Chapter 8: From Bad to Worse
Finitevus cackled madly, as the Ifrit swooped towards Mobotropolis. The five turned, recoiling, and Omega immediately fired a full salvo of missiles at it. They slashed from their tubes, spiralling after the monster. However, as they drew near, the casings began to melt, and the rockets exploded before they even made contact. The Ifrit shrieked, and exhaled a torrent of fire from its jaws.
Even through the Fire Shields, the team felt the heat, wiping sweat from their brows. As the stream halted, the generators for the Shields sparked, and then died, and they collapsed, bodies smoking slightly. The ground around them had been completely immolated, scorched black. The Ifrit turned its attention back to the city, and landed on the shield, scrabbling with its claws to gain purchase.
"How hot was that thing's attack?" Sonic groaned.
"It completely overloaded the shields..." Shadow replied.
"Guys, my vision's getting fuzzy..." Emerl stated.
"Overheating..."
"Guys, try and get to the other side of the city, further away... I have a plan." Tails said. "There's nothing more we can do, aside from this..."
Tails vanished, the remaining quartet broke into a run.
Back inside the city, people screamed, running towards the opposite exit to the beast. Tails landed himself on a rooftop, and flew towards his lab. Fiona, Nic, and Lightning were there, along with Nicole, who herself was suffering from the heat on her nanites.
"Tails..." Fiona said. "What's going on?"
"We killed the robot, and it turned into an incendiary wyvern." Tails replied. "Nicole, open the Ultimatum Vault."
"Alright." She nodded. The three former bounty mercenaries watched with surprise, as what previously looked like a completely ordinary wall slid open, revealing a corridor inside, illuminated by a faint green glow. Fiona ran up to his side, and looked in to see the source: Emeralds. Scores upon scores of glowing green jewels, emitting the familiar warmth of Chaos Energy. They were arranged on shelves, in racks of seven one of which was being removed by Tails.
"I thought all but one of the green Emeralds ended up in the Void with Feist." She said. Tails turned to her, and smiled.
"They did. These are synthetics that I made myself, mostly as a power source. They're charged from my own reserves, and, theoretically, I could burn up the entire energy stock of one set to go Super. I think we might need it to kill that thing."
"What do you mean "theoretically"?"
"Well, there's a small chance that it won't work properly, and I'll lose control of the form. After that, there's no telling what will happen."
"Tails..."
"Fiona, it's a choice between possible death if I try it, and certain death if I don't."
"No, listen to me." Fiona cut in, grabbing his hands. "Before you go, Tails... I need to tell you something."
"Fi, you already apologized."
"No, Tails... I..." She slipped her arms around his shoulders. "I love you."
Tails' eyes widened, and he placed the set of synthetic Emeralds down, before returning the embrace.
"I love you too." He replied, pulling her into a soft kiss.
Outside, Sonic's team collapsed against the shield. Omega was barely functional, and Emerl not far behind. Then, the shield flickered, and faded away, allowing the Ifrit access. It screeched triumphantly, and started building a massive fireball between its jaws, only to be lanced through the stomach by a crimson beam. The charging blast exploded in its mouth, knocking it off-balance. A gold blur blasted upwards, shredding through one of its wing membranes.
"What is that?" Shadow groaned.
"Zooming in..." Emerl replied. His optics increased magnification, and he locked onto the new figure. "Enhancing... Sunova- it's Tails! He's levitating and his eyes are red!"
"He's gone Super? How is that possible without all of the Emeralds?"
"I don't know."
"I am scanning the scrap out of that! Whoa, he's being pretty brutal... and he looks pissed."
"That's never good."
Above the city, Super Tails landed on the back of the falling monster, and triggered Chaos Control, shifting them both outside of the city limits, several miles up. He then warmed up another Chaos Lance, stabbing through the creature's chest. It started falling, and the fox dove through the wound, ripping, tearing at anything he passed on his way through. Magma oozed from the Ifrit's injuries, as he turned, and flew straight into its mouth, tearing out of the back of its head.
The flames covering the Ifrit's body extinguished, and it plummeted to the ground, its limp body solidifying into brittle stone before it hit, shattering into fragments. Tails let out a heavy sigh, and vanished, reappearing in front of his scorched teammates.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I could ask the same of you." Sonic said. "How are you doing that?"
"Synthetic Emeralds."
"Oh, nice." Emerl nodded.
"We thought you were losing it for a second, there."
"No, I was just fighting harder to stop it from reaching or falling on the city. The synthetics burn up pretty quickly, and..."
"You and Fiona got together." Emerl cut in.
"What?!" Came the collective response. "How did you..."
"Easy. You're blushing, for one. You're giving off pheremones, for two. Third, you've got lip balm on you, which you weren't wearing earlier, and fourth, even if I hadn't noticed you two being very close earlier, you've got her scent on you. Fifth: Niiiice."
"Did he just gain the ability to Sherlock scan?"
"Scanning's my thing." Emerl smirked. "I'm built to analyse and understand things."
"Ah..." Super Tails, triggering a wave of Chaos Heal, regenerating Sonic and Shadow's burns. With that done, they hoped over the city boundary, and headed back in.
"How was it?" Sonic asked.
"Pretty good, until Nic decided to start applauding. Chaos... if Fiona could kill with a look, Nic would've melted."
"Cool."
The heroes regrouped in Tails' lab, Fiona now huddling up with the returned-to-normal Tails, while Nicole took the floor.
"I have good news." She announced.
"About what?"
"Iblis."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, I did a little research, borrowed Sally's books, etcetera, and found the identity of our fiery friend: The Ifrit."
"Ifrit?"
"Yes. Ifrit was the ancient enemy of Iblis, possibly of demonic origin- it was certainly described as such by the cultures that worshipped Iblis." Nicole explained. Anyway, Ifrit was her equal, the two fought at a stalemate for millennia, until eventually, Iblis defeated Ifrit by luck, and sealed it into the armour of a giant golem, and cast it into a fiery pit."
"So...?"
"I get it..." Tails nodded. "The Ifrit is as strong as Iblis... but I defeated the Ifrit with a single Super form."
"Exactly!" Nicole grinned.
"So we could defeat Iblis and exorcise her now!" Sonic beamed. "Let's do it!"
"Don't get too excited, we need a plan." Fiona said.
"Sure, right." Sonic nodded. "What's the plan?"
"Sonic, Tails, Shadow, and Emerl will go. Sonic will go Super, and challenge Iblis. Tails will assist him, ready to take over if Iblis is too strong." Nicole began. "Shadow and Emerl will be there to deal with any minions."
"I like it."
"Then let's go. Sonic, I'll get you an Emerald set. Everyone else, be ready, in case this goes south."
Tails got up, and fetched another rack of Emeralds, while the others prepared themselves. Sonic eagerly grabbed the stones, and absorbed them, preparing himself to go Super. Tails turned to Fiona, and hugged her tightly.
"I'll be back in one piece. Promise." He said.
"You better be, Flyboy." She smiled, pressing something into his palm. He looked down at it, and realised that it was Fiona's Warp Ring. "You're going to need transport back and forth from Iblis' lair."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." The new couple kissed once more, then parted, Tails joining his team, and Fiona nodding at him.
"How are you going to find her, even with the Warp Ring?" Rouge asked.
"I might not be able to copy Iblis' powers, but I can still trace them." Emerl said. "Give me the ring, and I'll bring us in."
"Bon... Allons-y, then?" Antoine smiled.
"Yup." Sonic nodded, his eyes glowing crimson. "Let's roll!"
In her lair, Iblis tented Sally's fingers, smirking to herself, while Finitevus watched, incredulous.
"How can you still be positive about this?" The echidna demanded.
"Because they're walking right into my trap."
"Trap?"
"I need either the hedgehog or the fox to complete my plan, and my host would prefer the hedgehog. I needed to get them into a position where running wasn't an option, so I decided to lure them into a state where they would believe that I can be defeated by them. They challenge me, I take the hedgehog, my plan continues."
"But... what about the Ifrit? If that's your equal, then they can defeat you!"
"You'd think that... but in all actuality, I drained much of Ifrit's power to defeat it, and had that struck off the books. I even got my mental powers from it. The Ifrit they fought was much weaker than the one I did. Now, I need to commune with Sally, so I'll take my leave."
Iblis turned, and slipped into another room. As she did so, the squirrel's sclerae turned white again, though her irises remained green. Sally sighed, in control of her body again, and felt the weight of Iblis' coils on her body again. She smiled, levitating herself to give the sense of relaxing in her imaginary prison.
"Hello again, my dear host." Iblis hissed.
"Almighty Iblis..."
"You will be getting the reward for your loyalty soon, Sally. Sonic is coming, and when he does, he will become like you. However, you must give one more thing before you receive him."
"What is that, my Almighty Iblis?"
"I need to use your body in battle. However, while I can walk, or levitate with legs, I cannot fight with them. I need to change you for a while. I'll turn you back when we're done."
"My body is your temple, Almighty Iblis. You need not ask my permission for any alterations you wish to make."
"Good girl." Iblis purred.
Iblis stood beside Finitevus, when the Warp Ring opened up, and the four heroes jumped out.
"Hello, Sonic." Iblis smiled, locking eyes with him. "I think we both know where this goes. You have those Emeralds, I have Sally, let's cut to the chase."
"Good." Sonic nodded. He spread his arms, the synthetic Emeralds appearing around him. The vanished into his body again, and his fur turned gold in a blast of Chaos energy. "Not as flashy as real Emeralds, but can't complain."
Super Sonic moved towards Iblis, gesturing for Shadow and Emerl to attack Finitevus. However, Iblis snapped her borrowed fingers, lifting herself up on a column of flame. The fire licked up, and engulfed her legs, then solidified into the form of a serpentine tail, covered in brown and tan scales.
"Ah, much better." Iblis smirked, watching Sonic's horrified reaction.
"Sonic, focus!" Tails said. "It's just a transformation, it'll wear off."
"Sorry bro, it's just-"
"I know. Just do it."
The two heroes rushed forward, as Iblis raised her hands and launched two jets of flame at her foes. Tails jumped back to evade, but Sonic charged through, and aimed a boost at her, only to be smashed straight into the ground by her tail. She swept the muscular appendage aside, knocking Tails off of his feet. She reared up, and fire coalescing around her fist. The hybrid drove her hand down towards the fox, who rolled aside, and hurled two Chaos Spears at her. She shrugged them off, and wrapped her tail-tip around his ankle. He jabbed his own tails into hers, but it had no affect, and she slung him across the room. He smashed into the wall, and slid down it, near to where Shadow and Emerl were attacking Finitevus.
The Gizoid teleported in front of the albino, and punched him square in the jaw. Finitevus stumbled back, but grinned, and blasted him in the stomach.
"Emerl, don't rush this." Shadow warned, hurling a Chaos Spear at the echidna. However, the shot vanished into a warp ring, which opened behind Emerl. "Damn, look out!"
Too late, Emerl tried to dodge, and was thrown to the floor. The white echidna kicked him away, and fired two dark Spears at him, sending him reeling over the floor. He scrabbled back to his feet, and opened up his chest cannon again, unleashing a quick beam. Once again, though, Finitevus redirected it- this time at the semi-conscious Tails.
Shadow leapt into the path of the blast, winding up embedded in the wall for his troubles. The Gizoid glared at the grinning echidna, lining himself up to attack again.
"You're starting to piss me off."
"Good."
The Gizoid raced forward, only to find himself crashing through a Warp Ring, which spat him straight down into another one, the exit to which was directly above the entrance. He fell continuously, unable to time his engines enough to escape without risking serious damage, and his heads-up display quickly warned him that he was approaching terminal velocity, at which point, the entrance portal vanished, and the gold robot smashed into the ground, cracking the flagstones.
"The Nocturnus' ultimate weapon, vanquished by simply annoying it into a frenzy." Finitevus smirked.
"I'm not done yet..."
"Oh, I know... But you see, I myself have studied the Gizoids. The perfect blend of Chaos and technology- you were essentially the holy grail for my people. I've collected quite a few Gizoid parts, hoping to build one of my own... But I never acquired enough parts. I did manage to complete my favourite personal feature, though: The Ultimate mode. Even made my own trigger for it. I was so disappointed when I realised I would never be able to use it... but then you showed up." He ranted, reaching through a warp ring, and pulling out what looked like an access drive. He drove it into the port on Emerl's skull, enveloping him in a crimson electrical charge. He opened another ring, throwing the Gizoid through, then sent Tails and Shadow with him. "Time for a field test of my own..."
Meanwhile, Super Sonic groaned, as he was swung into yet another solid object, this time a column. He tugged at the coil around his waist, trying to free himself, only for Iblis to engulf him in searing flames.
"Your friends have already lost." Iblis grinned, piling more loops of her tail onto her opponent's body. "You aren't far behind."
"H-how..." The gold hedgehog wheezed. "Tails beat Ifrit easily... it was your equal..."
"Was. Past tense. I drained most of its power in order to defeat it. I am stronger than I was, and it is weaker than it was. This whole thing was one giant trap. Finitevus, if you could employ a Chaos Drain, that would be much appreciated."
"At once, Great Goddess." He nodded.
Iblis lowered the trapped hedgehog to the mad doctor's level, as he flared black energy around his hand. He grabbed Sonic's forehead, and the hedgehog screamed, energy draining away from him. The Synthetic Emeralds fell out of him, and crumbled to dust, as Sonic's fur faded back to blue.
"Now, time for Sally to take her reward..." Iblis smiled, allowing the mind-wiped squirrel to regain control.
"S-Sal, fight her! You're stronger than this?"
"I may be... but I don't want to fight her. I only want to obey her. Almighty Iblis is my goddess, and I must obey my goddess." Sally replied, putting her hand on his heart again. She pulled him into a kiss, and even as he fought back, a forked tongue squeezed past his lips, and down his throat. Sonic groaned, as Sally's hand ignited, and white markings lit up on his body. His fur plunged into black, and his skin gained a deathly palor, as a green-tinged aura exploded into life around him. "Do you understand that now, my love?"
"Yes..." Darkspine-Sonic hissed, kissing Sally back.
In Mobotropolis, Tails, Shadow, and Emerl landed with a thud, groaning.
"Why did he just send us back?" Tails asked, standing up.
"I don't know..." Shadow replied. "Come on, let's get more of those Emeralds and warp back. Emerl?"
The Gizoid remained in his sprawled position, red sparks flashing across his body occasionally. His hand reached up, and crushed the device in the back of his head, as he slowly rose to his feet.
"Emerl, are you alright?" Tails asked. Receiving no answer, he drew closer, but paused when the Gizoid's mouthplate closed up, and all three optics opened. His pupils altered again, not fading like they normally did in battle mode, but narrowing, becoming slit shapes, as the sparks gave way to a full red aura. His optics mimicked the aura in colour, and he threw his arms wide, releasing a powerful shock wave of negative energy, and starting to levitate.
"Ultimate mode engaged."