Chapter Sixteen: Nightmare Fuel
Shadow was more surprised than he should have been to come to in a corpse-strewn field just outside the village.
How Metal Sonic and Knuckles hadn't woken him up before Sonic or whatever caused all this went on a rampage, he didn't know, but it appeared that was the case.
Suddenly, Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Sticks were standing in a cluster, only about ten feet or so away. Shadow decided to try and use them to figure out what the heck was going on, and he began to make his way towards them, gingerly stepping around the bodies and trying harder and harder to not feel sick.
Once he got there, Sticks looked surprisingly calm, but Rouge, Amy, and Tails looked uneasy. Tails especially, which was proven when Shadow caught him mumbling, "please, not another hallucination," over and over again under his breath.
The ruined wasteland around them vanished and was replaced with the black void lit by a faint red glow. Tails whimpered, knowing exactly what was coming next, but the others, while a bit mystified at the sudden change, hadn't reached their panic threshold yet.
That changed when every limb they had proceeded to lock up, rendering them incapable of moving. They could blink and they could breathe, but that was about it.
Then came the laughter: a twisted, sickening screech assaulting their ears with raw, unfiltered agony. Nothing they could do would make the horrifying cackle stop. Their heads pounded, their hearts raced, their ears felt like they would burst any second-
And just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, leaving nothing but silence behind. However, they now had the cause of it standing right in front of them. Upon seeing it, Tails screeched and tried to bolt again, but suffered the same non-result as last time.
Once again, it looked like Sonic, if Sonic had been attacked by a serial killer. Even worse from last time, this thing's face wasn't much more than a scarred, deformed mass attached to his neck, allowing its bloody mouth to twist into a series of increasingly inhuman expressions. As the spheres of bloody light flickered on in his eyes, he spat, releasing quite a bit of blood and something that looked like a tooth, then began to speak.
"Oh, this place is beautiful, isn't it?" The thing twisted its face into a new expression that vaguely resembled a smile. "And it looks like we have a returning guest! Glad to see you back here," it hissed.
Tails closed his eyes as tightly as possible, but Shadow took the lead this time. "You don't scare me," he snarled. "All you are is a wannabe supervillain with an ego the size of the moon. In other words, just about everything else I've ever had to face."
"Oh, I'm so worried," the apparition said, sarcasm oozing from every word. "But sure. I guess you're just too dang tough to be scared by me." Then, it paused briefly. "Maybe I don't scare you. But I'm sure this will."
One second, Shadow was perfectly fine, except for the fact that he couldn't move, of course. The next, a surge of cold air rushed towards his left shoulder. When he turned, he noticed the stump that used to be his right arm, spraying enough blood that it looked like he was finger-painting with the stuff on the floors. Even though Shadow wasn't that hardcore, no one would have been surprised if that actually had happened at some point.
Then came the agony, a thousand needles stabbing into his unprotected skin. Shadow didn't hesitate for even a second, proceeding to shout swear words at the monster that made Tails and Amy wish they could cover their ears. That is, if they had suitable limbs left over after they covered their eyes.
"Sorry about that interruption before we came to this wonderful event," the figure said. "I was just giving you a taste of what your little island will look like when I'm done with it."
"Not happening, you freak," Sticks spat. "I don't know what you're playing at, but we're going to end you all the same! You'll never obliterate me! I'm unob- unobliter-" She paused for a second as she regained her train of thought. "You'll never kill me!"
"There are fates worse than death," said the creature. "You should know, considering I can make you suffer one. Right. Now."
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, Sticks started to clutch her head, shouting, "There's voices in my head!" Sticks rocked back and forth as much as her restraints allowed, screeching and cursing, before suddenly, it all stopped as Sticks closed her eyes.
When she opened them and began to speak, it was in a voice that was not her own. "See? It's perfectly possible to take control of someone's mind! All you have to do is bring them to me, and I can show them."
Shadow kept swearing up a storm, and Sticks now eyed them with a look that would come off as terrifying even if they knew it wasn't really her doing it. She started talking again, saying, "My powers are unlimited in this world. But let me demonstrate that on you first. By the time I'm done, there'll only be a smear left of you."
Tails squeezed his eyes closed as tightly as possible, while Rouge and Amy mentally prepared themselves the best that they could, terrified of what would come next.
Nobody could nor would have predicted what did happen, however. Instead of attacking Amy, Rouge, or even a near-traumatized Tails, the creature began to shriek itself hoarse, a shrill, horrific cry that probably could have shattered glass. Then, he began to bend into impossible poses- one that looked kind of like a pyramid, another sending him into a full split, and on and on- as the lights in his eye sockets began to flicker rapidly and reddish steam billowed out of his mouth. Within seconds, the noise had reached a crescendo and a painful, reddish-white spear of light began to erupt from him, forcing everyone to shut their eyes for fear of being blinded.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Shadow's arm had returned to its rightful place, taking the searing pain with it, and Sticks shook her head a few times, presumably no longer possessed anymore. And the creature from before was gone.
In its place stood- or more accurately, floated- Sonic, and the real one this time. His eyes existed this time, and they were the electric shade of green they used to be. His gloves and shoes were a little scuffed and dirty, but they were free of blood and not falling apart. His quills were all in their proper positions. Even his teeth seemed less menacing, not being as pointy as they were before. the only thing about him that looked out of place was the look of sheer horror on his face.
"What the- holy crap, that just worked," Sonic- if this was truly Sonic and not another hallucination- said. "Or is this just another cruel trick?"
"Sonic!" Amy and Tails both yelled at the top of their lungs.
"It's really us," Rouge added.
"Prove it," Sonic said. "I've been through too much crap to be tricked by some cheap imitation of my friends now."
"Why the hell do I have to do that? Can't you recognize your own damn friends? They're two feet in front of your faces, what the hell else do you need, a birth certificate?" Shadow shot this all out in one long stream of bitter negativity.
"Yep, it's really you," Sonic said. "Only the real Shadow could tick me off that quickly."
"How are you here? Why should we believe that you aren't just a cruel illusion being performed on us?" Amy wanted confirmation, just because her feelings for Sonic were still there to some extent, even if Sonic was gone.
"Just believe me," Sonic said. "I have two minutes maximum before he takes control again, so I need to say this quickly. This thing is getting stronger every second that passes. At this rate, you have a week, maximum, before he can get to the mainland without needing a boat. And when that happens…"
"Game over," Rouge said, finishing the thought. "Either some government is going to kill Sonic- er, you- after this monster goes on a mass rampage, or even worse, it just can't be stopped and everyone else dies."
"Exactly," Sonic said, frantic and jittery. "You have to end this soon, before you run out of time. Before this thing ends any more innocent lives."
Tails asked, "Do you have an idea where you are right now?"
"Unfortunately, no," Sonic said. "Some kind of cave. Lots of stalactites and even more insects. It's not Bygone Island, though. That's for sure."
Amy got a little teary-eyed. "Will you ever be back? Can I ever have my Sonic back again?"
Normally, Sonic would have just shrugged off the blatant attempt to start flirting with him, but this time the sentiment hit him with such a wave of emotion that he began crying too. "I'll try, Amy, I'll try. No matter what, I'll never-"
Suddenly, he seized up, and his eyes started to flicker, changing from vivid green to murderous red. Clutching his head, Sonic began contorting into a series of positions that looked horrifically painful.
He let loose a piercing scream before trying to talk again. "He's fighting- OW!- me for -EEEE! control!"
Rouge yelled, "Fight back, then! You know what to do!"
"He's too- ACK!- strong for that! But- YEOW!- whatever you do, don't- don't-"
He never finished the sentence. A long scream erupted from his mouth instead, as he collapsed to his knees, then vanished, leaving nothing but the void to keep the others company. However, that wouldn't stay true for long. a few seconds after that, the creature that had tormented them earlier had reappeared in a puff of red mist, shouting the curse words that even Shadow rarely used, they were so vulgar.
After its little mini-rant was over, it finally turned to address the others. "You already know too much," it said. "But that doesn't mean that I can't hurt you some more while we're here."
However, before he could start, Shadow started shaking violently, so fast his eyes looked distorted. This didn't last for long, because a few seconds later, he suddenly vanished- one second there, the next, gone, leaving the other four behind.
"No!" The creature started screaming to the heavens above. "Not again!"
A few seconds later, Amy repeated the same process- violent shaking, then pulling a disappearing act. Sticks followed, then Rouge, leaving Tails alone with the monster.
He knew what was coming when he was taken by the violent shaking fit. However, in the final few seconds before he left this horrible place, he heard the figure utter a single, fateful sentence.
"I need more power… and I need it now."
Author's Notes:
-Merry Christmas to all! Happy New Year too, if I don't update before then.
Review Zone, Act XV:
-Linz2: Thanks, once again, for your review! Sure, downtime is nice, but hopefully (for me, not the characters) it doesn't last too long. Also, I want to make clear that the organization that employs Team Dark is not G. U. N. (If time allows, I have an indirect sequel to this that will expand on this organization, but it will remain unnamed for the time being), just some organization that has some power.