Sonic's Chaos
Chapter 12: Super Sonic
Author's Note: Here it is, the exciting end to one arc and the beginning of the next! Let me know how you like it!
The Freedom Fighters continued their retreat, running from the seemingly unstoppable force that was Metal Robotnik. Robotnik cackled, his voice amplified so all of Robotropolis could hear. The sight of this group of rats fleeing in fear brought him great joy. Aiming his glue cannon, he opened fire on one of the rebels.
As Amy ran, she felt a great force behind her before smashing into the ground. Her ears ringing, she opened her eyes to find she had been caught by the glue cannon. Despite pushing, her arms could not break free of the material, nor could she prize her hammer out. Metal Robotnik's cold feet stomped closer and closer before eventually he was right behind her. The Freedom Fighters watched in horror as his metal boot hovered above Amy, who held her breath and closed her eyes, hoping that it would be over quickly. She heard the creaking of Metal Robotnik's leg as it lowered before it stopped. At first, she thought it was over, though she felt no pain or pressure. Opening her eyes, she saw the gravel on the road. Turning her head slightly, Amy squinted through the bright aura. Just out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glowing yellow hedgehog holding up Robotnik's foot. At first it was unclear who her saviour was, until she spotted the white gloves and the red shoes. Despite his drastically altered appearance, it could only be Sonic. No one other than Tails, Mighty and Antoine, who were still on their way to the city, knew that Sonic had ascended to a new form through the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds. With a push, Super Sonic sent Metal Robotnik's foot up into the air, forcing the mech to stumble back. Inside the suit, Doctor Robotnik was incredibly confused as to what could possibly be strong enough to repel an attack from his strongest weapon. Through Metal Robotnik's vision, Robotnik saw something rise to the mech's eye level. Enhancing the view, Robotnik saw something that shook him to the core; Sonic the Hedgehog, his arch-nemesis, in an even more powerful form. The Doctor scowled.
"I see you've had a makeover," Robotnik snarled, "It won't be enough! Despite your efforts, the Freedom Fighters will die!"
Super Sonic simply stared back, his red eyes glowing with anger. Deep down, Robotnik was struck with fear, but he had come this close to victory. No matter what, he would take on Sonic. Swinging Metal Robotnik's arm back, Robotnik threw a punch at Super Sonic, who extended his arm out, stretching out his hand and stopping the fist in its tracks. Robotnik's jaw dropped. Aside from his physical appearance, there was something different about this Sonic. His sense of humour and charisma were gone. Super Sonic looked stern, somewhat angry. The new power had overwhelmed him. Suddenly, a bright yellow aura surrounded Super Sonic as he charged up an attack. In less than a second, a bright yellow streak smashed through Metal Robotnik's left eye, causing the feed on Metal Robotnik's screen to falter and sending the whole mech stumbling back before catching itself on some buildings behind it. Even inside the mech, Robotnik could hear the cheers from the Freedom Fighters and other civilians below. Panicking, he activated the suit's flight system and flapped its wings, rising high into the air.
The Freedom Fighters watched from the ground in awe. They had managed to pull Amy out of the glue and were now watching Super Sonic battling it out against Metal Robotnik in the sky. Sally heard footsteps quickly approaching them and turned around to see Tails, Antoine and Mighty. She focused on the latter two.
"You two," Sally addressed them, surprised, "You're meant to be guarding the Chaos Emeralds!"
"No need!" Tails exclaimed, "Sonic has them; he absorbed them!"
The conversation attracted the attention of Ray and Amy. "So the reason Sonic is all yellow and shiny is because of the Emeralds?" Amy asked.
"It's kinda complicated..." Mighty replied, scratching his head, "Tails, you'd be better at explaining it."
Tails cleared his throat. "When Sonic and I went out to the Aquatic Ruins, I got seriously hurt. But when I woke up, Sonic had a Chaos Emerald. He used the power from it to help heal me of my injuries!"
"Yeah, but this is different!" Ray butted in, "How come Sonic looks so different?"
"Well, when we got off the Winged Fortress, Sonic was beat up really bad," Tails explained, "So I thought to use all seven Emeralds to heal him for good measure. At first, it started working, but the process became more violent and unpredictable..."
"We all had to leave!" Antoine exclaimed, "The light, it was too bright..."
"Anyway," Tails continued, "It seems the power from all seven Chaos Emeralds combined has given Sonic his new form."
"Is it reversible?" Sally asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea," the fox admitted. "I guess it has to run out at some point?"
"That's not very reassuring, Tails," Sally pressed.
"You have to understand, this is a whole new power!" Tails reasoned, "I've never seen anything like this. Once this is over, we really need to look into the potential behind using this power."
"More importantly, whether or not it's safe," Sally muttered under her breath as she looked to the sky. Sonic and Metal Robotnik were battling it out, Sonic deflecting all of Robotnik's attacks with ease.
Robotnik tried to keep the distance between Super Sonic and his mech as far as possible. The fingers on the suit's hand merging together into a gattling gun, Metal Robotnik grinded to a halt and opened fire on the yellow hedgehog as he sped towards him. The bullets were like hailstone on Super Sonic's skin, as if he was being flicked over and over. They were more of an inconvenience rather than something that could spell instant death, yet Super Sonic squinted his eyes to avoid being blinded. Charging up that aura again, Super Sonic flew ahead hundreds, maybe thousands of metres in the blink of an eye. Robotnik heard a crash and alarms beeping as he read the damage report; the left wing had been heavily damaged, a chunk of its tip seemingly destroyed. Robotnik felt the mech falter in the air before wildly falling to the ground. Super Sonic looked back at the mech, whirring as it tried to balance itself as it fell to the city below. Looking to the ground beneath it, Super Sonic could see a group of creatures, right in Metal Robotnik's path. Dashing through the air towards the ground below, Super Sonic felt the air cut before him, the wind ruffling his ears. Super Sonic dived under the mech before catching it in both his hands. Lifting it up in the air, barely struggling, Super Sonic snarled and yelled as he tossed Metal Robotnik through the sky. Robotnik, holding on for dear life in the torso of the mech, reached out to activate the suit's jetpack, its emergency flight function in the case that the wings should be unusable. Robotnik's fat finger clumsily pushed the button, igniting the jetpack and stopping the suit from crashing further into the city. Super Sonic looked in disdain as the suit slowly ascended into the air.
"Very impressive, Sonic," Robotnik growled. "For once, it's nice to fight you and not here your incessant, whiny voice quipping every other second!"
Robotnik raised his other arm, the fingers transforming into a glue cannon. As the suit opened fire, Super Sonic flew out of the way, ending up flying circles around the mech as it tried in desperation to trap him, stray blobs of glue smashing into buildings or falling onto the streets below. As Robotnik noticed his pattern, his mouth curled as he unexpectedly turned and fired a shot in Super Sonic's path. Sonic was flung back before the weight of the glue weighed him down, sending him rocketing to the ground below. However, breaking out of this substance was child's play for Sonic with his new powers, his arms bursting out of the glue before ripping the rest of it off him. Free of the substance, Super Sonic floated back into the sky before boosting towards Metal Robotnik, a violent yellow aura surrounding him. Sonic directed his trajectory through the top of the torso, smashing through the jetpack on the other side. Robotnik screamed in panic as the suit fell onto the street below; fortunately for him, it landed on its feet, though the suit did lean on and crush some nearby buildings to regain composure.
Flying back around to the front of the mech, Super Sonic examined Metal Robotnik's position, realizing that the suit no longer had enough room to fully turn around. Grinning, Super Sonic flew way past the suit. A confused Robotnik switched to the rear view camera, seeing the hedgehog turn around mid-air before flying back towards him.
"Why, that little rodent..." Robotnik spat. Waiting for the perfect timing, Robotnik swung his elbow back. The suit followed his movements and perfectly timed the hit, jabbing Super Sonic and sending him spinning backwards. Robotnik cackled madly.
"This fight will only end in more destruction and death, hedgehog!" he taunted, "Give up now! Surrender the Chaos Emeralds and maybe I'll let you and your pesky friends live to see the Robotnik Empire in all its glory!"
Super Sonic snarled before flying back towards Metal Robotnik, swinging his fist back and punching the mech across the face as he flew by, sending it spinning around wildly. Robotnik quickly corrected the head's position, twisting it back on with the suit's hands and using its feed to determine whether it was on correctly. Once the head had been corrected, he could see Super Sonic flying back towards him. Extending the suits arms, stretching them out to either side, Metal Robotnik swung them together, clapping Super Sonic between his hands.
There was a few seconds of nothing. The Freedom Fighters, who had climbed up to the rooftops to watch the fight, had been spectating this battle feeling a mixture of awe and hope, however for the first time in the fight, things were looking bad for their side. They looked on in anticipation; did Metal Robotnik really just crush Sonic, even in his new, powerful form? Robotnik was equally surprised, his eyes widening and his mouth opening before his face twisted into a grin and began laughing uncontrollably.
"Finally!" the mad Doctor screamed, "I did it! I GOT YOU! I -"
An explosion of yellow flames lit the sky, a shockwave sounding out across the city. After the brightness faded, Robotnik saw Sonic, still alive, still maintaining his new form, and incredibly angry. This really was something else. Sonic had died and this thing was born. The yellow hedgehog, bright red pupils flared, teeth bared in anger, screaming before smashing through Metal Robotnik's arm, slicing it off completely. Sparks flew from the side of the suit as the mech's warning system alerted Robotnik that it was in critical condition. From inside, he heard another explosion as he was informed the suit's remaining arm was now removed. Looking around desperately using the suit's front camera, Super Sonic soon appeared, maybe a metre from the mech's face. From the distance, there was a low rumbling sound, growing louder as the sound of air whooshing also became present. Pointing the suit's head up to face the sky, Robotnik saw his Winged Fortress, free falling towards the city. To him, this signalled that the battle was over. He had lost, although that did not necessarily mean it had to end in his capture. Super Sonic too looked to the sky, the noise attracting his attention. Now, he was faced with a dilemma. He could either deal with Robotnik, either by killing him or through other means, finally bringing an end to this bloody conflict, or he could prevent the whole of Robotropolis and everyone living inside of it from being destroyed by the catastrophic explosion that would come about as a result of the ship's crash. Really, there was only one obvious answer in Sonic's mind. He could not act selfishly now.
Flying high into the sky, Super Sonic built up his energy as he approached the falling fortress, slowly transitioning into a boost towards it. Super Sonic smashed through the bow of the ship, crashing through the ships interior, holding his fists out in front of him as he broke through wall after wall before finally re-emerging on the other side of the ship.
From the rooftops below, the Freedom Fighters watched as Super Sonic sliced and diced through the Winged Fortress, yellow streaks cutting through it like blades, splitting it apart into smaller and smaller chunks.
"What's he doing?" Mighty yelled, "What about Robotnik?"
"Don't be a fool!" Antoine scolded him, "He iz saving us all. Now the city won't be wiped off ze map."
"And anyway, this is still a huge setback for Robotnik," Sally said, her eyes still fixed on Sonic disintegrating the Winged Fortress, "His plan to remove us from the city has failed, and look..." she pointed off into the distance; a small cockpit could be seen flying away as fast as possible, Robotnik's plump figure just about visible, "He abandoned the city. It's ours now."
"In ze hands of eets rightful owner!" Antoine cheered throwing his hands up, "Ze Princess of the Kingdom of ze Acorn!"
The Freedom Fighters cheered; the Winged Fortress was no longer recognisable, falling in tiny chunks towards the city which, while they may cause some minor damage, it would be nothing compared to the damage the whole ship would have done. The Metal Robotnik mech suit now stood frozen with its torso empty; Robotnik had his cockpit built into it in case he needed a quick getaway.
The gang watched as Super Sonic flew over their heads, crashing into the street behind them. Excited, one by one they climbed down the building and onto the street below, finding the hedgehog with his back to them. Tails ran up to Sonic, patting him on the shoulder.
"You did it!" Tails exclaimed excitedly, "Thanks to you, we've finally turned the tables on Robotnik?"
Super Sonic turned his head slightly and scowled before swinging his arm around, knocking Tails back, hitting the floor and rolling to Sally's feet.
"Sonic?!" she shouted, voice rising with shock, "What's wrong with you?!"
Super Sonic turned around fully, facing the others. Tails slowly got to his feet, nursing his side.
"Looks like... the fight's not over," Tails said, winded. As Mighty stepped forward, Tails tried to stop him. "No, wait... he's too strong to take on alone..."
These words fell deaf on Mighty's ears. "You did good, Sonic, but somebody's gotta snap you out of this!"
Mighty swung his fist back before sending it plummeting towards Sonic's cheek. Sonic was quick to grab his hand before kicking Mighty in the chest, forcing him to stumble back. Gasping for air, Mighty called out to the others.
"We've gotta stop him!" he shouted, "All that power... it must have gone to his head!"
The Freedom Fighters slowly formed a circle around Sonic, who scowled, twisting his head around wildly like a cornered animal. Tails soon joined in, standing by Sally.
"We have to work together," Tails demanded, "If we try taking him out one by one, we'll be wiped out in seconds."
"Alright," Sally announced, "Let's snap him out of this!"
The team ran in, closing the circle. Super Sonic snapped his head around to see Amy, mid-air, hammer behind her head. He sidestepped out of the way as her hammer came crashing to the ground. He felt a hand on his shoulder before being forced around to see Vector, who delivered a powerful uppercut, sending Super Sonic back a little. To his right, he saw Mighty running back towards him. Predicting his attack, Sonic held out his hand and blocked Mighty's fist. Mighty made another swing with his free hand, but Sonic caught this too. Before he could give him the same punishment as last time, he felt something swipe violently at his legs, putting him on his knees and loosening his grip of Mighty's hands. Mighty broke free as Ray came up behind Super Sonic, grabbing his hands and holding them behind his back.
"Let's hope this'll be enough to knock you out, buddy," Mighty panted as he pulled his fist back. Super Sonic growled before letting out a scream and breaking free of Ray's grip, catching Mighty's punch before it could land. Tightening his hold, he spun Mighty around, smashing him into Ray. While he had his back turned, Rover leaped onto Sonic, pushing him to the ground and holding him in place under his weight.
"Quick!" Rover called, "Help me out here!"
Mighty pulled Ray up off the floor. "Sorry, pal – you okay?"
"Yeah..." Ray gasped, "He's a tough piece o' work, ain't he?"
Mighty patted him on the shoulder. "We'll get him back to normal... we've just gotta keep going..."
Mighty ran over to Rover, along with Vector, Tails and Bunnie. Vector held down one of Sonic's hands while Tails and Bunnie held the other, with Rover still holding him down from on top. Underneath him, Super Sonic writhed and wiggled, unable to escape.
"Let's try this again..." Mighty breathed, about to throw another punch before Tails interrupted him.
"Wait!" he shouted, "Maybe this isn't the way to get through to him!"
Mighty sighed and pulled back. "Well, what do you suggest? Let him continue on his rampage?"
Tails shook his head. "You saw what he was capable of up there. He's holding back. If Sonic really wanted to kill us, he'd have done it already."
"What are you saying, fox?" Antoine asked.
"I'm saying, maybe there's a bit of the old Sonic still left in there," Tails suggested, "Maybe he's refraining from using his full power because deep down, he knows we're his friends."
"So what do you suggest?" Sally demanded, "How do we get through to him?"
"Antoine!" Tails motioned for Antoine to take his place in helping Bunnie hold down Super Sonic before running over to Sally. "Me and you, while the others hold him down we'll try and get through to him; remind him who he is!"
Tails led Sally to Super Sonic, head still thrashing around, teeth bared menacingly. They cautiously knelt in front of him.
"Sonic," Tails said softly. "It's me, Tails. Your friend."
Super Sonic's red eyes stared back at him wildly.
"You remember me?" he asked, "You'd been travelling all over Mobius before you arrived on West Side Island. You remember meeting Sally?"
Tails pulled Sally closer. She looked into Sonic's eyes and felt uneasy.
"Tails, are you sure this will work?" she whispered. Tails ignored her and continued.
"And when you got here, Sally and the others told you that me, Bunnie and Mighty had been captured in the Chemical Plant. Without thinking twice, you led volunteers in and risked your life to get us out of there! You didn't even know who we were; and when we explained to you that Robotnik had been giving us trouble, you signed up to join us straight away!"
Super Sonic seemed to be calming down. His movements became less erratic and his muscles relaxed. The emotion in his eyes changed from wild fury to a kind of sadness or melancholy.
"You're a hero, Sonic," Tails softly spoke, "And you saved the city today. But now you need to change back."
The hedgehog relaxed. Sally watched as his eye colour changed from red back to black. His fur slowly transitioned from yellow back to blue, his quills softly dropping back down. Sonic was back. Tails and Sally beamed at each other. Amy ran over and dropped to her knees.
"Sonic!" she gasped, "Are you okay?!"
Sonic let out a long sigh before passing out.
The hedgehog woke up in a bed in a dingy looking room. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep for and as he slowly opened his eyes, the light in the room forced him to squint as his vision readjusted. He could just about make somebody out at the side of his bed, who, as soon as Sonic stirred, excitedly jumped up and called out the door.
"He's awake!" the voice shouted down the hall. "I think he's alright!"
Sonic could easily recognise the voice as belonging to Tails. He smiled.
"Hey, buddy," Sonic yawned. He opened his eyes fully to see the fox grinning and looked to the door to see Sally, Amy and Mighty pour into the room.
"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed excitedly before controlling herself. "It's good to see you!"
Sonic chuckled. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around.
"You're safe," Sally reassured him, "You're still in Robotropolis; this is our base, remember?"
"Uh huh," Sonic yawned heavily, "And what happened to Robotnik?"
The other four looked at each other, confused. "You beat him, remember?" Mighty asked, leaning over to him. "Geez, maybe I hit you on the head one too many times..."
Sonic looked confused, looking to Tails for support. "Last thing I remember, me and you were trying to get off the Winged Fortress..."
Tails nodded. "Right, but when we got to the Tornado, it was rigged with a trap; Robotnik's assistant blew it up and you got really hurt," Tails reminded him. "Do you not remember anything that happened afterwards?"
Sonic shook his head. "I thought I was toast."
"You saved the city!" Sally exclaimed.
"Well, Robotnik still escaped..." said Mighty under his breath before Sally elbowed him. "I mean, even so, you stopped the Winged Fortress from destroying everything, so you still saved the day in my book!" the armadillo corrected himself.
Antoine, hearing the commotion from down the hall, came running in. He gasped as he saw Sonic, stretching his arms out before running to the side of his bed and hugging the hedgehog affectionately.
"I knew you would make it, mon ami!" Antoine exclaimed, hugging Sonic tight. Sonic sheepishly patted him on the back.
"Couldn't do it without you, Antoine..." he said sheepishly, waiting for him to let go.
"So do you not remember absorbing the energy from the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails asked Sonic as he sat up in his bed.
"Nope," Sonic said, looking dazed. "What, did something happen to me?"
"Why, yes!" Antoine exclaimed, "You transformed! You became something amazing!"
"Well, it was amazing," Tails butted in, "But when you dealt with the Winged Fortress, we had to calm you down. You went kind of crazy."
"Huh," Sonic chuckled, "I must have blacked out for that whole thing!"
"Well, don't worry," Sally reassured him, "You're safe now. The Chaos Emeralds are still in our hands. And hey, you woke up just in time to help us rebuild the city!"
"I'm hoping we're dropping the whole Robotropolis schtick?" Sonic asked.
"You bet!" Tails said. "We're in New Megatropolis now!"
Sonic laughed as he swung his feet off the side of the bed and stood up, stretching his arms out. "Well, the city won't rebuild itself!"
Fang, Bean and Bark had been drinking in the Casino ever since they ran in there to hide the day before, gambling and betting using the last of their rings. The three sat at the bar, spending their latest winnings.
"Hey," Bean burped, "This is pretty sweet, huh? I could live like this forever" he slurred, drawing out the last word.
"We can't lose focus!" Fang said, voice cracking as he slammed his empty glass on the bar. "Robotnik's fled the city, which must mean the Freedom Fighters have all the Emeralds, right?"
He turned his head, looking at Bean, whose eyes were glazed over, and Bark, who frankly was tired of putting up with their shenanigans over the last 36 hours.
"Hey!" Fang clicked his fingers in Bean's face, forcing his attention. "We're Team Hooligan, we got a reputation to uphold! And what better way to uphold it than to rob those Freedom Fighters blind?"
Bean slowly started giggling before breaking out into uncontrollable laughter. Fang laughed too, patting Bark on his arm, forcing him to break a smile in response.