Knuckles was looking pretty haggard. Being Super feels great for the first stage, but once you exceed the optimum time span it starts to drain your energy like crazy—somehow the Chaos stops lending power to you and instead starts demanding your power. Too large a strain could knock out even the likes of Shadow.
"Let's do this!" said Rouge eagerly, landing beside Knuckles in a clatter of wings. She was veritably twitching with excitement.
"Never gone Super before, right?" panted Knuckles.
"Nope."
"Know any Chaos-based attacks or moves at all?"
"Not a one," shrugged Rouge. "Gimme."
"It's not that easy!" snapped Knuckles. "Usually going Super is only possible if you're already attuned to Chaos energy. I wouldn't even be thinking of trying this if the Master Emerald was still in one piece—right now the restrictions are looser because it's not in charge, but it's still an incredibly long shot. You're going to have to focus, Rouge, feel the energy."
"I know, I know," said Rouge impatiently. "Come on, do you think I'm passing up a chance to have all seven Chaos Emeralds just handed to me?"
"That's exactly the kind of mindset that'll make you fail!" barked Knuckles, stumbling. His fur dulled to red for an alarmingly long period of time, but eventually heaved itself back to the Super magenta-pink. "You have to stop thinking of them as just pretty jewels, Rouge. You have to concentrate on their power, not their looks. You got it?"
"Got it," said Rouge, losing patience and taking hold of Knuckles' mittened hands. "Come on, try me."
Knuckles set his teeth in determination and nodded, looking Rouge in the eye.
"Feel anything?" he asked breathlessly. "In your hands. Try to tune in."
"I know, I know," mumbled Rouge, biting her lip. "I think . . . "
"Kind of hot and cold at the same time?"
"Yeah!"
"Good! Now focus everything on that, try to draw it towards you. Let it be you, take over completely."
Rouge nodded tightly, her breath quickening as she closed her eyes. Knuckles waited doggedly, struggling to hold onto consciousness for a little longer, just long enough to pour the Chaos over into Rouge.
There was a faint jolt as the balance of energy swung. Time seemed to slow slightly (not impossible considering what Chaos Control could do), and Rouge's ears twitched back. The faintest hint of opalescence began to glint here and there on her fur, shifting through several pastel hues of gold, pink, and cyan.
Then there was an explosion. Knuckles tumbled back onto the ground, entirely spent; Rouge was hurled back a good four meters, Chaos Emeralds scattering every which way. The transfer had failed.
The odd waver of time-space distortion faded; Rouge ensured she was still alive and picked herself up slowly, cursing. Noticing Knuckles sprawled nearby, she scrambled over to see if he was all right. He seemed to be breathing fine, and his heart was still going, so she assumed he was just sleeping off the exhaustion of holding Super too long and then losing it all at once. Laying him back more comfortably, Rouge gathered the Chaos Emeralds together again and settled back on her heels, still muttering and tousling her ears.
"What're you gonna do?" asked Bokkun tentatively, venturing to approach.
"Nothing to do but wait for someone to get here," said Rouge tersely. "And gosh knows what Fio's doing in the meantime."
The situation was not quite as grave as Rouge feared; Fio, in the form of a grayhound, had barely gone a mile and half when Espio and Vector intercepted him. They were in pretty severe danger, since a single bite would ruin them and a single blow probably would kill them, so they moved swiftly. Espio lofted shurikens so fast his hand seemed to be a blur, while Vector plowed around the perimeter of the battleground waving a heavy metal bat, occasionally curling into a tight ball to launch himself at an unprotected flank. Fio growled and tossed about globs of Chaos, shifting from form to form; he currently seemed to favor an aggressive elephant configuration.
"Boy, sure could use an airlift now!" grunted Vector, leaning on his club for the briefest millisecond and nearly losing his life for it.
"This is hardly the kind of situation for Charmy," said Espio grimly.
"Yeesh, I know, just that this'd be easier if we weren't stuck on the ground. I'm a detective y'know, not a caveman."
Espio raised an eyebrow, but was too preoccupied even to make any mental commentary. His communicator crackled.
"Esp, is there anyone near you who could co—what's all that noise?" asked Rouge eagerly. "You got Fio there?"
"We do." Espio leaped aside as a ball of blue fire plowed into the ground where he'd just been standing.
"Oh gosh, that's great! Be careful, and try to lure him this way so that whoever's coming can meet him faster!"
"Where's 'here'?"
"By Vanilla's house—well, what's left of it—"
"What happened?" barked Vector from nearby.
"It's kinda . . . wrecked . . . "
Vector said nothing, but his eyes darkened.
"Easy, boss," warned Espio anxiously, and Vector gave a sharp, bitter nod. He understood; collateral was inevitable. Still, a new nuance of reckless fury worked its way into his attacks, building until he finally lost patience and lunged forward to strike a cracking blow straight to Fio's forehead. Metal rang sharply, and Fiolet staggered, his eyes drifting.
"Look out!" barked Espio, struggling to distract Fiolet from the crocodile dangerously close to his jaws. "Boss, move!"
"This has gotta end somehow!" growled Vector, swinging the bar over his head and bringing it down again. "If we don't defeat this creep, what happens to Charmy then, huh? What happens to Cream? Her mother? What happens to all of them?!"
Espio's barrage of shurikens slowed against his will as he watched Vector lunging perilously out of range of Fiolet's teeth, bringing the metal club down again and again, methodical and silent. Fiolet at last gave a garbled roar as his skull gave way; his last move was to drive a shaft of Chaos into Vector's stomach.
"Boss!" Espio darted forward as the crocodile collapsed and dragged him away from the whirling purple mist as best he could. Vector coughed and gave a light groan, curling around the injury unconsciously. Espio shook his head despairingly and glanced over his shoulder; Fiolet had already respawned, and reared from the ground in the form of an enormous hooded cobra. It seemed to grin wickedly, its dark forked tongue flickering from its mouth in anticipation of new prey. Espio stepped before Vector's unconscious form, his eyes hard as he reached silently for a new handful of shurikens. He did realize he was veritably doomed, but—
The cobra suddenly flew sideways in a ball of flame. It was mist before it even hit the ground.
"I have found you!" announced a new voice, unmistakably electronic and unmistakably wrathful. "Prepare to be chastised with fire!"
"Omega!" Espio saluted gratefully as the robot went to work, then turned to see what he could do for Vector. He was surprised when the crocodile groaned and started to sit up.
"Boss! Are you all right?"
"Ehhh, they ain't gonna be making any handbags outta me yet," mumbled Vector, feeling gingerly at his midsection, which seemed to have taken the blow unimaginably well. "Takes more'n that to take down this old croc."
Espio gave a sharp nod and a flicker of a smile, then wisped back into the midst of the battle. Now he had to dodge both Fiolet's attacks and Omega's ammunition; the robot seemed to be emptying half the country's stock of gunpowder into his opponent. Meanwhile Fiolet, in the form of some giant prehistoric badger, snapped his teeth over Omega's arm. Yanking his head back hard, he managed to throw the robot to the ground violently; there followed a great deal of thrashing and crashing and exploding. The badger died quickly, but Omega seemed to have some difficulty getting back up. One of his legs had snapped most of the way through at the knee.
"Are you all right?" asked Espio, one eye still cautiously trained on Fio.
"Eggman still lives," retorted Omega, rotating one hand to a flamethrower and setting to work welding his own leg back together. "I am not going anywhere."
Espio shook his head resignedly and loped forward to cover for Omega while he performed the repairs.
Sonic was in a fair snit; the main bridge across the Shenoe River had been destroyed during Fiolet's rampage. As it was a mile-wide river and too choppy to run across, Sonic had had to take the long way around—as in, "seventy-four miles longer" long way around. By the time he tore up to Knuckles, Rouge was gone and the echidna looked almost ready to be up and about again.
"Man," panted Sonic, slip-sliding to a halt and rattling his head in frustration. "Sorry about the delay, Knux, you would not believe how they've ripped up the—where's the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Gone," said Knuckles, shrugging. "Tails got here before you did."
"Tails?!" Sonic's eyes flew open wide. "Tails has gone Super?!"
"Yeah. He kept burbling on about how he hadn't ever done it before except with Super Emeralds, but I kinda talked him up and he pulled it off just fine." The echidna chuckled grimly. "Rouge isn't happy."
Sonic missed this last comment, still processing the fact that his little brother was out there being an epic Super Tails.
"Pulled it right off, straight from the Chaos Emeralds?" he asked, the beginnings of a grin working across his face.
"Hey, why not? That time he used the Super Emeralds was years ago, he's older and more experienced now. Probably could pull it off even when the Master Emerald isn't busted, if he really tried."
"Get out," muttered Sonic, grinning from ear to ear. He looked around suddenly. "Which way did he go?"
Knuckles waved abstractly to the north, and Sonic took off.
He'd only been going for a few minutes when something enormous and purple plummeted from the sky, leveling out just in time to avoid taking off Sonic's head. Screeching bizarrely, it thundered back upwards, each flap of its wings sounding like a snapping sail.
"Tails?!" Sonic hollered upwards. "Tails, you up there?"
"Sonic!" came a distant yell. Squinting, Sonic caught sight of a tiny golden form way up in the sky, locked in battle with what appeared to be a purple Pteranodon.
"Go get 'im, Tails!" he shouted up, but the battle was already moving so quickly that he wasn't sure Tails had even heard him. He tried to track the two fighters visually, but they were so high up they kept disappearing into clouds and otherwise fading out of sight; Sonic settled for tearing in large circles below their last known location and heading wherever he saw beams of energy striking the ground.
For a while he lost sight of them entirely, but at long last his radio crackled.
"I've run him to ground!" called Tails' breathless voice. "I've got to transfer soon, Sonic, are you nearby?"
"By Kingdom Valley!"
"Okay, great, that's close. I'm herding Fio your way! Be ready for him, he's a giant purple dinosaur!"
A beat.
". . . It's not what it sounds like . . . "
"I hope not," smirked Sonic. "I'd be kinda ticked if you guys got all the epic fierce forms and I was stuck punching out Barney."
Tails chuckled, but there was a certain tightness to it—the battle was becoming less exuberant and increasingly grim as time went on, the number of available Mobians got lower, and Fio continued to show no signs of tiring. They were all beginning to realize what lay in the near future, but they did their best not to think about it just yet.
Sonic turned around in place, waiting to spot either Tails or his opponent. Suddenly a reptilian head reared from behind a nearby hill, and in a flash of purple the full length of a Tyrannosaurus Rex hove into view. It was a pretty terrifying creature, thrashing its heavy whip of a tail and screeching through a mouthful of butcher-knife teeth; Sonic shook his quills into place with a snap and headed for it.
As he ducked and dodged around the howling lizard, sneaking in hits wherever he could, he became aware of a pulsing golden light whizzing around nearby, also dealing blows to the dinosaur. At last the beast stumbled and toppled over, and the golden light rose high up into the air and came down hard for the finishing blow.
"Tails!" called Sonic, as the usual purple mist scattered across the ground. "Not bad, buddy!"
Tails was looking a little weary, and the four golden Flickies that usually accompanied his Super form were gone, but he was still beaming like he'd just been made king of the world. Grinning, Sonic raised one hand for a high-five, and Tails slapped his palm enthusiastically. Sparks of Chaos flew the minute their hands met, and suddenly space seemed to warp around the two Mobians, humming eerily.
When the distortion cleared, Tails had stopped glowing, and Sonic was the one bright-gold.
"Yeah . . . we're gonna have to work on that transfer," grinned Sonic ruefully. Tails just had time to smirk and nod before passing out; Sonic caught him, ruffled his hair hastily, and set him down. Then he turned his attention to Fiolet.
Sonic was a master of the old-school Super; no bells and whistles, no fancy bonuses, no birds or flames or creative color schemes, just raw roaring power and a golden glow. He had done it so many times that it was truly second nature.
Years of experience had taught him a lot of useful tricks, as well as how to divide his attention. He kept up a steady pattern of conversation with the others as he battled, linking and patching through the fliers' radios. Nobody had been injured yet, but most of the ones who had gone Super previously still weren't really in condition to take it on again. Everyone was willing and eager, of course, but there was that distinctive thread of involuntary weariness running through their voices, hinting at the aching limbs, the groggy minds, right down to the individual cells battered by the ebb and flow of Chaos.
Meanwhile Fiolet tore across the countryside in great arcs, swiping, flying, tossing spears; perhaps he was wearing down just the tiniest bit, but it was still painfully obvious that he was losing power at a much lower rate than the Chaos Emeralds were.
You never knew, reflected Sonic grimly, diving to strike an opening. There was always the chance of a miracle before the Emeralds ran out. Maybe.
He held Super for more than half an hour, which was pretty impressive considering that he was working with a depleted stockpile. After thirty-three minutes, he was starting to breathe hard, and the cool tingle of Chaos had long since transformed into a painful, leeching burn. Spots of black danced before his vision as he ran the math rapidly in his head. There was nobody fresh to transfer to.
"Shads," he panted, landing to conserve energy and activating his radio. "I hate to ask pal, but I think you're gonna have to pick up again."
"On my way," replied Shadow, terse but ungrudging. "How long can you afford to wait?"
Sonic winced.
"Not . . . very long, I guess, but I'll be fine. Fio's kinda running loose meanwhile, though."
"Give me eight minutes."
"Yeah. 'kay."
"Better make that five . . . " he distinctly heard Shadow muttering before the connection cut off. He snorted wearily. He didn't sound that tired . .. . at least he hoped not.
Boosting back off the ground, Sonic glanced around and squinted after Fio's rampaging form, currently a wolf again. He felt a slight shiver pass through him—it was rare that he didn't feel absolutely sure about his ability to take an opponent down, but right now he was much, much less than sure. His limbs felt stiff and his eyelids heavy, his heart seemed reluctant to beat, and a strange buzzing filled his whole body, as if the very DNA of his cells was unraveling and shriveling. Chaos could do some pretty nasty stuff under long exposure, so heck knew if that wasn't what was really happening.
He was just setting his teeth and preparing to shoot off in pursuit when he caught sight of a familiar flash of pink nearby. Amy, who had been tearing all over the area frantically during the whole battle, trying to catch up to the action but never quite getting there in time, was now heading pell-mell in Fio's direction, her hammer already brandished. Sonic groaned under his breath—if she got herself into trouble and needed rescuing, he'd have even more energy expenditure to worry about.
The next thing he knew, he was landing next to Amy in a shower of golden sparks. His brain sometimes told his body to do things before it even realized what its own plan was.
"Amy," he panted, and the pink hedgehog whirled around, startled. She'd been fixated on catching up to Fio, but Sonic's voice, as usual, was enough to catch her attention.
"Think you'd be willing to try a transfer?" asked Sonic breathlessly, holding out a hand.
"Wh—" Amy stared at him, petrified. "I—I don't have the first clue how!"
"Well, ya said you wanted to take up a new hobby, right?" said Sonic, smirking doggedly. "Learning to go Super is as good as any."
"It didn't work for Rouge! I'm just going to drop them, and—"
"Maybe, but I'm about to drop them anyway, and if it does work it'll keep the relay going that much longer. Come on Amy, at least try?"
Amy chewed her lip anxiously, glancing over her shoulder to where Fio was already almost out of sight, eyeing Sonic's exhausted face, fingering the handle of her hammer uneasily. Abruptly she tossed the hammer aside and grabbed Sonic's hand, gulping.
"Okay. I'll try."
Sonic gave a relieved sigh, loosening his grip on the energy that seared through his body. Amy gasped as it shot into her hands, jarring through her palms and wiggling eerily up through the blood vessels in her wrists.
"Take it," panted Sonic, his head down as his eyes slid closed, his shoulders heaving with every breath. "You feel it? That cold tingling feeling? Don't fight it, don't try to draw it, just let it take over."
"Are you going to be okay?" whispered Amy.
"Yes! Just concentrate! Don't think about anything else!"
Amy licked her lips slowly and closed her eyes, trying to shut out all the thoughts of where Fio might be, whether she could even do this, what would happen if she couldn't, what kind of unbelievable circumstances placed her here, clasping hands with the hedgehog she loved but unable to even savor the moment.
A few seconds more. Sonic felt the heat in his body slip away, replaced by an overwhelming exhaustion. It had been a long, long time since going Super had drained him that much; probably not since the very first time. For a second he thought he had simply lost his hold on the Chaos Emeralds, but the light filtering through his nearly-closed eyelids seemed just a little too bright . . .
Feeling parts of his brain already shutting down, he forced his eyes open just long enough to catch a glimpse of Amy, her fur glowing a radiant pearly white.
"Rest, Sonic," she whispered, her voice shaky with excitement. "I'll go after him."
Sonic grinned and managed a thumbs-up.
"Shads' on his way," he mumbled, and flopped down, closing his eyes.
Shadow, as promised, arrived in a little more than five minutes. He watched, one eyebrow raised, as Amy dealt inexpertly but effectively enough with a purple basilisk. Aside from the usual flight and invincibility, she had acquired the pearly-white fur and bright-red eyes. She also seemed to have some kind of secondary attack, like Tails' Flickies or Blaze's fire; every now and then she would seemingly draw a swarm of swirling pink hearts from the air around her, which she could then fling around her opponents' head to confuse and blind him. Still, it was clear she was not experienced with using Chaos energy, and Shadow was almost about to step in to help just before she finally managed to finish Fio off.
"Transfer!" Shadow shouted to her, and she noticed him and nodded eagerly.
"It's hard!" she called breathlessly, swooping over and landing. As soon as she touched the ground the white sheen of her fur flashed dangerously. Stumbling, she seemed to panic; a misty outline of seven multi-colored stones suddenly appeared around her, circling much too slowly.
"Don't drop them!" barked Shadow, reaching forward to grasp her hand. "Let me have them!"
Amy nodded wordlessly, biting her lip. The Chaos Emeralds only grew more distinct around her, though; she was going to drop out of Super any second.
Shadow had enough control over Chaos that he managed to more or less drag the energy over by himself. The Chaos Emeralds wavered in their orbit and gradually shifted to circle both the Mobians, then finally Shadow alone. Noticing that Fiolet was getting away again, Shadow hastily set a groggy Amy down against a rock and concentrated on powering up fully.
The Emeralds seemed a little sluggish in gathering speed, and when they finally did flare up and merge with him he got a nasty shock. The difference in energy level was absolutely staggering; it was like the difference between a city power plant and a nine-volt battery. The supply of Chaos was almost gone.
"Dammit," muttered Shadow, testing a Chaos Spear gingerly in one hand. It still worked, but hardly any more effectively than when he wasn't Super. Gritting his teeth, he set out after Fiolet anyway.
"What do you expect me to do, wait for you?" Fiolet called when Shadow finally caught up. He was currently an agouti, and there was a distinct waver of breathlessness in his voice.
"Why not?" asked Shadow sardonically. "You seem to be tiring out."
"I have been running and fighting non-stop for more than four hours; I think I am permitted to be slightly winded," snorted Fiolet. "How do you fare, then? You've been transferring back and forth between fresh fighters all this time, and still you are barely standing."
"I am much more than barely standing," retorted Shadow, dragging together a Chaos Spear and driving it through his target. Fiolet did not respawn immediately; instead the purple mist roiled for a moment in place, as if considering.
"Much more? . . . " A soft murmur filtered to Shadow's ears. "We shall see."
There was a flash of purple and gold, and something crashed violently into Shadow's midsection, throwing him back. Chaos flashed around him erratically as his Super form tried to compensate for the damage; by the time he recovered all he could see was the whisk of a long purple tail disappearing far into the distance.
It was heading for G.U.N. headquarters.
Shadow didn't even waste time or energy on oaths; he shot after Fiolet's retreating form without even thinking about the last few drops of Chaos trickling through his veins.
When he got there the chain-link fence was destroyed, and the grounds had been plowed up violently, but the building itself was undamaged. Its occupants were still safe. Fiolet was nowhere to be seen.
Drawing in his breath in dizzy relief, Shadow turned around, trying to figure out which way his opponent had gone. Without warning something slammed into his head, driving him into the ground and sending sheets of black and purple flapping across his vision. Something seemed to snap all at once, and the gold in his fur died away.
"No," he gritted, shivering with exertion as he heaved himself up onto his hands. "Not . . . yet."
No use. A soft whoosh, like a last breath, and seven lifeless gray stones fell into a perfect circle around him. They hit the ground only an instant before he did.