BELVYAY NA PLANETA
(Planet of White)
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
The pain was unbearable. All he could see was blood, all of the blood from his body, draining onto the spikes. It was like a death, a terrible, painful death that no man should have. Yet death was something he could never have.
"Right! Enough."
The iron maiden suddenly stopped spinning. With a crooked smile, the lone human figure opened it up. The body of the echidna was impaled through the side with one of the more promiscuous spikes.
"Do you surrender?"
"Never." the green echidna spat blood as he shouted. "I won't give up!! Never!"
"Very well. Your choice, boy. To the next chamber!!"
The human placidly dragged the green echidna off of the spike and into another door. It slammed shut, and all at once, acid began to pour in, burning off the echidna's skin.
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
"Hah!" The man outside spat. "Does it hurt? We will do it forever and ever until you consent to us, guardian! After all, why keep the guilt of your father's deeds onto your shoulders, where they never belonged in the first place? They should be upon your father, the spineless coward."
"Guardian...."
The name had meant something before, but it was lost on the creature now. All he knew of was pain. When he blocked out the pain, or tried to, it simply kept coming. It slowly numbed all other memories from his mind, until all there was were the bullets. The acid. The gas. And now, the iron maiden and the radiation sickness. This was his father's fault, for when the boy screamed out to him, he did not come.
But he couldn't comfort in eminent death. He had something they wanted - power. He could be gauged, impaled, shot, anything, but he couldn't die. His mind was gone, banished, perhaps never to return but the flesh refused to give out.
"Uuugh...."
"Knuckles!"
The name, though it didn't seem familiar, made the green echidna turn around and face the origin of the voice.
"..........................Tobor?"
The name came from nowhere, from a place he had forgotten from the endless pain and suffering he went through. But the injured echidna knew that this was Tobor. Somehow.
"How did..."
"Knuckles...." The name again. "Wake up. You've been tricked."
"Tricked..."
"Your father. You. Everything is in danger."
Something began to stir within the green echidna's mind. A man.
".......Tricked....he tricked me......." Truth began to stir within him, the longer he stared at the creature before him. "That…….human….."
"......yes....."
"....and.....teased me............." The green echidna began to realize. "My family...........gone......it was him, not dad...."
"He broke you." The green echidna's mind suddenly began to flood with memories. "When you were at the breaking point, he told you. It was your father. But it wasn't. It was him. Papu Atrava."
The chamber disappeared, and there was nothing there but him, Papu Atrava, the man who did it all. And black.
"...No...." Suddenly, the green echidna shuddered from the weight of the memories. "......make it stop......."
"Knuckles.....Knuckles?! Are you-"
Tobor's voice suddenly blinked out from the blackness. The green echidna's eyes widened in pain, all the memories he had conflicting and throwing his entire being into conflict, and he screamed. A burst of white light suddenly broke into the blackness.
"STOP!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE THIS STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed. "MAKE IT STOP NOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
---------------------------
Sailor Moon's head nodded.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power!!!!!!! KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The tier in hand, the seemingly long forgotten attack, combined with the syphon staff she now possessed, barreled, in different colors, towards the white echidna.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The attack hit Knuckles head on, and he screamed. Mist began to come off of him like a stove.
"BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The white was drained from his body. Once again green, the echidna collapsed amid the feathers as it rolled out towards the extended walls of the room.
"KNUCKLES!!!"
The energy from the attack spread out, releasing Locke from his cage. He landed on both feet as he ran over to Knuckles.
"Knuckles!!!!!!"
As the energy wave rolled over the crucifixes, everyone's eyes slowly opened.
"Sailor Moon!!"
"Everyone!!"
The crucifixes disappeared, and everyone trapped in them fell down to the ground. Julie-Su saw Knuckles, and, upon reaching him, she quickly shifted his body.
"Knuckles. Is it you?"
Knuckles' eyes slowly opened. The green tint from his body disappeared, and he became red again.
"I think so…" He looked around and saw himself surrounded by humans. "Where am I?"
"On Earth."
Knuckles looked over at the origin of the voice, and found himself staring at a scratched-up human with long red dreadlocks.
"Who are….Dad?!"
"Yes."
Locke's figure glowed, shrinking until it was an echidna silhouette. The light disappeared, and he was in his original form.
"I don't believe it."
"…….Well, this is touching."
Everyone turned over to Atrava, whose eyes were flashing.
"Hand over the Emerald, Locke." Atrava held out his hand. "I won."
"Ha. We defeated your champion." Locke pointed to him. "I suggest you leave before these young girls come after you."
"It looks like I didn't specify the rules clear enough for you, echidna." Atrava put his hand up to the ceiling. "I said you had to defeat him. You….and no one else. You violated the rules. Your Emerald belongs to me."
Everyone gasped.
"What?!" Locke couldn't believe his ears.
"You are a cheap old man, aren't you?!" Julie-Su shouted. "You just twisted the wording so that you'll win either way!!"
"So?" Atrava laughed. "It doesn't matter anymore!!"
The six Emeralds on the pillar glowed brightly. From the corner, Locke's pack vibrated violently. The fabric ripped apart, and the seventh Emerald popped out.
"NO!!!" Sailor Moon screamed. "You can't do this!!"
"And why not, little princess!!" Atrava laughed even more. "It's my right! As the gatekeeper of your hateful mother, being cursed with immortality, I will have my revenge! To you, and society that has created the need for you and your friends….DEATH!!!!"
The seventh Emerald hovered into the middle, and a burst of green light burst forth into the tower, blinding everyone.
"AAAAAAH!!!!!!" Everyone fell down to the ground.
"This is the end!!!" Atrava shouted. "Earth Emeralds!! Agents of death!!! Grant me the ultimate power to fulfill my greatest wish, and destroy the people of earth and my enemies!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As a ripple of power burst from the seven Emeralds, Sailor Saturn looked up to see that the ripple was resonating onto the planet Earth, as did each subsequent ripple.
"The Earth….It is turning green!!"
"YES!!!!" Atrava screamed in the circle. "The final punishment of the people of Earth!!! A slow, painful death under the clouds of cold Emerald energy. Its infinite power is unmatched. There is no neutralizing Controller to slow and stop the ebbing of the Emeralds' strength! First this Earth, then this moon, and my revenge will be complete!!!! The Emeralds' power will explode recklessly and consume this world, and nothing can be done to stop it!! HAHAHAHA!!!"
"NO!!!!"
Sailor Moon jumped up and took out her tier. She pointed it angrily at Atrava.
"You will regret this!! I will not allow you to do this!! You won't be forgiven!!"
"Heheh…." Atrava turned to Sailor Moon, smiling. "And you will be the one to punish me?"
Suddenly, Atrava's skin began to melt, and the Emeralds began to crack. Sailor Moon gasped as Atrava began to laugh.
"You are so wrong, little princess." His skin began to disintegrate as it melted, revealing his muscles, blood vessels and bones. "I have already gotten away with it. The intolerable power of the Emeralds, it is freeing me of your mother's pitiful curse. There is nothing you can do to me. All you can do is watch. Watch….and then die. My way."
"NOO!!!" Sailor Moon screamed. "Go to hell!!! This can't be!!"
"Haha!!" Atrava's skeleton was the only thing left that hadn't disintegrated. "Hell, that is where we will meet next, Sailor Moon!!"
Laughing, Atrava melted into ash, which was scattered around the tower. Sailor Moon screamed, and it echoed over the Emeralds' cracking.
"WATCH OUT!!!!!" Locke screamed.
With a loud exploding pop, the seven Earth Emeralds, the hosts of destruction, shattered into a million pieces. The roof of the tower ripped open, exposing the group to the dark blackness of space. However, even that turned green in their eyes.
"I can't breathe…"
Knuckles and Julie-Su gasped as green began to spread over the soldiers' bodies.
"NO!!!"
Knuckles shuddered and blasted an energy blast towards them, but it only speeded up the color change. The emerald-created wind howled around them.
"What are we going to do?!" Knuckles screamed. "They're turning green!!"
"There's nothing we can do."
Knuckles turned to Locke, whose head was down as he held onto his hat.
"Dad…!!!"
"There is nothing we can do!" Locke repeated at the top of his lungs as the wind became stronger. "The people of this world cannot withstand the power. They are all doomed!!"
"That can't be right!! We can save them, Dad!!"
"I wish I had your enthusiasm, son!!" Locke laughed bitterly. "But I don't. There is nothing we can do now without a Controller. God help us!!"
"God…?"
Suddenly, there came another sonic boom, and everyone was thrown back several hundred yards as one final explosion rocked the tower, causing it to completely collapse and implode.
---------------------
"Artemis!!"
Luna ran as fast as she could to Central Control. Her fur was completely covered with green.
"Luna!!"
Artemis ran over to rub against her, but she dodged him.
"No….please!!" Luna started to cry. "We've failed. I can sense it. Even if I don't touch you, it won't matter because you will soon be contaminated as well. It's horrible…the Earth, the moon, everything is filled to the brink with Emerald energy."
"Luna…"
"Oh, Artemis." Luna's head went down as she stared at the monitor. "I had hoped that the future we have known would come to pass. But this is catastrophic. Everything is infected."
Artemis's head went down at those words. He looked back up at the monitor, then out of the windows of Central Control. Through them he could hear the screams of people choking on the Emerald energy, as well as see the moon as it slowly turned green.
------------
Locke held his head as he slowly got back up. Blood oozed from his injuries again. He looked around, disoriented.
Where am I…
A figure out of the corner of his eye brought everything back to him. Every single horrible thing.
"Usagi….!!!!!!!!!!!"
Locke felt his legs cramp as he ran, but he didn't care. He fell down to the ground, screaming as he picked the figure up.
"USAGI!!! USAAAGIIIII!!!!!!!!!!"
There was no reply from the motionless green figure, her eyes rolled up to the back of her head. Locke took several deep breaths and forced his angry tears back. He shuddered as clenched his hands, dropping Sailor Moon. He brought them to his forehead, teeth clenched.
No……..Noooo…….
Finally, his body could no longer take the shuddering, and his lip began to bleed when his teeth slipped and bit the flesh of his mouth. He nearly passed out. But he forced himself to keep awake.
I thought you could do it. The vacant green eyes stared back at him. They no longer even looked alive. I placed all of my hope in you. I thought…But not even you could stop it.
Like a zombie, he put Sailor Moon's head down and simply got up. He stood, looking up at the sky, his eyes completely vacant. For several minutes, it was all he could do.
There is no hope now, he thought as his gaze moved from the sky to the soldiers. They were coughing as the wind blasted by them. I can feel life here draining away, slowly and painfully. Maybe I was too late….I wonder why I even came, when the fate of this planet was already sealed…No. It's not sealed. I can feel a heart beat still…
"Sir!!"
He felt Julie-Su grabbing his hand. He turned around to face her, and saw that she too had been injured.
"Julie-Su?"
"It's….horrible." Julie-Su fought the wind as she dragged Locke with her. "Look!"
The wind began to subside, as Locke looked towards Earth again. The green glistened off of the planet, almost as if the Earth had turned into a gigantic Chaos Emerald.
"You're right." Julie-Su sighed sadly as Locke stared. "There is no hope. It happened so quickly. No one even expected it."
"Dad…."
The two looked up at Knuckles as he looked at the planet below. They could see the hope die in his eyes as he saw it, and he held his head in his hands.
"Yeah, Dad." Knuckles' head hung down. "There is nothing that can save this world. I…I can hear their screams as they suffer. It's horrible."
Locke looked back down at the earth. His heart seemed to sink lower with each passing minute in the eyes of the two teenagers.
"You know," he finally managed to get out. "Before this, I would have been happy that this was happening. Six billion Overlanders are dying right before our eyes. It would have been the Mobian thing to do. But……"
Locke's gaze shifted towards Usagi, then back to the planet. Knuckles noticed it, and his eyes grew wide.
"Dad…?"
"There is no reason to be happy about this." Locke turned to Knuckles. "I am watching six billion people - it doesn't matter their race - die. Dying. All of them worthier to live then I. If being a Mobian means I must laugh at this, then I do not want to be a Mobian anymore."
"….You're right," Julie-Su's voice was hallow. "And what's worse, we can't even go home. There's no way to get off of this satellite without the shuttle."
Locke looked back at Usagi's body. Then he shook his head.
"My mind says there is no hope. My eyes show me there is no hope." Locke looked at Knuckles and Julie-Su. "But there is no way my heart can be taught that there is no hope."
"Huh?" Both Julie-Su and Knuckles gasped.
"I can still feel the hope." Locke gave a determined smile, even though there was still disillusionment in his eyes. "No matter how hopeless it may seem, we should never lose ourselves and think that we have failed. Hope….the echidna guardians that helped us from the other side, Andrei Googolov, the sailor soldiers…and Usagi, especially…they believed it could be saved. If there is one thing I have learned from them, and her, it is that to lose hope is to lose life itself. No, there is still hope. We are still alive, and because we are alive there is hope for the earth. We still have time to save this world. I for one will not allow the opportunity to slip on by me."
No one noticed Sailor Moon's eyes turning blue at Locke's words, nor as Locke held out his hand to the other echidnas.
"Knuckles. Julie-Su." Locke looked at each of them individually. "I cannot do it alone this time. I know this for a fact now. I need you, both of you, to help me. We'll have to make a Controller to succeed. But I think we can do it."
In reply to his invitation, Julie-Su slowly put her hand on Locke's hand and shrugged.
"I guess there's nothing to lose" was her comment.
"Knuckles?"
Knuckles looked over at the earth, then at Locke, then back at earth, then at Locke again. With a definitive hit he slapped his hand down on Locke's and Julie-Su's.
"I guess Athair was actually right," Knuckles chuckled. "Saving the universe is much more than defending just one pebble in the belly of it."
"Athair, huh?" Locke looked at him. "And when was this?"
"Umm….a while ago." Knuckles began to sweat.
"Heh. I forgive you."
Suddenly, they were all knocked down on their feet. A flash of green light emanated in the room.
"The Chaos Emeralds!!" Knuckles shouted. "Let's go!!"
He jumped back up to run towards the decimated pillar, but stopped.
"I….don't believe it…"
The green light slowly lightened into a soft white glow, and Sailor Moon's green complexion disappeared. She stood in the middle of the room, her hands up in the air, holding a bright white light. Her eyes were closed tightly.
"Sailor Moon?!" Julie-Su jumped up. "She's all better!! But how?!"
"It's….." Locke stood up in bewilderment. "The Silver Crystal…"
Sailor Moon's eyes opened up, revealing her blue eyes. She looked over at the echidnas.
"I heard you, Locke," she replied. "I, too, had lost hope. But you're right. There is hope. But in order to do that I must create an equilibrium of power. With my Silver Crystal."
"What?!?" Locke's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean?!"
The sailor soldiers' color turned back to normal, and their eyes slowly opened their eyes.
"I will wish for the ultimate power of the Silver Crystal." Sailor Moon closed her eyes. "And I will cover the Emerald clouds on Earth and the moon, and everything that has been contaminated, with its power."
"Usako!!" Mamoru shouted. "Don't!!"
"You can't use the ultimate power!!" Venus screamed. "If you do, you'll die!!! You can't recover our world from this horrid power!!!"
Sailor Moon turned back to the soldiers, opening her eyes again. This time, they were purple.
"No. I will live. And I will succeed. Because I have something else other than the Crystal, something that Atrava did not have, in my hands."
"Something else?"
"Yes." Sailor Moon looked to Locke and smiled. "Hope."
She closed her eyes again, and held her head down as the light became brighter.
Powers of the Silver Crystal. Feel the hope that all of my friends have, both old and new. And grant me the power to bring that hope to the people of Earth. Let us build the future with our hope…
---------------------
Artemis and Luna lay on the floor of Central Control, their fur green. Outside, the green clouds darkened.
"Luna…How long do you think it will be?"
"Not long." Luna's eyes were nearly closed. "Just close your eyes and think of good things."
Artemis gave a sigh as he looked out of the window. The screams outside had died long ago, and there was nothing of interest to look at. As he scanned the sky to see and recurring shapes that he might find to wile away his dying self, he suddenly spotted a small glimmer of white trickling through the clouds. He blinked, thinking it was an illusion, but after blinking five times he realized that what he was seeing was no illusion.
"LUNA!!"
"What."
"Look!!!!"
Luna looked up to see what was happening, and her eyes grew wide when she saw what was happening.
"It can't be!!" She cried happily. "And yet it is!!"
The light suddenly burst through the clouds, causing them to disintegrate. The starry night sky could bee seen, and as the earth was exposed to the blackness of the stars the green pallor began to disappear.
"It's so wonderful!!" Looking up, Luna could see the moon glowing green, though it was becoming considerably lighter with each passing moment. "Sailor Moon is saving us!!!"
Artemis began to laugh with happiness, but a loud cracking behind him caused him to stop.
"Huh?!"
Artemis turned, and saw a large icy spot on the wall….one that was spreading quickly to the floor. His eyes grew wide with horror.
"Oh my god!!!!" Luna shouted. "Artemis!!! Outside!!!"
Artemis turned to look outside, and saw that everything that was uncovered by the power of the Silver Crystal - buildings, people, cars - were suddenly being covered with a sheet of ice.
"Luna!! It's happening in here too!!"
Aretmis turned to see that Luna was already covered in ice, and she was completely frozen.
"The Earth was hit by ecological disaster, and the planet was forced into a state of dormancy. It lasted for one thousand years…"
The recollection of the words, though seemingly untimely when Artemis first heard them, now made perfect sense to him as he was laid to dormancy. It was all now crystal clear.
------------------------
As the soldiers and echidnas looked on, the Earth was slowly blanketed in Silver Crystal power.
"It's the end," Locke gave a sigh of relief. "The Earth is saved."
"More power…"
Everyone turned to Sailor Moon, who began to shake as the crystal's power became more apparent. The light grew brighter in Sailor Moon's hands as Sailor Moon's sailor suit suddenly turned into bright pink ribbons. The pink ribbons lightened until they were completely white, and they surrounded her body, transforming into a long white dress.
"The Controller serves to unify the Seven....." Sailor Moon suddenly spoke.
"SAILOR MOON?!?!?"
"Silver Crystal!!!" Sailor Moon screamed. "The entire planet and the moon!! Give me the power, the power to cleanse everything!!"
"Sailor Moon....No….." Realization dawned on Mamoru. "That is no longer Sailor Moon. It is….Neo Queen Serenity…"
"Silver Moon Crystal……..POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
With one final scream, Sailor Moon thrust the crystal forward. Several gigantic beams shot from the crystal, hitting both the earth and the moon with a bright white light. The light that hit the earth expanded itself on the earth until the planet was completely white.
"Sailor Mo-"
Locke's words were cut off by a beam that hit the tower, which engulfed everything within it. The last thing Locke saw before collapsing to the ground was the silhouette of a goddess with wings, which suddenly shot up from the white light and disappeared into the depths of power before disappearing completely.
---------------------
If anyone on the earth was still coherent enough to see the power which resonated between themselves and their satellite, though this was almost impossible as all were laid to dormancy, they would have been fearful for their lives, especially after the initial attack of multiple beams. Only one solitary beam was left on the moon, pointing straight up into space.
After that beam finally dissolved, one solitary glimmer of light was left floating over the newly iced-over rock that had been the moon. From the distance, it looked like a beautiful newborn star. Up close, however, one would see something else.
Inside of it was the crouched silhouette of a woman. Her hair was long and blonde. A pair of rainbow wings adorned her back. A moon sign was in the middle of her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes to look at the planet that she just saved, and smiled.
Don't worry, guys, she mouthed. I'll be back.
With that, the star shot off into the sky, leaving a white trail of dust as it headed for unknown destinations.
