Author Note: Another update! Yay! and I feel good about this chapter. The problem with this one is that I got hit by nasty writer's lock early on that, coupled with having less time to work on it, made this chapter take far too long. In other news I will be shortly re-editing chapters to change my OC Scrat Larkin from being a weasel-like hedgehog to just a weasel. I assure you there is good reason. For those who actually care about my special-geographical relationships, the weasels are Irish.
As always, I entreat you to take a few minutes and review this work after reading it.
Chapter 25
"Do you mean to tell me that the Mobian government has been in possession of highly powerful mythological artifacts and has never decided to tell anyone?" Edward Gareth Goering demanded.
"Secrecy is one of the greatest defenses. If anyone was able to manipulate a Chaos Emerald to the degree found in myths, the entire world would be threatened." The Robotnik replied from the communicator's screen. "For a long time they kept the existence hidden from anyone who wasn't directly involved with the royal family. The first real scientist allowed to study them was my grandfather, and even then he was only allowed secondhand observations of their affects."
"And what do you think about them?" Edward said, slamming meaty hands onto the control panel in front of the screen.
"Powerful; impossibly so. They gather loose electrons from the surrounding environment, allowing them a near infinite electrical charge. They also can pass this charge onto certain types of metal, causing the charged metal to glow. Attempts to make use of the metal's charge, however, degrades it at a rate of-"
"Could they make something grow?" Edward asked. Even as thoughts of infinite energy danced in the back of his mind, he was still preoccupied with a… growing emergency.
"What?"
"Grow. Take an emerald and grow bigger."
"If said object could reform the energy back into matter and rearrange the sub-sub-atomic particles in such a way as to produce a certain kind of mass, then yes, theoretically." Edward fell back into his chair at the Robotnik's reply. "Why do you ask?"
"The monster that attacked my machines in Deppen has purportedly stolen and subsumed a Chaos Emerald and used it to increase its body mass and grow a skeletal structure for its right arm."
"Oh dear." The Robotnik whispered.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Forget about it. We can't take five of them on a good day, there's no way we can take that army." The squirrel looking through the binoculars twitched and lowered them.
"And there's no way to get around them." The squirrel responded. Her companion, a rabbit with scars covering the exposed parts of her arm, shook her head.
"Then we'll just have to stay behind them. We couldn't do much to them even if we died doing it." The rabbit patted her friend on the back instinctively. "Come on. It's not your fault. Besides, everything we know says the Mobians have seen worse." The squirrel took one last glance back at the wall of purple-armored machines, before turning back.
"Come on." She said. "Let's tell the others.
OOOOOOOOOO
The dawning sun illuminated the village of Deppen as peoples from numerous countries and species assembled in the same square where the demon called Chaos had first shown itself to the world. An echidna talked to a young fox in grim tones, interrogating him about the mundane battery brought in case a magical one failed.
"Look, I haven't tested it, I've never done something like this-" Tails started.
"Will it fly?" Knuckles asked.
"I can't be sure-"
"Will it?" Knuckles leaned forward to punctuate the question.
"yes." Tails squeaked out. Knuckles nodded.
"Good. All we need it to do is reach Armenz. Sonia will be going with you to retrieve the scepter. I only need you to take care of the plane."
"Why Sonia?" Manic asked.
"First, she thinks before she acts. Second, she knows French, unlike the rest of you. Finally, I can trust her to stay focused without me around." Knuckles said, counting off the reasons on his fingers. Knuckles turned to face the rest of the freedom fighters, who had arranged themselves in something resembling ordered ranks. Every single one remained grimly silent. "As many of you already know, two days ago we were attacked by something that could only be described as a demon. We thought we had destroyed it using this:" Knuckles held up one of the glowing rings.
"We didn't." Knuckles continued. "This monster, this Chaos, is still alive. Our one condolence is that it doesn't want us. Therefore, if you see it do not try to fight it. Call the nearest triplet if it attacks you but be cautious: we only have a few of these rings, and this Chaos is far too dangerous for any other weapon we have. You are dismissed."
Knuckles turned and walked off to separate himself from his soldiers.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonia glanced down from the plane as it sped over the land. The rush of green underneath her made her queasy, however, so she straightened herself up in her seat and took the time to study the plane's pilot.
Sonia personally found the idea of a kid that young, especially without education, making something that most of the world's scientists had problems with completely absurd. Granted, the main problem had always been proper power sources, and Tails had supposedly been using a Chaos Emerald, but that only led to the further absurdity of a kid finding a mythological artifact in what amounted to little more than an ancient trash pile. When she thought about it, though, she realized that most other people wouldn't have looked for something so powerful in such a location.
Sonia's mind wandered farther, thinking about what could have happened if Chaos had hunted down the emerald while the rebellion was still in Knothole or worse, when Tails was in Edmund's-Burrow. Sonia shivered at the thought of what Chaos could have done to such a densely packed city.
"Are you cold?" Tails asked.
"What? No." Sonia shook her head even though Tails wasn't looking behind him. "I just got caught up thinking about things."
"Like what?"
"Nothing important." Sonia said. They stayed silent for a few minutes before Tails finally asked.
"Are you scared of Chaos?"
"Yes." Sonia admitted.
"Really?" Tails asked in a voice showing how much he had hoped for a different answer.
"Don't worry yourself." Sonia said. "I was just over-thinking things. I can handle it if it attacks us." The fox nodded. The tense silence that followed remained for the rest of the plane's flight to Armenz as Sonia's thoughts twisted around themselves even more.
They touched down on a flat plain of grass, with Armenz barely in sight. Sonia left Tails with the plane and walked to the city, nervousness mounting. Even in Mobius City she had had her brothers there to guide her if she slipped, and even her brief jaunts on her own had ended up finding Manic's familiar face. For the first time in her life, she was on her own. Could she do this?
Sonia clutched the ring case hidden in her pockets. I will not be weak.
Sonia moved in a daze through the city streets, people and machines ignoring her as she moved towards the building where the jeweled scepter was being kept. She knew that Chaos would be there too, no matter what happened. The double doors opened inward before Sonia realized she had moved her hands. She walked into a lobby that might have once been special, adorned with imitation Roman columns and fancy metal chairs.
She barely flinched as Chaos exploded through the far wall, larger than before and with both hands containing a skeletal arm that joined together inside of the demon's torso.
Sonia flicked open the ring case and grabbed at the glowing ring inside. The gemstone around her necked left out a soft ringing as it filled with pink light. Chaos attacked.
Sonia felt the power flowing through her, bending reality around her, and she knew she would not find the speed to dodge the massive arm that Chaos was throwing towards hers, and let instinct take over. When she was with her foster mother, she had been taught to defend herself without ever needing a weapon. She brought her hands on top of each other in front of her, catching Chaos's fist with her palm. The wind shook from the impact as Chaos was brought to a sudden halt.
Before all of the force from the punch could go into her Sonia shifted the watery limb aside with one hand and ducked inside Chaos's reach to punch with her other. The tiny hand drove straight through Chaos's head, briefly revealing something like a purple brain before Chaos fell apart. Instinct took hold and Sonia quickly stepped away and circled around, keeping distance between her and her opponent.
Chaos began to reassemble, and then let itself collapse. The water that made up its body spread out to cover the floor of the room at an unnatural speed. Sonia jumped atop one of the metal chairs and was rewarded by hearing the legs snap as the water cut through them. She jumped farther back as Chaos pulled the water back in and reassembled itself. Sonia charged forward and punched straight, thinking to catch the monster off guard. A shield of multicolored light blocked her attack, and it disappeared an instant before Chaos flicked out its arm, sending Sonia flying into a Roman column.
I felt that. Sonia thought, yet she knew it hadn't hurt anywhere near as much as it should have. She pushed herself away moments before Chaos struck, and ducked in to deliver a punch to the back of its head. The blow found its mark and Chaos collapsed again, prompting Sonia to jump atop a fallen chair in case it flooded the room again.
Chaos reformed quickly instead and flung itself through the air. Sonia jumped away moments before it hit her, rolling to avoid the monster as it rebounded off a Roman column. Chaos pushed off of a second column and left a gouge as it slid across the floor to slow itself. Sonia ducked in to attack but was blocked by another multicolored shield. Sonia dodged instantly and Chaos's attack cut through empty air, giving Sonia time to duck in and attack again.
Sonia jumped as Chaos flooded the room, and dodged as it reformed to throw itself at her. She waited as it hit the floor and then charged, strafing around it to punch through the back of its head before it could generate a shield. The monster collapsed into a puddle, and the puddle fled under the building's doors. The doors shattered inwards to reveal a squadron of purple-plated robots. Sonia clenched her fist as she looked at them.
I still have some power left.
OOOOOOOOOO
Knuckle's head darted around the grassy hills. He had been searching for hours, and his chances of finding it were as low as he could conceive, yet he was certain he was drawing nearer with every circle he made. His eyes finally alighted on the multicolored piece of paper and he dashed forward to pick it up. Something about the card had alarmed his late grandfather, and Knuckles was a fool to have ignored it earlier.
The bizarre collage of hearts, lips, and animalistic features told Knuckles nothing, but he did see a note saying 'Thanks for the Emerald'. Any further investigation of the gaudy card was cut off as the whine of the Tornado's engine came closer and the wind around Knuckles went into a frenzy, forcing him to secure the card in a pocket.
The plane landed on a relatively flat patch of grass a little way away from him. Sonia climbed out of the back of the plane and approached him as Tails immediately began checking the plane. Sonia stopped in front of him and saluted.
"Mission failed." She said. Knuckles nodded grimly.
"Did you encounter Chaos?" He asked.
"Yes. It had changed significantly since the last fight with it, displaying several new abilities. And I would like a better place to discuss them, as well as other matters."
"Very well then." Knuckles said.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sleet and Dingo turned their heads as Espio walked up to the fire, the light illuminating his purple scales.
"What do you want?" Sleet asked.
"I am here to inform you that I have finally completed my reconnaissance. I will be finishing my mission tomorrow."
"I see." Sleet replied. "Well, guess we'll see how you do." Espio nodded curtly and then walked away from the fire, his image swallowed by the dark of the night.