Sonic The Hedgehog - Chaos on Mobius
4th Saga: The Solaris Merger
Episode 95
Previously on Sonic The Hedgehog - Chaos on Mobius...
After Shadow defeated Egg Walker, Rouge asked him to escort her to the GUN extraction point in Mercia. Arriving at the extraction point, Shadow and Rouge got to talking about the Solaris Project, when Scourge jumped down and asked for the Scepter of Darkness. When they refused, Scourge attempted to take it by force, but when it struck the ground near him, it sucked out his lifeforce, and unleashed an aura that merged with Shadow's shadow! Freshly resurrected, Mephiles sent all three of them 200 years into the future, where Shadow and Rouge found Sonic, Tails and TodStar.
Just who is Mephiles, and how does he know Shadow? What exactly happened to Scourge? Can Sonic, Tails, TodStar, Shadow and Rouge find at least two Time Stones and get back home? Find out in the next chapter of The Solaris Merger!
Chapter Six: Welcome to the Future
"Stay right behind me, guys!" Sonic shouted as he, Tails and TodStar ran through the ruined city that was surrounded by flames and lava-creatures.
"Whoa... the whole city is on fire!" Exclaimed Tails as he flew behind Sonic.
"No time to gawk now, Tails." TodStar told the fox as he ran behind Sonic. "We have to find a Time Stone!" Suddenly, four lava worms bursted out from the knocked over building the boys were running on. While Tails wrapped his whip-cord around one to restrain it, TodStar punched it a number of times before it was destroyed.
"Are you OK, TodStar? That thing shouldn't have taken you ithat/i long to defeat..." Tails asked while Sonic used his Homing Attack to deal with the other three.
"I know. This place is takin' the life outta me!" TodStar replied as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, making Tails look worried. And Sonic noticed.
"You guys take shelter in there." He told them. "I'll meet you back here with the Time Stone."
"Sonic, we should stick-" Shouted Tails before Sonic blasted away from him and TodStar. "-together. *sigh* Gimme your hand, TodStar." Once he got hold of TodStar's hand, Tails flew them into a building that had plenty of cover from the fire, smoke and ash.
At that moment, Sonic was racing all through town, when a number of bird-like creatures came flying at him.
"So, you guys wanna party, huh?" Sonic asked them, to which one responded by throwing a ball of lava at him, but missed thanks to Sonic's Quick Step. "You'll have to catch me first, bird-brains!" Sonic then blasted onto a road, where he saw a firey tornado in the distance... and it was throwing beaten-up cars, rocks and other wreckage his way! All of which he managed to avoid using his Quick Step ability. "Man, that tornado's a moving junkyard! But there's somethin' about all this fire that seems so familiar..."
Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge were surrounded by dog-like creatures of the same nature.
"Rouge, start flying. I'll handle this." Shadow told the bat. After Rouge had gotten to a safe enough distance, Shadow used his Homing Attack to make quick work of the creatures. "Let's go!" When Shadow zoomed deeper into the city, Rouge glided after him. Shadow then Spin Dashed through a group of the same beasts that seemed to be guarding something. "Hmph. That rail's gotta lead somewhere..."
"How about I fly ahead?" Asked Rouge, but Shadow shook his head.
"Too dangerous with that firey tornado there." He replied. "Stay here." Shadow then started grinding on the rail that looked pretty close to the tornado.
"*sigh* Always getting himself into trouble, that one..." Rouge said as she saw Shadow off. "That's my job!"
As Shadow grinded on the rail, he soon saw that the tornado throwing damaged cars his way. But he managed to jump out of the way.
"How big is this tornado? And how come I haven't gotten sucked in?" He asked himself before looking ahead and seeing a familiar-looking jewel. "A Time Stone!" When Shadow collected the Time Stone, the tornado started throwing more cars and rocks at him, but with some careful jumping, Shadow managed to avoid the tornado's wrath and safely made it back to Rouge with the Time Stone in hand.
Later, Sonic had reunited with Tails and TodStar in the building, where the three of them decided to wander inside the building.
"Strewth... no matter where we go, all we see are ruins." TodStar pointed out as they walked. "How in the Realm of Iblis can this be our future?"
"How could it come to this?" Added Tails, before Sonic spotted a light in a room up ahead. The three boys then stuck their heads through the opened door, where they saw three hedgehogs: one black-and-blue, one silver and one yellow.
"(It's him...)" Sonic thought as he stared at the silver hedgehog.
"(Master..?)" Thought TodStar as he looked at the black-and-blue hedgehog.
"If I eliminate that guy, will Mobius be saved?" Asked the silver hedgehog, to which the black hedgehog nodded.
"The Day of Disaster..." Said the black hedgehog, before turning to the screen. "Here are my records of this event. This was when Iblis was freed, and his flames were released unto the world." Not long after he pressed a button, a number of pictures showing a flaming airship hurtling toward a mountainside appeared onscreen. "And you have this person to blame." The black hedgehog then allowed a small orb to appear above his hand, inviting the silver hedgehog to look into it. What he saw was Sonic in a realm filled with nothing but flames.
"I see it!" The silver hedgehog exclaimed, startling the yellow hedgehog. "So that blue hedgehog's the Iblis Trigger?"
"Hey, does that thing get Fox?" Asked the yellow hedgehog before the orb vanished. "Aww..."
"I'll send us back in time to the point when the Iblis Trigger was alive." Said the black hedgehog as he created another orb of energy. This one enveloped all three Mobians in the area before disappearing, allowing Sonic, Tails and TodStar to walk in without getting spotted.
"Who was that jerk?" Asked TodStar as Tails approached the computer.
"He looked just like Shadow..." Sonic pointed out.
"No... this can't be!" Said Tails as he stared at the screen, getting Sonic and TodStar's attention. "According to this data, Sally died while she was kidnapped by Eggman. Apparantly, Eggman's battleship exploded!"
"WHAT?" Sonic asked as he got closer to the terminal.
"The date of this incident was... two DAYS after the Star Festival!" Tails replied.
"No way!" Exclaimed TodStar.
"So if we don't make it back in time, Sally'll die onboard Eggman's battleship..." Sonic deduced, which Tails agreed to, making Sonic smack his fist into his other hand. "(No... I bcan't/b let that happen!)" Suddenly, TodStar felt a familiar presence...
"Huh? (What's that? It feels familiar...)" He thought. "(It almost feels like... me...)" He eventually shrugged it off as Tails continued typing.
At that moment, Shadow felt a similar presence on the other side of the city as he and Rouge had just recovered a Time Stone.
"(That presence...)" He thought as he looked at the island that seemed to be on an angle. "(It sort of feels like... me...)"
"Ah ha-ha! My precious Time Stone." Said Rouge, snapping Shadow out of his thoughts. "You are all so beautiful... with your mysterious brilliance."
"Rouge, if you don't stop that, I'm going to take that Time Stone away from yo-" Shadow was inturrupted when he saw a familiar face.
"Well excuse me, Mr. Sunshine." Rouge replied, before seeing the look on Shadow's face. "What is it?" Rouge then saw who Shadow was looking at: their robot teammate/friend, but it looked dusty and rusted. "Omega! What's he doing here?" Shadow then approached Omega, and checked the the systems in his back to see if anything was wrong...
"Everything checks out fine..." Shadow told Rouge. "...but it seems he's in standby mode."
"What could've possibly happened to create this future?" Asked Rouge, but Shadow shook his head. It was at this point that Rouge's communicator started beeping. "Talk to me, Blue. All right, we'll meet you there. We'd better get moving. Your kid and his friends have found something themselves."
"But..." Shadow started to ask as he looked at Omega.
"It's not like we can do anything for him, now." Rouge replied.
"Yeah. I guess you're right..." Said Shadow, before he started walking away. Looking back at Omega, Rouge was hesitant to leave, but she eventually followed Shadow.
That evening, Sonic, Tails and TodStar found Shadow and Rouge waiting for them in a place with nothing but dead trees, fire, rock and lava.
"Could you boys be any slower?" Rouge teased before revealing the Time Stone that Shadow found.
"All right! You guys have already found a Time Stone!" Cheered Tails, before TodStar fell to his knees again.
"You OK, dude?" Sonic asked the green echidna, who was panting quite a lot.
"Yeah. *pant* I'll be right... *pant*" TodStar slowly replied. "(At least, I hope...)"
"(Hang in there, my apprentice...)" Shadow thought before looking to Tails for an answer. "Have you guys discovered anything?"
"Y-yeah." Tails replied. "When I received a signal from a Time Stone, I thought we were headed for Glyphic Canyon, but..."
"We've got a hunch it's in that volcano." Said Sonic, while pointing at the volcano in the distance. "Though I think it'd be best if me and Shadow went ahead while you guys followed."
"Sounds good to me." Rouge replied, before Sonic and Shadow raced towards the volcano. Eventually, Tails and Rouge flew after the two hedgehogs while carrying TodStar.
"Whoa! That volcano's definately an active one!" Sonic pointed out as he and Shadow avoided falling balls of molten lava. Not only that, but the Iblis Takers he had encountered in the city seemed to be originating from the volcano.
"Stay focused, Sonic." Shadow told the blue hedgehog. "We have to clear a path for Tails and Rouge." When the Iblis Takers were in range, both Sonic and Shadow defeated them all with their Homing Attacks.
"Can't you just throw Chaos Spears at these creeps?" Asked Sonic as he and Shadow continued towards the volcano.
"I'm trying to save what little power I have, Sonic..." Shadow told him as the two avoided a burst of fire coming from the ground below them. "To do that, I need to keep my Inhibitor Rings around my wrists."
"(So that's what those are for...)" Sonic thought, before they were stopped by a large muscle-bound humanoid lava creature. Smirking at each other, Sonic Spin Dashed into the monster's foot, while Shadow used his Homing Attack to strike its head multiple times before it was destroyed. After taking a quick break in a cave, Sonic and Shadow spotted more balls of molten lava headed their way. "Cool! It's raining fire!"
"It's erupting... let's go!" Shadow told Sonic as they jumped from floating platform-to-floating platform, before they both used a Homing Attack on the same Iblis Biter at the same time! "Rouge, Tails. Sonic and I are close to the volcano. Now's the time to move in."
"C'mon Shadow, let's head into the volcano!"
"Right behind you." After a powerful jump from both of them, Sonic and Shadow successfully landed in the volcano... where more lava creatures awaited them...
As Sonic and Shadow fought off what monsters they could, Tails and Rouge arrived with TodStar in hand.
"All right, Tails... where's the Time Stone?" Sonic asked after all the enemies at the entrance were eliminated. After landing and putting TodStar down, Tails got out his handheld device and activated it.
"OK... it looks like it's further down in the volcano, which means it's gonna get hotter..." Tails replied. While Rouge started to get worried, Sonic heard a familiar voice...
"Sonic... help me..." It said, making Sonic ignore what the other three were talking about.
"...Iblis?" He softly asked.
"Sonic, what's wrong?" Asked Shadow, getting Sonic's attention.
"Nothin'. C'mon, let's go get that Time Stone!" Sonic said as he walked ahead, while Tails and Rouge continued to carry TodStar, and Shadow walked behind them.
Eventually, they all arrived in a room that was almost pitch-black.
"Whoa! How'd it get so dark in here?" Asked Sonic, before Tails spotted a signpost.
"Hold up, you guys." He said as he put TodStar down and got out his handheld device again. "Let me see if I can decifer this..." After scanning for a few seconds, only one sentence appeared onscreen... "Hmm... 'Concentrate your power on the light, and it will show you the way...'"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Sonic, before Shadow got to thinking when he saw a floating ball of purple light ahead of them. He then jumped without anyone's approval. "Shadow?" Once he was within range, Shadow used his Homing Attack to strike the ball, allowing it to give off more light!
"That's my man!" Said Rouge, applauding Shadow's performance. The light from the ball showed a path above them. While Sonic and Shadow jumped up onto the path, Tails and Rouge flew themselves and TodStar up there.
"All right, let's keep moving!" Said Sonic.
The next room was also pretty dark, but it had six purple floating orbs within it.
"OK... this signpost says 'If all of the lights shine at once, your way will become clear...'" Said Tails, after decifering another signpost.
"Hmm... without Chaos Control, those orbs look a little out of reach for myself and Sonic..." Shadow pointed out.
"Then I guess it's up to you and me, fox-boy!" Rouge told Tails before the two took off towards the first two orbs, while Sonic and Shadow stayed with TodStar. While Tails gave every orb he came across a jolt from his whip-cord, Rouge gave every orb she came across a good kick. Eventually, all six of the orbs were shining as brightly as they could, causing a door to open. Sonic and Shadow were already at the doorway with TodStar in hand when Tails and Rouge got there.
"Whoa... that's a looong drop." Stated Sonic as the four of them looked down the cliff, before he looked at Tails and Rouge. "Think you two can carry all of us down there?"
"Only one way to find out!" Tails happily replied before Sonic gave him a high-five.
"Ugh, more carrying?" Rouge complained.
"Not for too much longer, Rouge..." Shadow told her.
After a heavy float down the hole, the five of them landed on a sturdy rock stuck in the lava, where they saw a second Time Stone. It was then that Rouge flapped her wings in order to fly up and get it.
"I found a Time Stone!" She announced, while Tails was looking at his handheld. And he noticed something strange...
"Something's not right here..." He said, which got Shadow's attention.
"Don't touch it!" Shadow yelled at Rouge. Just before she could get her hands on the Time Stone, it was eaten by a giant worm-like monster that startled Sonic.
"What in the Realm of Iblis is this?" Asked Rouge as the monster roared.
"Iblis..." Sonic said. "But how? And why?"
The monster Sonic called Iblis then swam through the lava to get away from the group, before spewing molten rocks at the ceiling, allowing some spikes to fall into the lava, giving Shadow an idea...
"Sonic, see those floating balls over there?" He asked.
"Yeah?" Said Sonic, feeling confused.
"Maybe we can use those to lure that monster in." Shadow replied before jumping onto the platforms. "Let's go!" Sonic hesitated, but he eventually followed Shadow into the arena.
"OK, if we're gonna fight Iblis, we'd better do a little tag-team action." Sonic told Shadow.
"Sounds good. I'll go in first." Shadow replied before he jumped onto the platforms closer to Iblis. Iblis then spewed more molten rocks towards Shadow, but he avoided them by jumping over them. Iblis then dove into the lava, before jumping out of it and falling towards Sonic. "Sonic!" Sonic managed to jump out of the way at just the right time, before Iblis smashed through five of the platforms that were there.
"(Why, Iblis?) Shadow, now!" Sonic shouted, giving his biological father the oppotunity to use his Homing Attack on one of the balls. When Iblis saw this, it felt compelled to dive at it, causing it to stick to the platform the ball was floating above. This allowed Shadow to strike at Iblis' eye with another Homing Attack, pushing Iblis off of the rock and back into the lava, while Shadow flew back to the platform he started the battle on.
"It's up to you, Sonic!" Shouted Shadow, as he noticed Sonic jumping towards Iblis.
"Iblis! It's me, Sonic!" He yelled when he got close enough. Suddenly, Iblis stopped when it heard Sonic talking to it.
"What is Sonic doing?" Asked Rouge.
"Looks to me like he's trying to reason with it..." Tails suspected.
"Iblis... where have I heard that name before..." Shadow asked himself.
"Remember when you were sealed within Blaze?" Asked Sonic, which made a light turn on in Shadow's head. "I was one of her friends. You told us about how you and Chaos were good friends, and how Mephiles tried to turn you against Chaos..."
"Mephiles?" Shadow asked after hearing Sonic say his name.
"C'mon, Iblis... remember!" Iblis looked at Sonic for a brief period, before diving at him! Sonic managed to jump out of his path, though.
"OK... that didn't work." Said Sonic as Shadow jumped over to him.
"Sonic... what do you know about Mephiles?" Shadow asked him. Sonic wasn't paying attention, as he saw the spikes on the ceiling.
"Not now, Shadow! I've got an idea..." Sonic replied. "You distract Iblis while Tails flies me up to the ceiling to smash those spikes."
"Hmph. Good thinking." Said Shadow as he jumped towards Iblis once again, while Sonic returned to where Tails, Rouge and TodStar were.
As Shadow kept Iblis occupied, Tails had begun to fly Sonic up to the ceiling.
"A-are you sure about this, Sonic?" Asked Tails.
"Absolutely, buddy!" Sonic replied with a grin on his face. Just then, Shadow barely escaped Iblis' dive.
"Shadow!" Rouge cried as Shadow got to his knees.
"Grr... I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this..." Said Shadow as his right hand reached for his left Inhibitor Ring. He was stopped however, when Sonic Spin Dashed through one of the spikes on the ceiling, making it fall down onto Iblis' head!
"Shadow, it looks like it's dazed from the impact!" Rouge pointed out. "Finish him off!" After a growl, Shadow managed to strike Iblis one more time with a Homing Attack, causing Iblis to spit out the Time Stone before it fell into the lava. Sonic managed to catch the Time Stone while he and Tails were coming back down.
Not long after Tails got him back to the ground, Sonic stepped towards Shadow, both of which had the Time Stones they had collected.
"Now Sonic, instead of saying 'Chaos Control' you have to say 'Chronos Control.'" Shadow said to the blue hedgehog.
"Gotcha. On three. One..." Sonic replied.
"Two..." Said Shadow.
"Three! Chronos CONTROL!" Both Sonic and Shadow shouted, creating a hole of light next to them. Sonic instantly jumped through with Tails carrying TodStar close behind.
"C'mon Shadow, let's go home." Said Rouge as she flew towards the rift. But something had caught Shadow's attention behind him... it was a flame and a familiar dark aura. Emerging from the aura was none other than Mephiles.
"Sorry, Blaze..." Shadow said before he threw his Chaos Emerald and Time Stone through the rift before going after Mephiles. After Mephiles and Shadow disappeared, the space-time rift disappered, aswell.
END OF CHAPTER