Categories > Games > Sonic the Hedgehog > Ultimate Life Forms
Chapter 9 I am the
Amy wondered around Station Square, feeling quite discouraged. Sonic and Tails weren't here, and Amy didn't know where else to look for them. But if she gave up she wouldn't be able to prove to Sonic that she could do this. Moaning she trudged on.
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"Thanks for your help." Tails called to the bat, who had helped in the fight with Chaos, as he ran back towards the Tornado.
Sonic and Shadow may have had a head start, but in the Windy Valley they would probably make many twists, and turns, thus giving Tails a chance to catch up.
Tails jumped into the pilot's seat, started up the engine, and took off, watching the ground for fast moving hedgehogs.
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Knuckles woke up, and got to his feet. Sleeping in one of Station Square's parks had been the closest thing he could think of to sleeping on the island, but he was quickly learning he couldn't sleep well anywhere that wasn't home, well maybe he'd be able to once he repaired the Master Emerald.
He hadn't been able to detect any Emerald shards last night, but now that he had woken up he could feel the shards, that he had already collected, resonating with the energy, that usually meant that there was an emerald shard nearby, however the signal was strange, like the time he had gotten into the fight with the dark hedgehog, and Eggman's water creature, Chaos.
"I hope the weird signal doesn't mean that one of them is around." Knuckles thought, as he got back to searching.
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Sonic ran after Shadow, not about to let his dark look-alike out of his sight, not after what had happened last time. Shadow must have been thinking of last time as well, because he was headed for Station Square. He's not gonna loose me in there this time." Sonic thought.
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"Knuckles!" Amy yelled trying to catch his attention. Knuckles turned around, and seemed startled to see her. "I hope he knows where Sonic is." She thought.
"Amy, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I'm looking for Sonic, and Tails. Have you seen them?" She asked.
"No. I haven't seen them since the last time I saw you." He said.
Amy felt her heart drop, for the third time that day. How could she be having such rotten luck? Things had been going wonderfully yesterday.
She was about to turn to go, when Knuckles spoke again.
"Hey, do you happen to have a Master Emerald Shard with you?"
"A what?" She asked.
"One of these." He said, holding up something that looked like the green Chaos Emerald, only it was an odd shape.
"No. I have a Chaos Emerald with me though." She said, holding up the gem for him to see.
"Rats." He said. "I guess that's what."
Suddenly a watery tentacle seemed to come out of nowhere, and snatch the Emerald in Amy's hand, stopping Knuckles, mid sentence.
No, this couldn't be happening. She was supposed to bring the Chaos Emerald to Sonic, to show him how helpful she could be, and now she had lost it. Instead of being helpful she had caused a problem.
"Chaos." Knuckles murmured.
"What?" She asked. But Knuckles was preoccupied and he took off without answering her.
"Why am I always getting left behind?" Amy thought, feeling very sorry for her self.
"Hey! Wait up!" She called after Knuckles.
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Chaos absorbed the last Chaos Emerald, and felt his power increase.
About a block away he heard the red Echidna running, obviously looking for him.
Chaos was not going to be defeated again. Not this time. The last three times he had assumed that his new power would be enough to vanquish his foes. He would not assume so this time. Not until his power was at it's very peak.
"Chaos control." Chaos thought, and teleported to the ocean. There he felt his energy expand, and what was once inanimate water, become part of himself. It actually took a few minutes for the process to complete, but once it had Chaos's mass had expanded upon millions of gallons of water.
And now it was time for them to die. All of those slavers, and would be murderers, who had no honor, would drown in himself, and when he had finally rid the world of every last one, he would be free.
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"Pesky little hedgehog." Shadow thought to himself. "I'll loose you in Station Square, just like last time."
Sonic was proving to be almost as annoying as Chaos, and Eggman, and he was trying to come up with a more permanent solution to his blue look-alike problem. The problem with that was that he couldn't think of a trap that wouldn't endanger himself as much as Sonic. And he was already pretty sure that an out and out fight was anybodies game.
"What happened?" Shadow heard Sonic ask.
Shadow checked to make sure he wouldn't run into anything, then turned to see what Sonic was talking about. Sonic was looking past Shadow towards the City, with a confused expression on his face.
Shadow was tempted to attack, but decided a look at what Sonic had seen was the more practical choice. So he turned his attention towards the city, and almost tripped over his own feet, from the shock of what he saw.
The city was being flooded. It didn't make sense. There was no dam anywhere near Station Square, and the city itself was above sea level. Had there been a tidal wave? And then the answer hit him, as clear as it was a problem. "Chaos." He growled.
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Colonel Schmit was in his office, reading a letter, very carefully. The letter had come from the Pentagon, and concerned how soon he could bring the Ark back on line. Like the letters before it, it wasn't very promising.
Schmit scowled. "I've got to figure out a way to get them to bring it back online, without telling them why." He thought.
The Ark had been shut down for fifty years now, and the official reports that had come out of it weren't anything that would interest those that weren't around when it had been in its prime. And he was also certain that there was one or two, who partially believed the rumors about the place, and about him. "If anything, most of those rumors probably understate the case." Schmit thought.
The intercom, on his desk beeped. Schmit flicked it on, feeling annoyed at the interruption. "Yes, what?"
"Sir," The voice that came out of his intercom said. "Station Square is flooding!"
A normal man in normal times would probably have thought he had misheard, for Station Square was above sea level, and there was no dam that, if broken, could unleash a sudden flood. However Schmit was not a normal man, and most certainly not in normal times, and his first thoughts were. "Eggman! Only someone from the bloodline of Dr. Gerald, or one of his creations could cause the impossible."
"I'll be right there." He said into the intercom, as he got up from his desk and made for Prison Island's main command room.
As he walked down the halls different seemingly sci-fi explanations as for how Eggman could accomplish this feet swam around in his head. Could the Dr. have used a large, or large number of, fan\fans to create a sudden tidal wave? Could he have created a matter transporter, probably powered by a Chaos Emerald, that was teleporting the water from somewhere in the ocean into the city? Or maybe the Dr. had shifted gravity so that the very Earth was pulling the water from the ocean into the city.
Schmit entered the main command room, and went over to one of the monitors that were watching the city, via satellite.
"How much of the city is underwater?" Schmit asked, not taking his eyes off of the screen.
"One sixth, as of right now." Came his answer.
Colonel Schmit watched the water rise slowly, almost leisurely, but still far faster than the city could empty itself. People would start dieing soon. "Better for civilians to die, than my military personnel." Schmit thought.
Schmit was beginning to think that his gravity idea was the closest one to what was happening when something happened that blew it out of the water. A skyscraper's top twenty windows were blown out, by an enormous amount of water that had gathered in the buildings top twenty floors.
At first Schmit didn't understand it, and then, finally realization struck him. No one but someone of Gerald's blood line, or one of his creations could cause such a thing to happen.
And then, as if fate wanted to confirm what Schmit now already knew, the water, in the top twenty floors of the skyscraper, formed itself together into the head of a giant sea monster.
"Chaos." Schmit whispered.
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"Oh, man!" Knuckles thought, as the water, in front of him, rose up to his feet. "He must have all seven Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles backed away, towards dry ground, and tried to think of something.
"Knuckles! Whats happening?" Amy called out.
Knuckles turned around, and saw her running towards him. "What's wrong with her? Can't she see that the city is flooding?" He thought. Then shook the thoughts away. Chaos was about to spread across the city, in both meanings of the word, and he couldn't expect everyone to react rationally. "I am, probably, the only one who knows what's going on." Knuckles thought.
"Knuckles!?" Amy called again.
"Come on." Knuckles said, as grabbed her arm, and started running.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Away from here." He answered.
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Sonic forgot about Shadow. Chaos was flooding the city. "He must have gone back to the garage, and found the Chaos Emerald that Tails hid in box, that was supposed to hide its energy signature." He thought.
Sonic was afraid. Deep down his fear of water, had surfaced, and threatened to turn Sonic around, away from the city, away from the water, which he hated, and feared so, away from the people that would die...
No, Sonic was a hero. His ego had placed the protection of the entire world in his hands when he boasted that he had saved the world, and could do it again, and Sonic was no liar. But this reasoning was only secondary, and if it had been the only reason Sonic would have stopped in his tracks, and had to talk himself into living up to his name. The real reason he was going, the reason that kept him from stopping in his tracks from fear, or even slowing down, was that people were either dieing, or about to die, and if Sonic could help, even one of them, by facing his fear, then nothing was going to stop him.
Sonic almost crashed into Shadow, who had suddenly stopped, but Sonic, and Shadow's reflexes were excellent, and they avoided a collision. As Sonic left the dark hedgehog behind, he turned to see what Shadow was doing, not slowing down as he did so.
Shadow just stood where he had stopped, starring at the city, at the place where people were dieing.
"Jerk!" Sonic thought.
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Tails saw Sonic pass Shadow up.
"What's he doing?" Tails wondered.
Sonic didn't turn around, and Shadow didn't give Sonic chase. Shadow just stood there, and Sonic kept on running. "I don't get it." Tails thought to himself, as he checked his radar, and only then noticed that it had detected all seven Chaos Emeralds, and few other weird signals.
Tails looked in the direction, that the radar indicated the Emeralds where, and stopped short. "Huh." Part of Station Square was under water. Tails shook his head, and looked again.
"First Sonic, and Shadow start acting all weird, and now this." Tails thought to himself. "Am I dreaming? That would explain why Eggman wasn't with Chaos... Chaos!" And then it fell into perspective.
Tails reached for the speed control, then remembered that he already had the Tornado going full speed. Tails leaned forward in his seat, his mind racing.
Sonic was afraid of water. Would he fear a Chaos induced flood? True, he didn't seam to fear Chaos, but this was a little, allot different. Would he be able to help Sonic? Or would he only be able to fly around in circles? Would he even get there before Sonic drowned? Was Chaos's weak spot still his head? Did he even have a head, anymore?
A movement caught Tails eye, and he looked, and saw the water in the top of a skyscraper form into the shape of a sea monster's head.
"Well, at least that answers that question." Tails thought grimly.
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Sonic ran and jumped, landed on the top of the building, that was the closest to Chaos's, now giant, head, and called out. "Hey! Remember me?!!"
One of Chaos's eyes seamed to swivel in its socket, and focused on Sonic. Almost immediately afterwards the water, that was flooding the streets, seemed to pull back for a second, and then came forward, as a tidal wave, headed straight for Sonic.
"Yes, I guess you do." Sonic thought.
Sonic ran, and jumped to the next building over, landed, didn't stop, jumped again, and turned around just in time to see the building he had been standing on, and the one he had just left, get seriously pummeled by the wave, but neither of them collapsed.
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Knuckles heard the sound of a small tidal wave. "Either Eggman's stepping up the destruction, or someone just attacked Chaos." Knuckles thought to himself.
The image of Sonic running up to the giant head, that had popped out of a skyscraper, and challenging it, came unbidden to Knuckles mind, but he tried to cast it aside. Even Sonic wasn't that stupid. Right?
"What was that?" Amy asked.
"Keep running." Knuckles said, as he slowed down. The thought of Sonic challenging Chaos wouldn't leave, and he was beginning to feel worried.
"What are you doing?!" Amy asked, in an alarmed tone, and she started slowing down too.
"Don't stop. Go!" Knuckles ordered her. He couldn't tell her he thought Sonic was back there. Then she would go too. "I have to do something."
"Don't leave me!" Amy hollered, and she grabbed onto Knuckles arm.
Knuckles thought fast, and before his thoughts had fully materialized his lips, and hand started moving.
"Was that Sonic?" He asked, and pointed in the direction he wanted Amy to keep running.
"Where?" Amy asked, even though she saw where Knuckles had pointed, and was already running in that direction, yelling as she went. "Sooonic!"
Knuckles immediately felt guilty for lying to Amy like that, but it had produced the desired affect, and he wanted to see what was going on with Chaos, and Sonic.
"Sheesh, it's like I already know he's there." Knuckles thought, as he started to climb one of the buildings, hoping, as he went, that his powers of deduction where flawed.
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Sonic jumped over one building, and onto the one on the other side, as a blast of water, straight from Chaos's mouth, knocked the roof off of the building that he had just vacated.
Chaos's advance on the city had slowed to a crawl, now that he was concentrating on Sonic. So far only about a third of the city was wet, and the people who were in the dry parts of the city where evacuating faster than the water was rising. All because Chaos had his attention on Sonic. Now if Sonic could just keep his attention.
"You're thinking defensively hedgehog." Sonic thought to himself. "Think offensive, offensive! Come on how did you beat him before? His head. Right?"
Sonic turned his head to look at Chaos's, eel like, sea monster head, then to the building that no longer had a roof. "I think his head is not the ideal target anymore." Sonic thought to himself.
Another wave came at Sonic, but this one was bigger than the ones before it, and Sonic had to clear three buildings in order to avoid it.
"Psst!"
"Did someone just try to psst me in the middle of a combat zone?" Sonic wondered, looking around for the source of the noise.
He spotted it hanging on the side of the building next to the one he currently stood on top off. "Knuckles! What are you doing here, man?" He asked.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Knuckles countered, in a shouting whisper.
Sonic was about to shout back, when he noticed Chaos get ready, with both a wave, and a blast of watery breath. Sonic, ran, and jumped to the next building, when he noticed that Knuckles hadn't moved. He was about to admonish the echidna when he noticed the sly dog had positioned himself on the side of the building that Chaos couldn't see. "Clever." Sonic thought, and got back to trying to stay alive.
The wave hit the building that Knuckles was on, but, for some reason, the wave was weaker than most, and Knuckles had a firm grip so he wasn't knocked off. What was really odd though was that Chaos didn't send a blast from his mouth.
Sonic turned his attention back to the giant eel head, and saw a little blue plane scurrying in the air, around it. "That's Tails!" Sonic thought. Part of him was glad his friend was here to help, but another part was fearful for his little buddy's safety.
As Sonic watched Chaos sent a blast of watery breath at the Tornado. Tails tried to dodge, but the blast knocked the tail off of the plane.
"No." Sonic whispered, and then shouted. "Hang on buddy!"
"Sonic wait!" Knuckles called.
Sonic turned, and saw that Knuckles was on his way towards him, still keeping out of Chaos's line of sight.
"Coward." Sonic thought, as he said. "I'm not abandoning Tails."
"You go to the plane, and you'll draw Chaos's fire there." Knuckles countered. "I'll get Tails, you make sure that monstrosity is too busy to notice."
Sonic felt his stomach do flip flop, and he immediately regretted thinking Knuckles a coward. He was a good friend, and had a more strategic mind than Sonic, and right now that just might save Tails life.
"Thanks Knux." Sonic said.
At first Knuckles seemed taken aback by Sonic's thanks, but he got over it almost immediately. "Save your thanks for later. We gotta go, now!" Knuckles said.
"Right." Sonic said, and took off, jumping buildings, headed for Chaos's big, fat head, and when he was within shouting distance called out. "Hey! Water lips, your mother was flame thrower!"
Sonic had expected Chaos to go back to fighting him, but instead the giant monster's head was looking towards the horizon. At first Sonic thought that he was going to make sure he finished off Tails before turning his attention back to Sonic, but then Sonic realized that Chaos was looking in the wrong direction for that.
Sonic looked, and saw two jets screaming towards Chaos at high speeds, well high for human built aircraft, anyway.
Chaos let loose with blast of water from his mouth. He came very close, but didn't hit either of them. However the turbulence, caused by the passage of the deadly water projectile, knocked the jets out of the pilots control for a few moments, and one of them crashed into a building. The second jet regained control, and passed over Chaos's head. Chaos's eyes followed the surviving jet around, and Sonic realized that this was his chance.
Sonic ran, and jumped to the next building, and immediately felt like something was wrong. Sonic looked around, and saw that the building, he was standing on, had been hit by one of Chaos's waves and didn't feel very secure.
Sonic stamped his foot twice, and then did a small hop in the air three times. The building held. Confident that the building could stand him running across, and jumping from it, Sonic did just that.
Sonic ran over two more water shocked buildings, on his way to Chaos, but he didn't stop to test them. He just kept running, putting little effort into stealth, and allot of effort into speed, until he had reached a building that was right alongside the skyscraper that Chaos had stuck his head out of.
Sonic heard the sound of the second jet crashing, turned his head, and barely saw the edge of a parachute before it passed out of his range of eyesight. If Sonic didn't do something now, Chaos would likely drown the pilot.
The building that Sonic was on only came half way up to the building that Chaos was on, but that didn't matter to Sonic. Sonic ran, jumped and hit the side of the building running, headed straight for the roof.
When Sonic reached the roof he ran for the edge that Chaos had stuck his head out of, calling as he went. "Ding dong. Pizzas here!"
Chaos rotated his head, until it was sideways, and he was looking straight up at Sonic, who was leaning over the edge of the building.
"Well, maybe now that he's bigger his eye is a weak spot. Maybe. At least his brain is along the same trajectory. Sonic thought, then leapt into the air as high as he could.
Sonic came back down, spinning his spin attack as fast as he could.
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"Good man." Colonel Schmit said.
The pilot of the second jet had just reported in on his radio, and asked for instructions.
"Get yourself out of there. There's nothing more you can do." Colonel Schmit said, as he tried to think of another plan.
"Under... Do you know that Sonic is hea? (Censured.)" The pilot said.
"What is it? Speak up!" Colonel Schmit said.
"Sonic just tried to attack the thing's head." The pilot said. "But it just pulled its head back into the building, and caught him with its jaws!"
Schmit scowled.
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There was water everywhere, and a current pulling at him. Sonic had expected to bounce off, like the last time he had fought with Chaos, but instead the creature had swallowed him, and now he would drown.
Sonic didn't know what to do, and he couldn't think of anything. His lungs hurt already.
Blam! The current smashed Sonic into a submerged wall, knocking the wind out of him. Now Sonic really hurt, and there was still no air to be had.
Sonic flailed his arms and kicked his feet. He tried opening his eyes, but everything was blurry, and the water stung, so he closed them again. His chest hurt like crazy. Something scratched his arm, and Sonic was sure that it had been strong enough to draw, at least, a little blood.
Sonic's chest gave him a feeling like someone putting too much pressure on a clogged pipe. But there was still no air to be had.
Another wall! This one somehow felt ten times worse than the first, and his flailing grew weaker, and slower.
A tingling sensation.
Sonic wondered if this was what it felt like to die, even as he flailed around trying to save himself.
The tingling sensation grew, until the water felt almost electrified, and some of the pain eased. Even as the, now, electric sensation grew Sonic's mind started to loose focus; however his reflexes still had him flailing, and suddenly, he surged forward with a burst of energy.
Sonic coughed up water, and breathed in air, for a few moments, and as his brain cleared he tried to figure out what had happened.
Sonic was a tad startled to notice that he was standing on nothing, twenty feet over the water. But that wasn't all, his thoughts were coming in clearer, sharper, and faster, his eyesight was the same, even his hearing had been enhanced, although loud noises didn't hurt them.
It was, because of his enhanced thinking that he was able to figure it out so fast. He had gone super. Chaos either by ignorance, or stupidity, had sent the current, that was pulling Sonic to his death, on a course that had passed the Chaos Emeralds, and when Sonic had gotten there he had gone super.
Sonic grinned. Now they would have a fair fight.
Sonic turned back to Chaos, who was staring at Sonic in wonder. Sonic bolted right threw Chaos's nose, threw the back of his head, and out the other side of the building Chaos had stuck his head out of.
The water seamed to loose all of its integrity, and fell to the flooded streets below. The floors below the top twenty suddenly burst open, as the water inside them pushed the windows out of their frames.
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Tails helicoptered down to the, now crashed, Tornado. After Chaos had taken out the Tornado's tail Tails had jumped out.
Amazingly, considering that it had just been shot down, and then crashed on the roof of a building, the Tornado seemed not to be in that bad shape.
"If I can get it back to the garage I might be able to fix it." Tails thought, and then turned his attention back to Chaos.
The water monster had just taken out another jet, and its pilot was parachuting to one of the building tops. If somebody didn't do something Chaos would kill the pilot.
Tails spun his tails around, and was about to take off, when a voice called out. "Hold it right there, Mr. Not So Bright."
Tails turned around, and saw Knuckles, hiding behind the doors to an elevator.
"If we don't do something people are gonna get hurt." Tails said, defiantly.
"And if you just rush up, and attack something that powerful, without some kind of strategy, you're going to wind up getting shot down, just like you did a few moments ago." Knuckles countered.
Knuckles words took Tails aback. Sonic had never been one for strategy. He always just ran in, and did whatever seemed like the best thing to do. But then again Sonic hadn't taken on something as big as this before. Well, maybe the Death-Egg, but that was almost an entirely different situation.
"Okay, what have you got?" Tails asked.
"Nothing yet. I've been too busy trying to get you knuckleheads' attention. But if we put our heads together I'm sure we can come up with something." Knuckles said.
There was silence for a few moments, as Tails, and Knuckles tried to think of something, anything, but nothing came to Tails, and Knuckles was in a thoughtful silence.
Tails started to get agitated. They weren't helping anyone here. Sonic was doing more by rushing in, and doing what he thought was right, but he, and Knuckles were just sitting here, thinking, and it wasn't helping anyone.
"We Need to." A loud crashing sound split threw the air, and Tails didn't get to finish his thought.
Tails, and Knuckles turned, and saw water falling from every part of the building that Chaos had taken up residence in, and Next to the building, Super Sonic floated threw the air, pointing his toes at the ground, to make himself look cool.
"Or Sonic could just get lucky, save the day, and then rub it in my face later." Knuckles said, but there was a smile behind his words.
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The pain of being struck like that had hurt Chaos like crazy. Sonic was now, literally, on fire. And if he had been fast before, well; now he was too fast to believe.
But the pain was already easing, as the Chaos Emeralds gave Chaos new strength, and Sonic had to be careful not to go too fast, or he would break the sound barrier, which would cause a shock wave even more damaging than Chaos's small tidal waves had been. He would win this battle, for he was bigger, stronger, and he was in control of the Emeralds. He would wear out the hedgehog eventually.
To Be Continued...
Amy wondered around Station Square, feeling quite discouraged. Sonic and Tails weren't here, and Amy didn't know where else to look for them. But if she gave up she wouldn't be able to prove to Sonic that she could do this. Moaning she trudged on.
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"Thanks for your help." Tails called to the bat, who had helped in the fight with Chaos, as he ran back towards the Tornado.
Sonic and Shadow may have had a head start, but in the Windy Valley they would probably make many twists, and turns, thus giving Tails a chance to catch up.
Tails jumped into the pilot's seat, started up the engine, and took off, watching the ground for fast moving hedgehogs.
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Knuckles woke up, and got to his feet. Sleeping in one of Station Square's parks had been the closest thing he could think of to sleeping on the island, but he was quickly learning he couldn't sleep well anywhere that wasn't home, well maybe he'd be able to once he repaired the Master Emerald.
He hadn't been able to detect any Emerald shards last night, but now that he had woken up he could feel the shards, that he had already collected, resonating with the energy, that usually meant that there was an emerald shard nearby, however the signal was strange, like the time he had gotten into the fight with the dark hedgehog, and Eggman's water creature, Chaos.
"I hope the weird signal doesn't mean that one of them is around." Knuckles thought, as he got back to searching.
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Sonic ran after Shadow, not about to let his dark look-alike out of his sight, not after what had happened last time. Shadow must have been thinking of last time as well, because he was headed for Station Square. He's not gonna loose me in there this time." Sonic thought.
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"Knuckles!" Amy yelled trying to catch his attention. Knuckles turned around, and seemed startled to see her. "I hope he knows where Sonic is." She thought.
"Amy, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I'm looking for Sonic, and Tails. Have you seen them?" She asked.
"No. I haven't seen them since the last time I saw you." He said.
Amy felt her heart drop, for the third time that day. How could she be having such rotten luck? Things had been going wonderfully yesterday.
She was about to turn to go, when Knuckles spoke again.
"Hey, do you happen to have a Master Emerald Shard with you?"
"A what?" She asked.
"One of these." He said, holding up something that looked like the green Chaos Emerald, only it was an odd shape.
"No. I have a Chaos Emerald with me though." She said, holding up the gem for him to see.
"Rats." He said. "I guess that's what."
Suddenly a watery tentacle seemed to come out of nowhere, and snatch the Emerald in Amy's hand, stopping Knuckles, mid sentence.
No, this couldn't be happening. She was supposed to bring the Chaos Emerald to Sonic, to show him how helpful she could be, and now she had lost it. Instead of being helpful she had caused a problem.
"Chaos." Knuckles murmured.
"What?" She asked. But Knuckles was preoccupied and he took off without answering her.
"Why am I always getting left behind?" Amy thought, feeling very sorry for her self.
"Hey! Wait up!" She called after Knuckles.
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Chaos absorbed the last Chaos Emerald, and felt his power increase.
About a block away he heard the red Echidna running, obviously looking for him.
Chaos was not going to be defeated again. Not this time. The last three times he had assumed that his new power would be enough to vanquish his foes. He would not assume so this time. Not until his power was at it's very peak.
"Chaos control." Chaos thought, and teleported to the ocean. There he felt his energy expand, and what was once inanimate water, become part of himself. It actually took a few minutes for the process to complete, but once it had Chaos's mass had expanded upon millions of gallons of water.
And now it was time for them to die. All of those slavers, and would be murderers, who had no honor, would drown in himself, and when he had finally rid the world of every last one, he would be free.
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"Pesky little hedgehog." Shadow thought to himself. "I'll loose you in Station Square, just like last time."
Sonic was proving to be almost as annoying as Chaos, and Eggman, and he was trying to come up with a more permanent solution to his blue look-alike problem. The problem with that was that he couldn't think of a trap that wouldn't endanger himself as much as Sonic. And he was already pretty sure that an out and out fight was anybodies game.
"What happened?" Shadow heard Sonic ask.
Shadow checked to make sure he wouldn't run into anything, then turned to see what Sonic was talking about. Sonic was looking past Shadow towards the City, with a confused expression on his face.
Shadow was tempted to attack, but decided a look at what Sonic had seen was the more practical choice. So he turned his attention towards the city, and almost tripped over his own feet, from the shock of what he saw.
The city was being flooded. It didn't make sense. There was no dam anywhere near Station Square, and the city itself was above sea level. Had there been a tidal wave? And then the answer hit him, as clear as it was a problem. "Chaos." He growled.
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Colonel Schmit was in his office, reading a letter, very carefully. The letter had come from the Pentagon, and concerned how soon he could bring the Ark back on line. Like the letters before it, it wasn't very promising.
Schmit scowled. "I've got to figure out a way to get them to bring it back online, without telling them why." He thought.
The Ark had been shut down for fifty years now, and the official reports that had come out of it weren't anything that would interest those that weren't around when it had been in its prime. And he was also certain that there was one or two, who partially believed the rumors about the place, and about him. "If anything, most of those rumors probably understate the case." Schmit thought.
The intercom, on his desk beeped. Schmit flicked it on, feeling annoyed at the interruption. "Yes, what?"
"Sir," The voice that came out of his intercom said. "Station Square is flooding!"
A normal man in normal times would probably have thought he had misheard, for Station Square was above sea level, and there was no dam that, if broken, could unleash a sudden flood. However Schmit was not a normal man, and most certainly not in normal times, and his first thoughts were. "Eggman! Only someone from the bloodline of Dr. Gerald, or one of his creations could cause the impossible."
"I'll be right there." He said into the intercom, as he got up from his desk and made for Prison Island's main command room.
As he walked down the halls different seemingly sci-fi explanations as for how Eggman could accomplish this feet swam around in his head. Could the Dr. have used a large, or large number of, fan\fans to create a sudden tidal wave? Could he have created a matter transporter, probably powered by a Chaos Emerald, that was teleporting the water from somewhere in the ocean into the city? Or maybe the Dr. had shifted gravity so that the very Earth was pulling the water from the ocean into the city.
Schmit entered the main command room, and went over to one of the monitors that were watching the city, via satellite.
"How much of the city is underwater?" Schmit asked, not taking his eyes off of the screen.
"One sixth, as of right now." Came his answer.
Colonel Schmit watched the water rise slowly, almost leisurely, but still far faster than the city could empty itself. People would start dieing soon. "Better for civilians to die, than my military personnel." Schmit thought.
Schmit was beginning to think that his gravity idea was the closest one to what was happening when something happened that blew it out of the water. A skyscraper's top twenty windows were blown out, by an enormous amount of water that had gathered in the buildings top twenty floors.
At first Schmit didn't understand it, and then, finally realization struck him. No one but someone of Gerald's blood line, or one of his creations could cause such a thing to happen.
And then, as if fate wanted to confirm what Schmit now already knew, the water, in the top twenty floors of the skyscraper, formed itself together into the head of a giant sea monster.
"Chaos." Schmit whispered.
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"Oh, man!" Knuckles thought, as the water, in front of him, rose up to his feet. "He must have all seven Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles backed away, towards dry ground, and tried to think of something.
"Knuckles! Whats happening?" Amy called out.
Knuckles turned around, and saw her running towards him. "What's wrong with her? Can't she see that the city is flooding?" He thought. Then shook the thoughts away. Chaos was about to spread across the city, in both meanings of the word, and he couldn't expect everyone to react rationally. "I am, probably, the only one who knows what's going on." Knuckles thought.
"Knuckles!?" Amy called again.
"Come on." Knuckles said, as grabbed her arm, and started running.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Away from here." He answered.
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Sonic forgot about Shadow. Chaos was flooding the city. "He must have gone back to the garage, and found the Chaos Emerald that Tails hid in box, that was supposed to hide its energy signature." He thought.
Sonic was afraid. Deep down his fear of water, had surfaced, and threatened to turn Sonic around, away from the city, away from the water, which he hated, and feared so, away from the people that would die...
No, Sonic was a hero. His ego had placed the protection of the entire world in his hands when he boasted that he had saved the world, and could do it again, and Sonic was no liar. But this reasoning was only secondary, and if it had been the only reason Sonic would have stopped in his tracks, and had to talk himself into living up to his name. The real reason he was going, the reason that kept him from stopping in his tracks from fear, or even slowing down, was that people were either dieing, or about to die, and if Sonic could help, even one of them, by facing his fear, then nothing was going to stop him.
Sonic almost crashed into Shadow, who had suddenly stopped, but Sonic, and Shadow's reflexes were excellent, and they avoided a collision. As Sonic left the dark hedgehog behind, he turned to see what Shadow was doing, not slowing down as he did so.
Shadow just stood where he had stopped, starring at the city, at the place where people were dieing.
"Jerk!" Sonic thought.
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Tails saw Sonic pass Shadow up.
"What's he doing?" Tails wondered.
Sonic didn't turn around, and Shadow didn't give Sonic chase. Shadow just stood there, and Sonic kept on running. "I don't get it." Tails thought to himself, as he checked his radar, and only then noticed that it had detected all seven Chaos Emeralds, and few other weird signals.
Tails looked in the direction, that the radar indicated the Emeralds where, and stopped short. "Huh." Part of Station Square was under water. Tails shook his head, and looked again.
"First Sonic, and Shadow start acting all weird, and now this." Tails thought to himself. "Am I dreaming? That would explain why Eggman wasn't with Chaos... Chaos!" And then it fell into perspective.
Tails reached for the speed control, then remembered that he already had the Tornado going full speed. Tails leaned forward in his seat, his mind racing.
Sonic was afraid of water. Would he fear a Chaos induced flood? True, he didn't seam to fear Chaos, but this was a little, allot different. Would he be able to help Sonic? Or would he only be able to fly around in circles? Would he even get there before Sonic drowned? Was Chaos's weak spot still his head? Did he even have a head, anymore?
A movement caught Tails eye, and he looked, and saw the water in the top of a skyscraper form into the shape of a sea monster's head.
"Well, at least that answers that question." Tails thought grimly.
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Sonic ran and jumped, landed on the top of the building, that was the closest to Chaos's, now giant, head, and called out. "Hey! Remember me?!!"
One of Chaos's eyes seamed to swivel in its socket, and focused on Sonic. Almost immediately afterwards the water, that was flooding the streets, seemed to pull back for a second, and then came forward, as a tidal wave, headed straight for Sonic.
"Yes, I guess you do." Sonic thought.
Sonic ran, and jumped to the next building over, landed, didn't stop, jumped again, and turned around just in time to see the building he had been standing on, and the one he had just left, get seriously pummeled by the wave, but neither of them collapsed.
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Knuckles heard the sound of a small tidal wave. "Either Eggman's stepping up the destruction, or someone just attacked Chaos." Knuckles thought to himself.
The image of Sonic running up to the giant head, that had popped out of a skyscraper, and challenging it, came unbidden to Knuckles mind, but he tried to cast it aside. Even Sonic wasn't that stupid. Right?
"What was that?" Amy asked.
"Keep running." Knuckles said, as he slowed down. The thought of Sonic challenging Chaos wouldn't leave, and he was beginning to feel worried.
"What are you doing?!" Amy asked, in an alarmed tone, and she started slowing down too.
"Don't stop. Go!" Knuckles ordered her. He couldn't tell her he thought Sonic was back there. Then she would go too. "I have to do something."
"Don't leave me!" Amy hollered, and she grabbed onto Knuckles arm.
Knuckles thought fast, and before his thoughts had fully materialized his lips, and hand started moving.
"Was that Sonic?" He asked, and pointed in the direction he wanted Amy to keep running.
"Where?" Amy asked, even though she saw where Knuckles had pointed, and was already running in that direction, yelling as she went. "Sooonic!"
Knuckles immediately felt guilty for lying to Amy like that, but it had produced the desired affect, and he wanted to see what was going on with Chaos, and Sonic.
"Sheesh, it's like I already know he's there." Knuckles thought, as he started to climb one of the buildings, hoping, as he went, that his powers of deduction where flawed.
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Sonic jumped over one building, and onto the one on the other side, as a blast of water, straight from Chaos's mouth, knocked the roof off of the building that he had just vacated.
Chaos's advance on the city had slowed to a crawl, now that he was concentrating on Sonic. So far only about a third of the city was wet, and the people who were in the dry parts of the city where evacuating faster than the water was rising. All because Chaos had his attention on Sonic. Now if Sonic could just keep his attention.
"You're thinking defensively hedgehog." Sonic thought to himself. "Think offensive, offensive! Come on how did you beat him before? His head. Right?"
Sonic turned his head to look at Chaos's, eel like, sea monster head, then to the building that no longer had a roof. "I think his head is not the ideal target anymore." Sonic thought to himself.
Another wave came at Sonic, but this one was bigger than the ones before it, and Sonic had to clear three buildings in order to avoid it.
"Psst!"
"Did someone just try to psst me in the middle of a combat zone?" Sonic wondered, looking around for the source of the noise.
He spotted it hanging on the side of the building next to the one he currently stood on top off. "Knuckles! What are you doing here, man?" He asked.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Knuckles countered, in a shouting whisper.
Sonic was about to shout back, when he noticed Chaos get ready, with both a wave, and a blast of watery breath. Sonic, ran, and jumped to the next building, when he noticed that Knuckles hadn't moved. He was about to admonish the echidna when he noticed the sly dog had positioned himself on the side of the building that Chaos couldn't see. "Clever." Sonic thought, and got back to trying to stay alive.
The wave hit the building that Knuckles was on, but, for some reason, the wave was weaker than most, and Knuckles had a firm grip so he wasn't knocked off. What was really odd though was that Chaos didn't send a blast from his mouth.
Sonic turned his attention back to the giant eel head, and saw a little blue plane scurrying in the air, around it. "That's Tails!" Sonic thought. Part of him was glad his friend was here to help, but another part was fearful for his little buddy's safety.
As Sonic watched Chaos sent a blast of watery breath at the Tornado. Tails tried to dodge, but the blast knocked the tail off of the plane.
"No." Sonic whispered, and then shouted. "Hang on buddy!"
"Sonic wait!" Knuckles called.
Sonic turned, and saw that Knuckles was on his way towards him, still keeping out of Chaos's line of sight.
"Coward." Sonic thought, as he said. "I'm not abandoning Tails."
"You go to the plane, and you'll draw Chaos's fire there." Knuckles countered. "I'll get Tails, you make sure that monstrosity is too busy to notice."
Sonic felt his stomach do flip flop, and he immediately regretted thinking Knuckles a coward. He was a good friend, and had a more strategic mind than Sonic, and right now that just might save Tails life.
"Thanks Knux." Sonic said.
At first Knuckles seemed taken aback by Sonic's thanks, but he got over it almost immediately. "Save your thanks for later. We gotta go, now!" Knuckles said.
"Right." Sonic said, and took off, jumping buildings, headed for Chaos's big, fat head, and when he was within shouting distance called out. "Hey! Water lips, your mother was flame thrower!"
Sonic had expected Chaos to go back to fighting him, but instead the giant monster's head was looking towards the horizon. At first Sonic thought that he was going to make sure he finished off Tails before turning his attention back to Sonic, but then Sonic realized that Chaos was looking in the wrong direction for that.
Sonic looked, and saw two jets screaming towards Chaos at high speeds, well high for human built aircraft, anyway.
Chaos let loose with blast of water from his mouth. He came very close, but didn't hit either of them. However the turbulence, caused by the passage of the deadly water projectile, knocked the jets out of the pilots control for a few moments, and one of them crashed into a building. The second jet regained control, and passed over Chaos's head. Chaos's eyes followed the surviving jet around, and Sonic realized that this was his chance.
Sonic ran, and jumped to the next building, and immediately felt like something was wrong. Sonic looked around, and saw that the building, he was standing on, had been hit by one of Chaos's waves and didn't feel very secure.
Sonic stamped his foot twice, and then did a small hop in the air three times. The building held. Confident that the building could stand him running across, and jumping from it, Sonic did just that.
Sonic ran over two more water shocked buildings, on his way to Chaos, but he didn't stop to test them. He just kept running, putting little effort into stealth, and allot of effort into speed, until he had reached a building that was right alongside the skyscraper that Chaos had stuck his head out of.
Sonic heard the sound of the second jet crashing, turned his head, and barely saw the edge of a parachute before it passed out of his range of eyesight. If Sonic didn't do something now, Chaos would likely drown the pilot.
The building that Sonic was on only came half way up to the building that Chaos was on, but that didn't matter to Sonic. Sonic ran, jumped and hit the side of the building running, headed straight for the roof.
When Sonic reached the roof he ran for the edge that Chaos had stuck his head out of, calling as he went. "Ding dong. Pizzas here!"
Chaos rotated his head, until it was sideways, and he was looking straight up at Sonic, who was leaning over the edge of the building.
"Well, maybe now that he's bigger his eye is a weak spot. Maybe. At least his brain is along the same trajectory. Sonic thought, then leapt into the air as high as he could.
Sonic came back down, spinning his spin attack as fast as he could.
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"Good man." Colonel Schmit said.
The pilot of the second jet had just reported in on his radio, and asked for instructions.
"Get yourself out of there. There's nothing more you can do." Colonel Schmit said, as he tried to think of another plan.
"Under... Do you know that Sonic is hea? (Censured.)" The pilot said.
"What is it? Speak up!" Colonel Schmit said.
"Sonic just tried to attack the thing's head." The pilot said. "But it just pulled its head back into the building, and caught him with its jaws!"
Schmit scowled.
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There was water everywhere, and a current pulling at him. Sonic had expected to bounce off, like the last time he had fought with Chaos, but instead the creature had swallowed him, and now he would drown.
Sonic didn't know what to do, and he couldn't think of anything. His lungs hurt already.
Blam! The current smashed Sonic into a submerged wall, knocking the wind out of him. Now Sonic really hurt, and there was still no air to be had.
Sonic flailed his arms and kicked his feet. He tried opening his eyes, but everything was blurry, and the water stung, so he closed them again. His chest hurt like crazy. Something scratched his arm, and Sonic was sure that it had been strong enough to draw, at least, a little blood.
Sonic's chest gave him a feeling like someone putting too much pressure on a clogged pipe. But there was still no air to be had.
Another wall! This one somehow felt ten times worse than the first, and his flailing grew weaker, and slower.
A tingling sensation.
Sonic wondered if this was what it felt like to die, even as he flailed around trying to save himself.
The tingling sensation grew, until the water felt almost electrified, and some of the pain eased. Even as the, now, electric sensation grew Sonic's mind started to loose focus; however his reflexes still had him flailing, and suddenly, he surged forward with a burst of energy.
Sonic coughed up water, and breathed in air, for a few moments, and as his brain cleared he tried to figure out what had happened.
Sonic was a tad startled to notice that he was standing on nothing, twenty feet over the water. But that wasn't all, his thoughts were coming in clearer, sharper, and faster, his eyesight was the same, even his hearing had been enhanced, although loud noises didn't hurt them.
It was, because of his enhanced thinking that he was able to figure it out so fast. He had gone super. Chaos either by ignorance, or stupidity, had sent the current, that was pulling Sonic to his death, on a course that had passed the Chaos Emeralds, and when Sonic had gotten there he had gone super.
Sonic grinned. Now they would have a fair fight.
Sonic turned back to Chaos, who was staring at Sonic in wonder. Sonic bolted right threw Chaos's nose, threw the back of his head, and out the other side of the building Chaos had stuck his head out of.
The water seamed to loose all of its integrity, and fell to the flooded streets below. The floors below the top twenty suddenly burst open, as the water inside them pushed the windows out of their frames.
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Tails helicoptered down to the, now crashed, Tornado. After Chaos had taken out the Tornado's tail Tails had jumped out.
Amazingly, considering that it had just been shot down, and then crashed on the roof of a building, the Tornado seemed not to be in that bad shape.
"If I can get it back to the garage I might be able to fix it." Tails thought, and then turned his attention back to Chaos.
The water monster had just taken out another jet, and its pilot was parachuting to one of the building tops. If somebody didn't do something Chaos would kill the pilot.
Tails spun his tails around, and was about to take off, when a voice called out. "Hold it right there, Mr. Not So Bright."
Tails turned around, and saw Knuckles, hiding behind the doors to an elevator.
"If we don't do something people are gonna get hurt." Tails said, defiantly.
"And if you just rush up, and attack something that powerful, without some kind of strategy, you're going to wind up getting shot down, just like you did a few moments ago." Knuckles countered.
Knuckles words took Tails aback. Sonic had never been one for strategy. He always just ran in, and did whatever seemed like the best thing to do. But then again Sonic hadn't taken on something as big as this before. Well, maybe the Death-Egg, but that was almost an entirely different situation.
"Okay, what have you got?" Tails asked.
"Nothing yet. I've been too busy trying to get you knuckleheads' attention. But if we put our heads together I'm sure we can come up with something." Knuckles said.
There was silence for a few moments, as Tails, and Knuckles tried to think of something, anything, but nothing came to Tails, and Knuckles was in a thoughtful silence.
Tails started to get agitated. They weren't helping anyone here. Sonic was doing more by rushing in, and doing what he thought was right, but he, and Knuckles were just sitting here, thinking, and it wasn't helping anyone.
"We Need to." A loud crashing sound split threw the air, and Tails didn't get to finish his thought.
Tails, and Knuckles turned, and saw water falling from every part of the building that Chaos had taken up residence in, and Next to the building, Super Sonic floated threw the air, pointing his toes at the ground, to make himself look cool.
"Or Sonic could just get lucky, save the day, and then rub it in my face later." Knuckles said, but there was a smile behind his words.
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The pain of being struck like that had hurt Chaos like crazy. Sonic was now, literally, on fire. And if he had been fast before, well; now he was too fast to believe.
But the pain was already easing, as the Chaos Emeralds gave Chaos new strength, and Sonic had to be careful not to go too fast, or he would break the sound barrier, which would cause a shock wave even more damaging than Chaos's small tidal waves had been. He would win this battle, for he was bigger, stronger, and he was in control of the Emeralds. He would wear out the hedgehog eventually.
To Be Continued...
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