CONCLUSIONS
"This isn't good! We can't find her anywhere!" Sally said. "It's all my fault! I should have saved her!" Rouge yelled. "Blaming yourself won't help her. We need to focus and figure out what to do," Rotor remarked. Rouge sighed and nodded. "Why would the Legion want Julie-Su?" Amy asked. "Leverage. In case Knux eva came close enough ta do some damage ta Dimitri," Bunnie explained to the young hedgehog. "Zen she iz een great danger!" Antoine said. "We need a plan. Oh, if only I could think of one. I mean listen to that! You can hear the battle from here! We could never-" Sally stopped mid-sentence at the sight of two glowing objects crashing into each other in the sky. "What in the world is that?" Rouge asked. "I don't know...but whatever it is can't be good," Rotor said as the two objects crashed together again, giving off a bright flash.
"You've been blinded from the truth, Shadow! Dimitri has been clouding your mind with lies!" Knuckles yelled. "It is you that has been blinded from the truth!" Shadow shouted back as they brought their battle over the harbor. "It is our purpose to fight! We have been born and raised knowing this, living tortured lives in the process! Isn't it true that you feel fulfilled as I do whenever you're engaged in battle???" Knuckles paused and stared at Shadow with a look of great surprise. "You and I are the same! We can only acknowledge our existence in combat!" Shadow yelled.
"Things aren't looking too good, Cap!" Grim yelled. Indeed, things were looking very bad. Time was beginning to wear them down, and the Legion just kept on coming. "We can't give up!" Cap yelled. "He's right! We gotta do whatever we-AHHH!" Mighty yelled as he grasped his side in pain and fell to the ground. "NO!" Cap yelled as he ran over and punched away the Legionnaires around the ailing armadillo. Mighty had been shot in the side. The laser had just skinned him, leaving a nasty burn. Cap took Mighty's arm and put it over his shoulder. "Hang on! I'm not losing anyone yet! No way!" Cap yelled as he kicked a Legionnaire away. Cap was keeping Legionnaires away from Mighty when Xenin stepped before him. "He's mine," Xenin said to the Legionnaires around him as he cracked his knuckles. Cap passed Mighty to Vector and began to pound away, only to discover that he wasn't actually hurting Xenin at all! Cap tried everything. Drunken-style, anime-style (see how many hits you can make per second), but Xenin swatted him away each time he tried. "Hate to do this to another guy, but you leave me no choice!" Cap yelled before sending a powerful kick under Xenin's groin. When Xenin didn't flinch, Cap took a step back and chuckled, "No way!" before being punched away again.
Cap spat some blood from his lip and smiled. "Fine then. Time for my specialty," he said as he balled his right hand into a fist and it began to glow. "What is that?" Xenin asked. "This is all thanks to my homie, DJ. Ya see, my body produces high levels of glucose, giving me access to more energy. I simply concentrate on my hand...the glove converts the glucose into ATP, or usable energy if you're as dumb as you look...and then I can unleash my KENZO FIST!" Cap yelled as he threw a punch at Xenin's chest, sending the robotic echidna flying. The legionnaires watched as Xenin crashed to the ground and looked back at Cap. "Anyone else?" Cap said as he braced himself to fight. Dimitri began to laugh. "Ah, yes! It will all be over very soon!" he said proudly, "Now if only I hadn't lost track of Shadow and Knuckles. I was looking forward to Knuckles' demise."
Knuckles and Shadow continued their fight, skimming the water as they fired balls of chaos energy at each other. "The Acorn family are fools! Throwing away weapons will not bring peace! Such pacifists will never realize that their goals are nothing more than empty promises! Illusions!" Shadow said as they both began to hover over the water, glaring at each other. "You're wrong, Shadow," Knuckles said. "Am I?!?! Chaos spear!" Shadow yelled as he focused chaos energy into the form of a spear and launched it at Knuckles. Knuckles saw it in time, but simply stood there and closed his eyes as it pierced his right shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain.
Shadow was astonished. He couldn't put together what had just happened. "Why-Why did you...???" "...If Dimitri wins, and he becomes ruler of Mobius, then there will be those who oppose him. There will always be resistance. Rebels, Freedom Fighters. It will be and endless struggle bringing about countless deaths, many of them innocents. Children will be born, as we have, with the soul purpose of opposing something. The hatred will be branded onto their souls. Over time, more and more fighters like us will be needed. The fighting and the dying will continue, until the will to fight is gone. But eventually, the hate will rise up again because of the memories of war, and history will repeat itself. Shadow...how many people need to live our tortured lives? Our tormented pasts?" Knuckles asked as the chaos spear fizzled away, leaving a growing bloodstained patch on Knuckles' shoulder. Shadow just stared, not answering. Knuckles closed his eyes and muttered, "How many times must I see Dimitri make me kill all those innocent people?" as a tear rolled down his face. Shadow's eyes widened as he slightly gasped. Knuckles lowered his head as he began to free-fall towards the sea below them. "I used to rely on the Master Emerald for answers, but my ancestors are too ashamed to answer me. Tell me, Shadow," Knuckles said before crashing into the ocean.
Hyper Shadow hovered there, watching the ripples in the water make larger and larger rings. He suddenly started to remember his last moments...
Explosions. Gunfire. Shouting and yelling. Shadow looked around in confusion from his stasis cell. A beautiful woman ran in and began to punch in a code on the panel next to Shadow's stasis cell. She then looked at him and pressed her hand against the glass. He pressed his against hers as she said, "Shadow, fight for peace! Let them see the errors of their ways! Take the world down the right path!" "Maria..." he muttered just before the door opened behind her and he heard a gunshot. He gasped and looked at her lab coat, which was growing a crimson red blot on it. "Promise me..." she said just above a whisper as her hand slid down the glass and she pushed a button. There was rumbling, and then Shadow was being launched towards Mobius in a pod. He clenched his teeth and hands as tears flowed from his eyes. "MARIA!!!"
"Would something like that have to happen to another?" Shadow said aloud as he turned back towards the battle. "Dimitri!" he growled as he flew in the direction of the continuing conflict.
"Grandfather, look who it is!" Kommisar said as she pushed Julie-Su forward. Her hands were clamped together behind her back, and her wrists were sore from trying to wiggle her hands free. "Ah! Julie-Su. I am sure you regret ever betraying us now," Dimitri said. Julie-Su gave him a sour look and said, "My friends will save me!" Dimitri grinned. "Oh, I doubt it."
Swiper took a heavy blow to the chest, but rolled with it so he could perform a backflip-kick. He gasped as he regained his footing and said, "Guys...I can't keep this up much longer!" "Stick together! Don't get separated and overwhelmed!" Cap shouted. Suddenly, a Legionnaire came behind him and Mighty pointing his blaster at them. Before the shot hit them, Vipes had deflected it with one of his kitana blades and punched the Legionnaire. Another came up laughing as he pointer a shotgun at Vipes. To his astonishment, It fell apart before he could pull the trigger. However, another came up, but with a bazooka. "Oh crap," Vipes said as the Legionnaire fired a rocket. Suddenly, a ball of chaos energy surrounded the rocket, sending it into the sky. "What?" Sonic said as Hyper Shadow landed next to them. "Hey! Aren't you with them?!?!" Espio asked. "I was, but Knuckles has opened my eyes to the truth, and the errors of my ways!" Shadow said before unleashing one last burst of chaos energy, giving the heroes some breathing room. However, he converted back to his normal form, pulling up his fists to fight.
Dimitri smiled yet again. "So, the fool has realize that I've used him like I did Knuckles! Well, it's too late! There's no way they can win now!" "Knuckles will beat you!" Julie-Su shouted, before receiving a slap across the face from Kommisar. "Shut up, skank! Your ex isn't gonna do anything!" She then knelt down next to Julie-Su and said, "Besides, why would he want to save such an ugly thing like you, anyway?" Julie-Su tried to ignore her twisted stepsister, but couldn't help but shed a tear. "I don't see Knuckles anywhere anyway. Perhaps Shadow finished him off before realizing the truth," Dimitri said. Julie-Su looked around desperately for signs of Knuckles, but he was nowhere in sight. "It will all end soon," Dimitri said. "My lord, the resistance has stopped fighting," a voice said over a small speaker on the dashboard. Dimitri smiled, "See?"
The guys were standing in a circle facing outward with Vector keeping Mighty up in the middle. "I got nothin' left in the ol' suit. Just enough for basic hand-to-hand tactics," DJ said as he panted. "This isn't going to be easy," Morph muttered as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "We can at least take out as many as we can before we go down. We fight together, we die together!" Grim yelled. "Hedgehog," Shadow said to Sonic, grabbing his attention, "Before we get ourselves killed, I wish to apologize for the punch earlier." Sonic smirked and said, "No prob," as the two hedgehogs turned back to their opponents. The silence was deafening. The only sounds were their panting, and their quickening heartbeats.
"DIMITRI!!!" a familiar voice yelled out. Everyone present looked up into the sky and saw Hyper Knuckles up in the sky. Every few seconds, his pink glow would flicker red, meaning he was low on power. "I am offering you one last chance to give up! All of you! What'll it be???" Knuckles yelled as he panted. Dimitri was worried for a moment, but smiled at the condition Knuckles was in. He could only keep his right eye open, and his arms were sagging. Then Dimitri noticed his nephew's right shoulder, dripping with blood..
"Do your worst! You can't possibly have enough power to defeat us! Go right ahead," Dimitri said confidently. "Fine by me," Knuckles said before launching a huge burst of chaos energy at the ground, creating a shock wave that sent a good portion of the remaining Legionnaires flying through the air. Dimitri was in shock. "WHAT?!?!" he yelled as Knuckles unleashed another blast, taking out the Legionnaires around his friends, who found themselves surrounded by protective chaos fields. "Where is he getting the energy???" Shadow asked. F.C. flinched when the answer hit him, 'He's using his life force!' Dimitri looked around him. A great deal of his army was gone now. The shock waves didn't kill the Legionnaires, but threw them around like rag dolls, crashing them into others who were hundreds of yards away from the blast radius. "My lord, the guardian has taken out two-thirds of the remaining troops! Another blast like that will finish us off for good!" the voice said again over the speaker before Dimitri smashed it in his rage. He looked up to see Knuckles, who sweating and panting even more than before, and pointing his shaking palm directly at him. "Stop it, Knuckles! I have Julie-Su down here!" Dimitri yelled. Knuckles' right eye widened as his left half opened. Dimitri smiled. "Now you get it. If you continue your attack, she will die before we are struck," the cybernetic echidna threatened. 'N-nooo..." Knuckles moaned as he slowly lowered his arm. Suddenly, the memories of Eclipse flashed in his mind. He knew what he had to do, no matter how hard it would be.
Julie-Su looked up at him, yelling, "KNUCKLES! Do it! Finish Dimitri!" She suddenly started hearing his voice in her head, saying, "Julie-Su...I am so, so sorry." She gasped as she looked up at him. Was he apologizing for lying to her, or for something else? "SHADOW!!!" Knuckles yelled as loud as he could as he fired a final shot at Dimitri. Shadow quickly sprung into action and began to dash at Dimitri's craft. Dimitri watched in horror as the blast drew nearer and nearer. "This isn't over, Knuckles! I swear I'll have my revenge! You will pay for this! You will suffer!!!" Dimitri yelled as he was disappeared in the blast.
Julie-Su opened her eyes to find that she was flung over Shadow's shoulder, away from the blast's radius. He set her down and broke her restraint, setting her free. She rubbed her wrists as she said, "Thanks, but why did you-""I couldn't allow the one he cares about the most to die," Shadow said. Sonic saw Knuckles falling limply to the ground, so he quickly dashed under him and caught him. "I gotcha, man! You okay?" He gasped when he noticed that Knuckles' breathing was slowing down. "Oh man! GUYS!" Sonic yelled as he laid Knuckles down and felt for a pulse. "Is he okay?" Freezie asked. "His pulse is really weak! His breathing is slowing down!" Sonic replied as he began to panic. "His aura is fading!" Vipes remarked in shock. "I don't know what we can do! I may be a mage, but there are so many arts of magic I don't know! I...I..." F.C. muttered.
Shadow quickly ran over with Julie-Su, who gasped when she saw Knuckles laying there, not breathing. "No...You were the only one who ever understood me! You are the only one who I can possibly relate to! I cannot allow you to die!" Shadow yelled as he knelt next to Knuckles. He looked up at F.C. and said, "You! Mage! I need as much energy as you can possibly give me!" F.C. would have been reluctant to this request, but Knuckles' life was on the line. He began to chant as Shadow began to glow. Shadow placed his two hands over Knuckles' chest and yelled, "CHAOS CONTROL!!!" Energy began to flow through Knuckles as he let out a loud gasp. "KNUX!" Mighty yelled as Knuckles began to open his eyes. He groaned as he looked around and asked, "Is...is it over?" they all smiled and nodded. Knuckles looked up at Shadow and smiled. "I see you changed your mind," he said. "You have helped me in a way I cannot ever repay. Do not even thank me," Shadow said. Knuckles chuckled and said, "Well, if you give me a hand up, I'll consider you debt-free," as he extended his hand to Shadow. Shadow couldn't help but smile as he grasped Knuckles' hand and helped him off the ground.
"Those explosions were huge! I'm afraid something terrible has happened," Sally said. "They're fine! I'm sure of it! Sonic's with them!" Tails said reassuringly. "Something's coming up on radar!" Rotor yelled. Everyone looked up to see a glowing ball of energy approaching them. The G.U.N. troops prepared for the worst as the object drew nearer. Suddenly, they heard a voice yelling, "STATION SQUARE!!!" They all looked in curiosity as it still drew nearer, until they could see the figures inside it. There were their fifteen friends, along with Julie-Su and a black hedgehog. Morph had morphed into a pair of large speakers with an attached microphone, which Cap was yelling into. "STATION SQUARE!!! WE HAVE VICTORY!!! THE CITY IS SAFE!!!" All at once, a thunderous cheer roared through the city. The G.U.N. troops, the civilians, everyone. It was over. The Dark Legion was defeated. The energy ball landed on the ground as everyone rushed to greet them. Sally threw her arms around Sonic who grunted as he caught her. "Hey Sal! Told ya I'd be back," he said as he kissed her. Rouge ran up to Julie-Su laughing and crying. "Oh my God! I though the Legion got you!" "They did, but everything worked out," she said as she glanced over at Knuckles and Shadow.
The Ravagers looked up to see the President walking towards them. "You did it! I never thought you would survive!" the President remarked as he shook everyone's hands. "We aren't ready to die yet, so that gave us a reason to push ourselves. Now if I remember correctly, we made a deal," Cap said as he put his hands together in front of him, "You got us." The President smiled as the rest of the Ravagers made the same gesture. He shook his head and sighed. "Foolish and honest. Very peculiar traits. I'm willing to let that slide for now," the President said with a large smile. "NICE!" DJ yelled, "I didn't really wanna go to prison and be in a cell with Grim. He'd kill me in one day." Everyone began to laugh. The danger had past. Now, it was time for rejoicing.