!"

"Maybe if you were a bit nicer about it!" Sonic retorted quickly while rubbing his head painfully. "You didn't have to hit me either..."

"Just hurry up and get down there. The others are still somewhere on the streets gathering the Emeralds. He's sure to have figured out what they're doing by now, and it won't be long before he decides to find them."

"Yeah, yeah~," Sonic yawned, stretching his arms. "Just hurry up and do your strategizing, or whatever. I wouldn't wanna take all the glory for pummelling his ass into the ground!"

Sighing with annoyance, Shadow sent the blue hero down into the streets with Galaxy using Chaos Control. His hand suddenly sparked with power, a dancing orb of electrifying Chaos Energy chirping and convulsing in his palm. Whatever came next, he was ready to destroy it.

Shadow glared down into the city, readying his attack for Galaxy.

In a flash of light, Sonic appeared in the streets of Station Square, and despite the situation they were in, everything was dead silent. Which to Sonic, was very unusual considering the bustling city that the place had been not too long ago. The blue hero strolled towards the mound of rubble the buildings had created and stood in front of it with a displeased look.

"Where'd he go? It doesn't even look like he's gotten out yet..."

Another building crumbled at his left, forcing the blue hero to weave in and out of the raining debris to safety. Sonic charged down the street, the building toppling over onto another, shedding more rubble onto the already gigantic mound. Sonic quickly jumped up and pounced away from a wall, avoiding Galaxy as he swooped from above.

The cat's fist crashed into the building, sending a wave of violet flame up the wall. Glass shattered around the competitors, and Sonic quickly flipped over top Galaxy after snapping his leg out to kick the man. His toe smashed against the monstrosity's face, knocking him backwards. However, Sonic had landed behind him, a spinning sphere of wind already present in his hand and ready to strike.

The blue hero yelled and drove the attack up into Galaxy's spine, shooting through the air and crashing into the office building above, sending shards of glass raining across the battlefield. Amidst the debris, one of Galaxy's spines shattered against the ground, the Twilight Key within spinning on the ground from the impact. Acting quickly, Sonic grabbed the ancient item and diverted his attention up to Galaxy, who was now standing tall on the side of the building.

"Wait..what?" Sonic muttered in shock, squinting up at the man. "How the hell can he do that! Maybe he was bit by a radioactive spider as a kid?"

"Interesting..." Galaxy commented to himself, staring at the crystal orb in Sonic's hand. "The Twilight Key seems to mend in with your own Chaos Energy rather easily. Almost as though it's natural to your body. You're definitely not normal, are you, hedgehog?"

"I've done crazier." Sonic smirked, tightening his grip on the orb, throwing it with all his might.

The artifact rocketed up into the air, colliding against Galaxy's forehead. The cat howled in pain, clutching his nose as blood poured past his fingers. However, Sonic had begun running up the side of the building, another energy based attack forming in his hand.

As soon as Sonic's attack had matured, it disappeared, giving Sonic's arm a blue glow. The blue hero suddenly slid, and smashed his fist into Galaxy's gut, unleashing a condensed whirlwind from his hand, blasting Galaxy through the top half of the building, ripping it apart. The blue hero quickly jumped away from the structure allowing it meet the same fate as the others around him. In mid air, Sonic snagged the airborne Twilight Key, landing gracefully on the rooftop of an adjacent parking structure.

"Hm, I wonder what I could name that one..." Sonic wondered, a finger perched on his chin. "Perhaps, The howling fist of fury! Yeah..that has a nice ring to it!"

"You're getting on my nerves, blue hedgehog!" Galaxy screamed, emerging from the ground, his hand smoking with black energy.

Sonic twisted around to face his foe, but it was already too late.

The cat had dug his hand into Sonic's chest, burning through his skin with ease and ripped away at his flesh. With a mighty and devilish roar, that could only originate from hell itself, Galaxy heaved the blue hero into the ground, causing it to break apart. The ground beneath them gave way, the duo falling through to the next floor.

The building shook from the impact, while blood splattered across the walls of the parkade. Galaxy quickly jumped away, shaking his hand free of the crimson liquid on his glove.

Sonic screamed in agony, clutching the black flames ignited on his chest. The blue hero seethed and rolled around in a pool of his own blood, until finally the strange black fire had been extinguished.

"Wh-what was that just now?" Sonic wondered to himself, his eyes squint shut from the white hot pain flooding his body.

Slowly Sonic stumbled back to his feet, and turned to face Galaxy with weak and tired eyes. "Starting to feel the fatigue catching up with you?"

The dark Dusk soldier snickered, his wounds suddenly closing up as one of the orbs on his back shone brilliantly, blinding Sonic for a moment. Galaxy then walked towards Sonic, who cringed and stepped back fretfully, watching as the man devoured the Twilight Key he had managed to break loose.

Galaxy laughed, another spine emerging where the other had been destroyed, the Twilight Key once again wedged in the bone like protrusion.

Sonic wiped the blood from his face, adding to the stains already on his glove from holding the wound on his chest. "What are you?" the blue hero asked in fear.

"The perfect being," Galaxy replied simply. "With the Twilight Keys one with my body, I can use their individual powers to my leisure. It makes it a lot easier to control that putrid abomination over there when I have the power of Izanpheus himself! In fact...I think my power trumps his at this point! Hahahah!"

The blue hero grunted in shock from the sheer arrogance of the cat's words. "You're sure cocky..." He muttered.

"I have every right to be, you rodent! With this power, anyone would be foolish to try and stop me! Even the Master himself wouldn't dare confront me! I've become perfect, and now I'm going to destroy this inane existence!"

"Wh-what'd you say?!" Sonic shouted. "Is that all you Dusk goons are after? Just to destroy everything?!"

"I don't consider myself one of them any longer," Galaxy replied smoothly, his eyes becoming colder by the second. "The Master...the man who leads us...or rather, leads those sheep he calls followers, is after something else. He wants to create, I guess you could say. Heh...I've seen how annoying that goal is. This world is doomed to destroy itself, so I thought I'd give it a little push of encouragement, rather than saving it from the inevitable!"

"You're insane," Sonic said flatly, anger brewing in his eyes.

Suddenly Shadow appeared in the fray, standing in front of his comrade. "Rest for now, I think I've figured out his weakness."

"What!" Sonic answered happily, though still weak from his bout with Galaxy. "Well, what is it?!"

The dark hedgehog pointed at Galaxy, who was now staring at Shadow with utmost intrigue. Their eyes locked, and Shadow grinned slightly. "Those powers aren't his. They're the collective being of the Twilight Keys inside of him. Each of them represent a different aspect...giving him a wide variety of power. If we can separate him from them, then we'll have no trouble killing him. He's not using Polaris at all, it's basically just a big trophy right now."

Galaxy chuckled at the sudden revelation, and clapped his hands to applaud the hero. "Excellent job, Shadow. It seems as though your moniker isn't just referring to your physical power. You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for. I guess I should have killed you back when I had the opportunity...I'll just have to make up for that mistake."

Quieting down, the cat grinned wildly, staring up through the gaping hole in the parkade and into the churning abyss of the Twilight Cage. "But even so...you haven't changed anything. You will all die by my hands today. It was the sin of the world that brought my home into turmoil, and nearly destroyed it. And it'll be me to take revenge for my family by destroying this filthy planet!"

"So that's why..." Sonic muttered, staring at the ground solemnly. "You were another victim of war, huh?"

"You could say that," Galaxy replied, his hands smoking with power once more, grabbing Shadow's attention.

"You know revenge won't fix -"

"I've heard it before! The whole 'revenge will only breed hatred' speech. That's why if I punish the entire planet for their sins there won't be a cycle. No longer will war exist, nor will there be death. Everything will be gone! Love...hate...war...everything."

The heroes remained silent, beginning to realize exactly what they were dealing with. What could they do against a man who had no fear of loss?

"Whether you kill me, or I kill you. The outcome will be the same." Galaxy sneered viciously, the energy from his hands suddenly spreading across his body, forming a cloak of darkness.

"We'll see about that," Sonic barked, and in the blink of an eye he had appeared in front of Galaxy in a flash of blue.

The hedgehog howled, gripping the cat's shoulders, and then smashed his forehead into Galaxy's own. Their heads collided, causing Galaxy to go wide eyed for a moment before stumbling back. Sonic, on the other hand, teetered backwards, giving Shadow an opening to strike.

Crimson energy had begun boiling off of his quills, curling upwards into the air. His body seemed to spark and fizzle from the power he had been collecting, causing Sonic to believe he held more power than all of the nuclear reactors on the planet.

The air seemed thick with power, and Sonic couldn't help but feel slightly afraid.

Shadow sneered viciously, and lunged to Galaxy in a flash of light, grasping him by the throat.

Another flash of light filled the parkade, and then a burst of light exploded across the landscape, bringing a howling gust of wind with it. Sonic yelped and ducked down to avoid debris that ripped the parkade apart, but this didn't take Sonic's attention away from the dome of crimson in the distance.

The dome decimated buildings, trees, the ground and everything it came in contact with. Eventually, it chewed through the ground itself, becoming an orb of maddening power floating in the abyss of the Twilight Cage.

Within, only two figures were visible, but only slightly. One figure seemed to be steaming, the same figure whose scream could be heard all across the cage. Sonic was sure even the Nocturnus could hear it.

The sphere suddenly receded back to Shadow's body, but then erupted upwards into a pillar of violet before disappearing.

Sonic gasped and sped through the destruction Shadow's attack had created, weaving through the falling buildings toward his comrade. The blue hero quickly jumped across falling pieces of concrete as they fell to the ground, and leaped towards the unconscious Ultimate. Sonic scooped Shadow up, then focused with all his might on the lingering traces of the Chaos Emeralds power, effectively warping them to safety.

The twins spun out from a vortex and slid on the ground at the feet of their comrades.

"Are you two alright?" Rouge asked worriedly holding Shadow's steaming body in her arms, noticing his Inhibitor Cuffs had been destroyed.

Sonic groaned and sat up, rubbing his head in the process. Amy quickly hugged the hero, with a relieved sigh. "I'm so happy you're okay. We could feel Galaxy's attack from across the city..."

Returning the embrace, Sonic turned his eyes to the others, noticing the Chaos Emeralds they had gathered. "I could feel his power the entire time. How in the world did Galaxy get that strong so quickly? Is it because of Polaris?" Knuckles questioned, setting the gems in a row on the ground.

"I think so..." Sonic replied, watching as Shadow slowly sat up as well. "He fused his body with the Twilight Keys. He's totally lost it."

"The power of the Keys probably broke his psyche..." Shadow explained, seeming to only have realized the fact. "I had done research on those things earlier, and it's no wonder why Galaxy has lost it. He has seven different souls in him right now – eight including his own. Each of those keys represents one of the cardinal sins, and with it bares an ability that's associated with it."

Shadow stood up, watching as a flash of light flickered on the head of Polaris.

"Sloth, or dejection, is the first key. It influences time. The second is Lust, which is the key of regeneration. Third, Pride, which grants the user ESP like abilities. Fourth, Gluttony, giving the holder power over nature and minerals. Fifth, is the key of Wrath, which amplifies destructive powers and has an affinity with fire. Sixth is the key of Envy that grants the user control of water and illusionary abilities," Shadow continued, doing his best to ignore his weakening body from his last attack.

Polaris screeched, a purple cloak of energy slowly expanding across it's body, eating away it's skin. The heroes turned from Shadow momentarily to watch as a figure began hovering in front of Polaris, laughter booming across the pocket dimension.

"And finally...Greed. Which I presume to be the Twilight Key Doctor Eggman extracted from Galaxy. The key of Greed directly controls space, similar to the Chaos Emeralds. He's able to freely move from one place to another by moving across the space/time continuum, and can even conjure a black hole if he so wanted."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sonic mumbled, watching Polaris turn into a cloud of energy and absorb into Galaxy.

All hope had been lost.

To be Continued