I know I know! Loooong inexcusable break from updating. But at least I'm still going, yeah! Now join me in presenting Chap. 13! Enjoy one and all...
All was dark and silent. Not a sign of light could be seen, nor the smallest whisper of any sound could be heard. One might think they were suddenly out cold, or worse……deceased.
Amy slowly opened her heavy eyelids. Her body felt very strange. She was numb all over yet felt extremely heavy at the same time. It was quite a struggle for her to try to get standing up. Once on her feet, her eyes widened with sheer terror!
"Wh-where am I?" she gasped.
She found herself in a dark, barren wasteland. The ground was red as blood, covered with fissure cracks, boulders, and dilapidated landscapes stretching for miles. The sky was a pitch black, and a cold, ill wind blew against her sending a shiver all over Amy's body.
"Wh-What happened? Wh-Where's S-S-Sonic and Nec-c-cro?"
Of course no one knew the real answers but her.
"Gamma Catalyst……He disappeared in the Zero Zone portal, and he…….."
Tears began welling up in her eyes. And she slowly began to cry.
The sun began to set just outside Metal City. A familiar black streak finally reached its destination, and came to a stop. Shadow, Rouge, Espio, and Geoffrey dashed on foot into the city to join back up with their team.
As they trekked, they couldn't help but feel awkward by what they saw.
"This place is crawling with robots," Espio pointed out.
"And a lot of wrecked robots, too" added Rouge.
"Must've been quite a battle if I had to guess," said Shadow.
"No…..ya think?" Rouge said rudely.
Then Geoffrey looked ahead. "Hey what's that?"
The group had reached the city's center, and had spotted their comrades all gathered in the exact middle. And were quite surprised to see Sonic wearing his Tritaneon armor!
"Hey Sonic!" called Shadow. What gives with the gladiator threads?"
But in seeing Sonic's depressed expression, as well as the many others around the scene, it appeared that they missed something. Something very disturbing.
Necronos explained everything, and all were silent with shock.
"I-I don't believe it…." Rouge said sadly. "Amy's gone?"
Tails began to cry, as did almost everyone else present. Scyzor and Krystal held each other tightly. It was devastating for them to lose a new friend. But they said nothing, for they new Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, Shadow, Mighty, Lupe, Espio, Geoffrey, and Sonic, especially Sonic, were suffering the most.
Soon the crew gathered around in a circle. A familiar hologram projector was active yet again, and Rotor's image stood before all.
"I had no idea. I never thought that once the Zero Zone opened to take the dark tower and Gamma Catalyst away, that he'd still be able to take someone inside with him."
Sonic remained silent and still.
"Sonic, I'm so sorry!" Rotor pleaded. "I should've spent more time contemplating the possibilities of the dimensional transfers. It's my fault this happened! Forgive me…"
Everyone watched as Sonic lifted his sulking head, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Rotor?...Is there really no way to get her back?...Isn't there SOME way you can reverse the effect and reopen the portal?"
A slight pause came.
"I'm afraid not, Sonic," Rotor admitted. The entire point of the generators creation was to be strong enough for just a one time, one-way trip only. There's nothing I can do…"
Sonic's tears increased. "Nothing?"
Tails sat down next to Rotor's hologram, trying to fight back his crying to speak.
"Rotor! Please think for all of us…..There's gotta be something we can do to save her from there!...Please….."
The silence remained present because Rotor had no answer. All seemed hopeless…….until.
"Wait."
All eyes turned to Necronos.
"It's not technological, but there IS one more option I can do."
Amy continued to cry. She hadn't been so freaked out in all her life. The harsh, cold winds kept blowing and swirling around her body, as she gazed out at the death-like, red landscapes surrounding her.
"Why me? Why??! For crying out loud just a couple days ago I was just enjoying a normal, everyday date……and now I'm trapped forever in this forsaken land of DOOM??!"
Suddenly, her eyes locked onto something in the distance. Something small and shiny gleamed in the bottom of what appeared to be a large crater in the ground.
"What's that?"
Having no other option, and letting curiosity get the better of her, she slowly crawled down into the crevasse. Walking closer, she spotted the gleam coming from a pile of mounded dirt.
"What the? Dirt? I came all the way down here for DIRT?!
If only it were just that. Without warning, Amy gasped in shock as a familiar mechanical clawed hand reached out from the ground and grabbed her arm!
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
She struggled and strained against it to break free, but to no avail.
"Let me go! Stop it!"
In a second, she found herself lifted in the air, and hurled by the claw's great strength over the steep hill she crawled down from, and collided with a 'WHAAAAM!'
The force of the impact was too severe, and she once more fell unconscious. Without her being able to look back, the ground from which she was tossed from gave a spontaneous explosion!
When the smoke and dust cleared, the claw retracted back to the arm of its owner. Standing and staring before an out cold Amy, was the dark, and badly damaged and wrecked robotic body of Gamma Catalyst…
"Grrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeoooorrrrrrrrrrwwwww…."
"You know a way to get Amy, Necro?" Sonic asked with haste. "Tell me!"
After another slight pause:
"I've dedicated my whole existence to keeping the Catalyst spirits at bay Sonic. And in order to do so, I've mastered nearly all their dimensional control capabilities myself, but only for the sake of purity and good, of course."
He stepped to the center of the crowd.
"So if I'm right, I can duplicate the effects of Rotor's gadget with my magic! If I concentrate very hard, I may be able to pinpoint the location of Amy within the Zero Zone, and use the same space portal I showed you long ago to lead give you temporary access inside!"
Hearing that brought the others to a slight feeling of hope and lit-up faces. Knuckles and Tails stepped up next to Sonic.
"Well then Necro, what are we doing standing around here?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah, I say we get going quick!" agreed Tails.
Necronos' blue eyes suddenly flashed a disapproving glare.
"You don't understand!!!"
Everyone looked startled.
"You don't know the ultimate downside to all of this. If Amy WAS able to survive the entire warp to the Zero Zone, then without a doubt that means Gamma Catalyst is still alive there too! And he remains more powerful than all of you!"
Knuckles clenched his fist with rage.
"Oh great! Things ALWAYS go from bad to worse, and then from worse to impossible for us!"
Scyzor came closer after remaining silent.
"Mr. Necronos?" he started, "I know we've practically just met, and it's a LOT to ask, but just like everyone here, I'm begging you…" He got on his knees as Krystal joined him. "Sonic taught me a lot these past couple of days, and the most important being to never give up no matter how much the odds are against us. So I ask you, please do all you can for Amy's safe return…"
Necronos crouched down and placed his hand on Scyzor's shoulder.
"My friend, I too have been moved before by Sonic's 'never say die' attitude. That is why I'm now prepared for the ultimate sacrifice."
Sonic's ears perked up. "Sacrifice?"
Necronos nodded.
"It's very risky, but I'm going to perform the 'Dimensional Destroyer'!"
By the sound of his voice upon saying so, the gang had a feeling that meant something quite massive.
"That's a scary title!" said Mighty.
"What exactly is that?" questioned Lupe.
Necronos explained:
"It's a last resort spell I taught myself long, long ago. In case the first war against Catalyst was on the verge of complete loss, I had it up my sleeve just in case. Back then I was relieved it didn't come to it, but this time, it looks like I'll have to make an exception."
"The spell has the power to completely wipe out the existence of an entire dimension, as if the name wasn't obvious enough. If you all can enter the Zone and pull Amy out, and if you can keep Gamma still inside, I can perform the spell and destroy the Zero Zone, taking him with it! No matter how powerful he may be, even he won't be able to survive such a devastating blow."
Mighty spoke up, "If it sounds so simple, then why not just do it? What's with the hesitation, Necro?"
"That is the ultimate sacrifice I mentioned. The spell is so powerful and requires so much purity magic than once performed, whether successful or not, I can lose all of my magical powers…"
The crowd was aghast, especially Sonic.
"You'd be willing to do that? For Amy…..for all of us?"
For the first time, Sonic could swear he caught a glimpse of Necronos' hidden face within his darkened hood, and on it was a smile.
"It can change my life forever, but it's for a cause well worth losing something like thousands of years worth of mastering, Sonic."
A small tear reformed under Sonic's eye. "Thanks loads buddy."
The gang was quite saddened by the possible great loss Necronos was about to suffer, but knowing he had no regrets by the look of his expression, they remained silent for him.
"Now stand aside everyone!"
The team and robotic crowd watched in amazement as Necronos formed his hands in multiple signs and chanted an all too familiar incantation:
"RYN-SU-KAI-CHEN-NI-YO-HAAAAAAAA!"
With that, a blinding flash of light shot from his hands and floated up to the top of the nearest skyscraper tower. Slowly the light imploded and formed a portal, glowing in bright orange radiance.
"Looks like that's my ticket inside," said Sonic.
"We're comin' too, blue!"
Sonic watched as Tails and Knuckles stepped up to his sides.
"Guys?"
"C'mon Sonic," said Tails. "You didn't expect us to sit out on a rescue like this, did ya?"
"He's right, bud," added Knuckles. "We've always been like a certain familiar French, lance wielding trio!"
Sonic just smiled. "Thanks guys, I wouldn't have it any other way!"
With another wave of Necronos' hands, Tails and Knuckles were both bathed in orange and yellow lights, and emerged as their ancient warrior selves, just like Sonic! Tails admired his battle armor and curved blade staff, while Knuckles felt his metal hood and black cloak surround him.
"Cool! I'm Horu-San again!"
"And I'm Darconda!"
"Call it a little incentive for you three to act fast." Necronos said. "Early warning: I can only keep the portal open for 10 min, and not a second more! That's exactly how long it takes to summon the Dimensional Destroyer, and once fully charged up, it's impossible to hold it back! So get in, get Amy, keep Gamma Catalyst at Bay, and GET OUTTA THERE!"
"You got it, Necro!"
"Good luck you three!" waved Krystal.
"Give the creep a knock for me!" shouted Scyzor.
Mighty, Lupe, Shadow, Rouge, Espio, and Geoffrey remained quiet and smiled. They knew they could count on a safe hero's return from them.
The titanic trio then leaped into the air, and found them flying into the portal.
"Just hang in there Amy……We're coming….."
We're leaving together,
But still its farewell.
And maybe we'll come back,
To Earth, who can tell?
I guess there's no one to blame,
We're leaving ground.
Will things ever be the same again?
It's the Final Countdown!
We're heading for Venus,
And still we stand tall.
Cause maybe they've seen us,
And welcome us all.
With so many light years to go,
And things to be found,
I'm sure that well all miss her so…
It's the Final Countdown!
Yes it certainly is! Prepare yourselves for the battle that decides it all folks! Be sure to be with me next time! Who will triumph? (as if you didn't guess)
(A/N: "Final Countdown" performed by Europe)