Flames of Fate and Destined Dark/Sonic: Stage 7 - The Doctor's Demands

==Sonic: Stage 7 - The Doctor's Demands==
Eggman's Base, White Acropolis Peaks, Soleanna - September 20, X014, 5:53 PM UTC
----Elise woke with a groggy start, struggling to lift herself off of whatever surface she was lying on. Ugh, my head... what happened before I passed out again...? the redheaded princess thought to herself, holding her now-aching head as she finally sat herself up as her vision remained blurry for a few more moments. ...right. Those voices in my head began making noise again... I tried to shut them up and...
Elise's voice trailed off once her vision cleared, revealing that she was no longer in her quarters at the castle, but rather what appeared to be a cold, metallic holding cell. "...w-where am I...!?" the princess asked herself with panic evident in her voice, quickly scanning her surroundings before catching a small shimmer of blue just outside her field of vision. "Oh, mist- Sonic...! Is that y-...?!"
She cut herself off upon turning towards what she initially believed was the blue hedgehog that had saved her the other night, but instead turned out to be a robot that strongly resembled the hedgehog. After letting out a loud shriek of fright, she fearfully began to notice some of the features of this robotic look-alike - his blood red optics on a pitch black visor that contrasted with the hedgehog's emerald green eyes and a dark metallic blue sheen on his chassis mirroring the hedgehog's bright blue spines.
At the moment, the robotic doppelganger didn't seem to be doing anything apart from simply sitting silently at its seat in front of the bed that Elise had been lying down on before she had come to, staring coldly at the redhead. "...h-hello...?" she asked with a clear stutter in her voice, afraid for her life.
The chilling silence continued for a few more moments when a sudden buzzing noise could be heard from the metallic hedgehog, leading to a sudden flinch from Elise on reaction. As the noise quickly dissipated, she could begin to make out what she recognized as the voice of Dr. Eggman as he began to speak through the robot, "Ah, I see the dear princess has awoken from her precious slumber. Have you rested well?"
Elise found it impossible to open her mouth. She could hardly even begin to find what her first words she would say to Eggman would be. How did she end up in his clutches? Were Bianca and uncle alright? What of the blue hedgehog and his two-tailed friend? Her mind was swarmed with endless questions, and all she could do was simply struggle to catch her breath as she continued to make sense of the situation so far.
"No matter. All that matters is that you're awake," the doctor continued in responses to Elise's silence. "I've invited a few special guests over, and it would be a great honor to have you present for their arrival."
"W-wait just a second, why should I-" Elise began to protest with a stutter.
"Metal Sonic, bring her to me," Eggman declared without letting the princess finish. Promptly heeding his creator's command, Metal Sonic wordlessly stood up and grabbed hold of the redheaded princess' arm, dragging her to wherever the mad doctor was.
As much as she wanted to yank her arm away and run, Elise knew better; the hedgehog's apparent robotic doppelganger had claws that appeared as sharp as steel, and any attempt at resistance on her part would likely provoke the robot. Practically forcing every neuron in her body to stop herself from doing anything rash, all the princess could do was continue to control her breathing as she pathetically thought to herself, Bianca...! Sonic...! Anyone…?! ...please... help...!
At that moment, the voices from before began to flare within her mind again, causing her to become more distressed! No! I… I need to... Elise struggled to keep her emotions under control as the voices continued to howl and rage, knowing full well what would happen if she were to falter now. ...I must keep the flames at bay!
Strangely, she could begin to somewhat make out some of what these voices were saying to her. Let me go! Destroy everything! She heard some of the voices say from within the sea of hellish agony that was her own mind. Make them suffer! Set me free!
Completely ignoring the fact that she was being dragged along against her will by Metal Sonic, Elise could feel the Flames of Disaster gradually begin to well within her soul, as if it were trying to take control of it! No…! I refuse! the princess internally argued with the voices as her eyes momentarily shifted from their usual shade of blue to a more hellish orange, like before. I will not set you free! I won't let the world be left in ashes! 
Finally, the voices seemed to die down once more, leaving Elise alone with her thoughts as began to catch her breath once more and finally register again that Metal Sonic had been pulling her along the whole time. ...is this really all I'm good for? she asked herself in her head. I can't even try to get out of here on my own without provoking the flames…
As those words rang in her mind, her own feelings of worthlessness began to loom over her once more. She couldn't do anything by herself before, and she couldn't do anything for herself now. Truly pathetic, she believed herself to be...
----Arce de Solis Magna, Castle Town, Soleanna - September 20, X014, 4:19 PM UTC
----{♫} Sonic and Tails were making their way along one of the hallways of the castle, having been summoned by Prince Friedrich to discuss their current agenda. "It's a good thing the actual damage to your joints wasn't all that bad," the two-tailed fox began. "I'm sure you would have hated having to sit around for another couple of hours."
"Yep. That whole thing still hurt like hell though," the hedgehog replied as he rotated his shoulders, attempting to loosen them up. "Anyway, what did Freddie want with us this time?"
"Oh, right! After the last two incidents, he's decided to rescind his earlier statement of keeping you out of this," Tails began to explain. "I'm glad he did, if you ask me; Eggman's really pulling out all the stops to make this new plan of his work."
"Yeah, no kidding..." Sonic remarked with a note of exasperation in his voice. "And then there's that Silver guy who's apparently out to kill me. Then again, I guess that's nothing too new."
The young genius could only nod in response before continuing, "...I sure hope Amy's okay, though."
"She knows how to handle herself. I'm sure she'll be fine," the hedgehog remarked, though still sounding concerned for the pink hedgehog. "She seems to know something about that guy that we don't, anyway."
The two continued walking the hallways in an awkward silence, the only noises being made being their own footsteps, those of whatever guards passed by them, and the occasional chatter between some of those same guards. Meanwhile, Sonic couldn't help but continue thinking to himself, What was that whole Iblis Trigger business about, anyway?
The hedgehog's mind then wandered back to the story Elise had told him. Solaris' rage nearly destroyed the world ten years ago... he began thinking to himself, attempting to piece together what exactly was happening. It took the form of the Flames of Disaster... then Silver claimed that the world was eventually destroyed by those same flames and named me the Iblis Trigger - the cause of all this.
After thinking it through so more, he eventually came to a startling realization. If I am the Iblis Trigger as he claims it to be, does that mean... I'll somehow cause Elise to lose control of the flames?
As he began to consider the numerous possibilities as to how such a scenario could happen, he suddenly registered another voice call out, "Sonic? Tails? What are you guys doing here?"
Immediately recognizing whose voice that was, both the blue hedgehog and the two-tailed fox immediately turned to their right and saw a red echidna with spike gloves approaching them. "Knuckles?! I could ask you the same thing," Sonic replied, pleasantly surprised. "Shouldn't you be guarding the Master Emerald back on Angel Island?"
"I was. However, I began to sense some strange distortions originating here in Soleanna not long ago," the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles the Echidna, began to explain. "I decided to come here and do some investigating. Only thing I learned though was that there's this lioness with powers I haven't seen for myself before out there and hinted at knowing something about ‘em."
"Funny you should mention that, Knuckles. We actually had a run-in with another person with powers we haven't seen before ourselves," Tails replied, taking note of the echidna's recent discoveries. "He actually almost killed Sonic here, but Amy and I managed to stop him."
"Tch. That's just great. Now I'm even more sure that something's up," the guardian cursed, evidently not pleased with what he was hearing before noticing that Sonic was about to open his mouth to say something. "Don't - I already have a feeling Eggman might be involved with this somehow. It's practically routine by this point."
"Still, two whole strangers lurking around Soleanna right when Eggman's in the middle of another scheme? That can't be a coincidence," Tails continued, still pondering on all the recent developments that have happened. 
Sonic cleared his throat, drawing their attention, as he chimed in, "If I didn't know any better, I'd go ahead and guess that those two might be working with Eggman. I mean, that's what was going on with Shadow and Rouge some time ago, right?"
"It's certainly possible, but we don't know anything about them otherwise, so I wouldn't be sure of that just yet," the young genius remarked at the hedgehog's suggestion. "Back to our question though, how exactly did you wind up here, Knuckles?"
"Oh, right. That girl and I got into a bit of a scuffle when I found her walking along the town streets," Knuckles continued his explanation. "However, a guard saw us both and brought me in for questioning. They tried to catch that lioness too but she got away."
"Well, we can worry about that later - right now, Ms. Helios is expecting the two of us," Tails replied and was about to walk off but stopped himself at the last second. "Actually, now that you're here, would you mind lending us a hand?"
Knuckles pretended to appear in deep contemplation as to whether he should accept their offer before answering, "Eh, might as well. If Eggman really does have something to do with what's going on, then I'm bound to find out more if I come with!"
"Alright! Glad to see you ready for action, Knux," Sonic remarked with excitement as he and the echidna gave one another a high-five. Now pumped up at the sight of their trio having banded together once more, the hedgehog then exclaimed with determination, "Looks like Team Sonic is back in action!"
----Meeting Room, Arce de Solis Magna, Castle Town, Soleanna - September 20, X014, 4:19 PM UTC
----Bianca stood silently over the large table of the castle's meeting room as she looked over the damage reports from the mad doctor's attack. Evidently, she was not pleased with a lot of the things she was seeing on the reports, the doctor's capture of Elise having been successful certainly not being the least of them all. Forgive me, Elise... both as a soldier and as your friend, the guardswoman woefully thought to herself as she heaved an anguished sigh moments before she heard the door to the meeting room open.
Turning her attention towards it, Bianca saw that Sonic and Tails had finally shown up, albeit accompanied by a red echidna whom she could only assume was a friend of his. "Yo, Bee, we're here," the blue hedgehog immediately chimed in with his trademark laid-back demeanor.
"I shouldn't have to remind you to mind your manners here, young hedgehog," the sheep attempted to sound as stoic as she usually was, failing to hold back a brief sniffle as she spoke - something all three of them noticed.
"Are you alright, Ms. Helios?" the two-tailed fox asked, worry evident in his tone.
"I appreciate the concern, child, but I'm quite alright," Bianca replied once more, heaving another deep sigh. "I'm just frustrated about all this."
"Trust me - we all are," Sonic concurred, his mood having dimmed for the briefest of moments. Noticing this change, Knuckles briefly turned towards Tails with a raised eyebrow for an explanation. The young genius softly shook his head in response, as if to tell him that now wasn't the best time to ask.
"While we're waiting for Prince Friedrich, though, would you mind introducing me to this new friend of yours?" the sheep asked the hedgehog and two-tailed fox, who then proceeded to introduce her and the echidna to one another. Once their introductions had been made, Bianca continued with a bow, "I see. I must ask you to excuse my subordinates in their stead if they've done anything unbecoming of soldiers of the guard."
"Nah, it's all good. They did fix my injuries from that scuffle, so I felt being cooperative was the least I could do as thanks," Knuckles shrugged off the guardswoman's apologies. At that moment, the tall figure of Prince Friedrich entered the meeting room, alongside a few other guards - likely of the same rank as Bianca - and an unfamiliar bespectacled man wearing what appeared to be a researcher's attire and carrying a case of sorts; he stood just an inch shorter than the sovereign, but was relatively scrawny in physique and had eyes that matched his golden-blond hair with bangs parted to the left and a braid hanging down the back of his head.
"Ah, milord!" the guardswoman exclaimed right before he expression became slightly bothered at the sight of the blonde researcher. "...I see you've brought Dr. de Angelo with you as well."
"Good to see you too, Bianca," the younger doctor replied with a small hint of sarcasm in his voice, fully aware of the guardswoman's reaction to seeing him before turning his attention to the blue hedgehog. "...and I believe you're Sonic the Hedgehog, correct? I'm Dr. Alphonse de Angelo, Chief Alchemist of the Soleanna royal family, but I let most people call me either Doc or Al; I'm not too big on formalities myself."
"Putting introductions aside, I believe we have urgent matters to discuss," Prince Friedrich began sternly, drawing everyone's attention to him. "As you are all aware, the madman known as Dr. Robotnik has successfully captured our nation's would-be ruler and my dear niece, Princess Elise, due to a ploy to preoccupy our forces with chasing him down while he sent his own to storm the castle. Because of that, he has now secured the Flames of Disaster."
As silence pervaded the room, leaving a sense of gloom in the atmosphere, the prince continued, "However, it would seem that the doctor is feeling generous."
"How so?" questioned the blue hedgehog quizzically. One of the other guards that had accompanied Friedrich promptly placed a crimson red card down on the table. The trio could see that the card bore the all-too-familiar insignia of Dr. Eggman right as it opened up before beginning to project a hologram of the mad doctor himself. {♫}
"Esteemed sovereign of the Dukedom of Soleanna, Prince Friedrich Luminosa, I humbly pass my sincere hopes that you are well as I record this message," the doctor began with his trademark grin, prompting the hedgehog to clench his fist on reaction as he continued to listen to the holographic message. "Though I have taken your heir to the throne captive, I do not necessarily wish to bring harm upon her. However, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of an artifact that I've had my eyes on for various reasons. With that said, I'd like to propose a deal."
"A deal?" Bianca immediately remarked at the prospect with a visible scowl on her face. "I already don't like where this is going."
"In exchange for handing over this particular artifact of interest, I will take great lengths to ensure that no harm comes upon Princess Elise and have her safely returned to you," Eggman declared. "However, I do have one condition in regards to this exchange - the artifact must personally be brought to me by Sonic the Hedgehog at my base of operations within the White Acropolis Peaks. Given our past history, I'm confident he and I would have little issue handling this ourselves."
The holographic form of the mad doctor let out a low, menacing laughter as the message concluded, indicated by the hologram suddenly shutting off. "Tch. Eggman's cocky as always, huh?" the echidna grunted in annoyance, lightly pounding his fists together.
"He didn't even mention what artifact it was that he's after," Tails continued, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
"That's actually pretty easy to answer," Dr. Alphonse immediately cut in with a sigh. "...it's also why I was summoned here on short notice."
The blonde researcher then lifted up the case he had been carrying until now and placed it on top of the table. He then turned a dial on top of the case around a few times until it began to open up. Once that process was complete, he then reached into the case and pulled out the item that had been encased within it - a cerulean blue gemstone that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were all too familiar with.
"A Chaos Emerald?!" the echidna immediately exclaimed in shock upon seeing the gem. "How did I not sense it earlier!?"
"Ah, I believe that might be because of a little enchantment placed on the container," the alchemist promptly explained. "It's supposed to suppress whatever energy signals an artifact may produce. It's mostly a safety measure, especially when it comes to an invaluable and powerful item such as this."
"That brings me to my next point of discussion - the matter of how the doctor gained knowledge of our possession of one of these seven miracle gems," Prince Friedrich continued, maintaining his stern tone and expression. "As you can tell, Dr. Alphonse wanted to ensure that the Emerald's presence was kept a secret from any prying eyes, especially from beyond our borders."
"That definitely doesn't sound good," Sonic remarked. "I mean, it's Eggman trying to grab a Chaos Emerald - that's already raising several red flags for me."
Having picked up the conversation, Bianca promptly spoke, "If I may add on to the discussion, one of the reports shown to me regarding the recent attack recounted the deaths of two particular guards."
With everyone's attention now drawn to the guardswoman, she continued, "When I looked over their names and the full details of that specific report, I immediately recognized them as the two guards I had sent to aid milord when he refused to leave the castle mid-assault."
"And what were these details that had caught your attention in particular, Helios?" Friedrich questioned, his expression becoming sharper as the words left his lips.
"Cause of death was reported as a single, lethal laceration on each of them - most likely a sword wound," Bianca answered. "One would have to be incredibly skilled with the blade in order to strike one of our own men down in a single strike." 
"Damn it, this only adds to my suspicions," Dr. Alphonse commented, evidently displeased with what he had just heard as everyone's attention now returned to the alchemist, who simply shook his head. "Given what Bianca just said and Dr. Eggman apparently knowing I'm in possession of a Chaos Emerald, I can only draw one possible conclusion."
The atmosphere of the meeting room suddenly darkened, as if to match the equally-darkened expression on the alchemist's face. The long moment of silence finally passed when Dr. Alphonse declared, "Someone in this castle has betrayed Soleanna."
----
-Sonic: Stage 6 - Clear-
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