Chapter 23
Time's End Part 2
A love lost…
A heart broken…
In the depths of immeasurable sorrow…
A fox cries out in despair…
Under the light of a full moon…
A cosmic miracle occurs…
"DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE YOURSELF CAPABLE OF BESTING ME!?" Chrono roared as he charged Tails.
Tails, now in his super form, now had the necessary speed to react to Chrono's attacks, and as the enraged machine lunged at him, he flew over him and delivered a hard downward kick to the back of his head.
"Gaagh!" Chrono quickly reoriented himself however, reeling back and punching Tails in the gut. Flinching slightly, Tails delivered a kick to Chrono's right leg before grabbing the arm he'd punched him with and swinging him over his head to slam him into the ground. The ensuing shock-wave caused by the sheer force caused Cosmo to lose her balance, causing her to yelp in surprise.
Quickly noticing how close Cosmo was to their battle, Tails grabbed the still disoriented Chrono by the leg and tossed him into the sky before quickly flying after him.
"YOU WORTHLESS, INFERIOR FOX! YOU DARE ASSUALT ME!?" Chrono screamed as he once again righted himself and began gathering energy around his hands.
"TAKE THIS!" he roared. From his hands came a swarm of swirling, dark energy spheres all crackling with destructive power. With a thrust of his arms, Chrono directed them all at the super powered fox heading towards him.
Tails was an expert at dodging projectiles however, he swiftly dodged one after another with relative ease. He wasn't used to a super form nor fighting an opponent with power equal to one and thus his inexperience did make it somewhat difficult to avoid the numerous projectiles though he managed to do so nonetheless, his quick adaptation to the super form becoming more apparent.
Just a he was nearing Chrono however, Tails realized they were still above Cosmo, who could not dodge such attacks so easily.
"Cosmo!" he yelled out, turning and preparing to fly to her aid. Before he could however, Chrono grappled him from behind.
"Your concern for her is too easy to exploit Miles, but worry not, those attacks are very much meant for you" Chrono spoke. The various energy spheres then stopped and began to fly back upwards toward the pair.
"Can your wretched super form's increased speed be of use to you when you can't even move? Or can it provide you with the necessary durability to save you from my dark chrono energy?"
Tails struggled to no avail, Chrono's grip was to strong as the machine had power equal to a super state, possibly greater. He wouldn't be able to break free and dodge in time, so he had to think of another way.
"I hope this works.." he thought to himself as he began to gather energy within him.
As the spheres nearly reached him, Tails' eyes flashed and he cried out as a burst of energy expanded outward from his body, pushing Chrono off of him and creating a shield of sorts that caused all the spheres to harmlessly dissipate upon collision.
Once they had dissipated, Tails ceased the burst of energy, taking a moment to gather himself from such a use of power before turning back to Chrono.
"My turn" he said. With a burst of speed, Tails flew at Chrono and as the robot hurled another attack at him, Tails dodged it before grabbing it mid flight and launching it back at him, Chrono having just enough time to shield himself with his arms before impact. Without missing a beat, Tails then delivered several powerful kicks and punches to Chrono's arms, torso and head before slamming his tails into him and sending him flying.
Still continuing his assault, Tails then gathered more chaos energy and thrusting his arms towards Chrono.
"Chaos spear!" he called out as arrows of golden energy flew towards Chrono and collided with him, the robot crying out in pain.
"AAAGH!" Chrono responded with a large beam of chrono energy. As Tails dodged it however, Chrono move his hand to the side and the beam redirected, hitting Tails in the back.
"AH!" Tails cried out.
From the ground, Cosmo was attempting to follow the battle above her despite their speed, all the while desperately wishing she could help. Though the power of the chaos emeralds was great and the master emerald not being present meant that the power could not be canceled out, super forms did not last forever, Tails had informed her as much back on the Blue Typhoon. Because of this, she feared Tails' super transformation would run out before Chrono would fall, as the robot had the energy of time itself on his side and at the moment, the battle was still at a stalemate.
"I don't understand, where is are the time stones? Chrono must have them if he is using their power, but where?" she wondered aloud, attempting to search for the gemstones. An idea then stuck her: the trees! The multicolored trees that surrounded the hill! Each one was the color of an individual time stone, that could not be a coincidence!
"But I can't connect to the trees…how can I use that to help then?" Cosmo wondered as a loud bang drew her attention back to the battle above.
Though he had not started to lose ground yet, Tails could tell Chrono hadn't either, much to his frustration.
The two began to draw more power and lunged at the other, their increased speed causing each blow they landed on each other to emit a loud bang and send out waves of energy.
"Come on Tails! There must be a way to beat him! You even took all the power of the emeralds to increase your chances and he's still not losing ground!" Tails thought to himself as he countered an attack and blasted Chrono back, who redoubled his attack and began his assault anew.
"Brute force isn't going to cut it. Besides, beating the enemy with fighting alone is Sonic and Knuckles' style. Yours is tactics! Fight smarter not harder. He must have some way he's keeping all that power, some sort of source. If he's cut off, he'll quickly lose ground in this fight."
For a brief moment, Tails glanced downward and saw Cosmo studying the trees, his mind coming to the same conclusion she had. His attention was quickly drawn back however, as another large blast of chrono energy engulfed him, Chrono having used his split second of distraction against him.
As the energy dissipated, Tails' body crackled with residual energy, he had just barely raised a shield to defend himself. Though unfortunately, the shield was raised in haste and lacked to power needed to fully protect him, and thus he had taken most of the blast while still nullifying the absolute worst of it.
Flinching slightly from the pain, Tails refocused on Chrono, though it was still apparent to him that the fact he felt pain meant Chrono could still hurt him.
And he was running out of time.
Gathering more energy, Tails hurled a barrage of Chaos Spears at Chrono and as the robot dodged or deflected them, he quickly gathered a much larger amount and hurled his own beam of power at him.
Chrono had no time to react as the beam engulfed him, with him screaming out in pain and being pushed back with the beam.
Using this time to his advantage, Tails redirected his attention to Cosmo.
"Cosmo!" he called out, getting her attention "I think it is the trees he's getting his power from! We have to cut him off!"
Nodding, Cosmo called back "I know! But I can't connect to them! He's cut them off from me somehow!"
Tails responded by gathering a large ball of chaos energy in his hands, and once he finished, he let the ball gently descend to the ground.
"Try this! Perhaps the energy of the emeralds can bypass whatever Chrono's done to them!"
As the ball descended down and came to a stop in Cosmo's hands, she felt the immense power coming from them as well as a gentle warmth.
Before she could respond however, Chrono launched forward and, while wrapping his claws in energy, dealt several blows to Tails, who after the second blow began to defend himself as best he could.
Cosmo looked at the glowing orb in her hands with uncertainty, how could she use this? She had never used chaos energy before! Even Tails had only now used a super form to her knowledge! Sure, she had held an emerald before, but she had no idea how to use their energy, not only that, but the emeralds were currently drained with Tails using their full reserves to battle Chrono.
"I…I don't know what to do!" Cosmo said to herself in frustration. Tails made it look so easy, and Sonic and Shadow had used it so readily when they faced Dark Oak.
"Wait.." she said to herself as an idea struck her. She had been revived using chaos energy, energy used by Sonic and Shadow. Moreover, Tails had once told her that there were two types of chaos energy: Positive and Negative. The metarex had used the negative and its destructive capabilities, and Sonic and Shadow had used the positive and had used its miraculous healing power to save her from death. Could she use that?
The emeralds turn our thoughts into power…
Tails' words ran through her head as she looked over at the glowing gemstones.
A moment of self doubt passed over her, unsure if she could provide the positive thoughts to fuel the emeralds power before she shook her doubt away and replaced it with determination.
Cosmo walked over and gathered the emeralds, placing one in front of each tree before moving to the center of the hill and kneeling down with the energy sphere still in her hands.
"Here we go.." she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and began to focus. The sphere glowed in her hand as she concentrated on her most positive thoughts: her friends, the fun they'd had on the blue typhoon as well as since her return and of course, Tails. Her heart warmed at these thoughts and a smile appeared on her face, the energy in her hands responding as well as its glow intensified. Once the energy was glowing like a miniature sun, Cosmo reached out with her senses and felt for the trees. Though the connection to them was still closed to her the energy still spread out from the sphere, instead flowing into the emeralds which began to regain their color and glow with increasing intensity.
Maintaining her focus, Cosmo waited until the spheres energy had dispersed into the emeralds and then placed her hands on the ground. Her thoughts then turned to the trees surrounding her, her positive emotions focused on breaking whatever dark power Chrono had over them and freeing them of their pain. The emeralds responded by floating off of the ground and merging into the trunks of the trees as though being assimilated. The trees began to crackle with dark power and Cosmo felt a mental push against her. She pressed on however and refocused on establishing an empathic connection with them. As the battle of wills raged on the energy surrounding the trees began to increase in intensity. Ultimately, Cosmo felt what amounted to a mental snap, before she successfully connected to the trees as though a door had been opened and the dark energy surrounding them shot upwards and dissipated with a scornful hiss.
Grinning with glee, Cosmo cheered aloud "It worked! It worked!" before quickly stopping herself and extending her senses to the trees. Now was not the time for celebration, not yet.
Reaching out, Cosmo used her species' natural ability to communicate with and manipulate plant life to make the trees close their power out to Chrono, the trees being more than happy to oblige.
Above, the battle continued to rage on, Chrono lashing out with a barrage of physical and energy based attacks and Tails doing the same. Unfortunately, Tails' super form was now beginning to grow weaker, the battle having gone on for too long and his energy reserves beginning to run low.
Seeing this, Chrono quickly took advantage as he used his chrono energy to burst forward with increased speed and after disappearing, reappeared behind Tails and blasted him in the back, sending the fox forward as he cried out. Without missing a beat, Chrono grabbed Tails' namesakes and began to spin him around, intending to hurl him forward with immense force and catching him on an energy spear.
As he was spun however, Tails quickly used his forward momentum from the spin to bend forward and gab Chrono's head from both sides before sending a current of energy directly from his hands into his head.
"RAAAAGGHH!" Chrono screamed as he let go from the pain, Tails quickly catching himself after a few seconds. Tails then unleashed a barrage of chaos spears and energy swipes generated by his tails before following up by curling into a ball and spin dashing into Chrono's torso repeatedly.
As Chrono attempted to catch the fox before he could collide and missing with each repeated attempt, his digital eyes dilated with clear rage as he thrust his arms and legs outward.
"RRAAAGGHH!" he roared as a pulse of his dark energy burst forward, not only pushing Tails back but also shocking him.
Before Tails could react, Chrono held his hands forward and another pulse of energy expanded from it that seemed to pulse outward and then disappear.
"ENOUGH!" Chrono roared as the pulse reappeared around Tails' body and formed a stasis field around him, trapping him in place.
As the fox struggled, Chrono floated up to him and glared at him a moment before speaking.
"Did you forget about chaos control? Specifically its ability to stop time? I command chrono energy fool! I may not be able to use its full potential in this fight, but I still command the time stones! You cannot best me, especially with your limited power."
Chrono paused a moment, glaring into his super powered enemy's eyes, who glared back defiantly.
"You impress me Miles, you've earned my hatred with such greater ease and speed than even Sonic. You bested me when no one else could. You stood against me despite knowing of my manipulation of time. Even now you face me and take on a super form to face me even though I have already erased all of time. I have already won and yet you oppose me, you have nothing left to save and yet you still fight! Why? What could you possibly hope to achieve now?"
Tails glared back, clear anger at Chrono's words showing in his eyes.
"You're wrong, I still have Cosmo. I still fight for her. As I have from the very beginning, as I did to protect her from you. That is why I took on a super form and why I still fight you to the last breath, for her, to protect her."
"And yet you still could not prevent me from taking her, from obtaining her bio data, which I have used for my own purposes. I took complete control of the metarex technology within me using it. And using the seedrian bio data to establish an empathic connection to the natural world I took control of the little planet itself. I took control of the time stones. You failed to protect her then and you will now, and yet you remain defiant."
"I failed to stop Shadow before too. If the metarex hadn't appeared to take the emerald then he would've killed her despite my efforts. I failed to save her from needing to sacrifice herself as well, and yes, I failed to keep you from capturing her. But she's still here, don't you get it? I still continue to fight for her despite my failures because I lover her. Because despite all that, she still returns to me, we're still together. Nothing with separate us, not Shadow, not Dark Oak, and not you."
Chrono clenched his fists.
"I HAVE ERASED ALL TIMELINES! THE AREA WE ARE FLOATING ABOVE IS ALL THAT REMAINS! IF YOU WERE TO BEAT ME THEN WHAT!? THERE'S NOTHING ELSE LEFT! WOULD YOU RESIGN YOURSELF AND HER TO AN ETERNITY IN JUST THIS SMALL VOID!?"
Tails smirked.
"An eternity of just me and Cosmo? Sounds like heaven to me"
Chrono roared with irate fury, Tails' lack of fear driving him into a fury.
As he shivered with rage, Chrono spoke in a low voice as his body began to glow, the energy now blood red instead of its former dark purple.
"Then I will deny you even that, I shall end you, then her, and then I shall erase you both from time existence. You shall have no eternity together in any form! Farewell Miles Prower!"
Chrono's body was engulfed in the red glow as he held both hands towards the fox, fully intent on ending this with the most devastating attack he could create.
Tails smiled contently, though the reason for his smile escaped his enemy, who did not know what he had just felt.
Chrono began to launch his attack when he suddenly felt a shift in his internal power, the ripple sent through it causing his gathered power to dissipate as he clutched his head in surprise. He felt his power suddenly shift, become weaker. He felt as his power suddenly seemed lesser. He quickly realized he could no longer feel the time stones, his connection to the trees he had manifested them as closed and locked. And as the stasis field around Tails dissipated and the glowing fox lunged forward and dealt a harsh and brutal kick to his torso thus sending him flying, Chrono realized in horror his power had become what he had struggled to ensure it never was again….finite.
Catching himself, he looked at Tails with fury and confusion as the fox floated before him.
"How!? HOW!? How did you do this!?"
Tails glanced over to Cosmo and Chrono's eyes followed, finding the seedrian surrounded by the glowing chaos emeralds with the trees surrounding her and their differently colored leaves glowing brightly. Standing among a patch of newly grown pointed flowers not unlike those on the little planet, Cosmo looked upwards with a smile.
Tails smiled back before turning his attention to Chrono, who looked back at him, having understood what happened.
"As I said, you underestimated us. You thought you had the power of the time stones locked from us, thought Cosmo would be unable to break your connection. But you never truly understood the power of chaos or our power. And now, you are running out of your own power. I may not have too much energy left, but I have more than enough to defeat you."
Chrono trembled with rage.
"No no NO! This cannot be happening! I planned everything perfectly! I mastered time itself! I am time! I am a god! I can't be beaten, least of all by you! You robbed me of my victory…" Chrono turned and pointed a clawed hand at Cosmo "…so I shall rob you of her!"
In an instant, Chrono created a large red beam from his finger which increased in size as it flew towards Cosmo.
Cosmo reacted quickly, creating a mass of vines to act as a shield while calling on the trees to provide some manner of energy based protection, but she was unsure if even that would be enough.
Just as the beam reached her, she felt a rush of wind and heard a loud bang in front of her. After a second she retracted to vines to find Tails standing in front of her, having deflected the beam.
Before she could say anything however, he silently floated up into the sky and came to halt level to Chrono, his head down as he trembled with rage.
"Oh what's wrong Miles? Did that exhaust you? Did it take a lot of energy to make it there in time? Are you unsure if you could do it again?" he spoke mockingly.
Tails' head shot up, and Chrono saw the clearly irate look in his eyes.
"You…you dared to try to hurt her..again! I've had enough Chrono…you wont hurt her…EVER AGAIN!" Tails roared.
With powerful burst that generated a sonic boom, Tails rushed forward and with his fist wrapped in chaos energy, he slammed directly into Chrono's face.
As Chrono was sent spiraling backwards, Tails quickly caught up to him and brought his fists down on Chrono's head, following by appearing underneath him as he fell downwards and delivering a powerful kick into his back, sending him flying upwards.
"AAAGGH" Chrono screamed as he spiraled upwards, not even having time to stop himself before a powerful blast struck him from below, followed by another, then another, one after the other in quick succession.
Finally, having the chance to draw upon his remaining energy, Chrono created an energy shield, buying him the time to reorient himself.
As he did so and growled while glaring down at the golden fox, Chrono suddenly became aware of a strange feeling on his head, face, torso and back.
"What?" he questioned aloud as he felt around and felt…dents?
He had been damaged, his power was now low enough that he could be physically damaged.
"T-this..is impossible!"
Tails didn't even hesitate. He quickly flew upwards and created an energy lance that he hurled into Chrono's center, before hurling more chaos spears into his body at various points, creating more dents as well as causing new gashes and exposing circuitry.
"It's over Chrono. You can't win."
Chrono glared back, his exposed circuitry starting to crackle and spark at several points where it had been severed or torn. His right eye beginning to flicker and his voice beginning to distort as the red glow of chrono energy around him began to fade.
"I WOn'T Go ALoNe. I Will TaKE YOU with mE!" he screamed as he gather all the energy he had left, intending to form it into a large ball of destructive energy intended to destroy Tails and then explode and consume everything around them.
Tails looked on without fear as he brought his hands together and began to focus his energy.
"No. No you won't. no self destruct attack this time"
And so the two foes focused their remain power into a single attack, intending for their next attack to be the climactic finale to their battle.
As Tails gathered energy, he suddenly felt a massive surge of energy within himself, his eyes shooting open and seeing streams of energy flowing from the trees and into him. His gaze then turned to Cosmo, who was holding the yellow chaos emerald in her hands, which glowed brightly, smiling up at him.
Tails gave a warm smile in return and mouthed a "thank you" before refocusing on the energy flowing into him and guiding it into is forming attack.
After a few moments, Tails had gathered so much energy his body was now glowing with such intense, golden light, he almost appeared to be made of energy. He then put it all into his energy sphere which expanded into immense size.
He thrust forward as it became a massive golden beam, the energy creating a heat that mirrored a supernova.
Chrono responded in kind, his own beam of blood red energy rushing forward, the two colliding midway through.
Though Chrono was clearly struggling with trying to push his beam forward, Tails remained focused and calm, clearly not being strained at all.
"Game over Chrono, you lose." he said as he pushed forward, his beam bursting through Chrono's and rushing towards the terrified robot.
As the searing energy engulfed him, Chrono shook in shock and fear. No one to repair him this time, no parts left to salvage, and no way to escape his fate or backup his artificial consciousness. He has no way out. His plan had failed. And despite deducing that another had played a part in his return, he was certain they would not aid him now. Despite everything he had done, all the power he had gained, all the control he had sought and taken, he was still not a god. A god was absolute, perfect, unbeatable. Yet he had obtained the power of time itself and erased timelines to make way for his own, and was still beaten by an eight year old fox who had just obtained a super form. He would be erased, forgotten, with no remnants of his actions to remain. He was no god, he was not perfect. He was just a robotic duplicate. A copy.
He was just Metal Sonic.
Without a word, Metal Sonic surrendered to his fate as he was disintegrated by the beam of energy down to last atom.
Metal Sonic was no more.
When the beam finally died down, Tails took a moment to be certain that not even a speck remained, and once satisfied that there was none, began to descend down to Cosmo.
Cosmo quickly rushed to meet him and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"You did it! Tails you wonderful, amazing fox you did it!"
Tails returned the hug, smiling warmly as his super form ended and he returned to his normal state.
"WE did it Cosmo."
The two held their embrace for several moments before pulling back as their eyes wandered around the area around them, save for the hill they stood on, there was nothing. Just an endless white void.
"Tails…it's all gone. How will we ever see anyone again? It's all been erased. Everyone…all the timelines, not just our own, they're all gone." Cosmo spoke as she lamented their lost home.
Tails was silent a moment before turning to Cosmo with a smile.
"I think I have an idea"
Taking Cosmo's hand, he led her to the center of the hill, the two of them getting down on their knees facing each other. Cosmo looked at Tails curiously, unsure what he had planned.
"The time stones embody time. Therefore, any timeline that exists should be, in a way, "remembered" by them. Sort of like storing data on a computer. And if that's the case, we can use you're connection to their tree manifestations' plus the chaos emeralds ability to turn thoughts into power to restore out timeline, which should also cause the others to be restored as well."
Cosmo's eyes lit up, her having understood his explanation and being overjoyed at the idea.
"Really!? do you think it will work?" she asked excitedly.
"Only one way to find out" Tails said as he placed the emeralds around them parallel tot he trees before taking Cosmo's hands in his.
Tails and Cosmo closed their eyes, their focus being drawn to the emeralds and the trees respectively. Tails felt the emeralds respond to him, ready to serve the purpose he had for them, and the trees responded in kind to Cosmo. Cosmo connected the trees to the emeralds and the two then began to focus their thoughts on their home, their time, and their friends. As they focused, their thoughts then turned to each other as well, and the the future they both hoped for with each other, causing the emeralds to increase in luminosity and the leaves of the trees to do the same. Eventually, the emeralds and the trees were glowing so brightly that they appeared almost white, Tails and Cosmo's eyes opening as the light from them began to expand. It was done, they would soon be home safe and sound. And with each other.
As the light began to engulf them, they gazed into each others eyes, both leaning in and meeting in a kiss. They stayed like this as the light washed over them and expanded beyond the hill into the sea of white, reality beginning to shift as the lovers' actions restored time and space.
A Child of fate…
A seed of destiny…
A twin-tailed hero…
A noble soul…
Two star crossed lovers…
Torn apart by fate…
A love lost…
A heart broken…
In the depths of immeasurable sorrow…
A fox cries out in despair…
Under the light of a full moon…
A cosmic miracle occurs…
A fox and a flower reunited…
Their shared future renewed…
Though new foes rise to threaten them…
Their love binds them together…
Fox and Flower overcome their foe and save all…
As they were saved…
By a Rebirth.
YEAH! And there you have it! The finale! I really hope you enjoyed this story, but it's not quite over yet. I do intend to write an epilogue, and then Book 1 will be complete. Till then, stay tuned. See ya!