Violet Dreams
Chapter 7: Before the Damned
Every act of Creation, is first of all and act of Destruction
Metal Sonic, the most vicious creation of the mad scientist, Doctor Eggman, stood confidently in front of Sonic. Terrifying, and malevolent crimson eyes fell upon the blue wonder, contemplating his means of demise. Whatever the blue doppelganger was planning for the hero today, was surely not going to end very well. Especially after all these years of defeat. Whatever this mechanized killer was planning, would turn out to be destructive.
"Greetings, my sickening copy." Metal sneered. "You don't like to remain dead, do you?"
Everyone suddenly grew tense, the menacing words of Metal Sonic lingering in their brains. Knuckles' clenched his firsts, while Amy watched her hero intently, praying in the back of her mind that he'd overcome this threat. However, thinking of the last time they fought Metal, Tails quickly pulled out a small, yellow device, and began scanning Metal Sonic with a built in camera. Charts and rows of information that only a genius could understand popped onto the screen, which Tails let out a small grunt of shock towards.
"What can I say?" Sonic snickered defiantly, "I die hard!"
Suddenly with the ferocity to match a thunder storm, powerful torrents of electricity ignited in Metal's claw, ripping apart the ground he stood upon in the process.
"Sonic! Be careful! I just scanned Metal, and his energy readings are three times higher than last time!" Tails shouted desperately, "I think he's running off of a Chaos Emerald!"
"Don't worry buddy!"
With a triumphant look, Sonic's calm and kind demeanor twisted into that of justice and determination.
"Your luck runs out today, Sonic the Hedgehog."
Location: Lincoln Street, Station Square
A group of three, powerful white blasts shook the entire area. Whatever remained of the windows lining the hotel's and businesses exploded, and rained glass down onto the streets. From within a cloud of black smoke came a figure shrouded in debris, whom then smashed into the earth, creating a massive crater. Steam lingered off the battered body of Shadow the Hedgehog, as the chunks of rock and cement surrounding him sparked with white energy. His opponent, Metal Knuckles lingered in the air above for a few moments, before finally launching off through the city.
Eggman surely wasn't going to give up this time. And if he sent a creation such as Metal Knuckles to exterminate Shadow, then the doctor was after something far more important, or devastating, than the Chaos Emeralds.
A casing of green energy wrapped, and folded around the crimson robot, allowing the vicious copy to launch through the air, towards the rendezvous point that Rouge had headed to previously.
"Damn." Shadow grunted, struggling to pull himself out of the hole in the ground, "If he gets to the check point, then we'll lose our hold against the Doctor!"
The black hedgehog staggered for a moment, but using the last of his energy, the black hedgehog managed to warp, using Chaos Control. Green and white energy ignited from the Emerald in his hand, and suddenly a flash of divine light erupted from his body. From there on, his body was sucked into a space-time vortex, as his entire being shot through the space-time bridge the emerald provided.
Location: GUN Blockade 1A, Station Square
Flames licked the battered office buildings standing tall on all sides of the remaining soldiers of Shadow's group. Sparking, fizzling and mangled pieces of metal littered the entire battlefield, which was Station Square. Vehicles had been overturned and torn apart from the raid of Eggman's machines, but thankfully over 80% of all the civilians had been evacuated. The remaining 20% were either labeled as unknown or, undoubtedly, dead. However, what was happening in the city was just the beginning. The destruction of Station Square was leading up to something else.
Something bigger.
Rouge, and the handful of soldiers left stood strong in the face of brutality. Ash and smut covered their faces – which drove Rouge insane, due to her messed up make up – and the heat from the flames around them brought about a very uncomfortable environment. However, the soldiers of GUN we're strong, and were able to fight in any possible condition.
"Commander Rouge, look!" Captain McDunn exclaimed, fear lacing his words as he quickly armed his weapon, "Somethings coming from Lincoln Street!"
With a powerful flap of dark, leathery wings, Rouge shot upwards into the sky, where she was able to get a better look at the intruder.
Three, powerful green blasts of energy shot through the sky, and then disappeared. However, as soon as the blasts faded away, a storm of green specs shot through the sky. Rouge quickly traced the energy back to the source, who was moving at an incredible speed in their direction. Watching the threat, she quickly determined its time of arrival, and began to descend to the ground in order to warn the others, however, an arc of shimmering white energy shot through the sky, filling her vision. Though, it was unable to reach her, she gasped, as a burning sensation filled her nervous system.
Her brain seemed to slow down, as it pin pointed the location of the feeling.
A small, golf ball sized hole had been blown through her wing!
Five more of the same white bursts shot through the sky, tearing down lamp posts, traffic lights and signs. Being too caught up with the pain in her wing, and her panicked descent into the earth, Rouge failed to notice the oncoming batch of attacks, and got hit full force with the energy. A massive white explosion filled the air, and from it, Rouge fell through the sky, and hit the cement, her world suddenly fading to black as her head smashed against the pavement. Blood pooled around her. The panicked, and muffled cries of the soldiers lingered in her mind.
However, one last voice entered her consciousness before everything faded away.
"Chaos Spear!"
Location: The Egg Carrier EX, Above Station Square
"Ho ho ho!" Eggman chuckled victoriously, his wide, toothy grin present. "At this rate, GUN's resources will be too week to stop any other attack, and then I'll be able to commence my search for those blasted Chaos Emeralds that got away!"
The scientists fingers moved at a rapid rate of the keyboard of his main computer, as he typed in commands to activate the thrusters of his master creation – the Death Egg IV. Command prompts and status bars popped onto the screen. Eggman simply ignored these things, and continued to type in commands, this time activating five holding pods on board the Egg Carrier.
"EX Jack! EX Queen! EX King! EX Ace!" Eggman chuckled madly, and smashed his palm down onto a button, "And the EX Joker! Bring me the Chaos Emeralds!"
Five differently colored flashes of light filled the room, as the group of hunters dispersed, which caused a disruption in the ship. Monitors and lights flickered violently for a few moments, before finally returning to normal.
"Even with the set back of Project Dusk, I'll still conquer this world!" The madman cackled, his eyes gleaming against the computer screen, "From the chaos, the people will turn to me to set order! I'll rule over this world at last!"
Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins
Crimson met green, and the clash of the twins ignited on top of the mountain side. Metal Sonic allowed no chance for his copyto act, and dove straight in to attack, electricity dancing and flashing over his claw. With the intent of killing showing through his actions, the doppelganger began to infuse devastating amounts of chaos energy into his attack, causing pebbles to levitate all around them due to the magnetic nature of the electricity. Revealing no more than a simple grin, Sonic bounded upwards, attempting to dodge, and successfully counter the God-like attack from Metal. As the claw of the mecha drove into the ground, a storm of dangerously energized bolts of lightning erupted from Metal Sonic, threatening to tear out the ledge that the Workshop rested on. As the shock wave of the crash of energy smashed into Sonic, the blue hedgehog was thrown into the side of the workshop, nearly destroying an entire wall of the hangar.
"Sonic!" Amy screamed, tears brimming in her eyes. Seeing her hero get thrown around like this was never easy on her. Not when she had so much faith in him.
Chips of rock and wood fell down around the blue hero, threatening to bury him. Sonic toppled forward, and into the dirt, his body torn from the sharp edges of the wall he had been thrown into. However, with a burning confidence in his eyes, the cerulean warrior slowly pulled his body back up, and stood wearily, and faced the metallic copy. His trademark smirk remained, and even though his wounds lethal, the speed demon still found the will to fight.
The will of a hero.
"If you're going to kill me," Sonic snickered defiantly, "make sure to do it in one shot, dude!"
"You think I wouldn't have by now, if I didn't have a reason not to end your existence, flesh bag?" Metal retorted, "I want to revel in your demise, Sonic!"
"Bring it on, rust bucket!"
Igniting his thrusters to full power, Metal began to hover in the air, the viciousness of his crimson eyes locked onto Sonic. Knowing fully that if he was hit now, he'd be dead, Sonic prepared to counter his enemy, and deliver the final strike. His muscles tensed, and his body became still. A swirling mass of white energy spun around in his palm, ready to explode in a flurry of power. On the other side of the cliff side, Metal Sonic prepared a deadly strike of chaotic yellow energy in his claw, tearing up the ground around him once again.
With a powerful leap, Sonic shot off the ground into the air at blinding speeds. Within the blink of an eye, he curled into ball form and arched over the distance between him and Metal, a cocoon of light surrounding him. Pushing him through the air faster, and faster. The mass of energy that once gathered in his palm had been reconfigured to swarm his body like a protective shield of wind. Sonic shot downwards from his gained altitude, aimed directly at the metallic copy.
Metal's eyes shifted upwards at the hedgehog, his scanners able to pick up the attack several times faster than most organic beings. Two seconds passed, and Sonic had come within a few meters from Metal.
Time slowed, or so it seemed. And Sonic's heart slammed violently against his chest, seemingly moving up his throat. His body felt as light as air, and as the momentum behind his attack caught with him, a massive shock wave erupted away from the sparking collision between Sonic's homing attack, and Metal's lightning infused claw. The ground shattered, and split apart from the force, as a burst of faint blue energy shot upwards past the two hedgehogs. A massive crater swallowed up Metal Sonic, as Sonic's spinning velocity decreased, forcing him to unroll from his ball form, and jump away.
Making it only a few feet away, Metal warped through the time-space continuum, and as his particles re collided behind the blue wonder, the doppelganger conjured up a sizzling, and vicious mass of compressed energy.
Was this the end for Sonic?
The blue hero attempted to spin around, but came up too slow for the first time in his life.
In one swift movement Metal Sonic smashed the attack directly into his nemesis' gut. A ring of light shot away from the point of impact, which shot the blue hedgehog into the ground in front of the others, his stomach charred and smoking. Summoning up the same attack, Metal Sonic locked onto the hedgehog once again, his thrusters beginning to overload, allowing him to warp once more.
The deviant copy appeared only a few inches above the beaten hedgehog, allowing himself to hover as he delivered the finishing blow. Energy ruptured around the two fighters as the surging, shifting mass of electricity collided with Sonic once more. Bolts of high powered electricity shot outwards from Metal, slicing open the ground, forcing the by standing heroes to scurry out of the face of destruction. Kneeling beside his wounded copy, Metal Sonic flipped the smoking blue hero over, his scanners moving over his body in order to fin any signs of life.
"Heh heh." Sonic chuckled weakly, "That all you got?"
As the words left his mouth, a deadly, yet elegant flash of white and blue energy collided with the torso of Metal. Ribbons of light fluttered away from the source of the energy, as Sonic unleashed his attack, which formed a gigantic sphere of cerulean light. As the attack carried Metal up into the sky, it began to implode on itself, and once it collapsed, a flash of energy erupted outwards in a vortex. The force of the vortex shot Metal back down into the ground, forcing slabs of rock to overturn, and uproot.
Sonic grinned, his left eye half shut as he struggled to stand up. However, Knuckles, Tails and Amy aided him towards the metallic copy. "Good thing I had that bad boy ready to fire from the beginning!" Sonic exclaimed while coughing up blood, "When I first started gathering energy, I managed to compress it into my hand. Every time you attacked the amount grew, so I admit, it became harder to control. But when I used my homing attack on you, that's when I figured out how to attack you!"
As he stood over the hole that Metal had created, Sonic grinned wide. Metal simply looked upwards, his tormented body, and the same spiteful look burning into the hero.
"If I got you up into the air, where my own element is strongest, I could not only disable your ability to warp away by having the attack follow you, but keep you immobilized! You see, that attack creates five tornadoes within that sphere. Pretty cool, huh?" Sonic finished explaining, but his victory was short lived.
"Metal! Where are you?" Eggman's voice roared from a built in communication device within the copy, "I need you to return to base and set up preparations! We launch in five minutes!"
"This isn't over, hedgehog." Metal sneered.
A flash of light consumed the beaten up doppelganger, and after the light subsided, it faded away, leaving only a small radio set in its place. Tails blinked once, and jumped down into the crater to grab it, leaving Knuckles and Amy to support the blue hero. As he climbed back up, Sonic stared at the device curiously.
"Why'd he leave that behind?" Amy wondered, her mind still worried over Sonic's wounds.
"I'm not sure, but it has a timer set on it." Tails examined the device, and then turned to Sonic, "What do you think Metal came here for, anyway?"
"Something tells me it was a distraction." Knuckles piped up gruffly, his body tense, "I feel five different energy readings in this area, and they're all close to a Chaos Emerald."
"We can figure out what that radio is for later, guys." Sonic explained, and slowly allowed himself to stand. Knuckles and Amy backed away slowly, just to ensure he could walk. "For now we should focus on getting the emeralds before Doctor Ugly does!" The blue hero smirked, and turned to Tails, "What do you think, bro?"
"Right!" Tails exclaimed with an upbeat voice, "As long as we can keep the emeralds away from Eggman, he won't be able to fuel his secret weapon!"
Location: GUN Blockade 1A, Station Square
Continuous blasts of yellow energy shot through the air, either colliding with already destroyed office buildings, or the deadly Metal Knuckles. Having ordered all the remaining soldiers to go and back up what was left at the downtown check point, Shadow had all the room he needed to move around and attack the oncoming threat. However, Rouge proved to be a great distraction for him, as he had to worry about protecting her as well. She had managed remain conscious, but she was weak, and unable to fight. So, Shadow had carried left her in a bunker and proceeded to destroy the crimson attacker.
Although, it wasn't working too well.
"Damnit!" Shadow barked, as his Chaos Spear tore off a chunk of cement from a building, "I'll never be able to hit him at this rate!" He thought to himself, as he quickly flipped away from a massive white blast from Metal Knuckles.
Debris and rock smashed against him as he cartwheeled away from another with the assistance of his Air Skates. As he came to a stop, Shadow immediately shot upwards, in order to dodge yet another blast, and also to take another shot at the attacker. The black hedgehog snapped his fingers, and then flicked his wrist towards the attacking android, creating a whip like flash of energy.
"Chaos Vine!"
The whip of energy finally curled around the crimson attacker, immobilizing it. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shadow pulled back on the rope of chaos energy, and as he did so, he infused the same amount of energy to fuel a Chaos Blast up the line, igniting the whip like mass into a gigantic explosion. From the ball of crimson and white energy Metal Knuckles smashed into a nearby building, and then ricocheted off it and smashed into the ground within the blockade.
"Shit! I can't let him get to Rouge, or else this could get bad." He snarled, and quickly warped to close the distance.
As he reappeared, Shadow lunged at the metal copy of Knuckles, and smashed a Chaos infused fist into the attackers head, crushing its sensors, and disabling its ability to see. Sparks and cracked shards of glass fell to the ground beside the two, but still fueled for destruction, Metal Knuckles unleashed the same white blast of energy as before, forcing Shadow to warp away, the Chaos Emerald in his quills shining brightly as the moment he reappeared, he unleashed a millions of small orbs of energy at the robot.
"Chaos Rampage!"
One orb smashed into the mech, stopping his approach as the orb erupted into a burst of light, then faded into smoke. Finally, the entire barrage began to collide, forcing the mech backwards, and into the wall of an office building opposite to Rouge. A massive continuous blast of light swarmed the mechanical hunter, as cracks began to slither up the tall building, and eventually split it. As the barrage of Chaos bullets ceased, Shadow warped a hundred feet away from the unmoving mech, and spun around. From his wrist, a mass of blinding red energy slithered outwards, creating a blade like shape. The sword extended twenty meters in length, and gave off powerful shimmers of energy.
As Shadow finished his spin, and faced the mech once more, the blade of Chaos Energy smashed into Metal Knuckles' body, swinging him upwards, and into another building. Dust shot outwards from the attack, and it seemed as though the ultimate life form would win. Summoning the powers of the Emerald once more, Shadow emerged from the space-time portal in front of the android, and smashed his fist, which had been dancing with red energy, into Metal Knuckles chest area. A massive indent erupted against the building, as rock and debris fell to the ground.
"Finally." Sighed the black hedgehog. His breathing had become heavy, due to the use of such a high number of Chaos based attacks. Shadow's lungs sucked in all the air he could manage, as he hovered down to rest on the ledge created from his attack.
Though, as his eyes scanned over the blockade, and the city, he noticed a small gleam of white light collide with the bunker he had left Rouge at. He wanted to warp to save her. He wanted to stop the blast.
However, it happened to quickly.
The flash of light engulfed the entire blockade, covering the entire area within a blinding, divine light. Dust stormed the streets, being pushed away by the explosion. Shadows heart began to beat fast, as he summoned up the energy to warp into the checkpoint, only one second after the explosion occurred. It took him only moments to find, and warp away to safety with a severely wounded Rouge.
Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins
"So it's settled, we'll all go and grab the Chaos Emerald and regroup here." Tails explained, just as a bright flash of light emerged, "Huh?"
The light pushed away the dirt, and provided enough wind to spin the water wheel in the front of the building out of control. As the light faded, Shadow stood solemnly, with the battered figure of Rouge in his arms. It was unlike Shadow to allow himself to show emotion, he didn't even realize he could feel like this. It surprised him that it took such a tragic event to trigger such sorrow.
It was the death of Maria all over again. Except, there was hope.
"We need to stabilize her!" Shadow barked, and warped inside the building, as the others followed.
His heart smashed against his chest, and his breathing became heavy. Swear gathered on his forehead as he set Rouge down on the medical bed Tails had used to patch Sonic up occasionally. Having seen the sight several times on the ARK, Shadow quickly hooked the ivory bat up to several different life recognition systems, and then stood over her with glowing hands. The black hedgehog sighed to calm his breathing, and then set his hands on her stomach gently. A glowing aura of yellow filled the room, as Tails typed a few commands into his computer, triggering life support systems in case things got worse.
Shadow grunted, and then fell backwards from energy depletion, and exhaustion. He had done everything possible, but he still had the nagging feeling it wasn't enough.
The first person since Maria that he allowed himself to befriend was being held by death himself, and he was out of ways to reclaim her.
Location: Death Egg IV Launch Site, Ruin Beach
The mountains surrounding the area began to tremor, causing land slides and earthquakes to shake the area. Trees toppled over into the crashing ocean nearby, and as the earth split open to allow a gargantuan metal hangar to be revealed. Within, was only the top of the massive space station that Doctor Eggman had created. Alarms sounded, and emergency lights flashed against the darkness of the night air of the beach. If one were to step onto the ground, they'd be thrown away from the uneasy feeling.
Slowly, from within the hangar, the Death Egg emerged, its thrusters destroying the entire base on its way up. The oceans tide began to avert, and waves smashed against eachother. The hangar began to collapse on itself, as the Death Egg easily floated upwards. It's anti-gravity systems, and its high powered rockets enabling it to fly. Cascading streams of liquid energy spilled off the sleek, round exterior of the Death Egg, as rocks and water mixed in with it. The wastes all collided with the water, turning the ocean front into a toxic endangerment. The Death Egg slowly climbed to higher altitudes, and within a few more minutes, it had managed to ascend into the atmosphere, lingering in the night sky like a second mood..
Gleaming lights flashed, and high powered spot lights flashed on, illuminating the entire city of Spagonia in a yellow tinge. Finally, the station had reached space, and stopped its movement in the gravitational pull of the planet.
Eggman's own face was now looking down at the planet, ready to destroy it.
"To stand in the face of destruction not only proves a hero, but defines a man brave enough to oppose evil." ~ Fredrick S. Tillony, GUN Commander, 1989
To be Continued
Authors Note~ Well? How was it?
This chapter is dedicated to all the lives lost in the terrorist attack of 9/11. To all of those souls lost, may God bless their families, and may he provide happiness, hope and comfort to the families who lost their loved ones on that day.
I'm sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy! This kicks off the rest of the arc, and now we delve into the main conflict! Please leave your comments, theories and tips in a review!