30 - Waterboard

"You see, when I made all your helmets crumble up into ash," Scourge poked his own head as a gesture. "I put a little spell on you guys thanks to that red mist. It infected anyone wearing one, including you." He said while looking over at Zonic, who was glowering with an angry but worried look in his eyes. Yes, that's what he wanted to see. "I activated that spell, to make all your soldiers think they're fighting my guys, when in reality, they're fighting each other. Killing each other." The expression on his evil mug basically was asking 'does that sound familiar?' He was referring to the massacre that happened in Sonic's world, it was about to happen all over again. The very thing they tried to prevent was about to happen. "I made them all turn crazy, and pick up those guns. I made them use 'em, to commit beautiful acts of mass genocide."

No.

No.

No no no no no no...

NO.

NO!

He would never let that happen! Over his God damn dead body! No way in hell, never in a trillion years would he sit by and let that happen! Zonic became stiff, and he looked as if he wanted to say something. Scourge loved that horrified look on his face, it was almost attractive. For a second, Scourge looked away to glance at the computer screen. Then, Zonic slowly moved his wrists to bring his cuffed arms up. His fingers reached to the collar of his military uniform, inching closer to the hidden button that was always installed into any soldier's official attire. All he had to do was press it and call Sonic prime, he could warn him before it was too late-

"Don't try to inform your soldiers, I'll just kill you if you do that, okay?" Scourge said nonchalantly as he spit the gum out in his hand and rolled it up in a ball between his fingers. He tilted his head and faced Zonic. Even though his expression looked calm, his eyes were so terrifying. They were shrunk, and his face was shadowed by his own evil intentions. His fingers that were holding the laptop, were starting to crush into it's surface. "I'm serious, okay?" He said with a nice voice, clashing with his dangerous and odious facial expression. "I will actually kill you if you do that. I will hurt you. I will do the things that I want to do to Sonic, to you. Trust me, you really don't want that."

Were...Were his eyes becoming inverted? Why was one turning black and red? As if he knew what he was thinking about, Scourge closed that eye shut and rubbed the back of his head while making a pained groan. Was he himself becoming corrupted or something?

No, Zhadow taught him better than this. He taught him to never be intimidated by any enemy. No matter how big, strong, or horrifying they may be. So with a scowl, Zonic took this chance to reach up and grab his collar anyway. Pressing his finger and thumb into the collar transmitter, he alerted Sonic as fast and loudly as he could. "Sonic prime!" He cried. Scourge snarled and dropped his laptop. "Sonic prime, Scourge is going to try and hypnotize my men! Stop this at all costs! The red mist is-! Argh..!" He was shoved down onto his back with his hands pinned above his head. His throat was then gripped by both hands this time, closing into his neck to strangle him once more. Zonic inhaled sharply, his legs shuddering and starting to thrash. "...!" He struggled to move and get out of his hold, but Scourge was physically superior as of now thanks to these damn cuffs.

Scourge was enraged. Zonic disobeyed him, and he didn't like that. Both eyes were turning black, while his irises became bright red with a swirl. Red and black energy was beginning to surround the car's interior, and the lackeys up front made grunts before passing out. The car immediately stopped. Scourge's now demonic expression would forever haunt his dreams from here on out. His fur was fading from it's green color, and it was becoming...purple? His quills began to raise upwards. His voice became warped, one that couldn't have been this own. It was as if someone was talking along with him, something that was neither Moebian or Mobian. Something that wasn't of any world or reality.

"You motherfucker!" He shouted. "You really want me to kill you right here? Right now!? Or would you rather me make myself look like your comatose boyfriend, and rape you right in this fucking car seat instead!? I will make your life a living fucking hell, don't you dare disobey me!"

Zonic could honestly admit to himself, that he was actually scared.

"You pompous fuck, I will END YOU!" He screeched as blood dripped from the side of Zonic's neck. His nails were puncturing his uniform, his fur and his skin. Zonic couldn't even cough or making choke noises anymore, he could only just sit there and feel numb. He couldn't move his body, and he was starting to lose consciousness. Just before darkness could take over his vision, Scourge reverted back to normal. His fur became green, his eyes were white and his irises were blue. His quills relaxed and so did his grip. He looked bored again, with eyes that still seemed rather, insane. "Oh, you're about to pass out. Sorry about that." He let go and wiped the blood off on the black leather seats. "You alright?" He asked.

"..." Zonic couldn't speak anymore. When Scourge turned into, that thing, he had already placed Zonic into an illusion. So now, he'd be stuck in his own nightmare for the time being. He fainted right in his truck, his eyes still open. Almost as if he was dead.

Scourge just scoffed and looked out the window. They were on the beach now, the boats were just a little farther ahead. The sun was shining brightly over here, but it was so dark over at the battle area. How fascinating.

It was actually a gorgeous day. Too bad no one could enjoy it-

"I-I see them sir! They're in the truck over here!"

Wait what?

"Aw shit..." Scourge mumbled.

After his ingenious idea to attack with a barrage of full speed charging trucks ended successfully, Sonic smiled as they just drove away into the distance. That cleared out a lot of assholes, so that was a plus. Okay, now where was Shadow? Sonic didn't move from his position, he only stayed in the same place while moving his head around to look. All he saw was unconscious bodies and people fighting. He hoped he didn't end up hitting him with the trucks. No, Shadow was more clever than that. He would have just chaos controlled out of the way.

When a green flash appeared behind him, Sonic was quick on his feet. He readied himself to attack, until he turned and realized it was the person he was looking for. "S-Shadow..!" He nearly smiled if it wasn't for the expression on his face. Why did he look kinda of pissed? "Uhh, what's up?"

"You and the commander switched places?" The black and red striped hedgehog asked heavily while moving to the side to dodge a stray projectile. Geez, was that a shard of metal? The hell were they throwing stuff like that around for? This may have been war, but that was a bit unorthodox. "Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.

"Because," Sonic dragged out. "He didn't want anyone to make it obvious that they knew. Scourge is smart, he'd know if something was up. He wanted no one to be aware so there'd be absolutely no chance of suspicion." The hero scratched behind his quills. "We had to pretend to be each other, fake our personalities and what not. I memorized his speech right before we left the HQ since I kind of suggested it last minute."

Sonic laughed at both of their reactions. "When he introduced himself to me the first time we met, he was like this." The hero cleared his throat and made the blankest, most mundane expression he could muster. "'Hello Sonic prime, pleased to meet you. I am elite officer Zonic, I hope you feel welcomed here in No Zone.'" Throughout that sentence, he made sure his voice was as monotonous as possible.

That's right, Sonic was an excellent impersonator and could easily mimic the commander's personality and voice.

Just now, he was talking about when Sonic interrupted Warden Zobotnik by whispering to Zonic during their last meeting in the boardroom. He was giving him his idea of this plan then, and that's why they didn't leave HQ together. Meaning, the Zonic that made that speech in the helicopter, was actually Sonic talking. This also meant that Sonic was the one giving commands and giving orders, like a real commander. No wonder the real Zonic who disguised as his lover, barely spoke. He didn't want to give anything away, probably in fear of messing up Sonic's personality. Thankfully the situation was dire and serious, so it matched his normal mundane attitude. He wouldn't have had to force Sonic's personality that much at all, given the desperate scenario. As impressive as this ruse was, it didn't last.

Shadow just frowned and glanced to the side, where Scourge's truck previously drove off from. "What were you planning to do exactly?"

"Well, I was trying to buy us some time to have our powers recharge. I knew Scourge would some how get his hands on me eventually, so we swapped places just in case. The plan was for Zonic to pose as me for a while until I gave him the okay that everything was ready." Sonic clenched his teeth with frustration. "But, it failed. He tried to stop Scourge before he could pull anything, so he sacrificed himself." He looked towards Shadow. "Sorry for tricking you like that."

"If I had known about this, I could have...Just," The ebony hedgehog sighed quickly. "Stay by me, and don't separate from me again." He faced him with a determined expression. "We're doing this together. Understand?"

Sonic nodded with half of a smile. "Right." He looked off in the distance towards the large crowds of people fighting senselessly. "You wanna chaos blast this?"

"We'd end up hurting the commander's men as well."

"Yeah you're right," Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Maybe we could-Huh?" He heard static in his ear. It flicked with irritation at the sound, until he reached up and adjusted it accordingly. Was someone trying to contact him? It couldn't have been Zonic, he was just captured.

"Sonic prime!" He heard his twin scream. With widened eyes, Sonic listened closely.

"Z? Is that you!?" Sonic worriedly replied back. Shadow rose his head at that. "What's going-"

"Sonic prime, Scourge is going to try and hypnotize my men! Stop this at all costs! The red mist is-! Ah..!"

"You motherfucker-!" That was another angry voice yelling in the background. Scuffling and shuffles were heard, along with a pained grunt and more angry shouting. The transmission ended abruptly. The voice sounded distorted though, and Sonic couldn't tell if that was the poor connection or something even worse. That was definitely Scourge's voice. Damn it, what did he do to him!? Sonic could feel his anger rise, but he once again forced his inner demon to pacify itself this instant. He refused to make a fool out of himself right now. He just angrily cursed under his breath and looked towards Shadow. He was about to tell his partner what just happened, until he saw red in the corner of his eye.

A red mist-like gas was rising in the air.

Wasn't that the stuff Scourge's gang shot earlier?

"Shadow, we gotta get rid of that stuff!"

"I overheard. We may not be able to chaos blast through the field, but I've got a better idea that just might work." The dark hedgehog could sense that while Sonic had darkness inside of him, there was also a power of divine purity. If they could channel that correctly..."I'm going to show you something. Give me your hand." He stepped behind the hero and grasped his right wrist. As the red mist rose, the hedgehogs could see that it was starting to travel to anyone who was fighting. That wasn't good, it had already spread pretty far. "Open your palm." He instructed. Sonic did as he was told with curious eyes, opening his hand towards the sky. "I need you to focus your energy, and push away any negativity you have brewing inside of you. I can feel it, you're still pissed, but you're trying to keep it down. I need you to get rid of it completely, even if it's just for a few seconds."

"H-Huh? Why?"

"This won't work unless you do it, just trust me. That negativity might bring out a less than desirable result." He could see from the corner of his eye that others were coming towards them to try and stop them from doing whatever they were planning to do. "And hurry, or else we'll be interrupted."

"Okay," Sonic closed his eyes, trying to concentrate and voiding off his negative emotions. He tried thinking about anything positive, while taking energy from the chaos emeralds he had hidden away in chaos control. He thought of his love for Shadow and his friends, burning away any anger or darkness he had developing in his mind. Blue energy formed around his fingers, just as Shadow said.

"Now," Shadow's own red energy surrounded his hand, and fused with Sonic's. "Chaos Vacuum."

"Chaos what-Woah!"

Strong winds blew against the ground, pushing back destroyed debris of cars or weapons. People lost their balance, tripping over their own feet as they nearly flew into the air. More blades of grass twisted away into the atmosphere, until it all flew in one direction. That current twirled, and circled into that of a miniature tornado. It sucked in anything that came across it, with blue and red aura powering it. The evil red mist that floated in the air, was now being sucked inside of their palms, disposing of the scarlet energy from the skies. This was almost really pretty, if it wasn't for the situation at hand. The fusing of their energies together, it sparkled and glimmered with power. It was as if it was purifying the evil energy from above and gassing it out. Not only that, but they were gaining some power back, purifying the evil energy and taking it for themselves to use.

Once it was all cleared out, Shadow let go of his hand. They did it, they prevented that scum from mind controlling anyone else. Sonic was going to smile, until he felt a slight burning sensation on his eyes and even on his temple. He blinked a few times, and shook his head. Finally, his eyes could see the world for what it really was. He remembered how there were more of Scourge's men on the ground than No Zone soldiers, and that's when he felt his heart sink. With his throat drying up in fear, he slowly looked down to the ground of the now mostly barren plains.

...There were dead No Zone soldiers, and dead followers of Scourge.

No, no that wasn't right. No one was supposed to kill anyone! Even Scourge's men merely knocked out whoever they were up against. No one had died yet, there wasn't a body count! Sonic was going to gasp, but it got painfully caught in his throat. His eyes shook, he realized both he and Shadow were far too late. Some of them had their brains blown out, some of them were decapitated. Some were stabbed and shanked, some were still alive but with their limbs broken and utterly destroyed. As Sonic took a step back, his sneaker squished on a small pile that was red and pink. He didn't dare look down to see what it was. Shadow's mouth fell agape, and he looked across the battlefield. There a lot less moving-bodies than before.

When Scourge blew up the helmets, they were all vulnerable to illusions. The soldiers' helmets were just blown up not too long ago, how did they kill so many in such a short time!? And why couldn't they see that they were killing each other until now? Shadow put his hand up to his earpiece, and tried to touch it, but it disintegrated into small pieces instantly. Sonic's did the same, and they both glanced at each other with shrunken eyes. They had both been vulnerable to his illusions as well, they themselves could have hurt some of the soldiers too. Now more of Scourge's men were alive, currently trying to kill the surviving No Zone forces. They used guns, rocks, anything they could get their hands on in the environment. Zonic swore to himself that he'd never lose a soldier, and now look what's happened. So many people were dead. Blood was caking the now shriveled up and dead blades of grass.

He failed his friend.

The others who were fighting, they all soon realized the travesty that just occurred. One person who was holding up a gun, who also didn't realize they picked it up to begin with, just finished shooting up a fellow No Zone soldier. They immediately dropped the weapon, and fell to their knees while screaming. Another solider had just hacked one of Scourge's men to pieces, and it was a woman. They felt sick to their stomach, lurched over and puke. More and more No Zone soldiers were realizing that they were hurting and killing their own people, or massacring others. They may have been an army, but they didn't kill. Scourge's men, who were brainwashed, didn't even mind. Not even if they killed their own fellow members. They just continued to kill and wreak havoc. Sonic wanted to call Zonic, and apologize for his failure, but he couldn't even do that. He was speechless. They broke everyone out of their hallucinations sure, but at what cost?

And...

Shadow's made a sound of shock and horror. Some of Scourge's men were, killing themselves. They were holding guns up to their heads, blasting their heads off. No Zone soldiers who saw this were so frightened by this, that they either ran away to their hidden base or stood frozen in fear. Sonic couldn't watch anymore, he just turned away while covering his mouth. Shadow wanted to yell 'Stop!' but what good would that do? They were so brainwashed by Scourge, they were willingly committing suicide, all just to lower morality and scare the living soul out of No Zone officers. If he counted correctly, Shadow could conclude that there was more than half of Scourge's men still alive. And only three thousand of Zonic's officers were still alive. Shadow has witnessed these kinds of atrocities before, but he was sure Sonic didn't.

Speaking of which-

He turned to his partner, only to see his face darkened. He could feel that darkness from before growing inside of him. No, he couldn't lose him right now, he had to wake up and get his act together. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry or grieve for anyone, not yet. Shadow gripped his shoulders and turned him around forcefully. "Wake up!" He yelled. "Stop worrying about them!"

His words did what they intended to do and did indeed wake him up, but he received a very negative reaction. "Excuse you..!?" Sonic roughly whispered. "Don't worry!? They're all dead, Shadow!"

"It's war, you idiot. That's what happens in a war, people die!" He squeezed his hands tighter, painfully gripping him.

"No shit, but don't tell me not to worry! I don't want to see anyone die! I'm supposed to help and save them!"

The ultimate life form growled angrily. "Then why did you even join this fight!?" Not getting an immediate response from a now silent Sonic, he continued. "You need to stop playing hero for everyone. You're a fool if you think you can preserve the lives of everyone even remotely involved in this battle." He saw that the blue one looked even more offended, but he didn't stop ranting. "This isn't some small fight against robots, this is a war between living breathing people. People get hurt, people become permanently scarred for life, and sometimes they die. You need to accept the fact that just because you're a hero, doesn't mean you can save everybody!" He let go of Sonic and furrowed his brows. Once again, he couldn't really see Sonic's face, as it was darkened with unreadable emotions. That darkness he sensed from before was growing even bigger. Shadow almost didn't care though. He couldn't let Sonic get distracted with this fantasy of being a perfect hero. "You need to grow the hell up so you can fully comprehend the concept of loss and death. The more you give into that goody-two-shoes side of yours, the more you'll be disappointed with reality." The universe is a harsh, cruel place. He needs to get that.

"..." The hero, didn't bother to speak anymore than that. He continued to be silent, his eyes nor expression visible to Shadow. He didn't even move. Shadow wondered if he was even breathing. The black and red striped hedgehog genuinely hoped deep down that he didn't hurt his feelings, but now wasn't a time to argue either. They were wasting time, they had to stop this. He tried reaching out to him to get his attention.

"Sonic-"

A loud voice hollered across the plains. "Everyone get down if you don't wanna get blasted!"

"..?!" Both hedgehogs lifted their heads from each other at the voice, and saw from afar that a small group of Zone Cop police cars were speeding throughout the field. Zector was standing on top of one of them, the car in front, holding and aiming a large weapon that looked similar to a rocket launcher.

"Anyone who's still alive and listening, get Colonel Zespio! This is far from over!" The crocodile activated the huge weapon, shooting a thick rocket onto the ground in random areas. When the rockets landed and exposed, green smoke emitted. Anyone who could catch the crocodile quick enough as he zoomed passed, was wiping tears from his face angrily. "I'm not gonna let anyone else commit murder! You're all getting knocked out with the Riot Launcher, whether you're our men or not!" He cried. "I refuse to let my friends kill each other anymore! Stand the hell down!" He raised his fist in the air, and others rose up and hopped on the roofs of their cars as well. They were all arriving and aiming with the same weapon, tearfully shooting rockets filled with a chemical in gaseous form to neutralize all fighters of the battle, regardless if they were friend or foe.

Was that, really Zector? The silly No Zone officer that worked for Zonic as a simple assistant? The guy who was the captain of their Navy? The goofy croc who always had a great sense of humor, who always found the brighter side to things, cracking jokes and lazing around paperwork? He didn't look just furious, he looked determined and stubborn. His voice sounded like he was willing to give up anything to stop this war from continuing any further. More and more No Zone soldiers were getting overwhelmed by Scourge's bandits. The number of officers was decreasing more and more. Zonic had thousands of soldiers, who were getting either killed or rendered unconscious. Numbers truly didn't matter, because Scourge's men were destroying them. But soon, it wouldn't matter. Soon everyone would be knocked-out here.

Both hedgehogs got down and covered their mouths and noses as the police cars drove right above them, bolting yards away. More explosions were heard, and the gas spread near them. They saw white masks falling down towards them in the air. The cops must have dropped them off for them. Shadow and Sonic quickly got up and grabbed them, pulling and tying them over their face and behind their heads. They needed to find Zonic and Scourge, and fast. Scourge was last seen driving down the plains towards the beach, they could run over there no problem.

Without even having to confirm this with each other, they made sonic booms in the beach's direction.

Scourge huffed as he adjusted to the weight of the other hedgehog laying unconscious on his back. That damn croc almost took him away with that stupid gas as a distraction. Good thing he threatened to kill him, it scared his little posse of navy seals off into the battle. The crocodile cursed and swore they'd get their oh so precious commander back, but they shouldn't count on it. They just came from outta no where. He almost forgot they were waiting on the coast to strike. They must have left after being told their boats were rigged to blow. Oh well. Scourge was carrying Zonic on his back, standing by one of his trucks as he watched the fight from far, far away. He smirked. His men were killing each other, and have been killing each other for several minutes now. He could tell the majority of his own army was still fighting.

Oh? And what's this? A blue streak? Speeding by? That's too fast, for the naked eye?

Why, he just found his beloved Sonic.

A pair of blue and black streaks were speeding towards his group of trucks. No doubt his blue lover and the fake-ass semi immortal wannabe asshole. They probably wanna fight him again, which he didn't mind at all. He anticipated they'd return, so no biggie. He had an idea for that anyway. He looked to his crew, who already knew what to do once the duo arrived. They thankfully woke up after Scourge's terrifying display in the car earlier, ready to tale orders. He bid them adu by saluting and speeding off towards the navy ships ahead.

Seeing that green streak rush to the boats, Sonic clenched his teeth. He was already pissed off, but running away? Now he was really angry. The hero boosted himself to speed on ahead, surprising Shadow. He quickly matched his movements and followed suit towards the coast, getting closer to his band of trucks parked on the coast. They had to skid to a stop once they started aiming weapons at them. The gas here wasn't as heavy, and the thugs in black were wearing black scarfs that were tied around their faces. Zector must have tried to apprehend them, but was probably daunted by Scourge. Sonic scowled and got ready, as did Shadow.

Before they could even pull a trigger, Sonic went in headfirst. Already using his unnatural speed to dart by them, he zipped around them like an annoying bee to snatch and grabbed all their weapons from their hands. There was a dozen of these assholes, and he was now carrying twelve types of guns. How interesting was it that they all each had a different type of firearm? Sonic carelessly threw them all away on the sandy ground, and watched as a chaos beam shot though and destroyed the killing machines right beside him. From behind, Shadow blasted them all into dust. The hero then moved in along with the ebony hedgehog to fight.

Sonic charged in and swung a right hook into a Moebian's face. He wasn't holding much back like usual, as he planned on really hurting his enemy this time around. The Moebian dog spat out blood while falling on his back. Shadow countered two Moebians at once, kicking one in the chest from behind and punching the other directly in the stomach. Another Moebian, an angler with razor sharp teeth-Wait, Scourge had aquatic Moebians too? Huh, go figure. The said Moebian was grabbing at Sonic, trying to bite at him. He dodged swiftly and gracefully, then waited for the right moment to throw out his hand to seize his face. Gripping his gloved fingers tightly on his mouth, he shoved him away and round house kicked him in the head. He heard more footsteps from another direction, making his blue ear twitch. More was coming. As they began to surround and crowd the two hedgehogs, they got together, standing back to back. Blue aura engulfed Sonic's form, and red chaos energy flowed onto Shadow's arms. Again, the two didn't even need to talk out a plan. They already knew what they had to do. Shadow would take the ones on the left, and Sonic would take the ones on the right.

They both got down on one knee, and charged up. The members of Scourge's gang that were coming closer, halted to a stop. Intimidated by the power glowing all over their bodies. Simultaneously, they shot off at once, sprinting full speed to plow through anyone and anything in their way. Sonic booms went off at the same time, stronger than before, causing an air wave to rumble and tremble the world from below. Just like the trucks Sonic used as a stampeded from earlier, they trampled and blasted away the thugs in black, sending them flying miles away. Some unfortunate ones landed in the oceans. Once they were all cleared out, the two hedgehogs stopped, then made a bee-line for the ships in the seas. Once their shoes touched the salty waters of the ocean, they used their chaos energy as a boost to jump from the sand high up into the air, and land down on the captain's ship. The captain's ship was in the very front of the fleet, so it was the closest to the coast. The blue and black duo landed on the wooden floors and ran forward to get inside from the deck.

The ultimate life form pulled down his mask. "I can feel that bastard's energy, stay by me!" Shadow exclaimed as he took the lead and rushed off, traveling deeper inside of the large ship and passing through huge mechanisms and parts, until they reached one of the ward rooms. They had traveled through the boiler room, and up through the engine room. Shadow felt Scourge's energy here in this ward room, he had to be here. The partners found that the room was far too quiet, and listened closely for anything strange. They were in a very dangerous area, as the boats were planted with bombs that could go off at any second. They needed to find Zonic quickly and get out of here. They had to fight Scourge away from this area so no one would die. Keeping this in mind, Shadow was surprised Sonic wasn't uncomfortable with this. After all, they were technically on the water. He despised big bodies of water, and trembled at the thought of an ocean. He figured since his twin's life was on the line, he pushed his fears away. He was good at hiding his emotions, so perhaps he was actually truly terrified or sick right now.

Out of the darkness from the corner of the room, Scourge stepped into the light, which was just a swinging ceiling lamp. "Well lookie what we have here," He leered. "My soon to be lawfully wedded blue wife, and," He looked very disappointed the second he laid eyes on Shadow. "...The semi-immortal wannabe bitch." He then smiled and pointed to the body laying over his shoulder. "Lookin' for this?" He poked an unconscious Zonic's arm. Sonic growled, and Shadow crackled his knuckles in his balled up fists. "You want him? Hm~?" He asked sweetly. "Huuuuh?"

"Just let him go, you asshole!" Sonic yelled. After he finished his insult, something erupted inside of the ship. The entire vessel started shaking. At first, it was just silence, then it occurred more than once and a loud noise became stronger with time. Was that the boilers of the ship!? They all nearly lost balance, but Scourge was still smirking, holding onto the body on his shoulder with one hand. Sonic's eyes widened when he realized what was happening. "The explosions..! They're going off!" He darted his gaze at Shadow.

"Damn it," He hissed. "Give up the commander right now, Scourge!"

Another explosion went off right next to the green hedgehog. He was pushed back into the wall, and he held onto it to keep balance. Shadow and Sonic were forced to kneel and hold onto the floor that now had a huge hole in it. The side of the ship was now destroyed, and the ward room was little to nothing. They could see the sky and the ocean right next to them, smoke and fire spreading with orange embers. "You want him?" Scourge asked again. "Then go get him!" He yelled as he turned and swung the lieutenant general's body out of the gaping smoking hole of the ship. He threw him overboard and his body descended hundreds of feet below. Sonic had to watch as his twin was nearing the surface of the water.

He was going to drown, he was going to drown and die.

But the water, the water was-

He felt Shadow grip his shoulder. "Faker, you keep him busy. I'll retrieve the commander!" He then ran to the edge of the hole on the side of the ship and jumped to dive down. He again, could only stare as his partner disappeared below. He could hear Scourge laugh as the ship continued to rock and tremor from side to side. Fight him? With that power? He could try to hold him off until Shadow got back but, this was Scourge we were talking about. He could pull something crazy at any second.

N-Not to mention...He silently gulped as he saw the long drop down into the abyss of a slow, lengthy and painful watery grave. Chaos, why did they have to fight here? Why? Why? What if he tripped and fell in? What if Scourge pushed him in?

...No, he couldn't be afraid or worried. He had to do it so Shadow could save his friend. Besides, Scourge could no longer regenerate, so maybe he had a chance.

"Hahahaha! You should have saw the look on your faces! You was like-" Scourge opened his mouth wide, as if he was a gasping fish. "Huh?! Hmm!? Hahaha!" He held his sides while nearly losing balance from the rocking sea vessel. "But now since it's just the two of us.." Scourge trailed off with an evil smile. "Think fast!" He yelled as he threw himself at the hero. He balled his fist and retracted it backwards, before shoving it deep into Sonic's stomach. The blue hedgehog gasped a strong inhale, and hunched back as he instantly puked. The punch was not only strong enough to send him flying backward, but it also made him lose his lunch. Not only was he already sea sick from the boat, but Scourge attacking his insides didn't really help.

The ship was beginning to fall forward, the entire perimeter of the room turning from diagonal to vertically upside down, and letting gravity take its toll. Crates and boxes slid down before toppling over and falling as well. Sonic fell through the metallic walls of the vessel, making holes shaped in his body frame as Scourge followed suit and continued to punch various parts of his form the entire fall. His movements were so fast, Sonic could only take the hits as he fell.

Getting literally sick of being clocked in the chest and face over and over, Sonic suddenly swung his arm into his anti-self's face. Elbowing him in the jaw and forcing him to move slightly backwards. The ship thankfully moved and tipped a little backwards, evening out the gravity so that they weren't just falling on one side anymore. They both landed at the same time, before looking up to glare at each other. Scourge smiled while Sonic wiped his mouth of vomit. They then quickly stepped forward to clash, throwing punches and hits towards one another. Sonic knew he had to step up and force his body to move just a little quicker than normal in order to keep up with his anti-double. They both attacked each other with the same movements, almost mirroring each other. Neither of them made contact with a hit, making them almost evenly matched. They kept dodging and moving, all while keeping balance to try and move to punch or kick each other. Finally, Scourge's fist swiped near the side of Sonic's face. The hero did the same, both hedgehogs missing their intended target once again.

They threw up their hands and gripped each other's wrists or fists, turning the fight into an endurance competition. Trying to push each other back, and even head butting their foreheads against each other's just to glower even closer into their eyes. The green hedgehog began to smirk, feeling that Sonic was stronger than normal, probably from those gauntlets Zonic let him borrow. The green menace chuckled. "I can feel your anger, Blue." He grunted as he felt the other push back a little harder, but not hard enough to throw him off. "You're losing it. No matter what, you just can't control it. It's like I told you all those years ago baby, 'all you need is one bad day'," He crunched his finger's into Sonic's gloves. "'And you end up just like me!'"

"Shut up!"

"Sonic," Using his real name made the hero flinch. "I'm gonna give you one more chance to hear me out so you can understand."

There was no sense in trying to negotiate with Sonic right now, his dark influence was overpowering his mood. Right now, he didn't care for anything else. He just wanted to beat Scourge. "Understand what!? There's nothing to understand! You're a killer and a monster!"

Scourge sighed with a groan. "You still won't listen-"

Sonic pulled his leg upwards to knee Scourge directly in the gut, as payback for earlier. "I said shut up!" He shouted, Scourge buckling his knees, letting go of Sonic and falling backwards from the hit. He landed on the floor with his hand, catching himself from another clumsy fall. Then, a dark flash of red and black, and he was gone. Sonic realized too little too late that he just chaos controlled, as he felt a hard kick in the back take him down. The hero tried getting back up immediately, but he was met with Scourge staring down at him with malicious glee. He pointed his finger towards him, directly at his face as the anti-hedgehog's eyes turned red. Sonic tried looking away and closing his eyes, but Scourge just laughed at him for this.

"Dumb ass, you don't need to look at me so I can hypnotize you." He cackled. "All I need to do is look at you!"

"What..!?"

"So get ready Blue," He said with a smug expression as his red eyes warped into red swirls. "To turn into Dark Sonic!"

END - 30

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