Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos
Chapter 2
By: Cutegirlmayra (I split these chapters up. Tell me if you like smaller chapters, yeah? Two in one night! Baller~ EDIT: I'm combining them all again XD)
"Shadow!" A familiar voice rang through the air, like a comet or arrow piercing through the sky.
"Grr... Rghk… R-Rouge?" Shadow opened one strained eye that was shut, holding Chaos's watery, taloned crab-arm as it choked his neck.
While he struggled, his feet dangling in the air, oxygen passed by his throat at wavering intervals... he could hear the flapping of large bat wings.
"Let him go, you big bully!" Rouge spun a kick into Chaos's head, drilling her sharp-ended heart-shoe right into his brain, piercing his liquid hide and causing him to release Shadow from his bonds.
Chaos reeled back with another roar of metallic shrieks, causing Knuckles to somewhat cover his ears from it. Chaos turned away and had his watery appendage morph back into his tall pillared self once more, his eyes blaring green.
He swiftly changed his sights from Shadow to Rouge, shaking his head at the damage done to his watery skull as Rouge caught her falling friend and flew him safely down.
"Rouge! I should have known you were behind this, too!" Knuckles removed his hands from his head and rushed up to them, accusing her and shaking his fist around, flapping his gums off…
"Oh, Shut up!" she hollered back over her shoulder, "You really should learn to not cry out random garbage before you understand what's really going on!" she scolded.
"Why you-!" Knuckles's face flared in puffs of red, his muzzle showing his angered and flustered expression, but Rouge just saw Shadow hold up his eyes to her own.
"Rouge…" Shadow twitched his head up, seeing his vision blurred from lack of oxygen. "You came back?" He asked.
"Heh, you seem surprised." Rouge smiled, "An old partner is still a partner, Shadow." She took her hand and moved his arm over her shoulders, "It's okay, Shadow… I'm here." Rouge looked down kindly towards him, helping him up to his feet again, "And that's saying something... G.U.N doesn't know I'm here... though, they would probably want me to be. I've been charged with investigating this strange phenomenon. Thought you could use some help."
Shadow nodded to her, giving her a faint smile through the apparent weakness in his voice from being momentarily strangled, but was ready to fight again. Hits don't do much against the Ultimate Lifeform... he was ready to swing and duke it out again within seconds.
"Also... I saw those flashing lights bounce off from here." Rouge, once seeing he could stand on his own again, let him go and honestly spoke her mind. "I figured something must have happened... knowing you were coming here."
Knuckles turned back to notice the sweet exchange, before flipping out and approaching the two again after blinking his eyes back and frowning at the closeness. "I-I don't understand! Why are you both sneaking around Angel Island?!"
She kept her eyes fixed on Shadow before turning to Knuckles, frowning and narrowing one eyebrow to the dummy, "You really think now's the time to accuse people? What about you, Knuckle-head? It's not like you have any brains in that noggin of yours to know anything about what's going on with those lights, do you?" Her abrasive question left Knuckles stumbling and twitching an eyebrow at her boldness in insulting him.
"W-What did you say..!?" Knuckles flinched back, his fingers twitching too as his anger rose. He flopped his fists down and folded his arms once he saw Rouge take her focus off of him again, looking away from the two as he smushed his lips back and forth over the other in a grumpy fashion. Being 'called out' on his lack of information during this... strange event of sorts... Left a sour taste in his mouth.
who wouldn't feel that way? But it wasn't as awful as that returned beam of light made him feel...
"Ugh, The ruins… they didn't have anything." Shadow tried to grab at his head, rubbing it a moment to get clarity again and quickly explain to Knuckles the full account they had, but Chaos was quick to intervene. He turned back around and looked as though about to lunge at them again, causing the three to brace themselves for a battle, before a ball of light spun out from the Master Emerald.
It dangled its red self around his head, stopping him, and speaking, "They know not the cause for your aggression, Chaos! Please… I beg of you… let me help them understand… They simply seek clarity." and spirited passed him towards the trio.
Her words coaxed the revered and abused god back… as she hovered just slightly closer to him. "We will truly restore Harmony this time… I have given you my vow…" as the light withdrew from his face, Chaos returned to his original form, and looked away, bubbling as he stomped off towards the edge of the Altar's highest foundation, and waited.
"Did that light… speak?" Rouge felt something familiar stir in her memories, but Tikal's spirit dangled over them and circled, not allowing memory time to resurface as she was in a haste.
Her spark of red light suddenly flared out to encompass them, the three trying to shield their faces before blinking and adjusting their pupils to the new tone of foggy sight. "What is this?" Shadow looked out and tried to gently swat his hand through the fog, but nothing.
"A vision." Tikal reverently answered, flying in between the trio, their small flashlight in the fog. "I have momentarily teleported each one of you into the past memories of Chaos... from the Master Emerald's power, this is briefly possible."
The three saw the fog part in front of them, moving like a misty curtain before falling to the ground somewhat and showing them a devastating scene.
"These are the ruins of my people… the destruction of Order, which was the unity of the world… Harmony and Chaos…" All around them, they saw they were above large fires and people screaming. Ultimate Chaos bellowed out a powerful blast that carved large ridges into the earth. A massacre...
Knuckles's eyes shook as his teeth gritted, raising his head up as his eyes remained looking on the scene, "Chaos..." His anger was filled to the brim.
Rouge had to turn away, as Shadow just stood and looked about, studying the scene of Chaos's massive powers...
"I couldn't stop my father… and Chaos destroyed and destroyed… Without Harmony able to restore what was lost, balance became distorted, and Chaos's rage grew and grew… as their creations began controlling more and more of his will." Her voice sounded as though the emphasis was of deep regret and sorrow, as though none of this should be taken lightly... and seeing all the poor souls... crying out... knowing their own people did this to them...
"All the tribes were destroyed... but some were punished in other ways... The Twilight Cage..." The vision revealed Ultimate Chaos flinging his head up and summoning forth the portal, and people being shot into it or being sucked helplessly into its core.
"... It looks nothing like him..." Shadow commented, never before having seen Ultimate Chaos in all his grand and terrifying power.
"It's because it's not him." Tikal's voice rang true, "It was the desires of my father and those who sought power and control... instead of peace and Order."
"You've been saying that..." Rouge finally was able to look up, tears in her eyes, still not watching the scene as she put a hand over her mouth, disgusted and shaken by what she was hearing... Her bat ears absorbing every helpless cry and cruel death... "But what exactly does that mean..? It doesn't sound figurative when you speak of it..."
The water dragon shook its mighty head, an ear-piercing sound as Rouge covered her ears and flinched, turning around as her eyes widened to see that before the suffering tribes and people... the Chief grinned and held up an Emerald. "By Harmony's light!" he cried out, "Chaos… be controlled!"
Chaos reeled his head back but looked at the cowering tribes below, shaking himself but unable to stop his mouth from opening wide...
"Wipeout our enemies! Give us the land we have come to claim for rightly better hands!"
A child clung to its mother…
"In that moment… Chaos's heart became hardened to all its creations…" Tikal moved her light back, as Chaos's eyes—sharp and now dulled from the lighted shine that used to be in them—swung his head back, before firing down on the village again... His eyes saw the mother and child... before his beam covered his vision... and the vision faded with it...
"No..." Rouge collapsed down on her legs... "That just... couldn't be..."
Knuckles closed his eyes, "Tsch.., Kerk...!" The tears in his eyes began to grow larger... his large fists shaking before lowering down and more towards his body, near his waist, " PACHACAMAC! IX!" he blasted from his chest's lungs out through his mouth like a megaphone...
Shadow just lowered his eyes in respect for the dead, before turning back to look at Tikal by his side. "What then?" he asked, "After this all occurred... it still doesn't explain what is happening in our time... right now."
"Could this... be a premonition?" Rouge rose up to a knee, spinning around and glaring at the speck of red light with a shaking fist. "Are those lights trying to warn us that this will happen again!?"
Tikal didn't reply to either, but continued after a moment of pause, "The destruction left only grief and ruin… Another Emerald was forgotten… the only one that could appease nature's delicate Order was lost… for what seemed like forever."
"There she goes again," Rouge softened her anger, now more confused, "Calling this 'Order' like it's something real and tangible..."
"Without her gift of life, Chaos's destructive rage could not be challenged nor appeased, and his heart sank deeper and deeper into its darkened state…" Tikal shined her light once more out to encompass the three, who were already pretty shaken by the image they had witnessed but looked to see Chaos bound to the Master Emerald, huddled in darkness before turning his head to a metallic ring.
"The Chaos Emeralds may have been a deceit to wield the power of the Gods… but one Emerald remained uncontrolled." The image turned to the survivors of other tribes, some even Hedgehogs... working together to seal the Echidna shrine cave and carrying a pink crystal...
"Those are..." Rouge could tell it wasn't the Echidna people...
"Only a few remained..." Tikal floated by Knuckles, "Including your ancestors..."
Knuckles watched the scene... before seeing a small group of Echidna's waving their hands along to show support and guide the way of the other tribes of different species, helping them to hide the crystal...
"There was no anger in their hearts... only misery... and the deep, unwavering desire to make right their people's wrongs... mend and atone for what they had done."
Knuckles lowered his head, the tears finally, softly rolling down his cheeks...
Rouge caringly looked at him, worried. "Do you recognize them?" She had never seen him so emotional like that...
"No." Knuckles swallowed hard and used his arm to wipe his eyes, "But I can feel that I do..."
Tikal waited patiently... before speaking again the further truth she had carried, "Since she'd been weakened when Chaos was forced to destroy a piece of her power,… she had been in isolation within the very caves my brothern mined the Chaos Emeralds… before she granted power unto the lifeless stones…"
"Mined?" Shadow questioned, but tried to not interrupt. "If power like that can still be forged..."
"Without Order, there cannot be an Era of New Life, and the Planet Egg cannot sustain its powers... Currently, no such power can be made again... for the Planet Egg wanes in its life..." Tikal solemnly declared the first answer the three had gotten in a while...
"Life... is waning?" Rouge didn't understand, "What are you talking about?"
"And what does this have to do with Chaos and those lights?" Knuckles pivoted back to Tikal, "I'm starting to realize... this 'Lost Emerald' is extremely important, isn't it? And it's causing events to come to a conclusion, not a repeated tragedy,... but an even worser one... right?!" He stepped forward, boldly, "That's what you've been trying to say?"
Tikal moved forward after a moment of pause yet again, and the three began to move like a ghost-image through the center of the large cavern within the mountain, traveling at quickened speeds without obstruction through the rock and stone...
Deep in the tunnel's belly lay the sparkling cave, but the past flashed before the three's eyes and suddenly... there wasn't a Crystal anymore. Hanging from the cave's ceiling was now only the fallen rock... and beneath them, The Eggman Empire's logo upon some forgotten, metallic scraps. "This forgotten Deity has been freed from her exile… but the abilities she gave to wield Chaos have once again been used for wicked purposes by her creations. Order has been challenged. History will repeat its duel if Chaos is to battle her once more. She mustn't be injured again. If she is destroyed, then all life will cease to exist!" the vision blasted the three, causing them to cry out in a bit of fright and shock, as they were quickly taken to what seemed like a futuristic time.
"All the lives that she had given the breath of life to… will be drained in hopes of granting her power to fight against Chaos for strength," Tikal revealed herself, before millions of girls behind her… falling over and fainting. "All life she created… will forever be... no more. And the longer her power drains the Planet Egg, the more this world will remain completely desolate of all life that renews..."
Rouge's knees suddenly quaked and she felt weak, toppling over as Shadow and Knuckles quickly rushed to her aid, holding her up. "Rouge!" they cried out in unison.
She twitched under an unknown power… "Hnh... Uhn... uhh..." her sounds of pain and struggling to remain conscious made both Shadow and Knuckles's eyes shake in understanding...
"Anything that bears the mockup of life..." Shadow repeated, clarifying or making sure he understood Tikal's words.
"... So... anything that can produce it... but... can't we-?" Knuckles looked to Shadow but he shook his head.
"We're only one vital element of the process... we do not have the means to create life." Shadow explained, "Although important... we cannot carry life in the same capacity as... they can." He looked up to Knuckles, as though this was worse than he could have imagined.
Tikal waited once more in absolute patience, before drifting over to Rouge, placing a ghostly hand on her dipping head. "Although men are the source of great power in this world... Harmony controls that which creates life, not what sustains it." she looked to the two men, "You are born of water... as dust and oxygen gave you life, you remain in life by the water and substances found therein." She then looked back to the weakened Rouge, who gripped her heart as she could feel it slowing down... "Without Order, we are all doomed... Man... and Woman... Plant... and Beast..."
"It's all interconnected." Shadow realized then, looking to Tikal, "If we don't stop Harmony... the world will become infertile."
Tikal nodded, "That is correct." and removed her hand from Rouge. "Life will cease to exist... and the life that was here... barely able to hold on."
"She means us." Knuckles tightened a fist up as he scanned the ground, still using his other hand to help with Rouge. "My people... didn't just destroy other civilizations... they almost destroyed the very fabric of the world!" He swiped his hand out, "I can't stand the shame of my people's blunders any longer! I have to do something!"
Tikal's face grew hardened in compassionate fear, "Harmony will pull that life… unwillingly out of every female that still breathes… Out of every plant, out of every substance that gives life such as air that remains in the skies or in the waters… Soon, every creature or life form will perish... For it is Blood that gives life… and water that sustains that life. This is how Order is run. By the waters of destruction… that fill what is needed for life to begin."
She spread out her arms, the vision glowing around them before they were transported back to the shrine, her body forming into a prayer-like stance as her hands came together… then her body faded into a glowing ball of light again.
"Blood gives life… Water sustains that life… Harmony is peaceful existence manifested… Destruction paves ways for constant renewal of that peace..."
Shadow and Knuckles watched Tikal's light fade in horror, as Rouge slowly came too.
"U…Ugh…" she gripped her head, "What on earth was that..?" She started to gain power back to her legs, and her heart beat mightily as she began to rise with the help of Shadow and Knuckles, still somewhat taken aback by Tikal's declaration and words...
"Rouge…" After Knuckles's worried reply, Shadow looked down as Knuckles matched his concern with the same avoiding gesture, keeping his eyes lowered to the ground.
"If Chaos is the water that sustains the balance of life and death… then… this other god… she wields the balance of what is able to give life and use the powers of that which lives. In other words… She is creation itself..." Shadow began to get up, helping Rouge to her feet.
"You mean…" Knuckles also helped her from behind, seeing she was still a bit wobbly from before, but looked around her to speak to Shadow in front.
"The extinction of all life… The stale state of existence with no birth… no livable substance." Shadow shook his head, turning angrily to Chaos, a fist tightening as he held it up. "Which means… tsk. This is bigger than just Eggman! What is he doing with a power that can create anything!?"
"If that… thing can do all that… Then in order to restore balance to the world's.. uh… Order… she'll have to suck dry the entirety of the planet to equal what she lost from Chaos's attack?" Rouge thought she had gathered something from the vision of the two fighting, and all those women collapsing… but the aches that swelled in her kept her from fully being attentive.
"Not just women... plants... anything that can hold and create new life." Knuckles scratched his head, "If men are water, and women air and dust... uhh... Blood..? I'm a little lost, confused, but I think I get it..?" He held his head a moment, trying to better find words to explain what he thought he knew from Tikal's warning.
"Seems so," Shadow responded, his teeth gritted as he glared at Chaos, seeing him doing nothing in his eyes as he stared at the three... He never looked back at Rouge or Knuckles but kept his eyes fixated on how to help the world continue living... and Chaos seemed a huge threat to that planning and ultimate goal.
Knuckles still looked worried, seeing Shadow's reaction, his anger directed at Chaos, he didn't know what to expect after all this revelation... "But then…" he looped one of Rouge's arms over his shoulders, hoisting her up halfway, and then kept his words to Shadow alone, having Rouge look at him with a blush from his kindness. She may be recovering, but he was still willing to aid her while she needed time to fully restore her strength.
His chivalry didn't go unnoticed by her…
"We need to find Sonic and Tails!" Knuckles bolded tried to turn Shadow's anger from Chaos to something useful and more significant. "Tell them what Eggman's up to and stop this deity from doing exactly what Chaos started! Destroying the world!"
Shadow stood up from his bent, fighting stance... " What is Eggman up to? With so much power at his fingertips..." He muttered to himself, before looking behind him, calming down to be rational, somewhat. "In a way, I suppose that's what they both will do." Shadow looked down at the ground, lowering his fist as he thought of Maria's life being taken away… of how Rouge looked…
Only he knew what dying looked like…
"I can't stand a being with so much strength... that it picks on the weak of this world." He closed his eyes, remembering the day she was shot by a full-grown man... and she was just a child. "We have to stop it," His eyes opened with a vindictive spirit in this statement. "Before it leaves all mankind without any hope of survival, of generations to come." He began to walk passed Rouge and Knuckles, "... We have to kill it." His eyes squinted, narrowed in his sights. "Anything that threatens the hopes of this world..." Maria's promise... Amy's renewal of that promise... his life's purpose... the reason he remains the ultimate lifeform... "If everyone on this planet is dead-" he stepped firmly to the ground, dust flying up in his wake at such a strong footfall to stop his forward progression...
"Then there will be no dreams to be had... or to protect."
He looked up to the clouds...
The eerie world seeming drained of bright colors, muted by the new story unfolding for this world...
This planet...
And all those that dwelled in it, herein.
"Taking life already made… using it to power herself… You don't think that spirit was suggesting that Eggman would use this god to purposefully fight Chaos?" As Rouge spoke, Shadow still wasn't looking back at the two, just sending a straight message through to Chaos, a death threat that with any wrong move... he'd be forced into direct action. "She said that god wasn't strong enough to do so!" Rouge looked annoyed, not seeing the facts add up. "How on earth are we supposed to bring those two together then?"
"Unwillingly…" Shadow growled out.
He then continued as his gloves made a tightening sound with their fabric, his fists clenching even further at how useless and pathetic Chaos was... just standing there... observing their world crashing and burning before his stony, emerald eyes. "The spirit implied the fight wouldn't be by choice… If we somehow freed this deity from Eggman's grasp… she could combine her strength with Chaos to restore what has been lost." Shadow looked down to his side, addressing the two at last behind him more directly. "…Would that be suggesting resurrection?" he wondered a moment out loud before his thoughts became only directed toward himself, 'A renewal of all life..?'
'Maria... was it too good to be true?'
"Shadow…" Rouge noticed him deep in thought, worried that his mind would suddenly rampage with thoughts of Maria's life being returned to her. It was exactly what she had feared, and Shadow's eyes suddenly darted to reality and nodded to her concern.
"Knuckles is right… we need to find Sonic." Shadow quelled his curiosity nad maddening hope for a moment. He needed more answers, first... Chaos would have to wait...
"Then… you'll join the cause?" Rouge was now speaking more about G.U.N. "We could really use you on this one." She got up, but didn't part from Knuckles's help, which he didn't seem to notice was an issue anyway…
Her arm slid lightly from his back, almost like a gentle reassurance that she was gaining her footing back, but he still loosely kept his arm around her, lowering the other mitten that had been holding her hand in place, letting it rest on his back.
"… I'll take your offer." Shadow turned back to her, holding out his hand, "If you abandon G.U.N's mission."
"What?!" She stepped back, now letting go of Knuckles's hold on her as his arm caught her waist briefly as though he was worried she would trip, his large hold on her waist gave her somewhat a subliminal comfort, and she continued to address Shadow as she rebalanced herself. Knuckles looked to see her hand immediately place itself on his own, where he was holding her, and it caused him to innocently double-take from her face to her hand, before realizing she didn't even notice her actions at all. Her mind was too focused on Shadow's behavior... it wasn't like him to get so wrapped up in world affairs with such anger and animosity.
She knew then... Shadow was thinking about Maria... this just became oddly personal.
"For now… anyway." Shadow kept his hand extended, "I'll need you to do something far more important for me..."
"Hmm?" She rose her eyebrow up, "Like… what?"
Rouge stepped out of Knuckles's hold, "You can't seriously expect the dead to rise again, Shadow." but while she tried to speak reason, Knuckles's eyes widened as he naively thought she needed his support, but it turned out she faked needing more of it. "Hey!" he let her fully go as she ignored him, but he gritted his teeth in annoyance at her deception... she had been keeping him close this entire time, just wanting his arms around her. "Tsk..!"
How long had she been playing weak on him for!?
Shadow didn't respond to her, but just gestured his hand down more to show he wanted something, "First… I'll need my software back." Shadow looked a little annoyed he had to wait for so long.
"Ah! Ohh..! Haven't you learned anything!?" she looked extremely insulted, swiping her arms up to shake them by her face and then down to her sides, bending her back in her frustrations at him. "You're not selfish, Shadow! Quit acting like it's all about you when you know it's-!" She cut herself off... he'd never admit how worried he was about her, would he? Huffing and holding back the reins on her anger, Rouge took the device out and smirked smugly as she held it with two fingers,… swaying it up by her face. "How do you ask a lady..?" she teased, wanting him to show her that winning smile that proved he had a heart made for others...
He just stared at her... a strange sense of entitlement that suggested he wasn't going to beg.
Her eye twitched then in fury, seeing he wasn't willing to play along at all right now.
"Properly." She declared.
-Eggman's Hidden Headquarters-
Back in the large, empty, hallowed rooms of Eggman's domain…
Robots remained motionless as lights flared out with cries of horrific torture from within a holding area.
Eggman's goggles shone with each color that passed them, safely behind what looked like a slanted glass, peering into a chamber where the crystal was hoisted up by three claws near the bottom of it. A perfectly, stainless white covered that room, except for the flares of light as Eggman clicked a button down and the crystal was shocked by the three Chaos Emeralds.
They were held up by what looked like metallic pedestals. Each had a laser equipped to it, as he seemed to be trying to get the mysterious power to work under his power and control...
Orbot and Cubot flinch with each painful, metallic ringing of a cry as their whole circuits were affected by her screeches.
"Make it stop…" Cubot whined, flopping his stem-like arms up over his head, as though to hide from the sight. "Such beautiful lights... for such dastardly purposes!" Little did he know the significance of that poetic line...
"This is outrageous!" Orbot removed his hands from where his ears would have been placed and floated over to Eggman.
"Hurts… doesn't it?" Eggman grinned devilishly. "This is nothing… compared to what I have in store for you…"
"Doctor, this is torture!" Orbot gestured his arms up to Eggman, as though pleading.
"I know." Eggman leaned back a bit, as though stiff but trying to relax.
"Please, see reason..!" Orbot continued his plight for empathy. "This isn't like you..."
"Is it?" Eggman held up the button that his thumb was firmly holding down again, moving the wire it was attached to out of the way so he could lift a leg up over the other, "She's being stubborn and won't come out... how else do I devise a way to tap into her power? Even by force if I have to... I'll find a way to secure the power of spontaneous creation, yet!"
"But you're not even giving her any instruction on what you want her to create! At least… give her a blueprint to fashion your creation out of! What are you thinking? Are you just… expecting her to create it out of thin air!?" Orbot swayed his arms about in differing circles, "She may not even fathom your genius designs, Boss... Please, give her at least the understanding to accomplish that much!" He put his hands together, his eyelights bending in compassion, "This just... seems illogically unsupported... Like spraying a dog's face before it even learned what you wanted it to do right."
"…Oh?" he let the button his thumb was pressing down release, as the crystal's ringing cry slowly monotoned out and bounced along the walls, like an echoed hum. "I'm not asking her to make me anything, yet, Orbot."
"B-but… the torture…" he twiddled his fingers, "I don't understand…"
Eggman's lips curled.
"This is just intimidation."
He pressed the button again.
Another painful ringing of agony escaped the holding chamber, rattling the slanted glass as a beautiful display of shaking, almost like floating fabric lights danced in pain around the white, geometric room. The electric, color-coordinated with each Chaos Emerald's pulses shocked the Crystal, and the goddess trapped in its metal case. "How does one control an all-powerful being, Orbot?" Eggman asked, "A rhetorical question, mind you." He got up and spread his arms out wide, his goggles still on and blocking his delicate, beady eyes from the harmful rays of light, "Behold! Gods CAN feel pain!" he laughed, "And what better way to teach a god that greater power exists more than themselves?!"
The ringing began to increase in volume and pitch, causing Eggman's body to twitch as he suddenly couldn't handle the high frequency.
He released the button, falling back to his chair, as though jarred out of his moment of arrogant tyranny.
"Ugh, a light show for sure. But any more of that ringing in my ear and I might just go deaf." He wiggled his pinkie finger in his ear as he grumbled from being unable to sustain any more of Harmony's piercing cries.
He pouted, "Guess that's all I'm getting out of her for today..." He stood up to walk to the door. "Alright, enough fun." he put his hands behind his back, the button still in them...
He smirked and removed his goggles, adjusting his glasses for a second before putting his hands on some levers and contraptions, "Now,… I'm fairly certain there's a way to remove you from that crystal… considering Chaos had a weaker form before being in physical contact with the rest of his powerful body... Of which, I'll remind everyone present, you locked in the Master Emerald, using the Chaos Emeralds as types of 'keys' to utilize his power through. So that the poor, abused mortals you cared so much about could still wield the power of the unfair god. However... no such 'keys' exist for your prison, now, does it, my dear?" He moved a few things around, looking at them with a sneer of excellence in evil. "Oh, how little did I know, then! What little the ancients knew compared to me, and how awfully dreadful your tragic 'little knowledge' was of their betrayal and lies to you, Harmony dear... But good thing I like to keep an open mind about sequels to these eventful, fateful phenomena of history..."
He laughed as he pulled the three Chaos Emeralds to one side on their platforms, looking like a metal waiter's dish. The metal casing folded away like a flower from the crystal and opened the room up to its deadly powers, as it was now obvious to Orbot that Eggman was using the Chaos Emeralds to try and 'tap' into Harmony's crystal and pull her out.
"AHHH!" Orbot and Cubot held one another. "H-he's releasing her from the crystal!" Cubot whimpered a simulated cry, as Orbot just shook in fear at Eggman's planning. "You really are a genius! Though, you may have just unlocked your execution!"
The two trembled as Eggman pulled down the cranks and shoved up more levers, "The 8th Emerald is a terrible name." he began, spinning other devices and pressing multiple buttons, stepping on something like a pump beneath him as another machine came down, looking like it was to extract the god… "There were multiple Emeralds… I've seen them myself. Stole a few in the past, too, back when Sonic was but a hoglet in my shoe!" he moved to observe her closer, looking still as confident in his power over 'the goddess of nature' still,... "But over time they began to die and dwindle off… And you know why, don't you, my little.. Haaaarrmony? He purposefully emphasized that part of her name, before charging up what looked like a descending laser. Massive around its back, but precise and tight in its front barrel.
He shoved his face up against the glass, the button now supercharged and glowing at the tip of his hand-held, wired-up device...
"I don't like it when I can't see the face of my 'ethereal' slave…"
A power-trip...
Over an ancient being with such power as to be called a goddess...
What a madman.
A legend.
He shot out the laser, which split into five energy beams that zigzagged like the electricity out of the Chaos Emeralds. Using the Emeralds as a barrier from any 'backlash' she may throw, Eggman grinned even wider in excitement when the forcefield from the three's power was activated, powering the beam.
The energies moved like long, pinballing fingers that slowly concentrated themselves on the crystal, digging easily through its hot surface and reaching into where the blood and air mixed.
A figure began to form, looking as though it was running the opposite way before a mass of pink and red began to be pulled from the crystal. Dragging the figure from the core of the crystal, the lights tugged and pulled, as though the creature was desperately trying to fight being ripped away from its cruel prison... as though it would rather remain trapped in safety than defenseless outside of it.
The light in the crystal began to fade as the creature was finally gripped by the five energy beams and crushed out of the crystal, forcing it to be removed… shoving it against its prism prison until it gushed out in their thin but painful energy-hand hold...
"Those other Chaos Emeralds were drained of their power… slowly running dry as time went on… I wonder who could have taken and hoisted all that power..!?"
Eggman turned his face in towards her slowly morphing form, showing a round head that split out into two long triangle-like ears that rested down from her head. Patterns were formed out of the blood that moved like irregular bubbles in her pink fluid, and her eyes crystallized into the red ovals that Chaos bore, but in a different color. The texture looking like bug-eyes in a way, but solid and orbish, like stone. Her body was more feminine than that of Chaos, but still blobbish like his own. Her feet and one arm formed much like Chaos's stature, but the patterns that were associated with her head seemed only to consist there and on her triangular appendages that came down from it… The rest of her body was fluid of pink with hints of yellow, red bubbles that formed from air pockets that contained blood, and the blood vessels that formed the red triangle patterns on her head and back-'ears'... a feminine counterpart to the God of Destruction's kind...
She looked around, her eyes revealing her emotions to seem scared and hurt as her fluid morphed and bent like eyelids to express her distress.
The energy held her in as she looked down to Eggman, her blood making bubbling noises that were strangely different than Chaos's…
"... Her blood boils..?" He found that amusing.
"D-Do-Doc-Doc-Doctor..." Orbot's gears were clanking in fright, reaching shakily to Eggman's coattails.
Eggman just grumbled, a bit of a light scold for Orbot's cautious cowardness, and fanned his hand away from reaching for him from behind. Why wasn't he more concerned about the power he was unleashing back into the world..?
Her eyes bent back to reveal her suffering, and for a moment, even Orbot and Cubot fell for their pleas… as though she begged for mercy and isolation from cruelty.
Eggman was unphased, holding his hands behind his back, he revealed the button still held tightly within them, the wired chord that trailed around him was like a snake coiling around Eggman... seizing him in greed for power. "Obey?" Eggman's smirk spread widely across his egg-like complexion.
Her eyes widened, the fluid pulling back to give emotion to her rather detailless face.
He removed his thumb, his eyebrow going up. "And you don't get shocked." He explained, seeming to take Orbot's advice at last... or had he planned this all along?
She closed her eyes in relief, the pink fluid covering her stony eyes as she lowered her head, laying with her one arm tiredly down to hold her up, and her legs bent delicately as though docile in nature.
"But if you don't…" his voice grew grave as he leaned his head forward, before laughing as he clicked the button down.
Seeing her form being shocked, terrorized Orbot and Cubot, who looked away and ducked their heads, unable to bear this awful sight.
"I can't look! It's not the same as hurting a rock!" Cubot cried out, flopping his arms over his square head and clinging tightly to both sides, squinting his eyelights. "She's just a helpless girl!"
"She's no mere girl..." Eggman's merciless expression now made some sense... he saw her as power, not a lifeform... but one that was stealing power and life...
"You idiot!" Orbot shook his head to Cubot, "She's tied to the rock! She's not actually a rock!" He scolded, "The rock is made of the same material that the Chaos Emeralds are made of! She created the rock!"
"Say what!?" Cubot leaned up, looking to his friend, before turning around, "Ahh!" seeing the image again as though foolishly forgetting why he was ducking down and did so again, trembling.
"If my prediction is correct… the Chaos Emeralds still hold the power of Chaos's destructive forces. Not just time and space powers… they hold the source necessary to contain half a god's strength." Eggman watched the Chaos Emeralds' power shocking the crystal, inadvertently shocking her as she bent her body down and twitched, writhing in the painful experience as her form started looking as though it was being ripped apart. Her beating heart organ that had been stripped from the crystal pulsed in a hyper manner, mightly showing her struggle against the torture. She took her one arm and hugged it around herself, a metallic ringing and beautiful lights... the only cry she could muster now...
"I'm... not.. following~!" Cubot whined out, trying to sing through the cries of pain behind him as if saying in an obnoxious way- 'I'm not listening! Neh, neh!'.
"SHE'S BEING PULLED APART!" Orbot cried out, "The Emeralds were used to contain the power of the gods! She's being ripped from her own body by the Emeralds trying to pull her into them! By three different avenues!"
"This really is torture!" Cubot exclaimed.
"Exactly...!" Orbot proclaimed.
"On my ears! My whole metal frame is rumbling!" Cubot kept shaking his head, his lower square also trembling from the power and cries.
"Ah! You still don't get it!" Orbot stopped trying to explain the situation but just waited for it all to be over... for Eggman to be satisfied at last by her submission to his reign.
Eggman's clutch on the device shook and he suddenly released his thumb from the handle, revealing even he couldn't handle the painful shrill of metallic humming, affecting his body as well.
He had covered his eyes, but was panting…
Was something wrong?
He tried to chuckle… but felt the air in the room get a little…
Thin.
"Clever… You're-" he tried to breathe better, "Oh, so clever… hahh… haa… Taking the oxygen out of the room isn't very nice. Cutting off my flow of blood is also..." He gripped his heart, feeling like he was about to go into cardiac arrest as though that was the last she could do with her powers to fight against him.
He leaned back, bending his knees and putting a hand to one to stabilize his almost motionless body. The tendons in his body tightening and cramping from lack of oxygen, and his blood circulation slowing caused his senses to weaken, making him tingle in numbness.
He put his hand over his mouth, realizing then that as he looked up, she was twitching in the fingers of the lasers, pulled back up by the machines, to then be lowered yet against the ground once more. Up and down... once suspended in the air, then down before the button clicked again and she was raised back up in pain.
Eggman's eyes dried up, he rubbed them under his glasses and goggles... This was starting to get to him...
"… Haaa… haahahaa hoo… whooohoo…Ugh."
In a moment of compassion, he turned off the lasers.
This time, she fell harshly to the ground, splattering into liquid ooze that sizzled for a moment… but didn't steam.
She began to reform, trying to desperately lift her head up.
She looked just as spent as Eggman, who was struggling to keep his massive form still standing... bending on his knees as he looked at her, and then the button.
'It's like... torturing mother earth itself...' he wanted to toss the button but didn't... she was the breath of life... and if he pushed her too far to the edge... she'd take his life too, wouldn't she?
The soft, weakened cry of her would draw anyone to have compassion on her.
It was faint was pleasing to the ear.
The ring was musical, but also the sound of a suffering creature, still alien to the ear.
However…
Eggman stepped back,… feeling his lungs struggling, he looked to Cubot and Orbot, "Don't let her… hah haa... soft hums… haa, haa" He coughed, "F-fool you into forgetting what she actually is..." he leaned over his control panel, beginning to move to the door. "She's the mother of all living… sure… but she's not fooling me."
He waddled out of the room, gasping for air, coughing as he tried to breathe.
"She's a killer..! Haha… she's been draining power to try and regain what was forever lost... hah... hah... in her manipulated battle against Chaos." He caught his second wind, stretching out his back and trying to speak more clearly now, "To break free and restore Order… She is a threat to all life... She killed many in her quest to please her creations... Too bad I'll use all that stored energy to destroy and conquer the beings she loved most! Those that betrayed her will always be full of heartless greed and envy of the power of the gods!" he tried to laugh but choked, rushing to his eggpod and fleeing his headquarters for fresh air. For a moment, he really thought she might kill him, and looked in a mirror to realize his eyes were bloodshot, his complexion pale... He frowned deeply, his breathing now a rush of adrenaline and panic...
He had almost pushed the dainty goddess to killing him... and by some miracle, she didn't.
"She... can't drain my power..." he wiped his mouth, feeling it drying and his sweat trying to compensate as he also had to dab his forehead. "I'm a man... she can only take from beings that can carry life within them... plants, animals,... women." He shook his head, "Hoo, glad I'm what I am." He held to his eggpod controls and drove it through the air, before lowering the circular windows and letting his mustache feel the coolness of the planet's air. "Ahhh..." He breathed deep breaths. "Will be a shame when I pollute everything... I'll have to harness clean air somehow for myself." He was already planning the Eggman Empire... a stain of oil and metallic grim. His paradise, where life couldn't threaten him like she just did.
Back at the base... Once the coast was clear, Cubot and Orbot hurried down to her, feeling sorry for the Goddess.
"Your majesty?" Cubot blinked his eyes in concern, trying to lift her only arm up. "Please get up!" They weren't affected by her powers, being creatures of electricity and having no flesh to conceive any form of living substance.
The soft hum and wavering head that desperately tried to lift itself only revealed her terrible condition to be severe.
"Cubot, hold her head." Orbot lovingly directed, having slipped one hand from her only arm and pointing it to instruct Cubot. However, feeling her arm slip from his hand still holding it, he quickly returned it to her aid, trying to keep her up. "Hold on, Miss Life, hold on."
Cubot nodded and shifted, instead of trying to hold up her body with Orbot, just to her side, he moved to her front and held up her head.
"Oh! We're real sorry!" he moved quickly over to bring her head up more gently, stroking back her two large, long, and soft-edged spikes at the back of her head... They were flimsy, as though they could ripple in the wind... without bone or muscle, they were just like liquid in a thin, see-through bag.
Her gentle, half-closed gaze looked as though she was about to faint… Her head and body bobbing up and down as if trying to just keep its form together.
"Please, just do as the Doc says!" Orbot pleaded, coming over to her eyes. He held his hands together, wanting no more harm to come to her. "If you don't, he'll only hurt you more!"
She weakly opened her eyes to him, before folding her fluid over them again to look as though closing in weariness.
"Do you think she understands?" Cubot looked to his friend, who shook his head.
"I can't say…" He helped her lean against him from the other side, speaking to Cubot on the other. "We're not living, breathing creatures… We have no actual emotions for her to register at all. She probably can't understand what we're even made of." Orbot shrugged in a broken man's stance, before looking up to see the door open.
"We can't let her escape though." Orbot looked determined, "It's in our programming…"
Cubot sighed, softly switching her head to Orbot's for her to also lean again as her heart began to go back to a normal rhythm... her body moving up and down as though the bubbles were showing her breathing...
He hobbled in the air... looking back at her with crunched-up arms, not wanting to do this... but going up to the door, anyway…
With every amount of regret a robot could reveal on his face… he rubbed his hands over the other, having no conscience, but consciously understanding this was a mistake. He looked back at Orbot, who merely gave him the same grievance on his face... before Orbot reached up to the handle… closing his eyes... and slowly… closed… the door.