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Ch. 24: Countdown pt.3

Earnestly speaking, just seeing the malice in Rodrigo's eyes just tingled down my spine like a burst of cold wind. A ghost the floats through the room in such a manner that you can't help, but freeze in complete awe. Or terror. Most definately terror. Some awe, but you probably get my drift. I think.

The odds stacked above so that I couldn't see what was just over them. A horizon of victory or death, and the death was leaning in. With his newfound dark Arks' power, all of Rodrigo's wounds healed to the fact that the feathers that were scorned had renewed themselves, and not a smear of blood was vivid.

I, on the other hand, looked like dumpster kid. Someone that could easily be thrown away like last night's garbage. I was losing blood, my shoulder was sliced wide open, and I felt all the air suddenly evaporate. Everything grew heavier, but it wasn't gravity; it Rodrigo's immense, evil aura that spread from the tainted Arks of the Cosmos. Shadow Jet popped into my mind, and I wondered if the same fate was happening over again.

"Here I am," Rodrigo announced, arms raised proudly into the air. "Shadow Rodrigo! With the newfound power of the Arks of the Cosmos, I shall suceed with my plans!" His eyes glowered down to me, sickening me with those foul amber eyes. "Not even you can stop me, Prince."

"I'll do my b-best," I muttered, holding the coagulated blood that was beginning to form on my shoulder. "t-to stop y-you."

"You can't even speak clearly, you're so weak," he scoffed, crossing his arms. "which makes everything so much better for me!" Rodrigo suddenly lunged at me at speeds induced only by gravity, smashing straight across the face.

The force propelled me backwards, and I could barely even feel the sudden burst of pain that shot through me. Hitting the ground actually dulled part of the pain. Weakly, I felt like a total loser, but that's when I recalled something. Something only one of my prominent species could do. Squeezing my eyes shut, I smirked lightly to myself as Rodrigo gave a confused gasp.

I shrank.

"...What...the...hell...?" Rodrigo blubbered, staring at my inch form.

First off, let me explain something so no one gets anymore confused, has spaz attacks, or go emo like Silver when he found out his headquills on his forehead look like, well, you know. I could always shrink to an inch size, and so could my ancestors, and all other bees. (In Archie comics, Charmy has a regular form and a Fly form, which is like his shrinking form.)

"...Um, are you serious?" he asked, his eye twitching.

"No, not really. When am I serious?" I said, suddenly flying at him and plowing into his ear. Call me what you will, but let it be age appropriate for someone my age at the time.

Glancing around inside his earhole, I groaned at all the unpleasant earwax, but I chuckled at the way he was screaming at me to get out. I flew inside of his towards the inside of his mind, wondering how such a hollow-head like him could have a big brain. The middrift to the mind was cluttered with wax and what appeared to be exploded brain or blood cells. I couldn't tell, but a feasible intersection of cells caught my attention that lead to his brain.

What shocked me was that his mind was pulsing with a black aura around it, and the wrinkles had softened themselves out. Initially, I remembered that the mind was all crinkly like old people in their near deadness and liver spots, but his was strange. Especially the black aura that seemed to surrond and pulse through his mind, giving me some strange deductions. My shoulder suddenly burned with pain, flaring vengefully

Whoa, now I know what peoples' brains look like on drugs! I thought, poking his mind happily. The aura suddenly enveloped around my hand, but I yanked it away so I wouldn't get fully engulfed. So, maybe I was right about the drugs thing, but this seems a little too unrealistic to be true.

"Get out of my head!" Rodrigo screeched from the outside, but inside of his head, it seemed like a hurricane of noises just plowing into my attenae. Wincing, I held onto my head in pain, falling into his brain. A yelp came from Rodrigo outside that sounded like an injured Chao inside. Rodrigo started to pound against his head with his palm, but the aura suddenly gleamed darker, nearly blocking my vision.

Flying away from the aura, I squinted my eyes at the sudden burst and gasped. Flying back, I glanced back over to the aura, pursing my lips. The aura began to sink into his mind, and I blinked in confusion. Head aching from my sudden shrinkage, I decided to get it over with. Raising my Ark, I created a miniature black hole and allowed it to swallow me.

I came out to Rodrigo's heart. Literally, it was a grey with the same blackness surronding it like his brain. The aura charged around his heart, and I noticed his heart was beeping rather radically and irrationally. It pumped in slow gasps, but changed to a pulsing fast beat. Quietly, I bit my finger and smirked at my realization: Something was wrong with Rodrigo.

"Oh, Rodrigooo!" I called, speeding back out through his ear. "Guess what?"

Rodrigo swatted at me furiously. "You just stampeded through my head! I don't even want to hear anything from you!"

Returning to my normal form, I tore part of my jacket off and wrapped it around my deep shoulder wund. At least it would stop the blood so I wouldn't pass out or, worse, die from blood loss. "I just learned something! Well, I figured it out!"

"Oh, just shut up with your inane rambling!" Rodrigo screamed, lunging a fist at me that I playfully dodged. I sat down on his hand, grinning.

"'ello, mate! Lovely day we're havin', eh?" I asked in a Australian accent.

"You fail at life," he growled, the aura around him darkening.

"But you fail even more just because you're nothing, but a dead guy that came back to life."

Rodrigo grinned deviously, eyes recoiling down on me. I flew back off, getting tired from the blood loss. The crow suddenly raised both arms into the air, chanting under his breathe. I wondered what he was saying in that Babylonian language, and Wave knew how to translate and read it. However, she attempted to teach it to Jet once, and he fell asleep on her lap. Wave found it as "adorable" and "cute" until he drooled. That's when things got oh-so ugly, and I don't feel like explaining the gruesome event. Ew to the max!

"Try this on for your puny size!" Rodrigo cried, raising both arms into the air. "Alternate world of Babylon: Altearith!"

The aura around him and the Arks sudden spread across the battle field. I tried to escape, but the darkness was too fast. Rodrigo landed, the dark aura returning to him. Taking a good look around, the new area was like the inside of a vortex with what appeared to be holographic stars over head. The floor was covered in the same darkness as the sky, like a neverending circle.

"Another stupid area change. Wow," I stated sarcastically. "And what's with the name? Altearith? Sounds like some tacky RPG world."

"Shut up! Altearith was the hell of Babylon," he explained curtly. "and your final resting place."

"Bring it on, Roddy!" I cried, supressing a wheeze. Yeah, right! I'm beginning to feel faint from all of this lost blood, and my jacket not's helping as much as I would've liked.

Rodrigo charged at me at super speeds in flight. He swiped a fist at me, but I just barely managed to move my head backwards far enough for him to nick my nose. Not one to wait for the rebound, Rodrigo smashed his fist into my face. I cried out, but managed to shrug it off, still airbourne. Rodrigo was on me in seconds with Gravity Beam after Gravity Beam. With my swift, long wings, I dodged most bullets, but one. One suddenly blasted through my left wing, tearing it straight off. I screamed with pain, flopping down the ground.

I grabbed onto my decimated wing, staring lifelessly at it. A shadow of loss suddenly came. I had that wing ever since I was a baby, and it helped me in countless situations. Without my second wing, I couldn't be free. I couldn't fly or hover or do anything that had to do with being in the air. Extreme Gear? Sure, one with the wind as Jet says, but my wing was special. And don't even say I should walk! Walking is just...boring!

Rodrigo had me right where he wanted, but a his left hand twitched suddenly. Confusedly, he rubbed it then checked his pulse before smirking. "After so many failed attempts and plots, I finally have you, Charmy."

"Oh, come on," I muttered, glaring at his frighteningly dark aura. "Give me a break somebody, anybody."

"No can do, whelp!" Rodrigo's Arks gave a disdainful hissing noise like a snake's. They glowed in an ultimate black color while a massive amount of energy was being formed in a medium-size ball, and I recognized it as Compressed Babylon. "Let's end this with a bang, shall we? Compressed Babylon!"

Vector, Espio, Dad, I...I failed...I thought, staring as the ball ascended towards me slowly. Clenching my eyes shut, I felt nothing hit. A terrified gasp escaped Rodrigo's beak, and I opened my eyes.

The Compressed Babylon was absorbing itself into my master Ark of the Cosmos until there was no more. My Ark glowed immensely, forcing Rodrigo to shield his eyes from the light. The white, shimmering light that pierced through darkness. The light began to surrond me, filling me with a warmth that was close to the embrace of my father.

Power suddenly pulsed inside of me from the Ark. My wounds had healed themselves, and even when Rodrigo attempted firing Gravity Beams, they reflected off my now white aura. My light purged through Rodrigo's darkness, and he flew backwards, cowering from the illumination. My wing regrew itself, and the stab in my shoulder rejuvenated as though nothing ever happened. Faintness vanished, replacing it with my normal hyperness.

Without even realizing it, the Ark had turned me into Golden Charmy, my "super form" as Sonic and Jet put it. Seriously, super form? Sounds like some rip-off of Dragon Ball Z or whatever that show Tails watches when he thinks no one's watching. But I know because Wave and I take pictures of him when he runs around screaming, "Over nine thousaaaand!" like a, well, like a fanboy to be blunt.

All the black stripes turned to a dark lemon with my already yellow stripes brighter than ever. My jacket...somehow got destroyed, which sucks, but I have hundreds more so everything even outs. From what friends say, my once amber eyes turned a vermillion. Golden Charmy was in the house.

"Aw, yeah, baby!" I shouted at my new super form. "This is the best! Absolutely, positively, the best!"

---

Jet glanced towards the stairs, a curious look plastered on his face. He glanced over to Cannon's deceased, peaceful face and instantly shrugged it off. Stream was stroking Cannon's face with a bland expression on her face. Bean was still horrified at his leader's death, and Rodrigo's betrayal so for the first time in a long, long time, he was silent.

"Hey...you guys feel that?" Jet stated suddenly, gaining their ex-traitors' attention. "Up there on the final floor, I just felt something big occur like some power surge."

Stream shuddered. "Y-y-yeah, Lord...I mean, Rodrigo probably unleashed his full dark power on Charmy."

"No," Jet concurred, crossing his arms. "I felt that a while ago, but this felt pure and crisp." Jet grinned, a look of smugness vivid.

"Jet, there's something you should know about Rodrigo," Bean said, head down on his chin.

"What?"

"Rodrigo's immortal!" Bean raised his arms into the air in a psychotic, mad scientist way with a crazed grin on his face. "It'll take way more than just some light energy to beat him!"

Stream glowered down at him. "Bean, we already know that! Anything else you'd like to add?"

"...I got nothin'." Bean gave a casual shrug of his shoulders.

Jet smacked his cousin over the head. Aggrivatedly, he faced the doors they had burst through and sighed. "Man, I wish we could do something to help."

"Sorry, Jet, we can't," Stream sullenly replied. "I-I wish things hadn't...turned out like this."

"It's fine, sorry about Cannon's...you know."

"It's...okay." Stream covered her face with her palm, attempting pitifully to project her tears elsewhere; Jet pretended not to notice, but guilt panged his heart, and he clutched his chest feathers feebly.

The doors that Jet and I had burst in through suddenly slammed open. Jet yanked out his bansho fans while Bean pronjected a bomb, but both lowered their weapons in utter shock.

"It's you two!" Jet shouted, his voice filled with joyful surprise. "Thank God you guys are okay!"

---

My incorrigable spirit had led me so far, and sure it wavered at times, to this moment. This was my second time I had turned into Golden Charmy, and the first was when I originally, supposedly, slaughtered Rodrigo by cutting his head off. I wasn't sure whether or not Rodrigo perfected or even used his Shadow Rodrigo form since our Astral Babylon duke.

Cracking my tiny knuckles, I spun around for joy with a wide, opened mouth smile on my face with closed eyes. "La la laaaa, I'm bestest and the cooliest and the awesomest and...I'm just overall perfect!"

Rodrigo cursed. "Ugh! Damn, why did you have to return!?"

I pointed to my Ark with an all-knowing look. "I'll take a wild guess: You probably inserted some sort of reversal Babylonian magic into the master Ark that controls the other lesser Arks. So, when you used that Compressed Babylon at full power my Ark absorbed it. Once absorbed, the dark magic turns to light and fuses with the user's body, myself, and turns them super."

"...Um, that's...right." Rodrigo scratched his head while I gave a mild look of surprise.

"...Really?" I asked skeptically.

"...Yes."

"You really didn't think the Arks out that clearly, did you?" I giggled, covering my mouth before erupting into laughter.

"Okay, I've had it!" Rodrigo roared viciously. "Time to end this scuffle once and for all!"

I motioned for him to continue. Rodrigo lunged at me blindly, scrreaming with rage. He blasted Gravity Beam after Gravity Beam, but with my newfound invincibility, the ones that I did hit didn't affect as much as they used to when I was in normal form. Creating a large sort of gravity in my hand, I compressed it into a ball and fired it. Shockingly enough, Rodrigo didn't dodge like he was getting slower. Sniggering, I stuck my tongue out making Rodrigo ventilate. Flying with my longer, elegant wings, I spun around just to try them out, but Rodrigo was suddenly in my fist and kicked me straight in the chest.

Cringing, I recoiled off the ground, lunging straight back at him. Conjuring up as much gravity as I could with the power of my super form, I created my own version of Compressed Babylon with a gold aura around it and fired it at him. Rodrigo created his own that was the exact same size, and a mighty explosion ricocheted us backwards. Our crash landings imploded us into the ground, creating small craters the size of boulders.

Rodrigo leaped to his feet, but suddenly stumbled backwards. I hovere to my feet, wiping the blood from my mouth. Seriously, how do I do this for a living? Ultimately, I already had figured out what was going on internally in Rodrigo, so I smirked. Getting into a fighting position, I playfully asked him what was wrong with him.

"Sh-shut up!" Rodrigo's body violently twitched, and his face strained. I winced at the motions, cocking my head to the side disgustedly. Rodrigo's aura looked like it diminished somewhat while his eyes drew blank for a few seconds before redeeming with color. He gasped, holding his heart in pain. "W-what's happening to me?"

"Wave, your ancestor, told me all about the Shadow form." My thin lips carved onto sly,devious smile. Placing my hands on my hip, I continued. "Wouldn't you know that if you use four Arks and not the master Ark, your life depletes even faster than by just using one in the Shadow form?"

"What did you say?!" he gasped, eyes bugging. "What did she do to the Arks of the Cosmos, my grandeur creations?!"

"Wave did nothing! It was your fault the Shadow form even exists. You caused your own destruction, Rodrigo."

He panted, holding his head in complete agony. Dropping to his knees, he screamed with pain as the dark aura evaporated into his Arks, but it came back out. Rodrigo was smiling when the aura enveloped him.

"What's...what's so funny?" I asked, surprised at his decision to re-use the Shadow powers.

"My life is nearly gone, and I already predicted the consequences of the usage Shadow form." Rodrigo's amber eyes have drips of violet creeping back inside, but what scared me was that they were all bloodshot with his feathers suddenly turning a dreary grey. "If I have to die, I'll take everyone with me! You! The Babylon Rogues! Stream! Bean! Everyone must pay for my cause! Everyone is going to be punished by my wrath!"

I flinched, and he cupped both hands together. A massive amount of black, Babylonian magic began to conjure up within. Expanding, the ball suddenly enlarged itself to nearly touch the ceiling. Gulping, I winced in fear. It was huge, a Big Bang as hippies would say! Almost as large as Metal Sonic when he tried to conquer the world during the Sonic Heroes era. Taking in shaky breathes, I looked over to Rodrigo.

Rodrigo's entire body was shivering like an old man, but he still retained his youthful exposure. Panting heavily, Rodrigo leaned backwards with the massive, black gravity ball.

"Wh-what is that?!" I cried, mouth gaping at the enormous size. Squinting my eyes, I added, "Oh, I can't wait for the name."

"Gravity Death," Rodrigo coyfully stated. His arms quivered, strained from the immense pull of gravity. "The grandest of ancient Babylonian magic. Just watch and learn, brat, before your life ends."

Rodrigo suddenly launced the Gravity Beam ball, and I froze, but than an idea struck me. Holding out both palms, he suddenly unleashed his utter wrath upon on the world, predicting its' destruction. Putting all of my super energy in my hands, I managed to create a light shield that was the exact same size of the Gravity Death in the shape of my ruined badge to collide with the dark blast. Once it hit, I was being shoved backwards, but the shield held strong. We grunted, attempting to surpass each other in anyway possible. Our energy was severely draining, and I was getting tired. My shield wasn't going to last long because of my inability to maintain the super form since I had only used it twice. Coughing was what I heard from Rodrigo, but I couldn't see him, which worried me.

"You're...not going...to win, Rodrigo!" I shouted, holding the shield as the light around began to illuminate. "I have to win!"

"Why? So those foolish Rogues can backstab you in the future?!" Rodrigo shouted. "Look at what they did to me!"

"You did that to yourself because of your selfishness! They're different from you, and so was Stolen. You're nothing, but darkness!"

"And darkness will succeed! That is the epitome of Babylonian magic! I conjured and sugbjagated the Arks to my will by my own will and my darkness!" Rodrigo pressed on further, forcing me to succumb to my knees.

Growling, my new-found wings forced me to stand up. "You're wrong! The Arks were at first pure until you tainted them! The master Ark controls all of the Arks, and my Ark is light, and light is the strongest!"

Suddenly, the Gravity Death disentegrated when my Ark glowed along with my shield. Light flowed through Rodrigo's final resort, utterly destroying the darkness inside. I sighed deeply, knowing that Rodrigo had used the last of his power and will to fight.

Rodrigo gave a squawk of horror before collapsing to the ground. He was panting, and his Shadow form depleted away his life to that of an old bird ready to kick the bucket. The crow glared up at me as I hovered over him.

"It's over," I stated simply. "It's finally over. This twisted game of yours, this tie, it's done. I won."

Rodrigo spat at my feet, leaving trails of spittle. "Damn you, damn you, honeybee. Damn...you..." His words were cut off, and all source of life vanished from his once vicious, but now vacant violet eyes.

Rodrigo the Crow had died, and I killed him.

I guess I was the vigilante of this tale, but I wasn't really. I had help. Others helped through this final battle like the Chaotix and the Babylon Rogues, but most of all my father. Bless his soul.

Then it hit me: I won. I saved the day. Me, a little honeybee with no parents, and possibly ADD issues; Actually, I might have ADD, but I don't know.

And then I passed out.