ALTERNATE FATE
II
Team Sonic data...
Team Dark data...
Team Rose data...
Team Chaotix data...
And Chaos data, have been successfully copied.
A streamlined form rose from the pool of liquid metal that was the fake Eggman. As color returned to the metal monster, a booming voice was heard...
"All life form data, successfully copied," spoke Metal Sonic. "It is time." As he prepared to activate his army of destruction, Metal realized there was an intruder in the 'Treasure Room'. Metal brought up his data file on the intruder. If he could have smirked, he would have.
"I guess your 'master' should teach you a lesson you'll never forget," Metal muttered evilly. As Metal activated his army, a beeping sound alerted him. He was receiving a message from Drone 21-87. As he activated his hologram projector, the fritzing image of a Metal Shadow appeared before him. The Metal Shadow bowed deeply.
"What news have you, #21-87?" rumbled Metal Overlord.
"My master, Eggman is dead," 21-87 replied. "The Chaotix interfered and destroyed #08-49, but I killed Vector the Crocodile in retaliation."
"Excellent work, #21-87. I have a job for you now."
21-87 replied shakily, "Wh-what is thy bidding, my master?"
"I have just activated my army," Metal boomed. "Prepare for our assault on Station Square, General 21-87."
"Thank you, my metal Overlord," finished 21-87 as his holo-image disappeared.
The Overlord shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!" and disappeared in a green haze.
"The original must exist somewhere," Omega said, walking into the depths of the room. After a minute or two, Omega decided that he needed a little light in the room. Although the red glow of Omega's eyes let him see, it wasn't enough to tell how much farther he had to go.
The overhead fluorescent lights suddenly activated, causing the green glow in the capsules to dim. Now that the room was fully lit, Omega could see the true size of this army of Shadow cyborgs. There were thousands, maybe millions of doubles that filled the gargantuan room. At the same time, a low hum filled the room, and the Shadow duplicates' eyes glowed red, eyes identical to Metal Sonic's.
Instantaneously, many of the capsules burst open, the Shadow robots leaping at Omega. Omega reacted quickly, firing on them with his machine gun-fingers. Though the barrage destroyed at least a dozen Robo-Shadows, there were still too many.
Omega swung around, firing every bit of ordnance he had left in his arsenal. Although this wiped out a considerable number of Shadows, it was still a melee of metallic madness.
Omega swung his clawed hand across, damaging a number of Shadows. Unfortunately, two Shadows grabbed his arm and, with a great heave, tore it from his frame.
At once, countless Shadows repeatedly delivered Homing Attacks to Omega, pummeling him from all directions. The sound of whooshing wind and buckling metal echoed through the room. After a minute, Omega shut down, but the Shadows continued the assault. When they stopped, Omega was hardly recognizable. Holes covered his body, paint almost completely chipped off.
Suddenly, a single order from the Overlord ran through their CPUs: "At ease..." As one, all of the Shadows snapped to attention, awaiting further orders.
A few moments later, 21-87 walked into the room. He now had both his gloves removed, a yellow, spiky badge on his chest that designated him as General. He looked at the true scale of the army he was commanding with awe. Perfect, he thought as an evil smirk crossed his face. This will go well.
"What the heck was that!" Sonic shouted. He was just running from Team Rose, Tails and Knuckles running alongside him, when a flash of green light caught his eye. Sonic skidded slightly, changed direction and ran toward the Central Tower, where another green flash was seen.
Is that the Chaos Control? Sonic thought to himself.
Suddenly, Shadow and Rouge ran up next to him.
"You saw it too, Sonic?" asked Shadow as he skated forward.
"You betcha," replied Sonic, flashing a grin before resuming a serious expression. "But we're the only ones who can use the Chaos Control."
"That's what scares me, Sonic," muttered Shadow as Espio and Charmy, still bawling, caught up to them.
"Hmmhmmhmmm..." chuckled a low voice that boomed down at them as they stopped before the Tower. The voice came from the top of the kilometre-tall tower, yet carried all the way down to their level. There stood a small figure, only about three feet tall.
"Gasp! The Master Emerald!" shouted Knuckles, fist shaking slightly.
"What?" asked Sonic.
"The Master Emerald!" Knuckles yelled impatiently. "Eggman stole it just before we got that letter."
Sonic gasped in realization, "Ohh, so that's why you came with u-"
"All living things, kneel before your master and Overlord!" the being called to the skies, interrupting Sonic. The clouds were now roiling as if being swept by a turbulent wind, some even forming as if out of nowhere. These gathering clouds began to block the sky and sun completely. Great bolts of lightning lit the sky as thunder filled the ears of all for miles around.
Suddenly, a blast of blue lightning issued from the peak of the tower where the small figure was. Sonic clenched his fist, ready for anything. After a few moments, the blue lightning formed a large ball of electricity in the middle of a hole in the clouds.
Minutes passed. Sonic began to wonder if this was some scam by Eggman. Just when Sonic thought the ball lightning would never come down...
THOOOOM!
It happened in an instant. A flash of emerald light was quickly followed by the lightning striking the Tower, blowing the top half to pieces. An evil cackle filled the air as a whirlwind formed over the tower, throwing sheets of steel every which way. Amy cried out, covering her mouth with her hands.
Cream cried out in fear as well. A large plate of metal was flying towards her. Cream braced herself as Cheese and Chocola flew in the plate's path, ready to protect Cream no matter the cost.
Suddenly, a large hammer knocked the metal plate away. Amy walked up from behind Cream and picked up her Piko Piko Hammer. "Thank you, Amy," Cream said, bowing politely.
"Don't mention it," replied Amy slyly. But out of nowhere another, even larger plate was flying in their direction. Amy pulled out her hammer once more as everyone braced themselves for the inevitable...
...when suddenly, a strange force pulled the metal plate away from them. The whirlwind was increasing its intensity, as was the volume of the mechanical laughter filling the air.
The whirlwind picked up every piece of metal that lay strewn about from the blast. Many flew into the core of the twister; the rest circled the creation like a makeshift cocoon. The sound of metal crashing filled the air, deafening along with the booming laughter of the Overlord. No one dared do anything, too transfixed by the display to do anything.
After a few minutes, the clanging and clashing ceased, and the metal plates remaining fell to the ground. As Sonic caught sight of the monstrosity...
"HOLY CRAP!"
...a dark roar filled their ears as the great blue dragon stared down at them with Its burning red eyes. Eyes that Sonic recognized as Metal Sonic's. The Master Emerald was mounted in Its chest, pulsing like a beating heart.
"Is that Metal Sonic!" cried Sonic, eyes wide in recognition.
"He looks scary..." whimpered Tails, being comforted by Knuckles. "Don't worry, Tails. We beat this guy before. We can beat him again."
"Impossible," muttered Espio. "I thought we beat him at Carnival Island."
"I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR KILLIN' VECTOR!" shrieked Charmy, buzzing toward Metal Sonic as swiftly as his wings could carry him.
"Stop, you fool!" cried Shadow, hand outstretched. "You'll be killed!"
"AHH! Someone, stop him!" yelled Amy, frozen to the spot in terror.
Cream turned to Big. "Can you catch him with your fishing rod, Mr. Big?"
"Okie-dokie!" replied Big, preparing to cast his reel at the kindergarten bee.
"Insolent fool!" boomed the dragon, pointing a single claw from His left hand at Charmy. A swift ray of emerald light blasted at Charmy, striking him in a blink of an eye.
"NO!" screamed Espio, running forward. He had already lost two of his friends; he wasn't losing another one. As he ran, memories of the past flashed before his eyes...
"Mighty, hold on!" cried Espio as he ran towards the two fighting furries at the side of the building. Mighty and a purple weasel called Nack were engaged in a hand-to-hand fight just on the other side of the roof. One false step, and both of them would fall to their death hundreds of feet below.
Espio prepared to throw a shuriken at Nack, when Mighty clutched his stomach in pain and a muted gunshot rang in everyone's ears. But Nack was not holding a gun; he'd been disarmed early in his brawl with Mighty. On top of the stairwell was another purple weasel, this one a girl, Nack's younger sister Nic. In her left hand was a smoking gun.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Nack, glaring at Nic with jealousy.
Nic smirked slyly, "You were struggling. You would have taken forever to kill him."
Nack grinned evilly, "I was just lulling him into a false sense of secuAGGHH!"
In an instant, a shuriken was embedded in Nack's throat, silencing him. Nic suffered a similiar fate, clutching the star-shaped dart that severed her bronchial tube. Almost simultaneously, Nack fell off the edge of the skyscraper, and Nic fell to the ground with a thud. After a few seconds, a low THUD drifted up from the street, followed by several screams of horror and 'MURDER!'.
Espio looked down at Mighty, but saw now that he was already dead. Espio ran towards the armadillo's body, tears streaming down his face. He got down on his knees, soaking them in Mighty's blood, and cradled Mighty's body in his arms. Espio let out a scream, "NOOOOOOO..."
"...OOOOOOOO!" Espio dashed the fastest his legs would carry him to catch Charmy's falling body, tears pouring freely from his eyes. The chameleon began to pant, sweat forming all over his body. The distance between Charmy and the ground was closing fast.
80 feet.
60 feet.
20 feet.
If Espio didn't catch Charmy, the bee would land on the spear of a fallen Eggbot. Espio held out his arms to catch the young Charmy-
SCHLAK!
Espio froze. Charmy lay there, impaled through the heart by the spear, an expression of pain and horror on his face. If he wasn't dead before, he was now. A ruby-red Chaos Emerald fell from his hand. Espio picked it up.
Espio glared at the dragon. "You bastard," he growled, and he startled all with the sheer hatred and ferocity they heard in his words. Suddenly, Espio pulled out a long katana, which flashed with every bolt of lightning. In his other hand, he held Charmy's Emerald, and a cyan Chaos Emerald of his own.
"YOU FUCKIN' BASTARD!" shrieked the chameleon, running at inhuman speeds towards Metal, his katana glimmering with light-purple fire. He began running up the side of the tower; such was his anger at the dark dragon at the summit. He leapt into the air, prepared to cleave the bestial parody of Sonic the Hedgehog in two; for he could never forgive Metal Sonic for what He did to Charmy, nor would he ever forget it.
Things quickly went awry.
Metal raised His right hand, which was a claw, and let loose a blast of emerald-green Chaos Fire. Espio had no time to register anything but surprise as his body was engulfed by the blast. When the blast faded, all saw that the Chaotix chameleon was burned black, his katana melted completely. The two Chaos Emeralds he had glowed innocently in his hand, unharmed by the blast. His burnt body fell to the ground, cracking as it landed. The dwindling group rushed up to see if he was alive - something that was apparently not so when they saw Espio's corpse.
Espio's skin had been burned off completely; all that was left was his skeleton, which was itself burned charcoal-black. His skeletal hand still clutched his Chaos Emerald and Charmy's. Shadow, looking away so as to not upset his stomach, took the two Emeralds, adding them to his green one.
"Now... what other fool dares to challenge me?" The Metal Overlord boomed down to them, His gravelly voice resonating deeply in their ears.
TO BE CONTINUED...
(Note: A reply to a few reviews:
Ri2 - No, I didn't know that Deem Bristow passed away until you told me. Must be a case of art imitating life. Rest in peace, Deem Bristow. You will be missed.
Tylec Asroc - I had this unbearably gory from the beginning, but I will make it moreso, borderline NC-17, for your sake. And yes, I am a Star Wars fan. Looking forward greatly to Revenge of the Sith in two months.
Shade-The-Hedgehog - You are so right!
Anyway, read and review! It will be much appreciated!)