Chapter Sixteen – Eggman
Dimension – 23691 – Caught Off Guard From Behind
Manic was in tears, as he tossed and turned through the purple inter-dimensional portal, back to the main timeline, to find utter chaos when he landed. G.U.N. weren't the only people to notice the weird goings on at Tails' House. The seriously strange readings, odd sightings and downright bizarre energy spikes. Eggman had noticed too, and had come to investigate, with his entire army of robots. Whatever the Fox was up to, the Human wanted it, and his sneaked up on them, just as dawn was raising, and he'd ambushed them, just after the Sorcerer had left.
There was a full battle, with fighting everywhere, as Manic lands near the Titan camp. He gathers his fellow comrades and hides them away safely. Right now, there is nothing he can do for them. Moving around to the Fox's place, Manic finds it completely destroyed, as the Human was rampaging the area. Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Frank, Blaze and Everglade had all been completely overwhelmed by the Human. Distracted with the Titan fight, they hadn't seen him coming. Caught off guard, they'd taken an enormous hit. Blaze and Everglade had fought back, but it wasn't enough to stop the Human. Now they were all running for their lives.
Eggman born down on them. Like sitting ducks, he fired dozen of missiles at them, but only for it to be blocked when a literal wall, made out of solid rock, suddenly rose up out of the ground, and blocked the attack. Tails gasped. He'd never seen such power, until he whirled around, and saw, the mighty Titan, heavily battered but still standing behind him. Manic was gesturing to the wall, the very earth obeying his every move. Immediately, the Green Hedgehog got hugged. Tails gulped.
"Oh, thank Chaos, your alright. I saw on my handheld, which Everglade enhanced, that Cthulhu is gone from the Greater Cosmos, you did it." He praised. But Manic sniffed, and hard, bitting his lip. That meant Sukko was gone too, taken by that monstrosity. They'd won, but the price was a high one. Suddenly, the Fox looked around. "Er, where are the others?" He asked, indicating Manic's fellow Titans. The Earth Bender shook his head, as tears fellow down his face.
"Sorry, Kid. It's just me." He admitted, hanging his head. There were cries all round, but the bombardment from Eggman was relentless, against Manic's wall. So much so, he had to brace it. His temper flared, as he swore and hard. "What's going on here?" He growled. But Tails panicked.
"I don't know. I didn't see Eggman coming. He ambushed us, and his attack was so ferocious that my house has been destroyed. Don't worry, that house was only my secondary house, we used to attack Eggman from, here on the front line. I have everything backed up on my handheld here, and at my main Workshop near Frozen Peak, and my larger house and laboratory in Emerald City." He nodded, indicating the device in his hands. "But I have never seen Eggman this worked up. He'd taken my house, what else does he want?" He wondered. Everyone blinked, clueless, until Shadow realised the truth. He heaved.
"The same reason that brought us here. The strange readings coming from your house. The Magic. If G.U.N. spotted it, then I'm almost certain that the Human did to, and now it wants it form himself." He growled. But Everglade panicked.
"But he can't. He could do untold damage with it, as well as potentially kill himself, and who knows how many other people in the process." He stammered. Suddenly, Blaze glared at him.
"Er, Everglade, where's your Book of Magic?" She panicked. They had all ran from the house, leaving it behind. Sonic swore and hard.
"Dam, I have to go back for it." He hissed, but Everglade grabbed the resident Blue Blur. He smiled.
"Leave it, let it be destroyed. The Human had no idea what's in is anyway. I can always write another one." He nodded. He had a point. But Blaze growled.
"We can't be certain of that, Wizard. Eggman may know about Magic, but regardless, he can't get his hands on that book or you." She gulped, as she looked at Manic. He shook his head. The Sorcerer was gone. Frank and Everglade looked at each other. Was that really true? Right now, they had no time to contemplate that, as the bombardment from the Human kept coming. Everglade was currently the only Magic user on the main timeline. Blaze heaved, rounding on everyone. "I'll run with Everglade, and use my Fire Tornado, to send him home." She hissed. Everyone nodded. It was the safest place for the Wizard. "And find that Book of Magic. Destroy if you have to, but don't let the Human find it." She ordered. Finally, they had a plan, as she rounded on Manic. "Titan, can you defend us." She asked. She knew there were rules with the Titans interfering with the dimension, but right now, she just didn't care. Manic smirked and hard. He'd taken a beating from Cthulhu but he still had gas left in the tank. He nodded.
"Yes, Ma'am." He grinned, as immediately everyone scattered, as Manic pushed the wall backwards against the oncoming bombardment, and sent missiles flying everywhere. They immediately paired up. Sonic and Tails, Shadow and Rouge, Knuckles and Frank, and Blaze and Everglade. Manic immediately sent Knuckles and Frank to the location of the other Titans. Frank screamed when he saw them, and Sukko, indeed, wasn't there. Frank frowned. Where was he? But when the Doctor examined them, he realised that Saffie, Shads, and weirdly Kee Kee, were not as bad as they looked.
Upon hearing this, and the realising that the remaining Titans were too weak to be moved, Knuckles hunkered down, creating a permitter around the Titan camp, and then defended it hard, as the relentless robots that just kept coming.
Manic ran with Everglade and Blaze, taking out the barrage of robots from behind them, and stood his ground against the Human, as Blaze setup her Fire Tornado, and successfully sent Everglade home. The Wizard hated leaving but he didn't have a choice. Eggman was used to fighting an enemy who worked at speed. Sonic The Hedgehog, and therefore his attacks were equally as swift as he was. Everglade had initially tried to fight back, but he literally just couldn't cast fast enough. Chaos Sorcery for a Wizard was a slow process, whereas a true born Sorcerer, casting directly from his veins, it was much quicker.
He heaved, thinking of Sukko. Where was he? Regardless, he immediately ran to the Sorcerer's Guild to research. As the Fire Tornado died down, Manic rounded on the Blaze.
"I'd suggest you go to, Princess." He growled, indicating the tornado, knowing that she too was from the Sol Empire. But Blaze hissed, standing her ground.
"I can hold my own, Titan, especially against the Human." She hissed. Manic was about to argue, when suddenly, they were both descended upon by several dozen Wisps, as they floated down towards them from high above. They headed straight towards Manic. Yanking at him hard, they began rapidly talking, in their own unique language, to the Titan, indicating Eggman, and looked desperately worried. Blaze frowned.
"Can you understand them?" She asked, clueless as to what was being said. Manic shook his head, but reading them, he growled hard.
"No, but I think I know what their getting at. I've been on several missions with Saffie, and I think this is an officially summoning for me to deal with the Human here." He hissed. The Wisps immediately nodded, but then quickly shook their heads, waving their arms. Blaze frowned.
"Yes, but I think they don't want you to outright destroy Eggman. Just stop this attack, temporally push him back, but not permanently." She heaved. The Wisps immediately nodded again, pointing at Blaze. She was right. Manic growled, groaning hard.
"Really, come on, guys. You know I can take him." He hissed. But the Wisps rapidly shook their heads, desperately pleading with the the Earth Bender. But Blaze scowled in return.
"It's not your place too, Titan. Someone else is destined to do that job." She spat. Manic heaved, stretching his back and arms. Finally, he agreed, huffing hard.
"Oh, alright fine. But I'd suggest you go and help the Echidna. He'd defending the Titan camp." He paused, that then he grinned inanely. "Oh, and can I, at least, have some fun with him." He giggled. Several of the Wisps facepalmed as Blaze just rolled her eyes. She hissed to the Wisps, under her breath.
"Oh my Chaos. Definitely Sonic's brother." She growled, as all the aliens nodded at her, but then she rounded on the Earth Bender, heaving hard. "Yes, but be careful out there, Titan." She hissed, indicating the Multiverse as the whole, and the avalanche Manic could potentially cause, by overdoing it. But as the mighty Earth Bender walked away from her, he brushed her off. Yes, he knew.
He chased after Eggman, finally having his chance to take out the Human. Well, almost. Certainly knock him back several months, anyway. Manic's Earth Bending worked with hand gestures. The Chi within him, would work with the Chi Energy of the planet itself. Because the type of Chi Bender he was, was Earth, not Air, Fire or Water, the ground beneath him, or any derivative of it, would obey him as a result. Able to manipulate anything born from the earth itself, such as any type of rock, glass, metal, and even lava. He could create volcanos from nothing and literally walk on magna, feeling nothing but a little warmth. He can burrow through the planet itself and even create seismic vibrations and earthquakes.
Stomping towards them, having destroyed Tails' House, was one of the biggest boss robots Eggman had ever created. A Death Egg Robot. It possessed a round torso with a dome-shaped head that come together in an egg-like shape. It had a red upper torso, a black lower chassis, and a grey head with a peach face resembling Eggman's, compete with scope-like eyes. A long and pointy red nose, and brown face plating for a moustache. It also had two pairs of antennae bolted to the sides of its head, yellow shoulders with black covering and a white Eggman Empire symbol. Grey arms with rotary red wrists that had yellow and black hazard stripes on the front, and four blades for fingers. It also had a grey jet pack on its back, a spherical grey joint for a thigh each, and bulky red lower legs with wide red feet.
He was surrounded by a enormous horde of smaller Badnik robots, which just covered the area, in a hideous metal blanket. As the Mobians scattered, as it charged after Blaze and Everglade, but it's slow movement immediately got it left behind. Finally, Manic was back as it went for the nearby Titan camp. Knuckles was slamming rocks at it, the best he could, but wasn't making a dent. But as the Death Egg Robot was about to land an almighty blow on the Echidna, when he was stopped it in mid-air as the huge Green Hedgehog, he arms above his head, his hands clasped on the disgusting robot's hand. The ugly machine tried to push down it's advantage, but is was going nowhere.
Manic growling hard, pushed back against the boss robot, the ground buckling beneath him, and he sent the huge machine toppling backwards. Knuckles blinked, at the enormous power, just as Blaze came to join him. But suddenly, there was an almighty drone, as several battleships of the Egg Fleet appeared above their heads. Knuckles gulped.
"Er, I think he knows about the Magic." He stammered, indicating the armada. Blaze nodded.
"Agreed. Why else would he organise such an attack." She hissed. "This is excessive, otherwise." She heaved, but Manic growled. The word 'Magic', immediately made him think of Sukko, and his sacrifice. Desperate for it not be in vain, he gritted his teeth and walked towards the approaching armada. Suddenly, he stomped the ground hard, causing massive boulders to spring up, of which he karate kicked them high into the sky. One after another, he smashed them, high into the air, straight towards the oncoming Egg Fleet.
The twenty tonne boulders hit true, smashing enormous hole in the battleships, them droning in response. The constant bombardment quickly meant that the battleships were struggling to stay airborne. Suddenly, the Death Egg Robot was back, and going Manic again, but the Earth Bender took a strong stance. He raised one hand and pointed it towards the sky while clenching his fist with the other. Suddenly, he through the arm towards the ground, as a two metre tall, thin spike of sheer rock, sprung up out of the ground, right beneath the boss robot's rear end, sending it toppling again.
Knuckles heaved, the Earth Bender had experience. He smirked.
"You've done this before." He sniggered. Manic just shrugged.
"What, fight Eggman?" He frowned. "Yeah, back in my dimension, loads of times. It seems he's a pain, in every version of Mobius." He added, growling hard. But the Badniks hordes just kept coming.
Sonic, Tails, Shadow and Rouge had separated out into two groups, both of whom were raging through the Badniks and through the battered remains and leftover foundations of Tails' House. They were all desperately looking for Everglade's Book of Magic. For the first time ever, they had all agreed on this, that the Human mustn't have it. It was just dangerous.
But Sonic was desperately worried. He seen the other Titans and Sukko wasn't among them. He'd been declared missing, with wild rumours flying around. He sniffed, hoping for something, but right now, finding that book was his priority, and ensuring either it's return to Everglade, or it's destruction, was vital.
As he raced around, there was no sign of it, not even tattered pieces of paper or leather. Even Shadow and Rouge were having no luck.
Where was it?
But the chaos of the battle had caused to four of them to loose sight of each other. The Death Egg Robot, where Eggman was actually operating the battle from, was getting nowhere with Manic, and had moved on to chase Sonic and Tails, giving Rouge and Shadow, the opportunity to circumvent it, and go behind.
Bad move, as they landed themselves, face-to-face with a series of Badniks, all with machine guns, that immediately bombarded them. Rouge screamed, as Shadow tried to protect her from the bullets. But something incredibly odd happened. Shadow could see the bullets move through the air. He could because his Super-Speed allowed him to see them. But as Rouge blinked, so could she, and that shouldn't have been possible. She didn't have the Chaos ability for it. Then she realised, in absolute astonishment, that the reason why she could see them was because they were physically being slowed down. Within less then fifteen seconds, every single bullet had ground to a halt within a matter of inches of from their noses. They hovered in mid-air all around him.
Gasping hard, they panted as the Earth Bender himself, came out of the bushes to the side of them. He was extremely focused. In fact, he was scarily calm, and his hand was raised. His fingers out spread, his arm straight, and emotionless look on his face.
Manic smirked, and walked forwards, between Rouge and Shadow, grabbing one of the bullet's, with his outstretched hand. He examined it, and then allowed it to drop to the ground. The others followed.
Manic then gestured, throwing his hand, to the floor, sending all the Badniks flying as a solid rock wall, exploded from the very ground, beneath the machines, sending them skywards. The Earth Bender just them nodded to the gobsmacked pair, as they dived into the very earth, further on, into the battle.
Suddenly, there was a scream as Sonic called, having finally found the Book of Magic, as he ran through clutching the enormous leather bound book. It had been heavily buried, but bad move, as he successfully got every Badnik, in the whole area, descending on him.
He swore, as he was forced to run for it. He couldn't fight back. Not carrying the book. It was big, and it was far to heavy for Tails. But soon, he and the Fox were completely surrounded as Eggman's robots moved in. Suddenly, the ground literally shook beneath their feet, and Manic exploded from it, spinning and landed perfectly on his feet. He loomed over both the resident Sonic and Tails. Then, without a moment's thought, with one large swift gesture of his arms crossing and then swiping down, he created an earth tent to protect them, jumping up, and landing on top of it, with an almighty thud. The earth suddenly and extremely fast, rose up out of the ground and cocooned them both in a wall of rock, a small entrance on one side. Sonic and Tails suddenly finding themselves, plummeting into darkness.
Whoa!
But Manic was beginning to loose his temper. This battle had gone on far long enough. Time to show the Human who's in charge here. But he remembered, to keep it cool. Nothing too far fetched. So no lava, volcanos, enormous earthquakes. Nothing that could potentially shift the dimension, and alter the Multiverse. He growled. He'd love right now, the swallow that Human up entirely, in the red hot magna, but that wasn't his call.
But that didn't mean he couldn't physically rip robots to pieces, as he could bend metal. Soon, Manic was joined my Shadow and Rouge, as Blaze and Knuckles still defended the Titan camp, and together, they took out Eggman's army. The Human's did indeed know about the Magic, as he, in the Death Egg Robot, made a beeline straight for the Sonic and Tails.
The boss robot, was proving extremely difficult to take out, even for Manic. But then Rouge had an idea. She'd seen Knuckles punch Sonic towards stubborn robots, to blast holes in them. What about Manic doing the same to Shadow. But the Ultimate Lifeform, was significantly heavier then the Blue Blur, but Manic, was much bigger and stronger then the Echidna. He could handle it. With no other option, they agreed.
Shadow gulped. He knew the move, but he'd never done it himself before, and it meant trusting the Earth Bender. He heaved. He barely knew him, but the fact that he was a Titan and Sonic's brother, made a huge difference. He could see it in his eyes, and the Blue Blur had never done anything really against him, other then horrendously annoy him, but that was superficial.
With a nod from Manic, Shadow super-span, and jumped into the air. Not as high as Blue Blur could go, the Ultimate Lifeform's significant weight pulling him down. It didn't matter as Manic, just pulled is arm back, his hand clenched into a fist, and thrusted it forwards just as Shadow had fallen level with him. The resulting clashed was enormous, and shook the area, as Shadow was blasted forwards at immense speed, and smashed hard into the Death Egg Robot, creating an almighty dent.
He shook himself, somewhat dizzy. Never had he need hit so hard, or pushed so fast in his life, and it was a massive adrenaline rush. He gasped, then smirked, hard. Now he understood why Sonic got such a kick out of it, and immediately span himself off the boss robot, sending himself into the air, and down for another shot, Manic happily obliging.
Soon the hordes of robots had been smashed, and now just the Death Egg Robot remained. But the incredible teamwork of Manic and Shadow, and it wasn't going to stand a chance. When the outer shell, had finally collapsed from the Ultimate Lifeform's bombardment, Manic managed to grabbed it with his Chi underneath and lift it of the ground, and, in a rage of pure anger, he physically ripped the entire robot in half, roaring in pure anger. There was huge tearing, smashing and clanking of metal, and finally, the Human was literally thrown screaming onto the ground.
Manic then clenched his fists, and crushed the two remaining halves of the boss robots, into the large spheres, and smashed them down on the ground, shaking the whole place. Squealing with pure fright, Eggman got to his feet, and ran for it, to everyone looking on, in stunned silence, as he left.
As Manic's anger left him, he heaved and hard. That's enough, and he jumped off the earth tent. With a simple stamp of his foot, on the ground next to it, the earth tent opened up, and very rapid sunk back into the ground, from where it came. Sonic and Tails were still cowering inside, holding Everglade's Book of Magic. Everyone was alright, but panting hard, reeling at the sheer power that had been on display from the Earth Bender. Rouge gulped, saying what everyone was thinking.
"My Chaos. You don't mess with a Titan, do you?" She stammered, to immediate shakings of heads all around. But Manic had already silently wondered off, and quickly, everyone followed him. Straight back to the Titan camp, where Blaze and Knuckles just watched in horror, as Manic just joined them. He sat on the ground, his knees to his chin, tears beginning to run down his face.
Then the full scale of the aftermath became apparent. They had won, Cthulhu and Eggman had both be defeated, but the price tag had been a ruthlessly high one. Manic was battered, and mentally broken, Shads was dead, Storm-breaker still wedged on his back, Kee Kee was in three pieces, and Saffie was out cold, literally on the floor, his torso ripped to pieces, exposing the internal circuitry. As for Sukko, the Sorcerer was just gone, as Manic just looked towards the sky, the silent tears of grief flowing. Frank was doing everything he could for them, and there were signs of recovery in all of them, but he couldn't do it alone. He rounded on the Earth Bender. He knew the family, giving up was not their style. He growled.
"Come on. Manic, get up." He ordered. But the Green Hedgehog huffed.
"Why should I?" He shrugged. Frank heaved. He knew why Manic was being stubborn. Sukko, but Frank wasn't giving up on the Sorcerer just yet. He smiled, kneeling down to him.
"Look, I've known Sukko for a long time, and yes, he's as weird, wacky and wonderful as they come. But one thing I've always learned. He's a Blue Hedgehog, and they always survive, and I can guarantee with Sukko, he won't be the way you expect, something odd will happen on the way, because it always does. But in the very end, after all this is over, he'll be there. This is nowhere near finished." He beamed, indicating the situation, but then heaved. "Come on." He repeated. "I can't get the other Titans back on their feet, without you." He added.
Manic looked up, in amazement, as Frank nodded. It was obvious that the Earth Bender had written them off, but no, there was still life in them, yet. He nodded and scrambled to his feet, and carefully listening to the Doctor, Manic got the other Titans on the road to recovery.
The Sapphire Dragon's enormous cyborg body just needed rebooting, and Frank figured that some percussive maintenance, and a very precise thump, from Manic, in the chest, at the correct force, could knock into recovery. The Earth Bender nodded, but it took several attempts, before Saffie's eyes suddenly glowed bright green and his circuitry began to whir into life again.
With pure relief, all around, Saffie was set aside, wrapped in blankets, and left to heal on his own. Kee Kee was proving to be extremely fiddly. Piecing back together the little ghost, was tricky, as his ectoplasmic body was very cold and silky to the touch, so he slipped everywhere. But as Frank and Manic worked together, as to two of pieces locked together, Kee Kee long tail twitched, when his head was finally on, he awoke with an almighty otherworldly squeal, to yet more relief. Manic grabbed and held him close, as the he just cried, incredibly shaken.
As the ghost was passed onto someone else to comfort, Manic and Frank moved into Shads. Getting Storm-breaker out of his back, proved incredibly difficult. It was wedged in hard, forcing the Earth Bender to use his almighty brute strength, just to get it out. He succeeded, but as he held it aloft, the axe heavily objected to being wielded by him. Manic growled as he just tossed it aside.
"Shut up." He spat, but then rounded on Frank, who was examining the Black Titan. He frowned. "Will be be alright?" He asked. But the Doctor heaved, not happy.
"Well, I seen Stripes regenerate enough times to know the signs." He puzzled, as moved around Shads. "Come on, come on." He heaved, under his breath, desperately searching for life on the massive Ultimate Lifeform. They rolled him, over onto his front. The Black Hedgehog looked dead, but Frank knew different. Finally, he squealed with delight. "Yes, got him. There on his chest, just above his heart, a small warm patch, which is slowly expanding." He beamed. "He's regenerating." He heaved, to the final sign of relief.
Manic beamed a huge smiled, and he just grabbed Frank and hugged him.
"Nicely done, Doc." He praised. The Bear going rather red, just smiled.
"Just doing my job." He replied, rather humbly. But suddenly, there was silence. Someone else was known to also say that, and he wasn't there, still missing.
The Sorcerer.
Frank heaved, desperate for his beloved friend to come home, but as the days, turn into weeks, even his faith was pushed to the limit.
As the Titans recovered, and got back onto their feet, Everglade returned to collect the Book of Magic. He stayed to help out the Titans, as Magic was still needed. It was decided that a new home should be built for them. They had given their all for the Multiverse, they deserved better, then a campsite in some woodlands.
A purpose build Titan Headquarters. Tails grinned.
"They can have the foundations to my old house. I own the land and I don't need it anymore. Besides after the show Manic did against Eggman, I doubt the Human will come here anymore." He smiled.
Soon, it was agreed, and the vast building was built, partially set into the ground, as to not make it a huge eyesore, and a future target. It was camouflaged to make it look like all the other buildings in the area. But everyone was disheartened.
Still no Sorcerer.
It was exactly six weeks later, when everything changed.