Fanfic: Gems of Chaos FINAL CHAPTER

[Lachimax]

Hey all, could somebody please draw a piece of artwork for this fanfic? I don't mind if it's on the computer or handdrawn, or whatever, as long as it uses the characters. I don't really expect anyone to do this, but it would be cool.

[Holy Crap]

I might, if I'm bored later...

[Lachimax]

Sorry 'bout the wait.

Chapter 14: Slumbering Omnipotence

Whale Bay

Sonic ran with Raylina in his arms, building up speed as three helicopter gunships chased after them, guns blazing. They reached the end of the beach, and Sonic leapt into the air, using the rocks to climb upwards and into the stony terrain beyond. The choppers continued to pursue them, and Sonic leapt from rock to rock with graceful ease to avoid their bullets.
Sonic skidded to a halt into an outcrop, sheltered briefly from the deadly rain. He put Raylina gently on her feet. “Got the Emeralds?” he asked.
Raylina produced both the cyan and the purple Chaos Emeralds, smiling in triumph. She handed Sonic the cyan Emerald, and he spun it once on the tip of his finger, catching it as it fell, and called, almost lazily, “Chaos Control!”

Summit Beyond the Clouds

Rayman had been climbing the mountain for barely half an hour when the snowstorm hit.
Pieces of ice and snow swirled around him, the wind cutting into him like a knife. He began to shiver violently, stumbling blindly through the storm. He had to find some shelter to wait out the storm in. Even he could not take much more of this.
At the very thought, as though sent by the Gods themselves, the entrance to a small cave loomed suddenly out of the white chaos. Rayman brushed the snow from his eyes, and trudged into the cave.

Tomb of the Ancients

The location known to the inhabitants of the Crossroads of Dreams as the Tomb of the Ancients was a dangerous place, of poisoned sludge, malignant spirits, Zombie Chickens, and a twisted maze of tunnels. An actual tomb had been built on the surface by the Pirates in their first invasion, where they had laid to rest the rusted bodies of their Admirals who had died on their voyage of discovery towards this world. Most of them had actually been killed by Razorbeard in his ambition for power among the Pirates, although of course this was not acknowledged on the tombstones.
But this was not the reason the place was known as the Tomb of the Ancients. No, the true purpose of the place had long been forgotten by those who knew it by that name, except for a very select few. For deep under the surface, under the drains and the ghosts and the shadows, their lay another tomb, one far grander and larger. Within this tomb lay beings so old, and yet so young at the same time, beings with power unimaginable and unattainable by even the gods. Beings that lay in their tomb even though they were not truly dead, but merely in a sleep so deep that they could not be awakened except by the one they chose.
The Ancients.
And with them lay another group of ancient beings.

Space Colony ARK

Eggman stood bent over his work, spanner in hand. A three-dimensional hologram projection of Rayman revolved before him, along with schematics and blueprints of his design. “This will show that upstart,” he muttered, referring to Mr. Dark.
Ivo Robotnik wiped the sweat from his forehead, straightening his one-way glasses. Tightening the final bolt of his creation, he straightened and stepped back to admire his work. He threw a switch on his remote control.
A pair of red eyes flickered on.
A metal head turned.
Eggman began to chuckle.

Tomb of the Ancients

Raylina stepped away from Sonic, gazing in a mixture of awe and disgust at her surroundings. They had landed on a small, slime-covered islet in the middle of a sludge-filled stream. They were inside some sort of open-roofed mausoleum, the rest of the structure stretching upwards around them in a small valley. Walls of grey stone lay strewn across the landscape, and groups of pale, translucent spectres rose in columns towards the cloud-filled skies.
Next to zero sunlight was filtering through the jet-black clouds. The only source of light were seemingly randomly placed flame torches, burning without any visible source of fuel.
Around them was the Tomb, a structure of grey stone, with metal grills as windows. Various entrances and exits led to dark tunnels or stagnant pools. The entire place emanated a distinct air of darkness and evil.
“Gee, there are some lovely places on your planet,” muttered Sonic. Raylina cast him a withering glance, then proceeded to hop across the stream.
Without warning, a rag-clad Zombie Chicken rose from the stream, grasping at her with its claws. Raylina screamed, almost slipping, and just made it to the other side. The Chicken moaned, turning its blank gaze towards Sonic. Raylina dispatched it with a single energy ball. It collapsed in on itself, breaking into pieces and returning to the bottom of the stream.
“Some nice, friendly creatures, too,” the hedgehog muttered again.
Raylina chose to ignore that. “Can you sense the Emerald?” she asked.
Sonic leapt into the air, curling into a ball as he did, and shot across the small stream, leaving a faint blue trail in the air behind him, which quickly faded. He landed beside Raylina, still as a ball, and bounced straight up, uncurled in midair, and landed lightly on his feet. “Yep,” he said, winking at Raylina. She cocked one eyebrow, unimpressed. “Showoff. Was that entirely necessary?”
Sonic grinned, turning towards the Emerald’s energy. “Maybe not. But it was fun,” Raylina shook her head, and followed him.
They remained constantly on guard, keeping watch for other unknown evils. They reached a doorway with two spear-wielding statues on either side. On closer inspection the statues resembled the bodies of deactivated Robo-Pirate Henchmen her father had once shown her.
“Why don’t they move, daddy?” she had asked.
“Because I went to their home,” he had answered, the ghost of the past darkening his eyes. “And destroyed the thing that kept them alive,”
“Why did you do that, daddy?”
“Because if I didn’t, they would have destroyed everything.”
Raylina hadn’t known what he had meant at the time, nor, as a child, had she really cared. But now, years later, as the world she knew and loved crumbled around her, Rayman’s words held new meaning.
Raylina shook herself, and glanced at Sonic to find him frowning worriedly at her. She smiled. “What’s the matter with you?”
He returned the smile. “I was wondering the same about you,” he replied. “Maybe we should rest here a while before we try and find the Emerald,”
“I doubt we’ll find a more restful place in all the Crossroads,” Raylina said jokingly.
And so, under the watchful gaze of the two Pirate statues, they sat facing each other with the two Emeralds between them. Only then did Raylina notice how empty her stomach was. “I’m starving!” she said in surprise. Sonic laughed. “You picked a great place to notice that! I doubt there’s anything even remotely edible for a hundred miles!”
Raylina nodded, and sighed. “Oh well. I guess food can wait,”
“What I’d love right now is a big chilli dog,”
Raylina giggled. “Why not? Chilli dogs all round,”
Sonic gazed into the sky for a moment, then looked at Raylina with a mischievous look in his eye.
“So... Shadow, huh? What makes him so attractive to you?”
“Raylina blushed, locking her gaze on the cyan Emerald. “Well... he seems so... deep. And mysterious, like there’s something hidden inside him that no-one can ever see. It makes me want to dig it out and see it for myself. His past burns in his eyes, it haunts his every movement. I want... I want to help him.
“Plus,” she added, “He’s quite good looking,”
“Well, said Sonic, grinning at that last point. “You should try to talking to him, to get to know him. Maybe it could work!”
“But... When this is all over, aren’t you two going back to Mobius?”
“Yeah, but who knows? Maybe we’ll find a way to keep in contact. After all, Eggman got the entire ARK here. If he can do that, I’m sure we can return to visit,”
Raylina contemplated that. “But...I don’t know how to talk to him. I wouldn’t be good enough for him. And besides, he’s a different species to me!”
“Your parents are of different races, aren’t they?”
That stopped the flow of argument from her mouth.
“And as for you not being good enough, that’s nonsense! You’re pretty, you’re intelligent, and, despite your lack of limbs, you’re actually kinda sexy,”
Raylina blushed profusely. She wouldn’t have guessed that Sonic could be so sensitive.
Feeling a sudden need for action, she grabbed the cyan Emerald and stood up. “Can we go now?”

Writer’s Note: I know I diverged slightly from Sonic’s traditional character here, but I felt like the story called for it, and who says Sonic doesn’t have a more sensitive side?

They entered the crypt under the guard of the statues. There were two rows of stone sarcophagi, each one with Robo-Pirate lettering on it detailing its rusted contents. At the far end of the room, in front of a metal grill overlooking a sludge-filled lake, were two lidless sarcophagi shadowed by oversized tombstones, leaving the bodies within open to scrutiny. Raylina jogged to the graves to take a peek inside.
Within each sarcophagus was the rust covered body of a Robo-Pirate Admiral. Raylina didn’t recognise them for what they truly were, but Rayman would have known them to be Razorbeard’s kin, the same model of robot as the one who had nearly destroyed all they held dear.
Raylina shuddered at the sight of the bodies.
“Um... Raylina...” came Sonic’s voice from behind her. She turned to hear the shriek of rusted, century-old robots come to life.
The guards, whom she had assumed were mere statues, were two barely operable Henchman 300s. Quite possibly the only two remaining Pirates in existence.
The Henchman 800 was the standard model of infantry at the time of the first Pirate invation, superseded by the newer Henchman 5000 by the time of the second invasion. Predating the 800 was the Henchman 1000. Before that model were the tougher, yet more expensive to manufacture, Barrel and Gorrila Pirates. Now, predating even those relics was the Henchman 300, one of the earliest models of Pirate infantry. Slow moving, and with no in-built weaponry, these were the two Pirates advancing on Raylina and Sonic, hefting their spears, activated by their interference with the tombs.
Sonic backed away from the ancient machines...
And was swallowed by the earth below him.
“Sonic!” Raylina screamed. She tried charging a few balls of energy and hurling them at the advancing robots, but to no avail: they bounced right off. Raylina took a step backwards...
And fell through one of the many booby-trap trapdoors in the ground.
She screamed as she slid down through a maze of slimy pipes, carried downwards into the ground. She struggled to slow her descent, but before she knew it she was at the bottom, sitting on a cushioning layer of moss, with Sonic standing in front of her. “One day,” the hedgehog muttered, “I am going to find a Chaos Emerald lying on a bed of flowers in the middle of a park, without anything guarding it. And I will pick it up and continue on my way, whistling merrily,”
Raylina laughed, and stood up. “Nothing but a dream, my spiny friend,”
Sonic had spotted something in the ground. Sparked by curiosity, he bent down and wiped the moss from a perfectly flat, purple, paving stone. It was engraved with the language of the Crossroads.
Raylina bent down to read the script. “Below lay the Lords of all Creation, and with them their champions,”
Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Wonder what that means...” He looked up suddenly, eyes glimmering. “I can feel the Emerald! It’s really close!” He turned down a nearby tunnel. “This way!”
Raylina followed him, weaving through the mess of tunnels, cobwebs, and slime.
They reached a small chamber dominated by a large spider’s web, stretching from all corners of the room.
Hanging, typically, in the centre of the web was the last unfound Chaos Emerald.
“So much for a bed of flowers,”
That’s when they noticed the white eyes gleaming at them from the shadows. Dozens of pairs of beady, white eyes. As her eyes adjusted, the eyes could seen to belong to many black, hairy, man-sized spiders, lurking in the darkness at the edges of the chamber. They were watching Sonic and Raylina, saliva dripping from their mandibles, but they daren’t stray closer.
They were afraid.
Afraid of the Emerald.
Raylina realised this. She stepped into the chamber, towards the Emerald. “What are you doing?” hissed Sonic.
“Just be ready to warp us out of here,” she hissed back.
She approached the Emerald, careful not to look at the arachnids. She reached up, and pulled it from the web
The instant she did, as though a hidden switch had been thrown, the spiders swarmed at her, climbing over each other and the web in a mad bid for fresh prey.
But then Sonic was there, cutting through the black mass like a knife through butter. He landed beside Raylina, both of his Emeralds drawn. The spiders shrank back, repelled by the three Emeralds together. Raylina and Sonic walked to the edge of the chamber, the many spiders’ eyes upon them, and into the tunnel. Sonic grinned uneasily, keeping a wary eye on the eight-legged monsters.
“Let’s go help Shadow. CHAOS...Control!”

Okay, I know this chapter wasn’t all that great. I’ll try and make up for it with the next few, which I already have written, but I haven’t got around to typing up. Thanks for reading!

[Lachimax]

Chapter 15: The Ultimate

On the peak of the Summit Beyond the Clouds, the summit of the Summit, as it were, was a huge, round trapdoor, which led to the centre of the Black Lums’ power: Hoodlum Headquarters. Previously, Rayman had gained entrance to the Headquarters simply by standing on the trapdoor at the same time as Globox, who had, incidentally, been frozen in a block of ice at the time. But now, under Dark Rayman’s leadership, security had been tightened somewhat. There was now a round the clock garrison at the peak, with a regiment of twenty Hoodmongers (Hoodblasters for PlayStation owners) led by a Hoodlum Officer, five Spinneroos, and three Hecklers, as well as a direct tunnel to the Hoodstormer barracks.
All this meant nothing to Shadow.
Two of the Hoodmongers were playing a game of cards, one cheating quite blatantly with several valuable cards up his voluminous sleeves. The other Hoodlum wore a frustrated look as he pushed three pieces of fabric towards the winner and challenged him to yet another rematch. The cheater was only to happy to oblige. But that was when Shadow’s Jumper sailed over the horizon and landed amidst the garrison. It skidded several metres, crushing the cheating Hoodlum and leaving his opponent standing bewildered and stunned before a broken card table.
The other Hoodlums leapt into action immediately, yelling incomprehensible words and firing at the Jumper. The Hecklers charged without thought, pulling repeatedly on their cannons’ pull-chains. Shadow directed the Jumper toward the trapdoor, kicking on Heckler clean off the peak of the mountain.
Hoodstormers began to pour from the barracks tunnel, rotors spinning. They hovered around the Jumper like flies, firing shot after shot at it. The bolts bounced off the vehicle’s tough armour, deflected like a drunken Teensie from a fairy nightclub.
Shadow drove the Jumper forwards, stepping laboriously towards the trapdoor. The Hoodmongers in front of it valiantly held their ground, right up until it stepped right through them, crushing several of their cloth bodies with a single foot.
The Jumper stepped onto the trapdoor. It groaned, sagged, then collapsed, and the Jumper, Shadow within it, fell into the depths of the Headquarters.

“Perimeter breach. All available personnel to main shaft.”
The feminine voice rang out throughout the base, alerting every Black Lum inside the hollow mountain to Shadow’s presence. Which, oddly, was only a few dozen. The rest of Dark Rayman’s army was on the move, marching away from the Summit Beyond the Clouds.
A dozen Hoodmongers crowded at the base of the Headquarters’ main shaft, rifles aimed upwards. Great, metallic booms echoed down to them as the Jumper clanged against the many walkways and pipes in its way, freefalling towards a hard landing. The Hoodmongers backed to the edges of the shaft, gazing intently along the sights of their rifles. Then, with an almighty crash, the Jumper hit the bottom, throwing up a cloud of parts and dust. The Hoodlums kept their rifles trained on the thoroughly destroyed machine, and when the dust settled, an Officer stepped cautiously forwards, towards the Jumper’s cockpit, now attached to the main body by no more than a few wires. The Officer found a release on the cockpit’s exterior, pressing it.
The blast shield slid open, revealing an entirely empty control booth.
The Hoodlum spun around rifle up, to see his squad lying in tattered rags around him, and Shadow the Hedgehog, Ultimate Life Form, standing in front of him.
The Officer yelled and pulled his trigger, but Shadow knocked it aside, kicked him in the gut (or where the gut would be) and wrested the rifle from his hands. Shadow shot the doubled-over Hoodlum in the head, then reloaded the rifle and walked away.
Alarms sounded throughout the base as Shadow made his way like a storm towards Dark Rayman. He fought through legions of Black Lums, as they threw everything they had at him. He left a trail of destruction in his path: thermal power generators, run from the rivers of lava; assembly lines, building weapons, vehicles, and clothing; and some sort of contraption whose practical use escaped Shadow, but which the Hoodlums referred to as the Horrible Machine.
Finally, Dark Rayman decided to face the dark Hedgehog himself.
Shadow, in a spiny, spinning ball, slammed into the chest of a Hoodmonger, thus finishing off a large squad of them. He uncurled and began to run again, only to be knocked to the ground by a surge of dark power.
He shook his head to clear it and looked up to see Dark Rayman hovering in the air above, the Green Emerald floating before him.
Shadow leapt from the ground, curling into a ball and flying straight at the shade. He remained where he was, but grabbed Shadow in midair swung the curled-up hedgehog and tossed him forcefully against a metal column. Shadow slid to the ground and struggled to find his feet, but Dark Rayman slammed into him from above, knocking them both straight through the floor. Shadow managed to turn himself upright just as he landed on hard rock.
They were now in a large cavern which appeared to house, of all things, a factory making massive plum pies. The floor of the cavern was, however, covered in molten lava. Shadow climbed once again to his feet. He had landed, quite luckily, on one of several small stone islands in the lava lake. Dark Rayman floated several metres above the magma, the left side of his mouth bent in a contemptuous smile. (Before anybody says anything, I am well aware of the difference between magma and lava. I am simply using both terms for the sake of descriptive variety.)
“You cannot win, hedgehog,” he said, his voice echoing around the cavern. “I have already wiped the floor with you,”
“So it would seem,” Shadow replied.
Dark Rayman cocked his head slightly, a frown clouding his grey face. “Why do you fight for this world, Hedgehog? Surely it’s fate is of no interest to you,”
Shadow narrowed his eyes. He raised on hand to chest height, wrapping his other hand around his wrist. “The fates of all worlds are linked,” He twisted the golden ring cuff on his wrist, undoing it and letting it fall to the ground with a chink. “as you well know, shade,”
He reached for his other cuff. “And I fight for all who need me,”
Shadow let the other cuff fall.
Power flooded through him from his Emerald, shadows gathering at his wrists. He rose into the air, floating equal with Dark Rayman.
“I am Shadow the Hedgehog, Ultimate Life Form as created by Doctor Gerald Robotnik. This is WHO I AM!”
He shot forwards, taking Dark Rayman by surprise and carrying them both upwards. They flew straight through one of the huge pies and hit a steel wall. The taste of plum and pastry in his mouth, Shadow pinned Dark Rayman to the wall and punched him several times in the face. Dark Rayman kicked Shadow upwards, then flew at him, hitting Shadow in the belly with his shoulder and carrying them both upwards a metre or so. Shadow grabbed the shade’s waist, pulling himself over his shoulder to flip around and kick Dark Rayman in the groin, fllowed by a punch to the small of his back. This sent him flying forwards. Shadow then used Chaos Blast, creating a shock wave which blew Dark Rayman back through the ceiling and several more floors. Hoodlums scattered as Shadow followed him, choosing to create his own holes rather than use the ones Dark Rayman had made. The shade finally stopped himself in the main shaft, turned, and flew at Shadow. They met at high speed, creating an explosion which blew several Hoodlums into the main shaft, where they fell like Autumn leaves. (Fall leaves to you yanks.)
The two flew into the centre of the shaft, facing each other across a distance of about twenty metres. Shadow felt the force of Dark Rayman’s will against his, and retaliated, pushing against the shade’s strength. For several seconds they floated in midair, expressions of intense concentration on their faces, an invisible battle occurring beneath the surface. Finally, Shadow felt Dark Rayman’s will waver, and an expression of fear crossed his face. Shadow took full advantage, pushing straight through with his mind and overcoming him. Immobilised, Dark Rayman could only watch as Shadow charged and released a Chaos Spear. The golden bolt of Chaos energy flew through the air, impacting Dark Rayman in the centre of his ‘O’. He was thrown backwards, leaving the green Chaos Emerald floating in the air. Bereaved of its energy, Dark Rayman fell down the shaft for hundreds of metres.
Shadow retrieved the green Emerald, then floated across to a nearby walkway, where he promptly collapsed, exhausted.

But wait, there's more on it's way.

[Holy Crap]

Hoodmongers (Hoodblasters for PlayStation owners)

My version is PS2 and they're called Hoodmongers in that. I think it's regional.

[Lachimax]

Ah yeah, that's quite possible, never thought of that. I have the GameCube version.

[need my speed]

Will this be updated sometime?

[PluMGMK]

It seems to be updated once a month or so.

[Lachimax]

Ah yeah, sorry guys, I'll get around to it. I've written enough for another couple of chapters, I just have to get my act together and type them up. Actually, I feel a typing mood coming on now...

[need my speed]

Good. Very good.

[Lachimax]

Here you go!

Chapter 16: Time and Space

Hoodlum Headquarters, Summit Beyond the Clouds

Raylina and Sonic arrived on the scene to find Shadow close to unconsciousness with two Chaos Emeralds held in his fists. They ran to him, Raylina helping him up. “Steady, buddy,” said Sonic.
“MY... cuffs,” Shadow forced out. Sonic understood. “Where?” Shadow pointed to the twin holes he and Dark Rayman had punched through the steel walls. Sonic nodded. “I’ll fetch them for you,”
He left to search for them.
Raylina produced the cyan and white Emeralds, lying them on the walkway. “These may help you recover your strength.” Shadow nodded. “Thank you.” He sat in the middle of the four Emeralds, drawing strength from their energy. His eyes began to regain their solid determination.
“Where is the purple Emerald?” he asked.
“Sonic has it,” she replied. Drawing up her courage, she sat beside him and slipped her hand into his. He glanced up, looking at her for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth twitched.
“What is this place?” she asked, gazing around at their surroundings. “Hoodlum Headquarters,” Shadow replied. “I think it’s an old, hollowed-out volcano. Outside, the mountain is covered in snow and ice,”
He could see Hoodlums running around far above and below them, attempting to correct the chaos he had wrought throughout their base. “We should leave before the Black Lums regroup,”
“Once Sonic gets back,” Raylina said.

Sonic peered through the suspiciously Hedgehog-shaped hole in the wall of his corridor into the Foundry cavern. He spotted Shadow’s ring cuffs resting on a rock island below. Checking the corridor one last time for Hoodlums, he climbed onto the hole and launched himself out across the lava, dozens of metres below. He landed on a metal platform at the end of a conveyor belt, rolling to absorb the impact. He jumped onto the belt from the same motion, running against it to the end, where he jumped against the wall and kicked off it, flying through the air to land squarely in the centre of Shadow’s island.
Sonic dusted himself off and picked up the two golden ring cuffs, spinning one around his finger. He knew what they were: as the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow needed some sort of limit on his pwer, or else the enormous energies he had access to would consume him. That’s what the cuffs were for: they limited his power and allowed him to control it without fear of destroying himself and everything around him. On occasion, when the need was great, he was able to remove them and feel the full extent of his power, and draw far more from a Chaos Emerald.
Sonic looked around to find that he was stranded. There was no way out from his little island. He sighed, and produced the purple Emerald. He didn’t like to use Chaos Control as often as he had been lately. Usually he only used it when the need was great. Shadow, on the other hand, used it and his other Chaos powers whenever he felt the need, almost, in Sonic’s opinion, to the point of abuse.
Oh well, he thought. Nothing else for it. He raised the Emerald, about to utter the two words which would return him to Shadow and Raylina, when something thumped him hard on the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

Shadow breathed in a gasp of air, eyes widening. “We have to get to Sonic, now!”
They gathered the Emeralds hastily. “You have to do it,” said Shadow. “If I use Chaos Control without my cuffs, I could kill us both, and take a sizeable part of this mountain with us. Just keep Sonic in your mind, and that’s where we’ll go.”
Raylina hesitated for a moment, the nodded. “Chaos Control.”
They materialised in the middle of the lava, to find Sonic unconscious and Dark Rayman floating above them with the purple Emerald in hand. “Sorry to rain on your little parade, Ray, Hedgehog,” he said. “But this does not belong to you. Chaos Control!”
A swirling white and blue vortex appeared in the air behind Dark Rayman, churning away at reality’s fabric. Hands spread beside him, the copy floated backwards into the portal and disappeared. The portal collapsed in on itself, leaving no trace of Dark Rayman or the Emerald. “Damn,” cursed Shadow.
“Where did he go?” Raylina asked.
“He knew that he didn’t stand a chance against the three of us together with four Chaos Emeralds, so instead of fighting us he sent the Emerald back in time,”
“What?!”
“Normally it takes at least two Chaos Control users and as many Emeraldsto open a time portal, but Dark Rayman is different. He must be able to do it himself. Just like Mephiles could,”
Shadow drew the white Emerald. “We’ll have to follow him,”
“Wait a second, what? Go back in time!?”
Shadow nodded, picking his cuffs from Sonic’s body. “We have no other choice. We can now follow his trail to his destination. It might be the only chance we have to get the Emerald back. But we must do it quickly, before the trail fades,”
Raylina looked very worried. But after a moment’s consideration, she nodded. “Leave him,” Shadow said as she bent over Sonic. “There’s no time,”
Raylina produced the cyan Emerald, raising it to the sky. Shadow did the same with his. Facing each other, they shouted “Chaos Control!”
A swirling time portal appeared before them, opening like the maw of the underworld. They lowered the Emeralds, looked at each other. Shadow nodded. Raylina looked at Sonic’s unconscious form one last time, then jumped up and into the portal.
For a moment, all was peace. She was floating in a white void, the noise and chaos of the world behind her.
And then it was over.

Anguish Lagoon, the Dream Forest, during Rayman 1

(Anyone who played the original Rayman will recognise the following moment)

Raylina tumbled out of a portal onto the soft grass, landing on her back. Shadow followed, landing gracefully in a crouched position. Climbing to her feet, Raylina realised where they were. “I know this place,” she said. “We’re in the Dream Forest!”
And so they were. The characteristic vines, red fruit, pink plants, and trees of the Forest surrounded them, and a cacophony of insect and bird sounds echoed through the foliage.
Shadow looked up suddenly. “Something’s coming,” he said. He and Raylina hid in some bushes at the edge of the small clearing, peering through the leaves.
Buzzing out of the trees came a purple Moskito, flying in an intoxicated zig-zag style. The pulp of red fruit dripped from its proboscis, indicating the source of the insect’s disorientation: the spiky, crimson fruit which populated the Forest were of a slightly hallucinogenic nature.
“Wait a second, whispered Raylina. “That’s Foilarak! He’s a scout for the Fighting Squad. But what is he doing here? And why is he so drunk?”
Foilarak hovered several metres above the ground, seemingly unsure of what to do. That’s when a crash came from above. A branch fell from its parent tree and landed on the Moskito’s head. For a moment, he was stunned. Then he got angry, buzzing loudly and seeking out a target for his vengeance.
That’s when a young Rayman fell from the sky, landing with an “Oomph,” the grass. Raylina gasped, but Shadow covered her mouth with his hand. “We can’t interfere,” he muttered. Raylina nodded, and Shadow removed his hand. She watched as Rayman looked up and saw the cranky Moskito bearing down on him. He smiled and threw a punch at it.
“He looks younger than I am!” Raylina said in wonder, watching him fight. “Wow... look at him! This is so weird. He must be like, ten, and there he is fighting!”
“Sometimes necessity robs you of your childhood,” said Shadow.
Rayman continued to pound on Foilarak, who was no match for him in his drunken state. Finally, the Moskito fell to the ground in a pile of limbless body parts. Rayman celebrated by raising his hands in the air and performing a short, shuffling dance which made Raylina giggle. Foilarak reassembled himself and promptly began to sob, leaking tears like a fountain. Rayman stopped dancing and went over to him, comforting him.
As this was happening, Raylina spotted something moving in the bushes on the other side of the clearing. She squinted, trying to make it out, and gasped when she realised it was Dark Rayman, whom they had followed from the future. His yellow, pupil-less eyes glinted in malice as he lifted his hand to strike at the younger version of his namesake. “We have to do some...” she looked beside her to find Shadow gone. She looked back across the clearing to see the black Hedgehog tackle Dark Rayman tot he ground. With a burst of Chaos Control, he warped them both to another place, leaving Raylina alone.
Meanwhile, Foilarak and the true Rayman were talking, oblivious to these activities. They had somehow become friends, and were now shaking hands. Rayman climbed onto the insect’s bac, and they both flew away.
A flash of blue light, and they were replaced by Shadow and Dark Rayman. Shadow tossed the darkling to the ground, pinning him with his foot. “If you had killed him, you could have collapsed the entire space-time continuum!” he shouted as Raylina ran across to join them, a ball of blue energy in her hands. “Have you no regard for time or space?”
Dark Rayman chuckled. “My master transcends both. Very well, take the Emerald,” He dissolved into black liquid, flowing away and leaving the purple Emerald beneath Shadow’s foot. “But it will not suffice to save you from ruin,” the liquid said as it retreated into the undergrowth.
“Shall we return to your own time?” Shadow asked, picking up the Emerald.

Hoodlum Headquarters, Summit Beyond the Clouds

Sonic returned to consciousness just as Raylina and Shadow landed beside him. “Wha- what happened?” he asked groggily.
“Dark Rayman took your Emerald,” Shadow replied. He held the gem up for Sonic to see. “We took it back.”
Sonic shook his head and climbed to his feet. “Well, I guess that’s alright then,”
Raylina produced the white and cyan Emeralds, holding one in either hand. Shadow tossed the purple Emerald to Sonic and produced the greed and yellow gems. “Now we have fice Chaos Emeralds,” said Shadow. “Two remain. The red is in Eggman’s possession,”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then said: “The blue Emerald is nearby. I think somebody has it. Not Dark Rayman, though,”
“Well, there’s no point warping away if he’s close. Let’s just look for him on foot, wherever he is,” Sonic said. “Or she,” Raylina retorted. Sonic nodded.

The true, present Rayman walked through a dark tunnel, the blue Emerald held in front of him to light the way. The temperature had been steadily climbing as he made his way further into the mountain. Rayman knew why: he remembered the rivers of lava that had flowed through Hoodlum Headquarters.
Rayman reached the end of the tunnel, where it simply stopped abruptly. He looked to the low ceiling of the tunnel, where a steel trapdoor led to above. He pushed it open, gripped the edge with his fingers, and hauled himself up.
He was now in a steel corridor with a steel floor and stone walls. He could hear the shouts and yells of Hoodlums in combat echoing through the corridor. Rayman allowed some energy to flow into his fists, causing them to glow with yellow light, and continued down the corridor. He rounded a corner, and the sight that met his eyes made him freeze.
There was Raylina, in battle against a group of Hoodlums. Fighting alongside her were two spiky, furred creatures, one blue, one black and red. The three of them were tearing through the Hoodmongers, and Rayman was proud to see Raylina using her Ray powers to combat the soldiers. But this was not what had frozen him.
Behind Raylina, away from the battle, was a puddle of dark liquid. As he watched, it rose into a solid blob, and then split into six pieces, which then took on the shape of Rayman’s body parts. They shimmered, taking on dark colours. And so Rayman’s mirror image, discoloured and changed, stood there.
Dark Rayman.
What happened next appeared to Rayman as though in slow motion. Dark Rayman began to raise his hand, palm outwards, towards Raylina, who was fighting a Hoodlum.
Rayman charged at him, reacting instinctively, feeling as though he was running underwater.
Dark Rayman’s hand reached its zenith, facing Raylina, and began to gather dark energy.
Rayman picked up speed, face screwed up in desperation.
Dark Rayman’s eyes shone with sadistic pleasure as the shadows began to manifest into a spike on his palm.
Rayman pushed off the ground, launching himself at the shade, and tackled him to the ground. The spike shot out of Dark Rayman’s hand, glancing off the ceiling.
The two Limbless rolled backwards, struggling with each other, and fell off the edge, into the central shaft of Hoodlum Headquarters.

[PluMGMK]

This just keeps getting better and better! Keep up the good work!

[need my speed]

Yay for great stories!

[spiraldoor]

Yay for great stories!

+1

[Lachimax]

Thanks, guys! Spiraldoor, Half-Life crossover for my next fic!

Chapter 17: Defense of the Fairy Council

Hoodlum Headquarters, Summit Beyond the Clouds

The noise of the shadow spike hitting the ceiling caught Raylina’s attention. She span around in time to see Rayman and his shadowed doppelganger fall into the central shaft. She yelled and ran to the edge, peering over it, but she couldn’t see them. “Dad!” she screamed over the side.
Shadow knelt down next to her. “He has the last Emerald,” he called to Sonic. The blue Hegehog nodded. “We’ve gotta help him,”
“We cannot,” Shadow replied. “It is impossible for us to warp to them as they fall. Even now they do battle. If Rayman wins, he will use his Emerald to warp away. But we cannot assist him.”

Rayan and Dark Rayman fell together down the centre of Hoodlum Headquarters. Rayman saw the base of the shaft coming up fast, and so gripped Dark Rayman and swung him beneath him.
Hoodlum Headquarters had originally been carved from the stone of a dormant volcano, the Summit Beyond the Clouds, the name given to it by the rather eccentric race of Teensies that populated its slopes. When the Hoodlums had first found the volcano nearly two decades ago, they had plugged the crater with a huge trapdoor, hollowed out the spaces they needed, and covered the volcanic shaft at the bottom of the hollowed-out space.
It was this covering the two Limbless were plummeting towards now. It had already been weakened badly by the Jumper hitting it earlier, and so when Rayman hit it, using Dark Rayman as a shield, they punched straight through the steel plate, between the Jumper’s legs.
And so they continued to fall deep into the bowels of the planet.
Dark Rayman tore himself out of Rayman’s grip, kicking him in the chest. Rayman’s fists glowed with yellow energy as he punched hm back with both hands. This drove Dark Rayman away, allowing Rayman to charge a ball of energy between his hands and throw it at Dark Rayman. The shade somehow caught it in his own grey-blue hands, turning the yellow to a deep purple, and threw it back. Rayman twisted to avoid it, and it exploded against the rocky shaft wall. Huge splinters of volcanic rock blew outwards and fell after the two dueling Limbless. The shade pointed one towards Rayman, and it shot at him. Rayman punched straight through it with both fists, shattering it into tiny pieces. He tilted himself so that he fell towards Dark Rayman, and span his charged fists around his torso quickly, impacting the shade multiple times. Drops of thick, black liquid flew out of him with every impact. They pushed apart, and Dark Rayman pointed his head towards his opponent. His hair began to spin like a rotor, propelling him at Rayman. Rayman dodged with a tiny burst from his own helicopter, then dealt a double-fisted blow to the shade’s back, followed by a stomp kick to the back of the head. Dark Rayman twisted around and flung a bolt of dark energy at the other Limbless, which glanced his side. Rayman winced in pain. They continued to fall, trading blows and casting energy at each other. Then Rayman drew the blue Emerald, instinct kicking in. He closed his eyes, doing what came to him. “Chaos…” He opened them, glaring at Dark Rayman. “Thunder!”
Electricity began to gather in the traces of iron and other metals surrounding the shaft, following the two opponents as they fell, jumping from trace to trace. It crackled into a ring of electrical energy around the shaft. Rayman pointed his finger at Dark Rayman, and a dozen bolts of lightning struck from the edge of the shaft straight into the shade. Black liquid blasted out of him from every angle, leaving gaping holes and craters in his body. He roared , attempting to retaliate. But he was severely weakened, and couldn’t manage more than a dark blue spark. Rayman floated across to him, grabbed his hair, and shoved his dark counterpart’s face into the wall of the shaft. He held it there for several seconds, watching it grind away. Then he let go and kicked what was left of the dark creature against the wall. The friction slowed his fall; to Rayman, it appeared as though he disappeared upwards.
With Dark Rayman defeated, Rayman turned his attention to escaping his predicament: hurtling down an underground, volcanic shaft at Polokus-knew-what speed. If he attempted to use helicopter at this speed, it would tear him apart. So he concentrated on the Chaos Emerald’s power. His words snatched away by the air rushing past him, he said “Chaos Control!”

The Fairy Council

Lachimax, Betilla, the Grand Minimus, and Polokus stood atop a balcony overlooking the Fairy Glade. Lachimax, with his Knaaren body, towered over them all. They could see in the distance the smoke of Dark Rayman’s army burning its way towards them.
Foilarak was speaking through Lachimax’s communicator. “Dark Rayman just arrived in the Hoodlum camp. He is ordering them to pack up and march,” There was a pause. “They’re going to begin their assault,”
Lachimax nodded. “Thank you, Foilarak. Return to the Council to help prepare,”
He switched off his communicator, turning to the others. “They’re coming.”
The Grand Minimus nodded. “You are our best military mind, Lachimax. We shall leave the Council’s defense to you. But all of our resources are yours to use,”
The fairies of the Council, too, are at your disposal, Betilla said. But this attack may not be so difficult to weather. Eggman will not allow this bid to go uncontested.
“Yes,” Polokus spoke. “Robotnik will attack as well. The two armies shall fall upon each other. Our priority is to protect the Heart of the World. We need only repel those remnants who gain entrance to the Council.
Lachimax nodded. “I hope you’re right,”

The Fairy Glade

Bucket flew the empty CODEFS warship low over the Fairy Glade, weapons systems primed. The ship flew over a tree-covered hill. Bringing the assembled Hoodlum Army into view. It was already partially weakened: the Fighting Squad had been executing a number of hit and run attacks behind enemy lines, with the help of several Teensie Doorwielders. But the Hoodlums were still strong.
Bucket directed the ship still lower, releasing a stream of bombs from its belly. They fell amongst the Black Lum infantry, blasting cloth bodies apart. The warship flew on before they could launch a counterattack, then turned around for another pass. This time, the Lums fired a barrage of energy from their large siege cannons. Bucket dodged it with ease, strafing the cannons with missiles. They exploded, scattering wood, metal and Hoodlums everywhere. Bucket dropped his last three bombs, then turned tail and sped away.

The Fairy Council

Lachimax stood overlooking the clearing between the Fairy Glade’s forests and the Council itself. Tension was close to palpable in the air: the Fairy Council held its breath, waiting for the assault to come. All was silent. Lachimax stared intently at the line of trees, waiting.
Then, the tension broke. A front line of two dozen Hecklers broke through the trees, cannons firing. Behind them came row after row of Hoodmongers. Hovering above them came Hoodstormers and washing-machine clad Lavomatrixes.
“Open fire!” yelled Lachimax. Cracks sounded as Fighting Squad snipers took their shots. Magic crackled as fairies, Betilla among them, unleashed their power. Hecklers and Hoodmongers fell with bullet holes in their heads or chests, or burst into flames, or were swallowed by the earth, or were blasted off their feet by rushes of air, or became frozen where they stood, or were struck down by lightning from a cloudless sky.
Still they kept coming.
When they reached two thirds of the way across the clearing, Lachimax gave the signal, and a chain of explosives laid in the ground earlier by his demolition expert detonated, tearing a swathe straight through the Hoodlum infantry.
Still they came.
“Now would be a good time for Eggman to put in an appearance,” muttered Lachimax.
Almost exactly on cue, the Egg Carrier blasted spectacularly into view directly above the Fairy Council, orange paint glinting in the sunlight, firing all its weapons. Egg Pawns flew in swarms from its hangars, hovering down to engage the Hoodlums. Energy from its cannons blasted into the Council. Lachimax leapt clear of his balcony just as a shot slammed into it, smashing it into stone splinters. He jammed his spear into a groove in the wall, saving himself from a long fall, and hauled himself up onto a ledge.
However, the Egg Carrier’s barrage on the Council’s structure was merely a token gesture: the vast majority of its fire fell among the Hoodlum ranks.
Lachimax climbed down to another entrance. It was time for him to join the fight.

Dark Rayman hovered above the Council, casting his power where it was needed. That’s when he spotted something, seventeen years old, overgrown with moss and vines, nestled in the far side of the Council’s clearing. It was Commnader Steelwill’s Flagship. The Pirate battle cruiser had been left there by Rayman after his assault on the Oribital Laser 5000 and the destruction of the Robo-Pirate homeworld seventeen years ago.
Dark Rayman grinned.

Lachimax and the Fighting Squad did their job, repelling any entry to the Council proper. The Fighting Squad warship flew them to where they were needed, and they did as they were required. Elsewhere, Clark and Globox were fighting alongside the Teensies to help repel the invaders.
Bucket dropped the Squad on the west side of the Council, covering them with fire from its cannons. A group of Hoodbooms was attempting to gain entry by lobbing their makeshift grenades into weak spots. Gilly began to strafe them with his minigun, but as the bullets made contact, a white-green, translucent shield appeared around each Hoodboom, projected by the sorcerous Hoodoos among them.
“Be careful not to hit us!” Lachimax yelled to Gilly. He nodded to Christian and Blodgrey, and they charged at the Hoodlums, leaving the rest of the Squad to cover them from further attack.
Christian sliced at one Hoodoo with his Form Batons’ Beam Sword, but the magician disappeared and reappeared on the other side of his Hoodboom. Lachimax threw his spear at it, forcing it to disappear once again and appear next to Bloodgrey, who swung his axe to cut the Hoodlum’s cloth body cleanly in half. Christian finished off the Hoodboom, tearing a grenade from its grasp to lob at another nearby Hoodoo.
In a similar manner, the three warriors systematically obliterated the Hoodboom-Hoodoo squad. They polished off the last few just in time to hear a deep rumble as Steelwill’s, now Dark Rayman’s, Flagship tore itself free of the imprint it had sunk into for seventeen years. Lachimax looked upwards in horror as the Robo-Pirate craft, all jagged steel and rotting sail canvas, rose into the air and drew alongside the Egg Carrier, and opened fire.
“Damn,” he cursed. “I knew we should have destroyed that thing when we had the chance.”
Lachimax’s communicator crackled to life. “Purple Terror to Hybrid. We’ve got a squad of Hoodlums and some robots inside the Council. They’re heading for the Heart. Something new is leading the Egg Pawns, some powerful new robot. It looks just like…” the communicator cut out.

The warship drew up next to a gaping hole in the Fairy Council’s stone walls. The CODEFS shock troops dropped from its deck, landing already in combat positions. “Attack pattern Delta!” Lachimax roared over the sounds of battle around them. “We need to stop these infiltrators before they penetrate too…look out!”
The Fighting Squad scattered as a thick, blue plasma beam slammed into the ground amongst them, leaving a crater in the earth. Lachimax rolled, crouched, spear ready, and looked up to see a huge, four-legged, spiderlike vehicle climb from the Council’s rooftop onto the grassy lawn. It was painted orange, red, black and yellow, Eggman’s signature colours, and Eggman’s laugh could be heard clear as day through the machine’s loudspeaker. The body was a sphere, hanging nearly a dozen metres from the ground, with two sets of weapons slung underneath it. The four two-jointed legs were placed evenly around the spherical body, dwarfing it and bending upwards, well above the sphere, before the first joints sent them back to the ground, where they ended in long spikes. (It looks kind of like a cross between a Beady Long Legs from Pikmin and a Strider from Half-Life 2.)
Themachine, Eggman inside, fired a volley of white pulse rounds at the warship. Several of the shots found their mark, and the ship’s left engine gave a bang began to exgorge black smoke. Bucket was forced to pull away. “I can’t stay, sir. I’m sorry. He said to Lachimax through his communicator, as the warship flew away.
Lachimax didn’t waste time with words. His Squad took cover, and he prepared to launch an attack on Robotnik’s machine.
However, it seemed that Eggman had lost interest in them. The great vehicle stalked away at a surprising speed, each footstep creating a loud thud, to wreak further havoc among the Hoodlums.
So the Fighting Squad turned its attention towards the gaping hole in the side of the Council.

[need my speed]

Lachimax owns! I love this story.

[Holy Crap]

Wait I'm confused, one minute Dark Rayman is being torn to pieces in the shaft, the next he's driving a warship opening fire on his enemies?

[need my speed]

Yeah, I was too, but it's probably something that is intended to confuse us, so I decided not to comment on it.

[PluMGMK]

I'm wondering whether Mr. Dark is a goodie or a baddie in this story.

[Lachimax]

Yeah, sorry I didn't really explain it, but Dark Rayman is sort of meant to be unkillable in a way. You can destroy his physical form as much as you want, but he keeps returning. This is because he's a dark spirit thingo.