CHAPTER 5 - The Start of Conflict
Shadow stood his ground. His eyes slightly narrowing at the beast that was born from the sky. His mark emitting a neon purple, almost blinding his feature's from Shadow's gaze. The black figure rumbled and slowly grew, his body now twice as large as the black hedgehog. Then he roared at his aggressor, the terrifying claws aiming at the hedgehog.
Shadow quickly responded, his body ducking under the large claw swiping to take his head clean off. Shadow using his momentum threw himself face down and propelled himself into the air from a handstand.
"Your going to have to try harder than that"
Shadow while in the air, spun his foot above the creature's head and slammed down. Hard. The black creature now with a mouthful of dirt roared at the Chaos user, his claws now molding to form a sharp blade.
It started to swing
"Chaos Control"
The hedgehog disappeared and reappeared from under the monster's groin, only for his two feet to imbed itself into said groin. With a smirk addoned on his face, Shadow sent it into the air, its body now spinning out of control.
Shadow with the glowing white gem now raised his other arm and pointed his palm at his target, his killing intent now focused on a single speck in the sky. "Chaos Spear" A bright yellow projectile phased into existence, a speeding bullet launched itself from Shadow and just as fast as it appeared it exploded upon impact, leaving behind a body with no head.
"Hmm...it's not reforming this time"
True to his word the creature now plummeting to the dirt, no longer decided to reform. Its black shape losing its will to mold back into its previous appearance, seemingly melting into the earth and fusing with mother nature.
"Agent Shadow! Are you alright sir?"
A sub division of G.U.N soldiers now hurried to the scene in which the brawl took place, shadow's irritation now showing on his face as he turned to address the soldiers.
"Im fine, however the attacker seems to have fled. Any news on Omega and Rouge?"
One of the soldiers turned their heads to the path they came from, his brow depending as if he was in a trance.
"Although they appear to be fine...Omega though, seems persistent that there are more of those things but I haven't seen anymore"
Shadow nodded his objectives now clear
"Report back to the lieutenant, I'm going to go find those two. And don't go near any cracks, that's an order"
The soldiers saluted and turned to the camp
"Acknowledged"
.
"Aha! I knew it! Chaos Emerald acquired~"
Vector and his gang are currently smack dab in the middle of Sandopolis, the sand stretched as far as the eye can see and with no hint of water anywhere for the detective's.
"It seems odd however"
Espio voiced, his posture supporting the apparent discomfort in his voice and his eyes never staying in one place.
"I know, I know. This place reeks of 'this is a trap, welcome the hat rack is to your left' kinda deal"
Vector grumbled, his thoughts coinciding with the Chameleon.
"Well then let's split! I say we take a pit-stop and get some pancakes, with honey!"
Charmy while still under the scorching sun, can still keep that high level energy that the detectives desperately need if they wish to survive the onslaught of the desert.
"I concur with receiving a break, Vector"
Espio nodded with Charmy, their thoughts drifting off to a certain food item.
"Alright fine, let's go-"
The sound of glass shattering announced itself, all three wide eyed and hesitant to look behind them, but alas Espio gave in and looked at the source. White lines stretching across the sky and a black substance slowly leaking out and dropping through the grains of sand.
"This cannot be good"
Then the ground beneath them began to rumble, the three Mobians balancing themselves from the magnitude occurring. until it showed itself.
"Man, we DO NOT get paid enough for this"
A large black centipede burst from the ground, its jaws opening to let out a screech at its supposed prey. It's eyes glow with the symbol on its head, a triangle present on its head in a bright neon purple.
In response Vector grinned, and all hell broke loose.
The centipede rushed through the sand, it's legs going in and out of the sand dunes almost in a rhythmic pattern, only for front legs to raise and crash down on the three.
"Charmy! Go into the air and give me intel on where it's gonna strike, Espio you know what to do!"
Vector shouted with a war cry, his hands holding what was the impending strike from the centipede. Vector now holding it in place opened his maw, the heat rising from within his mouth until he let loose his flame.
Espio, while the centipede was distracted, used a ninja star to sever the legs of the dark insect. It screamed and then dug itself into the sand once again.
"Vector, we need to eliminate it quickly"
"Why"
Espio pointed at the ground, the sand slowly receding into the earth, a sinkhole forming in between them
"Oh"
"Oh indeed"
Charmy's shadow quickly overlapped the sinkhole, his voice now coming through Vector's headphones.
"Vector on your six!"
Vector turned to face the centipede erupting from the sand, it's legs ready to strike again as if it were never cut.
"Espio!"
Espio responded with a simple hand sign, his body now disappeared to the untrained eye.
Vector then rolled out the way, his eyes quickly readjusting to the intense heat of the zone making the centipede's form waver in front of his eyes. It's legs now impeded into the sand, it turned its jaws to face the Crocodile
Vector pulled his fist back, his mouth glowing a bright orange
"Grit your teeth insect!"
*CRACK*
The Centipede's right cheek now sporting a fist imprint, roared and launched its jaws it's intentions clear to Vector
"Incoming!"
The Creature's body buckled as if gravity had taken hold of it, it's exoskeleton cracking open to reveal the black substance slowly dripping from the cracks of it's skull.
"Hmph"
As if on cue, Espio's invisibility subsided, his kunai embedded into it's skull now being yanked out by the Chameleon
"Vector, now's your chance! Let em' have it!"
Now possessing the biggest grin he could possibly muster, Vector engulfed it in flames that even Blaze could be impressed by.
"Well done, I believe it won't be getting up any time soon"
Espio murmured, now making his way in the opposite direction of the sinkhole.
Vector simply started to walk behind Espio, his hands now behind his head
"HAH, that was just a warm-up. Alright Charmy, let's get going"
"Aye, sir!"
Charmy flew back down to the two, the grin never leaving his face as he gave Vector a high-five prompting Espio to give a slight chuckle.
"Well then boys, I think it's time we get out of here. Frankly I don't know about you, but I HATE Sandopolis"
Charmy and Espio both nodded, intent on getting out of this wasteland. What they all failed to notice, was the corpse slowly sinking into the sand as if it were never there.
.
Sonic was painting, his quills untidy and his trademark grin absent from his face. Instead the hedgehog had a frown that could give shadow a run for his money.
"Come on! I was so close, how can it move like that!"
Sonic stressed, his arms flailing about as he ran behind what seemed to be a large UFO.
The flying spacecraft in question seemed to be on a mission, to outrun the fastest thing alive. It was not slowing down for anyone and it seemed adamant in that it stays that way. Sonic was not getting any closer to his goal, and the unnatural movements of the spacecraft made it even harder for him, until he noticed something from his chase.
"That's...didn't I already pass that?"
The entire time Sonic had been running the UFO never stopped, always went in the same direction. It's like a race track.
"Well that's good to know. It just makes my job a little easier"
Sonic, his eyes now locked in with the flying object made a two second decision. He stopped. then spun 180 degrees and ran in the opposite direction. His trademark figure eight now appearing in his steps, the hedgehog now possessing a grin that rivaled even that of Eggman's.
And then just as expected, the UFO slowly came into view, its claws gripping the green gem. Sonic jumped into the air, his right hand reaching out until-
THUNK
"Chaos Emerald acquired...hey wait a second"
The world as if responding to him shimmered, until it all became distorted and Sonic found himself back from when he came in.
"Ughh...what is with all the headache's today, can't catch a break"
Sonic the looked down, his face being reflected off the green emerald, its aura radiating onto sonic like a wet blanket.
"To think I would see one after all these years"
Sonic then looked up at the sky and his expression changed from joy to familiarity. His eyes going back and forth between the stars now covering the sky.
"This isn't a Chaos Emerald, it's a Time Stone"
.
"Tails are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Im positive Amy, please don't make the trip any less enjoyable"
Amy and Tails now flew over the newly redecorated station square, all thanks to Eggman, in hopes of finding a clue in where the elusive mad doctor might be hiding from the rest of the world.
"According to the scanner, there were traces of Chaos readings from at least two Emeralds. But quite frankly I doubt the scans of said energy are new."
Tails stated, his eyes focused more on the scanner in the bi-plane rather than the flying itself. To Tails, finding out Eggman's next move is top priority. He knows just how dangerous that man can become should he stay in possession of the Emeralds for two long.
"As much as I hate to admit it Sonic is probably fine without us, if we want to help him we should find Eggman. For all the trouble he is, he might have a better understanding of what's happening here"
Amy looked up, he mind processing the information the fox supplied.
"How do we know it isn't Eggman himself causing the trouble. He has his name basically written all over it!"
Tails turned his head to address her, then quickly decided against that due to being several feet in the air.
"Because one of his most successful and prized robot not only was collapsed by the same thing that Sonic had run into, but also had no idea what said object was"
Amy hummed in response, her attention now diverted from the young fox, the newly ruined building stealing the spotlights of Amy's attention span. Then out of the corner of her eye she noticed something peculiar.
"Is that...a hole?"
Down below the bi-plane in station square did the two notice the massive hole in the ground, seemingly a circle had been embedded into what would have been several tall buildings. Tails following Amy's gaze, swung the plane around and headed for the pit, his eyes focusing on all the carnage that lay before them. Tanks, planes, robots…they were everywhere in Station Square empty shells of what they were before the battle. However what terrified them wasn't that, rather it was the lack of weapons that were in this 'hole'. Not a single trace remained.
"Im landing now, sit tight Amy"
His bi-plane now making a steady approach to the ground, the hole getting bigger as he got closer.
"Right"
His first response to landing was to just stand there, his focus now in the environment. He dug his gloves into his plane and pulled out his scanner, his face with a thoughtful expression.
"Amy, I think this was the work of a Chaos Emerald"