Violet Dreams
Chapter 23: Empire
"Success doesn't come to you; you must go get it."
Feeling calm, rather than sorrow, Sonic watched the debris float further away from each other. He was peaceful, and he felt more power than ever. The golden warrior sighed to calm his breathing, then turned to his comrades.
"Listen to me, Tails." He smiled, "I need you to go back to the workshop and make sure Amy is okay. Go help GUN with all the wounded, and start cleaning up down there. I'll take care of ugly over there, and I'll be back before you know it."
A moment of silence passed, as the hedgehog's words sunk into everyones head. However, Knuckles finally broke the silence.
"What about Shadow?" he questioned. "He's the reason we came up here in the first place we -"
"I saw two shuttles fly down to earth from the Death Egg IV. Shadow was without a doubt aboard one of them. I know he is, because Shadow plans everything out before he does anything. He had planned on being captured, so he could get information on what Eggman was doing. Shadow works three steps ahead, at all times. I know in my heart he's safe."
"Sonic, are you sure you don't need us?" Tails questioned worriedly, tears in his eyes. "What if you need help? No one will be here to help you!"
A flash of light filled the cockpit of the Typhoon, as Sonic rested his hand on Tails shoulder. A warmth unlike any other filled them all, giving them a sense of calmness; like an angel would in times of strife. The golden warrior's peaceful gaze reassured them all that he would be okay. Tails sniffed back his tears and hugged his older brother tightly.
Returning the embrace to the young fox, Sonic smiled and nodded towards Mighty and Knuckles. "You two have to help keep him safe down there, alright? There'll still be a lot of Eggmans pawns running around. You can tell Rouge that Shadow is safe, too."
"Will do, Sonic." Knuckles nodded.
Another flash of light filled the Typhoon, as Sonic started his assault on Polaris. Projectiles of dark energy shot past Sonic like spears, whilst the beast roared and began rising upwards from the portal of which it came. The black vines covering the creature squirmed and screamed from the sudden movement. The rock crumbled like frail glass, as Polaris ascended. Slowly it's entire body became free, revealing a second set of longer, more muscular arms directly beneath its smaller ones. Another pair of wings expanded outwards like those of an eagle, and finally two large, clawed legs followed by a long winding tail appeared.
Sonic grinned, golden energy beginning to swirl around his feet into a long tail of light as he gained speed.
"Alright, big guy," he began. "I know you're a bit confused, but I gotta get rid of you before you cause anymore damage!"
With a sudden flap of all four of its wings, the white barrier around Polaris exploded into a field of debris. Black light suddenly wrapped around each trace of stone, before launching towards Sonic like meteors. Using his extreme speed, the golden hero swirled and darted between the larger chunks of rock, while shooting directly through some of the more fragile ones. Bolts of golden lightning shot off of Sonic each time he boosted faster and faster.
Polaris roared out like never before, shaking the Typhoon and everything around it. Grinning still, Sonic sped through a gigantic piece of debris from the Death Egg IV. Cracks darted outwards from the point of impact, causing it to shatter like glass. Polaris roared and unleashed a twisting beam of light from its mouth, aimed at Sonic. The golden warrior quickly came to a halt, and launched upwards like a flash of light, avoiding the laser as it ripped apart the debris and rock around it. Sonic spun around the beam as if it were a static object, while using a barrier of Chaos Energy every so often to deflect the spear like projectiles coming from Polaris.
Finally coming within a couple hundred feet of Polaris, Sonic charged up a Super Sonic Wind within his palm. Flares of golden light spun and flickered outwards as the attack grew. The golden warrior charged forth, accelerating even faster than he had before. Once the distance had been eliminated, Sonic smashed the titanic attack against Polaris' snout. Golden blades of energy spun and circled around the dome of light the attack had created, ripping apart the armour along the beast's head. The attack suddenly died out, effectively angering the beast further. Sonic's crimson eyes darted to his right, noticing the Typhoon making its way back down to earth. He smiled, knowing that they were safe.
Now the real battle could start.
Screaming in rage, the beast began to rise up after the fleeting hedgehog, it's wings pulsing and flapping to give it movement. It's jaws clamped shut just behind Sonic's feet, sending a shockwave outwards. Sonic yelped as he was hurtled forwards, only stopping himself with the use of his own chaos shockwave. The golden hero quickly regained his speed and began flying through space, and towards the moon with Polaris hot on his heels.
Sonic spun around, firing off a dozen high powered orbs of energy. As they collided with Polaris, they each exploded into a swirling domes of energy across the creature's body, tearing apart its tough hide. A vicious beam of purple energy flew past Sonic, obliterating the bottom half of the already damaged moon.
A flash back raced through Sonic's mind, reminding him of the devastating ARK incident five years ago. Sonic quickly sped through the debris, and through the crater that now lined the underside of the gigantic rock orbiting Earth. Polaris flew above the moon, the force of its flapping wings kicking up deadly dust storms along the surface of the chunk of grey rock. Sonic launched up once clearing the length of the moon, and shot faster towards the next planet, eager to drag Polaris as far away from Earth as possible.
"C'mon, big guy." Sonic called, "I know you can do better than that!"
You know you need me.
A snicker escaped Sonic, and he smiled. "No, I have the power to do this myself!"
The roar of the beast behind him broke Sonic free of his trance, as Venus came into view. He thought maybe he could lose Polaris there, before anything major happened. The golden warrior suddenly dipped down, and towards the cloudy planet, Polaris screaming behind him as thousands of projectiles rocketed past him, followed by another dense burst of energy. Sonic grunted and weaved around the projectiles occasionally using a Super Sonic Wind to obliterate a swarm of them. The golden hero turned his attention to the planet below him, finding the swarming clouds of sulphuric acid spin away from the vicious attack. The beam died out, trailing back upwards to Polaris in a thin line of light, and then disappeared.
A flash of golden light shot across the darkness of space, as Sonic descended down through Vensus' atmosphere. Lightning flashed all around him, as thunder threatened to deafen him from the frequency of which it occurred. A flash of gold shot through the harsh climate of the desolate planet, as the sudden disturbance of energy caused active volcanoes to erupt. Polaris roared, its wings swatting away most of the harsh clouds in the atmosphere. Sonic picked up his speed, and dropped down to the surface of the planet, where seas of magma existed rather than solid earth. Sonic hoped that he could beat Polaris into the heat of the magma, and let it burn.
"Alright, let's see if my plan works!"
Using Chaos Control, Sonic warped from his current position and above Polaris. The golden warrior suddenly launched downwards in a brilliant comet of golden energy, and smashed against the beasts body. It screamed out in pain as the force of the hit knocked it downwards, closer to the hellish heat of the mass of magma below. The dark vines crawling across Polaris screamed ferociously as they disintegrated. Feeling the heat of the sea of liquid fire, Sonic became increasingly thankful for the power the Emeralds blessed him with. He could see the magma creeping across the beast, and he could feel the intense heat.
Finally, with one last blast of energy, Polaris sunk into the fire like a rock; screaming and roaring as it descended. Sonic floated upwards, hovering above the mass of fire in reflection of the events of everything that had happened in the last four hours.
"Finally," he murmured. "It's over."
However, not even a second passed when suddenly he heard that same deafening roar. Sonic shot his eyes downwards, finding the gigantic beast beginning to rise out of the magma. It's body smoked as the molten rock poured off Polaris like water. It seemed to develop a secondary shell of skin through the solidified lava, and as it rose out of the sea of flame, Sonic noticed the wings begin to bulge, until finally they grew, allowing the beast more mass to propel it upwards. Sonic shot upwards a split second before a clawed hand closed on him, and continued up through the dense clouds of acid, as Polaris once again pursued him.
"You just don't quit, do you?" Sonic sighed. "If lava isn't enough to burn you up, then I'll just have to take you to the next hottest thing around!"
A cocoon of light hugged Sonic as he launched at even greater speeds towards the burning mass of gas ahead of him. Already he could feel its intense heat, and he was only leaving the gravitational pull of Venus. Stars and light flashed past him like glistening streaks of white, and behind him he could feel Polaris close behind him; the heat of the magma still pulsing behind him. Then, like an explosion, the Sun came into view, growing bigger and bigger. He felt the heat hit him like never before. Mercury streaked by like a pebble, and finally he was getting into the gravitational pull of the Sun.
Polaris screamed in anger, firing off a blast of energy which only became swallowed up by the solar flares around them. Slowly the black vines on the beast peeled off like dead skin, burning up in the fiery atmosphere of the star. Sonic grunted, putting up the Chaos barrier from before to shield him from the intense energy of the sun. The golden warrior then quickly stopped, spun around and shot off towards Polaris at a faster speed than he had ever reached. He figured he'd need all the speed he could get to escape the pull of the Sun.
The gigantic maw of Polaris came into view of Sonic, as he quickly swerved around the beast. It's powerful wings struggled to redirect its weight amidst the gravitational pull, but began to burn up from the pressure and heat, leaving Polaris to become sucked closer to the vicious flame of the star. It roared and screamed out, whilst unleashing blasts of energy which only dissolved from the pressure around them.
"Lights out, bud," Sonic exclaimed, and spun around to face the beast.
It's body had already begun to burn up, but Sonic knew he had to finish this now. The golden hero gathered up an unfathomable amount of chaos energy in his hand, holding his wrist with his other hand to steady himself. Crackles of golden electricity danced around his body, as spiralling flares of light wrapped around his arm. Sonic grunted, and with a flash of light around his body, a devastating blast the size of a football shot free from Sonic's palm, closing in on Polaris faster than Sonic could keep track of.
Finally the attack hit, creating an explosion the size of a small city, effectively knocking Polaris into the heat of the Sun. He heard the screams of the vines, and the roar of Polaris finally fade out of existence, leaving Sonic in the quiet of space. He heard the rippling explosions of Polaris being burnt up, and then nothing.
Though the last thing standing in the way of peace was gone, Sonic couldn't help but feel like there was something else out there. He sighed and shook the feeling off, using the last of his power to warp through space and time back home to the Mystic Ruins.
Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins
Amy sighed heavily, her hammer held at her side weakly. Though she knew Eggman's pawns were resilient, she never knew they'd just keep on coming. She yelled out a battle cry and swung her mallet, severing three heads from the shoulders of the oncoming mechs. She panted, ready to level out the rest of fleet, but suddenly she felt like the entire world suddenly shut down. The mechs all stopped, and fell over lifeless. Everything became absolutely quiet, save for the screaming thrusters of the Typhoon.
"Tails, what're you doing!" Knuckles hollered, grabbing hold of his seat. "Are you trying to kill us?"
"I told you, Knuckles, the navigation systems are down!" Tails retorted, trying his best to level out the jet. "Polaris must have knocked out the satellite that I use for my GPS systems! The guidance and landing systems are all fried!"
"Well you better fix it quick, 'cause the water fall is coming in fast!" Mighty screamed.
A trail of smoke followed the Typhoon as it bounced across the fields of the ruins, and into the small lake. Water jumped up from the impact, as the water fall continued to pour down on the wreckage of the space craft. Amy gasped and quickly dropped her hammer, allowing it to disappear into a mass of sparkles. She ran towards the cliff's edge and quickly slid down it, both excitement and worry filling her actions.
"Sonic! Tails! Knuckles! Mighty!" she called out desperately, stopping on the shore of the lake.
Suddenly the entry hatch of the Typhoon shot open, causing the mass of metal to bounce across the water smash into the walls of the small quarry the lake inhabited. Amy turned her attention to the figures stumbling through the smoke, and then jumped into the water to help them. She waded through the waves, assisting Tails as he stumbled out of the wreckage, coughing. Behind him, Knuckles and Mighty made their way through.
Amy's heart suddenly sunk.
"Where's Sonic...?" she questioned.
"He's alright, Amy," Tails reassured with a weak smile. "He's up there taking care of things!" Tails pointed to the sky, where they noticed Polaris' figure leave the atmosphere of Earth, chasing a golden spec.
"C'mon, we have to get out of here. The Typhoon could explode at any minute," Mighty explained, urging everyone to get going.
The group quickly made their way up the stair case, and out into the opening. Tails sighed, feeling a sense of relief.
"It's nice to be home," he stated, turning to his workshop. "Thanks for protecting the place, Amy!"
"I never expected Eggman's troops to come out here," Mighty stated.
"Probably trying to get the Master Emerald," Knuckles huffed. "You really showed 'em whose boss, Amy."
Amy grinned and winked at her allies. "I had to help while you guys were up there!"
The group slowly made their way through the scrapped robots, and up to the workshop. Tails surveyed everything making sure that all of the high tech equipment around his humble abode weren't damaged, and then made his way inside, where he met Rouge. She rubbed her eyes weakly and made her way to the group, her worried eyes searching them for answers.
"Where's Shadow?"
"Don't worry about him." Tails nodded, "He's somewhere around Station Square. Sonic said he felt his energy in one of Eggman's emergency shuttles."
Rouge sighed heavily, taking a seat on the couch. Knuckles and Mighty slowly made their way through, as everyone took a spot on the couches and chairs. Tails tinkered with the TV momentarily, with a confused expression.
"Strange, the power must be out," he concluded. "But my water wheel is moving fine."
"Well before you guys crashed, the rest of Eggman's robots just stopped and fell over. It might have something to do with whatever that thing in space was," Amy explained. "What happened up there, anyways?"
"Well, Eggman was up to some crazy things up there." Tails sighed, "Sonic would be able to explain it a lot better than any of us."
Location: Above Earth
Sonic floated throughout the desolate area, where the Death Egg IV once stood. He sighed heavily and moved throughout the area, memories of all the battles he had ever fought with the old scientist flashing through his head. It had been a long and hard rivalry, and despite all the times the Doctor cursed and damned his name, Sonic had come to find the Doctor as a friend – maybe closer than anyone around him. They had shared battles, and even helped each other out in times of need.
He was sad to see the Doctor go.
"Goodbye, Doctor Ivo Robotnik," Sonic whispered in the darkness of space. "Rest in peace, you could have done so much more for the planet if you had turned your life around. I'm sad to see you go."
Golden light filled the area only briefly, as Sonic disappeared.
Location: Unknown
Sparks crackled occasionally through the inky darkness, allowing no sight whatsoever. Small clanks echoed in the shadows ever so often, as buzzing came from something glowing in the distance. A figure stumbled through the dark, making their way towards the screen mounted on the far wall. Suddenly it flashed on, replaying a message. The backdrop started out as Eggman's insignia, but finally showed the Doctor's face.
"If you're watching this, the first phase of my plan has been successful," he stated with a wicked smirk. "Though my physical body no longer exists among you, Project Dusk confides within ... the ..."
The recording fizzled through static briefly. "Now that I'm dead, my goals and ideology are yours to carry out. I worked to create Eggmanland; the ideal place for a utopia of which everyone could live peacefully and equally. Though Sonic may have undoubtedly snuffed out the Death Egg, you will find all my schematics, plans and blueprints aboard the ARK. The vessels, Phase 1 of the team I've code named "Dusk" exist within the same shuttle you are aboard now. I only wish that I could have seen you, my greatest creation learn and grow. Essentially you are my son, and you will be the next, and final, piece of my plan."
Violet eyes watched with curiosity, darting across the containment pods lining the walls only briefly.
"As everything unfolds, you will learn more and find more about my plans for you. Take the vessels to the ARK, and start where I left off, my son. Exterminate that blue pest, and lead the world to an era of peace!"
Then the recording ceased, playing only a static against Eggmans insignia. The being watched the screen dully, his breathing calm. Where was he? What had happened? Only time would tell, and by the sounds of things, he would be a king unlike any other. But how exactly would he rule such a vast kingdom? He figured it would be best to find things out as they came to him. But for now, his destination was this place, his father had called the "ARK". Where it was, he didn't know, but he was sure his father would paint the trail nice and bright.
He smiled, the first of his living actions. And the first of his mortal emotions filled his head; delight.
Location: Tails Workshop
Light shot outwards from Sonic as he appeared from thin air. Dust spun around him briefly before his super form reverted, and the Chaos Emeralds hovered around him gently. He sighed weakly, wiping the grime from his face with his glove. It was going to be great to finally relax and wash up. But of course, after they found Shadow. The door to the workshop suddenly swung open, and from it he saw Amy run towards him. Before he knew it she had effectively jumped towards him, pulling him into a tight embrace.
He felt tears begin to drip into his fur as she buried her head into his chest. Sonic smiled warmly and stroked her back comfortingly, and waved to his comrades as they surrounded him.
"Don't worry, Rouge," Sonic assured. "We'll find Shadow, he can't be far."
"I know, big blue," she winked. "You did good up there. Until the GUN surveillance satellite got destroyed, the whole world was cheering you on."
"Maybe that's why I felt so strong!" Sonic joked, as Amy finally let go and sniffled.
"It's gonna be a tough road to recovery," Mighty sighed in a lazy tone. "Eggman destroyed so much with his invasion."
"Just as long as we have each other, there isn't anything we can't do," Sonic stated. "Besides, if it weren't for you three, I wouldn't have made it as far as I did up there!"
"So what now?" Knuckles questioned with a smirk.
"Now, we let everything get back to normal."
"We all have the power to destroy; but the power to protect and heal is a rarity." Gerard Schlemko, Project Shadow Scientist, 1949
Violet Dreams, Part 1
Fin
Authors Note~ And even though this marks the end of the first part of the story, it's only the beginning. The prelude to what's to come! Stay tuned for the first chapter of Violet Dreams, Part II. The story will be renamed to Violet Dreams, Part II and the summary will be updated to describe the story as a whole! I can't wait to start everything off after this close! Hope you enjoyed the Egg Apocalypse Saga! Leave your comments, tips and theories in a review!