Hey, everyone! How's it going?! Ready for the third rewritten chapter of Sonic Flare?! I know I am!
I remember leaving off on this chapter and how much happened in my life that prevented me from getting out fast enough the first time. That wasn't the case this time! Of course, rewriting it was a bit of a time-stopper, but I still made it work! There's so much more to look forward to in this chapter, and then the next ones right after this! Just please bear with me that I may not always be able to get to writing right away, since life does come first. If I could spend more time writing, I'm pretty sure I'd be done with this story by now. But, now that I have a bit more time nowadays, I can finally do that. I can finally keep this story going after years of delay!
To those who've come to like this story then and now, thank you for following so far, and I look forward to more coming very soon!
Anyway, I won't keep you too much longer. With that being said, all that's left for me to say is that I do not legally own the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog, but I do own my story and the OCs affiliated with it. Now that I've said that, here's the next chapter! I hope you like it!
Sonic Flare!
Chapter 3: How Darkness Was Unleashed
~Flare's Dimension, Magnus' Island Fortress, Day Time~
(Four months ago...)
Continuing off from before, inside the island fortress, Magnus watched as Flare, Ash, and Pyre blasted through his island defenses and witnessed through the monitors as Flare infiltrated the building, blowing his way past any and all security robots and doors that tried to prevent him from reaching the main room. The more the doctor watched the red hedgehog advance through his defenses, the more he growled in rage, especially when Flare took a moment to stop, grin, and wink at one of the security cameras before he destroyed it.
"I HATE that hedgehog!" Magnus gritted his teeth in anger. "Why must he ALWAYS ruin everything?!"
"Haven't you figured it out?" asked Pyro as she caught Magnus' attention and gave him a serious glare through her containment sphere. "As long as you continue to do things that'll harm others, Flare will never stop trying to thwart your evil plans. And if not him, then someone else will."
"Don't be so sure about that, foxy!" Magnus replied before taking out the last Chaos Emerald. He grinned and chuckled at it for a moment before he moved towards his machine to insert it. "I haven't been stopped yet! Time to get this show on the road!"
"But, sir...! You haven't even decided what you'll wear for the broadcast!" Butlerbot pointed this out, surprised by the doctor's sudden haste in moving forward with his plan.
"Forget publicity!" He gritted his teeth in annoyance at him before he inserted the final Chaos Emerald into the machine and pressed the buttons on its controls. "I want victory! Ha!"
Once he had set up the seventh emerald into the machine's systems, he pressed the enter button, and the machine began to light up from the energy all seven Chaos Emeralds were emitting into it. "Final Chaos Emerald inserted. Initiating Energy Transference System now," said the machine in a feminine voice, which caused Magnus to grin and chuckle in delight.
"Excellent!" he exclaimed but was then surprised when the door to the main room he and the others were in was suddenly blown open, and to their surprise, it was none other than Flare the Hedgehog that barged on in with a cocky smirk on his face.
"Flare!" Pyro gave an open-mouthed smile the moment she noticed it was him.
"Hedgehog!" Magnus shouted with wide eyes.
"Hey, Magnus." Flare grinned towards the doctor. "I hope you don't mind, but I let myself in."
"I actually do mind, you little nuisance!" Magnus gritted his teeth in rage as the robots in the room, except for Butlerbot and Maidbot, set their sights upon him. "If you think I'm going to let you ruin my plans again, you're greatly mistaken!"
"We'll just see about that!" Flare replied, his cocky grin unwavering.
"Yes, we shall, my little friend!" Magnus then pointed a finger towards the red hedgehog. "Attack!"
Following his orders, the robots charged right for Flare from all directions, but Flare chuckled and spun around, creating a fiery tornado that surrounded him and blew the incoming robots away when they got too close. Magnus gasped in shock as he ducked to avoid one of the robots from crashing into him, then looked around to see they'd all been wreaked by the force of Flare's move as the red hedgehog slowed down and came to a stop to face the doctor again with a cocky smirk. "Don't tell me that was it."
"Not even close!" Magnus growled in frustration before he pointed towards his machine. "Once my Energy Amplification Machine's finished transferring the energy of the Chaos Emeralds into my satellite cannons, I'll make sure no one on this planet forgets the name of Doctor Magnus!"
"Aww... It's kind of hard to forget you, though, Magnutt." Flare chuckled and crossed both arms over behind his head. "Still, I'd hate to have something done to your machine before it can finish what it's doing. That would really put a damper on my day if it were me."
Magnus stood there with his teeth gritting as he tried to come up with a comeback to Flare's remark, but the red hedgehog grinned and uncrossed his arms after a moment of having no response from him. "Oh well." He then dashed forward and was about to attempt to destroy the machine, but then suddenly came to a stop when a flurry of bullets were fired on the ground to halt his advance. "Huh?!"
To his and Pyro's surprise, they turned their heads to discover that it was Butlerbot that had fired those bullets, as his left arm had suddenly changed into that of a gattling gun. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere near that machine, hedgehog."
"Say what?" Flare's eyes widen in surprise as Maidbot moves over to join Butlerbot.
"You heard him," she said with a serious expression, along with Butlerbot. "You didn't think we'd just stand by and let you ruin things again, did you?"
"Uh, kind of...?" Flare sweat dropped, unsure whether he should take them seriously or not. "No offense, but you guys don't normally do much besides wait on Magnus hand and foot."
"Ha! That's where you're wrong, my little frenemy!" Magnus grinned and chuckled darkly as the light reflected off his glasses. "You see, I've recently upgraded my two servant bots, and now they're so much more! If you don't believe me, just take a good look for yourself."
"ENGAGE COMBAT MODE!" shouted Butlerbot and Maidbot in unison as their optics suddenly turned bright red and their bodies began to transform before everyone's eyes.
Butlerbot's hover unit changed to form six legs, which gave him a more spider-like structure, and both his arms transformed into gattling guns. Maidbot, on the other hand, transformed her arms into large drills that spiraled rapidly, and her hover unit changed to form another drill that was even larger than the ones on her arms, and then her pigtails moved upward and spiraled like drills as well. She gave a sort of wasp-like appearance, and once their transformations were completed, the two bots moved forward, though Maidbot hovered off the floor instead, and they were ready for combat, much to Flare and Pyro's shock, but Magnus laughed loudly in delight. "Bet you didn't see this one coming now, did you?" He then grinned and pointed towards Flare. "Now destroy that hedgehog!"
"With pleasure, sir!" Butlerbot replied as he aimed his gattling guns at Flare and fired a barrage of bullets upon him, surprising him at first, but he quickly moved back before he turned and ran as fast as he could to avoid being shot, but Butlerbot rotated the top of his body to keep up with Flare's movements around the room. "Hold still!"
Flare gritted his teeth as he increased in speed some more, allowing him to run along the walls, but as he ran, Maidbot went after him and fired her arm drills like projectiles towards him. "Take this!" she shouted as she fired, and though Flare was surprised when he looked back, he quickly jumped off the wall just before the drills made contact with him, though Madibot went towards and had them reconnect back on her arms, then growled in annoyance as she saw Flare land back on the floor and attempted to go for the machine, trying to fire a fireball from his hand to destroy it, but was cut off by Butlerbot as he continued to blast him, which caused Flare to once again use evasive action.
Pyro could only watch Flare's struggle through her containment sphere, while Magnus laughed in delight and grinned at the sight. "That's right, Flare! Run... Run...!" he continued his excessive laughter before he turned his attention back onto his machine and noticed it was almost finished charging up. "Ooo...! And it looks like my machine's almost ready...!"
Overhearing what the doctor said, Pyro gasped in shock before turning her back towards Flare's struggle. "Flare, you have to hurry! The machine's almost finished charging!"
"I'm trying, but these guys are more relentless than any of Magnus' other robots!" he yelled back as he continued to evade Butlerbot's bullets, but then had to jump off the wall as Maidbot almost made contact with him using her larger drill like a stinger, but she quickly turned her body and fired the twin ponytail drills off her head like missiles towards him, which he quickly noticed. "Uh oh!"
Running some more, Flare tried to get away from Maidbot's ponytail drills, but no matter how hard he tried, they turned whenever he turned and continued to chase after him, which caused Maidbot to laugh and grin. "Run all you like, but you'll never avoid my drill missiles!" she exclaimed, which caused Flare to grit his teeth in frustration, but then he shifted his eyes towards Magnus' machine and then back at Maidbot's ponytail drills, and an idea formed in his head.
"That's it!" He shouted before he grinned and went back on the floor and ran towards the wall again, this time running upward with the ponytail drills still after him, but then he jumped off and did a flip in the air before landing both feet exactly on the drills to ride on them. "Oh yeah!"
Maidbot's optics widen in shock at this as Flare uses his body to steer the ponytail drills in any direction he chooses, and he sets them straight at Magnus' machine, which caught him by surprise. "Ah! What are you doing?!" The doctor quickly ducked just as Flare jumped off and sent the drills right at the machine, causing them to collide and cause it damage as electricity sparked across it just as Magnus got back up and noticed it was displaying a malfunction sign on its monitor. "What? No! It can't be!" Ignoring the sparks across the machine exterior, Magnus tried to make it work again but found it impossible and shouted loudly in frustration with his hands pulling his hair. "This can't be happening! I was so close this time!"
At the same time, Flare landed back on the floor near Pyro's containment sphere as she gave him an open-mouthed smile while he turned a smirk towards the doctor. "Close, but not close enough, Magnutt. Sorry."
"Why you..." Magnus growled and turned his attention towards Flare. "You red menace! You ruin everything! ...Again!"
"That's the idea." Flare grinned, but then pointed towards Butlerbot and Maidbot. "Although you guys made things a little challenging near the end there. Those new upgrades of yours really packed a punch. Very impressive."
"Are we supposed to take that as a compliment or what?" Butlerbot turned his head and asked Maidbot, confused.
"I'd take it. After all, I've been wanting to try out this form since being upgraded." Maidbot stated it with a happy expression.
"Will you both shut it?!" yelled Magus towards his two servant bots, which caused their optics to widen in shock before he turned his attention back onto Flare. "And as for you, don't think this is the end, you little nuisance! I-!"
But before Magnus could finish what he was saying, suddenly, the machine behind him began to spark even more than before, and the monitor displayed an overload sign on it, which surprised the doctor. "Huh?! What now?!" he asked before he noticed the Chaos Emeralds linked to the machine began to glow brightly in response to the machine's strange overload. "What's happening?!"
"Now what are you doing, Magnus?!" Flare asked as he noticed the machine acting strange as well.
"Don't look at me! I'm not doing this!" he exclaimed, as he took a step back away from the machine.
"I think the machine's having a strange reaction towards the Chaos Emeralds and the fact that it was damaged!" Pyro pointed this out upon observing the machine's actions.
"What does that mean?!" asked Flare, surprised.
"Oh, I think I know exactly what it means." Magnus turned away from the machine and smiled, holding a finger up for a moment before he gave a look of panic. "SHE'S GONNA BLOW!"
Magnus quickly ran to the side as the machine then began to glow brightly with the Chaos Emeralds connected to it, which shocked Flare and Pyro, along with Butlerbot and Maidbot, as they watched it glow more intensively by the second before they had to shut their eyes and optics as it blinded them. Then, the machine began to rumble and cause the room to shake, but then it released a massive amount of energy like a pillar upwards, breaking through the ceiling and continuing on till it could be seen outside, which Ash and Pyre took notice of in shock once they finished off the last of Magnus' robots. The released energy continued to ascend higher and higher till it could be seen even in space, and the pillar of light from it remained visual for a long minute before it suddenly went back towards the machine, and everything was silent for a moment as Flare and the others uncovered their eyes, confused, but were then surprised when the machine released the energy again, but this time in the form of an explosion that consumed the entire room, greatly shocking everyone as they screamed once engulfed by it.
Back outside, Ash and Pyre had witnessed the pillar of light shoot out of Magnus' fortress before it went back inside and heard the explosion in the main room all the way from their location. Everything went silent for a moment as they noticed smoke coming from the upper level of the building.
"What the heck was that?!" Pyre asked with wide eyes.
"Even I'm not sure, but it couldn't have been anything good!" Ash exclaimed before ejecting himself from the transformed Typhoon jet and landing on the ground before he ran towards the building. "Come on! Flare and Pyro might be in trouble!"
"No need to tell me that!" replied Pyre as she ran after her brother and headed into the fortress with him.
Meanwhile, back inside the main room, the explosion from the machine left the entire room in a wreak as giant holes were left in the walls, the monitor and fortress controls were destroyed, and plugs hung out all over the place with electrical sparks coming out of them. What stood out most from the damages was the giant hole left in the ceiling that sunlight shined through, along with the busted Energy Amplification Machine in the center and the Chaos Emeralds still within it, but their glow had disappeared. In fact, the emeralds went dull, as if the life had been drained out of them. After being consumed by the explosion, Flare had some debris on top of him, but he was able to push it off and grit his teeth as he felt some slight pain course through him. He was then shocked when he noticed the damage that had been done to the room.
"Whoa! What a mess!" he exclaimed as he noticed Butlerbot and Maidbot, still in their combat mode forms, lying together on the floor, unconscious, and then spotted Magnus unconscious as well near the wall, but what shocked him most was Pyro lying on the floor with her containment sphere busted nearby. "Pyro!"
Without wasting a second, Flare ran towards her and got down on one knee once he was right by her. "Hey, Pyro...! Are you okay?! Pyro...!" He gave her a shake to make sure she was all right, and after a few seconds, she let out a cough and opened her eyes, which made Flare sigh in relief. "You're okay. Thank goodness..."
"I'll say..." she replied as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and shook her head before rubbing it and smiling weakly towards Flare. "But I think this little adventure's given me a headache."
"You and me both." Flare chuckled and smiled before he stood back up and offered Pyro a hand. "Let's get out of here before the rest of the place falls on us."
Pyro nodded in agreement and was about to take Flare's hand, but she spotted something in the corner of her eye and was shocked as she turned her head towards the destroyed Energy Amplification Machine. "H-Hey... What's that?" Her eyes widen as she points towards the machine, which surprised Flare as he turned his gaze towards the machine as well and was shocked by what he saw.
Just above the machine, a strange dark hole was ripped open in mid-air that also radiated the same energy the machine caused when it exploded. For a moment, Flare and Pyro watched as the strange hole hovered over the broken machine before the red hedgehog spoke up. "What... in the world...?"
But then, to their surprise, a strange black substance leaked out of the hole and onto the machine before it spilled out onto the floor and took shape in the form of an oozy creature that let out a low, but loud, moan that shocked the two even more. "W-What is that thing?!" asked Pyro as she felt somewhat frightened by what she saw, but Flare put on a brave face and stepped forward cautiously towards it.
"I'm not sure, but it sure is weird-looking," he stated as he stopped not too far from the creature, eyeing it closely before he gasped in shock when a pair of bright yellow eyes were shown on its oozing form, along with another low but louder moan that made him jump back. "Whoa!"
The creature then began to moan louder and louder, which made the room shake under the pressure and also made Flare and Pyro cover their ears and shut their eyes as Pyro screamed a bit. While they did that, Magnus groaned and was stirred awake by the loud moaning sound. He rubbed his head upon awakening, but gasped in shock when he saw the damage and the strange creature. "W-What is this?! What's happening?!"
Even Butlerbot and Maidbot were woken by the loud moans of the creature and were shocked when they spotted it, but more so when anything that cast a shadow was being sucked towards it. Most of the shadows it took in were from the debris around it, but then it took in something different. It took in Flare's shadow. Unknowingly, the red hedgehog's shadow was taken and absorbed into the oozing creature, which gave a loud moan of delight before it began to release a dark purple mist that covered the room, much to Magnus and his robot's surprise. Eventually, the loud moans the creature made subsided, allowing Flare and Pyro to uncover their ears and reopen their eyes, though Flare noticed his shadow was missing.
"Huh? What? My... my shadow." He looked all over himself but found no trace of his shadow. "Where did it-?"
"Flare! L-Look!" Pyro pointed in shock and fright towards the creature, which made Flare look and gasp as the oozing liquid began to change shape as a figure began to rise from it.
Everyone in the room watched in shock as the figure appeared to be made of the same ooze the creature had, but then it began to change in appearance until something different stood before them. A figure that had the appearance of a Mobian hedgehog but had dark purple with darker purple lines across its long and messy quills, arms, and legs, along with white gloves and black boots with white line patterns down the sides. Around its torso and muzzle were darkly tanned skin, along with darkly tanned inner ears, but what stood out most of all were its glowing yellow eyes and black scleras, which had a touch of evil to them.
Once the figure had finished taking form and was no longer an oozing substance, it took a moment to look over its body, give a dark smile, and chuckle. "Ah, this form's not half bad looking," it said in a low and dark male voice, raising a hand to get a better look at his arm. "I can work with this. Oh absolutely."
"What in the world?" Flare took a step back with wide eyes at the mysterious figure.
"Who is that?" asked Pyro, feeling even more frightened than earlier.
Magnus was at a loss for words, for he too was taken aback by the mysterious figure's presence to say anything, but not his two robots. "You're seeing this too, right?" asked Butlerbot with wide optics.
"If you mean that weird ooze that suddenly turned into a hedgehog and that dark and creepy vibe going on in the air, then yes." Maidbot's optics also widen at the mysterious figure's new appearance. "Yes, I do."
Soon, the mysterious figure finished looking over his body, then gazed around the room, first frightening the two robots, then Magnus when he spotted him, though he chuckled almost amusingly at the doctor's reaction, but then he looked towards Flare and instantly realized something. "Ah, it was from you then." His words made Flare grit his teeth and take a step back while he stepped slowly forward towards the red hedgehog. "You're the one I have to thank for giving me this form. Thanks to you, I now have everything I need."
"Uh, do I want to say you're welcome or...?" Flare wasn't sure what to make of the mysterious figure's words as he stopped a little ways from the red hedgehog and chuckled darkly some more.
"You can. But I doubt you'll want to after you hear what I plan to do next," he stated, but then raised a brow curiously. "But first, I'd like to know... What is your name? Who is the person that helped me achieve a physical form that I oh so longed for?"
"It's Flare. Flare the Hedgehog." Flare introduced himself but kept a serious expression, while Pyro cautiously moved further back for a safer distance. "And what about you? You got a name?"
"My name is practically irrelevant," the mysterious figure replied as he spread his arms out some. "Though, since you answered my question, it's only fair that I answer yours. You may call me Synth. Synth, the Dark One, to be precise."
"Okay, Synth... Exactly what were these plans of yours you were talking about a minute ago?" asked Flare.
"Well, if you truly want to know..." Synth replied as he slowly walked around Flare, but the red hedgehog kept his eye and body towards him. "I have been trapped in my space for a very, very long time. I always dreamed I would one day be free and achieve a physical form to use the powers I have to their fullest. Of course, where I'm from, that dream feels next to impossible. Until today, that is."
Synth then stopped and turned his body completely towards Flare as the red hedgehog gritted his teeth and took a stance to be ready for anything as Synth continued. "And now that I'm here, I simply wish to... take this world for my own." His yellow eyes glowed the moment he said that, which brought more of a fright to everyone in the room, but Flare was more surprised than anything, but then he chuckled and laughed with his eyes shut, which made Synth raise a brow curiously. "What's so funny?"
It took Flare a moment to calm himself down, cease his laughter, and reopen his eyes. "Oh, nothing..." he grinned and crossed his arms. "I was just expecting something a bit more dramatic, but that just makes you sound like a typical bad guy, and I deal with one that constantly tries to do what you just said, almost on a daily basis."
"Hey...!" Magnus gritted his teeth and waved a fist in the air towards Flare as he felt insulted.
"Is that so?" Synth asked, but then chuckled darkly again and smirked. "No wonder you sound so confident. You must think you're something special."
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Flare closed his eyes as he rubbed off what Synth said, then reopened his eyes and smirked. "I'm just a little fiery hedgehog that likes to take guys like you down to the cleaners. If it's world dominance you're after, you can forget about that."
"Because you're going to stop me, is that right?" Synth asked, as if he knew what to expect from someone like Flare.
"Pretty much!" Flare grinned confidently in reply, but Synth only laughed in amusement before he smirked again and was suddenly surrounded by a sinister black aura.
"I'd like to see you try," he stated as Flare once again took a boxing-style fighting stance and smirked.
"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you. Ha!" Suddenly, Flare gave a quick dash towards Synth and threw a punch, but was surprised when he hit nothing but air and saw that Synth had managed to move out of the way in time. "Huh?!"
Synth turned his head towards the red hedgehog and chuckled in amusement again, while everyone else gasped in shock at what they had witnessed. Flare, to them, was one of the fastest-moving people they knew, and somehow someone like Synth was able to move just as fast as him, if not a bit faster. "It can't be!" Magnus shouted in shock. "He actually dodged him!"
"That's impossible!" Pyro's eyes widen in complete shock. "Flare's the fastest thing in the world! How can anyone outpace him?!"
Unsure how Synth was able to evade him, Flare gritted his teeth and got serious as he surrounded himself in a fiery aura before he came at him again with a barrage of punches and tried to land a blow, but Synth continued to smirk and evade each strike Flare threw his way. Eventually, Synth used a hand to block Flare's next punch and shocked him when he got in his face. "You have quite an interesting fighting style," he stated, amused. "You don't mind if I try it out for myself, do you?"
Before Flare could answer, he was suddenly punched in the gut and shouted loudly in pain before he was kicked away into a wall. The moment he impacted it, the wall collapsed on top of him since it was already damaged from the explosion earlier, and everyone gasped again in shock while Synth continued to smirk. However, Flare shot out of the debris and flew in mid-air, angered, as he shouted and unleashed a blast of fire from his hands down upon Synth. Pyro, Magnus, and the two robots had to cover their eyes and optics from the intensity of the flames Flare released, but it appeared he had got Synth, which made him grin in delight, but his grin quickly vanished when he spotted Synth had moved and was now flying in mid-air along with him. Once they could see again, everyone else in the room was once again shocked by Synth's abilities.
"No way!" Flare's eyes widen in shock. "He... he can fly too?!"
"What's the matter? Are you surprised?" Synth chuckled, which made Flare growl in irritation. "That last attack, though, almost caught me off guard. No wonder you were confident. Such abilities you have." Slowly, Synth took a firing stance with his right hand out towards Flare and smirked. "Unfortunately, they pale in comparison to mine."
With a sinister chuckle, Synth channeled dark energy into his right hand, then instantly fired a dark energy sphere towards Flare. Though surprised, Flare quickly took evasive action and dodged the attack in time, but Synth laughed as he fired more energy spheres, which caused Flare to continue to evade till he let out a shout and fired a fireball from his hand at one, colliding with it, and both attacks exploded and surrounded them in smoke, much to everyone else's shock again. In the smoke, though, Flare was unable to see where Synth was as he looked around frantically to find him, unaware that Synth appeared like a shadow behind him. He chuckled and grinned as he caught him by surprise before he smacked him away.
Flare was then seen flying out of the smoke and surprising Pyro, Magnus, and his bots, but he quickly regained his balance and gritted his teeth again before he went into his spinning ball form with flames surrounding him, then charged right back at Synth. However, the smoke cleared enough to allow Synth to see the red hedgehog coming, and he smirked as he used one hand with dark energy flowing through it to stop the attack, but Flare continued to try and push through to strike Synth.
"Come on!" shouted Pyro as she gritted her teeth too and shut her eyes tight as she yelled. "You can do it, Flare!"
Hearing Pyro's voice, Flare put in all the force he could muster into his spinning fireball attack, which came as a bit of a surprise to Synth as he felt the pressure of Flare's attack increase. In response, he got serious and moved his free hand to aid his other one and was able to better hold back Flare's spin attack, much to the hedgehog's dismay as Synth let out a loud shout before he released a blast of dark energy that pushed Flare back and caused him to crash through the floor into the level below, which made everyone gasp once again in utter shock.
"He stopped him!" exclaimed Butlerbot in shock.
"No way! Impossible!" Maidbot was also in shock.
"Oh, but it is possible, my little servant bot." Magnus stated, trying to stay calm compared to his bots, but he had a grim look in his eyes. "We've just witnessed something extraordinary with our own eyes. A being that can match Flare!"
Worried, Pyro ran to the hole made by Flare's crash through the floor and got down on her hands and knees once she was near the edge. She saw Flare lying in a pile of rubble far below and was struggling to get back up. "Flare! Hang on!" she shouted as Flare continued to try to get back up as he opened his eyes. Though his vision was getting blurry, he could make out Pyro high above, as well as the sinister figure of Synth, still surrounded by a dark aura and grinning menacingly. "Just hang on!"
The last thing Flare could hear were the worrisome cries of Pyro, along with a maniacal laughter from Synth as his exhaustion finally settled in and caused him to pass out from his injuries.
Though he was passed out, blurry moments flashed through Flare as he breathed slowly as Pyro was seen again with Ash and Pyre, who came running into the room Flare had crashed into to find him among the rubble he lied on and were shocked because of it.
"Flare!" exclaimed Ash as he ran over to him with Pyre and Pyro as sounds of the fortress falling apart were heard all around them. "What happened to him?! Did Magnus do this?!"
"No! It wasn't him!" Pyro answered. "It was someone else!"
"How can anyone do this to Flare?!" Pyre asked, surprised, as Ash hurried to help Flare up.
"We'll figure that out later! We got to get him and ourselves out of here!" Ash stated, and the two girls nodded in agreement as Pyre helped in getting Flare back up so she and Ash could move him out, while Pyro led the way to the exit just as the ceiling began to cave in on them, which was the last thing Flare was able to see before he passed out once more.
~Sonic's Dimension, Cream's House, Evening Time~
(Present Time)
"Ever since then, Synth has caused nothing but complete and total disaster across my world." Flare continued on with his story, with Sonic and the others still listening, none of them wanting to interrupt. "He covered the sky with clouds and shut off the light, then he started destroying one city after another. If that weren't enough, the ecosystem of my world began to weaken without the sun's rays and slowly withered away. If nothing's done soon, it may be too late to save everything."
"There's something I don't get, though." Sonic chimed in with his arms crossed. "You said he's been causing your world trouble for months now, right? And you also said your world has Chaos Emeralds, right? How come you don't just use those to stop him?"
"Believe me, we've tried to use the Chaos Emeralds over and over, but ever since Synth arrived in my world, the emeralds haven't gotten any of their power back." Flare replied, which brought a surprise to Sonic.
"No way," he said, while Tails took a moment to think about that in the background.
"I have a question now too." Amy spoke up, curious. "Even if he is that powerful, how can one guy cause that much trouble? I'm sorry to say, but I don't believe he could do all that damage by himself."
"I get where you're coming from, but, unfortunately, he can," replied Flare. "He has powers like none I've ever seen before. He can even use them to create his own army of monsters, using the things around him as material. Rock, wood, metal, you name it."
"Oh..." Amy's eyes widen in surprise. "Okay, that... explains that then."
"That sounds kind of scary." Cream added as she felt a little afraid while holding Cheese close in her arms, who also felt afraid.
"Yeah..." Flare turned his eyes down toward the floor. "And like I said, he has other powers none of us can comprehend. The fact that he was able to send me here is proof of that. Without the emeralds, I'm the only one capable of at least standing a chance against him, but no matter how many times I fight him, I can't beat him! All I can do is stall him for everyone else to get away."
"That sounds rough." Sonic replied. "But now that you're here and not there..."
"If I'm here and not there, I can't protect anyone!" Flare gritted his teeth in frustration. "I was the only one really keeping him from hurting anyone. His monsters are not a big problem, especially for me, but, without me there, I can't imagine how everyone will fare against someone like Synth on their own!"
A moment of silence then fell upon everyone, unsure what they should say or do, but that silence soon broke when Sonic smiled and jumped out of his seat. "Well then, what we got to do is pretty clear," he said, which caught everyone's attention as he pointed towards Flare. "We got to get you back home to help your friends!"
Flare was taken by surprise when he heard Sonic say that. He wasn't sure how to respond, but Amy sure did. "How?" she asked. "How are we going to get him back to his own world?"
"I'm sure we'll come up with something." Sonic answered before he turned his gaze towards Tails. "In fact, Tails, you've been awfully quiet for awhile now. Let me guess... You got something in mind?"
"Hmm. Well, it may not be conclusive, but I think I do have something," he stated as he turned his gaze towards Flare. "If I recall right, you said Synth appeared after Magnus's machine went haywire with the seven Chaos Emeralds inside of it, right?"
"Yeah." Flare nodded in reply. "I did say that."
"And just a moment ago, you said the Chaos Emeralds had somehow lost their power after Synth arrived, correct?"
"Yes." Flare nodded again. "I also said that."
"Like I said, it may not be conclusive, but it sounds like that machine and the emeralds had a hand in bringing Synth from wherever he came from to your world." Tails then jumped off the sofa and smiled. "So, maybe there's a way we can use the Chaos Emeralds in our world, along with the right ingenuity, to send you back to your world!"
"Is that even possible?" asked Amy, unsure if the idea would work.
"Oh, it's possible, all right." Sonic grinned and pointed a thumb towards Tails. "And if anyone here can figure it out, it's Tails."
Tails laughed and closed his eyes in response while also rubbing the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I'll do my best!"
Though he was still surprised by the idea of Sonic and his friends helping him, Flare felt a bit of relief as a smile returned to his face. "You guys would really help me out?" he asked as Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese turned their smiles towards him in response. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."
"Hey, don't sweat it." Sonic gestured with his hand that he was brushing it off. "Besides, we go through stuff like this all the time. You wouldn't believe the kind of stories we could tell you."
"You'll have to tell me some of them some time." Flare closed his eyes and laughed.
"Still, I can't believe we're going to go emerald hunting again." Amy sighed sadly. "From a day at the beach to this. Just my luck."
"Don't worry, Amy. It'll be all right." Cream smiled toward Amy. "Besides, we have to help Mr. Flare get back home, so we should go find those emeralds."
Cheese flew out of Cream's arms and admitted that was right in his own Chao language and smiled, to which Amy nodded in understanding and smiled at them. "Yeah, you're right, Cream." She then put her hands together as her eyes sparkled with excitement. "And besides, any adventure with Sonic in it is okay with me!"
Cream and Cheese had a feeling Amy would say something like that and laughed with their eyes closed in response, while Sonic walked up to Flare. "All right, it's settled. Starting tomorrow, we'll start looking for those emeralds," he stated as Flare got off the sofa and faced his other world counterpart. "For now, get some rest. You sound like you've been through a heck of a lot."
"You have no idea." Flare replied as he looked back on the things he had gone through over the past four months.
"You can sleep the night here if you want." Cream smiled and caught Flare's attention. "Mama says it's all right as long as you're okay with it."
"Mhm. Yeah, I'm okay with it." Flare smiled back before he turned his head to face everyone, seeing their smiling faces once more, which gave him a feeling that things were starting to look up now. "I think everything's going to be A-OK."
TO BE CONTINUED...
It is done! This marks the end of the third chapter, and we've seen a lot of things happen in this one! We've seen Synth emerge into Flare's world, and we've seen just how powerful he is. However, was that really all of his power we've seen? What more is he capable of? And will Sonic and his friends be able to return Flare home in time before something happens? Tune in next time to find out!
Now here's the part where I explain a few things to you. First off, let me explain the concept behind Synth's creation. Obviously, if you're familiar with the Sonic 2006 game, you can see that Mephiles the Dark was an inspiration factor in his character, hence using Flare's shadow to take physical form. However, his form isn't exactly like Flare's. He just took the form of a Mobian hedgehog, but with an added touch of his own style to it and nothing more. Also, Infinite from Sonic Forces was also an inspirational part of his making, which was mostly his use of the Phantom Ruby, which gave him plenty of power. There are other things as well in his making, but those two villain characters were the key elements. I hope you like how I melded them together.
Next, Magnus' robots... In case you guys haven't figured it out, Butlerbot and Maidbot are obviously more competent help compared to some of the robot minions Dr. Eggman used throughout the Sonic franchise. Orbot and Cubot, to be specific, and are obviously the same type of bots as them but have much better capabilities. However, I found Decoe and Bocoe from Sonic X to be the most competent out of all his minions, so they also played an inspirational part in making these two servant bots for Magnus. Of course, if you want my honest opinion, these two may be the best duo of robotic minions ever made! Hence their upgraded feature of using combat mode, which gave Flare a bit of trouble.
Well, that's about it! I hope you all learned a lot here today! So far, this has been my longest chapter in the story. I'm so glad I decided to split this one up from the last; otherwise, it would've been way too big! That aside, I'm so glad I was able to finish the backstory behind Synth's emergence into Flare's world. There's still more to come, so please come back around and find out in time yourselves! Until then, catch you all around the web! From here, the story continues at last!