Chapter 8: Wrath of the Titan
Mario looked around. He saw he was still on Mobiüs, but back with his own friends. He slowly looked at his hands and saw they were his own. He looked around and saw Sonic was there, now also back in his body. Sonic, too, was relieved to be himself once again, but noticed something felt different. His shoes felt as though they no longer fit. However, he knew that now was not the time to worry about something as miniscule as adjusting his shoes.
"Are you guys okay?" Tails asked.
"What just happened?" Bower questioned. "One second you're in his hands, now you're right in front of us!"
"Are you saying that nothing has happened?" Mario asked. "That we weren't gone?"
"Of course not!" Knuckles said. "What are you talking about?"
"It's quite possible that Metal Sonic manipulated time and space to make it as though you never left," Gadd suggested.
"You will address your master with his proper name!" Cronos Sonic shouted. "I am no longer made of metal, I am Cronos Sonic, and I shall rule over the multiverse! Come now, meet your taskmasters!"
Two robots materialized beside Cronos Sonic, Omega E-123 and Roboshi.
"Omega shall watch over Mobiüs and Roboshi over the Mushroom Kingdom," Cronos Sonic explained. "They will be my heralds, and in turn, the masters of those you once called your people. However, none of you shall survive to see their reign. You will be made an example of, to show what will happen to all who oppose me. Sonic, you have been a thorn in my side for countless years. Somehow, despite your inferiority, against any statistical analysis, even in times when your margin of victory was less than a trillion to one, you have managed to interfere with my designs time and time again. However, this time is truly different. There is no margin of error, no statistical anomaly, no seemingly insignificant chance of success on your behalf. The chances of your victory truly are zero. Sonic the Hedgehog, you shall be the first to perish! Begone, never to meddle in my affairs again!"
Cronos Sonic charged a blast of pure energy. Not of light, not of heat, not of electricity, but true and pure energy. He released it, aiming at Sonic. Sonic didn't even bother to run. He knew that his speed was no match for the speed of time itself. He closed his eyes, and accepted his fate.
<I>As long as the others survive, there's still a chance</I> Sonic thought to himself. <I>I guess even I can't win them all...
The blast hit a barrier that formed in front of Sonic, somehow shielding him from the blow. Sonic opened his eyes and looked around.
"I'm... alive?" Sonic sighed with relief. "What just happened?"
Sonic then remembered the discomfort he felt in his shoes, and took them off to find the Time Stones.
"But how?" Sonic asked. "I haven't had the Time Stones since-"
"Since you first fought Metal Sonic," Mario interjected. "Cronos Sonic may have control over time, but the Time Stones must negate his power!"
"How did you know that?" Tails asked.
"It's a long story, and now's not the time for it," Mario said. "We've got bigger things to worry about."
Cronos Sonic was infuriated at this turn of events. Nothing would have upset him more, for he knew that he was the cause of his own folly. Had he not put Mario on Little Planet, his victory would have been assured.
"Don't count me out yet, Gramps," Sonic laughed. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"You fools!" Cronos Sonic shouted. "Even with the Time Stones, you have no chance to win! My power is absolute! I cannot be defied! Omega, Roboshi, deliver my wrath, show these fools what happens when they challenge a god!"
"A god?" Mario laughed. "If you were truly a god, you would have nothing to fear. Your power is nothing without the Cronos Reactor, and you know it!"
Cronos Sonic knew that Mario spoke the truth; despite all the power he had, he was still just as mortal as any of them. His power had limits, as he had just seen. Cronos Sonic could swear his heart was pounding with fear... impossible, he hadn't felt he had a heart in years. He realized just how much of a threat his enemies truly were.
"Very well then," Cronos Sonic laughed. "If you wish to see just how powerful I am, then so be it! You will all perish before my might!"
The skies above the battlefield grew dark. Rain began to pour and thunder began to strike. Then it stopped. The rain was suspended in midair, a bolt of lightning could be seen as though it were a solid object. It was as though time itself had stopped. Because it had.
Omega and Roboshi rushed towards the group.
"Everyone, leave Omega to me," Robotnik said. "No one knows his weaknesses better than I. And Sonic..."
"Yeah?" Sonic said.
"Only I'm allowed to kill you, understood?" Robotnik said.
"Certainly not the best pep talk, but I got the point," Sonic smiled.
"Ve'll take ze other!" Ludwig said. "Ve've fought Yozis for years!"
"Hey! Mario!" Bowser shouted. "You’d better not get your goose cooked! If you die, who's face will I pin to my dartboard?"
"Right," Mario said. "We'll be back."
A third robot appeared. It resembled Metal Sonic, but was purely robotic, simply a machine.
"Gramps must have reactivated Mecha Sonic," Sonic said.
"Fear not, I am on your side," said Geno, his voice coming from the machine. "With the doll being destroyed, I needed another vessel. I found this robot lying around. It is in need of maintenance, but it's better than nothing. Leave Smithy to the rest of us. Mario, Sonic, this fight is yours, not ours."
"Smithy is alive?" Sonic asked.
"In a sense," Geno explained. "Metal Sonic rebuilt him, knowing Smithy would not dare to fight against one who controlled time. He will be here shortly. But the destiny set before the two of you is not this battle, but the one against Cronos himself."
"Right... Thank you, all of you," Mario replied.
"And one last thing, you'll need these," Geno said as he handed the Power Stars to Mario and the Chaos Emeralds to Sonic.
"Go on, Bro, show that tin can how it's done!" Luigi said.
"Come on, Sonic, you can do it!" Tails shouted.
"We've come too far to fail now," Gadd said.
"You've always come through before, it won't be any different this time," Knuckles said.
"We're all counting on you, both of you," Princess Toadstool said.
"If you die now, I'll kill you!" Amy shouted.
"Everything is prepared, now is the time," Geno said calmly. "Go now, lead the light to triumph over this darkness."
"All has gone as it should," Tikal said. "All that's left is for you to believe in yourselves."
"Thank you, everyone," Mario said. "We'll be back..."
"... We promise," Sonic said.
Smithy appeared from the forest and began to approach them.
"That's our cue," Sonic said. "Good luck, everyone."
Mario and Sonic
headed towards Cronos Sonic, prepared for anything, even the wrath of a
titan.
"Primary target locked and identified: Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik," Omega stated, "Status: unarmed. Threat level: minimal."
"You should know I am never unarmed," Robotnik laughed. "I have one final mech here on Angel Island that I never got to test against Sonic. It may be outdated, but it'll be more than a match for you! Behold, the EggHydra!"
A robotic dragon rose up from underground, having 5 heads, and but a single body. The beastly machine was about twenty feet tall, and had a flamethrower in the mouth of each head. Each head had two eyes, each of which could create a sustained laser beam. And finally, there was a drill on the tail, which allowed the beast to burrow when needed.
"Secondary target locked and identified: EggHydra. Threat level: minimal," Omega said.
"Omega, prepare to meet your maker!" Robotnik shouted.
"Illogical: Robotnik is already locked," Omega said.
"Forget it!" Robotnik
shouted, "EggHydra, turn that traitor to scrap!"
"It's eight against one!" Morton said to Roboshi. "How can you hope to win?"
Roboshi was silent, he wasn't programmed to taunt his foes, nor to respond to taunts directed towards him. He had two purposes: to relay Cronos Sonic's commands, and to fight.
"There's nine of us, you moron!" Larry shouted.
"You forgot to count yourself again!" Lemmy agreed.
"No wonder you're not Papa's favorite," Junior said as he stuck his tongue out.
"Stop yapping
and pummel that Yoshi!" Bowser shouted.
"So this is Smithy," Knuckles said. "From what you guys had said about him, I was expecting a bit more."
"He's stronger than he looks," Princess Toadstool explained. "He may not look like much, but he's not to be taken lightly."
"This can't be good..." Luigi said.
"You guys beat him before," Tails said. "With us here to help, how hard can it be to repeat that?"
"Let's not underestimate our foe," Gadd suggested. "Such a folly is often one's undoing."
"Agreed," Geno said. "Overconfindence is the last thing we need right now."
"We will now fight
for the future of not only those we swore to protect, but countless others,"
Tikal said. "Countless lives from countless worlds are depending on us.
We must not fail."
"So you've come," Cronos Sonic said, now appearing as though he was in his original robotic form.
"You thought we'd give up so easily?" Sonic asked. "You should know better than that."
"This ends here and now," Mario proclaimed. "The Cronos Reactor is too dangerous. It must be destroyed!"
Cronos Sonic laughed, then inquired, "How much do you truly know of the Cronos Reactor?"
"Huh?" Sonic asked.
"Do you truly know what would happen if you destroyed it?" Cronos Sonic asked.
"What do you mean?" Mario asked.
"The Cronos Reactor is very much like a nuclear power plant," Cronos Sonic explained. "If properly maintained and used, it can provide unimaginable amounts of power. However, what happens to a nuclear power plant if it's destroyed without the proper steps being taken? It explodes, unleashing a massive wave of devastation. The Cronos Reactor would have a similar effect, only its power would reach across the multiverse, destroying entire universes, wiping them from existence... perhaps even destroying all of existence itself..."
"What if you're bluffing?" Sonic asked.
"Are you willing to take that risk?" Cronos Sonic asked.
"No, but our goal isn't the destruction of the Reactor," Mario explained, "only to keep it from you."
"Very well then,"
Cronos Sonic said. "It matters not. After all, you will never be given
the opportunity to destroy it. Now, you shall feel the full power of Cronos
as I wipe the two of you from all of existence. It will be as though neither
of you were ever born. All I must do is take the Time Stones. Then the
circle will be complete. Past, present, future, none will exist to me.
All of existence will be mine to command. I will be absolute. And nothing
can prevent me from obtaining that. Not even the two of you."
The EggHydra rose up, ready to strike at its foe. It roared with fury as it prepared to pounce. Omega unleashed a slavo of missiles at the dragon, knocking it back. However, the EggHydra's thick armor plating was more than a match for the blows. However, this didn't reassure Robotnik at all. He knew that there was a fatal flaw with the EggHydra. And if Omega found that flaw, the battle would be lost. The EggHydra lunged at Omega, attempting to crush him with its mighty girth. Omega quickly dashed aside, dodging the metallic jaws of the machine. Omega unleashed his flamethrowers, and the EggHydra responded with its own. The flames met with an explosion, each trying to push the other back. The machines soon realized they were in a stalemate, and abandoned this tactic.
"Structural analysis
complete," Omega said. "Critical point located."
Bowser and Ludwig quickly unleashed flames upon Roboshi, but to no avail. Roboshi quickly unleashed a spray of bullets from his machine guns. The royal Koopa family retreated into their shells until Roboshi switched tactics. It rushed over to Junior first, and attempted to crush him, shell and all, with its drill tail. Junior quickly spun aside, yet Roboshi used its tail as a whip to knock it into Junior's side. Bowser got out of his shell and quickly rushed towards Roboshi, attempting to knock it over with his horns. Roboshi noticed this, and quickly flew up, and once again unleashed a stream of fire, this time from the air.
"Fazer!" Ludwig shouted. "Nozing ve're doing seems to work!"
"Tell me something I DON'T know!" Bowser shouted.
"I have an idea," Morton interjected.
"Sure you do," Roy said sarcastically as he pushed Morton aside.
"Everyone, fireballs!" Bowser shouted as he began to spew flames from his mouth aimed at the robot, the Koopalings following in suit.
Junior came out
of his shell, and pulled his bib up, transforming into Shadow Mario. He
then used a triple jump to reach Roboshi, and grabbed a hold of the spines
on its back. He then removed the bib, returning himself to normal, and
used his free claw in an attempt to penetrate Roboshi's armor. However,
his efforts were in vain. Roboshi quickly performed a barrel roll, flinging
Junior to the ground.
Smithy rushed towards Luigi, swinging his hammer at the green clad plumber as he dashed towards him. Luigi jumped over Smithy to dodge, only to be struck from behind as Smithy spun around with his hammer in hand.
"Why?" Princess Toadstool asked as she smashed Smithy with her frying pan. "Why must you insist on harming the innocent? What did we ever do to you?"
Smithy knocked Toadstool back with his hammer, then answered, "I am not the one with unclear motives here. I fight because if I don't, Cronos Sonic will destroy me with ease. The real question is why do YOU fight? You have no chance of victory, yet you fight futily against impossible odds. I have secured my place in this new order, while you fight only to doom yourself. Can you honestly say that your reasons show more logic than my own?"
"You are nothing more than a heartless fiend!" Geno said as he struck Smithy. "For many millennia I have fought against those like you... those that would threaten all in their quest for power. Yet never before have I met one quite as sinister as yourself. There have been those that were far more powerful... Triclypalypse, Ahkemtep, Death Guy, and countless others. All of them had emotions. Regardless of how twisted and horrible those emotions may have been, they made them superior to you in every way imaginable. You are nothing more than a machine, cold and calculating. And because of that, you will never understand why the just fight against insurmountable odds."
Smithy laughed as he and Geno continued to exchange blows. "Emotions? Emotions are but a hindrance!"
"And that is why you must fall!" Tikal shouted as she shot a beam of holy light at Smithy, knocking him back.
Smithy simply
shook off the attack, as though it did nothing to him.
Mario and Sonic quickly tapped into the powers of the Chaos Emeralds and Power Stars respectively.
"For all those you've hurt..." Sonic said.
"...and for all those you would..." Mario continued.
"...YOU WILL FALL!" the two heroes shouted, now in their Super and Metal forms respectively.
Cronos Sonic split into two, quite literally, being in two places at once. The dark robot rushed towards his foes, quickly slashing at them numerous times. The heroes held their ground, taking the powerful blows. Sonic broke Cronos Sonic's stance by spin dashing to the side, while Mario grabbed a hold of Cronos Sonic and tossed him at himself. Cronos Sonic quickly got up, not even scratched by the attack. Cronos Sonic quickly shot a laser at Sonic, who dodged it at the last moment. A tree was struck by the laser, and it began to grow at an unbelievable rate. It shed its leaves and grew new ones multiple times every second, until eventually, it collapsed and died, having lived out its entire lifespan within the space of a few seconds.
"A tree can last for thousands of years, yet its natural life ended within a few seconds," Cronos Sonic explained. "Imagine how quickly I could end yours."
"Not gonna happen," Sonic said.
"Your intimidation tactics won't work on us," Mario said.
Cronos Sonic reformed into one, and awaited the heroes' response. Mario slowly approached Cronos Sonic, carefully maintaining a defensive stance. When he was within striking range, Sonic quickly spin dashed behind Cronos Sonic.
"Organics are such feebleminded fools," Cronos Sonic said, "always using the same tactics. And you claim machines are repetitive. Allow me to show you a new method of battle."
Cronos Sonic simply
stood still, and yet, Mario and Sonic were being physically hit. They could
feel Cronos Sonic's cold steel meeting with their bodies, and yet, he was
just standing there, not even moving.
Robotnik was growing restless, he knew that Omega never bluffed. The EggHydra's weakness had been found: the point at which the heads were joined to the tail. In order to allow the heads to move freely without making them fall over, a lightweight alloy was used to join them. However, it was also susceptible to heat and concussive blasts.
"Battle pattern analyzed," Omega stated. "Destruction of EggHydra commencing."
Omega quickly
launched a missile at the EggHydra's body, where the heads joined. The
EggHydra was knocked back as one of its heads fell off, exposing wires
and oil. Robotnik was alarmed by this turn of events. He knew a change
of strategy was needed, but there was no way an obsolete model such as
the EggHydra could ever hope to win against Omega...
Roboshi dived down and cracked Iggy's shell with a single blow of its Steel Claw.
"I'm outta here!" Iggy shouted as he ran into the forest.
"Try this on for size, ya wimp!" Roy shouted as he jumped up and used his shell to ram into Roboshi, knocking the robot to the ground.
Roboshi got back up, and released a steady beam of light from its eyes, pointing them directly at Morton.
"Ha!" Morton laughed. "Your lasers don't even tickle! I can't feel a thing! They're useless! They're pathet-"
"You imvicile!" Ludwig shouted. "Run!"
But it was too late, Roboshi was already locked on. The mechanical dinosaur opened its mouth, and released a storm of adamantine needles, badly wounding Morton.
"Ooh!" Wendy shouted with glee as she saw the needles. "Diamonds!"
"Zat's adamantine!" Ludwig shouted. "They're crystals far harder than diamonds! It's known for its mystical properties, being even stronger than mythril. However, they are extremely heavy."
"We're not here
for a lecture!" Larry shouted.
Smithy started to forge a new creation, working too quickly for anyone to react. When it was complete, it rose up, resembling a mace.
Smithy announced his new minion. "You fools wish to die, come, do such at the hands of my newest servant: Raknor the Mace!"
Raknor started to glow with a yellow aura, before releasing a wave of static electricity. Luigi blocked the attack with his Thunder Hand, and shot it back towards Smithy. Smithy deflected the blast with his hammer, knocking it to the ground. Smithy then began to forge countless swords, doing such at a speed greater than that of any factory, and began throwing them up into the air. Tikal created a barrier to protect the group from the blades, but they came right through it.
"I can't shield us from physical attacks," Tikal explained. "I'm sorry."
"Leave this to me," Knuckles said as he punched into the ground.
Knuckle's punch caused the ground to melt into magma, sending a small blast of lava into the air to meet the blades. The swords melted and fell short of their targets. Raknor then dive-bombed towards Amy, who simply sidestepped the attack.
"Maybe you should rethink the phrase 'using your head,'" Amy mocked as she smashed Raknor with her Piko Piko Hammer.
Raknor got up, unphased by the blow, and shot a needle from its head, which narrowly grazed Amy's shoulder, leaving but a small scratch.
"Is that the best you can do?" Amy asked.
As Amy started to pick her hammer back up, her vision quickly began to blur, until everything went dark, and she fainted. The spot on her shoulder where she was hit began to turn a yellowish-brown discoloration.
"Tails, take Amy and tend to her!" Knuckles shouted.
"Right!" Tails said as he picked her up and ran from the battlefield.
"Raknor is somewhat lacking in the brains department," Smithy laughed, "but his toxins are quite deadly. The girl probably won't survive until nightfall. Not that I could say more of the rest of you."
"Poisons cannot hurt a machine," Geno said, "nor a spiritual being. Tikal, help me keep Raknor away from the others. Everyone else, concentrate on Smithy, but keep your guard up."
"You heard him!"
Knuckles shouted. "Let's do this!"
Cronos Sonic continued to assault both Mario and Sonic as they struggled simply to keep from fainting. As things seemed to grow hopeless, the Power Stars and the Chaos Emeralds glowed brightly, and began to fuse. When they ceased glowing, they had reformed the Chaos Stars. Mario and Sonic drew upon their power, transforming into Star Mario and Hyper Sonic respectively. Sonic then used a light attack to break free of Cronos Sonic's chain of attacks, although Cronos Sonic was able to dodge it with ease.
Sonic was taken back by this, "How did you-"
"The speed of light is nothing when one can manipulate time itself," Cronos Sonic laughed. "I can see you move as though you were walking at a relaxed pace. There is no limit to my power, it is absolute."
"If your power was absolute, would this battle not be over?" Mario taunted.
"It is time I put an end to your insolence!" Cronos Sonic shouted. "Behold, the true power of time!"
"You wouldn't..." Mario said. "Not even you would be so foolish as to..."
"Foolish?" Cronos Sonic laughed. "I have calculated all the variables, there is no danger to myself in traveling to the past. Unbeknownst to the two of you, I have already done such..."
"That's how you knew about the attack on Exor," Sonic explained. "And why Smithy was worried about winning the fight. You both KNEW we were going to attack Exor, because you had gone into the past and informed your former self of what was going to happen."
"But how did he find out the first time?" Mario asked.
"That's where HIS mistake comes in," Sonic explained. "All changes to the time stream that will occur have already occurred. He came back because he had to, the event had already occurred as far as the time stream was concerned," Sonic explained. "But that also means that he would be unable to alter the past if he was to go back right now."
"That is where you are wrong," Cronos Sonic laughed. "Although it is true that minor changes to the time stream stay absolute in this timeline, there is nothing to prevent me from creating another timeline."
"Come again?" Sonic asked.
"Have you ever seen Back to the Future?" Mario asked.
"Yeah, but I don't see how that's important right now..." Sonic replied.
"Remember when Biff went back and made himself rich in 1985?" Mario asked.
"Yeah, that was in the second part, right?" Sonic asked. "Wait... Why are we talking about movies at a time like this?"
"Biff created an alternate 1985 by altering the time stream in the year 1960," Mario explained.
"So how did the old Biff get back to the year 2015?" Sonic asked. "They never explained why he didn't go to an alternate 2015 where he was rich."
"Forget that loophole and let me finish!" Mario shouted. "Cronos Sonic is planning on going back in time and creating an alternate timeline!"
Sonic pondered. "So after he comes back-"
"He won't come back," Mario interrupted. "He'll continue on through the new timeline that he intends to create."
Sonic thought for a moment and then asked, "Then how did Biff-"
"It's a plot hole!" Mario said. "It's a mistake in the writing, and shouldn't have happened! It's just a movie! We have to stop him BEFORE he can travel to the past!"
"Right," Sonic agreed. "But how?"
"I wish I knew," Mario said, and repeated once more, "I wish I knew..."
As Cronos Sonic began to open a gateway to the past, Mario rushed towards him and used the Power of the Stars to unleash a beam of light at Cronos Sonic, disrupting his creation of the wormhole. There was a bright flash, blinding all in the room. When the light cleared, there were not three, but four people in the room.
"Impossible!" Cronos Sonic shouted. "How can you even exist?!"
"It can't be..." Sonic said as he began to cry.