Chapter Fifty-Eight

Me: The four great enemies have been beaten, and now the final stage is at hand…it's only a matter of time before the battle against Nazo and the Meteor Parasite commences!

Mikael: Yeah! Let's go get ol' Naz-trils!

Nazo: HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU NEVER TO CALL ME THAT?

-- -- -- -- --

"Wow…that's some impressive seal." Zeipha said as she stared up at the Pyramid of Hasyn after she, the four hedgehogs, Vector and Vahtri arrived there. The others had opted to remain behind and prepare for the worst. Many of them did beg to follow, but the concern of the four heroes for their friends made them refuse.

"We didn't come here to sightsee, Zeipha," Vector scolded. "We came here to blow this thing to smithereens! How else are we going to help Sonic and the other three save the dang world…ask those monsters nicely!"

"Just get this over with!" Sonic said in a frustrated tone. Amy joined the other three, and all closed their eyes, and concentrated as hard as they could. Slowly, the four great elemental creatures appeared…Alneetha, Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz, each on a side of the pyramid. The four hedgehogs stared up at the creatures in astonishment (except Amy, who was familiar with Alneetha already).

"Wow…these creatures…I've seen big things before, but this is ridiculous!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Okay, you four, do your stuff!" Vector said. "Okay, everyone, I think it's best if we took cover."

"…Where?" Vahtri asked innocently. Then all of them realized that there was no cover to speak of.

"Oh...crud..." Shadow and Vector said at the same time.

Moments later there were engulfed by simultaneous elemental attacks, all aimed at the pyramid. The earth itself shook beneath their feet, and the sky seemed to shift from day to night at a rapid pace, until finally the pyramid crumbled. The seven, surprised to be alive, looked at the damage that was done. In the place of the pyramid was a giant, blue and black portal that seemed to exude a horrid stench, like that of a pile of rotting corpses that has sat in the hot sun for a year.

"Well…into the stench of the demon world we go," Tahra commented as she held her nose. "Stay safe, you three…" With that, the four hedgehogs stepped through the portal and into a realm that was prepared to take them on…

-- -- -- -- -- --

As soon as the four hedgehogs stepped through the portal, the enemy began to attack them, with a tide of two-foot-high shadow Heartless pouring onto the four hedgehogs. They had to repeatedly swing their weapons just to keep from being swallowed up. But they couldn't swing quite fast enough. They couldn't go Super either…it was too difficult for them to draw upon sufficient energy. The four managed to get to the top of a building to catch their breath and to get a view of the situation.

"Dang, there's a lot of them," Tahra said. "Can't we just Chaos Control over there or something?"

"What? And miss all the potential kicking of evil butt? No way! There's gotta be another way." Sonic tapped his Fusion bracer as he thought, and that gave him the solution.

"Fusion time, everybody?"

"I'm up for it," Amy replied, then turned to Tahra. The purple hedgehog shrugged. Shadow seemed eager as well.

"Okay…ladies first."

Amy and Tahra pressed the large silver buttons on their bracers, and they fused once again to form Amahra, who immediately changed into her Super form.

"Your turn, boys…" she said. After staring at their combined girlfriends for a moment, the two boys repeated the same process, and soon they fused into the more powerful Shadic, and he too transformed into his Super form. Both were wielding the respective Sacred Arms. Both looked out at the army of demons and Heartless, and suddenly an idea popped into Shadic's mind.

"I'll race you to the place…but we have to cut through that army there."

Amahra grinned and hefted both weapons on her shoulders. "You're on, bucko."

The two quickly sprung back into the river of Heartless and demons, and began cutting (and smashing, in the case of Amahra) a swath out of the army, sending hapless soldiers of all sizes soaring into buildings like stalks of wheat thrown into the air by a berserk tractor.

As this happened, projectiles of all sorts, whether they were fireballs, arrows or other nasty things came streaming out of the palace, fired by a wall of archers and minor wizards in an attempt to stave off the two. But to no avail. The attacks simply bounced off their seemingly invincible bodies as if they were raindrops…soon the two hedgehogs had reached the gates of the palace, with Shadic winning the "race" by a nose. He did a little victory dance.

"Oh, yeah girl…I beat you baaaaad!" Shadic whooped.

"It was a close race…and I swear that you cheated." Shadic stuck his tongue out in response to the comment. Amahra ignored this childish response and continued.

"Besides, didn't we come here to put a stop to Nazo and his freak of a master?" Amahra kicked the door to the palace down and started in. "C'mon, bucko."

"Stop calling me bucko!" Shadic whined as he followed Amahra in.

"I can call you whatever I want," his companion replied.

-- -- -- -- --

The two fused hedgehogs, after fighting their way through the palace, came upon a room with five doors. The largest door was the farthest one, and there were four massive locks on it. The other four doors were unlocked.

Shadic started doing the proverbial math. "Let's see…five doors…one big one with multiple locks…" The conclusion dawned upon him, and he sighed with disappointment.

"What's with the sigh, Shadic?" Amahra asked. "Figured out this little conundrum?"

Shadic nodded and assumed a stance of seeming intelligence. "This Nazo guy, for being an evil mastermind, really lacks creativity," he said. "The keys to this door are behind those other four doors, which are most likely being guarded either by our hated enemies or darker parts of our selves, or a combination of the two. Couldn't the guy come up with something more original!"

"Are you done, mister critic?" Amahra groaned. "Let defuse and split up. That will be most efficient way to deal with this problem." With a nod, the two defused.

"Okay, let's get this done fast," Shadow said to everyone. "Whatever trickery he has planned, don't fall for it."

"Right," Tahra replied. "We meet back here and fuse up again."

Sonic and Amy simply nodded, and they each picked a door…

-- -- -- -- --

"This is degrading!" Krynku roared to no one as he paced around the chamber with the first key. "I am a general of great armies of darkness, not some low-life guard for a silly key! Who does that harlot Vera think she is, putting me here?" He swung Hexedge at some imaginary foe. A few moments later, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps, and the smell of hedgehog. He grinned widely, and realized why he was placed here. He slinked back into the darkness and waited.

Sure enough, Sonic burst into the room, Excalibur on the ready. He scanned the room, and caught the glint of Hexedge. He pointed his own sword in the direction of the glint.

"Okay, mister key guardian, you can come out now. I see you."

Krynku slinked out of the darkness with the same grin on his face. It took a moment for Sonic to realize just who this hyena was.

"General…you must be the guy who killed Tahra's grandmother…that's going to make defeating you all the more gratifying!" He readied himself in a combat stance. To his surprise, the general didn't seem all too eager to fight.

"Tell me, Sonic…other than the key, what do you think you'll get from beating me?"

Sonic didn't even have to think about his response. "…The knowledge that all your victims have been avenged…"

"My victims, you say?" the hyena replied with a bit of surprise. "What about the suffering of my people? My people have been abused by your kind for millennia!"

Sonic spat before he responded to this. "That's because your people have tossed their lot with the ultimate evil, that's why."

Krynku shook his head. "Oh no, blue one…it's the other way around! We joined forces with the Meteor Parasite because we were abused. You wish to end persecution, do you not?"

Sonic was starting to get suspicious, and resumed his guard. "Yeah…what's your point?"

The hyena grinned. "The only way that you can do that is for you to join us!" Sonic decided to answer the only way that would get through the hyena's head…he attacked him. To the hedgehog's surprise, his attack was blocked. Sonic wondered how it was possible…and he got his explanation soon enough.

"The air in this realm seems to be slowing you down…how convenient for me!"

The hyena rolled around behind Sonic and slashed him across the back, sending him reeling into the wall, while his opponent laughed victoriously before following up with a jumping downward stab. Sonic rolled out of the way and slashed Krynku's foot, knocking him down, then slashed the hyena across the eyes, blinding him.

That was something Sonic would soon regret. The blind hyena went berserk, and his sword began to glow. A black bolt of lightning struck Sonic, and something intangible was ripped right of Sonic's body. Then the hyena began to glow a dull gold color and red spirals appeared in his regenerating eyes. The hyena spoke in a disturbingly familiar voice.

"Ah…MUCH BETTER…" The voice belonged to Psycho Super Sonic, who had used Hexedge as a jumping off point to change bodies.

"Well, this isn't quite how I expected to be fighting my dark side…" Sonic grunted, still feeling the hyena's slash to his back. "But beggars can't be choosers, I guess…" The mad hyena tossed the sword aside, and savagely pounced at Sonic, his mouth open to bite him. This time, Sonic was able to dodge it, and suddenly found an opening for a killing blow. As Krynku bit the air, the blue hedgehog did an upward swing, slashing the hyena's throat. The creature fell to the ground, and Sonic quickly stabbed Excalibur between his opponent's eyes to finish the job.

That was too easy, Sonic thought. As he took the key and began to walk away, he was suddenly grabbed by the hyena. Despite having his throat slashed and his brain ran through, still the hyena was not dead. With surprising force, he threw Sonic into the wall, and then pulled himself up. Slowly his wounds began to close. Before long, the psychotic hyena was as good as new.

"Nice try, Sonic…but it's going to take more than THAT to kill me!" he cackled before pouncing again. But still he could not get to Sonic, who was starting to get irritated. He could outrun this freakshow…but he couldn't kill him.

Then he noticed Hexedge. Sonic wondered if that was the key to putting down this mad dog, and decided to give it a try. He kicked Krynku in the face, and bounded to the sword's location. The blue gem on its hilt seemed to have a tiny vortex inside it. Quickly, Sonic thrust Excalibur into that spot, smashing the gem. It worked like a charm. The hyena suddenly screamed in pain, and it seemed like his body was boiling. Slowly the creature melted away, armor and all, hissing and bubbling until nothing was left but a pool of transparent dark yellow liquid. The sword turned to dust as well.

Man…that was too close, Sonic thought. Now he had avenged Tahra's grandmother and obtained the first key. His thoughts turned to his companions and how they were faring…

-- -- -- -- -- --

Me: And so the chapter ends here.

Tahra: A little rushed, wasn't it?

Me: Don't worry…the fight against Nazo and the Meteor Parasite will be one to remember. Besides, you're up next.

Tahra: I can't wait to see who I face!

Sonic: This key's so shiny! It's...my…

Me: Don't even go there.