[Fanfiction] The End (Finished)

[123654]

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Knuckles pushed himself onto his left hand and knees as he recovered after the wave of water had washed over the area and caused him to lose his footing. He raised his head, coughing and spitting water out, and groaned irately because of his fur being drenched. He scanned the environment and saw dummies splayed out all over the ground, then whipped his head around when he saw Tails and Rouge, struggling to their feet. Slowly standing up, he hissed in fury and glared at the two of them.

"So... you really did release my prisoners, you filthy vermin. My souls..." he snarled, looking at the glowing orbs of white light that rose from the soaked ground and freely darted around through the air.

Coughing, Tails narrowed his eyes at the possessed echidna, saying "Yeah, we did. And it was easy as pie. You're not as strong as you say you are. Just as weak as every other monster of the week we've had to fight."

"You're through now," Rouge said.

"It would appear that victory is now ours," SA-55 chimed.

Tilting his head back, Knuckles let out a loud cackle, then said "Are you serious?! You've set the souls of the world free. So what? Now you're here in my firing range. I'll kill you all with ease and merely reseal the spirits back the way they were. It'll be like you never did anything. Besides," he said, stepping forward, "even if the souls are free, they can't return to their bodies as long as my spell encases the planet. They'll still just float around aimlessly. Proud of yourselves?"

"Can't kill us as long as Sonic's got Light Gaia's collar!" Tails barked, prompting another laugh from Knuckles.

"Oh, catch up, little boy. Look, over there. There is the hedgehog," he said, pointing over to Sonic, who was still lying weakly on the ground with only one functional leg. "He let his guard down and I took Light Gaia's collar from his wrist. Now he's just as vulnerable as the rest of you."

Tails glanced around until he saw the bracelet entrapped in a red force field on the ground. He scowled at the realization that now they were all in even worse danger than they were before. He took a step back, hugging SA-55 close and gritting his teeth.

"Well, my little friends, it's been real. But I'm getting sick of this little game and I'm sick of seeing your f--..." he trailed off as the red glow in his eyes began flickering. "N-... no... I'm losing my powers again."

"Hmph. Not so high and mighty now, are ya, sugar?" Rouge scoffed, sneering.

"Heh heh heh. No. You've pushed me to my limit. But I'm not going to let you get the best of me this time," he said, looking down at his palm. "Ah, what a shame. And this was such a good vessel, too. But it's not worth keeping now. I'm afraid I'll need something a little more surly to eradicate you fools. Now... rise."

He raised his arm, causing the dummies that laid on the ground to shakily get on their feet. They hissed eerily and gaped their toothy jaws as their sigils glowed brightly.

The legion of dolls, one-by-one, began piling on top of each other. Rouge, Tails and SA-55 winced at the sight of their squirming bodies clotting together. Knuckles smiled widely, baring his teeth and widening his eyes.

"Ha ha ha... yep. I seem to need a new body. This really is the end now. I'll crush you. All of you," he growled, walking toward the mass of creatures and laying his hand on them.

Red energy surged from Knuckles' body into the writhing pile of dummies. He groaned dully as the death energy finally left him. When the power had been fully transferred, the echidna fell weakly to his knees.

The malleable wad of artificial bodies sculpted and morphed itself, congealing into a giant humanoid shape. Rouge cupped her hands over her mouth, and Tails' pupils dilated. The giant creature towered over them, letting out a low growl. It was grotesque and twisted in form, with the heads of all the individual dummies sticking from the surface of its wax-like "flesh" like pimples. The creature's head was shaped like a fleshless skull with the arms and legs of the dummies jutting from its mouth.

"Knuckles, wake up! C'mon, help us!" Tails said, frantically nudging Knuckles' side as the creature loomed over them, but only getting several pained groans in response.

"This body feels no pain..." the giant said in a low, rumbling voice. "I will use this to further destroy more worlds and bring about a perfect Armageddon for the rest of the universe..."

"You really are a demon!" Rouge barked, taking several steps back. "You're crazy!"

"I... can do no wrong... because I don't know what that is..." it growled.

She jumped to the side as the creature fired a beam of energy from its mouth. It swiped its white, plastic limbs at her, missing as she darted away from its grasp. It gave a low, beastly growl as it slowly trudged toward her, firing more energy.

"Knuckles, hurry! I'm scared! Wake up, please!" Tails yelled, putting SA-55 down beside him and shaking the echidna wildly as the monster stepped over their heads.

"Ugh... uh... T-Tails... you're all right...?" Knuckles groaned, slowly opening his eyes.

"Yeah! C'mon, get up! That monster is gonna kill us!" he yelled, pulling Knuckles to his feet.

"Th-... thanks. I didn't think you all could survive that long."

The giant creature looked down at them and hissed, preparing to throw a bolt of energy out of its mouth. Tails grabbed Knuckles' torso and lifted him into the air, dodging the blast of power. While the monster's attention was occupied, Rouge threw several of her bat bombs at it, which exploded on impact, causing the creature to snarl and lash its arms at her.

Sonic dragged himself along the ground, trying to get out of the beast's range. He knew the demon was nearing its rest period, so he'd have to get close to his bracelet when the force field disappeared. However, he was scared it was probably too far away for him, in his crippled state, to reach it before the creature's energy fully recharged.

"Ugh... wh-where the heck... is that Eggman?" he groaned to himself.

The giant's body lost the glow of its sigils as the demon's rest period came. Rouge smirked, throwing more bombs at its waxy hide. The creature roared and grabbed her with its spindly arms, opening its mouth and preparing to eat her before Tails attacked its head from the air with his dummy rings bombs, trying his best to hold onto both Knuckles and SA-55 with one arm while using the other to throw. The monster stumbled back and dropped Rouge on the ground.

"You... you all forced the demon out of my body..." Knuckles struggled.

"Yeah, now we don't have to hold back since it's using this big mannequin form," Tails said, throwing more bombs at the beast.

"How annoying that sound is..." the creature hissed, swiping at Tails, knocking him, SA-55 and Knuckles out of the sky. "You little fools... thought you could prevent the end of the world. But look... even during this powered-down state... my sheer brute force is enough to overcome you. The world was never of any value... more worlds can be made... and more can be destroyed. Nothing exists but empty space... and you... and you are nothing... nothing but a thought... you cannot hope to defeat pure evil."

The creature picked up a boulder and dropped it down to crush them, but they were narrowly able to roll out of the way before it struck. The giant mannequin growled and whined, reaching down to whip its long arms at them.

"Even the powers of Light Gaia are no match for--... where... where is the collar of Light Gaia...?" the beast hissed, twisting its head to check the area, seeing that the collar was gone.

"Looking for this?!" the creature heard a voice bark, followed by the same whistling sound as Eggman's missile from before.

The projectile exploded when it hit the monster's hide, blowing several dummies off of its body, which landed as disfigured chunks on the ground. With Cheese and Dark Chaos, Eggman stood on the ground clutching his rocket launcher, with a smug grin on his face, and he wore Light Gaia's collar on his wrist. The beast growled, slowly trudging toward the doctor and preparing to strike.

"Even magic is no match for technology, you foolish creature! For I, Ivo Robotnik, have arrived to save this world and all that live on it! And since I wear Light Gaia's bracelet, I'll be protected from your powers even if they recharge before I'm able to defeat you! Oh ho ho ho ho!" he chortled, followed by a "Choa!" and a "Chao!"

"You humans are worthless, disgusting creatures..." the monster snarled before being hit with another missile, blowing more parts from its body. "Get away..."

"By leaving Knuckles' body, you've exposed your greatest weakness!" Eggman yelled, shooting another missile. "Knuckles! Get on your feet and help me!"

Knuckles, lying on the ground next to Tails and SA-55, looked up weakly, groaning "Egg-... Egg-... man...?"

"While his death energy is in its recharging state, the Chaos Emeralds should briefly give off their normal chaos energy! Do something before his powers charge up again!"

Knuckles suddenly remembered that Shadow had been able to activate Chaos Control during the inactivity of the red energy. He wondered, could he use Chaos Control to get rid of the demon and restore the world? He'd never used Chaos Control before; as far as he knew, the only ones who could naturally use it were Sonic and Shadow, and Sonic wasn't in any condition to put up a fight at all. He couldn't even stand on his own.

Struggling to his feet, Knuckles grabbed his sides and winced in pain before hearing Tikal's voice once again echo in his head, saying "As guardian, Chaos Control will come naturally to you."

"Ugh... I'm not sure... I've never done it b--"

"That matters not. Your soul is bound to the Master Emerald and, by extension, the Chaos Emeralds. It is your job as the user to control them. Take your rightful place in history now and seal the evil away forever! This is the way we save the world. Hope was never lost."

"... I'll try... before he gets his energy back and wipes us all out..."

"I am glad to see your faith never truly died. Now defeat the devil that has tried to end the world and restore order and life!"

Eggman continued firing his cannon at the beast, swiftly dodging its swipes and lunges. It growled in frustration at his ability to evade its onslaught of attacks nearly as well as Sonic had.

Knuckles looked at the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald that spiraled around the creature's grotesque form. His eyes widened when he noticed their appearance.

"S-... so that's it... that's the answer. When his powers have been depleted, the Chaos Emeralds return to their original colors until he's able to recharge. So... right, now's my window of opportunity to take him out forever."

The beast moaned as Eggman blew piece after piece of its body away. It made several more vain attempts to attack him with its arms and jaws, but his reflexes were nearly as fast as Sonic's. The doctor fired several shots at the monster's legs, causing it to double over on the ground and groan lowly.

"The beast is weakened! Now, Guardian, let us finish this together!" Tikal's voice chimed.

Mustering all the energy he had left, Knuckles charged the emeralds that floated above the creature's misshapen body. He trampled on the monster, jumping up toward the Master Emerald and laying his hand on it as the beast moaned. The emerald gave off a green light and Knuckles' red fur began to glow a pastel shade of pink, sparkling with chaos energy.

"Seven chaos... now is the time!" he shouted. "The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos. Master Emerald, I pray in your name, seal this devil away in some other world, so that the Earth will at last be safe from its evil."

The creature writhed and shrieked, screaming "No! I won't let you... I won't let you entrap me again! My world is perfect... you won't destroy my world..."

"Demon... I'm afraid this is the end of the world. For you, at least. If you think your world is so perfect, just remember the law of entropy. All good things come to an end, right? Your little world is no different," Knuckles chuckled as the creature's body was enveloped in a bright, white light.

"No..." it whispered. "The prophecy cannot be undone. It was ensured that the galactic alignment of the solstice would end the world... how... how is this happening?"

"Looks like your preparations for this day were all in vain, monster. It was inevitable."

The emeralds glimmered as they again gave off a high, whining noise. The white light that surrounded the creature grew brighter, illuminating the entire area in a bright, blinding flash.

When the light cleared, the monster had completely vanished. The Chaos Emeralds floated back down to the ground, sparkling with their normal luster. Knuckles, still glowing pink, grabbed the Master Emerald again and lowered his head.

"Now, Master Emerald... change the planet Earth back to the way it was. Undo the damage the devil caused and let the souls return to their bodies."

Tails, Rouge and SA-55 raised their heads and looked at Knuckles from where they were. Rouge gasped in shock when she saw Knuckles' bizarre pink aura, and noticed that he'd apparently been healed of all his injuries.

"Wh-... what's going on here? Why's Knuckles glowing like that?"

"I... I think he managed to tap into the powers of the Chaos Emeralds before the demon was able to recharge. That's... his super form."

"Weird... n-not often I see him using the emeralds' powers."

"And it appears the monster has vanished by Chaos Control. How cheap," SA-55 groaned in his metallic voice.

The emeralds glowed white, and the glow grew and encased the island, extending across the ocean and reaching other islands and continents. The life force which Tails and Rouge had freed from the soul stream refilled the organisms from which it was sapped, bringing life back to every creature in the world.

In almost an instant, the entire ecosystem of the Earth was restored, and the atmosphere lost its red hue, regaining its original bluish color.

When the light dimmed, Knuckles' fur lost its pink glow and returned to the usual red. He checked the area and saw that everything had been set back to the way it was with the power of Chaos Control.

"Ugh... what... wait, what just happened?" Sonic groaned, pushing himself off the ground after the life had reentered his leg. "Kn-... Knuckles? Did you..."

"Knuckles has restored the planet. The so-called 'end' has finally been undone," Eggman proclaimed, followed again by a "Choa!" and a "Chao!"

"Sonic! Oh my gosh, Sonic!" Amy squealed as she jumped on her 'boyfriend' from behind. "I was so scared, Sonic! I thought I was finished!"

"Amy... y-you're alive again..." Sonic said, smiling and grabbing her hand. "I'm glad to see everyone's all right. So... the sigils are gone and everything now? Wh-what did Knux do?"

"I activated Chaos Control and sealed the demon into another universe. Hopefully one that's uninhabited. And... thanks to Tails and Rouge, the souls of the world were released, so now... everything's back to normal."

"And Knuckles! What happened to 'it was too late,' and 'it was inevitable,' huh? Everything's fine now, see?" Amy giggled, hugging the echidna and kissing him on the cheek.

"I guess I was wrong about all those things. Maybe you were all right after all. In times of need, the Chaos Emeralds always save us all. No matter how bleak things look... they have the unlimited power to bring order back. I sorta feel bad that I didn't see that sooner..."

"We told you we wouldn't let anything happen to you or the world, Knuckles. See how everything turned out? Now you can make more of those memories you told us about before you... you know..." Sonic said, smiling and putting his hand on Knuckles' shoulder.

"Heh, yeah... I... never doubted any of you."

"Yeah, right," Amy scoffed, slapping him on the back.

Edited April 26, 2009 by AXB

[123654]

The End of the End

"Since the demon left my body and possessed those dummies, I was able to use my link to the Master Emerald to induce Chaos Control and seal it in another dimension. It won't be coming back, ever," Knuckles sighed in relief, standing on the alter of the Master Emerald with Rouge and Amy.

"Y'know, Shadow's pretty ticked that you beat him so easily. Says he wants a rematch with you if you ever have time," Rouge said with a smile.

"Heh, nah, I don't have time for stuff like that. I need a break after all this. I'm just glad I was able to help you all set everything right again. The Master Emerald heard my prayers while the demon was weak, so saving the world was ultimately..."

"... What?" Amy asked, puzzled.

"Nothing, it's just kinda ironic. I go on and on about how it's impossible to stop the end of the world, and then I go and restore everything with something so simple as Chaos Control. I guess I'm a little weirded out that... it was so easy for me to undo the 'end'. If it was that easy, what was stopping me from keeping it from happening in the first place?"

"I asked ol' Eggman about it... you wouldn't have been able to stop the demon before the solstice, because of the seal that was put on the death energy. After the world 'ended', the seal was broken and the energy had a looser tie to the emeralds. That's why it was so easy for you to seal the demon in another dimension," Rouge said.

"I guess. I'm just glad... I thought it was really over for us. For the first time ever I was just so scared... I was so scared. The apocalypse was coming and there was nothing, as far as I knew, that could be done... but... maybe my people really were smart in naming a guardian for the emeralds. The death energy would've been completely uncontrollable otherwise."

He slowly turned around and shook both their hands. They shot him confused looks, causing him to blush a little. He shyly rubbed the back of his head and cleared his throat.

"Anyway... thanks for saving me. All of you... you guys are really something. Even with the entire ecosystem of the planet dead, you all found a way to persevere. I'm always gonna appreciate what you did."

Rouge smiled and hugged him, then said "Aw, shut up, Knuckie. We're just glad to have you and... everything else back." Flapping her wings, she took off into the air, calling "See you two later. I've gotta go report to the Commander. Some other time, sweethearts."

Amy stood there with Knuckles for a few minutes after the bat left, shuffling her feet and twiddling her thumbs. After a while of awkward silence, she chuckled and said "Uh... um... thanks, Knuckles."

"For what?"

"For just being nice to me. I can't thank you enough for taking me out last week. It was fun... even if you did leave me to pay, hee hee."

"Don't worry about it. It was fun for me too," he chuckled.

"Well... I'm going to go see what Sonic and Tails are up to. Talk to you later!" she said, running off and waving goodbye.

"See ya," he said before sitting down next to the Master Emerald.

The spiritual form of Tikal appeared again before him. She smiled playfully, holding her hand to her chin and giggling.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm just laughing at the irony. You thought my words were wrong, and that the world was doomed to destruction. But look, everything's been restored. You truly are a great guardian of this island."

"Thanks... I guess the demon wasn't any more powerful than anything else we've faced."

"Of course not. Knuckles... you and your friends have overcome alleged 'destiny' and 'fate' so many times in the past. Did you really think this would be any different? The Chaos Emeralds wouldn't allow the world to end... they acted through you to restore order and heal the planet. Such was their will."

"I still wanna know about that cult that made the demon... it said they were satanists or something."

"Indeed, they planned to create the very incarnation of evil, and they succeeded. I know little about them, but their ancient conspiracy has been foiled. Their prophecy is null and void, and the evil has been vanquished," she chimed.

"Heh. Yeah. What was it you said back when Chaos destroyed Station Square? 'The fighting's over, harmony's restored and life goes on,' right?"

"Mmhmm. And I say the same thing now. By defeating the evil, you created this new world all on your own the other day. So not only are you a guardian, but a creator. You really did make history, but not the way the demon spoke. Knuckles... I want you to remember forever that... there is no such thing as an end. Everything cycles endlessly. Destruction and rebirth is the way of the world. The demon brought destruction... and you brought rebirth by recreating the world in destruction's wake."

She faded away, cheerfully waving goodbye. Knuckles smiled and looked back at the Master Emerald. He was glad that things had turned out the way they did.

Now that the 'end' turned out to be a new beginning, he planned on spending more time with Sonic and Tails, his friends, instead of spending his life on the island. His previous experience had taught him that the emerald didn't need his constant attention.

The sun shone brightly in the sky; there had been no 'final sunset'. Everything had started anew. Knuckles decided that no matter how bad things got, he wouldn't let misfortunes ruin his hope. Bad things happen in the world, he thought, but there is always time afterward to smile and enjoy life. The world would never be exactly what he wanted or expected, but he realized that no matter how hopeless things seemed, there would always be a way out. A way to make things right again.

"They were right... it's not too late. It's never too late."

The Beginning

Edited April 25, 2009 by AXB

[Saint Nathan]

You know, for a fanfic, that was incredibly good. You deserve your props man, this was great. The fighting parts seemed quick, but I could understnad if you just didn't want to make 'em huge. XD

Nice work man, I look forward to more in the future.

[Nast]

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