Chapter Text
21:02 — Prison Island
Sirens screech like banshees throughout the clinically white halls lit up by intensely red lights. Metal doors squeal as they slam down, colliding harshly with the bottom of the frame in the floor. Footsteps thunder in every direction as human yelling sends forth orders to every corner of the prison built into an island not far off the coast. Soldiers arm themselves and strap down their protective armor, listening to the automatic voice pouring from the speakers, “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”
The alarms do not lie. There is an intruder in this prison. He strides through the hallways, not in a rush but not lacing in purpose, either. The flashing red lights reflect off the dark purple-black of his full-body armor, casting terrible shadows across the walls he passes by. He holds a sword made with a green-yellow blade in his hand. There is a slight curve to the blade, making it perfect for the slashing he does against the weaponized robots that foolishly try to stop him.
“Security breach at Gate 3! Intruder has been located in the north quadrant, and is moving in the direction of the underground base!”
The intruder—Dark Oak, as he calls himself, and the leader of the Metarex, as he’s more commonly known—hums to himself beneath his helmet. In his opinion, humans barely qualify as intelligent species, yet it seems they do possess enough sense to determine his destination based on his previous actions. It does not matter, of course, since they will not be able to stop him.
“All units prepare to engage. Emergency battle formations! Standard battle procedures initiated. Locate and stop the intruder from entering the security area!”
But they will certainly try. It is a good sign, actually. Dark Oak hopes they send every single soldier at this entire base. Not just because it gives him the opportunity to kill them, but also because it means there is something here they want to protect at all costs. He has finally found what he was looking for, and he’s not going to let the parasites of this planet stop him from getting to it.
He cuts down another robot with little regard for how the metallic pieces shatter upon hitting the ground. He twists his sword around to wipe the oil off his blade with his forearm. As he is doing that, he twists his body around to kick the metal door that slid shut in front of him. There is enough force to dent the metal. As it crumples inward, it lifts up the bottom. Dark Oak grabs it with one hand, yanking the door up the rest of the way. It gives him enough space to step into the most guarded room in the entire prison—perhaps the whole world.
Dark Oak sheathes his sword in the scabbard on his back. With his clawed gauntlets swinging at his sides, he takes note of his surroundings. The room is designed as a cylinder with walls made from metal and covered in technology. There is a metallic catwalk leading up to a central dias. It activates as a computer when he touches the slanted surface. The holographic screen reflects in the singular green half-sphere filling up most of his face.
Though he has the wits to hack into the mainframe, he has left such time-consuming pastimes to one of his generals. As such, he holds his hand out. A seed synthesizes in the middle of his palm. Though it looks natural, it is entirely technological. The seed’s proximity to the screen, the keyboard, and the hardware filling this entire space activates its hacking capabilities. It breaks in, yes, but it also extracts data about the superweapon.
While the seed does its designated job, Dark Oak reveals the chaos emerald within his possession. He lowers it onto the terminal. The emerald naturally emits an energy that this system recognizes as a second key to unlocking the superweapon. Between it and the seed’s hacking, the final program activates.
A low rumbling noise fills the room. It grows louder as something rises from the depths of the cylinder. Dark Oak leaps over the terminal. His metal-hardened boots make a clinking noise when he lands. It is the last noise he’s able to hear from himself before the rising object—a cryogenic coffin—overtakes everything. Half-rusted mechanisms drudge this coffin from the bowels of the earth, revealing a superweapon that humanity’s scattered governments agreed to seal away from the rest of the world. It is exactly what Dark Oak needs to finally win this ever-tiring war.
Silence suddenly slices through the room as swiftly as a sword. Slowly, the glass covering of the cryogenic coffin lifts. White-gray gas spills out in waves, carrying a frosty temperature alongside it. From the frozen interior, another object begins rising. It lifts higher and higher until it is above the dissipating gas.
Shadow? Dark Oak thinks to himself. He immediately rebukes himself for thinking this superweapon could be his archnemesis. While he considers all mobians beneath him, he should remember that there are some differences between the various species. And while this superweapon is also a hedgehog with a darker color scheme, this creature is very different from Shadow.
This creature truly flies—not a poor mimicry due to air-shoes. This creature’s fur and quills are similar to Dark Oak’s armor: a dark purple-black, made even less clear by the purple miasma spreading out from its form. There are, however, neon green and blue markings spread across this creature’s flesh, glowing brightly in the low light of this prison cell. They have silver bands around their wrists with dark green-purple vines crawling all over them.
And then—then the creature opens its eyes, and the entire room is consumed in that miasma. Dark Oak tenses the body beneath his armor. He lowers closer to the ground and lifts his forearms to shield his head, but he does not crumble beneath the overwhelming weight of dark energy. It both funnels into and is spread from the levitating hedgehog who passively observes his surroundings with black sclera and glowing neon green irises.
A cruel smile spreads across Dark Oak’s face, unseen to the entire world. He truly has found it. This is more than a superweapon; it is a direct link to the primordial gods. Despite his failure with Argus, Dark Oak knew that victory could only be achieved by harvesting divine power. His pursuit guided him to sealed files that should have never seen the light of day again about Project Light. This is the one of the fruits produced in that project, and the greatest one of them all: the Herald of Dark Gaia, the Beginning of the World’s End.
“Herald,” Dark Oak speaks. His voice is clear and true as it passes through the filter of his helmet. The herald turns his head toward Dark Oak. His face does not change. He utters no words. Only his attention is laid upon Dark Oak’s shoulders, and it is enough to make it difficult for Dark Oak to inhale carbon dioxide. It also excites him, almost as if his plan has already come true. “You and I both wish for the destruction of this planet. Join me, and we shall erase this rotten mistake and all who dwell upon it.”
Of course, Dark Oak and his generals will be on their spaceship when the Earth is destroyed. If the records are correct, Light Gaia will awaken after the destruction to remake the world. Dark Oak will force the primordial god to make the next planet habitable for the seedrians. They will finally take this planet as their own, and then their true plan can begin.
The herald does not respond. He continues staring for a long moment. Before he can utter a word, the door Dark Oak sealed shut behind him slides open. Dark Oak whirls around, a hand curling around the hilt of his sword. G.U.N. robots ready their numerous firearms to eliminate the intruder and the superweapon he released. Dark Oaks knows they are doomed creatures, yet they are felled by the herald’s paw rather than his own hand. The avatar of Dark Gaia shoots forward to slam into the robots within a second. He easily dispatches them, shattering them beyond recognition—beyond necessity, really, but Dark Oak appreciates the display of power as it shows him what he is working with.
With all the enemies defeated, the herald looks back into the room he escaped from. He lifts his paw. Dark Oak hears the howling of a sharp, winter wind. He follows the sound to where the miasma has turned into a wind that grabs onto the chaos emerald. The herald brings it to his person. He does not, however, touch it, instead leaving it suspended within a sphere of dark purple wind right above his palm.
His other paw is thrown forward. The miasma condenses into a misty creature with dark blue-black fur and similar neon green markings as the herald. The animalistic creature runs forward. Dark Oak draws his sword to attack it. Though he slashes through it, the creature was only made from clouds. It does not break apart until it leaps at Dark Oak’s face. The miasma winds its way through his filter, mixing in with his next breath. Instead of choking or killing him, the dark energy floods his mind with blood-soaked images of…
Yes, he knows where this is. It is the Space Colony ARK, one of the few satellites humanity has managed to put in the sky. He saw it floating in orbit when his ship descended upon the planet’s surface. Additionally, it came up frequently in the redacted files he found about Project Light. It was, after all, the environment where the experiments were carried out.
As the images fade, Dark Oak looks back at the herald. He makes eye contact with the avatar. Once he nods in confirmation, the herald turns away from him. It flies off without so much as a backwards glance, perhaps heading to the Space Colony ARK itself or perhaps going to find more chaos emeralds after it stole the one Dark Oak has.
It is too late to wonder if this herald will be more trouble than it is worth for Dark Oak has already unleashed the plague. And in any case, he is more than prepared for failures and setbacks. His determination is simply too great and his goals too noble for him to give up, especially before he has truly begun.
With that in mind, Dark Oak grabs onto the technological seed. He tucks it away to observe the data it extracted later. For now, he prepares himself to fight his way out of prison island.
11:08 — Desert Area
The sun is high and bright in the sky. The heat lays thickly across the entire expanse from one edge of the golden ocean to the opposite. The winds churn up the sand like restless waves, cresting into high dunes and sliding back down into valleys. A pyramid stands tall in one quadrant of the desert. It is surrounded by ruins from a much earlier time, shattered and displaced by the machinations of endless time. On one side of the pyramid, two figures stand in the ruins. They face each other, daring the other one to move closer to a white belt laid out across the sandy bricks with a bright green emerald embedded into the heart-shaped buckle.
“It belongs to the echidnas,” One figure says firmly. They are a crimson echidna with dreadlocks beneath his brown leather hat. He kneels on the ground, using one of his black-gloved fists to keep himself upright while the other one grabs onto his brown bomber jacket. It matches his leather-and-metal belt and his brown strapped shoes with metal plating. His paw slides down to grab the rope hanging around his belt. “It belongs to me.”
“It belonged to the echidnas centuries ago. Now, it belongs to the greatest thief in the world,” The other figure retorts. She is a white-furred bat with deep teal eyes. She wears a black bodysuit with pink accents tucked into white boots and gloves. All that is missing is the belt from around her waist—or, on some days, a necklace, and others still, a circlit—the Master Emerald likes being different accessories, and who is she to deny the powerful relic its desires?
“You thieves should have never gotten it,” The echidna hisses. The object they are fighting over—the Master Emerald—did, at one point, belong to the echidnas. They were its guardians. After their collapse, however, the emerald passed hands until it inevitably came into the possession of the King of Thieves, a title bestowed onto whoever ruled over a secret organization of thieves. The organization no longer exists except for its final member—the bat who has claimed the Master Emerald and the title of Queen of Thieves for herself.
And she isn’t going to lose it to some schmuck caught up in a past they’ll never return to.
Before either of them can dive for the Master Emerald (or for each other, since they have been fighting for a while), a new challenger appears by dropping from the sky. They land in the space between the echidna and the bat, right over the Master Emerald. This alone causes the two to react, but they are driven even deeper into determination when they see that the person holding the belt buckle is none other than Dark Oak, leader of the Metarex.
Both the echidna and the bat have bad relations with the Metarex, and everyone on the planet despises the leader of that wretched organization for reasons as simple as not wanting the planet to be destroyed.
“I came for a chaos emerald,” Dark Oak claims as the sand cloud clears around him from his impromptu introduction into the scene. “But it appears I have found a greater prize.”
“I am not doing this again,” The bat hisses to herself. She waits for the opportune moment to strike by watching the echidna throw his rope around Dark Oak’s wrist. The echidna pulls back at the same moment his fist collides with Dark Oak’s back. As the Metarex leader is thrown off-balance, the bat races forward. With a high kick, the toes of her boots collide directly with the Master Emerald. It is dislodged from the belt buckle. Immediately, it regains its original shape as a giant green diamond. Twisting around, using her wings for extra leverage, she kicks the Master Emerald itself, shattering the priceless artifact. The pieces—compelled by the divine power of Khaos—are scattered with the wind.
In an instant, the rope is around her neck. She is pulled forward, knocking onto her knees. The echidna yanks at his rope, ready to hang her from the ruins like a prisoner on death’s row. His violet eyes glow with fury. He hisses, “What did you do?”
Dark Oak chuckles. Free from his binds, he leaps away from them to land on a pillar. The echidna and bat glance at him from the corner of their eyes. “It was useless to me, anyway. Khaos is not the primordial god I need to borrow power from.”
Dark Oak disappears, leaving behind the two combatants. The echidna narrows his eyes. “I am going to kill you.”
The bat narrows her eyes. She grabs the front of the rope, pulling it forward as much as she can. In a few quick motions, she rises to her feet and stomps down on the rope. The echidna stumbles forward. She twists around to kick him in the side of the head. While he is able to bring his forearm up in time to protect himself, the force of her kick pushes him to the side by a few inches. She continues pushing against him, glaring directly at his stupid face. “I’d like to see you try.”
21:13 — Central City
Though the sky is dark, the city is bright with thousands upon thousands of lights. Each one feels like a spotlight directly following Shadow as he skates through the streets, searching for a darkened corner where nary a beam will be able to find him. It is all he can do when it seems every single military agency wants to throw him in prison for crimes he didn’t commit.
Case in point, Shadow is stopped when a F-6t Spider Troop Big Foot - Ground Air Combat Walker—aka some bullshit G.U.N. created using taxpayer dollars—lands directly in front of his path. Though Shadow cannot see the pilot’s expression, he feels the animosity wafting from their being. And if that wasn’t clear enough, the missiles they’re aiming directly at him make it clear how this organization—or at least, this member of it—feels about him right now.
Shadow squats, putting his fists up. He feels chaos energy churn through his body. He readies himself for a chaos snap to avoid the missiles while getting himself closer to the machine. He can’t hurt the pilot because Maria disapproves of him killing humans, but he at least has to destroy the metal armor this human decided to don as if that could provide him enough power to take on the Ultimate Lifeform.
And then, his gathered chaos energy scatters. He senses a chaos emerald, but also something else—something far… darker and nastier. It is an energy unlike anything he’s ever felt before, yet he knows it’s just as primordial as chaos energy. It’s just as powerful, too, which is what causes him to freeze in place.
His crimson eyes are locked right on the Big Foot—the machine—as it suddenly crashes into the pavement below like a fallen tree. Shadow jerks in surprise. He reaches forward, but he’s too late to stop the machine from being kicked to the side. Luckily, it lands on its side, allowing the pilot to slip out of the shattered glass that once protected them from harm. The human pushes themselves onto their hands and knees with wide, trembling brown eyes that flick between Shadow and—
The ebony hedgehog turns to see what destroyed the machine for him. If he was surprised before, he is frozen in shock now. It’s a hedgehog like him. Except, not really like him, for it has dark purple-black fur and neon markings all across its body. It floats above the ground without any air-shoes to provide an explanation.
The miasmic hedgehog stares at the human. Shadow realizes belatedly that the hedgehog has the same exact eyes as the humans—wide, trembling, brown. And an eerie voice trickles from the hedgehog’s parted lips, “P-please, don’t kill me… I-I don’t want t-to die…”
The human’s panic visibly rises. Their entire body spasms. With an extreme shake of their head, they scramble to their feet and flee far from the scene in front of them. Shadow watches them go. When they’re out of his line of sight, he turns back to the hedgehog who—no longer has eyes like the human. His sclera has gone black, and there’s only a neon green iris in each eye. It is the same color as the marking on his forehead that resembles a third eye with its neon green outline.
“It’s you,” Shadow declares. “The military is mistaking me for you. They think I am the one stealing the chaos emeralds when it’s actually…” Shadow finally sees the purple sphere of wind beside the strange hedgehog. There is a chaos emerald inside of it, gently pulsating with its natural energy. “Give back the emerald, or I’ll take it from you.”
Instead of answering, the miasmic hedgehog spins around. As he flies away, Shadow’s air-shoes activate. He finally strangles his chaos energy back into an acceptable order. With it, he manages to reach a comparable speed to the flying hedgehog. Once they are side by side, he reaches for the wind-captured emerald. Before he can touch anything, there is a gloved paw around his wrist. The miasmic hedgehog spins around and releases Shadow, causing him to crash into a nearby wall while the hedgehog rises higher into the air. The pale moon forms a halo around him, causing him to darken. For a moment, as Shadow pulls himself from the rubble, he feels like he’s standing before an abyss he can never know the depths of.
Silently, the miasmic flies away. Shadow is about to chase after them again when he hears sirens from G.U.N. vehicles.
Dammit.
22:41 - Control Room (Space Colony ARK)
Knuckles the Echidna flicks the brim of his hat to keep it from obscuring his vision when he steps into the control room. He looks around the area for as long as he dares, trying to memorize as many details as possible. This is mostly because he needs to know if there are any potential escapes or weapons should a fight break out, but also because he’s certain that bringing more information to G.U.N. will earn him more artifacts from his people. The Master Emerald isn’t the only artifact he’s trying to bring back to its home on Angel Island, after all.
The echidna stops when the point of a sword is barely an inch from his neck. He turns his attention to one of the most despicable creatures in the entire cosmos. Knuckles lost his people, too, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to conquer another planet to revitalize a long-dead civilization. Grief should not turn someone into the sort of person that would inflict the same harm that happened to them onto others, yet there are many civilizations that crumbled beneath this empire’s weight.
Still, Knuckles is here on a mission. He can put his personal beliefs aside for now to act as a spy, earn as many rewards from G.U.N. as possible, and hopefully, sabotage whatever Dark Oak and that… avatar of Dark Gaia… are trying to do.
“I’m here to help you,” Knuckles declares, nudging the sword away from his neck. Dark Oak permits it, for now, as Knuckles addresses him and the avatar that just apathetically observes him. “You want all the chaos emeralds. I know where they are.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Dark Oak questions.
Knuckles rolls his shoulders. “My people were wiped out, too.” He reaches into the inner pocket of his jacket to pull out the blue chaos emerald. He shows it to Dark Oak and the avatar. “I want revenge on the world.”
Dark Oak considers him carefully. He tilts his helmet just so. The avatar’s eyes rise to look back at him. It nods slightly. It snaps its fingers, causing light to trickle through the vines around its wrists and reflect on the silver band. Before Knuckles can consider that, Dark Gaia’s power fragments into a butterfly-like creature that zips forward at a much faster speed than the genuine animal is able to achieve. Knuckles throws a punch forward, yet the butterfly manages to slip through his defenses to land against his muzzle. It melts down, entering into his flesh.
And suddenly, he knows what the plan is. They are gathering the chaos emeralds to put them in a scientist’s—Professor Pickle—invention. He used the Astroscopic Lenses from the Gaian civilization to create a weapon that could be used if it amplified the power of the chaos emeralds. The avatar of Dark Gaia (another name flits through Knuckles’ mind, brief and unwarranted… Sonic) and Dark Oak want to use this power to destroy the Earth.
Knuckles’ jaw sets. He inhales deeply through his nose, reminding himself that he’s doing all of this for his civilization’s lost artifacts. All he has to do is play along until he can smash these lenses, so he looks up at his two ‘partners.’ “Let’s get these emeralds, then. I’m Knuckles the Echidna.”
11:20 - Prison Island
The sky is blindingly bright. The humidity is suffocatingly thick. Animals screech and feast upon each other within the ugly forest surrounding him on all sides. He looks at the blight humanity built upon the island, maintaining complete awareness of every machine these species consider the pinnacle of warfare when they do not even know the meaning of power. It is sickening and deplorable, so says the many voices howling in his head—a swirling inferno of pure, unadulterated hatred for this planet and everything on it and everything that comes from it and everyone associated with it.
Yet, he cannot give into the voices. Not right now. While he could destroy the planet on his own, it would take longer than it would for him to simply gather the chaos emeralds and activate the weapon the professor designed. It was meant to subdue Dark Gaia, so it is likely pride that convinced the primordial to permit its harbinger to use this method to destroy the planet.
The herald does not know for certain, nor does it have an opinion about this. It is difficult to have one with how many voices are vying for his attention, each one presenting their case for why this specific aspect of the planet is more terrible than all the rest. It all seems so meaningless to him, but the festering darkness is insistent that there is a worst quality, even if that darkness is so at war with itself about what it could possibly be that it has decided to split into multiple voices.
Through the screaming, his awareness of the environment around him picks up on a cackling coming from the communication device the rot bestowed upon him and the lonesome traitor. It is the former one who speaks through the device, “It’s Knuckles.”
Knuckles, yes, that is what it calls itself. The voices collapse inward to scrutinize the traitor with the same intensity it does the entire planet, pointing out flaw after flaw that makes the traitor the worst among the worst of planetary inhabitants. One voice—the herald’s own—speaks of the memories they share with the echidna. They met the previous day in his prison (the Space Colony ARK). Though it is all a lie, the echidna has been working with him and the rot. The echidna… offered him water. And a snack, too. No fear, no anger. A simple question, odd as it was. The voices were quick to collapse into laughter at the echidna’s foolishness, yet the herald thought it was…
“I can’t break through the door. I’m stuck down here with the chaos emerald.”
What a damn fool. A blubbering, stupid fool. One who waltzed onto the ARK as the herald was not already aware he was negotiating with a liar—a traitor. It was given one job, and it fucked it up. At least it brought the bomb down there. The emerald will survive the explosion; the rest of the island and its inhabitants will not. It is a small piece of the destruction Dark Gaia will inflict upon the world. It will remove all barriers between the herald and the emerald they’re looking for. That is the only good that damn echidna will ever do, and—and—
The herald turns away, tilting his head up toward the sky. He will fly away and return after the explosion. He will—
“You need to be prepared before every expedition,” The echidna declared, making sure his jacket and belt were well-stocked. He glanced over at the herald. Without hesitation, he offered a water bottle. “You need something to drink before you go? Or do you need a snack? I have those, too.” The herald said and did nothing, only stared. The echidna shrugged, returning to his own packing without a second thought. The traitor is humorous, the voices crooned, yet the herald thought it was… nice. Yes, nice, like when they were with—with him. When they weren’t the herald… when they were…
“Maybe he is a useless fool,” He whispers with a voice he forgot he had. Slowly, he sinks back onto the ground. As soon as his feet touch the ground, his fur shifts just slightly—rising from dark purple to dark blue. His eyes dim in illumination but they are brighter than before. He turns around, facing the prison he was once held in for over fifty years. And now, he’s going to return to it because… “But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be saved!”
And with that, Sonic runs forward to rescue his friend.
He is stopped by the sudden appearance of that other hedgehog.
“You—!”
A terrible churning of darkness washes over him because of the hedgehog’s anger. With a deep breath, he maintains what little control he’s managed to gain over his condition. He needs to deal with this quickly before he—before Sonic slips right back into the abyss.
11:34 — Vault (Prison Island)
Knuckles relentlessly pounds his fists against the door. Little by little, the reinforced metal is giving way. If he had more time, he could break it, but as it stands, the bomb doesn’t even have a minute left before this entire island goes up in flames and sinks beneath the waves. He’ll go down with it. No one to mourn him, and perhaps too many that would rejoice at this treasure hunter (thief) getting what he deserves.
“Damn it,” Knuckles mutters to himself. As stupid as it is, he can only think that he isn’t finished. There are still so many relics that belong to his people that are scattered all over the world. There are a few with genuine power that are being abused. It was Knuckles’ duty as the last echidna to bring all the pieces of his people back to their home and put everyone to rest.
The echidna looks down at the bomb and the chaos emerald beside it. He reaches for them both. He considers smashing the bomb, but that just might make it explode sooner. As for the chaos emerald… one isn’t enough to activate his true power. But perhaps it could grant him just enough that he could create a shield or—he doesn’t know.
Before Knuckles can come to a decision, he feels a shiver run down his spine. He looks behind him. A second later, the door begins lifting upward. A figure slides underneath the opening, not content to wait for the hatch to open. Knuckles almost doesn’t recognize the herald because of how different he looks. There’s even a new energy around him, confined to the bands around his wrists yet still somehow pushing into him.
The herald nearly stumbles into Knuckles as he rises to his feet. He throws the bomb away from them and sets his paw onto the chaos emerald. With a voice Knuckles didn’t know he had, the herald shouts, “Chaos control!”
In an instant, chaos energy surrounds the two of them. Time and space warps, delivering them to a random hallway in the Space Colony ARK. Knuckles blinks in surprise, reeling from the fact that the herald actually… saved him? Using a chaos ability instead of a power granted by Dark Gaia?
The questions remain, but they are shoved aside when Knuckles hears a cry like someone begging for help. The herald stumbles away from Knuckles. His paws slam over the sides of his head. He drops into a squat, chest pressed against his thighs. One of his eyes is the same as usual, but the other one has white sclera and the green has deepened into a rich emerald color that decidedly isn’t glowing. He’s a tad bluer than before, too, with less miasma clouding him. All the same, he shouts desperately, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
This is an avatar of Dark Gaia—primordial god of destruction, death, rot, and decay. And Knuckles is just someone hunting for treasure from a species that will be extinct when his time is up. He has no prerogative or right to comfort this fragment of darkness and endtimes.
Yet Knuckles strides forward immediately. He kneels beside the herald. He moves his arms around… around Sonic, wasn’t it? He holds him close, setting his cheek on Sonic’s head. Though he doesn’t know what Sonic is begging to be silent, he tries his best to wash it away with his own voice. “It’s okay… I’m here… Just listen to me, Sonic…”
?:?? — Space Colony ARK
“Whoa! Sonic, come look! It’s the Earth!”
A blue hedgehog strides forward to stand beside the two-tailed kit leaning against the glass. Far below them, Earth’s surface is on full display.
“What do you think about it?”
The hedgehog shrugs. “Dark Gaia wants to destroy it?”
The kit’s cheeks puff out. “Nope! I want to know what you think, Sonic!”
The hedgehog laughs under his breath. “I think… It’s blue and green like I am.”
The kit giggles. “You’re right! The blue is the ocean, and the green is the continents. Oh, and you can’t forget about the islands. That’s where mobians live. I’ll show you them one day.”
“I doubt that’s going to happen,” The hedgehog notes. “I wasn’t made for that planet.”
“What does it matter what you were made for?” The kit asks, turning to look up at his companion. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to…”
“You back with me?”
Sonic blinks. The memory fades from his mind. It is replaced by the ever-constant voices. Though, they are quieter than normal, not so intense that he’s battling an eternal migraine. It is just a dull ache now, a pounding made from all the world’s rage and sorrow.
“...what happened?” Sonic asks. His voice feels so uncomfortable in his throat. It’s been over fifty years since he’s talked. Been over fifty years since he’s done anything, really, but it’s his voice that stands out the most to him.
“You rescued me. You used chaos control to teleport us to the ARK.” Sonic lifts his eyes—one neon, one emerald—to the echidna. Knuckles sits at Sonic’s feet, legs stretched out before him. Sonic, on the other hand, leans against the wall with his thighs against his chest. He’s also wearing Knuckles’ jacket, wrapped up in it as if it were a blanket.
Knuckles nods his head to the chaos emerald on the other side of him. Sonic hums, “So, that’s why I feel like this.” Knuckles arches a questioning brow. Sonic curls into a tighter ball, pulling the jacket closer for a warmth he doesn’t need (or deserve). “Creatures of darkness don’t get along well with the light. The emeralds reject existences like mine.”
Knuckles doesn’t seem surprised.
Their moment comes to an end when a door down the hall slides open. Dark Oak marches inside. He gives Sonic and Knuckles a glance, but he walks straight to the chaos emerald. He picks it up off the floor, examining it closely. “We are ready.”
“We only have six emeralds,” Knuckles argues.
“It is enough for a demonstration,” Sonic declares. He rises onto his feet. He throws Knuckles’ jacket off, letting it land back on the echidna’s shoulders. Knuckles isn’t glaring at him, but his expression is heavy. Sonic only smiles at him. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
18:00 — Central City
In this city that once tried capturing him, Shadow stands with the people he’s closest with—Maria and Omega. They watch with bated breath as Dark Oak delivers a message to the whole world. Maria shifts closer, subconsciously moving her wing around Shadow as if she could protect him from the news. She cannot, but he leans into her side, anyway, to provide her with just as much comfort.
Together, with Omega a few steps away, the three of them watch as the Space Colony ARK shifts in orbit. Giant lenses extend from the satellite to form a path directly towards the moon. As Dark Oak’s speech comes to an end, a stream of light extends from the ARK in a myriad of colors. It grows stronger, brighter, and larger as it passes through each lens until it slams right into the moon. In an instant, there is an explosion that shatters the moon, chunks floating away yet remaining close due to a gravitational pull.
While there are many reasons to panic about the situation, Shadow’s mind grasps onto one fact. “That beam was six colors.”
“It’s only missing yellow,” Maria responds, already knowing where he’s going. That beam was every color from the chaos emeralds except for one… the one that they have because Maria won it. That means she’s their target… but it also means they have what the enemy wants.
And they only have 24 hours to prevent the apocalypse.