Chapter Two – Corruption
As dawn rose all around him, the Wisp's words were still ringing in the Sapphire Dragon's ears. Destined to save this world, fine, that wasn't an issue, what was one more dimension anyway, but it was being called the 'greatest' that completely threw him. He was a brute. No king, that was for sure. Even Lordship had worn thin. He was a robotised Cyborg, Blue Dragon-Hedgehog, heavily loaded with firepower and weaponry. Dragon's Breath, Flight, His Adamantium Knives, Robotisation Energy Manipulation, Super-Speed and Super-Strength, Instant Heal, and an enormous temper to match. Plus all his Cyborg abilities, able to hack absolutely anything with the Direct-Neuro Interface in the back of his head. A total and utter monster. The normal laws of physics didn't apply to him, and yet the Wisp called him 'King'. It was also implying that there were even more dimensions out there, with further 'Sonics' and was the Wisp saying that 'he', the monster, was the greatest of them all.
Saffie didn't believe it for a minute. He'd killed. Granted, he didn't have a choice, but he still did it. Shouldn't the greatest 'Sonic' be the one who wins without killing. Regardless, he now had a mission, and was keen to get moving. It was summer and Saffie suspected the lake would get busy later with visitors. He grabbed the cloak and threw it over his shoulders, put the hood up and walked down the lane, back the city. It was midmorning by the time he arrived back, and there was murmurings all around him, that something had gone terribly wrong overnight. Saffie pricked up his super sensitive ears, and overheard that the Eggman or Robornik attack in the city yesterday was just a diversion and that something called the 'Master Emerald' had been corrupted. What? Having no idea what they were talking about, Saffie looked around. Where was Sonic? Where were his powerful friends?
Now he was deeply worried, especially after talking to the Wisp last night. Suddenly, he was surrounded by people, somehow looking to him for answers. He gulped. He had none, but he did agree, he had to do something. He asked one of the crowd that surrounded him, where he would normally find Sonic. He was sent in the direction of a house of the very outskirts of Westopolis. Tails' House. Saffie decided to go there, despite being told that Sonic wasn't there. It was a place to start. He ran straight there. He was Super-Speed fast, but his super high level speeds were now in his wings, but it still took some time to get there, as he kept getting lost. He daren't fly, despite it being much easier. The locals just were not ready for that.
He quickly found the house, but the door was open, everyone gone and the place ransacked. Definitely a struggle, a big one, but somehow the heroes had lost, vanished, kidnapped. How? How did Robotnik or Eggman get the upper advantage? He didn't appear to have the strength against them. But as he was told, the battle in Westopolis was a diversion, and from what Saffie knew from experience, a Robotnik never used his most powerful robot for a diversion. But there was something extremely weird and strange here. An energy like no other, completely unseen, and yet he felt it severely pull at his the Deep Power Stones in his chest. Very dark, and foreboding, he'd felt it earlier when he first arrived.
He backed away, very defensively, growling. What was this energy, and why was he getting the gut feeling he had something to do with this 'Master Emerald', whatever that was. Anyway, he had to find the heroes and fast, as now he feared the worse. Suddenly, he heard several enormous explosions in the very far distance. He sounded horrible and immediately made Saffie's instincts run straight after it. But in a land and dimension he didn't know, he was struggling to find the source of the devastation. By the time he found it, he was dusk and almost nightfall.
Finally, he came across a enormoustower. Tall and tapering, right on the very edge of a tall cliff, the waves of the ocean crashing beneath it. Wider at the base then at the tip. Jet black, and rugged, and another explosion, told Saffie that he was at the right place. Saffie paused, before rushing in. He felt the dark energy again. Now super highly concentrated right at the top of the tower. The Wisp's words ran though his head again.
[Only you have the power to save them.]
Saffie gulped, this was not going to end well. But how was that any different to the last twenty years in his own dimension. He'd won against unbelievable odds. Another explosion made up his mind, as he ran straight for the tower and the darkness that lay within. He let loose his three foot long silver Adamantium knives, now sticking out of his knuckles and with his right fist clenched, sliced and dispensed with the gate in seconds. He flinched. He had been months since he'd last used them and had forgotten how much they hurt when they came out. His body always healed up the wounds afterwards, but still he grated on him. He watched the knives return back inside his hand and arms, heal and look as though they weren't ever even there.
As he ran for the main door of the tower, he heard a enormous fight within, and suddenly he was surrounded by robots. But not the robots he was used to. Humanoid, but very spherical in shape. With round heads and bodies, thin legs and a weird waddle of a walk. But they were all wielding weapons and firing at him, but his instincts as a professional solider immediately kicked in and he now fought back. Punching holes in them like they were nothing but paper. They just disintegrated against his almighty Super-Strength, fueled by his Adamantium bones, and as the robots fell very quickly, but they just kept coming. Hundreds of them. Saffie could see the ingeniousness of their design. Easy to destroy, yes, but also easy to manufacture. This army was purely designed to overwhelm the enemy by pure numbers alone, and Saffie was finding they was succeeding. They were blocking the entrance to the tower and as he started to hear screaming inside, desperation kicked in as did the Sapphire Dragon's almighty anger. He surged forwards, ripping the robot to pieces as he charged for the door, smashed his way though it. It swinging open.
He then turned around and with an enormous grin on his face, as yet more robots came running, let loose the power of a true Dragon. He took an almighty deep breath and felt his eyes glowing and the intense heat on his lips and tongue. He opened his mouth, as wide as it could go, and baring his long canine teeth, he let it rip. Dragon's Breath. Fire. The incredibly intensely hot bright yellow flames, burned straight through the last of the oncoming army. The robots just exploded with the incredible heat and melted where they stood, and within minutes, there was nothing left.
Saffie then ran out of air, and the fire instantly vanished as the Sapphire Dragon was left heavily panting. Always did after breathing fire. But he looked around. The welcoming committee was gone, and at least now he had clear exit from the place. Satisfied, he turned back around and closed the main front doors behind him. It was all incredibly dark and quiet inside. But he could hear voices from what seemed like beneath him. On the inside of the tower, just seemed to consist of just the bare walls tapering in at the top and a large spiral staircase that extended high above him, as well as below.
Suddenly more robots came at him, but at only a dozen or so, Saffie quickly dispensed with them. He then looked down the spiral staircase and heard voices and silently descended. As the voices got louder, he could hear one person in great deal of pain, others crying, and another desperately trying to reason with, whoever was behind this.
"Eggman. Enough!" He shouted. Saffie immediately recognised the voice, his own. Sonic. He gulped, but least they were alive. He crept down the stairs and found himself the other side a closed door to the conversation. He stopped and listened. Sonic sounded frightened. They were all in individual heavily armoureddungeons, in a long and narrow room, with a corridor down the centre and the dungeons at the edge. There were doors at either ends of the corridor. Eggman stood there, smirking evilly at his greatest achievement, having finally taken down the heroes. Sonic was lying on the floor, barely able to move, unable to quite believe how this had all happened. He panted.
"How?" He squealed. "How did you corrupt the Master Emerald? You completely caught us off guard with it's power." He stammered. Eggman laughed in his face.
"How?" He sneered, repeating the question. "It was surprisingly easy, actually. The Master Emerald was designed to neutralisedany and all unwanted Chaos Energy, mainly by absorbing and then destroying it. Dark Chaos Energy was not an energy it likes very much, so all had to do, was make it absorb the energy without destroying it." He sniggered. There was a pause. "And who do we both know had the greatest concentration of Chaos Darkness within him." He laughed. Sonic when white and gulped.
"Shadow!" He stammered. Still the Ultimate Lifeform was a pawn of the madman's schemes, and now trapped with his friends, severely battered and bruised, there was nothing he could do. He, himself, could only barely walk, he been so badly injured. But as a plan, it was absolutely ingenious. Chaos Energy comes on two forms, Light and Dark. Sonic and all his friends with Chaos Powers were all creatures of Chaos Light. Eggman had used Shadow and the Master Emerald to create a weapon of pure Chaos Darkness. When Light and Dark Chaos clash, it causes an almighty imbalance in the Chaos Energy and as Sonic found out to his cost, was excruciating pain, to all those with superpowers. A weapon purely designed to capture and kill them. To destroy them all. It had worked beautifully. Eggman had used to weapon to successfully create an ambush. It had completely rendering all of them useless with the enormous pain, as Eggman's army had attacked them.
Sonic was panting. He'd collapsed to the floor, along with the others, having forcibly been thrown in here. He was still absolutely gobsmacked that he'd not only lost this fight, but very badly, and had been left speechless. Everyone was very scared and frightened, but thankfully, no one had been killed. Yet. But Sonic knew, it was only a matter of time.
But outside Saffie was stunned at the situation but he frowned. Who was Shadow? He had no idea, but it didn't prepare him at all for what happened next.
Suddenly Eggman snapped his fingers, and a huge amount of incredibly Dark Chaos Energy emitted from the very top of the tower. Everyone screamed in agony as it attacked all those with Chaos Powers including the Sapphire Dragon himself. He immediately collapsed against the wall, in severe pain, the dark energy desperately grabbing at his Deep Power Stones. It was excruciatingly painful.
Eggman's laugh rang over the top of the screams, Saffie's temper just absolutely exploded. Full on Dragon. His eyes glowing green, he karate kicked the door between himself and the Human, which just exploded into dust. Immediately he was set upon by yet more robots, but Saffie couldn't have cared less for them. It was the Human he wanted. With the speed, strength and power that came with being a 'Sonic', a Blue Blur, Saffie exploded the Super-Speed and took out all of the robots in record time with the ruthless efficiency of twenty years of fighting as a professional soldier.
Finally he was stood face-to-face with the Human himself. The Sapphire Dragon was so tall that his eye line was actually level with Eggman's. Upon seeing a version of Sonic, so large and so powerful, Eggman immediately tried to flee, but Saffie moved to the other side of him, in a blink of an eye and grabbed by the throat with one singular hand, claws extended and held him aloft, as easy as anything. His feet a clear foot off the floor. Saffie sudden appearance had absolutely stunned everyone's, and now silence filled the room.
But Saffie was beyond fuming, as he bared his full set of canine teeth straight at Eggman, right in his face. The Human when white as Saffie roared like a Dragon he was, straight at him, his instincts very much taking hold. He wanted the Human dead, for what he'd done, and but a voice behind him told him otherwise.
"Don't!" It shouted. It was Sonic, and now that Saffie's hood of his cloak was no longer up, all could see who he was. He was absolutely stunning. His large green eyes were still fixed on Eggman as his shining royal blue quills flowed down the back of his head, sharp and strong. His ears were pricked up to slightest sound and his black nose twitched. Beneath his cloak, though it couldn't really be seen, he appeared to be wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans and large black goth-style boots and no gloves. Wings and tails still folded away and hidden. He was still growled heavily with the anger. Sonic grabbed the bars of his dungeon. He cried.
"Don't!" He pleaded again. He been preying that his counterpart was still around, fearing that he was their only chance but Saffie was the last person he expected. Sonic was dumbfounded. His incredible size, the speed, the power, it was unlike any of the other versions of 'Sonic', he'd ever seen. But what had happened to him? He was a brute. He dreaded to think, but now he desperately didn't want him to kill Eggman. The Human just wasn't worth it. If this monster had ever had been him at some point in his life, then Sonic was praying he would understand.
Despite being fueled with the worse anger in years, somehow Sonic's words got through to Saffie. This wasn't his world, his dimension. He didn't rule here and as a second painful Dark Chaos Energy explosion emanated out from the top of the tower, now was not the time to stand on ceremony. He had to stop this now. Finally, he agreed with Sonic and Saffie's anger instantly dissipated. He smirked, somewhat evilly. He could feel the Human's pure fear of him. Yeah, that was enough, and proceeded to create a fist with the free hand and punch Eggman right it face. He immediately flew straight out of his other hand and when flying right across the corridor, backwards and smashed into the other closed, splintering it everywhere. He crashed onto the hard stone floor, just the other side of the door, completely out cold, still and lifeless.
Everyone screamed in utter shocked but Saffie stood completely still, his ears pricked up, trained on the Human. Thump, thump. A heartbeat. He smirked. Yeah, he knew exactly how and where to hit someone to cause the most damage without actually killing them. He was a professional soldier after all. But the screams and cries of all those in the dungeons were seriously grating on him. His anger flared again.
"Enough!" He growled, commanding instant silence. "He's alive." He spat as his lip curled. Then he backed up towards the original door of which he'd entered. His smirked broadened. "I'd suggest you back away from the doors of the dungeons." He added. Several people frowned, even the Fox asking "Why?" until Saffie stopped and gritted his teeth. Facing them all, down the corridor, he then clenched both his fists and held them out in front of him, his arms completely straight, one crossed over the other, at a forty-five degree angle from the shoulder. He then turned his fists so his knuckles were facing outwards. Then suddenly without warning, he threw the fists outwards, either side of him, only have the foot long silver Adamantium knives tear straight through his skin, three out of each knuckle. Then then ran forwards, holding the knives out, as then sliced straight through all the locks of the dungeons like butter. Everyone screamed again. Sonic ducked.
"Look out!" He gasped, and within seconds they were free, as the doors swung open as Saffie was stood by the other door to the corridor, calm, but still growling. For two reasons, one, those knives really did hurt and two, he could feel the fear of him in that room. But he had to get past that. The job still wasn't done. He couldn't change who he was, and he wasn't going to either.
Sonic was violently shaking as he watched those incredible knives returned back to his counterpart's gloveless hands as if they never existed. The exit wounds instantly healing. Saffie noticed Sonic staring at him, and took a deep sigh. He went to him and bending down, he offered one of those incredible yet dangerous hands. He sighed.
"Can you walk?" He asked. Sonic was absolutely terrified to take it, as Saffie realisedhe was seriously being stared at. This again angered him. He growled in pure frustration. These people needed more faith. He hissed. "Look." He spat. "We're on the same side. I mean you no harm. Now." He growled, spoken like a true general. "Can you walk?" He asked again, this time demanding an answer. This time Sonic nodded, in fact they all did. Sonic, Tails, a Cat (Blaze), two Rabbits, obviously mother and daughter (Cream and Vanilla), a Bat (Rouge), a Crocodile (Vector), a Chameleon (Espio), a Bee (Charmy) and two Hedgehogs (Silver and Amy), all scrambled to their feet at Saffie's command.
He could see they were all quite badly battered and bruised, but would be largely alright. He nodded in approval. He pointed back the way he came, and smirked.
"I suggest you get out that way." He ordered. "I have cleared the path for you." He added. Sonic stared. He remembered just how well defended this place was. How could it be clear? But right now, neither he, nor anyone else, for that matter, was going to argue. Suddenly there was an almighty scream from one of the dungeons at the far end of the room. Saffie immediately ran there, to find an Echidna, lying on his side, in the fetal position, holding his head, in absolute agony. He had red fur that covered most of his body, peach skin on his muzzle, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, and purple eyes. He had seven deadlock-like spines around the sides and back of his head and a medium-sized, tri-crooked tail. Knuckles wore red and yellow shoes, each with green cuffs and a grey, sextuple-bolted plate on top. He wore large, white, mitten-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and two spiked knuckles on each hand. Saffie frowned.
"What's his problem?" He pondered. But Sonic rounded on him.
"The Master Emerald." He growled, as if stating the obvious. Knuckles's deep connection with the almighty gemstone was extremely well known. But not to Saffie, he was still none the wiser.
"The what?" He asked, but got immediately cut across as Sonic's mind was racing ahead of itself. He heaved.
"The seven Chaos Emeralds. That's how Eggman was draining Shadow of his Chaos Darkness." He gasped. Now Saffie was really confused. He growled, rather loudly, getting everyone's attention.
"What are talking about?" He spat. He had absolutely no idea what a Master Emerald was, or these seven Chaos Emerald. They sounded like Power Stones, but very different to the Power Rock, Deep Power Stones and Power Rings he had back at home. His frustration was at breaking point. "Who was Shadow?" He hissed. Silence greeted him.
Tails gulped, answering for the group, having finally finding his confidence.
"You don't know?" He stammered, in total shock. Saffie shrugged and shock his head. He sighed.
"Er. No." He frowned. "This Master Emerald, or Chaos Emeralds you speak of, I've never heard of them." He added. More stunned silence answered him. Sonic was absolutely dumbfounded. Not only was this counterpart the most powerful he ever seen, but he was also the very first not the know the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald. How could this be? Where did this counterpart come from? Sonic realised that it wasn't worth asking him, as he suspected he didn't know. But they didn't get chance to discuss this, as a third almighty Dark Chaos Energy explosion emanated out from the top of the tower again, sending pain right through all of them, Sonic decided it was his turn to take command. He glared at his counterpart.
"Look." He growled. "It doesn't matter what you do or don't know. Right now, your the only one left here strong enough stop this." He growled. Then suddenly his own temper flared. He pointed to the ceiling, and thus the top of the tower. "Now, get up there and end it." He ordered, almost begging at Saffie. The Sapphire Dragon smirked. He immediately agreed and nodded. Yes, indeed time to end it. He ran past Sonic to the other door of the corridor, back to the one he arrived though, and turned back to Sonic. He smirked.
"Spoken like a true general." He grinned, honouredto see version of himself strive to rise to the very top. Sonic gulped, but held firm. He heaved.
"And Sonic." He called, just as his counterpart was about to leave. Saffie turned back, Grinning. Sonic heaved. "Good luck." He added. But the Sapphire Dragon stopped and giggled.
"Actually, it's Saffie, by the way." He winked. The shortening of his title, very much suited him nowadays. He then clicked both his fingers and pointed them right back at Blue Blur. He grinned. "Your the only Sonic around here." He laughed, and then vanished out of the room, and immediately ran for the spiral staircase, leaving a very confused Sonic, who regardless, gathered all his friends and quickly moved out. Taking the same route, Saffie took to get in, they did indeed find it clear, and was stunned at the level of fire and destruction at the entrance to the tower. Knuckles was so bad, that he had to be physically carried from the tower by Vector, and as further explosions happened at the top of the tower, Sonic and his friends ran for it, as far away as they could so.
Soon they were safe but Sonic wasn't happy about leaving his counterpart behind. But they didn't have a choice. None of them were strong enough for this fight, and right now Sonic had to put every ounce of faith he had, in well, himself, to get this job done.