Chapter 5: Gifted
Kingdom Valley
They could try to run, but there was so little room to maneuver inside. Finding an escape was going to be tough. Tails recognized the three approaching them as the prisoners Infinite freed, and after seeing that lightning bolt hit Knuckles, he wondered if they already had powers like that, or if they were bestowed upon them by The Murmur. If the answer were the latter, they would have a rough time dealing with them. Tails flew down next to Knuckles while keeping himself on guard. It was safer with him and he didn't want to be singled out once the fight started. "Tails…" Knuckles whispered to the fox. "On my signal, you're going to get out of here and find Sonic." Shock and conflict instantly appeared in Tails' face.
"What? No! I'm not going to leave you." He protested, but the echidna was content with what he said.
"I'll only slow you down. You have the emerald, protect it with your life. I'll protect yours." Knuckles raised his fist into the air, winding up a gargantuan slam. "Now!"
"Knuckles, wait!" Tails tried to stop him, but nothing could stop Knuckles now. His punch against the floor caused the polished stone to crack and crumble. The ground shifts and rumbles beneath everyone's feet as unimaginable quakes knock the Apostles to their knees. Tails, while hesitant, couldn't dishonor Knuckles' sacrifice. He took off into the air, holding the emerald tight to his chest as he darted through the gates.
Suddenly, the ground shook hard enough for it to break completely, sending Knuckles and the Apostles down a chasm below the castle. Rubble and broken stone covered them as they hit the bottom.
Elvira pushed the debris off her and saw Knuckles doing the same. With Cain and Blair back up as well, someone needed to chase down Tails and retrieve the emerald. "Will you two do something and nab that fox?" The deer brothers waste no time, as Blair touches the ground below both him and his brother. Thorny vines arise and create a platform for them to ride to the top, leaving Knuckles and Elvira to spar in the pits. This wasn't just any old trench, however, as Elvira scanned the area around them and made out two things. One: This pit was just another room for the castle, with engravings and symbols printed across the walls. Two: the floor was filled with stone coffins and sarcophaguses. This wasn't just a dungeon, this was a tomb. A revelation that made Elvira grin. "Oh, that is just bad luck. Bad- bad luck."
"What are you mumbling about over there?" Knuckles grew impatient. He didn't understand why this lynx wasn't doing anything to fight. Her coyness was only ticking him off.
"It's just funny, that's all. No one can really blame you… but it is rather unfortunate that you brought us here, not knowing what I can do." Elvira lifts her hand up and conjures a blackening mist from her fingers to her palm. She abruptly closes her hand and scatters the mist across the entire tomb. It settles into the crevices of the coffins and melts inside. The coffins all rattle one at a time, followed by distorted groans from each one. The latches of the coffins slide over and fall onto the jagged ground. Boney hands first emerge, clinging onto the edge of the coffins to lift the rest out. An army of skeletons, one from each coffin, spring to life under Elvira's command. "See, I have been granted the power to raise the dead, along with turning any matter into necrotic matter." Knuckles is soon swarmed by the skeletons. They try to sink their teeth in his skin, but Knuckles easily turns their skulls into bone dust with each swing he throws.
He knew that the skeletons weren't going to be much of a threat to him, as long as he remained calm, but his worries lay with the lynx, who could drain his life away if he was too careless. Everything else might as well just be a distraction. In the thick of the skeleton crowd, he saw Elvira sneaking her way closer, and as she jumped forward and reached out her hand to touch Knuckles, the echidna was ready to dip back and avoid her, much to her bewilderment. "I won't fall for such a lazy trick, lady. Have something new to show?" Elvira started to smile. She was having fun. She was thrilled that Knuckles wasn't the dense moron she thought he was. He had some sharp battle skills.
"I guess I should've clarified. While I did say I could invoke necrosis, that does not mean I am limited to organic matter." Elvira presses her hand to the ground and courses her energy through the rubble. Like veins, dark lines spread across the ground under Knuckles, and in seconds, the stone decays and turns to dust. Knuckles loses his footing as the floor below him changes. It was like trying to step on a cloud. Elvira tried again to touch Knuckles with her hand, now that he was off balance. But Knuckles was able to recover himself as he landed on his hands and propelled himself away from the lynx. Yet again, she was impressed. "Now we're going to have some fun."
Meanwhile, Tails had made it out into the forest outside the valley. He stayed just below the leaves to not be spotted from above. He was putting in every muscle to work to go as fast as he could. He just had to reach Sonic, and then they could go back and help Knuckles. He felt like such a coward, leaving Knuckles to fight on his own. He held his eyes shut to get his mind on to something else, but what if Knuckles couldn't handle them by himself? What if he was seriously hurt, and Tails could've stayed back to prevent that from happening? Tails pulled out his radio where he got a signal. With it, he can contact Sonic and hopefully, he'll be quick enough to meet them at the castle. But that was to be put aside, as Tails had company. Cain and Blair leaped on the branches and jumped across the trees to catch up.
Cain rubbed his hands together to generate electricity, which grew into another bolt of lightning that he held firmly in his hand. Cain tries to line up his throw with Tails, who was unaware of their presence. Without much effort, other than a flick of the wrist, the bolt is sent flying through Cain's hand and it strikes one of Tails' tails. The sudden jolt makes his fur stand up and his joints seize. He plummets to the ground, losing his grip on both the radio and the chaos emerald.
He couldn't move his legs, and his head was spinning in circles, subjecting him to crawl across the lush grass for the emerald. He must've hit his head on something when he fell, as when he looked up for a brief moment at the sun, it gave him a massive migraine. He started focusing on whatever little concentration he had left to get the emerald. His arms only pull his whole body forward an inch at a time. He was so focused on the emerald he failed to notice Cain and Blair landing behind him. It wasn't until Blair grabbed Tails by the leg that he started fighting back. Tails jolted back up and swung his arm to try and hit Blair in the face, but the attack was far too slow to hit anything.
"This is just sad." Blair punched Tails square in the face, knocking his limp body flat on the ground. Tails' ears started to ring and his vision was getting more dizzy by the second. He could hear his heart racing in his sensitive ears as Cain and Blair looked down at him. Pure desperation clouded his judgment, as he pressed a hidden button located underneath his glove. Nanomachines assemble around his wrist and coil above his hand to form a blaster. Unfortunately, as he aimed the weapon, Blair put his hand around it and tightened his grip. His immense strength crushes the metal in an instant, along with Tails' hand inside.
Cain grabs the poor fox by the tail and lifts him upside down. He sends surges of electricity into Tails' body, making the kid let out a blood-curdling scream. "You have to understand, kid, that a hard-working nobody like you, could never stand against the gifted like us." Cain intensifies the electricity, numbing the pain entirely within Tails. Sensing his collapse, Cain plops the fox on the ground. They both focus their attention on the Chaos Emerald peacefully lying on the soft grass. They step forward and Cain reaches his hand to grab the emerald. Suddenly, a hot pain sears against Cain's back as he falls onto his hands and knees. Blair watched as Tails stood back up and fired his arm cannon, which was just barely functioning.
Tails fires another shot aimed at Cain. "Brother!" Blair conjures a wall of vine in front of them both, shielding Cain from the incoming fire. "Are you alright?" Cain nodded as he swept his hand across his back, feeling the singed fur around his spine.
"I'm not done yet!" Tails shouted. "You'll have to try much harder if you want that emerald."
"You're all alone, little one." Blair spoke in a low tone. "You're both outnumbered and outmatched. What do you hope to accomplish with that in mind?"
"I'm not sure." Tails squeezed out those words due to his lack of breath. His panting was constantly interrupting his speech. "But… I'm not going to be a let down… even if it kills me. There are people who depend on me, and I'm not going to fail them!"
"Squeal all that nonsense you want." Cain rose to his feet and allowed thousands of black bolts to circulate through his right arm, gathering to a single point within his palm. "Those people who depend on you are fools to rest their faith in a frail brat." Cain pointed his finger at Tails, and in an instant, shot a bolt of lightning traveling faster than the naked eye could keep up with. Tails watched with wide eyes as it pierced through his lower abdomen. Blood splattered across the field, soaking the grass in crimson. Tails fell back down, clenching the wound in hopes of slowing down his bleeding.
It didn't seem like it hit anything vital, but the blood loss would spell his end in minutes if he couldn't close the wound. The pain was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. His charred flesh inside kept bubbling around and the dead skin was triggering all nerves in his body at once. He started crying from how unbearable it was. He wanted it to end, but he didn't want to give up. He winces his eyes shut, attempting to block the overflowing tears. "Sonic… Knuckles…" His fading voice left his whimpering mouth. "I'm… sorry." Cain hovered over the wounded fox and raised his finger to his head.
"Had you been truly gifted, there might have been a day where we respected you. But that day will never come on a whim, like all your accomplishments you've crept to with cheap tricks and gimmicks." Lightning sparks across Cain's finger. "You've lived like a nobody, and now you will die like a nobody."
Time slowed down as Tails started to recollect random memories. Staring down certain death felt like an eternity compared to the entirety of his life. Had every moment of his existence come down to this? Was everything meant to be cut short? He felt cheated, and robbed, that he never got to say goodbye to his friends.
Time had fully stopped. Falling leaves suspended in frozen duration. The wind that swept through grass and fur put into endless stasis. Everything was truly frozen. But something was there, something that wasn't bound by the limits of time. Someone was approaching. A figure outfitted in a white suit and pants with golden buttons and pins. An amber pocket watch rested in the figure's black gloves, still and motionless. The figure moved toward Tails and kneeled next to him. It shimmied its hands underneath his body and picked him up in a cradling motion.
Through the simple contact of this being, Tails' senses started to adapt within the timeless plane. He weakly opened his eyes and stared up at his savior. His face was not of a person's, but a clock with broken hands, and sporting a white tophat. "You're safe now." His calm yet apathetic voice charmed Tails' ears. "I can not remain manifested for much longer in this world, but I will do my best to save your friend back at the castle. For now, you'll rest until you are ready to return." Tails' body began to glow white. The tranquility of bliss had a warm feeling flowing through his coarse fur. In a second, Tails dissipated from reality, to somewhere safe.
The figure fixed his gaze on Cain and Blair. He forwarded his hand in a choking motion around Cain's neck with hatred and disdain, but something resembling The Murmur's aura corrupted his hand and recoiled it back. Something had been warding The Apostles. The Figure stormed past them instead and held the chain connected to the pocket watch with his fingers. He began to spin the watch in a continual motion. Suddenly, time began to flow, and as it did, the figure disappeared.
Cain had fired the shot from his fingers, but as the bolt struck against the ground, the deer brothers step back in shock as they slowly realize that Tails was now gone. "What the-" Cain snapped his head around to see if anyone else was there, but it was just him and his brother.
"Did you miss?" Blair asked.
"How could I have missed? He was right there." Cain growled as he stomped around the thick bushes, checking each one thoroughly. "He must've had some invisibility gadget or something. Try to find a trail of blood or something." Blair ignored Cain's rambling and instead headed toward the Chaos Emerald.
"There's no need, brother." Blair picked up the gem and brandished it. "We got what we came here for." Blair also saw the radio on the ground, giving him a devilish idea. "Perhaps we can get another one if we play our cards right."
Emerald Hill
Shadow was stuck inside an endless abyss. He used the thrust from his shoes to stabilize himself as he scanned his surroundings. That Tormentor was in here with him, and he didn't want to lose his edge now. It had yet to unveil all of its power, evident by this pseudo-pocket dimension he was captured in. He was out of his element, but he had a plan. There was nothing around him other than himself that consisted of organic matter, which The Tormentor relied on to regenerate itself. If he dealt a significant blow to it, perhaps he could turn his disadvantageous position into an advantage.
"Nowhere left to hide, Shadow. Just you and me." Its voice came from all directions. Tracking this thing here would be the most challenging part. If he couldn't see his opponent, he would never find the opportunity to kill it. This little gimmick the monster instilled frustrated Shadow, and he didn't do a good job hiding his frustration, making The Tormentor taunt him further. "You shouldn't let your anger take control now. You'll need it for later." Blips of lights ignite all across the darkness, resembling The Tormentor's eye. Each of them track Shadow's every movement.
A clawed hand with an infinite stemming arm reaches from below, climbing up from the void. It tries to snatch Shadow, but his keen sense detects it just in time for him to dodge. Another pair of hands emerges to try the same task, but Shadow uses a chaos spear to disintegrate each of them with swift and forceful strikes. As more hands rise from the deep, so did The Tormentor's laughter. Shadow looked down and saw a titanic mandible ascending towards him. Its pearly white teeth plainly sticking out from the darkness.
Shadow boosts up, trying to distance himself through the boundless region, but the jaw continues up with haste, shortening the gap between them. Shadow considered using chaos control, but he didn't want to risk leading The Tormentor back into the lush meadow in case he succeeded in dealing a fatal blow. All that thinking kept him preoccupied enough for a hidden arm to spring into action and grapple Shadow. Before he could free himself, more and more arms flooded around him, keeping him in place and prime for the jaw to consume him. He helplessly watched as a darker abyss within the mouth of the leviathan enveloped him.
However, before he could be fully swallowed, an explosion rocks above him, letting sunshine come through a large hole at the top. Gunfire and rockets drove the jaw back into the depths, and rapid movement around him cut apart the arms which loosened their grip. As Shadow escapes certain death, he looks up and finds Rouge and Omega heading straight toward him. They're both still badly roughed up. Omega's arm was still missing, and Rouge's eye was badly lacerated and infected with ghoulish blight. "What are you two thinking?" Shadow yelled. "You're in no condition to fight."
"I better get a thank you for saving your life later." Rouge chirped back.
Shadow mellowed his mood and quickly expressed his concern with their injuries. "Your eye…"
"What about it? I have another one."
"More guests? Wonderful, let me introduce you to my domain." The Tormentor's voice ominously spoke from a single direction. Team Dark turn their heads to see its eye emerge from the darkness, along with the rest of its body aside from its lower torso. Its size had considerably increased, and it looms over them with a sinister glare. Root-like tendrils spring up below, acting as sentries around The Tormentor. "This is the Icon of Putrefaction!"
"Any bright ideas now?" Rouge asked Shadow. The ebony hedgehog had weighed his options before while he was alone, but now with the rest of his team, he had something that could work.
"Just one." Shadow confidently stated. "Dish out as much damage as you can. It'll try to drain our life force to heal itself. When that happens, leave the rest to me."
Rouge didn't have a lot in her arsenal, but if Shadow had faith that whatever plan he had would work, then she trusted that it will work. The Tormentor didn't give them another second to rest, as it lashed out its arm to swipe them away. Team Dark scattered and started applying hit-and-run tactics. Shadow and Omega relied on their brute force through their vast weaponry to cut through the monster's skin. With each of them putting in 120%, their attacks finally started to show.
With The Tormentor preoccupied with those two, Rouge dove in from above and found her chance to strike. She plummeted feet first into its eye, and while she wasn't able to break through the surface, the sclera caved in like foam. The Tormentor trembled back and held its eye in lustful agony. It was taking delight in the pain it received. With it staggered, Omega put his thrusters into overdrive and dashed up beside The Tormentor's arm. Omega dug its claw deep into its flesh and as he ascended further up, he tore open a gaping scratch wound.
"More!" The monster hollered in stimulated ecstasy. "Give me more of what I deserve! Let's expend our spirits until our last breaths, covered in blood and dirt! Give me meaning in this meaningless world!" The Tormentor clasps its hands together, luring its energy together to release it all. Thousands of ungodly roots emerge from behind it and start attacking Team Dark.
"Rouge! On me!" Omega called over Rouge, who barely slipped through a pinch of roots. Even when the two regrouped, the roots were relentless, trying to swat them and crush them into a paste. "Our previous attacks will no longer be effective with how cluttered everything is. We need a fastball."
"You're serious? Now?" Rouge didn't look thrilled, almost reluctant to keep listening to Omega. "We've barely practiced it."
"It's either that or a hundred percent chance of failure of defeating this thing." Rouge sighed, still unsure but somewhat grasping the stakes here.
"You sure you can do it with one arm?" Omega's eyes rapidly blinked, like he was offended that Rouge was so doubtful of him.
"Affirmative." Rouge gave up resisting and spread her arms out for Omega to grab her. The bot held on tightly as he navigated through the sea of pursuing roots. Omega analyzed multiple paths and trajectories, ignoring hundreds of angles that were blocked by the roots. He finally found a safe route leading directly into The Tormentor's chest.
Omega began to spin his upper torso around like a dreidel, keeping hold of Rouge in a firm grip. He kept accelerating the rate at which his body revolved, and the sheer speed almost made Rouge throw up. "I think you've gone fast enough!" She pleaded to him. Omega scanned one more time to see that the trajectory was still safe, and once he confirmed it, he let go of Rouge and sent her flying in a straight line directed at The Tormentor.
Rouge was initially spiraling out of control, but she got the hang of her momentum once she straightened out her legs and regained her bearings. She maneuvered ever so slightly to avoid some of the oncoming roots, and a few would've hit her if it wasn't for Omega unleashing a flamethrower from his hand to burn them down.
With a clearing straight at the monster's chest, Rouge twirled like a drill and gathered all of her strength into her legs, causing the air to weave around her whole body. In an instant, Rouge pierced right through The Tormentor's body. She ended up on the other side and kept her boost going by arching back and kicking through the back of its neck and ending back next to Omega with a short flight over. "That wasn't so bad." She commented.
The Tormentor clenched its wounds and started discerning the impending danger it was in. Without so much as a word, The Tormentor's veins started illuminating and expanding. It was about to execute it again, it was about to regenerate. "Shadow, it's doing that thing again! Now would be a great time to do whatever you're planning!" The Tormentor lowly cackled, detecting their despondency.
"Up here, you freak!" The Tormentor's gaze shifted away from Rouge and Omega and looked up to see Shadow, who was fidgeting his hand around his wrist. "You want our energy so bad? Come take all that you want!" With a small click and whirring of harmonic whistles emanating from the air, Shadow delicately removes each of his inhibitor rings. He meticulously stows them away on his person to keep them safe. The last thing he needed was to lose them in this bottomless void.
Shadow clenches his hands and slightly slouches over. His growls turn into full-on yells as chaotic energy sporadically flows around his body. He was soon covered in a red aura that burned through the air like a wildfire, continuing to spread. He let loose all his power, letting it become his vitality. The Tormentor targeted all sources of life with its siphoning ability, meaning Shadow's chaos energy was perceived as the main course. It channeled the red aura into its eye, inadvertently causing great pain within the creature. "Is that not enough? Here, let me give you more!" Shadow yelled louder, expelling even more chaos energy from his body, letting the Tormentor absorb it all.
The monster couldn't stop itself, it was like second nature, consuming all forms of energy. The effects of all that chaotic force started to creep around its body. It started losing stability around the surface of its skin as it shriveled and caved in, later to implode in a ball of flaming chaos. That effect spread across every part from top to bottom. Everything became unstable.
If this goes on any longer, The Tormentor is destined to die. To die now would foil the plan one of its fragments structured. Albeit humiliating, it had to flee to maintain its mission to reunite with its siblings. To save itself, it used the remaining strength in its arms to rip its head off and throw it through the hole that Rouge and Omega came from, leaving the rest of its body to crumble in a heap of crimson ash.
Team Dark watches in horror as The Tormentor's head narrowly exits this domain and returns to the surface. Without any need to communicate what their thought process was, they all collectively rushed up to chase the monster.
As they returned to the surface, their eyes needed to adjust to the light before they surveyed the area ahead of them. To their shock, The Tormentor's head had reduced back to its normal size and sprouted six spider-like appendages. It scurried across the field in an attempt to escape. It was nimble and quick, and as Team Dark pursued it, they had trouble keeping up. Shadow and Omega both fired a lobby of bullets and chaos spears, but the head scuttled side to side to avoid each projectile. A lot of lives were lost, and blood amongst friends spilled, Team Dark were not leaving here without that head nailed to a plaque.
What they didn't know was that this wasn't mindless evading, but a tactical retreat. The Tormentor had a destination in sight, one which would lead to the first step to its unification. A city far out. An urban city called Westopolis will be the stage of a gruesome war.
To be continued…
Up Next:Inception of the End!