//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Vanguard // Story: Sonic Origins Vol 1: Rainbow Dash's Story // by LightWinzz //------------------------------// Chapter 17: Vanguard Where there was once the bright shining sun beaming down on the earth there was now dark clouds, blankets that covered the city in shadow. Where there was once the ambiance of distant traffic and the honking of horns there was deafening silence, as if they were all muffled in an instant. Where there was once the comings and goings of the many people, there was now screams of terror, their voices heard in loud echoes of the buildings. And where the sea was once tamed there was now only the rushing of waters and the crashing of waves. Station Square was no longer the recognizable city it once was.It may have been bustling with people and animals alike not moments ago. Now, however, it was no longer even recognizable. The first its citizens saw was the massive wall of water that came from the sea, one that towered over many of the buildings and threatened to swallow everything up. It crashed into the docks, sending torrents of water through the nearby streets.It was if the sea itself began crawling its way onto land. Boats and cars alike were carried away by the waves, entire stores and homes being flooded in their entirety, some even disappearing beneath the waters. As more and more waves began forming entire skyscrapers began to fall. The massive structures crashed down into the flooded streets, sending water and debris in every direction. In a matter of minutes, the entire city had become ocean front property, only remnants of structures left behind to stick out. Citizens had taken to any high ground that was left, ranging from any remaining buildings to small pieces of debris that were still exposed to the air. Before long, the water had finally settled, the once aggressive and destructive waters reverting to a calm rolling of waves, ones that now crashed into the ruins of Station Square. Rainbow Dash had gotten to witness all of this destruction firsthoof. She and the others had found a small escape ship on the Egg Carrier. It was big enough to fit all of them and it was orange in color with a rounded body. While she could’ve gotten off the ship just fine, she felt it was proper to go with the others, as she didn’t know much about this timeline to go off on her own. Tails was in the pilot’s seat with Sonic and Knuckles looking out the cockpit window with him, while she and Amy sat in back and gazed out the side window. She had never seen a place as large as this city get destroyed so quickly. In a weird sense, it was humbling. She had her doubts about how powerful this Chaos thing really was, but after seeing this she felt obligated to believe the all that was said. “I don’t understand,” Amy cowered. “Why would Chaos do something like this? These people didn’t do anything to him.” “It’s pure rage Amy,” they heard Knuckles call from the cockpit. “I don’t even think Chaos is thinking at this point. It’s let its anger take control all of its actions, and it looks like we’re all paying the price for it.” “I still don’t get why he’s so peeved though,” Rainbow inquired. “What were you guys talking about a vision before? What, that you were seeing things?” “That’s the short of it,” Sonic answered.“Knuckles?” “From what you said, sounds like we’ve been seeing the exact same thing. What I want to know is why.” “I’ve been thinking on that,” Tails spoke up, but keeping an eye ahead of him. “It’s only had to do with you and Sonic, right?I’m thinking it must’ve been something to do with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald.” “What makes you say that, Tails?” Sonic asked. “Thank about it. The rest of us haven’t been exposed to the emeralds like you two have. Plus, since Chaos has something to do with them anyway, it would explain some things.” “I mean, it makes sense, but how can we use that to stop Chaos?” Sonic questioned. Tails was locked in silence for some time like he was thinking about what to say next. “I’m…still working on that. Although, at any rate, I think it’s a safe bet to see what we can do about getting the emeralds back.” “That shouldn’t be too hard,” Rainbow spoke with confidence. “Just a quick snatch and grab, right?” “I hope so,” worried Amy. “I just hope that Birdie and Gamma weren’t down there.” “You worry too much, Ames,” Rainbow comforted. “Give the little guys some credit. They were the ones packing all that punch after all.” If by just a little, that statement seemed to cheer Amy up. “You’re right.I just worry too much sometimes. Stick though, I’d hate to think how everyone down there is fairing.” Rainbow looked out to the city again, worry setting in her stomach. She could see masses of people squeezing themselves on top of crumbling buildings in an attempt to stay out of the water. Some people were still making their way out to find anywhere dry. Silver had explained to her that most of this world was inhabited by humans like Eggman. She just never grasped how many there were compared to Sonic and the gang. She couldn’t even imagine just how terrifying it would’ve been to be down there when the water hit. She shuttered just thinking about it. “Hey, check it out!” Sonic called out, pointing out the cockpit window. The gang looked in the direction he was pointing, and Rainbow’s interest was piqued at the sight. “Is that G.U.N.?” Knuckles questioned. “G.U.N.?” Rainbow repeated, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the flying machines passing them by. They reminded her a lot of that thing Pinkie had stored away…somewhere, except they were completely made of metal and were much larger. They were grey in color and had a closed cockpit on the front. In addition to the large propeller on top, the tail had a much smaller one on the back. The icing on the cake was the giant white letters on the side that said ‘G.U.N,’ whatever that meant. “They’re not with Eggman, are they?” Rainbow asked. “Heh, they probably hate Egghead more than we do,” Sonic laughed. Knuckles nodded.“At least we have someone who can help those people while we look for Chaos. Just makes it one less thing to worry about.” Rainbow looked on to the flying machines, kind of wishing she was out there right now instead of cooped up in here. Even so, she pushed down her urge enough to where it was passably bearable, at least until they found out where they were going. She could see that G.U.N. was headed to one of the tallest buildings that were still standing. She could see people on top waving them down, doing what they could to signal them. It seemed to have worked, the machines slowing down as they appro— Her eyes darted downward, a glimmer in the water toward the base of the building. The waves were now crashing against it again, the waters rippling from what she could assume used to be the town square. “Uhhh, guys…” she muttered, getting the attention of everypony else. The waves were much more intense now, many of them congregating in the center of the square. It almost looked like they were doing a dance. For a second, however, the waves receded again, the waters beginning to go back to their gentle state. Then, without warning, the waters flared to life. Like a cannon went off underwater, it shot up. Rainbow didn’t know what to make of it at first, but it soon became clear, but still all the more baffling. The waters rose to form a gargantuan tentacle, the crystal-clear appendage writhing like that of a squid. With lightning speed, it shot up toward one of the flying machines, charging it head on and crashing into it. The machine exploded, prompting all of the people on the roof to take cover from the debris. Rainbow’s eyes widened in horror, surprise taking over almost all of her senses. It didn’t there either.With the other machine now in reach, the tentacle grabbed onto the tail and pulled with overwhelming force.It tossed the machine across the entirety of the square, all before it crashed into the side of another building, exploding on contact. The whole gang looked on in shock.Tails had stopped the ship completely, giving in to his own fear as he let it hover in midair. Both Sonic and Knuckles were clenching their fists in anger while Amy had thrown her hands over her mouth, her eyes riddled with the shock.Rainbow wasn’t fairing any better. Her pupils were the size of marbles at this point, her mind barely even functioning.It all happened so fast…the people that were on board those machines were… She didn’t even know what to think. She could feel her hooves trying to clench together in a mix of fear and rage. She watched as the tentacle receded back into the waters, completely disappearing from sight. Things were quiet again, but it didn’t last long. The waters shot up again, looking as if the tentacle had risen again. The reality was much worse. This figure was much large than the tentacle from before, in fact, it had a completely different appearance. It was a creature. A living breathing creature.It was titanic in size as the water fell from its scaly-blue body like waterfalls. It was serpent-like in form, its underbelly made of the same crystal-clear water like the tentacle, but the top of it was nothing but the scales, those reaching all the way up to its head. It had razor sharp teeth lining its elongated mouth, all of them green to the point. Its eyes were closed, however, its lizard body hunched over as its nose barely touched the surface of the water.Its back was dotted with water-like spikes that had a distinct green glow to them along with a head spike that housed a brain-like organ. Seeming to follow it up, several more of the tentacles from before shot out of the water, waving about the surrounding area and some even crashing into surrounding ruins. The dark storm clouds overhead swirled around the point where the monster rose from the waters, the sound of thunder ringing throughout the city. “Is…that…?” Rainbow stuttered, her whole body feeling like it was shaking at the sight. “Chaos,” she heard Sonic finish for her, agitation evident in his voice. Chaos sat perfectly still, the only movement from it being the many tentacles surrounding it. Finally, however, his head twitched. His eyes suddenly shot open, a familiar green, reptilian eye narrowing at its location. Rainbow quickly noticed the dark aura that began completely encompassed it, those green eyes being replaced with blood red ones. Its whole body now lurched and in one fluid motion it swung its head up and let out a loud and ear-piercing shriek, one that could even be heard from inside the ship. The water and air around it were pushed away violently by its energy alone. Within seconds, the wave of energy hit the ship, the whole thing getting caught in the turbulence. “Tails!” Sonic yelled as he held on for dear life. “I know!I know!” Tails responded in a frenzy. With great struggle, Tails managed to correct the angle of the ship.With some quick maneuvers, he managed to level out. Even so, everyone still seemed perfectly content to keep at least one hand/hoof on something bolted down. The gang wasted no time in spying Chaos again. The purple glow of his aura had lit up the entirety of the flooded town square. His watery underbelly reflected much of the light as well, mixing strangely with the green that was already there. With his eyes darting toward a random building he lashed out with one of his tentacles. The crumbling ruin was crushed into rubble in a single strike.Another tentacle lashed out and struck another building. Then another.And another. Everyone in the ship looked on as Chaos began its rampage.It was violent, uncontrolled, but also destructive.Rainbow was now in a state of awe. Never had she seen something so insanely massive go on the destruction spree she was seeing now. Sure, she had seen fully grown dragons of similar size back in Equestria, but not once had she seen one go completely crazy. With Chaos, she swore she could almost feel the amount of anger stemming from him. However, she aside from the sudden fear, she also felt a sense purpose seeing all the humans below in a state of panic. “Tails!” she called out.“What’re we doing up here when we could be helping?! Let’s get down there!” “I can’t get close enough,” he answered back, doing what he could to stay out of Chaos’s line of sight. “It’d be too dangerous to try and—” Tails suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, almost like someone was leaning over next to him. He looked to see Sonic staring intently at his controls, an almost inquisitive look about him. “Hey Tails?” he asked in a strangely calm tone. “What’s this supposed to do?” Tails looked to where he was pointing to. It was a large black and yellow striped button, the word ‘caution’ etched underneath it. “Uhh, that’s the exit ramp. Why—” “Sweet! Thanks, bud,” Sonic quickly stated as he smacked the button. Back with Rainbow Dash and Amy, both of them witnessed the ramp to the back of the ship begin to open up, the cold air flowing in has it stung their skin. “What the hay are you guys doing up there?!” Rainbow yelled into the cockpit. “Sonic?! What’re you—” Tails asked, but his question went unanswered as Sonic’s hand left his shoulder, the distinct sound of his best friend’s shoes running further away from him. “Sonic!” he called back. Rainbow and Amy saw the blur that was Sonic rush past them. They didn’t even have time to say anything before he ran straight out the back of the ship, jumping from the ramp as he let himself go into freefall. Sonic angled his body downward, trying to have the least amount of wind resistance as possible. He had to squint his eyes just to alleviate the stinging in his eyes, but he could still make out that he was far from the ground below, enough to see over the entire cityscape. But his eyes were on what was directly below him. It almost seemed like Chaos could sense his presence. He stopped his rampage for a moment as he slowly began to turn his massive body. The monster looked up directly where Sonic was falling, the slit in his eyes narrowing in on him. Sonic’s could finally bring himself to open his eyes all the way, his meeting that of Chaos’s. Without even waiting for him to get down, Chaos let out another screech as one of his tentacles extended out of the water and up to where Sonic was. Sonic just smirked at the incoming attack. This was gonna be more enjoyable than he thought. With the lightning-fast appendage coming into strike him he spun his body to the right. The momentum carried him away from the strike, the brisk feeling of liquid hitting his side like a cold rain. He shivered.Just another reason he hated the water. Chaos barely gave him any time to think. Two more tentacles were now coming at him, this time from both angles. Sonic curled up into his spin dash in response. He let the attack get close before he rolled down the side of the first tentacle. As the other one approached he jumped off, now impacted with the second one and rolling down it. He made most of the way down, but now he could see another one reaching for him. He avoided it with a jump and continued down, heading straight to Chaos. Chaos’s head was directly in his path.Still feeling the sense of speed in him, he grew his white aura. Before Chaos even knew it, Sonic had zoomed straight off the tentacle for his left eye. His body acted like a saw blade, slashing the red orb in two. Chaos let out what could only be described as a screech of pain. Sonic saw his opportunity and jumped off while he still could. Good thing too, as Chaos was thrashing about with his tentacles in the hopes of hitting him. At the same time, however, Sonic found it handy to use them as platforms to jump from. He found some footing on a piece of a building that hadn’t sunken into the deep just yet. Whatever it used to be he didn’t know, as it was completely unrecognizable in its current state. At this point, it seemed that Chaos had calmed down a just bit, but that wasn’t saying much. Aside from no longer thrashing, he still held that same livid glare in his now single eye. Sonic couldn’t help but mentally gulp, as that same glare was being directed right at him. “If you don’t mind, I was gonna ask you if you could stop looking at me like that,” he asked, his focus drifting toward the injured eyeball which seemed to be leaking water. “Besides, back then you had to have seen that coming.” Chaos let out an angered but low growl at the tiny hedgehog. However, instead of lashing out again, Chao’s body relaxed, a faint green glow flowing through it. Sonic was surprised to see the eye he had hit forming back again, the red pupil practically seamless. That would be annoying to deal with. It was bad enough that Chaos was now this big. He had almost forgotten about his healing abilities. Chaos didn’t seem to be done just yet. Another low rumble vibrated throughout his body. The vibrations seemed to make their way up from the lowest point to the highest, the endpoint now being his mouth. It ceased, and Chaos opened his mouth wide, several objects sailing out. The glint of these objects caught Sonic’s eye as they flew right over him. Almost all of them fell into the water behind, but as the last one came close Sonic dove for it. He stayed on the ruin but was now reaching his hand out over the edge. He caught it just in time. He clutched it tight and pulled it in. As he picked himself up he was able to get a good look at what he caught. It was one of the Chaos Emeralds.Only, there was something very wrong with it. This one was supposed to be blue in color, and it was. The other issue is that the color was heavily faded and darkened. It was as if it had exhausted all its energy. The glow that was always at its core was no longer there either. There wasn’t even a trace of the empowerment he had when he once held them. He finally came to realize that the rest of those objects must’ve been Chaos Emeralds too, only now they were both out of power and hidden below the waves. “It’s never easy, is it?” he questioned himself, a heavy sigh soon following. Sonic’s thoughts were interrupted. He was forced to face back to Chaos when the beast roared directly at him, the wind from the action forcing him to cover his face. Once it ended, Chaos brought down one of his tentacles and Sonic had to jump away to avoid being crushed like his platform just did. Keeping a tight grip on his last remaining Chaos Emerald he began wall jumping between the ruins, climbing higher and higher with each step. Chaos kept attacking him the whole way up, Sonic having to be careful with as debris exploding near in his face. Once he reached the top Chaos had shot another tentacle his way, but Sonic planned on that. As it impacted the roof he sidestepped it. The strike sent large chunks of debris flying and Sonic gave his signature smirk. He jumped up to the debris and began using them as platforms, jumping off each one before it fell to the ground. With his speed Chaos was unable to stop him from climbing up to his head and performing a homing attack on his head spike, the brain inside getting thrown about inside. Chaos lurched in great pain as Sonic used his momentum to land safely on another piece of ruin in the water just before dashing away. His speed allowed him to race across the surface of the water. As long as he didn’t slow down he should be relatively safe. Well, as safe as one can be when avoiding what Chaos was throwing at him. Over and over Sonic had to serpentine to keep Chaos from striking him. Even as Sonic sped away from him, he soon realized just how much reach he had with those tentacles. It didn’t help that it seemed he could form a new tentacle on a whim with all the water in the city. And he did just that. A new tentacle rose up directly in front of him. Sonic had locked himself in a flooded street and he couldn’t turn around as he would lose his speed and sink, and at that point, it would be all over. He tried anyway, the water sprinkling up to his face as he skidded. However, the tip of the tentacle rose up last, coming up right underneath him, taking right off his feet. Seeing the hedgehog in a vulnerable spot Chaos launched a separate tentacle at him.It started spinning up like a drill, looking to skewer the hedgehog. ‘To be honest, I kind of figured it’d be water that would finally do me in,’ he accepted his fate. BOOM! The air itself seemed to vibrate at the sudden explosion of sound. Chaos seemed to flinch at the noise, but Sonic only grinned. It was about time. True to his suspicions, the tentacle that was close to impacting with him suddenly exploded. The whole thing fell apart as a streak of prismatic colors zoomed straight through it. With the threat gone, Sonic was safe to fall back to the earth. Seeing a sloped pile of rubble, he used it to slide down safely, coming to a stop shortly after. With Sonic out of his sights, Chaos was now looking at a new figure. Likewise, Rainbow Dash was looking right back at the creature with determined eyes. Her hooves were crossed, her faint red aura encompassing her body. “Ok, big guy!” she called to him, “You need to take a step back from the numb skull! He’s mine to deal with!You got that!” She wasted no time in rushing toward him, her red-tinted rainbow streak right behind her. Chaos’s eye quivered on the approaching foe. His vision seemed to zoom in solely on her, a pulse radiating through his skull.He felt his anger rising. This was his judgment on the world. His absolute judgment of the evils that plague it. So, how dare these lesser beings consider themselves worthy of saving. Just like with Sonic, Chaos lashed out at the pegasus, many of his tentacles reaching out to her. Rainbow only sped faster into the attack. She reached out to her power, only this time it felt off.It just didn’t seem as potent as it once was. Furthermore, it felt as if it was coming solely from Chaos himself. Those were thoughts for later, however. As long as she was getting it from somewhere it wouldn’t matter in the end. With her abnormal speed, she squeezed through the gaps in the attack, a few strands of her mane grazing the water. Chaos was surprised at how she so easily dodged his attack. He brought them back, hoping to strike at her before she reached him.It had the same results. With her being able to fly freely through the air she had a lot more room to dodge than Sonic did. Chaos growled at her in rage. “Growl all you want!” Rainbow taunted. “It’ll take more than that to scare away Rainbow Danger Dash!” She looked at the large spike on his head. She saw Sonic hit and it obviously wasn’t pleasant for Chaos if it was hit. All the more reason for her to reach it as quickly as possible. She dodged more tentacles on the way there, but with her agility made it easy. It was almost amusing to her how this terrible mass of destruction was being outwitted by somepony several times smaller than it. Then again, it was her she was thinking about here. Her target was now directly in front of her. She just needed a few more seconds. She reared back her hoof and— Before she could close the distance a wall of water cut off her vision from Chaos. She came to a sudden stop to see that he had formed brand new tentacles to act as a barrier between the two. She was about to just fly over it, but she quickly noticed how the shadow from the wall was slowly beginning to encompass her. At first, she was confused, but it soon became clear that the tentacles were falling directly down on top of her. Ok, now she had reason to worry. She could swim, but she didn’t need to deal with her wings getting wet right now. Them getting heavy would only make things harder. That is if they didn’t completely crush her under the pressure first. Chaos brought his tentacles down, the pegasus becoming completely obscured by the wall. He could now feel a presence touching the waters, one that felt as if it was struggling greatly. He had gotten her.He growled in a sense of satisfaction. With her out of the way, it would be a much easier matter of taking down the hedgehog, and then the rest of world would know his coming tides. He was about to pull his tentacles back, but he felt a sudden disturbance in the waves. That shouldn’t be right. There was enough power behind that wall to flatten one the larger structures in this city. So, why was this pony still writhing around in there?! His answer came quickly. It felt as if his tentacles were suddenly being pulled toward a center point. He could see the masses of water breaking apart and start converging on one another. Chaos moved his massive body slowly away from the spectacle, unsure of what was causing this anomaly. It wasn’t long before the tentacles were no more, and they were replaced with a swirling vortex. The vortex only grew bigger and bigger in size as it slowly extended upward. Chaos quickly realized it was a tornado that was forming where she was. But where did it come from? The tornado reached to just under Chaos’s total height, but Rainbow didn’t have an accurate idea of where she was, only that she had cut that whole situation a bit closer than she would’ve liked. She was currently spinning rapidly in a circle, doing what she could to keep the tornado together. It was a bit harder than usual, however. With all the water below her combined with the wall of water, it quickly turned into a waterspout. She was just out of the reach of the water walls all around her. If it weren’t for the energy she was pumping into her wings she would never have been able to keep this thing going, let alone get it together in the first place.Even now she could feel them beginning to ache. Right now, she was just glad it worked in the end. Now, it was time to give chaos a taste of his own medicine. She could still tell the general direction of the titan, so she began influencing the tornado to lean in his direction. She didn’t need it to hurt him. She just needed to get closer to his core on his head. She felt that if she could somehow sever that then it may just fix all their problems altogether. She inched over closer, his silhouette now casting a shadow through that waterspout. Just a little closer and— She felt her progress come to a sudden halt, the tornado buckling as it threatened to fall apart. She held it together, but only barely. “What hay is it now?!” she exclaimed in agitation. With her only view of the outside being the opening in the top of the funnel she did what she could to look up without ramming into the sides. Her pupils instantly shrunk at what she saw.Just outside was a completely new tornado, one that she didn’t even create. The only thing is that this one was on whole other level. It was bigger than even Chaos was, the top of it reaching all the way to the spinning clouds above. It too began turning into a waterspout, only it was taking on much more amounts of water compared to hers. “Oh, not good! Not good!” she stammered, completely overwhelmed by the size of the obstacle before her. She felt it push back against her, the walls of her funnel being broken into with little effort. She tried pushing back, determined to not let this thing beat her here. Unfortunately, even with her boosted speed she felt the whole thing breaking apart. She could feel the fatigue starting to strain her wings, her energy beginning to show signs of betrayal. She swore under her breath and let the tornado begin to be absorbed by the larger one. She couldn’t stay here. She needed to get out before it took her in too. She tried to fly off, the water walls either crashing around her or being pulled into the new vortex. She didn’t get far. Already she could feel her lower half being dragged in and it wasn’t long before the rest of her went along with it. “Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA!” she yelled as she was pulled in, the water soaking her coat and mane as she disappeared inside. It was dark inside the twister, the little amounts of light that were let through coming from the clouds above. This was her first time inside of a cyclone that she never had a hoof in, and in all honesty, she was terrified. She was so used to being in control of the weather back in Ponyville, now it seemed that somepony had trumped her in overall scale. She tried to fight the wind currents, but her wings just folded in on themselves. It was just too strong.Her vision was starting to become twisted, her stomach churning as it was tossed to and thro. She was beginning to consider bringing out more of her power. She just needed to be careful about how much was used, cause if she went too far it might as well be over then and there. She did her best to concentrate her energy, trying to ignore the temptation to vomit. It was broken, however, when the water walls around her suddenly exploded, as if something was cutting through it. And that was so, Rainbow getting smacked by a swiping tentacle that went through the twister. Despite it being made of water it hit like concrete, the cold liquid leaving a stinging sensation on her face and the front of her body. She felt herself fly out of the twister, her body spinning wildly as she involuntarily flew away from Chaos. Chaos was getting ready to finish her off. However, he stayed his next attack when he noticed a blue streak running across the water, right for him. No. The pegasus could wait. If this hedgehog wanted to lose its life that badly then he could embrace the heat of his rage. He turned his whole body to face him before lashing out at him with all his available tentacles. Sonic had to turn off as to not be hit, the appendages hitting the water all around him as he rushed around Chaos. He used some of them as platforms to get higher, but with how wild they were moving this was proving to be extremely difficult. “You want to play like that?!” Sonic taunted with a smirk. “For someone who can control the weather I’m surprised I’m not feeling wind from these!” That only seemed to anger Chaos even further. The strange aura surrounding him suddenly seemed to grow larger, the water being pushed out some ways as a result. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say. Meanwhile, Rainbow had finally stopped flying, which for once she was grateful. Her stomach was about to implode on itself and her head felt like it was being split down the middle. She slowly managed to open her eyes, looking at the red hued concrete wall she came close to smacking into. There was a small crater smashed into it, a result of her shield that she just barely managed to activate. Despite not flapping her wings she was safely floating in the center of the red bubble she made. Good thing too, as she probably would’ve been a smear of blue paste if she wasn’t. How it worked, she honestly didn’t really care much to find out, just that it worked out and that was good enough for. She let the shield fall and she fell a couple of feet down onto her back. What she landed on was solid, so that was a good start. She picked herself up, a wooziness taking over her senses when she flipped over to quick. She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of it and she could swear she both felt and heard her brain rattling inside. With her no longer seeing doubles and the feeling in her stomach somewhat calming, she breathed out, a wave of pure relief washing over her. At this point she finally noticed the state of her mane when it fell in front of her eyes, the strands acting like a whip against her nose in its soaked state. She grunted in annoyance but begrudgingly began trying to shake the moisture out of her hair. It wasn’t pretty, and she was sure Rarity was having a hissy fit about her method right now, but what worked, worked. “Hey, are you holding up?" Silver spoke up over the comms. “I wouldn't say that,” Rainbow responded, brushing her mane out of her face. “But I’m standing, so that’s a start.” “Now you understand why Twilight had so much trouble,” Blaze stated. “Only now he’s reached his perfect form, which only makes matters worse than they already were.” Rainbow groggily trotted to where she could see clearly to where Chaos was, the blur that obviously Sonic dancing around him in the distance. “Hey, I just got hurled across half a city. No need to tell me things are messed up.” “Still though, this happened in the original timeline as well. Sonic was able to beat him somehow. It’s just a matter of finding out how to do that. It’d be nice if you two had the Chaos Emeralds right about now,” Silver explained. “Couldn’t we just…I don’t know. Maybe we could pull them out of him?” Rainbow racked her brain for ideas, none of them sounding preferable. “I don’t think that’s an option right now,” Blaze emphasized. “If this is working in any parallel to the how it originally took place, we think Chaos may have ejected the emeralds from his body. Who knows where they’ve landed.” “So, it’s a feather in a haystack. Great,” Rainbow fumed. “It’s still possible to fight him though,” Silver insisted. “If you can just work around his defenses somehow. If you and Sonic came at different angles maybe.” Rainbow just smirked as she blew away another strand of hair. “I’ll think about it. Just don’t be disappointed if I end up toppling your sea monster on my own.” She heard Blaze let out a sigh. “Things would probably be going better if you didn’t just—Rainbow!” Rainbow couldn’t help but jump to the shouting of her name. “What?!” “Move!” She didn’t dare question it. She quickly jumped forward, putting herself as far away from her position as possible. A booming crash was heard behind her, dust a debris shooting upward from where she once stood. She looked back to see that something had impacted the spot, a dark figure kneeling in the dust. A flash of paired red irises shot like lasers into her own. She planted her hooves back down only to feel the ground beneath her suddenly shift. She looked down in shock to see lines of pinkish energy cutting into the concrete building like knives in butter. The lines moved in sporadic patterns away from the impact site, entire sections being cut out perfectly like the whole thing was cookie dough. She instinctually flew up, wanting to distance herself from whatever mess that was. The building crumbled and sunk, the figure seeming to go down with it. Just what the hay was that?! This wasn’t anything to do with Chaos was?! Then again, she would’ve seen him coming, and she didn’t think what she saw resembled him in any way. She continued to fly upwards, but before long she felt a sharp pain enter her side, like a brick suddenly jammed itself in her ribcage. The hit sent her towards the roof of another building, Rainbow’s back skipping off the newly solid ground before flipping over and sliding on her stomach the rest of the way. She could feel the stings of many scrapes and cuts lining her underbelly, so much that she on the verge of giving into the tears in her eyes. Even so, she quickly made way to get herself back up, only for another hard hit to crash into her back.She let out a yell, swearing that her back just popped in a hundred different places. Her problems were far from over, as it seemed that the presence that was lodged on her back was there to stay. If this was Equestria she’d think that somepony’s hoof was pushing down on her. But seeing how she was in this world, she could only assume what it was: a foot? A knee? She didn’t know, only that it hurt beyond belief. The offending presence was preventing her from getting up. It was a string weight that seemed intent on keeping her grounded. “Whatever or whoever you are you better get off me before I do something even I’d regret!” she threatened, even going so much as to flap her wings in at least some form of annoyance towards the assailant. “I’m not too fond of this myself. But I think we’re past the point of regrets, Blue.” Rainbow listened to every word.It was a male that had attacked her, but it was the way his voice was presented that caught her attention. It sounded like one person there, but like he was in a tunnel. It was like two voices were trying to overtake each other and were going out of sync to do it.Even so, it had a lazy tone to it, almost on the verge of boredom. “You know,” the voice laughed, “of all the people that I thought I’d see, a colorful, loudmouth pegasus was the last thing I expected. Guess you can’t ask for them all.” He punctuated his statement back taking the weight off her back and slamming a firm kick to her side. The strike knocked all her air out of her lungs and sent her sailing into a wall. She grunted in pain as she finally settled, ache pangs pulsing in her body. She finally recovered enough to look at her attacker. She was still ditsy was all the punishment, and her energy only protected her so much. Even so, she managed to make out the details of the figure a few feet in front of her. Her eyes went wide, a sense of familiarity in the eyes and body of the being. The thing she noticed right off the bat was what he was. A hedgehog, just like Sonic. He wasn’t blue, however. He was a deep indigo, his quills a bit longer than Sonic’s, so much that a couple of them draped over to the sides of his head. His ears had small tuffs of hair rising off the tips, the points sharpening to be like blades. His shoes and gloves were a dark grey, accented hints of black on the wrists and ankles. Pink colored arrow patterns adorned the back of his hands and the tongues of his shoes. There was a similarly colored neck piece that was thick and reached over his shoulders. A small gem was its centerpiece, it too pink in color. What really drew her attention, however, was not his attire, but his eyes. She got immediate flashbacks of Metal Sonic, as his eyes were very similar; glowing red irises on a pitch-black backdrop. Strangely enough, the fact that these weren’t synthetic eyes only strengthened how intimidating they were. There was a certain glint to them that solidified their everlasting presence, how they pierced into her very soul. He grew the toothiest smirk she had ever seen, his canines much more pronounced than what she saw of Sonic and the others. “I can’t say that this is the least bit entertaining for me though. Would it bother you if I expected more?” Rainbow drew herself out of the fearful trace she was in and finally adopted a look of intimidation as she did her best to stand up. “Says the guy who can’t look me in the face when he decides to attack me!” She immediately regretted her decision when he flashed out of existence. Within a second, however, he flashed right in front of her eyes, his own glaring down at her. “Is this any better?” His voice was filled with both sarcasm and threat. Rainbow stumbled to the side as he threw a punch, the wall that used to be behind her cracking from the strike. His fist came close to grazing her cheek, the wind from it going as far as to sting her eyes. She jumped away, putting some distance between them. By now the hedgehog had taken his fist out of the wall but made no other immediate advance towards her. He just turned to her, a smirk plastered on his face. “Not bad,” he mockingly commended. “Hey! What’s your deal with me, buddy?!” Rainbow questioned. He just chuckled lightly, his voice radiating through the air like wind. “My deal? Oh, it’s just for this. It looked interesting, so I had to get a closer look.” He opened the fist he hit the wall with. In his palm was… Rainbow scrambled to feel inside her ear. Despite trying to tell herself otherwise, it was plain as day. She couldn’t feel her communicator, and what she saw in his hand said it all. But when did he…? She thought back to the punch he threw at her, how it came so close to her face. But how could he have taken it that fast, and without her knowing? He would’ve had to have another hand to do that, and he sure as Celestia’s sun didn’t use his other one. Those were mysteries for another time, however. What was in from of her was what was important. “Ok, you jerk! You better hand it over!” She took flight, charging straight at her target. The hedgehog made no indication of moving, as though he was just intending to take the hit. He just stood there with that smug look on his face. Well, that look was about to vanish. Rainbow reared back her hoof and threw her punch… …only for it to get pushed aside, missing his head by a mere inch. She was shocked. How did she miss?! He didn’t even move! Her thoughts were lost when she received a punch straight to the gut, pushing her back to where she was before. She landed, but just barely. She couldn’t help but cough profusely as she clutched her stomach. Taking in new air felt like swallowing a rock, but it felt good all the same once it was down. She managed to look at him again, seeing that he still hadn’t moved in the slightest. Ok, something was definitely up. She didn’t just miss him. No way. Her punch was redirected somehow like he pushed it out of the way with his hand. But she saw him the entire time and he never moved, not even an arm. So, what happened? “Nice try,” he mocked. “You almost hit me. But…” He finished by closing his hand over the communicator, a distinct crack felt beneath his fingers. Opening it back up he let the now broken pieces fall to the floor. Rainbow watched as every piece hit the concrete, anger setting in as she watched her communication with the outside vanish. “…almost isn’t close enough.” “Enough with the wisecracks ya creep!” Rainbow spat at him. “Just who are you anyway?!” The hedgehog didn’t answer immediately, but instead placed his hands on his hips and began pacing away from her. He brought himself closer to the edge of the roof closest to the confrontation going on in the distance. “Looks like I was right,” he chuckled. “You do just rush straight to the point. I’m almost surprised we’re so different.” “I don’t think you’d find me all that interesting,” he explained. “I don’t even think you’d know my name.” He turned back to face Rainbow, who still looked ready to pounce at a moments notice, not that he looked worried about the gesture. “It’s you that I’m curious about. Tell me, who sent you here? You’re obviously not from this world and judging by the maker of that communicator of yours it must be someone who knows Sonic personally.” “Tell me, who is it?” he questioned, his wicked smile returning. “Tails? Knuckles? Maybe Sonic himself? Hmm, maybe Shadow, as unlikely as it may be. Although,” he studied, “judging by the look on your face, I’d wager none of them.” “You still haven’t answered me!” she stated. “Who the hay are you? Let me take a guess. I bet you have something to do with everything that’s been changing, haven’t you?!” she gestured to Chaos, who still seemed intent on completely destroying Sonic. The hedgehog looked to where she gestured and just chuckled. “It’s not impossible, is it? Who can say? Maybe I just enjoy a good show.” “Stop beating around the bush!” Upon saying those words, his face visibly hardened, and it didn’t go unnoticed by her. “You want to get serious then. Fine, cause I’m tired of it too. Don’t get me wrong, I can have some fun of my own. But I’m a busy guy and there are just some things that I can’t be bothered with. In fact, I think you were the one that interrupted my nap when you came flying in.” “But, as brash and dimwitted you seem to be, at least you seem to be astute enough to at least make an educated guess on appearances alone. So, you want an answer? Then here.” On cue, he planted himself but kept a stern and arrogant posture. A murky red and purple aura grew from his feet all the way to his head. His red eyes glowed brighter, but not in ways she’s seen before. The glow almost seemed to leak out of his irises. The aura was like a dark fire, only instead of heat a wave of cold blew over Rainbow’s skin. Goosebumps littered her body, a realization coming to her. A part of her had only been suspicious but seeing this…there was no question in her mind. That aura was just like everything else she and the others faced, only this one looked more prominent and more refined. “There we go,” the hedgehog said in almost bliss. “Are you satisfied yet? If not, I can surely show you more.” He let his aura fall, his eyes falling back to normal as well. In truth, Rainbow was actually shaken. She had spent so long thinking about what she’d do once she found the culprit they’ve been searching for. She was excited of the prospect of all this being done and they could put it all behind them. Now that she was here though, all she felt was dread. Even so, she put on a brave face. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll have to do better than that.” “Oh really?” he asked, but obviously not convinced. “Huh? I guess I’ll have to try harder.” “Enough with all that!” Rainbow shouted. “So, you’ve finally shown yourself. Big deal! Honestly, I want to know why you’re here in the first place!” The hedgehog sat silent for some time, but not because he was taken back by her outburst. He just seemed to be contemplating something, almost studying Rainbow up and down. Rainbow couldn’t help but hate the way his eyes moved around so quickly yet move so little of his body. “You know,” he spoke up, “you’ve gotten this far. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell. It’s not like what I say will change much.” “You could say that I’m here to…make sure everything goes smooth. Sure, I’m sure Chaos can take care of himself, but after seeing Eggman and Metal fail so horribly, I thought a more personal touch was required.” “What, so that’s why you’re here now?” Rainbow asked. “Absolutely. For a pony not of this world and for one so naïve of everything around her, you did well. I mean it. I’m impressed.” “Sorry if that doesn’t excite me,” Rainbow spat. “Don’t take my admiration as a pass to let you go, however. This would’ve gone much better if you hadn’t gotten involved.” “And what are you doing here anyway?!” she asked, looking to just get to the point. “If this is about Sonic, look, I don’t like the idiot either, but it’s still my job to protect him. I don’t know what he did to you, but whatever you’re planning on doing to him you can forget it!” The hedgehog just shrugged, giving her a very passive look. “He definitely is a nascence and having him taken out of the equation would help in many ways.” The hedgehog looked as if he deep in thought, but with a content expression that almost made him look relaxed. “But, if you think this is about him, heh, sorry girly, but you couldn’t have made a worse assumption.” “What?” “You heard right. Him getting himself killed would be the best thing that could happen right now, but his death isn’t a requirement. In fact, I doubt he would even know who I was, let alone what I seek. I don’t think there’s even a single soul left on the planet that would know my story.” “Then what do you want then?!” Rainbow asked, much harsher this time. The two could hear Chaos roar into the heavens, the sounds of thunder, waves, and wind all coalescing beyond them. Both were surprised this fight was lasting this long. Sonic must really be pushing his limits if he’s still in the game like this. Rainbow took her focus off that, however, and just kept her eyes locked with his. It was an internal battle, one to see which of them would give first. The hedgehog finally lets out a smug laugh, the sound coming out in a huff. “My little pony,” he emphasized every word, maliciousness dripping from them. “This world doesn’t belong to the inhabitants that spit all over it, that take everything in it for granted. Long ago, I made a vow. To unite the world, to rid it of any evil that would threaten the things that I loved. I almost succeeded. Little did I know that the very evil that I sought to end, I took on that very role. Corruption and division.” “Now,” his voice darkened, his posture changing with it, “my goals have changed. The sins of my past are what makes the world the way it is now. What I want is change…and forgiveness.” Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder what this guy was trying to spout. ‘What it is now?’ She may not like this place all that much, but she would never say a place like this was full of evil. Annoying, maybe, but never evil. Not with all those that she actually grew to like. And just looking at this guy, she could easily tell he’s gone of the deep end in some regard. “I will correct the mistakes I made long ago. You or anyone else may not see it, but I do. I know my purpose in this life, and I know how everything can be fixed. But first, the preparations need to be finished, and Chaos will provide plenty of help, just as it is now!” His aura slowly started to rise with his voice, the dark shadow coving most of his face. His red eyes shined right through the dark, a hideous image burning into Rainbow’s mind. His gaze fell on his hand and his smile only grew wider, the small arrow on it now glowing. “I…am Zayn,” he stated, his voice carrying a sickening laughter that was emphasized by his echoes. “I am the vanguard into a world where the weight of all pain will be lifted. For it shall go to this world, and then it will go to you...”