This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 7: The End
Dazed, Robotnik's eyes slowly opened. His head was hurting like a large steel box had been sitting on his round skull. As his vision returned, he could see the demonic form of the black and white hedgehog standing on his belly.
"Finally awake, are you?"
"You!" Robotnik tried to get up and knock Shadow off him, but it seemed as if the hedgehog had gained an insane amount of weight and couldn't be moved from his position.
"Don't even bother; you've lost, doctor. There's no way you could ever stand against my power."
"Yes, you do have a lot of power."
"More than you could ever know."
"The power of the Master Emerald is truly great; I can see why you want it."
"I need it to put an end to you."
"Then why haven't you used it? You could have easily destroyed me with all that power, but you faced me hand to machine, saving it. Where you saving it so you could crush me in one last glorious fury, or to humiliate me by showing me how weak I am to fall to a normal hedgehog without the aid of such power?" Robotnik cast and evil grin. "Or maybe, you're just like me."
Shadow was insulted. "Like you? Preposterous!"
"You thirst for power, just like me. I wanted to rule this planet. I wanted the power to control everything and everyone. I wanted the power of a god. And now, you have achieved what I could not. You didn't attack with it because you want to keep all that power for yourself."
"You speak of greed, doctor, to desire something solely for the purpose of possession. But I have another desire. I didn't keep this power at bay for domination; I did plan to use it to defeat you, and that's exactly what I am going to do with it. If I had used it to destroy you, then yes, I would be just like you. You used power to hurt, to destroy, to kill! No, I couldn't be like you, I had to use my power for something greater, so I'm going to heal, and to repair the damage you've unleashed."
"You claim you can unmake all that I've done, can you raise the dead too?"
"No, all power has limits, for unlike you said, I am not a god. But I can do what I can."
Shadow took a step closer and grabbed Dr. Robotnik's collar with his left hand.
"And so dear doctor, with my fists, I will finish you. And with my power, I will end you!"
The enraged creature balled his right fist and pulled it back.
"Give my regards to Sonic!"
The last things Robotnik saw were Shadow's knuckles…
then redness…
then blackness…
then nothing…
Outside Robotropolis, Rouge was hiding in the treetops, spying on the steel city.
"What's he doing in there? With all that power, he should've been able to wipe out Robotnik in one swoop. What's keeping him?"
Rouge got her answer when she noticed a green glow coming from the center of Robotnik's empire. The glow soon exploded in a blaze of neon green, covering the whole city and expanding into the outer edge of the forest.
"I'm too beautiful to die!"
Rouge clamped onto the other side of the tree and braced for the oncoming flame. The green glow encompassed the tree with her in it. Rouge didn't feel the pain that she was expecting, it was more like a sunny Summer day just snatched her in a warm hug. But while she was in peaceful bliss, before her sounds of destruction tore through the city, loud screeches of torn metal, sharp tinkles of shattered glass, and the most horrible buzzing noise that had ever existed.
All the bat could do was grip tightly to the tree trunk, knowing that she was safe where she was.
After a minute, it was all over; the warmth and the noise had faded away. Content that it was safe to leave the protection of the tree, Rouge released her lock on the bark and looked towards Robotropolis. Expecting to see a huge crater, Rouge was shocked to see what lay before her. The whole area was in ruin, but not the ruins that she was imagining. There was nary a trace of steel or pollution or broken robots, but the ruins of a city of stone. Strange blocks of marble tainted a dreary purple, and tangled in long overgrown vines laid out before her in what would have been a great paradise in its heyday.
Fumbling around her pockets, Rouge pulled out a small phone and turned it on.
"Sally, you have got to come and see this."
Shortly after, Sally and a group from Knothole arrived to survey what was once Robotropolis, but what they saw was beyond their wildest dreams. Robotropolis was gone, instead replaced by stone ruins that Sally recognized immediately. Shadow had gone to defeat Robotnik, and had returned to the people of this land their lost home, Mobotropolis.
The city of marble was in chaos; but to Sally, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in years. She felt like a little child, and wanted to run around and discover the whole city all over again. But there would be time for that later. Someone had found another amazing thing; lying in the middle of the road was an unconscious badger, sleeping like there was nothing wrong.
Geoffrey led a few people to check on the slumbering vagabond. "Where did he come from? He must have been roboticized, and restored when Mobotropolis was restored."
He poked the badger a few times. "Hey! Wake up!"
The badger snorted and started to get up.
"Check around, see if there are anymore." The others ran off looking for more of Dr. Robotnik's victims.
Bunnie was right next to Sally. "This place is definitely a fixer-upper."
"Yeah, but it's home! Shadow gave us back our home!" A bit of sadness crossed the princess' face. "Where's Shadow?"
Elsewhere, someone else had already been looking. Deep within the ruined castle, a large block of marble suddenly exploded to gravel and dust.
"Do you think you can find him?" spoke a female voice in the background.
"He absorbed the Master Emerald, even if he used up it's power, I can still find him; dead or alive."
Knuckles continued to break through the blocks of the castle, until he came to the place of the final battle. There resting on a slanted block of pink was the target of Knuckles' and Tikal's search. Knuckles moved to the side of the unconscious hedgehog and poked him. Not getting a response, he gave Shadow a quick kick to the side.
"Wake up!"
Shadow was brought back to the real world. After a second to regain his bearings he looked up at the echidna. "So, you've come to finish me off."
"I'll save it for when you're healthy."
"Well, in that case I'm going to check myself into a hospital and never come out."
Knuckles helped Shadow to his feet.
Tikal brushed some of the dust off him, and noticed that the white fringe had returned to its original red color. "How do you feel?"
"I feel mortal again."
"Shadow!"
The black hedgehog looked up to see Rouge coming down on top of him. On contact, Rouge clamped her arms around him, and planted a big juicy one right on Shadow's lips. It would be a few seconds before Rouge relinquished Shadow's face.
"I thought I had lost you! Are you alright?"
"That depends on if that was a kiss or if you were trying to suffocate me."
"Well, maybe you need another taste to figure it out."
This time, Rouge went in softly and delicately, giving him a sensual and passionate kiss even more intense than the first, with a bit of French flair for effect.
Down below the rubble, Sally saw Shadow in the embrace of the bat woman. She pictured herself in Rouge's place then with Sonic in Shadow's, and sighed.
Beside her, Bunnie was not at all pleased. "I'm gonna kill that low bred hussy!"
Several weeks later, peace had slowly returned to the Great Forest surrounding Mobotropolis. Robots no longer marched over the landscape, the rivers were becoming cleaner as the toxins that once tainted them were wiped out at the source, and the air was also no longer congested by smog. The paradise that many thought was gone forever was returning.
Mobotropolis' renewal would take some time more. The castle was in total ruin, but around the perimeter, houses of various shapes and sizes had sprung up. Larger buildings in various states of construction accompanied them. A proper hospital was the first priority and was nearly complete, followed by a school, a town hall, and even a shopping center; neither of which would be ready for a couple of months. There were still a lot of gaps, but there were plans for parks, fountains, walkways and other recreational structures.
The citizens continued to work at rebuilding their former home. Sally had taken her job as princess very seriously, and was heavily involved in the planning of the rebuilt Mobotropolis. It was only partially because of her duty however; during the fight with Robotnik, she had lost someone very special to her, someone that was too hard to simply let go. Work was the only thing that could keep her occupied.
Sally decided that the castle would be the last thing to be constructed, as she knew it would take years to complete, and everyone needed a place to live first. She had organized scavenging parties to collect food and water from the forest and rivers that were far enough away to not have been affected by Robotropolis' toxic waste. As the lands and waters purified, they would move closer and their work would be less arduous. Eventually farms would be built in the surrounding areas, and water could be gathered directly from the great river that ran behind the castle.
Rotor had created teams to rebuild the structures that supplied water and electricity throughout the city. The sewers, pipes and wires were still intact for the most part, but did require some maintenance. The facilities that actually drew water and created power were not in such good shape and would require more time to complete. The former citizens of Knothole had gotten used to roughing it in the forest, so the lack of these luxuries was not noticed.
Geoffrey had rounded together his troops to help rebuild the city, as there was little need for guards and warriors in this time of renewed hope. Tails and Amy had also taken to their tasks, which were decidedly less taxing than most of the others. They were mostly involved in passing messages, distributing meals and other smaller errands.
Some of the echidnas from the floating island had also come to Mobotropolis, although many stayed to rebuild their homes on the formerly flying mass. Knuckles had considered his duties complete; though he also considered it a failure to have lost the Master Emerald, at least it was for a good cause. He moved to Mobotropolis with Tikal, and later they had married, something no echidna had done in over a century.
Shadow was also busy during the reconstruction, although his abilities were far less useful in construction than in battle. Being the hero that he was, it was decided that part of his reward would be a rather large, spacious house overlooking the river. Even though he considered it rather overkill, he still accepted it graciously; especially after two people moved in with him.
Rouge had continued her mission to collect Power Rings until the power station was finished. Naturally, she wasn't going to stay in a dump like this without the love of her life, so she moved in with Shadow; and although both certainly seemed well rested every morning, most nights were anything but silent.
Bunnie's skills in the field were becoming useful in tilling the land for new farms, and the young rabbit was later put in charge of the crops; in a few months, there would be enough to feed the whole city. She had also moved in with Shadow and Rouge, although her motives were not quite what either had really thought. She wanted Shadow for herself, and had moved in to watch over the pair, secretly hoping that Rouge might slip up and she could take him from her. Unfortunately for the rabbit, Rouge was quite the experienced seductress and rarely made such errors.
During the clean up of the castle, a strange discovery was made; the robot ballerina had been found, badly damaged. Rotor had determined that it actually was just a robot, and not a person that had been roboticized. There was a heated debate to decide what to do with the mechanical dancer.
Some wanted it scrapped, as it was a dim reminder of what Robotnik had brought onto them, but some had resisted. One in particular argued that what happened with Robotnik was in the past, and to cover it up did no justice to anyone. The robot was something of beauty, possibly the only beautiful thing that Dr. Robotnik was known to have created. It was decided that it would be repaired and allowed to dance, but it lacked something, a name. Rouge had offered what was considered a great choice, but only really understood by a few.
And so, Maria would dance forever…
Knothole was quiet now; there was little going on there as everyone had moved to Mobotropolis. Instead it had been turned into a memorial and cemetery for all who fell fighting Robotnik.
The simple wooden monuments had been replaced with proper headstones of solid rock with carefully etched names and phrases. In the middle, stood a strange stone in the shape of a large, half-buried circular saw.
but he fell in battle against our oppressor.
In his sacrifice, he saved one soul,
and we all thank him.
Our hero.