Chapter 77: Balance
After an intense aerial battle over a crimson red sky, Sonny and Chip jumped out of the Tornado-1 and found themselves at the entrance to Eggmanland which resembled a massive theme-park.
"Wow, this place is crazy," Chip said in awe.
"I'm not sure why he went with this design, but then again I've never understood Eggman's tastes," Sonny said. "And neither has Sonic."
"I sense the Gaia Temple nearby," Chip said flying toward the tunnel-like opening that started from the mouth of a large Eggman head that stood behind a gold-colored statue of him. "Let's get going!"
"Okay, but we need to stick together," Sonny said running after Chip. "We don't know what kinds of traps Eggman has in store for us."
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After a few hours of searching through robot-filled tunnels and skating along rail-lines throughout Eggmanland, Sonny eventually stopped as he abruptly turned into Werehog Sonic.
"What time is it?" Sonic asked.
"It's 5:00 PM, right around the time the sun usually goes down," Chip said looking up at a nearby clock.
"Really? Between the thick clouds and being underground, I guess I must've lost track," Sonic said.
"But that shouldn't matter. Now you can pummel the robots to your hearts' content."
"You're right, Chip. Now let's get cracking!"
Then after that, Sonic barricaded through incoming hordes of robots as he and Chip went deeper underground. They even came across larger versions of Dark Gaia monsters, but they were no match for Sonic. Eventually, Sonic and Chip reached the Gaia Temple and placed the last Chaos Emerald inside.
"This should restore the planet back to normal and seal Dark Gaia away for sure," Chip said as the Emerald glowed silver. "But then I would have to be sealed as well."
"Why?" Sonic said looking down at Chip as the ground started to shake.
After he and Sonic got out of the Temple, Chip answered, "Because I wasn't meant to be released into the world this soon, and neither was Dark Gaia. Therefore, both of us must be sealed away until we're supposed to awaken."
"I see. Well, it was nice seeing you again after a long absence."
"Same here. Just remember that…no matter what happens or what forms we take, we'll always be friends." Then Chip closed his eyes. But then after a few seconds, he looked down at himself. "That's weird. My physical form should be fading by now."
"And why haven't I turned back to normal yet?"
An abrupt laughter caught Sonic and Chip's attention. This was then followed by a colossal robot appearing in the room with a drill-shaped arm and a mini-gun shaped one. Floating near the robot was the Egg Mobile with Dr. Eggman laughing maniacally inside it.
"What's so funny, Eggman?!" Sonic snapped.
Eggman stopped laughing and said, "You're too late, Sonic the Hedgehog! While you may have restored the Chaos Emeralds and placed all the world's continents back together, Dark Gaia is nearly up to his full power thanks to my machinery and the Scepter of Darkness' power. Now it's time to fix my mistake and finish you off for good!"
As soon as the Egg Mobile attached itself, the robot used its drill-arm to pierce a giant hole in the floor. The unsteadiness of the ground caused Sonic and Chip to fall down a deep circular gorge that extended downward for miles with seemingly no end. Fortunately, Sonic managed to grab Chip and then he used his arms to stretch between the falling debris till they both landed on a large chunk of the floor that was rapidly falling where the robot was waiting for them.
"Egg Dragoon, attack!" Eggman commanded.
The robot then proceeded to drill another hole into the floor, which sent Chip and Sonic plummeting once more. Meanwhile, the Egg Dragoon sprouted wings made from pure energy which it used to float down toward the bottom of the gorge and pierce a hole through that. Once this was done, the ground opened up to reveal a large magma chamber below. Fortunately, Sonic and Chip landed on a circular piece of rock that remained of the gorge's floor while the Egg Dragoon fired at them with the mini-gun.
Sonic managed to dodge the bullets while Chip flew off to the sidelines, and then Sonic charged at the robot's weaker lower-half. He swung on the robot's legs in order to tear them off, but Eggman responded by detaching the drill-arm and sent it flying in Sonic's direction. However, Sonic managed to leap upward before the drill pierced through the robot's mid-drift. Once Sonic got up to the robot's chest, he saw a panic-stricken Eggman underneath a protective shield of glass.
"You're dead now!" Sonic said and grabbed the sides of the Egg Mobile with his stretchable arms.
"Please, Sonic, don't kill me!" Eggman pleaded. "We're rivals to the bitter end! You can't live without me and I can't do without you!"
"That maybe so, but turning me into this monster and endangering the lives of billions in order to awaken a being that should never have been awoken is unforgivable!"
Then Sonic used his strength to detach the Egg Mobile from the Egg Dragoon and toss it off into the depths of the magma chamber. As the Egg Dragoon plummeted, Sonic quickly jumped onto the chunk of rock that still remained where Chip was waiting for him just as it hit the magma. Though the bottom-half immediately started to melt, the rest of the rock remained steady.
"Are you all right, Chip?" Sonic asked.
"I'm fine, but we've got to get out of here," Chip said urgently.
The magma erupted in front of them as purple tendrils snaked upwards. What followed afterwards was an enormous serpent with black scales, purple eyes that glowed eerily, clawed hands, and horns with teeth-marks on them. As it roared loudly, the Egg Mobile appeared alongside it.
"That's right, Dark Gaia, crush that hedgehog and his puny friend!" Eggman commanded.
However, the serpent merely used one of its tendrils to flick the Egg Mobile away with Eggman's cries following it. Then Dark Gaia concentrated its tendrils on Sonic and Chip, but Sonic managed to dodge all of them. A brief gleam flickered in the serpent's eyes, which Sonic noticed before he knelt on the ground in pain.
"What's wrong, Sonic?" Chip asked.
"I don't know…something's…trying to get…out of me," Sonic said between groans.
Then Sonic let out a painful scream as a dark-purple energy leapt from his chest and was absorbed into Dark Gaia's open mouth. As Sonic changed back into Sonny, a green serpentine eye appeared on Dark Gaia's forehead and the teeth-marks on the horns opened up revealing them to be extra mouths as serpent eyes appeared on top of them. Concerned, Chip tried to stir Sonny but he was too weak to stand. As Dark Gaia's tendrils attached once more, Chip's necklace glowed and it enveloped him and Sonny in a protective green shield.
"Seven lights of Mobius rekindled!" Chip commanded. "Awaken, and gather here to me!"
As the green shield released a ring of light from it, the seven Gaia Temples suddenly appeared in the magma chamber. They then floated toward one another and formed a single colossal structure that resembled a giant made of stone with glowing green eyes and a circular chest-plate. When Sonny woke up, he was standing on the edge of the colossal giant's chest-plate and held onto one of the columns as it flew toward Dark Gaia who retaliated by throwing flaming rocks. Fortunately, the giant managed to dodge the flaming rocks and then once it got close enough it punched Dark Gaia in the face with fists outlined in green flames. But Dark Gaia quickly recovered and held the giant within its massive clawed hands.
"Now, Sonny!" Chip's voice said from the giant's head. "Hit the forehead eye, which is Dark Gaia's weak spot!"
"All right then!" Sonny said as he transformed into Sonic, who no longer had the claws or fangs and his spiky hair was back to its usual length without the white highlights. "Let's get rolling!"
Sonic then raced along the giant's temple-covered body till he reached a ramp that allowed him to leap toward Dark Gaia's forehead eye. He then punched and kicked it several times till Dark Gaia released his grip allowing the colossal giant to retreat. This was repeated several more times before Dark Gaia seemed to faint. But a few minutes later, Dark Gaia reared his head a released a purple cloud of energy up through the hole where Sonic and Chip came from.
"What's happening?" Sonic asked urgently.
"Dark Gaia's covering the world in darkness!" Chip answered. "And look!"
Sonic looked back at Dark Gaia, who had now sprouted two sets of extra arms, three eyes on each horn as the jaws opened wide, and one large green eye replaced the two purple eyes from before.
"We're too late!" Chip cried. "Dark Gaia has now regained his true form. We'll never beat him now!"
"No way!" Sonic responded. "We've still got the Chaos Emeralds!"
As soon as he spoke, the seven Chaos Emeralds flew from their respective temples and circled around Sonic. He then transformed into Super Sonic and flew straight toward Dark Gaia with Chip flying the colossal giant behind him. Unfortunately, Dark Gaia blocked them by creating a giant shield around him that was being powered by the tendrils that now resembled blue serpents.
"I'll keep Dark Gaia distracted," Chip said as he forced the colossal giant to penetrate the shield. "You just worry about taking down the shield!"
"Right!" Sonic said, and flew to each of the serpents' heads which were sticking out from the shield.
After giving each head a good beating, the shield finally collapsed. Then before Chip could retreat, Dark Gaia once again immobilized the colossal giant in its arms. So Sonic rammed into each of the monster's hands, forcing it to let go, and then Dark Gaia released a beam of purple energy from its mouth which Chip blocked. Once this was done, Sonic flew straight into Dark Gaia's main eye and out the other side. The monster roared in pain as it dissolved into the magma, which Sonic watched before passing out from exhaustion.
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By the time Sonic awoke, he found himself lying on the same patch of dirt he crash-landed into on Windmill Isle. Sonic then looked down at himself, and smiled once he realized he was back to normal. Expecting to find Chip, he looked toward the rock where the kid had hidden behind but instead found Chip's necklace lying near him. Picking it up, Sonic noticed Chip's reflection inside the stone which was then followed by a voice in his head.
"Remember what I told you earlier, Sonic," Chip's voice said with a hint of sadness. "No matter what happens or what forms we take, we will always be friends."
"Thanks Chip, for everything," Sonic said as he placed the necklace on his wrist.
As the sun rose over the sea of Apotos, which was restored to its proper place when Spagonia's temple was accessed, Sonic smiled and took off running along the coast.
"Sonic!" Tails shouted as the Tornado-1 appeared from out of the sky and flew alongside. "I see you're back to normal!"
"I know and it's wonderful!" Sonic replied and leaped onto the biplane's top-wing.
"Where's Chip?" Tails asked.
"Oh, he had somewhere else to be," Sonic responded.
"Will we ever see him again?"
"Probably not."
"Well that's too bad. Professor Pickle and Amelia are planning a celebration in Shamar to congratulate you on saving the world. You won't believe the kinds of crazy things that happened while you were away."
"Like what?"
"The sky turning dark, the Gaia Temples vanishing in the blink of an eye, and Eggmanland being completely destroyed when the continent shifted back into place."
"Sounds pretty crazy."
To be continued…