Welcome back, fans! This chapters going to be action packed since Gilius is having an epic battle with a familiar foe and Nack will eventually find his target soon. Just as a fair warning, there will be an intense death in this chapter and it won't involve a hero. We'll see if Sonic or anyone else manages to retrieve that emerald from the dragon's nest in Yuria. Enjoy!
Gilius rides his Chicken Leg up the quickest trail to reach the ship with a few enemies of his tail. Giluis looked back and smiled with confidence since he was looking for a challenge on his quest. One of the dragon riding barbarians reached Gilius, but was swiped by the mighty dwarf's axe. Another reached his side and allowed his steed to breathe fire at the Chicken Leg. Gilius quickly escapes his burning ride by flipping onto the barbarian's dragon and tossing the rider aside. The dragon was much faster than the Chicken Leg, which is why Gilius made the right choice to catch up to that mysterious ship.
"If I cut through this route, I'll reach the top of that mountain in no time," said the green clad dwarf.
He takes the route through a dark cave that wall empty and uninhabited. Dragon eyes could see through the dark, which explains why Gilius had no problem with this dark shortcut at all. There were a few deep crevices that Gilius and the dragon had to jump in order to leave this cave unscathed and dodged a few weak stalagmites. There is a large wall ahead of him and Gilius knew that this was the only way to reach the mountain's peak. The dragon roared viciously to express his eagerness to burn anything in its path.
"Blow this here wall down with your fire, boy," Gilius demanded as the dragon takes a deep breath with flames in its mouth.
Then, dragon spits a large fireball at the wall to break a large hole for them to enter without crashing. Both of them had finally reached the top of the mountain and stopped to take a breather. Gilius hops off the reptilian beast and looks around the area to see if there was any danger. Gilius does an excited laugh when he notices something peculiar in a large dragon's nest. It was none other than the Yellow Chaos Emerald, which Gilius mistakes for a special jewel that could revitalized him with more magic power like a potion.
"You are going to give me all the strength that I need when I get a hold of you," said the excited dwarf as he edges closer to the nest.
Suddenly, a large thud can be heard and a shockwave heads towards Gilius from his right hand side. The dwarf flips in another direction and saw the cause of the ambush. It was none other than the dreaded giant himself, Death Adder. He glares the dwarf with his blood red eyes and lifted his axe to make a threatening pose.
"It's good to see you again, Thunderhead. That Chaos Emerald belongs to us and you know it!" said the fierce giant.
"Chaos Emerald?" said the confused dwarf as he attempts to grab the jewel.
A large purple humanoid rhino lands directly in front of him with his arms outstretched. Gilius backed up with a cautious look since this beast was something he wasn't familar with.
"Welcome to your doom, Thunderhead!" said Neff as he snorts in anger.
"How do you know my name, foul beast?" questioned Gilius.
"Let's just say that we have a few friends," said Neff as he points to the large warship in the sky that Gilius had seen earlier.
The dwarf looks at the ominous ship in the skies and clenched his fists in anger since he's in a rather tight situation. He looks back at his nemesis, who is rather eager to begin a blooding battle.
"Let's end this once and for all since I've been waiting years for this," said Death Adder while readying his golden axe.
"Adder, you are going to regret that when I get through with you again!" said the belligerent dwarf as he charges at the menacing giant.
Death Adder swings at Gilius, but he dodges the swing and flips being the giant for a back slice. The tyrannical giant blocks the attack with his armored bracelet and kicks Gilius towards Neff. The rhino charges at Gilius, but was eventually shocked by a thunderbolt that he summoned before he was trampled. Then, Gilius uses this as an opportunity to toss his foe aside and focus on his true target. Neff slammed against the ground after that severe throw and sighed deeply before becoming unconscious.
"Now, it's between you and me," said the dwarf before the fight continued.
Sonic and friends reached a large area near a plateau and leaves their respective vehicles to search for the emerald. Tails flew by Sonic to show him what his tracking device reveals about the emerald's location. Sonic nods and starts to walk around to observe this new and unfamiliar area. Amigo and AiAi follows behind since they feel the need to stay close to their friends in an unfamiliar area like this. Off in the distance, Nack arrives with his new and improved Marvelous Queen and spots his target in the open area. He pulls out a sniper rifle and aims for the hedgehog's head to get a clear shot. During this sequence, he had the most smug grin possible to express his happiness for this job.
"Soon as I get done with you, I'm going to be the most infamous bounty hunter in the world," whispered the devious weasel as her waits for the opportunity to shoot.
"This place doesn't look much, but it does look like a cool place for our dwarf ally to live," said the snarky hedgehog.
"That's the kingdom of Yuria for you. Though, I do hope that we didn't arrive too late," said Tails.
"Eek eek eek, yeah yeah," chirped Aiai as her points towards a mountain.
Sonic and the others look in Aiai's direction to see a large black warship hovering above the mountain and witnessing it dropping a large white object. This was a good sign that not only the Legion of Subspace knew where the Chaos Emerald was, but used this as an opportunity to swallow an area in subspace. Nack laughed and prepared to pull the trigger with his smug grin since it's the perfect time for him to shoot.
"Say goodbye, Blue Blur," said Nack as he shoots a deadly laser at his target.
Amigo noticed the blast and deflects it with the swing of his maraca. This caused Sonic and Tails to turn around and notice the assassin sitting in his golden hovercraft. Sonic and Tails frowned since they have recognized this rascally purple weasel from anywhere.
"Drat! Now it's time for plan B," said the angry weasel.
He charged at Sonic, thanks to the enhanced speed engine that was installed in his ride. Sonic, Tails, Aiai, and Amigo lept out of the way to avoid being rammed by the enhanced golden hovercraft.
"You're not escaping me this time, Sonic!" he yelled after that failed attempt to roadkill the hedgehog.
Nack turns the vehicle around and activates the built-in machine guns to fire at Sonic. Sonic tries to out run the bullets, but the vehicle's enhanced speed allowed it to get closer to the running hedgehog. Sonic jumps over the fired bullets and does a Homing Attack to head towards Nack. The crafty weasel activates a forcefield to knock him down and took out his new guns for battle. Nack hops off the Marvelous Queen and shoots a volley of metallic BB's at Sonic. He dodges nearly every shot and used his Sonic Wind technique. Nack used both pistols to destroy the blue spiraling wind with a heavy wind blast and dives even further to the hedgehog. Sonic does a Homing Attack towards the ground to cause cloud of smoke in hopes of tricking his old foe. Nack lands safely and uses the special scope on his sniper rifle to search for his foe.
Sonic ran with a serious look since he's wondering when since this joke became so powerful all of a sudden.
Where the heck did Nack get all these upgrades? And most importantly, why is he after me at a time like this?
Sonic uses this as an opportunity to do a series of Quick Steps to confuse him before he attacks head on. Soon as the smoke clears up, Sonic does a diving kick as Nack turns towards him and fires his gun. A bomb attached to Sonic's chest and explodes to engulf the Blue Blur in flames. Tails gasped and flies in to avenge him, but was eventually electrocuted by some Dummy Rings that Nack launched at him. The flames died down as our blue hero collapses in pain and closed his eyes. Nack grabs the downed hedgehog and hops onto the Marvelous Queen with him before Aiai and Amigo could save their friend. Both monkeys looked angrily at the sly weasel as he lifts off to complete his mission.
"So long suckers! This hedgehog is going to be worth so much when I …"
Nack's Marvelous Queen gains some serious damage from a red flash before he could finish his sentence. As the machine shook, Sonic fell out and was rescued by that same red flash. When they both reach the ground, it turns out to be Knuckles the Echidna who saved his partner. Nack growled slightly when he took a good look at his rival from the past as Knuckles glared back at him.
"You! You're that red porcupine that was after the emeralds in the past!" shouted the angry weasel.
"That's right and Sonic's not yours to take, neither are those emeralds too," said the arrogant echidna.
"You may have won this round, but I will capture Sonic if it's the last thing I do!" shouted Nack as he flies away in hope of future repairs.
Sonic wakes up to see Knuckles looking into his friend's eyes. He eventually jumps to his feet when he realized who it was. Sonic looked around to see if the others were alright before asking his buddy a question.
"Knuckles, thanks for saving my spiky behind. Why are you here anyways?" said the blue hedgehog.
"I came here because the 4th piece of the Master Emerald is located here," said Knuckles while patting his chest.
"Typical, knucklehead," said the unamused Sonic.
He did a "whatever pose" after that to much of Knuckles's annoyance.
"Hey, you better be lucky I even thought about saving your behind from that purple smug rodent!" shouted the hotheaded echidna.
Tails was helped up by Aiai and Amigo as the three got closer to the arguing rivals. Tails got to his feet and knew this was the time to end this childish argument.
"I'd hate to interrupt, but we have a Chaos Emerald to retrieve," said the young fox.
Both Sonic and Knuckles agreed to end the fight and started racing towards the mountain to reach the ship. These guys loved to prove who's better at any challenge since they've been rivals since the Angel Island incident in the past. Knuckles looked back at his blue friend with smug grin on his face as he looked back at him.
"Last one there gets to take the girls to a show," said Knuckles during the run.
The two kept running to point of no return during their fast foot race. Tails sighed in disbelief and flies to his Tornado before him and the others could catch up with them. Gilius is cornered against the wall since he was tired out during the fight, giving Death Adder the upper hand in the fight of the death. He walks up to the cornered dwarf with his ax raised to end his nemesis's life quickly. Gulius knew that life was going to flash before his eyes as he pants and looked at the massive weapon.
"See you in hell, Thunderhead!" he snarled as he prepares the final blow.
Then, a large green plant appears and bites the giant on his shoulder to stop his final attack. This gave Gilius the chance to walk away while the plant creature fends his foe off. A young man wearing a black shirt, baggy white pants, a blue headband, red sash, and a mystical golden armlet on his right hand appears to help Gilius walk away. This was Prince Ali from a faraway kingdom and he was the hero that defeated Agito a few years ago. Gilius nodded while looking at him to thank him for his interference. Ali nodded back and focuses on the massive target ahead of him. He commanded Bow, the plant creature that was biting Death Adder, to retract himself before the giant retaliates.
"Who did that to me?" bellowed the angry giant.
"It was I, Prince Ali, and I'm here to avenge my kingdom!" said the young prince.
Death Adder clenches his fist and bellowed to the point of causing the ground to shake. Both warriors prepared for his next maneuver in order to win this battle.
"Now both of you are going to be killed!" said Death Adder as he charges at the two warriors.
Ali shoots a magical blast at a pile of bones to summon the Shadow Spirit Shade with the help of the Golden Armlet. Gilius steals a few potions from an elf that was hiding near the hole that the dragon made earlier. The two warriors mobilize to defeat the tyrannical giant. First, Prince Ali allows himself to be hit so that Shade can absorb the pain for him in the form of his shadow. Then, Gilius leaps behind Death Adder to throw his electrical axe at his back. This paralyzes him and gives Bow an opportunity to bite him again, this time attempt to steal his axe.
Shade grabs Death Adder's feet to trip him as Gilius takes back his ax to use his thunderbolt spell again. Death Adder is shocked again and loses his grip of the axe so that Bow can steal it. Gilius lands safely and steals the legendary Golden Axe again as it shrinks down to his size and gives him the power he needs. Death Adder growls and attempts to grab him, but Eefrit appears to push his hand with his fiery hands. As Ali and his spirits hold him in place, Gilius leaps into the air to deal the finishing blow.
"For Yuria!" yelled the dwarf as he slams the axe onto Death Adder's back.
Blood gushes like a fountain after such a blow, just like how he died the first time at the hands of his own axe years ago. His eyes stopped glowing and his body went limp to show that this is the last time that he would walk the Earth. Neff regains his senses and gasped after seeing that his partner not only failed, but died again after all these years. The other Legion of Subspace members on the ship weren't surprised since he knew that such an outcome would happen. Neff reverts into a holographic head and enters a purple portal to avoid being caught by the heroes and reunite with his group.
"We did it! Death Adder has been defeated for good thanks to us," said Gilius before doing a warrior's handshake with Prince Ali.
"I was glad that I was able to avert such a fate that happened to my kingdom at the hands of such fiends," said the young prince.
He uses the power of his Golden Armlet to make Eefrit, Shade, and Bow disappear since they did their best. Sonic and Knuckles arrived onto the scene and noticed not only the two warriors, but the dragon's nest with the Chaos Emerald.
"Jackpot!" yelled the both of them before grabbing the emerald at the same time.
Gilius laughed his usually jolly laugh to express his happiness to see the hedgehog.
"Good to see you again, Sonic. I guess that Chaos Emerald does belong in the right hands," said Gilius.
"Now that we have it, we have to prevent these subspace bozos from absorbing this place," said the blue hedgehog.
"But where is the Subspace Diffusion Bomb?" asked Knuckles.
Then, a loud roar can be heard and a series of heavy footsteps occur. Everyone looked around cautiously during each thunderous tremor from the massive footsteps. It was large red dragon that lived in this area. The most shocking thing was that it had a Subspace Diffusion Bomb connected to its back with a four minute limit on the monitor.
"Whoah! I haven't seen such a mighty dragon since Tyris summoned it in a recent fight," said the shocked dwarf.
"But that's not the problem. It got one of those bombs on its back," shouted Sonic as the ravenous beast gets even closer to the intruders.
"It's no use saving it now. Those bombs are indestructible and cannot be deactivated by us," said Prince Ali as he prepares to leave.
Sonic gets angry and runs up the prince to catch his hand. He's the type of hero who doesn't want to give up or let an innocent life alone in danger like this dragon. Prince Ali glares at him since he didn't want be grabbed at a time like this.
"What do you mean by it's no use? How do you know that anyway," Sonic questioned in anger.
"Because I used all spirits back at my kingdom in an attempt to destroy one," said the angered prince, "Running and allowing my kingdom to be absorbed were the only option since it was hopeless."
Sonic looks at Tails and friends, who were calling him while they were still behind. He hesitates at first, but agrees with the prince's statement as the three leave the dragon behind. This is the one time that Sonic would regret not being able to save anyone in such a hopeless situation while running with his eyes closed. Everyone got together and quickly rushed down the mountain to escape the bomb's eventual explosion. The dragon reached its nest to check if its eggs were alright. The timer of the bomb hit zero and exploded, causing the subspace to swallow everything in sight including the dragon it was on. The last thing that was heard was the beast's sorrowful roar since it's entire family is in danger of being swallowed in the subspace. Every villain on the ship glared at Neff since his cowardice costs the emerald's retrieval during the mission, other than the lost of a single member.
"Despite our victory, why didn't you retrieve the emerald?" yelled Max D. Cap.
Neff scoffed in his rhino form while crossing his arms and glaring in the other direction. He's the type of villain that didn't want to be judged for his failure.
"It was better than being killed like Death Adder. Besides, you need me!" said Neff in defense.
Max tried his best to calm down as Mishaela stood from her seat to make the next announcement to her disappointed group
"Other than that, we still captured an area as planned. Now we have to report to Eggman," said Mishaela.
The ship leaves Yuria and heads off into the other direction. Neff was lucky that his life was spared despite what happened with his now deceased partner.
Well that's a wrap and it turned out that the emerald was going to be in the right hands. Prince Ali from the cult classic Beyond Oasis arrives on the scene to help Gilius win and give Sonic a harsh reality about the bombs. Since Knuckles still haven't found the Master Emerald piece yet, he might dig deep for it soon. Neff actually made the right choice for saving himself since he will be needed in future missions for the League of Subspace. I know you guys are still wondering what became of Amy, Alex Kidd, and Omochao and I might focus on them in the next chapter. See you next week and don't forget to review and rate the story!
