Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 0, Episode 7

Speed of Time, Part 7: Race Against Time Part 1

Written by ChaosProject

Concept by ChaosProject

The Void

"We now have all of the Sapphires. And with just a small amount of time to spare. Now, since we have this time, I feel the obligation to ask…do any of you have anything that you need to do before we begin the final battle? Any loose ends to tie up?"

Zero shakes his head. Silver does as well. But Sonic says, "You bet I do. I've got a promise to keep. I need to go back to my own time."

"Very well. You have ten minutes. I would have asked earlier, when you had more time, but it seemed like you were all having a moment. I didn't want to interrupt you."

Sonic has already taken off, and shouts back, "I'll only need eight!" Within a moment, he is gone behind the newest rift.

Silver turns to Zero. "So, what do we do while we wait?"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Zero pulls out the locket he found in the future. "I found this on my last mission. I was wondering if you might know what it is." He hands it over to Silver.

Silver stares intensely at it. "No way…" He waves a hand over it as his own aqua patterns begin to glow, and the locket pops open. But the inside is completely empty "Where did you find this!? This is the locket I lost as a kid! It's made to open only to my psychic signature!"

Zero thinks back. Chronos had said, "Hold on, I have something to show you, a uh…a sign of goodwill." … Zero is about to turn away, but something else catches his eye. He picks it up. It has a long string tied around it, perhaps meant to be a necklace. On the end is a silvery circular object, with a simple aqua pattern on the front. The pattern is a circle, with a straight line coming out of the bottom. "I wonder…did Chronos drop this?" Zero looks up to the Janice orb. "I can't let her know what Chronos told me." He looks back to Silver. "I uh…I found it on the ground after I fought Chronos. It was just lying there."

"I see. I lost it a long time before we fought. I always held out hope that I would find it again, but I never did."

"So…why is it empty?"

"I…I guess I never really figured out what I wanted to put in there. The locket itself was so important to me, I couldn't just put any old thing in there. So I left it empty."

"Well…I'm glad you got it back after all of this time. Maybe you'll think of something to put in there soon?"

"Yeah…maybe."

—–—

Mystic Ruins Zone

Sonic slides out of a rift, and takes a moment to look around and gather his bearings. The space-time rifts have gotten completely out of control, with vortexes of every imaginable size littered about as far as the eye can see. Out in the ocean, a massive whirlpool can be seen, presumably with a large rift at its bottom. A vast majority of the sky is entirely covered by one gigantic rift, bathing the area in a blue light. It appears as if it would be hard even to walk without running into them, but still Sonic runs off towards the cliffs above the ocean, where Tails' lab sits high atop one particularly high cliff. He makes it there within a few moments, and goes right in.

"Sonic! You're back!" Tails sits at a desk, full of scattered notes and a few half-finished pieces of machinery. A relatively small rift floats in the middle of the room, which Sonic carefully moves around.

"I'm afraid I can't stay long, Tails. The final battle is just ahead, but I'm stopping here first like I promised. So, you got anything?"

"Oh, it's incredible, Sonic! I've learned more over the past few days than I have in my entire life! With the research that I've done, I can open up an entire new branch of theoretical physics!"

"Sounds like it's a good thing you stayed behind. So have you put any of this research to good use?"

"Oh, uh…" He begins frantically looking around at his desk, but nothing there appears to be close to working order. "Sorry, I've just had so many ideas that I've been trying to work on at once, I haven't gotten to finish any of it… Oh, wait! I do have something!" He stands up and runs over to the opposite wall where he pulls down a lever, opening up the stairway leading to the basement level. "Stay right there!" He runs down the stairs. Almost immediately, Sonic begins impatiently tapping his foot. When he realizes with slight surprise that he's doing it, he stops himself. Instead, he begins to examine the small rift in the middle of the room. He doesn't hear Tails as he comes back up. "I almost lost a few good notes when that one appeared," he says, noticing Sonic's interest. "But once it was there, it made research a lot easier. Actually, I don't think I've left this building since it appeared."

"So whaddaya have?"

"Oh, right." Tails pulls out and presents a small black device with a tiny protrusion coming out of the bottom.

Sonic takes it and examines it carefully. "What is it?"

"Well, it actually doesn't work yet. But it's supposed to be a 'Chaos Communicator'."

"Alright, so what does that mean?"

"It's meant to send and receive audio signals via the same type of electromagnetic radiation that these rifts emit, which is actually really similar to the Chaos Emeralds. If my calculations are correct, it should be able to communicate almost instantaneously not just between any two points in space, no matter how distant, but any two points in time. But only if there's a linked communicator on the other end."

"This'll let us speak through time? Sweet!"

"Well, theoretically. Like I said, it doesn't quite work yet."

"So what's the point of giving to me?"

"Well, I already have the reception part down. But I'm having problems with the signal breaking down immediately upon transmission. But once I get that part figured out, we can start talking right away!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Sonic fastens the device to his ear.

"So, how much time do you have left?"

"Only a couple of minutes. I should get going, and you should get to work."

"It's too bad. You only just got back, and now you're leaving again…"

"I'd love to stay. But my kind of work is never done."

Tails seems to take an odd interest in that last statement. But all he says is "Good luck."

"I expect to hear from you soon." With that, Sonic exits the door. He pulls out a Sapphire and tosses into the air, preparing to take off. But he is interrupted by a massive tremor, causing him to stumble and drop the gem.

In front of Sonic, a massive robot mech has landed on the floor, with Eggman piloting the head. The mech is tall and somewhat effeminate in shape, with a pinkish-purple and red color scheme, and wearing a long, cape-like robe around its shoulders. It wears an elegant crown on top of the cockpit, and wields a long, almost-as-elegant sword. "Sonic, so glad that I finally found you!"

Sonic chuckles a bit. "Isn't this one a bit girly for you, Egg…man?"

"Aww, what's the matter, Sonic? Can't come up with a good insulting nickname?"

"I don't have time for games. As much fun as a scrap would be, I don't have time for that either. I have a job to do. So I suggest that you get out of my way."

"And that, my fine blue friend, is why I am here. Look around you! The universe is falling apart!"

"Slow as usual, Doctor. I already know all about it."

"Ah, but I know how to stop it! I've been spending this time studying these rifts, scanning through history, and now I know how to save the universe! I can help!"

"Already know that too." Sonic leans down and picks up the dropped Sapphire. "And you act as if I haven't heard that one before. I don't want any of your help."

"I see that you already have one. That's good! Once we gather all of them, we can use your power to seal all of the breaches. It's a perfect plan, but we must move quickly." He pulls out a small stack of papers, and holds them high above his head. "I have the location of every one of them right here."

"Eggman, seriously, I already have them all, and now I need to go use them… Wait, did you say I can close the rifts?"

"Well, perhaps you would need the help of Shadow, but I'm certain that a well-timed Chaos Control could–"

"Uhh, Eggman? What happened to your notes?"

Eggman looks up to his still-raised hand to find it just inches away from a newly-formed rift, the papers he was holding having been lost inside. Surprisingly, the rift closes itself, leaving no trace of ever having been there. "What!? No!" He turns to Sonic with ferocity. "You did this, didn't you!? That's why you know so much, you were planning to steal my research from the beginning! You've crossed the line, hedgehog!"

"Whoa whoa, just calm down, Eggman. I know about all this because of what Janice told me."

"Janice? That woman who tricked you in my base? Ha! You really haven't figured out yet that she's the cause of all of this!? You must be even more of a fool than I thought!"

For a moment, Sonic seems to grow angry at the insult. But then he relaxes. "Sorry, Eggman. I'm afraid you have it all wrong. But if it takes a good old fashioned beating to prove it to you, then bring it on!"

Eggman growls, "Egg Queen, attack!"

—–—

The Void

Silver, Zero, and Janice stand around in awkward silence. Zero begins impatiently tapping his foot. Suddenly, he lets out, "He's late! I thought he was supposed to be fast!"

Silver reassures, "Just give him a minute, he will be here."

"Fine." The silence resumes, as does Zero's foot-tapping. After another moment, he speaks out again, "What if something happened to him? We'd be wasting time for nothing."

"Calm down, I'm sure he's fine."

Janice interjects, "No, Zero is right. We can't wait for him any longer. It will be difficult, but we will have to make do without him."

"Well we can't just leave him. Besides, he has a few Sapphires that we can't do without. We have to wait for him."

"Actually, he only has one. That's all any of you need, I've been holding on to the rest. Haven't you noticed?"

Silver and Zero each pull out a Sapphire, but find that they don't have any more. They give each other an odd look, but think little of it.

"Now, it's time to–"

There is a loud crack and and a bang as a new rift opens and Sonic slides in through it. "Sorry I'm late, guys. But everything's ready now."

"Good. We are out of time, so let's make this quick. Getting into Chronos' realm will be much easier with all three of you here. Sonic, you will create a new rift as usual, make sure you give yourself room to have the rift open right here."

"Right!" Sonic turns and runs a fair distance back before stopping. "Just tell me when!"

"Now, Zero and Silver, you will both need to watch closely. At the exact moment that Sonic is about to breach the rift, the two of you must also attempt to open a rift in that same place. The three of you together should be enough to create a rift powerful enough to breach into the realm of Chronos. Are you ready?" All three hedgehogs nod. "Then begin!"

With more style and flair than ever, Sonic tosses his Sapphire high into the air, and does a swift little turn all the way around before snagging the gem back. Then he takes off. Almost instantly, The Void begins to shake violently, causing Sonic to trip, stumble, and nearly fall, as the countless visible rifts begin to grow rapidly.

Janice shouts to all of them, "Ignore the tremors, keep your focus! We no longer have time to start over!"

Sonic redoubles his speed as Zero and Silver stand ready with their gems. Sonic becomes cloaked in a sparking blue aura as his speed increases and he draws closer to the others.

"Now!"

Simultaneously, Silver lets out a shout as he forces his hand forward, his aqua patterns once more turning blue, as Zero cries, "Time Control!" A blue shockwave emerges from his gem. Silver's psychic energy condenses around a point where the wave reaches. Right at that moment, Sonic bursts through that point, creating a bang so powerful that it knocks Silver and Zero off of their feet. Left in Sonic's place is a massive red Space-Time Rift. The tremors continue as strong as ever, and the blue rifts have grown to the point of putting the hedgehogs in danger of being enveloped by them.

Janice shouts, "Follow after him, now!" The hedgehogs struggle to their feet, and each leap into the red rift.

—–—

The Timestream

Sonic skids out of the rift surrounded by an almost blinding light. Light of all imaginable shades of blue rushes by in streaks from behind him and forward for as far as the eye can see, forming a rough tube shape around him. Within a moment, the other two hedgehogs enter through the rift as well, immediately followed by the Chronos-like form of Janice.

A voice booms from nowhere, "So, you really did make it? I must say, I'm impressed. I never thought Janice would even be able to attempt such a coup. Yet here you are."

Janice demands, "Show yourself, Chronos! Your time as ruler has reached its end!"

The booming voice of Chronos responds, "Oh, my dear, naive Janice. You know that this will never work. You cannot fill my role. You cannot even save the universe that you are destroying." A light even more blinding than that of the surroundings suddenly forms in the center of the timestream. Slowly, it takes on a humanoid form, and the light dissipates. The form of Chronos appears much as it always has, but far larger. In the center of his chest is embedded a massive blue gem.

Janice mutters, "The Core Sapphire…"

"Stop this foolishness now, before it's too late. Give me the Sapphires." He holds out his hand.

Silver steps forward. "We're not giving you anything! We will do our duty, and put an end to your tyranny!"

Zero joins him. "We will defeat you, no matter what it takes! For the sake of the world!"

Sonic takes point in front of the two. "We're done with your games. Playtime's over."

Chronos takes his hand back, closes his eyes, and shakes his head. "Foolish mortals. This could be so much easier if you only understood. But I've wasted enough effort trying to convince you. If you wish to die fighting for a lie, then so be it!" He raises his staff high into the air. Suddenly, he brings it downwards, slamming into the ground and creating some sort of wave of blue energy. The hedgehogs barely have time to dive out of the way in different directions before the wave passes them and collides with the rift they came out of, somehow shredding it to pieces. "There will be no escape."

The hedgehogs rise again. They each nod to each other. Then they close their eyes, and a dozen Temporal Sapphires begin to orbit around them. Slowly, they begin to emit a radiant blue aura. Each of them open their eyes in succession, revealing that their pupils have also turned a deep blue, as have Silver's aqua patterns. At once, they all turn to Chronos and shout, "Bring it on!"

Chronos wastes no more time. He makes a horizontal slash with his staff, forming another wave. The hedgehogs are already running straight towards him. Zero and Silver are forced to dodge out of the way of the wave, but Sonic is able to slide under and keep running. Given a single target to focus on, Chronos roars, unleashing a beam of energy directed at Sonic. Without stopping, Sonic directs his hands in front of himself, and the blue aura concentrates into a barrier in front of him. The beam impacts the barrier, and is reflected in all directions, though Sonic still slows and reacts to the force of the blow.

From far behind, Janice advises, "You can't rely on the Sapphires to protect you, their power will not last for that much time! You need to avoid his attacks more!"

Sonic ignores her, and continues to charge forward. Finally, he leaps upward, out of the path of the beam, and lands on the tip of Chronos' staff. From there, taking Chronos by surprise, he launches into a strike on the sundial. Chronos is sent reeling back. Sonic lands and shouts, "Silver, pin him down!"

From where he stands, Silver focuses all of his energy on the stumbling Chronos, psychically forcing him to the ground. "Zero, now's your chance!"

Janice adds, "Aim for the Sapphire in the core of his clock! We must remove it, it is the source of his power!"

Zero leaps up and lands on the fallen Chronos' chest. He begins savagely pounding on the gem in the center. After a few moments, cracks seem to form in the area of the clock around it.

Suddenly, Chronos booms, "Enough!" Seemingly by the sound of his voice alone, a massive blue shockwave bursts from him, scattering the hedgehogs in all different directions. He rises back to his feet. "You didn't really think that this would be so easy, did you? This is my realm! I make the rules here!" Chronos suddenly seems to warp a few steps to his left. Then to his right. Then back to the center. The same cycle is repeated, but faster. Within moments, his location can no longer be traced, as he warps so rapidly that he appears to be in all three locations at once. Slowly, the images on either side appear to change from the one in the middle. On the left, Chronos' tattered wings grow to many time their original size, as his woody flesh changes shape and form to be smoother and more aerodynamic. On the right, Chronos' wings shrink, as his staff disappears and his flesh expands to appear more muscular, his body proportions and facial makeup appearing more beast-like. In the center, Chronos shrinks to a mere twice the size of a normal human, as his staff grows longer, thicker, and sharper on the end. He no longer appears to be warping. There are three of him, each appearing and behaving differently. The Sapphire in each of their cores are smaller than the one seen in the single unified Chronos before. While the beastly one roars loudly, the large-winged one and the long-staffed one declare with different inflections, "Fight me if you dare!" The large-winged one suddenly takes flight, and soars off at high speed deeper into the tunnel.

Sonic shouts, "I've got this one," and runs off after it.

Silver yells after him, "Wait, he's just trying to–" He stops as the beastly one leaps off in the other direction, and Zero chases after it. "–split us up…" he trails off.

The long-staffed Chronos states, "That just leaves you and I."

Silver turns to face him. "Alright. If it's a one-on-one fight you want, then that is what you will get. Ha!" Silver unleashes a powerful wave of blue psychic energy.

—–—

Sonic chases after the large-winged Chronos, who flies just out of reach. Sonic searches for an opening to attack, but can't help but be distracted by his own feet, which can hardly even be seen for how fast they are moving. "I…I don't think I've ever run this fast before."

Janice speaks to him from afar, "That is the power of the Sapphires at their fullest. You wish to move quickly, and the Sapphires listen. They increase the speed of the time around you."

Sonic seems about to answer, but is interrupted as he is forced to dodge an energy beam fired down by Chronos. Relentlessly, Chronos continues to fire down beam after beam, all of which Sonic successfully sidesteps around. Changing tactics, Chronos swipes his staff, shooting a wave at Sonic, which he barely has time to slide under. Seeming to grow angrier, Chronos unleashes a flurry of waves, swiping his staff in all directions. Sonic is forced to undertake all sorts of quick maneuvers, ducking and rolling and hopping and dodging, all while keeping up his incredible speed. Chronos grows even more furious. "Why won't you die!?"

Driven to desperate measures, Chronos dives down at Sonic with his staff out, attempting to impale him. Sonic finds the opening he's been looking for. "Gotcha!" He leaps up into the air, flipping backwards, and Chronos passes underneath him. His sights set, he delivers a spin attack straight to Chronos' sundial. The strike sends Chronos tumbling through the air, as Sonic gets launched even higher. By the power of the Sapphires, the whole world around him seems to slow. Through Chronos' wild tumbling, Sonic is able to see the exact moment when the Core Sapphire is exposed. He goes in for a spin attack, a direct hit.

—–—

The beastly Chronos pounds the ground with a meaty fist, which Zero is barely able to dodge. It roars in anger. Zero runs in for another attack, but Chronos swats him out of the way. He quickly gets back up. "This isn't working. I need to get in faster…or I can get him to defend slower!" He lets the Sapphire aura concentrate around his hands. "Time Control!"

After a moment, Chronos merely cocks its head to one side, as if expecting something to happen. The voice of Janice speaks, "That won't work. The Core Sapphire protects him. You'll have to try a different way. But even speeding yourself up with the Sapphires, he can increase his speed to match."

"So it's all up to my own skill. Luckily, I've picked up a thing or two from the fastest thing alive!" Zero curls into a spin dash, taking off lightning-fast, and striking Chronos on the sundial before it has a chance to react. Though it is knocked back, it isn't knocked down. It roars once more in challenge, and attempts to crush Zero between its massive hands. Zero catches them with his own, and holds them back with incredible strength. Chronos growls and redoubles its efforts, causing Zero to cringe under the pressure. For a moment it seems his arms are going to give way. But with a final yell, he pushes back with all of his might, and it is the arms of Chronos that give way. Zero grabs one arm with both hands and hurls the massive creature over his head, sending it tumbling along the ground. He jumps and lands on top of the creature's chest, and again begins pounding away at the gem at its core.

—–—

The long-staffed Chronos twirls his staff all around, perhaps just showing off. Finally, he ends one twirl in a slash, sending out another wave of energy. He continues to make slash after slash in succession, sending a flurry of waves at Silver.

Silver counters each and every wave with a psychic wave of his own, each pair colliding in the air and cancelling each other out.

The attack stop, as Chronos simply stares Silver down. Silver stares back, but neither one makes a move. Finally, Chronos speaks. "You cannot defeat me."

"Oh yeah? Says who?"

"It is not a command. It is a statement of fact. I have split into the three core elements of myself. Sonic now fights my skill, my speed and ability, perhaps a fair match. Zero fights my strength, my instinct, again with comparable abilities. But you. You are staring at my intelligence. My strategy. My perception. You cannot win. You are not even the smartest of your trio, let alone even close to my level. You are naive and insecure." Silver can't help but let out a chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"You might want to check that 'perception' of yours, Chronos. I've changed since last time we fought. You know, it takes a lot of brainpower to use psychic powers properly. I just haven't been doing it right!" Suddenly, he unleashes two crossed psychic waves, one from each arm, aimed right at Chronos.

"Ha!" Chronos swings his staff and dissipates the waves easily. Staff still directed outwards, he declares, "You're going to have to do better than that!" Suddenly, he feels a tug on his staff.

"I wouldn't be too sure!" Silver rips the staff from Chronos' hands with his powers, and lets it land gently in his own. "You let your guard down, just like I was planning. It was almost too easy."

"It is of no consequence." He holds out a hand, and a new staff generates in it. "You couldn't possibly use such a tool."

"We'll just have to see about that!" Though it is a bit long and awkward for him to hold, Silver swings the staff forward with all of his might, putting his own psychic powers behind it. A massive wave of combined power is generated. Chronos only stares with wide eyes as he is hit with the overwhelming attack.

—–—

The large-winged Chronos slides across the ground, knocked out of the air. The Core Sapphire lies faceup, exposed. Suddenly, Sonic slams down on top of it in a bounce attack. From the air, he goes right back down into another, and another. Relentlessly, Sonic slams down on the gem continuously, until the area around it begins to crack once more. Finally, he uncurls and lands on Chronos' chest. He aims a final kick at the protruding gem.

—–—

Zero pounds one final time on the exposed gem, and the area around it cracks. He firmly grabs the gem, digging his fingers into the cracked wood around it. He begins to pull.

—–—

Silver stands over the fallen Chronos. He directs his hands to face the exposed gem, and uses his powers to pull with all of his might. As the gem begins to just barely lift away, the area around it begins to crack.

—–—

Three shards of one Core Sapphire tear away from their holder, and the three hedgehogs each raise their prize triumphantly. In her blue-haired human form, Janice appears to each of them, the young one to Zero, the old one to Silver, and the adult one to Sonic. She speaks to each of them, "You have done well, hero. Now, give me the Core Sapphire, so I may repair the damage done to the universe. Then you can meet me back at the point we entered from, so I can send you home." The three Janices each extend a hand. The hedgehogs dutifully place their gem shard into the hand, and their blue auras fade. "Thank you." Sonic and Zero turn back to return to the point they entered from, and soon meet up with Silver.

Unable to contain his excitement, Zero is the first to shout, "We did it!"

Silver finishes, "We won!" Now the best of friends, Silver and Zero wrap an arm around each other's shoulder and laugh. But Silver's mood begins to change. "I…I guess this is goodbye…" He gets right to the point. "Zero, I want to thank you for being my friend. For helping me to open up."

"It was me who needed it. You've let me in. And that's all I can ask for out of a friend."

Suddenly, Sonic joins in, wrapping an arm around Silver's shoulders and placing him in the middle. "What about me? Have I been a good friend?"

Zero jokes, "Eh, you've been alright. You know, for a bumbling fool." The three all share a nice long laugh about it.

Their moment of fellowship is interrupted by a weak voice. "You don't understand what you've done…" The long-staffed Chronos has stood back up, and slowly steps toward the group, heavily relying on the staff for support. "Janice…I beg of you…stop this now, before it's too late…"

Behind the hedgehogs, the Chronos-like form of Janice stands tall, the 12 Sapphires and 3 Core shards orbiting around her. Apparently, she has picked up the staff which Silver had dropped. "Oh, so now you beg? You at last admit that I am superior? Well, it's too late for that, old man. Now, this is my realm. Now, I make the rules. And my first rule…weaklings like you four are not allowed!"

Silver steps forward in confusion. "Janice, I don't understand. What's going on here?"

"Oh, you poor, gullible fool! Fools, all of you! You couldn't see through such a simple ruse, even as you were told it was such! You deserved to be tricked for how easy you made it!"

Suddenly filled with rage, Zero shouts shouts, "You traitor! You weren't going to save the world at all, were you!?"

Chronos answers. "No…she is the cause of its destruction."

"I don't need your pathetic world! With my new power, I can create a new timeline! One where I am not just the ruler of time, but the ruler of all!"

Sonic cries out with rage as he springs into action, aiming an attack at her sundial. She easily blocks the blow with a hand. Silver moves next, attempting to psychically restrict her. With a dramatic movement of her arms, she dispels the aqua energy. Zero seems ready to strike, but Janice cries, "Enough of this!" With a wave of her hand, a blood-red rift forms behind the hedgehogs, and with a slash of her staff, a wave of energy crashes into them, sending them spiraling into the portal. "You next, oh great master." She directly hits the weak Chronos with the staff, sending him into the rift as well.

For a moment, all is quiet. Then, as the rift begins to close, Janice lets out a great booming laugh. "Hahahahahaha!"

To be Continued…