___________________________
Stephen Zacharus
WRATH OF THE GODDESS
Chapter IV:
"Perspectives"
___________________________
"It's so
quiet," Tails mentally noted to himself as he strolled through Knothole
Village. It was almost disturbing; the silent, forlorn demeanor of nearly
everyone in the village concerned the young fox.
But then again, the
Freedom Fighters *were* being faced with the most challenging struggle that
their Resistance had ever faced: Robotnik's villainous Doomsday Tower imposed
an ever-growing threat of global dominion, several dozen Freedom Fighters had
already been captured, and Sonic and Sally—in their last-ditch effort to thwart
the project—faced a great possibility of never coming back. Whether or not
Sonic and Sally succeeded would result in either the powerful resurgence of the
Freedom Movement... or its ultimate destruction.
Tails paused for
thought; there was nothing to do now but wait, and only the Goddess knew how
the cards would fall. The kit sat down on a tree stump and nudged the ground
with the toe of his shoe. Strange, he thought. His future rested in the hands
of the two people he trusted the most... and yet... there was still a seed of
doubt in his mind. He hated himself for it, but strangely couldn't help
thinking about it.
What if they did
fail...?
Furrowing his brow,
Tails kicked at the dirt some more, trying to understand why he wasn't entirely
sure that his friends would succeed. Perhaps it was because of the magnitude of
their dilemma; sure, Sonic could beat up SWATbots, kick the crap out of Snively
and destroy Robotnik's new factories all in time for lunch... but this
situation was something different. Never before had the Freedom Fighters been
threatened by a force as deadly and indestructible as Project Doomsday. It was
like a nightmare from which there is no escape.
Or maybe, Tails
thought, the germ of doubt was delivered by Sonic himself. His blue pal was so
disappointed with his first attempt at destroying the tower that he'd nearly
given up hope. Tails had never seen Sonic like that before, and it scared him.
Or maybe the young fox
was finally growing up. Tails closed his eyes, shaking his head; whatever the
case, he was guilt-ridden for the lack of faith that he held for his
friends—and it was this gnawing pain that made him wish for the whole thing to
end soon.
Lifting his eyes from
the ground, Tails noticed Uncle Chuck sitting in front of a small campfire.
Eager to talk to someone, the kit joined him shortly.
The roboticized
hedgehog looked up. "Why hello, Tails—what brings you over here?"
"Nuthin',"
Tails said, sitting down. "I'm just kinda lonely, that's all." He
paused for a moment, staring into the dancing flames of the campfire. "It's
just that... everyone is acting different, I guess. They seem so scared about
this Doomsday thing."
Sir Charles smiled
warmly. "Is that what's been bothering you?"
"Well... sort of.
I... I guess that I'm worried about how everything is gonna turn out, too."
Charles looked to the
starry, nighttime sky, causing Tails to do the same. "Well, Tails... all I
know is that there's nobody that Sonic cares for more than his friends—and that
he'd never let any of them down. This time should be no different." He looked
at Tails. "Right?"
Tails nodded; Sir
Charles smiled. "Then there's your answer."
Tails felt himself
smile slightly; those few words seemed to lift a thousand pounds off his chest.
With a small sigh, the kit laid back onto the ground and gazed up into the deep
sky. The night was so peaceful...
That is, until a
massive explosion sounded in the distance.
_________________________
Ivo Robotnik ignored
the falling, burning debris and made straight for his personal hovercraft. On
top of his seething anger towards that cursed hedgehog, something else was
weighing on his mind.
Where the hell was that
damned idiot Snively?
No matter; Robotnik
would have time to deal with that coward later. He pushed the thought out of
his mind as he boarded the hovercraft, focusing on only one agenda: the
hedgehog would have to die.
In a surge of fire that
burned almost as hot as Robonik's fury, the hovercraft launched into the
internal infrastructure of the collapsing Doomsday tower. A burst of white
light indicated the presence of the Freedom Fighters. They streaked down a
nearby hallway; Ivo followed.
"Damn you,
hedgehog. You will not make your escape. If I die, YOU DIE TOO."
He revved the engine,
gaining on the blazing white sphere. With the press of a button, an onslaught
of bullets spewed forth... only to be reflected by the rebels' surrounding
forcefield. Ivo cursed and swerved out of the way, then floored the
acceleration pedal with mad, kamikaze-like determination to smear them with his
hovercraft.
Just then, a chunk of
concrete smashed down directly in front of him, sending the craft veering off
course. From an upside-down perspective, Robonik disgustedly watched as the
Freedom Fighters escaped through the rear exit, the wall and ceiling collapsing
behind them.
His escape-route
sealed, Ivo frantically began to search for another way out; the edifice around
him began to explode violently.
"I hate that
hedgehog..."
The ceiling caught
fire.
"I HATE
him..."
The glistening metal
walls became red hot.
"HATE HIM!!"
The increasing smoke
began to obstruct his vision.
"Hate..."
BOOM.
"Hate..."
BOOM.
"HATE..."
BOOM.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!"
The entire complex
exploded in a fierce chain-reaction. The viscous, blinding holocaust could be
seen for miles.
_________________________
Hands clasped and
surrounded by the radiant energy of Deep Power, Sonic and Sally shot out of the
Doomsday Tower and into the cool night air. Behind them, the mechanical complex
exploded into oblivion, sending shards of twisted steel slicing through the
nighttime void.
When they finally
willed themselves to stop, the duo looked back at their handiwork.
Doomsday was gone. The
once-imposing Tower had been reduced to nothing more than a smoldering field of
blackened rubble. From across the wreckage, Sally could spy a small band of
fellow Freedom Fighters—no doubt those who had escaped from the Doomsday prison
sector before it blew.
"No mushroom
cloud," Sonic noted, relieved. "The explosion was clean—no nuclear
stuff."
And they finally looked
at each other... whereupon they nearly burst out laughing; leftover energy from
the Deep Power Stones tingled through their bodies, causing them to glow a bright
pink.
They smiled broadly at
each other, not quite knowing how to respond to their success.
"YES!!" they finally cheered after a moment of silence, and Sonic and
Sally immediately leapt into the air and high-fived.
A powerful bolt of
energy, caused by their momentary connection, nearly knocked them over.
"Whoa," Sally slurred, a little dazed. "If that happens
when we high-five..." She smiled wickedly. "...I wonder what happens
when we kiss... ?"
Sonic gave her a
mischievous grin. "You'll have to catch me first, Sal!" With that,
the hedgehog blasted into Knothole Forest. "Outta here!"
"Oh, no you
don't!" Sally called after him, laughing. Gathering the surplus energy
that the Power Stones had left behind, she leaped into the air... and found
herself flying.
After an initial moment
of surprise, Sally found this new sensation to be strangely... familiar. She'd
dreamed of this as a child, she remembered; she could fly to wherever her mind
told her, almost instinctively. Like an aerial acrobat, Sally dove into the
valley, speeding after Sonic. "Ready or not, here I come!"
A few seconds later,
Sally caught up with the blue hedgehog and collided with him, and the two
tumbled down a hill into a mossy glen. Laughing, they wrestled with each other
until Sally mercilessly began tickling Sonic's stomach. It was only a matter of
time before Sonic, howling with laughter, was finally tackled to the ground.
"Okay, okay! You
win," Sonic laughed breathlessly. They suddenly looked into each other's
eyes.
"I was hoping
you'd surrender," Sally whispered... just before she drew him into a
passionate embrace.
Their lips met; it was
like electricity. Their eyes snapped open as the leftover Deep Power shot
through their bodies. The woods around them seemed to glow with luminous brilliance.
As their lips parted,
Sally's hand found its rightful place with Sonic's, and she laid her head upon
his chest. Purring softly, the two slowly drifted to sleep.
_________________________
Knuckles the Echidna
paced about the Robotropolis prison cell restlessly. Twenty minutes had elapsed
since that horrific blast and the earthquake that followed... and he still
didn't know what happened! He pounded against the wall, frustrated. This was
surely going to drive him mad; he needed to find a way out of Snively's damned,
claustrophobic "guest quarters," and soon.
The red echidna eyed
the thick, steel door that blocked his escape. He pushed against it—nothing. He
backed up a bit and tried to ram it open—still nothing. Tired, pissed, and on
the verge of a mental breakdown, Knuckles sat down on his makeshift cot to try
to calm himself. Suddenly, he remembered the comlink that Snively gave him.
"Push the button if you need anything," Snively had told him,
"and I'll be here as soon as possible."
Knuckles lifted his
pillow, revealing the small device. He picked it up and shrugged. What the
hell, he decided.
He pushed the button.
Nothing happened.
He looked at the little
thing, puzzled. No ring, buzz, vibration, whistle or otherwise—nothing to
indicate that Snively had received his call. Maybe the pitiful human had turned
his comlink off. Or maybe he was dead. Who the hell knew?
Knuckles threw the
comlink against the wall, muttering vile curses in his native tongue. He looked
once again to the door; if it operated via hydraulics (which it probably did),
there'd be no way to open the blasted thing without entering the access code
from the other side. Unless...
His eyes shifted to the
scattered deck of cards on the floor—his only form of "entertainment"
during the hours of boredom that he spent in this Goddess-forsaken hellhole.
Upon seeing the cards, though, an idea began to form. He picked up a single
card—small, flat, rectangular...
Perfect.
He stepped up to the
door and inserted the card into the tiny, paper-thin crevasse where the door
met the wall. He slid the card down, searching for a pressure-point. Not more
than five seconds later, the door hissed open and a blast of cool air greeted
the echidna for the first time since he arrived at this mess of a city.
Funny, he thought as he
stepped outside of his cramped, stuffy room. All the modern technology in the
world couldn't best the tried-and-true techniques of the ancients. He smiled,
amused, as he thought of leaving Snively in one of *his* restraining devices.
The centuries-old techniques of the Floating Isle provided some of the most
inescapable situations that any pissed-off Guardian could ever dream of
employing.
Ever curious, Knuckles
wandered about to see if he could still see just what in the hell had exploded
so violently... and sure enough, a spire of churning smoke danced in the
distance, where the Doomsday Tower once stood. He wondered about the
circumstances surrounding its destruction...
"Ah, Knuckles—I
see that you let *yourself* out. How convenient."
The echidna's blood
froze temporarily, then thawed as he recognized the origin of the voice. He
turned around. "I came outside to get some fresh air, Snively-Mon..."
He then gestured to the disgustingly polluted sky. "... but I found m'self
somewhat disappointed."
Snively nodded. "I
see... well, I suppose we'll have to make sure to improve the security of those
things; the last thing we want would be to have those pesky little
Freed..." He stopped himself. "Ahem. I mean the *terrorists*. We
certainly wouldn't want them escaping so easily, now would we?"
Knuckles turned and
rolled his eyes. "So what of dis 'Robotnik', mon? Is 'e dead or
what?"
A smile crept onto
Snively's face. "As dead as anyone could hope for, my fine echidna. In the
meantime, however, we have much to do..."
Snively led Knuckles to
the awaiting hovercraft, and they started off for the control sector of
Robotropolis. Knuckles, staring out to the vast, industrial city, began to
consider his current situation... and he didn't like it.
There was something
suspicious about this needle-nosed little man, a flaw in his character that
Knuckles couldn't quite put his finger on. What kind of businessman would ask
for help in destroying his archenemy, then leave his client in a prison cell
and proceed to take care of it himself? It didn't compute. Perhaps Snively
wanted Knuckles for another purpose... but for what? The entire scenario was
disconcerting—from his vulnerable, unguarded ruby on the Floating Isle and the
lack of knowledge as to when he'd return to it all the way down to the
metaphorical fine-print in Snively's requests. It worried him.
Yes, Knuckles decided,
there was definitely something unusual about Snively... something that he couldn't
trust anymore.
___________________________
"Are you ready,
Tails?"
The two-tailed pup
propped up the last of the fireworks and gave a thumbs-up to Rotor. "Ready
when you are!"
A massive crowd of
Freedom Fighters had gathered in the center of Knothole to hear Princess
Sally's victory speech. While they knew that the War had yet to be won, all of
them realized the advantage that this particular achievement signified: the
death of Ivo Robotnik allowed the entity of Eventual Triumph to finally lean in
their favor. There wasn’t a soul in the audience who hadn’t been moved to tears
by the princess' oration. The Freedom Fighters were, at long last, filled with
brimming hope.
The crowd exploded into
cheer and applause upon the conclusion of Sally's speech. Sonic, who stood at
the podium next to her, shuffled his feet slightly. "Well, ol' 'Buttnik
finally bit the dust. Too bad."
Sally raised an
eyebrow. " 'Too bad'? What makes you say that?"
"Well... I mean...
now that the bad guy is gone..." Sonic looked up, perhaps a little
sheepishly. "... what good am I?"
She pulled him close.
"I'll show you."
It was the first time
that they’d ever kissed in public. Somehow, Sonic didn’t really seem to
mind…
At that precise
instant, Tails lit the fuse and let the fireworks rocket into the sky in a
burst of victorious brilliance. "Perfect timing," Rotor chuckled to
himself.
A trace of the leftover
radiant energy from the Power Stones manifested itself around Sonic and Sally
in the form of a pink glow as they held each other tightly.
"Freedom!" the crowd chanted, their voices drowning-out even the
explosion of the fireworks and drifting into the night.
Their lifelong struggle
was almost over.
_________________________
Well... not quite. Not
if Snively had anything to say about it, anyway.
He sat in the
Robotropolis control room, reclining in that ever-so-comfortable green chair of
Robotnik's. "So... Julian finally let the hedgehog defeat him,"
Snively mused. "Pity." A grin of satisfaction crept onto his face.
"Or not!"
He sighed deeply.
"Well, Hedgehog—it's my turn now... and I know I'll do a hell of a
better job than Robotnik had ever dreamed of." He looked to his left;
there sat his new minion—a gullible, simple-minded echidna—who would be his
ultimate ticket to victory.
"I'm not alone,
Hedgehog..."
He was unaware of a
pair of red eyes that watched him from the darkness.
_________________________
"Déjà vu,"
Packbell thought to himself as he slithered through the Robotropolis
ventilation system. What originally began as a prelude to Robotnik's death was
now recycled as an anticipation of Snively's downfall.
With an evil glint in
his eye, Packbell watched the puny, grandeur-delusional human. "The little
son of a bitch thinks he's won. I'll show him otherwise." And easily so;
Snively could be overtaken even before the fool knew what was happening.
A malevolent snicker.
It was of no consequence that Packbell's victory was postponed for a short
while; he was certain that he would have the last laugh. Hell, he only had forever
to accomplish his goal. Those foolish mortals hadn't an inkling of what was in
store.
Soon, he thought, the
wrath of the Goddess would be upon them.
_____________________________
[End, chapter four of
four]