(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)
S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
GO, GO, GO, GO: LET'S GO!
Episode 27: Rise of the Dark God part 1
"It's certainly quiet all of a sudden." Chris stated about a minute after the bombardment of the Egg Fleet on their Egg Shield stopped. Okida couldn't have agreed more. A second ago Eggman had them right where he wanted them, and suddenly he called off the attack. From the cockpit of the Spider Mech, the Major gazed up at the giant Whale Shark Flagship above them. Just what was going on up there?
"Hey, I've got an incoming message from Eggman's flagship." Chuck announced, sounding utterly surprised.
"Incoming message?" Tails repeated, looking confused himself. Shrugging his shoulders, he opened a communications link and a holographic message appeared before them. Instead of finding Eggman's face sneering down at them, standing there instead was Rouge.
"This is acting Admiral Rouge of the Whale Shark flagship." She stated, saluting them. Everyone the bridge, including Cosmo and Jalios were left standing there with open mouths. "Knuckles and I have now have complete control of the ship, and as such; control of the Egg Fleet itself." She turned to the Doctor sitting behind her. He was slumped in his throne with an utterly defeated look on his face. Knuckles was standing beside him, grinding one fist with the palm of another hand suggestively, fixing the Doctor with a glare that could have frozen water. "Don't I Eggy?" I asked, rubbing the top of his bald head. Sighing out load; Eggman nodded weakly.
"I surrender." He muttered, the ends of his moustache dropping as if waterlogged.
"Well this is sudden." Amy stated looked confused at this sudden turn of events.
"Just don't let the 'admiral' status go to your head." Topaz told her with flat eyes.
"Oh you know me." Rouge replied with a short grin that unnerved a few of them.
The President had just finished talks with the commander of the Black Arms and a permanent cease fire had been called on both sides. The Black Arms had been victims of a vicious ploy and G.U.N had simply been defending their territory, so while reconciliation had been a little difficult it had not been impossible. The two fleets slowly moved together until they merged into one whole, making one giant force in the sky.
"Message from the Blue Typhoon sir." Someone announced and the President was handed a piece of paper. It told him that they had control of the Egg Fleet and Doctor Eggman in custody. A short smile spread over his face. There only thing left to wrap up now was Metal Sonic.
"My fleet will investigate that flash of light from earlier." Rikoye announced over the com system. A short while ago, both fleets had observed a giant pillar of white light lance up from the ground some distance away. According to registers, the energy level was off the scale. There was only one thing that could cause that and that thing was all seven Chaos Emeralds and since Metal X and Metal Sonic himself was after them, there might be some connection. The President nodded in agreement.
"We'll accompany you. Metal Sonic is just a big threat to us as he is to you."
-
"Get back here!" Shadow yelled, sliding forward with a fist held back, the furious embers of a Chaos Spear attack burning between his fingers. The door to the rest of the underground complex opened up to allow Mishoal and the Seven Emeralds he had through. Dark Oak, acting as the ancient Echidna's bodyguard smashed a punch into Shadow's stomach, forcing the black hedgehog to back off.
"The Master wants you here at his rebirth so don't interfere." Mishoal stated over his shoulder, a sadistic gleam in his green eyes.
"It's an honour for you." Dark Oak added, holding the tip of his sword at Shadow's throat. "Few will be privileged enough to lay eyes on the divine form of the Master before they die. You have been chosen to be present at his birth."
Dark Oak added, holding the tip of his sword at Shadow's throat."Thanks but no thanks!" Sonic stated; seeping forward in a spin attack aimed directly at the last Metal X general. Dark Oak slid to the side avoiding the attack, before batting the hedgehog away with the hilt of his blade. With both Hedgehog's down, the general joined his comrade beyond the door. There was a sudden loud shunting noise before the doors closed and a lift began to descend; taking them further and further down towards the tools they needed to bring about what might very well be the end of the world.
Shadow somersaulted back to this feet and swung several kicks, trying to bash the door open to head after them, but the metal it was made out refused to budge. Black Arm technology was extremely advanced and not even the skills of the Ultimate life-form would compromise it.
Sonic pushed himself up, dusting himself off. Had everything been of their design he wondered? Metal Sonic revival? The fights on Mars? The Negative Chaos Emeralds? The war between G.U.N and the Black Arms? If so then all of them had done exactly what they wanted. They had delivered all Seven Chaos Emeralds right to their waiting hands. Dark Oak and Mishoal had played them all for a punch of puppets.
"Think he'll be alright?" The blue hedgehog asked, looking over the form of Metal Sonic that was lying on the floor, a large slash carved into his armour that nearly cleaved all the way through. The nano-bots that usually healed all his wounds didn't seem to be working now. Perhaps they couldn't make repairs of this magnitude.
"Forget about him." Shadow stated, backing away from the door before him and raising his arms. "Right now we've got more important things to worry about." Sonic took another glance down at the robotic hedgehog. This metal look alike had been one of his greatest enemies and rivals and once even a good friend. Sonic knew now that his murderous need for revenge had been Mishoal's doing. They had opened up his brain and shoved a load of poison inside. Metal Sonic was just as much a victim of this as the rest of them.
A chaos spear attack launched forward from Shadow's hand and after a few moments, the doors outwards with a load groaning sound before falling down towards him. The lift had returned to their level by now and was sitting in their waiting for them. Shadow quickly stepped inside, followed quickly by Sonic. Along one of the walls was a row of buttons that probably showed what floors there were available for this elevator.
"Just our luck." Sonic remarked flatly, seeing all the buttons were written in cryptic runes, the written language of the Fesonian Black Arms which neither of them could understand. "Catch a tiger by the…" The blue hedgehog began, jabbing a finger at curved buttons randomly before Shadow slapped his hand away, preventing them from possibly hurtling down an elevator shaft to their doom.
Turning his almost machine like logic onto the dials, Shadow began trying to understand the number sequences. He paused, even if he was able to understand this language there was no way to know which floor Dark Oak and Mishoal had gotten off on so this would prove a little futile.
"What we need is a translator." Sonic remarked, leaning on the side of a wall. Without his knowledge, he'd put his hand against one of the pads The Black arms used to access their technology. A sudden red light lanced down from the ceiling and seemed to encircle his head for a minute, leaving the blue hedgehog looked stunned and confused before it disappeared again. "Woah tingly." He added, staggering backwards a single pace.
"Language trace completed. Awaiting instructions." A voice stated from the panel and in Sonic's accent too. "Please state destination."
"You and your dumb luck." Shadow muttered to Sonic who was still looking around in a daze. Quickly the black and red hedgehog went over to the panel. "What was the previous floor you returned from?" The lift's computer, if that was what it was, remained silent for a moment as if processing the request. Usually this advanced technology was quicker than this, but they supposed after being trapped underground for so many years it was bound to lag a little behind the times.
"Floor 56, experimental research laboratories." It replied finally. "Do you wish to go this floor?"
"YES!" Sonic and shadow Said at the same time and an instant later another pair of doors slammed shut behind them, sealing them in. There was a sudden surge and the lift began descending at such a fast rate, both hedgehog's were flung to the ceiling and pinned there by the air rushing up to meet them. The trip only lasted a few seconds and came to a stop as quickly as it started and once it had; Sonic and Shadow crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
Sonic looked up, tears being to form in the edges of his eyes before he muttered…
"Ow…"
Shadow picked himself up just in time to watch the doors open to present them with a long dark corridor leading off in one direction.
"Well…that was fun." He remarked flatly, rising to his feet and walking out into the corridor itself.
"Nah not really." Sonic replied dusting himself off before joining the black hedgehog. "I've been on roller coasters with more kick than that." Shadow shot him a side glance, before shaking his head and walking on. The corridor went on for a good long while, doors leading to separate rooms on either side lined the walls. Scattered around were the skeletal remains of Fesonians, reptilian like humanoids lying there where they had fallen eons ago. "I can't believe all this was buried below Station Square all along." Sonic added, stepping over the curved skull of a Black Arm who had died face down on the floor.
"This may have been a Black Arm outpost eons ago." Shadow mused out load keeping his eyes locked straight ahead of him in case Dark Oak was waiting for them behind a corner. "Perhaps it got buried by landslide and the city was built on top of it." Sonic was quiet for a second, considering the possibility.
"These guys don't look like they bit the big one like that." He said eventually. Shadow cast a glance down at the bodies they were stepping over. Sonic was right, there was signs that these aliens had died in some sort of struggle.
Something caught Sonic's attention and he pierced through one of the doors they were padding to see another door leading into a separate corridor. Dust lay disturbed were the door had fallen inwards. This damage had been done recently.
"Shadow wait, they went this way." He said calling the black hedgehog over before rushing to examine the door himself.
The corridor beyond curved downwards almost in a spiral and went on for some distance. The dust on the floor was disturbed where someone had left unmistakeable foot prints. Shadow was suddenly very suspicious. Both Dark Oak and Mishoal could float. They didn't need to walk, so why where they deliberately leaving a trail for them to follow? Unless of course they were walking into some sort of trap.
Before Shadow could advise caution, Sonic bolted on ahead disappearing out of sight. The black and red hedgehog shook his head before sliding on after him. The corridor twisted down and down and once Shadow had caught up with Sonic, they must have travelled a good hundred meters into the Earth. The way Fesonians, or perhaps just the Black Arms sect constructed their dwellings was daunting. It made so sense to have this kind corridor, at least not on Earth.
"Hey what gives? It's a dead end!" Sonic almost yelled when they came to an abrupt stop, a large wall blocking their way. The bones of a Black Arm lay slumped against it, it's arms stretched up towards a small metal panel on the wall opposite. This had to be some sort of door and this alien had died trying to open it. Sonic went to press it before Shadow snatched his hand away.
"We don't know what that does." He told him.
"It looks like it opens the door." Sonic replied flatly.
"But do you know that for sure?"
"Look they must have gone this way." The blue hedgehog pointed toward the floor, showing more foot prints leading on. "We'll never know unless we try." Before Shadow could say anything else, Sonic pressed his hand against the metal panel. For a brief moment nothing happened and then the wall opened up like a mouth ready to swallow them, neither of them could see an inch in front of their face. "See?" Sonic asked smugly. Shadow simply shot him a glare.
"Come on, let's get going before…" As both of them set a foot in the darkness however, they both slipped on some wet substance on the ground and ended up plunging down into the darkness as the floor before them had long since collapsed.
Back at the entrance to the compound, Metal Sonic lay quiet and undisturbed, his black visor completely empty. Suddenly, parts of his chest plate began wriggling and twisting, becoming liquid like. Moving slowly, this silvery paste like substance moved over the large wound forming something of a scab. After a few minute, the healing process was complete and the scar Dark Oak had given him was gone.
Then just as suddenly the fingers on the robotic hedgehog's left hand began twitching, before clenching together in a fist. With a sudden flare, the red eyes came back to life, burning with anger so intense it could burn though steel.
-
At it's height, the Echidna civilisation had ruled most of Mobius. Lesser races were quickly being converted to the worship of the one god and all they needed to solidify their grip was the Chaos Emeralds. With those in the service of their lord, nothing could stop his message from being spread. Of course, when they had tried to seize them however; they provoked a vicious attack by the Emerald's guardian. A demon made from water crashed down on top of their capitol, ripping it to pieces. Mishoal the high priest of the Krish Temple had been attempting to flee after one last service to their god but had never gotten out in time. Perfect Chaos, the Echidna god of destruction, brought the entire Cathedral down on top of him. Tons of rubble crushed his body and pinned him down, literally every bone in his body broken, bleeding from torn skin and burst muscles but still painfully alive. There he would have perished a slow and agonising death, had his master not deemed his worthy of restoration.
By divine intervention, he was spared, recovered from the rubble and reborn as the herald for the master's return to the mortal plane. It was the greatest honour imaginable and Krish had given him enough power to carry it out. Also later on, a travelling companion to assist him in his task.
Dark Oak, a creature not of this or either world but from Nexus, the world in which their master currently resided. Metal Sonic had unerring provided him with a disguise while creating his Metal X generals. After forging the shell of his first commander, Dark Oak quickly seized the robot, tore out it's insides and installed himself instead. There he waited, standing at Metal Sonic's right hand side, for the opportunity to strike and steal the Chaos Emeralds either he or Sonic himself gathered, for they were necessary for their master's revival. And now, they had all seven.
The lower levels of the ancient tunnels left by the Fesonians eons ago on Earth were nearly flooded with a thick green slime. This was not usual, even for their technology. Clearly they were getting closer to their goal. Barring their way was a large metal door. Ancient scorch marks were weapons fire had been exchanged was scrawled across it's rusted surface, the remains of ancestral Black Arms lay scattered around. Dark Oak pressed his metal hand against a panel on the side of the door. With a rusty screeching, the metal sheets slowly pulled themselves aside. A deluge of slime poured out, a thick green puss that silently oozed out towards them over the floor. It smelt like something someone had coughed up. Clearly this chamber had not been opened for centuries.
In the chamber beyond was what they had travelled down here to find and what they had waited so long to use. Their master knew both Mobius and Earth would merge one day to become one world. Only then could the gate be opened fully and so they waited, for thousands of years they waited until the dimension properties were right. All the while, their master busied himself creating a temporary vessel for use until, to aid them physically.
Shadow the Hedgehog was the product of those efforts and had Sonic and his friends not gotten in the way, their master would be right here beside them now. The chamber itself was long and had an incredible high arched ceiling. A long strip of ground amongst the ooze ran before them, all the way up towards the last thing they needed.
The gate stood before them. This was the place were the essence of Krish Kra Pal had been banished and his body destroyed. A colossal arch, curved in a circle towering above. The basic platform was a very long rectangular that began where they stood and ended with the ring. Right next to the gateway itself was a round pedestal with a short flight of metal stairs leading up to it. The rest of the chair had long since collapsed under the encroaching slime that oozed from the sides of the ring. A large plate had been put there to stop most of it, but around the edges, a thick green slime was slowly creeping in which over centuries had been adding up to a small lake around them. The plate stood directly in between two worlds; this fused dimension and the realm known as Nexus. Dark Oak's home world.
"You do realize what an honour you have been chosen for?" The general asked as the two of them made their way forwards. Mishoal only remained silent. "Serving as the herald for the lord is glorious enough for any creature, but you…you have been chosen to be the new body." The general folded his arms as he arrived at the side of a short pedestal. These where controls for the gate. No one had activated those eons. "No one in this universe of any other could possibly be so honoured." Without looking back, the ancient Echidna climbed the steps and stood on the platform facing the closed gate. Gesturing with his left hand, the seven Chaos Emeralds flew out to former a wide circle around him and then they began orbiting, going around and around his body like planets around a sun. The slime below him shone different colours as the emeralds shot overhead. Everything was now in place and there was only one thing left to do.
"Why keep god waiting?" The ancient Echidna asked with a thick smile, his eyes alight with sadistic glee.
"Why indeed." Dark Oak replied, before running his metallic fingers over the age old controls activating technology long since buried.
-
With a soft plop, Shadow forged his head above the surface of the slime and shook his head to dislodge the disgusting stuff from his quills. While it had cushioned their landing so they broke nothing, landing the foul smelling stuff sent shivers of disgust up the black hedgehog's spine,.
"Oh where are we?" Shadow asked, opening on eye and rubbing the side of his head. The blue hedgehog pulled himself out of the disgusting stuff and was standing on a small rocky outcrop just above.
"Welcome to the house of slime…" Sonic replied, feigning a scary movie type voice and gesturing to the chamber around them. His statement was more than adapt. As their eyes grew more adjusting the dim light, they could see that nearly everything was coated in a thick, green solution. Strands of it were dripping from the ceiling above, landing with a loud splat on the rocky floor.
"It's disgusting!" Shadow proclaimed, pulling himself up onto the ledge.
"I've seen worse served in some fast food chains." Sonic replied, staring down a long tunnel that trailed out of the cavern. The floor was covered in the slime, trailing down like a river to their present location before being drawn down a hole in the cavern wall opposite.
"Think it's stagnant water?" The black hedgehog asked, brushing a few last strands off himself.
"Trust me dude, if it was water…I'd know." Sonic added flatly before standing up. Just by touching something Sonic could tell if it was water or not…the fur on the back of his neck would stand up. This stuff, while it sent shivers down his spine at the very sight of it, it clearly had nothing to do with H2O.
"They came down here. I can sense a residue of Chaos energy." Shadow suddenly stated, his red eyes alight with sudden awareness. "That way." He added, pointing off down the tunnel.
"Oh well that's just fine for them. They can float. We can't, and I don't know about you but I am not swimming in that stuff."
Shadow sighed, before pushing him in with a simple pat on the shoulder. The blue hedgehog landed in the slime with a metallic splat.
After enduring some choice words, Shadow forced Sonic to wade through the slime down the tunnel. The level was short enough for him to stand but he was still grumbling under his breath as the two of them slowly trudged their way through the darkness. Occasionally they passed metal doorways leading into other parts of the compound but had to leave those, as the energy trail Shadow was detecting kept going on down the tunnel.
"Just where were you?" Sonic asked at one time as they rounded a corner through the tunnels, the level of slime around them beginning to lower so it dragged around their knees instead of their waists. Shadow got him a glance. "We had to deal with the entire Metal X army on our own." The blue hedgehog continued. "I beat three of their generals all by myself and faced off against the Behemoth. You and the others we lost on Mars had just disappeared."
"We had more important things to deal with." The black hedgehog replied. Sonic looked a little confused.
"More important?" He repeated with a stunned look on his face. "What could possibly be…"
"Well let's see…." Shadow began flatly, cutting him off before he launched into another long winded speech. "Discovering the truth about who orchestrated all of this and trying to stop the return of a being that could destroy the world. You know Sonic, you're right…what trivial matters I concerned myself with."
"Gee Shadow, if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were being sarcastic." The blue hedgehog remarked with levelled eyes.
The black and red hedgehog remained silent for a while. He was thinking back to the time he had first encountered Krish. It was when they had travelled back to the Mobius past only to witness the destruction of the Echidna Empire. Mishoal, or at least the younger version, had trapped him inside a chamber with the invisible voice that tried to take over Shadow's mind. They escaped from that, but later on when he confronted the Foundation organisation for the first time. The foundation had kid napped him and forced him to go along with a ceremony that transferred Krish' mind from its host into him.
Shadow shivered involuntary. The memory of that sickening event still haunted him.
This time however, Krish wasn't after the hedgehog's body. It wanted its original one back and with the seven Chaos emeralds in the grasp of its servant, it could achieve that.
"Nice fashion statement." Sonic remarked with a short smile, gesturing to Shadow's arm. The black and red hedgehog glanced down to see the ring attacked to his wrist, the one with the blue strap on it. The gift from Prof. Gerald, the legacy of the Robotnik Family. Shadow still wasn't sure what it was supposed to do, but when he and Sonic had merged into Nazo a few minutes ago, some thing seemed to make the union fluid and out of conflict. Had this ring done that? Did it help them merge more completely? If it did, then how had Prof. Gerald reasoned out that they would need something like this? It seemed inconceivable that he knew Sonic and Shadow would merge into one at some point. Shadow glanced at Sonic, who was still trying to soak his sneakers in the slime.
The black and red hedgehog decided it was best not to tell him that they were, in some weird way, related. His own pride forbade it.
Eventually the tunnel ended and Sonic could finally climb out of the goo and onto solid ground.
"Do you know how long this is going to take to get out of my quills?" He asked, running his fingers through the fused spines, dragging large lumps of green slime with them. Shadow ignored him; Sonic put far too much value on ones appearance anyway. Besides, they had more important things to worry about than personal hygiene right now. They had emerged into a large cavern with flat metal floor, graved lines running through it before lancing up the side of a wall nearby. On the far side was a door, rusted nearly completely and closed shut.
"They where here." Shadow stated, narrowing his eyes at the door. The energy trail continued on beyond it and it had grown sufficiently stronger than before.
"Behind there?" Sonic asked as if reading his thoughts. Shadow nodded in confirmation. The blue hedgehog smiled, before he started spinning around on one point. He remained in that spot for a second before racing forward and smashing a spin attack directly into the door. The metal, weakened by years of decay caved inwards before collapsing inwards with a deafening thud.
What lay beyond both horrified them both.
-
Flip card 1:
Name: Dark Oak
Description: A being from the world of Nexus, disguised as one of Metal Sonic's generals.