Chaos Within

[Chadin]

[What'd you have in mind?]

[Dr. Robotnik]

[Starting up this topic again, now that the player characters are closer.]

Briefly, Robotnik looked on in horror as Mammoth started to raise the box. But it didn't take long for the fear to melt away into raw rage. That box represented far too many losses and troubles for it to simply be taken away by some nobody he'd never heard of.

"No you don't! Those shards are MINE!"

He raised up one of his robot's giant fists. But this time, instead of punching, he pressed a special red button on the robot's joystick. A rocket ignited on the back of the arm, sending the fist flying directly at Mammoth. And once the projectile was away, Robotnik charged over in a hurry directly behind it.

[Mammoth Mogul]

With Mogul's attention on levitating the chest of emerald shards over to him, he couldn't hope to react fast enough to block or duck Robotnik's rocket fist. Unfortunately, while Robotnik would gain the tremendous satisfaction of landing his first real hit on Mogul since their little duel began, by the time Robotnik fired off his rocket, Mogul already had his hands on the precious cargo. The fist struck with the force of a freight train, sending Mogul, and the box of emerald shards crashing through the lab's outer wall and out into the open sky beyond.

"AURGGGHHH!!!!" Bellowed Mogul as he plummeted towards the ground, while simultaneously watching as the box to which he'd worked so hard to acquire slipped from his grasp and fell towards the ground alongside him. Much as he wanted those emeralds, he'd have to save himself first. He could only hope that the box might stay intact on impact and spare him the trouble of finding them should it break and scatter the shards across the city streets. Thus, with deep regret, Mogul used his chaos powers to levitate himself, or at least, slow his decent.

With the momentary danger passed, Mogul swore under his breath, demanding blood upon Doctor Robotnik and his mechanized toy. No one, but no one sucker punches Mammoth Mogul without paying a dire price. Now, Robotnik sat squarely atop his already prominent '****' list; though, Mogul would never call it such out loud. Such vulgar language.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik felt briefly satisfied for finally getting an actual hit on his opponent. At least, until Mammoth went flying out through the wall, taking the box with him.

"NO!" he cried out, leaping through the hole after Mammoth without hesitation.

He could NOT let those shards get away under any circumstances. As gravity took hold, Robotnik's body briefly levitated off of his seat in free fall. Calmly, the doctor pressed a few buttons. The machine's hover jets engaged again, slowing his fall. As he waited to reach the ground, the doctor put in a frantic radio call.

"Attention all SWATbots-- ah...EVERYONE! Converge on the street in front of the Egg Command Tower! We have an intruder! Large mammoth Mobian! Don't bother trying to capture this time, just shoot to kill!"

Meanwhile, the box smashed into a million pieces as it hit the concrete. The shards spilled out across the asphalt, mixing in with the container's fragments.

In time with the shards being exposed to the open air, a loud chorus of unearthly shrieks and screams echoed throughout the city. Even over the sound of his loud hover jets, Robotnik could hear them. His blood briefly ran icily cold as he felt a chill run down the back of his spine. It was also just then that he noticed the strange clouds gathered over the city, not to mention the lightning bolts striking the tops of towers everywhere with surprising regularity. This certainly wasn't a natural storm if lightning struck down from the sky that much.

As he looked downwards, he immediately saw something wrong. Normally, the street in front of his command center was by far the most secure street in the city. He had floodlamps keeping it lit up 24/7, not to mention dozens if not hundreds of SWATbots and armor on patrol through here. The street should have been bustling with activity.

But instead, he found himself descending into silent, inky blackness. Every single light in the whole area was extinguished, and he could not hear any activity whatsoever in the darkness.

The doctor pressed some buttons, and headlamps ignited on the front of the mecha. As he landed, he scanned the area for activity, but saw there wasn't going to be any.

My SWATbots...they're all down.

Every single SWATbot he saw was offline. They laid face down on the street. The ones manning the security checkpoints slumped over the walls and their fixed laser cannons. Giant holes and slash marks could be seen on all of them.

Suddenly, finding Mammoth or the shards didn't seem that important. The doctor felt a primal fear for his own life. This very rarely happened to him, because he usually either had his army backing him up or his ego blinded him to the fear. He simply stood in one place, swinging the lights around and trying to spot what had silenced all of his security.

[Mammoth Mogul]

Mammoth too began to notice the strange weather and the eery shrieks that seemed to fill the city. But more than that, Mammoth's finely tuned chaos senses could feel the air positively alive with chaotic energies. Something... something very wrong was happening.

A conclusion made all the more apparent once he touched down. Disabled Swat-bot's littered the street. Mammoth knew for a fact that he did not do this. He'd infiltrated Robotnik's base using his own guile, not brute force.

Nevertheless, Mogul quickly forgot about the mysterious demise of the Swat-bot forces when his eye caught the glimmering sparkle of a nearby emerald shard. Regardless of whatever else might be going on here, he could still collect at least some of his prize and be gone. But he must be careful, lest he fall prey to the same fate as the Swat-bots.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Before Mammoth would be able to reach the shard though, he would see glowing pinpricks of light in the darkness. An alert eye would notice these colors mimicked the colors of the Chaos Emeralds. The shadow creatures approached quickly.

The hisses, snarls, and screams continued to get louder. As they got closer, Mammoth would notice that the shadow creatures did not use one form, but many of them. Some flew through the air with wings like birds or bats. Others slithered along the ground like snakes. A particularly large one plodded along the ground like a gorilla, with its oversized fists and feet making a thumping sound on the pavement.

In any case, one of the faster flying creatures managed to reach the shard box before the others. It quickly gulped down a shard matching its color, like a bird eating seed. And with that done, it took off from the ground. However, as it did so the creature started to transform. The creature's formerly 1 meter wingspan quickly swelled to 3 meters within seconds, as its shrieking cry took on a deeper, more sinister growl. Clawed hands grew out of the wings, and a spiked tail grew out of its back.

It didn't attack Mammoth, but rather hovered between him and the shards.

Robotnik whirled around at the sound of its growls, bringing his lights to bear on the creature. But instead of attacking, he let out a long, high scream of his own. He NEVER expected to see something like this so deep inside his own city.

"BACKUP! BACKUP! ANYONE OUT THERE, GET TO THE STREET BY THE COMMAND CENTER RIGHT NOW! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

And while this was happening, other creatures were incoming towards the shards.

[Mammoth Mogul]

"What is this?!" Mogul contemplated as he saw the strange, ethereal creatures emerge from the shadows.

As the one devoured the shard, Mammoth came to a startled realization. Being an expert of sorts with the Chaos Emeralds, he knew the emeralds possess remarkable abilities, many of which unknown. But Mammoth could easily put the pieces of the puzzle together when given the evidence. "Aahhh, I see. Lacking a physical presence, the chaos energy has amalgamated into a new form. But you are not yet whole, are you? He mused, stepping towards the bird like creature as if he were approaching a homeless puppy, trying to coax it to come home with him.

"But, you need more. The rest of the shards. I can make it such. And together we can rewrite this patchwork existence into a glorious new world!"

[Dr. Robotnik]

The shadow bird observed curiously as Mammoth moved closer, beating its wings to keep itself at a hover. It cocked its head to the sides, looking Mogul up and down. It looked like it really could understand him as it simply watched him.

However, it began hissing as Mammoth took another step forward. This became a full-out scream, as it bellowed directly into Mogul's face. The creature suddenly whipped itself around in place 180 degrees. The long spiked tail it had just grown came flying around with the turn's momentum, aimed directly at taking Mammoth's head off.

As this was happening, a snake shadow managed to gobble down a red shard. Suddenly it's body's diameter increased from a foot to two feet, as it doubled in length. It slithered off towards Robotnik, who was now running away and still yelling into his radio for someone to come help him.

"ROSE! RAMPAGE! ANYONE! GET OVER HERE NOW! PLEASE!"

The doctor did not see the huge snake as it rushed in front of his mini mecha's legs. The robot's legs collided with the shadow form, sending it tumbling headlong with Robotnik falling out of the driver's seat. Crying out from the fall, he landed roughly onto his shoulder, tearing his sleeve and shredding his skin. The doctor went into an awkward roll (which almost looked like a ball rolling along the street due to his rotundness) and finally he came to a stop.

He jumped to his feet quickly, but no sooner had he than he came face to face with the huge snake creature, hissing only inches away from his face. The doctor stood stock still, paralyzed with terror.

[Mammoth Mogul]

"ARGH!!!" Mogul bellowed out as he raised lifted his hand out, just barely in time to block the creature's attack. But even though his shield did manage to stop the blow, the force of the impact sent Mogul skidding across the pavement.

"NNGH!! It would seem that you wretched beasts not only lack substance, but intelligence as well. You are still the embodiment of chaos. Wild and feral. But it would also seem that like energies are less effective against itself. This shall require a different approach..." Mogul contemplated as he picked himself off the ground. It would appear that chaos powers, were less effective against themselves. Or perhaps the fact the creature wielded a chaos shard simply boosted it's own power. Either way, he knew that this fight would be a challenge. Brute force would not be a viable option here.

[Dr. Robotnik]

As Mammoth got knocked backwards, the bird creature simply flew directly at his face, its jaws opening wide. Apparently it aimed to go for another shot to the head.

Meanwhile, several more of the creatures managed to reach the box and gobble down their own shards. Three more enhanced flying monsters joined the first one, circling around as they waited for the result of the next attack.

---

Robotnik continued to stand completely still, as the snake slowly observed him. Even though it didn't have anything that looked like eyes, he could practically feel the monster staring right through his body.

The snake's next move came in the blink of an eye. Robotnik had absolutely no time to react. Almost instantly, the creature encircled him with its black body, squeezing him. He screamed long and loud, praying that somebody, anyone would come to help him. One final thought entered his mind as he found himself looking Death right in the face. It was a crystal clear realization, but also a very chilling one.

No one is coming, and it's no one's fault but mine. My robots are dead. Rose and Rampage have vanished. My citizens would be cheering these beasts on if they were around. What a pity. Only now do I learn the value of having true friends, and not just minions.