Control Revamped
Chapter 7
Whatever It Takes
"Yesterday's attack on New York City has finally had some light shed on it." A brunette woman with dark skin wearing a red dress is viewed on the TV screen, reporting on the ten o' clock news. "It appears that the beast seen yesterday is the supposedly fictional character Chaos, the God of Destruction, from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, by the infamous gaming company SEGA. We've just gotten into a live interview with the current leader of the team, here it is."
"So, Lauren Berry, what exactly is going on here?"
"Well, to put it simply… the Sonic world is real. It's just a separate dimension. And the villains got tired of losing constantly, so they decided to use the chain theory. If one dimension falls, they all fall. Essentially, they're trying to obliterate all existence. So far, none of them have the power to do so and they're just messing with us. Trying to weaken us and cause mass panic."
"So you're saying it's a doomsday situation?"
"Well, basically."
"And, what are this worlds defenses against it?"
"So far as we can tell… us. Me and my team are the only defense. We're the only ones with powers that can effect these villains."
"And what exactly are your powers then?"
"Well, we all have the power to become our fan characters for the Sonic dimension, by wielding the energies of the Chaos Emeralds. Each of us has one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and our own character to become. And each of our characters has their own powers as well. It's a decently balanced team."
"And how is that balance upset with the absence of your original leader, Andrew Parsons?"
"… With Drew currently in the mental hospital for traumatic stress and depression… We're not sure how well the team will do. But we wont give up. That's what he would want."
At that moment, I shut the TV off, having seen enough. I was laying in a hospital bed, feeling like I had failed the team. I felt useless. I was now on constant suicide watch and banned from the team until I regained my mental health. And my life wasn't going to clear up any time soon.
It was only going to get worse.
"Grandpa, what was happening with you out of the team?"
"Well, you see, I'm not sure exactly what was happening during that time. But, there's someone here who can tell you. Hun, can you come here please? The kids want to know what happened during my absence."
"Oh, of course. I'd be glad to!"
"But grandma, how do you know what happened?"
"Oh, of course, you don't know my first name. Well, I was on the team. But I'll surprise you with exactly who I was on the team for now, You'll have to wait till a later day to hear that story. For now, I'll just tell it as if I was well… all knowing. Like I wasn't any of them, but know what they did and said. So, anyways…"
Nicky sat on a bench in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Drew's home town. He was in the mental therapy unit of the Phoenixville Hospital, and she wanted to stay close. She felt like it was her fault that he had been driven to wanting to end his own life again. Like she didn't disserve her own life because of it. But then again, she also knew that if she would do that to herself, there would be no stopping him from it next time, which was sure to happen if she was dead. She knew he still loved her. And he always would.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was spread around town. Nicky didn't really know where they were, but she could sense them nonetheless. And before she knew what had happened, there was an explosion downtown and one of the six energies she could sense spiked. She knew that whatever it was, she had to get there fast. In a matter of a few seconds, she had transformed into Crystal and was gliding through the air on a dark cloud. Once she was downtown, what she found was a villain that they were all hoping to avoid for a while.
His blue metal hide shone in the bright fall sun, his sharpened claws glittering, and his piercing red translucent eyes could have torn through someone's soul. As he stepped closer to Ashley, who had already transformed into Ashez the Cat, the rest of the team besides Drew gathered around her. Lauren, who had already transformed into Liz, was the first besides Ashley to notice who their opponent was. "Metal Sonic… I should have known you would show soon. You're one of the only few villains who havnt shown up yet."
"Silence. And do not resist. It will only slow the inevitable."
"You shut it Metal." Everyone turned their heads to Crystal. Clearly, she wasn't in a good mood. "We'll turn you to scrap in no time… Even without Drew, we can still win! You're not so tough…" Metal of course wasn't amused. He turned on all thrusters and flew forth, tackling Crystal into a wall across the street. Metal then leapt up from the crater and watched as the dust cleared, showing Crystal struggling to get up, already having a stab wound in her stomach.
"L-like I said…" She spat blood from the corner of her mouth and smirked. "You're not so tough…" Crystal then aimed forward and fired a dark beam, which Metal took the hit directly, and then reached out with his right hand and took some of the blast, absorbing it into his hand. His eyes then flashed as a mass of data ran through him, and he thrust out his left hand, firing a dark beam back at her, which crushed her back into the crater.
"NICKY!" Dani for once was pissed off. She growled and ran over as she threw forcefields at him, which bounced off his back, causing him to slowly turn his head as he barely flinched from each attack. Finally, once she got in close, Dani curled up into a ball and surrounded herself in a barrier, which she then reinforced and propelled at him full speed, only to be epically bitch-slapped away. Dani then crashed into the roof of a nearby three floor restaurant, causing the corner of the building to be ripped off.
"Ok, now I'm pissed." Liz ran into the fray and surrounded herself in an aura of white flame, then aimed her hands forward, orbs of white flame forming on the tips of her fingers. "ECLIPSE BULLET: MACHINE GUN!" Bullets of white fire began to rain down on him, but Metal Sonic's hide was completely resistant. All he did was catch one, copy it, and return the attack on her leaving a nasty burn on her shoulder.
"Don't touch my girlfriend!" Grim charged in and surrounded himself in an Oni aura, then charged the entire aura into his right hand. "ONI FIST!" With one punch, Metal was blown into the sky, but without a scratch on him. And his body was now surrounded in an Oni aura, but black, his spines now marked with black flames.
"Oh no you didn't…" Trozae aimed her quills toward Metal and fired with everything she had, but to no avail. All of her needles just bounced off him without any effect. All she had done was added more to his arsenal, foe his elbows grew long spikes, with poison and paralytic fluids stored in them.
"My turn!" Ashez dashed forth and swiped her arm at him from a distance as she snapped her fingers, causing a laser claw tear made of green chaos energy to fly towards him. Metal caught it with one hand, and suddenly, the tips of his claws began to glow violet, and he repeated her attack on a full scale, using all ten fingers in an X formation. The attack caught her off guard, and Ashez was burnt, cut, and electrocuted by it, leaving her smoldering on the ground.
Meanwhile, back at Phoenixville Hospital, Drew lay in bed, so far in depression that nothing made sense to him at all. He just lay there waiting for someone to come in and kill him. But the visitor that came to him had an entirely different idea. It was another old man. But his eyes… were just the same. The same eerie deep blue, with the same icy voice. The moment he spoke, it was as if Drew was regaining part of his sanity. A bit of reason.
"Drew.. You think you're weak… useless…. But you're not… oh, you can become so powerful… you just need to unlock the power…"
"But how?… and who are you?…"
"Who I am is of no importance… what matters is that you get back up."
".. But how do I get that power?…"
"All you need to do is stop holding back… let out all your hate.. All your sorrow… let yourself free. Let out who you truly are. Alone. Misunderstood. All powerful…"
"Your efforts are useless." Metal Sonic crept over toward Crystal, prepared to kill the one who was weakest at the moment.
"We wont give up… y-you will die Metal…"
"Just stop resisting so I can crush you… Hm?" Metal froze in place as he noticed a new opponent standing at the sidelines.
"Why don't you pick with someone on your level?…" Scion's brooding voice drew in the attention of the rest of the team. None of them could believe he was already up and fighting.
"Hmhmhmhm… Very well. I'll take care of you, then I'll move on to them." Metal dashed over at his full speed and landed a solid punch to Scion's face, trying to toy with him. But Scion didn't flinch. All he did was turn his head from the impact.
*1* Once Metal pulled away his fist, waiting and practically begging for a reaction, Scion smirked and glared at him as his fur became darker. His spines stood on end, and his eyes hazed over, as a blood red aura rose around him. The rest of the team gasped at the sight of this, unable to believe what Scion had become. He had just accessed the dark form. Metal tried to process this form, but he didn't have the time. Before he knew it, a new katana, with a serrated back edge, was swung at him, taking off Metal's left arm. He quickly backed away and held his stump, then reached out with his right hand and psychokinetically levitated his arm back to him, reattaching it.
"Looks like this will be fun…" Scion dashed in so fast that his shadow seemed to be ripped from the ground, becoming an afterimage behind him. Before Metal could react, he found himself being stabbed through the turbine in his chest. He quickly backed up and away again, some of his circuits coming out on the serrated edge of the katana. He attempted to turn away and fly off, but he was too damaged at the moment. Scion appeared in a flicker in front of him, and only had one word to say. "Boom." Scion unleashed a Chaos Blast, destroying several buildings around him. When the light faded, at the bottom of the crater was him, and the surviving scraps of Metal Sonic. *end 1*
Metal was barely together. As a last resort, he used Chaos Control to teleport himself and his parts away. Scion just stood at the bottom of the crater and deformed to his normal self, but his brooding expression didn't change at all. The rest of the team stepped over to him, including Nicky, who was healing her own wounds with her remaining energy.
"Drew, what were you thinking?!" Lauren got in his face, clearly a bit pissed off. "Using the Dark Form?! That's completely against the ways of Team Contro-"
"Don't mention that name to me… We're not that team…We're nowhere near it… And I don't care about the kind of power I'm using.. I got the job done. That's all that matters…" He slowly walked off, ignoring the rest of the team as he deformed. They all looked at each other with deep concern, wondering what could have driven him to change like that.
This wasn't the Drew they use to know. And they weren't sure if he'd ever come back.
