Density Of Periodic Orbits
The wind about his ears screamed louder than it ever had, and still he heard everything. The small clanks of robot feet on the ships in front of him, the whizzing of energy from the portal to another world, the constant buzzings when a new group of Drakon invaders crossed it.
Crossed it to destroy HIS planet, HIS world, HIS HOME. Sonic ground his teeth, fists stretching out in front of him, blood red eyes narrowed, fixed on the astonishing, big enemy fleet in front of him. Leaving a golden streak against the dark sky, Sonic struck the first battleship like a tiny comet.
A tiny comet with brutal force.
Knuckles grimaced, his left palm lying softly pressed to the Master's surface. It knew they were near, it knew they were coming for it, and so did he.
The guardian closed his eyes, driving all feelings of anger or hatred for the enemies approaching his home from above now from his mind. Out of all things about chaos he had taught Sonic he had left out this one part even the sometimes annoyingly curious hedgehog had not thought of asking about.
He had left out the part concerning him.
The power came to fill him up without any of his work; it wanted to fight now as much as he did. Knuckles felt the island swerve as the energy flowing through it subsided to rush to its guardian as his own feet lost the contact to the floor.
He knew it would hold. Long enough to clear the field.
Surrounded by an aura of emerald green, Knuckles smashed through the rock blocking his way, for now, as long as the moments might last, as fast as Sonic.
"Take this, bloody creep!" Amy aimed her arrow accurately, directly driving it through one of the persecutor's armor.
The monstrous figure crumbled to its knees, just to be stricken by another arrow that caused it to sway in its place. Angrily it raised a fist to lash out at Amy. The girl screamed, raising her arms in vain attempt to protect herself. A useless, silly idea. Her small arms meant nothing against the powerful punch of a stone fist two times her size.
Amy was still screaming when the fist came down, cracking a hole with the dimensions of a crater into the ground. It was then that something in her panicked mind realized that something really didn't fit in here. Ah, right… why wasn't she dead?
Tails grinned down on her, both hands locked under her armpits. "Thank goodness you finally stopped screaming; I considered dropping you to save my ears."
"Tails!" Amy relaxed in relief.
"You know, there is always a two-tailed flying fox when you need him…" Tails smiled and descended to set her down a save distance from the wounded, but enraged persecutor.
"Thank you! Now let's finish this guy off for good, before he pulls that trick again on us." The pink hedgehog was already running for their opponent again, blindly reaching for a new handful of arrows, but her fingers went uselessly through nothing but air and she skidded to a stop. "Oh no! I've run out of arrows!"
Tails stared at her. A crossbow without arrows was absolutely useless. "What now? You could… throw it at the thing?", he sheepishly remarked, just to say something at all.
"No… but I just got another idea…" Amy grinned. "Quick! Get us back to the pirate ship!"
"Let's get the Tornado! Sure!" Tails stretched his hands out at her to lift her again.
"Not just that…" Amy grinned devilishly.
The sky above Mobius had been plunged into chaos. Giant, heavily armoured and as heavily armed flying vessels suspended in the high atmosphere; the thin air carrying the noise of the huge turbines and energy jets used to keep the massive weights afloat as much as the sounds of rocket fire, laser beams and explosions raging between the different parties.
Sonic dodged just in time to avoid colliding with one of the green rays of intense radiation the Drakon laser cannons used; a few previous encounters with them had shown him that the contact did him no harm in a sense of an actual injury, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt great deal.
Twisting around while rocketing upwards so fast for a second or two the scream of the wind almost outdrowned the noise of the battle, Sonic once more looked himself down. Knuckles had tried telling him what power he held, but no words had been anything like appropriate to describe it. He'd smashed a couple of the huge flying fortresses already – by ramming them! If he flew such an attack at full speed, he didn't even experience much of a resistance; his body, brimming with chaos power, went through the metal like a hot knife through a piece of butter.
The simple 'Sonic against the rest of the world' he'd been expecting had quickly turned into something much more complicated. When Sonic had reached the enemy fleet, the war had already started without him. Robotnik's ships launched missiles and flying bombs and robot drones at the Drakon army while the Drakon Empire's battleships responded with its laser cannons. Not that Sonic would complain; it seemed their plan bringing them apart had worked out just great.
But soon, as Sonic had interfered and blown up the first of Robotnik's flying monsters in his reach, both enemy parties had realized the third player on the field was a dangerous one. At first, they had stopped firing at each other to hunt down the glowing streak of gold the hedgehog left against the dark blue sky; but once in a while a Drakon ship had found a good change to shoot at one of Robotnik's… whose companions had started a revenge strike. Sometimes both enemy groups would allow Sonic to pass without attacking him to let him distract the others and then strike out at both the other flying war machines and the yellow shining hedgehog.
Giving a yelp of pain as a new set of laser beams grazed his arm, Sonic span round and launched himself at the Drakon vessel that had fired at him, once again the incredible acceleration leaving him stunned with awe just for the single second he could waste a thought and a piece of concentration on it; then he flipped forwards and curled into a spinning ball to strike the sensitive engine section as a cannonball of spiked energy.
Smashing out of it the other side, Sonic turned to watch the momentum he'd given the ship adding to the force of the explosion that followed his attack; the huge aircraft tilted, and through Sonic's enhanced senses it seemed like slow-motion as it tumbled into the way of another, the chain reaction carrying further as it met one of Robotnik's flying machines unfortunate enough to pass.
Sonic grinned. Their armours might take a lot of blows and their weapons might be fancy and powerful, but all of the things, no matter who owned them, had a problem.
They were way too slow.
"Are you ready, Amy?", Tails quavered impatiently, drumming his thumb onto the side of his cockpit.
"Almost done!", the pink hedgehog girl replied from the flying pirate ship that travelled alongside Tails' biplane, or more concrete the Tornado travelled alongside the pirate ship.
The fox was about to tell her to hurry up when she appeared at the railing, accompanied by Porker Lewis and one of the Sky Pirates.
"I don't think this is a good idea…", the pig mumbled, his face set in doubtful frown.
"The lady is dangerous with that weapon…", the pirate noticed, grimacing at the still recent memory.
Amy grinned, leaning the weight of the big hammer onto her right shoulder. "You bet."
Knuckles softly floated above the island's main volcano crater. It was the highest point of Angel Island and he'd assumed it would be the least sensitive one.
The guardian's brow curved as his eyes tracked the shapes of the enemies melting out of the dark clouds around; one big Drakon mothership accompanied by a handful of smaller vessels. Knuckles stayed were he was, silently watching their approach. There was no need rushing into things. They were here for him. They wanted what he held, so they wouldn't hesitate to confront him. In fact, the echidna was sure that was the reason for their 'visit'.
As if having decided to prove the guardian's judgement, the big aircraft started to slowly circle the mountains while the smaller ones landed close to the crater. Knuckles still didn't move as each of them released small groups of persecutors onto the ground of his island.
One of the invaders, the markings on his armor designating him as some kind of leader, slowly walked to the edge of the crater without wasting a look down on the blistering heat of Lava Reef Zone; instead his look was firmly fixed on the green glowing form hovering above it, long spines softly waving in the thermals rising from the volcano.
"You have been awaiting us," he said calmly.
Knuckles nodded. "Yes." His sole word echoed from the crater walls around as if the very island itself was repeating its guardian's speech.
"You still have a chance to surrender to our superior powers, echidna. If you hand over the Master Emerald and the seven Chaos servers, we will spare your life."
Knuckles laughed shortly. "What kind of a life would that be? The life of a coward, of a traitor to himself. I would rather die than be humiliated like that."
"You speak brave, Guardian. The great Drakon Empire has always honoured bravery." The persecutor bowed his head in what seemed a gesture of genuine respect. "But then there will be no way around the fight. As the respect between warriors, even of different sides, commands, we can promise you that you will be buried the way we bury our heroes."
Knuckles inclined his head. "Honour demands me to offer you the same."
An odd snort of laughter came from the tall Drakon warrior. "You do not seriously expect to have a chance of winning."
A small smile tugged on Knuckles' lips, just to vanish into firm fierceness an instant later. "I do."
"We are fighting to propel the glory of the Empire; we are fighting to finally posses the great powers this planet has always held to make a difference to others. What can you, all alone, put up against us?"
Knuckles' hands slowly clenched into fists at his sides. I am not alone. My friends and allies are just about to finish off the rest of your glorious empire…. At my side is a power no-one has ever seen more than a hint at. The Master has not given his power for this kind of thing in centuries. My reasons to fight are above yours. I fight to protect the Master Emerald, I fight to protect my ancestors' legacy, I fight to protect the heritage from the past and allow for a future… for me and for others. "I fight for my life. And I fight for my home. I fight for everything that has ever meant something to me. I will not lose."
The persecutor raised his hand, signalling to his army the talking and the formalities were over. "Then these words shall be your last, Guardian."
Knuckles once more nodded his head, the green glow around him rising to blinding level. "By the powers of chaos those shall be yours."
Sonic had almost reached the portal ring; a giant round supported by several engines located to spots all around its outer diameter. The space inside the ring sizzled and flickered in multiple colors. A frown of almost disappointment crossed Sonic's brow. He had expected a portal between two dimensions to look something more special than this. Compared with the others stuff Robotnik had built, or with things like Sky Sanctuary or the Special Zones… this looked nearly… average. Utterly boring.
The hedgehog was getting ready to launch himself at the big device, when he suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the movement, slowing down so fast it almost hurt. Deep in his mind, the Emeralds had cried out, the sense of something akin to a feeling sweeping over their holder.
Sonic turned over his shoulder, staring downwards to a place somewhere in the clouds. There was nothing to see, yet he had to look at the spot. It felt as if… the seven of his Chaos Emeralds were suddenly… concerned. Worried. Worried for something like a relative that was now fighting for its life.
Sonic shook his head, promising himself and the stones whose powers flowed through his body he'd check up on it as soon as he was done here; and turned back to the giant ring. It no longer floated alone, instead one of Robotnik's ships had appeared at its side.
Narrowing his eyes, Sonic scanned the small window of the bridge, so far away he'd have never made out any details normally. But the current conditions were far from normal.
A small smirk manifested on Sonic's face. "Hello, ol' Eggman."
"The hedgehog better look behind him." A dark grin covered Robotnik's face. Behind mirroring glasses, his look was fixed on what he could see through his windows. The glowing form of his archenemy's superform hovered weightlessly about half a mile in front of him, and behind the hedgehog two already slightly damaged Drakon battleships rose from the cloud layer.
"Sir, we've lost the fleet…", his assistant Grimer cut in the robotist's analysis of the tactical situation.
"What about these traitorous Osteichthyes?" Robotnik whirled around to face the green-skinned.
"Those two ships remain," Grimer stammered, taking a step backwards. "But the data is not sufficient to be sure that no troops have left the main group, Sir…"
"Then get better data!" Robotnik span back to see the Drakon ships had started firing at the hedgehog. "That persistent little pest is just too fast…"
"Do you want me to open fire at the hedgehog?", Grimer offered hesitantly.
"NO! I'll open fire myself this time…"
"Closer, Tails!"
The two-tailed fox narrowed his eyes at Amy's request, his fist tightly clutching the controls of his biplane. "Much closer and he'll snatch us while we're flying past him!"
Amy turned to Tails for a second, grimacing. "I don't really appreciate that possibility, but that thing –" She indicated the hammer she'd burrowed from Captain Plunder again "– doesn't exactly have the best range of all."
Tails' ears folded backwards. She kinda had a point there. A crossbow could strike from a distance, as could the Tornado's guns (that had unfortunately proven to be completely useless against the armor of their enemy)… A hammer on the other hand was restricted by its own size and the length of Amy's arms… which weren't very long.
"Okay… as it's the last enemy left we really should get over with it …" Tails leaned his plane to the side and into a steep dive, approaching the persecutor from behind. "Get ready to aim at his arm when I pull up," he advised the pink hedgehog.
Amy nodded, concentratedly watching her goal while slowly lifting the heavy tool over her head and holding it there. It consumed nearly all of her strength keeping it balanced when Tails levelled out the dive, but then she found she could use the momentum it had given to strike the enemy's shoulder.
The hit Drakon warrior tumbled as he was spun around his axis, one arm of the cyborg body powerlessly dropping down. Having lost his sole remaining useful limb, the alien glared angrily at the small biplane quickly gaining altitude again, then he stumbled a couple last meters until almost reaching the big gold ring hovering above the dark green grass of Flickies Island's ground. Dropping out of the head, the fish-shaped inhabitant clumsily managed the way over to the gold ring, slid through it and disappeared as he retreated to his home planet.
Tails and Amy exchanged a high-five, and the fox started to circle over Flickies Island to make sure the last of the invaders was gone.
"Tails, look! It's vanishing!" Amy's voice was filled with awe as she stared down to the big golden ring on the meadow below.
Its color was dimming more and more, its shape seemed to blur as if watched through a milky glass, until no trace that it had ever existed remained.
"Wow," Tails commented. "It really worked. Guess our job is done now for sure, huh?"
Amy nodded happily.
Tails manoeuvred his biplane to fly parallel to the Sky Pirates's ship. Cheerfully waving his arm, he called over to the rest of the group. "Hey guys! How was that now, huh?"
"You two were great!", Porker shouted back, grinning broadly. "The Flock have successfully set off the bomb too."
"Now we only wait for Sonic and Knuckles," Amy noticed, sitting on the Tornado's left wing holding the big hammer.
Porker nodded. "I think it's best we head home and wait for them to call, they might be very busy…"
"Sounds sensible," Tails agreed. "Come on over to us! We got enough room for one more."
"How do you suppose I do that?", the pig questioned suspiciously.
Tails grinned. "Like Sonic and me always do. You jump down and I'll catch you."
"You're kidding!" Porker paled.
Amy shifted her hammer. "Now be a brave boy…"
The pig gulped dryly, looking between Amy and the far away ground as if unable to decide if the pink girl holding the hammer or the possible fall was more dangerous. "Oh…oh…okay…" He swallowed again before bringing himself to climb over the railing. Realizing what he was about to do, he quickly wanted to pull back, but the rapid movement upset his balance and he tilted forwards, dropping free. "WHAAAAAAAAAAA! HELP ME TAILS!"
When his back met something hard he first thought this really was the end now, but then he heard two people giggle and carefully opened his eyes that he'd squeezed shut in panic. He was sprawled on the rear seat of the small biplane and staring into Amy's and Tails' amused faces.
"Let's head home, shall we?", the young fox suggested light-heartedly.
Porker let out a deep breath. "Yes." The single word was all he managed after the shock. He sank into the seat in sweet relief and numbly watched his friends waving goodbye to the pirates.
Spinning around, Sonic barely had the time to think of dodging the laser blow coming for him. Diving to the left, it passed by only inches from his feet. The golden hedgehog followed the path of the lance of energy; if the Drakons had meant aiming at him and Robotnik's portal at the same time was to be doubted, but for once an accident spared Sonic the work of destroying the thing himself.
The second the green beam connected with the portal ring it started to glow fiercely before being torn into tiny bits by one of mightiest explosions Sonic had seen in his life, and he'd seen a lot.
The colourful field the ring had created remained stable nonetheless, but just for the time of an instant. The plate it had formed so far started to bulge, and Sonic felt himself being pulled towards it by a force stronger than most things he'd ever felt.
His hands fisted at his sides as he struggled to escape the suction, watching the two Drakon ships already being swallowed up by the hole. Robotnik's vessel twitched, its engines roaring angrily and starting to smoke.
Knuckles' face was expressionless as he watched the last of his enemies spiral slowly towards the steaming red of Lava Reef. "I promised you the right to have your bodies buried. Take it as a cremation."
Softly landing at the edge of the crater, he allowed the powers to flow back to the Emerald chamber and into the island's ground. For a moment the guardian knelt to feel for the powers' way, ensuring his home was safe now, then he slowly nodded to himself. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to keep the island afloat. Turning to look at the cloudy sky, Knuckles frowned. There couldn't be much power left.
Sonic is taking his time. Hope he doesn't take too long…
Speedy's note: There's so much in this chapter I'm pretty proud of... I guess Knuckles at the volcano is my favorite part. Re-reading it aloud to myself after typing sent shivers down my spine ;)
What's your favorite?