CHAPTER 9

Tails, Shadow and Rouge stood in front of Gigitanko Castle. It was humongous. The sky was dark and it began to rain. The wind howled from time to time and it was cold.

"I guess we should start going." Tails said.

"Yeah lets go in." They all walked into the courtyard. Tails looked around. The place was dark with torches spaced about every fifteen feet on the walls. There was a small path that they followed and stone everything. They walked further and came upon a gate.

"Aww, now what?" Rouge asked. The gate was solid iron and locked.

"I don't know Rouge. I guess that we need to find a new route." Shadow said.

"Well, I can fly very high. I think we need a aerial view of this place!" Tails twirled his tails together and flew up to as high as he could.

"What do you see up there?" Shadow yelled. Tails came back down.

"There are several more gates up ahead. But if we take that corridor over there," Tails pointed to a dark alleyway, "We should be able to bypass the gates and head right into the main building."

"Good. Lets go!" they ran down the alley. After a while, they made it to the end and reached a door.

"Great, Tails, a door. Now what?" Rouge said crossly.

"Don't get mad at him. It is only wood." Shadow said crouching down. He spun into a spin-dash and shot toward the door. It shattered into tiny pieces. Tails poked his head into the room that they broke down the door to.

"It's clear." He said. They all stepped into the room. It was heavily furnished with red and purple tapestries on the wall and a roaring fire in the fireplace. There were rugs on the floor as well. They walked in through the room and spotted a staircase. Tails went over to it.

"It leads down. I think that is where the dungeon would be, right?" Tails asked Rouge.

"Yes. Lets hurry down." They ran down the staircase and looked around. There were rows upon rows of cells on either side of the group. They wandered down and looked in each cell, hoping to see Sonic.



"Sonic, Sonic wake up." Amy said. Sonic lifted his head.

"Ne, Amy?" Amy looked at him worriedly.

"I hear someone coming!" Amy grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.



"What was that voice?" Rouge asked Tails.

"It sounded like Amy!" Tails said. "Are these bars breakable Shadow?"

"Yes, as long as I use my fire ring." Shadow said crouching again. He spun into a ball. They were still pretty far away from where the voice came from. It was all the way at the end.



"Amy. do you hear that? It kind of sounds like a buzz saw." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, it does." Sonic said. His ears pricked up. "And it's getting closer! Everyone get to the back of the cell!!"

They all ran to the back when the 'buzz saw' reached their cell. The bars burst into pieces. Sonic looked up and he saw a dark figure in front of him.

"Come on. Let's get outta here, Sonic." Said the figure. Sonic looked closer.

"Sha-Shadow?" Sonic got up and got closer.

"Yeah, we gotta go!" Shadow said.

"SON-NIC!!" Sonic looked toward the voice. It was Tails.

"LITTLE BUDDY!!" Sonic ran over and picked Tails up. Tails began to sob uncontrollably and Sonic pet his head.

"Tails, don't get all wet works on me now." Sonic said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Sonic. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. I missed you!" Tails said.

"I know, little bro, I know." He put Tails down. They both wiped their eyes and turned around. Amy was clamped onto Rouge, crying like a baby, and Rouge was attempting to push her off with a disgruntled look on her face.

"Oh, grow up Amy."

"WAHHHH! It is so touching!!" Amy cried.

"Shadow, I didn't know." Sonic said.

Shadow held his hand up. "Skip it, we'll catch up later. but now we aren't done here. Tails, do you still have the other chaos emeralds?"

Tails took the five emeralds out of his pockets. "They have two." Sonic counted on his fingers.

"HEY." Sonic pouted.

"I lied. I can't let you have all the fun." Tails smirked.

Sonic smiled. "Can't get anything past you, huh?"

"No, but I can get everything past you."

****

Kilashandra walked up the hall way to a door with an old fashioned handle. She knocked three times.

"Enter." Said a voice.

She opened the door and stepped inside. It was a room with many monitors from the castle's security system. A lone figure sat in front of them. She closed the door behind her.

"Lexxon, darling. I haven't seen you all day." She cooed. He turned around in his chair away from the glowing monitors. He smiled and held out his arms. Kilashandra sat in his lap and hugged him. She parted from him and looked at him before kissing him passionately. He gently pushed her away.

"Sorry, could we continue this later? The master wants me to keep track of- hello, what's this." He glanced at the monitor and saw Sonic, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge, Shadow and Tails walking down the hallway leading to the ballroom. Lexxon and Kilashandra got up and ran to the door, on their way to the room to cut them off.

"Kilashandra, warn the master. I will get the chaos emeralds."

Kilashandra ran in the other direction and Lexxon ran to the room.

****

Sonic opened the door to the ballroom. He stepped inside and Shadow, Tails, Amy Rose, Rouge, and Knuckles followed him. They looked around. It was fairly big with many bright tapestries on the wall. There was a large balcony toward the back and torches lit the area dimly. A large elegant chandelier hung from the ceiling, lit by candles. It brightened the room a bit. There was another large fancy door on the other side of the room outlined in gold, as was the door they entered.

Amy Rose ran out in the middle of the dance floor. "Wow! After we beat the bad guys we should hold a dance here, Sonic!"

Sonic sighed. "Whatever."

Tails was the one closest to the door and he heard someone coming. "Sonic! There is someone heading this way and fast!" Tails ran towards Sonic and stood by him. The door was pushed open and there stood Lexxon.

"You! What is it now?" Sonic said.

"I've come for the chaos emeralds." Lexxon said. He looked at the group. He spotted Shadow and tensed, growing in anger. "But first, you and I shall finish what we started at the forest!" Lexxon charged at Shadow. Sonic and the others ran out of the way and just before Lexxon hit Shadow, he jumped out of harm's way. Lexxon skidded to a stop. Shadow stood behind him and teased him.

"Wow, aren't you slow." Shadow smirked. Lexxon tackled him and put him into an arm lock. Shadow grabbed Lexxon's arm and gasped for air. Sonic looked to Tails.

"Tails, give me one of the Chaos Emeralds!!" Tails gave him one. "Shadow!" Shadow looked in the direction of Sonic's voice and Sonic tossed the Chaos Emerald at him. Shadow caught it and it began to glow.

Please, PLEASE let me be able to do this! Shadow thought. He concentrated and the Emerald shined a bright red. The whole ballroom lit up and then went pitch black. Lexxon noticed that he wasn't holding Shadow anymore. He looked around. The full moon shone through the window, lighting the area to a pale blue. He could hardly see, even his night vision wasn't working well. Sonic and the others stood still.

"Where are you, coward?" Lexxon shouted.

"Coward? I think not," Shadow said. The Chaos Emerald glowed and lit up Shadow's face. He smiled a half smile. He was up on one of the columns in the ballroom. He jumped gracefully down and threw the emerald to Tails. He stood in the pale moonlight and looked directly at Lexxon.

Suddenly, the room lit up and the door on the other side of the room was pushed open. There stood Kilashandra and the Master. The master had the green chaos emerald floating on one side of him and the blue one to the other side. His eyes glowed green and he held out his hands. Tails' eyes went blank. Sonic looked to Tails.

"Tails?" Sonic waved his hand in front of his face. "Hey, little buddy?"

Tails began to walk towards the master with the Chaos Emeralds.

"Tails!" Sonic went to tackle Tails to stop him, but instead he hit a force field. Tails let go of the chaos emeralds and they levitated for a moment before they shot towards the Master.

They glowed around him as he himself levitated into the air. Tails slumped to the ground.

"Mwahahaha! I, Seriano, now have the ultimate power to take over the world!" The master yelled. Kilashandra stood with her mouth agape.

"No! No you said-" she said in horror.

"You were foolish, Kilashandra! How could you believe that bunch of lies!? You were so easy to fool! But now you are of no use to me!" Kilashandra backed away from Seriano slowly. He shot out his hand and it began to glow red and black. A fireball formed in it and he prepared to shoot. He let the fireball fly towards Kilashandra and she screamed and covered her face. She saw something block the fireball. It was Lexxon.

"NO!" Kilashandra cried. She began to cry. "Lexxon!"

Everyone's faces were plastered with horror. Lexxon slumped to the ground and Kilashandra sunk down next to him. She cradled his head in her lap. He opened his dark green eyes and looked at Kilashandra.

"Kilashandra." he said. His voice was labored and unsteady.

"Song." Kilashandra said.

'Song?' Shadow thought. 'He's the old woman's son?'

"Kilashandra. get. out. of this. place."

Sha cradled his cheek. "No."

"I'm. dying. Kila." he took a deep breath. "I. love you. Kilashandra." he said as his eyes shut and he went limp in her arms. He stopped breathing. Her eyes widened.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!! This can't be so! Song!!!!" She cried.

"Pathetic. that is just pathetic. Love, honor, and friendship. they're all useless. The one who holds the power, holds the world in his hands. I don't need anyone!" Seriano growled. The castle began to glow red and the top shattered to bits. The ballroom was now exposed to the air and the sky clouded over again. The rain came down and thunder cracked. Tails screeched as the sky lit up. Amy shook all over. Kilashandra pulled Song to the wall and sat with him there. Sonic and Shadow stood with Knuckles ready for battle. Lightning cracked nearby and set the forest on fire. Everything was covered in the red-orange color of the flames.

"Now to get rid of the lot of you. You prove to be pests, that is certain." Seriano said. He laughed with evil as he morphed into a dragon. He roared and shot fire from his mouth. The Chaos Emeralds fell from the sky, absorbed of their power. They turned black like onyx but didn't glimmer. Tails ran toward them and twisted his tails together to gain speed. He picked them up and flew to Knuckles.

"Knuckles, can you summon the Master Emerald?"

"Yeah, but why do you want me to-"

"Just do it! Please hurry!" Knuckles closed his eyes and spread his hands apart. There was a faint glow and glimmer between his hands. The Master Emerald appeared before him. Tails set the emeralds around it. The Master Emerald glowed and suddenly a pink-orange light emerged from it. The light grew bigger and dimmed. There stood a little orange echidna. She blinked her eyes.

"Tikal?" Tails asked. She held her hands open as well and closed her eyes again.

"The seven chaos are the servers,

Chaos is power,

Power is enriched by the heart,

The controller serves to unify the chaos,

Hear us now! Change our prayers into reality!" They chanted in unison. The chaos emeralds began to glow their true colors and levitated into the air. They circled around the Master Emerald for a moment and then shot over to Sonic and Shadow. They were engulfed in the light of the Chaos Emeralds.

Tails and the rest of the group looked toward the light and saw two shadows in it. The light faded and there stood Super Sonic and Hyper Shadow. Tails, Knuckles, Tikal, Amy Rose, Rouge and Kilashandra looked in awe at them.

"This stops here, Seriano!" Shadow yelled.

"I'll teach you to mess with me and my friends!" Sonic yelled.

Shadow and Sonic charged toward the dragon, Seriano. They both spun into a ball and rotated around each other, like an atom. They struck Seriano in the heart and went clear through him to the other side of him. He roared in pain and began to fall. Shadow and Sonic ran out of rings and fell as well. They landed on the floor next to Seriano, covered in his blood, changed back to normal. The rain fell and put out the fire.

****

Hey Guys! The next chapter is the last one. I cried while I wrote this! WAHHHH! Oh well, I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. All those late nights staying up 'til 9:30 to 10 o'clock paid off. Enjoy the last chapter and be kind R/R!!