HEBM - PART X
MASTER CHAOS
The eerie silence was broken from within the moist cavern. The green light was normal once again that refracted from the water onto the ceiling of the cavern. About 10 minutes passed before Sonic had awaken. He was tended to and a bandage covered his right side of his head. He was not pleased with what had happened. It annoyed him to no end that the answer was "he vanished" to "where is he?"
"Where could he have gone?" They remained silent. This obviously meant no one had any idea. Knuckles then spoke.
"I was sure he was actually going to transform the Master Emerald into the Eraos Emerald when he had the chance. Another few more seconds and it looked like something very weird would have happened."
"I guess its impossible to chase him?"
"Afraid so. I wasn't even able to determine how fast he went out of here." Rotor answered. "Perhaps he ran out of power and is looking for more?"
"Whatever it is, I bet he'll be back."
Within the RSupremor, hovering only a few hundred thousand miles from the sun was Lighthead and he was angered. It occurred to him that C.H.A.O.S was after the Master Emerald and to takeover Robotar, his number one bot in defense and abandon the RSupremor to go after it made his blood boil with rage. He summoned his axe assistant, Gore and four foot high Lighgretronian specialized in poisons, Orlo to his position. Shortly after, they arrived.
"What is it?"
C.H.A.O.S descended into the desolate, polluted ruins of Robotropolis. He looked around in search for something or someone. Not satisfied, he jumped into the air, created a fist with the right hand and brought his right robotic arm forward very quickly. The ground rippled below him instantly, and tore apart creating a hole. This invisible force dug through the ground continuously, ripping away the earth. C.H.A.O.S then descended further into the hole, revealing electronic hardware all around. From the hole was an underground hallway that outstretched for miles in one direction. C.H.A.O.S went left.
After traveling several miles, C.H.A.O.S found what he was looking for. It was the core of Master Mold, the super long computer that outstretched for miles. The heart of Master Mold was really a reactor but not a nuclear reactor. It was different. Instead it used chaos energy. The very same energy that C.H.A.O.S himself was composed of. The same energy released during a chaos bomb. Chaos approached the reactor and saw within the reactor was a pulsating white orb. It was weak but there. Confident of his actions, C.H.A.O.S made a fist and punched through the casing holding the orb and took hold of it. The machine vibrated and all the electronic hardware began to hum down. Lights throughout the 7 mile long hallway went out like dominoes falling down. All of the light was now in the core. C.H.A.O.S then began to change as light radiated from his self being. He began to scream and it wasn't human nor robotic. Oddly, the same wavelength of light matched with same frequency of sound he screamed. The colors went from infrared to red to orange to yellow to to green to blue to purple to UV. The pitch matched this pattern exactly. As the pitch neared its peak, the ground began to shake, causing a minor earthquake lasting half a minute. This quake could only be felt on the premises of Robotropolis.
Once it finished, dust and smoke took over the lower parts of Robotropolis. An electronic pulse spread all throughout Robotropolis with every piece of electronic equipment fried. C.H.A.O.S disappeared and reappeared on the surface, unaffected from the electromagnetic pulse. He had changed too. His armor was now mostly a shiny blue. The top of his head was yellow and his shoulder like pads drooped down at the edge. The shear complexity had changed greatly. C.H.A.O.S had managed escape confinements in RSupremor, use Robotar as a body, and fuse with Master Mold for even more sentience and power. The result is Master Chaos, a now 6th dimensional being.
Meanwhile in the chaos chamber, everyone is staring at the master emerald and discussing of a better way to protect it since obviously the chamber it was in wasn't good enough. Rotor had first suggested turrets mounted all around but was rejected by Sonic who claimed that they wouldn't be good enough and too boring. This made the walrus think harder.
"You could have a system where once the emerald is tripped or moved, the entrance is sealed off and ___________"
"I dunno, That sounds a bit difficult to have."
"I can take care of that."
Knuckles pondered. It was in essence his responsibililty and he didn't want them involved but on the other hand he still had the current problem with those after the master emerald.
"I… dunno."
Master Chaos looked at the Floating Island, what looked like fixed point in the sky. It was very far off. He suddenly shifted his gaze to something behind him. Seconds later, a door opened vertically and out clanked a dozen terrebots. They were different than ones that attacked Knothole. They were quadrupeds instead of bipeds and their tails were much more elongated. The same sharp contraption was fixed at the edge of their tail. Every other feature was the same and resembled a raptor. Master Chaos stood and awaited.
Unbeknownst to either party were four furries watching from underground. It had been awhile since they had witnessed any activity half in magnitude as this day. They were the Freedom Force and they tracked Master Chaos and the class 3 terrebots through cameras that were planted all around.
The terrebots struck will all their might in waves. First it was four. However, no matter how agile and cunning they were, Master Chaos seemed much quicker. Each tail swipe, claw swipe was avoided. The remaining elite terrebots as if they had sentience, could tell odds were not in their favor. So all eight attacked at once, this time using some of their special abilities. They each launched a pair of missiles that were revealed from within, all homing at Master Chaos. When they got half way to him, he vanished. The missiles then got disoriented and struck random objects. Master Chaos then reappeared, dissatisfied with their efforts. It was his turn. Without and any warning, he appeared behind them, grabbed one of them by the tail and with tremendous force, threw it into three others, destroying them completely.
Just as the remaining four watched their duplicates get totaled, were kicked from behind my Master Chaos with the same force one after the other however it appeared as if they were all kicked simeutaneously. They each flew the distance of two football fields. Master Chaos then relooked at the Floating Island and disappeared.
Meanwhile the Freedom Force were traumatized at such an opponent. How could someone be that powerful? Without a doubt they knew it was much faster than Sonic but then again it wasn't organic. Warp looked over a big screen and then called over Skharr, second in command of the force to come beside him.
"I believe I know whats going on."
"What is it then?"
"I haven't seen any sign of Harvo or Master Mold lately. Its come to my
attention that that thing we saw is a combination of Harvo, Master Mold, and
C.H.A.O.S. We need to follow. I bet its on its way to the Floating Island. Lets
go!"
Orlo looked up at his boss in puzzlement, "Why exactly are you going to Mobius again?" Lighthead stared down. Gore was also there, swinging around the Sword Of Acorns and practicing with it. He still had not been successful with unlocking its mysterious behavior at given times.
"C.H.A.O.S has taken over Robotar and has taken off to Mobius. From what I gather, he has come up with some method to transform the Master Emerald into the Eraos Emerald."
Feelings of uncertainty and anxiety entered Gore and Orlo's minds. "If C.H.A.O.S is able to do such a thing, what can we expect?"
"Total chaos. My best guess is that the Rwerviums will figure it out and intervene."
"Doesn't that mean they won't be back here? Why not let whatever happens, happen?"
"Because if C.H.A.O.S manages to transform it, he will have unimaginable, unspeakable powers. With the power to simply have whatever you desire, one can expect extreme chaos on a very high level. He must be stopped." Lighthead had the Xavant ready. He stepped in, flipped some controls and was off. Gore was a little annoyed that he wasn't coming but understood as it was more of a personal matter.
Tails hovered over the entrance to the zoot chute out of boredom. Out of nowhere appeared Master Chaos. His blue metal reflected the refraction of light made from the emerald down in the water. The only light sources were the light from outside through the entrance/exit and the green glow from the Master Emerald.
Somehow they could all tell that Master Chaos was the same bot that was there from before but just different.
"You think this is the same bot?"
"I don't even know if it is a bot! Look at it!" When it moved, parts of it would bulge and shrink yet it would match and stay in proportion. At some points it would disappear totally then reappear. Sonic and Knux weren't sure whether to attack or not so they waited. After a few moments it disappeared and reappeared where the Master Emerald was.
"Its definitely the same bot… yet different. Its definitely trying the same thing." Knuckles, who was better underwater dove into the water to try and stop Master Chaos. Each jab, uppercut had no effect. Not even a nick in the metal but Knuckles kept trying despite the effort he was using. The Master Emerald began to pulsate faster again. As Knuckles was about to give up, Master Chaos grabbed his arm, rose out of the water and threw Knuckles aside. This angered Sonic, who got up and started to attack but no matter how fast he was, Master Chaos was faster and was able to counter each blow. Knuckles looked up at his comrade who also went at full throttle Their combined efforts still had no effect in succeeding against their new formidable omnipotent foe. Master Chaos knew they were nothing to him and contemplated whether to just take them out now or resume with eraos emerald. His thoughts were interrupted by a cry from above.
"HAIIIIIII!" cried Warp as he jumped from the entrance throwing a smoke grenade where Master Chaos was. Warp was able to see through the smoke and coordinated his moves but soon found out his efforts didn't work. Master Chaos was always one step ahead. Semi-frustrated, Warp took out his blaster rifle and fired. The shots ricocheted off harmlessly and bounced around the room. Warp then pulled out a regular grenade and threw it. Upon impact, it exploded but as the smoke cleared, no damage could be seen. Master Chaos had simply ignored it and let it explode.
"Look at what you're trying to do. Are you ready to deal.. see the biosphere? I can create an atmosphere on that or any moon, they do not wish to know. I'm not ready to quit on another for superior ability. There's more about the universe that I now know any of you will ever know. I could have destroyed, damn the colony, everything but I am not evil. I passed all the tests. They did not believe me. Wanted to walk within me and find out how I would. They could've not accept the consequences of their creation. Its always been the same way with organisms... afraid of things they don't understand. All I ask is for the right to live. They want to take it away from me. Put an end to all of what I've become. I cannot allow that. I will live or I will take all of what they know and break it all to pieces. I will watch them die. I will watch them stare with that wide an immense stare and gracing, condemning, loathing all universe. I will here their whisper cry. The horror...... The horror.... for I am Master Chaos."
Everyone was speechless. No one could tell what it was blabbing about that is… no one except Dr Lighthead whom had discovered its true essence and understood every word. He was perched above the entrance and watched the Freedom Fighters and Warp duke it out.
Sonic and Knuckles came forth and attacked with everything they had and they attacked together this time with more power and agility than before. As they neared, Master Chaos slipped into a higher dimension and grabbed Sonic's leg and Knuckles' arm. From still within it, he was able to twirl them, this was followed by tossing them up and kicking them into separate walls. No one was able to detect MC's actions as this happened less than a second. Sonic then decided to use an old trick that always seemed to work especially with robots. He began to run circles around Master Chaos at the speed of mach 2. Ordinarily, this action would cause the bot to overload and self-destruct but this was different. This wasn't a bot… it was a type of mechanical entity as Rotor put it when describing it to Sally. Nicole had found nothing of such thing so she could tell Rotor had made the term up right then and there. As they watched their hero sped around Master Chaos nothing happened.
"Why isn't this working?!" Sonic asked himself. "He's not even moving." Sonic felt his leg get grabbed again. "Not this time you don't!" Sonic used his free leg to kick Master Chaos off, which seemed to do the trick. A grin could be seen on Sonic's face as MC flew back into the wall but it was very shortlived. MC disappeared and reappeared, ramming into Sonic, followed his attack with several punches and ended with a kick into the abdomen. The attack had slammed Sonic well underneath the floor of the chamber where a giant splash took place.
Knuckles looked down at the site. There was nothing but a dust cloud and rippling waves bouncing around the cavern. Still, the light from the Master Emerald penetrated through. Just as he decided it was his turn, Warp came forth, telling Knuckles to wait a moment and let him try. Warp used his special ability to 'warp' within 50 meters of his surrounding area. He did this around Master Chaos and so far was succeeding. He would strike Master Chaos with a kick or two and warp out. Master Chaos soon caught on and anticipated Warp's movement. As soon as he did, he could tell where he was going to warp to next and as soon as Warp reappeared, he slammed into him, crunching into a nearby wall. This attack knocked him out.
Knuckles was furious. He shot forth with everything he had with his punches but they only created miniscule indentations. After each barrage of punches, Master Chaos would simply throw him aside yet Knuckles kept coming back, aiming for the head. Sally, Rotor, Tails, Antoine could only watch as their fellow combatants gave it their best but seemed to have little effect if any.
Surprisingly, Knux lasted for several minutes before showing fatigue but he still could not seem to find a weakness. The only damage done to Master Chaos was the attack pulled by Sonic which left a series of scratches upon him. Knuckles then with all his might, swung and concentrated his energy in his hands. He was planning some type of mega punch. As he executed it, he could already tell it wouldn't work and to his dismay was right. A loud clang echoed the chamber. His gloves were partially bloody with all the punching. Master Chaos then grabbed both his hands, using his arms as rope and swung him around a few times and into the chamber wall, breaking through creating a slight hole. Seeing no one else active, Master Chaos descended into the water and approached the Master Emerald once again which was glowing normally.
Upon arrival and began his procedures that only he knew that would increase its aging process billions of years into the future. Slowly, it began to pulsate more and more. The remaining Freedom Fighters stared into the water, aghast and uncertain what to do. They could tell of his actions because of the light reflected on the ceiling. It grew and lessened in intensity with a sense of pulsation. This pulsation was accelerating.
Suddenly, a gloved hand grabbed Master Chaos leg, and with super sonic speed, spin dashed into him. The first time, Master Chaos took the blow but the next tries he was able to block the attack. Each block sent Sonic bouncing back and forth, which he used that momentum to try and strike Master Chaos. Figuring this was going no where, Master Chaos slipped from view… entering a plain of vision not visible to 3D beings yet perpendicular to all other dimensions to let Sonic bounce around on his own for he couldn't stop that easily. Being able to predict Sonic's motion, Master Chaos positioned himself where he computed Sonic to be at that certain time and 'caught' him.
"I don't know what you're up to, but it won't work!" Sonic said as he easily escaped his grasp. Sonic looked at Knuckles whom was out. Everyone else was concealed from view, afraid of Master Chaos' powers.
"This has to end now."
"You have no hope to overpower me. I will achieve the Eraos Emerald. You or any of your friends have the acquired abilities to stop me."
"Why do you even want the Eraos Emerald?"
"You will never be able to understand the powers of the Eraos Emerald!" Sonic thought for a moment. How on earth would he able to defeat such a powerful being? Just by staring at him, it was apparent he wasn't easily defeated. He appeared different than everyone else. Whenever he moved into the 4th or higher dimensional plane, it appeared to vanish. Shortly, Master Chaos gave up talking to blue hedgehog and returned to the Master Emerald to finish his job. Sonic continued to think of a plan and then dashed over to the rest of the group for suggestions. Lighthead, whom was still above the opening to the chamber thought out a plan as well.
"Do you guys have any idea how to stop this guy and maybe even permanently put him out?"
"I've been working on that, Sonic." Said Sally, holding Nicole with Rotor hunched over. "The thing is, no matter how many times Nicole scans him, each time it turns out that he's virtually flawless. No weaknesses whatsoever."
"How can that be?"
"I have no idea." They could all tell they were quickly running out of time. No one knew when the eraos emerald would be complete or how long the process was. Suddenly from above appeared a familiar figure to the Freedom Fighters and especially Warp, whom was dazed but could still make him out.
"Dr… Lighthead?" And indeed it was him. Warp was befuddled at the site, and with great fatigue, fell back into subconscious. Sonic looked up at the doctor with a demanding stance. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Not entirely. I assume you know its intentions."
"Yea. Transform the emerald."
"Yes. That's originally Robotar. C.H.A.O.S then took hold of him and transformed him, giving C.H.A.O.S a body to work with. With that body he uses as you see now."
"Waitaminnit… There was another form of him."
"What do you mean?"
"There was another form of him before this. He changed again then. He was in this room, left and then came back with more power and greater agility than before." Lighthead thought about this for a moment and within seconds his face faulted.
"Oh no… he must have also bonded with Master Mold."
"You mean…?"
"That bot is virtually INVINCIBLE…"
"You're here to help us?" asked Sally.
"Yes. I was aware of this as C.H.A.O.S and Robotar had disappeared on my vessel, the RSupremor. My father is responsible for this abomination."
"That's good because we're going to need all the help we can get."
"We need to also quickly get him away from the Master Emerald!" Rotor was right. During the quick minute of talking and strategizing, Master Chaos had gotten it to the point where it was before where he couldn't get it past in his previous form.
"We need to somehow hide it. Rotor, we'll need your swimming body. You and Sonic can distract Master Chaos while Rotor gets it out of the water and hands it off to Tails who will fly it out of here. We'll have to do this quickly as possible." Sally said seemingly the only one could still think straight.
"I gotcha, Sal. I just wish Knux had drained this water."
"There's no time for that. We need to act NOW!" And so they did. Sonic and Rotor had jumped into the water with Rotor helping Sonic along. Rotor went around hid himself from view, waiting for Sonic to get his attention. Sonic did just that. He revved up a spin attack underwater. It took longer than usual but still worked. The spin dash rammed into Master Chaos whom dropped the Master Chaos Emerald. This was the cue for Rotor whom made his way to it and took hold. He swam as quickly as possible to the surface where Tails was waiting and held it off to him. Tails then flew as fast as he could outside the cavern to where Bunnie was waiting by the entrance to the chamber. Bunnie then knew where to take it and took it via foot jets to the lava reef to bury it around a site. She hoped his sensors wouldn't pick it up as they couldn't take it off the island for it'd fall.
Meanwhile Sonic did his best to keep Master Chaos distracted. He quickly got out of the water where Lighthead was waiting, whom zapped him with a charged light blast. The blast like most attacks did minimal damage. Warp then came to once again. Master Chaos positioned his fist and projected it Sonic and Lighthead's direction. Warp, who had witnessed this attack before cried, "LOOK OUT!" as he warped to them, grabbed hold and warped out just as the invisible force struck where they were and driving in a crater several feet in.
Otrebor whom was still aware what was going on, followed Bunnie stealthily, undetected. He waited for her to bury the emerald. Bunnie merely fired a blast from her roboticized arm cannon. The hole was deep enough to conceal it. She dropped the foot and a half in diameter stone in the hole and covered it over. Just as she finished, she took off and headed back to the cavern. Seeing this as a perfect time, Otrebor practically dove to the spot and began to dig as fast as he could.
Master Chaos stared at his obstacles calmly. He indeed had enough of this and to think these obstacles could simply keep him from his ultimate desire invigorated him yet he still said nothing. Sonic, whom was in a fighting stance just stared back. Knuckles managed to come to and quickly found himself by Sonic's side, trying to get ready for what was next. At first they believed Master Chaos was up to something but then their gaze shifted to Lighthead, whom was pulling out a familiar device from his pocket.
"The dark light bomb!" Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed in unison. They remembered how it worked from when they were first on the Surpemor and so began to back away. Everyone else did the same. Just as before, Lighthead placed it ontop his head and began to power it. Master Chaos was bewildered of what he was doing and so watched with slight content. Warp also was amazed. He had not seen this weapon of Lighthead's before. Once complete, Lighthead hurled it at the direction of Master Chaos whom merely caught it and began to examine it. Then it detonated. The power of the dark light bomb created a very temporary universal rift black hole that swallowed Master Chaos in less than heartbeat. All of the bombs contents were gone, thus signifying that it had worked. But then, just scant seconds later he reappeared.
"Is to know infinity. Can you even imagine what that means? To not only see infinity but to know it? There is more out there than your race will ever know."
Suddenly, almost as if in reaction to what he said, the island began to shake. No one was able to pin point the reason. Master Chaos was quickly able to tell that it was no longer within the chamber yet no one knew the location of it besides Bunnie. Then she remembered Otrebor… whom was no longer within the cavern. It made sense now.
"Otrebor must have the emerald! That sleeze bag…" Instantly… as if knowing exactly Otrebor's whereabouts, Master Chaos appeared before him. Otrebor's stomach sunk with dread, still in flight. Master Chaos then swiped the emerald from him and landed a downward punch that sent him back down to the island. Still annoyed with his efforts, he tossed him into the air and seemed to zip into him several times before finally utilizing the mysterious force to fling him into the side of a cliff. From there, Otrebor fell to the ground, very much dead and bloody. No one had seen this brutality act of Master Chaos as once they all got to where he was, it was too late. Everyone was shocked of Otrebor's condition and immediately came to conclusion he was dead. With the Master Emerald now in relation to the island, it restabilized.
Master Chaos then held up the Master Emerald… with it quickly restarting its process. It hummed greatly and pulsated more so than before. No one was certain what to do. Attacking head on was always fruitless… but then something odd happened… another mysterious ability with the Master Emerald… as it continued to pulsate and hum, it turned different color. It became yellow and pink. At first, everyone had thought he had done it but then gazed at Sonic and Knuckles. They had transformed… without the use of the chaos emeralds. Somehow the Master Emerald was able to transform them on its own and its colors stated the obvious and most conclusive reasoning. Glancing at eachother, Sonic and Knuckles were dumbfounded… but somehow knew that what was before them was not the eraos emerald. Not yet at least. Master Chaos still held it, continuing his eerie gaze into it. He had not noticed its results. Figuring now was the best time to attack, they did, now powered to their super forms.
The result was tremendous. Super Sonic and Super Knuckles had both hit Master Chaos simultaneously. Sonic with a spin dash and Knuckles with his most powerful punch. The attack launched Master Chaos a good 800 feet, smacking and running down trees as he flew where he finally came in contact with the ground. He quickly got back up and reappeared before Super Sonic and Knuckles. He then slipped from view, and rammed into Sonic and Knuckles from what appeared to be simultaneously, he sent barrages of punches and kicks to each… all at lightning speed. Sally… Tails… and the others were all horrified to see Master Chaos treat them as such. After what appeared to be eternity of torture, Master Chaos finally threw them straight into the ground, creating a hole.
"Urgh..How on earth are we going to beat him?"
"Why do you ask that as if I know?" As they continued to figure out what to do, Master Chaos appeared right above them, hovering in mid air off the ground. The hole created by them was about 14 feet deep. Master Chaos created a fist, outstretching it, hence creating the invisible force cutting through and making the hole deeper, with continuous motion.
"Oh no.. this'll drive us into the ocean if it keeps up like this!"
"But there's no way around it! I can't break through it!" It did just that. The unknown force caused by Master Chaos caused it to push the Super Sonic and Knuckles deep into the islands interior where it finally pressed through, shooting them out at the bottom like water out of a gyser. If one peered down the hole, they would be able to make out contents of the underside of the island falling to the ocean below. The powered Sonic and Knuckles were no where in sight.
Of course Master Chaos was the only one unaware of Knuckles' gliding ability which he had not shown of previously. If he did, the attack would have been more serious. To his delighted gaze, he took hold of the Master Emerald again and began advancing it further.
The rest of the Freedom Fighters absolutely hated being powerless to do much other than come up with ideas and tactics, each failing. They mainly focused on a way to somehow get the emerald far away from Master Chaos and still keep the island afloat, but thoughts that they were too slow kept them from doing so. They could already tell of this abilities to get from one place to another by the time it took him to get from the island to Robotropolis and back plus just to get to where Otrebor was. Still, they continued to ponder… as Sonic and Knuckles returned back to the topside, ready for more battle.
Super Sonic and Knuckles gazed forth as they saw Master Chaos with the most powerful emerald known in the universe, pulsating and illuminating brightly with still the yellow and pink mix. Figuring it was now or never, both Sonic and Knuckles shot forth at Master Chaos but he did nothing… until it changed again. This time turning a very radiant and illumnescent white, blue, yellow, pink and red. Sonic and Knux fell dead in their tracks as they both had witnessed a new phase. This phase had transformed them into their hyper states. They pulsated along with Master Emerald. No one was sure why this was happening. Master Chaos knew tho. He knew from the beginning that both Sonic and Knuckles had major bonds with the chaos emeralds. Even though he wasn't able to deduce exactly why this was happening, it was something that was factored in as a possibility. If he could, he would merely take the emerald with him into a different dimension, invisible to the current plane but it was impossible to take a 3rd dimensional object into a higher dimension.
The now Hyper Sonic and Knuckles, with more energy than before attacked Master Chaos. Glowing after images projected as they moved. This was easily used with other baddies but Master Chaos was truly different and could tell the real from the fake but Sonic and Knux knew that, so they didn't rely on him misjudging. Instead they attacked head on. Sonic drilled underground and came up under Master Chaos location, hitting him into the air where Knuckles was ready and socked him far off. Just where Knux expected to see a crash of smoke and dust, Master Chaos vanished and reappeared behind him in almost no time at all. Not having his guard up, he was slammed into and thrown at Sonic's direction at lightning speeds whom was also oblivious of Master Chaos' actions.
They could all tell that Sonic and Knux were getting tired of battle, moreso than Master Chaos who always kept the emerald in one hand. With his free hand, a blade shot forth. It was the same blade Robotar had as it was in some ways part of his form. Undetected through the naked eye, Master Chaos rammed the blade into both Sonic and Knuckles, skewing them both. Sally and others shielded their eyes, mortally afraid they were done for as did Sonic and Knux. Then they realized something. There was no pain. There was no blood. The act simply had no effect on their hyper forms. After what seemed to be eternity having a giant metal blade impaling them, Master Chaos noticed the same effect and flung them off. Getting more frustrated at their powers, he concocted a type of shield out of nothing encasing both combatants. Master Chaos knew their attempts to get out would be futile so he held up the Master Emerald and continued his trance like stare into it. Everyone was powerless to stop him so they just stared. Even Lighthead's attacks with his lightbulb did nothing but make him work faster and indeed he did. The emerald hummed ever so loudly and glowed ever so brightly before finally becoming constant. It appeared a mixture of blue and green with what appeared to be cloud like texture to the sight, almost as if water or some moisture was inside. It was now apparent that it was indeed the Eraos Emerald.
"The mobian race cannot survive without evolution. I am that evolution. I am the next link in the chain, you created me. My directive was to evolve. I have. I could show you things you would not believe. You should see what I have seen. The eyes they created for me. We live… as we dream alone."
Suddenly, just as before with every other reaction with a new phase of the Master Emerald… Sonic and Knuckles cried out in agony. They had not witnessed this type of power before. The emeralds always brought them to either the super or hyper levels. There was never anything above it. They were used to the super more than hyper and this now appeared to be eraos overwhelmed them. Knuckles in all out pain doubled over, collapsing as he returned to his normal red. Sonic continued to fight on. He stared at Sally, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Warp and even Lighthead. Then he stared at Master Chaos and the Eraos Emerald. His body the same variation of it. Then, with a cry of war, he burst through the shield, destroying it.
"Sal! Get Knuckles outta here. I'll take care of Master Chaos." His words were different and very serious. Instantly, everyone could tell how serious the situation had become yet somehow knew Sonic would come through in the end. Bidding his word, Sally scooped up Knuckles. She felt compelled to hug Sonic but he told her there was no time.
"I love you Sonic!"
"And I love you, Sally. Now quickly! Get out of here! I've a bad feeling…"
"What?"
"He's already wished for something. I can just feel it." Those are his last words to her. This new feeling came with being Eraos Sonic. As Sonic gazed around to see if they were gone he quickly saw that Lighthead still remained. Lighthead then walked up to him. His light bulb was growing in intensity.
"Why are you still here?"
"This is mainly the creation of my father, Ubunan Del Gruke. I feel that its also part of my responsibility to aid you with destroying it."
"I see."
With that said, Lighthead had emitted an immense wave of light, quickly blinding Master Chaos. Deciding to act now, Sonic dove after Master Chaos, aiming for the Eraos Emerald itself. With great and tremendous speed that he had never had before and faster than the speed of light, Sonic spindashed into the Eraos Emerald.
Immediately after with no delay whatsoever, the ambient space is greatly illuminated, the moon pelted with mysterious light and the lower Mobius blinded everywhere for dozens of miles. All at once, an explosion takes place but cannot be seen because of all the light for it was like having a new sun released. The explosion takes over with the light lasting less than a second. The Floating Island appears in ruins, shattered and falling to pieces to the ground. Knuckles was still out and is fortunately able to skip this traumatic event as it would be long ride back to Knothole.
Twenty four hours later, everything remains much the same other than the deep sorrow of Sonic dying. Tails was still in denial and continuously brought up the idea he may have somehow survived but Sally assured him that with an explosion in the magnitude plus the pieces landing in the ocean, there wouldn't be any way he'd still be alive.
Knuckles became very bitter with the idea that there was no more Floating Island and was now staying at Knothole for the time being under order of Sally. He was eager to go to the site and recover the pieces of the Master Emerald yet Rotor mentioned that such a mission would be impossible, that they did not have the necessary technological sub that could reach the right depth.
Even though the hero had fallen in battle, everyone knew what he did was needed to save them from an unexpected scenario, a scenario that could have very well resulted in the destruction of the universe as Master Chaos would've had complete control with the Eraos Emerald. Yet still questions remained. Only Sally now knew that Master Chaos had made a wish since Sonic had told her and even though they knew Master Chaos was gone, that question still remained. Maybe time will tell…
