Chapter Fifty-Five
Me: All right! Black Doom's been atom-smashed, and it's now Amy's turn to open a can of whoop-ass on Ragozine! But a surprise is in store for her, when an old friend makes a startling return…
Amy: I wonder who it could be…
Me: You'll see soon enough.
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Geez, I can't see a thing, Amy thought. And I thought I was supposed to have night vision or something. As she gazed into the darkness, a feeling of dread came over her…a feeling that Ragozine was closer than she thought. She quickly shot a spark of fire into the air, which lit up the area enough for her to find some sort of light switch. She did so, and continued through the chamber, watching for any sort of trap. But there was nothing…nothing but bare stone walls.
As she continued through the eerie fortress, Amy started to hear grunting and growling coming from down another hall. It had to be dragons. She followed the sound, stopping at every intersection to ensure that she was headed in the right direction. Eventually she came to something that made her stomach turn…a massive arcane facility with all sorts of chemicals and equipment. But what sickened her was that there were five or six large dragons chained to the ground with various tubes stuck in them. It was obvious that they were in pain, and Amy knew that something had to be done.
She began by smashing some of the machines that were attached to the dragons, then removing the tubes from the massive winged creatures, doing the latter while trying to keep them calm. Just as Amy finished her work, she heard the screeches of smaller dragons coming from where she came, and when she whirled around to face them, her stomach turned again…before her were a bevy of individuals of vary races, but all had one thing in common…they had been transformed into half-draconic freaks. It was obviously Ragozine's twisted work. As she peered closer, they seemed to be shadowy…though she did not know it, these freaks had lost their hearts, becoming twisted shadow creatures. They leapt at her on the wing and attempted to claw at her. But before she could react, a blast of flame passed over her head, taking out the ones closest to her. The dragons she had just saved her were apparently returning the favor. One of them spoke to her in her mind.
"Go, my queen; seek out the one who made these freaks and make him pay! They lack hearts and souls, so they cannot think for themselves, even if they wanted to. We shall hold off his minions."
Amy quickly took wing and fly over the swarm of half-dragons, who started to chase her. As she flew, she began tossed Chaos Spears at them every so often, her heart growing angrier at Ragozine for every half-dragon she had to kill. As she rounded a corner, a black dragon caught her by surprise and nearly swallowed her whole. Thankfully, Amy was able to stop on a dime in her current form, and started off in another direction. She had to pass through the swarm at one point, and was attacked by one half-dragon, once a hedgehog. She tossed the monstrosity off of her and kept going.
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After about fifteen minutes of being chased, Amy came upon another large chamber. The door sealed behind her, which proved to be a relief when she heard the half-dragons and a worry to her. After catching her breath, she became aware of organ music playing loudly in the room. She glanced to see the enemy she sought just across the room, playing the massive instrument. He stopped playing and turned around in his seat.
"The organ has such a haunting tune, don't you think, Amy Rose?"
"Can the small talk and face me, you monster!" Amy retorted, readying the mighty hammer that was keyed to Ragozine's life force. The dracomancer chuckled in his usual manner.
"Oh, you're always so direct. Just like your father. You have his short temper as well."
"I'd say that's justifiable, considering that you're turning innocent people into half-dragon freaks! It's not only hurting them, but the dragons too! You're going to pay for it here and now!" Amy performed a flying dash attack at her enemy, but he dodged it easily. Mjolnir smashed the organ, as it let out one last foul note before it died.
Ragozine was annoyed. "Do you know what I had to go through to get that organ! Now you've made me willing to fight you…but before we do…there's two people who wish to spend time with you." Ragozine retreated into the rafters. A large hatch in the ceiling opened, and a dragon at least the size of Alneetha, with an oddly familiar purple coloration and with six eyes, came down a few seconds later. The massive dragon roared when it landed, hungry for its meal, but its roar sounded like a single word…
Froggy…that was what it sounded like. Amy immediately knew who the dragon was: Big the Cat…the lovable fellow who just wanted to spend his days fishing. That fiend had taken poor innocent Big and turned him into…this. For a moment she didn't want to fight him, but her mind was soon changed when the dragon lunged at her with a bite, which Amy sidestepped, just barely. Instinctively she struck back with Mjolnir, delivering an upward swing that sent the head of the dragon skyward, and she heard its spine crick a little.
The beast quickly retorted with a strange sort of breath attack…instead of flames, it was a cloud of poisonous darkness that tried to seep into Amy's lungs. She could do nothing but try to escape the cloud while forcing any that had entered her lungs out of them. She couldn't even maintain her Heroic form or hold on to Mjolnir, so potent was this gaseous darkness. This allowed Big to smash her with a tail swipe attack that sent her careening into the wall. Without the defenses of her more powerful forms, this attack was severely damaging to her, and she couldn't move after that attack.
Ragozine, who was watching all this, laughed and clapped with savage joy. He didn't think that the easygoing cat would prove to be such a formidable minion. Then again, he did make him a Heartless as well…he found that removing the heart not only disposed of the soul, but caused a massive increase in overall fighting ability.
Big closed in on his prey, and grinned, showing that his mouth was full of teeth the size of bananas. Amy watched, seemingly helpless, as the dragon readied to devour her whole. Her mind raced for something she could do to protect herself. Thankfully, she did remember one trick that required only required a thought.
As Big lunged at her, Amy concentrated as hard as she could. Big's open jaws stopped on a field of light pink Chaos energy, and got a nasty shock. With a sigh of relief, she struggled to stand up, and managed to call the sacred hammer to her hand. Meanwhile, Ragozine was beside himself with anger. He was jumping up and down, ranting and cursing at the dragon that stood there wondering why it couldn't get to its meal. Every time he tried to bit her, he got shocked. Finally, Ragozine had had enough.
"Stupid dragon…he doesn't know when he's done…I knew I should have found a more intelligent specimen…" The dracomancer dove off the platform, formed a red beam sword from one hand, and used it, again to Amy's horror, to drive it straight through Big's head. The dragon screamed in pain, then burst in a cloud of dust.
"Hmph…it seems like I have to do everything myself," Ragozine sighed as he brushed a little of the black dust off of his cape. Tears were flowing like rivers from Amy's eyes, so great was her distraught and anger at this fiend. Her entire body was quaking as she stood there, while every major memory of her life was playing in her head, sometimes going at ten times the normal speed, sometimes blurring together, other times with sound distortions. As suddenly as it started, another memory started playing…one that was in the innermost part of her memory…
"Where's the girl? Where's Amy!" the hooded figure growled, as Amy's mother…no, her foster mother was suddenly forced out of the way. Amy was only six then and she was fearful of this newcomer. She tried to flee from him, but the figure found her, grabbed her and started looking her over.
"Bah! Nothing! Those morons in the lab…they said I'd have results in six years! Must I do EVERYTHING myself?"
"Let my sister go!" a voice came from behind them. It was Yakujo, who was unsteadily aiming his father's gun, with both hands, at the figure's head. He was sixteen, but looked somewhat immature for his age. The figure turned to face the boy, and chuckled.
"Oh, and what do you plan to do? You can barely aim that thing right."
"This…"
Yakujo commenced to fire six rounds into the figure's head. The hood came off as he roared in pain…it was a dark grey hedgehog.
"YOU…INSOLENT BRAT…you'll pay for your foolish actions!" the hedgehog roared as he struck Yakujo, knocking him out cold. Amy was now shrieking in terror, less at the fact that Yakujo actually fired her father's gun that at the fact that six shots to the face didn't kill him.
"As for you, Amy…we'll meet again…" he grabbed Amy's head, at which point she had a burning sensation on that very spot. Amy saw disturbing images in her mind at the moment, and was in a state of shock as the hedgehog rushed out, his face still bleeding...and yet he was cackling victoriously…
That maddening cackle had haunted her nightmares for so long…she just had to shut him up. It was Ragozine who had visited her that stormy night…it was Ragozine who survived six bullets to his face…it was all Ragozine. The very sound of his name now seemed obscene to her. It was time to snuff him out.
Though Amy could have obtained her Hyper form then, something else broke open inside of her…as if she was like a baby dragon hatching from an egg. The pink field of energy was suddenly engulfed in light, then shattered and with a shriek of rage, Amy transformed again.
At first she had gotten back her Heroic form, but the helmet just couldn't contain her wildly growing hair, and shattered like glass. It stopped at her waist and was much thicker too, and was the same golden color of the Super form, as was the rest of her fur. Her claws had reverted to normal hands, but now her hedgehog tail had changed into a powerful scaly dragon's tail. She also seemed to gain a few inches in height as well, and her wingspan was now three times her newly adjusted height. Like Sonic did when he defeated his father, Amy had ascended to a level which blended her Super and Heroic forms into one deadly whole.
Ragozine staggered backwards in terror when he beheld this form, for it was the form that the individual who imprisoned him thousands of years ago…but exponentially more powerful. He had one chance to stop her. He tried to assume his half-dragon form, but Amy was too fast for him. She grabbed his face, grabbed the scaly mask that always covered him, and pulled it off of his face. Sure enough, the scars from that incident were still there. His face was also scarred in other ways too. The look of quiet dignity had left the dracomancer's face, and all that was there was terror…no anger, no rage…just pure fear…and Amy savored every moment of it. But now the time had come to eliminate him utterly.
Her revenge began by smashing the dracomancer with a move that ultimately set up this transformation…she smashed the fiend with her tail, sending him crashing into a column on the rim of the room. Amy followed up with a flying dash, smashing him in the chest with Mjolnir, shattering his bone chest plate and cracking some of his ribs.
Ragozine, in a rage, forced her away, and did manage to change into his demonic dragon form. Amy wasn't intimidated in the least, but decided to have a little fun. She called forth not one, but TWO Chaos Edges to her hands. One of them transferred its energy to Mjolnir, making it even more powerful. During their time training with Akuma, all four hedgehogs learned to not only call forth the blades of pure Chaos energy, but to call two at once and wield them effectively.
"Face it, ugly…I have you beat," Amy taunted. She knew that this demon was no longer a match for her, and she decided to finish him off. Quickly she used Chaos Control to speed herself up. Ragozine was too slow to use Chaos Turn to negate it, and found himself subject to a storm of slashes and hammer blows, which quickly drained his strength, and before long he was on the ground, bruised and bleeding profusely and gasping for breath. After this assault, Amy took the air, out of the place where Big had come in, to initiate her final attack.
"Is this anyway to treat the one who gave you this power!" Ragozine wheezed. "I made you!"
Amy shook her head. "No, you idiot…you did not make me. I did. But I would trade all this power I have flowing through me for a peaceful life with my friends and family. If you expected me to spare you after that pathetic speech, you have another thing coming. It's time I got you out of my life!"
May I join you? Alneetha's voice said suddenly in her mind. I'm simply a thought away.
Sure thing, Amy replied. Besides, I don't think you need to guide me any more.
Amy raised her hands, and the great Dragon Queen faded into existence beside her.
"Say goodbye, you murderer…IT'S OVER!" Amy cried. Simultaneously, the two charged up some sort of amazing breath attack. The night sky glowed as bright as day when their two blasts went off: both were massive beams of pure, unfettered Chaos energy. This attack would not have been possible without the destruction of the Master Emerald, which Amy had felt happen when she transformed.
The attack spread through the room, but damaged only the fiendish dracomancer, who was utterly consumed in the blast, reduced to atoms, just like Black Doom. The fortress remained intact, although the Heartless half-dragons started dying off.
After that massive attack, Amy landed and shifted back to her normal form.
"I-I did it…he's gone…gone for good."
"You did splendid. Your mother and half-brother are very proud of you."
"What do you mean are? You mean they're alive? I was told by my friends that I ate them…"
"No…when your evil dragon form tried to eat them, you did now swallow them. Rather, you kept them under your tongue, and spit them out at a later time. Your friends did not see that. Meanwhile, my servants have been sending messengers to them to report your travels. They want to see you again."
Amy was now twice elated. Not only had she defeated her greatest enemy, but her mother seemed to actually want to see her again. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks, and she hugged the great dragon's front leg.
"Oh thank you so much, Alneetha!"
The great dragon tenderly stroked Amy's hair with her other claw.
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Me: Yes, folks.Kiran and Amy' momare alive. Family reunions will happen at the end.
Amy: Yay! That form is so cool! Eat THAT, Shadow! (does the "I have a cooler form than you" dance)
Shadow: (look of jealousy) Stupid Super Saiyan 3 ripoff...
Tahra: Am I up next?
Me: Yeppers.
Tahra: Glee!
