Chapter 123: The Power of Sol - Part 5

Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Team Rose has an encounter with three of their worst nightmares. Though a tough fight, their experience and battle prowess had managed to overwhelm them. Especially after Amy obtained her own Super transformation, Paladin Amy. Now with two Eyes of Solaris destroyed, it is up to Sally and Silver to finish up and hope their plan works.

Starring:

Sally Acorn - Princess of Acorn
Silver the Hedgehog - Hero from the Future
Mephiles the Dark - Manipulating Darkness
Jenni Robotnik - Vain Queen of a Regime

Jenni's Escape Train - Tunnel

*On the speeding bullet train leading from White Acropolis, a cup of tea is served by Maw to Jenni, who was relaxing as the monitor saw the expanding darkness that had engulfed Soleanna.*

Jenni: "My. It seems that Mephiles wasn't entirely fibbing about his abilities once he obtained Iblis. And it seems that darkness is rapidly expanding faster by the minute. Soon, our entire world will be nothing short of dead."

Maw: "Shall we escape, milady?"

Jenni: "Hmm... We'll consider it. But right now, the possibility only remains in the heroes' favor. After all, what's an inferior creation of a madman to a bunch of furry knock offs?"

Maw: "And should they fail?"

Jenni: "Then we escape."

*Jenni then presses a button on her throne, releasing a drone outside that flies toward the expanding darkness.*

Maw: "A drone?"

Jenni: "While I did give my word to Mephiles... I never said he could destroy that which belongs to me. Power shall be mine and some second rate villain isn't going to out do me."

Maw: "I see. Very well..."

Jenni: "I just decided to give those heroes...a little motivation. Leave nothing to chance."

End of the World - Sally's Party

*In the final part of the strange void that Solaris calls his lair, Sally and Silver look around to find a rather dark and twisted amalgamation of Crisis City and Flame Core, flaming swirls of lava and bits of a volcano intermixed with what used to be city streets and buildings perpectually hanging in the air as Iblis creatures make their nests. While this didn't seem to bother Sally beyond just giving her chills, Silver remembered this place very vividly...as the last place he saw his brother, Bronze.*

Sally: "Hey, Silver... You alright? You've been quiet for a while."

Silver: "Yeah... I'm...alright..."

*Sally didn't buy it, looking at Silver with a look of concern before the two land on a large piece of land that had the strongest energy Silver could sense.*

Silver: "The energy interference is coming from around here... I think we should split up and find it."

Sally: "Silver... Are you sure that's a good idea? You don't seem-"

Silver: "I'm fine, Sally! Let's just hurry up, get this done, and beat that thing..."

*Before Sally could say anymore, Silver flew off, separating himself from Sally and leaving her quite concerned. She stared on, unable to follow him before she sighed.*

Sally: "Great... We do need to stick together, but whatever is eating up at him is..."

*Sally then turns on her hard light blades as she turns to see a tiny drone. Harmless it seemed like.*

Sally: "Uh?"

*As she stared at the drone, the drone turned on its single eye and projected a figure, one that had Sally on guard for certain.*

Sally: "You! Jenni!"

Jenni: "My, aren't we spooked?"

*Jenni grins, adjusting her glasses as glares appear over eyes.*

*With Silver, he began to float a while before descending down to an arena that once housed Iblis in his time. And where Bronze met his last...*

Silver: "Bronze... Gold... After all we went through... Why did things end up like this...? I... I can't go on like this... Gold almost died to that monster... Master hates me for what I almost did... Why is my life so shitty!?"

Voice: "Doubt... Misery... Pain... Truly, these are thoughts that plague your fragile mind, boy..."

Silver: "Who...?"

*Silver turns and sees a familiar figure. One he hadn't seen since the raid on the Children of Ixis' base... Mephiles the Dark.*

Silver: "What do you want?"

Mephiles: "To offer you a way to end the misery you feel."

*Sally glares at the holographic image of her enemy, her hard light blades still at the ready.*

Jenni: "Oh do put away your toys, I am not here to do you any harm...this time anyway. Not like you can slice a hologram."

Sally: "What do you want, Jenni?"

Jenni: "To help...in a manner of speaking."

*Sally is a bit put off by this, but still stands ready.*

Jenni: "First things first... Let me get this out of the way, you losing against that thing that claims to be a god would greatly do me harm as it would mean the world is under someone else's command, rather than my and Ivo's own. In a way, I am helping you to benefit myself, but also it would mean the world would be safe for another day. Wouldn't that be incentive enough to at least lay down our arms?"

Sally: "..."

*Sally looks at Jenni before sighing, turning off her blades. She crosses her arms, agreeing to a truce.*

Sally: "Very well. So tell me... What is it you have to offer to defeat Solaris?"

Jenni: "Plenty. Though I must ask what you know about this miserable excuse for a god."

Sally: "Not a lot. Agatha told us her plan to use the Sol Emeralds to seal away Solaris into the void, but..."

Jenni: "That won't do."

Sally: "What?"

Jenni: "Let me put in a scenario... You seal away Solaris in the void... And then what? Leave him to your descendants to deal with when he inevitably breaks out, either by himself or by someone's stupidity in magic. You are essentially sweeping the problem under the rug."

Sally: "So... You're telling us to destroy Solaris here and now?"

Jenni: "Basically. Now... Have you found that little princess brat yet?"

Sally: "Elise...is with Solaris..."

Jenni: "Good. Makes things...slightly easier. Now then..."

Sally: "Is this the part where you suggest a plan that'll get Elise killed? Because that is a no automatically."

*Jenni stares at Sally with a very annoyed look before grabbing her cup just off screen and sipping it.*

Jenni: "Fine, furry. Then how about this?"

*Back with Silver, Mephiles begins to circle around the silver hedgehog, continuing their talk.*

Silver: "What are you talking about...? My master told me not to listen to you and-"

Mephiles: "But did she consider what you have gone through? What was sacrificed for you to come this far? What you lost?"

Silver: "I... She..."

Mephiles: "Bronze? Gold? Both of them have lost their lives protecting you. And Agatha seemed to not care. She instead stopped you... Scolded you... For trying to save your future..."

Silver: "But if I...killed Elise..."

Mephiles: "You'd be doing the world a favor. Those who wish to fight would be gone...leaving only those who want peace..."

*Silver began to consider it. There was some logic behind Mephiles' words. The idea that peace could be achieved through war... If he had just...*

Silver: "No! It's wrong! Master had a plan! She had a plan to save my future and Elise! I..."

Mephiles: "But it would prolong your suffering... What would Gold think?"

*Mephiles grabbed Silver by his shoulders as a mirage of Gold dying as Metallix held her by her head. He then tossed her aside as he set his sights on Silver.*

Silver: "G-Gold..."

*Iblis then arose from the pit nearby, Bronze in his magma filled mouth, crushing the poor boy as Iblis stares down at Silver.*

Silver: "B-Bronze..."

Mephiles: "What will you do, boy?"

Silver: "...I..."

*Silver's mind flashed the memories of everything he lost. His parents, his siblings, and his adoptive mother... All of them gone because of him...*

Mephiles: "For all you know... It is no use."

*Those four words cause Silver to finally hit over the edge of his sanity. Mephiles chuckles as he summons the Eye of Solaris in front of Silver. The hedgehog reaches for it and begins to bond with it, absorbing its dark energy. Mephiles vanishes with a smirk as dark energy erupts from Silver, alerting the other parties of the disturbance.*

Sally: "What!? Silver!?"

Jenni: "Well... That's not good. According to my drone's sensors, a large collection of corrupted Chaos energy has suddenly materialized. ...Might need to sacrifice someone after all."

*Jenni smiles a bit as Sally glares back at her before then running off. The human just adjusts her glasses as she smiles.*

Jenni: "Things got more interesting. But let us see what develops."

*Sally runs to the end before finding a sliced apart Iblis and destroyed Metallix on the ground, vanishing into black smoke. She then looks up to see a black hedgehog, floating in the air with a corrupt aura around him. Dark Silver...*

Sally: "Oh no... I-It's Dark Sonic all over..."

*Dark Silver turns to Sally, seeing her as an enemy before lifting a hand. Several spikes float up around him before he launches them at Sally, readying to skewer her. But just before they do... They explode into shards of rock as Shadow and Agatha warp in front of the chipmunk, their friends rejoining to confront their friend-turned-enemy...*

To be continued...