Chapter 6: The Gathering

In Knothole's lab, a Warp Ring flashed open, and the whole Freedom Fighter team filed through, followed by Fiona, who closed the ring, and pocketed it.

"Thanks for giving that back, Nicole." She said. "Now, let's get the Gizoid up and running."
"Right. I've already been in contact with him, while he's been in standby, to make sure he won't go berserk when I wake him. He can't remember his name, but I decided to call him "Emerl." He's running on auxiliary at the moment, but if I put his core back in, he should come online immediately."

Nicole floated over to the table on which the Gizoid lay, and pressed her hand against his chestplate. It glowed briefly, and she quickly retracted it as the whole plate lifted up, revealing the Spark Chamber, which was closed off by another two plates, which parted, opening out to reveal two gaps, one above the other. She moved away from it, and picked up a glass cylinder with a blinding green light within it, holding it at arm's length.

"Whoa!" Amy gasped. "What is that?"
"A Chaos Drive." Tails replied. "I use them to power most of my tech, fueled from my own reserves, but I've never seen one that bright..."
"I tested this one, and, unlike the ones we use, which need a recharge every now and then, this one's power seems to be limitless, although it can only draw on so much at a time." Rotor explained. "It's likely that there's a Chaos artefact of some kind in there, but no-one's going to volunteer to open it up and find out if they know what's good for them."

While they had been having this discussion, Nicole had once more crossed the room, and positioned the drive directly over the lower hole. She pushed it in slowly, carefully, making sure it lined up properly, and listened for the muted click of it locking into place. As soon as it sounded, the body jerked, as the hole above it was filled with pulsing, cyan light. His hands clenched into fists, as his chestplate closed up, the three circles on it lighting up in the same blue glow, the same with the ones on his shoulder plate. His optics sensors opened, matching the tint, as he stood up, a huge aura flaring up around him.

Nicole floated back, watching carefully as the aura faded, and the robot's shoulders sagged, along with his arms. He looked up, carefully looking around his surroundings, before dusting himself off and allowing the white plate on the bottom of his face to split apart, revealing a pair of technorganic-looking lips, covered by a malleable metal alloy.

"Whoa, now that was all kinds of trippy." He said. His voice was youthful, calm, expressive. The third optic at the base of his crest opened, and he looked over all of the assembled Freedom Fighters. "Nicole? Which one of you is Nicole?"

"I am."The lynx stepped forward, smiling.
"Er, wow, you, um, look... different to, er, what I imagined." He said. "A-and by that I mean Mobian."
"Thank you. Truth be told, I'm actually an AI. There's some Mobian in me, but that's a story best saved for another time."
"Oh right, okay. So... why am I awake?"
"We have a dire situation, and we'd like your help."
"I see. Well, I'm sure I can be of assistance with something."
"Our friend, and leader, Sally Acorn, has lost control of her body to a malevolent entity."
'I know the feeling...'
"However, it's not as simple as it sounds. The entity in question is Iblis, the Goddess of Fire, and she's warped Sally's mind and twisted her to her own ideals. We have to get her back and, well, essentially exorcise her. We'd like your help. While I would have preferred to complete my studies and get the all-clear from the council before activating you, these are desperate times."
"Sure, you can count on me." The Gizoid said, hopping off the table. "Well, provided that I can get some new moves."
"Certainly. Sonic, Tails, demonstrate. Fiona, go and call Nic."

Meanwhile, on Angel Island, in a secret, hidden lair, a white-furred echidna was seated in an armchair, scowling, as he waited for news from the Destructix to return with the Goddess' Soul. He didn't expect it to be that hard to retrieve, yet here he was, with no news. Sighing, he stood up, and headed for the door.

"If you want something done right, do it yourself." Finitevus sighed.
"I quite agree, Doctor."

He froze, reaching out through the ether to try and sense who it was that had somehow invaded his base without him noticing, with no fanfare, in the past minute, no less. Immediately, he smelt and tasted the acrid smell of smoke, and felt a blazing warmth... exactly the feeling he had been expecting to get from the Soul. Turning around, he realised that his chair was now occupied by Sally, who had lit a tiny flame on her fingertip.

"The Acorn Princess?" He mused, flicking a Warp Ring into his hand, ready for a fight. "If I had known I was receiving such illustrious company, I would have prepared. What is your business with me?"
"I want to talk to you about your plan." Sally replied, standing up, as her eyes immediately changed, turning into the black-sclerad eyes of of Iblis. "And my name is Iblis."

Finitevus relaxed, stowing the ring, and approaching her.

"Iblis? As in, The Cleanser, Iblis?"
"The very same."
"And you are inhabiting the body of a Freedom Fighter... I like the way you do things."
"Thank you."
"So, what is it that you intend to ask me?"
"Well, let's say that you succeed. Mobius is razed to the ground by Chaos fire. What do you do then?"
"Pardon?"
"You've won. You've purged Mobius. So now you have nothing left to live for. Your plan may succeed, but you will have rendered your existence meaningless. You will have no purpose. But I can give you a purpose. Our objectives line up- both of us want to cleanse this decadent world, but that's where your plan stops. Mine continues. I will rebuild it to be perfect, and you can assist me with that. With both halves, actually."
"How so?"
"As you rightly noted, I am currently inhabiting the body of Princess Sally. Naturally, the Freedom Fighters will want to get her back. I need to keep them occupied, while my plan continues. This is where you come in. You will retrieve the Destructix, what is left of them, that is, from the G.U.N base, thus providing the Freedom Fighters with something else to take care of."
"I see, so that's what happened to them. And what do you mean "what's left of them?""
"Fiona and Lightning both turned against them. Fiona is with the Freedom Fighters again, and Lightning is with G.U.N. Now, are you in?"
"You have a deal."

Iblis raised her borrowed hand, and pressed her fingertip against the yellow crystal embedded in Finitevus' forehead. Immediately, they were engulfed in flames, and the mad echidna groaned with surprise and pain. After a few seconds, the fire faded, revealing that both the crystal and Finitevus' irises were now green, like hers.

"Ah... thank you." He smirked, as Iblis stepped back, smiling. "I shall go and retrieve the Destructix."
"Good. I'm going to require the use of your computer."
"Very well."

Within the lower chambers of the G.U.N. headquarters, multiple prisoners reclined in cells. Grouped together in one of them were the four remaining Destructix. They'd been sitting there for a while, when suddenly two black Chaos Spears struck the guards standing outside of their cell, impaling them. Each spear had travelled from opposing ends of the cell block, and the cause became apparent, as Finitevus stepped through a Warp Ring, into the cell.

"Doc!" Scourge grinned. "Never thought I'd see you here."
"What's up with your eyes?" Predator asked.
"Nothing worth worrying about. I have made a new ally, and she has use for you. Thus, I'm going to bring you to her, so that her plan may move forward."
"Why are you following someone else's plan?" Simian asked.
"Yeah, that ain't your style."
"Her objectives match up with mine. We have the same goal."

Finitevus led the mercenaries through the Warp Ring, and returned to his lair. Iblis, or Sally, he wasn't sure presently, was operating the computer mounted on the opposite wall, her back to the five.

"This is your new employer."
"Whoa, hey! Ain't that Blue's girl? Ha, ain't that ironic, right after getting that stupid fox back, he loses her."
"I'm surprised you actually know what irony is, Scourge." Sally replied, not turning around.
"Normally, that would make me mad. But babe, for you, I can forget it." Scourge grinned, rushing over to the squirrel, and attempting to cop a feel. "Good to see that you woke up and joined the winning team, Sally. You're gonna love this."

"Your hand is on my chest." She stated, her voice flat, and her eyes closed with exasperation.
"Yup."
"Your hand is on my chest." She repeated.
"Uh-huh."
"Your hand is on my chest."
"Failing to see how this is a problem."

The possessed squirrel sighed, then raised her hand, and promptly backhanded Scourge, sending him sailing into a wall. He collided with a heavy thud, and the sickening crunch of a broken rib. She had turned to face him now, her eyes open, revealing the green glow on a black background, veins standing out a little in her arms and forehead. Fire ignited around her hands as she glowered at him.

"There is only one that may do that to me, and another to my host. You are neither." Iblis snarled, raising her hand and unleashing a huge torrent of flames. Scourge screamed with a mixture of pain and terror, only to be muted as the oxygen in his lungs exploded, and his flesh was seared away, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton, which crumbled to dust shortly afterwards.

"Holy crap." Predator recoiled. Simian looked more than a little disturbed too, while Frog was simply giggling.
"Let that be a lesson to you. Scourge was a prime example of the very thing we are fighting to eradicate. I will not tolerate such foul-mindedness from any of you, am I clear?"
"As crystal."
"Good. Now, work with me, and your salvation will be ensured. My objective is simple, but I want to keep it secret, so for now, all I need from you three is this: Go to Mobotropolis, and cause the Freedom Fighters a little trouble. Keep them off my back, and maybe kill a few if you can, but not too many. That will be all."

In the city itself, Nicole had brought the Freedom Fighters, as well as the recently arrived Team Dark, to the Council Chamber, where the rulers of the Republic waited for them.

"What seems to be the concern, Nicole?" Charles asked.
"And where is my sister?" Elias asked.

"Bear with me, because this is pretty huge." The artificial lynx replied. "Now, as you should know, two weeks ago, Fiona Fox returned to us, wholly repentant. However, she brought with her an ancient artefact called the Goddess' Soul. Fiona was attacked in a minor altercation upon arrival, since it wasn't certain as to who she was working for, and during this, dropped the Soul. At first, we thought nothing of it, but... Sally started getting fevers, and headaches, as well as nightmares about a three-eyed figure. It seems that... the Soul itself escaped from the artefact, and found its way into her. What's worse is that the Goddess in question is Iblis, and she seems to plan on using Sally as a vessel while she carries out her plan to raze Mobius to the ground."

"Dear gods above..." Elias gasped, as the others looked around, in various states of shock, concern, and confusion.
"And how do you know that this wasn't simply her cracking under pressure and going insane?" Hamlin asked.
"Because Sal couldn't fly, teleport, or create fire!" Sonic angrily cut in. "And her eyes aren't green, nor does she normally have a green stone in her forehead!"
"Hence why I have called together all of the Freedom Fighters, as well as Team Dark of G.U.N. We are going to capture Iblis, neutralise her, and force her out of Sally's body and back into the urn."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Rosemary asked.
"In all honesty, I have no plan." Nicole admitted. "But even then, we can't leave her flying around Mobius and burning things while she's under Iblis' spell. We need to capture her, so we'll cross the exorcism bridge when we come to it."
"Fair enough."
"There is one more thing I want to bring to your attention, though."

"And what is that?"
"During our last mission, we found an ancient, sentient weapon called the Gizoid. I reconditioned him, and brought him back online. Right now, he's probably our best hope of catching Sally, simply because he has the ability to mimic any move or attack he sees or understands. I know this is rash, and without permission, but we need all the help we can get, and there was no time to debate."
"Where is this "Gizoid?"" Dylan asked. Nicole pressed two fingers to the side of her head, and her avatar flickered for a moment.
"He's on his way."

A few moments later, a bright flash tore through the room, as Emerl appeared via Chaos Control. He lowered himself to the ground, killing his engines, and saluted the council.

"Emerl the Gizoid, reporting for duty."
"Er, Emerl? The Freedom Fighters aren't that sort of organization."
"Oh, right. Sorry Nicole."
"It's nothing to be upset over."
"Really?" Hamlin sighed. "This is your so-called "Best chance at rescuing the Princess?""
"Hey, I might not look like much... or act it, but I'm more than strong enough, and getting stronger!" He replied. "And if I'm not strong enough, my scanning ability will be able to work out how much power we need to out-do her. I'm ready and willing to lay down my life to help save her."

"Well... I suppose we can give him a shot..." Chuck said. "But Nicole, warn us when you find something like him next time."
"Yes sir, and sor- hang on..."
"What is it?" Emerl asked.
"Something just teleported into the city. Warp Ring again. They're giving off a similar reading to Iblis-as-Sally... but it isn't her."

"Looks like Iblis is handing out powers now..." Sonic growled. "Come on, let's go get them."
"Right behind you!" Emerl grinned, his mouthplate locking shut, and his engines firing.