Rayman Pirate-Community

Chapter 18: The Three Raymans

The Fairy Council

The Squad rushed through the labyrinthine Council, towards the Heart of the World, following the trail of destruction left by the Egg Pawn and Hoodlum forces. Hurry, Lachimax! Betilla’s voice rang out in his mind. We can’t hold them off much longer!
They reached a stone, sliding door which had clearly been in the marauders’ path. Gilly took point, rotating the barrels of his mingun to full speed. Lachimax and Christian took position at either side of the door, and at Gilly’s signal, Lachimax kicked it open.
Inside was a very large chamber, decorated in the familiar subdued blue stone, pink glasses and ghostly glowing mushrooms of the Council. In the centre of the chamber a squad of Hoodlums was battling its way forward, diving in and out of cover, taking potshots at the enemy. They were under fire from fairies of the Council, casting silver and golden beams of light at the Hoodlums from the other end of the chamber. The Hoodmongers were gradually making their way forward, protecting the red-clothed Hoodbooms amongst them, who were lobbing grenades at the fairies. A large, chain-mail clad Spineroo was also among them, clubbing any resistance out of the way with the big, metal balls on its fists.
Lachimax gave the order to open fire, and Gilly did so. But before a single Hoodlum had fallen to his gun’s fire, a concussion rocked the chamber. Something metal punched through its ceiling, landing before the Hoodlum soldiers. They stopped in surprise, rifles trained on it, whatever it was. The robot rose to its feet, hands raised before it.
“What the hell...” Bloodgrey said.
The Hoodlums opened fire on Eggman’s new robot, but it was too quick, leaping into the air and setting them on fire with flames from its metal, floating hands. With limbless grace it flowed among them, annihilating them both by hand and with its onboard weapons. A Hoodboom attempted to throw a grenade at it, only for the metal warrior to dodge sideways and the bomb to blast two other Hoodlums. The Hoodboom tried again, but this time the robot caught the grenade and threw it back.
Soon, only the Spineroo was left. It tried with clumsy force to crush the robot, but it slid feet-first underneath the Hoodlum’s spinning arms, taking its legs out and causing it to land flat on its face in a gloriously flailing, clumsy fashion. The robot jumped onto its back, grabbed the skirts of the Spineroo’s chain mail, and with an awful, ear-rending screech, tore a large strip straight out of the steel rings, from head to toe.
The robot somersaulted off its back, and the Hoodlum climbed to its feet, armour now hanging off its shoulders. A large gun unfolded from the ‘O’ in the automaton’s torso, barrel glowing red with energy as it charged. The Spineroo tried to run, but a large propulsion of energy erupted from the robot’s gun and slammed into the Hoodlum’s now bare back, blasting it apart.
CODEFS and the fairies attacked the limbless machine. Rotor blades unfolded from its head, spinning and carrying it upwards. It rose into the air, hands spread, and fired a last barrage at the Fairy Council’s forces before flying back through its own hole.
“What the hell was that?” Gilly yelled.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it was strong.” Lachimax gazed after it.
“It looked just like Rayman!” said Christian.
“Yes. But it’s a robot, and it’s on Eggman’s side.”

The limbless robot made its way further into the Council, towards the Heart of the World, silver skin glinting in the shroom-light. An orange ‘O’ glowed on its torso, and its eyes shone poison green. Its feet and hands floated free of its body, held in place by a complex magnetic field.
Metal Rayman.
The machine ran stealthily through the Council, taking in everything through the green-tinted sharpness of his digital eyes, powered by the red gem within his body.
Metal Rayman saw a sudden flash of blue light from around the corner. Detecting it as a potential threat, he reacted instantly, rolling into the hallway with his fists raised. Standing in the hallway was a person. Metal Rayman analysed his image, comparing it to detailed files in his database, and found a matching file.

Subject Name: Rayman
Species: Ray (Limbless Variant)
Known Abilities: Standard Silver Lum-induced Ray powers
Affiliation: Fairy Council
Status: Powerful and potentially dangerous

Metal Rayman also scanned emanations of energy from Rayman’s body, and concluded he was in possession of the blue Chaos Emerald.
ACTIVATE SECONDARY MISSION: OBTAIN EMERALD.
The robot attacked his living namesake.

Battle was raging above, around, and within the Fairy Council. In the skies, Eggman’s Egg Carrier and Dark Rayman’s ex-Pirate Flagship manoeuvred around each other, trading fire. On the ground, a grand melee royale was taking place between Eggman’s robots and Dark Rayman’s Hoodlums. And inside the Council, the fairies and their allies battled to maintain control of the place.
Within the Flagship, Dark Rayman sensed a disturbance in the Force (just kidding). He felt the presence of two Chaos Emeralds below him, within the Council, but held by two separate, and, if his guess was correct, battling, entities.
Perfect, he thought in his opportunistic mind. He could easily take advantage of this situation.
So he left the Flagship on autopilot (quite a sophisticated autopilot, to, as it was built by Robo-Pirates, experts in artificial intelligence) and left for the fight below.

This is the day from hell, thought Rayman as Metal Rayman leapt at him.
First, he had been kidnapped by a psychopathic egomaniacal scientist. Second, he had been captured and forced to destroy yet another outbreak of two deadly biologically engineered species. And then, he had fallen down a volcanic shaft while doing battle with his dark copy. And now, now, a robot that had been built to look like him was assaulting him.
Rayman rolled out of the robot’s path, and Metal Rayman skidded to a halt on the stone floor. The machine turned its head towards Rayman, and for a moment they glared at each other. Then Metal Rayman swivelled to face his blueprint directly and held his hands up, firing white pulses from the steel palms. Rayman leapt into the air, somersaulting over the robot’s head, landing behind it and tossing an energy ball at its back. But it was quick, spinning to swipe the ball aside with its hand. Metal Rayman then punched Rayman across the nose, knocking him, sprawling, to the ground. Metal Rayman curved his hand into a fist, and an orange blade of energy sprang from it. He raised it above his head to strike at the true Rayman, who rolled out of the way just as the blade came down, springing to his feet. Metal Rayman swung at him horizontally, narrowly missing his stomach. With the same motion, he swivelled and kicked his organic counterpart in the chest. He continued to strike at Rayman with his fists and feet, driving him back into a corner. Then he drew back his hand, balled it into a metal fist, and drove it straight at Rayman’s chest.
But Rayman caught the fist with both hands, holding it between them. They began to glow with yellow energy. Rayman looked his robotic doppelganger in the eye. Then he turned to face the corner and threw Metal Rayman over his shoulder headlong into it. The robot smashed against the wall with a deafening clang, sliding to the ground, where Rayman twice curb-stomped his head. But Metal Rayman stood on his hands, twirling to kick Rayman thrice in the face, then swiping his feet out from under him with his hand and flipping onto his own feet. Rayman fell to the ground, and Metal Rayman gripped him by the nose and swung him against the wall. Rayman fell to the ground, but used his hands to launch himself feet-first against the automaton’s torso, knocking him backwards. Rayman’s momentum carried him forwards into a roll, and onto his feet. He turned to face Metal Rayman...
BOOM!
Something black crashed through the ceiling, knocking both of the opponents to the ground. Rayman scrambled back to his feet to see the black blob form into Dark Rayman, smiling in contempt.
“You again?! What does it take to kill you?”
Metal Rayman scanned the newcomer, bringing up another file.

Subject Name: Dark Rayman
Species: N/A (Limbless Shade)
Known Abilities: Manipulation of dark energy, control of shadow-associated creatures, Chaos powers
Affiliation: Veurtoya
Status: Dangerous, especially with Chaos Emerald. Do NOT allow to obtain an Emerald at any cost.

The three Raymans, Dark, Metal, and true, circled each other, each eyeing the other two warily, searching for an opening.
It was Dark Rayman who moved first, coming at the robot with a sword of shadows in his hand. Metal Rayman blocked it with his own energy blade, slicing back at the shade’s body. The two duelled with their blades for a few moments, giving Rayman an opportunity to try and sneak away. But Dark Rayman pulled him back with a surge of invisible force. Rayman narrowly avoided being impaled by the dark blade, sliding underneath it to kick Dark Rayman’s feet out from under him. As the two wrestled on the ground, Metal Rayman flew up and out through the hole Dark Rayman had so obligingly created. Dark Rayman wrested himself free and followed him. Rayman also jumped and climbed out of the hole, onto the rooftops of the Fairy Council.
The other two Raymans were already engaged in a midair battle, Metal Rayman flying with the use of air-jets in his hands and feet and the propeller on his head.
“Why am I the only one who can’t fly?” Rayman muttered as he charged a yellow ball of energy between his palms, electricity crackling through it as it reached its full size. He released it, and it flew through the air straighter than an arrow, taking Metal Rayman in the foot. He flew out of control, crashing into the stone roof of the Council. Dark Rayman followed, smashing straight into him. Rayman ran and tackled the shade off of the robot, pinning him to the ground. Metal Rayman did the same to him, standing over the living version of himself. He lifted his foot, and rows of metal spikes popped out of its sole, creating a very dangerous stomping tool. Rayman rolled out of the way just as it came down where his head was, then again as Metal Rayman took a kick at his body. Dark Rayman pushed the machine away with a ball of purple energy. Metal Rayman hovered away, facing them, and began to fire pulse rounds at them rapidly. Rayman and Dark Rayman both ran at him, dodging and weaving, wasting their own projectiles at him, dodging and weaving, casting their own projectiles at him. When he was close enough, Rayman leapt high into the air and grabbed Metal Rayman’s foot, trying to weigh him down, but Eggman’s mechanical terror shook him off, launching him dozens of metres.
Dark Rayman and Metal Rayman hovered, facing each other. The robot opened its mouth, and Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik’s voice came out. “You have lost, shade,” he said, addressing Dark Rayman. “Your army is all but diminished. My machines are even now rounding up the last of your pathetic forces. Your fossil relic of a ship is falling apart at the seams. Soon I will have taken the Fairy Council, and with it the Heart of the World. I shall retrieve the rest of the Chaos Emeralds then, and bind your master to me with them. Finally, the Eggman Empire will come to be, built with a God’s power! I shall rule two worlds, and then more, and eventually the entire galaxy!”
Eggman’s reverie was broken by a deep, harsh laugh. Dark Rayman was laughing in the Doctor’s proverbial face.
“I would not be so sure, scientist,” he spat the word scientist as though it was a curse. “My master cannot be tamed. Make the attempt, and you will be destroyed in every possible way, even in some ways which are essentially impossible. And you are wrong about another thing. This battle is far from over.”
Dark Rayman raised his hands into the air, and a pulse swept across the battlefield. Eldrid creatures began to stir: large, black, hissing, furry creatures crawled in from the woods of the Fairy Glade. Spiders crawled from their dark holes in the ground. Huge Thorn Roots burst from the earth, writhing and swinging at the robots. The dark creatures swept through the battlefield, driving Eggman’s robots back.
“Damn!” Eggman cursed through Metal Rayman’s mouth, and then relinquished control of the mech. Metal Rayman attacked at once, assaulting Dark Rayman with everything in his arsenal, but the shade, telekinetically connected to Steelwill’s flagship, launched a laser strike from the ship. The Limbless robot was forced to flee, chased by a laser beam.
Dark Rayman laughed, laughed so hard that it could be heard across the Fairy Council.

Hmmm, doesn't really look like anyone's still reading this, but I'll keep posting it anyway.

I'm reading it and I love it. I would hate if you stopped.

Lachimax wrote:Hmmm, doesn't really look like anyone's still reading this, but I'll keep posting it anyway.

As I keep saying, don't think I'm not reading it just because I've stopped commenting. It's still great, I just get a little bored of saying so.

Thanks, guy. Sorry to bug you. :p

Chapter 19: Super

The Fairy Council

Sonic, Shadow and Raylina appeared on the Fairy Council’s lawn just as the Hoodlums began their resurgence with the aid of the dark creatures. The bulk of Eggman’s forces were retreating into a giant wedge, his spider contraption in the centre. Of course, Eggman spotted his arch nemesis instantly. “Sonic!” his voice rang out across the lawn. “Get him!”
His assembled Egg Pawns turned towards them.
“Raylina, stay here,” Sonic said. “We Hedgehogs’ll handle this little mess here.”
Eggman’s vehicle fired a large, blue beam at them. All three of them leapt out of the way, and Sonic and Shadow hit the ground running. They accelerated, running straight at the droids as one. As they ran, Shadow skating across the ground, the two of them looked at each other, and nodded.
Then they reached the robots, and there was carnage.
The machines smashed into little bits as the Hedgehogs swept through them, both curled and uncurled, towards Eggman. They fell like trees in a violent storm, like houses before a tsunami. Shadow and Sonic were like black and blue blurs, too fast for the bots to do anything against, running and dodging and rolling and jumping with reactions no other living creature could match. With skill born from so many battles against the Doctor’s troops, they broke a path through his army, leaving a trail of sparking wreckage in their wake. Like a knife through butter, they cut into the centre of the troops, straight to Eggman’s macjine.
“Give it up, Eggman!” Sonic called, as he skidded to a halt. “You’re finished! Give us the last Emerald, and we’ll be on our way!”
Eggman chuckled. “Oh, Sonic, always ruining my fun. Not this time, though! Prepare to feel the wrath of my latest and greatest invention, the Egg Spider!”
The massive machine lifted a leg and brought it down with the intention of impaling Sonic, but of course he was too fast. Eggman fired a volley of pulse shots at the two Hedgehogs, then a plasma beam, sweeping the ground in front of them. Sonic jumped onto one of the legs as the tip pulled out of the ground, swinging onto the lowest joint, then shimmying up to the next one. He began to grind down the last length of leg towards the body, but the leg thudded back into the ground, knocking Sonic off.
Shadow jumped onto another leg, standing on a set of bars near the tip. He waited until the leg lifted him so that he was even with the spherical body, then jumped, leaping straight and true. But the Egg Spider shifted at the last moment. Shadow missed, falling to the ground, where he span into a ball and rolled quickly away as Eggman chased him with rapid firing from the twin pulse cannons.
The Hedgehogs, try as they might, could not get onto the Egg Spider’s main body to find and exploit a weakness. They were too quick for the Spider to hit, though, so it was stalemate.
But then, with a roar, the Fighting Squad warship flew overhead, bombs raining from its bomb bay. They flew straight over the Egg Spider, and a figure leapt from the deck of the warship and fell straight for the infernal machine.
The air rushed past Rayman’s face as he fell. As late as he could, he span his hair into a helicopter, floating gently towards the vehicle’s main body. Eggman tried to shoot him down, but he was too close already. Rayman grabbed the barrel of the Egg Spider’s plasma cannon, pulling himself onto it. He was looking directly into the cockpit, into Eggman’s eyes. He crawled along the cannon, jumped onto the body and found a small ledge to grip onto just below the windshield. He swung himself up so that he was standing in front of the cockpit, clinging to the glass. His fist glowing, he brought it down on the hardened glass, once, twice. On the third time, cracks spider-webbed from his fist’s impact. He hit it once more, and the glass smashed inwards. Eggman held a pistol pointed at his face. Rayman ducked out of sight just as he pulled the trigger. He climbed around the body, staying below the cockpit, to one of the legs. From the pack on his back he produced an explosive charge, given to him by CODEFS. He placed it on the point where the leg met the body, and it stuck there magnetically and began to beep. Rayman leapt clear, helicoptering to the ground. He landed and ran, diving to the ground just as the charge blew.
The entire Fairy Council watched in awe as the leg blew spectacularly free of its body, and the Egg Spider collapsed to the ground with a resounding crash.
Shadow walked up to the destroyed vehicle, pistol in hand. He jumped onto the cockpit to find Eggman cowering within. Placing the end of the gun squarely in the centre of his forehead, he said calmly, “The Emerald, if you please, Doctor.”
Shaking, Eggman handed Shadow the red Chaos Emerald. Shadow grinned, exposing his pointed teeth, and climbed down, tossing the gem to Sonic. He turned around to see Eggman standing, a remote control in his hand.
“Goodbye, old friend!” he yelled to Sonic. “Time for you to burn with the rest of your pitiful friends!” He pressed the button on the remote, and disappeared, teleported away.
“He’s going to fire the Eclipse Cannon!” said Sonic in shock. “He’s going to destroy the Council!”
The last few remaining Egg Pawns were currently being chased away by the Hoodlums and dark creatures, who were themselves leaving for another place. Raylina had just come over from where the Hedgehogs had left her. “Dad!” she cried, and hugged Rayman. “I’m glad you’re okay!”
Rayman smiled. “So am I, Ray-girl,” he said, using her pet name.
“We have to evacuate the Council!” she said worriedly, pulling away. Rayman shook his head, smiling. “Don’t worry, Ray-girl. I know what to do.”
Seven is a number of great power. Said to be the number of the Gods in religions hundreds of worlds over, and a lucky number in most cultures. Seven is the number of colours in the rainbow, the atomic number of nitrogen, which is the most common element in most breathable atmospheres. Seven is the sum of any two opposite sides on a standard six-sided die.
Seven is the number of Chaos Emeralds.
And a powerful number it is.
Rayman produced the blue Emerald, allowing it to float in the air in front of him. The other Emeralds floated from Sonic, Shadow and Raylina, glowing brightly.
They began to orbit around Rayman’s torso, spinning faster and faster: blue, white, green, red, yellow, cyan, purple. They span around Rayman, gathering speed, and then there was a sudden flash of gold-white light. It dissipated to reveal Rayman hovering above the ground, emitting a brilliant light. His purple shirt had turned golden, and the ‘O’ and his fists were shining like a sun. Golden sparks fell from his body like snow. Enormous energy filled him, flooding his very being. He could feel the power of all seven Emeralds flowing through him.
Super Rayman.
He ascended into the air, and flew upwards.
Towards the Space Colony Ark.

Eclipse Cannon Control Room, Space Colony Ark

Eggman rushed into the Control Room, beginning to throw switches and press buttons and throw switches. The column in the centre of the huge room began to hum.
Mr. Dark stormed into the control room, cloak billowing behind him as he stalked across the walkway. “Robotnik! What the hell are you doing?”
Without turning from the control console, Eggman clicked his fingers, and a containment field sprung up around the black-clad Limbless. Four bolts of electricity struck at Dark’s chest from the corners of the field from the ground. He yelled, hands spread-eagled. The Four Masks appeared, floating away from his body. They hovered over the walkway to Eggman, where he began inserting them in the power slots.
“No!” Dark yelled.
Eggman put the last Mask in its slot, and pushed the fire button.

Super Rayman flew through the vacuum of space, the pale hemisphere of the Ark growing in his field of vision.
The beak-like protrusion of the Eclipse Cannon on the bottom of the Ark folded open, ghostly green energy playing between the four prongs. The prongs opened completely, and a fully-powered beam fired from the centre of them. The beam shot through space, straight towards the besieged Fairy Council.
Super Rayman grinned and spread his hands, a nimbus of golden light appearing around him, as the Eclipse beam struck him instead of its intended target.
A weapon with the sheer destructive power to destroy a star hit him directly.
And had no effect.
The beam dissipated around him, and he kept on flying. As he drew nearer to the Colony, Eggman fired its defences at the Super, bolts of red energy shooting around him. He dodged with little effort, spinning and twisting with reflexes like the speed of light. He flew straight at the Ark, smashing a hole through the outer hull of the colossal space station. He shot up through a blue-walled shaft, large blast doors sliding shut in front of him, Eggman’s further attempts at slowing him. He smashed through them, one after the other, revelling at the sheer force of the gems within him. Super Rayman reached a small door in the side of the shaft He sensed two people inside. With a final crash, he broke through the door, into the long room beyond.
To see Ly, his partner and the love of his life, with a gun to her head.
A gun wielded by Doctor Eggman.
“Now, we have ourselves something of a stalemate, have we not, my Limbless friend?” He gestured grandly with his free hand, clearly ecstatic at having someone of such energy within his power. A tear slid down Ly’s cheek, past her green lips, as she smiled weakly. A pang tore at Rayman’s heart. Eggman drew the slide back on the pistol. “Now, release the Emeralds, and we can all walk away happily.”
Ly and Rayman looked into each others’ eyes. They knew each other, understood each other perfectly: seventeen years of intimate telepathic linkage had made sure of that. Ly knew how much Rayman loved her, how he could never live without her, that he would do whatever he had too to keep her alive. Ly knew that she could never convince him to leave her to Eggman’s mercy. She could only watch in sadness as Rayman landed lightly on the metal floor, and let the Emeralds go.
Power drained out of Rayman water from a pipe. His colour returned to normal, and the gems fell in a circle around him, landing with a resounding clang.
Replacing the power came despair. Now they were at Eggman’s mercy, for him to do what he wanted. And not even the Gods could guess at his plans.
“Now, bring them here.”
Rayman picked up two of the Emeralds and walked towards Eggman. As he walked, though, he saw a flicker of movement behind the Doctor. Something was hiding, sticking to the wall and blending into the blue metal. As he watched, a purple, lizard-like creature materialised, clinging to the wall with the pads on his fingertips.
The chameleon looked at Rayman, and winked.
Hiding his surprise, Rayman winked back.
The lizard-Mobian produced a metal shuriken, took aim carefully, and threw it.
The serrated disk took Eggman in the hand, throwing a small spray of blood from it. The gun dropped, and the Mobian’s tongue flicked out, quick as lightning, to pluck it from the air. Eggman howled in pain, clutching his injured hand. Rayman charged the fat Doctor, tackling him and pinning him to the ground. He drew back his fist and punched Eggman in the face with as much force as he could muster. There was a sickening crunch as his nose broke, and Robotnik’s howling took on a renewed vigour.
Rayman stood, brushing the blood from his shirt, and embraced Ly passionately.
The two stood in each others’ embrace for over a minute, wordlessly communicating their relief and joy at being reunited. Then there was a small cough behind Rayman. He let Ly go, and turned to find no less than eight Mobians standing there.
The purple-skinned Espio the Chameleon, curved horn protruding from his nose, who had just saved Ly’s life.
The dual-tailed Miles “Tails” Prower, whose mechanical knowledge and skill matched Eggman’s.
The aptly named Knuckles the Echidna, last of his tribe, whose fists were crowned with two spikes on each hand.
Rouge the Bat, Shadow’s companion and master treasure hunter.
E-123 Omega, a sentient robot constructed by Eggman, and Shadow’s other friend.
Charmy Bee, the enthusiastic detective and second member of Team Chaotix, alongside Espio.
Vector the Crocodile, the muscles of Team Chaotix and strongest guy around.
And, finally, Amy Rose, Sonic’s self-proclaimed girlfriend.
There was a sudden burst of blue light, and Sonic, Shadow, and Raylina appeared. There was a squeal, a flash of pink, and Sonic was practically tackled by Amy.
Raylina ran across to Rayman and Ly, threw herself around the both of them. “You’ll never believe what’s been happening, mum.”
Ly smiled. I know, sweetheart. We’re so proud of you.
Rouge, Shadow and Omega walked over to them from where they were standing. “Hello, Raylina,” said Rouge with a smile. “I’m Rouge, and this is Omega,” she gestured at the large, black, red, yellow and silver robot. “We’re Shadow’s friends.”
Raylina gave Rouge an once-over, enviously eyeing her perfect legs, hips and breasts. Now, Raylina wasn’t too small in the chest department herself, but if this was her competition, she was going to have to step up her game. She shook Rouge’s hand, then reached up and undid an extra button on her shirt, revealing just that little bit of cleavage.
“How did you guys get here?” asked Sonic, Tails and Knuckles taking their places beside him.
“Eggman has a teleporter rigged up between here and Mobius,” Tails said. “That’s how he got the Space Colony Ark here.”
“GUN has been running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out where it went,” Knuckles added.
“Where is Eggman?” asked Sonic.
“Over here!” called Vector, who was holding the scientist still. “What do we do with him?”
“Keep him, for now,” said Shadow. “We’ll decide what to do with him later. But right now we have to find out what he was using to power the Cannon.”

Super Rayman/Super Sonic - Live & Learn by Crush 40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9zZus_1_ag

One of the best Sonic songs ever, written and performed by Crush 40, of course. It was both the main theme and Super Sonic/Super Shadow's theme in Sonic Adventure 2.

Ooookay, I'll be as honest as possible here. Though I like the chapter a lot, also because you played upon the 'Super Rayman' idea I had when thinking of my own Sonic/Rayman crossover ages ago, I must point out something that utterly destroyed the reading experience for me. Those would be, the character pictures. Now, I'd have absolutely no problem with you linking them here or there, or just adding a '*' to the character name and add the link at the end of the chapter, but putting them straight in the middle of the sentences breaks the reading experience more than enough to make it hard to get back into it later on. That said, another solid chapter though nonetheless and I'm interested to see how you'll proceed from this point onwards.

Thanks for the honesty, Zay-el! I'm thinking I might take the pictures out.

Chapter 20: Blood Dark

Rayman ran to the Cannon Control room, the Mobians, Ly and Rayman behind him. He reached the huge room quickly, skidding to a halt on the walkway. In the middle of the walkway, midway between the door and the control panel in the centre, stood a figure in a black cloak, his back to them.
“Dark?” Rayman called. He turned. “What are you doing here?” Rayman’s eyes narrowed. “Were you working...with Eggman?”
The other Ray bowed his head. “Do not judge me, Rayman. I work only towards the greater good.”
Rayman’s eyes widened. “How...how did you power the Cannon?”
Mr. Dark raised his hand, palm up, and the Four Masks of Polokus appeared floating above it. “Remarkable objects, these Masks. Just as powerful as the Chaos Emeralds, and they just happen to fit perfectly in the slots designed for the Emeralds. But of course this is not mere chance,”
Rayman’s eyes widened further. “But, why? Why are you helping Eggman?”
“Mutual benefit. You must understand, Rayman, I did what I did only for this world, for our species. For years our race has deteriorated in the Fairy Council’s shadow, but a shade of what it once was!” His eyes glowed from beneath his hat, the rest of his face in shadow. “Rayman, I can rejuvenate our people. I have found a way to resurrect the Rays!”
Rayman’s mind was running at a thousand miles an hour. “How?”
“When the Ancients laid themselves to rest at the centre of this world, they took with them many of their chosen protectors: the Rays. Thousands, perhaps millions of our kind lay buried in a separate crypt deep within the earth, frozen in stasis. And there is a way to free them. For years, I have been studying the structure of the so-called Tomb of the Ancients. The whole valley the buildings lie in is a massive receptor, a device with which to raise the crypt of the Rays, devised by the Ancients themselves. But it needs huge, huge amounts of energy to activate...”
“Which is why you need the Ark. The Eclipse Cannon,” Rayman realised. Dark nodded. “But just the Masks is not enough. I need the Emeralds as well.”
A huge realisation hit Rayman. “You... you’ve been planning this from the start! You sent Dark Rayman to Mobius to get the Emeralds, didn’t you? You brought Eggman here. You made Dark Rayman create the Hoodlums...” But Dark shook his head. “No. Dark Rayman has never been completely under my control. He was created by his master, never by me. I merely used him all those years ago to try and stop you, and while it is true that I resurrected him to retrieve the Emeralds, I did not anticipate how powerful and independent he could become. The one he serves is a powerful master.”
And who does he serve?”
Dark hesitated. “A rogue God. Veurtoya, the Black Spirit,”
“What?”
Veurtoya is one of many rogue Gods, created not through the Ancients’ intentions by the normal Lums, but by the free will of the Black Lums. The Leptys and Solaris are two other such Gods. But the Leptys is relatively benign, or at least intends no direct harm. Solaris wished only to consume and destroy and consume. But when Veurtoya was formed by the Dark Lums’ energy, they infused him with both their intelligence and their desire to dominate. His dearest wish is to rule the universe, a feat even the Ancients did not wish to achieve.
“There has been a hierarchy ever since the dawn of creation. The Ancients created the Lums. The Lums made the Gods. The Gods crafted life. The Gods have always had to abide by strict laws set by the Ancients. One of these is to not interfere with another God’s work. The rogue Gods circumvent these laws through the very nature of their birth. They may attack normal Gods without fear of retaliation, for they are unable to disobey the Ancients’ laws. So if Dark Rayman releases Veurtoya from his prison with the Emeralds, as has been his goal all along, he will take this planet for himself.”
“And you never factored that into your grand scheme. So how are we supposed to stop Veurtoya?”
Mr. Dark shrugged. “Once the Rays have returned, we will be able to crush such issues with ease.”
Shadow called from behind Rayman. “And how do you plan to do that without obliterating this planet? The Four Masks together are the equivalent of the seven Emeralds together. I can see that, clear as day, from here. With all eleven of them powering the Eclipse Cannon together, it will have enough sheer force to crumble several stars at once,”
“The Tomb of the Ancients will absorb most of the energy,”
“But what of that which remains? Surely even the smallest fraction of such a power would be enough to devastate hundreds of square miles at the very least.”
Dark’s eyes narrowed. “It is possible. But that is surely a small price to pay next to the return of our people, Rayman! We are amongst the last of the Rays, and you, Raylina and I are three of the four fairy-empowered Rays left. Would you not like to see our kind return to rule this world as they once did? This is our only hope for such an outcome.”
A silent struggle raged within Rayman. “But... hundreds of people will die.”
“To be replaced by the noblest species in the universe!”
Rayman’s internal struggle drew to a close, replaced by grim resolution.
“No.”
“What?”
“No. I cannot allow this to happen.”
“It is your duty as the Chosen One to protect and nurture your species!”
“It is my duty to protect all of the creatures of this world. Not to selfishly put my race’s interests ahead of those of this planet,” Rayman brought his glowing hands up into a combat-ready stance. “Now give me the Masks.”
Dark bowed his head. “So be it,” he muttered. Then he addressed all of them. “Rayman, you have grown sentimental and foolish in your increasing age. You have become too attached to other species, too narrow minded to see the bigger picture. No longer are you fit to choose what is best for this world. Rayman, I challenge your right as Chosen One. It is time for a new order,” The Four Masks began to revolve slowly around his body.
“Now stand down, or be destroyed.”
Rayman shook his head, the Chaos Emeralds appearing in a circle around him. “It is you who have become foolish, Dark.”
Mr. Dark used the Masks as Rayman had the Emeralds, drawing and focusing on their energy, letting them become him. They picked up speed, orbiting around his body. Then they disappeared in a flash of blood-red light, and Mr. Dark was transformed.
His cloak, billowing in a non-existent wind, had turned a dark red, as had his hat. His hands glowed with a pale, crimson light, yet his face remained in shadow.
Mr. Dark’s super form.
Blood Dark.
Rayman absorbed the Emeralds, becoming Super Rayman. The tow of them rose into the air together, the gold and the red, the light and the shadow, who had once been mortal enemies, had fought alongside each other, had nearly become friends. Two true Limbless Rays, the sorcerer and the hero, pitted against each other in a mortal battle for the power of the Gods.
The two Rays flew at each other, creating a large explosion as they met. Dark gripped Rayman and through with enormous force. The last few Mobians got out of the way just as he crashed straight through the walkway, thudding into the wall beneath. He hovered forwards again, a large ball of crackling, golden light in his hands. He threw it at Blood Dark, but the sorcerer dodged, countering with a bolt of shadow energy. Dark sped at Rayman, hitting him and carrying them both straight through the wall. The two wrestled in the air, crashing through walls of steel as though they were no more than paper. Through service corridors and recreation areas, through power plants and weapons stations they battled, tearing the Colony apart from the inside. They were evenly matched: Dark’s form was augmented by his sorcerer’s powers, but Rayman was a Hero of the Ancients, powered by the Gods’ will.
The two of them crashed into some sort of huge water tank, turned rancid from years of abandonment. They hovered above the green-coated liquid, throwing power at each other. Dark sped at Rayman, but instead of tackling him again, danced around him and beat at him with hands crackling with red electricity. Rayman blocked a punch with his palm, spinning to punch Dark in the gut. Dark kicked Rayman away, crossed his hands across his chest, and exploded into crimson flames, a blood-red blade of fire in his hand. Again he rushed at Rayman, but he slipped under the sword and grabbed Blood Dark’s cloak. With immense strength, he threw the sorcerer straight down into the unclean water. Steam burst from the pool in massive clouds, evaporated instantly by the heat of Dark’s flames. Rayman shot down after him, through the boiling water, and Dark surged towards him through it. The water raged turbulently around them as Dark used the steam, casting clouds of it at Rayman. He swept the vapour away, waves of water surging around them, and flew at the dark Limbless, grabbing him by the torso. In each others’ grip, they shot straight through several more walls, punched through a blast door, and into open space.
Their momentum carried them to just below the massive pyramid of the Eclipse Cannon, casting their energies against each other as they flew. Outside the station, Rayman could appreciate just how truly colossal the Ark was. It was like a half-moon, one made from millions of tonnes of steel, titanium and stone. And it had been made not by Gods, not by nature, but by humans, an achievement which surely outweighed any other mortal victory.
The two Rays face off in the Shadow of the Space Colony, floating dozens of metres apart. Like two miniature suns themselves, they lit up the flat bottom of the Ark with their red and gold light.
Dark spoke into Rayman’s mind, yellow eyes piercing the shadows cast by his hat. Rayman, you must see! It is not too late to free our people! We could live in a mighty, free nation, in the company of our own race! We could rule them together, you and I, lords of a great empire!
Rayman shook his head. No. It is not my place to rule, nor yours. And you have seen how the Rays are able to interbreed with other species. My daughter is a tribute to that. That is our salvation, not the destruction of hundreds of lives!
You would taint our noble blood, have the Rays become mutant freaks?
Not taint, improve! She still retains all of the characteristics of a Ray, as well as the sensitivity of a fairy! That is our species great gift. We can keep what makes us Ray and still assimilate the best parts of other races. And your refusal to do so is part of what caused us to decline in the first place. A refusal of anything new!
You are mistaken.
No, Dark. It is you who are mistaken. About a great many things.
And so they attacked.
With raw energy, the two Rays flew at each other. Quicker than any living eye could follow, they fought, the sheer fury of their battle casting energy far and wide. With unsolicited power they struck and slashed and threw. Both burned with intense flames, red and gold, as they struggled for dominance.
Dark slashed at Rayman with a blade of red light, and Rayman blocked with a golden sword of his own. They duelled with speed and strength unmatched by any other living being, floating in that vacuum. And then, timed to perfection, both released their swords and unleashed vortexes of power from between their hands. Dark’s red met Rayman’s gold between them, raging with might. They stood in stalemate, their energies burning against each other. But then a surge of power burst through Rayman. His golden light pushed Dark’s red back to him, inch by inch, conquering the shadow power. The gold reached Dark, and burned through him, pulsing through every extremity of his body. With a sudden thrill of fear, Dark knew he had lost.
And he saw the error of his ways.
Rayman cut his stream of golden energy off, then reached deep inside himself. Doing what he had done beneath the Summit Beyond the Clouds, he yelled with his mind: Chaos...Thunder!
Huge amounts of electrical energy began to build up, using the entire megastructure of the Space Colony Ark as a conductor. Electricity crackled in huge waves across its metal body, preparing for Rayman’s will.
Super Rayman pointed at the blood-red for of Dark, and an enormous bolt of lightning struck from the Colony, drawing on vast reserves of static electricity. It drove straight into Blood Dark’s flying body, blasting him with raw energy.
The red drained from Dark’s clothes. His body lost its light. With a final sigh, he fell, as though in slow motion, towards the planet below.
With the very last of his strength, he broadcast a final piece of advice to Rayman’s mind: To defeat Veurtoya, you must summon... the Heroes.
Then he was gone.

Rayman floated back into the Ark, sealing the holes he had blasted through it as he went. He landed on the walkway in the Cannon control room, releasing the Emeralds. He let out a sad sigh, and walked across to Ly.
She saw the regret in his eyes. “You did what you had to do,” she spoke aloud. Rayman nodded. “He had to be stopped. But he was not evil. He did only what he thought he had to. And he felt remorse towards the end. I saw it in him.”
Rayman produced the Four Masks, which had been transferred to his body when he defeated Dark. He handed Sonic the Air Mask, Shadow the Fire Mask, Raylina the Water Mask, and kept the Earth Mask for himself.

The defeated Mr. Dark fell through space, the last of his magic instinctively keeping him barely alive in the vacuum, gravity pulling him slowly towards the Crossroads of Dreams. His home.
Dark had found peace within himself. No longer did he yearn for power. No longer did he wish to rule an empire of his own people. He understood now the wrong he had wrought on his planet. And he regretted it. But there was no changing that now. Now was a time for peaceful contemplation as his life ebbed away.
As he began to lose consciousness, he felt metal hands grasp his body. Through the shadows that clouded his eyes, he saw a face, like Rayman’s, but made from metal.
Hallucination, he thought happily. Death greets me with open arms now.

Blood Dark vs. Super Rayman – With Me ~Massive Power Mix~ By Crush 40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMN8Qybd74

This is a cover of With Me by Crush 40, the original of which was the theme of the final battle in Sonic and the Black Knight. I thought this suited the Super battle rather well.

Somehow I don't think he's hallucinating...

Lachimax wrote:Rayman ran to the Cannon Control room, the Mobians, Ly and Rayman behind him.

Since when are there two Raymans?
Wait, Mr. Dark dies? What a sad ending.

Whoops, slight typo. That was meant to be Raylina.
And yes, he was not halucinating.

Chapter 21: Heroes

Space Colony Ark

“Explain to me again, Tails,” Sonic said as the group of Mobians and Crossroads-dwellers walked through the Ark. “How did you get here?”
“Well, the same way Eggman did. He was using a teleportation channel between here and Mobius, with one heck of a matter-acceleration yield, big enough to move the entire Ark from light years away. He used the Master Emerald to power it,”
“Wait! The Master Emerald is here?”
Knuckles nodded. “The bastard took it from me again. It’s on the Ark, presumedly. We need to find it soon... hang on, where is Eggman?”
Everyone span to look at Vector the Crocodile, who looked almost surprised to find he was no longer holding the Doctor. “Um... I don’t know!”
“Ah, crap,” said Shadow. “He must have escaped while we were watching the fireworks. Damn it! He always gets away.”
What is the Master Emerald?” asked Rayman.
Knuckles explained. “The Master Emerald is a powerful gem, protected by my people for thousands of years. It is equal in strength to all seven Chaos Emeralds, and can either enhance or negate their power.”
“But, wait,” said Raylina. “Isn’t the reason Dark Rayman wanted the Emeralds to free Veurtoya?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” her father replied.
“But doesn’t that mean he can use the Master Emerald instead?”
Sonic’s eyes widened. “Uh-oh...” He was cut off as Shadow cried out. “He’s here, I can feel him!”
“That’s very, very bad...”

The party ran into Eggman’s large teleportation room, sliding to a halt, to find Dark Rayman floating far above them, with the huge, green gem of the Master Emerald hovering in front of him. “I would like to thank you for your kind donation to my master’s cause,” he taunted, his voice echoing across the room. “He will be most pleased.”
“Rayman!” Sonic yelled, and the Emeralds appeared around the Ray’s torso. But they had lost their glow, no longer shining with internal light. Rayman could feel no power from them. He cursed.
“He is using the Master Emerald to block their power!” Shadow called. “They’re useless for now!”
Dark Rayman pointed at them, and a bolt of purple lightning struck at them. They scattered as tendrils of dark energy began to tear out of the floor, reaching for prey. Shadows spread across the floor, searching them out.
“You can’t do any good here!” Sonic yelled to Amy over the roar of Dark Rayman’s attacks. “Get the others out together and get out of here!”
“But I wanna help!” Amy yelled, just as another bolt of lightning struck nearby.
“It’s too dangerous! Now go!”
Shadow, Raylina and Rayman were having a hard time dodging Dark Rayman’s attacks, but the truth was, he was toying with them. With the Master Emerald, he could crush them in moments if he so chose. But Veurtoya had instilled in him a sadistic pleasure for the pain of others, and so he had no intention of letting them die quickly.
As Shadow slid across the floor, pursued by black tentacles, he realised the Mask Rayman had given him, the Fire Mask, was still emanating power. The Master Emerald only affects the Chaos Emeralds, he realised. “Sonic! The Masks!” he called. Sonic’s eyes widened in realisation. Shadow was about to toss his to Sonic, when Dark Rayman made un upward gesture and a wall of dark spikes sprung up between them. Raylina tried as well, but was knocked to the ground by a blast of air and quickly entombed in shadows. Rayman, though, instead of throwing his, warped to just in front of Sonic with Chaos Control. The Hedgehog swiped it from his hand as he ran past, and a tentacle took Rayman in its grip.
Shadow spikes were erupting from the ground all around Sonic as he ran, but with reflexes like lightning he dodged them all. Shadow used his Mask to warp up to Dark Rayman’s position near the ceiling, Chaos Blast him, then quickly warp back to the ground and toss his Mask to Sonic.
Raylina struggled with the dark material that had her in its grip. She tore at it with glowing hands, but it continually regenerated and wrapped itself around her. Rayman was in a similar position, roaring in frustration as the tentacles flowed around him. But then, a silver light began to glow around him, emanating from the ‘O’ on his shirt. Ly contacted him, their minds connected: Remember how to use these things? Rayman smiled, the Silver Lum’s energy flowing through him.
He tore straight through his shadows, hovered into the air, empowered by Ly’s thoughts and the artificial Lum she had sent, and shot towards Raylina, silver energy swirling around his hands and chest. Firing a beam of silver light into the shadows, he freed her. She threw the water Mask to him, and he shot towards Sonic, dropping it to him. Sonic caught it on the run, and all of a sudden he had all four. Using them as he would the seven Emeralds, they span around his body and then disappeared in a flash of light. His fur changed, turning golden, his spikes pointed upwards, and his eyes turned red, transforming into Super Sonic.
He smiled.
He and Silver Rayman flew straight at Dark Rayman. The shade slid to the side, causing Super Sonic to ram into the ceiling, only to collide into Rayman, who punched a silver fist into his gut. Dark Rayman tossed a ball of shadow at Sonic as the golden hedgehog turned to fly at him, but he blocked it with a gloved hand and curled into a ball, grinding into the shadowed Limbless. The three of them fought in the air, silver, golden and black power striking at them. The two Heroes’ grins soon turned to grimaces, however, as Dark Rayman began to dominate them both. “Why...” Sonic said as he kicked Dark Rayman against a wall. “Won’t...” he pounded him with his fists. “You...just...die!” We’ve killed you enough times!”
Technically, Dark Rayman and Super Sonic were evenly matched power-wise, with Dark Rayman wielding the Master Emerald and Sonic with all Four Masks of Polokus. But Dark Rayman had far more knowledge on how to use that power, meaning he could handle both Super Sonic and the weaker Silver Rayman with ease. Soon, he had them both at his mercy, wrapped in cocoons of shadows, struggling to break free.
But he didn’t kill them, as he so easily could have.
“Goodbye, Hedgehogs, Rays,” he called, speaking to all four of them, Shadow and Raylina in cocoons of their own on the ground. “Enjoy life under my Master’s rule.”
And with that, he disappeared, taking the Master Emerald with him.

“We’re screwed,”
“Way to maintain a positive outlook, Knuckles,”
“Just saying it how it is, Miles. Or do you think you can take on a God by yourself in that tin-can plane of yours?”
“Hey, leave him alone!”
“Oh, don’t you start, pinky. You and your oversized hammer. Where do you keep that thing, anyway? Sure as hell ain’t know pockets in that dress.”
Amy blushed, but Rouge came to her aid. “She’s right, Knuckles. We have to stay united, or all is lost,”
“Oh, sorrrrrry, bat-girl. Who put you in charge, anyway?”
“Knuckles, will you shut it!?”
Sonic was pacing up and down, unable to hold still, pausing only to shout at Knuckles. Rayman was seated in a corner, head in his hands, lost in thought. Shadow was examining the brown Fire Mask intently, alongside the red Emerald. Raylina sat with her mother, both with expressions on their faces. The rest of the Mobians were sitting in various positions, bickering.
“Summon the Heroes...” Rayman muttered. He knew all of these people, somehow. Tails, Knuckles, Rouge... somehow he knew them and their various strengths and weaknesses. They had come to him the moment Raylina had handed him a Chas Emerald at the Fairy Council, what seemed like years ago now. Somehow, this knowledge had already been innate inside him.
“Sonic’s brow creased, interest triggered by the term “Heroes”.
“What was that, Rayman?”
“Hey, Omega,” Vector called to the hulking robot in his slow, nasal voice. “What do you do to work out? You got great biceps.”
Knuckles turned to the crocodile, annoyance on his face. “He’s a robot, you absolute dipsh...”
“Hey! Leave him be,” Espio said in his calm, quiet voice. “He never did anything wrong. He’s just a little slow on the uptake.” He patted Vector affectionately on the back.
“Yeah! So back off!” squeaked Charmy.
Sonic ignored all of this, walking to Rayman. “What is it, buddy?”
Rayman held his head clutched in his hands, forehead screwed up. Images flooded his mind, put there seemingly by divine providence. “WQe can do it!” he said suddenly, looking at the Hedgehog, excitement spreading across his face. “Bring the Heroes here!”
Sonic’s eyes widened as the same thoughts and pictures entered his mind. The faceless, green-armoured soldier... the free man who was not free... time’s hero, the boy with the pointed ears... the metal warrior who knows love... the consumer of fungus, explorer of pipes...
“Yes!” Sonic cried. “We have two sets...”
Rayman leapt to his feet. “...of Hero’s Tokens. The Masks of Polokus...”
“...and the Chaos Emeralds. We can use them...”
“...to bring five other Heroes here, making seven...”
“...to defeat Veurtoya!”
“Yes!”
By this time, all argument around them had ceased. Everyone’s eyes were upon the two.
“What are you two on about?” asked Rouge.
Everything had become perfectly clear to Sonic and Rayman.
“We need to get planetside,” Rayman said.
“Then what?” Tails asked.
Sonic turned to him. “Then, we kick some divine ass.”

The Land of the Livid Dead

The seven Chaos Emeralds were laid out in a circle, balanced on their points. Within that circle were the Four Masks of Polokus, arranged in a cross with the ends touching. Sonic and Rayman stood on either side of this pattern, eyes closed, arms spread(except in Rayman’s case). The others looked on in silence, waiting, for what they didn’t know.

The call went out, travelling through time, space, and even into other realities, sent by the combined power of Masks and Emeralds. Five heroes chosen by the Gods answered the call, from five different worlds.

Mario

Bowser’s Castle, The Mushroom Kingdom

The red-clad plumber gazed into the bubbling lava, as the King of Koopas disappeared once more into the fiery depths. Bowser would return, of course, as he always did. And the suspender-wearing Mario would defeat him once again. This was a routine that had been firmly established through Bowser’s many dozens of attempts at kidnapping Peach and taking over the Kingdom. It seemed Mario and Bowser were doomed to continue this battle until they both grew old and tired.
Mario tweaked his moustache, removed his cap, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Then he disappeared, taken from his land by a flash of blue light.

Link

Ordon Village, Hyrule (Twilight Princess Era)

“Must you leave so suddenly?” cried Illia, embracing the Hero of Time.Link nodded reluctantly, sliding the Master Sword, blade of Evil’s Bane, into its sheath, and then strapping it across his back. He took his floppy, green cap from its place at their bedside and placed it atop his head.
“Well,” said Illia, smiling and wiping a tear from her eye. “You certainly look the part,”
Link took her one last time in his gauntleted arms, then left the house and climbed into the saddle of Epona, the chestnut mare who had born him across all of Hyrule and back. She whinnied in delight at his presence, turning to the forest path.
“Be careful,” whispered Illia.
“Yah!” shouted Link, and Epona galloped towards the Faron Woods. Barely one hundred metres down the path, they disappeared into the depths of Chaos Control.

Mega Man

Earth, Year 200X

The blue-armoured robot dodged a laser blast from his opponent, ducking into cover behind a steel protrusion. Bolts of energy flew overhead, fired from the opposing Robot Master’s fists. Mega Man gripped the gun fitted to his arm, a ball of energy growing at the end of the barrel. His eyes hardened, and he stood up, fired his laser at the Dr. Wily-designed robot...
And disappeared with a discharge of blue light.

Master Chief

Aboard the Forward Unto Dawn

“Chief? Wake up, Chief,”
Cortana’s feminine voice broke through the cold sleep.
Master Chief Petty Officer 117’s eyes blinked open on the inside of his MJOLNIR armour. He instantly became alert, his biologically enhanced body warming slowly. He slid from his cryo pod, floating lightly through the zero gravity. He gazed around the ship. Or rather, the half a ship.
“Sleep well?”
Chief turned to see the miniature, blue hologram of a short-haired woman, the visual representation of his AI and friend, Cortana. She smiled at him, hands on her digital hips, one eyebrow raised.
“Very well, no thanks to your driving,” he replied. “What’s happening?”
“You told me to wake you when I needed you,” Cortana answered, her simulated lips moving in perfect imitation of human speech. “Well, I think someone may need you,”
She gestured at a flashing computer console.
“A distress signal. Not UNSC, Covenant, or even Forerunner,”
Chief glanced at the flashing light. He had a strange feeling in his gut, an instinct: They had to answer this call. He smiled briefly beneath his golden, polarized faceplate. “Let’s go,”
He ejected Cortana’s chip from the console, inserting it into the back of his helmet. She appeared once again as an image inside of his faceplate.
Without warning, the two of them disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Gordon Freeman

City 17

“It seems, Mr. Freeman, that you are once again required elsewhere. Fear not: you shall return in time to aid your friends in the Resistance. Alyx and Barney and all the others can wait, I am sure.
Ah, this detour was not included in my designs, I will admit. Like that time your cycloptic friends stole you from my grasp. But this time I must bow to a power higher than myself, astounding as it may seem that one exists.
“Rest assured, Doctor, you will return to smashing Combine in no time at all.
“On the other side, Mr. Freeman.”

Land of the Livid Dead

The five appeared simultaneously around the Emerald circle. Master Chief 117, an assault rifle in his hands, his face obscured by a polarised faceplate.
Gordon Freeman, crowbar in hand, green eyes telling a long story of pain and regret behind his glasses.
Link, Hero of Time, wielding the Blade of Evil’s Bane alongside an intricately decorated Hylian Shield.
Mega Man, blue armour glinting in the morning light.
Mario, stroking his bushy moustache.
Sonic the Hedgehog, blue spikes quivering in anticipation.
Rayman, fists glowing with yellow energy.
Seven different Heroes, warriors tested dozens of times over. From seven separate worlds, other times, other realities. Each one chosen by a God as protector of his world. Each one implanted with knowledge of this world and the other Heroes.
Armed with seven Chaos Emeralds and Four Masks of Polokus, it was, indeed, time to kick some divine ass.


Sorry if I’m coming across as kind of sexist here, with an all-male team of Heroes. If I could have, I would have thrown Samus Aran from Metroid in, but I wanted to keep the number to seven. I also considered Olimar from Pikmin, Kirby, and, of course, Pac-Man, but I picked the ones I considered most influential and famous.

Meh, it's not your fault nearly all of the most notable bideo game characters are male.

Yeah, good point. Anyway, here's some music:

Battle Against Dark Rayman - vs. Mephiles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al8eGK3bJ4M

The music for the final fight against Mephiles the Dark in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, who somewhat resembles Dark Rayman in character...

The Seven Heroes - Knights of Cydonia by Muse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mkIrvuU_zE

A song by Muse. Need I say more?

Knights of Cydonia is amazing.

I'm sorry for the lack of new chapters lately, everyone. I have a crapload to type up from my notebook, and I will post one eventually (although from what I have writtEn, it's going to be abot the longest chapter ever). Thank you for your patience, and I hope you think it's worth it.

Hey, guys. Sorry for the long wait. I'm posting this in two posts, because it runs over the post limit, but you can still read it all at once.

Chapter 22: Trial by Darkness

Land of the Livid Dead

The Heroes waited, alongside the Mobians, Ly and Raylina. Each took an Emerald to look after. Others began to emerge from the morning mist. The Fighting Squad Warship arrived, with the entire CODEFS team, Betilla and the Council fairies, and a contingent of Teensie Doorwielders onboard, with the Grand Minimus leading them. The Limbless fairy quickly greeted Ly with a nod, and the two quickly entered telepathic discussion.
The rumble of an engine broke through the fog, and Dark Hog emerged, Team Scorpion onboard. As it came to a halt, Master Chief examined it. “Does this remind you of anything?” Cortana said inside his helmet. “Yeah. It looks an awful lot like a Warthog.” He turned to the exiting Rayden, who held Tybalt over his shoulder. “Where did you get this?” he asked. Rayden smiled. “That’s for me to know…” he patted the vehicle as he walked by. “and you to find out,” He looked up at the six foot ten Spartan’s faceplate. “Demon.” He moved on to Rayman.
“What are you doing here?” the fellow Ray asked.
“Well, it seems Evil Genius Incorporated does not take to kindly to people who blow up their top-secret research facilities,” Rayden replied. “So, finding ourselves between jobs, we decided it was in our best interests to assist you with your little pest control problem.”
Gripnos the Knaaren and Sharkin the Teensie walked up behind him on either side, weapons in hand.
Rayman nodded. “Good to have you, then.”
Lachimax walked over to Rayden, spear on his shoulder. “well, well, if it isn’t the mercenary,” he said. “Surprised you’re here without being paid.”
“Ouch. That hurt,” Rayden replied, an ironic smile on his face.
“I take it you two have met?” asked Rayman, raising an eyebrow.
“Our paths have crossed,” said Lachimax. “Not always on the same side, either.”
“Hey, you think all of this ammo and fuel is cheap? We have to go with the highest bidder. And if that sometimes brings us into contradiction with your idealistic world view, what can you do?”
And then, climbing out of a yellow portal opened by one of the Grand Minimus’ Doorwielders, Clark the one-man army appeared, grinning and flexing his mountainous muscles. Following him came Globox, Rayman’s lifelong friend, his wife, Uglette, and ten of his now-adult sons and daughters. Rayman grinned and ran over to them. “Clark! Globox!” he called. Nothing can stop us now you two are here!”
Globox hugged his old friend. “If only Andy were here!” he said jokingly, referring to the former commander of the Black Lums, whom Globox had inadvertently swallowed many years ago.
Clark picked Rayman up in one hand, raising him into the air. “Hey, little buddy. How ‘bout an arm wrestle?”
And finally, the Griskins arrived, a group of the ghostly Teensie spirits who haunted the Land of the Livid Dead, and were in fact the very Livid Dead the name referred to. The leader of the spirits consulted with Lachimax. “We are ready to fight with you, Fused One,” he said, his voice strangely ethereal.
The morning mist had begun to clear, revealing the valley of the Land of the Livid Dead., which they were at the very edge of. The Land had a serene beauty, with verdant pastures, glittering lakes and rivers, and ancient stone ruins, the remnant of the old Teensie Empire.
But across the beautiful valley, the Hoodlums had taken hold. They had already erected many of their makeshift wooden towers and barricades, rallying to the Dark God.
And, in the centre of the valley, where the Tower of the Griskins had once stood proud, Rayman could just make out Veourtoya himself, in the form of a huge, black dragon, still trapped in the bubble placed there to hold him by the Ancients.
“Dark Rayman hasn’t released him yet,” Rayman muttered. “Why not?”
“I think he means to toy with us,” Lachimax answered “Time for us to show him the error of his ways.”
Lachimax climbed aboard the CODEFS warship, standing on the edge of the deck. Bucket positioned the ship out in front of the assembled crowd, so that Lachimax was facing them. Before him lay a fairly small force, but made from powerful and well-equipped beings. His own Fighting Squad, including Gilly, Christian, Bloodgrey, and Foilarak, bristling with every type of weapon imaginable; The Griskins, floating translucently in a loose wedge; The Fairy Council itself, Raylina, Betilla and Ly at its head; Clark the Giant, a formidable force on his own; Globox, Uglette, and five of their children;, ready to put their rain-dance powers to good use; Team Chaotix, consisting of Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee; Miles “Tails” Prower, sitting in his parked Tornado plane; Teensies of the Council, led by the Grand Minimus; Murfy, whom it seemed had just arrived; Team Scorpion, the gun-toting Teensie, Knaaren and Ray seated in and around Dark Hog; Knuckles the Echidna, ready for action; Team Dark, Shadow, Rouge and Omega, standing still and ready; Amy Rose, large hammer in hand; and the Heroes themselves, Mario, Gordon Freeman, Master Chief, Link, Mega Man, Sonic, and Rayman. All looked up at Lachimax, waiting to see what he had to say,.
“Alright, people, listen up!” he called. “We don’t know how long we have until Dark Rayman decides to release the Dark God. All we know is that we have to stop that from happening, at any cost. We need to push through the Hoodlums towards the Tower of the Griskins, or what’s left of it. Bucket in the warship and Tails in the Tornado will provide air support, and Clark and Team Scorpion in Dark Hog will lead on the ground, with the fairies and Globoxes clearing a path ahead of them. The Fighting Squad will cover everyone’s backs.
“The rest of us will sweep through behind Clark and Team Scorpion. If anybody is separated from the main group, attempt to regroup at the Tower. It could get messy in there, so watch out.”
“Alright people,” Rayman called to everyone. “Let’s do this thing.”
He was promptly deafened as they roared their approval.

A Hoodboom stood atop his makeshift watchtower, surveying his edge of the valley. He held one of his Molotov-like grenades in his hand, tossing it up and catching it, over and over.
The Hoodboom looked up as over the hill there came the sound of many people yelling at once. He narrowed his eyes, preparing to sound the alarm.
Then there was the rumble of an engine starting, and dark clouds began to boil above him. And suddenly, like two predatory dragonflies, a flying sail-ship and a blue biplane appeared from behind the hills, weapons firing. The Hoodboom yelled, and his comrades turned to attention bellow, rifles flashing. Lightning began to fall from the clouds above them. Where the bolts landed, explosions blasted large craters.
Hoodlums screamed as the lightning and the bullets scattered them. The Hoodboom cast around in panic, shouting orders, which fell on deaf, panicked ears. Then he heard the rumble of a powerful engine. He looked down from the aircraft that were wreaking such havoc among the Hoodlums to see a bulky, armoured, all-terrain vehicle and a huge, muscular creature atop the hill. The Hoodboom screamed at the soldiers below, but they paid no heed, preoccupied by their own hazards.
Clark spread his arms, saggy throat quivering as he uttered a ground-shaking battlecry, and charged down the hill. Dark Hog’s wheels span, throwing up clumps of mud and grass, as Gripnos threw it into gear and accelerated down the hill after Clark. Sharkin fired a chain of bullets from the turret, strafing the already panicked Hoodlums. The Hoodboom threw a grenade in desperation, exploding uselessly behind Dark Hog, just as Clark smashed into his watchtower. The makeshift wooden structure collapsed forwards as Clark travelled straight through it. Dark Hog skidded sideways to avoid the falling wreckage and rolled straight through the line of Hoodmongers, crushing several of them and coming about to lay cover fire for the rest of the Hero’s Army as it charged down the hill in a great wedge. The Seven Heroes were at its head, with the Griskins flying behind them, casting bolts of electricity from their hands. Freeman held an AR2 Pulse Rifle to his shoulder, eyes intent with concentration behind his glasses.. Master Chief held a Covenant Needler in each gauntleted hand, launching pink, explosive shards into the confused Hoodlum ranks. Link paused midway down the slope to shoot a flaming Fire Arrow from his bow, to detonate and set three Hoodlums aflame. Mega Man fired round balls of energy from his arm cannon, shouting a fierce warcry. Mario simply ran, leaping into the air and landing squarely on an Officer’s head at the base of the hill.
Rayman and Sonic smashed into the Hoodlum line together, tearing straight through the first rank. Rayman fought with sheer ferocity, using his fists and feet to deal great damage.
Sonic broke away from the main group, speeding onwards. The Tornado flew behind him, piloted by Tails, clearing a path ahead of him with rockets and machine guns. Coming to another wooden watchtower, which rose in threetiers, Sonic leapt onto the first tier curled into a ball, homing in on a hapless Hoodmonger. He bounced off its head, uncurling as Tails cleared the next tier with a wave of gunfire, and landed at speed on the next tier as the last of the Hoodlums fell. He launched himself out to the side of the third tier, flying through the air, and grabbed one of the wooden poles sticking out beside it, swinging himself up onto the third and highest tier. He bounced around the platform in ball form, quickly dispatching the Hoodlum soldiers there. His momentum carried him off the side of the platform, to hit a steep rock face there. He ran along it, the Tornado following like a bird of prey, and jumped to the ground, speeding further into the Land of the Livid Dead.

The fairies and the Globox family had combined their powers, using the frog-like creatures' meteorological abilities as a medium to deliver the fairies' magic. Lightning produced by the Globoxes' storm clouds fell ahead of the force, carrying potent fairy power, which cleared away most opposition. Raylina, Ly and Betilla led the Fairies and Globoxes further in, the Fighting Squad forming a semi-circlebehind them. The fairies maintained constant telepathic contact with each other as they fought their way further in.
The Hoodlum Army was scrambling to try and prevent the Hero-led forces, with very little success. The small army was like a jackhammer, smashing effectively through the Black Lums as
though they were little more than the scarecrows they were dressed like.

Master Chief sprinted towards a group of Hoodmongers, MJOLNIR armour and bio-augmented physique allowing him to run faster than the vast majority of other humans, emptying both of his Needlers into the Hoodlums. The pink shards tore into the cloth bodies of the soldiers and exploded, ripping them to shreds.
He discarded one Needler to punch a Hoodlum through the face with enormous force, span, and hit the last remaining soldier across the face with his other Needler. Holstering the alien weapon, he drew his Assault Rifle and pumped two Hoodmongers and a Hoodlum Officer full of 15mm Full Metal Jacket rounds. As both of his Needlers were dry, he traded them for a Hoodlum rifle, quickly blasting a Hoodstormer out of the air with a quickly aimed energy bolt.
"Nice shot," said Cortana from inside his helmet. Chief charged forward, taking cover behind a rock as numerous rifle bolts hit him. His shields drained to half, regenerating as he crouched behind the rock. Pulling out and priming a plasma grenade, he lobbed it over the rock at the offending Hoodlums. With a strangely menacing "de-deep", it stuck to a Hoodmonger, becoming the last thing that Hoodlum ever heard. The Hoodlum just had time to look down at the glowing, blue blob on his chest in surprise before it detonated and blasted he and his comrades apart with a blue crackle of electricity.
Coming out from cover, the Master Chief saw what they had been guarding.
A strange, wood and metal, helicopter gunship.
He smiled.

A Hoodlum soldier took a swipe at Gordon Freeman with its rifle as he closed with it. He blocked the rifle with his crowbar, drawing his pistol and shooting the Hoodmonger three times in the scarecrow face. Putting both weapons away, he drew a shotgun three Hoodlums with both barrels. Switching to his orange-glowing, claw-like Gravity Gun, he wrenched a Hoodlum shotgun from the hands of its Officer bearer with a surge of zero point energy. Pointing the weapon at the Hoodlum he had taken it from, he pulled the trigger, and three slow-moving energy projectiles shot out of the barrel. One flew straight forward, slamming into the intended target's chest like a steamroller, and the other two flew left and right at a wide angle.
Hoodlums certainly had eccentric tastes as far as weapons were concerned.
He was standing alone now, Hoodlum weapon in hand. Two balloon-ships flew overhead, loaded full of Hoodlums. Only then did Freeman realise he had backed himself into a corner: he was trapped I'm a cul-de-sac with sheer, rock walls, which the balloon-ships were now touching down at the mouth of.
The Hoodlums piled out of the dropships, took aim down the barrels of their weapons, and opened fire. Bolts pinged off Gordon's orange and black Hazardous Environment (HEV) suit, draining its power as he sprinted away, returning fire. Spotting at the last second a small, perfectly square tunnel cut into the base of the cliff at the end of the cul-de-sac, he crawled inside. Trading one last volley with the advancing Hoodlums, he dropped threw the hole at the end of the tiny tunnel into the cavern beneath.
He found himself in a quiet, straight-walled cave, clearly not made by natural means. He was inside an old, underground ruin of the ancient Teensie Empire, the walls carved with depictions of various Teensies and their actions. Freeman shone his flashlight briefly over the artwork, and then turned
to walk along the tunnel.

Chief climbed into the Hoodlum chopper. It was not sleek; it was not particularly well built; and it was most certainly not the least bit graceful. Chief was worried that it would not be able to lift his half-ton of MJOLNIR armour and biologically enhanced human. But as his hands gripped the makeshift controls, and it lifted slowly into the air, it seemed fairly functional, if not entirely agile.
Now there were three aircraft in the Hero's Army.

“Shadow!”
The voice cut into the Hedgehog’s ears through the near-deafening sounds of battle. It dug through the fifty years of broken, pained memories, took him back to the Space Colony Ark when it was almost new. During the GUN raid that had changed his life forever.
The soldiers...
They were going to kill her!
“Maria!”
He took off, before Rouge or Omega could stop him.
He chased after that girl’s voice, blasting through anything unfortunate enough to get in his way. His perception shrank to a single-minded desperation, to reach the source of the voice which had haunted him since that fateful day on the Ark. Maria’s voice.
The Maria that was fifty years dead.
Coming to the base of a rocky hill and skidding to a halt, her phantom voice overcame his senses. “Shadow! I’m trapped, and they’re coming for us! Help me, Shadow!”
With a blast of raw, desperate Chaos energy, he blew a hole into the hill and followed Maria’s voice.
Deep within the underground cave he found her, leg stuck beneath an enormous boulder. Her blue dress fluttered pathetically in the breeze as she looked at him beseechingly with those huge eyes. She was in pain. “Shadow!” she cried desperately.
With the strength of the Black Arms he lifted the massive boulder off her and tossed it aside as though it were a child’s toy. “Maria!” he said, crouching beside her. “Are you hurt?”
She was not facing him, lying on the ground, looking away. “You took so long, Shadow,” she said accusingly.
He was taken aback. “I... tried.”
“And you failed. Like you always fail. Like how you let me die, all those years ago. Cold and alone.”
Shadow clutched at his chest, collapsed to his knees. “No...please...”
She laughed a cold, cruel laugh. She looked around, into his eyes. Hers had changed from a beautiful blue to a shining yellow. As she laughed, her voice grew deeper, more gravelly.
“How pathetic you are, Shadow the Hedgehog!” she cackled in Dark Rayman’s voice as she rose to her feet. Shadow watched in horror as she raised her hand and darkness flowed from it, entrapping him, cocooning him, and lifting him into the air. “Some Ultimate Lifeform,” she whispered, leaning towards his uncovered eyes. “Who would have thought such a creature would have such a crucial flaw. Sentimentality is a weakness, one to be exploited. You are not Ultimate. Ultimate is perfection, flawless. Untouchable. And you, Hedgehog...” Shadow could only watch, mouth smothered by shifting, living darkness, as she grinned a malicious grin. “...are most definitely touchable.”
Maria suddenly shifted and morphed, becoming Gerald Robotnik, Eggman and Maria’s grandfather, and Shadow’s creator, madness in his eyes as he programmed the Ark to crash into Mobius. Then he became Black Doom, the alien’s red eyes piercing Shadow’s mind as he plotted the downfall of the human race. Then he transformed into a Shadow Android, a robot identical to Shadow in every way except for the empty eyes, accompanied by Eggman’s voice: “You are a robot, a faker! Not the true Shadow. I built you...”
Then it changed colours, becoming navy blue with lighter quill stripes and dark eyes. In a very deep voice, he said: “Why do you fight for a world that will turn against you?”
Then finally, Mephiles shifted into the form of Dark Rayman.
“You are a fool, Shadow the Hedgehog,” he whispered into his ear. “And you are soon to die.”
But then rage burned through Shadow. Feeling the power of the Fire Mask, which had once been protected by Foutch deep underneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava, and reached into it. Not breaking eye contact with Dark Rayman, he let the Mask of Polokus flow through him, energising him.
“Don’t touch me.”
And fire burst out of him, red and orange and yellow, blasting away the shadows of the shade’s eldritch cocoon. Using the Fire Mask to focus his rage , he poured flames from his hands into Dark Rayman, his figure wreathed in fire. A halo of flames surrounded his body as he struck at the shade, pouring every destructive energy he could muster into it. But still Dark Rayman stood there, pitted against the flames, lips curled in anger. Rocks melted into slag around them both, but still both stood there, engulfed in fire but miraculously untouched. Shadow roared, fire permeating his whole being, and, with a phenomenal effort, unleashed a massive, fiery explosion. It blasted the entire hill away, throw rocks far and wide, drawing the eyes of every being in the Land of the Livid Dead. A great cloud of dust and smoke rose into the air from the crater. And then, suddenly, a pillar of pure, raging fire shot into the air from the hole, burning into the sky. For several seconds the column of flames shook the valley, and then, suddenly, it ceased.
When the smoke cleared, there was Shadow, at the bottom of the blackened crater, hands clutched around the Fire Mask. Dark Rayman was nowhere to be seen.
Baring his fangs in defiance, Shadow the Hedgehog climbed out of the crater and continued to fight the Hoodlums with renewed vigour.

Team Scorpion were travelling along in Dark Hog, crushing enemies beneath the all-terrain whells and sweeping death from its turret. Clark the Giant was running beside them, arms outstretched. A Heckler emerged in front of them, equal in size to Clark. Sharkin, in the turret, attempted to shoot it down, but the bullets bounced off its sturdy armour, and it slammed into the heavy vehicle, overturning it. Rayden fell from the passenger seat as it skidded across the ground, quickly drawing his sword and taking cover behind the inverted vehicle. Sharkin struggled out of the turret seat, but Gripnos was trapped, hindered by his Knaaren bulk. The Hackler was firing huge bolts of energy into Dark Hog’s other side from its converted-toilet cannon, pushing it further. Gripnos struggled to escape his seat as he scraped across the grass, and Rayden tried to help, but to no avail.
And then Clark turned, roared and ran at the Heckler. It ceased its fire on Team Scorpion and turned towards him just in time to be tackled to the ground. Both Clark and the Heckler climbed to their feet, the Heckler taking aim with its cannon. Before it could fire, Clark took the one-time toilet with his massive fist and pulled, and with a deafening crack it pulled free of the Hoodlum’s shoulder. Bereft of its main weapon, the Heckler punched Clark in the chest. Clark punched it back, causing it to fly backwards ten metres.
As Team Scorpion watched this battle of the titans, still attempting to free Gripnos, a squad of Hoodmongers began firing on them from behind a cluster of rocks. Sharkin and Rayden quickly drew weapons and returned fire. As Rayden covered him with Tybalt, the Teensie brought out his sniper rifle and lay prone on the ground. Taking aim quickly through his sights, he blew a Hoodlum’s head off with a squeeze of the trigger. The other four ducked into their cover, blind-firing over the top of the rocks. Taking aim again, Sharkin shot a Hoodlum’s hand, causing it to scream in pain and drop its rifle. Another poked its head out to take aim, and swiftly lost it to Sharkin’s sniping. The remaining two were more careful, taking turns to stick their rifles out and blind-fire. Rayden sprinted at the rock, his sword drawn, dodging the chaotic fire of the Hoodlums. He leapt high over the rock, rolling and slicing a Hoodlum in half before it could react. The other turned towards him, but Rayden came at it with an overhead slice, forcing it to block the blade with its rifle. Then Rayden simply ran it through.
The last, weaponless Hoodlum, whose hand was missing from Sharkin’s bullet, backed away, mouth working in terror...
And gained a hole through the chest as it came into Sharkin’s sights.
But before they could celebrate, the Heckler crashed into Dark Hog. Sharking dove out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed as it turned back onto its wheels and then right back upside down as its momentum took it over again. Gripnos was knocked senseless against the ground, and Sharkin tried to take aim at the Heckler, but Clark punched it out of the way. He gripped it by the shoulders and smashed it into the ground, pounding at its chest. As the Heckler struggled, Clark stood on its skirt to hold it in place, grabbed its wood-metal armour, and wrenched it off over the Hoodlum’s head, tossing it way. The Heckler kicked him off and jumped to its feet, but now it was vulnerable. Clark came at it again, ground shaking with his footsteps. It blocked his first blow with its arm, but he punched it hard in the gut. As it doubled over, Clark grabbed its head with both hands and with an almighty pull ripped it off. The now-empty cloth body collapsed to the ground, and Clark tossed the Black Lum away.
Rayden and Sharkin stood aside as the one-man-army pushed Dark Hog upright with very little effort. Gripnos was rising back to consciousness, still in the driver’s seat. “You okay, buddy?” Rayden asked, climbing into the passenger seat. He nodded groggily. “I should be okay to drive,” said the highly resilient Knaaren.


Mega Man fought with the precision that only a robot could master. Running at a group of Hoodlums, he switched weapons, turning red and white, and fired a spiked, flashing object at them. It embedded itself in a Hoodmonger’s chest and exploded, taking out the whole group. Switching to a green colour, he launched a jagged metal disk, beheading a Hoodlum. Five Hoodlums turned to fire at him, but he turned pink, and time froze, a Hoodlum bullet centimetres from his face. He dispatched them by hand, and time went back to its normal flow. Turning orange, he charged up his gun and fired a ball of burning flame, then switched back to normal blue. He turned to a Hoodlum, kicked it in the gut, punched it in the face, and shot it. Rolling to avoid a Hoodmonger swiping at him with its rifle, he stood on one knee and shot three Hoodlums, then leapt to the side. He span to his feet, took aim at a Hoodlum only a metre away...
When it disappeared beneath a massive, stumpy leg. It belonged to some sort of tall, two-legged vehicle, driven by a small Hoodlum hanging from the centre. Pulling a rope to lift a leg, the Hoodstomper directed the vehicle to stomp on Mega Man. He dove out of the way, trying to shoot the small Hoodlum driving the Hoodstomper. But the second foot kicked him aside, and he bounced away. Mega Man could only watch as the Hoodstomper crushed a Teensie to the ground and moved towards the main group. He scrambled to his feet, took careful aim, and the Hoodstomper driver. It yelled in pain and began to turn around. Mega Man ran at it, firing over and over, and then began charging a shot and slid feet-first along the ground, coming to a rest directly between the Hoodstomper’s legs, aimed straight up, and released the fully charged shot. The pilot was blasted off, and the Hoodstomper legs fell over.
Blowing the smoke from his gun barrel, Mega Man kept going.

The Mobians were mainly sticking together throughout this, except for Tails, Shadow, and Sonic, who were off doing their own thing. But Amy was wielding her giant hammer alongside Omega's machine guns. Team Chaotix was working as a cohesive unit, and Knuckles and Rouge battled side by side. They, too, made their way towards the centre of the valley.

Gordon Freeman reached a pile of rubble, of course completely blocking the tunnel, left over from some seismic collapse. Without hesitation he began to climb upwards, over the boulders, towards a tiny gap near the tunnel ceiling.
He had a fair amount of climbing experience. After several minutes of climbing, he hoisted himself onto a flat, rock platform, protruding from the rubble, he hooked his crowbar onto the rock above and pulled himself up, grabbing the stone with his hand when he was close enough, and climbed onto it. He was now slightly higher than the gap, and close enough to jump.
Carefully gauging the distance, and not hesitating to look down as he did so, he prepared to make the leap. He was at least a dozen metres from the solid, rock hard tunnel floor, but he would have died hundreds of times already had he been afraid of heights. Heights were something of a speciality for the physicist turned action hero, and he had encountered many long, empty elevator shafts and tall cliffs in Black Mesa and City 17.
He backed up and, with the assistance of his HEV suit, he sprinted towards the edge, making the jump.
His flashlight battery chose that moment to run out of charge.
Gordon was plunged into blackness as he travelled through the air. Grabbing blindly at where his instincts told him the hole should be, he just managed to catch his hand init. It nearly wrenched his arm off, but he kept his grip. Dangling from one arm in the darkness, he used the other hand, the crowbar firmly in its grip, to clear rocks out of the gap until it was large enough for him to crawl through.
Once again hoisting himself upwards, he squeezed through the hole and dropped a couple of metres, still blinded by the utter darkness. He rolled as he hit another stone platform, scraping a patch of skin from his face as he did. "Minor blood loss detected," droned the computerised voice of his suit, a voice he had long ago learnt to ignore. Turning on his now fully recharged flashlight, he peered over the edge of his new platform. He was now at the edge of a wide, incredibly deep pit. Shadows stretched below him, yawning wide like the maw of a Xen Barnacle.
The jagged edges only accentuated this imagery. His flashlight didn't penetrate the darkness far enough to see anywhere near the bottom, giving the pit the appearance of bottomlessness. He spotted a large hole off to the side of the pit, several metres below him. Taking another running leap, he landed on a tongue of rock above the hole.
With a terrifying crack, it slipped under his weight, pitching him towards the blackness of the pit. He clutched for a handhold, grabbing a rocky protrusion. But then the platform creaked and broke off completely, falling into the darkness. Pushing off the rock as it fell, he sailed forwards, landing, thankfully, on the floor of the large hole he had been aiming for.
He climbed to his feet, waiting for his heartbeat to slow, and found that he could stand comfortably without hitting the ceiling.
A pile of rocks blocked the smaller, upwards sloping tunnel he found himself in. Producing his Gravity Gun, or Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator as some preferred to call it, he used it to clear the small boulders away.

Dark Hog reached a heavily rocky area, which even the four-wheel-drive, independant suspension vehicle couldn’t handle. Clark continued over it without hesitation, but Dark Hog could go no further.
Rayden made a decision. “You two find a way around,” he said, climbing out. “I’ll continue on foot.”
He reloaded Tybalt as Gripnos and Sharkin came out to him. They stood in a circle, and Rayden placed his hand in the middle. “Only the strongest will survive,” he recited.
“Lead me to heaven when we die,” Sharkin responded, placing his hand on top.
“I am a shadow on the wall,” Gripnos continued, also putting his claw in the middle.
“I’ll be the one to save us all,” Rayden finished, sliding Doomed Love into its sheath, checking Romeo and Juliet, and cocking Tybalt’s pump action. The other two returned to Dark Hog, skidding away, and Rayden began to climb over the rocks.

The Fairies came under attack from a group of six hovering Lavomatrixes. The Fighting Squad was unable to shoot down the washing-machine clad Hoodlums, as they were being protected by Hoodoos from a hidden position. The Hoodlums could fire down on the fairies, Teensies, and other assorted creatures from their arm cannons with impunity. They cackled madly as the creatures below the scrambled for cover, diving under rocky outcroppings and wooden structures. Raylina ended up under a rock lip with Ly and Betilla, only able to watch as a Lavomatrix picked up a Teensie with its tractor beam and tossed him away.
We need to get past these things, Betilla sent. Raylina glanced at her.
Betilla was a limbless fairy, wearing a green and yellow dress and pointed hat. It was an odd quirk of fairy evolution that each fairy was completely different in physical appearance, but were still clearly of the same species, as genetic testing had proven. Some believed that the unique appearance of each fairy were determined by subconscious preference or even fundamental character traits, as all fairies were born the same way and changed as they grew. Which was why Ly was tall, had a tail, and was covered in swirling, purple patterns, and Betilla was Limbless and had red hair.
Ly nodded to her. Silver Lums? she sent back to Betilla. She nodded.
Raylina can do it, Ly sent. Are you sure? Betilla asked.
Yes, Ly replied confidently . She is ready.
What are you talking about? Raylina asked, her fairy heritage allowing her to break into their telepathic conversation.
Ly smiled. You’ll see, honey.
Five more fairies emerged from cover, shielding each other as they ran towards Betilla, Ly and Raylina. The Lavomatrixes all turned to fire at them, but they reached the rocky outcropping before they did any damage. The seven fairies, of widely varying shapes and sizes, stood around Raylina in a circle, eyes closed in concentration, and she began to realise what was happening. She smiled.
A silver ball of light appeared in Ly’s hands, growing to full size between them. Betilla produced one between her own floating hands, as did each other fairy.
Silver Lums are, technically speaking, not Lums at all. Lums are self aware, and sometimes intelligent. They share a collective consciousness, linked across all distances, so that they are able to follow the grand purpose the Ancients set out for them (except for Black Lums, who have strayed so far from that path that they have forfeited both their power and their links to other Lums). But Silver Lums are artificially created from the power of the Fairies. They share some of the properties and a similar appearance to true Lums, and are able to imbue living beings with their power, but they are not alive or aware.
They do, however, have a special relationship with the Ray species, able to unlock certain abilities inside a Ray, such as their helicopter hair and energy-based combat powers. Rayman had received his unlocking Silver Lums from Betilla when Mr. Dark had stolen the Heart of the World (He had required the powers in several parcels as Betilla had been weakened from her confrontation with the dark sorcerer). When his powers had disappeared in the first Pirate invasion, he had received further Silver Lums from Ly, again taking several times to unlock all of his powers again as she too had been weakened by the destruction of the Heart of the World. Raylina had just recently received her unlocking Silver Lum from Ly over a distance of many miles.
Silver Lums can also be used to gain a temporary state of power, as Rayman had done aboard the Ark against Dark Rayman. A single Silver Lum had allowed him to fly and made him around a quarter as powerful as Super Sonic. Seven Silver Lums, from seven fairies, would grant a powr which, while not quite equal to Super Sonic, would be pretty damn powerful.
Ly opened her hands, allowing her Silver Lum to float through the air towards Raylina. The other Fairies did so too, and the seven Lums converged on her, spinning around her body in every direction, and then merging into one large silver ball over her ‘O’. It sunk into the centre of her torso, and suddenly faerie power flooded through her. Her hands and chest glowed with blinding silver light as she rose into the air with a wide grin that looked just like her father’s.
Silver Raylina shot out from under the rocky shelf. The six Lavomatrixes immediately opened fire on her, blasting red shots from their arm cannons. She produced a shield of silver light to reflect the fire back at them, and cast a bright beam of energy at the closest flying Hoodlum. A ghostly green bubble appeared around the Lavomatrix, streaming from a Hoodoo sorcerer hidden high up the cliff face. Raylina followed the stream of magic, and, with a gesture, tore the Hoodlum’s cover away and ripped him out of his position, hlding him in the air. She pointed at the now-vulnerable Lavomatrix below her and the Hoodoo shot into it at high speed, crumpling the Hoodlum’s metal armour. Following, Raylina smashed straight through the Lavomatrix’s body, ripping through the other side. Taking command of the broken pieces, she pointed them towards the others, and jagged metal bounced off their own shields. Combining their power, the flying Lavomatrixes tried to capture her with a tractor beam. A translucent bubble appeared around her, streaming from the metal Hoodlums’ chests, and electricity zapped at her. She raised an eyebrow and simply blasted through the bubble. This overloaded two of the Hoodlums, and they crashed to the ground, sparking. Turning to the three remaining Hoodlums, she produced a huge silver ball between her hands and tossed it at them. It split into three seemingly of its own volition , weaving around the Hoodlums’ fire and crashing into their shields with such force that the three Hoodoos protecting them dropped unconscious from the effort of maintaining their shields against her power, falling from their hidden positions on the cliff.
Raylina clapped her hands together and two of the machine-Hoodlums smashed into each other and fell to the earth. The final Lavomatrix fired desperately at her, but she simply blocked the shots with her hands and flew up close to it. She ripped its head, containing its Black Lum, clean off, tossing it away.
A swarm of small Hoodstormers few in to harass her further, yelling as they fired their cannons. With the last of her power she fired a pure silver beam at them, sweeping it through them. They dropped like burned-out flies, and she floated back down to the ground, feeling the fairies’ consciousnesses leave her.
Good job, honey! Ly sent.

Master Chief flew his Hoodlum helicopter-gunship over the battle, firing its heavy-duty energy weapons into the Hoodlums below. The Black Lums were unable to comprehend an attack from their own aircraft, so that by the time they even thought to send another gunship after him, he was already quite far into the valley.

Following the tunnel upwards, Gordon Freeman's flashlight fell upon a puddle of black liquid. As he watched, the liquid began to smoke, rising into a human shape.
A human wearing an HEV suit.
And then Gordon was looking at a near mirror image of himself. The HEV
suit's orange was a dark blue, and his skin was grey, his beard and hair jet black. His eyes glowed, completely yellow without pupil or iris, behind the glasses. In his hand was a completely black crowbar.
Without speaking, Freeman's dark copy raised its crowbar and struck at him.
The true Freeman blocked it with his own, pushing back at the creature and kicking it with his knee. The two of them fought quickly and speechlessly, the only sound the clang of their duelling crowbars echoing
off the tunnel walls.
Then, the true Freeman managed to hook the end of his crowbar around the dark Freeman's one, and with a fantastic pull, wrenched it from the shadowy hands. Kicking the dark Freeman to the ground, he planted his foot on the dark copy's chest, drew his .357 Magnum revolver and, without a moment's hesitation, shot it in the face, his own face. A large, black hole appeared in the centre of the face as the powerful bullet blasted into it, obliterating Freeman's features. But then the dark matter shifted and reformed, and a Combine soldier was staring up at him, struggling beneath his foot.
He fired again.
The Combine became a HECU marine, one of the soldiers sent to secure Black
Mesa research facility during the resonance cascade and the first humans Gordon had ever killed.
Freeman shot him in the face.
He became Doctor Wallace Breen, Administrator of City 17. "What have you
ever created, Doctor Freeman? Can you name even one thing?"
Then his head was blasted apart by a .357 round, and reformed once again. A Vortigaunt, red-eyed, brown-skinned inhabitant of Xen, got a round in the huge, central eye. Its head reformed...Gordon hesitated for only a moment as Alyx Vance appeared on the ground,
eyes pleading with him. "Gordon... Please..."
He shot her as well.
In silence, her body melted into black liquid, which sunk into the ground,
accompanied by Dark Rayman's chilling laughter.
"Our mutual friend chose you well, Doctor Freeman."

Mario sprinted at a Hoodlum and slid across the ground feet-first to slide tackle him to the ground. Grabbing one by the feet, he stood and spun quickly around several times, releasing the Hoodlum at maximum speed. Centrifugal force carried it through the air to come crashing down dozens of metres away.
As another Hoodlum came at him, he sprang upwards, clubbing it under the chin on the way up with his fist. Mario came back down on top of the Hoodlum’s head, crushing it to the ground. Extending both arms, he spun rapidly on the spot, smashing a group of Hoodlums, yelling “Ya-hoo!” as he did. He broke into a run, surprisingly fast for one as portly as he. A Heckler was coming at him, yelling loudly and firing its shoulder cannon. Mario jumped high into the air and dropped down on the Hoodlum’s head like a stone in a Ground Pound. This pushed the Heckler’s head straight down through the hole in its armour, crushing its body to the ground and leaving its armour standing, with Mario inside it. He grabbed a corner, lifted it, and tossed it at a group of Hoodmongers. It bowled them over like bowling pins.
Mario produced a large, funny-looking flower, with yellow and red petals around a wide,white centre, which possessed blinking eyes. He lifted it to his mouth and swallowed it in a single gulp, and suddenly fire burned through him. His clothes changed colour, his red shirt turning white and his blue suspenders becoming red.
“Here-a we go!”
Raising a hand, an orange fireball appeared in it, which he tossed at a nearby Hoodmonger. He ran forwards, throwing ball after ball ahead of him to burn a path clear.

Chief expertly piloted the chopper around the two others pursuing him, shooting the rear rotor of one until it began to smoke. It span out, careening into a balloon-ship carrying reinforcements to the front line, exploding and taking them both to the ground. The second gunship loosed a volley at Chief's craft, bombarding its side.
One shot punched through the chopper's engine, and it caught fire. Using the last of the helicopter's power to steer it out over the enemy chopper, he kicked the door open and dove out.
He dropped through the air like a brick, coming within inches of the craft's deadly rotor, and grabbed one of two struts beneath the helicopter. The aircraft dipped with his sudden weight, and as his ex-aircraft crashed to the ground, he tore the door open, grabbed the pilot, and threw him out. Climbing in, he took control of his new chopper.
But then a pair of Lavomatrixes, accompanied by a veritable swarm of Hoodstormers, swarmed his craft. They shot at him from every angle, bombarding it beyond the limited defensive capacity of a craft which was essentially a few planks of wood nailed to an engine.
Kicking a hole in the wooden floor, Chief dropped through it, lobbing a spike grenade into a Hoodstormer as he fell. He hit the ground and rolled in time to see the Brute weapon explode and take out several Hoodstormers, and the now empty gunship crash into a Lavomatrix. He ran off, seeking some cover.

Link charged a group of Hoodlums, protected from their guns by his Hylian shield. Coming among them, he beheaded one with the Master Sword, chopped another in half, and cleaved another straight down the middle from head to toe. Drawing his bow, he notched an arrow to the string and took a Hoodlum atop a watchtower straight through the head, then switched to his Hookshot and fired at the top of the watchtower. The hook flew out of the handheld barrel, trailing a chain behind it as it shot through the air and embedded itself in the wood of the tower. The winding mechanism inside the Hookshot retracted the chain rapidly, pulling Link straight to the top of the tower. Quickly drawing his sword, he performed a spin attack and cleared every Hoodlum from the tower, with a yelled “Hy-a!”. Producing a bomb, he lit the fuse and lobbed it at the Black Lums below. It exploded with a burst of smoke and fire. Hookshotting back to the ground, he butted a Hoodlum with his shield, knocking it to the dirt. He plunged his blade into its chest.
Now, his way back blocked by the watchtower, there appeared to be no way forward except for a small lake before him. He dove into it, quickly spotting an underwater tunnel beneath the surface. Taking a deep breath, he swam into the tunnel and put on, which, for some reason, only weighed him down when he was wearing them and not simply carrying them, to sink to the tunnel floor. He walked along the floor and, when he was almost out of breath, broke the surface and found himself inside an underground cave. Taking off his Boots, he strode forwards. Then, suddenly, he froze. Someone was standing behind him...
He span, slashing at whatever was ghosting him, and his sword clanged against one just like it. Link’s eyes widened to see a mirror image of himself standing there. He was completely black, except for his eyes, which glinted red.
It was Dark Link.
Dark Link launched an upwards vertical slice at Link, which he barely blocked. Putting Link on the back foot, his Dark counterpart followed through with a spinning slice, which Link was able to block with his shield, followed by a chop at Link’s feet. The true Link was forced to fight defensively, unable to get a blow in. But then Dark Link kicked him in the gut, winding him, and leapt high into the air to bring his sword through Link’s head. But Link managed to raise his shield over his head, and Dark Link’s sword bounced right off with a jarring, deafening clang. Taking the opportunity, Link struck at him, stabbing towards the shade’s belly. Dark Link managed to sweep the sword aside, but now Link was on the offensive. Grunting with each clash of blades, he drove Dark Link backwards. Sweat dripped down his brow, face knotted in concentration. Finally, he surprised Dark Link with a spin attack, swiped his shadowed Master Sword aside, and kicked him in the chest. Dark Link’s sword arm was thrown to the side, and Link sliced upwards from below, cutting it off. The dark blade clattered to the ground, dead hand still holding it tight.
But Dark Link continued, the black stump of his arm unbleeding. He charged at Link shield-first, taking him by surprise and butting him in the head. He sprawled to the ground and Dark Link kicked at him. Link rolled away, stabbing at Dark Link’s feet. One of his blows found its mark, cutting his leg clean off. But still Dark Link stood, making an almost comical figure as he hopped towards Link. Link kicked him to the ground, knocking his shield aside and slicing off his arm and leg. Dark Link’s limbless body rose into the air of its own accord, his red eyes piercing the darkness. Finally, Link struck a horizontal slice to behead the shade. The body fell to the ground, leaving a disembodied head hovering at Link’s eye level. As he watched in horror, it morphed into Dark Rayman’s head, and the various cut off body parts reformed to become Dark Rayman. The shade grinned, and knocked Link to the ground.
When he looked up, the shade was gone.

Part 2.

Rayden was now down on a flat, grassy area, surrounded by a twisted maze of rocky spires and cliffs. A river ran beside him as he jogged further into the valley. There was not a Hoodlum in sight, but the smoke and sounds of battle were still visible and audible. He ducked into the shadow of one of the spires as a patrol of Hoodstormers flew overhead, rotors puffing away. He could easily have dispatched them, but there was no point in drawing attention to himself. As he watched, though, they encountered a group of Griskin Teensies, which cast bolts of lightning from their hands and annihilated the small, flying Hoodlums in seconds. The Griskins flew on.
Rayden rounded a corner in the stone maze, still following the river to see a Hoodlum watchtower blocking his way. He ducked back out of sight, but they had spotted him. Energy bolts pinged off the rocky formation he hid behind, and Hoodboom grenades exploded nearby. “Damn,” he muttered.
Keying his radio, he spoke. “Uh, Bucket? This is Rayden, over.”
“What can I do for you, sir? Over,” came the ex-Pirate’s mechanical voice almost immediately from aboard the Fighting Squad warship.
“There’s a Hoodlum tower here I want dead. Oh, and don’t call me sir. Over,”
“Certainly, sir. On my way. Can you mark it? Over.”
“Yes, but don’t call me sir. Over and out.”
Rayden rolled out from behind his corner, lying prone behind a low rock. Firing a spray at the tower from Tybalt, he produced a laser pointer and aimed it at the tower. The Hoodlums were firing at him, but all were lousy shots and could not hit the miniscule target he presented.
And then the sound of the Fighting Squad warship came from above and behind him.
As it flew towards the location marked by Rayden’s laser, the lower section of its bow unfolded, revealing a huge cannon barrel. The end of the cannon began to glow with a swathe of red light, growing as the weapon charged. It reached full power, and as the tallship-like craft flew over Rayden’s position it fired, and a dead-straight beam of energy lanced from it to the tower. It smashed through a supporting column, and the wooden structure came crashing to the ground as Bucket pulled up over it, the screams of a dozen Hoodlums piercing through the sound of its collapse.
“Anything else I can do for you, sir?” asked Bucket as Rayden walked through the ruins, finishing off any still-struggling Hoodlums.
“Actually, while you’re still here...are there any bikes aboard that ship?”


Shadow kicked a Hoodlum across the face, and span to punch another twice in the chest, In the same motion sweeping the feet out from another. “Ha-duken!” he yelled as he unleashed a fire ball from his hands, setting two Hoodlums afire.
Suddenly, a Spineroo came out of nowhere, spinning its metal balls at a dizzying pace. It swept towards Shadow, but he drew on the Fire Mask’s energy, activating Chaos Control. The Spinneroo and everything else around them slowed to a crawl, Shadow simply walked up to the slowly rotating Hoodlum, between its arms, and blasted it backwards. Time resumed its normal pace. Shadow pointed at another Hoodlum and it burst into flame. Making a sweeping gesture, a wave of flame enveloped an entire row of Hoodmongers taking aim at him.
Without warning, something exploded against Shadow’s foot. He looked down to see a tiny, grenade-toting Hoodlum running towards him. With a spark of flame he exploded it before it reached him. Then he saw the large, wooden shield-wielding Hoodlum several metres away release another kamikaze Grim from under the skirt of its cloth. Shadow sneered and made an upwards sweeping gesture, and the Grim Keeper disappeared in a pillar of flame.
Looking up, he saw the Fighting Squad warship fly down behind a nearby cliff, something dangling from its hull. As it came back into view, part of that something was gone. A supply drop, he thought. As he watched, a Hoodlum Anti-Aircraft emplacement rocked the ship, forcing it to release the remainder of its drop and fly away. The crate fell to the ground a few hundred metres from Shadow. Skating to it, he cleared the smashed wood away, revealing the “supplies within.
What he saw made him grin.

Rayden restocked his ammo from the crate that Bucket had dropped to him, and then climbed onto the black motorbike, revving the engine. Kicking away, he accelerated towards a cluster of Hoodlum structures, grinning at the feel of the air on his face. Riding past a rocky wall, he looked to the right and almost fell off his bike in surprise at seeing Shadow the Hedgehog riding an identical motorcycle beside him. The Mobian looked at him and rose an eyebrow with a slight smile, then lifted a machine gun in his right hand. Rayden raised Tybalt in his left, also smiling. As one, they rode into the alley between the Hoodlum structures, firing left and right at the Hoodlums. They steered their bikes straight forward with one hand, firing into the Hoodlum ranks with the other. Reaching the alley’s end, perfectly in sync, they braked, turned about, placed a foot on the ground, and sprayed the Hoodlums with bullets. Rayden produced a grenade and lobbed it far into the structures. Then they both turned and rode towards the Tower of the Griskins.

Gordon Freeman was in the rocks above an enclosed Hoodlum camp, crouching to avoid being seen. A patrolling Officer made the mistake of doing his rounds a little too close to his hiding spot, and Freeman dropped down behind him, slipped his crowbar around his neck, and dragged him back into the shadows.
Clubbing the Hoodlum to make sure he stayed down, he crept closer to the few others, lounging around. Drawing his crossbow, he took careful aim and fired an orange bolt through the air. It nailed a Hoodlum in the chest and pinned him to the wall. The others were suddenly alert, yelling and searching for the source of the bolt. Freeman primed a grenade and lobbed it into their midst. Several spotted it and dived out of the way, but most weren't quick enough to avoid being blown apart. Taking advantage of the confusion, he drew his SMG and ran at the survivors, killing them quickly and efficiently. He turned to the last Hoodlum, pouring bullets into it. The Hoodmonger twisted under the hail of death, then collapsed,revealing the Master Chief to be standing behind him, Assault Rifle raised. The two of them stared at each other down the barrels of their weapons for a moment, then lowered them. "Mind if I join you?" Chief asked.


Rayman fought like a demon through the Hoodlums, smashing and kicking with fists and feet. He punched a Hoodmonger eight times rapidly in the chest, then turned and backhanded another across the face. Another aimed its rifle at him, but he quickly spinning-kicked the weapon out of the Hoodlum’s hands, and then round-house kicked it in the head with his other foot. He launched himself into the air, somersaulting mid-leap as he flew over the Hoodlums, and landed crouched in the middle of a group of them. Quickly standing on his hands, he span, kicking them all in the face, and flipped backwards, feet connecting with a Hoodlum’s chest and taking it to the ground. His momentum carried him into a roll, rolling off the Hoodlum into an upright position. He charged a yellow ball of energy between his hands and threw it at a single Hoodlum turning towards him.
Black Lums were flapping away in swarms, liberated from their cloth bodies. One fluttered from under the broad-brimmed hat it had once worn atop its head, hovering a metre above the ground, looking around. It turned to see Rayman looking down at it, and started in terror. He made a Grimace at it, pulling the edges of his mouth wide with his hands and waggling his tongue. The Black Lum’s eyes and mouth disappeared, as did its fur, and it began to glow red, with a bright core. Rayman absorbed the reconverted Red Lum to replenish his energy, then turned to charge at a group of Hoodlums.
When suddenly, without transition, he was standing atop a very high, small plateau. He could see the battle raging below, the Hero’s Army pushing further and further towards the valley’s centre. Looking behind him, he found Ly and Raylina, looking just as puzzled as he was. “What...?”
He was interrupted by Dark Rayman’s laughter.
“How very touching,” he said condescendingly as he solidified in front of them. “The family of mismatches, together alone at last. My, what trials you have endured! Torn from each other by madmen and dark spirits, to finally be united once again! What a shame it must end so soo.”
The three responded alike: Rayman and Raylina tossed a blue and a yellow ball of energy at him, and Ly a ball of flame. Dark Rayman merely absorbed the attacks, grinning. Brows creased in anger and concentration, the family advanced on the shade, driving their attacks at him. He stepped back, and then knocked them away with a surge of invisible force. Rayman stood, fists glowing with rage, and punched the shade in the face. But then, without warning, Dark Rayman melded into a shadowy blob, with Rayman’s fist embedded in it. Becoming a gas-like mass of darkness, the dark being rushed into the ‘O’ on Rayman’s torso, disappearing inside him. Rayman clutched at his chest in shock.
And then he changed.
His hair turned red, his skin grey, his torso dark blue. His eyes widened in horror as he battled internally for mastery of his own body. A dark force seized control of him, paralysed him, then invaded his very mind. He struggled desperately inside his head, trying to fight back the shadows.
But then, his eyes lost their pupils and turned yellow, glowing with malice. Sneering, he turned to Ly and Raylina.
Dark Rayman had become him. And he had become Dark Rayman.
He fired a beam of yellow and purple energy from his fists, forcing them to dive aside. Laughing madly, the shade/Ray cast tainted flames at them. But Ly held Raylina to her and formed a barrier of silver light before the flames her loving partner threw at her.
Join with me! she spoke desperately into Raylina’s mind. She did, allowing her mind to meld into her mother’s. Joined by a bond of telepathy, with Ly wielding their combined power, they dove into Rayman’s corrupted mind.
Fighting through the darkness that clouded him, they found his consciousness huddled in a corner of his brain. Awakening him, the three merged minds cleared Dark Rayman out of the true Rayman’s mind, pushing the spirit out of his body. Together they puged his body of the shadows, evicting Dark Rayman from his newly claimed body. With one final push, they blasted Dark Rayman out of him entirely, and the shade disappeared.
Rayman gasped as his body returned to normal, collapsed on the ground. Ly ran to help him to his feet.

Chief towered over Freeman as they advanced together, weapons raised. Chief was carrying a Hoodlum rifle and an Assault Rifle, but of course Gordon's HEV suit allowed him to carry many weapons at once (including a large and very heavy rocket launcher) without any discomfort, through a device Doctor Kleiner had never quite managed to fully explain to him. Something to do with a warping of space-time around a tiny Xen portal.
They were in a winding maze of stone and grass, moving steadily towards the valley centre.
Hearing the sound of battle around a corner, they readied their guns and looked around the rocky protrusion.
They saw a force of at least fifty Hoodlums of various types pursuing a blue figure across a flat field. Mega Man was sprinting towards the other two Heroes, laser balls back as he ran.
Reaching the rock wall where Chief and Freeman hid, the robot pressed himself against it, apparently quite surprised to see them.
"You've really stirred up the ants' nest," Cortana commented from Chief's suit. They ignored her.
"There's only one way out of here, said the Master Chief. Mega Man sighed, then nodded, charging his arm cannon.
He dove out of cover, firing rapidly. The other two took position on either side of him, and they ran forwards, towards the surprised Hoodmongers.

Link emerged from his cave, underneath a large Hoodlum platform. He could hear them running about above him. Drawing his sword, he prepared to go up the ladder and face them. But then there was a crunch of grass behind him...
He span around, striking with all his strength, and his sword met a crowbar with a loud clang. He lowered his Master Sword when he saw Gordon Freeman standing there. Without speaking, the two nodded at each other. Mega Man and Master Chief emerged from the shadows behind Freeman, greeting Link. Gordon had been planting S.L.A.M. explosives at the supporting columns of the platform, and was ready to detonate. The four of them sprinted away from under the platform. Hoodlums quickly spotted them, shouting meaningless gibberish. The four Heroes dove to the ground, and Gordon pressed the button on the detonating remote. The platform collapsed with a boom and a crack, crumbling to the ground in a cloud of dust. The cries of the Hoodlums reached them, and they stood to admire their handiwork. Then they turned and continued towards the centre.

Sonic was running, as usual. He had left Tails behind a while ago, and had battled through scores of Black Lums. But now he skidded to a halt, seeing someone standing alone in the centre of a field. It appeared to be a dark-coloured Hedgehog.
“Shadow?” he called.

Shadow had left Rayden and his bike, preferring to fight alone. He was trying to decide which way to go when a deep, angry voice called from behind him. “Shadow!”
He turned to see Mephiles the Dark, or at least an image of him, almost identical to Shadow. Probably Dark Rayman up to his usual tricks. “Begone, shade!” he yelled angrily.

The dark Hedgehog turned towards Sonic, and he saw it was not Shadow. It’s spines curved down, more like Sonic’s, and it lacked the red stripes Shadow possessed. It’s eyes were yellow and empty.
“Begone, knave!” it called.
“Hey! No-one talks to me like that!”

“No-one is impotent to me for long,” said Shadow’s darker twin, taking a step towards him. “I said, begone!” Shadow threw a fireball at him.

“I said, begone!” shouted Sonic’s shade, casting a ball of black fire at him. Sonic rolled out of the way. “Oh, it’s on.”
Running at the dark Hedgehog, he curled up and performed a homing attack.

Shadow dodged the shade’s homing attack, kicking him aside with brutal force. It sprawled to the ground, and he did a homing attack of his own.

As the black Hedgehog sped at Sonic in a ball, he brought both his feet up and kicked it away. It uncurled and skidded to a stop, then rushed at him. Sonic slid aside, and, drawing on the Air Mask’s power, sped around and around the shade, creating a whirlwind, with the black Hedgehog at its centre.

“So that’s how you want to play it?” Shadow muttered as the shade’s whirlwind swirled violently around him. With a burst of the Fire Mask’s energy, the whirlwind became one of fire, swirling around Shadow. Sweeping his hands to his sides, the vortex expanded towards the shade.

Sonic blocked the black flames with a shield of air, then curled into a ball and started charging a Spin Dash. When the smoke cleared, he shot forwards into the shade, then sped away in a ball.

Shadow curled into his own ball to pursue the shade, quickly catching up. The two Hedgehogs bounced off each other several times, clashing as each strove for dominance. Shadow bounced off the grass onto a cliff face, tearing up rocks as he span along it. The shade uncurled to run along the ground, and Shadow homed in on him, smashing him to the ground.

Sonic smashed to the ground, but gained his feet and leapt away just as the place he had fallen burst into flame. He ran, flames pursuing him as his shade ran alongside him. Sonic blasted it with a burst of wind, and it crashed into a rock. Running far ahead, then skidding to a halt and turning, he accelerated at the shade.

Shadow was ready as the shade sped towards him, and produced a wall of flames ahead of him. Too fast to stop, the shade ran straight through the flames and immediately caught fire, but also crashed into Shadow. The shade quenched the flames by pushing all the air around it away, creating a small vacuum.

There’s an idea, Sonic thought as he blasted the shade with wind. Focusing the Air Mask’s power, he drained all air from around the flame-wielding shade. Unable to cast any more fire, for of course they needed air to burn, it simply curled into a ball and homed in on Sonic. But he was ready for that. Dodging aside, he pushed the curled-up shade with intense wind, slamming it into another cliff face. “You’re too slow!” he called, running on.

That sounded like something Sonic would say, Shadow thought as he pursued the shade, burning after him. The shade hit a rock wall, jumping at it and springing off it with his legs to land behind Shadow, who skidded to an abrupt halt, only to be blasted into the cliff face by a strong wind. Retaliating with fire, the two stood off, forces of air and fire pushing against each other. For a moment they blasted at each other, and then suddenly ceased. Shadow stepped forward, striking at the shade with his hand.

Sonic blocked the shade’s blow with his arm, and then frowned as its spines turned upwards and gained red stripes. “What the...” he gasped as Shadow the Hedgehog materialised before him, looking equally shocked. Then realisation dawned on both of them.
“That bastard,” cursed Shadow.

That's some tricky shit there.

Chapter 23: Rogue God

Near the Tower of the Griskins, Land of the Livid Dead

Rayman had reached the valley’s very centre. He was standing before a cliff, past which lay the ruins of the Tower of the Griskins and the Dark God. Ly and Raylina were at his side. Black clouds swirled above them, the Tower’s ruins at their epicentre, lightning flashing across them.
As they waited, Link, Freeman, Master Chief and Mega Man arrived behind them, followed by Mario, then Sonic and Shadow. Rayden pulled up on his motorbike, and Clark thundered in. The Fighting Squad warship and Tails’ biplane landed, and then the rest of the Mobians came in. The Griskins floated in, and Dark Hog rolled in with the remainder of Team Scorpion. Finally, the Fairies arrived, bringing the Teensies, the Globoxes, and the Fighting Squad.
Shadow walked up beside Rayman. “Use the Earth Mask,” he said. Rayman nodded, and placed his hands on the ground. Feeling the rock and soil was arranged below him, he drew on the Earth Mask and manipulated the earth, shifting the stone so that a section of the cliff collapsed into the ground, creating a ramp.
Rayman tossed the Mask to Raylina, then nodded to the other Heroes. The seven of them climbed the ramp, the rest remainng below.
At the top of the ramp, they could see ahead of them the collapsed pieces of the Tower of the Griskins. Crouched over them, wings spread across the ruins, was the huge, menacing form of Veurtoya. Seeing them, the black dragon raised his head and unleashed a mighty, intimidating roar.
A hundred metres from the Heroes was the wall of the translucent, pulsating dome which had kept the Dark God sealed away.
Standing at that wall, facing them, Master Emerald in the air beside him, was Dark Rayman.
“Too late, oh mighty Heroes,” he taunted, voice magnified to carry over the distance. “Now, finally, I can join with my almighty master. After billions of years of being sealed away, finally I, his foremost servant, will release him. And he will rule you all. Your puny minds cannot comprehend the fathomless depth of his power. He could strike you down with a thought.” He smiled. “But perhaps he will allow you to live as his pets.”
Freeman quickly drew an RPG launcher and fired a laser-guided rocket at the shade. Dark Rayman stood and allowed it to hit his torso and explode, splattering his black substance across the ground. Bubbling, the black liquid sunk into the ground. For a moment, there was silence. Then pools of the same black liquid began to rise from the ground all around them. The Heroes stood back in a circle, weapons drawn, as hundreds of dark shapes took form from the liquid.
They rose into the form of Dark Rayman. Hundreds of Dark Raymans surrounded them, all laughing the same malicious laugh. It echoed and amplified as they marched inwards, zombie-like, towards the Heroes, becoming deafeningly loud as they cackled without cease. The Heroes defended themselves, and dozens of the shaded copies burst into small explosions of tar. But they just kept coming, until dark liquid was spattered across the Heroes’ faces and they were driven, back to back, into a tight circle. Chief slung up his Assault Rifle and activated the split blades of a Sangheilli Energy Sword, and Freeman traded his AR2 for his crowbar. The seven of them fought desperately, the Dark Rayman copies closing in, still laughing mindlessly as they marched inwards.
And suddenly, when the seven Heroes were almost overwhelmed, they stopped. They ceased their slow, relentless walk and melted back into the ground. Rayman frowned in puzzlement, black smeared across his face, the other Heroes beside him. The single Dark Rayman was standing beside the Master Emerald again. He held his left hand, plam down, just above the Emerald’s top.
“No!” Rayman yelled, stepping forward. The shade’s eyes glinted, and he smiled. “Too late, Rayman. You know, I was crafted in your image. My master sought to recreate the species his sworn enemies kept in such high esteem. For he has been pitted against the Ancients since the dawn of time. Weak fools, they were, never siezing the power that was their right as supreme beings! They could easily have ruled the universe, but they chose not to. Through a love of what they called ‘freedom’. All creatures must be free to choose their own path, they said. And look where their freedom got them. Sleeping forever, at the core of a useless rock. Are they free? And still they meddle in my master’s affairs. They trapped him here, but why? They have no reason to ‘protect’ the universe they abandoned thousands of millenia ago.
“I will tell you why they sealed my master away. Spite. The Ancients were jealous of his power, his creativity, his ideas. They hated him for no other reason than that he was better than them.”
Dark Rayman closed his right fist, his left hand just above the Emerald.
“Now it is time to return the favour.”
He dropped his hand, placing his palm on the enormous jewel’s green surface.
Sonic shot at him, but without hesitation he turned and punched the dome. A shock wave knocked the blue Hedgehog to the ground. From Dark Rayman’s position at the base of the dome, massive cracks began to spread along the transparent surface, running over and around the dome. With a resounding crash, the dome of energy shattered into billions of tiny pieces, floating slowly to the ground.
Veurtoya lifted his head, atop the dragon’s long neck, to the sky, and unleashed a great roar. The roar echoed across the entire valley, ringing with triumph. The black dragon launched himself into the sky with a flap of his wings, quickly closing the distance between him and Dark Rayman. He landed with a boom and throwing up huge clods of earth. Dark Rayman closed his eyes, spread his hands, and smiled. His purpose was fulfilled. Veurtoya lowered his head, which was as large as a small house, scooped Dark Rayman up in his teeth, and swallowed him, re-absorbing him into the God’s mass. Even from a hundred metres away, Rayman could see the malice in the God’s yellow eyes.
The Master Emerald floated towards the chest of Veuroya’s dragon form. With a flash of power, the Dark God absorbed it into himself. Roaring one last time, he rose into the air and flew out over the vast lake nearby. Shadows poured into him from every direction as he gathered power, preparing for his vast war of conquest which was to encompass every living thing, every world, every reality.
Rayman turned to the Heroes. “Let’s do this,” he said.
“Time to step it up!”
“Affirmative.”
“Let’s-a go!”
“Yes!”
Link grunted his agreement.
Gordon simply nodded.
Each Hero produced his Chaos Emerald. Link the green, Mega Man the cyan, Mario the red, Freeman the yellow, Master Chief the white, Sonic the blue, and Rayman the purple. They stood in a cicle, facing inwards, and each held their Emerald forward. They began to spin, revolving in the circle, and picked up speed until the seven colours blurred together. There was a bright flash of white light, and the Emeralds disappeared.
Sonic had used the Emeralds to transform multiple beings on a few occasions. The first time had been with Shadow, to fight off Biolizard and prevent the Ark from crashing into Mobius. The second was with Tails and Knuckles, to defeat Metal Sonic. Most recently had been with Shadow and Silver the Hedgehog, to stop Solaris from consuming all of reality (although, technically, through one of the many peculiar perks of time travel, this event had never actually taken place).
Now, though, their were seven participants, rather than two or three.
The blade of Link’s sword shone blindingly, as did the Triforce mark on the back of his hand, and his clothes turned gold. Mario’s overalls turned white, his shirt golden. A white-gold, translucent sheen hovered around Master Chief’s golden armour, the blue of his Energy Sword gone white. The orange parts of Freeman’s suit were gold, while the black remained, and the Lambda symbol on his chest shone white. Mega Man simply turned gold.
Rising into the air, the seven Supers pursued Veurtoya.
The ensuing battle was one to be talked about for centuries to come.
The Mobians and Crossroads-dwellers gathered at the shore of the huge lake as the seven flew towards the rogue God, streaking brilliant gold against the black, clouded sky.
Veurtoya roared and turned towards them, flapping his wings.
The Dark God, created by the Black Lums, against seven Heroes chosen by the Gods.
They clashed.
They fought.
The might of their battle shook the valley. High above the lake the two almighty forces pitted against each other. On the surface, the battle appeared to be a physical one, with the God fighting with claws, teeth and black flames from his mouth, and the Heroes fighting with their own unique and hugely powered up abilities. But in reality the physical conflict was a simple representation of the far more fundamental power struggle happening beneath. A God should have been able to crush all seven without any real difficulty, but billions of years spent in an Ancient prison had left Veurtoya considerably weakened. Providing the Heroes with a perfect oppurtunity.
Super Link dodged a burning black fireball from Veurtoya’s mouth, blocking another with his shield, and hit another away with his sword. Veurtoya twisted towards Link, surprisingly fluid and graceful for his immense size, and grabbed at the golden figure with a massive, black claw. Link dodged again, only just avoiding entrapment, drew his shining, white sword back, and chopped at the dragon’s left foreleg. It sliced straight into the black scales, and Veurtoya roared in anger, grabbing at the Hylian with his right claw. This time he did not miss, taking Link in his grip. The Dark God lifted him to his mouth to consume him, but then a huge, orange-red fireball collided with the side of the dragon’s head. He roared again and released Link as Super Mario flew past his head, casting another expanding vortex of fire at it. As the dragon chased after Mario, Link pointed the back of his hand at Veurtoya’s foreleg, the Triforce mark imprinted on it glowing brightly.

Suddenly, the Triforce jumped off the back of his hand and became a physical object, growing to the size of a man and rotating as it flew forward, the shining golden triangles trapping the God’s foreleg between them. Link shot after it and, faster than the eye could follow, sliced the claw of the foreleg over and over. Finishing the quick series of chops, he drew the Master Sword back and launched one final, powerful strike, smashing the Triforce like glass and badly injuring the claw.
Flying backwards and upwards so that he and Mario were on either side of the dragon’s head, Link drew his bow and notched a shining Light Arrow to the string. As Mario unleashed another Finale Fireball, Link fired the arrow. The two projectiles hit the opposite sides of Veurtoya’s head simultaneously, the arrow embedding itself in the black dragon’s jaw. Again Veurtoya roared, spraying black flames at the two Supers. Mario flew above the flames, then shot downwards feet-first at Veurtoya’s head. Landing on it as though it was a Goomba, he jumped up and down on it three times, then jumped higher, curled up his legs, and came down butt-first in a Super Ground Pound. Uncurling, he flew down the dragon’s neck, weaving between the long spines. Grabbing one with both hands, he span around it once, planted his feet on Veurtoya’s back, and tore the spine out, bringing a chunk of black flesh with it. As Veurtoya convulsed in pain, Mario used the blunt end of the spine to bludgeon him multiple times in the back, and then, sliding down his flank, drove it point-first into the God’s side.
As he roared in rage and pain, Super Sonic flew at him like a bullet, curling into a golden, spiny ball and colliding with his chest. Uncurling, he ran straight up Veurtoya’s chest and the underside of his neck, upside-down, leaping off when he reached the dragon’s chin. Hovering upwards, he drew even with Veurtoya’s yellow, reptilian eye. Then he curled up once again and thudded into the large eye, spinning as he did. Veurtoya screeched and batted the Hedgehog aside with his claw. His tail came around to try and impale Sonic, but a golden globe from Mega Man’s arm cannon hit its tip. The tail twisted away and Super Mega Man flew along its length, shooting along the God’s physical form. He flew up Veurtoya’s back, shooting laser ball after laser ball into him, being very, very careful not to prick himself on the dragon’s sharp spines. Landing on the back of Veurtoya’s neck, just below the base of his head, he pointed his cannon straight down and began to charge a huge laser ball, growing at the end of the cannon. At point blank range, he fired, blasting into the thick neck. Mega Man jumped off and flew over the dragon’s shoulder as he twisted to try and grab him.
Wielding his shining crowbar, Super Freeman flew facing upwards along Veurtoya’s belly, smashing rapidly. As he reached the God’s rear leg, he drew his Gravity Gun, which now glowed blue rather than orange, and fired a burst of blue zero-point lightning from it, hitting Veurtoya’s left leg. He and Mega Man continued to fire at the God’s belly, weaving and dodging to avoid his attacks.
Super Chief flew in, golden Energy Sword in hand, and plunged it into Veurtoya’s flank. Flying upwards, he sliced the sword along with him, cutting through the dragon’s thick skin as he moved. Then, reaching the joint of the wing to the body, he withdrew his glowing blade and flew up above the dragon’s wings. He produced a white-and-gold Spartan Laser, aiming it squarely at Veurtoya. A flickering laser sight flashed from the barrel of the large gun as it began to hum. Then it reached full charge, and, with a rushing sound, a thick, red laser beam shot out of the UNSC weapon. It punched straight through Veurtoya’s left wing and blasted into his back.
Veurtoya roared, frustrated at his apparent inability to deal with the Heroes, and folded his vast wings back to go into a dive straight down. He rushed downwards, the Heroes chasing after him. Super Rayman sped straight down towards the Dark God, flying at top speed, his helicopter hair allowing him to over take the other Heroes. Charging twin balls of energy in his hands as he rocketed aster the Dark God in accelerated freefall, he quickly caught up. Falling right beside the enormous black dragon, he combined the balls into one between his hands and tossed it straight into Veurtoya’s gut. He roared and twisted as it exploded against him, lunging at Rayman. Rayman dodged and went in close, flying extremely near to the God’s body as they dived. Coming to the neck, he grabbed onto one of the spines just as Veurtoya pulled out of the dive, just above the lake’s surface and went soaring upwards. Clambering up the dragon’s neck, Rayman pulled himself onto the top of his head, getting a grip behind one of the large scales. He pulled his fist back, shining like the sun, and slammed it into the back of Veurtoya’s head. The Dark God roared, twisting in a vain attempt to throw him off. Again he struck with enormous force. Veurtoya screeched desperately, clawing at his neck as he flew. Again Rayman punched him, and then again, and again. Finally, as he plunged his fist into Veurtoya’s skull once more, the great dragon went limp.
Rayman pushed away from his body, hovering aside. The Dark God floated there, seemingly lifeless. The seven Heroes formed a ring around his limp form, golden light illuminating it.
Super Sonic grinned. “He ain’t so tough,” he yelled to the other Supers, voice echoing across the lake. “That was easy!”
Rayman shook his head. “A God is not so easily killed,” he said, frowning.
Correct.
All of them heard the voice in their minds. They looked around for the source of the sound, but Rayman kept his eye on Veurtoya. The God had raised its head, eyes open.
Yes, I see you, Chosen of the Ancients.
He was looking straight at Rayman.
You and your so-called Heroes. You believe that you fight because you choose to do so, do you not? But the truth is, Rayman, this path was chosen for you, long before you even came into existence. Your friend, Doctor Freeman, knows this well. He has long known of the secret that steers him. And of the illusion of choice.
Gordon closed his eyes.
All of you are pawns. Pawns of the Gods. Pawns of the Ancients. They control your destiny absolutely. No choice is truly yours. You serve only their grand designs, to be directed, and, if need be, sacrificed, as they see fit.
Rayman. Your Polokus, so-called Spirit of the World. You see him as a perfect being, a golden figure. But is his plan for you as pure as you think?
And Link, Hero of Time, Chosen by the Goddesses. To return to protect your land whenever you are required. Your Goddesses, Farore, Din and Nayru, do they allow you to rest? Even in death you can never be free. Your spirit is kept and recycled over and over, to be returned to life at even the slightest of mishaps. You are eternally bound to do their bidding.
Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Master Chief. Your lives are just as controlled as the others, even if you don’t yet know it. Never will your Gods allow you to stray from the path they have set out for you. Always, always you do their bidding.
What I offer you now is a chance at true freedom. I am no unreasonable. Release me and I will destroy the Gods who restrict you so. I will allow you to live, truly live, as you see fit.
And you get the rest of the universe, I suppose?” Rayman yelled.
The other Gods will have no need of it when I am through with them.
“And what do you think of this offer, guys?” he asked the other Heroes, smiling.
Link notched a Light Arrow to his bow, aiming at Veurtoya. Mario held a fireball in his hands. Chief took aim down the barrel of his Spartan Laser. Freeman did the same with his Gravity Gun.
“I think that’s your answer, Your Divinity,” Rayman said.
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. So be it. You were warned.
“Hah!” Sonic scoffed. “Warned against what!? We already kicked your butt.”
Rayman thought he saw the hint of a smile in the rogue God’s dragon mouth. Fools. I am far from defeated.
And with that, he became a massive spider, black and red, crawling through the air and spinning silk to entrap the Heroes. Then he was a many-tentacled monster, tendrils writhing and grabbing. Then he was a huge version of Dark Rayman, laughing as he cast dark energy against them. He changed form many times, the Heroes struggling to keep up.
And then, he became shadow, pure darkness. Shifting, indeterminate, implacable, like a dark gas, the shadows that were Veurtoya surrounded the golden Heroes, attempting to blot out their light. They used all of their power to resist, pouring golden energy into the darkness, their faces bent in concentration. For minutes the light fought the shadow, locked together in a phenomenal power struggle.
The Heroes would have stood a chance of winning, if not for what occurred next.
Without warning, a white-blue beam of light struck Super Sonic in the back. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock as he lost his golden colouration and returned to his normal form. Losing his ability to fly, he instantly began to fall. But Veurtoya’s shadows snatched him out of the air and rapidly began to cocoon him. With his last glimpse of light, he saw a huge red, black and yellow cruiser-type aircraft travelling towards them, firing more beams.
As the Shadows obscured his face, Sonic had time for one last, gasped word: “Eggman!”
The Heroes were thrown into confusion as similar beams snuffed out their light, one by one. Super Rayman watched in horror as Veurtoya absorbed each one into his shadowy mass, then turned to him.
He flew away, fast as he could, dodging the beams coming from the Egg Carrier as Veurtoya pursued him with tendrils of darkness. Flying just above the surface of the lake, the lasers thudded into the water as he wove around them, desperately trying to reach the shore. He was almost there...
A blue-white beam shot into him, scattering the seven Emeralds from his body, which Veurtoya was quick to retrieve. His momentum carried him to the shore, where he hit the sand hard and skidded and rolled to a stop. “Raylina!” he gasped, spitting out sand. She ran to him from the others, eyes wide with concern and terror. Quickly, Rayman untied the red kerchief from around his would-be neck, eyeing the rapidly advancing shadows. “Take this,” he said, handing it up to Raylina, looking her gravely in the eye.
“You are the Chosen One now. I love...”
And then a tendril of darkness snatched him away.
“Dad!” Raylina screamed. No!”
But there was nothing she could do.

Aboard the Egg Carrier, Land of the Livid Dead

Mr. Dark was alive.
Alive and imprisoned.
He was hanging in Anti-Parapsychological Activity chains on the bridge of Eggman’s flagship, watching in horror as the scientist doomed all of creation. “No! You madman!” he yelled. Eggman turned away from the console, looking straight at Dark.
“We’ll see just who is a madman when Veurtoya bows to my will!” he cackled in a decidedly insane tone. His face was still covered in blood, and his glasses were missing, revealing his wild eyes. He certainly had the look of a madman.
“You think a God will obey you just because you tell him to?” Dark screamed desperately. “Veurtoya will tear you to shreds!”
“No! He will not! For I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, rightful ruler of the world, and he will heed my words!”
Applying what equates to a parking brake, Eggman left the Egg Carrier to hover in the air and stepped onto a small elevator, taking him to the roof of the fantastic ship. The wind blew through his hair as he gazed upon the seething, black chaos that was Veurtoya.
“Oh, almighty Veurtoya, Dark God and Lord of Shadow!” he proclaimed, voice magnified a thousand fold by the huge speakers aboard the Egg Carrier. “Hear my words, and obey! I order you to do as I command! My will is your will, ad you shall ob...”
He was still ranting and raving when a tentacle of shadow snatched him from the Egg Carrier’s roof.

Shadow materialised on the bridge of the Egg Carrier, bringing Raylina and Ly with him. Looking around for Eggman, his eyes found the chained Mr. Dark. “You!” he said, rage burning in his voice. “You’re meant to be dead! You deserve to be dead! Do you realise what you’ve done?”
He pointed out the bridge windshield, at the gathering shadows. “Not only have you allowed a being with the power and the wish to enslave us all escape, you have killed the only seven people who would have given this Universe any hope!”
Dark’s eyes were on the ground as he shook his head. “There are other Heroes, dozens of them. These are just the five that answered Rayman and Sonic’s call.”
Raylina grabbed Shadow’s arm as he moved to strike Dark. “He didn’t do it, Shadow. It was Eggman.”
“Nevertheless, he caused all of this in the first place! He brought Eggman to this planet. This is all his fault.”
Suddenly, Rayden, Sharkin and Gripnos appeared on the bridge, Rayden pocketing the Earth Mask he had used to warp them up. “What is going o...” he trailed off as his eyes fell upon Mr. Dark, and narrowed dangerously, an old rage entering them. “You,” he said quietly. Drawing Romeo from its holster, he walked over to the heavily bound sorcerer. Dark bowed his head head as Rayden put the gun against it.
“I could put a bullet in your brain right now,” he said in a dangerous voice. “I should put a bullet in your brain. For the things you’ve done... all those years ago...” Raylina watched anxiously as his face twitched, and his finger tightened on the trigger.
“For what you did to her.”
Dark closed his eyes.
“No-one would mourn my passing. Do it.”
He waited for the bullet to come, knowing he deserved it.
Rayden snarled, then in one fluid movement flipped the handgun over, caught it by the barrel and struck Dark across the head with the butt. The wide-brimmed hat flew off, and his head exploded with pain. He would have fallen to the ground, but the chains held him where he was. Barely conscious, he heard Rayden’s words.
“I should kill you,” he said as he turned away, holstering the pistol. “But that would make me just as bad as you.”
As he walked away, he looked back at the pathetic-looking sorcerer. “Didn’t you used to wear dark blue?” he said, his eyes running up and down Dark’s body. “I think this black suits you better.” He turned away again. “It matches your soul.”
Raylina looked at Mr. Dark with a mixture of sadness and amazement. This was the first time she had ever seen his face, revealed by the loss of his hat. It was extremely pale, almost paper-white. His hair was short, and, of course, black. His eyes no longer glowed yellow, as that had been an illusory spell attached to his hat. They were filled with sadness and regret. But the most prominent feature on his pale face was the horrid old scar, slashing diagonally across his face and nose from edge to edge. He was a pathetic sight, hanging in chains, blood leaking from where Rayden had struck him.
Despite all he had done, she pitied him.
“So now what do we do?” Gripnos asked, looking out at Veurtoya’s spreading darkness.
“There’s nothing we can do,” said Shadow, arms folded, head bowed. “We can’t fight that thing.”
“You can’t.”
Everyone turned to Mr. Dark.
“But there are others who can.”
Shadow sneered at him and turned away, But Raylina’s brow creased. “Who could possibly fight a God?” she asked no-one in particular.
“Another God,” Ly replied out loud.
“Of course!” Raylina exclaimed. “Polokus can...”
“No,” Dark interrupted. “One of the rules set by the Ancients is that a God cannot interfere with another’s work. It is written in the Spirit of the World’s very nature to not be able to attack Veurtoya.”
“Stop talking in riddles, sorcerer!” Shadow nearly yelled in frustration. “If the Gods are restricted by the Ancients laws...”
“We find one who can break them,” Rayden realised.
“A rogue God, like Veurtoya,” Ly continued.
“But where are we supposed to find one?”
Once again, all heads turned to Mr. Dark. Despite the fact that all of them were ironically in the palm of his hand, he didn’t look at all smug. Only sorrowful that it was necessary.
“Each of the rogue Gods were bound in some way or another during the Age of Creation. Veurtoya was sealed in the centre of the Land of the Livid Dead, beneath the very site where the Teensie Empire built its mighty stronghold many years later. Solaris was bound to serve as a patron deity to those who lived in the Mobius nation of Solleanna. Gaia of Mobius was split into Dark and Light halves and doomed forever to enter conflict against itself. The rogue God bound to Earth was given the task of protecting dead human souls...”
“Get to the point,” said Rayden, with very little patience for the lessons of his old enemy.
“And there is one rogue God, on this planet, who was bound to a Sceptre, to obey any of sufficient strength of will who holds it.”
Rayden drew a sharp intake of breath. “Of course... the Leptys...”
Mr. Dark nodded. “The Knaaren, up until nineteen years ago, held the Sceptre for many millennia. As of course you well know, Rayden.”
“But Rayman destroyed the Leptys nineteen years ago,” said Ly, puzzled. The mention of her father brought a pang of sorrow to Raylina’s chest, an a pang to Ly’s heart at the mention of her seventeen-year love. ”Along with Reflux the Knaaren.”
Dark shook his head. “No. He only destroyed the Sceptre, or at least its physical form. The Leptys is still very much alive, well, and bound to the Sceptre in spirit.”
“And how do we call upon the Leptys without the Sceptre?” Shadow asked, derisive on the surface, but a spark of hope creeping into his voice.
“We retrieve it, before it was destroyed.”
“What, nineteen years ago?” Raylina asked, incredulous, but then realised. “Oh.”
Dark smiled, revealing his perfect teeth. “Yes. Using Chaos Control to travel back to before it was destroyed, and bringing it back here.”
Shadow looked up. “That’s madness. There’s no telling what we could change!”
“Madness? This is not madness. This is the Crossroads of Dreams. Anything is possible,” Raylina said, smiling despite the tears streaming down her face.
“But haven’t you noticed how convenient this is for Dark?” He’s the only one who knows the correct time , so only he can make the portal. We’re playing right into his hands. He could take us anywhere, at anytime!”
“Do you see any other way?” Dark asked, eyes meeting with Shadow’s.
Raylina looked at Shadow, his eyes still on Dark. “I don’t think we have a choice, Shadow.”
“But he could have any motive for this. It could be a trap...”
Rayden slapped a new clip into Tybalt. “I don’t like doing what this son of a bitch says either, but the way I see it, we’re fucked anyway.”
Shadow breathed out, then nodded.
“Okay.”
Raylina found the button to release Dark, and pressed it. The chains fell to the floor with a resounding clang, and Dark stepped out of them. He replaced his hat, eyes resuming their normal glow. Then he and Shadow stood facing each other, and Raylina handed him the Air Mask. Both uttered “Chaos Control!”, raising their respective Masks. A swirling time portal appeared behind them. As soon as it opened, Shadow swiped the Air Mask from Dark’s hands. “So you can’t bail on us,” he explained, tossing it to Ly.
Rayden turned to Sharkin and Gripnos. “I want you two to stay here and get everyone aboard this ship, then fly it to the edge of the valley.” He glanced at the spreading darkness at the centre of the lake. “You might not have much time.”
“There is still much time,” said Dark. “Veurtoya’s lust for vengeance and his belief that he is unassailable are his greatest weaknesses. He will take his time...digesting...them, to make it as painful as possible for those who defied him. He will not attack until he is finished, which could be some time, hours. He does not see you as a threat, so escape will not be difficult.”
Team Scorpion performed their ritual, and Sharkin and Gripnos turned to the ship’s controls. Shadow was first through the portal, then Rayden. Raylina and Ly took a moment alone to mourn for Rayman, eyes tear-filled. Then they jumped in.
Mr. Dark followed, looking out the window at Veurtoya one last time, before allowing the time portal to swallow him.

ANOMALY SCANNED
Conclusion: Chaos Control Time Portal
Destination: 2 Years ADR (19 years before current time), Summit Beyond the Clouds
Course of action: Follow

But then, running quickly across the floor of the bridge, appeared a silver, Limbless robot. Too fast for Sharkin or Gripnos to stop, Metal Rayman leapt into the portal just as it closed.