(Best music to listen to while reading the finale "Fireproof" by Pillar)
Flip card 1:
Name; Cosmo
Description: What her purpose is and why she alone was called to do it will perhaps forever remain mystery, but the fact that remains that only she call fulfil that role.
"Exterminate!" Bullets began flying as Omega barraged the Destroyer with the guns on both arms, the metallic projectiles impacting on the skin. Several more missiles followed though, forcing Krish's arms down as he tried to engulf his enemies in fire. With Krish pinned down Metal Sonic came in from the side and landed several kicks against the Destroyers legs.
Joining in Sonic and Shadow launched themselves into a spin attack, flying through the air before smashing down hard straight into their opponents face. The combined and constant barrage forced Krish back a few steps, before his' eyes blared wide open and a pillar of green fire and propelled all three of them backwards and crashing over the floor.
Krish stared them all down, and then started laughing; his fists clenched at either side. "You don't know when to give up do you?" He demanded, seizing Metal Sonic out of the arm and using his body to smash against Shadow and slammed the both of them into the wall. "I'm the co- ruler of the Confederates, you pieces of lower trash!" Sonic tried to come up behind him with a spin attack but at the last second, a ball of green flames smashed into the blue hedgehog head out and sent him crashing down into Omega who was attempting an attack from the rear at the same time. "This isn't some sort of game! Not some duel you delude yourselves into thinking has any honour." Holding up a single hand, he bombarded all four of them with intense flames, scorching everything that came into their path. "It's destroy or be destroyed!" A good deal of the paint on Metal Sonic and Omega was burnt off and the quills on both hedgehog's ended up blackened; scorch marks covering their bodies.
There was a sudden burning sensation that passed through the air, following by a loud sonic boom. Everyone looked around in horror to see the final ring of the Eclipse Cannon's trio of energy gauges lit up. The energizing sequence was complete and the cannon was ready to fire! All it needed now was the command.
Turning, Krish made a quick gesture at the machinery and some levers and buttons pushed and turned themselves. In response, the firing procedure began. The station began emitting a low humming that was steadily growing louder with each passing second. Energy generated from the centre of the Armageddon was being channelled down and stored, culminating, waiting for the one moment it was needed for. After a moment of silence, neon blue lightning bolts began lancing up and down the spike of the cannon and the bottom level of the weapon illuminated itself, turning bright white.
"He's going to fire that thing!" The President exclaimed in utter horror.
"I confirm." Rikoye replied, his own sensors registering a dramatic increase in power fluctuations. "The Eclipse Cannon is preparing to fire and at full power. If it discharges he completely destroy this world and the surrounding planets."
"He's insane! He'll get caught in the blast!"
"The Armageddon has an energy filter system. It can not be destroyed by it's own energy discharge. It'll simply shift dimension frequencies and…"
"It won't get blown up, just keep it simple!" Sonic pushed himself to a kneeling position, blood running from cuts all over his face. His quills dreadfully blackened. Krish was towering over them, relishing in the fact that his victory was close at hand.
"Game Over Sonic, but before your planet dies.." He hissed and raised a cloven hand ready to strike down. "Let me show you why I'm called the Destroyer!"
Sonic hadn't the strength to dodge now.
"A title Krish; nothing more." A voice stated out of the gloom and suddenly the light shone through.
"What!" Krish demanded, glancing back and staying his hand. The Blue Typhoon was hovering in the air a distance away ; the bow pointed directly towards him and standing upon the very tip was Cosmo .The young seer was standing there silently with her hands clasped together, a soft white glow surrounding her entire body, pulsating like the soft beating of a heart. Her eyes were closed and her lips kept parting as she whispered soft incantations on the wind. The light radiating away from here was like a second sun, passing though the green fire extinguishing them with ease. Everyone fighting, even the drones just stopped to stare back at the strange events. Without warning, the energy gathered in the cannon subsided to nothing; draining through the air and channelled through the young seer's body. The blue lighting bolts disappeared one by one and the rings turned themselves off. "This can't be happening!" Krish cursed into the air.
"Hey…Cosmo?" Sonic began, pulling himself up and rubbing a thin trail of blood away from the side of his mouth.
"Just what does she think she's doing?" Shadow asked, shoving a large sheet of metal off his legs and despite the pain stood up.
"Would you look at that?" Vector stated in awe, gesturing out the window. Everyone followed his gaze to see the Blue Typhoon and the seer at it's front. Slowly, Cosmo's eyes opened to reveal their colour had changed from sea blue to bright white. Holding out her arms wide, she muttered one had word and suddenly the air thudded like something had struck it with a loud hammer. With a loud crash, the side of the Typhoon burst open and seven glittering points of light flew out of the wound and up towards the bow. Void watched in uncertainty as the seven Chaos emeralds quickly surrounded her, their energy feeding directly into her; her hair flapping about as if caught in some invisible wind. He didn't know if this was going to work, in point of fact; he wasn't even aware of what she was doing. Thus far everything had proved ineffective against the Destroyer, but Tails had complete faith in her; Void could see it in his eyes. While the others didn't have the same dedication and loyalty he had, they trusted her completely. So he supposed it was worth a try.
"What cheap trick is this?" Krish demanded, snorting loudly and snapping his pincers together.
"No trick Destroyer." Cosmo replied, hearing his voice all the way on the ship. "Only your end." Krish hissed loudly, a loud chuckle vibrating in his throat. "Your darkness is nothing but the bigotry views of a culture caught in it's own arrogance. I'm not scared of you anymore." She managed a small smile. "None of us are."
"Yeah, you can say that again!" Sonic replied, pushing himself up with the greatest effort; his own cocky grin on his face. Tikal manage a smile of her own. Cosmo was right. Despite his power, Krish was nothing to fear. He was just another being with flaws like the rest of them. Another zealot with dreams of racial cleansing. What he had become after his genes had been messed with was still in question, but what he was; he was no god.
"Your hatred is what drives and what will destroy you Krish." Cosmo's smile faded a little. "I'm actually quite sad for you." The glow radiating from the Destroyer's eyes flared in anger.
"I don't need your pity!" Holding out a hand, he fired an intense blast of green fire straight through the side of the wall and out into the air; carving a huge hole in the side of the station in the process. The attack screamed through the sky, fuelled by utter hate it advanced in an instant and collided straight into Cosmo's small body and then flowed around it. The Chaos Emeralds came to life, forming a ball like shield around her; protecting the young seer from harm.
"Face it Krish, you're just another bad guy with delusions of grandeur." Shadow stated, forming a fist at him. "Hardly the god people have made you out to be over the centuries!"
"Just another piece of organic filth." Metal Sonic added, sharpening his claws against the side of a wall; their tips glinting brightly in the early morning sunlight coming through the sun roof Krish had just opened up.
"I'll kill you for this!" The Destroyer hissed, his pincers expanding out wide before snapping away at the two hedgehog trying to cut them in half, but both were far too fast for him to succeed.
"No, you will not." Cosmo announced before gently lifting both arms and facing the palms directly towards the Armageddon. The blue Typhoon vibrated slightly as the trap door at the front behind her pulled side and the lift rose up into place. Standing there alone was Knuckles, the Master Emerald held in both hands, the flat cut top aimed directly towards the young seer.
"I've been waiting a long time to get even with you." The Echidna announced, glaring down as the Destroyer below as Krish looking out through the gap in the station towards the ship. "My people have not have been very strong willed, but they were a proud race. And you betrayed them to their deaths. Because of you, I'm one of the last few Echidna's left." Krish hissed loudly, reading a blast another fire bolt towards the ship. At the last second, Metal Sonic came flying in with a kick to his back nearly causing him to topple over. Omega followed through by emptying his entire ammunition supply into the Destroyer's stomach.
Shadow came in next, leaping up between the two large horns on Krish' head and smashing the strongest Chaos Spear he could summon into the top of his skull. Sent tipping sideways, Krish supported his weight on the wall and didn't look up in time to see Sonic come slamming in with a Spin attack that crashed itself directly into his side and sent him cascading out of the Armageddon and into the open air.
"Enough!" Krish nearly screamed, righting himself in mid air and tensing his muscles. Letting out a loud pitched screech, his size began increasing; his entire body growing larger and larger. His feet met the ground with a loud thud and soon his shadow began falling across the width of the entire station, blocking out the sunlight. A massive hand moved up and moved towards the stations, talons outstretched ready to tear. His eyes were alight with hatred and a blood lust. In that moment, nothing mattered to him more than killed them all and watching the life fade from their eyes as they bodies burst into pulp.
At the last second a beam of green light lanced out of nowhere and landing on his back. The light seared his skin like an acid, causing him to yell out in pain. Looking up, Sonic saw that the light was coming from Cosmo herself. All seven Chaos Emeralds were working through her, their combined energy feeding down the light and searing through the Destroyer before gently landing on both the blue hedgehog and Shadow. Giving the seer a boast was the Master Emerald, it's energy leaping the distance between them to her before mixing with that of the Chaos Emeralds and travelling down to the two hedgehogs. Knuckles struggling to control the vast amount of power, sweat running down his forehead as he reciting the ancient chant used to manage the Emerald.
"Stop it! Stop it or I'll kill you I swear!" The Destroyer cried out, his giant form lumbering backwards. The light on him was almost unbearable, an intense beam that would not stop it's relentless searing. To add to his pain, another beam shot down from the aurora in the sky above, the gateway to Maginaryworld. The purple light mixed with the green and suddenly they both turned bright white.
This beam was coming from Queen Illumina, who was channelling the power of her Precious Stone; still in her home dimension through herself. Helping her absorb and project all this tremendous power were her elite guard and Lumina, all of them hovering in a tight circle around her muttering incantations. The energy shot down and ran through the Destroyer before the combined power fell upon the two hedgehogs like gentle snow.
"Alright!" Sonic exclaimed, feeling his energy instantly recharge. All the cuts and bruises on his body just seemed to melt away as unimaginable strength followed through him. The same thing was happening to Shadow, all his aches and pains disappeared as if they had never been there. "Yahhooo! Man, I feel incredible!" Sonic added with a thick grin. His quills swayed gently as if caught in an updraft for an instant, before they sparked like lightning and turned bright gold. The green eyes diluted and then turned blood red.
Shadow managed small smile of his own before his fur transformed from black to shining silver. Power unlike anything either of them had ever experienced flowing through them. Power culminated from many sources, the chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald and even the Precious Stone, was incredible. It felt unlimited, as if the sun had handed over every ounce of it's strength and it was radiating out uncontrollably.
"You'll burn for this!" Krish screamed, before igniting an inferno of green fire. Cupping his cloven hands, the Destroyer aimed it directly down into the Armageddon. The heat scorched everything in it's path, incinerating metal and stone; reducing everything even clouds in it's wake to ash.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Metal Sonic cried out, flying between the two super Hedgehog's and the Destroyer; Omega at his side. Their combined turbines generating energy together, the two robots forced a thick barrier across them and the simply flowed around it like the water of a stream.
"DIE!" Krish screeched to the heavens and increased the flow of flames, desperate to make them burn, to watch their charcoaled bodies wither.
"You're like a broken second!" A voice announced. Looking to the side, Krish caught a blow straight in a face as a hammer spun through the air before sinking itself straight into his eye. Screeching, he stopped his attack and took a step back, tearing the small object out and crushing it between his fingers. "I've got more where they came from!" Amy called out from the top of the Armageddon, flipping her wrist so another hammer appeared with the hilt between her fingers.
"That used up all my power reserve." Metal Sonic announced as Omega collapsed to the floor, all the power left inside his energy reserves depleted. The robotic hedgehog's eyes faded in and out before he slid down to his knees. "Finish it, and don't screw this up." With that his eyes disappeared completely and he fell down with a thud.
"Chaotix, attack!" Vector cried out and the Spider Mech leapt from the stationing rammed it's forelegs into the Destroyer's side. Vector and Espio leapt off and began attacking the flesh with everything they had, Krish's entire left side riddled with throwing stars and bite marks before
"We're here to fight the bad guys!" Charmee cheered as Beck slammed the controls forward as the Mech fired several plasma blasts at close range
Fang took a turn, firing round after round at any place that looked vulnerable.
Explosions ran up the large spine as missiles flew up the spikes and struck the Destroyer's spikes, breaking the tips off two of them. The Albatross and the S-Team soured in close with another barrage, emptying their own ammunition down Krish's back.
Finishing the attack off, Void flew straight up to the Destroyer's face and stabbed him directly in the nose with his sabre, leaving the blade dislodged in the flesh before backing away as boulder size talons came souring at him.
"Hey what's going on!" Cream asked in surprise, watching Cosmo slowly rise into the air with the seven Chaos Emeralds following close behind her. The young seers body was quickly being overtaken by the soft glow that pulsated around her. They all watched in amazement as slowly she climbed higher and higher; and more and more of her slowly dissolved in the light.
"Is she insane?" Void demanded in utter shock. "She's attempting a dimension transit!" Travelling from dimension to dimension was something the people of Maginaryworld could do by changing the frequency of the molecules in their bodies. It required a tremendous amount of energy to even attempt it. Backed up by the Chaos Emeralds, Cosmo wasn't just trying to warp herself. She attempting a transit; an energy line between two points in space within the same dimensional realm. Something possible, but with her as the catalyst, she would sent flying from this dimension by the resulting warp with no way of returning. The light around her was the first sure signs of the dimensional displacement. No one could control a transit, not even Illumina! She was sacrificing herself!
"Tails where are you going?" Chuck asked as the young fox, without a single moment of hesitation threw himself out of the pilots seat and bolted for the door.
Krish raised a hand and fired a mutable blast of green fire through the air, striking Okida's albatross several times across the underbelly and quickly the Mech began spiralling towards the ground; followed quickly by several of the S-Team, the pilots bailing out.
"Oh crap!" Fang cried out as a hand came souring around before fist closed around him, Espio and Vector; lifting all three of them high into the air. Another fist crashed down hard on the Spider Mech, smashing in it's top armour. Beck tried to maintain control of the thing, but being unskilled in Walker piloting couldn't stop the thing from falling to the ground.
"You can't hurt me cretins!" The Destroyer snarled, before stamping down hard on the Mech. Had Charmee and beck not ejected at the last second they would have been crushed as the robotic insect caved in.
"That's where you're wrong!" The air broke apart and missiles like thick rain came souring down through the sky, all of them twisting like flies before crashing one after the other against the Destroyer's back, explosions erupting all the way down his tail. Krish doubled forward, his claws scarring the earth to prevent himself from tipping over. "As I said before…" Eggman began as the bow of his new battleship, the Egg Carrier 4 came breaking through the clouds. "There's only one big shot around here, and it's me!" His new ship was a vast improvement on the first three models. It was about the same size, but had four engines at the back instead of two and a second set of wings on the underbelly that folded out with the main set as the entire vessel switched from flight to combat mode. More missiles began launching in rapid succession from the bow, impacting Krish's arms as he held one up to defend himself.
Eggman congratulated himself on his sheer brilliance once again. Before going to Mars, he made sure to order the contraction of a few weapons he was going to need when he got back. The Egg-moon had been working flat out to get them all ready.
Krish scowled angrily, before raising his free arm and calling forth a bal of intense green flames in between his talons.
"Hey, not forgotten about us yet?" Looking back, Krish saw Super Sonic and Super Shadow standing on the edge of the hole he himself had carved in the Armageddon insufferable smiles on both their faces. "Hope you've had fun playing Godzilla, cause your little temper tantrum is all but over."
"I'll crush you all like bugs!" Shadow simply wagged a finger at him.
"Wrong again." He stated with a small smile. "See, while Sonic and I took over the fighting; Nazo had time to think about what you said." Krish suddenly looked taken aback, his red eyes blinking several times in confusion.
"You remember? About him being Prof. Gerald's legacy?" Sonic asked, crossing his arms. "Well guess what tall an' ugly. You're wrong. Nazo isn't Gerald's hand me down."
"What are you babbl…" The words froze in the Destroyer's throat as a third hedgehog appeared, standing between the two of them. A hedgehog with facial features from both Sonic and Shadow with white fur. His body was transparent, as if he was some ghost.
"Truth be told, Cosmo was the one who filled me in. Prof. Gerald knew that the worlds would merge into one some day." Nazo explained, a thick smile over his lips as he fixed the giant with a stare. "The guy's smarter then any of us gave him credit for. He also knew that you'd use the events to remake that big ugly body of yours. So he set a plan down that used the same thing against you." The white hedgehog gestured to the two hedgehogs standing either side of him. "And that thing, is us… All three of us! A Power beyond Chaos Control."
"What!" Krish stammered, stepping back a few paces. He cast a glance up at the two beams of light still focuses on his body, one lancing out into Maginaryworld and the other channel ultimately to the Master Emerald on the Blue Typhoon. "What is this!"
"Cosmo wait!" Tails called out, leaping off the bow of the ship after her, his tails spinning around giving him as much thrust as they could. Cosmo floated in, her body slowly being absorbed by the light; her own power being spent on preserving the links. Without thinking, Tails hurled himself into the light; taking her by the hand.
"Leave Tails." She told him without turning her head. The young fox refused to let go of her hand.
"No, I won't." He replied flatly, his hand tightening his grip on hers. "I knew you said this would happen and I know I promised to help you, but…." He paused to curse loudly. "Dammit I just can't do it!"
"Let go of me." Cosmo insisted. "If you don't you'll get taken away as well." Tails shook his head.
"I know that. But…I promised to protect you Cosmo, remember?" The young seer blinked once, remembering his words; how despite Krish's overwhelming power that could easily crush both of them he had promised to keep her from harm. His heart had been in his mouth when he said that. His very soul had been speaking. It was a promise that was impossible to break.
"I have to do this." Cosmo told him, carrying on floating upwards. "I have to give them their chance." Tails managed a short smile.
"I know you do." He paused for a moment. "Remember when you said I had my two tails for a reason?" She nodded once. "Well, I know why. All they were for was to fly after you this one time, to join you here."
"Tails don't." She began. She couldn't let him come with her. It wasn't fair. This world was his home, the people she had spent months living alongside were his friends. She had come to regard all of them as close family.
"Don't talk me out of it." He laid a hand softly against her cheek. "I'm coming with you." A moment later, the two of them intersected the beam moving down from queen Illumina and the two shafts of light merged into one; an intense beam that looked like an arrow from heaven, sticking through the Destroyer before channelling is; energy directly into Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Nazo.
"Get…get away from me!" Krish stammered backing away from the Armageddon as the energy filtered through him increased the glow surrounding all three of them.
"What's the matter? Is the great Destroyer feeling fear for once? What happened to the God of Death that struck terror into the hearts of millions?" Shadow asked with a thick sneer. "It's pay back time Krish!"
"You're finished!" Nazo added.
"Let's do it!" Sonic cried with a thick grin.
With that, all three of then leapt off the Armageddon and soured toward the giant, their bodies combining their energies into one huge orange glow.
"Go for it Sonic!" Amy called out from the top of the station.
"Finish it!" Eggman cheered, thrusting a fist into the air.
"Shadow!" Tikal cried out from the Typhoon.
"Hurry up!" Knuckles added in, straining to keep the flow to and from the Master Emerald stable. Sweat running down his brow as control began slipping.
"Get this guy!" Vector yelled up from the ground with all of Chaotix, even the former member Fang backing in chorus.
Rikoye watched from Black Arm mother ship as the three hedgehogs soured in, closing in on the Destroyer, who summoned his flames and sent the strongest blast any of them had ever seen tormenting down towards his opponents in an act of utter desperation. The commander's mouth went dry.
"Batter up!" Nazo announced, sending a force of his own energy rocketing toward propelling Shadow and Sonic forward at an even greater speed towards the fire as it screamed towards them.
"This is gold!" Scarlet muttered to herself, filming the entire event with her camera live to the whole world; who watched with wide eyes and dry mouths as the final seconds of the battle ticked away.
"Come on…do it!" The President began through clenched teeth, his fingers tightening into fists as time in the world seemed to crawl down.
"Come on. You loose this and my standing slips even further down!" Sam Speed yelled up from the wreckage of his crashed plane, the Major of Freelance Division alongside.
"You mess this up and you'll have me to contend with you here that Sonic!" Void cried out, his sabre as his side.
"You heard the man Sonic." Shadow added with a soft smirk, before bending his leg and slamming a soccer style kick directly into the blue hedgehog's back, propelling him even further and at a heightened speed never before imagined. "Don't mess it up!"
Super Sonic grinned evilly, before spinning around and around forming a ball. A second later, he and the fire meet and the world just seemed to freeze for a millennium. In that second, Cosmo met Tails' eyes. His outline was beginning to fade as well, but instead of running back to stable space like he should he remained with her. She family had been strict and relentless in their insistence that she follow in their footsteps, that all children of the bloodline become Seers. And while she had for filled their wishes, Tails had shown her that her dream of exploration wasn't beyond her reach either.
"You really want to loose up your home dimension?" She asked. He just smiled at her, his eyes alight with emotion.
"No." He replied. The young fox paused, unsure of how to say "But I don't want to loose you even more."
Slowly they moved towards each other and then their lips met in a soft kiss.
"I'll see you burning yet!" Krish hissed, anger, rage and…fear, burning intently in his eyes. Super Sonic just smirked the Destroyer as he soured through the flames heading on and on, an unstoppable bullet.
"Let's see you try!" Krish tried to pour on more fire, but it was too late, the coming storm was inevitable. "This is for you mom and Dad… See you in the funny pages!"
And then with a rocketing boom, the golden yellow hedgehog tore through the flames and slammed with tremendous force into the Destroyer's chest. "CHAOS BLAST!" Light erupted out like a rising sun as the blow hit it's target, swirling bands of blue, red and gold energy burning around it.
Krish stood there silently like a statue, eyes wide with utter shock and horror before Super Sonic came blasting out the other side of his body tearing out the flesh. Now with the gaping hole where his heart should be, he looked down at the wound before he stumbled back several paces and cried out with an ear piercing screech. Explosions of great force began erupting from within at various points across his body, pieces of flesh and skin scattering through the air. Beams of light began lancing out through the holes and reaching high into the sky. Parts of the cloven hands began crumbling away like dust, cracks running up and down across the entire body. Some conjoined and where they did, large pieces of the body fell off and collapsed to the ground crumbling into ash.
"No! This can't be happening!" Krish exclaimed, trying to back off but found his legs rotted to the spot and crumbling below him. "Brother… HELP ME!" Then with one final bang, the entire body exploded into a fire storm. The light carried on expanding outwards, looking from a distance like a nuclear explosion
Ripped from his physical form, Krish tried to return to Nexus the realm to which he was banished. But by now it was too late, the trap created by the Professor over fifty years ago was complete. The enrgy trails refused to let him go and with a sickening twist, they tore his soul in half.
One side was absorbed into the Master Emerald and sealed away like Chaos before him while the other was dragged by Queen Illumina and swallowed whole by the Precious Stone, still in Maginary World. Light began to fill the sky and suddenly everything was consumed by a white haze.
(In Chris' voice)
The battle is over, Krish is gone, one half of him trapped inside the Master Emerald and the other in the Precious Stone. But what happened to Tails and Cosmo? And does Rikoye, commander of the Black Arms have more bad news? Are more aliens on the way? The series epilogue is here next time on Sonic X, Picking up the pieces. Don't miss it!