(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

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Narrator: This is it…everything been building up to this one final clash. The original Eclipse Cannon is nearly ready to fire and Sonic and Shadow face off against the Destroyer, a being capable of ripping them both apart. Even with Metal Sonic to help them can their efforts be enough?

Find out today on Sonic X….

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO; LET'S GO!

Episode 31: The Finale battle, part 2

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Chaos' arms twisted through the air and smashed through the heads of the dragon drones, ripping them off the necks in a spray of yellow blood and metallic shards. They swayed for a second before toppling to the side with a loud thud. The others entering through the large hole in the top clawed away as the water demon as he slid across the floor in liquid form. Their claws simply passed right through without doing any damage. Reforming into a round ball Chaos slammed against one of them hard, smashing it into the side of a wall. The other slashed him repeatedly from behind but before any serious damage could be inflicted; he melted down into a puddle on the floor. The Dragon looked confused, then alarmed as Chaos came up behind it. Two long arms shot out, grabbed his head and tugged back violently, shattering it's jawbone and breaking it's neck.

"Remind me never to get on his bad side." Chris remarked as the bridge was quickly taken back. Any more Dragons trying to enter were quickly dealt with as Void flew up and began fending them off with his sabre.

"AHHH! Tails yelled, looking around at the state of the bridge. The Dragon drones had not been kind on it. Claw and teeth marks ran across the wall and floor and a good deal of the terminals had been slashes and rendered useless. "What the hell have they done to my baby!" He demanded, poking at the control terminal for the weapons systems and in response a metallic plate fell away to reveal the extensive circuitry damage.

"Oh this is not good." Chris spoke up, finding most of the controls complete inoperable. The only thing that was keeping the Typhoon from crashing as the overbearing energy culminated in the energy core of the ship. Knuckles was desperately trying not to let the power fly out of control. Having all seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master together proved to be a recipe for disaster. The slightest upset in the balance and everything would be engulfed in a Chaos Control warp before they could blink.

"Navigations and helm control are still working." Tails stated, slipping into the captains seat and taking the ship off auto-pilot. "But we can't defend ourselves or shoot at anything!"

"You won't have to." Cosmo replied, walking over to the front of the bridge to wave out towards the massive Armageddon station. "Take us as close to the Station as you can. I will do the rest."

"Perhaps now you'd like to tell us exactly what it is you're going to do?" Vanilla asked as Void and Emerl both fought off a Dragon drone from above, preventing several of them from reclaiming the bridge. Cosmo did not reply, she just stood there silently; staring off towards the Armageddon. Tails paused, then slid down out of the captain's seat and walked over to her.

"Cosmo…" He began, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Tails… what I plan on doing means that…" She paused in mid sentence, as if afraid to continue. "It means I can't stay here anymore." Her voice was a whisper, to prevent the others from hearing.

"What…what do you mean?" He asked, equalling her own volume. The others watched curiously as she whispered something to him and a horrified look suddenly passed over his face. Tails looked more stunned than he had ever in his entire life.

"What she say?" Cream asked. Vanilla just shrugged.

"Do you understand?" Cosmo asked. Tails remained silent, staring at her with wide eyes, his expression unreadable. Then, he nodded just once. Cosmo managed a short smile. "Thank you." She drew him into a short hug. Tails did nothing for a moment, before he hugged her back. Then they separated and Cosmo offered him her left hand. The young fox breathed out with a sigh, before grasping it with his right.

-

Nazo sat in the place of none-existence, lost in the combined thoughts of Sonic and Shadow. He could feel them fighting, their pain, excitement and fear was his; heightened many times. Krish had been right in one respect, he was more than simply Sonic and Shadow merged into one. Sure he had traits from both, but he was a person in his own right. His likes and dislikes were often completely different to both of them and even his view of the world differed. Every time they merged and he was bid entrance to the real world all he was supposed to do as fight. After the energy level dropped, the two hedgehogs became two again and he was put back here.

Fights had been the only thing he had known of the real world. Here, in this empty place he sat alone for most of the time; called upon only as extra muscle when the going got tough. He wasn't resentful for it. In fact he was grateful for any time he got to spent in the real world. He hadn't always been here though. One minute he had been quite literally nothing and then, wham, he existed. Someone had clicked their fingers and there he was. Ever since then, this had been where he would stay until called for. Most of his time here he would spend sleeping or thinking quietly. There wasn't much else to do.

Krish had made him doubt his actions and because of it, Sonic and Shadow were now facing the Destroyer without any outside aid; and they weren't doing very well. Sonic had cuts and bruises all over his body and had gone dangerously close to being stabbed in the groin by the spikes on Krish's tail. Shadow was faring far better but fatigue was beginning to show itself in his movements. The Destroyer was just as fast as they were and finally stronger, not to mention having mastery of that green fire.

The white hedgehog shook his head, realizing that that wasn't what was really bothering him. His lament was something far more personal. It was fear, the fear that if he served his purpose; if Krish was destroyed, then the Professor's legacy would be realized and then they would have no more use for him and he would get no more access to the real world.

Something was missing from the equation though, something important but as to what it was Nazo could only guess. Gerald was not a man to leave anything to chance. He had certainly not done so with his plan to crash the ARK into the Earth after he lost his marbles. It seemed unlikely that Nazo himself would be his only means of defence. There had to be more to it than that. The recording Shadow had seen claimed what was required was a power beyond Chaos Control. But could possibly be stronger than a dimensional warp? It could destroy, create, transport and empower.

He was going to get nowhere with tying to figure it out himself, he was no scientist and certainly not privileged enough to have studied any of the late Professor's notes. All he had to go by was the recording and that one ring around Shadow's wrist. Since both hedgehog's were someone distracted at the moment, Nazo guessed it was up to him to ponder this for himself.

"Nazo…." A voice called out from the void. The white hedgehog looked up in confusion but found no one there to meet him. "Nazo…" There it came again, only this time it sounded closer. Nazo stood up, no one had spoken to him here before. This was new.

"Who is there?" He asked into the air. Silence endured for a moment, before a small figure appeared before him. Transparent at first before solidifying. It was Cosmo. Nazo said nothing at her presence in this place. After all, she was a seer from Maginaryworld and about them he knew very little. There was someone at her side, holding her hand; giving her strength to make this mental projection. Tails looked slightly confused to see the white hedgehog, looked more stunned then he ever had in his life.

"Can I help you two?" Nazo asked after a moment.

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Metal Sonic grabbed the two large talons coming at him and grasped them tightly in his metallic hands; his feet digging into the ground to slow himself down. Krish's strength proved far superior to his own and eventually he had to let do and duck as the arm went flying forward smashing into the side of a wall.

Blocking a swing from that lethal tail, the robotic hedgehog soured in close and slashed repeatedly at the flesh with his claws. Each hit barley even scratched the surface and it just kept healing. This guys healing response system had to be hyper fast for that to happen. Scars were repairing themselves in a matter of moments, simply closing as soon as the skin was cleaved.

The head came down and Metal Sonic was snapped up in those insect pincers, Krish lifting him higher and higher into the sky holding him there no matter how desperately he struggled. Suddenly those deadly instruments began to close, constricting around the robots waist and trying to slice him in half. The robotic hedgehog brought his hand down sharply right down on the Destroyer's left eyes piercing it with his claws. Krish howled angrily and tossed Metal Sonic violently to the side and through a wall, the metal hedgehog disappearing in a cloud of dust.

The Eclipse Cannon, the original Eclipse Cannon, was nearly ready to fire. The first ring on it's three levels was alright alight and the energy was continuing to build. Once all three rings were lit, it was goodbye planet Earth. Shadow knew that the clock was against them, but even if it wasn't; defeating Krish seemed like an impossible task.

"Come in Sonic, Shadow; can either of you hear me?" Yes, they could hear him but right now they were both a little to busy to answer the call. Sonic grimaced before sliding backwards through slashes of talons and spike that could easily rip him apart.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow came in sharply and tried to land the energy attack across the Destroyer's stomach. Krish moved too fast, dodging around the blast before a kick came in fast and knocked the black and red hedgehog to the ground with a thud. A spike came lancing down attempting to impale him and it would have, had Sonic not soured in at the last second and pulled him out of the way so Krish ended up stabbing the floor.

"This had better be good Chuck." The blue hedgehog announced into the com phone around his ear,

"I've checked the DNA pattern on that organic sample you sent me and the result is quite conclusive." The old man replied on the other end. Sonic looked up as Krish approached, the fire around him burning as strong as ever. He grimaced, grabbed Shadow and flew away as everything starting catching fire.

"Can it wait?" Shadow asked, regaining his sense and gathering a chaos spear attack between his fingers.

"We're kind of busy right now!" Sonic added in, letting Shadow down before finding a fist coming screaming to his face knocking him all the way across the chamber and into the side of the wall. Had he not diapered into a Chaos Control warp at the last second Krish would have finished him with an intense blast of green flame.

"No, you're going to want to hear this." Chuck replied sounding more urgent. Krish's tail swung around, nearly impaling the two hedgehogs on the barbed tip had they not rolled to the side to avoid it. "The genetic pattern is, given a few differences, identical to that of the Black Arms."

"What?" Rikoye demanded in utter surprise, his flaxen yellow eyes wide open. This was obviously news to the Black Arms. Chuck had arranged a link with the flag ships of the Fleet which were still engaging the Destroyer's drones. Many were falling from the sky, but it seemed the Armageddon station was supplying their armies with an endless supply of fighters. It was beginning to wear the armada down. "That's impossible."

"There's no doubt." Chuck told him turning back to face the alien commander with a very serious expression on his face. "Despite a genetic upgrade, Krish is one of your kind."

"Say what?" Sonic asked over the intercom, before glancing back as Krish towered over both of them with a fist held ready "You're a Black Arm?" The demon like being stayed his hand before he snorted loudly, his eyes narrowing in distaste; the pincers that served as a mouth snapping together several times

"Do not insult me." He snapped, smashing a fist down into the ground that Sonic somersaulted over avoiding the blow. "Yes, I am Fesonian; but do not dirty my name by associating me with those criminals." Rikoye just looked stunned, his flaxen yellow eyes wide in utter shock.

"The Destroyer…is a confederate!" Krish was the evil of their civilisation, an unspeakable evil that followed them across entire star systems; never ceasing in it's pursuit and lust for their blood. The confederates were a real threat, while Krish was a looming darkness that haunted their nightmares. Now, they could see the two were one and the same.

"Not just A confederate." Krish replied, hearing the commander's exclamation over the com link. "I am the second emperor of the dynasty. Brother of the coordinator."

"The Dooms Eye." Rikoye snarled, grinding his teeth in anger. "To think that I was actually scared of you. You're just another Fesonian with a few genetic upgrades."

"Think what you like." Krish replied snapping his pincers again. "It still doesn't change the fact that you're all going to die like that meddling Gerald." Sonic managed a sharp grin.

"I bet Shadow's daddy managed to throw one hell of a wrench in your works." Shadow shot Sonic a glare.

"He was certainly persistence in his interference. Your parents were meddling idiots are well." Krish hissed, jabbing a talon at Sonic. The blue hedgehog just stood there after there, staring up at the Destroyer with wide eyes.

"You…you knew my parents?" Krish lowered his arm and stood there very still, fixing the blue hedgehog with a stone like glare.

"Not personally, but their reputation was enough to get my attention." He replied with a thick layer of sadistic hate in his voice. "You see, Gerald even tried to prevent my return through events on Mobius. He knew your grandfather, even used his genetic pattern to make your shadowy friend here." Sonic shot Shadow a glance before turning back. "But not only that, to him Gerald gave a cellular upgrade of his own, a present that gave him extraordinary speed and agility. Abilities that would help him evade my followers on Mobius. An ability that was passed onto his offspring, which in turn was passed on you; the only soul left of your family."

"What…what do you mean?" Sonic asked, fear suddenly creeping into his soul. He already had a fair idea what Krish was going to say.

"It soon became clear to my servants that, if allowed to continue, your family would eventually spawn an army of super fast soldiers. The genetic upgrade would endure for thousands of generations. Gerald had already warned them of my plans, so it was obvious they were a threat."

Sonic was left standing there silently, his eyes wide and expression emotionless.

"You brought down their ship to prevent them from aiding the Professor's defence." Shadow announced. "You killed them all." Krish nodded once.

"I do not tolerate threats." His tone was extremely hostile. "It wasn't me directly, but I did give the order. My servants planted a bomb on the ship I knew that would be carrying that bloodline. All of them drowned." He paused and turned down toward the blue hedgehog. "Except for you."

Everyone was listening on the com-link thanks to Chuck. The conversation was broadcast to the entire fleet, even while the ships were fighting. Scarlet Garcia managed to catch the signal and broadcast it with her live link, allowing the entire planet to hear the Destroy confess to the murder of Sonic's entire family.

"Oh Sonic…." Amy began, tears wheeling up in her eyes.

Tails was left there stunned, sitting at the helm with wide eyes. Tikal shook her head and sighed out load.

"You evil bastard!" Shadow snarled. "First the Ancient Echidna's, then Gerald and Maria and now them? Does your blood lust know no ends?"

"All of them were lesser creatures." Krish muttered as if it didn't matter whatsoever. "None of them were law abiding Fesonian, so believe me; I feel quite justified in sacrificing every last one of them to ensure my return to the empire. Project Shadow, Gerald's true project intention, was to create a champion to stop me. To do this, he set out a strategy by which his genetic efforts on both Earth and Mobius would unite against me." Sonic stood there, his head throbbing angrily from the inside; blurred images of scattered flaming wreckage flying around him. A dark pit was below, slowly drawing them down towards the churning waves. Tying desperately he was trying to escape, to get away, to climb up. But the more he struggled the faster he sunk. A nightmare that installed his paralysing fear of the ocean.

"My people spent eons running from you monster." Rikoye began, his fist shaking in rage. "We saw you as a darkness that all we could do was fear. Now I can see you for what you truly are! You're nothing but a bigot, I'm ashamed we were ever scared of you."

Krish went silent and very still for a moment, his red eyes glaring out through one of the port windows to the Black Arm mother ship and the Commander therein. Shadow paused, watching him intently. The Destroyer was over five times his size and far more muscular, with spikes jutting out of his shoulders. On closer inception now, he did look basically like a Black Arm and the hedgehog could see scars along the fur where the spike and horns were. Clearly they had not been part of his original frame.

Sonic sat there trying to forget. The water around him, the cold clammy feeling on his fur. That night had been brought back to him with vivid recall. He could see everything now. Not just random swirls; he could see the flaming wreckage of the ship and the sting of the foam on his face and he tried to claw for anything that could keep him afloat.

His first memory. Everything before that had been wiped clean. The trauma of that one event had left him without a single recollection of the past. Krish had done some pretty awful things to the others, but he had taken something no one should have to loose. The memory of his parent's faces.

"How dare you speak to me with such righteousness." Krish snarled eventually, turning back; his eyes locked onto the com device. "Your people made me what I am. My brother and I ruled the Confederate Empire until I was captured during the first rebellion war. I was first interrogated, tortured and then I was subjected to genetic upgrade experiments. Your scientists were attempting to create new soldiers for your sect." Rikoye remained silent. He had heard that their ancestors had preformed experiments in genetic alteration, which had been long since banned. "I escaped, destroyed the research and returned to the empire. I swore then and there that I would never rule again until I had personally hunted down and exterminated every last one of you. So I passed the throne completely to my brother and with him it had remained for eons." Krish looked down at his arms and the spikes running along the outside edge. "I had hoped that perhaps this new body would be reverted back to it's original state, but apparently my D.N.A has been like this for far too long." His fists clenched. "I can never be normal again and for that, you will all die!" There was a loud crackling sound and the second level of the Eclipse Cannon lit up like a candle, the energy crackling around the spire snapping left and right like bolts of lightning. "And I'll start with this entire planet!" Krish added, his eyes alight with sadistic humour.

Shadow froze, staring at the cannon out the vantage point of the station. One more level and it could fire!

"Sonic Wind!" A vortex of blue energy swirling out of the darkness and batted the Destroyer's hand away. Shadow cat a glance back to see Sonic there. The blue hedgehog was standing there with his face angled towards the floor, his hand raised. There was a moment of silence before he just suddenly started laughing. His head rolling back. "Sad story; really, I felt it here you know." He chuckled, placing a hand on his chest. "But that doesn't make you much of a basket case you know." Krish snapped his pincers together angrily.

"I don't need or want your pity." The green fire flared to life around his shoulders, highlighting his scared black fur. "I can crush you in an instant. I already whipped out for kin."

"That's what you think." Sonic replied, the grin on his face widening as he managed to quite his giggling. "My family are still very much alive." Krish looked a little confused. "Hey, fair enough you got my blood relatives. But if I'm honest, I didn't know those people. Besides a family doesn't just have to exclusively mean blood relations. The people I regard as family have always been with me. Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Chris, Even Shadow here. They've been as good as any brothers or sisters could ever be." He paused, then laughed again putting a hand to his forehead. "Oh man did I just say something that corny. What was I thinking?"

"You're telling me." Knuckles groaned over the communication channel. "Just what where you thinking?"

"Corny or not, couldn't be more right." Amy told him as she dried her tears and picked up her hammer, a smirk spreading across her face.

"It's true. We've all been through a lot together." Chris spoke up.

"Are you quite finished with the pathetic moralizing?" A voice asked. Turning around, Sonic and Shadow saw Metal Sonic walking towards him. The robot detached the burning remains of his cape from his shoulders before approaching. "You can debate all this crap later. Right now we've got work do to."

"Affirmative." Another voice and following him out came Omega. Metal Sonic had given him some of his nano-bots and they had managed to heal the wound Krish carved in his chest plate.

"Besides, dose it even have a point?" Sonic paused a scratched the side of his chin in response.

"No not really, I just thought it was the right thing to say." He replied eventually with a shot grin. Krish looked stunned. "Now you're probably wondering why I haven't lost my head in a fit of rage after that last little confession of yours. Truth if, I'm raging inside." Sonic added, giving the Destroyer an extremely hostile glare. "But my new family is going to help me avenge my old one!"

"As touching as this is, I'm afraid my patience has run out." A thick tail came slamming down hard and they had to manoeuvre fast to avoid it. "Only the Confederate way of life matters. Everything else is heresy. And all heretics will be destroyed." Green flames began shooting through the chamber, each and everyone lashing out as them as they circled. "Concepts such as those are abhorrent and backwards, bred out of our society years ago..."

"Gee no wonder you guys wanted separatism." Chuck remarked to Jailos who nodded once.

Krish grabbed Sonic by the arms and hoisted him into the arm.

"This is the start of the inquisition of the universe. Once the cannon clears another level, your planet will be the first to experience the cleansing power of the Confederate Empire."

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