FINAL CONFRONTATION

[metaloverlord]

Throughout this week, you all have been hard at work preparing for your final confrontation with the person behind all of this - Neo Metal Sonic. His fleet of ships has taken over the skies, and Tails has been working on a means to get you safely onto the correct one. Given that you've all been called into the workshop today, it seems like it's finally time.

"I've got the correct coordinates and we're ready to go. We'll all be joining you in this fight."

Sonic nods and continues, "Let's avoid a repeat of last time, yeah? I'm still going to try to keep his attention on me since the plan is still the same - you guys have gotta knock the Master Emerald outta him!"

"You all have had some practice with your powers and with what the Master Emerald can do, so you should be better prepared for this fight. Still, remain on guard!"

Tails flicks the device to life and a portal opens. Unlike the rings, this one doesn't show where exactly you'll be going. "Everyone ready? Let's put an end to this."

You arrive in the interior of one of those ships - the long hallway you're in is made of thick, dark silver steel, with absolutely nothing in the way of décor. The way behind you leads to a door - gated shut, with seemingly no way to open it from this side - while the path ahead of you leads up a small flight of stairs to what can only be described as a throne. It is simplistic in design and still made of that dark, practical steel without any adornments or embellishments, but it provides Neo Metal Sonic a height advantage to loom over you, something he couldn't really manage on most of you without taking to floating.

He sits in the chair now, red eyes fixed on all of you. One elbow is propped on the arm of the chair and his chin leans against his hand, giving off the air of "bored monarch" that he's probably going for.

"So you've arrived. You've kept me waiting."

He gets up then, rising to float as he had before, sparks of that familiar green Chaos Energy flaring to life around him. "Let's not waste any more time. I'll destroy you all here and now. And you," his eyes flick to Sonic, "will trouble me no further."

"Does it even really count when I'm not the version of Sonic you've fought before...?"

"Silence." Sonic shrugs and Neo Metal Sonic dismisses him, turning his attention back to you all. "You all have caused enough problems for me. Once I've crushed you all, nothing will be able to stop me."

NAVIGATION

Comments

[hexalding]

[It may have been ironic that he was faster unassisted in the air than he had been on a hoverboard, effortlessly moving between wildly shot laser cannons(16, 17) despite the consistent shockwave damage causing him to flicker as if his physical form itself was pulled by the fabric of reality.]

Enough. There should be a limit to one's stubbornnes, even with power such as yours. I will find a way to make you understand, somehow--the futility of your course, and the reality of limitless potential in true evolution. You can be more than this, this world and those in it can be something that accepts the beauty of imperfections so long as you just stop destroying it.

[His eyes lit up a solid white-violet, shard in his hand burning--intending on drawing upon Ashley's power, but maybe pulling in just a little more. The dominion over mind and thought he had once held was echoed distantly now, first in the briefest flashes of a hollow world of broken husks, and then the alternative as if overpowering the possibility of such a dismal world. Thoughts of the world the way he had once dreamed it could be; beneath a sunlit sky, a city full of the coexistence of all forms of life--everyone from the robotic to the organic in their company. A world of care and cooperation, instead of one brought to the edge of destruction by the Herald of a silent ruin.]

[ungratefuloz]

[It's as Dorothy considers what she should do next that she feels a far more explicit tug at her power, and when she looks at it's source...there's a part of her eyes that gains a green and white tint to them along with that beautiful purple that's already burning in her eyes, and she allows her own energy to weave a story as well.]

He is right, you know. Neo...I know not if you can hear us still, but even now, I truly believe this as well. You can do better. You can break these shackles without the need for this violence, this agony--

But if it takes us to help you see it...

[Dorothy has never held dominion over mind; she could manipulate with words, she could manipulate with her demeanor. But all the same, she's learned that sometimes...sometimes, reaching out a hand is what is needed.

Dorothy adds her own power into the mix; showing a world that has risen from the ashes. A world of cooperation, where all are able to find their own way in the world. No shackles upon them, mentally unchained to the forces that have long directed their ways, toward true freedom; the ability to choose one's own path, one's own destiny, and make something new of themselves through hard work. Without chasing shadows, without following orders...

And without chasing any shadows or spectres of the past. A place where one can find their own purpose, at long last.]

[crosswired]

[As he reels from the waves of energy and the aftershocks of the robots, Vakama can feel that familiar pull at the back of his mind despite their distance from one another. Like an unseen thread that ties both thought and heart in tandem, with the pulse of determination calling out like so many voices in the night.]

It is not an easy path. But it one you can face, without ignorance of the things that come before, or the hardships that may await. To see failure, to fear failure, does not mean that the future carves itself into stone.

[It's perhaps not the kindest addition as he lets his own hand stretch out with the warmth of the diamond aching so similarly to his own visions. Glimpses of unknown futures - of crashing waves and cracking earth, of suns that burn out in eclipse, only for hands to reach out for one another in spite of it. Possibility, opportunity, not frightened of those warnings of the future but choosing to move on to meet it, steps taken in the sand that shatter the unbearable, unknowable pressure of "what if."

Hope, amidst the hopeless.]

[hashtagafreakingghost]

[ Ashley feels the reach from Viktor, Dorothy, and Vakama. The force of their emotions, their strong determination, it floods her. She doesn't know what they're thinking, exactly, but what they're feeling...

Last week, she'd used her visions in a cruel way, unleashing nightmares upon their foe. She'd enjoyed it. But now... From those who'd been through so much, she's only personally seen a handful— All of them hope for something better, not just for the people of this world, not just for the other worlds, but for him too.

How overwhelming. Ashley can't say it's what she would choose, because she doesn't believe in Neo Metal Sonic...but she believes in them. She believes in what they want. ]

...Okay, guys. I trust you. He better hold the fuck onto something—!

[ She closes her eyes and once again, she focuses everything in on Neo Metal Sonic. ]