Author's notes: Nothing new.
Chapter 56
Egg Carrier, Top Deck, a day later...
Shardic Overlord finally stood back up, looking over into the distance towards Snively's base but instead of taking off, he reverts to Neo-Shard. Falling to a knee as he holds onto the Master Emerald.
"Shard. What happened?" asked Shade as he walked over to the black and yellow metal hedgehog.
"Eggman's gambit used too much energy. I could recover but the Master Emerald must rest, or we risk drawing out Dark Gaia for real. Not a clone turned real, the real one buried away." said Neo-Shard as he teleported the Master Emerald back to Angel Island.
"So, we just lost another advantage."
"Affirmative."
Shade growls in annoyance as he folds his arms.
"Get the other hedgehog."
"Which one? There's two."
Neo-Shard rolls his optics.
"The one-eyed Sonic smartass."
"Why?"
"He's hiding something."
"You noticed it too huh?"
Neo-Shard nods silently and Shade goes to head back into the massive airship.
Infirmary...
Frenzy worked on putting his kevlar vest back on, his ribs finally having healed as Tails transforms his healed arm into the cannon form and looks it over.
"Hey, why do you wear that armor? I mean, kevlar doesn't stop lasers does it?" asked Tails to Frenzy.
"Actually, it's modified kevlar so it actually does. And I wear it because getting shot up by lasers both hurts and burns and I had one day enough of being turned into swiss cheese." replied Frenzy remembering one of his many deaths of being led into an ambush of SWAT-Bots.
"Okay, that makes sense."
"Are you sure you two are healed enough?" asked Slothic leaning against one of the room's walls.
"Yeah. I feel pretty good now that nothing's out of place." said Tails as he began charging the Plasma Cannon to see if it was fully functional before he shielded his eyes as the plasma core sparked and then died out in the arm, "Although, apparently some things can't be healed...that metal Sonic broke something!"
He opens his arm and pulls out the plasma core that then begins glowing brightly and making a loud whining noise.
"Oh no! Quick! Hot potato!" said Tails as he tosses the core to Slothic who barely caught the small green sphere before having to juggle it due to how hot it suddenly was.
"What am I supposed to do?!" asked Slothic due to being caught off guard.
"Get it off the ship!"
Slothic quickly leaves the infirmary and zooms through the hallways. As he ran he suddenly ran into Shade and the two hedgehogs collapsed into a heap with Slothic losing his grip on the overloading plasma core that bounced away.
"Oh no! Where'd it go?!" said Slothic as he got up and began looking for it.
"Where'd what go?!" asked Shade as he got up.
"An overloading plasma core! Tails said to get it off the ship!"
"And he gave it to you?!"
"I'm a Sonic!"
"You're nearly blind!"
"Hey guys! Is this what you're looking for?" asked Admin_Fun as he held up the plasma core and both Shade and Slothic look at him.
"Fun! Get it off the ship!" yelled Slothic to the Zone Admin.
"Why?" asked Fun as he looked at the device curiously, his armored hands not being bothered by the growing heat from it.
"It's a bomb you idiot!" yelled Shade.
"A bomb?! Why didn't you say so?!" yelled Admin_Fun as he took off running as a red blur (1). Admin_Fun zoomed through the ship's hallways, zig-zagging up a stairwell leading to the top deck of the vessel followed by racing towards the back of the ship and tossing it away from the vessel. The device explodes and while the explosion deals no damage to the airship, the blast is powerful enough to knock Admin_Fun off his feet. His glowing red-green eyes widen as he's sent flying and is about to be sent over the side of the ship before Neo-Shard grabs him by the arm and the red-gold armored Zone Admin sighs in relief.
Back inside the ship...
Slothic and Shade hear the muffled explosion of the core from their location within the airship and Slothic chuckles.
"Well, that was close." said Slothic before he was sent reeling by a punch to the jaw from Shade. The red-black hedgehog grabs Slothic by the collar and pulls him close to where the two are looking eye-to-eye.
"What the hell were you doing with an overloading plasma core?!" snapped Shade.
"What was I doing?! I told you! Trying to get it off the ship!" snapped Slothic as he broke free of Shade's grip.
"Where did you get it!?"
"Your Tails was testing his recently healed arm by charging the cannon! The plasma core short-circuited before it started overloading! A 'thank you for saving us' would be nice!"
"You expect me to thank you when we've now got your Metal Sonic running around our world?!"
"What the hell is wrong with you! Even my version of you isn't this angry!"
"We're running out of time here and we not only have Mephiles to deal with, but Infinite AND a nearly invincible Metal Sonic! I'm also the only one here trying to make sure we stay alive while also trying to rescue our Sonic!"
"Well don't take your leadership stress out on those helping out!"
Shade closes his eyes and calms down.
"Fine! Now, you've got some explaining to do." said Shade still glaring at Slothic.
"I already did that. I'll give you the short version. I'm a fallen angel. There."
"And you lose to a Metal Sonic?"
"I prefer using this body thank you very much! I don't LIKE being reminded of my past! It's just a monument to my failures!"
"Well, we might need it." said Shade as he turned away from Slothic and headed for the command center.
Slothic watched him leave before heading back to the Infirmary. As he neared it, he saw the three foxes exit the infirmary and he walked over.
"Okay, we need to prepare. I've got a bad feeling." said Slothic as he walked over to them.
"For what?" asked Tails.
"I don't know. That's what has me worried. Especially if Metallix Neo resurfaces."
"And he probably will." grumbled Frenzy.
"Well, I do know he has some weak points but you need to get in close." said TD.
"Let's talk about it in one of the hangars." said Slothic and the four head for one of the hangars.
Meanwhile, Snively's base, Mind Rend Room...
As Snively worked on ensuring Sonic could remain under control, he also checked a nearby terminal showing a radar screen with it set for detecting Chaos energy. He noticed that there were no signals near his base or the airship and he smiled as he activated his comm-link.
"Infinite, I have a small change of plans. Nothing that will interfere with our ally's but I want you to weaken the enemy now that they lack my weak future uncle AND the power of the Master Emerald." said Snively coolly.
"And what's that?" asked Infinite.
"Invade their airship. Kill as many as you can. And I was hoping to save them but activate the Mark 2s."
"Understood."
Egg Carrier, Hangar C-5, ten minutes later...
Ravager worked on trying to pull back the bolt on a large bolt-action anti-tank rifle, his volcanic rock hands making it difficult due to how small the bolt was compared to them. Frenzy grabbed it from him and pulled the bolt back, allowing the round to chamber before putting it back into place and handing the rifle back to the echidna.
"We really need to make one designed for me." muttered Ravager.
"Well, HQ's in charge of the design and they refuse to make one designed specifically for hands made of rock." said Frenzy as he jumped onto some crates to resume helping Tails work on his arm cannon.
"I know! It's not fair!"
"Why the heck do you guys use 20mm high explosive anti-armor shells?" asked TD as he looked over one of the shells he had been given to look over by Frenzy.
"Because they're the only thing that punctures the armor on the Heavy SWAT-Bots back home." said Slothic as he leaned against a nearby wall, eye closed.
"Geez, just how armored are they?"
"Enough that I can't even dent them." muttered Ravager.
The group all gets ready as they hear the activation sound of the Phantom Ruby and Infinite with six SWAT-Bots of a new model appear in the hangar.
"Shit." cursed TD.
[Jerry Whitman- Too Bad You're Crazy]
Infinite, while annoyed, quickly looked in the direction of an incoming punch from the kangaroo/dragon and used his speed to avoid the punch which then hit Mayhem in the nose and the fox-dragon grabs his nose.
[Record Scratch/End Song]
"That wasn't supposed to happen! I'm so sorry!" said Razor.
"What the hell?! How do you miss a guy three feet in front of you!" snapped Mayhem as he held his nose, which was now bleeding.
"Ahem." coughed Infinite getting the two's attention and they look at him. He then throws a heavy metal bola at them and it wraps the two together. Razor looks at the bola as he tries to activate his chainsaw arm-scales but they sound jammed against the bola's material.
"Well...slag. This is new." muttered Razor as his eyes widened.
"What do you mean 'new'?! Didn't you see this coming?!" snapped Mayhem angrily as he tried to warp reality around himself to escape but the bola but nothing happened.
"Actually...no...and now I'm terrified because I'm only seeing the present!"
"WHAT?! Wait...no..."
Mayhem used his tails to wipe off the black paint on the bola, revealing a gold coloration. Infinite chuckles darkly as he activated the Phantom Ruby and floor disappears beneath the two.
"Going down." said Infinite.
"YOU SON OF A BI-!" began Mayhem before he and Razor fell out of the airship and the floor returned to normal.
"Well...that's not good." said TD as he shifted into Mobian form.
Infinite turned his attention towards the three foxes, hedgehog and echidna and pointed at them.
"Kill them and everyone else you can on this ship." said Infinite and the six SWAT-Bots activate, bringing out a heavy gatling laser and some knuckle bracers as weapons.
"Mission: Terminate Freedom Fighters." drone the SWAT-Bots as they advance.
"These things look like the freaking Heavies back home! You don't think Metallix Neo gave them that design's schematics, do you?" asked Frenzy to Slothic as he readied his wrist gauntlet's blaster.
"I hope not but we can't let them leave the hangar!" said Slothic before he zoomed over to a alarm button and punched it. Alarms rang out throughout the ship and the hangar as the hangar itself went into lockdown. Infinite looked around at the locked down hangar with amusement.
"Do you really think that'll stop anything?" asked Infinite.
"No...but it'll slow you down."
"Not as flashy this time, are you?"
"I'm not meant to beat you fully. But it doesn't mean I won't defend myself."
Infinite narrowed his eye before he appeared in front of the one-eyed hedgehog and went for a claw swing only for it to be dodged. Infinite then had to grab the black fox that lunged at him and throws him at Slothic, knocking both of them to the ground. He glared at both of them before avoiding the two tails swung at him by Tails followed by blocking the kick aimed for his head.
"Did you really think that was a good idea?" asked Infinite as he grabbed the leg.
"No, but it did make for a good distraction." said Tails, trying to keep his balance.
"Distraction?"
At that moment Frenzy jumped on Infinite's back throwing the cybernetic Jackal off balance and also causing him to let go of Tails. The fox quickly jumped away from Infinite as Frenzy slashed at the Jackal's back, drawing blood.
"GET OFF!" snarled Infinite as he grabbed Frenzy and slammed him into the ground.
Infinite turns his attention away from the now fiery-furred fox who quickly gets back to his feet and lunges at Infinite again with the Jackal being caught off guard by the sudden recovery and he gets tackled to the ground. He brings up his cybernetic arms to shield himself from the fox's claws.
Meanwhile, Ravager aims the anti-tank rifle and fires it at one of the new SWAT-Bots. The round pierces its chest before it explodes, leaving only the legs. Ravager begins trying to pull the bolt back but can't due to his hands. He groans in annoyance before he grabs TD and hands him the rifle, the fox doll turned Mobian having to hold the massive thing with both hands while Ravager could one-hand the thing.
"Here. Reload it." said Ravager before he charged the SWAT-Bots, superheating his arms as he does so.
TD looks at the rifle and tries to pull the bolt back but can't he looks at it angrily before he notices the magazine. He pulls it out and notices that it still has four rounds left.
"TAILS!" he calls out to the fox that is keeping his distance from the SWAT-Bots due to lacking a weapon but quickly turns towards TD before catching the magazine thrown at him.
"What am I supposed to do without the gun!?" yelled Tails.
"Try using with your arm cannon!"
Tails transforms his arm into its cannon mode and opens it up and looks at the magazine and then the slot left behind by the loss of the plasma core and he carefully puts the magazine into it and the cannon begins to adjust itself to be able to fire the rounds within the magazine and to even be able to fire the rounds. Once the adjustments finish. He takes aim at one of the SWAT-Bots and fires. The recoil taking him off his feet and he crashes onto his back, eyes wide. The SWAT-Bot explodes.
"How did I not lose my arm firing that?" muttered Tails in shock as he got back to his feet slowly.
A Mark 2 SWAT-Bot charges up its gatling laser and open fires on Tails who is still recovering from firing one of the 20mm APHE (Armor-piercing High Explosive) rounds but gets tackled out of the way by Slothic. A knife suddenly embeds itself in the barrel and the SWAT-Bot looks before the weapon explodes and it staggers back from the blast. TD spins around the knuckle bracer enhanced metal fist swing at him and uses the arm to jump towards the head where he slams a machete through one of the optics. The SWAT-Bot staggers back before collapsing. He quickly shifts into doll form and gets out of another's firing arc. Slothic gets up before he gets a transmission over his comm-link but doesn't answer it to reply.
"Frenzy! Get Infinite out of here!" yelled Slothic to the berserker fiery-furred fox still slashing at Infinite's cybernetic arms.
Frenzy grabs Infinite and forces the Jackal to his feet, catching the cyborg off guard before he gets an uppercut to the jaw, sending him flying through several floors of the ship as Frenzy chases after him.
Top deck...
[Metal Gear Rising Revengeance OST- Red Sun]
Infinite crashes through the metal hull of the ship and rolls across the top deck before using his claws to stop himself. He begins to get up before he grabs Frenzy and slams him onto the metal floor and goes for a stomp only for it to get blocked by the fox's cybernetic tails. The fox quickly grabs the foot and jumps to his feet while slamming Infinite onto the floor. Infinite grunts but quickly uses the Phantom Ruby to teleport away from the fox. The fox looks at his empty claws in confusion before he ducks under the punch swung at him from behind and spins. Sparks fly and a metallic screech is heard as Frenzy's claws scrape across Infinite's metal mask. Infinite staggers back and runs a hand over the claw marks. He growls in anger before he uses his speed against Frenzy.
Frenzy's ribs are broken by six cybernetically enhanced punches to his chest before Infinite grabs him by the head and knees him in the face. The fox staggers back, nose and mouth bleeding from the metal knee to the face but he lunges anyway. Infinite catches both arms and then breaks both of them before kicking the fox away. The fox rolls across the hull of the ship before his cybernetic tails stop him as they dig into the metal hull of the airship. Frenzy then begins charging again, his arms quickly healing, before he goes for a cybernetic enhanced lunge at Infinite, tackling the Jackal for a moment but quickly gets kicked off and Frenzy rolls across the hull before using his claws to stop himself. He then charges again and lunges.
This time Infinite teleports behind the lunge and grabs Frenzy by the cybernetic tails and despite the rage demon taking effect, Frenzy's eyes widen before the seven cybernetic tails are ripped out of the socket. He collapses to the hull, thrashing and screaming in pain from the nerve feedback. Infinite raises his cybernetic foot to stomp on Frenzy's head before a massive black blade erupts from the hull in front of him followed by a very angry fallen angel ripping his way out of the hull. Infinite jumps back to get some distance from the black armored angel in front of him. The angel being about half the size of Shardic Overlord so he towers over the Jackal. Black armor shines in the sunlight while the metal coat wings refuse to reflect any light. Large dark blue quills jut out of the back of the black helmet and from the armored pauldrons.
"That was a mistake." growled Sloth as blue flames coated the black sword.
"Am I supposed to be scared of a half-blind giant?" asked Infinite as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eye before he ducked under the massive blade swung at him.
"Yes. You should be."
Infinite quickly avoided the blade again as the massive broadsword buried itself in the hull where he had one stood before barely avoiding the armored fist. Sloth quickly abandons using the sword and goes for melee and magical attacks on Infinite, forcing the cybernetic Jackal to avoid the melee attacks. Infinite has a harder time avoiding the blue fire swords fired at him like fireballs. He jumps back from one only to get grabbed by the fallen angel and thrown into one of the defense turret towers on the ship, the impact destroying the tower. Sloth shifts back into his Sonic form and runs over to Frenzy who is still in pain from the feedback. Slothic carefully picks the fox up.
"L-look out..." stammered Frenzy through the pain. Slothic, despite being half blind, knew Infinite was right behind him, world photonegative as the Jackal aimed to take off the hedgehog's head before a katana deflected the claws and Infinite skidded back as TD stood in behind Slothic defensive, in Mobian form again.
"And what good is that blade going to do you?" asked Infinite as he glared at the fox doll turned Mobian.
"It's gonna hurt when I start cutting your still organic areas, especially if I get your neck." snarled TD as he extended his claws with his other hand, bringing out the curved monster claws.
Infinite narrowed his eyes before he avoided the tail slam coming from behind and goes for an impalement on the biomechanical fox's chest but the cybernetic claws get caught and Infinite winces as his arm is twisted and then he sees the red optics.
"I'm sick of everyone going for my hearts." snarled Tails before he delivered a headbutt to Infinite's armored mask, hard enough to knock the mask out of place again.
Infinite staggers back and holds his mask as blood oozes down the sides again. He growls before he goes for a slash on the biomechanical fox only for the fox to avoid it, grab Infinite by the back of the head and point the cannon at his face. Infinite's eye widens as he notices the single round that the fox still has of the 20mm APHE munition. As Infinite activates the Phantom Ruby, the fox fires. Infinite is blasted back, half of his mask going flying, and he barely manages to get a grip on the hull of the airship with his claws. He gets up before several throwing stars impale him in several important joints on his cybernetics, jamming them. He looks and TD delivers a drop-kick to his stomach, knocking the jackal off the airship.
[End music]
TD jumps back to his feet and then notices that the airship is on a crash course for Snively's base and that the ship itself has been evacuated.
"Um...now what?!" asked TD a bit nervous at how quickly the ship was approaching the ground.
"We jump!" replied Tails as he grabbed TD and jumped off the airship before spinning his namesakes to fly. TD shifts into his doll form so Tails has to carry less weight but then sees something quickly flying towards them.
"Tails! Look out!" yells TD but not fast enough as a Phantom Ruby Spear pierces one of Tails' tails, canceling his ability to fly and both begin to plummet before Sloth catches both of them.
"Hold on! This is gonna be rough!" said Sloth as he put himself between the two foxes and fox doll and the rapidly approaching ground.
The massive airship hit the ground first, ripping through several mines of fortifications before exploding into a huge fireball. The next to hit the ground, was Sloth. The fallen angel hit the ground hard enough to bounce, but he continued to shield the three smaller beings in his arms even as he crashed through several buildings, his armor absorbing all of the damage and impacts from the debris. He kept his one good eye closed to avoid losing it though. As he crashed through another building, he had to let go of the three as he got tangled up in electrical cables, his wings and armor turning him into a giant lightning rod with the cables wrapping around him and preventing him from moving.
The trio of foxes rolled across the ground after being let go. Tails slowly got up, coughing up dust from the crash. He stumbled over to check on the other two. Frenzy's fur had returned to its black coloration and TD was unconscious. He looked at his wounded tail, noticing the Ruby Spear still lodged in it. He hestitantly grabbed it, pain racing up his spine as soon as his fingers touched it. He let go of it before he looked around for something to use to bite down on.
Meanwhile, drope site of negated dimensional helpers...
Razor struggled to free himself and Mayhem from the bola wrapped around the two of them. The bola's material negating his Earth Dragon strength as well as his eyes. Fear visible within said eyes due to him being so used to having them, seeing only the present instead of the present AND every possible future is terrifying to him.
"Need a hand?" asked Admin_Fun as he appeared from a ring portal.
"YES! HOW DO YOU PEOPLE HANDLE BEING ABLE TO ONLY SEE THE PRESENT?!" yelled Razor, fear actually dominating his tone of voice.
Admin_Fun shrugged as he opened a compartment on his armor's belt and pulled out a laser cutter and began working on the bola. After a few moments of sustained cutting, a segment of the bola gives way and Razor breaks free of it. He jumps to his feet and then helps Mayhem out of the ground, who he had unintentionally buried when they had crashed.
"Where's Infinite?" snarled Mayhem as his distortion shield flaired to life around him.
"I think he's back at the now ruined base..." began Admin_Fun before Mayhem just disappeared, only a gust of wind being noticed to signal his departure.
"Oh, that's gonna hurt." murmured Razor as he looked lost in thought.
"What's going to hurt?" asked Admin_Fun to the Kangaroo/Dragon Hybrid.
"If I told YOU, it would spoil it for THEM." said Razor pointing at the screen.
"DON'T DO THAT!"
"Do what? Break the fourth wall?"
"YES!"
"But I'm not breaking it!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not! I'm not smashing it with a hammer!"
Admin_Fun goes to argue but then stops, trying to think on how to counter that argument.
Back at ruined power plant...
Tails sighed as he took some foundation brick fragments and put them in his mouth. He bit down on the fragments as he grabbed the spear and began working on pulling it out. The thing felt weird to hold, like it was real but not real. The pain was hard to ignore though, even with the brick fragments. After several minutes of struggling, he finally got the spear out and he tossed it away while grabbing his now bleeding tail and spit out the now even more fragmented brick fragments. He held onto the spot, trying to stop the bleeding but it didn't seem to want to stop. His ears twitched and became alert as he heard the Phantom Ruby again. He quickly looked and saw Infinite standing in front of him.
The broken side of the jackal's mask exposed bloody muscle and a nasty piece of shrapnel lodged in his useless eye. The shrapnel looks to have been there a long time. The Jackal holds up the throwing stars that had been used to jam his cybernetic servos and Tails quickly spins as the Jackal throws them. Tails grunts in pain as the stars embed themselves in his back.
Sloth tries to move but stops as the electricity of the cables courses through him and with being unable to move he glares at Infinite who just ignores him. Infinite creates a sword from Phantom Ruby cubes and advances on Tails. His one functioning eye showing nothing but rage behind the red lense. Tails quickly spins and fires two stun gun prongs into Infinite's chest, catching the Jackal off guard for a moment but when no electricity hits, he backhands the fox and the fox skids back several feet.
Tails raises his arm housing the stun gun and has a chamber pop open on the side before it fires the voltage battery and Infinite watches it fly by his head and behind him. He ignores it until he hears the sound of someone catching the battery and disconnecting it. He turns and sees Mayhem there holding the wires. Mayhem holds up one of his claws in his free hand and has black-red lightning arc off of it.
"I wonder how many people will recognize this element?" asked Mayhem aloud as he looked at the red-black lightning arcing off his claw before he looks at Infinite, "Do you recognize it?"
Tails recognizes it and quickly shields his eyes as Mayhem puts the claw to the wires and the lightning races along the stun gun wires and into the prongs. Infinite yells in pain as his body is flooded with the red-black lightning, his body gaining an X-ray effect as he gets electrocuted. After only a few seconds, the lense on the remaining half of the mask explodes and Infinite is blown into a wall where he collapses, unconscious. Black-red lightning continues to arc off him. Mayhem drops the wires and goes over to Tails.
END CHAPTER
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CONSTRUCTIVE Criticism is welcomed, DESTRUCTIVE IS NOT.
(1, unlisted) The 20mm APHE are designed as follows: armor piercing entry with internal detonation of high yield explosives. I have no idea on how to perfectly explain the rounds beyond that and "they're a sci-fi munition designed in a much more war-like (fan-made) world of Sonic the Hedgehog".