Chapter 10: White Acropolis
--
Shadow and Rouge traversed the maze that was the ruins of Kingdom Valley. The old castle was expansive, almost covering the entire lake it sat in. As the hedgehog and the bat raced through the stone structures, they began to notice that it wasn't just the castle ruins. It was an entire town, made of stone, sitting over a vast lake; a true masterpiece of construction.
Rouge thought it was a shame that they had to pass by such a marvelous looking place, which seemed to still have a kingly beauty, even now with its tapestries of moss and carpets of lichens.
Shadow never had a taste for the exquisite, so he merely skated through the ruins without batting an eye. His sole focus was to get through the ruins as fast as possible and with the least amount of resistance possible.
His communicator chirped, and he answered, "What is it?"
It was Viper. "Keep an eye on the skies and keep under cover."
Shadow's eye's half-closed in suspicion. "Why? Did any droids get past you and Mecha?"
A snort of indignation. "Shadow, you know me better then that. No robots got past us; but a gargantuan airship did."
"Airship?"
"I'd bet my sniper rifle that it's Dr. Kintobor's. Nothing we have could even scratch it. It is heading towards your position. Need us to back you?"
"No, Rouge and I will be fine on our own," Shadow answered. "If we stay split up, the less likely will be spotted."
"In general, yes. Out." Viper hung up.
Shadow relayed what Viper just reported to Rouge.
"Well, then," Rouge said, "We'd better get moving." The bat looked up and around, scanning the skies.
"Right." Shadow took off again, and Rouge took to the air, both pairs of eyes looking for anything like a giant airship, although both imagined that it wouldn't be too hard to find.
Several minutes later, Shadow and Rouge arrived at the castle itself. By now, Shadow was annoyed. The feeling of going in circles had been gnawing at him for quite some time, and it was addling his sense of direction. All the pinnacles and towers started to look the same. Rouge didn't look perturbed at all, and Shadow had a distinct feeling that she didn't mind where she was as long as there was a male to throw her flirts at. No wonder Viper hated her guts.
They stood looking at a gate, and it looked like at one time it was a formidable oak gate. Now it was rotting away and a mere shell of what it was. Shadow looked it up and down, and wondered if it could open. Trying once, he found that the hinges were rusted tight due to lack of maintenance and from years of exposure to the elements. He pushed on the door slightly and felt the wood creak. It was weak. This presented a problem. Shadow knew he could break down the door without trying, but the resulting din would sure attract the unwanted attention. The black hedgehog looked around the skies, but couldn't see much from where he was standing.
"Rouge, I need some aerial recon. See if you can see the airship in the immediate area."
"Say, please, handsome."
Shadow only replied with a glare.
"You're welcome." She smiled, gave a laugh and then flapped her black wings to lift her upwards to the top of the castle.
Shadow watched her go, half-thankful she was gone for however short a time and half-hopeful she would be okay. Shadow had developed a liking for Rouge, but only as a friend and invaluable ally. Rouge had stuck by Shadow since he was released from cryogenic freezing on Prison Island, and even though Rouge had hammered her on the ARK with questions about his origin, Rouge never actually betrayed Shadow. The only thing he didn't like about her was her flirty nature, which she seemed to cast on every male in the immediate area, regardless of species.
Rouge came back with the flapping of her wings tailing her. "It's coming this way, but it's still a ways away. That direction." Rouge pointed towards the castle and left.
"Ok, I'll risk it." Shadow drew back a fist, and threw his fist towards the door like he was throwing something at it. Out came sparks of lightning which slammed into the gate, which both smashed the gate apart and ignited the rotting wood into a blaze. That wasn't something Shadow was counting on. His Chaos Spear rarely caused fires, and then it required a fuel.
"Quick! Get inside!"
Both Shadow and Rouge darted inside, and to both their dismay found that the ceiling had rotted away ages before, leaving the room completely in the open air. It was so open that both could see the airship heading their direction.
"Over here!" Rouge cried out, dashing to the side. Shadow followed. Rouge had discovered a dirty tarp-like cover, and although it was perfectly filthy and smelled of compost, it was the only cover within immediate reach. Rouge grimaced as she threw the tarp over Shadow and herself, and the smell of rotten plant matter pierced their noses. Breathing only through their mouths, they held perfectly still as they listened to the increasing roar of the airship as it was flying over.
They waited for what felt like hours, listening to the roaring of the airship. They never actually saw it up close, but both could guess that it was huge. Rouge and Shadow recalled the Egg Fleet from a great way off. They both had a hand in destroying it about a year ago, but they could not forget the Executor, the flagship made in the likeness of a whale shark. It dwarfed the Egg Carrier by far, and it was a wonder how in the world it could fly.
The roar began to fade away and when it became silent completely several minutes later, Shadow and Rouge slithered out from underneath their cover. Shadow shook his fur out from the grime that collected underneath the tarp, and Rouge grimaced at the filth on her clothes, and hoped they could reach Soleanna quick because she needed a perfumed bath on the double.
Shadow scanned the skies and could see the fading smoke trail of the airship when it had passed over some time before.
Rouge was looking up and down the castle walls. "This must be the old castle of Soleanna. I had heard a little bit about it. The people relocated towards the sea, although the reason was never clear."
Shadow was listening, but didn't answer. It was trivial after all...
"Even then, the people were remarkable scientists. They used a science called alchemy, and even succeeded in transmuting lead into gold or silver, but they had an understanding of economics as well so unless needed, transmutations for gold and silver were illegal."
"Where did you get all this information?" Shadow said.
"The few hours I waited for the briefing before leaving for Dr. Kintobor's base in White Acropolis, I did a lot of research. I wanted to learn anything that could be linked to Dr. Kintobor. There wasn't much, not even mention of Project Solaris in my research."
Shadow sniffed.
"It was impressive that they were able to keep so much of it a secret, despite the fact that the name 'Project Solaris' was used a lot. Very curious..."
"Well, then, allow me to enlighten you some."
Both Shadow and Rouge looked up to the new voice, and Shadow hissed a curse. It was Dr. Kintobor. Somehow, he had found them. His hovercraft drifted down into the ruined castle. Both had to wonder how he managed to find them.
"Why, hello, Doctor," Rouge said, her eye fluttering.
"It is a pleasure. You must be Rouge the Bat." Kintobor cast a glance at Shadow. "And of course, Shadow. We meet again. Greetings aside, I feel like I should at least give you a hint about the top-secret project of Soleanna. Project Solaris was an ambitious project, named after their eternal sun-god! It was to develop a revolutionary engine. What for? Well, I'll leave that for you to investigate."
Shadow couldn't stand it. "How did you know we were here? We heard your airship pass over and leave."
Kintobor didn't seem surprised at the question. "It's quite simple. You did well in hiding, but the Talisman of Darkness with you gave you two away. The scanners aboard my EG-Carrier zeroed in on your location. To lure you out, I just piloted the Carrier out of hearing range and then I returned here and here I am."
Shadow looked upset. He fell for a cheap trick.
"Now, down to business. I would like to have the Talisman of Darkness that you had stolen from me back."
Shadow and Rouge glanced at each other, both knowing that there was no way they would just hand over the Talisman of Darkness. Shadow took up a defensive stance.
Suddenly, from all around, twenty battle-droids dropped down into the castle, creating a ring around Shadow and Rouge, surrounding them.
"I'll handle these; get out of here, Rouge!" Shadow said, just as one of the droids opened fire with a missile. Shadow jumped out of the way and smashed the offending robot in a spin.
Rouge had taken off into the sky, in possession of the Talisman of Darkness. Thinking quickly, she withdrew some ball-shaped objects from her belt, each the size of grapes; just as quickly, she threw them down at the robots revealed what they were: pocket grenades. Although not very strong, it disabled robots enough for a quick getaway, and that was what she needed. She failed to account for Dr. Kintobor however. "I don't think so!" the human said, and from the side of the hovercraft, a metal fist came into shape and plowed into the unsuspecting bat in the head.
Rouge cried out and plummeted sharply back to the ground, stunned. The force of the impact also caused her to drop the Talisman. "No!" cried out Kintobor, seeing the Talisman fall, and he couldn't stop it. Shadow had thrashed a fifth robot, when she saw Rouge hit. Cursing, he leapt up and snatched Rouge out of the air, saving her from what would've been a dreadful fall. Shadow did not see the Talisman however. The talisman struck the stone floor with a sharp ping. Out came a wave of dark energy. Shadow saw it and had just enough time to jump it. It passed underneath him and it passed through the robots. The droids were frozen, their main processes in chaos, unable to send information.
Shadow helped Rouge to her feet, and both looked around at the robots, frozen where they stood. The hedgehog looked around and located the talisman, a few feet away from the feet of one of the frozen droids. Taking one last look at the droids, he stooped to lick it up.
Something was coming out of the Talisman, and Shadow withdrew his hand. A liquid seeped out of the black stone and started bubbling, like it was boiling. Shadow watched in dumb awe as it boiled more furiously. Then, a geyser of dark gas shot up and away from the Talisman. It was so black that it seemed to suck in light any light it received and lock it away. Kintobor decided that he had more important things to do with his time and had hovered away in his hovercraft in haste, leaving his frozen droids behind. They were just a dime a dozen after all. It was a good thing too, as the gas swooped down and passed through each robot, and as it did, the robot collapsed in a scrap heap, shattering like glass. Making a few more turns around, it soared into the sky once again and took a mighty dive...towards Shadow.
Shadow saw that it was heading straight for him, and just as it was about upon him, he leapt aside. The gas poured into the stonework where now just Shadow's shadow lay. The hedgehog could feel a frigid cold pour off whatever this darkness was as it glided past. Soon, the gas had melted into the ground, and Shadow stared at his own Shadow for quite some time.
"What happened?" Rouge said. "What was that darkness?"
"I don't know..." Shadow breathed. Rouge barely heard him.
Rouge looked at Shadow's shadow as well, questions burning in her brain. "Look!" she cried out, for the boiling liquid was back; this time, in the shadow.
Shadow and Rouge watched in fascinated horror as more and more of the black tar-like liquid seeped to the surface. It started piling on top of itself, growing higher and higher. It soon grew arms, legs and what looked like head spines that twisted as they extended. Features soon appeared: cobalt-blue highlights began snaking their way on the spines, arms and legs. The darkness became a figure, shaped like a hedgehog. He was currently turned away so neither Shadow and Rouge could see his face.
For the first time, it spoke: a cold, dark voice. "Ahh, it feels good to have a solid form again. It's been too long..." It soon turned around, and now Shadow and Rouge saw the darkness for what he now was.
"No! That's impossible!" Rouge cried out. Shadow was silent.
Both Shadow and Rouge were now looking at...Shadow! But there were some things very wrong with this Shadow. He was a lot blacker then Shadow and his highlights were a grayish-blue. He had Shadow's gloves and shoes, but instead of red soles, he had dark-grey soles. The flesh of the snout was pale and dirty-looking, and appeared to the entire world to have no mouth to speak with. The gold bracelets were now tinted with cobalt blue. The eyes were the most different of all. This Shadow had yellow-green eyes, and they looked like they were made of crystals, broken by hairline pupils.
This new Shadow seemed equally surprised at seeing the old Shadow as the latter was seeing to former. This faded in an instant as the new Shadow erupted with laughter filled with malice. "By the gods, how ironic fate can be! Of all the people's shades I could have used to build my form, I used YOUR shade!" This Shadow made an elegant bow. "I thank you graciously, Shadow the Hedgehog."
Shadow was taken aback. "Who are you, and how do you know my name!?" he demanded.
The other Shadow regarded his demanding twin for a time, and then lowered his head. "I am called Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark." Mephiles started to tromp forward, slowly and taking small steps. He never looked up. "What? Have you forgotten me, Shadow?"
Shadow looked at Mephiles as the latter slowly tromped up to him, and began to recall from a long way off of another black hedgehog, standing over him triumphantly on a cliff-top, while Shadow himself was dying, but he didn't look like this, nor was named Mephiles!
"That's a real shame, Shadow," Mephiles continued. "For I have so much that I owe you."
Shadow and Mephiles were now only inches apart, and Shadows red solid eyes met Mephiles' green crystalline ones. So much alike, but so much different the two were. Shadow was soon aware of the aura of evil surrounding Mephiles and felt it give him goose-bumps. The last time he remembered feeling this was when he was fighting the Biolizard...four or five years before now. It was so intense that Shadow actually stepped back.
Mephiles didn't seem to notice, but merely lifted a hand, fingers curling into talons. "Oh, yes...you gave without asking for anything back, but you will have it back. What you gave me, I now return to you..." his hand now bore an orb of dark energy, cracking with purplish lightning. He then threw it up into the air. "A one way ticket to oblivion!!" The orb of energy flattened out into a dark vortex, continually widening and began to suck in anything around it besides its maker. It was a portal.
"Rouge, get back!" Shadow cried out, trying to fight the suction.
"I...can't!" Rouge cried back.
Shadow barely heard her in the wind, which was now kicking up to gale intensity. Mephiles was standing unabated, looking like as if the wind and portal weren't real. Rouge turned away from the portal, and that was the mistake that cost them any chance of escaping. Her wings caught the wind like a sail and lifted her off the ground and up into the portal. Shadow was able to grab her ankle, but didn't have the weight and anchorage to keep him on the ground, and he too was sucked into the portal.
Mephiles watched in his own amusement as the two hapless figures were sucked up into the portal, and laughed coldly. "Those fools will soon see what I am capable to do, but they're sure to be able to escape back into the present, but it won't matter. They won't stop me this time." He looked up into the portal again. "Now, to plant the seeds..." Mephiles lifted off his feet and lifted slowly into the portal. Once inside, the portal closed behind him. Only the trashed remains of the robots lay as a testament to what happened here.
- - - - -
Viper and Metal-Sonic watched on as the EG-Carrier drifted on northwards, wondering briefly why it was coming from the opposite direction then the robots they had obliterated. They had dispatched over two-thousand robots together and felt satisfied with their skirmish. Viper was a bounty hunter who was bred for war, and Metal-Sonic was a killing machine, programmed with thousands of attacks and martial strategies. One on their own could storm a fortress, but both combined could take on an army.
"It truly is a shame that the airship isn't coming for us," Viper said. The battle had made him wired; he still felt like slaughtering things in mass numbers. Exactly as he was trained to do.
"Indeed," Metal-Sonic replied, who was applying a fresh gleam to his outer hull with a polish that he had always carried with him in a hidden compartment inside his hull. "For his sake," Mecha pointed a claw at the airship. "I hope he has stronger robots guarding. If not, gutting him will ne no challenge." Mecha went straight back to polishing, and noticed that his polish was running low. He would have to acquire some. A robot must always be presentable. Mecha cast his glance aside, and noticed that the Talisman of the Earth was laying on the floor of the passenger seat. "Viper, Shadow has neglected the Talisman of the Earth. It is left here in this vehicle."
Viper glanced back at the now gleaming blue robot. "His loss. We'll just guard it for the time being." He glanced back at the EG-Carrier as it grew smaller and smaller as it traveled all the farther.
"We should continue to Soleanna," Metal-Sonic said suddenly. "Now that Shadow and Rouge are in possession of the Talisman of Darkness, we should now be able to have the time to find out what Project Solaris is about. The doctor cannot proceed with his own plan with the project without the Talisman."
Viper nodded. "To Soleanna then. Once we find out what it is, I intend to meet face to face with Kintobor." Viper didn't need to say anything more. The implications were heavy and easily readable.
"Then let us depart."
- - - - -
Several hours later...
"Looks like there was one heck of a party here..."
Sonic was remarking on a pile of charred robots that seemed to have seen heavy fighting, and whoever dismantled them was thorough. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have reached the outer gates of White Acropolis by late afternoon. Traversing an unknown land without map or guide was a good reason not to go through it too fast. If Sonic knew the way, they could've been here sooner, but that was not the case.
"Someone else must've been here before us," Knuckles said. "I wonder who?"
"Can we get this over with?" Tails said, shivering in the icy wind and was getting grumpy.
"What do we do? Knock?" Sonic said.
Knuckles shrugged, and Tails just quivered like a twanging guitar string.
A few minutes later, Sonic found himself knocking the giant metal gate and was feeling incredibly silly. Things like this only happen in the movies, Sonic thought to himself. There's just no way that this gates going to open just like--
There was some banging on the inside of the gate, and the latches began to move. With noisy grinding and groaning of metal, the gate began to slide apart.
...that. Sonic wasn't sure to feel more stupid or just laugh at the humor of it.
The gate opened a fraction and out stepped one of the black-and-white AK-10 robots that Sonic and Tails were all too well familiar with stepped out. With its emotionless eye, it looked the three creatures in front of it, and Sonic guessed it was scanning them like the light in the card computer Knuckles had earlier that morning. The robot dispatched a message wirelessly to its master, reporting that the subject has arrived, and inquired that a two-tailed fox and a creature of a species he could not identify were accompanying him. The master granted permission for the two to accompany the subject and was commanded to admit them into the base. The robot stepped aside without argument.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles passed into the first courtyard and saw that it was a war zone. Whoever had beaten them here hit this place hard; for robot parts were strewn everywhere and where there would've been searchlights, there was now nothing but the bases with the metal beams rising to about five feet and then stopping with charred ends. A quick search would find the rest of the tower, mangled beyond comprehension and the light itself blown out and smashed.
"What in the world happened here?" Knuckles said. "Someone wanted this place gone."
"But who? Didn't you see the gates?" Tails chimed in. The wind was pretty much gone due to the mountain walls blocking the wind.
"What about them?" Sonic asked.
"They looked as if they didn't see much action. If they attacked the gates, we would've seen something, like charred metal, but we didn't see any."
Knuckles frowned. "What are you getting at?"
"Whoever attacked this place could either fly, teleport or jump really high. All he would have to do is clear the gates."
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles looked at each other. "You wouldn't think Shadow did this to you?" Sonic asked, not directed to anyone in particular.
"How should I know?" Knuckles said, shrugging.
"Shadow can teleport short distances, even without a Chaos Emerald," Sonic began. "We've seen that when the black aliens hit Möbius. Plus, he's the kind of guy who doesn't stop until the enemy is good and beaten...to a bloody pulp."
"But why would he attack here?"
Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "Shadow is unpredictable; he just does things when he's in the mood. Maybe he did it for kicks."
Tails and Knuckles couldn't argue with that one. Shadow was a vicious fighter, and if armed with just one Chaos Emerald, he could make armies kneel to him.
The robot led then through the next three gate-yards and the destruction in each one was just as bad as the last one, if not worse. Each of the three kept his own thoughts to his own self, and just scoped the damaged. Whoever this assailant was, he was on a rampage when he stormed through. All three's minds burned with unanswered questions, but never speaking them. Who was this guy who did this and why in the heck did he do it?
Eventually, they reached the circular center courtyard. Four large doors stood around: one behind (where they had just entered), two on either side and one forward. This place did not escape the mysterious assailant either, for there was a hundred-foot tall robot lying in pieces at the foot of one wall, and there was a lot of torn ground and one or two parts of the wall were smashed.
"Sonic, isn't that--" Tails pointed at the wreckage.
Sonic looked twice at it. "Hey, it looks like the dumb-bot I blew up in the desert. Did he make another one?"
"Looks like it. It looks just like the same thing."
Knuckles didn't bat an eye at it. He hadn't seen what Sonic and Tails was talking about, so it didn't matter to him. "Guys, we've got company." Knuckles pointed upwards, and Sonic and Tails followed his gaze. A huge robot with orange armor was slowly descending into the courtyard. It had a flat cylindrical head lined with multiple green "eyes." There were four large panels circling the upper-part of its body, and the way they were shaped reminded the three of fan-blades. It looked very primitive compared to the robots they had seen since they came to this world.
Kintobor's voice suddenly rang through the speakers. "EG-1000 Genesis, stand down and permit the three to pass. It is all right, Sonic. He won't fire unless I command him to."
That's nice, thought Sonic. Gosh, for a bad guy, he sure is really considerate. He still eyed the robot as if it was about to fire any minute, but the robot didn't do anything; just floated there unmoving.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were ushered through the courtyard and through the gate on the opposite side where they had entered. As they entered the base, Tails grew more nervous. He knew this was a trap, he just did...
Undetected by any of them was the fact they were being trailed.
- - - - -
Silver and Blaze had been heading north all day, and even though they couldn't tell through the clouds above, it was getting late and night would be upon them. Neither had experience in tracking, so they were heading north oblivious to the fact that some of the tracks (now much faded under the continual snowfall) that they were following originated from the very person they were hunting. Silver was half-focused on getting to Dr. Kintobor's base in the mountains and half-looking at the scenery. He had never seen snow before, nor felt the cold air. This world was full of surprises. This added fuel to his fiery passion to restore the future to what it should be.
Blaze seemed indifferent to the snow and cold, but Silver knew why. Blaze's power was stemmed greatly on her emotions. Sudden changes in her emotion can cause a flash fire, and if she became angry, she was capable of starting a full-fledged inferno. In order to combat this disadvantage, Blaze locked away the flow of emotions in her soul. This shows as she seems indifferent about everything, and appears to the non-comprehending individual, unfeeling. Silver knew however; she cared so much for people that she wouldn't let her emotions burn them to a crisp. It was completely ironic, but true.
Eventually, Silver and Blaze found themselves staring at the large metal gate on the outside of the White Acropolis base, but not just at the gate. They had seen the wreckage as well.
"Looks like we arrived a little too late," Silver said.
"You think it's him?" Blaze asked. There was no need to iterate who "him" was.
"I think so. He still might be here though."
"We'll have to get in and see."
Breaking in would easy for these two. Silver was a psychokinetic so he could either open the gate, fly over it or even through it. The white hedgehog was considering which one should be the best. Blaze was a swift runner, and the flames inside her made her seem light as a feather. The cat bounded to the right, up the slopes and with a quick series of jumps, she was on top of the gate.
"Silver! Come up here!"
Silver looked up at Blaze, and powered up his power to levitate upwards to the top of the gate. Once he landed on top of the gate, he could see why Blaze wanted him to see it. The gate-yard was a complete mess! Whoever did this (the Iblis Trigger?) must have been on the warpath. There was so much damage that even Iblis would be jealous. Nothing was left standing. The prospect that the Iblis Trigger did this made Silver's stomach twist.
"C'mon! We've got to find him before it's too late!" Silver exclaimed.
Silver and Blaze bounded over the wreckage and the next several gates, trying to ignore the increasing carnage of whatever battle was here, and thus didn't notice the sky clearing up and the snow ceasing to fall. Over each wreck they passed over, Silver's anxiety grew. What if they were too late?
They entered the central courtyard and soon came face to face with the guard robot that had barred Sonic, Tails and Knuckles some time before. Silver and Blaze had never seen a robot so big, let alone of that could fly.
The aural sensors of the robot soon detected the two intruders. Intruders in the base! Lock-down commencing. Activating battle-mode. Exterminate intruders. The fan-blade like wings extended out, revealing what they were hiding: rack upon rack of missile pods. These opened up and rained down missiles upon the intruders.
Silver and Blaze dashed out of the way, and the missiles slammed into the snowy turf, sending snow and chunks of earth flying in all directions.
"Looks like we've got to destroy this thing," Silver said aloud.
"Then let's do it!" Blaze said, her hands beginning to spark flames. She was gearing up for battle.
The Genesis slowing rotated its weapons to laser cannons. The atmosphere was soon filled with deadly rays of death, pouring their messages of destruction to the earth below. Silver could not catch the lasers with his power, so he kept dodging the laser-bolts. He had never actually fought a robot before; the only thing he fought was Iblis. His weak-spot tended to be his eyes. What was this robot's weakness?
The Genesis was not programmed to do extended fighting, but more or less be a first line of defense. While fighting, it would send out a wireless signal to all robots in the base to prepare for battle and meet the assailants that the Genesis would be currently combating. Silver and Blaze were oblivious to this fact so were in for an unpleasant surprise. The Genesis was strong, but due to its relative lack of combat programming compared it its brothers, it moved slow and cumbersome. Soon, its battle strategy would be predictable.
"Blaze, got any ideas?" Silver said, throwing yet another missile away from him.
"Working on it!" Blaze threw a bolt of fire at the robot, but it only glanced off its armor.
Silver gritted his teeth in agitation. Why do things have to get so complicated!?
Something opened up on the bottom of the Genesis, and both Blaze and Silver saw it come down. It was a laser-cannon.
"Blaze! Run!" Silver said, and heeded his own advise, pelting down the snowy earth as fast as his legs would go. The violet cat heeded the warning.
The pulse cannon began charging, a hot glow shining brighter and brighter. When it got large enough, the Genesis fired at Silver, who looked to be the slowest target. It struck the ground several feet behind the white hedgehog, but the shockwave took Silver's legs out from underneath him, sending him rolling through the snow.
"Silver!" Blaze cried out. She didn't have a good viewing angle to see if Silver escaped unharmed. She pelted across the landscape, looking for her friend and ally. It was difficult to find him, thanks to his snow-white fur, but she found him unhurt, however stunned.
Silver grunted, pulling himself up. "I'm okay..."
Blaze flashed a glare at the Genesis, and the air flashed with fire around her for one second. Silver dove out of the way; Blaze was not safe to be around when she was getting riled up. Thankfully, Blaze checked herself, but still felt an indignation at having her friend nearly blown up.
"Blaze, look!" Silver pointed at the bottom of the Genesis. The bottom which stored the laser-cannon was glowing red hot. "That looks like a weakspot."
Blaze didn't hesitate. She ran directly towards the Genesis, and her hand kindled with her flames. With a battle cry, she hurled up multiple fire bolts at the glowing panel.
Suddenly, the two large gates to the side slid open and out came troops of robots, swarming out like ants.
"Blaze!" Silver cried out. "More robots!"
"Take them out!" She cried back. "I'll handle this one!"
Silver nodded. Blaze liked to do things up close and personal, like on their last attack on Iblis. Silver charged towards one squadron, charging up his power for a blast. With a "ha!" he swung one hand forward, and out came his power in an energy wave, just like he did when he was fighting Sonic. Several robots crumpled against his withering attack, but others opened fire with bullets and missiles at this attacker. Silver caught both, but threw the bullets aside, while throwing the missiles back, destroying the offending robots.
Blaze knew that Silver couldn't cover both squadrons at the same time, seeing as they are coming from opposite ends of the arena. Ceasing her assault on the Genesis, she looked away from where Silver was fighting to the other end. Sure enough, probably twenty to thirty robots were coming to take her down. They were in for a surprise. Blaze dashed at them, her long legs sending her faster then Silver could ever hope to run. The robots opened fire, but she was too fast. She leapt into the air into a vertical-axis spin and kicked one drone in its face, sending it flying backwards. In the same jump, she threw her hands out towards the robots, lashing out flames that ripped through the air. In the space of a minute, all the robots on Blaze's side were scorched.
Setting her sights on the Genesis again, she ran towards the giant robot full throttle. Her fire bolts weren't doing too much damage on it...but maybe if she unleashed her power against it... Her discipline checked her. Unleashing her fire meant surrendering to her emotions, and that could be costly. Maybe she could find a middle ground for it...
She planted herself underneath the Genesis, and she began charging up her energy. She needed a big enough blast to cook this robot. She needed to feel it to unleash it, and to be the most devastating, she needed to get angry.
Angry. She had a flash of fury when she nearly saw Silver incinerated by this thing. Her flames suddenly grew hotter then any furnace. Her aura flashed into fire; she was surrounded by a ball of fire, but she didn't care. She didn't fear fire; she danced in fire.
Looking up at the glowing panel above her, she knew what she had to do. She felt the burning of her power begin to overwhelm her, but she can now control it. She threw her hands to the sky above, almost screaming as her flaming power raced through the now open channel. Instead of unleashing in one gigantic fireball, it was redirected into a solid beam of fire straight up. The flames poured towards the heavens and cut through the robot like a hot blade through butter. It continued skyward, and the sky was alight with the flames, creating an aurora borealis, visible for miles! In Soleanna, the citizens watched in awe as lights to the north danced through the coming night.
Silver had just dispatched the last robot on his side, and jumped when he heard the roar of an inferno. Turning around, he saw Blaze unleashing her flames to destroy the robot and watched as they continued to roar into the sky. Even Iblis hasn't received that punishment!
The Genesis was heavily damaged to say the least, and its internal chassis was on fire. Its internal computer was still functional despite the heat now threatening to melt the silicon of its chips. It had one last program to initiate: kamikaze. Labouringly, the computer initiated the program.
Blaze was striding from underneath the monster robot as it rose higher into the sky. Silver looked on after the mechanical beast. Something was wrong. It wasn't until it started pitched onto its side and was slowing descending at an angle when he saw what it was up to.
Blaze was watching it too, and saw the new threat immediately. It was going to crash into them and blow whoever thought had destroyed it sky-high. Breaking into a swift run, she warned Silver, "Silver! Run!"
Silver took off around the perimeter, and in a few seconds Blaze joined him. The Genesis continued to drift, readjusting its angle of descent to counter their movements. Bits and pieces of the Genesis were blowing off of its metal frame like shrapnel. The force of these explosions kept jarring the Genesis off-course. The computer kept readjusting its aim, but it couldn't hold it.
Just the same, it was close. The EG-1000 Genesis smashed into the wall, exploding in a glorious fireball. The bang shook the foundations of the fortress and both destroyers felt it rumble through the earth. Silver instinctively turned around and threw his arms forward, his power creating a protective aura around him to catch anything that would fly his way. It was a fortunate act. The Genesis was like a giant shrapnel grenade. When it blew, piece of sharp metal flew hundreds of feet. Anyone would deem it wise to dive behind a wall made of metal and several feet thick. Silver had the power of psychokinesis on his side, and instead of being impaled on shards of metal, his power caught them and they floated in the air.
Silver had to breathe several times from another close call with death, then he let his power go. The shards that remained of the Genesis dropped noisily to the ground. Silver and Blaze watched the Genesis burn for quite some time, the light highlighting their features in an orange-ish glow and feeling its heat and watched as it melted the snow to reveal the barren rocky earth underneath. It wasn't their first enemy they had beaten, but this was the first one they actually destroyed.
An explosion among countless explosions; something went flying out of the burning bulk of the Genesis, and it sparkled white in the night. It caught Silver's eye and he watched as it flew into the sky and then falling to earth, twinkling like a falling star. It drifted into snowy earth and lay there. Silver then saw that it was glowing with a white light. Silver was bitten by curiosity and ran to see what it is; Blaze saw him go in the corner of her eye and followed at a walk. The hedgehog soon found the item of curiosity. It was a silver talisman, and trapped within its silver wings was a white glowing gem. He stared long at it, trying to understand what it was.
"That's one of the Talismans of Essence!" Blaze exclaimed.
Silver snapped out of his stupor and looked at Blaze. "A what?"
"A Talisman of Essence. In our past, there were seven Talismans of Essence I believe. They had extraordinary power, as it transforms your thoughts into power. If you collect all seven, a miracle will happen." Blaze stroked the wings of the talisman, somewhat admiring the white glow. "Keep it as a lucky charm. We could use the luck..."
Blaze turned away and walked towards the main part of the base. Silver stood looking after Blaze, then back at the talisman. "It turns your thoughts into power?" The recitation that Blaze said about these reminded him that he had heard of these before, but never understood what they were. "Good luck charm, huh? Blaze is right; we can use some luck."
He looked up again to see that Blaze had gone a good distance ahead. He sprinted after his friend, but was still wondering how his silver talisman has such power. He wasn't sure he would ever understand, but maybe that was the magic of it.
