THE NEED FOR SPEED
Confrontation
--------------------
The hologram of Super Shadow vanished, but his screams of madness echoed freshly in my mind.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!" I barked at Tikal, who took a step backwards in shock. "Why is he still super? Why can't he stop? Tell me!"
Chaos took another step, getting further between Tikal and I.
"I don't really know." Tikal spoke quietly, like she had anything to fear from me. 'Did she?' I asked myself. "This has never happened before. No two creatures have ever summoned the Chaos energies simultaneously. When you fought Perfect Chaos, you transformed after him." She scratched her head thoughtfully. "Shadow's never become super before this. The fact that both of you transformed together. There must've been an excess of Chaos energy."
"He can't control it." Chaos finished. "It's never easy to maintain your focus the first time."
It sure wasn't. I first used my powers as Super Sonic to destroy the first of Eggman's many doomsday devices. It was sheer luck that I managed to keep my sanity that time. After destroying The doctor's last weapon, I lost all control. My focused attacks became acts of wanton destruction. I was just lucky that I was confined in the base at the time. At some point, my power-crazed self foolishly destroyed its energy reactor. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to knock me out, even as Super Sonic. When I awoke, I was back to normal.
"So it's just like I thought." I muttered absent-mindedly. Tikal and Chaos looked at me in confusion, and I clarified, "I knew. After we stopped the Finalhazard, he LET himself fall. He felt himself losing control, and hurled himself at Earth, hoping re-entry would destroy him before he could harm anyone." I lowered my head, "It's what he thought Maria would have wanted."
Chaos nodded gravely. "Very wise and noble of him. But he lives, and threatens all known life in his madness."
A Light bulb went off in my head. "Hey, when I fought you as Perfect Chaos, both of us channeling the Emerald's powers, we canceled each other out! If I were to transform one last time, I could stop him. I KNOW I could!"
"And what if you don't just 'cancel out' each other?" Chaos retorted. "Or what if you finally lose it, and are consumed by the power? We'd still have an out-of-control, super-powered Hedgehog on the loose! You wouldn't be so gung-ho if you knew what kind of death and destruction you could cause."
"It doesn't matter!" Tikal cut in suddenly. She had moved around behind me towards the Master Emerald during my argument with Chaos. "I'm afraid Chaos is right." I saw she was crying and I bit my tongue. "Its too dangerous, we can't let you go and risk you giving in to your darkest desires too."
I instantly tensed up. "What do you mean, 'we can't let you go'?"
My answer came in the form of Chaos's arms sliding under mine an locking upwards from behind.
Tikal again placed her hands onto the Master Emerald. This time, however, instead of a vision, she summoned some kind of shackles made of light. "Just what I said Sonic," she replied, the strain to keep her emotions in check all too evident in her voice. "You need to stay here, with us in the Master Emerald. Forever."
It all seemed to have happened too smoothly. "You planned this," I said bitterly. "You had this planned out from the start." Tikal's hand trembled, shaking the energy bindings in quiet sadness. "And you would willingly trap me here?" I continued as anger flew through my veins. "Me! The only other creature that has ANY chance of saving Shadow? You would let him drown in a whirlpool of madness and sorrow as he causes all kinds of destruction and mayhem? You would let him destroy everything?" Tikal's whole body now shook in anger, pity and helplessness. "How could you be so heartless?"
That did it. Releasing the shackles, she leapt over to me and connected with a right hook that could put Knuckles to shame. "SHUT UP!" she screamed at me. "You think I WANT to do this?! You've saved the world more times than I can count, you of all people don't deserve this!" She continued to tremble all over as she walked back to the energy chain she had dropped. "We can't risk it." She suddenly seemed less angry. More. hurt. "If there was nothing out there but Shadow. No innocents, no one at risk, no possible victims." She looked at me, and I saw she made no attempt to stop her free-flowing tears. "Then I'd let you go if you wished. But my people were all but wiped out by the power of the Seven. I won't make it even more likely to happen again. I hope you can forgive me some day."
"Yeah," I said with a small grin. "I hope you can forgive me too." Before she could ask what she'd forgive me for, I pumped my legs as fast as I could, tugging on Chaos' arms. Although he seemed to be pulled forward a bit, he still kept his arms locked over mine.
Without any warning, I stopped running and flipped backwards as hard as I could. I grinned in satisfaction as my toes made a powerful connection with the pink brain matter in Chaos' head. The force and surprise of the attck made him lose his focus, and his body fell to the ground with a splash.
Tikal was surprised at my daring escape, but quickly recovered. "Sonic, don't make this worse than it is. Give up please."
I dashed in a circle, trying to get to the other side of the Master Emerald. But she was quite capable of keeping up, as she didn't have to travel as far. "Hey," I said with a daring smile, "this isn't fair. I don't believe in hitting women." I rubbed my sore cheek where she had struck me earlier. "Even if she hits me."
I glanced to the side and saw why she was just stalling me. Chaos was slowly re-forming. "Don't worry too much about hitting me." My eyes snapped back to Tikal, who had adopted a fighting stance. "I don't even think you could."
At that moment another crazy idea popped into my head. "Really?" I taunted. "Let's just see!" I launched myself towards her and pulled my right arm back in what must've looked like preparing for a reckless punch. She also charged me, but she held her arms in front of her, ready to block and counter my wild attack.
Pity it never came.
I thrust my arm out ahead of me straight at her head. I couldn't help but smile as her eyes widened in shock as a glint of yellow light caught her eye.
"Chaos control!"
Before she could even turn around, I raised the Chaos Emerald above my head and smashed it down onto the Master.
The world around me exploded to life. Colors burst forth from the previously lifeless surroundings. A cool breeze flew through my quills. I had escaped.
"Sorry guys," I said, even though Tikal and Chaos' images were gone. "But I never let my friends down. Never."
"Who are you talking to?" a voice asked behind me.
I spun around, "Knuckles?" I was about to ask what he was doing here, but then remembered this was his lonely home. I mentally kicked myself. I had been so intent on getting some answers that I hadn't bothered to check to see if I was alone.
"What were you doing?" the echidna asked. "You just appeared and touched the Master Emerald." He grinned at me, "Don't tell me Eggman was right all those times, and you really ARE trying to steal it."
If it weren't for what I had just learned, I would've laughed with him. "I can't explain," I said after debating whether or not to tell him. "But I need your help, where are the other Chaos Emeralds?" I showed him the yellow one in my hand.
He glared at me with understandable confusion. "Why?"
"There's no time!" I yelled suddenly. Knuckles was visibly taken aback by my outburst, so I forced myself to calm down. "Please Knux," I said as smoothly and as calmly as I could. "You just have to trust me."
Knuckles' reply was with no hesitation, but lots of confusion. "Okay, but you're not going to like it.."
--------------------
The heavy metal door slid open, and an armed soldier stepped out.
"Go on in," he growled at me. "But we'll be watching you on the security monitors, so don't try anything stupid."
I scoffed as I walked into the brightly-lit room. The door slid shut and locked behind me. What the hell was I doing?
"Hello Sonic," the only other occupant of the room said softly. "It's so nice of you to come and visit me."
I steeled my nerves and approached him. "Hello Robotnik," I said through grit teeth. "We need to talk."
Confrontation
--------------------
The hologram of Super Shadow vanished, but his screams of madness echoed freshly in my mind.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!" I barked at Tikal, who took a step backwards in shock. "Why is he still super? Why can't he stop? Tell me!"
Chaos took another step, getting further between Tikal and I.
"I don't really know." Tikal spoke quietly, like she had anything to fear from me. 'Did she?' I asked myself. "This has never happened before. No two creatures have ever summoned the Chaos energies simultaneously. When you fought Perfect Chaos, you transformed after him." She scratched her head thoughtfully. "Shadow's never become super before this. The fact that both of you transformed together. There must've been an excess of Chaos energy."
"He can't control it." Chaos finished. "It's never easy to maintain your focus the first time."
It sure wasn't. I first used my powers as Super Sonic to destroy the first of Eggman's many doomsday devices. It was sheer luck that I managed to keep my sanity that time. After destroying The doctor's last weapon, I lost all control. My focused attacks became acts of wanton destruction. I was just lucky that I was confined in the base at the time. At some point, my power-crazed self foolishly destroyed its energy reactor. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to knock me out, even as Super Sonic. When I awoke, I was back to normal.
"So it's just like I thought." I muttered absent-mindedly. Tikal and Chaos looked at me in confusion, and I clarified, "I knew. After we stopped the Finalhazard, he LET himself fall. He felt himself losing control, and hurled himself at Earth, hoping re-entry would destroy him before he could harm anyone." I lowered my head, "It's what he thought Maria would have wanted."
Chaos nodded gravely. "Very wise and noble of him. But he lives, and threatens all known life in his madness."
A Light bulb went off in my head. "Hey, when I fought you as Perfect Chaos, both of us channeling the Emerald's powers, we canceled each other out! If I were to transform one last time, I could stop him. I KNOW I could!"
"And what if you don't just 'cancel out' each other?" Chaos retorted. "Or what if you finally lose it, and are consumed by the power? We'd still have an out-of-control, super-powered Hedgehog on the loose! You wouldn't be so gung-ho if you knew what kind of death and destruction you could cause."
"It doesn't matter!" Tikal cut in suddenly. She had moved around behind me towards the Master Emerald during my argument with Chaos. "I'm afraid Chaos is right." I saw she was crying and I bit my tongue. "Its too dangerous, we can't let you go and risk you giving in to your darkest desires too."
I instantly tensed up. "What do you mean, 'we can't let you go'?"
My answer came in the form of Chaos's arms sliding under mine an locking upwards from behind.
Tikal again placed her hands onto the Master Emerald. This time, however, instead of a vision, she summoned some kind of shackles made of light. "Just what I said Sonic," she replied, the strain to keep her emotions in check all too evident in her voice. "You need to stay here, with us in the Master Emerald. Forever."
It all seemed to have happened too smoothly. "You planned this," I said bitterly. "You had this planned out from the start." Tikal's hand trembled, shaking the energy bindings in quiet sadness. "And you would willingly trap me here?" I continued as anger flew through my veins. "Me! The only other creature that has ANY chance of saving Shadow? You would let him drown in a whirlpool of madness and sorrow as he causes all kinds of destruction and mayhem? You would let him destroy everything?" Tikal's whole body now shook in anger, pity and helplessness. "How could you be so heartless?"
That did it. Releasing the shackles, she leapt over to me and connected with a right hook that could put Knuckles to shame. "SHUT UP!" she screamed at me. "You think I WANT to do this?! You've saved the world more times than I can count, you of all people don't deserve this!" She continued to tremble all over as she walked back to the energy chain she had dropped. "We can't risk it." She suddenly seemed less angry. More. hurt. "If there was nothing out there but Shadow. No innocents, no one at risk, no possible victims." She looked at me, and I saw she made no attempt to stop her free-flowing tears. "Then I'd let you go if you wished. But my people were all but wiped out by the power of the Seven. I won't make it even more likely to happen again. I hope you can forgive me some day."
"Yeah," I said with a small grin. "I hope you can forgive me too." Before she could ask what she'd forgive me for, I pumped my legs as fast as I could, tugging on Chaos' arms. Although he seemed to be pulled forward a bit, he still kept his arms locked over mine.
Without any warning, I stopped running and flipped backwards as hard as I could. I grinned in satisfaction as my toes made a powerful connection with the pink brain matter in Chaos' head. The force and surprise of the attck made him lose his focus, and his body fell to the ground with a splash.
Tikal was surprised at my daring escape, but quickly recovered. "Sonic, don't make this worse than it is. Give up please."
I dashed in a circle, trying to get to the other side of the Master Emerald. But she was quite capable of keeping up, as she didn't have to travel as far. "Hey," I said with a daring smile, "this isn't fair. I don't believe in hitting women." I rubbed my sore cheek where she had struck me earlier. "Even if she hits me."
I glanced to the side and saw why she was just stalling me. Chaos was slowly re-forming. "Don't worry too much about hitting me." My eyes snapped back to Tikal, who had adopted a fighting stance. "I don't even think you could."
At that moment another crazy idea popped into my head. "Really?" I taunted. "Let's just see!" I launched myself towards her and pulled my right arm back in what must've looked like preparing for a reckless punch. She also charged me, but she held her arms in front of her, ready to block and counter my wild attack.
Pity it never came.
I thrust my arm out ahead of me straight at her head. I couldn't help but smile as her eyes widened in shock as a glint of yellow light caught her eye.
"Chaos control!"
Before she could even turn around, I raised the Chaos Emerald above my head and smashed it down onto the Master.
The world around me exploded to life. Colors burst forth from the previously lifeless surroundings. A cool breeze flew through my quills. I had escaped.
"Sorry guys," I said, even though Tikal and Chaos' images were gone. "But I never let my friends down. Never."
"Who are you talking to?" a voice asked behind me.
I spun around, "Knuckles?" I was about to ask what he was doing here, but then remembered this was his lonely home. I mentally kicked myself. I had been so intent on getting some answers that I hadn't bothered to check to see if I was alone.
"What were you doing?" the echidna asked. "You just appeared and touched the Master Emerald." He grinned at me, "Don't tell me Eggman was right all those times, and you really ARE trying to steal it."
If it weren't for what I had just learned, I would've laughed with him. "I can't explain," I said after debating whether or not to tell him. "But I need your help, where are the other Chaos Emeralds?" I showed him the yellow one in my hand.
He glared at me with understandable confusion. "Why?"
"There's no time!" I yelled suddenly. Knuckles was visibly taken aback by my outburst, so I forced myself to calm down. "Please Knux," I said as smoothly and as calmly as I could. "You just have to trust me."
Knuckles' reply was with no hesitation, but lots of confusion. "Okay, but you're not going to like it.."
--------------------
The heavy metal door slid open, and an armed soldier stepped out.
"Go on in," he growled at me. "But we'll be watching you on the security monitors, so don't try anything stupid."
I scoffed as I walked into the brightly-lit room. The door slid shut and locked behind me. What the hell was I doing?
"Hello Sonic," the only other occupant of the room said softly. "It's so nice of you to come and visit me."
I steeled my nerves and approached him. "Hello Robotnik," I said through grit teeth. "We need to talk."