Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos
Ch. 3
By: Cutegirlmayra (Hey guys! I'm trying to write my stories like I did in the old days, but it's hard because I enjoy the new way I create them now. It's really coming together but I keep getting new ideas and ahhhh plot structuring! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story and find it delightfully EDGEY. Ohhhhh, the ending quote though! DANNNNNG That's it for this chapter, stay tuned for what happens next! Will Harmony reach out to Chaos? Will a battle unfold? And I know it's yucky, but hopefully no more talk of fluids and organs, okay? Lololol Till next time, stay tuned! EDITED: Yeah, I'm combining chapters and getting this ready to update, so as always, I'm working hard and hoping you're staying tuned!~)
The sun began to settle its hovering speed just above the bumpy, green horizon line. The terra was littered with patches of brown and slathered with a damp dewiness from the flying waterdrops off the coast of the sea. Tails's house remained half in light and half in slanted shadows, a piece of wood creaked slightly as Knuckles and Tails stepped outside by the twirling watermill, laid on its side instead of upwards and rotating. It was his personal energy source, with the sea winds always beating against the shoreline's cliffs, he was never in shortage of power. They leaned against his wooden signpost which he never truly did finish, meant to state whose house this was, but it became common knowledge after a time of living exclusively in the area. To Tails, the home was more like an observatory and workplace than a real abode. It held a library, garage, bedroom, and all that, but it was mostly to keep him working. For Tails, though, that was enough to call it one. His friends would visit as they passed by, and that would make it more special than anything else. Knuckles finally repositioned himself with a sigh, sitting on the cobble of the small wall that surrounded the interesting watermill, designed to lay flat down and rotate instead of up and spinning like it was supposed to. Staring at a figure with his emerald green eyes, Chaos fixated on the sun while Knuckles observed him. His arms folded, standing regally against the wet spray of wind that lightly drizzled the ground beneath him, the water sparkled at Chaos's liquid feet beneath him. The effect created a beautiful array of colors that shone like a glittering rainbow. This momentarily distracted Chaos as he looked down, his eyes softening into one of great sorrow at the beautiful colors that reminded him of times lost long ago…
Who was he grieving for?
"He's been acting strange all day, since this morning." Knuckles relaxed back, gesturing with a gloved hand to Chaos for Tails to see. The movement did catch Tails's attention, and he turned his head to Knuckles.
"A little odd that he suddenly took an interest in seeing the world." Tails stated lightly, just making small talk, but knowing full well this meant something was happening.
Something that spelled out adventure, most definitely upon that morning's horizon.
Knuckles shrugged, "He takes no interest in the Chaos Emeralds, so I'm not all that bothered anymore." He seemed unusually unfazed now by Chaos's actions, "As long as he's not rampaging and sending others into the Twilight Cage, I'm good." He rubbed under his nose, seeming almost apathetic, not wanting to burn his brain trying to understand the strange God of Destruction's reasoning.
"I can't relate to that, to be honest." Tails looked down, his twin tails flicking in rapid thoughts. "Why would anyone want to destroy the world? It's so…" he looked up and started walking a bit down the hill from his house. "Beautiful…"
The sky almost opened up with a shining spotlight as though on cue, the oncoming sunset caught Tails as he smiled at its agreement to prove his words true. Knuckles looked up, glazing his eyes over the long, sleek blanket of faded rays that draped across the once-bluish sky. Now, it was a golden orange, with yellows and reds to contrast each other as the descending sun bowed its massive head.
"It's kinda funny you should say that." Knuckles looked a bit nervous, sitting up more and placing his hands down on his knees, taking a deep breath. "I should tell you about this vision more… there was something really disturbing about it… something about…" he cleared his throat, surprisingly shifting to be very delicate and caring on the topic again. "Women."
"Women?" Tails turned around, but as he did so, Chaos shot out another homing beacon to once again try and communicate and find Harmony. She had first sent out a distress call, but when he replied, no answer…
Why was that?
Didn't she need his help?
Chaos, in his impatience, gripped his three fingers to his chest and squeezed. Something was clearly wrong with him, he boiled again in rage and seemed to be longing for something…
He let out a cry and swung his arms back, fully throwing his chest up to the sky and arching his back. The powerful blast was more fierce than the previous ones, it resonated so vastly that it knocked Tails down.
"Tails!" Knuckles jumped to his feet.
"No! Stop!" Tails tried to warn his friend, lifting a hand up but Knuckles was knocked back into the spinning watermill, sucking him around itself.
"W-ah!" he went around and around, splashing amok, wildly swinging water about in attempts to avoid drowning. Tails felt the gulf of his stomach make him sick, the strange power that Chaos released felt like a kick below the belt, and he wasn't sure why. With a leap of his feet, fighting the lingering sensation that made him want to throw-up, he flew up and grabbed one of Knuckles's flailing arms.
"H-Hold on!" he cried out, fighting the spinning of the laid-wheel's side and flying Knuckles out of the riptide it created around it.
The two landed back by the house, Tails falling to his knees and Knuckles gasping for air and rubbing his behind. "What… was that awful feeling?" Tails clutched his stomach.
"T-Thanks, buddy…" Knuckles also then felt his stomach… before dots began to align and his mind naturally drew a link between the two instances…
"I remember this feeling… or something like this… back on the island." Knuckles sucked in the pain and only showed the hurt on his face a bit, having his eyebrow dip down and twitch. He quickly swung himself up, "He's looking for Harmony..!" He concluded. "Tikal… said something about the end of the world… if Harmony and Chaos fought again. But… they've been communicating." He wasn't aware of Harmony's silence since then, only that the feeling was pleasant and not as painful as Chaos's colorful, circling blast that traveled in all directions. It even caught up to Sonic…
-Outside the Jungles-
Sonic was just blazing a trail with his super speed, still on the lookout for Amy with dirt spraying up behind him in his haste, looking about the rim of the jungle's border before hearing a sonic boom, and looking curiously with a tilt of his ears to that direction, still running strong. His eyes narrowed when he noticed light in the distance… but it was traveling so quickly in an arched slice across the sky that it took him completely by surprise! "W-Woah-Ahhh!" It then overwhelmed him as he didn't pump the gas in time to outrun the spreading arch of colorful waves, blasting him back and face-planting him into the ground.
Another rough landing for the Blue Streak's track record…
Sonic skidded the ground with his face before his body went flying up into the air, causing a muffled cry before an audible scream that faded as he was blown off course. His face took the total blow of the implant, but his body still hit the ground with enough force to spin and flop himself to a crash landing before rolling against the jungle's muddied floor until his speed slowed due to the sudden traction change. The new 'trail' he created was mostly from his nose grinding against the rock and soft, fertile soil of the underbrush… He closed his eyes as he was torn from the earth and flopped down on his stomach. Finally… he had settled, but the dust still rode the wind like a marker of his embarrassing wipeout.
His fingers gripped the loosened dirt under them as he flinched and twitched at the pain in his stomach… He wondered why that hurt more than his face… was his nose still even on? "Ahh… Yuck." He slithered an arm around his waist, arching his back as he fought through the moment of sickness. "What was that..?" He looked groggily to the sky, his eyes still tensed up from the inner-strain before lowering himself back to the ground. "Man… ouch…" That was an understatement.
He placed his hand on his face before pulling it away when his glove rubbed a reddened splotch on the skin between his eyes and scraped nose. "Yssh!" he squinted an eye shut and looked to his hand, then turned to the reddening sky, still showing the traveling wave of light arching like a wide arrow through the world… Was it sunset already?
Amy…
His eyes shifted left and right before he gripped his raised hand.
No…
"Chaos…" his eyes narrowed into a serious contemplation that left that hurt skin between his eyes bunch up to show his concern. He got up to his knee, feeling the weight of a hero once again upon them, knowing he had toughed out far worse things from Eggman, but—"Woah!" the spike in his stomach reacted and he curled a little inward, tensing and waiting it out…
He refused to fall back down… and just staggered a moment on his weakened, bent knees at the pain in his gut.
Why… was that more painful than getting wham-slammed to the ground face first?
"Heh… that's unpleasant." He remembered the first beam, but it wasn't at level with him that time. It just looked like two streaks of bright lights gliding over the sky… but because this one wasn't in the sky, it blasted him, and it hit. Hard.
He slowly felt the pain ceasing after a moment, and got up, shaking it off and letting his mouth go limp after clutching it tight for so long, gums flapping as he did so to loosen the tension he had made in his jaw beforehand. "Alright, let's see where you go." He raced more towards the inner jungles, in another direction from his typical search, hoping to find where these beams… were going to.
He already figured they were Chaos…
Now…
What were they looking for?
Little did he know he was heading straight for the Echidna ruins…
Straight …
To the Babylon Rogues.
-Tails's Home-
"Communicating?" This fascinated Tails, as he pulled up his Miles-Electric, starting to click buttons and hold it like a controller or console. He used his thumbs to press some inputs in, and the screen seemed to be engaged with green flickering lights that showed odd waves of sounds being measured for patterns in fluctuating lengths.
"What are you thinking..?" Knuckles slowly moved to look around Tails, over his shoulder at what he was working on. Trying to more accurately see what Tails was doing, he tried to lift his head higher but stumbled a moment on his weakened path, tripping a bit over his feet and gripping his stomach. He didn't fall, but he groaned as he slowly brought himself upright again and tried to grit his teeth to keep it together. "Ohh… that's a nasty voicemail if there ever was one." He joked to hide his pain, trying to laugh through the uncomfortable lift of his stomach. "Offph… I think I'm gonna barf..!" He plugged his mouth, gagging while Tails quickly clicked in some commands.
"I translated an alien language, I can translate a sonic boom!" Tails turned to Knuckles, "Let's ask Chaos to do that again but from a higher altitude this time."
"What-..!?" Knuckles sprang up, already feeling better after realizing Tails wanted him to make that awful feeling–Again.
Tails nodded, still having a smile on his face. "Em-hmm. I don't think it'll hurt anyone if it's high up." He looked over and down at whatever was downloading onto his screen, looking like code of some kind. Knuckles rubbed his stomach, his head moving incredulously left and right as though not believing Tails.
"You sure about that?" He asked, almost as though too exhausted to complain about it.
"Em-hmm, I think it just has to be at level with you for it to cause any discomfort… Ah! I'll use my old software to decode it! It's still here!" Tails was easily distracted from his hypothesis as he noticed the old code being brought up. "Haha! Still functional and useful, a real testament to my strengths, eh, Knuckles?" He felt cheery at his confidence, but looking over at Knuckles… he bent his ears at seeing the echidna's face look at him like he was gloating, and went back to being humble, "Eh… Moving on. Maybe we can even get some readings and see what the ruins have to say about this Harmony guy…" Tails continued to click some things in, sticking his tongue out and to the side of his mouth as he worked his 'strengths' on the computer, editing it slightly for a new purpose. "If not strange words… strange codes in light? I'm sure there must be a frequency change or force level… If it is a language or at least, a means to communicate, then I should be able to crack it!" He then gulped, "I hope…" he looked back at Knuckles, holding the device close to his chest as Knuckles just shook his head and smiled, reeling an arm up to the young fox's head and rubbing it encouragingly.
"Eh, it's a good idea, Tails. You should own it as such." The validation made Tails beam in delight, his tails wagging behind him at the glee of his friend showing him support for his skills and talents. At least he knew Knuckles was game for an experiment now… e-even if it risked having a nasty feeling in their stomach's again…
Tails showed his childlike excitement for a new adventure to test his mind out and be useful again. But…
Knuckles shifted his eyes about, looking down, and then looking almost guiltily as he realized he hadn't told Tails the… more… mature truths about Harmony...
"Tails…" he closed his eyes, squinting them shut in embarrassment. "There's… something I need to tell you about that vision…" his hand fell from the back of once rubbing his head in encouragements.
"Hmm?" Tails was happily at work, not really paying him much mind.
Seeing that, Knuckles opened his eyes, "Hmmph…" Gently, he lifted his hand up and pushed the device down so Tails would listen, stepping in to make sure his body blocked Tails from absentmindedly ignoring him again.
Tails was surprised at first but gave Knuckles his full, innocent attention then. "What's wrong?" He asked, not used to the gesture and unsure why Knuckles's tone turned so grave, and his posture became one that demanded respect and reverence in what he was about to say.
He tried to make eye-contact with Tails from the side of his head, but just couldn't look the boy in the eye… "It's… not something easy to say." He admitted, not knowing how to 'gently' nor 'lightly' bring up something so horrific up to a small boy.
No matter how ingenious he may be…
"This Harmony God… it's… well, it's bad news for women." Knuckles looked away, reasonably uncomfortable about this. He folded his arms, trying to clear his throat as he held his head up high as though an authority figure, but finally stated, "If she and Chaos fight-"
"She?" Tails blinked his eyes, learning this for the first time. "It's a girl god?"
"Ehem." Knuckles gave him a stern look from behind his shoulder, raising his eyebrow but narrowing his gaze as Tails's ears bent down, realizing he was being told to let him finish. Knuckles 'politely' then seemed to ask through a lean of his head towards Tails if he could continue; to which Tails, like a child, put his 'device' behind his back and smiled with tightened lips, blinking multiple times to show he was listening and not going to interrupt again.
With that stern upper lip from Knuckles, Tails closed his mouth and bent his head, waiting his turn and using his ears to scan upwards towards Knuckles to show he was actively listening now, even more so than before.
Knuckles sighed, not wanting to be so harsh… he was older than Tails, but he didn't want to seem like a stick-in-the-mud about this… "It's just important." He emphasized, taking a long breath in to 'reset' himself, and continued again, "If she and Chaos fight… Chaos would win." He unfolded his arms, then gestured his hand out as Tails showed him the device, and Knuckles placed his hand down on it again, "And if he does… that's… not gonna be good for our world." He then slid his hand off, removing it and himself entirely from the moment, pacing a bit away as he continued with his head down and trying to speak about it… but finding himself unable to sugarcoat it. "The Echidnas,... my people,... used Chaos to weaken her. They did so... so that no other power could challenge their own." He rubbed behind his neck, gesturing with one hand as he spoke, then kicking the ground before walking down from Tails's house.
"I kinda wonder…" He looked up at the sky, "Should we really let them talk… again?" He kept his back from Tails…
A stillness fell over the land they were on… then a burst of wind before a gentle stillness settled it again… blowing leaves in such turmoil, with dancing blades of grass before once more… nothing but frozen air… and light, drifting pauses from clouds in the sky above…
What Knuckles didn't understand was that there was no communication between Harmony and Chaos at that time… There was nothing but the poison of man in one goddess's ear… and the betrayal of turning on her dearest partner in another.
All because power leads to fear… which paves the way for control… Chaos was defeated, even though he had won the war of power… he was controlled into destroying the balance of life and death. Perfect equilibrium now wavered in the world, Life becoming more deadly than it had before, teetering on the edge of oblivion… on the verge of total, utter destruction.
Chaos was forced to weaken all life that could ever be forged on the planet… the Egg of life now dying than remaining immortal… and death prevailing faster than birth could supplement.
The Planet Egg would slowly die… without renewal, it would continue to wither more than replenish itself… and all life would slowly cease to be created…
The Planet Egg was the sole duty that fueled the power and duties of Harmony and Chaos, the guardians of Life and Death, but now one would always be mightier than the other…
Order in the world was lost that day… man and woman… once inseparable, became estranged.
"W-What do you mean?" Tails still seemed a bit confused but looked to his device and back at Knuckles, holding it in both hands.
"People have to talk, Knuckles." He stated, wiser than his years.
Knuckles was silent… as the grave he had witnessed…
Thinking about his vision and closing his eyes as the screaming of men, women, and children plagued his memory and ears. His eyes bent in mercy and compassion for a moment…
"…The Echidnas… My ancestors…"
More cries and then, the roar of a great, deadly battle of gods…
As though unable to bear it, his eyebrows furrowed and he turned back to Tails, more hardened this time.
"They did a terrible thing."
Knuckles lowered his head, a moment of shame coming over his features as he folded his arms and tightened his grip on their sides. Really… it was more a way to ground himself, comfort what little he could within his noble heart at what he knew had happened in the ancient past due to his people's greed and power-hungry ambitions…
"I wouldn't want you to imagine what me, Shadow, and Rouge saw in that vision from Tikal… but I will say this… a lot of it was just… given to us. It was like watching those moving pictures-"
"…Movies?" Tails seemed a bit confused, trying to help him realize there was a better name for it. "You know, like move-ing? But then-" He stopped when Knuckles looked at him funny.
"... This is no time for a word lesson!" he threw up his hands, "I'm trying to be real honest with you, buddy." He gestured a hand to him, hoping it would still his quick mind into swallowing even half of what he was trying to say. "Yeah, yeah, it was like that, alright? But faster. Some parts slowed down while she talked." Knuckles turned back around, pointing to Tails as if letting him know that was the thing he was trying to say. "I think Chaos might want revenge. He hurled my ancestors into another dimension for crying out loud! What will he do to Harmony..?" Knuckles slowly shifted his head over his shoulder to the God of Destruction, still fixated on the far horizon.
He wanted that reply from her more than anything…
His longing eyes turned back to a fierce desire, and his arms shifted out and waved with a self-control of a god controlling the wild waves of both nature that was his element and of his own personality, along with his mind, and his heart.
The waves, in return, crashed against the cliffs and shores, as though reacting to his sudden rage and worry. His arms swayed and the waves crashed in motion with them. The sea blared a soft roar as Chaos's emerald eyes remained fixated on the sky… its hue shining back in radiance against the clear gleam of their green surface.
"…He does have a lot of power." Tails mentioned, flinching a bit as he noticed the unsettled sea and Chaos's rippling and shaking form, moving like a disturbed glass of water just hovering in its form within the air.
A true standing body of water…
"…He practically drowned City Square." Knuckles shook his head, but Tails walked up and patted his back, trying to comfort him somewhat from his worries after seeing how distraught he was talking about all this.
"I want to hear the whole story, but I'm sorry it's taking so much out of you to even try and tell me about it." Tails looked away in empathy, not blinded by youth at how Knuckles was seeming to choke on certain word descriptions and keeping it simple, even if he didn't really want to. "The vision, and what you know are important for this mystery. I know I'm still kinda young, but… I'm not a child." He was firm on that and bounced his head a bit to try and give impact to that last part for Knuckles to see he could be just as serious about this topic, too. Something told Tails to be reverent and he was, to an extent, but the curiosity was too much to bear for the little adventurer.
He had to know what Knuckles wasn't comfortable saying…
"But for now, you said they were companions to one another, right? That together, they created the whole of the planet and its egg?"
Knuckles reluctantly nodded his head, grumbling and looking down because he knew Tails was going to still ask him to take Chaos to the ruins.
"Let's just give it a shot. If I can translate the message, we can know if he's asking for a rematch for revenge or not." Tails's face perked Knuckles's up, smiling as his faith in humanity was contagious.
"You really think Chaos can just… have a civilized conversation with Harmony about everything that happened?" He wondered to the young and hopeful Fox boy. "You really believe they can sort this out without a violent comeback?" He questioned again, "I just want to be certain… I don't want to put him in there if there's gonna be contention."
"It will be okay. I have a feeling that's not the case. He would have just charged off if it was, right?" Tails shrugged, "There's never gonna be a hundred percent certainty to really anything in life, Knuckles. Even with science, things we thought were hard facts turned out to have a lot more things about them. Whether simple or difficult, communication is the key to solving these riddles of issues. Trust me!" he put up a finger and nodded, as though instructing 'hope' to the doubtful Echidna.
Knuckles continued to scrutinize the young fox's face, then shook his head again, "Not without a host he can't." He lowered his arms, but Tails was relieved to hear he was saying he'd take him to the Ruins for the experiment. In Tails's mind, it wasn't that big of a risk to just have them 'text' each other, at least.
"Chaos has been antsy lately… but he can't travel too far from the Master Emerald," Knuckles looked over to him, also not seeing hostility, but definitely seeing the disturbed aura from his quivering water that looked as though he was standing still in the middle of an earthquake's tremor. "Not without a wielder of Chaos to host him." Knuckles then looked annoyed… "And you say Sonic just left?"
"… Eh… heh… Wielder?" Tails felt awkward at that poor timing, sweating a little as he rubbed the back of his head while removing the hand from Knuckles. "I haven't heard that one before, but that's… actually what I was gonna tell you. That Chaos reminds me of when Sonic looked worried."
"Huh?" Knuckles blinked his eyes, turning back to Tails, "You sayin' Sonic was worried about someone?"
"Sonic and Amy had a bit of a… uh… communication problem." Tails made a goofy smile and looked to the sky, "Skirmish would be too harsh of a word, they didn't physically 'fight' but they weren't… really in tune with how the other was feeling during the circumstance… I kinda wonder if Chaos and Harmony are on similar terms…"
"A communication problem?" Knuckles looked seriously interested in that, not because of the drama or gossip, wasn't his thing. He was more curious about how Tails was relating it to Harmony and Chaos…
He turned back to the sky, still seeing no lights. "…Yeah, she's not responding, right? But she must be getting the message." He waved his arms about, heading over to Chaos before stopping and looking to Tails, "What if she's not leveled with the blast?"
"I… Think that's only us… after all, the Master Emerald wasn't always perfectly in line with the colorful sonic blasts, right?" Tails countered.
"Oh… Yeah, huh." He nodded with a slightly opened mouth, his eyes furrowed as though thinking about it, not sure how that lined up but going with it for now as he didn't like overthinking about things and not actually doing something about it. "If I'm not gonna go and protect Chaos… I guess it's best to be his wingman and guard Harmony from a real fight to end all wars with him… I think that's what I–Knuckles, Guardian of the Master Emerald–am meant to do." He looked with duty up towards the jungle… staring at the top of the temple ruins…
"Let's get him to the ruins!" He seemed to have a newfound hope that Chaos and Harmony weren't enemies, and turned back to encourage Tails to help him. He bundled his fists and held them out in front at a comfortable angle, getting pumped about their new adventure! "He can't go too far, but the ruins are close enough to Angel Island that he should be alright."
They nodded in agreement.
"Any farther in, and we'll need Sonic's help for that." He stated, showing Tails he was willing to risk it if it meant the avoidance of pure, violent discord to occur back in the world again… and this time, deadlier than before.
If Chaos really did finish off Harmony…
Well, the last remaining Echidna wouldn't think about that right now.
Hope would guide his steps…
He was the Guardian of the Master Emerald.
Maybe… he was also meant to keep Harmony a secret, too.
Or better… bring an end to the Echidna's tainted past by setting all wrongs right again.
With that in mind, he feared nothing but screwing up… he couldn't let his ancestors down… and all those who had died or been banished to the Twilight Cage in vain.
"Right!" Tails sprung into the sky, his tails whirling to life! He turned to gesture for Chaos to follow them, who only barely tilted his head in the flying fox's direction to see where the sudden burst of energetic movement was coming from. "Come on, come on." He gently coaxed and flew off as Knuckles made sure to watch Chaos from the rear.
"Let's see if your message can reach her up there." Knuckles smiled lighlty, still feeling the heaviness of it all, and pointed his mitten glove towards the ruined temple in the distance, "That's where you're going to tell her enough is enough… and no more fighting." He put his hands to his hips as Chaos's shaking stopped… and the purr of the sea became calm once more. Knuckles heard seagulls cawing over now still waters… looking back at him with a tilt to his head, he wondered with a slight suspicion what Chaos was really capable of… even without the Emeralds… he still seemed monstrous in might.
"Alright, get a move on then." He gently coaxed as well, but his eyes were more in a slight glare, "Come on, old man…" He put his hands behind Chaos, as as he moved forward, Chaos took a step forward, also looking back over his watery shoulder at Knuckles for a small second, before walking on after Tails's 'Here~ Chaos, Chaos~' callings with his hands doing the motion for him to follow.
He seemed to realize they were trying to help him, and immediately walked after Tails, looking at the fox as though not sure what tone of voice that was but it… was odd.
-Ruined Echidna Civilization Jungles-
Chaos was a little hesitant about the jungle, he ducked his head and looked cautiously around at all the plant life.
"You think he's nervous about the jungle?" Knuckles inquired of Tails, noticing how Chaos was falling behind.
"Maybe he's feeling the pull from the Master Emerald, or even unsure of his new surroundings." Tails looked behind him, "Besides… it could be bad memories…" Still seeing Chaos wearily avoid stepping on a plant, he continued, "Harmony wouldn't have anything to do with it… right?" Chaos then ducked when he almost ran into a branch.
"Maybe he's just clumsy…" Knuckles scratched his head, "Angel Island still has plant life… but… never seen him enter the forest areas before… Usually, he just stays on the dirt paths…"
"That's peculiar… Maybe because plants absorb water?" Tails surmised, but it was clear they didn't really know.
The two were confused by his aloof behavior towards the vegetation but found it rather humorous of the once, destructive god.
"He's been in the jungle before, though… I think." Knuckles looked up, thinking hard about it before Tails just shrugged, smiling.
"Let's just focus on deciphering what he's saying to Harmony. We can figure out his odd fear of trees later."
Harmony controlled plant life… she had the power of oxygen it produced out of itself.
As Tails and Knuckles moved ahead, although Knuckles turned around after a few steps to keep an eye on Chaos, Chaos continued to look around as though expecting the plants to come alive…
If Harmony was around… he wanted to make sure his presence was known, but not attacked. Careful to remain somewhat undetected, he tried to respectfully avoid stepping on branches or small plants, not hitting anything, and not even touching large leaves about him. He would morph his body to do just that, worried she may strike him back, diligent in maneuvering himself away from causing any further wrath the goddess may still retain for him from years ago…
He wondered what she still felt… Was it wrath? Is that why she betrayed him? How was she feeling..? He missed her more than he could bear.
-Eggman's HQ and diabolical army site-
Harmony felt something in the earth and touched her weary hand to it. She looked up in the sky and saw the same curve of endless colors spread over the sky and didn't react to it.
She just looked heartbroken and lowered her head.
The army of Eggman stormed the land, destroying nature in its wake and building stages and obstacles for Sonic and his friends, littering the land with their junk and hostile war efforts. Eggman was preparing for Sonic's retaliation… but Harmony knew nothing of this.
All she saw… was another Echidna takeover… but this time, run by a human creation.
"You! Make sure that loop-de-loop has spikes at the end of it! I want to see him trip up and burst into rings! Haha! You! What are you dawdling for!? Put those metal fish into the water already! They're programmed to jump at light speeds, so you don't have to toss them in one at a time like they're gentle! AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Eggman, directing a bunch of bumbling robots and Elemental cyborgs to their tasks, giddily shouted about his commands.
He came up from his dictator's commands and relaxed on his hovering chair, "Marvel at it, Cubot! Orbot! My plans for Sonic's demise and the world's takeover is going so- Ah! Wonderfully terrible~" Like a French chef, he kissed his pinched pointer finger and thumb and then sharply moved it away.
"He seems really into himself again, Orbot." Cubot, looking up at his boss's gleeful laughter and shifting back into his infamous outraged cries and shaking his large gloved fists below at the robots and elemental cyborgs beneath him. He then turned to address his friend, "I know he's always like that, but this time, in particular, is unbearable." he poked at his fingers, speaking in a whisper, as though nervous about everything happening.
"Of course he is, he really has outdone himself on this one." Orbot put the speaker he was communicating through down and sighed, seeing his boss's happiness over something so controversial left him a bit uneasy. "It's as though he doesn't care he could be wiping out an entire planet."
Orbot looked over to see Harmony, wearily avoiding the Chaos Emeralds strategically placed around her crystal in case she acted out. He moved over the side of the balcony to look down at her, peering at her wrap her one arm around herself, looking back over at the open expanse of Eggman's mothership.
At least she was back to the dirt again… she didn't like whatever element he had her in before… she liked nature, it was her own, and after years of being stuck in a cave… she lightly touched the ground again, sensing Chaos once more, but not looking as though that gave her any comfort…
The mouth of the mothership was open as more elemental soldiers continued to bring supplies out, just following robotic orders but looking curiously at her as if feeling some sort of connection and affinity to her.
She refused to gaze at them too long, her crystallized eyes bending as she felt something beat inside her when another powerful and colorful blast lit up the sky again.
It startled her, but she turned away from it… ducking her head down as though to hide in shame.
"AHHH!" Eggman cranked himself back, moving further down and clutching his chest.
"Boss?" Cubot and Orbot both turned around, seeing him heaving and huffing in discomfort.
"Drat… he's really persistent… isn't he?" Eggman sneered towards the sky. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" he shook an angry fist into the air, stomping on his EggMobile's edge and standing up. "She's mine." His glasses gleamed as Harmony turned around, tilting her head at the strange sounds but seeing the emotions dictating his refusal to let her go.
Eggman then held in a barf and covered both his mouth and his stomach, "Ugh… that's revolting…" He looked ill and leaned over the side of the eggmobile.
She looked down again, the fluid surrounding her body encasing her eyes as if she was 'closing' them, but they still shone through the diluted substance.
"…I can't stand to watch this any further." Orbot hopped down from the railing he was leaning over and started hovering quickly down the curled line of smooth stairs, not having steps on them. It spiraled as though a stairwell, but smooth and slick, not meant for regular people to be walking up or down from.
Cubot looked back and forth between Eggman and Orbot, his hands up in the air as if not sure who to follow. "W-Wa… Wait for me!" he took off after Orbot, "What are you planning to do, buddy?" his hands flail about as he hovered quickly down from the gravitational angle of the twisting down stairs. "If Eggman finds out we weren't following our directive-"
"I am going to follow my directive," Orbot stated firmly. He didn't seem to be messing around this time.
"But your directive is to-" Cubot began, trying to move to the side of him but Orbot pushed forward as though to keep Cubot behind his descent. He leaned forward to keep himself moving on, fists loosely bundled, but eyes narrowed as though with sound purpose behind their electrical, glowing sockets.
"My directive, Cubot, is to watch over Eggman's physical, mental, and emotional health!" Orbot began, "We let him abuse us, ridicule us, and even torture us. But this battle is too much. You saw him clutch his chest just then, didn't you? That was clearly his heart! Those blasts are not merely signals, they're an emotionally taxing wave that discharges a physical response in the body!" Orbot quickly swung around, explaining it more clearly to Cubot. "Didn't you analyze it?" He put his hands on his hips, "His stomach almost hurled, you couldn't have not seen it!" he held up a hand towards Cubot, "You'd be an idiot not to have noticed it!"
"That's your directive?" Cubot itched the top of his cubed head. "I think mine's something like… to be yelled at upon every occasion."
"…Ugh," Orbot dropped his hands and shook his head, clearly frustrated by Cubot's lack of computerized-cognitive skills, "Your directive is to perceive counter statements to further Eggman's communication and help him see beyond his own intellect. Plus, your… simpleness makes him feel better." Orbot placed both hands exasperatedly on Cubot's 'shoulders', before patting his head and continuing to move towards Harmony.
Cubot looked confused but continued to follow his friend. At least… Orbot seemed to care about his partner for work.
Whatever 'work' that really was, anyway…
What would you call it? Employment exploitation for metallic workforces?
Once the two hovered over to Harmony, a slight bounce in their float to stop their advances, they looked to each other uneasily and approached her with caution.
Giving her the same respect as royalty, Orbot put his hands together and lowered his head. "Harmony..? Might we speak with you?"
Cubot also seemed to notice Orbot's new stance, similar to submitting to Eggman, and immediately mimicked the action. "Just a moment of your time, your fluidship." He seemed to mean to say 'ladyship'.
Harmony shifted her being around, pulling back the fluid over her eyes and rippling her body with a glow like sunlight on water.
"It's so diffused, your light…" Orbot began trying to analyze why the light splintered off of her in many directions. When he did, he noticed an organ inside her chest, hidden by the-…
"UCK!" He flinched back, shaking his head and covering his robotic mouth with his large, rubbery red hands.
"What is it?" Cubot went over, attempting to poke her arm but Orbot immediately shuffled his hands forward, as if swimming through the air to stop him from performing said action.
"Don't touch that! It's amniotic fluid!" he ripped Cubot away from it, as Harmony stepped back and tilted her head, unsure why the two strange beings were functioning without the essence of life inside them.
She leaned forward as her red, hardened blood eyes tried to identify them better.
"What's that?"
"The liquid surrounding an unborn child!" Orbot seemed squeamish, his bolts clattering as he held Cubot back from behind, restraining him further with his arms.
"Oh. So she's expecting?" Cubot rose the blue slits in his eyes, trying to piece things together.
"No, Cubot… she IS the expecting!" Orbot looked back to her, "She's… what gives life to all things. She is life! Scientifically, she could be considered more than that." He looked at her beating heartbeat on the inside… "She is… the essence, quite literally, of all organic life." he shivered again, finding that disturbing.
As Orbot let Cubot go, Cubot still seemed rather puzzled but nodded as though he got it. "Ooookay…" he hovered around her, giving her a good look as she watched him with equal curiosity. "So… she's like a mother? Strange… she doesn't seem all that hostile from what Eggman's legend scroll or whatever say…"
"She's more like the organ of a mother." Orbot jittered in his disgust again, "But there's an actual… there's a … a heart inside of her." He fidgeted but pointed a shaking finger at her chest.
Sure enough, when Cubot squinted, he could see the blurred red mass inside of her, not connected to anything much like Chaos's floating brain, and turned back to Orbot.
"So..." he put a finger to his mouth, still trying to understand. "That liquid around Chaos… isn't water?"
"You mean cerebrospinal fluid? I'm not sure." Orbot tapped his chin, squinting at Harmony again, "But the colors are wrong, aren't they? Then again, with the blood inside of Harmony, the clear color could have a tint of pink. But Chaos looks blue, but is actually clear as water…" Orbot shook his head, "Then again, they are aliens… Shouldn't they both be yellowish in hue?" he wasn't sure how this worked, but he figured to let it be for now. "Who's to say 'gods' make sense?" He shrugged to Cubot, "If humans can't even comprehend things outside their own universe, how on earth are we? Being made from them and all that."
"... Aren't all living things made of her, and maybe Chaos too, though?" Cubot then looked back to Harmony with a finger near his mouth, speaking as though innocent but actually saying something quite profound. "Is that why… Eggman can't really comprehend her? And what about our directive to Eggman?" Cubot seemed to be tired of trying to wrap his mind around this enigma, and instead, put his hands to his head and looked pleading towards Orbot to change the subject. "I'm all comfumbled."
"Y-You mean confounded." Orbot tried to help him and then looked back at where Eggman was still flying about in his Eggmobile. "R-right… Ehem." Orbot gestured out his hands in small bobs towards Cubot, showing him to calm down and they didn't need to discuss it further. He was a little too invested in the two life and death gods fable and realized he needed to stay on track.
He floated in front of Harmony, holding his hands together in a begging way. "Please. We don't want Eggman to hurt himself with things over and above his bulbous head." Orbot's sincerity mixed with his words almost came out insultingly sarcastic, but he seemed to mean well enough.
He held his hands and squished them a bit together as though looking down to try and collect his thoughts and words, "I pray you can understand me… even without having a heart that beats, and emotions for you to read, they are in similitude of them… of sorts… ohhh, this may be pointless." He looked to Cubot, "How is she to understand us if we don't have souls to understand?" his philosophical explanation and question only made Cubot rear his head back again, holding it as he scratched it profusely.
"To… many… complexed… thoughts!" Orbot was getting nowhere with Cubot by his side…
He sighed, "Oh well, up to me again." He looked back to Harmony, extending out his hands to her in hopes she may be able to read his 'body-language' more so than whatever else he could use to convey his word's meanings. "Is there any way to keep him from destroying himself? Even just a slight chance? We know he seems to not care about wiping women off the face of the planet but technically, I think that's because of a dormant fear that he'll never get the chance to be in love, father and reproduce, so-" As Cubot rambled and dissected his boss's inner-conundrum, another colorful blast exploded over the sky in an arch of light. Harmony ducked, looking afraid of the light and covering her head once more, rippling before it.
Orbot continued to ramble but Cubot began to see something… a start at least, to some forgotten connection… Looking to the blast in the sky, then noticing her knees wobbling, the boiling blood inside of her begin to fizz up again, and then looking back up to her face only to witness the distraught in it…
He nodded after having seen enough to conclude his findings, "You need to feel what he's saying." Transcending his programming, Cubot suddenly recognized the lights were opposite to Harmony's cries for help. The beacon she had released seemed to have a pleasant feeling to Eggman, while this other beam drained and ached him.
"If Chaos is Harmony's opposite, then perhaps together…" He thought about it, before moving passed Orbot and looking determined to reach up and grab Harmony's hand.
As he did so, the sticky substance made him react with a fake gag, "Oh, barf!" he exclaimed before pulling her along to the roof, "This way, Mi'ladyship."
"-but I'm sure with some trimming of that mustache and learning basic pleasantries he might actually find a future queen to his ridiculous Eggman empire and… where did everyone go?" Orbot became aware of his surroundings once again and spun around, looking under his arm and behind himself before forward and shaking his fist at Cubot leading Harmony away from the Chaos Emeralds, "Wait! Cubot! What are you doing? Stooopp!" he charged after them with floating, bobbing hovers.
"Romeo, oh Romeo!~" Cubot clutched his 'heart' or stem of a chest and then lifted his other arm out, letting go of Harmony as she stood upon the roof of Eggman's base.
She looked at the strange movable object mimicking a form of false life and then around at the view, being leveled now with the blasts of lights…
She shook her head, stepping away in fright, raising her one hand up over her face as though to shield herself, her knees wobbling again in clear signs of nervous energy. However, Orbot finally could tell that there was an emotional response in this Goddess regarding the colorful arches of sonic booms.
"…What are you afraid of, Harmony?" He gestured for her to step forward, and not back down, moving an arm behind her lower leg as she stepped forward tentatively. "If you called out for help once,… why don't you do it again?" Orbot didn't feel he was going against orders. They were asked to watch Harmony, and it wasn't like she was escaping at this moment so…
Besides, in all honesty, they were thinking of the health of their creator, not so much his happiness…
Harmony gazed out over the sky… the earth below her by the edge of the roof… the dying planet she wanted so desperately to heal again… But it was not to be.
She turned her head.
"Ah! She has forsaken us!" Cubot gripped his head in fake alarm for his nonexistent life, but Orbot just sighed and wondered what was keeping her.
"My dear…" He floated up, being gentle, "What is wrong?" he finally asked, holding out his hands as though to gesture he wanted something from her, any indication of why she would react this way to the blasts that–although different colors–looked similar in design to hers but had very different effects.
Harmony looked so… sorrowful. With her single arm, she slowly lifted it to point to her obliterated one, and her shoulders bounced as if attempting to cry as the blood softly bubbled up inside her.
The robots couldn't discern this emotion, and looked to each other, hoping the other one might have some clue but it was no use.
They had never seen such hopeless regret before…
"We know the legend… but…" Orbot then put his hands together, holding them.
"Do we… really… know them? The gods that made it?"
-The Jungle's Mystic Ruins-
Jet leaned towards Amy, still breathing soft, restrained breaths as she rested quite unconscious. "... Grr… Isn't this Sonic's friend?" he scowled from the side of his mouth for a moment, seeming almost enraged by her sudden appearance, leaning back up and stomping a foot down in his realization of who she was. "Yeah! I remember now! This is that Girly that swiped the Arc of the Cosmos!" he kept stomping his foot as Wave, who was allowing Amy's unconscious head to lean against her shoulder, glared up at Jet. "Jet, we've been over this before. You're acting like a child more than a leader." She huffed and looked to the side, "You can't honestly expect to gain our respect with a childish tantrum." Her comment froze him a moment as she mentally pictured steam coming out of his ears and giggled into her hand, "It's already happened, Jet. Let it go and focus on the now, like a real Babylon Rogue!" she scolded him, putting her hands to her hips and leaning forward to force him to move back from Amy, giving her some space.
He turned away from her, glaring with gritted teeth at her remarks, shaking his fists before folding his arms and flicking his tail back, trying to 'reserve' himself now. "Whatever! It's not like I forget who steals from us thieves!" he squawked with prejudice, simply because she was a friend of Sonic, and on the wrong side of the rivalry.
Storm bent down to Amy, gently reaching out a hand to her, "The little lady with a strong arm…" he twiddled his fingers by her head, as though thinking about a touch to the top of its pink, circular surface… but pulled back and rubbed his peak as though remembering a painful pitch and swing.
He wouldn't make the same mistake twice and got up from his knelt position to keep a distance from her.
Jet rolled his eyes back to Storm, nudging him with a swift kick of his foot, "Quit that! Don't touch her."
"I-I wasn't going to, boss. Honest." Storm stumbled a bit as he got up, worried his boss thought wrongly of his actions. "I was just remembering is all…" he placed his hands over his beak again, embarrassed by the misunderstanding.
"Both of you need to quiet down." Wave looked back to them, before pulling the computerized gem off from her necklace and clicking it. Diagrams and data floated up on screens that projected from it. She swiped her hand out and they went flying out of view before Wave began analyzing her body's condition, along with Amy's state as well.
"Strange…" she muttered as Storm and Jet crept around the screens in front of them and went to look at it from her angle.
Storm was careful to not fall as he tried to look at the screens over from Amy's head, balancing himself as best he could to avoid 'falling' on her, or–as Jet pointed out–accidentally touching her to steady himself as he lurched around and tried to keep his pose, straining to do so.
Jet squatted down, having come around from the side of Wave, and thus making Storm run around to that side and just put his hands to his knees to tower over the two and watch from the same side.
Jet leaned his cheek towards her, trying to see what she was reading. "What is it, Wave?"
"According to these readings, something just sucked the life out of us." She looked over the pigmentation on her arm, "... I'm fearin'... Literally. My colors are returning to normal… but that's so weird…" She tilted her head, still trying to deduce what happened, "What kinda signal can pull such an immense amount of power from so far away?"
"So, your life was sucked dry?" Jet turned back to her, putting some weight on his knee and placing a hand on it for stability.
She pinched his peak and made him stumble on trying to remain balanced, but it was his own fault for getting too close to Wave and blocking her view of her screens with his bulbous head. "Would I be here talking to you if it had? Genius!?"
He flailed a bit before she wiggled his beak around for one last strong hold and then let him go as he wobbled back to not fall over, Storm now lowering his head to take the place of Jet's previous viewing spot.
"Who would do such a thing..?" Storm worriedly put his hands up to his shaking mouth. "You mean it could of killed you..?" He looked genuinely wracked at hearing that conclusion…
Jet stared towards Amy, as though understanding the same thing happened to her, not just Wave.
Wave turned back to Storm, nodding to him, before sharing Jet's stare down to Amy. "If it only happened to me and the girl… then…"
"Then why didn't it happen to us?" Jet bit his beak down, angered. He stood up and swiped a hand out, "No one messes with my team! And I mean any member of my team!"
Wave suddenly saw him in a better light, swiftly turning her attention to him, she smiled at his maturely heroic and kingly stance, which made his childish behavior from before almost dissipate as she fondly responded to him, "Whatever it wanted, it got it." Wave rolled her shoulder and moved Amy's head down to the ground, hoping to not disturb her. "Let's not wake her up… I'd rather just speak to all of you and not have a crowd." She attempted to get up as she clicked the gem off and put it back on her necklace. "Emm…" she found herself still slightly wobbly and gritted her teeth as her eyes turned stricken with regret at moving too soon.
Immediately, Storm and Jet reached out and helped her up. She gave them a weak scold with her eyes, before surrendering to their help when a kind and concerned expression was returned to her, along with a 'forgive us and just let us help you?' smile was offered instead of just letting her go.
She relented with a sigh of endearment to their aid, getting back up and wearily holding herself with a bent back up on her feet.
"The signal was ranged so far that my systems can't locate its exact source, but I do know the central direction. Based on the arch of the signal, and the energy drained leaving a residual essence that we can track from here-" she pointed to the direction she had fallen, "-to here." And continued the motion to where her energy had departed too across the sky, "I'm pretty sure I could pinpoint more with higher elevation."
"Genius, Wave," Jet smirked, pretending to understand all of that, though he did get most of it. She knew the direction of where it had come from and gone, but not the exact locations of it, nor the motivation for now. He removed his hands from helping her up, seeing she was stable enough now, and walked towards the direction she had shown, clenching a fist. "Whoever did this to you… we'll get your life force back! One way or another… Anyone who dares to mess with the Babylon Rogues… Heh, gets a swift reminder how we're not ones to mess with!" the Rogues formed an epic pose to show their unity, Jet turning back to then fist pump them like musketeers, holding the shot with a smeared grin of satisfaction before Amy began to stir with soft, waking noises.
She slowly got herself up off the ground, just as the Rogues turned around to watch her stir.
"Well, look who's joining the living for a change." Jet looked over his shoulder, then put a hand on his hip as he looked annoyed with her. "I highly doubt she has any idea what's going on, too." He rudely decided out loud as Wave just side-eyed him, but smirked too.
"Probably not, she's one of the blue hedgehog's friends, and they're not worth much." She folded her arms, jeering her.
"D'wah, are you okay, miss?" Storm broke the 'air of mockery' as the two looked at him and broke their 'bullying' stances as he timidly moved between them to lower his body and approach Amy without looking too 'big and scary'.
But in all actuality, he was just afraid she'd powerfully swing something into his face again… Crouching down to avoid a rock or something flung at either his face or intercept if she threw it at one of his teammates' faces.
As they approached her, Jet noticed she was still shaking her head and gripping it, as though not fully there yet. "Heh, I say we interrogate her. See what she knows about the life-sucking lights." He looked to both Storm and Wave, as all three were now looming over Amy before a blue-blasting lightstream came through the trees.
"Do you know what happened?" Jet asked, not looking very friendly as Amy placed a hand on her head, trying to keep it from rolling as she got up.
"H-huh?"
Amy's head softly looked up for a second, her eyes looking hazy as though clearly not awake yet, even still.
Wave made an annoyed face, the side of her beak showing her gritted teeth at the situation only proving their earlier ridicule accurate. She had silently hoped that Amy would have given a clue about something useful to their investigations, but seeing that wasn't the case, was about to suggest that Amy didn't know anything more than they did when-
"Amy!"
Having seen the suspicious scenario, and then their smirking glances as they approached a faint-looking Amy… Sonic homing-attacked right behind the Babylonian descendants' gang.
Sonic uncurled in midair, reeling back a leg, "Hrrrrahh!" and slammed his foot into the back of Jet's neck.
"A-CK!"
There was an audible 'crick' sound as though bone snapping or hardened spaghetti breaking, but probably not so serious and just a hard hit to take while left in stupefied surprise.
"Ambushing 3 against 1? I didn't think that was your style, birdbrain!" Sonic spun up again from pushing off Jet's neck as his eyes went white and he fell to his knees. Sonic landed with a flare, one knee down and one hand up while two remained on the ground before rising like the true showy hero he was, standing now protectively in front of Amy with his arms down to his sides, an intimidatingly cocky aura. He adjusted his gloves and then pulled up his socks by slipping a finger under them with a raised leg behind himself, stretching a little as though preparing for a fight. "Babylon Rogues, now stealing from little girls? That's a new low," he smirked and lightly hopped on his feet, punching the air a bit before kicking out. "Why not pick on someone at your own speed? Or are you nothing without your airgears?"
He then looked down to smile at watching Jet twitch on the ground before anger marks appeared pulsing all over his head. He swung himself up in an outrage, taking dirt his twitching fingers had gripped from below him and spraying it up in his dramatic turnaround.
"SOOONNNIICC! You wouldn't know a brain if it hit you in the face!"
Suddenly, Chaos blasted like a water jet towards Sonic, wanting a host to find Harmony, but was immediately grabbed by Tails and Knuckles.
"Wait!" Tails exclaimed, wrapping his full body around at a diagonal across his back, his tails curling to really secure the grip as Knuckles grabbed Tails and hoisted the brute strength of keeping Chaos from bolting again… Though Chaos's body was of water, it had at least some density to get a grip on him…
"Where do you think you're going!?" Knuckles spat out, gritting against the strain of keeping the god put.
They were now so close to Sonic and the Babylon Rogues with Amy but were still covered from that view due to the thickness of the jungle. Only Chaos knew…
That Sonic…
Would be the answer to solving this mess of a failing world.
-Within the Ruins-
"I think the dimensional rifts worked," Rouge's voice echoed in the undistinguishable sounds over the ruins' walls, "I got my message through to the Princess, Blaze, and to Silver." The screechy recorder in Shadow's hand was kept close to his ear, but down by his cheek, letting the bottom of his palm rest there for support. He had been listening to her report for a while now, exploring the ruins with his eyes as he wandered about it, looking for further answers that may lie within its abandoned, decrepit state.
The dispersed noise was only intelligible while being that close to his face, otherwise, the wide expanse would leave her sounds almost void of understanding with all the ranged bounces of sound that would ring incoherently about the place.
He moved some stones and stepped up into an old chamber, looking around at the coffins all lined up in it. "Any news back?" he asked, blasting some traps that were set off with a powerful detonator that he threw out.
Using Chaos Control here would prove too risky, only destroying what little evidence they could hope to find that remained here in the first place… so he was careful to only use small tools to stop the activated trap system. Otherwise, he'd just make a run for it.
The less damage, in Shadow's mind, the better chances they could have at retaining some vital information on Harmony and her threatening force to the world…
The world he swore to Maria he would protect.
She loved the world… She wanted him to see it.
Even if it hated him…
He would fulfill that dying wish.
"Tsk… I should have kept that emerald." Shadow muttered as he walked by the cracked and tumbling stones, watching as an entire corner collapsed and revealed the sunlight from the edge of the caved ceiling. "I could have at least teleported about in here." His regretted chagrin only made Rouge chuckle from the speaker piece.
"Nothing yet." She responded to his earlier comment, deciding not to comment about his lack of foresight. Might as well keep his dignity… "I'll keep trying. What about the ruins?"
Shadow kicked away some loose pebbles before pushing a coffin's lid off with almost barely any effort, thus was it corroded to some degree. Letting the sound vibrate as it cracked the floor from the hard lid sliding off to almost break ground with its weight before having half itself shatter and break in splintered fragments along the stony ground.
He watched the mess and stepped back a second, letting the rest of it lean against the coffin's box before he stepped up to peer irreverently in.
"…At the moment..?" he reached in, pulling out an amulet with a crystal etched into it, using his thumb to wipe away the dust as it shone now in the exposed light from his earlier, small detonation causing a whole in the side wall. "Nothing." He looked at the crystal designs on the other coffins… so many women sacrificed for the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald to come to fruition…
"All I know is that death follows more than creation with this divinely ignorant goddess…" He threw the amulet down in contempt, "If Harmony gains her ultimate form… much like Chaos, you and the rest of your kind will be nothing more than dust."
Rouge remained silent on the other end of the line, but the scratchiness of the radio only made the atmosphere that much more eerie…
"... Then… the ghost girl's vision?" She finally spoke up, her voice breaking almost as though she barely found the will to speak it.
That image… that memory… it haunted all three of them to their core.
"Is it… really going to happen… all over again?" Rouge's voice quaked Shadow's lungs, making it hard to breathe.
Even Shadow's breath stifled in sections as though he was finding it hard to speak back to her inquiry, making the stuffy and free-roaming dirt and dust swirling around his long, extended hedgehog nose while he tried to keep his composure.
"I deny this Goddess her methods and powers." He finally stated, stomping on the amulet, "She may grant life as a blessing," He narrowed his sights on his hand that was twitching up by his face, "But she is nothing more than a robber of her own cribs!" and crushed his hand down as his gloves tightened and their sound even registered through Rouge's communicator…
She lowered the radio from her mouth, breathing out what sounded like could be her last breath.