Violet Dreams

Chapter 12: Ascension

"In war the brave learn what it means to be broken."

Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins

The doors to the hangar that once housed the infamous Tornado were now propped open, allowing Tails to run in and out of his workshop to cart out the necessary material needed to reach the Death Egg. Sonic wondered how the young fox would manage to get the small biplane into space without any form of rocket. The young fox finally jumped inside the plane and quickly flipped open a small console, revealing a small blue button. Tails quickly tapped the button, jumped out of the plane, and stood back.

From within the earth below Tails home, three large panels of condensed rock and clay lifted away with the aid of finely tuned hydraulicss. As steam rolled off the edge of the cliff side, and disappeared into the cold air, four massive support towers rose up into the sky. Each structure was easily two hundred feet high. Titanium enforced locks clamped down on the structures at the base of the launch tunnel Tails had constructed, while a gigantic rocket slowly made its way up the support towers. Steam shot off into the air every which way from the working grappling-devices that helped keep the ship in place. Finally, with a booming clang, the ship came to a stop.

Sonic blinked in disbelief, staring at the machine Tails had managed to keep underground. The blue hero walked up to the side of one support tower, and stared straight up, noticing the rocket was painted a royal blue with yellow all along it – it matched the Tornado perfectly!

"You really have outdone yourself this time, bro!" The blue hero, Sonic, whistled impressively. "How long have you been keeping this under wraps?"

"Well, I started working on it the summer after Dark Gaia was defeated," Tails explained. "But I only finished it a couple weeks ago."

"How does it work?" Knuckles asked skeptically. "It doesn't look very safe if you ask me."

"By using the power of the Chaos Drives I've been experimenting on," the young fox spoke up, his eyes gleaming at the fruits of his labor. "I created a special power core to harness Chaos energy within the engine room to supply the turbines directly! It's a perfectly clean source of energy, because it doesn't rely on fuel!"

"Hopefully the fat man doesn't notice us," Mighty worried, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Let's get moving, Tails!" exclaimed the blue hero, eager to reach the space colony. "Shadow's up there waiting!"

"I still think this is a bad idea, dude." Mighty sighed. "What if he isn't there?"

Sonic paused and sighed heavily. He knew that this could turn out to be a very bad idea, but it was a risk he had to take if he wanted to prove to Shadow that he was a friend. Last time they fought together in space, Sonic wasn't able to save Shadow because it was too late for him to make it back out to the atmosphere. Then, after the blue hero found out that Shadow was actually alive, and that he didn't die, Sonic vowed to never let him down again. Never again would he abandon a friend. It was too painful.

"If he isn't there," Sonic muttered sorrowfully, "Then I'll make sure Eggman tells me so I can save him this time."

Earning sympathetic looks from his friends, Sonic made his way into the workshop to gather the materials that Tails had asked him to. With a gentle sigh, Amy quickly followed behind, eager to be there for the blue hero in case he crumbled. The others continued on with their jobs, each coming to a new understanding of the pain and loss Sonic went through the first time Shadow disappeared after the Ark was stopped. They hadn't really understood until now just how painful it might have been to know Sonic failed to save someone.

"Knuckles, can you secure the launch towers?" asked the young engineer as he jumped into the Tornado. "I'm gonna secure the Tornado to the control interface and finish the modifications."

"What should I do?" Mighty asked curiously.

"I need you to make sure the supports are all locked," Tails directed. "Since you're one of the more physically stronger out of us, you can pull the locks in place if some malfunctioned."

"Right."

While the small engines of the trusty biplane ignited, Tails glanced back into his workshop once more, his mind worrying over Sonic. This was the first time he'd ever seen his brother so determined to save someone. The fact that it was Shadow, of all people, surprised him further! As the engines fired up, Tails sped the plane off the runway, and into the sky. Curving around gently, the young fox angled the plane upwards just as he initiated the transformation into the battle mode. The wings shifted smoothly into the X-shape from long before, and the thruster pulsed as it shot the plane faster up along the rocket ship. Clicking on a few icons in his main console, Tails aligned his central boosters so that the grappling systems could secure the plane to the ship safely.

As each hinge locked into place, Tails typed a string of commands into the computer of the plane, which brought up a reinforced cockpit. Suddenly, the seat in the plane unlocked from the interior and dropped down into the main control room of the space ship, allowing Tails to direct everything from the safety of the vessel. As the systems started up, a small dot appeared on the main radar, moving in fast towards the base. Tails blinked and quickly smashed his hand on the intercom button, eager to contact Sonic in the workshop.

"Sonic!" he yelled desperately. "Something's coming, get out here!"

Static filled the other end, until finally he heard Sonic. "What's going on buddy?"

"The radar aboard Tornado picked up something heading our way," Tails explained while watching the dot grow ever closer. "My systems are picking up something very powerful."

"Alright, dude," Sonic replied calmly. "I'll be right out!"

A mighty crack of energy erupted through the gray sky above the Mystic Ruins as a dark blue streak of light swerved down towards the space ship. The hellish crimson eyes of Metal Sonic fixated on the entire area, while his instructions, given by the Doctor, replayed through his central computers. Metal was to lead the heroes to the Death Egg. However, the robot had other plans. The navy blue doppelganger descended through the sky at speeds matching the speed of sound, before finally landing on the ground the exact same moment the blue hero skidded onto the dusty cliff side. Metal Sonic quickly unleashed a powerful punch into the ground, aided by the force of his descent, the impact rippled towards Sonic like a snake, throwing him into the wall of the workshop.

"So we meet again, scrap heap!" Sonic remarked while gritting his teeth in pain from the hit. "Come to finally finish the job?"

"My sickening copy." Metal Sonic scowled. "It isn't your turn until I demolish your incompetent piece of scrap you call a space vessel."

"I'd have to disagree, you out-of-date garbage can!" the blue hero barked back.

Using the electricity built up in the atmosphere, Metal Sonic quickly formed a dancing mass of golden energy in his claw and launched himself towards Sonic. The blue speed demon growled with determination, and shot his fist out into the armor of his doppelganger. Moving swiftly and knocking away the hero's hand with a simple swat of its hand, Metal Sonic grasped the legendary hero's wrist, and with a quick twirl in the direction of the rocket, smashed the fizzling mass of lightning into Sonic's abdomen, shooting him at blinding speeds into a support tower.

A powerful rumble shot through the supports of the Tornado, as Metal Sonic quickly accelerated up into the sky, where the cockpit of the rocket-ship modified plane was located. Elegant, yet dangerous electrical discharges danced across Metal's titanium armor as he readied his attack on the heroes' means of transportation. A support beam toppled over and smashed into the tiny workshop owned by Tails, destroying the living room. Metal's thrusters released, giving off a final thrust of energy to land on the nose of the ship with a Vulcan charged in its claw. Behind the glass of the cockpit, Tails yelped, and quickly started typing commands into the mini computer, eager to kick start the engines. The high-pitch screaming of electricity emanating from Metal's attack seemed to grow as the metallic imposter brought it down into the nose of the shuttle.

However, a split second before the mass of electricity managed to dig into the thick exterior of the Tornado, a powerful ball of blue energy impacted Metal's shoulder, knocking him into the air. Sonic grinned heroically and jumped up, making his way towards Metal. Bounding across the launch station and swerving between singular blasts of electricity, Sonic took one final bound off a support beam, and up towards his look-alike. The blue hero quickly spun in mid-air and delivered a crushing punch to Metal, throwing him towards the ocean.

"I'll hold bucket head off while you get the engines going, bud!" Sonic chirped with a wide grin, and fell down onto the nose of the Tornado. "Let's see who's faster!" the blue hero called out to Metal playfully.

Performing a back-flip off the nose of the space shuttle, the blue hero sprung off a support beam below him, and passed the speed of sound as he rocketed across the ocean surface towards Metal. The navy blue robot shot forward like a bullet, its thrusters emitting a wide jet of energy. Water splashed upwards from the sheer speed of the duo, creating a gigantic wake on either side of them. Sonic swiftly jumped, and as he formed a Sonic Wind in his palm, he spun around and aimed it down at the passing Metal. However, the look-alike mech veered upwards at the last second, and smashed into the blue hero. The Egg Mech sped up, pushing the blue hero higher into the sky at incredible speeds before finally slowing, and throwing the hedgehog away. The vicious doppelganger zipped away and looped around in the sky before smashing a powerful Vulcan attack into the blue hero's stomach.

"Gah!" Sonic howled in pain, smoke fluttering from his abdomen.

Arcs of dancing electricity spiraled around the two combatants, until suddenly the world hero shot down towards the ocean faster than the eye could see. The blue hero smashed violently into a semi-submerged rock in the water, and with the collision his neck snapped back into the hard surface, sending a tremor of pain throughout his entire body. However, with a heart still burning with determination, Sonic forced his broken body back up and got ready to counter attack.

"Gonna have to do better than that bolt-brains!" Sonic called out. "Don't you have any new tricks? Because I sure do!"

Wisps of white and blue energy spun around the hedgehog's body and gathered in his palm, creating a light blue mass of spiraling energy, before suddenly flattening outwards, creating a disk shape. Riding the upwards pull of the tornado around him, Sonic shot upwards with the help of a Sonic Boom, and whizzed through the sky like a bullet towards Metal, the razor-like attack screaming with power in his hand. Metal, however, stood unfazed, and scanned its opponent quietly, hovering right above the attacking hero. Suddenly, the mech threw his arm upwards and swung them downwards, all in one fluid motion. From the heavens, a powerful beam of lightning, energy and wind spiraled down in front of him, and collided with Sonic. The blue hero gasped, and could only release his own attack before colliding with the attack. The mixture attack flashed through the sky and contacted the ground, drilling a massive hole in the earth before disappearing.

Laying dazed and battered on the ground, Sonic rubbed his head, trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Had Metal created that? Or was it a coincidence? He didn't know – and part of him didn't want to find out either.

"That's a taste of what the Death Egg IV has in store for this planet," Metal exclaimed calmly. "I'll be waiting for you, hedgehog."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Sonic called out with anger, but stumbled and fell to the ground unable to walk due to his wounds.

However, before he could do anything, a flash of powerful light wrapped around Metal Sonic like a blanket, taking him away with the power of Chaos Control. With the aid of both Mighty and Knuckles, the blue hero was pulled to his feet and helped over to Tails, who had been calculating the whereabouts of the Death Egg in the atmosphere. Rushing from the Workshop, Amy ran up to Sonic and trapped him in a bone crushing hug, her tears dripping onto his blue fur. Sonic sighed deeply, and returned the embrace, knowing full well the reason for her tears. He felt a slight tug in his heart, as if it were a sort of pain. What would Amy do if he didn't come back alive some day?

Deep inside the confines of his mind, Sonic vowed to himself always to return to Amy. Even if he had to crawl.

Shooting a worried glance at the bleeding burn on Sonic's torso. "Are you okay?" she whimpered.

"I'll be fine, but listen to me Ames," Sonic spoke quietly, while wiping her tears away with his glove. "Keep practicing your smile, okay? When I get back I want that to be the first thing I see." The blue hero grinned reassuringly.

With a slight nod, Amy wrapped her arms around the blue hero once again. "I'll kill you if you don't come back safe," she murmured amidst a croaking voice.

Laughing to himself, Sonic slowly made his way past the destruction that the workshop was left in, and into the rocket where the other three were waiting for him. Finally, he would get his answers. He'd finally end an eternal struggle between his look-alike, cut down a rivalry between Eggman, and ultimately rescue a friend he had failed long ago. Everything lead up to that final moment up in oblivion, and he'd make sure to set everything right.

The heavenly green power core began to pulsate with powerful waves of energy, as the turbines in the Tornado – or rather the Typoon, as Tails called it – began to lift off in a storm of fire and smoke. The titanium-plated support towers seemed to shake unsteadily from sheer power of the ascending Typhoon. Watching from within the safety of the workshop, Amy sighed as the ship lifted higher and higher into the sky, and eventually into the stratosphere. She could only pray that Sonic came home safe, because deep down she knew that he'd stop at absolutely nothing to bring back a friend, even if it meant going to hell and back. The way she saw it, the Death Egg perfectly represented hell. And if Eggman hurt Sonic, she'd make sure to bring down revenge on the old doctor herself.

Like an automated set of workers, hinges and latches began to dismantle themselves, allowing the support towers to fold and slide back down into the containment area they had come from. As the tips of the structures cleared the top of the plateau, the hatches that opened to allow their ascent closed. The palm trees that once surrounded the area returned from their lopsided positions, and life returned to normal. The pale sky continued to swirl with specks of snow, showing that the war was far from over.

Location: Sleeping Chambers, Aboard the Typhoon

Time until Arrival: 2:30

Sonic groaned to himself and squirmed on the couch he was laying on. The bandages and ointment that Tails had wrapped his torso up with were very uncomfortable! However, he soon gave up with tugging at the fixing and sighed as he let his mind wander to recent thoughts that had made themselves frequent in his consciousness.

Staring blankly at the ceiling above him, Sonic fought eagerly to keep himself awake. It must have been the sudden jolt of excitement that brought him to such a groggy state, he had guessed, but he found it increasingly difficult to remain awake. The blue hero resorted to his memories to entertain him, and found it quite amusing. A small grin crept across his face as several flashbacks raced through his mind, as he went back through every memory he had of foiling Eggman's schemes. Back then it had seemed as though it were a simple game. Get from point A to B, and save the day. But he had to wonder if Eggman thought of it the same. He never noticed, until now, the sheer rage that the Doctor would undergo after each defeat. The hero's heart sank at the thought. Sure, he may have seen this whole rivalry thing as a game, but to Eggman it meant much, much more. The old man had always intended on killing him, for whatever reason, he didn't know. It just so happened that with every plan, Sonic was able to keep it at bay and defeat the poor doctor with such ease that it was like a game of cat and mouse.

Before he could fight himself back awake, the darkness crept up on him, and took hold of him as he drifted off into a land of dreams. The dull sounds of the engines drifted away just as he did.

Location: Unknown

His body felt numb and weightless. It was as though he were floating in a void, and had nothing to hold onto. Slowly, however, his eyes peeled open and revealed the turmoil around him. Black skies seemed to swirl around in disruption, pushing back against the golden skies to the north. It was like two serpents fighting for dominance. The grassy green eyes trailed over the sky as if he was watching a movie. The darkness was trying to devour the light, like a shark trying to consume a tuna. Particles of golden light rained down around him like a storm of fire. Sonic slowly stood up; how he did it he didn't know. The blue hero wiped at his eyes to regain his bearings, and continued to look around.

All around him were tall, white pillars with black chains hanging off of them. In between countless structures, Sonic noticed emerald green shrubs and bushes. Then, on top of each pillar Sonic saw a shaft of green light. He wasn't sure what it all meant, and it almost felt overwhelming.

Then he heard a scream.

Not the scream of a lost child, but the chilling scream of a monster urging to free itself from a cage.

With a grunt of fear, the world spun around in a sickening display of all the terror his battles with Eggman had caused little children and unknowing civilians. He felt like throwing up.

Finally the horizon settled, and he found himself staring at a temple, of sorts. The long pillars went upwards in assorted heights, while the dark chains laced downwards to a single being in the center of a dark hole behind the pillars. Golden light seemed to roll away from its body, as it wept hopelessly. Sonic felt fear just standing around the being, but the fear felt good; he felt safe at the same time. It felt familiar. And so he crept closer, hearing that the crying had turned to a maddening laughter. It wasn't loud, but quiet and gentle.

"Yo, are you alright?" the blue hero asked generously.

With a sudden eruption of chaotic light, Sonic fell backwards like a hopeless child. The black chains holding the divine being back snapped into a storm of shadowy particles. Settled on top of him like a lurking predator, the golden being snarled with disgust upon seeing the hedgehog's face.

"You," it snarled viciously. "What do you need this time, huh?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Sonic retorted in fear. "What are you!"

Slowly the blue hero forced himself to open his eyes, and despite staring into the brilliant golden light, he realized what had attacked him. But that couldn't be possible.

"Me?"

"No, not you, dipshit," it replied harshly.

The surroundings suddenly dripped away into nothingness, as the powerful grip of the golden being turned into chains holding the blue hero up against a white wall. Everything turned to ivory, with faint splotches of black.

"But, you're my Super form!" Sonic exclaimed knowingly.

"Wrong again," the golden being corrected and walked up to Sonic. "The day you decided to tap into the powers of the Chaos Emeralds, something happened inside your psyche. An infant born upon the greed of power. That infant is me. Every time you tapped into the Chaos Emeralds and drained them of their energies, because you were too scared of the consequences if you hadn't used your own power, I grew. I grew until I turned into your image of justice."

Sonic's breathing picked up, as the face of the being morphed into his. But it was twisted with rage.

"You think you deserve this power, blue one?" Super Sonic growled. "What makes you so deserving of it? You use my powers like water, expecting it to always be there! You're dependent on this power, like it's your drug!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You think you can just use this whenever you damn well please?" the beast growled. "Just you wait, some day you'll crumble because these chains of mine will be gone!"

The super-charged hedgehog before Sonic raised up his wrists, showing the fuming black chains tightened around his wrists. Then, just as the golden hedgehog began to speak again, everything shifted and spun into nothingness. It became darker than anything on Earth, and as quiet as the confines of the mind. Sonic could feel the burning of the cuffs around his arms, and began to tug at them with all his might. But it was futile.

The more he tugged, the tighter they became. Eventually, he felt his arms being yanked behind him. Finally, a ghostly blue light lit up in the distance like a fire on a pedestal. He watched the fire light up all around him, in a circle it seemed. Then, at the far end of the circle he saw a shapeless figure made of shadow. Its pulsing body lurched and jumped like the flames as it began to get closer. Sonic's breathing picked up as he began to panic. He fought against the chains binding him to... he didn't even know! The creature crept closer, as a low gurgling filled the air. Then screams erupted all around the blue hero. They were deafening, and horrid. They were demonic, and evil.

The creature finally made its way in front of Sonic, and in one swift motion roared like a bat out of hell. Its mouth stretched open, revealing an abyss down to its innards

Location: Control Room, Death Egg IV

"Metal, do you think I wouldn't notice your disobedience?" Eggman scowled as the navy blue robot entered the room. "You went against my orders and attacked Sonic at your own will, when I specifically told you otherwise!"

"You built me to exterminate him, Doctor."

"My orders go above your primary goal." the doctor snarled angrily. "You will have your chance, Metal. Next time you disobey me, I'll be sure to turn you into a clean up droid!"

"Understood, master."

Location: Outside the Death Egg IV

Sonic screamed in horror and jerked upwards to a seated position. He looked around frantically, his chest heaving in and out trying to supply his lungs with enough air. His mind raced with images from his nightmare. Finally, Mighty knocked on the door frame, almost awkwardly.

"Dude, you alright?" he asked concernedly. "I heard the scream from down the hall."

Sonic sighed, and finally nodded quietly. "Yeah, I'm good," the blue hero replied.

"You sure? You better get yourself pumped up, cause we're here."

"This nation is unlike any other. A man can rob from a national bank, and then ten years later administer a church sermon.That's because the human nature yearns for redemption." ~ King Darius Seiryu the XIV, 2006

Authors Note~ Sorry about the wait everyone! Hope you're all still with me! If you have any comments, theories or tips, please them 'em in a review!