Chapter 29:
After we got back to Spagonia, it was roughly midnight in there, but we didn't care. We had to talk with both Rouge and Professor Pickle. But of course, I also managed to gain access to the Veggietales video as well as the Battlebots archives, which was awesome! They even had fights that came out after I time-traveled, including the finals of the 2021 season where Tantrum won undefeated and the first round of Battlebots Champions, where Hypershock defeated Gigabyte in a monstrously destructive fight where Gigabyte got demolished completely! It was awesome to watch while Professor Pickle explained the situation.
"According to the Gaia Manuscripts, this occurrence happens once every ten thousand years. This isn't the first time that the planet has been split into pieces... the last time it happened was in the original BC era, back during an event where the earth was coated in dark clouds with endless rain that flooded the world with darkness and light," he explained, me being surprised at that. Mixing the story of Noah's Ark alongside the most recent battle of Dark and Light Gaia? It sounded so cool, but also absolutely terrifying.
"So what does that mean? We might get drowned out if Eggman wins?" Cosmo asked in concern.
"Because Eggman prematurely awakened both the Gaia entities by splitting the planet too early, Dark Gaia is in a weakened state with his essence spreading across the world. The only way to prevent Dark Gaia from regaining his full power is to destroy these essences while putting the planet back together. That will weaken it massively," Pickle explained, that making Sonic nod.
"So what do we need to do?" he asked.
"It is as Light Gaia and Cheryl have said. We need the Super Emeralds, along with the Chaos Emeralds and her 'secret weapons'. I actually happen to know of the location of one of these Super Emeralds, it being in the land of Chun-Nan. I'm friends with the town elder there. Tell him I sent you to assist and that a Super Emerald will be the prize if he shows you where the temple is. And make sure that you take this as well, should you find anyone that seems to be suffering from the darkness of Dark Gaia," he said as he handed us a flash camera, me nodding at that and seeing that it had limited film, but much more than in the game, there being roughly 30 of them.
"Thanks! And the location of Chun-Nan is where now?" I asked, him then showing that it was in the former land of China, in the city of Hong-Kong. "All I have to say is... thank GOD that China is gone forever!" I said with seriousness.
"China? Isn't that one of the things that caused that war ages ago? I read up on it after what you explained during the adventure you had in the past," Amy said, me nodding at her.
"Yep, I expected that much. They were a government-run country that killed babies if they were girls or more than one per family, locked people in their homes if they felt like it and threatened to go to war with anyone who disagreed with them," I frowned, us then going out and getting into the Tornado, Tails then giving us some information.
"It'll take us roughly 3 hours to get to Chun-Nan, so I'm going to have the plane go on Autopilot so we can have some sleep," Tails said, me smiling at that.
"Thanks, Tails. I could use some zs," I smirked as he then had the plane fly off and we then proceeded to sleep... and as for Chip? He slept in my shirt. Not in my chest, where my torso was.
When we woke up, it was to an alarm set by Tails that was of the most annoying sound you could ever hear in existence.
"WARNING! WARNING! IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP! TIME TO WAKE UP!" the voice shouted from the alarm, me holding my ears shut when I heard this, as I had mouse ears right now, since I loved the hearing bonus... but with the alarms? I hated them with mouse ears.
"Augh... maybe give a warning the next time you have an alarm that loud, Tails? My poor ears..." I groaned in annoyance.
"Consider that as part one of three of the payback from the Mistress C incident," Tails said, me frowning at him.
"You're not gonna budge on that, are ya?" I asked him in annoyance as we then disembarked the Tornado and we then saw the town looked very cute and that it was still nighttime, due to the moving around the world. We then asked around the town for where the elder of the town was and we all got the same answer.
"He went to the temple of the sun, which is down this path. He said he wanted to help the guardian of the temple, because it's very sick... it's been hours since he left, though. Can we ask you to rescue him?" asked the old man's grandchildren, me nodding at them.
"Don't worry, we'll do just that!" I smiled as Rouge then perked her ears up and then looked down the path.
"I sense treasure down that path! Powerful treasure!" Rouge smirked as she flew ahead of us and we then had to run after her the whole way. And since Rouge had some strong GUN bombs, she managed to defeat the Dark Gaia minions as well as the robots along the way. Given our group was a bit bigger than normal, we had to be careful when going across the water... but we soon found out that Amy had learned how to swim with ease and that Tails could carry one person at a time, which was going to be a huge help at the nighttime stages in the future!
"Okay, I'll float Sonic over the water with help from Cheryl," Amy said, Sonic looking at her in concern before I smiled. "And don't worry about hugging or kissing, Sonic. I changed sides for a reason," she said, me smirking at that as we then carried him over the water to the other side and to the area where the temple was. And when we did? We saw the old man was laying on the ground and had what looked to be a scroll in hand. We then went over to him, but then we heard a loud shriek above us where we saw that the phoenix had come to play, being completely coated in darkness! But it looked much different than what I was used to. What did it look like? Well, a specific manga with a phoenix in it that I actively hated for reasons that were hard to explain.
"Let's go after this guy! I'll get the elder to safety!" Tails said as he then flew in and I then took the fray and looked at the big bird with seriousness.
"Bring it on, birdy!" I shouted before then letting loose a powerful blast of light from the red ring, the phoenix screeching from this before then falling into the water, allowing our group to rush in and literally pound the darkness out of it, as it was starting to emerge from the lightshow from the ring! And after a minute of this, the phoenix lost all of its darkness and simply laid on the ground, obviously tired out and looking like it needed to recuperate.
"Okay... what now?" Sonic asked.
"You guys go on ahead with this and restore it. I'll stay behind with the others," I said as I gave Sonic the red emerald and he went forward into the temple, me looking at the phoenix and the elder and looking at them with seriousness.
"Hey, both of you okay?" I asked... and then the Phoenix opened its eyes and got onto its talons, looking at me with a small smile.
"I am fine, thanks to you, young Cheryl Martinez," the giant bird said, me not being surprised that it spoke... but I was surprised at how it sounded very calm and soothing and that it was feminine. "And you needn't worry... I am not the same as that one book described, though our appearances look the same," it said, me sighing in relief.
"So who are you, then? And how did you know Cheryl's name?" Tails asked as the immortal bird smiled.
"It is simple. I am one of many Phoenixes that exist in the multiverse. Each of us are the same, but each are also vastly different. The one that Cheryl is familiar with comes from another universe, documented in a manga based on a dream from the writer of it... the major differences between me and that one is that the other phoenix would rather wait for millions of years to save humanity and the planet by letting nature take its course, while also forcing an innocent man to become immortal, spending millions of years in complete isolation, whereas I wish to help humanity directly, along with other sentient life forces... that is why I had you sent to the Master Emerald when you were sent through time by your descendent. So you could gain the strengths needed to protect this world from evil," the Phoenix said, me gawking at that.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Hold up! Are you saying that you sent me into the Master Emerald? How did you know that I'd be sent through time? And how come you haven't mentioned anything? And... have you been secretly helping me all this time?" I asked, the Phoenix smiling at me.
"In the order asked, yes, I am omnipotent, I knew you wouldn't believe it until you met me, and yes... would you like me to elaborate on the last one?" she asked, me nodding at her. "I assisted in the time of King Arthur by sending the 7 Rings there a month before you would've arrived, I assisted in giving Light Gaia the knowledge on how to defeat Dark Gaia forever and the numerous good things that would happen by doing so, and the final and most important thing, preventing the Emeralds from leaving your side since the events of Metal Sonic's tyranny. Why else would they haven't escaped your grasp all this time?" she asked, me gawking at that.
"My word... thank you!" I smiled widely.
"So... is she immortal? Y'know, like the books say?" Amy asked as I saw she and the others emerge from the temple as we felt the rumbling happen shortly after.
"I've been alive since the beginning of time. The one who oversees the universe and all the life throughout... and as for how humans survived the nuclear holocaust that coated your world in the past, it is because I gave some of them immunity to poisoning from anything, radiation included. The few of them that changed into Mobians were more surprising than most, but I gave the treatment to all life, not just the humans. The world did need to recover after, but it was much easier than your manga depicted," the giant bird smiled, me smirking at that.
"I'm honestly not surprised. Tezuka was always more drastic in his stories. Phoenix wasn't even the one that made me the angriest. That would be Bagi, since it was the very first furry one and the first instance of tentacles, all culminating in a bad movie about not allowing science to evolve, which was the same exact thing that I had an issue with Phoenix," I explained.
"Regardless, I have this to give you, to assist in the future," she explained as she gave me two different things. The first thing? A Super Emerald, it being colored like a rainbow. And the other thing?
"Whoa! I-Is that what I think it is?!" Rouge asked when she saw the thing that I felt would be QUITE problematic if we let Eggman get his grubby mitts on it. A Phantom Ruby.
"Are you sure about this? You know if Eggman sees me with this, he might try to hurt the world trying to find one, right?" I asked, the Phoenix smiling at me... odd for a bird to smile, no matter if it were a phoenix, the bird OC from Forces, or the Babylon Rogues.
"You know what shall happen in the future. Ivo does not have the capabilities of being able to touch the vectron yet, as it can only be handled by one with great potential. And you have ever-growing potential," she smiled as she handed me the Vectron and I then touched it... and when I did, we gawked at how an image flashed in our heads of the sight of me defeating Dark Gaia and that Chip would actually be able to escape with us and live life on the planet! And that not only would Parkinsons and dimentia be gone, but it would also annihilate cancer, allow humans to survive without air, and that I'd get married to Amy, Chaos, Tikal, and, at another point in the future, even Cream would be my wife after she grew up! And we'd be expecting 10 kids, just from Cream's first pregnancy!
"Wow... Cream's going to have 10 kids? And with you? And in the future? I don't know if I should feel bad for you or feel excited," Tails admitted, me giggling at that.
"I think I'd feel bad for Cream. 10 kids at one time is a bit much, even for rabbit mobians," Amy smiled.
"Well, regardless of all of this, I feel I should thank you for saving my life and for rescuing our beloved guardian. Why not come back to the town with me?" the elder asked, me nodding at him.
"That'd be good. Just so you know, Professor Pickle sent us to find the temple and he said you and he knew of each other," Sonic smirked.
"Ohoho, yes, I remember good 'ol Pickle! We used to go to school together at the same university he teaches at! He went for history, I went for medicine," he smirked, me smiling at that.
"Sounds like you were like brothers," Cosmo smiled.
"Well, male bonds are hard to break," I smirked.
"And what about female bonds, hmm?" Amy asked with a sly smirk.
"Even harder to break," I smiled... though it was half true. It depended on how they were to each other. Cheating and arguments could crop up and so could favoritism, but I knew that and knew that I had to make all the girls in my clique happy and everyone would be good. But now that I thought of that, I decided that I'd call up the others via my cell phone, since they did live close to Spagonia and I needed to see if they could get in on the action. I called the number and then, after a few rings, I got an answer from none other than Elise. Yes, Soleanna was very close to Spagonia, be quiet.
"Hello, Cheryl, hon! Where've you been? We heard some things on the news, and we saw that Eggman's doing nothing good again," Elise asked, me sighing at that.
"Well, I got caught up in that whole thing... Eggman siphoned the powers of the Chaos Emeralds from me, Sonic, Cosmo, and Amy at the same time. And now we need to stop the doctor from taking over the world with something called Dark Gaia. He only split the earth apart so he could wake it up, but the premature wake-up call made it spread across the planet," I explained.
"Wait... is that why Maria and Sticks are acting weird and crazy?" she asked, me being confused before she then showed me via face-time and I saw that Sticks had to be tied up to a chair and she was shouting angrily, me seeing purple in her eyes.
"LEMME AT THEM GOVERNMENT CREEPS! I CAN SEE THROUGH THE SCREEN! THEY ALWAYS WATCH US FROM OTHER WORLDS!" Sticks shouted in anger... as for Maria?
"My life is nothing but pain... I miss my old body," she said... in the most melodramatic and depressed voice of all time. And you could see bits of purple above her head, too!
"Can you PLEASE come here and get them under control? We'll help out if you can and we'll also forgive you forgetting about us," said Shahra, me nodding at that.
"Got it," I said as I looked at the others with seriousness. "Guys, you go back in the plane, I'm going to do something different," I said as I then looked at Shahra with seriousness. "Shahra, I wish that I was in that room, like, right now," I said... and with a snap of her fingers, I was then sent across the world in less than a second!