Chapter 46: Dooms Day

Warning: This chapter contains graphic content that may be uncomfortable to read for some readers. Nonetheless I will enjoy the readers tears I accumulate throughout this chapter. Proceed with caution, and happy reading. <3__________________________________

Amy's POV:

Listening to the gentle sound of his heart thumping against his chest, I sigh contently as he runs his fingers through my hair. I never thought I would feel so loved, so... Safe in anyone's arms. But with Shadow, it feels like I'm finally home.

Like nothing could ruin this moment.

But despite that, our communicator watches seem to challenge that thought as they ding in unison.

Glancing to Shadow, his eyebrows are slightly furrowed; As if daring me to get up.

Shooting him an apologetic look as I shift to reach for my watch, he abruptly, but not tightly, grabs me by the waist.

"Don't."

Feeling my heart set aflutter at his pleading voice, his pensive red eyes feel impossible to pull away from.... But it could be an emergency. With a short aggravated huff, he releases me to grab the beeping device.

Squinting as the morning rays hit my eyes perfectly, I lean down to read the message as a sinking feeling begins to grow in my stomach.

Eggman's old army of robots has been activated, Callix must be behind it. I don't have enough battery life on my watch for a call, if this message makes it out in time meet me in town asap to deal with the robots.

Feeling his eyes watching me intently, he's already making his way out of bed as my face drops at the very first sentence.

Shimmying into his pants, I clip my watch to my wrist before plodding quietly across the room to my closet. Bending over to open one of my drawers, I flinch as a sharp sting shoots its way through my lower back.

Rubbing the muscles in an attempt to ease the soreness, I can hear every bit of a grin behind Shadow's voice as he says, "sorry".

...

Sonic's POV:

Quickly ushering the towns folk to evacuate the city with the help of Tails and Sally, my heart is racing as the army of robots begins to draw closer and closer.

Swiveling my head as my ears twitch towards a quiet zip, it's the sound I've come to recognize as Shadow's chaos control.

With Amy in tow, their clothes are haphazardly  thrown on and their quills are messy. Glancing to Tails and Sally, their appearance is just as frazzled; Signaling that they all recognized the urgency of my message.

Without skipping a beat, Amy takes charge and starts hassling the villagers that aren't putting quite enough pep in their step for her liking.

"I know everyone is scared, but please listen to them!" Snapping his head at the soft voice rising above the chaos, panic flashes across Tails' face as he sees Cream amongst the scattered mobians.

Rushing over to her, I keep a keen ear turned towards the conversation incase I need to intervene. This isn't the time or place for another one of their lovers quarrels.

"Cream, you can't be here. You need to leave!" Ignoring his plea as she brushes past him, she says. "you can't tell me what to do" in a pointed tone.

"Please, your mom is going to kill me! It's not safe here!!"

Grabbing her arm and yanking her back to look at him, Cream is trying to pry away from his grasp. "Stop! Let me go, your hurting me Tails!!"

Yanking her again, he yells, "then listen to me!!"

Hissing under my breath as I shoo a lost chao back to its owner, I zip over to them to break up the fight.

Prying his hand off of her, I shove him away. "Enough, go!" Opening his mouth to intervene, I yell "go!! Go be useful!"

Turning to look at Cream, her eyes are welling up with tears. Gently placing my hand on her shoulder, I lean down to her eye level.

"I know you want to help, but it really isn't safe for you here. I need you to protect your mom, okay?" Sniffling, she nods before wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Hide. And hide really well, alright? No matter what, do not come out until I come to tell you that it's over." Moving to stand up, she forcefully throws her arms around me in a tight hug.

"Promise you'll be okay."

Painfully pursing my lips, I know I can't promise her that. But she'll never need to know that.

Squeezing her, I pat her soft head before letting her go. "I promise. Now go, your mom is probably worried sick." Watching her sprint back towards the direction of their burrow, Rouge's shadow casts over me as lands to help evacuate.

With the last of the villagers beginning to filter into the woods towards the bunker we've been preparing, the robots finally break through the tree line.

Looking around at my team, Shadow and Amy's fur bristles at the same time. Watching their eyes widen as they look at each other, I get the faintest twinge at what they're bristling at.

Chaos energy, and a lot of it.

Too much of it.

And... Something else.

"Sonic."

Hearing his deep voice echo in the back of my mind, all the planning, all the preparations... I can't remember any of it. All of the plans I made aren't going to work. We're not ready, we're not--

"Sonic!"

Feeling his firm grasp on my arm, Shadow shakes me from my trance.

"He's here."

Meeting his eyes as the super charged robots begin to make their attack on my team, I realize that we don't have any other choice but to be ready.

"We have the shards, Sonic. Lets use them to our advantage."

Gritting my teeth as I nod, Silver and Blaze still have yet to show up. That's two of our best members unaccounted for. Amy might be able to cover the gap... But Callix has been so many steps ahead of us for so long.

Even if he's stronger, he somehow found a way to activate Eggman's dormant army to even out the playing fields. He's not taking any chances with facing all of us head on.

Feeling my fur stand on end as energy crackles through the air, Amy's eyes are dead set on the pale yellow hedgehog. Listening to the low growl rising from her throat, it's abruptly cut off as Shadow stands in front of her; Cutting off Callix from her view.

With a few unspoken words shared between their gaze, she tightly clenches her fist as Shadow leans down to press her forehead to his.

Relishing in the gesture before pulling away, she gives him a curt nod before he bounds into the edge of the forest; Leaving me to follow after the blur of red and black fur.

...

Shadow's POV:

Zipping through the trees, I can feel the energy of the chaos emeralds I had stored for an emergency coursing through my veins. I feel stronger, faster, lighter. It's no where near the level of a super form, but it'll hopefully be enough to bridge the gap of Callix's powers. With only three emeralds, that feels like wishful thinking at its best.

But despite the additional boost, something still feels off.

Cursing under my breath as I dig my heels into the ground, I come skidding to a stop as I realize that I was right.

"Run... Run! I-I'm sorry, he had Blaze! I didn't have a choice!!"

Flung to the ground in front of us, is Silver. He's a bloodied mess, one of his arms twisted at an unnatural angle and the other clutching at his bruised and bloodied ribs.

Gritting his teeth as he takes a painful look over his shoulder, his voice is ragged and hoarse.

"I help up my end of the deal, you better not have laid a hand on her!!" Rolling his eyes unamused, Callix snaps his fingers as Blaze blinks into thin air. Crumpling to the ground next to her partner, she takes one timeless look at him before fire erupts around the clearing.

Hot enough to incinerate the trees into smoldering dust; Hot enough to make me clutch at my wrist as my communicator watch melts off of it.

The air is unbearably hot, making me cover my eyes to keep them from melting out of my head. But before I do, I catch a glimpse of her eerily calm expression. Her eyes glimmering with a indignation so deep the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. The pale yellow of her feline-like iris has been replaced by the color simmering coals, the temperature of the clearing only growing hotter despite feeling hot enough to melt the fur from my body.

Tightly shutting my eyes, I glimpse the rage of a queen.

...

Sonic's POV:

Struggling to breath through the intensity of the heat, I've been at the receiving end of Blaze's flames... But I've never felt such ferocity from them. Such hatred.

But all it takes is one swipe of his hand to snuff out her fire. All of that power, powers that have only gotten stronger over time... For them to be dismissed with such a lack of effort does not bode well for the rest of us.

Lifting her from the ground by her neck, she angrily thrashes against his grasp.

"I read about you, Blaze the cat. Fallen queen of the Sol dimension; Controller of flames." Reaching out for her, Silver contorts in pain as blood spurts from his mouth. Coughing on the scarlet liquid, he yells "stop!! I gave you what you wanted, get your filthy hands off of her!"

Glancing between Blaze struggling against his grip and Silver's desperate gaze, he lets out a short huff before dropping her.

"I read that you fled from your throne under the pressure, leaving your world in chaos and your widowed mother to pick up the pieces." Watching her hic and gasp for air, she crawls towards her battered partner before cushioning his head against her thigh. "The two of you don't belong here. But... If it wasn't for your presence in this dimension, you wouldn't have been able to lead me to this."

Staring in disbelief at the magenta colored jewel wrapped in dark stripes, tears well up in Blaze's eyes as she stares down at Silver.

"Silver....no.."

Weakly reaching up to caress her cheek, he quietly says, "he was going to take you from me. I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry".

...

Shadow's POV:

Staring at the phantom ruby, it's a testament to say we've all but lost before the battle has even begun.

Callix has had months with all of Robotnik's texts. Years and years worth of entries from every battle we've ever fought. Detailed descriptions of all of our abilities and weaknesses.

Diss advantages that even knowing about, he could never stop us. But in a matter of months Callix has done what Robotnik was never able to do.

He outsmarted us.

He out-maneuvered us.

And he's gained the ultimate upper hand because of it.

"I will admit that dimension hopping is such a delicate matter, one in which you were ever so careful of to preserve the timeline" he says, looking down on Silver.

Before I had joined sides with Sonic, before Rose; I would have beat Silver the rest of the way had he unearthed such a clean slide to checkmate every single one of us.

But now... I would gladly watch the rest of the world wither away and die if it meant Amelia got to thrive. I would make the same choice Silver made one hundred times over, no matter the dimension. No matter the cost.

"And while I am a hedgehog of my word, I'm afraid that letting any of you live to oppose my new world order is the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish."

Flashing out of existence and then reappearing in front of Blaze, neither I nor Sonic can move fast enough to stop him from plunging his hand through her chest.

Wincing at the squelch of his fist squeezing her heart, the sound of bones snapping and muscles tearing ring through my ears as he rips the organ out of her chest.

Silver's face contorts wildly as he watches the purple cat fall lifelessly to the floor in front of him, his body shaking as he stares down at the cavern that housed her heart mere seconds ago.

Turning my head from the gruesome scene of her ribs splayed from the contorted muscles, I can feel Sonic vibrating beside me.

Kneeling to the ground, his blue fur blurs together before launching himself at Callix; Leaving a small crater in the ground from which he leapt.

Shaking the leaves from the trees as they collide, Silver is staring blankly at his lovers mangled body in shock.

With the illusion of that being my rose flashing through the back of my mind, I snap back to reality of the fight unfolding before me.

Sonic is moving faster than I've ever seem him move before, and as they approach each other to collide again; Sonic phases through Callix.

Taking advantage of Callix being launched forwards thinking Sonic was going to brace the impact, I open a chaos control portal to the very bottom of Azure Lake.

Staring at Sonic as the portal blips out of existence, there's an eerie moment of silence that passes through the clearing as I wait for him to realize what I've done.

I want him to drown in the deepest depths of that lake. I want him to feel the air squeezing at his lungs as he runs out of it. I want him to feel every agonizing moment of the water being sucked down his wind pipe.

But that would be wishful thinking.

Sensing the energy before he reappears, his shoes squelch against the ground as his sodden fur drips into the dirt...

And every fibre of chaos energy coursing through my body tenses as anger clouds his expression.

"You shouldn't have done that."

Blinking as grey fur rains down around the clearing, I'm sprayed with a mist of blood.

"He could have died much more peacefully, Shadow."

Slowly shifting my eyes to Blaze's crumpled body, hardened spikes of sol energy are protruding from a mangled mass of grey fur and skin.

Rising above the sound of the blood pounding in my ears, Sonic's voice is crackling with rage.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

Charging at Callix, he retorts, "I'm not the son of anything. I was made from a clump of cells in a test tube".

Watching the blur of blue and gold fur clash, even at his fastest... It's not enough.

Clutching at the shards of the master emerald in my pocket, they're useless to Sonic now. With the phantom ruby in tow, it counteracts every ability of the master emerald. The last time it was present in Mobius its existence was enough to make Angel Island fall from the sky.

Hearing the impact of Sonic hit the ground, he looks at me frantically as he begins to get to his feet.

"Go! Go protect the others, I'll handle this!"

Ripping my eyes away from the already battered hedgehog, we both know that's a lie.

But Rose...

I have to get to her.

I have to protect her.

Sprinting through the trees, I skid to a screeching halt as I stumble into the village.

Tails is desperately cradling the small rabbit, the fur around her head matted with dried blood. The robots must have found her trying to run back to her burrow.

Rouge is in shock, Knuckles smoothing his hand over her head as he averts her gaze from the missing wing that was ripped out her. Trying to stop the steady trickle of blood oozing from the exposed bone and torn ligaments, he's surrounded by robots.

Sally is swaying on her feet, bloodied and bruised and barely able to block the attacks that are coming from every direction.

And Rose... Her body is shuddering at every ounce of sol energy that she pulls out. Robots are littered all around them, a testament to the sheer power that she unleashed upon them. The air is staticky, remnants of her energy still crackling through the air.

Letting out a guttural heave, pale pink light wavers into a faint outline of another hammer before fading back into nothing.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, I lean down to look into her crazed expression. Violently shaking under my touch I reach for her face before her head has time to snap in the direction of Sally's screams.

"We need to leave."

Barely forming the words, she mutters a broken sentence as she looks at all of her fallen friends. Heaving a forceful sob, the sound of her hoarse ululating twists at my heart in agony.

"I know, love. But we have to leave, please. We need to--" watching her eyes roll back, the sound of flesh separating from bone splinters as her body falls limp in my arms.

All of the voices in my head go silent all at once, dropping to my knees as I stare down at her body.

Tossing her spine aside, the mass of muscle and cartilage gives a wet plop as it hits the ground.

"I should have done that ages ago. Don't you think, Shadow?"

No....

No.

Please no.

...

Sonic's POV:

Staring desperately at Shadow, I watch tears crowd his waterline before spilling down his cheeks.

"Someone must not be having a very nice dream. I will say this little gem is quite... Well, a gem."

The phantom ruby... Callix touched him with it and I didn't even see it. I'm the fastest thing alive and he was too quick for me to catch the movement. That means... He's faster than me. And on top of that, he's gotten his hands on one of the most powerful gems in all of the dimensions.

With one of its powers being to create illusions, Shadow must be living out his own reality within the dimension of the ruby.

And one if its other powers being... That it nullifies the master emerald.

The shards that we gathered are useless.

"I do believe it's your move, Hero of Mobius."

Gritting my teeth at the condescending tone hidden behind his voice, I have no more moves left to make.

I have no idea how my friends are fairing against the strongest robots they've ever faced, and the hedgehog that was meant to help me beat the odds is now living out his own personal hell inside of the phantom ruby.

... But I have to end this. He'll destroy everything, everyone. He'll stop at nothing to see his vision fulfilled.

...

Amy's POV:

Plunging my fist into the heart of the robot, I rip through it's wiring trying to find the source of what's fueling all of these robots. I thought what I sensed earlier was chaos energy, then I thought it was sol energy. But Callix would never pour so much of his power into this many robots and risk losing the upper hand.

Sifting through the scrap metal, the detonator bulb inside every single one of Eggman's robots is lifeless. The light has always flashed red, indicating that there was a source nearby that Eggman built to power all of his robots.

But the bulb isn't lit.

Shuddering as another robot sends a pulsating beam through the air, it finally clicks as to where I've felt this energy before.

And if I'm right, I've figured out how Callix raised all of these robots from their permanent retirement. And that means Sonic and Shadow are in even deeper trouble than we already thought.

"Sally! We need to go help Sonic!"

Holding out my hand, pale pink energy forms in my palm before I chuck it at the robot Sally is trying to take down. Shooting me a grateful expression, I exchange a glance with the rest of the team.

"I think Callix has the phantom ruby."