Chapter Three – Sacrifice
Saffie ran up that spiral staircase as fast as he feet could carry him, and very quickly reached the top. But the sight that greeted him there, sent absolute fear and dread straight through him. There he found what he correctly deduced was the Master Emerald, an absolutely enormous gemstone, the biggest he'd ever seen, directly hot wired into some kind of machinery. But what sent deep fear straight through him was the fact that it was deep crimson red in knew from experience, red was never a good colourfor a Power Stone. He suspected he wasn't normally red, but had no idea what colour it should have been. He gulped. Lying in front of it, heavily strapped to a table, and completely out cold, was the Black male Hedgehog he remembered from earlier. He stared.
"Stripes!" He gasped. This had to be Shadow. He was a Black Hedgehog who normally had deep crimson red eyes, but now they were closed as he was completely unconscious. He had a patch of white fur on his chest, a tan muzzle, and tan ear canals. He had six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards while the other two curve downwards, two spines on his back, and a small tail. He had red stripes on each of his head quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs. He wore white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, and rocket skates which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues. Shadow wore golden Inhibitor Rings, one on each of his wrists and plain golden rings on his ankles. Saffie remembered feeling the evil within him but this was ridiculous. Shadow's arms and legs had been bound and he too had been hot wired into the machine with wires leading straight out of him, and to a device above his head, which seemed to have further gemstones in it. Smaller, seven in total. Saffie's eyes widened.
"The Chaos Emeralds." He hissed. Finally, he'd correctly worked out what was what, but that wasn't the real problem. The giant gemstone, the Master Emerald, was dangerously pulsating. Radiating extremely high levels of Dark Chaos Energy and all of it going straight for his Deep Power Stones. It was excruciatingly painful, and now Saffie now fully understood what the Master Emerald was wanting. The powers generated by his stones, all of it. Suddenly he remembered what Eggman had said about the Master Emerald earlier. That it neutralisesany and all unwanted energy. But traveling between the dimensions, Saffie had inadvertently brought the Deep Power Stones with him, and he correctly guessed that he was not meant to do that. Any and all Power Stones are meant to remain in their relative dimensions. It was seriously upsetting the balance of power, and the Master Emerald was desperately trying to restore that balance, despite everything.
Saffie growled.
"Well, not today." He hissed, as he forcibly backed away from the Master Emerald. He desperately needed the Deep Power Stones to survive, and right now loosing them wasn't an option. But how to stop this contraption? He couldn't just outright destroy it, Saffie feared he'd kill the Black Hedgehog, and despite him being evil, there were people down on the ground who cared for him, his own counterpart being one of them. He growled, looking around. But he had to do something and quickly. The Master Emerald was painfully draining him and fast. Suddenly his eyes fell on the mighty blood red giant gemstone. It seemed to be fueling all of this. He looked down at his hand and closed his fist. There was no way even he, the great Sapphire Dragon, had the power to completely destroy the Master Emerald. The gemstone was just to big and to powerful, but if he could smash it, and maybe, distract it enough for it to loosen its grip on the Black Hedgehog, then maybe he could grab him and get out of here.
It was worth a try, as it was the only idea he had. Now getting very angry from the pain, he backed away a little and ran right for the Master Emerald. He clenched his fist of right hand, and threw back his arm. He gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes and and threw his fist forwards, giving every ounce of strength he had. Saffie had never pushed himself so hard in his life, and his punched the enormousblood red gemstone right in the centre. The Master Emerald immediately buckled under the incredible impact and as huge cracks formed on his surface, it shattered into dozens of pieces as they flew in all directions, forcing Saffie to duck for cover.
Suddenly, Saffie felt a very short but significant dip in the Dark Chaos Energy produced by the Master Emerald. Immediately, Saffie ran for that tiny window, and used his Super-Strength to forcibly pull Shadow from the contraption. Thankfully, to Saffie's total relief, Shadow immediately awoke, completely non the wiser as to what was happening. He stared at Saffie. The Sapphire Dragon grinned.
"Hi." He giggled. Shadow stared, not quite believing what he was seeing. Definitely a counterpart to his rival. He knew all about them, be had never seen anything quite like this one before. He gulped.
"Hi." He replied, for want of nothing better to say. Suddenly, the Master Emerald went crazy, and the Dark Chaos Energy began spiraling out of control from the broken pieces of the mighty gemstone. Shadow swore very loudly, having no idea what was happening or how he even got here. He'd been kidnaped and knocked out by Eggman, the previous night and had been completely unconscious the entire time. He never dealt with the Master Emerald, that was Knuckles, and now, he was well out of his league. Saffie seemed to come to the same conclusion but now that Shadow was free of the contraption and apparently alright, it was very much time to get out of there.
The Master Emerald was now building for it biggest Dark Chaos Energy explosion of the night, which meant it was definitely time to leave. Before Shadow had even realised what happened, he was roughly grabbed by the scruff of his neck, by a very large hand with claws and lifted clean off the ground. Then Saffie, with his incredible strength, threw Shadow under his arm, and to the Black Hedgehog's absolute horror, they ran for the window of the tower and not the stairs. The tower was high on a cliff edge, over the ocean, to jump was suicide, but Saffie knew exactly what he was doing.
They needed to get out and now, and he suspected they only had a matter of seconds. The stairs was just too slow. Grabbing Shadow, whom he found to be surprisingly heavy, Saffie went for the window. Somersaulting as he smashed through the glass, Saffie burst forth, to Shadow's horror, the three foot long silver Adamantium knives from his free hand, fist clenched, and dung them deep into the wall of the tower on the outside. His knives, where so hard and so sharp, that they sliced through the outer wall like nothing, but it did successfully slow down their decent. Something Saffie was able to control and soon they were with a few feet from the bottom, as he removed the knives and kicked with his feet, somersaulting a second time and landing perfectly on the ground just outside the main entrance, where he originally entered.
He let go of Shadow, who immediately ran for it with his own Super-Speed as the final explosion came. Saffie was surprised to see another speedster other then himself, but quickly realised the Black Hedgehog had a point, and quickly ran after him.
It didn't take Saffie long to catch up, as dawn rose all around them. Soon, they had caught up with the others, who all delighted to see the both of them alright. The final explosion was so expansive, so violent that it completely destroyed the entire tower. They all stopped and turned back. It took everyone by storm, especially Shadow, who now realised he now potentially owned his life to this counterpart. But the Dark Chaos Energy and therefore the Master Emerald wasn't done with them yet. It's distress at having been been broken had caused it to scream for home, and to the Sapphire Dragon's total horror, it came running. It arrived, traveling at some speed, straight for the location of where the tall black tower used to be. An enormous, floating mass, high in the sky, that now had the sun raising directly behind it.
Angel island.
Everyone stared but Saffie was absolutely dumbfounded. Since when do islands fly? What was this place? Now it was his turn to be frightened, as he stood head and shoulders above all of them, the long black cloak somehow still around him. He pointed at Angel island, very scared indeed.
"What the hell was that?" He panicked. But someone immediately cut across him, very angry. He growled.
"Maybe I should say the same about you." He grilled. It was Knuckles. He was on his feet but was being held up, and shaking very violently. But he threw his supports off of him, and running on pure anger, he marched right up to Saffie, looking up at him. "Your a 'Sonic' and yet your the biggest and strongest one we're ever seen. Your huge, with these knives, and teeth, and you have skills I've never seen before. Can we even trust you? What happened to you?" He spat, but Saffie had been smirking the whole time the Echidna was ranting. Yep, he was pretty much describing his life. It was quite amusing, But then Knuckles heaved.
"You smashed the Master Emerald." He gasped. He knew this because he'd felt the breakage straight down his special bond with the gemstone. It was very painful. He growled. "How?" He demanded. "Only I can do that." He stated, but the Sapphire Dragon was not impressed. His own anger flared, yet again. It had a really short fuse. He roared.
"Look." He snapped. "I have no idea who you are or any idea what that is." He spat, indicating Angel island, which was now heading their way. "And I didn't have to help you, you know, I could have just left you all to rot." He hissed. Silence answered the mighty Dragon, until finally quiet voice replied to him. It was Sonic. He'd been deep in thought, but now he growled.
"No, you couldn't." He spat, but Saffie turned away, still not happy, but Sonic stood his ground. This counterpart was both powerful and a total handful. "Your me." He sighed. "You had to help, you couldn't not. Look, Saffie, I have no idea what's happened to you, but I guessing it was absolutely brutal. I can only dread to think what turned from well, me, into what you are today." He stammered.
The Sapphire Dragon looked up and closed his eyes, and shuddered. The memories of the painful transition still incredible raw. The final fight with Snively, the five and a half years coma, that painfully turned him into this monster, the corrupting Power Rock, battling Robotnik both on and off the R.I.N. (The Robotnik Intelligence Network), sacrificing himself to finally rid the world of the Human and gaining the Deep Power Stones as a new power-source.
Yeah, brutal was a massive understatement. His thoughts turned back to Sally, as the tears fell. What would she make of all this? Would he ever see her again? Something was telling Saffie in the back of his mind, that he suspected not. Maybe it was for the best. She deserved so much better then him, and with real peace on his home world, he was just not needed there anymore. He now had the feeling for some time that this was now his destiny, to travel between the dimensions, doing wherever he could to help the good guys win. Suddenly, he felt the Dark Chaos Energy from the broken Master Emerald still trying to drain his Deep Power Stones again. That is if he gets out of this dimension alive, which was looking less and less likely.
He stumbled holding his chest, and immediately he was surrounded. He looked up to Angel island and saw the Master Emerald pieces explode out of the remains of the tall, black tower and drifting across the sky, congregate at the top of the alter on Angel island. Saffie frowned.
"What does it want?" He asked, desperately holding his chest. "The Master Emerald?" He stammered. Knuckles stared, going white and then gulped.
"With Eggman filling the Master Emerald with Dark Chaos Energy, without giving the gemstone the chance to neutralise it had left it extremely unstable. It's screaming. I can hear it, and it is desperately trying to destroy the Dark Chaos Energy within itself, but no longer had the strength. It needs a power source, and a vast one large enough to finish the job." He explained, but then he rounded on Saffie. "You." He spat. "You've brought Power Stones from your dimension with you, haven't you." He grilled. Saffie looked up, the colour draining from him, and nodded. Knuckles roared in sheer frustration. "You don't do that." He hissed. "Power Stones must stay in their own dimensions. But Eggman had managed to somehow combine the Chaos Energies in ways I never believed possible. We must restore the balance of power." He spat, but Saffie roared back at the Echidna, both louder and harder, causing him to back away. He growled. He was confused, somewhat defensive.
"Hey, we have none of this back in my dimension. The Master Emerald, the Chaos Emeralds, they don't exist, and what Power Stones we did have, are now all destroyed..." He cried, but he could immediately cut across by Sonic. He sighed.
"Except for the ones you now carry." He asked. Saffie nodded. But Knuckles huffed.
"Well, I'm afraid he can't keep them. He must sacrifice the Power Stones. They are our only Master Emerald will become more and more unstable until finally it completely collapses, and unleashes the last the Dark Chaos Energy on the world." He heaved. Suddenly everyone gasped, as Sonic grabbed his arms. He gulped.
"But Knuckles, that would completely destroy it." He stammered. Knuckles turned his long time companion, and nodded, tears now streaming down his face.
"Yes, it would." He sniffed and then he looked to Saffie, a deep pleading look on his face. They all looked at up him. Literally, he was so much bigger then them all. All absolutely desperate for him to save them. Saffie's eyes looked back at Angel island. He muttered under his breath, as he began to walk towards the floating island. He sighed, the Wisp's words rings in his ears yet again.
[This planet is in danger and only you have the power to save it.]
Saffie gritted his teeth, and nodded, more to himself then anything. He gulped.
"Thank you, Squidling. Now I finally understand what you need me to do." He heaved. To willingly give himself to the mighty gemstone to save this world. But he was overheard. Tails frowned.
"Squidling?" He asked, but Sonic shrugged, several people did having no idea what Saffie meant. But Tails did, it having an air of familiarity about it. Then it dawned on him, and hard. He gasped. "Hey, you've seen a Wisp!" He stammered, and suddenly, Sonic went absolutely white. He was well aware of the prophesies those little aliens had a nasty habit of giving and the deadly accuracy of them, having received several of them himself. Now he outright panicked.
"Saffie, where are the Power Stones?" He cried, fearing the absolutely worse. But Saffie, with his back to them, stopped and turned around, facing them. He smiled, he no longer feared anything anymore. If this was his destiny, then so be it. He grinned.
"I bet you've been wondering something." He pondered. "Saffie. Stupid name for a guy, wasn't it." He smirked. "A bit girly, don't you think." He giggled. They all just stared at him. He but his hands to his long black cloak and finally he removed it, allowing it to fall to the floor next to him. He was one incredible creature, as he stretched. Strong and powerful and if he was going to do this, then he may as well so it, absolutely true to himself. He looked at his counterpart and smiled. "Saffie was short for something far greater." He smirked, and his he finally did it, revealed his true self to them, and flicked his shoulders forwards, causing the open out fully and show their real spender his absolutely beautiful ten metre wide royal Blue Dragon wings. He stretched out his long tail, with it's secondary winds and fins on the end.
It felt so good. Having them cooped up beneath a cloak was never fun, they ached so badly, but Saffie felt he had to. These people just weren't ready. That was, until now. He watched them stare at him in awe. He laughed. But he had a job to do. He looked at them for the last time, and declared to them all, who he really was. He nodded.
"I am the Sapphire Dragon." He smiled and with that, he opened his wings very fast and with one very almighty large singular flap, powerfully took to the sky and was gone. If the Wisp knew who he was, then Saffie was certain that it would have told Sonic and his friends who he was too, especially if he really was the majesty they described him to be. As it turned out, yes, they had. The greatest 'Sonic' of them all. The King. Regardless, it immediately sent all of them running straight after him, right to Angel island.
Finally, Saffie was back in the air. This was where he belonged. He was a Dragon after all, but as he saw the Master Emerald get significantly worse aloft on his mighty wings, he knew what he had to do. Within minutes, he'd flown to Angel island and landed perfectly on the alter, right at the top, a few feet from the Master Emerald. He felt the excruciating pain once again as the Master Emerald again trying to grab for the Deep Power Stone, desperate for the energy. To drain them. But this time, Saffie didn't stop it. In fact, he threw his arms out, revealing his chest and torso, and declared to the badly broken giant gemstone his intensions. If he was a King, as declared by the Wisps, then time to act like one, and give his life for these people. He'd done it before, he could do again. Dying. It was so easy, it was the living, or more specifically, the fighting, he found the most difficult. He growled.
"If you want the Deep Power Stones, then come and get them." He shouted, and suddenly streams of pure red energy sprang out from shards of the Master Emerald and straight at the chest of the Sapphire Dragon. He screamed, as more and more streams kept coming. They were so powerful that they suspended him several feet into the air. The pain was horrendous, but he didn't fight it. Tears ran down his face, as all he could think of was Sally, and how proud she would be. Suddenly, he could hear voices behind him. Sonic and his friends had successfully made it to Angel island, unharmed. They screamed in horror but nothing could be done now for Saffie.
Within minutes, the streams of red energy began to disparate, as all of the energy had been successful drained, but Saffie stared at the Master Emerald with some intrigue as the balance was finally restored. The Master Emerald was successfully able to use the energy from the Deep Power Stones to neutralise the Dark Chaos Energy and then the mighty giant gemstone fully reformed itself, back to normal, a beautiful emerald colour. Saffie smirked.
"Green. I wasn't expecting that." He whispered, but truthfully, he was just mumbling, as his eyes rolled back into his head and he plummeted straight down into darkness. He crashed to the floor and toppled down the entire length of the stairs of the alter. He landed at the bottom was an almighty thud. Immediately he was surrounded, but as Sonic and his friends rolled him over, they immediately knew they were too late.
The Sapphire Dragon was dead.