Violet Dreams
Part II
Chapter 39: The Brink
"An eye for an eye only ends up in making the whole world blind."
Location: Eggman's Abandoned Base, Mazuri Volcano
A trio of footsteps hurried through the thick jungle, though despite the various sounds of lurking wild life, and possible predators, the group continued their haste. Rain dripped sparingly through the thick blanket of foliage above, adding to the already moist atmosphere they traversed through. Leading the way with a bright LED light mounted to his cannon, Tails seemed to lurch at any suspicious sound that they encountered, his legs trembling gently from his anxiety. However, the more nature orientated Knuckles casually followed up behind Mighty, easily swatting away large vines and branches, unshaken by the creatures living on the vegetation.
After hours of thick trees and steep slopes, a clearing finally made itself present before the trio. Standing tall and mighty on the exterior of the jungle, the Mazuri Volcano served as a mark of power, greatly respected by the tribes that lived within the jungle and in the adjacent savannah. Plumes of thick, black smoke billowed high above the mouth of the structure, proving its might to the continent. Though it had been five years since they had been here, the trio remembered Doctor Robotnik's base all too well. Their nostalgia fuelled even more by the mounds of scrapped and malfunctioned robot soldiers.
"So now where do we go?" Mighty wondered, admiring the ruins of a town preserved in the mountain side. "It doesn't look like there's a stairway we can take up there."
"I know Eggman wouldn't build a base without having exit routes all around," Tails replied absentmindedly, observing the architecture hoping to find a secret elevator shaft. "It wouldn't be like Eggman to have a headquarters without a strategy for escape in case Sonic and I came through and foiled his plans. It's just a matter of thinking like him in order to find it. Now if I were an eggshaped scientist, where would I have my escape route...?"
A heavy and annoyed sigh left Knuckles as he leaned back against a tree, watching his team mates scrounge around for whatever opening they could find. His violet eyes turned up to the sky, watching the heavy smoke mix in with the dark clouds overhead. Then, a shiver ran up his spine, to which he simply shook off and stretched. Before long, a loud clank echoed throughout the jungle, causing a flock of exotic birds to flee from their nests in the trees. A long, glyph decorated wall slid down into the ground, leading the way into a dark corridor lined with Eggman's signature insignia.
"Viola!" Tails exclaimed with a smirk, but his face quickly fell pale. "H-hey, Knuckles, wanna lead the way...?"
"Don't tell me you're scared of a few spiders," Knuckles grumbled, swatting away the web blocking the way. "They're much more afraid of us than we are of them."
Tails gulped, staring at the inky corners of the entrance. "Speak for yourself..." he murmured nervously.
"This tunnel isn't that long, I can already see some sort of exit." Mighty pointed out, bringing everyone's attention to the faint glow not too far ahead.
After a couple minutes of walking, the trio reached the source of light, finding it to be another door, but this one seemed to be clad with much fancier tech. Tails squeezed past his larger comrades, and examined the door, noticing the green and yellow glow coming from the two cylinders on each side. After stroking his chin, Tails typed in a few letters into the touch pad screen on the door, allowing the liquid in the cylinders to rush onto the design marked on the door, which was none other than Eggman's face.
"How'd you know the password?" Mighty asked in awe, walking into the elevator behind the other two.
"I've had to break into countless of his bases. He always uses the same password!" Tails admitted with a sheepish grin. "For a man as brilliant as Doctor Robotnik, you'd think he'd use something other than "password" for his bases."
Their chuckles of amusement were suddenly cut off by a sudden, powerful movement of the elevator. A row of LED dots on the door lit up one by one, until finally reaching the last very quickly. The door once again opened, revealing the core of the Doctor's base. Feeling more like they had entered a time machine than an elevator car, the trio stepped out into the elegantly lit chamber, in awe of the various computer screens adorning the walls around them. Although many of the screens were shattered, several remained in tact, displaying schematics and data for Eggman's various projects. Tails wandered up to one of the screens still working, and stared up at the schematics.
"He must have been hiding out here for a long time," Tails remarked with intrigue. "This is a schematic for his Egg Dragoon that Sonic fought with Chip!"
"I guess this was his back up for when you and Sonic stopped all of his schemes." Knuckles assumed, walking around the desks and picking through the various potato chip bags and soda cans. "The Doctor really didn't eat too healthy, did he?"
"A man as busy as he was really wouldn't have time to cook gourmet meals. I'd imagine he spent a lot of his time in here or his labs tinkering with his robots," Tails replied distantly, scrolling through the database on one of the computers.
"Kinda like you?" Mighty sniggered, patting the young fox on the back.
With a sarcastic chuckle, Tails continued to search through the database, his eyes reflecting the colours of the screen. "There has to be something on here..."
"Shouldn't we be searching for the next key?" Knuckles stated while he impatiently crossed his arms.
"You guys go on ahead. I want to finish looking through his files. There could be something written down about the Keys that he found before he died." Tails replied, his fingers gliding over the keyboard.
"If you say so," Mighty remarked, his face displaying a hint of concern. "Just call us on your communicator if something comes up."
With a nod from their companion, the former Chaotix ran down into the corridor connecting the rooms of the base. Astonishingly, the building remained lit up and as energetic as they had remembered, much to Knuckles' surprise. Doors passed by one by one, leading to nothing of their particular interest, however as they neared the end of the hall, a larger door caught their attention. The duo quickly came to a halt and eyed up the massive door. It's size seemed to dwarf the duo with its height.
"How are we supposed to get into this one?" Mighty wondered whilst stroking his chin. "We don't exactly have Tails to hack us into it the room, plus this entry doesn't have a keypad for a password."
Knuckles stared at the door with an intense gaze, a suspicious expression forming on his face. "This looks newer than the rest of the building."
"We still don't have a way in, Knux," Mighty sighed.
However, with a frustrated groan, followed by a loud crash, the door toppled over. Smoke and embers jumped up from the gaping hole now found on the dense material, while Knuckles simply walked over it, gazing into the room. Though left unattended and unused for over five years, the base seemed as though it had been maintained daily. At the far wall, a simple pedestal stood amongst the various computer monitors. A glass dome arched over the surface, encasing a small, crystal sphere within. The pulsating energy of the artifact seemed to ripple off of the inside of the glass like smoke.
"Guess we found what we're looking for, Mighty!" the scarlet echidna remarked with a grin, turning the communicator around his wrist on. "Yo, Tails, we found that artifact, get over here!"
"Great! I found some useful information on the Doctor's computer! I'll be there as soon as it's done uploading to L.I.N.C!"
"Make it quick!"
Sure enough, the heroes couldn't remain in the glory. From the high roof of the dome-shaped room, a figure dropped down in front of the duo. His white cloak seemed to give off electricity, until finally it burned off, revealing a slim bodied lion, with noticeably brilliant yellow fur. The black lightning markings along his arms and neck seemed to pulse with power, giving his electrifying turquoise eyes a subtle illumination. Surge let out a brief yawn, and unzipped his vest slightly, walking towards the heroes. Knuckles grunted and stepped back in defence, unsure of what to expect.
"What are you doing here?" the echidna growled, realizing this was the man who had snatched the Master Emerald. "Ready to give back my Emerald?"
"It's been in good hands, why would you want it back?" the lion retorted simply, showing signs of utmost confusion by Knuckles hostility.
"Who is this clown, Knux?" Mighty whispered curiously to his friend. "He doesn't look that tough."
"Don't let your guard down," replied the Guardian. "He's incredibly powerful, even though he may not look like it."
Electricity seemed to dance off the floor, and run into the various electronics surrounding the trio. In turn, the lights became brighter, and the machines within the room seemed to run at a higher capacity than before. However, Surge stood almost impassive, his eyes failing to show any emotion but rather full out laziness. Yawning once more, Surge covered his mouth discretely, and then turned around to walk to the pedestal.
"I'm flattered, Knuckles," he remarked casually. "But I really don't have time to waste on the likes of you. We already had a scuffle back on your island, and look how that turned out."
The young lion grasped the edges of the glass protecting the orb from the outside world and lifted it up, allowing it to smash to the floor. Waiting briefly for any security features, Surge grasped the sphere in his palm and turned back to face his foe, who had begun charging a large amount of Chaos Energy into his fists, while Mighty prepared to back the echidna up. Orbs of light resembling embers slowly rose up from Knuckles, his fists beginning to glow red while the energy gathered around his namesakes.
"My, my," Surge responded with minor intrigue. "You sure look angry."
"You don't know the half of it!"
With a mighty roar, Knuckles smashed his fist into the ground, igniting a violent explosion. A wave of fiery energy ripped apart the ground in a sweeping wave of devastation, destroying anything in its path. Machines and papers became vaporized by the intensity, but a flash of electricity darted through the attack, splitting it in two. A flash of light appeared in front of Knuckles, and Surge grinned, his hand balling into a fist a split second before crashing into the echidna's throat. The impact shot Knuckles backwards, and up into the air, to which Surge took the opportunity to once again warp to the guardians location and deliver another crushing blow. Electricity danced up from the lions former location, while Mighty quickly turned his attention to the crushing blow against the upper wall of the room.
"You may exceed in strength, echidna," Surge whispered tauntingly. "But I'm much, much faster."
Planting his boot on the wall, Surge heaved Knuckles away and threw him to the ground, allowing him to slide through a multitude of mechanical devices and tables.
"Knux!" Mighty shouted, beginning to rush to his comrades aid.
"Don't let him escape, Mighty! We can't lose that artifact!" Knuckles shouted angrily, whilst wincing from the strain of standing.
With a nod, the armadillo turned his sights to the grinning lion, whom simply waved and warped down the hallway in a flash of yellow energy. Gulping, Mighty focused his energy to his feet and dashed after him, his speed unusually amplified for his bulkiness. Strings of yellow, electric flashes lit up the dark corridors, leading the way to the volcanic exterior that surrounded the base. Mighty grunted and quickly smashed his fist through a malfunctioned worker drone, causing parts to scatter across the entry way. With no time to think, Mighty once again charged energy to his fist and smashed through the front door, and ran into the unreal heat of the volcano, to which Surge stood aloof, waiting for him.
"You must really want this, huh?" Surge remarked, admiring the luminescent orb.
"Exactly why I'll get it back!" Mighty retorted, clenching his fists.
"I'm waiting," the lion replied in a sing-song voice.
Growling in frustration, Mighty dashed toward his opponent, his fist glowing with a dazzling green energy. The armadillo quickly jumped in the air and reeled his arm back, charging as much power he could into his punch. Noticing the sheer power of the attack, Surge flipped backwards, and pushed off with his hands to vault away from the attack just before collision. Slabs of cement and metal shot upwards, becoming disfigured and distorted from the might of the punch. Waves of green energy rolled off the surface left unscathed by the attack, pushing away debris and dust from the epicentre.
Surge, however landed on a pillar lining the runway leading to the base, and then warped into the centre of the destruction in a flash of light. Mighty yelped as a fist collided with his cheek, knocking him off balance and staggering backwards. Using the opportunity, Surge quickly spun around and swung his leg out, smashing his heel against Mighty's shoulder. The armadillo stumbled to the left, falling to his knee as Surge flipped over top of the traveller and delivered another kick to his back, sending the hero sliding through upturned slabs of concrete and metal.
"You'll never defeat me with that sluggish fighting style," Surge explained calmly, warping onto one of the taller slabs to gain a better view of the battlefield.
"Then how about mine?"
Shock washed across Surge's face as he spun around to meet a flaming fist head on. A vortex of energy erupted from the impact, and then a dome of explosive power swallowed up the lion for only a split second before launching him through several concrete slabs, before violently crashing into the ground. Knuckles dropped through the air and fell to his knee upon landing, just as a wave of debris cleared, allowing him to see Surge standing amidst the destruction.
"That was a good hit," the lion admitted, touching the scorched hole in his apparel and examining his blood. "If I hadn't activated my warp technique, that woulda taken off my head for sure."
"Now, Mighty!"
Turning his attention behind him, the lion found himself faced with a gigantic spear of rock held above Mighty's head. Veins seemed to pop out of the armadillos biceps and neck as he heaved the humongous chunk of earth towards the Dusk agent. A spiralling vortex of wind swirled around the tip of the spear as it picked up speed, aimed directly at the nonchalant lion. Surge quickly vaulted backwards in flashes of light, allowing the spear to break apart the runway more than it already had been, causing a tremor to rip through the concrete.
"That was a good idea, I'll admit." Surge examined the damage the attack had done, his tail swaying while he sat down on one of the few pillars left standing. "You would've benefited from using that as a long range attack. Something that big needs time to build up velocity, so it was pretty easy to counter. It was nice sparring with you two, but I have to get going. Seeya."
In another flash of light, the lion reappeared on top of the radio tower lining the mouth of the volcano, and then disappeared. However, Tails quickly dashed through the entrance of the base, only to stop in surprise with what await him.
"Woah, what happened out here?" he muttered, pulling the liquid substance he called L.I.N.C off of his wrist.
"One of those crooks escaped with the Twilight Key, unfortunately," Mighty explained amidst pained groans as he stretched his arms. "How could someone be that fast! We couldn't touch him with anything we threw at him!"
"My Deep Impact didn't even work on him. It's like he went right through it," Knuckles grumbled in frustration, holding his scorched hand.
"We'd better get back to the Workshop so I can patch you guys up – besides, I recovered some schematics and journal entries from the Doctor's systems. He really went out of his way to make sure no one found what he was working on!"
With mutual nods to retreat for the time being, the trio hastily made their way back through the base. However, despite the loss, they couldn't help but feel they were losing much, much more.
Location: Regal Beach, Empire City
The blue hero groaned deeply, rubbing his head as he peered into the sunlight above. All around, scrap parts sparked, and the sound of rushing water quickly filled his ears. Another groan left his mouth, and Sonic pushed himself to his feet, hardly able to stand from the damage he had sustained in his battle against Metal.
Wait, Metal. That's right, he had fought Metal Sonic.
"Where did he go?" Sonic thought, looking around, oblivious of the mechanical parts around him.
You destroyed him, boy!
"What do you mean!" Sonic shouted, knowing all too well who the voice in his head belonged to.
Well, actually, I did. But you were dead. You're welcome, by the way.
"And what exactly should I be thanking you for, ugly?" Sonic scowled.
If it weren't for me, you'd be a burnt up hunk of flesh. Heh, I guess you have a stronger will than I expected!
"And I'll just keep you caged up like before," the blue hero grumbled, glancing at the parts of Metal floating in the water. Suddenly a solemn feeling fell over him. "That's not how I wanted to end our rivalry, that's for sure."
Waves continued to crash against the shores, slowly pulling the scattered parts of Metal into the ocean, never to be seen again. Sonic watched as they floated off, but forced himself to focus on his current task. Warning the others was definitely his current priority. Clenching his fists, he knew that it wouldn't be long until Dusk actually attacked, this time on a much, much larger scale.
"But what could they really be after?" he muttered, rubbing his chin in thought.
"You're putting way too much thought into it, kid."
Quickly pivoting on his heel, Sonic spun to find the source of the other voice. Suddenly the temperature around him seemed to spike, and the flames around Gantz proved to be the reason. The embers crackled and spun high into the sky, the aura of flame circulating his body beginning to grow and grow. Sonic threw a hand over his forehead in order to block some of the heat, but found it to be too over whelming.
"Ugh, dude, turn down the heat why don'tcha!" Sonic shouted angrily.
Suddenly the flame collected back into the tanuki's body, and the Dusk member jumped across the newly formed body of water, and landed in front of Sonic. With arms crossed, the fiery agent snickered, and leaned against a rock double his height.
"Like I said, you're thinking about it way too much."
"What do you mean by that, dirt bag?" Sonic retorted fiercely.
"Usually our groups are pretty organized," Gantz explained. "But our phase seems to be going down shit's creek pretty fast. So, I'm just here to see what happens of it. You know, you don't seem like much of a world hero to me."
"What's that supposed to mean!" Sonic growled.
"Oh, nothing," Gantz sighed, beginning to walk away. "Just thought I'd press your buttons to see if the recording Metal sent back was true...I guess not. By the way, you and your friends are in the wrong place once again! Station Square's about to be brought to the ground, so you had best hurry."
"What'd you say!" Sonic barked, utterly shocked at the news.
"You heard me."
With an angered growl, Sonic darted towards the fiery agent, blue energy twirling around his fist. However, once flashing a cocky grin, Gantz hopped through a vortex of purple light, disappearing. The power attack charged in Sonic's grasp slammed against the sand. Debris shot up into the sky from the attack, but quickly died out with the attack. The blue hero growled, his fist clenched tightly, and sprinted back towards the Mystic Ruins to warn the others.
Location: GUN Central Command
Heavy breaths escaped his lungs, puffs of his air appearing in the cold air of the night. Anger had been ignited unlike any time before, and Shadow wasn't going back to that murderous organization, but instead he'd avenge all those hurt by them. Blood continued to drip from his stained gloves, splattering onto the cement beneath him. Wounded and dead soldiers lay in his wake, but despite this, one man, sporting a turquoise glow, walked through it all, a confident look plastered to his face. The bodies scattered throughout the wide corridor suddenly slid against the wall with such force, their bones crunched.
Turning slightly to face his former leader, the rage filled eyes of the black hedgehog seemed to gleam in the darkness. Crimson and violent flames of energy rolled upwards from the ultimate life forms body, creating an aura of power to ready himself for an attack to inevitably come.
"You realize you've become an enemy to the government now, Shadow," Shrike informed, the rubble hovering around him suddenly dropping to the ground. "If you work with me, we could take this planet in the palms of our hand and rule it. You could be apart of a new power. A government driven by truth and security. Yet you run. You can still beg for forgiveness. "
A wicked scowl found its way onto the dark hedgehog's face. "Don't give me that bullshit, Shrike," he barked. "I would never consider begging for forgiveness. Especially when it's you who should be begging me!"
"Bold words, Shadow." Shrike remarked with an amused look. "Are you prepared to become a rogue GUN agent? Your face will be plastered on every wall, every news station and every television. Mark my words, your declaration of betrayal on the government is a death wish. You will become GUNs number one enemy. You'll be top priority for our wanted list. Are you prepared?"
"Send all the soldiers you want after me, I'll kill them all. Then after I've painted the walls of this building with their blood - I'll kill you!"
Taking a cigarette from his military jacket, the psychic buck placed it between his lips and lit it. "Then I guess it's game on. But I assure you, I'll be the victor."
Remaining quiet, the dark hedgehog suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. However, Shrike stood calmly amidst the gore, smoke drifting away from the cigarette between his lips. After pulling the stick away and exhaling the smoke, the man grinned wide and tossed the half burnt cigarette onto a dead body. With an amused chuckle, the buck turned and walked back down the hallway, a wave of psychic energy pushing the opposite way, clearing the building of the dead bodies.
"Don't under estimate me, Shadow. It's time I've reclaimed what's rightfully mine."
"Our world doesn't enjoy military acts. We do them because have to, and God we are efficient." ~ Darius Seiryu, XIV King of the Voxili Kingdom, 2008
To Be Continued