Chapter Forty-Seven

Me: (jaw hanging open)

Sonic: How long has been like that?

Amy: Since this morning, when ScarletEbon put up the art of Shadow vs. Eclipse on her Deviant Art account. I must say, I'm impressed. The Dark Tahra art scares me though. (shudders)

Knuckles: I wonder what she'll do next! (looks at me, puts my jaw back in place)

Me: Thanks Knux. Anyway, it's time to get Tahra back into line, and the big fight between father and son…and what of Knuckles and Eberon?

Shadow: Just get to the story already, damn it. (draws Masamune)

-- -- -- -- --

Another flash of light shone through the arena as father and son clashed. Both were in their angelic forms, and fighting with all their might to defeat the other. But Devlin seemed to have the advantage: he had his old blade, Excalibur in his possession and was using it skillfully. Sonic had only his hands and feet to fight with.

"Come now, my son…is the hero who saved the world times uncountable?" Devlin taunted. "You surely can fight harder than you are now!"

"Oh, you want me to fight you all out, eh? I was holding back, I guess…" Sonic replied. "All right, then here I come!" Sonic rushed forward at a blinding speed, knocking his father backwards, and making him drop the sword, which Sonic snatched in midair. Now he would have the advantage…or so he thought. Excalibur warped right out of Sonic's grip and back into Devlin's possession.

Great, back to square one, Sonic thought. He readied himself for his angel father's next attack, which came in the form of white bolts of lightning from his fingers. Sonic dodged these with great difficulty, and eventually one managed to hit him on one of his wings, sending him reeling into the wall. This attack seemed to take the last bit of fight out of Sonic. He reverted to his normal form and dropped to the ground, landing on his back.

"What a disappointment," Devlin sighed. "I had hoped your journey would have made you more capable than this. But maybe I was wrong." The angel started to walk away as he said this last comment. "You can always try again when you have rested."

Of course, Sonic didn't want to give up now. Not by a long shot. With a great deal of effort, he got back onto his feet, and entered a fighting stance once more. He was bruised in several places, and seemed to be bleeding from his mouth, but the bright glint of determination never left his emerald eyes.

"Sonic, stop this nonsense…I refuse to fight you any longer," his father said.

The blue hedgehog's battle spirit is formidable, Akuma thought. I think he just got his second wind…and I sense something within him growing…could it be?

"No way, pops…I'm (pant) not done yet." Sonic began to dig deep within himself, to find a new reserve of power yet untapped. He knew it was there. His body seemed to be struggling, though…it seems that scars long closed were beginning to reopen, and blood started to stream out of his body. The weirdest part was the way it flowed…it was decorating his body with strange, incomprehensible runes. As time passed, the wounds closed, and the blood turned into silver-color. Sonic regained his angel form, but didn't seem to stop there.

The transformation concluded by Sonic's hair flaring up like his Super form, accompanied by a rush of air and energy. The barrier that Akuma had created shattered, tinkling like broken glass on the floor. Devlin grinned widely. At last, his son had ascended to a power beyond his own.

Sonic immediately went all-out on Devlin, seemingly without mercy, just as his father intended. Time seemed to slow down for Sonic as he delivered a blizzard of blows, pounding the daylights the hedgehog who gave him life before finishing the combo with a wild backflip kick, knocking Excalibur out of the angel's hand, grabbing it and holding it to his throat.

"Go ahead. Kill me," Devlin said with despair. "I've lived for far too long. My eternal life has been nothing but damnation." Sonic shook his head in disappointment.

"I refuse to kill the being who gave me life…" Sonic replied, his hard expression softening now. "Mom wouldn't want that, would she? She'd want you to live."

"Meiya…" Devlin muttered.

"That was Mom's name?"

Devlin chuckled. "Yes. I gave you a name as well, but I have since forgotten it…"

"Now isn't the time to reminisce, Dad. I need to save a friend now…"

-- -- -- -- --

Amy searched the burning and crumbling city for the crazed Tahra, who had set herself on a murderous rampage in search of the one who took her grandmother's life. So far, she was able to distinguish friend from foe, but Amy cared not to wonder when that distinction was lost.

She spotted Tahra in another small square, looking around furiously as people began to flee from her terrible visage. Amy, to ensure that she wasn't overpowered, went Super before stepping into Tahra's field of vision

"Tahra!" Amy called to her. The purple hedgehog turned to face Amy, her black and red eyes staring straight into Amy's. Neither made a move, but Tahra began to parley, in that same echoing, raspy version of her normal voice.

"What are you doing? Get out of my way!"

"Tahra, you need to stop while you still have some sanity left."

Those same black tears began running down Tahra's cheeks again. "You idiot…how can I be sane when the city I called my home for half of my life is burning to the ground around us! I saw the corpses of old friends burning! This city was so full of life! Now…now it's full of death!"

"Your grip on reality is slipping…let me help you!"

"No one can help me now…"

With that, Tahra lunged at Amy, trying to land a forceful punch to her face. Amy tried to block this attack, but found it to be far more powerful that first expected, sending her skidding back into a nearly collapsed building, stopping mere inches from it.

Okay, Tahra's lost it, Amy said to herself, but I can't kill her. I just need to subdue her.

Amy tried to go for a quick KO with a roundhouse kick to Tahra's head, but this was grabbed, and Amy found herself smashing into, or rather, through a building, and into another intersection. As Tahra leapt through the hole and prepared to finish off Amy, when a blur of gold and silver smacked right into the berserking hedgehog. It was Sonic, and Tahra instantly recognized his touch, and seemed to return to her normal self, and seems to be all too aware of what was going on, and started sobbing as Sonic started carrying her in his arms.

"I…I think I almost killed Amy…I don't feel like myself anymore." She managed to shift back to her normal form.

"This is no time to go emo, Tahra…" he said calmly. "Let's get you back to the shrine…and we need to find the others, too."

-- -- -- -- --

The group, including the ex-Seraphim, Vahtri, Mikael and Knuckles, had been gathered inside the great altar where the trials had taken place after waiting out the invasion. The city was in ruins, and the fires were being extinguished by the rain. The four hedgehogs had their Sacred Arms in hand, and now were preparing to initiate the next stage of their plan. But what that would be was the question. Akuma made it clear to the others.

"The four bearers of the Sacred Arms will have to remain here in the temple, to train with me in using these weapons, as well as to hone their abilities."

"What about us, Akuma?" Tails asked. "We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

"Yeah, red guy…what can we do to help?"

Akuma smiled. "You know, there are more than four heroes in this little group. Perhaps its time I explained what I mean."

Akuma launched into a story of four great creatures, each the representative of one of the four classical elements. There was Behemoth of the Earth, Leviathan of the Water, Ziz of th Air…and the final one was the most surprising.

"You mean…I've been carrying the most powerful fire creature ever was in me this whole time, Akuma?" Amy exclaimed. Alneetha was the legendary Fire creature. With this comment acknowledged, Akuma continued on to say that the remaining three creatures were another piece of the plan to bring the Meteor Parasite and his minions to their knees. Once united, they could shatter the barrier around the meteor that brought Geddon to Earth, and then the bearers of the Sacred Arms could enter the meteor and take him out. But each creature needed to be called forth by someone with a strong tie to that element…

"And that is where you, you and you come in," Akuma finished, pointing to Vector, Zeipha and Vahtri respectively. "I believe you should be able to sense them, judging from the amount of time you have spent in this sacred place."

"So…all we have t' do is to go and find these big monsters," Sven asked, "and then we'll be ready to end all this mess? I hope they aren't hard to find, considering how big they are."

"They will have just awakened," Akuma replied. "But they won't stay still, considering that the forces of evil are probably looking for them as we speak. Make haste, and find them! Chosen, say your goodbyes now. You won't be seeing them for at least a year."

The four hedgehogs were dismayed by the length of time that they would have to be separated from their friends. The first to say his goodbyes was Sonic.

"Guys…I'm so glad that, despite what we did, you stood by us and helped us in any way you could. I could never ask for a better pack of friends, and I'm really gonna miss every one of you. Tails, Knuckles…I trust you to be leaders in my stead. Make sure that you find those creatures as fast as possible.

"How come he gets to pick the leaders," Rouge whispered to Nack.

"Don't ask me, I'm not the author…" Nack replied. Rouge gave him a weird look of surprise. Sonic stepped behind Akuma, and Amy was next. She had trouble holding back tears.

"Oh…what can I say…I'm REALLY gonna miss every last one you…you're all such wonderful friends! I can't possibly pick who I'm going to miss the most…" Amy broke down and rushed into Shadow's arms. After a quick consoling hug, Shadow was next.

"Well…this is certainly awkward. I…I never knew just how many people considered me a friend. I guess I have to thank you all for…well, making me happy. Can't say much else but sayonara for now. Guess that leaves you, Tahra."

The purple hedgehog shook her head, indicating she had nothing to say. She was still in shock about the sudden surge of her darker side, and didn't want to talk. All she did was wave. With that, goodbyes were over, and the time had come to begin the training. Akuma began to walk toward the altar, and a white portal opened up. With one last group wave, the four hedgehogs entered the portal, disappearing.

-- -- -- -- --

Shadow and Amy sat on the grass on one of the gardens on Akuma's immense island that floated in a star-lit void. The four hedgehogs were allowed a single night to get to know their surroundings. This was an opportunity for the two to confide in each other, and of course, to be all snuggly.

The first thing that Shadow noticed was that Amy had grown a little bit in the last day or two. She seemed curvier to him, and couldn't help but keep a slight size increase of her bosom. Being male, he couldn't help but stare.

After a few minutes, he got a sudden urge to touch Amy's chest, but managed to shake it off. He was starting to think like Eclipse, and that wasn't good. He tried to think of other things, but couldn't. Much to his surprise and relief, Amy glanced at him and seemed to confirm his urges.

"You can touch it if you really want to. I can tell you can't help yourself."

"Uh, that's okay, Amy," Shadow replied. She was giving him a look much like she did in his more perverted dreams. What was worse, she was starting to crawl on top of him. It was just like in those dreams. Shadow now half-expected the girl to start undressing. Instead, she just lay down on top of him, so that their noses were touching.

"C'mon, what's wrong? No one's around for miles. I'm ready when you are."

I'm ready when you are. Those five words kept playing over and over in Shadow's head, and he knew all too well what Amy meant…the dreaded three letter word that would change their relationship forever. One part of him had wanted this for so long, while another part insisted that now was not the time. He had not expected that Amy, who had barely turned sixteen, was so eager.

Shadow finally summoned the courage to tell her. "Amy…I don't think it's quite the right time for us yet."

Amy smiled. "Oh…that's okay. But still, maybe a…preview is in order?"

"…A preview?" Shadow asked. He soon got his answer in the form of a passionate kiss from the pink hedgehog, and she embraced him as hard as she could.

"If this is the preview, then I can't wait for the feature!" Shadow thought in this moment.

-- -- -- -- --

Me: And so begins the next part of the saga. And it looks like the relationship between Shadow and Amy is REALLY picking up. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually decide to go at it before the end of the story.

Amy: Yay! (glomps Shadow)

Sonic: Taking this a little too close to the M rating, eh Janus?

Me: Call me what you will, but the fangirls go crazy for it. Anyway, it's time to briefly put the spotlight on the lesser characters, for maybe ten chapters or so.

Minor characters: W00t!