Chapter 11: The Final Race: Char Vs. Flame

The Babylon Gardens stretched far around the two, as Char could see the Sky Ruins hanging just above them, just out of reach from them. He took a deep breath as he looked at the Red Legend, noting all the ways it had changed in just the last few minutes alone. Instead of it's mostly just recolored red coloring, the design took on the look of flames as it spread across the Extreme Gear, with shocking lightning blue trailing towards the middle of the board, splitting into two lines that crossed around the middle spots of the board, all of which seemed to glow with a ethereal white as Char looked towards them. A name floated in the wind, echoing from nothing as it entered Char's brain. The Lightning Flame Legend, the Gear that can seal the fate of the Universe in its hand, in the right hands can bring salvation, but could easily cause the destruction of the same world. The voice of the wind provided, leaving Char blinking as he wondered if it was Light giving him the information, but he couldn't tell. He looked towards Flame, who just looked anxious.

"You done lollygagging!?" Flame looked as Char grinned.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I boring you?" Char asked as Flame scoffed.

"Shut up and start the countdown." Flame said as Char took a deep breath, the Lightning Flame Legend in his hand as he nodded. The gate sparked to life as the two stepped on the track, both walking back in union as the countdown continued, with both neck and neck as Char grinned, moving left, but seeing Flame do the same as the two of them clashed with their boost, their claws clashing evenly against each other as they rushed down the track, both grabbing the row of 5 rings at the very end, before both jumping early for the fast Legend jump, grabbing X rank tricks before immediately boosting into a drift left, both struggling to get any lead they could on the other. Char waited for just a second before using a tornado on the shadowed duplicate, rushing off as beeping started to occur. Already!? Char gulped as he realized he had started to use too much Air, thankful for what seemed to be a Top Speed increase as he rushed onto the Flight path, using his flames to propel himself through the path, noting with a vindictive joy that it block the path for Flame to get through. Flying through the end, he immediately dashed through, Flame right on his butt as he got an item box, but was one ring off of his level up from the 20 rings it gave, picking 4 up before jumping on the turbulence and gulping at the level up noise he heard from Flame. The two spun at the tip of the turbulence, twist and turning around each other as they rushed on through, both getting on the QTE at about the same time, grabbing their planes as the QTE rushed on past, both waiting for it to end as Char jumped off first, boosting on past as he quickly got his level two, noting the speed boost instantly as he rushed on past, having to quickly start drifting right as he drifted before jumping into the flight ring from the ground, rushing past as Flame continued chasing on behind, his gritted teeth getting louder and louder the more that Char continued to lead. Char ignored him and drifted left into the end of the first lap, glad as he heard the telltale level up noise that signaled him hitting level three as he got an S+ trick, falling onto the bottom path with ease as he boosted on past, noting how the Lightning Red Legend blasted on off throughout at a speed that left him nearly unable to see the stage itself, but the Legend seemed to drift on its own to save him as he noticed it reverted to Level two as he nodded, boosting once more as he grabbed an item box, getting 20 rings as he he drifted right into the turbulence once again, gaining an considerable lead on Flame.

"GAHHHHH" Flame yelled as Char ignored him, his form gaining as he began a massive boost himself, seemingly a blur as he rushed back towards Char, jumping onto the turbulence right when Char got on the plane. Char was surprised, but bit back a grimace as he got off his plane, drifting right and waiting before the boost, seeing Flame nearly burst past him as he got a level three tornado to hit him, before immediately boosting on off into the ramp. Reduced to level two again, Char once again hit bottom path, landing a X rank trick, but only getting Air from his item box, but still getting a decent 10 rings from the path itself as he entered lap three. "ENOUGH OF THIS FARCE! I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" Flame growled out as Char gritted his teeth, the shockwave nearly knocking him off the Lightning Flame Legend as he gripped it tightly.

"C'mon buddy…." Char muttered as he boosted once again, drifting left into a set of five rings, only five off of level three as Flame got considerably faster, nearly catching up and passing Char if it wasn't for a well timed boost into the massive beast, knocking him back slightly and giving Char the time to get level three once again. Jumping onto the turbulence, Char immediately began spinning on the edges, struggling to get the time to rush on past as Flame started taking more and more space, nearly knocking him off as Char got on his plane, just barely dodging a giant claw that tried to grab him during the QTE. Gritting his teeth as pain rushed up his arm from the near miss, Char got off the plane and immediately went for a boost, noting that the Legend drifted effortlessly through the twists and turns that Char had once used the flight path to avoid during the first path. It got him just barely enough out of the last drift as Char flipped backwards to grab the top path, noting a hulking monster of shadow right behind him as he jumped upwards. Boosting immediately, Char passed the finish line, with the shadowed beast finishing about three seconds afterwards. "WE DID IT!" Char celebrated with a grin on his face as the shadowed beast tried to swipe at him.

"N-NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!" Flame screamed and cried as a beam of light spread from Char to Flame, consuming them both in its embrace. Char covered his eyes instinctually as he slowly blinked, seeing his copy, himself, and what looked to be a human to his left.

"A deal is a deal, as much as I hate to be stuck with the likes of you for eternity." Light, or the human, spat in the direction of Flame, who merely snarled.

"I refuse! I demand a rematch, two out of three!" Flame cried out as Char shook his head.

"I won fair and square." Char stated as Flame tried to lash out at him, unable to get past his hands started disappearing, alongside Light's. "And now, you both will be tasked with defending all the future generations who interact with the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, or whatever names they may take. Together, not apart, in perfect balance. After all, that's the purpose I was meant to do, isn't it?" Char smirked as Light and Flame snarled at him. Char shrugged, "Tough crowd. I mean, I'm the Unifier, so I'm unifying you two to protect that balance. Too much Light blinds people, and too much Chaos destroys people, but a balance of them both can create new life and friendships! So hey, hate me all you want, but that won't change the deal." Char explained, starting to look around as Flame started laughing.

"You really are a damn idiot! You really think that I'm going to do that!?" Flame said as Char grinned a tad menacingly.

"I bound that as part of the deal, sorry to break it to ya." Char explained as Flame mirrored the grin.

"And who said I had to honor it?" Flame asked as Char stepped towards him.

"I bound us to the deal before the race began, you are already becoming absorbed by it. Sorry to break it to you." Char answered as Flame walked up, the two face to face and less than a foot apart.

"That's true, but a part of me will always be with you. We are forever bound together, us three, no amount of deals will change that." Flame said, strangely calm in his last moments. Char sighed.

"I know, you were born of me, weren't you?" Char asked, leading a look of confusion from them both as Char blinked, mentally thinking back on the sentence before waving no, "I-I mean more that your current forms were based on me, weren't they?" Char corrected as Flame smirked.

"So the idiot is -" Flame tried to say before he disappeared completely mid-sentence.

"In another time." Light said cryptically before disappearing himself, leaving another blinding flash to take over Char before he was once again back by the finish line of Sand Ruins. Blinking as he struggled to get his eyes to stop watering with tears, he fell backwards into the waiting arms of Tye.

"Ty-Guys?" Char asked as he noticed everyone there, all waiting anxiously for news of what happened..

"Did you do it?" Gale asked as Char looked towards the Lightning Flame Legend, picking it up and holding it towards with a grin atop his face.

"WE DID IT!" Char shouted as they all started celebrating. Char nearly joined in before a thought hit his mind, leading him to throw the Extreme Gear in the air as he jumped on it, boosting off with a single goal in mind, hoping that the others were following him. Traveling high in the sky with every part of him focused on just one thing, he immediately soared through the air, falling off the gear into a freefall, twisting and turning before getting back on it and landing in the turbulence below, jumping forward and to the right into a hospital entrance as he stopped, panting heavily at the ride. Soon other gears hit the turbulence, but Char refused to turn around, running into the hospital with absolute knowledge, passing by the nurse, who simply looked annoyed as he ran through the hospital floor towards the elevator, growing more and more impatient as he saw the rest of Team Wildvolt, alongside Sonic, Silver, and Blaze had followed behind him.

"W-Wait up!" Sonic said as Char entered the elevator, only getting two members of his team, Tye and Gale, to fit in before hitting the third floor through the cramped space. Pika squeezed through the closing door just barely as the others waited for another elevator to arrive.

"I take it you're seeing him?" Tye asked as Char didn't answer, looking more and more impatient by the second as they rode on up, "I understand." Tye said as the door opened, the four of them rushed on through and to the left, rushing towards where Cliff's room was always located for the last year. Char didn't even look around as he quickly opened the door, but saw...nothing. Panic filled through Char's body like a poison that terror soon set in.

"CHAR!" Sonic yelled as he got out of his elevator. "I was trying to tell you that they moved him! He's down the hall on the 2nd floor now!" Sonic said as Char tried to brush past him, desperate to check on his friend, Sonic let him as the group went down the stairs at a more reasonable pace, Char impatiently kept the lead, even as he had no idea where to go, but Sonic quickly helped out as they continued towards Cliff's room. As soon as Sonic pointed to the door, Char opened the door to a doctor, evidenced by the white jacket over the darkened-brown dog, and Cliff. The dog smiled as Char walked on in before rolling his eyes.

"Could have knocked first." The doctor said as Char walked past him, looking towards the small dog that slept peacefully on the bed. Char worried he was too peaceful as he checked his pulse. Beating, but weakly. "He's stable, but...we're not certain on if he'll wake up. We gave him the surgery and everything, but at this point, it all depends on him." The doctor explained as they stood in silence.

"Ch…" A sound broke across minutes later as Char's eyes snapped open towards Cliff, "Char…" Cliff sounded again, eyes barely opened as Char immediately kneeled next to him.

"Cliff!" Char said, "It's me, Char, are you okay?" Char continued, nearly breaking into a ramble as Cliff smiled towards him.

"Sorry to...worry you all." Cliff said as Char just hugged him, making the poor dog-like being cringe a bit from the pain as Char had to be nearly pried off of Cliff by Tye. Tears ran down his face as Cliff blinked a bit groggily, "You okay Char? You shouldn't cry." Cliff asked as Char laughed a bit brokenly, hiccuping through the tears.

"These are happy tears, so shut it you pipsqueak!" Char countered as Cliff laughed, before coughing a bit. "Y-You okay?" Char immediately asked, trying his best to help him out to the point that even Sonic sweat dropped, looking over towards Pika.

"Is...he always like this?" Sonic asked as Pika scoffed.

"Only when he's seriously worried about us. We call it the Motherhen for…." Pika motioned towards Char, "Obvious reasons." Pika finished as Char looked back towards him.

"I heard that Pika!" Char said as Pika shrugged.

"It's true! Give the poor kid some space already! He just woke up for Tikal's sake!" Pika countered back as Char blinked and immediately backed up a bit, much to the laughter of everyone. Cliff smiled as he sat up a bit more against the hospital pillows.

"So...what did I miss?" Cliff asked.

All Char did was grin as he began telling all he could, joy unbound, happy that it was all behind him.

Hours passed in a blink of an eye as everyone started sharing their stories of the year that happened since Cliff's near fatal crash on Sand Ruins. Much to Char's insistence that he would not allow Cliff to run that stage again until he was absolutely certain that Cliff would have a way back up. Cliff couldn't help but smile at the familiar overprotectiveness that Char seemed to have for those he cared for, but Sonic made a hmm sound from behind, slowly drawing the attention of everyone.

"Did we ever find out who made those robots?" Sonic asked as a beeping noise sounded from Char, but Char couldn't find anything, looking towards Cliff as he noticed a red sphere and immediately picked it up and threw it out the window, covering as many people as he could as an explosion went off, knocking them all back a bit as figures appeared within the smoke that followed.

"CLIFF!" Char yelled as he heard the muffled screams from the aforementioned, alongside a maniacal laugh that sounded off.

"Oh it's so close! OHOHOHOHO!" The voice cried out as Char looked through the shattered windows, seeing a giant robot in the style of the one made earlier carrying Cliff in his arms, only barely able to make out Cliff's figure from the distance. Char growled as he looked towards it.

"I WON'T LET YOU HARM HIM!" Char yelled as he tried jumping out the window, only to be dragged back in by Sonic and the others, protesting all the while.

"OHOHOHOHO! Well, well, well! I see Sonic has gathered a few more friends? Well this one is the secret to my latest creation! So I must bid you all goodbye!" The voice echoed as this time Sonic growled out.

"You won't get away with this Eggman!" Sonic said as Eggman simply kept laughing, the robot starting to turn away as Char grabbed the Lightning Flame Legend before the others could stop him and jumped out the window onto it, Sonic right behind on his own Extreme Gear, the Blue Star II.

"GET BACK HERE!" Char screamed to the wind as Sonic yelled, "We won't let you take Cliff!"

The chilling laughter was all that Pika and them heard as they flew towards the giant robot, which easily towered over the previous one they fought. Silver gritted his teeth.

"This is bad…" He said as they grabbed their Extreme Gear, not wanting to leave their friend behind.

Chapter 11 Complete

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Chapter 12: The Final Struggle