Chapter Seven - The Sword is Forged
Rahn stood like a stone statue as the six chaotix charged towards him, an imovable object. Knuckles and Rouge both jumped into the air and glided over him in order to get his attention. They did, but not in the way they were planning. Knuckles was knocked down by the blunt side of Rahn's sword, but Rouge wing caught the tip and was punctured, causing her to drop towards the ground. However, Rahn forgot about the other four, and received a devastating blow the threw him into a nearby wall.
"You okay, Rouge?" asked Knuckles.
"Ya, I'm fine. But he's managed to ground me for the time being" said Rouge.
"Look out guys, here he comes!" yelled Charmy. Rahn got up, jumped into the air and started flying around the room. A weapon of some kind popped out of his wrist and he took aim. Knuckles remembered Shadow mentioning this weapon.
"Everyone! Take cover Now!" yelled Knuckles.
"Eat tetryon, vermin!" Rahn opened fire and started blanketing the room with tetryon pulses. Using the secondary fire, many of the pulses ricocheted off of the walls and floor. The chaotix scattered and tried to take cover behind anything they could find, parts of the floor shattering closely behind them. Rahn was laughing like a maniac.
"Hey, Rahn! Behind ya!"
Rahn turned and saw Knuckles punch right in his left eye, cracking it a little. Then, Knuckles punched the side of his hull, puncturing it due to his knuckles. Knuckles brought both his arms up and slammed both fists on top of Rahn's head, sending him back towards the ground.
"Way'da go, Knux!" yelled Charmy.
"Ya, show him who's boss!" said Julie-Su.
Knuckles landed next to the small crater that Rahn had created. The mechabot slowly got up and glared at the echidna. Rahn lifted his poncho a bit so he could see the wound Knuckles had made. "I commend you for being the first one to damage me, but it does not matter how many gashes or punctures you put into me, they won't slow me down."
Rahn looked back down at his wound as it slowly began to close up. A few of the wires hanging out pulled themselves back in and reconneted themselves, and his hull completely closed up. Rahn smirked back at Knuckles, whos eyes were about to pop out of his head.
"That..that's impossible! Robots can't heal!" yelled Knuckles.
"That is correct, they can't. But the inside of my hull is lined with specially designed microscopic machines that can repair any internal damage I suffer more quickly than by regular mechanical means. It also seals up my hull if it gets damaged in any way, too. Can't say the same for my eyes though. But, oh'well" said Rahn.
"Okay, maybe this will be harder than I first thought" said Julie-Su.
"Really? Ya think?" said Rouge.
"Shut up!"
Rahn, still holding his sword since the beginning of the fight, brought it back and threw it. The sword started to circle around the room like a boomerang, with Rahn controlling it with his phychic abilities.
"Duck!" yelled Mighty as the sword flew above him and Rouge. It then came towards Knux and Julie-Su, but they managed to duck to the side and get away from it. Then it came towards Charmy and Tikal. Charmy managed to get out of the way. Tikal ducked away just in time, but the sword had cut off two locks of her hair. The sword came back to Rahn and he caught swiftly.
Tikal noticed her dreadlocks on the ground, and started to burn with anger. She picked her hair up, and screamed, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"AAAAHHHH!!! That's it! I'm taking you down, you armor covered tin-can!"
Tikal charged at Rahn and started to attack. Rahn wasn't quick enough to start blocking, and Tikal was punching and kicking faster than any of the chaotix could see. Rahn was taking numerous dents in his hull, if this echidna kept on attacking like this he could possibly be defeated. He refused to let that happen. Tikal backflipped into the air and kicked Rahn right in the chin, sending him backwards into the air and landing on his stomach a few feet away. Tikal's hands and feet ached from hitting Rahn so hard, but she didn't care, he deserved it.
"Wow, remind me not to piss her off" said Mighty.
Tikal walked over to Rahn intent on finishing the job. Rahn's orange eyes blinked back to life, and he activated his hover skates, severly burning Tikal's legs.
"OOOOWWW!!!" Tikal fell down on the ground, unable to stand. Rahn flipped back up and gave her a good kick to the side of the her head, knocking her out.
"Never let your guard down." Rahn turned towards the remainder of the chaotix. "It's time we put an end to this." He sheathed his sword, then flicked both of his wrists. "I have a couple of sonic grenades here for ya" said Rahn as he threw the two devises at their feet. "Eat'em and weep!!!" yelled Rahn as he took off towards the ceiling for safety.
"Move!" yelled Rouge. However, it was to late. The devises exploded, but nothing happened. All of them looked quizically at the remains of the grenades.
"Must have been duds" said Charmy. A few seconds later, there was a sonic explosion, sending all five of them across the room, severly injured.
"Sonic wave technology my friends, pretty cool, huh?" said Rahn as he landed. Everyone groaned and lifted their heads towards Rahn. "Now, if you'll exmuse me." said Rahn, pulling out his photon burst weapon "I have some chaos emeralds to collect." Rahn aimed at the chambers' hidden door and fired, leaving a sizable hole in it. Rahn walked inside while Knuckles did his best to crawl towards the hidden chamber.
Rouge took noticed of Knuckles. "Knux, are you crazy or something? He'll kill you if you go in there."
"I.can't. let. him.get.those.emeralds" said Knuckles. Rouge shook her head, and followed suit with Knuckles, the others slowly started doing the same.
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Rahn entered the chamber and smiled. Before him on a pedistal sat the seven chaos emeralds. He calmly walked over towards the emeralds, the emerald of power in hand. The chaos emeralds were glowing brightly in reaction to Rahn's emerald. Rahn stood next to the emeralds, wondering what to do next.
"Well, I've finally got the emeralds. Now, how do I go about making this sword. I can't melt them down because their indestructable, so that's out of the question. Maybe I'm supposed to."
As Rahn continued on, he failed to notice his sword slowly unsheath itself and float into the air. The sword slowly rose above the chaos emeralds and floated there. Rahn noticed this, then felt the emerald of power slowly tug away from his hand.
'Hmm.maybe this is what's supposed to happen" thought Rahn. He released his emerald, and it slowly rose toward his sword. The sword completely absorbed the emerald of power, and the chaos emeralds, all at once, rose into the air and started to circle the blade. Rahn was recording the whole thing into his memory so he could show Dr. Robotnik later. The emeralds slowly closed in around the sword, still dancing in a circle through the air. The emeralds were absorbed into the sword, and then there was a sudden flash of blue light. Rahn sheilded his eyes as best he could. The light slowly died away, and Rahn removed his hand. There, hovering before him, was his sword. But it looked different now.
It was still double bladed, but the hilt had turned into solid gold and had seven different colored emeralds on each side of it, the same colors as the chaos emeralds. The blade itself had become emerald as well. It was a clear blue, so clear you could see right through it! It also had a blue flame that lined the sword's sharp edges. Rahn grinned in delight. He had the Sword of Chaos.
Rahn reached out and took the weapon. When he did, all kinds of knowledge about the chaos emeralds flowed to his mind. In just a few short seconds, he learned everything he could do with the sword of chaos. Even attackes that you couldn't do without the sword. He learned everything. There was also something else, a flashback.
Rahn was suddenly seeing what appeared to be an organic version of himself, at around age six. He watched the little hedgehog running hand in hand with a squiral down a war torn street. He carefully followed the two and watched.
'What the heck is going on here?' he thought. He continued to tail the two. They appeared to be trying to escape from the battle ruined city. All of the sudden, a piece of burning wreckage fell from a building, causing the two to jump to different sides. The squiral dived into an ally, while the six year old purple hedgehog dived back into the street. Rahn continued watching.
"Sally!" yelled the hedgehog. "Are you alright!"
"I'm fine!" yelled back Sally. "Listen, go on without me, I'll meet you on the border line of the forest. Okay!?"
"No, I'm not leaving unless you come with me!"
"Rahn, go! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! You get out of here!"
The hedgehog wiped a few tears from his eyes and nodded. Then, he started to run out of the city. Rahn trailed his smaller organic self into the forest. He saw the hedgehog wait up in a tall branch of a tree. Two hours went by, and the squiral had not yet arrived. The small hedgehog started to sob heavily. Then, he climbed down and walked into the forest. That's when everything faded out.
Rahn was back inside the hidden palace, still holding the sword of chaos. "I remember that" said Rahn. "But from where? And why was Sally Accorn there?" Rahn went into deep thought. Then, his thoughts were interrupted by a call from the door.
"Don't even move!"
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Knuckles saw the bright flash of blue light come out of the hole in the door. He knew that could mean only one thing, he failed. However, he still continued to crawl towards the door. The others watched the facinating blue light burst from the door, completely awe struck. As Knuckles slowly got back up to his feet, th elight died away. Carefully, he walked towards the entrance to the hidden chamber and looked inside.
He saw Rahn holding a blue colored blade with blue flames licking up and down the sword. It had a gold hilt with seven emeralds embeded with in it. Knuckles was suddenly hit be a surge of power. Being able to hone in on the energies of the master emerald and the chaos emeralds was useful for tracking them down, but Knuckles could also tell the amount of energy they gave off. This sword was giving off a lot of it!
'He's forged the sword" thought Knuckles. 'If I'm to stop him, it needs to be now!'
Knuckles slowly started walking into the hidden chamber and called out to Rahn. "Don't even move!"
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Rahn turned around and faced the guardian. 'Hmm, a blast like that should have knocked him out or even killed him. He's much stronger than I thought.' Rahn, completely forgetting about the flashback, got ready to attack.
"I'm not going to let you leave here, Rahn. Stay here, and I'll contact the freedom fighters. They'll be able to help you" said Knuckles
Rahn just scoffed. "Help me with what! Saving my time and coming here to surrender?"
Knuckles shook his head. "No, listen! Robotnik could care less about you or anyone else! He's only using you for that sword! If you join the freedom fighters, we can cure you from the robotization and we can take down Robotnik!"
"Bah! I'm tired of listening to you, echidna! And, I'm tired of hanging around here! I have completed my mission, and now, I must depart!" Rahn brought the sword of chaos into a slashing position, the blue flame on it growing larger and the blade becoming a brightening light blue. Then, he yelled out a move Knuckles had never heard before.
"CHAOS SLASH!!!" Rahn slashed the sword through the air, a wave of chaos energy emitting from the blade and flying forward. The attack was so quick that Knuckles barely had enough time to get out of the way, resulting in having his shoulder cut a bit from the 'sharp' energy wave. The chaos slash cut through one of the three pillars in the room that held the ceiling up. Thus, the small chamber started to cave in.
Debris was falling everywhere and Kncukles realized he had to get out of the chamber. He started to run as fast as his injured body could carry him outside to the master emerald chamber. Knux glanced back over his shoulder and saw Rahn toss the sword up into the air, it glowing a brilliant white light, caught it and yelled "CHAOS CONTROL!!!" and vanished.
Knuckles dived out of the chamber just as it collapsed. Dust flew everywhere from the collapseing chamber, resulting in everyone inside the master emerald chamber to cough from the debris. Julie-Su finally stopped coughing and noticed Knuckles lying on the ground. She quickly ran over to help her lover to his feet.
"You okay, Knux?" she asked.
Knuckles coughed a bit more and nodded. "I'm fine, but I didn't stop him. He attacked me with a move called 'chaos slash' and escaped using the chaos control." Knuckles slowly sat back down on the ground and sighed. "Now he has the sword of chaos, and the location of Knothole." At that moment, Vector and Espio walked in and saw the carnage the large chamber had taken from the battle.
"Whoa. What'd we miss?" asked Vector as he looked over to the crater the grenades had created earlier.
"Not much" said Mighty.
"Just Rahn coming in and kicking our butts" said Charmy.
Espio took noticed of the debris in the adjecent chamber and walked over to it. "So, what did you guys do? Bury him under all of that?" asked Espio and he kicked away one of the rocks lying around.
"No" said Rouge. "He managed to get away with the sword of chaos seconds before it collapsed."
"Aw, man!" yelled Vector. Chaos arrived a few minutes later, and also surveyed the damage. Then, he noticed Tikal lying on the ground. He walked over to her and jostled her a bit. She slowly woke up, and started rubbing her head.
"Wha? What happened?" asked Tikal to nobody in perticular.
"I'll explain it to you later, Tikal. Right now, we need to get to Knothole and warn them. Hopefully, Robotnik won't do anything right away" said Knuckles, grabbing his shoulder to keep it from bleeding.
"Come on, Knuckles. We need to patch that shoulder up" said Julie-Su
"I'll fix it when we are in Knothole" said Knuckles. He then glanced towards the super emerald pedistals. "I need to shrink those down to a miniature size. Sonic might need them in case Rahn shows up" He walked towards the super emeralds, one by one, and shrunk the down to about the size of a chaos emerald. "Everyone, grab an emerald" commanded Knuckles. Mighty, Charmy, Espio, Vector, Rouge, and Julie-Su picked up a super emerald, and Knuckles picked up the last one.
"Okay, guys. Let's get going." All of the chaotix marched towards a nearby teleporter and jumped in one by one, heading for Knothole.
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Robotnik was sitting in his command chair watching a football game between the Station Square Hedgehogs and the River Base Saber Cats. He reached for a handfull of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth when the Saber Cats made a touchdown. This is just solid proof that Robotnik has nothing better to do during his spare time. Metal Sonic and Robo-Knux just watched their master's bizzare bahavior, wondering how he could enjoy something like football when he could be robotisizing all the prisoners that were lined up for the robotization process.
Robotnik would be mechasizing them, but a few of the capacitors blew when the did it to Rahn, and Snively was making slow progress on reparing it. Robotnik reached for another handfull of popcorn when his team scored the extra point, but he was startled when Rahn appeared in front of him with a brilliant flash of light. Robotnik about jumped out of his chair, nearly knocking his popcorn off of the arm rest. Then, he realized it was Rahn.
"Rahn! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack!?" yelled Robotnik.
"We wish" whispered Mecha and R.K. at the same time.
"My apologies, sir. But I have wonderful news!" said Rahn.
"Really, what kind of news?" asked Robotnik, rather agitated that Rahn was standing between him and the tv.
"Aren't you curious as to how I used the chaos control and appeared here in front of you?" said Rahn.
"Hmm.yes, how did you." Robotnik stopped right there, just now realizing what Rahn was saying.
"Do you mean you have the.?" Rahn nodded and showed the sword of chaos to Robotnik. It didn't have a blue flame on it anymore, but it was sufficient enough to please Robotnik.
"Excellent work, Rahn! You have done me proud!" said Robotnik. Rahn bowed and sheathed the sword of chaos. "Thank you, sir. However, I wish to repair myself before I engage in destroying Knothole Village. The Chaotix did, somewhat, of a number on my hull and visual receptors" said Rahn.
"Oh, trouble with the chaotix, huh?" said Mecha. Rahn glared at Metal Sonic, but decided that he'd deal with him later.
"Very well then, Rahn. Go get repairs then report back to me. Once my football game is over, I want you to gather a batallion of Swatbots and destroy Knothole Village. Understand?"
"Crystal clear, sir" Rahn left the command center and proceeded to a repair bay. He knew that Robotnik's game wouldn't be over for a while. They still had four minutes left into the first quarter, so it would be a while. 'Well, this gives me some time to brush up on the oppostion I suppose. Prepare yourself, freedom fighters. I have the ball in your territory and I'm going in for the winning touchdown.'
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"How's progress, Rotor?" asked Sally.
"Well, I'd estimate that at this rate, we should be out of here in about three, four hours tops" answered Rotor. Sally nodded in and started to walk back towards her hut to bring here things out, but was stopped when she noticed Knuckles and the entire chaotix crew walk into the village. They didn't look to good either. They all had bruises, cuts, and a few other injuries.
"Knuckles!? What happened to you guys?!" asked Sally. Knuckles sighed and looked towards here. "Rahn happened, that's what."
"Oh no. Did he get the chaos emeralds?" Sally was now more worried than before.
"Yes, he did. He's already forged the Sword of Chaos. I was the first one he used it on" said Knuckles.
Sally hung her head and sighed. 'It's only a matter of time now' she thought. 'Hopefully we can get out of here before he even arrives.'
"There is some good news though" said Mighty. Sally brought her head back up. They had good news?
"We brought the super emeralds with us so Sonic could use them in case Rahn showed up" said Knuckles, holding up the green super emerald. Sally had heard Sonic talk about seven emeralds that were more powerful than the chaos, but she thought he was making it up. She would have believed it sooner if she had ever went inside hidden palace.
"We need to make sure Sonic can still use them though" stated Knuckles. "Do you know where he is at?"
"Ya, I'll go get him. In the meantime, I think you guys should see our doctor" said Sally.
Thirty minutes later found Sonic standing in the center of the village, along with most of the other inhabitants of Knothole. Knuckles walked up with all the super emeralds and handed them to Sonic.
"Are you sure I can still use these, Knux? I mean, I haven't used them since the Death Egg" said Sonic.
"I'm pretty sure you can" said Knux. "Alright everyone, give him some space while he does this" commanded Knuckles. Everyone stepped back a few yards further away from Sonic. Shadow watched in that blank stare of his, wondering exactly what would happen. Sally was thinking the same thing, but she was more worried about the village at the moment.
"Okay." said Sonic. "Let's see if I can remember how to do this." Sonic closed his eyes and concenrated on the seven super emeralds he was holding. The emeralds started to glow and slowly lifted from his hands, spinning around and around much like the chaos emeralds did when he and Shadow went super on the ARK. Sonic was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light and everyone had to sheild their eyes in order not to be blinded. Finally, the light died down and everyone looked upon Sonic.
Sonic was hovering a few inched off the ground, his quils flashing the colors of the seven super emeralds. He was very much like his super form, save for the flashing colors. All except for Knuckles and Tails stared in awe at Hyper Sonic. Everyone could feel the chaos energy radiating from Sonic, and they saw a few electric sparks shoot off of him every now and again, but they vaporized the moment they hit the ground.
"Alright!" yelled Sonic, "I've still got it! WHA-HOO!!!" Sonic tore off into the sky, much faster than he ever was before. He went flying around the treetops of the forest at speeds he wasn't able to attain in his regular form or as Super Sonic. He landed back in Knothole, announceing his presence with a loud sonic boom.
Sonic just hovered above everyone's heads and flashed his trademark grin. "That's incredible!" yelled Shadow. "I hope you intend on sharing those things!"
"Don't worry, Shad. You'll get your turn, I promise" said Sonic. "Now, don't we have to load those transports?"
Sally was about to say something, but Sonic had already dashed past her and was loading everything up into the two hover transports at blinding speed. "Done!" yelled Sonic.
Sally nearly fell to her knees upon seeing this, along with everyone else in Knothole.
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Rahn shot his head up to attention. Somehow, he was able to feel chaos energy nearby. Rahn thought for a second when it dawned on him. The super emeralds! How could he have been so stupid, leaving them behind. He should have known that the echidna would try to help Knothole, and now he as given them the super emeralds! Rahn slammed his fist down on the computer console he was working on, smashing it to pieces. Robotnik jumped at the sudden noise, and turned his attention away from his football game towards Rahn. He saw the busted control panel and became very angry.
Before Robotnik could yell at him, Rahn had torn out of the command center and headed outside the building. He activated his hover unit, and flew off towards Knothole at a blinding, and silent, speed. "When I'm done with Knothole, there isn't going to be anything left to make a toothpick!" Rahn had barely gotten out of the city limits when he heard Robotnik's voice crackle to life inside his head.
"Rahn, get back here this instant! I have not authorized you to leave the city!" yelled Robotnik. Rahn didn't reply. "Rahn! I am your master, and I am giving you an order! Get back here, NOW!!!"
Rahn jerked his head, turning the com off. Robotnik wasn't going to hold him back now. The freedom fighters had the super emeralds, and Rahn had to shut them down before they had a chance to use them. Rahn drew out the sword of chaos, and prepared his systems for the battle ahead. Then, once again, the sword started to glow; engulfing Rahn in its bright light. Rahn turned off his visual receptors as not to be blinded.
When he turned them back on, he saw he was still in the great forest, but he was standing on the ground now. "I hope this kind of thing doesn't happen everytime I touch that sword. Otherwise, it's going to get really annoying." It didn't look like Rahn had gone anywhere this time. It was the same time of the day, and the sun was shining. It just looked like he landed. Assuming that he might have just crashed, he activated his hover unit and was about to fly off. That was, until, he saw Sonic and Metal Sonic fighting it out on a path just ahead.
Sonic and Mecha were rolling around the ground, trying to get the upper hand on eachother, but with no success.
"I've seen this somewhere before, I know I have" said Rahn as he moved closer to the battle. Finally, Metal Sonic pinned Sonic to the ground and had a blaster aimed right at his face. "I enjoyed out little scuffle. But now, I'm going to have to kill you. So I bid you, farewell!" Mecha was about to fire when something cut of his right arm. Mecha got up in rage.
"I definitely know I've seen this! Why can't I remember it!?" yelled Rahn.
"Whoever you are, surrender, and I will make you death quick and painless!" yelled Mecha. Nothing happened and he started firing every which way to nail his unseen attacker. All of the sudden, the attacker jumped from a tree branch and cut off Metal Sonic's other arm, and one of his legs. Taking off back towards the city, Mecha yelled an unheard curse behind him.
Rahn turned to see who the attacker was, and was stunned. It was him! He looked exactly like him, clothing, quils, and all. He saw Sonic walk up and introduce himself to his savior, then he introduced himself.
"My name is Rahn, Rahn The Hedgehog."
Once again, Rahn was speechless. It was him! But, how was that possible!? Before he could think of anymore questions, the scene faded away. Rahn looked around and he was on the same path, but the time was different. He let out a robotic sigh, thankful to be away from that. Then, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He would have to dwell on his question later. With his sword still in hand, he activated his hover unit and flew off, towards Knothole Village.
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The battle for Knothole is about to get underway. I hope you guys liked this chapter, I kind of just slapped it together. I'm trying to finish this so I can move on to my next one. Plus, school is about to start again, and I want to finish it before then. Anyways, review and tell me what you think. Chapter eight will be coming soon, hopefully.
Rahn (Mechabot VII)
Rahn stood like a stone statue as the six chaotix charged towards him, an imovable object. Knuckles and Rouge both jumped into the air and glided over him in order to get his attention. They did, but not in the way they were planning. Knuckles was knocked down by the blunt side of Rahn's sword, but Rouge wing caught the tip and was punctured, causing her to drop towards the ground. However, Rahn forgot about the other four, and received a devastating blow the threw him into a nearby wall.
"You okay, Rouge?" asked Knuckles.
"Ya, I'm fine. But he's managed to ground me for the time being" said Rouge.
"Look out guys, here he comes!" yelled Charmy. Rahn got up, jumped into the air and started flying around the room. A weapon of some kind popped out of his wrist and he took aim. Knuckles remembered Shadow mentioning this weapon.
"Everyone! Take cover Now!" yelled Knuckles.
"Eat tetryon, vermin!" Rahn opened fire and started blanketing the room with tetryon pulses. Using the secondary fire, many of the pulses ricocheted off of the walls and floor. The chaotix scattered and tried to take cover behind anything they could find, parts of the floor shattering closely behind them. Rahn was laughing like a maniac.
"Hey, Rahn! Behind ya!"
Rahn turned and saw Knuckles punch right in his left eye, cracking it a little. Then, Knuckles punched the side of his hull, puncturing it due to his knuckles. Knuckles brought both his arms up and slammed both fists on top of Rahn's head, sending him back towards the ground.
"Way'da go, Knux!" yelled Charmy.
"Ya, show him who's boss!" said Julie-Su.
Knuckles landed next to the small crater that Rahn had created. The mechabot slowly got up and glared at the echidna. Rahn lifted his poncho a bit so he could see the wound Knuckles had made. "I commend you for being the first one to damage me, but it does not matter how many gashes or punctures you put into me, they won't slow me down."
Rahn looked back down at his wound as it slowly began to close up. A few of the wires hanging out pulled themselves back in and reconneted themselves, and his hull completely closed up. Rahn smirked back at Knuckles, whos eyes were about to pop out of his head.
"That..that's impossible! Robots can't heal!" yelled Knuckles.
"That is correct, they can't. But the inside of my hull is lined with specially designed microscopic machines that can repair any internal damage I suffer more quickly than by regular mechanical means. It also seals up my hull if it gets damaged in any way, too. Can't say the same for my eyes though. But, oh'well" said Rahn.
"Okay, maybe this will be harder than I first thought" said Julie-Su.
"Really? Ya think?" said Rouge.
"Shut up!"
Rahn, still holding his sword since the beginning of the fight, brought it back and threw it. The sword started to circle around the room like a boomerang, with Rahn controlling it with his phychic abilities.
"Duck!" yelled Mighty as the sword flew above him and Rouge. It then came towards Knux and Julie-Su, but they managed to duck to the side and get away from it. Then it came towards Charmy and Tikal. Charmy managed to get out of the way. Tikal ducked away just in time, but the sword had cut off two locks of her hair. The sword came back to Rahn and he caught swiftly.
Tikal noticed her dreadlocks on the ground, and started to burn with anger. She picked her hair up, and screamed, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"AAAAHHHH!!! That's it! I'm taking you down, you armor covered tin-can!"
Tikal charged at Rahn and started to attack. Rahn wasn't quick enough to start blocking, and Tikal was punching and kicking faster than any of the chaotix could see. Rahn was taking numerous dents in his hull, if this echidna kept on attacking like this he could possibly be defeated. He refused to let that happen. Tikal backflipped into the air and kicked Rahn right in the chin, sending him backwards into the air and landing on his stomach a few feet away. Tikal's hands and feet ached from hitting Rahn so hard, but she didn't care, he deserved it.
"Wow, remind me not to piss her off" said Mighty.
Tikal walked over to Rahn intent on finishing the job. Rahn's orange eyes blinked back to life, and he activated his hover skates, severly burning Tikal's legs.
"OOOOWWW!!!" Tikal fell down on the ground, unable to stand. Rahn flipped back up and gave her a good kick to the side of the her head, knocking her out.
"Never let your guard down." Rahn turned towards the remainder of the chaotix. "It's time we put an end to this." He sheathed his sword, then flicked both of his wrists. "I have a couple of sonic grenades here for ya" said Rahn as he threw the two devises at their feet. "Eat'em and weep!!!" yelled Rahn as he took off towards the ceiling for safety.
"Move!" yelled Rouge. However, it was to late. The devises exploded, but nothing happened. All of them looked quizically at the remains of the grenades.
"Must have been duds" said Charmy. A few seconds later, there was a sonic explosion, sending all five of them across the room, severly injured.
"Sonic wave technology my friends, pretty cool, huh?" said Rahn as he landed. Everyone groaned and lifted their heads towards Rahn. "Now, if you'll exmuse me." said Rahn, pulling out his photon burst weapon "I have some chaos emeralds to collect." Rahn aimed at the chambers' hidden door and fired, leaving a sizable hole in it. Rahn walked inside while Knuckles did his best to crawl towards the hidden chamber.
Rouge took noticed of Knuckles. "Knux, are you crazy or something? He'll kill you if you go in there."
"I.can't. let. him.get.those.emeralds" said Knuckles. Rouge shook her head, and followed suit with Knuckles, the others slowly started doing the same.
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Rahn entered the chamber and smiled. Before him on a pedistal sat the seven chaos emeralds. He calmly walked over towards the emeralds, the emerald of power in hand. The chaos emeralds were glowing brightly in reaction to Rahn's emerald. Rahn stood next to the emeralds, wondering what to do next.
"Well, I've finally got the emeralds. Now, how do I go about making this sword. I can't melt them down because their indestructable, so that's out of the question. Maybe I'm supposed to."
As Rahn continued on, he failed to notice his sword slowly unsheath itself and float into the air. The sword slowly rose above the chaos emeralds and floated there. Rahn noticed this, then felt the emerald of power slowly tug away from his hand.
'Hmm.maybe this is what's supposed to happen" thought Rahn. He released his emerald, and it slowly rose toward his sword. The sword completely absorbed the emerald of power, and the chaos emeralds, all at once, rose into the air and started to circle the blade. Rahn was recording the whole thing into his memory so he could show Dr. Robotnik later. The emeralds slowly closed in around the sword, still dancing in a circle through the air. The emeralds were absorbed into the sword, and then there was a sudden flash of blue light. Rahn sheilded his eyes as best he could. The light slowly died away, and Rahn removed his hand. There, hovering before him, was his sword. But it looked different now.
It was still double bladed, but the hilt had turned into solid gold and had seven different colored emeralds on each side of it, the same colors as the chaos emeralds. The blade itself had become emerald as well. It was a clear blue, so clear you could see right through it! It also had a blue flame that lined the sword's sharp edges. Rahn grinned in delight. He had the Sword of Chaos.
Rahn reached out and took the weapon. When he did, all kinds of knowledge about the chaos emeralds flowed to his mind. In just a few short seconds, he learned everything he could do with the sword of chaos. Even attackes that you couldn't do without the sword. He learned everything. There was also something else, a flashback.
Rahn was suddenly seeing what appeared to be an organic version of himself, at around age six. He watched the little hedgehog running hand in hand with a squiral down a war torn street. He carefully followed the two and watched.
'What the heck is going on here?' he thought. He continued to tail the two. They appeared to be trying to escape from the battle ruined city. All of the sudden, a piece of burning wreckage fell from a building, causing the two to jump to different sides. The squiral dived into an ally, while the six year old purple hedgehog dived back into the street. Rahn continued watching.
"Sally!" yelled the hedgehog. "Are you alright!"
"I'm fine!" yelled back Sally. "Listen, go on without me, I'll meet you on the border line of the forest. Okay!?"
"No, I'm not leaving unless you come with me!"
"Rahn, go! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! You get out of here!"
The hedgehog wiped a few tears from his eyes and nodded. Then, he started to run out of the city. Rahn trailed his smaller organic self into the forest. He saw the hedgehog wait up in a tall branch of a tree. Two hours went by, and the squiral had not yet arrived. The small hedgehog started to sob heavily. Then, he climbed down and walked into the forest. That's when everything faded out.
Rahn was back inside the hidden palace, still holding the sword of chaos. "I remember that" said Rahn. "But from where? And why was Sally Accorn there?" Rahn went into deep thought. Then, his thoughts were interrupted by a call from the door.
"Don't even move!"
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Knuckles saw the bright flash of blue light come out of the hole in the door. He knew that could mean only one thing, he failed. However, he still continued to crawl towards the door. The others watched the facinating blue light burst from the door, completely awe struck. As Knuckles slowly got back up to his feet, th elight died away. Carefully, he walked towards the entrance to the hidden chamber and looked inside.
He saw Rahn holding a blue colored blade with blue flames licking up and down the sword. It had a gold hilt with seven emeralds embeded with in it. Knuckles was suddenly hit be a surge of power. Being able to hone in on the energies of the master emerald and the chaos emeralds was useful for tracking them down, but Knuckles could also tell the amount of energy they gave off. This sword was giving off a lot of it!
'He's forged the sword" thought Knuckles. 'If I'm to stop him, it needs to be now!'
Knuckles slowly started walking into the hidden chamber and called out to Rahn. "Don't even move!"
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Rahn turned around and faced the guardian. 'Hmm, a blast like that should have knocked him out or even killed him. He's much stronger than I thought.' Rahn, completely forgetting about the flashback, got ready to attack.
"I'm not going to let you leave here, Rahn. Stay here, and I'll contact the freedom fighters. They'll be able to help you" said Knuckles
Rahn just scoffed. "Help me with what! Saving my time and coming here to surrender?"
Knuckles shook his head. "No, listen! Robotnik could care less about you or anyone else! He's only using you for that sword! If you join the freedom fighters, we can cure you from the robotization and we can take down Robotnik!"
"Bah! I'm tired of listening to you, echidna! And, I'm tired of hanging around here! I have completed my mission, and now, I must depart!" Rahn brought the sword of chaos into a slashing position, the blue flame on it growing larger and the blade becoming a brightening light blue. Then, he yelled out a move Knuckles had never heard before.
"CHAOS SLASH!!!" Rahn slashed the sword through the air, a wave of chaos energy emitting from the blade and flying forward. The attack was so quick that Knuckles barely had enough time to get out of the way, resulting in having his shoulder cut a bit from the 'sharp' energy wave. The chaos slash cut through one of the three pillars in the room that held the ceiling up. Thus, the small chamber started to cave in.
Debris was falling everywhere and Kncukles realized he had to get out of the chamber. He started to run as fast as his injured body could carry him outside to the master emerald chamber. Knux glanced back over his shoulder and saw Rahn toss the sword up into the air, it glowing a brilliant white light, caught it and yelled "CHAOS CONTROL!!!" and vanished.
Knuckles dived out of the chamber just as it collapsed. Dust flew everywhere from the collapseing chamber, resulting in everyone inside the master emerald chamber to cough from the debris. Julie-Su finally stopped coughing and noticed Knuckles lying on the ground. She quickly ran over to help her lover to his feet.
"You okay, Knux?" she asked.
Knuckles coughed a bit more and nodded. "I'm fine, but I didn't stop him. He attacked me with a move called 'chaos slash' and escaped using the chaos control." Knuckles slowly sat back down on the ground and sighed. "Now he has the sword of chaos, and the location of Knothole." At that moment, Vector and Espio walked in and saw the carnage the large chamber had taken from the battle.
"Whoa. What'd we miss?" asked Vector as he looked over to the crater the grenades had created earlier.
"Not much" said Mighty.
"Just Rahn coming in and kicking our butts" said Charmy.
Espio took noticed of the debris in the adjecent chamber and walked over to it. "So, what did you guys do? Bury him under all of that?" asked Espio and he kicked away one of the rocks lying around.
"No" said Rouge. "He managed to get away with the sword of chaos seconds before it collapsed."
"Aw, man!" yelled Vector. Chaos arrived a few minutes later, and also surveyed the damage. Then, he noticed Tikal lying on the ground. He walked over to her and jostled her a bit. She slowly woke up, and started rubbing her head.
"Wha? What happened?" asked Tikal to nobody in perticular.
"I'll explain it to you later, Tikal. Right now, we need to get to Knothole and warn them. Hopefully, Robotnik won't do anything right away" said Knuckles, grabbing his shoulder to keep it from bleeding.
"Come on, Knuckles. We need to patch that shoulder up" said Julie-Su
"I'll fix it when we are in Knothole" said Knuckles. He then glanced towards the super emerald pedistals. "I need to shrink those down to a miniature size. Sonic might need them in case Rahn shows up" He walked towards the super emeralds, one by one, and shrunk the down to about the size of a chaos emerald. "Everyone, grab an emerald" commanded Knuckles. Mighty, Charmy, Espio, Vector, Rouge, and Julie-Su picked up a super emerald, and Knuckles picked up the last one.
"Okay, guys. Let's get going." All of the chaotix marched towards a nearby teleporter and jumped in one by one, heading for Knothole.
********************
Robotnik was sitting in his command chair watching a football game between the Station Square Hedgehogs and the River Base Saber Cats. He reached for a handfull of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth when the Saber Cats made a touchdown. This is just solid proof that Robotnik has nothing better to do during his spare time. Metal Sonic and Robo-Knux just watched their master's bizzare bahavior, wondering how he could enjoy something like football when he could be robotisizing all the prisoners that were lined up for the robotization process.
Robotnik would be mechasizing them, but a few of the capacitors blew when the did it to Rahn, and Snively was making slow progress on reparing it. Robotnik reached for another handfull of popcorn when his team scored the extra point, but he was startled when Rahn appeared in front of him with a brilliant flash of light. Robotnik about jumped out of his chair, nearly knocking his popcorn off of the arm rest. Then, he realized it was Rahn.
"Rahn! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack!?" yelled Robotnik.
"We wish" whispered Mecha and R.K. at the same time.
"My apologies, sir. But I have wonderful news!" said Rahn.
"Really, what kind of news?" asked Robotnik, rather agitated that Rahn was standing between him and the tv.
"Aren't you curious as to how I used the chaos control and appeared here in front of you?" said Rahn.
"Hmm.yes, how did you." Robotnik stopped right there, just now realizing what Rahn was saying.
"Do you mean you have the.?" Rahn nodded and showed the sword of chaos to Robotnik. It didn't have a blue flame on it anymore, but it was sufficient enough to please Robotnik.
"Excellent work, Rahn! You have done me proud!" said Robotnik. Rahn bowed and sheathed the sword of chaos. "Thank you, sir. However, I wish to repair myself before I engage in destroying Knothole Village. The Chaotix did, somewhat, of a number on my hull and visual receptors" said Rahn.
"Oh, trouble with the chaotix, huh?" said Mecha. Rahn glared at Metal Sonic, but decided that he'd deal with him later.
"Very well then, Rahn. Go get repairs then report back to me. Once my football game is over, I want you to gather a batallion of Swatbots and destroy Knothole Village. Understand?"
"Crystal clear, sir" Rahn left the command center and proceeded to a repair bay. He knew that Robotnik's game wouldn't be over for a while. They still had four minutes left into the first quarter, so it would be a while. 'Well, this gives me some time to brush up on the oppostion I suppose. Prepare yourself, freedom fighters. I have the ball in your territory and I'm going in for the winning touchdown.'
********************
"How's progress, Rotor?" asked Sally.
"Well, I'd estimate that at this rate, we should be out of here in about three, four hours tops" answered Rotor. Sally nodded in and started to walk back towards her hut to bring here things out, but was stopped when she noticed Knuckles and the entire chaotix crew walk into the village. They didn't look to good either. They all had bruises, cuts, and a few other injuries.
"Knuckles!? What happened to you guys?!" asked Sally. Knuckles sighed and looked towards here. "Rahn happened, that's what."
"Oh no. Did he get the chaos emeralds?" Sally was now more worried than before.
"Yes, he did. He's already forged the Sword of Chaos. I was the first one he used it on" said Knuckles.
Sally hung her head and sighed. 'It's only a matter of time now' she thought. 'Hopefully we can get out of here before he even arrives.'
"There is some good news though" said Mighty. Sally brought her head back up. They had good news?
"We brought the super emeralds with us so Sonic could use them in case Rahn showed up" said Knuckles, holding up the green super emerald. Sally had heard Sonic talk about seven emeralds that were more powerful than the chaos, but she thought he was making it up. She would have believed it sooner if she had ever went inside hidden palace.
"We need to make sure Sonic can still use them though" stated Knuckles. "Do you know where he is at?"
"Ya, I'll go get him. In the meantime, I think you guys should see our doctor" said Sally.
Thirty minutes later found Sonic standing in the center of the village, along with most of the other inhabitants of Knothole. Knuckles walked up with all the super emeralds and handed them to Sonic.
"Are you sure I can still use these, Knux? I mean, I haven't used them since the Death Egg" said Sonic.
"I'm pretty sure you can" said Knux. "Alright everyone, give him some space while he does this" commanded Knuckles. Everyone stepped back a few yards further away from Sonic. Shadow watched in that blank stare of his, wondering exactly what would happen. Sally was thinking the same thing, but she was more worried about the village at the moment.
"Okay." said Sonic. "Let's see if I can remember how to do this." Sonic closed his eyes and concenrated on the seven super emeralds he was holding. The emeralds started to glow and slowly lifted from his hands, spinning around and around much like the chaos emeralds did when he and Shadow went super on the ARK. Sonic was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light and everyone had to sheild their eyes in order not to be blinded. Finally, the light died down and everyone looked upon Sonic.
Sonic was hovering a few inched off the ground, his quils flashing the colors of the seven super emeralds. He was very much like his super form, save for the flashing colors. All except for Knuckles and Tails stared in awe at Hyper Sonic. Everyone could feel the chaos energy radiating from Sonic, and they saw a few electric sparks shoot off of him every now and again, but they vaporized the moment they hit the ground.
"Alright!" yelled Sonic, "I've still got it! WHA-HOO!!!" Sonic tore off into the sky, much faster than he ever was before. He went flying around the treetops of the forest at speeds he wasn't able to attain in his regular form or as Super Sonic. He landed back in Knothole, announceing his presence with a loud sonic boom.
Sonic just hovered above everyone's heads and flashed his trademark grin. "That's incredible!" yelled Shadow. "I hope you intend on sharing those things!"
"Don't worry, Shad. You'll get your turn, I promise" said Sonic. "Now, don't we have to load those transports?"
Sally was about to say something, but Sonic had already dashed past her and was loading everything up into the two hover transports at blinding speed. "Done!" yelled Sonic.
Sally nearly fell to her knees upon seeing this, along with everyone else in Knothole.
********************
Rahn shot his head up to attention. Somehow, he was able to feel chaos energy nearby. Rahn thought for a second when it dawned on him. The super emeralds! How could he have been so stupid, leaving them behind. He should have known that the echidna would try to help Knothole, and now he as given them the super emeralds! Rahn slammed his fist down on the computer console he was working on, smashing it to pieces. Robotnik jumped at the sudden noise, and turned his attention away from his football game towards Rahn. He saw the busted control panel and became very angry.
Before Robotnik could yell at him, Rahn had torn out of the command center and headed outside the building. He activated his hover unit, and flew off towards Knothole at a blinding, and silent, speed. "When I'm done with Knothole, there isn't going to be anything left to make a toothpick!" Rahn had barely gotten out of the city limits when he heard Robotnik's voice crackle to life inside his head.
"Rahn, get back here this instant! I have not authorized you to leave the city!" yelled Robotnik. Rahn didn't reply. "Rahn! I am your master, and I am giving you an order! Get back here, NOW!!!"
Rahn jerked his head, turning the com off. Robotnik wasn't going to hold him back now. The freedom fighters had the super emeralds, and Rahn had to shut them down before they had a chance to use them. Rahn drew out the sword of chaos, and prepared his systems for the battle ahead. Then, once again, the sword started to glow; engulfing Rahn in its bright light. Rahn turned off his visual receptors as not to be blinded.
When he turned them back on, he saw he was still in the great forest, but he was standing on the ground now. "I hope this kind of thing doesn't happen everytime I touch that sword. Otherwise, it's going to get really annoying." It didn't look like Rahn had gone anywhere this time. It was the same time of the day, and the sun was shining. It just looked like he landed. Assuming that he might have just crashed, he activated his hover unit and was about to fly off. That was, until, he saw Sonic and Metal Sonic fighting it out on a path just ahead.
Sonic and Mecha were rolling around the ground, trying to get the upper hand on eachother, but with no success.
"I've seen this somewhere before, I know I have" said Rahn as he moved closer to the battle. Finally, Metal Sonic pinned Sonic to the ground and had a blaster aimed right at his face. "I enjoyed out little scuffle. But now, I'm going to have to kill you. So I bid you, farewell!" Mecha was about to fire when something cut of his right arm. Mecha got up in rage.
"I definitely know I've seen this! Why can't I remember it!?" yelled Rahn.
"Whoever you are, surrender, and I will make you death quick and painless!" yelled Mecha. Nothing happened and he started firing every which way to nail his unseen attacker. All of the sudden, the attacker jumped from a tree branch and cut off Metal Sonic's other arm, and one of his legs. Taking off back towards the city, Mecha yelled an unheard curse behind him.
Rahn turned to see who the attacker was, and was stunned. It was him! He looked exactly like him, clothing, quils, and all. He saw Sonic walk up and introduce himself to his savior, then he introduced himself.
"My name is Rahn, Rahn The Hedgehog."
Once again, Rahn was speechless. It was him! But, how was that possible!? Before he could think of anymore questions, the scene faded away. Rahn looked around and he was on the same path, but the time was different. He let out a robotic sigh, thankful to be away from that. Then, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He would have to dwell on his question later. With his sword still in hand, he activated his hover unit and flew off, towards Knothole Village.
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The battle for Knothole is about to get underway. I hope you guys liked this chapter, I kind of just slapped it together. I'm trying to finish this so I can move on to my next one. Plus, school is about to start again, and I want to finish it before then. Anyways, review and tell me what you think. Chapter eight will be coming soon, hopefully.
Rahn (Mechabot VII)