Authors Note~ Tanuki – The mix breed of a Raccoon and Dog.

Violet Dreams

Chapter 8: White as Snow

"Destruction is mans fear of defeat."

The smell of charred flesh, burning wood and thick smoke surrounded the entire courtyard. Majestic evergreen trees stood tall at the golden gates, welcoming everyone to the destruction inside, while also giving the place a calm, and serene feel. Elegant yet ominous flames jumped into the sky, away from the enormous blaze that had been set to a pristine mansion, which was located in the center of the courtyard. Across the entire yard, the moist, green grass and royal looking walkway had been covered with crimson splatters. Though, as Metal Sonic approached the residence, the fire within the house seemed to die, and retreat to a singular source within the massive building.

In the distance, the setting sun began to cast haunting shadows across the entire world, which also lit up the sky with a gorgeous array of pink, purple, yellow and orange. Following the disappearance of the inferno, the household began to topple due to its charred supports. Sparks fluttered outwards as the floors collapsed inside the building – Metal wasn't fazed by any of it. However, the mechanical warrior did have a goal, and that particular thing was inside the building before him. Coming into this mission, Eggman had informed him of the target, and explained the current situation – which obviously didn't turn out too well.

His target, Gantz "Nova" the Tanuki, had just infiltrated the King of Spagonia's Royal Estates and killed the entire family, due to having corrupted the financial values of the country. Gantz was one of the top hired mercenaries of Apotos' special ops, and taking advantage of the crisis of the world, it was the perfect time to strike.

Apparently he had succeeded in the mission, and would be out of the house in a short amount of time, only to meet Metal Sonic.

Everything was going just according to plan, and soon Doctor Eggman would have the next object of power he needed to succeed.

Flashing across Metal Sonic's optical sensors, a small countdown flickered into existence, marking the exact moment his target would emerge from the building. The cobalt lookalike stood attack-ready beside the statue of a warrior on a large stallion. The fearsome shadow cast by the war poised horse gave a threatening look to the sun kissed surroundings. Metal began to reroute his energy supplies towards his combat systems, preparing his Armour and thrusters for the battle to come in only five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Sparks shot outwards from the blazing entry way, and from within, the silhouette of a male appeared amidst the crackling flames, and slowly stepped out of the estate, his clothing completely untouched by the embers, save for the scorched edges to his black cloak.

Two

One

After moving a flaming support pillar out of his way, the being descended the stairs, and stretched his arms to the sky, oblivious to Metal.

"I swear the organization is going easy on me!" The enigmatic soldier sighed, pulling the cloak off his body. "I really gotta get me some harder missions, or I'm gonna get soft!"

The being known as Gantz was dressed in black military pants, and combat boots to match, with flames along the toe. He had two holsters on each hip, which held his dual Desert Eagles. His fur was a pale orange, with white flame like markings along his chest, neck, forearms and stomach. To match the ruby pendant around his neck, his eyes were a deep, ruby color. The long tufts of fur on his head fell down beside his eyes, and the rest were pulled back in between his ears, and kept there with a pair of goggles.

His long, orange tail swayed slightly as he began to walk towards the courtyard exit, unaware of Metal Sonic in the shadows. Sparks and small embers sparkled from his black gloves, the topaz colored crystal ring lit up around his wrists.

Turning around ever so slowly, Gantz stared at the mechanical doppelganger he had just passed, either caught off guard or shocked by his presence.

"What do we have here?" He chuckled, crossing his arms. "A toy of Doctor Robotnik?"

Within a single second, high powered thrusters jumped to life from Metal's legs and back, sliding him quickly to the right, and with another powerful blast, the mechanical beast zipped towards the tanuki with astounding speed. Letting out a grunt of surprise, Gantz rolled to the left, attempting to counter the attack as best he could, leaving only a burn mark on the tanuki's left thigh, due to the high intensity flames Metal's rockets. Spinning around in a flurry of light, Metal bounded away from the steel fencing that had been put up to line the courtyard, throwing it to the ground in a flurry of dust, and returned his assault to Gantz.

"What do you want from me, Eggheap!" The tanuki scowled and released a torrent of flame to throw him into the air. "Or are you a malfunctioned failure?'

"Under the rule of Doctor Ivo Robotniki," Metal explained, his claw suddenly lighting up with a violent light, "give up the Twilight Key in your possession or risk execution!"

"The what now?" Gantz replied, unsure of what the mechanical copy meant. "Listen, whatever it is you want, I do not have it! So run along and leave a man to his business!"

Staring at the luminous crimson eyes of the robot, the soldier snorted and proceeded to walk away. However, the Egg-creation wouldn't allow his escape, and charged up a massive amount of electricity in his claw and launched himself at the hybrid. Metal quickly slashed downwards at Gantz with an electrified swing, which smashed into the mercenary's shoulder and slammed him into the earth. Bursts of electricity erupted all around the fallen warrior, but, just as soon as Gantz had fallen, he managed to swing back upwards. His legs spun around in the process and kicked away the metallic soldier only briefly, allowing him to smash his fiery fist into the cobalt warrior. A plume of fire flickered away from the cold armour of Metal, scorching the entire length of the mechanical warrior's arm.

Blue flames suddenly kicked to life from the powerful thrusters along Metal's body, and seconds before another powerful attack from Gantz, the robot slid away at supersonic speeds, a streak of blue electricity following after him. Heart pounding, Gantz quickly thrust out his fist, a blazing sphere of intense flames whistled through the air, and tore into the robotic hunter, blackening the entire left side of the robot. Metal Sonic's thrusters suddenly shifted from his back, and then to his feet, boosting him high into the air in a split second, and then with another shift of power, the robot zipped downwards and grappled the soldier's shoulders. With another quick boost from his back, Metal Sonic rolled in mid air, and threw the Tanuki through the air, smashing him into the statue of the warrior on the horse.

Rock and clay began to crack and splinter, and finally the force of the hit obliterated the statue, with Gantz laying in the rubble. The soldier grumbled in pain but ,taught to fight to the end, he stood with great defiance from his muscles. Embers flickered upwards around his body, the rings around his wrists glowing brighter now as more flames formed. With a quick exchange of power from his feet to his back, Metal shot towards Gantz like a bullet, a cloud of sand erupting behind him one second after. Claws ready to strike, Metal lifted his arm upwards, electricity beginning to crackle around his entire arm, and then he swiftly brought it down.

The sharp, cold, titanium fingers of the hunter ripped into the skin of Gantz's gut, blood leaking from the impalement. As Metal quickly retracted his limb, the mercenary took the perfect opportunity to leap back through the air, and distance himself from Metal.

"Keh," Gantz spat out some blood and grinned, "That all y'got?"

A flash of light exploded from Metal Sonic, propelling him swiftly along the ground, and towards Gantz once more.

Gantz quickly rolled over top of the speeding robot and kicked him into the rubble from his impact, and as he landed on one foot, Gantz managed to jump back up and deliver a quick kick to the air, which expelled a whistling ball of intense flame. The sphere of fire smashed into the mech's left shoulder, smoldering the titanium armour, causing Metal to slide backwards.

The sound of a fuzzy radio station suddenly sounded through the area, and finally beeped as a transmission began to play. "Metal! Don't damage the specimen too much!" Eggmans voice bellowed, coming from the communicator implanted on Metal Sonic. "I need him for research! Capture the target and bring him back immediately!"

"What?" Gantz growled, flames sprouting around him, reacting to his anger. "I'm no science project!"

Attacking quickly, and ferociously, the tanuki heaved in a deep breath, then as he exhaled he let out a powerful stream of blue flame into the ground, which allowed Gantz enough propulsion to launch him into the sky, allowing for an aerial attack. Metal quickly spun around to follow the airborne fighter, and as his thrusters reignited, Gantz began to fall back down to earth with his fist wrapped with white flame. However, reacting as quickly as possible, the navy blue warrior leaned to the right, avoiding the powerful burst of flame, and then thrust his fist outwards. The bone crushing punch crashed into Gantz's cheek, knocking him from his mid-air position and into the ground. Metal Sonic took the chance to grapple the tanuki, and if he were a biological being, a grin would be plastered on his face.

"Heh, so you got some punch to ya', eh?" Gantz grinned, spitting in Metal's optical sensors. "Better act fast, cause I have ya' right where I want!"

Grasping Metal Sonic's arms, Gantz began to snicker quietly, smoke tumbling away from the ground as the dirt itself started to burn, and then the same happened with the titanium exterior of his opponent. Suddenly embers began to flicker up into the sky, soon followed by massive pillars of vicious fire. With the intensity of the sun, Gantz's wrist cuffs lit up, which brought forth a sudden explosion of powerful, flaming energy.

However, as the blast erupted, Metal Sonic activated the powers of the Chaos Emerald within his body, and warped away in a flash of brilliant green and white light, taking Gantz with him, while also eliminating the deadly burst of flame in the space time continuum.

Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins

It was a nightmare within a nightmare. The world was being destroyed with each passing second, Eggman had just launched a possible doomsday weapon, and now Rouge was on her death-bed with a gaping hole in her gut. The black hedgehog watched intently as the two-tailed genius worked diligently to patch up the deep wound in his ally's body. Crimson eyes scanning over the unmoving form of Rouge, his expression remaining stone cold in the midst of the emergency, but in his own mind, a storm of thought threatened to drive him insane. Knowing the extent of what the metallic copy of Knuckles was capable of now – or he guessed – he could only pray that Rouge would make it out alive.

Finally breaking his shell of thought, Tails cleared his throat, and turned on a high tech monitor, which kept track of Rouge's vitals. "I managed to stabilize her, and close up the hole," explained the twin-tailed fox, but his expression looked troubled. "But, I wasn't able to remove some of the fragments of debris from her sys-"

Before he was given the chance to finish his sentence, a vice like grip wrapped around his throat. Vicious eyes locked onto his own panicked orbs, and suddenly a numbing sensation shot up his spine just as Shadow smashed Tails into the brick wall behind them.

"What the hell do you mean?" Shadow scowled, his own tolerance for failure very slim at the time being. "Is she going to be okay?"

Hearing the clattering of computer equipment, the shattering of a cup and the soft yelp of Tails, the door to the shop swung open, and from the entrance Knuckles, Sonic and Mighty pulled back at Shadow, attempting to calm the conflict. Seething with rage towards not only Eggman, but also the seemingly inexperienced work of the young engineer, Shadow stormed out of the work area.

"You okay, lil' bro?" Sonic asked, his eyes expressing the worry he was feeling. His stomach began to turn at the very thought of losing Tails.

"Yeah, just a bruised tail bone," he replied easily, and smiled as he rubbed his lower back gently, "I think it'd be best if I stay here to watch over Rouge. I'll direct you guys to the locations of the Chaos Emeralds from my computer; that way we won't have any chance of allowing Eggman to gain the upper hand!"

"Good plan, bud." Sonic smirked, his mind drifting back and forth from everything that was taking place, beginning to find it overwhelming for the first time in his life. The hedgehog sighed, and shoved it away. "Be sure to keep a check on that space station Eggman launched, I'm getting a bad feeling about it..."

"I'm sure good ol' Robotnik is just hiding up there," Mighty reassured with a grin, which Sonic returned.

They didn't know just how wrong they were.

Ignoring his aching back, the young fox scurried over to his computer, and from below the desk he heaved up a box and set it on the table, a proud look on his face. Either he had made something that would stop this entire conflict, or there was something in that box that Tails had forgotten that could give them an advantage they needed. Whichever it may end being, Sonic was ready to accept both, and he knew Mighty and Knuckles were thinking the same, just by their expressions.

"By using fragments of the Chaos Emerald," the young fox explained as he pulled out four small devices, and handed them towards the trio. "I've planted the pieces of the emerald inside these mini-computers, and with the signal given off by the emeralds, this device is able to pick up those readings, and then lock onto it using a GPS powered location system! It runs off of solar energy, so just as long as you keep it around your wrist at all times, it'll never die!"

Looking absolutely marveled at the piece of technology wrapped around his wrist, Knuckles stared bewilderingly at the device as it blinked to life, which brought up a small map, and coordinates and time of arrival towards a designated emerald. Angel Island really secluded Knuckles from society, and with every little gadget Tails came up with, it almost seemed to fry his brain on how to work it. Sonic on the other hand smirked, and ruffled his brother's hair enthusiastically.

"Always one to impress, eh bro?" Sonic snickered. "Thanks, lil' man!"

Squinting one eye from Sonic's hand messing up his hair, Tails grinned. "I've had these sitting around for awhile, I just had no use for them!" The fox powered on the rest of the devices, and input a destination into one of them. "This one is tracking Shadow and an Emerald. Sonic, you need to catch up to him before anything else happens to the team! I already sent Amy out, and she's ten minutes from the next emerald! We need to hurry and get these in order to get ahead of Eggman!"

If this plan worked, Sonic believed that they would be able to stop the scientist with an iron fist, and then return the world like it was meant to be. He had had enough of the war in the last couple years.

"I'm on it, bud!" The blue blur exclaimed, and disappeared in a streak of blue light.

"Are all the emeralds in the United Federation?" Mighty asked, noticing that his and Knuckles trackers took them to the same area.

"Every remaining emerald is just outside Station Square, which is why we have to hurry!" Tails replied with a serious expression. "Eggman has waves of his robots roaming the city for the emeralds, so you two need to get there as quick as possible, or else, if my calculations are correct, Eggman will have powered up his weapon on his Space Station!"

"Wait, I thought Eggman had them all?" Knuckles piped up. "What happened?"

Running over to his computer and typing in a few commands, Tails brought up an image of a destroyed base. "His base here on earth blew up after he launched his station, and the emeralds scattered! All I know now is that the only two known Emeralds are with Shadow and Metal Sonic."

"So we gotta hightail it over to those gem's and get 'em before Egghead does!"

Location: Empire Forest, Outside War Zone Delta (Formerly Station Square)

Making his way through the thick vegetation in his way, the crimson stained hedgehog trudged past vines and tree roots, his eyes focused straight ahead. He wasn't sure what to think at this point. With the worry of Rouge weighing down on his mind, Shadow wasn't in any condition to be dealing with a major crisis like this – he didn't let anyone know that though. Using a powered down Chaos Spear to slice down a group of massive evergreen trees blocking his path, the Ultimate Life form walked past the chaos of the collapsing plant life, completely undaunted. He had a goal, and his mind was fixated on that horizon in his head: destroy Metal Knuckles. However, he didn't realize what Eggman had planned, and failed to recognize the energy signature around him, until it was too late.

Shaking his bones, and causing any amount of breath in his lungs to race outwards, Shadow slid backwards, and as he lost his balance, he rolled backwards and smashed into a gigantic red wood tree. Wood splinters rained down around him, until finally the dust cleared, allowing the black hedgehog to cough and regain air into his dry throat. Dizziness overtook him from the sudden hit, leaving him unable to focus. Shadow shook his head, and blinked rapidly, trying to regain eye sight and clear the fuzziness in his vision. Though, he wasn't fast enough.

Another bone shattering punch collided with his chest, causing his ribs to creak a split second before his body was shot through the remaining mass of the tree, and into a meadow. Clumps of dirt and grass rolled up into the air from his tumbling, causing the lush green to bend and mold under his rolling form until finally his body slid to a stop in a sprawled position in the wet grass. Groaning in pain, and having not recovered from his wounds from Metal Knuckles, the ultimate life form shakily stood, and forced his eyes to focus on the oncoming intruder, who had taken no time in pursuing him.

"What the hell?" Shadow growled, gaining a glimpse of his attacker.

With the beat of wide, flowing, energy formed wings, the unknown opponent glided over the landscape towards Shadow, managing to clear the gap between them in only a few short seconds. With each beat of its wings, the attacker managed to shred the grass beneath him, and just before another powerful fist crushed Shadow's body, a vortex of wind swallowed the black hedgehog and shot him into the air. Struggling to gain his bearings, the black hedgehog spun around in mid-air with the use of his air skates, and conjured up a twisting mass of fuming, violet energy in his palm. Air rushed past him, whistling and screaming in his ears as he lingered in the sky momentarily, trying to get a view on the enemy.

Down below, a short – possibly four feet – stream-lined robot stood ready to attack. A set of massive butterfly looking wings spewed from twin-thrusters on its back, and a cascading layer of blue energy coated its hands and arms with endless torrents of power. Upon its ovular shaped head, a golden crown lay crookedly against its cranium, with jewels decorating the accessory itself. However, as the dust reclaimed his vision, Shadow managed to grip the wrist of the hand his attack was developing in, and thrust downwards, whilst pushing down with all his might. Crooked streams of purple, black and red spiraled behind Shadow in jagged, zig-zagging ribbons. As the attack danced out of control of Shadow's hand, it shot downwards, screaming downwards, through the dust, towards the unknown robot in an arrow like shape.

"Chaos Lance!"

The dark mass of energy swirled into a saw like form, and as it passed through the cloud of lingering debris, a miniscule vortex shot upwards, coated in a black light. Suddenly a helix of black energy wrapped around the area the robot once occupied, tearing up the earth and demolishing any organic life within the blast radius.

Shadow quickly teleported down below to the sparking, and nerely destroyed figure of the EX warrior. The GUN soldier knelt down beside it and, with a powerful strike to its head, the black hedgehog tugged out a small piece of technology. Setting down the smoking piece of metal, the Ultimate life form smashed open the robots chest area, finding the Chaos Emerald planted inside.

Location: Central Control Room, Death Egg IV

Bright, neon lights lined the entire north wall of the gigantic room of which a massive observation window provided Doctor Eggman the ability to see any oncoming threats. The aging genius sat contently behind a series of computers, his crooked, toothy grin present on his face once again as he watched news broadcasts play out from every different point on the planet on a equal number of holographic screens to computers. Visions of his absolute victory played through his head, his plans inching closer and closer to completion. The old doctor hadn't even paid a second thought to the destruction of his base back on earth, knowing full well everything within the base had been moved and stored on the station. The doctor swiped his hand across one of the holographic screens, changing it to a progress chart, which listed only three projects.

One of which was at 100%, and this certain project of his would lead to his ultimate victory.

Doctor Eggman tapped on the label which read "Project: Rebirth," bringing up a live camera feed from the experiment's own hangar, which was capable of housing one dozen fighter jets. Electrified tubes popped out of the shiny, titanium flooring, and finally connected into one tube which stood five feet tall in the center of the room. Around it, Eggman had configured a complex energy system to feed, regenerate and rest his project. Slowly the doctor zoomed into the tube, checking the temperature.

Minus two hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

Another wide grin formed on the scientists face as he switched the display to another chart which displayed fourteen slots for a circular object – five of which were filled in with a small orb. From the fourteen slots, an additional larger space had been set above, which looked to be much larger, and much less spherical. Beside the larger space, notes scrolled down within the confines of a small text-box on the screen, going through the notes Eggman had written down for the larger section.

With yet another switch of the display on the screen, Eggman returned back to the news cast, and then enabled an intercom device from his computer, his smirk still present. Nothing could stop him at this point, not even Sonic, and he was determined to get rid of the blue hedgehog at any cost.

"Metal, I want you to initiate all settings to import DNA strings to Project: Rebirth!" The scientist bellowed. "I want the Project operating in the next day at full capacity!"

"Yes, Doctor." The doppelganger complied, and then pulled the recently acquired Twilight Key from his containment hatch. "Shall I store it with the other?"

"Yes, and be quick about it," Eggman barked, turning back to his screen, which had been split into five separate screens, showing different vantage points, however one of them had went fuzzy. "Bring me the target as well."

"What are the limits of a self proclaimed hero? How far are they willing to go to save someone? And is that goal really worth the price of innocent lives?" ~ Abraham Tower, GUN Commanding General, 2004

To be Continued

Authors Note~ I'd like to give great thanks to my new beta-reader, Aspiring Mythmaker, I was astounded to see how much I could work on, and I got excited to see that I could work on my writing.

I'm sorry this chapter took so long to finish, the next chapter, I promise, won't take this long! I've already started it, and it should be done tonight or tomorrow! I'm hoping you're all still here with me on this project, and I hope I managed to astound you all with this chapter. So, please leave your theories, comments and tips in a review! Originally, this chapter was meant to be three chapters! Each scene was gonna be 3000 words long!

Also, I'd like to take this time to inform you guys of some news to do with Congregation of the Damned. It's been rebooted, and moved to the main author's account by the name of "Abysmal Paradise". He's restarting everything, to make it even better and make the project the best he can! I'm still going to co-produce and co-edit this massive story, which is now named "Abysmal Hope". It features the same plot devices as the last, but with a bigger focus on Eggman than last time. It's on an entirely new level than COTD, and this time, he hopes you'll all enjoy it, so please, I encourage you all to give it a look and decide for yourself! Thankyou!