(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 28: Rise of the Dark God part: 2
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The President was left staring open mouthed.
"What on Earth is that?" He demanded of the bridge crew around him as the three heads of Dark Oak reared up into the screech, a desperate screech erupting from between three rows of dagger like teeth. The ruined buildings of Station Square collapsing around it.
Rikoye, commander of the Black arms was also at a lost to explain the sudden appearance of the triple headed creature, its trashing tentacles tearing up the ruined city on the horizon, knocking over entire buildings and ripping the asphalt off the street, all its mutable limbs trashing around like some bizarre parody of an octopus. Each long neck that reared up from the dust and dirt of the streets its back was a massive lump of flesh, a thick lay of scales hiding a bony ridge of a spin and a rib cage. Planted on its back was a round, egg like object enwrapped in the flesh and protected by three bony spikes than curved around it like a protective hand.
"All ahead stop." The President ordered and the G.U.N Fleet settled into a station position a safe distance away from the creature. Rikoye gave the same order and the Black Arm ships did the same. After being threatened with a punch from Knuckles, Eggman eventually related and then complied; the Egg Fleet slowing to a complete stop. The giant armada waited there, watching the beast from afar, waiting until they could be sure of the situation before making any intelligent judgement.
"Move it, get out of the way!" Sonic tried to call over, to warn them of the danger but they were too far out of ear shot. Dark Oak's central head rose up, all seven chaos emeralds glowing brightly on its forehead. Its eyes set hard against the fleet, it opened its mouth and suddenly lightning began sparking up its neck and into the space between its teeth. A second of blinding light later, an energy attack rocketed forward with a deafening sonic boom. Ships unlikely enough to get caught in its path were scorched into blackened ash that crumbled in the air before raining down towards the ground .The attack didn't differentiate between them, Black Arm, G.U.N or Eggman Empire. Those that got hit were instantly destroyed. The ships around them only receiving a powerful shockwave across the bow, tipping them violently to the side. Several of Eggman's battleship tipped to the side and rammed into Giant Wing nearly knocking the flying fortress out of the sky.
Rikoye quickly ordered the Black Arm mother ship to back away even further and quickly the rest of the ships belonging to their fleet did the same. The President was quick to copy the strategic retreat. Eggman was little slow however and more blasts ripped out from Dark Oak's two other mouths, tearing a sizable chunk out of his forces by the time he got them out of range.
"That's only one source of energy that could make something that powerful" Chuck announced, watching the ashes of the ships falling towards the ground like black snow. Tails nodded in agreement and quickly brought up a holographic projection of the creature. The Blue Typhoon got as close it dare so the sensors could get a better quality picture as soon as it came through, they saw the Seven Chaos emeralds embedded in the central head.
Cosmo however had her eyes locked only onto the egg on its back, her eyes filled with intense fear. Tails caught her expression and followed her gaze to the round object. As if he could sense it too, a feeling of utter despair and hopelessness came over him at the sight of it and he forced to look away, shivers sent up his spine.
"It's him isn't it?" The fox asked the seer, who looked up at him quickly, her face still bearing that terrified expression.
"Krish." Jailos began.
One of the beasts heads curved down in time to see a swirling vortex of blue energy come rocketing up towards him. The Sonic wind attack didn't even reach home, it simply got absorbing by some invisible shield covering the creature's whole body. As soon as the attack dissipated into nothing, Dark Oak curved a head around and fired a blast down towards the ground. Before it hit Sonic disappeared in blue blur, out running the explosion before ducking behind a derelict building to escape the fire that erupted across the street.
Shadow, skating along the side of a building, drew his arm back and fired his signature energy attack straight up at the creature. Again the blast did nothing and simply got absorbed by the shield. A tentacle went whipping around through the air and struck Shadow across the chest, sending the black and red hedgehog tumbling down through the air and onto the ground with a thud. Another root like tentacle coursed through the air preparing to crush Shadow underneath it. The second before it hit, Shadow's body disappeared in a green flash as Chaos Control took effect.
"Deploy the Dragons." Rikoye commanded and instantly large doors on the underside of the entire Black Arm fleet began to open. Dropping out like bats swinging upside down, the genetically created fighters spread their wings and took to flight, an entire swarm of them; spread out in a typical offensive formation.
Dark Oak raised another of his heads while the other two laughed. The jaws opened again and lightning danced sparking through the air, several neon blue bolts striking down dragons as they soured through the swarm. Like a multitude of insects they kept coming until they were within range. Screeching, they quickly formed up into several rows and began firing projectiles of their own; energy beams and sting like spines shot through the air, but all they seemed to do to the giant creature was irritate the tip of its nose.
"Nothing but insects." Dark Oak laughed, before raising a multitude of tentacles, striking down dozens of the flying creatures with just one blow, batting them out of the air like flies. Suddenly, a loud ringing shot out as the G.U.N fleet opened fire with an intense barrage of missiles and bullets. Eggman's own ships were quick to follow, red laser beams shooting out from several different ships all at once. The shield flew up again and all the attacks game to naught, not a single projectile piercing the protective barrier. The fire power of the entire armada came to absolutely no avail.
This time, when another of the heads rose up into view and opened its mouth preparing to fire an energy blast, the ships knew what was coming and bid a hasty retreat to what was considered out of range. The blast rang out and several of the battleships had a close call, but none of them were destroyed. It did however stop the bombardment and force the ships to pull back.
"I want Intel, now!" The President demanded. No one in the G.U.N intelligence division could explain what it was they were fighting.
"Hey big guy!" Dark Oak craned all three necks over to see Sonic standing on top of a ruined sky scrapper, balanced perfectly on the spire. "This is what you really look like? I think I preferred the metal thing you had going for a while; definitely more you." Limbs lanced up out of the ground and grabbed the foundations off the building. With one solid yank they tore the sky scrappers feet out from under it and as it fell down Sonic disappeared into a green flash of Chaos Control.
Emerging out of the warp in mid air, Sonic landed on the back of one of the Dragons. A good few of the were still swarming around, trying to hit the giant creature with any kind of attack but nothing seemed to be getting through at all. "Woah boy!" The blue hedgehog told the flying reptile as it tried to shake it's hitchhiker off. Grabbing the creature by the horns on the back of it's head, Sonic tried to steer the thing and tow his surprise, it actually complied, diverting it's coarse from left to right as the hedgehog tugged on the 'reigns.'
It was a long shot, but Sonic suddenly got an idea. Distracted with the other dragons flying around him, Dark Oak didn't see the blue hedgehog's ride approach him from above. From this vantage point Sonic could see the shield as the sun reflected off its surface. There was a gap in the thing, directly in the top.
"I'll take it from here." He told the dragon giving the flying reptile a thumbs up before leaping off its back and dive bombing down towards Dark Oak. Reaching a certain height he started spinning, going after and faster until his entire body seemed to whip up a twister. Dark Oak only noticed Sonic when it was too late to do anything about. The hedgehog came storming through his defence and crashed with tremendous force into the egg on its back trying to shatter the thing.
The beast screeched, all three mouths screaming in anger before a tentacle shot around and batted Sonic away. The hedgehog was sent flying until he collided into the side of a building, through a broken window and finally into an old filing cabinet, leaving a large dent in it. "Ow…" Was all Sonic managed to say.
Dark Oak looked back at the egg on his back. It hadn't been compromised; no cracks ran over the surface. But Sonic had come dangerously close that time.
Metal Sonic stood watching the whole spectacle from afar. He remained stationary and silent for a good while. He'd been a pawn from the beginning, from one master to another, controlling his action like a puppeteer. Nothing but a tool to be used for the furthering of someone else's ambitions, a mere machine. And now here as the final controller, for Metal Sonic had had enough. A line was drawn in the sand and Dark Oak had crossed over that line. The lord of Metal X had given his trust over to his betrayers and had paid the price for it, but that didn't mean that he couldn't correct his mistake.
"Are you certain that they're there?" Bark asked Tikal as she told them her destination. Ever since she had left Dark Oak reveal his true form, she knew Shadow and the others were going to need her help. She could sense their presence and the fight itself in the ruins of Station Square and that was where she proposed they go.
"I know it." She replied forcefully. "We have to get there before it is too late."
"Then perhaps I can be of assistance." Jefferson Ridge, CEO of the Hexagon Corporation announced. "There's a chopper belonging to the company on the roof of the penthouse." He added. "There's enough fuel to get you there."
"Why are you being so helpful?" Hare asked, giving the human a sceptical eye.
"Yeah, from what we've heard; Hexagon isn't exactly known for trust-worthiness." Bark added in. Jefferson smiled grimly in response.
"A lot has to be done if you want to stay ahead in the market." He replied with a superior expression. "As for me personally, the end of the world is really bad for business so it's in my best interests to give you a helping hand." None of them had any reason what so ever to trust him. According to Chuck, his organisation had been responsible for more than one death in their ambition to rise to the top of the corporate ladder and seize financial control of G.U.N, but with the world falling apart around them they didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Energy levels dropping." Sam reported, reading off the statistics coming in from the Typhoon's energy core. The energy source Jailos had provided them was running out. Apparently it wasn't as unlimited a source as a Chaos Emerald. It had held them well until now, after enduring all that fighting. Tails was forced to keep the entire ship in stationary position on the mere outskirts of the ruins city. As long as they avoided any battle situations, the power sources should last. But that still left them trapped on the edges of a battle and with no way of helping Sonic and Shadow.
"Just what is it?" Chris asked, staring out at the hideous creature. Even from this distance they could see its three heads and the root like tentacles.
"It's a being from Nexus." Jailos replied firmly, staring out at the beast with unlinking yellow eyes.
"You've people have seen them before?" Tails asked.
"Oh we've seen them before alright." The alien female replied with a flat expression. "And there's only one way a creature like that cane been in this dimension." She added, fear suddenly creeping into her eyes. "For years I thought it a simple children's tale, but that very creature's presence here proves it all true." Cosmo looked up.
"He is coming." She stated, glancing up at Jailos; who simply nodded once in response.
"Yes…yes he is."
"Just who is 'he'?" Chuck asked, getting a little impatient.
"His name is Krish Kra Pal." Jailos told them all. The name rang bells all around the group. "In Black Arm fables, he is the great exterminator. He hunts my sect with sadistic hatred, a relentless force that we have to run from."
"In Echidna history, he's the god of my people." Knuckles told her over the holographic link up with Eggman's flagship. "It's because of him I'm one of the last of my kind." His tone was very hostile.
"And it's because of him that the Black Arms are being hunted by the Confederacy Army." The female alien replied. "Legend states he was the one who installed the hatred of us in them. His power is fabled to be immense and his form unstoppable, but he was banished into the realm of Nexus eons ago." She jabbed one of her fingers at the creature in the distance. "The very realm this beast is from. The only way it could be here is Krish sent it here and if he did, then it's more than possible he could return as well."
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All Dark Oak did was laugh, all three heads echoing that chuckling chorus high into the air. The head with the glowing blue eyes arched forward and spat, a beam of energy leaping from between it's jaws, a bright wave of destruction carving it's way through the ground towards them.
Shadow and Sonic dived out of the way as Metal Sonic charged in from above with talons spread wide. with a loud thud he landed on top of one of the heads and before the creature could react, the robotic hedgehog carved several deep clashes in it's slimy skin. To his dismay, the wounds simply closed as soon as it was cleaved. The healing powers of this beast were incredible. Any injury that they could inflict it would instantly heal.
"Have you realized the futility of your efforts yet?" One of the heads asked, raising up before him it's scaly lips set in a long sneer.
"My task is a waiting game." Another head stated as it rose like a snake, twisting high above the robotic hedgehog.
"You can't hurt me and all I have to do is prolong the fight long enough for my master to return." All three stated at once, the head Metal Sonic was standing one flipping itself up, tossing Metal Sonic onto it's nose. The robotic hedgehog landed with a loud bump on the scales, scrapping his talons against the ridges to prevent himself from toppling over the edge. Looking up, he saw a three pairs of eyes lock onto him.
"Give up now and I assure you that your parts will be recycled in something far more useful." One of the heads told him.
"Like a can opener." Again that laugh ripped out through the air, that irritated, hideous laugh that sent waves of uncontrollable rage burning through Metal Sonic's system. The eyes burning blood red, the steel talons began tightening in anger, carving deep into the scales.
"Why don't…" He began as the laughter continued. "You just…" With a sudden twist, the robotic hedgehog pulled himself up and hovered directly in front of those eyes. "SHUT UP!" As if someone had suddenly spilt the atom, everything was bathed in an intense white light shot outwards like a rising sun. At the centre of it, Metal Sonic crossed his arms and legs in front of himself as tremendous amounts of energy began to accumulate. The concave yellow circle in the middle of his chest glowing brightly, power slowly being drawn into it as tiny balls of light.
The shockwave that passed backwards threw cars from the road and tipped several of the Black Arm ships sideways. There was a deafening sonic boom and a beam of energy tore through the air to collide with Dark Oak head on. The explosion tore nearly half of the already ruined Station Square to pieces. Sonic and Shadow tried to anchor themselves to the road but the resulting backlash of wind proved to much and the two hedgehogs were sent flying into the air.
Metal Sonic dropped to the scared ground like a rag doll, falling on his front on the asphalt with a thud. All of his energy reserves had been poured into that one blast and without that to fuel his systems he was on the verge of total systems crash. His sensors were already registering a dangerous level of compromise in his metal armour.
"Now that wasn't nice." A familiar voice laughed. Looking up, Metal Sonic stared in disbelief as the dust began to clear and the snake like form of Dark Oak began visible. All three heads were still there, scaly lips set in a humoured sadistic smile and not a single scratch on his body. That blast had gotten through his shield and still it hadn't done anything. There was a sudden movement to his left and a tentacles can lancing out of the dust to slam hard into his metal body, tossing Metal Sonic up into the air violently before batting him back down to the ground. A head can streaming out of nowhere and a second later, Metal Sonic found himself clamped between a row of sharp teeth. Several of them impaled themselves through his metal body, but thankfully missing any vital components.
"CHAOS SPEAR!" Looking up Dark Oak caught a succession of golden energy bolts head one and one of his mouths was forced to let go of the robotic hedgehog. Before Metal Sonic hit the ground, a blue blur came rocketing out of nowhere and caught him in mid air.
Shadow came skating down the side of a building before curving his body into a bal to start spinning. Gathering enough momentum, the black and red hedgehog came slamming down hard against Dark Oak's back, trying to break through to the egg growing there. Seeing his intention, the creature's heads all shot around and barred his way. Shadow slide through all of them and made a dash for the egg, quills spinning so fast the moment he came into contact with it would have shattered. Before he could however, a root like tentacle shot out and grabbed him by the left leg. Yanked away from his target, Shadow was tossed violently upwards before being hit directly with a blast from one of the beasts' mouths. Smoke trailing from his quills, Shadow was sent cascading over the ground before colliding with the side of a wall.
"What do you think you're doing?" Metal Sonic asked as Sonic put him down a safe distance from the fighting. His injuries weren't that serious. Sonic had seen Metal Sonic sustain worse before. In fact, the nano-bots inside his body were already repairing them.
"Saving your ungrateful life that's what!" Sonic replied with a sharp glare down at the robotic hedgehog. Metal Sonic slapped his organic counterparts hand away, refusing to accept his help.
"Don't you ever try to help me again!"
"Gee, you're certainly Mr. Personality of the year." Sonic muttered flatly, before racing off to Shadow's aid. Metal Sonic lay there recovering from his injuries, his rage slowly simmering like boiling water.
He didn't need Sonic's help for anything. Despite their common interest, there was nothing on Earth that could get the robotic hedgehog to work with him. He would rather self terminate.
"It's like nothing hurts him." Shadow remarked, shoving a large slab of rock off his body and standing up amongst the rubble. The towering form of Dark Oak above him, the mass of tentacles swatting away the Black Arm dragons while the three mouths tried to snap them out of the air.
"That's a defeatist attitude." Sonic remarked, sliding to a stop beside him. Surprisingly one of his famous grins was pressed on his face, a smile spread almost from ear to ear; as if he was enjoying every minute of this. "Besides, I've got a plan."
"Any plan you can come up with is doomed to failure." Metal Sonic remarked as he rocketed past with talons out spread, the backblast from his jet engine nearly knocking both hedgehog's off their feet. Souring between the trashing roots, the robotic hedgehog came in hard and fast, slashing at anything that moved as he soured closed and closer to the core of the beast; one hand held ready with metal claws held wide.
"Trigger happy nut." Sonic sighed as he watched Dark Oak tear Metal Sonic out of the air, toss him around a few times bashing his body into the side of a few buildings before sending him flying high into the air.
"You were saying about an idea?" Shadow asked as Metal Sonic's body hit the ground a short distance away, sinking into it slightly. Sonic's grin widened.
"I think it might work, but I'm going to need your help to pull it off." He turned and looked over as the robotic hedgehog pulled himself out of the ground, his red eyes glowing like freshly spilled blood. "And yours." Metal Sonic simply raised his hand and fired a smaller energy blast at him, forcing the blue hedgehog to side step away from him.
"There is nothing you can ever say or do; that could make me work with you." Sonic's grin vanished replaced by a frown.
"Why do you hate me so much?" He asked jabbing a finger as Metal Sonic as the robot hoisted himself up.
"You used me like a puppet!" Metal Sonic replied, suddenly releasing all his bent up anger in one sudden burst; nearly screaming at the blue hedgehog. "First you took my ultimate power; then you infected me with your personality and then turned me into a simple solider for you and your comrades."
"Hasn't the penny dropped yet?" Shadow demanded of the robotic hedgehog, getting tired of this argument. "Mishoal messed with your head. He lied to you to get to go on that Chaos Emerald hunt, so you could do his dirty work for him." Metal Sonic glared at him angrily. "I was there; Sonic was the only one who didn't treat you like some kind of tool."
"Don't lie to me!" Metal Sonic replied. "Mishoal may have used me, but he was right about all of you. You offered me slavery disguised as friendship." Whipping out, the robotic hedgehog grabbed Sonic by the throat, his metallic claws threatening to break his neck. "I should kill you right here."
"You could do that…" Sonic told him, managed a short grin; apparently unconcerned about the dagger like talons at his throat. "But then you'd never be able to defeat Big n' Ugly without my help." Metal Sonic cast a glance up towards the creature about them. The Dragon's numbers were beginning to dwindle and it wouldn't be too long before Dark Oak's attention was latch securely on them. So far, all of their efforts hadn't made so much as a dent in his defence, and time was running out. The Egg on his back looked like it might hatch at any minute. "Metal, it's your choice. I'm not going to make it for you." With a sudden thrust, the robotic hedgehog let so of Sonic and shoved him to the ground.
"What kind of choice is that?" Metal Sonic demanded. "Cooperate with you, or face termination."
"About the size of it, yeah." The blue hedgehog replied; sitting there with his arms folded in his lap. Still that smile refused to leave his face. "We can keep fighting apart and do nothing, or we can work together and at least have a fighting chance."
"So what's it going to be?" Shadow added in.
Metal Sonic growled angrily and turned away, crossing his arms in front of himself. From here, he could see Dark Oak's true size and somewhere, it stood as a reflection; a manifestation of his own pride and arrogance. Desperation had driven him, the thirst for freedom, to finally be who he really was, outside the influence of others. Wherever he had turned, someone was there tying to manipulate him, control his actions.
How much of his life had been the orchestration of others? His quest for power, his rise into the Metal Overlord, even his life as one of Sonic's defenders? Certainly his resurrection and rule of the Machine Federation. From the moment he had been rebuilt he had been nothing more than a puppet. And if that was all true, then precisely what perceptions had been changed to make him into that marionette? What had Mishoal changed inside his electronic brain to make his so guidable and controllable? Was Sonic right?
Metal Sonic was lost, too confused to even think. What the heck was he supposed to believe anymore? What was real in his life?
"So Metal." Sonic began, picking himself back up. "What's it going to be?"
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Flip card 1:
Name: Dark Oak's true form
Description: After masquerading as Metal Sonic's general, the real Dark Oak is a hideous reptile/plant like creature from the dimension known as Nexus. Endowed with great power by the dark God Krish, all Dark Oak has to do is delay Sonic and the others long enough for the egg on his back to hatch.