Chapter 61: A Blast from the Past - Part 7:
I'm Dr. Eggman! The greatest scientist in all the world!
(sigh) I honestly didn't think it would come to this! Those goddamn
hedgehogs singlehandedly beat all the minions I sent after them,
they cheated their way out of a fight amongst themselves, and now
they're using the 'real superpower of teamwork' to beat the others!
Rrrrrrggggghhh! Well, I guess the only way to ultimately defeat them
is with an element of surprise! Heh heh heh...those jackasses will
NEVER see THIS bad boy coming!
Back in the holographic version of Stardust Speedway were the remains of Metal Sonic. His head and limbs were separated from his torso, exposing several wires, which occasionally let off some sparks. Without warning, a rectangular projection of Dr. Eggman in the unknown lair appeared, gazing over the destroyed robot.
"I think I've seen enough of this." The doctor said, pressing a button on his control panel.
A thick bolt of electricity suddenly shot down from the sky and entered Metal Sonic's torso, causing it to jitter due to gaining power. With the help of the electrical impulse, five magnetic extensions appeared from the open sockets, each one attracting a missing robotic part back to its usual place. When Metal Sonic was finally reassembled, he sat up and looked around the ravaged city, before noticing a large puddle somehow moving along the streets towards him.
"Good to see you back! As an awakening present, might I introduce you to a new friend?" Eggman continued.
Metal Sonic said nothing, watching as the puddle suddenly took on a translucent physical form. It resembled a large dragon-like creature with several large tentacles, and had blue scaly skin on the back of its main body. A few transparent spikes were jutting out from the back of its head, each one containing a green organ within it. It was a resurrected Perfect Chaos. Still watching the scene from the bedroom, Eggman pressed yet another button, causing the two beings to become enveloped in a yellow aura and start levitating off the ground. Finally, they merged into each other, resulting in a blinding flash of light. From inside the lair, the two doctors, four robots, and three girls shielded their eyes at the sight of the bright light covering the entire screen. When it finally died down, everyone but Dr. Eggman and Dr. Eggman Nega shrieked in terror at the sight. In the place of the two beings was Metal Madness, a humungous, demonic form of Metal Sonic that had been created by infusing him with the power of Chaos.
"Yes! Yes!" Eggman cheered, "It worked! It actually worked! Heh heh! Now, Metal Overlord! Go after those meddling hedgehogs and process them into hot dogs!"
"Aw, really? But I prefer hamburgers!" Nega declined.
"Rrrgh! Fine! Process them into bologna!" Eggman said.
"But I just said..." Eggman Nega interrupted.
"Oh, can it! It's a fucking compromise!" Eggman replied.
As ordered, Metal Madness levitated around 10 feet into the air and instantly teleported out of the scene.
I'm Shadow the Hedgehog! The Ultimate Life-Form!
I gotta say! All this combat is making me pumped, and admittedly,
somewhat excited for what could be around the corner! Sure, not
all of it was fun (particularly that overgrown insect, who went down
like a little boy in a grown men's prison), but other than that, this will
surely be the source of many fond memories to come!
Back in the dead forest, Sonic, Silver, and Shadow were running along a mulch trail through the woods, looking for a way out.
"So is there anything else you can do in that form?" Silver asked.
"Well, besides hand-to-hand combat, I can also stretch my arms out over long distances to either grab objects or grapple to faraway spots, use my new shoes to keep my traction in check, and convert the pain of my beaten enemies into raw power. And since I learned how to swim early on into this story, I'm sure the added muscle will help me swim faster." Sonic explained, "Not to mention that I can stay warm in frigid weather due to the excess fur, and bite into tough steak without having to chew it for five damn minutes."
"And as for weaknesses?" Shadow inquired.
"Well, I can't run as fast or jump as high, so my Werehog form basically turns me into a non-athletic powerhouse." Sonic replied, before stopping at the sight of something curious within the clearing the trio was in.
Sticking up from the ground was the rim of a large crater that appeared to be bottomless.
"Really? Another big drop?" Shadow sighed.
"Are you serious, Shadow?" Sonic asked, "We've only had to suffer a huge fall once so far, and even then, we all saved ourselves and survived, so we'll be fine here too! It's not like you to whine like this!"
Shadow said nothing in response.
"Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sonic said, jumping non-hesitantly into the crater and free-falling into the dark abyss.
After briefly looking at each other, Shadow and Silver jumped after him.
Deep into the darkness, the trio noticed that the temperature was getting noticeably hotter. Soon enough, however, they realized that the heat was from the gigantic pool of magma below.
"D'ehhh! And even then, we saved ourselves and survived!" Shadow mocked in a high, squeaky voice, "Face it, Sonic! You're not always right!"
"Oh, shut the fuck up! And when did I ever say that?!" Sonic replied.
"How about both of you shut the fuck up?!" Silver interrupted.
"Regardless, there's a large floating rock below, so we can still save ourselves!" Sonic replied, ignoring Silver.
Without hesitating, Sonic proceeded to perform a few front flips in order to try and stick his landing on the stone platform below, but only ended up losing control and flipping rapidly.
"Gah!" He screamed, "Too much wind-resistance!"
Shadow tried to do the same, but failed as well, leaving Silver with no choice but to catch the two furry spheres with his telekinesis, while also levitating himself and carrying the trio all the way down onto the rock.
"Thanks, buddy!" Sonic said, dusting himself off.
Shadow grunted in agreement as he got to his feet, followed by Silver nodding as if to say "you're welcome".
Shortly after the three hedgehogs regathered their bearings, a deafening rumble could be heard, echoing throughout the planet's core in which they were standing. The force of the tremors rattled the very platform they were standing on, causing Sonic and Shadow to fall flat onto their backs, with Sonic accidentally rolling dangerously close to the platform's edge. Silver managed to prevent himself from being knocked over by catching himself with his telekinesis. As minutes passed, the source of the tremors finally revealed itself in the form of two large monsters.
One had a snake-like body with a boomerang-shaped head adorned with three large, green eyes and a small mouth, alongside a pair of long arms, (each hand tipped with blue, six-foot-long claws) and a glowing purple mohawk on the back of its head. The other was a very grotesque and demonic pink being with a single eye, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and six muscular arms jutting out from a proportionately large torso. Beneath, he had an incredibly tiny waist and thick legs that ended in miniscule feet and were clothed in white pants. Throughout his exposed skin were what appeared to be glowing tattoos in odd, illegible patterns.
"Really? Only two? Given what happened last round, I was expecting that all rounds after that would have three bosses apiece." Shadow said, "...So where's the third mook?"
"Forget that! Just who in the hell are these guys? I sure can't remember fighting them!" Silver replied.
"That's easy!" Sonic remarked, "That guy on the left is Dark Gaia, the entity I told you about earlier, and this oaf is Alf-Layla wa-Layla...or at least an incomplete version of him."
"Well that explains it!" Shadow said, "Once again, how come you get to go on all the action-adventures, while I just stop minor felonies as a damn GUN agent?!"
"Well, you were supposed to accompany me on my adventure that involved Dark Gaia, but shit happened." Sonic replied.
"My, my, such hypocracy! I thought you didn't even like name calling!" Alf mocked.
"Yeah?! Who asked you?!" Sonic replied, he and his comrades entering a fighting stance.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up!" Silver said, "Before we start this, just how the actual fuck are we supposed to take on those giants?!"
"Oh, that's no big deal! So far, these bosses haven't been as strong as they originally were, so I think we can take 'em just fine." Sonic replied.
"'So far?' What if that changes?" Shadow asked.
"Good point." Sonic replied, "Well, when I originally fought Dark Gaia, I had the help of the Gaia Colossus, who was this large monster made of stone temples. After he beat him up for a bit, I ran along the body of the Colossus and beat the ever-living shit out of those big eyes, before he transformed, gaining even more eyes, which I destroyed as well, alongside more beatings. And strangely, at one point during that fight, I felt a lot of tingles. Almost as if someone was rapidly pressing a button 60 damn times!"
"Well, there's just one problem with that:" Shadow said, "We don't have any Coliseums or whatever around here."
"Wait! Maybe we can replicate one!" Silver chimed in, gaining the eye-contact of his cohorts, "Maybe I can use my telekinesis to form all of these rocks around myself and provide the same effect. And I'm sure if it works on Dark Gaia, it'll probably work on that other guy too."
"I have a name, you know!" Alf replied angrily.
"Sounds like a plan." Sonic said.
Without a word, Silver began to draw in countless rocks from the surrounding area towards himself, until he was coated with them. Drawing in even more, he proceeded to form them into limbs, and even individual fingers and toes, until only his head was exposed. Sonic and Shadow then jumped onto his rocky shoulders and entered fighting stances, while Silver punched his stone fist into his palm.
"Oh, and don't think you'll be fighting them alone, we'll help too." Sonic added, "...Just in case you didn't notice!"