Violet Dreams
Part II
Chapter 40: Resolve
"Peace behind good intentions will stand as firm as mountains."
Location: Outside Station Square
Hanging heavy in the sky, clouds of ash and smoke hovered above the once great city. The fields of emerald green grass heading north of the metropolis swayed gently from the faint breezes as a black hedgehog raced through them. The golden rings around his wrists gleamed faintly, reflecting small shafts of light from the scarce beams of sun peaking through the dark clouds overhead.
Coming to a sudden halt in front of the city entrance, Shadow stared ahead. In his mind, he prepared himself for whatever was within the city. He knew by the ash and smoke Galaxy had finally made his move; that things were drawing to a close. But, he had another task. The others would take care of the cities, and drive out Dusk, but he had to find Galaxy, and save Rouge.
Turning his attention back down the main freeway leading through Station Square, he noticed a fleet of GUN helicopters. There's no doubt they would be looking for him.
The fabric in his gloves tightened with his fists, and a surge of power ran through his body.
In a flash of light, Shadow disappeared, his mind locked onto an energy signature belonging to the lost Chaos Emeralds. Light inverted around him, and the black hedgehog sped at light speed through town. Over the last couple years, he had grown accustomed to the Emeralds wavelengths, allowing him to hone in on their energy from miles away. Now he was thankful for having developed this technique.
His surroundings returned to normal, and particles of Chaos Energy fell to the ground as he kicked away an attacking Dusk pawn. It screeched in pain and bounced across the ground, knocking over a GUN soldier in the process.
"I shoulda known that traitor would come here!" one soldier shouted, aiming his rifle on Shadow. "Stop where you are! You're under arrest!"
Shadow's malicious crimson eyes darted to the left, and focused on the soldier. The rifle lit up with a rapid blaze of light, sending a barrage of ammunition towards the ebony hedgehog. The world around Shadow once again inverted, and time slowed down to a crawl, allowing the rogue GUN agent to walk past the bullets.
Time reverted back to its normal speed, and Shadow gripped the soldiers throat, lifting him up into the air. The man choked and sputtered, clawing at his attacker. The soldiers around each gasped and immediately trained their sights on the dark hedgehog; their laser targeting systems dotting his body.
"Put the man down, Shadow! You have until the count of three, or we'll open fire!" The leader of the company shouted, signalling his men to get ready. "What's it going to be?"
Crimson light suddenly started to smoke off of Shadow's quills. The man in his grasp screamed in agony, his skin beginning to burn from the hand around his throat. The soldiers around the hedgehog shared mutual feelings of dread watching their comrade scream, but the head officer signalled for them to fire. Which was taken with delight.
A field of inverted light expanded around Shadow, causing the bullets to slow down around him. Then, a wave of black energy pulsated from within his body, shattering the inverted world around Shadow. The bullets shot out of the barrier, killing the soldiers around him. The dark hedgehog grunted, only to drop the wounded soldier so he could grip his chest. His heart lurched within, and a rushing feeling of pain filled his upper body. The terrified soldier screamed at the malevolent aura pulsing around the black hedgehog before scrambling to his feet. The soldier pulled the pistol from his holster and aimed it at Shadow, ready to fire. Tears dripped down his cheeks in fear of the Rogue Soldier.
Turning towards the soldier, Shadow's hand lit up with a sparkling, golden light. The dark hedgehog waved his hand in the air, sending a spear of energy through the soldiers chest. The dark hedgehog watched the soldier fall to the ground, causing his attack to burst into a flurry of particles. However his fight wasn't over just yet.
The creatures sent by Dusk crawled around the battlefield, eyeing up their next meal, which came in the form of the dead GUN soldiers. Ignoring the pawns, Shadow closed his eyes and focused on the energy coming from the Chaos Emerald nearby. After regaining his bearings, the hedgehog made his way towards the gem. Using so much power without an Emerald was beginning to take a toll on his body, and he knew he'd have to hurry.
However with each passing second, the amount of soldiers, machines and Dusk creatures seemed to increase. The gore and fatalities grew by number. Buildings had been set ablaze and destroyed, as tanks moved through the streets, combating the larger pawns sent out by Dusk. The dark hedgehog bounded over top of a tank, just as it fired a shot at a creature of the same size. Smoke, fire and ash exploded from impact, and Shadow slid to a stop, covering his eyes and mouth.
From within the debris, a hammer like fist swung from the left. Shadow quickly jumped into the air, only to be shot back from the turbulence the fist created. The debris blew over, and from within any remaining, a red beam of energy tore apart the cement, and eventually the tank that had attacked the creature. Shadow jumped away from an overturned taxi just before the creature attacking GUN flattened it. Using the attacking creature as a staircase, the dark hedgehog jumped off its head, and onto the crumbling overpass above. A single GUN helicopter swooped down from above, firing missiles at a horde of the larger creatures further down the street. A cloud of flame and smoke followed the impact, but Shadow ignored the conflict, and instead focused on the two figures standing atop one of the highest towers in Station Square. Once again honing in on the power of the Chaos Emerald, Shadow warped to its location.
Location: Tails Workshop, Mystic Ruins
A gust of wind burst past the train station, carrying the dust that came with it into the air. The blue streak slid to a stop momentarily, and then dashed up the long set of stairs leading to the one place he knew was safe. Sliding to a halt, the blue hero noticed all his friends waiting around the Tornado. A string of gasps filled the air, and Amy ran up to embrace him. The young blue hero wrapped his arms around Amy, and then waved to his comrades. Tails quickly jumped out of the biplane, and the group surrounded the blue blur.
"Sonic, I'm glad you're back! What happened to you?" Tails questioned, noticing the minor wounds scattered all about his brother's body. "It looks like you've fought an army off by yourself!"
"I met up with Shadow out on Prison Island, and things didn't really turn out too hot over there. Turns out we're up against a whole lot more than just Dusk, bud. Shrike, the new GUN Commander, locked us up after a big rant about vigilantes and such. Oh! And I guess Egghead had a backup of Metal somewhere, coz' he attacked the base, and that's kinda how we got out," Sonic summarized, a finger on his chin.
"What happened to Metal? Are you okay?" Amy wondered, her eyes wide in shock.
"We won't be having anymore trouble with that buckethead, to say the least..." Sonic explained, a hint of guilt in his voice.
"All that matters is that you're safe, Mister Sonic," Cream exclaimed happily. "Did you bring back one of those pretty orbs?"
"Dusk got the upper hand in that department, unfortunately." Sonic sighed, then noticed the bandages on Knuckles and Mighty. "Say, how'd it go with you guys? Did ya' put one up on the score board for us?"
"Both my group and Amy's group were overpowered," Tails informed, but didn't seem to be too upset over the loss. "But I did manage to get some information from Eggmans base in Mazuri, and I've picked up traces of the Chaos Emeralds around the planet. We're just heading out to go check out the signatures. Need a ride? You look pretty exhausted, Sonic..."
"I'll tag along this time." The blue hero chuckled. "Going toe to toe with Metalhead took a lot outta me!"
"Well then, let's hurry up!" Knuckles grunted.
Location: Central Clocktower, Station Square
"If it isn't the military's dog!" Crush exclaimed viciously, standing protectively in front of a strange machine. "I suppose you're here to rant on about how we're causing destruction? Save the speech."
With peaked interest, Shadow eyed the machine, noticing the Chaos Emerald housed within it. "I'm here for the Emerald, but, since you two are here it saves me the work of finding Galaxy," Shadow explained, moving into a defensive stance just in case.
"Can't we just give it to him, Crush..." Gaia questioned timidly, obviously intimidated by Shadow. "We're almost done anyways."
"You're joking, right? Galaxy would wring our throats!" Crush retorted, fear showing in her eyes. "You hold him off while I finish up!"
With a nervous nod, the gigantic bear lunged forth, his fist wrapped in rock. Watching his foe move into action, Shadow jumped backwards, avoiding the crushing punch from the agent. Cement crumbled under the weight of the attack, but Gaia continued his assault. Shadow ducked beneath another punch from the rock solid bear, while chaos energy charged in his fist. Yellow sparks glistened down his arm and along his fingers, and as he shot back up behind the Dusk agent, he smashed his fist against the bears back. A wave of energy burst forth from his hand, pushing Gaia over and onto the ground.
Then a blade of chaos energy extended from Shadow's hand just as the bear turned to his back to get back up. Gaia's eyes went wide, the tip of the blade now against his throat.
"What're you two doing with that machine?" the dark hedgehog barked, pivoting on his foot to face the shocked girl to his right.
"It's to drain the planet of its natural life force. This one is finished, but the others are setting them up around the planet as we speak," Crush explained, her voice stern. "We're doing this to benefit everyone, but you and your corrupt military are much too stupid to realize that. I'm sorry that you aren't all enlightened like we are!"
"So your groups selfish little goal is more important than innocent lives?" Shadow retorted quietly, turning his attention to Gaia briefly. "Fathers, mothers and children are being killed down there, all trying to protect what they love. Yet you hand full of delinquents insist on being nothing more than just mindless, little sheep. You know, I've seen both sides to this argument, and I don't like yours anymore than I like GUN's."
"I remember you, Shadow," Crush informed, taking the Emerald from the strange machine. "You were the soldier who tried to save me when Doctor Eggman attacked the prison I was being held at. When you failed, I learnt that the others within my team and I were the reasons behind his attack. He wanted us for power, just like what the governments of our homes wanted. Before I was just a weapon, but now I can be a soldier – like you – fighting for peace. You have it all wrong; you're the sheep. We're revolutionaries."
"You have a lot to learn, Crush," the dark hero responded solemnly. "Give up the Emerald, or I'll take it by forc-"
Before he could finish, a pillar of rock exploded beneath his feet, sending him flying. Brick and stone crumbled away from the clock housing of the skyscraper, causing the bell within to ring gently. The dark hedgehog peered through his squinted eyes, finding Gaia running towards him once again. Once more, Chaos energy lit up his hand, as well as his quills. Light wrapped around his body, allowing him to warp behind the bear and deliver a crushing kick into Gaia's spine. The bear stumbled forwards into the clock tower, but quickly absorbed the material within to reform his rock boxing gloves. Gaia spun back around, his arm reeled back and ready to strike. Crimson eyes opened wide at the sheer size of the rock encasing Gaia's fist. Thinking through his options as fast as possible, Shadow rolled to the left, allowing the fist to smash into the floor. A quake rocked the entire building, causing it to tremor violently.
"I'm sorry," Gaia murmured with a sadistic smirk.
Shadow snapped his attention behind him. Gaia was nowhere to be seen, but a rotating violet portal took his spot, with a hand made of sand looming over the hedgehog. The hand suddenly dropped down on Shadow, and pulled the hedgehog back through the portal before he could react, allowing Crush time to escape.
"Hey, you!" a voice called from the streets.
"Don't they ever go away?" Crush though to herself, becoming increasingly frustrated.
The fox girl spun around to look at the newcomers, only to find Mighty on the ground with Sonic. Suddenly her power and fearlessness disappeared, replaced with sorrow and despair. Metallic blue eyes locked onto Mighty's, and the two knew that their differing ideals were going to clash more than ever. Crush pulled the cloak from her body, and pulled her silvery hair into a pony-tail, leaving two long locks of hair to frame her petite face. Blue energy seemed to glow off of her lip and nose piercings. The young fox quickly jumped off the building, emerald in hand, and landed a few yards from her former comrade.
"So you didn't change your mind, huh, Mighty?" she called out, trying her best not to tear up. "I really wished we didn't have to fight one another."
"Who's that girl, dude?" Sonic whispered, and nudged his solemn comrade.
The young traveller tugged at the bandage around his chest, and then let out a sigh. "Ray and I met her out in Spagonia when we were helping out the military with a group of religious extremists. She was being used as a ransom because of some sort of power or artifact she had. I can't remember too clearly on the details, though."
"We all travelled for a year, Mighty. We became best friends, comrades and family. Yet you just let them take Ray and I away...like we were ..nothing," she recalled, walking closer to the duo. Moisture had begun cloaking her form, wavering the loose thigh length shorts and tank top that graced her hour glass figure. "How could you just let them lock us up like that?"
"Listen up, I've known Mighty here for a long time," Sonic butted in, standing in front of his ally. "And after all the years I've known this dude, I know for sure that he'd never abandon a friend! And another thin-"
"Sonic, stop," Mighty interjected, placing his hand on Sonic's shoulder. The blue hero turned around, bewildered. "She's right, I let them down. Fear got the best of me, and I didn't know what to do...I was going to save them. That's why I busted up some of GUN's machines. But before they could take me out to their base, Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles attacked. And well, you know the story from there."
The young armadillo stepped past his friend, and stared at Crush, tears welling in his eyes. "I really did mean to come save you guys, Crush. I did my best to get Ray back, but...he died. I don't want to lose another family member, so why don't you just come back? We're all more than willing to take you back. You don't have to do this!"
Tears dripped down the icy blue fox's cheeks. Her eyes locked onto her former comrade, while thoughts plagued her mind. Could she really just leave Dusk? Just like that? No, it couldn't be that easy. They'd come to get her, wouldn't they? She quickly shook her head, coming back to her senses. A barrier of water surrounded her, while her hands froze over. Fire hydrants burst open with more of the blue liquid, as geysers shot up from the cement, creating a humid and slippery battlefield.
"I can't do that, Mighty."
"All that exists around is but a temporary mark of our mortality." ~ Tikal the Echidna, Knuckles Tribe Scholar
To be Continued