Chapter Eight – Destiny
Saffie huffed. He was throughly unimpressed to be plunged into darkness yet again, but except this time he was the one in control. In the blackness, he could feel himself moving forwards, the Grid behind him. But the powerful simulation was grabbing out for him, but Saffie violently thrashed and kicked his legs, his temper flaring, finally freeing himself of the Grid's almighty grip. He'd throughly had enough of the dream world and desperately wanted out. He activated his Super-Speed and thrusted himself forwards, racing away, leaving the Grid far behind, until finally, he landed in something beautifully familiar. Home. His body. The Sapphire Dragon. He took a deep breath of the dank, stale air and never had anything so fowl felt so welcoming.
But Saffie was extremely clever. Years as a professional soldier. He knew his body was still bound, encased in chains, and that Robotnik was still around, he could smell him, so he kept his eyes shut and his body absolutely still despite being completely conscious. Once he got his bearings, Saffie immediately deactivated his Direct-Neuro Interface, the large sprocket on the back of his head. He wanted to make absolutely sure that Robotnik wasn't going to throw him back onto the Grid again. He also deactivated the wireless too. Password protected and locked them both. He was finally back in the real world and here was where he was staying.
His temper flared again, but patients was paramount. Timing was everything. He had to wait for the Freedom Fighters. He done his end of the bargain, now they had to do theirs. To get the Chosen One out and him up to the top of this very tower, where he was located. He pushed against his chains. The position of his hands hadn't changed and they were still chained only at the wrists. His hands and more specifically his knuckles were free to move. He quietly smirked as he silently tested the chains and realised that he could actually get free. But he was going to be painful. Extremely painful, but his utter hatred and anger towards Robotnik, especially at what he'd done to this world, far outweighed any pain.
But Saffie had to wait. Attack Robotnik too early and he'd immediately be surrounded by enormous flying Badniks, leading to a full blown assault and potentially missing the opportunity. Too late and the Freedom Fighters would be killed by Robotnik himself. This had to be done together. Sonic getting plugged into Robotnik's mind before the Badniks had a chance to attack, the virus shutting them as well as the Grid down. All Saffie could do was sit, wait and listen.
With his diversion, the Freedom Fighters successfully got Sonic out of the Grid, but finding his body in amongst the millions on the towers proved incredibly difficult as they lost his signal half way through the transition. The Chosen One was here, in the real world. The transition was successful, but where? Lupe swore as she woke up in the real world, along with the others. All eight of them safe. She panted at Tails.
"Find him!" She screamed, but the Fox was absolutely panicking.
"I have no idea what happened. We lost his signal. Something happened to the Grid halfway through the transition." He stammered. Suddenly he stared at the computer monitor, the Grid displayed in all it's glory upon it. He swore. "What the heck?" He gasped. Lupe looked at the monitor, but didn't really understand what she was looking at. This was the Fox's expertise. She frowned.
"What?" She asked. But Tails was completely dumbfounded, swearing again.
"There a hole in the Grid. It's going bonkers. It got torn just as we were getting the Chosen One out." He panted, staring, not believing what he was seeing. Lupe stared, now terrified. She been hacking the Grid all her life, and she had never seen this before.
"How?" She demanded. Tails gulped, and began rapidly tapping on his computer.
"I have no idea." He panted. "But the energy needed to do such a thing was immense." He explained, still tapping on the computer. But Lupe frowned.
"What kind of energy?" She wondered, then it dawned on her. Speed. Then she gasped.
"Saffie!" She breathed, but she got immediately cut across by Tails. He was jumping for joy. He squealed.
"I found him, the Chosen One. Got his signal back. It's actually quite close by." He exclaimed and immediately gave the Freedom Fighters directions to the exact tower and pod as to where to find him. Six of the left as Tails and Lupe were left behind. All they could do now was pray, that they would find the Chosen One first before the Badniks did. Tails looked back to the Grid, but all signs of Saffie were gone, vanished, not that there was much to see of him anyway. He sighed, terrified.
The Freedom Fighters were putting their faith and their entire planet in this speedster, who had somehow managed to rip the Grid to pieces in the process. Thankfully, Robotnik was still oblivious to it, so they still had the element of surprise. But would it be enough, and would Saffie even be there? How could one singular Blue Hedgehog take on the might that was Robotnik? They have to get the Chosen One up that tower, as soon as his comrades find him, but Tails smirked. That part of the plan was already sorted.
A long time ago, he'd hijacked one of the larger flying Bagniks, he found partially destroyed on the ground, and left for dead. He repaired the machine, the damage very superficial, hollowed out the inside by removing the weaponry and now the Freedom Fighters use it was a perfect flying transport, hiding in plain sight against Robotnik. They had taken it now to fetch the Chosen One. But time was not on their side. The three days was almost up.
Normally it takes days, sometimes weeks to rehabilitate someone into the real world from the Grid, but the Chosen One was going to have a matter of hours, if that. But truthfully, all he had to do was stay awake, as he needed to be when he was plugged into the server. The Freedom Fighters and Saffie would do the rest. After what felt like an age, finally, the Freedom Fighters returned triumphant, with a Blue Hedgehog covered in red goo and black wiring, wrapped in blankets in their arms. Thankfully, they had not been seen.
But Sonic was in a very bad way, drifting in and out of consciousness. His body was very thin and bedraggled, his long Blue quills, now super soft after a lifetime in the red goo, were dangling down, all broken and torn. But the disruption to his transition had taken an enormous toll on his mind, and now it was severely struggling to cope. But despite everything as Tails tested him, the 'Freedom Code' he processed was somehow still intact and uncorrupted. Relieved, the virus was ready to use.
But the Freedom Fighters weren't giving up on their precious Chosen One, and rudely shook him awake. Lupe growled.
"Come on, Chosen One. Stay with us." She pleaded. Sonic heard her voice in the distance and through the darkness, opened his eyes. Very blurry at first, they quickly cleared. He stared at the female Wolf.
"Hey, I know you." He wheezed, his voice incredibly cracked. Lupe smiled, but was eager to move on. She nodded.
"Yes. Chosen One. Your in the real world. Are you with us?" She asked, desperate to know. The Freedom Fighters needed Sonic to tell them he was alright and that his mind hadn't cracked with the transition. Sonic frowned and lifted his head, looking around. He felt dizzy but quickly shook it off. He recognised everyone there, except the Fox, but they had told Sonic about him, and the real world he was about to enter into. He hadn't believed any of it, but throughout darkness of the whole transition and it's screwup, a certain black-eyed Blue Hedgehog's words had been swimming his head the entire time.
'Yes, you are a hero. You just don't believe it yet.'
Sonic continued to look around and finally his mind settled on this reality. Yes, he was a hero and now he was beginning to believe. He nodded to Lupe's question and asked to be put down, and stood there, swaying a little, still wrapped in the blankets. Seeing and feeling all the black wires sticking in and out of his body felt so weird, as well as the large sprocket of the Direct-Neuro Interface in the back of his head. In fact, all The Freedom Fighters had one. They were all looking at him in awe. He gone from zero to hero in a matter of hours. From a stupid kid at a Skate Park, to a high speed get away driver, saving everyone on the Grid, to now, the Chosen One, his destiny. He was panting heavily, still trying to take it all in. But it wasn't over yet, as Sonic quickly realised that someone was missing.
"Hey, where's Saffie?" He asked, his voice still cracked. But Lupe grabbed his arm. She heaved.
"Waiting for us at the top of the highest tower." She explained, but got cut across by Tails. He growled.
"You hope." He huffed. But Lupe rounded on him.
"Regardless, we don't have much time." She spat. Tails nodded, turning to Sonic.
"Agreed." He breathed. "Chosen One, you have to go. The transport was ready, and take these." He added, giving him a full set of clothes, black camouflage gear. Sonic took them in one single shaking outstretched hand and gulped, looking terrified, but Lupe grabbed both his shoulders. She smiled.
"We're all coming with you."
Saffie had been lying on that metal table, still bound, for what felt like hours, and the chains were both painful and grating on his temper hugely. Now his patients was wearing incredibly thin. He still lay there completely still, eyes closed, and had felt motion around him. Robotnik, doing something to him. Painfully too, but it failed, obviously, as Saffie wasn't going to allow any Human to rule over him. But he kept his ears open, pricked to the slightest sound. He could hear slight movement and grunting in the far corner of the roof of the tower. Robotnik, doing who knows what, along with the hum of flying Badniks all around him, but the Freedom Fighters, still nothing. Until he finally heard it. It sounded like a standard Flying Badnik, but the distinct tone of the machine was different. Like it had been altered, not carrying quite so much weight, like ammo. Saffie's heart leapt, it meant only one thing. The Badnik in question had been highjacked, meaning the Freedom Fighters were one their way. Did they have the Chosen One? Saffie had no idea but he had to trust that they had and put his faith in them.
Time to make his presence felt with Robotnik. Saffie gritted his teeth, of his mighty Sapphire Dragon body, feeling his long sharp fangs dig into his gums. Anger like nothing he'd ever felt before rapidly swelled up inside of him. He open his eyes, the iris' glowing bright vivid green, and he roared. The darkness within him expanded far beyond his control as a dark blue aura appeared all round him. This still wasn't his dimension, but he no longer cared about doing the right thing. He wanted Robotnik's head. He wanted him gone, for what he'd done. The horrors of the Grid along with the entrapment of the population, put this Robotnik beyond the realm of evil, this was total embodiment of pure blackness, both feared and loathed. Finally, he completely lost control, becoming the very monster everyone feared him to be, with fire in his eyes and saliva dripping from his fangs.
He exploded all six of his foot long silver Adamantium knives, three straight out of his knuckles, as he was only tied at the wrists and proceeded to slice at the chains. He cut them from his body but he was left severely gashed in the process. But the chains were tied to tightly around his body and wings, that in order to get free, Saffie physically ripped the skin in between the spins of his wings. His secondary wings and tail fins too. All absolutely shredded. The sound of tearing skin and snapping metal tendons filling the air. He screamed, the tears streaming. It was excruciating painful. The pain alone would have been enough knock him out if it wasn't for the pure anger that was fueling him right now. That was the utter hatred he felt the for the Robotnik of this world and what he had done to the people.
Blood and oil were sprayed everywhere from his body, as his powerfully surged his forwards. Both fast and powerful, he saw Robotnik ahead of him the other end of the top of the tower. Still slicing at the chains, his Adamantium knives cut through them like butter, and Robotnik only noticed he was free, when Saffie physically ripped the twist sprocket with it's dangerous foot long spike, from the back of his head. It was dug itself into Saffie's Direct-Neuro Interface and twisted into place. It was painful. The twist sprocket wasn't an exact perfect fit, and it had claws which dug into his scalp, which drew large chucks of flesh and wiring as he forced it from his head.
Now Saffie was in so much pain, he could barely stay standing, as he stood opposite his arch nemesis. He was violently shaking with pain and anger, his body pouring with blood and oil from his internal robotisations. Robotnik was absolutely dumbfounded.
'How did the monster get free?' He immediately thought, but he didn't get a chance to even react as Saffie just went for him. The Sapphire Dragon got the element of surprise he waited hours for. Time to take full advantage of it. The Human looked exactly as Saffie remembered.
He wasa tall human man of imposing girth with a light complexion. He possesses a bald, conical head, a dark orange and long mustache under his nose and black eyes with red irises. He used to be partially robotised, resulting in his left arm from the shoulder and down to be completely robotic. In the place of his ears, he had small metallic stubs. Robotnik's usual attire consists of a jumpsuit that was red above the waist and black below, with yellow lines spanning up, down and around his body, grey leggings, black-and-red boots, wide, red shoulder pads, a black sleeve on his human arm, a yellow cape and grey gloves.
Except now, he was silvery metallic from head to foot, all of his flesh replaced and not a single piece of organic tissue left in him, unlike Saffie. Purely robotic, not a Cyborg, and as Saffie could see, very clumsy. It was obvious that his Badniks had always fought his wars for him, and therefore a one-on-one fight against the pure might that was the Sapphire Dragon, Robotnik alone had got nothing.
But Sapphire Dragon had got only a matter of minutes before he was surrounded, and be completely overwhelmed by huge flying Badniks. But he was completely gone. He temper exploded, and realised that the last time his temper was this bad was when the Power Rock completely corrupted on him, but he had no intension of stopping himself. The dark blue aura all around him grew deeper and the iris' and pupils of his eyes completely vanished. Throwing off the last of his chains, Saffie immediately went straight for a now outright panicking Robotnik and at super high speed, thrust himself forward, roaring like a tiger, his six of his foot long silver Adamantium knives, three sticking out of his knuckles right into the chest of the filthy Human. Robotnik screamed his terror, as the knives sliced straight through his huge metallic body. It seemed that Adamantium wasn't only the strongest and hardest metal in Saffie's dimension but all of them, as he turned his knives to the side and outwards and proceeded with a one final huge roar of anger sliced the Human completely in half.
Saffie sliced him with such forced that the two half were thrown at opposite ends of the roof, leaving the Sapphire Dragon in the middle. Heavily panting, and still in chronic pain, almost of the verge of collapse. The two halves of Robotnik's body were violent spasming, desperately trying to retain the power that was now rapidly draining from them. Suddenly, all was quiet, but Saffie knew that this was just the calm before the storm, as Robotnik body finally became still, finally it was all over. But the Sapphire Dragon his been in so much pain and so angry that he hadn't noticed he'd been watched the entire time.
The Freedom Fighters were there, stood on top of their hijacked flying Badnik and had witnessed the pure horror of the entire incredibly brutal fight. All of them, including the Chosen One, Sonic, stood there absolutely white and terrified. Saffie was still heaving. Growled loudly under his breath. He only heard the Freedom Fighter's when someone finally spoke.
"Monster!" She hissed. It was Lupe, unable to believe what she'd just seen. Saffie closed his eyes, them finally returning to normal, in total and utter shame as he turned around. He didn't even give Robotnik a chance to react, to fight back. It was almost cold blood murder, even if he was a machine. He heaved. His wings were so shredded that the leftover spines just dragged on the floor, leaving a trail of blood and oil. Enormous gashes in his torso and back, were so deep, they had cut through his t-shirt and skin, and right down to his robotised muscle and silvery Adamantium bones beneath. His Adamantium skeleton was the only reason why his wings weren't broken. His bones were stronger then the chains.
To say your a Cyborg was one thing, to actually see with your own eyes was quite another, and Saffie's body was a cyborised organism composed of living tissue over an Adamantium skeleton with organs and muscles mecanised to some degree. With his severe injuries, that was now very clear to see.
Saffie turned to face the Freedom Fighters, still violently shaking, with a look of pure guilt, his dark blue aura finally vanishing. They were all shaking with fright, right at him. Finally, their eyes met, for the first time in the real world. Sonic, now fully dressed in black camouflage gear, all his wiring removed, looked at the giant Blue Hedgehog, a Dragon, a monster. He gulped.
"Saffie?" He stammered, absolutely desperate not to be wrong. What had happened to his counterpart? How could he be so brutal? But there was no time to talk, and suddenly there were surrounded, Badniks everywhere. But right there and then, Lupe didn't care as she grabbed the Chosen One, before anyone could stop her, by the scruff of the neck and rather violently threw him onto the roof of the tower. Sonic screamed, being on that roof was the lasted place he wanted to be. Saffie objected, but could barely move with the pain, since his anger dissipated. Then incredibly quickly Lupe grabbed a double-ended long-point twist sprocket, and thrusted one end into the back of Sonic's head, and then the other into the back of Robotnik's. Sonic eye's immediately glowed as connection was made and established.
But suddenly he screamed, and grabbed his head, and suddenly the Chosen One, collapsed straight to the ground, completely cold and motionless. But suddenly everything stopped. It was instantly eerily quiet. The Badniks, the towers, the Grid, everything. They all gulped.
Saffie, forgetting his pain, ran for Sonic only to find Lupe between them, thrusting weapon at him. She growled.
"Back off, Monster." She hissed, but Saffie was about to object, when they both got cut across by Tails. He'd been examining Sonic, who was still on the floor. Thankfully, he successfully released the virus. He heaved.
"It's the 'Freedom Code'." He exclaimed. "It's working." He cheered, but there all of sudden everything sprang into life again, and the Badniks surrounding suddenly armed themselves, ready to fire. Lupe panicked.
"Tails." She screamed. But Tails was working rapidly and then swore.
"No, no, no." He panted. "It's the Grid. It's fighting the 'Freedom Code'. It's hadbecome sentient and was refusing to free the people. It now had complete control of everything." He panicked. Suddenly, they were being shot at by the Badniks, being controlled by the Grid, forcing the Freedom Fighters to run for their lives. Saffie was desperate to help, but Lupe charged him back.
Suddenly, thunder exploded in the clouds above, and lightning struck the directly behind them. At the point of the strike, a deep purple inter-dimensional portal, appeared. Then finally Lupe realised that the monster of a Blue Hedgehog in front of her was indeed the same incredible Blue Hedgehog that saved them all on the Grid. She screamed as bullets were flying everywhere. The Freedom Fighters dragged the still unconscious Chosen One on board their transport. Saffie panicked, desperate to help, he had no idea if Sonic was alive or dead, but Lupe stopped him, pointing at the portal.
"Go!" She shouted. "This wasn't your fight." She growled and ran for the transport, just as was shot at by missiles and torpedoes, disappearing out of sight, surrounded by fire and smoke. Still with bullets flying in his own direction and having no idea how long the portal would last, Saffie had no choice but to run for it, diving for the deep purple ring, very reluctantly moving onto the next dimension, wherever that may lead.