Chapter Twenty – The Titan Headquarters
Immediately, preparations began for battling the monster but Everglade was still trying to work out the self contained Magic casts, much to Sukko's amusement. He sniggered.
"Sonikku brought the box of the ones that worked. You should see the massive pile of the ones that didn't, due to..." He paused. "...Achoo... excessive sneezing." He added, making his own point, too much giggling. The Wizard allowed himself a smile. How Sukko felt so rubbish because of the cold, and sneeze, while still astral projecting, was a question in it's own right. The Sorcerer groaned, as his head throbbed again. He sniffed. "At least the kids can play fireworks after school tonight." He added. But Everglade heaved.
"Sonikku told me he didn't know how they work." He frowned, but Sukko just outright giggled, as his brother, who had long finished all the cake, had gone for a short nap in the corner, after cleaning himself off. He smirked.
"Now, that's a lie for a start." He declared. "Either that or he's outright forgotten, which is probably more likely. Sonikku can activate the pale blue orbs, the same way he used to open one of my Magic seals, as my Magic responds to him, like the one I used to put on my apartment, back in my dimension, to lock people out, before everything changed." He heaved, still feeling guilty about that. But Blaze intervened.
"Didn't you use a Magical seal to lock away the Jewelled Scepter, back in the Sol Empire?" She wondered, Sukko nodded.
"Yeah, same cast. To activate the orbs, you use your heart, not your head." He smiled, but Everglade, trying again, was still clueless. Sukko rolling his eyes, just snapped his fingers, and every single one of the pale blue orbs, the self contained Magic casts, raised themselves off the table. From people's arms and beautifully hovered in the air around them. There was instant silence. The mighty Sorcerer grinned. "Everglade, time for a lesson in pre-prepared Magic. I had planned on coming here, via Astral Projection, but having never done it before, I had no idea how draining the cast was going to be, and what Chaos Sorcery I could cast while here." He grinned. "However, I also know you lot, and knew exactly what kind of Magic you'd want from me. So I created the self contained Magic casts in advance, so Sonikku could bring them, and having already paid the price in drain..." He added, only to be immediately cut across by Everglade, who squealed.
"The Magic can be recast now, without expense." He gasped. "Oh, you clever boy." He added, praising the Sorcerer, yet again. Sukko went slightly red. He smiled.
"Yeah, well, do bare in mind, Everglade, this took months of planning, and a lot of trails, errors, sneezing, and ridiculously large quantities of sleep from the drain." He shrugged. "It's not something can be done spontaneously." He added. Everglade nodded, he understood. Sukko nodded. "To create a self contained Magic cast, you cast as normal, taking the drain. The difficult bit, is then capturing said cast, before it can do as was intended, and pushing it into a form that can be saved for later." He explained, then he went really sheepish, biting his lip. "This is where really strong and powerful Telekinesis comes in." He gulped, looking at Frank. But Bear just heaved, smirked hard.
"Powerful enough to implode an exploding bomb." He smiled. "That was you, not the God Of The Cosmos, wasn't it, Sukko." He asked. The Sorcerer nodded.
"Yeah, like I told you, the casts themselves were always me. It was just the stamina to continue constantly casting that was made infinite, in addition to the true God-like powers I never used." He admitted, but then his face fell. "Becoming a God was the worse thing that could have happened to me. I didn't know when to stop, until I..." He gulped, letting the sentence hang. Everglade sighed, and hard.
"Fell." He heaved, finishing for him. Sukko nodded, as the tears began to stream. The Wizard grabbed the Sorcerer for a hug. He was still ice cold, and the Skunk shivered hard, but didn't let go. Sukko took a deep breath, shaking away the tears. All that was behind him, and now, he had three Titans to prepare for a fight. He growled, getting back to the task, as he turned towards the pale blue orbs, still hovering around them. "Right, several of these casts are rather large, so I broke them down into smaller orbs, for ease of transportation." He thought, as he counted them all, then he rounded on his twin. "Not bad, Sonikku, you didn't drop any. They are all here." He beamed, approvingly. He put his hand up, and snapped his finger, to suddenly have all the orbs, begin to amass in five large distinctive groups.
But the Sorcerer heaved and hard, turning around and facing them all. The centre of attention. He hated it, but what he had to say was important. "This is how it's going to be from now on. I'm never fighting on the front line again. My family won't let me. I can't go back to the Greater Cosmos. I can, as I just cast Survival on myself, but I won't. I am extremely vulnerable up there. I will crash and burn, far to easily, but I won't abandon you. My job is to back you guys up, from here." He smiled, as Sonikku woke up to his speech. He nodded. The Sorcerer smiled. "I should have been the backup from the very beginning. Three Titans up front was always plenty." He added. But Everglade frowned.
"Are you sure?" He asked, to be suddenly, intensely and rather aggressively growled at, by Sonikku, very protective of his twin. Very yes, as Sukko immediately calmed him down. If the Titans wanted to keep the Sorcerer, those were now the rules. Blaze, who had been to the side, put her hand up to calm the situation, as she walked up besides Sukko. She agreed, he'd seen far to much action recently. She smiled.
"Alright, Sorcerer, what's your plan?" She wondered. Sukko sighed.
"As horrendous as fighting Cthulhu was, the one thing he taught me, was that you guys need better shielding." He admitted, indicating the other Titans. "For the brief time, I saw you, I knew you were alive." He explained. "But truthfully, we got lucky, but hopefully, after spending months intensely analysing that monstrosity's powers, and attacks, that shouldn't be a problem anymore." He grinned. But then stopped as mentioning the Great Old One's name sent a feeling of sudden gruesome terror straight through him. It vanished as quickly as he arrived. He panted hard, as he shook it off. Again, no one noticed.
He raised his hand again, and snapped his fingers, and suddenly, three of the masses of pales blue orbs, came together and formed huge almighty casts. Enormous pale blue orbs, and all of them, immediately dived for each of the remaining Titans. The all gasped and buckled, but instantly, the wonder began to happen.
Sukko, ever the intelligent git, was also an innovator in Magic, especially in combining it with technology, or at least getting ideas and influences from it. He was aware of nanobots. It was in it's infancy, developed by the Mobian Authorities, on his home dimension. Back at Westnorth Prison, they used to invade and then control Stripes. But Saffie also had them, flowing around his bloodstream, allowing his cyborg body to work efficiently. Sukko had experienced both kinds, having invaded both Saffie and Stripe's bodies with his Magic, it had given him a brainwave of an idea.
He designed and built his own nanobot, using conjuring, heavily influenced by what he seen, and running on pure Magic, as it's power. Similar to Saffie's electric guitar. With the design built, and fully tested, Sukko replicated it, to produce a suit of armour for each of the Titans. Each suit was composed of billions of tiny, highly durable robots which could morph into any shape the Titan required, allowing him to cycle between countless pre-programmed weapons mid-combat. Each suit was also incredibly tough designed to potentially withstand attacks from Cthulhu.
As the power Chaos Sorcery hit each of the Titans, it formed a detachable Arc reactor in the chest, as a pale blue, in the shape of truncated triangle. Then the nanobot technology came ,as it spread out across the bodies of the Titans, creating the silvery metal and pale blue full suit of armour for each of them. Tails's jaw dropped.
"Nanotech?" He gasped. Sukko grinned.
"Oh, yeah." He beamed but as he was about the praise Saffie, yet again for the idea, he could see the Sapphire Dragon squealing with fright, resisting the Magic and hard. He looked at the Sorcerer, terrified. Sukko knew why, and he gulped. "Saffie, please don't fight me. I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry. I wasn't myself, but believe me when I say, I promise it won't happen again. I thought I could go it alone, away from my family, but I can't. I was wrong." He admitted. "See." He smiled, pointing at Sonikku. "I won't be going anywhere alone from now on, my family won't let me. Trust me, again, please." He pleaded.
Saffie blinked, looking between Sukko and Sonikku, and seeing the Sorcerer had indeed changed, and how he was desperately sorry for what happened. He sighed, and finally nodded. Taking a deep breath and let go.
He felt the Sorcerer's incredible Magic flow over his skin and beautifully down his wings and tail. Through his vines, very different then last time. It hugely enhanced further what was there, plus healed any left over damage. Soon, all three Titans were stood gasping in beautiful tailored armoured suits, ready for the battle.
Sukko smirking, rounding on Stripes, and snapped his finger again. Further Magic exploded, as an enormous blue chain conjured out of nowhere, and wrapped itself around Storm-breaker's handle, digging itself in deep. Suddenly, the Magic surged and hard, as the axe's blade began to glow blue. It shuddered hard, fighting back, but the Sorcerer's Magic was just too strong and it succumbed, now producing beautiful blue lightning from it's edge. Shads could now send it skywards, perfectly controlling the weather. Sukko heaved.
"That's should do it against Storm-breaker. I created a shield against corruption. It shouldn't catch you off guard again." He smiled.
Shads nodded, approvingly, thanking him, but Kee Kee squealed in delight. No more panicking if the two of them get separated again. Tails gulped, staring at Sukko.
"Your amazing." He praised. But the Sorcerer just shrugged.
"Well, you leave me alone for six months and this is what happens. I create stuff, especially if there's a need. I built an entire global Resistance Intelligence Network, for the fight against Eggman, when I was younger, back on my dimension, and that was entirely from Magic. I've been tinkering with combining Chaos Sorcery and technology for years." He winked, as Sonikku nodded vigorous behind him, but the Sorcerer sighed. "Besides, I not done yet." He added, pointing to the two further masses of pale blue orbs, but then he proceed to sneeze quite hard, causing his own astral projection to flicker. He groaned. "I really shouldn't do that." He sniffed to himself. Blaze smiled, and seeing the Sorcerer distracted, decided to move him on. She frowned.
"Sukko, what to those orbs do, now the Titans are sorted." She asked. Sukko giggled, looking back at the Princess.
"Do you remember my communications device getting fried." He asked. Everyone nodded. "Well, as I was remaking another one." He paused, as he pulled it out of his inside pocket. "I had an idea." He smiled, and then he suddenly rounded on his twin. "Hey, Sonikku, do you remember how I used to back you up against Eggman?" He asked. The Sorcerer's own Blue Blur frowned.
"Whoa, that was years ago, but you used the old 'guy in the chair' setup." He wondered, of which Sukko immediately nodded, and snapped his fingers again. Sonikku squealed as the fourth mass of pale blue orbs merged together and exploded, as they conjured themselves into an intricate and the most advanced computer console setup, anyone had ever seen. It was huge desk, curved in a semi-circle, with multiple keyboards and mice, looking up to more then a dozen monitors. Mounted to the desk were two stools on slides, so they could easily glide from one end of the setup to the other. It was designed for two people to use, but Sukko had often, in the past, ran around it entirely on his own. Sonikku bounced in pure delight.
"I love that thing." He squealed, but Sukko rolled his eyes.
"Only because you constantly played video games on it." He groaned. Then he grinned as Tails's jaw hanging look. "This is mine and Sonikku's old 'guy in the chair' setup, from my dimension, and the entire thing runs on Magic. I've redesigned it slightly, but the concept is, pretty much, the same. He'd fight Eggman, and I'd back him up with this." He explained, indicating the rig. "I worked in Intelligence before I began a Doctor. This is what I did. Hacking the Eggnet, the Mobian Authority Mainframe, screwing G.U.N. over, general intelligence gathering, and directly backing Sonikku up, with any fight. The guy in the chair, the person in his ear, telling him what to do next, having deactivated everything. The Resistance, in my dimension, never knew about this. It was setup at my place, as I never directly worked for them. My thoughts were to analysis any monsters, in the Greater Cosmos, from here, on the fly, and figure out the best course of action to defeat them. It was the best I could think of, as I now, can't go to the front line." He shrugged.
Immediately, Sukko got dived on and hugged, his cheeks going scarlet. Everglade heaved, now seriously debating about throwing his Book of Magic into a shredder. But Sukko giggled, diving for the Wizard's mind, with his telepathy.
{Don't do that. This is just me experimenting. Trail and error. You wondered how I got so good in casting, despite never been formally taught in Magic. Well, now you know.} He smiled. Everglade nodded, but suddenly, there was rumble, as the monster came too close to the Multiverse.
Battle stations.
Immediately, Shads exploded a inter-dimensional portal, to the Greater Cosmos, and disappeared throw it, as did the other Titans, as Sukko, grabbing Tails, ran for the computer console. The Fox squealed.
"Whoa, I can't do this." He stammered. But Sukko smiled, as he placed the his handheld into the console, and it immediately downloaded it contents, as the whole system booted up, when Sukko slammed his hand onto the deck. Magic suddenly slivered all over it, but it operating system it loaded up, had an air of familiarity about it. The Fox blinked.
"Wait? I know this." He frowned, and immediately dived for the keyboard, as the Sorcerer began running around the system, ruthlessly fast, on the other side, of him. Using a combination of Tails's technology, with his and Everglade's Magic, Sukko very quickly got visuals from all three of the Titans armoured suits. Suddenly, the Greater Cosmos, was in full view across all the monitors, as well as the disgusting monster.
Tails frowned, analysing the monster, as Sukko made contact with the Titans. He sets up a telepathic link with all the Titans. To their surprise, they could hear him, and as they attacked the monster, it's toxic slime, just bounced off of them, leaving them unscathed. With such a highly coordinated attack, the monster didn't stand a chance, as Tails and Sukko ran around the Magical computer console with ruthless efficiency.
Within minutes, the monster had been dispensed with, and the tear in the Greater Cosmos healed. As Shads brought everyone back with a inter-dimensional portal, the feeling this time, was very different. They'd won this fight, and lessons had definitely been learned from the losses they'd endured against Cthulhu. They just preyed that monstrosity never returned. But that wasn't guaranteed. Sukko had bailed out on him, fleeing, as the Sorcerer was the greatest prize of all. He could still come looking, in the future. Another random tear could bring him back, or he could come via his own means.
Anything was possible.
Once everyone was home and settled. The Titans removed the armoured suits. Two taps on the pale blue truncated triangle on their chests activated the suits, three taps shut it down, it vanishing back inside the Arc reactors. A quick debrief and the job was done.
Suddenly, the Sorcerer stretched and yawned, still sat at the console. Sonikku immediately noticed, and growled hard.
"Home time, now Sukko." He ordered. His twin nodded, as his twin rubbed his eyes. But Tails rounded on the Sorcerer, still reeling from the whole experience, rather excited.
"Sukko, while your gone, can I borrow this, to use against Eggman? The tech is incredible." He desperately asked, indicating the computer console. The Sorcerer just shrugged.
"I don't see why not. I can't help you fight the Human. It's against the rules, unless I'm officially summoned by the Wisps, but if you'll find it useful, Fox, sure." He smiled. But Blaze frowned, noticing a mass of pale blue orbs, still hovering above their heads.
"Sukko, what are those for?" She wondered, pointing at the leftover self contained Magic casts. But the Sorcerer's intently giggled, as he spun around to face her. He rolled his eyes.
"Décor." He announced. "I refuse to regularly work in a place, long term, this mundane." He smirked. "I'd heard you'd built this place, but Manic here." He paused, indicating the Titan. "Isn't as good a builder as my Manikkos, so I suspected you might need it." He smiled, and he lifted his hand, and snapped his fingers for the last time.
Sukko had an exceptional sense of taste, and it quickly showed, as the inside of the Titan Headquarters suddenly exploded with colour, as the pale blue orbs disappeared off in all directions. They slammed into the walls, as immediately the Magic slivered out across them, covering them in Sukko's signature pale blue and silver. It brightened the whole place up, and it expanded out even to the bedrooms, kitchen and lounge. The Sorcerer gave each of the Titans a theme for their bedrooms, sound proofing them all. Shads was metallic and red, representing the internals of the Ark, Manic's kept the earthen feel, just a little more polished, with a huge, conjured, pale blue and silver, full drum kit in it. Saffie got the woodland feel, as the Sorcerer attacked the rock sleeping tree, Manic had built for him, and made it look real, with further fake foliage sprouting from the walls. Both his electric and acoustic guitars were returned to him.
In his room, two beds materialised, one for the Sorcerer himself, another for whichever family member was accompanying him, along with a wardrobe and a desk. The room was largely bare, with white walls. Considering that Sukko had planned to do his Magical experimenting in there, he needed the cleanness, to see the tiny subtleties in his casts.
The kitchen, lounge, and guest rooms, also had a simple white walled decoration, with different coloured carpets, but it was in the operations room, and Sukko really let his creative side explode.
Pale blue and silver lined the walls, with the occasional conjured dragon sculpture, and one each of the four walls, the Sorcerer put a large symbols to represent each of the Titans, adding the personal touch.
For Shads, the call-sign for all Ultimate Lifeforms, in a beautiful crimson red, identical to the blood tattoo the Sorcerer himself had. It filled the entire wall. Next to him, Saffie, had a familiar simple design, he'd seen depicted of him, in a few of the dimensions. In navy, against the pale blue background, the Sapphire Dragon was shown in full glory. A top down view, his mighty primary wings, and secondary wings were out stretched, gliding effortlessly through the sky, the tail lengthened, fins flexing, flying effortlessly. Saffie went slightly red. He liked it, a lot.
Sukko, added his own call-sign, to the wall opposite, as the deep, rich, jet black pin and snake of the Rod of Asclepius, exploded onto the wall, arranged themselves perfectly, only for the dragon wings, of his back tattoo, to sprout from the top of the symbol. Further symbols of Magic, also in black, arranged themselves around the call-sign showing the eight different techniques the Sorcerer could do.
Finally, one the last wall, in deep brown, a symbol appeared. A tall rough isosceles trapezoidal shape, the base of which is made up of the trigram. Inside, at the top, was a spiral running counterclockwise. Everyone blinked, as none of them had seen that symbol before, but regardless, Manic was fascinated. He looked at Sukko, confused.
"What is that?" He wondered. But the Sorcerer smiled, now very tired.
"It's the symbol for Earth Bending." He beamed. Manic when white, but Sukko sighed. "Back in my dimension, when my version of you, Manikkos, also an Earth Bender, was learning his trade, I researched as much as I could about Chi Bending. Truthfully, there wasn't much, but what I did learn, was that in Chi, there are four elements. Earth, Air, Fire and Water, each of which had a symbol representing it. But now, my old dimension had gone, replaced with the Chi home world, Manikkos now ruling the place." He quickly eyed up his twin, as he gulped. He went off planet, when he shouldn't have. "I've had a quick peak." He admitted, to growling from Sonikku, but he heaved and hard. "And the place is thriving. There are now Chi Benders everywhere, in all four elements, and more are being born every year. Their culture and heritage is developing and quickly. He's done an amazing job. If you want to learn more, it's the place to go." He added.
Finally, Sukko was done, and was now swaying, rather badly. He looked at Manic and thought about relocating his family back home, to the Chi home world, but decided against it. One, there were all now nicely settled into the Sol Empire, and two, casting Magic there, would be next to impossible, with no Chaos Energy present.
But Saffie heaved, looking around the Titan Headquarters. It looked amazing. He rounded on the Sorcerer.
"Thank you, so much." He beamed. He loved every inch of it. But Sukko nodded.
"Just doing my job." He winked, to big smiles all round, but he suddenly stretched again but his head went very dizzy again, as a cold blackness, suddenly, came over him. He shuddered. "I think this is me signing off. I'll see you around." He announced, and with that, and an enormous flash of bright blue light, he was gone.
Sonikku squealed, as he chased after him, but he was too late. He growled, swearing hard.
"Oh dam, he didn't tell me when he was hiding." He spat. But Everglade frowned.
"Yeah, it did. Meditating in the palace grounds." He repeated, but Sonikku growled.
"No, I know my twin brother. He'd long since moved from there, but didn't tell me to where. Just because he'd stayed in the Sol Empire, doesn't make the King of Stealth any easier to find." He hissed, getting frustrated. Then he heaved. "Look, I gotta go. Bye." He added, and with a deep concentrated looked, he raised both hands, snapped his fingers, and then with an enormous flashed of bright white, and pale blue light, he was gone. It was an incredibly impressive move. But Everglade heaved.
"I wish I could teleport between dimensions like that." He wondered. But Blaze just smiled.
"Come on, let's go home. Sonikku's going to need all the help he can get, finding that Sorcerer brother of his." She announced.
Everglade agreed, and he and the Princess, made their leave. Life on the main timeline, returned to normal. The locals fought Eggman, as the Titans settled into their new home.
Dimension – 151105 – Finally Coming Back
It took a week of solid, of searching from everyone in the entire Sol Empire, before Sukko was finally found, fast asleep, in the topmost branches of the Great Oak Tree. He was fine, just in an extremely deep slumber. Blaze just rolled her eyes. The Sorcerer doing what he did best. Hiding, though she was pleased he was home, and the nightmare was over. They now had a new routine in place, with new technologies. Hopefully, they shouldn't be caught so badly off guard again.
She watched Sonikku cheer as Sukko was found, and promptly took him home, but this time she asked if her and Everglade could go with him. He was very nervous at the thought, but when Blaze reminding him, that the family had nothing fo fear from, in her kingdom and it wasn't Mobius, finally, he agreed. Old habits really did die hard.
They were taken to a large, white walled, house, on the furthest outskirts of the kingdom. It was quite difficult to get to, but when the family's main means of transport was teleportation, it made sense. It had a dozen bedrooms, with a huge lounge, kitchen, and dinning room. No one was home, except Frank's wife Lisa, caring for her own little one, when they arrived. She looked worried about Sukko, but when it was explained, that he was just the Sorcerer overcasting, she was fine, and let Sonikku put his twin, into the room, he shared with his husband.
Stripes, was still out cold, as Sukko was placed in the bed, next to him, fast asleep. Everglade ran over to the Ultimate Lifeform and examined him. He heaved.
"Whoa, he's really warm, with a strong heartbeat and good breathing. He should be awake soon." He gasped. He was still amazed at what the Black Hedgehog did and the fact that he was going to live to tell the tale. Suddenly, Sonikku intervened.
"Hi, I've got to pick the kids up from school. Your welcome to stay for dinner. It's carbonara." He heaved, and suddenly, with a bright flash of pale blue light, he vanished. Everglade and Blaze looked at each other, and the both of them burst into beaming smiles. A chance to finally meet the children, properly this time. How could they miss this. The anticipation was huge, but finally they came, filling the entire house, with beautiful noise and laughter.
Max, Sapphire, Jade, Crystal, Violet and Raven, as well as Sonikku's own son and daughter, Zach and Lilly. It was utter havoc but huge fun, as both Blaze and Everglade was left utterly dumbfounded. Due to cosmic acceleration, and Stripes's increased growth speeds, especially in Violet and Raven, the children were all significantly older then they were expecting. But that didn't matter as they all became deeply fascinated by Everglade, when they learned he was a Wizard.
Sapphire had wanted to enroll in the Sorcerer's Guild, but Sukko had said, she had to finish school first. In the end, Everglade agreed, but promised her a guaranteed place there, when she was ready for it. She thanked him dearly, and finally Everglade understood why Sukko had gone to such lengths to protect them.
This was his legacy.
Everything was here, and as pure joy filled the room, Blaze and Everglade both knew it was all worth fighting for.
But as the other kids were working out what they wanted to do, when they grew up, with all their different powers and abilities, sat around the dinning table, eating, there was a sudden noise from the bedroom.
A deep coughing.
Suddenly, Sonikku got up and went to look, and swearing in shock, he immediately ran in, and helped him sit up. He cried.
"Oh wow. Stripes, your awake."
The most stunningly beautiful version of the Ultimate Lifeform was back.
The evening turned into an enormous party as Sonikku and the kids celebrated the return of their loved one. Blaze and Everglade joined in, but Stripes couldn't have cared less. After the kid pile up, with hugs all around, he was left in peace, with the only person in the entire Multiverse that deeply matter to him.
The Sorcerer.
He was not expecting to return, but the twins had stunned him yet again, and as he lay beside his precious spouse, on the bed, Stripes kissed him awake, on the cheek.
The resulting squealing and the intense embrace from Sukko, as he'd finally recovered from the cold, made Stripes's horrendously painful and extremely uncomfortable migraines, from the regeneration, completely worth while. The Ultimate Lifeform grabbed the Sorcerer, cuddling him hard. Never was he letting him go again.
They had come so incredibly close to permanently loosing each other. No more. Wherever the Sorcerer went from now on, Stripes would follow. To the point of utter annoyance, if he had to. There were three of them to watch the kids. Either he or Sonikku could accompany the Sorcerer, while the other stayed behind. But seeing Sonikku here, and no longer mentally unstable, Stripes knew that the twins, and thus the Psychic Link, was back together again.
Where it should be.
He knew the Sorcerer still had duties off planet, that hadn't changed but this time, he now was no longer alone. This time, his family would be there for him. As the party went into the night and into the morning, as Blaze and Everglade, went on their way. '
But it was not the end.