Notes: I don't have much to say before the chapter starts! I'll have plenty of things to say after though, so please stick around for that! Enjoy the chapter!
Mini-Sonic was dashing through the cavernous hallway ahead of them, alone except for the communicator around his wrist. He raced through the corridor, avoiding stalagmites as he went, and keeping a close eye out for anything dark, purple, and monster-like. He had been sent ahead to scout out the area, the other five members of the group resting and regaining their strength. He was running into unknown territory, but he had a strong feeling that something was ahead. There had been a lot of monsters in this cave, and for it to be empty wouldn't make a ton of sense. They had to be hanging around here for a reason. Sonic had left all the Emeralds with the others in hopes that if he did run into the Time Eater, he wouldn't be noticed, but he felt vulnerable running into this sort of potential danger without one.
"Hey, Sonic," Zonic's voice came over the communicator's speaker. "Anything yet?"
"Nothing yet. I'll let you know," the pre-teen said, picking up the pace. They were running out of time. He could sense that the ground was becoming less and less stable. He wasn't about to give up, though. He would let the Time Eater consume Mobius over his dead body.
After a while, the narrow cave opened up into a massive cavern, comparable in size to Hot Crater. Only this one wasn't filled with magma. It looked like a castle inside, completely decked out in gold, purple, and green. There were carvings of the seven Emeralds and the Master in the stone walls, and the place had waterfalls and fountains everywhere. The hedgehog stood at the entrance in awe, staring up at the structures in front of him. Everything seemed to be glistening, like the whole place was made out of gems. "Woah... " he breathed. It looked sort of like the Hidden Palace in Angel Island, but bigger and newer. It was stunning to look at.
He suddenly got a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he heard something massive moving around and growling. Sonic ducked behind a pillar, feeling pretty sure that something was in here with him. Lo and behold, from behind a golden bridge rose the Time Eater, looking at least twice as big as it did last time, and so much more menacing. Its claws were like long scythes, dripping with poisoned time energy. Black and purple vibes were radiating off it, rotting the surrounding environment wherever it got too close to him. Sonic's eyes widened as he saw small parts of the underground palace fading away, replaced by milky-white nothingness. 'The white limbo we were all stuck in when we fought this thing the first time... He's bringing that place here! He's making it so that this place never existed!' he realized with a gasp. This was bad. How much of Mobius had he already reduced to nothingness? How much of his home had been wiped from existence?
"Z-Zonic," he breathed into the communicator, shrinking lower to the ground and hoping the Time Eater didn't see him. "It's here. It's here, and everything's starting to get wiped from history, this is bad, it's here and it's huge and I don't know where I am but it's disappearing and you all need to get here right freaking now-"
"Woah, woah, Sonic, calm down!" the Zone Cop whispered back, realizing the tension of the moment. "Are you okay? What's going on?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. The hallway opened up into this… palace. It's entirely underground, like it's built into the rock. It's straight ahead from where you are. I think… hang on." He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pulsating dark energy that was filling the chamber. He caught a pinprick of light in the darkness, and located its source. There was an Emerald in here, alright. He looked up, obsidian eyes rapidly scanning the environment. The Time Eater had drifted further away from him, so he felt comfortable looking around for an extended period of time. He looked all over, not moving from his spot, trying to pinpoint the Emerald's location. He finally saw the gray gem, shining bright in a wall high up above. "The last Emerald is here. Out of reach, but I can probably climb to it. And… parts of this place are starting to disappear. The Time Eater's here and it's absorbing all the time from this place until there's nothing left."
"Oh gods, you're kidding… Shit. Shit, okay. Stay hidden, keep quiet. We'll be right there. Guys!" Zonic said, no longer talking to him, but to the other members of their group.
"Zonic, the Time Eater's not looking. I might be able to get to the last Emerald. Should I go for it?"
"No, not without backup. You went in for recon only, and this is too risky. Sorry," the older hedgehog said. "Wait for us to get there, okay? Older-you wants to wait till we're all back together, come up with a plan."
"Since when does he stop and plan anything?" the kid whispered harshly into the communicator, hiding behind the pillar once again. "When you all show up, Mr. Big Bad over here is going to sense the Emeralds you're all carrying, and if we don't have all seven when he does, it's game over! This might be my only chance at getting that thing."
"Sonic, no! It's not safe!"
"Let me tell you something," the twelve-year-old said, a determined look on his face. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I've saved Mobius from Robotnik more times than anyone could have expected. And if there's one thing I've learned from being stuck eight years in the future," he said, staring down at the communicator, "it's that Sonic the Hedgehog does not sit by on the sidelines when there's something he can do to help!" Without waiting for the No Zoner to reply, he switched off the device and tucked it under the cuff of his glove. He stood up and leaned around the pillar, seeing that the Time Eater was still a ways away from the Chaos Emerald and looking in the opposite direction. Good. He was only going to get one shot at this.
Sonic looked around, trying to find a path upwards. There seemed to be plenty of springs at his disposal, not to mention zip lines, ramps he could use to easily run up cliff walls, and even some things he could swing off of to get higher. He nodded once to himself before dashing out from behind the pillar and leaping onto a nearby spring. The spring launched him up high into the air, shooting him through a waterfall, and having him land on a golden platform on the other side. He shivered and shook the water off of himself before continuing onward, racing towards the opposite end of the huge cavern. He ran over a bright green bridge, which he could feel sink with his weight. The bridge glowed bright wherever he stood on it, and he could practically feel the Chaos Energy brimming inside it. He passed the bridge and ran up another small wall, using his light speed dash on a trail of rings to bring him even higher and farther. He grabbed hold of a zip line handle, having no place to land at the end of the ring trail, and glided downwards. The hedgehog was still moving forward though, so he was willing to sacrifice the height. While riding the zipline, he glanced sideways over at the Time Eater. It still hadn't seen him, but it looked like it was starting to come around. 'Dammit!' he thought, grinding his teeth. He just needed another minute...!
He jumped off the zip line and landed on another floor, this one luckily having a staircase that lead upwards. Sonic sped up the stairs, using all the speed he had in his small body, reaching the top almost instantly. It was then that he noticed that the water from the waterfalls all around him was beginning to fall faster than usual. As if gravity had increased, or...
He looked around at the Time Eater again, and the beast was staring straight at him. 'He's slowing me down. He's slowing me down! Don't stop, go go go!' he mentally shouted to himself, frantically running up the wall to the Chaos Emerald. It was stuck in a crack, deeply nestled in the polished stone of the palace. He almost lost his footing a couple times, partly because he was trying to go so fast, and partly because the wall was beginning to disappear from under him as he Time Eater approached. The monster was moving much faster than before, and was gaining on him quickly. The hedgehog jumped, rocketing up the surface of the wall, and getting close to the Emerald. He reached an arm out as he began to fall closer and closer to the wall. "Come on... come on baby...!" he said through clenched teeth, his fingers straining as he stretched as far as he could. The Time Eater was almost directly below him now. Sonic's fingers curled around the Emerald, and he immediately felt it frantically ba bump ba bump ba bump inside of him. Even the Chaos Emerald felt faster than him. He placed his feet against the wall and pulled with all his might, trying to dislodge the gem from the wall. It was stuck fast, refusing to budge. Sweat beaded down his forehead as his arms started shaking. The Time Eater was getting even closer. He could feel the dark energies coming off it, he could feel the world around him getting faster and faster as it approached. It was getting too close to him now, he wasn't going to make it-
All of a sudden, the cave wall vanished, turning to white, and the Emerald was free. Sonic fell, reflexively curling into a ball and pulling the Chaos Emerald tight into his chest. He spindashed down what remained of the cave wall, blasting past the Time Eater. The Emerald protected him from the monster's attempts to slow him down, and he miraculously reached the bottom of the cave in tact.
Not taking any more chances, the hedgehog turned the communicator on his wrist back on, and made his way back to the palace entrance. The Zone Cop's voice buzzed through the speakers, but he barely listened. "-onic, I swear, if you don't pick up right now I am gonna-"
"I got it!" Mini-Sonic shouted into the speaker, not caring about secrecy now. "I got the last Emerald! The Time Eater is not happy, so I could really use that backup you were talking about!" he huffed, hurdling his way over large crystals and gemstones that littered the floors. He gripped his hand tight around the Chaos Emerald and Chaos Controlled to a lower platform as the Time Eater began to catch up with him. He was afraid to teleport much further than that. He wasn't experienced enough to take a chance teleporting anywhere outside of his line of sight.
He looked down at his blurring feet and saw that the bridge he was running over was beginning to turn white. He jumped down without thinking, not having any idea where he would land. He just hoped it wasn't-
Splash!
-wet. Fantastic. The small hedgehog tumbled through the water, the speed of his impact causing him to spin uncontrollably. He had no idea which way was up, but he had a strong feeling he was sinking. His mind went into panic mode as he began kicking furiously, trying anything to get back up to the surface. He saw a dark form approaching him from above, or what he assumed was above anyway. 'Is that the Time Eater? Oh man, I am so done for,' he thought, closing his eyes shut and curling up into a ball instinctively. He held the Chaos Emerald tight, hoping it would stave off the beast. It didn't. He felt fingers worm their way around his arm, and then he felt himself getting pulled. He was quickly ascending, thanks to whatever was tugging on his arm.
Before he knew what exactly was happening, he had broken the surface of the water, and continued right up into the air. He coughed and sputtered as his lungs craved oxygen. Once he took a few deep breaths, he looked up to see that it was Tails carrying him, not the Time Eater. "You okay, big bro?" the older fox asked, keeping a firm grip on him as he flew.
"A-OK, little bro," the hedgehog sighed in relief. "Thanks for the save. Thought I was a goner, there!"
"Any time. Now let's get out of here!" the kit said, glancing behind and seeing that the Time Eater was still chasing them. It was gaining ground relentlessly, and it looked awfully mad. Tails carried Sonic back into the tunnels, flying as fast as his namesakes could take him. Once they entered the narrower caves again, the blue one let go of his hands, dropping to the floor. He took a page out of Scourge's book from before, and spindashed the walls and ceiling so rocks crashed down around them. That would hopefully slow the Time Eater down, giving him and the others a chance to go Super. Then again, the creature could control the time stream, so maybe it wouldn't help. There was no time to dwell on it.
The duo raced back to the rest of the group, who weren't too deep into the tunnels. Zonic was on his feet, leg fully healed. His older-self, unfortunately, still looked pretty wrecked. Scourge still had slight bags under his eyes, but he had snapped wide awake when he heard the Time Eater's roar come from so close by. The roar shook the ground, nearly tripping up the younger Sonic.
Scourge gulped. "Y'know guys, I hate to say it, but I might be having some second thoughts about fighting this thing."
"Too late for that!" Mini-Sonic shouted, nearly crashing into them. "Emeralds, now! Get 'em out!" The Emeralds were all already in Zonic's possession, so he quickly pulled them out and handed the six to the smaller hedgehog. "Okay, you guys ready?" Sonic asked as the gems began to float around him.
"Um," the Zone Cop said nervously, "I've never been Super, how exactly do you...?"
"I got hurt just trying to use one of the Emeralds like this," the older Sonic said, looking at his palms. "I don't know if I can do this."
His past self groaned in exasperation as he began to turn golden, his quills swooping up and his black eyes turning red. "Sorry, but too bad so sad! We don't have time for this, you're all just gonna have to give it your best try!"
The Time Eater roared in the distance, proving his point. The other three hedgehogs gathered around him, nervousness all in their guts for various reasons. The Chaos Emeralds spun around all four of them, attempting to share with the others the power they lent to the young Sonic. Scourge transformed immediately, turning a deep magenta rather than a bright gold, his short, choppy quills being dragged upward as far as they could. His scleras turned pitch black, and his eyes glowed red. Interestingly, his clothes were also affected by the Chaos Energy; the flames on his jacket turning from red to blue, and the green on his boots turning purple to match his fur.
The younger Sonic stared at Scourge in surprise. "Well, that's... different," he noted.
"Yeah, well, I'm the anti-you. What'd you expect?" the glowing purple hedgehog said, grinning despite the dangerous circumstances. He'd only ever turned Super with Anarchy Beryl before, his world's twisted version of the Chaos Emeralds. He'd always wondered if his Super form was purple because of the Beryl or not, but it looked like it was just a Scourge thing. Hopefully this meant his powered-up form would be long-lasting, as well. The last time he'd turned, he'd lasted a good long while in the form, longer than Sonic would have been able to. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck after he powered down, but he would worry about that when the time came. The Chaos Energy definitely felt different, though. It felt... lighter somehow, like it energized something at his core, but didn't send it into a frenzied overdrive like Anarchy Beryl did. This felt more controlled. Better. He still felt scared out of his damn mind, but he felt like he could take on just about anything. He felt like he might be able to do this.
Zonic stared at himself in awe as his feet began to gently lift off the ground. He'd never even seen a Super transformation in person, let alone experienced one. All the pain that still lingered in his body melted away, his fatigue disappeared. He could feel the energy brimming through him, energizing him like he'd never felt before. He felt awake, like he'd spent the rest of his life drowsy and just took a cold shower.
The older Sonic's was the strangest of the three transformations. Because, oddly enough, he did transform. With all seven Emeralds together, he had felt something, some small spark that he latched onto and poured all his energy into. His quills swooped upward, and his lavender eyes turned red, just like the others'. But his scleras remained dark, changing only from black to very dark purple. His fur, rather than one solid color, was streaks of black-purple and gold. He took heavy breaths, as if the transformation itself had taken a bit out of him. Sonic felt better than he had a moment ago, that was for sure. Having Chaos energy actively flowing through him again did wonders. But he still didn't feel as good as he normally would have. There was still a dark feeling in the pit of his gut, something nagging in the back of his mind. As much as he could feel the flow of Chaos energy around them, he could more accurately feel the time stream, feel its distortions. It was… weird, and a little uneasy. A near-equal mix of Chaos and time powers. This would be interesting.
"Sonic," the older Tails gasped, eyeing the bizarrely-transformed hedgehog. "You actually transformed… kind of… Are you alright?"
He nodded tentatively. "Yeah, I think so. Everyone ready to kick some Time Eater butt?"
Another massive roar blasted through the cave, rocks tumbling down from the ceiling. They heard a crash from where mini-Sonic and the older Tails had run in from, meaning that the hastily-made blockade was likely gone.
"Jerk alert!" Lil' T shouted, cowering behind his older-self.
"We'd better be ready to fight!" Zonic yelled over all the shaking and residual roaring. "Because it's coming!"
"Tails!" the younger Sonic said, turning towards the two versions of his brother. "Both of you, stay hidden, and stay safe. We'll handle this, no problem!" He smiled at them, and then nodded at the other three Super hedgehogs. It was time to end this, once and for all.
The two Sonics led the charge out of the cave, blasting through the crumbling rock and flying at high speeds right into the Time Eater, who tried to follow them into the narrow tunnels. The four hedgehogs took the beast by surprise, slamming into it and pushing it back into the open cavern.
The four floated there together, taking in the sight of the gigantic monster and the huge cave itself. Zonic and Scourge stared at the Time Eater, both clenching their fists. This was their first time getting a good, solid look at the creature; previously, they had only seen it through a shaky portal when they escaped to Moebius. The older Sonic's attention, however, drifted upwards to the ceiling of the cave. He could feel a tug, a powerful energy coming from above him. "No…" he gasped, realizing the only thing it could be. "Lil' Me, you recognize this place, don't you?"
"I think so, but I'm kind of more preoccupied with the giant evil monster we just ticked off," the youngest one said as the Time Eater gathered itself, drawing itself back up to full height. It growled, not moving, seemingly taking in its four Chaos-charged targets.
"This is the Hidden Palace, the one in Angel Island," the older Sonic said quickly. "We're directly underneath the Master Emerald Shrine. And the Time Eater's already got a head start on wiping this place from history. If it gets to the Master Emerald…!" he breathed, the paradox energy beginning to drip off of him again. "If the Master Emerald never existed, then there can be no Chaos Emeralds. There can be no Chaos in general. And if there's no Chaos Energy…"
He didn't have to finish his sentence. Everyone knew enough about Chaos to put the pieces together. If Chaos never existed, there would have never been any life on Mobius. And no life on Mobius Prime meant to life anywhere in the multiverse. The utter gravity of the situation crashed down on them. They knew everything was at stake, sure, but the fact that the multiverse had an instant self-destruct switch, and that it was so close to being flipped… They had to do something, and do it now.
"Do we have a plan?" Zonic asked the others, not taking his eyes off the Time Eater in front of him.
Sonic looked up at the ceiling, a large portion of which had vanished into the empty white limbo that he'd been dreading. A lot of the old stone had been erased already. He gritted his teeth. "I'm going to do what I can to keep this place in tact. If the Time Eater gets to the Master Emerald, it's all over." he said.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Zonic asked skeptically.
"Well, I'm Super, and I got time powers. I'll figure something out," he said with a wink. "You guys try and keep the TE away from the ceiling and away from the Tailses. Find a weak spot and exploit it like there's no tomorrow-"
"Or there won't be a tomorrow," his younger self finished for him. "We know. Get going!" he said, urging the older Sonic upwards towards the roof of the cavern.
As he blasted off, the remaining three charged the Time Eater, with Scourge and Zonic breaking off to take him from the sides and the young Sonic racing at him head-on. The twelve-year-old held his hands out in front of him, summoning energy from deep within his gut, and fired a rapid burst of Chaos blasts at the monster. Most of them made contact, but didn't seem to hurt much. The Time Eater roared, angry, and opened a variety of time holes around itself, which it shoved all four of its arms into. More holes opened up behind the small hedgehog, which the Time Eater's hands popped out of. Sonic realized this a split second too late, and was smacked hard enough that he went flying. He was luckily able to catch himself before he crashed into anything, and his distraction left the TE open to attacks from Scourge and Zonic. Attacking it with a barrage of super-charged homing attacks, kicks, and energy blasts, it looked like the two of them were doing at least some damage. They wouldn't be able to do a whole lot to the monster until they found a vulnerable area, and since the beast had shed the machinery that Eggman had covered it with before, there wasn't an obvious 'big red button' to hit this time. Sonic flew up and over the Time Eater, which was still heavily preoccupied by Scourge and Zonic simultaneously attacking it (and also by Scourge shouting obscenities at it). He curled up into a lighting-fast spin before launching himself at the nape of the Time Eater's neck, but the beast moved before he could reach his target.
Scourge decided to follow the younger Sonic's lead, readjusting his aim for the back of the Time Eater's neck. 'We're all chock-full of Chaos Energy, so getting a solid hit on this thing should do some damage. That spot is as vulnerable as it gets, I guess,' he told himself, catching on to the kid's reasoning. The Time Eater was quick to catch on as well, and utilized the Time Holes it had opened up to reach through and slam Scourge into a wall from behind him. The Moebian crashed through a bridge, demolishing at least half of it, but easily shook it off. It was going to take more than a few cheap hits to keep him down.
The older Sonic concerned himself with mending the timestream while the other three kept the Time Eater occupied. There was too much damage to just ignore and worry about after the fight. He needed to fix at least some of this now. He flew to the tall ceiling of the cavernous palace, where a majority of the white cracks seemed to be. The Master Emerald was directly above them, he could feel it. He couldn't let the Time Eater reach it. If it did… bye-bye multiverse.
He held his hands over a large white crack, feeling the heavy distortions of time coming from it. He tried to ignore the warning bells going off in his head, telling him that single-handedly repairing the time stream was impossible, and instead focused on as much as the surrounding energy as he could. His Super form allowed him much more power in this regard. His eyes were closed, but he could still see clearly- the energy coming off of his friends, the Time Eater, even the environment itself was as clear as day to him. Still, though… he had no idea how to fix this. He was a super powered walking paradox, and while he definitely felt like he had greater control over his time powers in this state, he still didn't quite know how to use them. He would just have to do his best. The purple-and-gold hedgehog focused on the crack closing, expelling through his hands a mix of the two energies inside of him. The Chaos and Paradox energies didn't mesh well, behaving similarly to oil and water. Nevertheless, the crack in spacetime began to slowly close, the two edges struggling and failing to stay apart. The holes closest to him were the easiest to fix up; after all, he and his younger self had healed the broken parts of time just by running through drained environments when they fought the TE the first time. Everything that was further away would become exponentially harder to heal, but he tried not to think about that for now. For now, his job was to protect the Master Emerald, and by extension, the entire multiverse and everyone in it. No pressure.
The three hedgehogs below had adopted the strategy of trying to aim for the back of the Time Eater's neck. They weren't sure if it was the monster's weak spot or not, but it was certainly being guarded like one. The Time Eater was throwing out missile-like beams of energy that locked on to whoever was nearest, opening up time holes to try and grab the hedgehogs from behind, and manipulating what was left of the time stream to speed itself up. Eventually, the thing was going so fast, the three super hedgehogs were even having a hard time keeping up with it.
Zonic flew around the Time Eater's homing attacks, trying to resist the urge to whoop and holler as he did so. Coming from a world that didn't have its own Chaos Emeralds, turning Super was something he could only dream about. Especially after Doctor Nega had sealed off his speed from him, blocked off his connection to the universe's Chaos energies... he didn't think anything like this would ever happen to him. But there he was, soaring through the air, firing off energy blasts of his own and pulling off stunts he only could have imagined. If the multiverse wasn't close to being erased, this might have been one of the best days of his life. He felt incredible; no wonder Sonic Prime was always so cocky and energetic. It was hard not to be when you could feel the Chaos energy in the air, and to a certain extent, manipulate it freely.
He blinked, focusing back on reality. There was no time to focus on how good he felt. He needed to help the others stop the Time Eater, and quickly. He glanced upward, and saw that most of the holes in the ceiling had been patched up, as if they'd never been erased in the first place. 'Is Sonic… Is he fixing all the rips in the time stream?!' he thought with disbelief. 'Well, he is Sonic Prime. No Zone records call him the "champion of all realities" for a reason, I gue- OOF!' The split second he took looking up was enough for the Time Eater to blast him right in the chest. It didn't hurt at all, miraculously, but he got pushed backwards with tremendous force. He spun out, trying to get a hold of which way was up. He connected his feet to the ground, skidding to a stop. He crunched his boot into the gravel as he quickly scanned for an opening. Getting up close would be tough, since time holes were everywhere and the Time Eater was shooting off energy blasts like nobody's business.
Something clicked in the No Zoner's head, and he grinned. He shot off the ground and flew back towards the creature, shouting to get its attention. The Time Eater's dark purple energy blasts locked onto him quickly, and he kited them right towards one of the time holes. Silently praying that one of the the Time Eater's four arms wouldn't come plunging out of the portal, he got right up close to it and turned to face the incoming spheres of energy. They were coming in fast, and Zonic only had a split second to react. Just before they hit him, he flew upwards, and the blasts flew through the portal instead of into his chest. He looked up at the Time Eater, which was surrounded with the time holes. The monster had been using them to extend its reach, but it was apparently too dumb to realize that the holes went both ways. The energy blasts that Zonic had lured into the hole came out of another one, and headed right towards the Time Eater's head. They connected with a harsh explosion, causing the Time Eater to unleash a mighty roar. Time and space distorted with the powerful sound waves, sending the airborne hedgehogs stumbling. The elder Sonic, who was still trying to fix as much as he could of the time stream, found himself struggling to hold on to the progress he'd made so far. The younger Sonic, however, was trying his best to push through the waves of distortion. He curled up into a ball, shoving himself forward and blasting into the Time Eater's neck. With the added damage from the small hedgehog's attack, the Time Eater's roar increased in power, and the very floor and walls began to shake. Pieces of the ceiling began falling down, not because of time being erased, but because of the sound waves threatening to cause a cave in. The gigantic monster, now more furious than ever, fired energy blast after energy blast, bombarding the hedgehogs and giving them hardly any room to breathe, let alone maneuver.
The older Sonic, meanwhile, was beginning to change his mind. Maybe this would be harder than he initially thought. He was struggling with the cracks in the time stream; there were too many of them, and they didn't want to stay closed. Chunks of the ceiling were crashing down around him, and it was all he could do not to get hit. He wanted to get down there, to fight, to give the monster who caused him so much pain a piece of his mind. But Mobius was on the fast track to total destruction, and he had a very bad feeling about leaving his post to go do battle. Not to mention, all of his hard work in restoring the ceiling had gone to waste now that it was crumbling around him. There was nothing he could do about that, however- all of his energy was focused on the planet, and getting its timeline back in working order. He had to fix what he could; it was his duty, his responsibility.
He'd only been doing this for a few minutes, and yet he was already starting to sweat, something he didn't even think was possible for him in his Super form. He had to be careful and ration his own energy, or else he would lose the transformation. The Emeralds had unlimited power, true, but the hedgehog did not. He could access a large portion of the Emeralds' energy in his super-charged state, but not enough that he could keep this up forever. He wasn't a god, after all. But yet, there he was, trying to fix an almost destroyed time stream. 'If I make it out of this alive, it'll be a miracle,' he thought nervously, the sweat beading on his forehead. The violet-and-gold hedgehog could hear his friends fighting for his lives below him, could hear them calling for his help. But if he let time continue to splinter and break, they'd be screwed. He couldn't let the Time Eater reach the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald, which was so close he could feel it-
It was as if a light bulb had gone off in his brain. Just because the Time Eater couldn't get its hands on the Master Emerald, didn't mean he couldn't. His eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area, looking for a possible path up to where the Master Emerald currently rested. Not too far from where he was floating, he saw a hole in the roof of the cave that didn't look like it had been created by all the current pandemonium. Zipping over, Sonic found that there was indeed a twisting and turning pathway through the rock that seemed to lead upwards. Not having any time to waste, he blasted through the narrow tunnel, completely ignoring the stairs carved into the bottom of it.
The path through the rock stretched up further than he thought it would. He'd assumed the Master Emerald was closer since he felt its presence so strongly, but the strength of that signal was likely just because he was Super and could sense it more acutely. The Hidden Palace was deep underground, after all, and they'd been in those caves an awfully long time. Upon surfacing, the hedgehog noticed the sky was dark and stormy. Then again, almost everything in his vision was dark, but the sky seemed especially so. There was no wind, no life or movement anywhere near him. Above ground felt just as lonely and quiet as below, just not quite so enclosed.
He'd popped out of the ground almost directly next to the Master Emerald shrine. He'd never seen this passage from the surface before, so perhaps something had happened to it in the years since Hidden Palace had been constructed. But that wasn't important. What held Sonic's attention was the bright, green Master Emerald sitting at the top of the shrine. It was the only thing he'd seen since his eyes changed that wasn't black or purple, and it was certainly refreshing.
"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he said quietly, floating up to the top of the shrine. The large Emerald seemed to buzz more than hum, as if it were confused by the crumbling timeline and the current state of the Super hedgehog that came before it. "I know, nothing's quite right right now. I wanna fix that, but I'm gonna need your help. So what do you say we forget about 'Super Emeralds' and all that crap, just cut out the middle man, and skip right to me going Hyper so I can save the world, huh?"
While Sonic was charging up, his past-self, Zonic, and Scourge were momentarily seeking out refuge behind a large pile of rubble. While they had managed to land some solid hits on the Time Eater, the creature didn't even appear to be tired in the least. It had been firing energy blasts from all directions for a few solid minutes now, and the hedgehogs were having difficulty dodging the onslaught. While the homing shots didn't hurt, they were still forced back, and one can only be launched through a wall so many times before it becomes tiring.
"We need a plan," Scourge said, his hands balled up into fists. He was covered in dirt and dust from crashing to the ground so often, and one of his jacket sleeves had been torn clean off. Needless to say, he was starting to get sick of this.
"Sonic," Zonic said, momentarily standing up from behind their shelter and firing energy blasts from his hands at the Time Eater, then ducking back down again. "How did you beat this guy last time?!"
"I don't know!" the small golden form said, wracking his brain for memories of his last fight with the Time Eater. "Robotnik and Eggman had this thing covered in all sorts of machinery and tech. There was a giant purple orb at its center, right where its chest is. Me and older-me combined our power to blast through it, but… I'm not seeing anything like that now!" he groaned, peeking a look at the monster causing havoc in the large cavern. "The back of his neck is a decent enough spot, but getting there is hell, and it doesn't seem to do a whole lot more damage to him than hitting him anywhere else does."
"Combined your power?" Zonic raised an eyeridge. "What does that mean?"
"I'unno, we just both charged him at once!" the young hedgehog shrugged.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Scourge said, dusting off his knees. "Better than just flying around and attacking it blindly. And when the hell is Sonic going to get down here and fight with us?! Leavin' us with all the hard stuff…"
It was then that Mini-Sonic realized that the barrage of firepower directed towards them had slackened significantly. He looked up and saw the Time Eater slowly drifting upwards, headed in the older Sonic's direction. Or, where Sonic should have been, anyway. He was gone, having left the roof of the cave unguarded. "Where did he…?" the twelve-year-old breathed, his eyes going wide. Zonic and Scourge turned to look, equally surprised to see that the elder Sonic wasn't there. Three pairs of red eyes scanned the area, looking for any sign of their friend. The younger Sonic stood up and moved to take off when Zonic pointed at a secluded dip in the rock of the ceiling. There seemed to be a golden glow emanating from it, and the whiteness that had spread like a plague through the surface of the cave was rapidly withdrawing from that area. The glow got brighter and brighter, becoming almost blinding to look at, like its source was getting closer somehow.
Something burst out of the rock in a flash, taking the powerful glow with it. It was Sonic, but he definitely wasn't Super anymore. Parts of his fur were still dark, but shone like the night sky, wrapping like ribbons around his arms and legs and splashing across his face like a mask. The rest of him glowed a brilliant white, which subtly shifted to the hues of the seven Emeralds as he moved. His eyes were completely blank, no irises to be seen. All that was there was a milky, vaguely lavender color. Zonic and the younger Sonic felt their hearts skip a beat. This was something Zonic had only heard about, only seen glimpses of video of, and something the time-traveler had experienced only once in his life. Sonic was Hyper, and he looked like he meant business.
The Time Eater backed away from the bright hedgehog, who was giving off so much Chaos energy that he hurt to be near. Hyper Sonic gritted his teeth and glared at the creature, but turned his attention to the roof of the cave. "As much as I'd love to fight you, ugly," he said, his voice somehow booming, "I've got a planet to save, first." He held his arms out to the side and closed his eyes, letting the vibrant energy pour off him in waves. He focused his energy on the white cracks, and on the rest of the planet. He had to fix this, and now. There was no more time left. Do or die.
"The Servers are the Seven Chaos," he chanted, letting the familiar words flow from his lips while he tried to clear his mind. It wasn't often he spoke these words, but it was serious business when he did. Though he spoke quietly, the words rung out for everyone in the cavern to hear, including the two Tailses, safe on the ground, who had come out of the narrow tunnel to see what was happening. "Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The heart is the controller. The controller serves to unify the Chaos." He felt the energy from the Emeralds intensify in his body, almost to an uncontrollable amount. He released it up, up towards the crack, which was splintering and spreading across the surface of the cavern. The Chaos energy pierced the physical rips in the fabric of time, turning it a rainbow of colors before closing it completely. All the offshoots sealed shut, glowing with the colors of the Emeralds. Sonic continued to channel the energy into fixing the time stream, and though no one could see it from inside Hidden Palace, Mobius was beginning to take shape again. The bits that had fallen off the planet or been sucked away returned to their rightful spots. Ruined cities restored to their present glory. Jungles regrown from the ashes. Everything put back in its proper place in time.
The Time Eater roared. If it had blood flowing through its body, it would have been boiling. It might not've been able to get up close to the Hyper hedgehog, but it could sure try to blast him. The monster's hands began to glow as it raised them, aiming right toward the hedgehog that was undoing all its hard work.
The younger Sonic clenched his fists tight. His older-self might be Hyper, but the rest of them still had a job to do. Without saying anything, the twelve-year-old blasted into the air, rocketing upward at a shocking pace. His golden glow erupted around him as he charged the Time Eater, doing a bit of damage to it. More importantly, the sudden attack took its attention away from the older Sonic. The Time Eater grabbed the young hedgehog, who was still trying to drill his way into its chest, and tightened its claws around him. Sonic gulped. While his Super form protected him from projectiles and blades and the like, he was still susceptible to getting crushed. An unfortunate oversight in the whole 'invincibility' thing. He struggled and choked as the Time Eater squeezed harder, choking the air out of his lungs. The best he could do was let out a short scream before he could feel the energy coursing through his veins starting to fade.
'No, no no no no, I can't run out of juice now!' he thought frantically, trying to catch his breath. 'The Super form is the only thing keeping me from being squashed like a grape right now!' He managed to squirm himself into a slightly better position, and the pressure on his chest was released a tiny bit. He took as deep as a breath as he could, and did his best to keep from shouting as he could feel himself being squished.
When Scourge and Zonic on the ground saw that Mini-Sonic wasn't breaking free, they jumped out from their hiding place and took off into the air. They looked at each other once, both pairs of red eyes meeting, and they nodded. They flew close to each other, spinning like a drill aimed directly at the Time Eater's center. The purple-and-gold torpedo sped towards the monster, coming into contact before the beast could coordinate its other arms to block the attack. The two of them hit the Time Eater hard, sending it tumbling back and releasing its grip on little Sonic. The small hedgehog fell through the air, his gold color having faded a bit. Coming out of the spin attack, Zonic quickly flew to catch his younger ally. Mini-Sonic was coughing furiously, one hand pressed against the side of his ribcage. He took several deep breaths before he opened his eyes. His quills were beginning to droop, and his aura wasn't as powerful as it had been a minute ago. "Are you okay?" the Zone Cop asked, landing gently on a nearby platform.
"Pissed, mainly," Sonic said as Zonic let him down. "Exhausted. Cracked rib, most likely. Pro tip: being Super doesn't stop you from being crushed," he breathed heavily. "Nice hit."
"Apparently not nice enough," Scourge said, floating a few feet away. The Time Eater was recovering from its stumble, its dark glow bursting erratically. Some sort of smoke was pouring out of where the two hedgehogs had drilled into it- was it bleeding? Either way, it was still ready to fight some more, not letting something like a puncture wound deter it from erasing all the time and space it could get its hands on. "This guy just doesn't want to stay down!"
"Then we'll just have to keep fighting it," Zonic said, trying to sound confident. In all honesty, he was exhausted. Looking at Sonic's past self, he could tell that the smaller hedgehog was just about beat. He might be able to last for another minute in his Super form, tops. Getting the life squeezed out of him like that really took its toll. And with the older Sonic piecing the flow of time back together before the damage couldn't be undone... that just left him and Scourge. Those weren't odds he particularly liked.
The youngest hedgehog rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, a determined look on his face. "Well, I'm not gonna be able to keep this up forever. So let's do it to it."
He took off, leading the other two through the continuing barrage of time energy blasts, executing a series of powerful homing attacks on the Time Eater. He made extra sure not to fly through the dark smoke pouring out of the beast's gut, not sure what effects it could have, and instead focused on trying to sync up with Zonic and Scourge to deliver more powerful hits. The three delivered a number of attacks in quick succession, synchronizing the majority of them, dealing major damage to the Time Eater. Just how many hits could this thing take?
"Yo, Sonic!" Scourge shouted upwards, trying to grab his good twin's attention. "Any time you wanna come and help us out down here, you are more- than- welcome!" he yelled, punctuating each word with another homing attack or energy blast.
"Just hang on… Almost… got it…!" Sonic cried, struggling with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every crack had to be sealed, every temporal anomaly set right. He needed his world back, he needed to destroy every foothold the Time Eater had made in his planet. Defeating the monster didn't mean all the damage it had done would be reversed. He needed to fix this while he still could. The hedgehog, glowing like the sun and all the stars in the sky, pushed with every bit of energy he had in his body. He was starting to feel lightheaded, but he couldn't let up. His friends needed him, he had to finish this so he could get down there. He was close, so close, just a little bit more…
But he didn't have a little bit more to give. With both the paradox and Chaos energy leaving his body at such a fast rate, he felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach, and the brightness of his aura began to fade. 'No, no no no! Come on!' Sonic thought frantically as the rest of the energy expelled itself from his body. His fur began to turn back to its natural blue, and his vision, which had been restored when he went Hyper, was starting to turn dark at the edges. His head felt empty, and at the same time like it weighed a thousand pounds. His limbs felt like lead jelly as he started to drop back to the ground, power completely used up. He tried to form a thought, something about his world or his friends, but all he managed to do was stay awake for a few more seconds before he passed out.
"Sonic!" both Tailses shouted from the ground below, watching the battle with namesakes twitching furiously. Leaping out from their hiding spot in the entrance to the cave, the two foxes took to the air without hesitation, rushing towards their falling brother. But he was too far away, and falling too fast. Tails was fast, but he wasn't that fast. Could they make it in time?
They weren't the only ones to spring into action, however. Zonic was closest to the plummeting hedgehog, and he had luckily taken an eye off the Time Eater and saw him fall. He flew up in a flash of gold, not caring what projectiles he crashed into- or how much of the Time Eater's smoke he flew through and breathed in. He grabbed Sonic in mid-air, catching him bridal style just before he crashed into a platform. "Gotcha," Zonic coughed as he set Sonic down on the ground.
Both Tailses flew over and propped up Sonic's limp body, while Zonic collapsed to one knee in a coughing fit. Maybe flying through the smoke coming out of the Time Eater's body wasn't the best idea. He coughed up black flakes of dust, and felt something mingling with the Chaos energy flowing through him. The golden light surrounding him started to fade, and his quills drifted back down to their natural state. "Dammit!" he wheezed, pounding his fist against his chest to try and dislodge the time energy he had accidentally inhaled. It was blocking off the link he had to the Emeralds, ending his Super transformation prematurely.
"Sonic's alive," the older Tails said with relief. He held on tight to his brother, who now looked completely normal. All outward trace of the time energy that poisoned his system was gone. His fur was back to its normal vibrant blue, and all that remained of his scar was a thin jagged line on his chest. "His pulse is weak, and he's probably running on absolute empty, but he'll live."
"Good," Zonic choked, his golden hue flickering and fading back to blue. "But we're two hedgehogs down, and this thing is putting up a hell of a fight." He and the foxes looked up at the battle that was still ongoing. Gold, violet, and black were flying around everywhere, though the gold was growing dimmer by the second. The young Sonic and Scourge double-teamed and attacked the Time Eater at every turn, but for every move they made, the monster swung at them with its massive claws, knocking them both aside. It wasn't long before the beating, as well as the cracked rib and general exhaustion from being Super for so long, really started to cause Sonic to hurt.
"Scourge! I can't keep this up!" he shouted over the noise of explosions, crashes, and roars. His fur was slowly starting to turn blue again, and his quills weren't as vertical as they had been a few minutes ago. The young hedgehog usually had no trouble continuing a fight after powering down; even when his Super transformation ended, he felt great and full of energy. But he wasn't terribly keen on getting up close and personal with the Time Eater without Chaos energy protecting him, and he knew that the dull ache of his injured rib would start to hurt a whole heck of a lot more when his Super transformation came to an end.
Scourge growled and cursed under his breath. There were four of them! Four different Sonics all going Super at the same time, and they were still getting beaten. It looked as if the Time Eater was on its last legs, but he still didn't like this situation. At this rate, he was going to be the only one left who could do anything to hurt it. 'Well… You did say you wanted to try being a hero,' he thought grimly. 'What better trial run is there than stopping a freaky monster with powers that could consume the entire multiverse?'
He shot energy blasts rapidly from his palms, aiming for the "bleeding" gash in the Time Eater's gut. Only a few of the shots hit, and while they did appear to do damage, they weren't particularly powerful either. Scourge gulped nervously as he realized that he was getting tired, too. He knew he could hold onto his Super form longer than the others could; he'd found out that his transformation was longer-lasting and more powerful than Sonic's the last time he transformed. Unfortunately, one other thing he learned the last time he transformed was that once he powered down, that was it. He was done, down for the count. The last time he came out of his Super form, he was out cold for a solid day, and in a weakened state for two more after that. He couldn't let that happen, not now. He was just going to have to try and sustain this form for as long as possible.
The Time Eater fired more homing bursts of energy at him, which he dodged easily enough, being used to the pattern by now. But the young hedgehog next to him was having a hard time simply remaining airborne. By the time Sonic noticed the torpedoes of time energy coming for him, it was a second too late. He was blasted backward by the evil energies, knocking out of his super-charged state and sending him careening towards the rest of the group. He landed with a thud on the suspended bridge, skidding across the stone towards his friends.
Scourge tensed up, glaring daggers at the Time Eater. Despite their best efforts, his three allies had all been taken out.
It was all up to him now. Dammit.
After he saw that Mini-Sonic was okay, he turned to face the Time Eater head-on. "Okay, ya fuckin' purple time fart. You're really startin' to get on my last nerve," he shouted, trying to disguise his own fatigue. The Time Eater roared in response, shaking the cavern around even more. Scourge scratched the inside of his ear, appearing unfazed while his mind was racing. "I get it, buddy. You like to roar. Now let's see if I can't make you scream some more!" The hedgehog took off in a flash of purple, charging up energy in both of his fists. 'This thing is still bleeding. Getting a clean, strong shot right in that hole in its chest is the only way I can do this,' he thought, looking for an opening. But the Time Eater didn't even seem to be paying attention to him. It was far more interested in the group of virtually powerless group of five that had backed their way into a corner. As it floated towards them, Scourge swung around in back of it and fired a sort of double-barrel laser blast out of his fists, right into the center of the Time Eater's back. It looked like it was going to make direct contact and do some major damage, but the monster opened up another time hole at the last second and redirected the beam into another wall.
Scourge blinked. Was he being ignored right now? He would have been angrier about it if the Time Eater wasn't making his way towards the others. They were all trying to stand their ground, but it was obvious they didn't stand a chance if they weren't Super. The violet hedgehog felt something burning up inside of him, something white hot that filled him with rage and fear and other emotions that he didn't even know could coincide with those. Without even thinking, he 'ported, landing himself in between his team and the Time Eater. He held his arms out to the sides, and the purple glow that had been radiating off of him grew brighter.
"Hey asshole!" he shouted, his words echoing off the cavernous walls of the Hidden Palace. "I got a newsflash for ya. These are my friends, and there ain't no fuckin' way I'm lettin' you hurt 'em!"
Before anyone could tell what was happening, Scourge was off, flying so fast that no one could follow him. He poured all of his power into attacking the Time Eater, slamming into it again and again and drawing its attention away from the startled hedgehogs and foxes. He gritted his teeth and began to feel sweat bead down his brow. His body didn't want to stay Super anymore. He was exhausted, almost ready to collapse. But he couldn't. 'Just a little longer, just a little more…!' he thought as he began to feel lightheaded. If he didn't cool down with the all-out attacks, he knew he was going to pass out very soon. But the Time Eater was almost down… Just a little more…
He had successfully lured the Time Eater away from the others, but now he was getting close to being backed into a corner. Painful images of the rec yard started to flash through his mind, but he had to force them aside. Darkness started to cloud his vision, a sure sign that he was about to slip into unconsciousness. He gulped, struggling to stay awake. There was still one thing left he could try.
The Time Eater approached menacingly, reaching out one of its massive claws right towards Scourge. The hedgehog shoved his hands out towards the monster, as if he was about to fire another burst of Chaos energy. He tried to think back to what the older Sonic had said before. "The servers… are the seven Chaos," he breathed heavily, trying to put power behind his words. "Chaos… is poWOAH!" He ducked, a massive fist just mere inches away from having blasted straight through his skull. He dodged the barrage of punches being sent at him from all four of the Time Eater's arms, and slipped underneath the beast to wind up behind it. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Chaos is power, and it's the only goddam power that can save us right now! Come on baby, give me a boost, give me something I can work with!" he said, grinding his teeth. He could feel his power level dropping, and dull spikes of pain rushed through him with every frantic heartbeat. The Time Eater turned to face him, gripping him tight in one if its massive hands. 'This is it, isn't it?' Scourge thought as the Time Eater began to crush him, as it had done to Sonic. 'I'm done. It didn't work. There's no way I can get a strong enough attack on him… ' He glanced down at his friends standing below. He smiled weakly. 'Well, it was fun while it lasted, I guess.'
He fully expected his Super transformation to end right there, for the pain of being squished to death to suddenly flood his body. But the sensation never came. A different one hit him instead, and he actually felt his fatigue beginning to melt away. The power inside him grew, almost to the point where he felt he wouldn't be able to control it. The purple glow around him turned a bright gold, and he managed to burst out of the Time Eater's grip, blowing apart its hand in the process. Not even waiting for the monster to scream in pain, Scourge blasted towards it, aiming for the gaping hole in its gut. He held his breath as to not breathe in any of the smoke, and spun straight through the Time Eater.
The first thing that happened was the Time Eater screamed. The walls shook like never before, chunks of ceiling rained down, and everyone currently standing fell to their knees. Time inexplicably seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. The moment felt like an eternity, but also like a split second. For the shortest of moments, the entire timeline condensed and converged on that one single moment.
Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The Time Eater dissolved into smoke. The remaining time energy that was corrupting the very air evaporated away. The monster was defeated.
Scourge landed close to the others, stumbled, and then collapsed. His fur immediately blinked back to its normal green color, his eyes returned to normal, and his short quills fell back down. He felt immense pain everywhere, and with every heartbeat it felt like there was a gorilla jumping up and down on his chest. His head was spinning, and everything looked blurred.
He was rolled onto his back. He was surrounded by everyone (except the older Sonic, who was still unconscious), all of them asking different variations of "are you okay?" He blinked, feeling dazed, and unable to differentiate the voices or what they were saying exactly. He got the gist, though, and grinned weakly.
"Did we win?" he asked, his voice hoarse and breathing labored. Chaos, he hated the side-effects of being Super. He felt like he'd just been hit by a truck. All the others around him nodded.
"Yeah," Zonic said with a smile before slapping a hand over his mouth. His voice… it wasn't young anymore. Somehow, with all the excitement, he hadn't even noticed, but… he was back to normal. His hand was its regular, adult size, all the small scars and calluses that originally marked them had come back. A band of colorful markings were wrapped around his wrist once more. He laughed as he looked down at himself. The Zone Cop was twenty again, and he felt… Tired. Wow, very tired. Apparently, fighting a giant space monster and then growing seven years older all at once could really take it out of a guy.
"Hey, look who's back," the young Sonic said, a smile on his face and an arm wrapped around his chest. "I think everything's back to normal now, right? We won." The kid looked up at the spot where the Time Eater disappeared, confident that the monster wouldn't be coming back this time. Scourge wasn't sure, but did his eyes look… greener?
"That was so way past cool!" Lil' T exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "I mean, aside from the part where we all almost died and the whole world almost blew up, but- you guys were flyin' around, all whooosh and the Time Eater was all raaarrrgh! and then Sonic was all aaahhh! when he was fixin' time, and then you guys were all pew pew pew pew and then Scourge, you came in and you went pchOWWW and… and… That was awesome! I can't believe you did it!" The kit's blue eyes were as big as dinner plates, like he'd just come out of seeing a blockbuster action movie.
Scourge was about to bring up that their eyes had suddenly changed color, but the older Tails spoke first. "I can't believe you called that thing a purple time fart," he said to the green hedgehog, unable to contain a laugh. His shoulders slowly sank with relief, some of the stress and tension leaving his body. "I'm just glad this whole thing is over," he breathed. He looked back over at Sonic, who was lying on the ground a few feet away. "We should get back to the workshop. I don't know if Sonic needs to go to the hospital or not…"
Scourge couldn't hear the rest of what he said. The hedgehog couldn't stay awake any longer; his whole body was screaming in pain, his head was spinning, and he was so, so tired. It was all over. The Time Eater was gone, everyone was safe. Nothing was going to kill them. He closed his eyes and was instantly out, finally feeling safe.
Notes: So that was one hell of a ride, huh? It was certainly fun to write. And now you all know why I'm having a hard time coming up with a direct sequel to Time Warp; the stakes in this final battle got so damn high, I don't know how I can top it. But maybe that's a good thing! I can focus on a lot of smaller things in future stories (because yes, I'm nowhere near done writing these guys).
Interested in knowing exactly what I had in mind for older Sonic's strange transformations? I made some drawings that you can see here! katiemonz . tumblr / post/145176492634/secret-art (just delete the spaces and add .com after tumblr! FFN is obnoxiously weird about links, sorry about that)
So yeah, we're nearing the end of Time Warp. Definitely bittersweet I think! I've had so much fun writing this story, it's been one of my all-time favorite projects. I'm sad to let it go, but it's gotta happen sooner or later. Can't just leave this story unfinished, can I? I'm planning for the next chapter to be the last one, but it'll probably be loooong. i might have to split it into two, but I'd prefer to just post the whole thing next month. Let's end this whole shebang near Sonic's birthday. Fitting, right?
But if you want to see more of my writing and art in the meantime, my friends Hikareh and Yami-sama42 and I are working on a Sonic/Harry Potter AU! Basically just all of the Sonic gang at our version of Hogwarts. I've been having a ton of fun with it, and all our feedback so far has been positive, so maybe consider checking it out! It's likely we'll post all the writing on FFN at some point, we just need to work out how we'd put it all up. Sorry guys, we're not doing anything for this AU with Scourge or Zonic in it, but it's still a ton of fun, and very silly at times. Plus, the implications between Chaos and Magic are super interesting- look okay I should just stop talking about it and drop a link so you can all see for yourselves. There's not too much there right now, but the more buzz we get the more inclined we'll be to work on stuff! You can find it at sylvaniaschoolofmagic . tumblr . com (again, just delete the spaces!)
And... I think that's it! Thank you so much to everyone who's stuck with this story for so long, and to those of you who just found it! I love reading all your reviews and messages, some of them seriously brighten my day. So don't forget to leave a review telling me your favorite part of the battle! There was a lot going on, and I'm curious what you guys thought of it. See you all next time!