Violet Dreams
Chapter 19: Revelations in the Calm
"A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent."
Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins
"What in the world is that thing!"
Amy looked curiously into the air at the beast looming over the horizon, and across the sky. It was like nothing she'd seen before! Sure, she had encountered beings very strange and, super-natural to say the least. But nothing could compare to this sight. She could only assume that the beast in the sky was the cause of all the abnormal weather patterns suddenly taking place across the world. Such as the heavy snowfall in the usually tropical Mystic Ruins. The pink hedgehog pulled her winter jacket tight around her face, shielding her cheeks from the brisk gust of wind sweeping the valley. She only hoped that Sonic, and the others of course, were all doing okay.
Somehow, though, she had a feeling it wasn't going so well up on their part. However she could say the same as Earth, too. All across the planet, people were forced to retreat from their homes due to unnatural weather, and storms taking place. As well as the sudden electrical failure across the globe. Before the power had been cut out to the Workshop, the news broadcast had shown several airliners wrecked in fields or on the sides of mountains. If the visions of ancient philosophers foretelling the end of time were correct, then these events meant Armageddon.
Amy clasped her hands tightly together, and looked down with shut eyes. All she could do from this point on was pray, and hope everything would be okay.
Location: Outside the Death Egg IV
"So, that's it?" Sonic questioned, his fiery aura swirling about. "Just like that?"
"I have been given the seven artifacts needed to awaken my power," Polaris' booming laugh filled Sonic's mind. "My power exists amongst all reality, it is all around us. It's infecting you, and becoming native with your body. I am all that is, all that was, all that will be. Sonic the Hedgehog, you are the harbinger of all that will mark the end of this planet."
"Ho ho!"
Hearing that annoying, and sickening, laugh, Sonic spun around in his spot. The golden light around him jumped up in fury, finding a small streak of black light come towards him. Using the powers of the Chaos emeralds, Sonic warped from his spot, avoiding a punch which shattered the white rock at his feet. Sonic quickly spun back around towards his attacker, his body floating close to the unmanned Egg Wyvern.
It was nearly identical to that of Metal Sonic, or maybe it was? Sonic couldn't tell for sure. Orange streaks lined its head, arms and torso, while two glimmering wings of energy protruded from its back.
"Who are yo-"
"My, my," the voice was too similar to Doctor Eggman. "Have you forgotten about me already, Sonic?"
Impossible. Absolutely, undoubtedly, impossible. Sonic stared at the machine in unmatched awe, completely lost of words, or even thought. How could he still be here? His organic body was gone, but he recognized that laugh, that voice, that feeling of his presence anywhere! Eggman was supposed to be dead, disintegrated nothingness absorbed by Polaris, not this thing standing below him. This day was getting crazier by the second.
"I see you haven't missed me, Sonic," Eggman, or what Sonic assumed to be, remarked. "I'm sure you must be fairly confused by the turn of events here, and I wouldn't blame you. The restrictions of a body of flesh are so...maddening...I've finally uncovered a fairly reasonable alternative, you see. And I must admit, it wasn't too easy to figure such a way out. But I had to, it was dependent on my masterpiece I call Extinction." Eggman snickered, "the human race is going to be not only eradicated, but revived as machines for my own utopia! No longer will there be a need for food or air – such trivial things will be forgotten."
"I..I don't understand," Sonic whispered to himself. "You're dead, or, supposed to be? What's going on!"
Eggman's signature insane laugh filled the small space between him and Sonic. "Very well, I suppose you deserve to know after all this," he stated, a wide grin appearing on his mechanized mouth. "First of all, that creature behind me, known as Polaris. Using the combined energies of the Chaos Emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon II, and the Twilight Keys to amplify its power to shatter the barrier of the portal, I've awakened the beast of the Twilight. Although there was a catch! I had to sacrifice myself in order for my wish to come true. But I couldn't have that, and I needed to see my plans through. So this is where Project Dusk comes onto the chess board. Have I lost you yet, rodent?"
"Keep talking," Sonic barked back, his fiery energy growing around him.
Very well," he complied, and with a distorted sigh of happiness, continued. "Project Dusk, or otherwise my alternative to cloning is how I am here. It's simple really, I copied down my DNA onto a hard drive, and replicated my brain cells into a complete new organism. It's essentially still, I, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but much more powerful due to the mechanical exterior, thanks to Metal, that is. So, anyways, I sacrificed my dying, organic body in order to have my wish of domination. Allow me to demonstrate the power I've been gifted!"
Extending like legs out of his back, thousands of energy formed "vine" like limbs appeared, extending hundreds of feet long. It looked like arms of a spider, or snakes coming from Eggman's new body. The vines slithered and swayed in the vacuum of space, when suddenly the robotic Doctor turned around to face the now disappearing Polaris. The vines latched around the beast, wrapping around it like a net, allowing Eggman to exert massive amounts of electrical energy into the beast's body. A deafening roar of anger came from Polaris' open jaws, as beams of purple light erupted from thousands of spots upon it's body.
"I will make this creature mine to control!" Eggman roared insanely.
Suddenly Eggman disappeared, as the vines all connected together at one singular orb of light. Sonic's crimson eyes followed a streak of white light up to the head of the enraged Polaris, watched as black energy seemed to crawl over its body as though it were bugs, forming more vine like formations across the beast's body. Eggman stood atop of the beast, laughing. Seven lights suddenly sprang to life above the Doctor's raised claws, each light spiraling outwards into glass orbs.
"This is where you die, Sonic the hedgehog!"
Without any sort of warning, a storm of powerful beams of energy erupted from every spot along Polaris. Sonic quickly shot through space like a rocket, evading the rows of energy being emitted from the inter-dimensional beast before him. Sonic weaved and spun through the oncoming attacks, watching Eggman as he jolted and twisted from the vine like appendages wrapping around the scientists newly created body. Sonic felt his stomach sink, as a powerful and deafening roar filled his ear drums.
"Shit!"
A protective shield of golden light expanded from his body, milliseconds before a devastating blast of light collided with him. A streak of fiery yellow light shot through the dark backdrop, and collided against the already collapsing Death Egg IV. The beam that had hit him quickly swirled about, becoming thinner and thinner, until finally it dispersed. Sonic groaned in pain, and hovered away from the crumbling walls of the base, his crimson eyes contemplating a plan of action.
"At this rate, all my energy is going to deplete," Sonic noted to himself, wiping away the sweat collecting above his eyes. "I need to figure out a way to get Polaris away from, well, Eggman."
He knew by now that Shadow was no longer on the Death Egg IV. Not just by assumption, but he knew that Shadow wouldn't stand to be captured before figuring out a plan of action. Sonic didn't even narrow out the possibility that Shadow had let himself be caught, solely for investigation purposes. Another great roar filled his mind, breaking Sonic away from his thoughts and dragging him back to the issue at hand.
"I hope you're okay, Shadow."
Sonic sighed briefly and then launched off towards the divine beast ahead of him. The golden energy swirled around his feet, leaving behind a long tail of light as he flew towards his battle. If that thing was truly a clone of Eggman's brain, then he had no doubt that he was in for more than he could see. There was without a doubt a deeper plan of action behind Polaris, and Sonic didn't want to wait until it was too late to find out just exactly what it was.
Evading another highly concentrated pillar of energy, Sonic swirled around the attack as it disintegrated once again, flying straight towards Polaris' snout. He could hear Eggman's insane laughter much clearly now, and he could tell now that his nemesis wasn't the same bumbling Doctor since the last time they had met. A swarm of black vines launched away from Polaris' skin, attempting to grab hold of Sonic. However, the golden warrior swiftly twisted through the attacking mass of energy, obliterating some of it with the chaos energy around him.
As he neared the top of the Gods head, Sonic could see the powerful purple aura growing around Eggman's new body. Sonic performed a loose barrel roll, evading a concentrated mass of white energy being launched from the Doctor, and shot upwards in a Super Sonic Boom, finally coming to a stop a couple yards away from Eggman.
"Is Shadow safe, Doctor?" Sonic questioned quietly, a hint of anger in his voice.
Laughing heartily, the Doctor released his arms from the ooze-like substance growing from the base of Polaris' head. "You should know the answer to that, hedgehog," Eggman snickered. "The stubborn fool didn't take any of my reasonable advice, and went on a rampage throughout my base! Lord knows he's probably dead now!"
Sonic clenched his fists, his temper growing more and more. "What are you trying to accomplish, Eggman?" he hollered in return. "You've destroyed plenty of cities back down on Earth, and you've even turned into something immortal. What else is there to obtain?"
The ooze-like energy suddenly disappeared from around the Doctor, allowing the mechanical deviation of Eggman to move forwards. Sonic finally got a better look at this new body of his rivals, and concluded that Metal Sonic was the base of its design. For a man who hated hedgehogs so much, it was ironic to see him take on the form of one. A bio-engineered mouth piece was clearly positioned into a smirk for the moment, and expressionless eyes hung in an abyss of black. Sonic noticed the slithering, jolting masses of energy extending from Eggman's claws.
"I want you dead, and humiliated, Sonic." Eggman snorted. "I don't just want to defeat you, I want you erased. I want you to feel the pain of defeat! You have crushed me time and time again, without so much as a laugh, and a smirk. This time, I'll be the one to look carelessly the other way as you suffer!"
Was this what all these years of opposing Eggman had done? Sure, it did feel like a game at times, but he could have never guessed that Eggman had lost it because of every defeat. A pang of sorrow, guilt and regret rose up from within Sonic, and he suddenly felt terrible. For the first time in all their confrontations, he felt remorse for actually saving the world!
He knew that, as a hero, he had to deal with tough decisions, such as snuffing out someones dreams – Doctor Eggman's in this case. Who knows, if Sonic had actually shown mercy, and let the Doctor escape with some form of victory, Eggman might have turned over a new leaf, and attempted to become a better man. Maybe actually dedicate his genius technology to the betterment of mankind like his grandfather had done so many years before. Sonic's head hung low, as he fought back all the sudden feelings of guilt. Finally, he worked up the courage to mutter a simple reply.
"I'm sorry."
"Take one last look at the moon, at the calming seas around you, and at the sun above you. The stars will begin to fall. This world will be no more!" ~ Pachacamac, Knuckles Tribe Leader, 5 years before the destruction of the Nocturnus.
To Be Continued
Authors Note~ No, I did not make it this short out of lack of interest! I just wanted to leave off on this chapter, because the next one covers a lot – including the final conclusion! Only 2 chapters left people! Please, leave your comments, theories and tips in a review! And if you could, check out the Prequel to the series, "Constellations"!