Chapter 67: The Grand Finale - Part 4:
My name is Miles Prower! But everyone calls me Tails!
This may have just been the greatest adventure I've ever been
on in my life! Bit of a shame that it ended so fast...much like a lot
of our other adventures from before. Ah well, at least the girls are
safe, nobody got hurt, AND Sonic Jr. still ended up being babysat
(thus allowing me to have a pelt for another day)! However, Sonic
is still convinced that Eggman survived that huge explosion that
somehow didn't damage our planet, so he chose to stay behind.
...Which...makes sense, I guess. And not only am I really skeptical
about his beliefs, but even though I had just vowed not to, I let
him go all by himself yet again! RRGH! WHY DOES THIS
ALWAYS HAPPEN?!
After a good thirty minutes of travel, Super Tails, Super Knuckles, Super Shadow, and Super Silver finally arrived back on Emerald Coast, landing right by where Cream was waiting, babysitting Sonic Jr. while simultaneously guarding the beach chairs and other belongings that were owned by the household.
"You made it!" She cheered, running over and hugging Amy, who was taken by surprise as she had only been touching the ground for a second or two, "...Ohhh..."
"Yeah, it's a long story." Amy sighed, knowing well that Cream was recoiling due to the prison outfit she was wearing.
Before long, Junior emerged from within the circle of beach-chairs, running towards his mother with open arms at an alarming speed, before leaping into her arms.
"Aww, hi Junior! Ohhh, Mommy missed you so much! Did you behave?" Amy replied, having barely caught her son after his sudden approach.
"He was no trouble at all." Cream assured, "All he did was sit there and eat the oranges out of the cooler. I hope you weren't saving them for some drinks or anything."
Blaze and Rouge soon approached the three as well, before turning around. They all saw a blinding light behind them die down, revealing Silver, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails in their normal forms. Tails was the first to approach the girls, moving at a comfortable jogging pace as opposed to the casual strolling pace that the other boys were moving at.
"Alright, now that we've gotten you all out of there, were any of you hurt in any way?" He asked.
"Well, I guess that punch bowl from earlier had some blueberries in it, since I could feel hives forming on me right before the fight, but going super cured me." Silver replied.
"That's all well and good, but I was kinda' referring to the girls." Tails replied.
"Eh, not really." Blaze replied.
"Yeah. Given the context of our situation, you'd think Eggman would've actually banged us, but aside from faking us out and threatening us a few times, he never did." Rouge added.
Tails adopted a mortified facial expression.
"...Well, okay then." He replied.
"Er...what about about those injections he gave us?" Amy asked.
"...Oh, right. He also injected us with a mixture of all STDs known to mankind." Rouge quickly added, "But yeah, that was really it."
"Well fortunately, I have just the thing!" Tails replied, pulling out the same beaker full of scarlet liquid that he had finished synthesizing earlier, "This solution I've been working on can cure anything; colds, infections, bloating, viruses, aches, allergic reactions, signs of aging, high blood pressure, cholesterol, poisoning, hangovers, addictions, depression, mental disorders..."
Everyone nearby rolled their eyes as Tails continued his overly long description of the product.
"...all three types of diabetes, all known forms of cancer, and of course, all known STDs!" Tails finished, "With no side-effects whatsoever! And all you have to do is apply some of it to whatever body part is afflicted. It's perfectly digestible, it can be taken in any dosage size, and you can even spill it on white clothes without leaving permanent stains."
"Cool story, bro." Rouge replied impatiently, "Now can you just give us the cure?"
"Wait, Tails is an inventor?!" Blaze asked in disbelief, "For how long?!"
"All my life, pretty much! You know how it is with people who were bullied as kids. Hated by their peers, but loved by their teachers!" Tails replied, "I've invented all kinds of stuff. Tear-resistant condoms that are machine-washable, push-up boxers, a modded 3DS that removes the dumb friend-code feature, and hell, I've even found a way to breed the allergens out of peanuts, so now everyone can enjoy them!"
"THE DAMN CURE IF YOU DON'T MIND!" Rouge shouted in Tails' face.
"Oh...uh, right. Here it is." Tails replied, handing over the beaker, which Rouge promptly snatched from him.
Meanwhile, back in the depths of space, Sonic was still staring down Hyper Eggman while in a fighting-stance, determined to ultimately defeat him even though the odds of such happening were much slimmer.
"Hahahahah! Oh, Sonic! Such a persistent, headstrong little fucker!" Eggman gloated, "Y'know, despite the fact that you never know when to shut the hell up, that ego of yours is truly your strongest characteristic. It's what I like about you!"
Sonic did not reply, instead continuing to glare harshly at his nemesis.
"...And believe you me, even after I've conquered the world, there'll still be a small part of me who's really gonna miss that arrogance." Eggman finished, "Now. Once I break your back with just two fingers, I'm gonna wait a bit, making sure you're the one I kill last. You'll just sit there all helpless and paralyzed, as I make short work of every single one of your friends, your wife, and...your precious little son...Junior, is it? Heh heh heh heh!"
As Eggman let out the last few words of that sentence, he made sure to lean right into Sonic's face in order to taunt him. Sonic himself was overcome with intense anger at that comment, his eyes narrowing and his fists trembling with rage. With his judgement clouded, he nailed his opponent straight in the cheek with a punch, which didn't even leave a mark, but was enough to make him back up a little.
"D'awww, did I strike a nerve there, Sonic?" Eggman asked mockingly, "Well we'll see who the crazed one is once I strike all of your-!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sonic shouted, "Just shut your damn mouth, already!"
"If you insist..." Eggman replied, before immediately jumped high into the air.
With a roar capable to shattering the sound-barrier, he landed back on the platform, smashing it with both fists and causing it to crumble into several smaller chunks. Sonic managed to roll under him and jump off before this happened however. He immediately proceeded to jump from asteroid to asteroid, trying to stay out of Hyper Eggman's field of vision. Eggman, however, managed to save himself by climbing onto an asteroid himself. He proceeded to scan the area around him to look for Sonic, but he could not see him.
Sonic continued his retreat. He spotted a much larger asteroid ahead, and made a beeline for it. However, as he swung over a smaller one in order to maintain his momentum, this caused it to be sent reeling right in Eggman's direction. The large rock hit him in the shoulder, once again not damaging him in the slightest, but letting him know where his enemy was.
"Sneak attacks, eh?" He grunted, "You're gonna have to do better than that!"
Eggman proceeded to hop across the asteroid belt as well, now able to see Sonic clearly. Sonic heard the rocks shattering behind him and sped up, proceeding to knock more small asteroids into his foe to slow him down as he made his way to the large one. By the time Eggman caught up, he had some small bruises scattered around his upper body, and Sonic had already hidden behind the massive rock.
"You can't hide from me, you little blue jackass!" He called out as he looked around.
Sonic, still out of Eggman's view, proceeded to curl into a ball and roll in place at a high velocity, a baby-blue aura coating his body and what appeared to be several tiny balls of the same aura circling around him.
"C'mon now, hedgehog! I don't have all day! I need to make sure my new powers work before I can crush everything you hold dear!" Eggman yelled again.
Sonic was now wary that his foe was nearby. He stood up, his entire body covered in the same aura that had coated him a few seconds ago. Attempting to lure Eggman into the right position, he tossed one of the small asteroids around him into an adjacent asteroid-belt, the resulting noise it made prompting the doctor to pounce in that direction. Stepping behind the large rock once more, he dropped into a squat.
"Ready...!" He yelled.
"Huh?" Eggman asked, looking around.
"GO!" Sonic yelled, launching himself at the asteroid he was behind.
Sonic's Light-Speed Attack sent the massive rock hurtling towards his foe, who was successfully hit by it before he could react. This caused him to be sent hurtling through space and through several smaller asteroids in the belt, still pinned by the larger one he had just been hit with. Both he and the rock crashed onto the remaining half of the moon, forming a massive impact-crater. Sonic hurried over to their landing-spot to find his foe lying flat on his back, surrounded by fragments of the asteroid. He quickly jumped onto him and proceeded to deck him in the face with several punches and kicks, before he was swatted off.
"You really thought that would kill me?" Eggman taunted, rising back to a stand, "Face it! I'm immortal now! You might as well just lie down now, so I can end this!"
"Not a chance." Sonic spat, "I'll never lose to you!"
He proceeded to launch a homing attack right at Eggman's chest, which only bounced off. Eggman grabbed him before he could land and punched him out of his hand, sending him flying into an asteroid. However, Sonic kicked off the rock and launched himself back into the fray. Upon hitting the ground, he was forced to quickly dodge an incoming series of claw-swipes. He dodged the last of them with a series of backflips and after kicking off of Eggman's still-outstretched arm, he landed a roundhouse kick on his cheek, which left him stunned, allowing him to continue his assault with several homing attacks. He ended his combo by spin-dashing in place on Eggman's head for a bit before quickly jumping off to avoid his fist. The doctor accidentally punched himself in the head in his attempt to hit Sonic, toppling himself over onto his back. He got up a few seconds later, standing with a heavy slouch and twitching, all the while letting out some long, guttural groans. His body was now starting to show damage from both his own mishap, and the beating that Sonic managed to give him, mostly in the form of bruises and scrapes.
"Hmm?" Sonic asked.
"Rrrrggghh...gotta...use...every...drop of...my...uuuuggghhhh...POWERS!" Eggman growled.
Without warning, he arched his back and let out a roar of agony. One at a time, two massive bat-like wings ripped through his back on either side of his spinal column, causing copious amounts of blood to gush out with each wing, and continue running out for a spell.
Suddenly, Eggman stood up straight again, proceeding to fly upwards and out of Sonic's reach, cackling as he ascended, and paying no mind to the blood that was flying off of him as he flapped his newly-grown wings. Sonic wasted no time in trying to homing-attack him, though he was quickly punched away, and kicked back onto the ground the second time. Still possessing enough strength to press on, Sonic stood back up, pondering exactly how he was supposed to reach his enemy. He had to move quickly, dodging a handful of downward swoops and claw-swipes. Then it finally dawned on him, as a brief flashback of his fight with the Dark Gaia Phoenix passed through his mind. With a cocky smirk, he unrolled the cuff of his left glove, immediately proceeding to rub the green pearl on his bracelet for a bit.
Hyper Eggman looked on from above as Sonic was enveloped by a lime-green light.
"Oh, goody! A power-up! I was kinda' hoping for a more even fight to begin with! Easily disposing of your enemies is extremely boring, admittedly!" He taunted.
Once Sonic's transformation into his Werehog form was complete, he wasted no time in nailing Eggman in the groin with his fist, now with the help of his stretchy arms. He then grabbed his ankle and attempted to pull him back down to the ground, though Eggman was too strong and he would not budge. When the doctor attempted to claw at his extended arm, Sonic quickly used his lighter weight to his advantage and swung around his airborne target, causing his attack to miss. Sonic briefly let go of Eggman's ankle before quickly grappling onto his right wing, impeding his flight immediately.
"Oof! Hey! Get off!" Eggman retorted, "AAUUGGHH!"
Sonic sank his razor-sharp teeth into the wing he was gripping, using both them and his claws in unison as he tried to aggressively rip it out. Eggman retaliated with a punch, which Sonic blocked with one of his hands, before clawing him across the face and punching him to keep him subdued for a little longer. When he felt the right wing begin to loosen, he began working on the left wing, proceeding to snap the bone inside it to quicken the process. Eggman could only roar in agony as both of wings were dislodged from his back, causing even more blood to spurt out as he fell back down onto the moon. With one wing stuck to his claws and one in his mouth, Sonic proceeded to discard them both and break his fall with a few front-flips.
Eggman managed to land in the same manner, feeling somewhat weakened from Sonic's assault. The Werehog proceeded to nail his foe in the face and torso with a series of rapid cartwheels, before sinking all ten of his claws into the sides of his stomach. Eggman screamed once more as he did this, before he was suddenly knocked onto his back with a punch and kick to the face. He quickly attempted to halt Sonic by grabbing his neck, but his hand received a massive bite, and he was clawed in the face once again, causing him to let go. Sonic immediately pounced on his foe, his spiked shoes damaging the doctor's torso in the process, and proceeded to nail Eggman in the face with a flurry of rapid punches and claw-swipes. However, this attack was abruptly cut short after he accidentally cut his hand, for he had forgotten that Eggman's mustache had become jagged and sharp. Eggman used this opportunity to punch Sonic off of him while his guard was down, and after he landed right at his feet, he foot-jabbed him all the way to the other side of the moon. Without hesitating a moment longer, he made a massive leap with his fists brought together above his head. Sonic managed to somersault below him as he landed, immediately extending his elastic arm for a punch to the back of the neck. However, Eggman caught his fist in his clawed hand, much to his surprise.
The doctor turned back around, and forcefully yanked Sonic towards him by his arm, ensuring that he made a direct impact with his extended fist. He repeated this attack several times, using both his free fist and his feet, before ending the combo with his elbow. He then let go of Sonic's arm, causing it to immediately retract towards its owner, who was hit in the face with his own hand, causing him to get launched back to the other side of the moon in a slingshot-like manner. Before Sonic could land, Eggman had already chased after him, catching up surprisingly quickly despite his much higher weight. He grabbed him with one hand and used the other to repeatedly punch him in the face and torso. He then grabbed his arm, and swung him around in rapid circles, the arm stretching out as Sonic gained velocity. The helpless Werehog found himself getting beaten by the countless asteroids he was smashed into, until Eggman finally released his grip and sent him reeling through more asteroids and out into space. The doctor proceeded to jump after his enemy and send him flying off in a different direction with a hard punch to the stomach.
Meanwhile, on Planet Wisp, countless wisps of all colors and shapes were frolicking about without a care in the world, before they heard a husky scream, telling them that some being was falling onto their planet. Everyone stopped moving and talking and watched as Sonic crashed onto the peak of a massive plateau that overlooked the entirety of the surrounding grassy meadows. The impact shook the entire planet, and left a massive crater in the aforementioned mountaintop. A green light suddenly emanated from the crater, before it died down, revealing Sonic, who had taken so much damage that he was forcefully reverted to his normal form. He was unconscious, his entire body covered in bruises and cuts, and some fresh blood trickling out of his nose and mouth. Before long, a massive shadow enveloped both him and much of his surroundings, causing all the wisps in the vicinity to fly away in a panic. Sonic came to just in time, and jumped out of the way as Hyper Eggman made his landing, which made such a big impact that an entire sixth of the mountain broke off. He let out a triumphant roar that sent the resulting smoke flying away from the scene, only to discover that Sonic had dodged his attack. The hedgehog in question was staring his opponent down, glaring at him while in a fighting-stance, but nonetheless breathing heavily.
"Hah! Is that fatigue I see on your face?!" Eggman taunted, "Is Sonic the Hedgehog actually tired?! Who would've guessed?!"
"Hmph." Sonic grunted, clearly not in the mood to trash-talk.
"Bah, whatever. With your immense energy depleted, it looks like the tides have turned in my favor." Eggman continued.
"Don't rule me out yet, fuckboy!" Sonic said darkly.
"Oh, so I was wrong! You do have some fight left in you, huh? Not like that'll help you though. The power of the Super Emeralds is all mine now, and you still couldn't match me by squeezing every last drop out of that beast mode of yours!" Eggman finished, "So what chance do you think you have?"
Sonic said nothing, instead beginning to charge up a Super Peel-Out. Eggman let out a laugh, which was much darker and more foreboding than his usual one, all the while baring his fang-like teeth.
"Really? A taunt? That's all you could come up with?" He gloated.
Without warning, Sonic launched himself forwards at a blinding speed, ramming right through Eggman's leg and knocking him off balance. As he struggled to stand back up, he was knocked over as Sonic boosted through his other leg. Before he could hit the ground, however, he was nailed in the back with a spin-dash, which sent him flipping backwards for a bit before he finally landed on his back. Still curled into a ball, Sonic launched himself high up into the air, before uncurling and aiming his foot right at Eggman's face, gaining momentum as he plummeted towards his foe. Eggman, though rather slow to get up, soon noticed the blue blur attempting to stomp on him. He opened his mouth wide with a chuckle, causing Sonic's eyes to widen as he soon realized his mistake. As soon as his foot landed in the doctor's mouth, Eggman immediately slammed his jaws shut on his leg, prompting a blood-curdling scream from his trapped foe as he desperately tried to escape. He rose to a stand and spat Sonic out with enough force to send him bouncing along the ground, until he landed in the very crater that he had formed earlier. With his entire body wracked with fatigue and excruciating pain, Sonic was left with no choice but to lie on his side, grimacing in closed-eyed pain as he used his arms and hands to apply as much pressure as he could to his leg in order to stop the excessive bleeding. Eggman slowly walked towards him.
"I gotta hand it to ya', Sonic! Your blood tasted delicious!" He said, "It's giving me even more ideas about what to do with your loved ones after this is over!"
"You..." Sonic started, "You sick, twisted, conniving, BASTARD!"
"My my, such big words! I am impressed!" Eggman said sarcastically.
"I have just about had it with you and your goddamn taunts!" Sonic groaned, struggling to get up onto his knees.
"Did I hear that right? Sonic the Hedgehog complaining about trash-talk?" Eggman asked.
"RRRGGGHHH!" Sonic grunted, his anger building up again.
"Honestly, what's the point in getting up now?! You've lost already! I'd love to kill you right now, but I want you to be my last victim! In order for that to happen, you'll need to sit quietly!" Eggman replied.
"Like hell!" Sonic replied, "You're not killing anyone here, Eggman! Not on my watch!"
"I appreciate your attempts to be the hero, but you don't stand a chance against me! I've only been toying with you for this entire fight and you're already walking the line between life and death!" Eggman continued.
"Yeah?! So what if I got my ass handed to me?!" Sonic asked, "Every good fighter always has a trump card!"
"Can we leave politics out of this, please?" Eggman asked.
"Shut the hell up." Sonic replied nonchalantly, "I'll just need to crank the recklessness up a little. Part of me is probably gonna regret this, but it's the only way to bring you down once and for all."
Eggman watched with an unamused look on his face as Sonic removed his right glove and flipped him off, simultaneously revealing a golden ring on his middle finger.
"Ooh, I'm so offended." Eggman said sarcastically.
"I got this as a souvenir on one of my adventures. Though three of the World Rings are normally required to activate it, there's actually a similar power-source found outside the book, and it's very plentiful." Sonic explained, "It lets me harness the negative emotions of others and convert them into raw power."
Eggman let out a hearty laugh.
"Gimme a fucking break!" He chuckled, "You've gotta be pretty damn naïve to think I'll believe that shit! It's pretty clear that you're just delirious from the beating I just gave you, so the best remedy would be to simply drop dead now!"
"Don't kid yourself." Sonic warned, "This battle is over."
"Whatever." Eggman replied, folding his arms and rolling his eyes.
Without saying anything more, Sonic, who was still panting with half-closed eyes, held out his right hand towards Mobius, the ring on his middle finger glowing a divine shade of gold.
"HATRED!" He yelled suddenly, prompting the ring to glow lime-green.
Back on Mobius, all of Sonic's friends were hanging out on the beach, when that all-too-familiar green glow started to emanate from Knuckles' rear end.
"Uh, Knuckles? What's going on?" Silver asked.
Knuckles promptly pulled out the Master Emerald, and began gazing at it, before quickly adopting a shocked facial expression.
"What is it?" Amy asked, he and the others hurrying over to get a look.
Everyone saw, to their shock, that Sonic was still in space, and was nearly dead, all the while being stared down by a large, demonic and grotesque version of Dr. Eggman.
"So Sonic was right after all!" Tails admitted.
"Wait! That's Eggman?!" Cream asked in disbelief.
"SONIC! NO!" Knuckles yelled into the emerald, even though it was no use, "Ooh, that overgrown menace will pay for what he did to Sonic! I swear it!"
"What kind of monster is willing to brutally kill those who the people of the world love just to take it over?!" Shadow asked.
"I'll never forgive that man for this!" Silver said, "Using the emeralds' power to wipe out innocent lives like that?! That power belongs to the citizens, damn it!"
Without warning, everyone standing around the Master Emerald was enveloped in a lime-green aura, which suddenly disappeared.
"Suddenly, I'm feeling a little tired." Rouge noted, sitting down onto the sand as everyone else followed suit, due to so much negative emotion being taken out of them so quickly.
All of the hatred that his friends (along with the rest of the world) felt was concentrated into a lime-green beam that shot up into space. Eggman watched in slightly piqued curiosity as the beam shot directly into Sonic's ring, before shooting right into his chest. Sonic's eyes shot wide open as he absorbed such a large amount of hatred in such a short time. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he vomited copious amounts of blood onto the ground in front of him.
"You dumbass! You think you're gonna power yourself up?! All you're doing is killing yourself!" Eggman said.
"If it means saving the world and eradicating you from this universe, then so be it." Sonic replied nonchalantly, before aiming his hand towards Mobius again and causing the ring to glow bright red, "RAGE!"
Back on Mobius, Charmy Bee was casually lounging in a patched-up armchair, playing Tails Adventures on his Game Gear, when Vector suddenly burst in.
"Yo, Charmy! What the hell gives?!" He yelled.
"What's wrong?" Charmy asked, not even looking up from what he was doing.
Before he replied, Vector yanked the handheld from Charmy's hands and snapped it in two with his jaws.
"I'll tell you what's 'wrong'! You got the cases mixed up!" He replied angrily, "Remember all that evidence we gathered on the 'Murder of Big the Cat' case?! Well, I dunno how ya' goofed this one up, but you sent it to the investigators behind the 'Robbery of the Sonic the Hedgehog Museum' case instead, and vice-versa!"
"Really, Vector. You're blowing up over nothing, here. It was just an honest mistake!" Charmy retorted, "And now you owe me a new Game Gear!"
"Shut it, kid! You're not playing any more video games until you get your shit together! Your screw-ups have happened way too often to just keep shrugging them off as 'honest mistakes' anymore!" Vector continued, "Our reputation is dangling by a thread as it is! If you keep this up, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to-!"
Suddenly, Vector was enveloped in a bright red aura, which instantly vanished.
"...fire...you...uuuggghhh..." He moaned, for the removal of all the anger within his heart brought a sudden wave of exhaustion over his body, and caused him to collapse on the ground, immediately asleep.
The rage that Vector (and the rest of the world) all had within them was soon concentrated into a massive red beam that shot right into the ring on Sonic's finger, before shooting into his chest and causing him to puke up even more blood. By this time, he was panting heavily, and his body was swaying as he tried to maintain his balance. Eggman stood there and let Sonic continue to damage himself, for he knew that nothing he said or did would change his mind.
"SADNESS!" Sonic yelled, a noticeable quaver in his voice due to the strain he was placing on his body.
The ring on his finger began to glow cadet-blue.
Back on Mobius, Doctor Wellsworth was sitting at his desk in his office, his eyes shaky as he stared at an image on his computer screen. The image was simply an x-ray scan of Rouge's body, but given his affectionate feelings for her, it was still enough to cloud his thoughts with despair.
"Oh, Rouge...(sniff)...I-I...guess it (sniff)...just...wasn't...meant...(sob) to be!" He cried, wiping his eyes with his hand and blowing his nose into his pocket handkerchief.
On the edge of insanity, he broke out into loud, choking sobs that echoed throughout the hospital and attracted the attention of several colleagues. Before anyone could come into the office however, Wellsworth was suddenly enveloped in a cadet-blue aura that disappeared soon after its arrival. Once it vanished, the sadness within the young doctor's heart was completely gone, and a wide smile spread across his face. By the time one of his colleagues opened the door, he was grinning ear-to-ear and was acting genuinely ecstatic even though visual evidence of his previous despair still lingered on his face.
"...Well that felt good! Nothing to see here, guys!" He said happily.
Once again, that single drop of sadness joined with the rest of that same emotion that had accumulated all over the planet. The cadet-blue beam launched itself into space and right into Sonic's ring, before once again entering his chest. After a third moment of strain on his heart, Sonic regurgitated more blood and began to sway uncontrollably, before finally collapsing onto the ground, too utterly spent to stand up any longer.
"Hahahaha! What a fool! He thinks he can use the emotions of others as power?!" Eggman asked, "Anyone who's smart enough to foil my plans countless times should know that piling all of that stress on your heart will only lead to their demise!"
He walked over to Sonic's limp body and picked it up ever so gently, letting it rest face-up on his large palm.
"Hmmm. I was planning to let you live a little longer so you could watch me slaughter your allies and let me savor your screams, but it seems you're too battered up to even make it back to the planet." The doctor sighed, "Ah well. I guess you've left me with no choice then. So in a way, you did win after all."
He held Sonic's body out in front of him with one hand, before winding up his arm and hurling him off in the direction away from Mobius at an incredible velocity.
"So long, you blue shithead!" Eggman called after him in the midst of maniacal laughter, "You always were a pain in my ass!"
