Chapter 45
And All Things Will End
Just…hold…on…
Finally, Sonic flew out of the fiery torrent. Even in his super form, he was susceptible to major strength, and he figured one of the universe's ultimate evils probably fell into that category. His arms were scarred up and down, his legs ached, and his face burned like nothing else. He growled, curled his fingers, and stared at the dragon.
"Feels good, doesn't it hedgehog?" laughed the dragon.
"Enough!" shouted Sonic. He shot towards the dragon, weaved past another puff of fire, and threw an uppercut to her neck. If it did anything, Crystal didn't show it. She simply lifted a colossal, decrepit claw and swiped at him. Sonic backed away just in time, then shot again into her neck. This time, he got a little reaction-she reeled back a bit before breathing another streak of fire in his direction. Sonic flew upward to avoid it, then quickly had to bend his body to avoid another fireball that came right at him. He tried then to attack from behind. He flew towards her tail, cut under it when Crystal tried to slap him with it, and smashed her back. Again, nothing. He got knocked away from the tail this time, though, and went careening towards where the Eggman base used to be. He planted on the ground with both feet and one hand and looked up at the dragon. She wasn't letting up-another fireball came streaking Sonic's way. Instead of flying, he ran away from it.
Then, he had an idea.
He sped over to Blade, slowly turning back to blue. He almost laughed at the startled look on the faces of Charmy, Espio, Amy, and the others.
"Blade, I've got an idea. Go Super again. Here are the Emeralds."
"Are you nuts, man?" the warrior asked. "You're the man here…"
"Sonic, no!" cried Amy.
Sonic could see another beam of fire coming from the dragon.
"Blade NOW!!!!"
He was already off, and in one quick blast he was Super again. He raced towards the red fireball and slapped it back at Crystal with his sword.
"Sonic…" whispered Amy…
"Amy," Sonic responded. He held her by the waist for a little comfort-for both of them. "I know I've done a lot of stupid things these last few days. You know it, too, and I'm sure everyone else here does, too. But out of all of those, when I think about it now, and I think about what you've done for me all my life, there's only one of them that I regret, that I wish I didn't do."
She was silent, scared, as if she expected something terrible and great to happen at the same time.
"The only thing I wish I didn't do," he continued, "is skipping out on that date with you."
Amy's eyes widened.
"I love you, Amy."
He squeezed her tightly. She squeezed him back. And then, he was gone. He raced off to the dragon, to help Blade in some way.
Although he was too far away to hear even if she shouted it, Amy answered back in a voice that was even inaudible to herself.
"I love you, too."
There it was, big and beautiful. The Master Emerald.
Tails liked playing this "master thief" thing. First with the Chaos Emeralds and now this. It was fun! Well, this wasn't as fun, mainly because there wasn't anyone to escape. He simply swooped in, lifted the Emerald up, and flew back. Damn, this thing was heavy!
He had to get back as fast as he could. Sonic, Blade, and everyone needed his help. Especially Knuckles, who needed this Emerald to power up.
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"Okay, this'll be easy," Knuckles told everyone. "When Tails comes back, Charmy will fly me near that dragon and I'll neutralize the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. That dragon will be history.
"That's not gonna work, Knuckles," Mighty responded.
"Huh? What the hell do you mean, it's not gonna work???"
"I mean, it ain't gonna work. First off, that dragon can stay alive without the Emeralds now. It's too strong, it can power itself now, so neutralizing the Emeralds will just screw Sonic and Blade. Second, you think that dragon is just gonna sit back and let you and Charm do something that could be dangerous to it?"
"Grrr…" Knuckles growled. Of course, Mighty was right. He just couldn't believe he was so naïve to think that would work. "How'd you know that?"
"I'll tell you when we're not about to die. You should use the Master Emerald," suggested Mighty, "to go Chaotix."
Right again. Last time, he ran out of strength because he was too far from the Emerald.
"Okay, Mighty. Hope you're right about this."
"Of course I am," chuckled the armadillo.
"Look, here he comes!" cheered Charmy.
"Let's hurry up with that Emerald, Tails!" screamed Knuckles.
Tails had an exhausted expression on his face as he flew…well, more like fell…to Knuckles with the Emerald. All right!
Knuckles turned green much faster than before. It was still an amazing sight, though. The energy wave he caused when he turned Chaotix was so powerful it knocked Tails, Espio, and Amy over. It also bowled Vector over when Espio and Amy fell into him.
Knuckles flew off to help in the fighting. Meanwhile, Mighty helped everyone else up. He smiled when he got to Amy.
"I'd get off Vector as fast as I could," he chuckled. "Your boyfriend might not like it."
Amy simply smiled as Mighty grabbed her wrist and pulled her up.
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As Knuckles flew over to Crystal, angry and ready to settle a score, he had a revelation. What had Mighty just said?
Well, among other things…
"First off, that dragon can stay alive without the Emeralds now. It's too strong, it can power itself now, so neutralizing the Emeralds will just screw Sonic and Blade."
That meant…
"Sonic, what the hell are you doing??" he shouted. "Get Super!"
"I can't!" cried the hedgehog as he ran with Knuckles to the dragon. "That thing is-"
"-not using the Emerald anymore!" finished the echidna. "Mighty knows a lot about this stuff, and that thing isn't using the Emeralds anymore! Go for it!"
Sonic shrugged and kept running, but Knuckles flew up to Blade, who was knocking away another fireball. "Toss the Emeralds down to Sonic, now! JUST DO IT!" he shouted when Blade was about to object. Instead of waiting, Knuckles pounded the warrior and knocked them out of his hands. Luckily, too, because a stream of fire was just about to hit Blade.
"Now, Sonic!" shouted Knuckles.
Sonic saw this development and jumped towards the Emeralds. He was about to come short, but Knuckles grabbed his arms and tossed him towards them. Sonic grabbed them and exploded in a column of gold energy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now THAT was a sight.
Amy was getting everyone together for a short little prayer service for the late Big, who was now buried next to her, and the rest of the planet, when everyone's attention turned back to the fight.
Gold, red, and green against black.
"I've got it!" Amy cheered. "Everyone, follow me!"
The others reluctantly followed Amy, muttering amongst themselves as she led them to…
"I'm going no farther!" Vector shouted when he saw she was taking them to the massive dragon, who was spitting fire at the three heroes.
"Just trust me!" cried Amy, waving them on. Tails knew what she was doing. Espio trusted her decision, but just barely. Mighty didn't care, as long it meant he got to fight a little more.
"Sonic!" she called to them.
The dragon instead answered. "Pests! Stay out of this!" It lifted its claws and began to charge two green balls inside of them. Amy was terrified. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"SONIC!"
The beams fired towards them. The group was too scared to move.
They didn't have to.
When the beam hit, it spread around them and did nothing.
"What the hell?" asked Vector. His body was surrounded in red, although he himself was still green. He began to rise in the air.
"Awesome!" cheered Charmy, who was surrounded in red as well. "I'm not flying, but I'm still flying!"
"This power…is incredible," muttered Espio. He and Mighty were shrouded in green and floating higher and higher again.
"Sonic!" cheered Amy and Tails together. They both rose in shields of gold.
Blade had Vector and Charmy at his sides, Knuckles had Mighty and Espio, and Sonic had Tails and Amy. Crystal was infuriated, and probably scared as well.
"This is not the way it was meant to be!" she screamed. "This was a battle of two greats! Nothing more!"
"Will you just shut up?" Knuckles answered back.
"This isn't just about two forces of good and evil," called Blade.
"It's about our home, and us kicking the crap out of anyone who tries to destroy it," muttered Sonic.
The six whom they had just brought up cheered.
The angry Crystal blasted beams all over the place, spit fire, and swiped her claws to kill the nine.
All of them dodged the blasts. Tails barely got nicked by one, but it did almost no damage.
Vector was about to get burned, but Blade swooped over, pushed him out of the way, and slashed the fireball away. Everyone else weaved in and out of the attacks and took advantage of the misses by pelting Crystal with their own bodies. The dragon roared in pain.
After that flurry, coupled with the attacks on her own body, Crystal was slowly sinking to the ground. She could no longer power herself alone and there was no strength left in the Chaos Emeralds.
"Now guys," Sonic called. All nine of them assembled in one group and shook like crazy. They gathered as much strength from the eight Emeralds as possible. If Crystal's dragon face could've showed true expression, it would show true fear.
"GOOO!" called all nine at once.
All of them swooped in towards Crystal, flying in and out, back and forth, and drilled her with their super bodies. The nine heroes yelled various battle cries among Crystal's moans and screams.
"No! NOOOO!!!"
Then, something happened. Something that could've been a turning point.
"I can…bring her back…!"
The comment was obviously directed towards Blade. Anyone else might have considered it for too long. He didn't.
"I make a point of making no deals with the devil!" he shouted as he slashed his sword into her side. "Only I can bring her back!!"
Finally, the nine were tired, and they floated back together. Scars dotted Crystal's body all over.
"Guys," Sonic told the others, "we'll take it from here."
The six whom they brought up slowly floated to the ground. Crystal was in too much pain to make any comments, or say anything.
Sonic, Blade, and Knuckles stared at the dragon with no mercy in their eyes.
"You ruined our lives," Knuckles growled.
"Now we're gonna end yours," Blade continued.
"With your own strength," Sonic finished.
The three spun into a triangle-shaped figure and began to spin around each other. The Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald floated in the center of them. A blue ball appeared in front of them and only grew bigger. Those on the ground looked on in hope. This was the last shot-it would sap all the strength from all the Emeralds. If it didn't work, it was over, because even in Crystal's weakened state, she could recover.
The ball got bigger. Crystal couldn't even move she was so tired.
Finally, the ball was bigger than the group of three themselves. It was time.
"BLAST AWAY!" Sonic shouted.
The three flung their arms back and released the beam. A single, sleek streak of blue headed right for Crystal. The dragon gasped, which was the worst thing she could have done. The beam shot straight through her mouth and appeared again at the other end, blasting through the end of her tail. After a few seconds of the beam simply piercing her dragon body, Crystal began shaking violently.
A bolt of lightning struck!
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Did it work?
That's what everyone on the ground wanted to know. Amy was frightened that it hadn't, that Sonic and the crew was out of strength, that Crystal had won.
"Please God…"
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The military rescue team couldn't see exactly what was going on, but they all knew something big was going on. And even if Sonic was guilty of all these murders, and all those other crimes, he was going to do it again. He was going to save the world.
"Damn, this is gonna make us look real bad if he wins," General Ramsey muttered. "And who the hell are those other guys?"
Then, he secretly began praying to himself.
"Please God…"
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Sonic awoke. There was no dragon, no black sky, no lightning.
"He's awake!" whispered a familiar voice. It was Amy.
"You're alive! I was so worried about you!"
"C'mon…" But Sonic saw tears down her cheeks and bags under her eyes. She had been up forever, it seemed.
"You won," she said, now quieting even more.
"Nice job, Sonic," joined Tails. He stood just in the corner of Sonic's eye.
"Knuckles, Blade and Rouge and Espio are in other rooms."
"So…they happy to see the dead guy livin'?" laughed Sonic weakly.
"Well, RaGiff was freaking out," the fox responded.
"How 'bout the fuzz?"
Tails' grin disappeared.
"Aw, man…"
"They dropped the murder charge, but they're keeping the terrorist attacks. And…they've got you for killing Eggman."
"What?" Sonic cried, then lied back down again, tired and wounded. "Well, how about you guys then?"
"Tails and I are both clean. Rouge is in some serious trouble with her military pals, though," Amy chuckled.
"Heh heh heh…" Sonic laughed before slowly falling back asleep.
As he drifted off, he few a couple last words. "Sonic…plan…Leo…love…okay…Mobius…"
And All Things Will End
Just…hold…on…
Finally, Sonic flew out of the fiery torrent. Even in his super form, he was susceptible to major strength, and he figured one of the universe's ultimate evils probably fell into that category. His arms were scarred up and down, his legs ached, and his face burned like nothing else. He growled, curled his fingers, and stared at the dragon.
"Feels good, doesn't it hedgehog?" laughed the dragon.
"Enough!" shouted Sonic. He shot towards the dragon, weaved past another puff of fire, and threw an uppercut to her neck. If it did anything, Crystal didn't show it. She simply lifted a colossal, decrepit claw and swiped at him. Sonic backed away just in time, then shot again into her neck. This time, he got a little reaction-she reeled back a bit before breathing another streak of fire in his direction. Sonic flew upward to avoid it, then quickly had to bend his body to avoid another fireball that came right at him. He tried then to attack from behind. He flew towards her tail, cut under it when Crystal tried to slap him with it, and smashed her back. Again, nothing. He got knocked away from the tail this time, though, and went careening towards where the Eggman base used to be. He planted on the ground with both feet and one hand and looked up at the dragon. She wasn't letting up-another fireball came streaking Sonic's way. Instead of flying, he ran away from it.
Then, he had an idea.
He sped over to Blade, slowly turning back to blue. He almost laughed at the startled look on the faces of Charmy, Espio, Amy, and the others.
"Blade, I've got an idea. Go Super again. Here are the Emeralds."
"Are you nuts, man?" the warrior asked. "You're the man here…"
"Sonic, no!" cried Amy.
Sonic could see another beam of fire coming from the dragon.
"Blade NOW!!!!"
He was already off, and in one quick blast he was Super again. He raced towards the red fireball and slapped it back at Crystal with his sword.
"Sonic…" whispered Amy…
"Amy," Sonic responded. He held her by the waist for a little comfort-for both of them. "I know I've done a lot of stupid things these last few days. You know it, too, and I'm sure everyone else here does, too. But out of all of those, when I think about it now, and I think about what you've done for me all my life, there's only one of them that I regret, that I wish I didn't do."
She was silent, scared, as if she expected something terrible and great to happen at the same time.
"The only thing I wish I didn't do," he continued, "is skipping out on that date with you."
Amy's eyes widened.
"I love you, Amy."
He squeezed her tightly. She squeezed him back. And then, he was gone. He raced off to the dragon, to help Blade in some way.
Although he was too far away to hear even if she shouted it, Amy answered back in a voice that was even inaudible to herself.
"I love you, too."
There it was, big and beautiful. The Master Emerald.
Tails liked playing this "master thief" thing. First with the Chaos Emeralds and now this. It was fun! Well, this wasn't as fun, mainly because there wasn't anyone to escape. He simply swooped in, lifted the Emerald up, and flew back. Damn, this thing was heavy!
He had to get back as fast as he could. Sonic, Blade, and everyone needed his help. Especially Knuckles, who needed this Emerald to power up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, this'll be easy," Knuckles told everyone. "When Tails comes back, Charmy will fly me near that dragon and I'll neutralize the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. That dragon will be history.
"That's not gonna work, Knuckles," Mighty responded.
"Huh? What the hell do you mean, it's not gonna work???"
"I mean, it ain't gonna work. First off, that dragon can stay alive without the Emeralds now. It's too strong, it can power itself now, so neutralizing the Emeralds will just screw Sonic and Blade. Second, you think that dragon is just gonna sit back and let you and Charm do something that could be dangerous to it?"
"Grrr…" Knuckles growled. Of course, Mighty was right. He just couldn't believe he was so naïve to think that would work. "How'd you know that?"
"I'll tell you when we're not about to die. You should use the Master Emerald," suggested Mighty, "to go Chaotix."
Right again. Last time, he ran out of strength because he was too far from the Emerald.
"Okay, Mighty. Hope you're right about this."
"Of course I am," chuckled the armadillo.
"Look, here he comes!" cheered Charmy.
"Let's hurry up with that Emerald, Tails!" screamed Knuckles.
Tails had an exhausted expression on his face as he flew…well, more like fell…to Knuckles with the Emerald. All right!
Knuckles turned green much faster than before. It was still an amazing sight, though. The energy wave he caused when he turned Chaotix was so powerful it knocked Tails, Espio, and Amy over. It also bowled Vector over when Espio and Amy fell into him.
Knuckles flew off to help in the fighting. Meanwhile, Mighty helped everyone else up. He smiled when he got to Amy.
"I'd get off Vector as fast as I could," he chuckled. "Your boyfriend might not like it."
Amy simply smiled as Mighty grabbed her wrist and pulled her up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Knuckles flew over to Crystal, angry and ready to settle a score, he had a revelation. What had Mighty just said?
Well, among other things…
"First off, that dragon can stay alive without the Emeralds now. It's too strong, it can power itself now, so neutralizing the Emeralds will just screw Sonic and Blade."
That meant…
"Sonic, what the hell are you doing??" he shouted. "Get Super!"
"I can't!" cried the hedgehog as he ran with Knuckles to the dragon. "That thing is-"
"-not using the Emerald anymore!" finished the echidna. "Mighty knows a lot about this stuff, and that thing isn't using the Emeralds anymore! Go for it!"
Sonic shrugged and kept running, but Knuckles flew up to Blade, who was knocking away another fireball. "Toss the Emeralds down to Sonic, now! JUST DO IT!" he shouted when Blade was about to object. Instead of waiting, Knuckles pounded the warrior and knocked them out of his hands. Luckily, too, because a stream of fire was just about to hit Blade.
"Now, Sonic!" shouted Knuckles.
Sonic saw this development and jumped towards the Emeralds. He was about to come short, but Knuckles grabbed his arms and tossed him towards them. Sonic grabbed them and exploded in a column of gold energy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now THAT was a sight.
Amy was getting everyone together for a short little prayer service for the late Big, who was now buried next to her, and the rest of the planet, when everyone's attention turned back to the fight.
Gold, red, and green against black.
"I've got it!" Amy cheered. "Everyone, follow me!"
The others reluctantly followed Amy, muttering amongst themselves as she led them to…
"I'm going no farther!" Vector shouted when he saw she was taking them to the massive dragon, who was spitting fire at the three heroes.
"Just trust me!" cried Amy, waving them on. Tails knew what she was doing. Espio trusted her decision, but just barely. Mighty didn't care, as long it meant he got to fight a little more.
"Sonic!" she called to them.
The dragon instead answered. "Pests! Stay out of this!" It lifted its claws and began to charge two green balls inside of them. Amy was terrified. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"SONIC!"
The beams fired towards them. The group was too scared to move.
They didn't have to.
When the beam hit, it spread around them and did nothing.
"What the hell?" asked Vector. His body was surrounded in red, although he himself was still green. He began to rise in the air.
"Awesome!" cheered Charmy, who was surrounded in red as well. "I'm not flying, but I'm still flying!"
"This power…is incredible," muttered Espio. He and Mighty were shrouded in green and floating higher and higher again.
"Sonic!" cheered Amy and Tails together. They both rose in shields of gold.
Blade had Vector and Charmy at his sides, Knuckles had Mighty and Espio, and Sonic had Tails and Amy. Crystal was infuriated, and probably scared as well.
"This is not the way it was meant to be!" she screamed. "This was a battle of two greats! Nothing more!"
"Will you just shut up?" Knuckles answered back.
"This isn't just about two forces of good and evil," called Blade.
"It's about our home, and us kicking the crap out of anyone who tries to destroy it," muttered Sonic.
The six whom they had just brought up cheered.
The angry Crystal blasted beams all over the place, spit fire, and swiped her claws to kill the nine.
All of them dodged the blasts. Tails barely got nicked by one, but it did almost no damage.
Vector was about to get burned, but Blade swooped over, pushed him out of the way, and slashed the fireball away. Everyone else weaved in and out of the attacks and took advantage of the misses by pelting Crystal with their own bodies. The dragon roared in pain.
After that flurry, coupled with the attacks on her own body, Crystal was slowly sinking to the ground. She could no longer power herself alone and there was no strength left in the Chaos Emeralds.
"Now guys," Sonic called. All nine of them assembled in one group and shook like crazy. They gathered as much strength from the eight Emeralds as possible. If Crystal's dragon face could've showed true expression, it would show true fear.
"GOOO!" called all nine at once.
All of them swooped in towards Crystal, flying in and out, back and forth, and drilled her with their super bodies. The nine heroes yelled various battle cries among Crystal's moans and screams.
"No! NOOOO!!!"
Then, something happened. Something that could've been a turning point.
"I can…bring her back…!"
The comment was obviously directed towards Blade. Anyone else might have considered it for too long. He didn't.
"I make a point of making no deals with the devil!" he shouted as he slashed his sword into her side. "Only I can bring her back!!"
Finally, the nine were tired, and they floated back together. Scars dotted Crystal's body all over.
"Guys," Sonic told the others, "we'll take it from here."
The six whom they brought up slowly floated to the ground. Crystal was in too much pain to make any comments, or say anything.
Sonic, Blade, and Knuckles stared at the dragon with no mercy in their eyes.
"You ruined our lives," Knuckles growled.
"Now we're gonna end yours," Blade continued.
"With your own strength," Sonic finished.
The three spun into a triangle-shaped figure and began to spin around each other. The Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald floated in the center of them. A blue ball appeared in front of them and only grew bigger. Those on the ground looked on in hope. This was the last shot-it would sap all the strength from all the Emeralds. If it didn't work, it was over, because even in Crystal's weakened state, she could recover.
The ball got bigger. Crystal couldn't even move she was so tired.
Finally, the ball was bigger than the group of three themselves. It was time.
"BLAST AWAY!" Sonic shouted.
The three flung their arms back and released the beam. A single, sleek streak of blue headed right for Crystal. The dragon gasped, which was the worst thing she could have done. The beam shot straight through her mouth and appeared again at the other end, blasting through the end of her tail. After a few seconds of the beam simply piercing her dragon body, Crystal began shaking violently.
A bolt of lightning struck!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did it work?
That's what everyone on the ground wanted to know. Amy was frightened that it hadn't, that Sonic and the crew was out of strength, that Crystal had won.
"Please God…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The military rescue team couldn't see exactly what was going on, but they all knew something big was going on. And even if Sonic was guilty of all these murders, and all those other crimes, he was going to do it again. He was going to save the world.
"Damn, this is gonna make us look real bad if he wins," General Ramsey muttered. "And who the hell are those other guys?"
Then, he secretly began praying to himself.
"Please God…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonic awoke. There was no dragon, no black sky, no lightning.
"He's awake!" whispered a familiar voice. It was Amy.
"You're alive! I was so worried about you!"
"C'mon…" But Sonic saw tears down her cheeks and bags under her eyes. She had been up forever, it seemed.
"You won," she said, now quieting even more.
"Nice job, Sonic," joined Tails. He stood just in the corner of Sonic's eye.
"Knuckles, Blade and Rouge and Espio are in other rooms."
"So…they happy to see the dead guy livin'?" laughed Sonic weakly.
"Well, RaGiff was freaking out," the fox responded.
"How 'bout the fuzz?"
Tails' grin disappeared.
"Aw, man…"
"They dropped the murder charge, but they're keeping the terrorist attacks. And…they've got you for killing Eggman."
"What?" Sonic cried, then lied back down again, tired and wounded. "Well, how about you guys then?"
"Tails and I are both clean. Rouge is in some serious trouble with her military pals, though," Amy chuckled.
"Heh heh heh…" Sonic laughed before slowly falling back asleep.
As he drifted off, he few a couple last words. "Sonic…plan…Leo…love…okay…Mobius…"