Chapter Eleven – Comradery
It rose out of the Black Comet, a spaceship, within the mothership. But the last of the Black Comet, just collapsed, and disintegrated to pieces, the organic elements, rotting and melting into a disgusting pool on the ground. It was done. The infamous alien race were no more. The Black Arms were now extinct. Shadow was the last Black Arm, but now that he was a Fire Elemental, with no physical body, made of pure Chaos Energy, he now, no longer registered as one of them.
They were gone. Extinct.
Left behind was a contraption, that itself looked so alien in origin, that down on the planet, it seemed an odd place for it, except it was built by a Human. The Black Heart, as its name implies, was a mechanical contraption resembling a human heart. Considering that Kintobor was an expert at cyber-mechanics, it wasn't that surprising. It was surrounded by four ring-shaped barriers that occasionally generate electricity. One half of the Black Heart's body is blue (representing veins), while the other half is red (representing arteries). In the very centre is a cockpit, where Kintobor very quickly climbs aboard and then sits, it has a heavy force-field. It is the mechanical beating heart of the now revamped Black Comet. When the Black Comet collapses, it was released from the downed mothership, and now perfectly hovered on it's outer rings, high in the air above Empire City.
The Black Heart had gravity rings, with each ring serving as a continuous circular ground platform, starting with the outermost ring. It can only be damaged by attacking the cockpit. Various sections of each ring will become electrified. Either constantly or for a brief period. There can also be patterns dictating which ring sections are briefly electrified which switch between intervals.
Shadow swears and hard. He was expecting an ace, but not one so, weird, obscure and airborne. He'd been banking on a more ground level machine, that he was expecting would just charge through Empire City. Not a monstrosity that would fly above it, raining down it's terror. But then he realised that he was more used to Eggman's way of thinking but Kintobor was significantly different, so much so, that Shadow was kicking himself. As his nose went skywards, towards the ascending machine, he desperately wondered how he was going to get up there, as it now hovered extremely high.
As a Fire Elemental, and with no Super-Flight from a Chaos Emerald Super-Form, he was completely stumped, until Tails came running up, his nose buried in his handheld. He squealed.
"Yes, I've worked it out. Oh, wow, I love natural. A fire tornado. They start with a whirl of wind, often made visible by smoke, and may occur when intense rising heat and turbulent wind conditions combine to form whirling air. These the contract to a tornado-like vortex that sucks in debris and combustible gases, sending the fire upwards." He beamed, but Shadow just blinked, as the Fox heaved. "Just create a tornado with the Super-Speed, and then sent your yourself and your fire up it, and if you manage it correctly, you go right up to the clouds." He giggled. But the Sonic just bounced at his best friend. But Tails just rolled his eyes. "Sonic, your a Electric Elemental, made of not only pure Chaos Energy, but both positive and negative charges. Lightning can strike upwards as well as downwards. Get yourself up to the top of the highest building in Empire, and balancing your charges, remember positive goes up, and negative goes down, and the path of least resistance, you should be able to just zap straight up there." He nodded, but then he heaved. "But be careful, that flying saucer is heavily armoured, and has significant weaponry." He added, having scanned the Black Heart, and with that, Sonic just vanished, in a cloud of sparks, leaving Shadow behind, deeply thinking.
Suddenly, the Black Heart began dropping bombs, causing major devastation, forcing the Fire Elemental to make his move. He frowned as he ran. Without a better option, he had no choice but to try. He'd seen Sonic do the move before, a long time ago, during the war. To suddenly stop, while running, and then use that incredible momentum to spin vertically, instead of super-spinning horizontally, pirouetting on his tip-toes. Then the resulting tornado-like whirl of wind which could be then used to destroy chasing Badniks. Or at least that's what the Blue Blur used it for.
But just as he was about to do the move, there was an almighty crack across the sky, that almost set it alight, and the whole area was lit up in bright blue light, as a extremely powerful, and incredibly dangerous enormous arch of lightning grade, pale blue electricity, just exploded from the roof of the topmost skyscraper and perfectly landed on the flying Black Heart. Kintobor screamed as his flying machine was sent dangerously flying uncontrollably through the air. Suddenly, Shadow heard an intense giggle, as Sonic's powerful electricity began causing havoc aboard the Black Heart. The Fire Elemental just smirked.
"Go get him, Kid." He hissed, under his breath, now very keen to join him up there. But quickly he noticed that Sonic now had all of the Human's attention, as the Electric Elemental just wizzed all over the machine. He couldn't break through any of the Black Heart's barriers or shields, but be just generally annoying. Something the Blue Blur was insanely good at. A perfect distraction, and to a Human not really experienced in the gorilla warfare that the Resistance fights, he was falling for the bait. That meant Shadow had time to calculate a plan and then strike the Human hard.
Suddenly, the Fire Elemental ran, but as he did, he saw Vector and Espio arriving with the seven Chaos Emeralds, having finally found them all. They ran towards him, but he immediately pointed the other direction. He panted and hard.
"I can't use those anymore." He admitted, to utterly stunned looks. "But Knuckles and Rouge are behind me. Get the Chaos Emeralds to Silver. I have a feeling we'll need him." He hissed. There was something about that Black Heart, which gave Shadow the enormous hunch that both the Elementals were going to struggle against him. The machine had the ability to divert their incredible power away from the core, where Kintobor was sitting. It was superbly well designed, so much more intricate that anything Eggman produced. As both Vector and Espio looked between him and the flying Black Heart, now almost directly above them, eventually, they both nodded, and ran back the way they came, and the other direction towards the Echidna and his wife.
Shadow heaved, and after a second's breather, he raced off again, preparing himself to make his move. Suddenly, he increased his speed, along the ground, skating at Super-Speeds. Then he stops, expertly turning the forwards momentum, into a spinning motion, and he span vertically on his tiptoes. It was a bizarre feeling, having never really done it before, but the tornado around him began to form, he could feel himself being slightly lifted off the ground. He smirked. That was his cue.
With an almighty growl, there was an intense flash of bright red light, and Shadow exploded into flames, as he changed his form, mid-tornado, and suddenly, the whole thing caught fire, and the shot skywards, incredibly quickly, the Fire Elemental's ball of flames travelling up with it. It was extremely effective, and surprisingly quickly, Shadow found himself eye level with the flying Black Heart.
Immediately, he bounced himself from the his tornado of flames, right across the sky, to the Black Heart and joined Sonic in causing the machine havoc. But as Kintobor finally gained control of the tumbling machine in the skies, the Elementals struggled to break the machine. Shadow's dangerously high temperatures, and Sonic's insane voltages did damage it, but it's exceptional design just kept diverting their incredible power away from the weak point of the machine.
Soon, Sonic was left panting, as he bright blue spark, just sidled up to Shadow's ball of flames, for a nanosecond's breather.
"Shads, I can't break through this thing." He breathed, but Shadow just smirked. He was well aware of that, but as he looked down, over the edge, to the city below, he saw a group of Chaotix Detectives rendezvous with a certain Echidna and Bat, and then the four of them track down a certain Psychic Grey Hedgehog. They practically forced the seven Chaos Emeralds down his throat. Silver really didn't want to go Super. He was seriously out of practice with fighting big bosses, and still severely shaken from the telepathy but he didn't have a choice. He was the only one left he could now wield the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Shadow could no longer do it, but that didn't mean that the Grey Hedgehog would be fighting this insane machine alone. That, in the end, was what convinced him.
Suddenly, he rose up into the sky, as all of the Chaos Emeralds, revolving around him, ready to play their part. He concentrated hard, and soon all seven of the mighty gemstones, disappeared into his heart, and he exploded into a beautiful golden colour of his super-form, which roared into the sky. Now a bright pale golden colour, replacing his normally silver-white fur, and his white mane becomes a darker yellow golden colour that floats up behind his head. He had ruby red eyes and his quills float. The two on the back of his head point upwards, while the five on his forehead push forward and spread out, with the bottom two pointing upwards. The teal glow on his gloves, cuffs and boots turns into a bright yellow colour as well and he gains a golden aura.
He looked stunning, but he quickly realised he had a job to do, especially when he realised that the Elementals were already aboard the Black Heart, attacking it, but failing.
Suddenly, he roared skywards, and straight for the Black Heart. Finally, Sonic's sees him coming, and cheering, he intensifies his attacks on the machine. Shadow does the same, as Super Silver charges his Psychokinesis and throw power shots at the core of the Black Heart.
But it shot back missiles and bombs, and even though it was damaged further, it still just wouldn't go down. Kintobor squealed in frustration, at the gang up, as he pulled out his ultimate weapon, and surged the power of the Black Heart so hard, that he blasted both of Elementals, and Super Sliver straight out of the sky, as they all crashed landed them onto the city below. Unfortunately, it permanently crippled his machine, as it was left badly sparking, but it was still airborne, and able to fight back.
Thankfully, all three of the warriors were unharmed, but the rather undignified fall, got all of them gather around, by their somewhat worried comrades. With intense flashes of red and blue, Shadow and Sonic were back in their Hedgehog forms, as Super Silver just used his incredibly powerful Psychokinesis to punch his way through the rubble that had landed on him. He was winded, but largely fine, but now angry at the humiliation, and was about to charge at the Black Heart again, when, rather surprisingly, Shadow stopped him, panting hard.
"Don't." He heaved. "Individual attacks isn't taking out that machine. However, if we all charge at that machine, he could potentially destroy it, but that's not the plan." He growled, to somewhat stunned looks. But Shadow heaved. "I know the family. Even though every Robotnik is dangerous, not all of them are total loose cannon like Eggman. Kintobor is just a grieving father, nothing more." He admitted, but then he smirked. "But his daughter isn't dead. She an Elemental like us, it's just Kintobor doesn't know that." He leered. Silver blinked and nodded, but Tails frowned, and immediately dived into his handheld, rapidly typing on the machine. Suddenly, he squealed.
"Shadow, your right. That Black Heart isn't more powerful then you, in fact it less so, but it's incredible design is thwarting you at every turn." He summated. But Knuckles just heaved.
"So what do we do? That machine is still dropping bombs everywhere." He growled, as the devastation around them got significantly worse. But then Rouge, just stared between Sonic and Tails, and it reminded her of a move they used to do together, during the war against Eggman. She heaved.
"Your going to somehow have to combine powers." She shrugged. But Tails suddenly squealed in delight.
"Combos!" He giggled, but Knuckles just frowned, rounding in the Fox.
"But the Copter and Rolling Combo won't work. Those were between Sonic and yourself, and those aren't possible anymore." He growled, indicating the Blue Blur's now fatal, electric touch. Shadow needed something else, but then Sonic had a brainwave.
"What about the Double Back Spin?" He giggled. It was when the two speedsters came together, super-spinning alternatively within a matter of inches of each other, around one another, effectively creating a massive black, red and blue circular saw. This was an extremely dangerous move. One wrong turn could be fatal, but it was incredibly effective. They level of cooperation needed to pull the move off was incredible. But Shadow heaved, over several things. One, the move was so intensely difficult that they only ever successfully achieved it a couple of times, and just once in battle, and two, it had been years since they had performed it. Plus they were Elementals now. Did they still even have the brutal raw intense Ultra Super-Speed needed to even do it? Suddenly, Tails squealed, at the Elementals.
"Whoa, Guys, your crazy. You were, back when you first did that move. Sonic, you couldn't have been killed." But the Blue Blur grinned.
"But it worked, though." He sniggered, but then he frowned at the Fox. "But we're Elementals now. Immortal. We literally have nothing to loose." He added, as Shadow just smirked. Sonic was right, and it caught the Ultimate Lifeform's attention enough to at least try. Regardless, he secretly liked doing the Double Back Spin, despite it's intense difficulty. He was very much in charge, Sonic just provided the super top end speeds. He did all the steering, using his incredible Super Strength, and controlled everything about it, the Blue Blur doing exactly as he was told.
To have that irritating Blue Hedgehog follow him obediently, even for a short while, always made Shadow's day. As he could just calm him down, shut him up, until peace reigned, and then get the job done. But he didn't want the Blue Blur to permanently loose his bounce, no matter how annoying he was. He made life interested, and to Shadow, finding about whatever scandals he'd caused, was truthfully, a highlight for him. Only so he could rip the Blue Blur apart about it afterwards, relishing the bullying.
But Silver looked terrified. The sheer power of that combo was deadly and when he was told he's have to spin throw both the Elementals, in said combo, at full power, with his Psychokinesis, in mid-air, straight at the Black Heart, he almost fled. He'd barely spin-thrown anything before. He'd rather do anything, but again, he got outvoted and out gunned. He was the one who'd desperately wanting to be in the past, now, he had to face the consequences. Finally, he nodded.
The Hedgehogs realise that must all work together to take down this mad machine.
Suddenly, Sonic and Shadow race through the city, and suddenly, activating their Super-Speed, and super-span, before coming together. This somewhat catches both of them off guards, slightly. Since becoming Elemental, they hadn't needed to super-spin until this point, and considering the both of them had significantly grown, it was little more awkward to do the move then originally thought. But the speedsters quickly find their rhythm, and charged at each other. Shadow smirked, as Sonic just outright squealed with adrenaline, as they just punch out the exquisite combo move as though the last ten years hadn't happened.
Their muscle memory was perfect, but their total power had grown exponentially. Shadow, driving the combo, surged it through the city, looking for a convenient arrangement of rubble, that would, when charged at with enough speed, act as a ramp to send them skywards. After a quick search, he found one, and pushed the combo towards it, and as the Elementals hit it, at incredible speeds, they were flung into the sky to an awaiting, flying high above, but somewhat terrified, Silver.
He swore and hard.
There was a lot of power in that combo. So much so, that he wasn't entirely sure, even in Super Form, he could physically, or in his case, psychically, handle it. But as he spotted the Black Heart gearing up, to take aim and fire at him, he hadn't got a choice but to try. The combo was flung high into the air, and actually went above him, but it was only when gravity kicked in, did Silver act. Exploding his Psychokinesis, Silver saw his the Elementals dive straight towards him. The Hero of Mobius and the Ultimate Lifeform, the enormous shockwave explosion of the sound barrier breaking, behind them proving it.
Silver readied himself to catch him, while in midair, the timing was critical. The speedsters now had much more power behind them, that Silver had never thrown anything this strong before. He genuinely didn't know what would happen. Would they be too powerful to throw? He prayed on his own psychic abilities and hoped not. He gritted his teeth. Then with lightning speed reflex actions, streams of cyan aura of his Psychokinesis, exploded out of his hands, out across Empire City and wrapped around the Elementals combo as they came within twenty feet of him.
Silver's entire body glowed brightly as grabbed his Double Back Spin, in his almighty psychic grasp and spun it around himself, in a clockwise direction. He was able to do this, because Silver wasn't physically touching the Elementals, which would instantly kill him. His Psychokinesis, controlled with the power of his mind alone, was immune. However, he still screamed with intense pain, but didn't let go. The speedster's fire and electricity, burning and slicing his mind terribly. Sonic and Shadow had so much power that Silver was desperately struggling to control the spin. It was getting faster and faster and the Psychic had to give everything he had, just to stop the Elementals from accidentally flying out of his grip.
The Black Heart was on the move again, across Empire City. A moving target incredibly difficult to aim for. With ever turn, Silver looked for the robot until he final locked onto the core of the beast, where Kintobor was sitting, the weakest point of the entire machine. Suddenly, with an almighty roar of his own anger, right from the pit of his stomach, he threw the Elementals straight at the monstrosity, as hard as he could. He gave his all, everything he had. The power of the throw was so incredible that the backlash, completely disorientated Silver so badly, it caused him to plummet straight out of the sky. He hit the ground hard, but it didn't knock him out. He was surprised, as he rolled out of it, and watched as the Elementals incredible combo soar across the sky, and slammed into the Black Heart and hard.
There was intense cheering, as Kintobor screamed as his incredible machine was sent dangerously flying out of control. He quickly regained it, but the damage was catastrophic, but the machine still wasn't down.
They had to do it again.
Sonic and Shadow had also realised this, as suddenly, a roar of intense sound meant another almighty combo was heading Silver's way. He growled, grinning his teeth, as he took to the air again.
Despite the pain, yes, he could do this.
Another launch of the Elementals into the sky and another powerful throw, and very quickly, the Hedgehogs found their rhythm. But there was a problem. The Black Heart still wasn't going with a fight, and it intensified it's attacks on both Silver and the Elementals, when they were all grounded between throws. Also Silver was beginning to tire, even in Super Form.
Why? The Elementals.
They were both so much stronger then him, Chaos wise, that he was struggling to even match them, let alone keep up, and when an almighty throw dangerously crashed Silver to the creator in the ground, and almost unconscious, everyone was worried. But he wasn't the only one on his knees. So to was the Black Heart. He was now desperately shaking and only barely staying airborne. One more threw and it was done for. But as the Grey Hedgehog dragged himself to his feet, to yet another roar of sounded of a pair of incredible Elementals, who never seemed to tire. He was horrendously drained, but finally, he understood.
He would never match them.
Sonic and Shadow.
Even before they became Elementals, during the war, just normal speedster Hedgehog, Silver even struggled then, to come even close to them, but now he finally realised that, that wasn't him. He was a Psychic. His strength and talents lay elsewhere. Equally as powerful, it was just, he was different and was always meant to be. He literally couldn't compare. But as he was about to take to the air again, a voice behind him, almost grounded him. It sounded terrified, especially for him.
"Silver?" It wailed.
It was Blaze. She'd been on the field along with everyone else, and seeing the best friend so exhausted had gotten her intensely worried. But Silver nodded. He knew what needed to be done, and what it was going to cost. He rounded on the Princess.
"Blaze." He squealed, as he suddenly pointed at the Black Heart, somehow still high in the sky. "One more hit, and that thing is gone." He pointed. But Blaze wasn't convinced.
"What about you?" She stammered. But the Grey Hedgehog sighed.
"It will probably knocked me out, force the Chaos Emeralds from me, scattering them across the planet." He admitted, but then he ran for her, grabbing her hand. "But if you catch me, before I hit the ground, I'll should be alright." He pleaded, hoping for the Cat to agree. She had the power of flight, she was capable of such a task. After a deep sigh, finally, she nodded.
Backing away, she let him go, just as the Elementals incredible combo of their Double Back Spin came charging in. Suddenly, everyone goes skywards, and then come together with an almighty clash, and Silver spin-throws them one final time. Gritting his teeth hard, and pushing his mind with everything it hand, through the pain, he grabbed the Elementals and threw them, for the last time, at the Black Heart. Kintobor must have known his end was coming, because he got desperate. He threw everything he had at the oncoming speedsters. Missiles, bombs, lasers, but nothing worked, as he screamed, as the incredible combo it him, directly in the core, and with an almighty explosion, the Black Heart was finally sent plummeting to the ground.
Desperately unstrapping himself, Kintobor, by the narrowest of margins, somehow managed to jump from the disintegrating machine. Landing hard, on the ground, badly cut and bruised, but alive, as the prize machine crashed and burned into ground, the resulting fireball enormous.
Finally, the Black Heart was down.