Chapter 15: Finale - Part One

Place: Master Emerald Chamber

Time: 7:45pm

Sonic and the gang watched as Cheqs arms nearly doubled in size and his dreads grew long. His eyes glowed with passion and his mouth formed a deranged smile.

"We won't let you take the emerald!" yelled Sonic.

"You would really defeat me? Please! You could only try" replied Cheq.

"Then we'll try our hardest" muttered Tails.

"Really? You would get rid of me?".

"What are you talking about?" said Knuckles.

"I am a villain. You are heroes. If there were no villains there would be no heroes, if there were no diseases there would be no cures and if there was no chaos there would be no peace. One cannot survive without the other".

"There will always be evil" shouted Amy.

"Yes, there will be! But the strength of that evil will always depend on the power of the heroes trying to stop it".

"You're mad" stated Cream.

"Well then, that is enough talking. I believe there is an emerald I need to claim".

Cheq turned to walk up the stairs but Shadow ran forward and kicked him in the back. Cheq fell forward but a forward roll put him back on even terms.

"I will not let the world fall into the hands of a deformed, mad being" said Shadow, "I will die first"

"That can be arranged"

Cheq fired a beam of white light at the group. Shadow jumped over it as the rest split in different directions. Shadow landed with poise and readied himself. Cheq also pulled himself into a stance and muttered:

"It is you! You are the one full of chaos!"

"That's right, and you are one dead chaos"

Shadow ran forward and began to kick Cheq in his newly made torso of muscles. Cheq grabbed Shadows hand and hurled him into Tails who was following behind. Sonic was behind Cheq and spun into him with his spines. Cheq slid in a semi-circle and brought his leg up and Sonic caught it with his face.

Knuckles saw that Cheq was busy with the rest and took his chance. He ran up the stairs and grabbed the Master Emerald from the top of the podium. Cheq could now feel the Master Emerald and saw that Knuckles had claimed it. He fired another beam of light towards Knuckles who jumped off the top of the stairs at the correct moment. The beam of light began to chase Knuckles around the chamber. Knuckles began to ran up the wall to doge the light beam. Amy fired one bolt after another at Cheq to stop him firing. They bounced off him harmlessly.

Cream pulled out her violin and began to play the melody. Cheq held his head with pain. He cast his glance left and saw Cream. He summoned some strength and charged towards her and brought his hand down on the violin which then split in two. He then grabbed Cream by her arm and hurled her into Amy and they both hit the ground. Knuckles was hiding behind a piece of rubble and was waiting for Cheq to look away.

Shadow ran up to Cheq and ran round him in circles. Once Cheq was dizzy he leapt into the air and attack using Chaos strike. Cheq dodged the first lot of swords but couldn't dodge the same attack from Sonic who had surprised Cheq. Tails flew high up in the air and used Chaos gravity on Cheq. He caught it and was held to the ground. He struggled hard and burst through the wave of gravity and fired it back at Tails who was flung into the wall.

Knuckles made a run for the door to escape with the emerald. Cheq saw this and fired his beam of light while grabbing a cocky Sonic who thought he could run past him. The light hit Knuckles with force and flung him to the ground. The Emerald rolled to the side and Cheq chucked Sonic into the chasing group and ran over. He clasped the emerald.

"This is it!" he yelled, "CHAO ABSORB!"

Cheq began to absorb the emerald. The energy knocked him to his knees as he felt the energy flow through him. Cheq was halfway through the emerald when Knuckles rose from the ground and punched him with all his might in the face. Cheq dropped the emerald and it rolled to the feet of Amy who pocketed it and ran for cover. Cheq got to his feet and began to fight with Knuckles. Cheq threw a left which was expertly blocked by Knuckles who followed with an uppercut. Cheq rolled to the left and brought his foot to Knuckles knee which brought Knuckles down. Cheq followed this up with an elbow to the face which put Knuckles to the ground.

Rouge, who had hung back throughout the battle, saw her chance and began to fight Cheq herself. Cheq merely laughed at her measly attempt. Rouge ran forward and began to smash Cheq around with her punches and roundhouse kicks. Cheq was taken by surprise and was knocked to the floor when Rouge brought down her leg onto his face. Cheq was down but not out. Her spun upwards and over Rouge before smashing her in the back. Rouges left wing snapped and she screamed out in pain.

"Rouge!"

Knuckles had crawled over from his place and tried to stand but Cheq was ready to finish him off. Sonic saw this and homing attacked Cheq away from the scene. Shadow then fought Cheq where he had landed. Cheq was dodging the flurry of punches that Shadow gave before knocking him down. Cheq stood over him and hadn't noticed the rest of the gang minus Rouge and Knuckles who were in the corner.

"NOW!" shouted Shadow.

Cheq finally realised he had been trapped. Everyone around him attacked with their Chaos techniques at the same time. Cheq fell in pain. Shadow stood and smashed his fist into Cheqs face. Cheq fell to the floor lifeless. The gang moved over to Rouge and Knuckles who had propped themselves up against the wall. Cream brought out some bandages and began to bandage it. Knuckles looked over Sonics shoulder at Cheqs body.

"Is it over?" asked Knuckles.

"I hope so" said Sonic.

Everybody was then so focused on Rouge and Knuckles that they failed to notice Cheq stand up and begin to move over to Amy who held the Master Emerald.

"He wasn't that strong" bragged Sonic.

"He nearly knocked you out" said Shadow.

"Stop it you tw.. Arrrrgghh!"

Amy was pulled backwards and Cheq grabbed the Master Emerald before tossing her aside like a rag doll. He jumped backwards and high into the air before landing on high ledge where the Master Emerald had rested. He held the Emerald high up and yelled:

"CHAOS ABSORB!!!!!!!!!"

The Master Emerald again drained into Cheq and this time it all went. The clear Master Emerald fell to the floor and Cheq laughed with glee.

"Watch as you see my true form!!!!!!" shouted Cheq.

Cheq began to writhe on the platform. His body jutted forward and back but he still held his smile before screaming in pain and emitting a white light that blinded all.

When the light had faded a strange water like blob stood in the form of Cheq on the platform. The water then fell to the floor in a tiny puddle.

"Is that it" asked Sonic.

His answer came quickly as the chamber shook and the tiny puddle grew to the size of the platform before rising into a tower shape. Tentacles burst from its sides and began to feel their surroundings. Faces kept appearing in it. One human, one hedgehog and another an Echidna. The group began to walk backwards as the tentacles came forward and were about to fight when the monster screamed in pain and a body flew out and landed near the group. The figure stood up and brushed itself off before lifting its head. It was Cheq.

Cheq took a few steps forward before falling over and then crawling back to his knees. Knuckles walked forward to him and looked him in the eye.

"Cheq?" he asked.

"Brother?" Cheq replied.

Knuckles hugged him and then helped him to his feet. Knuckles urged the rest forward and they came. Cheq looked back at the monster on the platform and his eyes glowed and the monster screamed again.

"What are you doing?" asked Sonic.

"I am holding that creature back. It wishes to attack but I won't let it" replied Cheq.

"So you are the true Cheq" said Tails.

"Yes. I have been used enough by that monster. He is no longer Chaos or his power. He is now ultimate Chaos and he can destroy the Earth if he escapes this chamber".

"What do we do then?" questioned Knuckles.

Cheq broke away and held his arms aloft.

"Come Chaos Emeralds. Help me in the time of need!"

Suddenly, all seven chaos emeralds burst through the ceiling and landed in the palms of Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Cream and finally Shadow. Cheq lowered his arms and then fell to his knees. Knuckles ran over and helped him up again.

"I have used the last of my power to bring you these emeralds. You have seen him use absorb so many times you should be able to use it. Take back his power and weaken him. I don't have enough power to hold him anymore. Prepare yourselves!"

Sonic and the rest lined up in front of Ultimate Chaos and held their emeralds tightly. The creature screamed one more time before Cheq released his control on him. Sonic closed his eyes. The creature then threw it's tentacles down towards Sonic. Sonic opened his eyes and said:

"Let's go"

End of Chapter 15