Author's Note: This is it! The last chapter of the Asteroid Coaster, and another step closer to the ultimate ending of this story!
To gregorian 12: Thanks for understanding and I'm sorry if I sound like I'm annoyed which I'm not, really. I still hope that you liked the last chapter, and I hope you'll like this one as well.
To TurquoiseTriangle: It's okay, no biggie. I'm really glad you like it. It wasn't easy and we're still a bit of a fair bit to go, but yeah we're coming up to the ending. And I'll consider that suggestion, thanks. As for Sonic's hallucinations, you could say it's a bit of a mixture of both PTSD and guilt, but mainly the latter.
Anyway, let's get to it!
I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.
Chapter 16: The Last Generator.
"Man, this place is scarier than I thought." Tails remarked as he ventured around, his Miles Electronic Device in hand and, having a couple of conversations with Wisps that, given what they had told him, had been drained from their Hyper-Go-Ons before being saved and restored by Sonic who freed their powers earlier somewhere, he was even more worried about the aliens.
When he first found that, the two-tailed fox had been absolutely horrified, and sympathized deeply with the aliens that had gone through such a cruel fate. The eight year old kit just couldn't believe just how far Eggman had gotten to that point and hoped that his best friend/big brother would be able to save the rest of the Wisps and shut down the generator.
"Those poor Wisps..." He muttered, his heart aching for them. "Why does Eggman have to be so cruel?"
'Sonic's right. Eggman really won't change. I'm never gonna trust anything that horrible man says ever again.' Tails thought to himself while pausing as he glanced around to find Sonic since he had so much to tell him right away, especially with the more info he gathered that he knew that the cobalt hedgehog wouldn't be able to understand without the translator.
"Would the owner of a yellow car, license plate 1NOM155, please report to the front gate? Your vehicle is in the path of an asteroid and it's about to get smashed...Oh...Er, never mind." Eggman's recording over the intercom echoed, which hearing this made the two-tailed fox pause in his steps and sweat-dropped.
"Not only he's cruel, but he's also the worst organizer in the universe." Tails murmured to himself. "For safety reasons at least. He plans very well for his evil schemes, but he's done so many that he's very predictable by now. I'm surprised he hasn't caused an accident on himself yet."
While he was talking to himself, the young Mobian failed to detect movement coming from behin him until he heard heavy metal which made him flinch and hunch up the same way he saw Sonic do when he'd caught the hedgehog talk to the destroyed robot he'd beaten, only it was his tails that were sticking up, freezing in place and every inch of his body suddenly refusing to listen to him. Then, mentally chastising himself despite being scared, Tails forced himself to fight back his fear and spun around to face his enemy.
Only to blink in surprise when he saw that, while it was one of Eggman's robots and one that he recognized, it was unlike any other and was actually a friend.
"Analyzing individual: Miles Prower, otherwise known as Tails by many. Ally detected." Said Omega who had finally found one of Sonic's friend.
"Omega?" The eight year old fox softly exclaimed, before sighing with relief while placing a hand to his chest. "You almost gave me half of a heart attack."
"Apologies. I was sent by Comrade Shadow to find you or any of Sonic's friends." Omega replied, which surprised Tails.
"Shadow's here too? Wait, have you seen Sonic?" He asked.
"Correct. Yet Sonic does not know we are here. Shadow followed him. We are investigating the kidnapping of these alien species, which I cannot analyse. They are new to my data."
Tails knew what Omega was talking about, and nodded. "So Shadow's been saving the Wisps too. That's the name of these aliens Sonic's been rescuing from Eggman. When did you guys get here?"
"At 8:24 AM today. Sweet Mountain was our first destination; which I cannot analyse the unhealthy amounts of sugar on a planet that is 100% made from it. Our arrival to Asteroid Coaster was 2 hours ago." The robot explained. "I have however detected Dr. Eggman's secret hideout; continue along this path and it will you to a shortcut. No doubt Sonic will find it as well."
"I bet that's where he's turning these aliens into Nega-Wisps." Tails frowned deeply, holding out his translator while thinking about what the restored Wisps have told him. "See, I turned my device into a translator to help me and Sonic understand them better."
"From what Sonic has mentioned, I'd say you're better in explaining it more clearly."
Tails jumped in fright at the unexpected voice from his left and yelped when he and Omega saw that Shadow had just arrived silently.
"WAAH!" The eight year old Mobian yelped, before exclaiming as he once again tried to will his rapidly beating heart to calm down. "Shadow! Don't scare me like that!"
"What is it with everyone being jumpy with me today? What do I look like, a vampire?" The ultimate life form asked with an annoyed frown, his arms folded.
"S-Sorry. You just appeared out of nowhere." Tails nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I was just about to explain to Omega about the Wisps."
"By Wisps, you mean these aliens Sonic has been rescuing?" Shadow questioned, "I ran into him and he gave me a vague explanation of them and their so called Hyper-Go-On power which he has been fusing with along with them."
Tails blinked in confusion, though before he could ask why Sonic had been vague, the black hedgehog beat him to it. "It's best explained by him later, and I'm sure you'll understand since you're much more closer to him. Besides, he was distracted slightly by something else."
While the two-tailed fox suddenly realized what Shadow meant and felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach with worry and dismay, he decided not to press it and just nodded. Tails then went on to explain everything to him and Omega on what was happening in the last two days, including what he found out a short time ago before the robot arrived.
"Typical." Shadow grunted after Tails finished explaining. "Using stolen energy to mind-control everyone. It's the case of Black Doom in reverse."
"Affirmative. Dr. Eggman has become worse. He must be annihilated." Omega agreed, and if the youngest of the group didn't know any better, he sounded disgusted and furious, for a robot.
"I think he has gotten worse." The eight year old muttered, before asking as he realized what Omega had said moments ago. "Hey, you went to Sweet Mountain early this morning, right?"
Shadow rolled his eyes, "Yes, we have and before you ask because Sonic asked me the same question, no the giant pie factory is not the so called "Back Me Crazy" attraction. Though I can't help but wonder. He mentioned something about Eggman being a people eater. Care to explain that?"
That made Tails sigh in relief, placing a hand to his chest once more. "Oh, phew...What a relief. One less thing to worry about."
"I cannot detect the meaning of what you and Sonic the Hedgehog mean by that either." Omega remarked.
"Nothing to worry about. Just a scary thought when Sonic had a near baking accident yesterday." The young fox quickly said, shaking his hands. When Shadow and Omega shared a confused and suspicious glance, he continued. "Anyway, I think I should go find Sonic and tell him about the Nega-Wisps, especially since now we know what's really going on and the aliens' only hope is the last generator to be turned off and getting their Hyper-Go-Ons back."
"We will do what we can to help shut down the factory." The black hedgehog promised, then added with an annoyed grumble. "Though knowing Sonic, he'll be ahead of us like always."
Tails couldn't help but sweat-drop nervously at this. Given their history and while they were allies now, Shadow was somewhat jealous of Sonic due to the latter still being faster than him and always one step ahead at almost everything. The young fox resisted the urge to say as much since he was scared of what would happen to him. Though before he could say anything further, Omega suddenly detected movement and scanned up ahead, to which all three of them heard more robotic voices, most whom Shadow and Tails recognized, while another was...
Rowdy sounded?
"Wowie! That's one big robot that two-tailed fox and Sonic's with!"
The three of them turned to see that the voice belonged to Cubot who, along with Orbot who had finally caught up with him with an appearance of exhaustion, Becoe, Decoe and to Tails' dismay, Bokkun and the three of them also looking exhausted, all arrived and had spotted them.
"And even the hedgehog's changed in appearance too! What's with the new look, Sonic?" Cubot asked Shadow, not yet realizing that he was speaking with the wrong hedgehog. The other robots on the other hand knew better, and to the horror of Becoe, Decoe and Bokkun, they recognized Omega who wasn't thrilled to see them either. In fact, he was all but ready for destruction mode.
"You're talking to the wrong hedgehog, you idiot. My name is Shadow." Shadow replied darkly with a hard glare. "And who the heck are you? You must be one of the Doctor's latest, if not the stupidest creations."
"I think that's Cubot. Sonic met him twice at Tropical Resort and Planet Wisp." Tails guessed correctly, before remarking. "Though the last time he'd faced this guy, first he sounded like a cowboy and then he sounded like a pirate."
"And then he sounded all Italian, then a parrot since Orbot here is still trying to fix his voice chip." Becoe piped up.
"At least he's sounding more normal and serious." Decoe added.
"I don't know about that one, Decoe." Bokkun said sarcastically, before smirking when he saw Tails' dismayed expression. "So, Tails. What'd ya think of my Bucket O' Sushi cooking?"
The two-tailed fox shuddered and suddenly felt nauseous all over again as the memories of eating the horrid food resurfaced. He groaned, "Honestly? It was horrible. Especially since you and Eggman never knew until today that Sushi has fish, not everything else you put in."
"...Sushi has fish?" The smallest robot asked, blankly. Orbot, Decoe and Becoe all facepalmed themselves with groans, while Cubot looked just as confused.
"I knew Bokkun knew nothing about cooking." Orbot sighed in exasperation.
"HEY!" Bokkun protested, whining. "I'm a great cook! Sonic's friend here just has no taste!"
"I didn't know fish was in Sushi, but you'd think the boss would have known that and he's smarter than Sonic!" Cubot said stupidly, before turning back to Shadow and asked. "That reminds me, is that hedgehog your brother?"
"Hardly. We're not even related." Shadow replied, finding himself more and more irritated by the yellow-cubed robot's stupidity. "Now, I suggest you five pieces of garbage get out of my sight or else."
"Or else what?" Cubot challenged, which only made Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun flinch in fright as they turned their gaze not at Shadow, but at Omega who was preparing to fire lasers at them. In fact, their and even Orbot's fear grew when he turned his attention to the robot behind the two Mobians and said. "Come on, you must be one of the boss's creations, right? Aren't you supposed to be getting rid of Sonic and his friends?"
"I've never seen this robot before." Orbot stated nervously, turning to ask the other three robots who shivered in fear. "Who is this? Is this Dr. Eggman's creations?"
"Yeah, this is Omega. He was built to safe-guard Shadow and locked up in a room with him a long while back after he and Sonic saved the world from the ARK." Decoe explained, slowly backing away.
"That only caused him to rebel against him though, because he hated in being locked away, even when Shadow lost his memories after everybody thought he died." Becoe added.
Bokkun gulped nervously, knowing all too well of Omega's pure hatred towards his own creator. "Yeah, and since then, Omega's been working for G.U.N and has been one of Sonic's and Shadow's allies."
"Oh..." Was all Orbot said, before he and the other robots all screamed when Omega fired a laser at them, to which they narrowly dodged when they jumped in fear.
"Terminating Eggman's robots! Destroy! Annhiliate! Oblierate!" Omega shouted, firing again and again, causing the robots to jump and then scream before running away in fear with the larger robot chasing after them in a zig-zag pattern all over the place.
"YEOW! Hey, don't vaporize us! Vaporize them!" Cubot shouted in anger and fear.
"He's not gonna listen, Cubot! Once a robot rebels, there's no getting it back!" Becoe screamed hysterically.
"ESPECIALLY OMEGA!" Decoe added girlishly.
"Targets must not escape! Destroy!" The larger robot shouted, continuing to fire his lasers, while both Tails and Shadow watched the scene unravel before them. While the black hedgehog smirked in amusement, the two-tailed fox looked even more scared for a different reason.
"...I'm really glad Omega's our friend, but sometimes he really scares me." Tails whispered.
"Let him have his fun. Those idiotic robots deserve it anyway." Shadow told him, before asking with a raised eye-brow. "And since when was Bokkun the chef of this 'Bucket O' Sushi'?"
The young fox groaned, holding his stomach as the mere thought of it made him really want to be sick. "Like I said to Sonic, Eggman's cruelty knows no bounds."
"Hmm...for an evil scientist, he is pathetically stupid. It's embarrasing that he is Maria's cousin and Professor Gerald's grandson." The black hedgehog shook his head in exasperation, unable to believe that Eggman didn't even know anything about Sushi.
In the meantime, the duo turned their attention back to the comical scene that was unfolding, one robot chasing after five others who were screaming their heads off like babies.
This could take a while.
"CUBE!" Sonic shouted, as while getting closer to his destination, freed a blue Wisp and upon seeing a block in the road with blue blocks, burrowed it's power which thankfully was one of the aliens that didn't have it's Hyper-Go-On stolen yet.
Since his inner battle against his dark sins, the cobalt hedgehog was feeling much more determined and positive for the first time in two months, almost exactly like he had been before the Dark Gaia incident. He never felt any better, but at the same time didn't want to get ahead of himself. He focused on the more urgent matters while thinking about the end result of succeeding, of saving the Wisps and all of the Universe.
Once the blocks were gone, Sonic returned to normal while the Cube Wisp emerged. The two shared a high-five of success even though the blue hedgehog was still greatly fearing of what he would find up ahead that wasn't the generator. None the less, he nodded as his new-found friend happily nuzzled him on the cheek which made him chuckle before taking it's leave to safely return home.
"Thanks, pal! See ya!" Sonic waved, and once he was certain that it would be okay, he continued onward, running up the walls when the path he was on became virtical and soon found himself running upside down. It wasn't much of a problem because he put his mind onto completing his quest, because he didn't know how many more Wisps had lost their powers and turned either Frenzy-like or Void-like.
One thing's for certain, the young hero will set things right. He was so close that he could taste it.
Even as the path returned to normal level, Sonic found himself in another part of the factory, deeper even. As he did, the fifteen year old hedgehog ran onto the metal path and platforms and the deeper he went, the less secure he became. He stayed on his guard while taking out more robots. As he took them out, Sonic found that he was even faster than before, spin dashing into two, knocking down another with a high-kick before homing attacked the rest in a zig-zag pattern like a pinball, knocking them down with ease.
"Huh. Guess me not forgiving myself made me slow down a little. Talk about not cool." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself as he ran in his normal speed once more. Up until his ultimate inner battle against the Werehog and rescuing his forgiveness that had manifested as Chip, he thought that his speed hadn't been affect at all and it was only his heart. "Maybe my speed is part of my heart too."
Realizing what he said sounded corny, Sonic shrugged while shaking his head. "What am I sayin'? Running is part of me too and I love it! Makes me feel free wherever I go."
Upon mentioning freedom however, he frowned in great concern. Sonic was afraid that the Wisps were really losing their sense of free will and given everything he's learned, what he had witnessed and experienced only proved that Yacker's mother was right. The only way to fix it was to restore them of their powers, which had been doing in most cases as best as he could. When he couldn't find them, he hoped for the best and even managed to somehow get through to the Nega-Wisps who, instead of taking control, they let him do all the controlling which wasn't as long as they did.
Eventually the cobalt hedgehog found himself in a much more darker part of Eggman's secret base and skid to a stop, walking slowly while observing his new surroundings. The mixture of rock and metal made him feel even more uneasy. While Sonic was no longer feeling as terrible as he had about an hour ago, he still found this world just as dark and creepy to which he found himself gulping nervously.
It was too much like a laboratory, and he didn't like it one bit. In fact, while it was still a wide, opened area, it made him feel even more claustrophobic, but he tried to keep his cool.
"What is this place...?" Sonic whispered with narrowed brows, though his heart was beating rapidly and he attempted to will it to calm it. Though as he walked down the ramp, he came to a stop at the edge of the platform and what he saw made him gasp in absolute horror.
In front of him, both high above and below, were Wisps of many kinds, each and every one of them all trapped within the capsules, too far for him to reach and it made his blood run cold, his heart freezing up and aching in devastation. The aliens above were being carried via a vat towards a large, giant capsule-like machine, being drawn inside. The blue hedgehog could hear their cries of terror, fear, pleads and for help, which he really wanted to save, but was too far away to do so, and could only watch helplessly.
Sonic felt his heart then drop into his stomach as the aliens of all sides above were being placed into the giant capsule and forced himself not to look away as he knew that it was a repeated process, but he did try to block out their pained screams as he knew, because of the large stock of Wisps that were either purple or violet, they were being sucked dry of their Hyper-Go-Ons like a cow being drained of it's milk.
Or himself being drained of the Chaos Emeralds when he himself had been captured and trapped. Except this was much worse. These aliens were captured against their will, pulled away from their home, their freedom, and were such gentle, innocent and friendly creatures. Each time an alien was sucked dry of their power, they were placed among the batch of Nega-Wisps in a continuous growing pile, while more Hyper-Go-On Wisps were forced to suffer the same fate.
"This is...so horrible." Sonic whispered to himself, feeling faint and nauseous at the sight. Terrified beyond belief of what was happening. He knew that it would bad, but this was beyond what he imagined. "Eggman...You monster...! How could you?"
While the blue hedgehog just stood there with a paled expression, Tails, after departing from Shadow and Omega(who had given up on the five robots that had made their escape after what felt like half an hour or so) who both went to another part of the factory, flew in from around the corner, his twin tails whirling around with a worried expression. The eight year old fox landed and mentally sighed in relief to see his best friend after having spotted him and quickly followed.
"Oh, there you are. I thought I lost you for a second." Tails spoke up while holding his hands out, having been panicked for that split moment but relieved, though at the same time solemn. "Did you find...anything...interesting...?"
He trailed off when he saw what Sonic was looking at and his blue eyes widened in sheer horror while letting out a horrifed gasp of his own. Instantly the young kit immediately knew what had his big brother looking utterly...spooked and dismayed.
"Pretty sure interesting isn't the right word I'd use, but I found something alright." Sonic replied, fully aware of his younger brother's appearance, trying hard to hide his horrified stance.
Tails felt his heart plummet and his stomach twisting and squeezing tightly at the sight before him and the blue hedgehog. The young fox exclaimed softly, shakily. "Look at all of them! He's captured thousands of aliens!"
The cobalt hedgehog didn't need a reminder, because the sight before them was enough proof that their enemy has gotten too far this time. He clutched his fist tightly which shook in not just horror, but also rage that he struggled to control, his brows narrowing, his emerald eyes flaring up in anger and his quills sharping.
"...This is totally unforgivable...! Just how much more twisted and cruel can that sick guy get!?" Sonic grunted softly but angrily, more to himself than to his younger friend.
"Especially since all the Wisps are being turned into Nega-Wisps." Tails added, more in horror than anger even if he was angry himself.
"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered, which hearing what his friend said was enough to snap him out of his growing rage mode and, while he was still beyond shocked by what was going on, was curious on what his friend said until he realized something. "You spoke to the aliens I saved earlier?"
"Yeah! They told me how you came up with the idea of releasing their Hyper-Go-Ons that were sealed away and turning them back to normal. Though I guess you didn't get what or how they were really feeling, right?" The eight year old kit nodded.
Sonic folded his arms with a hesitant frown. "Actually, I kinda get the idea. Remember when you told me how you felt when you were briefly under Eggman's Mind-Control? The whole black space thing? When the Frenzy and Void aliens absorbed into me, I think it was like that, only completely different. And I think the normal side of the aliens were feeling just as trapped I felt."
"Well, I'll explain it anyway." Tails nodded. "When the Wisps have their Hyper-Go-Ons drained, they transform into Nega-Wisps, and unlike the normal aliens who have playful and nice personalities, some of them have more violet and animalistic traits, others are emotionless all together. It's a mutation that's beyond their control."
"...Yeah, I definitely didn't need a translator for understand that. If you ask me, it was too much like what Sun when through with that Werehog inside him as well as the outside." The older Mobian shrugged uncomfortably. He then smiled a little, "I'm just lucky that Shadow pointed out what happened to the first possessed alien I saved after it made me go all frenzy, which I also smashed opened the capsule of it's energy."
He then sighed and ran his hand through his quills while gazing ahead of him again. "The ones that were like mini black holes...it was almost like a mixture of a robot and a rock all together, and they felt so cold on the body, I thought that...that they were dying."
Sonic lowered his hand while looking at the unfortunate Wisps with a heart-broken expression, though his heart, fully healed from his sins, wasn't feeling as bad but he still didn't want the aliens to suffer like this anymore. "At this rate...they might as well be."
"Those poor aliens...what do we?" Tails asked desperately.
"Don't worry. We'll get 'em out, and I'll turn them back to normal." Sonic reassured, both to himself and to his best friend with determination returning.
The two friends stood there for a long moment of tensed silence, before Tails spoke up in depression and severe worry. "Sonic...I haven't seen Yacker for a while."
The blue hedgehog mentally gasped before gazing down at the capsules, knowing that neither of them had seen their closest alien friend since Aquarium Park. What if Yacker was one of those things, or was in the process of becoming a Nega-Wisp? What if he'd been captured during his quest to return his friends to Planet Wisp? Sonic felt the more positive side of him say that the cutest and sweetest alien was safe and somewhere else, but he couldn't be certain entirely.
Either way, he knew that time was running out and he had to find a way to shut down this place and save the rest of these aliens, as well as stopping the generator and put an end to Eggman's twisted plot once and for all.
"...Maybe I should've gone with him, or something." The eight year old continued, his heart beginning to ache which caught Sonic's attention as he turned back to his best friend who squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his fists tightly. "What if he's...what if he's been caught? If Yacker's been turned into-into a Nega-Wisp...then it's all my fault...!"
"Don't say that." The fifteen year old hedgehog said firmly, placing a hand onto Tails' shoulder, making the younger Mobian to slowly look up at him as he continued with a frown, which softened. "Tails, it wasn't your fault. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet, okay? Stay positive."
"Huh?" Tails blinked, surprised by his best friend's choice of words.
Sonic nodded, bending on one knee to meet the young fox at eye level even though his little brother had grown a bit more over the years, just as he had. "If you let guilt, fear and sorrow continue to stay in your heart, they'll eventually eat you alive and then you'll end up having an inner fight within yourself. I'm not saying don't have them completely, but don't let them consume you. Those feelings along with anger, happiness, love are all part of us."
The blue hedgehog smiled, relieved of saying these words, giving support and comfort to his friends again, and keeping that lesson he learned within his own heart.
"It's like you reminded me earlier, li'l bro; Everybody's feeling bad over things that they didn't mean to or when it's not their fault..." Sonic trailed off, adding with a sweatdrop and a sheepish grin. "Well, not everyone, 'cause I don't think Eggman will ever feel sorry for the bad things he's done. Well, maybe one or two things, but you know what I mean."
"Sonic..." Tails whispered, his eyes widening at his friend's words. Hearing it made him begin to realize that the teenager was sounding...much like his old self, back before the previous crisis occurred.
Sonic nodded, guessing on what his friend was about to say. He then stood up, his expression turning serious once more as he knew what he had to do. "I'll explain later, but you'll have to excuse me, buddy. I have a generator to shut down."
The blue hedgehog gently ruffled his best friend's head comfortingly to make him feel a bit better. "Everything will be okay. I promise."
"Okay..." The two-tailed fox replied softly, almost in a whisper. He then threw his arms around his big brother's waist and partially buried his face against the hedgehog's chest, slightly catching him off-guard and as much as he tried hard to prevent himself from doing so, he started crying silently, his tears damping Sonic's chest.
"Oh, Tails." Sonic muttered, feeling his heart ache for his friend's depression and he knew why. The situation had gotten to both of them, and seeing the Wisps like this, having everything stripped from them, their home, their freedom, their lives, everything, it was just beyond cruel. He hugged Tails back and gently rubbed his back to continue comforting him.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for almost really believing that...that this place was harmless..." Tails sniffled.
"Shhhh...Buddy, it's okay. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, but it'll get better." The blue hedgehog whispered. "When this is over, we're going home."
"Y-yeah." The young fox nodded, trying his best to calm down, and relaxed within Sonic's arms.
They stayed like this for another moment before reluctantly letting go and Sonic gave his best friend/little brother a confident smirk and a thumbs up. He then turned and sped off, but not before Tails wiped away his tears and gave him a thumbs up with a smile of his own.
Though as he ran, Sonic couldn't help but think about his and Tails' favorite Wisp and while he felt that the cute curl-headed alien was okay and not captured, he was really worried about him.
'Yacker...Please be okay.' The blue hedgehog thought. But even as he thought of it, Sonic believed that Yacker was okay.
He felt it in his heart.
A little while later, Sonic found himself faced with a path blocked off by a wall which, to his irritation, was the only way to get to the generator. After giving another robot or two a good hard kicking with his spirit renewed, he folded his arms, one hand under his chin as he tried to think of a solution to get through.
Looking around, to his luck he spotted two great things. One was a Void Wisp, which made him feel sad for the horrible draining it had to go through, and the other was a canistar filled with rich Hyper-Go-On energy. Even though he smirked as he knew he had a change to save this alien and return it to normal, suddenly he heard movement behind him and spun around to spot...a dinosaur skeleton moving on it's own?
It was a standing over from the edge of the path he was on, and from the looks of it, this dinosaur was a hybrid; a cross-breed of a braciosaurus, and a T-Rex, it's head shaped like the latter, it's long neck and body of the former, and yet just at the bottom of the neck were two T-Rex arms. From the looks of it, mixed in with the green goo plus machinary that was no doubt installed by Eggman, the blue hedgehog guessed that this was an dinosaur-alien at some point before it died out...
And from the looks of it, it wasn't friendly and was most likely a trap.
"...Well, this is new." Sonic commented with a sweatdrop and a raised eyebrow. "Either this big guy's angry or hungry."
The Dino-Skull(which the blue hedgehog decided to call it), roared before reaching down with it's jaws open to take a bite out of the young hero who gasped before jumping back with a yelp, avoiding in getting chomped. The blue hedgehog landed safely next to the capsule, and while he didn't like the fact that he'd been close in being eaten a lot lately, he was admittedly surprised that he wasn't as scared as he had been in the last two months.
Must be because he'd finally overcome that fear by having allowed himself to be swallowed whole by the Werehog in his mental conflict in order to save Chip, and that he was let go by the Whale who had swallowed him up in order to help him earlier as well. Either way, he knew he was in big trouble.
"Definitely both. Well, two can play at this game!" Sonic said boldly, before cracking open the capsule which released the corrupted alien who flew out and, unlike some of the other Void Wisps, it glared at him which made him quickly cry out to it.
"Wait, hold on!" He cried out, then gasped as the Dino-Skull lunged at them again, forcing the blue hedgehog to grab hold of the alien and jumped out of the way just in time as the monster smashed it's head against the wall, sending a small cloud of dust flying everywhere, and briefly making itself dazed while seeing stars circle around it's head.
As Sonic sighed in relief at the close call, the violet alien wiggled and squirmed while squealing to be released in pure irritation due to the negative power that was inside it. He then quickly told it sternly, "Hey, li'l guy. I know that you're feeling really empty inside right now, and cold on the outside, but all I want to do is help you and return you back to normal! But you have to trust me!"
The Nega-Wisp froze on the spot, slowly looking up at the blue hedgehog but actually paying attention. He softened his expression as he continued, "Look, I know how to turn you back to normal, and I'm willing to let you let me burrow your power, but only because I want to save you and your kind. Do you think you can do that without using me?"
Even though it was still hesitant, somehow his words got across to it, because the alien slowly relaxed while Sonic waited patiently, though he began to panic a little while the Dino-Skull began to recover. Sensing both his growing anxiety and the monster recovering, the Nega-Wisp, with some of it's normal side somehow managing to regain some of it's senses, it dissolved into him but like the other ones that were told of his heroics, it let him be in control.
"VOID!" Sonic shouted, once again in control and taking the form of the black hole even as more Egg Pawns arrived on the scene while the Dino-Skull recovered. It became apparent that the monster was the one on a rampage instead of the Nega-Wisp.
Being in control allowed the blue hedgehog to smash the robots and suck them in, moving around the area as he went while managing to avoid the Dino-Skull from hitting him even as parts of it succumbed to the strong power. Piece by piece the monster made part robot and somehow revived it began to collapse, though Sonic made sure to that it was no where near the capsule and tried his best to suck in as much as he could. Eventually it smashed into the block in the road, revealing a pathway and knocked itself out in the process.
The teenage hedgehog in the meantime returned to normal, while the Nega-Wisp emerged from him. Both of them stumbled and groaned, simultaneously holding their stomachs with groans and looking a bit green in the faces.
"Ugh...Remind me to never do that again with mutant-dinosaur bones." Sonic grumbled, feeling nauseous. "I mean we haven't eaten anything, unless you count the black-hole being a huge stomach, but I feel like I just swallowed a skeleton piece."
"#$%$..." The Nega-Wisp groaned, feeling just as nauseous due to the mixture of having it's power drained, being all negative and having gone through that.
Forcing himself to bite down the urge to lose his lunch, the blue hedgehog nodded before turning his attention to the canistar and while the violet alien looked at him questionly, he raced over towards the capsule and smashed it open, releasing it's energy which followed onto the alien. The Nega-Wisp squealed which made him wince in sympathy, before relaxing as the transformation was complete; the Void Wisp had returned to it's original state, which was a Cyan Wisp who, stunned in surprise, shock and amazement, blinked it's restored eye and glanced at itself to see that it was restored.
"See? I told you I knew how to turn you back." Sonic told it with a small smile. The restored alien glanced up at up with sheer surprise with it's memories intact and, it's emotions back and seeing how kind and brave it's blue savior was, the Wisp squealed happily with tears of joy, flying around him before hugging him on the face.
He laughed before hugging it back when the Wisp continued to rub it's face against his cheek. "Hey, whoa! I'm really happy that you're okay, little buddy."
Unfortunately, their moment of peace and rejoice was cut short when the sound of the Dino-Skull growling made them freeze in place, and the two spun around with the Wisp still in Sonic's arms. They both yelped in fright with sweat-drops as what was left of it, legless and arm-less, still managed to move and it looked just as angry and starving, snarling at the duo, with the blue hedgehog backing away a bit. The monster then dove it's head to take a bite out of them, but Sonic was faster and dashed out of the way with his new friend in his arms, the two escaping from being gobbled whole.
"This is one angry fossil." The blue hedgehog commented as he and the Cyan Wisp were out of reach for now, before he let go and told it firmly. "You better get to safety. I'll take care of this guy."
The alien looked shocked and shook it's head pleadingly, and it wasn't hard to guess that it didn't want to let it's new friend get hurt. Sonic smiled reassuringly and told it with a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I got this! Leave it to me!"
Hesitant, the Cyan Wisp nodded and patted the blue hedgehog on the head sincerely before flying off. The teenager's smile grew warmly as he waved it goodbye, before turning his attention to the Dino-Skull who roared once more, looming over Sonic who stood his ground, and for the first time since facing a living being, or uh...facing something giant that wasn't a robot anyway, in two months, he showed almost no fear at all. He glared at it with determination.
"You know, for a dinosaur, or whatever you are, you sure are pretty cranky." He stated.
The Dino-Skull only grew angrier, because it dove again with it's teeth bared. But Sonic smirked confidently and jumped high just at the last second before spin dashing and descended in high speed, hitting the back of it's neck, cracking some bones and causing it to roar in agony and fury. When he stopped, he held on tightly and cried out in alarm when the Dino-Skull rose it's head and attempted to shake him off.
"Whoa, whoa!" Sonic yelled, almost losing his grip, but managed to hang on and climbed up a bit even as the Dino-Skull roared and continued to try and get him off. He then noticed a piece of bone that held both the head and the neck attached, then narrowed his eyes as an idea formmed in his mind.
"RWWWARRR!" The Dino-Skull roared, leaning back while the blue hedgehog kept on fighting to prevent himself from falling over and as he looked over his shoulder, he saw a pool of hot, boiling green goo to which the alien-dinosaur skeleton-robot hybrid emerged from and knew that if he went over, he was a boiled hedgehog. He turned his attention back to it's back while the monster leaned over the safety of the ledge and knew that he had to time it right.
"Yo, Bone-head! Ya' got a sore neck? Let me help with that!" Sonic taunted, grabbing hold of the piece and yanked hard with a grunt before successfully pulling it out.
The end result was quicker than he thought, because the Dino-Skull's head literally just dropped off and landed on the ground with thud. Bewildered at first, he quickly jumped off just before the rest of the now defeated monster just collapsed and crumbled into pieces. Landing safely on the ground, Sonic turned to see the result and smirked, pleasently stunned with how this turned out.
"Hmph. Stupid robot-dinosaur." He scoffed, tossing the bone piece over his shoulder which landed on the ground. "But at least it made an opening for me. Now I can get to that generator."
And to the generator is where Sonic went, leaving the destroyed monster skeleton behind.
What could've taken at least an hour seemed more like fifteen minutes or much less to Sonic, because when he reached outside, he finally arrived at what he was looking for; the fifth and final generator attached to Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park. Though when the cobalt hedgehog arrived, that wasn't the only thing he found.
As though waiting for him or perhaps it was the biggest guard-robot he's ever faced, there floating was a remodel and recolour of Frigate Orcan, called the Frigate Skullian. It was heavily upgraded with two giant decorated skulls that the young hero guessed were the cannons, given that he wasn't going to take his chances, but at the same time was excited to get the party started.
"You know, I don't like what you're doing to my friends in there. It's messed up." Sonic said with a stern frown as he calmly strolled up for the final robot battle, while refering to the Wisps that were tortured back at the factory. "So I'm gonna mess you up!"
The paused and began doing stretches while the giant killer robot just remained in place, and as though hearing it question what he was going, the blue hedgehog smirked. "Yeah, that's right. I'm stretching. You got a problem with that?"
It still remained silent.
"I want to be able to enjoy taking you apart without some pulled muscle slowing me down." Sonic continued to taunt, bouncing a bit in a boxing position, and as he continued to talk, he did push ups with his right hand behind his back five times, before repeating the process with his left hand switched over. "Okay, now I'm ready. Of course, if you want to run away, please feel free. There's no shame in it...Well, maybe a little shame."
Again, the Double-Skull giant robot remained in place as though waiting for him to finish.
"You guys don't talk much, do you?" The teenage hedgehog asked, and while he knew it was crazy that he was still talking to robots that aren't like five of Eggman's minions, he just went with the flow. Standing up, Sonic finished as he stood ready. "Alright then. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Finally, the robot made movement as it roared to life and Sonic's smirk faded into a look of courage and full determination. This was it; the last battle to shut down the generator. The Frigate Skullian soon turned before flying off, and the blue hedgehog quickly gave chase after it. However, as he leaped off to try and grab hold, he unfortunately missed and began falling into space, which was a horrible thing to end up.
"AAAAHHHH! No no no no no no!" Sonic screamed, flailing his arms and legs as he squeezed his eyes shut to brace for his end to forever float in space at the quickest end of his life and quickest end of a battle in history, not wanting to face the reality of it.
However, his shoes touched something solid underneath him and he automatically began running forward. When he realized this, the blue hedgehog hesitantly opened his eyes and was greatly surprised that he'd been saved by a purple star path much like the ones at Starlight Carnival, and that his opponent at turned around and began flying backwards, ready for battle. The teenage Mobian was dumbfounded by this save, before shrugging as he decided to worry about how this got here and why this was part of the Asteroid Coaster later.
"Oh well." Sonic muttered, before turning his focus to his enemy who by then really began it's assault. First it began firing multiple fire blasts at him, but he stepped aside several times with ease and with a smirk. He knew he had to be careful, but going by yesterday's experience, this fight was going to be harder yes, but also similar to that fight.
"I beat your brother yesterday, I'm gonna beat you today!" The blue hedgehog declared, before gritting his teeth as he saw that the Frigate Skullian began dropping tons of debris and other things, lots more than the Orca dropped. This proved to be more of a challenge as Sonic had to jump, run aside without falling off, and duck as quickly as he could even if he had to do it every half a second which was proving to be really difficult.
On the other hand, it did drop something really useful; a capsule that held a normal Wisp deep inside. The blue hedgehog wasted no time in smashing it open and found it was a white alien. Nodding to it as it flew around him in a gesture he knew it was thanking him, Sonic allowed it to give him it's power of boost to help him speed up faster towards his opponent. He knew that it wouldn't last forever, but this was a great help to catch up to it and dodge the things it was dropping as it tried to slow him down and get away.
Once he was close enough, the blue hedgehog jumped and spin dashed into the lights to shatter them. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Landing back on the path and the White Wisp leaving him before waving a goodbye which he returned with a salute and then it took it's leave to freedom, he turned his attention back to the giant robot who once again dropped more things from below, heaps more than when this battle started. He repeated his dodging strategy even though a couple managed to hit him, making him grunt in pain and slowing down a little, and tripped over a metal crate that nearly made him tumble over, but he managed to keep his balance.
"Ow!" Sonic cried out, before grumbling. "Well, if ya wanna play dirty, I'm gonna do the same to you, you over-sized piece of boned-junk!"
Though it seemed to have other ideas, because it somehow roared before opening some kind of portal before vanishing straight through. The blue hedgehog was about to go in after it when to his shock as it opened up, huge meteors came falling out parrelling straight towards him. Gasping in shock and horror, Sonic jumped and ducked to avoid in being crushed by the giant fiery pieces of rock, though the impacts of them hitting the path shook it violently which made him stumble and almost lose his balance.
"I think things are really heating up bad here." The blue hedgehog gulped, but stayed firm and refused to give up now.
The meteors stopped and suddenly Sonic knew with a dread what was coming up next. The Frigate Skullian returned and loomed right over him, it's middle directly above. He narrowed his eyes as he forced down the stomach-dropping anxiety as the hatch opened up, and the giant robot dropping it's cargo to crush and kill him. The cobalt hedgehog forced himself to go even faster to dodge each large item without falling off of the path since he didn't want history to repeat itself. Fortunately another alien capsule dropped and as the teenage hero quickly kicked it open, to add to his luck was an orange Wisp who flew out and around him before it yelped as more cargo items were dropped at them.
"Hiya!" Sonic greeted, leaping over another crate that dropped in front of him and he had to avoid. The blue hedgehog turned his attention to the alien as he asked, somewhat pleadingly, "Hey, I know it's kinda much to ask, but can ya' lend me your power to get a hit on this thing above us?"
The orange alien was more than happy and eager to do so as it nodded as it's thanks to the hedgehog for saving it. So the Wisp quickly flew into his chest as Sonic focused on reaching the middle while continuing to dodge each attack, and then made his own with the help of his new friend.
"ROCKET!" He shouted, and as he turned into a rocket once more, Sonic shot right up through the robot's hatch and by the alien's power he emerged from the top and right on top of his opponent, doing some more promising damage. He then landed safely on the path that was still there for him, as the orange alien came out of his body. The giant robot briefly lost it's control for a moment before regaining it and stared forward while flying backwards to try and destroy him.
"Thank you!" Sonic waved at it with a salute, and the adorable alien waved back with a bashful and very pleased expression before flying away to safety and freedom, and he knew that he had to make this count now in order to finish what he started the day before.
The blue hedgehog wasted no time in speeding up to catch up to the Frigate Skullian as it fired fire blasts once more. He quickly dodged the attacks even as the flames nearly licked him on the side of his head and arm, though he was graze slightly and hissed at the slight burn but ignored it. He kept going until he was up close and once he was, Sonic homing attacked it at it's skull-cannons on the right, smashing it piece by piece before finishing that off with a karate-kick and a yell, which finished off the first cannon. It exploded into flames and causing the Skullian to tilt sideways and out of balance.
Before he could cheer this on, however, the giant flying robot somehow managed to open up another warp portal and fly into it despite it beginning to burn up.
"Oh, great." Sonic groaned, shuddering as he knew what was coming. He braced himself as the portal emerged and more meteors appeared coming straight at him. This time there seemed to be countless because the blue hedgehog had to force himself even faster without getting hit, though he did cry out in alarm as one came much to close in coming right at him.
Another was right on top and was just about to crush him when, mentally telling himself to stay calm and that he can do this, quickly slid right underneath and tumbled forward as the giant burning rock hit the path which sent him flying forward. Sonic tumbled until he hit the road hard with a scream. Panting hard as he laid there for a moment, the blue hedgehog pushed himself up and glared up at the robot that was quickly getting away, his heart pounding with dread and frustration. But then, remembering how he made it this far, he narrowed his eyes with stronger determination to set things right, and he'd come too far to give up now.
"That does it! Now you made me angry!" Sonic shouted, ignoring his injuries and sped up after it once more, his burning desire to save the aliens and the universe itself making him faster and the love he had for all of his friends, both in Mobius and on Planet Wisp, and for his home world and their world as well, made him wanting to keep going until he knew that they were all safe and free.
He readily dodged more cargo dropped except for another Wisp capsule which he immediately opened. To his surprise, it was another purple alien which seemed to be angry with being held hostage after losing it's Hyper-Go-On, and Sonic winced when it turned it's attention to him.
"Wait a minute, buddy! I'm here to help you!" He cried out, quickly pointing at the robot in front of them while it flew beside him ready to attack. "See this thing? That's the one you should be mad at!"
The Nega-Wisp snarled darkly, though as Sonic was about to convince it again, more fire blasts emerged which he quickly grabbed hold of it without much of a choice and pulled it aside to avoid both of them from getting burned, and then he let go. At first angered for being forcefully grabbed like that, it became shocked with how he saved it's life for the second time in a matter of seconds. He gave it a sympathic smile with firm eyes.
"I'm not your enemy, and I know how much you lost your powers. I want to help you, but if you can lend me some of your power, we can take this thing out together. Then I'll find a way to turn you back to normal." Sonic told it calmly.
Even though it held a dark desire to use him, seeing the truthful look in his emerald green, warm and gentle but sharp and determined eyes made it's locked-up true self take control of the negativity it was trapped within. Heeding his words, the Nega-Wisp nodded slowly before dissolving into energy and gently flowed into Sonic's chest, as he braced himself for it's negative power.
"FRENZY!" Shouting this word, Sonic once again transformed into the beast of the Frenzy form, yet to his relief the alien allowed him full control. Instead of going full on with the desire of pure destruction, the blue hedgehog focused on chomping away at the main parts of the robot as he caught up to it quickly, growing bigger to get the larger parts out of the way.
Once it was severely damaged, Sonic cut the connection with the Nega-Wisp and returned to normal while the alien came out of him, at first annoyed, but when it saw how badly damaged the robot was, it seemed really satisfied. The blue hedgehog smirked as well before nodding to the alien and then sped up to finish the giant opponent off once and for all. He jumped high and spin dashed right into it's remaining skull-cannon, combined with a karate-punch and a karate-kick before homing attacked it right in the middle at it's weakest part as hard and quickly as he could.
This did the trick, as while Sonic landed safely on the path once more, and was greatly surprised to see a canistar of more stolen Hyper-Go-On energy fly out before tumbling and landed in front of him, causing the blue hedgehog and the purple Wisp to stop in their tracks before the latter ended up knocking into it, the Frigate Skullian roared in ultimate defeat before exploding into flames and black smoke, and like with the Frigate Orca, it descended down into space, forever lost.
"YES! We did it!" Sonic cheered in victory, while the Nega-Wisp hovered by his side and he smiled at it. "Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it."
The purple alien just stared at him, with a thoughtful and curious look. The blue hedgehog just continued to smile, turning his attention to the trapped energy and nodded. He then cracked it open which released the Hyper-Go-On, causing it to flow onto the Nega-Wisp who, like it's friends and siblings, glowed in rainbow of light while underground a re-transformation before it stopped. In it's place was a familiar pink spiky alien who blinked in confusion, then glancing at it's arms in awe and wonder, turned it's attention to Sonic who nodded once more.
"I always do my best to keep my promises, and I haven't broken them yet." He told it kindly. "It's alright. Everything's gonna be okay, now."
The Spiky-Wisp blinked at him, before it nodded with a not so cuddly expression, but it held out it's arm at him. Confused at first, the blue hedgehog then realized it was offering him a hand-shake. Well, it was still better than nothing, and he could take whatever he got. So he shook hands with it which established their friendship.
What also put him into a much more better mood now was that he had finally did it; he saved all of the aliens and freed all of the worlds. Plus Sonic hadn't even seen or heard the hallucinations of the Werehog or Chip, either to hinder him or support him and was perfectly okay with that.
After departing with the restored Wisp who flew away to return home, Sonic made his way back to the now ruined generator, grinning widely with success as he landed on the platform, dusting himself off. Now he really felt like his old self, and the blue hedgehog couldn't be any happier.
"Whew! That was almost difficult." The cobalt teenager muttered to himself, just as he noticed Tails arrive via flight as soon as he spoken. The eight year old fox looked just as happy as he felt.
"Sonic, you did it!" The young kit cheered happily as he landed in front of him, to which the blue hedgehog approached with a beaming smirk.
"Couldn't have done it without you, buddy!" Sonic replied.
"Thanks!" Tails replied as he then followed his best friend, walking side by side to finally leave.
While the blue hedgehog felt a little bit exhausted from the fights he had gone through, he ignored it because of his bright mood for once again saving the day. After two days, he felt like he should relax a little before going on his and Tails next big adventure.
"Hey, we deserve some kind of reward." His best friend said with a beaming smile.
"Yeah! After our Chili Dogs and Pizza, maybe during our next adventure we should go to an amusement park or something." Sonic agreed, liking the idea.
Tails just laughed, adding a bit sarcastically. "Right. But one that's, ya'know, less evil than this one."
The two best friends and brothers shared a laugh, glad to finally be leaving this place soon. The laughter soon faded as Sonic then thought about the aliens in the capsules back up ahead, and asked, a bit hopefully. "So...are all the aliens getting free?"
"Looks like it! Once all of the generators shut off, the locks on all the containers vanished, and so did the locks on the capsules that kept the Hyper-Go-Ons stored." Tails said brightly.
"So all of the Nega-Aliens are turning back to normal too?" Sonic asked, with relief growing even more.
"Yep!" The two-tailed fox nodded. "I even saw some of them turn back to normal before I came to find you to tell you the good news!"
"Sweet! That's so awesome!" The blue hedgehog cheered in relief and happiness, feeling the weight of the fears of the Wisps losing their lives and their freedom being lifted.
Even though Tails wanted to cheer as well, another thought came into mind as he looked away. When Sonic gazed at him with a curious and a quickly concerned expression, the younger Mobian muttered softly in worry. "I just hope Yacker's okay..."
Understanding his little brother's concern, the blue hedgehog smiled softly as he still felt that their newest close friend was safe somewhere, placing a comforting hand on the young fox's shoulder.
"I think he'll be fine." Sonic replied, though he did hope that they could at least say goodbye before they returned to their home planets. Thinking of this made him realize that the time for departures was rapidly approaching which made him sad, but he knew it would come sooner or later. What he also knew was that they may not see Yacker and the Wisps again for a long time, he wanted to cherish all of the happy memories he and Tails shared with them, all of their adventures, and all the fun too.
'Just wish I brought a camera, though.' He thought to himself, before asking as he also thought of one last thing which was also put him on edge. "You um, don't think the weapon you were shot with still works...do you?"
To his greatest relief, Tails shook his head. "Not without power flowing to it. I think we're all good."
"THAT's what I like to hear!" Sonic replied. "C'mon, let's go."
His best friend nodded and with beaming smiles of success and happiness, the two adoptive brothers walked away with their quest finally over and the day saved once more. As they did, the blue hedgehog thought about the two friends they reunited with and while he was disappointed to may not be seeing them again for a while, he can at least say that he was looking forward in seeing them back on Mobius, especially when he thought about a certain black hedgehog who had helped him to fit the final piece of the puzzle of solving his inner problems.
The scars were still there, but they faded like a bad dream. Sonic would never forget, but he will never let his previous adventure's nightmare consume him ever again.
'Shadow...Thank you. You helped me to face my own fears and guilt, even if it was just an advice and suggestion. I really owe you.' The teenager thought with a content smile.
Above from where Sonic and Tails were as they were heading towards, were Shadow himself along with Omega, the black hedgehog having his arms folded as he and his robotic companion watched the two best friends take their leave.
"Looks like he's done it again. Saving the day and everything. Hmph. Finally, a little bit of peace and quiet." Shadow silently muttered, with a hint of exasperation in his voice. At the same time, he was content with Sonic's accomplishment.
"Affirmative. All of the Wisps have been released and are returning to their original state." Omega confirmed.
The ultimate life form scoffed, before deciding that it was time for them to leave as well. "Then we have nothing more to do here. Let's return to Headquarters. Hopefully get answers out of Rouge on where she got those blue useless rings."
"Inquiry: Why did you give Sonic information?" Omega questioned.
"One, because hallucinations are a pain, and two, I'm happy to leave the saving the world to him, thanks." Shadow replied.
"Does not compute." The robot replied.
The black hedgehog rolled his eyes, and just remained silent. Secretly, he smiled to himself, pleased with the results, and seeing how much more relaxed and, calm and energetic Sonic was, Shadow had a feeling that his rival had found some peace within himself which made the older hedgehog relieved. Jealous since he helped out in having the blue hedgehog get over his problem, and was quicker to do so, but glad none the less.
'Sonic...Well done.' Shadow thought to himself.
With that thought, the two members of Team Dark turned and took their own leave in a separate Egg Shuttle and would then take the elevator back to Mobius themselves.
Making it back to the Egg Shuttle in no time flat for the last time, Sonic and Tails excitedly and impatiently waited for their ride to take them back to Tropical Resort where they would finally go home, but not before sharing their final fun moments with Yacker and all of the freed aliens and then having to say goodbye. They were sad for the latter part, but the two Mobians knew that it had to be.
As they did, the two best friends noticed the last of the purple chain that held Asteroid Coaster along with the other chains that held the other planets to the Amusement Park finally disappear. They smiled through their window with sheer happiness. Best part was, they prevented Mobius from being Mind-Controlled and foiled Eggman's plot at long last.
"Yes!" Tails cheered happily. "The tractor beams are gone! The planets are free!"
"Was there any doubt? I mean, really?" Sonic smiled widely, chuckling. He playfully ruffled his friend's head. "Great job, buddy!"
"Thanks. I'm still really happy!" The eight year old fox beamed, giggling.
"You and me both, dude. You and me both." The cobalt hedgehog replied, turning his gaze back to the sight before them, mainly his attention on Planet Wisp, and then to his home, Mobius. Two of the Universe's most beautiful planets, at least in his opinion, the perfect home for humans, mobians, animals, and in the alien world's case, the Wisps.
Finally they were all free. Safe and sound. Aside from the construction site on Yacker's world, Sonic was relieved that it hadn't had anymore damage, and for once Mobius didn't have any damage at all. No cities being destroyed, no gorgeous landscapes ruined by metal and robots, no lives lost(not that it ever happened in any adventures at all), and the best part, both worlds along with the others were still whole.
The blue hedgehog gazed at his and Tails' planet more longingly, feeling the excitement to finally be home soon. It wasn't until he realized it now, that like his best friend, he'd actually been homesick. Sure he had tons of fun exploring new worlds and the usual robot-butt-kicking, even when times he'd been scared by both things that either tried to kill him or friends like the Whale that he thought were threats, making such wonderful friends of the most gentle aliens he'd ever encountered, but as the old saying goes.
There's no place like home.
Not only that, he also thought about Chip, who was peacefully sleeping within the world, probably unaware of what was really going on and most likely would never know, which was a good thing now that he thought about it. Sonic knew that Light Gaia wasn't really there or had known of his dilemma, but he was glad that his forgiveness took form of his close friend, the closest thing he could see him again, to talk to him. He was sad that the hallucination of his friend was gone, and more than relieved that the Werehog hallucination was out of the picture too, but one thing's for certain, the blue hedgehog was never alone.
'Chip...Everything's okay now. I managed to save Mobius with the help of our friends. I even saved the Universe itself. I even got over my fears of that mutant hairball, and forgiven myself. Thank you for being in my heart, buddy, and for being my friend. I love you.' Sonic thought, smiling emotionally, while unconsciously filling up tears in his eyes.
"Sonic?" Tails spoke up, noticing his friend's expression and looked worried. "Are you okay?"
Realizing that he was beginning to cry in happiness, Sonic wiped away his tears as his heart now felt completely healed. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. In fact, I've never felt better."
He turned to face his friend, and openly said gratefully. "Tails...Thank you."
"For what?" The young fox blinked, confused.
"For supporting me, always believing in me, and everything. Couldn't ask for a better best friend and brother." The blue hedgehog replied warmly. "It's thanks to you, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and Yacker for being there with me and in my heart. Heh, even Shadow helped out."
Tails still looked confused, even though he was beginning to feel very relieved, while Sonic continued. "You guys, and everybody else are more than just my friends; we're family. Always there for each other, even far apart. Even friends that...that we can't see anymore, but we'll never forget. In the darkest times when we feel like that we're alone, we're never truly alone, and we can't let our hurtful feelings keep us down forever."
The cobalt hedgehog smiled wider, saying his catch-phrase. "Keep moving forward and don't ever look back!"
"Sonic...you sound like your old self again...!" The two-tailed fox remarked, smiling widely himself. "Does that mean...?"
"Yep!" Sonic nodded, winking at him. "I finally found it in me to forgive myself, and gave that fuzz-ball a real scare since me and Chip beaten him. Mentally, anyway."
"I knew you could do it...! That's awesome! I'm so relieved!" Tails cried out happily, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"Me too, li'l bro. C'mere, you!" The blue hedgehog pulled his dearest friend into a hug as the younger Mobian returned it, tears of joy silently falling free. The teenage hedgehog gently gave the eight year old kit a kiss on the head once more.
Sonic finally felt free from his inner scars, and he couldn't be any happier with the best friends and family than he was now.
A/N: Even though things may seem okay now, our heroes are not out of the woods yet as they still have the last two challenges that begins in the next chapter. I came up with the idea of the Dino-Skull considering that's a planet that was somehow devastated long before Eggman took control of it.
Next time Sonic is about to enter his final battles. See you later!