Violet Dreams

Part II

Chapter 38: Confrontation

"Fear of death has been the greatest ally of tyranny."

Location: GUN Central Command, Capital City

"So you are here," the figure mused with interest. "My loathsome copy."

A chill ran up the blue heroes spine, causing him to shiver. He had never expected to meet with Metal after Eggman died, but he had learned by now that he usually didn't get what he wanted.

"Interesting," Shrike remarked, turquoise energy vibrating off his body. "I want you to take me to your commander, or the girl dies!"

In a flash of light, Athana appeared in the bucks arm, a blade of psychic energy pressed up to her throat. A devious grin made its way onto his lips, as he watched Metal intently.

"I'm here for the Twilight Key, not her."

Suddenly a shock wave shot forth from Metal, launching both Sonic and Shadow back against the wall. Then the mechanical hedgehog disappeared in a flash of electricity and appeared behind the GUN Commander, his claws pressed against the buck's neck.

"Surrender it, or I kill you," Metal growled.

Shrike smirked, letting his hostage stagger out of his grip. "It seems you're out of luck. Because the key you're looking for isn't on me at the moment."

A pulse of energy ran up the bucks body, and as he spun around, a hammer of psychic energy formed off his fist. Metal quickly threw his arms up, but the attack proved to be too much. Rings of light formed from the impact, and the mechanical hedgehog bounced across the floor. Shrike turned his attention to Sonic and Shadow, who had taken it upon themselves to knock out the soldiers within the room.

"You two are definitely becoming a nuisance." Shrike sighed, and snapped his fingers.

The hedgehog trio watched as the table let out a cloud of smoke, allowing it to rise upwards to reveal Omega. Shadow watched his friend rise up from the ground, his crimson eyes wide in shock. He didn't have a good feeling about this.

"So that's where he's keeping the Key," Metal thought, his scanners locked onto the weapon.

Shrike remained stationary, watching smugly at the situation playing out before him. Surely victory would be his.

"What have you done to Omega, Shrike?" Shadow barked angrily, crimson energy rippling off his body like flames.

The powerful man simply laughed and watched as the robot started up. Wires and tubing fell off of Omega, allowing the mech to walk forwards. Realizing his friend no longer recognized him, Shadow came to realize what had happened. A feeling of sorrow washed over him, as he watched the robot stomp forwards.

"Initiate battle sequences, Omega," Shrike ordered quickly, realizing that Metal had recovered.

Instantly the bulky fighter spun around to lock onto Metal, and from the robot's wide arms came a variety of projectiles, each locked onto the mechanical copy. Electricity darted down the Dusk agent's arms and claws, and as if he were slicing through butter, Metal shot through the storm of attacks and dug his claw into the chest of Omega. The powerful military weapon sparked and twitched from the sudden impact to his circuits, but Metal didn't seem phased. Suddenly the mechanical copy ripped his claw free from Omega, the small orb nestled in his claw. With his mission fulfilled, Metal disappeared in a fizzling burst of electricity, and then reappeared at the doorway, only to shoot down the halls.

"Can you handle this, Shadow?" Sonic asked quietly, ready to race off after his nemesis.

"Yeah." He nodded, staring at the malfunctioning Omega.

He knew what this was coming to. As much as he didn't want to touch or harm his friend – despite Omega being a robot – Shadow knew he'd have to. Suddenly the mech stopped moving and twitching, and remained still and quiet. Behind the robot, Shrike stood confidently, aware of the situation at hand. Energy sizzled down the black hedgehog's arm, while a fire like aura of violet and crimson energy curled away from his body. In a flash of light, Shadow appeared behind Omega with his attack ready. The dark hedgehog shut his eyes and then plunged the powerful attack through Omega's abdomen. Sparks leaped away from the impact, and as the beast of weapon struggled, Shadow asserted more power to his attack.

Finally the robot stopped moving. The black hedgehog pulled his hand free of the hole he had created, allowing his former team mate to fall to the ground.

"I didn't think you had the guts to do it, soldier," Shrike commented.

With a flaring temper, Shadow turned around to face his former leader. "You don't have to call me that anymore, Shrike," he retorted calmly, but his eyes spoke the opposite. "I no longer work for you. Consider this my resignation. Next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

Then, without any hesitation, Shadow disappeared. Screams of horror and pain reverberated down the halls, gunfire following close behind. Shrike sneered and stormed through the door after the dark hedgehog. His tolerance for failure was quickly beginning to dwindle, and he'd have to put a stop to it this instant.

Location: Regal Beach, Empire City

Sand shot upwards from Metal's thrusters, and Sonic slid through the violent storm of debris, just missing his nemesis. Metal hovered in the sky above his copy, and then launched ahead through the sky in a flash of purple light. Biting his lip, Sonic raced off after the mechanical hedgehog, avoiding each attack Eggman's creation threw at him. Water splashed in front of him, and through it came Metal's electrified claw. Sonic quickly ducked downwards, and in his palm an orb of condensed Chaos Energy sprung to life. Sonic quickly smashed the attack into Metal's frame, launching the copy backwards through the sand and water.

"How are you still alive?" Sonic yelled. "Is the Doctor still alive? He's leading this attack, isn't he?"

After regaining himself, Metal stood up, sand falling off of his armour. "The fat man is dead, Sonic. He simply had a back up ready in case he did die at your hands. If you think you can win you're sadly mistaken."

A burst of electricity shot free from the mechanical hedgehog's body as he launched towards the blue hero. Sonic quickly jumped to the left, avoiding a powerful punch, then rolled under Metal's kick. The mechanical hedgehog continued his assault, his fists flying towards Sonic like lightning. However, the blue hero's reflexes proved to be an equal match, and moved in between the punches in flashes of blue. The blue hero jumped back, to avoid an electrical charged punch from his copy, but failed to notice that Metal had disappeared in the flash his attack created.

Sonic spun around just in time to meet Metal, whom grasped the hedgehog's throat and lifted him upwards. The blue hero kicked fiercely, trying to free himself from the titan holding him.

"You're losing your touch, Sonic." Metal stated, staring into the blue hero's eyes.

"I don't want to fight you anymore, Metal." Sonic coughed, gasping for air.

Growing silent, the mechanical beast viciously threw his nemesis to the ground. With a pained grunt, Sonic fought to move back to his feet, but Metal wouldn't allow it. Everything ended here, and he wouldn't allow his copy to get up and run away like he always had.

"It all ends here, Sonic," Metal explained, electricity charging around his claw. "Every unfinished meeting, every fight, everything ends here. Today you die!"

Black storm clouds begun to swirl in the sky, causing the ocean to roar and surge. Waves lapped the shores, threatening to swallow anything up that came too close. Sonic watched the sky turn dark. He watched the lightning bolts light up the sky like light bulbs burning out over and over again. His heart beat faithfully in his chest, pumping blood throughout his body, perhaps the last of his heart beats were near too. For some reason, he was at peace with the idea of dying. If Shadow was right, if all he did was cause pain when he tried to help, then wouldn't it benefit the world?

Electricity danced and jumped around the duo, the sand turning a faint blue along with everything around them. Metal leered down at Sonic, slowly raising an electrified hand to the sky. Arcs of light pulled at the mechanical copies hand, as it lifted further from the ground. Long and violent bursts of lightning erupted from Metal's claw, which were followed by loud cracks of thunder. The sky seemed to pulse with electricity, as the clouds swirled in on themselves. Electrical arches darted across the sky, and then Metal's body lit up.

And as if Metal were a conductor, a massive shaft of electricity shot down from the sky in an instant.

Light consumed their vision, and the burning pain of the unreal heat produced by the natural phenomena seemed to fade away instantaneously. But Sonic smiled nonetheless.

Location: Unknown

Feeling a rush of cold air move past him, Sonic opened his eyes. Confusion filled his mind, but he quickly realized where he was. The sky shifted and churned through violet, black and gold. Ruins of the places he had travelled filled the landscape, and Sonic turned his head to gather knowledge of his surroundings. Broken segments of rolling hills and pathways seemed to surround him, leading into a crumbling city filled with what looked to be water. The blue hero grunted and stood up, looking around to figure where he might be.

"Of course." He grinned, and stretched his arms. "It's been awhile since I've seen South Island and the Green Hills."

However, the nostalgia seemed to disappear as he realized there was a reason he was brought back here. The blue hero looked around, trying to look for a pathway that would lead to his other as he'd come to label it as. Stepping forward cautiously, the blue hero paused as his surroundings spun away into nothing, quickly being replaced by an isle of broken black and gold pillars. Ahead, he could see a glowing life form. Aware of who he was meeting again, Sonic walked along the violet pathway, and stopped in front of the figure, realizing it to be himself.

"Why'd you bring me here again?" Sonic asked calmly, ready for anything by this point.

The beast snickered in amusement, causing everything around them to spin away into nothing, leaving only darkness. Once more, two solid, orbs of violet appeared and stared at Sonic. A chill ran up the hero's spine, but he knew he couldn't show any fear. Not now. Two glowing horns materialized once more, lighting up the dark with a golden white light. The blue hero stepped back slightly, trying to distance himself from the monster. However, as he did so, he felt the presence appear behind him. The horns pressed against his back, and then a cold breath slithered along his neck.

"I told you I wouldn't let you keep me locked up much longer, boy," it growled, retaining a fanged grin. "You are but a spec of light in comparison to me. You can't ever hope to keep me locked away forever."

"I'm doing it, aren't I?" Sonic retorted, standing still.

"But right now you're dead," the beast replied quickly, a smile on its face. "Nothing is keeping me at bay."

He grew silent from the beast's words, unsure of what to think. "You fought hard to learn how to keep me under control, to the point of even distancing yourself from your friends and loved ones after yo- .. we, defeated Robotnik."

"You killed him, not me," Sonic murmured.

"It was your will, boy," it snickered. "But now, there's nothing keeping me from taking over. Unless you think you can stop me?"

"I can, and have been," the blue hero retaliated, squeezing his fists tightly.

"Have you forgotten already? You're dead! Just a rotting lump of flesh soon to be in the ground. But I'm not dead. I can use your body as I please."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Sonic asked, spinning around in fear.

Location: Regal Beach, Empire City

Metal had long since forgotten about the mangled and burnt body of his enemy, and retreated from the crater his attack created. Gleaming crimson eyes stared forth through the downpour, void of anything. He had finally succeeded in his goal – the very thing he was created to do – but yet there was nothing. He felt nothing, thought nothing and above all, lacked everything. Rows of data shot past his optical sensors, displaying the things he should be feeling in his success.

Happiness.

Enjoyment.

Pleasure.

Success.

Yet here he was, the same as before. But he should have realized this variable long ago – the fact that he hadn't seemed to...botherhim. The metallic hedgehog stood quietly on the shores of the ocean, watching the cascading waves roll closer to the beach. Thunder shook the heavens occasionally, as the rain washed the blood from his dead nemesis into the ocean. Water dripped off of Metal, cleaning his armour. The robot moved his silvery claw in front of his optics, strings of data and specs on the limb appearing in front of him instantly. Frustrated, Metal pulled his hand from view, wondering what this achievement would feel like had he been a living thing. Why did it feel so lackluster?

Then there was movement, or the sound of it. Metal turned his attention to the distraction, finding a strange presence with him. The mechanical hedgehog walked back towards the crater he had left the blue hero in, only to find a pool of bubbling black ooze beneath the dead hero. Unable to identify the anomaly through his sensors, Metal could do nothing more but watch. Smoke seemed to billow off of the blue hero, as the ooze soaked into his body. Black glyphs wrote themselves across the hedgehog's left arm and ribcage, steam rising from the characters. White and purple particles seemed to fill the air, until finally collecting on the hero's body.

Never had Metal seen something like this. There was no way that he was still alive!

The particles of light shifting in the air collected around Sonic's forehead, spinning around to create two jagged, bull-like horns from his temples. More of the light particles started to move across his lower jaw, creating a fanged outline of a skeletal structure. The horns slowly elongated, coming to full form as more of the particles created another bone like structure around the hero's entire face.

Watching quietly, Metal brought up the blue hedgehog's data collection, noticing his life force had shot through the roof. His heart beat had hit 200 beats per minute, and Sonic's chaos reserves were quadrupling each second. Lightning glistened across Metal once more, as he prepared for what was to come. A beastly roar erupted from the crater, followed instantaneously by a vicious dome of crimson and black energy. Metal quickly jumped back, narrowly avoiding a destructive punch from the transformed hero.

Rubble lifted into the air from the impact, before being vaporized by another dome of light. Metal slid backwards from a slab of earth falling, and then quickly launched into the sky, electricity dancing around his claw. Sonic snarled demonically, two orbs of violet light glowing from behind the eye holes in the bone-like mask on his face. The glyphs on his body had lit up with a golden light, seemingly pulsing the second he jumped at Metal. A typhoon of energy particles spun around him, obliterating the ground and forming another crater. Metal quickly brought his arms up to guard himself from his nemesis' attack. A ring of light exploded from the impact, and with it, Sonic also disappeared. Using his sharp audio trackers, Metal Sonic turned his attention upwards, where Sonic descended on him with a small, black orb of energy rotating in his hand.

"So this is the power Doctor Robotnik was after," Metal commented, grasping the blue hero's attack hand.

The attack charged within the hedgehog's hand died out, as a shockwave of a similarly colored energy burst free from the dark hero. Metal shot away from the release of power, but never took his gaze from his foe. Energy smoked off of Sonic, dying his fur an inky black. The glyphs grew brighter, beginning to climb across his neck and chest. Sonic launched towards his enemy like a streak of lightning, and grappled the mechanical hedgehog's shoulder, only to throw the mech down into the sand. Just as Metal collided with the ground, Sonic roared out in a distorted voice, and unleashed a blast of energy from in between his horns. The small sphere launched down through the debris filled air, and erupted.

Light expanded across the beach, pushing away the water and digging into the ground. Sonic then let out another blood curdling roar and descended down on his prey, diving through the field of light just as it died out. However as visibility returned, a chunk of rock met with Sonic's fist, erupting into a storm of rock. Metal then followed up and launched through the debris and smashed his fist into Sonic's face. Particles of light glistened away from the structure around the hero's face, showing the strike had chipped the armour. However as quickly as it had happened, the mask regenerated and Sonic let out a growl.

Metal quickly ducked below a right hook, and smashed his palm up into the blue hero's torso, unleashing an explosive force of electricity. Sonic shot back up into the sky, but Metal quickly grabbed hold of the whip of Chaos Energy that he had created on Sonic. The mechanical hedgehog quickly tugged back on the whip, and then formed a blade of electricity from his other hand. Sonic screeched in fear, or what Metal hoped to be, and struggled against the whip. A wide, sizzling arc of electricity launched through the sky, piercing Sonic and exploding to launch him to the ground.

Dust puffed upwards from Sonic, the sand moving around his figure as he squirmed at Metal's feet. Steam rolled off the hero's belly, but Metal knew this wasn't the end. Watching the blood burn up and turn to smoke, Metal quickly grabbed the recovering hero, unaware of the energy gathering in his horns once more. Before the mechanical hedgehog could retreat, Sonic grinned wide, and unleashed the compact orb of light.

Energy launched upwards all around them, reaching for the sky. The fiery devastation soon spun into a dome of light, creating rings of light that extended up to the heavens. Within the dome, thousands upon thousands of golden specs formed, creating spears of energy to penetrate Metal from all angles. From inside, Sonic screeched hellishly, bringing the sounds and sights from the underworld itself to earth. Finally the dome disappeared into a gust of wind, and from where the attack had been, a crater replaced, allowing water to fill it ever so slowly.

Metal lay on a slab of rock, which acted as a bed. Sonic knelt over the defeated copy, his horns piercing the rock beside Metals head. The LED eyes that once lit up the abyss of darkness in the beasts eyes now fizzled in and out. The impenetrable armour that once lined a fearless warrior had now been mangled and destroyed, exposing circuitry and computing systems. Sonic huffed each breath, beginning to lose himself to the power he was displaying. Slowly a long, reptilian tail begun to form from golden particles of energy, creating a transparent image. Sonic snarled at his foe, unaware of the water levels rising to swallow them up.

"So, you..." Metal attempted, glitching through his words. "You are the stronger copy."

"This is the end," Sonic growled. "I win."

With that, the dark hedgehog reeled his fist back, allowing a cloaking of dark energy to cover it. Unleashing another scream with his distorted voice, Sonic punched through Metal's head, sending machinery, wires and sparks flying every which way. Sonic heaved in breaths, and then jumped out of the crater, watching as water filled it.

However, his heart suddenly lurched, and pain shot through his body. Each heart beat seemed to throw fire through his veins. Sonic roared and clutched his chest, the black energy covering his fur turning to smoke along with the faint form of his tail and the structures on his head. The glyphs quickly receded back into his skin, and the blue fur that everyone knew him by appeared just before he fell to the dirt.

"Our selfishness has been the destruction of humanity itself." ~ Isaiah Black, GUN Experiment, 1967

To Be Continued

Authors Note~ How'd everyone enjoy this chapter? Please leave your theories, comments and tips in a review! Seeya!