S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO!
Episode 27: Maria Reborn
-
Shadow wasted no time.
The very moment they emerged from the warp, his hand arched around sparking with elemental power before unleashing the blast directly in Sonic's face. With no time to defend himself the blue hedgehog was struck by its full force and sent rocketing back over the metal floor of the Ark's observation room to slam hard into a wall.
The blue hedgehog collapsed to the floor, his left arm twitching. Shadow dropped to his knees out of breath, sweat dripping from his face onto the floor.
As the blue hedgehog tried to get back up, the door to the observation room opened up and dozens of Confederation soldiers charged in, all armed with plasma swords that burned with a purple energy. Quickly they surrounded the blue hedgehog, one pinning him to the floor with his foot, sword held over his back.
"No." Shadow told them, getting back up with all seven Chaos Emeralds around him. "He is not to be harmed."
The Confederation solider glanced up sharply but did not remove the tip of his sparking weapon away from Sonic's back.
"The Black Doom commands…." He started. Not in the mood to be argued with, Shadow held up his hand and fired a warning shot straight into the ground between the Fesonian's feet.
"This is my colony and you are my crew. Touch him and I will roast you alive." With a power source as infinite as the seven Chaos Emeralds he more than capable of carrying out his threat.
Clearly showing reluctance the amphibious humanoid reptile withdrew his sword.
"Can't imagine you doing me any favours." Sonic muttered into the floor.
"I'm not." Shadow replied. "I simply want you to witness the rebirth of Maria as well. Perhaps then you'll understand what drives me." The dark hedgehog shot a glance up towards the soldiers. "Bind his arms and legs, but do not hurt him."
They grudgingly complied and electronic cuffs that placed around the hedgehog's ankles and wrists, denying him the leg room necessary to achieve super speed. All he could do was hobble forward step by step.
"Dude this is not dignified." Sonic remarked, hoping along while escorted by four Confederation soldiers.
"You've endured worse now be quiet." The dark hedgehog remarked and that as the end of it.
Sonic was led through the space colony into its inner chambers with Shadow leading, the emeralds in orbit around him. Sonic knew that if he could just get on and the use Chaos Control to transport it himself and it away, then whatever insane plot was behind all this would fail.
Shadow however anticipated that Sonic would do something like that and kept the emeralds in front of himself; making his own body a barrier between Sonic and the Emeralds.
Reaching the laboratory, Shadow stepped aside and let Sonic enter first.
"Aw dude, who cut the cheese?" The blue hedgehog complained at the smell, turning his head away from it in disgust.
"Get in there." Shadow told him, kicking him in.
Waiting for them before the tree where Maria was about to be reborn were several more of the Fesonian soldiers holding another at gunpoint.
"What is she doing here?" Shadow demanded, trying not to look at Tikal. The female Echidna merely stood there looking down at her feet.
"I merely thought she should witness this moment as well." Black Doom replied, before his eyes were drawn to the blue hedgehog.
"I'm guessing you must be the Black Doom." Sonic remarked giving the projection a hard long stare.
Black Doom hovered nearer.
"So we meet at last, Sonic the hedgehog, I must say for someone with your reputation, you're certainly shorter than I imagined."
"And you're a great dealer uglier than imagined." Sonic retorted with a grin. "Those Seedrians almost went through the roof when they learnt you were back." Black Doom blinked all three eyes at once.
"Oh they did, did they?" His tone sounded amused and quite satisfied. "Tell me, just how are those displaced fools holding out? It's been such a long time since I had a chat with Queen Illumina."
"I can imagine, Cronos." The blue hedgehog said, stating a name that Black Doom had not gone by for many years.
"Cronos, the brother of Rhea and the son of Uranos is dead." Black Doom told him sternly. "He died when his own son betrayed him and the rest of his family left him to rot. All that is left is the Black Doom." He jabbed a finger forward but the transparent tip passed through Sonic's body. "And now that I have the seven Chaos Emeralds, the time of my return and the return of all else they wronged, will be at hand."
"Enough of this." Shadow remarked sourly. "Where's Maria?" Black Doom's third eye looked directly at the dark hedgehog.
"Ah yes, of course. You have fulfilled your end of our contract and now it is my turn. Her gestation period should be almost over." He floated aside and looked towards the plant. The glow had reached its peek. "Now is the time to finish the process."
Quickly he hovered before the dark tree and spread his arms out wide. Sparks of purple lightning burned from the tips of his claws and shot across the distance and travelled up the trunk and into the floor; the glow changing from green to blood red.
"Now is the time little soul, breathe once more; realise your new life." Black Doom declared. "Let your heart beat again, let the blood flow around your veins. Feel the power surging through your body and soul.
I command you! LIVE!" The glow turned into a piercing light that shot through the folds in the petals like pure beams, so bright it was hard to look at. A cloud of thick white mist ballooned up from the base of the tree, covering the floor.
Then the light died away and Shadow watched, memorised as the flower began to bloom, the petals folding back and bulb in the centre cracking open like an egg and the form inside spreading itself out.
"What…" Shadow began as the form rose up. The shape was distinctly that of a mobian hedgehog, a female, completely naked.
Its quills were long and slender in their fused clumps that reached in length down the back to the waist with two curtains hanging either side. The ears were erect with a tapering almost sharp edge to the tips. The body was sleek and streamlined as if purpose built to be athletic.
"Oh… naked chick." Sonic remarked with something of a growing interest in his face.
Shadow ignored him and moved forward, peering through the mist to get a better look.
The fur was like his, dark black with and the outer edges of the quills and the head fur blood red. It stood with its back to him, steam gently rising from its body.
Slowly its head turned around so it stared directly at him. Its eyes were glowing an emerald green and lips spread in a thick sneer that showed a row of shark like sharp teeth. Shadow just stood there staring in horror at it. Even in another form, he recognised Maria.
Her soul was within this body… but she was not the one in control.
"Don't tell me you're disappointed Shadow." Black Doom sighed from the sidelines widening his third eye.
The new hedgehog slowly stepped down from the dying bulb, reaching the floor but never once did it take its eyes off him.
"I fulfilled your request. Your dear Maria's soul has been returned to the realm of the living."
"What the hell have you done to her?!" Shadow demanded whirling around to confront Black Doom head on.
"It's not what I've done Shadow." The three eyed demon replied callously. "Your genetic contribution has given her this shape.
The body she originally wore has long since been buried." The floating being explained waving its claws aside. "Decaying and rotting away for more than fifty years. It is now merely a collection of bones and an unsuitable vessel for her soul to inhabit." Shadow stared back at the new creation as it chuckled evilly.
The sadistic expression that sickened Shadow refused to leave her face as she stared right back at him.
"I had to start from scratch and forge another body." Black Doom carried on. "But I reasoned why should I waste my time with such a flimsy human vessel?
This is a vessel far more resilient than the last, durable and not hindered by the terminal illness that threatened her human life.
This form is based of your design, you'll be glad to hear, to make it tremendously powerful." Shadow found himself unable to move, the shock rendering him paralyzed.
"And this what you asked for?" Sonic asked. Shadow just shook his head.
"No… this isn't… this isn't what I asked for!"
Black Doom let his head roll back and he laughed out load, the sound a hideously evil noise that sent a river of anger flooding through the dark hedgehog.
"Oh Shadow, I had feared from the very start that some of Gerald's intelligence might have been endowed into your mind upon your creation." The projection hovered higher as if to tower over them all. "But you have showed me that my fears were null and void. You have been an excellent servant."
"Servant?" Shadow demanded.
"You have brought all seven Chaos Emeralds to be far sooner than I expected." Black Doom carried on. "True the restoration of Iapetus was not desired but it matters little now. You have spread the news of my coming across the galaxy and delivered the Iblis Trigger into my hands."
Sonic shot Shadow a sideways glance.
"Thanks." He remarked sarcastically.
"You're the Iblis Trigger?" Shadow demanded whirling around. "But he told me…" Even before he finished his sentence the cruel blade of ironic betrayal was twisting itself in his back and he trailed off, realising now that he had been duped.
"You have served the coming rebirth of the Golden Age of the Titans well." Black Doom laughed. "But your services are no longer required. Now please stand aside." The projection turned to the new hedgehog standing there waiting. "Maria, my dear, end this threat to my return. Destroy the Iblis Trigger."
The female hedgehog looked up at Black Doom before giving a short bow.
"As you command, master." She stated and Shadow stood there in horror as he recognised the voice. There was no question now for that was the voice of the only human who had treated him like a person.
"I warned you." Tikal whispered, keeping her eyes on the floor.
Surging emotions built through Shadow. There was guilt, despair and grief but for the moment at least they were overridden by another emotion.
Anger.
Rage in its purest form was surging through his veins like fire.
Black Doom had tricked him. Had lied to him. Had cheated him. But the most damning thing of all… beyond all others… Black Doom had defiled everything he had held dear
He had defiled the Ark. He had defiled the memory of the people who died here but more than that, he had defiled the body and soul of Maria.
Without hesitation he stood in the way as the reborn Maria moved towards Sonic.
"I'm warning you." He stated sharply, raising a hand with the sparks of a Chaos Spear attack burning. "Back off."
Black Doom laughed again.
"Of please Shadow. You and I both know you wouldn't raise a hand to hurt your precious Maria."
Shadow growled and let the ball of energy form between his fingers.
"Want to bet?" He asked, pushing it forward towards Maria. The reborn hedgehog simply stood there with the same sadistic expression.
"You're bluffing." Black Doom replied confidentially. "Go ahead. If you're going to try and kill your adopted sister then let's see it." Maria moved forward. Shadow banishing the energy as if he were going to fire it, his muscles tensed and teeth bared.
Black Doom however was right. Shadow couldn't do it. He couldn't fire one of his most destructive attacks at Maria.
It simply was not in him. Growling in frustration, he lowered his arm the energy dissipating.
Black Doom laughed again.
"Don't feel bad Shadow. You see, even if you fired your attack it wouldn't have had any affect." Maria widened his grin and spread her arms out wide, her own energy crackling down her arms and into his hands. It built to a peak between her fingers before she fired two red versions of the Chaos Spear both right and left; crashing into the walls doing tremendous damage; melting the metal into dripping puddles.
"Her body was based on your design but improved beyond the original parameters. You are the last prototype. The 1.1 version. She is the 1.2."
Instantly the Fesonian soldiers backed off, leaving the two captives and Shadow alone before the naked hedgehog. They left the chamber and as soon as they had gone the door slammed shut.
"My dear, kill the blue one and the Echidna but try not to hurt Shadow too much, I still need him alive." Black Doom remarked. "He won't be in any condition to fight back anyway." He pointed at the dark hedgehog and the semi-transparent mark on his arm lit up.
Shadow cried out in pain, grasping his arm and collapsing to his knees. Pain, unimaginable pain, was spreading through his body like wild fire. Running through his veins was a powerful poison, released by the command of its master, incapacitating the body and inflicting more pain that was imaginable.
Shadow had built up defences to prevent himself from feeling pain, both mental and physical but his crashed through all of those in an instant and tears began to flow down his cheeks.
"Have fun my dear." Black Doom remarked evilly before fading away.
"Ok, I've had enough." Sonic stated flatly and he held out his arms in front of himself. Using his finely tuned agility he sent super sonic rippled through his body, weakening the shackles at the molecular level. Their strength dissipated in seconds and they broke apart, clattering to the floor.
The shackles on his ankles were removed just as easily.
"Just so we're clear, I could have done what at any time." He said, stepping forward in front of Shadow to become the barrier between him and Maria. "Naked glory or not, I've never had reservations about fighting girls."
Maria's grin widened and she gestured with her hand towards the tree. With a sudden churn, the seven Chaos Emeralds there flew up and into orbit around her. Clenching both fists, she called upon their body and absorbed their energy.
Her quills went jagged before changing from jet black to become golden with blood red streaks across each quill. The green eyes glowed brightly before turning to a crimson. Energy crackled all around her as clothes appeared on her body; sleek Greek style armour shoulder pads with a loose white shirt and blue pants.
Her entire body was surrounded by a powerful golden glow as she achieved her super form.
"Ok." Sonic remarked with a nervous smile. "NOW I have reservations about fighting girls."
"Too bad." Maria remarked, before flying forward at speed that denied explanation and hammering a fist directly into Sonic's stomach. The blue hedgehog was sent flying back by the blow until he slammed into the wall sinking into the metal as it bent.
Before anyone could react, Maria pointed a hand directly at Tikal and energy crackled down her arm.
"No, stop!" Shadow called back despite the pain but she ignored him and fired forth her own version of the Chaos Spear attack. The female echidna could not move out of the way in time and the blast hit her full face.
It took every ounce of will in his body but ignoring the pain, Shadow scrambled to his feet and rushed to Tikal's side. She was lying on the floor with cuts all over her body down her arms and legs, blood seeping out onto the floor to form a puddle around her. She was still alive but she had been badly hurt. Her mouth was agape as she lay there struggling to breath.
Maria clasped her hand together and prepared another blast, ready to finish Sonic off. The blue hedgehog pulled himself out of the hole in the wall but got his leg stuck and could only look up in alarm as Maria's attack readied itself to be unleashed.
Before it could fire, Shadow shot forth and placed himself between the super formed hedgehog and Sonic. The pain travelling through his body was so unbearable he was having trouble standing up
"Go, take Tikal and get out of here." He snapped.
"Shadow you can't handle her on your own." Sonic told him.
"GO!" Shadow hissed over his shoulder and his eyes shot over to the unconscious body of Tikal.
Sonic pushed his face into a frown before darting past the dark hedgehog towards Echidna.
"If you believe you're getting away you're dumber than you look." Maria muttered, her fur glowing bright gold as she unleashed her attack of burning energy at the blue hedgehog. Despite the pain flowing through his body Shadow intervened, discharging his own Chaos Spear attack that blocked her own blast giving Sonic the time to reach Tikal.
"Chaos Control!" He declared, disappearing in a short flash of green light. Maria now seemed infinitely annoyed. She turned her head to look at Shadow, the dark hedgehog was barley able to stand up. He was breathing hard with sweat running down his face before dripping off him.
"Alright Shadow, if you wanted to be first all you had to do was ask." She muttered coldly.
-
Acting the Chaos Control without really thinking of a destination or much in the way of an energy reserve, the only kind of teleportation Sonic could manage was a short range one. He transported himself away from the colony's interior to the outer rim, where he had a good view through a long set of reinforced windows of the planet Hydra below.
Tikal was not in good shape. She was still bleeding and her breathing was short and shallow. Exactly how she had gotten here didn't matter at this point. Without her mystical powers to call upon she was just as vulnerable as anyone else.
Tearing some material from his gloves, Sonic dressed her wounds as best he could. He wasn't knowledgeable in first aid but at least he'd stopped the bleeding for now.
A loud roaring sound caught his attention and glancing out through the window, the blue hedgehog spotted an object heading towards the colony from Hydra.
"Hey isn't that the Babylon Rogue's ship?" Sonic asked, peering at it through the glass. It was hawk shaped with a long curved silver hull. As it got nearer Sonic identified it as the ship belonging to the Rogues, but the way it was being flown showed they were not the ones on it. Jet was a better pilot than that.
The ship was on a collision course with the colony. Or more to the point it was on a direct collision course with them! The ship blasted forth even under intense fire from the colony's defence and sped up as it tried to crash into it.
"Oh crap!" Sonic cried out, grabbing Tikal and diving out of the way as the ship ploughed through the colony's outer wall, its bow slamming past them. Emergency sealants were thrown in place to prevent the occupants from being sucked out into the vacuum of space. Sonic had to hold onto Tikal as the ice like substance froze over the cracks.
The blue hedgehog glanced up as the side door to the ship, half embedded in the colony was thrown off by an invisible force; trailing a blue glow as it went.
A slim white hedgehog came flying out, landing directly before Sonic, with hands raised in a fighting stance
He had two long white clumps of quills stretched out behind him with a chest of five smaller ones on his head; his eyes a flaxen yellow with a thick black outline.
"You…" Silver snarled.
Sonic glanced around and realized this scene looked incredible guilty. He was standing there over the body of a beaten girl with cuts all over her body and he was wearing bloody gloves.
"Now, I know what this looks like…" Sonic remarked holding out his hands defensively.
"Enough talk. This time there will be no more interruptions." The white hedgehog shouted pointing forward. "The Iblis Trigger must die!"
-
Maria brought her leg up sharply connecting a kick to his stomach. The black and red hedgehog was thrown sharply across the room before slamming into the wall, ploughing through it and bursting out into the colony's interior.
Maria flew out after him, spiralling through the air doing an incredible acrobatic flip before smashing a punch across Shadow's face; knocking him down into the ground; ploughing him through several of the Ark's floors before a pile driving kick crash his body into the metal framework of one of the colony's structural supports.
Shadow felt blood run down his face from cuts and over his lips but any physical pain, including that from the poisonous mark his body was experiencing was nothing compared to the emotional anguish that was tearing through his body in waves. He hadn't gotten over the shock enough to even form coherent thought about the matter, all he could do was stand there reeling in pain both physical and mental as the result of his mistakes smashed punch after punch into his body.
The twisted reality finally struck home as he realized that everything Sonic had told him was true, every word and Shadow hadn't listened to any of it. Black Doom had taken everything he believed in and twisted it upside down, had warped his life into tragedy and Shadow had not only let him do it, he actually helped him.
He wasn't able to pick himself back up as she stood over him, her form aglow with power.
"If this is you're idea of a distraction Shadow then I'm disappointed." She remarked. "Is this the ultimate life form my grandfather spent so long working on? At the rate you're lasting I'll be finishing you and hunting down those others before the end of five minutes." She grabbed him around his face and lifted him up, his body as limp as a rag doll.
"Maria…" He whispered, staring at her face through the gaps in her fingers.
"What?" She asked callously.
"I'm so sorry." There was a moment when the female super hedgehog hesitated, the red glow in her eyes fading.
"What?" She repeated, the determination slipping from her face
But then the control reasserted itself and that moment past. The sadistic grin reappeared and she dropped him. As he fell, she brought her hand forward and fired an energy blast directly into his face.
Crashing down to the floor, Shadow lay there quietly smouldering. Maria walked over to him and picked him up by the scruff of his neck, letting him hang there.
"Chaos Control!" She declared and the two of them vanished into the midst of a flash of green light.
She transported them deep into the heart of the colony, almost directly to its centre. Shadow was dumped with a loud thud onto the cold metal floor and left there. His left arm had been dislocated and was hanging limp beside him, now completely useless. Pushing his eyes open, Shadow glanced around and their new surroundings and breathed in sharply when he recognised it.
The room was a large round chamber with a curved darkened ceiling and a floor so deep the light didn't reach it. A long metallic catwalk projected out from the walls towards the pillar in the centre that lanced from the floor to the ceiling. Shadow had been dumped onto this.
Maria, the light from her super form illuminating the chamber, crossed over to the pillar directly in the centre of the chamber. It had dozens of terminals around its base and three metallic spheres hung above it, suspended by little more than a magnetic force.
This was the control room for the Eclipse Cannon. G.U.N had disabled the weapon after Eggman had fired it at the moon as a display of its strength. But Black Doom's fesonian workers had rebuilt the weapon's controls and now it was perfect working order again.
"Wait…." Shadow started, reaching out but half stumbling to the catwalk floor. "What are you doing?" Maria smiled cruelly and looked down at the display monitor. It flickered on to show the planet Hydra below, a small version of the Earth with a blue atmosphere and green continents.
"That planet is an eyesore." She said simply as if it were nothing at all. "Think I'll blow it up." Then she placed a hand upon her chest and she separated herself from the Chaos Emeralds. Her fur lost its golden shine and she reverted to normal and the emeralds floated before her.
Wordlessly she reached out and took hold of the green emerald, placing it into the appropriate slot of the mosaic like interface.
The machinery, decades old, around them, groaned in response as if waking up from a dream. Around the base of the control centre, dozens of holographic displays appears; orbiting in a tight circle.
"Maria, stop! Don't you realize what you're saying?" Shadow demanded, trying again to get up by his limp arm gave way and he collapsed to the floor again. "There are billions of innocent people on that planet!"
She ignored him and slid the second and third emeralds into place. In response more of the room lit up and more holographic displays started circling around the base of the platform.
"I won't…" Shadow hissed, pure power of will fighting through him. "I won't let you do this." Despite the useless arm he propelled himself up at shot right at her. His flimsy attempt at an attack was repelled and Maria slammed him into the floor, pressing down hard with her foot on his injury.
"And just how as you going to stop me?" She asked.
