The Creatures Neon

Chapter 9

There were no clouds in the sky.

The wind ceased its movement.

No thing stirred in that black valley.

At it's centre, statuesque and otherworldly, stood Robotnik.

His seven orbs of chaos hung around him.

All was still.

Then, at the end of the valley, from behind a bank of black rock, a flying ship appeared.

Robotnik made no moves.

The machine suspended itself a hundred meters from him, and a pink hedgehog descended hence.

Alone she walked to meet the monster in the Sahara.

"You have one chance, Robotnik. One chance to give up, and come quietly."

Her voice rang like a bell in the hot air.

Robotnik at last made a movement; from within his robes he produced an object – one the hedgehog couldn't readily make out.

He threw it at her feet.

Amy screamed.

The grinning face of the half-decomposed Tails leered up at her. His eyes were as twin black holes, maggots writhed and thrashed across his flesh which hung in tatters here and there on splayed fragments of filthy bone.

She stumbled and looked as if to fall backward, but at the last possible moment hurled herself over the cadaver, one arm shielding her nose from the sweet and humid rot.

Amy's head was swimming, the world around her had become so much radio static. She could hear her blood rushing in her veins and feel her stomach convulse. What strength she must have possessed, then, to continue the fight.

Before even realizing it, Robotnik was upon her.

This was it.

All the pieces were set.

In the next second, the fate of the world would be determined.

Robotnik's hand, greased in lightning and fire exploded forth, Amy's heart it's target.

In from the East and West the Echidna and the Albatross revealed themselves and raced to engage. Storm rallied his colossal might and, from one side, locked Robotnik's fiery appendage, while from the other Knuckles' titanic form eclipsed the monster. His beating crimson arms arrested themselves around Robotnik's neck, and with a heart-stopping roar, employed his rolling back muscles to complete a megalithic choke hold – a move that would have crushed the neck of a normal man.

In that same instant, Rouge took her position behind Robotnik and fired a kick aimed at his exposed ribs.

From above, now, Jet began his maneuvers. With a piercing screech, the giant hawk stooped and brought his glittering talons down on the immobilized Robotnik. They had scarcely reached their mark when a compact explosion at Robotnik's feet caused the ground to shift and forced him off balance, he looked up to see Wave smiling at him – a bandolier of grenades slung across her shoulder.

Such was the combined speed and ferocity of the assault that Robotnik called on the Master Emerald with designs to protect himself.

And as the glittering jewel sped towards him, the final member of Team Hero made their spectacular entrance.

In truth, Sonic had begun his attack before Amy had even set foot on the ground. From six miles out, he came now like a bullet across the desert. So swift were his movements that not a single grain of sand shifted as he raced silently over the dunes. Sun light itself struggled to keep up with the azure blur, while sound lagged hopelessly behind.

Sonic caught the Master Emerald in the middle of its flight and was gone before anyone could register it – the only mark of his presence was the gale of displaced wind he brought with him. The other emeralds fell from the sky; Robotnik was defenceless.

Jet's lancing talons tore open Robotnik's back and he fell forward onto a catastrophic straight-right from Amy – a punch laced with all the anger, fear and grief Robotnik had leveled on the team. As his body contorted at the mercy of the rocking energy, Rouge's kick landed with an echoing boom; her foot traveling at well past the speed of sound.

Robotnik's ribs disintegrated and he cartwheeled into the rocks.

The battle was over.

The day was won.

The world was saved.

The members of Team Hero collapsed. Though the battle was short, every ounce of mental energy was expired. Sonic came to a halt some five hundred meters down the valley. He looked back at his comrades, then to the shining jewel in his hand. The victory was bittersweet; Robotnik wouldn't hurt anyone any time soon, but too many lives had been lost. He gathered up the fallen Chaos Emeralds and returned to his friends. They restrained the comatose Robotnik and took to the sky once more.

Amy watched the world run past and took her place beside Sonic and Knuckles. She held them close, and as their warmth seeped into her, and their heartbeats synchronized with her own, she felt sure of something. Despair, Guilt, fear, grief were all things that gave life it's unique flavour. Though unpleasant on their own, together with hope, love, friendship and trust, they formed the necessary ingredients for growth. She knew now that life never stopped kicking, but if she surrounded herself with the right people – if she held her head high and kept on pushing forward, then she could temper that darkness and turn it into something beautiful.

She smiled up at her friends and they replied in kind.

The flying ship raced over the clouds and disappeared beyond the horizon.

The End.